It was raining again. Not a heavy downpour like two days ago, just regular rain. Steady, constant, almost endless. Storms like this weren't common in this part of California, but nobody was gonna complain about it. More rain meant less wildfires.
Still, it was a little annoying to Raven, who was standing outside the door to Rose's apartment. There was just enough wind to blow the rain onto the walkway and thus onto her. She was wet now and just as annoyed as she was uncertain.
She still had no idea what to say to Rose, no clue how to apologize for reopening such a wound on her soul. Raven had known the other girl had some deep scars on her heart, but she hadn't realized how deep these scars went. She should have gathered more information, talked to Rose or even Eddie, before she arranged the meeting.
She sighed deeply, her heart heavy. The forced loss of a child to save it from becoming a bad person…it was terrible. Raven's own mother Arella had almost done that.
She had no idea how to handle this situation and she knew she was just going to have to wing it. Not her strong suit, but if Garfield could do it then so could she. Hopefully.
Knock knock knock
She waited for Rose to answer. She could emphatically feel that the girl was inside, but there was something odd about her emotions. They felt numb to the point of being borderline nonexistent. The door never opened though because Rose never moved from where she was. Raven took a deep breath and phased herself through the door.
She quietly made her way to the living room and surveyed it. Nothing appeared to be different from the other day. The only change in the kitchen was that there were several large half-empty bottles on the counter and a sandwich with only one bite missing. She stepped into the kitchen and peered at the bottles. She didn't know what vodquila or absinthe was, but she had seen bottles of Jack Daniels in a store before. This had to be alcohol (and quite a bit of it!), which a sniff test confirmed. She didn't know that Rose was old enough to drink, but if she owned pistols then it was quite possible she was twenty-one.
Must be pretty weak. Rude commented. What's that term I heard that means someone who can't hold their booze?
A lightweight. Knowledge replied.
Right. Rose must be one.
Raven softly snorted to herself. The amusement she felt from this was minute and irrelevant-
She paused, eyeing something just behind the glass bottles. It was a small plastic bottle, like medicine pills come in. She picked it up and inspected it. Sleep Aid pills. Forty count.
Now, Raven had been a superhero for several years now and had worked with the police on a number of things when super-powered crime was low. Robin had done this the most (obviously) and Starfire the least with the other three Titans fluctuating depending on their moods. Raven was no stranger to drugs, both legal and illegal, at this point and had seen a lot of things involving them. Including suicide. She was uncertain as to whether or not Rose's emotional traumatization would warrant such an action, so it wasn't an option to not check the amount of pills left. If need be she could get Rose to the hospital very quickly.
Thirty eight. She thought after she poured the pills out and telekinetically moved them around. Thank Azar.
With that particular worry gone, she made her way to the bedroom areas. The first door she came upon was the bathroom. The shower curtains were black with pictures of candy corn and the floor mats were also black.
That explains so much about her. Rude muttered. Anybody that likes candy corn is insane.
The next door led to a bedroom with absolutely nothing in it. Not entirely unusual for a single person with a spare room, but not entirely ordinary either. Most people would put something in there at least.
Books. Lots and lots of books. Knowledge said decisively. And a nice chair.
Raven closed the door and moved on to the last one, pausing before she opened it. Smoke? She thought as she took a deeper breath. She couldn't help but to make a sour face. It was definitely smoke from a cigarette and she loathed cigarettes. Steeling herself for the inevitable tide of stank (and wondering if people were actually allowed to smoke in apartments) she eased open the door a bit and found it empty too.
Well, the room itself wasn't empty. There was a dresser and a bed (black sheets and blankets and pillows, how surprising) and a nightstand. But there was no Rose.
She opened the door fully now and looked around. The bathroom light was off and a quick peek determined that Rose wasn't in there. She wasn't under the bed, nor in the closet (although Raven did see an assault rifle of some sort, further adding to her concerns). Rose simply wasn't in here, yet the smell of smoke most certainly was. It was strong enough to leave a bad taste in Raven's mouth, so she decided to open the window to air it out and wait for the (somehow) absent girl to return home. She knew it was possible to leave an imprint of one's emotions in an area, but this was the first time she'd seen it in person.
If this wasn't so important I'd get my notebook and study it. She thought as she opened the window.
And that's when she finally found Rose, sitting on the fire escape outside the window.
The sight was enough to make Raven's eyes go wide with surprise.
Garfield. She thought, reaching out to her boyfriend telepathically. Get Robin and Starfire and go on standby, now.
Huh? Why? What's wrong? Are you okay? Came his response seconds later.
I'm fine and I found Rose. She replied as she eased the window back shut before phasing through it and out onto the fire escape. But she's is wearing the same kind of armor that Slade does!
He didn't answer but she was certain that he was cursing up a storm. She couldn't blame him, her own mind was reeling at this discovery.
She eyed the girl before her, who was completely unaware of Raven's presence. There was no mistaking that armor whatsoever. It looked exactly like Slade's, down to the side pouches. The only thing she wasn't wearing was a mask. She had her back to Raven, propped up between the sides of the railings and smoking a cigarette while under an umbrella.
"Why did you attack him?" A voice suddenly said.
Raven froze, having recognized the voice of the girl from the park. Rose's friend Jade. Rose must have her on speaker phone.
"I dunno, I just…hell, I don't know." Rose said, taking a long drag. "I saw him just standing there with this doofy ass look on his face like he just saw his favorite thing in the whole world and I realized he was looking at me like that and it clicked in my brain that he was about to act like nothing had happened the past couple of years. Everything just…just…exploded."
"Exploded?"
"Yeah. Like…shit, I don't know. All the hurt and anger from everything just all bubbled up at once and all I could think about was killing him to keep him away from me so that I wouldn't have to go through that again."
To Raven, Rose's voice sounded a bit off. Perhaps she was drunk?
"Not the reaction I would have expected from you given your attachment to him."
"Oh shut up. What was I supposed to do? Snatch him up, have a good cry, and get back together with him?"
"Of course not. But trying to kill him in front of the Titans isn't what I'd call a good idea."
Rose sighed. "Yeah I know. I shouldn't have been there. Hell, I shouldn't have gotten involved with them to begin with."
"No, you shouldn't have and that's what I told you. Repeatedly. The whole plan was to get the kids to the Titans, kill off anyone going after them, and find a way to get your father to forget about them."
The plan was WHAT?! Raven was in shock at hearing this, but resisted the temptation to interrupt.
"Yes Jade, I know. It was my plan, after all." Rose snapped.
"Don't get snippy with me when you're the one who went off and changed everything just because Beast Boy reminded you of Eddie!" Jade snapped back.
"Yeah…I know." Rose sighed again before taking another long drag. "I'm sorry. I messed everything up."
"I hadn't noticed." Jade said sarcastically.
"I couldn't help it! BB was like Eddie, sort of, so it was fun being around him. He made me forget about being lonely for a while-"
"You mean until you started missing Eddie again."
Rose ignored the interruption. "But he was so head over heels for Raven that we couldn't really connect, even when I tried to sleep with him."
"I still think that was a stupid idea too."
"Hey, a girl has needs. I'm not a prude like you." Rose flicked her cigarette off into the rain and immediately got another.
"Whatever. What about making friends with Raven? She's the most dangerous one there. Don't need her snooping around."
"Rae's…hell, I dunno how to describe it. Fun? But in a different way? She's so serious that I get a huge kick out of bursting her bubble." She lit her new cigarette and took a deep drag. "Plus, she's got a fat booty that jiggles when she walks and I like lookin' at it."
"Right. You know neither of them will fill that hole Eddie left in your heart."
"Do I?" Rose mused.
"Oh, don't even try that bullshit with me. I know you're still absolutely in love with him."
"You don't know shi-"
"Yes, I do." Jade interrupted. "More than a few times at the academy I heard you talk in your sleep to Eddie. You were hearing his voice in your dreams and responding to it like it was the most natural thing in the world, even in your sleep. Don't even bother trying to deny it, I heard you say his name. That isn't the only thing either! Your vibrator is red, just like Eddie. You eat the same ice cream that Eddie loves, even though you hate mint. Every serious conversation we've ever had you have referenced Eddie in some form or fashion or brought him up in some way. You still have his gamestation and games in a box in storage. You even hid the-"
"Yeah, you can shut up now." Rose snapped. "I was drunk when I told you that and it's not something to repeat over the phone!"
"Look, the point is that even though you're hurting, you still love him. He's still your everything. Pushing this to the side isn't going to fix anything."
"When did you get so philosophical when it comes to romance?" Rose huffed then puffed on her cigarette.
"You wouldn't believe it, but Roy has a number of romance guides. Apparently he thinks he's a ladies man."
Rose snorted. "Yer right, I don't believe it."
"Neither did I, but I wound up reading through some while he was out on patrol and learned a few things."
"Like what?" She asked, clearly trying to change the subject.
"Like that you need to talk to Eddie, to sit down and have an actual conversation with him instead of flipping out like you did."
Rose rolled her eyes and took another drag. "Yeah, gonna be hard to do since I'm preeeeeetty sure the Titans want my head on a platter right now."
"Well, you did attack their teammate."
"Hey, I didn't hurt anyone but Eddie!" Rose paused. "Well, actually, I kinda hit Raven in the head with a knife hilt. But it wasn't hard."
"The hilt?"
"Yeah. I didn't want to hurt any of them, especially Raven. They've…well…I like them. I feel like I have some actual friends now."
"Had might be the better word at this point."
Another sigh. "Yeah, I know. I feel bad for going off on them when Eddie was the only one I wanted, but they wouldn't back down either, so…"
"…you, feeling bad about hurting someone?" Jade sounded amused. "That's new."
"Oh shut up." Rose took a long drag and exhaled slowly before flicking this cigarette out into the rain too.
"So what are you going to do now?"
Rose shrugged. "I dunno. Smart thing to do would be to kill off the rest of the Titans rogues gallery and go underground for a while. Before I forget, thanks for helping with Red X the other day."
"That would be smart. The sooner the better, least Robin start hunting for you. He's probably already suspicious. And you're welcome, though I have to say I was disappointed with the little fight he put up."
"Tell me about it." Rose chuckled. "Master thief my ass. More like master bitch."
"Who's next on your list?"
"Adonis." Rose said instantly. "Heard he likes to hit on Raven, so Imma cut his dick off with a rusty butter knife before I put a bullet through his skull."
"Awfully protective of her, aren't you?"
Rose shrugged again. "I guess. I just feel like…if you fuck with my friends, you need to die. You know, like that old white guy that was obsessed with you. He had that accident where the brakes of his car went out."
"I remember."
"Yeah…so…where was I going with this?"
"Killing the Titans enemies."
"Oh, yeah, right! Yeah, I'm just gonna kill as many of them as I can as quick as I can and lay low for a while. If I'm lucky they won't think it was me."
It was quiet for a moment.
"…judging from your tone and the way you've been talking, I'm going to go out on limb and say you're tired. Very tired, 'cause that wasn't a Rose-esque plan at all."
Rose hesitated but then nodded. "Kinda, yeah. I haven't slept in a couple of days. Took some sleeping pills a bit ago but they aren't working at all. Even though I want to sleep, I can't."
"Why?"
"…no clue." It was a lie, plain and simple.
"Is the reason six foot tall and red skinned?"
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to." Jade sighed. "Look Rose, at this rate you're going to fall apart, again. Now I'm telling you to go talk to him."
"I don't want to."
"Bullshit."
Rose didn't respond. She just sat there, watching the rain fall as her cigarette slowly burned itself out.
"I'm tired, Jade. Just…so tired." She said softly, her voice barely audible over the falling rain.
"I know."
"I feel like everything's blowing up in my face again. I keep thinking that I should have cut and run a while ago."
"I understand. But…there's a difference this time around."
"And that would be…?"
"You aren't alone anymore."
Rose flicked the nearly extinguished cigarette out into the rain and pulled out yet another. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. You have me. If you talk to the Titans, you might could still have them."
"Didn't know you cared so much." Rise halfheartedly joked as she rolled what was (unfortunately) her last cigarette between her fingers.
"Neither did I. But here I am."
The assassin let out a low chuckle. "Yeah. Thanks."
"You can thank me by getting help. I'm no good with this Doctor Phil crap. Talk to someone, anyone, and get back to normal. All this emotion talk is weirding me out."
"You and me both." Rose sighed yet again. "Battery's almost dead and I need another drink. I'll talk at you later."
"Later."
Rose dismissed the call and set the phone back in her lap. Still idly rolling her last cigarette betwixt her fingers, she stared out into the rain.
"Feelings are so bullshit. What am I supposed to do?" She muttered to herself as she started to light her cigarette.
"You could stop chain smoking, for starters."
Rose jumped so hard she almost went tumbling down the steps. She would have, if something hadn't stopped her. She watched as her cigarette tumbled down the stairs, into the rain, then fell between the floor grates and down into a puddle below. Her sleep-deprived and mildly intoxicated brain was slow to react as she looked down at the black band of shadows that was wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her side. She slowly turned around and met a pair of violet eyes beneath a blue hood.
"How long have you been standing there?" She asked, stunned that she had been snuck up on.
"Long enough to know that we're fixing to have a nice, long, talk." Raven replied in a tone that would brook no argument.
"Shit." Rose muttered as the darkness enveloped her. Raven followed immediately after and the world continued on, blissfully unaware of the new storm that was about to fall upon Jump City.
$$##
"You know, Mister Slade, I've been around the world and seen some pretty remote locations while researching wildlife. The Amazon, the Sahara, the Appalachia mountains, the Russian tundra, all places I've visited for some reason or another. But this…this is pretty far out of the way. And what's with the cows?"
Underneath his gas mask, Slade smiled. "It's very underwhelming, isn't it?"
"It's a cow farm, of course it's underwhelming!" Doctor Register replied.
They were, in fact, circling above the cow farm in Slade's private plane. It was located on the western edge of the Rocky Mountains in what the doctor believed was Idaho. Slade's custom made plane was fast and easy on fuel, so they'd only had to make a couple of stops over the past couple of days, which was excellent time by Slade's standards. He'd long since radioed Brother Blood to alter the laboratory with air filters and get gas masks for the human personnel.
"Where are we supposed to land?" The doctor inquired.
Slade hit a small blue button on the console and suddenly a large swath of cows parted, moving the other cows out of harms way as Slade maneuvered the plane in.
"Robotic cows designed to camouflage the airstrip by looking as normal as possible while keeping the living cows out of the way." Slade explained. There was a beep from the console and he pressed another button. "That was our all clear signal. We'll be landing now."
The doctor was quiet as they did so. The plane coasted along the strip until it reached the edge of the fenced in area. The fence shot down into the ground so that the plane could slow to a stop near a large silo. Slade, however, didn't move from his seat.
As curious as Register was about the robotic cows, he too stayed in his seat as he watched the side of the silo slide open and several darkly clad humans stepped out. They went to work on the plane immediately, folding the wings and tail up, then pushing the plane into the widening silo door.
Casting a mystified look at his new employer, Register waited patiently as the doors were shut, dousing them in darkness. Within moments there was a loud click and the plane began to move down. They were on an elevator!
"Secretive much?" He asked.
"The less likely the government is to find this, the better." Slade replied.
It took a solid ten minutes of traveling downward before there was a flash of light that revealed a wide area that was chocked full of military-type vehicles. Register could see tanks and jeeps and helicopters, at least a dozen of each, all being repaired or clean by dozens of the dark clad humans. He looked on in awe as the plane was pushed into an open spot between two Apache helicopters.
"You wouldn't happen to be starting a war, would you? Warfare isn't exactly my specialty." He said as they unbuckled and went to leave the cabin.
"No, but it always pays to be prepared in the event that a scale needs to be tipped in my favor. " Slade replied.
Doctor Register followed quietly as they exited the plane. A dozen of the workers were lined up nearby, obviously awaiting Slade's orders.
"Inform Brother Blood that I have returned with the good doctor in tow." Slade said to the first one in line. To the second he said, "Take the doctor to the staff quarters, area D. The whole area is to be his. You will retrieve clothing for him, in his size, after preparing a bath for him."
Doctor Register didn't think he smelt bad, per say, but then again it had been years since he'd had a proper bath. Hot water actually sounded rather nice.
To the third one Slade said, "Inform Wintergreen that I have returned and that I would like a hot meal for the doctor and myself. Something hefty for Doctor Register, at that. Meat-laden and rare, I assume?"
Realizing that this inquiry was directed at him, Register nodded vigorously. "A cow would be quite nice. The whole thing."
"You heard him." Slade said, an obvious dismissal. The servant turned, almost robotically, and started off towards a door.
Register peered at the way the servant walked and realized several things at once.
One, the only heartbeats he would hear were his and Slade's.
Two, these workers were actually robots. He could hear the electricity running through them.
Three, there were over sixty of them that he could see just in this room, almost double the number there was less than a minute ago.
This Slade man was a bit more dangerous than he thought.
"Please follow, Doctor Register." The second robot Slade instructed said to him.
"I'll see you in a forty five minutes." Slade said as he walked off. "Enjoy the bath."
Doctor Register quietly followed the robot to an elevator. They arrived some minutes later on a floor that simply read D, where the robot led him to a door and opened it.
It was a plainly furnished room, little more than a cell but infinitely nicer than his previous cell. There was a wide bed with blankets and pillows, a good sized desk, two sets of drawers, and two doors that obviously led to a closet and the bathroom. The robot immediately went to the bathroom and started water running while the doctor investigated the room.
It was a little dusty and there was some mouse poop under the bed (which was a good sign, he loved the taste of fresh mouse), but it was more than enough for him.
"Should have come to work for Slade sooner." He chuckled as he tore off what little clothes he had. Pushing past the robot, he found a large tub brimming full of hot water and immediately hopped in.
"There are assorted soaps and shampoos located on the sides, Doctor." The robot said as it gestured to some bottle Register had pointedly ignored to begin with.
"Yes yes." He said. "Now go away."
The robot bowed to him (which he thought was amusing yet absurd) and exited. He listened to it pick up his clothes and exit as the hot water soaked into him.
"This is why mankind sits at the top of the food chain." He sighed happily.
By the time his bath was actually finished, he'd had to refill the tub twice more just to clean himself. He didn't regret it though, the hot water was heavenly to a man who'd spent years freezing inside a secret mountain prison. As he exited the bathroom, he found a set of clothes sitting on the bed. They were actually a little large on him, but the white silk shirt and khakis pants were the nicest clothes he'd had since before the mishap in the jungle so many years ago.
The only thing he needed now was that cow.
His mouth watering at the thought, he exited the room and found Slade standing there waiting. Judging from his smell, he'd also bathed, though he wore a suit of armor identical to the previous one. Same mask as before too.
"Feeling better, Doctor?" The assassin asked.
"Quite so." He replied.
"Good, now let's go eat." Slade said as he led him back to the elevator.
"As you can tell," Slade said as they entered, "This is a sizable facility. At the moment it only has ten floors, but expansion is possible if we need it."
"Need it for what, exactly?"
Slade shrugged. "Whatever I feel is necessary to have."
Doctor Register looked at the button panel as Slade pressed the button for E. "Tell me about them then, if this is to be my new home."
"Floor A is for machinery and transportation as well as the elevator to exit. Floor B contains my armory as well as my robot assembly line and associated workshops. Floor C is for my living employees, only numbering a twenty. Floor D is your living quarters, since you have a respiratory quirk that would kill the rest of us. Floor E is the dining hall and kitchen. Floors F through H are the laboratories that contain the projects you'll be working on. Floor I contains my dojo, and Floor J is my residence."
Before the doctor could ask any more questions the elevator dinged before the doors opened. His nostrils were immediately assailed by the scent of cooked cow and he couldn't stop himself from drooling. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a hot meal.
The doors had opened to a large empty room with a dozen tables and assorted chairs. At the far end of the room was a kitchen set up like a restaurant would have and he could hear someone back there washing dishes.
"Your meal is in this room." Slade said, gesturing to a nearby set of double doors. "It was originally storage for additional seating, but now it's for your use."
Doctor Register made a beeline straight for the doors and went in. Sure enough, his cooked cow was there on a platter (a sheet of metal, really). He could smell the various herbs and spices the cow had been slathered in, as well as scent of several barbecue sauces. That scent only came from certain areas, almost as if someone was testing to see what the doctor did and didn't like. Unable to contain his appetite any longer, claws popped from his fingers and he ripped a chunk of meat from his meal and bit into it.
He almost cried, it was so good.
By the time he was finished, the only thing left of the cow was bones. Cracked open and sucked clean on marrow, but bones nonetheless. Flesh and sinew, organs and hair, brain and tongue, all of it was eaten. His shirt and pants were filthy (by human standards) now but he didn't care. He felt more invigorated by this meal than he had in a long time.
"You're going to need another shower." Slade said as Register exited the room to rejoin his employer. "And more clothes."
Within thirty minutes they were descending in the elevator once more, this time to Floor F.
As the doors opened, the doctor's olfactory senses were assailed with a number of familiar scents: cleaning chemicals, the various metal and plastics that made up laboratory equipment, and human sweat.
The sight was exactly was it smelled like: several men and women scattered about the room working on various things. The things they were working on, however, were what really got his attention.
They were human embryos, fetuses, and developing babies of various stages, some fifteen total. The more developed ones were all greatly different in appearance to him, telling him that there were many genetic samples in this project.
"Report." Slade said as they entered.
One of the men, gas mask on, hopped out of his chair and brought a clipboard to Slade. "Latest results from two hours ago, sir."
Slade read the papers quietly as he stalked the room. Doctor Register could literally smell the fear these people were emitting from their pores and it excited his inner predator. He too stalked the room, but more so to inspect the subjects.
"Two more failures. The eighth Tamaranean-Atlantean hybrid and the fourth human-demon-Atlantean hybrid." Slade said plainly.
"Yes sir." The scientist replied nervously. "Though they both made it further along than the previous subjects."
"Not far enough." Slade's tone was dark now, brimming with both anger and disappointment.
"I'm sorry Mister Slade, but we really needed that Project Cadmus data. We started from scratch here and figured it out as we went. Their data could improve things drastically-"
"I am more aware of this than you are." Slade interrupted. "I didn't ask for excuses, I asked for results. Results that I am not pleased with."
"We are slowly making progress, sir." One of the other scientists said. "Artificially creating life and cloning it isn't easy but we are getting better and faster at it."
Slade was quiet for a moment before he tossed the clip board onto a desk. "See to it that you get better at it by the end of the week. I expect a five percent increase in progress."
There was a chorus of yes sir's before Slade made his way to the elevator once more. Doctor Register followed, but not before he eyeballed a baby whose face reminded him of someone he hated more than anything.
Curious. He thought. Why does that look like Garfield when he was born?
He got his answer on Floor G when the door opened and he saw Garfield standing before him.
His first thought was to pounce on the boy and rip him to shreds, but a hand on his chest distracted him as he moved forward. Slade was much stronger than he looked.
"Look again, doctor." The assassin said.
Register did and realized that Garfield wasn't standing at all. He was floating in a tank like the babies on the previous floor. There were several other teenage-esque people in tanks too. A large black man. An orange skinned, red haired girl. A black haired boy. A grey skinned, purple haired girl. A tall black haired boy with what appeared to be gills on his neck. A black boy. A slightly grey girl with black and red hair. A pink haired grey skinned girl. A blonde girl.
This was startling, to say the least.
"This is the cloning facility. Here we make copies of these individuals, the Teen Titans, for the initial hybridization project on the previous floor. There are a number of alien and half aliens amongst them, as well as metahumans like yourself. All of them are braindead for easier genetic harvesting and because if they have some sort of sentience they freak out if they wake up." Slade said, gesturing to a wall that had large holes and more than a few claw-like marks. "This is a testament to both Beast Boy and Starfire, the orange girl, being semi-functional and very aggressive."
"You're making clones and artificial life made from the clones?" Register asked incredulously. "Does that even really work? The science behind it-"
"I have two confirmed cases of it working, doctor, though I don't have possession of them at this moment." Slade interrupted him. "So yes, it works."
The purple skinned man shook his head. The world had become full of nonsense since his incarceration, not that he could say much given his own circumstances.
"Very well then." He said. "Where's this specific hybrid you want me to work on?"
"The next floor down."
And so they descended once more. Doctor Register was beginning to understand the depth of this operation and came to the conclusion that Slade was an absolute madman. Still, if it meant getting his hands on Garfield Logan and a possible cure to his own condition, then he would happily work in this fully stocked laboratory with free room and board.
When the door dinged open, he was greeted by the same scents as the floor above, along with a few new ones. This room, however, only held a dozen tanks. Only three of them were occupied, while the most of the others were empty. One was being carefully cleaned by a pair of robots. The three that were occupied contained a copy of the blonde girl, a copy of the pink haired girl, and one of the red haired girl. However, they looked a little odd…
"This way, doctor." Slade said as he stepped into the room.
The doctor followed, still eyeing the girls. Their nudity didn't concern him, but the odd patches of what looked like scales did. That and they were a bit misshapen. The blonde had arms too long and long claws at the end of them. The pink haired one's face looked like it was protruding outwards some half a foot as well as having a long black scaled appendage coming from behind it. The red haired one looked like it had scaly wings but a small torso and long legs.
Curiouser and curiouser. He thought. Black scales of that size? What did that come from?
Doctor Register followed Slade through the room to a set of doors at the back. Upon entering, they found several more scientists (all wearing gas masks) gathered around a table discussing something.
"Another failure?" Slade asked. The men and women jumped in surprise.
"I'm afraid so sir." One of the women replied. "Number Nine died an hour after we took her out of the tank."
Slade and Doctor Register approached the table to find yet another purple haired girl on it. This one had black scaled claws for hands and feet, one scaled wing, and a long patch of black scales running up her left side.
Slade sighed. "And this was the best looking one of the group. Cause of failure?"
"The same cellular destabilization as the others, sir." One of the men said. "They leave the tanks and start slowly breaking down, then rapidly fall apart after the immune system and nervous system go out."
Slade turned and looked at the door from which they came. "Could it be the tanks themselves causing this? Some sort of electrical interference that keeps them stable while in it but makes them dependent on that interference on a cellular level?"
The man hesitated and looked to the others. There were some frowns and a couple of shrugs.
"Maybe?" He said uncertainly. "Brother Blood would be the best one to check that."
"And where is Brother Blood?"
"Next room, working on a respirator for Doctor Register." Another woman answered.
"Time for you to meet our other important associate." Slade said, waving for Register to follow him. They made their way to the next room (passing a human sized incinerator and a bag of ashes along the way) and entered. There were quite a few monitors and computers there, along with assorted medical machinery and a desk. There at the desk sat a man that had quite a bit of machinery in places where flesh and blood should be. He was putting a screw into the side of a complex looking facemask, similar to the one he wore.
"Thaddeus Blood, our resident cybernetics expert and chief scientist." Slade said to Register.
"He says that, but this isn't my field of science at all." Blood said as he checked the device before tossing it to Register. "Here, this will keep your virus contained while letting the rest of us breathe and eat easy."
Register caught it and slipped it on. A little snug, but a quick adjustment to the straps fixed that. He could breathe just fine too.
"The air scrubbers are on max output now, so hopefully the air will be clean by tomorrow." Blood said before sticking his hand out to their new arrival. "Good to meet a fellow man of science and a doctor at that."
Register liked this man already. He took the offered hand. "Samuel Register, zoology and zoological genealogy expert. Always a pleasure to meet an educated man."
"I'm sure Slade's filled you in on the bulk of what's going on here, but this floor contains his pet project, the girls you saw in the previous rooms." Blood said as his cybernetic eye glowed red briefly. "Speaking of which, Daniel just sent me a message that says they've already started another Nine for you."
"Good." Slade replied.
"I was wondering about that. These are the apprentices you want? Part human part…I don't know what." Register said uncertainty. "I need to know what I'm working with before we play Doctor Frankenstein."
"The basic clones of the blonde girl and the pink haired girl are metahumans, a geomancer and a reality warper. The red haired girl is an alien called a Tamaranean. They're highly resistant to external damage and various forms of energy, can survive in the vacuum of space, and can fly." Slade said. "The violet haired one is half demon-"
"Demon?" Register interrupted. "As in, denizen of Hell, enemy of angels type demon?"
"Yes, that kind of demon." Slade said. "Her demonic bloodline gives her the ability to reproduce with just about anything through a very malleable genetic code, but we still haven't been able to get one hybrid to stay alive."
"That's not true, there's one that's alive and well." Blood said. "We just haven't gotten it back after our mishap because someone is slacking on her job."
Register didn't know who he was talking about, but the glare Slade shot the man spoke volumes. He had a more important question though.
"So what's with the scales? Claws? Wings? Tail?" He asked.
"Dragon." Slade said.
"Dragon." Register repeated slowly. "As in…"
Slade made his way over to a computer and started tapping away. Soon enough, there was a video playing of Slade speaking to a massive winged reptilian that was apparently talking back!
"We made a deal." Slade said as Register stared slack-jawed at the video. "I give him a number of magical artifacts and a hybrid to raise as a pupil and I get as much genetic material as I need to make hybrids for my own purposes."
Doctor Register looked at the video, then Slade, then Blood, then the video again. He was quiet for a time as he digested everything he had learned.
And then he smiled. Free room and board, privacy, a fully stocked lab, a new species to explore, and another intellectual to talk to? All for the price of splicing some crazy, supposedly nonexistent genetic codes together?
Absolutely insane.
"Sure, why the hell not? I don't have anything better to do aside from my own personal projects. You said you'd fund those too, so I have no reason to refuse anything." He chuckled. It's not like I can't eat them when I get what I want.
"I'm glad you feel that way, doctor." Brother Blood said. "The robots are already arranging a room in area D to be for your dining and preparing another for your own personal experiments."
Still smiling, Register turned to Slade. "You treat your employees well, Mister Slade."
"I once met a man in a brilliant red suit who gave me some good advice." Slade replied nonchalantly. "A happy employee is a loyal employee."
"That doesn't count for those dredges in the other rooms." Blood snorted. "They're really just extra hands at this point."
"Let's get to work then!" Doctor Register said in exaggerated glee, rubbing his hands together.
Underneath his mask, Slade also smiled. This was a good day.
The cybernetic worm he had implanted in Lex Luthor's computer had almost siphoned all the Project Cadmus data from it and that idiot Luthor too busy trying to get any 'illegal' superheroes deported to notice it. Not that the heroes could be deported anyways, since they were all US citizens in some form or fashion, Raven and Starfire included.
In addition to that, Phase Two of his plan to reacquire the children should be bearing fruit soon. The villains of Jump City were generally incompetent, but also notoriously stubborn. If anyone, Red X or Killer Moth would be the most likely to succeed. Dissecting the children would tell him how they were still functioning and that would help the project drastically. He wouldn't need Phase Three at all, which was a relief.
His associates in South America had also ordered another five thousand combat robots, netting him almost two hundred million dollars more to continue funding this project.
Vandal Savage and the Brotherhood of Evil both owed him favors, which he had every intention on cashing in on.
And now Doctor Register was fully invested in the project, quite happily. He had been watching the man during the entirety of their trip and came to the conclusions that while the doctor acted animalistic, he was very much a proud human. He needed to appeal to that side and keep it in control and under his thumb to make this partnership work.
It wouldn't be hard, seeing as the man wanted Beast Boy's head on a platter more than anything.
It was a request Slade would be happy to oblige.