Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
Washington D.C.
July 4th, 2010
Sirens were blaring in the street at the local fire department was attempting to extinguish the fire inside the lab. I was heading straight for the building as I saw two men yelling for help. But Kid Flash ran past me as a small explosion set off, expelling the men from the building. Kid manage to go fast enough to grab the men and put them on the roof before losing momentum. I quickly bounded up the wall, digging my claws into the cement and leaping into the window and pulling Kid up.
"Well thank you, sweet cheeks." He grinned as I was lifting him, but I dangled him for a moment.
"I could drop you." I said before pulling him in. "Stop flirting, this is serious." I snapped as Robin swung into the building on one of his ropes.
"Anything for you, Kit-Kat." He just didn't know when to quit. Thankfully, Robin smacked him upside the head before I could. I peeked out the window and saw Aqualad move in.
"I need to borrow that." I heard the atlantean say as he used his water-bearers to channel the water from the firehose into a solid whirlpool beneath him as he rose up past the window. "Step aboard now." He ordered as I heard the scientists feebly jump from the roof onto the watery platform. As they descended, Aqualad jumped into the building and lowered the ment from there. "Appreciate the help." He quipped snidely as Robin hacked one of the computers with Kid Flash and I watching his back.
"You handled it." Robin said to him as I caught a scent of something extremely out of place. "Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Robin reminded everyone about why we're here as I slid past Aqualad, getting a good look at the think walking towards the elevator.
"Hey! Stop!" I called as I tried to catch up to it, but he was already in the elevator. With and oddly eerie ping, the doors closed. Aqualad and I approached it with confusion.
"There was something in the-" Aqualad tried to remark, as befuddled as he was. But Kid Mouth interrupted him.
"Elevators should be locked down." Kid said as he tried to move forward before Rob stopped him.
"This is wrong." Robin said as he just stood there looking at the elevator.
"Geez, you think?" I quipped at my little brother, knowing that this wasn't a normal elevator. Rob pulled out his holocomputer and scanned the doors and the interior.
"Thought so. This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building." Robin explained as Aqualad and I stepped forward, each of us picking a side.
"Neither does what we saw." He spoke as the two of us pulled open the elevator doors with ease.
"And that's why they need an express elevator." Rob observed as he knelt down and saw all of the little lights and floor markers going down farther than any of them could see. I saw the through the dark, straight to the where the elevator stopped, but the numbers where muddled from the angle I was trying to read them at.
"There's more that probably over fifty five underground." I told everyone as the elevator started moving again. "Let's go." I looked to Robin as he shot one of his grappling hooks and rode it down. I decided to save mine and leap toward the rope, sliding down, following my little brother. The Aqualad followed above me, then Kid Flash. But the sound of the grapple gun expelling rope soon ceased.
"I'm at the end of my rope." Robin stated as he swung forward onto the ledge just beneath the sublevel doors. I made it to the end, leaping forward and digging my claws into the metal wall to avoid falling. Aqualad landed easily and the two of us caught Kid, and swung him below before carefully pulling him up. "Bypassing security." Robin barely needed to physically hack, his personal algorithm doing it for him. "There! Go!" He gave us the clear as Aqualad and I pulled the doors back, revealing sublevel twenty six. "Welcome to project Cadmus." Robin was just as confused as the rest of us, but I caught a scent slightly different from the thing in the elevator, this one stronger, like there were multiple sources.
Kid saw my face and knew I was onto something, ducking back and launching forward, pulling me onto his back as I leaned up and smelled the rush of air. We kept going forward until the smell was right on top of us and boy did we find it.
"Aah!" Kid yelled as we tumbled into the walkway of what I assumed to be massive genetically engineered beasts, almost similar to elephants, but much larger and a lot scarier. I grabbed Kid's arm and pulled him out of the way just before he was stepped on.
"You okay?" I asked and he nodded, pulling onto his back again and ran between the things'
legs to the others. I hopped off his back and saw a little imp like creature with little devil horns riding on the shoulders of one of the beasts as it growled and huffed steam. I heard this little chittering noise as the little imp's horns glowed red. Suddenly, I felt like this was completely normal and I should forget about it.
"No. Nothing odd going on here." Aqualad droned as he gained the expression of a stoner. But it faded as the beasts disappeared with the memory of them. We got to moving again as we found another door, but I absolutely couldn't believe what was behind this one.
"Ok. I'm officially whelmed." Robin said as I moved forward, seeing the electric creatures in tubes. It made me nervous, but Rob put a hand on my back and I snapped back to reality.
"I'm guessing these things are power cells?" I looked to the others, gesturing to the creatures that looked like alien fireflies. Kid was catching my drift with this and put two and two together.
"This is how they hid this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these... things. Must be what they're bred for." Sometimes, I loved how smart Kid was. He could follow my awkward ramblings, unlike some people. Robin was better at math, but KF understood science and physics the exact same way I did.
"Of course. Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons' teeth into the earth." Aqualad enlightened us with something none of us had cared to remember.
"And this Cadmus creates new life, too." I walked up to one of the tubes, pressing my hand to it. There was no electric shock so the insulation must be extremely strong, I still felt the hum, but nothing escaped the tube.
"Let's find out why." Robin walked over to a control panel and hacked into it, stealing and decrypting files. "They call them genomorphs. Whoa! Look at the stats on these things; super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!" Robin exclaimed as I balled my fists. This sounded a lot like a project that failed two years ago.
"They're engineering an army, but for who?" Kid looked to me, seeing my anger and discomfort.
"Wait. There's something else. Project Kr." Robin continued to hack, but groaned in unsuccess. "The file's triple-encrypted. I can't-"
"Don't move!" I gruff voice orders. I opened my hands and my claws came out through the perfect slits at the tips of the fingers in my gloves. The sound of growling arrived as genomorphs with razor claws arrives. I got in a stance with my own claws at the ready, preparing for a fight. "Wait. Robin, Wildcat, Aqualad, Kid Flash?" The man in the golden helmet recognized us.
"At least he got your name right." Robin joked as he continued downloading the file to decrypt on his own. I move closer to him. If it came down to it, I had to protect him if he needed more time.
"I know you. Guardian, a hero." Aqualad identified him, relaxing in his demeanor as he expected a friend.
"I do my best." Guardian said as I notices a little imp like creature with little horns, perched atop the man's right shoulder. It seemed so familiar.
"Then what are you doing here?" Kid asked as I kept trying to figure out where I saw the little imp thing before.
"I'm chief of security. You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, Figure this out." Guardian said as Robin's download completed. I stayed in place, knowing that this wasn't going to end well.
"You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" The moment Kid Flash finished his sentence, I saw the shock cross Guardian's face.
"Weapons? What are you-" Guardian stopped mid sentence at the little imp like genomorph's horns glowed red. "What have I-" He tried to fight it, but these little things must be the telepathic ones. "My head." Guardian groaned as his eyes closed and his hand pushed against his temple. "Take them down hard! No mercy!" Guardian ordered the genomorphs to attack and I went straight into battle, my growling rivaling the growls and snarls coming from the creatures.
Perfectly enough, my claws were just as strong, if not stronger, than the claws of the genomorphs as we battles. Robin threw a gas pellet at the ground shrouding us with smoke as I attacked one genomorph after another. Rob grappled out of harm's way to survey first and attack later. Kid Flash wasn't having the greatest luck with the creatures, but he was fast enough to back into the wall, leap off it to a beam, and vault into a double backflip, his boot landing on the face of a genomorph as they disappeared through the smoke.
I slashed at one's eyes before giving it a swift round house kick to the chest. At I battles another, Guardian slammed Aqualad into a metal panel before closing in for a real attack. I knocked out my last genomorph before intervening. I pounced onto Guardian and covered his eyes as Aqualad knocked him onto the ground. I lept off just as the Atlantean charged his icons and electrocuted the confused hero just enough to knock him out. More genomorphs came out of the smoke as Kid Flash, Aqualad and I ran off to find Robin. I ran ahead and lead them by tracking our Boy Wonder's scent. He was bypassing security to the elevator as the alarm above him blared.
"Way to be a team player, Rob!" Kid Flash snapped at the younger hero as the elevator door opened. The genomorphs were at our tail.
"Weren't you right behind me?" He asked, confused at the anger.
"Rob, the silent thing only works with Bats." I reminded him and he just let out a sigh of defeat. Aqualad dove into the elevator with just enough time for the door to close, separating us from the angry genomorphs.
"We're headed down?" Aqualad asked as the sublevels increased on the floor counter.
"Dude, out is up." Kid Flash was just as antsy as the rest of us to get out of here now that we've tripped security. But Robin had that look on his face.
"Excuse me? Project Kr, it's down on sub-level 52." He was angry that they weren't as interested and focused on the investigation as he was. I just let out a sigh.
"One day, Rob, curiosity is going to kill this cat." I took deep breaths, preparing for what we might find. But the little statement helped my little brother gain his smile back.
"This is out of control." Aqualad moved forward, rubbing the back of his blonde head. "Perhaps… perhaps we should contact the League." He turned around and faced us with his worry. But the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Robin and I bolted ahead as I heard kid say something to Aqualad.
"We are already here." He said before I heard him run to catch up with us. Aqualad sighed and followed us too. He was like the chaperone, trying to keep us out of trouble. The four of us found places to hide as we found a split in the path.
"Which way?" The atlantean asked as I caught the scent of the thing in the elevator. Things were going to go south again.
"Yeah. Bizarre-looking hallway one, or bizarre-looking hallway two?" Rob was indecisive, but before a plan could be made, that thing appeared.
"Halt!" It shouted at us as it through canisters of explosive chemicals at us.
"Bizarre hallway number two it is!" I shouted as we tried to put as much space between us and it as we could. I could hear the sound of Guardian and his razor genomorphs on our tail. a large metal door opened as a scientist walked out. She was caught by surprise as Kid barreled right through her, sweeping her legs out from under her. The door began to close, but Kid grabbed one of those canisters and placed it just in time for it to jam the door.
"Hurry!" He waved us on as he entered the chamber. I dove through with Robin and Aqualad at my tail. Once we were all inside, Aqualad kicked the canister out of the way, forcing the door to shut.
"I disabled the door. We're safe." Robin said after he hacked the system once again.
"We're trapped." Aqualad's inner teenager was bleeding through as he began getting fed up with our endangering shenanigans and rebellion. I looked over through the dark, and saw something I wasn't expecting. There was a boy standing in a pod.
"Uh, guys. You'll want to see this." Kid spoke as he flipped on the lights from the control panel. Everyone was shocked as things began to trigger in my mind.
"Whoa!" Robin exclaimed as he got a good look at the person behind the glass. But I was just frozen in place, unable to focus.
"Big 'k,' little 'r,' the atomic symbol for Krypton. Clone?" Kid asked as he approached the pod. My hands were shaking as I stood in the back of the room. Panic welled up in my throat.
"Robin, hack." Aqualad ordered, needing answers. I couldn't take my eyes off the boy in the pod.
"Oh. Right, right." The Boy Wonder moved to the control panel as I tried to calm myself down. In the attempt to do so, I was trying to convince myself he wasn't drowning, there was no electricity, he wasn't me. The boy wasn't in pain. "Weapon designation Superboy, a clone force-grown in… 16 weeks? From DNA acquired from Superman." Robin stated, shocking me back to reality. They were cloning people here.
"Stolen from Superman." I snapped at them, enraged now that we knew that it wasn't just creating creatures, but cloning some of the most powerful and dangerous being on the planet.
"No way the big guy knows about this." Kid Flash kept looking back at the clone, just as we all were.
"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun Radiation 24/7." Robin informed us, explaining why the thing was glowing.
"And these creatures?" Aqualad asked, gesturing to the little things above Superboy. They looked just like the thing that was on Guardian's shoulder.
"Genomorph gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education." Everything that came out of Robin's mouth seemed so bizarre, but they never knew about some of the more otherworldly experiments I experienced.
"And we can guess what else. They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's... son." Kid Flash was becoming empathinc toward the clone. The look on Aqualad's face said it all.
"Now we contact the League." The atlantean said as he taped the symbol on his belt, it gloving blue, but all we heard was static.
"No signal." Robin said as he checked his holo computer.
"We're in too deep literally." Kid Flash looked at the ground. I guessed it was safe to assume that we all knew this was our faults. There was a period of silence as we each attempted to formulate a plan of escape. But the sound of the genomorphs hissing and chittering inside Superboy's pod made us all feel uneasy.
"This is wrong." Kid Flash felt bad for the clone as he looked ashamed to just be leaving him in the pod. I could see Aqualad debating this as well.
"We can't leave him like this." Robin reminded us, knowing that we had an obligation now that we've seen him.
"Set him free." Aqualad ordered, Everyone just stood there.
"Well if no one else is brave enough." I stepped forward and found the power controls on the panel and hit the release. The air inside escaped as the pod opened. I heard chittering from the genomorphs once again. The clone's hand stretched, then balled into a fist, his knuckles cracking. I didn't like the sound of that. His eyes opened, revealing the most interesting clear blue eyes that shone through his stern demeanor. Without warning, Superboy launched at an alarming speed at Aqualad, tackling him to the ground. The rest of us moved into action as we tried to restrain the kryptonian clone from attacking Aqualad, not that he couldn't take the hits as an atlantean.
"Hey!" I tried to get the attention of the angry clone, digging my claws into the skin on his shoulders as I pulled him back, but I obviously couldn't pierce his flesh.
"Hang on, Supey." Kid Flash pulled on of his arms back the best he could.
"We're on your side!" Robin shouted through his teeth as he restrained the other arm. Before the both of them knew it, Superboy yanked his arms and swatted Kid away, sending him through a glass storage unit. I moved quickly and grabbed his free arm.
"I don't want to do this." Robin said as he chucked a gas pellet into the clone's mouth, distracting him as Aqualad kicked him in the chest, sending him backwards, crashing into the control panel. Robin tried to taze him, but he just grabbed the wires and slammed my little brother into the ground, slowly pressing his foot into Robin's chest.
"Let him go!" I snarled, pouncing at Superboy, sailing right above his head, grabbing his shoulders, and swinging down the knock his legs out from under him so Robin could escape. Aqualad powered his water-bearers and created a massive hammer.
"Enough!" He shouted as I dove out of the way, giving him a clear shot at the clone. Kalder helped Robin up as I checked him to see if he was okay, but he passed out. "We are trying to help you." Aqualad put his hand out, trying to gesture for the clone to stop as I checked Robin's chest for broken ribs. Broken Ribs can puncture lungs and be deadly. No one was supposed to die today.
Superboy launched himself at Aqualad anyway, missing and smashing the floor as a result of the atlantean sidestepping. Robin was going to be okay so I ran to Kid Flash to check him as Aqualad tackled Superboy. His upper hand didn't last long as Superboy threw him off. They kept duking it out, as I found that Kid was still breathing, but he had at least two fractured ribs, like Robin. Kaldur tried to electrocute Superboy, but the clone just leapt high into the air and smashed Aqualad against the ceiling. But that wasn't enough, he did it a second time, knocking out the Atlantean.
I left Kid and bounded into action, attacking the Clone. I was fast, like he was, but I used my intelligence and small frame to my advantage. I dodge his blows for a few moments, but he managed to grab my arm and throw me into the metal door. I touched the back of my head, feeling the warm, wet sensation of blood. Before I could move, Superboy flew at me and grabbed me by the neck, my feet kicking out and flailing to find ground, or at least to hit Superboy. I couldn't breath as my neck was being crushed. He kicked down the door and dropped me at someone's feet. The man looked past us to observe the sight of the other three, knocked out on the ground.
"Attaboy." The scientist said in a deeply pleased tone. He then knelt down to me, removing the domino mask, looking into my feline eyes. "Oh, the board will be most pleased with your capture indeed." He spoke with a chilling voice as I tried to breath. I recognized him, he was one of the scientists that made me the way I am. Everything faded to black.