Please enjoy this next chapter. :) Nothing much to say here today! Ha ha!
Kid Flash approached the pod and looked at the label on the pod. "Big 'K', little 'r'! The atomic symbol for Krypton!" he pieced together. "Clone?" he turned to them with a prediction.
"Robin, hack." both Aqualad and Luna ordered before Luna gave a small apologetic look to the former.
"Oh, right, right." Robin snapped out of whatever trance he was in over the figure in the pod and plugged the wire in his glove into the computer. "Weapon designation: Superboy, a clone force grown in... 16 weeks? Out of DNA acquired from Superman!"
"Stolenfrom Superman." Luna coldly corrected.
"No way the big guy knows about this!" KF pointed out.
"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7!" Robin added, still reading over the file.
"And these... creatures?" Aqualad inquired, pointing to them on the screen of the computer.
"Genomorph gnomes. Telepathic. Force feeding him an education."
"And we can only guess what else." Luna put in, arms crossed as she stared at the person in the pod.
"They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son." Wally summarized in layman's terms.
"NOW we contact The League." Aqualad pressed the piece on his belt and it glowed.
Luna did the same on her glove and so did Robin. KF tried using his earpiece.
"There's no signal." Luna informed them with some frustration.
"We're in too deep. Literally." Kid Flash looked somewhat nervous.
"This is wrong." he stated but minutes later.
"I have to agree with him. No matter what any of us thinks, what lies in that glass containment is still a living being, human like us." Luna stood with him, shockingly, for once.
"We can't leave him like this." Robin agreed.
"Set him free." Aqualad gave the unanimous vote.
Robin quickly got to the controls on his glove's computer and undid them all, the pod opened dramatically. Luna felt a strange surge of curiosity wash over her and she slowly approached the Superboy.
"Careful Luna..." Aqualad cautioned.
She heard him, but did not acknowledge him as she stopped right in front of the pod. At first, nothing happened.
But then, Superboy's hand came up and flexed onto a fist. Aqualad's eyes narrowed behind Luna at the sight of the g-gnomes glowing. Superboy's eyes flew open and he flew into Luna, knocking her down and out into Aqualad. Luna was swept into the door while Aqualad became trapped under Superboy as said boy punched him several times.
Kid Flash and Robin ran over, KF grabbing Superboy's arm before he could punch again and Robin keeping hold around his chest.
"Hold on!" Wally insisted.
"We're on your side!" Robin added in a strained voice.
Superboy swiftly pulled his hand out of KF's grip and punched him so hard in the face that he was knocked away several feet through a large glass container of vials. He fell to the ground with a loud grunt.
"I don't want to do this!" Robin protested as Superboy struggled. He forced a gadget into his mouth, which exploded with some form of gas, making Superboy cough. Aqualad took this chance to kick him into the computer console to his pod.
Robin pulled out a taser-like device and shot the cables out at him. They were supposed to electrocute him, but they had no effect and Superboy pulled on them to force Robin towards him where he smacked him to the ground and before Robin could react, Superboy put a foot on his chest and began applying pressure to it. Robin struggled for breath.
Luna came back up and threw ice shards at Superboy to temporarily distract him while she charged right behind the shards with her hand swords. Superboy only dodged her ice attack, then lunged at her, tackling her to the ground and yanking her swords from her hands. She gave an icy glare before kicking him off of her and standing up to spin kick him. He grabbed her ankle and threw her into Robin, who was trying to stand back up. They both fell to the ground hard.
Aqualad ran up and used his water to create a hammer. "Enough!" he cried as he charged.
He hit Superboy into the part of the pod he once laid on and attempted to help Robin up, but he dropped him when Superboy approached again. Aqualad stood up and put a hand out. "We are trying to help you!" he told the mute boy.
He only charged at the water boy again and Aqualad dodged him and pushed him into the wall. He went to punch him, but Superboy used his strength to block the punch and kick Aqualad off. They continued to spar and Aqualad caught Superboy in a hold of sorts and tried to electrocute him but he leapt into the air and slammed Aqualad into the ceiling. He did it again when he wouldn't let go and when he landed back onto the ground, Aqualad let go in exhuastion. Superboy had defeated all of his opponents.
He forced the metal door open and the lead scientist, Desmond, looked in to see all of the teens on the ground. He smiled maliciously and said, "Good work, weapon."
Within the darkness of unconsciousness, a voice spoke out to Luna, as well as the others. "Time runs short, you must awaken. You must awaken now!"
They all shot awake to find themselves shackled inside glass cages of their own. Superboy watched them from outside.
"What? Ugh, what do you want?" Kid Flash said angrily at the sight of him watching.
Superboy seemed taken aback for a second at his outburst. "Quit staring! You're creeping me out!" KF demanded.
"Uh, KF? How about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin reprimanded with an annoyed expression on his face.
"I must agree with that statement." Luna added before looking to Superboy. "We were only trying to help you."
"Yes, Luna speaks the truth; we only sought to help you." Aqualad spoke calmly.
"Yeah, we free you and you turn on us. How's that for gratitude?" Kid Flash commented with distaste.
"Kid, please, be quiet now. I believe our friend is not in full control of his actions."
Robin secretly had a pick for the lock on his shackles come out of his right glove as they spoke.
"Wh-What if I... What if I wasn't?" Superboy spoke for the first time.
"He can talk?" Wally exclaimed.
Superboy's hand tightened into a fist as he glared up at him and replied, "Yes. Hecan."
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as the other three glared at him before Kid Flash mumbled, "Not like I said 'it'."
"The genomorphs taught you, telepathically." Aqualad put together.
"They taught me much. I can read, write. I know the names of things." Superboy explained.
"Have you ever seen them? Have you ever actually seen the sky? Or the sun?" Robin asked him.
"Images have been implanted in my head, but, " he looked away. "No, I have not seen them."
"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Aqualad asked next.
"I am the Superboy, a genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should he perish, to destroy him should he turn from the light." the last part of his sentence caused his voice to go dark and for him to turn serious.
Kid Flash and Robin looked at each other in shock. "To be like Superman is... a worthy aspiration. But like Superman, you do deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit and beyond that pod." Luna spoke up. "Beyond Cadmus." she dared to say.
"I live for Cadmus!" Superboy protested. "Because of Cadmus! It is my home!"
"Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun." Robin pointed out.
"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon." KF corrected.
"We can show you, introduce you to Superman." Aqualad offered.
Superboy's eyes seemed to widen at the idea, the sheer thought of meeting the man he was created from, created to be like
"No, they can't." a voice corrected. "They'll be otherwise occupied."
It was Desmond, with the lady scientist and Guardian. All of them had g-gnomes on their shoulders.
"Activate the cloning process." he told the lady scientist.
"Pass! Batcave's crowded enough." Robin threw out there.
"And you, get the weapon back in its pod!" he ordered Guardian, who began to approach Superboy.
"Hey! How come he gets to call Supey an 'it'?" Wally complained.
Guardian put a hand on Superboy's shoulder, and he looked at the older hero and shrugged it off after hearing Luna actually say, "Help us."
"Don't start thinking now!" Desmond scowled.
The g-gnome that was on his shoulder jumped off and onto Superboy's, gaining control over his thoughts and stopping him from rebelling.
"See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon! And you belong to me!" Desmond said to his face before giving a thoughtful look. "Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!" he ordered.
Superboy, without hesitation, turned and walked out of the room to go back to his pod. Desmond turned and nodded at the scientist, who started the cloning process. Claw-like appendages inside the cages came out with needles on every point. They probed each of the teens and they cried out in agony. Even the stoic Luna could not hold back every cry she did not want to utter.
"Where is Dubbilex?" Desmond said, only to turn and see said alien person walk in.
"Oh! Oh, lurking as usual." he complained. "Get the g-gnomes downloading their memories. When that's done, and you're sure the clones are viable, delete the source material."
While they watched their suffering, Aqualad whispered, knowing Superboy would hear. "Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon or a person, the choice is yours. But ask yourself, 'what would Superman do?'."
In mere seconds, Superboy broke through the huge metal door and in doing so, cut off the power in the cloning process. The teens felt relief.
"I told you to get back to your-" Desmond was cut off when Superboy shoved all of them out of his way.
"Don't give me orders." Superboy countered, glaring down at him, before moving over to the cages, much like his own pod.
"You here to help us, or fry us?" Kid Flash asked cautiously.
Superboy's eyes narrowed at him, then he replied, "Huh, well, I don't seem to have heat vision, so I guess helping is my only option." he seemed amused.
Robin picked the locks to his shackles and jumped out. "Ugh! Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here, he'd have my head for taking so long!"
"Seriously, that's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!" Kid Flash exclaimed.
Robin found the release button for the cages and got them open. "You free Aqualad, I'll get Kid Mouth. Whichever one of us gets done sooner can free Luna."
"Don't you give me orders, either." Superboy glared before jumping up to help release Aqualad.
Superboy propped up Aqualad, who looked up at him gratefully. "Thank you." he said.
The former only nodded in reply and carefully leaned him against the console down below and went up to assist Luna, who was picking at her own locks. Robin approached at the same time, but stopped when Superboy got there first.
He broke her shackles quickly and caught her as she fell a bit. "Thanks." she replied flatly, but looked up at him with the eyes of a thankful person.
He again nodded and set her down on the ground gently. They all ran out and Desmond cried after them, "You'll never get out of here! I'll have you all back in pods before morning!"
"That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all." Robin quickly threw his ninja star grenade items at the containers with their DNA before quickly turning to run out.
"What is it with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" KF asked, running out with him.
"We're still 42 levels below ground." Aqualad pointed out. "But if we can make the elevator-"
Giant genomorphs blocked the entrance into said mode of transportation. They all stopped and found that genomorphs had them trapped, no going forward or back. They were boxed in.
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