( MADELAINE PRINCE )

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* "𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘'𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘" diana announced towards madelaine as the two flew over the city of washington d.c., madelaine in her natural state with her indigo eyes and white hair on display. she was glad to be in her own skin again, feeling way more comfortable.

"it is indeed, do you think the others know i'll be there?" madelaine asked as she turnt to glance at the woman she saw as another mother, discarding her own for obvious reasons such as her being in a pit for a few more hundred years.

the girl began to twist the steel bracelet she had attached to her skin, the a faint purple glow beginning to emit from it , her fingers tracing over the carvings her mother had made. it was probably the only thing from olympus she had carried with her and the only thing diana would allow to be brought to earth.

"robin certainly knows, if he tells the others..." she trailed off letting the girl figure it out. she wasn't really as known as others sidekicks  but there was the occasional article about her and diana from time to time. diana had named her lady mystique at the age of thirteen on her first mission that she accompanied the woman of wonder on.

"land" diana announced not turning to look at the girl before the two let their feet hit the path of the justice league hall, fans waiting outside taking pictures of them. madelaine could hear all the whispers and found it quite hard to ignore the flashes which were basically blinding her.

"it's wonder woman and lady mystique!" "what are her powers again?" "didn't she save ten people from a building alone?" if she wasn't in front of the public eyes she'd roll her eyes. it was as if she was some zoo animal on display for these people.

back on olympus everyone had powers and she was no different to the other gods like herself and even demi-gods. here she was considered special and rare though, but in her mind she knew her powers were nothing more than a basic gift passed on from her mother.

ahead of the two females she could see eight bodies, she instantly recognised robins cape and speedy's red attire. she noticed batman, the flash, green arrow and aqua man but couldn't tell who the other two were. they began to approach behind the men.

"ready to see the inner sanctum?" green arrow asks speedy which madelaine beat him to answering as she took place besides the ginger boy 2 years older than herself.

"been ready for the past few years" her voice caught the attention of the others as she crossed her arms and sent smiles to everyone around her, robin sending a smirk and speedy rolling his eyes playfully. the other two boys her age caught her attention quickly.

"lady mystique, pleasure" she introduced turning to them both sticking her hands out with an even bigger smile. the darker one with pretty blue eyes shook her hand back and the ginger one with noticeable freckles brought her hand to his mouth sending a soft kiss.

"pleasures all mine. i'm kid flash" the ginger said making her raise an eyebrow in question before grinning a bit and ignoring roy's small scoff, typical boys she thought.

"i am kaldur'ahm. you may call me kaldur or aqualad, i'm glad we're all here" the darker boy introduced smiling which slightly made madelaine's cheeks heat up. he was an attractive boy she couldn't blame herself.

"have all five sidekicks ever been at the same place at the same time?" kid flash asked turning to robin considering he'd know, the boy priding himself on everything to do with batman this probably being a small ingrained question already.

"don't call us sidekicks" roy nearly growled "not after today" he finished making madelaine roll her eyes playfully before grabbing his hand.

"sorry" kid flash smiles before his eyes quickly glance to the twos interlocked hands then back to roy's face "first time at the hall. a little overwhelmed" he was really cute madelaine noticed.

"you're overwhelmed, freeze was underwhelmed. why isn't anybody ever just whelmed?" robin asks, as they walk through the doors making madelaine drag roy with her "oh" robin manages, staring up at the statues of the initial justice league members. "maybe that's why"

"we were just here yesterday robin" madelaine laughed as she let go off roy's hands and made her way to her usual spinning chair plopping herself down.

they arrive at a large door with authorised personnel only written on it. it slid open, revealing martian manhunter and red tornado, a human-sized red robot. the two step out of the hallway and into where the cameras can see them.

"robin, lady mystique, speedy, aqualad, kid flash" he lists them off in order, his voice calm but monotonic and formal. "welcome" then he turns around, leading them inside. the two leading protégés, robin and kid flash, fist bump with each other as they begin to follow him. "you now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked gallery, and of course our library." the door opens revealing a massive library with massive computer and extensive amounts of books.

"have you guys found a copy of the odyssey yet?" madelaine spoke up as she turnt to manhunter, the green alien just nodding before turning around and grabbing a book off the shelf handing it to diana.

"it's in ancient greek?" kaldur asked as he looked at the book diana held and noticed the cover, him turning to give madelaine a questioning look.

"first language" the girl shrugged in reply not finding it exactly an appropriate time to explain exactly who she was or where she was from.

"mystique is from mount olympus, her fathers zeus and her mothers circe" diana explained for the girl making her shy away slightly in her seat considering the eyes that were all looking at her.

"i was going to ask how it felt when you fell from heaven?" kid flash flirted causing robin to throw a pillow off one of the chairs nearby at the ginger boy which he quickly sped away from.

flash turns back to the five teens "make yourselves at home" he says with a grand gesture and a smile before turning to madelaine "and you stop pressing buttons" the girl retracting her hand quickly. robin and kid flash literally jump into their chairs, while aqualad calmly takes the one across from them. speedy remains standing. looking directly at the mentors.

"quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four Ice villains attacking on the same day" batman then turns to the teens. "we shouldn't be long" then he turns to another door, and a fisheye camera pops out.

recognize: batman; 0-2, wonder woman; 0-5, aqua man; 0-6, flash; 0-4, green arrow; 0-8, martian manhunter; 0-7, red tornado; 1-6. the door behind the camera illuminates before opening reading out   justice league members only.

"that's it?" roy asks as his anger and volume increase catching all of their attention instantly. "you promised a real look inside not a glorified backstage pass" he crosses his arms since his eyes can't show his emotions as he has lenses in his mask.

"it's a first step" aqua man speaks up, though calmly. "you've been granted access few others get" his words making madelaine raise an eyebrow pointing towards a group of people taking pictures on the other side of the soundproof glass

"roy, you just need to be calm down for a second." madelaine tries, even using her friends real name to attempt to try and get him to listen to her. he only turns to her with an offended look before changing his anger to green arrow.

"what I need is respect." roy growls, before turning around to take a look at the other four protégés. "they're treating us like kids" he tries to speak directly to them. "worse- like sidekicks!" his anger steadily growing but that one word makes it nearly double. "we deserve better than this." directing his last sentence at madelaine making her sigh.

all four exchange looks, kid flash looking to robin, then to aqualad, then to madelaine who exchanges a small glance to all three of them, then all three turning to roy, but robin's eyes have gone wide beneath the lenses of his mask.

roy's voice drops. "you're kidding right? you're playing their game?" his anger once again growing but worse. "why?! today was supposed to be the day, step one in becoming full-fledged members of the league"

roy's words confused madelaine, is that not today was? she turnt to diana but the woman seemed to be avoiding her proteges eyes.

"well, sure," kid flash speaks up, looking to the other three protégés. "but I thought step one was the tour of the hq." he says, sitting up straighter and looking to the older teen who only chuckled deeply.

"except the hall isn't the league's real hq." green arrow looks mildly surprised, while aqua man's eyes bug in shock. not to mention all four protégés' mouths drop open, madelaine's eye brows furrowing. "i bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching zeta-beam teleporter-tubes to the real thing," he gestures up with his right hand in indication for his next words. "an orbiting satellite called the watchtower."

"are you kidding me?" madelaine nearly shouts as she shoots up from her seat looking directly at diana the woman who was meant to tell her the truth and never lie to her. the woman who had just betrayed her.

"you're not helping your cause here, son. and mystique you need to calm down. stand down or..." aqua man tried slightly stepping closer to the boy before roy took a large step back.

"or what?" he demands. "you'll send me to my room? and I'm not your son!" he snaps then turns to green arrow. "i'm not even his" his anger seems to die out as he speaks again. "i thought I was his partner, but not anymore." emphasizing his point by taking off the canary-yellow hat and throwing it to the ground.

roy turnt to the other four in the room his gaze lasting longer on madelaine with disappointment, betrayal and a small sense of sadness lingering behind his eyes.

"guess they were right about you three. and i expected better from you mads" roy comments as he walks between the three males who stand up in an attempt to either say something or physically get in his way. "you're not ready." with that they all watch as he leaves the library.

madelaine doesn't even wait to hear what anyone has to say before making her way after roy ignoring diana's yells, she caught up to him grabbing his hand and stopping him in his tracks. the boy flinging her hand off his own before his eyes softened realising it was her.

"i know you're angry but don't do that to green, he cares about you. just come back..." the girl basically begged to the boy she once loved putting emotion into every single one of her words.

"they lied to me, to you, to us? and you still want to work for them?" the boy asked as his anger once again began to rise. she knew how he had anger issues which he was still working through but it was never this bad until maybe two years ago when he was captured by lex luthor. something happened that day that changed roy, her roy.

"diana's raised me, i'm not going to leave her" madelaine explained, sure she was angry but it wasn't enough to leave behind the amazonian woman.

"what as if i've ever left you?" he asked knowing she couldn't answer that question, he'd stuck by her side since the day they met and now she couldn't do the same? "i'll talk to you when i'm not like this" roy just shook his head before turning and storming away.

madelaine sighed knowing they'd eventually be able to work through this, they always do. she turnt making her way back to the main room in the office noticing the adults were gone and the proteges were all that was left.

"are-are you going to cadmus?" kid flash asks using his finger pointing skills to emphasize to robin "because if you're going, i'm going!" both boys turn to aqualad smiling, robin beaming and kid flash with a dash hope in his eyes.

"cadmus?" madelaine asks taking a spot besides kaldur and looking at robin who slightly shrunk back at her stare.

"just like that?" aqualad asks. "we're a team on a mission?" the atlantian asks turning to look at madelaine who was more confused than anything but not willing to let them leave without her.

both the boys smiles died down, but robin gained a smirk. "we didn't come for a play-date." aqualad joins his with a look of pure determination as well as kid-flash before the ginger walks up to madelaine throwing an arm round her shoulder.

"i'll explain when we're there beautiful" his words making her sigh out considering what she was probably about to get herself into.

———

the four teenagers arrive outside of cadmus before an explosion goes off causing two scientists on the third floor to fall from the window kid flash zooms onto the scene, running up the wall and getting both to the roof, but he's not fast enough to get there himself. he falls and manages to catch himself on the second story window ledge that the two scientists just fell from.

"does he always have to run ahead?" kaldur asks turning to robin but noticing the boy was already gone, his stupid laugh echoing around. he turnt to madelaine to see her floating above him.

"gonna help mouthy over there" she explained flying to wally's aid before pulling the boy by his arms into the building. the speedster jumping to his feet once inside and besides the girl.

"i think i love you" the ginger said as he turnt to madelaine now who was flicking her white hair back over her head so it rested against her back. the goddess turning to give the boy a playful shove not taking his words seriously.

kaldur suddenly jumps through and turns to look at the three in the room, robin having somehow joined without kid and madelaine noticing. "thanks for the help" the girl giving him a small smile as an apology.

"we're here to investigate." aqualad steps beyond the three , heading further into the building. "poetic justice, remember?" as aqualad steps beyond the desks, there is long hallway, with an elevator door closing.

the clang of the doors meets draws the attention of the other three. bringing them right behind aqualad. "there was something in the-" he cuts himself off, still not entirely sure of what he's seen.

"elevators should be locked down." kid flash says, standing straight turning to look at madelaine who confirmed his statement by turning to robins wrist which glowed with the details of the building.

"this is wrong." robins says as he pulls up a holoscreen on his gauntlet again. giving him the specs of a silver slip express elevator "this is a high-speed express elevator. it doesn't belong in a two-story building."

"neither does what I saw." aqualad states gravely, before forcing the doors open. as his strength is no longer need at full capacity he looks down the elevator shaft, which seems to go on forever.

robin ducks under his arm, keeling down to try and get a better look. "and that's why they need an express elevator." then he stands, shooting his grappling hook into the top of the column. once it sticks he jumps, letting himself fall. aqualad follows with no hesitance.

madelaine turns to wally sticking her hand out to the boy which he happily accepts with no questions, the girl floating them down carefully. the teenagers pass sl22, sl23, sl24, and begin to slow at sl25 before coming to a stop at sl26. "bypassing security." robin waits as his five little robin heads go from red to green. "there. go."

aqualad pries the door open. all four of them walking out. "welcome to project cadmus." madelaine announces. kid flash smiles before bolting. madelaine turning to the other two before chasing after kid flash.

"kid, wait!" she stops as she tumbles down after running head first into something, her body now being under many large creatures walking around her. she covered her face as a first instinct before feeling herself being lifted and moved. she didn't dare open her eyes.

"you can open your eyes now angel" kid flashs' cocky voice spoke up making her peak an eye open before letting out a sigh of relief and making herself stand with the help of the boy.

"thanks" she says before the creatures in front of them growls at them, then a smaller one on top of the large ones massive trunked head doing the same. the smaller one hissing and it's horns glow red as the larger one continues to walk away.

"no. nothing odd going on here." aqualad says sarcastically. madelaine would've laughed if she wasn't so shocked by what she was seeing.

———

the door's before them goes from red to yellow to green before it fully unlocks. kid flash is waiting and madelaine floating while robin is hacking, and aqualad covers their six. as the door opens both robin and kid flash look surprised. "okay, i'm officially whelmed" madelaine gasps catching aqua lad's attention.

within the room are towering rows of bug-like creatures, giving off electrical pulses that seem to then go through a generator in the wall before them, but nearly 20 feet off the ground.

"this is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world." kid flash realizes as they walk between the towering rows. "the real cadmus isn't on the grid. it generates it's own power with these... things." any excitement has left his tone. "must be what they're bred for"

"wait, even the name is a clue!" madelaine explains before aqualad catches on and finished for her.

"the cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth." the story brought a slight shiver over madelaine, her mother used to tell her it when she was still a small child to scare her.

"and this cadmus creates new life too." robin agrees stepping up to the computer nearest one of the rows of creatures. "let's find out why." then pulls out a connector from his gauntlet to connect him to the computer. a holoscreen appears and he begins funnelling the information. "they call them genomorphs." his eyes widen. "whoa! look at the stats on these things- super-strength, telepathy, razor claws. these are living weapons." robin literally reels back in shock.

"maybe some things are better left undiscovered?" madelaine suggested as she began to take a few steps back but her arms was caught by robin who pulled her back slightly making her sigh.

"they're engineering an army, but for who?" kid flash questions taking a few glances to his side cautious of what could be around.

"wait. there's something else." robin says, as another batch of information comes through to his gauntlet. aqualad now steps up behind Robin, looking over his shoulder. "project kr" kr? he tries to start decrypting it. "ugh! the files triple-encrypted. i-i can't-"

"kr, wait isn't that-" madelaine was cut off from her near explanation as the voice of a man appeared, a voice she was quite similar with.

"don't move!" guardian calls now having a golden shield on his left forearm a squad of smaller, genomorphs growling around him. these ones are longer, skinnier and tailed. guardian stops short. "wait, madelaine? robin, aqualad, kid flash?"

madelaine sent a small hesitant wave at the man before moving slightly behind kaldur not wanting to hurt roy's cousin.

"at least he got your name right." robin teases kid flash, working on the kr file behind aqualad so guardian can't see him.

"i know you." speaks, momentarily catching robin's attention. " you're guardian, a hero." madelaine could only stare at the man wondering what was going on.

"what are you doing here?" kid flash questions confused at the same time that guardian replies "i do my best"

"i'm chief of security." guardian responds. "you're trespassing, but we can call the justice league, figure this out." the man said suddenly taking on an adult tone and making madelaine internally wince.

"may not be the best idea right now" she said out loud making guardian look at her and then at the other three wondering where roy was knowing it was his initiation day.

"you think the league's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" kid flash speaks up making guardian narrow his eyes confused

"weapons?" guardian questioned "what are you-" guardian's eyes go wide just before his g-gnome's horns begin to glow. "what have I-" he brings his head to his temple as it falls to his chest. "ugh my head" he brings his hand away, but he glares hard at the protégé's. "take them down hard!" he tells the genomorphs.

with a growl the genomorphs jump into action. robin does so at the same time, getting in front of kid flash, madelaine and aqualad and dropping a smoke bomb. madelaine casts an illusion over body as she camouflages with the wall. kid flash backs up as a genomorphs slashes at his face, causing him to bump into madelaine slightly.

"watch out" she calls out to him before taking flight and slamming head first into one of the genomes which had just slashed aqua lad's shoulder, the creature trying to claw at her face as they tackled on the floor. the boy quickly snaps out of it before being tackled by guardian.

madelaine went to kick the thing off her before chanting a small incantation and blasting the creature into one that was sneaking up behind kid flash. the ginger sending her a wink before zooming forward to help aqualad.

the girl glanced around her seeing seven of the creatures crawling towards her at a quick pace, her heart increasing as she didn't want to use too much magic scared to hurt everyone else in the room, instead throwing her arm out making the genomes be thrown back into guardian who was just recovering from aqualad's attack.

kid flash began to run towards her before taking her hand and pulling her along with him in a rush, the girl not daring to turn around as she let herself be dragged.

"way to be a team player, rob!" kid shouts as the three skid to a stop after turning a corner seeing robin hacking into the elevator, the girl breathing heavily as she tried to catch her breath.

"weren't you right behind me?" he questions, surprised, but not stalling in his hacking of the elevator. it opens and the three dive in, turning and facing back down the hall as aqualad continues to run from the genomorphs, diving into the elevator and the door closes right behind him.

The numbers were going up, which meant they were going deeper underground. aqualad is the first to voice not only his concern, but also his dislike which is obvious in his harsh tone. "we're headed down?"

madelaine looked towards robin at the news and then the elevator letters at the top, "are you trying to kill us?" she asked glancing to the boy before sharing a look with kaldur.

"dude, out is up." kid flash makes his point by gesturing in that direction. the older teenagers just looking at robin in confusion and annoyance, wondering when he decided what they'd do.

"excuse me?" robin questions, offended. "project kr, it's down on sub-level 52" he pointed out as if it were obvious where they were going. madelaine groaned loudly before leaning against the elevator walls and throwing her head back.

"this is out of control." kaldur complains as he rubs the back of his neck as he moves to the far side of the expansive elevator. "perhaps- perhaps we should contact the league" madelaine nodded in agreement as robin held an offended look.

the elevator slows and finally comes to a stop with a ding at sub-level 52. all four get in front of the door ready for battle, but there's nothing there. only hallways that look almost organic. robin sprints out, colourful cape flying behind him, leaving the others to share looks. "we are already here." kid shrugged before zooming off

the eldest sighs in an effort to not get mad at the younger protégés before turning to madelaine who smiled apologetically. "lead the way" the girl announced as she stuck her hands out letting him go first.

robin chuckles, trying to keep it light. "yeah, bizarre-looking hallway one, or bizarre-hallway two?" causing madelaine to jokingly hit his shoulder considering the situation.

"halt!" is given out by the anthropoid from before. his horns glow red and he lifts to cans telekinetically, then launching them at the teens. they dodge and robin throws an disk at him which he stops. by the time they're ready to attack again the kids are gone.

he stops and waits as guardian and the other genomorphs run out of the elevator. "they are headed for project kr" he tells guardian

further down a scientist opens the door from the inside, walking out of the chamber. kid flash comes around the corner at high speeds and doesn't have a chance to stop before he takes out her feet knocking her to the ground. as he gets to his knees he hears the doors behind him closing and looks at the project kr label on it, he gets to his feet and picks up a large triangular prism shaped object, dropping it to the floor and between the two flat segments of the door.

madelaine arrives next and immediately notices the lodging in the door before diving straight through the gap, then kid and robin. the three stand and yell to aqualad to hurry before the boy steps inside and kicks the prop out allowing the door to shut.

a few steps in robin has the hologlove up again, and is hacking the door to engage the emergency lock. "i disabled the door. we're safe" he tells the others.

"we're trapped." aqualad and madelaine correct him at the same time, robin shrinking back a bit at their dark stares.

"uh, guys." kid flash calls out from a panel "you'll want to see this" hitting a single button to turn all the lights on in the chamber and inside the pod in the centre of the room.

madelaine let out an audible gasp, aqualad staring in disbelief and wally letting out a "whoa!" nothing from boy wonder who stood still processing what they saw.

inside the pod is a boy with pitch black hair, pale skin and a white suit that has superman's s on it. the letter's kr written on the glass that keeps the teen within.

"i knew it! big k, little r, the atomic symbol for krypton. they cloned him" madelaine exclaims remembering the point she was going to make earlier before taking quick steps towards the pod.

"robin, hack." aqualad command which takes the caught-off-guard youngest a couple seconds to register what he was told to do.

"oh. right, right." he plugs his connector into the console. as it asks for a password he begins the bypass program, which works and lets him in. madelaine traces her nails against the glass the clone stood behind. "weapon designation superboy, a clone force-grown in... sixteen weeks?!" his eyes popping in shock. "from dna acquired from superman."

"superman defo did not agree to this" madelaine says turning to the others, aqualad being the only one to nod and agree with her before kid speaks up aswell.

"no way the big guy knows about this." kid flash agrees.

"solar suit allows him to absorb yellow-sun radiation 24/7."robin continues to read off, madelaine looking up again noticing how scarily similar he looked to superman.

"and these creatures?" aqualad questions indicating to the ones on the projection off robin's gauntlet. "genomorph gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education." robin replies.

"and we can guess what else." kid flash says, capturing the attention of the other two. "they're making a slave out of, well, superman's son"

"now we contact the league." aqualad says turning to madelaine for confirmation which she nods towards. kid flash also goes to his lightning bolts, madelaine to her belt and robin attempts it from his hologlove. none of them receiving anything.

"we're in too deep literally." kid flash says, knowing it's true in both senses. they'd be lucky if the justice league didn't kill them when they got out of this. if they got out of this.

"we can't leave him like this." robin speaks up before turning to his friends wondering if they'd let him do what they were all thinking.

all three are now looking to a concentrating aqualad. "set him free." he decides, then turns to robin. "do it" the eldest's command being enough for robin to do it with no hesitance.

all four watch as the pod falls away from the boy who looks physically 16. though the pod is gone he remains calm. then his hand clenches, causing regret to begin to pile in madelaine's stomach.

as the g-gnomes begin to hiss again his bright blue eyes snap open. aqualad raises his eyebrows in a silent question, but no one dares to actually speak. before anyone can blink superboy launches himself at aqualad. tackling him to the ground and leaving the other three to watch the movement in shock.

superboy ends up on top of aqualad his fist coming back to hit him square in the face. he gets three full hits in before robin and wally grab his arms trying to pull him back. madelaine running in front of the boy and sending a blast of electricity at him blowing all three of the boys back.

"we're on your side!" robin attempts taking to the maniac as he grabs kid flash and the two begin fighting. kid flash loses his fight and gives the clone enough time to land an uppercut under the speedster's jaw. knocking him up and back and through the glass cylinder. then on the back of his neck and flopping to the ground, unconscious.

"kid!" madelaine calls out before rushing to where the boy was thrown, noticing his chest was still moving but he was out cold. the girl muttering a spell and placing a barrier around his body before running off to help the others.

superboy catches robin on the front of his cape then slamming him to the ground. as a final point he steps onto the smaller raven's chest. beginning to force more weight onto his solar plexus.

"hey, big guy you're not that tough" madelaine taunted running behind him making him growl slightly before the girl ran forward ready to tackle him before he started going for her causing her to jump as high as possible and taking flight above him.

the boy jumping with all his force and grabbing the girls legs dragging her down, slamming her body into the floor causing a dent and then placing a foot on her stomach causing her to lose her breath.

getting his head back on straight, and realizing the immediate danger one of his teammates is in aqualad pulls out his water-bearers, creating a massive hammer, swinging back and only catching the clone's attention with his cry of "enough!" which gave him no warning and let aqualad hit him solidly and knocking him back through the support of his pod. aqualad runs to madelaine supporting her back helping her to sit before she falls unconscious.

aqualad's blue eyes being the last thing she remembers seeing.