Metropolis

Scarlett nodded at her idea, despite the fissures in the ground being somewhat confusing in there physics, it wasn’t like they had any other ideas. The two approached a crack that was near an intersection and it looked small enough to keep the guards from following them, a perfect hiding place. Scarlett let out another gust towards the guards that followed them while ushering her to go first.


Talon swivelled herself sideways and pressed against the wall, where small rocks fell away in response; inching into the hole so Scarlett could fit as well, she noticed a steep down climb. About to stop, her partner climbed in next to her and inched back as well, trying to enshroud in darkness. With her figure ever approaching, Talon took a step back and stumbled on a rock.


Grabbing Scarlett’s arm, as if to save herself, she instead dragged the girl with her as she fell backwards not landing on the ground like she expected. Her bad arm flailed uselessly, catching a few rocks on the way down and she tugged on Scarlett’s arm once again. It was late though as the ground, full of rubble, seemed to approach dauntingly fast… She had no idea how the Cardinal would save her.
 
"You did a good job, son." Bruce said as he swiveled around in his chair until he was facing the man.


"Thank you father. I will head out at once looking for any other information about those other supers." The man replied.


"Before you go, I would like to introduce you to our newest recruit. Bruce, this is Peyton. Peyton, this is my son, Bruce." Bruce Sr. said as he motioned her to turn her chair towards their guest.


Young_Bruce_Wayne_by_ErikVonLehmann.jpg
 
Doing as she was told, or, well, not told, so much as motioned to, she looked at the man before swallowing rather hard. The man was big, and from what she could tell, very muscular. Nodding her head silently, she avoided making eye contact, visibly shaken a bit by him. Coughing a bit to clear her throat, she nodded again, "Pleased t-to meet you, Sir."
 
It had been so long...


The scientists had brought him to the lab he'd been made in; dozens of other tubes populated with clones, like himself.


"Let me guess!? No way to keep them under control?" he joked, dragging the now severely inured guard into the lab behind him, by the half an ear he'd left her.


There were three others in the room, still wearing their lab coats. A middle aged woman, an elderly man, and the one Grimm recognized as his 'parent', a young prodigy if memory served.


"Oh, father, I didn't know you were still here. I was sure you died in my escape!" he cackled, glancing at the gruesome scar pulling at the younger man's lip.


"Why have you returned 47466?" the woman asked, almost drowned out by the guard's cries.


"Be silent!" Grimm shouted at her, driving his knee into her jaw as hard as he could, without letting go of her ear... she fell backward all the same.


The scientists flinched at Grimm's outburst, staring with horror at the bloody ear in his hand.


"What's wrong? Worried I won't share!?" he chuckled, throwing the ear at the elderly scientist, hitting him right on the nose.


"What has brought you here?" the woman reiterated.


"Well that's simple," project number fourty seven thousand four hundred sixty six replied, "I wanted more..."
 
Bruce Jr. looked over at Peyton and just nodded.


"It's you. Nice to meet you Peyton." Bruce Jr. replied.


Turning away from her, with a more or less angered expression upon his face, walked out the large double doors.
 
Blinking a few times at his response, Peyton shook her head before looking at Bruce. "Is...is there anything else you wish me to tell you, or vice versa....." Bowing her head and looking at her hands, she felt a bit nervous, not wanting to ask if she could be excused as she highly doubted he would allow that.
 
The process was beginning, and no doubt the scientist would have some little twist on his body when this was done with.


"Remember what happens if you screw this up!" Grimm shouted before the tube began to fill, and laughed hysterically while it bubbled up to his mouth. Not even stopping until a few seconds after the tube filled.


"Are we really going to do this?" the guard woman asked, finally cohesive again, staring at the now silent madman; and he almost looked normal when he was unconscious like that.


"Well, it's the only way to make more process in the experiment. When we finish, we'll have a small army to deal with him. Think of this as.... the lesser of two evils," the older man replied, not looking away from the tube for a moment.


The bastard had broken into a secure government facility with only one arm, and no weapons!? If they could make a greater clone than Grimm, nothing would be able to stand in their way.


"The arm will be restored, and he will be stronger, faster than before; he may also regenerate faster as a side effect; but in one month's time, we'll have finished our experiment. Keep him in stasis for another two hours, and evacuate the facility," the woman ordered to one of the lab techs, unyielding.


"Have no doubt that he would just kill us, straight out of that machine. Bargaining means nothing with a twist like that," the prodigy continued, before anyone bothered to ask why they were evacuating.


"Don't believe me? Stay and find out."
 
Bruce looked over at Peyton with a smile on his face coupled with a relaxed expression and shook his head.


"You are free to go. I will call upon you when i need any other information or services." Bruce said as he turned back and looked at the fire.
 
Bowing her head as she stood, she paused for a moment. "Thank you, Sir..." Moving quickly and silently, she ducked out of that room and stood in the hall, heart pounding to where she thought it would rip out of her chest. Drawing in slow breaths, she looked back up the stairs as if she wanted to return to her room but Alfred's words stuck with her. Bruce had wanted her, and so had Richard.


Making her way towards where the gym was, she looked down at her hands once more, examining her old flesh tone before wondering how long she would remain like this. Shaking her head, she looked forward and as she reached the door to her destination, slowly cracked it open before sliding it open and staying by the door, and staying quiet.
 
Richard was on the treadmill, doing his normal stress relieving run. He had headphones on and was facing away from the door. Jogging upon the treadmill, theories, outcomes, possibilities, arguments, everything possible he could possibly say, or anything Peyton could say to him ran though his mind as he just ran.
 
Watching him, Peyton hung her head a bit, fully aware she may be waiting a while. Moving towards the wall next to the door, she slid down it into a sitting position, simply watching him, his form, and she found herself smiling faintly. Shaking it off her face, she frowned, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her chin on top of them, keeping her eyes on him.
 
The guards began running by just as Scarlett scooted back into the dark. She was just about to huff a sigh of relief when suddenly Talon grabbed onto her and she lost her footing. It had taken her by surprise and they fell for a while before she even realized what was happening. But it was pitch black in the hole they were falling down and when she instinctively reached out for something to grab onto, only to knock her arm against the side of the hole. But once her logical thinking kicked in, she conjured up some wind and gently stopped their descent and lowered them carefully to the ground below.


They'd fallen a long way but she didn't know how far. She also didn't know where they were or how to get out, it was dark and she couldn't see anything. But she reached for Talon and found her arm. "Are you okay?"


...


The elevator doors slowly started to open and fingers reached through. It wasn't going anywhere and he had to pry it open himself. It took a few moments, but Frisk freed himself. Nobody was going to be using it, so he figured he didn't have to guard it anymore.
 
The stasis was over. They hadn't killed him, such a terrible mistake. Grimm made his way to the generator rooms, cackling the whole way. A cut power line here, some blood on the fossil fuel generators there, and the madman made his way back to the lab. The computers held his genetic code, and the tubes held his brothers... such a terrible, terrible mistake.


He flushed the tubes, his bloody hands smearing crimson all over the console; he was ready.


The scientists returned the next morning, to find all their research destroyed... a single thing overlooked. Why had they let Grimm go free!? All they had now was a probable theory, and the genetic source, Though Grimm was coming for that too soon enough.
 
Sometimes Talon found herself asking obvious questions, and as she was caught in the air by a gust of wind, she felt like it was one of those times. Scarlett lowered her into the dark corridor or wherever they had landed, as she couldn’t see much of anything just yet. The earthquake must have taken out the lights on this floor, or something, at the hand on her arm she panicked. Eyes shifting around, she swore when no numbers appeared, luckily it only happened to be Scarlett.


“I’m fine” she coughed out, forcing herself to stand by pulling herself up on the rubble, her vision was adjusting. The lights were clearly taken out by the earthquake, if the arms of electrical wires spitting sparks meant anything. There were rocks all around, and they seemed to litter the hallway in other big piles. Talon felt the need to ask,


“Where to now?”
 
Richard slowed down his running, and soon came to a halt. Breathing a little heavily and while still looking away from the door, Richard took in a deep breath.


“So you made it here.” Richard asked as he reached for the towel that lye upon the arm rails of the treadmill.


~~~~


Alex opened his eyes very groggily, and in doing so, felt his arms hanging above his head, his wrists chained to the ceiling. Lifting his head up to look up towards the window, he was met with a large fist to the left side of his head. Spinning around, Alex groaned a little in pain.


“I wouldn’t do that if i were you.” Alex said as he continued to spin.


As he spun a complete 360, he was met with a large and powerful left hand sending him spinning around the other direction.


“oh boy, once i get out of here, i am going to get you back ten fold.” Alex said as blood poured from his mouth.
 
As he stopped, Peyton stood slowly, still leaning against the wall. "I have, Sir..." Her eyes trailed to the floor, nervousness consumed her once again, if not worse than when speaking to Bruce. True, she had a feeling that the batman didn't like her, and his son's reaction had only increased that feeling, but he had understood, had not yelled, but Richard...she'd let him down. Drawing in a small breath, she looked over at the door and it's tempting escape option. "I'm sorry."
 
As Richard stopped running, he reached up and removed his head phones. Just as he did so, he heard a voice from behind him. Without so much as any type of reaction, Richard simply took in a quick deep breath.


"Don't leave." Richard said as he continued to look away from Peyton.
 
Hand on the doorknob when he spoke, Peyton froze in place. Letting go of the cool metal, she stared at the door, leaning her forehead against it. Waiting, she untucked a piece of red hair from behind her ear, creating a curtain over her ear like that would stop her from hearing the words she knew were to come.
 
"I am glad that you came back." Richard said as he walked away from her and towards the showers.


"Take a load off and stay for awhile, i will be back in just a few." Richard continued as he turned the corner just before the sound of the shower ran.
 
Nodding her head, she choked out a shaky, "S-sure..." Before releasing her breath as he disappeared from view. Looking around for a moment, she sat down on the edge of a weight machine, pulling on one side lightly for a moment, before letting it go slowly, listening to the sound of the metal settling back down against it's fellow weights.
 
Stopping the shower, Richard came around the corner with a towel wrapped around his lower half. Looking at Peyton, he smiled.


"Do you have any plans for today?" Richard asked as he continued to hold a half smile.
 
Looking over, then quickly away, Peyton shook her head. "No, Sir. I don't..."


Pulling on the weight again, a bit harder than last time she used it as a form of a distraction.
 
"Ok, let me get dressed and we can head out and do something for today." Richard said as he turned back towards the shower.


Disappearing from sight for a couple of minutes, Richard came back fully clothed and ready to go.


"So what would you like to do today?" Richard asked.
 
Glancing up once he came back into the room, Peyton raised an eyebrow. Letting the metal clink down lightly one last time as she stood, she stammered a bit before shaking her head and running a hand through her hair.


"I'm sorry....what are you playing at here...? I mean...you should be furious, I wouldn't blame you for wanting to murder me, hell, I kind of want to myself...so what are you talking about, 'what I would like to do today' ?" Her tone was rather passive, though a bit stunned, as she just stared at him.
 
It was dark, and it took Scarlett's eyes a moment to adjust. And still, she could hardly see anything. The only light offered to her and her companion were the sparks occasionally rained down to the ground from the protruding wires that had been severed in the quake. The were underground, after all. All they had to rely on for light was electricity, and the quake had taken that from them. The red-winged woman looked around, eyes opened wide as though it would somehow help her to see better. But it didn't.


If nothing else, at least she couldn't hear any commotion down here. Either nobody was down here, or they had decided it would be safer to stay put rather than wandering the halls. Basically the place was huge, and Scarlett didn't even know where to start looking for some way back up to the surface, let alone look for Superboy. She was starting to seriously consider cutting their losses and finding a way out, that is... if they weren't trapped down here. She could probably get them back out through the crack they had fallen down if they found no other way, but if she could save her strength she wanted too.


Now there was the dilemma of which direction to choose. Where to now? She couldn't see anything that looked promising, mostly just darkness. "I don't know, just pick a direction, I guess." she answered The Measurement and even took the initiative to start walking along the wall, where she could feel her way around once they got away from the sparks that dimly illuminated this section of the hallway.


As they started to explore the dark whatever floor they were on now, sub-basement 80 maybe, Scarlett found the chance to question Talon about something she had said earlier. "That weird mohawk guy took your powers?"
 
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