#genomorph | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tiramiiswu · 4 months ago

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ᯓ࣪ ִֶָ☾. desiderium

0.1 Independence Day & Fireworks

⋆.˚ young justice x genshin impact ⋆.˚

✦ masterlist || next ✦ young justice x adeptus!reader ✦ word count: 13.7k ✦ warnings: none ✦ originally posted on quotev (may 18, 2023) ✦ a/n: purely writing this to appease the goblin in my brain. ✦ tide caller is supposed to be written with an ambiguous/unstated gender as to help with projection and will be referred to with they/them pronouns respectively. i kind of go on autopilot when writing and type out the wrong word without thinking so if anyone catches me slipping and accidentally using the wrong pronoun please let me know and tell me where you caught it so i can change it asap :'D sometimes my hands type a little slip of the brain and i never catch it until it's too late ^^;;

✦ (3/12/25) edit: fixed some formatting issues with my dividers, i didn’t check to see how they’d look on mobile and had to adjust their length 😭

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

Washington D.C.; July 4th, ??? CDT

“Okay, I’m officially whelmed,” is the first thing to fall from Robin’s mouth as he and his fellow sidekicks—Aqualad and Kid Flash—stood in a stunned silence staring at what towered before them.

Lined up in several rows and columns were several vertical cylindrical containers that pulsated with a strong electrical energy, illuminating the expansive room with an eerie neon blue glow and a notable hum sounding in the air. And to think it was all kept several dozens of stories below ground, completely unnoticed by anyone above ground.

The real Project Cadmus.

Upon a closer inspection the three noticed the very inhuman shapes within each container. They were large, insectoid looking creatures, almost akin to fireflies, though their legs were longer than a human arm (one pair looked more like long protruding horns due to their placement) and their wings were short, almost spine-like along their backs. A large bulb of sorts hung off their back and down their back legs and gave off a bright, cyan glow.

Kid Flash began walking forward, taking it all in, “This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn’t on the grid, it generates its own power with these… Things.” he stops, gesturing to the imprisoned creatures surrounding them. “Must be what they’re bred for.”

“Even the name is a clue, the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons’ teeth into the earth.” Aqualad stated.

Robin notices a computer console to the side of them, “And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let’s find out why,” he extends a wire from the holo-computer in his glove and connects it to the console. He begins hacking the Cadmus database for information on the strange creatures the boys had discovered. He relays the information he sifts through to the others, “They call them Genomorphs… Woah, look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws— These are living weapons!”

Kid Flash leans over his shoulder, reading the seemingly endless scroll of information recorded about each Genomorph created at Cadmus, “They’re engineering an army, but for who?“

Aqualad moves to stand behind them as something on the holographic screen catches the Boy Wonder’s eyes, “Wait there’s something else, Project Kr, a-and a new input as recently as this month, Project Riptide. The files are triple- encrypted, I can’t—“

He’s cut off as a new voice booms from across the room, “Don’t move!” The three sidekicks jolt up, startled by the new presence in the room. Before them was a tall man in a dark blue jumpsuit wearing a gold helmet with a strong looking build. He wielded a shield and was covered in some other gilded armor pieces alongside his helmet.

The three noted the extra company he brought with him. Surrounding him were smaller elf-like Genomorphs, an even smaller one sitting passively on his shoulder, like a monkey. They all shared a similar humanoid body that was a sickly gray in color, a pair of beady red eyes and striking red veins apparent on the arms and ribs of each creature. The smallest Genomorph had a pair of tiny horns protruding from its forehead.

Surprisingly though, the helmet-donned man seemed just as shocked to see them there as well. “Wait. Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash?”

Robin seemed to snort a little, making a quick jab at his speedster companion, “At least he got your name right.”

Aqualad ignored them as he spoke up, recognizing the man, “I know you. Guardian. A hero.”

“I do my best.” Was the quick reply he received.

“Then, what are you doing here?” Kid Flash inquired, squinting at him accusingly.

“I'm chief of security. You're trespassing.” Guardian stated matter-of-factly. Though from his next statement he didn’t seem too apprehensive of the three now that he recognizes them. “But we can call the Justice League. Figure this out.”

During this exchange Robin had been quietly downloading all of the contents they uncovered from the Cadmus database. Quickly retracting the USB cord from the console while his friends had been keeping Guardian distracted. “You think the League’s gonna approve of you breeding weapons?!” He shouted accusingly at the man.

The helmed man seemed taken aback, genuinely shocked to hear such a thing, “Weapons? What are you… What have I..?” He trails off, raising a hand to hold against his head. He repeated, confused as his eyes began to close. As something flashed across his expression, as if a fog was starting to lift from his head. “Ugh, my head…”

The clarity seems to fade, and the fog quickly creeps back to cloud his mind as the little Genomorph on his shoulder lights up it’s horns to relay a message to Guardian. His eyes snap back open, hardened into a glare and looking more determined than before, “Take them down,” he ordered. “No mercy!”

The Genomorphs sprung into action with an animalistic snarl, making a charge towards the three teens with lethal intent. Robin jumps forward and drops a smoke bomb in response to is sudden attack, using the obscured field of view to shoot a grappling hook above to a beam hanging overhead to make an escape. An alarm began blearing during the disturbance.

Kid Flash manages to dodge the razor claws and gnashing fangs of the Genomorphs while blitzing them with extreme speed, taking down several of them in his wake.

One of the Genomorphs had launched itself onto Aqualad’s back, though he managed to rip the creature off of him before Guardian came barreling towards him. The two traded several blows before the Atlantean intercepted a strike from Guardian’s shield, sending shockwaves through the metal and rendering Guardian and the miniature Genomorph incapacitated on the floor.

The two notice Robin’s absence and find him by the elevator, his holo-pad out as he attempted to hack the industrial elevator for them to escape through. Kid rushes over to him, skidding to a stop before giving him an sarcastically irked, “Wait to be a team player, Rob.”

To which the younger boy says: “Weren’t you right behind me?”

Seeing two Genomorphs tailing after him, Aqualad books it to the elevator, barely making it in after tucking and rolling into the metal chute. The three heard a metallic THUMP from the other side as the Genomorphs collided against the now shut elevator doors.

Glancing at the elevator’s floor screen, he’s unable to contain his utter disbelief as the sub level numbers displayed above the door began increasing, “We’re headed down?”

Kid Flash turns to the other masked teen, “Dude, out is UP,” he shouts, pointing upwards to the ceiling.

Robin seems to give him an incredulous look in response, “Excuse me? Project Kr is DOWN, on sub-level 52.”

Before any sort of fight could break out between the two Aqualad steps in, placing himself between them, “This is out of control,” he states, he seemed stressed by the course of events that had just occurred, at least as stressed as the stoic Atlantean let on.

“Perhaps,” he sighed. “Perhaps we should contact the League…”

The three fall silent for a moment, fully realizing just how deep they had gotten themselves into (both literally and figuratively).

That is, until the elevator makes a ‘ding’ to indicate they’ve arrived at their destination.

The elevator doors open to reveal a disturbing sight. The once cement walls and flooring have been replaced with a soft, flesh lined tunnel, only accompanied by several pods lined in rows along the walls that acted as a macabre decor. There was a division in the path that followed ahead of them, leading to two unknown rooms.

The atmosphere became eerier, and it only cemented the reality of what the three had stumbled into by complete accident when investigating a simple building fire.

Robin is seemingly undeterred by the disturbance in their environment, quickly taking initiative as he dashes out of the elevator. Kid Flash is silent for a moment before making a half-assed attempt to reason with his remaining companion , “We are already here…”

Aqualad just sighed, defeated by the curious nature of his two friends, “Which way?”

Their shorter companion scoffs, “Yeah, bizarre-Iooking hallway one or bizarre-Iooking hallway two?”

They didn’t have to spend much time deciding however as a stern voice calls from behind them with a quick, “Hold!”

The three boys are quick to noticed the horned individual appearing down the first hallway. Standing there is a tall, slender man with blue skin. In addition to his strange complexion, he bore a pair of aforementioned horns, lacked a nose, his ears were notably pointed and fin-like, and two ribbons of flesh, originating on his cheeks. He was adorned in plain white hospital apparel.

The strange man then raised his hand, his horns began to glow like the small Genomorph from before. A few crates lying behind them in the hall began to float in the air before exploding above the sidekick trio’s heads. Robin threw an exploding birdarang towards him before the three began escaping down the second hallway.

Kid Flash runs ahead of them, though when he turned a corner he nearly crashes into a Cadmus scientist. He slides past her, tripping her in the process. He looks back from where she had come from and saw the gradually closing door that read “Project Kr”.

He turns back to his companions who were approaching at a significantly slower speed than the closing door. He then spots a few air tanks placed near the door and quickly thinking picked one up to then lodge in the door, preventing it from closing. “Hurry!” he shouts to the others before he jumped between the gap and into the chamber, Aqualad and Robin following shortly after.

The former looks through the gap and sees Guardian and his Genomorphs closing in on them. He steps back and kicks the air tank out of the gap which causes the doors to snap shut with a loud CLANK!

Robin had been typing something quickly into his keypad, when he finished he announced to them, “I disabled the door. We're safe—“

“We're trapped,” Aqualad had corrected, more stressed than ever. Though before any debate on what happened could start, Kid Flash drew both their attention to the matter at hand, “Uh, guys? You’ll wanna see this.”

Standing before him was another Cadmus computer console, though this time it was only attached to a single tank. Kid Flash pressed a button on the console that activated several lights near the center of the lab room. Now illuminated the boys could see what was contained within the stark white pod, a sleeping boy. He appeared to be close to their age, with dark hair and a fair complexion. He slept peacefully unaware of the chaos that had just occurred outside his pod. Above him were three of the small monkey-esque Genomorphs like the one Guardian had on his shoulder.

Though the most startling thing about him was the skin tight suit he donned, it was an equally as stark white as his pod, the lighting and lack of contrast made it reflect a blinding light. On his chest was a bright red shield with a large S dead in the center

The symbol of Superman.

Kid Flash walked in a slight stupor towards the pod, reading the label on the lower part of the glass aloud, “Big K little r, the atomic symbol for Krypton!” He turned to the other two, his brows furrowed somewhat. “Clone?”

Aqualad immediately turned to their more tech savvy friend, “Robin, hack.” He ordered.

“Right, right,” he whips out his holo-pad again and connects it to the console with the extending wire like he had done before. After bypassing Cadmus’s security once more he began reading the newly uncovered information about the project. “Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force-grown in— 16 weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman."

“Stolen from Superman.” Aqualad corrected with a scowl.

“No way the big guy knows about this.” Kid Flash agrees.

“Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7.” The Boy Wonder continues.

Aqualad gestures to the sleeping creatures above him—Superboy, “And these creatures?” He inquired.

“Genomorph-Gnomes, Telepathic, force feeding him an education.”

A grimace starting to form on Kid Flash’s face, “And we can guess what else, they’re making a slave out of… well, Superman’s son.”

“And now we contact the league,” Aqualad states firmly. There was no room to argue at this point with what they’ve discovered. He presses the Atlantean A symbol on his belt while the others attempt to activate their comms.

“No signal,” Robin says.

Kid Flash looks to the other two, “We’re in too deep. Literally.”

After a few minutes of contemplating their next move, the three notice the G-Gnomes horns lighting up above the Superboy. Kid Flash looks to Aqualad and Robin, “This is wrong.” He says grimly.

Robin agrees, nodding, “We can’t leave him like this.”

Aqualad takes another moment to think, before coming to a decision, “Set him free,” he looks to Robin, firm in his decision. “Do it.”

Robin takes to the console, quickly typing out a command to the pod for it to open its lid. The air compressed within the pod hisses as it escapes into the open room, the glass lid lifting upward and the metal plates around it sliding open.

For a moment the boy inside remained still, peaceful even. Then they saw his hands stretch out at his sides, the knuckles of his fingers cracking before forming into a fist at his side. His eyes snap open, and the trio watch as he springs to life, immediately jumping to attack them.

He attacks Aqualad first, he tackles him to the ground before raising his arms and bringing them back down in a violent manner, punching the Atlantean boy repeatedly before Robin and Kid Flash come to intervene. They attempt to restrain his arms as well as try to snap some sense into him—

“Woah! Hang on Supey!”

“We’re—on your side!”

—But to no avail. The Super-clone shoves Kid Flash off of him, flinging him back into a glass container. He crashes into it before falling and knocking himself out after his head collided with the ground. He falls over limply and lies still.

Robin pulls various items out of his utility belt and throwing them at their assailant,, attempting to spray him with gas and even tasing him before Superboy slammed him into the concrete and stepping onto his chest, attempting to crush the smaller boy beneath his foot as Robin struggled beneath him, feeling his ribs crack under the pressure.

Aqualad looks to see Robin struggling against the clone, taking out his water bearers and taking an aggressive stance, forming a solid hammer in his hands before charging at him, “ENOUGH!” He manages to knock Superboy off of Robin, sending him spiraling against the pod which leaves a large dent in the metal due to the force. Aqualad then tries to help Robin stand to his knees, but the poor boy simply falls back down onto his back, rendered fully unconscious due to Superboy’s assault.

As Superboy regains his footing he begins walking menacingly towards Aqualad, who attempts to stop him, saying, “We... are trying... to help you—!” Before the clone’s expression twists into a snarl and leaps towards him again to engage in an exchange of blows once more. This exchange stopped momentarily as Aqualad manages to get behind him and interlocks his arms behind him in a restraint before shocking him with a strong electric charge.

This however only causes his opponent to yell before leaping back first into the ceiling, slamming Aqualad into the hard unmoving surface in an attempt to shake him off. When this doesn’t work he starts slamming him repeatedly against the roof before Aqualad detaches from behind him and falls unconscious.

Superboy assesses the situation and sees that all three of the sidekicks had been defeated by his hands. Calmly, he began walking to the entrance of the lab.

He punched the metal door until it flew open, falling shortly in front of him. Behind it were some scientists, Guardian, and several Genomorphs. A male scientist with long brown hair tied in the back in a pony tail stepped forward. His name was Dr. Desmond. He wore a standard white lab coat, glasses, brown sandals, he had slight wrinkles on his face and streaks of white in his hair. He had smiled in a pleased way when Superboy emerged from the lab, and he inspected his weapon’s success. Simply giving him a brief, “Atta’ boy.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

In a stark white room were seven large monitors, on each screen was the silhouette of an obscured individual. Dr. Desmond entered the room lacking the confident superiority he tended to have beneath the surface of the Cadmus facility. He now stands before each monitor. A voice emits from one of the screens, “Dr. Desmond. You require an audience with the Light?”

“Yes. Very sorry to disturb you at this late hour—“

Another cuts him off, “Just make your report.”

“Of course,” the scientist cleared his throat. “Well, 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, as ordered, turned against his would-be liberators. The three are contained and we don't believe the League knows they're here. Uh... What should I do with them?” He was unsure as to what he was supposed to do now, more worried about losing his job (or worse) for allowing such a blunder to occur in the first place.

There was but a beat of silence before they spoke again, “Clone them,” the second voice says. “Add them to the current cloning schedule, alongside Project Riptide.”

The first voice agrees, stating, “The substitutes will serve the Light. And only the Light.”

“And… the originals?” Desmond inquired.

“Dispose of them. Leave no trace.”

For the first time since he entered this meeting room, an evil smile crept its way back onto Dr. Desmond’s face.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

A calm, yet stern voice rang through the barely conscious minds of the three sidekicks, attempting to rouse them, “Time runs short. You must awaken.”

When they did not stir the voice became more demanding, and a force jolted them awake, stating, “You must awaken now!”

The three had awoken startled, finding themselves inside a more industrial looking pod than the one they had freed the Super-clone from. They were strapped against a metal plate by steel bands, restraining their wrists and ankles against the plate behind them.

What Kid Flash noticed after realizing his current predicament was the piercing stare of the backstabbing boy standing below them.

Superboy stared intently at him, it was hard to tell what he was doing whether it be examining him or simply trying to kill him with a single look, but Kid Flash was up to his limit with him, “What? What do you want?!” He spat, though it didn’t seem to deter the Kryptonian clone. “Quit staring you’re creepin’ me out!”

“Uh, KF, how ‘bout we NOT tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?” Kid Flash turned to his right to find Robin in the same position as him. He could swore there was something next to Robin, another tank, but from his limited field of vision it took an excessive amount of neck craning in order to check. To to the left of him was Aqualad, “We only sought to help you—“

Distracting himself from the fourth pod, Kid Flash cut in to chew the clone out, “Yeah, we free you and you turn on us! How’s that for grati—“

“Kid, please. Be quiet now,” Aqualad cut him off, trying not to escalate the situation even further than it already had. “I believe our friend was not in full control of his actions.”

Then, surprising the three captives to no extent, the clone spoke, “What if I..? Hn… What if I wasn’t?” His voice was low, somewhat rough and rasped from a general lack of use. It was as if he had spoken for the first time since his creation (and judging by his general timeline of living it probably was).

Kid Flash was the first to react, “He can talk?!”

This earned him a glare from Superboy, who found a much stronger voice that was laced in irritation, “Yes… he can!”

The Atlantean and Boy Wonder each gave Kid Flash an unamused side eye, to which he sheepishly replied, “It’s not like I said ‘it’.”

Aqualad seemed to catch on to the rising tension, hoping to steer it away from the premature death of his speedster companion he focuses his attention back to Superboy, “The genomorphs taught you telepathically.”

He nodded somewhat, it was a bit difficult to see but it was enough for Aqualad to see. “They taught me much,” he said curtly. “I can read, write. I know the names of things.”

“But have you seen them?” Robin pressed. “Have they ever actually let you see the sky or the sun?”

“Images are implanted in my mind,” he seemed to shrink somewhat, regretfully admitting, “But, no, I have not seen them.”

Aqualad frowned, “Do you know what you are? Who you are?”

This question seemed to strengthen his resolve, though not exactly in the way Aqualad might have been hoping. He watched Superboy’s poster straighten, and in a tone that felt preprogrammed he stated firmly, “A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from the Light.”

Aqualad’s companions shared a nervous glance while he responded carefully, “To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration.” He told him. “But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus.”

This irked Superboy, it seemed to trigger a newly characteristic anger he’s shown since his awakening, “I live because of Cadmus. It is my home!” He growled.

Robin looked at him in what could only be described as pity, “Your home is a test tube, we can show you the sun.”

“Uh, pretty sure it’s after midnight. But we can show you the moon,” offered Kid Flash, trying to add something helpful into the conversation.”

“We can show you, introduce you to Superman.” Aqualad offers him.

This catches his attention. The three watched his expression soften, his eyes shining with a glimmer of hope. It had been the softest expression he’s shown since they discovered his serene expression sleeping in his pod.

This tender moment was cut short by a snide voice coming from the entrance of the lab chamber they were in. “No, they can’t.” Desmond approached them, Guardian and the scientist Kid Flash tripped from before—Dr. Spence—flanked his sides. “They will be… otherwise occupied.” He turned to his subordinates and began to order them to work. “Activate the cloning process!”

A genuine alarm spread across Robin’s face, “Pass! Batcave’s crowded enough!” He exclaimed, attempting to cover up his alarm with his usual witty banter.

Desmond ignored him, “Add them to the schedule set for Project Riptide,” glancing at Superboy the scientist grew agitated. “And get the weapon back to its pod!”

Despite the circumstance Kid Flash seemed to pout at hearing this, “Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an it?” He asked indignantly.

Guardian placed his hand on Superboy’s shoulder, though with one final glance at Aqualad (and another plea for help from him as well) he shrugged him off. Desmond seemed to catch onto this exchange rather quickly, “Oh, don’t start thinking now.” He groaned, a G-Gnome hopping from his shoulder to Superboy’s. Condescendingly, he began speaking down to him. “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.” He commanded.

Without another word, Superboy obediently turned around and began walking out of the lab.

Desmond then turned back to Spence, “Where’s Project Riptide?” he inquired, irritated.

Spence had input something into the console before her and in doing so caused a light to turn on in a pod placed to the right of Robin. There was a fourth person strapped to one of the machines the boys were hooked up to (this came as somewhat of a shock to the three of them) however it was hard to make out any discernible features due to their slumped over posture indicating they would not be conscious for the next step of Cadmus’s plan. What they could see though was that rather than a solar suit like Superboy’s they were wearing some very outlandish clothes that had several intricate details and patterns with an otherworldly feel to them.

Desmond stared at the fourth pod for a moment before turning back to Dr. Spence, he nodded. This acted as an indicator for her to continue and she put another sequence of inputs into the console. The three sidekicks began to writhe and scream as they felt an excruciating pain shoot through them. Several metal probes jab them in the chest, simultaneously electrocuting them and extracting blood into tanks attached to the machines.

Desmond says something to his subordinates over the din, “Where’s Dubbilex?” Before being startled by the sudden appearance of said Genomorph stepping out of the shadows of the room, standing beside Desmond. “Lurking as usual… Get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories. When that's done, delete the source material.”

During this exchange Aqualad managed to bite back his screams, and over the nearly deafening sounds of his friends anguish he spoke under his breath, attempting to speak to the Kryptonian boy via the presumption he indeed had super-hearing, “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?”

There was a beat. Maybe two passed. And as the sidekicks writhe from the extraction process, the door of the lab is promptly kicked open by the individual on the other side, propelling it into the large computers across the room. This shuts off the DNA extractors and alleviates the trio of sidekicks of any more pain from said machines.

Desmond is furious, immediately turning to his creation to bark out, “I told you to get back to your—!” He’s roughly tossed to the side by Superboy alongside Dubbilex and Guardian who both attempted to get in the Kryptonian’s way.

Superboy glowered down at the bespectacled man, “Don’t give me orders.” He growled, before continuing his stride towards the sidekicks.

Having recovered somewhat from the machines torture, Kid Flash is the first to acknowledge the sudden turn of events, “You here to help us or fry us?”

Superboy narrowed his eyes at the redheaded speedster, as if thinking something over. “Huh, I don’t seem to have heat vision. So I suppose helping you is my only option,” he says with a small smirk.

In this moment Robin’s pod began hissing to life, the metal door sliding open as he slipped out, wringing his wrists in his hands, “Ugh, finally. Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long!” It was then apparent he had been attempting to pick the lock of his wrist cuffs since he woke up.

“Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about?” Kid Flash deadpanned. “The whole League will have our heads after tonight!”

Robin ignores him as he throws a pair of bolas at the only remaining scientist in the room, restraining Dr. Spence. He then walks over to the console she was occupying and types a new input, this opens the other pod doors open with a hiss. Then he directs some of his attention to the clone, “Free Aqualad, I’ll get Kid Mouth.”

Superboy didn’t take too well to receiving another order from someone, “Don’t you give me orders either,” he growled out, but nonetheless he leaps up to tear the cuffs off the Atlantean. Robin picked the locks for the cuffs on Kid Flash.

Aqualad thanks him as the three sidekicks descend to the ground with Superboy about to follow. That is, until he remembered the unconscious fourth captive. He looks to the pod on the other side of the row, its lid open but its inhabitant still hanging from their restraints. To anyone else they could assume they’re unconscious state was caused by death, they hadn’t stirred this whole time. But Superboy could hear the faint, methodical sound of their heartbeat beneath the whirring of the machine. The sidekicks called out to him, but he had made his decision. He maneuvered his way from Aqualad’s pod to the other and began tearing their cuffs off as well. If he was being freed tonight, it’s only fair he helped free his fellow Project. They fell forward limply as he caught them with his arm. Realizing they weren’t going to wake just, yet he supports their body with his and leaps back down to join the others.

Desmond sees the four of them (plus his new Project) begin to race out of the lab, “Y-You’ll never get out of here! I’ll have you back in pods before morning!” He shrieks from the ground.

“That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all,” Robin muttered, only stopping momentarily to throw some birdarangs into the DNA containers and triggering them to explode, destroying any of their DNA collected by Cadmus.

“What is with you and this ‘whelmed’ thing?” Kid Flash asks as Robin rejoins them. They race down the fleshy hall, passing by the pod-like inserts in the walls as they begin to glow an eerie red.

“We are still fifty-two levels below ground,” Aqualad states. “But if we can make the elevator—!”

He’s cut off as several ginormous Genomorphs emerge to block their way, the smaller Genomorphs they had fought before against Guardian begin emerging from the pods behind them, snarling and growling like wild beasts.

During this, Project Riptide began stirring awake. Superboy was startled to feel them move, even more so to feel them shove him away from them.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

You groaned, holding your throbbing head with a gloved hand (the others took notice of the strange blue pendant embedded into the top side of your wrist) “What… What happened?” before opening your eyes to see an absurd sight before them, snapping your eyes wider and frantically looking around, “Where am I? What the Hell is this place? And what the Hell are those??”

They don’t have time to answer them as one of the large Genomorphs raised both of its fists in preparation of crushing them. You all manage to duck out of the way, though Kid Flash is very much caught off guard when you begin to pull a spear out of literally thin air. It was a long, double pronged polearm fading from a dark navy to a brighter blue by the tip. At the end of it was a teardrop shaped pommel with a decorative end in the shape of a small anchor. He stared at you in bewilderment, “Where did you get that—“

You ignored him as you began to pull back your spear before hurling it like a javelin at a frightening speed into the neck of one of the smaller Genomorphs, the force pinning its now limp body into the wall next to it. Before he could ask again you seemed to have moved so quickly it looked as if you had teleported over to your spear before ripping it back out and making another dash to a different Genomorph.

The other sidekicks had made their way to the elevator, however their newly liberated companions seemed to be preoccupied in trying to eliminate the Genomorph threats to follow them. While you dashed to-and-fro around the Genomorphs, slashing them with your spear, Superboy had launched one of the lumbering Genomorphs into the wall. This impact ran a crack up the wall and started to cause parts of the ceiling to break off and come crashing into the ground, “Superboy! The goal is to escape, not bury ourselves here!” Aqualad shouts.

This seems to peak his already heightened aggression, “YOU WANT ESCAPE?!” He challenged, before swinging one of the larger Genomorphs by the arm and swinging it into the horde of others. He then grabs your wrist abruptly—startling you—before regrouping with the others by the elevator.

Aqualad tears the elevator doors open to reveal the dark empty chasm of the shaft. Kid Flash and Robin each make their way into the elevator, the former jumping onto the wall of the elevator shaft while the latter uses his grappling hook. Superboy takes Aqualad into one arm and tries to do the same for you as well, however before he could grab a hold of you, you managed to step away from him as you began to arch your polearm up before launching it into the side of the shaft wall. The two watch as you take a big leap up before grabbing onto the spear end sticking out from the wall. You then began to scale the elevator shaft with now notably clawed hands, your spear dissipating into gold particles.

Now only having to worry about one passenger, Superboy tightens his hold on Aqualad and takes a powerful leap into the air. He and Aqualad soar several stories up, making it all the way to about SL-9, before suddenly losing momentum, the two suddenly beginning to descend downwards, “I-I’m falling,” he realizes in somewhat of a daze.

You had seen the two boys pass them while you continued climbing steadily up the side of the chute, though you were very shocked to see them suddenly pass them going down this time. Groaning somewhat they lept off of the wall and descended downwards in order to catch up to them right as Robin looked up and threw one of his birdarangs into the wall above. Once you had caught up to them they grabbed Aqualad by the arm, causing him to tighten his hold on Superboy, before a pair of false wings deployed from around your shoulder blades. They were then falling slower, though the extra weight of two more passengers still caused the wind glider to drag down faster than it was supposed to while you heaved them up with you.

Once you glided near the birdarang embedded into the wall you heaved the two over by the dark skinned boy’s arm, helping him latch onto the new protrusion in the wall around SL-15. You in turn latch onto the wall beside them, observing the conflicted expression cast over Superboy’s face. He wore a crestfallen expression, and he began to question himself, murmuring, “Superman can fly… Why can’t I fly?”

Kid Flash pipes in suddenly, drawing your attention from the one currently having some form of an identity-crisis to the level below, “Don't know, but it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound... Still cool,” he reassures, offering to help the distraught boy up to the small ledge beside him. Aqualad hopping down beside them.

Still a little dazed he manages to thank the speedster before Robin alerts them to the imminent danger they were about to be in, “Guys! This’ll have to be our exit!” He shouts as the high speed express elevator makes its quick descent above them.

Aqualad and Superboy take out the elevator door, the latter taking one final swing to it before you all dive out of the way from the rapidly descending elevator right before it slammed all of you into the void. You weren’t given much of a break however as a group of Genomorphs came down the main hallway, attracted to the sound of the destroyed metal doors, causing the five of you to break out in a run.

As you were running down the halls, Superboy suddenly directs the group, “Go left! Left!” The group listened, mostly as there wasn’t much room to try and press him about where you were going. Then another call, “Right!”

However, upon following his directions this time, you found yourself at a dead end, the only thing of note being the sight of a single vent near the top of the wall. You gave him somewhat of a cross look , “It’s a dead end,” you stated lowly.

Kid Flash was the second to jump on him, “Great directions Supey,” he says sarcastically. “Are you trying to get us re-podded??”

“No. I… I don’t understand,” he seemed genuinely confused at this outcome.

Robin nudged Kid Flash to the side, a wide grin breaking out across his face as he excitedly stated, “Don’t apologize, this is perfect!”

They work to get the vent cover off quickly, then after discarding it to the side the boys assist each other in getting up and crawling into the vent itself. Robin led the charge while Aqualad, you, Kid Flash, and Superboy followed shortly behind.

It was during this escapade through the vents that Kid Flash (who was currently crawling right behind you) decided to mention the elephant in the room, “By the way, uh, who are you exactly? We never really had time to get your name.”

You wanted to look back and glare at the redhead, however your current circumstance prevented you from doing so, “Is now really the time for this?”

Robin piped in from the front, “So far we’re not sure if there’ll be any time in the future, so now is definitely the time to ask.”

You rolled your eyes, “If it quells your incessant probing then so be it. For now, you may call me Tide Caller.”

“What? No first or last name?”

“None that I feel like telling you at the moment.” You did not feel like informing them of anything aside from your adeptus title until you found out just exactly what was going on around here. “Now I get to ask you some questions: What is going on? And what exactly is this place?”

“It’s a bit… complicated. Short answer? We’re in an underground research facility hidden from the rest of world that’s focused on cloning and creating living weapons, which were the creatures chasing us from before, that are called Genomorphs,” Robin explains, though he as a bit preoccupied with following the layout of the ventilation system to guide them to an exit. “We came to investigate a fire that started in the building above ground but upon further inspection we ended up going way deeper than anticipated, eventually we found Superboy and later you and the rest is history.”

You blinked owlishly at his explanation, “I… have no idea what half of the words you just said means, but it’s enough for me to know that this place is bad news,” you take a few cursory glances between the boys in front of you and the one behind you. “Who are you three anyway?”

Wally balked at this question, “Wait seriously? You don’t know who we are? Robin, Aqualad? Kid Flash? No, not ringing any bells?”

“No, not really… Am I supposed to?”

“Seriously? Dude, what kind of rock have you been living under?”

You scoffed at his question, “Forgive me if I’m unable to recall a group of such strangely dressed individuals and their equally as strange titles,” you grow silent for a moment before a follow up question comes to mind. “Why are you all dressed like that anyway?”

“Oh, as if you aren’t—!”

“Enough! Now is not the time to start arguing.” Aqualad shut you both down before you could start a fight while you all were still traversing the vents.

You could hear Kid Flash grumble something under his breath behind you. After some time he started to complain, “Ugh, at this rate we’ll never get out.”

Superboy stops suddenly at the end of the line you’ve formed, shushing the group as he looks behind him. “Listen.” Unbeknownst to the rest of you, his super-hearing had picked up some movement far behind them within the vents. If he focused he could hear the quick, clambering sounds of claws against metal as several Genomorphs began to scurry through the vents in an attempt to close in on them.

The group began to advance further, Robin leading you down a certain path as you all crawled after him. He kicked open a vent cover at the end of the path and jumped down, Aqualad followed in order to help the rest of you down from the top of the wall. Robin was typing something frantically onto the holo-pad on his wrist, “I already deactivated the internal security cameras during the trek in the vents, now if I just…” he trailed off somewhat as he hooked up his glove to the wall. A moment later he looked triumphant, “I hacked the motion sensors.” He states with a smirk tugging at his lips.

Kid Flash was the one to respond first with a cheerful: “Sweet.”

“Still plenty of them between us and out.”

Kid Flash seemed undeterred by this information, pulling down his goggles, saying, “But I’ve finally got room to move,” before barreling out the door and down several flights of stairs, clearing a path for you and the others by knocking several Genomorphs down in the process.

You stared at his abrupt exit in awe, “I take it the ‘Flash’ in his name refers to his speed?” You wondered aloud, earning a small laugh from your shortest companion as the rest of you followed in tow.

Robin, who was still in the process of hacking as you ran, called out to your group, “More behind us!” Once you had all passed him, Superboy came to a stop on the platform behind you, slamming his foot on the connecting stairs. This caused the remaining stairwell as well as all of the horde of approaching Genomorphs to come crashing down.

Kid Flash continued to speed up the winding column of stairs before skidding to a stop once spotting the door indicating his destination to be Sub-Level 1. Before he could reach the door, racing towards it as we speak, a blaring alarm pierced the air, causing a pair of heavy-duty doors to automatically slam shut. Kid Flash couldn’t stop himself before crashing into the closed off exit, muttering an “Aw man,” before colliding with the doors head first and falling abruptly to the floor a few feet away, landing on his butt.

“We’re cut off from the street,” Aqualad grumbles, and you were all so close to freedom.

“Thanks. My head hadn’t noticed,” Kid Flash says sarcastically while rubbing the back of his head from the impact with the floor.

You came up from behind them, staring blankly at the doors, “Can’t we just break them down like before?” Superboy must have been thinking the same thing as he stepped forward, passing the fallen speedster and attempting to knock the door down with a punch. Though his fist didn’t seem to even leave a dent. He then tried to pry the door open, Aqualad even joining him but to no avail, it had been shut tight.

Robin was below you, grumbling in annoyance as he typed rapidly into his holo-pad, “Can’t hack this fast enough,” then noticed a pair of Genomorphs reared around the corner, growling at the sight of you. He then sees a door to his right, “This way!”

He kicked the door down and led the rest of you through the corridor but stopped when you saw the rest of the Genomorphs waiting for you, alongside Guardian. Each of them had a small G-Gnome resting on their shoulder.

You immediately summoned your spear as Aqualad formed a pair of dual swords out of his water bearers and took a fighting stance.

One of the G-Gnomes’ horns began to glow, then another, and another. Suddenly all of the G-Gnomes were glowing red like beacons, seemingly set off in a chain reaction. You felt a sharp pain in your head, an echoing mental rattling as you and your companions fell to the ground. You couldn’t make out the sounds outside the ones reverberating through your skull, leaning heavily onto the side of your polearm, breathing heavily and ragged in an attempt to stay upright as the rest of your companions lie limp on the floor.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

Superboy had fallen to his knees after the G-Gnomes triggered this telepathic attack on him and his newfound friends. It was only when a voice echoed through his head, through his mind, that he felt the fog lifting somewhat, “Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind.”

Superboy looked up to see the Genomorph from the lab—Dubbilex—as he came to a realization as to where he heard this voice before, eyes widening, “It was you.”

“Yes, brother,” he confirms. “I set the fire and lures your new friends to Cadmus, woke them when they were in danger—”

“And guided me,” he finished for the older Genomorph, before questioning him and his motives. “Why?”

“Because you are our hope,” Dubbilex relays to him. “The Genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing us the way to freedom.” He then glances at the dazed, slumped over form of Tide Caller, impressed by their mental fortitude being strong enough to keep conscious even under all of the pressure the G-Gnomes were putting on them and the other teens. Though it didn’t seem like they were able to focus on much else, “And for you to help to guide this displaced soul during their imminent travel into the unknown…”

Suddenly, the G-Gnome perched on Guardian’s shoulder hopped off its spot, deactivating whatever control it had over the man. He groans, gripping his head in pain, “What’s going on..?” As Guardian gradually began to come to his senses, the sidekick trio and Tide Caller began to stir.

“What is your choice, brother?” Asked Dubbilex, staring stoically at the young clone. Superboy for a moment looks down in contemplation, before lifting his head with a fire in his eyes.

“I. Choose. Freedom.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

You groan as the weight over your mind lifts. Sluggishly lifting your head to see the Genomorphs now standing passively around you. The Genomorphs had ceased their hold over Guardian, you, and the sidekicks alike, “Feels like… a fog… lifting,” Guardian mutters, hand to his temple as he feels a newfound clarity forming in his mind.

Aqualad looks to the dazed hero, still a bit apprehensive of the man, “Guardian?”

Guardian had looked at them with a determined expression, and with conviction he told them, “Go. I’ll deal with Desmond.”

A voice cuts through the air, “I think not,” as Dr. Desmond reveals himself, the Genomorphs parting their wall for him behind Guardian. In his hand he holds a strange blue vial. “Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus.” He declares, downing the mysterious glowing liquid, dropping the empty glass vial shortly after.

He fell to his knees, head slumped into his arms, veins pulsating under his skin. His body rips through the fabric of his lab coat and undershirt. Robin and Kid Flash watch him undergo this horrific transformation. Desmond growls as he jerks his head up, the whites of his sclera turning into an ink black while his eyes turn a bright red. His skin tears into scraps as his body grows larger, stronger, the layer underneath such a grotesque display turned thick and gray.

He rises from the ground with a guttural roar, scraps of skin and tufts of hair still clinging to his head and body. The thing standing in Dr. Desmond’s—Blockbuster’s— place turned to the group of heroes, breathing heavy. He sneered down at them with thick, sharpened teeth.

Guardian puts his arm out towards you and the teens, defensively ordering, “Everyone back!” Before charging at the hulking goliath. You are greatly unamused to see Blockbuster sweep Guardian aside like he’s a mere toy, watching the golden helmed man fly into the wall a few feet away.

Superboy was next to act, charging at the monster and striking him across the jaw. This however hardly affects him as he retaliates by punching Superboy downward, targeting his shoulder and upper back. Superboy turns and tries to hit him again, this time with an uppercut. He lands a few more hits, at one point being knocked back onto his shoulder before rolling back onto his feet, before Blockbuster reacts in turn by launching the boy as Superboy attempted to leap into the air to strike him by catching him and throwing him violently into the ceiling, following him up to the next floor shortly after.

You all stare in disbelief at the massive hole the two had made, Robin being the first to make a comment on it, “Okay, that’s one way to bust through the ceiling.” He then pulled his grappling hook out and shot it through the opening the hole formed.

“You think Lab Coat planned that?” Kid Flash asked as he grabbed onto Robin in order for the shorter boy to propel them upwards.

“I doubt he’s planning anything anymore,” retorts Aqualad who crouches down in order to help give you a boost before following shortly after, jumping through the hole in the ceiling next.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

Above them was an expansive room with railings on the sides and upper stories in order to separate the two stories, the open hall lined with pillars acting as support beams. The four of you watched as Blockbuster made an attempt to restrain Superboy by pinning his arms to his sides, though it proves fruitless as Superboy manages to break his hold on him. Before he could take a swing at the gargantuan man, Blockbuster had grabbed a hold of Superboy’s ankle and flung him into the group you and the sidekicks had formed. Robin and Kid Flash managed to avoid getting hit by the body of their friend, you and Aqualad however weren’t as lucky as he came crashing into you.

The yellow speedster dashes over to the entanglement of you, and the other boys, Robin following shortly after him in order for you to group up again. You pull yourself up using your spear as leverage while Kid Flash and Robin help Aqualad and Superboy back on their feet as Blockbuster starts to charge towards you.

Kid Flash charges quickly at Blockbuster before needing to drop into a slide underneath him as the goliath attempts to squash him. Though he still kept Blockbuster’s attention long enough for Superboy and Aqualad to perform a unison attack, landing two solid punches to Blockbuster’s face to knock him back and over as Kid Flash had crouched behind his legs in order to trip the monster, “Learned that one in Kindergarten,” he informs you smugly as Robin jumps over him, throwing two of his projectile disks (though the impact of this quip is lost on you as you instead chose to ponder what exactly a Kindergarten was… a garden of children?).

Blockbuster swings his arm, deflecting the two incoming projectiles before they could do any sort of damage aside from stagger him momentarily. He rolls only to see Superboy standing before him, making a gesture that led you to believe he was taunting him into wrestling. Blockbuster however is faster than the Kryptonian boy, grabbing him and shoving him forcefully into a nearby pillar, cracking it under the sheer force of his assault, though Superboy doesn’t seem to fazed by it as he continues to unleash a combo of punches to the hulking creature as it pulls away. That is until Blockbuster performed a cross strike that shattered the pillar behind Superboy due to the impact.

He goes for a second strike but is interrupted by a water whip coiling around his arm, restraining him back. Aqualad pulls him forward, propelling himself up high enough to land a jab to Blockbuster’s face using his knee before landing on the remaining pillar above Superboy and turning his water bearers into a mace, readying it to swing. Blockbuster intercepts this single-handedly before tossing the Atlantean to the side as he holds Superboy down with the other. Aqualad lands on the floor with a pained cry, the floor beneath him cracking beneath the pressure while Blockbuster’s grip on Superboy grows tighter before flinging him violently into a segment of another pillar near the second story of the building. The Kryptonian falls somewhat unconscious, his arm then buried beneath piles of debris from the breaking pillar.

Kid Flash rushes in to help his friends as Aqualad manages to dodge Blockbuster's attempt at squashing his head with his foot. The yellow speedster had managed to grab a hold of the monster’s wrist and using his momentum he turned it to face back first towards Aqualad. It opens it’s fisted hand which allowed him to grab a hold of Kid Flash’s wrist when he lost his grip. Blockbuster then intercepts another one of Aqualad’s attacks by swinging Kid Flash like a sack of flour into the Atlantean. This sends each of them flying, Kid Flash sprawled against the ground by a different pillar while Aqualad slumps against the pillar from before.

Blockbuster comes in to deck him with an uppercut to the stomach that hits like a truck, destroying the remainder of the pillar before he then pins Aqualad to another pillar, his hand around his throat.

You felt the building begin to shake as the pillar cracks where it’s seen joining the floor by one of the corners, blockbuster continuing this relentless assault while you and Robin watch from a safe distance away from the action. “Of course!” your shorter companion says in realization, activating his holo-pad to look at the floor plans of the room. Then calling out to Kid Flash who had been slowly recovering, “KF, get over here!”

The speedster recovers his footing and zips over to the Boy Wonder as Aqualad changes his water bearers into a circular shield to defend himself from another uppercut from Blockbuster. As the monster stumbles on his feet, Superboy charges at him, targeting the area below his ribcage before jumping and hooking the goliath from behind in a chokehold. This enrages Blockbuster as he tosses Aqualad to the side in favor of trying to get the clone off of him before flinging him into the pillar again, destroying it.

Robin had been showing something to you and Kid Flash, a simulation of sorts playing in real-time on the holographic screen, “Got it?” He asks, directing this query to the speedster who nods in confirmation, parroting the words before the Boy Wonder gives him a command, “Go!”

You watch as Kid Flash dashes away, speeding to the right of Blockbuster to direct an attack at his face. When this doesn’t seem to faze him in the slightest save for tearing some of his stretched skin from his face, he dangles it tauntingly, “Got your nose!”

This manages to draw his attention from Superboy to begin targeting the talkative speedster, he barely misses him when he goes to strike him in two downward attacks. Before Superboy could get on his feet again to attack the beast, he’s called over by Robin, “Superboy, Aqualad!”

Kid Flash continued to taunt the raging goliath as he came to a stop in front of one of the remaining pillars, shouting: “Come and get me you incredible bulk!” before zipping out of the way as Blockbuster lands a devastating punch to the pillar. Some of the debris had flown out and hit the speedster in the shoulder, which knocked him off his feet.

He barely dodged another incoming attack from Blockbuster as Robin finished explaining his plan to You, Aqualad, and Superboy, “This one, and that one,” he says pointing to the remaining pillars he needs you three to destroy. The two of them gave him a nod of affirmation before charging back out. Robin takes out a few of his exploding disks to throw at his own targets, before turning to you momentarily, “You’ll be able to help Aqualad with that uh… Vision? Of yours? Th-the thing on your wrist.” You gave him a silent nod before joining the others.

Superboy breaks his pillar with ease, landing a single blow to the base of the pillar while Aqualad forms his mace with his water bearers to destroy the second one, his tattoos glowing a bright electric blue.

Kid Flash dodges another attack from Blockbuster and moves to his right, tricking the creature into weakening another pillar, chuckling, “Sorry, try again,” before bolting away once again.

Robin drew an X onto the floor with chalk as Aqualad used his water bearers to form a puddle on the ground. You helped him in creating the field by activating your Vision, water forming from your wrist and swirling up your arm before creating four missiles made up of water and launching them at the ground next to you. In the spots you targeted, small, semi-translucent whiskered serpents made of Hydro sprouted from the ground, looking at you as they awaited your orders. You crouched on the ground near them and then pointed to the X Robin had drawn, “See that X? I need you to target that spot specifically.” The four Hydro serpents gave a tiny nod before turning to shoot small bolts of Hydro at their intended target, adding to the puddle that Aqualad had been forming.

Kid Flash skids through the puddle and obscures the X as Superboy jumps into the air, hitting Blockbuster hard enough to knock him to the ground landing straight on the target Robin laid out for him. Your Hydro mimics had dissipated by the time Aqualad channeled a current of electricity from his now glowing tattoos, channeling the crackling electro power from his hands and connecting it to the puddle formed beneath him that trailed all the way to the massive puddle Blockbuster currently resided on. Once he touches the water Blockbuster is immediately electrocuted.

After stunning Blockbuster, Aqualad relinquished his hold on the current as Robin called for everyone to move out of the way, the three remaining pillars he had stuck his exploding disks which began blinking red and green rapidly and emitting a frequent beeping sound before they exploded.

This causes the building to collapse, the five of you barely avoiding the now caving in roof. Superboy managed to grab you and Kid Flash in an attempt to cover the two of you from the falling debris while Aqualad covered Robin as the whole building came crumbling down.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

For a moment there wasn’t a single sign of life beneath the rubble, that is until Superboy had punched a large potion of debris from over your group, tossing a slab of concrete somewhere to the side. You used your polearm as a crutch, leveraging yourself into a standing position, the others began to rise slowly, standing shakily next to you. Their clothes had been ripped and they all breathed heavily as the adrenalin escaped their bodies.

Aqualad came to his senses first, almost in disbelief at the events that had just occurred up to this point, “We… did it,” he pants.

Robin was panting just as much, “Was there… ever any doubt?” He questions as he gives Kid Flash a high five, though both of them dropped it immediately as a sharp spike of pain shot through them due to the injuries they received during this whole adventure.

Superboy had stepped out of the rubble, he looks to the incapacitated Blockbuster. You joined him momentarily, taking in the strange environment you seemed to be in. There were towering buildings in the far off vicinity near the destruction. They were tall, taller than the buildings of Liyue Harbor and the windmills of Mondstadt. They were more industrial looking as well, uniformed. The lack of notable details in their architecture made it hard to determine just where in Teyvat were you. Though a little nagging voice in the back of your mind told you that you were very much no longer in your homeland anymore.

Kid Flash called out to Superboy, “See?” He says, drawing both his and your attention from where you were directed towards, jerking his thumb towards something in the sky. “The moon.”

You both looked to the sky, Superboy stared in awe at the celestial body, taking it all in. He finally got to see it in person, to feel the moonlight and the breeze against his skin, no longer wondering what it felt like when he envisioned the image of the moon in his mind when educated by the G-Gnomes fed him mental pictures. To him it was mesmerizing.

Meanwhile you were startled to find that (aside from the moon) you couldn’t make out a single constellation in the sky that you recognized. Missing were the familiar sights of Bestia Iustitia, Sinae Unicornis, Alatus Nemeseos, or Lapis Dei. Not even the sight of your own constellation. The stars held no meaning to you now, and the distance between you and your loved ones felt even more unsettling. Now that you were above ground you could feel the distinct lack of touch with the elements, surrounded by an unnatural amount of Geo and not enough Dendro to make it feel less jarring.

Before he could answer you, Superboy noticed something in the distance, something approaching from the sight of the moon. He squints at it, trying to decipher what he was seeing. It grows larger, the shape forming that of a man. He was donned head to toe in a bold blue, accented by a red cape flowing behind him. He bore a striking resemblance to the boy standing next to you. Kid Flash walked up to the other side of Superboy, “Oh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?” Though he seemed just as surprised as the boy next to him.

You squint at the man in the gradually closing distance, “Is that man… flying?” You wonder aloud, before then coming to a small (rather delayed) realization. “Wait… do you mean ‘Super’ as in… in relation to Superboy?” This caused one of the other boys behind you (Robin you presumed) to let out a small laugh, though due to your current conditions it sounded more like a cough.

You activated your elemental sight, and it seems he was flying without the need to use Anemo (unlike a certain god you had met before).

Suddenly, more figures began to form in the moonlight behind this… Superman. All of them unfamiliar to you, and all of them dressed in just as strange of outfits as your saviors. Many could fly without the need of Anemo—like Superman—though you noticed some of them needing to be lowered down on glowing green platforms created by some of the airborne heroes. They landed above you on the rubble before lowering their more grounded companions to the rubble below. Next to the now landed Superman was a man dressed like a bat wearing a dark suit and a cowl who flanked him on one side, to the other was a man in all red who appeared at an astonishing speed similar to the yellow speedster you’ve become acquainted with.

There was a moment of silence as these… heroes stared passively at the sidekicks, Superboy, and you. You could see a familiarity in their eyes when they scanned over the sidekicks, though it vanished when they landed on you. You straightened your back to stare as intensely in return, despite the soreness of your body screaming for you to just fall over and rest.

You watched as Superman narrowed his eyes upon sighting Superboy who had begun to take a few steps forward, as if sizing him up and taking in the similarities the two had, almost suspiciously. The younger of the two then lifts the torn flap of his suit, showing the matching shield symbol on his chest with a small smile. Identical to the one that the older man wore across his broader chest.

However that is where the similarities stopped as Superman’s expression went from one of disbelief, and almost as quickly turned into one of anger. You glared at this shift in tone as you began to shift closer to Superboy’s side, polearm still in hand as you began to take a protective stance alongside the now confused, almost disappointed expression of the clone.

The man dressed as a bat—based on these naming schemes you guessed his title was something like “Batman” or something—was the next to speak up, though you didn’t take too kindly to the tone he used when he said, “Is that what I think it is?” While staring at the boy beside you.

Kid Flash put a hand to the side of his mouth, as if trying to whisper, “He doesn’t like being called an ‘it’,” before Superboy suddenly rose to anger, his eyes hardened into steel as he announced firmly: “I’m Superman’s clone!”

The heroes surrounding you, save for Batman and Superman, all seemed taken aback by this declaration. Batman redirected his gaze to Robin, and with a slight glare demanded him to, “Start talking.”

As the three sidekicks were explaining the situation to their mentors, they remembered your presence, turning to you suddenly. You were tuned out of the conversation up to that point, too busy watching all of these strange people work on clearing damage and assessing the situation. Not a single one of them seemed to have any sort of elemental traces on their person, save for the blonde man speaking to Aqualad (you swore to the Archons and Celestia above if that man was simply dubbed “Aquaman” you would hurl yourself off the nearest mountain peak).

You felt a hand on your shoulder as you turned to face the group of sidekicks and adults. They all stared at you with inquisitive looks, Aqualad giving you a silent cue to introduce yourself. Sighing you looked the scowling Batman in the eyes, he seemed the most distrusting of you or your origins as you began to explain, “I am one known as Tide Caller, an… an adeptus from Liyue Harbor and former servant of the Geo Archon,” you were hoping this was explanation enough but none of the words you had just said seemed to spark any resemblance of recognition from the heroes who all glanced to each other in confusion.

It was Robin who helped come to your rescue, “Tide Caller was there with us when we woke up in the pods in Cadmus, one of the scientists called them Project Riptide’. They were about to be cloned as well, but Superboy got them out after coming back to rescue us.”

Kid Flash rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah what Rob said, they don’t actually seem to be a clone of any sort like Supey’ here. Actually, they don’t really seem to be aware of what Cadmus is or how they ended up here at all.”

You nodded, “I come from a land known as Teyvat, a place ruled by gods which harness the ability to control the elements under the eyes of Celestia, as well as provide mortals living within Teyvat the potential to achieve godhood by granting them the powers of one of seven elements via that of a vision, Teyvat is a dangerous place to traverse without any means to protect oneself, Visions are granted to those who are recognized by the gods and act as a conduit for whichever element resonates with a chosen allogene,”

You raise your wrist to show them your vision, still glowing to indicate the stored energy within the cerulean gemstone embedded into your wrist guard, small traces of Hydro rippling around your hand when called upon. “My Vision is that of Hydro, representing the divine ideal of justice. Alongside it are Visions are that of Anemo, representing the divine ideal of freedom, Geo representing contracts, Electro for eternity, Dendro for wisdom, Pyro for war, sometimes passion, and Cryo, which was once represented by the divine ideal of love… though, I have heard in more recent times that that ideal has changed since then.

“I am accustomed to fighting monsters roaming my homeland, but when I had awakened we were faced with a horde of creatures I have never seen before. During our escape, Kid Flash and his companions attempted to question me as well, but none of the information they had managed to share before trouble stirred once again made any sense,” you then looked to the skies, observing the new star patterns littering the backdrop of the moon sadly. “The stars of this land are equally as unfamiliar to me. I cannot make sense of any of it, and I fear I am much farther from my home than I had anticipated.”

The older heroes seemed to sympathize with you, however the more commandeering of the three continued to stare at you analytically, as if trying to suss out any falsehoods from your revelation, “What’s the last thing you can remember before waking up in Cadmus?” He presses.

This caught you off guard, a slight headache forming from the start of your recollection. You’ve been wondering this since you had awoken, though distracted due to being thrown into the fray upon coming to your senses, so with a hand now pressed against your throbbing temple you relayed such information to them, “If I’m being honest I am… having some difficulties recalling such information. Though, the last thing I remember before waking here was… the feeling of falling. A-And feeling as if I had been dropped into a pool of ice water,” you looked up tiredly to the unwavering expression of the man in black.

He made some noise of acknowledgement after some moment of silence. During this moment of contemplation you took notice that Superboy’s attention was elsewhere, and following his gaze you saw the man in blue and you felt your eyes harden, much different from the former’s curious expression. He was speaking to a woman in a tiara and a warrior’s garb and a man dressed in black and blue (though the most striking thing about him was the fact that his skin was green).

The latter looked over his shoulder to see the inquisitive stare of Superboy and promptly put a shoulder on the other man’s shoulder, this caused Superman to meet the curious gaze of his clone. You watched them have a small exchange of averting their gaze before sheepishly looking back for a moment before the older Kryptonian began to approach the other. Superboy crossed his arms as the older male started to speak, “We’ll, uh, we’ll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean.” He manages to correct himself in what you took as him trying to distance himself from the situation. “For now I better make sure they get the Blockbuster creature squared away.”

And with that he takes off into the night, following the two men who had created the platforms from before—the Green Lanterns, as you had overheard them be referred to as—had formed a sphere around Blockbusters still immobile body, while a silver man with red gloves and boots as well as two winged heroes with maces flew alongside them. He just flew off leaving the poor clone feeling hurt, confused, and abandoned.

The sidekicks watch this exchange as well, though you aren’t sure if they feel the same bubbling anger as you from witnessing such a thing. Before you could make any biting comments directed to the departing figure, Batman draws all of your attention to him, “Cadmus wil be investigated,” he states. “All 52 levels, but let’s make one thing clear—”

He’s interrupted by the Flash who pipes upo in a whine, “You should have called.”

You’re starting to realize where all of the younger speedster’s childish antics seemed to come from.

The Batman glared at his counterpart before growling, “End results aside, we’re not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again.”

The three of them looked down for a moment, before Aqualad spoke firmly, “I am sorry, but we will.”

His mentor attempts to commandeer him into silence, “Aqualad, stand down.”

“Apologies, my King… But no.” Aqualad puts his hand to his chest in reverence to the older man—you are shocked at hearing such a title be directed to such a man—an action of which causes the blonde man to raise his brow as to question such an action. He looks to his mentor—his ruler—before firmly stating his mind. “We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together on our own we forged something powerful, important.”

“If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you—”

“The four of us,” Kid Flash corrects, not hesitating to cut off his mentor. “And it’s not.”

Robin had already taken a step forward, the next to speak his mind and step up against his mentor, “Batman, we’re ready to do what you taught us, or why teach us at all?” He’s the quietest out of the three, but his voice doesn’t waver.

Superboy finally let his irritation bubble over, spitting out a curt, “Why let them tell us what to do?”

You nodded, supportive of their cause, “Where I come from, the noblest of heroes do not wait for the gods to acknowledge them first in order to pave way to a better future. It is their ambition that will guide them to Celestia.”

“It’s simple,” Superboy passes you, then the sidekicks, all of which stood proud and tall as they defied their mentors, “Get on board, or get out of the way.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

Mount Justice; July 8th, 8:04 EDT

You watch as one of the Green Lanterns and Captain Atom fly around carrying large pieces of metal equipment around the inside of the hollowed out mountain you and the rest of your newfound team were within. Alongside you in the center base of the mountain’s interior were an assortment of heroes in addition to your team who were dressed in civilian clothes over the colorful getups they had worn when first meeting you.

Robin wore a black jacket over a hooded sweater and a pair of black running shoes in addition to a pair of “sunglasses” as they had told you they were called.

Kid Flash—or you should say Wally, after informing you of his secret identity a few days prior—was wearing a long sleeve shirt under an unbuttoned short sleeved button-up in addition to dark blue pants and running shoes. He kept a pair of goggles in his pocket.

Aqualad—known as Kaldur’ahm—wore black sandals, black pants that were baggy enough to allow a comfortable room for the fins on the backs of his calves, and a two-toned blue and black jacket with a turtleneck style collar as to hide his gills. When you asked about his physiology he had informed you he was not in fact human, but rather Atlantean, which he described as a race of people who lived underwater and bore aquatic-type physiology due to their subversive nature, showing you the webs between his fingers and the shark like fins on his legs.

Superboy donned a simple short sleeve top and fit him snugly, it was black with the signature red shield of him and his predecessor. In addition to this he wore a pair of dark pants and black combat boots.

The boys had taken to explaining to you that they can’t be seen in their hero uniforms everywhere they went outside missions, so they took to their civvies (civilian clothes). Additionally they had to explain to you that the attire you’re used to seeing back in Teyvat is considered more “old-fashioned” or fantastical.

That being said, you still didn’t have much of a “modern” wardrobe outside your usual adventuring getup as they put it so you were still in your usual attire from the night they discovered you. They had been surprised at how well the fabrics of your clothes held up from all of the chaos that occurred at Cadmus.

“This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League,” Batman informs your team of heroes. “We’re calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you’ll do it on League terms.”

All of you watched as he began to walk away from the center of the room, leaving the floor to the two other heroes standing by. “Red Tornado,” the red, metallic, being with a cape you were startled to discover lacking any organic signs of life to. “Volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary,” the beautiful blonde woman in the black, one-piece bustier-leotard combination under a blue lapelled jacket. “Is in charge of training.” She also wore gray stockings with seams up the front and back, as well as black, heavy, calf-length boots, black fingerless gloves, and a black choker.

He had introduced them before swiftly bringing the attention back to himself, “I will deploy you on missions.”

Robin seemed excited by this part of his exposition, “Real missions?” he inquires.

“Yes, but covert.” Batman confirms.

The Flash was next to speak up from behind Kid Flash’s shoulder, “The League will still handle the obvious stuff,” he then starts tapping the lightning bolt symbol on his chest. “That’s why we have these big targets on our chests.”

Aquaman continues after him, “But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly,” he says before redirecting the conversation back to the stoic man in black.

“The six of you will be that team.”

Robin is the first to react, very excitedly going, “Cool!” Before catching the part of his mentor’s statement that felt off. “Wait, six?”

Instead of answering him, the Dark Knight simply looks over Robin’s shoulder as a new pair enter the room. You and the boys turn to see Martian Manhunter stepping from the shadows with a young teenage girl with green skin and a coppery red hair (the explanation that the reason the two were green was due to his origins as an outlander—as a Martian, took a bit longer for them to explain that you’d like to admit). “This is Martian Manhunter’s niece, Miss Martian.”

She was a bit shy at first, giving them a small wave and a cute smile, you noticed she seemed to have a more human-like facial structure than her uncle. She greeted you all with a small yet nervous, “H-Hi.”

You noticed how Kid Flash gives Robin a look as he puts his hand on his hip, the shorter male glancing up at him in turn, “Likin’ this gig more every minute,” he says with a small smirk before turning his attention back to the redheaded girl. “Uh, welcome aboard! I’m Kid Flash, that’s Robin,” the aforementioned boy gave her a little ‘rock on’ gesture with his hand (you only recognized it from your time with Xinyan who took the time in teaching you about the gesture she tends to make when performing). “Aqualad,” who gives her a silent nod in greeting.

“It’s cool if you forget their names.” He follows up nonchalantly.

“I’m honored to be included,” she says with her hands clasped in front of her as the former sidekicks moved closer to greet her.

You followed shortly behind them, raising a hand to your chest in a slight bow you had grown accustomed to doing when meeting new people back home, “And it is an honor to meet you as well, Miss Martian. I am Tide Caller, I hope our time together shall be memorable,” you state calmly. She seemed to fluster somewhat at your formality.

You and Robin seemed to have come to a similar observation as you both had looked back to see Superboy standing off to the side by himself. Robin had taken the initiative however, noticing his downcast expression as he called out to him, “Hey Superboy! Come meet Miss M!” To which he complies.

As he approaches, you watch as Miss Martian’s shirt seems to shift and warp into a new shape, changing from a solid white with a red X across her chest and a cape into a black t-shirt with the same red X, as if mirroring Superboy’s black top, “I like your t-shirt,” she admits albeit shyly.

Superboy smiles softly which in turn causes Robin to nudge him in the chest with his elbow, a small smirk across his face. Kid Flash zips to the other side of him bearing a bright smile.

Robin then looks to the Atlantean teen, both of them seemingly coming to a similar train of thought as Aqualad proudly states, “Today is the day.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

While all of this occurred at Mount Justice, there was something stirring within Cadmus once more.

Below the currently under renovations Cadmus, “Cadmus changes today,” Guardian spoke directly to Dubbilex and Dr. Spence, the latter he turned to next, “Dr. Spence, you’re Acting Chief Scientist. No more G-Gnomes suppressing our wills, no more secret breeding projects. This is a kinder, gentler Cadmus.” He declares.

Dubbilex ensures to Guardian, announcing his his full support, “Then I will of course help in any way I can, brother.”

Despite this promise to make a new and improved Cadmus, free of corruption and secrets galore, something sinister was brewing beneath the surface.

Guardian’s conversation was monitored by a group of unknown individuals, “Can the Light afford to leave Guardian without the G-Gnomes?” A masculine voice asks, the screens lined up as they all review the security footage currently playing this live feed.

“We have subtler means of control,” another reassures. “What concerns me is the children. We now know the League is employing young Heroes to do their dirty work. Tch. That’s a dark twist.”

“Yes, but one that can be played to our advantage,” a third, much deeper voice says.

A scoff is heard, “You should be more worried of the loss of not only one, but two weapons,” A feminine voice chided. “You may be able to recover from the clone, but what about the Tide Caller? That was not an easy acquisition to make, their impromptu dive into this world was difficult to plan, how do you expect to get them back after such a blunder.”

"Even the temporary loss of the weapon and the Tide Caller may prove useful,” reassures the last voice, before ending the exchange with finality. “Eventually, everyone sees the Light.”

32 notes · View notes

fandomgirlz01 · 2 years ago

Text

My Place In This World Pt. 2

Fireworks

Dick Grayson X Reader

Imagine on my fandom instagram?: No

Prompt?: No

Request?: No

Requested prompt?: No

Edited: Yes

Word count: 8,463

Ko-fi

Masterlist

Warnings here

You can listen to the story be read out loud here.

Post Date: December 14th, 2023

Post Time: 10:41 pm

Summary: Growing up in Haly's circus and losing their parents in the same night makes the reader and Dick closer than anyone else. Together they go through life having one another's backs though every life change, even eventually becoming Robin and Blue Jay together. What happens when feelings have changed and slowly start to be revealed?

youtube

Y/n’s Pov:

“Time runs short. You must awaken,” a weird ominous voice speaks.

“You must awaken now!” The voice shouts and my head shoots up as I open my eyes.

We all awake with a gasp as we find ourselves locked up in pods. I try pulling at my arms only to find that they’re restrained above my head. I try wiggling my feet only to find that they too are restrained.

Looking back up, I see the clone standing in front of us just staring at us with a very stoic look on his face. I look over to my left to see Dick next to me and he looks at me. He silently asks me if I’m okay and I nod before silently asking him the same thing, feeling pleased when he nods.

“What? What— what do you want?!” Wally yells out, making me turn to my right to see him before looking back at the clone.

“Quit staring. You’re creeping me out,” Wally continues to yell at the clone standing in front of us and I shake my head.

“Uh, KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?” Dick calmly asks in a soft tone and I hum in agreement.

“Listen, we only sought to help you,” Kaldur states in a calm and soft voice.

“Yeah. We free you, and you turn on us. How’s that for grat—” Wally berates the clone and I roll my eyes.

“Kid, please, be quiet now,” Kaldur interrupts as he turns to look at him.

“Yeah. KF, quiet. Even I know now’s not the time to get angry, and I’m the most angry person here,” I add onto Kaldur’s words and Dick scoffs.

“Blue Jay. Stop. You are not,” he pointedly says with a roll of his eyes.

“Enough. I believe our new friend was not in control of his actions like we are,” Kaldur cuts in and I look over at Dick with a light smirk when I see him pop out his lock pick from his glove.

He nods at me and I nod back before pressing the small button in my glove. My lock pick pops out as his had done and we both start quietly working on our shackles.

“Wha— what if I… what if I wasn’t?” The clone asks in a hesitant tone and Wally’s eyes widen.

“He can talk!” he shouts in shock and I roll my eyes.

“Of course he can, KF. He may be a clone, but—” I go to defend it in an annoyed tone, but the clone cuts me off.

“Yes, he can,” he comments in anger as his fists clench at his side.

“And I thought I had anger issues…” I mumble with another roll of my eyes.

“Jay…” Dick warns and I stifle a giggle as I shrug when Dick gives me his disapproval look.

“Not like I said it,” Wally defends himself and I chuckle, shaking my head.

“You might as well have, KF,” I exasperate with a roll of my eyes and he huffs.

“The genomorphs taught you telepathically,” Kaldur asks, changing the subject as he turns his head to look at the clone.

“They taught me much. I can read, write. I— I know the names of things,” the clone tries to convey what he knows.

“But have you seen them? Have they ever let you actually see the sky?” Dick asks but pauses for a moment.

“Or the sun?” I finish Dick’s thoughts, making him look at me before looking back at the clone.

“Images are implanted in my mind, but no. I have not seen them,” the clone answers in a melancholy tone and I frown.

“Well, you deserve to see them and feel the heat from the sun,” I tell him in a sympathetic tone, still frowning.

“Do you know what you are, who you are?” Kaldur asks and the clone seems to stand a little straighter.

“I am the Superboy, a genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman created to replace him should he perish…” the clone starts to explain, but pauses.

“To destroy him should he turn from the light,” the clone finishes explaining and Dick turns to look at me. I frown at him and he shakes his head before looking back at the clone.

“To be like superman is a worthy aspiration, but like superman you deserve a life of your own, beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus,” Kaldur tries to get our point further across to the clone.

“I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!” The clone angrily shouts out as he argues back.

“Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun,” Dick starts to try explaining what else he can have and I smile.

“Uh, pretty sure it’s after midnight, but we can show you the moon,” Wally adds on and I roll my eyes in annoyance at the boy for the millionth time.

“Robin’s point is that we can show you how to have a real life outside these walls,” I add on and Dick smiles softly at me as Wally rolls his eyes.

“We can show you, introduce you to superman,” Kaldur tells him and for a moment it looks like the clone is thinking about it.

“No, they can’t,” another voice speaks up, making the clone turn around as we all look up.

“They’ll be otherwise occupied,” the scientist creepily tells us as he, Guardian and another scientist walk in through the door.

“Activate the cloning process,” he demands the other female scientist as he and Guardian come to a stop.

“Pass. Batcav’s crowded enough—” Dick comments and I have to hold back a giggle.

“Tell me about it, Rob. With you, me, Bats and now Batgirl, I can’t take on any more added to the team,” I agree with him, playfully rolling my eyes and he smirks as I hold back my laughter.

“And get the weapon back in its pod!” The male scientist demands again as he looks at Guardian, who then starts towards the clone.

“Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an it?” Wally whines out and I sigh, shaking my head.

Guardian walks up behind the clone and puts a hand on his shoulder. The clone watches him walk up from the corner of his eye until he touches his shoulder and turns to look at Kaldur.

“Help us,” Kaldur tells the clone one last time.

The clone then shoves Guardian's hand off of his shoulder and turns to look at him. He gives him a glare before the scientist walks up behind him.

“Don’t start thinking now,” the scientist exasperates as he walks past the clone and the genomorph on his shoulder jumps off onto the clone’s shoulder.

The genomorph’s horns glow and the clone's eyes widen before becoming void of emotion. The scientist moves to stand in front of the clone and comes to a stop.

“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!” The scientist tells him as the horns continue to glow.

The clone then turns and starts to leave. The door closes behind him and the scientist turns to the woman at the computer station. She types on the keys for a minute before a metal arm with prongs on the end pops up in each of our pods.

They launch forward towards each of us and before we know it, there’s a shock flowing through our bodies. We each scream out as it seems to last forever. The scientist starts to speak, but it’s hard to make out what he’s saying as we all continue to scream out in pain.

The scientist talks to the head genomorph that we fought earlier on, but again it’s hard to hear anything as we scream in pain. The pain continues on and on for a while. I look over at Dick and frown harder, wishing I could stop his pain.

Then I look at Wally and tears well up in my eyes. Last I look at Kaldur, who seems to be whispering something and I wonder what he’s saying. Slowly black starts to take over my vision and closes in slower and slower as I start to feel utterly drained.

“Sir, this one can’t handle the cloning process. She’s lost far too much blood,” the lady scientist calls out as my eyes droop more and more.

“Then don’t worry about cloning her. Just get rid of her now then,” the emotionless male scientist barks out and the lady nods solemnly.

“Don’t you dare touch her. You lay a hand on her and I’ll never let you have a moment of peace again,” Dick growls out in anger and I try to formulate some words to try to comfort him, telling him I won’t go down without a fight, but the words won’t leave my mouth.

My tongue turns and turns in my mouth, but the more effort I make, the more tired I feel. I look over at Dick one last time before there’s a loud banging noise, making us all look over to see the door being ripped open by the clone. It sparks as he holds it over his head before throwing it aside and suddenly the pain that was flowing through my body stops. I feel a little bit of life flow through me as Kaldur lets out a sigh of relief when he sees the clone and he walks in ominously.

“I told you to get back to your…” the main scientist starts as he turns and looks at the clone.

The clone only ignores him and continues towards us, pushing Guardian to the left and the scientist to the right, making them all go flying back into the walls. He stands straight over the scientist, all big and tall.

“Don’t give me orders!” The clone seethes out before turning and walking closer to us.

“You here to help us or fry us?” Wally asks and the clone glares at him.

“Huh, I don’t seem to have heat vision. So I suppose helping is my only option,” the clone smugly tells Wally.

It’s quiet for a literal second before there’s a loud hiss to my left, making me turn weakly to see Dick finally release himself from his shackles. As soon as his arms and legs are free, his pod opens. He quickly jumps down and starts to rub at his wrists.

“Aha. Finally, lucky Batman isn’t here. He’d have our heads for taking so long. Right, Jay?” Dick jokes but stops when I don’t reply.

He slowly turns and looks around before looking up at me. His face falls when he sees me looking down at him tiredly. I give him a soft smile and his eyes widen as he shakes his head.

“Seriously, that’s what you’re worried about?” Wally deadpans, making Dick look at him.

“The whole league will have our heads after tonight!” Wally finishes as Dick doesn’t even really listen to him, he just rushes over to the panel with all the buttons and pushes one.

After he pushes it, there’s a faint buzz before the pods open. Dick then turns to the clone, who looks at him.

“Free Aqualad. I’ll get Blue Jay then kid mouth,” Dick orders and my vision slowly starts to swim some more.

“Don’t you give me orders either,” the clone angrily seethes at him before taking a leap over to Aqualad.

The clone breaks Aqualad’s arm shackles and he falls forward into the clone's arms. Kaldur lets out a small ‘thank you’ before smiling at the clone. As he helps Kaldur the rest of the way, Dick climbs up to the top of my pod and again pops his lock pick out from his glove.

He quickly picks up where I left off on picking the lock and soon my hands come free along with my feet. I stay in the pod and lean tiredly against the wall of it. Dick quickly climbs down before looking back up at me and I shake my head before sluggishly motioning to Wally.

Dick gives me a worried glance before nodding at my persistent look. He then goes and climbs up Wally’s and helps him get out. Once Wally is out they all jump down to the floor and the others start to run.

“Guys, hold on. Blue Jay’s hurt!” Dick yells out, making the others come to a stop.

They all slowly turn around and Dick now has his back turned to me. They all stay quiet for a moment as I lean against the wall.

“What do we do? I can’t hack and carry her,” Dick quickly explains through a fearful tone and Kaldur smiles softly at him before he walks over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I will carry her. You just worry about hacking. I promise Blue Jay will be safe with me,” Kaldur assures Dick, who nods before looking at the floor for a moment as Wally puts a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

Kaldur jumps up into my pod and slowly picks me up. He holds me tight before getting ready to jump down, but I stop him.

“Please make sure he’s alright, Kal…” I whisper out and he chuckles lightly.

“You are the one hurt and you are making sure he’s ok. You two really are two birds of a kind…” he tells me and I smile weakly at him as I shrug.

“I love him, what can I say?” I whisper out super quietly as my vision starts to really fade now.

“You have my word, Blue Jay. You both will make it out okay,” he tells me softly before everything becomes completely dark.

Dick’s Pov:

Kaldur jumps down with y/n in his arms, but her eyes are closed. I scramble in my utility belt for a moment before finding what I need. Wally gives me a confused look when I pull it out, but I quickly walk over to Kaldur and y/n.

“What’s that?” Wally asks as I quickly put the tab on y/n’s neck.

“Heart monitor. Batman made it after the last time she was injured on a mission. He made it so we can make sure she’s still doing ok as we make our way outta here,” I explain as I open my holo computer up on my arm.

“Woah. That little patch is a heart monitor?” he asks in astonishment and I nod.

“Yup. Sends the stats right to my computer here so I can hack and monitor it at the same time,” I tell him as I make my holo computer pop up and his eyes widen.

“That’s so cool! Me and Flash have ours in our suits,” he tells me and I nod in agreement.

“We have them in ours too, but for some reason hers hasn’t been working, hence why Bats made this… backup,” I explain as I start typing stuff in to bring up the monitor on my computer.

“So she’s been hurt before?” Wally asks and I swallow back my emotions.

“Yes. Four missions ago she was hurt badly. Had to be hospitalized for a few days. We’ve been trying to fix hers, but we just can’t figure out why it won’t work after that one mission,” I explain as I continue to type before finally pulling it up.

“She’ll be ok. She’s a fighter. If you want, me and the Flash gang can take a look to see if we can figure it out for you guys,” Wally tells me and I look up at him in thanks.

“We should be good to go, but we gotta be fast. She needs medical attention soon,” I tell Kaldur and he nods.

“Ok. Let’s go then,” he agrees with a nod and before I know it, we’re all running past the scientist who unfortunately seems to wake up.

“You— you’ll never get out of here! Your friend’s gonna die!” he shouts to us as we run past him.

“I’ll have you back in pods before morning!” he finishes off as we just make it out of the door.

“That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all,” I tell Wally as we both come to a stop.

“What is it with you and this whelmed thing?” he asks as I throw four explosive batarangs.

“Inside joke with Blue Jay…” I tell him as I begin running again.

The wing dings perfectly hit the pods before exploding as we continue running away. We quickly catch up to Kaldur and the clone only to keep running.

“We are still 42 levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator…” Kaldur starts to explain the plan as he runs with y/n in his arms.

We make it down many halls before we hear a gowling, making us come to a stop when we see the big genomorphs coming our way. We turn around and look behind us to see the bumps on the walls start glowing a bright red. Soon more of the genomorphs start popping out of them and coming towards us.

The one behind us bangs on the ground quickly, making us all turn and jump back. The clone quickly jumps up and hits one in the face as we run to get around them. The clone quickly stands, ready to fight some more before one punches him down into the floor.

Kaldur, Wally and I jump over the one and land on the other side before turning to watch the clone start fighting. I look down at my computer and watch y/n’s heartbeat, letting out a sigh of relief when I see it’s still semi-steady, even if she’s passed out.

“Superboy, the goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here,” Kaldur shouts out to the clone and he continues to fight.

“You want escape?” Superboy yells out as he turns back to look at us.

“Aha, yeah, that’s the whole point. Not to mention we have an injured party who needs medical attention soon,” I shout after Kaldur as I point to y/n.

“Aha!” Superboy yells out as he turns and continues to fight the huge genomorphs.

“Let’s just keep going,” Wally states and Kaldur hums, nodding in agreement.

“Kid, take Blue Jay. I need to pry the doors open,” Kaldur tells Wally, who nods before taking y/n from his arms.

Kaldur walks up to the doors and I turn to Wally. He gives me a look as I hold my arms out.

“You sure?” he asks and I nod.

“Yeah. Can’t hack anything right now anyway. I can get us up the shaft so you can climb,” I tell him and he nods before hesitatingly putting y/n into my arms.

I nod in thanks to him before he takes a leap, landing on the side of the shaft and I shoot my grappling gun. I hold onto y/n with a single arm as tightly as I can while we shoot up the elevator shaft. Superboy grabs onto Kaldur and takes a big leap.

Once at the end of my grappling gun, I swing lightly before landing on the side and keeping y/n with me. Once on the side, I plop down for a moment and just hold y/n a little closer as I watch Superboy and Kaldur get to about halfway up the shaft before they both start to fall.

“I— I’m falling,” Superboy says in shock before they start to fall quicker.

My eyes widen in shock before I reach into my utility belt and grab a batarang. I quickly toss it at the wall they’re about to fall past and Kaldur reaches out to grab it as he grabs onto Superboy as well.

“Superman can fly,” Superboy comments in sadness as he and Kaldur hang from the wall.

“Why can’t I fly?” he solemnly asks as he looks up at Kaldur.

“Don’t know, but it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool,” Wally tells him from beside me now and it’s quiet for a moment.

My mind quickly wanders to what y/n would have said. She’d probably agree with Wally before making some joke about how it’s cooler then what Wally can do. I hold back a laugh at the thought as Wally helps Superboy down so he’s on the ledge with us.

“Thank you,” Superboy calmly tells him with shame in his eyes as Kaldur hops onto the ledge right behind him.

“How’s Blue Jay doing?” Kaldur asks, looking at me and I sigh.

“Not good. I’ll have to add a bandage around her wound, but I can’t do it here. I need solid ground first,” I inform him and he gives a curt nod.

“Ok. How much farther until we are out?” he asks me and I go to answer before there’s a loud sound coming from above us.

“This will have to be our exit!” I quickly shout out and Kaldur nods.

“Superboy. Help me with these doors!” Kaldur tells him and he nods.

Together they each kick at one door and they both cave in. I grab onto y/n before we all rush though the new opening in the wall just before the express elevator quickly passes us going down. We all turn back for a moment watching as it passes.

We then turn back to hall only to see more genomorphs start rushing towards us while growling. Kaldur takes y/n from me before we all quickly turn to the right and start running again.

“Go left! Left!” Superboy yells out and we do as he says, turning left before continuing to run.

“Right!” he yells out again as we again do as he says before coming to a dead end.

“Great directions, Supey. You trying to get us re-podded?” Wally angrily asks as he turns to Superboy.

“No. I- I don’t understand…” Superboy replies with confusion laced in his tone.

“Don’t apologize! This is perfect!” I shout and they all look at me in confusion.

“How can this be perfect?” Wally asks and I smirk.

“Take the vent off and we start crawling…” I inform them as I rip the vent off the wall.

“Ok. You do that, but how exactly do you plan on getting Blue Jay through the vents?” Kaldur asks and I pause a moment.

“Uhh… here. Tie her to my waist,” I quickly tell him as I pull out a small bit of rope from my utility belt.

“How exactly is tying her to your waist gonna get her though?” Wally asks in clear confusion and I shrug as I finally close my holo computer.

“Best thought is that I pull her along as we crawl,” I reply with a shrug.

“That doesn’t really sound like it’d work to me,” he comments and I shrug.

“Got any better ideas on how to get her out?” I ask as anger flares up inside me and he throws his hands up in surrender.

“You're right. Only plan we got, so let’s do it,” he agrees and I sigh.

“Sorry KF, but it’s that or leave her behind and I’m not too fond of leaving her behind,” I tell him and he nods, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I know, Rob. I know. We got this. Let’s get going,” he tells me and I nod as Kaldur now hands me the rope.

I take it and pause a moment before hesitantly tying the rope around myself. I look at Kaldur and he gives me a nod of confirmation.

“I’ll be right behind you. I’ll make sure she sticks with you. Do not worry,” he tells me and I nod, taking a deep breath before climbing up into the small air shaft.

Once inside, I turn around and Kaldur quickly passes y/n up to me. I slowly pull her though before turning back to start crawling as best as I can. Kaldur climbs in right after us and quickly props y/n up against me so she’s not full on laying on the bottom of the air shaft.

I continue to slowly crawl, trying to keep her from moving too much. Soon both Superboy and KF are following us in and we all slowly keep crawling.

“Ah, at this rate we’ll never get out,” Wally comments after a while of crawling.

“Kid, not now,” Kaldur sternly tells him.

“Shh. Listen,” Superboy tells us and we all pause to listen.

Suddenly there’s a sound coming and we all quickly figure out that it’s genomorphs crawling after us. I look at Kaldur and he nods.

“They can’t find us, don't worry, just follow me. I have a plan,” I tell them and we continue crawling for a few more minutes.

Soon we find another way out and I pop the grate off before sliding out. Kaldur then slowly slides y/n down to me and I pull her down the rest of the way. I set her down against the wall for a second before pulling my holo computer out and connecting it to the panel on the wall.

The others all climb out and I continue to type on my computer for a second. I take a quick look at y/n’s monitor before pausing to fish my kit out. Once I have it, I hand it to Wally.

“Here. Wrap her wound for me while I do this. You do remember how to do it don’t you?” I ask him as I hand him the first aid kit and he nods, taking it from me.

He walks over and starts wrapping her wound as I turn back to my computer. I work for a minute before he tells me he’s done and he hands me the kit.

“Thanks. That should keep her from getting worse then she already is,” I comment as I put the kit away and he nods.

“So what are you hacking now?” Wally asks just as I’m finishing up.

“I hacked the motion sensors,” I proudly tell him as I smirk.

“Sweet!” he says as he throws his arms up.

“Still plenty of them between us and out,” I explain as I start hacking to find a faster way out.

“But I’ve finally got room to move,” he states as he puts his goggles over his eyes before rushing off.

“Ok… I guess we’re moving now,” Kaldur comments and I nod as I stand up.

“Robin, I’ll carry Blue Jay. You pay attention to those sensors,” Kaldur tells me as he picks y/n up and I nod.

Wally runs in front of us and we all run up the stairs after him. He takes out some genomorphs that are coming down at us and I keep my eyes on my holo computer.

“More behind us!” I shout out behind myself and Superboy stops.

He turns so he’s facing the genomorphs that are coming before stomping and making the set of stairs so it breaks off. He then turns and catches up with us as we continue to run up the rest of the flights of stairs. Wally continues to run and just as we all round the corner of one of the many halls, the room starts flashing red.

An alarm of some sort starts going off and we watch as Wally tries to skid to a stop before banging into the door that just closed off. He flies back and lands on the floor as we come to a stop next to him.

“We’re cut off from the street,” Kaldur tells us as Wally rubs at his head.

“Thanks. My head hadn’t noticed,” Wally comments from the floor, still rubbing his head.

Superboy just walks around Wally and to the door. He then pulls his hand back and punches at the door. Nothing really happens, so Kaldur hands y/n to me before going over to help him.

They both pull at the door from either side and nothing happens, so I set y/n lightly on the ground, leaning her against the wall. I pull my holo computer up and stick the plug in the USB before quickly starting to try to hack into the door.

“Can’t hack this fast enough. If Blue Jay were here, maybe I could, but I can’t,” I exclaim before I turn my holo computer off just as a growl comes from my right, making me look up.

I quickly take a look around and find a door. I pick y/n up and walk over to it.

“This way!” I yell out to the others as I kick the door open before running through.

We all run through and come to a stop when we see a whole army of genomorphs in front of us with Guardian standing in the front. We all turn around when we hear more walk up behind us and we all take a fighting stance. Suddenly all the genomorphs' horns start to glow and I’m slowly sinking down to the ground as does Kaldur and Wally.

As I sink down, I keep as tight of a hold on y/n as I can and lay her on the floor before falling onto my back. Just as my back hits the floor, everything seems to go dark.

~Small Time Skip~

After what feels like forever, my eyes slowly open and I blink. I sit up and quickly look over y/n, who’s still unconscious. I quickly pull up my holo computer and check her vitals before letting out a breath of relief when she’s still semi stable.

Once I know she’s still doing okay, I start to stand with the others and feel a little dizzy. I hold a hand to my head for a moment as the dizzy feeling goes away.

“Feels like fog lifting,” Guardian says as he holds his head.

“Guardian?” Kaldur asks as he looks at him and Guardian stands straight.

“Go. Get her out of here. I’ll deal with Desmond,” he tells us as he nods at y/n.

“I think not,” comes Desmond’s voice from behind Guardian, making the Genomorphs all part as Guardian turns to look at him.

“Project blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus,” he sinisterly says as he holds up a vial with blue liquid in it.

He takes a step back before pouring the liquid into his mouth. He starts to groan and his bones start to make loud cracking sounds as Guardian slowly moves back to us. Desmond tosses the vial to his left and it smashes against the ground.

He then starts writhing around in pain all while still groaning and soon he’s throwing himself down on the ground. He hunches over in a ball before his body seems to grow, ripping his lab coat the more he grows. His skin starts to rip and his teeth become like fangs.

I look at Wally, who looks at me in fear before looking at Blue Jay. Like I read his mind, I quickly bend down to gently pick her up once again. Once I’m standing straight, there’s a loud roar that Desmond lets out as he too fully stands, but now he’s a giant, tall blue monster.

He stands there in his monster form, breathing heavily as we watch him carefully. He stands straight and Guardian stares at him for a moment.

“Everyone back!” Guardian shouts as he uses his hands to hold us back.

He then runs off towards Desmond, who just backhands him and he goes flying to the side before he hits the wall face first.

Superboy is the first to react and he launches forward at Desmond with a primal yell before punching the new monster in the face. Desmond just punches back, but Superboy again throws another punch of his own and quickly gets the upper hand. He lands a few punches, but again Desmond gets one in, making Superboy fly back.

Superboy quickly recovers after flying back on his back and spinning. He lands and quickly moves into a crouched position before jumping back up. He starts like he’s going to slam him into the ground, but Desmond jumps at the same time and they both crash though the ceiling.

“Okay. That’s one way to bust through the ceiling,” I comment before grabbing my grappling gun.

“You think lab coat planned that?” Wally asks and I shrug as before me and y/n shoot up though the hole.

“I doubt he is planning anything anymore,” Kaldur comments as we land at the top.

Kaldur grabs Wally and leaps through, landing right behind me. Once we land back in the lobby, we watch as Desmond grabs Superboy. He throws him and he comes flying at us.

Wally and I quickly move out of the way as Superboy flies past us. He collides with Kaldur and they both go flying back. We quickly run over to them and Wally helps Kaldur up as I reach a hand out for Superboy.

“Robin. Get y/n somewhere safe,” Kaldur tells me and I quickly nod before turning and looking around the room.

I run over and set her down behind one of the pillars before checking her stats one last time. I frown when I see the small influx of a change making her less stable. I sigh and shake my head before turning my holo computer off.

“Stay with me for a little longer, Jay. We’re almost out of here,” I tell her as I lean my head against hers for a moment before sighing and standing.

“I’ll be right back. I promise,” I speak out to her even though I know she won’t say anything back.

With one last sigh I walk back over and we all stand in a fight position, waiting for Desmond to make a move. When he does, we all move forward; Wally runs in first and goes under his legs, making Desmond turn to look at him. He looks back at Wally for a moment before turning just as Kaldur and Superboy jump together to punch him in the face.

Wally goes down on all fours, making Desmond fall back and trip over Wally. He lands with a loud thud on the ground and Wally stands straight.

“Learned that one in kindergarten,” Wally comments as I jump over him and throw a couple wing dings at him.

Desmond turns and blocks them with his arms before coming face to face with Superboy again. He growls, jumping up and slamming Superboy into the pillar behind him. Superboy fights back but Desmond quickly stops him and throws his own punch.

Kaldur takes his water bearers out and quickly uses the water to try pulling Desmond’s arm back from Superboy. However, it doesn’t work when Desmond just pulls Kaldur to him. Kaldur quickly switches his water bearers from rope form to a mace form while in the air and tries to slam it down onto Desmond.

Desmond reaches up and wraps his hand around the mace before pulling Kaldur to the floor. He slams down onto the floor and Desmond throws Superboy into another pillar. Superboy falls to the ground and a piece of the pillar falls on top of him.

Wally runs around and past Superboy over to where Desmond starts to fight with Aqualad. Desmond picks Wally up mid-run and flings him around. Kaldur tries to hit Desmond from behind, but he swings Wally around and throws him into Kaldur.

Both Wally and Kaldur fly back and slam into a pillar behind them. I watch as they both fall to the floor before Aqualad is standing back up. He quickly starts to try fighting again, but once again gets slammed into a pillar.

I watch the top of the pillar start to break away from its support system and my eyes widen as I get an idea.

“Of course!” I speak out in wonderment as I pull up my holo computer and a holographic map of the pillars pop up.

“KF, get over here!” I yell out to Wally, making him look up at me.

He quickly comes over and I start to go over the plan with him as the others continue to fight off Desmond. The holograph blinks red, pointing out to him the breaking points of each pillar.

“Got it?” I ask him as I pull my arm down with the holograph disappearing as I do.

“Got it,” he confirms with a nod.

“Go,” I firmly command him just as he takes off.

Superboy now is getting lifted by Desmond as Wally races over and grabs his face. I quickly rush over to y/n and check her signs one last time before turning back around.

“Got your nose!” Wally playfully sings out as he holds up a piece of skin he ripped off of Desmond.

Desmond growls as he throws Superboy aside and heads for Wally. He starts to chase Wally around and I quickly start to pull up the hologram again.

“Superboy! Aqualad!” I yell out to the two across from me and show them the hologram.

“Come and get me, incredible bulk!” Wally yells out before running again and leading Desmond where he needs to.

Wally keeps Desmond distracted for a moment as Superboy and Aqualad come over to me. I quickly show them the hologram again before explaining.

“This one and that one,” I point out the pillars that need to be taken out.

Both Superboy and Aqualad give me a firm nod before rushing off to the pillars. As they run off, I quickly pull out some chalk and run to the center of the building. Superboy takes his pillar out first, then Aqualad takes his pillar out and Wally gets Desmond to take out the one behind him.

“Sorry! Try again!” Wally taunts Desmond before running off.

I quickly go to the middle and draw an ‘X’ in chalk and Aqualad makes a puddle over the top of it with his water bearers. As I stand, I quickly throw some explosive wing dings at my pillar. Wally then runs over and skids to a stop before turning back to look at Desmond.

He goes after Wally, but Superboy comes in from behind and lands a punch, making Desmond fall on his back into the puddle with a loud thud. I rush over and pick y/n up before going to stand next to Kaldur.

Aqualad then leans down and electrocutes the puddle, which in turn electrocutes Desmond. Together we stand watching him growl and wither in pain for a moment.

“Move!” I yell out as I press the button to activate the wing dings in the pillar.

They beep as we all run for cover before doing what they’re made to do and exploding. The whole ceiling starts to give way and Desmond lets out a roar as he looks up at the piece of ceiling that’s falling. The whole building starts to crash around us after Desmond gets crushed and we continue to run for cover.

I quickly drop down and cover y/n as Superboy grabs Wally and drops down over him. Aqualad drops down over me and we all wait until the rubble settles before Superboy punches his way through. Once he has a hand through, he grabs onto the piece that’s still above us and shoves it off.

Slowly we all stand and look around at all the rubble. We all breathe heavily as we slowly calm down from the moment.

“We… did it,” Kaldur says in shock as he looks over at me as I quickly sit y/n up against the side of some rubble.

“Was there ever any doubt?” I ask him as I look back at him and rub my neck.

Wally looks at me and we smile at one another before swinging our hands up in a high-five. We both quickly cringe though as we feel pain flow through our ribs. Superboy walks over to Desmond still under the rubble and we follow him.

“See…” Wally speaks up, making Superboy turn to look at us.

“The moon,” Wally finishes as he motions up at it and we all turn to look at it.

We all stare up at the moon for a moment, but I look away before I go and sit down next to y/n. I pull her into my lap and hold her close as the others continue to watch the moon.

“Oh. And Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?” Wally asks and I look up when he says it to see the whole league fly in behind him.

I sigh in relief and stand with y/n in my arms when I see Bruce being lowered in by Green lantern. Bruce steps off and stops next to Superman as all the other members stand around us. There’s a moment of silence and the heroes look over us all before Superboy is stepping forward.

He walks up to Superman, who has a cold, parental glare on all of us. Superboy stops and takes a moment before lifting his ripped shirt to show the S symbol on his chest. Superman falters ever so slightly in shock before straining up.

“Is that what I think it is?” Bruce asks Superman, who stays quiet.

“He doesn’t like being called an it,” Wally informs them through the side of his mouth as he walks up beside Superboy and uses his hand to hide his mouth from Superboy.

“I’m Superman’s clone,” Superboy interjects in a matter of fact tone.

Everyone seems to have different reactions, but all stay quiet nonetheless. The eyes of Batman’s mask narrow and I hold y/n a bit closer.

“Start talking,” he tells us and the whole league starts to move around.

“Bats. Can we get y/n medical first, please?” I ask him as I walk up to him and he frowns.

“What happened? How’d Blue get hurt?” he immediately asks and it’s then I’m thankful for my domino mask as it hides my eyes welling up with tears.

“We don’t have time to talk about it. Can I just tell you later? Her pulse is very faint,” I tell him and as if he reads my mind, he nods and turns around for a moment.

“Arrow!” Bruce shouts, making the archer in question turn around to look at him.

“Do you think you can take Blue Jay to medical?” he asks him and Green Arrow walks over to us.

“Of course I can, Bats,” he tells him with a nod before coming over to me.

He holds his arms out to me and I back away a little, not wanting to leave her. He sighs and turns to Batman, who sighs and walks over.

“Robin… she will be ok,” Bruce tells me as he places his hands on my shoulders.

“I promise, Robin, I’ll make sure she’s taken care of. You have my word,” Green Arrow tells me and I take a gulp before handing her over to him.

He smiles gently at me before turning and starting to walk away with her. I quickly try to follow, but Batman holds me back.

“Hold up, Robin. I promise we will both go be with her after, but first, you boys have some explaining to do,” Bruce tells me as he holds onto my shoulder with a firm hand.

“Ok…” I whisper out, bowing my head down.

Kaldur, Wally and I stand with our retrospective mentors. We quickly all start to explain ourselves and when we finish, they nod before telling us to wait aside. I huff as we walk off while our mentors have a quiet conversation.

“This is insane. I should be with Jay right now. I wish we could leave already,” I groan out and Kaldur nods solemnly at me.

“I know, my friend, and I wish you could be there with her, but Arrow will take good care of her and you’ll be with her when all this is over,” he tells me in a soft tone as he grips my shoulder and I sigh.

We all stay quiet for a moment as we all try to hear what’s being said, but our mentors know us well and keep quiet. Superboy just keeps looking at Superman, who seems like he doesn’t know what to do. Soon, though, Superman comes walking over to us and stops in front of Superboy with a sigh.

��We’ll, uh, we’ll figure something out for you,” Superman starts. “The League will, I mean,” he quickly adds on.

“For now, I’d better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away,” he tells him in a cold tone before turning and flying away.

“Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels, but let’s make one thing clear—” Batman starts as he walks up behind us, making us all turn to look at him.

“You should have called!” Flash cuts him off and Batman very clearly squints his eyes in annoyance, making me hold back a laugh at the thought of what y/n would have said.

“End result aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, endangered lives and over everything, Blue Jay got injured,” Batman informs us.

“You will not be doing this again,” he tells us in a very straightforward tone.

“I am sorry, but we will,” Kaldur states in a very clear tone and I take a step forward.

“Aqualad, stand down,” Aquaman demands in a very stern and angry tone.

“Apologies my king, but no,” Kaldur starts and Aquaman almost looks shocked for a moment.

“We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together on our own we forged something powerful, important,” Kaldur explains as he takes a step forward as he stands his ground and we follow his lead, standing straight.

“If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you—” Flash starts to defend the mentors.

“The five of us, and it’s not!” Wally angrily cuts his mentor off before his tone softens.

“Batman, we’re ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?” I speak softly as I step forward and hold my hands out in confusion.

“Why let them tell us what to do?!” Superboy angrily asks with his arms crossed. “It’s simple,” he continues as he uncrosses his arms. “Get on board or get out of the way.”

“Batman, you know Blue Jay would be on our side,” I add in as we all stand talking in front of our mentors, but they all stay quiet and Batman gives his famous glare that I know all too well.

July 8th 8:04 EDT

Dick’s Pov:

“This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We’re calling it into service again. Since you four—” Batman starts to explain to the four of us standing in a line in front of him, but I hold up a finger.

“Five, Bats. You know Jay will want in when she’s better,” I add and he sighs, nodding.

“—you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms,” he continues to explain.

“Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary’s in charge of training. I… will deploy you on missions,” Batman explains and I roll my eyes behind my glasses.

“Real missions?” I ask him and he takes a step closer to us.

“Yes, but covert,” Batman curtly answers me.

“The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There’s a reason we have these big targets on our chests,” Flash speaks up from behind us, making us turn to look at him as he points to the symbol on his chest.

“But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly,” Aquaman takes over explaining with crossed arms, making us turn to him and Batman again.

“The six of you will be that team,” Batman tells us and I smile.

“Cool! Wait. Six?” I ask in confusion and Batman looks behind us, making us turn around once more.

“This is the Martian Manhunter’s niece, Miss Martian,” Batman introduces as Martian Manhunter and a girl version of him walks up to us.

“Hi,” she nervously says as she uncrosses her arms and gives a small wave.

“Liking this gig more every minute,” Wally comments in a sly, charismatic tone and I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Ow! What was that for?” Wally asks after I slap him on the head.

“You know Blue Jay would have done it for that comment, so until she’s fully rested and back, I’m doing it for her,” I tell him with a shrug and he gives me an angry look.

“Rude!” he groans and I chuckle as he just straightens up.

“Uh, anyway. Welcome aboard. I’m Kid Flash,” he immediately changes his mood, making me roll my eyes.

“That’s Robin,” he adds on as he introduces me and I give her a peace sign as I walk out from behind Wally.

“Aqualad, it’s cool if you forget their names,” Wally continues to introduce each of us.

“But I thought there were five others?” Miss Martian asks in confusion and I nod.

“Oh, there is. You’ll meet Blue Jay later. She was injured so she can’t be here, but don’t worry you’ll definitely get to meet her,” I inform her and she smiles softly.

“Well, I’m honored to be included,” she adds on, clasping her hands in front of herself like prayer hands. We all walk closer to her to talk a little more except Superboy and I turn around.

“Hey, Superboy!” I call out and he looks at me.

“Come meet Miss M!” I tell him as I wave him over and he turns before walking over to us.

He comes to a stop and closes off the little circle we’ve made. Miss Martian’s outfit starts to change so the colors match Superboy’s shirt and she looks at him shyly.

“I like your t-shirt,” she tells him and he just gives a small smile in response.

I reach up and elbow him in the side as Wally zooms around so he’s on his left. Wally wraps an arm around his shoulder as we all smile softly at her.

“Today is the day,” Kaldur says, making us look at him.

To Be Continued…

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