slight retcon, here's peter's new clothes because I think it fits the vibes better
The last case held a red bra, a pair of blue panties and yoga pants, and a pair of greek sandals with lacing that went up the ankle in a way he couldn't make sense of.
He looked at the bra. He looked at the armor. He looked back at the bra.
He picked the bra up, held it at arm's length, and then something settled across his face that was not quite a smile and not quite a shrug but lived somewhere between the two. His soaked clothes hit the floor a second later.
He pulled the panties on first, then the yoga pants. The red bra came next, and then the bracers, the segmented metal fitting snugly from wrist to mid-forearm. The white chest armor went on last, pressing the empty cups flat against his chest with its single pauldron over the left shoulder. The lasso he coiled at his hip and clipped through a carabiner on the pants' built-in belt loops. He looked at the sandals for a moment, picked one up, turned it over, and set it back down. He had no idea where the lacing was even supposed to start.
Now, onto the next segment
"Okay, I'm officially whelmed."
Within the room were towering rows of bug-like creatures, giving off electrical pulses that seemed to feed through a generator in the wall before them, nearly twenty feet off the ground.
"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world," Kid Flash said, stepping closer to one of the rows. "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these... things. Must be what they're bred for."
"Even the name is a clue." Aqualad moved to stand beside Robin. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth."
"And this Cadmus creates new life too." Robin pulled a connector from his gauntlet, linking it to the nearest computer. A holoscreen appeared and he began funneling the information. "They call them Genomorphs." The image of one of the creatures filled the display. His eyes widened. "Whoa! Look at the stats on these things. Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons."
"They're engineering an army," Kid Flash said. "But for who?"
"Wait. There's something else." Robin's hands moved faster across the interface as another batch of data came through. "Project Kr." He tried to decrypt it. "Ugh! The file's triple encrypted. I can'tā" He stopped. "Wait. There's an alert. Project Olympus escaping."
He pulled up the security feed.
The screen showed a corridor under orange emergency lighting. A figure ran past one camera, bare feet slapping against the floor. Red and blue, white armor. The footage jumped to another angle. The same figure, now closer. A girl, Robin thought, though the resolution made it hard to tell. She wore blue pants and a red bra, the strap visible beneath armor that only covered her left shoulder. Bracers covered her forearms.
"Who is that?" Kid Flash asked, interested, and leaned in as if it allowed him a better look at the figure on the screen.
The feed switched to another corridor. The girl sprinted toward a T-junction with a pack of those smaller creatures behind her. Instead of slowing to turn, she ran straight at the wall, feet connecting with the surface, and redirected herself into the perpendicular hallway. The creatures had to slow down, claws scraping as they scrambled around the corner.
"Did she justā" Kid Flash started.
"She used the wall like a springboard," Aqualad said.
The next camera showed her facing down four of the massive creatures Robin had seen labeled as G-Trolls. One had something small perched on its head. The girl pulled something from her hip. A rope, thin and golden, and even through the grainy footage it seemed to glow.
"Is that rope glowing?" Kid Flash asked.
The girl moved fast. She ducked between the trolls, looping the glowing rope around the legs of the second one, the one with the small creature on its head. She yanked the line and rolled clear.
The troll crashed down. The one in front had no time to react before the falling body caught it. The ones behind had nowhere to go. The corridor filled with the sound of something enormous hitting the floor, then something equally large hitting that, the whole pack folding into itself like a collapsed wall. The small creature flew off its perch, and even through the silent feed Robin could tell it had done something, because the girl shook her head hard before taking off running again.
"That fighting style," Aqualad said slowly. "The bracers, the ropeā"
"She fights like Wonder Woman," Robin said.
Kid Flash's eyes widened. "Wait. You don't thinkā"
"Cadmus makes living weapons," Robin said. "Genomorphs. What if they're making something else?"
The feed jumped to a new camera. The girl rounded a corner and stopped. Guardian stood at the far end of the corridor with a squad of G-Elves behind him, all of them carrying weapons. A G-Gnome sat on Guardian's shoulder.
"Guardian?" Aqualad said. "What's he doing here?"
Guardian raised one hand. "That's far enough, young lady. You're coming with us."
"I'm guessing he's already on the scene," Robin surmised.
The girl held up both hands, palms out. "I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm just lost and trying to get out of here."
"Subdue her. Non-lethal."
"I think he works here," Kid Flash said.
The G-Elves rushed forward.
The girl deflected the first strike with her bracer, metal ringing against metal even through the feed's audio. She grabbed the elf's wrist and swung it into another, using the momentum to send both sprawling. The G-Gnome's horns flashed, and the girl shook her head again, harder this time.
The girl recovered fast. Her rope whipped out, looped around the ankle of another G-Elf, and she swung it in a wide arc directly at Guardian. The elf collided with the G-Gnome, knocking it off Guardian's shoulder.
The girl backed up a step. "I don't want to hurt anyone by mistake."
Guardian charged. The girl dodged, sliding under his first swing. He followed up with his shield arm, bringing it around in a sweeping arc.
The girl raised her bracer. The shield caught against it and stopped cold, metal screeching against metal.
"That's a Wonder Woman block," Kid Flash said.
The girl tilted her head. "Wait, is that just an arm guard? Isn't that a little dangerous if someone's strong enough to crush it around your arm?"
Guardian pulled back and threw a punch. The girl weaved left. He feinted with his shield, then drove forward with his shoulder. The girl was already moving, stepping into the gap between him and the recovering G-Elves.
She caught a G-Elf's arm as it swung at her, used the momentum to spin the creature into Guardian's path. Guardian had to check his next strike or hit his own squad member.
Two more G-Elves came at her from opposite sides. She dropped low, and they collided above her. She pushed off the floor, rising between them, and shoved one into the other.
Guardian came in fast, shield high. He swung it down. The girl blocked with both bracers crossed. The impact rang through the corridor. She slid back half a step but held.
Guardian followed with a jab. The girl turned her shoulder, let it pass, and tapped his extended arm with her knuckles as she moved past. Not hard. Just enough.
"She's reading him," Aqualad said.
Guardian threw another combination. High, low, shield bash. The girl weaved through all of it, her feet barely leaving the floor. Every feint Guardian threw, every setup, she ignored. She only reacted to the real attacks.
A G-Elf grabbed for her from behind. She caught its wrist without looking, pulled it forward, and used it as a counterweight to swing herself around and kick another G-Elf square in the chest. It flew back into two more.
Guardian lunged. The girl sidestepped, caught his arm, and redirected him into the wall. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to put him off balance.
The girl backed toward the junction behind her, hands still up. "I really don't want to fight you."
Guardian straightened. "Then surrender."
The girl looked at him. At the G-Elves regrouping around him. At the corridor behind her.
Robin's expression was grim. "Strength, agility, combat training, resistance to telepathy. They've already cloned Wonder Woman."
"Then we need to find her," Aqualad said. "Before Cadmus does."
Robin pulled the connector free and the holoscreen collapsed. "Project Kr can wait. We're getting her out first."
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