On the Inside

The:

Driving past the soldiers and the tanks and the dozens and dozens of rocket launchers, all already with rockets in them, I ease up on the gas when I see a soldier approaching, his hand high in the air.

Stopping in front of a reinforced, metal gate with soldiers all around it, I look out the window to greet the soldier.

"Howdy," I say, shooting the guy a wave.

"Hello," he says, holding out his hand. "ID card, please."

Searching through the stolen uniform, I find the guy's ID card and hand it over. Taking it, he switches his gun for a barcode reader and scans the card.

"Hmm," I hear the guy mutter. "Where's the rest of your transport? I only see you."

Looking at the rest of the truck, he only sees the supplies for the base and no one else. Literally feeling the guy's eyes trying to cut right through me, I begin making circles with my hand.

"You will let me through," I chant, "Everything is okay, and you will let me through."

Shaking his head, and covering his eyes, he moans before looking back at me.

"Oh sorry," he says, shaking his head again. Turning to the other guards, he waves his hand high in the air.

"Let him through," the soldier yells, the metal gate opening and my foot back on the gas. Driving through, I look around for a bit.

"Iron wall as high as the sky," I thought, "Soldiers everywhere, each armed with automatic rifles. Tanks and rocket launchers. Cameras that capture everything. Oh hey, that camera is new. Never seen that one before."

Stopping and putting the truck into park, I get out of the seat and walk over to the back. Tapping it, I see four heads peek over.

"Okay," Oliver says. "So now what? We're in New Metropolis, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, with no clue how to get around or even inside the actual building?"

"Maybe you don't," I comment, "But I do. By the way, I'm kind of sorry, not really sorry about this."

Moving fast, I put my hands together, a ball of black invisible goo quickly forming in it. Once big enough, about the size of a football, I toss it at the four.

Shushing all of them before they could make a sound, I raise my hand and covering myself in the invisible goo.

"I remember this," Kara says, staring at her hand, rubbing her fingers together. "You used it just before we rescued Flash! It's some sort of invisibility goo, right?"

"Yes. While we are invisible to the naked eye, they can still hear us. So do all of us a favor and be quiet. Now, follow me."

The four of them jumping off and out of the back of the truck, we tiptoe through the courtyard, careful not to bump into any soldiers and make any sound.

Guiding the four to a garage door, I hold out my hand and order the four to stay back. On cue, the garage door opens and One Earth jeeps surrounded by soldiers rush out. The last of the soldiers running out, and the door starting to shut, I motion for everyone to quickly get inside.

"Man," I whisper, flipping my hand and making a small fireball. "Feels weird being here and not having to march around all day long."

"I thought you said we had to be quiet," Flash growls, "And what's with the fireball! People will see that!"

"I know."

Seeing a sprinkler in the ceiling, I toss the fireball at it, seconds later, the sprinklers all turning on and pouring water on us. An alarm going off seconds later, the whole garage flashing on and off, we watch as soldiers begin running through the hallway in front of us.

"What happened," one soldier yells.

"I don't know," another one screams. "The fire alarm went off, and there's smoke coming from Garage 2B!"

"Maintenance will check it out later," a third soldier shouts. "For now, let's get out of here!"

The footsteps echoing getting further and further away until I couldn't hear them anymore, I get up from kneeling and shake the invisible goo off. Turning around and seeing the others, wet and parts of them still invisible, I swipe the air and call forth a gust of wind to not only dry them off but also get rid of the goo.

"Come on. During fire drills like these, New Metropolis' protocol is for all soldiers to get out and for maintenance to check out the source of the blaze. Try and stay with me."

Running into the hallway, I turn and sprint toward where I think the three are being held.

"Hey wait up," Oliver yells, he and Dinah struggling to keep up. "We all don't have super speed or can fly!"

"I don't have super speed," I yell back, "I just run really fast!"

Taking a sharp left, I stop at a massive, white door, with an "S" smack right on the center of it.

"We're here," I say, turning around to see Oliver and Dinah out of breath. "If you need water, you can tilt your head back. Don't water, the sprinklers' water is okay to drink."

"Are you sure," Oliver pants, holding his chest.

"Of course. I drank it before and I'm semi-okay."

Looking at me, I turn back and focus on the keypad beside the door.

"Do you know the code," Kara asks, making her way through the other and to my side.

"No," I reply. "This is Superman's private chamber. Only he and his regimes are allowed the passcode. Unfortunately, I was never a regime."

"Hard to believe," Flash says.

Holding back my fists, Kara asks me to move aside.

"I got this," she says, punching and opening the door a little. Using her other hands, she grabs both doors and pries them open.

"Thank," I say, nodding at her as we enter, following after the water.

A massive room, with a large window as one of the walls that loom over the entire courtyard of the compound, there's also a giant computer opposite to the window, with a One Earth symbol on the screen. Running past the computer and the window, we stop when we see a large round table, with chairs all over it. Next to the table are the three, trapped in steel cages.

"Jason," Flash screams, running over to him and the others. "Professor Stein! Jaime!"

Reaching the two, I can see now they are all covered in cuts and bruises, and moaning very quietly. Despite all of that, luckily, none of them are glowing purple.

"Barry," Jason groans, his eyes barely open. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. It's us."

Finding the lock on the cages, Flash shakes it right off. Meanwhile, Kara crushes Stein's lock and using one of Oliver's arrows, I pick open Jaime's lock. Grabbing the three, we pull them out.

"Weird," Dinah says, helping Stein stand. "Why would Superman use these cages? They're easy to break out of."

Looking back at the cage, I realize Dinah is right.

"These cages are easy to break out of. Basic steel bar cages with a simple lock and key. Anyone can break out of them. Even if they are wounded. So why put two heavy hitters in them?"

Looking at the cages, and then around for a little, I stop when I see the ceiling.

"That's why," I say, pointing at the ceiling. Kara, Oliver, Dinah, and Flash are looking up, they see what looks like a round, glass sunroof. As if on cue, the sunroof opens, and flying above us is a skull with tentacles.

"Brainiac's ship," Kara says.

"No," a familiar voice echoes. "My ship."

Flying in from the floating skull is Superman himself, only now, instead of just being purple and black, he is glowing yellow.