Chapter 36

I Did It...

"I shouldn't have said that…" Polybius muttered to himself.

If there was one thing Polybius was good at, it was falling off the grid. After his argument and admitting he had taken part in a genocide, as well as reliving some awful memories, the clone veteran had decided to take some time off and be truly alone, away from everybody. He hadn't taken a day off since he had taken this job, at least willingly, so he knew there would be no problems with him taking a bit of time off.

The issue was since Polybius signed his contract with Batman, he only informed him. The rest of the League, as well as the Team and even Donna and his own mother, were in the dark about what he was doing. This, however, was at Polybius's request as he didn't want them to come and find him. He wanted to be away from them.

Polybius had decided to get a motel apartment closer to the Appalachian Mountains and not too far from where the graves of his squadmates were. He had hidden here before and knew it was a decent place and one the League didn't know about.

Naturally, falling off the grid did raise alarm. However, Batman did assure them that everything was alright. With that in mind, discussion about Polybius's confession began to circulate.

"He participated in a genocide." Wonder Woman said.

"And you're surprised?" Black Canary asked, "We all saw we found him in. We know his world was a harsh one."

"But 'following orders' is not an excuse." Wonder Woman stated, "How many people do you think he's responsible for killing?"

"And how many times has he saved our lives?" Black Canary countered, "If he says that he would've faced a fate worse than death for saying 'no' then we should believe him."

"Of course you would." Wonder Woman said, "However, I have a hard time believing that any army would just throw away a person over saying 'no.'"

"You'd be surprised." Black Canary said.

The League wasn't the only ones talking about this. The Team was also torn on the confession. Most of them believed that it was either out of context or outright wrong. The only person who stood by the confession being fact was Kid Flash, who heard Polybius say it.

"It just doesn't seem right." Superboy told Miss Martian when the two were alone, "Polybius just doesn't seem like the person who would do that."

"We won't know unless he tells us." Miss Martian said.

Meanwhile, back in his apartment, Polybius was regretting his confession. It was something he had been going back and forth on telling people about. There were other things, much worse that he did, but with how much weight the word 'genocide' carried, this one indeed ranked very high on his list of crimes against humanity.

"I shouldn't have said that." Polybius cursed himself.

Polybius was taken off guard by a knock at his door. When he got up to answer it, he was stunned to see Donna on the other side.

"Donna!?" Polybius said, surprised to see her, "How did you find me!?"

"I've known this is the place you like to hide at for a while now." Donna said, "I've just never come here because I've respected your desire to be alone."

"Then why come this time?" Polybius asked.

"Because you really shouldn't be alone right now." Donna said, "I'm worried about where your head is, and I'm scared that you'll do something stupid."

"Well… I kinda want to be left alone." Polybius said.

"So you can sit here and sulk?" Donna asked.

Polybius let out a defeated sigh, knowing he wasn't going to win this battle. He was half tempted to shut the slam the door in her face but knew that was a bad idea.

"Well… No sense in you standing out here and getting cold." Polybius said, "Come on in."

Letting her in, Donna took off her coat and set it on the small table inside. Polybius, meanwhile, went back to the couch he had moved so he could sit and stare out the window. Donna came over and joined him by taking a seat next to him.

"I shouldn't have said that." Polybius started.

"You think anyone's surprised?" Donna questioned.

This question caught Polybius off guard. He looked over at her with a confused look on his face.

"Polybius, you've been hinting that you've done some terrible things for years. Actually, ever since we met, you've said you've done terrible things. Remember?"

Polybius recalled the first time they met the League. They had been shuffled into the extermination camp he had been staying in. He was the only clone left alive and one of the few within the camp who still had decent health.

"I deserved to be there." Polybius said.

"No, you didn't." Donna told him, "Polybius when you tell us that you didn't have a choice, we believe you. At least I do, and I know most if not everyone in the League does as well."

"So?" Polybius asked, "That doesn't excuse or justify my actions. I still lined up innocent people and shot them into mass-burning graves."

"Maybe not." Donna agreed, "But everything you've done after we saved you and you saved us sure makes for it."

"How?" Polybius asked.

"Well, just a few days ago, you helped save the League." Donna started, "And before that, not too long before you took the job at Mount Justice, you were able to develop a fabulous plan within an hour that, when we executed it, saved the world. And to go even further back than that, you've saved me multiple times."

"But we're putting that against the war crimes and crimes against humanity I've committed." Polybius said.

"Don't matter." Donna assured him, "You're trying to do good to make up for it, and that's more than what most people would do after doing those things."

"But I can never make up for what I've done." Polybius said.

"Maybe not." Donna said, "But I'm sure if you just keep doing what you're doing, and continue to help the League and stand for good, then sooner or later, you just might."

That didn't make Polybius feel any better.

"Only if I live long enough." Polybius said.

"Polybius!" Donna scolded.

"I'm not suicidal!" Polybius quickly countered.

"Then what do you mean by that!?" Donna demanded, concerned about his mental state.

"Just... that it'll take me a really long time to make up for it." Polybius half lied, "And considering I've had a few close brushes with death recently, I'm sure sooner or later, death will finally come and claim me. I mean, I've cheated it on more than one occasion."

"That doesn't sound convincing." Donna told him.

"I don't know why?" Polybius asked, "It's the truth."

"Or the truth you're trying to sell me." Donna countered.

Polybius let out a long sigh but didn't respond to Donna's counter.

"I know you feel horrible about what you did." Donna said, "But you've gotta think about what you have here. Not only that, but it's also not fair for us to judge you for your actions, as you were in a very different world in a very bad situation."

Again, Polybius didn't respond.

"And think about what would happen if you did decide to off yourself right now." Donna started, "Everyone would be devastated. I'm not sure if Dinah would ever come back from that. I know I certainly wouldn't. Losing you would be the end of me as well."

"No, it wouldn't." Polybius countered, "You would carry on."

"So you are suicidal!" Donna said.

"No!" Polybius shot back, "I'm telling you that you are not going to react as badly to my death as you think you will."

"You think you mean that little to me?" Donna asked, sounding offended, "Polybius… I love you so much. Words can't describe how much I love you. And I know you love me as well. I can't stand the thought of you being so deep in this hole. Much less seeing you in it. And last time I was that deep in it, you pulled me out. I'm not going to turn my back on you, no matter what you do."

"Don't waste your time." Polybius told her, "I'm not worth saving."

"Yes, you are." Donna said.

Before Polybius could say anything further, Donna then pulled him into a warm and tight hug. Polybius, however, let his arms stay by his sides and didn't return it, expecting her to hold on for a few minutes and then let go.

However, that wasn't the case. Donna counted to hug him and was waiting for him to return her embrace.

"I love you, Polybius." Donna whispered, now on the verge of tears, "I can't lose you."

Hearing Donna, this upset finally got through to Polybius. He knew how badly she had been hurt in the past, and hearing her hurting, especially because of him, was enough for the clone veteran to come to his senses. And when he did, he finally returned the hug.

"I'm so sorry." Polybius told her.

"It's okay." Donna replied, "I just want you to be okay."

The two sat like that for a long time before they finally pulled away. This was followed by a moment of silence before Polybius looked back out the window again.

"So, how mad are your sister and Superman at me?" Polybius asked.

"I wouldn't say mad." Donna said, "I think they're more upset about you confessing that you participated in a genocide than anything else."

"Of course." Polybius replied, "I knew it was a bad idea to come clean about that."

"As I said earlier, it's not really a surprise to anyone." Donna said, "I think you may have gone a little too far by comparing it to Metropolis, though."

"You think?" Polybius asked, "I just wanted to hit home with them so they'd finally stop bugging me about joining."

"Polybius, they're not gonna stop." Donna told him, "All of our friends want you to get more involved, and all of our enemies dread it. At least, everyone who knows how good you are."

"Yeah, well… I've done enough fighting." Polybius said, "And you saw where I ended up."

"In that extermination camp." Donna said, "I remember."

"I still can't believe I came out of that alive." Polybius said.

"And it's where you proved yourself to us." Donna added, "I know you had to play charades with us to communicate, but none of us would be here if it hadn't stepped in."

"Well, I almost didn't." Polybius admitted, "I had no morale at that point. Honestly, that's the lowest low I've ever been in. And I tell you, if I could have killed myself in that camp, I sure would have. But those damn guards wanted me to suffer."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't go off yourself." Donna said, "But going back to what I was saying earlier, they're not gonna stop until either you do or something major happens."

"I wish they would." Polybius said, "I swear, it's like every six months I have this conversation with the League. No, I don't want to get involved; I like being a friend of the League. Because I already know that if I join, it won't be long until I'm brought into the fold entirely. Soon enough, I'll be a public-facing member and getting sent off on BS missions left and right. Honestly, I'd rather join the Team than join the League."

"Really!?" Donna asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah." Polybius said, "My skill set is more catered to covert operations. I mean, my unit back in the war was the best of the best. It didn't get more elite than us. And while we were used as shock troops in large numbers from time to time, most of the war, we were sent on high-risk, seemingly impossible covert missions. And my squad is the best of the best of the best. We never failed a single mission until our final one at the very end of the war. We never even lost a member of our squad until the end of the war, either. It didn't get better than us. They even said that if we couldn't get it done, then it was truly impossible."

"Then why not get more involved with the Team?" Donna asked.

"The same reasons I don't want to get involved with the League." Polybius said, "I've seen and done too much fighting in my life, and my PTSD, to an extent, does make me a liability. That, and they are, and this is putting it nicely, inexperienced and immature. And I hate dealing with both."

"Well, I know Aqualad doesn't really want to be a leader." Donna pointed out, "You could try to take over from him."

"No." Polybius said, "I may have been the leader of my squad, but we were a well-oiled war machine. We all knew our place and knew what to do. We didn't need words to communicate with each other, and when we did, we had an extensive code we spoke in that we made up ourselves. And even when I did have to take control of a situation, everyone did as I said without question. I could order someone right, and they'd go right. From what I've seen with the Team, they don't follow orders well. Or rather, at all. And that would just irritate the absolute crap out of me."

"I'm sure you'd mellow out over time." Donna said.

"Yeah, right." Polybius brushed off, "Those kids would hate me. And the thing is, I make great calls. You know this, and I know this. But they don't. Especially Kid Flash. Oh my gosh, would he piss me off. He irritates me now when he's breathing in the room next to me."

"Well-" Donna started, but Polybius cut her off.

"And I can hear it now." Polybius went on, "I can hear someone telling me 'Polybius, you're being too hard on them.'" Polybius said in a mocking tone, "'This isn't your squad. You need to lighten up. Ugh, I'm a little bitch, lay off of me! Ew!'"

Polybius's mocking of the Team caused both of them to laugh for a few seconds before the clone veteran continued.

"But honestly, I just don't think I would work well with the Team." Polybius stated, "They're too soft."

"So you're just gonna stay where you're at." Donna said.

"Yep." Polybius confirmed, "It's best for me. I might distance myself again in the future if I get really annoyed, but for now, I'm just gonna stay put. Actually, I think since Montezuma hasn't shown his face in months, I'm gonna go back to the cave until they piss me off again."

Meanwhile, in a location unknown but not too far from where Polybius and Donna were, but still in the middle of nowhere, a portal opened. And through it walked several heavily armed cyborgs.

"So this is the world Polybius has run off to." The lead Cyborg announced as he looked around, "No matter. We shall set up base here and prepare for one last battle."

Unlike Boom tubes or Zeta tubes, this portal was not detected by any of the Watchtowers sensors, and the League was not aware of the small army of Cyborgs pouring into the northeastern United States.

By sunset that day, Polybius had checked out of his motel and went back to the cave. Once there, he was confronted by Red Tornado, who informed him that the League wished to speak with him on the Watchtower.

"Great…" Polybius groaned as the two left.

Not long after that, Polybius was standing in front of the entire League. He already knew what this was about and decided his course of action.

"Polybius." Superman started, "I assume you already know what this meeting is about?"

"My confession?" Polybius asked.

"Yes." Superman confirmed, "We want to talk about your involvement in the genocide you took part in."

All eyes set on Polybius as it was clear that at least part of the League had no idea what this meeting was about. He could see the surprised look on several Leaguer's faces who thought he would never do such a thing.

Polybius rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't act surprised." Polybius started, "If you are, then it shows how foolish you are."

Polybius would be lying if he said he still wasn't angry with the League at that moment. While it had subsided, it was still there and on a very short fuse. One that Polybius had already lit and was about to explode with.

"Did I take part in a genocide?" Polybius started, "Yes, I did! Have I, believe it or not, done worse things? Yes, I have! Do I regret doing these things? Yes, I do!"

This sent those same surprised Leaguers into a state of shock, as they clearly weren't expecting Polybius to come forth with it. However, Polybius had already decided he wasn't going to hold any punches tonight. He was finally gonna let the League know how he really felt.

"And don't any of you dare sit there and be my judge!" Polybius went on, bringing everyone's attention back to him, "Because the fact is, you weren't there! Yes, I slaughtered men, women, and children like cows! Old and young, even infants and pregnant women! I spared none at the direct orders of the Canas Impertar. The highest level of the resistance government and highest-ranking resistance military official as well. And mind you, the loyalists of this war were committing the same atrocities at the orders of the Impertar as well. Even here, there are ongoing genocides presently that none of you are doing a damn thing about. Which means, you too, are also competent in those genocides as well since you all have the power to stop them! The thing is, though, I didn't have the power to stop this. And if I defied these orders, a likely punishment for me would be that I would be sent back to the cloning facilities and marked for human experimentation. And that's if they were feeling merciful. More than likely, I would have been crucified for disobeying orders from her. And yes Diana, you heard me right, HER! And let me tell you all, we've gotten really good at crucifying people. They won't die in hours or days. No, they'll stay up there for months because we built more support into the cross and assigned people to take care of them, to keep them alive for longer. This punishment would likely have dragged out to go on for at least three, and at maximum, six months before I finally die. And I know this is the punishment because I saw what happened to other people who disobeyed orders to commit genocide. Hell, I put a few of them up there. So if you want to be my judge, ask yourself, if you were me and in my situation, would you do any different? Because if you are saying you would, you're fucking lying to yourself."

If Polybius had a microphone in his hand, he would have dropped it. He had nothing more to say.

And it's clear that no one else has anything to say about that. After Polybius finished his spiel, there was dead silence in the room. It was so quiet; if a pin had dropped, everyone would have heard it.

"Do I need to say anything else?" Polybius asked, "Or can I go now? Because with the expectation of two people in this room, and we all know which two, I don't care what you all think about me. I've been through too much and done too much to care about that. Cause I know you all won't send me back to my home, because that's a death sentence, and you won't sentence me to death."

Polybius's ability to care was at an all-time low. The only two people he cared about what they thought about him were Black Canary because she was his mother, and Batman, because Polybius signed his employment contract with him. Otherwise, the rest of them could screw off for all Polybius cared.

"We need a moment to discuss this." Batman said, "We'll call you back in once we're done."

"Fine by me." Polybius said.

Polybius then walked out of the room and the door shut behind him.

Meanwhile, back on the ground and in Mount Justice, the Team was also now more aware of the developing situation with Polybius, as they had been told what was going on. They weren't told any of the details or that this was about the confession, but that the clone veteran was going to have to go before the League and explain something.

"Do you think they'll get rid of him?" Miss Martian asked.

"Hope so." Kid Flash said.

"They won't." Robin said, "This might cause some tension, but I finally managed to hack the League's file on Polybius. Needless to say, it's not pretty."

"What was in it?" Superboy asked.

"Most of it detailed about the events that transpired when they met him." Robin explained, "Apparently, Polybius was living in an extermination camp and was going to be killed next week."

"An extermination camp!?" The entire Team said in shock and unison.

"Yeah." Robin confirmed, "Apparently, there had been some war Polybius had fought in, and his side lost."

"Red Tornado mentioned something about that." Zatanna said, "Must have been a brutal war."

"From what I read, it sure sounds like it." Robin told them, "From the limited information that was in there, it sounds like wherever he came from didn't listen to the Geneva conventions and just did whatever."

"What gets me, though, is Polybius said it was a civil war." Superboy pointed out, "People who all lived under the same flag and called themselves the same thing, yet were so brutal to each other."

"What country has enough money to fund a clone army?" Zatanna asked, "I mean that just sounds expensive."

"Wait." Kid Flash said, "He's a clone?"

"He is." Superboy said, "And as far as he knows, he's the last one. All the others have been killed."

"Let's stay focused." Aqualad said, "There is something we are missing and that we shouldn't make assumptions without the full story."

"Yeah." Artemis agreed, "I mean, he had to have been forced, right? There's no way Polybius would have willingly gone along with this! Right?"

"Let's wait to see what the League decides to do with him." Aqualad said, "If Polybius's acts are truly as unforgivable as they now seem, then we will distance ourselves from him. But if it is found that he did not have a choice, then we should forgive him."

"Forgive!?" Kid Flash said, "I'm sorry. But 'following orders' is not an excuse."

"But what about the punishment?" Robin asked, "What would happen to Polybius if he disobeyed orders? Because from everything I've seen, I doubt it's pretty."

Meanwhile, back up on the Watchtower, the League's deliberations didn't take long. Admittedly, Polybius was surprised at how quickly they went, especially considering how hard he was. He knew that the votes had to have been near, if not unanimous, for a decision to come this quickly.

Walking back into the conference room, Superman stood up and began to speak.

"Polybius." Superman started, "Given everything you've said, and what we've seen of the world you came from, we have no doubt that your words are truthful. And your point about us being in your position is an excellent one. And while being complacent in a genocide, and the worse things you illuded to are all horrible in their own right, given your options and your situation, we've all agreed that we can come together and forgive you for what you've done."

"Did I ask for your forgiveness?" Polybius questioned, "Because I'm pretty sure I didn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure, I said that the only people in here I care about what they think about me are my mother and the person I signed my employment contract with."

"We are saying this to let you know that we are not going to take any action against you for your involvement in this." Diana stepped in, "Essentially, you were a slave soldier. And it's not right for us to judge a slave for their actions, but rather, the master's for ordering them."

Even though being called a 'slave' was accurate, Polybius hated it. He hated the idea that someone as elite and lethal as he was was bound in chains when he was very capable of using those chains to kill his master. Or better yet, break them and shape them into swords. However, with everything considered, he swallowed his anger and continued to listen.

"With everything you have told us about your world and the civil war you fought in, to blame you for this, or anything you did when you had no say in it whatsoever, is not fair to you." Superman went on, "You couldn't desert and run away, and you couldn't say 'no.' It was do, or get tortured and die. And therefore, no action will be taken against you."

Admittedly, Polybius did feel a huge weight get lifted from his shoulders. Even if he wouldn't admit it, he was worried about how the League was going to react. He had decided to come on hard because there was no denying what he had said, and lying was only going to make it worse.

"Anything else?" Polybius asked.

"Nothing more." Superman said, "You are dismissed, and this session is adjourned."

And there you have it! Chapter 36! Disagree with the League's decision? Let me know! Anything else, also let me know! Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, have a good one!