a/n: I wrote this a long time ago as part of a crossover thread on the anon meme. It's set up better as the first chapter of its own story instead of a one-shot, but I don't really ever intend to finish it. I'm uploading it now for archiving purposes.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked accusingly, not lowering her outstretched sword one inch. "How did you find us?"

Conner held up his hands uncomfortably, trying to convey that he didn't mean any harm. "I got a lucky tip," he said, making a mental note to thank Robin later for the intel. "But listen, Drew, I'm not here to fight. I just want to talk."

"We have nothing to say to you, Superboy," came a voice from the right. Conner turned to see Doc Saturday standing in the shadow of the camouflaged airship, one of his gloved hands glowing menacingly as it curled into a fist. "You tell the Justice League to stay away from our son."

"This isn't about the League!" Conner snapped, stepping forward impatiently. The two scientists tensed, gripping their weapons tighter, and Conner forced himself to take a deep breath, backing down.

"Listen. It's about my pet, Wolf," he began again, trying his best to be patient. "There's some...uh, weird stuff, going on with him and a group of other jungle animals who were injected with a modified form of Kobra Venom in Northern India last year. My teammates and I calmed them down the first time, but now they're going berserk again and we don't know why. There's freak animal attacks going on all over the world. I'm guessing you've seen the news."

"We don't deal in genetically modified animals, Superboy," Drew said warily, lowering her sword a fraction of an inch. "I'm sorry if there's something wrong with Wolf, but that's not our area of expertise. Cryptids only. We work with magical animals, not lab experiments." She scowled. "And we haven't exactly been able to do our jobs properly as of late, what with every organization under the sun out hunting us down to try and get to—"

"Drew," Doc said suddenly. "Those attacks this week. The footage we saw included plenty of known cryptids rampaging along with the other animals. Do you think that whoever's orchestrating this could possibly—?"

"Whoa! Superboy!"

All three of them turned to look toward the new voice, momentarily dropping their guard. A small, familiar figure was dashing down the ramp from the airship, a bright grin spreading on his face as he caught sight of Conner.

"Zak," Conner said, surprised. He hadn't expected the kid to be up so late, but—well, he probably should have figured, knowing him.

Before Zak could get much farther than a few feet away from the airship, Doc held out a hand to block his son's path.

"Zak, get back inside," the man warned.

Zak blinked, looking taken aback. "But it's only—"

"Honey, it's not safe," Drew warned, glancing uneasily at Conner. "I know we've worked with Superboy and his Team before, but we can't trust any of our old allies right now. Things are different now that that the world knows, about—"

Zak looked at the ground. "About Kur."

Conner fidgeted, uncomfortable. He knew all too well what it felt like to be treated as a threat—a weapon—instead of a person. "Listen, Zak, the League's not interested in putting you on ice," he said. "That was Cadmus who tried to cryogenically freeze you, after the incident on Antarctica. Nobody in the Justice League would ever do something like that to a kid. Batman's even offered to have the three of you placed under League protection, in case..." He trailed off.

"In case someone tries to use me to start a war again," Zak said lowly, nodding. "But if you're not here to kidnap me—which, you know, thanks—then how come you came all this way to find us? I mean, don't get me wrong, me 'n Fisk are happy to see you, but I doubt you showed up here just to say hi."

Superboy's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "It's called Kobra Venom," he said angrily, remembering the mindless rage in Wolf's eyes, the howling and snarling when they'd been forced to cage him for the Team's safety. "An enhancing formula that the Brain injected into a group of big animals last September in a reservation in India to make them stronger. It turns out there was a latent magical component mixed into the venom, but we didn't know anything about it until about a week ago. The animals are going berserk."

"A magical component?" Drew asked, eyes wide. She'd lowered her sword fully to the ground, all animosity forgotten. "In a venom formula? Why would a scientist—"

"They're engineering cryptids," Zak said suddenly, eyes hardening in rage.

Conner nodded, knowing he'd finally secured their help, and wishing that circumstances could allow him to be happy about it.