Hi everybody! Here is the next chapter. Sorry it took a while longer than I wanted it to. Stupid pneumonia is making it hard to think properly and find the energy to write, but I will persevere! And thankfully it came just in time for the new year! Yay, my first chapter of the new year! My only worry is that getting chapters out will be a lot harder once school starts up for me again, so I hope this keeps you preoccupied until then.
So this chapter should by the final part of Independence Day. The team going through quit a bit since they banded together, they have now got Superboy on their team and are ready to break out of Cadmus. But are they prepared for the battle of a lifetime through an underground facility filled with crazy weaponized creatures and dealing with an anger prone team mate? Let's hope so because they got no choice! XD
Reviews are always appreciated, so please give some kind words or critique once you're done reading.
Thoughts = 'Thoughts'
Telepathic Communication = "Telepathic Communication"
Sound Effect *Sound Effect*
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any of the DC material used or what it is based on.
"Winter! Hostiles on the left!" Robin cried out, the smaller detective taking notice of a pack of genome creatures running towards them down a nearby hall.
"I got it!" Skidding to a halt and letting the others run ahead of her, Winter focused her ice powers and created a large icicle dagger in her hand. Taking a moment to carefully aim at the ground nearby the Genomes, Winter threw the dagger towards them and let it hit the ground ahead of them, the icicle stabbing the ground with force before growing larger every few seconds. Letting the ice gather further, it wasn't long until the ice coated the walls and grew higher and higher until it finally stopped and resulted in an ice wall blocking the Genomes path.
Taking off and following after the others down the closest pathway Winter kept her running pace as she examined the area they had found themselves in. "So what's the plan exactly?"
"We are still forty two levels below ground, but if we can make it to the express elevator we'll find out exit." Aqualad replied back, leading the group in their escape.
Their path clearing just a few feet away the familiar loud rumbles of large figures began to shake the ground below the group's feet. Slowing their pace, the end of the hallway revealed the large forms of yet even more Genome creatures, the size of elephants and ready to stop the group.
"That does not look good." Kid Flash commented, skidding to a halt and staring at the large creatures ahead of them. Turning his gaze behind them in an attempt to find some other way out the red head noticed the strange organic bubbles lining the walls beginning to glow red. The glow getting brighter and brighter, strange forms began to move around as if alive until finally beginning to pull themselves out to reveal the clawed Genome creatures Guardian was with before. "And that doesn't look good either!"
"Get around them! We just need to out run them and get to the elevator!" Robin called out, pulling out his grappling hook and aiming for the ceiling. Letting the tool latch onto the wall above them the boy wonder allowed the tool to pull him off the ground, mounting on top of one of the large Genome creatures to jump over them.
Following Robin's lead Kid Flash and Aqualad mirrored his moves and ran towards the large Genome creatures with increased vigor. Watching the creatures get closer and closer until moving downwards to throw a punch the two heroes dodged the attack and vaulted over the creature, using their speed to push themselves over the back of it and land behind the large group.
Knowing she wasn't going to make the jump like her comrades Winter focused her ice powers before slamming her hand on the ground below her, letting her ice begin to coat the floor beneath her own feet and the Genome creatures blocking her path. Taking off towards them with as much speed as she could, the ice user jumped onto the icy floor and skated off towards the creatures ahead of her.
Seeing the girl heading towards them, a Genome creature swung its arm in an attempt to strike her, but with her speed going beyond its own attack and remembering her training with Ice Maiden, twirled her body in a spin to dodge the punch and slid beneath the space between the large creatures legs to halt behind them with her friends.
Superboy however was taking his approach a bit more directly. With the group together and away from most of the Genome soldiers, it was the loud crashes and shaking of Superboys' attacks that caught the groups attention, his punches to the large monsters chests coupled with his angered yells of frustration.
Clenching his teeth in irritation, Aqualad called out to the angered clone. "Superboy! The goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!"
Bringing down another one of the large Genome creatures and trying to catch his breath, Superboy growled and turned to the sidekicks with anger written all over his face. "You want escape?!" Superboy yelled out angrily. His rage consuming his thoughts and hearing Aqualads' order Superboy quickly grabbed one of the downed Genome creatures by the arm and threw it towards another Genome using his super strength.
"Am I still the only one questioning if its a good idea running around with this guy?" Kid Flash asked out loud to nobody in particular as he sped off to the elevator, the red head feeling a bit nervous at the sight of their newfound companion throwing around giant creatures like rag dolls.
Taking the opportunity to head back to the elevator, Robin and Aqualad began working on breaking the doors open. Using his tools to hack through any leftover security on the door, Robin motioned for Aqualad to do his thing and waited as the Atlantean used his physical strength to pry open the doors.
Taking out his grappling hook once more and motioning for Aqualad to grab ahold of him, Robin aimed at a part of the elevator wall and let the sharp metal attach itself before vaulting him and the Atlantean into the elevator shaft and onto a nearby ledge.
Kid Flash following soon after, the speedster took off stopped for a moment before jumping to land on a ledge just beneath Aqualad and Robin. "Where's Supey and Winter?"
"Kinda busy!" Winter's voice called out from the hallway nearby, shooting a stream of ice to cover part of the hallway behind her and Superboy. Cutting off her powers to focus on their escape, Winter felt the arms of Superboy wrap around her waist to keep ahold of her and felt herself being pulled off the ground. Holding onto her companion as he began to fly into the elevator shaft to safety, there was a short pause in mid air before a strange sinking feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach. They weren't moving?! But why?
It was the surprised voice of Superboy that confirmed the strange feeling, the weaponized boy giving a look of confusion as the two began to steadily be pulled down by gravity and fall down the shaft. "I-I'm falling?"
Knowing there wasn't going to be much time before gravity took them down faster, Winter once again focused her powers as best and as fast as she could before letting the familiar form of an ice sword appear with a glow in her hand. Hastily moving her arm to get a better target on the wall next to them, the ice user stabbed it forward into the wall as hard as she could, gritting her teeth as the sword began to cut through metal and shards of ice began shipping away from the makeshift weapon. For the moment she was thankful her messed up eye was bandaged up. Who knew what more ice shards could do to damage it.
Feeling the two slowly but surely slow down, Winter felt the rush in her stomach finally subside for a moment when their descent stopped fully, groaning a bit as pain from her eye began to resurface from the blood pumping in her veins. "That was really close. Are you okay Superboy?" Winter asked in a hasty breath, looking over at her dejected partner.
Still focused on the fall the two nearly got caught in Superboy shook his head and looked up at the endless floors that went skyward above them. "Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?"
Watching the confusion fall over the boy's face, Kid Flash momentarily pushed his hesitation of their new ally to the side and gave some reassuring words. "Don't know, but it does look like you can leap buildings in a single bound. Still cool."
Being helped down onto the ledge below their feet by Kid Flash, Superboy sighed and planted his feet on the ledge below him, his gaze downcast for a moment before shifting to Kid Flash. "Thank you." He spoke quietly, disappointment still in his voice.
"Hey guys! Sorry to ruin the moment but this is gonna have to be our exit!" Robin yelled out in warning, the detective helping his friends notice the quickening pace of the express elevator descending down towards them.
"Superboy, get the door!" Aqualad called out, moving ever so slightly to make it closer and closer to their exit.
Gripping his hands onto the wall as best he could, Superboy turned his body towards the metal doorway ahead of them before pushing himself off the ledge with his strength, using his momentum and power to break the doors down and simultaneously roll onto the floor's ground. Soon enough Winter, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin followed suit through the door way, the last making a hasty roll out into the hallway as the elevator hastily speed downward, narrowly missing the group.
Wiping a bead of sweat on her forehead, Winter looked up to the doors the group had jumped through and took notice of the painted numbers above the elevator doorway. "Looks like we're on floor fifteen. Almost home free."
*hiss*
Hearing the familiar hissing of genome soldiers coming down the hallway, Winter rolled her eyes and motioned the group to run in another direction before taking off in a sprint alongside them. "Of course they show up when I say something."
"Anybody see a directory map on the way in here?" Kid Flash called out, keeping up his running pace next to Robin and Superboy as his eyes scanned the walls for any sign of an exit or map.
'What are we going to do?' Superboy thought, his mind feeling heavy and hurting from the rapid thoughts going through his mind. The escape plan that the group had set up was being made on the spot every second and improvised to get away from any Genome threat they faced. However now they were just running in circles and being chased by a large mount of Cadmus experiments. What other plans did they have up their sleeve?
"Turn left brother." A voice called out inside Superboys' mind.
For a moment Superboy nearly tripped over his own feet at the sound of the voice directing him. Who was that? What was that? His conscious? Had he been here before but couldn't remember? Was it trustworthy to listen to whatever that voice was?
Knowing there was not much time to make a decision in the moment the group was in and seeing there was no solution to their problem Superboy shook his head and decided to trust whoever it was calling to him, his gaze moving towards the group as he spoke confidently. "Go left!"
Not knowing which route to take on their escape attempt and seeing there were no other options to fight against the young sidekicks gave a nod of trust to Superboy, turning the left corner as soon as it came up and continuing down another long corridor.
"Got right." The voice called out again, catching the Genomorph clone's attention.
His gaze determined and his focus high Superboy called out again. "Right! Go right!"
The group once again following after Superboys' direction this time turned the next nearby corner to the right hand side. Kid Flash being the first to move on ahead of the group stopped his movement when he noticed a wall in the group's way. Looking at the large wall mounted with a small metal grate above the speedster turned to Superboy with an annoyed look on his face and raising his arms up in frustration. "Ugh, great direction Supey. Are you trying to get us podded again?"
Watching the group stare at the dead end they were now in and hearing the anger in Kid Flash's voice, Superboy looked to the group in a confused daze. "No, I...I don't understand."
Slowing down to stop behind Kid Flash and Superboy along with Aqualad and Robin, Winter frowned at the dead end the teens faced, but moved to rest a hand on Superboys' shoulder to try and comfort him. "It's not your fault Superboy. Anybody can make a mistake in the heat of the moment."
"I wouldn't call this a mistake. This is perfect." Robin proclaimed with a smile behind the rest of the group. Moving ahead of the group to face the wall in their way, Robin pulled out his grappling hook and pointed it towards the metal air vent grate above and shot at it. Letting the magnetic charge of the hook take hold of the small metal slab, the boy wonder hastily pulled it off with his upper body strength and watched the slab of metal clang to the floor below.
"Get in. I've got a plan." Robin ordered with a smirk, taking out his hacking tools and beginning the motions of his scheme.
"Someone, Robin I'd wager, hacked our system and deactivated our internal security cameras." The voice of Dr. Desmond spoke in a hasty breath as he ran alongside Guardian and his telepathic Genomorph assistant Dubbilex. Focusing his eyes on a data pad in his hands, the screen was aglow with activity and showing off a map of the air vents of the Cadmus property, along with a group of moving dots in the metal corridors.
Smirking to himself as the dots began to move in on a location nearby them, Dr. Desmond pointed to a men's restroom on the floor. "But he neglected the motion sensors. The Genomorphs I sent should be closing in and should all be coming out here."
Pushing the door aside and walking into the empty restroom alongside his bodyguards and Genomorph soldiers Dr. Desmond looked down to the data pad in his hands and looked up at the only air vent in the room. "We have them cornered." The scientist spoke with confidence.
The motions of metal clanging and footsteps getting closer and closer by the second, Dr. Desmond readied himself for the capture of his targets from their escape. Unfortunately his hopes had shattered when the metal vent finally was broken down by force and instead revealed the steady stream of Genomorph soldiers pouring out from the small crawl space.
Unable to move out of the way in time Dr. Desmond groaned in pain when a Genomorph soldier flew out of the vent and knocked him right in the stomach, pushing the older man down onto his back and knocking the air out of him. Groaning on the floor in pain, Dr. Desmond looked back at the data pad in his hand and pushed the Genomorph soldier off of his body in anger.
"He hacked the motion sensors."
"I hacked the motion sensors." Robin said confidently, a satisfied smile on his face at his plan working as he had wanted.
The teens all sequestered in a quiet hallway of Cadmus nearby a flight of stairs, the teens took the chance they had to catch their breath and gain their bearings. Had it not been for Robin's quick thinking and hacking skills the group would surely be in a much sticker situation.
"We've still got plenty of time and space between us and them, but we need to keep moving if we want the upper hand." Robin replied while punching in the last few keys on his hacking system and shutting it down.
"Agreed. Kid, can you move on ahead and clear us a pathway out?" Aqualad asked, turning to the goggle wearing teen.
Giving a knowing smile Kid Flash grabbed his goggle and adjusted them neatly over his eyes. "You bet. I've finally got room to move." Giving a friendly wave to the group, Kid Flash swung the door open to the large flight of stairs and turned away before speeding off in a yellow blur, heading up the stairwell and leaving the rest of the sidekicks behind.
Nodding and watching their team mate go on ahead, Aqualad ran into the stairwell soon after with the rest of the group, making sure to dodge any leftover Genomorph soldiers not knocked down by Kid. "Winter, block our path every two flights of stairs. We don't want them following our trail."
"They won't get past us." The ice user replied back, turning on her heel as she did so and shot a large ray of ice on the staircase behind the group. Letting the ice freeze the path behind them and covering their route, Winter frowned when she saw the familiar clawed Genomorph soldiers coming up the stairs and begin to jump over the wall she had created. "Okay, maybe they might!"
"Lets see them get past this!" Superboy cried out, moving down the stair way next to Winter and moving his leg up into the air. Letting his anger fuel his strength the super clone slammed his foot hard on the staircase behind them, watching as the metal stairs began to dent and crack until finally breaking off from the stairwell and pulling the Genomorph creatures downwards.
A bit shocked by the powerful and slightly over the top move made by Superboy, Winter shifted her gaze from the newly made pitfall to the super boy next to her. "I guess that's one way to stop them."
"Superboy, Winter! C'mon!" Robin cried out from two flights of stairs above them, the younger teen looking down from his spot to flag the two.
Turning to hear the call of their friend, Superboy and Winter gave a nod of agreement to one another and ran off up the last flight of stairs to follow the rest of the team. Making their way into the next room, the first thing they could notice was the metal walls covering the hallways around them along with blaring red lights and an alarm going off.
Making their way further down the hallway after Robin, the heroes skidded to a halt at the sight of a large metal door, secured tightly and blocking their pathway to freedom. Kid Flash on the ground, the speedster rubbed his head in pain as he looked up at the wall that had popped up.
"Looks like they really don't want us getting out of here." Kid Flash complained, rubbing his head as he got up from the ground.
"Yeah, you think?" Robin retorted back while breaking out his hacking equipment. Typing at various keys to try and get through the security of the door, the boy wonder glared at the holographic screen in front of him. "Can't hack this fast enough."
"Then let's just try to pull it open ourselves." Winter suggested, running over to the doors and gripping the edges of the door tightly and using what physical strength she had to pull at the doors. Following her lead Aqualad and Superboy did the same and grabbed onto the edge of the doors to pull them open. Still despite the combined efforts of the three the doors would not budge, leaving the three to groan in frustration.
"This isn't working. We need to find another exit." Aqualad said.
"Well we're not going the other way!" Kid Flash yelled, turning back to point towards the other end of the hallway, a group of Genomorphs stampeding towards them.
Looking back and forth in the small amount of room they had, Robin ran over to a door on the wall nearby and swiftly kicked it down, running inside to lead. "This way!"
The group following through the doorway and keeping their pace up, they once again found themselves in another hallway similar to the one they had escaped from. Continuing down the hall, the group stopped running and frowned at the sight of yet another group of Genomorphs blocking their path. Ranging from the large elephant sized Genomorphs, the clawed lizard like creatures, and even the mentally capable G-gnomes, all surrounded any form of exit or hallway to the group, with the leader, Guardian standing at the front.
"This is the end of the line." Guardian announced with a glare to the intruders.
Hearing another group of Genomorphs coming from behind them, the group hastily began to ready their weapons for a fight. Aqualad with his water bearers, Kid Flash readying for a fist fight, Robin with his batarangs, Winter with her hands glowing with an icy frost, and Superboy with his super strength.
It was quiet for a moment, the two groups standing against one another in a face off. Nobody said a word to each other, with only eye contact and the burning heat of battle ready to be set free on either side. However no battle came in that next moment. The teens readying themselves for whatever attack was going to come at them, the groups eyes widened a bit when they noticed the smaller Genomorph gnomes begin to activate their powers.
Surrounded by many groups of them and the room around them gaining a soft blood red glow from their powers activating, the teens gritted their teeth in pain as the gnomes began to use their mental abilities on them. Still not used to the mental manipulation of the strange creatures, one by one the group fell to the ground unconscious, their weapons falling to the ground alongside them.
Seeing the intruders and Superboy unconscious on the ground, a figure slowly walked out from behind the group and examined each human on the ground before looking back to the unconscious Superboy.
'Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs our brother Superboy should make up his own mind.' The telepathic voice of Dubbilex voiced throughout the room. Focusing his telepathic powers towards their Genomorph brother, Dubbilex focused his mind into Superboys' and began to rouse him from his unconscious state.
A pain.
Numbing pain was forming in his head.
It was...familiar. Something he'd been used to. The Genomorphs? He could remember the feeling of their telepathy clawing inside his mind back when he was in his pod. But why were they inside his head now? Had they been captured? Did Cadmus get to them?
A sudden shot of energy burst into his mind after that thought, his eyes shooting wide open as a mental wave of energy roused him from his slumber. Shaking his head to try and regain his sense, Superboy began to turn his gaze back and forth around the room. Genomorph soldiers still surrounded him and the rest of the sidekicks, their bodies still and not moving an inch. Almost as if they were observing him.
But why? They should have been captured by now. Wasn't that their goal?
"It is good to see you again Brother." The telepathic voice of Dubbilex spoke within Superboys' mind, making the dark haired teen turn to look at the taller Genomorph.
Superboys' eyes widened in surprise at the message. Not because of the way it was given to him within his mind, but for another reason.
That voice. He'd heard it before.
Deciding to follow Dubbilexs' lead in their conversation, Superboy began to speak to the Genomorph with his own thoughts and turned to look at it. "It was you."
Giving no indication of emotion or surprise by Superboys' reaction, Dubbilex continued. "Yes. I set the fire and lured your new friends down into Cadmus. Woke them when they were in danger-"
"And guided me." Superboy finished, the pieces of puzzling adventure the group had slowly forming within his mind. Still trying to understand everything the Genomorph was telling him, Superboy frowned. "But why?"
His gaze hardening at the question, Dubbilex motioned to the various Genomorph soldiers surrounding the group. "Because you are our hope. The Genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing us the way to freedom." Dubbilex explained, his telepathic thoughts laced with confidence and some semblance of aspiration.
Showing a sign of good faith to Superboy, the tiny G-Gnome usually accompanied with Guardian atop his shoulder jumped off to the floor below, allowing the mental control over the hero to slowly die down.
Feeling the control over his mind begin to fade, Guardian held his head as it slowly began regaining its senses. His eyes opening and closing a few times, Guardian stared at the room around him, letting the new freedom he had allow him to take everything in. "What's...going on?"
Seeing their intentions truly were good and hearing the groans of the other sidekicks beginning to wake up, Superboy turned his gaze from his waking friends to Dubbilex.
"What is your choice brother?" Dubbilex asked, his gaze focused on Superboy.
Fists clenching at the telepathic question given to him, Superboys' gaze faltered to the ground as he thought over the choice. Was this his only chance to choose? To make such a huge decision that could change his life? It had to be. He'd never been given so many choices to take in his time before, nor had he ever been outside his pod for this long. This had to be the only chance he could take.
Knowing the answer deep inside himself, Superboy gave a determined look to Dubbilex, his voice hardened with confidence in his next words. "I. Choose. Freedom."
His answer sufficient and seeing the gaze in his brother's eyes, Dubbilex slowly turned his powers off, his gaze softening at Superboy. "A wise decision."
Taking this chance to help his friends, Superboy turned back around to help the other sidekicks back to their feet, helping to pull Winter off the ground and watching Robin help Kid Flash. Winter, who was rubbing her sore head from the mental attack from the Genomes, gave a thankful nod to Superboy before staring at the hordes of Genomes still surrounding them.
"Are we still fighting?" Winter asked confused, her right eye shifting to the few team mates she could see and the Genomorphs still surrounding them.
"Lets us ask. Guardian?" Aqualad called, the Atlantean turning his gaze over tot he recovering veteran hero.
The helmeted hero turned his gaze over to the sidekicks in front of him, rubbing his head from the mental wave of energy still leaving his body. Shaking off the last bits of it Guardian gave a nod of approval. "Go. I'll deal with Desmond."
"I think not."
Turning around and moving clear from the area the voice came from, Guardian and the Genomorphs looked off towards the source of the voice, that being the lab coat wearing Dr. Desmond standing behind them. Anger seeping from his face and a glare directed at the sidekicks at the center of the room, the scientist moved his hand forward to reveal what appeared to be a small test tube, contained within it a glowing blue liquid.
"Project Blockbuster will give me the power I need to restore order to Cadmus." Dr. Desmond claimed in a low tone. Giving one final glare to the populace in the room the scientist took the vial in his hands and placed it to his lips and began to drink the chemicals down. Throwing the vial to the ground as he swallowed the liquid, Dr. Desmond began to groan in pain, the chemicals beginning to work into his system.
Stepping a few steps back from the convulsing scientist on the ground, Guardian moved an arm to have the sidekicks back away. "Keep your distance!"
Continuing to watch the strange actions of Dr. Desmond, the scientist continued to convulse in rapid movements on the ground for a few more seconds. His nails grinding into the metal floor beneath him, the doctor yelled in pain as his body began to slowly grow in size, his clothes ripping at the seams from his ever growing stature. Along with his growing body, the doctor turned his gaze upward to glare at the sidekicks, showing that his eyes were no longer a natural color, but instead a glowing blood red and his once human caucasian skin beginning to tear off him to reveal hardened blue skin and sharper teeth.
Clawing his way back to his feet with the help of the wall behind him, the once human Dr. Desmond stood up and a staggering height, towering over the sidekicks and rivaling that of the elephant sized Genomorphs. His transformation over and his form fully changed from the chemicals, Dr. Desmond roared with rage, his body covered in blue skin and red veiny cracks along the surface. His clothes ripped and turning to the sidekicks with an animalistic anger, the newly created monster gave a menacing smile, signaling that he still had some fraction of his mind retained in his new form.
"Everyone, back!" Guardian ordered, moving his arms out to motion for the Genomorphs and the sidekicks to not make a move. Deciding to take care of the new threat himself the helmeted hero ran towards the Blockbuster at a quick pace. Jumping towards the creature to get in a punch, Guardian's plan was foiled with a counterattack, Blockbuster swinging his arm and slamming the hero hard into the wall ahead of him.
Watching the battle go on and his anger building again, Superboy ran off to take a crack at Blockbuster himself and jumped towards him. Throwing his fist towards the creature and feeling his skin collide hard into his foe's face, Superboy continued to counterattack with countless attacks despite the punches Blockbuster was giving to him. Getting hit with a strong punch by the transformed scientist and skidding on the floor, Superboy growled and leaped towards Blockbuster in a rage.
"Superboy wait!" Winter called out in the hopes of stopping the powerful teen from attacking again. Unfortunately being too slow to react, Blockbuster retaliated with his own attack and jumped towards Superboy, grabbing him in the process and slamming him further into the ceiling, the two disappearing into the floors above them.
Running to look at the newly made escape route the two power houses had created, Robin readied a grappling hook and pointed it upwards. "Okay, that's one way to bust through the ceiling."
Moving to grab onto his friend, Kid Flash gripped onto Robin as the two sped upward to follow Superboy and Blockbuster. "You think lab coat planned that?"
"I doubt he is planning anything anymore." Aqualad commented in a serious tone, moving back a few steps before jumping upwards to follow his friends and join the battle.
Left on her own in the room with the Genomorphs, Winter began to focus her ice powers below her feet, readying herself to be vaulted by another one of her icicles. Keeping herself low to the ground she scanned the room once more to look at the many Genomorph creatures around her.
Her eyes spotting Dubbilex and the two sharing a moment of understanding, Winter gave a knowing nod to the strange being. "We'll take care of Superboy." The white haired teen said before turning back and letting the icicle below her vault her upwards to the battle ahead.
"See that you do." Dubbilex replied back telepathically, watching the heroes disappear from the Genomorphs sight.
Landing onto the floor beneath her feet and regaining her footing, Winter moved her good eye upwards and looked towards the battle alongside Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin.
A few feet away Blockbuster and Superboy still went at one another with various punches and kicks to each others body, however it seemed the larger creature was getting the upper hand. The super teen getting another good punch in yelled in pain at the feeling of his leg being gripped by Blockbuster. Turning his body to throw the teen off into the newest intruders, Superboy was flung towards the sidekicks, slamming into Aqualad and the two sliding on the ground from the impact.
Running towards her friend to help pick him up, Winter pulled Aqualad to his feet and helped to check for any injuries. "You guys okay?"
"I'm fine." Superboy replied back annoyed. Rubbing his head and getting up to his feet with the help of Robin and Kid Flash, the five teens stood side by side and stared out towards the enemy in front of them. "Hit this guy with everything we've got?"
"You bet. Lets take this clown down." Kid Flash replied confidently, taking his goggles and placing them over his eyes.
"I've got enough energy to keep going with my ice, but I'm gonna need help navigating the left side of my vision. Can you handle it Robin?" Winter asked from her spot, her gaze focusing further at the reminder of her bandaged eye.
"Yeah, just stay on his right hand side and don't let him hit your blindspot. I'll cover you." Robin said, getting his equipment ready for whatever came next.
Breathing heavily and glaring at the formed team of kids in front of him, Blockbuster roared a great yell and sped off towards them, his arm raised to strike them down.
Kid Flash taking the initiative in battle stepped in first, using his super speed to maneuver below the oncoming monster. Using his speed to slide beneath the opening between Blockbuster's legs, the red head turned to look back to his opponent and gave a smirk. "Now!"
Hearing the signal and taking their chance, Aqualad and Superboy ran towards Blockbuster before jumping towards him, raising their fists back before flinging a hardened punch to the creatures face. Taking the hit and knocked back by their combined force, Blockbuster slowly began to lose his balance and toppled backwards onto his back with the help of Kid Flash using his crouched body.
Moving back to stand up and looking at the combined effort the three sidekicks made, Kid Flash gave a smug look to Blockbuster. "Learned that one in kindergarten."
"Lets hope we've got enough tricks up our sleeves!" Winter yelled back at Kid's comment. Running towards the battle and letting ice coat the floor beneath her, the ice user began to skate quickly towards Blockbuster at a quickened pace. Focusing her powers and aiming at the arms and legs of the monster, Winter shot rays of ice towards the creature and watched as ice clung to Blockbuster's left side before skating and sliding of to the right hand side of the building and out of the way of the next combined attack.
"Take this ugly!" Robin yelled as he vaulted over Kid Flash and flung batarang explosives towards his target. The explosives hitting their target thanks to the ice trap. Taking the attack due to the ice trap still holding him down, Blockbuster roared in pain as the explosives hit their mark, smoke beginning to fill the room.
Waiting for any sign of movement from their enemy, the sidekicks quickly moved back at the sight of moving rubble, the form of Blockbuster shattering himself free from the ice on his arm and leg. Knocking off leftover debris from his body and getting back off to try and counterattack, Superboy retaliated quickly with another wave of punches towards the large beast only to be slammed into a pillar nearby.
Seeing Blockbuster move his hand back to give the unconscious Superboy in his hand another punch, Aqualad hastily readied his water bearers and let his magic take over his water supply. His tattoo arms glowing signaling the use of his powers, the Atlantean created a whip of water and wrapped it around Blockbuster's readied hand to keep it from moving. Not able to match the physical strength of Blockbuster Aqualad allowed himself to be pulled in by the creature and flipped himself overhead towards the pillar in front of him.
Using his speed for a means to power his next attack, Aqualad used his water bearers and focused the water around Blockbusters arm to come off and shape into a new form. Changing them to form his signature morning star weapon, Aqualad swung his weapon down hard towards Blockbuster to attack, but was shocked to feel his attack blocked by the creature.
Not wanting to waste this chance to take down the Atlantean, Blockbuster grabbed Aqualad from his position and threw him hard into the ground like a rag doll, the boy groaning in pain on impact. Doing the same to the unconscious Superboy, Blockbuster threw the experiment towards another pillar, watching as he crashed threw it and fell hard onto the floor below.
"Leave them alone!" Winter yelled towards Blockbuster as she shot a ray of ice towards the large monster. Watching as her attack hit its mark, Winter did her best to distract her opponent before moving her other hand towards his feet, slowly letting ice freeze him to the ground.
Feeling the ice beginning to crawl up his skin, Blockbuster roared and began to slam his arms together to chip the heavy ice away, shards scattering through the air as he did so.
Taking this moment to concentrate on her powers, Winter gave a few deep breathes and visualized the crafting of ice before her fists glowed in a white light. Letting her powers slowly finish their work and form themselves, Winter gripped her fists tightly as the glow of light died out and revealed a pair of knuckle weapons made of pure ice.
'I hope these can last me long enough.' Winter prayed mentally, looking down at her newly made weapons before sprinting off towards Blockbuster. Moving as quickly as she could to make it towards the distracted monster, Winter focused her ice powers and created an icicle beneath her to vault her at great speeds towards Blockbuster's face and swung an icy punch to the man beast. Thankful that her punch collided with him, Winter landed on the ground behind her enemy, using this chance to regain her breath and check the ice weapons she had created. 'There's cracks in them already. It's still not enough.'
"Winter, on your left!" Robin yelled out in warning.
"Wha-" Hearing Robin and turning to her left hand side to try and see what it was, the ice user cursed when she realized that she couldn't see. Not able to see the oncoming attack heading at her, Winter yelled in pain as a large slab of debris slammed hard into her side, knocking her off her feet and rolling on the floor in pain. Gritting her teeth in pain at the sudden impact, Winter winced at the feeling of her left arm stinging with a shot of pain.
'I have to get up! I'm not going to let it end like this!' Winter angrily thought, ignoring the pain in her body and did her best to force her shaking body up from the ground. Her left arm was stinging badly and she was sure the taste of blood was in her mouth. Spitting out the red liquid from clogging her throat, the ice user turned her head upwards to see Blockbuster stalking towards her, a smug grin on his face.
"Rraaagh!" The familiar anger fueled yell of Superboy resounding in the room, the solar suit clad teen jumped up from his previous spot on the other side of the room, clinging onto Blockbuster's back and beginning to barrage the beast with punches. "You wanna fight somebody?! Fight me!"
Speeding off towards the downed Winter, Kid Flash grabbed ahold of the weakened girl and moved her over to Robin's side, skidding to a halt and looking over his hurt team mate. "You okay Winter?" Kid Flash asked, trying his best to keep his cool.
Groaning at the question and holding her head in pain, Winter looked over at the red head with her own good eye and kept herself steady on her feet. "If having a concussion is "okay", than yeah I'm a-OK." The ice user sarcastically replied, a groan escaping her lips soon after.
Gritting his teeth at the answer and looking back at the battle Aqualad and Superboy were trying to hold onto, Kid Flash looked to Robin."We're getting creamed! Tell me you've got a plan to beat this guy Rob."
Typing away at his holographic computer to try and look for weak points in the structure of the building, the boy wonder glared down at the projected plan and gave a determined nod. "Got a plan. Think you can do this?" The mini detective asked, moving the projection over for Kid Flash to look at.
The plan set into pieces and showing off how each part was to be done to be a success, the speedster gave a nod of approval. "Got it. I'll distract him!"
Taking off at high speeds to set the needed plan into motion, Kid Flash headed towards Blockbuster and jumped towards him, punching him in the face and pulling off something in the process. Landing down on the floor and turning back to smile at the beast man, Kid Flash looked over at the contents he had pulled from Blockbuster, strange web skin that appeared to be a part of his body. "Heh, got you nose!"
Taking notice of the speedster once again joining the battle, Blockbuster thew the dazed Superboy off to the side and ignored the tired Atlantean nearby him as well. Roaring in anger at the boy and running towards him, the large man creature began his onslaught of attacks towards Kid Flash, every now and again getting in a punch and knocking the teen off his feet.
Noticing that the distraction plan was working, Winter began her part of the plan and focused her energy back into her knuckle weapons. Letting the ice slowly repair itself and do her best to strengthen the small weapons she wore, the ice user ran over to Aqualad and Superboy to help them up and motioned them to go back to Robin to be filled in on the plan. Watching them run off, Winter frosted the floor beneath her and skated towards Blockbuster using her speed to skate around the beast and shoot ice rays in the eyes of her enemy.
"You could warn me next time you use the ice!" Kid Flash called, nearly slipping a bit from the frost that was forming on the floor he ran on and headed straight ahead to Blockbuster.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that in our next life or death situation!" Winter retorted back, following behind Kid Flash as fast as she could. Utilizing the speed from her skating to move closer to Kid Flash, the speedster skidded to stop and crouched down low, allowing the ice user to jump atop his back and vault herself upwards towards Blockbuster. Directing her physical strength in this close up punch, Winter roared in anger as her ice knuckled fist collided into Blockbuster's face, the force knocking the monster back somewhat and landed on the ice below to skate away from their target. "Robin, is the plan ready yet?"
"Just about! Get ready!" Robin yelled back from a spot in the room. Chalk in hand and finishing up the last part by drawing a large "x" mark where he needed Blockbuster to be, the boy wonder ran off to the side and took out an assortment of batarangs and threw them, lodging them in various wrecked pillars in the room. "Water ready Aqualad?"
Finishing the last of his work and using his water bearers to spread a layer of water across the floor of the room, Aqualad gave a nod and moved back a bit to allow more room for the group to move. "Everything is set."
"Kid, lead him over!" Robin yelled.
"Ooh, you can't catch me! You gotta be better than that!" Kid Flash taunted, moving his arms around as he shifted around the punches of Blockbuster. Taking off towards the planned destination or Blockbuster, Kid Flash turned his head back to be sure the crazed scientist was following him. Heading to the other side of the room and skidding across the watery floor, Kid Flash looked back over at the oncoming Blockbuster and waved his arm up. "Supey, your on!"
Moving on que to his signal Superboy appeared from what seemed like out of nowhere and vaulted upwards into the air. His strength flinging himself downward, Superboy threw a hardened punch into the face of the Blockbuster and watched as the giant fell hard onto his back, his body colliding onto the soaked floor below. Jumping out of the way of the watery floor, Superboy turned his gaze to Aqualad and gave a nod. "Light him up."
"With pleasure." Channeling electricity through the magic run tattoos around his arms, Aqualad readied himself and crouched down to the ground, slamming his electrified hands down on the water. Coursing through the water on the floor the electricity finally made its way to its target and surrounded Blockbuster, electrocuting the large creature with high voltage and keeping him from moving.
Finally removing his hands from the water and seeing the dazed giant slowly try to regain his senses, Aqualad used his water bearers and focused his magic to make the water beneath Blockbuster's feet pool closer around his feet. "Everything is set Winter! Keep him in place!"
"I thought you'd never ask." Winter replied back confidently. Wiping a leftover drop of blood from the side of her mouth and concentrating her ice powers once more to visualize the tool she needed, the ice user flicked her wrist outwards and gripped the handle of a newly made ice sword with her right hand. Pointing the sword upward in a sword stance and taking a moment to focus her mind on the task at hand, Winter lunged the sword downward into the floor below, letting the crafted ice stab straight down into the ground.
Gripping the handle and her hands glowing with frost, the ice user allowed her powers to flow through the sword like a conduit, letting her ice work its magic and having the water glow around Blockbuster in a soft light before springing out of the ground in the form of icicles in various directions. Though large in size and sharp enough to stab through a wall, the icicles merely trapped the limbs of the large creature and kept him from moving further.
"I'm done. Take it from here Robin!" Winter called out, letting the ice sword go and running back towards the rest of the group.
"The blast is coming up. Move!" Robin yelled, motioning everyone to run as far back from his designed blast zone as they could.
Small buzzing sounds beginning to slowly go off within the room, pillars littered with the batarangs Robin threw earlier now lighting up like the fireworks of July. Their alarms blaring fast and faster to signal their detonation, the small explosives soon enough went off, the combined explosions taking out the necessary pillars in the room.
One by one parts began to break and fall apart. The pillars, the walls, the lighting, and even the roof. Unable to break away from his ice prison Blockbuster roared in anger as debris began to fall towards him. In that moment the once brilliant doctor realized the mess he had put himself through, the mess he tried to clean up for Cadmus, and the mess of a plan he tried to keep hold of.
Only to be thwarted by a group of teenagers.
Quiet silence filled the lot that was once owned by Cadmus. The genetics building now in rubble, smoke bellowing from the debris, and rubble covering the sidewalk and streets around it. It was a never ending sight of destruction and chaos, but the result came from a good choice, or so the sidekicks thought.
The group slowly ascending from the rubble thanks to the strength of Superboy, each teenager groaned in pain for some reason or another and looked out at the sky above them, thankful they weren't underground anymore.
Taking a couple deep breathes to regain his lost oxygen from the explosion, Aqualad stared out at the city around them and turned back to look at each team member. "W-We did it." The Atlantean said, disbelief laced in his voice.
Standing alongside Kid Flash in tattered uniforms and also taking gasps of breath, Robin smiled and rubbed his neck. "Was...there ever...any doubt?"
Smiling at Robin's smug question, Kid Flash raised his hand up to give his friend a high five. "Go...team sidekick." Clapping their hands together in a sign of friendship, the two boys gained grim looks on their faces as the sound of cracking bones could be heard during their high five. Wincing in pain the two rubbed their sore arms but continued to smile despite it all.
Watching the two boys hold their arms in pain, Winter shook her head and rubbed her own sore wounds such as her stinging arm and still bandaged eye. Her skirt ripped at the ends, slashes cut through the sides of her uniform, and small specks of blood staining her white outfit. She was sure she did not look like a pretty sight, but at the moment she was too tired to care. "You know when I agreed that we do this or go out in a blaze of glory, I didn't mean we literally try to explode." Winter said as she wiped leftover specks of blood of her lip.
"It was fun though. Admit it snow angel." Kid Flash groaned with a grin, trying his best to look cool despite wobbling to get up to his feet.
"Fun is the last thing I'd describe this mission as." Winter replied back, doing her best to stand up on her own two feet. She was tired, her body was probably bruised in a lot of places, and the Cadmus building was pretty much in rubble despite the need to be discreet. Surely the group was going to be in serious trouble when the League found out about it.
But for some reason, Winter just couldn't seem to care. Everything she had been through that night made up for whatever surely was going to come next. Her day previously had consisted with her being lied to about becoming hero by her mentor and others, watching a friend leave her behind and insult her, and her father threaten to end her career as a hero. She was about to lose everything in this one day, but instead of letting that happen she took the initiative. She dared to go against the will of the adults that had taught and controlled her for so long, and as a result she had...no she survived an adventure so grand that she'd never forget it.
She snuck into a genetics lab with her friends.
Battled against weaponized creatures.
Fought against impossible odds.
Survived various wounds to her body and mind.
'And I made a new friend.' Winter thought quietly to herself, her gaze shifting over to Superboy who was helping her friends get back onto their feet. Though their first meeting was not the way any of the teens had thought it was going to go, in the end they had been able to convince Superboy to trust the and come along with them to the outside world. Now he would be able to choose and do what he wanted to do, rather than Cadmus. He could be happy.
Smiling at the thought of Superboy being a bit more cheerful than what she'd seen of him, the white haired teen hadn't noticed the blue eyed boy staring right back at her. Feeling a warm sensation creep up in her face at the eye contact, Winter did her best to smile and push down the strange emotions that were coming up all of a sudden. It had to be the adrenaline still in her system.
Yeah, that was it.
Slowly walking over to join the rest of the group Winter gave a smile and a thumbs up. "Mission accomplished."
"You bet it is. And we get to show Supey the moon." Kid Flash replied, pointing to the large floating rock in the sky. Looking over to the cloned boy, Kid Flash smiled. "I knew it was a good idea to let you out."
Gripping his chest in pain from a chuckle escaping his lips, Robin looked at Kid Flash and shook his head. "Yeah. You were totally on board."He replied, sarcasm evident in his voice.
Standing next to Superboy and gazing up at the moon herself, the ice user shifted her gaze to Superboy to see his reaction. "Do you like it? The moon?"
His eyes only continuing to stare up at the large and mysterious rock in the sky, Superboy gave no verbal answer, but his face gave it all away. Everything around him, the buildings, the moon, the sky, the stars. He was just too focused on taking everything in, worrying that if he blinked it would all disappear. The way the moon glowed in the sky, the stars sparkling around it, the moving object coming towards them...
A moving object?
Using his heightened vision to try and make out what it was making its way towards them, Superboys' eyes widened in shock as the form finally took shape as it moved closer, the familiar symbol that he wore mirrored on the same floating figure. Dressed in red, blue, and yellow and flowing cape behind them, Superman continued his way down towards the group.
Following Superboys' eyes and noticing the imposing figure of Superman coming towards them, Winter did her best to stand her ground, hoping to look confident despite the damage the group was surrounded in. "Does he look mad?" She quietly whispered out to the others, trying her best to keep her cool.
Slowly descending from the sky above, the great and powerful form of Superman, along with other heroes of the Justice League began to make their down to the ground below. Each landing on a pile of rubble or the ground below, the many members of the Justice League stood their ground and stared back at the teens, no signs given or words spoken. It was as if they were observing them, waiting for them to make the first move.
Moving a bit closer to the rest of the group due to the intimidating gazes of the heroes staring, Kid Flash quietly whispered back. "I think they're all mad."
The silence filled the air around the heroes and sidekicks. Nobody made a move at first, nor a sound to indicate anything. All that went on was the sidekicks staring back at the veteran heroes they had been trained by, learned from, and strived to be like.
'Well, this isn't terrifying.' Winter thought, a shiver going up her spine at the many looks the veteran heroes were giving her and the rest of the team. Her eyes darting back and forth at the many figures around them, the ice user took notice of her mentor Ice Maiden, the older woman standing alongside Aquaman, Batman, and The Flash. Seeing the older woman's gaze look back towards her, the younger ice user felt like she'd jump out of her skin, but continued to stand her ground despite feeling shame slowly creep up on her.
Noticing that nobody was making any movements or sounds at first, Winter shifted her gaze from the figure of Superman and looked back to Superboy, their newfound friend still staring back at the alien hero in awe. Deciding to help give their new companion a helping hand, Winter slowly moved her hand to pat Superboy on the back, motioning him to walk towards Superman as she gave him a supportive smile. "It's okay. You can talk to him."
Feeling the encouragement from Winter's words, Superboy moved his gaze to the ground until moving it back up at stare back at Superman. Taking the first step towards the imposing hero, Superboy slowly continued to walk, slowly forgetting the nervous feeling he was having deep inside him as he made his way closer. Finally reaching the hero at an agreeable distance and staring face to face with the older alien, Superboy gripped the tatters of his solar suit and moved it upwards to reveal the Kryptonian symbol printed on his suit.
Shock was the only thing written on Superman's face, at least from what Winter could see. Soon enough his shock slowly disappeared, but rather than see kindness or pity in the eyes of the hero, all the ice user could see was...disappointment? Anger? She wasn't sure which it was, but she knew that look. Her father had a look on his face like that almost anytime she saw him.
Taking the opportunity to begin his investigation, the famed dark knight walked out towards the group, moving ahead of Superman to look at the beat up teenagers in front of him, and more specifically take notice of the surprising new addition to the sidekicks group. "Is that what I think it is?"
Watching the conversations between the group and the heroes slowly begin, the rest of the sidekicks made their way to stand by Superboys' side, Kid Flash moving his hand off to the side of his face in an attempt to whisper. "He doesn't like being called an it."
Fists clenched at the misdirection of the conversation and feeling like he was being ignored, Superboy glared down at the ground before staring back at Superman and Batman, a burning confidence in his eyes. "I'm Supermans' clone."
'I guess the cat's out of the bag now.' Winter thought, looking at the heroes shocked faces at the revelation being told to them by Superboy. Moving closer to try and shield Superboy from the hard gazes of the heroes, Winter did her best to hold her ground. "We can explain everything. Honest."
It was at that moment Ice Maiden walked over, the older woman's gaze looking down at her protege with disappointment. However as the older woman got a better look at her beat up sidekick she was able to take notice of the bandages covering part of her face. Reaching over to grab Winter's chin, Ice Maiden inspected the wrap up job and gave a worried look. "What happened to your eye snowflake?
Hearing the question, Robin frowned and shook his head. "It's a long story."
"Start talking then. Now." Batman ordered, his voice serious as always.
The teens all looking at one another to try and figure out how to start their story, Aqualad took a deep breath and stepped in first to explain. "Cadmus has a secret facility underground hidden by the public. It's powered by creatures they are creating called Genomorphs, some being able to produce electricity, which is why they are off the grid."
"Each one of them has got crazy powers like telepathy and claws and stuff. They attacked and nearly killed us." Kid Flash added, hoping his words would help the groups situation.
Keeping his gaze on his mentor, Robin spoke next. "We wanted to investigate Cadmus further during our mission and we discovered Project Kr. Superboy." The boy wonder explained, turning his gaze to look over at the clone. "Like he said he's a clone from Supermans' DNA. He was being taught and trained beneath Cadmus to be a weapon."
"We got captured. Beat up too, though some more than others." Winter chimed in, a bit embarrassed at having to explain the groups failure and motioning to the eye wound she had. "Superboy and I talked for a bit and I helped convince him to come with us. He doesn't want to be trapped beneath Cadmus forever. He wants to see the world and meet you, Sir. So we helped free him and he helped us." Winter replied, looking to Superman as she spoke.
Pulling out his holographic interface and typing in various keys to show files of data he had collected, Robin walked to his mentor's side and scrolled through the many bits of information the group had collected on Cadmus. "Everything's here. We were able to collect data on some of the Genomorphs and the specs on Project Kr, but by then we got chased out."
"And had to fight big, bad, and ugly over there." Kid Flash pointed out, sticking his thumb out to point to the unconscious Blockbuster creature. "Dr. Desmond. He worked for Cadmus but drank some crazy liquid and turned into that thing. We had to fight him, but we took him down."
"And the result of that fight lead to the explosion and collapse of their fake Cadmus lab." Aqualad finished, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "We did not mean for this mission to get out of hand in such a way."
"I'm sure you didn't." Batman replied back, the detective going over the information Robin showed him. Taking a copy of the data from his protege and placing it in a compartment in his belt, the dark knight looked at each sidekick with a hardened gaze before speaking again. "Who's idea was it?"
A bit shocked by the question, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Winter looked to one another as if to try and find some way to answer the hero's question. None of the teens said anything at first, still not sure what exactly they should say. They had already explained the situation with Cadmus and getting Superboy out, but they never thought they'd want to know who decided it was a good idea to sneak in. What would the punishment be? Would they lose their hero status? Grounded for life? Never be able to join the League?
Gritting her teeth and feeling like she'd explode from the heavy pressure building up on her, Winter stepped forward and did her best to look professional. Keeping her hands behind her back and back straight from years of practice from her father to better her stance, the ice user stared back at Batman with the best amount of adult confidence she could muster in her state. "It was my idea."
"What?! No it wasn't!" Kid Flash argued back, trying to help take the blame.
"KF's right. You didn't tell us to go." Robin added, moving over to Winter to try and convince her to stop talking.
"I might as well have." Winter argued back to her friends, the ice user looking back to her friends and giving them a thankful smile. "This might be my last moments being a hero. Let me be cool for a couple more seconds okay?" She joked sadly in a hushed whisper.
The two boys frowning at the comment Winter whispered to them, the two teens gave an understanding nod and moved back, letting Winter take the floor. Smiling and giving a thankful nod to her friends, Winter turned back and continued to explain. "I was excited about today. Thinking I was going to join the Justice League and be with my mentor and all the great heroes here." Winter began, doing her best to try and find the right words to explain. "I thought today would be the day for all of us, but Speedy told us everything and explained how we were tricked. I was sad at first, but then I got mad. I needed this to go well today and I had to join the Justice League at any cost. I just wanted to be a hero and help people."
"Winter?" Ice Maiden called out, her eyes showing confusion and pity at watching her protege try and explain her reasoning.
Looking to her mentor with a saddened look, Winter shook her head and continued. "My father said he wanted me to quit being a sidekick since I wasn't getting anywhere. If I didn't improve or get into the League today the hero life for me was over. I didn't want that, so when Robin mentioned something about Cadmus I jumped at the only chance I thought I had. Kid, Robin, and Aqualad got dragged along because I was being selfish." Winter finished, her hands balling into fists behind her back as she tried to work through the shame she was feeling.
"No. You are wrong." Aqualad spoke out at Winter's words. Walking over to the ice user and resting a comforting hand on her shoulder the Atlantean smiled. "You were not acting alone. We all played a part in this grand scheme of ours. Poetic justice remember?"
Speeding over to stand on the other side of the ice user, Kid Flash gave a thumbs up. "We followed you of our own free will cause we wanted to help. And we got to kick some serious butt on the way too."
"We were taught to stick by our friends no matter what." Robin added, moving back over to the group of sidekicks and gave his usual cheeky smirk. "Wouldn't be heroes if we left one of our own behind."
Letting her friends kind words sink in, Winter smiled at her fellow sidekicks and reveled in the heart warming moment the group shared despite their circumstances. It was a tough battle and it was even tougher trying to explain their situation to the very mentors they had learned beneath and disobeyed. But through it all, Winter could feel that everything was going to be okay in the back of her mind.
Watching the teens converse add their own words into the mix of Winter's confession, Batman looked to each of the sidekicks that stood before him. "Is that the story you're sticking with?"
The four teens looking to one another in silent communication, Winter smiled and turned her gaze to look at Batman with a confident nod.
"Yeah. It is."
"You should have called sooner. If you had you wouldn't have obtained such nasty scratch." Ice Maiden spoke, crouched in front of her protege while taking a look at her wounded eye.
The explanation of the groups plan had gone as well as Samantha had hoped. It was nerve wracking the entire time to run for her life and try and survive the madness that was the labs of Cadmus below ground, but it was even worse having to try and speak out in front of the entire Justice League, even with Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad to back her up. The odds seemingly stacked against them though, the lull from their conversation had set in and so far there had been no yelling or punishments dished out.
At least not yet.
"I tried. We all did. My tracking beacon wasn't working. We were too far below by the time we called." Winter replied back, wincing a bit at the touch of her mentor. Sitting down on a piece of ruble as her mentor checked her over, the ice user moved her good eye upward to look at Ice Maiden. "...Ice?"
"Yes snowflake?" Ice Maiden asked, continuing her work to check her protege's damaged eye.
Hearing the cute nickname her mentor had called her since they teamed up, the ice user moved her head downwards and gritted her teeth, her voice hitching a bit as the emotions she had bottled up were beginning to flow out. "I...I'm sorry." Winter quietly spoke, gripping the ends of her combat skirt tightly.
Stopping her checkup to watch her protege slowly begin to break down her hardened walls, Ice Maiden smiled a bit and moved Winter's face upward to wipe a stray tear running down the teens face. "No crying. No need to be sorry."
"But...But I disobeyed you. I left on a mission without your permission. Didn't contact you when I should have. You should be furious with me." Winter complained, trying her hardest not to look childish.
"I am not mad." Ice Maiden spoke, scanning over her tired looking protege and dusting off a few specks of dust on her uniform. "Disappointed, but not mad. Being mad goes nowhere and I don't like being nowhere. Tough work you did today, not something easy for kids your age. We...I should have put trust in you better. Told you the truth. Perhaps things go differently if I did." Ice Maiden explained, the woman's voice faltering a bit at remembering the days events.
Using this moment to sit next to her protege on the slab of debris, Ice Maiden looked eye to eye with Winter and rubbed her back soothingly to try and comfort the tired teenager. "You were a real hero tonight little snowflake, as hard it may be for spooky bat or man of steel to see. They may be mad, but deep down they are proud. I am sure of. They are just too manly to show." Ice Maiden joked with a hearty grin.
Sniffling a laugh at Ice Maiden's words, Winter wiped the few tears that had left her eyes and gave a nod showing she understood her mentors' words. "Thank you Sigrid." Winter whispered in thanks, feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Smiling a bit to herself and looking out at the Justice League still doing their work, Samantha's gaze moved to the rest of the sidekicks who stood together awaiting their mentors return from their discussion. Wanting to go over to them, Winter looked back over to her mentor. "Ice, can I-"
"No need. Go to friends. Be there for one another." Ice Maiden said smiling, urging her partner to go to the other sidekicks.
Smiling and giving a thankful nod to her mentor, Winter got up from her seat and walked back to the group. Walking over to stand next to Robin and Superboy, Winters' face grew a small frown of worry. "How did the talk with your mentors go?"
"Same as always with Batman. A lot of silence and information gathering." Robin replied, kicking a small stone on the ground. "I still can't get past that bat glare of his."
"My king did not say much, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. I do not believe he is happy with our actions despite the good intentions we had." Aqualad spoke, his gaze moving to look back at Aquaman in the distance.
"You guys regret any of it?" Kid Flash asked, the red head turning to look at the sidekicks one by one.
"Not in the slightest. I don't know how this is all going to turn out, but I'm glad we did it. If my hero career is ending here, I've got a cool adventure to go out on." Winter said with a satisfied smile. Seeing the other sidekicks return her answer with their own smiles, the ice user looked over at Superboy who was off to the side form them and continued to watch Superman in the distance.
'Has he just been watching him the entire time?' Winter thought, her eyes focused on the rigid form of Superboy who continued to stare off at his parental figure.
Quietly stepping over to Superboy to stand by his side, Winter looked to the younger super and moved her gaze to the heroes still talking ahead of them. "Has he come to talk to you yet?"
"No. Not yet." Superboy answered automatically, his voice no longer holding any of the anger or rage that the ice user was used to hearing.
"I'm sure he's just surprised by everything. He'll come around Superboy." Winter said, keeping her voice optimistic to try and cheer the Genomorph boy up.
Eyes focusing on the ground below, Superboy shrugged his shoulders unenthusiastically. "Yeah."
Resting a hand on the boy's shoulder in to try and comfort him, Winter jumped a bit when she noticed the man of steel himself walking towards them. Poking Superboy to get his attention, the super clone looked back up and stared face to face with who he thought of as his father. Silent and awaiting an answer, Superboy watched as Superman began to fidget in place.
Giving a heavy sigh, Superman spoke. "*sigh* We'll umm...we'll figure something out for you. The league will, I mean." The alien said, correcting his words every few seconds. "For now...I better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." His face still holding hints of doubt and confusion, the famed hero turned has back to Superboy and flew off into the sky, leaving Superboy to watch his only family fly away.
'That's it? That's all he could say?' Winter thought in shock, watching the discussion go back and forth until Superman flew off. She was mad at first, seeing Superman just blatantly rush off and away from Superboy. Had he done that just to try and get away from the super clone? No that couldn't be right. Superman was a good person. He wouldn't willingly ignore someone, not his own son. Right?
Deciding to let the anger she was feeling subside for the moment, Winter looked back to Superboy and noticed the confused expression on his face. Unsure if it was the right thing to do, the white haired heroine placed a hand on his forearm, trying to signal to the boy that he wasn't alone. "Superboy, are you okay?"
His body stiffening at Winters' touch, Superboy turned his head to look straight to Winter face to face, his eyes filled with what looked like hesitation and disappointment. "I'm fine." He quietly answered back.
'You're not. I can see it in your eyes.' Winter thought sadly, her icy blue staring back into the disappointed blue of Superboys'. The two said nothing after that, letting the awkward silence from Supermans' departure take up the rest of their time.
"Cadmus will be investigated." Batman spoke up, him along with Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash, and Ice Maiden behind him. The teens looking back to the dark knight as he spoke, the hero continued. "All fifty-two levels will, but lets make one thing clear here-"
"You should have called." The Flash answered seriously, cutting off Batman to say his piece.
A light glare put in his direction for his interruption, Batman turned back to the sidekicks and continued. "End results aside we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."
Listening to what their mentors had to say about their actions, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin, and Winter stared at one another and nodded to each other before turning back to face their mentors. Being the eldest, Aqualad stepped forward first. "I am sorry, but we will." The Atlantean answered strongly.
"Aqualad, stand down." Aquaman ordered, his voice authoritative with the might associated with the king of the sea.
Looking to his mentor and placing a hand over his chest, Aqualad shook his head. "Apologies my king, but no. We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together on our own we forged something powerful. Important." Aqualad reasoned, his eyes burning with passion as he spoke from the heart.
Watching the mentor and protege begin to go back and forth during their conversation, Flash stepped in to try and mediate. "If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you-"
"The five of us." Kid Flash added, stepping into take on his own mentor. "And it's not."
Moving a strand of her white hair behind her ear and watching the heroes discuss back and forth, Winter spoke up. "We appreciate everything you've done for us. We all do. You taught us, took some of us in when we needed someone, showed us what we could do and brought us into a world where we can help people. We love doing what we do, but we can't keep being treated like kids. We've been through enough to be considered more than just sidekicks." Winter added, crossing her arms over her chest in a defiant manner.
"Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?" Robin asked honestly, walking a few steps closer to look eye to eye with his mentor.
His gaze focused on the ground as the sidekicks tried to argue their point, Superboy gritted his teeth as anger began to boil up inside him again. "Why let them tell us what to do?" He asked with hostility. Looking up at the sidekicks and moving his focus to the heroes the super boy stepped forward. "It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way."
Surprised by the inclusion of Superboys' words, Winter couldn't help but nod in agreement at their new friends voice of reason. The sidekicks standing side by side together, they turned to look to their mentors, passion and determination set in each pair of eyes staring them down.
"Give me three days." Batman finally answered, his eyes focusing on each of the sidekicks staring back at him.
Eyes widening in unison at the dark knights' answer, the sidekicks looked to one another and nodded. "Three days isn't too long." Kid Flash said out loud as the sidekicks made their way to their mentors.
Making her way back to Ice Maidens' side, Winter stopped mid step and turned back to look over to something the group had forgotten. "Uh guys?"
Hearing Winter call out to them, the teens all stopped in their tracks and turned around to see what it was Winter was getting their attention for. Finally taking notice of the elephant in the room, the three boys frowned at the sight of Superboy standing off to the side, not making any signs of following them.
"So uhh...where's Supey going to stay?" Kid Flash asked, a bit embarrassed that he'd forgotten about their friend.
Trying to fit the pieces together to find out a good enough compromise for their friends living arrangements, it was the small raised hand of Winter and her voice that found the answer. "He can stay with me. If that's okay with you Superboy?" Winter asked, looking over to her friend and giving him a friendly smile.
His eyes staring back at Winter after hearing her proposition, the super powered teen did nothing but shrug his shoulders. "I guess."
"I knew you'd say something like that." Winter said with a chuckle.
"Are you sure snowflake? Your father will be okay with this?" Ice Maiden questioned, her voice giving concern at the mention of her partners' father.
Frowning at the mention of her dad, Winter gave a nervous smile to Ice Maiden and shrugged her shoulders. "It'll be fine. We've got plenty of room at my house. I'll find a way to convince him."
It was going to be a very awkward conversation that was for sure.
-Freya Mansion
Star City, July 5th, 2:00 A.M. PDT-
It had been a long ride back to her house, or at least that's what Samantha thought it felt like. Thanks to the help of Reginald picking her and Superboy up from the nearby zeta tube transport, the two had made it back to her home in record time. The sun still not rising to greet Star City and activity at an all time low at that time in the day, it was a miracle Samantha had any chance during her car ride back to try and think up various ways to explain her condition, the mission, and most of all Superboy.
She had only returned from the mission and now here she was standing in the hallway of her house, waiting outside the doorway alongside Superboy and waited for her father to be ready to speak with her. Still dressed in her ripped up uniform and her hair and eyes back to their original brown shade, Samantha stretched her newly bandaged arms and waited for what would come next. Reginald was most likely explaining that she had returned with a new guest in tow, along with her injuries the servant had helped to patch up after returning home with Superboy.
How would her father take all of this? Would he be mad? Disappointed? Would he be furious that she had done something so crazy to jeopardize herself and her career? And what about Superboy? Would he be mad that she brought a boy of all things back with her? What would he think?!
"Lady Freya?" Reginalds' voice called out.
"What?" Breaking away from her thoughts and looking up from the ground, Samantha stared back at Reginald who gave the nervous teen a smile. "Y-Yes?"
"Your father is ready to see you and...your guest." Reginald replied, his eyes shifting to Superboy as he spoke.
Doing her best to hide the nervous feelings inside, Samantha returned the smile and gave a nod. "Thank you Reginald. You can go to sleep. I'll take care of it from here."
"Of course my lady, but please do call if you need anything." Giving a bow of respect to the young girl, Reginald soon made his way down the hall, leaving Samantha and Superboy to stand alone in the room together.
Her eyes staring at the slightly ajar door ahead of her and the light peeking out from the crack, Samantha nervously took a breath and motioned for Superboy to follow her. Moving towards the door and giving a soft knock to the door with her hand, the brunette peeked her head into the room and slowly made her way inside.
The room was just like it always was. The walls painted in a sleek gray and a red carpet covering the floor, various sized furniture ranging from a mahogany desk, matching cushioned chairs and paintings hung from the walls. Notes and files covering the work desk inside the room with tidbits of genetics research and formulas scribbled down, it was not a challenge to guess this office was owned by Nikolai Freya, hard working geneticist and entrepreneur. To be honest it always intimidated Samantha when she walked inside. Everything she saw she couldn't figure out, understand, or relate to with her own father. It was like being in another world. His world.
His back facing her and staring out at the window nearby his desk, the older man holding a small glass in his hand with a strange colored liquid in its contents.
'He's drinking this early already?' Samantha thought sadly, her gaze shifting from the glass in her father's hand to his back.
"Sit." Nikolai ordered, taking a sip of his drink as he motioned to the chairs in front of his desk.
Knowing that arguing wouldn't get her very far in the conversation right away, Samantha followed her fathers wishes and took a seat down in one of his chairs. Superboy reluctantly did the same, though he sunk into his chair and sat in a slouched position.
"Let me see if I have all of this...figured out." Turning around to look at the beat up figures of his daughter and her guest, Nikolai frowned, but continued his words. "I told you that to keep your position as a hero you would need to be sure you improved. Do something or be recognized as something more than a simple sidekick. I fully expected to hear that you would be joining the ranks of the Justice League after you told me how important the day was yesterday."
Taking another sip of his drink, Nikolai walked around his desk and began to slowly pace the room, walking back and forth to continue his train of thought from behind Samantha and Superboys' seats. "However what I did not expect was to hear no word for the rest of the day, and even more so was a surprised and confused when Reginald wakes me just an hour ago to tell me that you'd finally returned from your so called initiation into the Justice League, only to learn that not only are you not a League member, but that you broke into a high security genetics lab, potentially lost your vision in your left eye, and have brought home...this boy." Nikolai concluded, his eyes staring through the back of Superboys' skull as he finished his last thought.
Keeping quiet while her father vented out the frustration he was sure to have had been building since her arrival, Samantha gripped her skirt tightly and looked back to her father, hoping to get a word in. "That's not exactly everything father. There's a lot more to this than you know."
Staring back at his daughter with interest, the older Freya walked back to his chair and pulled it out, taking a seat comfortably and placing his drink on the desk top. Folding his hands on the desk in front of him, the older man stared back at his daughter and waited. "Go on. Explain yourself."
Nodding at the chance she was being given, Samantha shifted her gaze over to the quiet Superboy who was watching the two talk. "This is Superboy. He's a clone created by Cadmus, the lab my friends and I...investigated."
Eyebrows raised at the mention of cloning, Samantha's father turned his gaze over to Superboy with interest. "A clone you say?"
"Uh huh. From DNA they stole from Superman. We went to investigate the lab since Batman was suspicious about it. We wanted to prove ourselves to them so when we went in, we ended up finding a lot more than we bargained for and got captured. The eye injury sort of came about from that." Samantha added, touching her bandaged eye with her finger tips before continuing. "We convinced Superboy there was a better life for him outside Cadmus, so he came with us and helped us escape. The Justice League weren't very happy about it at first, but Batman is giving us three days to make a decision on what we get to do next. He knows the other sidekicks and I don't want to be sidekicks, so now we're just waiting to hear what he says."
His eyes still focusing on Superboy as his daughter explained further into her previous adventure, Nikolai shifted his gaze to his daughter for a moment. "And...Superboy was it? Why is he here?"
'Oh I hope this works.' Samantha thought. Her eyes looking downward for a moment to try and find the right words, the brunette spoke. "He needs a place to stay until we hear back from Batman. I thought since the mansion is so big and we have all these rooms...he could stay with us father? Just until Batman calls us back. He doesn't have anywhere to go."
"Stay here?" Nikolai repeated, his eyes narrowing as he thought over the decision. Drinking from his glass again the older man turned his chair to look at Superboy, the teen still quiet and giving no indication of wanting to join the conversation. "Tell me boy. Why aren't you staying with your father, Superman?"
Eyes hardening into a tight glare at his hands in his lap, his large hands began to clench into tight fists at the mention of the man of steel. Keeping his gaze lowered, Superboy shook his head. "I don't know."
Noticing the frustration on her friends' face, Samantha moved over to gain her father's attention and move the conversation forward. "Superman...he's a bit busy and couldn't accommodate Superboy in time, which is why I offered him a place a stay. So, can he stay father?"
His daughter's pleading words ringing in his ears, the older Freya combed his hair back with his hand and stayed quiet for a few moments to let the idea sink in. Drinking the last drop of his alcoholic drink and coughing a bit, Nikolai Freya looked to Samantha and Superboy. "I am disappointed still with the outcomes that have happened from this day prior Samantha. I expected better judgment on your part as my daughter and being trained as a sidekick for so long and to obey the laws."
The words hitting her like a solid wall, the brunette frowned and hung her head in shame. He was right, Despite everything she had helped to accomplish she had broken countless rules and made some pretty crazy choices to do so.
"However," Nikolai spoke, making Samantha look up to her father. "I see that this opportunity you took has helped to build another path that could lead you to being more than just a sidekick, something I wanted for you since the beginning of this career you set yourself on. For now, I will allow Superboy to stay at the Freya mansion."
'Did he really say what I think he just said?!' Samantha thought in shock. Worry had coursed through her since she had returned from her mission, never knowing what her father was going to say, what he'd do after she explained everything. He had never been the most understanding person during her childhood, always working and choosing her path for her as she grew up. What had changed to make her father submit to her plea? Perhaps her effort had finally paid off?
"Oh thank you father! You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll take care of everything Superboy needs and make sure nothing goes wrong. You have my word." Samantha answered confidently, getting up from her seat and wrapping her arms around her father in a thankful hug.
"See that you do." Nikolai answered back, wrapping his arms around his daughter in a light hug. "I'll have Reginald send Superboy to a guest room. You go to your room and rest. I'l need to check your eye later in the day to make sure nothing is damaged."
Her breath hitching in her throat for a moment as she felt her father wrap his arms around her to return her hug, Samantha felt as if her heart would burst out of her chest. "Of course. I'll be ready when you call." Samantha hastily replied back with a smile, letting go of her father and giving a proper bow of respect.
Nodding and watching Samantha walk out of the room with Superboy, Nikolai spoke up. "Oh and one more thing. Superboy?"
Hearing his name being called, the dark haired teen turned his head back to look at the older human. "Yeah?"
"Stay out of my daughters' room." Nikolai warned in a deep voice, the older man giving a glare of warning to the super teen before shooing the two teens out into the hallway.
"I can't believe father agreed to let him stay." Samantha said to herself. Back in the comfort of her room and dressed in a pure white night gown, the brunette girl combed out her hair and stared back at her reflection in the mirror.
Though Reginald had done his best to help bandage every cut her could find on her skin and taking a shower to wash off the dirt that had covered her body from her battling, even Samantha could tell that she looked like a wreck. Felt like it too.
She still wasn't sure if the conversation she had just had with her father...was real. Did that really happen? In all the times she could remember talking with her father, she'd never been able to find a moment where the two could come to a good enough compromise like they had that early dusk morning. Maybe her decision to become a hero was a close second, but even that hadn't gone as smoothly as this conversation.
'Usually he's wanting to control every decision I make. Did he see how much effort I put into this mission? How much I wanted this?' Samantha thought, combing the last strand of her long hair and putting the comb down on the dresser. 'Still even with him agreeing
Taking a deep breath and turning around to scan over the dark room, Samantha's eyes stared at the dirty remnants of her hero costume, the outfit sitting on the desk in the corner. "I hope the others are having better luck with their parents than I am."
*knock knock*
"Lady Freya? Are you awake still?" Reginald asked, knocking on her bedroom door.
Eyebrow raised in confusion at the sudden visit, Samantha walked to her door and opened it to reveal Reginald, with folded clothes in hand. "I am. Is there something you needed Reginald?"
"I'm so sorry to bother you when you are about to rest Miss Freya, but it I am having trouble delivering sleeping garments to your guest. He won't open the door for me, most likely because he does not trust me. I know it is improper for a butler to ask, but would it be possible you could give these to your friend? I am sure he would be much happier to open the door to someone he knows."
"It's no problem Reginald. I'll take care of it. You can go ahead and rest. I don't think we'll be needing your services for a while anyways." Samantha responded with a smile, taking the folded pajamas and closing her bedroom door.
"Thank you young master. I'll be sure to wake you and your guest for breakfast when it is ready." Formally bowing to the young girl, Reginald smiled and gave a friendly wave before walking off down the hall, leaving Samantha on her own with clothes in hand.
"I can't believe he won't open the door for anybody. Maybe he fell asleep already?" Her bare feet walking along the cold tile floor beneath her, Samantha made her way down the long hallway that housed the room Superboy was placed in. Making her way to the door and moving her hand hand up to it, the brunette softly knocked on the door to try and signal her friend. "Superboy? Are you awake?"
No answer replied back.
"Hello? Superboy?" She called out, but made sure to keep her voice low so she didn't somehow alert her father. Who knew what he would do if he saw her trying to get in his room. "I guess I could just go inside." Reaching towards the door handle to open the door, the ice user stopped momentarily.
Would it... be a bad idea to walk inside?
'Of course it would be a bad idea you idiot! What would father think?! You're invading someone's personal space! And a guys' room no less! Her inner conscious screamed in her head.
Her face flushing a bit at her thoughts reminding her that she was going into a boys room, Samantha clutched the clothes in her hands tightly. "I-I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just going inside to give Superboy clothes. And check on him. That's all I'm doing."
Grabbing onto the door handle and gripping it tightly due to her nerves, Samantha shut her eyes tight and opened the door, making sure she couldn't see anything inside. "I-I'm coming in!"
Silence was the response she got. No sounds came back to her once she had opened the door, save for the light gust of wind that came from her swinging the room door open. A bit worried by the lack of noise or response, Samantha slowly opened her eyes to look into the room she had bursted into.
Nothing. Nobody was inside.
"S-Superboy?" Samantha called out, a bit confused at the sight she was seeing. The room decorated similarly to her own room but with varied furniture, seemed like it had barely ben touched. No pieces were moved, the bed somewhat used from the impression she could see, but no Superboy was there.
Walking into the room and scanning for any signs of the super clone, Samantha moved around the room to inspect every bit of the room. She knew sh had walked into the right room. Reginald himself had showed where Superboy would be sleeping after all.
Not finding any indication of him under the bed or in some dark corner, the brunette moved to the closet on the wall nearby. She hadn't checked there yet. Grabbing onto the dresser handles and pulling the doors wide open to look inside, the brunette shrieked and fell back on her butt, the sight of Superboy sleeping upright on his feet in the closet scaring the girl.
Eyes opening from the shriek, Superboy let his eyes focus and looked downward to Samantha, who was getting up from the ground. He didn't say anything, but Samantha could tell he had been awoken from a sleep.
"Superboy, what are you doing in the closet?" Samantha asked, rubbing her sore behind and picking up the clothes she had dropped.
Adjusting himself to pull himself out of the closet, Superboy walked out and stood right in front of the shorter brunette. "Not used to sleeping in a bed. The closet reminded me of the Cadmus pod, so I tried sleeping in there."
"The...Cadmus pod?" Samantha repeated, not sure if she understood Superboys' reason for his sleeping arrangements. "Um...I guess I can understand. You're not used to the bed and all, but you can't sleep in the closet every night. It's not good for you. Not to mention the bed is a lot more comfortable than sleeping on your feet." Samantha replied with a smile and shrug of her shoulders.
Brown iris staring back at his blue, the two stood in front of one another in a comfortable silence. It was during this time Samantha couldn't help but notice the features of Superboys' face as the two continued in their silent staring contest. His deep blue eyes, chiseled features, nice jawline. She hadn't had a chance to properly look at Superboy during their escapades at Cadmus, so now that a chance was here...Why couldn't she stop staring at him?
"Your eye."
"What?" Samantha quietly asked, feeling as if her voice had disappeared for a moment.
"Is your eye hurting still?" Superboy asked again, breaking the silence the two had shared.
Realizing that she had been caught staring, Samantha moved a bit on the heels of her feet and moved her hand to lightly touch her newly bandaged left eye. "It's...doing better. It isn't hurting as badly as it was before. Thank you for asking." Samantha replied, lowering her hand from her eye to rest on the clothes in her possession. Feeling the fabric in her hands, the teens' mind sparked back to life, realizing she had forgotten what it was she came into the room for.
"Oh yeah. I came here to give you these." Samantha said, doing her best to organize the clothes in her hands and show them to Superboy.
Nodding at Samanthas' answer about her eye, Superboy looked to the clothes she handed to him, grabbing them and inspecting them. A red pajamas shirt and plaid matching pants, along with a pair of newly bought boxers. "Thanks. What are these for?"
"They're for you to sleep in, duh." Samantha said. "Reginald, the man who showed you to your room, he though it'd be better you slept in clothes that weren't ripped up, so he sent you an old pair of fathers pajamas he doesn't use. Or he tried. You didn't answer when he knocked."
Looking at the clothes further and staring at the pajama shirt in his hands, Superboy moved his gaze back to look at Samantha. "So you want me to wear these?"
Unsure how to exactly answer Superboys' question, Samantha smiled. "Well, you don't have to wear them if you don't want to. They don't suck up solar rays like the suit you're wearing, but they are more comfortable to wear. It's your choice."
"My choice?" Superboy repeated, looking at the clothes again. A few seconds of silence filling the room as Samantha watched Superboy try to come up with a decision, the brunette looked with curiosity when Superboy shrugged his shoulders.
"Guess I'll wear them." Superboy said. Trying to figure out which way he was supposed to put on the clothes, Superboy grabbed onto the tatters of his solar suit he wore and pulled hard on them, watching as they were ripped off his body to further show off the muscled form of the teen.
"Wow wow wow! Stop!" Samantha cried out, quickly covering her one good eye and backing away from Superboy as he began his messy undressing.
"What?" Superboy asked, looking over to Samantha as he finished ripping off the last of his solar suit and grabbing the boxers off the floor.
"Y-You can't just change in front of a girl!" Samantha retorted, doing her best to keep her vision covered and turning her back to Superboy. "J-Just tell me when you're done. I can't open my eye until you're dressed."
Raising an eyebrow at the strange behavior the smaller teen was exhibiting Superboy shrugged and finished putting on the rest of the delivered clothes. "I'm done. You can open your eye now."
'You better be or this is going to get more awkward.' Samantha thought, her face feeling hot at the idea of seeing anything else inappropriate.
Slowly moving her fingers away bit by bit to clear her vision, Samantha sighed in relief and removed her hand when she looked to see the form of Superboy, now fully dressed in the pajamas she had given him, along with the tatters of his old solar suit around his feet. Rubbing her cheeks to try and make the heat in them disappear, Samantha sighed. "You really don't know how to act around women do you?"
"Didn't you already ask me that back at Cadmus?" Superboy asked, remembering a similar question being asked the day prior.
Raising her finger up to try and point out something to Superboy, Samantha dropped her remark, her body tired from the scare and just wanting to rest. "N-Never mind. Just make sure not to undress like that again when a girl is in the room. It isn't polite." The brunette warned, making sure the cloned boy understood.
"Okay." Superboy simply replied, staring back at Samantha with a mild look of confusion and uncertainty.
Smiling back to Superboy, Samantha gave a playful nudge of her fist to his shoulder and made her way to the door. "Get some rest okay? I'll come by in a couple of hours after we get a good nights...days sleep for breakfast. It'll be your first real breakfast and I promise it'll be fantastic. Reginald makes the best pancakes you'll ever eat."
Grabbing onto the door handle, Samantha turned the door knob and was about to head out.
"Winter?"
Stopping the doorknob mid turn, Samantha turned her head back to look to Superboy, a look of confusion on her face. Why had he called to her now? "Yes Superboy?"
Staring down at the floor for a few moments, the black haired teen moved his head upwards to stare face to face with the brunette. Eyes filled with what she guessed was hesitation, Superboy spoke. "Do you think Superman knows I'm here?"
'That's what's on his mind?' Samantha thought, her face faltering at the question being asked of her. What was she supposed to say? She couldn't lie to him, but she didn't know herself if he knew. In her mind she wanted to hope Superman was keeping tabs on Superboy, at least acknowledging his existence. He couldn't just ignore him.
"Yeah." Samantha answered back, a small smile appearing on her face. "I'm sure he knows." Samantha replied, hoping her words would help to ease the unknown worries inside the super boys' head.
Hearing her answer and a matching small smile showing on his own face, Superboy nodded. "Just asking."
"No problem. Good night Superboy." Giving one final friendly nod to her new room mate, Samantha opened the bed room door and headed out into the hallway, slowly closing the door behind her, but stopped for one last moment to peek her head back inside the room. "Oh and by the way, you can call me Samantha. Just don't tell anybody. Secret identity and all."
Laying down on his new makeshift sleeping arrangement, Superboy turned his head over to look back at Samantha who was at the doorway. "Got it. Good night...Samantha."
"Night." Smiling and closing the door to Superboys' room behind her, the brunette slowly made her way back to her own room, the silence of the hallway helping to relax the teens rapid thought process from overloading her. Opening the door to her room and softly closing it behind her, the young female heroine walked over to her bed and let out a groan, collapsing atop the covers and sheets of her bed.
Grabbing onto a large pillow on her bed and hugging it tight to her chest, the brunette cried a muffled scream into her pillow, doing her best to extinguish the bounds of energy now in her system from her encounter with Superboy.
"How am I going to get to sleep after that?" The ice user complained, burying her face further into the pillow she hugged close to herself.
Everything had gone by in a flash. The initiation, the revelation of the Justice League, Speedy leaving, the group heading to Cadmus, finding their hidden secrets, freeing Superboy, talking with him, escaping together, beating up Blockbuster, standing up against their mentors, explaining everything to her father, and now just recently having a very awkward encounter with Superboy.
Despite the hardship, the betrayal, the suffering, the physical pain, the emotional stress, and the rigorous effort the young ice user had put in and the events she went through, only one thing was going through her mind at 2:30 a.m..
Her heart seemed to race a lot when Superboy was around. And she still wasn't exactly sure why.