Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans in any way, shape or form. Any similarities to anyone's work are purely a co-incidence.

The Forgotten

Part 4 - Hooky

My name is experiment 13, but people call me Connor Kent (or Kon El, my Kryptonian name). My story is rather complex to explain. Basically, I'm Superman's clone (YEAH, you reads that). I was 'born' about a month after Superman died for the first time. His body was stolen from his crypt by some government agency called CADMUS. Eventually, they got a D.N.A. sample (don't ask how), and they managed to grow me inside a test tube, prodding and poking me. I was grown in the space of a few days and aged. I may look 16-17, but technically, I'm should be in diapers (although, I never wore a diaper).

Eventually, I escaped and went to cash in on Superman's rep, calling myself 'Superman' and saying I was the real deal. Then he came back, and I became Superboy, officially. I'm cool with it now, but before I HATED being called 'Superboy'; it was either 'Superman' or 'the kid'.

I mostly used my powers to become famous, as well as the whole truth & justice shtick. I got a manager, went to Hawaii, got crappy merchandise and made a few enemies. Me, Robin and Impulse joined forces as the original Young Justice roster, and I met Cassie on the team. I also got a girl named Tana Moon, a wannabe reporter. Tana and I became close, but then she was murdered, because the bad guys wanted to get to me. They succeeded. After she died, I quit showbiz, gave myself a secret Id - Connor Kent (as in Clark Kent), and I moved onto the Kent farm. I started high school, which is SO boring. I get put in detention practically every other day. I also started to notice Cassie more. I mean, she always kind of had a crush on me, and at first she worked hard to make me notice her (which I so didn't at first). After a while, we got closer and started dating, which we still do.

There's something else that I never mentioned. Kryptonian D.N.A. is very difficult to copy. When they try, you get things like Bizarro (think Superman in need of a planet load of moisturising cream, who talks backwards). Instead, the boys at CADMUS mixed Superman's D.N.A. with human D.N.A. and…bingo. At first, I didn't have any Kryptonian powers. Instead, I got tactile telekinesis (I can affect anything I touch with my mind, as well as fly). It's very useful, as I can use it to disassemble objects (i.e. robots), create micro-earthquakes, create small force fields or just knock things away.

With my TTK, I could duplicate strength, flight and invulnerability, but it couldn't stop energy attacks. It was kind of painful finding that out (I pulled a friend out of a fire, and I burnt my hands in the process). Now, my body is developing powers like Superman, and I still have my TTK, which means that when I grow up, I'll be Superman plus. One major downside is that my human D.N.A. came from (drum roll please) Lex Luthor, as in grade 'A', bad guy supreme, former president and Superman's greatest enemy. So far, only me and Tim (a.k.a. Robin, my best friend) know. The real question is how do I tell Cassie there's a slight chance I may develop baldness and megalomania?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, 9:30 AM, in Smallville, Kansas. A boy stood before a snow-white dog on a farm. The boy, dressed in a buttoned-up shirt and wearing a pair of glasses, waved a stick in front of the dog, before flinging it upwards, towards the sky, disappearing from sight.

"Go on boy, fetch." The boy said. The dog cocked its head, giving him a puzzled expression.

"What?" The boy threw up his arms in annoyance. "I know you can fly, Krypto, so what's the big deal?"

The dog still stared at him.

The boy sighed, removing his glasses.

Figures. Robin gets to hang around with Nightwing, while I'm stuck with the super-dog who doesn't play fetch.

Today, he got lucky. School was cancelled, due to the roof suddenly collapsing overnight, so he got the whole day off. Instead of failing algebra, he was failing to teach a dog tricks.

"Screw this; I'm going to Titans Tower." The boy put his glasses inside, before styling his hair and ripping his shirt open to reveal a black T-shirt, bearing the Superman 'S' shield. The transformation from Connor Kent to Superboy was complete.

I never could figure out how a pair of fake glasses could fool so many people, including me.

He made as if to fly off, but noticed Krypto looking at him.

"Stay boy!" He said in what he thought was a commanding voice. He then leapt into the air, hovering while he tilted into the direction of San Francisco.

"Up…up…and I'm outta here!" He then zoomed off, faster than a speeding bullet.

A few seconds later, he stood in front of Titans Tower. Before he could enter, he felt something brush his leg. Krypto had followed him.

"Why couldn't Superman have given you a Kryptonite leash?" He sighed, bending down to scratch behind the dog's ears.

Clark told him that looking after Krypto was meant to teach him (Connor) some responsibility. After all, how many people could say that they've looked after a dog from Krypton? (Technically, it was a Krypton from a parallel universe, but it still counted).

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey guys, what's happenin'?" He asked, walking into the living room. It was practically deserted, except for Beast Boy, who was engrossed with a game on the Playtendo.

"Hey." Gar replied nonchalantly, not really paying attention. A minute later, he asked "Why aren't you at school?"

"Got the day off."

"…How come?"

"The roof collapsed overnight."

"Oh." That caused Gar to return to reality, finally noticing Connor. "The roof collapsed overnight?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and…"

"Do I look like I was born yesterday?" He changed into a donkey, giving a brief 'hee-haw'. "The roof collapses overnight. You're Superboy and you don't like school, so…"

"So maybe I did it?"

Gar shrugged his now-human shoulders.

Connor smirked. "If I'd done it, there wouldn't be a school to go back to."

Gar thought this over, changing to gorilla and scratching behind his ear with a foot. "Good point."

Connor changed the subject. "Where's Vic?"

"Still working on that damn machine, he hasn't left his room since Sunday. As far as I can tell, he still works on it when he's asleep."

For Cyborg that wouldn't really be a problem. A side effect of being like he was, Victor's body was high maintenance. He could either spend the week at S.T.A.R. labs being cleaned, or the machine part of his brain could do it while he slept. So, every night, his body was taken apart in his room, being cleaned and updated by machines while he slept. Connor saw it first hand, when he followed Krypto into Cyborg's 'room'. He still wasn't over the shock of seeing Cyborg's severed head talk to him.

Moving on to a less shocking subject, he asked Gar about Kory.

"She's in her garden." Gar replied, now back in game mode. Connor gulped, he knew Starfire would be less than enthusiastic about Krypto…

"Let me guess, Raven's in her room meditating?"

"You got it in one."

"What're you playing?"

"What?" Gar had zoned out again.

This time, Connor made a high pitched whistle, making Gar put his hands to his ears. "What are you playing!"

Gar rubbed his pointed ears. "It's Delta Wars X-3." His eyes snapped back to the screen. "Damn it, you made me lose concentration! I just died thanks to you."

The words 'Game Over' flashed on screen.

Connor couldn't believe what he heard. "Delta Wars X-3, no way! It's not even out yet."

"We got a trial version in the mail. A rich computer nerd's way of saying thanks to Kory."

"How do you know it's for Kory?"

"He sent a box of candy with her name along with it."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A few moments later, Gar and Connor were playing against each other. They had no idea how long they'd been playing.

Their characters were blasting the hell out of each other. Krypto was barking at the screen. Gar got the upper hand by throwing a magna-bomb, disabling Connor's weapons.

"Cheep shot." Connor muttered, still trying to beat Gar using his plasma sword.

It wasn't working. Connor's life bar was almost empty. One more hit, and he was done for. The winning blow seemed to come in slow motion. It almost reached him…

…before the screen went blank.

"What the--" they both yelled, simultaneously.

Then they turned around, and saw what went wrong. Starfire was holding the power cable.

"Why'd you do that? I almost beat him." Connor demanded.

Gar looked at him. "Almost beat me? It looked more like I was about to serve you on a platter."

"Enough," Starfire insisted, dropping the cable, "Victor needs the extra power, so all no-essential functions are to be stopped."

"Why didn't he warn us?"

"He did, Garfield. He called you fifteen times, and then called me when you didn't answer." She turned towards Connor. "Why aren't you in school? Also," she looked at Krypto, who was backed into a corner, snivelling, "why is HE here?"

"Well, my school roof collapsed overnight, so school was cancelled. I was bored, so I came here. Krypto followed me."

It wasn't a secret that Starfire had it in for Krypto. On several occasions, he had ravaged her garden, which contained a few plant from her now-destroyed home world. Also, Connor left him in her room when the Titans went on a particular mission. She threatened to 'turn Krypto into bacon' if he ever came near her garden.

"Your school roof collapsed?" She asked incredulously, her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes, why does no-one believe me when I say that?"

"How long have you been here?" She asked.

"Well since 10 o'clock." He turned to look at a clock on the wall. It was now 2:15.

Damn that WAS a good game

"Here's an idea." Gar piped in. "We could go stretch our legs by looking around the town. That way, we get something done, and we're out of the way."

Starfire nodded. "That would work, as long as you take HIM." She pointed a finger at Krypto.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Herman Webster entered his dingy, one room apartment in San Francisco. It hardly seemed fair, after what he had accomplished before, that he should be relegated to living in this festering dump. Still, at least he had his health.

…If you could call having a stomach ulcer 'healthy'.

He soon noticed a folder on his hard, uncomfortable bed. It looked so out of place that he noticed it almost immediately. It simply looked so clean in comparison. Without hesitation he opened it. Inside, he found a letter, along with several documents.

The letter only had a few sentences;

Former-agent 027

Project: - Philadelphia was an unqualified success.

He's alive, your theory was correct.

A friend

Project: - Philadelphia? This must be a sick joke

Still, he looked at the following documents. Not many people knew the name he referred to himself as in his…better days, so the sender must have something important to say.

In the documents, he saw photographs, as well as direction to a location in San Francisco. Several photographs showed the image of a familiar, but long-dead young man, aged somewhere between 17 and 19. Another set had the image of an armoured figure, clad in black and silver armour, wearing a helmet with a glass/ plastic visor. He flicked through the set until he came across one of the figure without the helmet…

Impossible.

He compared the image of the unmasked stranger with that of the dead man. It was improbable, it was…mind-boggling. Bu, there it was, this…hideous face he saw before him had an uncanny resemblance to that of his deceased…comrade.

A trick... that's all it is. A cheap, dirty trick, that's all.

So why couldn't he throw away the envelope?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

3:00, in a small jewellery store. The store was being held up by 3 masked goons, stuffing jewels into sacks; two large men carrying shotguns and one average height goon carrying two old-fashioned revolvers. One of the shotgun carriers had a bracelet with green stones around his wrist.

"Alright, everyone lay down on the ground, now!" The revolver-carrier yelled in a Texan accent, twirling his guns in a cowboy fashion.

"I told ye 'twould be easy, Tex." The large man with the bracelet said in an Irish accent. "Me Grandma's lucky charms'll keep us safe."

"Irish," the other goon cut in, not taking his eye off the patrons, "there's no such thing as lucky charms. How many times do I gotta tell you?"

"Lance, me Grandma gambled all the time wit' these, and she never lost a single game."

"Yeah, but then she died."

"That doesn't count."

"Doesn't…you idiot, Irish, if they were lucky, how come you lost your money gambling?"

"Yeah, but…if I hadn't lost it, I would have caught food poisoning from that restaurant, like the lot of you did the other week."

Lance fumed. "…Shut up, Irish!"

"Who needs super-hearing?" A cocky voice asked. The goons turned around to face a teenager in a black T-shirt bearing the Superman 'S'. The way you idiots were gabbing, I'm surprised they didn't hear you in Gotham city."

"Oh crap, it's Superboy!" Tex exclaimed, dropping his guns.

"He's Super…What?" Irish asked, keeping his shotgun trained on Superboy.

"Come on, Irish, he's Superman's kid brother." Lance answered, dropping his sack of loot.

"That's CLONE. I'm Superman's CLONE. Do you want me to write that down?" He took a few steps forward, towards Irish. He suddenly stopped, bracing himself against a counter. He could feel a burning sensation inside him, like his blood was on fire. He tried to hide his pain, but if he could feel this…that meant only one thing; he saw Irish's charm bracelet.

Damn, kryptonite lucky charms.

Irish stepped closer, noticing the change.

"He don't look too hot. I think I can take him with one arm behind me back." He sent a right hook into Connor's face, knocking him down. Superboy struggled to wipe a trace of blood from his lip.

"I told you they were lucky!" Irish gloated to Lance as they dashed through the door.

"Shut up Irish."

"What was the hold up?" An attractive brunette in the driver's seat of their getaway van asked while they climbed in.

"Nothing, I just decked Superboy, Stacy." Irish clearly wasn't letting this go.

"Did you beat him real bad?" Stacy asked, hitting the gas.

"No, just gave him a right hook."

"Shame…the kid's cute."

"Really…? I think I'm cuter." A green monkey said, climbing across the windshield.

------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as the goons left, Superboy began to recover. His cuts and bruises were already starting to heal.

"Lying down on the job?" A distant-yet-close voice asked.

"Not you? Why couldn't it be a real super-villain? Was Darkseid too busy?" At the moment, making smart assed jokes was all Superboy could manage.

Kory, Gar, could you stop chasing those goons long enough to HELP me?

"That's very funny, boy blue. Now, let's see you FLY!" Aftermath grabbed Superboy and hauled him outside. He then swung him around before releasing him, sending him shooting into the air. After he smashed through a billboard, something caught him. Connor managed to turn his head to face whatever held him.

It was Aftermath. He was hovering in mid-air, holding Connor under the arms.

"This just isn't your day, is it?"

With his newly-recovered strength, Superboy broke free from his grip, grappling with him in midair.

"…Superboy express going down!" The boy of steel launched himself down, dragging Aftermath with him. The two crashed through an unfinished building, ploughing into the ground.

"So, Son of Luthor, what brings you here this early?" Aftermath asked, grappling with Superboy on the ground.

"How do you know about Luthor?"

"Your eyes may have X-ray vision, but mine see everything."

Aftermath got the upper hand, throttling Superboy with both hands. He eased up when he noticed a white dog in a red cape nearby.

"Why, aren't you the cutest little dog I ever did see?" He stared at Krypto for a while before turning back to Superboy. "Where's he from?"

Krypto, if there was ever a time for you to obey me, NOW is the time.

"Get him."

Aftermath's visor lifted up.

"What?"

Krypto launched through the air, latching on to Aftermath's right arm. He let go of Connor and stared at the dog, while it was tearing at his arm.

"You know, this is just low. Using a dog to fight your battles now?" He shook his arm trying to dislodge the dog.

"Why not just fry him?" Connor asked, rubbing the spot the lunatic had grabbed.

Aftermath looked at him as if he'd just said that 2 + 2 makes 5. "What, and have the animal rights people on my ass? I have principles, you know."

Suddenly, his arm just came off in Krypto's mouth. It just came clean off.

"Omigod, rover just ripped off my arm!" Aftermath screamed, collapsing onto the ground.

"Krypto! Put his arm down. PUT HIS ARM DOWN!" Connor yelled, wrestling it out of Krypto's mouth, before dropping it in disgust. "Bad dog!" Krypto whined, doing that thing dogs do when they know they've done something wrong.

Superboy rushed to the lunatic's side. The stump where his arm used to be was oozing out a blue gas instead of blood.

"I know it looks bad." Aftermath said, his glowing eyes apparently looking at his new stump. "Well…at least everyone will know which hand I write with."

"D…Don't worry, they…they can re-attach it." Superboy said, clearly panicking. It was a stupid idea, as this guy's physiology, his body, clearly wasn't human…and if he was, re-attaching arms wasn't like plugging in a Playtendo.

Superman's gonna kill me. I was supposed to teach Krypto to go easy, not rip arms off.

Aftermath's eyes pointed towards Superboy through the newly closed visor. "Don't worry, kid, I don't hold it against you…"

Suddenly, the severed arm flew off the floor, throttling Superboy. "…but I can't say the same for my arm."

Krypto rose up above the ground, snarling. Aftermath's mouth hole opened up and he exhaled a blue mist into the Super-dog's face. In a matter of seconds, Krypto dropped to the ground, out cold.

NO

Superboy focused his heat-vision onto the arm, forcing it to let go. The arm sailed through the air, re-attaching seamlessly to its owner's body.

"Nothing quite like a bit of D.I.Y., is there?" Aftermath laughed, flexing his right hand

"…How…How did you do that?" Superboy asked massaging his throat again.

"What, knock out the super-dog, or the arm thing?"

"Both."

"Well," Aftermath began, slowly advancing forward, "I can control my arm like that, because I built that feature into it. I control everything my body does. As for the 'breath thing'…well, I'm blight, a stain, a plague, the universe itself rejects me."

"So, you're saying…?"

"I'm saying that I am one of the many diseases that affect this universe. The only ones more damaging than me are politicians and lawyers, always lawyers. Now where was I…?" He pulled out his scimitar.

Superboy was nonchalant. "Like a sword can seriously hurt me."

Aftermath made a lightning-like slash across Superboy's arm, leaving a small cut.

"This one can…"

Before he could lash again, Superboy sent a bolt of heat-vision at him, which was deflected by the sword blade into a support column, destroying it.

"No point in making a weapon capable of cutting through your aura-strengthened hide if it doesn't deflect energy, Con…Superboy."

Superboy was about to go into another fistfight, but thought better of it. As big a pain as he was, he couldn't leave Krypto. The supports gave him an idea.

"Hey, you like lawyers, right?" He flew in front of a support column. "Guess I'll need to call up mine from when I was a star. Gonna need one to sort out the mess you keep leaving."

It worked. His eyes were getting brighter, possibly indicating that he was being riled up.

"Oh, yeah, I wanted a word with you about that. When you were in showbiz, your manager flogged crappy merchandise. Big mistake, but not as big as the mistake YOU just made."

He pointed his index fingers at Superboy, sending 2 beams of blue energy at him.

Superboy dodged out of the way. The column behind him was destroyed. Superboy ran, followed by the beams. Another support was cracked (a beam grazed it). Aftermath halted his beam attack.

Close enough

"I know what you're trying to do, Boy blue, but it won't work."

"Oh yes it will!" Connor shot forward, grabbing Aftermath's arms. The two grappled, with Superboy quickly gaining the upper hand.

Funny, Connor thought, as he began spinning around on the spot, he put up more of a fight at the Tower. He's weaker than I remember…or maybe I'm stronger.

He let go, sending Aftermath flying into the cracked support column, shattering it. In the blink of an eyelid, Superboy was gone, taking Krypto with him. A second later, the entire structure collapsed on top of Aftermath, burying him in the rubble.

Oh yeah, I'm da MAN. Wait till the others hear about this…

------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of the others…

His communicator rang. "Hello, Superboy here, how can I direct you to the nearest ass wupping?"

S.B., are you okay? Cyborg was on the other end of the line. He sounded pretty pleased. I've got some good news.

"So do I, why don't you go first."

I got the machine working, at last.

"What was the problem?"

Nothing, the machine was just too sensitive. The lab boys assumed there wouldn't be that much energy, because my scans weren't accurate and the levels on the cards were very low.

"Can you track him, yet?"

Well, there was an energy surge near you a few seconds ago.

"How do you know where I am?" Connor looked around, expecting to see Cyborg somewhere.

Your communicator, you see anything unusual?

"No…" he scanned the area again, this time with X-ray vision. What he saw was normal, what he didn't see was Aftermath's body in the rubble. "Guess what? I totally decked Aftermath. He's buried under a construction site…well he WAS buried. He just…vanished."

He must have teleported. You handled him by yourself?

"Well…Krypto helped a little. Speaking of which, I need to see Raven."

She's downtown, with the others.

"The others, what time is it?"

5 o'clock.

"Really, well, I'll see you soon, over and out."

With that, Superboy leapt into the air, carrying Krypto.

"Up…up…and I'm outta here." He really needed to trademark that. He was getting used to saying that corny catchphrase all over again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Superboy shot off, Aftermath watched him from a nearby rooftop. "I think I'll steal your line." He murmured to himself.

Now, he should follow him. Those punks that Starfire and Beast Boy were chasing had something he wanted. It was a mistake to engage Super-Luthor right now, but it was too much fun to resist.

The dog clearly wasn't from Earth, but it was the least of his many concerns. All he needed to finish the project was the right raw material…as well as unwilling assistance.

Not long now…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Herman Webster was sitting in his apartment watching the news; the only program he bothered with anymore. The typically attractive female reporter was blabbing on about a hold-up at some jewellery store. As usual, Herman was barely paying attention. After the scare the fake envelope gave him, he needed some normalcy.

A section of amateur footage caught his eye, snapping him out of his daze. The poor-quality footage showed a tall armoured figure dragging one of the Teen Titans … the one called 'Superboy'… out of the store, before flinging him into the air like a rag doll. The footage paused before zooming in on the figure's face.

It was the same armoured figure from the photographs. Right down to the eerily glowing eyes.

Herman stared at the screen, shell-shocked. "My god, Eric, what have we done to you…?"