Hi! I hope you guys liked my last chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own DCU
Tim POV
"What?!" Arsenal shouted, anger and confusion in his voice.
Before I could answer however, the doors banged open, a man running in with a horde of genomorphs behind him. "Guardian?" Arsenal asked, his voice sounding more confused.
I couldn't blame him for sounding so confused, all of us were. After all, Guardian was a hero, not mention, Arsenal's uncle. Why was Guardian working with a group that helped clone his nephew? "Arsenal? What are you and your friends doing here? You shouldn't be down here, your breaking and entering. But I'm sure we can settle this with the League." Guardian said, looking just as confused as us.
"Really? Because the League would totally approve of you breeding living weapons?" Impulse snapped, obviously mad at the League being brought up.
"Breeding weapons? No, that can't be right." Guardian said, looking around confused, like he was just taken out of a trance. "Where am I?"
That, combined with the fact that he yelled in pain a few seconds after he said that, confused all of us. When he opened his eyes again, they were cold and hard again. Like someone turned him into their personal zombie again. "Take them down, no mercy!" Guardian yelled, pointing the genomorphs at us.
"Come on guys, we need to get out of here." I said, throwing down a smoke bomb to cover us so we could leave. As much as I hated it, there were too many genomorphs for us to take on. And I wasn't eager to fight them after I saw what these creatures were capable of.
I ran out of the room through the door on the other side, turning a hallway with an elevator at the end. Perfect.
I started hacking into the elevator, my thoughts racing around in my head from the info I just found. If Roy had been cloned, why didn't they use him yet? And what was project Kr about? "Thanks for being such a great team member, Red." Impulse hissed at me, breaking my thoughts.
"Weren't you guys behind me?" I asked, surprised. Huh. I really need to work on my observation skills if I couldn't tell if they weren't behind me or not.
The elevator opened, stopping any more complaints as me and Impulse ran inside. "Where are Blue and Arsenal?" I asked, looking over at Impulse.
That question was answered when the two other heroes came running to the elevator with a group of genomorphs chasing them. Weirdly enough, it reminded me of a time Dick was being chased by a bunch of girls.
When Arsenal and Blue got in, I pressed the button to the floor Project Kr and Roy's clone were on, holding my breath as the genomorphs got closer to us. We only were able to dodge them coming in here by a second. "Hermano, why aren't we going out? You know, away from all the crazy genomorphs." Blue asked warily.
"Because we're not going. Project Kr and Roy's clone are on sub-level 52. That is... do you want to see your clone, Roy?" I asked Arsenal.
He bit his lip, thinking for a moment before nodding. "Yes. We can't really leave him here, can we? Not when Cadmus might use him against the League" He said with a nod.
"Right, hermano." Blue Beetle said, nodding.
The door opened to reveal a weird hallway. The wall's, floor, and even the ceiling was made of some weird red material that looked like the inside of a toad's mouth from Naruto when the Itachi tried to take him for the Akatsuki. "What is this stuff?" Impulse asked, staring at the walls curiously.
"Not sure, but stop poking it." I snapped. Impulse smiled sheepishly, then looked ahead where the hallway forked.
"So, which is it? Right or left?" Arsenal asked.
"Don't know. Guardian barged in while I was in the middle of hacking, remember?" I said, biting my lip.
"I don't understand though, why would my uncle work here?" Arsenal asked, his voice frustrated.
"The genomorph on his shoulder was one of them that had telepathic abilities. They might have him under mind control." I said while looking down both hallways.
"Well, that makes more sense then him turning on us." Blue muttered, Arsenal nodding stiffly.
"What are you doing here?" A loud, clear voice demanded.
We looked down the left path, and saw a... half breed I think? He looked mostly human except for his pale blue skin and his horns on his head like the other genomorphs. I was proven right when his horns glowed and things around the room started flying at us. "You know, when we busted in here, I thought we were going to try not to get caught. I really, truly, honestly, did." I said as we ran towards the right path, away from the half-breed.
"Oh, shut up, Impulse. We do not need your nagging right now." Arsenal shouted as the sounds of genomorphs followed us.
Bart narrowed his eyes at him, his face flushing to the color of his cousin's hair. "Nagging? I am not nagging!" Impulse snapped at him while his eye twitched.
A lady in front of, a scientist for Cadmus judging from her lab coat, walked out of a room with a giant medal door with the words, Project Kr and Roy Harper project on the front. "Move out of the way woman!" Impulse shouted right before tripping her as he pushed her out of the way.
"And you wonder why you don't have a girlfriend, hermano." Blue muttered with a smirk as we all barely made it pass the metal project Kr door before it closed shut.
"I disabled the door, they shouldn't be able to come in." I said from where I was typing on my computer.
"More like trapped." Arsenal mumbled.
"Do you have to counter everything I say?" I asked, glaring at him.
Before Roy could say some smart ass comment, Impulse said, "Guys, I think you might want to see this."
Me and Roy both looked over, our eyes widening with shock. "Is that Superman's clone?" Blue asked, looking at the one that said Kr.
There were two pods, one with a boy inside that looked a smaller version of Superman, only he was dressed in a pure white suit and not the red and blue. The other pod, the one Arsenal was staring at, had an older version of Roy that looked more mature. Though, the thought of Arsenal being mature was a scary thought to have.
"I'll check." I said, walking over with my computer.
It didn't take long for me to bypass the computer, and soon, I had an entire profile on both of them. "Project Roy Harper, force grown in 18 weeks. They... they planned on kidnapping Arsenal again when he turned 17 so that your clone could take your place, as an agent for Cadmus." I said grimly, reading Arsenal's clone's profile first.
"Great, they were going to replace me." Arsenal muttered.
"What about Project Kr?" Impulse asked impatiently.
"Project Kr, name Superboy, he was force grown in 16 weeks. His suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7, making him stronger. Made from DNA acquired from Superman." I said, frowning.
"What are the things above them, Hermano?" Blue asked, staring at the genomorphs above them.
"They're called genomorph gnomes. They are telepathically force feeding both of them educations. And... other things." I said, scowling when I read how they were teaching them how to kill.
"We need to get them out of here. From all the things we've seen at Cadmus, we all know what they're going to use them for." Arsenal said suddenly.
I stared at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking. If Arsenal had been in his clone's place... he would want out too. "Alright. I'll open their pods, but someone's going to need to explain things to them." I said, typing on my computer quickly.
The doors to their pods slid down, but the clones inside didn't react. "Did the Cadmus scientists make sure they were even alive?" Impulse asked, looking at the clones confused.
His question was answered when Superboy's hand twitched, followed by the other Roy when his head cocked to the side. They're eyes opened, looking at us for two seconds, then, attacking. "What are you two doing? We're tying to help!" Arsenal yelled out, his voice angry as he fought his clone.
But, despite the fact that he lived inside a pod his entire life, Roy's clone was good at fighting. Not to mention, Roy's clone had a size advantage over Arsenal. "The genomorphs must have messed with their heads." I gritted through my clenched teeth as I helped Impulse hold Superboy's arms so he couldn't punch the shit out of Blue anymore.
"You know, I'm really starting to hate those genomorphs." Impulse said, right before Superboy threw Impulse at the wall, the impact making him unconscious.
"Shit." Arsenal yelled, right before his head hit the floor.
"Why won't you guys wake up and listen to us?" Blue asked, shooting his sonic cannon at Superboy.
"I'm guessing the genomorphs are still in control." I said.
That may have been the wrong to say, because then Roy's clone turned around from where he stared at Arsenal, and glared at me. "Nobody controls me." He hissed before punching me in the face too quickly for me to block, hard enough to knock me out, and the world faded to darkness. Huh, guess he really was Roy's clone.
Tim POV
"My head." I groaned, trying to bring my hand to my face. But, they wouldn't move. Almost like they were strapped down or something.
I opened my eyes, and looked around. I was in a room in Cadmus, locked in a pod like the one Superboy and Roy's clone were in with my hands and feet strapped down. "Good to know your awake, hermano." Blue said from where he was locked in a pod.
I nodded, touched my thumbs to my index finger to activate the lock in the glove and started picking the locks on my cuffs holding me, then looked at the two pair of eyes staring at us. Roy (I'm just going to call Roy's clone Roy and the real Roy Arsenal for now) Superboy were standing guard, both their arms crossed over their chests.
"Would you guys stop staring at us? It's creeping me out." Bart said, his eyebrow twitching.
"Impulse, are you really going to try pissing them off when one of them could fry you with a look?" I asked, the pain in my jaw making me wince when I rotated. Damn, that was going to bruise. "Not to mention, the other has a really good right hook."
I shifted in the pod, my wings uncomfortable in my shirt since I haven't taken off my costume all day. Alfred was able to make the Red Robin suit as comfortable as possible for my wings, but with it on all day, my wings were starting to annoy me. "Thanks." Roy said, looking me over a lot like Arsenal did when we first met.
"Well, considering I'm still feeling it, I think it deserves to be said." I mumbled, wincing slightly. My wings were really starting to mess with me, the feathers tangling and knotting the more I moved. Though, they thought it was because of Roy's punch.
"You know, if they didn't try to hurt us after we rescued them, you jaw wouldn't be bruising." Impulse muttered.
"Shut up, Impulse. It's pretty clear they didn't know what was going on when we got them out." Blue said, glaring at Impulse to shut up. Surprisingly, it worked.
"So, if your not under their control now, why are you just standing there?" Arsenal asked, his voice slightly annoyed.
Superboy narrowed his eyes at him, and said, "Do you really expect us to free you guys?"
"No, but I thought you guys would do something else than standing there like an Arrow and Super version of Batman-"
"Hey! I resent that! Batman is not like that all the time! He has a cape and he looks more like a cooler version of Darth Vador." I said, glaring at Arsenal.
"You are such a geek. Anyways, as I was saying before the Nerd Wonder interrupted me, you could be breaking out of here yourselves, eating, blowing up a lab, or beating the shit out of a scientist that recently pissed you off. Hell, you could be throwing darts at a picture of someone in here you hate, possibly us." Arsenal said, not looking impressed.
Roy raised his eyebrow at Arsenal. "Cadmus made us, why would we leave?" Roy asked.
"Yeah, they made you, but that doesn't exactly mean much. I mean, have they even let you guys go outside? Have either of you ever seen the sky? The sun? The moon?" I asked, frowning slightly when I remembered how I used to be an experiment just like them.
Superboy and Roy looked at each other before shaking their heads slowly. "Then come with us. We can show you what it's like outside, we can show you the sky. We can show you the sun." Impulse said, a friendly smile stretching across his face.
"Actually hermano, it's pass midnight. But, we can show you the moon. You know, as long as there's no new moon tonight." Blue corrected.
"No they can't." A scientist said, walking in with Guardian and the half-breed that chased us into the Project Kr room.
"And why would that be?" Roy asked, uncrossing his arms.
"Because they will be cloned and killed. Now get back to your pods." The scientist ordered, making Superboy and Roy narrow their eyes. What we said seemed to run in their heads, both of them hesitant to follow directions.
"Don't start thinking now. Your clones, and as such, you should do as your maker commands you. Now get back into your pods." He said, glaring at them.
"C'mon, are you guys really going to take that from him? He's an asshole, treating you like shit after you do his dirty work." Arsenal said, glaring at the scientist.
Roy slowly started to smile, a smile that Arsenal usually gets before he explodes a building. "You know, for once I think we agree." Roy said, than punched the scientist in the face, breaking his glasses and knocking him out.
"You know, it's funnier to watch when it's not you getting hit." I said with a grin as Superboy knocked out the half-breed. The locks on my cuffs finally opened, and I dropped to the ground.
"Good thing Batman isn't here or he'd have my head for taking so long." I said, rubbing my wrists.
"Are you kidding me? The whole League will have our heads if they figure out we're here!" Impulse said, which, yeah, they would.
I pressed a button on the control panel that held us, and the doors to the pods opened. "You guys want to help me get them out, or do you want to plot your revenge on the scientists?" I asked Roy and Superboy, both who were glaring down at the scientist.
"Guess we will, if only so we can get out of here." Superboy said, jumping high enough that he was able to get from that side of the room to Blue's pod.
"Gee thanks." Impulse said sarcastically.
I got Impulse out, and we left the room after Roy got Arsenal out since Superboy got Blue out pretty quick.
"So, anyone know how to get out of here?" Roy asked as we ran out of the room.
"Yeah. Take a left, and at the end of the hall way, we should be able to get to the elevator. After that, we're out of here." Arsenal said, all of smiling at the thought of getting out of here.
We made it to the elevator, but when all of us filed into it and the doors started to close, we all saw the genomorphs in the hall coming out of the strange red egg like things on the wall before the door closed completely. "I thought we knocked out everyone in that room, who called the alarm?" I asked confused.
"Not sure. That scientist might have woken up and set off the alarm. He's annoying like that." Roy muttered.
"Yeah, we can tell." Blue mumbled.
"So, after this is all over and we get out, where do we go?" Superboy asked.
Everyone else looked like they had no clue, but I had a good idea where we could go. "I have a place we can go." I said with a smirk.
"I know that smile. That's the smile Red gets before he does something that could end up pissing off the Justice League and other authorities. What is it?" Impulse asked excitedly.
I opened my mouth to answer, but instead of an answer, a question came out when I looked up at the top of the elevator. "Why are we stopping at sub-level 1?"
The doors slid open, and we saw the scientist, the half-breed, and Guardian in front of the door with an army of genomorphs behind them. "Uh, I think we're at the wrong floor." Blue said.
Before anyone could agree, Guardian pulled us all out of the elevator before it could shut again. "Good. Now we can get you all back into your pods." The scientist said, his voice evil and cold.
The horns glowed red on all the geno gnomes, and soon, we were all forced to black out.
Tim POV
When I woke up again, we were in the same room surrounded by the same people. But, there was something different. Guardian looked like he actually understood what was going on, and the genomorphs weren't hostile. It was almost like they wanted to let us go.
"What happened?" Blue muttered.
"We chose to leave. The genomorphs are going to let us go." Superboy said, a more confident look in his eyes. I looked at the genomorphs, all of them making a path for us to leave Cadmus.
"They will, but I won't. And Block Buster project will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." The scientist said, drinking a blue liquid.
What happened next, made even me want to gag. He got bigger, so much that his skin started ripping off of him like cloths. When his transformation was done, his new skin was blue with little bits of his former skin still hanging on him, and his shorts barely fit. "Now that's just all kinds of ugly." Impulse said, wrinkling his nose.
He roared like a wild animal, knocking genomorphs and Guardian out of his way as he charged at us. Superboy met him, charging at the Block Buster creature so he could punch him. Except, Block Buster was stronger now. Strong enough to throw Superboy through the ceiling. "Think he meant to do that?" Blue asked as he flew through the hole.
"I'm not sure that guys is thinking about anything now." I said, shooting my grapple up so I could get up to the battle.
When we all got up, the building was shaking as Superboy and Block Buster fought. Though, it was only shaking when they knocked down a pillar. That's it! "Guys, I need you to break down one of those pillars." I said, bringing up the blue prints of this building while they stared at me. Though, Arsenal was staring at me with unholy glee, so he probably was going to break a pillar anyways now.
"Why do we need to do that?" Roy asked, suspiciously. Wow, this really was Arsenal's clone. I didn't stop getting that suspisious look from Arsenal till I took him to my house.
"Because, if all the pillars fall, this entire building will go down. Block Buster won't be able to fight then." I explained, taking an explosive out of my belt.
"And kill us in the process?" Blue asked incredulously.
"No. We'll make it, trust me. Blue's got nearly indestructible armor, Arsenal has a metal arm that can protect him, and Superboy is Superboy. Me and Impulse will make it to, trust me. But if we don't do this, we will get poded again. Look, Superboy is our strongest and he's getting thrown around like a rag doll." I said, gesturing to Superboy getting thrown across the room, right at us.
We moved to the side, dodging Superboy as he was thrown into a wall behind us. We all looked at him, a deathly silence washing over us for the moment. "Well, at least we'll go down fighting." Impulse muttered, running towards Block Buster.
He stopped short though, getting down on his hands and knees to trip Block Buster into a pillar, breaking it. "Learned that move in kindergarten." Impulse said with a grin.
"Does he always do stuff like that?" Superboy asked as he stood up.
"Yup, all the time. Don't worry, you get used to it after a while." I said, throwing some explosives at a pillar.
Between the 6 of us, it was easy to destroy all the pillars. Block Buster only helped, punching in a few of them when we ran in front of a pillar, dodging quick enough that he destroyed it instead of us.
Of course, when the building started crumbling on top of us, trying to run for cover wasn't easy at all. "Watch out!" Superboy yelled behind me, covering me when a large piece of ceiling landed on us. Saving my life.
"Did you just save me?" I asked, my eyes wide with shock. I knew Superboy wanted to get out, and I knew he might feel grateful. But, to save my life on the first day we meet?
"Yeah, I guess I did." Superboy said, pushing the debris off of us.
When I looked around, and saw the others next to us with Blue. "We're alive! That was so crash!" Impulse yelled excited.
"Crash?" Roy asked, looking confused.
"For him it means good. Just go with it, he's weird." Arsenal said, helping him stand up.
I looked up, and saw a speck of green in the sky. Oh no. If the League saw what we did, they would never forget, and they would never let us into the League. They wouldn't see that we could be heroes. They would see a bunch of responsible teens that couldn't take one order.
"Guys, we need to go. The Justice League is coming." I said, pulling my legs up and out of the debris so I could run away quickly.
"I don't understand, what's so bad about the Justice League? Aren't they your mentors?" Superboy asked as everyone else followed me.
"Sort of. Before we came here, we had a fight with our mentors. We were told we were getting into the League, but they lied to us. That's why we came here, to prove we could be heroes, that we belonged on the League. But with all the damage we did, they'll never listen to us now." Arsenal said, stopping at a man hole.
"Help me take the cover off, Red." Arsenal ordered. I nodded and helped him take the man hole off.
"Let's go. It's this or getting caught." I said before sliding down the ladder down to the sewer's concrete.
Impulse followed right away, though the others were slightly hesitant. I couldn't blame them, it smelled like shit down here. "So what now? Are we still going to go to that place of yours?" Roy asked.
"Yeah, we can. Come on, I think there is a zeta tube we can get to through the sewer lines." I said, leading them through the sewer.
"But what about the hero thing?" Impulse asked.
"What about it?" Blue asked curiously.
"C'mon guys! Can you honestly tell me that tonight wasn't fun? All six of us fighting together, without the League babying us? Don't tell me you guys don't want to do it again." Impulse said with a grin. I groaned. That was his grin he got when he had an idea. Bart getting ideas was not good. Not good at all.
"Yeah, it might be fun." Superboy said, surprising us all.
I looked at Superboy, looking away from everyone, and opening his mouth like he was about to take it back. Then I grinned too. "We could be our own team." I said, Impulse's grin widening.
"Totally! And we could do it all without any of the League's help." Impulse said excitedly.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Arsenal said, his own smirk forming.
"Doesn't the League know what you guys look like though?" Roy asked, looking at us like he was reconsidering why he ran from Cadmus with us.
We all slumped in disappointment, but after thinking a little bit, my grin came back. "Not if we wear different costumes. Think about it, if we changed our names and our costumes, they would never be able to tell!" I said, everyone else grinning also.
"I guess it'll work. It's not like I have anything else to do." Roy said a small smirk on his face. We looked over at Blue, the only one who hadn't agreed.
He sighed, looking at us with a smile. "You'll just drag me into it if I don't, so... why not?" He asked.
"Great! We can come up with the suits and names later. Right now, we should hurry to my place. Before the League looks down here." I said, running down the sewers with a grin on my face.
I would show Batman not to lie to me. I would make him see me, even when he thought he wasn't.
So, what do you guys think? Review!