Lieutenant John 'Jerry' Barkins was in a hurry, but he was still a professional soldier – and, at least according to him, one of the best. Which is why he was also careful, knowing full-well how dangerous the target was. He moved forward with his weapon at the ready, having no problems in tracking the target in the dusty canyon.
Aside from his own high self-esteem, Barkins was indeed a very good soldier. His superiors agreed on that, which was why he was now leading a group of well-equipped soldiers on one of the first missions of the new Cadmus Initiative through the canyons close to the Jump City.
Of course, that was only part of it. Second reason for him being quietly moved to the Initiative (and promoted) was much more nefarious. In short, Sergeant John Barkins took part in the fighting when Darkseid – through mind-controlled Superman - invaded Metropolis. He was fighting bravely, to the point of lacking self-preservation instinct, trying to reach his family who lived in Metropolis.
But it was all in vain. His family was killed in the fighting. And Superman, one who was leading the invasion, one who did nothing to stop it in his eyes, who was captured and unable to save even one man, was hailed as a hero. What a joke.
Superman couldn't save anyone. Not Dan Turpin, who was the real brave man. Not John's family. It was obvious that an alien would never be able to save people of America… which is how it should be. The biggest military in the world did not need a bunch of caped mutants, aliens without any loyalty and psychos with superpowers.
The fact that Earth was only saved by the timely arrival of New Genesis forces only proved to him that something must be done. America could not be left defenseless, and could not rely on a hag-tag group of masked vigilantes. It needed an army, better than the one it had now, army so powerful it could defend it from interstellar threats.
The elite Alpha Squad – first to be taken into the Initiative – was now on the mission crucial to providing that. As much as it pained them, Cadmus leaders knew they could not defeat threats like Darkseid with standard Earth technology. However, metahumans could... if they were properly trained and have a sense of patriotism and loyalty ingrained. And if that failed… there were other options of ensuring loyalty.
And now, there was a metahuman few dozen meters ahead. A young girl, still young enough to be properly trained and made loyal, one who could be a perfect soldier. Or at least a subject of experiments to make more metahumans for the Army. To be honest, Lieutenant did not care what will happen to her – if she wasn't fighting to defend the Earth, she was just another traitor.
Still, they needed her alive, so they were carrying non-lethal weaponry in addition to normal firearms. If they managed to capture her, she would be sedated and sent to a special facility, where the metahuman could be analyzed.
Focus, Jerry, you don't have her yet, he thought, gesturing to three man behind him to spread out to the west, to cut off her escape. But, he allowed himself a moment of satisfaction, she was exhausted and just a stupid kid. She would not be able to run away this time.
Of course, that's what he thought last time, before he and his team got rocks to the face. Literally. Fortunately, they were the US Army, and had helicopters and other vehicles to follow her, while she, with all her powers, only had her legs. Whatever mutant powers she has, they would not allow her to outrun his team, and she was getting more and more exhausted by the minute. It was only a matter of time.
Unknown to him, just few meters away, a different man was having similar thoughts. Unlike him, however, that man wasn't actually military. He was a 'problem solver' – or, to be more specific, an assassin.
The current state of Markovia was unacceptable to certain people. People who had their own goals, and where not disheartened by the simple failure. In order to ensure their victory, said people hired Adam Snow, a well-known (and very expensive) assassin to take care of the problems Tara Markov could cause.
Which is why, unaware of the US army in the canyon next to him, said assassin was also moving towards his prey. While they weren't real soldiers, a bunch of mercenaries he hired as good enough to take out one little girl, metahuman or not.
He already tried to just shoot her, but as usual metahumans proved to be an annoyance – she deflected the bullet with some kind of wall made out of earth, and then threw him off-balance and buried him neck-down in the ground before running away.
The memory of his mercenary team finding him, totally unable to move and fuming, was not the one he ever wanted to have. Fortunately, he paid them well enough – and not much in advance – that instead of offing him, they helped him get out.
With just minimal snarky comments about little girls and how they obviously can pack a punch if they can take the great assassin down like that.
He was thankful his real name wasn't 'Adam Snow', and whatever gossip those mercenaries will spread around won't matter anymore. With the money from this 'Baron Bedlam' – which was even more obviously a pseudonym than his own – he will finally retire. He had enough of this business, and he had just enough money to settle down. He will show his parents how to make money, they will see…
Unfortunately for him, his thoughts – and moments later his life – were stopped forever by sudden appearance of an armed soldier. Adam instantly pointed his gun at the soldier and fired, but he was not facing some untrained conscript – Lieutenant Barkins, seeing an armed person in front of him, obviously trying to shoot him, reacted with all the speed and experience he gained and fired first.
Not much first though. Not fast enough to stop the other guy from shooting him, and while accuracy in this situation wasn't the best, at this range it was hard to totally miss.
Moments later, Cadmus Squad Alpha and a group of mercenaries started shooting at each other with extremely lethal effects. Soldiers, seeing how the tight canyon was a perfect place for it, deployed grenades to cover a retreat to more defensible position and called for backup. Mercenaries, having quite a bit of experience in fighting in ruined cities and other places like them, simply scaled the walls and fired from above, before retreating.
As the fight quickly turned into a pointless slaughter, Adam Snow and Lieutenant Barkins were lying down among the sand and dust. The assassin was more furious then scared, fuming as he quickly bled to death. He was too shocked to feel pain. Barkins, proud of himself to die serving his country, died without regrets, hoping to finally see his family again.
And above this battlefield, a single person stood, hidden in the shadows. He was enjoying the view. There were only few things he hated more than fools, and seeing them die would bring him a measure of satisfaction. Sometimes.
Feeling nothing, the man slowly nodded his head and looked north, to his own target. Young girl, horribly exhausted, using lasts of her strength to run away, desperately trying to reach the city. She was wearing black and yellow outfit, now full of holes and bloodied after relentless escape and pursuit for the past days. She was visibly at her limits.
Did he underestimate her? Slade looked at her more carefully through binoculars, before reaching for a small pilot and pressing a button. She obviously needed to prove herself more; after Robin fiasco, he was not willing to risk another failure.
The young girl seemingly felt the trembling earth, and looked behind her, only to see a huge, mutated scorpion. Fear pushed her strained muscles ahead, but it was obvious she won't make it. She will have to fight, and either win, or die.
If she dies, it proves she wasn't worthy. He will be annoyed, but he will find another one. It happened before, and if she fails, it will probably happen again, but sooner or later he will find someone who will meet his standards.
And if she wins… she may just be the one.
However, he quickly noticed movement up north. More soldiers? No. Another interruption… but one that may actually prove beneficial to him.
After all, why can't a man have his satisfaction, victory, and revenge at the same time?
A little bit earlier, in the Titans Tower, a very heated conversation took place between leader of the teenage group of superheroes and the Watchtower.
Surprisingly enough, this time it was the Watchtower calling, not the Titans.
"What do you mean, you lost him? It's Luthor! Shouldn't he be your top priority?!"
"I understand you concerns, Robin, and we're doing our best to find him. I assure you, we will find him. It's just a warning, nothing more, and probably unneeded."
"With your track record as of late, I beg to differ. Robin out." Robin hanged up and sighed. Seriously, is Justice League totally incapable of doing anything anymore? He knew they defeated both Darkseid and Brainiac lately – an amazing feat in itself – but they also let multiple alien ships to Earth without being able to stop them, got captured by a race of fish-speaking people, and in general seemed more capable when outside Earth then when defending it. And now they let Luthor, one of the most dangerous man on the planet, escape.
Of course, Robin knew that he was being too harsh. Gotham had a revolving door of criminals, trying to rehabilitate them only produced more supervillains, and he himself was far from having the best record as of late. He got taken out by Slade multiple times, and then by Batman's contingency plan, and both times he was taken out easily. Jump City prison was attacked and split open during his team's first mission as well.
But, he allowed himself a moment of pride. His team was getting better and better. Lately, they defeated every villain that faced them, and they all became much better friends as well. As much as it humbled him, he was forced to accept that he was also flawed – first after his total and utter failure of defeating Slade, and then after seeing his team suffer because of Batman and his plans.
He even stopped obsessing over Raven, coming to a conclusion that she will tell him when she's ready. He had no idea that as a team leader, he will be the first to know if there's anything she needs to say about herself.
In other words, he was sure he knew everything he needed to know about his team and they were ready for everything.
He realized he was really tempting fate when the alarm blared and Cyborg called them all.
"Everyone, sensors picked up explosions and firearms in the canyons south of Jump City." Robin's analytical mind instantly got to work. Canyons; abandoned, even tourists avoided them because of some health hazards in there. Hard terrain; too hard for T-Car.
"Everyone, we're flying there, meet me on the roof." He was already halfway there when he got to his other conclusions. Before other Titans arrived and they all started flying south, Robin started his explanation's and plans, continuing them while in the air.
"Everyone, we have explosives and guns there. These aren't some low-threat thugs, judging by what we could detect. Beast Boy, Raven, do not expose yourself; same with you Cyborg, I'd rather not have anyone here wounded. Raven, try to find them with your empathy, break their guns if you can but focus first on making sure we have no civilians in the area. Beast Boy, dig under them, try to find ones that hide or have some high-ground positions, take them out first but be careful. Cyborg, you'll be our fire support, your body is immune to small arms fire but I'd rather not risk them having something heavier so only show yourself to shoot if needed, alright?"
"What about me, friend Robin?" Starfire asked, holding him as they flew closer to the canyons.
"Starfire, even if they have anti-armor rifles and missile launchers, they won't hurt you normally, but I'm having bad feelings about this. Try to intimidate them to surrender, and be on alert; I don't like the coincidence of this and Luthor escaping, if you any non-Earth weaponry do not let them hit you."
"Um, dude, I think we need a new plan!" Beast Boy pointed to the canyon closest to them, changing into a human and landing on Raven's disc – to her quiet and monotone 'I am still not a taxi, Beast Boy.'
They were so close, they could see inside it; and while the smoke from earlier fight was a little farther away, there was someone close.
Someone around their age at the first glance. They were wearing black and yellow, torn clothing and… was that blood?
And a huge, obviously mutated scorpion approaching them at high speed, with pincers ready to crush.
"Someone played too much Fallout!" Beast Boy shouted, preparing to attack. Everyone got ready – Cyborg armed his arm cannon, Raven started her Manthra of Azar, and Starfire felt the righteous anger and powered her starbolts.
However, before they managed to do anything, the girl – as they could now hear – screamed horrendously and put her hands in the air, moments later putting them down. A huge stone arch, directly above the scorpion, cracked and fell down with such strength that the scorpion was instantly crushed. Only some green blood splashed everywhere around, including said girl, who stood, shaking, with her back to the rock wall trying to stay up despite obvious exhaustion.
"… That. Was. Cool!" Beast Boy said, jumping once, before he caught up to what he was seeing. "Um, we should probably go and help her?"
"You don't say green stain." The rest of the team started to land. Robin was torn between helping the obvious metahuman, and taking care of the issues further down the canyon. However, one glance there shown a US army helicopter already on the way. Trusting that military could at least take care of normal shootings, he decided to focus on the metahuman before them.
Before they even managed to fully land, Beast Boy jumped down and landed next to the girl. "Hi! That was cool, but, are you alright? You are bleeding."
The metahuman girl, obviously not expecting this welcome, looked at him with surprise visible even through her exhaustion. "Um, thanks, green." She tried to smile, but winced and started slowly sliding down the rock she was using to stand up.
"He's full name is Green Stain, actually." Cyborg smiled at the ensuing 'Hey!' from Beast Boy and came closer, stopping when he noticed a small bit of fear in her eyes. "Woah, easy. I'm a doctor, just want to check these wounds, nothing else. You're safe; we're the Titans, we're not gonna hurt you."
"You? A doctor?" The teenager looked him over with visible skepticism, still slowly sliding down until she was sitting against the rock rather than standing. The rock behind her was wet with blood. "Green Stain looks more like… a doctor…". As adrenaline rush ended, she started drifting off. Cyborg, realizing it, quickly got to her and got his diagnostic software running. He had enough medical supplies with him to hopefully keep her alive until they got to the Tower, but he had no idea how serious her wounds were.
To his relief, her wounds were superficial. No sign of internal bleeding, and while her skin was cut in multiple places she was more of a risk from infections then bleeding out. Still, she was exhausted, and covered by sweat, some of it old enough to be from at least few days ago. He needed to get her to the Tower, clean the multiple small wounds she had and wash the sweat and dust off, but aside from that she mostly needed some sleep and rest.
"Star, give her a lift to the Tower please. She's not in danger right now, but the faster I get to take care of her the better."
"Of course, friend Cyborg!" Starfire, just as they trained, landed next to her and lay down, while Cyborg put the wounded metahuman on top of her. In this position, Starfire could fly fast and stable, limiting any kind of disturbances during flight.
And, as Robin made sure during training, this way Starfire could also quickly dodge, fly higher, lower and change speed, in case of an attack.
"Beast Boy, fly Cyborg to the Tower. I want Starfire to be free to dodge if you're attacked on the way. Raven, come with me, I'm gonna ask the military if they found anything."
"Don't you think you're a little paranoid, streetlight?" Cyborg asked with skepticism, only for Robin to look at him with a very serious look. He was visibly tense.
"Want to risk it? There was an intense firefight moments ago next to her, and I don't believe in coincidences. Make sure she gets to Tower safe and sound, but keep her under guard. Don't want her to wake up and panic, and put the tower underground of out of reflex or something." Robin turned to Raven, who wordlessly nodded and left with him.
Far away, in the hidden Cadmus command center, Amanda Waller was furious. The Alpha Squad suffered heavy casualties, and now Cadmus will have to cover their tracks even more thoroughly. And they also lost one of their most loyal men, a fanatic. She knew people like him couldn't be trusted with many things, but they were useful nonetheless.
She calmed herself down, and looked at the reports on her desk once again. Project Galatea was going full steam ahead, fortunately. The little sadist was growing fast and she was as obedient as expected, all signs of rebellion purged with ruthless efficiency.
The Everyman Project, started by Lex Luthor some time ago, was seized and decrypted and then followed through, as well. The newly-renamed Ultimen project was sadly going far less stellar, with clones degenerating and dying too fast to be useful. Theoretically, an army of clones with short lifespan had some benefits – even if they rebelled, they would just die soon anyway. Some technicians even proposed addicting them to some kind of drug that only Cadmus could provide, that would prove lethal if not taken regularly – shortening the lifespan of any traitors even more.
This last line of thought was very tempting, and moved to their own, "Boosted Man" project team. Waller had some doubts about mental stability of such drug-addicted soldiers, and was only going to sanction it if other projects failed, but for the time being let it be. Better safe than sorry.
But for now, the architect and creator of Cadmus decided it was time to hide. She did not want anyone catching up to their plans before they are ready. But, when they are…
She looked over the reports. Those 'Teen Titans' are just another danger to Earth, she was sure of it. Right now, she lacked funding and support; Cadmus wasn't even proper project, it was a small, experimental initiative. But one day, everyone will see the danger those 'superheroes' pose.
And when the day comes, she will personally ensure the takeover of both the Watchtower and this Tower. Adults will be imprisoned, and the kids… aliens deported for sure, and the rest depends how stubborn they will be. Children are much more malleable then adults, in the end.
And General Eiling had some wonderful ideas for that.
I must say, the way Amanda Waller evolves and changes in JLU is very interesting and amazingly well done. While this is a Teen Titans story and we won't be seeing much of her here, she still plays an important role in the entire Cadmus project, which will have an effect on Titans as well as Justice League… in the future. For now she lacks funding and support, and Titans have other things to take care of.