Alright, sorry for the long wait, but the new chapter is finally here! The next chapter will focus more on the adult superheroes, and how they interact with Superman returning after all these years. But this particular chapter is meant to establish the OC's, and get the story moving along.

Parts of this chapter seem to drag on a little bit to me, while other parts feel slightly rushed. Then again, I'm always too critical of my own work, so let me know what you think.

Chapter Three: Paragon

Abandoned Cadmus Laboratory

The lab where Galatea had once been held was no longer in operation. Ever since the conspiracy involving nanobots in the drug SHIELD went awry, due to interference from Lex Luthor, the project had officially been put out of commission. But now, for the first time in fourteen years, a lone figure enters the dark building.

Slowly, the man snaked over to the small reserve of the SHIELD drug. The only samples left in existence. "Perfect…" The man uttered. He reached out his hand, and with a mechanical roar, the mind-controlling nanobots hidden within the drug sprang back to life. The nanobots emerged in a cloud, swirling around the man, obeying his thoughts. The man withdrew a knife from his pocket, and without hesitation, sliced a deep gash in his wrist. Blood spilled onto the floor as the blade pierced his flesh.

Then, as if on cue, the cloud of nanobots entered into the open wound, making their way into the man's bloodstream. Almost instantly, the wound healed. The man's eyes shone with a bright, malevolent yellow color. "Yes…" He moaned as a series of strange tattoos began to spread over his body. The patterning of the tattoos resembled a circuit board, grafted onto his flesh. Soon the markings were covering all of his arms and torso, running up most of his neck. "That's much better." The man said with a wicked smile, and turned to see his reflection in a cracked window.

In the window, he saw the image of Lex Luthor. "I still look like him. But I am better than him." The man growled, before flinging a punch and shattering the window with ease. "I've become better; but not perfect."

The man turned toward the open window and stepped forward. "It is time for Paragon to become complete."

Jump City

Anthony Driscoll stepped into his small apartment, littered with crushed soda cans and empty pizza boxes, and plopped down on the couch and pulled out his Economics text book. He was currently holding a solid C in the class, and if he didn't ace the upcoming term paper it was going to kill his grade.

However, Anthony was quickly startled out of his concentration by his ringtone. "My Milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard-"

"Ugh…" Anthony grunted, answering the phone. I have got to get a new ringtone. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Anthony Driscoll?" A feminine voice on the other end asked.

"Um, yeah… who's asking?"

"Oh, you probably don't remember my name. I'm the girl who you… woke up with, the other day?"

"Oh!" Anthony's eyes widened, thinking back to the girl who had woken up next to, naked, after getting drunk with his friends a few nights before. "Well, uh… hi. I left you my number."

"Yeah, I know. That's kind of how I'm calling you right now."

"Right…"

"You're not drunk again, are you?"

"No, just surprised. That's all."

"The kind of girls who you normally have one-night stands with don't usually call, do they?"

"I don't normally have one night stands, actually."

"Wow, you're a terrible liar even when you're sober."

"Ok." Anthony breathed, a bit confused about the woman's intent. "Can I ask why you're calling?"

"Just to thank you."

"For…?"

"Most guys wouldn't leave their name and number on the counter after they wake up with a naked girl passed out next to them. That was really nice of you."

"Well, I wanted to be polite." Anthony shrugged, "What is your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Stormy."

"Stormy," Anthony repeated, "That's a cool name."

"You said the same thing when I told you it the first time."

"Sorry, I don't really remember a thing from that night…"

"Well don't worry; you didn't do anything that wasn't wanted." Stormy assured him. "You were already pretty intoxicated when I met you at the bar. We talked for a little while, and then some jerk tried hitting on me. When I blew him off, he got very rude and started grabbing me in some very inappropriate places. So you beat the crap out of him."

"Oh did I?" Anthony laughed, "That sounds about right."

"After that, I was extremely wowed by your heroism, and one thing led to another, and… well, you can probably figure out the rest."

"I'm glad you remember all of this, because I sure as hell don't have a clue." Anthony leaned forward on the couch, remembering how beautiful she had looked when he woke up in the bed next to her. "So, Stormy… sorry if I'm being too forward, but, would you be interested in meeting up again some time? Preferably sober?"

"I would love to."

"Alright, cool." Anthony smiled. "Is tonight ok?"

"Works for me."

"Where do you want to meet and what time?"

"Well let's see… I'm leaving the embassy in about forty five minutes, so-"

"Wait, the embassy? What embassy are we talking about?"

"The U.S. embassy silly."

"Why are you at the U.S. embassy?"

"I have to report there now and then to maintain my status as an ambassador from Themyscira."

"Themyscira? Hold on, what-"

"See you later Anthony."

The phone call ended, and Anthony fell back on the couch. "Oh God… what did I just sign up for?"

Meanwhile, in Smallville

Jon Kent climbed briskly up the ladder onto the rooftop of Smallville High School. Little Bruce followed reluctantly behind. "Hey Jon, I really don't think we're supposed to be up here." LB protested.

"Will you man up? You can't spend your whole life doing everything that people tell you."

"What if we get caught?" LB asked, climbing onto the roof of the school. "We could get in some serious trouble for this you know."

"Look, LB… I need to ask you do something for me." Jon said calmly, "For one night, just this one night, I need you to stop being so afraid. Can you do that for me?"

"I'm not afraid."

"Then how come you always do what you're told?"

"Because I respect authority. I respect rules."

"So why did you come up here with me tonight?"

"Because…" Little Bruce paused, unsure of what to say.

"Because I told you to. You came up here because I told you to. Am I right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And yet I told you to break the rules. That's not respect that you have, LB, that's fear. You're afraid to think for yourself. And that's what we're going to change before we do any training with your powers. Before I can teach you to use your abilities for yourself, I need to teach you to think for yourself."

"So I should have said no and gone somewhere else when you asked me to come up here?"

"No, this is where the lesson starts."

"But you just said-"

"Dude, this is going to be a whole lot easier if you don't overanalyze it." Jon replied.

The two were silent for a few long moments. Jon turned and gazed at the stars with a dreamy look in his eyes that LB couldn't quite figure out.

"I like that you can see the stars here." Little Bruce said, looking up at the twinkling night sky. "You can't see them in Bludhaven. Too many lights."

"What's it like, living in a big city?"

"Louder. Definitely louder."

"Probably a hell of a lot more exciting than Smallville." Jon grunted, sitting down with his legs dangling over the side of the building. "The only excitement we get around here is tipping cows. That gets really old when you have super strength, takes the fun right out of it."

"I don't know, I think I'd like to live in a small town like this." Little Bruce shrugged. "I could get used to the peace and quiet."

"Not me." Jon shook his head, "I say the only good thing about a crap town like this is getting out."

There was yet another heavy silence between the two. Little Bruce broke the silence again by saying, "I know that I'm not supposed to over analyze stuff, but… didn't you say that we were coming out here to find answers about your dad?"

"It's complicated." Jon said in a voice that sounded only half-there.

"You don't know where to look for answers, do you?"

"Not a clue." Then, changing the subject, Jon looked over to Little Bruce with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and said, "You want to have some real fun?"

"I guess."

"I warn you though; we'll be breaking a whole lot of rules…"

"I suppose I'm game." Little Bruce shrugged. As much as he hated to admit it, Jon was right. LB was afraid to live life on his own, and found it much easier to live it through guidelines set by others. But maybe Jon was right about all of it… maybe it was time to start taking risks. "What did you have in mind?" LB inquired.

"Keystone City is only about two hours away from here. How about we head there and find some excitement?"

"Sure." Little Bruce answered sheepishly. The thought of Jon's proposition made him sick to his stomach, but he really didn't want to say no either.

"Cool." Jon pulled out his cell phone and scrolled swiftly through his contacts, resting on the name Iris West. He hit the "call" button, and a minute later, Iris had picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Iris, this is Jon. I'm headed to Keystone for some action; think you and Jai could join us?"

"Yeah. We'll have to sneak out of course, but I'm up for it."

"Alright. Meet us by the Flash Museum. We'll be there in about forty five minutes."

"Us? Is there someone else with you?"

"Yeah, I'm bringing a guest."

"Do I know this person?"

"Remember Little Bruce from the Christmas parties at the watchtower? Galatea and Nightwing's kid?"

"Oh yeah, didn't we always call him Little Bitch?"

"Yup, that's the one. See you soon."

"Who was that?" Little Bruce asked, clearly confused.

"Iris West, daughter of the Flash, and an extremely hot young speedster if I do say so myself."

"Oh."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What? I just said 'oh.'"

"No, you groaned it. You're not afraid of girls, are you?"

"Just the crazy ones." LB mumbled, then quickly changed the subject. "I thought you said Keystone was two hours away?"

"It is, by car."

"Then why did you tell Iris we'd be there in forty five minutes?"

"Because we aren't driving."

Suddenly, Jon shoved Little Bruce over the edge of the building! Little Bruce hit the ground with a hard thud, surprised, but not really hurt. "What the heck was that for?" He screamed.

"That was your first lesson." Jon smiled. "Invulnerability 101. It's a good lesson to start with because it's natural; you don't even have to think about it. You just need to know that its there. And now you know."

"You could have at least warned me first."

"What would be the fun in that?"

Jon smiled, and levitated down effortlessly. "Now, here's lesson two; leaping tall buildings in a single bound."

"How do I do that?"

"Its easy, just leap." Jon shrugged.

Little Bruce responded by doing a bunny hop, having no impressive results. "It didn't work."

"What the hell was that? I told you to leap. That was a hop."

"Like this?"

"No, now you're skipping!"

"Well I'm sorry; I guess I don't know how to leap."

"Have you ever seen a kangaroo? Kangaroo's leap. Bunnies hop. Don't be a bunny, be a kangaroo."

"Alright, kangaroo…" Little Bruce crouched down, and then lunged upward. To his surprise, suddenly he was a hundred feet in the air! He sailed for what had to have been the equivalent of six blocks before touching down in a heavily wooded area far from the school. "That is awesome!" LB practically squealed.

"I know right?" Jon laughed, touching down behind him. "Race you to Keystone?"

"Alright, but lets raise the stakes." Little Bruce grinned.

"How so?"

"If I win, I get to sleep on your bed, and you get the floor."

"See, now I've got you thinking for yourself." Jon smiled and said, "You're on!"

Justice League Watchtower – Same Time

"How much longer?" Batman asked in his usual brooding fashion.

"The ship is now nearing Earth's atmosphere. I suspect that Superman will arrive here by dawn." J'onn answered.

"That gives us time to mobilize a strike force, if he proves hostile. I want every available Leaguer to the estimated location of Superman's ship landing, ASAP." Batman announced, and J'onn immediately got to work on assembling the team.

From across the room, Shayera tapped on Diana's shoulder. "Is Bruce ok? He seems… tired."

"I don't know." Diana sighed, "He's been working himself so hard lately, trying to patrol Gotham, half of Metropolis, and lead the Justice League… it's wearing on him. Especially now that he's getting older."

"He needs to slow down." Shayera agreed. "Have you tried telling him that?"

"Of course. But honestly, its impossible to get much of anything through that man's thick skull."

"I hear you. John is just the same way." Shayera rolled her eyes.

"I should probably head out to the embassy, see how things are going." Diana sighed.

"Why? What's going on there?"

"Do you remember those clones that the Justice Lord's Batman created a few years back? The ones who Question eventually isolated the Clone Degeneration Gene from, which we used to defeat Luthor?"

"Yeah, sure." Shayera nodded. "There were six of them right?"

"Yes. Stormy, Angel, Snow, Silky, Donna, and Jerri. They were all clones built from the combined DNA of Ultraman and my Lord-Verse counterpart. Well, ever since we freed them, they've been living on Themyscira with the Amazons. But now that they've all matured, they want to return to America, and now they're trying to gain citizenship from the government. However, there are several issues being raised, and its been a political battle."

"Oh." Shayera nodded, "Wow. I should probably get home too, and check on my two wonderful children who have probably destroyed my house yet again."

After this, the two women parted ways, while Batman prepared a battle plan… in case he needed to take down Superman.

Outsiders Headquarters

Since the departure of Superman, a new team of Outsiders had been formed to work behind the scenes while the Justice League operated in the limelight. Superman had never been very approving of a secret, covert team during his leadership. But now Batman was behind the reigns of the JLA, and eagerly sanctioned The Outsiders to handle operations that needed to be kept out of the public eye.

In charge of this team was Dick Grayson, better known as Nightwing. Working alongside him were the heroes Risk, Volcana, Starfire, Black Lightning, and recently Plastic Man had joined their ranks.

They resided in what had once been the Justice Cave, but was now the Outsiders HQ. An alarm began to sound, and Nightwing sprinted to the computer, which was synched to satellites orbiting the Earth that constantly monitored radio waves, and were programmed to pick out occurrences of criminal activity. The alarm meant a possible metahuman threat.

"What's going on?" Volcana asked.

"Do we finally get to see some action?" Risk cracked his knuckles, his usual cocky smile present.

"There's been an attack on the U.S. Embassy." Nightwing responded grimly.

"Like, a terrorist attack? Alien invasion? Mole men? What are we dealing with here?" Plastic Man questioned.

"The attacker hasn't been identified. But they appear to be metahuman."

"Attacker? Singular?"

"Yup."

"Who in their right mind would attack the embassy alone? Since Cadmus took over security, there's enough protection there to keep the entire League out!" Black Lightning exclaimed.

"We're about to find out." Nightwing responded, "Move out!"

JLA Watchtower

"What is wrong?" J'onn asked the Dark Knight.

"Nothing." Batman growled in response.

"I sense that you are lying."

"Stay out of my head."

"You do not want Superman to return, do you?" J'onn stated the question bluntly.

"What gave you that impression?"

"Ever since you learned that he is coming back, you've been brooding even more than usual."

"We've all moved on." Batman said with a heavy sigh. "Even Diana has moved on. She's finally moved past the things that he did to her. Why come back now? We've finally healed from the hell he put us all through, and he has the nerve to come back after all these years?"

"You are angry at him."

"I am." Batman admitted, but there was no emotion displayed in his tone. "I can never forgive Kal El for the things he did. Ever. That's how it is." Batman faced J'onn, a scowl on his face. "What if he truly has reformed? How can I fight alongside the man who beat and raped my own wife? The man who nearly killed me, and everyone I care about? Every time I see him, I won't think of him as an ally, or a hero, and most certainly not as a friend. I'll think of all the people he killed, all the lives he ruined, all the scars he left. How can I fight for justice alongside a murdering psychopath, reformed or not?"

"That is something I believe we have all considered." J'onn nodded grimly. "And I'm doubtful any of us have found an answer."

"I don't want Superman to come back." Batman dropped his gaze for a moment, clenching his fists. "I don't want that weight on my shoulders. I don't want to work with a man who I hate. I don't want to be constantly suspicious of his loyalty, but most of all… I don't want to see him playing the hero again. As awful as it may sound, there's a part of me that doesn't want him to reform. Because then I don't have to feel bad for hating him."

Batman looked back up to the screen, displaying the footage of Superman's approaching ship. "Why are you coming back Kal El? Why now?"

Keystone City

"I win." Jon said with an arrogant smile, touching down at the Flash Museum in Keystone City.

"Whatever." Little Bruce grumbled, touching down seconds after Jon.

"About time you guys got here." Jai West smiled, leaning against the statue of his father with his arms crossed.

"Hey, leave Jon alone. It isn't his fault he has to haul around all that dead weight." Iris West glared at Little Bruce, a frown on her face.

"What's up Little Bitch?" Jai asked in a surprisingly friendly voice.

"The sky." LB answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Fair enough."

"Enough with the introductions." Jon smiled, "Anything interesting going on around here tonight?"

"Rumor on the street is Captain Cold broke out of jail." Iris answered with a smile.

"Our dad's out of town. I say its our job, nay, our duty, to go kick some ass." Jai smiled.

"I take it this isn't the first time you guys have done this?" LB asked.

"Occasionally I come here to blow off steam, pound some thugs." Jon cracked his knuckles.

"And you're parent's don't know, right?" LB continued.

"Of course not." Jai laughed as if it were the dumbest question he'd ever been asked.

"Jonny boy here is lucky if his mom lets him off the farm on a Saturday night, let alone go crime fighting. And our dad isn't too crazy about Jai and I using our powers in public." Iris responded.

"Are you in or not LB?" Jon asked, raising an eyebrow at his trainee. "It'll be great practice for using your powers."

"Alright." Little Bruce sighed, "I guess I'm in."

"Good." Jon pulled up his hood. "Let's go kick some ass."

United States Embassy

The six clone sisters, Stormy, Jerri, Silky, Snowy, Donna, and Angel, were currently being rushed to a cellar by armed security guards while Cadmus forces tried to battle the attacker.

"We can help!" Stormy protested as the guards pushed her forward.

"Sorry miss, we're under strict orders to keep you six out of harm's way." One of the guards responded.

"But we have powers! Come on, let us fight that guy!"

"We can't do that."

"Really, because it looks like all of your buddies are dead." Stormy frowned.

"What?" One of the guards turned around to see the mysterious attacker flying toward them! He wore a long black trench coat, and his neck was covered in odd circuit-board like tattoos. But aside from that, he bore a striking resembling to Lex Luthor.

"Shoot him!" The guard shouted. The four soldiers present opened fire, but the bullets bounced off of the attacker harmlessly.

Suddenly, the man's arms were encased in what looked like a swarm of metallic insects. Then, in the blink of an eye, the insects merged into two razor sharp swords! The man plunged the swords through two of the guard's abdomen, impaling them and spraying blood throughout the hall.

The remaining two guards, trembling in fear, took aim with their weapons. "Oh please," The man rolled his eyes, and held his palm out toward the soldiers. Another swarm of metal insects emerged from his palm, and surrounded the two soldiers. And then the swarms merged into a series of blades, and the guard's exploded into showers of blood and chunks of meat.

"Typical human. Nothing but talking meat with a misplaced superiority complex." The man turned to face Stormy and her sisters, his face emotionless. "There you are." He took another step toward them. "You are what I need to complete my programming."

"What's he talking about?" Jerri asked.

"Who cares? Let's hit him!" Stormy shouted, flying at the attacker without a second thought. The man's reflexes were faster than expected, and he grabbed Stormy by the throat. "Such a pretty little meat puppet. Too bad you aren't as smart as you are attractive."

"Um… thanks?" Stormy choked, before unleashing a beam of heat vision into the man's face. He screamed and threw her down. All six of the clones rushed the man, but the cloud of metal insects swept over them and grabbed them in mid air, stopping them cold.

The man recovered quickly, and looked at the six trapped clones. "That's better. Now, how about we get down to business?" His eyes flashed yellow, and suddenly, the clones began to scream in agony. They could feel themselves disappearing, as if their very essence was being drained from them.

However, only about a second into the torment, a burst of fire struck the villain and propelled him into a wall. The metallic swarm receded, and the clones fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Stormy looked up to see Anthony Driscoll approaching.

"Anthony?"

"Hey." He smiled at her. "Why is it that we never seem to meet under proper circumstances?"

"More talking meat here to interrupt the games." The villain uttered, standing up and looking at Anthony with venom in his eyes.

Anthony backed away, a surprised look forming on his face. "Lex Luthor?"

"Not even close." The man growled, "I am Paragon."

Paragon extended his hand, and the metallic swarm surrounding him morphed into a gigantic steel ball, covered in spikes! The ball rolled at Anthony at high speed. He flipped open his lighter and manipulated the flame, unleashing a torrent of heat at the oncoming weapon. As the fire approached, the ball separated itself into two giant spinning razor blades! The blades sliced through the concrete floor and maneuvered toward Anthony swiftly.

He dodged as well as he could, but one of the blades landed a deep gash on his arm. The second blade did a U-turn and moved into slice Anthony in half, when at the last second, Stormy jumped in front of him and held her arms up in a block. The blade collided with her skin and, to Anthony's surprise, grinded against her as if she herself were made of steel!

"Well you are just full of surprises." Anthony said, wide eyed.

"Anthony, not to be rude or anything, but get the hell out of the way!" Stormy screamed.

Anthony ran to the right, and Stormy flung her arms to the left, propelling the blade away. It had begun to pierce her steel-like skin, and blood trickled down her forearms. As it hit the ground, the razor blade separated into a cloud of microscopic robots, that continued to swarm around Paragon as he prepared to launch his next attack.

"What is this guy?" Anthony asked.

"I was kind of hoping you would know." Stormy replied.

Angel flew in to kick Paragon in the face, but the nanobots shielded him from her attack and propelled her away. Paragon molded the nanites into to large, javelin-like blades protruding from his wrists.

However, before he could make his move, a razor tiara soared through the air and sliced Paragon's cheeks! However, they healed almost immediately. The tiara sailed back to its wielder, the one and only Wonder Woman. "Thought I'd come to check on the six of you. Looks I came at a good time."

"More interference from the talking meat." Paragon scowled. "I'm growing annoyed by these trivial attempts. I'll kill you swiftly."

"Sounds good to me!" A female voice cried out, and a bolt of bright green energy sailed out toward Paragon. However, it was blocked by the nanobots. Everyone looked up to see Starfire, along with the rest of the Outsiders, gazing down through a hole in the ceiling.

"Sorry we're late." Nightwing announced.

"Fashionably late. That's how the Outsiders roll." Risk smiled.

"Anthony?" Volcana noticed her son down below. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story mom."

"Enough!" Paragon roared, and a torrent of nanites erupted toward the Outsiders. They scattered, avoiding the powerful attack. In the wake of his distraction, Donna flew after Paragon from behind.

"Donna! Wait!" Wonder Woman cried out, but it was too late. The young clone was ensnared by the nanobots, and they quickly encased her body. Her muffled screams could be heard from inside the steal cocoon.

The rest of the clones fired their heat vision, but the steel coffin proved impenetrable. And then, within seconds, Donna's screams died out. Paragon's eyes shone with a bright yellow, and the nanobots scattered again. Donna had disappeared.

"What did he do to her?" Stormy screamed.

"Don't feel bad." Paragon announced, "She is only serving her purpose. To make me complete. She was only the first piece of the puzzle. The rest of you will soon join her, and I will become the perfect being that my creator intended for me to be."

"I don't know what you're talking about asshole, but you just killed my sister!" Stormy cried out in rage, and charged Paragon, but Anthony quickly tackled her.

"Stop! He might do the same thing to you."

"Leave this to us." Nightwing's voice erupted from the shadows, and Paragon turned around in surprise, just in time to be struck with a series of explosive birderangs. As they detonated, Starfire released a hail of star bolts onto Paragon.

When the smoke cleared, Paragon's arm had been blown off! He gazed at the ground, silent.

"Take him down!" Risk shouted, and all of the heroes charged. However, Paragon's body dissipated into a thick metallic cloud, and he reformed high above the group. His arm had already healed, rebuilt by the nanobots. "It seems my power is not yet sufficient to defeat you all. I managed to get one of the clones. An acceptable achievement for the time being."

"Stop him!" Diana shouted, but it was too late. Paragon was already disappearing into the cloud of nanites.

"Until we meet again, heroes."

The cloud dissipated, and Paragon was gone.

Stormy and her sisters began to cry, shocked by the disappearance of her sister.

"Did you notice that guy looked a whole lot like Luthor?" Nightwing asked, looking to Diana.

"Unfortunately." The Amazon princess turned to Volcana and said, "You have the most experience with them. Get the clones calmed down. I'll call Batman and tell him what happened."

"Sounds good." Nightwing nodded. Then he turned his attention to Anthony. "What were you doing here?"

"I had a date." Anthony shrugged. "Then she turned out to be a super powered clone being hunted by a maniac."

"What does he want with them?" Risk questioned, nodding to the clones.

"I wish I knew." Diana sighed. "I don't think he just killed Donna. It almost seemed like he was… absorbing her."

"We need to get them somewhere safe." Volcana nodded. "I can take them back to Themyscira and-"

"No!" Stormy argued between sobs. "I don't want to go back to Themyscira. Not until I find out what Paragon is, and what he did to my sister."

"We'll deal with it later." Diana assured her. Then she pulled out her communicator and signaled Batman. "Bruce… we have a problem."

"So do we." Batman replied.

"What?"

"The ship landed earlier than expected. Superman is here."

A/N: And so it begins! Like I said, the next chapter will be more centered on the adults, with the return of Superman. This chapter was mainly for the purpose of establishing the villain, as well as the rest of the OC's.

In the next chapter we'll learn why Superman has really come back to Earth, uncover a bit more about exactly what Paragon is, and Jon will learn the truth about his father… so stay tuned ;)