And it wasn’t only Project XIII that utilized the stability codes. From his files, he found Galatea along with the Ultimen have also use portions of his stability codes. However, with the Ultimen certain codes were modified in order for the meta-gene—taken from Project Meta—to dominate and develop meta-abilities for the subject.
Terry’s heart nearly soared with glee. He found a common point among the projects. If he could isolate the genetic coding, he could easily create a weapon that would annihilate the project and demolish Cadmus’ forces.
“How is the weapon coming along?” His Bruce’s voice startled him to flinch and glance up. He was so entranced in his findings he forgot to mind his surroundings.
“Nothing yet, but I’ve found some key components that might change that.” He answered truthfully. Why was the man here? He seldom showed himself, save for dinnertime when Clark required all of them to attend.
“You flinched.” The man continued.
“I was startled.” The boy responded.
“The Batman from your world didn’t train you.” It wasn’t a question it was a statement.
“… No he didn’t.” Terry returned to his notes quietly.
“Why didn’t he?” He pressed for answers.
“I’m not allowed to join patrol work until I’m over twenty.” Terry replied his eyes avoided the dark knight’s.
Bruce turned the chair around and looked straight into his eyes. “That’s not the only reason.”
Terry stared at the cowl-covered face. “He’s dead.” His voice was cold. “There’s no chance for him to train me, even if he wanted to.”
Batman stepped back quietly. “… I’m sorry for your lost.”
“It’s nothing you have to be sorry for, you didn’t do anything.” Terry replied and shuffled his notes into a neat pile. He won’t be able to continue his research now with Batman here. The man wanted to talk and he was not about to deny him answers if he wanted to stay. “Is there anything else you would like to ask?”
“… What were you doing that led your injuries?” Batman looked at him sternly. “You came here unscathed, but I checked the blood on the clothing. It was yours.”
Terry couldn’t deny the proof even if he wanted to. Batman was a thorough man. “I was in Crime Alley saying goodbye to grandma and grandpa. Jason sniped me from behind.”
“…” The dark knight looked surprised. “… Jason?”
“I antagonized him after you and Tim scolded me on doing it the first time… I supposed I deserved it.” He pondered.
“No one deserves death as a punishment.” Batman said bluntly.
“I should’ve seen it coming.” Terry shrugged.
An awkward silence passed between the two. Neither were conversationalists outside of their facades.
“… You still need to learn how to defend yourself.” Terry glanced up at the man questionably. “I may not be your father, but I will train you if you wish.”
Terry’s eyes widened, he never expected the man to offer such a thing. Within seconds he was out of his chair and Batman found an armful of a little boy hugging him in gratitude. The dark knight placed a hesitant, yet comforting hand on the boy’s back. It has been a while since anyone hugged him.
The circumstances they met were not the best. The situation they endured was not the most pleasant. However, even without words, they both agreed they haven’t felt such happiest a long while. Both have lost someone dear to them, while not the same, they could consol one another with their company.
Terry’s time for the next year was divided between training with Batman and developing the weapon. Superman and Conner on the other hand continued with their hero-work to avoid arousing Cadmus’ suspicion. Even so, their time wasn’t wasted. Superman had further developed Conner’s inherent abilities. He was far from mastering the x-ray and heat vision, but that didn’t stop Terry and Batman from building him special goggles that imitates such powers.
Those would be useful for when they face the native XIII and Galatea. No doubt the RSS will be used to cancel out their powers. They need every advantage they could get over Cadmus. Superman was already adept in using Batman’s equipment; even under the influence of the RSS he wouldn’t be defenseless.
“Beyooooooond!” Conner called out cheerily as the boy munched on cereal.
“What do you want XIII? It’s too early for this noise.” Terry muttered as he took another spoonful into his mouth.
“Well… I was thinking since it’s breakfast time, we have a little break from our hectic hours of training, researching and developing weapons of mass destruction.” He listed off casually.
“The weapon only kills us and other Cadmus project, it’s nowhere close to a weapon of mass destruction.” The boy drawled.
“Then you have no problem telling me what’s going on back home!” Conner grinned as he took a seat in front of the boy and rocked back and forth happily.
Terry sighed as he finished off the milk in his bowl. “What do you want to know?”
“How’s everyone back home doing? Like Cass, Tim, you know.” He asked enthusiastically.
Terry spared nothing to his feelings. “Your girlfriend cheated on you with your best friend. Anything else?” He said bluntly as he took the bowl to the sink.
“Oh…” Conner lost some of his vigor, but his smile remained. “Well, I guess they had to move on eventually.” He laughed sheepishly. “So anything interesting happened to you?”
Terry raised a brow at him. “I was shot to death. Anything else more interesting than that?”
“Before that!” Conner said in exasperation.
“I snapped out of my catatonic state.” The boy said dryly. “That counts as before.”
“Come on.” The half-clone whined. “More details! Like who got you out and what you’ve been doing since you snapped out.”
“It’s unnecessary to share with you.” He said as he walked out of the kitchen.
“But Beyoooooond.” Conner trailed after him like a kicked puppy.
The younger boy gave him no warning when he flashed the RSS on the super clone. Conner gave a yelp as he raised his arms to block the rays. Terry closed the distance between them and threw a series of quick punches to the other’s torso. Even under the RSS, Conner sinewy abs was a pain to punch. He flipped the flashlight to its blunt end. He smacked Conner off balance and swept his feet from under him. Conner stumbled but quickly regained his balance. He had only a second to defend himself before the boy ducked down and distanced himself.
Terry frowned. Despite his training with Bruce in the past year, he was nowhere close to being able to match Conner when he was without his Kryptonian powers. He was still too small, too weak. Conner had the weight, height and muscle mass advantage.
“Beyond!” Conner whined at the attack, but he wasn’t bothered in the least.
Terry on the other hand looked miffed as he flashed the red light onto the clone again. He wanted to test his progression, but mastering the katas alone with no practice wasn’t enough. His build was naturally small. No matter how much he trained he wouldn’t be able to build the same amount of muscles as his father. Terry clicked his tongue in annoyance as he dashed down the halls and into Batman’s work area. Conner would not give him a moment of peace anytime soon.
The man turned to him with questioning eyes. “Something wrong?”
“Hide me!” He hissed as he hurried to the man’s side.
Bruce raised a brow. “Hide you?”
“XIII wouldn’t leave me alone.” He explained. “How do you deal with Superman when he gets like that?”
“Beyond!” Conner’s voice neared.
Terry looked between the door and the dark knight for help.
“Follow my lead.” The man said as he pulled on his cape.
o.o.o.o.o
Conner sighed exasperatedly when the small boy attacked him. He had expected this to happen at some point. When they were in Cadmus training together, the boy would never let up training until he perfected whatever he was taught. It has been a year since he started training with the dark knight. It was likely he was close to perfecting the forms and needed to test out its effectiveness. He rubbed his torso lightly; the itch was already fading. Even under the RSS, Beyond’s hits weren’t all that powerful and the boy knew that very well.
“Beyond!” He called out to his young advisor. He wanted more answers on their home world. He was like a man dying of thirst, he wanted to know what happened while he was gone, but Terry was being stingy with his information. “Come on Beyond I know you’re—” Conner froze in horror.
“I’m going to eat you!” Batman roared as his cape rose high and descended on the startled Terry.
The boy looked scared stiff before the cape enveloped him completely. Batman stood a moment later as if nothing happened. His cape bulged towards him as he heard Beyond protest and struggle, but eventually the cape settled and the boy was silent.
“You…” Conner dropped to his knees and wailed. “How could you? You ate Beyond! You killed him!”
Unnoticed by him, the boy peeked out from the cape and started laughing; the dark knight’s laughter followed soon after. It was near impossible to keep a straight face at how ridiculous the situation was.
“What’s going on in… here?” Clark trailed off in confusion when he rushed into the room at Conner’s cry, but he was met with an odd sight. Conner bawled on the ground about some nonsense about Batman eating Terry and not far from him was the laughing pair.
Despite its oddness, it was a welcoming change. He hasn’t seen Bruce laugh in a long while and that boy warmed up to the man greatly since his appearance here a year ago. Stealthily, he zipped out of the work area for a camera.
o.o.o.o.o
A year later, the weapon was perfected and with the help of Batman, Terry was the proud new owner of his prototype costume. With the invisibility cloth and the technology of this world, they’ve managed a suit that would give up to two hours of invisibility if he opted not to use the other functions of the suit. The rocket boots were still in its early stages; flight at a higher altitude was unsafe without further testing. Until then, he would rely on grappling hooks and his glider wings to ascend and descend.
The suit was built with strength enhancement. With his small stature, the damage behind his attacks had little efficiency towards multiple opponents. Even a single target would prove troublesome if he was particularly large and heavier than him. Nonetheless, when time came to face the Cadmus projects he had a means of protection.
“So you’re done with the weapon.” Superman said grimly as they met in the labs.
Terry opened a video file on the computer before he started. “This is what the my cells and XIII’s cells looks like.” Healthy cells moved about the screen. “This is what happens after I introduced the weapon to the cells.” The cells slowed and began to shrivel and die.
“… How quickly does it work?” Conner asked.
“It only takes an instant for it to affect the cells. As for how long it takes before all the cells die, I haven’t tested that, but my estimate is between fifteen to twenty minutes in high concentrated exposure, but for you and the other Kryptonian clones, we’ll have to expose them to either Kryptonite or the RSS before the gas would affect them.” Terry explained.
“And it affects only Cadmus projects?” Superman asked.
“Our cells are different.” Terry started. “They developed us for durability and longevity. If they simply made complete clone copies of the original, they would’ve died off around the same time as the original. People age and die.”
“They wanted something eternal.” Batman noted.
Terry nodded. “In a normal and perfectly healthy body, cells die everyday and whatever’s left, divides and make up for the ones that died. They’re regulated and limited to a certain number of divisions in a person’s lifetime. However, the difference in our cells is that there is no limit. Our cells could reproduce endlessly.”
“… Which means if you’re not killed, you’re essentially immortal.” Superman murmured.
“Correct.” Terry turned to them.
“We’re walking breathing tumors.” Conner commented thoughtfully.
“Part of the weapon is derived from chemo.” Terry confirmed.
“… So if we’re exposed to chemo we’d died too?” Conner said in disbelief.
“Only over long periods of time. If it’s just briefly, our cells can replenish before it kills us.” Terry explained. “The weapon is initiated through aerosol, I tried developing it without a scent, but it should be vague enough that shouldn’t catch their attention.”
“Which means we’ll have to take this fight within a building or a closed off environment for this to work.” Batman muttered in thought.
“With the RSS active, Galatea and XIII will be neutralized. Without their powers they can’t fight against us, but there are other projects that could defend them if needed to.” Terry continued, but Superman interrupted.
“The two of you would be there as well. Wouldn’t you… if the two of you go you’d die!” The man protested.
“If we don’t, it’d look like a trap. Considering they haven’t seen me before, my appearance should be alarming enough to attract them to come after us.” Terry said bluntly.
“But…” Superman protested weakly.
“They’ll be carrying their own oxygen supply. They won’t be breathing in that gas.” Batman inserted.
Terry turned to the man in surprise. He expected to go without it to keep the other group from getting suspicious, but the man was willing to risk exposure to protect them.
“All right, so what’s the plan to take down Cadmus?” Conner asked.
Terry turned his attention back to the matter. “We’re taking them all out at once, but to do that we’ll need some numbers to our ranks. Contact the Titans.”
o.o.o.o.o
Something wasn’t right.
Project Beyond frowned as he went through the appearances of Superman and the fake XIII in the past two years. He didn’t notice at first, they acted so obvious with the Cadmus facility sabotages, but there was an irregularity. They knew about things that weren’t even in the places the fake XIII infiltrated. It took him many hours and plenty of patience, but he found nothing.
How could this have happened? Beyond thought furiously. Around him were multiple screens each brimming with information of the old Justice League.
Originally he was integrated into Project Meta to guide them at Cadmus’ whims. He was transferred to intelligence when most of Project Meta was terminated. Meta-Ricky was the first to show signs of disobedience and was reported promptly to his superiors. The Meta was terminated as an example. Even so Meta-Mike followed his fate soon after despite the warning. He was reckless, hard to control and disobeyed orders. Once their termination seeped in, Meta-Gwen and Meta-Chris were loyal and obedient little projects. He had them at his fingertips doing everything he commanded. As for Meta-Anna, she died when her powers matured into completion. Even so, without them, they couldn’t have defeated the Justice League.
To Beyond, this was nothing more than an elaborate chess game between him and Batman. Cadmus had created him solely to deal with this man. He knew since the start of No Man’s Land when he was given orders to find the man’s weakness. Everything Cadmus kept of the man was devoured by his active mind. He knew Batman was Bruce Wayne, he knew the man attempted to reverse the president’s court order to abandon Gotham and he knew Batman’s greatest weakness. The man cared too much.
Beyond studied and dissected Gotham and the so-called Bat Clan thoroughly. There was no reason for the man to protect this city time and time again. It was nothing but a hellhole festered with criminals and darkness. It was better to eliminate it from reality altogether. The city was unsalvageable by his standards and it would affect the country very little as a whole. Submitting a request for Gotham’s elimination proved to be no trouble.
If he and Batman were the players, then everyone around them were their pieces. His king was President Lex Luthor, while the dark knight’s was Superman. His queen was Cadmus to the man’s Justice League. His bishops were Galatea and XIII to Batman’s Oracle and Robin. His knights were the remains of Project Meta and Justice League clones, clones created from the DNA stolen from the Justice League when they foolishly surrendered themselves. Batman’s was Commissioner Gordon and his ex-British intelligence spy butler. Beyond’s castles were the Ultimen while the man’s was the Titans. His pawns were Checkmate and the Suicide Squad to Batman’s Gotham Police Department.
In a single move he annihilated more than half of the man’s pieces. It was possibly the best move he done in their game. The destruction of Gotham rid the man of his intelligence specialists, his moral support and his pawns. To rub insult to injury, Beyond suggested the hero registration act and destroyed the Justice League and forced the Titans into a stalemate with his Ultimen. There was supposed to be nothing left for that man to use save for Superman, his king the most useless piece in the game.
It was a checkmate!
How did the man turn it around?
More importantly… He glared at the file at his desk. There was another infiltrator in Cadmus. This one had the galls to call himself Batman Beyond. Him Batman? Ha! Ridiculous! Yet, somehow he found one of the more secretive Cadmus facilities.
It was as if he knew.
The alarms blared loudly, Beyond snapped out of his thoughts and glanced over the security cameras. Galatea and XIII were in hot pursuit after Batman Beyond. He must’ve tripped an alarm, but something wasn’t right. Beyond made a swift check on the rest of the system and found nearly all his security measures disabled. All but one.
“Shit! It’s a trap!” He hissed as he quickly contacted his superiors on the emergency line. “Sir! I need Project Ultimen and the JL clones. Galatea and XIII are heading into a trap.”
Whoever this Batman Beyond was, he was dead.
o.o.o.o.o
“Targets incoming.” Terry announced as he pushed the bat-mobile over mach two in the air. Since his rocket boots weren’t complete, Batman gave him access to the bat-mobile in order for him to cover the distance. One of the major differences between this world and his home world was the technology. Power cells and cars with flight.
“Everyone’s in place Beyond!” Conner chirped cheerfully over the line.
“Get serious XIII.” He zoomed out of the city limits and towards the building.
“Either we win or we all die a horrible death. A little optimism won’t hurt.” The super said brightly.
A wry grin touched Terry’s lips. “You never change.”
“Multiple targets incoming, get in here now!” Batman commanded.
“See you in a bit Beyond!” Conner said before they disconnected.
A quick glance over his control panels, he spotted more targets following behind the native Galatea and XIII. He pushed his arms deeper into the control hub before the vehicle sped into the building. He never got a chance to land when the two clones heat-vision his engine and force an emergency ejection before the vehicle exploded.
“Enough running.” Galatea spoke softly; much different from what he was used to from his own world. “You’re thirty miles away from the city limits and we’ve already destroyed your transport. Surrender peacefully or we’re forced to eliminate you.”
“Sorry.” Terry responded dryly. “I have no intention to face either. XIII, NOW!” He shouted and turned on his invisibility cloaking. The natives looked startled at his disappearance and Conner jumped from the rafters above.
“Hiya!” Conner greeted the two before charging forward and punched the native XIII in the face. He swung a kick into Galatea’s stomach before the two flew into the wall. A pillar of wind shot into Conner the instant his guard was down and knocked him aside.
“Wind Dragon.” XIII greeted one of the Ultimen as he landed next to him.
“It’s a foul trap, but it is a good chance to capture these vigilantes.” He said. “The Ultimen are here to assist.” The group assembled quickly and pulled Galatea and XIII from the wall.
“I’m really getting sick of these lameos!” The group glanced up the rafters and spotted a fury green man named Changeling crouching above them. “Titans! Let’s show them what real heroes are!” He morphed into a pterodactyl and glided into the group.
“I got this one!” The Ultimen twin named Shifter quickly morphed into a tyrannosaurus and chased after Changeling in an attempt to catch him in her mouth.
“Where are the other Titans?” Wind Dragon frowned as he glanced around. A green blast and shadow knocked him and Long Shadow away from the group.
“We are here and you should not belittle us.” Starfire stated with her ferocious glowing green eyes as she took Wind Dragon a distance away.
Long Shadow stood his ground as he fought against the shadow. “So I’m facing Raven I presume?”
The young woman shrouded in the shadows of her blue cloak didn’t respond, she only continued chanting her mantra. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos.” Long Shadow quickly dodged out of the way as another shadow came after hm.
“You guys deal with the Titans.” XIII said to the remaining two. “We’ll deal with the imposters.”
“You can count on us.” Juice said with his distorted voice before a blast caught him from behind.
“Booyah! I wouldn’t count on it!” Cyborg said as he drew the other’s attention.
“Juice!” Downpour shouted as he tried to assist, but found himself unable to move.
“Your opponent is I.” Tempest said calmly as his hands glowed and pulled him away from Galatea and XIII.
“Whew!” Conner said as stood from his spot on the ground and clapped his clothes clean of the rubble. “Looks like it’s just us now!”
“I wouldn’t say that.” A serious voice noted next to him.
Conner flinched and quickly turned to his side. “Flash?”
“Nope! Clone!” Kid Flash said playfully as he darted between them. “No worries, I’ll deal with this faker!”
“How about me then?” A woman’s drawl made the speedster flush with embarrassment.
“Get your own face lady! Don’t mock Wonder Woman you fake!” Wonder Girl snapped furiously as she punched the clone away.
“Ouch.” Conner winced as he cheerily watched the group separate. “I really wouldn’t piss that one off.”
“You’re still outnumbered two to one.” XIII said coldly as he walked towards him.
“Then let’s even it up.” Superman said as he caught him from behind and pulled him away.
Conner sighed as he scratched the side of his head. “As I was saying, it’s just us now.”
Galatea frowned. “Whatever trap this is, you do know Beyond is not going to let it go through.”
“… Man, it’s weird hearing you so polite and respectful to Beyond of all people.” Conner said in exasperation. “I’m more used to you trying to bust my head in.” He smiled brightly. “Ah what the heck! Shall we?” He gave a mock bow, inviting her to attack.
o.o.o.o.o
“Are we really going to be able to win this?” Nightwing grumbled as he watched the conflict in the dark control center. “How did we let you talk us into this?”
The dark knight said nothing as he monitored the fight in each camera. They planned for everyone to separate and take down the projects separately, but four were missing and unaccounted for.
“How would we even know this is going to work?” Nightwing grumbled as he rested his arms on the workstation.
“It’s not.” A voice said from behind as two long arms came down and trapped them.
“You!” Batman growled as Beyond lowered to the ground by the metal manipulating meta.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Beyond clicked his tongue as he walked up to them in disappointment. “I would have thought the great dark knight would’ve expected a sneak attack from behind.”
“I knew this was a bad idea.” Nightwing murmured.
Beyond chuckled darkly. “I applaud you for your attempt to take us down, but I must say I’m disappointed by your barbaric and dim-witted plan. Really, do you expect to defeat us by simply fighting us?”
“Do you always talk that much? Or do you like to monologue?” Nightwing cracked dryly.
“Hmph.” Beyond crossed his arms and rested his chin on his loosely held fist. “Richard Grayson, I presume you were his first Robin? How does it feel to watch your Robin successors die one after another?”
Nightwing glared at him, but Batman spoke calmly. “You enjoy tormenting me.”
“Oh no, it’s not just enjoyment.” Beyond spoke with glee. “It’s ecstasy. Do you know how much power I’m given to destroy everything you value?” He chuckled. “Do you know my very existence was created because of you?”
“You were created from me.” Batman replied. “I know you were created to destroy me. How does it feel to kill your own father?”
The smile faded from Beyond’s face. “I have no father.” He pulled a Taurus Millennium from his hoister. “Tell me Batman, where did you get that information?” He raised the weapon and pointed it at Nightwing. “I’m sure you know what would happen if your answer is not acceptable. In chess, this is a check, Batman.”
A sharp sound cut through the air before the gun was knocked out of Beyond’s hand and pinned to the wall behind. Beyond glanced towards the attack’s direction and found multiple trigger guns that fired the batarangs. The stretchy meta screamed in pain when Nightwing and Batman freed themselves by slicing into his arms with their own weapons. More batarangs fired from the trigger guns as it aimed towards Beyond and the metal manipulating meta.
“Gwen.” Beyond shouted for her to catch the incoming batarangs, but none responded to her when she tried to use her powers—they weren’t made of metal. She tackled him to the ground when all else failed.
“About time, I was getting tired of his yapping.” Nightwing said in good humor as he looped wires over Chris’s arms and tightening them until they cut into the meta’s arms.
“UGH! You bastard!” Chris roared as the wires snapped and he charged at Nightwing, but the former Robin was already out and down the halls.
“Get off!” Beyond shouted as he shoved the other meta off him and scrambledt to his feet. Batman was back on the controls, but before he could get a good glance, the screens faded black and he dodged out of the way as Gwen manipulated the metal on her person to attack.
“For someone who’s supposed to take me down, you rely on people too much.” Batman noted.
“Such mental attacks won’t work on me, but if you do insist on taking someone alone, Gwen.” He ordered harshly before the meta charged at the man.
Batman sidestepped, a panel from the ground opened and he jumped through to the room below. Gwen quickly followed. Beyond raced to the screens and attempted to bring it back online, but the controls refused to activate. He scowled as he pulled the panels off to access the wires beneath the controls. A sharp sound cut through the air once again and forced him to abandon his plans. A batarang embedded itself onto the panel, however, unlike the ones that attacked him earlier, this one was sleeker and sharper.
He hurried to his feet and searched the room cautiously. “Show yourself! I know you’re here!”
“Now why would I want to do that?” He froze at the familiar voice—his voice.
o.o.o.o.o
“Why won’t you fight back?” Galatea breathed heavily as she charged at Conner, but the other dodged and sidestepped her every attack. It was as if he didn’t want to fight.
“Téa.” XIII called out as he dodged Superman’s attack and hurried to her side. “Swap!”
“Uh-oh.” Conner jumped backwards in haste as the other clone circled round Galatea and charged after him. Before he managed to near, the RSS activated and he quickly fell from the air and stumbled onto the ground. Conner gave a yelp when he fell as well.
“What happened? My powers…” XIII murmured. When he glanced up, Galatea, Superman, even his fake lost their powers. He glanced around some more and noticed a strange red light in the area. “… A red sun simulator!” He realized, but had no time to ponder when a heat beam grazed him He glanced over to his fake and noticed the odd goggles. The fake had artificial abilities, he grinded his teeth as he quickly dodged the continuous attacks. Unlike the actual vision, the goggles took time; time that could be used to dodged and plot.
Galatea had her fair share of trouble with Superman, but he wasn’t using goggles like the fake. Instead he had a utility belt and he knew how to use it.
They planned for this.
XIII shifted his weight swiftly to change directions and charged at Conner. He forced the other to rely less on the goggles and started with hand to hand. The fake was younger and shorter than he was, but from the look of things, he wasn’t lacking in physical combat skills. They matched blow for blow, anticipating each and every move. He expected more and he wasn’t disappointed. His fake had training from Superman and Batman, but there was one flaw—he favored his right side.
It was slight, but he spotted a vague line connected from his right side to his face. At a closer look his eyes narrowed.
Oxygen tank? Why would… His eyes widened. There was something in the air. Something they couldn’t see or smell, but what? It has only been five minutes, which meant a slow acting agent, but what were they using?
“Téa! We have to get out of here now! There’s something in the air! They’re going to poison us! Get the others!” He shouted to his fellow super clone, but Conner caught him in an arm lock.
“You’re not going anywhere!” He hissed and wrestled him to the ground.
Galatea heard the warning and attempted to flee towards the other groups, but Superman caught her and pinned her to the ground easily. While he would never hit a girl, he had no qualms in subduing them.
“XIII!” She shouted for his help, but no avail he was busy against his counterpart.
In their struggle, he reached for the oxygen tank. Conner was quick to notice and tossed the tank away he was stubborn to keep XIII from getting it. The Cadmus project kicked him aside as he tried to crawl towards the tank, but the Conner would have none of it. With a blast of heat vision, the tank exploded.
“You just killed us both.” XIII said in a tired heave as he struggled to sit up.
“Hehe.” Conner laughed weakly as he pushed himself off the ground and attempted to slow his breathing. “I’ve died once before to save the world. If I have to die again to save it, so be it. I have no regrets.”
“…Why would you die for this world? They’ve created you just the same as they’ve created me. We’re tools.” XIII said. The poison was slowly setting in. He could feel it. Each breath more painful than the last. Each movement was antagonizing and slow.
“Maybe you are, but I’m not.” Conner grinned. “I have a family, friends, people who cares about me and people that I care about. I’m happy.”
“Hmph.” XIII closed his eyes. “What makes you think they’ll care after you die?”
“Pa would. He’s an awesome guy.” He grinned. “It’s kind of sad that you never got the chance to know him here.”
“… You’re weird.” XIII murmured as he slumped over weakly.
Conner laughed weakly. “I know.” He rasped before he too fell to the ground.
Elsewhere, the various other Cadmus projects slowed in their attacks and their opponents took advantage of their moment in weakness.
o.o.o.o.o
“So you’re the fake.” Beyond cautiously circled the dark room and inched towards the exit.
“I wouldn’t try the exit if I was you. It could be booby-trapped.” His imposter drawled.
Beyond pulled out a second gun and quickly fired shots at the location where he heard the voice, in seconds he saw a flicker of a person and the bullets lodged on the outer suit of the figure. He quickly fired more when he spotted a fleeing figure. The bullets disrupted whatever field his suit was generating, but it didn’t pierce through his costume.
Something’s wrong, why isn’t he retaliating? He frowned as the other kept in motion to stay out of harm’s way, but not anything else. His eyes widened. He’s stalling.
“You still have five bullets in that magazine, not going to shoot me?” His imposter asked.
“You’re trying to buy time!” Beyond accused him, but the other said nothing. Even so he spotted an anomaly, there was a mask over his full cowl.
An oxygen mask. It must’ve been invisible with him the whole time. His eyes quickly followed the mask to a small tank strapped to his leg. There’s something in the air! They’re trying to poison us!
Terry spotted the other eying his oxygen tank and judging the physique of his counterpart, he wouldn’t be able to win a wrestling match even with the suit’s enhanced strength. The other was older and while not as built as dad or anyone else in the Bat clan, he could overpower him very quickly with his damaged suit.
He couldn’t risk it…
“What are you doing?” Beyond said cautiously when he pulled off the mask and tank.
“We’ve poisoned the air.” Terry said bluntly. “Within minutes all Cadmus projects will die here.”
“Like I would believe your bluff, your people would die too! They’ve been breathing the same air just as long if not longer.” Beyond retorted, but he remained cautious and kept his breathes slow.
“It’s a two part poison and guess what? Cadmus Projects are the only ones who have the second part to make it work,” Terry said as he held up the tank as bait. “I can see the doubt on your face, you want this.”
Beyond glared at him before raising his gun to fire at the imposter’s legs, he won’t risk blowing up his only chance at survival. The other tossed the tank into the air to dodge the bullets, but before Beyond could grab the tank, it exploded. The imposter shot the tank with the gun that was embedded into the wall earlier. Beyond raised his arms to block the shrapnel from the exploded tank.
“You’re going to die if you keep this up!” Beyond snapped. His arms bled as he made his way towards the panels. There was still be hope to stop whatever this was.
“Anything to complete the mission, isn’t that what Cadmus taught us?” Terry grunted as the other yanked the panels open, but he stopped when his imposter made no move to stop him.
“… You’re not stopping me,” Beyond stated.
“It’d take you half an hour to rewire the system to do what you need it to do. I know, I’ve wired the system myself. You’ve been breathing the toxic air for seven minutes. I give you about another three before you feel the gas’s effects and eight before you die. Exerting myself would dwindle my time. I estimate I would die ten minutes after you. No need to make it sooner than necessary.”
“And you’re willing to die because of this mission?” Beyond said in disbelief as the other calmly took a seat on the chair Batman vacated only moments earlier.
“No, this is a game of chess and I’m nothing more than a piece on the board.” He stated. “You’ve forgotten your place as a player and became a piece.” He grinned wryly. “Checkmate Beyond. Batman won.
“No… I refuse to believe this utter nonsense you’re spouting! This is a mind game! You’re trying to trick me! You’re…” He trailed off when the other pulled the cowl off his face. “You’re… me…”
“It’s frightening isn’t it? To face death for the first and last time.” Terry said calmly.
“I’m not going to die like this!” Beyond snapped and raced out the door.
Terry remained seated where he was, without his oxygen supply he would soon suffer the same fate as all the other projects in the facility. The place was on lock down. He made certain that no one would be able to crack the unlock code until the time was up. By now, there should be no project strong enough to knock down the walls. Victory was theirs.
He grinned wryly at the horror his counterpart was experiencing. To lose for the first time and face his mortality for the first time in his life. Terry closed his eyes, even now his body trembled in terror.
Why is death so terrifying?
o.o.o.o.o
Since the start of the attack it was hectic, chaotic and stressful for everyone, but ten minutes into the fight the Cadmus projects slowed. By the time the fifteen-minute mark, the projects were on their knees screaming in agony as they took their last breath. It wasn’t a pretty sight. It was almost sickening.
Batman was with the Meta Gwen when the fifteen minutes were up. The gas hadn’t affected her; she wasn’t part of the actual projects. She and Meta-Chris were recruited, not created. They didn't share the same coding as Beyond and the other projects. Even so, it didn’t take much for him to take her down and leave her with the Titans. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
As he hurried through the battlegrounds, he found Beyond on the ground struggling crawl as he rasped on his last breaths. His blood pooled at the ground as dropped dead. The dark knight did not spare him a second look as he raced to the control room. He knew Terry was there. They’ve planned for him when he lured the projects to the facility. Dick was merely a bait to lure the other meta away.
Something went wrong.
Batman paused when he cause a burnt scent in the air. He cautiously neared the door when he spotted shrapnel on the ground. He expected the worse, he was surprised when he found Terry seated peacefully on the chair. His cowl was missing and his air tank was nowhere to be seen.
“Terry!” He shouted as he ran to his son from the alternate world.
Slowly, the young man opened his blue eyes.
“What happened to your air tank?” He demanded.
Terry said nothing as he raised the gun he was holding and dropped it to the ground. If he talked, he would’ve breathed in more of the deact-gas.
“Bruce!” Superman’s voice came from behind as he ran into the room with Conner in his arms. “It’s Conner! He lost his air tank and… oh no…” The man of steel trailed off when he spotted Terry in a similar condition. “We have to get them out of here.”
“The place is on lock down, we can’t get them out,” Batman reasoned.
“Then let’s just make a hole and get them out of here!” Superman retorted.
“The gas would leak out and the projects might survive!” He argued angrily.
“So we’re just going to let them die?” Superman held onto Conner’s hoarsely breathing form. “There must be something we can do Bruce!”
Batman clenched onto Terry’s shoulder as the teen’s eyes drifted close again. “No.” He whispered. “I’ve already dragged this world to hell for one death already.” He released the teen’s shoulder. His hand reached into his utility belt and pulled out two metallic cuffs. He clenched onto the items tightly before he snapped them onto one of Terry and Conner’s wrists.
Superman looked surprised as the man pulled out a remote. “You’re going to…”
“Either it works or they die, we don’t have much of a choice. At least this way, there’s a chance they might live.” The man muttered as he entered the pass-code. The cuffs lit up and the two disappeared. The cuffs dropped soundly to the ground once they were gone.
“Bruce…” Superman started, but the dark knight shook his head.
“…We can’t stay.” Batman retrieved the cuffs and turned to leave. There were still things to do and a population to confront. The boys were on their own. They had a world to rebuild.
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