Desmond was pacing in anticipation as Genomorphs trolls tried to break through the metal door. As soon as Dr Spence told him that Cadmus had been infiltrated and they had taken refuge inside the weapon's lab room, he had become furious, nearly hitting the woman in anger. When he tried to communicate with th e genomorph gnomes residing in the room, the connection failed which meant they were dead!
"Why aren't we through yet!" Desmond shouted at Guardian.
"The door was built to keep things out, sir. But we are nearly through," Guardian answered.
"You're not working fast enough! Every second we are not inside is every second those infiltrators get to corrupt the weapon!" Desmond barked back.
CREAK!
CRASH!
Desmond turned to look at the door and saw the weapon had ripped it off from the inside. His solar suit had blood stains on it, ripped on his chest, back and leg. When he looked inside, he saw four unconscious bodies. Looking closer, his eyes narrowed even more.
"What happened?" he questioned the weapon.
"They tried to free me, turn me to their cause but I resisted. Something inside me wanted to believe their lies and another thing made me disregard them. This is my home," the weapon said, zealously and he couldn't help but grin inwardly.
'Seems that the loyalty the gnomes were feeding him are working. Good,' he thought before turning to the unconscious sidekicks. He was especially drawn to the girl.
'It is her, Angel, Hawkgirl's sidekick. We have tried to get her DNA sample to no avail. The feathers she shoots out of her wings turn metallic as soon as they are off her body and the metal do no contain a single strand of her DNA. But with her here, we can farm all the DNA we need!' he thought before turning to Guardian.
"Take care of them, I'm going to have an emergency meeting with the board," Desmond said and walked away. Guardian nodded behind his back before turning to the clone.
"You, take them to chambers 124-4B," he ordered it. The clone only grunted in affirmation then proceeded to them all over his shoulders and walked off. He continued to supervise the trolls as they started to build back the door the clone broke.
"Guardian, where are they?" Desmond asked from behind. Guardian turned around and smiled a little.
"I sent the clone to take them into the cloning chamber," he answered.
"You sent the weapon?" Desmond asked in disbelief. "We have Genomorphs for that! Get the weapon back to its pod, NOW!"
"I don't see harm in letting the boy stretch his legs!" Guardian defended himself.
"He spent half an hour with the intruders, who knows what kind of things would have happened! They could have turned him!" Desmond cried out, glaring at the man. "Find it, now!" The horns if the gnome on his shoulder glowed red and Guardian's gnome did the same.
"That weapon belong in a cage!" he cried out hysterically before he and a few Genomorphs ran to the cloning chamber. It was empty!
"Find them and bring them back here kicking and screaming!" Guardian ordered the Genomorphs. The gnome on his shoulder had its horns turn red, sending the order telepathically.
........
"See, brains over brawn," Angel said as they walked out of the Cadmus building, the clone following them. "It's beginning to get dark, still a better look than the sun." The clone looked at the full moon illuminating the Earth from above in wonder.
"Still can't believe we walked out of there! Like, just walked out! No fighting, no throwing birdarangs!" Robin was questioning logic. If he was with Batman in that kind of situation, they would have come up with an ingenious way to create a weapon with materials around them.
"How did you know they would use Suoerboy to carry us out?" Aqualad asked.
"No, how did you know they would they would believe him?" Kid Flash asked her while pointing at the clone who was still looking at the full moon.
"To be honest, I didn't. That was just plan A. Plan Be was to capture the lead scientist as he came to check our pulses and use him as a hostage to get us out of there," she told them. They looked slightly put off by the answer but she waved it off. She turned to the clone and saw him looking around him with curiosity.
"Okay, time to honor our deal. Contact the Justice League and tell them to bring everyone," she said. Aqualad pressed a button on his buckle before he spoke with his mentor. Twenty minutes later, the entire League had gathered at their location looking at them in expectations. The clone was the first to act, walking up front and pointing at the house of El symbol at the centre of his chest.
"I am a clone of Superman!" he shouted for everyone to hear. The man himself was shocked before he became angry. It was not the first time his DNA had been used to create clones and each time it was getting more annoying. Batman narrowed his eyes towards Angel.
"Explain!" he growled. Angel sighed, knowing full well this was her buggage to bear. She had convinced Batman give them the mission so she of course would have to report everything to him. And she did, Robin giving the data proof when required. The League elected Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter and Captain Marvel to go inside. They were physically capable of defending themselves with the Martian assisting in case of a psychic attack.
"Quite an adventure the first time you are not with me, huh young one," Hawkgirl said, landing beside her.
"Still can't believe it happened," Angel said. Hawkgirl patted her on the back.
"You make me proud, taking the fellow young ones into danger and bringing back a powerful ally with not casualty to the ones that followed you," Hawkgirl said.
"I have a wonderful mentor," Angel said back. At that, Captain Atom and Captain Marvel flew out of the building carrying Desmond in his monster form. Captain Marvel kept on flying with him while Captain Atom went to debrief Batman. They talked for sometime before Batman came forward, looking at the sidekicks.
"The work you did here... it's a good job," he said, surprising Robin. "You took a necessary risk and it played off. You gave us intel on an illegal bio-weapon making laboratory and even more. More over, you all came out unharmed! The League is pleased with your actions, especially you Angel. So, you can go home and rest." Batman was about to walk away but Angel decided to speak up then.
"With all due respect, Batman, I would like to speak," she spoke out loud. Hawkgirl was surprised by her usually quiet protege.
"Speak then," Batman patiently said.
"Today was a day all of us sidekicks we're looking forward the most as the day we would join the Justice League. But we now know that is impossible and it would be more impossible if you all continue treating us like children. I mean, we are children, but that is by the fact that we have not reached the maturity age.
"I have been fighting crime with Hawkgirl since I was ten years old. I am fifteen right now and I believe I have learnt everything my mentor has to teach me, the rest I have to experience. If you would, I would suggest that the young ones with me right now to form a separate team from the Justice League that would be doing missions the Justice League feel might be too low for them," she said. There was silence in the place with the adults stunned and the sidekicks stunned yet hopeful.
"You want to create a Black ops Justice League team made up of our proteges?" Batman asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" Angel answered without missing a beat. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds.
"The League will discuss on the issue," Batman grunted. Superboy's patience had already ran thin thanks to Superman's refusal to even look him in the eye after his announcement.
"Why do we need permission from them. Get on board or get out of our way!" Superboy shouted and Angel almost smiled at how easy it was to manipulate emotionally vulnerable people.
"I am with Angel and him about this!" Kid Flash said, stepping forward.
"With all due respect, Batman, I am on with this plan," Robin joined in.
"I'm sorry my king, but these are my friends and I agree with them," Aqualad said, stepping up too. Batman looked at the proteges and he had to admit, he was proud they were sticking together. It just showed how well they did as mentors if after one mission they are already banding together. Or was it that they had failed as mentors and so they were getting away from them?
Mount Justice, Happy Harbor
"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman said as he paced in front of the five teenagers, almost five teenagers. "We're calling it into service again since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight. Like you asked, you will do it on League terms."
"Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions," Batman said.
"Real missions?" Angel and Robin asked at the same time.
"Yes, but covert!" Batman answered, sternly.
"The League will still handle the obvious part. There's a reason we have these targets on our chests," Flash said. He was here to drop off Kid Flash.
"But Cadmus proved the bad guys are getting smarter and with your admission you wanted to have a team, Batman needed a team that can operate on the sly," Aquaman continued.
"The six of you will be that team," Batman finished.
"Awesome," Robin celebrated before he caught himself. "Wait, six?" Batman looked behind them, making all of them turn to see Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian walk up to them from the Zeta tubes.
"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman introduced them. Robin and Kid Flash looked at each other with smirks on their faces.
"I'm liking this gig more every minute!" Kid Flash said to Robin then walked over to Miss Martian only to see a figure walk past him. Angel retracted her wings as she walked to the Zeta Tube.
"Sorry, bit it's late and my mum's gonna have my hide if I come late!" she said as the Zeta Tube hummed to live.
"Recognized, Angel, B01!" the computer said and she was gone.