Volume II - Chapter Thirty

Terry's head was pulsing in pain. The ache seemed to come from a wound on the side of his head, yet he had no memory of ever receiving such an injury… It was at that moment that he began to think, 'Why was I unconscious in the first place?' Maybe this was a thought he should have had when he first woke up, but the blinding pain was clearly affecting his cognitive functions.

Had he been struck during the escape from the tomb? Was he a captive at that moment? Several questions raced through his injured mind, which made the pain shoot to all-new heights. Wayne had constantly drilled him on circumstances like this particular one. Those lessons were mostly focused on identifying his surroundings and making as many observations about the place before he betrayed the fact that he was conscious.

In the words of the old man, 'You can never have too much information'. Therefore, ignoring his headache, he attempted to use his five senses to discover any information that could be useful for his escape.

Though it wasn't a sense of the body he attempted to recall what he was doing last…

He vaguely remembered exiting the tomb with Wayne, Dick, and Angela… but not much else. If that was the case… it meant, they must have been attacked sometime afterward. Possibly all of them were captured and moved from the forest to wherever this was.

The first sense was touch.

The hard smooth like surface below him allowed Terry to rule out still being in the middle of the forested area outside of the tomb. If he wasn't mistaken, he was on an actual floor, not a bed nor table and it was also distinguishable from the League of Assassins' uneven stone as well.

The next was sound…

No hum of large machinery, or the sound of soldiers marching nearby. No identifiable sounds around him in which he could glean any clues to his current whereabouts.

Terry ruled out the sense of taste immediately, doing something like licking the floor wouldn't give him more information, and even if it did, he'd take his chances this time. Which left 'smell' taking a deep breath in, Terry noticed that the air was sterile. Wanting to growl in frustration, his current location unknown, his best guess was that this was a lab of some kind.

The bat-cave would've smelled too earthy and he'd have known instantly he was safe. As much as the old man tried, a cave would always be a dim dark hole in the ground.

Suddenly, as if someone turned the volume up on his hearing, voices could be heard close by. Giving him a shock, he hoped the slight jerk of his body hadn't given him away.

"…Genomorph Gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education." A somewhat familiar voice relayed sourly. The words didn't make any sense to him, but he continued to listen hoping to gain more information about his current circumstances.

Another voice coming from across the room stated, "And we can guess what else…" in a matter of fact tone. These words seemed to have their desired effect as he continued determinedly. "They're making a slave out of… Uh well, Superman's son."

There was something about the words, 'Superman's son," that irked Terry internally as strong negative emotions pulsed through the young Dark Knight. Forgetting all pretenses, he opened his eyes and began to scan around him. The room was mostly dark, only slightly dim light came from unmanned stations scattered around the area. The walls were covered in what appeared to be strange red plants that made the room appear alien in origin. He spotted large amounts of green fluid being sent into a massive covered tank at the edge of the room.

Curiosity spurred Terry to see what was beneath the covered area but the sight of another person beside him caught his attention instead. To his utter surprise, Kara lay motionless at his side. The steady rise and fall of her chest gave Terry the tale-tell signs of breathing, which made him let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding.

Her previously pristinely white costume was in tatters and stained like it had been in a mud pit for weeks. The sight of her bruised face and short hair made him wonder what they had been through to get them here in such a condition. Terry didn't know much about Kryptonian's but what he did know was that they didn't go down easily, and keeping them down was much harder.

"Now we contact the League," Another person said bringing back Terry's attention to what they were saying. Whoever he was he sounded the eldest of the three voices, yet still young. Terry wasn't sure what was going on, but they seemed to belong in this place as much as he did.

Terry realized these people weren't as near as he originally thought. They were definitely close by, but not in the same room, possibly there was a connection between them. He didn't see a doorway or an entrance of any kind. Terry assumed there was a hatch or button to move one of the walls.

For the moment, it seemed like no one had a clue they were even here. Which begged the question… How in the blipping hell did they get here in the first place? At least for the moment, he had a chance to piece everything together.

"No signal," The first voice spoke after a few moments.

"We're in too deep… literally." The second voice reaffirmed, there was also something hinted in his tone as if the truth of that statement meant something more.

"Slaggit," Terry spoke for the first time since he woke up.

Attempting to get to his feet, Terry felt aches and pains all over his body. Looking down at himself, he received another surprise. His Bat-suit looked to be completely repaired and had seemingly been improved upon as well.

Similar to his previous uniform, there was a red bat symbol on his chest but what was different was the edges were lightly outlined in gold. No matter how many times he looked at his new symbol he saw the same shade of gold Diana wore. He got the feeling that the fact it was there somehow meant acknowledgment from the princess.

Shaking his head at the thought he continued examining his suit. It seemed like his body had grown since the last time he saw it. His muscles were more defined and although it might have been a misconception… Was he taller? What seemed to stand out the most was the large bracers on his arms, and there seemed to be a design with what appeared to be a 'W' on them.

Strangely they didn't seem heavy… But how in Gotham did he get them?! Suddenly a memory flashed in his head. There seemed to be no sound, just a smiling Diana helping him clasp them to his wrist. There was definitely something going on… "H..Have I lost my memory?!" he spoke out in shock.

---

In a corridor not far away stood a man wearing a golden helmet. In this time period, he was known as 'Guardian' aka Jim Harper. He has been working for the last five years as a police officer in Metropolis' Suicide Slum. Recently, he was offered employment in a position as chief of security at Cadmus Labs. Although Jim loved his life as a police officer, his sister Mary had been accepted at an Ivy League institution and he had to take this job to fill in the extra expense.

Something was strange about this place he had been working, but he couldn't seem to put his finger on it. Surrounded on each side by a Genomorph a few scientists attempted to manually hotwire a door to force it open, Guardian had a sense of growing frustration as he watched.

A Doctor came running down the hallway and as the Anthropoid approach, gaining Guardian's attention. "They're still in there with the weapon?" Desmond sounded accusatory addressing Guardian with a stern face.

"We can't get the door open," Guardian explained, not attempting to pin the blame on the female scientist who was currently working on the door.

"Use your telekinesis!" Desmond commanded the Anthropoid wearing a white lab coat.

"I have tried to no avail," he responded simply as if Desmond's words meant very little to him.

"Useless! This is a debacle." Seeming to calm he approaches Guardian. "Get some G-trolls down here and muscle the door open, now!"

Guardian put his hands on his hips. "Already on their way," he said crossing his arms defensively.

"You realize once we get in there, we can't ever let them leave," Desmond said darkly.

Narrowing his eyes at the doctor, "Doc, these aren't your typical meddling kids." Guardian replied attempting to make the man see sense. "You don't want to get on the wrong side of the Justice League."

"Better than getting on the wrong side of the Cadmus Directors, believe me," he stated darkly, then transferred his sight onto the G-gnome standing on Guardian's shoulder. "Contact the G-gnomes inside Kr."

Suddenly, its horns began to glow and the creature seems to concentrate strongly in the direction of the door.

With its success, the horns of all three Genomorphs inside the room also begin to glow red and the strange creatures start to hiss lightly.

---

"This is wrong." Kid Flash concludes as he stares at the teenager in the glass container.

Needing no convincing, Dick affirms, "We can't leave him like this."

Both boys looked to their third companion, who was seemingly concentrating. "Set him free." Aqualad decided.

The Boy Wonder needed no further prodding and began hacking immediately. All three watched as the pod fell away from the boy who looked physically sixteen years of age. Though the pod that contained him was removed he remained calmly sleeping.

With the clench of the boy's right hand, Aqualad's brow furrowed in cautiousness.

As the sound of a hiss entered their ears, bright blue eyes snapped open with a fierceness that astounded everyone in the room. Raising his eyebrows in a silent question, Aqualad looked briefly at his companions but no one dared to actually speak a word. But before anyone can blink the boy launched himself at Aqualad tackling him to the ground. Leaving the other two to watch as the pair tumbled behind them in shock.

The boy wearing Superman's symbol on his shirt ended up on top of Aqualad, and as quick as lightning his fist came down striking the tanned skinned boy squarely in the face. Getting three full hits in before Kid Flash and Robin managed to grab his arms holding him back while still straining with the effort.

Suddenly as the four boys were fighting a huge boom shook the room as one of the four walls shook slightly. Everyone paused for a moment not expecting such an event to happen. Just as Superboy starts to struggle with his future teammates once more a huge piece of the wall is blasted out and shoots towards its opposite narrowly missing the four teens as it flew by.

"Whoa! Hang on, Supey. Do ya got a brother or something?" Kid Flash said while still holding the Kryptonian's forearm with all his strength.

"We're on your side!" Robin yells also attempting to talk to the raging manic boy into submission. Kid Flash loses his fight against Superboy and gives the clone enough time to land an uppercut under the speedster's jaw.

Flying back and through a display cylinder Kid Flash looks up to see a man wearing a black suit with a red bat symbol on the front carrying an unconscious blonde in his arms.

Shaking his head at the sight, "Sorry Supey, it looks like you don't have a brother," looking at Robin in bewilderment before speaking again, "but I believe Boy Wonder does." Then flopped to the ground, unconscious.

Terry looked at the scene in front of him in bewilderment, he was sure he heard Dick's voice earlier. Still half believing no time had passed since they were at the tomb he acted impulsively and broke down the door. He knew that he had gotten a power boost earlier but he was still didn't suspect that he had the ability to knock down steel walls. But he did notice his strength wasn't as overwhelming as it had been in the tomb.

Something told him this fact must have something to do with the bracers on his arms which had the effect of restricting his power. This knowledge just seemed to come to him and for the moment he didn't have a chance to question it.

Seeing the young boy wearing the Robin suit struggling with a physically larger opponent, Terry asks the first question that came to his mind, "Who are you?"

Smiling grimly at the question that should have been his own, Dick says, "A little help?"

Quickly making a decision to assist, Terry laid Kara on the ground once more and rushed toward the struggling pair.

---

In another realm separated by a thin veil, four beautiful women watched as these events played out. The scene was silent until a woman with dark hair and crystal blue eyes spoke.

"Was it wise to erase the last six months memories from our champion? His experiences for the past half-year will help him on this quest, would they not?" She asked with confusion marring her cold face.

"We have only taken away his memory of those events, not the experiences. If we had not… We would have a broken champion and nothing we tried would matter. Besides, we have given him his lover. She will help guide him." The second beauty spoke. Her hair was white and her eyes green. If Terry could hear her voice, he'd be able to recognize it as the woman he had spoken with first used his abilities.

"This feels like a great manipulation to me," The third beauty spoke, seemingly aggrieved about what they were doing.

"Yes, you are right. This is indeed a manipulation. But this must be done, for the survival of our entire galaxy. If I could take on this burden, I would. Yet, no immortal will be able to achieve the same thing a mortal champion could. He can hate us if he likes, but that is a price I am willing to pay." The fourth beauty spoke with conviction.

Seemingly agreeing with this opinion, the group of women grew quiet once more as they continued to watch as the events played onward.