Gotham. July 4. 12:00 EDT. Clear blue sky, birds chirping and families enjoying the summertime on picnics in the park. The only thing wrong was the attacking super-villain. (Ok, so maybe that is a kind of big problem.) Mr. Freeze strode through the sunny park freezing anything that as he was about to blast some freezing some fleeing civilians a batarang struck his freeze cannon, throwing it off target. "Batman. I was wondering when," he said turning around only to see nothing. A mocking laugh filled the area and freeze turned around looking for the source. Suddenly black boots slammed into the top of his glass helmet sending him sprawling. Robin, the boy wonder turned as soon as he landed sending two birdrangs into the helmet, cracking it. "Ah. The boy wonder. The bat sent you to drag me off to prison. Frankly I'm underwhelmed." The villain said standing up.
"Great, but I'm kinda in a hurry here." Robin said impatiently.
"Kids." Freeze sighed. "Always in such a rush."
"Not talking to you." Robin said in a slightly sing-song voice. From the ledge that Mr. Freeze had previously been standing on came Batman who's black covered fist knocked the villain out cold.
Star City. July 4. 9:01 PDT. It was just another regular day until Icicle Jr. decided he wanted to have a little fun. So he created a ramp in the middle of a suspension bridge, sending cars flying. He started laughing maniacally until five arrows sprouted from his ramp and another one from his shoulder that was larger thanks to him covering them in an extra layer of ice. A blinking red light on the arrow sticking out of his shoulder was the only warning he had before the arrows all exploded in quick succession. Holding his head for a moment he looked up and saw two figures, one dressed in green, the other in red each holding bows and notching more arrows at him. "Finally!" he grinned, once again reinforcing his arms with ice. "I was wondering what a guy had to do to get a little attention around here!" Then he launched a barrage of large ice spikes at the two heroic archers.
"Junior's doing this for attention!" Speedy said in disbelief as he and Green Arrow launched exploding arrows at the incoming projectiles. When more flew through the smoke the two ran and leapt onto one of the suspension cables. "I'm telling you now. This little distraction better not interfere." Speedy told Green Arrow. Icicle Jr. pulled his arms up to cover his face, creating a shield of ice in front of him. Two more exploding arrows impacted on the shield blowing a small hole in front of the ice controlling teen. Growling he threw out some more ice spikes at Speedy, only to have him vault over the spikes and fire a high impact arrow threw the hole and into Icicle Jr.'s face, knocking him unconscious.
Green Arrow chuckled at the sight of the unconscious teen. "Kid had a glass jaw." he laughed.
"Hilarious. Can we go? Today is the day!" Speedy said impatiently.
Pearl Harbor. July 4. 6:02 HTS. Aquaman dodged several cryo blasts aimed at him by the villainess Killer Frost. Instead they impacted on other parts of the ship. Finally getting hit with one of the blasts and encased in ice a younger brown skinned atlantean leapt over his head and charged the villainess. "Don't tell me you're not excited." Aquaman said as he broke out of his casing quickly and following his protege.
"Right now my king, I'm more focused on the matter at hand." Aqualad said avoiding several more freezing energy beams. Leaping over a blast aimed at his feet Aqualad drew two hilts from his back and using atlantean magic fashioned the water around him into two maces, attached to the hilts. Holding them in front of him as he landed Aqualad was able to protect himself from another cryo blast, bust his weapons were frozen solid into a block of ice. The younger atlantean swiftly brought the large chunk of ice up, slamming it into Killer Frost's chin, sending her flying back and into unconsciousness.
Aquaman walked up behind his apprentice with a grin on his face as Aqualad put the hilts back into their holders on his back. "Well?" he asked crossing his arms.
"Yes I'm excited." Aqualad answered honestly. "Today's the day."
Central City. July 4. 11:03 CDT.
Two blurs raced in a circle around a man dressed in blue and white outside a jewelry store with an ice covered hole in the wall. Frustrated the man fired shot after shot out of his freeze gun only to miss every time. "Stealing ice, seriously? Isn't that a big cliche even for Captain Cold?" Flash asked rhetorically.
"Come on! We don't have time for this!" Kid Flash groaned dodging a few more shots. Pulling down his goggles he raced at the criminal. He dodged out of the way of a shot that grazed his shoulder, plucking the gun out of Captain Cold's hand as he sped past. The criminal growled at the teen but the Flash's fist knocked him out before he could do anything.
"Calm down kid." The Flash chided, looking smugly down on the body of his fallen enemy.
"Oh please! You'll chat it up with cops, bystanders, with Cold even!" Kid Flash said waving his arms around empathetically. "No, no way! Today is the day!" he said with a huge grin on his face.
Metropolis. July 4. 10:25 EDT.
"Just stay down Boreus!" A man dressed like an old time magician said as he blasted a white skinned man with blots of light. The man screamed, sending a wide ranging blizzard at the man. The blast went on for so long that it seemed to slam into the sky summoning massive dark gray clouds that then began to snow.
This earned the intervention of a lightly armored boy with shocking blue eyes and spiky white hair. "I know you want to try and stop this guy peacefully Zatara but I don't think he's going to stop." the boy said floating into the air. The magically summoned clouds seemed to grow darker as they boy's eyes turned white and an outline of white light surrounded his body. Lifting up an hand he condensed the light surrounding his body into the palm of his hand. "This ends now Boreus!" the teen said commandingly. The white skinned man looked around nervously as the winds picked up. A blot of solid white lightning arced down from the sky and ricocheted of the boy's glowing palm and slammed into the man's chest.
Zatara looked on impressed with his apprentice's skill and power. The energy crackled along Remus's body for a few seconds, then he crumpled to the ground. "You've been working on that one Arcane." the magician said with a raise eyebrow.
Arcane shrugged, looking up at the dissipating clouds. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without his help though so it still needs plenty of work." he said cooly. "But," he said grinning,"Today is the day."
Washington D.C. July 4. 14:00 EDT.
Four pairs of super-heroes and their proteges were lined up in front of the Hall of Justice in D.C. "Today is the day." Batman said smiling slightly, putting a hand on Robin's shoulder.
:Welcome to the Hall of Justice." Green Arrow said.
"Headquarters of the Justice League." Aquaman intoned.
"And step one for you and your friends." Zatara told them.
Before they could say anything else Flash and Kid Flash zoomed up behind them. "Oh man, I knew we'd be the last ones here." he said crossing his arms.
The press went nuts as the League members walked the younger heroes toward the hall. "Is that Batman?" one asked. "Oh look! I see Flash and Flash Jr.! " another reporter said excitedly.
"His name is Speedy, duh!" someone else scoffed.
"No, Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick." someone else corrected.
"Well that makes no sense." the other guy sulked.
Ignoring them the heroes continued their walk to the Hall of Justice. "Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green Arrow asked Speedy.
"Born that way." the red archer smiled.
"I'm glad we're all here." Aqualad said looking at the other teens.
"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time." Kid Flash asked only to be cut off by Speedy.
"DON'T call us sidekicks. Not after today." he said calming down.
"Sorry." Kid Flash apologized. "First time at the hall. I'm a little overwhelmed." he said.
"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin asked walking further ahead. "Oh, maybe that's why." he said looking up at the seven huge statues of the original Leaguers.
"It's the first day in the rest of our lives. I'm sure we'll have a chance to get used to it." Arcane said earning nods from the others. Doors labeled Authorized Personnel Only opened revealing Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter.
"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Arcane. Welcome." The green skinned telepath intoned, turning and walking back deeper into the hall. Robin and Kid Flash bumped fists as they followed the martian. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley and of course our library." he told them into a large room with comfortable furniture, large screens on the walls and of course hundreds of books lining the walls.
"Make yourselves at home." Flash told them and Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad all sat down in the chairs. Arcane on the other hand walked over to one of the walls and started scanning for titles he didn't know. Speedy remained where he stood watching their mentors talking.
"A quick debrief to discuss five ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long." Batman told them. Turning around he allowed a scanner that popped out of the ceiling to scan him.
"Recognized: Batman 02. Aquaman 06. Flash 04. Green Arrow 08. Martian Manhunter 07. Red Tornado 16." a computerized voice said as it scanned each of the Leaguers. When it finished as door labeled ,Justice League Members Only, opened.
"That's it?!" Speedy asked angrily causing the Leaguers to turn to look at him. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!" he told them, anger still clear in his voice.
"It's a first step." Aquaman said calmly. "You have been granted access few others get."
"Oh really?!" Speedy said gesturing up to a window where photographers were still taking pictures of them. "Who care which side of the glass we're on!"
"Roy, you just need to be patient." Green Arrow said stepping forward.
"What I need," Speedy said stressing the word. "is respect. They're treating us like kids! Worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this." he said turning to the other teens. Arcane stopped looking at books and the other three looked at him with blank looks on their faces. "You're kidding right?" he asked disbelievingly. "You're playing their game! Why? Today was supposed to be the day! Step one in becoming full fledged members of the league!"
"Um, sure." Kid Flash said leaning forward. "But I thought step one was just a tour of the HQ." he said confused.
"Except the hall isn't the leagues real HQ! I bet they never told you it's just a false front for the tourists! And a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing. An orbiting satellite called the watchtower!"
Flash and Batman glared at the green clad archer. "I know, I know but I thought maybe we could make an exception?" he said hopefully. Batman just narrowed his eyes. "Or not."
"You aren't helping your cause here son. Stand down or" Aquaman said, stepping forward.
"Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son!" he said glaring at Aquaman. "I'm not even his." he said turning his attention to Arrow. "I thought I was his partner. But not anymore." he said taking off his yellow hat and throwing it on the ground. The other four stared in shock. "I guess they're right about you four." he said walking out. "You're not ready."
As soon as he left one of the comm screens activated showing the man of steel. "Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus, it's on fire." he informed the mentors.
"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may prove the perfect opportunity to"
"Reporting in to the big black Batman is the Demon Etrigan. The Sorcerer Wontan is doing all he can, using the amulet of Aten to bring the sun it's end." the yellow skinned demon rhymed over a smaller section of the comm screen.
"Superman?" Batman asked.
"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control." the man of steel replied.
"Understood. Then Cadmus can wait." Batman said pressing a button on the control panel. "All leaguers randevu at Etrigan's location. Batman out." he and the other heroes turned to face the teens. "Stay put."
"What? Why?" Robin protested.
"You're not trained," Flash started to say.
"Since when!" Kid Flash shouted.
"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team." the speedster explained gesturing to himself, Batman and Aquaman.
"There will be other missions. When you're ready." Aquaman said.
"But for now stay put." Batman ordered as the mentors walked over to the teleporters.
"Glad you didn't bring you know who?" Green Arrow asked Martian Manhunter.
"Indeed." the telepath replied.
"When we're ready? How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like sidekicks!" Kid Flash raged.
"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me." Aqualad lamented.
"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics!" Kid Flash shouted. "They've got a secret HQ in space!"
"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad asked softly.
"I've got a better question." Robin scoffed bitterly. "Why didn't we leave with Speedy."
Arcane sighed, drawing attention to himself for the first time since Speedy's outburst. "You guys need to calm down and think. Why would the League leave their headquarters where everyone knows its location?" His words seemed to get the other teen's attention. "It makes sense for them to have secrets. I'll grant you they should trust us more but that doesn't override common sense." the white haired caster was pacing in front of the others now. "And you want a really good question?" he said with a smirk. "Why does Batman want to investigate a place we've never even heard of?" The teens froze.
"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked Robin, who as Batmans protege would be the most likely to have access to restricted information.
"Don't know." the boy wonder said slowly. "But I can find out." he grinned. Walking over to the central computer he began typing away at the keys.
"Access denied." the computerized voice intoned.
"Heh, wanna bet?" hitting a few more keys Robin soon began breaking through the firewalls at astounding speed.
It was Kid Flash who voiced the overall amazement of the other three. "Woah. How, are you doing that."
"Same system as the batcave." Robin crowed victoriously. Soon the Access Denied sign on the screen became an Access Granted notification before disappearing and leaving Robin to his work. It wasn't long before he had found the file they were looking for. "Project Cadmus. It's a genetics lab here in D.C." he read off. "That's all there is."
"A lack of information on a genetics lab is unusual for the league. And if Batman's suspicious we should check it out." Arcane suggested.
"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice." Aqualad agreed, smiling at the spellcaster.
"Hey, they're all about justice." Robin grinned.
"But they said stay put." Aqualad sighed.
"For whatever it is Wotan is up to this time, they never mentioned Cadmus." Arcane pointed out.
"W-wait. Are you going to Cadmus?" Kid Flash asked Arcane. "Because if you're going I'm going."
The two turned to Aqualad and Robin awaiting their answers. "Just like that? We're a team on a mission?" Aqualad asked.
"We didn't come for a playdate." Robin confirmed. Aqualad grinned.
Over at Project Cadmus the local authorities were having trouble getting everyone out of the building. "Help! Get us down!" a pair of scientists shouted from a second story window.
"Stay put! We will get you out." the fire chief promised. But as soon as the words left his mouth the room the scientists were in exploded sending them toppling out the window.
As they were falling a red and yellow blur sped across the ground and up the wall catching the scientists and tossing them on the ceiling. Unfortunately for Kid Flash, tossing the scientists had cost him his momentum causing him to fall. He would have had a rather nasty landing too it he hadn't managed to catch the window ledge the scientists had fallen from.
"Look, it's what's his name, Flashboy!' the fire chief shouted excitedly.
"Kid Flash! Why is that so hard?"
"Soo smooth!" Robin said sarcastically as the three non speedsters arrived.
"Did he really have to run ahead?" Arcane asked frustratedly. "We need a plan. We need...Robin?" he asked as soon as he realized the boy wonder was no longer with him. A tap on the shoulder from Aqualad and some creepy laughter told Arcane exactly where to look to find the teen ninja. He ran across the firetruck, latched a grapple line to the extended ladder and landed neatly in the same window as Kid Flash, and helped him up.
"I need to borrow that!" Aqualad ordered, running up to the two firemen holding the hose. Taking out his water bearers and activating them causing both the lines on the objects and the lines on his skin to glow blue he took control of the water. Creating a funnel he used the water to lift himself into the air to catch the scientists that Arcane was lowering from the roof where Kid Flash had left them. Hopping off when the top of the funnel reached the window he lowered the men to safety making the water form a dome over the men for an instant to make sure they were not on fire. He waited a few seconds for Arcane's glowing white form to float down from the roof and into the window before moving to join the others.
"Thanks for all the help." Arcane said sarcastically when they entered the same room as Kid Flash and Robin.
"You guys handled it!" Robin defended. "Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" he said from where he was hunched over a computer, easily hacking its files. Arcane nodded for Aqualad to help Kid Flash while he checked out the hallways. The atlantean nodded and began helping Kid Flash go through some undamaged papers they found in a desk.
Walking into the hallway, the ping of an elevator caught his attention. Turning he saw a humanoid figure with large horns inside the elevator as the doors closed. "There was something in there." he said as Kid Flash, Robin and Aqualad rushed into the hallway behind him.
"Elevators should be locked down." Kid Flash said confused.
"This is wrong." Robin told them after running up to the elevator and pulling up a scan. "Thought so. This is a high speed express elevator, it doesn't belong on a two story building."
"Neither did what I saw on it." Arcane agreed. Walking over to the elevator Aqualad quickly pried the doors open.
"And that's why they need an express elevator." Robin said as they looked down at the extremely deep elevator shaft, going deep underground. Firing a grapple line at the ceiling he lowering himself down with Kid Flash and Aqualad jumping on the line behind him. Arcane simple glowed white and hovered down with them. They quickly passed Sublevels twenty-four, and twenty-five. "I'm at the end of my rope." Robin told the others. After jumping off the rope and landing on the rim of the elevator shaft it didn't take Robin long to hack into the security programs. "Bypassing security... there! Go!" he told the others as five green smiling Robin heads appeared on his hologram screen.
Aqualad pried open the doors for them to see a long metal hallway. "Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin announced.
Kid Flash taking the initiative sped along the hallway to scout out what was ahead.
Aqualad barely had time to utter "Kid, wait!" before the young speedster nearly got himself run over by massive gray beasts with massive tusks and razor sharp teeth. Luckily for him they didn't seem to notice him. There was a whole herd of the beasts walking in an orderly two line fashion. All of the young heroes watched them go past with wide eyes. There were smaller gnome like things crouched on the beasts heads. It looked at them and it's small stubby horns began glowing red.
"Well, that obviously wasn't out of the ordinary." Arcane said sarcastically.
"No, nothing going on here." Aqualad agreed.
In a lab elsewhere in Cadmus,a man with long brown hair, dressed in a lab coat was working on something using the genetic materials of some of the creatures that he had in test tubes. Carefully he placed a drop of a pink solution in a clear liquid that had a strange blue crystal inside it. The crystal quickly dissolved thanks to the new ingredient and the new mixture glowed a bright shade of blue. The pinging of an opening door brought an irritated expression to the mans face.
"Doctor Desmond." a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit and a yellow helmet, complete with one of the smaller gnome creatures on his shoulder walked in.
"Tell me Guardian, what part of no interruptions did you not understand?" Desmond asked snidely placing the glowing blue vial inside a container with others just like it.
"A gnome on Sublevel 26 reports four intruders." Guardian informed him.
"Huh, did I miss a perimeter breach alert?" Desmond sighed.
"No."
"Then the gnome is confused. Whatever might occur in our fall lab above ground the real Cadmus is the most secure facility in D.C." Desmond boasted. Neither of them noticed a tall horned shadow behind them.
"My job to keep it that way." Guardian replied.
"Fine, take a squad." Desmond sighed, clearly frustrated with Guardians insistence.
"Might I recommend Guardian leave his g-gnome behind?" a tall thin g-gnome dressed like a doctor suggested entering the room. "If violence were to occur..."
"The little guy would be in my way." Guardian agreed.
"No!" Desmond said sharley. "The benefits of instant telepathic communication outweighs other concerns." Reaching down he rubbed the chin of another small g-gnome that sat on his desk. Its horns began glowing red, and in response the gnome on Guardians shoulder did the same.
"I need my gnome with me at all times." he said in a robotic voice. Tuning he clasped a fist to his heart and bowed slightly to Desmond before turning and walking out of the room. When he was gone Desmond turned back to his microscope.
A glowing red light on a pair of large steel doors turned green, deactivating the lock. The door opened, allowing the four teen heroes access to the next room. "Ok, I'm officially whelmed." Robin told the others.
Clear glass containers full of a different kind of g-gnomes. These ones looked more like fireflies, except with electricity being channeled from their bodies into a tall tower that was collecting the energy. "This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world." Kid Flash explained.
"The real Cadmus must not even be on the grid. It's using the energy created by these creatures instead." Arcane nodded thoughtfully. "It certainly is an interesting alternative energy source. And the name makes sense."
"It must be what they're bred for!" Kid Flash said.
"Yes, the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth." Aqualad informed Robin and Kid Flash.
"And this Cadmus creates life too!" Robin said walking over to a computer and pulling a flash drive attached to his glove out of one of the stripes. A holoscreen appeared as soon as he entered the flash drive. "They call them... genomorphs." he told the others as the went through the files. "Woah! Look at the stats on these things!" Robin said showing images of some of the different types of genomorphs including the giant ones and the little gnome like ones. "Superstrength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!"
"They're making an army." Arcane said, his eyes narrowed. "G-gnomes, g-trolls, g-elves, g-dwarfs, g-sprites."
"But for who?" Kid Flash asked.
"Hold on, I've got something else." Robin said pulling up a new file. "Project Kr. Ah, files heavily encrypted, I can't"
"Don't move!" an angry voice from the door ordered. Guardian, with a gold shield on his arm and a squad of g-elves behind him had charged into the room. "Wait, Robin, Arcane, Kid Flash, Aqualad?" he asked confused at seeing the four teens.
"At least he got your name right." Robin grinned at Kid Flash.
"Guardian, what are you doing here?" Arcane asked stepping forward.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Last I checked you were learning how to control your powers from Zatara, not breaking into genetics labs." Guardian grinned. But Arcanes stony expression whipped that off his face. "I 'm chief of security, you're trespassing." he said in a more business like manner.
"Wait, you know this guy?" Kid Flash rounded on Arcane. "Yeah, he helped me out one time when Zatara was out of town. He's a hero." Arcane nodded.
"I do my best." Guardian replied modestly. "Now why don't we call the Justice League, figure this out."
"You think the league's going to approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid Flash asked disbelievingly.
"Weapons? What are you" but the horns of the genomorph on Guardians shoulder began to glow. "What have I, oh my head?" He groaned. Arcane narrowed his eyes. After spending so much time learning about magic it was almost impossible to not recognize the signs of mental manipulation, especially after what Robin had told them about the genomorphs being telepathic. Finally Guardian seemed to calm down. "Take them down hard!" he ordered the g-elf squad. "No mercy."
Robin leapt in front of the others as the person sized genomorphs attacked and threw a smoke pellet on the ground. While the Genomorphs were still confused he fired a line onto one of the ceiling supports and pulled himself up to it.
Kid Flash dodged swipes from one of the genomorphs. Jumping back he placed his feet on the wall and dove between two, rolled up a support and landed a flying kick to a third.
Aqualad wrestled with a genomorph briefly, before ripping it off of his back and kicking another away from him when he was rammed by Guardian, sending him rolling into a metal panel that bent beneath the force.
Guardian was prevented from attacking again when Arcane slammed a glowing white palm into his chest, sending him crashing into a wall. Reaching down Arcane placed a glowing white hand on his head. Guardian groaned but didn't get back up. Turning he Aqualad and Kid Flash raced out of the room and into another hallway with alarms blaring all around them. They paused for a moment when they saw Robin busily hacking an elevator control panel."Way to be a team player Rob!" Kid Flash hissed, racing up to him.
"Weren't you right behind me?" the boy wonder asked confused. The elevator door lights turned green and slid open when Robin finished his hack. They dove into the elevator and Aqualad and Arcane barely made it in.
"We're headed down?" Aqualad asked when he saw the yellow numbers increasing.
"Dude, out is up!" Kid Flash snapped at Robin.
"Excuse me? Project Kr, it's down, on sublevel fifty-two." Robin snapped back.
"This is out of control." Aqualad sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Perhaps, perhaps we should contact the league." he suggested.
"No, not when we're this close." Arcane said shaking his head as the doors pinged open at sublevel fifty-two. This sublevel was nothing like the other they had been in, instead of steel it was a red organic looking material.
"We are already here." Kid Flash shrugged as Robin raced out of the elevator. Aqualad sighed but followed the others out of the elevator.
"Which way?" he asked when they came to a fork in the hallway.
"Option one or two." Arcane said looking as far as he could down both hallways.
"Hold!" a new voice ordered. The human looking genomorph with large horns stood in one of the hallways. His horns started glowing red as the threw exploding canisters at the young heroes. Ronin threw a exploding disk at him but he stopped it telekinetically. The group hurried down the other hallway, canisters exploding behind them. "They are headed for Project Kr!" he told Guardian as he and his genomorph squad exited the elevator.
The doors to Project Kr opened as one of the doctors, a black woman with short hair and a clipboard came out looking satisfied. Unable to stop in time, Kid Flash ran straight into her. Looking at her in shock, surprised to see another human, when he looked back he realized that the closing doors read Project Kr.
Running as fast as he could Arcane waved his hand when he saw that the door was closing and surrounded it in a white silhouette that stopped its movement. "Go!" he ordered the others, struggling to hold the door and run at the same time. As soon as he made it through he dropped the spell allowing the doors to slam shut. When he turned around he saw that robin was already hacking into the closest control terminal.
"I disabled the door. We're safe." Robin told him.
"We're trapped." Aqualad said.
"Uh guys? You'll wanna see this." Kid Flash cut in. Hitting a button, he turned on the lights for the room. Inside a container with the letters Kr emblazoned on the front was a black haired teen in a white suit that had a red shield with an S inside it.
"Woah!" Robin said, voicing all of their thoughts.
Kid Flash was the first to recover and walk up to the container. Three of the little genomorphs sat in smaller containers above the boys head. "Big K little r! The atomic symbol for krypton!" realized. "Clone?"
"Robin, hack, now!" Arcane ordered.
"Right right." Robin said plugging in to the much larger controls in front of him. He had bypassed the programs security in no time. A small screen showing a close up of the boy showed up and Robin began reading off what he saw. "Weapon designation 'Superboy'. A clone force grown in... sixteen weeks! From DNA acquired from Superman."
"Stolen from Superman." Aqualad corrected.
"There's no way any of the league knows about this." Arcane nodded.
"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four/seven!" Robin read off.
"And what about those?" Kid Flash asked pointing to the genomorphs on the screen.
"Genomorph gnomes. Force feeding him an education." Robin told him.
"And I can guess what else. They're making a slave out of Superman's... son." Kid Flash told them.
"After watching what these things did to Guardian I don't find that hard to believe." Arcane agreed.
"Now we contact the league." Aqualad said touching his belt buckle. It glowed blue but a second later Robins screen started beeping.
"No signal." he told the others.
"We're in too deep. Literally." Kid Flash realized.
Outside the door the genomorphs waited as the black haired doctor and Guardian tried to open the door. Soon Dr. Desmond came running up behind them. "They're still in there? With the weapon!" he asked incredulously.
"We can't get the door open." Guardian informed him.
"Use your telekinesis!" Desmond ordered the humanoid genomorph.
"I have tried. To no avail." the genomorph told him.
"Useless!" Desmond raged. "This is a debacle." he said walking up to Guardian. "Get some G-trolls down here to muscle the door open now." he ordered.
"Already on their way." Guardian said placing his hands on his hips.
"You realize once we get in there we can't ever let them leave." Desmond told him.
"Doc! These aren't your typical 'meddling kids.' You don't want to get on the wrong side of the Justice League." Guardian warned.
"Better than getting on the wrong side of the Cadmus board of directors, believe me." Desmond told him. "Contact the g-gnomes inside Kr." He ordered the g-gnome on Guardians shoulder. Closing its eyes the g-gnomes horns began to glow.
"This is wrong." Kid Flash said inside Kr.
"We can't leave him like this." Robin agreed.
"Set him free." Aqualad nodded.
"Do it." Arcane ordered Robin. A few holographic touches later and the capsule opened with a automatic hiss. The boys hand clenched into a fist. "Something is wrong." Arcane said, but it was too late. Blue eyes snapped open and in the blink of an eye he had charged forward and slammed into , knocking both of them to the floor. Then he began to punch him repeatedly in the face.
"Woah! Hang on Supey!" Kid Flash said as he and Robin leapt on the clone to try and stop him.
"We're on your side!" Robin grunted as he tried to keep his arms wrapped around the boys eyes. Slipping his hand free of Kid Flash Superboy sent him flying with a vicious backhand that sent him crashing through a class pillar. "I don't want to do this!" Robin said slamming a smoke pellet into the clones mouth. Coughing he fell back just enough for Aqualad to slam his foot into his chest, giving Robin the opening he needed to fire a high powered taser.
Looking down at the metal cords Superboy simply ripped the cords off his chest and used them to pull Robin to him. Slamming him into the ground then placed a foot on Robins chest preventing him from moving. "Enough!" Arcane yelled. Superboy was sent flying by a bolt of white light from Arcanes hand that sent him crashing into the table he had been resting on. Growling Superboy sped forward and grabbed the white haired teen by the front of his uniform and hurled him into Aqualad, knocking both of them out cold.
Walking past their unconscious forms, Superboy pried the doors open with ease. Everyone looked surprised at first, then Desmond walked forward with a smirk on his face. "Attaboy." he said as he looked at the unconscious heroes.