Kid Flash walked over to the pod to get a closer look.
"Big 'K' little 'r'. The atomic symbol for Krypton. Clone?" Kid Flash said, turning to the others.
"Robin, hack." Aqualad said.
"Oh, right, right." Robin said, recovering from his shock and plugging into the computer.
She went over to the pod by Kid Flash.
"…The facial structure looks kind of similar to Superman's." She said, before putting her hand to her head and groaning.
"Are you okay?" Kid Flash said.
"I-I think I just have a headache. This is all a bit overwhelming at the moment. I wasn't expecting so much excitement today; I didn't really sleep last night." She said, with a slight chuckle.
Kid Flash helped her sit down a little ways away from the pod.
"You'll be okay, you're a tough cookie." Kid Flash said.
She smiled a little before nodding in agreement.
"Weapon designation, Superboy. A clone force grown in- 16 weeks?" Robin exclaimed. "From DNA acquired from, Superman." His eyes widened.
"Stolen from, Superman." Aqualad said.
"No way the big guy knows about this." Kid Flash said.
She had started to tune the boys out a bit as she examined the boy in the pod. The thought of someone deliberately stealing Superman's DNA to make a clone of him was disturbing.
'What if this isn't the only clone?' She thought, her migraine growing a little worse. She focused energy to her head to relieve the tightness, and slowly but surely she was starting to feel better.
"Now we contact the league." Aqualad said.
Everyone tried their means to communicate. She had pushed down on the 'A' on her buckle and found that she could only receive static.
"No signal." Robin said.
"We're in too deep, literally" Kid Flash said. "This is wrong." He said, referring to the clone.
"We can't leave him like this." Robin said.
Aqualad had a face of contemplation.
"Set him free. Do it." Aqualad said.
Robin opened the pod and the clone picked up his arm shortly after. Once his eyes were open he flew across the room and tackled Aqualad to the ground before starting to punch him in the face multiple times. She immediately got to her feet and ran with the others to stop Superboy from beating on him.
"Whoa! Hang on, Supey!" Kid Flash exclaimed.
"We're on your side!" Robin exclaimed, straining to keep him from doing more damage.
"You need to calm down!" She exclaimed.
Superboy slipped his right arm out of Kid Flash's hold and punched him backwards through a glass pillar. Robin then detonated a smoke bomb in Superboy's mouth. As he started to choke on the device Aqualad took the opportunity to kick him away, knocking him into the control panel. Robin shot a taser at him which didn't seem to be very effective. He grabbed the prongs attached to his chest and pulled Robin towards him and caught him in mid-air, slamming him down on his back and stepping on his chest. She rammed him from the back and knocked him far enough away for her to get to Robin. As she was about to try and help him up she felt a strong hand around her throat starting to strangle her while simultaneously stomping on Robin again. She started to choke, and the immense pain combined with the lack of oxygen caused her eyes to roll back into her head.
"Enough!" Aqualad yelled, hitting Superboy with his ice hammer.
Superboy went flying before he landed against his pod table, cracking it.
Aqualad helped Robin up before he collapsed on his side from the pain. He shook her to get her to respond.
"Are you alright?" Aqualad said.
"My windpipe isn't crushed yet. Look alive." She said, weakly pointing in the direction she heard footsteps coming from.
Aqualad stood up and put his hand out for Superboy to stop.
"We are trying to help you!" Aqualad exclaimed.
Superboy stayed silent before moving to attack Aqualad again. He moved out of the way in time for Superboy to punch a big crack in the floor, and Aqualad to slam him against a far wall.
'How the hell did this even happen?" She thought, starting to feel the burning in her neck slowly subside.
She made her way to Robin to make sure he was alright
"Are you okay, kid?" She said.
Robin groaned in pain as she tried to get him to sit upright. She watched the brawl between Superboy and Aqualad escalate to the point of Superboy jumping and slamming Aqualad into the rock ceiling of the room.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, seeing him slam Aqualad another time.
Aqualad didn't get up after the second time, and Robin still wasn't moving to support himself. She ran away from Superboy as he got closer.
"We are not the enemy! We're here to help you!" She exclaimed.
Superboy didn't react to her words, he ran at her and she braced for impact with her sword acting as a shield. She was able to hold him back for a moment before he got one of his arms loose and punched her square in the mouth. She stumbled backwards and flung her sword in his direction, the skin to sword contact did no visible damage. She activated her flames and he backed off, seeming to be affected by it.
"Yeah, I heard Superman is susceptible to magic attacks as well." She said, before flinging her sword in a wide horizontal arc, sending a wave of flames his way.
He jumped up to avoid them before coming back down hard, creating a wave affect in the floor and throwing her off balance. He moved far too fast for her to react in time, making it possible for him to grab her by her shoulders, and fling her into a wall, knocking her out.
"Time runs short. You must awaken! You must awaken, now!" A voice called in her head.
When she woke up she found herself inside a pod with her hands shackled above her. She looked to her left and saw the others in pods as well. She started feeling nauseous and shut her eyes trying to concentrate on not vomiting.
'I feel like a limp noodle. Did he knock any of my teeth loose?' She thought, as she ran her tongue over her teeth, tasting blood and feeling a tooth move. "Damn." She said out loud.
"Dam? Like beavers?" Superboy said confused.
"No." She said, glaring past him.
The boys continued to converse with Superboy in hopes that they could persuade him in letting them go.
"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Aqualad said.
"I am the Superboy, a Genomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he parish, to destroy him should he turn from the light." Superboy said.
She shuddered at the thought of Superboy having the ability to destroy Superman.
"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman you deserve a life of your own, beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus." Aqualad said.
"I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" Superboy yelled defensively.
"Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun." Robin said.
"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon." Kid Flash said.
"We can show you, introduce you to Superman." Aqualad said.
Superboy looked astonished.
"No, they can't. They'll be otherwise, occupied. Activate the cloning process." Desmond, a man in a lab coat with a Genomorph on his shoulder, said walking into the room.
"Pass! Batcave's crowded enough." Robin said.
"I'm not really one for sharing things. Especially NOT my DNA." She said.
Desmond pressed a button that caused her shackles to electrocute her, making her cry out in pain.
"Let's keep the chatter to a minimum." Desmond said. "And get the weapon back in its pod!" He harshly ordered Guardian.
"Help us." Aqualad said, addressing Superboy.
When Guardian tried to lead Superboy away he pulled his shoulder away from his hand.
"Don't start thinking now. " Desmond said.
The Genomorph on Desmond's shoulder jumped onto Superboy's and started glowing.
"See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon and you belong to me. Well, to Cadmus. Same thing! Now get back to your pod!" Desmond ordered.
Superboy obeyed without hesitation and walked out with the door closing behind him. Desmond's assistant activated the machine to extract the team's blood samples. Two robotic arms with four prongs each had electricity running through them. She looked at them fearfully at the thought of being electrocuted again, when the prongs entered her skin on either side of her chest she started crying out and struggling.
"Please, stop!" She yelled in pain.
She felt herself vomit in her mouth a little and had no other choice but to swallow it back down. After a while there was a loud banging on the door and it was lifted out of the wall and above Superboy's head. His entrance managed to stop the extraction.
'Oh thank goodness.' She thought, as tears streamed down her face.
Robin's pod opened without anyone touching anything and he jumped out.
"Urgh, finally. Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long." Robin said, rubbing his wrists.
"Seriously, that's what you're worried about? The whole league will have our heads after tonight!" Kid Flash said.
"Let's actually get out of here first before we start worrying about the league." She said.
Robin pressed a button on the control panel and the others pods opened.
"Free Aqualad and Red Alchemist. I'll get Kid Mouth." Robin said.
Aqualad slumped before Superboy caught him, Aqualad thanked him and he nodded. He went over to her and shattered her shackles as well.
"You knocked my tooth loose." She said, glaring at him. "But I guess you rescuing us makes us square, for now."
Superboy nodded at her as well before they all jumped down and made a break for it. As they ran by, Desmond yelled after them.
"You'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!" Desmond threatened.
"Suck it, you demented weirdo!" She yelled back at him.
As they left the room they heard an explosion.
"What did you do?" She said.
"I destroyed our DNA samples." Robin said with a smirk.
"You are officially my favorite." She said, smiling back at him.
"What am I, the orange popsicle?" Kid Flash said.
"Who said I don't like orange?" She said, earning a smile from Kid Flash.