Washington D.C. appeared to be the same no matter what world you stood in. The only difference Duela could see was that the president was different and the Hall of Justice hadn't been blown to fuck-and-back yet.
All of her observations were made from behind wide sunglasses and a chilled cup of coffee. The parade of reporters threatened to ruin her view of the gathering heroes, speakers, cameras and civilians pressing against a line. She tapped the side of her glasses, calling the zoom on. The Bats and Arrows were already there, and within seconds the Speedsters joined them.
Sometimes it threw her for a loop how much like a young Johnny Quick Kid Flash looked.
The girl observed the six heroes, one of whom really hated her guts and another who made hers flip around, make their way to the Hall. She was glad she'd come, this was definitely something she wanted to see in person.
She didn't follow them in though, instead wandering away and watching the live twitter feed of what was going on inside. She'd come to see them meet up, nothing more, and maybe shop around during her few days off. She had no need to follow them in herself. So she didn't, instead turning her feet to something else she'd been meaning to investigate.
Cadmus.
Cadmus from her world was a neutral chaos force that helped her and her parents as much as it hindered them. She wanted to see what side it stood with in this one before she had to deal with messy team ups and an angry Ace.
There was only one problem with her investigation. Cadmus was on fire.
The girl let out a sigh.
Lovely.
Living weapons were about as far from where Dick Grayson had thought his day would go. As if Roy quitting hadn't been enough of a shock, now he was fighting off a bunch of apparent goblins that were under orders to rip his face off.
He ducked one, dropping a smoke pallet just as Wally flipped off a jar of giant lightning bug and kicked one of the creatures in the face.
He wove through the smoke, striking quickly and knocking away as many as he possibly could before one tackled him. He yelped, falling backwards before the creature was kicked off of him. He looked up, shock covering his face when he caught sight of brilliant red hair and a long black coat.
The costume was missing but there was no mistaking the violet eyes that caught his for a half a second or the lopsided grin that was tossed his way.
"Harlequin," he said, hearing the surprise in his voice, "Why are you here?"
The girl laughed, socking one of the G-gnomes. "Someone's got to keep you out of trouble, darling."
"Rob?" Wally called from where he was striking enemies away. He could see Kaldur through the smoke, fending off Guardian.
"She'd a friend!" He called back, the only thing he could think of. His face burned when her lips passed his cheek as she danced past.
"Knew you liked me!"
She flashed him a view of bright green marbles placed between her fingers and he nodded, grabbing the edge of his cape. The marbles struck the ground at the same time he shouted to his friends to hold their breath.
The boy grabbed Wally's arm, tugging him through the smoke quickly while Harlequin pulled Kaldur away as well.
The quartet took off at a run, leaving unconscious bodies in their wake.
"I will admit, this is not what I was expecting when I came here," Harlequin admitted, sprinting beside him.
The two non-Gothamites were giving the both of them odd looks. "You were expecting what, exactly?" Wally asked, skidding to a stop in front of door. Robin plugged in, starting the hack immediately.
"Living weapons of a different variety, Meta's in training, super soldier serums, that kind of thing," she waved her hand flippantly.
"Meta's?" Wally repeated, running into the elevator with the other three when the doors opened.
"Meta-humans. Term for people with powers," she explained shortly. "Why are you here?"
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Robin wondered, taping the buttons. The elevator started moving. Down.
Wally glared at him. "What are you doing? We need to go up! Out!"
The boy rolled his eyes. "Project Kr. Is sublevel fifty two, so no, we need to go down."
Kaldur cut in, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "This is out of our control. Perhaps," he hesitated, "Perhaps we should contact the League."
The other boys looked at each other before each tried their coms. Nothing. Robin looked to the only girl in the room. She stared back.
"I'm in this alone, darling. Any help we get won't be from someone I called."
Ignoring the depressing statement Robin turned to the now opened door, running out. Harlequins silent footsteps followed him, as well as his two friend. They were already there, after all.
The hallways, something like a giant esophagus, sunk underneath his shoes. A blue creatures with odd protrusion from its head appeared down one hall forcing the quartet to take the other. All of this happened in seconds, in minutes. Pursuers appeared, the Kr. Chamber was opened and the group toppled in in a rush of adrenaline and quick thinking.
"We're trapped," Harlequin observed, violet eyes on the door.
"Great," Wally grumbled, walking off while Robin locked the door up. A few minutes later he heard a low whistle from Harlequin and turned to see what it was. The girl was circling a glass tube, looking it up and down.
"You have got to see this," she told them. Wally hit a button on the control panel and the container lit up.
Robin felt his heart jump and his eyes grow wide.
"Whoa."
In a glass case stood Superman, if he was ten years younger and a foot shorter. Broad shoulders were set in a white suite underneath perches for three of the smaller G-Gnomes. A bright red S stood out on the middle of his chest. The boy appeared to be sleeping.
"Big K, little R," Wally recited their earlier observation, "The atomic symbol for krypton!"
There was an instant of stunned silence before Kaldur snapped him out of it. "Robin. Hack."
He obeyed the order almost mechanically. That was Superman, except it was too young. So a clone was the only option. A hundred questions lit up his mind all at once. Harlequins shoulder brushed his when she leaned against the control console, watching him work.
"I've got it," he announced, "Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force grown in Sixteen weeks, made by DNA acquired from Superman. "
"Stolen from Superman," Kaldur corrected quietly.
Wally shook his head. "No way the big guy knows about this."
"He looks like a doll that's never been taken out of its box," Harlequin said, her voice soft. "Not a hair out of place, not a scratch or a dent."
"A collector's item," Robin played along.
"What are the creatures on his shoulders?" Kaldur asked.
"Gnomes," Harlequin didn't even look at the hologram. She must have read it earlier. "They're telepathically force feeding him an education. Math, science, politics."
"And we can guess what else," Wally cut in grimly. "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son."
Kaldur's voice was steel. "Free him."
"Bad idea," Harlequin interrupted. Kaldur turned to level a look at her, the kind that said he wasn't happy with her objection. The girl met it with one that she gave particularly stubborn criminals. "Those little guys aren't just cute, they're pumping information into his head. Like computer programming. For all we know he's been taught to attack people like us, well, you, on sight."
"We cannot leave him in there," Kaldur argued, "It would be wrong. It is our responsibility to help, not abandon. I had thought that you claimed to be a hero."
Robin saw the shift in her expression immediately. Steel overcame her eyes.
"Fine," she snapped sharply, "Do what you want."
Robin frowned, watched the girl slink back into the shadows. There were only a few things that seemed to catch her ire. One of those was questioning which side she was on. Another was nicknaming her based on her hair. The last was seeing the joker on TV.
He hesitated another minute before unlocking the pod and letting Superboy out.
He regretted it immediately.
Cadmus was just as shitty in this world as it had been in hers. Duela decided this when she woke up, silent as a church mouse even with her pounding head, strapped up. Her hands were over her head, her feet were free dangling. The entire thing was highly unpleasant.
She could feel her ribs shifting with each breath, throbbing painfully where she had been hit.
Damn super strength.
The girl watched a man walk into the room, listening carefully as he talked, ordered 'the weapon' back to his pod. She worked a wide out of her gloves, working on picking the lock.
She didn't really start freaking out until metal arms came out from either side of her. She panicked, kicking out against the glass. The steel reinforcement of her boots didn't even dent it.
Needles pierced her skin, a cry tore her throat. Blood, plasma, DNA was forcibly ripped from her body. There weren't many things that had hurt that badly.
Her senses, heightened from years of training, caught the low voice of the Atlantean and the pained tearing of steel. The process stopped and the girl slumped, trembling. She lifted her head to see the Superboy standing in the doorway.
At the same time her and Robins binding clicked open.
Both children dropped to the flood.
"Finally!" They chorused.
She could see Kid Flash shudder where Robin was getting him down.