Phoenix Rising

Anastasia bounced down the stairs to the Batcave. Today was the day she, Dick, and their fellow partners took the first step in becoming full members of the Justice League.

“You ready?” Dick asked. 

“Absolutely.” Her grin matched that of her brother. Technically they may be cousins, but ever since their family did they were a lot closer and saw themselves as siblings.

“You’re not going anywhere until you’ve suited up,” Bruce said. “We’ve got to stop Mr. Freeze before going to the Hall. He’s attacking citizens in the park.”

Anastasia darted to the changing area and pulled on her uniform, transforming into Sparrow. She came out as she fastened her black cape around her shoulders.

“Let’s go,” Batman said, pulling his cowl on.

At the park, they were greeted by the sight of several ice sculptures and fleeing civilians who’d been enjoying one of Gotham’s rare sunny days. Sparrow threw a birdarang to knock Freeze’s gun away from the family he was targeting.

“Batman,” Mr. Freeze said, turning in her direction. “I was wondering when-” He looked around, not seeing anybody.

Robin jumped onto Freeze’s shoulders and bringing him to the ground. He threw a couple birdarangs at the villain’s helmet.

Freeze stood up, several cracks in his helmet. “Oh, Boy Wonder. The Bat sent you and Girl Wonder to drag me off to prison? Frankly I’m underwhelmed.”

“Great, but we’re kind of in a hurry here,” Robin said as Sparrow dropped down next to him.

“Kids, always in such a rush.”

“He’s not talking to you,” Sparrow said, just as annoyed as her brother.

Freeze turned around just in time for Batman to appear and knock him out. The three bats turned the unconscious ice villain over to the police and then made their way to Washington D.C.

They met up with Green Arrow, Speedy, Aquaman, and Aqualad in a clearing looking over the Hall of Justice.

“Today’s the day,” Batman said. He rested a hand on both Robin and Sparrow’s shoulders with a small smile for his two young protégés.

“Welcome to the Hall of Justice,” Green Arrow said.

“Headquarters of the Justice League,” Aquaman finished.

Sparrow was wondering if the two of them had rehearsed those lines with how smooth the transition was when there was the telltale sound of arriving speedsters.

“Oh man,” Kid Flash said. “I knew we’d be the last ones here.”

Flash looked at him in amusement.

The whole group walked past the crowd of excited tourists. Some of them called out when they saw their favorite heroes. Some even argued whose sidekick Speedy was, since by name it would seem and make more sense for him to be Flash’s not Green Arrow’s.

“I’m glad we’re all here,” Aqualad said.

“Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?” Kid Flash wondered.

“Don’t call us sidekicks,” Speedy corrected. “Not after today.”

Sparrow was a little thrown by the vehemence in his voice. Then she remembered this trip meant they were almost Leaguers and therefore was a promotion of sorts.

“Sorry,” Kid Flash said. “First time at the Hall. I’m a little overwhelmed.”

“You’re overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn’t anybody ever just whelmed?” Robin wondered.

“Maybe because-” Sparrow’s train of thought was derailed as the doors opened to reveal the seven massive statues of the founders of the Justice League.

“Oh, maybe that’s why,” Sparrow and Robin said.

Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado came out of the ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ doors. Manhunter welcomed all five of them and led them inside. Sparrow couldn’t stop smiling and she saw Robin and Kid Flash bump fists.

“You now have access unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley and, of course, our library,” Manhunter said.

Sparrow’s eyes lit up at the mention of the library. In fact, while Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad sat down, she poked around the bookcases. She ignored the computer identifying the Leaguers, but was pulled away from trying to find something that wasn’t in Batman’s library by Speedy’s angry voice.

“That’s it?” Speedy asked. “You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass.”

“It’s a first step,” Aquaman said. “You’ve been granted access few others get.” He shot Sparrow a look she mostly shrugged off.

Many of the Leaguers were unhappy about her even being in the hero business let alone taking this first step. In their eyes, she was far too young, which was admittedly true given she didn’t turn eleven until the end of the month. However, they had zero say in it and didn’t know or understand why Batman allowed her to don the cape and go into the field.

“Oh really?” Speedy snapped. He gestured upwards at the viewing gallery. “Who cares which side of the glass we’re on.”

“Roy, you just need to be patient.” Green Arrow tried to calm his protégé.

“What I need is respect.” Speedy turned his backs to the adults and addressed Sparrow and the others. “They’re treating us like kids. Worse, like sidekicks. We deserve better than this.” He was surprised when he didn’t get the reaction he expected. “You’re kidding, right? You’re playing their game? Why? Today was supposed to be the day. Step one in becoming full-fledged members of the League.”

“Well, sure,” Kid Flash said. “But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ.”

Sparrow made sure she feigned surprise when Speedy explained about the Watchtower. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Robin doing the same. They’d both been to the Watchtower several times now. Admittedly, they probably wouldn’t had known about it if it hadn’t been for the incident that convinced Batman to allow Sparrow in the field despite being only seven at the time.

She had to bite back a snicker at the glare Batman was giving Green Arrow. He was seriously unimpressed by the archer’s reasoning for telling Speedy about the top-secret HQ. it also was preventing the archer from trying to use the excuse that Batman had told his partners the secret. Which wasn’t strictly true. He’d only told Robin and Sparrow after they had asked where they were.

“You’re not helping your cause here, son,” Aquaman said. “Stand down or-”

“Or what? You’ll send me to my room? And I’m not your son. I’m not even his. I thought I was his partner, but not anymore.”

Everyone stared as Speedy threw his Robin Hood style hat on the ground. He turned and stalked out of the Hall with one last parting shot for the four young heroes.

“Guess they’re right about you four… You’re not ready.”

Sparrow flinched and moved to stand next to Robin. After everything Speedy had just said and did, she needed reassurance that he was the only one who felt that way.

An incoming transmission chimed and Superman appeared on the computer screen. “Superman to Justice League. There’s been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It’s on fire.”

“I’ve had my suspicions about Cadmus,” Batman said. “This presents the perfect opportunity in-”

“Zatara to Justice League.” A new transmission cut Batman off. “The Sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response.”

“Superman?” Batman asked, wanting to gauge the severity of Cadmus.

“It’s a small fire. Local authorities have it under control.”

“Then Cadmus can wait. All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara’s coordinates. Batman out.”

Sparrow, Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad walked over to see what they could do to help.

“Stay put,” Batman told them.

“What? Why?” Robin asked, put out.

“This is a League mission,” Aquaman said.

Sparrow ignored the conversation in favor of having a silent one with Batman, and Robin if he was paying attention. “Why haven’t you investigated Cadmus yet if you’ve had suspicions about it for a while?”

“It wasn’t of vital importance.”

“Right… A lab that doesn’t have connections to Gotham or possibly Ra’s al Ghul and yet still makes you suspicious enough to admit so to the League isn’t important.

“There hasn’t been an opportunity to do so without alerting them.”

“Then why not take advantage of this one?”

“The sun being blotted out takes priority. There will be other windows of opportunity.”

Their whole conversation, Sparrow’s sarcasm included, took place in the span of less than a minute and with only the subtlest of movements and facial clues. It was the Bat family’s own language that someone, she didn’t know who, had dubbed Batspeak.

“There will be other missions, when you’re ready,” Aquaman said.

“But for now, stay put,” Batman said. His narrowed gaze told Sparrow, “Don’t go running off to an unknown, potentially dangerous situation on your own.”

They left leaving the four sidekicks standing alone in the library.

Kid Flash scoffed. “When we’re ready? How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like- like sidekicks?”

“My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me.”

“Trust? They don’t even trust us with the basics. They’ve got a secret HQ in space!” Kid Flash threw his arms up in the air.

“What else aren’t they telling us?” Aqualad wondered.

“I have a better question,” Robin said. “Why didn’t we leave with Speedy?”

“Because we trust our mentors and wouldn’t turn our backs on them and our friends,” Sparrow suggested into the silence.

Robin glanced at her and could see Speedy’s actions had hurt her. They both looked to him as an older brother and friend and having him walk away like he did…

“What is Project Cadmus?” Aqualad asked.

“Don’t know,” Robin said. “But I can find out.”

“Already working on it,” Sparrow said.

“Access denied,” the computer said in response to Sparrow’s search request.

“Wanna bet?” she challenged.

The others watched code scroll by on the screen. “Whoa, how are you doing this?” Kid Flash asked. He and Aqualad were in shock.

Robin on the other hand was proud of how much better and faster at hacking his sister had gotten. “It’s the same system as the Batcave,” he said. Of course, that helped too, but Batman was constantly doing upgrades.

“Access granted.”

“Project Cadmus,” Sparrow read. “A genetics lab here in D.C. That’s all there is.”

“But if Batman’s suspicious, maybe we should investigate,” Robin said.

“Solve their case before they do,” Aqualad said. “It would be poetic justice.”

“Hey, they’re all about justice,” Robin said.

“The fire does provide an opportunity,” Sparrow added, a gleam in her eyes.

“But they said stay put.” Aqualad was clearly hesitant about disobeying orders.

“For the blotting out the sun mission, not this.” Robin, on the other hand, had made up his mind.

“Wait,” Kid Flash said. “Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you’re going, I’m going.”

The three of them looked to Aqualad for his decision.

“Just like that we’re a team on a mission?”

“We didn’t come for a play date,” Robin said.

Sparrow grinned at the determined looks on everyone’s faces. Batman had said not to go off alone and she wasn’t.

Inside Cadmus, Robin started searching the computer files, Sparrow and Kid Flash took the physical ones. Aqualad stepped into the hall just as an elevator chimed. Confused, they joined him.

“There was something in the elevator,” the Atlantean said.

“Elevator should be locked down,” Kid Flash said.

Sparrow stared at the elevator. “This is wrong.”

Robin pulled up his holocomputer and scanned the elevator. “This is a high speed express elevator. It doesn’t belong in a two-story building.”

“Neither does what I saw.” Aqualad walked over and pulled open the doors.

The four heroes looked down the shaft to see it go farther than any of them could see.

“And that’s why they need an express elevator,” Robin said. He and Sparrow shot their grapples up to the top of the shaft and jumped down.

To their surprise, they ran out of rope at sublevel twenty-six but there were still several floors below them. They swung over to the ledge by the door and were joined by Kid Flash and Aqualad. Robin hacked the security and the doors so no alarms went off.

“How do they hide this?” Sparrow asked. “A place this big would draw a noticeable amount of electricity from the grid.”

“Don’t know,” Robin answered. “We’ll find out.” He gave Aqualad the signal to open the doors. “Welcome to Project Cadmus.”

“Kid, wait!” Aqualad called as Kid Flash took off running.

He didn’t get very far before he skidded to a stop. A whole bunch of giant… things marched by. Sparrow though they looked like giant apes but with spikes, tusks and unnatural red eyes.

“No. Nothing going on here.” Aqualad spoke for all of them. They watched the herd continue down the hall perpendicular to the one they were in.

“Let’s find out what does things were,” Robin said.

They opened a door and stopped to stare at what was inside. “Okay, I’m officially whelmed,” Robin said.

“This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world,” Kid Flash said. He looked at the electric creatures in the pods that lined the walls. “The real Cadmus isn’t on the gird. It generates its own power with these things. Must be what they’re bred for.”

“Even the name is a clue,” Aqualad said. “The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon’s teeth into the earth.”

“And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let’s find out why.” Robin plugged into a computer. “They call them genomorphs.”

“Look at their stats,” Sparrow said. She pointed to the holoscreen. “Super strength, telepathy, razor claws…”

“These are living weapons!” her brother said, horrified.

“They’re engineering an army, but for who?” Kid Flash said.

“And why?” Sparrow added.

“Wait, there’s something else,” Robin said. “Project Kr. Ugh the file’s triple encrypted. I-”

“Don’t move!” a voice called from their left. “Wait. Robin, Sparrow, Aqualad, Kid Flash?”

Sparrow looked over to see a man in blue armor and a gold helmet standing amongst more genomorphs. Only these were different from the one’s they’d seen earlier. They were smaller and leaner.

“At least he got your name right,” Robin told Kid Flash. He glanced over at his holocomputer to see how the download of Project Kr’s file was coming.

“You’re Guardian,” Sparrow said. She remembered Batman’s files on all known heroes.

“A hero,” Aqualad added.

“I do my best,” Guardian said.

“Then what are you doing here?” Kid Flash asked. He was unsure why a hero would be working for a group breeding an army.

“I’m chief of security. You’re trespassing. But we can call the Justice League, figure this out.”

“You think the League’s gonna approve of you breeding weapons?” Kid Flash wondered, incredulous.”

Guardian was confused. “Weapons? What are you- What have I- Ugh. My head. Take them down hard. No mercy.”

Sparrow noticed the horns on the genomorph on Guardian’s shoulder glow red as the hero started to wonder what was really going on. It stopped when he ordered the genomorphs to attack.
Robin dropped a smoke bomb between the two groups and he and Sparrow grappled up and over. They had to get a way out for them. The two Bat trained just assumed the other two would get out under the cover of the smoke and not sit around to fight.

Robin hacked the elevator while Sparrow stood guard. Kid Flash and Aqualad soon joined them.

“Way to be a team player, Rob, Ro,” Kid Flash said, annoyed.

“Weren’t you right behind us?” Robin asked, genuinely confused.

They all entered the elevator and the doors shut just as the genomorphs arrived. The numbers increased to Kid Flash and Aqualad’s confusion.

“We’re going down?”

“Dude, out is up.”

“Excuse me?” Robin said. He raised an eyebrow. “Project Kr is down, on sublevel 52.”

“If we leave and don’t investigate now, Cadmus would destroy or move everything important before we could bring the League back,” Sparrow said.

“This is out of control,” Aqualad said, rubbing the back of his head. “Perhaps- perhaps we should contact the League.”

The elevator stopped before any of them could form a response. The doors opened to reveal a hall that looked like the inside of a stomach. Sparrow grimaced at the sight and imagery it invoked in her mind. Not a good idea to think about being swallowed whole by one of those genomorph things.

Sparrow and Robin darted forward to check for any enemies and to see their options. They crouched behind barrels where the other two joined them.

“Which way?” Aqualad asked, sounding resigned.

“Yeah,” Robin said. “Bizarre-looking hallway one or bizarre-looking hallway two?”

Their decision was made for them by yet another different genomorph. This one had a humanoid figure and its long horns glowed red as it threw barrels at them telekinetically.

As Sparrow ran behind her brother she reflected on the genomorphs odd behavior. The barrels it had thrown either exploded above or behind them. Neither attack really came close to them. Plus, as they came to the end of the hall, Sparrow saw Project Kr on the door Kid Flash propped open.

Robin disabled the door so no one could open it from the outside. At least not without super strength or telekinesis.

“Uh, guys, you’ll want to see this.” Kid Flash pressed a button on the control panel. The pod in the center of the room lit up.

Sparrow stared in shock at the younger version of Superman asleep there. The three genomorphs sitting above him concerned her. If she was right and the one on Guardian’s shoulder manipulated his mind, then there was no telling what those were telling or could tell the second Superman.

“Big K, little r, the atomic symbol for Krypton,” Kid Flash said, revealing his chemistry knowledge. “Clone?”

“Robin, hack,” Aqualad ordered.

Sparrow wasn’t that bothered by being passed over. Robin was faster and better at hacking than she was. Though it would be nice if they realized she could hack too. Or maybe not. Don’t want all cards on the table.

“Weapon designation Superboy,” Robin read aloud. “A clone force-grown in… sixteen weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman.”

“Stolen more likely,” Sparrow grumbled.

“No way the big guy knows about this,” Kid Flash said.

Sparrow snorted. “We wouldn’t be here if he did.”

Robin continued through the file. “Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four-seven.”

“And these creatures?” Aqualad asked, pointing to the genomorphs on the screen.

“Genomorph gnomes, telepathic,” Robin said. “Force feeding him an education.”

Sparrow eyed them uneasily. If they woke up or their horns went red, they were in deep trouble.

“They’re making a slave out of, well, Superman’s son,” Kid Flash said.

“Now we contact the League,” Aqualad said.

They all tried their communicators but had no signal due to the depth. Sparrow would bet Batman would find a way to overcome this problem when, not if, he found out about this.

“We’re in too deep. Literally,” Kid Flash said.

“This is wrong,” Kid Flash said.

“We can’t leave him like this,” Robin said, in complete agreement.

“Set him free, do it,” Aqualad said.

Sparrow was going to say she didn’t think it would be a good idea without a backup plan since she may have seen the horns change out of the corner of her eye. It may have been just a trick of the light so she didn’t speak up.

That was a mistake since Superboy flew straight into Aqualad once the pod opened. He started punching the young Atlantean. Kid Flash and Robin tried to hold him back, but Superboy punched Kid Flash so hard he went flying through a glass case. Sparrow darted in to take his place with a knock out gas canister.

“I don’t want to do this,” she said. She activated it and she and Robin jumped out of range.

Aqualad kicked Superboy into the control panel. As the young clone stood up, Robin and Sparrow hit him with their taser lines.

Unfortunately, Superboy was unaffected and he grabbed both lines. He yanked the two birds toward him and he threw Robin on the ground and stepped on him.

Sparrow got thrown to the side. Her back slammed up against a deceptively hard wall and everything went black.