Chapter 8: Independence Day

Word Count : 7158

Krieg was not the kind of person to curse his superior officer when something went badly. It was a sort of unquestioning loyalty that had been hardwired into his brain when he was in training, the same that every Krieg guardsman went through. But for better or worse, his time with the Justice League was having slow and subtle effects on his psyche. Therefore, he had no trouble whatsoever mentally cursing Batman in the most creative ways possible. He would never of course voice those thoughts out loud to anyone, that would be treading far too close to insubordination in his books. Still, it did feel good blaming someone else for his current predicament, pinned behind a stone pillar inside a bank while a group of six robbers kept pouring fire down on his position.

And these morons had picked a perfect time to rob this bank as well. The four sidekicks of the Justice League were getting promoted to full-fledged members, and they had requested his presence at the ceremony or whatever they were supposed to do. Frankly, he was surprised by the invitation. While most of the hostility between them had blown away after his rescue of Kid Flash, they were still a bit weary around him and so left him alone, which suited Krieg just fine. He had been on his way to Washington when these buffoons struck, and so he was forced to deal with them first.

The gunfire suddenly came to an abrupt end, most likely because their clips had run dry. But he could hear a pair of feet cautiously approaching his position. They were sending forth a scout to ascertain whether the threat was neutralized or not. He was coming closer, and Krieg was ready for him. For with the permission of Batman, Krieg had upgraded his arsenal and was now packing something nastier than a measly tranquil pistol. When he deemed his opponent close enough, he stepped out of cover. The look on the robber's face was utterly priceless as he was confronted by what he thought was a hero armed with a Benelli M3 shotgun. His reaction time was ridiculously slow, and Krieg had already placed a well-aimed shot to his head before he had even raised his gun. Krieg was in motion again before the robber's body had even hit the ground, and dove behind a counter just as gunfire resumed.

While ejecting the spent cartridge, Krieg once again lamented on just how restricted he was. Batman may have granted him a Benelli, among other things, but Krieg was still prohibited from taking a life, so his shotgun was only loaded with rubber bullets. Well, either way, complaining would not solve this crisis, actions would. So as the gunfire was brought to a close again, Krieg rose and started pumping out shots like there was no tomorrow. One fell back thanks to a lucky shot to the head, another was knocked back by two to the chest, while the rest just dove for cover. As Krieg's own gunfire ended, the three robbers still standing came out of cover to return fire. Unfortunately, Krieg had already used the lull in gunfire to close the distance.

He came in with an elbow strike to the first opponent's head, knocking him flat on his back. Krieg even stomped on the man's crotch to be on the safe side. The next one dropped his gun in favour of close combat and came at Krieg with a powerful punch. He caught the incoming strike as well as the second blow following up. With both of his opponent's arms in his grip, Krieg crossed them over each other in a labai move and then flipped his opponents sideways, causing him to land painfully on his back. And with a boot placed on his opponent's chest, Krieg gave a hard tug and dislocated both arms. The last one was more cautious, and tried to circle Krieg and wait for some of his comrades to recover and aid him. Krieg gave him no such time and struck with a sudden kick to the side of his left knee, knocking him to his knees where he received two fists to the sides of head simultaneously. Disoriented and barely conscious, he was easily finished with a knee strike to the face.

Now, there was only one who could still fight, the one who got shot in the chest earlier. but as he saw Krieg slowly approach him, he threw his weapon aside and raised his hands in the air.

"Okay, okay! You win, I surrender!" he screamed in terror, obviously not desiring a similar fate as his comrades. Normally, Krieg would just ignore his pleas for mercy and give him a good beating, but he was already late and did not have much time to spare. So a simple tranquil dart to the neck would make sure that the robber did not go anywhere as Krieg slipped out the backdoor.

The Hall of Justice, the most unpractical base of operation that Krieg had ever laid eyes upon. Of course, that was where the ingenuity of it lay. For Krieg knew that this was just a false front, made to disguise the Justice League's real base orbiting in space. He had only ever been to the Watchtower when he was held captive up there, but he had made a habit out of staying away from their designated 'tourist trap'. The place was far too public for Krieg's taste, far too many potential assassins and saboteurs walked through the doors daily for him to ever feel safe here. Then again, he did not truly feel safe anywhere, always being ready for battle no matter where he was.

Today, it seemed like a bigger crowd than usual had gathered outside the Hall, most likely here to get a glimpse of the four new Justice League members. Personally, Krieg could not see what all the fuss was about. It was just a simple promotion, nothing more. In the Death Korps, promotions were never celebrated, as the one promoted has only proved that he was either more skilled or had more luck than the average rank and file, and will therefore receive even more dangerous missions. Needless to say, the chances of survival decreased the higher up one got, at least if you were part of the standard infantry regiments.

For now, it seemed like Krieg would have to take the backdoor in, because he seriously disliked receiving any form of attention, and just waltzing up the front door with nearly hundreds of cameramen on standby was just asking for attention. So he discreetly moved around the crowd and arrived at a simple backdoor almost hidden among the bushes. Problem was, once he entered the building, he ran into one of his least favorite Leaguers.

"Captain Marvel," he greeted monotonously. Said man just folded his arms over his chest and gave him a reprimanding look.

"Heard you were invited, but you're late. What, busy sending another batch of criminals to the hospital?" he asked in what was obviously meant as an accusing tone. Krieg was not intimated.

"Unfortunately, no. I was only able to effectively neutralize a handful of them. The rest will make a speedy recovery," Krieg answered with a hint of disappointment in his tone. Captain Marvel bristled at his tone.

"How can you be so cold and brutal?" he questioned in furious disbelief.

"How can you keep clinging to those deluded fantasies of yours?" Krieg easily countered, causing Captain Marvel to grit his teeth.

"Those are living people you potentially cripple. They may be criminals, but they don't deserve such cruel treatment," he argued fiercely. Krieg just slowly shook his head.

"You speak as if they abide by your weak philosophy. The enemy won't care about hurting others, they will kill and torture to achieve their goals. Merely throwing them in jail will never suffice, they will just continue to plot and scheme until they escape and continue with their reign of terror. The only way to defeat them is by being hard and unyielding towards them. Break them in mind and body, and they will never cause harm again," he sternly lectured the grown man, whose simplistic view of the world was almost reminiscent to a child's.

"That's not true. Sure, there may be really bad people out there, but doing what you say will not solve anything. It will only create more pain and suffering. They at least deserve a second chance to turn their life around, to see that crime isn't the best option. If we use force on them, they will grow to hate us, and will never see a reason to change," Captain Marvel countered, clearly not backing down from his standpoint.

"A second chance? They had their chance a long time ago. They made their choice, they chose to murder and steal, despite knowing the repercussions of their actions. They need to learn the hard way what happens when you cross the line, made examples of. Otherwise, we will appear weak and more people will feel emboldened to challenge us. Strength, fear and constant vigilance, that is how the world is kept in check," Krieg stated with conviction. Captain Marvel looked absolutely abhorred by his words.

"That will only make us tyrants, not protectors," he said silently. Krieg meanwhile had grown tired of this useless debate and so strode right past him. Krieg knew that he was right on the matter, and Captain Marvel was wrong. That was all that mattered, no sense trying to convince the ignorant one of his errors when he refused to see them.

"You live in a dream, Captain. I live in the real world. For your sake, I suggest you wake up and see the world for what it really is," he called over his shoulder, not even lingering long enough to hear if Captain Marvel had a reply to that. That man had to be the most naïve idiot Krieg had ever met. If he did not know any better, he would say that he had been conversing with a ten year old. But that encounter with Captain Marvel proved not to be the last one he had with people he disliked, as he ran into Speedy storming the other direction Krieg was heading towards.

"Speedy," he greeted. He supposed he was meant to say something like "congratulations on your promotion" but he truly did not feel like congratulating him. In hindsight, he did not even want to be here in the first place. Speedy did not answer him, did not even acknowledge his presence as he roughly shouldered past Krieg, heading towards the backdoor. Something was definitively troubling the archer, but it was none of Krieg's concern so he ignored it altogether and continued. He soon found himself standing in front of the statues of the League's founding members. Looking at the statues, Krieg was unsure whether he should be impressed or disgusted that they had built these statues. In the end, he settled for the latter since they included the xenos in the group of statues. They did not deserve such honors. But just as he was about to enter, the doors opened and out came the remaining three sidekicks, and they looked startled by his presence.

"Krieg? What are you doing here?" Robin asked, sounding strangely nervous. Krieg chalked it up to being an emotional reaction to his promotion.

"You invited me here. And my apologies for being late. A bank robbery occurred in Los Angeles, and I was forced to intervene;" Krieg answered.

"It's alright, we understand. Though it is a shame that you missed it," Aqualad said with a friendly smile. Krieg took a moment to observe the trio, they all seemed equipped for action and there was no adult supervision with them.

"Have you tree been assigned a mission?" he asked in curiosity. From the look of things, it would seem to be that way. Yet again, there was that nervousness he saw in Robin earlier, but now they all shared it. And it made Krieg a bit suspicious.

"Yup, top secret mission. Very dangerous. Can't waste time," Kid Flash spoke up, speaking so fast that Krieg was barely able to decipher his words. Top secret. Very dangerous. Hmm, must be why they were so nervous. Krieg gave a short nod of understanding.

"Very well then, I shall not take up more of your time," he announced as he made to depart the area, planning to head back to Los Angeles. He was still working on how to create a useful homemade bomb to booby trap his base with.

"Actually…" Robin suddenly piped up, causing Krieg to halt in his tracks and turn around to face Robin again, "Batman has assigned you this mission as well. You're supposed to come along and assist us," that caught Krieg unprepared. And apparently, it did the same to Robin's companions, if their looks of surprise were anything to go by.

"I was not informed of this," Krieg stated suspiciously while narrowing his eyes behind his gasmask. Was it Krieg's imagination, or was Robin sweating slightly?

"Well, Batman and the rest of the League were called away on an emergency mission, so he did not have time to inform you in person. He told me to pass on the message," Robin answered. This was strange in Krieg's view. Batman always delivered news and missions to him personally, he never relied on a middle man. Then again, if what Robin said was true, maybe he just did not have the time to debrief a single soldier. And Robin was Batman's protégé, so it did make sense that he would be chosen to deliver the mission. Well, no point wondering about circumstances, just follow the orders and get the job done, even if it meant working with these infernal kids again. What was worse, he had been assigned as assistance, that meant they were in charge of the mission.

"Very well then, what are your orders?" he said monotonously. 'Why does this keep happening to me?' he thought in despair.

Krieg had to admit, Cadmus looked completely harmless on the outside. Just another genetics lab in the country that had a small accident, certainly nothing worth the Justice League's attention. But then he had to remind himself of that secret lab on Manhattan, and how cleverly disguised as an everyday restaurant it had been. Besides, Batman was suspicious of this place. And if there was one thing Krieg respected about the Justice League, it was Batman. Remove his unwillingness to kill, and he would have made a fine Inquisitor back home. So if he had suspicions of this place, it was more than enough motivation to tear it apart piece by piece.

But of course, someone had to go and ruin it. That someone was today Kid Flash, who literally rushed ahead to save a pair of scientists, nearly losing his footing as his speed decreased and had to scramble wildly to get inside a window, lest he end up as a smear on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, he did manage to get inside, more's the pity.

"So smooth," Robin commented sarcastically, and Krieg could not help but agree. While most of the teenage slang of this world still puzzled him, he had at least grasped the concept of sarcasm extremely well.

"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad asked tiredly. Since Krieg did not know Kid Flash at all, having only met him while carrying him to safety, he assumed the question was more directed at Robin. Problem was, there was no Robin present to give an answer, something that both Krieg and Aqualad only became aware of when silence met the question.

"Robin?" Aqualad asked in bewilderment as he looked around for their youngest comrade. The boy's signature cackle gave away his position, as he flipped onto a fire truck and used a grapple gun to swing himself inside the same window Kid Flash had entered.

"I guess we're breaching the building," Krieg commented out loud as he brought out his own grapple gun and rushed forward. Once within reach, he fired it at the open window and hit the retract button, causing him to fly up into the air and in through the window. Once inside, he put away the grapple gun and grabbed his Benelli from where it was hanging over his shoulder.

"Dude! You carry guns!? We don't kill people!" Kid Flash burst out at the sight of his shotgun.

"It's loaded with rubber bullets," was all he said on the matter, not feeling like explaining his reasons to a mere mutant. While still giving the gun a weary glance, the answer seemed to placate the young speedster as he raised no further objections. Aqualad quickly joined them as he jumped through the window. And he did not look pleased.

"Appreciate the help," he said with a disgruntled look at the three heroes present.

"One hero is more than enough to save two civilians from a simple fire, adding more would have been a waste of time and energy. Besides, our primary objective is Intel gathering," Krieg commented as he stepped out of the file room they were occupying to patrol the hallway outside. Once Krieg was out of earshot, Aqualad gave a resigned sigh.

"Maybe bringing him along wasn't the best idea," he commented.

"Why did we bring him along anyway? Sure, I'm grateful that he saved my life, but he's a freaking nutjob! We should have just left him behind and done this ourselves," Kid Flash added with a hushed, but fierce voice. Robin momentarily turned away from the computer he was working on hacking to give his answer to the speedster.

"And risk him reporting in to Batman and rat us out? No thank you. At least this way we have a chance of actually finishing this mission before the League finds out we're here," he stated.

"It does hold merit, now when I think about it," Aqualad acknowledged. Kid Flash said nothing, but he gave a nod to signify he understood his way of thinking. And while they were discussing, Krieg was keeping watch outside to make sure no one tried to ambush them. But he suddenly heard a sound behind him, and he spun around with his shotgun aimed and ready, just in time to catch sight of something vaguely humanoid with horns standing in the elevator before it closed. How had that thing managed to sneak inside the elevator without him noticing? And why would they even do that, in plain sight of him? They must have obviously seen him standing guard, so why expose themselves?

"Someone just entered the elevator," he called out to the three heroes he was accompanying. They came rushing out within seconds, all three at the ready.

"Elevator should be locked down," Kid Flash commented. The four of them quickly rushed up to the door, with Robin pressing the elevator button.

"This is wrong," he suddenly said when no elevator arrived, and so he brought up his holographic computer, "Thought so, this is a high speed express elevator. It doesn't in a two-storey building," and so once again, Batman's suspicions had been proven to be justly founded.

"The thing that entered the elevator was a vaguely humanoid creature. I doubt it was one of the regular staff members," Krieg added before Aqualad used his strength to pry the doors open. What greeted the four of them was an elevator shaft that just went down for miles and miles. They could not even see the bottom from where they were standing.

"That's why they need an express elevator," Robin commented offhandedly as he fired his grapple gun into the roof and began to rapidly lower himself into the abyss. While Aqualad and Kid Flash looked a bit hesitant to follow, Krieg was quick grab onto the rope and lower himself after Robin. That motivated the other two to finally follow their example. Passing sublevel after sublevel, Krieg found that Robin had stopped down at sublevel 26, something about being "at the end of his rope". It was a bit hard to hear from the distance they were. But he soon joined Robin at the same level as the boy was working on getting the door open. Aqualad and Kid Flash soon joined them as well.

"Bypassing security… there, go!" no further encouragement from Robin was needed as Aqualad forced the doors open, allowing the four heroes to enter the hallway beyond. It certainly looked a bit more high-tech than what they had found above ground.

"Welcome to project Cadmus," Robin said.

"Now what?" Krieg asked. They were inside the enemy base, but where were they supposed to go now? It was not like they had been able to pack a map of this place along.

"Isn't it obvious? We search this place until we found something strange to report in," Kid Flash said cockily as he speeded away. That idiot! He was jeopardizing this whole mission! He was seriously beginning to wonder if it had not been best if he had ignored his orders and left Kid Flash to die.

"Wait!" Aqualad called after him, obviously possessing more common sense than the speedster, but he was thoroughly ignored. Not that Kid Flash got that very far anyway. For as he reached a junction, he found his way blocked by a herd of gargantuan monsters trudging along. They nearly even crushed him under their feet. As Krieg and the others caught up to him, they could do nothing else but stare in dumbstruck shock at what they were seeing. 'What in the name of the Emperor are those things? Some manner of Tyranid off-shot race that was never catalogued?' Krieg thought to himself. They certainly looked bizarre enough to be confused as a long lost cousin of those planet consuming locusts.

"No, nothing odd going on here," Aqualad commented. Once those abominations had moved along, the four of them continued on their way. Hacking another door open, they were once again greeted with a sight that left them dumbstruck, and Krieg even more disgusted by this place.

"Okay, I'm officially whelmed," Robin said in wonder. While Krieg had never heard the word "whelmed" before, he sort of got the meaning behind it as he stared at the hundreds of glass tubes containing some manner of insectoid life forms generating electricity. He found his finger twitching towards the trigger on his shotgun, currently held lightly in his grip. Where had all of these disgusting things come from?

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid, it generates its own power with these… things. It must be what they're bred for," Kid Flash deduced as he stared at them in morbid interest. Krieg, he just looked at them with revulsion, itching to place a bullet in the head of each of them.

"Of course, even the name's a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth," Aqualad added.

"You're saying that someone bred these things?" Krieg asked. This was just so wrong on so many levels. Heresy at its darkest. Complete madness. Disgusting and impure. Krieg could go on like that all day long. To summarize it, he was not pleased by what he was seeing.

"So it would seem, but for what reason?" Robin added as he began hacking another computer. Having nothing better to do, and being equally curious as the Boy Wonder, the other three heroes crowded around him.

"They call them Genomorphs," Robin reported as he began going through the data, "Whoa, look at the stats on some of these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws, these are living weapons!" now that did not sound pleasant. Living biological weapons, it sounded far too much like Tyranids for Krieg's taste. He had never encountered the beasts himself, but he knew enough about them to know that they were the worst of news. And there was no question in his mind as to why someone would create weapons such as these.

"Whoever is behind this is creating an army," Krieg stated, voicing what they all had deduced.

"But for who?" Kid Flash added.

"Wait, there's something else," Robin suddenly said as he focused on his holographic screen again, "Project Kr. Ugh, the file's triple encrypted. I can't…"

"Don't move!" that single order had the three sidekicks freezing up in shock, while Krieg spun around to aim his shotgun at the doorway, where over a dozen Genomorphs were flooding in. They were led by a human, one who just climbed up very high on Krieg's shit list, wearing a golden shield and helmet. Upon catching sight of the four heroes however, the man stopped in surprise, clearly not expecting their presence.

"Wait… Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash? And… who are you?" he asked in confusion.

"At least he got your name right," Robin murmured quietly enough that only his friends could hear him.

"I know you. Guardian, a hero," Aqualad announced. Mentally, Krieg gave a snort of irritation. 'They seem to hand out the title of hero like it was a vaccine,'

"I do my best," Guardian admitted.

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash questioned. A dumb question in Krieg's mind. It should have been obvious, even to a dimwit like Kid Flash. Either Guardian was behind it all, or he was in cahoots with the true mastermind. Either way, he was an enemy, and should be neutralized as fast as possible.

"I think that's my question, boys. I'm chief of security. You're trespassing," Guardian announced, hands on his hips. Just like Krieg had suspected, now could they please move on to the inevitable fight?

"But we can call the Justice League, figure this out," okay, now that confused Krieg. He may not know everything about the Justice League, but he felt that he had a solid grip on where their standpoint was to these kinds of situations.

"I will not pretend to be the most stalwart supporter of the Justice League, but I know that they would never approve of your work of breeding living weapons," Krieg stated. But that answer seemed to confuse Guardian for some reason.

"Weapons? What are you…" suddenly, the little gnome thing sitting on Guardian's shoulder looked at him and its horns began glowing red, "What have I… ugh, my head…" then, his look of confusion disappeared, leaving behind a cold and determined look Krieg knew all too well. He knew what order Guardian would give well before he even uttered it.

"Take them down hard! No mercy!" the Genomorphs obeyed instantly and sprung forth with claws at the ready. Krieg took out the first one with a shot to the head, before backing up to fire two more shots into a second and shooting a glancing hit on a third before they were on him. How the other three heroes were doing, Krieg nether neither knew nor cared, all his focus was on the Genomorphs attacking him. He dodged underneath one before bashing another one in the head with his shotgun. But another one jumped on him, trying to claw his chest open. Krieg used his shotgun to try pressing the thing back, but it was stronger than it looked. 'Batman has prohibited me from killing humans,' he suddenly drew a combat knife and plunged it into the guts of the Genomorph on top of him, 'But these things aren't humans,'

He threw the dead body off of him and stood back up, ready to receive the next batch. Using his shotgun like a club, he slammed it into the head of the first on that came within reach. The one behind the first tried to jump onto him, but Krieg sidestepped the attack and plunged his knife into the back of the thing's skull. A third one tried a frontal assault, but Krieg suddenly brought up his shotgun and pressed the muzzle straight against its throat before pulling the trigger. At such close range, and against such a soft target, the throat was crushed by the rubber bullet and the Genomorph fell back clutching its ruined throat as it choked to death. One was trying to ambush him from above, but Krieg saw it and knocked it down with his last two shots. The moment it hit the ground, Krieg was on it and crushed its throat underneath his boot.

But more of these internal things were converging on him, and Krieg knew he would be overrun soon. So he threw his knife straight at the attacking Genomorphs, hitting one in the shoulder, before retrieving a grenade and throwing it to the ground. When it exploded, it released tear gas that blinded his opponents. Krieg, who was wearing a gasmask, was unaffected, and so charged right through their ranks. It was only now that he noticed that the sidekicks had already scrammed and left him behind. He did not hold it against them, he would have done the same to them. As it turned out, they had not gotten that far ahead of him, as they were all crowded outside an elevator which Robin was trying to open.

"You made it! Thought for a second they'd gotten you," Kid Flash said with relief. Aqualad looked a bit guilty for some reason.

"I apologize for leaving you behind. We lost track of you during the fight and thought you had gone ahead," he said apologetically. Krieg just gave him a dull look from behind his mask.

"No reason to apologize for leaving me. I would have done the same," he simply said. The three sidekicks shared uneasy looks between each other. Thankfully, the elevator finally opened up and they all piled in, just as the Genomorphs rounded the corner and charged at them like rabid dogs. Thankfully, the doors closed just in the nick of time, and the heroes let out a collective sigh of relief. Until Krieg noticed that the elevator was going down.

"Robin, why is this elevator going down?" he asked curiously as he began reloading his shotgun. Kid Flash looked flabbergasted by the news.

"Dude! Out is up!" he pointed out, emphasizing by pointing a finger upward.

"Excuse me, Project Kr is down, on sublevel 52," Robin countered. 'Idiot,' Krieg thought as he put in the last round.

"The mission has been compromised. We have gathered valuable intelligence, but our presence has been discovered. We should fall back, contact the League and report in our findings. Then we can come back here in force," Krieg stated. Aqualad looked like might have agreed to the plan, but the elevator chose that time to arrive on sublevel 52. As the doors opened, Krieg found one of the most disgusting things he had ever seen. A purely organic hallway, with walls made out of what looked like red flesh. Whoever was running Cadmus was truly a heretical madman that deserved nothing less than complete disintegration to fully remove his filth from the world. Not waiting for the others, Robin rushed ahead on his own.

"We are already here," Kid Flash justified as he rushed after his friend, Aqualad following close behind. Krieg hesitated behind for a short moment as his eyes scanned the walls again. This felt too much like they were walking into the belly of the beast. If only he had a flamer right about now, then he would have torched this whole place. But fear was not going to affect him, it had never affected him. So he hefted his shotgun and sprinted after the sidekicks. The four of them came to a stop at a place where the tunnel split in two directions.

"Which way?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah, bizarre looking hallway 1 or bizarre looking hallway 2?" Robin added. Krieg gave the young boy a scathing glare.

"Coming down here was your idea, so I had expected of you to have at least planned this far ahead," he replied in irritation. Robin just gave him a sheepish look.

"Hold!" someone suddenly commanded them. That someone turned out to be what looked like another Genomorph, though this one had a more humanoid appearance, and was quite skinny as well. But it proved to be far more dangerous than it looked when its horns started glowing red and it telekinetically lifted two canisters and hurled them at the heroes. 'Great, another psyker. As if this world didn't have enough of those things,' Krieg thought grimly as he dodged one of the incoming projectiles. Robin tried throwing a batarang, and Krieg fired off two shots. All three of these projectiles were stopped right before they could hit their target, and return fire in the form of more canisters were launched.

The four heroes quickly fled down the other hallway, eventually coming across a thick door marked 'Project Kr'. A dark skinned woman with glasses was just coming out of the room, but Kid Flash accidentally knocked her over. Seeing the door closing, he picked up a canister and placed it in the door, keeping it open.

"Hurry!" he called after his teammates as he jumped through the door, the other three following close behind. Aqualad was the last one through the door, and he kicked out the canister and allowed the door to finally close itself.

"I disabled the door. We're safe," Robin announced from where he stood at the door controls. However, neither Aqualad nor Krieg looked reassured by that.

"That was our only way out. We're trapped in here," Krieg said as he eyed the door. This was not good, not in the least. They had literally backed themselves into a corner, with no way out but forward. Worse, the enemy must know that, so they would undoubtedly put every heavy hitter they had on the other side of the door to either tear it open, or wait them out. Whichever way you looked at it, they were finished.

"Uh, guys? You wanna see this," Kid Flash suddenly announced, gaining the other three's attention. Turning his head around, Krieg found that Kid Flash was standing in front of a pod, and there was someone inside of it. Kid Flash pressed a few buttons and the inside of the pod was illuminated, revealing a sight that Krieg had never expected. There, inside the pod, was Superman. Well, a younger version of Superman, dressed in a white bodysuit with the usual S symbol on the front.

"What… is that?" Krieg asked.

"Big K, little r. The atomic symbol for Krypton," Kid Flash stated in astonishment as he approached the pod, before turning back around with a thoughtful look on his face, "Clone?"

"Robin, hack," Aqualad ordered, snapping Robin out of whatever stupefied trance he had fallen into as he set to work.

"Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force grown in… 16 weeks!? From DNA acquired from Superman," Robin reported.

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad clarified with a furious look on his face.

"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid Flash said with equal amounts of anger. But while they continued to discuss this Superboy, Krieg had not once taken his eyes off the clone, hands clutching his shotgun with such force that it turned his knuckles white. They had gone too far now. Creating these Genomorphs was one thing, they at least were man made creatures, bred for the purpose of war. But this? Cloning a disgusting xeno? Inexcusable, that was what it was. Worse, it was a clone of a race that was close to extinct. When Krieg had learned that Superman was the last of his kind, he had felt an abundant sense of relief from both the knowledge that there were no other insane powerhouses like him roaming about, but also that once Superman died, an entire xeno species would have perished with him. Good riddance in his books.

But now, those hopes were dashed apart, all because of that face inside the pod, sleeping peacefully as if in mockery of the rage he was bringing forth inside of Krieg. These damn Cadmus dogs had now crossed a line they never should have. This abomination should be destroyed, vaporized, incinerated, removed from the face of the earth. It should have never been created, this affront to humanity.

"Set him free," WHAT!? Did he just hear it correctly? Were these brain dead, xeno loving, weak-willed, incompetent, useless bags of flesh planning to set the creature free? Dear Emperor, he had always known they were idiots, but this was their monumentally most stupid idea as of late.

"Don't do that;" he ordered sternly, gaining the three's attention, "That thing is a weapon, created by Cadmus. Our enemy, if I must remind you. That means that they will have a way to ensure its loyalty. If we let it out, it will attack us, and none of us has the skill, strength or equipment to take on a Kryptonian," he fiercely argued, hoping to make these imbeciles see reason. They all looked shocked at the outburst, and a little bit thoughtful as well, but in the end, his single voice of reason was ignored.

"It's the right thing to do. And besides, if we show him we're here to help him, he won't attack us," Robin argued as he pressed a few buttons, and the pod began opening. Krieg strategically placed himself on the left side of the room. That way, when that thing came charging out, he would not be in its direct line of sight and could hopefully take a few potshots at it before it closed the distance. The clone's first movement was by cracking its fists and fingers, obviously not having used them for a while. Then its eyes opened up. It took one look at the three heroes right in front of it, and then shot forward like a bullet and rammed straight into Aqualad.

It pinned the Atlantean to the floor and starting pounding his head, forcing Robin and Kid Flash to rush forward and try to restrain its arms.

"Hang on, Supey!" Kid Flash protested.

"We're on… you side," Robin tried to reason. But the clone would have none of that and knocked Kid Flash back, the blow sending the speedster smashing through a glass case and crashing to the ground unconscious. The clone tried to go after Robin, who was still holding on to it, but it suddenly got a rubber bullet to the face, then another, and another, and another as Krieg kept pumping out shots like there was no tomorrow.

"Stop trying to reason with the weapon and take it out already!" Krieg shouted to Robin, who could not help but agree there. Superboy would not calm down, so they would have to get rough. Robin exploded some manner of gas pellet straight in its mouth, distracting it long enough for Aqualad to land a fierce kick to its chest and sending it flying back. Unfortunately, it did not stay down for very long, and was soon standing up again while coughing a little bit. Robin was quick to strike by bringing out a Taser and firing its twin electric cords at the clone, scoring direct hits and pumping the thing full of voltages. It roared in pain, but was otherwise unharmed. And still able to fight pretty well as it grasped the cords and gave them a hard yank, sending Robin flying straight into a waiting fist and knocking him out.

Krieg wasted no time and opened fire again with his shotgun, but it was like shooting a pea shooter at an elephant as it only annoyed the clone. It must have decided it had had enough and so leaped right at Krieg, landed right in front of him and delivered a backhanded strike. Krieg blocked it with the shotgun, but the blow was so strong that it pulverized the shotgun and sent Krieg crashing into a wall, still conscious but a bit dazed.

"ENOUGH!" Aqualad suddenly roared as he charged at the clone with a two-handed water hammer. A direct blow sent the clone flying straight into the pod it used to occupy. But once again, it just stood back up with no apparent damage done to it.

"We are trying to help you," Aqualad tried to reason with the clone. A futile gesture, given how the thing attacked again. A series of blows were traded back and forth between them before Aqualad caught the clone in a headlock and started pumping electricity into it. It must have done some manner of damage, as the creature roared in pain. But it got the better of Aqualad as with him clinging to its back, the clone jumped up and smashed Aqualad into the roof, it did so again and again until Aqualad finally gave up and fell to the floor unconscious. Just as the clone finished off Aqualad, Krieg stood back up again. He cracked his neck as he drew another combat knife, holding it in an underhanded grip.

"Come on, xeno filth," he said as he crouched into a fighting stance. The clone struck first by charging head on. Krieg barely sidestepped the mad rush and landed a good cut in the clone's side. The knife went through the suit, but it did not even leave a mark on the skin. Faster than he expected, the clone came back with another attack, striking with a series of punches that Krieg was hard pressed to evade. He knew better than to try to block those attacks. Finally, he tried one last trick as he suddenly threw another tear gas grenade to the floor, blinding the clone as its eyes starting involuntarily water up.

Striking quickly while the clone was still distracted, Krieg slipped on a pair of brass knuckles and tackled the clone to the floor. He straddled the creature and began pounding its face. Blow after blow rained down as Krieg struck in a frenzy, never pausing for fear of letting the enemy recover. But Krieg soon learned that his attempts were not even close to winning the fight for him, as he found his brass knuckles bent and cracked from beating the Kryptonian's face, while the clone itself was entirely unharmed. To add insult to injury, the clone landed one single blow on Krieg, and it sent him careening across the room until he smashed straight into the wall. That proved to be the last straw for Krieg, as he fell to the floor to be engulfed by blissful unconsciousness. But there was one last thought that went through his mind just before darkness claimed him. 'I should have been more persistent in my requests for a Kryptonite shard'.