[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/445351464320106498/870668188650733618/SB4.png[/img][/center][indent][sub][color=white][b]SEASON ONE[/b][/color][color=e20025] Sensation & Wonder[/color][/sub][sup][right][b][color=white]SUPERBOY #7[/color][/b] [url=https://youtu.be/lUMT9OIaVvE][color=e20025]Pull My Strings[/color][/url][/right][/sup][/indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][indent][color=white][sub][b]Cadmus Tower's Lower Levels - The Complex [color=e20025]♦[/color] Metropolis[/b][/sub][/color][/indent]
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Nearly every man with power chose to flaunt it. They put their names across skyscrapers, wore watches worth more than most people's homes. Some ran for political office just to hear crowds cheer. Others dressed up in spandex and helped kittens out of trees. Hell, one of them just shot himself into space for the sake of his own ego. It was pointless. All of it. Everything they did was to serve their own desperate egos. They gained no satisfaction from their successes unless they were recognized for them; [i]adored[/i] for them. Power was not meant to be flaunted. 

Far beneath the looming glass of Cadmus Tower lay the true heart of its power: the laboratories. This place was older than the tower above it. Older than the company that owned it, even. Its halls were lead-lined concrete, its furnishing spartan. Only one man knew how many levels there were to the complex- only one [i]living[/i] man, anyway. It was a sprawling labyrinth, every section's employees only aware of functions relevant to their duties. Some said the layout changed at random. Doors would move. Hallways would vanish. Entire sections full of employees could vanish for weeks only to reappear, unaware anything was amiss. Here, power was wielded toward the only end that mattered. Here, the future of mankind was forged.

Dr. Paul Westfield toured the Genetics department. It was the largest section of the facility by far, housing dozens of projects: Amazon, Arachnid, Gamma, Hex, Krypton, Soldier, Speedster, the X-line. Some were further along than others.

Soldier was the closest to going to market. They'd made four successful variants of the original genetic template, and further enhanced one with Cadmus's version of the super soldier serum. They originally hoped to enhance the full line, but Guardian's stability proved an outlier. All other subjects injected with the serum suffered from debilitating migraines and intense psychosis. Thankfully the unaltered variants were excellent products on their own; several buyers had expressed interest already.

It was a shame the others were barely treading water. Amazon and Hex relied on forces beyond the current scope of human comprehension. Attempts to replicate the source of their power ended in disaster: abominations, suffering in their own malignant flesh, their very existence anathema to life. They were useful only as fodder for other experiments.

Arachnid, Gamma and the X-Line were difficult knots to untangle. Individual mutations were impossible to reproduce with any regularity. Every attempt was so radically different from the original that they couldn't create a proper control group. It took a great deal of tampering to advance the project at all. The beings they'd fabricated in the end were powerful yet mindless. At least the investment would not go to waste, as Dr. Donovan had developed a full-body harness to facilitate remote piloting. Those mutants would be drones of bone and blood.

Only designation 'Blockbuster' proved an exception to the rule, retaining a degree of its former intelligence, but Dr. Desmond's transformation had been an...unforeseen consequence of the program.

Speedster was troubled by the same problem as so many other projects: too little material from the original template to work with. Too little data to properly reconstruct the source of their abilities. Everything was theoretical, and the board never cared for [i]theories.[/i] They funded Westfield because they expected results.

Of all of them, Krypton was meant to be his crowning achievement. Some called their breakthrough a miracle, but that was foolish. It was ingenuity, and so many years of dedication, that led to Subject 13's birth. That clone was a fountain of endless potential. In time, it could've even grown to surpass its template. But like so many others it turned out to be just another disappointment. 'Boys' knew even less about power than men.

"Sir, did you hear me?" A security officer repeated, nervous sweat dripping down his forehead. Only now did the director turn to acknowledge him. "I said Superboy's breached the main elevator shaft. Security drones are slowing him down, but this place wasn't built to stop [i]Superman[/i]-"

[color=lightgray]"It is to our fortune that we are not dealing with him, then, hmm?"[/color] Westfield interrupted. [color=lightgray]"Stand down, allow him passage. Tell him to meet me in Acquisitions. It would appear I have need of something stored there."[/color]

[indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][indent][color=white][sub][b]Main Lobby - The Complex [color=e20025]♦[/color] Metropolis[/b][/sub][/color][/indent]
[color=lightblue]"Always wanted to meet you guys, but this ain't exactly how I imagined it."[/color] Superboy dragged himself to his feet, head still throbbing after meeting the business end of an optic blast. Cyclops approached on all fours, the visor fused to his skull glowing with ruby energy. He was flanked by Wolverine, Angel and a floating head in a jar that looked like Professor X. The X-Men with close to human biology were covered in metal and wires, all bolted into their bones to keep it in place. Their movements were abrupt, wrong, like their arms and legs were dragging the rest of their torso along. Their heads were stuck in metal braces and would only turn when pushed or pulled by hydraulics.

It was hard for Superboy to look at them for too long without his stomach churning. [color=lightblue]"I pictured a team-up sorta deal, beatin' up on aliens or supremacists or somethin'."[/color] Wolverine came leaping at him, a whirling dervish of blades. This version had six claws instead of three, and half of those were where his feet should've been. He less walked on them and more...scurried.

Very little could pierce Superboy's skin. Whatever tipped those claws, though? It cut deep. Had to keep moving. He tried to fly up and out of Wolverine's range only for the X-Man to jump at the wall, dig his claws in and start climbing like the world's most fucked up spider. Wolvie was quick. Way too quick. Back on the ground, Cyclops's eyes were getting brighter- about to loose another beam. An idea.

Superboy spun in the air and shot toward Cyclops. Wolverine jumped again, trying to follow. Cyclops fired, and Superboy suddenly dropped to the ground. Wolverine collided with the optic blast, a chunk of his stomach blown out, yet he kept falling. That cyclone of claws turned Cyclops into a pile of shredded gore.

[color=lightblue]"Two down, two to go."[/color]

Angel took his shot. His wings sprouted from where the real Angel's arms would've been, and a pair of razor sharp talons had replaced his legs from the knees down. They clamped around each of Superboy's arms, yanking him across the main lobby to slam him against the far wall. Concrete crumbled under the impact. Angel kept dragging Superboy up along the wall, smearing his face with rebar and chunks of rock. [color=lightblue]"Owowowshitowshitshit-"[/color]

He'd had just about enough of that. He wrapped his fingers around Angel's weird bird feet, digging into them to ensure a strong grip. And then he started pulling. Angel's wings beat hard on the other end as he tried to keep flying up along the wall. Superboy dug his feet into a tangle of rebar. They both kept pulling and pulling from either side even as sinew snapped and bone fractured. There was a sound like paper being torn from the spine of a notebook as Angel split into two halves. The bottom half fell into Superboy's hands, spilling blood over him. The top half shot like a rocket into the ceiling, cracking the mutant's head like an egg.

Superboy dropped to the floor on his knees and vomited. It was easy to tell himself they weren't people. It was harder to believe it. Even if all their insides were grown in vats and their brains were hollowed out radio receivers, they still...they still [i]looked[/i] like the X-Men. Sort of.

The head in a jar floated over to where Superboy sat. It stared down at him with empty eyes from within the greenish jelly.

[color=lightblue]"So you're the Professor, right?"[/color] He tried to make it sound like a joke, but it didn't seem very funny anymore. [color=lightblue]"Where's all the psychic stuff? You readin' my mind right now?"[/color]

It kept staring.

[color=lightblue]"I just can't tell if-"[/color]

The head exploded, scattering brain matter over the inside of its jar.

[color=lightblue]"Oh [b]JESUS CHRIST![/b]"[/color] Superboy screamed. [color=lightblue]"Really? Really?!"[/color]

And there he sat, covered in the remains of the X-Clones, when the intercom blared to life. "Hey, uh, sorry about all that." The scratchy-voiced guard on the other end gave an awkward laugh. "We've called off the other drones. Dr. Westfield wants you to meet him in Acquisitions. We'll, uh...we'll send a guy to lead you over there. Just try not to kill him too, okay? Sorry, that was- that was a bad joke. Timing's not...anyway. Yeah." The intercom clicked off with a buzz.

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