Heritage
Overview; 18:00 EST
Sunday
The Bio ship sailed invisibly over the small town known as Heritage, located just off the borders of the state's capital city, Columbus. The land was open and flat, very little hills to block out the falling sun, resulting in longer evening hours and beautiful full views to the sunset.
The seven passengers inside of the Bio ship were talking amongst themselves. Robin, seated in the back left, had his wrist com out, looking into some of the case files Batman wanted him to check out.
"So Cadmus gets up and moves to the middle of no-wheres-ville just so that they can get into more trouble? Do the bad guys ever learn?" Kid stated, spinning his seat around to face the others as he was directly up front along with Aqualad.
"It would seem that trouble finds them at every turn. Whether they are to blame, or not, our mission is clear. We infiltrate their labs, find out what we can, and do so quietly." At the last statement, both Aqualad and Robin glanced at Kid Flash. After them, the rest joined in.
"What are you guys all looking at me for?" He questioned.
"What do you think Baywatch? You're the one who runs ahead and trips over everything." Artemis retorted, putting her hands on her hips.
"In my own defense, most of those times, I was trying to find Rob." He argued, matching Artemis' posture. "And besides, that was so long ago!"
"Hey guys, listen to this." Robin spoke up, changing the subject immediately. "These are some of the reports from family members of the workers. This one in particular really caught my eye. One woman says, "My husband came home from work late and seemed tired, more so than ever, but I excused it thinking he just had a bad day at work. But later that night I was awaken to rustling in the kitchen and found him standing over the sink. He was pouring water into a glass and proceeded to drink it. I called to him, asking if he was okay, but he didn't answer me. I turned to leave, but was shaken from a loud crashing sound. I quickly rushed over to my husband to see if he was okay and found the glass he was holding broken, some shards sticking out of his fingers. I ran upstairs to get the med kit, but when I came back down I found him licking his fingers. He turned to me with a distant gaze and said, "I like it when the red comes out.""
Everyone stared at the hologram of Robin's wrist com, silence encompassed the room.
"There's another one, not as creepy, but still. Another report states how a worker randomly started using food coloring on all of his foods and drinks. The food coloring was red."
"Are the times of these occurrences similar?" Aqualad asked their youngest.
"No they're weeks, days, months a part; it's all random." The Boy Wonder answered. "The only thing that matches up is that all of these are workers for this Cadmus branch."
"We are approaching our destination." Miss Martian announced. Upon hearing this, each member stole a glance of the building they were coming up to. It looked like any other ordinary office building.
"Hmmm, small building." Kid Flash commented. "How much do you wanna bet it's the complete opposite further down?"
"Be on your guard at all times. Something wrong is going on down there and it's our job to figure out what." With Aqualad's speech, the Team stood, their seats dissolving into the floor. Kid Flash activated his stealth tech via a tap on his insignia, Aqualad doing the same, while Miss Martian telepathically changed her outfit.
The Bio ship flew down below the tree lines and hovered ten feet off the ground in a small clearing. Two grappling hooks descended down from the underbelly, and Robin and Artemis made their way to the ground before splitting up to scout out the area.
"All clear!" Artemis claimed through the telepathic link.
"Clear!" Robin informed as well. Superboy jumped down, landing more quietly than in his first mission, and waited for the others to join. Kid sped down his grappling hook along with Aqualad as Miss Martian and Zatanna floated down.
M'gann waved her hand up at her ship and it flew off at command. As Robin and Artemis rejoined the team, Aqualad restated the plan.
"Robin, you and Superboy will make your way down to the electric panel on the other side of the building…"
Robin did a flip over the gate, rolling once he landed on his feet before dashing off to the building. Superboy jumped the fence, running over as well before either of them were seen.
"There, you will hack into the network and freeze the security cameras. Superboy will be your guard."
Robin was typing away at his keyboard, codes flying up and down the hologram screen as he worked his way into the system. Superboy paced every now and then behind him, his eyes focused on their surroundings.
"Okay, I'm in." Robin proclaimed. "Looping the footage now." He spoke through the link. "Better hurry though. If the security guards start to notice that everybody stopped roaming the halls, we're going to have a problem."
"Once that's done, Zatanna, Kid Flash, and I will make a route through the building and to the main elevator."
Aqualad peered over the corner, watching as a lab assistant walked through automated double doors, her face fixated on the clipboard in her hands. When the coast was clear, he waved his hand at Kid Flash. The speedster nodded, pulled down his googles, and dashed off down the hall. He stopped at the end, looking left and right before giving the all clear. Aqualad and Zatanna quickly ran down the corridor, following up with Kid Flash as they then made their way to the elevator.
"Artemis and Miss Martian, you two are on look out. Keep us informed with whoever leaves or enters this building."
Artemis stationed herself on top of the building while Miss Martian turned invisible and scouted around the perimeter to check on all the entrances and exits.
"We are to rendezvous at this lab on sublevel 3."
Aqualad pulled open elevator doors, holding them open so that Zatanna and Kid could get through and jump down to the nearest ledge. He closed them quietly, following the two down the later towards sublevel 3.
Aqualad hoped down to a ledge as all three of them waited by the doors.
"Robin, we need to—" As soon as Aqualad said this, the elevator doors opened, showing a smiling Robin on the other side.
"What took you guys so long?" he joked out loud. All four made their way to the lab just down the hall where Superboy was already looking around. Robin closed the doors behind them and locked it via his wrist com. He continued to type away, deactivating the loop on the security cameras out in the halls above so as to not alarm any guards.
"A small group of workers just left out the back entrance." Miss Martian notified.
"Good, keep us posted." Aqualad replied. The five of them looked around the room, Robin immediately going to the computers while Superboy and Zatanna scoped the lab equipment and storage drawers. Kid Flash looked at the record files Robin pulled up to see what type of science Cadmus was doing now. Aqualad took a look at the door and adjacent cabinets, keeping an eye out in case anyone did come down.
Kid Flash mumbled to himself as he read over the files Robin pulled up. After Robin was done, he ejected his USB and walked over to another computer.
"There's nothing here. It's all normal science—well as normal as Cadmus can be anyway." Wally interjected through the mind link.
Zatanna walked over to a refrigerator and opened it. Her eyes widened and she doubled back a bit from what was inside.
"Um… is Cadmus a hospital?" She asked with uncertainty. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin all looked up at her, but Robin quickly returned his focus on the screen, typing away as if on to something.
"No…" Kid Flash replied, speeding over to her side along with Aqualad.
"Then… why is there so many blood packs in here?" She questioned. The fridge was filled to the brim with blood packs, some of which were leaking and stained parts of the inside.
"There's more over here too." Superboy chimed as he was glancing in another fridge.
"Hey guys, you might want to come take a look at this." Robin stated.
"What did you find?" Aqualad asked as all three joined him at the computer beside him.
"Our profile. Nothing more than what the public knows, but it's only us three." Robin maximized the three files, one of himself, and the other two of Kid Flash and Aqualad.
"What the—" Aqualad said, when he was interrupted by Artemis.
"A large black van just pulled up by the front entrance!" All of them perked their heads up except Robin who proceeded to download the files pertaining to him and his teammates.
"Can you see who it is?" Aqualad questioned.
"I… can't really tell. He has a black hood on, but he's big. Really big… unnaturally big." She replied.
"Miss Martian…" Aqualad stated.
"On it!" her voice rang through just as she floated over to the front entrance.
"Be careful M'gann, you're not entirely invisible." Superboy added.
Miss Martian peeked around the corner, the van in full view. She watched as a group of men, no more than six, came out of the back with four large coolers. She hastily moved over to the side of the van and peaked in. It was empty. Nothing in it but the coolers that were just taken out.
"They just took four large coolers into the building. There's nothing else in the van. Six men entered the building." She relayed the info.
"Can you see who the guy is?" Artemis asked, peering over the side of the roof to see if she could find anything from her angle.
"He's… pale, really pale. He looks sickly." She informed. She watched closely as the man walked calmly into the building. He turned around once to look at his surrounds, making Miss Martian stiffen, before disappearing through the doors along with the other men.
Robin opened up the security footage in the halls above. The six men carrying four coolers just entered the elevator along with this mystery guy and were now heading down to the sublevels.
"They're heading this way!" Robin said. Kid Flash checked the door, peering down the hall at the elevator. The doors just opened and he saw them.
"They're just down the hall!" he yelled through the link.
"Everybody, into the vents!" Aqualad ordered. Superboy cupped his hands together and lifted Zatanna into the vents, followed by Kid Flash, and then proceeding to Aqualad. Aqualad paused and turned around.
"Robin, what are you doing, we have to hide."
"It's not done with the download yet."
"We have to go, now." Aqualad commanded.
"Just give me a minute!" He replied.
"We don't have a minute, Rob!" Kid added while poking his head out from the vents. Silhouettes formed on the fogged windows to the double doors. Aqualad's eyes grew and he quickly jumped up into the vents, pulling Superboy up afterwards.
Just then, the doors slid open and the six men walked in with the coolers. Robin was hidden underneath the desk, his backside against its wall. His USB cord ran up and into the computer, his download time slowly growing to 85%. The computer was located on the far side of the room, off in the corner opposite of the door, so the men couldn't see the screen while walking in.
"Robin…" Aqualad asked with great worry.
"I'm fine, they don't see me." He answered, but his response did little to calm their nerves.
All six of them walked over to the two fridges, loading up the coolers with the packets of blood. A voice notified everyone in that room of new company.
"Be careful with those! I don't want to lose a single drop." It was a deep voice, but filled with venom and persuasion. Robin furrowed his eyebrows and took a peak to see what was going on.
The man was standing by the door with folded arms and an annoyed look on his face. A black drench coat and a hood covered most of his body, but from what Robin could see, he was extremely pale. And they weren't kidding about him being big. This guy was bigger than Batman or Superman. There was no doubt in his mind that he could bench press eighteen hundred pounds. But what really spooked Robin was his eyes. They were red, and if he hadn't known any better, they looked like they were glowing in the darkness of his hood.
The men, now holding four full coolers, looked like any ordinary citizens. However, their gaze was distant and body movement a little robotic.
Suddenly, the download of the files was complete making the computer screen flash a different color. This small change was noticed by the pale man as he turned his attention to the far corner. He narrowed his eyes and walked over, stopping in front of the empty computer desk with the screen animating its company logo and nothing else.
With a grunt, he left, following his men out the door and back to the elevator.
The grate to the vent got pushed out and Superboy jumped down. Aqualad followed afterwards, then Kid Flash, and finally Zatanna.
"Okay, that was too close." Kid commented.
"You're telling me. Thanks Z." Robin added, his voice coming from the corner, but no one could see anything.
"No problem. Elbisiv niboR nrut" she chanted, and Robin dissolved back from his invisibility state.
"Did anyone see that guy's eyes?" Robin inquired. "They were red, blood red. This may sound crazy, but I think that guy is a vampire." He conclude. They were all taken back.
"I thought vampires were a myth." Superboy stated.
"That makes sense," Aqualad agreed, holding a hand to his chin; "the blood packets, the reports…"
"The pale skin." Kid interjected.
"The question now becomes, is Cadmus responsible?" Aqualad inquired.
"I'm not sure about that, but I know Cadmus is involved somehow." Robin added.
"Alright, let's get this information back to Batman and—" Robin interrupted Aqualad.
"Hold on, we can't leave yet. We have to find out more about this guy and why he was looking into our profiles."
"How do you know it was him looking into them?" Kid Flash questioned.
"From the files I downloaded. Our profiles were searched from an account that didn't match any of the workers working for this branch of Cadmus. And on top of that, some of the security footage from our first visit to Cadmus was looked up. Specifically, our fight with Superboy when we found him in that pod. But I also found this." Robin activated his hologram computer and opened a folder containing a private Cadmus project. Superboy read it out loud.
"Project Porphyria?"
"So Cadmus is involved." Aqualad concluded.
"But what does this vampire want with you three?" Zatanna joined in.
"That's what I want to find out." Robin stated firmly.
"Guys, I can't reach M'gann." The simple statement from Superboy shocked everyone as they just realized no one was talking through the mind link.
"Miss Martian, do you read me?" Aqualad asked in his mind.
"M'gann?" Zatanna tried, but got nothing.
"Beautify, can you hear me? Artemis?" Kid Flash questioned.
"This is bad, very bad." Robin chimed as he brought up a layout of the building. "We've got four floors to check, as well as three sublevels."
"We'll split into groups and—Superboy!" Superboy was walking away when Aqualad was giving the orders.
"I'm going to find M'gann." He stated rather harshly before disappearing out the door and down the hall.
"So much for teamwork." Kid Flash commented dryly.
"We're still sticking to the plan. Robin, go after him and search the sublevels for any clues as to Miss Martian and Artemis' whereabouts. Kid, I want you to do a quick sweep of the place. Zatanna and I will start checking the upper levels." They all nodded their heads and ran off, Robin following after Superboy while the others took the elevator—Kid Flash taking the stairs.
Robin dashed down the corridor and turned right. He checked all of the rooms he passed by, but no sign of the clone.
Superboy, where did you go? He thought before pulling up his map and typing in a few things. Life source detection. Many red dots appeared on the screen, one in particular right behind him. His eyes widened and he quickly turned around whilst pulling out a birdarang. He stood in his stance before relaxing.
"Artemis?" Said archer walked towards him. "What happened outside? Where's—" Robin stopped as he sensed something wrong. Artemis didn't stop moving towards him, in fact, she didn't even have any expression what so ever; just a blank stare.
"Artemis?" Robin backed up a couple steps.
"Yes, Master." She said indifferently before pulling out her bow and cocking an arrow straight at him. Robin gasped softly just as the arrow was released.