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Chapter 27 - Death of a Species
🕑 Added 2025-08-05 16:32:49 +0000 UTCYellowstone National Park
Old Faithful
After he was emotionally drained, Morrow was ready to talk.
“You came all the way here and reunited me with my wife, even if it was for a short while. Tell me, to what do I owe this favor?” Thomas had lived long enough to know even when it came to the heroes, not everything was for free.
Miles helped the aging man up. “I already told you. You still have time to leave a better world than the one you lived in.”
Morrow huffed. “I may have given up on my plans, but I don’t feel like playing the role of a superhero and fighting villains.” The enmity he felt towards superheroes spanned decades, and it wasn’t gone that easily.
“You don’t need to fight villains to do good deeds, Thomas. Earth has more problems than some jumped-up idiot in a leotard drunk on power thinking they could wreak havoc without consequences.” If superheroes were the only ones who committed good deeds, then humanity as a whole would have gone extinct a long time ago.
“What do you want then?” The only other thing Thomas could offer aside from his androids was his scientific knowledge and expertise.
“I promised a friend that I would launch an initiative to clean the pollution in the oceans.” Which was just something Miles wanted out of the way, since he did not want to make Aquaman wait for too long. Just cleaning the Pacific Garbage Patch would do wonders to improve the relations between Atlantis and the surface world.
It might not affect Atlantis itself directly, but just its existence drew contempt from the underwater kingdom, and cleaning it would be a show of their commitment to the environmental issues.
Of course, not causing them in the first place would have been preferable, but there was nothing he could do about it.
“That’s it?” Cleaning garbage wasn’t what Thomas had in mind.
“For now.” There were many other fields Morrow’s robotics would be game-changing.
Medical assistance and disaster relief androids, climate control systems, and incredible advancements in AI that would carry humanity forward by decades were just some of the good deeds Thomas O. Morrow could have done if he had chosen to walk a different path.
Better late than never.
“I can do that, but I don’t know if I’ll live long enough for that. However, I can finish my android and reprogram him for a better purpose.” Thomas didn’t have that long left, and as the young man had asked him, he at least wanted to be able to stand straight before Isabella.
“Very well, but perhaps we should move your laboratory to somewhere else where you can have access to medical care in case of an emergency?” It wouldn’t do if Morrow just keeled over and died because of the emotional exertion.
Morrow thought about it for a while before agreeing.
—
Superman was back, so Kara left complaining about the lack of action after exchanging numbers with Claire, and they took Morrow for a checkup in a private clinic.
He would have to do something nice for Supergirl.
In the meantime, the lab had to be moved out in pieces at nighttime to avoid discovery, because the moment someone high up in the government caught wind of it, like Amanda Waller, everything would be confiscated.
With Morrow directing the crews, the lab was packed up in a week, loaded into trucks, and transported to a new lab Mary bought for the robotics department of EnviroCorps.
One more thing Morrow wanted was the return of his other creations, Red Torpedo and Red Inferno.
Morrow would leave with guards to retrieve Red Torpedo, who went by the name Jim Lockhart, since the android did not know it was an android in the first place and had moved to the Windward Home.
Which left the business of exhuming the grave of Danette Reilly, a.k.a. Red Inferno, to Miles and Claire.
—
New York City
Queens Memorial Cemetery
“We are digging a grave?” Claire asked as she helped Miles climb up the metal fence. She offered to melt the lock, but that would just draw more attention, so the two chose to exert some physical force.
Miles handed her a shovel once on the other side. “Of an android who didn’t know she was one.”
“Wow, I can’t tell if that is sloppy work or a really good one.” Making an android that didn’t know it was one all that time, who died and was buried like a human.
What a twist.
“Morrow made his androids as human as possible to infiltrate the Justice Society; however, every being with self-determination is bound to go outside the directive of their creator, human or not. That’s why Morrow failed.” Many scientifically minded villains made the mistake of ignoring the factor of self-determination and ended up with their creations rising against them.
“Danette Reilly, there she is.” Claire pointed to the gravestone, and Miles took his jacket off, ready to dig.
Two shovels made digging much faster, though they were careful to not damage the upper layer. After taking the damaged android out, Miles and Claire filled the grave again, and unless someone looked closer, there would be no trouble.
Moving the body to the car, Miles sped away without looking back.
—
Metropolis
EnviroCorps Robotics Lab
They had the body sent to the lab with another truck, which carried robot parts as far as the driver knew, and the two took the jet to Metropolis.
Mary greeted them at the door, while the parts from the secret lab were assembled inside.
“So who exactly is this person you are bringing in?”
“Thomas O. Morrow.”
The name sounded really familiar. “Pretty sure he has an arrest warrant.” She did look up the top names in the industry after Miles wanted her to prepare a robotics lab.
“His only crime is being inept at villainy, nothing we can’t solve. Call the law firm to take a look at his case and get that warrant rescinded.” It was an apt description, seeing as none of his attempts as an evildoer showed any fruit nor caused damage.
In fact, Morrow inadvertently created heroes.
“Understood. What are we going to do with him?” She had seen the android they had brought in, and for a machine created about sixty years ago, it looked to be in stellar condition.
Morrow’s tech would be a great edge for the company to have.
“I promised a very influential person that I would start to clean up the pollution in the oceans. I am sure Morrow can create something to carry out that promise without us pouring money into a bottomless hole. After that, I am sure we can find more uses for him.” Unless he needed something specific, Miles was content to leave Thomas to work on what Mary wanted.
“If he lives that long.” The man’s one foot was already in the grave.
“Don’t worry, Thomas will have a successor just as capable, and it will be very soon.”
“We are not patenting his inventions, right?”
“Of course not.” The U.S. government would come down on EnviroCorps like the wrath of Darkseid if the prize was advanced technology.
“What is the status of the cure for McGregor's disease?” Victor was already working on a cure for the third stage, but Miles didn’t have the time to keep an eye on the release proceedings of the cure.
“FDA tests went without a hitch; we’ll be releasing it next week.” EnviroCorps would distribute the cure for free, and since the disease itself was not a widespread one, it wouldn’t be a great loss.
“And the cryo towers?” This Earth might have been two decades behind in date, but global warming was exacerbated by the rapid advances in technology, and even for summer, the temperatures were high.
Victor’s cryo towers would cover a whole city and manage the temperatures to more reasonable levels.
And since it would reduce the energy consumption on the strained grid, they would sell for a hefty price.
“It will be announced with the cure. Are you going to be there?”
“We’ll see. What about our foreign friends?” It would be a while before they saw any gains on that front, but Thanagarians were a matter he kept a close eye on.
“Things are good when they are not looking at our guys like they were troglodytes.”
—
Morrow was in an isolated room working to bring Red Inferno into an operational state, while Red Torpedo, with his synthetic skin off, stood to the side, probably having an existential crisis.
“Hello Jim.” Miles greeted the android, and even without his skin present, the synthetic life form looked depressed.
Red Torpedo snorted, a gesture too human for a robot. “Jim? There is no Jim anymore.”
“Ah, just because your looks changed did not mean your heart did as well.” Miles didn’t want the robot to spiral down into a rabbit hole of existential crisis and end up as some other synthetic the DC Universe was known for.
“I don’t have a heart.”
“Please, I am not talking about an organ of flesh and blood, but of beliefs and ideals. Superman is called the Man of Tomorrow because of what he believes and represents, even though he is not a human.” Jim looked hesitant at Miles comparing him to Superman but still was not sure.
“I just don’t know.”
Miles patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jim, I am sure the answer will come to you eventually.” The best way to stop a synthetic from going rogue was to treat it as one of your own, and Miles endeavored to do exactly that.
“If you are done with your philosophical debate, here is a list of materials I need.” Morrow handed over a list to Miles, who handed it to Mary.
“You will get your order, Mr. Thomas.” Thomas didn’t even hear, immediately resuming his work.
“Let’s hope we don’t get in trouble for this.”
—
Soon enough, Red Inferno was online and, predictably, had an existential crisis as well, which Miles intervened to resolve with Torpedo’s assistance.
Which only left Red Tornado to complete the trio of siblings, and Miles had no idea where he was right now, only knowing the synthetic was deactivated for a long time before becoming a member of the League.
Morrow would no doubt have a way to track his creation.
Mary left to deal with the charges against Thomas, and seeing as the scientist was too busy working, Miles and Claire left the research lab for dinner.
Though, the communication device the Guardians had given him, which he always carried on him, had a different idea.
He answered it once inside the car and could guess why the blue spacemen were calling him.
“Ganthet, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” Ganthet’s surly face told him he didn’t feel the same way.
Another hologram appeared next to Ganthet, showing images of Agent Orange’s short-lived war with the Gordonians. “Perhaps it has something to do with Larfleeze wiping out the Citadelians and almost doing the same to the Gordonians?”
“Almost?” So the Orange Lantern missed some of the targets.
Miles would let the Thanagarians know.
“Yes, some ships could not return in time, so there is a small enclave of Gordonians left, though they are all male.”
“I see. To be frank, there is not much to talk about.” While the origin of the Psions and the Citadelians wasn’t some heavily guarded secret, it wasn’t common knowledge across the galaxy either, as the Vega system was blockaded for a long, long time. “You left the Psions to their own devices after rejecting them as their creator, which led to them creating the Citadelians, and I am sure you know the atrocities they committed better than me.”
Slavery, experiments, executions, and more, all done by the Gordonians with the directives of the Citadelians.
Ganthet frowned. If the galaxy knew, then the trust and impartiality they strove to cultivate for thousands of years would be shattered across several hundred sectors. “Truly, your knowledge of galactic history is impressive, but the Guardians, me included, are not happy with this matter.”
“And I am not happy to be the one who has to clean the mess you created eons ago, yet here we are. How about we forget this matter and continue the mutually respectful relations we have?” Miles insisted, as it was best to not make enemies out of the Guardians.
“I’ll relay that to the remaining Guardians.”
Comments
GameMage
TFTC. The Guardians are too stubborn, like all old men are prone to be.
