I relied on access to the Sector House AI whenever I needed to do anything tech-related, filtered through the Plumber Badge and usually requiring a "man in the chair" on the other side to direct the information the AI could provide. The small amount of intelligence the computer systems could provide paled in comparison to other sophisticated AI technologies in fiction, but it was a resource I could use while in the field.
With no one on duty at the Sector House, I could do nothing to assist Robin with immediately accessing the internal secrets of the first computers we saw. The kid's fingers flew across the keyboard, interfacing his own wrist computer with the device using something as simple as a USB cable or maybe a SATA cable. Watching him work was genuinely astounding, and this was not the kind of dedicated hacking that the Sector House could do at all.
"You're a tech wizard."
Robin did not look toward me and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. This is nothing."
I nodded, noticing almost a clipped tone.
"Any idea what Batman expects us to find?" Troia asked after they – and I, somewhat – caught her up to speed about what we were even doing here.
"Batman doesn't expect us to find anything," Robin corrected as though he'd spoken something poignant. And, well, maybe it was to a certain extent. "We are operating on our own here. On a technicality, a mile wide."
Kid Flash and Aqualad continued one last sweep of the immediately-in-danger side of the building, stopping along the way to stem the flow of the fires such that the crews below could finish the job. When the Atlantean finished, he caught my eye and gestured with a nod of his head over the shoulder.
"There was something strange in the elevator."
Kid Flash zipped closer to look himself, while Robin peeled himself from the monitor. "What kind of sophisticated lab allows an elevator to even work while in a fire?"
"One with something to hide," I finished.
The five of us angled toward the elevator in question. Robin checked the schematics he'd apparently skimmed from the computer systems and confirmed that this access elevator was far too sophisticated to belong in a squat two-story building.
"We going down there?" Troia asked, nerves clearly evident in her posture.
She was physically the strongest of all of us, able to exceed me pound for pound. Maybe not as durable, but I'd still bet on her surviving anything going wrong over any of the others. It was odd to see her so worried, but she hadn't been operating in the field like me nor the others.
"Of course we are," I answered. She swallowed.
When the doors pulled open forcefully, a darkened shaft reinforced with steel on all sides filtered down as far as any of us could see. I pulled a small piece of the drywall away and dropped it down the opening, expecting to hear it finally clink against something far sooner than it did.
"That's easily hundreds of feet down," Kid Flash said after a moment of counting exaggeratedly on his fingers. "How far do we go for something like this?"
"If it was a few stories, I'd say we do a sweep floor by floor," I explained. "Radial pattern, look for anything spectacular, meet back at the shaft if we need to split up. But, well, I didn't expect an underground facility like this could even exist without government approval in the capital of the country. This is massive, and we have to change the approach."
At the suggestion, Aqualad nodded, but it was clear he agreed that that wouldn't work without more information.
"Go down as far as we can go. Get me to a computer terminal in the secret underground complex," Robin suggested. "I can hack their more secure servers and learn every little secret they got. Easy, peasy."
"How fast can you do a sweep of a floor?" I asked, and Kid Flash confidently grinned.
"Oh, I can do it. Not without risk, but I can get eyes on most things before they got time to react to try to stop me," he explained. "No place like this won't have a security team on staff, though, so whatever we do is gonna piss 'em off."
"We move quickly and quietly then," I finally said. "Troia, help me carry the others. We hit the bottom first."
The girl blinked, eyes widening, and then she grasped Robin and Kid Flash beneath either arm effortlessly. The latter was like a lazy sack of amazed potatoes in her grip, but the former never stopped interacting with his wrist computer, which formed a holographic screen above his glove.
I smiled apologetically, lifted Kaldur'ahm onto my back, and then dropped down the shaft, controlling my descent not quite as easily as Troia may have been. Aerosapian flight was built for speed, not grace nor elegance. The Amazon, by contrast, had no difficulty looking like she owned the air, because maybe she did by divine right.
SL2.
SL12.
SL22.
SL32
SL42.
SL51.
We dropped down almost exactly fifty levels before we found the end of the road. The elevator car had stopped just below here, and as far as I could tell, there were fifty-two sublevels. Robin held up a finger before we moved any further, typed on his wrist computer hologram, and somehow deactivated the security protocols.
Aqualad easily yanked open the doorway, and everyone gasped at what we saw. I expected to see an industrial hallway corridor akin to any secret lab in a movie I'd ever watched, with metallic walls or perhaps off-white, beige colors like a sterilized hospital. Instead, it was as though we had entered the belly of the beast.
The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered in – or perhaps were - organic. Living. Flesh. A purple or maroon color, the material bulged and stretched like a deposit of fat or a bit of lumpy skin. Covered in mucus, the place was disgusting and fascinating all at once.
"It's alive," Troia muttered. "What madness is this?" If she was nervous before, she was certainly nervous now.
"I do not know, but we must be vigilant." The Atlantean reached for his water bearers and held them in both hands, at the ready.
"Radio the League?" Kid Flash asked, already reaching for a communicator hidden in his goggles. "I can't connect."
At regular intervals, the walls bulged into fleshy, fluid-filled sacs, a different color and consistency than the rest of the organic walls. There were things inside these pods, things as alien as anything you might expect in outer space. I glanced toward Troia – or perhaps a magical creature?
"Those are… placentas," I said in awe, trailing off at the implications.
Kid Flash rushed into the hallway and ran his finger along the fleshy wall, checking the consistency. He dared not touch one of the pods holding a creature inside, but studied one just the same. "Guys, this isn't a uterus, is it?"
"It may as well be," I finished the thought. "Why – how are they birthing dozens of creatures? What- damn."
The light in the corridor came from industrial lighting that still ran along the walls or ceiling. That meant this was still part of the complex, connected to their machinery and their network.
"My radio has no connection either – communication's jammed," Robin said with frustration. "We're on our own."
"I think this would be a great time to leave," Troia suggested. "You've proven that they're up to something weird. Fly up and out, and the League can take it from here."
I frowned at the suggestion, and I could tell from the rest of the boys's expressions that they were in agreement with me, though for different reasons.
Kid Flash shook his head and spoke what the others were thinking. "If we came this far and didn't at least get more concrete info, then all we did was… kiddie work. Sidekick work."
They were bitter about their conversation with Speedy earlier, clearly. I hadn't witnessed it myself, but it was clear they had some mixed feelings on the Justice League. I wasn't affiliated with them, so my actions here wouldn't piss them off quite as badly as theirs would, but I still wanted their trust.
I tried my own communication, the Plumber Badge easily connecting to the Sector House even from underground. Robin eyed the object in my palm, as I spoke a warning to the AI.
"Field Log – Cassian. July 4th, 2010. I am currently several hundred feet below Washington D.C. in a genetic research lab called Cadmus. They're growing these creatures in a flesh hallway deep underground. Don't know what they are, why they are doing it, but it's decidedly weird."
"Someone will hear that?" Troia asked.
"Not for a while. My mentor and his son are on Earth. The computer will log it, but until one of them hears it, then we are on our own."
It was a lie.
I could have ordered the AI to contact Gabriel, or even contacted his badge myself. The larger reason why I did not was because it was a holiday, and Kyle needed this time with his parents. His life had been strange enough - he'd undergone surgery more than once now to integrate the Plumber tech into his body, and he needed normalcy. The smaller reason why I didn't was because this was an opportunity to work further alongside the next generation of Leaguers. For better or worse, getting integrated into their inner circle would be only beneficial.
If any of them noticed the lie, they did not comment on it. There were more important things to consider, and the speedster itched to run. At my nod, he took off down the hallway to see what he could see, commenting that he'd focus on finding a terminal of some kind for Robin.
The rest of us inched down the hallway after him in comparison. If this were an open-air space, I could get a quick view of the area too. An underground complex just wouldn't facilitate my flight speed, and I certainly couldn't activate hyperspace without a lot of room to move.
The monsters they were crafting had pale white skin, horns, sharpened claws, tails, and resembled vaguely what I thought demons might be. My worry that they may actually be magical creatures came back to the forefront of my mind, and I voiced the concern aloud.
"These aren't demonic, are they? Aliens I'd get. But… the only things they're missing are forked tongues, flames, and red skin."
Aqualad voiced his rejection of that idea. "While I am no generalist, I do not sense any magic in these pods."
I glanced toward the Amazonian, but if she had any insight to the contrary, she did not share it. This group of sidekicks did not have a Raven – no magic expert.
Robin pointed his wrist computer toward them at every turn, recording what data he could on film to dissect later. So far, they had not stirred, but the farther we moved away from the elevator shaft to safety, the worse we-
"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Kid Flash tumbled to a stop and tried to kill his momentum with a roll that only left him covered in muck. He wiped his hand across his face as he hurried to his feet, and we rushed to inspect him.
"Some of them are moving ahead. They're weird, and some of them are huge, but they didn't look dangerous. We should, uh, probably leave."
I ignored him and rounded the corner, my thoughts in doubt about what he was even suggesting. There was no way that we-
A trio of the creatures were mammoth in size. Graying skin, covered in spikes, forearms as thick as tree trunks, tusks like an elephant. The massive behemoths moved like a scaly cross between an elephant and a gorilla, and each carried a much smaller, impish creature on their shoulders.
The one in the front of the pack carried two massive storage containers under his arms, the kind of tanks that likely weighed nearly as much as a mid-size sedan. Its buddies were holding tools I couldn't identify, but they were headed toward a much larger chamber around the bend.
The much smaller monsters on their shoulders studied me for a moment, and I barely had time to react before I, too, headed back toward the others.
"We shouldn't be here," I said simply. "This is not worth pursuing."
"We aren't giving up now," Robin declared. He and the others followed around the corner and froze as they spotted the strange creatures.
Ultimately, nothing to worry about.
Nothing to be concerned with.
Nothing at all.
WASHINGTON D.C.
JULY 4, 18:29 UTC -4
TEAM YEAR ZERO
Dr. Desmond put the finishing touches on the latest experimental trial – number thirteen showed the right amount of promise, and while it needed further testing, preliminary examinations proved that this formula may be exactly what the board of Cadmus wanted.
The researcher placed the new test tube with a ready formula for Project: Blockbuster into the correct storage case, to be preserved later. It was an auspicious night to have finished this trial – an explosion on the surface level over their heads might be a mysterious omen of poor things to come, but Desmond was not at all superstitious. No, this was a good night, the product of wonderful scientific breakthroughs.
If things continued at the rate that they did, the projects on the pipeline for the next year were quite astounding indeed. Soon, the geonomorphs would debut on the world stage, and renewed military contracts would put money further into the pockets of Cadmus. They would be cutting edge and elevate humanity to a higher calling, and Dr. Desmond would-
Someone cleared his throat and interrupted the scientist's reverie.
"What is it, Guardian?"
The head of Cadmus security and a product of its own achievements, the uniformed superhero for fire entered the chamber with a G-Gnome on his shoulder. Jim Harper wore his golden helmet and blue body armor proudly, the shield on his arm a brilliantly durable engineering marvel.
"Sorry to interrupt, Doc, but a G-Gnome just reported five intruders on sublevel fifty-one."
Desmond's eyes widened, and he glanced toward the news coverage of the fire above their heads on the monitors lining the walls. He'd been so invested that he hadn't paid it much mind, but now? Now he may be a bit concerned.
"Did I miss a perimeter breach alert?"
Guardian shook his head.
"Then the G-Gnomes are confused," Desmond insisted. "Whatever might occur in our faux lab above ground, the real Cadmus is the most secure facility in D.C."
"My job to keep it that way," Guardian reminded, and Desmond sighed.
"Fine. Take a squad."
Desmond did not hear the footsteps of the first ever genomorph, Dubbilex, entering the chamber. "Might I suggest Guardian leave his G-Gnome behind?"
Desmond whipped around, indignant that the fool of a failed experiment would suggest such a thing. The horned creature was wiry but shorter than Guardian, angular face revealing his modified features. Desmond gestured to the impish mutant on Guardian's shoulder. "No. The advantage of instant telepathic communication outweighs other concerns." Desmond glanced toward his own G-Gnome resting on the table nearby his experiments.
A moment later, and Guardian robotically responded to the telepathic impulses keeping him at their urging. "I need my G-Gnome with me at all times."
Desmond wished Guardian was naturally as invested in the aims of Cadmus as Desmond and the board were, but the hero-for-hire still held a pesky mentality that would reject the status of the lab if he were able to follow his concerns. Mental pacifying was necessary.
WASHINGTON D.C.
JULY 4, 19:41 UTC -4
TEAM YEAR ZERO
Despite the impulse to leave, the rest of the group were unwilling to follow-through. We found ourselves in a secure room, hidden behind a circular access door that only responded to Robin's computer after several tense minutes of hacking. The security encryptions were tighter within this section of the facility, and it was pure luck that we had not tripped an alarm by now.
Or maybe Robin really was that good.
The room itself was filled with storage containers that we'd checked, and ultimately couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. Kid Flash took some of the liquid contents to perform some testing later, but I had a feeling that it must be materials for this amniotic fluid. Or perhaps some kind of chemical concoction to make them grow. Whatever it was, we sealed it up to avoid smelling whatever it was and waited for Robin to review the data.
"Genomorphs," he muttered finally as his hologram shifted through to a new screen. "That's what their research notes call them. Genetic organism anomalies they created to have different abilities. It is truly wild."
I couldn't handle the ramifications. They created new organisms? Not just modifying existing ones? I thought of stories where scientists spliced different DNA into a creature – I glanced toward my own hands and nearly gasped at the realization that I had done that.
I had absorbed the DNA of an alien creature and gained its abilities. I already knew that, but realizing it in a different context was what surprised me. How… much of me was Osmosian and how much was Aerophibian?
"Like the Cadmus of myth," Aqualad suggested, earning a look of surprise from Troia. "They created new life by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth."
"You know of the stories?" The Amazon asked, and the teenager from under the sea nodded.
"Of course. Many in Atlantis still hold respect for the Grecian stories of old, and our language evolved from ancient Greek."
Troia nodded in wonder. "These people tread on ground none should dare cross. The Spartoi warriors Cadmus created were so dangerous that he forced them to fight one another until only a few survived."
Robin nodded fervently. "I'd say they are dangerous all right. There are several subspecies of geonomorph, some with control over electricity, telekinesis, elongated claws, increased agility, super strength, telepathy. They're living weapons."
Troia stood more confidently. "We cannot allow them to exist. These weapons are an affront to the gods."
I considered that idea for a second and nodded. "I'm on board. You saw all of those things out there waiting to be born – there were a few dozen on this level alone. Cadmus made an army. Send a few of them to any modern battlefield, and they could change the tide of war anywhere."
I couldn't help but almost admire it. In a sick, twisted way, they were exactly the kind of thing that the Reach would love to use in their conquests. Just like they seeded Osmos V with aliens of other planets to cause mayhem, you could easily drop a few of these mammoth things in a major population center and watch the sparks fly.
"We should not jump to killing them," Aqualad suggested. "That decision is above us."
"My people would never allow these things to exist," Troia argued. "It is an insult, and I would suspect Athena herself would wish them destroyed."
Kid Flash muttered, "They just give me the creeps. Not sure they should die."
Before we could really settle this discussion, Robin continued reading off of the screen. "There's more. We're, uh, one sublevel above their latest big experiment. Something called Project: Kr. It's different from the others but – damn – triple encrypted." He furiously typed, but before he could finish his hack, the door to the room suddenly burst open.
"Don't move!"
A team of lithe, agile genomorphs surrounded a man in uniform I did not recognize, dressed almost like a blue and gold Captain America – but with a golden buckler for a shield instead of a huge circular one. He had one of those impish genomorphs on his shoulder, the same ones that I'd seen on the mammoth ones outside. The smaller forms that ran alongside him were the ones Robin mentioned had sharpened claws, and they outnumbered us two to one.
"Wait – Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash?" He did not seem to recognize Troia or me, but he stared at us all the same.
"I know you," the Atlantean stated. "Guardian – a hero."
What was a member of the hero community doing working for Cadmus? I remembered Captain Atom worked for the government - and therefore Cadmus – in JLU, but as far as I could tell, Atom was just a Leaguer here.
"I'm chief of security. You're trespassing." He paused. "But we can call the Justice League, figure this out."
Troia's stance shifted slightly. "You approve of this insult against the gods?"
Guardian merely stared at her. "I don't know what you're talking about. Only one God I serve, ma'am."
"I doubt that one would like this either," Kid Flash added. "These are bred to be weapons of war!"
Guardian glanced at the speedster in confusion, and before he could say anything, the genomorph on his shoulder shifted to stare at him, horns slightly glowing in red.
The Cap-analogue's posture shifted immediately to battle. "Take 'em down hard. No mercy!"
Troia and I moved into the air at the same moment that Robin dropped a smoke pellet to fill the chamber. The only exit was the one behind him, so we were cornered, but I doubted three brutes couldn't force the door open. I heard Robin pipeline somewhere above us, and Kid Flash zipped through the room to dodge the sudden genomorph crowd running at us.
I gripped a metal paneling on the side of a storage container, shifting to metal armor, and then raced forward into the fray. A fist impacted hard into Guardian's hastily-risen shield, and I narrowly avoided a trio of the living weapons that leapt for me. One managed to find purchase, a razor-sharp claw scraping through the metal armor and almost piercing into skin. I kicked hard against its chest, sending it flying away with my other leg.
Troia tossed two of them into one another so hard I heard bones crack. She moved with a righteous fury and barreled into two more, ignoring the sweeping tails and fast counterattacks.
Aqualad shouted, "Get the door, Cassian!" and rushed Guardian, water blade weapons in his hands. Trading blows with the subverted hero, I listened to his suggested and sped toward the door.
Kid Flash knocked two of them away that tried to pursue me and nearly missed a third when an acrobatic flip from Robin knocked one of them into the wall several feet away. Within a moment, he was gone into the smoke.
I gripped with my fingers and pulled the heavy door. I struggled against the security measures designed to keep these things as heavy-duty as possible. I wasn't sure exactly what they needed these doors for, unless it was to keep those mammoth things contained. Regardless, they did not budge easily, and I stood a sitting duck for far too long to finally pull it open barely a few feet.
"Now!"
Aqualad kept Guardian busy as Robin swung from his grappel line into the gap and flipped to a stop on the other side. Kid Flash moved so fast he passed into the space a heartbeat later, leaving a trail in the smoke that leaked out. Two of the creatures wrestled Troia, not beating her in strength but becoming difficult for her to maintain her distance from their sharpened claws, and several cuts had already ruined the left leg of her pants from the knee down. A third and fourth recovered and tried to attack her from the back, but a shock of green energy from my eyes sent them flying into the smoke cloud. She managed to make some distance and, face red with fury, finally pulled back as she met my own pleading eyes.
As soon as she was on the other side, I slipped through to the other side and the door slid shut. Robin announced that he'd locked them inside, and all I could think about was that we were trapped on a floor with those massive creatures and who knew how many more potential assailants waiting to be born.
Troia had blood soaking slightly into the fabric of her jeans.
Kid Flash had a rip in his uniform near his upper arm, and it was all he could do to hold the wound while he tried to, hopefully, heal faster than we did.
Robin and Aqualad had not suffered any wound, and my own metal armor had been enough to withstand a grazing slash. A more dedicated attack, more head on, and I bet I would be bleeding too.
"Project: Kr." Aqualad almost whispered the words, his eyes clearly showing the mental struggle in his head. "What is it?"
"Let's find out," I suggested before anyone could argue. "Kid Flash, did you see a stairwell?"
"I think so. It's not far, but we, uh, may need to avoid the big damn things."
"Then that's what we do. We need to move, now."67