METROPOLIS
August 1, 07:38 EDT
It was a bright and sunny day as the children talked excitedly on their way to school. Just as the school bus was driving over the bridge, one of the beams shuddered. The cables snapped out of place and the bus driver swerved to miss them. An oncoming eighteen wheeler honked and rammed into the back of the bus, pushing it towards the edge of the bridge. A cherry red mustang hit the bus and pushed it further off the side of the bridge. The children screamed as the bus see-sawed on the edge.
Bruce Wayne turned from his window after witnessing this and went to his desk. He lifted the bust and pressed a button, revealing his Batman costume safely tucked away in a hidden drawer. Just as he was about to change, Superman flew towards the bridge and started to repair the broken beams.
Superboy bounded down, eager to help, and sent a shudder through the bridge. He raced towards endangered cars and moved them to safety. Bruce Wayne continued to watch from his window.
Superboy grabbed the end of the bus and started to pull it up. Suddenly, the bus was lifted out of his hands. He looked up to see Superman gently putting the bus back onto the bridge.
"I had that." Superboy said as he stormed up to Superman.
"I didn't want to take the chance." Superman replied. "As it is your landing could have destabilized the entire bridge."
"It didn't." Superboy grumbled.
"But it could have." Superman pointed out. "We don't yet know the limits of your powers."
Superboy softened. "Maybe...you could...you know, help me figure that out?"
Superman hesitated. "Batman's got that covered."
"I know but-"
Superman raised a hand to his com. "Superman." He listened. "Wait. Arrow slow down. What's attacking?" He paused. "No I am definitely available. Coordinates?" Another pause. "Acknowledged. On my way." He turned back to Superboy. "Sorry Super...boy. Duty calls."
Superman flew away, missing the hurt look that passed over Superboy's face.
As Superman flew off, his com beeped again. "I've already got the alert, Bruce." He said.
"I know, Clark." Bruce said, still in his office. "But we need to talk."
MOUNT JUSTICE
August 3, 13:06 EDT
Miss. Martian, Robin, and Dark Angel stood around a holographic Air Hockey board watching Kid Flash and Aqualad play. Kid Flash had insisted on playing and Aqualad wanted to try. He was regretting the decision now.
Kid Flash scored the winning goal and Aqualad glared up at him. Kid Flash ignored him and started to eat his banana.
"Recognized: Superboy B-04."
Everyone looked over to see a very angry Superboy storm into the room.
"Hey, Superboy. How was Metropolis?" Miss. Martian greeted.
Superboy ignored her and walked through the Air Hockey board, making it disappear.
"Ready for training everyone?" Black Canary asked as she strolled into the training room.
"Black Canary!" Miss. Martian greeted. "Uncle J'onn!" She quickly hugged her uncle as he revealed himself behind Black Canary.
"M'gann." Martian Manhunter greeted his niece. "I was in the neighborhood. I thought I'd see how you were adjusting."
"A few bumps..." She admitted. "But I'm learning!"
"That's all I can ask." Manhunter said.
Black Canary watched as Superboy tried to sneak out. "Stick around. Class is in session."
The training floor lit up under Black Canary's feet. She turned to the team. "I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I've learned from my own mentors," she groaned as she shrugged off her jacket. "And my own bruises." She grabbed her bandaged arm.
"What happened?" Miss. Martian asked.
"The job." Black Canary said as she threw her jacket to the side. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparing partner."
Kid Flash quickly raised his hand. "Right here! Yeah." He made his way to Black Canary. "After this," He threw his banana into the trash. "Swish! I'll show you my moves."
Black Canary smirked.
In less than five seconds Kid Flash was knocked onto his back with a sign that said: "Kid Flash status: fail."
"It hurts so good." He groaned.
"Good block," Black Canary commented. "But did anyone see what he did wrong?"
Robin raised his hand. "Oh! He hit on teacher and got served?"
"Dude!" Kid Flash complained.
Dark Angel laughed and high-fived Robin.
Black Canary ignored them. "He allowed me to dictate the terms and-"
"Oh please." Superboy interrupted. "With my powers the battle is always on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time."
Black Canary smirked. "Prove it."
Superboy strode to Black Canary.
Dark Angel covered her face with her hands. "I can't watch this."
Superboy threw a punch which Black Canary quickly grabbed and used it to throw Superboy onto his back.
Robin pointed and laughed.
Superboy growled as he sat up.
"You're angry." Black Canary commented. "Good, but don't react. Channel that anger into-"
Superboy charged again, but Black Canary easily dodged him and swiped his feet out from under him.
Superboy stood up. "That's it. I'm done."
"Training is mandatory." Black Canary replied.
Suddenly, Batman popped up on the holographic screen. "Batman to the cave. Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary." As he spoke a video of an android and the Justice League played. "The attacker was capable of studying then duplicating the powers and abilities of it's opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements which grew disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."
The team watched with shocked expressions.
"Wow, one guy with the powers of the entire League?" Kid Flash commented.
Dark Angel repressed a shudder.
"In the end, it took 8 Leaguers 4 hours to defeat and dismantle the android." Batman continued.
"An android?" Robin asked. "Who made it, T. O. Morrow?"
"Good guess, Robin." Batman said, causing Superboy to remember Superman's treatment to him this morning. "But Red Tornado doesn't think so."
"The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo." Martian Manhunter spoke up.
"Ivo?" Aqualad asked. "But Ivo's dead."
Black Canary turned to him. "So we all thought...or hoped."
"Make certain this threat is permanently neutralized," Batman continued. "We're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R labs and facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every pro cation is being taken. You will have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone else wants to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."
"Yes!" Kid Flash said excitedly. "Road trip."
"Let's hope it's better than the last one." Dark Angel muttered.
"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy growled.
"You had something better to do?" Batman retaliated.
Superboy was quiet.
"Coordinates received." Aqualad said. "On our way."
The team went to the bio-ship.
Black Canary stopped Superboy. "When your ready, I'll be here." She told him.
He just walked away.
LITCHFIELD COUNTY
August 3, 20:08 EDT
The android parts were being loaded onto their separate trucks, with Justice League members keeping watch. Superman turned and used his x-ray vision to check on the young team hidden in the trees. He caught Superboy's eye, but quickly looked away.
Superboy put his helmet on.
"S.T.A.R Boston is a go."
"S.T.A.R Manhattan is a go."
Batman gave the signal for all six trucks to go. The trucks pulled out and onto the highway, all of them going a different direction. The young team split up into groups of three and followed their assigned trucks.
The Justice League members all started to leave. Just as Superman was about to take off Batman put a hand on his shoulder. "I told you. We need to talk."
Robin, Superboy, and Dark Angel followed after their truck on their motorcycles.
"So, if dislike is the opposite of like," Robin pondered. "Is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right."
Dark Angel rolled her eyes and Superboy was silent.
"Clearly you're not feeling the aster." Robin said. "What's wrong?" He asked Superboy.
"Is it Superman?" Dark Angel asked. "'Cause I still hardly saw him when he was supposed to be my mentor. I spent most of my time with this elderly couple down in Kansas."
"No." Superboy grumbled. "It's Canary. I mean, what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?"
"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig." Robin explained. "Canary learned that the hard way. Same as Batman and, well, me."
"And me." Dark Angel said. "Controlling the dark only gets you so far."
Superboy pulled ahead of his teammates.
Dark Angel sighed. "Stupid hard headed Kryptonians." She grumbled.
Robin turned to her. "You really didn't spend that much time with Superman?"
She shook her head. "No...well, at first yes. He helped me along..." She looked slightly uncomfortable having to explain. "I just don't think he's much of a 'dad' guy. Like he doesn't know what to do so he just doesn't do anything at all." She suddenly looked over at the corn fields. "Did you see something?"
Robin was looking at them, too. "Yeah."
Suddenly, robot monkeys came flying out of the corn and onto the truck. Almost like magic, the com beeped.
"Robin, Superboy, Angel, the truck is under attack." Aqualad said.
"Kinda figured." Robin replied.
"Ours, too." Dark Angel translated.
Superboy glared at the robot monkeys. "I hate monkeys."
The monkeys started banging on the windows of the truck.
Robin laughed. "Robot monkeys. Totally Ivo's tweak style." He pressed a button and switched his motorcycle to battle mode. Dark Angel was quickly doing the same.
"Hey," Robin said to Superboy. "Switch your ride to battle mode."
"No point." Superboy said as he leaped onto the truck. His motorcycle skidded towards Robin and Dark Angel. Dark Angel swerved and barely missed it but Robin leaped off and grappled onto the truck.
Robin hung onto the back of the truck, kicking off monkeys left and right. Dark Angel pulled up to the side of the truck and was blasting them off and away from the driver. Superboy started ripping into the monkeys on the roof of the truck. One monkey turned his head and shot lasers into Superboy's eyes, blurring his vision and dropping him off of the truck.
Superboy sat in the road and listened. Once he got the direction he leaped blindly back towards the truck.
Dark Angel ditched her bike and jumped onto the side of the truck, pulling herself up onto the roof. The monkeys were already starting to cut into the roof. She started blasting them and throwing them off of her. Robin pulled himself up onto the roof and helped. Superboy landed onto the roof of the truck, still blind, and started ripping them apart again.
Once it was clear that there were too many of them, Robin leaned down to the driver. "Get out!" He shouted.
The driver opened the door and he and Robin leaped off of the car. Dark Angel jumped after them. Superboy continued destroying monkeys until the truck rolled over and exploded.
The monkeys flew out with the android parts.
Robin helped the driver out of the cornfields and Dark Angel went over to make sure that the driver was okay. Superboy lifted the truck off of him and followed the monkeys.
"Superboy!" Robin yelled after him.
The com beeped. "Aqualad to Robin. We lost our cargo did you-"
"It's gone." Robin replied. "And so is Superboy."
Aqualad com-ed Superboy. "Aqualad to Superboy. Radio your position, we'll help you."
"I don't need any help." Superboy said. "I don't want any." He threw his com down. "Superboy?"
"I think he ditched his com." Robin replied.
"Super!" Kid Flash said. "Now we can't even track him."
Miss. Martian lowered her hands from her head. "He's out of my telepathic range. This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"
"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves." Aqualad replied. "And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they are reassembled."
"Oh that's a great plan..." Kid Flash said. "Except for the part about not knowing where to look!"
"Maybe we do." Robin said, plugging his watch into a fallen monkey. "We'd have heard by now if any of the decoy trucks had been attacked. So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?"
"You know, Robin," Dark Angel said. "If this hero thing doesn't work out for you, you could always look into the F.B.I."
"Nah, too boring." Robin replied as he found the results. "Ha! G.P.S! The monkeys can track the signal. Which means I can track them with the one I captured. Looks like both parts are converging on..." He paused. "Gotham City."
"That far south?" Aqualad asked. "M'gann won't get there anytime soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out." Kid Flash lowered his goggles and set off to find Robin and Dark Angel.
Robin stood up, robot monkey in hand and typed a few things into his watch. Within seconds, his bike came zooming down the road.
"Definitely a disaster." He said. "Heavy on the 'dis.'"