He held a hand to his chest. "I lucked out because of this." The 'S.' "Because of you. Because I needed to be able to at least think a little to be like you, to be what they wanted, so I lucked into a mind of my own when I could've been just as much a blank slate as that girl. Because even the government knew if they tried to tangle with me, they'd be pissing off Superman and everyone wearing the S--and Young Justice, and then later the Titans, and whoever else got brought to the butt-kicking party, which would've been a lot of people."
This was something he had never told Kal before, and it was something he'd never seen the need to tell Kal before. But maybe he needed to hear it.
"But even with all that, safe in your shadow, do you honestly think I've never been called 'genescrape' before? That I've never been told I belonged to someone else? One time I had Amanda Waller in my face threatening to have me stuffed in a warehouse with the rest of the government's damaged 'property' if I showed I was 'defective.' I almost got dissected and it was condoned by the government--I had my dead girlfriend's DNA used to make clones to fight me, and that was okay, too. And what they did--what they freakin' did to Guardian, General Good cloning disposable Guardians to fight wars..."
Just like he'd said, they'd all wanted to die. During a very somber talk he'd had with Guardian after that whole debacle, he'd found that out--he'd wanted to know that he hadn't murdered them all. Sometimes he still worried that Guardian was lying about them dying at peace with the decision, but then he remembered that each of the clones had Guardian's memories, his experiences, and he knew every one of them would've made that choice.
"Clones are disposable people, that's what it comes down to. They're treated like--like things. Like belongings. Property. Mei-Xing keeps saying that's her property."
His eyes flashed angrily.
"And I'm guessing if this is even an issue, some of the Council people are agreeing with her."
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This was something he had never told Kal before, and it was something he'd never seen the need to tell Kal before. But maybe he needed to hear it.
"But even with all that, safe in your shadow, do you honestly think I've never been called 'genescrape' before? That I've never been told I belonged to someone else? One time I had Amanda Waller in my face threatening to have me stuffed in a warehouse with the rest of the government's damaged 'property' if I showed I was 'defective.' I almost got dissected and it was condoned by the government--I had my dead girlfriend's DNA used to make clones to fight me, and that was okay, too. And what they did--what they freakin' did to Guardian, General Good cloning disposable Guardians to fight wars..."
Just like he'd said, they'd all wanted to die. During a very somber talk he'd had with Guardian after that whole debacle, he'd found that out--he'd wanted to know that he hadn't murdered them all. Sometimes he still worried that Guardian was lying about them dying at peace with the decision, but then he remembered that each of the clones had Guardian's memories, his experiences, and he knew every one of them would've made that choice.
"Clones are disposable people, that's what it comes down to. They're treated like--like things. Like belongings. Property. Mei-Xing keeps saying that's her property."
His eyes flashed angrily.
"And I'm guessing if this is even an issue, some of the Council people are agreeing with her."