I'm actually really excited about this story :)
NOTICE: Sara Lance [from CW's show 'Arrow'] is in this, she is slightly different from CW's, but I've changed a few things for my use of her.
Disclaimer: I only own Emily Lance.
CADMUS RESEARCH LAB, D.C.
June 4, 15:03
Emily watched from afar as KF shot down the road and up the side of the building to catch the falling scientists, running further up and dropping them back in the window.
Kid Flash lost his footing, falling slightly before grabbing the window, Emily dismounted her bike and took off running with Robin and Aqualad.
"It's Flash Boy!" one fireman shouted.
"It's Kid Flash!" KF complained, turning his head sideways.
"So smooth," Robin laughed, shaking his head.
"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad asked.
Emily smirked, "How else can he get any glory?"
Emily scaled the fire truck then up the ladder before pushing off the handlebars and landing on the windowsill next to Robin. Smiling, she waved to Aqualad who was still on the ground.
She then stepped inside the window, shortly followed by KF and Robin. A few seconds later Aqualad joined them.
Tremor stood next to Kid Flash, looking around the room whilst Robin hacked the computer.
"I appreciate the help," Aqualad said sarcastically.
Emily smirked, "Anytime, water boy."
"Besides," Robin added, "we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"
Emily watched sharply as Aqualad walked over to the door, she saw his eyes widen and ran over peeking around the corner as the elevator dinged.
"There was something in there," Aqualad breathed.
"Elevator's should be locked down," KF frowned, Emily grinned, racing forward to the lift, she clicked the down button multiple times.
Robin appeared next to her, bringing up his arm and clicking a button on his glove, a holographic display came up of the elevator.
"This isn't right," Robin muttered, tapping at the hologram, he nodded, "Thought so, this is a high speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two story building."
"Then obviously it's not two story," Emily pointed out, she walked forwards and placed her palms on the metal doors, they shook rapidly before breaking into pieces.
"That is so cool," Kid Flash stated, looking in awe at the broken doors.
Robin walked forward and peered down the shaft, he leant over, "That's why they need an express elevator."
The elevator tube went down deep, lights lined the tunnel and went so far down they vanished. Robin shot his grapple to the roof and jumped in, disappearing down into the darkness.
Emily looked at the other two before shrugging and jumping onto the wire after him, her fingerless black gloves stopping robe burn.
"I'm at the end of my rope."
Emily heard Robin mutter to himself as she neared him, cursing she tried to slow down so she didn't crash into him, luckily he swung himself onto the ledge and Emily swung after him.
"I'm bypassing security," Robin told them, the hologram coming up, "There, go."
Aqualad heaved the doors open and Tremor ducked under his arm, walking in. In front of them was a long corridor with dim lights.
"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin stated, standing next to Tremor.
Before anyone could react, the yellow speedster shot down the corridor, a blur of yellow, before skidding onto the floor.
He yelled out and rolled away, Emily ran over just as large, stone creatures marched passed, Emily noticed they looked like mammoths, sort of.
On top of their heads sat a stone devil looking creature with black markings on it with large horns and red eyes. Small horns on top of its head started glowing red and Emily felt a dizziness wash over her.
"No, nothing going on here," Aqualad mumbled dazedly.
As the mammoths and the devil elves disappeared Tremor felt the feeling disappear, she shook her head and stood straighter.
The door's red circle turned a bright green and the metal rolled aside to let them pass, Robin placed his hand down and Emily took a step back.
"Okay," Robin laughed shakily, "I'm officially whelmed."
Inside the room was hundreds of glass containers with insect like beings inside, the tubes glowed blue to match the lightning like ball balancing above a podium in the centre of the room.
"This is how they hide this facility from the whole world!" Kid Flash exclaimed, "the real Cadmus isn't on the grid, it generates it'd own power with these… things."
Panic rose if Emily's stomach and she felt the room start to shake, balling her hands into a fist Emily took deep breaths.
"What's causing that?" KF asked, stumbling back.
"I don't know, but whatever it is it's not an earthquake, there's no readings," Robin frowned, clicking his glove.
Aqualad looked over at Emily, "Tremor, are you alright?"
"It's me. I'm causing the quake," Emily squeezed her eyes shut, she took another deep breath, calming her nerves. The shaking stopped.
Looking around she laughed, "This is a stupid idea. We're gonna get caught! Then the League will be really ticked off. I should have listened to Canary, I'm not ready."
"Hey," Robin put a hand on her shoulder, "You're doing great."
"It must be what they're bread for," Kid Flash muttered, "To generate electricity."
"Of course," Aqualad nodded, "even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragon's teeth into the earth."
"I should really start paying attention in history," Emily muttered, sighed to herself before peering at the creature behind the glass.
"This Cadmus creates new life, too," Robin narrowed his eyes, walking to the computer, "Let's find out why."
Pulling out a black cable from his glove, Robin plugged it into the computer and the holo-screen came up.
"They call them Genomorphs," Robin reported, "Wow! Look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws these are living weapons!"
"Great. We're screwed," Tremor held up her hands.
"They're engineering an army," the speedster scowled.
"We don't know that," Tremor walked to the duo, "they could be just super-powered security."
"Wait, there's something else," Robin clicked a file, "Project Kr."
"Kr, that's the atomic symbol for Krypton, isn't it?" Emily inquired, looking at the boys.
"Ugh, the file, it's encrypted… I can't-," Robin was cut off.
"Don't move!"
Tremor froze, cursing to herself as she turned to see someone running towards them with four- bigger- stone creatures with him.
"Wait," Emily recognised the man as Guardian, "Robin, Aqualad, Tremor, and Kid Flash?"
"At least he got your name right," Robin snickered, looking at KF before back to where he was downloading the file.
"I know you," Aqualad stated, "Guardian. A hero."
"I do my best," Guardian smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Kid Flash frowned.
"And why have you got a load of stone devils?" Emily questioned.
"I think that's my question," Guardian put his hand down, "I'm chief of security. You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out."
"You think the League is going to approve of you breeding weapons?!" KF exclaimed.
"Weapons, what do you-."
The small creature perched on Guardians shoulder turned to the hero, his horns turning red, and Guardian's eyes glazed over.
"Dammit!" Emily cursed, Guardian held his head, shaking it.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked from behind them.
"That creature, it must be psychic- it's controlling Guardian," Tremor explained.
"Take 'em down hard," Guardian ordered, "No mercy."
"See!" Emily exclaimed, stepping backwards as soon as the creatures bounded forward.
Robin threw a smoke bomb on the floor before shooting his grapple and swinging away, Emily cursed and pulled out her batons, fighting off one of the creatures.
"Gah!" Kid Flash exclaimed, jumping out of the way.
Taking down her golem, Emily noticed Guardian fighting Aqualad and the remaining creatures attacking KF.
"Enough!" Emily yelled, putting her batons away.
Holding her hands out, palms to the creatures attacking the speedster, the column next to the creatures crumbled, burring them.
Kid Flash grinned at her, shooting over and sweeping her up before running off in a blur to Robin.
"Way to be a team player, Rob," KF scowled.
"Weren't you right behind me?" Robin asked.
"No, no we were not!" Emily growled, ignoring the rumbling the building made as the columns shook.
The elevator opened and the trio dove in, waiting for Aqualad to tumble after them before closing the doors. The light saying which numbed went up, signifying they were going down.
"We're going down?" Aqualad frowned.
"Dude!" the redhead yelled, "Out is up."
"Excuse me? Project Kr!" Robin reminded them.
"Yes, we know- Project Krypton!" Emily exclaimed, the two boys looked at her, "What?"
"What did you say Kr stood for?" Robin asked.
"Kr: atomic symbol for Krypton," Emily repeated, giving them a 'what' look.
"It's on sublevel fifty two, we have to find out why it's called Project Krypton," Robin stated firmly.
"This is getting out of control," Aqualad sighed, running his hand through his short blonde hair.
"You're telling me," Tremor laughed, "We could all die down here! The worst part? The League don't even know we're down here!"
"Perhaps we should contact the League," Aqualad suggested.
Then they reached level fifty two.
The doors slid open and the quartet readied themselves in case they had to fight their way through, but the only thing in the hallway was red walls and long corridors.
Emily took off after Robin, Kid Flash said something to Aqualad before running up next to her.
"Which way"? Aqualad asked.
"Yeah, bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two," Robin shook his head.
"Halt!"
A taller, more human looking stone devil came into view, his eyes and horns turned read as the tin barrel in front of him rose in to the air and flew at them.
"I pick two," Emily decided, springing up and running down the strange looking hallway as the creature hurled move objects after them.
As they ran down the corridor a doctor walked out, unable to stop, KF crashed into her. Emily leaped over the doctor grabbing a tube and throwing it in the way of the door to stop it closing.
Emily leaped inside, followed by Kid Flash, then Robin and finally Aqualad, who kicked the pole away and let the door close.
Robin was already at the computer, "I disabled the door. We're safe."
"We're trapped," Aqualad corrected.
"Err, guys?" the speedster called, Emily walked over and looked at the screen, "You'll wanna see this."
Kid Flash clicked a button, watching as the pod in the centre of the room lit up and the person in side was revealed.
"Wow," Emily breathed.
Inside the container was a boy, he looked around their age with jet black hair and wearing a white suit with a read 'S' on it. He looked exactly like Superman.
KF walked forwards, looking at the symbol on the front of the pod, "Big K little r, Tremor was right! It's the atomic symbol for Krypton!"
Above the boys head sat three little stone devil creatures, their eyes were closed, but their horns glowed red.
"Clone?" Kid Flash queried, looking at the trio behind him.
"Robin, hack," Aqualad ordered.
"Right, yeah," Robin nodded, plugging the cable in and tapping away on his holographic screen.
"Weapon designation: Superboy," Robin read out, "A clone force grown in- sixteen weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman."
"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad amended, scowling at the pod.
"No way the big guy knows about this," KF shook his head.
"Solar suit allows yellow sun radiation absorption twenty four seven," Robin continued.
"And these creatures above him?" Tremor asked, pointing to the little creatures in the pod.
"Genomorph gnomes," Robin explained, "Telepathic. Force feeding him an education."
"And we can guess what else," the redhead grimaced.
"So, what, we're trapped in a sealed room with a possibly psycho clone of Superman?" Tremor deadpanned, raising her eyebrow.
"They're making a slave," Kid Flash breathed, "Out of, well, Superman's son."
"Man," Emily shook her head, "That's got to hurt his pride."
"Now we contact the League," Aqualad stated, pressing the 'A' on his belt, it glowed blue but nothing happened.
"We're in too deep, literally," Kid Flash said, looking up.
Suddenly the Genomorphs' horns glowed red and their eyes opened, Emily's eyes widened, "Something tells me that's not a good sign."
"We can't leave him like this," Robin shook his head.
Aqualad paused, thinking, "Set him free. Do it."
Robin nodded, bringing up the holographic screen on his glove and tapping a few times, the doors to the pod slid open.
The clone stretched his hand and his eyes flew open, they were the same blue as Superman's. Aqualad narrowed his eyes and Tremor felt the panicky feeling in her stomach again. Then Superboy shot out of the pod.
The clone crashed into Aqualad and pinned him to the floor, throwing a few punches to his face, Emily and Kid Flash shot forward, hauling Superboy off Aqualad.
"We're on your side!" Emily cried out, hanging onto his arm.
"Calm down, supey!" the speedster exclaimed before said Superman threw him into a tube.
Emily held on a little longer before she was thrown next to the redhead.
Robin hung onto the clone's neck, "I don't wanna do this!"
Then Robin hit him with a smoke bomb, just as Aqualad kicked him in the chest.
Emily groaned and pulled herself to her feet, watching as Robin shot two electric wires into his chest, it didn't seem to affect Superboy. But the clone pulled on the wires and sent Robin flying through the air where he caught him by the neck and threw him to the ground, standing on him.
Emily narrowed her eyes, charging towards the duo, "Hey!"
As Superboy looked up Emily threw a punch across his cheek, the clone stumbled back off Robin and Emily followed up with a roundhouse kick. Tremor offered Robin a hand and the boy wonder took it.
"Thanks," he muttered before passing out, Emily guessed loss of oxygen.
Tremor placed the boy down and turned around just as Superboy threw a punch, it connected with her face and Emily was sent stumbling. As she regained her balance the clone grabbed her by her neck, holding her out to the side and lifting her up in the air causing Emily's feet to flail as her hands scratched at his hands.
"Enough!" Aqualad shouted making a water hammer with his weapon and hitting the clone square in the chest, he dropped Emily and was sent flying into his pod.
Aqualad knelt next to the raven haired girl, "Are you okay?"
"Little… bit… dizzy…" Tremor replied before dropping unconscious.
Emily sat on the edge of a hospital bed, her ten year old self clutching her sister's hand as her sister lay peacefully in the hospital bed.
"Miss Lance?" a female doctor spoke softly from the door.
"Y-yes?" Emily asked, tears streaming down her face, the hospital room had a television. And the news was on, with reports of a crashed car. Her car.
"I have some-."
"Is it about the crash?"
"Why yes… and your parents."
Emily's parents had gone to get her a change of clothes and change themselves, as Emily refused to leave her sister's side and she'd been in the hospital for two days.
"Are they… are they dead?" Emily whispered, salty tears leaving a trail of water down her face.
"Your mother is in critical condition here at the hospital," the doctor smiled.
"And dad?" Emily probed, wiping away her tears with her free hand.
Time runs short.
"I'm so sorry-," the doctor was cut off as a blonde woman barrelled past her.
Emily's first thought was 'mom'. But the woman's face was different.
"Emmie," Dinah Laurel Lance breathed, pulling the girl into a hug, rubbing her back as a new wave of tears flooded down her face, "It's all going to be okay."
You must awaken.
Dinah stood outside the door, talking to the nurse with a blond man standing next to her, her aunt turned away and rested her head on her companions shoulder. Letting go of, Kyla's, her sister, hand, Emily walked outside.
"Aunt Dinah, what's happened to daddy?" Emily mumbled.
Dinah crouched in front of her, "You dad's… Emily, I'm so sorry… daddy's gone… so you are gonna come stay with me for a bit, what do ya say?"
Emily opened her mouth as more tears freed themselves from her eyes but a crash sounded followed by the flat line from the heart monitor. Dinah rushed into the room with Emily behind her, and Emily frowned at the sight.
The hospital bed was empty, the window open. Then it hit her.
Her older sister was gone.
You must awaken, NOW.
Emily's eyes shot open and she gasped for breath, she felt something wet on her cheek and cursed herself, the memory had made her cry.
Looking to her left she saw Kid Flash, to her right, Robin. In front of her… Superboy. Emily noticed immediately she was in a containment pod, her hands stuck above her.
"What?" KF asked, looking at the clone, "What do you want?"
Superboy just stared at the speedster, who was pretty angry, "Stop staring! You're freaking me out!"
"Can he even understand us?" Emily inquired, looking at Robin.
"I'm not sure," Robin sighed before looking at Kid Flash, "Uh KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look."
"Can he fry us? He hasn't demonstrated any of Superman's powers yet, except for incredible strength and perseverance," Emily pointed out.
"I'm not sure," Robin grimaced.
"We only sort to help you," Aqualad said to the clone.
"Yeah!" KF exclaimed, "And you turn on us! How's that for gratitude!"
"Kid, please be quiet now," Aqualad ordered, giving the speedster a stern look, "I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."
"What if I-," Superboy tried again, "What if I wasn't?"
"He can talk?!" Kid Flash questioned.
Superboy clenched his fist, "Yes, he can."
Kid Flash looked at his three accompaniments, "Not like I said it."
"The Genomorphs taught you telepathically," Aqualad explained.
"They taught me much," Superboy nodded, "I can read, write, I know the names of things."
"But have you seen them?" Robin inquired, narrowing his eyes, "Have they ever actually let you see the sky? Or the sun?"
"The moon or stars?" Emily emphasised, she'd always loved the night.
"Images are planted in my mind, but no I have not seen them," Superboy shook his head.
"Do you know what you are?" Aqualad enquired, looking down, "Who you are?"
"I am the Superboy," Superboy stood straighter, "A Genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should he perish, to destroy his should he turn from the light."
"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration," Aqualad picked his words carefully, "but like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. To have a life beyond the solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."
"I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" Superboy yelled.
"Your home is a test tube," Robin pointed out.
"Which they kept you in because they thought you a weapon, that's all you are to them, a weapon to use," Emily emphasised.
"We can show you the sun," Robin highlighted.
"Uhh, I'm pretty sure it's after midnight," the speedster pointed out, "But we can show you the moon."
"We can show you, introduce you, to Superman," Aqualad continued.
Superboy's eyes widened, but a cruel voice spoke over, "No, they can't, they'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process."
"Pass, the Batcave's already crowded," Robin said.
"My Aunt has enough with just me," Emily shrugged.
A doctor stood in the middle with greying brown hair and a mean face, to his right a dark skinned woman with short black hair and to his left Guardian. All with the little stone devils on their shoulders.
"Get the weapon back in its pod!" the scientist exclaimed angrily.
"He's not an it it's a he," Emily spat.
"Hey, how come he gets to call Supey it?" Kid Flash complained.
"Stop complaining, flash boy," Tremor warned, giving KF the best glare she could through her mask.
Kid Flash glared at her, his voice whingey, "It's Kid Flash."
Guardian placed a hand on Superboy's shoulder and Aqualad looked down at the clone, "Help us. Please."
Superboy shrugged off Guardians hand, giving the hero a dirty look.
"Don't start thinking now," the head scientist demanded a small gnome leapt from his shoulder to Superboy's and the clone's expression went blank, "See you're not a real boy. You're a weapon and you belong to me! Well, to Cadmus but same thing! Now get back to your pod!"
"Please, Superboy, don't leave us," Emily whispered, hoping the clone had obtained super-hearing and could hear her.
The doors rolled shut behind Superboy and the lead scientist nodded to his assistant who was at the controls.
She clicked a few buttons and sparking metal prongs shot up, spreading into four and four before the eight of then dug into Tremor's skin. Electricity shot through her body as her blood was extracted into the tube attached to the prongs.
Emily screamed in pain, her body writhing as the electricity repeatedly electrocuted her, but she managed to whisper out again.
"Superboy, if you can hear me," Emily mumbled, "You are real, you're not an 'it', you're a 'he'. You think you're real, then prove it. Weapon or hero, you choose. But think on this… what would Superman do?"
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