Half-Justice
Cutting the Cord
Project Kr: Designation Neuro-chamber
Annabeth remembered when she first heard about Superman. She was sitting on her father's lap while watching the news seeing this man fly around saving people from disasters, villains, monsters, everything. It was one of her earliest memories, she would pelter him with questions like how could he fly? Why was he so strong? And how could she fire lasers from her eyes? He never gave her serious answers which playfully frustrated 4-year-old Annabeth. He hadn't married Helen yet, and watching the 'super news' was one of the few times that the two of them would spend time with each other.
Now 13 years later seeing the Super symbol in a bio tube surrounded by dragon-like gremlins silently staring at her, gave her a much different sense.
From what Annabeth was able to figure out from Dr. Spence's snide comments, Project Kr is focused on genetic engineering/reverse engineering Superman's DNA. This 'Superboy' code-named 'The Weapon' was one of the more successful ventures in Kryptonian DNA. The other monsters or Genomorphs were Cadmus's attempts at mimicking whatever it is that gives superheroes their powers. The side effect was a subculture of these creatures that were born and bred underground. She wonders if these things are the source of Percy's call. Though from what little the doctor dropped gave her little indication that anything mystical was happening here. Out of this world maybe, but nothing Tarturus related. Annabeth did her best to keep up with her facade, but in the end, she was never really that good at any of the living sciences to understand what was going on. She did her best to continue her facade and pretend to know what was going on, luckily her past experiences in a high school band had kicked in and she just rolled with it.
"Could you check the G-nomes lesson plan?" The Doctor asked after she fiddled around with some piping in the corner. "He should finish general history before dawn, so we need to pick out a new lesson plan"
Annabeth made her way over to the terminal. Icons and images of various subjects are all lined up, waiting to be processed. Mathematics, history, global politics, and even some maritime laws were scheduled to be taught at some point. Hundreds of lesson plans were uploaded to his mind since Annabeth even entered the room. He has courses and lessons scheduled for the next 5 years. 'How much information has this clone been processing?' She thought. 'And for how long?'
With her countless hours, taking apart and rebuilding Daedalus's laptop over and over, she was able to at the very least know how to manipulate their internal UI system. It was remotely different from the above lab so there was a bit of a learning curb. Luckily for her, in about 5 minutes she more or less understood the ins and outs and did her best to sort out the 'lessons' that the 'weapon' needed. Dr. Spence looked over and approved her decision to bump Architecture 101 up on the schedule.
"Well, if he is gonna be the next Superman he should know about the structure of buildings he gets smashed into"
"Impressive reasoning Annabel," She told her. "Let's just adjust the growth hormone intake, and call it an evening."
Annabeth nodded only somewhat understanding what those words meant. She watches the doctor fiddle with something else on the screen, she compares some charts of biological age and mental age, and all the while Annabeth was counting down the minutes to the end of the hour when she and Percy were going to meet up. This whole adventure was getting out of hand, and with their past adventures in mind, she doesn't think both Percy and her can fight up 52 flights of stairs.
"According to stats he will reach Superman's age in another 2 months," Annabeth said, retaining her cover. "Though he would still need to come back in every couple of months for continued conditioning,"
"I appreciate your assistance today Annabel" Thanked the doctor as she headed out the door. "I am gonna recommend you for a position here with the bored as soon as you're done with school,"
"Oh," Annabeth said, dreading the very thought of having to spend more time in the lab than she already has. She already had enough flashbacks to freshman-year chemistry to last a lifetime. "Thanks"
"Now," she said, "When is your graduating year again."
"This spring," she said counting the minutes till she had to meet up with Percy again. She does not want to stay here any longer than she has to. Every part of this makes her feel outside her element, like two sides of a magnet pushing her away from wherever she is heading.
Though this would be a once and a lifetime opportunity if it weren't for the mist's involvement and if she cared about this part of the S.T.E.M. spectrum.
"Okay, I am going to check on the growth gauge. I will be right back." The doctor told her as she was making her way out of the door.
Annabeth nodded and went back to the terminal. If she timed her mental clock right (which is hard to calibrate for any half-blood) she has another 15 minutes before her and Percy's meet-up time. In the meantime she might as well figure out everything she can about Cadmus before she leaves, maybe she can drop off what she finds out to the proper authorities. Quickly she scanned through multiple files that she can, getting a glimpse of everything that Cadmus has been doing. Finally, her Deadudlus coding Bootcamp was delivering its results.
Before long their loud crack echoed throughout the compound followed by a small crash. Annabeth instinctively turned off the lights in the room and hid, drawing her Draken teeth sword in defense. As she hid, someone came through the automatic door.
He stood up, noticing that the door was closing, grabbed one of the tubes nearby, and prompted the door to remain open. "Hurry!"
Annabeth couldn't tell how old the boy was, but he couldn't have been much older than Leo. 'The Flash here? No, he is too young. She remembered her Brothers were talking about something about that back before she left for the sea of Monsters, how the Flash got a sidekick. What did they say his name way, Speedy? Flashboy? Flash Junior? Doesn't matter, behind him, was a boy probably no more than 4 years younger than she and Percy, and she recognized him instantly as the boy wonder, Robin. Another followed in, he was around Annabeth's age, with dark bronze skin, and ... gills? Aqualad?
Then finally Percy, who clumsily tripped when he was trying to get through the door.
Still, Annabeth hid for just a bit longer. Still gripping her Drakon sword she still blends in the shadows until she learns more of the context of what Percy is doing with these three. She knew that Percy was probably not in immediate danger with them. But her instincts and guard were not yet down. A part of her wanted to grab Percy and run, but she resisted for just a second. But these people did not seem like immediate threats, and Percy can take care of himself, and yet she wants to make sure.
Aqualad kicked the metal cylinder holding the door open, surprising Annabeth. She knew just how heavy those things were. Annabeth made a note of how strong that guy was, as the door slammed. Robin meanwhile, pulled up some sort of holo-screen before there was a loud rumbling, and with a dense thud, the lights on the door had turned off.
"I've disabled the doors. We're safe," He told the group, closing the hologram, and gazing around the room.
"No, we stopped running. There is a difference," Percy told the group, exhausted from the running sliding down the metal door. "Really?" the yellow hero told him.
"What? You don't know me," He told them with a sly voice.
"I don't think now is the time for wit," Aquald told the two. "But Perseus is right, we are trapped"
"You have no idea," Annabeth said, stepping out of the corner.
Everyone in the room jumped, her boyfriend included. The three teenagers hoisted their weapons and battle stances. By pure instinct, Annabeth grabbed her Drakon sword. She didn't want to fight, but a part of her couldn't take the chance.
"Woah! Woah there," Percy said, coming between the two groups. "She's with me."
That didn't do a lot to ease the tension here, but Aqualad was the first to ease up. "You are Perseus's partner?"He raised out his hand toward her, (that Annabeth couldn't help but notice were webbed).
"Kaldur'ahm of Atlantis," He said, raising his hand to hers.
"Annabeth," She replied, her long-gone superhero nerdiness glimmered momentarily as she grabbed his hand.
Aqualad raised an eyebrow at her introduction, and Robin popped over to her "Getting pretty casual, are we?" The Boy Wonder asked.
Annabeth blinked at the question "I'm sorry?"
"Ignore him" He then gestured his hands towards his teammates "These are my friends Robin and Kid Flash,"
"I know who you are. You work for Justice League, your superheroes," She said, trying to hide her giddiness. Something she noticed her boyfriend picked up on.
"Half right on that one babe," Kid-Flash said, blurring to her side. (Annabeth was a bit caught off guard when he said, babe) "We are superheroes and are connected to the league we technically..."
"Can we please stop telling our life story to people we just met?" Robin said with irritation. "It's kinda unprofessional,"
Though she had noticed that something about them seemed off with him the second she said her name. The way Robin glared at her when she said her name caught her attention, and the way he talked just now... Maybe it was Annabeth's imagination, but to her, it felt like he was hiding his real reaction to Annabeth.
"Not the time, robin," Kaldur told her "We are lucky to have made it this far. We could use as much help as we can."
"But It will be worth it, once we find out what Project Kr is," Robin said. Annabeth blinked. The boy wonder was now behind her where the panel was. 'How did he get over there so fast?' She thought to herself before she realized. 'Right, Right, Batman'
"Well, I am afraid I am not making it any easier," She said, going over the panel. "May I?" She asked him, prompting him to move. Robin hesitated but stepped aside, his eyes not leaving her. "Percy, the iDad please"
"Right!" He said, handing her the device.
Annabeth opened the pad, and with a few swipes of the device, she connected it to the main terminal and returned the room to full power, revealing Superboy. Annabeth could hear silence in the room, getting colder when the others looked at the pod.
"Whoa" was the most appropriate thing that was said by all of them.
"So, is he just not going to pay attention?" Percy could hear Kid Flash say.
Percy stared at the goopy patterns that surrounded the room. He was still listening to Annabeth's explanation of what she found, the clone of Superman. For the last five years, Cadmus spent an enormous amount of their funds trying to crack the cloning process on Kryptonian DNA. The Superboy was their closest success to replicating Superman. And for the past 4 months, they focused on cultivating and instructing information directly into the brain into their latest creation.
"Ignore him," Annabeth told them. "He has the gist of it. I think"
"I do," Percy assured her. "Company spend a ton of money creating a person out of another person but under a tarp"
Percy felt burnt out from all this info hitting him at once, so he mindlessly wandered around the room. Glancing around the SciFi, fleshy closet, they trapped themselves in.
A superman clone was a turn that he did not see coming. It ranked in the top 5 weirdest things he has witnessed, maybe even the top 3. He was already weirded out by this adventure, to the point that was starting to scare him. Though he was worried by the unknown he was fighting, the weirdest part to Percy was the Genormorphs. They were not as bizarre-looking as some of the other monsters that Percy had faced in his life; after all, they didn't seem to be a mashup of any particular animal. This made sense since they were bred in a lab, but what unnerved Percy as they reacted to Riptide.
The mystical blade hurt them, and it was designed to hurt supernatural creatures and other half-bloods. So why did it react to these creatures? Sure they were monsters, but he didn't think that being in a test tube qualified for a good ol' riptide hack and slash. He was surprised earlier when he first acted out of instinct with the creatures and sliced open one of their ears. He doubts that if the other heroes noticed it, he doesn't know how his sword looks to them or if they even gave his weapon second thought. But there is a second thing about the monsters that bothered him, how they speak.
Hearing them scream while they were powering up the building made his skin crawl. Even now, while Annabeth was talking, the three creatures in the clone's cage seemingly whispering to each other creeped him out. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but it felt like static.
"Why won't these things shut up," He said to himself.
"What?" Robin told him.
"Sorry, these things" He gestured to the G-nomes on top of Superboy. " I don't know how you guys can stand it."
"What do you mean?" Aqualad told him.
"Those guys," Percy gestured to the top of the pod. "They sound like the Teletubbies if they spoke through a ham radio,"
"Wait," Kid-flash said, taking his eyes off Annabeth for once. "You can understand them?"
Percy looked around them. "Understanding is a bit of a stretch but... Wait, can you not?" He asked, looking around at the other's heads slowly shaking.
"Why didn't you mention it earlier," Robin told him, getting up in his face. Which was funny because Percy had at least a head or two on the guy.
"Well, it's not like we had enough time to check notes. I just assumed that you all heard it," Percy told them. "Anyway, I doubt we have much more of it, considering how many bad guys were just after us."
"Which leads me to my next question," Annabeth asked, changing the subject. "But is there any chance the Justice League knows about this? Or that they commissioned this?"
"No"
"No Way"
"Not a chance," Kid-flashed said, completing the no-trilogy. "The big man is very protective of anything Krypton-related. Doesn't like anything from his home being exploited"
"Even for something like this?" Annabeth asked, "Isn't he the last of his kind or something like that?"
"Yep, he is concerned with anything to do with Krypton, especially his DNA. I would know, he told me personally. We are pretty close," Kid-flash said in a low voice, checking the nails of his glove. Percy raised an eyebrow. Was this kid really flirting with Annabeth?
Annabeth briefly shot Percy a look. She seemed to hardly believe it either, and she found it just as hilarious as he did. They shared a mental laugh between them. "Thanks, Kid"
Kid-Flash made a clicking noise, indicating that he did not pick up on the rejection Annabeth gave him.
"How long do you suppose he's been here," Percy asked. Turning his question to the boy in a pod.
"About four months," Annabeth told the others before Robin brought out his computer disk. Annabeth walked over to the terminal and logged on, showing the information she had gathered. "It seemed that Cadmus has been 'acquiring' Superman's DNA from various battles for years, but our friend right here was created with a batch after a battle with Parasite last year."
She pointed at the Gnomes at the top of the Clone's tank. "I don't think he has ever left his pod,"
"This is wrong," Kid Flash spoke after studying Superboy.
"We can't just leave him here," Robin argued.
That was something that everyone was on board with. However, Annabeth seemed apprehensive about it. Her grey eyes rested on the small scaly creatures that rested at the top of Superboys.
"Let's not get rash." She said warningly.
The three superheroes turn to Annabeth in complete shock. Percy shared their initial reaction for only a fraction of a second. Annabeth has a reason for everything, so Percy has learned that a lot of her ideas are worth more than his weight in gold.
"You're not saying we leave him here?" Robin said, appalled.
"Of course not!" Annabeth shook her head while putting the tablet back in her bag. "But those G-nomes do more than teach and quicken the development of his mind. It is also how they communicate with others across the compound, and they have a mental hold over his mind,"
Aqualad's and Robin's eyes widen, coming to the same conclusion as Annabeth's. However, Kid-flash still didn't seem to get it.
"So what? The bad guys know we are here?" He asked. "Considering they chased us, here I am not that shocked,"
"Yes, but they also have telepathic access to Superboy," Aqualad told him. "And since they know that we are here, they might send him loose."
"It's a wonder they didn't do it already," She told the group.
Instinctively everyone took one step back.
No sooner had those words echoed in the world out of his girlfriend's mouth, than another entered Percy's mind.
'Awake' A piercing vibration buzzed in his ear. Percy looked around to see the source of the voice, but it wasn't something that came from a direction. It was similar to how Gaia would speak to him. However, this time it wasn't directed to him, or Percy didn't think so anyway. It felt like it was a gust of wind buzzing past his brain. No one else seemed to notice anything.
"Perseus?" He heard Aqualad ask, "Is everything alright?"
Percy slowly looked at the faces, all staring at him with eyes of caution and alarm. Aqualad, sensing some danger, broke out his water weapon as if he expected battle. Only Annabeth's eyes were one out of concern and worry. Robin turned his head toward the Gnomes, taking out a metallic staff. Kid flash just kept on asking everyone what was going on.
"Ok, is no one going to enlighten me on why the room suddenly feels 10 degrees colder"
Percy's finger found its way to the center of the room at the pod, but something new was attracting his gaze. The G-nomes perched above Superboy were now awake, and their horns gleaned red.
'Subdue the intruders, Superboy.'
There was no time to react.
All of Percy's years of combat barely prepared him for the onslaught. The clone's eyes shot open, and faster than Percy's brain could comprehend, the glass shattered in a cracking boom, and Percy found his skull cracking on the other side of the room. He had fought creatures and monsters who were many times stronger than him. But Superboy was in another league, not since he still had his Achilles' protection had such a powerful force made direct contact with him, only now the curse was gone. Percy felt the full effect of it.
It was a long second before Percy was aware of anything happening. His sight, hearing, and thoughts were no longer in sync, and his mouth now stung with the taste of his own blood. His skull was throbbing, possibly cracked, and his vision had blurred significantly. He heard disjointed voices of thunder and explosions, and Percy thought he had found himself once more in his uncle's domain.
Quickly the sounds of fiery explosions turned to voices, and Percy could make out the bare minimum of what was going on. Kid-flash was down, Robin failed to use some tasers against Superboy, and Aqualad tried to engage the clone in one-on-one combat.
With a quick swipe and a crash, Percy thought that Robin was subdued. As Percy got to his knees, he heard another voice in the mix, Annabeth's.
His eyes started to focus, and Percy saw Annabeth with her Drakon sword drawn. She was trying to attack Superboy? No, she was trying to keep herself alive Superboy was trying to swat at her, but Annabeth's years of training kept her instincts on alert, and she was doing her best to block each punch or guide his attack elsewhere.
'But that wouldn't last forever. Percy shook off the dizziness and had the not-smart idea to get the superman clone scarf held from behind. Because the second he got his arms around his neck he realized that he might as well have been trying to choke out Tyson. No, scratch that Tyson would have played along, Percy might have been trying to wrestle the Athena freaking Parthenos that somehow became a magical bull.
His flesh felt like frozen clay, cold and unmalleable, giving no yields to Percy's attempts to restrain him. The clone found this frustrating, it tried to rip Percy off his back, but his reach was not that great which made him mad even more.
Aqualad came to his side grabbed his other arm and tried to pin him to the ground. Between the two of them, they were fairly close to restraining the big guy.
"Calm down," Aqualad tried to tell him. "We are trying to help you,"
'Now was not the time' Percy thought. This clone was a monster if he ever saw one. He doubted the hero's words could even reach it, and if they did, Percy doubted there was anything there to respond back.
Annabeth regained her balance. She dashed towards the clone, her sword raised and aimed it at the arm that Aqualad held down.
"No! Stop!" Aqualad yelled.
But Annabeth leaped, bringing her sword down on the Superboy. The next thing Percy realized was that his ribs were cracked, and he was falling along with Aqualad. It seemed that Superboy jumped to avoid Annabeth's blade and slammed both He and Aqualad into the ceiling with the force of a rocket, leaving them to crash back down on the metal floor.
Percy heard at least three different cracks in his chest when he landed, and it took all his willpower to not pass out from the impact. Aqualad, however, seemed to be down in a small crater next to him.
He looked up from the small crater he made on the floor just in time for Annabeth to once again duel with Superboy, but he had seen enough of her tricks already.
With a feral yell, he punched the ground beneath him, shaking the room's foundations and causing a small earthquake. Annabeth lost her balance, and before Percy could even process what was happening, Superboy exploited her opening, and with a 'Crack!' Annabeth was flown and broke across the main Terminal
A pit of energy rumbled beneath Percy's feet, and his strength returned and a new tunnel blurred in his mind, filled with white-hot rage. He drew Riptide and charged at the clone. It had just turned around to acknowledge Percy's presence; he took a full, clean swipe of riptide across his face. Following his sword's follow-through, Percy rolled across the ground right next to where Annabeth fell unconscious. Superboy staggered back, gripping his face with a hint of red phasing through his palm.
Something along the line of 'Oh shit! That actually worked?' formed in his mind, along with a small smile that was surely dripping with blood.
Superman straightens up, and his eyes, a small gash now appeared across his face. He was not tired, alarmed, or just very angry at Percy.
"That... Hurt?" the clone sturred.
Percy didn't know if he should be scared or confused when he heard it talk. He instinctively chose to duck and roll when he heard a raspy set of voices carving through his ear.
'Remain Relentless!'
Sure enough, with a sound akin to thunder, the wall next to him exploded. That moment of confusion had passed, much to Percy's dismay. The force of the punch knocked Percy mid-roll, skidding across the road. Percy tried to stand back up, but before he got to his knee, a blurred fist approached his face.
'Dad' Percy thought in less than an instance. 'Please help me, somehow, someway.' It was a long shot, but for that split second, he felt a twinge fear of death. Not that Percy himself was afraid of it, but the fact that if he did die here, it would hurt his Mom all over again. What the pain would cause the people close to him Annabeth, Grover, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Nico. He would leave them alone.
He would be alone.
And just when Superboy's fist was less than an inch away from his face, a light blue blur, with a hint of salt blasted the clone away. Percy swiveled his head to the source and saw Aqualad, the last sidekick standing, a line of blood rolling down his face. The two glance at each other for a brief second before he engages with Superboy.
Percy tried to get to his feet, but strength was fading fast, and he once again fell to the ground, distorting his vision worse than ever and emptying whatever was left of his stomach. Superboy left him with some serious damage.
"Hades hole, this guy." Percy gestured to no one in frustration. "What the actual hell have they been feeding him,"
From the rigging in his ear, he could hear rumblings from the door with high whispers and the sounds of shaking metal. People were trying to break in. Escape for them was not an option, not that it ever was one. If the clone doesn't finish us, these weird mortals will capture all of us.
Or ... most of us.
Percy quickly turned his attention to Annabeth and grabbed her Yankee cap from his pocket .'If any of us has a chance, it's her' His voice echoed in his mind.
He looked to see if the clone was distracted, Aqualad took a hit, but he was still moving around with his water thingees. He scrambled over to Annabeth and quickly shoved her cap on her head. And for good measure, he pushed her closer to the wall as he could, so she would be out of harm's way. Then he deactivated Riptide and tried to get to his feet. Grabbing one of the protruding blue orbs as the support, he slowly rose to his feet and made his way around the room seemingly where the other two heroes lay unconscious.
Slowly his eyes focused on Kaldur and the clone at the last second. While Kaldur had gotten off good hits in, a solid strike from the clone ended the fight. Aqualad smashed against the wall where Percy was a few seconds earlier, right by Annabeth. For a split second, it seemed that Aqualad rolled off an invisible speed bump, giving the clone pause for a second.
'No. NO!' Percy's thoughts roared in his mind. It cannot find Annabeth. It will not hurt Annabeth. He has to do something, anything.
Then he had what was probably the 2nd best idea all day.
"Hey Test-Tube," He croaked out with a cough. With great effort, he made the most disgusting noise a boy could make and spat at the Clone. And with a little demi-god effort (thanks, dad), he made sure that his little green blood-tinged snot made it all the way across the room right on the clone's face. Right next to his cut, coincidentally.
"Errargh," Or some other noise of both rage and disgust came over the beast.
"Come at me Tube Boy" Percy crawked, doing his best to stay upright "You missed,"
Percy doesn't know why he said missed by all accounts, it didn't make sense. And what on Hade's high heels does crawked mean? Perhaps he had a concussion, it wouldn't be the first time.
Either way, he raised his fists and did his best to run at the clone, screaming like a madman. The clone copied him, and the two met in the middle of the chamber. It was something straight out of an anime. To this day, Percy claims that he landed a solid punch on Superboy. Still, it mattered very little as a second later, he found him once again on the other side of the room, something cracking in his spin. His vision and thoughts were all around the place.
And at that moment, the metal doors finally opened.
The last thing Percy remembered was a small prayer to whatever was out there that Annabeth would stay hidden before his mind blacked out.
Annabeth awoke at the feet of the other creatures standing over her.
It was one of the worst things she had woken up to, and instinctively grabbed her mouth to stop herself from any sound escaping her mouth. 'Where is the Superboy? Where is Percy? What happened?'
She felt like she was back in Tartarus, her brain knew it wasn't true, but that didn't matter. She felt herself back in the dark place. She checked her arms to see if her body was still there and not ghostly figures, and was relieved when she didn't see them. But she panicked again when she didn't see anything, her hands were invisible. She reached for her head. She was wearing her cap now?
She took a deep breath in and tried to center herself in the situation.
This wasn't the first time she woke up with monsters around her. And if she continues to keep her head on straight and think through this, she will live to be able to be stuck in the next situation.
She took a deep breath in and out and repeated the cycle.
'Take in your surroundings' was one of the first lessons that she had taught herself when she ran away from home at age 7. Now she applied it to her situation. She was still in the neuro-chamber. The Superboy, the sidekicks, and Percy are no longer in the room, but Annabeth is not alone. Other than those 'genomorphs,' the only thing in the room was the wreckage from the fight. She didn't get the feeling that it wasn't all that long ago since the fight ended.
And now, she had her invisibility hat back on even though she gave it to Percy last. She was able to put two and two together.
'Good job, Seaweed Brain' She thought to herself, moving to the edge of the room, doing her best to move softly. It's been a while since she had to incorporate stealth with her invisibility. Since she had just gotten back her invisibility cap, she had been trying her best to relearn how to get used to moving without seeing her limbs. Luckily the hat's magic fit Annabeth like an old glove, so it took only a second before all her old practices fell into place.
She hid behind one of the first orbs hanging from the wall. She reached into her bag and took out a slab of ambrosia, now flattened by superboy's tantrum. She took a bite out of it and felt her face burn hot as the bones in her ribs and skulls clicked back together. The first problem is figuring out where Percy and the other sidekicks are. The next problem is planning an escape route for all of them. Thirdly they have to do something about the clone. According to Annabeth's brain, either problem can be done in any order, but it had to be fast.
"Have they been contained?" She heard a voice from further down the hall.
"Yes, all four of them are being prepped for a chamber as we speak."
Annabeth's attention snapped to the source of the conversation. She quietly moved around the Genomorphs rushing into the chamber forward to the fleshy hallway she had entered earlier. Annabeth could see three people and the superboy trying to talk while avoiding the scampering gremlins running across the ground. Annabeth recognized Dr. Spence, as well as Dr. Desmond, whom she recognized from her research of Cadmus, the man looked as unpleasant as he did in all pictures Annabeth saw on Bing. And he was standing next to ... the Shield Hero Guardian? 'What was he doing here?'
"That's good, good," Desmond said. Annabeth could see his forehead shining with sweat from here. "Keep them unconscious for now. The board will decide what to do with them."
The doctor gave a small sigh of relief and did his best to wipe the sweat off his forehead with no luck. He then turned his attention to the clone, and his demeanor quickly changed. The doctor looked at the clone with absolute disgust. "Send the weapon back to the Pod. The intruders have been subdued."
"His pod was damaged in the fight. It will need time to repair," Dr. Spence spoke up. "It will be another hour before the chamber is fully repaired."
"You have 10 minutes," Desmond growled.
"But, sir!"
"The longer it is out of the pod, the longer its neural pathways develop outside of our control," Desmond gestured to Superboy. "And the board is not keen on elements beyond their control," It could have been Annabeth's imagination or concussion. Still, it seemed that the doctor briefly glanced at Guardian when he said that, but her mind was focused on another topic. This was the second time the board was mentioned since she got here, and they intrigued her more and more. It makes sense to her that there would be more to this than one man in a ponytail. Cadmus seemed to be well too equipped for that. Perhaps it was something she should look into.
"Plus," Desmond walked straight up to the clone's face, glancing up and down like he was looking for something. Annabeth moved closer behind a blue orb sticking out from the wall. A sparkle of red caught her eye, and she could make out a sliver of red running across his eyebrow.
"There is a flaw in the weapon's genetic coding," Desmond said, eyeing the cut with a sneer. "And that's going to take weeks to find the right gene sequence and another month to replace it. That is if the Board even gives us the chance to look,"
Superboy's eyes stayed completely blank during this remark, as did the gremlins on his shoulder. However, the two horns did glow red at the end of his statement.
Guardian took a step forward "That sounds a bit drastic, don't you think. I mean, sure, he got injured but-"
"But nothing!" Desmond said, raising his voice. "Unless you found a piece of the Batman's green rock on Robin, there is a good chance this project will be scrapped."
"Well, Aqualad has his water weapons," Guardian answered.
"No, no, that level of mysticism isn't nearly high enough to break his skin," Desmond responded. "There has to be a minute defect that we missed."
Desmond tucked his head and started mumbling something Annabeth couldn't pick up from where she was. 'He knows about magic, or some form of it,' Annabeth thought to herself, 'What else does he know? Is he aware of Olympus? Camp, the Nomes? Magnus?' Annabeth shook her head. She needs to know more before she can make any reliable threat assessments. She focuses her attention back on the group.
Desmond turned back to Guardian, "I will have to call an emergency meeting with the board. I - we cannot afford to keep this from them. Keep an eye on our intruders, and monitor security if the league decides to come back looking for them,"
"I will see to that," Guardian told him.
"Good, good," Desmond said "Spence, you should attend to our other projects and make sure that they are not compromised as well."
Dr. Spence nodded and walked down a corridor disappearing behind a left turn. Desmond started making his way to the elevator, leaving Guardian behind with Superboy. The shield hero stared at the clone.
Annabeth moved along, trying to keep up with Desmond but doing her best to be as silent as possible. Which essentially was a slightly light jog. Though as she was catching up with Desmond, she heard a glimpse of a conversation back with Guardian.
"You don't seem too interested in going back in the pod,"
There was a brief silence, then Guardian's voice peeped out again.
"You know what, I have a job for you..."
Annabeth couldn't make out the rest of what he was saying. She needed to catch up with Desmond and figure out just who these Board members were. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and she wasn't going to miss this. They are the ones pulling the strings on this entire operation. It wouldn't hurt to see who they are and get the jump on them early in case they decide to go after both camps. There was no question in her mind that they were dangerous. From what she could infer from Desmond and his army of monsters this is only one part of their whole operation.
At the same time, she was also planning an exit strategy for Percy and the others. But that too relied on the words of the board. This whole building is too big, and it will take too long for her to search floor by floor. There are already too many unknown variables at the moment for her to construct an adequate plan. She will need to know what this board will do before she can fully counter it.
She caught up to Desmond just as the elevator began to close. Annabeth quickened her pace and had just enough time to enter the elevator undetected. She did not bear to take a second to relax. She did not want the ponytail doctor to get wind of her being there. She held her breath as the elevator spread up 52 floors before arriving at the top floor of the building.
The door opened, and Annabeth let a slow breath exit between her fingers, though she was a bit confused by the layout. It was a small room no bigger than one of the camp's cabins but furnished like a doctor's waiting room except with one giant metal door in front of them.
Desmond walked out of the elevator and paused just before the door. Annabeth slowly crept behind him, 'What is he waiting for?' she wondered.
Annabeth heard a small gulp, and he opened the door, and Annabeth followed him inside. She blinked. It was something out of a sci-fi action movie. It was a metal room surrounded by computers and blinking lights, and gadgets lying across the room's edge, all surrounding a desk at the far side of the room. It seemed like this was Desmond's office, but other than him, her, and a small gremlin that sat on the desk, there was no one other than.
Desmond made his way to the center of the room, and suddenly the whole room went dark. Annabeth heard the turning of motors and gears and looked up. 12 screens descended and circled Desmond. One by one all the monitors blinked a white light on their screen. Annabeth saw the white outlines of 12 different individuals, all appearing.
"Dr. Desmond," A deep voice spoke from one of the monitors. "you request an audience with the light?"
Cadmus Head Office
This was the worst thing that could possibly happen.
The so-called good doctor took the express elevator to the top floor as fast as possible. This transgression must be reported to the board of Cadmus this night without delay. How did it go so bad? The fire was one thing, but a massive break-in? League intervention? Possibility of a mole. It wasn't even 5 minutes when they got the 4 boys put in pods until he finally reached the board room. He stopped right outside the room. He needed ten seconds to give himself some composure.
Cautiously opened the door and stood in the center of the darkroom. Slowly screens descended from the ceiling, and the silhouettes of the 12 most dangerous people in the world appeared on the screen. Dr. Desmond had a good idea who some of them were, but any further speculation would cut his tenure with them short.
"Dr. Desmond, you requested an audience with the light?" The head of the table asked.
"Yes, so sorry to wake you at this hour-" He began
"Just get on with it," a table member interrupted him.
Dr. Desmond gulped a bit and continued with his report. "We had a small fire here at project Cadmus, the origins of which are still being investigated, but it seems to have attracted some unwanted attention. Some of which is frightening,"
He pauses. Though he cannot see the eyes of the bright silhouettes of the chair members, he can feel their eyes draining on him and almost feel their hands waiting, on edge, to grip his throat. "Three sidekicks, Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash, and an unknown hero, breached security. They found and released the weapon, the Superboy. Of course, the clone is under our telepathic control and, as ordered, turned against his would-be liberators. They succeeded in superficially wounding the weapon, exposing a flaw in either our genetic coding or sun pods."
"That is quite unfortunate." One of the voices spoke up. "We have spent much money and recourse getting the tools needed to create the weapon. And this one held quite a promise,"
"If the problem is superficial, though, surely there are ways to patch these things up." Another member of the board spoke.
"We do not have time to entertain such weakness," said a female chairperson. "We cannot stall this project any longer,"
The other board members muttered amongst themselves, both in agreement and against the idea of regrowing another Superboy from scratch is a tricky endeavor. Something that will take time, in both retrieval of Kryptonian genetic material and reverse engineering, where exactly this one failed.
"I feel as though we are getting off track." The head chairmen of the board spoke up, causing all the members to pause their discussion. "What is this about an unknown hero? Surely the databases of these so-called heroes are up to date?"
"No, all we know is that he disguised himself as a worker in the upper lab and, when the fire broke out, took his chance and started investigating the facility's lower levels." He recalled Guardian's explanation when he met him on Sub Level 52. It infuriated the doctor that this boy was able to infiltrate his compound for days at a time without anyone noticing. Though he will not admit the extent of the boy's infiltration, he would lose his head for such a lapse in security."There he met up with the three sidekicks and aided them when they tried to rescue the super boy. His break-in preceded the side-kicks entry by almost half an hour."
"Show me a picture," asked the head of the board.
"Pardon me? I just said-"
"Doctor, you had a sleeper agent in your facility. Surely you have documented the individual by now."
The Doctor took a step back. He doesn't know why he didn't think of that. Normally, it should be standard procedure for something like this. How could this have slipt his mind?
"We... umm haven't gotten around to that yet," He stammered out.
"I see," the chairperson responded. His tone was neutral but still caused Desmond's forehead to sweat.
"So," The good doctor gave a slightly nervous cough, "What should I do with them? The sidekicks and the mole?"
"Clone them," One of the chairmen was still cold. "The substitutes shall serve the light, and only the light," another one had stated.
"And the originals?" Dr desmond asked
"Dispose of them, leave no trace," one of the chairmen clarified.
"Except for the unknown hero," asked the head of the table, speaking out. He was not the only one who seemed interested. The other's heads turned to the head.
"Any particular reason?" The doctor asked out of a sense of morbid curiosity. It seemed unwise to keep one of the heroes around, more trouble to keep around, but the idea itself wasn't unprecedented.
"Your report has dug up my interest as a potential tool to serve the light," The deep voice said and gave no further explanation and seemed to satisfy the other heads.
The meeting adjourned, and in perfect synchronism, each monitor rose back up to the ceiling, but the lights remained dimmed.
Doctor Desmond's demented smile had not left him since his order. He took much pleasure in the depths he would go to secure his position.
Sub-Level 52: Cloning Chamber
Aqualad woke to the sound of a whisper in his ear. It felt soft but firm. Almost like it was a dream, it woke him up though he could not understand what was being whispered to him. As they grew louder and louder, Kauldr could make out the words. It was asking ... no begging him to do something, be somewhere.
Then his eyes jerked open, and he forgot all about it.
He was restrained in a pod alongside his friends and the new hero Perseus. All of whom seemed to have gained consciousness at the same time he did. Robin's face was covered in scratches, Wally looked the closest thing Kaldur had ever seen to him being exhausted, and Perseus looked worse out of all of them. His right eye started turning black, some teeth seemed missing, and he seemed to be in constant pain just by breathing. Kaldur saw no sign of Annabeth. Maybe she was able to get away somehow, or-
Perseus spoke first. "What? Who said... Where are we?
Kaldur took a glance around the room. They seemed to be still in the underbelly of Cadmus, the walls still covered in some measure of flesh and metal, but clearly in a different room from before. It was a much smaller and darker room than the project KR room, but there was one glaring similarity. The glaring clone of Superman was in there with them.
"What? What do you want?" He heard Wally yell from his containment. "Quit staring. You are freaking me out!"
"Hey KF, how about we don't tik off the guy who can fry us with a look," Robin asked the speedster.
"No, I think we are good, actually," Aqualad looked over to Perseus. "Isn't that right, Tube boy?"
The clone turned its attention towards and walked in front of his pod.
"Umm, New Guy, what are you doing?" Robin asked him.
Perseus ignored him and gave a slightly toothless smile. "And what's with that outfit? It's not Labor Day yet. You're not supposed to wear white, don't you know that? Such a fashion noob, am I right, guys?"
The frown on the clone's face narrowed hard at Perseus, causing a small amount of blood to trickle down his face. Kaldur knew what he was trying to do, but there were several other ways to get confirmation about something.
"See," Perseus said in an almost gloating fashion. "If he wanted us dead, he would have killed us when we were unconscious and at his mercy."
"If we go at it again, you would probably be dead." The clone said in a flat tone. "So I wouldn't ask for a rematch if I were you."
Both Kid-flash and Robin, who were unconscious when the clone spoke earlier, were surprised at this response.
"Ah, but then you wouldn't be healing my wounds now, wouldn't you. Ha! King me," Perseus cheered "Wait..."
Kaldur didn't seem to notice it at first, but Perseus was right. This pod was healing them. His sprained shoulder and broken ribs were not as painful when he woke up, and already the black eye on Perseus's face started to fade.
"Hold up, hold up," Kid flash said, trying to stall the conversation. "He can talk?"
The clone turned towards Wally and in an unchanging face of anger. "Yes, he can!"
"And old news, try to keep up." Perseus chimed in.
"It's not like I said it." Kaldur heard Kid grumble under his breath.
"Look!" Kaldur tried to get the attention back on the person before them. "Our only intention was to help you."
"Yeah, and in return, you went full nelson on us," Perseus commentated, "Which is illegal in all forms of Wrestling by the way."
"Perseus, calm down. I believe our friend here was not in control of his actions. You saw it yourself," Kaldur said.
"What would ... So what if I was." The clone hesitated its wording for a second. This is probably the first conversation the clone ever had, Kaldur thought. Or at the very least, one that had carried it out this long.
"Then, that is not your true nature," Kaldur said, "Your wrath was not your own. Your purpose is not your own." Kaldur paused, taking note of the clone's face "Do you even know who you are?"
"Yes," The Clone said in a monotone voice, dropping to a slightly different pitch. "I am the superboy, a genomorph, a clone created by superman, Created to replace superman if he should perish, Destroy him if he should he turn against the light,"
A cold chill ran through the back of Kaldur's spine. He knew the others felt it as well. Perhaps it was how forced his speech felt, like he was reading some sort of script. It seemed to be unnatural for him to speak those words as it was unnerving for them to hear. Then there was replacing Superman, not defeating him which made him worried. It sounds like there was a plan in place or something else in motion to take Superman's place. And what is this Light?
"Well, that's fucking ominous," Perseus said, breaking the silence.
"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration," Kaldur spoke sincerely, but he couldn't hide the slight hint of caution in his voice. "but, like Superman, you deserve a life of your own beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus,"
Superboy raised his voice, though there was a trace of the programmed speech in his words. "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!"
"Dude, your home is a pod, miles beneath the ground," Robin asked "Have you ever seen the sky? The Sun? Or the moon?"
"I uhh" The raw feelings the clone just had seemed to dissipate a bit. " I know the names of things, and I know what to expect once I am needed,"
"Dude, you just described school," Perseus said, "That's not the same thing."
Superboy turned back to a freelanced hero. "What would you know?"
"Hey, umm new guy, I think you pissed the guy off enough for one night," Wally said in a loud whisper, but Perseus ignored him.
"Look, if there is one thing I learned is that, for everything you think you know and prepare for, there are a thousand other batshit crazy things out there that can ruin your day for better or worse." Perseus told him, "One second, you're going on a field trip to a museum. The next, you are falling off Saint Louis Arch, getting turned into a guinea pig, or getting kidnapped by your aunt in the middle of summer camp."
"Wait, what was the first one?" Robin asked
"Not important," Perseus brushed off the question, "But you never get to see the full scale of the world just by being locked away. Look, I don't know Superman, I only know what I see on the television and from ten-year-old recess gossip, so I might be out of my depth. Still, instead of learning trivia that might be helpful for a game night, I think you should learn why the world is important to superman and why he protects it. And that's something you need to see for yourself,"
Kaldur noticed the face of the clone made melt as Perseus was talking. The anger and irritation Superboy had for their new friend slowly changed. From a more critical questioning and thoughtful look, which was inspiring, considering Perseus insulted him earlier. He could tell that Superboy was questioning his home and his reason for staying.
"Our friend is right. Your experience, your life has been limited to this place," Kaldur said, slightly impressed by Perseus's speech. "Let us help you."
"Yeah, man, we can show you the Sun," Robin told him.
"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight," Kid flash added, "but we can show you the moon." Perseus seemed to nod his head in agreement with that last one.
"We can show you, introduce you to Superman." Kid flash told him.
The clone's eyes widened, and Kaldur was sure they had gotten to him, that he would listen to reason. They could help him escape.
"Um, I don't mean to be rude, I would also like superman," Perseus spoke up. "Can I meet him too, or am I ruining the moment?"
"No, I am afraid you won't," A voice called out to them "They will be otherwise unoccupied."
The metal door behind Superboy opened with a woosh, and a trifecta of figures emerged. The shield hero guardian was the first that Kaldur noticed. The other was the doctor they brushed past when they entered Superboy's chamber. Ahead of them both was another scientist, whom Kaldur assumed to be the head of Cadmus. The man was confident as he walked into the chamber, so much so that Kaldur read it as cockiness and smugness. Kaldur presumed that he
"Man, that is the worse "Good evening, Mr. Bond, I've been expecting you." kind of speech I ever heard," Persuas spoke up "What is this amateur hour?"
The doctor stopped in his tracks and turned his head toward Perseus. Apparently, he was expecting anything else but that remark. "I'm sorry, do you think me some sort of Bond villain?"
Behind Desmond, Kaldur thought he saw a brief flash of a figure of yellow and white, disappearing and appearing in less than a second. Kaldur blinked, what was that? He didn't know what to make of it, but before he could recognize what he saw, Perseus spoke again.
"No, now that you mention it, the more I look at you, you just give off failing to pay off my student loan vibes," Perseus told him "How is that going, Mr. Desmond."
"It's Doctor Desmond, you twat. I earned my degree," He yelled back.
"Still paying off," Perseus gave the best shrug he could, considering that all his limbs were mechanically strapped to a table "It's nothing to be a shame of. A lot of people are struggling with payments. Have you tried cutting back on avocado toast?"
Desmond's face stretched in clear annoyance holding back an angry yell behind a tight lip. He clenched his fist in the air in front of Perseus like he was trying to squeeze the life out from outside his cage. Perseus seemed to be enjoying the whole spectacle, and so did Walley.
"You know what, new guy, you're alright," The speedster said with a chuckle.
"Enough," Desmond said. "You think yourself a clever Joel or whatever your real name is-"
"Here's a hint. It's not Joel," Perseus interrupted.
"Jeeze let the man breathe," Robin said behind a childish smile. "He probably needs some time before he gets whelmed again,"
"Probably," Perseus agreed, "Wait, what did you say?
"Don't get him started. It's been a whole thing." Walley explained to him. "Robin has been hating the English language all day today."
"That's a mood I can get behind," Perseus told the two of them.
"Yet!" Desmond shot back, interrupting their banter. "You are here, bound and captured by the one thing you tried to save. You have accomplished nothing, unlike Cadmus here."
Desmond signaled the doctor behind him. "Start the cloning process,"
She nodded and went to a nearby terminal. Kaldur also did his best to contain just how bad this was if they get replaced by clones controlled by whoever is behind Cadmus, there is no telling how much damage can be done to the league. He needed to focus on getting all of them out there.
"And get the Weapon back to the Pod," Desmond said, sneering at the shield hero.
This wasn't right. No one deserves to have a life like this, chained below the sun's warmth. "Help us, please."
Superboy looked at him, then at Perseus. "Ummm, ditto, my dude."
Superboy cracked a small smile, but his face changed. Kaldur could tell that he was thinking it over, gears turning in his head, possibly for the first time in his life. Kaldur prayed to Oceanus that Superboy would do the right thing.
Guardian then woke him out of his thoughts and put his hand on the clone, trying to guide the clone back to his pod. Superboy did not seem to appreciate the gesture and shook the hero's hand off him. He glared at the hero, almost daring him to try and do that again.
This seemed to displease the good doctor. "Don't start thinking now," he said in an annoyed voice walking past the clone. Then one of the green-horned creatures jumped from Desmond's shoulder to Superboy's, then its horns turned red. Superboy's went blank, and Kaldur could see from his pod that his pupils had dilated.
"See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me!" The doctor pauses for a moment, seemingly regretting his choice of words. "Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!"
Superboy didn't seem to react to anything in the room. He just slowly turned around and went back out the metal door. With another whoosh, the metal door closed behind him as he left. Kaldur's heart sank. They were so close to helping him that they could have escaped together. They still can if he could just free himself from these restraints.
"You know I've been wondering," Perseus said, breaking the solemn silence in the room. "How did you make those things? The little gremlin things all batting around on your shoulders,"
Desmond gave Perseus a disbelieving glare. "I beg your pardon?"
"Those Psychic Karpoi thingees," Perseus clarified "How did you make them? I mean, you created Superboy out of Superman's DNA, so you must have based those genomorphs on something?"
The doctor chuckled, "Do you think this is going to go like some James Bond film that I will monologue about my achievements and works while you find some feeble mind way to thwart my 'evil plan'?"
"It works more often than you think," Perseus said "If that didn't work, I was thinking about exploiting your ego to get your guard down. That or saying pretty please, before I- you know, whack you upside the head and cut off the hideous ponytail."
"Wow, did you not eat breakfast today?" Robin asked
"I don't want to talk about it," Perseus told him.
Doctor Desmond did not appreciate the comment. He let out a drafted sigh. "Just initiate the program,"
The other doctor nodded her head and powered up the Terminal, and multiple metal prongs rose from the bottom of their pods. A blue electric haze surrounded them, and Kaldur knew precisely what was coming and braced himself for it.
A shock of a thousand electric needles stabbing him spread throughout his body. Kaldur could feel his muscles freeze against the shockwave. He couldn't do much as close his fist in his restraint. He did his best to absorb and ignore the pain, but his lungs and tongue were aflame, and he could not help but exclaim about the pain. He could barely hear the cries of his friends over him, and their sound was much more painful to Kaldur than the electricity and needles draining away his life. There had to be a way to save them, to get out of here.
He opened his eyes and could barely make out another figure in the room stepping into the light. But he could not make out who. It seemed to be one of the telepathic creatures they had fought when they reached floor 52. Kaldur couldn't make anything out of their words, but it was a welcome distraction and an epiphany.
There was to save everyone, but it was a gamble.
Kaldur prayed to Okeanos and Poseidon that his voice would reach his ears.
"Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path." He whispered through the pain, "A weapon or a person, the choice is yours, but ask yourself, 'What would Superman do?'"
Perseus also managed to speak something as well.
"Now would be a good time,"
"What?" Robin croaked through the cracks of electricity. "Who are you talking to?"
The pain subsided as soon as the words exited the boy's wonder mouth, and Kaldur heard the machine powering down. 'What's happening' Kaldur thought. Surely they didn't think they had enough of their DNA?
"What's going on?" Kaldur looked up and saw the shocked expression on all their captor's faces. They didn't know what was going on either.
"Spence!" Desmond roared at his college. "Continue the cloning process!"
"The system isn't responding," Dr. Spence panicked, scrambling all over the terminal controls. But it was clear to Kaldur that she had lost complete control. "I can't seem to-"
She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence when an invisible force blasted into her stomach, sending her to the ground. Guardian and Desmond looked shocked when she hit the ground. The two checked around the room for any signs of an attacker. Guardian went into a battle stance, anticipating a fight, while Desmond did his best to look irritated but frightened.
"What?" Desmond said, a little fear in his voice, "Guardian, Dubbilex X, do something-"
Desmond then receives two blows to the head, which Kaldur would describe as a swift invisible kick in the face. Desmond fell to the ground. Even from Kaldur's pod, he could see his nose was broken. The doctor tried to wipe the blood from his face but became irritated when it did not stop flowing.
"Show yourself, you coward," Desmond commanded, trying to stop the blood from dripping into his mouth.
The tall genomorphs raised his hand and seemed to physically push something back against the wall, with a loud thud shaking up debris and the walls. When it cleared stood the same blonde girl they were introduced to a while ago, Annabeth. Her hair draped over her face, drenched in sweat, and her lab uniform in tatters, but overall, she looked better than she did after her fight with Superboy. Kaldur didn't know how she avoided being captured or how she could sneak up on them so easily, but he was glad she was here. It was like she was invisible.
"You!" Desmond said with a growl. "How did-"
But at that very moment, there was a loud crunch. Everyone looked up just in time to see the giant metal door crunched up like cardboard and tossed aside. Kaldur was relieved and thanked the Gods for giving Superboy the needed guidance. Now they can all escape together.
Superboy walked but stopped short when he saw both Doctors on the floor, Annabeth fighting, and the four of them currently not being tortured.
"You," Desmond said, trying to stand back on his feet. "I told you to get back to you-"
Superboy did a slight push on the doctor's chest, sending him into the horned creature, then into the wall, leaving it slightly cracked. Superboy "Don't give me orders!"
He glanced over to Guardian. The shield hero was caught off guard by the clone's arrival, conflicted by which threat he should tackle if he could. Annabeth seemed to take notice and did a leg sweep catching him off balance. Guardian tried to recover by throwing several punches at her, but she got up and easily avoided them. All the while getting a few knocks in him.
Superboy watched this fight, and Kaldur thought he looked annoyed about the whole thing. "Are you done yet?" Superboy, he asked, grabbing the shield hero by the back like some sort of pet before slamming him back into the ground.
"Yeah, yeah, I am good," Annabeth said in between deep breaths. Straightening her back, she reached for something in her bag and pulled out the same old iPad. She tapped her device, and the pods opened, releasing all of them and dropping them to the floor. Annabeth quickly went to her partner's side to help him stand and gave him some water from her to rehydrate. Robin helped Kid-Flash down from a damaged restraint that left him dangling. Robin was a bit miffed doing the whole thing partially because he could escape a second before Annabeth freed them both.
"Ahh. Finally!" he says as he messages where the restraints hold him. "Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long."
"Seriously, that's what you're worried about?" Kid Flash Snaps at Robin. "The whole League will have our heads after tonight!"
"Look, we should focus on getting out of here and telling them what we found," Annabeth said, trying to defuse the situation.
Kaldur heard the urgency in her voice, "Where were you?
"I was doing some recon," She told them. She glanced to the crumpled Doctor Desmond, who was starting to come to "Let's just say we need to get out of here and fast"'
"That's my specialty," Kid Flash said with a grin.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Superboy said frustratedly. "Let's go!"
Superboy started running ahead, and Kaldur and the others followed suit. He also barely heard Desmond saying something about them being unable to leave Cadmus as they exited the. Still, it was drowned out by the sound of one of Robin's exploding shurikens. Kaldur had to exert as much strength as possible to keep up with him. All the others caught up, which Kaldur was glad for in the case of Persues and Annabeth, considering how beaten up both were.
"By the way," She said, catching up to Superboy, "Since when can you talk?"
Superboy just glared at her but focused on the hallway ahead of him.
"Yeah, you missed it, but that's old news," Perseus said from behind her in a half-laugh. "You had to be there."
Perseus's laughter died a little bit when all the eggs on the wall started glowing red. Kaldur could make out the shape of every Genomorphs they had seen so far about to claw their way out. They were not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.
And like that the second chapter of Half-Justice is done. And it only took *Once again checks clock* over a year.
Oh boy, I think I need to answer for a few things.
First off, thanks to Brian.H.H for giving me advice on where this chapter to go a year ago. I am grateful, and I owe you one.
But for real sorry that it took so long to write this, every time I thought I was nearing the ending a part of me had to expand the story in different places. I also had to rewrite different chunks because I kept writing myself into a corner emotionally. That and spending the past year in quarantine has finally taken its toll on me, and for a long time, I just didn't have any strength or desire to write. Luckily I am in a slightly better place now, considering this chapter is like 12 thousand words long.
Now for my writing process. Man, it was hard trying to make an organic way for our two heroes to get involved in the story. Not because they don't mesh well together but because the first episode is well written as it is. There isn't a lot to move because of how precise every event causes the next so some scenes were stretched out for more stuff to happen. One thing I did enjoy was writing the mist, and exploring how it clouds mortal's eyes from their point of view. That was fun. Also, Annabeth, I enjoyed writing her this time around. Her story and perspective was a blast writing, and I can't wait to explore her story further.
But yeah, if you want to talk about my story or any others send me a message or message me on my discord (HomerMolderr64). Let's chat (and Hopefully, I won't regret posting my Discord on a fanfiction site. But I just wrote 5 thousand words in two days and I am throwing caution to the wind)
So I hope you guys enjoy it, and favorite or review it. It always warms my heart when I get a notification about someone talking about my work, it gives me the strength to keep writing (Though messaging me about posting status kinda deflates my desire to write so dont do that)
Okay next up should be Ned Part 4, then it might be Who is Zero, then Noble Few. Or I will ignore any plan and work back on this one, it's one of the perks of being an unreliable fanfic writer.
Anyway have a happy holiday's everyone and see you next time!
bye!