Story by Darksuperboy

Written by Zor-Alov


Gotham City
March 16th, 2017
9:00pm EST

The docks on the Eastside of Gotham had all number of shady deals going on at intervals of the night and day. But early this evening, members of Intergang had arrived with a cargo ship filled with illegal items that would cement their return to power.

"Hurry it up" Whisper A'Daire said to the gangmembers in a cold tone, as they unloaded heavy metal crates by hand and with forklifts, into a series of trucks for shipment. The redhaired woman was leading point as Intergang planned for a massive buy later that night.

She wasn't alone, standing behind her but at a distance was Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim. Once loud and obnoxiously giving orders... now he was a more meek and soft-spoken right hand man. Whisper was calling the shots now, ever since she and Mannheim were rendered catatonic by Sportsmaster and Black Beetle. For going against the Light.

The stocky "Ugly" was watching the shipment carefully, knowing that Intergang's future rided on this buy to take place. After the invasion, alien technology had a greater demand on the black market. Intergang went deep underground stockpiling it in the hopes of waiting out whatever nonsense the Light was cooking up. They hoped to have maybe brought a reckoning upon them, after Luthor's arrest he saw a better opportunity. But now they were one of the last gangs with hands on Apokolips weaponry, the rest being constantly seized by the AOC.

"Boss" a young black enforcer stepped forward to address Whisper. "Weapons stocked and being loaded off as fast as possible. If everything goes smooth will be at the rendezvous on schedule."

"Better hope this goes smooth, Edge." Bruno replied back with a slight growl in his voice.

"We need this deal with Black Mask. Otherwise..." Whisper gave him a glare and he shut up.

"We got things under control. For sure."

Intergang's expansion hinged on the Gotham underworld's prominent crimelord. The League's hindered their global operations, now Black Mask is the only one with the connections to keep them afloat.

"And what about the last crate, Morgan?" Whisper then asked the gang enforcer. She turned her attention over to a tall sealed container. Everyone was handeling it almost as delicatly as if it were a bomb inside.

"We takin it slow, boss. Not gonna risk waking that up."

"Good." she reiterated back with near biting teeth.

The crane from the ship detached from the container, as the men began to haul it into an 18-wheeler. Part of Bruno's private stock that wasn't going on sale. Mannheim had a much more dangerous weapon in that container than Apokolips laser rifles.

"Until we get a better control program than the one we stole" Bruno then said to himself, "that stays on ice in the Narrows."

Morgan Edge nodded his head in acknowledgement. He headed back to oversee the shipment not that it was almost unloaded.

"Somethin on your mind?" Whisper said to her boss turned lieutenant.

"I don't know" he said as she took a gander at the docks around them, "I just have this feeling that something's up."

"Whatta mean?"

"We were suppose to be gettin an update by now from those idiot security guards I paid off, at the entrance..."

Whisper took a look at her digital wristwatch. It read 9:02.

"It's only..."

An explosion rocked the docks, as one of the shipment trucks blew sky high. A rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The creep responsible wore a rubber facemask, face-burned on the right side.

Suddenly several jeeps swirved in on both sides of them. Ambush. The thugs leaped out and began opening fire on Intergang. Machine ripped apart the wooden crates and ricocheted with deadly force off the metal ones as Whisper and Bruno ducked to take cover.

Another explosion struck the side of the ship they had docked. The grenade launcher was now joined by more masked criminals as they pushed forward amidst the firefight. Intergang forces shot back, but then began to dip into the alien supplies for as limited as they were. Earthquake inducers rocked the pier as they pounded down with their fists. The exchange now had Apokolips laser rifles in the mix as they started flying with the bullets.

Morgan Edge fired a disk that caught the thug with the grenade launcher. An agony matrix immobilized him and knocked him dead off his feet. As the masked thug feel backwards, a figure stepped over his corpse and dodged the incoming projectiles.

Bruno whipped out a laser pistol and fired away in a rage, screaming "PROTECT THE 18-WHEELER!"

Whisper peaked out and saw the figure as he approached, armed with two carbine rifles in both hands.

"Dent"

Two-Face looked back at her with a smile from his half-charred face and grimy teeth. He then took a shot at her while cackling. All the while his boys blasted away with regualar assault weapons, shotguns, even one armed with a minigu. They tore apart Intergang, as the two gangs duked it out over the shipment.

From a water tower nearby, a pair of binoculars peered down on the firefight taking place.

"Two-Face?! What's he doing here?" Robin pocketed his binocs and turned to his partner.

Nightwing took out his grappler as he said, "He wanted Intergang as badly as we do, so now we take 'em both down."

"Two birds, one stone?" Robin joked as he activated a special system of his suit, a built-in glider.

"Depends how that pun works." Nightwing replied back with a raised eyebrow. Robin shrugged.

"Guess rumors are true that D'Aire is calling the shots now. Weird huh?"

"Well, based on what little we've heard on Intergang, she's working with someone else. And we need to find out. So you get the enforcers, and I get the heavies. Try not to get shot." Nightwing then said to Tim.

"Yeah, yeah. Who do you think your talkin to?" Robin mumbled under his breath, the way Nightwing treated him like a rookie. He then took a leap and glided down into the action.

Nightwing then followed right behind him and jumped off the water tower. With his grappler he swung down into the fray, disappearing into the shadows with his signature laugh.

But even from a distance, Two-Face caught it. "I'd know that laugh anywhere" he said with a snarl.

"Double-time, people! We're about to have company, and three's a crowd!" he yelled back to his guys, as they continued pushing ahead, even while being decimated by some of the advanced alien weaponry.

Unfortunatly for two of his goons over by huge cargo containers, a zip line attached to one that propelled him into the other guntoting thug right beside him. They crashed into the side of the metal container, cold. When another scarred-masked thug turned around, he got a bo staff to the face. Robin had entered the fight and he began coldclocking one hired gun after another, from Two-Face's end of the firefight.

Two-Face spotted the birdboy, and let out a growl as he turned his attention, blasting away the hero with both assault rifles. Robin ducked and dodged the gunfire amidst the blown up trucks and weapons containers. Then all of a sudden, one of the rifles was blasted out of Two-Face's hands. He turned to see Whisper armed with a long alien-looking rifle, almost like a spear that shot plasma-like fireblasts.

"Time to make the other side match, Dent!" she screamed with a smile, as she charged Two-Face blasting away. He runned and gunned as he and his thugs fell back. Just as Robin gave pursuit, Morgan Edge and the Intergang thugs confronted him.

While Whisper lead the charge, the boss in name Mannheim fell back and slinked away to the 18wheeler. He dragged one thug up to his feet, who was dodging minigun fire. "Get this outta here!" he ordered, as the two attempted to jump into the seats. Just as Bruno opened the sidedoor and tried to hop in, the door slammed back on him. He landed on his butt, and was given a swift kick that knocked his laser pistol out of his hands. Before the scared driver could react, he was dragged out by his shoulders and thrown aside into some wooden crates. He smashed into them on the ground, seemingly unconcious.

"Picked the wrong night to crawl out of your hidey-hole, Mannheim. Maybe you should have retired instead of sticking around with the new adminstration!" Nightwing said, while standing over Bruno and wielding two Eskrima sticks. Mannheim didn't like that last crack. But just, then... the driver stalked up behind Nightwing. Before he could give him a suckerpunch, Nightwing slammed a fist into his face without even looking. Bats would be proud.

Nightwing then dragged Mannheim to his feet and took out handcuffs, locking him to the radiator of the truck with his hands behind his back. "Just sit tight. I'll be back with your boss..."

Another explosion at the other end of the dock got Nightwing's attention, as Intergang pushed Two-Face's gang back into one of the warehouses. He got to his feet and ran fists first into two Intergang thugs scrambling to get away with weapons. He pummeled them to the ground, then made his way up the roof of the warehouse.

Inside, Robin was caught in the middle as Intergang and Two-Face's hired thugs clashed with each other. The explosives and lasers had mostly died down, too close quarters. Now it was knives and pistols, bats, crowbars, amidst lighter alien weaponry. Robin let loose smoke pellets after Two-Face ran out of assault ammo and switched to two magnums and blasted away at him. Lost in the smokescreen, Robin swung his bo up and around, knocking heads and running atop the crates. Two-Face fired away at the rafters, trying to get the birdboy. But just like that, he ran out of ammo. When he reached into his jacketpocket for another clip, Whisper of all people bumped into him. She doubleturned when she saw who was face to face to face with her. Harvey took the but of his pistol and coldclocked her in the forehead. She dropped her Apokolyptian weapon in the process, which riled her up as she got to her feet. Whisper threw several punches at Dent.

"Gonna make you pay for stickin' what's left of your nose into our business!"

"Nothing moves in this town without my say-so! You shouldn't have tried selling weapons to Black Mask, sweetheart!"

Two-Face returned a powerful slug to the face that sent Whisper reeling on the floor. Then she legsweeped Two-Face and knocked him off his balance. As the two gang leaders duked it out like cagefighters, Robin cotinued taking down the blinded assortment of their thugs. His bo staff knocked many a skull, but then one of Two-Face's goons managed to blindside him with a bat. He dodged another attack, but the shroud was starting to life, and some Intergang thugs began picking up scattered weapons on the floor. Robin took out a remote and activated it, aimed right at the thugs about to fire.

The hoodie-wearing female thug pulled the trigger. Nothing. With a look of shock, she smacked the gun, as did other criminals around here. Electromagnetic weapon disruptor, one of Batman's many toys. With a smile Robin took out birdarangs and knocked the useless weapons out of their hands, then got back to pummeling them with his bo.

A few masked thugs from Two-Face's side tried to make a break for it, only to be tazed by the newly arriving Nightwing's now electrified Eskira sticks. He strolled in over their unconcious bodies, to see Robin easily handeling the last of the Intergang thugs. But just then Morgan leaped in front of him, armed with an agony matrix projector. Before he could arm and fire it, Nightwing tasered him in his knee. He feel over, then with a jolt he felt Nightwing attache some devide on his back. He got to his feet and saw Nightwing give him a devilish wink, as he was then launched off his feet and hung upsidedown from the rafters by a projectile cable.

"Mind if I cut in!?" he then yelled, getting the attention of bruised and battered Whisper and Two-Face. He then charged into the two and brought them face first into the ground. While trying to kill each other momentarily, they gave each other a look planted on the floor, then threw Nightwing off and attacked. Whisper took out a knife while Two-Face had his barefists as he lunged on Nightwing.

"Been a long time, Birdboy." he growled

"So what was the plan, Harvey? Steal the weapons right out from under Intergang and Black Mask!?"

Nightwing blocked a jab then punched Two-Face in the jaw, knocking him off kilter. Whisper came in and grazed Nightwing by the ear with her blade. She then cut and slashed away, while Nightwing blocked with his sticks.

"I lost that coin toss, batbrat!" Two-Face exlained after spitting out blood. "Came to destroy the damn tech so no one else could get it!"

With an evil aside, he spotted what looked like an Apokolyptian missle launcher. While Nightwing threw Whisper off from him and began to finish her off with well-placed jabs and kicks, Dent tossed his coin.

Good heads. "But luck seems to be in my favor, with this one Boy Wonder!"

He smiled and picked up the missle launcher. After a few seconds he activated and armed it, straight for Nightwing and Whisper.

Before Nightwing could react, or even get a birdarang airborn, Robin spotted Two-Face from across the way. He kicked Morgan Edge to the ground in defeat then made a daring leap, throwing a line of dart rope. Just as the launcher was about to fire, the rope snared Two-Face by his legs and knocked him off balance. He fell backwards swearing, while Nightwing charged him like a running back. The launcher was tossed aside, but just as Two-Face was about to be cuffed... it launched.

The targeting computer was smashed and it launched the apokolyptian weapon without a target. Whisper, Nightwing, Robin, and Two-Face watched the alien missle soar up into the air, and TURN BACK AROUND.

"Oh crap!" Whisper yelled as she made a break for it, running out of the wearhouse.

"Think she's got the right idea, Nightwing!" Robin hollared back to his partner, who was getting Two-Face back to his feet as well. The two of them grabbed Two-Face by the shoulders as they made a bolt as well out of the dock wearhouse. The missle came fast, but to their suprise the aimeless projectile smashed through the roof and hit the other side of the building in a firey explosion.

Bruno Mannheim watched in horror as the missle exploded the other end of the 18-wheeler, that he was still handcuffed to at the front!

He could barely hear from the blast, but he screamed for help and struggled to get out from the front radiator before the rest of it blew.

But then he heard a loud crashing, like hard glass exploding. He stopped cold, then heard a monstrous alien roar. Nightwing and Robin heard it likewise, as they dragged along Two-Face in handcuffs to the sight of the explosion. The roar was deafening and powerful. When it stopped Ugly could hear heavy stomps coming toward him, along with loud grunting and breathing. Ugly screamed like a little girl now, panicing.

"GET ME OUTTA HERE, IT'S LOOSE! YA HEAR, THAT FRIGGIN THING'S LOOSE, I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

The half-smoldering truck rocked now, as a large shape burst out from the top of it, in one powerful leap. Bursting through it like tin, it left a crater as it's feet smashed down into the pier. The whole dockside shook, and the tires underneath the truck burst. All eighteen of them. Ugly screamed like a schoolgirl as it turned towards him, snarling like a mad dog. Nightwing and Robin only could a fleeting glimpse of it, what looked like blood red eyes... as the shadowy monster turned and leaped with impossible height. It smashed down into a building what sounded blocks away, amidst another explosion and car alarms blaring. It disappeared into the midst of Gotham.

Robin raced over to the truckside and threw pellets that put out the fire. As police sirens and firefighters sounded to be nearing, Nightwing left Two-Face sitting against a container, with his handscuffed behind him. He was as awstrucked as everyone else still left alive or concious at the scene.

"Da hell was in that truck?" he growled to himself.

Nightwing shrugged his head and raced over to Robin, who broke the handcuffs off Ugly Mannheim and dragged him over to safety. He was breathing heavily, babbling and incoherent. He wasn't going to be much help, no more than a frightened child having just faced the boogeyman.

"That was... unexpected. Any idea what that was?" Robin asked Nightwing. The older hero took a closer look at the insides of the truck. Or what's left of truck. With a flashlight, he peered inside, just as the authorities arrived on the scene, rolling in from where Two-Face's gang strolled in a few minutes before.

From the burnt out remains, Nightwing caught sight of... something. With a look of horror he spotted the charred crate, then hopped out and activated his comm systems.

"We need back-up" he said to Robin, and himself, with a deep sigh of almost annoyance.

Hall of Justice, Washington D.C.
March 16th, 2017
9:11pm EST

"If this is still the best you got" Artemis told her protege, while sparring with her on the mat, "then I could have stayed home and watched wrestling with the girls!"

Artemis blocked and whipped a flying kick at Cissie, now called Arrowette. He young hero in training was more adept at fighting and archery than she was monthes ago, but Artemis reveled in the fact that the crimefighter to be still can't hold her own against her mentor.

Victor Stone (aka Cyborg) was off the side, enjoying the show as it were, on the shooting range. He finally harnassed a way to project sonic frequenices into a pulse blast, through a weapon the nanites in his body create... all by mental command. Disks came flying out of the walls, and he blasted them away from his arm-transformed cannon. While he still didn't enjoy being half-machine, he now had become adept in creating combat-ready weapons upon command. And he's even able to take command of the electromagnetic airwaves around him, the world is his to hack.

While he effortlessly synched on target with his right eye to the disks, and busily beat the records set on the range by the archers, Arrowette start to get the advantage on Artemis for once. She grabbed her teacher by the wrists before she could strike and threw her off balance. A bold move, she'd never been able to displace Artemis, not even a budge.

But Artemis flipped to the side with that move, barely missing a dropkick from Arrowette that could have finished her. With a sigh she looked up at her protege and joked, "Maybe able to whoop Diggle's butt, ya still don't have enough to best me!"

Arrowette dodged a swift thrust of one two, one two punch throws from her teacher. She grabbed hold and attempted to put Aretmis in a shoulder, then body lock. But just as always... Aretmis got the upperhand and knocked Arrowette to the floor.

"That's gonna be blue tomorrow..." Cyborg winced as he saw that last takedown.

But just as always, Cissie grunted in defeat, and got back up on her feet. She wiped the sweat off and walked off the pain. Alot this time.

"Getting better, no doubt about..." before Artemis could finish the peptalk, the intercoms came on in the sparring room.

"Aretmis, get everybody available down to operations" Superboy said over the comms. Artemis gave Arrowette a look then threw a bottle of water to her as the two wiped off and headed on down there.

"Coming tinman?" Artemis hollered from the other side of the gym. He smiled and clanked on over to join the ladies, as they all hurried down to the main operations room of the Hall of Justice. A few minutes passed, and they were met the clicking and whirling of Sphere. It "greeted" them, then rolled back over to Superboy, who was busy staring at the screen.

"What's the sitch?" Arrowette asked, as the small group gathered around.

"Just got a call from Nightwing, in Gotham" Connor said, as he tapped the keyboard and repeated a recorded message. Took a little while to get through do to interference from all the Apokolips tech at the scene. It was Nightwing alright on his personal comm.

"Nightwing to Superboy. We were on our usual patrol here in Gotham... a gang bust gone awry with Two-Face in the mix. Then things have took turn, explosions, collaterall... heavy on the DIS. We need backup. Whatever you can get your hands on. It's going to be a long night."

Artemis saw this was serious, but was apprehensive at the thought that they were the only ones close enough on standby. The night shift left her, Superboy, and the rookies... the only ones around to help. Arrowette was almost grinning at the prospect of what this message meant, Cyborg looked at the carnage behind Nightwing and gulped.

"Connor... Nightwing never asks for help unless he really... REALLY" Artemis asked in a private tone towards Superboy, trying to have a chat away from the ears of the rookies.

"You think I don't know that?" Superboy said with a mix or sarcasm and worry.

"I mean, can these guys handle whatever's going on. If this alert's heavy on the dis, there's no telling what we could be walking into."

"Heavy on the dis?" Arrowette asked a loud, then turned to Cyborg who could only shrug.

"Ciss, this is a..."

"A mission? A real official mission. That's kinda what it sounds like to me, ahhh... or maybe not. Sensei" Arrowette replied back, anxious for action.

Artemis rolled her eyes and turned back to Superboy. "See what I mean?"

"They're gonna have to get their feet wet sometime, Artemis."

He ended the conversation then and there and headed over to the zeta beam station. Artemis wasn't going to bother arguing against the Kryptonian. She scracthed her head, then with grevious thought against it, turned back to Cyborg and Arrowette.

"Well kids, guess school's in session. Suit up, excpet you already... nevermind. Just move out... tonight's your first league mission."

"Roger that." Cyborg said with some unease. Arrowette had to hold it in, to keep from squeeling like a teenage cheerleader.

And with that Artemis and the recruits left to stock up for their trip to Gotham City.

Gotham City
March 16th, 2017
9:21pm EST

Back at the harbor docks, Nightwing and Robin were surveying the damage left behind from the battle, and the mysterious escapee. From atop a nearby roof, they saw Morgan Edge, and the other Intergang thugs were being carted off by the police, as were Two-Face and his goons in a seperate squad van. Ugly Mannheim, was whimpering and being hauled into the back of a paramedic emergency vehicle, which was waiting on the firetrucks still at the scene putting up the remnants of the explosions.

"Bruno was a lot tougher the last time we saw him" Nightwing said to Robin with his arms crossed, somewhat in a disappointed tone.

"Guess getting your brain scrambled by aliens takes it out of you" he replied back, looking over collected evidence. "Made it easier I suppose for whoever it was to stroll in and help Whisper knock him down the corporate ladder."

Just then, Robin looked up and saw a familiar figure hurtle down toward them. Superboy dropped down onto the roof with a familiar thud.

"Couldn't just wait down there with all of them?" he asked Nightwing.

"Hello to you too, Supes. And no... we prefer our air of shadowy reconisance quite nicely."

"Dweeb" Superboy smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. Before Robin could speak, he heard another loud thud. After having been rocketboosted into the air from the ground, Cyborg slammed down to join the heroes.

"Sup" he said, facing Robin.

"Nice to see ya, Vic. Been working the tech since last."

"Have lots of free time now" Cyborg replied with an laugh, as he he morphed back his boosters.

Before the pleasantries could continue, Nightwing caught sight of Artemis and Arrowette zip lining down in, from a rooftop across the way.

Arrowette was humming a sorta of heroic tune as she shoot on down alongside Artemis. She landed and did a gymnastic roll, that landed her feet first next to Cyborg. She was pretty proud of herself.

"Show-off" Cyborg saide while looking down at the blonde archer.

Aretmis shook her head, she was regretting this already. She maybe good in a fight, but she was still a cocky rookie that hasn't fought in tandem with other heroes in the field, especially for whatever caused the mess she was looking at now down on the docks with all the authorities.

"Nightwing, Robin. Not often we get called in to your stomping grounds. What's up?"

Since Artemis was getting right to the point, Nightwing silently obliged and opened up his holographic wrist computer. It displayed crimescene photos taken. "We had... complications, during a crimebust on Intergang."

"Their new leader?" Superboy asked

"No... Two-Face decided to crash the party" Robin revealed. As the older teammembers discussed the scene, Cyborg and Arrowette stood aside and looked at the carnage left behind at the docks. And the swath of city far off, with smoke, torn up buildings and fires breaking out.

"Mini-Godzilla roll up in here?" Cyborg turned and asked Arrowette, who was growing less enthusized about the first mission.

"Don't tell me we got called in for one of your rogues' gallery?" Artemis inquisited.

"Nope. For this." Nightwing pulled up the photo he took of the interior of the burnt out 18wheeler. "Look familiar?"

"Is that..." Artemis didn't even have finish the sentance, Superboy peered in, and with a look of shock he recognized it.

It was a CADMUS cryotube. Something grown by the Light's private cloning facility was in that cryo-container. And now it was running amok through Gotham.

"Damn" was all Artemis could muster up.

"That's impossible, Intergang doesn't have the connections or the resources to..."

"They worked with the Light, Conner" Nightwing stopped Superboy short, "which means they had the access to probably rip CADMUS off!"

"What exactly are we dealing with, ahem." Arrowette butted in to ask the obvious question for the newbies.

"It's a cryotube used by one of the Light's operations, a Genomorph cloning facility." Robin explained

"Right, the ones that made Red Arrow and clo... ahhh, yeah" Arrowette stopped herself since she was standing right next to Superboy at the time the thought passed.

"Whatever."

"What Nightwing's trying to say" Artemis butted in "is that they think Intergang ripped off the tech, and made their own superhuman clone. A big one at that."

"Exactly, and while we were hoping more of the league was on shift to deal with this... the six of us are going to have to take this thing down."

"Handle the situation?" Superboy angrily asked. "You make sound like we're exterminators."

"No offense Connor, but this thing is dangerous, whatever it is. It could be another Kryptonian powerhouse, or worse yet... another failed monster like Match."

"Could be a clone of any one of the major leaguers!" Robin finished wiht his two cents.

"You see danger, bird boys. I see a scared kid that's been in a cage too long, trying to be drilled into a weapon. Just because it's powerful doesn't mean it's a threat!"

The tension was getting pretty heavy.

"Does Intergang have anything to say?" Artemis tried to divert the current line of questions.

"Mannheim's not exactly in a talkative mood, and Whisper's in the wind." Nightwing explained with frustration.

"So that just leaves finding it I suppose..." Cyborg figured.

"THEN I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD STOP CALLING IT... IT" Superboy yelled back to the rookie, startling the metal man and Arrowette.

"Superboy, we know you don't want anything bad to happen to possibly your kid brother or something..." Artemis butted in as Superboy was getting in Nightwing's face and very tempramental. "But we have to rein whatever this is before he hurts someone. We can't be holding back if this thing is wild and ready to kill anything that moves!"

"Because all clones are just like that, mindless animals?!"

"You know that's not remotely what I meant, Connor!" Artemis arguing back poking her finger at Superboy's chest.

"That swath of destruction doesn't point to it really wanting to be friends with anybody" Nightwing responded.

"I'm saying we try to reason with it, before we just up and decide to categorize it as something that needs to put down!"

"Superboy, take a breath. And Nightwing, would you just..."

Cyborg took his metal fingers and let out an almost robotic whistle from his mouth. The ear-ringing sound got the rest of the team's attention.

"Does anybody else think maybe we should REALLY be out lookin for that thing, rather than standin' here figuring out whether to stop it with hugs or not!?"

The obvious question from the rookie got cooler heads to prevail. Nightwing and Superboy turned from each other, not willing to admit each other's wrongs.

"This is a fun first mission" Arrowette said to herself. "I don't pretend to understand the backstory going on with clones, the Light, or even of the nature vs nurtue stuff. All I know is that Superman's possibly crazy clone is on the loose like a one-man army. We gotta take this thing down before people get killed, so how about he find him... or her, never really got genetics ahem... and decide what to do then. Some place with less property damage involved!"

Nightwing and Superboy gave eachother silent glances, then with thoughts from both, they nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Nightwing said, knowing full well he should have expected this having called for back-up.

"Yeah. Find the clone first." Superboy said as well. He made his leave in a powerful leap and bound, following the path left by the clone.

"Soooo, right. We split up and cover the path this thing left, try to find it and stop it before it causes more damage." Artemis told the recruits, trying to compose the palpable atmosphere. "Stay sharp."

Artemis, Robin, and Arrowette took point and followed East, while Cyborg left with Nightwing off the rooftop to trail behind Superboy.

The path this creature left was easy to track, smashed buildings and downed lines, heavy footprints imbedded in the pavement, as well as crumpled cars it stomped on and broken glass lines every which way. Everything it touches seems to be destroyed.

The older leaguers had concern and different ideas of how to handle this clone, enough to nearly come to blows. Superboy felt strongly about the genomes and clones, enough to defend their lives as being worth enough to reason with them. Not just pummel and restrain them like dogs on the rampage. Artemis stayed in contact, trying to keep both the recruits... as well as Superboy and Nightwing in line. Four different children to deal with. Robin seemed the most level headed one next to her tonight.

The destruction was clear cut and fortunatly not causing enough lethal harm to bystanders... yet. But as Artemis and Arrowette followed along the rooftops from one end of the city, they find it had gone cold. The clone managed to rip into the subway systems below. Robin followed after it first, arriving at a station where it had been run into by an halting subway. He spotted and took pictures of the fingerprints it had embedded. The archers and Tim knew that this thing could be anywhere in the city now, with the array of subway tunnels it could follow.

"Artemis to Superboy. We lost it down in the tunnels, whose it look from the sky?"

Superboy was calmly peering down above the city with his arms crossed, his eyes closed. He was listening for some sort of sign. Millions upon millions of voices, screams and cries, the scum of Gotham. He hated listening to this city, it was more brutal and rough than Metropolis or any other city his friends patrolled.

As he stood atop a gargoyle on a high skyscraper, below were Cyborg and Nightwing on another rooftop in view.

"Trying to get a lock on whatever this clone is, a DNA singal, some electromagnetic pattern or something..."

Cyborg was having no luck with his optics scanner. "All I know for certain is that it's definatly alien. And strong the way he's smashing through everything like tissue. Hope these nanites are up to the task!"

"Harder to obtain kryptonian than human league DNA, that's for sure. One more connection to the Light's resources being involved in this operation. They'd have never sanctioned something this dangerous without more manpower. No way Two-Face could have strolled in and caused this thing to escape." Nightwing speculated.

"But why, I thought Intergang was part of the Light?" Cyborg asked astutely.

"The gang's boss and righthand lady got lobotimzed by the Light for stepping out of bounds, a show of force for their other agents. Given the timetable, between now and when they finally woke up... and when the new boss stepped in to take command with Whisper... I figure they stole dna and tech out of revenge, then went underground for the cloning process. Without facilities, it makes the cloning slower than in CADMUS."

Cyborg didn't understand the supervillain thought process at all. He shook his head while trying to get a feed on anything. Just then, Superboy caught hint of some kind of roar, a monstrous sound coming from not far off. He pinpointed it and leaped off into the night towards it.

"Guess that's our que! Artemis, meet us up at our signal!" Nightwing responded on his comms.

Ten minutes later, after the archers and Robin made it back to the surface, following their end of the trail that remained... they arrived a few blocks to see Cyborg and Nightwing overhead. They hurried along racing through the streets and back alleys. They began spotting the MO of this clone, heavy footprints and rampant collateral damage everywhich way, as well as car alarms on the toppled vehicles.

Any other city and police would have locked down the whole area, in Gotham the police don't show up in force unless absolutely necessary... like an INVASION of aliens, Not one the capes can handle.

The teenage heroes all met back up outside of a wrecked biker bar. It was mostly wrecked possibly before the alien clone showed up. Bikes were crushed with bare hands, and bikers astrewn and comatose on the street, apparently tossed out of the building. As they arrived at the bar, Nightwing recognized a regular ruffian of this part of town, Johnny Rancid, racing out of the front door without a shirt of jacket, but a big bloody nose and fat lip. He was also missing his trademark chains as he hopped on what was left of his bike and a frantic getaway.

"I have a hunch our... friend" he said with unease while turning to face Superboy, "is in there."

"You don't suppose the clone stopped here for a HELLLLLOOOOOO..." Arrowette was asking her mentor Artemis something when she was caught by suprise. She turned in aghast suprise after unfortunatly witnessing a fat biker run out of the establishment... without pants. Not a picture that was going away without more brain bleach. The fat bearded thug with "Ding Dong Daddy" on his t-shirt huffed and slowly tried to run away as well, clearly out of shape and out of breath.

"Okaaaaay then" Robin said with disgust, Artemis did a facepalm as this was not turning out to be a good night.

"I really should have stayed home with the girls to watch wrestling" she mumbled to herself.

"This stuff usually happen on regular missions?" Cyborg asked Superboy with a raised eyebrow.

He shook his head.

"Right, so what's the plan then?" He then asked.

"While the clone's having a drink... We could circle around the place, with some of us going in front... then as a distraction so the rest come in behind to take him by..." as Arrowette tried to think up strategy, the older leaguers butted.

"He can probably hear us planning on how to sneak up on him" Nightwing then had to remind the young eager archer.

"Oops"

"Let's just charge the place, and see what we're dealing with." Artemis then said while patting her protege on the shoulder. Strategy wasn't her strongsuit, nor was surroundings.

"And we'll... try to reason with it" Nightwing reiterated, he was open to Superboy's method first. He then turned to him and said. "You go first"

Superboy agreed with a nod, then like a regular John Wayne he stomped on into the bar, as the doors swung open inward. The place was smashed up and in shambles, with bikers laying bloody by alive everywhich way. The tap had been gutted and was leaking alchol all over the place. Superboy cautiously strolled in, as the rest of the heroes followed in behind him, with Artemis and Arrowette notched with their bows and guarding the door. Robin hopped up on the bar and took out gizmos from the ready. Superboy, Nightwing and Cyborg moved in to the 2story divebar, trying to locate their quandry.

Then they stopped cold to hear something over by the pooltable to their right. A massive jar of eggs was being drunk down by what was possibly the rampaging clone they were following. With the eggs and juicies gone, it threw the giant glass jar in their direction and let out a burp. From their end, the three could see a tall and imposing figure, with short black hair almost like dreadlocks. It had acquired a biker's outfit from the various thugs he laid waste to, and managed to eat and drink everything in sight, including what appeared to be some of the furniture. Quite a mess, and not exactly the scared and confused clone Superboy was expecting. He noted the creature had chalky white skin, which meant it very well could be another failed Kryptonian like Match.

With uneasiness he approached it, but the clone sniffed the air caught wind of Superboy. It started to growl.

"Just take it easy. I know you must be confused but... you need to come with us."

The clone turned fast to face the arriving heroes, with Rancid's chain and hook swung around his waist and assorted guns latched onto his belt and pants. It was then with a shock that the heroes caught a glimpse of the clone, as it stared them down with yellow teeth and piercing red eyes, while also taking a massive drink from a beer stine.

KA REI... KA REI!?it roared in an alien language, while tossing the stine into the pool table, smashing it. He then filled his hands with two shotguns he picked off the local bikers.

"Oh boy" Cyborg said aloud after seeing the fearsome sight in front of them.

"Un... real" Artemis said as well.

"It can't be" Nightwing then said.

"This was... really unexpected." Robin stated the obvious.

Superboy was at a loss for words, he was anticipating a genome, or another carbon copy of Superman in front of him to try and reason without a fight.

"I've seen this guy on the news, he's..." Arrowette remembered back to early 2016. A pre-pubescent version... of LOBO. A bounty hunter who was feared and ruthless, not to mention as unstoppable as any Kryptonian. Maybe even more powerful.

YAGH FRAG

Lobo's half-baked, but tall and musclebound, clone charged them screaming while blasting away from the shotguns.

Nightwing and Cyborg ducked for cover from the shotgun blasts, while Superboy took the brunt of the clone's impact. He was knocked clear through the the bar... and wall, outside into the parking like, as if hit by a freight train. The clone collided with a electric pole head first, snapping it half like a twig. He shook it off with a grunt, then turned his attention back on Superboy.

But as he approached closer, he was assaulted by a barrage of arrows. They barely nicked him, with most of the sharp quivers breaking off or getting embedded in his arms as if shooting at boulders. He saw the two female archers firing away at him, while Superboy got back on his feet.

Kezzy Fem! he hollared back at them, while taking a pistol out of his boot and shooting at them. They ducked back inside through the hole he put in the bar.

"This guy's a day old, how does he know how to handle firearms!?" Artemis yelled in frustration, while notching a higher-steel fiber arrow. She launched it at Lobo, who caught it snapped it in half as he stomped towards them. Unfortunatly he noticed too late that the shaft had an explosive on it. It blew up in his hand and knocked him across the street into a storefront window.

"You okay there, Superboy?" Cyborg raced over to the kryptonian as the heroes regrouped.

"Yeah. Can't say the same about him though. Not a scratch!"

"Still want to talk him down?" Robin asked with a look to Superboy

"How is this possible, that clone... is Czarnian!" Nightwing asked perplexly aloud.

"The alien that attacked the UN last new years, I think I remember" Arrowette chimed in.

"Lobo" Artemis told her protege. "He was a tough SOB, all we could do was slow him down."

"Wonder Girl managed to go one on one with him" Robin corrected Artemis, with a hint of sincere recollection for his girlfriend's proud fight against the alien bounty hunter.

"Yeah... maybe enough to leave a blood sample behind for the Light!" Nightwing postulated.

Unfortunatly their little quick anaylsis on the clone was cut short, when the Czarnian let out a howl of rage and punched his way outside. The entire front of the building toppled over like a sack of potatoes out into the street. The clone clawed his way through the falling rubble.

YAGH FRAG! KOH RAGA ZO FRAG!

"Any idea where he picked up the alien?" Arrowette inquired, "Doubt Intergang tought him that."

"Cyborg. Try to tap into our comms with an Interlac program at the Hall of Justice" Superboy said, "If we boost the signal, we might be able to talk to this bruiser before he does more damage."

"I'll try, might take a while." Cyborg pulled up a holographic display and got to work, setting up a download time.

The clone roared and charged at them like a rhino.

Superboy hesitantly obliged the bloodthirsty clone and charged right back into him. The two collided with sheer force that shattered the glass for the whole block, in a concussion blast. The two pummeled each other, as Superboy strived to knock him into submission, while the clone was all by assured to kill him.

Robin and Nightwing let loose bola lines to try and contain the clone, while Arrowette fired an arrow that would create foam to imbolize him.

The Lobo knockoff ripped the tethers like plastic, and caught the foam only on the arm, as a big glob of it hardened around his fist and right arm. He whopped Superboy right in the face with the foam, shattering it and sending Superboy flying into a another building.

"Sorry!" Arrowette hollared over to Superboy, "WOOOAHHH!" she then screamed as she ducked and attempted to block the clone's attacks now trained on her. Artemis give him a flying kick to the face that did nothing but turn his attention on her. She grabbed her by the foot and flung her into a parked car. Robin took out his bo staff and got in a few good jabs, as he knocked the guns the clone was reaching for right out of his hand. He responded by snapping the bo in half, then grabbing a parked motorcycle nearby and trying to hit Robin with it. He missed by inches.

Cyborg helped Artemis up, then grabbed the punch buggie and slammed into the clone.

"No punch back!" he said, as the clone ripped the car in half and pile drived both his fists into Cyborg. He was smacked face first into the concrete street, while Nightwing daring climbed onto the Lobo clone's back. Flinging his arms around his throat he jammed two tasers into his his ears and tried to cook his brains, it didn't knock him out or even phase him. The clone backflipped with Nightwing hung onto him. And like a wrestler he landed on Nightwing with monstrous momentum. Nightwing had cracked several ribs from that deadly trick as the clone got up and spit a luggie next to the downed hero.

PLEA TOH SCUZ, SHIKAKA LOS

Nightwing didn't know Czarnian, but he assumed that the clone... was telling him to stay down, the way he was viciously looking down at him and pointing. Cyborg took the chance to fire a sonic blast at him, while Robin whirled explosive birdarangs at him. The blast dragged him through the street, his feet dragging up the concrete, while the birdarangs caught him off guard. Artemis flanked him and gave Arrowette a signal.

"Hope this works" Arrowette said to herself as she pulled out a black arrowshaft with a heavy metal tip. It had a warning label across it. With unease, Arrowette fired one, while Artemis fired another from her end of the street. The two collided with each other in front of the Lobo clone, causing a photon explosion that rocked the block and sent the Czarnian flying into the rooftops above. Before he landed, Superboy was there and waiting, and with a giant leap he punched the clone square in the jaw. He was hurtled four blocks away by the strike.

A guy sleeping in his chair, apparently while eating greasily fried chicken, was startled by the clone's smashing through half of his living room.

FRACKIN KAZA YAGH DOS FRACKA TOH FRAG... he managed to scream out while soaring through the air, and into the street below. He formed a crater with the impact, then shook himself off. He saw Superboy was leaping into the air, coming down for another assault, whilst Cyborg and the others where climbing along the rooftops.

He growled and leaped right into Superboy. The kryptonian was knocked off kilter like a billiard ball, smacking into the side of a deli and falling back down into the street. By the time he got to his feet and wiped some blood off the side of his mouth, the clone was gone.

"Where's the batmobile when you need it!?" Arrowette said aloud and and out of breath on the rooftop.

Cyborg caught a lock on the escaping clone, as it was leaping in giant bounds into the heart of Gotham now. He hopped into the air and blasted away as Superboy chased after the clone as well. Artemis and Arrowette desperatly tried to catch up along the roofs and with grappling hookshots. Robin glided and used grapplers, while Nightwing called up his personal bike and hopped on after getting street level. He zoomed off to try and outflank the superhuman clone.

Nearly into midtown Gotham, the Czarnian was hopscotching across rooftops, fracturing buildings and leveling the roofs themselves with each powerful landing and leap. But when it turned to see Superboy still in pursuit from a far, it roared like a beast and was caught offguard. A helicopter crashed right into him, without his notice. The tail was smashed off and it began to fall downward with firing and sparks erupting form the back. The clone was knocked off balance and fell hurtling downward. He left a body imprint like a snowangel in the metal helipad.

Superboy saw the falling helicopter and pounced down beneath it, trying to get to the parking lot below before it crashed. Police in a squadcar below saw the chopper about to crash down and ran out of their car. They ducked for cover, only to see a teenage boy with the Superman emblem on his shirt crushing their car instead, as he then caught the helicopter. With both fists he used all his strength to hold the copter steady, it's blades grinding and cutting up the pavement. After it finally shuttered off, Superboy plopped it down onto the street and helped the pilots out of their seats.

"Wow." one cop said as he helped the police pilots to their feet. As Superboy wiped his brow, he turned and realized where he was.

"You gotta be kidding me." he said to himself, realizing the clone had landed on the rooftop of a Gotham police precinct. The main one in fact. Superboy saw Cyborg zooming by overhead, as he dealt with the mess below. Cyborg hovered over the roof of the precinct, only to find where the Lobo clone landed... but no sign of the clone. He did spot a fire exit door crunched open like a can of sardines.

"Guys... he's in the building!"

Inside the precinct, the cops were swarming out of the building to the scene of the nearly crashed helicopter, while others were responding to calls like crazy from the battle being raged against the League and the "giant white gorilla".

"City must be going nuts" the fat detective Bullock said while hanging up the phone. He scarfed a donut down while continuing to talk and spilling crumbs all over.

"We got Two-Face blowing up half the pier, buildings being demolished all over, people claiming it's an ape... now we got men downstairs cause choppers are falling out the sky like kites. Da hell's going!?"

"Wasn't an ape!" a gnarled voiced yelled out from a cell.

"Say again, Harv?" Detective Bullcok turned and walked over to the booking cell, where stood Two-Face and some of his thugs.

"I said it wasn't no Great White Gorilla on the damn loose. It looked like some roid-raging punk in Juggalo makeup!"

"Just what this town needs, another rampaging clown on the loose!"

"I think you assholes better call in the army, cause you'll need a tank against this guy..." Two-Face snarled through his teeth and maimed face like a cobra, hissing in delight at the fat detective.

Bullock slamed the cage with his fist. "Nobody asked you, gruesome."

As Two-Face backed away, one of his thugs jumped up, his eyes bulging out as he yelled "WHAT THE HELL!?"

Bullock turned to see a tall half-metal man burst into the squad room, the police all starting yelling freeze and drawing their guns.

"Easy... EASY!" Cyborg tried to calm the frantic officers.

"Hold it right there shopclass! Just put your hands where I can see 'em, and no monkey business!" Bullock yelled as he pulled his pistol on the young hero.

"That some kind of alien?" one officer mumbled as he stood beside his desk drawing down at the half-human half-robot.

"No, but I'm here with the Justice League... trying to track down the alien causing all this ruckus before somebody gets killed!"

"And I thought clowns were bad" Harvey said, still drawn on Cyborg. "You telling me this six foot maniac, that busted up the bikers and half of Gotham... he's some Killer Klown from outer space?!" Bullock and the GCPD had seen enough aliens to last them a lifetime.

"Look, this is all really hard to explain, and it's my first night on the job" Cyborg said with a exasperated shrug. "That alien busted in here and I need all your men ready to help, this guy's a tough one to takedown.

"Only you idiots could loose a giant white alien right under your noses!" Two-Face cackled at the cops from behind the bars. Bullock gave him a deathstare then turned back to Cyborg.

"Hold your fire guys, I think junior here's legit. Alright then hotshot, where's this one-man wrecking crew you League boys been chasing down?"

Bullock got his answer when an explosion rocked the building. The lights failed and sirens began to blare with red emergency lights now on. Standard protocal from a bomb threat, but more than likely it was the Czarnian.

"Where did that come from!?" Bullock yelled to one of the officers.

"Came from the armory downstairs!"

Cyborg just realized what the clone was after. BIGGER GUNS.

He and Bullock hurried downstairs, while he tried to scan and get a lock on the clone. He got a bleep just as he and the cops rushed through the stairwell door, but then one of them bolted around the corner and screamed "LOOK OUT!"

They ducked and hit the floor as a hail of machine gun fire ripped through the walls. Bullock fired off rounds while lying on the floor in cover. The clone stomped on by, as Bullock and the others fired away. The bullets bounced right off his skin like armor. Shotguns and pistols did nothing to even slow the clone down.

Cyborg saw the carnage, but realized as the clone fired back with assault rifles and heavy clips of some rather big guns... he was aiming to kill them. He turned and showed his fearsome red eyes and blasted away, with Bullock and the cops ducking into open doorframes to avoid fire. Cyborg then got to his feet and fired a sonic blast as him that knocked some of the guns out of his hands. Cyborg then charged him like in his football days and pummeled him into the linolium floor.

The clone kicked him into the ceiling and knocked him off. But just as he got up, he doubletaked and saw Superboy piledrive into him. The czarnian was smashed clean through a door and into a large lock-up room, his weapons all askew.

Superboy helped Cyborg up on his feet.

"How's that translation coming, Cyborg?"

"Almost done, just need to hold that guy here long enough for you to chew the fat with... what... the..."

Cyborg turned to see the clone in the doorway, smiling while holding a giant grenade launcher. He fired away and it blasted Superboy with some kind of greyish goo. He was ensared and throw into the adjacent wall.

"Crap, it's the Joker's sillyputty gun!" Bullock yelled as the cops all stood back.

"His what!?" Superboy hollared as he tried to remove himself from the hardening goop. Cyborg took a glance and scanned the room the clone was just in, apparently it was an evidence storage room... filled to the brim with weapons and tech used by incarerated supervillains.

YAK-RAIISHU that thing does... the clone said as he stared at the gun in his hands.

Cyborg and Superboy looked at the clone dumbfounded, as did the police. "That was... human! Supes, the interlac must have kicked in on our comms! I'm transmiting a signal now that works both ways for us and between him."

"The frack are... how come I understand you slags all of a sudden!?" the clone yelled back, evidently he was hearing them now in the Czarnian tongue.

"If that jerk can understand us, then let me read him his rights!" Bullock interjected as he came in closer with his gun pointed at the alien clone. The clone rolled his eyes and threw away the joker's gun, then he smashed the barrel of Bullock's and flattened it like a pancake. Bullock looked on in disbelief.

"LISTEN... to... US!" Superboy struggled to say as he tried to rip the sillyputt off and get down. "We don't want to fight you!"

"One fight's as good as any other." the clone shrugged with a smile.

"Fun time's over" Cyborg answered back, with his sonic cannon now locked and loaded. "We know your blowing off steam or whatever since you just got outta that tank, but enough's enough! We can't let you wreck up the city and hurt anybody."

"If they're stupid enough to attack me or not get outta my way... it's their own fault."

"It's wrong and we'll take you down if we have to!"

"I'm not going back in a cage, EVER! And your not gonna get the chance to scramble my brains again, you fraggin scumwads!"

Superboy realized he thought they were with Intergang, trying to implant a control program like CADMUS did with him. It evidently failed, and made him somewhat more wild than even he was.

"We're not with the guys who did that... I'm just like you!" Superboy tried to explain.

"Just like what?!"

"I'm a clone!"

The Czarnian's eyes widened with that comment. And with it he smashed Cyborg out of the way and grabbed Superboy, pulling him out of the hardened goo by the throat.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?"

"They... cloned... me. Just. Like. You. Had me in a little cyrotube like the one youuuuu... were in. I know what it's like to have information put in your head... to try to be made into something your not. To not even have memories"

"Your scent. It's... familiar. I... don't know what most of those words mean... but it makes more sense than anything I've known. I just... know things, but not why I know them. I have... nothing, and now your saying I'm like..." the clone started to somberly say, with actually emotion. But then he turned to see the cops looking up at him, in confusion and caution. He pained expression turned back into rage.

"No. NO you're nothing like me... I'M... I'm not some pale imitation. I'm the real deal... I'M UNSTOPPABLE!"

He threw Superboy into the swarm of police with a animal-like roar.

"YOUR TRYING TO MESS ME UP, LIKE THE TANKVOICE, FILLING MY HEAD WITH IMAGES... BUT I DON'T NEED THE IMAGES! I KNOW HOW TO SHOOT, HOW TO DRINK, AND HOW TO KILL! GET IN MY WAY AGAIN AND I WILL FRAG YOU WORMS ALL OVER THE WALLS!"

The clone stormed back into the evidence locker, while Superboy got up and raced after him. Cyborg followed right behind him, and fired away with a sonic blast. But as soon as they got to the door, the clone burst out into the hallway... riding atop a rocket!

"This is going to be one of those nights!" Bullock muttered to himself, as he took another cop's gun and blasted away at the alien, as he zoomed off in a fiery escape atop Roxy Rocket's jet-propelled steed of a, well rocket. The clone whizzed through the hallways past officers that shot away at him with bullets that bounced right off. He smashed through the first window he saw and with a insidious flare for the dramatic he did a barrel roll out into the night sky and zoomed upward. As he soared on through the air, Superboy and Cyborg leaped out after him in hot pursuit.

"GET COMMISONER GORDON UP TO SPEED, PEOPLE... LET'S GO! WE'RE HUNTING E.T. DOWN NOW!" Bullock was on the warpath as he got everyone mobilized and hopping into cars and choppers right after the escaping alien.

Nightwing spotted him from below as he zoomed in and out of traffic. "He just had to find the rocket-engine!"

He punched in commands to his bike, and it seperated from two wheels into one, with the back part of the cycle turning into a drone. Nightwing locked onto the clone as it whirled in for the assault.

The clone didn't appreciate the drone's pursuit, so he blasted it to pieces with a stolen assault rifle.

Dick called into the team, as he realized the airborne clone was getting closer to the river, to the city limits as he made his escape. "Nightwing here. I'm in pursuit! We need to force him back down NOW!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Cyborg called in as he was pushing the limits of his personal jets.

"We're one step ahead of you, Nightwing." Artemis radioed in. She and Arrowette had climbed their way up to the top of the twin-towers of the Gotham Life building. With a long string of cables and bolts attached, they took up position on both of the tower edges, with the clone in sight.

"Sure hope this is strong enough." Arrowette radioed in to her mentor.

"We just got to slow him down for Cyborg and the others. On my mark."

When the two archers both got the shot, Artemis yelled "FIRE!"
Two high tension arrow shafts whirled through the night sky, imbedding with powerful force into the side of rocket. The clone was caught by suprise, as the steel cables on attached to the arrows held the rocket in place. The czarnian revved the engine to break free, but the cables held him in place in the air as he struggled to break free. Artemis and Arrowette had tied the cables all around the building to hold him, while they used wench controls for the windowwashers to try and reel the rocket in like a fish on a hook.

As the archers did this, Robin caught up from a rooftop in the shadow of the Gotham Life. "Where's Wonder Girl and her lasso when you need it." Then he got an idea.

He took out his grappler and fired at the ensnared rocket the clone was atop. With a third cable now attached, Robin used his strength likewise to pull the clone alien, to try and ground him. The clone was getting riled up and angry, especially as he ducked a sonic blast from the incoming Cyborg. He spotted the archers nearby and took out his rifle. He had a cleanshot at the red-clad female archer... but with a pain of some strange feeling that came over him, the clone missed. He fired over hers and the other archers head, making them duck for cover while fired upon their positions.

Eventually with Cyborg closing in closer, the clone tossed aside the gun and unfurled his stolen chain. With ferocitus might, he slashed through one of the cables attached to his rocket.

Artemis was knocked aside by the whip of the slashed cable from the rooftop below. Arrowette struggled to maintain her line. Robin saw what was happening and pressed a button on his grappler, which launched him into the air, pulling him in closer to the clone. With another powerful slash of the hook on his chain, another cable line cut loose. And with a elated roar of laughter, the clone howled and revved up the rocket.

"Oh, I wish I had a better idea than thhhhiiiiIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS..." Before he could zoom away, Arrowette jumped off the side of the building to Artemis' dismay.

She grabbed hold of the line as it unfurled, cathcing hold of the other half of cable still attached to the clone's runaway rocket. Arrowette held on for dear life as she tried to climb her way up the rope, twisting in the wind with the cable with the city below her. Robin was reeling himself in from his grappler, who gave Arrowette a wave. With one hand tightly on the grappler, he used the other to whirl a dagger in Arrowette's direction. She thankfully caught it and clutched it down into her boot so it didn't slip out, she didn't exactly have time to grab her bow.

With that done, Robin took out a special birdarang. He threw it, as it hit the throttle of the rocket and flashfroze the clone's hands to the controls. He paniced and tried to break free. He couldn't exactly continue up a climbing trajectory, but Arrowette and Robin were in for a ride now as the rocket began hurtling downward without the clone able to steer and control the elevation.

"Maybe that was a good idddeeaWOOOOAHHH" Robin yelled over to Arrowette as the two were towed downward with the falling rocket.

While the clone tried to steer to no effect, his red eyes bulged as he saw that the rocket was about hit a building. He smashed his head into the instant ice, breaking free his grasp as he pulled up on the throttle. With a sharp turn he avoided the building, but Arrowette was on a collison course now!.

"Bad day, bad day, bad day!" she hollared at the top of her voice, as she used all the skills at her disposal to keep from smashing into the building like a fly on a windshield. She hit it feet first and actually ran across the side of it, as she then pushed herself off and went back to dangling in the air behind the crazy rocket-riding clone. The clone spotted her skills, laughing to himself "Dodge this you kezzy fem!"

Robin and Arrowette watched with horror as the clone decided to play chicken... with an oncoming police blimp!

"DO YOU SEE THAT!?" One of the pilots yells looking out the window, as the albino and blue-scarred alien zoomed along the side of the blimp, dragging the two heroes along behind him. Arrowette twisted into the window out of the blimp's path fortunatly. But Robin had the misfortune to launch facefirst into the glass. He was hit hard and bleeding out his nose from that scuffle, as got dragged of by the force of the line he held for dear life to. His grasp however was starting to slip.

"Robin, hold on!" Arrowette yelled, but Robin lost hold of the grappler and started to plummet downward. But low and behold, Cyborg made a daring rescue as he knocked Robin back into the blimp, this time right on top of it. He was able to stand on his feet, while Cyborg hovered alongside of him.

"I owe you one, rookie!" Robin said as he wiped his nose. He was grateful.

"I have an idea how to land him once and for all" Cyborg then said as he tranangulated a lock back on the rocket.

"Whatta you got in mind, cause it better be fast. Arrowette doesn't have much time!"

"I got the Sonic if you have the Boom. Hop on!"

Robin took hold on Cyborg's back as he then blasted off, the two of them soaring back to catch up to the clone and Arrowette. Elsewhere behind him, Superboy was in hot pursuit with Bullock and several police helicopters on his tail, hoping to takedown the alien first. Nightwing let Artemis borrow his bike while he grappling and swung through Gotham.

Arrowette was a few feet away from the clone now, holding for dear life onto the cable. She took the dagger Robin threw to her out of her boot and readied to us it, figuring on aiming at the controls to disable them. But the clone caught sight of her.

"You got balls, fem! I'll give ya that. Be a shame now to have to kill you with the rest of your bunch!"

"That is of course if you were intending to actually kill us!" Arrowette yelled over the roar of the engine. "You had a clear shot, why didn't you take it!?"

The burning question only enraged the clone, who whipped his chain and slashed the dagger out of Arrowette's hand before he could throw it. The clone then made a sharp turn with his rocket, to try and drag Arrowette into the path of the engine. He revved it up to produce a powerful and incinerating flame.

Before Arrowette could feel the fire, Cyborg and Robin made their move. Robin leaped off Cyborg's back and did a midair summersault. By the time the clone realized the two were above his head, Cyborg fired away a sonic blast, while Robin let loose a sonic boomerang. The concussion of the two collinding created a powerful explosion. The clone took the brunt of it as he was knocked off his saddle-bound rocket engine and feel hurtling to the city below.

The aimless rocket was about to crash, but Arrowette let go of her cable and feel downward, right into the path of the rocket. She grabbed hold of it and took the helm. She hit the ignition back on and moved in after the falling clone, while Robin activated his glider system and Cyborg zoomed in after Arrowette.

The clone smashed through a glass ceiling, cursing in a mix of his and earth language. Without warning he plummeted into a huge tank of water. He howled almost in agony as he came up for air after the tsunami-like smashdown into the water.

"**** IT'S COLD!" He screamed as he struggled in the water. To which he realized in opportunly that he couldn't swim. He was sinking like a rock in the pool of water. Only to then be struck in the face by a large floating mass... of ice.

The clone had crashed into the center of the scenic "Iceberg Lounge", a nightclub operated by Oswald Cobblepot... aka the Penguin.

Water he didn't like, but frozen and the clone just loved it. He dug his fingers into the sheer ice, cracking it as he climbed up on top of the hunk of it to get out of the bonechilling water. As he did, he saw Arrowette carelessly zoom in after him through the hole in the glass he came in through. She tired to steer only to see an incoming colum in her trajectory. Cissie bailed out and landed hard into a dining table below her, smashing good china as well as the table with the impact. She rubbed her head in pain, but no concussion. The rocket then crashed into the column nearby and exploded with tremendous force.

"WAAAAAAH!" a fat bird-like man squaked. Cobblepot.

"Hooligans!" he yelled once more while pointing his flippers at Arrowette, "I'll sue you misbegotten crusaders for destroying my establishment!"

While Arrowette rolled her eyes as she got up, the bird came closer to her, now while pointing his infamous umbrella. But before he could unleash his dicatomous vocabulary, he sqawked even louder at the sight of one of his prized polar bears... being hurled through the air. He tried to hobble his way to safety, but the polar bear crash landed right on top of him as both went flying into the grandstand where a band might before the entertainment.

The bear was terrified as he climbed off the Penguin, unharmed, and ran off. Oswald layed unconcious and incoherent.

Arrowette got to her feet to see the clone having climbed his way out of the giant arctic tank. He blew his nose with a massive blue glob of snot. Then with his chain and hook in one hand, swinging it around like a lasso, he stomped his way towards her, knocking tables out of the way in a rage.

"I go out for ONE night on the town, have a drink and a few laughs... and what do I get!? Every meatbag in this scuzzbucket planet out for my head... trying to fill it with more junk!"

"What kind of junk, the kind that says who to kill and for whom!?" Arrowette wasn't trained for situations like this, but yet she stood her ground and tried to talk the alien down.

"I frag what I want when I want, my blood demands it! Not when a bunch of monkies try to drill into my skull!"

"It was the gang that put you in that tank that taught you that?"

"NO! I... I just knew it, knew how to do it all, but not why I needed to. Why I wanted it!"

"Guess your alien DNA works differently like that, genetic memory or something. I'm no geek, but it's a safe bet!"

"Geek, huh? No... you're kezzy fem about to be a bloodstain on the floor!"

"I really doubt that Little Lobo!"

"W-who?"

"Lobo... that's who you were grown from!"

The clone stopped in his tracks, staring down the weaponless female archer. "First that jerk with the same scent as the tank calls me that. Now you! What... what does that even mean!?"

"It means they grew you, from a piece of a bounty hunter. Like a cutting from a plant. You have his strength, his appearance, and his... attitude. For all intents and purposes, you suppose to be as bad as he is. A weapon for Intergang!"

The clone let all this sink in, realizing what drives him is what drived his... his father.

"You have ever right to be angry for what's happened, but you don't have the right to take it out on everyone else!"

"WHO DO I TAKE IT OUT ON THEN?!"

"Try the guys who wanted you to kill for them. Or people just as bad as them. I may not understand what your going through, but I can see... that deep don't you don't want to kill!" the clone seethed with anger on that last word.

"Tell that to half the scumwads I knocked skulls with, ya stupid fem! Half the city I laid waste to!"

"Sure... you like violence. You live off it. But you rejected their attempts to train you, to brainwash you into a machine. You like hurting things because there's nothing better to do. But YOU DON'T WANT TO KILL! THAT'S WHY YOU'VE BEEN RUNNING, TRYING TO GET AWAY! You maybe just like the thing they cloned out from, but your not defined by him, or by them. NOBODY CAN MAKE YOU INTO SOMETHING YOU DON'T WANT TO BE!"

Nobody. That word mattered. Nobody. No home. No family or even memories. Just the rage of the being he was grown from, the being he was suppose to become. A mindless and violent killing machine.

"You choose who to be...YOU. CHOOSE. " Arrowette finished as the clone leered down right into her face. His breath was atrocius.

But something sunk into him, that word. Choose.

"I choose..." he muttered. He dropped the chain and hook, throwing it aside. Arrowette looked up in relief to see his red eyes. Almost saddened.

"AHHHHHH! I need a drink." he slobbered, as he stomped over to the nearest bar and grabbed a bottle of anything... it didn't matter to him so long as it was strong. Arrowette could lean on the nearest table and catch her breath. It's been a long night and that shouldn't have worked in a million years. She looked up to see the clone already guzzle down a bottle and toss it aside.

As she walked over, cautiously, towards the clone, Robin and Cyborg made their entrance into the nightclub from above.

"Ahhhh... everything... OKAY?" Cyborg asked the female archer as she limped over to greet them.

"I think... so. I don't know what I did exactly, I just winged it like Batman and... talked to him"

The three turned to see the clone facing them with another bottle in hand.

"I don't think he wants to fight... with us at least anymore."

"Wow" was all Robin could say. "Nicely done." The two heroes weren't about to go introduce themselves and buy him a round, but the fact he wasn't trying to kill them all was a step up after the night they just had.

"Okay, geek. Ya got me pinned right. I... I don't want to kill. Those jerkwads wanted me to be their little pet on a leesh to sick on anyone that crossed 'em. I HATE THEM FOR THAT. But I can't help dying for the action. It's in my blood, literally! I need to fight, but I guess that's how my kind is... how Lobo is."

"Well... join us then."

"WHAT!?" the clone, Robin, and Cyborg all said aloud.

"The Justice League... is a place to belong. You'll get a helluva lot of fighting... but for the good guys. You'll have a place to stay, and a chance to figure out what you're made of. Without destroying half a city in the process."

The clone turned to her and laughed.

"You... you expect me to just, just join you guys!?

"Nobody's forcing you. It's your choice." That word again, as the archer proudly crossed her arms while addressing the clone.

It was then that sirens began whirling outside, along with searchlights from helicopters, as police began to swarm the place.

"Keep in mind that you should expect alot more heroes and cops after you like tonight if you intend to go lone wolf renegade!" Robin reiterated.

The clone scratched his ears and mulled over the crazy idea. Just then Superboy leaped into scene, likewise through the whole above in the glass. He shook the floor with his landing, as he approached Arrowette adamently.

"Are you drzu-gahks really suggestin'... that after all the trouble I caused, all the damage I done, all the baggage included without me... that I should seriously join up with you?!"

"Yep." Arrowette punctuated as the clone inched closer, while Cyborg slowly armed his sonic cannon in case. Superboy couldn't believe what he was seeing, or that Arrowette managed to make it possible.

The clone let out a bellowing roar of laughter, for almost a good minute.

"Okay." Little Lobo then said in a dead serious tone.

"Welcome aboard." Superboy said, extending a hand, while Arrowette smiled and the other two looked perplexed and uneasy with the idea of working with Lobo's son.

The clone looked at the hand. "You... shake it." Superboy explained.

With a slight chuckle, he grabbed the kryptonian's fingers and LITERALLY SHOOK HIS HAND UP AND DOWN.

"Oh brother" Cyborg said with a metal facepalm.

"I figure anyone tough enough to take me one on one deserves fighting alongside. Hope your enemies are worth it!" the clone told Superboy. "I promise not to go easy on them." he finished with an malicious smile.

"I guarantee it, big guy. But we better make our leave real quick. We'll try to sort things out with the cops and the AOC later." If the League could sort it out, then Wayne Enterprises would gladly fit the bill with helping repair Gotham after the night's events. They wouldn't ever ask questions.

"So where do I get to crash?"

A collective uhhhhhh came from the heroes. They couldn't even think of where to keep a destructive clone like him in check, or comfortable.

"Artemis has a knack of taking in stray aliens", Nightwing chimed in from over the comms, "Starfire could always have a room..."

"DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT SENTANCE, DICK." Artemis sternly replied back over the comms.

Not to be picky... but after being cooped up in that damn tank... and chased through this cagey little city, I'd prefer someplace... open. If I have any say in the matter like the geek says.

The nickname was unfortunatly gonna stick as Arrowette feared. But Superboy's eyes beamed open at the idea that popped into his head.

"Tell ya what. You keep your anger in check, play by our rules... and I know of a place where you can all the open air and land, away from civilization. In Kansas!"

"Don't what a Kansas looks like... but DEAL. This wolf needs a place to run without worrying about squashing you apes!"

"Wolf... you know what a wolf is?" Cyborg asked.

"One of the scuzzheads whose clothes I took mentioned it, liked the sound of it, thought it fit. Suppose to be the toughest animals you got in this dump, am I right?"

"I remember an old story in high school... the son of the Wolf" Arrowette thought back to old english classes while abroad in Ireland for a time, that bored her to death. "WEYLYN"

"Huh?" Robin asked as she brainstormed.

"We can't keep calling him clone, or Little Lobo... or IT"

"I suppose..." Superboy cautiously said, while the clone looked on, growing a little annoyed at them talking about him right to his face as if it weren't there.

"It means SON... of the WOLF. Weylyn."

"That your idea of a name, geek? I like the sound of it... actually. WEYLYN."

Weylyn let out a little chuckle as his red eyes looked up past the searchlights circling them. Out into the stars. He had a reason to fight... and now he had a name which gave him enough reason to belong to this world.