Alright, so this story is starting to wrap up. We have two more chapters (including this chapter) to go. Then it all ends. Let's get going!

One of the hardest things that I had to do was ask Superboy for help. It's not that he is a bad person. From what I can tell, he is not. He serves and protects the people just like I do. No, it's not that. It's that I have to ask my clone for help. I am uncomfortable by what he represents. A violation that I am still trying to deal with. It's not his fault and I don't blame him for it. A child cannot choose how it is born. They are just born. I don't agree with Batman and Lois. He is not my son. He is an experiment gone wrong. I don't want anything to do with him. For Martha I would do almost anything. Even visit my clone.

It took me almost a half hour to force myself to visit him and ask my questions. When I did he lashed out at me. Like a child would at a father. He didn't seem to understand that I wasn't his father. A cousin, maybe, but a father? No. I did not create him. I was just the raw material used to create him. Nothing more. I do not understand why he can't understand that! I was violated for god's sake! Doesn't that mean anything to him?

I guess it doesn't. Oh well, I guess that a child really doesn't care how he is born. Only that he is born. I suppose that I should not hold it against him. He is still just a child.

Still, he should not insult Martha. He can be angry at me, angry at the scientists who created him, even angry at the world and I would not care. We probably deserve it. But Martha? No! She has nothing to do with this. She's just a child. I will not let anyone hurt her. If he insists on taking out his frustrations with me on her. Well, there is going to be hell to pay! He has to learn respect if he is ever to be a part of this family.

Family . . . ?

Do I really think of him as family? Maybe, I'm not sure. I still do not think of him as my son, but maybe I can live with cousin or nephew. It would allow me a little distance, but hopefully, give the boy some of what he needs. It might be an equitable way to end our conflict. And I might be able to compromise if he would just stop calling me father. I don't like that.

In any case I was willing to extend an olive branch. Hopefully, the boy took it.

"Sorry, it seems that we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Let me start again: I'm looking for the ones who took Martha. I need to figure out who they are; why they took her; and how much do they know. You found her, right?"

The boy was not overly helpful. One might even suggest that he was reluctant to help me. Still, he was providing information so I was grateful for that. It seems that Martha was taken to Panama by Cadmus. It was deeply troubling indeed. What were they planning to do to her there? Were they planning to clone her? Or experiment on her? Or maybe they were going to try something else equally horrible? I did not like the possibilities.

I really needed to give her that body scan ASAP. But first, I needed to pay Cadmus a visit. To do that I needed to find them. Which was going to prove trickier than I liked. The boy had no idea exactly where they were in Panama. So I couldn't simply pop down there and take the place apart without more . . .

"Maybe, but it was Robin who operated it. He hacked into the system to get it to work. I didn't do anything." Superboy said.

Robin was on the mission? Then maybe I have a chance! I explained to the boy that Batman was probably tracking Robin. That means he would have the coordinates! Thank god for his complete and total lack of trust. It can be so very useful at times. So, I contacted him on the comm and asked him about it. Sure enough, Batman was tracking Robin. He knew exactly where he went. They were in a facility about fifteen miles outside Santiago. He gave the coordinates. Which was more than enough for me to pay Cadmus a visit. That way I show them what I think of people who mess my family.

I was about to leave when I stopped. I looked at the boy and realized that he was family. Even if he wasn't quite my son. He had every right to go with me. He was related to Martha. Genetically, I suppose he was, what? A half Brother? Cousin? I wasn't sure. Either way this concerned him too. I had to offer him the chance to be a part of it. That included protecting members who could not protect themselves.

So I asked him to come along. I pretended that I needed back up. I really didn't, but having a second set of eyes wouldn't hurt. Maybe he could fill in a few blanks. Give me a better of what this Cadmus wants. That way I can get ahead of them and protect my daughter. After all, this is all for her. No one is touching my baby-girl again. I will do anything to protect her. Even work with my clone. It's my duty as her father.

We arrived at Cadmus about a half hour later. Apparently, Superboy can't fly. Which slowed things down. I calculated at his speed and abilities that it would take approximately 2 hours to reach the destination. That was way too long for my taste. So, I was forced to use the teleporter that I barely ever use. I set the coordinates on a spot just outside of the facility and activated the machine. What I didn't realize was how far that was. Five miles or five hundred miles is not really any different to me. I can cover either destinace in a is not the case with Superboy. It does make a difference. He cannot run as fast as I can. I wish that I had known that before I set the coordinates. If I had then I would have risked a point closer to the facility.

"Couldn't you have chosen somewhere a bit closer?" Superboy demanded.

"Hey! I can cover this distance in a second. Even if I am not flying. I honestly didn't know that you couldn't. Maybe you should have told me."

Superboy growled but said nothing. Instead, he opted to start running. It seemed that he did not want to continue the argument. Which is fair. The longer we argued about my mistake the longer it took. It was just better to bite the bullet and get it over with. Which was how I would have handled the situation myself. Just deal with it. Maybe I had more in common with the boy than I first thought.

Anyway, the real work started once we arrived at the facility. It was abandoned. Neither of us could see a single soul inside. Which made combat a hundred times easier but made the other part harder. Surely they would have destroyed all data relating to their experiments. One had to hope that they had made a mistake. Left something behind that they shouldn't have. Then I might have an answer.

"The facility has been scrubbed. Still, there might be something useful. I suggest that we split up and see what we can find." I said.

"You mean that you want to get rid of me." He grumbled.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "No, I'm saying that we should split up to cover more ground. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a bomb hidden inside somewhere."

"I can't see a bomb."

"Neither can I. Doesn't mean that there isn't one. Remember this facility was designed to keep me out. I wouldn't put it past them to hide one somewhere inside. With our luck, it's made using Kryptonite or red solar energy. Both of which can kill us by the way."

"Didn't know that."

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly like to advertise my weaknesses. I find it better that way. Unfortunately, there are those who figure it out anyway. So expect trouble."

"Always do." He said.

I wasn't sure that I liked that comment. Maybe he was hanging around Batman too much. Maybe I needed to step in and teach him to look on the bright side of things. To see all the good that was in the world. What the hell am I doing? He's not my son. He's my clone! I do not have a responsibility to raise him. That's Batman and the Leagues' job. Not mine. What was I thinking?

"In any case, stay sharp. Keep your eyes and ears on alert."

I explained that I would cover the western part of the facility while he would search the eastern. If either of us found something unusual we were alert to each other immediately. It didn't matter if it was a bomb or intel. I didn't care. I wanted to know. This place could still kill us.

We searched the facility for the next half hour. Most of what remained was completely and utterly useless. Cadmus seemed to do a thorough job scrubbing the place. If I didn't know any better than I would assume that this was just an abandoned research facility. Everything was pretty standard. No alien tech, nothing below the board. The only indication that something was off was the fact that it was hard to xray the building. Most of the walls seemed to be lined with lead. Which in itself it was not helpful. A lot of buildings nowadays were lined with lead. It was an annoying reaction to me. One that I couldn't exactly blame humanity for. They were scared. I get it. I just wish that they would trust me more. Anyway, lining your building with lead is not illegal. It's just annoying. It did not tell me very much.

We worked our way down to where Superboy found Martha. Which was in the center of the building. When I approached I found traces of her scent. Then I saw the door pulled off its hinges. Confirming Superboy's story. I slowly made my way into her cell. I saw that there were no toys, no blankets, or food inside. There was only a tiny toilet and a sink for her to use. There wasn't even a bed to sleep on. Just a cold, hard floor. This was no place to hold anyone let alone a child. The idea that my baby was trapped inside here made me angry. Rage bubbled up inside me. I kept thinking about how scared and alone she was. Not understanding what was going or why. I could imagine her calling out for me. Not understanding why I couldn't answer or why I didn't come. I wanted to hurt Cadmus for this. Teach them what it meant to go after my family, They were out of bounds.

I got so angry that I punched the back wall. Which collapsed from the force. Revealing something that I never found on my own. There was a control room with cameras that was completely untouched. I had found something useful.

I didn't honestly notice Superboy's presence as I entered the room. I could hear and smell him but I didn't care. He could make fun of me. That didn't matter. What mattered was this control room. I sat down and started to work. I went through hours of recordings. Watching my daughter cry for help. Whimper and beg for attention and cover when she got it. It was almost too much for me. I couldn't help but get emotional. If I didn't have Superboy watching me then I might have destroyed this room too. Then I would have lost my chance to know what they did to her and how I could help.

"And they say that I'm a hothead." He remarked.

I forced myself to relax. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared."

I turned to face him. "No, I suppose you're not."

That was kind of nice for a change. Someone not being scared of me. Very few people outside of my family treated me that way. It was kind of nice and refreshing for a change. Even if it was coming from my clone.

I took a breath and forced myself to focus. I had to separate myself from what was going on. That way I would not miss important details. So, I replayed the videos. This time I pretended that the child that I was watching was someone else. It didn't help a lot, but it allowed me to focus just enough to get the job done. I was able to notice a couple of key things:

My daughter does appear to have the ability to learn foreign languages quickly. I noticed that as the records went on she slowly started to pick up the phonemes and syntax of Spanish. She was not fullent by any stretch of the word but considering that she was in there for less than 12 hours that was pretty amazing. I made a note to work with her on that later. See how far I could take it.

They didn't do much to her. Beyond containing her and observing. They seemed to be after her powers. Unfortunately for them Martha does not have most of my powers yet. That may change as she gets older, but for now they are almost non-existent. Her powers are subtle and weak. Mostly involving sensory perspective. For instance. She figured out on her own that I was Superman. We couldn't convince her otherwise. So we gave up trying. It made monitoring her condition a lot easier. I could just take her to Fortress without having to sedate her. They didn't notice that because they were obsessed with trying to get to her to show one of my offensive abilities. Martha is far too young and kind to do that. As a result, their experiments failed.

Finally, it appears that they did draw some blood before starting the experiment. That was troubling. It would prove that she is a hybrid. Albeit one born naturally. They might draw a lot of unwanted attention to my family. They may figure out my identity or assume that Lois cheated on me with Superman. Which drives me insane. I'm fine with them thinking that I am a buffon. I just don't like it when they assume that my wife is promiscuous. I know that Lois does not care, but I do. She will, however, care about this. This may come back to bite us in the ass.

For now, I wanted to make sure that there was no trace of my daughter's blood or her DNA. So I went about scrubbing their system of all data on her genome. Fortunately, I have long since memorized her DNA and can recognize it anywhere. I found immense joy at destroying their research. No messes with my family and gets with it. I stood up from the chair after messing with the software for a while. I then used my heat vision to destroy the rest of the system. I wanted to make sure that no one used this system again. I only wished that this told me where Cadmus is hiding and how I can get to them. For now, I will have to live by destroying the remainder of their research. It would not be enough, but it would be a start.

"Um . . . Was that necessary?"

A voice from behind me asked. It took me a second to realize that it was Superboy. He looked kind of disturbed. It made me wonder what I looked like back there. I lost control. It was kind of embarrassing.

"Hmm . . . it seemed like a good idea at the time."

He gave me another strange look. "Uh huh."

"In any case, it seems that Cadmus was doing experiments on her. They didn't have enough time to do much. And that's all thanks to you and your team. Thank you."

He seemed embarrassed by my praise. "It's not that big of a deal."

"No, I mean it. Thank you, Superboy. I won't forget what you've done."

He looked away for a minute then said, "Let's just get out of here, okay?"

Afterward, we headed out. Shortly after the facility exploded. We had triggered some kind of bomb. Not that I cared. I had what I needed for now. I would come after Cadmus another day. For now, I needed to repay a debt to someone that I had wronged.

See you for the final chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing!