A/N: Thank you all for the good feedback and I present you chapter two! (Now in a different view!)
Young Justice is not mine.
Washington, D.C.
July 5, 00:01 EDT
"Time runs short… You must awaken… You must awaken now!"
The commanding voice ricocheted around the empty mind of Strike, causing his eyes to fly open. A pounding erupted in the back of his head before he quickly clenched his eyes shut once more. After the pounding had died down, Strike cautiously opened his eyes.
Taking in his surroundings, the first thing Strike noticed was his light reflection in the glass in front of him. Wait, glass? Moving his head as much as he could, Strike looked up and down, taking in the fact that he was podded, much like the clone once was.
Feeling slightly panicked and claustrophobic, Strike's breathing picked up, but before he could go into all out hysterics, his training kicked in. Taking deep breaths, his breathing went back to normal and the panicked feeling he once felt diminished. He was a bat, there was no room for panicking. Instead, he searched the pod for a way out to help save the other protégés.
Speaking of the other protégés, Strike strained his head to the left, much to the protest of his muscles, to see Robin. Satisfied with finding his partner, Strike returned to the task at hand: finding a way out. Once he was out, him and Robin would find the other protégés, assuming they weren't in the same room as them.
Wiggling his wrists, the brunette tested the slack in the cuffs. With a frown, he realized there wasn't much. However, it was enough for him to work on picking the lock. Smirking to himself, a lock pick appeared at his finger tip before he began to work away at the lock.
"Wh-what do you want?" A panicked voice cried out. Strike ceased lock picking for a moment to crane his head to the right, where the voice came from. There was Kid Flash, in the same situation as Strike was, slightly panicking, "Quit staring! You're creeping me out!"
"Uh, KF," Robin called out, "How about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?"
"I'm with Robin here," Strike added dully, still fidgeting with the lock, "I'd appreciate not being barbequed alive."
"We only sought to help you," Aqualad stated calmly, attempting to get through to the clone.
"Yeah! We free you and you turn on us!" Kid Flash snapped, not understanding the seriousness of their situation, "How's that for gra-"
"Kid, please be quiet now," Aqualad calmly cut the speedster off, "I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."
"What if… what if I wasn't?" Superboy asked slowly, looking around at the trapped heroes.
"He can talk?!" Kid Flash asked, astonished. Strike rolled his eyes at the speedster. Kid Flash really needed to learn to think before he speaks.
Superboy clenched his fists, glaring up at Kid Flash, "Yes, he can."
With angry glares, Robin, Aqualad, and Strike turned to the speedster.
"Not like I said it," The speedster defended with a soft shrug and a sheepish smile.
Aqualad looked thoughtfully at the clone, "The genomorph's taught you, telepathically?"
"They taught me much," Superboy confirmed, voice growing more and more confident, "I can read, write. I-I know the names of things."
"But have you seen them?" Robin inquired softly, "Have they ever actually let you see the sky? Or the sun?"
"Images are implanted in my mind, but no, I have not actually seen them," Superboy admitted with a hint of sadness in his tone as he bowed his head. Strike took note that the clone looked almost vulnerable and confused.
"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Aqualad asked curiously.
Superboy's head snapped up as a wave of confidence washed over him, "I am the Superboy, a genomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should he perish… to destroy him should he turn from the Light."
A tension filled the air as the protégés soaked in what the clone had said. With Strike's attention solely focused on the clone for the time being, his lock picking ceased. Strike stared at the clone, trying to decipher him. As a bat, Strike was trained to read people like they were a book, but Superboy wasn't an ordinary book. He was a clone, designed to be a weapon, not a human. Therefore the emotions, or lack there for of, in his eyes were hard to decipher.
Every now and then Strike could pick up on the flashes of pain and isolation in the clone's blue eyes. But, almost as fast as the emotion was there, they were gone.
Deciding to break the tension, Strike spoke up, "Superman's a great guy to look up to, but that doesn't mean you can't have your own life."
"Strike is right," Aqualad agreed, taking over for the bat, "You should have a life beyond the solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."
"I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" Superboy snapped as an array of emotions flashed through his eyes before they settled on rage.
"Your home is a test tube," Robin deadpanned.
Strike looked at the clone sympathetically, "You deserve more than this. You deserve to see the sun, see th-"
"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight," Kid Flash interjected with a glance at Strike. The speedster faced the clone before he could see the glare on Strike's face, "But we can show you the moon?"
"We can show you… no, introduce you, to Superman." Aqualad promised.
A hopeful look found its way onto Superboy's features and Strike had to resist the urge to smile. They were getting to him.
"No they can't," A voice piped up, instantly washing the look from Superboy's face. "They'll be otherwise… occupied."
Strike looked at the entrance to see Guardian and a couple scientists walking in. The first one was male with thin and gangly features. He was sporting a pair of oversized glasses on his thin face but they did nothing to hide the sunken eyes that took refuge behind the lenses. From his unkempt, ratty brown hair, shrewdly pulled back into a ponytail, Strike made the assumption the guy worked too hard and was in serious need of a vacation. And a makeover.
The second was a female who, without so much as a glance at the heroes, strode over to the computer. From her body language, Strike came to the conclusion she didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be a part of this but somehow, she was roped into this with no choice but to do what she's told.
The workaholic smirked at the captured protégés before turning towards the female scientist, "Activate the cloning process." He ordered and she complied. Strike frowned. Batman was so going to kill him and Robin.
"Pass!" Robin exclaimed, "Batcave's crowded enough."
Strike looked over at his partner incredulously, "Why do I feel like that was a jab at me?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Robin deadpanned as he faced forward. The only hint to the fact that he was joking was the barely noticeable upturned corners of his mouth.
Before Strike could respond with a smartass retort, Kid Flash cut in, "Uh, guys? We have more important things to worry about right now!"
"And get the weapon back in its pod!" The workaholic shouted at Guardian, completely ignoring the protégés that had spoken.
"Hey!" Kid Flash protested, "How come he gets to call Supey an it?"
"Oh I don't know Kid Doofus, maybe because he's a villain and therefore lacking in morals?" Strike retorted before promptly ignoring the glare from said speedster.
The only "hero" free strode forward and placed a hand on the clone's shoulder. Without so much as a glance, Superboy ignored Guardian before turning his attention back to the trapped protégés before him. The protégés were currently trying to do their best puppy dog looks to convince Superboy to help them. So far, they weren't sure if it was working.
The heroes were soon rewarded with a sign of hope as Superboy shrugged Guardian's hand off his shoulder. The hope was once against diminished as the workaholic scientist walked forward. The genomorph that sat comfortably on the man's shoulder jumped onto Superboy's and the emotion Strike was starting to get used to, was once again washed away.
"Don't start thinking now," Workaholic chastised, "See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon and you belong to me." There was a slight pause as he thought his words through, "Well to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!"
Without further protest, Superboy turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving four helpless heroes in the hands of a deranged, overworked scientist. This was going to go fantastic.
"Help us." Aqualad pleaded before the clone had fully left the room.
As if the plea didn't hit the clone's ears, the door closed with a soft hiss before the scientist turned towards the heroes with a smirk on his face. He glanced to his left and gave the other scientist a nod. She instantly began to clack away on the keyboard and, with a click of one last button, the cloning process began.
Strike subconsciously shriveled away from the metal arms that sprung up from the floor and were advancing on him. Each arm had four metal prongs, with needlelike tips, that sent sparks of electricity between each other. Strike didn't have the time to brace himself for the pain before the prongs each delved into his flesh, immediately sending spurts of electricity throughout his body.
A cry escaped his lips as the pain intensified. Strike tried to imagine the times he'd been beaten by the Joker, pinned down by Bane, and delirious from fear gas, but none of that could add up to the amount of pain he was currently feeling.
Strike could barely register the other cries the heroes around him were releasing. The feeling of the prongs embedded in his flesh was equal, if not greater, to the pain of being shot. At least with being shot, Strike dully thought, the pain, although great, only lasted for a short amount of time.
The taste of blood quickly began to fill the brunette's mouth as he realized he was biting his tongue. Quickly releasing his tongue, his eyes clenched as he pressed his teeth hard together, urging the pain to just be over and done.
Almost as if on cue, the pain stopped. Sighing in relief, Strike slumped in his bindings, ignoring the slight muscle spasms he was still having. He quickly jerked back up when he noticed that the clone, who had seemingly ditched them, was now standing in the doorway, with the door held high above his head.
Strike could only watch in slight amusement as the scene before him unfolded. Not only was their weapon helping the heroes, but it seemed like Superboy had chosen to live his own life. Oh, how influential heroes could be.
Workaholics mouth began to move as he was, most likely, yelling at the clone but Strike heard nothing. So as Superboy merely shoved Guardian and the scientist out of the way, Strike shook his head to remove the ringing that was still plaguing his ears.
It took a moment, but when the ringing was finally gone, Superboy's voice was the first thing he heard, "…heat vision. So I guess helping is my only option." Strike blinked. Had Superboy just used humor?
Shaking his head, Strike ignored it as he shakily finished picking the lock. The lock clicked and Strike leapt out of the pod but when his feet hit the ground, his knees buckled.
"Strike," Robin knelt at his partners side, "Are you alright?"
"Yea, yea," Strike nodded as Robin helped him up, "But not for long. Batman's so going to have our heads after tonight."
Robin groaned, "Not just him, Babs too! We never called her!"
"Seriously, that's what you two are worried about?!" Kid Flash deadpanned, staring at the duo incredulously, "The whole League'll have our heads after tonight!"
Behind his mask, Strike rolled his eyes as he walked over to a control panel. He quickly pressed a button and the pods opened up, "Rob, mind getting Kid Mouth?" Robin nodded and jumped onto Kid Flash's pod, "And Superboy," The clone's eyes narrowed dangerously and Strike immediately got the feeling he didn't wish to be ordered around, "Uh.. heh," The brunette chuckled nervously, "Never mind."
Superboy crossed his arms triumphantly and watched as Strike passed him before the young boy gracefully jumped up onto Aqualad's pod.
Strike tinkered with the lock for a few seconds before with a click, it opened. The duo jumped down before Aqualad placed a hand on the younger's shoulder.
"Thank you." Strike smiled and nodded.
With a quick regroup, the quartet of heroes raced off.
"You'll never get out of here!" Workaholic shouted as the five heroes ran by, "I'll have you back in pods before morning!"
"That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all," Robin muttered before sharing a look with Strike. The two bats pulled out a handful of birdarangs before they let them loose. With a clank, the birdagangs latched onto the tanks below the pods before promptly exploding, destroying any and all DNA that once swirled around in them.
"What is with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" Kid Flash wondered curiously as Robin and Strike caught up to him. The only response the speedster got was a simple shoulder shrug from Strike.
Strike's breathing became ragged and his legs began to protest as they raced through the tunnels, but he pressed on. There was no way he was going back in a pod.
"We are still forty-two levels below ground," Aqualad called out from his position at the head of the group, "But if we can make the elevato-"
The quartet skidded to a halt as the mammoth creatures that almost crushed Kid Flash earlier, stepped out from the adjacent hall. The heroes made a move to double back, but the glowing red sacks plastered to the walls began to open, revealing goblin like creatures, who poised themselves to attack.
Glancing between the two options, the heroes felt they had a better chance with the mammoths, who were stronger, yet slower than the goblins.
Spinning on his heel, Strike followed after the others as they leapt and flipped over the mammoths. Well, the majority of them. Superboy, not seeming to understand the plan, leapt up and sent an uppercut to a mammoth's jaw, knocking him down. With Superboy's heavy hitting punches and the mammoth's heavy weight, the tunnel was beginning to shake. The shaking intensified and soon debris was falling.
"Superboy!" Aqualad shouted, catching the clone's attention, "The goal is escape! Not to bury ourselves here!"
"You want escape?" The enrage clone shouted, eyes ablaze. He grabbed a fallen mammoth by the arm and swung it around, right into the final two mammoths.
With the mammoths down, the heroes raced towards the elevator, assuming their new friend would follow. Aqualad quickly pried the doors open, allowing the teens access to their escape route.
Kid Flash leapt into the elevator first, seeing that he could super speed up the walls. Strike and Robin shot their grapple guns and began to ascend with the clone giving a lift to Aqualad.
The heroes began to move up the levels but with a shout from Superboy, they stopped.
"I-I'm falling,"
Strike's eyes widened behind his mask before he quickly reacted. The birdarang he launched flew through the air before it lodged itself into the metal walls of the elevator shaft, just within reach of the Atlantean.
"Superman can fly," Superboy voice sadly as Robin and Strike joined the others on a ledge, "Why can't I fly?"
Strike looked away sadly. He had no answer to that. None of them did. There should be no reason for Superboy to not be able to fly. He was, after all, the clone of the Man of Steel. That had to mean something.
"Don't know," Kid Flash shrugged, "But it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound."
The speedster helped the other two onto the ledge, earning a quiet thanks from the clone.
Strike looked up as he heard the sound of an elevator starting up, "Guys," He called, looking at the group before pointing up.
"This'll have to be our exit!" Robin shouted.
Working together, Superboy and Aqualad punched the doors open, enabling the five teens to roll to safety in a rather normal looking hallway. They watched the elevator whiz by their floor before whirling around as the sound of genomorphs neared them.
"Go left!" Superboy spontaneously shouted, almost causing Strike to slip due to the sudden turning, "Right!" He called out after a bit of running.
The speedster and the clone were the first to enter the dead end, shortly after the final three joined to them.
Slowing to a halt, Strike glanced around the area for an escape route. Just as he noticed the ventilation shaft, Robin nudged him. The duo shared a look before stepping forward.
While Robin pulled up a map, Strike busied himself with taking care of the ventilation cover.
"Uh," Kid Flash looked curiously between the bats, "What're you guys up to?"
"Getting us an escape route," Robin commented as he typed away.
Kid Flash looked incrediusly at him, "You're expecting us to squeeze into that shaft?"
With a clang, the cover fell to the ground as Strike smirked at Kid Flash, "Unless you want to be genomorph food, I suggest you follow us." And with that said, Strike quickly leapt up and shimmied into the shaft, closely followed by Robin. The remaining three shared a look before they scrambled into the shaft and after their Gothamite friends.
"I thought you guys knew where you were going," Kid Flash grumbled from the middle of the pack. Robin just jutted his foot back, hitting Kid Flash's arm, "Ow." The speedster hissed.
"Which way, Rob?" Strike called back to his partner as he came across a fork in the shaft.
"Uh," Robin glanced down at his holo-glove, "Take a-"
"Ssh," Superboy hissed, causing the group to temporarily stop, "Listen."
Strike glanced back at Robin, "Hear anything?"
"No," Robin shook his head before glancing back down, "Take a right and in a couple meters will be out exit."
Strike nodded and immediately continued down the path he was told to take. A few meters later, the exit appeared. Kicking out with his foot, Strike knocked the cover off before quickly rolling out, allowing the rest of the group to exit as well.
As the ominous sound of claws scratching on metal became farther and farther away, Strike and Robin shared a high five before turning towards the rest of the group.
"What was that for?" Kid Flash questioned.
"We're in the clear now."
"How so?"
Robin smirked smugly, "We hacked the motion sensors."
Kid Flash let out a low whistle, "You guys are good."
"Don't we know it." The two bats chorused together.
"You two need to work on your modesty."
"There's still plenty of space between us and out." Robin said, ignoring Kid Flash.
"That just means I have room to move!" The speedster exclaimed, pulling his goggles over his eyes. With that, the red head raced off through the stairway door and up the flights of stairs.
Following his example, the rest of the teens quickly darted into the stairwell and began the long process of traipsing up the winding staircase. Aqualad was in the front with Strike and Robin in the center, typing away on their wrist computers and Superboy brought up the rear.
"More behind us!" Robin shouted a warning.
As the rest of the heroes carried on, Superboy paused to get rid of the trailing genomorphs. With a hefty stomp, he sent the flights of stairs crashing down, taking down the genomorphs that were climbing them. They pushed onwards until they finally reached sub-level one, just to encounter a closed, heavy door and a recovering speedster.
"We're cut off from the street," Aqualad pointed out. Strike rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to sass the Atlantean for pointing out the obvioius.
"Thanks," Kid Flash muttered sarcastically, rubbing his bruised head, "My head hadn't noticed."
As the alarm blared, Robin and Strike went to hacking into the security, but, even with the shared work, they weren't fast enough to hack it. And the two strongest members of the small group weren't strong enough to pry the door open.
With a frustrated growl, Strike closed down his glove before facing the others, "We can't hack this fast enough!"
Growling erupted from behind the heroes as some mammoths began to close in on them.
Acting quickly, Robin kicked the door closest to him, "This way!" He shouted before racing into the passage.
Following the cape crusader, the others raced after him. Robin froze, causing Strike to run into him, as the group entered into a crossroad. Each of the heroes tensed and slipped into fighting stances as they took in the genomorphs, ranging from the small genomorphs to the huge mammoth ones, surrounding them. In the middle of the genomorphs, seeming to be in charge, was Guardian.
As the heroes waited for the genomorphs to attack, they began to become uneasy. Why weren't they attacking? After chasing them throughout the grounds of Cadmus and finally cornering them, the creatures weren't going to attack? But the heroes were braced for the wrong attack.
Instead of the attack being physical, it was mental. As a force took over the teen's minds, black began to fill their vision until they each crumpled to the ground before slipping into darkness.
The force that took the heroes out disappeared, allowing the heroes to come to. As the heroes clambered up off the floor, Guardian rubbed his head and looked around, taking in his surroundings.
"I. Choose. Freedom." Superboy emphasized each word, making sure his choice was heard and understood.
"Feels like… fog lifting." Guardian mumbled, rubbing his head.
"Guardian?" Aqualad cautiously asked.
"Go," Guardian ordered the teens, "I'll deal with Desmond."
Strike quirked his brow. So that was workaholic-man-who-was-in-need-of-a-makeover's name. Everything is clear now!
"I think not," Speak of the devil! The crowd of genomorphs separated, allowing Desmond to step forward, "Project Blockbuster will give me to power to restore order to Cadmus."
Desmond held up a vial filled with an electric blue liquid. With a smirk, he quickly downed the vial, causing Strike to shiver. Anything that glowed a weird, electric blue color could not be good.
As soon as the liquid was gone, Desmond collapsed to the ground as the sound of cracking bones and ripping skin rang through the air. The teens took a step back as the man began to mutate. His mass increased ten-fold as he grew taller and taller. Strike's eyes widened as the skin the doctors body began to tear and shred, eventually pulling away from the body to reveal a gray underlying layer. Seconds later, a large, muscular monster was standing before the group, ready for a fight. With a loud roar, Blockbuster flashed the group a malicious grin.
"Everyone back!" Guardian ordered, before rushing at the monster.
The hero didn't even prove a threat as Blockbuster quickly and easily knocked Guardian into one of the metal walls, knocking him out.
Superboy rushed forward, throwing a punch at the creature. It proved to be a bit more effective, but Blockbuster responded with a punch of his own and soon the duo were trading punches, each trying to one-up the other. The punches stopped when Blockbuster latched onto Superboy and threw him upwards and through the ceiling.
"Well, that's one way to blast through the ceiling," Robin observed, staring up at the whole.
Strike quickly rushed forward, staring up at the hole before he promptly fired a grappling hook.
"Just how many of those things do you guys have?!" Kid Flash asked, staring incrediously at the grapples each of the bats were now sporting.
Robin and Strike shared a look, shrugging, "As many as we need."
Kid Flash rolled his eyes before hitching a ride with Robin, "Think lab coat planned that?"
"I do not think he is planning anything anymore," Aqualad remarked, accepting the hand Strike offered him. The duo flew upwards and joined the rest of their posse.
Just as they landed, Blockbuster tossed Superboy. The clone collided with Aqualad, sending them flying backwards. The three standing teens spun on their heels and raced towards the falling comrades. As the quartet regrouped, they braced themselves for battle before charging the enemy.
Kid Flash easily zipped ahead, sliding under Blockbuster and popping back up on his other side. Superboy and Aqualad charged at the creature and delivered a double punch. The force sent Blockbuster reeling backwards and into Kid Flash, who was propped up on his hands and knees, and tripping him. The creature fell backwards with a roar as Kid Flash smirked down at him.
"Learned that one in kindergarten,"
Strike and Robin followed up Kid Flash's attack with one of their own. The duo flipped over the speedster before launching a barrage of birdarangs, which proved to be unsuccessful as Blockbuster just swatted the weapons away like they were nothing.
Rolling over, Blockbuster came face to face with Superboy, who was ready to punch his lights out. Superboy braced himself as, with a loud growl, Blockbuster tackled Superboy into a pillar, causing the whole building to shake. Superboy retaliated with a punch as the duo went at each other, until Aqualad joined the fight.
Using Aqualad as a bat, he smashed the Atlantean into the clone just as Kid Flash came barreling towards Blockbuster. Thinking quickly on his part, Blockbuster knocked the three super teens into each other. With the three powered teens out for the time being, Blockbuster went after the bats.
With a startled cry, Strike and Robin rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding being flattened. The two popped back up before running off, leaving a wake of explosives in their path. The bombs went off, surrounding Blockbuster in a sheath of smoke. As the creature wildly swung its arms around, Robin and Strike attacked. Moving as one, the bats launched into a series of kicks and jabs all the while avoiding the blind strikes from Blockbuster and successfully pissing the creature off.
As the smoke dissipated, Strike and Robin went to make their exit. Before Strike was out of harm's way, Blockbuster made a blind grab for him and successfully grabbed Strike's cape.
Strike gasped as he was suddenly lifted into the air by the very cape he swore would kill him one day. From the looks of it, that day could be today.
"I told you, Robin," Strike yelled as he tinkered with removing the cape, "This cape is going to be the death of me!"
Blockbuster, seemingly not amused by the bat, roared in his face. Strike grimaced at the dank breath the creature had before calmly reaching into his utility belt.
"You need a breath mint." He deadpanned before dropping a smoke pellet into the still open mouth of the creature. The creature began to hack and cough as smoke began to fill his mouth. His arms began to flail, dropping Strike in the process, as he attempted to remove the smoke from his mouth.
Once the smoke had cleared, Blockbuster was greeted with a fist from Superboy. The force of the punch sent Blockbuster flying backwards, into another pillar. The building began shake once again as support was beginning to deplete.
"The pillars!" Strike and Robin cried. Activating his wrist computer, Robin downloaded the blueprints before quickly pulling them up. The duo glanced over the blueprints, taking in the locations where the most structural damage had been done.
"Here," Strike pointed to a spot in the room, "That's where most of the debris will fall."
Robin nodded his head, understanding where Strike was going, "We lead Dr. Freakazoid there and the weight will take him out for us."
"Exactly, now let's tell the others."
"KF," Robin called out, gaining the speedster's attention, "Get over here!"
The speedster did as he was told and zipped to the Gothamites side.
"What's up?"
"We're going to bring the house down," Strike explained. He pointed to a spot on the blueprint where a pillar had gone red, most likely from Superboy crashing into it, showing the structural damage.
Kid Flash nodded his head, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, "Kid Distraction at your service."
"Just go!" Robin rolled his eyes before turning to Strike, "You set up the bombs, I'll tell Aqualad and Superboy." Strike nodded and raced off.
The plan was quickly put into action, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Superboy initiated pillar destruction, Strike distributed explosives left and right, making sure each pillar got one, while Robin sketched out the location where Blockbuster was to be lead to. As soon as the final play of the plan was to be initiated, Aqualad dispersed a pool of water that the Kryptonian knocked Blockbuster into. Before he had a chance to get up, Aqualad shocked the creature.
"Move!" Robin ordered as soon as the creature was down and almost out.
The quartet of heroes raced away from Blockbuster towards a safer area. Strike felt the scorching heat as the bombs went off but that was short lived as the two most durable teens dove over the top of Kid Flash, Robin and Strike, protecting them from a majority of the explosion.
When the debris and rubble settled, Strike opened his eyes, but there wasn't much to see. Everything was pitch black, the layer of rubble effectively blocking out any and all light. Eventually the strongest of the bunch shifted and pulled the rubble off the group, allowing them some breaths of fresh air. Strike gratefully swallowed up as much fresh air as was humanly possibly as he sprawled out on the concrete, staring blankly up at the sky.
As the adrenaline slowly depleted from his veins, Strike took noticed of the pain that was spread throughout his body. Not only were his muscles sore as can be, but he was covered in a multitude of small cuts and scrapes thanks to the rubble. Still, Strike can remember being in worse pain.
"We… did it." Aqualad huffed out, staring proudly at the rag tag team of heroes.
"Was there… ever any doubt?" Robin grinned, panting. He turned to give Kid Flash a high five, but they both winced in pain instead.
Despite his pain, Strike felt a sense accomplishment and pride. They had done it, without the League. Hopefully now, the League would see them as equals and treat them as such.
Strike clambered up to his feet, swaying slightly as a wave of vertigo washed over him. As soon as it passed, Strike stood up straight, much to the protest of his muscles. All Strike wanted to do at the moment was take a nice hot bath and sleep for eternity.
There was some crunching and Strike turned his head to see Superboy staring at the unconscious form of Blockbuster. Strike could only imagine the things running through the clone's head. Superboy was free, no longer just a living weapon. He could live his own life, follow his own path.
"See?" Kid Flash spoke up, breaking Strike, and Superboy, out of his thoughts. The red head pointed up at the full moon, smiling brightly, "The moon."
The five teens turned their heads upwards, ignoring any and all pain they felt at the moment, to stare at the brightly lit mass. After a few moments of staring, a black dot began to grow closer and closer, eventually revealing itself to be Superman.
"Oh, and Superman! Do we keep our promises or what?" Kid Flash chirped, not at all fazed by the Man of Steel advancing on them. Strike, however, had a feeling Superman wasn't the only Leaguer coming to scold them. The same feeling was shared by Robin as the two shared a weary glance.
Sure enough, they were right. Leaguers began to appear out of the sky left and right, the ones who couldn't fly, stood on green platforms created by the Green Lanterns. They formed up around the crater, circling around the five heroes as if they suspected them to run. Only the major Leaguers stepped down and made their approach. Their eyes scanned over the teens, taking in their torn, ragged, and bleeding figures.
Superboy was the first to make a move. He stepped forward, leaving his saviors behind, and closer to the man of whom he was created from. Superman's eyes narrowed as his clone walked towards him and Strike frowned. Usually the Big Blue Boy Scout was accepting of everything. As soon as Superboy held up his 'S' shield, a wide array flashed through Superman's eyes.
Superboy smiled hopefully at Superman as if to tell the Man of Steel that it was okay, that it was okay to accept him. But the smile was quickly wiped off his face as Superman's face contorted into one of anger. Strike resisted the urge to place a comforting hand on the clone's shoulder. After all, his pretty much father just rejected him.
Batman was the first to speak up, "Is that what I think it is?" He questioned coldly.
Strike's eyes narrowed at his mentor, anger boiling up in him. Superboy was so much more than an it, but he had to remind himself that this was Batman, the Dark Knight. It was his job to be the one to get straight to the point, no matter how cold he sounded because somewhere, Batman did care. But that part of him was Bruce Wayne and as a vigilante, he couldn't afford to be Bruce Wayne.
"He doesn't like being called an it," Kid Flash warned in a mock whisper.
"I'm Superman's clone," Superboy announced, anger and frustration flash through his eyes.
As the information settled in, the Leaguers began to stare wide eyed at Superboy. While the rest of the League rustled uncomfortably, Batman narrowed his eyes.
"Start talking."
With that said, the teens began to hurriedly explain the whole ordeal to the Dark Knight, starting from page one.
Once the teens were done talking, Batman gave them a curt nod before turning on his heel, cape flaring out behind him, to talk to the other Leaguers about the situation at hand.
The exhausted and fatigued teenagers huddled together as the Leaguer's conversed. Strike's head looked up as he watched several Leaguers fly off, with Blockbuster in tow. As the teens stood awkwardly around, Superboy kept sending glances in Superman's direction, willing him to come over and talk to him.
Superboy got his wish as Superman heaved a heavy sigh and made his way over to the group. He stopped awkwardly in front of Superboy, "We'll, uh, we'll figure something out for you," Superman tensed slightly before going on, "The League will, I mean," He clarified quickly, "For now, I… better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away."
Almost as soon as the last word left his mouth, Superman flew off into the crisp night air, leaving behind his clone.
"Cadmus will be investigated," Batman announced. Strike turned his head to face his mentor as he approached, with Aquaman and Flash in tow, "All fifty-two levels, but let's make one thing clear-"
"You should've called!" Flash interjected impatiently. Batman flashed the Flash a quick, yet powerful Batglare, causing the impatient speedster to stand down before he continued.
"And results aside, we are not happy," Batman continued, voice dropping a couple octaves and Strike flinched at how close the voice he was using on them was to the growl he used against Gotham villains, "You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives," He listed off, "You will not be doing this again."
Silence fell upon the young heroes as they shifted uncomfortably, but with once glance at each other, they took on more confident stances. They were done being treated like sidekicks. Today was the day. The day the League saw them as something much more than mere sidekicks.
Aqualad stood up straighter, declaring that he be listened to, "I am sorry, but we will."
Aquaman stepped forward, "Aqualad, stand down," He ordered.
"Apologies my king," Aqualad sent his king a slight bow, showing that he meant to disrespect, "But no. We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."
"If this is about your treatment at the hall," Flash started, "The four of you-"
"The five of us," Kid Flash interjected with a slight glare at his mentor, "And it's not."
Robin and Strike shared a look before they approached their mentor.
"Batman," Robin started, a slightly pleading tone underlying his voice, "We're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?"
"You, of all people, should know we are ready," Strike cracked a slight grin, "After all, you did teach us."
"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy snapped angrily, still upset about his treatment from Superman, "It's simple: get on board or get out of the way."
Batman's eyes narrowed as the five heroes stood defiantly before them. It was obvious from their posture that they weren't going to take no for an answer. Batman thought through the options he had at hand. The teens could either go rogue on him, or use their defiance and want to be treated equal as an advantage for him.
He knew his choice.
"Give me three days," Batman demanded. His eyes scanned over the heroes, daring them to challenge him, but none of them would. They didn't want to ruin the opportunity they had, "Robin, Strike," Batman barked at his protégés. The two snapped to attention before quickly trailing after their mentor.
"I'm not happy," Batman said as the batmobile took off, "What were you two thinking?"
Strike flashed his mentor a sheepish smile, "We were thinking maybe this was our chance to prove ourselves to you guys?"
Batman sighed before pulling off his cowl to reveal Bruce Wayne. His protégés, taking the hint, removed their masks, "You guys succeeded in proving that you can't listen to orders."
"Actually," Dick piped up, "You said we couldn't help out with the blotting out the sun mission. Cadmus was never addressed."
Bruce rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips, "Ah, the ever allusive loophole." He glanced at his protégés before shaking his head, "You guys still almost got yourselves killed and-"
"The key word being, almost." Jace interjected with a smirk before he leaned back in the plush, leather seats.
Bruce flashed Jace a quick glare before continuing on, "Even so, I'm still not happy and as a result, you two will be properly punished."
Dick paled as Jace smirked slightly, "Come on Bruce, we both know you can't ground me."
"No," Bruce agreed, nodding his head, "But I can assign a mandatory training day tomorrow." Bruce smirked as both his protégés shared scared expressions. With the condition they were in right now, a training session was not something the doctor would recommend. Jace already wanted to die right now. He couldn't even imagine how he'd feel after the training session.
With the forlorn news that the teens would spend all day tomorrow in pain, the rest of the ride home was relatively silent, minus the few hisses of pain as the teens shifted around in the seats.
Jace sat up and slapped his mask back on his face as they approached his house. Parking the Batmobile a few blocks away, Bruce faced Jace.
"I'll see you bright eyed and bushy tailed at six o'clock."
Jace's eyes widened, "But it's already 3:30!" He cried.
"Then I guess you'd better get going," Bruce winked at Jace before the Batmobile opened up.
Jace scrambled out of the car, mumbling incoherent things to himself as he trudged home.
The teen had just climbed up the fire escape and was about to climb in his window when a voice stopped him.
"Well, well, well," Jace's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. Standing above him was his brothers, fully decked out in their garb, "The prodigal son has finally returned."
"I'm not in the mood for you guys right now," Jace growled as he slid his window open.
There were a couple thuds behind him and Jace turned around to see his brothers had joined him.
"You look like shit," Andy pointed out, taking in the torn up costume and scratched figure that was Jace.
"No shit, Sherlock," Jace snapped, causing Andy to frown.
"No need to be so harsh."
"Sheesh," Will chuckled darkly, "What's go your panties in a bunch?"
"Nothing that concerns you," Jace muttered as he slid through his window, "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
With that said, Jace slammed his window shut before closing the curtains so his brothers were out of sight. With a groan, Jace face planted on his bed, not ever bothering to take his uniform off because he'd just have to put it back on in a few hours anyways. All his clean, not torn spares were in the Batcave.
Not even five minutes later, Jace was out like a light, bits and pieces of the night's escapades flashing through his mind.
MOUNT JUSTICE
July 8, 08:04 EDT
Strike shifted the sunglasses on his nose uncomfortably. He had always hated sunglasses.
"Why do we have to wear these again?" Strike questioned his mentor as he glared at the lenses on his face.
"Because," Batman answered briskly, "Your secret ID's are important and they must remain a secret."
"Even from a Team of our own?" Robin questioned, clearly not having as many issues with the sunglasses as Strike was.
Batman nodded as they entered the main hall of Mount Justice, "Even from them."
Strike glanced around the Cave in awe as Leaguer's flew around, fixing it up. After all, it had been decommissioned for a while now.
Robin and Strike took notice of the other three teens already standing in a line and rushed over to them, falling in line next to them.
"This Cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman explained, pacing in front of the young heroes, "We're calling it into service again since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms." Red Tornado and Black Canary stepped forward as Batman pointed to them, "Red Tornado volunteered to stay here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."
"Real missions?" Robin questioned his mentor.
"Yes," Batman agreed, nodding his head, "But covert."
"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Flash spoke up, causing the protégés to look at him, "There's a reason we have these big targets on our chest."
"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman spoke up, "Batman needs a Team that can operate on the sly."
"The six of you will be that Team,"
"Cool!" Robin grinned, sharing a fist bump with Strike. The smiles on their faces quickly retreated when they realized something, "Wait, six?" Unless Batman somehow did his math wrong, there were only five protégés present.
Batman's gaze looked up and the protégés turned around as a young girl, with green skin and auburn hair, entered the room, closely followed by Martian Manhunter.
"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." Batman explained. Smiles broke out on all, well almost all, of the teens face as they took in the cute girl.
"Hi," Miss Martain smiled shyly with a wave.
"Liking this gig more and more every minute," Kid Flash grinned at Robin and Strike. He approached Miss Martian with an overfriendly smile, "Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Strike, Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names."
Strike slightly glared at Kid Flash as he passed him by, "Ignore Kid Idiot," He smiled with a wink at the Martian, "He's nothing special."
"Hey!" Kid Flash exclaimed, racing to Strike's side, "I take offense to that!"
"Good, that's what I was aiming for," Strike said with a laugh, elbowing the speedster lightly in the gut. Kid Flash scowled at the bat but that was quickly replaced with a smile when Miss Martian giggled.
Robin let out a laugh as the joined the trio with Aqualad in tow, "Hey Superboy!" He called to the clone, "Come meet Miss M!"
Superboy approached the teens and Miss Martian smiled shyly at him as her shirt changed to match his, "I like you T-shirt." She grinned.
Superboy smiled softly at the Martian while Robin elbowed him knowingly in the gut. Strike grinned as he crossed his arms.
Aqualad looked at all of the teens, smiling, "Today is the day."
Aqualad could not have been more right.
A/N: Guess who's writing third person from now on? I don't know why I never did that before...
Anyways, I guess I should probably explain why Falcon hasn't been updated yet... Well you see, I uhmm... Accidently saved over the next chapter with a file I needed for school. Meaning that, the next chapter is gone and I HAVE TO START OVER. /SOBS VIOLENTLY I rage quit and decided to work on this because well, why not? I was in the zone for writing, just not Falcon after I lost the chapter.
So yea, next chapter of Falcon should be out by next Friday (hopefully)
A note about this story. I do have bigger plans for this story simply because yea, Falcon follows the plot but I'm pretty sure Strike will as well (at least for some episodes) but Strike will also have a bunch more chapters not following the plot (well hopefully, if I can get my creative juices flowing)
I bid you all farewell and I thank you for reading.
