Whats this? Two updates within 24 hours of each other?!?!?

Ngl it prolly won't happen again but steam has picked up cuz I'm excited and I love this book.

In any case, I have come to warn you.

This chapter has some brief graphic violence.

You have been warned.

Oh there's also some swearing at the end but I bl**p out the vowels.

Cuz we can have blood on the floor but by golly we can't say gosh dang it!!

:3 enjoy!

"Wait there's two of you?!" Jason asked first, staring wide eyed at the identical Metas.

"Actually there's three." Roy said as his copy got closer, he had been running towards them with the key card from the guard he presumably stole it from. Roy's doppelgänger slipped the card into the key slot, it took a second for the buzzer to beep green and the cage opened with a slight squeak. Roy was still grinning as he got out, thanking his double with a pat on the shoulder.

"Where's Will? Is he with you?" Roy asked once he stood up.

"We rendezvous with him past this room," the other Roy jabbed a thumb at the door on the opposite side of the one he had run in through."Through a hallway and a left, there's a vent there low enough for us to reach."

"I'm still confused." Jason interrupted, both the younger boys now sitting eagerly at the front of their cages. If Roy was breaking out he had to break them out too!

"My power, I can make clones of myself." Roy said, gesturing to the other Roy. "This is Jim, we figured we should have different names but decided to keep it simple."

"But the collar...? Why didn't it work on you?" Billy asked, big blue eyes wide as Jim came over and unlocked his cage too.

Roy snorted, "the Joker guy is an idiot, he thought he could wear me out so that my clones come back to my body, but he doesn't know how my power works. I can't just make any number of clones, well I guess I could, but they'd be practically useless. I can only make two good ones, those two can survive on their own. They're literally clones, with bodies of their own and thoughts and feelings."

Jason was out next, scrambling out of the cage to stand, then got assaulted by a full body hug from Billy. He looked like he still had questions, but Billy was distracting him.

The child was mumbling things, mumbling "We're out, we're out, Jason." Into his red shirt. Jason has his arms wrapped around him, but his eyes went up to the older Meta.

"We're not out yet Billy."

"Keep close." Jim said, waving a hand as he jogged across the room to another doorway.

Jason and Roy followed, but Billy was practically dragged with them. The youngest looked behind them to the girls in the cages, he pointed and tried to tug back. "What about the girls? We need to free them too!"

Jim and Roy shook their heads as they came up to the door, Jim going for the keypad as Roy and Jason (who tugged Billy close) slid behind him along the wall. "Small escape now means bigger escape later, we have the advantage because we're small both in number and physically." His voice had gone soft and quiet, the others realizing they should also be quiet. They didn't want to attract any unwanted attention.

The door gave the green light and beep, Jim pulling open the heavy door. The others raced out, but Billy plucked the key card from Jim as he passed.

"Hey!" Jim whisper-shouted, frowning at the kid before taking in the actual room.

Billy was making a beeline for the cages inside this room, Jason hot on his heels. There were four of them in a square in the middle of this room. One was a tank of water, the other three were normal cages except one had a mound of feathers inside. The kids in the cages got to their knees, wide eyed at the free kids in front of them.

"How'd you get out?!" A lanky red headed kid asked, hands on his bars as if to reach out.

"Shhh!" Jason whispered violently, putting a finger over his mouth before disappearing behind the water cage. He was right behind Billy, ducking a little because they really should be thinking more about stealth than anything. How soon would the guards notice they were missing? Didn't they have cameras?

Jason looked back to the angry Roy and Jim, then back to the four Metas in the cages. "We're getting you out too." Jason whispered, crouched next to Billy. Screw stealth or safety in small numbers, they just needed to get out of here and never come back.

Billy went to the girl first, she looked eager and Billy could hide behind her if necessary. He fumbled with the card but finally passed it through the key slot and the cage beeped and opened. "Finally!" The girl launched out of the cage, standing up and giving Billy a little hug with her oddly cuffed hands.

"Jason! Billy! We don't have time for this!" Roy said, eyes darting back to the doors as if they'd bust open any minute.

"What part of 'escape now, rescue later' did you not understand!" Jim also spoke in a rough whisper.

"You stand more of a chance with all of us than just you four!" The girl bit back, but also relenting to the whispering.

Roy's scowl deepened. "Yeah! A better chance of getting caught!"

Jason couldn't find a right way to unlock the water guy's cage, so he guessed they would have to save that for another rescue. The water guy seemed to understand, he pointed a thumb behind him, to the mound of feathers.

Billy got the message and snuck around Jason to get to the cage, but he was sad and confused. "What happened...?" He wasn't sure who he aimed the question at but the red head in the cage next to the mound of feathers replied.

"He's been through a lot, he needs to get out of here more than anybody." He spoke gravely. Billy wasn't at all insulted by the thought of someone else suffering more than he was, he hoped no one else did either, because at this point everyone needed to get out of here. But this kid was apparently high priority, so Billy set his face in determination, raising his hand with the key card.

The room was suddenly bathed in red, a jarring sound blasting through the air and jolting all the Metas. Roy pointed at the yellow haired girl, shouting "This is your fault!" over the sirens.

"Will!" Jim shouted with a sharp intake of air. "Roy no time for arguing! We gotta go now!"

Billy had dropped the key card in his fear, he stooped down to grab it but his shaking hands only pushed it further under the cage. Billy whimpered at all the lights and sounds, feeling the need to curl inwards.

The red headed teen in the cage backed up to his corner, hands in his hair as he even curled up.

Jason tugged at Billy's shirt, "Billy we gotta go! No time for—"

The doors on both sides burst open, eliciting a scared cry from Billy and he drove himself into Jason's arms. Jason backed up, half dragging the kid behind the cages to hide. Was it a good hiding place? No. Were they going to get caught? Almost definitely. Were they completely screwed? Yeah, pretty much.

Roy and Jim backed up to the cages, still standing strong despite the fear that stuttered their breathing. The yellow haired girl crouched by her cage with a flash of fear in her eyes. The water boy actually rose, pressing his hands against the glass and actually blocking the incoming guards from seeing the two kids behind him.

There were so many guards in the room now, twenty, if Jason was counting correctly. He expected them to immediately attack them, but they all just waited, standing there and blocking all chances of escape.

Jason's head jerked up, maybe not ALL the exits. The vents, Roy had mentioned those, and some guy named Will. There was a vent right above the pod-looking-thingies, two were occupied, but above them was a vent.

And if Jason's eyes weren't deceiving him... was that a face in the vent? The Will dude was here? Jason wasn't sure and didn't much care because in front of the pods was a wall of M.A.Z.E. guards.

Great. Just great. Jason needed a distraction if they were to get past them and up the pods.

Then the guards parted, and the stupid Joker guy walked through.

"Well, well, we'll, what do we have here?"

Billy squeaked in his arms, hugging impossibly tighter. Jason just held him, glaring at the man from where he could see him.

"Roy my boy! Staging an escape are we?" Jason almost wanted to laugh, he was addressing the wrong Roy. Almost.

"You make it easy you fat load of sh—" there was a smack of skin on skin and Jim hit the ground. Now Jason wanted to get up and give that guy a piece of his mind, more like his fist, but he had Billy and Billy needed him.

"Get up." The scientist growled with zero hint he had just been cracking jokes seconds before.

Jim did get to his feet, Roy helping him stand with a hand clasped around his upper arm.

"Now Roy we've had this conversation before, but at this point I'm entirely too confused!" His voice came back to its false sense of fun, his smile stretching but the joy didn't even touch his dark glittering eyes. "Which one? There's two of you and which one could possibly be the original Roy?!"

The two Roys glared up at the man, saying and doing nothing.

"Maybe Mr. Wilson can help me." The scientist folded one arm and raised the other to his face, tapping one finger against his chin. He was still smiling.

That's when movement came from the mound of feathers, a head of dark hair poked out, a skinny pale arm pushing him upright. Jason didn't see his face, but he wondered why he just now decided to get up. Well maybe he'd been asleep, but how does one be asleep during a breakout?

That's when Jason absentmindedly noticed the sirens and red lights had stopped.

One of the guards stepped forward, big, burly, and Jason had to admit this was kinda cool, he only had one eye. The man stomped up next to The Joker, dwarfing both the adult and the kids in front of him.

"Now we can't have you all thinking you can escape again, there needs to be some sort of consequence." The scientist spoke, his eyes finding Jason and Billy between the cages. Jason felt his heart stop for a moment, hugging Billy impossibly closer.

"Oh I know," the man's smile got wider somehow, but the only thing Jason could feel was dread. "Billy boy!"

Billy started crying and the Wilson man next to the Joker came forward. Jason shuffled them away, pushing himself backward by kicking his feet against the ground, heading towards the other side of the cages, wide scared eyes on the looming man quickly catching up to them. The Wilson man was emotionless as he reached down and caught Jason's shoulder.

Jason fought, he cried out and tried to bite the hand, refusing to let go of Billy. But another hand latched onto Billy's neck, a shrill cry of fear leaving the smaller boy's mouth. Then they were being torn apart. Jason was thrown to the floor, feeling empty and cold without Billy's warm body, where he'd been safe. Mr. Wilson turned his back on Jason as he walked back to The Joker, a sobbing child uselessly struggling in his hand.

Jason scrambled to his feet, heart pounding in his chest. The only good part of Billy being gone meant he could really fight back now. "Let go of him!" He screamed, launching himself at the man.

But as soon as he was airborne a foot connected with his gut, sending Jason to the ground again. The boy was stunned, his lungs trying to suck in the air that was forcefully pushed out. He curled on the ground, chest painfully jerking with the effort to reclaim his breath.

"You see this is why you're all too easy." Joker's voice floated above, "You're all so emotional."

"Let Billy go." Jim said, but his voice cracked ever so slightly, hinting at the very real fear running rampant under his skin.

"Only if you tell me which one of you is the real Roy." The Joker bargained, still smiling.

Roy swallowed, Jim glanced at him for a second and Roy was surprised to see the resolve there. Jim was ready to take Roy's place, but Roy wasn't sure what they'd do to both the original and the copy, it was a lose lose either way.

"I'm the real Roy." Roy stepped forward, "leave everyone else alone."

"Alright, there, Billy can go." The Joker didn't stop smiling though, not as Mr. Wilson let Billy fall to the ground, only to be snagged again by his arm. Billy cried out, slamming his tiny fist against the man as Jason painfully sat himself up to argue even though he was still having trouble getting air into his lungs.

"Hey! You said you'd let him go!" Jim protested for him, Roy's fists clenching at his sides.

The Joker shrugged, "You never said how looong to let him go for!" The man giggled. "But we've still got a problem Roy. How are we supposed to tell you two apart?"

The boys said nothing, Billy was trembling in Mr. Wilson's grip, barely keeping himself upright on his shaking knees. Jason was able to get air back in his lungs thankfully, but the world was all blurry with black spots.

"Also I'm not sure taking Billy is enough, you all obviously care about the kid, but I was going to take him anyway. So there needs to be something else, something to remind you that there is no leaving this place." The man held his hands behind his back, taking a step forward and leaning towards the two Roy's. "You are mine." He hissed.

Roy and Jim struggled to now show their fear, Jim letting out a shaky breath when the man finally stepped back. The Joker gave a sly look to the side where Mr. Wilson stood, something that twisted every gut that saw it. Nothing good was about to happen. "Mr. Wilson? Give me a hand here."

Mr. Wilson said nothing, he tossed Billy backwards onto his rump, electing a small cry from him, but the man ignored it as he stepped forward. His arm reached back, grabbing something that turned out to be the hilt of a sword. The dread in the room increased tenfold as the blade was unsheathed with practiced ease. With his free hand he caught Roy's right arm, swiftly jerking it up. The boy stumbled with the sudden grab and shouted in surprise and fear, unsure of what was about to happen.

The sword came down and everything went still.

Jason was going to throw up.

Roy's... e-entire right arm... it was, it was on the ground.

Jim shouted, Jason wasn't sure if he actually said any words but his voice was screaming in fear and rage. Roy was in shock, looking down at where his arm used to be, even the pain not yet settling in. Then he toppled over. Jim caught him, holding him gingerly as his eyes never left the severed limb and his vocal chords couldn't stop vibrating.

"Roy!" Came the anguished scream from Billy, on his hands and knees, sobbing.

Jason could hardly breathe, the bile was rising in his throat and the sound itself continued to reverberate around his head as if the visuals weren't cause enough to puke. The blood was still flowing, splattering against the ground, pooling under the half limp Meta.

Jason heard the sound of someone retching, unsure of who it was but knowing he was going to join them soon.

"Messy," The Joker's voice said through the din of whatever was going on in Jason's head, "but effective. Grab the clone and the boy, and get everyone back in their cages. I believe we've left a big enough lasting impression."

Jason watched as Jim was grabbed, yanked from Roy, the wounded Meta sinking to the ground ungracefully without his doppleganger's support. Jim fought against the hand, reaching back for Roy and trying to dig his feet into the ground. When that didn't work he slammed his fist into the hand around his arm, screaming with tears edging around his eyes.

"Billy." Jason whispered, seeing his friend get picked up under his belly like some cat. Jason surged upwards, a new battle cry straining his vocal chords. He didn't even make it two steps.

He was yanked back by a different hand, one Jason mercilessly attacked. He bit and kicked and threw punches. He slammed his feet where the sun didn't shine, he gouged his fingers into eyes, he did absolutely anything and everything he could to get away from the guards and get to Billy. He made him a promise! And g*d d*m it he wasn't going to break it!

Jason was thrown against the cages, his head banging against the metal and he fell to the ground uselessly.

"No...!" He remembered screaming, but it was like hearing through cotton, everything was so eerily quiet yet piercing screams were the only ambiance.

Billy was screaming for him, the little boy manhandled off his feet and out of the room. The Joker was still there, watching, eyes darting between screaming kids. Smiling.

Jason hobbled to his feet, he looked over and saw the girl being grabbed and forced back into her cage. He saw Roy, still on the ground and bleeding out. "Roy," he breathed, unsure if he actually said the word or if it was just in his head. He stumbled forward, falling to his hands and knees beside the Meta.

He lost Billy, he wasn't going to lose Roy.

The blood was on his hands, it was slick and gross, a deep dark red staining on his skin. "Roy," he reached forward, scooting up to settled the older Meta in his lap. He reached for the arm, the stump, still pulsing out fresh blood. Jason took off his shirt with numb fingers, wrapping the cloth around the stump, watching it immediately darken as it soaked up the blood.

He was tying it, pulling on some information he got when he was bitten by a snake a long time ago. Cut off the blood flow, cut off the blood flow, cut off the blood flow.

Cut off.

Roy's arm... was cut off.

It was right there, just a foot away, limp, bleeding, and no longer attached to Roy.

Jason didn't remember anything else really, he didn't remember the hands pulling him away from Roy, or the hands on Roy making him disappear.

He remembered looking over, the mound of feathers had a face, a young one, but older than Jason himself. He had the bluest, prettiest eyes he'd ever seen, definitely unnautral. He was the one who threw up, under those eyes were dark sunken purple circles, his hair was matted and greasy-looking.

He was terrified.

And so was Jason.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Will Harper was having a hard time processing things. Or maybe he wasn't, his brain was just... was just...

Yeah he couldn't really think cohesively right now.

And who would? Will just saw his doppleganger's limb get cut off.

It made Will want to go back in time when things were simpler. On the streets it's was just Will and Roy, then when Roy got caught he made Jim in a last ditch effort to save himself. Will and Jim took it upon themselves to rescue Roy, it was partially Will's fault anyway.

So Will and Jim followed the M.A.Z.E. truck until they came to this building. It wasn't very large honestly, but it made up for it in depth. The building was mostly underground they found out. The two of them were small enough to climb through the vents, delving into the building with no plans really except find Roy.

They split up to cover more ground and resultantly got lost quickly in the labyrinth of aluminum vents. But it wasn't a bad thing, it helped them get a mental map of the place, finding all sorts of rooms. He was sure they were in there for at least a day, his stomach definitely said so, and eventually Jim and Will found each other. Jim was the one who found Roy though, but he couldn't have done anything at that moment in time to Will and Jim played the waiting game. They waited until Roy was in a position to be broken free, which just so happened to be ten minutes ago.

Will agreed Jim could break him out and lead him to the vents to be free again. Will was in charge of knowing how to get out, and honestly he did from where he told them to meet him. But they weren't there and Will decided to follow just in case. He wasn't against freeing any others either, but time was freedom and they obviously took too long.

Which led to this mess.

Jim and the little kid Billy were being taken out of the room and down the hallway, it took Will a panicked moment to decide to follow or stay behind with Roy and Jason.

He decided to follow, Roy didn't seem to be going anywhere and Jason was trying to take care of him, Will could live with that. Besides, he could find them again, he knew these ventilation systems like the back of his hand.

Will scrambled away from the vent cover, hands and knees banging against the dark aluminum. (Contrary to most action movies, ventilation systems were not bright at all. The only light that ever cam in was from vent covers, so not a whole lot.) Moving straight ahead was easy enough, the small light a few meters away was right where Will expected it to be. He hastily moved up to it, not daring to touch or put his fingers through but he pressed his face against the vent to look though.

Billy was being taken into a different room, a small circular one next to the room he was taken out of. He didn't see much, but from what he could tell the room was dark and Billy was still sobbing. When the door closed his crying was muted, the big guy, Mr. Wilson if he remembered correctly, returned to the room where Roy was.

Will saw Jim, he wasn't going far either, he had two guards on him, each holding an arm and keeping him from the ground. He was kicking and struggling and shouting, but nothing was making a difference. They finally entered a room and Jim was tossed inside, oddly there wasn't a cage nor did they give him one of those collars, they just threw him in and closed the door.

Will breathed out shakily, at least he knew where Jim was. He quickly tramped back to the large room of cages, still extremely worried about Roy.

He got there just in time to see Jason being being dragged off by Mr. Wilson. He wasn't fighting this time and Will understood why. Jason was shirtless now, and his shirt was on Roy's stump, Jason was in too much shock now to fight back.

Roy was unconscious, thank the heavens above, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle Roy being awake. The scientist in charge was directing the guards how to remove him, telling them to bring him to room B25. Will didn't know where that was but he was determined to follow and find out.

Turns out it was a lot harder than anticipated.

In the dark it was hard to see if he was keeping up, even harder to know if they've taken a turn or not. They completely lost him when they changed floor levels and Will didn't know which level they went to.

Will went down first, quickly covering what he could of the entire floor before going up again. He did this to three more levels before stumbling upon something he hadn't come across before.

It was the Justice League. He... found the Justice League! He couldn't see too much considering he was technically above them, but he was at such an angle he could see slightly into their cells. It was a weird room, more like a hallway, but their cells were built into the wall except for one. That one held... Batman? It was a little hard to tell from this far away but the man inside had huge bat wings, except as far as Will knew Batman didn't have wings, it was just a cape.

Well, Will couldn't do much about the Justice League right now, but he definitely made note of this place. If he could break them out, they wouldn't be subdued quite as quickly as a few kids.

Anyway, he could feel the panic settling in and he kept moving. He just had to keep moving, in, out, around, up, through, down, left, right, corner, dead end, drop. Keep moving.

It was only the small slip of his hands under him that made him realize he was crying.

He had to find Roy. He had to know they were at least helping his wound!

Roy needed help, Will needed help, Jason and Billy and all the others needed help. Will was tired of doing nothing, he couldn't do anything by himself.

He was just Will, the clone of Roy.

Will Harper swiped at his face, running his arm over his eyes a few times to get rid of the wet and itchy feeling. Roy didn't have an arm, Roy didn't have an arm.

Will was going to do more, he had to, Roy deserved it.

He decided to head up, he could look for Roy on the way there but he couldn't do anything except get outside help. He refused to sit by again, to simply watch as everything went bad and people got hurt. Will wasn't useful here, he was adamant to be useful in the only way he can. Will could get help, there were other Metas out there, it wasn't just the Justice League who fought against M.A.Z.E.

Granted the others would probably a lot harder to find... Will just had to find them.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Barry was tired. He was tired a lot these days.

Everything seemed so much more simple when he was asleep. He couldn't do anything in his cell, there was nothing to do and nothing to talk about. Bruce gave him updates on his nephew and that was about the only thing that got Barry up.

But something about right now seemed off. And it wasn't the fact the entire building went on lock down for some reason, but it only lasted a minute or so. It woke Barry up, he was tired and quite annoyed it was an alarm.

Don't get him wrong, he'd love for a mass breakout to be happening, but after a few minutes it was clear that wasn't going to happen so he was annoyed by the false hope it dragged from the depths of his tired heart.

Barry was trying to sleep again, but a certain sound stopped him.

It sounded like...?

"...Bruce? Is that you?"

The noises stopped for a second, then there was a sniffle.

Oh g*d, Bruce was crying.

Barry was suddenly shot with adrenaline, he stood up in record time and pressed his hands against the wall and glass. "Bruce! Bruce what happened?! What's going on?! Are the kids okay?! Is Wally okay!?"

Barry pounded on the glass when he didn't get an immediate answer,  his mind running through horrible situations one after another, all worse than the last. Because what on this God given planet cold make Bruce, the infamous emotionally stunted BATMAN, cry?

"Bruce!?" Barry yelled one last time desperately before thunking his head against the wall.

"...they cut off his arm."

It was so quiet Barry almost didn't hear it. Barry swallowed around the lump in his throat, already feeling pressure building up behind his eyes. "W-who...? Whose arm did they cut off?"

"He's fourteen. He's just fourteen, Barry." His voice was stronger then, before dwindling back to barely a whisper. "They cut of a fourteen year olds arm. Right... in front of them."

Barry moved a hand over his mouth, sinking to the floor in utter horror. If he was understanding this correctly, then that meant some poor fourteen year old got their arm cut off and Wally had to witness it. "Oh g*d, Bruce... who's the kid?"

"Roy." It came out as a croak, "he started an escape, but they got caught in the kid's room. Dr... Dr. Kurr had his arm cut off. Right there."

"We need to get everyone out of here." Barry declared, fisting a hand and slamming it into the ground, if only to feel like he could do something.

Woot woot!

5001 words.

I would tell you don't worry, but uh... it only gets worse before it gets better!

But there IS a happy ending, of sorts, don't y'all worry, with this much angst I gotta make up for it in fluff later.

See y'all next time!