The Cadmus facility stretched across the horizon like a steel labyrinth, every wall humming with hidden wires and secrets. Under the glare of floodlights, it looked less like a building and more like a prison for things that shouldn't exist.
Zane crouched on the rooftop opposite, mask reflecting faint moonlight. The corridors were etched into his mind as surely as scars on his skin.
Even though it was just one rewind, he pretty much remembered every nook and cranny of the place.
"Route's simple," he murmured, flicking a holo-map toward Artemis.
The projection glowed between them, corridors and security sweeps highlighted in clean lines. "You cut through here, knock out the cameras, and take down the shift at point three. Serling's cell is tucked beyond the labs. Stick to the shadows, and it's a clean snatch-and-grab."
Artemis squinted at him. "And what about you?"
Zane flexed the fingers of his metal arm, servo-motors whining faintly. "I'll be the noise. Keep her safe. I'll deal with Cadmus."
"You make that sound so easy," she muttered, but her eyes lingered on him with an unspoken question: How do you know all this?
Instead, she dug into her pack and pulled out something small and silver, no larger than a deck of cards. She pressed it into his palm.
"Ahh, almost forgot."
"Ultra-frequency emitter," Artemis said. "Weird thing to ask for but my Mother had some contacts...."
Zane turned it over, smirking beneath his mask. "Send her a thank you kiss from me will ya?"
"No thanks, I'm scared she'll catch whatevers wrong with you."
"Fair." He pocketed the device, tucking it into a slot on his belt.
Artemis glanced at him again before slipping off the roof, disappearing into the shadows. She was silent as smoke—Cadmus wouldn't know she was there until Serling was free.
That left Zane. Alone. Again.
Good.
He leapt down to a catwalk, boots kissing steel without sound. The robo-arm adjusted automatically, gyros humming as it absorbed impact. Zane stalked forward, weaving through floodlights and blind spots with a precision that only came from dying a lot and learning the hard way. Guards walked past him, oblivious, cameras blinked overhead, none catching him in their frame.
Then, the inevitable.
"Target located."
The voice was low, commanding—but wrong. Too controlled. Too empty.
Zane stopped, turning slowly.
From the far end of the corridor, a figure emerged. Broad shoulders, White suit stretched across a frame sculpted for violence, the symbol of hope on his chest. His blue eyes should have belonged to a kid figuring out the world, but Cadmus had hollowed them out.
Conner.
Cadmus's weapon.
And the second time Zane had stood against him.
Zane muttered under his breath. "Although I couldn't get Kryptonite, I'm not unprepared."
Conner didn't flinch. "Orders are to neutralize."
"Neutralize?" Zane flexed his metal fingers, cocking his head. "That's cold. What happened to 'hello,' or maybe 'stop breaking into my house'?"
Conner lunged, a blur of motion. The floor buckled beneath his step, air pressure spiking as he closed the gap. Zane dove aside head of time, Conner's fist slamming into the wall where his head had been.
BOOM!
Concrete exploded, fragments pelting Zane's coat.
"Still hits like a freight train," Zane muttered, snapping his robo-arm up. The gun-mod hissed, plating shifting. He fired a burst—balistic rounds that would kill any normal human. The shots cracked against Conner's chest, shoving him back a step, nothing more.
Conner's eyes narrowed, but he didn't speak. Just advanced again, fists raised.
"Yeah, figured bullets wouldn't impress you," Zane said, sidestepping another strike. The robo-arm spun, spraying a stream of sealant foam. The thick, silver-grey substance hardened instantly around Conner's legs, anchoring him to the ground.
For a half-second, it worked.
Then Conner ripped free, the hardened foam shattering like paper.
"Guess Cadmus didn't skip leg day," Zane muttered, dodging a haymaker that clipped a steel support instead. The support crumpled like tin, pipes bursting overhead, spraying steam and water across the corridor.
Zane's mask lenses flashed as it calculated Connors weaknesses, not that he needed them.
'I can't outpunch him. Not like this. Have to get under his skin.'
"Tell me," Zane called out over the hiss of steam, "do they give you treats when you play fetch? Or just pat you on the head and say 'good weapon'?"
Conner's jaw twitched. A crack in the programming. Small, but real.
"Don't listen," a voice barked from overhead—the Cadmus handler through the intercom. "Eliminate the intruder!"
Conner's body moved before his mind did, fists swinging again.
Zane dodged before grasping his neck with his robo-arm, shock mode sparking across its plating. The contact snapped like a taser going off, electricity dancing up Conner's arm.
ZZTTTT!!
He grunted, shaking it off—but that hesitation lasted long enough for Zane to puched him into another support beam. The impact rattled the corridor, more concrete dust raining down.
Above them, the facility groaned. Metal screamed faintly. The structure was starting to notice their fight.
Zane smirked behind the mask. "You know, if we keep this up, we're gonna redecorate the whole place. I was thinking more open-air concept. Real modern."
Conner roared, charging him again.
The corridor shook with the echo of Conner's footsteps, each one a hammer blow against steel and concrete.
Zane drew a small, silver device from his belt. It vibrated faintly in his palm. He pressed it against the plating of his robo-arm, the hum deepening into a weaponized frequency.
Conner's eyes locked on him, unblinking, as the Cadmus speakers crackled overhead.
[ "Weapon designate S-01, engage the hostile!"
"Superboy, neutralize immediately! No hesitation!"
"Failure to comply will be punished." ]
Zanes visor actually caught their communication frequency and listened in.
Zane shook his head slowly. "Listen to them. They don't even call you by a name. Just 'weapon.' That's all you are to them."
Conner lunged, fists like piledrivers. Zane braced, slamming the emitter to full charge. A shrill pulse burst outward—inaudible to most, but sharp enough to make muscles tense and lights flicker.
"ARGGG!"
Conner staggered, teeth bared, but then his eyes locked on the scene around him.
Cadmus researchers had been rushing to secure equipment when a support beam cracked above their heads. One scientist slipped on the slick, dust-covered floor, arms flailing. Another tried to pull him upright, only to be shoved back by the tremor of falling debris. Screams and alarms collided into a chaotic chorus that made the whole chamber seem alive, trembling with danger.
Without thinking, Conner pivoted mid-stumble, planting himself between the beam and the nearest scientist. His arms locked around the heavy steel, straining, muscles taut like cables ready to snap. Sparks rained from shattered wiring overhead, and dust choked the air. Yet he held, inching the beam just enough for the terrified researchers to dive to safety.
One woman froze for a split second, mouth open in panic, before realizing she could move.
Conner's chest heaved. He had every right to follow Cadmus orders—but instinct screamed louder. A small pile of rubble threatened another researcher. Without hesitation, he sprinted, grabbing it, pushing it aside just in time. Dust and debris coated him, but he didn't falter. In that moment, the chaos didn't matter to him; only the people who couldn't save themselves.
Zane immediately felt awkward," Why does it look like I'm the villian here?"
He quickly shook that absurd thought out of his head, he's clearly the messager of Justice!!
"You don't have to be their weapon you know," Zane said, circling. His tone was harder now, less mocking. "A real weapon wouldn't bother shielding anyone. You did. Even through the pain."
The intercom barked again, harsher:
[ "Do not listen to him! Focus on the target! Kill the intruder!" ]
The order seemed tk snal Connor back, almkst like a factory reset.
Zane raised his robo-arm as Conner charged again. Foam jets hissed, coating the floor in a hardening sealant. Conner's foot caught and stuck, momentum slamming him sideways into a bank of consoles. Sparks spat from the wreckage, alarms shrieking in response.
The building groaned. Dust rained down.
"Funny thing about cages," Zane said, gun-barrel mod clicking into place. "Eventually, whatever's inside breaks out. Question is—when you do, what are you gonna be? Their dog… or something better?"
Conner tore himself free with a roar, coming at him again. Zane triggered shock mode, electricity crackling across his fingers. He caught Conner with a palm to the chest—SNAP!—a surge that staggered him for just a second. Just enough.
But even in pain, Conner's hand lashed out—not at Zane. At a support beam about to fall on a cowering Cadmus tech. He held it aloft long enough for the man to scramble away.
Zane's lips tightened. Not a joke this time—just recognition.
The fight spilled into a containment chamber. Rows of glass pods lined the walls, each one holding warped Genomorphs. Some twitched weakly; others pressed desperate hands to the glass. Their eyes followed everything—fearful, pleading.
Conner's gaze flicked to them. His fist trembled mid-swing.
Then the structure groaned again. A pod cracked. Another shattered outright. Sedative tubes snapped free, spilling malformed Genomorphs into the chamber. Guards panicked, weapons raised.
The intercom snapped like a whip:
[ "Ignore the civilians! Terminate the intruder!"
"S-01, obey Cadmus! Do not protect the failures!" ]
Zane used the chaos, firing impact rounds into the ceiling supports. Concrete fell in slabs, scattering guards and breaking formation.
He pointed at the Genomorphs huddling in the debris. His voice cut through the alarms, steady and unrelenting. "Look at them. Same cage as you. Same leash. If you don't make a choice now, you'll just keep being what they made you!"
Conner stood in the rubble, chest heaving, torn between orders and instinct. The weight of the ceiling groaned overhead, ready to collapse.
And for the first time, his fists lowered.
...
The floor split with a thunderclap. Whole slabs of concrete groaned and sheared away, dropping into the dark sublevels below. The Cadmus facility shuddered like a wounded animal, alarms shrieking over the groans of bending steel.
Zane braced against the wall, visor lenses dimming against a spray of sparks. His robo-arm's servos whined as he caught a falling beam and shoved it aside. He didn't stop moving.
Conner, though—he moved differently. Not just to fight anymore, to protect.
A scream split the chaos. A Cadmus scientist dangled from a collapsed catwalk, fingers scrabbling against broken metal. Without hesitation, Conner vaulted past Zane and caught her wrist, hauling her up just before the platform ripped away.
The intercom screeched:
[ S-01! Stand down! Protect Cadmus assets only! Do not waste resources on—"]
The line cut with a burst of static as falling rubble crushed the overhead array.
Zane barked a laugh, dark and sharp. "There it is. Hero instincts. You can't choke that out of someone, no matter how many collars you slap on them."
Conner turned, fury in his eyes, but the command in his fists wavered. His next swing came slower, less certain.
Made it easier for Zane to dodge, almost deliberately.
"Make your choice, Conner," Zane growled, as he roled to the side. "Are you Cadmus's guard dog… or are you the guy who just saved a stranger without thinking?"
The building answered before Conner could. A deafening CRACK ripped through the foundation, and suddenly half the wall gave way. Floodlights from outside speared in, cutting through smoke and dust.
The world saw.
Civilians gathered in the streets, eyes wide as the Cadmus tower lurched sideways. Debris rained down like meteors.
Maybe the collapsing building was too sudden, or maybe the civillians are used to things like this....but they were lretty close to the collapsing building.
A mother screamed as a concrete slab tore free, plummeting toward the crowd.
Conner moved. Instinct. Pure, unshackled reflex. He tore through the breach, faster than the collapse, and planted himself beneath the falling mass. Muscles locked, tendons straining, he caught the slab in both hands—knees buckling but never breaking. Dust billowed around him, the crowd staring as he lowered the weight aside like it was nothing.
Gasps turned to cries of awe. Phones rose in shaking hands, recording every second, instead of running away.
Inside, Genomorph pods cracked and burst. Twisted shapes staggered into freedom, some feral, some terrified. Guards shouted, weapons firing wildly in the smoke. Zane dove through the chaos, arm cannon roaring, foam locking down trigger-happy soldiers before they could mow the creatures down.
They all stared at Zane and Connor for a moment, before running away, escaping.
And they ran. Clawed hands, reptilian feet, wings that had never tasted air—scrambling toward freedom in the night.
Conner stood framed in the breach, dust curling around him, civilians clinging to him like he was a lifeline. His chest heaved, eyes burning with a storm of emotions Cadmus couldn't leash. The orders still screamed in his head, but the crowd's voices were louder.
"Thank you!"
"Who is he?"
"He saved us!"
"Look at the symbol on his chest!! Is he supermans Son?! A love child?!"
Zane watched from the smoke-filled shadows, mask hiding his faint smile.'Good. At least I could somewhat keep this outcome.'
The last supports groaned. The building was seconds from full collapse. Zane backed into the smoke, letting the crowd's eyes fix on Conner—the hero in the wreckage.
As rubble swallowed the Cadmus facade, Zane muttered under his breath, low enough only he could hear.
"Serling should be save by now. Time for me to go."
And then he was gone.
.....
Sorry for the later Updates. I was very busy filling in forms for a Merchandising Job. Probably gonna be very busy starting October. So please bare with me.
Patreaon
/Williamstewart
Thank you guys for the support!!!