16.

Metropolis

September 22

20:47 UTC

"So let me get this straight," Alexander said as he looked his 'friends' over, "you four, one of which is a one man army, failed to take down just one of the junior pep squad, and had your numbers reduced in the process?"

Sitting in Alexander's office, the twins and Billy wanted nothing more than to have this debriefing over with. The fight at Happy Harbor was supposed to have ended differently, much differently, and not have cost them a teammate while also taking out or capturing one of the young heroes. While the explanation on their defeat was hard to tell, the information they gathered was explained quite differently.

"Otto was arguably the strongest among you," Alexander told them, "capable of becoming a massive, near invulnerable creature made of plasma. And you three failed in coming to his aid when he needed it. I have told you before, but maybe I was not explicit enough. Watch each other's backs. This is how you protect yourselves and hurt them."

"Aw, come on, Alex," Billy said, "we done what we were s'posed ta do. Plus, we had no idea Mister X was that powerful."

"That 'Mister X' is the son of my father and is owned by this company. Being how his biological parents are Project Kr and a Martian woman, it should go without saying he is extremely powerful, but we need intel of the limits of those powers. As for the others, you were informed on the speedster, Atlantan, and Majick user. The other girl is of no consequence as she has no Meta gene according to information we have recorded on our drones."

Standing from his large chair, Alexander made his way in front of his desk. "I have chosen you due to your power sets. Otto was to lead the charge, tire them out and disarm them. You two, Zan, Jayna, clones of aliens once here on Earth, were to keep them busy as Billy overwhelmed them.

"We tried that," Jayna said. "Aside from the ginger, they were quite whelmed and managed to regroup. The Atlantian led the others and separated us-"

"In which Plasmius was lost to the enemy, I know." Sweeping a hand through his hair, Alexander gave a huff then leaned against his desk. "Cadmus was the first attempt at what Lex wanted for the future, a facility where Metahumans could be created to usher in the next phase of humanity and protect us when need be. Project Kr was our first attempt to make sure we would never have to lose our protectors, to make sure they would be on our side at all times."

"I thought it was for trafficking them," Zan commented.

"That too," Alexander told him. "It was on the cusp of greatness, the infancy of its life. My father wanted nothing more than to protect the human race, to see it thrive the way it should. All his dealings with alien species, civilizations, were to place us as a major power in the grand scheme of things. What we could have gained had it not have been for the thorn that is the so called Justice League. At least, that is as far as some people were to know."

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Alexander grew silent. He looked over the three before him and gave a curt nod. "The plan has changed. To reinvigorate Cadmus, we only need one of the kids. Fortunately, the group has been infiltrated. If all goes smoothly, I'll have my father's property back and Cadmus will be reborn. In the meantime, I want you three to keep tabs on them. Make sure Mar'i's mission goes smoothly, and take out the wannabe heroes at the first opportunity you get."

Happy Harbor - Underground Black Ops base

September 22

20:46 UTC

"You're insane, you know that? Utterly insane!" Marching around Carter, Lorena smacked him on the back of the head. "You don't know who this girl is and you put our lives in her hands?! Civilian lives in her hands?!"

"Not to mention you ignored us for her!" Irey said as she threw her goggles at the teen boy's face. "We needed the help!"

"And the extra fire power." Taking her cape off, Carrie tossed it over Carter's head. "But no, you were busy staring at her jiggly bits-"

"And those are some very nice bits," Zachary told his friend once the cape was removed. He then exchanged a knuckle bump with him. "Nice jiggly."

"Got that right," Carter agreed.

"Pigs," Irey commented.

"Hey, if it were a guy and looked like this," Carter morphed his face to match that of a popular teen idol, "you'd be singing a different tune." He then went back to normal.

"Hey, Alex Dyrdreck is a talented singer slash cinnamon bun that needs to be protected at all costs," Carrie stated with Irey agreeing.

"Or what if it were Arthur jr.?" Zachary asked.

To this Lorena blushed. The sly smile on her face said it all.

"See, this is why we didn't work out," Carter told her.

"Hey, at least we can trust AJ," Lorena shot back. "This new girl, who knows who she is? And if she really is Lex Luthor's daughter, guess what? You have the hots for your own cousin!"

"Dude, she's right," Zachary said. "That's some galaxy far, far away stuff right there."

"Hey, she came on to me first," Carter told her. "If She is related to me by blood, then why do so in the first place? So by that logic, she can't be my-"

"Your what?" The words came a moment after the door to the conference room the five teens occupied slid open. It was the new girl, and she had a smile on her face.

Batcave

September23

00:02 UTC

It had been another long day for Dick Grayson. He was used to it. Being both a police officer and the current Dark Knight has him investigating a myriad of mysteries, the most current was the new girl his daughter and friends had brought back to the Happy Harbor base with them.

Under normal circumstances, anyone found in the field would not be allowed in any one of the team headquarters, but the black ops base was equipped for this sort of situation. A Boom Tube allowed access with the only way out being another Boom Tube or Zeta Platform. Cameras were situated virtually everywhere with power dampeners set to activate should the need arise. It was something Bruce thought up during his time as Batman, one that Dick carried over at his request.

"So explain to me again, why let this girl in?" Standing beside him, Barbara sipped from a water bottle and watched the large screen of the Batcomputer her common-law husband studied.

"Keep your friends close, enemies closer," Dick answered. "I ran her face through the computer's software and it came back as a ninety nine point seven percent match to Lex Luther and Queen Bee's daughter pulled from various sources."

"We know that," the auburn haired woman answered. "Plus she answered every question we had for her and passed the Martin mind, which unless she's willing to probe deeper, can be tricked, and the Kryptonian test, which can be passed by keeping the heart steady, which means she could be highly trained to pass interrogations."

"But not the Amazonian rope test. If Wonder Woman did not have to take Giganta in for her rampage, we could have had our answer as to what this girl is doing here." Leaning back in his chair, Dick templed his fingers. "Mar'i Luthor. Appears shortly after the dictator, Queen Bee has passed and yet there is no evidence she ever gave birth in Byalya or American soil. Facial cross comparisons show no similarities between her paternal and maternal relatives. All we have is a birth certificate-"

"Which can be faked," Barbara commented.

"And Luthor's word."

"Which means hardly anything unless it benefits him. Look, Dick," Barbara sighed, "have you thought of cross comparing her to other people?"

"Who else? Lex and Queen Bee were listed as her parents. They were the only ones seen around, well, Lex was the only one seen around her and there are no other women besides Mercy, a cyborg, who has been around her."

Moving Dick aside, Barbara typed a few commands into the computer. Once again, the facial comparison software booted up and mapped Mar'i's facial features against, not her parents, but the League members. It then stopped on two individuals.

"Sometimes, you need to see things through a parent's eyes. Not Batman's." She then kissed her common law husband's cheek and headed out. "Not that I'm accusing you of cheating, since the time frame doesn't match, but until we can get a DNA sample, this is all we have to go by."

Staring at the screen with his mouth open, Dick saw several features on Mari's face highlighted in pink and others in purple. Underneath her photo were two other faces. One was his. The other was Koriander's, also known as Starfire. Both had a high percentage of facial matches to the teen girl.

"Lex," Dick whispered, "what have you done?"

Happy Harbor High School

September 25

10:06 UTC

Sitting in the second row of history class, Carter slumped in his chair with his book open on his desk. As the teacher went on with their lecture, Carter's mind went back to the other night after bringing Mar'i back to the black ops base.

It was like being in trouble all over again. Both his mother and father told him to wait in his room after getting back to the fortress his uncle Clark once inhabited. Technically he still did, only in a much smaller way.

Sitting in his room, Carter dried his hair. Like his father, he preferred his showers scalding hot since it was the only way for him to feel the water due to his ultra durable skin. No sooner had he tossed his towel aside when his parents knocked on his door and entered on his readiness for them, his father with his hooded shirt over his shoulder and mother still in uniform. Both stood at the foot of his bed, a few feet before him with Conner slightly ahead of M'gann. Silence enveloped them for a moment or two until his father finally broke the lapse in sound.

"She's a Luthor, stay away from her," Conner told his son then turned to leave.

"Nah, ah," M'gann said as she grabbed her husband's arm, "not that easy, slick."

"Dad?" Carter asked.

Letting out a huff, Conner placed a hand on his hip and scratched the back of his head with the other. "Okay, so, after talking about it, we, uh, we don't entirely trust her."

"But, dad," Carter began to say, "she helped with the civilians. She was there helping the stragglers get away like you trained us to do."

"But that doesn't mean she's on our side," M'gann told him. "This could be a ruse."

"Or she could want to join us."

"Carter," Conner said. "She's not Lex's daughter. Or Queen Bee's daughter. Now until we do a blood test, there's a high probability she's not related to them. Barbara told us just now. She could be a clone."

"A clone?" Carter asked. "But there you go, she's not really a Luthor. If she's cloned from someone else, then she's-"

"We told you about what they've done, how evil they were." Conner broke in. "You think anyone associated or related to him would be interested in things other than themselves or care for others?"

Carter stared at his father for a moment then widened his eyes as he glanced at his mother.

"You know what I mean, son," Conner cleared. "We know nothing about her. She literally popped up out of nowhere with no mention of any relationship or pregnancy between Bee and Lex. She doesn't even remotely resemble either of them. She could have been created and sent here to gather intelligence as a mole or kill us when given a chance."

"Did you even talk to her?" Carter asked. "I've got to know her before this and she doesn't come off as someone who wants to kill us. She's had plenty of chances to get to me but-"

"So you knew about her abilities," Conner said.

"Well, no but-"

"So she failed to tell you she had powers until she wanted you to know. See, Carter, this is what we've been talking about before coming in here. It was convenient she was with you at the fair. It was convenient she suddenly powered up and saved people during an attack. And it was convenient she did all this after enrolling in the same school as you. We don't know her plan or what she wants and at this point-"

"But what about you?" Carter asked.

"What about me?" Conner responded.

"You're a half clone of Lex Luthor and Uncle Wally, Kaldur, and Dick got you out of Cadmus. You could have killed them when you had the chance but didn't. You could have pretended to love mom then kill her, but you didn't. They all trusted you even though you're just like Mar'i."

"Carter," M'gann spoke up, "I understand what you're saying, but from first hand experience, we think being around Mar'i is too dangerous," Carter was about to say something when the Martian woman held her hand up to suggest he wait a moment, "at this time."

Looking at her husband, M'gann let out a huff and caught herself scratching the back of her head, a trait she picked up subconsciously from her husband at sometime. "When we started out, we all were naive. We trusted each other first and foremost before knowing one another then learned how dangerous that was in our darkest hour. We don't want the same to happen to you kids."

"That's why we tell you these stories about when we first became a team and met each other," Conner told his son. "So you can learn how vulnerable we were. Luthor could have had anything he wanted done to her before his assassination. She could be working for a newly formed Light or some other maniac."

"Or she could just want to be her own person like you, dad." Looking up at his father with a hopeful gaze, Carter saw the usually firm expression his father had soften a bit.

Taking his shirt and handing it to M'gann, Conner stepped toward his son and motioned for him to stand. He then embraced him tightly and was hugged in return. "We can't force you to do things. All we ask is for you to be careful. She could be up to something or genuine, we don't know yet. Just be careful and watch yourself around her. You're my son. Whatever happens to you, I feel it too. I know we should give others a chance, but keep your guard up around her."

"I will, dad." Separating from Conner, Carter was met with a hug and kiss on the cheek from his mother.

"You know what to look out for, Carter," M'gann told him. "We love you. Just make sure you don't give her a chance to hurt you and think with your brain."

"As opposed to what?" their son asked.

"As if you don't know," Conner told him as M'gann separated from him and rolled her eyes with a huff.

"If this turns into a father son moment, I'm out. But keep on mind, should she have some trace of Lex in her genetic makeup, this could get awkward with the way you've been talking about her with your friends." Patting Conner's shoulder, M'gann mentally told him something as she left the room.

"Yeah," Conner breathed out. "Just make sure it doesn't get awkward."

The shrill sound of the bell stirred Carter from his thoughts. It was already time to switch classes and students rushed to get out of the classroom as fast as they could. Taking her time, as Carter was slow to get up, was Joslyn who whispered to one of her friends to take off without her. The young girl quickly did a last second makeup check in a compact she had before grabbing her bag and books.

"So happy you're okay, CK," Joslyn said as she wrapped her arms around the surprised teenager. "I was looking for you at the fair when that thing attacked and then some deranged guy picked me up."

"Deranged?" Carter asked knowing full well she was talking about him.

"The least said the better. But what about you? Were you hurt? Where did you go?"

Shouldering his bag, Carter grabbed his binder and headed for the door. "I'm fine. More durable than I look."

"Then how about we do something together this weekend?" Moving in front of the boy she had no idea she was talking about, Joslyn crossed her arms, making sure her early bloomers were framed for Carter. "My parents won't be home Saturday. We could have some fun in the pool. In my privately fenced in backyard." Her smile promised him everything a teenage boy would want from the hottest girl in school.

Before Carter could respond, he glanced over the more than interested girl and saw Mar'i standing outside the room. She waived at him with a smile and made a mocking choking gesture as she pointed at Joslyn before silently laughing.

"I'll uh, I'll get back to you on that." Moving past Joslyn, Carter joined Mar'i in the hallway. Behind him, the previous girl huffed angrily at the sight of the two.

Even though his parents told him to be wary of her, Carter still felt something. Maybe it was due to her being like him, a super powered teen hiding what they are in front of everyone. Or it could have been the attention he got from her that felt different from the others. Although, if she was related to Lex and was his biological daughter, then it would mean Carter has a half sister/cousin, someone to relate to given how he was a genetic anomaly. Then if she was a clone that was not related to him, then there was no harm in him thinking about how good she looked in her skin tight outfit. He just desperately hoped for the latter.