asterous

chapter two

chapter two - fireworks

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CADMUS LABORATORY
JULY 5th — 00:01 EDT

you must awaken

well, that did the trick. though dick was groggy and his chest hurt and the fact that he was hanging inside a pod by solely hid wrists was already bad enough, but the fact that hanging there was ripping open old and new wounds just made the experience so much worse.

"what do you want?" wally yelled. his voice was muffled and a bit raspy, but it was definitely wally. "quit staring."

dick looked down at where wally was directing his anger. superboy just stood there, watching. not creepy at all. "kf? don't tick off the guy that can fry us with a glare."

"we only sought to help you," kaldur pleaded.

"we freed you and you turned on us. how's that for gratitude?" wally yelled.

"kid, be quiet. i doubt our new... friend was in full control of his actions."

this was uncomfortable.

dick flicked his wrist, letting the small lockpick he kept in his glove come into reach of his fingers. now, how was he to break out without superboy seeing him? that was certainly the question.

"what if i wasn't?" superboy asked, in perfect english. dick was almost jealous that he had learned it in only sixteen weeks. it had taken dick a year to become fluent and he was fully immersed in it for all 52 weeks.

"he can talk?" wally blurted out. bad move on his part, but this was new territory for everyone.

"yes. he can."

"it's... it's not like i said it." wally must've shrugged, but with his hands still tied up it looked more like a mini-seizure.

"the g-gnomes taught you?" kaldur asked, sounding intrigued.

"they taught me a lot. i can read, write, solve algebra, recite poems."

"but have you ever even seen the contents of those poems?" dick asked. "have you ever seen the sky? the sun?"

"images are implanted in my mind but... no, i've never actually seen them."

kaldur frowned. "do you know what you are? rather, who you are?"

"i am the superboy: a genomorph, a clone created from the dna of the superman. i am here to take his place, should he perish, and to destroy him, should he turn from the light," superboy recited. how many times had they put those same sentences into his head? over and over and over.

wally met dick's eye, blinking in morse code. wtf.

ally? dick cocked his head.

as if.

turns out that learning morse code as kids came in handy. who would've thought?

"that is a worthy aspiration." kaldur paused. "but you deserve a life of your own, beyond cadmus."

"this is my HOME."

"your home is a test-tube," dick countered. "we can show you the sun."

"we can introduce you to superman," kaldur said, really hitting a home-run there. superboy actually might help them.

"no, they can't."

ah, fuck.

the idiot gang of scientists (and also the traitor known as guardian) made their way in, ruining dick's chances of getting out of this whole shebang and  taking wally out on a date. they all had their ugly little g-gnomes perched on their shoulders too, who were they? pirates?