A/N: Since I didn't provide a description of Wildcat in the first chapter, here is a generic overview-
Kara Grant aka Wildcat (II)
Granddaughter of Ted Grant, the original Wildcat and a charter member of the Justice Society of America.
Trained by Black Canary (BC also serves as her legal guardian)
Age 16 Brown hair, grey eyes, about 5 foot 6 inches, fair skin, semi-muscular build.
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. I only own my OC.
Independence Day Pt. 2
Washington D.C.
July 4, 14:49 EDT
Clearly, I needed to work on my cardio. By the time we reached Cadmus, I was out of breath and covered in sweat. I stood with Aqualad, studying the fire. Superman was right, the fire wasn't out of control at all. Local firemen were putting out the flames, but there were two scientists caught on the second floor with no way out. Before we had the chance to come up with a logical plan, Kid sped off, only to end up hanging from the second story window ledge.
"It's what's his name... Flash Boy!" one of the firemen shouted. I sniggered while Robin smirked at the name.
"KID FLASH! Why is that so hard?" Kid responded angrily. Aqualad, Robin and I ran up to the building, looking for a way in.
"Hey, KF! How's it hanging?" I called out to the speedster sarcastically.
"Shut up, Whiskers!"
"Wildcat," Aqualad interrupted, "We need a plan. We-"
"You might want to tell that to the Boy Wonder." I replied. Robin was swinging into the window to help KF inside. I looked at the Atlantean sternly, "Get those people down. I'll meet you up there."
He gave me a nod and went to work. Meanwhile, I sped over to the side of the building and used my clawed gloves to scale the wall. The fire inside the building where Kid and Robin were was out, allowing us to investigate. The two boys were looking through filing cabinets and desks when I finally pulled myself in. Aqualad joined us a few seconds later.
"Appreciate the help." he said sarcastically, looking at Robin who was focused on his wrist com.
"You handled it. Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"
"That may be the case," I replied from the shadows, "But that doesn't mean we should all go in separate directions. We need to act as a team for this to work."
"Wait, how did you even get up here?" Kid Flash asked me. I stepped into the center of the room, raising my right hand up. It was gloved and taped, but claws were visible at my fingertips.
"Specially made clawed gloves. 10 times stronger than steel, strong enough to support a cable bridge and sharp enough to cut through just about anything." I explained, making all three sets of eyes grow wide, "The original Wildcat preferred to use his bare hands when he fought. I'm not nearly as strong as he was, so these help level the playing field a bit."
"Any other secret weapons we should know about?" Robin asked. I shook my head and started investigating the hallway. As I deliberated which way to go, a hand set itself on my shoulder. I turned to see Aqualad standing behind me.
"Do you mind if I join you?"
"Not at all."
As we walked, I stayed silent. After a little while, Aqualad spoke up softly.
"You've never spoken about the first Wildcat before."
"It's not really something that I prefer talking about. Black Canary is my mentor and guardian, she has been for the past six years. I've hardly ever seen the original Wildcat since she took me under her wing."
"You do not wish to know him?" Aqualad asked as we turned a corner.
"More like he doesn't want to know me." I replied bluntly, suddenly freezing at the sight ahead. At the end of the hall, an elevator door was closing. Inside it, there was a... well, I'm not sure what was inside. Aqualad saw it too.
"What was that?" he asked.
"I don't know, but I do know that that elevator should be locked down." I answered. I tapped the com in my ear to contact KF and Robin, "Rob, Flash Boy, you should get over here. Now."
"This is a high-speed express elevator." Robin explained, reading his wrist com, "It doesn't belong in a two-story building."
"Well, neither does what Aqualad and I saw. There's definitely something weird going on here." I said, crossing my arms. Aqualad walked over to the elevator and pried the doors open. Kid and I peered down to see a seemingly endless black abyss.
"Huh. I guess a two-story building does need an express elevator." I said monotone. Robin pulled out his grappling gun and began working his way down into the darkness with the rest of us following closely behind him. After a few minutes, Robin stopped.
"I'm at the end of my rope." he commented, surprised. Below us, the shaft extended further underground. The four of us swung onto the ledge and waited for Robin to hack into the door.
"Bypassing security. There. Go!"
Aqualad forced the doors open, allowing us to get inside. This floor had an eerie sense about it; the halls were empty and dark, creating a sense of unease in the pit of my stomach.
"Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin said quietly. Before anyone could say anything, Kid lowered his goggles onto his face and sped off in a random direction.
"Kid, wait!" Aqualad whisper shouted, which proved ineffective. The speedster managed to trip over his own feet and slid into an intersecting hall, where he was nearly crushed by giant- creatures.
Unlike the thing Aqualad and I saw earlier, these guys were the size of an elephant, and ugly as hell. On their backs, they were carrying smaller creatures with glowing red horns.
"Okay. There's clearly nothing weird happening here." I muttered sarcastically. Once those creatures were gone, we found ourselves in a room filled with giant cathode tubes, each one holding another type of creature.
"Ok. I'm officially whelmed." Robin said looking around. Whelmed?
"This must be how they hid this massive underground facility from the world! The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power using these... things." Kid deduced.
"It looks like this is what they're bred for." I continued, looking at the electricity flowing through the cathodes. The idea made me realize something that I should have figured out in the first minute. I face palmed.
"Duh! Cadmus! I should've known! Cadmus, first king of Thebes, created an army of men by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth. This Cadmus is doing the same thing."
"Let's find out why." Robin replied, plugging into a nearby computer and hacking into its files, "They call them genomorphs. Whoa! Look at the stats on these things! Superstrength, telepathy, razor claws, these are living weapons!"
"There's your army. The question is, who are they making it for?" Kid asked.
"Wait, Rob. What is that?" I leaned over the Boy Wonder and pointed at a file.
"Uh, Project Kr. Ugh! The file's triple encrypted! I can't-"
"Don't move!" A new voice shouted. We all looked up from the file to see a man in armor running toward us, genomorphs surrounding him, including one that sat on his shoulder. He stopped when he saw who we were.
"Wait, Wildcat? Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash?"
I nudged Kid, "At least he got your name right."
Aqualad stepped forward, "I know you. Guardian. A hero."
Guardian? Jim? Why was he here?
"I do my best." Guardian replied, hands on his hips. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Then what in God's name are you doing here?" I questioned.
"I think that's my question to ask, Wildcat. I'm the chief of security here. You four are trespassing, but we can call the League, figure this out."
"You think that the League is gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid asked shocked. A look of confusion spread across Guardian's face.
"Weapons? What are you-? What have I-? Ugh, my head." Guardian mumbled as the horns of the genomorph on his shoulder began to glow. A few seconds later, a glare formed on Guardian's face.
"Take 'em down hard! No mercy!"
Whoa! Total 180. This wasn't the Jim Harper I knew. His nephew may be a jerk, but he definitely wasn't. Robin had disappeared (again), leaving Kid, Aqualad and I to fight off the genomorphs. We were able to push our way through the crowd of creatures to reach Robin at the elevator.
"Way to be a team player, Rob!" Kid yelled. Robin didn't look up from his com when he responded.
"Weren't you right behind me?" I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to slap him on the back of the head. The elevator doors opened and we all rushed inside. I leaned up against the wall of the car and tried to catch my breath.
"We're headed down?" Aqualad asked.
"Rob, out is up. Why are we going down?" I asked still panting.
"Sorry, Cat. Project Kr is on sublevel 52." He answered.
"This is out of control." Aqualad exclaimed, pacing in the car, "Perhaps-, perhaps we should contact the League."
Aqualad's timing couldn't have been better. As soon as he finished speaking, the elevator doors opened at sublevel 52. Robin and KF stepped out.
"We are already here." Kid commented. Aqualad seemed hesitant. I placed a hand on his shoulder and he tensed slightly.
"Aqualad," I said softly, "We need to finish this."
He sighed and nodded, stepping out of the elevator with me. The other boys were trying to decide which creepy looking hallway to go down while I got a good look at the landscape. To describe it in one word, gross.
"HOLD!"
We all turned to see another genomorph emerging from the shadows. It was the same one that had been in the elevator earlier. He used telepathy to lift some crates and throw them at us, prompting us to take off down creepy hallway number one. Kid sped ahead, tripping again, and sliding into the closing door of Project Kr. At the rate it was closing, Aqualad, Robin and I wouldn't be able to make it inside. Luckily, Kid wedged a canister in the door, giving us enough time to get inside before Guardian and the genomorphs could reach us. Aqualad kicked the canister out of the door, shutting Guardian out.
Robin called out, "I disabled the door. We're safe."
"No, we're trapped." I snapped, "We're so screwed! If we manage to make it out of here, the League is gonna lose it!"
Aqualad approached me, placing both hands on my shoulders and looking me directly in the eye, "Wildcat, please keep calm. We will get out of here."
"Uh, guys," Kid interrupted, "I hate to interrupt- whatever this is, but, you might want to see this."
He was standing in front of a giant tube. Inside it, a teenager, at least 16, wearing a white bodysuit with a red 'S' shield on his chest. He looked like a teen version of Superman. The symbol on the face of the tube only confirmed my suspicions.
"Big K, little r. The atomic symbol for Krypton! Clone?" Kid exclaimed.
"Robin, hack." Aqualad ordered.
"Right, right. Weapon designation Superboy, a clone force grown in...16 weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman."
"Stolen from Superman." Aqualad corrected.
"No way the big guy knows about this." Kid said, looking over at us. Robin continued to read Superboy's file.
"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."
"And these creatures?" Aqualad asked pointing at the three creatures sitting above Superboy.
"Genomorph gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education."
"And we can only guess what else." I said studying the genomorphs, "Cadmus is turning this kid into a slave."
"Now we contact the League." Aqualad instructed. I tapped my com, but a sad sounding beep told me that I had no signal.
"I've got no signal." I called out. The boys had the same result. "Looks like we're in too deep. Literally and figuratively."
I looked back at Superboy. "He shouldn't be held like this."
"I agree." Aqualad said, "Set him free. Do it."
Robin typed away at the console in front of the tube, releasing Superboy from the tube. He didn't move at first, but soon clenched his fists, opened his eyes and lunged at Aqualad. Kid and Robin tried to pull Superboy off of him but to no avail.
"Hang on, Supey!"
"We're on your side!"
The clone threw KF and Robin off, allowing Aqualad to slip away. Superboy turned to face me, prompting me to get into a fighting stance. He swung at me, but I managed to block it and hit him in the jaw. It didn't seem to faze him, because two seconds later, he threw me into the wall, causing a resounding crack to echo in my ears. Another punch, this one to my jaw, caused another crack. My vision blurred and the scent of blood filled my nostrils. As Aqualad ran to my aid, I finally fell into darkness.