|December 24, 2009, 09:05 EST
|Watchtower, Earth Orbit
The system's information echoed in Batman's mind. The urgency was palpable. "We need to move, and fast. We can't let that box disappear," he declared, his voice ringing with authority.
Without wasting a second, Batman headed for the library door, closely followed by Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, the Hawks, Zatara, and Superman. The League, determined, headed for the Zeta-Tubes station, hidden behind a private security door in the library. The Hall of Justice, its public facade, was left behind as they prepared to take action.
"Zeta-Tube, Hall of Justice," Batman announced, and the world around him dissolved in a whirlwind of light and energy.
Just moments later, the team emerged into the Hall of Justice, the main entrance to their public headquarters. Without pausing to admire the imposing architecture or the busts of the founders, they headed outside.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Hawks took to the sky, their towering figures silhouetted against the morning sky. Martian Manhunter, with his ability to stealth and fly, joined them. Batman, however, remained on the ground, his gaze fixed on Zatara.
"I'm not flying, Zatara," Batman said, his voice gravelly. "I don't have time for your hat tricks."
Zatara smiled mischievously. "They're not tricks, Batman. They're spells. And trust me, this is the fastest way." With a dramatic gesture, he traced a glowing circle in the air with his hand, speaking the magic words in reverse. "Egrof ot eht ria!"
A glowing portal opened, revealing a tunnel of swirling energy. Batman, though skeptical, trusted his partner and stepped into the circle, followed by Zatara. The image of the Hall of Justice faded, replaced by a whirlwind of magical light.
Within minutes, the team arrived at DC International Airport. Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Hawks landed with a thud, while Batman and Zatara emerged from the magical portal, slightly disoriented.
The airport cargo area was in chaos. The workers, as seen in the security video, were in a catatonic state, wandering aimlessly with blank expressions.
Martian Manhunter stepped forward, his brow furrowed with concern. "I'll try to free them," he said, his voice resonating with empathy. "But prepare yourselves. I don't know what I'll find in your minds."
The Martian Manhunter closed his eyes and extended his telepathic powers, entering the mind of one of the workers. What he saw made him recoil, his face twisting in horror.
"It's... terrible," he gasped, cold sweat running down his green forehead. "Their minds... are filled with suffering. Their greatest fears, their worst nightmares... all amplified, twisted. This 'Sebastian'... is a monster."
Zatara approached, his face grim. "I can help, J'onn. Chaos magic is powerful, but not invincible. Together, we can break its control."
Zatara and Martian Manhunter joined forces, magic and telepathy intertwining in a wave of energy that spread through the loading dock. The workers began to twitch, their eyes regaining focus, the horror on their faces slowly fading.
Batman, always focused on the mission, approached one of the workers who seemed more lucid. "The box? The large wooden box? Where was it sent?"
The worker, still trembling, consulted his handheld. "Yes, I remember it. It was loaded onto a cargo plane... destination: Lima, Peru."
A heavy silence fell over the League. Peru. They were outside their jurisdiction.
"Peru didn't sign the UN charter," Batman said, his voice gravelly. "We don't have the authority to operate there without the cooperation of the Peruvian government."
The situation was becoming increasingly complex. The trail was leading them to a foreign country, where bureaucracy and politics could slow down their search. But one thing was clear: they couldn't afford to wait. Time was running out.
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|Lima, Peru
|December 24, 2009, 1:00 PM PET (approximately)
|Inside a cargo plane
The interior of the box was dark, stifling, and noisy. The constant drone of the plane's engines was a monotonous vibration that sank into Sebastian's bones. He was huddled in a confined space, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of Wonder Boy, Warhawk, and Cherub. The scarlet energy that kept them in a deep sleep and floating gently also muffled the box's bumps and rattle during flight, but the exertion was palpable. The exhaustion that had begun to manifest itself in the alley in Washington now settled into every fiber of his being.
He had tried to communicate with Dubbilex countless times. At first, the connection had been weak, intermittent, like a radio signal fading in the distance. He heard fragments of thoughts, echoes from the G-Gnome network, but Dubbilex's voice grew fainter and fainter, until finally, silence took over his mind. The Cadmus mind network was a closed ecosystem, and once out of range, the connection had severed completely.
"Dubbilex... can you hear me?" Sebastian whispered, more out of habit than hope. He only received the deafening roar of the engines and the faint creaking of the box's wood. Loneliness, a feeling he had avoided during the frantic escape, began to envelop him. He was alone, with three lives to care for, in a box, heading for an unknown country, searching for a hero who might not even recognize him.
The darkness of the box felt dense, heavy. Despite the ventilation holes he'd drilled, the air was stale, and the smell of wood and jet fuel was overwhelming. He tried to relax his shoulders, but the tension was relentless. It had been a movie escape, but the reality of the situation was far more stark. The clones lay motionless, their faces serene in their magically induced unconsciousness, but the danger they posed if Cadmus retrieved them was imminent. And to himself.
Thoughts of the Justice League flashed through his mind. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman... Towering figures of justice and power. Could he trust them? In his previous "lives," the League was the epitome of good. But this was the world of Young Justice. A world with more nuances, more secrets, and with the shadow of Cadmus looming over everything. Distrust was a survival tool he'd learned in his transmigrations. He couldn't risk the clones being used as weapons, or worse, himself being classified as a dangerous anomaly and locked away.
The name Gregorio de la Vega, Strange, repeated in her mind like a mantra. A mystic. A detective. Someone who dealt with the unexplainable. If anyone could understand the chaos and magic now coursing through her veins, it was him. But the uncertainty of whether she would find him in Lima, or if she would have to venture into the vastness of the Amazon, was a thorn in her mind. The jungle. The thought alone made her stomach clench. She would have to be more careful how she used her powers once they landed. Mind control wasn't something she could use lightly without attracting the attention of local heroes or, worse, the authorities.
The minutes stretched into hours. Sebastian closed his eyes, trying to conserve his energy. Chaos magic was powerful, yes, but his body wasn't yet acclimated to it. He felt the drain, the fatigue. The plane's vibrations became a lullaby, and despite the strain, Sebastian's mind, exhausted by the escape and the constant effort, began to give in to tiredness. He didn't fall asleep completely, but he entered a state of semi-consciousness, a murky wakefulness where the sound of the engines mingled with distant echoes of explosions and the voices of Dubbilex.
He only hoped that, when the plane finally landed, Earth-16 would be benevolent enough to allow him to find Strange before the Justice League or Cadmus found him. His fate, and that of the clones, hung in the balance.
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|Lima, Peru
|December 24, 2009, 6:00 PM PET
Jorge Chávez International Airport, Cargo Area
Five hours of an interminable flight, filled with the constant roar of the engines and the oppressive darkness of the box. Sebastian had fallen into a kind of forced doze, exhaustion overcoming his alertness. It was the abrupt movement of the box, a rocking and a metallic clang, that jolted him awake. The sound of forklifts and the distant voices of workers became audible. The box was being unloaded.
Her heart leaped in her chest. She sat up, rubbing her eyes in the dimness. But before she could fully reorient herself, a shiver of alarm ran through her body. Not from the outside, but from the inside of the box.
Three pairs of eyes were looking at him.
Wonder Boy, Warhawk, and Cherub. Awake.
Their gazes were serious, inquisitive, and in Wonder Boy's case, intense. The three of them, freed from the sleep induced by Sebastian's magic, examined him with a steadiness that made him feel vulnerable. The scarlet energy that had kept them asleep had dissipated, or at least its soporific effect.
Before Sebastian could form a word, Wonder Boy reacted with the speed and strength that belied his genetics. A strong, swift arm reached out of the darkness, grabbing him by the neck with iron determination. While the grip wasn't completely strangling, it was firm enough to immobilize him, pushing him against the wooden wall of the box.
Wonder Boy's voice, despite being that of a teenager, resonated with surprising authority and a distinct lack of familiarity. His eyes, though still slightly clouded with the confusion of an abrupt awakening in a strange place, pierced him with a silent accusation.
"Who are you?" Wonder Boy asked, his voice low and gravelly, filled with a mixture of confusion, threat, and the newly acquired awareness of his own existence. His grip tightened slightly, a warning. "And what are we? And what the hell are we doing in this box?"
Wonder Boy's grip on Sebastian's neck was relentless, and the darkness of the box only heightened the feeling of claustrophobia. Sebastian's eyes flew open, struggling to breathe, his face beginning to take on an unhealthy hue. His mind, which had moments before been processing the clones' awakening, now only cried out for air. He tried to speak, to explain, but only a guttural gasp came out of his throat.
It was Cherub, the young, black-haired speedster, who reacted with a mixture of logic and budding concern. Though her own brown eyes were filled with questions, Sebastian's situation was obvious.
"Let him go!" Cherub's voice, surprisingly clear in the confined space, cut through the tension. "If you don't let him go, he won't be able to talk! How will we know what's going on if he can't say anything?"
Wonder Boy, though reluctant, gave in. With a grunt of frustration, he let go of Sebastian, who slumped a little, his hands clutching at his throat. The fresh air, though scarce, was a balm. He coughed violently, inhaling desperate lungfuls of air, his lungs burning. A few seconds passed that felt like an eternity as he caught his breath, his tearful eyes blinking in the darkness.
When he was able to speak, his voice was raspy and weak, but he forced himself to remain calm. "Fine... fine. I'm sorry. I needed... I needed to get us here safely." He looked at the three of them, his eyes moving from Wonder Boy to Warhawk and finally to Cherub. "My name is Sebastian. Sebastian Pierce."
He took another breath before continuing, quickly deciding what information he would reveal. His nature as a transmigrator was too complex and dangerous a secret to share now. He would focus on the essentials.
"And you," Sebastian continued, his voice regaining some strength, "are... are clones."
The word fell like a dead weight in the confined space. All three of their eyes widened slightly, Wonder Boy clenching his fists, Warhawk with an unreadable expression, and Cherub with a mixture of shock and curiosity.
"Clones," Wonder Boy repeated, his voice thick with disbelief and rising anger. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means they weren't born naturally," Sebastian explained, choosing his words carefully. "They were created. At Cadmus Labs. They're... projects."
He stopped, taking a deep breath. "Cadmus is a government genetic engineering facility. They specialize in cloning. They created you from the DNA of other individuals. Very powerful... individuals." He looked at Wonder Boy. "You, for example, were created using Wonder Woman's DNA." Then he turned to Warhawk. "And you, it seems, have Hawkman and Hawkwoman's DNA." His eyes fell on Cherub. "And you, the Flash's DNA."
The revelation seemed to hit them harder than any physical blow. Confusion and denial mingled with budding anger.
"Clones?" Warhawk asked, his voice a low growl. "Of whom?"
"Justice League members," Sebastian replied, observing their reactions. "They're his 'genetic donors,' if you want to put it that way. Or his 'parents,' if you prefer a simpler analogy. Cadmus created them for a purpose. I'm not sure what it was, but I know it wasn't good."
He swallowed, the memory of the G-Gnomes entranced and the mind-bending manipulation. "These projects... they're developing them. Not to be heroes of their own free will, but to be... weapons. To be controlled. Or worse, to attack their own genetic donors. Their 'parents.' To be used against the Justice League. It's what Cadmus does. They create beings to manipulate them, for their own purposes. And no one outside those walls really knows what they're doing."
The silence that followed was different. It was no longer the tension of confrontation, but the heavy silence of understanding. Wonder Boy unclenched his fists, his gaze fixed on nothing. Warhawk clenched his jaw. Cherub, with his brown eyes, seemed to process the information with astonishing speed, his sprinter's mind absorbing the details.
"I got you out of there," Sebastian continued, his voice softer now. "I tapped into the mind network of the G-Gnomes, the small creatures who work at Cadmus, to find information. I discovered what you were and what they intended to do to you. I couldn't leave you there. And... and I'm here because we need help. Someone we can trust."
The box moved again, with another thump and the sound of a forklift lifting it. Soon, they would be exposed. Sebastian looked at the three, waiting for their reaction. The confidence, or lack thereof, in their eyes would determine their next steps.
Warhawk, the Thanagarian clone, was the first to break the silence after Sebastian's revelation. His voice was deep, still tinged with distrust. "So what do we do now, Sebastian? Where are we supposed to go?"
Sebastian, feeling the box move, gripped one of the wooden walls. "We're at the airport in Lima, Peru. My plan is to find someone who can help us. A hero, but not from the Justice League. Someone who understands things... differently. His name is Gregorio de la Vega, aka Strange."
Wonder Boy, whose face still reflected a mixture of anger and astonishment at his own existence, interrupted. "And what exactly are our powers? What are we supposed to do?" His tone was demanding, desperate to understand.
Sebastian blinked. "That... the G-Gnomes didn't implant that information in their minds? When I was connected to their network, that information was available."
The three clones looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison.
"No," Cherub said, his voice surprisingly calm. "Just basic information. How to speak, how to understand the world, concepts... but nothing about our abilities or purposes."
"Same here," Warhawk growled.
"Just chaos," Wonder Boy added.
Sebastian sighed, feeling a chill. Cadmus wanted them controllable, not self-sufficient. It was classic MO. "Okay. So... Wonder Boy, you're a clone of Wonder Woman. That means you probably have superhuman strength, limited invulnerability, super speed (though not Flash-level), and possibly the ability to fly or glide. You might also have a connection to the truth, like her."
He turned to Warhawk. "You, Warhawk, are a clone of Hawkman and Hawkwoman. That gives you Thanagarian physiology. Probably superhuman strength, heightened senses, a healing factor, and... wings." Sebastian paused. "Though yours haven't fully deployed yet." He recalled the bony structures on her back. "And you're likely skilled in combat and have some resistance to magic, if you're anything like them."
Finally, his eyes settled on Cherub. "And you, Cherub, are a clone of the Flash. That makes you a speedster. You have a connection to the Speed Force. Super speed, the ability to vibrate through objects, generate gusts of wind, and possibly an accelerated metabolism." Sebastian looked at the small emanations of blue energy still flickering around her hands and feet. "You might also have a type of kinetic energy control."
The information was digested silently by the three. Wonder Boy flexed his hands, Warhawk stared at the structures on his back, and Cherub stared at his own hands in fascination.
"And you?" Warhawk asked, his voice more curious now. "What powers do you have? That energy... and how did you move us?"
"I... have what they call Chaos Magic," Sebastian replied, keeping the truth of his transmigrations a secret. "It's a very volatile power, but I can use it to levitate, fire energy blasts, and yes, to enter people's minds, like I did with those workers so they couldn't see us."
A new thought struck Warhawk. "If we're all made of hero DNA... and we all come from the same place... does that make us... brothers? Family?" His voice held a tone Sebastian hadn't expected, a budding search for identity and belonging.
Sebastian hesitated for a moment. It was a profound question, especially for newly created beings. "Perhaps. In a sense, yes," Sebastian said, thinking about the information he had gleaned from the G-Gnomes. "Because aside from the DNA of your genetic donors, all of you, and I as well, have Genomorph DNA."
The three of them turned from curiosity to confusion. "Genomorph?" Cherub asked.
"Yes," Sebastian explained, feeling the slight rocking of the crate as it was transported. "Genomorphs are Cadmus's first creations. Living beings genetically engineered to serve. They are, in essence, slaves. Their DNA is the 'glue' that allows your different DNAs to stabilize. It's the core of Cadmus's technology. They're like... the foundation of who you are."
"That means, in a way, we're all connected to them," Sebastian continued, his voice softer. "To Dubbilex, the G-Genomorph who helped me escape, and the G-Gnomes who work at Cadmus. They're... the first family Cadmus created. And now, you're the second. And I'm in the middle of all this. So yeah, in a way... we're kind of a dysfunctional family created by a crazy lab."
The idea of being "family" under those circumstances was strange, but the mention of the Genomorphs and the true nature of Cadmus added a layer of gravity that made them reflect. An uncertain fate awaited them in Lima, and now, they were not alone in their awakening, but shared a disturbing origin.
|Lima, Peru
|December 24, 2009, 18:10 PET
Jorge Chávez International Airport Warehouse
The journey finally ended. The crate's movement abruptly ceased, followed by the sound of chains and pulleys as it was lowered from the forklift. The three clones, adjusting to their newly awakened senses, felt the change.
"It seems we've arrived," Sebastian said, his voice still a little strained. "I'm sorry about this, but it's necessary." His hand began to glow with a crimson light, Chaos energy pulsing in his fingers.
Before Sebastian could do anything, Wonder Boy, with surprising speed, grabbed him by the collar, stopping him in his tracks. His gaze was serious, distrustful.
"No," Wonder Boy said, his grip firm but not violent. "You're not going to put us back to sleep." His voice was an implicit reminder of his strength. "We don't know who you are, but we're not going to let you control us."
Sebastian swallowed, feeling the weight of Wonder Boy's hand. He forced a stiff smile, nodding. "Okay. Okay. I understand. I'm not going to put you to sleep. I just... need you to trust me."
Carefully, Sebastian used his power to open the crate's lid, sliding it to the side. The bright light from the warehouse blinded them for a moment, revealing a vast space filled with crates and machinery. Still in Wonder Boy's grasp, Sebastian floated out of the crate, signaling the others to follow.
"Get out. We need to get out of here and find Strange," Sebastian said, his voice regaining its authoritative tone.
One by one, Wonder Boy, Warhawk, and Cherub stepped out of the box, their movements still a little clumsy as they adjusted to their bodies and powers. Cherub, in particular, seemed to move with almost imperceptible speed, his eyes scanning the surroundings with curiosity.
Once everyone was out of the box, Sebastian raised his hands. Scarlet energy danced around him, and with a swift gesture, he destroyed the visible security cameras in the warehouse. Then, he blocked the exit doors with his power, creating an invisible but impenetrable barrier.
"We can't allow them to track us," Sebastian explained. "We need time to find Strange and understand what's going on."
He turned to the clones, his gaze serious. "We need clothes. Something that won't make us stand out. Search this warehouse. There should be something there that will fit."
TO BE CONTINUED