Carl looked up from where he was sitting on a hard chair in an interrogation room as the door opened and two detectives walked in. Sitting down across from him, the two detectives placed the files they were carrying and a recording device on the table. Before speaking the female detective pressed the record button.
"My name is Detective Rutledge, and this is my partner, Detective Bullock." The slender blonde woman stated in a no-nonsense tone while indicating the tall and well built black haired man sitting next to her. Detective Bullock nodded gravely at Carl when he was introduced, but otherwise he simply sat staring at him.
"Now, we'd like to go over your statement one more time to check for any additional information you could give us. Anything could be important in building a case that will hold up in a court of law. Otherwise the perpetrators could easily be let go. Do you understand what I've said so far?"
"Yes, that seems clear. Gotta dot all the 'I's and cross all the 'T's." Carl agreed. It had been a day since he had shown up at the police station with Caroline's body in the backseat of Director Sharp's car, and the police had been treating him relatively well, aside from spending hours answering the same questions over and over again. Carl tried to remain as patient as he could, since he understood there were procedures and whatnot the police had to follow.
After gathering up the IDs and personal possessions of the three men he had killed in self-defense the previous day, he had at least glanced at them to keep in mind the names of the men who had tried to kill him. For some reason he felt it was important to not forget.
The director's name had been Rory Sharp. The guard whose uniform he had taken had been named Kyle Newman, and the other one was named Tyree Bartlett. Carl still didn't feel guilty about killing those men, after what they had done. At most he felt a little unsettled at finding himself in a new world with a clone body that gave him great strength, and being able to use that strength to easily snuff out someone's life.
Before, when he thought that filling out that form in the waiting room had been a dream, he hadn't really considered what it would be like living the back story that he had thought up. But now that he had lived it, had experienced what it was like to so easily break bones with his bare hands and see those men die, he realized that he would have to learn to keep himself in check so he didn't become someone that was drunk on their power. That would lead him down the path that would have the whole world act against him, labeling him as a villain.
And part of that process was to sit patiently while the police did their thing and had several different people come to interview him, asking the same questions, and trying to find errors and loopholes in his story.
A lot of his answers were "I don't know". He was officially a day old clone, brand new in this world. Of course he had no idea about a lot of things they asked about. And even though he had some memories from his previous life of watching some movies and cartoons that seemed to be about this world, there was no way he could rely on those scattered bits and pieces of information for reliable intel.
So the previous day, once he'd given his initial statement, the police had taken the stolen guard's uniform and anything he had on him as evidence. They had given him an orange jumper and loafers to wear in the meantime.
It didn't exactly reassure him that they weren't going to throw him in jail after all was said and done. But he was hopeful since they hadn't immediately charged him with anything.
"First of all we need to confirm your identity." Detective Rutledge stated. "Please state for the record your name and identity."
"Okay." Carl nodded. "My name is Carl Wallace."
"Your name, picture, and fingerprints aren't in the system." Detective Bullock interrupted Carl before he could continue. "Where were you born? Do you have a social security number, parents, relatives, or anything to confirm your identity?"
Carl slumped a bit in his seat. Great, it was going to be another one of those interviews.
"No, nothing like that. As far as I know, I was born yesterday, literally. Hold on, let me explain clearly." Carl stated sharply when it looked like Detective Bullock was going to interrupt with disbelief again. Maybe sometimes it was a bit harder to maintain his patience than at other times. But dammit, if they wanted answers they needed to let him talk, not badger him endlessly.
"Fine." Detective Rutledge stated in a reasonable tone of voice. "Go ahead and explain in your own words."
Carl had to almost roll his eyes. These two detectives seemed to be playing a variation of good cop, stern cop. He wondered if they even realized they were doing it, or if after so many times of doing the routine it came naturally to them.
"Look, before yesterday, I was…damaged. I have no idea in what way, or what was wrong with me. But I was in constant pain, my body felt like a hodgepodge of mixed signals, and the way I could see would best be described as a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces all mixed up in an order that you can't see the picture clearly.
"And everything looked like it was underwater. Yesterday at some point my focus started getting better. And then I was able to notice that someone was standing in front of me, even if I still couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. I just remember seeing kind eyes looking at me sadly.
"Something that she did, something that she injected me with, was flowing through my body, and it was fixing me. Suddenly everything snapped into focus. I could see clearly for the first time. And I was in some kind of big glass vat, floating in some fluid that I could apparently breathe, somehow."
When Carl paused to think back to that moment, Detective Rutledge asked another question. "If you didn't have any memories before yesterday, how could you know any of this? How could you know any words to describe what you were seeing, or how to communicate with us?"
Carl ran his hand through his completely black hair in annoyance at the interruption to his thoughts, but considered how to answer her question. He for sure wasn't going to tell anyone, ever, that he had his past life's memories.
He suddenly remembered the line that Director Sharp had said.
"She must have injected something to help it recover. Not good. He's not gone through indoctrination. Kill it before it escapes."
So apparently they had the means to brainwash and possibly insert memories? That would have to be good enough for him. It's not like he could really know that as a 1 day old clone anyway, right? So why should he come up with some kind of explanation for them? Let them draw their own conclusions from what was in this world.
"I'm not sure. But one of the things the guy they called the Director said was something about indoctrination. That I hadn't been through it properly or something. So I can only assume that they implanted basic language and societal knowledge in me, otherwise I'd probably be a mewling baby in a teenager body. Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine."
Carl shrugged and sat there staring at the detectives to see if they had any more questions at that time.
"An interesting theory. Continue." Detective Rutledge ordered.
"Right, where was I? So…suddenly my body was fixed and everything worked like it should. I could see clearly, and hear and understand what was happening outside my vat. The door opened at that time, and the woman that healed me spun around.
"After closing the door, the person they called the director confronted the woman about what she had done. He was accusing her of doing something to CADMUS' property, and…"
"Are you able to remember their exact words?" Detective Bullock interrupted once more in his deep gruff voice.
After sighing for a moment at yet another interruption, Carl closed his eyes and thought back to the conversation he heard. He began repeating it verbatim for the detectives, since it was as clear in his mind as if he had just witnessed it. He could only thank his amazing memory on his 8th level intellect purchase.
"First the director stated: 'What do you think you're doing here, Doctor?'."
"Then the doctor stated, 'I'm doing what I should, Director. Despite what you think, he's alive and deserves the chance to be healthy and live.' She was really calm when she said that, as if she was resigned to whatever the consequences of her actions were. I could hear it in her voice."
Carl paused as he had a bit of a lump in his throat as he once more thought about what Caroline had done for him.
"That bearded jerk then said 'It is property, Doctor. CADMUS' property. And you were ordered to dispose of it. You know what the consequences of betrayal are.'
"After that Caroline stated in a firm voice, 'I know what I've done.' "
" 'Do it.'The director stated. Without hesitation the two guards raised their rifles and immediately fired a shot each. Her body jerked, and the bullets went right through her chest and out her back, hitting the glass of the container I was in.
"I could see the exit wounds in her back, and her blood soaking her white lab coat."
Carl paused to close his eyes, not liking to relive that particular moment. He really wished he could have figured out that he already had super strength at that point. He could have broken out and saved her before she was shot. But the reality of his situation hadn't fully dawned on him until he saw Caroline bleeding out on the floor in front of him, and seen the bores of the rifles aimed at him.
"The bullets hit the glass and cracked it, enough for me to break the glass and get out. At that point the director yelled out loud at the guards, 'She must have injected something to help it recover. Not good. He's not gone through indoctrination. Kill it before it escapes'."
Carl then went on to describe the fight to the two detectives for the record. He knew they would figure out that he had super strength at this point of his narrative. If not from him saying it, then when they performed autopsies on the three men they would figure out that normal human strength couldn't do that.
So he might as well show the police and the courts that he was being cooperative and that he wasn't some unthinking rage monster that needed to be put down, even if he was only a clone. He had no idea if the government would try to take over custody of him or not. But if they tried to send him to someone that tried to use and abuse him, he would certainly make his displeasure known.
And he was pretty sure that with so much evidence on the record, it would be hard for the rich and well connected people behind CADMUS to bury the story, not after it was already in the police computers. He was also pretty sure that the Justice League would already be aware of the situation. Carl just had no idea what they would do about it.
For the recording that the detectives were making, Carl made sure to give plenty of detail about everything that he saw in that secret lab. He finally finished up, and sat back to once more stare at the detectives to see what they had to say or ask.
"For future reference, it would be better if you don't move any bodies at a murder scene so that it doesn't ruin our investigation." Detective Bullock stated flatly.
Carl shook his head, but didn't intend to respond verbally, since he knew the guy was right, generally speaking.
"What, you don't agree with what I said?" Detective Bullock frowned angrily at him.
"Jeez dude, don't give yourself a coronary." Carl snapped back. "First of all, I don't plan on going around looking for murder scenes to mess with. But if I happen across any, I'll do what you said and leave it alone. But this is what they call unusual circumstances.
"I'd been alive and aware of myself for all of 5 minutes when the person who saved me from my personal hell of pain was murdered in front of me. And I was smack in the middle of an organization that I have absolutely no idea about. I didn't want to leave Caroline behind for them to dispose of."
Carl once more ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "And I mean, yeah, I got all this knowledge of what life and society is like floating in my head. But there's a whole lot I don't know! And that was what scared me more than anything!"
Detective Bullock scoffed openly at that. "From what you've told us, kid, you've at least got super strength and speed. What could you possibly be afraid of?"
Carl stared at Detective Bullock for a moment, open mouthed in shock. "Are you an idiot?" He turned to Detective Rutledge and demanded again. "Is he an idiot?" Carl could see that Detective Rutledge was fighting down a smirk at her partner's expense.
"Perhaps you could explain what makes you ask that question?" With a sidelong glance at her partner, she prompted Carl to explain.
"Hello? I just said I had been alive and aware for all of five minutes at the time! I've got the knowledge of a regular human floating in my head. I had no idea I was that strong before I desperately tried not to get shot! Hell, I still have no idea how strong I am. Those damned people already created me, somehow. How the hell would I know if they didn't have something better or stronger than me sitting around that they already made and that went through their 'indoctrination'? After all I was just a defective copy before Caroline healed me. You think I should have sat around and waited for them to capture me, or maybe I should have high-tailed it out of there?"
Carl sat back and crossed his arms angrily as he glared at the man.
"Besides, even if I am some abomination of a clone of some super powered person, I'm still human inside, with feelings and everything. I am a real boy. That was a really scary situation, and I'm not going to feel bad about what I had to do, just because someone is jealous that I'm probably stronger than they are."
Rant over, he stuck his tongue out at Detective Bullock and then turned away to ignore him. Carl was cackling inside and reveling in his opportunity to act childish and zing the man. Hey, if a physically 14 year old, one day old clone didn't have an excuse to act childish, who did?
"Yes, well. Those are some good points." Detective Rutledge was doing all she could to keep from busting up laughing at the shocked look on her partner's face.
It was all the more funny because she knew he really didn't have any bad intentions toward the kid, it was just habit for him to always try to pick apart people's stories to try to unravel them. As the big tough guy in their partnership, he was always basically expected to play the 'bad cop', especially because she was a somewhat delicate looking woman. It fit well into existing stereotypes.
"One final question, though." Detective Rutledge stated. "You've told us how you've only become aware of yourself since yesterday. How did you come up with the name Carl Wallace for yourself?"
Carl's face shifted back to feeling a bit sad. His name in his past life had always been Carl. But it had been a strange coincidence that the doctor that actually helped him and died for him was named Caroline.
"Some of the knowledge that I've got floating in my head tells me that the name Caroline is of French origin and means 'strong'. It's the feminine version of Charles, which means 'free man'. I'd like to think that Caroline was living up to the meaning of her name. There at the end, she was very strong as she stood in front of me and defied those assholes."
Carl took a moment to unashamedly wipe away some tears that were streaming down his face. Damned teenage clone hormones, his emotions were all over the place, and so easy to do a 180.
"I almost chose Charles for that reason, since Caroline gave her life for a chance for me to be a free man. But then I remembered that Carl is a North Germanic name meaning the same thing. 'Free man'. And Carl sounds closer to Caroline than Charles. So I chose that name. And since she was the closest thing I'll probably ever get to having a mother, I decided to take her last name as my own."
Carl was a bit shocked to see a sympathetic look from the big Detective Bullock as he opened his mouth to say, "You made a good decision, kid."
"Yes." Detective Rutledge agreed with her partner as she reached out to turn off the recorder. After gathering up her papers, the two detectives stood up to leave. "Thank you for your cooperation. If you need anything, simply knock on the door and someone will get it for you."
"Thanks." Carl nodded in appreciation at the courtesy as the two detectives were leaving the room. But Detective Bullock paused in the doorway and looked back at him with a look of satisfaction on his face.
"I can't talk about the details of the investigation, kid. But you did real good by coming in to report it so quick. We basically caught them with their pants down. Er…I mean, we caught them before they could hide any evidence. So just sit tight and it shouldn't be too long before we get someone down here to help get you set up in your new life."
"Thanks for letting me know, Detective Bullock." Carl grinned a bit in apology. "Sorry about earlier, snapping at you and all…" He trailed off.
"Nah, don't worry 'bout it. You had the right of it, except the jealousy bit. Besides, I've gotten chewed out worse by the old lady a time or two."
"I'm gonna tell Tina you said that." Detective Rutledge's voice came wafting in from outside in a very amused tone.
Detective Bullock started and immediately got a look of apprehension on his face, but he waved to Carl and shut the door. "Aw, come on Mattie! Why would you do that to me? What did I ever do to you?"
Carl was snickering as he could still hear the exchange between the two detectives. Super hearing for the win.
"Nothing, Conor. But us women have got to stick together."
A loud sigh from Detective Bullock caused Carl to continue laughing at the big man.
"Fine. What do you want as a bribe to keep quiet?"
"Oh, just an iced mocha from down the street."
"Fine, fine. Your regular, then?" Detective Bullock's voice was full of suffering as he gave in.
"Have them give another pump of chocolate. I'm in the mood for something sweet. As sweet as this blackmail is."
The big man's grumbles and his female partner's laughter really served to lighten the mood for Carl. He liked those two. Even if they were really serious during the interrogation, it made sense for them to be. They were homicide detectives, after all. Not something they should be joking about while working. But they were still human, and they sounded like amusing people to know.
Sitting back in his seat, Carl continued what he had been doing in any free time he had between interrogations. Ever since he arrived at the police station yesterday he had started playing around with his super senses, namely his hearing and ability to see through things, and the telescopic sight.
From what he filled out in the magazine in that waiting room, he knew he was supposed to be a Bizarro clone of a Kryptonian, which meant that he was very strong. So while he was in a fragile building like the police station he figured he wouldn't start testing his other physical powers. One jump too strong, and he would probably fly right through the roof, and someone might get injured. Best to avoid that for now.
So he was training up the abilities that wouldn't be damaging to anything but his memories. Seriously, accidentally peeping on some fat dude that was straining away on the john? Not his favorite memory.
But it was curious what he could overhear if he could match up his hearing to his vision. It had taken a bit of work for him to be able to focus his hearing onto where he was looking at, but it was coming along quite well.
It really was a surreal experience, but oddly satisfying. Sitting in the middle of a police station and watching and listening to conversations at a gas station, mall, or college miles away was something he hadn't ever thought he would experience.
At the moment he was listening to a lecture in the nearby college about Statistical Thermodynamics.
Oh, he was hopelessly lost at the moment, since he didn't have the supporting knowledge base to understand it. But he had already noticed just how improved his memory was since he arrived in this world. And he had marked down that he would have purchased an 8th level intellect, which was comparable to Batman and nearly Lex Luthor level.
So even if he couldn't understand it right now, he was testing how good his memory was, and if he would be able to remember it for later. Once he'd studied up some more, he would see about what he could do with the technology of a comic book world where alien civilizations were always leaving their toys lying about.
The previous day that Carl spent at the police station, he had the opportunity to enjoy some catered food, which when he thought of it was the first food he had eaten in his new body. While he could have bought some snacks at the gas station, he had been too focused on reporting Caroline's murder at the time. Not to mention that he hadn't felt hungry so soon after getting out of his pod, for some reason.
But after eating some sub sandwiches for lunch, and some burgers for dinner, not to mention after all the soda and coffee he drank, Carl naturally (and for the first time with his new body) felt the urge to use the bathroom. Which is when he finally got a look at his new face in the mirror.
Seeing his new features, it really was a surprise that more people hadn't been reacting when they saw him. He didn't quite look human, in his opinion. Maybe they thought he was just a goth kid playing around and dressing up in makeup?
His short black hair was quite shaggy, going every which way. It kind of reminded him of how Harry Potter's hair was described in the books. Not so much the brown and well ordered hair of the actor who played Harry Potter. Running his hands through his hair, he was amused to find that his new hair seemed to naturally have that Anime bounce to it.
'How very amusing.' Carl couldn't help grinning at his reflection at the thought. He was in a comic book universe so he wasn't too far off the mark of being influenced by Anime.
His skin was a very pale white, which made sense due to what his new heritage was supposed to be. Both Lobo the Czarnian and the Bizarros were chalk-white, and he was also the same color. Except for around his eyes, the skin around his eyes was shaded black, as if he was a panda.
'Maybe that will be my super hero name, The Flying Panda.' Carl giggled a bit to himself while looking at his unusual coloring and laughing about silly super hero names.
His eye color was also quite unusual. His pupil was normal black, and his iris was a luminous sea blue color, but his sclera was a glowing deep blood red. Not as if the veins were obviously visible, but as if the white had been replaced with an almost glowing blood red color.
Carl guessed that his sclera was red because of his Czarnian part, since Lobo's eyes were completely glowing red in the one cartoon with him in it he had seen. The three part color looked quite unusual, really, especially set off against the black and white coloring of his face.
So as a result of finally seeing what he looked like, Carl completely understood the times when someone first met him and jumped a bit in startlement at his unusual features. Gawking at someone who looked so far out of the norm wasn't a new thing, and it certainly didn't indicate any ill intent.
The afternoon of the day after he had his interview with Detectives Rutledge and Bullock, he was escorted into a room where he was told the person who would see to giving him a new home was waiting for him.
The moment Carl entered the room, he had to suppress the chuckle that wanted to bubble up. The Flash was standing in the room in his red costume, drinking from a large cup that looked and smelled like some kind of coffee.
"Whoa! Cool eyes, dude!" The Flash exclaimed a moment later when he saw Carl. "Very freaky, but in a good way."
"Thanks." Carl chuckled aloud this time. The Flash seemed like a pretty chill guy. "My name is Carl Wallace. What do I call you, oh masked one?"
"What? You don't know me?"
"Nope." Carl lied. "Didn't the police tell you? I'm some kind of clone that's only gotten out of his vat two days ago. I've still got a lot of catching up to do on what's what."
Of course he wouldn't admit to knowing more about this world than a couple day old clone should. And after thinking about it for a whole day, Carl had found that he actually did have some extra memories floating around in his mind. So in reality he hadn't even lied to the police about his "theory" of having the basic knowledge of society implanted in his head.
But that knowledge didn't include any of the superheroes, just what someone would be expected to know about normal civilian life of this world. Over the past day the imputed memories had grown increasingly apparent to him, as they stuck out from his past life's memories.
And beyond his new implanted memories, his knowledge of the DC universe was spotty at best. He might know that several superheroes or villains existed, but beyond that, he was clueless. Hell, he didn't even know if the few movies he'd seen would play out in this world.
What kind of warnings could he give them when he might be talking about a totally different reality? Did General Zod even come to Earth in this reality? Did Lex Luthor look like Gene Hackman or Michael Rosenbaum? Or someone completely different? And if Luthor really did look like one of the actors that played him, would his behavior and actions necessarily be the same as the Luthors in the movies had done?
It had given him a headache just thinking about it, and it was really best to just ignore all that and take his new life a day at a time.
"Weird." The Flash took a big gulp of his coffee. "I guess they didn't include that in the info packet they sent me. They just said there was a new meta-human that needed to get situated and learn about their powers, and that we were going to help. Well, whatever. We'll handle it. You can call me the Flash." Carl shook the hand that Flash extended while holding his coffee in his offhand.
"Okay, the Flash. So where do we go from here?"
The Flash chuckled. "You can drop the 'the' and just call me 'Flash'. Since you're a clone, first of all we're going up to the Watchtower to get you a medical test to make sure you won't be falling apart on us in the next week."
"Wait, that's a concern?!" Carl exclaimed with faked shock. He was pretty sure the Czarnian healing factor wasn't going to let him fall apart, but it was still a somewhat disconcerting statement to have blurted out that he might die in a week.
"Uh…sorry about that. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it so bluntly." Flash looked a bit embarrassed. "It's happened before with other clones, so we just wanted to be sure you were stable. That you're a stable life-form, not that your mental health is in doubt. And then you can be released from medical to enjoy your life. Yeah. Okay, shutting up now."
"Well…sounds like a plan. How do we get to this Watchtower?" Carl asked. "And how many times have you guys encountered clones, anyway?"
"Oh, you know. Mad scientists abound, they're always up to something. They're worse than cats, those mad scientists are. And cats are just plain evil! Always getting into something they shouldn't, making a mess everywhere, and they never change, no matter how much you scold them!" Flash grinned at Carl's snort of amusement at his joke. "First we'll finish getting you checked out of the custody of the police, since you are considered underage. Then you'll get to see something that will blow your mind."
"Okay…" Carl paused to look at the Flash in concern. "Wait, you mean just like be something cool to see, right? Not something that is actually gonna cause my head to go boom, right?"
The Flash's mock-sinister laughter wasn't helping any. But then again, it likely wasn't meant to. "Yeah, I'm just kidding around with you. It's just gonna be a sight that will amaze and awe you. It always gets newcomers."
Carl mock pouted at the red-clad super hero. He was pretty sure the Flash was talking about the fact that the Watchtower was a space station that was in orbit over the Earth. So seeing the sight of Earth from space will be awe inspiring for a first timer.
"Oh, come on Mister The Flash. You don't gotta pull my leg like that. It's quite cruel."
The Flash simply kept smirking at him in amusement as they arrived at the office of the Police Chief. The name Bridger Garcia was prominently displayed with one of those name plates on his desk, so unless the Hispanic looking man in his late 40s was an imposter, Carl figured he was meeting the Police Chief.
"Flash. Good to see you, and good to see that young Mr. Wallace is in good hands." The Police Chief said as he stood up from behind his desk and came around to shake hands.
"Thanks, Chief Garcia. And thanks for giving us a call. It's always best to catch the new young ones before they have a chance to get into too much trouble." Flash said with a pat on Carl's shoulder to indicate who he was talking about and a smile to indicate he was just trying to be amusing.
"Yes, indeed. We've all seen what can happen when lost and hurt powerful meta-humans are allowed to run around without supervision." Chief Garcia said with a nod. "We've got his information in the system now, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to get him an ID and get him set up for his new life.
"Now, while we're still investigating who is responsible for the illegal lab we can't talk about the details of the investigation. But from the preliminary reports, and after talking with the District Attorney, it's looking highly unlikely that Mr. Wallace will be charged with anything for his actions. He is underage by all definitions of the word, so there's a lot more leeway there. Not to mention the fact that people do have the right to self defense, so it wouldn't make much sense to try to level charges against someone who was simply protecting themselves in a life and death situation."
Carl internally shook his head. He hadn't really thought they would charge him with anything when it was so clearly a case of self defense, but it was good to hear the Chief say it straight out that he would be fine and wouldn't have to appear in court to defend himself from charges. That would have been quite nerve-wracking.
Over the past day he had been trying hard not to think about the whole thing, since he was not at all used to that level of violence in his past life. At most he had gotten into some fist fights when he was in elementary and junior high school. But actually killing someone with his bare hands was a far cry from a scuffling with other kids on the playground. It was definitely an experience he wouldn't have sought out. And especially now that he had experienced it, he could do without experiencing it again!
Carl's attention was returned to Chief Garcia as he continued talking. "It was especially helpful that young Carl kept his head on straight and came straight to us to report the incident and crime immediately. It certainly makes him look much better to the courts and lessens the concerns they have about his…unusual origins. And it certainly helped us immensely in our investigation."
"Excuse me sir?" Carl interrupted, causing the both of the adults to stare at him in question. "The Flash mentioned that they have run across clones before. So is there a precedent set for…I don't know, making sure us clones have all our human rights and what-not? And, where am I going to be living, and all that?"
"Well, Mr. Wallace," Chief Garcia began explaining, "our government has had to come to terms with regularly dealing with aliens, meta-humans, enhanced and all other kinds of people that would normally fit in the 'other' category. They have long since adopted the policy that any 'person' that is intelligent enough and is so inclined to live peacefully in our society is considered to have their own personhood. What we used to say was their human rights, now we say they have their personhood rights. So, yes. Even clones have their own rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
"Don't worry too much, kid." The Flash added on. "No one will try to use your origin as a clone to try to say they own you or anything, since that's basically slavery, which is illegal. And we'll make sure you have a place to live and continue your education in the normal manner until you're an adult and can decide what to do for yourself."
Carl looked back and forth at the two adults who were reassuring him and gave them a smile of appreciation for their help. While he wasn't quite as lost as if he was really a day old clone, he really was cast adrift in a brand new world. So he appreciated the help.
"Thank you very much."
"Don't worry about it. Now, we just need you two to sign a couple more forms before you leave. It's basically a transfer of guardianship to the Justice League organization. They'll help you get a handle on your powers, Mr. Wallace. And I just wanted to say, I appreciate your patience in not experimenting with your powers while you were waiting in my precinct."
Carl chuckled ruefully at Chief Garcia's comment. "Well, after everything you and your people were doing for me, it would be wrong if I was to break anything by playing around just because I was a bit bored."
A few minutes later, with forms signed, Carl shook Chief Garcia's hand and left the building with the Flash.
"So…you never mentioned how we were going to get to the Watchtower?" Carl leadingly asked the Flash.
Instead of replying verbally, the Flash pulled out a communicator and asked for transport for two. A flash of white light blinded Carl for a moment, and then he was in a new location, with the Flash standing next to him.
Looking around the room they ended up in, Carl figured out immediately they were on the space station that the Justice League called the Watchtower. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made up of advanced materials, all metal, plastics, and other such easily cleaned surfaces. In the wall there were various computer stations that could be presumably used by the members of the Justice League for various tasks.
"Come on, Carl Wallace. We've got one stop before we hit up Medical." The Flash said, and led Carl out the door and down a hallway.
They eventually ended up in a room that looked like a lounge, with carpets, couches, and tables set up around the area for people to relax at. On the far wall was a large viewing port that took up half the wall. Ignoring the people in the room, Carl stepped closer and saw the gorgeous sight of the Earth floating in the dark backdrop of space.
"Beautiful…" Carl whispered, and he could see from the corner of his eyes that the Flash had a satisfied smile at Carl's reaction to the view.
"Isn't it, though?" The Flash stated with amusement and satisfaction in his voice. He always loved showing the newbies this sight, their reaction never failed to remind him of the first time he had seen it. And they didn't get any newer than a couple day old clone. Even if he did look like he was 14 or 15 years old.
As Carl stared out at the Earth with a view he never thought he would see, a small smile grew on his face. He certainly wasn't an astronaut in his last life, so he never imagined that he would ever make it into space and see what he was now seeing personally. So many childhood dreams that had been abandoned because of their unreality and un-attainability suddenly blossomed to life in the back of Carl's mind.
"So, who is the new kid?" A nearby voice interrupted Carl's moment.
Carl felt a bit frustrated that someone had interrupted, souring the moment and mood for him. But he tamped that irritation down and continued staring down at the Earth for another few moments to try to savor the feeling once more.
He could see out of the corner of his eye that the Flash had an amused grin on his face that Carl didn't immediately turn around to acknowledge the guy who had come up to them. It may have been a long time since the dude had his first view of the Earth from space, but he should really respect other people's first time.
When Carl finally turned to see who it was, he saw a blond haired man in what looked like dark green leathers, a quiver full of arrows and a green compound bow on his back. Apparently it was Green Arrow that had come over to talk.
"Green Arrow, this is Carl. Carl, Green Arrow." The Flash introduced the two to each other.
Carl wasn't sure why, but he appreciated that the Flash only used his first name for now, even though the Justice League had his full name on file. As long as the Justice League members were greeting him in their costumes and under their code names, it felt a little unbalanced to have his name be introduced when they were hiding their identities.
"Good to meet you, old man." Carl greeted Green Arrow with a smirk.
"Hah! At least you got some backbone." Green Arrow laughed as he stepped up next to Carl to stare out the window along with him. A lot of Carl's irritation disappeared at the relaxed way Green Arrow accepted his small zing for calling him an old man in response to being called a kid.
"I figured I'd have Carl here take a gander at the view before taking him to medical for a checkup." The Flash stated before explaining a bit about Carl's background. "Carl is another result of CADMUS playing around with cloning tech that they really should leave alone. He escaped and reported it to the police so they could go clean up the lab and arrest those involved."
"Ah, so that's what's had the police and some of the detective types here on the Watchtower all in a tizzy lately." Green Arrow sagely replied, nodding in approval. "Good job on that, lad. We've already had issues with those unethical bastards. Whoever is funding them is far too good about keeping their noses clean so they can disavow and throw their people under the bus, keeping themselves looking clean. Hopefully this time is the charm for catching them out."
"Good to know." Yet another mention of clones. "So, you've got some other clones from CADMUS hanging around? Cause that's what it sounds like…"
"Yeah, you could say that." Green Arrow said.
"But we really shouldn't talk about that behind their back." Flash interrupted. "If you meet them and they want to share, that's one thing. Otherwise…"
"Yeah, good point." Carl and Green lantern agreed. "I guess I wouldn't appreciate it too much either if everyone was spreading my personal information around carelessly either."
"So, how about it, Carl? Ready to go to medical and get poked and prodded?" Flash laughed.
"If I have to, then I must. I guess." Carl muttered. "Good to meet you, Green Arrow."
"Likewise. See ya around, kid."
Carl waved farewell to Green Arrow and followed the Flash down the hallway until they finally arrived at medical, which had several normal looking hospital beds, as well as really advanced looking pod beds, and other machinery that Carl could only assume was scanning tech of some kind. There were clear cabinets alongside one of the walls, looking to be filled with commonly used first aid supplies and medicines.
"Okay, first off, a blood sample." The Flash said as he went to the cabinets and pulled out an advanced looking sci-fi syringe.
"Where are you going to draw the blood from?" Carl asked, looking at the high tech needle. "And is it going to hurt?"
"We'll try to pull some blood from your median cubital vein. And it should only sting a little."
"The what, now?" Carl asked blankly. He wasn't too up on his medical jargon.
"One of the veins on the inside of your elbow." The Flash grinned at Carl. "Don't worry, we won't take much blood. Just need to check your health and stability, not to mention seeing if we can figure out who you're related to."
"Okay." Carl pulled up the sleeve on his left arm, holding it out for the Flash to use his sci-fi device to draw blood.
Carl felt the pressure from the device on his skin after the Flash found a vein, but the expected sting didn't happen.
"Huh. Looks like you're a tough one." The Flash shook his head ruefully. "I'll have to get the heavy duty needle then. Don't worry, just because I call it a heavy duty needle doesn't mean it's going to do any more damage than a normal needle. We just need a bit better material and more pressure to break through your skin."
"Uh…sure." Carl shrugged, and the Flash walked through doorway off to the side that Carl hadn't noticed before. A moment later he came out of the storage closet wheeling a large machine that had a hole in the side where he was obviously expected to place his arm.
"I know it looks a bit..." The Flash trailed off, trying to figure out how to finish the statement.
"Chopping my arm off scary?" Carl sarcastically asked as he warily eyed the machine.
"Yeah, that." The Flash chuckled drily. He then flipped open the side of the boxy looking cart. "But if you look inside here, you'll see that there are no big blades designed for chopping off arms. We've got several members of the League that are really tough, so it's hard to give them a medical checkup. So we came up with this. Wonder Woman, on behalf of Themyscira, donated a small amount of Amazonium metal to make the needle out of.
"Amazonium has Divine and Mystical properties, and we have yet to find anything or anyone it couldn't penetrate. So of course we made it into a needle that draws blood. After each use we pull it out and sterilize it quite thoroughly."
"Okay." After spending a bit of time looking at the machine, Carl reassured himself that it would be fine and put his arm in the machine. He continued to look through the metal as the machine pressed the needle into his vein and drew out a test tube of blood which was delivered to the Flash for testing.
The Flash then ushered Carl into a full body scanner, which was one of the sci-fi looking pod beds. It took about twenty minutes to finish up the scan, during which time Carl had to remain still.
"Okay, that's all we got on the docket as far as medical checkups go." The Flash said, causing Carl to feel quite relieved that it was actually pretty quick and simple. No doubt it was made easier by the League having access to magic and alien technology. "Let's go get some dinner and I'll show you to your room for the evening. Tomorrow, after we get the full medical report, we can see about testing out your abilities so you know what you can do and not accidentally destroy anything around you."
"Okay, sounds good. It's been a while since I ate." Carl nodded in agreement at the plan. "Any chance of getting some books, or access to a TV or computer to keep myself from getting too bored this afternoon?"
"Sure, I'll hook you up with something." The Flash agreed as they made their way to the dining facilities. "Any idea of where you want to set up your home once we're done here? I ask because, as you're physically about 14 to 15 years old, you'll probably be expected to go to school. At least until you're 18 and graduate high school. Aside from an official education, going to school will also be a good way for you to socialize with others your age."
Carl hummed in thought. "I guess I'll just stay in Jump City. It was where I was 'born'. And it's not like I can't go traveling later on if I'm interested."
"Sounds like a plan." The Flash grinned at him. "In that case, I can introduce you to a group of young heroes that live there. Their group name has been the Teen Titans for the past few years; but now that some of them are growing up, they are trying to rebrand as simply the Titans. But since so many people have been used to calling them the Teen Titans for so long, it's an uphill battle for them."
"Sure, that sounds fine, I guess. At the very least I'll meet with them and see how we get along." Carl agreed just as they arrived at the dining facilities. He was amused to see about a dozen members of the Justice League eating in the dining room, most of whom were still in their costumes.
If Carl didn't know what world he was in, he would think he had come upon a cosplay group having dinner together. He followed the Flash over to a buffet style spread of food, more than ready to dig in. He was feeling pretty hungry.
While he and the Flash continued chatting while eating, Carl had part of his attention on his surroundings, watching the various heroes coming and going. One of the things he found interesting was that several of the groups were speaking with each other in languages other than English. So apparently the Justice League had ties to more countries than just America.
Another thing he had noticed was that there was something preventing him from hearing anything beyond the room he was currently in. It made sense that a group that consistently dealt with super powered people would have ways to ensure their privacy from each other.
And when Carl finally found himself in his room for the night, another benefit was apparent to him. The previous night in the police station, it had taken a while for him to adjust to the constant droning of sounds that his super hearing constantly forced on him. It had taken a while for him to sleep through the noise. But up in the Watchtower he had blessed silence to enjoy.
"I'll have to talk to whoever designed that silencing feature to install it where ever I end up living." Carl muttered to himself as he multi-tasked by playing a game of solitaire while browsing various web pages for information on the world he found himself in. His arrival in this world was really unexpected, and he could have done without shooting himself in the foot when he filled out that form in the waiting room. Things weren't looking so bad now, though.
Carl froze for a moment as he mentally reviewed that thought. 'Bad Carl.' He chastised himself. 'No taunting Murphy when you're in comic book universes, even if only in your thoughts.'