"Where did you go yesterday?"
Senka's tail stilled, and his face fell from it's grin when he entered the Mountain's living room after a restless night of sleep to find Robin watching at him with suspicion. The boy was in civilian garb, along with Wally and Artemis, and the other members of the Team were watching the proceedings with various expressions of worry, suspicion, and irritation.
"I went flying to get away from the prison you call my room," Senka said dryly, striding past the thirteen-year-old towards the kitchen area. "You didn't have the authority to leave the mountain," Kaldur said, slightly reprimanding but not overly so; he understood when one needed their space. "If the League had caught word of you leaving, they would see it as an act of insubordination and apply the necessary disciplinary actions." Senka scoffed.
"Dude, I have a room with cameras in the bathroom and shower, I have no actual bed still, and no light switch- my lights automatically flick on at five in the morning and there's nothing I can do to get them to stay off longer. I think I have a right to leave a gilded cage, don't you?" Aqualad winced, not really denying the unfairness the League had subjected the metahuman to but doing nothing to convince them it was wrong to segregate the teen so much.
"Hey, it's not Kaldur's fault- you haven't proved trustworthy yet!" Wally's voice was like the yipping of a cheetah ;rapid, sharp, and annoying. Senka's brow furrowed. "I haven't attacked you; I've stated my ultimatum to Superboy over there, and mine and the League's de-!" Senka shut his mouth with a clop- despite saying he would leave if things didn't change, he really didn't have any other place to go and no backing to get there without the League answering his 'abandonment' in their own way- finding the company that enhanced him and tipping them off to his whereabouts.
Robin caught on to the last word and leaned in, his eyebrows connecting over his glasses. "Your and the League's what?" he prodded. Senka snorted, smoke ejecting from his nose before he turned away. "Nothing that concerns you guys, Short Stack. Just let me be, and I'll follow through. Simple as that." Turning and shifting in a wave of shadows, Senka prowled away in his bigger beast form, his pads thumping softly against the flooring of the Mountain.
"I don't trust him at all," Wally said with a leer at the retreating finned tail. "He could be a spy or something." Robin hummed. "Well, he had a point with his defense- he hasn't attacked us at all physically or psychically. He's actually tried to keep out of our way since he got here; we just keep finding ourselves going to him."
"Conner, you've felt unsettled since yesterday morning," M'gann spoke up, looking at her friend worriedly. "What's wrong?"
The clone was scowling in confusion at the door Senka had left through. "It's just something he told me yesterday…" Wally's frown turned into a full-on sneer as he blurred to his feet. "See?! He's got Superboy upset now, and not even his normal brand of upset!"
"He didn't say anything that I didn't deserve to hear," the clone muttered. "I said something that I should've known better than to say, and he only answered in kind."
Robin hummed again and tapped on the laptop that was on the table, projecting the screen to the empty wall in the room. "You mean this?"
"I bleed even if my blood isn't red! I can cry even if my tears aren't salty and clear like yours are, and I sure as hell can die!"
"You have friends, people here who care, a freaking family even if not by blood from what I can smell on you, that won't turn on you at the drop of a hat. You have noidea what it's like for the ones who gave you life to sell you for five hundred dollars just so they can get their next fix and leave you to the next nine years in invasive experiments all while you're saying 'No'."
The room was silent, and even Robin, after going over the recording three times on his own, was gritting his teeth at the revelations on reflex.
"He was sold by his parents…?" Artemis said softly. "He called me a Walmart Discount copy!?" Wally fumed. His dislike was growing by the minute, completely disregarding what other revelations Senka had made. It made Conner, who had new insight to the metahuman experiment, scowl at the speedster in distaste.
"Is that all you care about?"
Wally sneered at the taller boy. "Now you suddenly defend him? What happened to 'oh, you'll heal anyways?"
"That's enough!" Kaldur stated firmly, making everyone fall into silence. "Listen- I believe we all have been unfair to Senka, apart for Artemis. He has no one except for us," Kaldur said quietly, his brow pinched with guilt for not standing up for their temporary ward. "He has had to live with the belief that his life amounts to only five hundred dollars in exchange for drugs, he's willing to die just to keep some semblance of freedom in his grasp. We have not been welcoming at all."
Even Wally had to agree with that after some grumbling on his part, but other than that, the group was silent, staring after the exit the experiment had left through.
"The question now is, how do we fix it?"
Senka was beating the hell out of one of Superboy's special punching bags when one of the League members, Black Canary, had appeared. Her scent alerted the dragon-boy to her presence, but he didn't think she was there to hurt him, so he ignored her and continued to beat the sandbag.
Dinah watched as the boy utilized his entire body, beating with his tail, forming weapons with the shadows, smacking with the edges of his wings, and slashing with his talons and clawed hands. He really was a living weapon, but she also saw how he resisted using his full strength to not destroy the bag.
"You need something, Canary?" the boy's rough voice pulled the woman from her observations, and she crossed her arms.
"Team training is mandatory. Everyone is just waiting for you." Senka gave a final haymaker to the black bag, his fish punching through the fabric and the soft sound of sand hitting the ground had the Meta's tapered ears flicking. "Bold of you to assume the rest of the League think I'm part of the team." He muttered, stepping away and rubbing at the scales on his knuckles gingerly. Several of them were falling off as his claws ran over the surfaces gently, and Senka absently reminded himself to make a Molting Den later on, if he even got the clearance too.
"Just give them time, Senka," the blonde said reassuringly. "With J'onn's backing, they'll come around." Senka scoffed, the seventeen-year-old's claws digging into his flesh so he drew gold blood that dripped onto the ground, making Dinah frown.
"You know the deal I made with your 'leaders'… as long as I protect the team, they don't lock me away, remember?" Dinah's mouth opened before she shut it, never making a sound. She was aware of the deal, she was there when Batman suggested it, but that didn't make it right…
To use this abused kid, not even eighteen, as a meat shield just because he can't die, was evil.
"But a necessary evil" the voice of Batman growled in her head, reminiscent of the time she shouted it at him after Senka agreed.
The thought made Dinah sick.
"Either way," she started, shaking her head and approaching Senka like one would a cornered animal. "At least let me make sure you don't have to resort to that. Your life is precious, Senka- just because most can't see that, doesn't mean you shouldn't either."
Senka sighed, smoke trailing from his lips as he let Dinah examine the new scars on his hands- they healed as soon as he took the claws out of his flesh, but the marks would remain.
"Now, about that team training…"
The floor lit up as Senka joined Robin and the others on the edge of the sparring floor. "I consider is a privilege to be your teacher- everything I can teach you I learned from my own mentors," Dinah began, slipped off her jacket and Senka unconsciously zeroed in on the bandages on her left arm. "And my bruises." She looked over the group. "I'll need a sparring partner." Senka lazily raised his hand, but Wally beat him to it.
When the Leaguer had him take the floor, the yellow speedster smirked confidently at her. "When we're done," he said, tossing the peel from the bananna he was eating away. "I'll show you some of my sweet moves~." Senka coughed a bit, expelling smoke as he tried to hold in a snort of amusement. He's gonna die.
And, true to big-headed form, a single block and a leg-sweep later, Kid Flash was down and groaning on the floor.
"Nice block, but what did he do wrong?" Dinah asked the observing kids. Robin caved and gave a cackle. "He flirted with the one who could kick his ass?"
Senka scoffed, crossing his arms as his wings fluttered. "He let her dictate the fight. He was overconfident and treated it like a joke, and he paid the price for it." Wally stood, his eyes narrowed in anger at the verbal degrading he just received.
"Hey, just because I'm not a scaly frea-."
"Wallace that's enough," Dinah said firmly. "Now, Senka is right in that he let me dictate this fight, and also-."
"Oh, please."
Superboy's voice cut through their instructor's, making Senka's brow twitch at the cockiness in his voice.
"I'm a living weapon designed to take down Superman and replace him. When I battle, the fight is always on my terms." Canary glanced over and thought about challenging him herself, but instead she had a better idea. Let's see how he'll do if he battles one of his teammates.
Senka was way ahead of her.
"So am I, Boy Scout Jr," he said lowly. "But just because I can come back like a cockroach, doesn't mean the fight is on my terms- remember, I was made just like you, and my powers can counter not just Superman, but all of the League's powerhouses as well."
The clone scowled, completely forgetting the talk he and his team had earlier that morning and opened his mouth to deliver a scathing remark when Canary intervened.
"Superboy, I want you to spar against Senka. One on one." Everyone on the team tensed, but Senka held his head up in their gazes. Black Canary was one of the few League members that had accepted him and he knew she wanted to get a message across to Superboy. Kaldur laid a hand on their ward's scaled shoulder. "You do not have to do this." The Atlantian murmured.
Senka let out a growl, shaking the webbed limb off. "Actually, I think I do. This kid isn't going to just roll over and let us talk sense into him- we need to pound it into him to get the messages across."
He clenched his hands, digging his claws into his palms, before stepping into the ring, his talons clicking against the holographic tile, however Senka's tail betrayed his unease. Black Canary stepped away to the edge and the others on the team seemed to be holding their breath.
"…Begin!"
Senka lunged at Superboy as he did to him. Drawing back a fist, Superboy punched at the meta but Senka dodged to the side and used his tail to get a hold of Superboy's neck. With a flip over his shoulders Senka brought the slightly taller teen down with his body weight and an arm grip on his left shoulder, signaling his failure.
Superboy growled and Black Canary nodded, Senka letting the boy up and flicking his wings.
"Good. You're angry. Channel it-." With a yell Superboy tackled Senka and pinned him with a hand to his throat. For some reason, the clone wanted to make this guy finally hurt. The weeks being ignored by the one he was cloned from, the ways this world worked and how to interact with people and things with powers he didn't know how to evaluate, even being compared to Superman… everything was boiling over, and Senka seemed to be the focal point of it.
Senka went very still then limp in an instinctual gesture of submission when he felt the clone's fingers begin to tighten around his throat, closing his windpipe and making him choke. His heart pounded in his chest and a familiar icy fear began to wriggle into his veins when one of the few things that could instigate the fear within the meta began to be realized.
Spots danced in his vision and he realized that holy shit this kid is going to kill him if he didn't get him off-!
Senka called to the shadows, their murmuring and whispers turning into full-on shrieking as they exploded in the room. The shadows coagulated into a bat and Senka gave a swing, knocking the irate clone off of him and turning on his hands and knees to retch and cough, his spine bowing upwards ad his wings trembled.
After several moments, Senka settled the shadows around him again, though they rippled in the corners of the room, and looked up at the scowling clone with a sardonic smirk.
"See that?" he rasped, the rapidly purpling bruses on his neck forming, then turning green just as fast. The smirk on his face dropped just as fast as it came and Senka was baring his teeth, violet-blue-white fire licking at the shadow in his throat and teeth.
"That is why I don't trust you guys… you didn't even tell him to get off."
The meta rubbed at the bruises, already turning green on his olive skin, before a beep suddenly made the training session divert their attention.
"Batman to the Mountain."
An image of Batman calling in appeared over the sparing circle. "Five hours ago a new enemy attacked Green Arrow and Canary." A short video showed a man fighting off Superman and the other league members easily. "Arrow called in reinforcements which nearly proved disastrous." Senka's eyes widened. "As you can see, our foe gained more and more power with each new opponent."
"So then, this guy has the powers of every member of the League… that's not good." Kid Flash mumbled.
"No, it's not," Batman said. "At the end of it all it took eight members four hours to pin it down and take the android apart-." Robin perked up. "Wait, Android? Was it made by T.O. Morrow?" "Good guess but no, Robin."
Martian Manhunter strode into the room, accepting a hug from M'gann before they got back to business. He tilted his head at the image. "The technology bears the same impressions as that of Dr. Ivo's."
"To ensure the menace is permanently neutralized we are sending two trucks with the parts of the android to two separate facilities of STAR Labs in Boston and New York for a full eval. We're going to split you up into two teams to escort the trucks undercover. Senka will be in the air and can pick one of you to ride him." Senka's gaze flickered to Superboy, but when the Boy of Steel looked at him he averted his gaze uneasily, the anger now replaced by shame and a new anger at himself. Senka grunted, crossing his arms and Batman nodded. "Very well. There will be four decoy trucks to throw off anyone or anything that wants to get the android back. We'll see you in Litchfield County."
As the team departed, Batman spoke once more.
"Senka… remember the deal."
That grabbed Robin's and Kaldur's attention, but the rescued experiment only nodded, his eyes dull and almost tired.
"I know," he said. "You don't have to remind me."
The group had begun their escort mission only an hour ago when they ran into trouble- the groups had split up, Senka, Superboy, and Robin with two trucks; Wally, and Artemis with another pair; Kaldur and M'gann with another. Senka had shifted and was flying high over the two he was paired with. They were just passing the beginnings of a corn field and Senka was suddenly on high alert. Amethyst eyes flitted across the field of corn before a troop of robotic monkeys appeared.
«Shit… Guys, we have company!»
Shifting back to his normal form Senka dropped towards the truck, extending his talons to snatch a monkey out of the air and rip it apart mid-flight, swooping around for another pass. He heard Robin tell Aqualad on the line that they were handling the same problem they did, and as he dove and gripped another monkey in his clawed taloned dragon feet to carry away, Superboy growled lowly. "I hate monkeys."
At being mobbed, Senka let out a snarl, smoke, fire, and shadow rippling off his form as he spun in the air, weighed down by the troop of seven monkeys, before he ignited and blew them off of him in a gust of black shadow and cold-colored flame. Luckily he hadn't flown too far from the truck.
'Ugh… that could have gone better…'
Senka flew with a partially blind Superboy seated reluctantly on his back in his larger beast form. The Teen of Steel was fuming. First he got his ass handed to him by a bunch of robotic monkeys, then they got away with the android parts from both convoys, and finally a chrome-domed chimp blasted him in the eyes with its laser, temporarily blinding him.
«Look, I get you still have problems with me,» the meta said lowly. «But we're stuck with each other, your team and me… I don't want to have to trust people who are always snapping their teeth at my throat, and I doubt you do either.» Superboy sighed, rubbing at his still-blinded eyes thoughtfully. «… Do you want to go after the chimps or wait for the team?»
Superboy huffed before moving to slide into a more comfortable spot on his (temporary ally's?) teammate's scaly back.
They flew in silence, Senka only pouring on the speed when he and Superboy knew the monkey's laughter was getting fainter.
Flying just outside the outer reaches of a city's limits, Senkahummed, feeling a tickle of humor in the scenery. «Jeez… Didn't think the Wizard of Oz was this far south…»
"The what?"
Senka rolled his eyes. «Never mind, Superboy.»
There was an awkward silence before Senka spoke again. «Can you hear them?»
"…Yeah. Down there!"
Superboy pointed to a train and Senka's lip raised, showing off his massive fangs as he shifted his trajectory and angled downwards towards the train.
They wouldn't get away this time.