Back with more and this time much quicker! I told you I'd be back soon! Well here it is without further ado, the new chapter of How Clones Change Lives. Enjoy!

Ch.10

HQ, Juneau, Alaska, 14:39 ASKT

An acrid smell filled the Team members' noses. They each woke-up to a face-full of smelling salts and amused looking villains. Both Kaldur and Roy were surprised to be in as good a condition as the others; but that wasn't saying much. Artemis had a large gash trailing from the back of her head to her right temple. Not even what looked like a group of the most notorious villains could save Robin from the Joker's sick games. There were several bloodied bandages put on messily along his wrists, arms, ankles and legs. Wally looked deadly pale, and he seemed disoriented by all the noise. M'gann was slightly bruised, but her health looked dim as she was being kept near a hot torch of fire.

Conner had scratches that looked harmless, but by the pained look on his face, it was obvious the shackles were enlaced with kryptonite. What worried everyone about Superboy was how much kryptonite was in the shackles, he could die in hours if it was too much. Zatanna was gagged, unable to speak. She looked shaken but unharmed; it looked like the bigger battle was going on in her head by her grave eyes. Whatever had happened had shaken her to the core.

Roy was sweating at an unnatural rate, his constant wincing and grimaces indicating that he was suffering from a strong headache. Amazingly Kaldur looked like the most unharmed out of all of them. He looked flushed, and he constantly rubbed his arms to keep warm. Killer Frost had been right; his Atlenean abilities had helped him with the subzero temperatures that would have killed any of his friends. The one thing he couldn't shake off was this piercing cold in his core, and it gave him a sense of dread. He shivered and ignored it for the moment.

"Morning, sleepy heads. I hope our rooms fit your accommodations." Cheshire purred. Sportsmaster sent her a deathly glare, silencing her simultaneously. Artemis managed to give them her own venomous glare, but it quickly turned to a grimace, losing its threat.

"Yeah, a cold concrete floor in a cell is just amazing to sleep on when you're wounded." She snarled sarcastically.

"Artemis." Robin hissed, "You might not want to anger the people who are holding us captive." Roy frowned at his conflicting thoughts, and took the chance to voice them.

"Why did you save us?" he questioned, "You have us easily outnumbered, we were unconscious. Why?"

"Smart boy." An amused Ra al Ghul praised.

"Very smart." A voice from the back of the room called out. A passageway opened instantaneously in the middle of the multitude of villains, letting the mystery shadow step forward. Roy's eyes became slits at the sight of the person as everything dawned on him.

"Luthor." He growled, "You're the head of this whole organization. You planned every single move so far." It wasn't a question.

"Another point for the boy archer." He smirked, "As for letting you live, you should be grateful."

"You didn't answer his question." Kaldur said coolly, "Why? Have we not proven a worthy adversary? We've gotten in your plans enough times before to be held a grudge against." Luthor gave him a pitiful look, though by his scowl you could tell his patience was wearing thin.

"Fine, your question shall be answered; but first…." He trailed off and clapped his hands. After a minute of tense silence Gorilla Grodd and Black Adam came back, dragging someone behind them. Luthor smiled, he knew he held the cards to the game at the moment. "I would think you would want to greet an old comrade. You don't want to be rude little children."

He moved out of the way, letting the two villains dump the broken figure outside the cell. At the sight of his pained features and the radiant piece of luminescent kryptonite, many of the Team members gasped. They did all they could at the moment; stare and gape in horror and shock. Finally, a weak voice broke the awed silence.

"Superman." Conner gasped.

Transportation point, Edmonton, Canada, 7:50 MDT

Dinah cursed out in frustration. If there was one time for the climate in Alaska to get in the way, right now was the worst. She'd heard Diana, Barry, Shayera, Arthur, J'onn, and Giovanni give their confirmations that they had made it in teams to Alaska. She knew Batman and Arrow weren't far behind, as well as back-up from Captain Marvel and more of the League's accomplices. Either way, she knew they wouldn't be able to find the hideout, she knew that now. It was heavily protected with all sorts of guards, technology, and magic.

That made a big suspicion come up to her mind; how had such a strong signal of radioactive kryptonite reached them with such heavy walls protecting the fort? Her frustration and fatigue from lack of sleep caught on to her; she punched the Zeta-beam with a strong force. Her knuckles throbbed with pain, and she knew she'd probably fractured something, but she ignored the searing pain. It had been more than half a day since Roy had activated the tracker; it worried her that there had been no change in location for so long.

Finally the sound she had been trying to get ahead of for the past eternal hours filled her ears; the motors of a sports car and technologically enhanced jet. Oliver jumped out of the bright green, arrow shaped car, Bruce silently following out of the sleek, midnight black jet. A deep frown was etched on Oliver's face, and Bruce's signature scowl and glare shot daggers at her. She was much too frustrated to have to deal with their opinions on her actions. She sent them her own menacing glare and went back to cursing and hoping that the Zeta-beam would finally work. Oliver would have none of it. He forcefully grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

"What the hell Dinah?" he shouted, "First, you refuse to tell us where the kids went, and now you run off like if we were some sort of menace, and endanger the whole mission!" He looked her in the eye; trying to find something that would give him the answers he desperately needed to be self-assured this had nothing to do with their relationship. All he found was that those blue orbs were closed, cold, and calculating as ever. "Dinah what's going on with you?" he begged, "It's like you're not the same person I knew and still love." With a wince hidden from both of them, she brusquely pulled away from him.

"What makes you think you're the one with the reason?" she fired back, "Unlike you, I trust the Team enough to handle themselves. If you think they're so small, then why let them form Young Justice at all? Why make them your protégés in the first place?" Ollie stared at her, taken aback by her harsh response.

She ignored both men once more and went to a fully equipped cabinet on the west wing of the small station. She took the first-aid kit out, wrapping a white bandage around her knuckles for protection. As she finished, she grabbed an extra supply of bandages and medication. They wouldn't know how much they would need this, and they couldn't risk another major malfunction. Batman came up behind her, she would've jumped if she hadn't gotten used to it after all the years.

"I got the Zeta-beam working." His tone was a menacing growl. "Now lead us to where the Team is so we can proceed to rescue them." Like Oliver, he grabbed her by her injured hand to turn her to see him eye-to-eye. Only Bruce wasn't so loose on his grip, and his fingers didn't grip her wrist but her fingers forcefully. She met his gaze head on; she wasn't letting a man with a cowl intimidate her.

"I may have been hung up on you when I was younger, but understand this. No person, emotion, or law will stop me from saving my son or all those kids. One day they'll rise up to be true heroes, allowing them or not. So learn to trust me, them, and our judgment from now on, or get out of the way." She was practically hissing in his ear now. She pulled away, walking towards the Zeta-beam. She stepped inside, leaving two conflicting heroes in her wake.

HQ, Juneau, Alaska, 15:07 ASKT

Superman didn't even look up at the Team. He was extremely pale and sickly frail. All any of the young heroes could do was stare in dismay and defeat as Luthor kicked him on the ribs, making him double over in pain. Lex watched in sick pleasure as his crumpled form lay there, his most demented dreams coming to life before his eyes.

"You know it was too easy finding and capturing the undefeatable Superman." He mocked, "His predictability being his Achilles' heel. Thinking he could bring me down himself without any persons' help. A foolish mistake if any." He turned his gaze from the floor to the cell where the Team was shackled in.

"We thought the Justice League would have already found one of their most important members by now. After that we were going to take them by surprise and ambush them. Obviously our assumptions were wrong. We must have thought too highly of them." That brought a few ill intent cackles from the group of villains. "And yet you children managed to find us against all odds." He grinned maliciously. "We decided to give the League another little hint as to our whereabouts. I do believe that high kryptonite radiation signal was sent just around the time you appeared. Isn't that right everyone?" It was met with expectant silence. That was when everything clicked together in Robin's head.

"We're bait. We're their captives so they can call the shots during a negotiation I'm assuming is going to happen not too log from now." He stated.

"Very good, boy detective." Luthor praised. M'gann, having some strength, opened her eyes, concentrating intently on Superman. She gasped.

"But Superman." She whispered, "His life force, it's so weak. He doesn't have much time left." Lex gave her an obvious disgusted look.

"Well yes. The kryptonite has been slowly killing him for the past few days. A big loss really, but victory always comes with a rather big price. That is a price the League is paying. They won't be able to find us in time to save the pestering hero, but in good time we'll find them, more than ready to strike the final blow." His self-lionization stopped as something shook the walls of the secret headquarters violently. Roy couldn't help but grin to himself; he'd know that distant sound anywhere.

"What are you smiling about, boy?" Ra al Ghul snarled at him. Roy's grin only widened, and he gave him a cryptic answer as any.

"Your mastermind forgot all about radio signal, old man." A piercing shriek shook the walls intensely, bringing them down in a sea of dust and icy cold wind. Out of the cloud and debris stepped out Black Canary, followed closely by half the Justice League. She smiled with daring and danger at the scene.

"I hope we aren't too late to the party." She cooed, "I just love to dance." A small growl was emitted by more than half the villains at once. Cheshire broke the restless silence with a remark of her own.

"Then let's dance, black birdie." The swish of her swords was the only battle cry needed to ignite the battle.

So what do you think? Like the story so far? Promise there's still going to be some more twists and turns in the future, I hope it will bring some of the epic endings you want. So here's my shout outs to all the wonderful reviewers out there:

GhostDog401

C.A.M.S 22

Doglover500

I.C.2014