Valor POV

I put my binoculars down and sighed.

Today is going to be a long day. I grumbled to myself as I shot a line up to a window of the Hall of Justice.

I pulled myself up to the ledge, tapped my bracelet-cuff and started bypassing the security on the windows and vents. After I finished, I snickered, "Same system as the Bat-Cave." I cautiously swung the window in and peered around. Luckily there was a horizontal support beam right below the window. "It's like they want me to sneak in," I muttered. I crept my way across the beam and grappled towards a vent cover on the opposite wall. I grabbed a little throwing knife out of my utility belt and pried the grate off the vent. I put the knife back in my belt and slipped in. I crawled for about two minutes when I heard raised voices. Against all better judgement, I decided to follow them. I slunk through the vents for another few minutes before pulling up my holo-map.

I continued crawling until I realized something, "Hmm, that's funny. The map says that there's a slope somewhere along this route, but I haven't seen any--" I cut myself off as my hand slid out from under me and I fell down the steep vent. I desperately tried to stop myself from slipping. I saw light at the bottom of the shaft. Suddenly the duct leveled out and I could see the grate.

This is gonna be hard to explain to Batman.

I braced myself as I hit the vent cover and went flying across the room. I heard a smack, followed by someone yelling "Ow!" as the vent cover hit an unsuspecting hero. I rolled, shot up and almost immediately fell into a backbend as an arrow flew by my face. I popped up and dodged another arrow.

"Ree? Great, another sidekick to join the mix." Speedy commented sarcastically from the other side of the room. His orange-red hair was visible. I looked around and saw his canary-yellow Robin Hood hat on the ground in front of Green Arrow. I slowly looked between Speedy's enraged face and GA's pleading one. Speedy continued to walk towards the door.

"Well hello to you too, Crabby. No "Hey Valkyrie, How's it going?" or even a "Haven't seen you in a while Ree. What have you been up to?" I grumbled as I adjusted my dark purple utility belt. I was wearing a long sleeved, black, spandex, shirt with matte black armor covering my chest up to my neck and shoulders, and I had black metal fingerless gauntlets with dark gray gloves underneath. I was also wearing loose, dark grey cargo pants with black combat boots. My hair was covered by a large black hood and a black half-faced mask covered my face. The eyes were covered by a dark purple domino mask and the hood blocked the rest from view. My left fingerless gauntlet had my holo-computer in it.

I didn't show any of my skin and I purposely put the hood and cargo pants on to keep my identity a secret. If there is one thing I have learned from working with Batman for six months, it's that no clue is too small. He will eventually figure it out. Ever heard of the expression, "Give the devil an inch and he'll take a mile?" Well... Batman personifies this perfectly. Give or take the devil part. He will always find out. It won't take him forever to figure it out but... one can only hope.

"Ree, make him come back. He can't leave." Green Arrow whined to me. GA and I had worked together on multiple occasions and I had even hung out with him and Speedy several times out of uniform, with all the necessary precautions. I don't do that anymore though. It's extremely tiresome trying to cover every inch of you. In that time I had come to look up to Roy or Speedy as my protective older brother. Yes, Ollie or GA and Roy had their little spats from time to time, but... I had never seen Roy look so... hateful. Like he wanted to rip your head off. I had always been the mediator in those situations. Never had anything gotten this out of hand.

"Why is this suddenly something that I have to deal with? He's your partner, you deal with it." I said to him.

"Ree, he is one of your best friends, he's practically your brother! You're just going to let him walk away?" GA asked me.

"GA... I can't solve your problems for you. He needs time to cool down and he has a right to choose. As much as I would like him to stay with us... he's not going to give up that easily. He's almost as stubborn as you." I responded, crawling into the vent. I felt a tug on my ankle and then I was upside-down, and staring into narrowed white eyes.

"Batmaaaan." I whined. He just narrowed his eyes more.

"You. Stay put." He stated. I frowned as he dropped me.

"Whatever."

I turned around and heard Speedy's voice, "Guess they're right about you four. You're not ready." He snapped at Robin, Aqualad, KidFlash and I.

"Says the one stomping away like a six year old." I muttered as he, indeed, stomped out of the room. "At least he left the hat."

I replayed the scathing remark. His words bounced off the walls of my mind.

You're not ready. You're not ready. You're not ready... Maybe I'm not ready.

"What crawled up his butt and died?" I asked irritably as I brushed the dust off my suit. Everyone turned to me. Batman sighed. I jumped as an alarm blared and Superman appeared on a large screen right next to me.

"Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire." He announced. Batman walked up to the screen.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may present the perfect opportunity to in--" Another transmission cut him off.

"Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Attan to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response." Batman turned his attention away from the magician and to the Kryptonian.

"—Superman?" He asked in his deep, gravelly voice. Before he could respond I asked,

"Are you forgetting you have four trained ex-sidekicks literally right behind you?" The Dark Knight sighed, probably wondering why he even let me and my sarcastic mouth out of the BatCave.

"Stay put." He ordered.

"What, why?" Robin asked, throwing his arms outwards. Aquaman responded,

"This is a League mission." He told them. I watched from my place, leaning on the wall near the computer. Flash, Aquaman, GreenArrow, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter and Batman tried to "reason" with us, though it was more directed towards the three boys. The Leaguers basically called us "untrained" and said that we were "not ready to work as part of the Justice League". Batman finished the lecture with,

"—But for now. Stay. Put." He walked to the door with a plaque that said JUSTICE LEAGUE MEMBERS ONLY. "And Ree?" He asked.

"What."

"If you leave and get hurt... We can't help you." He stated.

"Don't get your tights in a twist. You and your Spandex Patrol can take a hike. I'll be fine." I said casually. He frowned at the jab at his clothing choice and Bat-glared me. He gave us one final glare and walked through the door.

"Sooooo..." I started. KidFlash cut me off. He scoffed.

"When we're ready?! How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like-" He paced back and forth, "like sidekicks." He got quieter as he finished. Aqualad looked at the floor.

"My mentor, my King, I thought he trusted me." Kaldur said sadly.

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ, IN SPACE!" KF shouted. Aqualad looked up. "What else aren't they telling us?"

"Honestly, they probably have more secrets than Batman has sidekicks. They won't even trust us with the HQ thing. How are we going to trust that they'll give us all the facts and not withhold some "dangerous" info that needed to be compartmentalized for our own "protection." I pointed out.

"Right. I agree with... actually, what is your name? Also, why are you here?" KF questioned me.

"Her name is Valkyrie. She was supposed to come in with us but Batman sent her to deal with Clayface first." Robin replied. KF opened his mouth to say something but I got there first.

"We don't talk about the Clayface incident." I said. KF hurriedly closed his mouth. "I swear to Bob he was unconscious one second, then slamming me into walls the next." I muttered irritably.

"Anyways, back to the point. I have a better question." Robin interrupted. "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" We all looked down.

"Because we chose to stand by our mentors, even when they did something stupid. Because we aren't as stubborn and annoying as he is. Because Roy isn't patient. Because he had a tantrum like a four year old and went off to pout." I said. They looked up at me. "Because we aren't Roy." I looked them each in the eyes. "Buuuttttt.... just because we stick with our mentors when they do something stupid, doesn't make us angels." Kaldur looked up and met my eyes.

"What is Project Cadmus?" He inquired. Rob and I smirked at each other.

"Don't know--" Robin started. I caught on and finished his sentence. "—But he can find out." I made my voice deeper and said, "Quick Robin! To the BatComputer!" Rob and I collapsed into snickers as we strode over to the computer.

Robin started to type away at the machine. "By the way Robin--"I started as he typed. "It's the same system--"

"—As the BatCave, of course!" He finished my sentence.

"I'm just gonna point out that it is so cute when you finish each other's sentences." KF said. I slapped the back of his head. "OW!"

Robin glared at the speedster and started typing again. The computer's female voice issued out from behind the screen. "Access Denied." Rob and I made eye contact. Simultaneously we scoffed. "Heh, wanna bet?" we said. A few clacks later and,

"I'm in." Rob declared. The female voice confirmed with an "Access Granted."

"Woah. How did you--?" Before KF could finish, Robin and I cut him off,

"BatCave." We stated.

"Ooh! And they say things at the same time! That's so adorable!" KF said. I punched him in the arm this time. "OOOWWW! Stop hitting me!" He shouted as he rubbed his bruised bicep.

"Stop being an idiot and I just might."

Robin cleared his throat at us. We all turned towards the screen as Rob pulled up the file on Project Cadmus.

"All right. Project Cadmus." Robin said as the file opened and a photo of the building popped up. "Genetics lab here in DC. That's all there is." He said, looking towards us. "But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate." He grinned. Kaldur looked at the screen, then back to us.

"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice." He said as a ghost of a smile flitted across his face. Robin turned away from the computer and walked up next to Kid Flash.

"Hey, they're all about justice." Robin said.

Kaldur sighed. "But they said stay put."

KF frowned. I stepped away from the computer.

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this." I pointed out, coming to a stop next to Robin. I rested my elbow on his head. He quickly swatted my arm away before talking.

"I agree with Ree. Heh, agree, with Ree." He chuckled to himself. I sighed. He turned around and stuck his tongue out at me. Kid Flash came over and put a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Wait. Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going." He said excitedly. They turned towards Kaldur with grins plastered on their faces. Kaldur still seemed doubtful.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" He questioned. Rob smirked,

"We didn't come for a playdate." KidFlash turned to me.

"So. You in, babe?" He asked flirtatiously. I raised an eyebrow and let a small smirk grace my lips.

"Someone's got to save you from tripping over your own feet." I shot back. He frowned and stuck his tongue out at me. "What is it with you guys and sticking your tongues out at me?"

***

When we arrived at Cadmus I saw that the flames were under control. Only a small fire remained in a few second story windows. I spotted two scientists in the windows next to the fire. They shouted at the firemen to help them. Something exploded behind them and they were thrown out the window.

"Kid!" I shouted at KF. Thankfully he saw what I was pointing at and ran to help the lab-coats. I turned around to speak to Robin, but he was gone. The only trace of him was his faint cackle, drifting in the smoky air. I turned to Kaldur. "Welp, that was kinda creepy. I guess a plan is out the window?" I asked. He just sighed and ran towards one of the fire hoses. He used his water bearers to shape the water into a column. The bearers looked like light gray angled handles that slid into a small scabbard on his back. He jumped on the pillar and turned to me.

"You want a ride?" He asked. I nodded and stepped onto the surface. He maneuvered the water cylinder to the scientists that Kid had saved earlier. "Step aboard. Now." He commanded, narrowing his eyes at them. They jumped to the water column and started wobbling the whole thing.

"It helps if you bend your knees." I advised them as the pedestal descended. Kaldur and I jumped to the window Robin and KF disappeared into a few minutes prior. I ran in while Kaldur lowered the scientists down to the safety of the ground. I almost smacked into Robin who was hunched over a computer, looking for any information that might help us. "Gosh, you guys are just so dang heroic, you know that?" I said sarcastically.

"If you can stop wasting time, we can actually figure something out." KidFlash said. I glared at his back as he looked through a filing cabinet. Kaldur ran in.

"Appreciate the help." He said. Rob glanced up from his computer.

"You handled it. Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Kaldur and I walked out the door. I heard an elevator beep as I walked out next to Kaldur.

"Did you--" He cut me off before I could finish.

"Yes." We turned a corner and saw a strange silhouette in the elevator. I saw the outline of a sickly thin creature with large horns and pointy ears. Before we could do anything the doors shut. KF ran up behind us. Kaldur turned around. "There was something in the--" KidFlash cut him off.

"Elevators should be locked down." Robin dashed into the hall and grabbed KF's arm to slow himself down before he ran to the elevator.

"This is wrong." Rob said as I pulled up my holo-map.

"You're right," I said as I typed into the computer. "This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building."

"Neither does what we saw." Kaldur said as he walked towards the elevator. He stabbed his hands in between the door panels and shoved them open. Rob knelt down next to the opening.

"And that's why they need an express elevator." He commented. He stood up and shot a grapple at the ceiling. He grabbed me by the waist and jumped down into the yawning blackness below. I yelped and wrapped my arms around his neck. I leaned towards him as we descended. "You afraid of heights or something?" He asked. He meant it as a joke, but after what happened with my adoptive parents...

"I'm not afraid of heights." I said quietly as we plummeted. "I'm afraid of falling." He looked at me, his mask-covered eyes meeting mine. His amused expression was gone, replaced by a serious one.

"I understand completely. I promise I won't let you fall." He vowed. We jerked to a stop. I tightened my grip on his neck. "I'm at the end of my rope." He said. He looked over at the elevator doors of sublevel 26. He started swinging back and forth. I leapt to the narrow ledge and started forcing the door panels open. I heard him land behind me as I walked through the door.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin announced, rather loudly, from behind me. I turned around and glared at him.

"Weren't you raised by Batman?" I asked him. He smiled sheepishly as the others slipped in behind us. "See? You should be more like them." I said. He stuck his tongue out at me. I felt a breeze as I looked around. "Is there a draft in--?"

Aqualad cut me off. ""Kid, wait!" he whisper-shouted. I ran after the speedster. I heard thumping. KF yelled as he tried to avoid something to his immediate right. He slid as he tried to stop. Giant creatures with glowing red eyes, tough gray skin, and tusks tramped single file down the hallway. Each one took up more than half the space.

I shoved Kid out of the way before he got trampled. We weaved our way in between the large creatures and stood in awe beside Aqualad and Robin. The other-worldly monsters continued growling and stomping through the passageway. Tiny, lighter gray creatures with horns sat atop the beasts. One looked straight at us. Its horns glowed with unnatural red light, then it simply turned away from us. We stared as they thumped past us.

"No. Nothing odd going on here." Aqualad commented sarcastically as the creatures disappeared down the hallway.

Robin whipped out his holo-computer and started to hack. Soon enough he opened the heavy, metal, security door. "Ok. I'm officially whelmed." He said as the metal slid into the walls. We stared, awestruck by the scene before us.

A large high ceilinged room extended for about 50 feet from the entrance. There were shelves of tall glass canisters, about 15 on each shelf. There were large insect-like creatures in every one. They seemed to generate electricity for the underground compound. Those high-security doors don't run off of AA batteries. KF seemed to reach the same conclusion.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these things. Must be what they're bred for." KF concluded.

"Even the name is a clue," Kaldur said, looking around. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons' teeth into the earth." Robin came in next,

"—And this Cadmus creates new life, too." Rob walked to a control panel under one of the glass units. "Let's find out why." He took a cord out of his glove and plugged it in. He pulled up his holo-computer and started to look at the stats on the creatures we saw before.

"They call them Genomorphs," Robin informed us. "Whoa! Look at the stats on these things—super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!" He exclaimed. KF looked over his shoulder.

"They're engineering an army, but for who?" KF asked.

"Guys?" I asked.

"Wait there's something else. Ugh! The file's triple-encrypted. I-I can't--" I cut Robin off.

"GUYS?!" I yelled from my post at the door.

"WHAT" They yelled back at me. I turned back to yell at them but before I could I was thrown into one of the glass pods. The container shattered. The creature screeched and released a lightning bolt at me. Now, as fast as I was, I was not a speedster. I could not react fast enough to avoid a lightning strike. I was blasted backwards into the waiting claws of the Genomorphs. They growled into my ear.

"Don't move!" A guy in a golden helmet and a golden arm shield shouted as the G-sprites held their claws more threateningly to my throat. "Wait. Robin, Aqualad, KidFlash, and... who are you?" he asked, confused.

"I'm Valkyrie. Now, could you kindly LET ME GO!" I shouted at him. The G-sprites looked at him for confirmation.

"You seem to be aggressive. I don't think that's a good idea." He observed, looking at me.

"You want aggressive? I'll show you--" Aqualad cut me off.

"Valkyrie. Please." He turned back to the man in the golden helmet. "I know you. Guardian, a hero."

"I do my best." He answered, nonchalantly.

"Hero my--" Kaldur gave me a warning look, Don't provoke him. I, in return, sent him my best; I can take this guy any day of the week. He frowned and went back to the discussion with Guardian. The conversation carried on as if I hadn't even spoken.

"Then what are you doing here?" KF asked, narrowing his eyes. Guardian responded,

"I'm Chief of Security. You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

"You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" KF questioned him. He looked confused for a moment.

"Weapons? What are you--? What have I—Ugh. My head." He held his head for a second. I watched as the G-gnome's horns started to glow red. It stared at him from atop his shoulder for a second. I decided to use this opportunity to escape. I swung one of the two G-sprites holding me into the other one and ran over to the guys.

"Thanks for the help." I said sarcastically. I snapped my head toward Guardian when started shouting for the G-sprites to take us down. Rob threw down a smoke pellet, shot a grapple, and grabbed me by the waist, all in a second. He swung us up to the rafters as the G-sprites focused on Kaldur and KF. "We should go back for them." I said as we ran down the hallway, towards the elevator. He didn't seem to hear me and I sighed. I turned around to help the rest of our ragtag team.

I ran back to the generator room. I saw KF dodging the G-sprites and Kaldur trying to get the G-sprites off his back. I decided to help KF. I jumped and spin-kicked a few G-sprites out of the room. I turned around to beat the crap out of some more, but got distracted by Kaldur crashing into me. Guardian had apparently hit Kaldur while he was distracted and backhanded him into me, causing us both to fly into a control panel.

Kaldur's elbow crashed into the side of my head which slammed my head into the steel panel behind me and he landed on top of my legs. I was seeing tiny Valkyries as Kaldur stuck out his hand to help me up after picking himself up off my legs. He seemed to be trying to say something to me, but I couldn't hear anything over the ringing in my ears. I shrugged and pointed to my ears. He took my head in his hands and turned it towards him. He felt around my ears through my hood. He reached the space directly behind my ears. I hissed in pain at his touch. He narrowed his eyes, pointed to the spot and shrugged. I grabbed his arm, pointed to his elbow, gently brought it to the back of my head and extremely carefully, tapped my head on the panel. Realization hit him and his eyes widened. I shrugged when I saw the apology in his eyes.

I was slowly regaining my hearing as Kaldur helped me up. I could walk but I was still unsteady. He had just let go of me when Guardian came out of nowhere and punched me. I flew back into another glass pod. The glass cracked, but didn't break. I sighed in relief when I had shooed the dancing stars from my vision.

At least I won't get blasted with lightning again. I thought to myself as I shakily stood up.

I hadn't been on my feet half a second before KF ran at full speed towards me. I tried to get out of his reach but he just swerved and picked me up bridal style. He bolted out of the room and down the hall Rob and I had split ways a few minutes ago. He got to the first turn and skidded with me in his arms. He ran to the elevator Robin was trying to open and set me down. He started saying something to the boy in the domino mask. Unfortunately I couldn't hear anything at this point from hitting my head in the exact same place three times with enough force that the normal human body would crack in half. I stared off into space until Rob pulled me into the elevator. He started to talk to me but I couldn't hear a word he said. When he finished I just looked at him, shrugged, pointed to my ears and shook my head.

He understood immediately. I looked back out into the hallway just as Kaldur somersaulted into the elevator. The doors started closing as the Genomorphs came closer, but they were just a little too late and the panels shut before they could get in.

Robin started to ask Kaldur something. I had gotten pretty good at reading people's lips while I was with... Her. She would always cast a spell on me whenever she would confer with her "partners." I couldn't hear anything said, but instead of being the obedient child I was thought to be, I would sneak into her private lair and read her lips as she talked. The person she was conversing with was always a smoky shadow, so I never knew who it was. All I knew was she communicated with three people and three people only. Her... lover, the Earth partner, and the Ambassador. Whoever the heck that was. She would only ever address them as such, but I knew who her lover was at least. I contemplated this as we went down.

Wait...

I shot up, then hissed and grabbed my head. The boys came over in confusion. I pointed to the decreasing numbers above the doors. I asked in the quietest voice I could, at this time I had almost no volume control,

"Why are we going down?" Robin opened his holo-computer and showed me a file on a Project Kr. It was triple encrypted like he said in the generator room. The elevator doors opened and Robin held my hand as we walked through the passageway. But this was no normal hallway, nooooo. It had to be a creepy, gross, red, squishy hallway. Like the inside of a dragon's throat. I commented this to the guys, but they just stared at me in concern.

"Don't ask me how I know that because you don't want to know," I said as I walked past them. Even though I could barely hear any sound, I could almost hear them sharing concerned looks. I walked through the corridor. It was lined with computers and metal barrels thrown haphazardly around the room. I dashed from one barrel to another and the others followed my lead. The boys were debating which passageway to go through when a loud voice shouted at us from bizarre-looking hallway one, even I could hear.

"HALT." He commanded us. I was finally able to hear things. The creature Kaldur and I saw in the elevator started telekinetically throwing metal canisters at us. We dodged and they exploded behind us. Rob threw a razor-sharp disk at the gray-skinned Genomorph, but he caught it and lifted more barrels.

"That's our cue, my dudes!" I shouted as I grabbed Rob and Kid's arms. I started sprinting down bizarre-looking hallway two. The canisters exploded behind us as we ran. KF dashed ahead. We turned a corner with Guardian and the G-sprites hot on our tails.

"Hurry!" KF shouted at us. He had placed a cylindrical metal receptacle in between the panels of the automatic security door. There was a glowing green screen in the middle that labeled it as the room that held Project Kr. KidFlash jumped into the room. The doors started to groan as Robin and I leapt through. Kaldur hesitated for a second before slipping in and kicking the capsule out of the door. It slammed shut and the green light flashed to red. I was staring at the pod in the middle of the room. It was clear and made of reinforced glass. KF pressed a button on the console in front of him and the lights flickered on. The guys stared in awe at the boy in the pod.

He was standing in the middle of the pod. There were small clear capsules with tiny G-gnomes in them above him. The boy's eyes were closed and he was wearing a blinding white jumpsuit with a red Kryptonian seal. He had raven hair and strong features and I bet if his eyes were open, I would see bright cerulean orbs staring back at me. He looked like a carbon copy of Superman.

I spaced out as the guys talked. My hearing was still a little wacky, but I could hear almost everything now. I looked towards the boy in the pod. The G-gnomes' horns were glowing. My head snapped towards the guys when Kaldur said,

"Set him free, do it."

"Wait!" I was too late. Robin's quick fingers might have just cost us our lives. The guys looked at me in confusion. "You guys are idiots." The pod started to open. "The G-gnomes' horns were glowing and they probably weren't telling him to sit and have a nice chat with us. The boy's hands curled into fists. "Crap." I muttered. His eyes flew open and he launched himself at Aqualad. The...Superboy landed on top of Kaldur and started punching him. We rushed over to help.

Robin held his head and covered his eyes; KF held his right arm and I slid Kaldur out from underneath the boy.

"Whoa! Hang on, Supey." KF said as he struggled to maintain his hold on Superboy.

"We're on your side." Robin said. KF lost his hold on Superboy and the Kryptonian punched him into a glass display case. KidFlash crashed through and lay on the ground, unconscious. Robin took out a glowing hockey-puck sized circle.

"I don't want to do this." Robin said as he shoved the circle in Supey's face. It exploded into sickly green gas. Superboy started coughing and hacking. I let go of Aqualad and kicked the Kryptonian into the control panel. Robin shot Taser wires at him but it didn't do much. Superboy grabbed the lines and yanked Robin towards him. Robin climbed around to the clones back and wrapped his arms around the boy's neck in an attempt to choke him out. Superboy merely jumped into the ceiling a few times before the Boy Wonder was knocked unconscious.

I jumped up and spin kicked Superboy into the wall. He jumped at me, but instead of attacking me, he flew over me, punched the ceiling and brought large chunks of the ceiling raining down upon me. I wasn't fast enough to throw them off of me, because Superboy had already taken out Kaldur. I took inventory of my unconscious teammates and started mentally freaking out.

I looked around for the Kryptonian. He catapulted into me, grabbed my arm and chucked me into the ceiling. He met me halfway down, seized me by my neck and drove me into the floor. I felt all the air get expelled from my lungs as Superboy landed, feet first, into my abdomen. He slammed his foot down on my chest so I couldn't breathe. He applied more pressure as the edge of my vision started to fade. I started gasping for air as he pushed down harder. I felt my sternum start to give way under the unrelenting, crushing power. I slipped into unconsciousness as my world faded to black.

(A/N) :)