They both turned around to face a rather thick man with a small beard. He wore a long white lab coat that bore various kinds of stains. The obvious ones were dried blood.
"I don't know how you got in here, but you aren't leaving. It's a pity really; you seem like a nice pair of children." He said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well."
"What are you doing to him? To all the living things in this facility!" Aqualad asked.
He chuckled. "Does it not seem obvious to you?" he motioned his hands to the window. "Genetic Mutation. We decided to take the DNA from the animals and put them in other life forms. To try and create hybrid animals. Although in this case right here, we decided to go beyond just one or two. We decided to put all of them into one subject, and what better than a human child we found that hitched a ride on the helicopter Mrs. Logan and her team was on."
"Why?" Robin gritted his teeth.
The man shrugged. "I got tired combining animal DNA to other animal DNA."
"And what about the intern? Why subject innocent people into your twisted projects?" Aqualad demanded the man.
"Ah, little Karen. One of our more…successful tests. I have to say the results had made her a bit…feisty."
"Sounds like you've had more than just those two in your hands," Robin said. "Where are the other ones? The unsuccessful ones."
"Where else? Terminated. No use in keeping failures, it's a waste of space," The man said almost too nonchalant.
"Robin! Aqualad! Is everything alright?" Miss Martian asked. "I'm sensing that you're in trouble?"
"Aqualad and I were compromised," Robin said.
"WHAT!? Already! I thought the first to be caught was going to be Baywatch!" Artemis exclaimed.
"Hey!" Kid flash gaped.
"I'm pretty sure the intern spotted us," Superboy said.
Artemis looked down and saw a pair of eyes that had hope, finally seeing somebody to come and save her. Those damn eyes. Yep, she ain't leaving her behind.
"This is more than I anticipated." Robin sighed and shook his head.
"We need to contact the league," Kaldur said.
"What! No! They'll just think we aren't ready for something like this!" Artemis said.
"I agree with Arty, I can manage it with my speed."
Superboy scrunched his eyes. "I agree with Aqualad."
Everybody had a somewhat shocked face.
"Just think about it, looking at the map with all the people here, and all the animals, we can't possibly manage to board everyone on the ship. I'm pretty sure Megan's ship has a capacity limit. Besides, I'm sure the league would want to have their hands on the animals and make sure they're good before releasing them back into the wild."
Robin smirked. He knew Batman would want to double check the animals just in case.
"We don't really have a better option here, guys," Robin admitted.
"…Fine."
"Whatever, the sooner the better. Canary is rubbing off of you by the way, supey."
"I like it," Miss Martian said.
"Don't think you can call for the adults," The man said, breaking Robin and Aqualad from their conversation.
"What makes you say we already haven't?" Robin bluffed.
"This room blocks communication signals. Cell phones, PDA's, nothing can get through."
Great. What Robin really wanted. He tried to call in Batman but all he heard was static.
Perfect.
"Did you forget? It's two on one." Robin grinned.
The man slowly grinned back. "This facility is advanced, or rather the things we make is. I don't know how the information leaked out. The guards in this area wear cloaking devices and this room is always under surveillance."
When he mentioned it, about eight guards came out of nowhere. Outnumbered.
Great.
"Team, one of you needs to contact the league, NOW. Robin and I are outnumbered and communication signals cannot pass through here." Aqualad pressed.
"I can do it! I'm outside so the signal is better," Kid Flash said.
"Do you need any backup? Artemis and I can get to you," Superboy offered.
"No. Focus on rescuing the intern. Robin and I can handle it here."
Robin flinched when he said that. Yea he could handle it, but just not the Robin right now. The Robin right now was exhausted. The Robin right now wanted to sleep. Thank goodness for poker faces. Or else Alfred would never had let him out of his bed. Though he's pretty sure the poker faces don't work on him.
"M'gann, keep a look out if there are any reinforcements," Aqualad said.
At that moment, an alarm went off throughout the entire facility. The screeching noise startled the animals, causing an uproar.
"There goes being covert." Kid Flash snorted.
"Enough hiding, they know we're here," Superboy announced as he grabbed Artemis and jumped down.
As they landed, Artemis roundhouse kicked and knock out the scientists near the tiny intern. Superboy took the liberty to punch the guards that were in the room. The Archer dashed forward and grabbed the container that had Karen in it. She tried to pry it open, but failed. She thought about Superboy opening it but the risk of the glass shattering and piercing the said girl was high. She then heard soft thumps from the container. Artemis looked down to see the girl pointing towards the back desk. Artemis walked towards it and looked down again. The girl pointed down to the last drawer. Artemis opened it and saw numerous amounts of keys.
"Um…" Artemis began. She looked down to the girl, only to see her shrugging but her eyes pleading to find the key. "Superboy! Do you think you can buy me some time?"
"Already doing it anyways." He said while fighting off more guards.
"Thanks!"
Artemis bent down and began searching through all the keys, picking up one by one and trying to fit it in. After about the thirtieth key, she finally found it. The container made a buzzing sound, then a click. A portion of the top popped up. Artemis took it and pulled, making a loud plop as it came off.
The girl buzzed out happily and around Artemis.
"It was about time I got outta there! Geez the least they could do was make a bigger container with a T.V. set and some food," She said, putting her hands on her hips. "Thanks so much! I thought nobody was going to find me. I was starting to lose hope there until I spotted you up on the beams." she was so elated to be rescued.
"No problem. I don't have to ask, but what's your name?" she asked.
"Karen Beecher. I'm an intern working for the Logan Animal Sanctuary. I go to Happy Harbor High School, i'm on a special program," She said. Nearby, Superboy flinched.
Oh no.
So she was that Karen Beecher. He had been hoping it was another girl who happen to have the same name. And age. And looks.
Wasn't Batman supposed to double check these things? Superboy was in no way a mask type of person. That was out of the question. He's surprised nobody had recognized him yet actually. He wears the same clothes to school and to missions.
Artemis nodded, thankful she hadn't lost her memory. "Alright, you're going to have to come with us. You think you can stay close while we get out of here with grumpy pants there?" she asked, pointing to Superboy with her thumb.
"I'll just hitch a ride on your head," She said, buzzing her way and tangling her arms in her hair.
"Superboy, c'mon! I got her!" Artemis said as she took out some arrows and knocked the last remaining guards. Artemis looked down at the remaining keys. She grabbed a bag and dumped everything out of it and put the keys in it. She had a feeling they were going to need it soon.
"Let's get outta here then," Superboy murmured. He glanced back at Artemis, who caught his worried expression.
"Superboy?" Karen grinned. "Oh, my boyfriend is gonna flip when he finds out." She eyed Superboy's back. A very familiar back, though she can't quite place her finger on it.
I know they're a covert team and everything, but Conner doesn't wear anything else when going out in public (like high school) and on missions. He doesn't change it up much in the beginning and it kinda stumps me that not anyone recognized him yet. Oh well.