Chapter 8 Project Kr

The elevator opened up to reveal a room built inside an underground cavern. The room itself emptied into two ominous hallways. "Ok, which should we pick? Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two." "I would say neither. I'm an advocate for, let's get the hell out of here and call in the big guns." My words affected them, but they still weren't willing to turn back. "Maybe Maelstrom is right. That said, we've already come this far. Might as well just continue." I threw my hands up. "I give up. You've been in this game longer than I have, so what the hell. Let's continue and hope we live to tell the tale." "That's more like it." Robin responded to me. But before he could add anything else, a Genomorph dressed in white spotted us. "Halt!" The alien took control of a few metal barrels and telekinetically threw them at us. My hand snaked out, and a gale of wind knocked the projectiles away. We then started running towards the second hallway. I knew that they were coming for us, and I didn't feel comfortable being confined in such a place with no way out. We made a turn and saw a woman get knocked down by Kid Flash, who was moving at high speeds. The massive door Project Kr was ahead of us, about to close, but we all luckily made it through as it shut behind us. Trapping us in the room with Superman's clone. So far, I had been following the plot, but being in that situation, about to face a Kryptonian hybrid who could smash me to pulp, made me realize just how dumb I was. I had neglected to give Batman information regarding the Young Justice universe because I knew how altering events could lead to worse shit but… following the plot so closely had been a dumb mistake. One I was about to pay for. While I was lost in my thoughts, Robin and the others decided to free Superboy. My eyes widened. "No wait!" Robin pressed a key and the glass case opened with an exhale of air. "Dammit!" I said, earning looks of confusion from the others. "We don't know if they've programmed him to attack intruders like they did with Guardian." I saw realization fall onto their faces. "Get us out of here, Robin!" Aqualad shouted in alarm as his water bearers appeared in his hands. Kid Flash turned to me angrily. "Why didn't you say anything?!" I looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me! I told you guys to contact the League!" "There are no signals down here." Aqualad interjected. "Let's try talking first. It's Superman's son. Here's to hoping he shares the big guy's fluffy personality." Robin's words were met with an angry scowl from the clone. "Or not." "Look out!" I shouted to Aqualad, pushing him away with a gale of wind. Superboy slammed a fist down on Aqualad's previous location and rounded up on the person closest to him, which happened to be me. I ducked a punch and slammed my palms on his gut. A blast of air carried him off his feet to Aqualad's timely attack on the small of Superboy's back. Superboy flew above me to hit the metal frame of his glass cage. He stood back, looking no worse for wear. "Guys, any ideas?" I asked, prompting Robin to go forward. His hands were held up. "Calm down. We're on your side." The clone's response was to jump at him with a hand pulled back. Boy Wonder jumped away and, in the same motion, shot a taser at Superboy. Which did absolutely nothing. He pulled on the Wire, and Robin went flying towards him. Fortunately, Kid Flash swooped in and sped away with Robin before Superboy could hit him. "Aqualad. We can't win like this." I told him, my hands were shaking in fear. Aqualad had a determined look ok his face as he jumped into the fray. "We have to try!" He shouted while drawing water from his tattoos to form the hammer from before. He smashed it onto the clone, who blocked it with one hand and pushed it to the side. The hammer disappeared, and a shield formed on Aqualad's side to block the devastating punch to the kidneys. Aqualad was pushed back, and the clone was made to follow, only to divert in his course and come for me as I was gearing up for another attack. My eyes widened as he body checked me into the wall. My back hit the hard surface, and a breath of air escaped my lungs. I fell onto the ground, wheezing, and my head was ringing. I heard a cry of pain and saw Kid Flash smash into Robin, who had tried to use smoke bombs to distract the Clone. The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Aqualad electrocuting Superboy. "Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken now!" The loud voice rang through my heart, making me open my eyes in shock. I strained from my bindings once I saw myself and the others suspended from glass casings not unlike Superboy's. "What happened? Where are we? Let us out now!" Kid Flash asked in panic. "I hate to be that guy, but I told you so!" I shouted in frustration. Robin had the decency to look away. "We're sorry for dragging you into this Maelstrom." Aqualad apologized, but I sighed. "No, oh, it's not your fault. I wanted to come. Besides, although we could have done some things differently, we've succeeded so far on surviving no worse for wear." Kid Flash was relentlessly straining his body against the cuffs. Keeping a speedster locked up was probably very frustrating to them. "This is so not cool, man!" "Just calm down, Kid. I doubt you want to piss off the guy who can fry us just by looking, with your nagging." "We only sought to help you out." Aqualad began. "Yeah, and then you turn on us!" Kid Flash added, looking angry. "Ki, please. Stay quiet. I believe he was being controlled." "Yeah. I noticed that the Genomorph's horns glowed right before he attacked us. It wasn't intentional." "What if I…what if I was?" Superboy asked tentatively. "He can talk?" The others looked surprised at that, especially Kid Flash. "Yes, he can." Superboy, aid, looking peeved at Kid's words. Kid Flash was quick to say, "Not like I said, 'It.' " Then they went on to have a dialogue about how Superboy could leave with us, and we would show him the sky…and his father, Superman. Oh boy, I didn't want to see the look of confused anger when Clark learns that he has a son. I tried my best to highlight that particular thing to Batman. To tell him that in one of the alternate earths, a clone of Superman emerges. A clone that wouldn't turn on him because of his background. I just hope Batman had spoken to him about it. …We can show you Superman." I caught the end of Aqualad's words, and so it seems so did the scientist walking in. "Empty promises. They are not going anywhere. Guardian, get the weapon back in its cage." Desmond said. The man instantly rubbed me the wrong way. "He's not a weapon asshole. Just because a knife can stab someone doesn't mean that it's all it can do." "Oh, and might you be? A new hero? No, you're hanging out with the sidekicks, so the question is, whose protege are you?" He asked, making me smirk. "Get me down here and I'll show you." Desmond snorted. "Children these days. Running their mouths without a care for the consequences." He turned to the lady scientist from before, "Start the cloning process." Then, to Superboy, he stepped closer. "You are not a real boy. You belong to Cadmus. Now get back to your pod." The horns of the Genomorph on Superboy's shoulder glowed, and Superboy left. 2 metal rods with 4 pincers each detached from the frame of our cage and impacted my chest. There was a discharge of energy released, and I felt my blood being drained from me. Not a minute later, Superboy came charging in. Desmond looked on in disbelief as Superboy pushed him out of the way. Robin broke through his cuffs, and instantly, they freed the rest of us. Robin threw 4 explosive birdarangs that took out the containers containing our blood samples. During the commotion, we ran out of the chamber. We took a turn and ran towards the elevator. Genomorphs suddenly broke out of the pods dotting the hallway, and we found ourselves surrounded. I didn't stop, augmenting my agility with air. I leaped, and at the apex of the jump, wind surrounded my form as my body twisted, a tornado sprang up, strong enough to push the huge Genomorphs out of the way, clearing the way enough for the others to take down the rest. "Superboy, let's go!" I shouted at the clone who was wrecking the Genomorph's shit. " Don't give me orders!" I rolled my eyes as he followed us. Aqualad forced open the elevator door and started going up. Robin and Kid Flash are on a grapple, and me bounding on the sides of the shaft. The others landed on the ledge of sub-level 15 while I was higher on sub-level 13. Robin looked up at me and shouted. "Maelstrom, there's an elevator coming down!" He shouted, and I let loose an air bomb on the elevator doors, blasting them open and jumping in, narrowly missing the lift from crashing into me. And like that, I had successfully separated from the rest. I smile. The good thing is that they didn't suspect anything. You might be wondering why Sub-level 13 was special. The short answer? It was where the Blockbuster formula was contained. The fight with Superboy from earlier showed me that despite my powers, I was essentially a glass cannon. He had taken me out of the fight in one hit. That needed to change. I couldn't wait for the Kobra-venom. The blockbuster formula was here and ready. I stepped into the hallway and ran forward, looking for anything distinctive. Luckily, most of their forces were looking for Robin and the others. I didn't have a lot of time, though. Desmond would also walk in, looking to use the Blockbuster to take us down.