"Were we able to recover any information from the vehicles?" Superman looked expectantly at the Dark Knight.
"No. Any information we could have salvaged was carried on delicate external hard drives. We uncovered information about the sources of the technology, but nothing about… No files on Experiment 13 or Cadmus." Superman, who was never very adept at hiding his emotions, cringed slightly in discomfort.
"And Kon-El… Conner… He doesn't know about this?"
"I believe he is unaware of the mission's connection with Cadmus." Batman watched the superhuman coolly.
"We should do what we can to keep it that way." Superman watched the stoic man for some kind of response. Finding none, he continued. "I don't know what we're going to find, but I don't think that we should tell Conner anything he doesn't need to know." Batman's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I understand your concern, but I hardly think that we can conceal this from the team while they are directly involved."
"No… But hopefully we can figure out who's behind it and why before he finds out."
"That's highly unlikely."
"Yeah, it is." Superman could hear the large man's joints shift as he prepared to leave. "Bruce…?" Batman's head cocked to watch him but he said nothing. "What do you think this is all about?" Superman asked, searching less for answers than for an excuse to talk to the human. Batman straightened slightly at the mention of his name and turned to leave.
"I'm not sure, Superman." Batman slipped out the door, leaving Clark alone. The coldness of Batman's reply would have been lost on most people, but the Kryptonian's super-hearing left it loud and clear. Superman. The way his name was said was just like the man who said it… cold, clear, and strictly professional.
An hour later in the Young Justice hideout:
"Hey, Superboy?" Dick sat on the huge couch, practically a room away from the young man. Superboy said nothing, opting instead to stare blankly at the television. Superboy was silent for almost a minute before replying.
"Hm," He grunted, accepting Dick's question.
"Isn't it kind of weird for you?" Dick watched Superboy's eyebrow twitch slightly.
"What?" The Kryptonian replied curtly, clearly uninterested in the conversation.
"I mean the missions and stuff. It must be weird coming up against these guys so soon…" Conner ignored the question almost long enough for Dick to drop it before responding.
"What are you talking about?" His bright blue eyes, almost exact replicas of Superman's met the wide white eyes of Robin's mask. His eyes were sharper than Superman's… more hostile.
"Uhhh, Cadmus? The last couple of missions?" Robin replied almost flippantly, a little frustrated with the Kryptonian's obliviousness.
"Cadmus? What did they have to do with Cadmus?" Robin had clearly gotten the larger teen's attention. Superboy looked at Dick with a threatening intensity, as though he were just as likely to launch him into space as to listen to his explanation.
"We've been going after Cadmus for weeks now. The surveillance vans, the vast hard drives… the Cadmus androids working the sites? The Justice League's got us searching for information." By this point the superhuman looked absolutely livid.
"What kind of information?" It became painfully clear to Robin that something was definitely wrong.
"Whatever we can get. Mostly just a couple names so far… How didn't you know about this? I thought…"
"A couple names?"
"No one important. Just a couple people who worked in Cadmus during the same time period… Are you okay?"
Superboy stood abruptly, his hands shaking slightly. He took a step forward and flipped over a footstool sending it flying across the room before flying off. Robin could do nothing but watch him go and hope that he hadn't said something which would cause a problem. He pulled his thin legs up onto the couch, feeling the spandex stretch and crease. IguessI'llgetbacktoworkthen… Not.