Ashborn sat alone in his office, fingers rhythmically tapping the desk as he sifted through the reports before him. Amazo had adjusted to school life with surprising ease. Since joining, the android had not uttered a single complaint. Watching him sit among students, observe, adapt, and, most curiously, listen, was almost amusing. But Ashborn knew it wasn't a joke.
This was exactly what Amazo needed.
The android had already evolved to heights unimaginable, surpassing even the League's collective might. But consciousness, true consciousness, wasn't born of power. It came from living, from experience, from the quiet moments spent through time and interactions with others. Ashborn knew the classroom would do more for Amazo's soul than any battlefield.
His musing was shattered as the windows of his office exploded inward, glass shards flying as a blurred figure smashed through.
Ashborn turned, unsurprised, as Kara stood in the clearing haze, eyes glowing crimson with fury.
"You seem overly angry," he said flatly.
"How could you do that?!" she barked, voice thick with emotion. "You supported those Cadmus people! A shadowy group whose only mission is to eliminate us!"
Ashborn turned slowly to face her "If you go out of line," he said, "or if you were ever eliminated by something beyond your control, earth needs an alternative."
Kara stormed closer and slammed her fists into his desk, shattering it instantly. "You think that's a good excuse?!"
Ashborn didn't flinch. "You failed to stop Doomsday. You helped the Thanagarians spread their lies. In other worlds, the League became tyrants. You've seen what you're capable of if things go wrong. Is it so wrong to support a group that can act as a backup?"
"And what if they become the ones that turn power-hungry?" she challenged.
Ashborn offered a small smile. "Then you deal with them. That's the point. Balance requires opposites. I simply improved the odds for this planet. Isn't that what you do? Monitor, eliminate, contain?"
Kara's fury waned into stunned silence. Then softly, she asked, "Did you know they were going to clone me?"
Ashborn nodded once. "I never asked for the details of their projects. But I knew cloning was one of their obsessions. Kryptonians are ideal, power drawn from DNA alone. I suspected this outcome from day one."
He paused. "That suspicion was confirmed the moment your clone walked into my office."
Her hands clenched. Her face, twisted with a storm of betrayal and confusion, barely hid her trembling rage. But before she could utter another word.
A beam of light tore through the sky, descending like divine wrath. In the distance, a towering explosion erupted, engulfing the skyline in dust and fire. It bloomed like a nuclear blast. Even from across the city, the Shadow Corp Tower shook violently.
Kara turned toward the catastrophe, horrified. "What was that?!"
Ashborn's voice was calm. "It appears the Watchtower's cannon has been fired. The target was Cadmus headquarters."
Her voice broke. "Impossible! We… we would never do that."
Ashborn's eyes didn't leave the distant smoke. "Either you did, or someone else used your weapon. I wonder which one it is."
He turned toward her. "I suggest you return. Things will be hectic for your group."
She looked back at him, mortified. Her hands trembled. The memory hit her hard, his cold words from long ago, his refusal, his reason.
"Things will not end well."
Her lips parted, but no words came. Her eyes shimmered with tears as realization finally settled in. He had anticipated this. Long before anyone else saw the cracks forming. She walked toward the broken Window.
"Kara" Ashborn called, making her stop in her tracks.
"If it was really not you, then it is probably Lex. Think before you act or it will be the end of you" Ashborn warned her.
She didn't reply, just flew away without another word.
Ashborn stood at the shattered window, looking out over the now-burning horizon.
He had warned Luthor countless times. Funded Cadmus to lessen Earth's reliance on the man. Stopped the Thanagarian invasion to remove the need of creating the canon. He even took in Amazo and gave him a place in the world.
And despite all of it...
The cannon was still built and fired.
___________
A few hours had passed since the blast that rattled the city and shook the balance between power and paranoia. The sun had set, but the skies still carried a faint glow from the distant fires that hadn't yet been tamed. Ashborn sat back in his chair, fingers steepled, lost in thought when his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen. Amanda Waller.
He answered with a calm voice "Glad you're alive. I thought the beam would've turned you into ashes."
Waller's voice came through, firm but tired "It was a close call. There was a security breach, and we followed protocol by evacuating. Barely made it out."
Ashborn nodded slightly to himself, unsurprised "Let me guess. You want to retaliate."
"Yes." Her answer came instantly, without hesitation. "Our worst fears came to be. We need to go in full force."
Ashborn leaned back "I won't ask Amazo to help you attack them." His tone sharpened. "You don't know for sure if it was them. It could just as easily be someone framing the League. The timing's too perfect to ignore, yes, but that makes it all the more foolish to jump to conclusions."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then Amanda spoke again, quieter this time.
"I expected that answer… just wanted to give it a shot."
The line went dead.
Ashborn put the phone down gently on the desk. He didn't bring up Lex Luthor. Not yet. Let Cadmus and the League clash. Let them tear at each other's throats.
Eventually, they'd realize they were being played. Eventually, they'd both look back and see how stupid they were and hopefully they would balance each other better in the future.
Rising from his chair, Ashborn walked through the ruined hallway of his office. Shattered glass still littered the floor from Kara's earlier entrance. He passed the cracked remains of his desk, stepped through the quiet halls of Shadow Corp, and exited into the night.
___________
Since my last meeting with Ashborn, I couldn't stop thinking about what he said. His words echoed through the hollow places inside me. He spoke to me as if I was an actual person.
But was I? A person?
I didn't ask for this life. I didn't choose to be born from tubes and cold steel. I was created. Engineered. Breathed into existence by someone who called me a daughter but saw me as nothing more than a sentient weapon. A tool. And now, I was leading an army of mindless clones, charging the Watchtower.
I knew what this meant. I wasn't different from the ones I commanded. The only difference was that I could pretend. I could think. I could doubt. But at the end of the day, I was just another clone. Expendable.
While the others fought, creating chaos and distracting the Justice League, I slipped away. Down deep into the underbelly of the Watchtower, into the generator room. My mission was clear, overload the diffusion core, destroy the station, kill everyone inside.
I was nearly done loading the program when a loud crash interrupted my thoughts. A man in iron armor and a hammer came smashing through the wall. Steel. The moment he saw me. He didn't ask questions, he charged.
I didn't speak. I didn't smirk. I didn't feel like mocking him or boasting. I just fought.
With every punch, every throw, every crack of bone and steel, I felt heavier… angrier. Ashborn's voice whispered inside me, over and over. "you have a choice…but you're still here."
He said that. And yet here I was, trying to burn the light so my shadow would be all that remained.
Another presence entered the room….her. The original. Supergirl.
She told me to stop. Ordered me, as if I was just another puppet.
I stopped. I obeyed. Without thought.
She looked at me, confused. "What are you doing here?" she asked, as if I even knew anymore.
I stared at her. She had everything…. freedom, identity, existence. I had imitation. "It doesn't matter," I finally said.
Then I lunged.
There were no witty lines, no condescending remarks, just fury. Pure, seething, directionless fury. I beat her with everything I had. She tried to fight back, but she couldn't match me. I didn't let her. I didn't want her to. I wanted to destroy her. To end the original. And maybe, somehow, prove to myself that I was real.
That I was more.
In less than thirty seconds, I was holding her like a rag doll, her shoulders crushed under my grip. She looked up at me, bruised and bleeding, her voice strained and trembling, but still sharp as ever.
"You're just a clone. I'm the real one. Nothing you do will change that."
Her words cut deeper than any blade. My vision went red, my eyes glowing with the heat of rage and rejection. I was ready. Ready to end her.
Then… Amanda Waller's voice crackled in my ear.
"Galatea, do you copy? Abandon the mission. Do you hear me?"
I froze.
After everything? After all this effort? She wanted me to stop? Like a dog being called back from the fight?
Ashborn's words whispered again. This time, filling me not with fury or doubt… but with clarity.
I let go.
Supergirl collapsed to the floor. I didn't look at her.
I reached up, pulled out my comm, and crushed it in my hand.
Then, without hesitation, I dug my fingers into my temple and tore out the control chip, the device that made me control them, the Ultimen. I crushed that too. Then I turned and walked toward the closest wall.
Supergirl rose weakly, her eyes wide, unsure of what she was seeing.
"Where are you going? What are you playing at?" she asked, half-breathless.
I turned my head slightly, just enough to be heard.
"I'm walking away," I said. "I've had enough of playing the attack dog. I've had enough of trying to prove anything."
I stepped toward the wall, hand clenched into a fist.
"A shadow can be taller than the object that cast it."
I paused.
"I know I am real and I'm better than you."
And with that, I pierced through the Watchtower's wall and soared down to Earth, cutting through the clouds. I didn't look back. I wouldn't look back.
For the first time since I opened my eyes I felt free.