The Curse of Cadmus

As we walked through the underground facility, we finally found a door that looked important. Robin hooked his wrist computer into it and started hacking into the system, while Aqualad and I kept watch.

As the door opened, we all stood in awe. Rows of towering bug-like creatures emitted electrical pulses that seemed to travel through a generator in the wall.

They were nearly 20 feet high, and I couldn't help but wonder how they managed to hide this massive underground facility from the world.

Kid Flash was the first to speak up. "Okay, I'm officially whelmed." Aqualad turned to him, and we all started walking between the rows of creatures.

"This is how they do it," Kid Flash said, pointing at the creatures. "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its power with these things." But his excitement quickly faded. "Must be what they're bred for." He concluded.

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad chimed in. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth."

"And this Cadmus created new life too," Robin added, stepping up to a computer nearest to one of the rows of creatures. "Let's find out why." He pulled out a connector from his gauntlet and started funneling the information.

"They call them Genomorphs." He said.

As Robin pulled up a holographic screen with information about the creatures, his eyes widened. "Whoa! Look at the stats on these things – super-strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons." He reeled back in shock.

"They're engineering an army," I stated.

"The question is for who?" Kid Flash questioned.

I was almost tempted to say the light but then stopped myself. I couldn't explain how I knew that and wasn't keen on Martian Manhunter taking a stroll through my mind or the possibility of having the lasso of truth used on me.

My memory was already spotty and other than a few major events that were memorable or that I happened across on the internet, my knowledge wasn't as useful as it should be. Sure, I knew who the bad guys were, but that didn't mean I knew what their exact plans were.

It also didn't help that I only ever saw the first season, and that was years ago, which wasn't exactly ideal for my current situation. I had a tendency to binge-watch shows and kept on doing so for the past few years, which wasn't doing me any favors for my memory.

By the time I died, I had already heard that were already 4 seasons of the show out, and other than a quick read-through of the major plot points or some of the seemingly interesting episodes I didn't know the details.

For example, I knew that Kid Flash dies at some point in the show, but couldn't for the life of me remember how or why.

Superboy also supposedly dies on Mars, from some sort of bomb laced with Kryptonite, but that was supposed to be sometime in the far, far future and honestly wasn't a major concern since Mars was a few light years away.

I was suddenly taken out of my musings by Robin's voice.

"Wait. There's something else." Robin said as another batch of information came through his gauntlet. Aqualad stepped up behind Robin, looking over his shoulder.

"Project Kr." He tried to start decrypting it.

"Ugh! The file's triple-encrypted. I- I can't"

Suddenly, someone called out from behind us. He was standing in the room with a golden shield on his left forearm and a squad of smaller, Genomorphs growling around him.

These creatures were longer, skinnier, tailed, and had four digits on their front paws, and the three on their back were finished off with razor-sharp claws. They were the Genomorph 077s that Robin had pulled stats on.

"Wait, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash and you're that new hero?" the man said, eyeing me.

"Zodiac," I replied.

"At least he recognized you from the news," Robin teased, working on the Kr file behind us, so the man couldn't see him.

"I know you," Aqualad said, momentarily catching his attention. "Guardian, a hero."

The man, Guardian, stood tall. "I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash asked, confused.

"I'm Chief of Security," Guardian responded. "You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

No one said anything for a tense moment, but everyone heard the beeping from Robin's gauntlet that indicated his decryption was still running.

"You think the League's going to approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid Flash demanded.

"Weapons?" Guardian questioned, confused. "What are you-" Guardian's eyes went wide just before his G-gnome's horns began to glow.

"What have I-" he brought his hand to his temple.

"Ugh my head." Finally, he brought his hand away, but he glared hard at us.

"Take them down hard!" he ordered the Genomorphs. "No mercy."

With a growl, the Genomorphs jumped into action.

Kid Flash's body moved with lightning-fast speed as he dodged the Genomorph's sharp claws aimed at his face. The Genomorphs were relentless in their attack, but due to his quick reflexes and agile movements, he was easily able to dodge.

He sprinted up the wall, and as he reached the top, he propelled himself towards the Genomorphs with a dual punch that landed squarely on their chests.

With the Genomorphs momentarily stunned, Kid Flash took advantage of the situation and pushed off the opposite vertical support, executing an inverted flip in mid-air.

As he landed on the ground, he was once again already in motion, propelling himself towards one of the Genomorphs with a powerful kick to the chest, and continued weaving in and out of their attacks with ease.

Aqualad had a Genomorph on his shoulders slicing at his chest and gripping his head. His tattoos suddenly started glowing before electricity traveled through the creatures, momentarily stunning them and giving him the advantage. He got ahold of its arm and threw it off, then combated the next one coming at him with a front kick to the chest.

Meanwhile, I drew on the Ox talisman's power and charged toward Guardian and as soon as I reached him; I slammed into him with a full-body tackle. He was caught off guard, and his eyes widened as he was lifted off his feet and sent crashing to the ground. His body tumbled uncontrollably, rolling across the floor like a ragdoll, until he collided with the insectoid Genomorphs.

But my victory was short-lived. Just as I was about to finish him off, a pair of Genomorphs darted in front of me, interrupting my assault.

They moved with an incredible speed, their razor-sharp claws gleaming in the dim light. I launched a kick at the first Genomorph, but it was too quick, dodging my attack effortlessly. The second one lunged forward, aiming for my chest.

I braced myself for the impact, gritting my teeth as its claws tore through my uniform and dug into my shoulder. The pain was excruciating, but I didn't let it show. Instead, I took advantage of its momentum, grabbing onto its forearm and using my strength to lift it up and throw it to the ground.

Its partner seemed stunned by my display of brute strength, and I seized the opportunity to strike. Gripping the Genomorph in my hand like a club, I swung it at the other creature with all my might.

The impact was deafening, and the creature was sent flying, its body slamming into the ground with a sickening thud.

But the fight wasn't over yet. The fallen Genomorphs scrambled to their feet, hissing angrily as they lunged towards me. I was ready for them, though.

I launched a barrage of punches and kicks, each blow landing with a satisfying thud. One by one, the creatures fell to the ground, rendering them unable to fight. I turned back to Guardian, who was struggling to get back on his feet, and seemed to be calling for more Genomorphs.

Robin quickly disconnected his gauntlet and turned to us. "We have to get out of here." He started to run towards a door, further away than the one we came from.

The Genomorphs were fast, but Kid Flash was faster. He sped past them, punching a few along the way, while Aqualad used his hydrokinetic powers to create a path for us through the creatures.

I covered our backs knocking back any Genomorph that got too close.

As we reached the door of an elevator, Robin hooked his wrist computer into it again, trying to override the system. But the Genomorphs were closing in fast.

"Robin, hurry up!" I shouted, as I watched the group of creatures getting too close for comfort.

"I'm trying!" Robin yelled back, typing frantically on his computer.

Finally, the door hissed open, and we all dove in, turning and facing back down the hall as the door closed right behind us. We leaned against the elevator wall, panting heavily after narrowly avoiding the claws of the Genomorphs.

"That was close," Kid Flash said, grinning.

"Too close," Aqualad replied, looking at us all with concern.

Robin turned to me. "Nice work back there."

I smiled, feeling a rush of pride. "Thanks."

"But we're not out of the woods yet," Robin continued, looking at his wrist-computer.

The numbers on the elevator were going up, which meant we were going deeper underground.

Aqualad was the first to voice not only his concern but also his dislike, which was obvious in his harsh tone. "We're headed down?"

"Dude, out is up." Kid Flash said. Both older boys looked at Robin in tense confusion, while I stood silent.

"Excuse me?" Robin questions, offended.

"Project Kr, it's down on Sub-Level 52."

Aqualad cuts them off. "This is out of control." then moves it to rub the back of his neck as he moves to the far side of the expansive elevator. "Perhaps we should contact the League."

While they were busy arguing amongst themselves, I took a moment to catch my breath and assess my injuries. The wound on my shoulder was deep, and blood was seeping through into my uniform. But I couldn't let that slow me down, so I closed my eyes and a few moments later my body shone with dim light, as I drew on the power of the horse talisman.

In a few moments, my injured shoulder and uniform started to heal and before Iong it was done.

They all seemed to notice and gave me curious looks, " I was injured by one of the Genomorphs, so I took a moment to heal myself." I explained.

Robin and Aqualad nodded and just seemed to accept it, while Kid Flash gave me an incredulous look" Dude, how many powers do you have? "

I shrugged, " A few, but I'm not about to talk about it, while we're in enemy territory. As far as we know there could be listening devices in the elevator and the bad guys just heard all of our plans."

They all had the decency to look a bit embarrassed for making such an obvious mistake.

The elevator abruptly slowed down and came to a halt with a "ding" sound at Sub-Level 52, jolting all of us forward.

" Keep your eyes open. They could've already sent some of those creatures to ambush us. Some of them were clearly telepathic and we don't their range." I warned. In response, they all nodded and prepared themselves.

It was time to rescue our future teammate.

(Chapter End)

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