I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.


Investigating

Cassius watched as Deathstroke sparred with his daughter. Finding out Deathstroke had a daughter, by the name of Rose Wilson, was probably the most shocking thing he'd ever learned. He just didn't seem the type to ever give two shits about anything besides fighting and money. Certainly never about family. And yet, he could tell that Deathstroke actually did care about Rose. It was in the way he beat her even more severely than Cassius to make her stronger. The way every time he beat her he would tell her what a disappointment she was. And it was in the way he had given her a suit identical to his own after the first time she killed someone. Truly, he was the father of the year.

Rose was about the same age as Cassandra, though nowhere near as skilled. Cassius had offered to help Deathstroke train her, but Deathstroke had refused, saying that she would learn from him alone. So, Cassius didn't offer again. If he didn't want him to help, he wouldn't.

"Cassius!" Deathstroke called, Cassius dropping to the ground floor. "You've been given an assignment. A facility owned by one of our benefactors has gone dark. You're being sent to find out what happened, and to report what they have been working on. Avoid being seen if you can, and if you can't, adapt to the situation as necessary."

"Understood," Cassius nodded. "Where is the facility?"

"It's Cadmus Labs," Deathstroke said. "Washington D.C."

Cassius nodded and turned, walking away, leaving for Cadmus immediately, since he didn't need anything for his assignments, being able to form clothes from his goo, not needing to worry about a shower, and never taking long enough to need food.


Cassius watched as first Kid Flash, the sidekick of Flash from the Justice League, then Robin, Batman's sidekick, and lastly Aqualad, sidekick of the Justice League's Aquaman, slipped into the building through the second story window, ignoring the fire. Aqualad did, however, stop to save two workers who were trapped on the roof after Kid Flash threw them there when he caught them on the way up the wall to the window the pair fell out. Cassius slipped around to the back of the building and entered through the roof at the back of the building, where there was no fire and no one watching. He hid himself just outside the building's main hallway as the three sidekicks forced their way into one of the elevators, then jumped in, descending using Robin's grappling hook. Cassius frowned. Why take the elevator of a two-story building?

He walked over, looking down the elevator and instantly understood. It wasn't two stories. The elevator they'd taken extended down well below the ground, darkness obscuring the hallway after the first fifty feet past ground floor. He hummed thoughtfully and extended a strand of goo from his hand, attaching it to the ceiling and beginning to descend, careful not to touch the grappling line. After a few minutes, he stopped at the end of the grappling line, sublevel twenty six. He looked down at the darkness.

"How deep is this place?" he mumbled, then swung forward into the open elevator door, retracting his goo.

He took three steps into the room on the far side, a long room opening into a "T" shaped hallway ahead and lined with machines, before a foot struck the side of his leg at more than a hundred miles an hour, breaking his leg. He flipped, landing hard just in time for Aqualad to pin him, holding a blade made of water, controlled through one of his two hilt-like devices created for the purpose of forming weapons from water, to his throat.

"I will only ask one time," Aqualad said. "Who are you? What were those things just now? And what are you doing here?"

"Well, if you're only asking once, this should be easy," Cassius said, slamming his knees into Aqualad, throwing him off and allowing him to stand, blocking Robin's punch and swinging him around into Kid Flash's path, tripping him up.

Both crashed to the ground and Cassius ducked out of the way of Aqualad's fist, drilling his own into his chest and sending him staggering away.

"In order, you may call me Null," Cassius said. "I have no idea what things you were talking about, and I'm here to satisfy curiosity."

"How are you standing?" Kid Flash asked. "I felt your leg break."

"I healed," Cassius said.

"Bullshit," Kid Flash said. "In less than ten seconds? What other powers do you have?"

"I don't know what you mean," Cassius said. "Anyway, I've got no time to deal with you. I'm on a bit of a time crunch. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go ahead and take a look around now."

"Hold it!" Robin said, stepping into his path. "We're not done!"

"Yes, you are," Cassius said. "If you really want to find out more about me, help me figure out what's going on here. Then, I'll tell you a bit about myself after."

The other three looked around at one another before all nodding. "Okay. Sure."

Cassius nodded and turned, walking to the hallway and looking around. "So what things were you talking about?"

"Giant creatures," Aqualad said. "Grey skin, horns, posture of gorillas but standing twenty feet tall. One of them had a small creature with similar grey skin but a head the size of its body, small horns, and small arms and legs on it and when the small one looked at us, its horns glowed red for a moment."

"I see," Cassius nodded. "Interesting. "Which way'd they go?"

"Right," Robin said, Cassius heading in that direction. "Hey, where are you going!?"

"I wanna see the giant monsters," Cassius shrugged. "Like I said, I'm here to see what's going on."

They looked around at each other before following. After a few minutes, and Robin hacking them through several doors, they finally reached a large room filled with tanks, each lit by a stream of electricity and holding what looked like some kind of giant bug. They had glowing abdomens, long, curved, blade-like legs, and four small, spike-like wings.

"I am officially whelmed," Robin said.

"And illiterate, apparently," Cassius said, walking into the room, hands in his pockets as he looked around at the tanks.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world," Kid Flash realized, walking along the left row of tanks. "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates its own power with these...things. Must be what they're bred for."

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad said. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragons' teeth into the earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too," Robin said, walking over to a computer off to the side. "Let's find out why." He pulled a cord out of his left gauntlet, plugging it into the computer while Cassius leaned against a tank, waiting for the three children to do his job for him. "They call them...genomorphs." He had a small holographic screen hovering over his gauntlet. "Whoa! Look at the stats on these things. Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!"

Interesting, Cassius thought. I wonder how many it would take to kill a Shadow. I wonder how many I'd have to send to kill Cain, Shiva, and Deathstroke. Probably the whole army knowing those three. And even then it'd probably not be enough. Hm. I'd probably get Cassandra and Rose caught up in the mess too. Probably best to let it be.

"They're engineering an army, but for who?" Kid Flash asked.

"Wait!" Robin said, pulling up a file. "There's something else. Project Kr. Ugh. The file's triple encrypted. I can't-"

"Don't move!" a voice ordered, Cassius instantly stepping backward behind some of the tanks, then launching himself to the ceiling with his goo.

He moved where he could see, his goo keeping him stuck to the ceiling and allowing him to watch from his concealed position as several small goblin-like creatures, each of which stood about waist-height, had white-grey skin, pointed ears, tails, and the stature of monkeys, ran in, along with a man wearing a black shirt with blue armor on the shoulders and chest, black pants, a gold shield over his left forearm, a gold helmet, with a half-mask and a chinstrap, and a small version of the creatures on his shoulder, this one with black stripes on its head and small black horns.

"Wait, Robin?" the man asked. "Aqualad? Kid Flash?"

"At least he got the name right," Robin said.

"I know you," Aqualad said. "Guardian. A hero."

"I do my best," Guardian said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash asked.

"I'm chief of security," Guardian said. "You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

"You think the league's going to approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid Flash asked.

"Weapons?" Guardian asked. "What are you-"

The tiny creature on his shoulder turned its head toward him, its horns suddenly glowing red, and Guardian stiffened.

"What have I...my head," he said, holding a hand to his head for a moment before glaring. "Take 'em down hard! No mercy!"

Don't mind if I do, Cassius thought, dropping to the ground and launching himself out of cover, retracting the goo before the others saw him and drilling a punch into Guardian's jaw, sending him crashing into the wall, the little imp from his shoulder crashing into it above him, both being knocked out instantly. The five creatures that had been with Guardian leapt at him but he easily took them all down, even without his goo, finishing in seconds just as an alarm began to scream.

"Whoa!" Kid Flash gaped. "Dude's good!"

"You coming?" Cassius asked, turning and running out of the room.

The other three followed, heading back to the elevator where Robin hacked the door open. They all stepped inside as more creatures began to charge them from the hallway. Cassius closed the doors, waving at them pleasantly as the doors hissed shut.

"So, where to, Boy Wonder?" Cassius asked.

"Up and out," Kid Flash said, only for Robin to hit the button for sublevel fifty two.

"We're headed down?" Aqualad asked.

"Project Kr?" Cassius asked.

"Bingo," Robin nodded.

"This is out of control," Aqualad said. "Perhaps...perhaps we should contact the league."

"Pussy," Cassius snorted.

"Excuse me?" Aqualad asked.

"What's wrong?" Cassius asked. "Can't handle your first real mission without training wheels, sidekick? Gotta cry for help from the real heroes as soon as things get tough?"

"No I..." Aqualad was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath. "You are right. We came here to investigate, the same as you. So we will do so."

"Good," Cassius said. "By the way, Robin, did you happen to find out what caused that explosion? Or if this base reports to anyone?"

"No," Robin said. "The explosion upstairs was probably nothing major. From what I saw, everything up there is basically fake anyway. As far as who, if anyone, this place reports to, I got nothing."

"Maybe the guy in charge has communication logs, or progress updates with their boss," Cassius said.

"You are assuming there even is a boss," Aqualad said.

"Yeah," Cassius said. "Assuming. Sure. Let's go with that."

All three narrowed their eyes at him, only to spin to the door as it dinged open. Outside the door, there was no building. It was a cave made from reddish-brown rock with pipes running here and there. They all rushed into cover, Cassius waiting to see which way the three sidekicks went so he could go the other way. However, before he could, a tall, humanoid creature stepped out, this one with light blue-grey skin, tall horns that stuck out from his forehead a few inches before bending upward for about six inches, and a white shirt and pants like you might expect a scientist to wear.

"Hold!" the creature said, then raised his hands, his horns glowing as a pair of small barrels in front of him rose into the air.

With a flick of his wrist, the creature sent the barrels flying at them, the three sidekicks avoiding them and allowing them to explode against the wall. Robin threw a round, sharpened disk at the creature, but it stopped just in front of the creature's head, then fell as the creature hurled more barrels at the three, who retreated into the hallway the creature hadn't come from. once they were gone, Cassius waited, the creature looking directly toward him.

"You are not like those three," the creature said. "Who are you?"

"Names are pointless," Cassius said. "I represent someone who's highly interested in Project Cadmus, but who recently stopped receiving any communication from it. I was sent to find out why, and to report all of Cadmus's pet projects. For instance, yourself, it would seem."

"I see," the creature said. "If that is the case, follow me." He turned, walking away, and Cassius followed, preparing himself to form his goo at a moment's notice.


Leave a review.