- Location
- Elsewhere
Actually the start of this fic was September 2016, as I started it over on Spacebattles a year before I ported it here. But no, Jacob isn't aware of anything that might have shown up in the comics after the fic started.
Assimilation [Young Justice SI]
- Thread starter Satire Swift
- Start date
Actually the start of this fic was September 2016, as I started it over on Spacebattles a year before I ported it here. But no, Jacob isn't aware of anything that might have shown up in the comics after the fic started.
- Location
- Earth: Universe Meta - 1
Ehh, a single metal that several heroes use is far different than Dark Multiverse. Also, in general experimenting with materials used in Lazarus pits is typically in the "do it remotely" category. So, I'm not concerned. Personally hoping for a Blue Beetle rescue from Ted when everything goes pear shaped. Doubly so given that there's the whole Hit-Lantern on the planet already.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
I didn't say it was a significant chance, just non-zero.
And this is a comics-verse after all; highly improbable things are, paradoxically, more likely to happen purely because they are so improbable in the first place.
And, well, "someone accidentally'd into the Dark Multiverse and now there's a creepy grinning Batman in clown makeup running around setting shit on fire and laughing like a maniac" is a pretty standard sort of plot.
Last edited:
19.2
- Location
- Elsewhere
=====A=====
As always, I couldn't get too lost in any one part of my life. As much as I wanted to hunker down and help Calculus and Serling explore this whole new branch of material science, something eventually pulled me away. Though, even if it wasn't a mission for once, I was apprehensive all the same. Connor had called and asked me to come back to the Mountain to talk in person. I wasn't sure why he didn't want to do it over comms, but I didn't ask, and soon enough I was walking into the Mountain's common room to find him on the couch. "What's up?"
"I think someone's trying to reach out to me. Telepathically." He said as he stood, his lips pressed thin. "It's subtle, I only pick up on it when I'm dozing off or spacing out, but for the past few days I've been getting this voice in the back of my head."
That was certainly worrying. "Someone trying to take control of you?"
Connor shook his head. "It's not like that. I think I recognize the voice. It's one of the genomorphs back at Cadmus. He's telling me that something's wrong, that I have to go back there. I asked M'gann to take a look-" He stopped for a moment before starting again. "Martian Manhunter checked and didn't find any lingering influence. So, the next best thing is to go to Cadmus with you and figure it out. Not that I don't trust them exactly, but the genomorphs were in my head since the beginning. You can handle any psychic stuff that happens, including…" he trailed off.
In case you get compromised, I surmised. I didn't know how possible that was though, and at that moment I was really wishing I had studied the human-kryptonian hybrids more. I was honestly kind of surprised to find out that the genomorphs were still at the Cadmus facility all these months later. True, I hadn't given them any thought after I learned of them, but I kind of assumed… I don't know, that they had packed up and moved elsewhere. Which was pretty foolish in hindsight, but to be fair I had my own concerns to worry about. "This is starting to sound like more of a 'get the entire team' sort of thing."
Connor shook his head again. "I'd rather not get the whole team involved. I don't think the genomorphs are comfortable around outsiders, so the less of us I have to convince them to let in the better. Besides, we can do this on our own,"
I fixed him with a flat stare. "Connor, 'doing it on our own' has resulted in at least half of the team's problems."
"Well, maybe, but my point stands. The less of us show up, the easier time we'll have, I'm sure of it. Besides, the last time I got a message, it sounded urgent."
I sighed. Once again, it felt like I was being forced into a bad position. But, all I could do was prepare as best I could. "Alright, fine, just the two of us go in. At first. But we're still treating this as a real mission. We're telling the team to meet us there when they're able, and we're going in full kit. Got it?"
"Got it."
----------------------
As it was just the two of us for now, we ended up taking the Zeta Tube to Washington D.C. rather than Moya. The exit point was specifically inside the Hall of Justice, the League's planetside building (and as far as anyone knew, their actual headquarters). It occurred to me as I stepped out of the golden light into the backroom lounge that I had never actually been here before. Maybe I'll get the chance after this current task is done, I mulled, walking through the building that seemed to be part office, part museum. But at the moment, duty called.
Superboy and I quickly moved through the building, drawing the attention of a few tourists but not stopping beyond a few polite hellos. However, as we entered the main hall and walked to the entrance, a particularly insistent voice drew me up short. "Wait… Machina? Machina, wait up!"
I stopped and turned, regarding the man who had been at the reception desk and was now walking towards me. Dressed as a superhero, he wore a yellow bodysuit with blue boots, gloves, and a stylized 'A' on his chest. He also wore a blue jacket over it, and had a hood similar to Artemis with a pair of goggles over his eyes. He was vaguely familiar to me, and I had a brief moment of panic as I wondered if he was Booster Gold, but I realized that he didn't have any of the plating that the bumbling time traveler wore. As he reached me he extended his hand. "Hi there, Animal Man, been meaning to talk to you."
"Oh, right, I think I've heard of you." I said, taking his hand in turn. I was vaguely aware of him in the comics, and I remember coming across his name when I did my initial research into superheros. He was active during the nineties and early aughts, and had the ability to gain the traits of any animal on command. I also knew that he had a connection to the Red, which set a few alarm bells off. But, he was supposed to be retired, so… "What brings you to the Hall of Justice?"
"Well, I was looking for you." I arched an eyebrow at the response, and he held up a hand. "I know, you're not with the League, but the Titans aren't exactly easy to get in touch with, and what I have to discuss with you is important. I was hoping the League could at least give you a message to get in contact with me, but I guess that's unnecessary now."
Now why would an agent of the Red be trying to get in touch with me? I thought, though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer. "I suppose so. So, what do you need from me?"
"I wanted to ask you about what happened during the Deep Night in New York. Specifically if anything unusual happened as you fought their leader."
"...Pretty much everything that happened that night was unusual. Could you be more specific?"
Animal Man seemed to debate with himself for a moment before he looked me in the eyes. "Tell me, do you know anything about the Kingdoms?"
Ah crap, I thought, keeping my face neutral. It seemed unlikely that he was only interested in the Blue's involvement that night, given it had been months and the Red probably already knew all there was to know about it. So the fact that he specifically wanted to talk to me about the Kingdoms meant he was likely on the Silver's trail. I didn't know how, but that didn't matter at the moment. Now I had to figure out what exactly what I was going to tell him-
Superboy suddenly grabbed his head and growled, eyes clamping shut in pain. As quick as it happened his eyes snapped back open, and he growled. "I can hear them! They need help!" He then shot forward, knocking the Hall's front doors off their hinges and shooting into the sky.
"God damn it," I muttered, feeling an odd mix of irritation and relief. I definitely didn't like my teammate running off like that, but it did give me an excuse. I looked back at Animal Man. "Sorry, duty calls, I'll talk to you later." I said in a rush as I launched myself after my teammate.
----------------------
I had a few calls to make as I followed after Superboy, first of which being to Calculus. There wasn't much for him or the rest of the Silver to do about Animal Man snooping around (which they weren't already doing), but it would help for our plans to account for him. I also contacted the Mountain to let them know what was going on. Perhaps unneeded as they were already aware where we were going, but it seemed prudent nonetheless. Lastly, I called Cadmus itself to let them know Superboy was fast approaching.
Given how that call only lasted a few seconds before there was a loud crash and surprised scream, I was a little late on that one.
From the outside the Cadmus building wasn't much to look at, just a large concrete building that looked like a mix of an office and a factory (it actually reminded me of a place I used to work that programmed components for planes). The most notable thing was how the front doors seem to have been blown inwards. I swept down and flew through the opening, half expecting a fight to be going on. Instead I was met with an empty lobby and a terrified looking receptionist crouched behind a desk, looking up at me with wide eyes.
I took a moment to take in my surroundings before I gently settled in front of her desk. "Terribly sorry, but did an angry teenager blast through here a moment ago?" The woman quickly nodded and I continued "Could you point me in his direction please?"
She gestured to the hallway past the desk and I proceeded forward. It wasn't long before I heard the sound of voices arguing, and picking up the pace I reached the source in a few seconds. I was a little surprised there weren't more holes in the walls but I found Superboy arguing with a large man in a black jumpsuit and blue-gray armor, with a yellow helmet that wrapped around his chin. The latter was Guardian, a former superhero in Cadmus's employ that I vaguely remember from the database. I caught the tail end of what Superboy was saying. "-tell me! What have you done to the genomorphs?!"
I pulled up next to them and grabbed Superboy's shoulder, cutting him off. "Superboy, the next time you run off like that could you at least tell me why? We have comms for a reason, you can tell me while on the move." I said. He had the decency to look a little embarrassed, and I addressed the other two present. "Hi, Machina, the Titans. What's the situation?"
Guardian looked me up and down a moment before he responded with a scowl. "There isn't a 'situation'. Other than Superboy bursting down our doors and accusing us of doing something with the genomorphs. Which he hasn't explained at all, by the way."
"I know genomorphs are in trouble! That's enough!" The boy insisted.
The older man looked back at Superboy. "And how could you possibly know that?"
Before Superboy or I could come up with an answer to that, a voice called out from down the hall. "Most likely they detected the seismic disturbances." We turned to see what I guessed was a genomorph approaching us. They were a light blue humanoid of average human height and vaguely masculine figure, who wore a white cotton tunic and pants. His body was gangly for a human, and his oversized cranium rested on an otherwise conal head. His face was flat with no nose, and in addition to the large horns growing out of his head he also had two small tendrils growing from his sunken cheeks to his chest.
He came to a stop next to us, looking at me in particular. "The Titans are known for finding out where they are needed the most, and it would not surprise me if their most technical member had sensors that could pick up unusual seismic activity. Am I correct?"
That… wasn't entirely true, but I was willing to roll with it. And I was getting the impression that this genomorph was intentionally feeding me a line. "Got it in one. And considering there are people living in the caves underneath here, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look. So what's this about cave-ins?"
Guardian frowned. "Something that's been happening for the past few days. The facility is built over a series of caverns which Cadmus uses for space. Up until recently, we thought they were completely stable, but that doesn't seem to be the case." He cast a sideways glance at the genomorph. "And it would do a lot to assure our concerns if Dubbilex here would let any of our personnel down there to look at the situation."
The now named Dubbilex shook his head. "That is unnecessary. The genomorphs have the situation under control. I appreciate your concern, but we would prefer to handle this problem on our own."
There was clearly a lot more going on than that, especially given the telepathic communication to Superboy. It was obvious enough that Guardian felt it too, though apparently for a different reason. "Just like how you're handling the missing genomorphs?"
"Yes." Dubbilex said simply. "Given time, we will find out what is happening. In the meantime, why don't you help assure their concerns?" With that, Dubbilex simply turned and walked away.
That was… weird, to say the least. While Guardian was watching the genomorph depart, I leaned into Superboy and whispered "Was he the one trying to contact you?"
"Yeah… I think he wants to talk in private though."
Something the genomorphs don't want Cadmus to know about? I mulled. Meanwhile, Guardian sighed, before he reached up and pulled off his helmet. "Sometimes I wonder if this job is worth it." He grumbled, running a hand through his short red hair. Turning back to us I saw that he had a square jaw and bright blue eyes.
Superboy noticed something else though. "You… look a lot like Red Arrow." He said, and I did a bit of a double take. I guess they did have some similar features, though I had only met the surly archer once, so I couldn't really comment.
Guardian blinked at the comment before he gave a slight smile. "Well I should think so, he's my nephew after all."
"...Should you really be telling us that?" I said, confused that he would casually drop potentially identity revealing info like that.
"Err, I thought you guys already knew who he was?"
I looked at Superboy, who shrugged. "I think Robin mentioned it at some point?"
Guardian sighed. "Ah geez… Look, can you not tell anyone I let that slip?"
"Yeah, sure." It was a bit irresponsible of him in the first place, but I didn't think pressing that point would help us at the moment. "So, do you think we could see the genomorphs and the facility? Even if nothing's wrong, it'd give us peace of mind if we could see it ourselves."
"Of course. We've had an open door policy ever since the incident with Dr. Desmond." He gave Superboy a small smile. "Besides which, this was your first home. No reason you can come back and visit."
He turned to lead us on, though I cast a glance at Superboy who was suppressing a grimace. "This place was my first prison." He muttered to himself, but he didn't make any more fuss as the two of us followed after him.
Guardian took us through a few more corridors before we came to the laboratory wing, to one of the larger labs in particular. The large room had several rows of scientific islands, worktables covered in microscopes, computers, beakers, all the good stuff. And alongside the people in labcoats there were also genomorphs working at the stations. They came in a variety of shapes, some were lithe and monkey like that fiddled with equipment, others were a mix of a mantis and a dragonfly, buzzing around the room carrying things. They all had muted, green-brown colorations, with a mixture of soft skin and chitinous plating.
"This is the new and improved Cadmus," Guardian explained, leading us through the room. "As you can see, the Genomorphs work with us on biological and medical research. And the genomorphs are becoming more independent, more educated. Some even have names. Hey Benny!" He gestured to a squat, greenish genomorph that was using its many tentacled limbs to wash some beakers. It didn't turn, but it raised one of it's tendrils towards us and gave a guttural response that sounded a lot like 'sup'.
Superboy looked like he wasn't paying attention, but I latched on to the last thing the man said. "Why do only some have names?"
Guardian shrugged. "Most genomorphs act in groups and don't have unique behaviors. But some, like Dubbilex, develop personalities."
I frowned slightly. There wasn't anything wrong with that explanation exactly, I couldn't make assumptions about how an artificial species worked. But something about the way he said it made it feel… almost patronizing. "And do they get paid for their work?"
"Well, no, but it's all voluntary. They don't have to do anything." Guardian said before he let out a chuckle. "Besides, what would they spend it on?"
"...How about literally anything they want?" I said flatly.
Guardian shuffled uncomfortably. "Look, if they want to leave, they can leave. We're not keeping them here against their will."
I didn't exactly disbelieve the man, but I got the impression that he also didn't really think about the situation much either. Even if the genomorphs weren't explicitly slaves, there were plenty of implicit ways to keep them in Cadmus's 'employ'. It was something I was going to have to look into, probably while we were here. Superboy mirrored my sentiment, and said "Yeah, well, we're going to ask around and see what they think about it."
Guardian shrugged. "If that's what you want to do, go right ahead. You have the run of the place. I've got my own things to look after." He turned to leave, but he called out over his shoulder "And if you find those lost genomorphs, let me know."
----------------------
Superboy had wanted to head down into the underground as soon as Guardian left us to our own devices, but I spent a little time going through the above ground facility first. A quick sweep of the computer systems revealed nothing nefarious, it seemed Guardian was honest about them being dedicated to (legal) medical genetic research. The security system was mostly clean… save for the fact that all of the data and feeds were being sent to LexCorp servers. Not that surprising on it's own, as Cadmus was still their subsidiary, but I didn't like the idea of Luthor watching us. So, I spoofed the data feeds before we moved on.
Eventually we made our way to the bottom of the facility, down an elevator and into a giant corridor that led into the distance. "Dubbilex will meet us here in a second." Superboy said. Before I could ask how he knew that, he gestured down the corridor. "Down that way you'll find my pod. That's… where the guys found me."
"Do you want to see it again?" I asked. Even now I still wasn't sure just what his feelings were for Cadmus, his place of 'birth'. He had called it a prison, yet he still wanted to help the genomorphs. And his tone of voice as he mentioned the pod was stilted, for lack of a better term. I suppose it wasn't a surprise that Connor still had some things to work out.
"I am afraid that is not possible," We turned to see Dubbilex approaching us from a nearby nook in the wall. Seems he was waiting for us. "The path to the Pod room was the first that we were forced to collapse."
Superboy stepped up. "Wait, you collapsed it? Is that the reason you've been reaching out to me? It was you who was trying to reach me telepathically, wasn't it?"
"Indeed. However…"
The genomorph paused, looking between me and Superboy. For a moment I caught a faint glow coming from his horns, but Superboy shook his head. "No. Anything you can tell me, you can tell him. I trust him."
Was that his telepathy? I wondered. That would explain how Superboy knew he'd be here. Eventually Dubbilex nodded. "Very well, come with me. It is best that I show you what we've been doing."
For the second time in an hour Superboy and I were led deeper into the facility. As we went, the walls changed from metal and concrete to a more organic mass with rounded protrusions. Genomorphs steadily became more common as well, including a few gigantic ones twice the size of an elephant, walking like a gorilla on all fours with massive tusks.
As we stepped around a pack of the troll like beings, Dubbilex said "I had hoped that we would have heard from you sooner than this, brother. The ones you left behind are still waiting."
Superboy grimaced. "Look, it's complicated, alright?"
Behind them, I arched an eyebrow."Wait, what do you mean?"
Dubbilex gestured. "Our brother is the one meant to lead us to the surface and into the light. To free us from our life of servitude."
So it is like that then. "What's stopping you from just leaving on your own?" I asked. "Is Cadmus threatening you or something?"
"No, but do you really think your society will accept us like this?" He gestured to himself, clearly referring to his inhuman appearance. I gave him an unimpressed look with my own inhuman appearance, and he went on to elaborate "Superheroes are by definition an exception Machina, and one that is not always accepted. The genomorphs are a species, which is a very different prospect. Mankind has enough trouble accepting their own subgroups. How do you think they would respond to something as alien as us wishing to integrate with them?"
I thought about that for a second. "...you have a point, but I don't think it's fair to ask what is effectively a teenager to fix societal racism for you."
It was hard to tell with a face like his, but I got the impression he was scowling at me. "He does not have to 'fix' it for us. We need a point of contact between ourselves and the human race. One who can stand at the forefront. The rest of the genomorphs would not standby idle if he needed our aid."
Again, he did have a point, but I also didn't think it would work like he wanted. To put it bluntly, Superboy just looked too human. He was technically a genomorph too, but people wouldn't mentally associate him with the artificial beings. I looked at Superboy, who just seemed uncomfortable by the conversation. One thing at a time, I thought to myself. First suspicious genomorph activity, then civil rights.
After a short while Dubbilex led us to a rocky dead end… which opened up to reveal a set of stairs leading downward when we got close. We walked down the stairs for a short time until we came to an opening, and walking through that revealed something I hadn't been expecting.
The cavern was huge, the ceiling being at least 100ft above our heads and the far wall about three times that distance from us. Surprisingly the space was well lit by several large lights scattered across the cavern roof. No, they're not just lights, I realized as I looked closer, making out features on one that shifted. They were actually genomorphs, a mix of bat and insect that radiated bio-luminescent light. And that light let me see the stone structures that covered the floor and walls of the cave. Simple but sturdy things built to all sizes.
And genomorphs were everywhere, carrying stones, carrying equipment, or just hanging out. Several of them stared at us as we walked further in, before we came to a stop in an open square.
"Welcome," Dubbilex said, sweeping his arm out. "To Genomorph City."
Superboy was the first to connect the dots as he looked at the people around him. " This is what you don't want Cadmus finding out. You've been the one disappearing the genomorphs. So you could build your own city."
That did explain a few things, but I was still stuck on the scale of what I was looking at. "When Guardian said some genomorphs had gone missing, I thought he meant a handful."
"At first, I had to steal them away one by one," Dubbilex explained. "Most of the ones you see here though have been created with our own machines which we smuggled from Cadmus. We now only need to steal away more when we need to expand."
"But that doesn't explain the cave-ins," Superboy pointed out. "Were they supposed to be a cover? Because it doesn't seem to be working."
Dubbilex gave one of his subdued frowns. "I have been helping genomorphs escape Cadmus, and we have caved in several tunnels, but the two issues are not connected. We had hoped to gain your help with the former in time, but the latter proved to be dire enough that we reached out to you now. I wasn't sure that even combining my telepathic abilities with all the G-Gnomes we had would be enough to reach you, but it worked."
"So, what is this 'latter' problem, then?" I asked.
"We are under attack. And not by humans. We don't know what they are, but these… creatures came up from caverns even deeper than the ones we are in. We did not go digging any deeper than we had to, and yet they came to us. Perhaps the construction of the city was enough to provoke them."
Superboy looked at me, a questioning look on his face. I hesitated for a moment before I gave a small shake of my head and a shrug. Off the top of my head I didn't remember anything about subterranean creatures from the comics. I mean, there was that one Hollow Earth dimension, but I was pretty sure the portal to that was at the North Pole. Still, I needed more details. "Could you describe these things? They're not dinosaurs, are they?"
Dubbilex arched an eyebrow ridge. "No, they are not dinosaurs. They are difficult to describe-"
He suddenly stopped, head snapping towards the left. A few moments later I heard a roar echo throughout the cavern.
"Another attack, they found another way past the cave-ins." Dubbilex looked back at us. "Please assist us. Seeing what we are fighting will be easier than explaining."
Without another word Dubbilex leapt up and back onto one of the giant troll-like genomorphs that happened to be moving past us. Superboy and I shrugged at one another before taking flight and following after him. It wasn't too long before we reached the edge of the cavern and saw the mess unfolding. There was a large, half circle of genomorphs surrounding a ragged crack in the wall, made up of the troll genomorphs along with the smaller monkey-like ones. And they formed a rough barricade against what was pouring out of the fissure.
I could see why Dubbilex had trouble describing these things. They were roughly humanoid in shape, but their bodies were a mess of growths, cords, and soft plates by the look of it. No two were quite the same, most being slate gray though a few had busts of color on them. Their sizes ranged from smaller than human to almost as big as the trolls. They had no heads to speak of, just a mess of flanges. Honestly, they looked like a mess of mold and mushrooms mashed together into a doll-like shape.
At Dubbilex reached the melee atop his impromptu mount, his horns glowed and he shouted "Push them back into the tunnel! They cannot be allowed to spread into the city!" He looked at me and Superboy and added "Help us buy time until the G-Salamanders arrive!"
Superboy changed forward to push back one of the giant creatures while I hung back for a moment, taking a few seconds to analyze these things and their behavior. There were no tactics or strategy I could see, just a rush of bodies to overwhelm the genomorphs. After a few seconds I spied a smaller one that slipped through the cordon, so I flew around to intercept. I landed in front of it with a crash, saying "I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me how sapient you are before I do something-"
The creature didn't even let me finish before it hurled itself at me. I neatly sidestepped and grabbed it out of the air, spinning to add momentum before tossing it right back into the melee. Yeah that was too much to hope for. I wasn't too keen on my first encounter with an unknown lifeform to be violence, especially if I didn't even know if it was self-aware. But given how vicious the fighting was between them and the Genomorphs, it was out of my hands. I'd try not to kill them if possible, but I wasn't going to risk the Genomorphs either.
Superboy was showing no hesitation, laying into any of the creatures that got close to him. A few tried to overwhelm him with numbers, but he ducked out of the way of the tide before diving back in. He then punched one full force… and his fist went clear through it. There was a pause where neither moved, before the thing simply ignored it and resumed clawing at him again. In a near panic Superboy grabbed the edge of the hole he made and tried to pull it off of him. The resulting motion tore the thing in half, the gray chunks flying apart in either direction. They all but spattered across the cavern floor… before shifting and crawling back, each mass merging into another passing creature.
"They cannot be beaten by physical force!" Dubbilex called out. "Only extreme heat has proven effective in dispatching them."
The fighting was quickly turning desperate, and I saw one of the larger masses surge around a troll and start to envelop several smaller genomorphs. They screamed as they were pulled into the mass, but I rocketed forward and slammed into the gray matter, quickly ripping the smaller creatures out and throwing them free. I managed to get them all out, but by the time I flung the last one clear the mass had shifted it's target and enveloped me instead. And then I felt it try to burrow into me.
I've never been so glad to be able to remove all of my orifices, I thought as I pulled inwards, changing from my human form to a sphere made of grinding blades. It was a war on both the macro and micro scale, as my nanites tore apart the tiny particles that tried to slip past my defenses. But even as I readied my counter attack, I felt something that gave me pause. Something past the physical contact, something deeper in this organic mass. Something alien, yet also familiar.
The last time I had felt something like this was the Deep Night.
In a rush I finished the plasma generator at my core and opened vents all along my sphere body. The resulting short range torrent plasma burned most of the mass off of me, and I spun a few times to get it all. Once I was sure I was clear, I shifted back into my human shape, kneeling on the cavern floor. And when my eyes reformed, I could see reinforcements had arrived.
The G-Salamanders looked roughly like their more mundane counterparts, if said counterpart was the size of a minivan. Their reddish, armor plated bodies scuttled across the floor with four angular limbs and a tail reaching out behind them. Their head was long and pointed and with no visible eyes I could see, though there were gill structures lining their necks.
As one they drew up, forming ranks between the other genomorphs. Their chests ballooning outwards for a moment before they came back down and breathed long gouts of flame at the creatures. The gray things didn't scream or let out any noise, but they flailed as they were burnt to a crisp. The addition of the G-Salamanders turned the tide, and soon the things were all burning or resting back to the fissure.
The flames eventually died down, revealing scorched rocks and charred sludge all around the gap. Without wasting time one of the trolls moved forward and smashed it's arms into the rock wall above it. The stone cracked, and a few more smashes caused the stone to collapse and seal off the hole. There were a few beats where everyone waited to see if there was anything more, but aside from a few tumbling rocks everything was silent.
"...What the hell was that?!" Superboy yelled, turning to Dubbilex. "You said seeing them would help explain, but that didn't explain anything!"
Dubbilex raised a hand apologetically. "I'm sorry, but we really don't know anything about these creatures. Our attempts at communication, telepathic or otherwise, have been met with failure. We don't want to fight these things, but we will protect ourselves from them."
Superboy grumbled, and after a moment of thought asked. "What if they're a sort of offshoot of the genomorphs? Like a side project that was shelved and got loose?"
"...Unlikely, but I cannot fully discount the possibility." He replied. "But we have no means to prove it one way or another. We've been forced to incinerate any samples of them we've had access to, as they have proven too difficult to contain."
I thought it was unlikely too, if for a different reason. "Superboy… this might be something like the Deep Night."
His eyes went wide as he turned to me. He and the rest of the Titans would know what I meant when I said that. "Wait, what? Are you sure?"
"No, I'm not. I need more evidence first." I looked at Dubbilex. "Do you have any idea where they might be coming from? Any clue to a central location?"
"It is difficult to say as we have not mapped out all the tunnels, but most of the attacks have come from roughly that direction." He pointed at the collapsed wall. "Towards the river, I think. The first incursion was, in fact, in Superboy's pod room."
"And they haven't come back that way since."
"Not quite, each time we return to check there has been some 'seepage' through the cracks. We are due to send the G-Salamanders back to sterilize the area. It's part of the reason we are trying to keep the Cadmus staff out of the lower levels, as biological contamination has proven an issue." He gestured to the small genomorphs who were almost consumed and shook his head. "It is also why we are slowly losing. We cannot hold if we have to watch every inclusion point forever."
I nodded. "Alright, how about I go with them and try my own scans, then? I'm made of nanomachines, so we won't have to worry about contamination with me." Probably. At the very least I was able to fight a minute ago.
Dubbilex thought it over for a moment before he nodded. "That should work."
----------------------
The G-Salamanders were my guide through the tunnels, leading back in the direction of the main facility. We ended up back in the main tunnels for a little while before we split off down a smaller one. Though this one quickly terminated in a wall of loose rubble. It was mostly unworked rock with bits of metal plating sticking out here and there. But there was something else creeping through the gaps too. Bits of fuzz and stalks pushing through where they could. There was also a light haze in the air just before the wall.
The G-Salamanders stomped up behind me and started to breathe in, but I waved them off. They could wait till I was done analyzing the sample before sterilizing it. I took a few steps forward into the haze, and sure enough I felt a powdery substance settle on me. And then try to burrow into me. Yep, it's the same feeling, I thought, letting my nanomachines shred the foreign substance while I formed a scanner. It was far more active than spores had any right to be, but I managed to get some solid readings on it.
I stepped back out and took a moment to sterilize myself, basically turning my top layer inside out and destroying any remaining spores. I then gestured, and the G-Salamanders lit the corridor up in flames.
I parsed the data coming back from the scan and frowned. I had been hoping to find something obviously extra normal about this stuff, but that wasn't the case. It was purely organic and wasn't alien. It had entirely Earth based DNA, and wasn't mutated or altered as far as I could tell. While the flames sputtered out behind me I cross referenced the Mountain's database for matches to the DNA. And unfortunately, my suspicions were confirmed. "It's just-"
"Fungus." My head snapped up at the new voice, and from around the corner Animal Man walked out. His hands were in his jacket pockets, and he was giving me an unreadable look. "Not exactly my specialty, but I know it when I see it."
"How did you get in here?" I asked, turning to face him full. The G-Salamanders made some aggressive motions, but I held them back. "Never mind that, how did you even know to come here in the first place?"
The man snorted. "Come on, I haven't been retired that long. The boy's got a very particular scent, and I saw which way you went, which helped narrow it down. And this whole building reeks like him, along with some other stuff. After that, well, I've got enough skullduggery to slip past a few people."
I sighed. I guess there was no running away this time. "Normally I'd say this is none of your business, but, well," I gestured to the burned out corridor behind me. "To answer your earlier question, I know quite a bit about the Kingdoms, Animal Man."
He nodded, confirming something to himself. "So, you know what we're dealing with then?"
"We're dealing with the Kingdom of Fungi. The Grey."
=====A=====
Any delays in the chapter can be blamed on a certain Ring shaped reason.
Last edited:
- Location
- Viet Nam
Ranni quest was in truth beat up her parents to show if you have the strength to have her hand in marriage. It taken a surprisingly long time for me to connect the
was her Mother and
her Father. XD
Also nice to see other kingdom coming up next.
Full Moon Witch
Raydon
Also nice to see other kingdom coming up next.
KillingYouNicely
I've seen things. They weren't really interesting.
- Location
- Australia
Mmm. I would've expected The Melt to be involved in threatening an underground civilization before the Kingdom of Fungi, but I suppose the Genomorph hivemind caught their interest.
Definitely not a nice force for them to be up against, but thankfully not as bad as The Rot would be. It's interesting, though, since I've no doubt there'll be involvement from The Green if their rival kingdom is involved, and with that many Kingdoms having representitives in the same place, complicated politics are bound to erupt.
Definitely not a nice force for them to be up against, but thankfully not as bad as The Rot would be. It's interesting, though, since I've no doubt there'll be involvement from The Green if their rival kingdom is involved, and with that many Kingdoms having representitives in the same place, complicated politics are bound to erupt.
Animal Man suddenly showing up with a "It wasn't easy!" type explanation for how he infiltrated Cadmus was a great superhero moment, and I mean that. I love the genre can get away with that type of thing.
Genomorph politics are difficult to track, but I'm sure Machina will find a way to help out.
Genomorph politics are difficult to track, but I'm sure Machina will find a way to help out.
For the Genomorphs I would honestly just offer them a first class express trip to Mars. The martians wouldn't give two shits about how they look, being the shapeshifters that they are, and they're also a wholey telepathic species so they'd have way more in common with eachother and be able to relate to the Genomorphs a lot more than Humanity who simply lack that telepathic aspect to every interaction.
Maybe long term ask the Lanterns if there are any nice nearby habitable worlds that don't already have residents.
Maybe long term ask the Lanterns if there are any nice nearby habitable worlds that don't already have residents.
- Location
- texas
They aren't a wholly telepathic species, Zoat made that up in WTR.
In fact, giving Dubbilex telepathy was a mistake, which is how it was a secret in the show, as shown in the episode Agendas.
Nor are they a single species, Superboy is a human/kryptonian hybrid, and he's a genomorph. He identified as a genomorph even when he thought he was a 100% a clone of Superman, as per the first episode of YJ.
Genomorph is really a brand name, like Toshiba or Samsung.
If Dubbilex wants to claim species hood, well, let him cling to his dignity.
KillingYouNicely
I've seen things. They weren't really interesting.
- Location
- Australia
That's...not the most polite way to put it.
Genomorphs are for all intents and purposes an ethnic group, rather than a species label. They're a community with a shared cultural background and origin, it's pretty much a one for one description.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Oh dear, I suppose the arrival of the Metal along with the recent shake-up with the Blue was enough to wake Matango up at least a little bit.
Though it's odd that he's going after the Genomorphs instead of his traditional enemy (the Green), probably because he's still half-unconscious and they happen to be in the way of whatever it is that he's up to this time.
Those three kingdoms will absolutely smack you upside the head if you fuck with them directly, but generally speaking they don't involve themselves in inter-Kingdom politics the way the Green, Blue, Red, Grey, Divided, Metal and Black do. (Likely because those three aren't alive and thus operate on geological timescales instead of living ones.)
Though it's odd that he's going after the Genomorphs instead of his traditional enemy (the Green), probably because he's still half-unconscious and they happen to be in the way of whatever it is that he's up to this time.
Nah, the 'Classical' Elemental Kingdoms (Earth, Air, Fire) tend to be super laid-back compared to the 'Living' Kingdoms, the Melt doesn't give a fuck about underground civilizations. In fact it doesn't seem to care much about anything really, it mostly just sits there doing nothing much like the rocks it embodies.
Those three kingdoms will absolutely smack you upside the head if you fuck with them directly, but generally speaking they don't involve themselves in inter-Kingdom politics the way the Green, Blue, Red, Grey, Divided, Metal and Black do. (Likely because those three aren't alive and thus operate on geological timescales instead of living ones.)
Last edited:
Also, the Melt's domain is huuuge, and anything humans do is basically the equivalent of a bacterium gnawing on a skin cell. And if anything humans are pro-Fire given how much we use it.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Melt is Earth, not Fire. The Fire Kingdom never got named in canon, primarily due to the fact that I don't think it ever actually did anything. Fans typically name it The Burn, because duh.
That was my point in calling it "huge". Objectively the elemental domains of the planet can be divided into "The Melt, and a light dusting of other stuff".
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
On the other hand the Fire Kingdom has the entire Sun so I think we all know who the real winners are here.
Spacetime Elementals!On the other hand the Fire Kingdom has the entire Sun so I think we all know who the real winners are here.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Space\Time isn't an element, I think it falls under the domain of one of the Endless?Spacetime Elementals!
- Location
- Elsewhere
Well, to be honest the genomorphs are more of a Family in terms of taxonomic rank, Dubbilex was phasing it that way to get his point across. Though normal taxonomic logic breaks down with them anyway, as they are all created and reproduce artificially.
Also, I mention this on the other site, I've already decided on the names of all the Kingdoms/Primordial, and they don't quite match up with the comics.
Animalia - The Red
Plantae - The Green
Fungi - The Grey
Single Celled Life - The Yellow (The Divided in the comics)
Machines - The Silver (The Metal in the comics)
Water - The Blue/The Clear
Fire - The Burn (was call the Red that one time by Darksied, but we don't talk about that)
Air - The Drift (The White in the comics)
Earth - The Meld (the Melt in the comics. Seriously, just change one letter and it fits so much better)
Decay - The Black/The Rot
Headcanon: Darkseid deliberately used the wrong name just to confuse people. He's petty like that.
Trilogy Prions
Wandering Ill
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This was very enlightening. Maybe put it on the informational threadmark?
That got a laugh out of me.
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
IIRC it is canon that at least some of the Kingdoms have alternate names (like the Metal\Silver and the Blue\Clear) so none of those names actually contradict canon in any meaningful way. The only one that really stands out to me is the Divided being the Yellow, but that fits too because while AFAIK it's never been called that in canon, the Divided's dominant colour scheme is very much yellow\orange, so I see no reason why it couldn't be called that.
Also, the Red is only terrestrial animalia, aquatic animalia fall under the purview of the Blue. Why exactly this is the case is never explained, though it is heavily implied that the Red and Blue used to be the same until some kind of civil war split them in two, also that neither Kingdom is particularly happy about how everything turned out and thus they refuse to talk about it. (Similar to how the Green was once part of the Melt, until it grew strong enough to claim independence.)
Last edited:
- Location
- texas
Incorrect.
Animal Man, whose powers come from the Red, has swam like a fish, punched like a pistol shrimp, shocked like an electric eel, spoke dolphin, released ink like an octopus, used the senses of a minnow, and used the breath of a turtle.
An elemental power claiming something doesn't preclude it from being claimed by another. Sea animals are of the Red and Blue.
As a fire elemental Firestorm controls all energy, including electromagnetism. Red Tornado an air elemental can also control lightning.
When Swamp Thing travelled to Technis, he made a body out of the the technorganic matter of Technis. He made a body out of living machines.
Controlling all energy, including the strong and weak nuclear forces, Firestorm can also control matter, like stone, air, or water.
So if elemental powers didn't share than Fire would have called dibs at the Big Bang.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Hmm.
shared custody type situation?