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SM/DC Chapter 76 : Unexpected Reflection
🕑 Added 2025-04-01 23:08:13 +0000 UTCArthur Blackwynd walked forward without a single care in the world, his footsteps echoing through the sterile Cadmus lab. He didn’t even glance at Galatea.
He knew exactly what she was about to do.
Galatea, watching him pass so casually, felt something snap inside her. The sheer disrespect of it. He wasn’t even acknowledging her? Like hell.
Her muscles tensed then she lunged, fist cocked back, aiming straight for his head.
But before her strike could land, Kara intercepted, crashing into her like a blue-and-red meteor.
Galatea barely had time to react before Kara shoved her back, planting herself firmly between Arthur and his would-be attacker.
"You're stuck with me," Kara said, her voice edged with steel.
Galatea clicked her tongue in irritation, rolling her shoulders as she stabilized herself. "Tsk. You really don’t know when to quit, huh?"
Kara smirked. "Oh, trust me. You’ll wish I did."
Meanwhile, Arthur continued walking, completely unfazed by the brief exchange behind him. He barely even spared them a thought, his mind already set on one thing:
Lex Luthor.
“I’ll find Lex,” he thought to himself, “and deal with that bastard for what he did.”
Then, he stopped.
A massive, cold shadow stretched from under his feet, expanding at an impossible rate, swallowing every inch of light in the room. The white sterile glow of Cadmus was extinguished, replaced by a suffocating abyss of darkness.
Arthur raised his hand, his voice low, commanding, absolute.
"Come forth."
The shadows stirred, and then
They arrived.
From the abyss, figures emerged, kneeling before him in perfect synchronization.
Shadow Demon Knights, clad in dark armor that gleamed with an unnatural sheen. Noble Shadow Demons, their regal forms flickering between reality and nightmare. Shadow Demons, monstrous creatures with glowing red eyes, shifting hungrily in anticipation.
And then a towering, monstrous presence loomed in the darkness.
General Doom.
His hulking frame was covered in spikes, his burning eyes staring ahead with unwavering loyalty.
Arthur exhaled slowly, letting the weight of his presence settle before giving his order.
"Wreak havoc."
Like a dam bursting, his army surged forward.
The Demon Knights vanished into the corridors like silent executioners. The Demons screeched, their monstrous forms twisting through the air as they sought prey. General Doom turned and led the charge.
Cadmus was about to become a battlefield.
Back in the center of the room, Galatea’s gaze snapped toward the chaos unfolding around them. Even mid-fight with Kara, she couldn’t ignore what she had just witnessed.
An entire army summoned in an instant.
Kara smirked at Galatea’s distracted expression.
"Hey," she said, cracking her knuckles. "Eyes on me."
Before Galatea could react, Kara’s fist slammed into her gut, sending her skidding back across the floor.
“Damn it.”
Galatea gritted her teeth, steadying herself.
****
Cadmus Command Center -
Amanda Waller stood stone-faced, arms crossed as she watched hell unfold before her eyes.
The monitors flickered, flashing between different locations in Cadmus. Every screen showed chaos.
One feed showed Harley Quinn, laughing maniacally as she twirled a stolen rifle, unloading rounds into expensive hardware like she was playing in an arcade.
Another displayed Red Hood, moving like a specter, dropping guards before they even had a chance to call for help.
But the worst of them all
Her gaze locked onto the main monitor, the one showing Arthur Blackwynd.
A walking nightmare.
The command center shook as his shadow legion rampaged, cutting through Cadmus’ elite forces like they were nothing. Demons. Wraiths. His army spread through the facility like an infection, and Amanda could feel it
A suffocating presence.
It wasn’t just the destruction. It was the sheer dominance he exuded.
Waller had read the files. She had watched the recordings. She understood why Lex Luthor was so obsessed with harnessing this power.
But seeing it this close?
For the first time in years, a sliver of unease crept up her spine.
"Director, what do we do?!" One of her subordinates asked, his voice barely steady.
Amanda’s jaw tightened.
“We burn them to the ground.”
She turned sharply, barking orders with the precision of a battlefield commander.
“Deploy all available units, shock troopers, drones, experimental squads, I don’t care what it takes, rain fire on them!”
Her voice was absolute. Ruthless.
The command center erupted into movement. Operators scrambled to input commands, the facility’s automated defenses whirring to life. Heavy turrets unfolded from the ceilings. Security mechs powered on. Armed reinforcements moved in with kill orders.
This wasn’t about containment anymore.
It was extermination.
The chaos kept escalating. Arthur’s shadow army wasn’t slowing down. Red Hood was tearing through their ranks like a ghost in a war zone. Kara and Galatea’s battle had reached a devastating pace, their strikes causing shockwaves that cracked the very walls of the facility that was built to hold this kind of beings.
Her fingers twitched.
A final option lay before her.
Her gaze shifted to a locked-down section of the facility. The screen labeled only as: "PROJECT: AM—"
One of her officers, sweating, hesitated before asking:
"Director… should we unleash Am—"
Amanda’s eyes narrowed.
Then, she shook her head.
"No."
Not yet.
"It’s unstable. We have yet to control his technology, We’re not that desperate, yet."
The officer swallowed hard and nodded.
But as Amanda turned back to the screens, watching Cadmus’ forces struggle against the impossible, she knew one thing for certain
That moment might come sooner than she wanted.
****
Inside the dimly lit laboratory deep within Cadmus, alarms blared, their red light flashing across the pristine, sterile room. The facility was under attack. Chaos had erupted above them. But down here
Something else was happening.
Lex Luthor stood before a massive cloning pod, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. The translucent tube was filled with a thick, bubbling liquid, faintly glowing from within. Suspended inside was a figure a young man, his features eerily similar to Arthur Blackwynd, yet unmistakably altered, now with an S symbol on his shirt.
A perfect experiment.
Nearby, Dr. Emil Hamilton paced, his expression tense. His voice cut through the alarms, laced with barely restrained frustration.
"I told you, Lex. That was a stupid idea, going after his parent? You knew exactly what you were provoking. That was never someone who’d let that slide."
Lex barely spared him a glance, his focus entirely on the being inside the pod.
"Yes," he muttered, unfazed, "I’m aware."
And yet, there was no regret in his tone. No doubt. Only calculated certainty.
Then, a smirk.
"But none of that matters anymore."
His fingers hovered over the control panel.
With a deliberate motion, he pressed the final key.
The containment seals hissed open.
The chamber erupted with steam as the liquid drained rapidly, leaving behind a figure gasping for air his lungs taking their first breath.
Arthur’s clone.
But he wasn’t just a copy.
No.
Lex had perfected him.
His voice, dripping with triumph, filled the lab.
"Behold... "
Emil’s breath hitched as the figure stumbled forward, coughing, eyes darting around in confusion. The resemblance was undeniable Arthur Blackwynd’s face, but with a faint glow in his irises. A telltale sign of Kryptonian augmentation. Dr. Emil thought to himself ‘Lex really had no choice but to merge that DNA with a Kryptonian one... How desperate...’
Lex’s smile widened.
"A perfect fusion. I modified him with Kryptonian DNA....it should accelerate the emergence of his powers! He’ll reach his potential far faster while he is in this state , it can take minutes, I even left him in a radiation similar to that of the sun for quite sometime.."
From the other side of the lab, another containment pod hissed open.
Superboy stepped out his piercing blue eyes burning with intensity, muscles taut with readiness.
Lex turned to them both. Their expressions still dazed. Still processing.
It didn’t matter.
They didn’t need clarity. They needed orders.
"Go," Lex commanded, his voice absolute. "Eliminate the intruders."
The two clones exchanged glances, uncertain but bound by their programming.
They obeyed.
As they marched out, Emil hesitated.
His hands clenched into fists.
“This is dangerous, Lex. Other than Superboy you’ve created something we can’t control! i don’t even know what to call that thing..”
Lex’s smirk didn’t waver.
"It doesn’t matter."
Hamilton exhaled sharply, frustration mixing with resignation.
"And if they fail?"
For the first time, Lex’s expression darkened.
His gaze flicked toward a final, heavily reinforced vault. A place even Emil wasn’t granted full access to.
Lex spoke in a hushed whisper, almost to himself
“Then… I’ll use that.”
****
Jason Todd moved like a phantom in the shadows, his twin pistols spitting silent death as he weaved through the corridors of Cadmus. The guards barely had time to react a shot to the knee, a cracked jaw, a knife twisting into armor before he was already gone.
Bodies hit the floor, groaning in pain. He wasn’t here to randomly kill, yet.
But that could change real fast.
Then, he paused.
A movement from down the corridor caught his eye. Not his allies. Not Cadmus guards. Someone else.
Jason ducked behind cover, pulling his visor down to zoom in. What he saw made his stomach drop.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."
Moving in from a separate access point, another team of infiltrators made their way through the facility, but these weren’t enemies.
These were the goddamn Justice League.
Batman, his dark silhouette led the charge. Every step measured, every action calculated.
Green Arrow wasn’t far behind, bow drawn, eyes scanning every inch of the hallway like a hawk waiting to strike.
Black Canary moved like water, elegant and lethal, followed closely.
Cyborg, his metallic form humming softly, scanned the area with his cybernetic eye as he whispered to Batman, something Jason couldn’t quite hear.
Then, a blur of lightning.
The Flash.
The Scarlet Speedster zipped through the hall, stopping only to check something on a console before whooshing away again.
Jason let out a long, deep sigh.
“Not the kind of company we need right now…”
The League wasn’t here for him, they were after Cadmus. Same mission, different motives.
This… was about to get complicated.
****
Arthur strode confidently through the cold, sterile halls of Cadmus, the sounds of battle and destruction echoing around him. His Shadow Demon Knights had scattered, wrecking havoc as per his command.
And yet, he felt something.
A presence.
Something unnerving.
He stopped.
Then, footsteps.
Not from behind. Not from above.
Ahead.
Arthur turned the corner and froze.
Standing a few feet away, illuminated by the flickering emergency lights, was—
Him.
No, not him. But close enough to make his stomach twist.
The figure bore his face, but his eyes glowed faintly...Red, his stance stiff, controlled, almost unnatural. An echo of himself, but warped.
Arthur blinked.
Silence.
The tension hung thick in the air two versions of the same man staring each other down.
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
Took a slow step forward.
And then he spoke.
“…What the fu—”
