The first time Deathstroke had been somewhat surprised by the technology with which the Light communicated: each member was obscured by a bright white light and each was contained in a screen to hide their identities. Only the figure from the chest up was visible for each of them and this allowed Slade to figure out who was who.
This would be their second official meeting, besides the introductory meeting and one more in which they discussed general plans, and both on that occasion and at that precise moment Slade was in one of his secret hideouts in New York to prevent them from somehow locating his house and consequently discovering his civilian identity.
"What is the reason for this meeting?" asked Brain.
"Mr. Luthor has something to announce to you." stated Vandal Savage and everyone waited for the billionaire to begin speaking.
"As previously established, for the past several months I have been secretly helping to establish a new facility called Cadmus in Washington. In the eyes of the public it is a simple building with two floors but there are as many as 52 sub-levels. As planned at the last meeting, the Light has developed countless genetic experiments called genomorphs and they are being used both to hide our activities and as a workforce."
"Good. That way we would have many resources to take advantage of." spoke Ocean-Master in a smug voice.
"We designed the Cadmus project primarily to create clones." Zviad Baazovi helpfully pointed out. "You had announced two projects last time. What is the situation in that regard?"
"We were able to recreate a partial Kryptonian DNA sequence. This led to the first attempt to clone Superman and we named it Project Match. However because of the incomplete DNA sequence and the difficulties in perfectly recreating Kryptonian DNA, Project Match exhibits wild, unstable and uncontrollable behavior and we were forced to abandon it and put it aside."
"When did the creation of Project Match begin?" Deathstroke asked, wanting to gather as much information as possible.
"A few weeks after Cadmus officially opened, so about five months ago." Lex replied.
Cadmus and Project Match date back to even before I received the invitation to join the Light. Slade noted as he squinted his eyes.
"We are facing failure then." snorted Queen Bee, clearly annoyed by the waste of resources and time on Project Cadums.
"Actually no, it is not a failure. We can always use Project Match for future plans once we perfect it." said the billionaire. "But not only that: we have attempted to create another Kryptonian clone this time also using human DNA to fill in the gaps of the previous project."
"Human DNA?" repeated Black Manta skeptically.
"Mine, to be precise." affirmed Lex, letting out a slight pride. "And I am pleased to announce the success of this plan: Project Kr is born."
"So we have a half-Kryptonian clone on our hands." Ultra-Humanite guessed.
"That's right. Project Kr is not as strong as Superman and does not have all his powers but we will be able to find a way to solve this problem. It is currently locked up in a containment capsule along with G-Gnomes who control it telepathically and instruct it on everything he needs to know."
"This is a real achievement, gentlemen. Especially in terms of timing." intervened Vandal Savage. "Having a Superman clone available will be very useful. If we continue at this rate in a short time we will have someone capable of standing up to Superman himself and being his equal. Even two if we can solve the problems related to Project Match."
"Does the Justice League have any suspicions about Cadmus?" asked Psimon.
"Not currently." replied Lex smugly. "They don't even know that I helped found it, otherwise they would have already investigated."
"That's good." stated Psimon and there was a general murmur of recognition.
"Cadmus will also be used for other projects, not only to create clones." the Light leader continued. "So in addition to Project Kr you will also have to focus on other things."
"It will be done." Lex agreed quickly.
"Good. Does anyone have any questions?" asked Vandal Savage and in response he got silence. "Then we can end the meeting. Please let's continue to stay on a low level. The Justice League is not yet aware of the Light and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible."
Slade smirked, knowing that the heroes were aware of the Light, its goals and members thanks to a young mercenary.
This mole thing was proving more and more exciting and interesting.
Slade ended the call and turned off the technology that allowed this to happen. He took a moment to mentally summarize the new information he had learned and then headed for the exit of his secret hideout.
Dick would not have been pleased with the new information.
"Are you seriously telling me that right now Light has two clones of Superman at its disposal?" asked Dick in disbelief once his father had finished telling him the details of the meeting.
"Technically, one clone is half Kryptonian while the other is entirely Kryptonian but so hot-tempered and uncontrollable that he's currently being sidelined." Slade corrected him, huffing at the flat look he received from his son.
"I wouldn't have thought Cadmus would become a major asset to the Light." the acrobat reflected aloud. "And I certainly wouldn't have expected them to try to clone Kryptonian DNA."
"Neither did I. When they mentioned creating clones in the previous meeting, I didn't think they would create new Supermans, although we should have expected that."
The Talon murmured distractedly in acknowledgement. "We have to do something."
"We?" repeated Slade, arching an eyebrow.
"I." Dick corrected himself rolling his eyes.
Slade huffed. "What would you like to do? Infiltrate Cadmus and get rid of the clones and genomorphs?" he rolled his eye.
"Since when have you been able to read minds?"
The super soldier froze in place and sent him an impassive look. "Tell me you're kidding, kiddo." he asked in a flat voice. In response he obtained a smirk and he groaned. "I shouldn't be surprised, damn it."
Dick chuckled. "Take it easy, Slade. They won't even know it was Renegade who sabotaged them. Besides, I want to see Superman's two clones personally first and if I deem them to be a threat then I will eliminate them."
"Wise decision. And for the record I am not questioning your abilities because I know you would be able to do anything." clarified Slade honestly. "Instead, I'm questioning your survival instincts."
"What survival instinct?"
"You just proved my point, kiddo."
"I know."
Slade rolled his one eye but had a small, amused smile. "You will infiltrate Cadmus in six days, enough time to avoid any suspicion."
"More than enough time to study the entire Cadmus floor plan, figure out where the clones might be hiding and prepare a plan." nodded the Talon.
"I know you'll have no trouble, kiddo."
Dick's face lit up at the compliment. "Thank you!"
It was nice how over the years Slade had become more and more comfortable with handing out compliments and physical contact. It certainly helped that he could actively be a part of Rose and Joey's lives.
Slade was truly a good father and anyone who would claim otherwise would be killed courtesy of Renegade.
Night was always the right time for action, in Renegade's humble opinion.
He grabbed the grappling hook and fired in the direction of Cadmus. It connected firmly on the roof of the structure and Renegade flew into the second floor of Cadmus since the windows were missing. He stowed the grappling hook in his utility belt and began tinkering with his holographic glove. In less than a minute he unleashed a cyber attack that would disable every camera in the entire building for the next five hours without triggering any alarm.
The young mercenary turned the corner and squinted as he saw the elevator -which he knew was a high-speed elevator- close. He swore he saw a figure behind the elevator doors before they closed.
Probably a genomorph.
Once he reached the elevator doors Renegade used his superhuman strength to open them, revealing a very long set of 52 sub-levels. He fired the grappling hook at the ceiling and jumped over the rope, then descended rapidly as far as the grappling hook rope would allow.
The grappling hook rope stopped in front of the twenty-sixth sublevel. Renegade swung forward and launched himself, landing easily on the small landing. He turned and stood on the edge of the landing, reached out his right hand, grabbed the rope and pulled back. He raised his other hand and a few seconds later blocked the grappling hook that fell from above him.
The Talon looked around. There was no support point on which he could have fired the grappling hook to descend further. He cast a glance below and estimated that the last sub-level was approximately 30 meters from where he currently stood, perhaps even more.
Renegade could have easily launched himself down below even without a grappling hook and smashed his feet and legs in the landing, greatly decreasing the time needed to reach the last sublevel.
He had literally suffered worse than splitting the bones in his feet and legs and his pain tolerance was virtually infinite to the point that he would feel no pain at all, and thanks to his healing factor it would take only a few minutes for his legs and feet to heal.
But he could not risk anyone seeing him, and in the few minutes it would take to heal his wounds in his feet and legs he would be vulnerable since he would not be able to move.
Or at least as vulnerable as the second best mercenary in the world with a lot of weapons on him could be.
But if anyone saw Renegade they would surely warn the Light and as a result Deathstroke would be in trouble.
And that was something Dick could not afford.
Safer route, then.
Once again Renegade forced the elevator doors through his superhuman strength and thus entered the twenty-sixth sublevel. He advanced, looking carefully around, and suddenly stopped when he heard heavy, loud footsteps. His body stiffened, ready for combat, but he immediately relaxed when he saw a long series of G-Trolls passing in front of him: giant genomorphs endowed with brute strength. Above them were also G-Gnomes: small genomorphs endowed instead with telepathy.
Renegade raised his eyebrows under his mask when he noticed that the G-Gnomes were staring at him but ignored them and continued on his way to the next elevator that might lead him to the last sublevel.
The acrobat entered a room where hundreds or even thousands of another species of genomorphs, the G-Sprites, were kept in display cases, equipped with electricity that was harnessed to power the Cadmus sublevels. Dick stared at them, feeling some pity for them, but was diverted from his thoughts when his enhanced hearing picked up something.
His head snapped forward just in time to see a multitude of genomorphs enter his own room accompanied by a tall, rugged man whom Dick knew to be the head of security and an accomplice in the Cadmus project. The man's eyes widened when he saw him, most likely recognizing the armor, but before he could even open his mouth he fell abruptly to the floor, a knife sticking out of his skull and a pool of fresh blood expanding ever wider.
Renegade quickly grabbed a small grenade from his utility belt and threw it forward. As soon as it made contact with the floor, a small explosion was unleashed. A cloud of smoke filled the room and when it disappeared all the genomorphs accompanying the dead head of security were revealed, pieces of their bodies torn off in a bloody, blood-filled spectacle.
Immediately an alarm sounded loudly and the mercenary let out an expletive. Without wasting any time he began typing on his holographic glove and in record time he was able to direct the location of the alarm in the completely opposite direction from where he currently stood.
He hid in the shadows of the room and advanced silently, stopping on a couple of occasions when he saw a long line of genomorphs running toward where he had directed the location of the alarm. They did not notice him and Renegade sprinted toward the elevator that closed behind him. He pressed the button for the last sublevel and waited patiently.
"So much for being a secret mission." the acrobat muttered frowning.
He quickly realized that the G-Gnomes from earlier had telepathically contacted the head of security warning him of an intruder, which was why he found him. It was obvious from his shocked look that he had not expected to see Renegade, so the G-Gnomes had not provided any descriptive information about the mercenary to the security chief.
Well, now there was no one who could witness Renegade's presence.
Except those G-Gnomes, that is.
That was a problem that Dick would take care of later, probably by blowing up the whole Cadmus once he was done with the two clones.
Dick doubted that the Cadmus explosion would kill two Kryptonian clones -even if one of them was half-Kryptonian- but the same could not be said for the genomorphs.
Moreover, he first had to see if Project Kr was as unstable and dangerous as Project Match, not to mention that he would first have to figure out whether to kill one or both clones or neither.
His reflections were interrupted when the elevator doors opened and he advanced forward. He stared down the two corridors in front of him and as soon as he took a step forward toward the one that would lead to Project Kr he froze in place when he heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Stop!"
Renegade turned sharply and found himself staring at what must have been a G-Goblin, another genomorph, who was definitely not there before. His hand locked on the knife he had quickly drawn, a millisecond before he threw it when the genomorph peacefully raised his hands in the air.
"I don't know for what reasons you are here but I don't want to fight. No one but me knows you're here and I want to keep it that way."
Renegade's grip on the knife did not waver at all. "Who are you?"
"My name is Dubbilex and I was created by Project Cadmus."
"What do you mean when you said you don't want to fight? And why don't you want others to know that I am here?"
"You see, we genomorphs are being exploited by Cadmus officials to fulfill their goals. All I want for myself and the rest of my species is freedom. And I think you can help us. I was planning to cause a fire to attract the attention of the Justice League so that they would discover the real Cadmus and free us genomorphs from the condition of slavery we are forced into but now the plan has changed since you are here."
Dick began to think that he and the genomorphs shared a common trait: the desire to be free. While Dick was raised as the world's most dangerous weapon by the Court of Owls, the genomorphs were instead exploited by Cadmus.
Thus he knew exactly what Dubbilex and the other genomorphs were feeling. However he could not trust them so easily.
"How can I be sure that you are telling the truth?" he asked, still keeping a firm grip on the knife.
"By now, other genomorphs and guards would have come to thwart you, don't you think?" the genomorph pointed out.
"That could be part of a larger plan, don't you think?" the mercenary replied.
Dubbilex fixed him with an indecipherable stare. "Point taken." he reluctantly conceded. "But killing me won't help you at all in getting to... whatever your goal is."
"I, on the other hand, think so. You see, it is not my intention to leave witnesses alive who can identify me."
"I understood that from the explosion you caused, killing many of my kind." Dubbilex declared in a flat voice.
"I won't apologize for that if that's what you want. They and the security chief wanted to capture me, so I had to kill them all."
"I could overlook it on one condition: if you help us genomorphs gain the freedom we so long for." Dubbilex stated, staring at him intently.
Renegade remained silent, reflecting.
If there had been Deathstroke he would have long ago killed Dubbilex and that was also what Dick would have done if not for his words.
But Dick was not Deathstroke.
He was not like his former mentor.
Dick was Renegade, a mercenary who differed from Deathstroke in many ways.
He did not want to be like his father: he wanted to be his own mercenary and man.
The choice of whether or not to trust Dubbilex's words turned out to be easier than he could have imagined.
"I will trust you." Renegade conceded after a minute of intense thought. "But if I sense that you are lying to me I will kill you and the rest of your kind. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystalline." the genomorph nodded without changing the facial expression on his face. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you break into Cadmus?"
Renegade stared at him for a brief moment. "I want to personally verify whether Superman's clones pose a threat to society. If the answer is yes, then you already know what will happen next."
Dubbilex made a kind of grimace, not even questioning how he is aware of this. "I can assure you that Project Kr is relatively harmless if kept in the right hands. He represents hope for us genomorphs since as a genomorph hero he could blaze the trail for all genomorphs to be free."
Renegade raised an eyebrow under his mask and shrugged his shoulders. "Then there is some chance that I will not kill him." he stated casually. "What about Project Match instead?"
"Project Match? I've never heard of it." Dubbilex affirmed, frowning.
The Talon suspiciously narrowed his gaze but found no sign that he was lying. "Project Match exists. It was Cadmus's first attempt to clone Superman but was unsuccessful as he was deemed unstable and uncontrollable."
Dubbilex stared at him for a few seconds and finally nodded slowly. "I believe you. I suppose you know the way to Project Kr?" Renegade sent him a smirk and a nod. "Then you will have to go on alone. Cadmus agents will get suspicious if I am absent for too long. Chances are we will see each other again soon."
"Mark my words, Dubbilex." Renegade straightened his back and fixed him with a cold, emotionless gaze. "If I discover even the slightest hint that suggests you are lying to me, I will personally extinguish your species starting with you. It will be a piece of cake for me and I will have a lot of fun. Do I make myself clear?"
Dubbilex returned the gaze, his red eyes unreadable. "Very clear. I wish you good luck." he turned and walked away, leaving Renegade alone.
The acrobat stared at the retreating figure of the genomorph for a few seconds before looking away and taking the corridor that would lead him to Project Kr.
I hope I made the right choice.