“Wake up XIII.” Beyond waited at the door as the guards attempted to wake the sleeping clone.
“I didn’t do it!” XIII jolted awake defensively.
“We’re not accusing your of anything XIII.” Beyond said dryly.
“Oh it’s you Beyond.” XIII yawned as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “What time is it?”
“0300 hours.”
“0300 hours? Why are we up?” XIII whined, he was sorely tempted to return to his dreamland, but he knew better than to irritate the young advisor.
“A mission, what else?” Beyond said bluntly as he turned to leave. “You have five minutes to clean up.”
The super clone groaned. “What mission takes place at 0300 hours? We went to bed at 0100.” He muttered irritably.
Indeed, the two projects had less than two hours of rest each. For the most part of the day, both of them were engaged in physical and combat training. Beyond was trained in capoeira, the Brazilian fighting style. With his small stature, using power to back up his attacks would be useless. This style would give him higher maneuverability and a good foundation in acrobatics, best to compliment the addition of a light weapon.
His choice in weapon was the Taurus Millennium. A small, light-weighted gun with ten shots per round, the ideal weapon. Learning the basics of the weapon proved to be no trouble, but the only trouble he had was the fire recoil.
XIII’s training was no different from what Galatea has gone through in the past. The only difference was the inclusion of the red sun simulation, also known as RSS. Dr. Selig had completed Beyond’s project request and it was used on occasion to test XIII’s ability to adapt to fighting without power. The RSS wasn’t portable yet, however, it functioned as a mean to punish either Galatea or XIII.
Their training was separate at first, but eventually Cadmus had joined their sessions together to test their adaptability.
“You want me to shoot him?” Beyond asked dully.
“You want him to shoot me?” XIII repeated the question in disbelief.
“It’s not like it’ll hurt you.” Beyond continued as he checked over his gun and the magazines. “At most it’ll just ricochet off you.”
“But that’s not what I meant!” XIII whined.
“Quit your whining XIII, let’s get this over with so we can get some dinner.” Beyond grabbed a belt with five additional magazines before walking into the simulation room.
“Oh man.” XIII shook his head before following the small advisor with his hands in his pockets.
The simulation was a replica of Crime Alley in Gotham City. XIII was grounded and paced himself at normal human speed, while Beyond maneuvered about the area with only his gun as his aide. With XIII physically older than Beyond, he had an easier time running about and his Kryptonian genetics kept him from tiring easily compared to the young advisor. With the physical disadvantage Beyond opted not to chase him. Instead, he judged XIII’s pattern before moving to the location.
“Yes! So far no hits!” XIII cheered to himself happily until he felt multiple impacts on his back, the Taurus Millennium was an automatic. “Aw man…”
“You’re losing concentration XIII.” Beyond said from the fire escape as he emptied his cartridge and reloaded another magazine.
“You’ve got to be kidding me! How did you find me?” XIII shouted as he ran.
Training continued for two hours. Beyond emptied five magazines and more, visiting the reloading stations frequently. However, during the sixth run about Crime Alley, the training was interrupted by a strong tremor. Beyond lost his footing and fell off the roof.
“XIII!” He shouted as he fell.
“Beyond!” XIII quickly flew up to catch him. “You okay? What the heck was that?”
“Not sure.” Beyond frowned.
“Resume your training. It’s none of your concern.” An announcement came from above.
“You flew.” Beyond commented as he checked his gun for damages from the drop. Fortunately, the gun was drop-safe and didn’t fire when it hit the ground.
“I didn’t fly, I jumped.” XIII defended himself with a grin. He hadn’t hovered during the landing, so they couldn’t prove him wrong.
Beyond gave a test shot to the wall before glancing to him. “I’ll give you a five-minute head start.”
“Oh come on! Should you really be saying that to someone who saved you?” XIII whined.
“…” Beyond lowered his gun for a moment, making XIII grin in victory against the small advisor. “Four minutes and thirty seconds.”
“No fair!” XIII shouted as he ran off.
The tremors continued for the next half an hour before they were told to stop. It turned out Superman and Huntress had broken into Cadmus. Apparently, earlier during the day Question had attempted to assassinate President Luthor and when he failed, he was captured and sent to Cadmus for interrogations. The facility shook from the fight between Superman and Captain Atom.
Amanda Waller ordered for Cadmus to pack and relocate immediately. XIII and Galatea were assigned to move the more valuable machineries. Beyond was assigned with transferring data and check listing whatever data they needed rid if they cannot move everything to the new site. The transferring process was completed within forty-fives minutes. By the time Beyond was in the copter to the new location, the Watch Towered fired. The shockwave from the blast nearly sent the copter crashing if not for the expert pilot.
He could only watch as the smoke rose from the distance. If that was how the Justice League operated, it looked like they were going to have a war soon.
“Beyond!” XIII ran up to him in a panic when he arrived at the new location.
“What is it?” Beyond asked as he was pulled out of the copter by the super clone.
“I broke some of the equipment they told me to transport over.” He said in a hurry.
“And what do you want me to do about it?” Beyond raised a brow. XIII shifted uncomfortably, unable to answer. The young advisor sighed. “How badly did you break it?”
“Uh… dented? Cracked?” XIII said sheepishly.
“They can fix it, don’t worry about it. Unless they were delicate equipment, which I doubt they’ll let you handle. They probably had Galatea carry those.”
“Oh…” A wave of relief passed the clone before he smiled brightly. “Great! When do you think we can get dinner?”
“When we’re done settling in I assume.” Beyond muttered.
It was five hours before either of them had a bite to eat. By the time they were fed and cleaned up, it was already one in the morning. Not even two hours into their sleep they were dragged out their beds for their assignments.
“Are you sleeping?” XIII’s voice came through the speakers before Beyond glanced up at one of the many screens he was monitoring. The clone was seated in front of the prison cell, hugging onto the backrest of the seat as he rocked back and forth.
“I should be saying that to you, I have more pressing matters to attend to.” Beyond said dryly through his voice changer as he glanced for any movement on the screen.
“Ugh… How long do you think they’ll be keeping them there?” XIII yawned. “I want to go back to bed already.”
“Stay awake.” Beyond warned.
“Give the kid a break, it’s late.” A voice interrupted. “Besides, who the heck sends a kid to guard the Justice League?”
Six of the original seven Justice Leaguers surrendered to Cadmus in order to prove their innocence. The six included: Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, Jon the Martian and The Flash. The one who spoke up on XIII’s behalf was the Flash. Beyond hadn’t bothered to respond to his question.
“Unless that is not the case.” Jon the Martian spoke.
“What do you mean?” Hawk Girl asked.
“The boy is obviously trained in some extent to be placed here…” the Martian murmured.
There was a moment of silence before XIII chuckled, Beyond glanced up briefly to see what happened. “Nice try, but it won’t work.”
“Jon?” Superman questioned.
“… I cannot read his mind.” He stated. “He must’ve been trained to block me out.”
“But… why send a kid?” Flash asked. “If we did try to break out, it’s not like he could do anything.”
“But that’s not the case is it?” Jon spoke up.
“What’s Cadmus planning to do with us?” Superman asked XIII.
XIII shrugged. “How should I know? I was only told to come here and guard you guys. You should ask Beyond this stuff, he’s probably knows more.”
“Beyond?” Superman questioned.
“XIII.” Beyond said warningly.
“Sorry.” The clone murmured.
“So you’re Beyond.” The man of steel concluded. “What is Cadmus planning to do with us?”
“What makes you think I would tell you?” Beyond snipped. “You’re not in the position to be questioning anyone.”
“Why you! We already surrendered ourselves to you! What more do you want?” Hawk Girl snapped.
Beyond hadn’t bothered to look at the screen. “You surrendered yourselves unconditionally without requesting for anything in exchange for your imprisonment. This is possibly the single most dumbest decision I’ve ever witness, but I supposed that was your choice. I’m only informing you what you’ve done wrong.”
There was a pause of silence before Superman spoke up. “Voice? You’re the Voice aren’t you? You work for Cadmus?”
“Oh, you guys know each other?” XIII questioned. Beyond remained silent. “Fine, be like that.”
“So… who’s this voice fellow?” Wonder Woman asked.
“He’s an advisor to the previous president… but I’m guessing you work for Lex now?” Superman asked.
“The president had expressed that he did not require my assistance or advisement.” Beyond responded evenly.
“In other words, you got fired.” Flash quipped.
There was a brief silence before XIII’s laughter came through. “He got you there Beyond.”
“What are you planning to do with us?” Superman asked again. “Now that we surrendered to you?”
Beyond refrained from sighing, this man was persistent. “…Absolutely nothing…” He replied after a moment.
“What?” Superman said in confusion.
“Must I repeat myself? You surrendered yourself to the jurisdiction of the government. There is nothing I can do or will do to you. I’m merely here to keep an eye on XIII.”
“Ah, he’s cranky.” XIII muttered.
“Cranky? How could you tell? He’s a disfigured voice.” Green Lantern commented.
“I thought it was pretty obvious.” The clone said, clueless to what he had unconsciously noticed.
The two projects had been around one another for so long, it was nearly instinctive for them to realize what the other was feeling. XIII couldn’t explain how he knew, but Beyond could easily tell you otherwise. One example was how well XIII could hide his irritation, his increase in cheerfulness was usually a sign something was annoying him. Since both projects were exhausted from the day’s work, neither were in a good mood.
Beyond in particular was in a foul mood. Not only was he watching over XIII guarding the Justice League, he was also searching for Batman. The man was the only original that hadn’t surrendered himself imprisonment. He didn’t want to face the man. To him this assignment was more difficult compared to anything he’s done so far. Other than the screen to the cell for the Justice League, he had the rest of the new Cadmus facilities on watch. One was in the conference room where all the department heads were waiting anxiously for the president’s call on the matter.
He was surprised that Luthor hadn’t called immediately after what happened to Cadmus. Seeing how the man held an unending grudge on Superman, he would think this was the perfect time to act immediately. Superman was in custody it was an ideal time to extract revenge. Yet, he waited thirty minutes after the attack before doing anything against the league. There was something suspicious about this, but he had no time to ponder. His job at the moment was to search for Batman.
“How much longer until my replacement comes?” XIII yawned, resting his head on the backrest of the seat.
“Stay awake XIII.” Beyond repeated.
“But I’m tired.” He whined.
“They’re not going to be happy to find you sleeping on the job. It’s just a few more hours before your replacement comes.” He lied.
Galatea was being prepped to attack the Watch Tower with the new generation of Ultimen. If he told XIII, he would’ve whined and the Justice League would know that the Watch Tower was under attack.
“Why do I have to do the first watch?” He grumbled.
“I seem to recall you broke some of the equipment during the transfer.” Beyond quipped.
“Hey! That was an accident!” XIII retorted with a pout.
Beyond paused in his work, sighing quietly before glancing at the prison screen again. What was a good way to keep XIII awake without constantly talking to him? “If you’re that bored, try talking to your father. After all, he is in the cell with the rest of them.”
“I have a father?” XIII said in bewilderment. “Who is it?”
“Why don’t you figure it out yourself? There are only six of them in that cell.” Beyond noted XIII’s posture straightened.
“Is this some sort of trick Voice?” Superman grounded out.
“There is no need for me to be playing tricks with a simpleton as you.” The little advisor retorted.
“He wouldn’t anyway.” XIII quipped.
“What makes you say that?” Flash asked.
“There are no merits in lying to you.” XIII commented. “It’s considered a waste of time to lie to people that you cannot gain benefits from. At least that’s how Beyond operates.”
“And you trust a guy with so many names?” Green Lantern questioned skeptically.
XIII shrugged. “Don’t know about the other names, but Beyond is—”
“XIII.” Another warning.
“Sorry.” XIII murmured again. He wasn’t trained in withholding information yet, the priority was to get his powers in control and prevent anyone from reading him mind.
“What makes you think he won’t lie to you then?” Green Lantern continued.
“What merits does he have in lying to me?” He asked.
“…” They were silent.
“So, have you figured it out who is it yet?” Beyond asked as he watched Galatea leave the facilities.
“Well… I narrowed it down to the guy with the cape and the guy in the red suit, but that’s about it… can I get a hint?” No response. “Oh I give up, it’s not like it’s matters if I know who my dad is. None of the other projects have parents anyway, right?”
“I thought you would like to know at least.” Beyond murmured.
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” Superman interrupted. “A family is very important!”
“Is it important?” XIII asked curiously, startling the league at his ignorance of normal life.
“Take it from someone who knows.” Superman continued. “Having a family is great, it’s the best gift life can offer.”
“How so?” XIII asked, captivated by Superman’s propaganda of family greatness. Beyond was mildly interested as well. While he read plenty about the sociological functions of a family, he didn’t understand why so many people preferred to have such a group.
“It just is. There’s no why or reason, it’s just something you have to experience yourself. My ma and pa would have loved to meet you and show you.”
“Hmm… What do you think Beyond?” XIII asked.
Beyond hadn’t responded immediately, he found himself thinking back to when the adults disappeared. When they returned, a woman hugged him for caring for her daughter while she was gone. “… It’s just… something you have to experience yourself.” He found himself repeating Superman’s line quietly.
“… So, Beyond which one is my dad?” XIII asked again.
The little advisor shook his head to clear the thoughts that lingered. “Why don’t you ask anyone save for your dad, I’m sure they’re already figured out who is your dad.”
“Huh?” XIII tilted his head curiously.
“It’s Superman’s son.” Hawk Girl commented dryly, “The resemblance is uncanny.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Superman sounded miffed.
“Superman… so… which one of you would be Superman?” XIII asked.
“Are you serious? How can you not know who Superman is?” Flash said in disbelief. “Have you been living under a rock?”
“Hey bite me! I can’t help it that they didn’t tell me anything! I was dragged out of bed at 0300 hours with less then two hours of sleep to guard you.” XIII grumbled.
“But you can ask anyone and they would know who Superman is…” Wonder Woman said in bewilderment. “How old are you… XIII is it?”
“Uh… a month I think… or a year, if you count my time in the tube… you’ll have to ask Beyond for the specifics.”
“Six weeks.” Beyond replied before they asked.
“What he said.” XIII chirped.
“So you’re a Cadmus project!” Flash concluded. “What are you supposed to be? A Superman clone?”
XIII shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I wasn’t told anything.”
Beyond frowned, they were starting to pry into areas they shouldn’t enter. Before he could interrupt, he caught movement on one of his screens. Temporarily ignoring the prisoners, he focused on that screen and noted Batman had broken in to confront Waller in the conference room. He quickly alerted security to assist Waller. The prisoners were more distracting than he expected.
“It seems that your replacement won’t be coming XIII.” Beyond interrupted, in attempts to lead the league’s attention elsewhere.
“What? Why not?” He whined dejectedly.
“She was reassigned.” He continued as XIII gave a dejected groaned and slumped over his seat. “But I don’t suppose it’ll be much longer before you’re allowed to return to your quarters.”
“Huh?” XIII was puzzled.
“I do wonder why Batman hadn’t surrendered himself as the rest of you have. He has no superpowers, if Cadmus was to capture him, he wouldn’t stand a chance.” He commented.
“Batman is more than capable of taking care of himself.” Wonder Woman defended.
“But he’s only human, why such confidence on him?” Beyond continued to question, none of them seemed bothered at all by Batman’s actions. “He’s quite confident, breaking into Cadmus the way he had.”
“What?” The League was obviously startled that someone had spotted the dark knight breaking in.
“In addition to monitoring XIII, I am keeping track of Batman’s movements. Superman, you’re aware of my duties and capabilities, is that really a surprise?”
“What are you going to do to him?” Wonder Woman asked.
“Hmm… Well he didn’t surrender himself like the rest of you… If he gets captured, I guess he’ll go through punishment or something.” XIII shrugged.
Beyond paid no attention to the rest of the League’s attempt to defend the man after that. He was busy listening to the conversation between Waller and the dark knight.
“Voice! Beyond!” They tried to catch his attention, but he paid them little heed, opting to watch the exchange between Waller and Batman. “What are you going to do—?”
“XIII.” He spoke softly, silencing the group. “Release them.”
“Huh?” They were puzzled.
“Their keeper is here to pick them up. You can return to bed after you do so.” Beyond said.
“… If you say so.” XIII shrugged before turning off the electric field that kept the group in their prison.
“Next time, don’t stand in the sidelines waiting for your keeper to clear your name.” Beyond interjected one last word before XIII lead them out.
“There was a reason that you have told that boy his father was in this group and I’m certain you’re aware of why you have done this as well.” The Martian stated as he stopped at the door.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Beyond retorted, but he knew.
“If that is what you claim, I have nothing else to say.” Jon said. “XIII said you don’t do things without merits, what merits were you looking for when you told him that his father was among us?”
Beyond couldn’t respond to that. The Martian left with the last word in. He saw the group reunited with the dark knight and XIII spoke with them for a moment before Superman placed a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't’ make out what the man of steel was saying, but XIII had an odd expression on his face before he flew away from them.
Batman looked towards the direction XIII sped off to before speaking with the rest of the league. They seemed… happy. To his surprise, Batman glanced up at the camera, looking directly into it as if he could see him. Beyond found himself watching until they were gone. XIII waited for him until he was dismissed.
“… Batman seems a little familiar.” XIII commented as they walked. “Sort of like you… is he your dad?”
Despite all exhaustion and stress, Beyond found himself laughing freely, completely relaxed. “Simply amazing… and somewhat ironic, that you were able to find my father, but you were not able to find your own.”
“What?” XIII was puzzled at was so hilarious.
Beyond stifled his laughter. “Nothing.”
The conflict between Cadmus and the Justice League ended with plenty of property destruction and several casualties on Cadmus’ part. Galatea had died in the conflict, electrocuted when she attempted to eliminate Supergirl. There was no proof to who was responsible for the attack, but everyone was on high alert nonetheless.
Cadmus resumed operations after a week. Beyond’s failure was not missed. As punishment, he was swamped with paperwork alongside with the task in finding the culprit to the attack. All the leads he found were mere implications, nothing solid to hold in court. He was quite certain it was President Luthor’s doing, but the man was cunning. It was a pointless endeavor to convict the man. With his money and talent, he would be out within months.
Instead, he used his time to research the areas around Cadmus and plot his escape. He had enough of Cadmus. It was getting too dangerous to stay within their control. The thought of running away hadn’t crossed his mind in the past because he knew he couldn’t escape on his power alone.
He was nothing more than a child, but this time it was different. He had a malleable super-being at his disposal. While it may be manipulative that he was using XIII for his own means, in the long run, it’d be better for the both of them to leave Cadmus permanently.
XIII had the power to leave if he wanted to, but he lacked the brains and motivation to pull it off. If he were to manipulate him into wanting to leave Cadmus, the whole escape fiasco would be considerably easier. For two months, while XIII was training to replace Galatea, he was working on a plan. He waited until XIII’s training completed, he needed whatever advantage he could get.
Unfortunately, there was a risk. The more he waited, the higher the risk that XIII becomes loyal to Cadmus. He searched through Galatea’s old mission records and picked out the most gruesome missions. He needed to traumatize XIII before he became desensitized. By the time XIII was ready, his plans were in motion.
“Did you hear Beyond? They’re going to reassign me! No more training! YES!” He cheered excitedly.
“Do you even know what you’re going to be doing?” Beyond asked.
“Uh… not really, they haven’t told me yet.” XIII scratched the back of his head.
“Most likely you’ll be getting Galatea’s job.” Beyond said as he opened up the pre-organized folders on his screen.
“So… what did she do?” XIII asked as he hovered over Beyond’s chair.
“Why don’t you look for yourself?” He offered before playing the files.
At the first instant of screaming and desperate begging, Beyond glanced at XIII’s reaction. The super clone paled and covered his mouth in horror. His eyes were remained unblinking as he sat through every file. Not once did he ask for Beyond to stop.
“…She… did all that?” He whispered weakly.
“Yes.” Beyond replied, looking him in the eye. “Do you think you can take up her job?”
“Of course I can!” He said confidently but his trembling voice betrayed him. “I can be just as good as her.”
“Good, you might even have to kill me someday.” Beyond said quietly.
XIII’s eyes widened. “What? Why? Why would I have to kill you?”
“Because we’re expendable.” The room was secured, his personal working quarters was kept off monitors to prevent infiltrators from finding him. “When my services are no longer required, Cadmus will dispose of me… Galatea would’ve liked that job, don’t you think?”
“That’s not funny.” XIII protested.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It’ll be a long while before they decide I outlived my uses.” Beyond shrugged carelessly as he resumes to his work. “So when are they going to assign you to her job?”
“… I don’t want it.” XIII murmured after a long moment of silence.
“But they’ll kill you if you don’t. The RSS is close to completion.” Beyond warned.
“But I don’t want her job!” XIII argued.
“Where would you go then?” Beyond reasoned. It sounded counterproductive to what he’s aiming for, but he wanted to make sure XIII knows what he was getting into even if he was going to use him.
“I…” XIII was lost for words.
“If you refuse, they would kill you. If you run away, they will find you. Then they will kill you. What can you do?” Beyond asked.
XIII frowned in deep thought. “What… about… Superman?” He asked curiously.
“What about him?” Beyond said evenly.
“He said I could go to him for help if I ever decide to leave Cadmus! He can help!” XIII said excitedly.
“Do you know where he is? Or how to contact him?” Beyond asked.
XIII sulked. “No, I don’t know…” He paused for a moment before realization crossed his face. “But… you should know right?” He grinned brightly. “You’re in charge of overlooking Justice League people. Superman is part of this Justice League group right?”
“And you want me to be an accomplice?” Beyond raised a brow. “What makes you think I’m not going to tell Cadmus about your attempt of running away?”
XIII grin widened. “Because if you were, they would’ve been here to detain me already.”
“You do know, I’ll be assigned to hunt you down and organize your capture if you are going to run away.” Beyond commented dryly. The unspoken word of punishment lingered in the air. The repercussion of failure was steep.
“That is why you’re going to be running away with me!” XIII chirped brightly.
“To where? Superman is your father, not mine.” Beyond stated.
“To Batman of course! I’m sure he’ll take you in. After all, pa said family would cherish you right?”
“Pa?” Beyond raised a brow.
XIII laughed sheepishly. “That’s what he said.”
“I see this running away thing is already stuck in your head.” Beyond gave a low sigh, but internally he was relieved that his plans were going well. “Cadmus isn’t going to let us off easily. They’ll be coming after us and trying to take us back even if we’re in their custody.”
“Then let’s make harder for them! We’re both fully trained! We can take them on!” XIII argued.
Beyond studied him for a moment before turning to his screen. “If you’re that determined… We can leave tonight after lights out. There’ll be a distraction for us to take advantage of.”
“What sort of distraction?” XIII asked.
“You’ll know when you hear it.” Beyond continued. “You better not be sleeping when it happens. Once you hear it, leave your quarters and knock out a maintenance or security guard and take his uniform, keep the clothes you’re wearing, you’ll have to change out of it after we’re out of the building.”
“But that’s fine for me, how are you getting out?” XIII asked. Beyond raised a finger to point at the ceiling above. The other project glanced up in confusion until he saw the vents. “You serious? Oh, what am I talking about, of course you’re serious.”
“If we fail, a second chance will be near impossible… are you sure?” He gave him one last chance to back out.
XIII shook his head firmly. “No, we’re going to do this… I’m kind of curious about this family thing Superman was talking about anyway…” He said sheepishly.
“Very well then. At lights out.” Beyond concluded.
The plan was set. The only thing left was to finish up the last details to their departure. He was not planning to leave his life’s work to Cadmus. All records on the Justice League were set for a memory wipe the moment they leave. He will be the only person with a copy of the archives in a small portable hard drive. The drive was coded specifically to keep out unwanted eyes from accessing the data.
Even so, there was still one last thing he wanted to take before he left. The completed RSS project. He was not leaving them anything he had a hand in. He triggered that lights out before he crawled his way through the vents to steal the RSS flashlight and all its research materials. He had only until the backup generator kicked in to get out.
His plan for distraction was in two waves. The first was a power outage, which is easily done by overriding the power grid. The second was to send out false reports to the security staff. He made pre-recordings of himself alerting the staff of infiltrators in the lower levels. While everyone ran in confused chaos, he made his way out of the facility.
The grids from the outer vents were unscrewed days ahead of time. Beyond needed to kick it lightly for it to fall out. XIII was waiting for him on the other end.
“That was some distraction!” XIII’s excited voice quickly made him hushed the clone.
“Are you trying to get us caught?” He hissed. “They’re not going to be distracted for long, we need to leave.”
“Where to then? I can fly—”
“No flying! They’ll be expecting us to be in the air. We’re taking the train.” Beyond said as they hurriedly moved away from the building.
“Train?” XIII seemed confused as they raced into the crowded area.
“It’s northwest from here in three miles. We can take the train to the next city first before we go to Metropolis.”
“Why don’t we just go directly to Metropolis?” XIII asked before they found a secluded spot.
“Because they’ll be expecting us to go to either Metropolis or Gotham first. We’re throwing them off. Think you can speed us to the station without being spotted?”
XIII glanced around. “Just running right?”
“Yes.” Beyond replied.
“No problem.” He said with Beyond in his arms and sped towards the station. They reached there within seconds. Glancing at the schedules, there was a train leaving immediately. It was heading towards Central City. There was no time to be picky. “XIII sneak us into train EB13, but do it when it starts to leave the station.”
“Got it.” XIII murmured as they walked about casually. It was five minutes before the last call for the train was announced and the doors began to close. XIII plucked Beyond off the ground and sped in before it closed completely.
The two hadn’t relaxed even as the train pulled out of the station. They waited at the door watching as the train distanced them from station. They didn’t find seats until the station was completely out of sight. Not that they needed to, there were few people on the late train. When they passed an employee, they swiped punched tickets and placed it above their seats. It wouldn’t do to have them realize they were stowaways. Beyond researched extensively to prevent such simple things from troubling them.
Until they reach Central, they could not relax, but XIII was not one for silence. Within fifteen minutes, he was chattering away. “Hehe, I can’t believe we actually did that.” He chuckled.
“Don’t be too happy yet.” Beyond murmured. “They’ll be after us soon enough.”
XIII sighed as he peeked through the closed blinds. “Hey Beyond…”
“What?”
“We’re not going to get caught right?” The clone asked.
“… I don’t know.” He murmured truthfully.
“Hmm… Then why don’t we make it interesting?” He leaned forward with his arms resting on his legs. “Let’s make a bet! Whoever that gets caught first loses.”
“What’s the point of this?” Beyond frowned. If they get caught it means certain death or worse.
XIII grinned. “Come on, it’ll be fun. The one that doesn’t get caught, gets a free request from the other person, a rule free request!”
“This is ridiculous.” Beyond muttered. If either of them were caught, neither could collect. Why would he even… Beyond noticed XIII shaking, trembling with nervous laughter. The game was a guise to hide the fear he had in getting caught. Beyond looked away as he played along. “Fine, whoever gets caught first loses.”
This was a game neither of them wanted to lose.
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