Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or Justice League.

It was brought to my attention that not everyone gets the updates that I put up on the days that I put them up. I would just like to clarify on that. As of today (Wednesday for me) I will update three days from now (Saturday), not including today. Then it will be another four days before I post again (Wednesday). Due to my irregular schedule chapters may be posted early in the day if I have them written beforehand, or later at night when I have not.

Anyway, thanks for listening and I hope that you enjoy!

Chapter 10

What!?

Lex Luthor was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

He knew, the moment he saw the boy, unconscious and strapped down on the table with kryptonite handy, that he could only be Superman's son. His features were angled just right (though his cheekbones where slightly out of place) and younger, but if the kid had wanted to he could have passed as Superman.

The only thing that threw him off slightly was the kid's skin tone. It was slightly darker than Superman's. A trait from his mother, perhaps?

"I want a full DNA analysis. Mother, father, possible siblings, age, and anything else that can be pulled from it. No one is to look at the completed data until after I have seen and approved it," he ordered to a group of scientists who were waiting in the side of the room.

"Um," one of the Thugs spoke up, "Aren't we gunna be paid?"

Luthor turned back to him, his eyes gleaming slightly at everything that he was about to learn, "Of course, come with me."

But even the prospect of Superman's son did not save those who had captured him. They got their payment, though it was not what they were expecting.

The city would not mourn their loss. Petty criminals, after all, are hardly ever expected somewhere. When a few of them disappear? No one notices.

That was just the way he liked to do things.

0~o~0

M'gann groaned and pushed herself up, dimly noticing that she couldn't feel the distinct hum of Superboy in her mind. She didn't pay attention to it at first, more concerned about her surroundings.

All around her steal bars blocked her way. She blinked as she realized that she was in a cage. Everything was dark and if it wasn't for her slight night vision she would never have noticed the sleeping guard in front of her cage.

"What . . ." she whispered, confused. Where was she? What had happened? All she remembered was that Superboy and her had been looking at the sights when he heard a Bank being robbed . . .

And she had convinced them to go help stop the robbery. One of the criminals had kryptonite and Superboy went down. Soon after she had been knocked out.

Panicking slightly M'gann reached out with her mind in search of Superboy, but he was no where to be found. The place where his mind could usually be found, even while unconscious, was empty, emotionless.

There was no connection.

Panic rising as the seconds passed one thought focused in her mind. She had to find Conner.

Silently she became intangible and floated through the cage and out of the room. Where had they taken Superboy?

Later the guard would wake only to find their prisoner gone with no hint of a break out.

Those bars weren't meant to hold a Martian, after all.

0~o~0

Wally sighed unhappily as he glared around at the store, once again in his civilian clothing, "Do we have to do this?"

Artemis sent him a glare, showing that her patients was running thin, "Whose idea was it to run all the way here at superspeed and not expect that we might need new clothing?" she snapped back at him, annoyance clear in her expression.

Wally winced slightly. He hadn't thought about it, and as such one villain had already seen them in costume already. Hopefully Trickster wouldn't spread it around.

They had been forced to dig another pare of clothing from a charity basket in order to go anywhere without people seeing them in costume, which would have been like painting a huge red sign on their backs for the Justice League that said 'Here I am! Come get me!' Airtimes was determined to get out of the barrowed clothing as soon as possible, though, and that what why they were here.

She had also made him wear a brown wig, seeing as his hair was 'too noticeable'.

Not fun.

"Yah, but why the Mall?" Wally whined, shifting as he stared around them. He had never liked the mall. There were just too many people for him to be comfortable. A big place like this meant lots of possible casualties if a fight broke out.

"Shut it, Baywatch," Artemis said, going through the clothing almost faster than he could follow. The hangers snapping from one side to the other as she searched, "If it wasn't for your great idea than we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."

Wally opened his mouth to retort, ready to defend his point that she was the one to suggest that they go to Central City in the first place, when his eyes caught on something and the words died in his throat. There was a guy standing a few isles from them that kept glancing around and then speaking into something that Wally could not see.

It was the same guy that he had seen not ten minutes again in a different isle, and then five minutes before that.

His throats went dry.

"Um, Artemis?" Wally asked, reaching out to shake her arm slightly.

"Not now Wally. The sooner that we get this done, the faster we can leave-"

"Artemis?" he asked again, his voice rising slightly as he spotted two more followers, "I-I think were being followed."

"Wally – wait, what did you say?" Artemis paused in her searching for less than a second before the clicking resumed. For a moment Wally was worried that she hadn't been listening, but then she spoke again, in a much lower voice, "How many?"

"T-three visible. I don't know about any others," he turned to look but was stopped by a hand on his arm.

"Don't look at them. That makes you suspicious and more likely for them to look at you," Artemis spoke, her voice level as she calmly placed all of the selected cloths back onto the rack. Though her actions hinted that she was calm, he could feel the slight tremble in the hand resting on his arm.

Wally took a deep breath to calm himself. Given the choice he would have run both Artemis and himself out of the mall in a split second, but the video cameras would have caught everything and that was even worse.

"Are their any distinguishing factors? Is there any way that we are not the targets?" Artemis asked, guiding him away from the clothing and closer toward the front, which was a ways away. It would take them nearly ten minutes to get there at the pace they were going.

"Um, I think they were all wearing black jackets . . . and this is the third time that I've seem them, which is the only reason why I realized that they were following us."

Artemis eyes narrowed, "Two coming from the front."

"Oh, no," Wally muttered, muscles tensed in preparation for a fight. So far the three from the isle had not followed them, so he had hoped that they had lost them, but it looked like they had backup.

"Put your arm around me and laugh at something I said," Artemis demanded suddenly.*

Wally nearly stumbled in his surprise, "What?"

"Put your arm around me and laugh at something I said," when he still hesitated she leaned into his side and hissed, "Now, Baywatch."

Eyes slightly wide Wally did as asked, ducking his head, putting his arm around her, and laughing loudly, which was drowned out in the sound all around them.

The two in black jackets glanced their way for a moment, before ignoring them and walking right past. Behind the Wally heard one of them mutter, "Where did they go? The others said that they were coming this way."

So they were being followed.

Wally took his arm back, his face scrunching up slightly at the thought of having to touch the green archer, "I'm never doing that again."

Artemis only snorted and picked up the pace, leaning slightly farther away from him than she had been before, "If it works it works. See anyone else?"

A quick survey of their surroundings came up blank, "Not at the moment."

"Good," she started heading toward the doors again when two more walked in, making her pause and grab him arm, turning him ninety degrees and away from their escape.

"What . . ." Wally asked, confused.

"Two watching the door. We are going to have to find another way out."

Wally was sure that his throat was completely dry from the scratchy feel. How was Artemis dealing with this so well? It was almost like she knew exactly what to do in this kind of situation. He was usually the one seeking, not the one running, so he had no idea what was going on.

Artemis lead him to a downward escalator, her eyes calmly roving around all of the people as if she wasn't concerned, "Head for the car parking lot. There are fewer cameras down there and it will be easier to throw them off."

Wally nodded, his stomach rolling uncomfortably as the stairs under his feet moved downward ever so slowly. How could people even stand these? He felt like he was going to fall.

Artemis's eyes stopped, focusing on a man farther down on the other side of the escalator, the side going up. He, too, was searching everyone around him. Wally saw her eyes narrow before she abruptly turned around to face him.

"Kiss me."*

What? Wally blinked. What was up with Artemis and her strange demands today? It was almost like she was a different person.

And weren't they supposed to be worried about the person who was about to see them?

"I don't-"

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," she stated, as if reciting from a textbook.*

Wally glanced at her like she was crazy, "Yes, they do."

Sighing in exasperation Artemis reached up and grabbed him by his shoulders, brought him down and firmly planted a kiss on his lips. Wally tried to pull back in surprise as he felt her warm lips on his, but was prevented as she wouldn't let go. What was she doing?

She was . . . a very good kisser.

The man in the black leather jacket glanced away, uncomfortable, and continued to search among the others, never realizing that his target was slipping right by him.

As soon as he was far enough away Artemis pulled back, leaving Wally dazed and foggy eyed. She narrowed her eyes at him, "Snap out of it Baywatch. We still have to get out of here."

"Oh, um, yah. Get out . . . the garage?" Wally stuttered, his eyes clearing as he followed her after they stepped off of the escalator.

Artemis snorted, "Where did you think that we were headed."

Wally didn't respond, more concerned with glancing around and keeping his eyes off of the green archer.

Who knew she was a good kisser.

"And Baywatch?"

"What?" Wally asked, anxious. Where they still being followed?

"You're a terrible kisser."

0~o~0

Luthor wasn't sure what he was expecting when the DNA test came back. Maybe the boy's mother had been from one of the northern countries on the other side of the world, and that was the reason for his slightly darker skin tone. Other than that, the kid could have been an exact replica of Superman himself.

Except he wasn't, and the testing proved that.

Luthor set the report down with narrowed eyes as he looked at the submissive scientist in front of him. As directed, none of the researchers had been allowed to look at the data after it was completely complied, meaning that none of them knew what the file said.

It had been an act of paranoia, but he was grateful that he had done it now.

"None of the other scientists have seen this?" he asked for conformation.

"No Mr. Luthor. They don't even know what they were working on, as per your instructions."

Luthor hummed slightly, slumping unnoticeably back into his chair. To anyone else he was sitting just as straight as he had before, and it would take someone who knew him (which was no one) to tell that he was relieved by what he had heard.

"Make sure that it stays that way," Lex Luthor said in a monotone voice, his eyes focusing on the scientist, "And . . . move subject SB4 to the Neutral Rooms. Notify me when he wakes up."

"Yes Mr. Luthor," the scientist nodded and, taking his words as a dismissal, hurried out of the office.

As soon as the scientist had left and the door closed soundly behind him Luthor stood up and strode to the window. His eyes were hollow as he looked out over his city though the tinted glass.

Somewhere out there was Superman. Somewhere out there someone had his DNA as well as Luthor's own and had created something that should never have existed and yet did.

He had a son.

Luthor took in a shaky breath, his thoughts going back to the boy he had seen. It all made sense now. The boy was a clone of Superman . . . and yet he was not. He was only half Kryptonian, and half human.

It would take some time getting used to, and in the mean time Luthor was going to find out who had done this without his permission.

And when he found them? They would pay.

0~o~0

Ah, yes, another chapter finished.

*For any of you who are Captain America fans, you would recognize what happened to Wally and Artemis. I thought that I would just throw that in there, as that has been one of my ideas since the beginning . . . I should probably also put that I don't own Captain America either.*

Who is following them, though, that is the question.

Hmm . . . who do you want to see next? Robin? Roy? More Kid Flash and Artemis (I am not making this romance, just for reference. That was just to bring more speculation. Who knows . . . the Justice League might just get the footage from the Mall)? M'gann? Luthor? There are too many choices . . .

Review and tell me what you think!

(Updated: 11/18/2015)