Chapter 38
Losers and the Disgraced...
"That mission SUCKED!" Kid Flash declared as the Team entered Mount Justice.
What had, less than two hours ago, sounded like a promising and extraordinary mission turned out just to be a misunderstanding. As soon as the Team got there, they could tell this was a misunderstanding, and they did not need to be there.
"Well… Everyone makes mistakes." Miss Martian said, trying to raise the morale of the group, but to no avail.
"This whole mission was just a gigantic waste of our time." Superboy countered, "I mean, how could anyone misread a situation that badly?"
Before anybody could say anything else, the echoing sound of wooden staffs hitting each other filled their ears.
"What is that?" Kid Flash asked, unsure of what he was hearing.
"Let's find out." Aqualad said, leading the way.
Upon entering the room the Team did their training in, they were astonished to see Wonder Woman, and more surprisingly, Polybius, going at each other, and Donna sitting and watching in the background, as well as the new 'meta power killer' in the background that was disabling the Amazons' powers.
"57 to 0." Robin said, looking at the score.
"Bet you that zero belongs to Polybius." Kid Flash slyly stated.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Artemis said, pointing at the fight.
It was immediately apparent to the Team that Diana was on the losing end of the engagement. Polybius, with each hit of his staff, drove her back a little bit. However, in a sudden change of strategy, Polybius threw his staff to the side and grabbed Diana's. The two began struggling over the staff, and without her powers, Polybius was clearly the stronger one.
Despite being on the losing end, Diana didn't give up the struggle and attempted to break Polybius's grip. The clone veteran, however, used this against her and managed to jerk the staff and knock her off balance. This caused her to fall to the ground and for Polybius to mount her again. This time, Polybius pressed his body weight against the staff and forced it at Diana's neck. The two continued to struggle for a little bit as Diana attempted to break free of Polybius but to no avail.
"Alright, that's enough!" Donna suddenly called out, causing the two to stop struggling.
Once Polybius got off of Diana, he helped her up to her feet.
"What's that?" Polybius asked, "54?"
"58." Donna said.
"And to nill?" Polybius asked, "Dang Diana. I'm really kicking your teeth in today."
"Only because I've decided to play fair." Diana said, "If I was playing with my powers, you'd be done for."
"If you were playing with your powers, I'd be playing with my toys." Polybius countered, "And trust me, if I get my toys, you're going down hard!"
"We'll have to try that someday." Diana said.
"Yeah, but not today." Polybius said, "I'm done. No more."
"Giving up already?" Diana teased.
"You ain't even got one point on the board!" Polybius quickly countered, "58 takedowns to 0! This was a slaughter!"
"Well, you'll have to teach me some of those moves sometime then." Diana said.
"Yeah, sometime." Polybius agreed.
Not long after that, Polybius and Donna said 'goodbye' to Diana, and the elder Amazon left.
"Wish I could have seen that fight." Robin commented as soon as Diana left.
Polybius and Donna turned back to see the Team standing in the doorway. Neither one was aware that the Team had returned but weren't surprised by it.
"Aw, great." Polybius grounded, but with a smile on his face.
"Aw, great?" Donna questioned.
"Aw, great." Polybius grounded again, "These losers."
"Who are you calling losers!?" Kid Flash spoke up.
"The muffin man!" Polybius replied sarcastically, "Man, who else am I talking about!? Cause I ain't no loser, and Donna is for sure not a loser! Therefore, you're the loser!"
"Oh please!" Kid Flash brushed off, "You're the loser considering you lost your war!"
While Polybius had been light-hearted and generally over his anger towards the Team, this comment suddenly and rapidly changed that. The smile on Polybius's face vanished, and the room suddenly got very quiet and the air very dense as Polybius gave Kid Flash a death stare.
"Excuse me?" Polybius questioned in an almost threatening tone.
"Polybius! No!" Donna said, grabbing hold of him, "He's not worth it! Let it go!"
Polybius wasn't the only one staring at Polybius, as the rest of the Team was as well.
"What?" Kid Flash questioned, "Just stating a fact."
"Polybius! No!" Donna said, now putting herself between Polybius and Kid Flash and also shifting the attention in the room to her.
Polybius had both of his hands balled into a fist and had taken a step forward towards Kid Flash. However, Donna's quick thinking had stopped Polybius in his tracks.
"Come on." Donna said, grabbing his arm that was closest to the Zeta Tubes, "Let's go to a restaurant or something."
Donna then began somewhat pushing Polybius towards the Zeta Tubes. The clone veteran moved with her but never took his eyes off Kid Flash until the two had been teleported away.
"Seriously, dude!?" Robin was the first to speak up.
"What?" Kid Flash asked, not thinking he had done anything wrong.
"Did you really have to take it there!?" Superboy asked, his anger flaring up.
"Don't tell me you guys are defending him!?" Kid Flash asked, shocked, "The dude has admitted to committing genocide, and you're defending him!? What!?"
"The League has pardoned him!" Aqualad spoke up, "However, what you said was extremely rude and wrong."
"Oh, come on!" Kid Flash defended himself, "The dude has admitted to committing genocide. Admitted to killing innocent civilians. Has been very rude towards us the past few days. And no one is holding him accountable! Somebody has to call him out!"
"That was not the way to do it." Artemis countered, "That was extremely rude and absolutely uncalled for."
"Whatever." Kid Flash brushed off.
As the Team hammered Kid Flash for his comment meanwhile, Donna had pulled Polybius to the side.
"Come on now, breathe with me." Donna told him, "In… And out…"
Polybius was following Donna's instructions, but its effectiveness was questionable, as he was still fuming with anger.
"I can't believe he said that." Polybius finally managed out after five minutes of breathing.
"I know." Donna said, "But keep breathing with me. In…"
After focusing on breathing for a long time, eventually, Polybius was able to calm down enough to where he didn't want to knock Kid Flash's head off his body.
"Feeling better yet?" Donna asked.
"No." Polybius answered, anger still fuming out of him.
"Well, you can't go beat him up." Donna told her boyfriend, "I really don't want you in jail."
"Still." Polybius said, "Somebody needs to teach him respect."
"And somebody will." Donna assured him, "But you can't beat him up."
Polybius let out a long sigh, releasing a lot of anger with it, "I know."
The clone veteran dropped his head, prompting Donna to move to comfort him.
"It's been a long time since somebody has ever disrespected me like that." Polybius commented, "Disrespected the people who fought for the resistance like that."
"People?" Donna asked, confused as to what Polybius meant.
"So many good men and women died, fighting for the resistance." Polybius started, "And yet he just shits all over them like they were garbage."
It then suddenly hit Donna how Polybius had interrupted Kid Flash's comment. The clone veteran didn't see the insult as directed towards him but to the people he fought side by side with for years. Who sacrificed their lives in vain for a cause they believed in. And while he didn't believe in the cause they were fighting for, he still had immense respect for those people and the sacrifices they made.
"I don't think he meant it like that." Donna told him.
"Perception is reality." Polybius countered.
"What?" Donna questioned, "No, it's not! Just because something seems to be one way doesn't mean it is."
"That's true." Polybius said, "However if you see that something, and don't know any better, that suddenly becomes your reality until you are corrected on it. Which means perception is reality. And since I perceived Kid Flash's remark as an attack on those people who fought and died by my side, rather than just on me, that's my reality."
"Oh…" Donna said, realizing what the clone veteran meant, "I get it now."
"Good." Polybius said, "Remember that."
"I will." Donna said, before shifting the subject, "But for now, let's get out of here and go do something! Get your mind off of it."
"Yeah." Polybius agreed, lifting his head up, "You know what, I've got something I want to show you."
As the two began to travel meanwhile, Claudia, who was finally allowed to come back to work, was triple checking the report she had just been given.
"No." Claudia said, "Definitely not 82. But this might be good for something else…"
A recent report came in of a small army of either cyborgs or androids coming in through a portal in the North Eastern United States, and setting up a base of operations had caught The Organization's attention. However, this report was so far unconfirmed, and there were a number of people doubting its authenticity.
Claudia, however, was one to always dive headfirst into unconfirmed reports, as anything related to Entity 82 was usually tossed in the trash. This was because of The Organization's denial of its possible return.
However, Claudia had a different idea.
Thanks to the arrival of Mr. Court, and his vast experience in metalworking, a new prototype had been created. This one ran on a half organic, half mechanical brain and was significantly tougher than anything The Organization had built thus far.
At least, as far as Claudia, Irene, Chief Z, and Mr. Court knew about.
Regardless, Claudia did see a potential opportunity for a test of their new system. Mainly to see if it was as tough as they were hoping.
Walking down the hall and entering Irene, Chief Z, and now Mr. Court's office, she found the three hard at work at their respective stations.
"Hey, guys!" Claudia said as she walked in, "Heard about the reports of that mechanical army yet?"
"The one by the Appalachian Mountains?" Chief Z asked.
"Yeah, that one!" Claudia said.
"What about it?" Chief Z followed up.
"Well, saying these reports are true, I think it would be an excellent opportunity to test out your new system." Claudia told the group.
"You think so?" Mr. Court asked, "I mean, we haven't really had a chance to do any controlled test. Are you sure jumping straight into a field test is a good idea?"
"A test is a test." Claudia declared, "And if you fail, it'll give you a lot of good points to work on to improve your work."
A few hours later, elsewhere, Polybius and Donna had finally reached the location he had wanted to take her.
"Are those… graves?" Donna questioned.
The clone veteran had taken his girlfriend to where he made graves for his fallen squadmates.
"They are." Polybius confirmed, "But don't worry, there's no one buried here."
"How do you know?" Donna asked.
"Because I put these tombstones here." Polybius answered.
"Why?" Donna asked.
"Because it gives me a sense of closure." Polybius explained, "These tombstones are for my fallen squadmates."
Donna then took a moment to examine the graves. She approached the closest one to her and paused as she looked at the name.
"Marc, Rayanus, Zombie and Latin." Polybius said, "At least, in English, that would be their names."
"I know you said they died." Donna started, "But if you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"
"Well, my boys, Marc, Rayanus, and Zombie, all died to those monsters that the loyalist unleashed on us." Polybius said, "Latin… I don't know. I mean, I'm pretty sure she died, as the idea of escaping those monsters or that situation seems impossible as they had us surrounded and cut off. But I never saw Latin die. She got separated from us when she was ordered to try and escort the resistance leaders out. And I know for a fact that all the leaders their either were killed or committed suicide."
"She?" Donna questioned, "I thought you were in a clone army?"
"I was." Polybius said, "However when they made my unit, they made us intending to make us the best. And while our cloners did deliver, the higher-ups were worried that our naturally aggressive behavior would result in us killing a lot more people than we should. And while this turned out to be meaningless later on, at the time, it seemed like a good idea to them as the war thus far had been nothing but small-scale skirmishes between the resistance and loyalists, with very few actual battles. So, in an effort to try and keep us from committing these war crimes, they assigned each of us a non-clone to keep us in check."
"But didn't you just admit to committing a genocide not that long ago?" Donna asked.
"The clone army came about before the war took a turn in that direction." Polybius explained, "For the first half of the decade I was fighting in it, the war didn't commit atrocities like that. It wasn't until the loyalists began introducing new cyborg soldiers that the war took that turn for the worst."
"Oh." Donna said, now understanding why the war went the way it did.
"However, going back to the idea of assigning a non-clone to the most elite clone units in the entire clone army was a terrible idea. Truthfully, for most of the unit I served under, the non-clone was a crutch to the squad's effectiveness. They couldn't keep up with the clones, and most of us hated them as they just didn't understand us." Polybius followed up.
"So you didn't like Latin?" Donna asked.
"Actually, our squad was the expectation." Polybius said, "Latin, unlike the other non-clones assigned to our unit, could keep up with us. That, and she was not a crutch for our squad, but she ended up being a very valuable team member. We freaking loved having her in our squad, and she was a huge part in why we were so effective."
"She must have been one hell of a fighter then." Donna said.
"Oh yeah, she was." Polybius agreed.
"Wish I could have met her." Donna said.
"No, you don't." Polybius corrected.
"Hm?" Donna questioned.
"You two wouldn't have gotten along very well." Polybius said, "Latin… had a lot of problems and a lot of baggage. Now, it never got in the way of her ability to fight anyone, but it did shape her into a rather bitter person."
"She couldn't have been that bad." Donna said, "I mean, you can be pretty bitter sometimes."
"Oh, please." Polybius brushed off, "My bitterness now is nothing compared to her's. I mean, my gosh, she had a lot of hate and took it out on her enemies."
"Okay…" Donna said, "But that doesn't really answer my question. I mean, you and I get along just fine."
"You and I also have a lot of time together." Polybius said, "Where it was literally just the two of us for months. And then we have been each other's support person for years after that. We know each other better than anyone else. However, as I said earlier, my bitterness is nothing compared to Latin's. Usually, I try to hide my anger, but she won't. She'll unleash on anyone, sometimes for no reason. And I already know that she'll unhinge on you."
"Okay." Donna said, understanding the clone veteran's explanation.
"However…" Polybius starred as he put his hand on Latin's tombstone, "I do wish they were alive and here with me. They didn't deserve to die that way. Cornered and slaughtered like a sick dog."
A few days later, Irene, Chief Z, and Mr. Court were all excitedly and eagerly watching their new prototype engage the cyborgs in battle.
However, this excited eagerness quickly turned to grave disappointment for Irene and Chief Z as they watched their creation get absolutely annihilated before even firing a single shot or even getting close enough to fire one.
Mr. Court, however, was having a very different reaction.
"Holy shit." Mr. Court muttered to himself, too quiet for Irene or Cheif Z to hear.
Meanwhile, back in the Cave, every time Polybius and Kid Flash were in the same room, there was heavy tenseness in the air that everyone could feel. Everyone except Kid Flash, however, who was still in denial about any wrongdoings and insisting that Polybius should b be held accountable for what he did, despite the clone veteran's lack of choice in the matter.
And while Polybius wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of Kid Flash every time he saw him, he remembered what Donna had told him.
"Don't do it!" Donna's words rang in his mind.
And that was enough to keep him from doing it, as he didn't want to upset Donna.
"You really should apologize to him." Artemis tried to push Kid Flash.
"He'll get over it." Kid Flash insisted.
The following day, however, being Saturday, allowed Mr. Court to become Flavius Courtannatius once again and approach the cyborgs in a military uniform he hadn't worn in a long time.
"Hold!" Flavius called out as he approached the cyborgs.
The two cyborgs, who were guarding the build sight, lowered their weapons as they watched the commander approach.
"Take me to your commander!" Flavius ordered them.
The two cyborgs complied with Flavius's order and took him to the lead cyborg.
"2nd Legatue Flavius Courtannatius." The lead cyborg greeted him as he walked in, "Or rather, was."
"Hold your tongue when you speak to me!" Flavius ordered.
The lead cyborg laughed.
"I will talk to the disgraced however I please!" The lead cyborg spat back, "You were stripped of your command following your humiliating defeat at the Siege of Alexandria. You lost a battle that there was no way you should have lost. We, meanwhile, have proven ourselves time and time again to be far more capable than you could ever dream of being!"
"I may be disgraced, but I was never demoted!" Flavius tried to lie.
"While that is technically true, you were kicked out of the military for your disgraceful defeat and exiled to the island of Novus Phobos." The lead cyborg countered, "However, how did you get off that island?"
"Not important." Flavius replied, "But I am curious, why are you here? Is it for me?"
"Negative." The lead cyborg replied, "We would not waste our time with such a disgraced person. We are here for someone who is far above you in every way."
"You're here for Polybius." Flavius stated, "Or rather, clone 1453."
"So he is here." The lead cyborg replied, "That is excellent news."
"Why do you want him?" Flavius questioned, "Last I heard, the Impertar didn't really care much about the runaways. In fact, I'm pretty sure she said just to let him go."
"Why we want him is none of your concern." The lead cyborg countered.
"Fine. Fine." Flavius conceded, "However, I will tell you that he's gone, pacifist."
"1453? Pacifist!?" The lead cyborg questioned, "If that's the case, then the rat has gone senile!"
"Maybe." Montezuma agreed, "I'm telling you, if you're here to fight him, he's not gonna fight."
"Oh, he will." The lead cyborg confidently stated, "He will fight."
"You gotta motivate him." Flavius explained to them.
"And how would we do that?" The lead cyborg questioned.
"Well, for starters, he's got a girlfriend he really cares about." Flavius said with a sinister smile on his face.
While having Polybius die to cyborgs was not Flavius's original plan, the idea of Polybius getting killed by them trying and failing to save his beloved Donna was one that Flavius really liked.
"And just exactly who is this girlfriend?" The lead cyborg asked.
"Donna Troy." Flavius answered as he reached into his pocket for his wallet, where he kept a picture of Polybius and Donna to remind him of his ultimate goal.
Flavius then handed the lead cyborg a picture of the two.
"You capture her, and that'll be more than enough motivation for him to fight." Flavius said confidently.
"We will take it under advisement." The lead cyborg said, "Now, in case you forgot, it is legal and lawful for me to execute a disgraced commander. You had best leave before I exercise this law."
"Of course." Flavius complied, "I wouldn't dare stay any longer!"
Oh snap, things are heating up!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't be afraid to let me know what your think of it. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and the time to leave a review if you leave one, and as always, have a good one!