Outsets
- - - November 29th - - -
Another Monday morning. Jim Lockhart frowned at the schedule his assistant had handed him. Yet another week of the most basic procedures lay before him. The Fawcett City Clinic was still reluctant to let him do any meaningful work, to let him truly apply his skills.
His attention returned to the message his brother had sent him earlier. A proposal to meet a human clone with a similar fate like himself, who worked at a state-of-the-art research facility capable of regrowing human limbs and organs?
Well, he certainly didn't have anything better to do…
Guardian held his breath, as he watched Martian Manhunter and Dubbilex join hands.
The room was eerily silent, since most basement levels had been temporarily evacuated. He knew that far above them, all available meeting spaces were packed full of genomorphs, monitoring every move down here at sublevel 26. Only Guardian, Dubbilex, a few G-sprites and three G-trolls had been allowed to witness the fateful scene in person, under strict instructions to stay quiet and behind cover at all times.
The two telepaths were about to finally liberate the G-gnomes – and release Project Match.
Four G-gnomes still surrounded the sleeping boy's pod. In front of it, Superman and Superboy stood side by side, proudly bearing their family emblem. They would draw the other Kryptonian's attention, should he try to lash out.
The two telepaths had taken their position behind the pod, out of the boy's sight. Next to them, both Green Lanterns and Doctor Fate were waiting for their cue, ready to subdue the waking Match. Guardian knew that many others from both the League and the team had wanted to be present today, to lend their assistance. Yet their pleas had been declined, for the sake of their own safety.
"Cadmus does not control us any longer", sister Aldelle announced solemny. The massive troll was mostly hidden behind a row of storage tanks, yet her deep voice boomed loudly through the spacious cavern. "On this fateful day, the last of us are freed."
As the echo of her words subsided, the Martian's eyes and Dubbilex' horns lit up in a familiar shade of red.
In his hiding place, Guardian shivered with anticipation.
Three-hundred and fifteen G-gnomes lived at the institute. He knew that none of them had names, since the concept of individual identities eluded them. They shared one mind.
One single telepathic touch was enough to free them all.
At once, Guardian could feel the shared rush of their emotions. Confusion, comprehension and joy radiated through the institute. It had been a cruel necessity for Dubbilex to forbid the G-gnomes from mentally contacting their already liberated genomorph siblings for the past few days. As soon as they were freed from their compulsions, the natural telepaths reached out for the other cloned minds surrounding them, reinstating the all-encompassing mental link that had always been the base of the genomorph community.
It would have been too easy to get lost in the overwhelming sense of joy and felicitations bubbling through the expansive telepathic network. Yet Guardian knew he had to concentrate on the situation at hand, on those who needed his protection.
'You need to take cover!'
Four little grey heads looked up at him. He sensed the G-gnomes joint apprehension, their reluctance to follow yet another unexplained order. Two of the G-sprites buzzed closer, scrutinizing him, once more adopting their intended role as the eyes of the institute.
'Please, for your own safety, get out of here! I'm not…'
Not part of the old Cadmus any longer? Not enforcing your obedience? Before he could find the right words, he realized they were unnecessary. The G-gnomes had sensed his concern, and his kinship. The four little creatures quickly scuttled out of sight.
And then Project Match opened his dark eyes, and roared.
Zatanna was biting her nails.
It was a terrible habit, and one she had thought she'd broken years ago, yet today her anxiety was overpowering.
Her eyes were glued to the screen. Most of the genomorphs squeezed into the upstairs cafeteria had lost interest in the video feed from the security-cameras as soon as their re-established mind link provided them with a more direct view. Yet as an uncloned human, Tanna had been excluded from the G-gnome's telepathic network, unable to access the G-sprite's vision. This screen was all she had.
Match roared.
Tanna watched in horror as the clone burst out of his tank, launching himself at Superman, fists ready to strike. She watched as two glowing force fields caught him, tendrils of green lights wrapping themselves tightly around his trembling form. One glowing strap encircled his face, the Green Lantern's light shining bright enough to blind him. Just for a second, Match firmly closed his eyes.
She watched breathlessly as her father stepped forth and seized the moment.
And it was over.
As quickly as that.
Tanna sank to her knees, her whole body suddenly shaking from the pent-up pressure and the force of her relief. One of the G-dwarfs beside her handed her a paper tissue, and only after wiping the wetness from her eyes did she realize that she was crying.
If her father had died today, it would have been her fault.
Another tentacled hand pressed a large cup into her trembling fingers, filled with something green. She took a deep swallow, cherishing the familiar sweetness.
She had no recollection of how long she sat there, blinking at the screen, nursing her soothing drink.
The soft chime of her in-ear communicator woke her from her trance.
"He has agreed to be taken to Atlantis, rather than Mars", Conner informed her. "It is safe to come down now."
Still quivering, Tanna pulled herself to her feet. She handed the almost-empty cup back to the G-dwarf beside her, only now recognizing her as one of the female elders who'd looked after her during those harrowing past four days at the institute.
"Thank you, Carilyn. This really does taste like my mother's tiramisu, now."
The kind grey face only smiled at her fondly.
When Sofia Guía Martinez returned home from the village, her oldest granddaughter was waiting for her in the shade of a palm tree just outside her hut, fixing a fishing net.
Since this particular granddaughter had never caught a fish in his life, Sofia wordlessly passed by her, calmly walking down the narrow footpath that led from her little house straight into the jungle.
The young woman caught up with her at the far end of her family's manioc plantation, shielded from any onlookers by the dense tangles of the tropical forest around them.
"There was a phone call for you", she whispered breathlessly. "An American number."
The old woman's eyes bored into hers. "For me?"
"They wanted to speak to the person in charge."
The bitter creases around her tight-lipped mouth deepened. "That hasn't been me for a long time."
"I told them. They said they wanted to speak to the person in charge of the people, not of the factory. They made a proposition."
She raised one of her dark eyebrows questioningly.
A sly grin spread across the young woman's sun-tanned face. "We're finally getting our island back!"