Hi readers! This is now the third chapter of Winter's Ballad: Growth & Love. I'm on a roll here, or at least I like to think so. Thanks to all this free time I have I don't have to worry about school and can write as much as I want.
Unfortunately that means that when I do go back to school and work picks up, this story may go on a little hiatus, or at least a prolong wait to get chapters out. I'll be taking winter classes every day most of the time, so it'll be hard to write chapters out, or at least to the length I'm doing now. So I'll try to write as much and as best as I can before then. At least this way there is more to read while Im gone.
But any who, here's the next chapter. Don't know how far it will go this time. I may right the whole mission, or perhaps I may stop at a random point. It's a mystery. X3
Well on with...wait, I already made that joke. Never mind.
-Cadmus: Advanced Genetics Research Lab
July 4th, 14:25 EDT-
"Anybody spotted the building?" Kid Flash asked, speeding alongside Aqualad and Robin from the streets below.
The mission, or rather the mission they all decided to go on was now on track and it was up to them to get to the building, save the scientists, and get into the building to find the secrets Batman had been suspicious about.
They just had to do all of that before they get caught.
"It's just a few more feet away." Robin answered, moving his wrist close to his face, activating a holographic projection of a map. "You see anything up there Winter?" The boy wonder called out, turning his gaze upwards to the building rooftops that were above them.
Skating atop the rooftops of the nearby buildings she frosted, the ice user used her speed once more to vault off the most recent rooftop she'd been on and landed on the next one nearby, keeping her sights on the target from far away. "We're close. I can see the smoke from up here. There's one fire truck there trying to put the fire out. I can't tell if there's anybody inside still." Winter called out from above.
"We will find out soon enough. " Aqualad stated, keeping his mind focused on the task at hand.
"Help! Get us down!" Unfamiliar voices yelled, the voices being drowned out by the sirens and hectic dance of the fire.
*BOOM*
"Civilians falling! I'm not gonna make it in time!" Winter yelled out to the group below, watching as a chemical explosion had blasted the scientists out of their building and were heading quickly towards the street below.
"On it!" Speeding out of the alleyway the heroes had recently gotten to, Kid Flash moved around Robin and Aqualad and headed towards the Cadmus building at high speeds. Seeing the scientists falling to their doom, the yellow and red clad teen ran up the wall of the building, using his momentum to keep him steady and reached his arms out to catch the scientists. His reckless move successful, Kid Flash continued to move upwards, doing his best to try and reach one of the windowsills of the building. Luckily for him his speed had been a little faster than usual, for as soon as he focused he might on reaching some form of safety, the speedster was able to throw the two scientists off his body and had them land safely on the roof of the building. However feeling his feet slipping off the building wall, the teen reached his hands out to grab something, and in his hastiness was able to cling to the window below. Now hanging on for dear life, Kid Flash could only grit his teeth in concentration, doing his best not to fall.
Looking upwards in relief at the miracle that had saved the scientists, a fireman looked confused before his eyes widened in surprise, pointing to the clinging figure of Kid Flash. "It's whats his name? Flash Boy!"
"Kid Flash!" The boy yelled out, turning his head back around to focus on his new situation. "Why is that so hard?"
Making his way closer to see the damage at hand, Aqualad frowned at the new predicament their ally was in. "Does he always rush in like that?"
"Only when he's not thinking." Winter replied back, jumping off the rooftop and landing in the alleyway below. Moving a strand of her hair out of the way, the ice user looked around the alleyway once more, a slightly confused look on her face. "Where's Robin?"
"Hahahaha"
"I think I know." Aqualad replied, his gaze turned towards Cadmas and pointing a finger to the building.
Following the direction Aqualad was pointing to, Winter could spot the small form of Robin far off in the distance. Watching him take out one of his gadgets and shooting it towards the burning building, the boy wonder swung off the ground and landed through the window, adjusting himself and grabbing his clinging friend from the window.
Shaking his head, Aqualad spoke. "This isn't how a team works. We can't jump in like this. We need a plan. We-" Moving his attention to look to his female companion, Aqualad's eyes widened when he found that she was no longer next to him. Turning around and looking for any sign of the girl, Aqualad called out. "Winter?"
"Sorry, excuse me!" Winter's voice yelled, making the Atlantean turn his gaze back to Cadmus.
Running off to the streets nearby the firemen, Winter hastily focused her powers and projected her powers beneath her feet. Moving closer to the wall of the building, Winter readied herself before an icicle shot quickly out of the ground, vaulting her upwards to the window and landing right on the edge. Moving herself inside the building, the ice user turned her head back to look down at the firemen and smiled. "Sorry. Hero business."
"*sigh* Even you Winter." Disregarding the disappearance of his team mates, Aqualad soon followed after them, taking out his water bearers and focusing his magic into them. His tattoos glowing a white light, the Atlantean looked towards the firemen nearby him, getting their attention. Looking to the water flowing out of their hose, Aqualad gave a serious look.
"I need to borrow that."
-Inside Cadmus-
"This is not what I expected out of a place Batman is suspicious of." Winter spoke, her eyes gazing around at the dark room her, Kid Flash, and Robin were investigating.
When she had heard that this place of all things was being looked into by the Batman himself, or rather he wanted to look into it, she expected a little more...mystery? Dangerous equipment? Maybe some charts with weird experiments listed?
Typing away at a computer, Robin kept his eyes dead center on the screen, his fingers moving as fast as they could to search for any intel. "There has to be more than meets the eye with this place."
Raiding through a box of files to find any trace of evidence, Kid Flash sped off to another draw of a turned over desk. "Robs right. If Batman of all people is suspicious of this place, then there has got to be something here. We need there to be right?" The speedster asked, his gaze looking over to Winter.
Seeing the look her friend was giving her, Winter frowned and shook her head. "Yeah I guess."
Jumping off of his makeshift transportation and letting the water rest below, Aqualad walked into the room and looked at the other three sidekicks. "Appreciate help." Aqualad spoke in a sarcastic tone.
"Hey, you handled it. Besides we're here to investigate remember?" Robin replied back, a smirk on his face at Aqualad's sarcasm.
Shaking his head at the younger heroes response, Aqualad walked over to an untouched desk and opened the drawers, his hands shuffling through what appeared to be unimportant documents. "What do we expect to find here?"
"Something evil probably." Kid Flash said, speeding through another file before moving to the next one.
"I'm going to move on ahead to another part of the building. Maybe we'll find something further in." Winter suggested, heading out of the room to investigate further. Walking down the hallway that connected the room the group was searching in to another, Winter kept her gaze constantly moving, trying to discern something that could be of use. "There has got to be something in here that's suspicious."
*bing*
'Was that...an elevator?' The ice user thought, running down the hall and turning around the corner she thought the noise had originated. Her eyes widening in shock, an elevator truly was a the end of this new hallway. However what caught her attention more was the split second she saw what appeared to be...a person? Watching the doors close shut, Winter looked at the doors confused and turned her head back ever so slightly. "Hey guys? Are the elevators working right now?"
Hearing their team mate call them, the three boys rushed over to where she was. Each showing a look of surprise at the elevator doors down the hall, Kid Flash was the first to speak. "I think the elevators are supposed to be down right now."
"This doesn't look right." Robin pointed out, looking at the elevator suspiciously until running towards it. Following after the young detective, Aqualad, Winter, and Kid Flash stayed quiet as the youngest hero began pulling up a hologram from his wrist projector, typing away as a picture of the same elevator that was in front of them popped up. "That so. This is a high speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two story building."
"And I don't think whatever I saw inside it was normal for this place either." Winter pointed out, moving closer to look at the information Robin had pulled up.
Listening to the details and clues the heroes were piecing together, Aqualad walked over to the express elevator and stretched his arms for a few seconds. "Looks like we'll need to investigate." Reaching towards the doors, the Atlantean took a deep breath before jamming his hands into the small slit of the doors. Grabbing onto the edges as hard as he could, the teen concentrated on using his strength and slowly began to pull the doors apart. After a few more pushes and feeling the doors finally be pushed out of the way, Aqualad let go and looked down shocked at the large elevator shaft heading down unknown amounts of floors.
All three peeking their heads in to see what Aqualad had spotted, the younger teens couldn't help but widen their eyes in shock.
"Guess that's why they need an express elevator." Robin finally spoke, breaking the short silence.
"Anybody got a plan to get down there?" Kid Flash asked, moving back a bit to make sure he didn't slip down the elevator shaft.
Pulling out another grappling hook from his gadget belt, Robin looked at the tool before aiming it upwards within the elevator shaft. Shooting it with careful precision, Robin watched the strong magnet tip of the grappling tool stick itself deep into a large pipe above and pulled on the tool to make sure it was secure. "This is gonna have to do for now. I'll go first."
Taking a running start and jumping off the edge of the elevator shaft, Robin gripped the handle of his tool as he ignored the sinking feeling in his body as he continued to scale down the tunnel at high speeds.
"I can never get over how calm he is doing this stuff." Winter replied, feeling her stomach drop at just watching her friend jump head on into a darkened tunnel. Shaking off the queasy feeling she had, Winter walked over to the chord of the tool Robin had set and gripped the rope as tight as she could and sliding down the makeshift transportation.
'How far does this elevator go?' Winter thought, her gaze shifting to the passing numbers that were painted on the wall. Each signifying a floor to whatever Cadmus was holding, they only continued into deeper and deeper territory and didn't seem like they'd ever stop.
"Looks like I'm at the end of my rope." Robin called out, his voice echoing back and forth from the walls surrounding the team.
Shifting her gaze downwards to see Robin really was at the bottom of the his tool's length, the boy wonder began to rock the rope back and forth like a swing, using the momentum to let go and land perfectly on the small edge against the wall, his hands gripping the wall in front of him to help him stay balanced.
"This would be a lot easier if we had a little bit more to land on." Winter complained, looking down at the darkness below and turning her gaze to look at the ledge Robin stood on. Moving her body to rock the rope just like he had, the young teen took a deep breath, letting one hand go of the rope and concentrated on her ice.
'Think of the shape. Long, sturdy, strong enough to pierce metal.' Winter thought to herself, feeling her mind empty itself of other thoughts to focus on what she needed. Feeling as if her mind had pictured just what she needed, the white haired girl flicked her wrist, a icy glow forming within the palm of her hand until it exploded in light, revealing a sword made of pure ice.
"Looks like your projection has gotten better." Robin commented, his eyes looking at the weapon his fellow sidekick made.
"Yeah. Too bad I wasted it for this!" Winter exclaimed, using the momentum of her swinging to fling off the rope and moved the swords' point towards the wall. Feeling the ice weapon stab itself into the wall, Winter smiled when she found herself right above the edge she needed to be on and let go of it, landing on the small amount of ground below. Sighing in relief at that task being complete, the ice user looked to Robin. "It's not easy making weapons out of ice and making them sturdy like that. I could probably make two more at best today, or a lot more smaller ones if it didn't take as much time."
Watching Aqualad and Kid Flash follow suit down the rope and jump off towards the edge of the elevator door, Robin began typing away at his keyboard yet again, this time trying to break into the security of the door.
"Let's hope we won't need them." Robin replied back, typing a bit more until seeing the needed green lights on his screen. "Doors' unlocked. Go!"
Taking the signal and moving towards the doors, Aqualad once again grabbed the edges of the elevator doors and pulled them apart as hard as he could. Having them swing open and open up the next entry point for the sidekicks to go into, they slowly took a few steps inside, unsure of what they would find. Once their vision began to get accustomed to the darkness the room had, the teens frowned as they found themselves in a large hallway, various technology lining the walls and an eerie red glow filling the room.
"Wow. Creepy." Kid Flash replied quietly, looking around at the dark hallway they stood in. Feeling the urge of curiosity taking over, the speedster ran off down the hall, hoping to find some sort of evidence to what was going on.
Seeing their friend run off on his own, Aqualad moved a hand, as if trying to motion for him to slow down. "Kid, wait!"
"Why can't he slow down and wait for us for like three seconds?" Winter complained, rolling her eyes at the speedster running off and went along with the others to go after him.
Running as fast as they could to catch up to the high speed teen, the group quickly slowed down and skid to a halt when the ground began to shake lightly. Feeling the ground rumbling and searching for the source, the teens looked on in both confusion and surprise when a horde of unknown creatures began walking through the hallway, blocking their way to Kid Flash who was on the ground on the other side.
"Kid! Are you alright?" Aqualad called from the other side of the horde of creatures, his eyes looking to his ally before moving back to the strange creatures.
Getting up off the ground and running around the beasts as fast as he could, the speedster skidded next to them and wiped some sweat that ran down the side of his head. "I'm good. But what the heck are those things?!" The teen exclaimed, pointing a shaky hand to the strange creatures.
"Like we'd have a good enough answer to explain those creepy things." Winter said, watching the large creatures walk down the hallway further. However after a few seconds of watching the beasts, a spark of realization popped in the ice user's head and she looked to the others. "What I want to know is why they aren't attacking us. Those things could crush us with one step and they just ignored us and walked away like nothing."
"Well find an answer once we get to a computer down here. Let's not waste anymore time." Aqualad replied, looking to the others and motioning for them to follow suit down the opposite way of the hall.
The group running down the hall, stopping every few seconds to check around a corner to be sure no security was nearby, the teens made their way to another locked door and began to work their magic.
"Almost got it...done!" Robin said, typing the last key he needed and pressing the enter button. Watching the doors open, the teens were ready to run right inside in case enemies were inside. Despite their readiness for whatever they thought would be behind the door, none of the teens could predict what would be in the room once it had revealed itself to them.
Walking inside the room they had unlocked, the teens were welcomed to a large room, walls covered with countless shelves that held glass cases. Within them though, it was hard to discern what they were. At least as large or larger than a normal dog and excreting electricity from their bodies at a powerful and alarming rate, the strange bug like creatures did nothing but continue to release electricity from their bodies, ignoring the intruders.
Feeling his face fall into a look of shock, the boy wonder only stared at the many jarred creatures on the shelves that lit the room. "Okay. I am officially whelmed."
Moving a bit closer to one of the jars on the lower shelves, Kid Flash stared at the creatures inside and turned back to the others. "This has got to be how Cadmus hides their real lab underground. They aren't even on the grid."
A bit creeped out by the bug creatures, Winter kept herself far away from the jarred bugs and nervously kept a hold of her dress sleeve, as if to try and comfort herself at the sight she was seeing. "They're making electricity on their own. You think Cadmus made these things just to stay out of the public eye?"
"It has to be. Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons teeth into the Earth." Aqualad recited, looking to his comrades as he spoke.
Walking towards a nearby terminal, Robin pulled out a plug in cable and plugged it in. "And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let's find out why."
Working his tech magic once more on the terminal, Robin began scanning through the various files for any details to what the group was witnessing. One by one files showing different pictures came into view for the group. While one would show a creature that stood on its own feet, another showed a completely different one with sharp claws, a humanoid form, the large elephant like ones they'd seen before, and even the bug ones in the same room as them
"What would Cadmus need to create all these...things for?" Winter questioned, a bit unnerved by the pictures that the files were showing.
"Says they're called Genomorphs." Robin examined, typing in more keys to open status pages on each created creature. "Wow, look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These things are living weapons!" The boy wonder exclaimed, a bit unsure at what he was reading.
"They're engineering an army. But for who?" Kid Flash asked, looking at the stats Robin was reading through.
Pressing his finger on the holographic screen and scrolling down more code, the boy wonder squinted his eyes at some small bit of information. "Wait, there's something else here. PROJECT Kr." Pressing the screen further to look into the project further, the teen groaned as nothing came up. "This thing is triple encrypted. I can't-"
"Don't move!" A gruff voice yelled from behind.
Jumping at the voice and turning to look back at who had called to them, the form of an armor clad man ran into the room. Beside him in groups were most likely Genomorph soldiers, small yet powerful looking lizard like creatures. Another Genomorph, a small looking creature sat atop the armor clad man's shoulder, watching from its perch.
Preparing himself for whatever fight may come, the armor clad man looked up with a glare at the intruders, but lost his ferocity when he saw the colors, symbols, and familiar faces of the teen heroes. "Wait. Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Winter?"
"Least he got your name right." Robin joked, trying to deflect attention on him, continuing to try and copy the Project Kr data from the computer.
Deciding to speak first, Aqualad looked to the armor clad man in surprise. "Wait, I know Guardian, a hero."
"I try my best." Guardian replied back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash asked, not understanding why a hero wold be at Cadmus of all places.
"I'm chief of security. You're trespassing, but just come with me and we can call the Justice League, figure this all out." Guardian suggested, going straight to the point.
Glaring at the older hero for his suggestion, Winter shook her head. "You're crazy if you think we'll agree to that. Do you really believe the league's just going to be okay with you being security for an underground facility making living weapons?!"
His helmeted face giving a look on confusion, Guardian looked to the teens. "Weapons? What are you-Augh! My head." Holding his head in pain and his eyes closing, Guardian stayed in a muddled state as the Genomorph on his shoulder looked to the human hero, it's horns glowing a blood red.
After a few more seconds of not giving any answer, Guardian let go of his head and opened his eyes, his gaze now in an intense glare at the group. Pointing to the heroes, Guardian commanded the weaponized creatures. "Take them down! Hard! No mercy!"
Hissing as if to signal a battlecry, the strange Genomorph soldiers quickly made their ways towards the group, claws ready and fangs ready to bite down on any that got in their way.
"Time to move!" Robin called out, pulling out his cable from the computer and taking out a few smoke bombs from his belt. Running towards the front of the group, the boy wonder threw the bombs downward and let the smoke explode into the room and create the necessary smokescreen the group would need to escape. Taking out his grappling hook once more, the boy wonder shot it upwards and let it attach itself to a pipe and readied himself, letting the motor pull him off the ground and high above the ground to dodge the enemies, heading towards the exit.
Ducking beneath a clawed hand from one of the Genomorphs, Kid Flash maneuvered his way through the smoke screen and ran up the wall behind him, using it to vault over the creature and slam his body into a couple more nearby and headed back into the smokescreen to take care of the rest.
Shooting streams of ice on the floor in front of her, Winter moved back as Genomorphs running towards her were caught by her trap and lost their footing, crashing into the floor and getting tangled up within each other. Using this as her chance, Winter placed her hand on the floor and let ice slowly creep out of her hand and travel towards the tangled creatures. Watching it surround the Genomorphs, the ice began to cover their claws and feet in an icy prison, freezing them all to the ground.
Wiping a bit of sweat off her forehead and turning to look back and see how her other team mates were doing, the ice user frowned when she saw Aqualad and Guardian going at one another in a fist fight. Rushing towards them and using the leftover ice on the ground to increase her speed, Winter jumped off the ground and raised her leg to kick Guardian in the head, knocking him off his feet and throwing him onto the ground below. "Let's just get out of here! We don't have time to take them all down."
"Agreed. Kid, let's go!" Aqualad called out in the smokescreen, trying to find any sign of the goggled teen.
"Got it!" Kid Flash called out, running out of the smokescreen and continuing his way towards the exit.
Following after him, Winter a bit behind Aqualad turned her head back for a moment to check the status of their enemies. Unfortunately the groups efforts to slow them down previously hadn't gone as well as they had hoped as hordes of the clawed Genomorphs were rushing a few feet behind them in pursuit.
"I knew being done with those things was too good to be true." Skidding to a halt and turning back to face the impending creatures, Winter concentrated and called upon as much ice as she could muster in her exhausted state. Hands glowing with white energy, the teen thrust her hands forward, allowing large streams of ice to shoot out of her hands and onto the ground below. Doing her best to stack the ice up to as high as she can, Winter finally stopped when she couldn't produce anymore ice in her state and sighed in relief at the wall she had created.
'That's not going to hold them off for long.' Winter thought, her breath coming out as an icy fog from use of her powers. Deciding it be best not to waste time standing around, Winter ran back to where Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash were stationed and was thankful to see the elevator had reached the floor and was ready for use. Jumping in alongside the others, Winter sighed in relief as the doors closed behind her and started to move. Feeling like her legs were going to give out at any second, Winter bent down and rested her hands on her knees. "Is this mission over yet?"
"It doesn't seem that way." Aqualad answered, his gaze upwards towards the marked floor numbers. Rather than going up like most of the heroes had thought, the numbers were actually increasing bit by bit. "We're going down?"
Looking over to Robin, Kid Flash pointed his finger up and spoke, a hint of aggravation in his voice. "Dude, out is up."
A bit annoyed by the tone Kid Flash was giving off, Robin glared back. "Excuse me? PROJECT Kr remember. It's down on sub-level 52."
Hearing the two teens bicker, Aqualad paced through the small elevator space, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is getting out of control." Sighing and turning back to look at the others, the oldest sidekick suggested, "Perhaps...we should contact the league."
*bing*
Hearing the sound of the elevator reaching its destination, all the teens looked at the doors in anticipation, beginning to ready themselves for whatever was behind it. Watching the doors open and ready for any guards, the teens were once again shocked, though it wasn't from finding more experiments.
Walking out of the elevator, the group found themselves in a strange hidden cave like area, the walls colored in a strange flesh like pink color. It was if the cave was almost alive, organic in material.
Wasting no time, Robin was the first to run out of the elevator and take off down the closest hallway. Watching the young detective take off on his own, Winter groaned and stood back up and soon followed after, doing her best to catch up. Following the trail Robin ran down, Winter stopped in place next to Robin who was crouching behind a few metal barrels and equipment.
Aqualad and Kid Flash appearing soon after, the group looked at what was ahead of them. Two hallways, each going in a different direction.
"Which way?" Aqualad asked, looking to Robin in hopes he'd have an answer.
Not having a concrete answer, Robin motioned to both entranceways. "Take our pick. Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?"
"Well somebody pick one soon. We'll get spotted just sitting around like this." Winter added, her eyes darting around for any security that may have been coming there way.
"Halt!"
'Oh, don't tell me.' Winter thought annoyed, turning her gaze towards bizarre looking hallway number two and seeing the form of what appeared to be a humanoid Genome. Body covered in blue skin, pointed ears, and bone horns, the being looked towards the four heroes and raised its hand upwards, its horns glowing the same blood red as the Genomes they had spotted before.
All around it various objects that sat around began to fly into the air, levitating thanks to the beings' powers. Focusing his sights on the teenagers, the Genome flung the objects in their direction, ready to hit to hit their targets.
Watching the barrels fly towards them, the group quickly ducked low, narrowly missing the objects that had been flung at them and felt the heat of flames from behind, a result of the barrels exploding from the unknown chemicals within them.
Retaliating with his own projectile, Robin pulled out one of his batarangs and aimed it at the Genome, throwing it with trained precision in hopes of slowing the creature down and turned on his heel, motioning the others to follow down the hallway.
Rushing ahead past the group to find their target location, Kid Flash turned the corner sharply, but did his best to try and skid to a halt when he noticed a female scientist just walking out of the room. Unable to slow his speed he ended up falling on the ground, tripping the women in the process and finally sliding on the floor until he stopped.
Pushing himself off the ground and rubbing his sore head, Kid Flash looked up towards the door the scientist had just walked out of, seeing the large metal doors slowly closing themselves. Getting up from the ground and running to grab whatever was hand, the goggle wearing hero hastily grabbed onto a large metal canister, though heaving it up to carry was easier said than done.
Taking each step as fast as he could with the heavy object in hand, Kid Flash finally reached the doorway of the lab area and placed the canister between the space of the closing doors. Watching them slow down and completely stall themselves from the object, Kid Flash turned back and waved over the others to hurry. "Hurry! This isn't going to hold for long!"
"You don't have to tell us twice!" Winter yelled, running alongside Robin and Aqualad to the doors. Jumping inside after Robin and Aqualad behind her, the ice user stopped in her tracks, taking in deep breaths to try and regain her lost oxygen from running.
"Is everyone alright?" Aqualad asked, looking around the room to each of his team mates.
"Everything's fine on my part. Just adding to the security lock. Don't want those guys getting in anytime soon." Robin answered, typing at his holographic keypad and keeping his eyes on the security measures he needed to add to.
Straightening back up, Winter rubbed the back of her sore neck. "I'm as good as running around in a extremely dangerous laboratory can get. I'm more worried that this Project Kr. We came all this way down for might be a waste of time."
"Uhh...I don't think that'll be a problem. You guys are gonna want to take a look at this." Kid Flash called out, the speedster standing a few feet away from the group and looking at a pod sitting alone upright in the darkness.
Pressing a key on the console in front, lights soon began to light up the room, revealing what it was Kid Flash had mentioned.
The pod once cloaked in the darkness of the secure lab facility soon shined in the light, revealing a large pod fit to store a human body. With fine and strong glass shielding to see through it, carbon fiber metal to keep whatever was stored inside secure, and the same strange tiny versions of the Genomes resting on a shelf within the tube, it looked to be made like a tiny fortress, keeping whatever was stored inside as safe as possible.
And what was inside was the even more surprising part.
Wanting to get a better look of what was inside, Winter walked over to where Kid Flash stood and intensified her gaze at the pod.
Laying in quiet slumber within the reveled pod was a human body, or more specIfically the form of a human boy. He was tall, a muscular physique showing well in the outfit her wore. Short black hair atop his head and lightly tanned caucasian skin. It was strange and baffling to think there was a random kid just sleeping in a tube deep in Cadmus, but what shocked the ice user even more was the bold red symbol printed on the chest of his pure white jumpsuit.
It was the symbol of Superman of all things! But why?! Why would a random boy be wearing the symbol of...
Feeling her stomach drop at the realization hitting her, Winter brought her hand up to cover her mouth in abhorrence.
'They couldn't have, could they? It was wrong! Unethical! No person in their right mind nor scientist would willingly do such a dangerous and outlawed procedure. But Cadmus had many many experiments and living weapons. This wouldn't be too far from what they've already done.' Winter thought, her eyes continuing to stare at the sleeping boy inside the pod.
Feeling her voice slowly returning to her, Winter did her best to try and convey some sort of message to the group, all four still staring at the mysterious PROJECT Kr.
"I-Is that what I think it is?" Winter hesitantly asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
Walking closer to the pod to inspect the etching of the PROJECT Kr. Symbol, Kid Flash's eyes widened, finally understanding why the experiment was such an important secret. "Big k little r. The atomic symbol for krypton. You thinking clone?"
Confused just by the sight of the contents of the pod, Aqualad turned to look at Robin. "Robin, hack!"
Jumping a bit at the serious tone Aqualad gave him, Robin nodded and got to work. "Oh, right right." Taking out the cable from his hacking equipment, the boy wonder plugged it in to the console nearby the pod and began filing through the various bits of information that revealed themselves, Kid Flash and Aqualad walking closer to get a better look at the same.
"Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force grown in...sixteen weeks?!" Robin exclaimed, re-reading through the information to make sure he hadn't misread it. Finding there was no mistake, Robin continued. "Says he was cloned from DNA acquired from Superman."
Listening to the information dump Robin gave, Winter walked closer to the pod and stood before the glass shielding, her gaze upward to the sleeping clone. "It was probably stolen."
"There is no way the big guy knows anything about this." Kid Flash pointed out.
Reading through more paragraphs of hacked text, Robin nodded. "Says that the solar suit he's wearing absorbs sun radiation twenty-four seven."
Looking down at the console panel, Aqualad pointed to the familiar Genomorph creatures sitting above the Superboy. "And these creatures?"
"Force feeding him an education using telepathy. They call them Genomorph gnomes." Robin pointed out.
Gripping his hands on the edges of the console panel, Kid Flash was doing his best to digest the information the group was constantly being given. "And we can guess what else. They're making a slave out of...well, Superman's son."
Knowing that the situation was now at a tipping point and getting out of their hands, Aqualad looked to the team. "Now we contact the league."
Nodding in agreement each sidekick tapped or clicked a button hidden somewhere on their suit. Whether it was a belt buckle, a hidden communicator, tracking beacon, or radio signal, nothing seemed to come through for any of the teenagers.
"We're in too deep. Literally." Kid lash couldn't help but say, letting the predicament they were all in sink through.
Hearing the Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin try to come up with some sort of backup plan to get themselves out, Winter continued to look at the glass home of Superboy.
'I don't like this. This isn't right at all. Cadmus shouldn't have done something like this, and there is no way they should be holding the son of Superman hostage.' Winter thought, her teeth gritting at the idea of Cadmus just getting away with this. Whether he was a true human being or not, Superboy should have a life to live of his own, not be trapped and be controlled by Cadmus's use like a weapon. To have to follow every order they gave him without being able to defy it or have his own choice.
'He'd be stuck in the same position I'm in at home. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.' Winter thought, shaking her head as she looked back at Superboy with determination.
"I'm breaking him out." Winter proclaimed, turning around and walking to the console the other three boys were standing around.
A bit taken aback by the declaration, Kid Flash looked to Winter. "You sure this is a good idea snow angel?"
Clenching her hands into tight fists and trying her best to ignore the anger rising from the inappropriate nickname at such an important moment, Winter shifted a hard gaze to Kid Flash. "Are you telling me you're okay with just letting Cadmus keep him locked up?"
"Of course not! But how do we know he's going to be on our side when he gets out?" The speedster retorted back.
"I don't easily agree with it either Kid, but I find it much more beneficial that Superboy is left to have a choice of what he wants to do, rather he be stuck obeying everything Cadmus told him." Aqualad spoke, adding his own words to try and relax the tension that was building.
"I agree too. Let him out Winter." Robin said, looking to the ice user and awaiting the crucial moment to come.
Looking to Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad to see their visual signs of approval, Winter nodded in understanding and walked closer to the panel. Moving her hand and having her finger hover over the necessary key, Winter shifted her gaze up to the sleeping Superboy one more time, her eyes softening at the unknowing victim.
'It's time to wake up.' Winter thought, her silent comment directed to Superboy as she moved her finger and pressed the button that would free the clone.
Whatever happened next was a mystery.
And here is the third chapter. I don't know if it turned out as well as I had hoped, but I got through the near halfway point of Independence Day. I'll try get started on the next chapter and have it posted soon.
And once again until its over, Happy Holidays. :3