I awoke shortly after to find Superboy already awake beside me, along with the psychic alien-thing with glowing horns. I had a feeling he was speaking to Superboy, although I couldn't hear his words.
"I. Choose. Freedom." He stated. I stood beside him, proud to choose to live my own life.
"We live our own lives now," I stated to the alien-thing and to the armored person, standing with my brother.
Wait, was he really my brother? We had grown together, but that was before...ugh…
My head burned like it was frozen again. But I still thought of Superboy as my brother. We were both clones. It was only right to refer to him as such.
"Guardian?" Aqualad asked behind us two, directing it at the armored person.
"Go. I'll deal with Desmond." He-Guardian- commanded. Wait, his name is Guardian? And the scientist is Desmond?
I didn't have time to find answers for my questions before a grave voice spoke out.
"I think not. Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." Desmond produced a vial of some unhealthy-looking liquid. I certainly didn't want to drink any of that.
But he did. To all of our shock, he began transforming. Crying out in pain, he fell to his knees and on the floor. His lab coat was ripped to shreds and his skin began peeling off. I was thoroughly disgusted.
The transformation finished and he stood again, about five feet taller than he previously was, which was still taller than me. I steeled myself, ready for a fight with this...this monster.
"Everyone, back!" Guardian commanded. He rushed at the thing that used to be human, but he was backhanded into a wall for his efforts.
Superboy and I had the same idea at the same time, and rushed at the monster. Superboy reached him first as he got a hit in while I swooped from below and gave Desmond an uppercut.
But I had underestimated him, and he pummeled Superboy into the ground and caught me by a wing and threw me at the ceiling. I fell right into the monster's fist, which sent me flying through the ceiling and onto the next floor up.
Superboy was tougher than I was, and returned a few punches before Desmond threw him into the ground.
Superboy and the monster soon followed through another hole. I joined the fight again, instincts ruling over everything else as we tag-teamed Desmond. I went for the legs and Superboy went for his head, but I overshot and I ended up being smacked into Superboy by Desmond's large hand. He grabbed Superboy's legs and my waist and smashed us together like one of those monkey toys with the cymbals.
Desmond stopped, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the other three arrive through the two holes. He then tossed me and Superboy at them.
I landed hard on my shoulder and skidded across the floor, away from the rest, but I ignored the spikes of pain and got up again, ready for round two.
Kid Flash ran ahead of Desmond and appeared behind him while Superboy and Aqualad collectively punched him in the face, knocking him backwards and over Kid Flash, who was crouched over.
I rejoined the fight, barreling into the monster with my good shoulder while he was still down. I succeeded in turning him over on his stomach.
Superboy stepped up, and as Desmond charged him into another beam, I took the opportunity to run the giant again, but he smacked me away and into a wall. My shoulder hurt worse now, but I refused to stop fighting. Something had clicked within me, and now I was more alive than I'd ever felt before.
I saw Aqualad grab the things on his back that I hadn't noticed before, as his tattoos glowed and a whip appeared, snaring the monster's arm from hitting Superboy again. He used that as leverage to pull on the whip and send a kick at Desmond's face and balancing on the wall before the whip changed into a mace.
But Desmond caught the weapon, and sent Aqualad into the floor, making a dent. I bared my teeth.
"That's enough, ugly," I called, speeding towards him. I picked up one block that had fallen on Superboy when the monster threw him at a wall and chucked it with all my strength at him.
He simply punched through it. What does it take to beat this guy? I was growing tired.
Kid Flash ran towards him as he attempted to smash Aqualad, but he rolled away in time.
I reassessed my strategy again. Barreling into him didn't seem to work. Neither did throwing things.
I decided to hide out to rest until a new plan can be thought up. But the longer I wait here, the more my friends will be endangered, I thought bitterly.
Now I know the meaning of "between a rock and a hard place. If I go out there, I could be hurt even worse. But if i don't, my friends could lose this fight. And I didn't want to know what would happen if we did.
With every roar and punch, I realized, the ceiling shook and sent dust down on us. Of course, I thought. Robin also shared my thoughts. I looked over and gave him a nod, and began hitting the pole behind me in hopes that it would break.
It did. Within a few punches the pole broke apart. Kid Flash also seemed in on the plan, as he raced towards the monster and enticed it into breaking more of the beams.
Superboy and Aqualad began hitting the beams as well, and before long the ceiling threatened to come down on top of us. That wasn't good...was this part of the plan?
Ah, now I see, I thought as Robin drew an "X" on the floor as Aqualad sprayed water on it. Kid Flash drove the monster right into the trap, and me and Superboy finished the job with simultaneous punches to the face.
Aqualad electrified the water while Desmond was still standing on it, as Robin commanded us to move.
I did, faster than I possibly had before, even when we were being chased. The rest of the pillars destroyed, the roof collapsed, sending the rock down towards us.
The others gathered near to Superboy to be protected from the debris, and I wrapped my wings around them as far as they would reach to offer further protection.
"Is...is it over now?" I asked, out of breath from the weight of the rocks. Superboy helped one off of me as I stood. When the dust cleared, I saw that the entire building had been demolished. Oops...
"We...did it." Aqualad said. I felt pride about taking down that monster, although I knew it hadn't been just me. I looked back to see Robin and Kid Flash smiling about the whole thing, and I finally let my mouth form one as well.
Wait, was this my first smile since I woke up? I think it was.
It looked like the fight had ripped some fabric from their costumes, and my own clothing had rips and tears all over it from the fight, although thankfully it revealed little.
"See? The moon," Kid Flash said. The...moon? What was that? I looked up at the sky to see a bright glowing disk against a dark sky.
It...was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I looked up more at the tiny pinpricks of light that dotted the rest of the sky, forgetting their names in all of their wonders.
But then there was something else. Something blocked some of the lights from my view. I squinted, trying to make the figure out. To my surprise, it was a man.
A man with winged on his back. Wings like mine.
I stared in amazement as costumed men and women descended from the sky to surround us in the debris field.
I realized I had stepped forwards toward the winged man in my trance. He looked visibly surprised behind his large helmet. A woman landed next to him, also having wings. I looked back and forth between the two, too surprised to speak.
The winged man took a step forward to meet me.
"Who are you?" He demanded. I recited the few words I had known since before my awakening.
"I am Hawkgirl, a clone born from DNA from Hawkman and Hawkwoman." I stated semi-proudly. Hawkman seemed shocked, and glanced back at Hawkwoman, who wore a similar expression of surprise.
Their gazes were harsh, but I gave them a small smile to show that I meant them no harm. Wordlessly, Hawkman was the one to step up to me. I tilted my head back so that my eyes met his in a silent conversation.
He seemed to be debating whether or not to speak. But instead he raised an armored hand and put it carefully on my shoulder, like he was afraid to touch me. But his action just made me smile bigger.
"I'm Superman's clone," I heard Superboy blurt out, breaking my trance as I turned to face the same direction as the others.
I hadn't noticed it before, but there was a man who looked an awful lot like Superboy -Superman, I guessed. There was also a man with a black cape that seemed to swallow him whole, behind him a red suited man with a lightning bolt symbol like Kid Flash's, a woman with blonde hair and a black suit and knee-high boots, a man with a green hood and a quiver and bow on his back, and a man with an orange shirt and green pants with a belt that had the same symbol as Aqualad's.
I was suddenly too dumbstruck for words. So when the black caped man commanded for us to start talking, I didn't know what to say.
I instead listened as the others recounted what had happened at Cadmus. After that, some of the others took Desmond away while the rest got into groups to discuss what would happen next. I sent a hopeful glance at Hawkwoman, but she just sharply turned her head away. I felt an ache in my chest and I wasn't sure it was from the fight.
With a look from Hawkman, however, she lowered her shoulders and walked up towards me. I squared my shoulders, not sure of what would come next.
"Me and...Hawkman, we'll figure something out for you. Just...stay out of trouble for now." With that, she lifted off into the air and followed Superman as they flew off to secure the monster we fought.
It wasn't exactly a good first meeting, but I thought it was a step in the right direction.
"Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty-two levels." The man with the cape and cowl spoke with a deep yet calm voice.
"But let's make one thing clear-"
"You should've called!" The red Flash man spoke up.
"End results aside, we are not happy." Wait, what? Why was I getting in trouble? They found me here! If anything I'm innocent!
"You will not be doing this again." He sounded angry, and now I wasn't going to be the one to get on this man's bad side, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
"I am sorry, but we will." Aqualad was the first to speak.
"Aqualad, stand down," the orange-clad man commanded.
"Apologies my king, but no." Wait, he was a king? "We did good work tonight, the work you trained us for." Well, I hadn't had any training from these people in particular, but I did have my own training that I remember. I liked where this was going.
"Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important." I nodded in agreement.
"If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you-"
"The five of us," Kid Flash corrected his superior. "And it's not."
I stepped up alongside them, ready to put my two cents in. "Tonight we fought the good fight. Each of us played our own part in this. Together, we can be a part of something greater."
"Batman, we're ready to use what you've taught us, or why teach us at all?" Robin chimed in towards the black caped man, Batman.
"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple: get on board, or get out of the way." Superboy drove the final nail into the coffin with his input. Or maybe it was the death glare.
"Give me three days," was all Batman said after what seemed like hours before turning and walking away with the other people. Three days for what? To give us a trial run? A deadline? For him to make up his mind? I shook my head, clearly not expecting that answer.
"So...uh, what now?" I asked, turning to the others. The other people were leaving as well, and I was beginning to feel tired.
"Well, since you and Superboy don't have a home yet, why don't you two stay at my place?" Kid Flash requested. I thought about it for a moment. I didn't see any problem with sleeping at his house. Plus, I needed some rest anyway. I nodded in agreement.
"So we're decided?" Robin asked. We all agreed, and began to go our separate ways. I followed Kid Flash as I reflected on the day's events.
Sure beats still being frozen in that pod, I thought as I jumped and glided through the streets, following in Kid Flash and Superboy's tracks.
A/N: I actually wrote this late last night, so I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors.
The next chapter will be kind of like a "filler" chapter. Although it does have some story and ties into the main plot, it's more character-driven than plot driven.
Reviews, followers, and favorites are always welcome.
I still don't own anything related to Young Justice or DC.
