One of the many features Bruce Wayne had funded and built into the Young Justice hide-away mountain was rooms for all of the members (and then some). Each room functioned both as an office space and a place for team members to sleep before and after particularly stressful missions. A little while after school had ended for the super teens, Dick, Wally, Superboy, and Artemis were making use of the cave. Dick was up in his room working on an update to his computer's anti-virus programming. It was critical that his computer be cutting edge if he intended to use it on missions. Down the hall he could hear Artemis and Wally fussing at each other. Wally was trying to convince Artemis to watch a movie with him when Dick heard something strange. There was a crash in the room next door. Dick cautiously peeked his head out the door to investigate.
The noise wouldn't have been significant anywhere else, but Dick's room was next to Superboy's and Superboy tended to be pretty quiet when he wasn't upset. He stepped out into the hall, looking for any sign of an intruder. Finding none, he knocked lightly on the door. It was unlikely that the Superboy hadn't heard him, so when the door was left unopened, Dick decided to investigate. He opened the door slowly, one hand on his utility belt. The room was a mess. The floor was littered with broken glass and a couple pieces of crumpled notebook paper. In the middle of the room he saw the rest of the torn notebook.
"Superboy? You there?" He looked around the room, seeing little in the dark.
"I didn't say you could come in." The voice came from behind Dick, practically breathing down his neck. He turned around quickly, a Batarang drawn. Superboy looked down at him, his eyes creased with distrust. He heard Robin's heart beating quickly as the boy stepped back and slowly began to relax.
"It's you," he muttered, more to himself. "I heard a crash," he looked at the wreckage, "presumably your lamp hitting the floor. What's going on? Is everything okay?" Superboy walked over to his bed and sat with his head in his hands.
"Yeah, fine. Go away, Robin." He just wanted to be alone.
"Why don't you let me help clean up the glass at least? It might not hurt you, but someone could still get cut." Robin carefully kneeled on the floor in front of Superboy, stretching out the gather the shards of glass. His body was small, so much more fragile than the Kryptonian's. He couldn't help but watch as Robin carefully scooped the pieces into a pile. Robin talked to Superboy as he worked, but Superboy couldn't hear any of it as he was lost in his own thoughts.
"…don't you think?" Superboy blinked.
"What?" Superboy watched as Robin turned to face him.
"Wow. Super-hearing and you still can't hear me," he laughed at the irony. "I said, 'that's a lot better, don't you think?'" Superboy looked at where the glass shards had been.
"Sure, I guess." He couldn't really care either way about the shards. It wasn't like they could hurt him, and it was his own fault for breaking the lamp. He felt uncomfortable with Robin in his room and wanted him to leave as soon as possible. He felt antsy being near the young detective. Dick watched his team mate with concern. He never really spoke much with Superboy. They were just too different… it seemed weird. Dick usually couldn't shut up while Superboy had to be coaxed to say a word. He was always so angry and sad. Dick had always been a problem-solver, and looked for something he could do to help. The floor had been cleared of the shards of glass but there were still scraps of notebook paper littering the room. He started to pick one up. He thought about uncrumpling the paper to see what was written, but it didn't seem right, especially given the circumstances. Superboy's anxious gaze seemed to confirm that he shouldn't so he left the paper where it was and stood, dusting himself off.
"Uhhh, is there anything I can do to help?" Superboy watched him. At first, he looked at the younger boy with scorn. Whatcouldyoupossiblydo?Robin rubbed his neck uncomfortably and Superboy started to feel guilty. Maybehecouldhelp…
"Hey, Robin?" Superboy asked, feeling nervous before it was even out of his mouth. "Is it possible for a clone to be different from the original and still be a clone?" Robin looked at him pensively. He walked over and took a seat beside him on the bed before responding.
"Well, yeah. In your case, you're different from Superman, but that's only because you're younger. If Superman were to be younger, then you'd probably be a lot closer to being the same."
"No, I mean…" He trailed off, thinking for a moment before starting again. "Is it possible for a clone to bedifferent. Like maybe have a different skin color or something…"
"No, not to have a different skin color since their DNA would be the same. Why do you ask?" Dick remembered the look Bruce had given him, the look which told him to search deeper. He was getting closer to whatever it was he was supposed to find.
"Robin, IthinkIknowhowyoucanhelpme."
