Hey guys! So this chapter is freakishly long, mostly because this is the two-parter pilot. The other chapters will probably be much shorter, about half as long, maybe a little more depending on the episode. Let me know how you like it, I'm not as happy with it as I could be, so let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcome. See you!


CADMUS

July 4, Unknown Time

I stuck the landing, finishing in a low crouch while my claws scratched across the floor. The noises and smells were overwhelming, and I had to take a deep breath to center myself. Robin landed next to me, escrima stick twirling around his fingers. I sighed, "this has to be the stupidest thing we've ever done."

He scoffed, "not the stupidest, up there on the list but not the stupidest."

"How do you always get me into these situations?"

"Hey, you were all for it at the Hall of Justice."

Aqualad turned to us, "if you two could focus on the situation at hand?"

"Sorry!" We chimed in unison.


GOTHAM CITY

July 4, 12:00 EDT

The day was warm, families were barbecuing, children were running around and fireworks were being set up in one of Gotham's only parks. Of course, if we were here in suits the lovely picture wouldn't last long.

People started screaming as snow fell from the sky, ice encasing the landscape and any poor civilians who were unlucky enough to be caught in it. Mr. Freeze's voice rang about the park, "enjoying family time?" A father and his two children were caught in the ice, "my family has other plans."

I didn't let my curiosity or anger get the best of me, and I waited for Batman's signal. His hand dropped, and Robin sent a batarang flying his way. "Batman, I was wondering when-"

I ducked to the side and Robin's laugh echoed in the empty field. He pounced from behind the rock, landing on Mr. Freeze's dome, jumped off and sent two birdarangs flying into his already cracked helmet. I just sat back, better off to let the dynamic duo do their thing than get in the middle of it and screw up.

"Oh, Boy Wonder. The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison. Frankly I'm underwhelmed." I narrowed my eyes, flipping myself over his shoulder and leaving a tear in his suit while I was at it.

"He's not alone, asshole."

"And the Cat came out to play too. No bother, I can deal with you easily enough."

"Great, but I'm kinda in a hurry here," Robin said irritably.

Mr. Freeze smirked, "kids, always in such a rush."

I grinned, all teeth and no warmth. "Not talking to you," Robin sing-songed.

Mr. Freeze turned around with an expression of horror as Batman made his dramatic entrance jumping out from his hiding place, cape outstretched and blocking the sun. I rolled my eyes, honestly how did the man chide Robin for his theatrics? He came down and punched open Mr. Freeze's dome.

"Alright, Freeze is dealt with, can we go now?"

"No whining," Batman said as he surveyed the damage. He sighed, "we'll have to get doctors down here to thaw everyone out."

I stepped towards him, "not to take a page out of Robin's book, but can't that be left to the authorities? C'mon Batman, today's the day!"


WASHINGTON D.C

July 4, 14:00 EDT

Two hours later, we were finally standing before the Hall of Justice. Batman laid a hand on Robin's shoulder, "today's the day."

Green Arrow grinned good naturedly, "welcome to the Hall of Justice!"

Aquaman finished, "headquarters of the Justice League."

"We speaking in rounds over here?" I muttered, and I got a nudge and a 'shh' from Robin.

I heard Wally before I saw him, "oh man!" He skidded to a stop, crossing his arms. "I knew we'd be the last ones here!" How people who could cross the entirety of the US in under a day were always late, I didn't know.

We walked past the tourists rather stoically, though I gave a young girl a smile and a wink when she stretched her hand out towards me. "Look mom! It's the girl one!"

The girl's mother smiled affectionately, "that's Catgirl Lila."

Several tourists were calling our names, and getting KF and Speedy's names mixed up or just plain wrong. It irritated them to hell, but that's what you get for naming an archer 'Speedy" when there are speedsters around. GA leaned in to talk quietly, "excited to see the inner sanctum?"

Speedy grinned, "born that way."

KF leaned over to gently elbow Rob, "have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?"

Speedy cut in, in a rather scathing tone. "Don't, call us sidekicks. Not after today."

"Sorry," KF apologized. "First time at the Hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Came Robin's frustrated reply. As we entered the Hall, giant golden statues of the Justice League stared us down. It was unbelievably intimidating. Rob's eyes widened, "oh, maybe that's why."

Steel doors that looked like they belonged on an elevator opened to reveal Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado. Martian Manhunter addressed us in his oddly accented English. "Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Catgirl, Kid Flash. Welcome." He turned around to lead us inside and Rob and KF fist bumped. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our food-stocked galley, and of course, our library." That caught my attention, I wondered what books they had here.

Flash turned around, spreading his arms wide. "Make yourselves at home!" Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash sat in the chairs while Speedy and I stood. KF turned to Robin, "not gonna give up your seat for the lady?"

Robin raised an eyebrow at him, "would you?"

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. "The Lady," I said cocking a hip, "doesn't need a seat."

Rob snickered while Kid stared up at me with a dreamy expression I knew was fake. "Y'know, if I could rearrange the alphabet I would put U and I together." I moved forward, patting his cheek.

"And if I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put F and U together." This was a game we played, every time we saw each other he would hit on me with a terrible pick up line, and I would respond with a comeback.

He shrugged, "I'll get you one day Ara, for now why don't you sit on my lap?" He patted his legs.

I raised an eyebrow, and very slowly and pointedly sat down on Aqualad's knees instead, flinging my legs across the end of the curved chair. I held out my hand, "I don't think we've met, Catgirl. But you can call me by my real name, Arabella. Pick a nickname if it's too much of a mouthful, anything but Bella."

He nodded, seemingly okay with me being draped across him though he was blushing slightly. "I am Kaldur'ahm, but you may call me Kaldur." His face turned inquisitive, "Batman forbids Robin to give out his secret identity, but not you?"

I smiled, "I'm only permitted to tell you my first name, and I'm more under Catwoman's leadership than Batsy's." My expression grew dark, "that doesn't stop him from chewing me out though."

"Maybe if you didn't break the rules all the time I wouldn't have to give you lectures. And get off the poor boy's lap Cat."

I sighed, "where else am I supposed to sit?" I said as I stood.

"The ground, if you're so desperate?"

I glared at him while he stood with the other Leaguers. I sat on the end of Rob's armrest, swinging my legs across his knees to rest on the end of the other one. "Satisfied?"

He simply turned back around and I dragged my hand across my face. Robin snickered and glared at him. The room was oddly silent and my enhanced ears quickly tuned in to the adult's conversation. "Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day." Batman raised his voice to direct it towards us. "We shouldn't be long." I realized the rest of the team probably heard him as well.

They turned towards the doors behind them and a scanner dropped from the ceiling. Recognized, Batman 0-2, Aquaman 0-6, Flash 0-4, Green Arrow 0-8, Martian Manhunter, 0-7, Red Tornado, 1-6.

The doors slid open, and Speedy stormed towards them. "That's it? You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!" He crossed his arms. Who pissed in his cheerios?

Aquaman spoke to him calmly, "it's a first step, you've been granted access few other get."

Speedy thrust his arm up to gesture towards the tourists behind a window that peered into the room. "Oh really? Who cares what side of the glass you're on?"

GA stepped forward, attempting to pacify him. "Roy, you just need to be patient."

I didn't understand what was going on, and Roy was seething. "What I need, is respect!" He turned to us, arms spread in earnest. "They're treating us like kids! Worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this." We shared looks of equal confusion. He seemed annoyed, "you're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why? Today, was supposed to be the day! Step one of becoming full-fledged members of the league!"

Kid Flash voiced our thoughts, "well sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ?'

"Except the Hall isn't the league's real HQ!" My head turned around so fast I thought I might have gotten whiplash. What did he mean? "I bet they never told you, it's just a false front for tourists and pit stop for catching Zeta Beam Teleporter Tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite, called the Watchtower."

My mind was blown. Batman had been lying to us this whole time? They had all been lying to us. Like we were small children to be pacified with false stories. I was sure my rage was evident on my face. GA turned to Batman, who crossed his arms. "I know, I know. But I thought maybe we could make an exception?" He said with a hopeful smile. Batman narrowed his eyes and the smile fell. "Or not."

Aquaman stepped forward to address Roy, "you are not helping your cause here son. Stand down."

"Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his! I thought I was his partner. But, not anymore." Roy ripped the hat from his head and threw it to the ground. I was openly staring at this fiasco, my mouth open in shock. Sure we were all pissed, but leaving Green Arrow? I didn't think even Roy would do something so drastic. He had always been quick to anger, and even quicker to act on that anger. But he always calmed down and when he wasn't pissed off he was great, kind of a big brother figure to me. He stormed away towards the door, "guess they're right about you three. You're not ready."

I chased after him, grabbing his wrist. "Roy!" He ripped his arm away, accidentally hitting me across the face as he did. I held my cheek, staring at him with wide eyes. His angry expression turned to one of concern, then regret, then anger again. He stormed out, finishing his dramatic exit.

I turned around to face the rest of the room again, and Rob had already started making his way over to me when I had been hit. He carefully grabbed my jaw, inspecting my cheek. "You okay?"

I nodded, brushing him off. "It was an accident."

A loud alarm began to blare, and Superman appeared on the giant screen. "Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at project Cadmus. It's on fire."

The Leaguers approached the screen, Batman at the forefront. "I've had my suspicions about project Cadmus, this may present the perfect opportunity to-"

Batman was cut off by the alarm blaring again, "Zatara to Justice League," the League's resident magician appeared in a smaller window. "The sorcerer Wotan is using the amulet of Atem to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response."

"Superman?"

"It's a small fire, the local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman pressed a button, "all Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out."

We approached them, and Batman turned to us. "Stay put."

"What?" Robin answered incredulously, "why?"

"This is a League mission," Aquaman replied.

Flash cut in,"you're not trained."

My blood was boiling, I don't know what Batman called training if these last four years weren't enough of it. "Since when?" KF retorted.

"I meant you're not trained to work as a part of this team," Flash gestured to the other men.

"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aquaman said serenely.

"But for now. Stay. Put." Batman said with a serious face. Ugh, when he got like that there wasn't any reasoning with him.

The Leaguers walked away towards the Zeta Tube, and I caught GA muttering to Martian Manhunter. "Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?"

"Indeed." Who was this you-know-who? I swear if I find out about one more secret in the next hour I'm going to kill someone.

Red Tornado stared at us for a few seconds, and then left with the others. The doors slammed shut with a loud clang. KF broke the silence, "tch, when we're ready? When are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like sidekicks!" He swung his arms wildly to prove his point. I was enraged, Batman had lied to us, and then treated us like small children. I was ready to punch a damn wall.

Aqualad looked utterly lost, "my mentor, my king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics!" Kid ranted, "they've got a secret HQ. In space!"

Aqualad looked introspective, "what else aren't they telling us?"

"I have a better question," I hated when Rob sounded dejected like that, "why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

"I'm with you there," I hissed, "how dare they treat us like we're children? Telling us to stay put." I needed something to vent my anger out on, and then I got an idea. "What was it Batman was saying about Project Cadmus?"

Aqualad looked up, inquisitive. "What is… Project Cadmus?"

"Don't know…" Rob mused, and then he grinned. "But I can find out."

He turned and walked over to the computer, and I smiled. "Gonna' get your hacker on?"

"Mmhm." A robotic, female voice rang through the room. Access denied. Robin scoffed, "wanna' bet?" His fingers flew over the keys, and the file pulled itself up as the code flashed across the screen.

KF seemed astounded, "whoa, how are you doing that?" He said slowly.

"Easy," Robin boasted, "same system as the Batcave." Access granted. "Alright, Project Cadmus, genetics lab here in DC… that's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do," Aqualad mulled through the idea, "it would be poetic justice."

Rob chuckled, "hey, they're all about Justice!"

Aqualad sighed, "but they said stay put."

Robin swaggered forward, "for the blotting out the sun mission, not this!"

Kid grabbed Rob by the shoulder, "wait, are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going!" They turned to us expectantly.

I was on board the minute Rob suggested it, but I decided I had to warn these knuckleheads before we rushed into anything. "Alright, but if we're going to do it, we're going to do it right. We're going to be careful and if we get in over heads we're radioing for help." KF looked put out at the idea, and opened his mouth to disagree but I held out my hand. "Nothing is going to convince them we're not ready more than one of us getting seriously hurt. You don't want that, I don't want that, no one wants that. No screw ups, let's show them we're not just sidekicks."

"Just like that?" Aqualad asked, "we're a team on a mission?"

Rob shrugged, "we didn't come for a playdate."

Aqualad smirked, and I grinned too. "Let's go kick some ass."


CADMUS

July 4, 15:00 EDT

Cadmus was up in flames, sirens were blaring, and people were screaming.

"Help! Get us down!" A pair of scientists were half hanging out a window with the glass blown out of it. As the firefighters were reassuring them, an explosion rocked the building, sending the two scientists flying out the window. Kid ran ahead, running up the side of the building, catching them as he went and depositing them on the roof before he lost momentum and was sent scrambling for a handhold.

His fingers caught on the ledge of the window and I ran towards the burning building. "It's what's-his-name! Flash Boy!"

"It's Kid Flash!" I could hear him mumble to himself "why is that so hard?"

"So smooth", Robin teased and Aqualad sighed.

"Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan-" When he turned to Robin he wasn't there, his laugh echoing through the parking lot as he parkoured his way to the building using his grappling hook and helped KF into the window.

Kaldur turned to me, confused. "They do that all the time, you learn to deal with it."

I ran towards the fire truck, wrapping my bullwhip around a rung on it and swinging myself up and into the upper set of windows above where I needed to be. I heard someone cry out, and there was a scientist huddled in the corner. I grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the window. "Hold on tight!" I jumped out the window, sinking my claws into the stone to slow my descent. I got to the correct window and took out my whip, giving it to him to grab as I lowered him downwards. He touched the ground safely, and I pulled on the whip, coiling it expertly and putting it back on my hip.

I neatly rolled into the dark room, and a few moments later Aqualad joined us. I crossed my arms, "nice of you guys to run ahead like that."

KF waved his hand, and Aqualad's eyes narrowed. "Appreciate the help."

"You handled it! Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Robin said dismissively, focused on hacking into the computer in front of him. I peered around the room, and then I heard the familiar sound of an elevator button being pressed. We rushed into the hall, and Aqualad who had gotten there first stared, mystified.

"There was something in the-"

KF frowned, "elevators should be locked down." I wrinkled my nose, smelling something but not quite getting what the scent was.

"One sec," I grabbed a bottle from my utility belt and popped one of the pills inside it. Upon Aqualad's curious and vaguely surprised expression I explained. "Nifty pills Cat had invented, they enhance my sense of smell and touch. These do the hearing though." I pulled a device that looked like a sleek kind of hearing aid from my ear, immediately feeling the effects of its removal, I put it back in. "And I have special contacts that enhance my vision." He seemed satisfied with the explanation and I had to blink and brace my hand against the wall as I suffered from sensory overload.

There was the smell of burning everything, ash and smoke. Everything stood out in sharper detail and I reeled back as an acrid scent hit my nose. Coughing, I waved my hand in front of my face. "God, what is that?"

"What's what?" Kid questioned.

"It smells like death, like an actual rotting corpse, disinfectant and some kind of chemical I've never smelled before." He looked like he pitied me. I pitied myself, what could possibly make that kind of stench?

Robin was staring at the elevator. He shook his head, pulling up his hologram. "This is wrong." He scanned the elevator and made a satisfied noise in the back of his throat. "Thought so, this is a high-speed express elevator. Doesn't belong in a two-story building!"

"Neither does what I saw", Aqualad said as he moved forward and pried the elevator doors open.

"Hydrokinesis and super-strength. Cool, okay." I muttered as I walked towards the now open elevator. There must have been at least fifty stories beneath us.

Robin kneeled in the doorway, "and that's why they need an express elevator." He connected his grappling hook to the ceiling of the elevator shaft and jumped, zooming downwards. I waited a moment before grabbing onto the cord and flying down it as well, followed quickly by Aqualad and then KF. I could see Rob's cape fluttering above him. How far down does this thing go?

His descent slowed and I started to shimmy down the cord instead of sliding. "I'm at the end of my rope."

I snorted, "you and me both." He glared up at me before swinging back and forth and landing on the ledge by the doors. I followed him, moving to the left while he sat on the right, Aqualad stayed in the center and Kid braced himself against the wall and hung on to Aqualad's arm.

Robin swiftly began to hack into the door, "bypassing security… there! Go!" Kaldur began to pry open the doors with a grunt, and we all scrambled into the hallway as soon as they were open. The hall was vast, dozens of large silver machines mounted on the walls. "Welcome to Project Cadmus." Rob muttered, and KF ran ahead.

"Kid, wait!" Aqualad called out but he ignored him, and as I rushed around the corner I saw him nearly being trampled by a group of… something. They were built like apes, with odd faces and red glowing eyes and markings, and were about the size of two large elephants stacked on top of each other.

They also reeked of the smell from earlier, the strength of it had me doubling over and coughing. Rob came up next to me, his hand resting on the small of my back. "You okay?" I nodded, trying to breathe through the putrid air. Kid managed to roll out of the way just in the nick of time, and he breathed a sigh of relief, coming over to stand next to us. I slapped him over the side of the head and his hand came up to where I had hit.

"What was that for?" He said indignantly.

"What did I say about being careful you buffoon! I swear if you rushing ahead without thinking doesn't kill you, I will!"

He rolled his eyes, "yeah, yeah, Mom."

I glared at him, and then cast my gaze to the herd of… things. I shook my head, "whatever those are, they are so far from natural. They stink of what I smelled upstairs."

A smaller creature atop one of the thing's back turned to us, it's horns glowing bright red. "No…" Aqualad said slowly, "nothing odd going on here…"

We made our way to the end of the hall, where a door glowed green and then opened, revealing a cavernous room stacked from top to bottom with rows of glass cylinders, each with some kind of bright blue electricity crackling inside it. "I am officially whelmed." Robin breathed, and I had to agree.

We walked through the room, and inside each of the cylinders was a strange creature, with odd curved limbs that were bent at unnatural angles. "This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world! The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates it's own power, with these… things. Must be what they're bred for…"

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad insisted, "the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too…" Robin trailed off, looking at one of the creatures. "Let's find out why!"

I hit myself in the forehead with the heel of my hand, "of course! God, I can't believe I missed that!" This was a major blow to my ego, I prided myself on being a mythology and classics nerd.

Robin took his USB cable out of his gauntlet and inserted it into the port on the nearby computer. A hologram flared to life in front of him, depicting charts and crude pictures of the different types of creatures. "They call them Genomorphs… Whoa! Look at the stats on these things, super-strength, telepathy, razor claws, these are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army, but for who?" Kid mused.

"And what purpose?" I said as I came up behind the boys to get a better look.

"Wait, there's something else… Project Kr… ugh, the file's triple encrypted. I-I can't-"

"Don't move!" A voice bellowed across the room and I whipped around to see who had spoken. It was a man, in a dark blue suit and a golden helmet, accompanied by several Genomorphs. He paused, "wait, Robin? Aqualad? Catgirl? Kid Flash?"

"At least he got your name right," Rob teased while he was half-focused on hacking into the file.

Aqualad blinked, "I know you, Guardian. A hero."

"I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash retorted.

"I'm chief of security, you're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

The familiar beep from Robin's hologram told me he was done with the file. I settled into a battle stance, no way this is ending nicely. "Do you think the League's gonna' approve of you breeding weapons?" KF asked.

"Weapons? What d'you-," the Genomorph on his shoulder turned to him, small horns glowing red. "What've I? Ugh, my head…" He gripped his head like he had a migraine. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. He lifted his head, narrowing his eyes. "Take 'em down hard," he pointed at us, "no mercy!"

"Oh shit."

The Genomorphs growled and pounced and I nearly gagged from the stench of them. Robin acted fast, throwing a smoke pellet down. I knew this was my cue to run the hell away, but KF and Aqualad didn't know him nearly as well when it came to working together. "Fuck's sake…"

Genomorphs came from left and right, and I threw them off me, using my whip to scare others off. There was a loud clang and I saw Aqualad flying into a machine, attacked by Guardian. I pulled a Genomorph off my leg and headed towards him, by the time I made it over he was electrocuting Guardian, who was sent flying backwards. We assembled and I gestured in the direction Rob had gone.

We ran, alarms blaring and I was coughing from the smoke and the overall stench, eyes watering. Kid skidded into the hall where Robin was hacking his way through a door, and Aqualad and I turned to face the incoming horde. Deciding it better to run for the door than try to hold them off, we ran towards KF and Robin, who were arguing.

"Way to be a team player, Rob!"

"Weren't you guys right behind me?"

The doors opened and they ran inside, I felt the Genomorphs behind us and Aqualad, in a last ditch attempt to get us inside the elevator barreled into me from behind, sending us flying into the elevator. I scrambled to my feet, helping him up and breathed a quick thank you, he nodded in return. We turned to the screen that counted the floor level. "We're going down?" Aqualad questioned.

"Dude!" KF yelled, pointing his finger towards the ceiling. "Out is up!"

"Excuse me," Rob snapped, "Project Kr? It's down, on sublevel fifty-two."

Aqualad paced, "this is out of control, perhaps, perhaps we should contact the League…"

We all stared dejectedly. No one wanted to, but we knew we should. How could this mission have gone so horribly wrong? To be fair, we weren't expecting anything like this. The elevator beeped, and the doors opened. I fell into battle stance, expecting more Genomorphs but all I got was a nose full of that same stench and a creepy-ass cavern.

Rob darted ahead. KF turned to Aqualad, "we are already here." And he quickly followed. Kaldur sighed, and I sent him an apologetic smile before taking off after them. The ground had an odd consistency, and odd whitish spheres were embedded into the walls, floor and ceiling of the place. We came to a fork in the road and crouched behind rusty barrels.

"Which way?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah," agreed Rob, "bizarre-looking hallway one or bizarre-looking hallway two?"

"Hold!" Called someone from behind us. It appeared to be an anthropomorphic Genomorph, who sent barrels flying at us. Which were apparently filled with explosives. Yippie. We made a mad dash down a random hallway, another set of barrels exploding behind us.

Kid ran ahead, and when we arrived there was a woman who had been knocked over onto the ground and he was in the process of wedging something in the closing door. "Hurry!"

We dashed into the room through the gap, Aqualad kicking out the metal cylinder that held the door open. It slammed shut and when I turned around I saw KF at a console, and Rob was hacking into the door controls. "There, I disabled the door. We're safe."

"Uh, guys?" I walked towards Kid, who was reaching for a button on the console. "You'll want to see this."

The button illuminated the thing in front of us. Which turned out to be a pod holding a boy about my age, most likely a year or two older. Who looked pretty much exactly like Superman. In a glowing white suit with the red Superman crest emblazoned across his chest.

Holy shit.

KF approached the pod, eyes wide. "Big K little R! The atomic symbol for krypton! Clone?"

Aqualad looked over at Rob, "Robin, hack."

"Right, right."

A few beeps later and he was in, "weapon designation, Superboy. A clone force-grown in… Sixteen weeks? From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected, glowering.

"Well, it would explain the uncanny resemblance." I chimed in.

Kid's eyes widened, "no way the big guy knows about this."

Robin turned back to the file, "solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."

"And these… creatures?" Aqualad asked, pointing to the little Genomorphs in a row above the boy's head.

"Genomorph gnomes, telepathic. Force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else." Kid added. "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son."

"Great. Fantastic. As if we need propaganda shoved into the brain of someone with the powers of Superman." I scowled, facing the pod. What were we going to do?

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad said authoritatively. I couldn't agree more, this was way too much. No wonder Batman was suspicious. We all reached for our communicators, but all I got was static.

"No signal," Rob announced.

"We're in too deep," KF muttered, "literally."

I turned my attention to the screen, eyes widening when I saw the G-Gnomes' horns start glowing red. "Guys?" I pointed towards the screen.

"This is wrong," KF said.

"We can't leave him like this." Rob agreed.

Aqualad stroked his proverbial beard, "set him free. Do it."

"Guys!" I was too late, Robin was already typing and the pod was opening. There was the whoosh of pressurized air, and the walls of the pod twisted and fell. The boy's hand lifted itself from the slab he was lying/standing on, and he clenched his fingers into a fist with a popping of knuckles. "Oh we are so fucked, you idiots!"

The boy's eyes flew open and in seconds he was flying towards Aqualad. They hit the floor, rolling over until Aqualad was slammed into the ground with the boy on top of him. He started punching the shit out of Aqualad and we ran forward to restrain him. "Whoa! Hang on Supey!"

The guy definitely had super-strength, I was straining my whole body in an attempt to hold him back. "We're on, your, side." Rob grunted, pulling on his right arm. He broke free from Kid's hold and punched him, sending him flying back into the glass cylinder holding some sort of tubes in them. I could hear the boy's heartbeat going absolutely crazy, he was practically rabid. "I don't want to do this!" Rob shouted as he threw some sort of device that billowed smoke at his neck, wrestling to keep him in place, we let go as he was distracted and Aqualad kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into the console.

As the boy coughed, Robin fired his taser which hit his chest. The boy simply grabbed the cables and pulled, sending Rob flying towards him. He picked him up by the collar and threw him into the floor, foot on his chest, slowly crushing the life from him. I saw red, pouncing and wrapping my leg around the boy's neck making him fall backwards with me. He grabbed my opposite leg, ripping me up off him and sending me flying across the room. I rolled mid-air, skidding backwards as I landed in a crouch.

Aqualad, who had recovered from his daze reached behind him, using his water-stick thingies to form a giant mallet that he swung at the boy who barreled through the air into the slab of the pod, leaving a giant dent in it. "Enough!"

We rushed to Rob, who we helped up as he groaned. He clutched his chest, falling backwards onto the floor again with a thump. I went to check his pulse, still steady but he seemed incapable of intaking enough air. The boy had risen, walking towards us. We stood, and Aqualad held out a hand in the universal gesture for stop. "We are trying to help you!"

Something told me that this boy couldn't be reasoned with, at least not right now when all he could see us as were threats. I settled into battle stance, quickly dodging out of the way as the boy ran forward to attack. He punched the space where Aqualad had been, leaving a giant fissure in the floor. Aqualad jumped at him, sending them both flying into the wall. The boy kicked him off, and as he came at Aqualad again I ran in-between them delivering a round-house kick to his face. He grabbed my by the shoulders, flinging me off to the side. I hit the ground hard, rolling in an attempt to distribute the force of it. Aqualad managed to wrap his arms beneath the boy's, electrocuting him. This apparently only served to piss the boy off, as he jumped several feet into the air, driving Aqualad into the ceiling with enough force to send bits and pieces of it falling to the ground.

Aqualad held on for dear life, and the boy repeated the action. This time Aqualad let go and he belly flopped into the ground with a loud metallic clang. I stood, facing him. "Just you and me then, pretty boy?"

He came at me and I danced out of the way, a head sized hole in the floor where I had been standing. I settled into the rhythm of it, dodging his attacks and leaving him with glancing blows. It was like fighting a bull, and the more I dodged the more pissed off he got and the more disjointed his attacks became. As we fought I tried to talk to him, "look, we're trying to help you out." Duck, "you've been created here, you're a clone." Side-step, "these people you're fighting on behalf of?" I jumped, using his shoulders to flip over him. "They're using you for their own gain." He growled, and he caught me in the stomach with an uppercut. I went flying up, and then back down. I gasped for air as I shakily tried to get up, "well that's gonna' leave a mark." He landed on top of me, straddling my waist as he wrapped his hands around my throat. I kicked and scratched, trying to get out from under him as he choked me, but he had me firmly pinned. His face, twisted into a snarl of anger was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.


CADMUS

July 5, 00:01 EDT

I was floating in a haze, somewhere in between consciousness and sleep. A voice rang in my head, "time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken, now!"

My eyes flew open, and I gasped, my throat still burning from the boy's hold. Blinking, I saw Superboy below us. Kid started to run his mouth, "What? What do you want? Quit staring, you're creeping me out!"

I wondered how I could hear him, and my ears perked up at the sound of Rob's voice. "Uh, KF? How about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?"

"That sounds like a solid plan to me," I agreed, casting my gaze back down to Superboy. He didn't seem as threatening now, more calm. I wondered if there were any of those damn G-Gnomes around or if he had some small bit of free will.

"We only sought to help you." Aqualad murmured.

"Yeah! We free you, and you turn on us. How's that for gratitud-"

"Kid!" Aqualad cut him off, "please. Be quiet now. I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."

"Well what if I," the boy cleared his throat, "what if I wasn't?" He spoke slowly, like a small child who wasn't used to forming words. My heart went out to him, something told me he regretted what he had done.

"He can talk?" KF asked incredulously.

"Kid!" I snapped and the boy clenched his fist, glaring up at KF.

"Yes. He can."

Kid glanced at us, looking for sympathy. "Not like I said it."

The boy was staring at me now, like I was a puzzle. "You're, you're different from them."

He looked like he was trying to recall something, "different? I mean yes, twice as talented and attractive, but not that much different."

He shook his head, "girl. You're a girl."

My formed an O, "right. You've probably never seen one before have you?"

"I think one of the scientists is female, but I have never been awake when she's in the room no."

I shrugged, "shame. We're great, smarter, more common sense."

"I take offense to that!" Kid yelped from his pod.

Aqualad changed the topic, "the Genomorphs taught you. Telepathically."

Superboy nodded, "They taught me much. I can read, write, I- I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them? Have they actually ever let you see the sky? Or the sun? Rob asked, astonished. I realized just how much this boy has been deprived of. He has never felt the wind in his hair, the sun on his skin. His feet have never touched grass, and he has never seen the stars. This was probably the most social interaction he's had in his albeit short life.

"Images are implanted, in my mind. But, no." He averted his gaze, "I have not seen them."

I scoffed, "right and a quick scroll through google images is a good substitution for the real thing." I was angry at these people who created him, he might have been a clone but he was still a person. He deserved to be able to live.

Aqualad spoke quietly, "do you know what you are? Who you are?"

He looked back up at us, immediately more confident. "I am the Superboy, a Genomorph. A clone made from the DNA from the Superman, created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him, should he turn from the light."

I whistled, "well that's quite the mission statement."

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration," Aqualad said, "but like Superman you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

Superboy seemed to take offense at that, "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!"

"Your home, is a test tube," Rob challenged, "we can show you the sun."

"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight. But we can show you the moon!" KF corrected.

"Which, in my mind, is twice as pretty." I added, "given that you can actually look at it. Stars too, ever heard of constellations?"

"We can show you, introduce you, to Superman." Aqualad finished. Something told me the Big Blue Boyscout wouldn't take kindly to Superboy's existence. I mean I'd feel violated myself, but he might at least give the kid a pat on the shoulder.

That seemed to be the tipping point, Superboy's face softening in wonder but the moment was ruined by the whirring of the door and a man's voice. "No, they can't." He, Guardian and the girl scientist walked in, each with a G-Gnome on their shoulder. "They'll be, otherwise occupied." The guy looked and sounded like a slimeball. I narrowed my eyes, what did he mean? He turned to the woman, "activate the cloning process." Oh. Oh no way in hell was I getting cloned tonight.

"Pass!" Rob called out from his pod, "Batcave's crowded enough."

The man turned to Guardian, "and get the weapon back in it's pod!" Guardian walked forward stoically and I was curious to see how this would play out.

"Hey! How come he gets to call Supey an it?" Kid complained.

Guardian rested his hand on Superboy's shoulder. "Help us." Aqualad pleaded. Superboy shrugged off Guardian's hand, glaring at him. The man came forward, "don't start thinking now!"

His voice grated on my sensitive ears and without thinking I spoke, "can you shut up?"

He looked at me, scandalized. "Excuse me?"

I blinked, mentally kicking myself. "Your voice. It's like you're a pubescent boy who's been chain smoking since he could hold a cigarette. Hurts my ears."

He glared at me, "Spence, make the procedure especially painful for that one." God I needed to learn to shut up. The man walked past Superboy, his G-Gnome jumping onto Supey's shoulder. "See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me!" The G-Gnome's horns glowed and I could feel my blood boil. That creepy old coot was making him believe this bullshit and I wanted to rip him to shreds. He paused, "well, to Cadmus. Same thing! Now get back to your pod!"

Superboy turned and walked away, brainwashed again. The doors whirred closed and I bit my lip, we need an escape plan. There was a series of beeps and the man nodded to the woman. These metal arms came up and I started to struggle as they separated into four taser-esque prongs. They quickly attached themselves to me and white-hot pain flowed through my body. I screamed, I could feel myself being torn apart on the molecular level. I could hear the man talking through the haze and I tried to steel myself but I couldn't think. "Get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories and once they're done, delete the source material."

Another wave of pain ran through me and I stifled another scream. I could hear Aqualad muttering next to me, "Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path, a weapon, or a person? The choice is yours. But ask yourself, what would Superman do?"

I realized Superboy must have super-hearing, like dear old dad. This was Aqualad's last ditch hope that he could hear us. I whimpered, "please Superboy." I prayed he could hear me, hear Aqualad. My prayers were answered when I heard the door being ripped from it's place, the machines short-circuiting and the prongs stopped electrocuting us. I sagged in relief, my weight solely held up by the restraints. I looked up to see Superboy in the doorway, and I curved my lips into a small smile.

Mr. Voice Crack turned to Superboy, "I told you to get back to your-"

He was cut off by being violently shoved backwards, hitting the floor. "Don't give me orders," Superboy threatened. He walked forward and looked up.

"You here to help us or fry us?" Kid interjected.

Superboy narrowed his eyes for a moment, "huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option."

I grinned, "so the boy does have a sense of humor."

There was a small clang and a whoosh as Rob freed himself and fell to the ground. "Ugh," he muttered as he rubbed his wrists, "lucky Batman isn't here, he'd have my head for taking so long!"

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!" KF cried.

He had a point. We were going to get the verbal thrashing of a lifetime. Rob pressed a button and the walls of our pods dropped. "You get Aqualad, I'll get Catgirl and Kid Mouth."

"Don't you give me orders either," Superboy growled as he jumped up towards Aqualad's pod. Rob went for Kid first, then he picked the locks on my cuffs. "You really shouldn't have antagonized the scientist like that."

I glared at him, "oh hush you, like you've never smart mouthed a villain before. And his voice hurts! It's like nails on a chalkboard."

We hit the ground running, taking off towards the exit. "You- you'll never get out of here!" The man croaked from the ground, "I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

We paused, looking back. Robin reached for something in his utility belt, "that guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all."

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" KF asked as we took off, four explosive birdarangs later and the DNA they had managed to collect went up in flames.

As we ran, Aqualad spoke. "We are still forty-two levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator-" he cut himself off. A pack of the giant ape-esque Genomorphs were ahead of us, and we skidded to a stop. Turning around, I saw that the off-white spheres in the walls were glowing red and Genomorphs appeared to be being born from them.

"Oh man, this is something out of a shitty sci-fi horror movie." I muttered as we dodged the fists of one of the big guys. We sprung into action, and I jumped into the air, using my bullwhip to swing over the pack by wrapping it around one of the Genomorph's horns. We all made it to the other side safely, except for Superboy who was currently beating the shit out of one of the giant Genomorphs. And sending bits and pieces of the ceiling and walls crashing down.

"Superboy!" Aqualad called, "the goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!"

He turned around, wild-eyed. "You want escape?" With a grunt he grabbed one of the giants by the leg and sent it flying into two of the others. We were going to have to work on this guy's anger issues.

Aqualad pried open the doors and Kid ran in, landing on the ledge. Rob pulled out his grappling hook and I wrapped my arms around his waist and shoulder as it pulled us up through the elevator shaft. We landed gracefully on the ledge and I detatched from him. Superboy grabbed Aqualad, jumping to fly them up. He got pretty much there before his ascent slowed and then stopped altogether. "I'm- I'm falling?" Rob's eyes widened and he impaled a birdarang on the wall that Aqualad grabbed onto. "Superman can fly, why can't I fly?"

"Don't know," KF assured, "but it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool." He grabbed Superboy's arm and steadied him as he lowered down onto the ledge.

"Thank you."

"Guys!" Rob yelled over a loud whirring noise, "this'll have to be our exit!" He jerked his thumb upwards and my eyes followed it. The elevator car was coming down on us. Superboy punched the door out, and we exited the shaft just in time. I heard the now-familiar chatter of Genomorphs and we took off. "Go left!" Superboy yelled and we followed him. Maybe one of thing things the G-Gnomes taught him is how to get around Cadmus? "Right!" As we turned the corner there was a dead end hallway with an air vent.

"Great directions Supey! You trying to get us re-podded?" Kid snapped.

"No I… I don't understand."

I could see the merit in it, and I turned to Rob, who was clearly thinking the same thing. "Don't apologize! This is perfect!"

A few missing screws later and we were crawling through the air vents. Which is nowhere near as glamorous as James Bond movies make it look. I blinked and sneezed, the dust tickling my nostrils. "Bless you!" Someone called out from behind me and I gave a hum of thanks.

"At this rate we'll never get out," Kid moaned.

"Shhh! Listen!" Superboy called from the back and I stopped, straining my ears. The chittering of Genomorphs told me we weren't going to be alone in a few seconds and I cursed. We got out at the next stop and Rob stopped at the nearest tech-looking thing connected to the mainframe.

"What are you doing?" Kid complained.

I hit him over the head, "probably something to throw them off our trail you doofus."

Rob looked up with a smirk, "I hacked the motion sensors."

"Sweet!" KF cheered.

"Still plenty of them between us and out," Robin warned and KF grinned happily.

"But I've finally got room to move!" He slid his goggles over his eyes and took off up the stairwell. I sighed, and we ran after him. He made a good battering ram, I mused as he ran through lines of Genomorphs.

"More behind us!" Rob called out, eyes on his hologram.

Superboy kicked the stairs connecting us and them down, and I grabbed the rail to steady myself as we ran up another flight of stairs. We got to the top and as we ran I heard the familiar sound of Kid crashing into something. Couldn't be good. An alarm blared as the light in the hallway turned red. "We're cut off from the street," Aqualad observed.

"Thanks," KF drawled, "my head hadn't noticed."

Superboy and Kaldur tried to pry open the door to no avail, and my attempts to claw through it didn't work either. What the hell was this stuff made of? "Can't hack this fast enough!" Robin hissed, fingers flying across the keyboard. The giant Genomorphs burst into the hall and he turned, kicking in the door next to him. "This way!"

We ran through it, straight into Guardian and a huge crowd of Genomorphs. And damn if it wasn't intimidating. Loud clomping came from behind us and we were met with yet more Genomorphs. How many of them are there?

We all settled into battle stances, and I watched as all the little G-Gnome's horns glowed. My vision turned black and I hit the ground.

I couldn't have been out too long, nothing had changed in the time I was unconscious. The tall, anthropomorphic Genomorph was there, horns glowing. Superboy stood, hands clenched into fists. "I. Choose. Freedom."

"Feels like… fog lifting?"

We rose, and I clutched my aching head. "Guardian?"

"Go. I'll deal with Desmond."

So that was Mr. Voice Crack's name. Huh.

"I think not." I wanted to beat my head off a wall. Could he just, for once, not materialize out of nowhere contradicting a statement? Just once? The Genomorphs parted to reveal him. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power I need to restore order to Cadmus," he held an uncorked vial full of neon blue liquid. The smell of it was acrid, like nail polish remover and bleach had a baby. Throwing it back, he groaned as the unnatural sound of skin inflating and ripping filled the air. He fell down, his clothes falling apart as his body changed into a giant, dark blue, ugly as all hell creature. The grin on his inhuman face was chilling, and little strips of skin decorated it. I wanted to puke.

"Everyone, stay back!" Guardian outstretched his arms and then charged Desmond, who sent him flying into the nearby wall with one hand. Superboy ran forward and punched him in the face, only to receive a punch himself that sent him down into the ground, he skidded on his back, deftly flipping himself over, and jumped back towards Desmond. Desmond jumped at him as well, and they went up through the ceiling.

We stepped forward and I observed the new gaping hole, "well that's one way to bust through the ceiling." Robin remarked, taking out his grappling hook. He fired it off through the hole.

"Think lab coat planned that?" Kid asked as he grabbed my hand and Rob took his, we flew up through the gap, landing on the floor of the new room.

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore," Aqualad noted as he jumped up through the hole, landing in a crouch a few feet away from us.

I nodded, "whatever that Project Blockbuster formula is, it turned him into a monster. I don't think he even has the capacity for proper thought." We saw Superboy jump, and Desmond grabbed him by the feet and flung him towards us. He collided with Aqualad, sending the both of them rolling across the floor. "Jeez Supey, how many times you gonna' barrel into Aqualad tonight?"

He grunted, and we ran to help them up. Desmond roared and I could smell his terrible breath from here. Mixed with scent of Project Blockbuster, it made my eyes water. We ran forward as he himself charged, KF leading the way. As he skidded beneath Desmond, Aqualad and Superboy double punched him, sending him tripping backwards. At this, Kid bridged, sending him crashing the ground. KF made a noise of satisfaction in the back of his throat, "learned that one Kindergarten."

Rob flipped over Kid, sending two birdarangs Desmond's way but he managed to roll out of the way just in time. On his hands and knees, I pounced, landing directly on his back. He jumped to his feet, sending me tumbling towards the ground and I flipped backwards, trying to control where I ended up. I stuck the landing, finishing in a low crouch while my claws scratched across the floor. The noises and smells were overwhelming, and I had to take a deep breath to center myself. Robin landed next to me, escrima stick twirling around his fingers. I sighed, "this has to be the stupidest thing we've ever done."

He scoffed, "not the stupidest, up there on the list but not the stupidest."

"How do you always get me into these situations?"

"Hey, you were all for it at the Hall of Justice."

Aqualad turned to us, "if you two could focus on the situation at hand?"

"Sorry!" We chimed in unison.

Superboy was grappling with Desmond, and got tackled into a stone pillar. Aqualad rushed forward, a water mace ready to go and was promptly thrown to the ground. Desmond threw Superboy into yet another pillar, and I uncoiled my bullwhip and sent it flying. It wrapped around Desmond's throat and I gave it a sharp yank, sending him tripping. Kid took the opportunity to go at him, and ended up getting himself and Aqualad thrown into separate pillars. What did this guy have for pillars? I binked as I realized what was happening, and I got an idea. As Aqualad was being tackled through the pillar he landed on, the room shook and I gestured to Robin.

"Of course!" He pulled up a map of the room, more specifically the pillars. "KF, get over here!"

Superboy was defending Aqualad, who was being held by his head, desperately blocking Desmond's punches with a water shield. "Alright, Cat see if you can get Desmond to punch through that one, KF you distract him afterwards and go for these. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Go."

I gently cracked my whip, getting Desmond's attention. "Hey big guy, why don't you give those two a break and come play with me instead?" I hit him across the shoulder and he roared in pain and anger. I worked like a bullfighter, moving back towards where I wanted him to go and sidestepping his attacks only to hit him with my whip a few seconds later. Once we were next to the desired pillar I wrapped my whip around his neck, tugging viciously and he fell towards me. I delivered a strong kick to his stomach. I side-stepped, expecting him to punch through the pillar. Instead, he grabbed the cord of my whip and swung me through it.

I was mildly surprised that my body being swung had enough force behind it to break the pillar, but I ended up on the ground a few feet away from the rubble desperately trying to intake air. The debilitating pain that came from breathing told me I had cracked a rib or two. The only thing I could think for a moment was a stream of curse words, but I knew I had to get up as Desmond would be on me again in seconds. I rolled, dodging a punch that might have splattered my brain matter all over this floor and stood shakily. Kid moved in to do his part, punching him and grabbing the bit of skin that hung on Desmond's face. "Got your nose!"

He led Desmond around, pillars being smashed left and right. "Superboy! Aqualad!" Rob showed them the holographic map. "This one, and that one!" They nodded, and took off. I carefully made my way over to him and he met me halfway, stretching out a hand to steady me. "You okay?"

"Just a cracked rib or two, y'know the usual," I wheezed, wrapping my arm around my midsection in an attempt to deal with the pain. I envied Aqualad and Superboy's natural ability to get the shit beaten out of them and come back unhurt. Humans are so freaking fragile.

"Alright, try not to get hurt again? I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and find Selina standing over me with a knife."

"Nice to know how much you care."

"Yeah, well that too."

I laughed, an idiotic move that sent me doubling over but it was worth it. He pulled out a piece of chalk, drawing a large X on the floor. Honestly what doesn't that boy have in his utility belt? Aqualad made a large puddle of water on top of the X, with a trail leading a foot away from it. Kid skidded to a stop, ducking as Superboy punched Desmond, sending him flying directly into the puddle. Aqualad knelt, electrocuting him via the puddle, keeping him in the one spot. "Move!" Rob yelled and I found myself being carried bridal style by Aqualad.

"I can walk!"

"Not fast enough!"

Several explosions later the roof started to fall to pieces, and I felt myself being dogpiled upon. The force of it didn't make my injured ribs happy but I appreciated the sentiment. Superboy and Aqualad had jumped on top of us to protect our less-hardy bodies and Robin had curled around me effectively protecting my rib cage from falling rock. There was a loud boom as the entirety of Cadmus' upper levels crumbled. I could hear the muffled sound of cement and stone falling down around us. We waited a few moments to ensure nothing else had to fall, and I think it was Superboy who got up and threw the rubble off us.

Rob helped me up, and Aqualad spoke in between gasps of air. "We, did it." Robin rubbed the back of his neck, and Kid was next to me bracing himself on his knees as he grinned victoriously. I smiled too, though desperately trying to draw air into my lungs. We had done it, we had investigated Cadmus, found out what they were up to, and effectively neutralized the threat. There might have been a ruined building to show for it, but we had done it and done it without help, working as a team. I felt a rush of pride go through me, and I let out a relieved sigh. Which was more like a wheeze but whatever.

"Was there, ever any doubt?" Rob responded. He and Kid high-fived, which sent them both reaching for their chests in pain and I wondered if I was the only one with cracked ribs.

Superboy stepped forward, staring as Desmond who was pinned under rubble. "See?" Kid pointed at the sky, "the Moon!"

"And the stars," I added, "look, that's the big dipper."

He stared in awe, and I smiled. That base, childlike wonder over something most people took for granted warmed my heart. A shadow began to fly from the Moon's general direction and I automatically knew who it was. I almost laughed at the irony, pretty much all our promises in one fell swoop. "Oh, and Superman!" KF sidled on over towards Superboy's side. "Do we keep our promises or what?"

Superman landed in front of us, the rest of the Justice League following suit. I blinked, taken aback for a moment. The entire League was assembled in front of us and it was more than a little intimidating. Our mentors formed pretty much one solid line, given they all had traveled on Green Lantern's disc and I wondered if it was a queue to tell us off one by one. I stared them down defiantly, we had done a damn good job given the circumstances, and I wasn't going to let anyone take that away from us.

Superboy stepped forwards, and Superman's eyes narrowed. I waited with bated breath, what would he say? Superboy lifted up the torn part of his solar suit, revealing the S symbol there. Superman's eyes widened in shock, and then hardened into a look of anger. Superboy's hopeful smile was wiped from his face and if I didn't like the Big Blue Boyscout before, I sure as hell didn't now. "Is that what I think it is?" Batman murmured.

Kid walked forward, covering the side of his mouth with his hand as if that would hide what he was saying from Superboy. "He doesn't like being called an it," KF warned and I wanted to hit him upside the head.

"Way to add insult to injury," I hissed, stalking towards him. "Could it kill you to keep a lid on it?" He glared at me and I glared back. I felt bad for Superboy, it wasn't his fault he was created.

"I'm Superman's clone," he interjected, and the Justice League gave each other varying looks of surprise and curiosity. He stared defiantly up at Superman, waiting for him to say something.

He didn't, Batman did instead. "Start talking."

We launched into a group explanation, letting Robin and Aqualad do the most of it. I interrupted every once and a while to explain something, Kid to add unnecessary comments, while Superboy stood stoically, and when we were done Batman crossed his arms. He said nothing as he walked away.

Rob and I gave each other looks of worry. Yelling Batman was a force to be reckoned with, silent Batman was something you avoided at all costs. The Leaguers converged to discuss transport for Desmond. Eventually the Hawks, the Lanterns and Captain Atom left with him, and the remaining Leaguers gathered in small circles. If I wanted to I could listen to their conversations, but I decided against it. There was a series of looks between Superboy and Superman, before the big guy eventually made his way over.

He sighed, "we'll uh, we'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now I'd, better make sure that they, get that Blockbuster creature squared away." He paused in awkward places and it was painfully obvious he was making up an excuse to get as far away from this situation as possible. I glared as he walked away, he was so formal and dismissive. Like it or not, Superboy existed and he was to an extent, kind of his son. And he was being overly neglectful. I could understand the want to have some time and space to wrap his head around the situation, but the least he could do was treat Superboy like he was a person instead of a problem.

He flew away, and I heard people approaching. Batman was there, along with Flash and Aquaman. "Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty-two levels. But let's make one thing clear-"

"You should have called!" Flash interrupted.

Batman cut him a look and continued, "end results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

I raised my chin defiantly, hell yes we would. We made a damn good team, and I didn't sign up for this to sit on my ass while the adults took care of everything.

The rest of the group seemed to be thinking the same thing, and we gathered together in a close cluster. "I'm sorry," Aqualad said with no real regret, "but we will."

"Aqualad, stand down."

"Apologies my king," Aqualad raised his webbed hand to his chest, "but no." There was a fire in his eyes. Aquaman raised an eyebrow. "We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful. Important." He was right, there was a certain sense of camaraderie that came with almost dying together. And here there was a team, a real team that given time would be able to work together effortlessly.

Flash stepped forward, "if this is about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you-"

"The five of us, and it's not," Kid interrupted.

"This is so far from about our treatment at the hall," I agreed, "this is about us being ready. We've formed a team, ready and waiting to do real work, important work. Let us."

Robin uncrossed his arms, "Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?" His voice broke slightly, I knew he felt like Batman didn't have faith in him and I was hoping that wasn't the truth. I rested my hand on his shoulder.

"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy spoke up from the back, "it's simple. Get on board, or get out of the way." We faced the League in a line, and my hand dropped to my side. Batman's eyes narrowed, and I waited to hear what he had to say.

MOUNT JUSTICE

July 8, 08:04 EDT

Four days later, I had woken up criminally early to travel here. A hollowed-out mountain in New England that would serve as our team's base. Young Justice, is what we called it, suggested by Kaldur. We had all liked it, it had a nice ring to it, and our mentors announced that we would meet here today. I was excited to explore the place, find all the hidden secrets and hiding spots.

We were gathered in the main room in our civvies, and Batman addressed us with several other Leaguers gathered around. "This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League, we're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary's in charge of training. I, will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Rob asked and Batman stepped towards him.

"Yes, but covert."

Flash spoke from where he stood next to Wally, "the League will still handle the obvious stuff." He pointed towards the lightning symbol on his suit, "there's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman added, "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The six of you will be that team." Batman finished and I grinned.

"Cool," Robin said, then he blinked in surprise, "wait, six?"

Batman looked over our heads and we turned to see Martian Manhunter and a green-skinned, gingery-brown haired girl walking towards us. She wore a white T-shirt with the Martian Manhunter logo across it, and a dark blue cape, skirt and boots. I grinned, hell yes! There's another girl on this team!

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." I flashed back to GA's comment four days ago, and realized this must have been who Martian Manhunter was happy he didn't bring.

She waved, "hi!" She had a somewhat high pitched voice that was still pleasing to the ear and I internally groaned as Rob and Wally shared a look. That was their "attractive female is present, time for flattery" look.

"Liking this gig more and more every minute," Wally drawled. He walked forward before I could hit him and addressed Miss Martian. "Welcome aboard!" He pointed at himself with his thumb, "I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Aqualad, Catgirl," it's cool if you forget their names, he added. I didn't miss how he avoided Superboy's name and I smirked as I realized he did it on purpose in an attempt to take attention away from him. The boy was very attractive and apparently, Wally had taken quite the liking to this girl. If only he knew. This was only going to add to Superboy's mysterious, fixer-upper bad-boy air.

She stepped towards us, hands clasped together, "I'm honored to be included."

I waved my hand, "don't mind that pig, I'm Catgirl yes, but you can call me by my real name, Arabella. Pick a nickname, any nickname except for Bella."

She smiled and we walked forward, Superboy staying behind. "That's such a pretty name! I'm M'gann, I hope we can be good friends!" This girl was so perky, normally I would hate it but she was open and warm in her excitability. It was endearing.

"I hope so too, nice to know I won't be drowning in a sea of testosterone." She laughed, a series of bell-like giggles that was absolutely adorable.

"Hey Superboy!" Rob turned around to gesture to him, "come meet Miss M!"

He walked forward, and as he did M'gann's shirt turned from white to black, her cape disappearing completely. She ducked her head slightly, looking back up at him, "I like your T-shirt." He gave her the tiniest of smiles, which for Superboy was pretty much taking a megaphone and shouting, "you're alright, I like you!" at her.

Rob nudged him with his elbow and my hand came up to swat him across the head. "Manners!" Kid raced around to the other side of Superboy and rested his hand on his shoulder, giving her a wide smile.

Kaldur, who I would praise endlessly for not stooping to Wally and Rob's level, smiled. "Today is the day."

I grinned, looking around at my team. "Today is the day."