I went in my room, but never fell asleep. I was thinking. About everything. I couldn't sleep, so after an hour and a half I got bored and went to the training/workout room, the last time I couldn't sleep I'd trained I'd been able to fall asleep fast when I left. I got dressed, got my water bottle, and my sports mask, and everything I needed and headed over. I was about to walk through the doorway (there's no door, it's just an empty space) but I heard someone. I was halfway through the doorway mid-step, and I froze in place. Lantern was inside, practicing on one of the battle simulators, they weren't computers or anything, they were like machines so and a bunch of other things that challenged you,like you were fighting a bunch of powered super villains. Well with mechanic brains that is, I just didn't really know what else to call them, they looked pretty challenging. And fun. I awkwardly tried to back away unnoticed, but I guess I bombed it because then Kid Lantern said
"Can't sleep?" He said still fighting the dummy.
"Yeah, you too?" I asked reentering the room a little hesitantly.
"Yeah." He said.
I set my stuff down next to a bench, and headed to the bars. I was thinking about the others fighting styles, because in all honesty, I hadn't been paying all that much attention. We had only had two missions I got shot in the first one, and there wasn't any fighting in the second. But I bet I could observe more during training with Black Canary. I really liked training with her. Even though I've never trained with her while I was with the team, her and huntress are still really close from their birds of prey days. They were in a few other groups with each other too, and they really liked each other. They didn't at the beginning, when they first met, but after a few team-ups, they got along really well. They teamed up pretty often, and even though the birds of prey team happened way before Huntress adopted me, they teamed up often and they still do, me occasionally tagging along. It was really fun goi g on patrol with both of them. When I first debuted as Huntresses protege, Canary more than happy to offered to help train me, and I trained with her quite often. I liked her a lot, and even now, I think of her as a relative.
Once I had made my way over to the bars and done a few things on it (I was really out of practice, I didn't really use bars much anymore, not since I was like ten anyways, I did more freely moving acrobatics and gymnastics) I saw rings, I got momentum on the bar, and flew through the air towards the first ring. I had forgotten Kid Lantern was there, lost in my thoughts I guess, until I felt his eyes on me. Ugh, I liked occasionally showing off and everything, but at the right times. All the time show off's are really annoying. I just wanted to do something I enjoyed and the bar was boring, so I guess I could just use that as an excuse to myself. I flew through the air, I loved the feeling. Being light and graceful on my feet was always a natural trait I possessed, and Huntress and Black Canary saw how that could make for an amazing advantage in hand to hand combat, especially against uneven odds. I reached the first ring, and grabbed ahold of it. While it was swinging towards the next, I gracefully let go and forwards flipped to the next ring. I did a half turn and reached the next. Then another flip, but I didn't tuck for this one, my legs and arms were extended, and I only flipped once before grabbing the next ring. Each time in between the rings I did something different, creative and fun. I wasn't really in a hurry so I just enjoyed myself, doing flips and turns throughout the rings. For whatever reason an image of my parents popped into my head. They gave me that natural grace. I wasn't exactly sure what they did before they went missing. I was quite an aloof child, and things like a job, and hobbies, didn't really matter to my ten and under year old self, so little things like that, eventually faded from my mind after they went missing. I didn't really need to know everything about them anyway. I loved them and missed them all the time, but their either dead, or if they are alive, they're not with me now, so I don't push. I'd rather just continue with my life, and not think about them too much. The image was one of them taking me to my first gymnastics class. I was four and very exighted and my parents were watching me from the seats on the side for the parents. I remember even then I showed potential, and was fluent and graceful with my movements. They I reached the last one and did a backflip off of it, aiming to land on a large post about halfway from the last ring and the ground. But in my backflip I miscalculated the time it would take for the ring to sway out of reach, and I flipped too fast, and my left foot hit the ring swaying back towards the center. My foot catching on the ring changed where I would land, so I maneuvered myself best I could and landed on the post with one leg, and immediately knew I was off balance. I stumbled, and fell off backwards and tried to regain control just before hitting the ground by transitioning into a back handspring. It worked a little but, I forgot about the training equipment, and crashed into it. Oops, and ow.
"You ok?" He yelled in my direction worried.
"Yeah, just lost my balance." I said.
"I can see that." He said as I climbed out of the pile of knocked over equipment and walked back towards the bars. Kid Lantern walked over to me when I was halfway there.
"Something on your mind?" He asked. Oooohhhh... Double oops, I guess it showed.
"Not really." I lied.
"Really? Because you were doing fine until the last transition to the ring. You faltered and you were distracted, because your timing was thrown off by something..." He said urging me t. He stopped and looked at me.
"Ok, yeah there was, but, it isn't really a big deal, And it's not really any of your buisiness anyway." I got a little snappy. I couldn't tell him what it was, it was pretty personal, and again, none of them knew my secret identity. I also really didn't feel like show and tell at the moment.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He said.
"Nope." I said plainly.
"Ok, well we're all here if you decide to change your mind." He said, and I was a little confused for a moment, but concluded "we're" was him and the rest of the team. I guess the cheesy 'I'm here for you' cliché didn't fit his personality, and I was glad it didn't. I probably would have cringed.
I went up on the bars again and got up to the first ring, but this time decided to stay on the first one. I flipped, and after a few minutes went to the second one, where there was a mat underneath. I didn't want to go all the way through, so I flipped down to the mat and landed in a 'ready' position. I walked over to my stuff. I was starting to get tired, so I was probably going to get a drink and head back to my room. I lifted my water bottle up to my mouth, and grabbed my sports bag. I headed for the door, and didn't notice Lantern had finished and was getting his stuff. I waited a moment so he could catch up. Gosh, we needed to find a nickname or something for him, he really didn't look like a little kid, and he wasn't just lantern either, so we needed to come up with a shorter name, one that hopefully better suits him, I didn't like calling him that. Something about 'Kid Lantern' seemed to long and formal to me.
"Tired now?" I asked.
"Yeah, just about." he said taking a sip of his water.
We walked backend talked on our way. We got quieter the closer we got to the rooms so we wouldn't wake anyone. At a whisper we reached the front of the rooming area. I went into my room after saying goodnight. I almost immediately fell asleep after going into my room.
~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|Time Skip|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|
The next few days passed on as normal, I trained, helped M'gann with the cooking, hung out with everyone on the team, much like the first few days, except now we were all getting used to each other more so it felt less strange. The morning after I was shot, I had looked at my wound. I had gone to sleep with the bandage and whatever M'gann had put on my wound from the mission, and gone to sleep. I woke up the next morning and looked at it and it was almost completely healed. At first I was about ready to pass out, but I had to admit I was thankful, I really wasn't looking forward to being hurt for the next couple weeks and having to explain that to my friends at school. We were all getting used to each other a little more and having other people my age who could relate to being a hero, especially a hero's protege, and they faced pretty similar problems that made for great conversations, and hilarious stories. I was genuinely starting to like being on the team. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to be away from huntress from time to time, I really liked being with them, they had new points of view I could relate to, and mostly everyone was really friendly. I found that Kid Lantern was funny, and had an great personality, he was loyal and a good friend, He was a little sarcastic, and a small bit like Wally, but he was a a more mature and a lot less obsessed with himself and less cocky than Wally was,and he really liked sports and is definitely a people person. He was still immature, but at least he wasn't as bad as Wally. He was new, and it was pretty fun getting to know him. Everything went on as normal, until Saturday, when I partially learned how to fly, and crash landed into some very large, very hard trees. I had been practicing on the outdoor track, it was a beauand so was Wally and I'd accidentally momentarily crossed over his lane while a soccer ball came bouncing by that I didn't really want to trip on, and me and Wally had run into each other head on. Of corse, me with the lesser body weight, and less velocity went flying into the woods 50 yards away due to the built up momentum from the two of us. And he only fell back like 20 yards. Why do the the laws physics hate me? Everyone who was near by stared as we ran into each other and we flew into the different directions. They kind of stood there for a minute, baffled, then saw me coming out of the trees mostly unharmed, and Wally looking just as intact. I almost started laughing looking back on it, it was pretty funny. All of their faces certainly were.
Wally was sitting on the couch watching a movie. I couldn't tell what movie it was, but walked over anyway though. I was bored and Wally always thought of something fun to do.
I walked over and plopped down next to him on the couch.
"Whatcha doin'." I asked him.
"Nothing much, you?" He replied still looking at the screen.
"Nah..." I began to be intrigued by what was happening on the screen. It was an action movie, ironically it was a superhero movie by marvel.
"I actually think I lost track of time, I was supposed to meet M'gann and Artemis for a girl thing, I can't remember what it was, but I am supposed to meat them in the kitchen..." I stopped and looked at the time. "Three minutes ago! I'm late!" I said jumping up and running out of the room. I ran to the kitchen.
I got into the kitchen and M'gann and Artemis were waiting.
"About time." Artemis said.
"Sorry, lost track of time." M'gann started walking in the other direction, so we followed. Since it was our lady full day, M'gann Artemis and I were going out to do fun things around happy harbor. I had normal clothes on except for my really dark aviator sunglasses that hid most of my upper face. M'gann was going to show us her favorite mall, and we were going to get our hang out like normal teenagers for a change. We got there in 12 minutes.
We walked around and ended up getting many shopping bags full of clothing and other things, a trip to the nail salon, Buddha berry, Starbucks, a pretzel store, a really good taco stand, and various snack stands in the middle isles of the mall where the stores were lined on either side. So we basically went there and ate a lot of food, and did a bunch of stereotypical girl activities. It was really fun! The mall had a bunch of my favorite stores, and so many new ones I've never seen before, it was really cool. I had a really great time and I was pretty disappointed when we had to go back to the cave.
We got back and walked through the kitchen to the lounge.
Everyone was there and the three of us walking in with a bunch of shopping bags, and all three of us with our new matching aviator glasses, yes I already had some, but M'gann was hell bent on getting something matching. When we walked out of the Bioship and Conner was the only one in the hanger, looking at this... Thing. It was a big grey sphere. It was beeping and lights were lighting up and going out and it was making noises that personified the machine, so it gave off the impression that it was living, and not just a machiene.
He looked over at us, then looked back to the sphere, not really amused. We walked past, and M'gann stopped and told him something, saying she'd catch up to us before we got upstairs. It was really obvious they were a couple, M'gann and Conner. I don't know why they were hiding it from me, but I figure they'd tell me when they were ready. Same with Artemis and Wally. I wasn't as sure however if they were an official couple or if they were just kind of 'hanging out just the two of them' which was that they weren't officially a couple, maybe kind of denying it, or in the early stages of a relationship. Whatever they all were it was adorable watching all of them try to hide it.
She kept her word and caught up to us before we got on the elevator.
We eventually got to M'gann's room and sat on her bed. We had an hour before dinner and we were going to have some girl time for our last day.
Once we were on the bed, and had been talking for a few minutes, the topic of boys came up.
"I still think you should go out with Kaldur." Artemis said, a little sneakily.
"What?" I asked looking uninterested in him, faking my innocence of not knowing they were dating Conner and Wally.
"Hmmmm," they said in unison looking at me. Now they were going to pair me with someone. Ha, little do they know.
"I don't know, I mean not Kaldur really, he's too..." Artemis trailed off, trying to think of the right word.
"Plain." M'gann said, and we gall giggled. He was pretty plain. And kind of boring Kaldur's totally awesome, he's a great leader, and a super loyal and honest friend, but nothing really 'pazzaz', or fun about him.
I could tell they kind of waned to change the subject, not wanting to draw attention to their love lives.
I let it go, but I was waiting till M'gann started taking about Conner again. As I predicted, she did and I took this opportunity.
"And then he took a half melted stick of butter and chucked it as hard as he could at Wally!" She finished.
"uhhhhhhh..." I groaned, unable to control myself any longer. They looked at me, after I groaned with my tone sounding annoyed and impatient.
"Why won't you just tell me already? Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" I replied to their looks.
They still looked a little confused, but understanding slowly crept onto their faces.
"I mean, if you were going to hide it, at least hide it well." I said.
"How'd you know?" M'gann her facial expression shifting from realization to horror.
I looked at her.
"Your kidding." I said "it was obvious just from the way you looked at each other, let alone how you talk about him constantly." I said.
They looked relieved I wasn't mad, and something else was present on their faces. It wasn't bad, it was a good look, I just couldn't put my finger on it.
"How long have you know?" Artemis asked.
"Well for M'gann and Super Boy, I knew two hours after I met all of you, and for Artemis and Wally, I figured it out about by the end of the first day, a little after the sport we did." I said. They looked at me their expressions littered with surprise.
I was frankly surprised I didn't figure it out earlier, really, they weren't very good at hiding it, which with a secret identity and all you'd think they'd be better at it.
"I've been waiting for you to tell me, because I didn't want it to intrude, or come off nosey, it's really boring, and I adore talking about other people's relationships, and I absolutely adore the two of yours." I said, and there faces still showed surprise but it was being overtaken by giggles.
"You knew the whole week ?" M'gann asked.
"Yeah, why were you guys hiding, it it's not a big deal, it doesn't really matter to me." I asked.
"Well the whole team kind of decided not to tell you till we were closer so you wouldn't feel excluded or like a third wheel or anything." M'gann explained.
"There's now eight of us, third wheel doesn't apply to eight people, half of which are not in a relationship, so we are even." I said humorously trying to lighten the mood and ensure they knew I wasn't upset that four members of the team were dating, which really, why would I be? What kind of a kind of friend or person for that matter, would I be if I came into a group of people and got mad at them for dating before I even showed up? It confused me, but I didn't want to injure their pure intentions. "Plus, I would have totally shipped it if you weren't dating." I said and they started laughing.
We talked and talked, till it was time to start preparing dinner, and Artemis helped us tonight which turned out to be a disaster. By the time we finished dinner, we broke two plates, one bowl, three glasses, and two forks (don't ask), and had to restart the main corse and the side dish twice. I loved her, but she was kind of just in the way, M'gann and I darting out around the kitchen, had gotten used to being out of each other's way, and knew when we needed help. Artemis was just... Un experienced. Yeah, that was it. It totally wasn't that she was a complete klutz in the kitchen or that she tripped over oil she spilled, or that she mixed the wring ingredients into the bowl, or anything like that.
We miraculously got everything out in one piece. For a while when everyone was eating, Artemis didn't talk much and looked a little embarrassed, which was an emotion a wasn't used to seeing, and one I would have never expected from her, but she was back to her normal sarcastic self by halfway through the meal.
After dinner we hung out for a little while in the lounge, just talking and laughing, and I thought it was nice. After, we all went to bed a little early, skipping a movie
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The next day went by pretty normal until a few hours after lunch, when batman had told us to meet in the mission room ready in twenty minutes. It was about 4:30 when the meeting started.
Batman was currently giving us the details we needed for the mission. We were investigating a newish company, that had arisen suspicions of having connections with Count Vertigo. Along with that the company has been suspected to have been conducting un-publicized research. It's a technology company, and has Research facilities inside the building. Batman finished.
"The cooperation's name is Falcon Industries." Batman said
"Like Lawrence Falcon?" Wally asked.
"No, some other famous Falcon persona." Artemis retorted, sarcasm evident in her voice.
"Yeah, we're dealing with Lawrence Falcon. Though I'm not sure which side he is on." Batman replied vaguely. What did that mean? Gosh he's worse than huntress.
"Your job is to infiltrate the facility undetected and investigate. Do not engage unless completely necessary." He said before looking at us for any questions. Once he saw everyone had asked enough earlier, and wasn't in the asking mood at the moment, he said.
"Batman Out" he said and the screen shut off.
We got to the Bioship, and everyone took their seats, and started to discus a loose plan. I listened and made sure I knew the plan, but looked out at the sky. It was magnificent. The sun set was amazing even from a normal height, but in this, it was breathtaking. This ship was perfect for sight seeing. It didn't have to go too far above the clouds, like an airplane, it was the perfect view and I just starred watching as the clouds passed, and the painted colors of the sunset; from bright reds and pinks, to vivid ambers and oranges, then slipping out to bright, pale yellows and light blues.
Then we landed. There was a small pocket of trees near the building, and there weren't any people for a ways. The sun was getting lower, and lower in the sky, and the sky's vibrant colors were beginning to darken. We made our way silently towards the building. Conner however had a little difficulty with that. According to the building's blueprints there were a few entrances we could use. There was a window two stories up that was mostly hidden from street view, not that there were people really out, but just in case. Kaldur motioned us over into a small group hidden by a few trees.
"Ok, so Nightwing, M'gann, Kid Lantern, and I, we'll be throughly investigating any room you can get yourselves into without setting off any kinds of alarms. Wally, Tempest, and Artemis will be making sure no one is aware we are here, and to alert you if anyone comes, and look out for suspicious activity. Super boy, stay out here and tell us of anyone entering the building or leaving it." Kaldur said.
Conner groaned.
"Stealth isn't exactly your strong suit." Artemis directed at Conner. He glared her way, but he knew it was true.
"M'gann, link us up?" Kaldur asked.
M'gann nodded, and then I felt that same weird feeling, M'gann was setting up the mind link again. I still can't really describe it, but it was weird.
Then from inside my head came Kaldur's voice.
"Ok, go." Kaldur said.
We all entered the building. Nightwing had hacked into the security system in seconds. Holy cannoli, I've never seen anyone hack that fast! I wasn't really all that good at hacking, it took me much longer to get into security systems like these. It wasn't really my forte. Stealth, hand to hand combat, my crossbow and investigation I was pretty good at though. I was a little disappointed I had to play guard duty. At least it was better than standing outside, I can do a little people investigating, looking for strange people who would rack up suspicion. I walked around the empty hallways. There was like no one in here. I guess that was good for the mission. But why wasn't anyone here. I thought to all of the possibly causes, I remembered it was a government holiday, so the company must have had no one at work that day. Then I saw someone. They were in a lab coat, and carrying something I couldn't see heading towards the elevator, he kept looking around, covering what he was holding. I tried to get a little closer to see what it was he was holding, but the elevator opened and he stepped into it.
"Uh guys, there was this suspicious looking lab-coat guy who was holding something and looking around nervously shielding what he was holding who just got into an elevator." I thought a little humorously at how cliche this guy was at being suspicious, (seriously?), and hoped it made its way into the mind link. I guess it did because I only waited a few seconds before Artemis appeared near where I was hiding in the shadows. I assumed she knew where I was but then she whispered.
"Tempest!" She whispered.
I stepped out and she drew her bow. I rose my hands and stopped moving.
"Chill, it's me." I said slightly humorously.
"Ok, that elevator?" She asked lowering her bow and gesturing with her head towards the elevator behind me.
I looked over at it. You needed a key card to open it, lab coat guy had used one. I stepped towards the elevator looking at the key pad. It was really high tech, which made our search a lot harder, how'd such a new company get stuff like this? I looked at Artemis and she looked at me. She was examining the keypad as well. Then we heard someone coming, and Artemis drew her bow and I pulled out one of my daggers. He rounded the corner, and saw us. He put his hands up stepping further out of the darkness so we could see him.
"Calm down, it's just me." Kid Lantern said.
"Sorry, didn't know you came already, I headed down when Tempest asked for someone." He said noticing Artemis
"I'll call Nightwing, we'll need him for the key pad" she said putting down her bow for the second time in two minutes. Then I heard her in my head.
"Nightwing! We need you and your hacking!" She said in my mind.
"Alright, on my way." He said into the mind link, sounding a little disappointed to be taken away from whatever he was doing.
"Since your here, I'm going to go back up and investigate if you don't need me." Kid Lantern said.
"Actually, stuck around for a few, it might be useful to have another person, that pad lock looks pretty complicated, and not many people put this much security on an elevator, whatever's inside is probably more interesting than whatever's in there." She said.
"I don't know about you, but the rooms I was looking through, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary." She added.
"Yeah, I didn't really find anything anyway." He said.
Then Nightwing dropped from the ceiling with a look of 'what do you need' plastered on his face. We pointed towards the keypad and as he looked at it, his expression turned to irritation as he recognized it.
"Man, why'd they have to get something so hard too get into. Whatever's in that elevator has to be worth it, this thing is encrypted and everything, why would someone put this much security on an elevator, God." He said. It only took him about a minute. Way longer than it had taken him to hack the building security, but still. Once he did, Lantern pulled open the elevator doors with a glowing green thing that resembled a really big hydraulic spreader. We looked up, and there was nothing really out of the ordinary. It went about 12 floors up, pretty normal.
Except that the building only had 5 floors. Then we looked down. We were on the ground level. There were stairs leading somewhere else. Nightwing turned to us.
"This looks like it needs to be thoroughly investigated. And who knows how much suspicious activity might be up, or down here." He said, an edge to his voice, and a smirk tugging at his mouth. Artemis's face lit up and Kid lantern smiled and made a drawn out "Mmmhhm". Artemis nodded, then they looked at me and I snickered, and a mischievous smile stretched across my face.
"Up or down?" Artemis asked us.
"Best for last? The underground looks more complicated, you want to check out up first?" Nightwing asked, hinting that the more interesting things were more likely underground. Artemis shot an arrow with a cable to the top, and started climbing up the elevator shaft. Nightwing just climbed up with ease, and looking closer I saw that he had special grip things on his palms and bottoms of his toes on his boots. Kid lantern just flew up, and I got out my crossbow from my utility belt. I got the right arrow, attached the cable to my crossbow piece that would reel it in, and shot it to the top of the elevator shaft. I pushed on an indent in my crossbow and it started reeling, pulling me up with it. Artemis and Nightwing, seeing me pass them looked up, a little confused. I just kept moving up, and when I got to the third to the top level only a few meters below where my crossbow had shot, and Kid Lantern was already there waiting for us. I swung around, and tapped the release button and landed on the small ledge by the third to the top level, where Kid Lantern was, and at the same time, Nightwing and Artemis reached the same place. Nightwing hacked into the security system, getting a map of the place, and he and Lantern, using his giant hydraulic spreader again, pulled open the doors slowly, in case someone was here. No one was in sight, until we saw the last corner of the room. Then we saw the desk, with the guy just about to stand up and ask who we were, but I rolled a gas ball at him, it dispersed at his feet, and he looked a little dayzed, but after a few seconds, he sat right back down in his chair going back to work. Nightwing looked at me like 'what in the world was that?' And I figured I'd explain.
"It was a chemical compound, not harmful in a dose like that, but if given on a regular basis, could affect the visionary part of the brain, and memory and hallucinations. The gas made him forget he saw us, and now he can't see us, the directors of the gas. He won't see anything out of the ordinary, even if another member of the team was standing right in front of him. He'll still be able to respond to other coworkers as they walk by, but he has no clue were here." I said whispering.
"Created by huntress and I." I added, as they looked at me. They looked at me a little longer, and I smiled. I still thought it was really cool, and I've been using it since we made it three years ago.
"Have anymore tricks like that up your sleeves?" Artemis asked with an edge of sarcasm to her voice, she already knew I did. I smirked and smiled. Then we continued forwards. We went past the lobby, and continued into a hallway. We came to the first door and quietly went inside the room had four creatures in these long pods, and four machines in similar looking pods, the machines looked like they were living, kind of alien/animalistic looking. Then there was one pod that had kind of half and half. They were in this glowing blue liquid. It was freaky. Then Nightwing spoke into the mind link.
"You guys really need to come upstairs. I already hacked the elevator, just get up here. The security guard can't see you, even if he looks at you, thanks to Tempest, but don't take any chances." He said kind of in a trance at what he saw. This wasn't right.
"Well head up as soon as we can" Kaldur said into the mind link.
"We have to check out down those stairs." Artemis and Nightwing said simultaneously. They looked at each other, then at me and Lantern seeing if we were coming. I nodded. We ran out of the room, down the hallway, past the unaware guy at the desk, and opened the elevator doors. Nightwing let me and Artemis go first so he could close the elevator doors behind all of us. Artemis didn't jump right away, so I took out my crossbow, and latched it around the elevator cord. I then launched myself around it and spun around the chord, going down fast, but not uncontrollable. It took my about 45 seconds to get all the way down, unlock my grappling hook from sliding down the elevator chord, and jumping gracefully, to the ground. The actual elevator had been on the second to the top floor when we went up, and hadn't moved when by the time we got down, so we all just dropped down the elevator shaft easily. Artemis landed near me a few seconds later, then Nightwing and Kid Lantern a few seconds after her. I'm not sure how they came down, I wasn't really paying attention it was too much fun spinning around the cord. I bet it looked really cool too. We landed on the bottom level, where the elevator stopped, and looked to the stairs going downwards.
We had gotten all the way here, without running into the rest of the team. We must have missed them, or they weren't here yet. We made our way down the stairs silently. We got to the bottom of the stairs and two people were coming so we hid fast. They didn't see us, but we heard their conversation.
"Project x is almost finished, we just need to fill its memory with false ones of its life after we bought it. Then it will be done. So far it has turned out much better than project k and r." One of them said.
"Project k and r had different treatments, so of corse the results are better. Project k's results were better than project r's, but not good enough. I presume that project x's results will be what we are looking for?" The second person asked. They were both male, but one sounded much more intimidating and the other sounded much more intimidated.
"Yes, the change in the treatment, gender, and breed made a very big, very positive difference. Project x is young, so it will be easily manipulated to be more loyal to us, smart, limber, strong, is mentally stable, and less aggressive than the last two trials, and that is before the different treatment. The treatment didn't make it more aggressive, or hostile, or block the neurotransmitters going to the spinal cord or the brain, or give it rabies-like symptoms, like the other two. The only side affects were a those of a small increase in need for the 'master's' attention and emotional bonding, to ensure loyalty, like any other of that species, but other than that, it did what it was created to. The only stage left is to insert false memories to make it more loyal to us, and you, so you have no need to create an actual emotional bond, the false memories will do that for you. There is a one in one million possibility that anything will go wrong from here, I've done the numbers. When would you like us to start the insertion of the false memories into the weapon?" The more intimidated one finished. What in the world were they talking about? I have so many questions I don't even know where to start. Breed? Of what? 'Master'? There were two other trials? Weapon? So much of that conversation sent red flags in my mind.
"Start inserting the memories tomorrow. I expect project x to be fully operational and a ready weapon in 12 days. That is when it is needed." The intimidating man said before the two ducked into another hallway and were out of earshot. I exchanged looks with them who were thinking about the same as I did, and we decided to split up. It was kind of hard to argue, especially with Artemis only using facial expressions. I swear Kid Lantern didn't have as hard of a time deciphering it as Artemis or the rest of the team.
"Project x is important to the company." I whispered.
"Thank you for reminding us." Kid Lantern said. He almost made me laugh under my breath, but mission, focus Laurie.
"We should contact each other if you find it." I said. I swear, Lantern completely understood the look I gave him, when we were all attempting to argue, it was cool.
"Creepy looking hallway number one, or creepy looking hallway number two?" Artemis asked. There were way more than two hallways, but we got her point. We whispered more, until we eventually picked different hallways, three that looked most mysterious, and evil and such. I went down a hallway and looked inside of every door that I could get into without setting off an alarm or something. They were all files that I looked through as quietly as I could, until I got to a room that held machines, and test tubes full of liquid. Some of the stuff inside was glowing which freaked me out. Some of the vials were labeled project x, a lesser amount were labeled project k, and even less than those that were labeled project k were labeled project r. Like the ones the men were talking about. There were many other vials labeled things I've never heard of before. Maybe in different languages, or of alien origin. It was all really creepy, and I made sure not to touch anything.
I left the room, and was about to turn to another door and heard in the mind link.
"We need to leave." Kaldur's voice sounded strained, and a little dazed like Nightwing had sounded in the mind link.
"We have to report this to batman and the league, for further investigation." He added.
"Ok, you guys go, we'll be right behind you, we'll meet you in the Bioship." Nightwing said into the mind link.
As I listened I turned to the last door in the hallway. I don't know how I missed what was on the door before, because in big black letters it read.
PROJECT X:
Trial Three
After reading it I opened the lock with my shape shifting key, a gift from one of the two green lantern guys to huntress, and she thought I might need it, along with a million other things, for my week with the team, and in general. This might be the only time I was glad she was so worried about it. It had really helped with the other doors, so I could get in and out and lock the doors again, when they weren't keypads, I needed a different approach to that, without being detected, it was like I was never there. This door, just to be difficult, had a key whole, for traditional keys, and a keypad that you needed to press numbers to get into. I'd figured out how to get into these though, so I got in the door quickly. I stepped in slowly and could barely process what I saw. I covered my mouth with my hand and stared. I stared for a few more seconds before Nightwing walked over and saw me, Artemis behind him, as I slid down the wall I was standing against next to the pod.
"Tempest, we need to... Is that" he stopped and I cut in.
"Project x." I said. Artemis looked inside.
Inside the pod was a black puppy, with whitish, grayish spots on its chest, and a little bit on its right front toes, and a little on its left back toes. It kind of looked like a spotted black and white Australian Shepard, but with shorter hair, more black, and a lankier body. Just then, his timing great as usual, Kid Lantern walked in and saw it too.
It was a puppy? The weapon was puppy?
What?
"That's... Project x?" He asked.
"No, the letters engraved on the door are wrong." I said sarcastically but quietly, almost unaware I said it. The dog looked about three-five months old, and was occasionally being poked by the needles and machines connected to the pod. It's body was limp, unconscious, lonely. It was so little, helpless, scared. how could someone do this. Then it stopped. The machines stopped humming, and the one that was not operational before hummed to life.
Wtf was that Oh, Oh no, the two men before, the 'treatment' was finished, now they must be prepping for the memory insertion. No no no no no.
They were going to wipe its memory and put in fake ones, making it absentmindedly love, and abide loyalties in whoever did this to it. I felt strange calling it, an it, but I didn't know it's gender, so it was all I could say right now. I got up and went over to the glass. I looked in at the poor thing, and looked back helplessly over at Artemis Nightwing and Kid Lantern. Artemis looked almost as heartbroken as I felt, Kid Lanterns face had less emotion on it, more horror, and was that a lot anger, than broken-hearted. Nightwing kept a straight face but I could tell this phased him greatly.
"We have to..." I was saying but Nightwing cut me off.
"I have a plan, but we have to be quick, the others are probably almost out by now." Kid Lantern said. He didn't like what they were doing and looked like he would do something completely irrational to stop it. I'd like to say that at that moment I would have been more reasonable, but I agreed with him. We were going to get this dog out.
"I took pictures of everything important." I said, and they nodded that they did too.
I was standing next to the pod, and was waiting for the signal. Nightwing was setting explosives, and technology virus bombs in the other room, with all the vials and project x, k, and r research and data. Artemis was in between the two rooms to give me the signal once Nightwing gave it to her. Then she moved. She gave me the signal and I watched as Lantern used a green machine that burst open the pod simultaneously with the explosion next door. I quickly grabbed project x, wow we need to make a better name for... Um, her. I found out the dog was a female as I ran out of the hallway after Nightwing and Artemis. We weren't sure if opening the pod wound cause the machinery connected to the pod, and connected to the next door equipment would hurt project x if she was removed without proper authorization, or it blowing up the machines and equipment next door before taking her out would hurt her, or set off some chain reaction, so we did it at the same time. And I think it worked.
I felt project x wake up as we were running away from the explosions, which made me nervous, I was holding her awkwardly, so I could run and keep up, and she wasn't a tiny puppy, it was quite difficult to hold onto her and continue moving at the pace I was going, especially if she woke up and started squirming. We kept running until we got outside, and we'd only run into two guards on our way out, because there were so little people here because of the government holiday, and Nightwing had taken care of both of them, just knocking them out. They thankfully couldn't see our faces because of the lights that had blown out for some reason. Now they don't know who we are, thanks to Nightwing hacking into all of the security cameras, and encrypted heat and motion sensors. Once we were outside, project x stirred and suddenly jumped out of my arms. Artemis and Nightwing kept running, not noticing me slowing down. Kid lantern was flying a little behind me in case project x had woken up and tried to get away, it didn't know who we were, so Project x ran as fast as it could to keep up with them. It was pretty fast for a puppy, and I ran alongside it till we caught up with them. Before we had caught up, Nightwing and Artemis noticed I was gone, looked at each other, then looked back at project x running a little ahead of me. They looked surprised and then looked at me, my expression I shrugged, saying,
"It jumped, but it's doing fine following you guys, and I didn't see the need to pick it back up again." They nodded and continued running without a word.
As we were running through the woods, I heard the firetrucks were driving by on the road to put out the small fire at one side of the building. Nightwing used a unique kind of explosives not his usual, so nothing could be traced to us. Falcon Industries would probably cover it up, and close off the area down the stairs, I saw a hatch then opened to cover the gap and the stairs completely, so the elevator shaft looked like it indeed had a bottom, when we dropped down to the stairs, because that area down there was probably not legal. They'd probably just play it off as a machines malfunction and lay low until the police stopped snooping. We reached the Bioship and jumped in before we took off. Project x needed a little help getting onto the platform, but other than that, it just ran with us all the way to the Bioship. Then the rest of the team looked at the four of us, and a few eyes landed on the now sleeping puppy. They're faces were beyond confused and a little angry.
"What happened?" One of them asked, and I'm sure all of them were thinking it.
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Hey Readers! Whew, that was long! Ok, so I made this chapter extra long to soften the blow of my new "rule" I need feedback! Tell me what you want to see happen in this story, or any suggestions, any questions you may have, or any opinions you might have. Possible ships maybe?
Ive looked at the views on my story, and I have almost 15 hundred views, and 13 reviews. I need your feedback to make my story better, and so you guys can be involved! So this is where your going to nend that softening of the blow. 3-4 reviews for a new chapter. Ahhhhh, I can feel you all glaring at me through my computer! I know, I know, and I didn't want to be one of those people, with the this many reviews for a new chapter, but I would really like your feedback, and I'm sure that from all of my wonderful readers, it shouldn't be to apocalyptic for three or four of you to write a review. It could be anything, things you hope to see in the book in the future, opinions on it now, or if there's something that you don't like, or think i could improve in the next chapter, questions, anything. And I'll be making a review section on my next chapters where I can respond to any reviews.
I love you all, bye! :)