"Think they're going to keep him safe?", I asked as we watched Batman fly away with General Trang in his spaceship, Superman and Green Lantern flying beside him while us teens and Captain Atom stood in the entrance to Mt. Titan.
…The name still pending, to be honest, since I'm the only one calling it that. Everyone else is sticking to the name Mt. Justice…for now~
"Despite how off-standing he may be, Batman will do his best to protect and help Mr. Trang bring the truth to light. However, I must admit that I am impressed with you kids. To be honest, I did not expect you to get anything done whatsoever."
"You were expecting us to fail?"
"Failure is but the first step to success," He answered with a shrug, smirking as I just sighed while the others snorted.
"Yeah, well, you can thank Ms. Martian, Goblin and Robin because they're the ones that made it possible. Speaking of which, Goblin, could you show the captain what you found?", I asked and Goblin nodded as his horn glowed.
A few moments later, a frown adorned Captain's face as he sighed and nodded.
So, General Eiling really was the one who was the mastermind behind it all?"
"Yeah, that's what we got. Also, Robin has all the files you need after we went back and decided to copy every bit of information we could find on the case."
"I've already added it to the League's database along with a few dozen more copies across different servers," Robin answered and Captain Atom nodded with a smile before he looked at me.
"What about you? From the mission report you all gave, you were hit with an obscene amount of Kryptonite radiation, right?"
"Oh, I'm struggling to stay awake right now."
"Wait, you are?!", M'gann asked with a panicked look before glaring at me as I smirked and shook my head.
"No, I'm just over-exaggerating. The Kryptonian side of me is already getting rid of most of the radiation so if I just take it easy, I'd be fully healed in just a few hours."
"You…you…", She struggled to find the right words before we watched as she huffed and walked back into the mountain, all of us watching her leave before Captain Atom spoke up.
"Anyone wish to tell me what just happened?"
"M'gann had her first temper tantrum. In all honesty, I expected it to have happened sooner," Dick spoke with a smirk and I rolled my eyes before turning to Captain Atom.
"While I would love to chat more, I'm going to have to go fix that up before she decides to smother me in my sleep."
"Hahaha~! I would say good luck, but I think you're going to need more than that," He spoke and I shook my head as I waved behind me.
"If I'm not back in ten minutes, assume I'm in a telepathic coma," I called out, smirking at their laughter before I smirked as Connor hopped onto my shoulder.
"You here to help me?"
"No, I'm here to enjoy the potential drama I'm about to see."
"…So, you're taking her side, then."
"Without a doubt. She's the only other telepath in the group," Connor answered and I rolled my eyes before continuing on my path through the halls of Mt. Titan.
It didn't take me long to find M'gann, but I was surprised as I found her working away in the kitchen instead of her room, walking in while Goblin hopped onto the counter as I sat down.
She appeared to be making what was either hot chocolate or chocolate milk…and I'm not sure which one is which.
"Hey, you mad or not?"
"No, just mildly furious," She answered flatly as she continued with her cup and I sighed as I stood up and walked around.
"Right. Look, you have to understand that I'm the type that likes to show I'm fine with a bit of dark humour, but I understand that you're not used to it and I apologize for that. I should not have joked around like that," I apologized as I stood in front of the counter, watching as she finally turned around while two steaming cups floated beside her.
"I know that's what you're used to, but I'm just not used to seeing the big strong Chris who stays on his feet no matter what be struggling to win a fight while suffering from something that is extremely poisonous to you."
"That…is fair, I suppose. In all honesty, I'm okay, really," I spoke softly and she didn't say anything as she looked at me before I grinned as she nodded with a smile.
"Very well, but next time…"
"No more morbid jokes that involves me almost dying…but, do ones about potentially losing a limb or maiming count?"
"Of course, I'm not that cruel," She spoke with a scoff and I grinned as murmuring a thanks as she floated a cup to my hands, taking her own cup in her hands before we turned as Connor spoke up.
"Where is my cup?"
"…You can have my one, bud," I said as I placed it in front of him before blinking as M'gann floated two straws to her hand before holding one to me.
"Want to share?", She asked, her eyes lighting up as I nodded and sat down in front of Connor. She excitedly sat down beside me before holding the cup up with her telepathy, a smirk appearing on my face as she blushed before we both took a quick sip.
"S-So, did you find anything to improve on in the mission?"
"A lot, actually. I need to start focusing on my hand-to-hand combat. I also found a few new ways to use my TTK."
"That's pretty cool. I just helped out with the telepathic links, but Connor and I still struggle with extending its range soe we'll have to work on that."
"That sounds pretty good for you two."
"Chris, are we still doing what we agreed upon?", Connor asked and both M'gann and I looked at him before my eyes widened as he reminded me of the thing I wanted to do.
"Right! Hey, M'gann, is it okay if I lend the ship for a few hours?"
"…What are you two planning?"
"We were going to do some rescue work. You want to come along?", I asked as I stood up, watching as she looked between us before I grinned as she nodded with a smirk.
"Absolutely. Where are we going?"
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"Are we sure we're allowed to do this?", M'gann asked as we floated over our target, both Connor and I looking at her as she gave a nervous smile.
"Oh, we're definitely not allowed, but I can't just leave them here. I'm free so why can't they?"
"Yeah, the only problem is that I can't fit all of them into my ship," She said and I nodded as I looked back at the Cadmus building below us, thankful for it being the dead of night as I took a deep breath.
"I know, which is why we're only taking the smaller ones back to the mountain."
"Dubbilex, the one in charge, will be able to help us," Connor spoke and I nodded before dropping out of the hatch, easily flying downwards before smirking as M'gann followed after.
The two of us were dressed in the black stealth suit that came with a little added addition, Connor and I tapping the T sigil in the middle of our suits and watching as our bodies faded from view.
"Wait, since when do we have invisibility suits?", M'gann asked as I heard her landing beside us and I shrugged as Connor's horns glowed.
"We must first go to the 42nd sublevel. There is something there you need to see there first," Connor spoke and I nodded as I held onto M'gann, the feeling of intangibility a bit weird as I felt my body shifting through the gaps between each molecule while we dropped down to the ground floor.
Surprisingly, it was far busier at this time than we expected as I saw a few people walking about, grabbing onto M'gann's hand and leading us through the busy nightowl crowd before going into the elevator.
This was Connor's territory as I felt him hopping off of my shoulder, unscrewing and pulling off the keypad with ease before the doors closed as he began tinkering with it.
"Connor, how much time have you had with doing this?"
"Unlike the other G-Gnomes, I get bored very easily so I spent most of my night teaching you Calculus and the other times, I study coding," He answered as we continued to descend, M'gann just giving a mental snicker as I sighed before the door opened as he closed the panel back up.
"Okay. Now, where?"
"Down the first five cross-paths and then a left," He spoke as he hopped back onto my shoulder and we followed his command, making sure to fly and keep ourselves from leaving any trail.
It was not long before we stopped in front of a red door, M'gann easily opening it with her telekinesis before we walked in only to be surprised at the figure in front of us.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"Is that…?", M'gann trailed off, unable to believe what she was seeing while I gave a mental nod as we floated closer while staring at the sight of Speedy stuck in cryo-sleep.
To be honest, I was here for Match and the G-Gnomes to bring them to another place where they could be at peace so I was as surprised as she was when we entered.
"How long, Connor?"
"He was taken at the age of 15, I believe."
"And the one we know is 18 right now. Three years," M'gann sounded angry as she said that and I placed a hand on her shoulder to draw her attention back to me as I spoke.
"I'm just as enraged as you are right now, but we need to stay calm. First, we get him out of here. Connor?", I asked and the G-Gnome went to work, tapping away at its interface before the pod opened slowly and M'gann caught him.
"Keep him knocked out for now, please?", I asked as I saw his head slowly lifting and she nodded as her eyes went white, Speedy's head dropping again.
Taking him behind us, we began to float back and back into the elevator, Connor working at the control panel once again and the doors closed with a hiss.
"What is Cadmus aiming at here? Why take Speedy and clone him?", I asked with a frown before looking to Connor as he responded.
"What they have always wanted: Power. That's why they made you"
"When he wakes up, what should we tell him?", M'gann asked and I looked at the sharpshooter missing an arm before shaking my head as the elevator stopped.
"The truth. He deserves that much," I answered as the door opened, introducing me once again to the dark lighting of sublevel 52. It was an area I did not like revisiting, but unfortunately, it was one I needed to do.
With what I could remember and with the help of Connor, the three of us began to navigate through it, hovering past dozens of stasis pods that were now empty.
"Stop. We're here," Connor called out and I turned to the only entrance near us, frowning at the dim Kr drawn on the door before gripping the edges and pushing the door to the side.
Ripping it open, I stared at the thick glass enclosure, M'gann floating in only to freeze as I flew in past her along with Connor.
"C-C-Chris, is that what I think it is?", She asked as she floated closer, to which I nodded as I stared at the sleeping Match in his own stasis pod.
"Yeah, say hello to the first attempt at cloning Superman that ended in failure: Match."
"…The more I hear about this Cadmus, the more I hate it so much," M'gann spoke as I grabbed the edges of the cryo-pod before ripping it from its pipes, M'gann keeping him asleep as well.
"Connor, can you feel them?", I asked as I looked to the G-Gnome, whose horns were flickering before I smiled as he nodded., but my smile faded as he spoke.
"Yes, I've spoken to Dubbilex and he says we should first get these two out before we come back for them with some help."
"…Okay, tell them we'll come back as fast as we can with the Justice League," I said and waited for Connor to relay the message before looking to M'gann who looked between both Speedy and Match with a frown.
"What do we do now?", She asked and I looked up at the ceiling before back at her.
"We're busting out."
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"…Someone please tell me I'm asleep or something," Wally spoke up as we all stood in the medical room, watching as Red Tornado, Batman, an angered Red Arrow, a conflicted Green Arrow and a bewildered Superman looked over Speedy and Match.
"Nope, you're wide awake," I answered and he just gave a resigned nod as Dick turned to me.
"In my defence, I just went there to get my clone and maybe save some Genomorphs. I did not expect to find this."
"I swear, every time you're alone with someone, something that shakes our reality happens. Every time."
"Robin is correct. You tend to find yourself in the weirdest and most mind-breaking events whenever we leave you alone," Kaldur spoke up and I just shrugged as M'gann giggled.
"Man, and here I thought my first day on the team would be more calm," Artemis spoke up from where she was leaning against the glass and I shook my head.
"Then you've joined the wrong team. Also, the name's Chris but I go by Superboy. The name still pending."
"Artemis…and I go by Artemis," She answered back and I smirked before M'gann chimed in.
"I'm M'gann and I go by Ms. Martian."
"Are you trying to be one or are you actually a Martian?"
"Actually a Martian," She answered and Artemis hummed before I turned to Wally as he let out another groan.
"One day on his own and all of a sudden, he uncovers a clone of Speedy and now another clone of himself and Superman that looked like he would destroy the island if he had a really bad day."
"Wally, down for now," I said while my gaze flickered to the Man of Steel, who stood with his arms crossed while Red Arrow paced around the room with a glare.
"I told you something didn't feel right," He hissed, looking to Green Arrow with a glare. "I told you, but did anybody listen? No. No one listened."
"Red, I know you're mad, but-"
"Oh, mad? Oh, mad is long gone. I'm pissed!", He growled and I nodded as I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Okay, you're pissed, but pointing the finger right now won't do anybody any good. We're all shocked and unsettled by this, but I need you to stay calm right now, okay? Cool, calm and collective, the three C's. Can you do that?", I asked, watching as his jaw clenched when he looked at Green arrow before he shrugged off my hand.
"Fine, but this isn't over."
"Wouldn't dream of it," I answered as we looked back at the room where Red Tornado and Batman finished and walked out.
"And? Are they okay?", Superman asked and Batman nodded as Red Tornado answered.
"Their vital signs are normal and all bodily functions are optimal. They simply need some rest."
"Got it. We'll leave them in your care, Red Tornado," I spoke with a nod, which the robot returned before I looked to Batman as he stared at me.
"I know, I know. It was a stupid thing to go off and-"
"No, you had a gut feeling and you followed it. Had you failed, I would have been angry. Good work," I just stood in silence as Batman walked away, Superman, Green Arrow and Red Tornado following after him before I slowly turned to the Titans who looked just as surprised.
"Did…did he just…?"
"He did?…What did you put in his tea, Robin?", Kaldur asked and Robin shrugged as even he looked a bit surprised at what just happened.
Batman just congratulated me on a good job.
'…I'm moving up in the world.'
"So, does it always get this dramatic around here?", I heard Artemis whisper and looked over to see M'gann giggling.
"This is a slow day," She answered and I rolled my eyes before they widened as I quickly turned and ran after Batman.
"Wait, Batman! I still need you to help me smuggle out a few monsters!"
"…Say what?"
A/N: And here we are! The canon has now been changed severely~! By how much, you'll have to find out next chapter.
Arsenal is home earlier, Match is not Matching and the Genomorphs are rescued earlier than usual. What will happen next? We'll see.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!