Son of Cadmus
Chapter 12
Richard Swift emerged from the shadows into a large hallway, his suit flowing across his pale skin as he stepped deeper into the wide passage. His dress shoes glided across deep red carpet, his pale hands clenched into fist as he strode past ancient weapons and armor, gleaming in the lights mounted along the dark wood panel walls. The scent of wood polish and oil filled his nose.
He stopped before a large square window his gray eyes locked on the full moon. He leaned his head against the glass, enjoying the way it felt against his paper white skin. "I will find you, my love," he murmured, pushing off the glass.
He strode down the hallway, his fist swinging at his sides. He rapped on the door with a clinched fist of thin fingers.
The lights cut out, plunging the room into darkness. A shaft of moonlight created square shadows on the carpet before reflecting off a medieval suit of armor, sending sparks of pale light twirling across the dark wood of the door.
"Come in," a deep commanding voice beckoned from the other side of the door.
Adjusting his tie, Richard leaned backwards, sinking into the shadows.
He emerged in a large room. A broad shouldered man sat behind a large desk, his features obscured by darkness, but the light of the full moon shining through the large window at his back revealed long dark hair.
"Ah, Mr. Shade, with you being here I take it your mission was a success?" The deep voice asked, revealing a hint of culture.
Richard reached into his pocket, pulling out a small object wrapped in a piece of white cloth. With a flick of his wrist it spun through the air, landing neatly on the man's desk, "It was. Now where's Eve?"
A pair of large hands emerged from the darkness, "Ms. Eden is fine and will be released once you have finished the task I've set for you." The hands unwound the object with surprising gentleness. When the last of the cloth fell away, a pulse of power echoed through the room, ruffling Richard's clothes.
The pale man's gray eyes flicked down to the object, two strands of curly black hair falling on either side of his forehead,
Richard stepped forward, "I don't know what kind of game you're playing Savage," dark energy danced across his pale hands, forming into black claws, "but I will find Eve, when I do I will tear your heart out of your chest and make you eat it."
Vandal Savage leaned forward, his blocky tan face highlighted in the light of the moon. His coal black eyes narrowed, "You're not the first person to threaten me, boy." He leaned back, his chairs squeaking under his weight, he gestured around him, "we are in a darkened room, where your power is at its greatest. Why not do it now?"
Savage leaned forward, interlacing his fingers, "Because you know, the moment you try. Eve will be dead."
The black energy along Richard's hands fizzled out. He stepped back, clenching his fist behind him.
Vandal Savage nodded, with a snap of his fingers, a thin screen rose out of his desk, "As a gesture of good faith, I will prove your beloved is still alive."
Placing one hand on the screen, Vandal turned it to face Richard, its pale light illuminating the curved edges of the chair in front of the desk.
Richard stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the screen, or more specifically the pale skinned blonde kneeling in a bright room without any shadow. Long fingers traced the woman's face. Gray eyes stared into narrowed light blue.
The screen slipped from beneath Richard's fingers as Vandal Savage applied a little pressure, causing it to sink back into the desk, "Bring me the rest of the pieces and I will return your fiancé to you with enough money that you too can disappear."
"How do I know Eve is still alive?"
"I have no reason to kill her, besides if I kill her, I lose my leverage over you."
Gray eyes locked with coal black, Richard nodded sinking into shadow.
–XX –
John Jones a.k.a. the Martian man Hunter strode into the medical wing of the Hall of justice, the sharp scent of antiseptic filling his nose, and the cool sterilized air chilling his green skin.
He moved gracefully forward, his feet skimming across the tiles, his blue cape just inches from the floor. He stopped beside the first bed on the left-hand side, his red eyes glowing dimly as he scanned the occupant over.
Stretching forth his hand, the Martian waved it back-and-forth over the boy's body, mere centimeters away from touching it, "Connor has experienced a lot of pain," he said to Supergirl and Batman over his shoulder, "this last battle added to that."
Kara knelt beside the bed, taking Connor's large hand in hers, "What do you mean?" She asked her voice quiet.
Placing his hand above Connor's head, the Martian man Hunter closed his eyes, "When Connor absorbed the energy from Project KR, he received imprints of the entity that once controlled the power someone else's now using."
"What can you tell us about this entity?" The dark Knight asked his voice hard.
John slowly shook his head, "Not much, the visions inside Connor's mind are fragmented. Mostly of previous worlds this entity has conquered. I can however tell you that it uses the dead as its army."
"How do you know this entity isn't using our dead?" Batman asked his eyes focused on the screen detailing the readouts of Connor's body.
"From the impressions I get from Connor's memory, if it was the entity using this power, it would just revive our dead and overwhelm us."
He stared at Batman, his red eyes glowing, "Whoever is using the power now, is only using a fraction of what it's capable of."
"I'll look into it," the Dark Knight grunted. His eyes flicked down to Connor, "Can he be trusted?"
"Cadmus placed nothing inside his mind that would make him a danger to the justice league, or young justice," green lips twisted upwards, "As a matter of fact. The genomes teaching him taught him morals that would make him clash with Cadmus's bosses."
Kara shot a triumphant look at Batman, but breathed a sigh of relief. Brushing pale blonde locks from Connors forehead, she turned to the Martian, "Do you know when he will wake up?"
John glanced at the square computer screen with rounded edges set into the wall, "His body is adapting to the energy absorbed in his fight, the quantum energy his cells produce have increased by 15 %. His major muscle groups have increased by 10 %."
Turning to Kara, he placed a hand on her shoulder, offering her a kind smile, "At the rate his body is metabolizing the energy. He should wake up in the next ten minutes."
Turning to Batman, he offered him a stiff nod, before sinking into the floor.
"I will go see what I can find on this entity, when Connor wakes up see if he will draw us a picture?" With that, the Dark Knight strode from the room, his cape swishing behind him.
Just before he was out of the room, Kara muttered, "I told you so," her lips forming into a small smile.
–XX –
Donna landed on a small tropical island, her boots sinking into the white sand. A gentle breeze danced through her hair, carrying with it the scent of salt water. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back, letting the gentle crash of the sea cradle her in its calming embrace.
Breathing out, the teenage Amazon opened her eyes.
Connor sat cross-legged a few feet away from her, his hands in his lap, his fingers forming a small oval. His chest rose and fell in a calming rhythm. The sea breeze danced around him, caressing his tan skin and tugging at his light blue shirt.
Donna stepped forward, causing Connor's eyes to snap open. Glowing blue white met light blue.
"Can I help you with something?"
Donna lowered herself onto the white sand beside him, crossing her long leather clad legs, "I just came to check on you, you disappeared after you woke up from the battle. I wanted to make sure you are okay."
Connor's lips twitched, "I'm fine. I just needed a quiet place to sort through my thoughts."
Donna cocked a dark eyebrow, "and you couldn't do that at the Hall of justice why?"
"I don't like being watched, besides, there's no technology here, so no voices."
Donna arched an eyebrow, "Voices?"
"Ever since my battle with my brothers, I have been able to hear machines, in places like the Hall of justice where there is a lot of technology, there's just too much noise."
His face fell into a blank mask, and the glowing his eyes dimmed, "Not to mention all the cameras at the Hall of justice reminds me too much of my childhood," he glanced around him, "this is where Kara and I had our talk, those memories help me to relax so that I can build mental barriers to keep the noise out."
The young hybrid shook his head, his gaze locked on the waves as they crashed upon the shore, "I don't know why I'm telling you this, I'm not usually this open with people."
"You know," Donna began letting sand fall between her fingers, "if you ever wanted to talk about your experiences with Cadmus. I would be willing to listen," Connor glanced at her, but didn't speak, "my mother, Derinoe, created me to be the perfect Amazon. She used me as a weapon to wipe the men Queen Diana brought to Themyscira off the island," she glanced down at her shaky hands, "I will forever have their blood on my hands and their screams in my mind."
Slipping his hand into hers, Connor closed his eyes, "I didn't kill anyone until Sam Lane shot my brothers. In that moment, I lost my temper. The base was vaporized in the blink of an eye, broken down into its component atoms," he shook his head, "everyone inside died before they even knew what happened."
The kryptonian hybrid glanced at her, "So you see Donna, you're not a monster, you were manipulated into killing by the person you should have been able to trust the most. I killed because I lost my temper."
Donna snorted, "I guess were both a bunch of damaged goods."
Connor's pearly teeth flashed in the sunlight, "It's not so bad, we have cookies."
Donna threw back her head and laughed, the rich sound echoing off the coconut trees.
Connor smiled, the sound seemed to drive away the dark images he absorbed from Project KR.
Snorting, Donna glanced at him, a smirk making its way across her face, "You know, I wanted to spar with you ever since we were interrupted back at the warehouse."
Connor arched a blonde eyebrow, "Is that your way of asking me out on a date?"
Shoving her shoulder against his, Donna rose to her feet her cheeks flushed a light pink.
She turned to face him, her blush under control, a wide smirk on her face, "What's the matter, scared?"
Rising to his feet, the kryptonian hybrid brushed off his jeans, "Of you, what's there to be scared of?"
Donna backed away, the heels of her boots just barely touching the water as it splashed against the shore, the smell of salt water filled her nose, "I seem to remember I was winning our last bout."
Flexing his hands, Connor ground his bare feet into the sand, "everyone gets lucky every once in a while."
Donna shot forward, her body a black blur, her right arm poised to take Connor's head off.
Connor deflected the blow with his right arm, but skidded backwards against the strength of a knee that would've caught him in the stomach had he not blocked it with his left hand, his feet digging deep trenches in the sand.
They broke away, light smiles on their faces.
"And here I thought you were going to be a pushover after your spar with Rex."
"With Rex I had to waste time gauging his strength. With you I don't have that problem."
"Good," Donna vanished, reappearing to his left six feet above the ground, her right foot aimed in a kick at his temple.
Connor jumped back, the tip of her boot sliding across his skin.
The kryptonian hybrid shook his head, his blonde hair swaying, "I thought the Amazons were a warrior race."
"What are you talking about? I'm the one that's pressing the attack. All you're doing is countering."
"Fair point," Connor clapped his hands large clouds of dust exploding into the air.
Donna's eyes trailed back and forth, trying to spot Connor's shadow in the light brown clouds obscuring her vision.
She jumped back, a red mark appearing across her stomach as Connor's barefoot grazed her.
Closing her eyes, the young Amazon tapped into her power as fate of the gods.
In her mind's eye she saw a golden image of Connor appearing in front of her, his fist aimed at her face. Her left hand shot up, a loud smack echoing across the small island as Connor's fist made contact with her palm.
She curled and twisted her body as Connor aimed a kick at her ribs.
The young hybrid stumbled off balance. Capitalizing on this Donna slammed both legs together, pushing them forward in a double kick.
Suddenly, the vision in her mind's eye went blank.
Connor's hands came up, grabbing her ankles. With a quick spin, he launched her through the air, her back slamming against a tree with a loud crack.
Lying against the tree now bent from the force of her impact, Donna opened her eyes, staring at Connor.
The young hybrid floated towards the ground, his lips twisted into a frown, his head cocked to one side "Are you okay?"
Donna slowly rose to her feet, brushing bits of bark off her clothes, "I can't see your fate," she said staring at Connor in amazement.
"Okay," Connor said slowly, closing the gap between them, "what does that mean?"
"Through a series of events I don't want to go into, I became the fate of the gods. I can see everyone's fates, which makes relationships hard, since I know who people are going to end up with."
"Not as hard as an inability to touch people," Connor muttered, but Donna ignored him.
She stepped forward, staring into Connor's blue white eyes, "I could see the first few moves you made, but towards the end, I can't see your future," she laid a hand on his cheek and closed her eyes, "I am blind to your fate."
Connor took a step back, "So," he began slowly, "what exactly does that mean?"
Donna shook her head, "I don't know."
They stood in silence for a moment until Robin's voice sounded in their ears, "Guys, there's been another attack."
Connor pressed a small silver disc nestled in his ear, "Alright, we're on our way."
"Connor," Robin hesitated, "Lois has been injured."