Half-Justice
A Stolen Beginning
Annabeth always wanted to go to Washington DC. Not only was it the home to several architectural landmarks, but it was also the home of the Hall of Justice. Headquarters to the Justice League, the greatest group of mortal heroes that the world had to offer. So when Percy made arrangements for the two of them to go and spend the weekend there for their anniversary before school started back up, her heart skipped a beat or two. Both of them have been superhero fans since they were 12; the two would talk about their exploits when she was teaching him ancient greek. It was the first thing that brought them together as friends, or at the very least, what made them less likely to yell at each other. Though they were out of the superhero loop for over 5 years, they were looking forward to maybe spotting Superman, Batman, or even Black Canary. Percy even heard that a couple of the big Leaguers were coming to town with their proteges in the next couple of days.
A day like this was something that Annabeth and Percy really needed. A sense of normalcy, re-exploring their interests, from the constant state of the end of the world without monsters, gods, titans, giants, and primordials. Just herself and her wonderful boyfriend. It felt similar to their one-month anniversary but without the sewers blowing up.
It was all taken away when Percy heard whispers from below the earth.
Aqualad was the most critical of the three about their operation to break into Cadumus's labs. While he shared in his friend's desire to be taken seriously, he would have preferred to air on the side of caution. This was a project that the entire League was going to undertake, and they had decided to look into it. At first, he was on board with it, a chance to prove himself to his king, his idol. Still, it weighed on his heart the reason for him doing this mission. Sure, a suspect of evil was being conducted here, but he and the others were here for their own gain and recognition. Was it truly right to go? Was he being selfish for doing this all on his own, or did that no matter in the grand scheme? Kaldur did his best to stern himself with away thoughts. He was on a mission now. Regardless of his reasons, there was still work to be done. He convinced himself it was something his king would have done in his place.
He felt the same betrayal as his friend Speedy did. His first step to being considered equal to his mentor a chance to do better in this world. Being lied to about the hall of justice, the Watchtower had all the secrets that made him feel small and a bit of a fool for looking forward to this day for so long. Not feeling trusted by the one person he had fought beside longer than everyone was a special kind of dagger in his throat. But it did not deter him, in fact, it drove him. It was a chance to show himself if he was worthy of stepping out of his King's shadow.
To prove to himself that he was worthy of being a Hero and the weight of the responsibility. To carry his own weight against the world, and to do it with dignity and honor the Atlantean name.
When the three of them finally arrived at Cadmus, a lab that warrants the suspicion of Batman, he knew that nothing could be let up to chance and had to do his best to keep his mind sharp and open to everything around them. Thoughts that were roughly ignored by the Kid-Flash that ran straight into the burning building. Using his super-speed, kid-flash ran up the side of the building and pulled two scientists out of the air before they fell out of the building.
Kaldur applauds his friend's quick thinking but disproves that he left the men stranded on the roof.
"So smooth," Robin, his fellow sidekick, taunted.
"Must he always run ahead? We need a plan we need to…" But before he could finish his thought, Batman's protege had already disappeared. Already making his way up the building and entering through the window.
'Showing off' Kaldur thought to himself. Though he didn't know what else to expect. He has known them longer and better than most Atlantian. The three of them were under the tutelage of the greatest heroes of the age. So, they met and did missions with each other for years. Each of them have grown much in skill, but not in practice.
Kuldur drew his water bearers and borrowed some water from the nearby firemen. Using his Atlantian sorcery he manipulated the water as an elevator flew up to the roof. There he guided the stranded scientist back down the ground and followed his friends in.
Robin was already at work, going through all the site's data files, while Kid-Flash was going through all the files he could find.
Aqualad glared at his friends. "Appreciate the help."
Batman's protege shot back a sly smile. "You handled it, besides we're here to investigate. Poetic Justice, remember?"
Kaldur left the two to their investigations. He then thought to search other parts of the lab to see if they could find anything or anyone of value. However, as he left the room he saw something out of the corner of his eye going down the elevator. He couldn't make out the whole figure, but from what he saw, there wasn't anything human about it. Kaldur saw the slightest hints of horns and a grim figure or that's what he thought he saw before the door closed with a slight ding.
"What is..." He said, trying to convince what he saw in his mind, luckily both robin and kid-flash followed his confusion. Both coming around the door at the sound of it closing.
"Elevators should be locked down," Kid-flashed noticed running to his side, Kaldur understood. The smoke detectors should have disabled all of the elevators in this building. Robin ran ahead of him, looking over the building.
"That can't be right" He tapped his mobile computer and opened up the building's schematics. "This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building."
"Neither did what I saw," Kaldur confirmed. Something was deeply wrong in this place. His doubts about going behind his king were slowly disappearing. Now they know that the real secret of this place was not above but below like the monsters of old used to dwell. Wasting no time, he pried open the elevator shaft. The group looked down and saw the closest thing Kaldur had seen to a bottomless pit.
"This is probably why they had an express elevator," Robin noted, and without any second to spare, launched his grappling hook to the top of the shaft and descended downwards. Kaldur followed suit and followed his friend down the dark abyss, without a second thought. After a couple of seconds that were practically pre-falling Robin's line slowly came to a halt.
"I am at the end of the rope," the crime fighter joked. But Kaldur was now more alert than ever. Robin's grappling hook is used to propel him up and around skyscrapers. Even now when he was at the end of it, they were nowhere near the bottom. Kaldur looked at the nearest elevator door, floor 26. Might as well start here, a thought that his other friends had as well. Robin quickly had his screen open, no doubt to bypass the system's security to help them move across the lab unnoticed.
"Bypassing security...Huh," Robin said, narrowing his eyes on his arm screen.
"What is it?" Kuldur asked
"Someone has already disabled the security for the elevator hatch," Robin said, looking at projections.
"How can you tell?" Kid Flash asked.
Robin studied his screen a bit more. Pulling up a wall of code and started analyzing each code line by line. "My algorithms are fast, but they aren't instant. The unlocking mechanisms have already been breached."
"Can you tell who?" Kuldur asked. Perhaps another league member had already had the idea of infiltrating the lab. If so they needed to get out of their way fast.
"I can only see their traces, so I can't really say." Robin stated, "But it's recent, their server seemed to be accessed within the past couple of days but the doors were overridden within the past hour."
"You mean back when this fire started?" Kid flash asked suspiciously.
"It looks like he wasn't the only person investigating Cadmus."
slightly earlier
Percy was realizing two things, the first is that this was slowly but surely going to be another Cacus incident and that a two-story elevator really shouldn't be taking this long to get to the bottom floor.
Annabeth and Percy had been studying this building for the past two days. Ever since they first came to this city. All Percy wanted to do was look at the sights (aka Annabeth) and enjoy their time off. However, since he stepped foot off the bus, the city felt off. His paranoia was increasing, and everything around him felt like everything shifted slightly to the left. He started feeling whispers and low buzzes coming from beneath his feet which weirdly kept his thoughts about this to himself, didn't want to ruin another anniversary with her, but things changed when they were taking a stroll downtown and a voice whispered into his head.
"So you have come?"
The voice was certain and stated its question more like a statement, whether out of curiosity. It freaked both him and Annabeth out when he first heard it. His girlfriend was understandably upset that Percy tried to keep something from her but her tune changed when they found the source of his whispers.
Cadmus labs.
"Okay" Percy after 5 minutes of just looking at the sign. "This has a monster donut all over it."
"Agreed"
Just like that Annabeth and he decided to figure out what was going on in Washington DC. Infiltrating the building was not as hard as they thought it would be. They stole some outfits, and let the mist deal with the rest. Percy thought that he would be able to find out immediately what was going on here, but there was not a lot of stuff he could find. Most of the mortals in the building were definitely being affected by something. He was reminded by the passengers from Princess Andromeda all those years ago, all seemed unfocus and going through the motions. All the doctors were typing on a computer that wasn't even on, cabinets were filled with McDonald's receipts that have been printed on what Annabeth says is 12x8 paper, and all the talk in the breakroom was a 3-year-old football game.
Yeah, there was something wrong here. But we couldn't find the monster or its spawns. But something was going on, luckily, Annabeth noticed something weird about the elevator, noticeably that it was an express elevator. Meaning that it had the power to travel at least 30 Miles per hour. Which apparently didn't make sense in a 2 story building. Adding up to that, the building's access codes were heavily encrypted (whatever that meant) that only some of the staff members could even go down the elevator, much less two teenagers with fake IDs. Annabeth had something to get through the elevator but the mortal security around the place was pretty high, making the Hephaestus cabin security seeming reasonable. So they needed a distraction, something to throw everyone or anything in this building for a loop.
Like always Annabeth had a plan that quite simply came out of nowhere. With that in place, both Annabeth and Percy met in the elevator and from there Annabeth took out her iDad and began implementing the controls override.
"Ok, by the look of things, we have access to the bottom-most of the bottom floors." She said, "Do you have any Idea where this monster nest is, Percy?"
Percy concentrated once again. He felt for the voices and scratches he was getting. It was prevalent throughout the entire base, but two distinct locations were popping up in his mind. He searched the feeling in his gut
"I think down," Percy said, being hard to gauge the source of was like trying to guess the tune of an out-of-tuned kazoo on a Monday morning. His father was the god of the oceans and earthquakes, not underground and elevators. "Any idea on what nest this could be?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Cadmus might be on the nose, but I am thinking a Drakon, Lydian, or an Aethiopian"
"Do you think we should have called back at Camp?" Reinforcements are preferable when it comes to Drakons in Percy's professional opinion.
"I left a message to Chiron that we found a hive. So that's why we are scouting the area," Annabeth she told him. "We have to move swiftly, the longer a hive is active the bigger threat it would bring us. Not saying that this is an ideal situation, but it's one that I am working on."
Percy nodded, if Annabeth said she had a plan or even half a one he knew that it was something that should at least be worthy of trying. Still, it was pretty weird seeing Annabeth so gun-ho, about this. Not that his girlfriend isn't one to take initiative, Annabeth is all about that, and one of the many reasons why he loves her so much. But something about her has seen off recently, she hasn't been acting differently since she saw Cadmus Lab. Perhaps she was having flashbacks to their previous time they had to fight monsters on an anniversary.
On the other hand, they were literally the most powerful duo in the modern Greco-Roman world so maybe it was her hubris that was doing the talking. Take that batman and robin.
"We are heading down to the lower levels, it should be easy sailing from..." she started to say, but the elevator came in, and one of the lead scientists in the facility, Dr. Spence. And she was not too happy to see two children in her top-secret elevator
"What are you doing here" The doctor demanded
Annabeth and Percy blinked in unison. Why was she doing so deep within the hive? They haven't seen a lot of the doctor since the two infiltrated the building, she was always working and shuffling papers for the equally busy and non-appearing Dr. Desmond, the latter of whom they haven't seen since the first day.
Quickly acting to her feet, Annabeth snapped her fingers. "I am Annabel, your intern. We came down to inform you about the fire."
Percy prayed as fast as he could under his breath. The intern disguise is what the two of them have been using since they got here, Annabeth convinced them all that she was an intern there for the past 6 months and everyone had bought it up. Considering how many of them were already in the mist, it wasn't that hard to do. Percy also had a disguise but he didn't like it or appreciate it as much as Annabeth did hers.
"Annabel?" She said, initially fighting off the mist before her mind settled on the illusion that Annabeth suggested."Yes, my Intern... What was that about a fire in the above lab?"
Percy did not like how she emphasized the 'above' in that sentence.
"It seems someone threw a cigarette in the recycling bin. Next thing we knew the whole building was going up in smoke" Annabeth said, continuing her facade "We were coming to see if there was anything to salvage before we evacuated."
The doctor nodded along to Annabeth's narrative."Yes, well I appreciate the incisive Annabel but rest assured our purpose here our work is more than protected. As Dr. Bransome says, no matter what happens in the faux lab upstairs won't reflect our effect on our work."
Percy really didn't like that last sentence. Just what was going on inside this hive?
Dr. Spence's eyes narrowed on Percy. "And why did you bring the Janitor with you? He doesn't have the clearance."
Percy grimminced at the mention of his job. He doesn't know why the mist made him a janitor but Annabeth an intern. The past two days had given him a nasty reminder of cleaning up after horses during Macey's Day Parade from his younger days. You would think that being disguised and undercover would excuse you out of actually doing his chores but you would be wrong. So wrong.
"Well, about that..." Annabeth started to see.
"I was scared of the fire!" Percy blurted out. "I ran and hid here."
"You hid in an elevator during a fire?" the doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I am not good under pressure," Percy admitted, his forehead starting to sweat. Manipulating a mortal's mind with the mist isn't easy and the effects don't last very long. Mortals, while foolish, can break away from the illusion if the mist wielder isn't too careful. Annabeth was certainly better than he was, so Percy hoped that the effects would continue. He could see the mist still operating in her mind, working against her rational thought.
"Guardian isn't going to like this" She admitted, "I am going to have to report you later."
Percy breathed a sigh of relief.
"In the meantime." She checked on the door numbers, then pointed at the front of the elevator. "Annabel, I am going to need your help with some attunement for project Kr"
Percy's eyes widened. 'What's that?'. Annabeth continued to keep up her award-winning poker face and simply nodded like she knew what she was talking about. It might have fooled anyone else, but Percy could tell she was just as surprised as he was.
"Yes, of course," said Annabeth, "Do you think it is wise to continue working while the lab is on fire?"
"Yes I am sure," Dr. Spence said, "We have all the tools we need down on sublevel 52."
Annabeth nodded. Percy doesn't know what is going on inside her head, but she sure did know how to improve when she needed it to. Hopefully the same can be implied for scientific or magical tools.
"As for you," Spence said, turning her attention back to Percy, and all of a sudden her expression froze. For a moment Percy thought that she broke through the illusion, but her face quickly hardened back to what it was previously. "You are going to stay outside. Right in front of the elevator, and nowhere else."
"What?" Percy said.
"Ma'am?" Annabeth asked with a hint of panic in her voice
"I will send for Guardian to go after you, and he will take you back up. Personally. But in the meantime, don't touch anything, and don't go wandering off. Or I will see that you will get your Severance package with no benefits!" She
Percy doesn't know what a Severance Package is, but what he gathered from the tone and the agency in her voice was that it wasn't going to be fun. He felt a sick feeling in his gut as well. Annabeth and he were deep in the monster territory and she expected to split Percy and Annabeth up. Call him old fashioned, but Percy doesn't like the feeling of letting Annabeth alone with potentially life-endangering threats. What if something happened, and the two got separated? How will they meet up?
"I..." He started to protest.
"You heard the lady," Annabeth said, grabbing Percy by the shoulders and started pushing him out. "Just stay put."
"But I..." Percy began to say something. As he turned around, Annabeth stopped him.
"Joel," Annabeth said, glancing back at the good doctor, seeing if she would buy the fake name. "It's fine."
Percy looked into Annabeth's eyes, and he saw something beyond the storminess and calculation that normally was behind them. Both of them knew each other very well, too well according to Grover. While they don't have an empathy link like he and the g-man have, Percy have been able to understand and decipher Annabeth's by looking into her eyes. He and Annabeth have had several conversations with each other just by having a staring contest. Granted it was a bit cliche, but it was very helpful in times like these. And the message that his girlfriend was trying to tell him was crystal clear. 'Don't worry, go see what you find. We will meet up here in an hour. Don't die.'
Or it could have been 'You can always retake the SAT's' it was a very contextual language.
He nodded, and the elevator doors began to close, and before Annabeth's face disappeared behind the door, Percy shot her a 'Love you'. Which prompted a small smile. That disappeared behind the door.
Percy took a moment to process this, remembering his breathing exercises, he took a deep breath, and turned around to get a good look at the area. He almost did a double-take, because the place was massive. The hallway he was standing alone was twice as wide as the entire building. The walls were gutted from the solid stone, and the walls and floors were coated with a metallic red light and machines back to back making a soft hum every passing second. He would have thought that he was on a spaceship if he didn't come here by elevator. He started to think that perhaps Drakons didn't build this place.
"Dear Minverva, just how big is this place?" He wondered out loud, looking around at the corridors that surrounded him. He took a second and leaned back onto the walls by the elevator just to take in the place. Then he felt something unevenly in his back pockets, which was weird he didn't have his wallet in the back pocket. He reached around and pulled out something that definitely wasn't there a few seconds ago.
A smile crept up on Percy's face as he gazed upon a flattened New York Yankees cap, and her iDad all folded up in the back of his pocket.
"Gods I love that woman," Percy said, before putting the cap on his head and disappearing into the lab.
'It's not Tartarus, it's just an elevator' Annabeth told herself, as she descended the elevator.
She doesn't like the idea of leaving Percy alone in the elevator anymore than he did. However, things are quickly getting out of hand, and wilder and wilder with each passing minute. Dr. Spence here was proof of that. Annabeth quickly glanced at the doctor. Essentially it's because of her that they had to make such drastic changes to their plan. For instance, Annabeth knew that much, but her mind is not boggled, unlike the ones upstairs. She isn't clear-sighted either. Otherwise, she wouldn't have fallen for her mist tricks. She doesn't seem to be a captive, and the workspace below the lab seems to be a priority. She hasn't tried to kill her yet so she couldn't be a monster, they are never so patient.
So Annabeth had to act fast, preferably she would have wanted Percy to come with her but for whatever reason, the Mist always keeps giving him the identity of a janitor. Preferably she would have wanted to manipulate the mist for the time being, but she was afraid of using it so bluntly. Controlling the mist is not some hypnotic superpower, but a tool that must be used carefully. As a half-blood, she has some control over the mist, but it does not answer her beck and call. Using the mist is a lot like walking a tightrope, on ice skates. If you are not careful, the connection could snap and send someone to their doom.
Then there was the fact that the woman's behavior. She does not doubt that Percy noticed it too, but something encouraged the good doctor to make Percy stay at that level. Level 26, so something was going on there. It wasn't a mist, but she did seem to be put under some sort of trance. Someone was expecting Percy? Perhaps it's the same thing that called the two of them to this lab in the first place? At the same time, the mortal commented something about this project Kr and it was something that the mist was guiding her towards.
"So you and Joel huh?" The doctor asked
The question had knocked Annabeth out of her strategy trance.
"Excuse me?"
"There have been rumors going on that you two have been dancing around each other for the past month" She continued
"What do you..." Annabeth said to her faux mentor.
"It doesn't matter either way," She said sternly, "Though I should remind you of our inter workplace relationship policy. Which is none! You are a talented young lady, don't ruin your chances here with something so trivial."
Annabeth's knuckles cracked from her own grip. "Forgive me, Doctor but I don't know what you are referring to." Doing her best to hide her strain in her voice. She knows the doctor doesn't know her, but she hates it how people instantly judge her and Percy's relationship.
Cadmus, whatever this place is, it's dangerous. Dr. Spence and who knows what else is working with outright dangerous forces. However, they need to know more. She is in a perfect position with her disguise but Percy needed to be more inconspicuous. So Annabeth lent her boyfriend her invisibility cap. So he can move around, find what's going on and meet up with her on the lower floor. From then the two would leave and call for reinforcements from the camp.
"As I said, I don't care," the doctor said coldly. "Just be wary, it took a lot of convincing to let the boss and guardian get you down here. They are impressed with your handling of the Genomes. You might want to separate yourself from Joel after that debacle"
Before Annabeth could extrapolate what on earth a genome was, there was a ding and the elevator door opened. Annabeth looked out in the door and did her best attempt to hold back a gasp.
She had seen many monsters, both from her pantheon and from others, but this was something entirely different. A creature before her, dressed in the same lab coat as was covered head to toe in light blue scales. Two horns poked out of its domed head thick as elephant tusks, and far sharper. It was tall, almost as tall as her, and was well poised, as it had whatever it had for hands held behind its back. Walking around with a fine dignitary pose. Annabeth fought hard against her instinct to reach for her sword.
"Doctor, Annabel," He said with a fine pose. "A pleasure"
Annabeth blinked, it knew her name, well her fake name. The one that she made to feed the mist illusion. She didn't even need to reapply the mist here. All it did was stare at her, and she got a feeling that it couldn't be fooled easily. 'What is this thing?'
Dr. Spence must have noticed Annabeth's reaction and made a point to call Annabeth out on it.
"Still surprised by Dubbilex Annabel?" Dr. Spence half-mentions. "You have been around enough genomorphs to get used to him by now."
'Genomorphs?' Annabeth has never heard of those creatures before. It didn't ring any bells, from her memory only from her alarm bells were going off. Could it be an alien species? She is told that Aliens are a thing now, but she never really had a chance to go dig into it with two wars going on. Then again, Superman has been around for years so Annabeth really didn't have much of an excuse.
"I take no offense, Doctor" The creature added. Waving his scaly hands at her. "I have an effect on people. It's partially why I was bred this way I presumed."
He looked over, to Dr. Spence giving her a strange look. Annabeth wondered what it was, but to horror, the creature was looking for confirmation. Did Cadmus make him?
"You will have to ask the board for that" Spence said stoically, not giving the creature a direct answer.
"Indeed," Dubbilex said. "In the meantime, I have to speak to the Guardian."
"Is it about the fire?" The Doctor asked.
"I am aware of the fire and its origins." He said, and Annabeth could have sworn that its red eyes slowly moved towards Annabeth for only a glance and then back to the doctor. In Annabeth's defense, it had gotten her this far even if it wasn't any of her brighter ones.
"One of our brothers has spotted an intruder in one of the sub-labs," He said
Annabeth felt her heart stop for a bit. Percy couldn't have been found out already. She had given him her invisibility hat, to avoid this possible situation! Then again, she doesn't know what powers these genomorphs possess.
"Is it the league?" Spence asked
Annabeth flinched 'The League, as in the Justice League?' She didn't even consider this to be an option. Superheroes have been far-far removed from Annabeth's life for so long, she hasn't given them or their problems much thought. Seems that she was going to pay for that hubris. What have she and Percy gotten into?
"Unclear," the horned man said. "My brothers didn't give a precise description of them"
'Them?' Annabeth thought. More than one, and since Percy claims he can't make water clones, the chances of it being him are lower, but with Percy, the chance of a failed stealth is never zero. For the time he's safe or that's why she tries to say to her fidgeting, she has to remain calm. She has come this far, might as well see how far it goes before she runs to the hills.
"Well, we won't keep you," Spence said as she got out of the lift. "Come along then, Annabel"
Annabeth followed suit, tagging quietly behind the good doctor.
"It was nice meeting you then." She heard Dubbilex say in a calm voice. "Annabeth"
He added that last mention under his breath, but a certain ring like he was standing right over her shoulder. The daughter of Athena violently turned and saw the creature board the elevator and the doors close around him some 10 yards away.
Sub lab 26
"No. Nothing odd going on here."
Aqualad stared gawking at the mammoth creatures that were passing him. He heard of the largest land creature, the elephant, but these things are 30 feet tall. Crowning the halls with every step they took. These massive creatures were like a weird mixture of a Great Ape and Sea hydra, their backs hunched, and their entire body was covered in blue scales. One took one look at the sidekicks and let out a roar that rivaled that of a Krakens call, then turned and paid them no mind.
"What is that thing?" Kid–Flash yelled after the herd had traveled away.
"I don't know, but we must be hidden," Kaldur told his friends "A commission with these creatures would be most unwise."
Kid-flash nodded in agreement. "Okay, so where do we go next? This place is huge it could take a lifetime to find anything"
"Yes, like the labyrinth of old" Kaldur recalled the old tale. "Robin did you get the schematics of this level"
"Already on it". Robin pulled out his holographic view of the building. A list of the rooms and boards opened up each one a construct of light, as the boy's wonderful eyes danced around the page.
"Ok, this is really weird," Robin said. "Each floor here that I have access to has a generator room. Every single floor and the power outage from it is enough to power Gotham to the moon?"
"Where is the one on this floor?"
But Robin had already taken off, Kaldur and flash barely caught up with him as he turned the corner. It was an annoying part of working with him, but Kalfur has always admired Robin's proficiency in stealth. He had heard tales of Batman's skills to vanish without a trace from his days in Atlantis, it was always a debate about whether it was magic or skill. Kaldur was happy to know the answer to it, though it did get old at times, especially when he was laughing as he did it.
It took a bit of weaving around some other creatures but they eventually found their way to a room where Robin was already accessing the door. Kaldur signaled to flash to check ahead to see if anyone was trailing them or if they were at risk, meanwhile Kaldur activated his water gauntlets and stood back to protect his friend if need be.
"How long before the door's open," Kaldur asked
"It already unlocked it, has been for the past 15, minutes," Robin said
"What was that?" Kid Flash said speeding back in.
"Someone beat us here," Robin said typing away at the hologram. "I am just trying to see if I can get any more information. "
"Was it the same person who hacked the elevator?" Kid flash said while eating his backup banana.
"Maybe still," Robin said, eyeing the code. "The security sensors are still online but the door is open. Whatever came through knew what they are doing"
"Do we really have the time for this?" Kaldur questioned "We don't need to bite off more than we can chew"
Robin grunted, relenting his curiosity to the mission, and activated the door panel. The two stepped inside and were almost blinded by what they saw. Walls to wall were covered in an electric glass bubble. Each one had another creature in them, a creature not unlike the mammoth they ran by earlier. Each one discharges a blinding amount of lightning, seemingly enough to power this entire facility 3 times over. Maybe even Atlantis.
Kid flash had also picked up on this. "This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world" Kid Flash looks around his face mired in disgust for what's happening to these creatures. "It generates its own power with these… things. Must be what they're bred for."
"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad said, reminding himself of the old stories. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth."
"Ehh, a bit of a stretch"
Several things happened in Kaldur's mind. He instinctively reacts to the other voice, knowing exactly where it came from and where he stood. Instinctively he threw a water javelin at the source. It was a blur, but he was able to hit his target. Knocking him to the ground. Robin and Flash followed suit punching and throwing shurikens alike, surrounding what they thought was a dangerous villain, but was in turn someone else, a boy his age.
"Umm Hello," The boy said
He couldn't have been any older than Kaldur, a boy, 16 or 17. At first, there was nothing of the boy that Kaldur took note of, he was a standard teenager resembling a couple of kids from a normal high school. What stood out to him though was his green eyes. They were adamant and almost shined in the dark light of the building. The teen's eyes were filled with intense emotion, but quickly became utter confusion when he took in his surroundings.
"Who are you," Robin asked
"Oh, I am just the Janitor," said the teen.
"A janitor?" Kaldur said. He blinked, and his vision cleared. He was in a brown zipped-up uniform, with the word Cadmus written on the top right corner. A crumpled hat was lying on the ground next to him. And the item in his hand was a mop? He was sure that was not what he saw earlier. It looked bronze, perhaps the stress of the day had caught up with him. But where did he come from? Or why was he hiding?
"Aren't you a little young?" Kaldur included.
"You're never too young to break out into a career" the boy spoke quickly, before quickly putting his 'broom?' behind his back.
"A career" Kid-flash spoke, trying to find justification. "In Janitoring"
"Yeah" He started talking fast. "If it wasn't I had to speak to my union rep because we all know how that goes" He added a joke.
"Is it a villain union?" Kid flash asked. "Because this is a fairly obvious villain lair"
"No, but they did fail to disclose giant monsters walking around so maybe the Union is in fact evil." The boy added glancing at the monsters on the wall. And now that you mention it does give off a villain lair doesn't it. We should have asked for better benefits"
The boy's eyes narrowed on the group. "Wait, hold on. You guys are superhero sidekicks right. Robin, Kid-Flash, and Aqualad. What are you doing here?"
"Hero work of course," Kid Flash said with a hearty grin. The janitor's eyes widened as he took in all of them. Almost that he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Kaldur could sense a spec of childish wonder coming from his eyes.
Robin, leaned into him, giving him a questioning look that broke whatever spell the three of them had when they entered.
"You seem familiar," Robin said to him, his eyes layering into him. "Have Batman and I taken you to Arkham before"
"No," the teenager told the both of them. "Haven't been in new jersey, except that one time in 6th grade"
Robin's face studied him for a second, then reached into his utility belt and pulled out a long piece of black rope, and threw it at kid-flash. "Tie him up" and before Kaldur had the chance to protest the young speedster tied him up before either of them had the chance to blink. Janitor-kid raised his objections to this of course but none of the other teenagers listened to him.
"Ok, is this really necessary" he barked
"Sorry, J-boy can't have you run off and tell your bosses that we're here." Kid-Flash sped around. "Got anything, Robin?"
Robin made his way into the terminal, at the center of the room. With a couple of clicks of his virtual buttons, he was able to access the terminal. "You were right, Cadmus makes new life here!" He looked through and saw multiple images of scaley beasts, the mammoth creatures, and the bugs that were kept in there were only 2 of dozens of different kinds. All were born and bred in this lab. Kaldur's skin crawled at this revelation. These guys were breeding an army of monsters. Batman had every right to be suspicious of this place. "They call them Genomorphs." Robin told the group"Whoa! Look at the stats on these things- super-strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons."
"Wait, they are creating these monsters here? With science?" the captor said, his eyes widened in shock. "Is that even...possible"
"Yes, very much like Cadmus of old," Kaldur said Mesmerized by the creatures bred here.
"That's not how it went."
The comment breaks the three out of their shocked expression. The Janitor kid sat up, in their ropes. Looking a bit irritated by his situation.
"Umm...Excuse me?"
"Cadmus's story," He told them "He doesn't create new life, he summons skeletons from the underworld. Technically they were already dead"
"I don't think that's the issue here buddy," Kid-flash told him "Your bosses are making an army that can probably take on the justice league."
"Hey, when you spend a week learning the myths so you can pass the 6th grade you best believe that I am going to make it stick." He argued back.
"What my friend means to say is that we have bigger problems here" Kaldur interrupted before Kid-Flash can make a retort.
"Wait," Robin interjected "There's something else"
Robin looked deeper into the lines of code and brought up a different file from the one that was brought up by a terminal. "Project Kr"
The janitor's head jolted right up when he said that. "Kr?"
"You know about it?" Kaldur asked
"Only that it's an important research project on the 52nd floor" He admitted, "I wasn't able to find anything else"
"Anything else?" Robin asked, "What were you..."
His voice trailed off, he looked quickly from the dash to the tablet on the ground. Kaldur's eyes widen a bit, he had forgotten that it was there. Kaldur looked at it carefully this time. It appeared to be a first-generation iPad just standing in the corner of the room. It was robust and thick like all other ancient tablets but instead of an apple logo, there was a soft triangle that had a faint glow of blue.
"Wait," Robin asked, seemingly concluding some kind. "Did you..."
And before Kaldur was able to put together a similar thought, a commanding voice echoed through the room.
"Freeze!"
All the side-kicks turned, and an army of these genomorphs had surrounded them, all of them scaley and dragonlike but walking on their front legs. All of their eyes were blood red, staring into the 4 of them. Their claws and scales sharpened, and they seemed all but eager to come and take them down. In front of them was a Hero, someone that Kaldure recognized from his studies before he became Aquaman's apprentice. Guardian, the hero with the unstoppable shield. He was primed with his signature golden shield and a matching gold helmet, similar to the human knights of old as well as dark blue armor fashioned by some human alloy.
But why was a hero, respected by the Justice League, doing here? Indeed the league didn't send him here, could he have been the other infiltrator? Then why did he have an army of creatures?
"Aqualad, Robin, Kid - Flash and..." His eyes focused on the one behind them both. Kaldur heard a snap coming from behind him, not deterred from being distracted he felt a wave of warmth enters his brain. "Joel? what are you 4 doing down here"
"I know you" Kaldur recognized the golden man standing before them. "Your Guardian, a hero"
"Really?" Joel the Janitor told them.
"I do my best" Guardian replied, ignoring his employee's comment and giving him a weird look.
Kid flash zoomed to the front. "Then what are you doing here?"
"I'm Chief of Security," Guardian responds. "You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, and figure this out. And Joel we can talk to your Union rep about how to deal with this"
"So wait, you are part of a villain union?" Kid-flash asks
"Villains don't have a union," Gaudian responded, "That would be ridiculous. Also, villains what are you talking about"
"Oh no," Joel said to himself from behind them. Once again snapping his fingers.
"I mean breeding an entire army of creatures, in a secret underground bunker" Kid-flash complains, flailing extremely at all the monsters around them. "I mean they scream evil"
"No, this is just an ... archaeological research lab," He said to himself, but his words were coming off as unsure. Kaldur noticed this, why was he so unsure of himself. Robin's eyes widened at the statement. Something was wrong with the hero.
"You also its bad villain raptor for having your janitors having free reign of your secret lab"
"Speed-boy shut up," Joel said to them. Gritting through his teeth.
"Kid-flash," He said, but now his eye broke contact with the two of them. "Wait why do we have our janitors down here that's against protocol. No, wait…"
"Shit" he muttered
"We don't have janitors!" He barked out loud. His eye widens in desperation.
The entire team froze and turned his eyes on Joel. Kaldur finally realized, Joel or whatever his real name was, is the one responsible for the break-in. the tablet is probably how he gained access to the building in the first place. He was probably undercover, and the fire was the perfect opportunity to investigate. This was another hero's sting and they just trampled all over it.
'Joel' sighed. "You really couldn't just wait for an hour could you?"
A sharp ripping noise rang through the air, as the faux janitor jumped to his feet, one of Robin's bird shurikens in hand. He grabbed his broom and charged at Guardian, meeting his golden shield. Guardian recovered from the broom strike faster than the rest of them, and immediately pushed the boy back. He held out his goons, only wanting to fight his employer head-on. The Genomes then pelted toward the broom-swaying hero. Kaldur and Robin instinctively went on the defensive
"Well seeing as I am already here," the faux Joel said, "Might as well tell me, what are you doing with all these creatures?"
"None of your business, it's company secret"
"A company secret is about building an army of monsters?"
"Monsters?" Guardian blinked "What are you-?" Suddenly the creatures on his shoulders began to glow distracting him, and the janitor found the perfect moment to elbow him in the face. Pushing the shield hero back.
"Uggg" he groaned, he said shaking his head. For a moment, his eyes became clear and his pupil undilated. "What's going on? What have I-?"
He gripped his head as a significant hum, accompanied by another red glow from his parrot creature. Guardian's face steeled down, and a gritty determination appeared. "Take them down hard! No mercy!"
Now the beast attacked all 4 of them. Their strengths and reflexes were much sharper than before. Kaldur did his best to dodge each strike each stroke, but he knew that one hit with their claws would cut his Atlantean skin. Joel was aware of this as well, using his broom to block the creature's strikes, and parry them with his own. In a swift defensive slash, the unnamed hero made a jab at the creature's right ear, cutting it clean off. Something that threw the broomsmen off guard.
'Impressive' Kaldur recalled briefly before hitting a nearby creature with his water ballot. Sending it flying, however, two more charged in to take its place.
Robin chose this moment to drop a smoke bomb, scattering the enemies. Two creatures were not deterred, one jumped on his back, and another tried to attack him from the side. Kaldur quickly flipped the first one off his back and delivered a device kick to the other one's stomach. In his peripheral vision, he saw kid-flash barely able to doge and fight off these dragon-gremlins with his super-speed. Kaldur needed to assist his friend, but Guardian charged right into him knocking him from his feet to the ground and to the nearby wall.
Kaldur, quickly regained his feet when Guardian charged back in. Guardian there a series of punches, and Kulder returned the favor and doing their best to keep up with the well-trained hero. He was relentless and strong for a land dweller, he pinned Kaldur against the wall. Kaldur then powered up his shockers to incapacitate him but was saved by a good square punch to his face.
"You alright" Joel offered
"Yes, I'm fine," Kaldur "Lookout!"
Joel turned and just barely dodged a punch from Guardian and returned with a couple of sweeps of his broom all hitting his shield with the occasional jabs. Kaldur also joined in swishing his water jets. Before knocking back Guardian once again.
"GG you two" Kidlfash said speeding up to them both "But I think it's time for us to go"
With a simple nod, the three of them ran out into the hallway and ran into Robin. Who Kaldur just realized hasn't been in the fight since he threw down the smoke grenade. While Kaldur realized that he was probably trying to secure the escape, Kid-Flash didn't seem to appreciate the sentiment.
"Way to be a team player Rob!" He accused the Boy Wonder.
Robin looked shocked, like he didn't realize that the three of them weren't actually with him. "Weren't you right behind me"
"Just open the door," Joel shouted as he was catching up with the two of them. The elevator doors flooded open with a beep, and the four rushed in just as the creatures closed in.
Kaldur heard 'Joel' take in deep breaths. "So," he said awkwardly. "You're the sidekicks, right? Nice to meet you."
Kaldur didn't mean to glare, but all three of them were too exhausted and tired to be called sidekicks. Today of all days, was not the time to call them sidekicks. He recognized the faces they were making and cringed at his choice of words.
"Poor choice of words?" He said, somewhat apologizing. "Sorry it's just weird seeing you all in person and not on a screen"
"It's fine," Kaldur feeling bad about his abrupt glare. He offered his hand to the newfound hero. "Thanks for the assist"
"No problem," he said with a nice small smile and accepted it. "I'm guessing it been a weird day for all of us"
"Speaking of which," Kid-flash pointed at the elevator numbers they jumped into, much to Kaldur's shock. "We are going down?"
"Excuse me?" Robin asked. "You heard the fake Janitor, Project Kr it's down on Sub-level 52."
Kaldur shook his head. They had already found way more than they originally wanted. This was already at least a bravo-level league emergency. And they were heading in double-blinded, with no backup. He began to pace up and down the elevator as the button beeps.
"Wow this is another Cacus incident" he heard the faux Joel say.
He doesn't know what that means, but he thinks it means that all four of them are in over their heads. Something that Aqualad was a bit too hesitant to agree to. "Perhaps we should contact the League."
"Oh, you guys didn't do that either," Joel asked, and met with another round of mean glances.
"Who are you?!" Kid-Flash yelled.
Kaldur was going to argue, but he had a point. Who was this person, up until 2 minutes ago he was just a janitor? But now he realizes that was a far too rushed judgment to make. He knew now that this kid had infiltrated a heavily secret lair and was able to go hand-to-hand with a seasoned hero. He wasn't a civilian or a normal one anyway, but that means that he purposely came down here. He was probably looking for the same thing that Batman was looking for. If Kaldur had to guess, he was a rookie hero, a vigilante if his English is correct. A bit suspicious and coincidental, but who is Kaldur to look at the 3 fates in the eye?
"You are another hero I presume," he asked "A freelancer?"
"Umm, I dabble," 'Joel' said, scratching the back of his head. "Me and my...partner found this place earlier. We were planning on just scouting this place out before we got separated"
"Okay, Dabbler what do they call you?" Kid-flash asked mockingly.
"Call me?" He said, somewhat confused by the question. "Umm Perseus mostly."
"Perseus?" Robin muttered to himself "Perseus..."
"What about it," the new hero asked.
Robin opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the beeping of the elevator. They had arrived on floor 52, and it was like they weren't even underground anymore. The metal floor and stone walls were replaced with red veiny walls and polished blood-red floors. It was as if they exited a spaceship and entered the stomach of a leviathan. Kaldur remembered his desire to contact the league, but Robin had advanced deeper into the floor.
"I mean we are already here," Kid-flash said before running off and joining him.
Kaldur let out a big sigh as Perseus walked out of the doorway and followed after them in a more curious walk. He looked back at Kaldur, saw his disgruntled face, and weirdly gestured to the way the two were going. "I mean, I was already going to head this was already"
He let out another resigned sigh, and the two of them ran off into the darkness. He prayed to Poseidon and Oceanus to protect his friends and for and was content with the road fate had placed in his way.
AN: Alright, another Percy Jackson/HoO/ToA story. Making it the 3rd story I made in over 6 years.
The inspiration for this story is simple. Percy being a superhero is always a cool premise. Some good Avengers/Dc crossovers have him, team up with them and they are a nice small read from time to time. But then I read Percy Jackson/Young Justice tags and I have some thoughts.
Because why on earth are there so many stories where Percy Joins the team but not Annabeth? It's so weird and unrealistic because she is a badass, and can canonically beat up anyone she puts her mind to she would make a great superhero, just like Percy. And they always have them break up for some reason or another (won't name names, it's their stories and their business and they're are otherwise pretty good stories) and say that they couldn't find a reason for her to be on the team as well. I really didn't like that so I made up my own story where both Annabeth and Percy will both join the team and be a healthy couple and still kicks ass together.
So don't let spite get in the way of writing stories. Embrace it and make it fuel your creative fire.
Next: Ned will be next. I just finished the next chapter the other day, and I am just going to run through it a couple more times before I upload it. I hate how long it took me to write so I am hesitant to even post it. After that will hopefully be Code: RWBY. After that I am feeling Noble few, then First Words and Scary Abe/Who is zero before coming back to this.
In the meantime send over a review, or favorite, or follow the story for more.