Chapter 2 folks. Enjoy!
Don't own Young Justice or anything DC related. Don't even own the hero name of my OC, just the guy under the mask.
YOUNG JUSTICE
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Gotham City
July 4, 12:00 EDT
Independence Day in Gotham City was bright and sunny and the cities inhabitants were in the park enjoying the weather and having picnics. One man, with his wife and daughter, was grilling not too far from where his family sat at the picnic table. The man's daughter came over to the grill ready for her food when disaster struck.
A dim technological charging sound was heard, before a louder pitched blast pierced through the air in the area of the park the family was in, followed by the sounds of screaming people running past the family, who looked on at what was happening. Blasts of ice ripped through the park freezing the people that were running away. Just then an ice platform grew at the top of the rock structure by the onlooking family. The three family members looked up at the recently formed ice platform only to see Mr. Freeze appear at the edge and look down upon them.
Out in the distance, unknown to Mr. Freeze, two heroes stealthily just arrived on scene to witness what was about to happen next.
"Enjoying the family time?" he said aiming his freeze cannon at the family, the cannon charged and let loose an ice blast hitting the family, trapping them in an ice ramp, "My family has other plans," he spoke before sliding down the ramp of ice that the family was now encased in.
Freeze eyed up a group of fleeing civilians, but before his freeze cannon could charge and fire, a batarang slammed into the side of his freeze cannon, knocking Freeze off balance, canceling his shot at the fleeing civilians.
"Batman," Mr. Freeze began, turning around to face the Caped Crusader, "I was wondering when," but he stopped when he saw nothing. A cackle echoed the area of the park Freeze was in. Mr. Freeze turned to find the source of the laughter, when suddenly a pair of black boots slammed into Freeze's glass helmet from above, then propelled themselves upward knocking the villain down onto the park ground. Robin, the Boy Wonder, in his usual red, black and yellow costume, twisted in mid-air and landed so that he was facing Mr. Freeze. He then pulled out two birdarangs from his utility belt and sent them at Freeze's glass helmet, successfully cracking it.
"Oh. Boy Wonder," Freeze spoke clearly not happy that Batman himself didn't show, "Where's the other Bat Brat?" Freeze asked as he stood up, aiming his freeze cannon at Robin. The cannon began to charge, but another birdarang came out of nowhere and lodged itself inside the freeze cannon. A beeping was heard from the cannon that steadily increased before an explosion came from the cannon. When the smoke disappeared, Freeze's left arm was encased in ice, and standing next to Robin was another slightly older teen who was wearing a similar costume to the Boy Wonder. He too wore a red tunic that stretched down to about halfway down his thigh, but it had long, red sleeves unlike his partner's which were short, black sleeved. He wore red tights with a black black cape, gloves, boots, and a simple black domino mask that make his eyes become opaque and hidden like the Boy Wonder, and on his left pectoral area of his red tunic stood his symbol. It was a round black disc, like Robin's, but was outlined in yellow with a thinner black trim around the yellow, and had a symbol of a yellow bird head inside the disc.
"It's Red Robin," the sidekick sighed, "I know I didn't put much effort into the whole 'original name thing'," he said using his hands to mimic quotation marks when referring to the originality of his name, "but seriously, Bat Brat?" Red Robin sarcastically chastised.
"The Bat sent you two to drag me off to prison?" Freeze spoke, pulling out a handgun sized ice gun from his side, "Frankly, I'm underwhelmed" Freeze continued.
"That's great" Red Robin spoke impatiently, looking at Mr. Freeze, but watching Batman position himself out of sight from Freeze on the very ice platform that Freeze made earlier.
"But we're kinda in a hurry here" Robin chimed in impatiently as well.
"Kids," Freeze spoke, letting out a sigh, "always in such a rush. You two need to chill."
"Not talking to you," both Robin and Red Robin spoke in a sing-song voice at the same time.
Mr. Freeze looked slightly confused at first until Red Robin used his pointer finger to point in the direction of his ice platform he used earlier. Realizing who they were actually talking too, Freeze whipped around in that direction only to realize he was too late. Batman had already jumped from platform and was in mid-air, his form half blocking the sun. Batman came down on top of Mr. Freeze, throwing a punch to the cracked dome of Mr. Freeze with his black glove covered fist, successfully knocking the villain out cold (no pun was actually intended) on the Gotham Park grass.
"Let's go, today's the day. I got twenty bucks riding on the fact that we get there before KF does" Red Robin complained to Batman, who just gave his signature glare to his teen pupil.
"Batman," spoke the voice of the commissioner from behind Batman, causing the Caped Crusader to turn around as an annoyed sigh escaped the mouths of both his protégés. Batman gave them a quick glare again over his shoulder before turning his attention back to Gordon.
"Commissioner" Batman acknowledged. Walking up to Batman and the two teen heroes was Commissioner James Gordon from his GCPD squad car, along with other officers, who fanned out around the area.
"What happened here?" Gordon asked. Red Robin had only been doing this for a little less than two years and he could guess all the questions that came out of the Commissioner's mouth before he even spoke them.
"Freeze," Batman answered, "He attacked the park and froze some civilians," Batman continued to speak with Gordon, who then turned his back to look at the frozen Gothamites. Red Robin looked over at the frozen people to see officers already working on unthawing them, so he turned his attention back to his mentor's conversation with Barbara's father.
"Not sure why, but when I figure it out I'll let you know" Batman finished
"Well," Gordon sighed, "We'll work on this from," he turned to face Batman, only to see he and both his protégés were gone, "…our end" he finished giving a sigh.
WASHINGTON D.C.
July 4, 14:00 EDT
Batman, Robin and Red Robin arrived in D.C. and made it to the spot that the rest of their friends and fellow sidekicks would meet before walking to the Hall of Justice. Turns out when they walking to the meeting place, they arrived at the same time that Green Arrow and Speedy did, as well as Aquaman and Aqualad.
Not noticing Kid Flash and the fastest man alive yet Red Robin couldn't contain the, "Yes!" that escaped his mouth. Batman glared and the rest gave him questionable looks except for Robin who knew why. Looking at the others Red Robin explained, "I bet KF I'd beat him here" he said and all the questionable faces turned into smirks and smiles.
The three pairs of superheroes and their protégés all the looked toward The Hall and Batman placed his hands on both of his sidekicks' shoulders, "Today's the day" he said, giving them each an approving smile, which they both knew was rare.
"Welcome to the Hall of Justice" Green Arrow said.
"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman said, finishing the protégés introduction to The Hall.
"Oh, man!" they all heard. Red Robin smirked and turned around to see Flash and Kid Flash speeding up behind them, "I just lost twenty bucks!" he exclaimed, "I knew we'd be the last ones here" he frustratingly mumbled.
–YOUNG JUSTICE THEME—
As the Leaguers walked the younger heroes up to The Hall of Justice, the reporters and fans started going nuts. Red Robin gave a small smile when he saw two kids dressed like Batman and Superman.
"Is that Batman?"
"I see Flash and Flash Jr!"
"His name is Speedy. Duh."
"No. Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick."
"Well that makes no sense."
"It's the Wonder Boys"
"Boy Wonders," someone groaned correcting the previous person.
Everyone ignored the reporters and fans taking pictures and trying to ask them questions. The sidekicks were focused on one goal and that was becoming members of the Justice League.
As they continued their walk up to The Hall of Justice, Green Arrow leaned down to his protégé's ear, "Ready to see the inner sanctum?" he asked Speedy.
"Born that way" he replied with no hesitation whatsoever and with a hint of excitement.
Aqualad looking at the exterior of The Hall spoke, "I'm glad we're all here" he commented.
"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid Flash asked the Boy Wonders who were walking to his right.
"Don't call us sidekicks, not after today" Speedy snapped at KF's comment. Red Robin frowned at Speedy's rude answer to KF's question. Sure he hated being called a sidekick, but that's what he was and he liked following Batman and Robin around Gotham on patrols. Sure being the newb meant he messed up and Batman would scold him for it, but he worked hard to get things right and Batman knew that. Red Robin looked up to Batman, heck he wanted to be Batman.
"Sorry," Kid Flash muttered at Speedy's harsh interjection, "First time at The Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."
"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" he questioned, picking up his pace.
The grand front doors of The Hall opened and the protégés and their mentors walked in and were immediately greeted by the giant bronze statues of the founding members of The Justice League.
Red Robin saw Robin's mouth gapping at the statues and elbowed him in his shoulder, "Overwhelmed much?" he asked, smirk on his face as Robin only nodded his head in response to his partner's question.
They moved forward and in front of them heavy metal doors that read 'Authorized Personnel Only' opened revealing Martian Manhunter and the android Red Tornado.
"Robin, Red Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Welcome," spoke Martian Manhunter before he and Tornado turned and walked back inside the doors along with the sidekicks and mentors. As they walked through the doors Kid Flash held out his fist and both Robin and Red Robin all bumped fists.
"You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library," Manhunter spoke as he led them into said library. Red Robin gave out a whistle as he walked in. The room was huge and books covered all four sides of the wall. Near the end of the room, were comfy chairs and a table. At the far wall was a massive computer and above the computer was a giant communication screen. Red Robin knew Robin would be all over the computer. Sure, he knew computers and how to hack, but Robin was way better than he was, but he kept in practice so he could get better at the skill, and not forget what he already knew.
Flash turned around to the sidekicks as they approached another door at the end of the room with 'Authorized Personnel Only' written on it, "Make yourselves at home" he said arms spread wide gesturing to the room. Robin, Kid Flash and Red Robin instantly plopped onto chairs while Aqualad and Speedy remained standing.
Batman then turned to face the five protégés and to also address to his fellow Leaguers, "Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long."
Batman than turned back around facing another pair of metal doors that read 'Authorized Personnel Only' as did the rest of the Leaguers present. Then they all looked up and a small mechanical device that looked like an eyeball drop down from a concealed location in the wall. It then proceeded to scan them and announced who they were as it did so.
[Recognized: Batman, zero-two; Aquaman, zero-six; Flash, zero-four; Green Arrow, zero-eight; Martian Manhunter, zero-seven; Red Tornado, one-six.] With the scan finished, the two doors then opened allowing the League members access to the room inside.
"That's it?" asked an angered Speedy, which caused the six heroes turn around and give him their attention, "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass," he finished, crossing his arms, anger still evident in his voice.
"It's a first step," Aquaman answered calmly, "You've been given access few others get."
"Oh, really?" Speedy answered angrily, gesturing up to a glass window where on the other side was photographers snapping pictures and more fans, some with video cameras, "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?!"
"Roy," Green Arrow spoke calmly stepping forward trying to calm his sidekick down, "You just need to be patient."
"What I need," Speedy angrily addressed his mentor stressing the last word, "is respect," he continued stressing his last word again. He then turned to face his fellow peers in crime fighting, "They're treating us like kids. Worse, like sidekicks. We deserve better than this," he finished looking at his friends for back up.
The four other sidekicks looked at each other and exchanged a look before looking back at Speedy. Red Robin was torn on the subject Speedy was talking about. Red Robin wanted the truth from Batman and the rest of The League for that matter, it's what he and the original dynamic duo fought for, along with justice, but he also understood why Batman and others kept secrets from them. They just wanted to protect him and his friends, like how he and Dick leave Barbara and their other friends in the dark about their night activities.
"You're kidding right?" the young archer asked looking at his friends not understanding why, "You're playing their game? Why?" he yelled at them, "Today was supposed to be the day, step one in becoming full-fledged members of The League!"
"Well, sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ," Kid Flash spoke wearily, looking at the others for reassurance. Red Robin nodded his head giving the speedster his attention for a few seconds before returning to the angered Speedy.
"Except The Hall isn't The League's real HQ!" he shouted. The four sidekicks' jaws dropped and Red Robin looked at his mentor, but as usual Batman had a stoic face, "I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing, an orbiting satellite called The Watchtower."
Red Robin could see all the glares the league members were giving to Green Arrow, minus Red Tornado cause well he couldn't. Green Arrow looked back at Flash and Batman, who crossed his arms, "I know, I know, but I thought maybe we could make an exception." He only received narrowed eyes from Batman, "Or not."
"You are not helping your cause here son. Stand down or" Aquaman said stepping forward to the red cladded archer.
"Or what?" Speedy started standing his ground against the king of the seas, "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his," he said looking at Green Arrow, "I thought I was his partner, but not anymore." Speedy then took off his yellow hat and threw at the feet of Green Arrow on the ground, causing the other sidekicks to drop jaws again. Red Robin was switching between Speedy and Green Arrow, hoping they could get him to calm down.
Speedy turned and started walking towards the doors on the other side of the library. He walked past Robin, Red Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad, "Guess they're right about you four," he spoke making eye contact with all of them, who were turning their heads, watching him leave, "You're not ready" he finished as he kept walking towards the door. The four teens stood up and watched him leave out the doors.
As soon as Speedy left, an alarm sounded in the library and seconds later on the comm screen above the computer was the Man of Steel himself, "Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire," he informed the leaguers in the library.
"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may prove the perfect opportunity to" but Batman couldn't finish as another incoming message sounded. Popping up on the communication screen in a smaller window was Zatara in a slightly panicked voice, "Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Attan to blot out the sun. Requesting full league response."
"Superman? Inquired Batman, looking up at the Kryptonian on the screen.
"It's a small fire," Superman answered, "Local authorities have it under control."
"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman decided, pressing a button on the keyboard for the computer, "All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out."
The four sidekicks approached Batman, who turned around to address the protégés, while the others made for the mission. "Stay put" the Caped Crusader ordered. His two teen heroes exchanged looks before beginning their assault of questions.
"What?" exclaimed Red Robin.
"Why?" Robin asked, wanting to help. They all did. They were ready to prove themselves.
Aquaman and Flash stopped, flanking Batman, "This is a league mission," Aquaman explained.
"We are leaguers," Red Robin shot back, holding up his access card.
"You're not trained -" Flash interjected.
"Since when?!" Kid Flash interrupted.
"I meant your not trained to work as part of this team," the red speedster gestured to Batman, Aquaman and himself.
"There will be other missions. When you're ready" Aquaman said.
"But for now," Batman started, narrowing his eyes at the sidekicks, but he mostly was looking at his own two students, "Stay put" he ordered. The Leaguer's then left the room and the doors slammed shut.
"When we're ready?!" spoke an angered Kid Flash, "How are ever suppose to be ready when they treat us like…" Kid Flash spoke pacing back and forth searching for words, while waving his arms around angrily.
"Sidekicks?" suggested Red Robin.
"Yes! Like sidekicks," Kid Flash exclaimed agreeing with the word choice.
"My mentor, my king," lamented Aqualad, "I thought he trusted me."
"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics!" Kid Flash exclaimed, "They have a secret HQ in space!" Kid Flash shouted, stretching upward and gesturing up to the sky with his arms in front of Aqualad.
"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad questioned.
"I have a better question," Robin stated, gaining the looks of the other three, "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" he asked. At the mention of the archer everyone frowned and KF and Red Robin crossed their arms.
"I have a question," Red Robin stated, "What is Project Cadmus?"
"Don't know," Robin answered, but he then got a devious smile on his face, "but I can find out." He walked up to the computer and started to type away on the keyboard.
"Access Denied" the computer spoke as Robin finished typing.
"Heh. Wanna bet?" he challenged the computer. He then tried a different approach, which worked like a charm. The screen above the computer changed as Robin hacked away with Red Robin watching to see if he could learn anything.
"Whoa! How are you doing that?" asked Kid Flash.
"Same system as the Batcave?" asked Red Robin, watching his partner hack away at the Justice League computer, which was something he never thought he would actually see.
"Heh. Yup," smirked Robin and the two exchanged a fist bump. Robin then hit the enter button and the computer spoke again, this time with good news, "Access Granted," it spoke before it flashed 'Opening File' and in seconds the Project Cadmus file appeared on screen.
"All right. Project Cadmus," Robin spoke reading the file.
"Genetics Lab here in D.C." read Red Robin, but he then frowned.
"But that's all there is," Robin spoke Red Robin's thoughts. Robin then looked at his partner and friends, "But if Batman is suspicious" he stated.
"Then maybe we should investigate?" Red Robin suggested with a smirk present on his face.
"Solve their case before they do," mused a smiling Aqualad, "It would be poetic justice."
"Hey," chuckled Robin, "They're all about justice."
"But they said stay put" sighed Aqualad.
"For the blotting out the sun mission," Roibn pointed out finding a loophole in Batman's orders, "Not this" he stated smiling.
"Besides," Red Robin interjected, "We stay put we end up in trouble for hacking their computer. In for a penny, in for a pound" he stated giving Aqualad a smirk.
"Wait," Kid Flash said, grabbing RR's shoulder and turning the hero to face him, "Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going" the three younger teens all looked to the oldest of the group for his input, giving him hopeful grins.
"Just like that? Were a team on a mission?" Aqualad asked seriously.
"We didn't come for a play date" Robin smiled back at the Atlantean. Red Robin watched as a smirk spread its way across Aqualad's face.
LINE BREAK
Sounds of sirens filled the air as the heroes neared their destination. Two scientists in a room, that was adjacent to the fire, waved their arms at the firefighter team on the ground, who were shouting up to them on a megaphone, telling them to stay put and that they would get them out. An explosion, near the scientists, then rocked the building and the force knocked the scientists out the window and they began falling to the ground.
Red Robin watched as a yellow blur then sped up the wall of the building and grabbed the two falling scientists. Kid Flash put them onto the roof before he lost his momentum and slid down the wall till he was able to catch onto a windowsill on the second floor.
The other three heroes then arrived on scene. "It's what's his name?!" shouted one of the fireman, pointing at the dangling Kid Flash, "Flash Boy!" he shouted.
Red Robin let out a chuckle at the situation KF was in. "So smooth" Robin commented.
"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad chastised the yellow and red speedster, "We need a plan. We… Robin? Red Robin?" Aqualad looked around, before hearing two sets of laughs coming from his surrounding area.
Aqualad looked back over at the firefighter crew and saw Robin and Red Robin front flip in the air onto a red firetruck that had its ladder extended up to the second floor of the building. They each pulled out their grapple guns and fired. Their shots connected to the top of the ladder, underneath where a guy was in his bucket spraying water at the fire. They then used their momentum and swung, aiming for the open window where Kid Flash was dangling from.
Robin swung right into the room, while Red Robin landed on the ledge and reached down and pulled Kid Flash up onto the ledge and the two entered the room finding Robin already at work typing on a computer, "All good?" Red Robin asked KF, who nodded, pulling out a drawer to search the files he found. Red Robin then smirked, "Flash Boy" he added, causing KF to grumble at him. Red Robin found another filling cabinet and pulled out the bottom drawer and bent down to start digging.
Just then Aqualad landed into the room, "Appreciate the help" Aqualad grumbled to the others.
"You handled it. Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Robin answered, before turning back to his computer screen.
"I hate sifting through files," grumbled Red Robin, "It's always the last folder," he added, pulling out a random folder and opening it. Finding nothing suspicious he put it back in its proper spot. He saw Aqualad leave the room and go out into the hallway before he pulled up another folder, but before he could read it, he heard an elevator ding.
He looked out the door to Aqualad, who had a questionable look on his face, "There was something in the…"
"That's a clue," Red Robin interrupted, before putting the folder back and closing the drawer. He then went over to join Aqualad, followed by Kid Flash out in the hallway.
"Elevators should be locked down," commented Kid Flash. Robin then joined the others in the hallway and they all made their way quietly too the elevator.
"This is wrong," Robin stated as he and Red Robin pulled up their holo-computers from their left glove.
"Whoa," Red Robin commented.
"Thought so. High-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong on a two-story building," Robin read from his holographic computer.
"Neither does what I saw," Aqualad said stepping forward. He placed his hands in between the elevator doors and with a grunt pried them open. Crouching under each side of Aqualad, Robin and Red Robin looked down the never ending and dark, shadowy elevator shaft.
"That might be why they need an express elevator," Red Robin said glancing at Robin. He then took out his grappling gun and fired at the ceiling. The grapple latched onto the ceiling.
"Might be" Robin replied before doing the same as his partner and then jumped into the dark elevator shaft disappearing from sight. Aqualad jumped and grabbed onto the Robin's rope and followed suit. Red Robin looked at Kid Flash, "Going down?" he asked before he too jumped into the never-ending shaft.
Air whipped around Red Robin's face and his cape fluttered behind him as he descended down. He then looked down seeing the outlining silhouettes of his partner and Aqualad. He looked ahead and could make out was looked like numbers, SL-15 and so on. He then looked down and noticed he was catching up to Robin, like he wasn't descending anymore.
When he caught up to them completely, he understood why. They had reached the end of the rope in the grapple guns, "Huh, first time that's ever happened," Red Robin commented.
"You said it. At the end of our rope" Robin added, swinging lightly to gain some momentum, Robin then launched himself toward the ledge and landing smoothly, followed by Aqualad. Red Robin then joined the two on SL-26 and swung lightly. Gaining enough momentum, he propelled himself over to the wall and slid down landing to the left of Robin. Kid Flash then swung over clasping onto the outstretched hand of Aqualad, who then brought him over to the ledge, where he hoisted himself up.
Robin took a seat on the ledge, and began to hack away, Red Robin who was standing off to the right of the door looked over Robin's shoulder and gave a small smirk. The gadgets Batman supplied them with were the best. He and Robin both had their gadgets customized for them. Sure, the gadgets did the hacking basically for you, which Red Robin was thankful for, but unlike him, Robin actually had the skill where he did not. Five grumpy Robin faces showed up on Robin's holo-computer showing that he was still hacking away, but as he continued the faces turned green and smirked. He too had that feature but left most of the hacking to the Boy Wonder.
"Bypassing security," Robin said, and once all the faces turned green, "There go!" he stated, giving Aqualad his que to open the door. Aqualad positioned himself and pried the doors open like he did before.
The teens stepped out of the elevator shaft and into a long hallway, "Welcome to Project Cadmus" Robin whispered.
Kid Flash was the first to act after the new development and sped off ahead.
"Kid, wait!" Aqualad barely had enough time to call out, reaching his arm out as he did so. Kid Flash however was long gone before Aqualad could really do anything about it.
The trio quickly followed suit after the teen speedster, but skidded to a halt when they caught up and watched as Kid Flash was almost trampled on by behemoth mammoth sized creature. These behemoth mammoths were gray skinned with dark spikes protruding from places all across their bodies, red lines and eyes, along with tusks and fists for front feet. Kid Flush luckily was able to roll out of the way in time and rejoined the others, who watched creature after creature march by them down a joining hallway.
One of the behemoth sized creatures had a gnome sized creature riding on its back. The small creature was a lighter grayish color and had four legs with black stripes on its head, and short horns with red eyes. It turned and looked at the four heroes and it's horns glowed a bright red.
"No. Nothing odd going on here," Aqualad whispered, using sarcasm for the first time today.
"Totally normal, Bats was so wrong" Red Robin quietly spoke sarcastically, watching the last of the mammoth sized creatures disappear down the hall.
After turning down another hallway, the teens came to a locked vault door that was blocking their path forward. Robin again pulled out his holo-computer and hacked into the security system again, unlocking the vault door.
"Ok, I'm officially whelmed" Robin muttered as the sidekicks took in the giant sized room. The side walls of the room had shelving that stretched all the way to almost the top of the room. On the shelving were more of those weird looking creatures, but these ones were inside cylinder shaped containers and looked more like bigger sized fireflies, except these bug things channeled electricity from their bodies that seemed to flow to a tall tower like structure that seemed to control the energy that the creatures gave off.
"This is how they hid this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these… things" Kid Flash informed the group as he walked forward, gestured toward the firefly like creatures inside the giant cylinder-shaped structures, "It must be what they're bred for" he said looking at the creatures some more.
"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad told the others, "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons' teeth into the Earth."
"And this Cadmus creates new life too," agreed Robin, who, along with Red Robin then walked over to a computer terminal.
"Shall we find out why?" Red Robin asked as he flipped open a compartment on his left glove and pulled out a flash drive connected by a wire to his glove. Instantly after plugging it in, a holo-screen appeared, allowing RR to sift through the data, "They call them genomorphs," he explained to the class.
"Whoa," Robin exclaimed reading the file from over his partner's shoulder.
"Look at the stats on those things," Red Robin spoke up looking over the file, "Superstrength, telepathy, razor claws," Red Robin continued, now reading out the names, "G-Gnomes, G-Trolls, G-Elves, G-Dwarves, and G-Sprites" he read, looking at all the different types of genomorphs there were.
"These are living weapons!" Robin exclaimed, eyes wide.
"They're engineering an army," muttered Kid Flash darkly, "But for who?"
"Wait," Red Robin exclaimed flipping to a new file, "There's something else," the other three gathered around him also looking, "Project Kr." He said, but the data was heavily encrypted, triple encrypted to be exact, "Ugh! The file's triple-encrypted. I can't…"he said tapping his holo-screen several times in frustration.
"Don't move!" called out a commanding voice. They looked to their left to see… Guardian? Surrounded by several g-elves. "Wait. Robin, Red Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash?"
"At least he got your name right," Robin smirked as they all stood around Red Robin, who chuckled at Robin's comment, who had started downloading Project Kr.
"I know you. Guardian, a hero" Aqualad commented toward the older hero.
"I do my best."
"Then what're you doing here?" Kid Flash asked him.
"I'm Chief of Security," which caused Red Robin to raise an eyebrow and glance in the heroes' direction, but was instantly brought back to his download by a beep, signaling it was complete, "You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out."
"You think The League is going to approve of you breeding weapons?!" Kid Flash snapped at Guardian, causing something to snap inside Guardian.
"Weapons? What are you… What have I… ugh," Guardian closed his eyes in pain and gripped his head, "My head," but then looked back up at the heroes with an angered face and pointed at them, "Take'em down hard no mercy!" he yelled. Instantly the g-elves moved in for the kill.
Robin and Red Robin reacted almost instantly. Red Robin moved around in front of Aqualad and Kid Flash and he and Robin both dropped smoke pellets on the ground, instantly filling the area with smoke.
Amidst the smoke and confusion, Red Robin pulled out his grapple gun and aimed for a cross beam up that ran above him. He fired his grapple gun and it latched onto the cross beam and he began to pull himself towards it. As pulled himself toward the beam, one of the g-elves grabbed onto his foot, "Ugh" he groaned and using his other foot kicked it in the face a few times before it finally let go and plummeted back to the ground, disappearing in the smoke. He then focused back on his grapple and before he hit the cross beam, he detached his grapple from the beam and used the momentum to propel himself forward out of harms way.
Landing on the ground in a roll, Red Robin jumped back up to his feet and booked it towards the elevator that was down a hall they passed on their way into the room. He rounded the corner to go down the hallway only to see Robin already there hacking the door, "How did you beat me?"
"If I told you, then I'd have to kill you," joked Robin as he hacked away.
"Bat protégés don't kill," Red Robin sarcastically responded to his friends sarcastic answer, "Unless it's for the remote for the giant TV," causing Robin and him to both smirk. "Hey, where's" Red Robin began as he looked behind him only to be met with a blur of yellow in his face.
"Way to be team players, Robs" he said glaring at the two.
"Weren't you right behind us?" asked Red Robin slightly confused why KF and Aqualad were so far behind him and Robin.
Just then, the red lights on the doors to the elevator turned green and the doors opened, allowing the three to jump in. Now they were waiting for their Atlantean friend, who just now rounded the corner with those g-elves and Guardian on his tail. Aqualad sprinted down the hall and rolled into the elevator and the doors closed just in time as the g-elves lunged for them, but only making contact with the elevator doors on the outside.
"We're heading down?" he asked as the yellow numbers, indicating the sub-levels, were increasing.
"Dude," Kid Flash snapped at the Boy Wonder, "Out is up," and for added emphasis he pointed up with his finger.
"Project Kr, it's down on sub-level fifty-two," Red Robin stated, crossing his arms at the speedster.
Aqualad gave a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, "This is out of control. Perhaps," Aqualad paused, looking at his friends, "Perhaps we should contact The League."
There was a short moment of silence, before Red Robin spoke, "Not when were so close. We contact the League and we're dead, along with Cadmus,"
Before the others had time to respond, there was a ping and doors of the elevator opened, welcoming them to SL-52. "We are already here," shrugged Kid Flash, as Robin and Red Robin rushed out the elevator and took cover behind some barrels.
"Ok this is weird," commented Red Robin looking at the walls, as the speedster and Atlantean joined them. The walls unlike the previous sub-levels weren't metal. Instead it was a red organic looking material. Scattered on the wall were blueish colored orbs, but he couldn't see what was inside them, if anything for that matter.
"Which way?" Aqualad asked looking at his route options.
Robin pulled out one of his birdarang discs, "Yea, bizarre-looking hallway one?" he asked gesturing with his birdarang, "Or bizarre-looking hallway two?" gesturing with his other hand.
"Halt!" shouted a voice, coming down 'bizarre-looking hallway one'. A humanoid genomorph with large horns walked out to the middle of the hallway with his left arm stretched out in the direction of the teens. His horns glowed red and two barrels near him floated off the ground. Stretching his hand out, the barrels flew through the air, in the direction of the sidekicks. The young heroes dodged the canisters that then connected with the wall behind them exploding on impact, shaking the ground. Robin threw his birdarang at the humanoid, but he stopped it telekinetically and picked up two more barrels.
"Definitely bizarre-looking hallway two!" shouted Red Robin and he and the rest of the group started down the other hallway. The humanoid threw two more barrels at the group. Red Robin turned around and threw one of his own birdarangs that made contact with the one barrel, causing it and the other barrel to explode before it could reach them.
Kid Flash sped off a head of the rest of the group and when the group rounded the corner, Kid Flash was placing a canister between the two closing vault doors, stopping them from closing the entire way. Robin, followed by Red Robin and Aqualad jumped through the opening and when they were all inside, Aqualad being the last one, he kicked the canister, dislodging it, allowing the doors to slam shut.
"Door is disabled," Red Robin, who had his holo-computer up, told Aqualad, who walked his direction, "we're safe" he said letting out a sigh.
"We're trapped" Aqualad deadpanned, putting the concerned look back on Red Robin.
"Uh, guys. You'll want to see this," Kid Flash called out to his friends. The others walked over beside him and Kid Flash pressed a button on the console in front of him.
The lights came on and inside a large containment structure, "Whoa!" Robin said, voicing the inner thoughts of his comrades, who were all wide eyed at the sight in front of them.
The front of the containment cell was emblazoned with the letters Kr and inside was a black, haired teen in a white suit, with the iconic red shield and S inside it.
"Big 'K', little 'r', the atomic symbol for krypton," Kid Flash exclaimed, putting two and two together, "Clone?" he asked.
"Robin, hack" Aqualad ordered, turning to his younger teammate.
"Oh. Right, right" he said, quickly pulling out his flash drive again and plugging it into the console in front of him. He bypassed the security measures on the console and in no time, popping up on Robin's holo-screen was a zoomed in picture of the boy and Robin read off what he saw, "Weapon designation Superboy, a clone force-grown in… sixteen weeks?" Robin exclaimed wide eyed pointing on his screen, "from DNA acquired from Superman," he read looking back up at Aqualad.
"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected.
"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid Flash pointed out as well.
"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four/seven," Robin read off some more of what he saw.
"And these creatures," Aqualad pointed out on the console screen.
"G-gnomes" Red Robin answered, remembering the stats he saw earlier.
"They're telepathic, force feeding him an education," Robin read off from his holo-screen.
"And we can guess what else. They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's… son."
"Big blue isn't going to like that," Red Robin added, turning to Aqualad.
"Now we contact the league," Aqualad said touching the Atlantean A on his belt buckle. It glowed blue for a bit, but Aqualad eventually let go. Kid Flash, Robin and Red Robin all tried using their devices as well, but "No signal," Robin and Red Robin voiced simultaneously.
"We're in too deep," commented the yellow and red speedster, "Literally."
Red Robin looked back at the containment structure holding Superboy, he frowned, "We can't leave him like this."
"Set him free," agreed Aqualad, looking down at Robin, "Do it."
Robin touched his holo-screen a couple times, and the capsule opened with a hiss, letting out some steam as it did so. The boy's hand clenched up into fists, getting a glare from Red Robin, "Something's.." he started to say, but couldn't finish as the boy's blue eyes shot open and instantly launched himself at Aqualad, slamming him into the ground. Landing on top of the Atlantean, Superboy started to repeatedly punch Aqualad's face.
"Whoa! Hang on, Supey," Kid Flash exclaimed, groaning as he held back Superboy's arm.
Robin grabbed his head and neck, covering the boy's eyes, "We're on your side," Robin grunted out. Just then Superboy managed to remove his arm from the grip of Kid Flash. Once the boy's arm was free his fist connected with Kid Flash's face, sending the speedster hurling across the room into a glass, cylinder tube.
"I don't want to do this," Robin said, as he slammed a smoke pellet into Superboy's mouth. Superboy coughed out smoke and backed up just enough to give Aqualad the room he needed to kick the clone across the room into the console the heroes used earlier to set the Superman clone free from his cell. Robin then used that opening to pull out his high powered taser gun. Pulling the trigger, the electrical wires flew and latched onto the clone's chest, as Superboy stood up.
Looking down at the wires, Superboy flinched slightly, before grabbing the wires and giving them a tug, pulling Robin along with them. Superboy caught Robin with his free hand and slammed him on the ground. The clone wasted very little time as he then stood on the chest of Red Robin's partner.
Red Robin gave a deep growl and rushed the clone and leaped into the air, spinning as he did. He used this time to pull out one black circular disc. He went over the clone and as he passed, placed the disc on the clone's right shoulder. He then landed in a fighting stance facing the clone.
The clone began to charge at him, but a beeping was heard from the clone. The beeping became louder and quicker before the disc on his shoulder exploded spinning the clone in that direction to meet a head on charging Aqualad who was in mid-swing with a giant water hammer, emitting from his water bearer, "Enough!" he yelled as he swung at the clone, connecting with the clone's face. Red Robin ducked at the Superboy projectile and the clone smashed into the upright table he was resting on in his containment cell.
Red Robin then pulled his partner up, but Robin let out some groans and moans and fell back down. Red Robin then growled again and looked at the clone who was walking back toward him and Aqualad, who positioned himself just a head of the duo of gadget heroes, "We are trying to help you," Aqualad shouted, putting his hand out, gesturing for the clone to stop. Superboy however lunged and Aqualad and Red Robin dodged out of the way. Red Robin then attempted a roundhouse kick on the clone, but the clone grabbed the heroes foot before it made contact with his face, he spun the hero around and threw him towards Aqualad, knocking the two to the ground.
Red Robin, before unconsciousness overtook him, saw Aqualad stand back up only to be slammed head on into the wall behind them by a charging Superboy, and saw Superboy deliver one swing to the Atlantean's face before he blacked out completely.
Superboy looked around at the unconscious band of sidekicks and stepped over them as he made his way over to the disabled doors and pushed his hands in between the doors, successfully pried the doors open with one giant push. On the other side of the doors a man, dressed in a tan shirt and brown pants with a lab coat over top with a g-gnome perched on his right shoulder, walked up to the clone and surveyed the knocked-out heroes, leaning his head in the clone's direction whispered with a smirk on his face, "Attaboy."
So leave a review and also PM ideas if you have them cause like I said last chapter, I'm willing to work them in. I do have things planned but definitely will try my best to work in other ideas. Even if they are smaller side story arcs you want in cause I also have plans to tie in something else as well.