What the fuck. No, cause what the fuck.
Rowan stood outside Cadmus Labs with a grim look. There was a fire, obviously. But, all the firefighters were doing was making empty promises.
"Help! Get us out!" One of the two scientists trapped on the second story called out.
The firefighter yelled back using a megaphone, "Stay calm, we will get you out."
They didn't look like they were helping.
An explosion goes off behind them and the force of it pushes the two scientists out of the window. Kid Flash zooms up to them and forces them back onto the building so they wouldn't fall. But, doing so, led to him hanging off the ledge.
"It's–What's his name–Flash Boy!"
Rogue put her hand over her mouth to muffle her laugh. How nobody knew his name correctly was beyond the girl.
"Does he always run ahead?" Aqualad questioned, "We need a plan." He looked back at the two but found no one, "Robin! Rogue!"
Speaking of the girl, she was grappling to the window just as Robin did the same. She landed in a somersault with a small grin. Boy Wonder walked over to the computer, probably to hack, while she went around, opening drawers.
Rogue was flipping through some files when two thuds sounded, "Appreciate the help."
"You handled it."
"You're welcome."
Both non-supers looked at each other when they heard the other talk, Rogue glared into his eyes, while he held a smirk.
Robin began to speak once again, "Besides, you handled it."
"Poetic justice, remember?"
With that said, the four heroes started walking around, looking for anything suspicious. Rogue looked into a drawer of a desk and started to laugh, causing them to look at her.
The girl raised a magazine, "This guy has a secret stash of porn!" She saw Robin and Aqualad slightly turn pink as Kid Flash sped to her.
"Woah, let me see!" He started to flip through the pages when he noticed Rogue still looking at him with a raised eyebrow. The boy immediately threw the paper with a disgusted look, "Ew! I'd only look at a magazine if it had you, babe."
Rogue gagged, "You're disgusting."
"Disgustingly in love with you." This caused the girl to push his face away, but before she had time to retort, Aqualad spoke up.
"Guys." They all walked into the hall where he was, "There was something in the–"
"Elevators should be shut down," Robin spoke up, hitting his wrist and a computer pops up. He began to type something, "This is wrong."
Rogue squinted, "This is a two-story building, it shouldn't have an elevator."
Kid Flash looked at her, "What if somebody was amputated, you expect them to use the stairs?"
"Whenever you open your mouth, I feel like I'm losing brain cells."
"Guys!" Robin caught both of their attention, "This is a high-speed express elevator, it doesn't belong in a two-story building."
"Neither does what I saw."
Rogue figured that she liked Aqualad, he was calm and calculative. He was as if Aquaman and Batman had a child and then Oliver blessed him with some humor.
They all walked closer to the doors of the elevator and Aqualad pushed it open with his...super strength? Fish had super strength?
When he finally got it open, Rogue looked down, noticing how far down it was. The girl couldn't even see the bottom. She felt someone's hands on her shoulders, about to fake push her, but she quickly switched positions and leaned the person's head over the side. She held Kid Flash's arm behind his back, bringing him some pain for his stupidity.
"Okay! Okay! Time out!" Rogue's face grew victorious as she let him go. The redhead rubbed his shoulder, "No need to go all Black Canary on me."
The girl rolled her eyes, "No need to try to go all Scar and Mufasa on me."
"We need to focus on the mission at hand," Aqualad commanded, making both teens nod.
Robin launched his grapple and started to go down, "Rogue, use yours!" He shouted up to them. The girl nodded and repeated his action.
The brunette went down and started to count the doors. There had to be at least a hundred levels. All of a sudden, she felt herself stop next to Boy Blunder.
"I'm at the end of my rope," Robin called out, pointing out the obvious.
Rogue rolled her eyes, "No, really, Boy Wonder?"
Now, it was Robin's turn to roll his eyes, "You know who you remind me of?" The girl continued to stare at him, "Clayface."
Rowan's jaw dropped, "You did not."
His smirk grew, "Oh, I just did." He swung himself to jump onto the ledge, causing her to do the same, "Come down!" He called up to the other two.
"When we meet him, I'm going to push you into his clay." The girl threatened, making the boy cackle.
"I'll hold you to that."
The two others finally landed on the ledge, causing all of them to try to open up the elevator doors. Robin went back to his wrist computer, "Bypassing security."
When they finally opened the doors, it looked like they were in a lab, which they were. The walls were metal and it looks like tubes were on the sides.
Rogue looked at Aqualad and saw he was barefoot, she wanted to ask if his feet were cold against the metal flooring, but she refrained.
"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin sneered. Why did it sound like he was welcoming them to the end? Maybe this was the beginning of the end.
Suddenly, Kid Flash ran ahead, causing Aqualad to yell out, "Kid, wait!"
They all watched the redhead trip from these giant beasts stomping over him. The three ran towards the hall, Kid running back to stand with them. The monsters just kept walking, like everything was normal and routine.
"No. Nothing odd going on here." Aqualad sarcastically said, but for the first time, Rogue had nothing to retort back.
The four heroes made it to a door, with Robin hacking into it. Rogue was looking out behind them to make sure none of those things came back.
When the doors finally did open, it was not what she was expecting. Giant tubes were attached to the wall with blue liquid and more of those organisms in them. They almost looked peaceful as they floated in the substance.
"Okay, I'm officially whelmed," Robin spoke up, looking at everything with wide eyes. The four walked in, observing everything, "This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world."
Kid Flash turned towards them, "The real Cadmus isn't even on the grid." He had a strange smile on his face like he was enjoying this.
Rogue shook her head and muttered, "Nerd."
"It generates its open power with these," He gestured toward the organisms in the tubes with electricity crackling into the tests, "Must be what they're bred for."
Aqualad spoke up, "Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth."
Rogue chuckled, "Gotta love bedtime stories."
"And, this Cadmus creates new life too. Let's find out why." Robin hooked up to one of the computers, the other three walking toward him, "They call them Genomorphs. Look at the stats on these things. Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!"
Kid Flash leaned closer, "They're making an army, but for who?"
"Wait, there's something else. Project Kr." Robin started hitting something, "Ugh, these files are triple-encrypted, I can't–"
Before he could finish, a deep voice rang out in the room, "Don't move!" A big man with a yellow helmet with a small thing on his shoulder stood there. He had more medium-sized things surrounding him, ready to pounce. "Wait, Robin, Kid Flash, Rogue, Aqualad?"
Rogue nudged Kid with her elbow, "At least he got your name right." The redhead just gave her a glare, making her snicker.
"Wait, I know you. Guardian, a hero." Aqualad informed, trying to process why a hero was down in Cadmus.
"I do my best," Was Guardian's only reply.
Kid Flash glared at the man in front of them, "Then what are you doing here?"
"I'm Chief of Security and you're trespassing. I'm sure we can call the Justice League and sort this out."
Rogue shook her head. If he called the Justice League, that would be even worse. And, they weren't sidekicks, he didn't need to act like they were their parents. The girl felt her anger spike at the man in front of her.
The brunette scoffed, "You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" She saw Kid and Aqualad nod along with her in the corner of her eye.
Guardian's eyebrows furrowed, "Weapons? What are you? What have I?" The small organism on his shoulder had horns that glowed red, making Guardian hold his head, "Ugh, my head." Rogue met eyes with Robin, asking what to do, but all Robin did was shrug. Suddenly, Guardian yelled out, "Take them down, no mercy."
Robin quickly threw down a smoke bomb, making it harder for both sides to see. The medium-sized monsters attacked them, causing them to fight back. Rogue grabbed the one running towards her and threw it against the wall. The other thing came, but she side-stepped it. It came back and jumped on her back, so she ran back into the wall, knocking it out.
Rogue saw Kid and Aqualad fighting their own monsters, but Robin was nowhere to be found. The girl saw more coming, so she yelled for the other two, "We aren't going to win! Run!"
"Thanks for the optimism!" Kid Flash shouted back, speeding out, but before he fully ran away, he grabbed onto the girl, carrying her. Aqualad was right behind them.
When they finally reached Robin, Kid placed her down on her two feet. After that run, she needed to hold onto something, so she placed her hand on Robin's shoulder for balance.
Wally threw his hands up, "Way to be a team player Rob!" He got the elevator open, Wally the first one in. Robin grabbed Rogue by the waist and brought her in there.
Rogue glared at Wally, "Never, ever, and I mean ever, do that again."
They watched Aqualad run towards them, just when the doors were closing. More things were chasing him, making Rogue's stomach flip. Just in time, Aqualad ran into the elevator, letting those things hit the door.
"We're headed down?" Kid Flash questioned, "Dude, out is up."
"Excuse me. Project Kr is down on sub-level 52," Robin fought back. That's when Rogue noticed his arm still on her waist, making her uncomfortable. She had to get out without it being awkward. But, awkward was her middle name.
Rogue walked away from Robin's grip, hopefully not embarrassing him or herself, "This is getting out of control."
Aqualad rubbed the back of his neck, "Perhaps...perhaps we should contact the League."
This caused Rogue to rapidly shake her head, "I would rather die than get caught by them. It's like getting lectured by your parents and that's never fun."
Especially when getting lectured means getting buried alive and having to snap every one of your own fingers. But, everyone's lectures are different.
Suddenly, the elevator dinged, stopping anyone else from arguing since it was already too late. They all got into a fighting stance, ready to fight anything that came. But, all they saw were the walls that looks like the inside of a dead squirrel.
Robin ran out and Kid Flash looked at the other two, "We are already here."
They ran out and hid behind some barrels. Aqualad crouched down beside Robin and Rogue, "Which way?"
Robin responded, "Either bizarre-looking hallway one or bizarre-looking hallway two."
But, before they could even question it, a random dude with horns came in, "Halt!" His horns grew red and he raised his hand, causing barrels to float. He pushed them toward the group and they exploded once they hit the wall.
Robin threw an explosive disk, while Rogue threw a dagger, but the dude stopped them both. He grabbed two more barrels, but the four heroes already began to run away.
Kid Flash got to the door first, putting something to stop it from closing. The four ran in, while Aqualad kicked the metal cylinder out of the door, letting it shut.
Robin went immediately to the computer, while Kid and Rogue walked straight. What they both saw, caused their jaws to drop. But, Kid was the first one to speak, "Uh, guys. You may want to see this."
The two boys walked to stand next to them; Kid hit a button, making the case in front of them light up. The speedster walked up to the boy in the glass, "Big K, little r. The atomic symbol for Krypton." He turned back to them, "Clone?"
Aqualad wasted no time, "Robin, hack."
"Right. Right." Everyone stayed silent while he hacked, too worried about what it'll say, "Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force-grown in 16 weeks! From DNA acquired from Superman."
"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad immediately corrects.
"No way the big guy knows about this."
Robin began to read, "Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."
Aqualad pointed to the three organisms above the clone's head, "And these creatures?"
"Genomorph-Gnomes. Telepathic. Force-feeding him an education."
Kid Flash butts in, "And we can guess what else." His voice grew quiet, "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son."
Rogue crossed her arms over her chest, "Who do you think the baby mama is?" All three of them turn to glare at her, making her put up her hands in mock surrender.
"Now we contact the League." He hits his Aquaman symbol on his belt, but all it get's is static.
Robin pipes up, "No signal."
"We're in too deep," Kid speaks.
"Literally."
They all stare into the glass container at Superboy. Rogue feels guilt slide into her stomach, but she pushed it away.
Kid Flash is the first to speak up in a few moments, "This is wrong."
"We can't leave him like this."
Aqualad thinks about it for a second, "Set him free. Do it."
Rogue immediately furrows her eyebrows, "Woah. Woah." They all pause to look at her, "Am I the only one with a brain here? He's probably, well, rogue and he's probably being controlled."
They all mull over her words, but Robin just shrugs, "Only way to find out." He hits the button, causing the container to open.
The girl sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, "If we die, I'm killing your asses in the afterlife."
Robin chuckled, "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Suddenly, Superboy's hand formed into a fist and his eyes opened. It all happened so fast, Superboy launched out of the container and into Aqualad. As he began to punch him, the three heroes ran to them, holding the boy away from Aqualad.
"Whoa! Hang on, Supey. We're on your side!" Kid tries to reason as Superboy pushes him away into a glass tube, successfully knocking him out.
Robin grabbed something out of his belt, "I don't wanna do this!" He put gas on him, making him let go of Aqualad. Rogue ran towards him, punching him. But, instead of actually doing damage to him, it just hurt her like a mother fucker.
"Ow, you bitch!" Rogue shouted at the boy, but all he did was raise her in the air by her neck, choking her. The girl wrung her legs around his arm, twisting her body, so his hand had to release her. She fell to the floor, gasping, as Robin ran to him, but all he got was thrown away. Rogue went to stand up, but Superboy pushed her back down.
The girl rolled out of the way when he was about to punch her, but she wasn't so lucky when she saw him raise his foot.
What would her last words be? Right,
"Fuck you, Boy Scout's Son!"
Then she was out like a light.