Chapter 5 - Cadmus

'Finally..' A deep voice rang out into nothingness, the sounds of chains shook, the walls cracked and made of black stone, all of it dark except for the glowing of a stone mounted to the ceiling. On either side of it there were metal drill tips, periodically digging into the stone, and attached to each end thick tubes of liquid light was pulled from it, the tubes going into the wall. They followed the path of the wall until coming from the ground, connecting to a vat, the liquid being continuously pulled into large spikes that ran from the ceiling to the ground. The points of each needle-like objects were driven down into 4 limbs of a being that was chained, the light being pushed in without pause as the being's head hung low.

"You were always good at thinking of better torturous devices.. Vandar.." The being spoke, his deep voice seemed to scratch the walls of this prison, his long hair falling around his face, his sharp teeth in a smile as he spit.

"You know what to do.. do not return until it is done." The being went on, looking down at his spit, the black color bubbling like acid as a tiny lifeform pulled itself together. It's body slim and black, with a large head for it's size which had a red swirl at its center.

The being said nothing, only nodding as it turned into liquid once more, it's body slowly seeping into a crack that ran along the ground. "I will find you Vandar, and do you really think you can run from me Ishtar! You are mine! I told you both that this place cannot hold me forever.. I hope you both understand.." His voice turned into a yell many times, and his eyes turning red, the center of them spinning as the walls had swirls come to life.

[Back at the hall]

The group walked through the crowd of people, the sides having red rope keeping the people from getting to close, while flashes of cameras went off continuously. The light from them causing Muaka and Ishtar to twitch a little, the small movements not going unnoticed by batman's ever-watchful eyes.

"This is amazing, glad me and mom.. I mean lady scream could bring me here." Muaka spoke in a happy tone, his voice cracking from a cough as he tried to correct himself.

"There's no need to hide it, I think it was pretty obvious to all of us." wally the ever friendly spoke up, pushing Muaka a little as he smiles, giving a thumbs back to the group behind him as they nodded.

"It doesn't matter if it's your mother or not, Mentor, King, family member, we all look up to someone, someone who taught us the value of helping others." Aqualad said, walking beside crimson, placing his hand on his shoulder while giving words of encouragement.

"Thanks, I know I'm not known by all like you guys, but I'm glad I can be here with the fellow sidekicks." Muaka spoke back, his voice glad that the others did not judge but was cut off by an angry voice.

"Don't call us sidekicks, not after today." speedy, green arrows ward, spoke up in a firm tone, from his face it was easy to tell that this was important, but it caused the adults within the group to look at him strangely.

"Sorry, but you have to relax man." Muaka's voice was playful, while sorry he still didn't like the serious air speedy was giving off.

"It's fine crimson, everyone shows happiness in their own way. Look at him, did you know he's actually happy?" Ishtar spoke, her hand pointing towards batman who had a straight face, his eye twitching slightly as the group laughed together.

"She's got you there bats.." The flash held his stomach a little, his laughter finally calming as they all walked into the hall, the group of kids gasping as the statues of the original members stood high in the building.

[Meanwhile]

A tiny being pulled itself from the ground, its body out of place in the long hallway from the bright lights and sounds of buzzing that came from them. Its head moved back and forth as it moved across the ground in its liquid form. Yet it didn't last long, its body floating into the air as it was turned around to look at a strange creature.

'How did it get up here, aren't they confined to the labs?' A thought echoed out, while a being held up his hand, the two horns on his head glowing red. While his mind moved the creature closer, questioning how this was possible.

'They shouldn't be able to leave the light fragment area unless another left the synthetic life lab open.' He went on with his thoughts, looking at the creature that had formed into its original body.

'The construct of the being is different from the ones I've usually seen, it's characteristics different from others, as well as its aggression.' He turned the creature, only letting it float close enough that he could make out the mark on its face, but not so close that it could touch him.

'Ahhh?!' The swirling of red at its center seemed to captivate the being for a moment, his mind unknowingly bringing the creature closer, only for small tendrils to attach to its body as it pulled forcing itself into his mouth.

The being cried out, his body falling to the floor. the creature worming its way through its veins, while the beans spit up blood along the ground, his body convulsing violently but just as it started the spasms came to an end.

"This body will do nicely.." The being stood, its body completely normal but for its eyes that were swirling, his hand reaching up above its head, bringing it down as the ceiling fell in, the room above filled with chemicals as it exploded.

[Back at the hall]

(Ishtar pov)

I could only shake my head at the mess that happened a moment ago, the boy speedy was unhappy about not getting full access to the most secure place on the planet, aside from a few others that I know of, his behavior let him to question the heroes and the sidekicks, only to storm off outside of the hall.

"Maybe he'll come around." It wasn't my place, and I didn't truly care if the boy did or not, but I gave words of encouragement to Green Arrow looking at his worried face.

"Yeah, the Speedy I've heard about is smart, he'll make the right decision.." Muaka wanted to follow up, his shoulders shrugging a little as he didn't really know what to say.

"Look we.." Bats the voice of reason was going to add his thoughts on the matter only for a distress call to ring within the building, a large screen turning on as it portrayed Superman.

" Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus, its on fire." the moment that I felt happy that my son had a level head, a pit rolled up in my stomach as the words of Superman rang in my ears, the cacophony of echoing fears within my bones shaking me to my core.

"What has happened?" before I realized I was already speaking out, walking over and placing my hands on the console as I questioned Superman.

"Relax, lady scream, I'm sure he'll let us in on what's going on." Batman eyed me suspiciously, but his words are were full of understanding but they fell on deaf ears.

"No, I need to know.." again my level-headedness was gone at the fact of this news, 'Calm yourself Ishtar, you are becoming to erratic because of this.' Yet it was scream who saved me, my voice relaxing as superman and the rest looked at me.

I knew how I messed up, but it didn't matter, they knew nothing of the situation, my eyes looked over to Muaka, his face a mess of confusion as I didn't listen to Zatara at all, my mind going over different things, and different situations. I knew Cadmus was fortified as well as his cell, I know the very safety measures that were in place in case he somehow got out, but my mind kept saying that it wasn't enough.

"Right now our highest priority should be stopping the eclipse of the Sun." Batman said turning his attention to Zatara who had asked everyone to mobilize.

"It's a relatively small fire, local authorities have it under control." Superman went on, downplaying the severity of the situation, but I could not blame him because he did not know the situation.

"I feel like we should split into two groups, some of us go and deal with Zatara's problem, and the others investigate the problem going on at Cadmus." I spoke up, giving my opinion this situation, I did not want to be halfway across the world, dealing with a problem when I already had a problem the weight of mountains on my shoulders.

"We will deal with it after this matter is done, Cadmus isn't going anywhere lady scream." Batman's words fell as each of my teammates looked at me, the most concerning being my son as I never acted this way.

Batman and the others walk towards the door, they're backs to me as I thought about what I could do about the situation, only for bats to turn back to me. "Are you coming.." he asked me in a serious tone, leaving me only able to shake my head as I followed behind the rest.

"All of you stay here until we return, I mean it crimson." before leaving I turned my head back, seriously giving the kids orders, my voice was beyond the point of serious, I didn't want or need anything else unforeseen to happen.

'It's fine.. he can't get out..' Me and scream spoke words in my mind of comfort to each other but still the pit in my stomach grew.

'It will be fine..'