Chapter 3: Escape from Cadmus

This was bad, very bad. Dr. Desmond was having a rather challenging day. First he learned that one of Cadmus' most promising projects had escaped mid-transport, only to genetically fuse itself with a civilian, which meant loose ends to tie up. Then a fire broke out on the upper levels, attracting the attention of not only firemen and errant bystanders, but worse, the Justice League's Sidekicks! They had breached the lower levels, and learned far too much, including the existence of the Superboy weapon. Now, he had to inform his bosses, the only people Desmond truly feared. They were an organization known only as 'The Light'. While Desmond did not know the true identities of every member, he knew that they were made up of the most dangerous people on Earth. He did not enjoy giving them bad news, regardless, he knew that the consequences of withholding the events of the pasttwenty four hours would be far more severe. He stepped into the center of his office, where several monitors lowered from the ceiling, surrounding him. The monitors all turned on, with white, grainy outlines of people appearing on each of them. These, were his bosses, this was The Light. Before Desmond could speak, one of the monitors spoke.

"Dr. Desmond, you require an audience with The Light?"

"Yes, Verry sorry to disturb you at this late hour-"

One of the monitors interrupted him "Just make your report!"

Desmond gulped out of nervousness, before continuing. "Of course. Unfortunately, there are two issues I must report to you. Firstly, while Project Sybiosis was successfully retrieved from the pick up location near Facility Gamma, it escaped while under the watch of Proffesor Emile Hamilton. Hamilton was able to retrieve the Symbiote, but not before it bonded to a highschool student. Following procedure, Hamilton captured the young man, and he was brought to our facility to begin experimentation and eventual removal of the Symbiote. However, before I could begin the experimentation, our second situation occured. We had a small fire here at Project Cadmus. The origin of the incident is still unclear, but it seems to have attracted some... unwanted attention. Three sidekicks, Robin, Aqualad and Kid flash, breached security. They found and released the weapon, the Superboy. Of course the clone is under our telepathic control, and turned on his would-be liberators as ordered. The three are contained and we don't believe the League knows they're here. Uh... what should I do with them?"

The members of the Light were silent, deciding their response. After a short moment one spoke up. "Clone the sidekicks, and the boy the Sybiote bonded with, if possible."

Another spoke "The clones will serve the Light, and only the Light. As for the originals, dispose of them, leave no trace." After the two members spoke, all the monitors went dark. Desmond had his orders.

Awaken... you must wake now!!!'

The three sidekicks woke up startled. It took them a moment to remember what had happened. Kid Flash saw the Superboy, someone who beat and podded them for trying to help, staring at him. "What? What do you want?! Quit staring, you're creeping me out!"

Robin looked over at his friend. "Uh, KF, how about you don't tick off the guy who could fry us with a look?"

Aqualad joined the conversation. "We only saught to help you-"

Kid Flash interrupted "Yeah, and you turned on us, how's that for gratitude?"

Aqualad quickly took back control of the conversation. "Kid, please, be quiet now. I believe our new friend was not fully in control of his actions."

Superboy looked at the ground, "What... what if I wasn't?"

Kid Flash was surprised to hear the clone speak "Woah, he can talk??"

This condescending comment offended Superboy. "Yes, HE can."

Aqualad and Robin looked at Kid Flash, as if to say 'Seriously?'

KF looked confused. "Not like I said 'it'."

Aqualad looked at Superboy. "You've been taught speech by the Genomorphs."

Superboy responded quietly "They taught me much. I can read, write, I-I know the names of things."

Robin spoke. "But have you seen them? Have they ever actually let you see the sky, or the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind, but... no, I have not seen them."

Aqualad asked the question that had been on his mind since they discovered the clone. "Do you know who you are, what you are?"

Superboy responded quickly, reciting from memory. "I am the Superboy, a Genomorphs, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish, and destroy him should he turn from the light."

The three sidekicks looked at eachother with a mixture of fear and sadness. Fear, duel to how frightening the thought of someone planning to kill Superman was. Sadness, for Superboy, that his whole reason for existence was to be used as a weapon. Aqualad was the first to communicate this. "To be like Superman is... a worthy aspiration. But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own, beyond your solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."

Superboy did not like the insinuation that Cadmus was some malicious force, even if deep down he had similar thoughts, he did't want to admit them. "I live because of Cadmus, it is my home!"

Robin calmly countered. "Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun."

Kid Flash couldn't help but be a smart ass, even in a situation this sensitive and dire. "Um actually i'm pretty sure it's almost midnight. But we can show you the moon."

Aqualad added the biggest temptation for Superboy. "We can show you, introduce you, to Superman."

Before Superboy could respond, he heard the familiar voice of Dr. Desmond behind him. "No, they can't.They will be otherwise occupied." Next to Desmond were his assistant Dr.Spence, and Guardian. "Dr.Spence, start the cloning procedure for the new 'Project: Sidekick', Guardian, get the weapon back in it's pod!"

Aqualad looked at Superboy and pleaded softly. "Help us."

When Guardian grabbed Superboy's arm, he physically shook him off, which annoyed Desmond. "Oh don't start thinking now." As he said this, one of the G-Gnome creatures that Desmond had brought along used it's telepathy to force Superboy into following Guardian. "See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon, and you belong to me! Well, to Cadmus...same thing, now get back to your pod!" Once they were at the door, Superboy kept walking towards his pod room, while Guardian stayed behind. It was then that the painful DNA extraction process began.

Desmond looked around, as if searching for someone. "Where is Dubilex?" As soon as he said this, a tall blue being with horns appeared behind him. Desmond shuddered, startled. "Lurking as usual. I want you to have the G-gnomes start downloading their memories, once you are done, delete the source material."

As the three sidekicks screamed in pain, Aqualad whispered under his breath, knowing that the Kryptonian clone would hear.

"Superboy, you live.That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon, or a person, the choice is yours. But ask yourself, 'What would Superman do?'"

Superboy heard these words, and with every ounce of willpower he could muster, he broke free of the G-gnome's control. He then ran up to the closed doors, and started punching them with all his might. The loud banging sounds did not go unnoticed on the other side. Once Superboy finally broke through, Guardian, Desmond and Dubilex all charged at him, only for Superboy to effortlessly shove them aside. He then walked over towards the control console for the DNA extractors, and smashed it, disabling the system. With the intense pain now subsiding, Robin was able to successfully free himself from his restraints. "Finally! Batman would have my head for taking so long!"

Kid Flash was seriously wondering why Robin was worried about getting a Bat-Glare right now. "Seriously? The whole League is gonna have our heads after tonight. If we even make it out of here."

Robin and Superboy freed their comrades, and as they made their escape, Robin threw three of his explosive Birdarangs at the DNA collection chambers, destroying the samples.

Dr. Desmond stood up, filled with rage, he gave his G-Gnome an order. "Activate EVERY genomorph in Project Cadmus." Upon giving this order, the hall that the four escapees were running down started glowing red, as the Genomorph pods were activated.

"We are still forty two levels below ground, if we can make it to the express elevator..." As Aqualad said this, Genomorphs of every shape and size surrounded them, blocking them on all sides. The young heroes knew that the only way out was through these monsters, so they began fighting. Kid Flash using his superspeed to avoid attacks fromm the two giant Genomorphs, and took out many of the smaller ones with some punches. Robin and Aqualad worked together against one of the giants, Robin managed to trip it up with his grappling hook, which he had used as a makeshift tripwire. Once the giant was on the ground, Aqualad drew his Twin Aqua Weapons, which he manifested into large hammers, and began smashing the giant. Superboy meanwhile, was taking out some aggression on the other giant, catching one of it's fists before throwing the beast into a wall.

The three sidekicks had defeated enough of the Genomorphs to move forward, but Aqualad noticed that Superboy's tussle with the giant was causing significant damage to the hallway they were in. "Superboy, the plan is to escape, not to bury ourselves here!" Superboy had been filled with rage and addrenaline due to the fighting. He shouted at Aqualad "YOU WANT ESCAPE?!" He then threw the giant he was fighting with into the elevator doors, causing it to break the doors open. the creature managed to save itself from falling down the elevator shaft, but then collapsed from exhaustion. The sidekicks and Superboy made there way to the elevator shaft. Robin grabbed Kid Flash and grappled upward, while Superboy grabbed Aqualad and jumped, attempting to fly. However, instead of soaring to the ground floor, Superboy and aqualad only reached Robin and Kid Flash's level before they began falling. "I'm... falling?" Before they got too far down, Robin managed to save them, now all four busted through one of the sets of doors, narrowly avoiding the express elevator knocking them down. "Superman can fly... why can't I?"

Kid Flash shrugged. "I dunno. But it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound, still cool."

Robin reminded them that they needed to escape now, and power scale later. As the four of them started running, Superboy took lead. Strangely, he heard a voice in his head, giving him directions through the complex. He thought it strange, but there was no time to question it. The voice guided Superboy and his new friends to a dead end wall. However, Robin was quite happy, as there was a small ventilation shaft that they could use. Once they were inside, Robin hacked not only communications and security cameras throughout all of Cadmus, he also hacked the ventilation motion sensors. As they were moving through the vents, Superboy heard the voice again. 'There are two exits ahead of you, use the one on the left.'

"Up ahead, on the left." Superboy directed the others to follow him, and they exited the vents, ending up in a room. "Geeze Rob, I don't know how you and Batman do that on a regular basis. I need breathing room." Kid Flash was happy to be in a more spacious room. Then they all heard a voice.

"Over here, help me!" They turned and saw another containment pod, with a blonde boy about their age inside. Superboy was about to pry the pod open, when Robin stopped him by putting his arm in front of him. "Better let me do it. My way is quieter." Robin hacked the lock on the pod, and opened it up, freeing the blonde.

"Oh thank God, I thought I was gonna die here. That psycho Desmond said he would be back to kill us."

Aqualad placed his hands on the panicking blondes shoulders "Easy friend, we won't let him hurt you, or anyone else. You said 'us', are there others in pods?"

The blonde looked unsure of what to say. "Ummm, how do I explain?"

Before Aqualad could ask what he meant, a black gooey substance emerged from the blonde. What startled them was when it spoke. "WHAT ARE WE DOING STANDING AROUND? WE MUST ESCAPE!!"

The others were too shocked to speak. It was a solid ten seconds of silence before Kid Flash spoke... "Okay, who are you? And...What the FUCK is that?!"

"My name is Eddie Brock, and... um... I have a parasite."

"PARASITE?!"

Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait. I have gone back and slightly adjusted the past chapters so they are more readable.*