Harper had activated the old, discarded mech and it seemed to have been untouched by whomever was hacking into her other suits. It was likely because this particular design had never been switched on, nor had it ever been connected to Harper's neural implant; meaning that there was no trace of it anywhere.

This suit, which Harper had never named, had the number '1065' etched into the hull. She had scrapped it after realising that the design would cost too much to complete, so the suit was missing many features that her other mechs possessed - smart targeting systems being one of them. That meant that she would have to manually aim each weapon before firing, which when in the midst of a fight, would take up a significant amount of time.

Harper knew that this mech would be practically useless in a space fight, so there was only one thing to do. She needed to find the source of this chaos...she needed to go back to Australia and find the Progenitor.

In the hangar, there were four available Javelin's, but only one large enough for her to steer inside of her clunky suit. As soon as the ship was switched on, however, Victor was immediately aware of it. Since his cybernetic mind was connected to the Watchtower's network, he could sense any movement from within.

"Harper? What are you doing?" Victor suddenly spoke into the comms.

Harper scurried to turn the microphone inside of the Javelin on. "Don't worry about me, Vic. Focus on protecting the Watchtower."

"How am I supposed to do that if you don't tell me where you're going?"

"I'm sorry." Harper sighed. There was hesitance in her voice...and fear. Victor had never heard her voice whispering so softly before, or so full of uncertainty. She had always been courageous; whether she was in a mech or in her wheelchair. Now, though, she sounded like a child. One that was terrified of what was to come. "There's something I have to do...just trust me, yeah?"

Victor had faith in Harper's abilities, truly he did...but she was still recovering. Any amount of head trauma could crack her skull right back open again, then what would he do? He wouldn't be there to stitch her back together...and he'd lose her. Though this was the most painful thought that he had ever bared, Victor also knew that Harper was not the kind of woman to sit around idly with a full-blown battle ensuing. Even if he had argued, she wouldn't have listened. So, with a rather strong right hook aimed at an oncoming mech, Victor grunted "Okay, I trust you."

There was a sigh of relief on the other end, then all communications within the Javelin were cut off. Harper was gone, speeding towards Earth and disappearing into its atmosphere.

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It was weird to be home again, Harper thought as she landed the Javelin on Australian soil. The reasoning was even stranger. She never thought that she'd return with the sole intent of destroying centuries worth of research.

The clones had come from the Progenitor's base of operations, so Harper could only assume that any chance of stopping them was hidden within. Cramped inside of her half-finished mech, Harper stepped out of the spaceship and into the dark expanse of a cave. The further she strolled inside of it, the emptier it became.

Soon, she came across a giant crater where the research lab used to be...but there was nothing there. Harper frowned. She knew that the Progenitor wasn't foolish enough to remain in a compromised hideout, but she had at least hoped that they had left something behind. Something that she could track to their new base of operations. Apparently that was too much to ask.

Harper scanned the bleak cave, hoping that her suit's radar might find something useful, but there was nothing but rocks and dirt.

"Looking for something?" A familiar voice hummed. The sound was so sudden that it had Harper whipping around, a compartment in her mech's arm clicked and a gun appeared - which she pointed in the intruder's direction.

Camille raised her hands in surrender and laughed nervously, "Pretty sure I'm almost bulletproof nowadays, but I'd prefer not to test that theory."

Harper dropped her arm, and it landed with a heavy 'clank' at her side. "What are you doing here? Don't you have a kingdom to rule?"

The queen of Atlantis smiled softly at the mech that covered Harper's form. The gesture lit up her honeyed eyes, and seemed to bring more emphasis to the crown on her head. It was solid gold, and was carved to look like the many tentacles of an octopus wrapping through her curly hair and across her brow. "I'm here on business. There was a recent sighting of human technology burrowing into an underwater cave. They had research equipment with them, and what looked to be people growing in tubes. When I offered this information to Cyborg for the Justice League's advice, he seemed a little preoccupied. So, I tried to investigate it myself and the trail lead me here. Do you have any clue what this could have been?"

"Yeah," Harper sighed. "I know what it is. Could you take me to where this was spotted?"

Camille nodded, but couldn't hide the concern written on her face. "How does your suit do under water?"

"I have a thrust pack that could help me get around, and the suit itself can withstand 800 psi."

"You should be fine then." Camille turned, revealing the full coverage of her Atlantean armour. There wasn't one tiny ounce of skin showing besides her neck and face. It shielded her entirely, and had a texture quite similar to the scales of a fish. "Follow me."

Camille hurried out of the enclosed space and headed towards a nearby stretch of ocean. Harper followed not too far behind. "So...where's the kid?"

"Mera is minding Kasalus for me." Camille answered as she started trudging into the water.

Harper watched as the bottom of her suit disappeared beneath the crystalline surface. "Why didn't you just send someone else to tell me this?"

Camille shrugged. "I don't like getting other people to do my work for me. Guess, deep down, I'm still just a street cop."

With that, Camille's tangle of curls disappeared beneath the sea. Harper wasted no time in joining her, and found that the queen of Atlantis barely needed to move at all to stay afloat in the water. She then swam, without much movement in her arms or legs, and lead Harper deep into the aqua plain.

The ocean covered a large portion of the earth, so it wasn't at all surprising that most of their journey consisted of a vast emptiness. There were jagged stones pointing in different directions, and the occasional brush of seaweed, but besides that there really wasn't much to say. Harper struggled remembering that there were entire cities down there at all.

"I was at least expecting to see a fish or two down here." Harper commented, clearly unimpressed with what the sea had offered her thus far.

"Whoever moved into that cave has disrupted this whole area." Camille explained. "No sealife will come near this place, even I feel a strong urge to turn back."

Harper chewed on her bottom lip, scouring her mind for an explanation. "Huh...she could be slightly manipulating the ocean's current and temperature in this area. It would create a natural instinct for most animals down here to flee."

"Who's she?"

"The Progenitor. My...creator." Harper somehow spat out the last word without growling.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that." The queen replied, and only now did Harper find herself curious about the physiology of Atlanteans...more specifically, how the hell they could speak so clearly underwater. "You're really a clone?"

"Yeah."

Camille hummed thoughtfully. "And that army that the Justice League are fighting are clones as well?"

"Yep."

"Does that have anything to do with why you're looking for your creator?"

Harper didn't answer as swiftly as she had before. First, she contemplated whether to actually reveal her plan to anyone. Though she had no reason to distrust Camille, she had been conditioned by her time in the military to always be cautious. "She installs all of us with a neural implant upon creation, but this implant also works as a device to spy on each clone throughout the years. Incase any of us suddenly become useless to her, the Progenitor also includes a small bomb. Nothing big enough to cause a scene, but certainly with enough power to blow a brain apart."

"And you want to set this off?"

"Yeah, that's the plan." Harper admitted. Despite her reservations, she needed Camille's help...and lying had never been her strong suit. "Victor took mine out, so if I initiate this sequence, it should destroy every other clone that is currently active."

"Well, that's certainly one way to win the fight." Camille quipped. "But are you sure you're okay with destroying them?"

"Most of them are half-formed, some are glorified internal organs. They're not entirely sentient...they're just empty shells being directed by the Progenitor. It's a kindness to end this before it goes too far."

"I hope you're right."

Finally, they came across a large opening. It looked unnatural; like the hole had been forced into the earth with barbaric tools. The closer they swam, the hotter the water became. The pressure pushing against Harper's suit slowly started to lessen, and as they ventured deeper, they both noticed that solid ground was fast approaching.

Camille breached the surface of the water, hair glistening and skin shining. Harper's suit emerged soon after, droplets sticking to the grey paint of her mech. "This the place?"

"Yeah, if you follow this path you should find them." Camille confirmed. "Want some company?"

Harper shook her head, though she was certain that Camille couldn't see it behind the heavy bull of her suit. "No, this is something I need to do by myself."