April 4th
Location Unknown
1600 Zulu

Sawyer sat there in his white on white playroom, currently busying himself by saving the world with his Justice League action figures. It was close this time, with Superman and Batman both knocked down, it was up to the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to help their friends, before Black Adam and his best friends could beat more people up.

He stopped playing when the door to the stark room slid open, revealing his most favorite person in the entire world. "Dawn!" he all but yelled, scrambling up to his feet, the fate of the world all but forgotten, just to give her a hug.

Young, pretty, and oh so brilliant, Dr. Dawn Vallencourt reached down and picked little Sawyer up, spinning him in a circle while she embraced him. "Sawyer, how are you?" she asked with a bright smile.

"I'm good, do you want to play heroes with me?" He asked, offering her the Wonder Woman figure.

Squatting down to his level, Dawn shook her head. "Not today Sawyer." She said, brushing his dishwater blonde hair away from his bright green eyes. "We're going on an adventure today instead."

"Do we get to leave Cadmus to do it?" He asked. They never let him play outside, and all the other kids had been taken away.

"Well, sort of. Let's get ready to go, okay?" She asked, standing back up and glancing around the stark and sterile environment that he'd grown up in.

"Okay, I have to get my stuff." He said, and grabbed an old, well-worn teddy bear. "I'm ready now."

Dawn reached her hand down to take his, but the moment his little fingers intertwined with hers, she had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. "What's wrong Dawn? You look sad. Are you sad? Do you want to hold my bear?"

"No Sawyer, you keep ahold of him for now." She said, and began walking out the door with him. When it slid open, a pair of uniformed and armed guards stood there, their carbines relaxed but still easily accessible. Refusing to acknowledge them, Dawn walked her little friend down the halls of the Cadmus lab.

"Dawn, I was thinking, and uhm, when I'm grown up, can we get married?" he asked her, looking up at her with the most sincere expression on his face. Barely seven years old, his world was far less complicated.

"We'll see Sawyer, after your adventure." She said, glancing away to wipe at her face. "What did you have for lunch today?"

"I didn't get breakfast or lunch," Sawyer said unhappily. "Doctor Garner says I wasn't allowed to eat today. I'm pretty hungry."

Dawn frowned and squeezed his hand affectionately. "It's okay Sawyer, you'll be able to eat soon, I'm sure of it." She said, turning a corner and into Lab 33.1, a location she wasn't particularly pleased to see with her own eyes, let alone bring Sawyer into.

"Is this where my adventure is?" He asked, his green eyes wide with excitement. "That looks like a rocketship!" he added, pointing to the pod in the center of the room, emblazoned with a large number eighteen.

"It is a rocketship Sawyer!" Doctor Lawrence Garner said, giving Dawn a look of warning while making a grand sweeping gesture towards the pod. "That's why you couldn't eat today unfortunately. It goes super-fast, we didn't want you to throw up inside."

"Ewww." Sawyer said, wrinkling his nose. "Do we get to go now?" he asked, excitement clearly visible on his happy little face.

"Only you get to go Sawyer." Dawn said, squatting down again, and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Only enough room for one person in there."

"Oh," Sawyer said, and it was pretty clear what he thought of that. "I don't want to go without you though Dawn." He finally confessed, sniffling his tears away. "I'm scared to go without you."

"Don't be scared Sawyer, you'll be perfectly safe, I promise." Dawn said in a patient, consoling tone. She was absolutely surprised she was able to hold it together this well, and assumed it was to keep him from being so frightened. The idea of violating his trust so thoroughly made her realize that when she died, and wound up in Hell, she'd know exactly why and take her damnation without argument.

"Okay Dawn, if you say so. I love you." He said, his chin quivering, as he latched onto the only human being who ever really spent time with him. He knew she wasn't his mom, but she'd been there just the same.

"I love you too Sawyer, now get into the rocket before you miss your flight." She said, gesturing towards the pod. He didn't leave just yet, instead putting his bear into Dawn's hands. She accepted it, and clutched it to her chest as she watched him scramble his way into the pod.

When the door shut, he smiled and waved, but when the techs switched the gas on, a look of fear took over. She couldn't hear him with her ears, but she could hear her name on his lips all the same as he screamed and cried, tears streaming from his eyes as he pounded on the reinforced glass lid of the pod before slumping slowly into blackness.

Blinking her eyes hard, Dawn fought the tears away, struggling to keep herself calm. She would have pulled it off, and kept herself in order until she got to her car, but Garner had to speak up.

"You've done very well Doctor Vallencourt, your country thanks you." He said, but clearly, that was not the thing to say to her.

"Doctor Garner, our business together is concluded. I will not watch you turn that sweet little boy into a weapon. Cadmus has plenty as it is." She said with an icy scowl before turning to leave the building.

"You forgot your severance package." Garner said. When she turned to look at him again, his pistol was already leveled and aimed. He pulled the trigger, but cringed when the contents of her skull splattered against the doors and her body collapsed onto the floor, still clutching the stuffed bear.

"That was more difficult than I expected it to be." He said, returning his pistol to his shoulder holster. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to look at the boss.

"It gets easier, Doctor Garner. Much much easier." Lex Luthor said in a fatherly tone. "Now, let's see about building me a new weapon."