34 A Better Tomorrow - 2

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Over the course of the next few weeks, The research being undertaken in Lab 25 absorbed the totality of both men's attention, to the point it was not uncommon for whatever few meals they could squeeze in between experimenting to be taken within the lab itself or in Stein's office, while the two poured over the latest round of results and calculations produced by the Tachyon Well.

It was admirable just what could be accomplished through such a sheer and complete dedication to science, but the reasons behind their research could not be more different. Dr. Stein's long and storied career had been defined by venturing on the edge of the unknown and what the rest of the scientific community could not understand. The Tachyon was just the next great frontier for him.

But for Cadmus, this research was as close to personal as it could be. It was the study of just what his powers did and just how far he could push them if he wanted. And for every experiment they completed, successful or failed, Cadmus learned. He had no idea before that with a sufficient Tachyon gradient, he could increase heat in an area exponentially, or in the same vein, by slowing down a reaction, he could manage the transfer of energy to sustain it long past what was thought possible.

The potential of what could be accomplished was quite literally infinite.

The few curated hints that they let slip to Hudson University's board of regents were enough to secure another round of funding in addition to giving Cadmus a permanent excusal from the many superfluous electives that would normally be required for his degree.

However, that did not excuse him from the bane of any research student's life.

"I want you to be my teaching assistant for Introduction to Physics, next semester."

"What?"

"Newton, an apple falling from the tree. Gravity, I could give you a refresher if you'd like."

"I know who Newton is Stein, I'm asking why. I came here to do research."

"What's the point of doing research if you can't bring this knowledge to others?"

Stein wilted just a bit under Cadmus's gaze. "Okay, truthfully, my previous assistants are all graduating, and I need a T.A. to help manage my class. It will be a great learning experience for you as well...if you choose to remain in academia."

"Is there any other option?"

"Well, you could always sell your morals to the highest bidder and prostitute your mind to some billionaire who will use all that genius to figure out how to blow himself up to space. I hear they compensate you quite well at least."

"Tempting, but I don't like the idea of working for anyone else. So, I guess teaching it is if I have to choose."

Stein clapped his hands together happily. "Excellent! Here you must try this cake my wife Clarissa made."

From beneath his desk, he retrieved a half-sheet of cake with the words, "Congrats on becoming my T.A.!" written in bright blue frosting.

"Were you just not going to offer me any cake if I said no?" Cadmus asked, unable to hide just a bit of offense from seeping through.

Dr. Stein shrugged sheepishly and offered a slice to Cadmus. "I had a few alternatives I planned to interview tomorrow if you decided not to."

There were a few prerequisites it turns out to become a teaching assistant.

"What do you mean I have to wear a shirt? I am wearing a shirt! And what's this bullshit about slacks?" Cadmus swiveled in his chair to look at Stein.

"We are at a world-renowned university, Cadmus," Stein explained once more with clear exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There is a decorum to maintain, no one is going to take you seriously as a teacher if you walk in wearing beach shorts, flip flops, and that...thing you call a beard."

Stein in contrast was dressed in his traditional tweed suit, simple black bespectales and completely clean shaven, so completely opposite of his assistant.

Cadmus self-consciously stroked his beard, sure he hadn't trimmed it in a few weeks, but it kind of reminded him of those old Greek philosophers. "Watch it, Stein, what's wrong with my beard?"

"It makes you look like a homeless man who accidentally stumbled into the classroom. Which coincidentally, is what I thought you were when we first met."

"And you still gave me a chance, how altruistic of you."

"Just," he waved his hand up and down in Cadmus's general. "Clean yourself up. The first class of the semester starts next Monday."

Cadmus grunted half in assent and then turned back his attention to the mess of metal and wiring he had been working on that composed his latest project.

Stein peeked over his shoulder.

"How is the prototype coming along?" He asked curiously.

"Still have to figure out the specifics on how to modify the Tachyon Gradient to change the rate of transmission, but we're getting there."

"This could revolutionize the world, how we live...change the future of humanity," Stein said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "This little machine could save the world from our insatiable need to harvest its resources, and put us back on track."

"No pressure," Cadmus muttered, peering into the liquid-nitrogen-treated scanning probe microscope, and fiddling with the substrate of the reaction, a small piece of rubidium, while on the other end of the glass slide, was a simple drop of water. When combined, they could produce the energy equivalent of a hand grenade, but if their prototype worked as intended, the energy of the exothermic reaction could instead be converted to power a lightbulb for years on end.

Of course, Cadmus had thought about the applications of this invention at least on the surface, being able to decide how quickly or slow a reaction could take to complete would make so many possible sources of alternative energy only thought to be theoretically possible actually practical, hell even more efficient than current implementations, to use.

But, in truth, he had only begun creating this invention as a test to see what just what could be possible with his powers. Was it possible to dissipate the kinetic energy of a bullet's impact, like a Kevlar vest simply by manipulating the tachyon field? Even more dangerously, could dilating the Tachyons of a small ocean wave a thousand times over, produce a tsunami that could swallow up a coastline? Just how destructive could his powers really be?

Stein remained unaware of Cadmus's thoughts, entrapped by his own imagination of the infinite applications of their invention, and the recognition from the world at large they would receive for their invaluable contribution.

Cadmus and Stein were in the faculty lounge, which technically he was not allowed to be in,, when the small television hooked up the mall suddenly came alive, switching from a report on seasonal weather change, to a breaking news alert from the United Nations Secretariat.

Emergency Meeting called on Sovereignity of Themiscyra, the headline read in bold.

A news reporter with unexpectedly bright purple eyes appeared on the screen on the front steps of the UN Building.

"This is Lois Lane, and I am live in New York City where the General Secretary has called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the developing situation on the Island of Themiscyra. Since the island's unexpected appearance in the Black Sea one month ago, it has immediately become a flashpoint on the international stage. And the controversy has only grown since then as the island has inexplicably shifted locations from the coast of Crimea to the south of the Dardanelles, and even reports of it being visible off Thessaloniki.

Representatives from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and Greece have all lodged complaints on grounds of the violation of their borders, as well as breaching of the Montreaux Convention, that all the nations are party of. We have reports that the UN representative of the island nation has unequivocally denied all accusations against her country, and has reiterated in the strongest possible terms that Themiscyra will defend its borders and rights from any aggressor nation. The Justice League nor the United States Representative were available for comment."

Cadmus couldn't help but smile into his coffee.

Stein tutted disappointedly. "The world's going to shit by the day. If there wasn't enough to worry about, now we have just another reason for nations to rattle sabers for votes in their next election or whatever banal motives they have."

"I never took you for a pessimist, Dr. Stein."

"I'm a scientist, I base everything off empirical fact and what can be tested, and I have enough data points from my life on human behavior to know no good's going to come from this."

Maybe not for everyone, Cadmus thought. But definitely for me.

Cadmus tugged on the collar of his shirt, and smoothed down the his slacks, checking his pockets and making sure he had everything he needed. Students bustled by him in the rush for their next class, like a surging sea of bodies that passed over him as easily as water over a rock.

"First day?" Cadmus turned to his head to see a woman standing beside him, looking up at him through a pair of small black sunglasses and a small smirk playing on her lips.

"Yeah," he replied distractedly. "Physics 101."

"You're Stein's new protege, Cadmus, right? The guy doesn't get excited about much but he's been real chippy since you showed up." She offered her hand in greeting. "Elizabeth, but my friends call me Betty. Metaphysics."

"...I didn't know we taught Metaphysics here."

"It's a new department, but we get more students every semester applying to join. You have an interesting aura, you know that?"

"Thank you?"

She smiled knowingly. "Pop by the building whenever you want, you might find our research interesting."

And without a word, she disappeared into the crowd of students leaving Cadmus completely befuddled as her long black mane of hair fell out of sight.

Only after entering his classroom did he realize he didn't sense her approach.

The classroom was packed to the brim, every seat filled and with students spilling onto the stairs on either side, holding their notebooks and laptops on their knees, or using textbooks as makeshift desks. Most were on their phones and talking to one another, and did not notice his entrance or maybe confused him for a student as well.

Cadmus set down his bookbag and took stock of the classroom, and caught sight of a slightly familiar redhead he had known once in Gotham sitting front and center of the class. Cadmus would have preferred to have no faces he knew in the crowd, but clearly, that was too much to ask for.

At least there was no recognition in Barbara Gordon's eyes when she looked at him. When no other old faces presented themselves, Cadmus cleared his throat loudly.

Silence slowly spread through the classroom. Only once there was no noise did he continue. "Welcome to Physics 101 Lab," Cadmus began. "My name is Cadmus Othrys and I'll be your instructor for this session."

He reached into his bag and retrieved a simple red apple, and tossed it high into the air before catching it in his hand with a loud clap of force that resonated through the classroom. "Today we'll be applying Newton's Laws."

Then, he tossed it at the head of a sleeping student five rows up, where it made an impact with a dull thunk.

Life continued to progress normally, without any hide nor tail of anything even approaching trouble in sight. It was a surprising change in the rhythm of his life that was refreshing. He went to the lab, did research with Stein, did the bare minimum for the other classes he had to take, and then he would teach in the lab once a week. It was nice, but a little boring if he was to be honest with himself.

And as though Fate itself could not stand such an abnormality, the monotony came to a sudden, abrupt, and violent end.

Cadmus and Dr. Stein had just collected the latest round of results from the CRS as they had begun to refer to it, which successfully demonstrated the transference of heat generated from the reaction of water with cesium to power the entire air conditioning system of the building for the past week, without minimal fluctuations in energy transfer.

It was a stunning success by all accounts and one that shored up Stein's faith in preparing to publish their findings for the world to see. There would be a million doubters for every person who believed it, he had warned Cadmus, but when they demonstrated what their invention was truly capable of, the entire world would be clambering to get their hands on it. To that end, Stein had invited one of his old trusted students from his time in Central City to review the data.

Jefferson Jackson, who vehemently refused to be called anything besides "Jax", turned away from the pages of calculations he had been pouring over.

"It all looks correct, Gray," he shook his head in disbelief. "I just can't believe you guys were able to pull this off."

Stein puffed his glasses and wiped them against his coat, chuckling softly. "Neither can I Jefferson, but none of this would have been possible without Cadmus here, he was the one who introduced the dimension of energy transference which quite bluntly blew the top off of our research."

"All I know is that this shit's amazing, congrats to both of you, seriously." Jax shook his head again. "You're gonna have to fight off governments, billionaires, god, who knows who else, trying to buy this from you with a really big stick once they find out about it, you know that right?"

A sudden bitter chill overtook the room, and the reinforced metal doors groaned and creaked, and from their hinges frost, raced over their surface until they were completely subsumed in ice. They shattered into a million fragments with a shrieking crash and from the now open doorway, a solitary figure entered.

The only thing she wore was a dark blue leotard that left little to the imagination, accentuating her pale white skin and voluptuous form. A brisk wind followed her, ruffling her ice blue locks, and her dark blue lips were curled into a Cheshire smile that promised only violence.

"Aw," the stranger pouted. "Did you forget about me?"

Both Stein and Jax paled in unison.

"I'm not cleaning that up," Cadmus muttered and zipped up his hoodie to his chin. "So, do you guys know each other or something?"

Stein nodded stiffly. "She's a, uh, former student of mine, incredibly bright, just misguided. She doesn't mean us harm. Kaitlin-"

"Call me that again, Stein, and I'll freeze your balls off and hang them as windchimes from my porch."

All three men instinctively covered their family jewels at the threat. Stein raised his hands and swallowed thickly. "Okay then, Killer Frost. There's no need to harm any innocents."

The villainess's gaze fell upon Cadmus and her eyes narrowed. "He's kind of cute, you wouldn't mind if I made him an ice sculpture and took him to go, would you?"

"Why didn't she ask to make me a statue?" Jax muttered.

"I'd rather not have to see your face every day when I woke up." She replied.

Cadmus looked between the three in confusion. It sounded like they were just bickering, rather than an evil supervillainess threatening a couple of defenseless civilians.

Cadmus inched away slowly. "So, I'm just gonna head out-" And just "barely" ducked a blast of freezing cold rays that turned the chair beside him into an ice cube.

Suddenly a concussive blast of light and heat consumed the research building. Cadmus blinked reflexively until the floaters faded from his vision and when he looked around the room, saw no sign of either Killer Frost, Dr. Stein, or Jax, outside of a burning streak on the floor that led outside.

Cadmus blinked and looked between the scorched doorway and his work still at his desk, vividly reminded of the time a litany of sidekicks interrupted his studying by throwing themselves through a wall and into his work. With a sigh, he returned to working on the prototype and prayed to his father for no more disturbances. In the distance, a cacophany of explosions and screaming could be heard, and the ground rumbled beneath his feet.

His eye twitching rapidly, Cadmus pulled out a pair of headphones and resolutely ignored the crisis outside.

It was fourty-eight minutes later when his phone rang with a call from Dr. Stein. "Cadmus, where are you?" he asked, worry clear in his voice.

"Working, what's up?"

"Working?" he asked incredulously. "There was a supervillainess in our lab, are you okay?"

"Yep," Cadmus nodded distractedly, busy carefully adding a tweezer's worth of Francium to the slide within the CRS's crucible. If there was even a hint of water vapor around it, the whole lab could quite likely explode. "How did you get out?"

"I...uh, we were pulled out! Me and Jax, Firestorm heroically pulled us out." he finished lamely.

"Uh huh, who's Firestorm?"

There was a pregnant silence on the other end. "The hero, Firestorm." Stein's reply came out strangely strained. "Flies, covered in fire...hero."

"Oh, yeah, him." Cadmus had no idea who that was. "So, will you be in the office tomorrow?"

He could feel Stein grabbing his hair in frustration. "Yes, Cadmus, I will be in the office tomorrow." He said before cutting the line.

Cadmus couldn't help the smile on his face, Stein was a terrible liar, but he'd let the professor tell him on his own time, they all had their secrets after all.

As night fell, Cadmus wrapped up the last pages of the journal article they had prepared as well as their data, tomorrow they would be sending it for viewing, and then publication. But, there was just one thing left to do tonight.

He closed his eyes and disappeared from his seat in a wave of golden sand.

It was easy enough to find Killer Frost's hideout by following the disruptions in Tachyon flow throughout the city. Putting his hypothesis of energy causing fluctuations to use, Cadmus had created a rudimentary Tachyon tracker with just his own senses. Not perfect by any means, but more than up to the challenge of finding a woman whose internal temperature almost tended to absolute zero.

She was studying a map of Hudston University when he appeared behind her, wrapped an arm around her dainty neck, and pulled her close until her back was pressed into his chest. His other fell to grip her hip, digging harshly heedless of the burning cold creeping up his fingers.

The supervillainess froze in her tracks, only able to react with a gasp of surprise, her entire body paralyzed, like prey within the grasp of a python.

"The next time you bother me, this ass is mine." He whispered into her ear, his hand on her hip falling to just graze the flesh of a full cheek.

Killer Frost startled back but when she turned to eviscerate the suicidal idiot who just copped a feel of her, she caught sight of only a pair of golden orbs before they disappeared, leaving the supervillainess completely alone and thoroughly confused.