"Hanzo!"

A man in distressed clothes ran into the quiet shop panickedly, his intrusion slicing through the serenity of the tea garden like a hot knife through butter. A man in warrior's garment looked up from his serving of tea calmly and looked to his disheveled retainer, waiting for an explanation. His retainer bowed his apology for the intrusion. He shook visibly as he bowed formally. The other man narrowed his eyes at his panic, concluding that something was very wrong.

"Sir, the village is under attack from a terrible demon."

Hanzo closed his eyes and set his tea down calmly. He lifted himself from his seat, his hand brushing over the sword on his side. The others in the tea house revered him with petrified awe as he calmly strode out of the tea house with a solemn countenance. Once outside, he looked around for the potential danger. The streets here were still abundant with energy and liveliness. Whatever danger that lie next door had not yet come to this part of the village.

Several samurai atop large and graceful horses flew by just then, sending villagers ducking for safety as they galloped hurriedly towards the outer village. Hanzo immediately whistled for his own horse as he located the demon's location. His horse, which had been placed nearby, came running towards him. Hanzo quickly straddled his steed and ushered it after the other samurai. He had traveled a long way to Kyoto from his home village in the East. Rumors of the capital being ravaged by demons had spread far and wide, attracting many a samurai to claim their right to protect the capital. Yet, for as many samurai came to Kyoto to vanquish the beasts, just as many returned home in funeral processions. It was not long before Hanzo, being pronounced a demon of the blade himself, was called upon to help the cause.

Yet, he was not anywhere near the capitol. Could the demons have come this far, he wondered as he pushed his horse faster. Before long, Hanzo had entered the outskirts of the village. The streets here were far quieter and he readied himself for battle. He pushed on slowly, coming across several dead bodies strewn about the road. Their blood stained the wood houses along the road, causing Hanzo to frown at the sight of slaughtered innocent. He drew his sword as he steeled himself and scanned the area. From up ahead, he could hear the sound of swords clashing, followed by the guttural drawl of a person greeting death. He ran forward and stepped into view just in time to see the last two samurai be slashed to death in bloody spews of red.

Hanzo narrowed his eyes at the demon as it turned to him, revealing it's truly hellish appearance. The red-skinned beast donned the traditional armor of a samurai in a deep green color. The helmet worn over it's head had two long protruding horns from it, adding to the severity of its ruby eyes and razor-like teeth.

Hanzo could see how it could best many a samurai at a time. Not only was the demon large in size, but an extra pair of arms wielding katanas extended from it's lower body, giving it a full offensive and defensive advantage.

The beast roared at him loudly and charged forward, its footsteps falling like an earthquake each time it touched the floor. Hanzo steadied himself and prepared for the first attack. He swung his sword up to block as the demon brought it's katana down like an axe. Hanzo grunted as the brutish attack left a ringing in his arms. He brushed it off and turned quickly with the demon as it tried to slice him with another sword. The two clashed again before sliding away from each other.

Hanzo regripped his sword, his arms still ringing from the blunt power effortlessly exerted by the demon. He narrowed his eyes and prepared for the demon to attack again. He would not be able to overpower the demon, so he would have to out-skill the beast. The demon stepped back and squatted low as it brought back one of it's three swords. A second later, it threw one like a spear at Hanzo, forcing him to roll out of the way or else be pierced by the blade.

As soon as he recovered the demon was atop him. Hanzo blocked the katana quickly, both their swords hovering an inch above his right shoulder. While he was preoccupied in keeping sword from cutting into his shoulder, the demon swung it's other blade at him. Hanzo grunted, exerting himself as he pushed the other sword off his and blocked again. With it's free arm, the demon reached back and grabbed the thrown katana, swiping at Hanzo as they were locked together. Hanzo threw the demon's blades back and ducked away to safety. Again, the beast walked towards him, deadly blades glinting threateningly in the rays from the sun.

Hanzo breathed in deeply as he sheathed his sword. Simply defending was not an option. He fiddled with the sheath until it came loose from his belt and slid out. He held it up before him and bowed with his eyes closed. He waited for the beast to close in on him as he waited for his opportunity.

The demon again raised it's word over it's head. At the same time, Hanzo unsheathed his katana, using one hand to block the attack with the sheath as his other held his katana skillfully. Now, it was his turn to attack. He turned inward before the beast could counterattack and slashed at it. His sword fell against it's armor as he got within it's range. Effortlessly blocking another attack, Hanzo began his assault.

By now, more samurai had arrived and watched in awe as Hanzo took on the demon alone. Hanzo brought up his sword in anticipation of another attack and used his sheath to strike a blow in the beast's gut before it could attack him again. It stumbled back despite it's size and snarled at Hanzo as he brought his weapons in a cross before him.

The beast tried him again, but failed as Hanzo clashed swords with it again. Hanzo turned, blocking an attack from his blind spot and turning inward as he switched with the sheath for defense. He jumped high as the demon's lower arm swung at him. He leaned back as another swipe came as soon as he landed. Using his sheath, he blocked two separate strikes before catching the two strikes at once. An opening revealing itself, he used his katana to cut across the demon's other arm. It fell clean from it's body, dropping with a heavy thud as it rolled across the dirt.

Hanzo allowed himself a small smirk as the samurai behind him cheered at the trophy. Yet, the victory was short lived as before Hanzo's own eyes, the beast reproduced the arm he had just cut off. Hanzo grunted as the demon kicked him while he was caught off guard. He tumbled roughly across the dirt, finally coming to a stop when he tore through a wood-built house. He groaned in pain, feeling several a broken rib as he moved slightly. He coughed out his blood, stunned by the beast's raw power. Ignoring his pain, he wrestled his way out of the debris and crawled from the house weakly. His vision blurred violently as he set his eyes upon the beast. It had recovered its lost blade as it looked at him with a mocking smile. Hanzo felt his head go light as it turned away from him and set its attention on the group of younger samurai.

Hanzo cursed and leaped forward in an attempt to fight but his leg had been twisted beyond repair in his fall. He fell against the dirt, his world spinning as his eyes closed over the scene of the demon's dark shadow falling over the scared group of samurai.

A water God came to him in his sleep. Hanzo's dreams prophesied the country of Japan in complete darkness. Demons ruled the new underworld, living at ease as humans suffered in this poisoned world. The once rich lands became dyed in black tar as the sky above was dyed in the blood of everyone lost. Those that were left alive were forced to kill their own to survive and live a life of misery until they too fell to the rot of that world.

A man with a severed smile appeared to him then, his skin made of paper and his veins made of ink. With one hand, he reached out towards him.

Hanzo awoke with a start as his dream came to an end. He rolled to his side, throwing up as soon as he awoke. His head spun from the prophecy, forcing him to stay on the floor as he recollected himself. He stretched his legs, his wounds and broken bones miraculously healed by the water God's power. Shakily, he got up and looked about him. All around him was death and destruction. Bodies lay about him, freshly slain from the beast. There was not a sign of life anywhere as he came to his feet. The village, once prosperous and lively, had all but perished in the span of a day. Fear settled in his heart as he worried the prophecy was realized, but this was only a glimpse of the hell to come.

Resigned with a sense of guilt, Hanzo shouted his grief over all the lives lost.

An hour passed before Hanzo had calmed enough to take action. He vowed revenge against the demon, He promised the heavens who granted him a second chance at life to be their avenging warrior. With their blessing, he would wipe out the evil that infected their world.

He recovered his sword, immediately dropping it as a heavenly glow radiated off it as soon as he picked it up. The sword fell with a small clack as it turned back to it's original form. Tentatively, Hanzo touched the sword again. It glowed a soft blue at his touch as elegant writing appeared engraved on the blade.

Hanzo bowed his thanks for the blessed blade and sheathed it at his side. Standing tall, he set off on his divine mission to rid Japan of evil.

"What happened next?"

"Not sure," Petra replied, leafing through her notes. "After freeing Japan from Brushogun's hold, he became a renowned samurai and died several years later."

"And the sword?" Zuzu asked.

"Lost in the sands of time," Petra announced as she closed her book for emphasis.

'It's a normal sword. It could be anywhere,' Haru pointed out.

Zuzu nodded her agreement. "You have a point. The sword takes a normal appearance. If it's blessed, we have no way to tell."

"Can you two please stop having private conversations without me?" Petra scowled, scrunching up her nose in response.

"If you'd allow us in your head, it wouldn't be so private," Zuzu countered and folded her arms.

"Maybe if you just spoke aloud like everyone else," Petra quipped with a glare. Zuzu narrowed her eyes back at her in annoyance.

'Zu.' Haru quelled her as the two had a stare-off.

Zuzu huffed and stood up from her place on the couch. "Okay, so Brushogun is still alive and we don't have the sword to defeat him. Where does that leave us?"

"I don't think he is alive," Petra spoke up, opening up the cursed book and presenting it to them. "This is the book Brushogun used to produce his monsters. It's the last remnant of his power. If he were still alive, either of you should sense it from this alone."

Zuzu frowned at the book as a wave of nausea washed over her at the memory of the book's affront. She shook it off and turned to Haru. Despite her powers, she couldn't sense anything from the book.

Haru frowned as he inspected the book closely. He shook his head, signaling his findings. There was no power remaining in the book.

"We don't sense anything, but that doesn't change the fact that those creatures were after the book."

"Were they though?" Petra countered, receiving silence as her response. She continued, "If Brushogun was indeed defeated, then what produced those creatures?"

Zuzu paused, "It had to be the book."

Petra shook her head in disagreement. "We should go back to the village where we found the book and do more research. We're missing something."

January 22. 8:44 pm.

"Project Kr," Green Lantern voiced as the two girls came upon the bottom most lab center. Her eyes narrowed as she immediately recognized the symbol on the door. "The atomic symbol for kryptonite."

"What do you think is in there?" Megan asked, looking up at the gigantic door with awe.

"We're going to find out," GL responded matter-of-factly as she started towards the door. She placed herself in front of the panel and began hacking. She wasn't nearly as good as Robin, but with the help of the ring she could get into the most basic of places. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. GL grunted and backed off before she set off any alarms. Miss Martian floated up behind her, seeing her unsuccessful attempt at breaking in.

"Let me try." She put her hand to the wall and focused on adjusting her density to phase through. She bit her lip as she concentrated with all her might, but nothing happened. She retracted her hand and gave a sheepish laugh to pronounce her inability.

GL raised a brow in return but was quickly distracted when the door clicked with the unlocking of the tumblers. Reacting quickly, she hastily grabbed Miss Martian and drew her in the upper corner of the hall. The two huddled close, pressing themselves as far to the edge as they could. The doors opened with a soft hiss, and out stepped a woman and one of the monsters.

Green Lantern's eyes widened as she recognized the silhouette of the artificial species as that of the one she saw in the elevator. She held her breath as the pair walked out into the hallway. Seizing their opportunity, GL signaled for Miss M to start moving towards the door. She had barely gotten to it when the creature paused at the end of the hall, a step behind his partner. GL froze, thinking they were caught, but sighed in relief as the creature shook it off and continued on it's way. Counting her luck, GL quickly slid into the room just before the door shut.

Miss Martian placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling her presence in the pitch black of the room. GL placed her hand over hers passingly as she produced a light from her ring. Quickly locating a control panel, she found the power button and lit up the room.

With a start, the two girls realized they weren't the only ones in the room. At the center of the room, a boy bearing Superman's symbol stood encaged in a glass dome with three aliens asleep at his side.

Both girls blushed unconsciously as they observed the sleeping boy. He was handsome, his features resembling that of a son of Aphrodite. GL shook out of it first, quickly putting two and two together with another look at his symbol. "He's Superman's clone."

"He doesn't look like him though," Miss Martian countered, staring at the boy curiously.

GL narrowed her eyes as she quickly got to work, realizing the severity of this situation. She turned back to the control panel and began working out it's mechanics, trying to extract more information. "We need to shut it down. Whatever happens, this clone must never leave Cadmus."

Finally snapping out of her daze, MM turned to her in surprise. "What? But, why? We can't!"

"He's an evil super clone, rookie. We can't let him stay in the bad guy's hands," GL scolded, finally getting into the system.

"But he's alive," MM quarreled, looking upon the boy with pity.

"All the more danger," GL announced and came away from the panel. "Can you get in contact with the others? I'm going to call the League."

Despite her opposition, Miss M did as she was told, but could not receive a signal. She turned to Green Lantern, finding her to have the same difficulties. GL frowned and started for the door, "We need to get higher up."

They were halfway to the door when it shuddered again with the click of locks. They both drew back, preparing for a fight when Robin appeared in the doorway. He stood there, just as surprised as they were. He opened and closed his mouth in shock as GL led them closer, "You beat me here?"

"Losing your touch, Boy Wonder," GL teased half-heartedly as she pulled him out of the doorway and explained what they had discovered. She had barely finished her explanation when a great gust of wind flew past them.

Kid Flash skidded to a stop as he ran past them. "Oh, there you guys are. Look, time to go. Mission's a bust. We got attacked on our floor, but luckily Red Arrow was there to help. He told us to come down here and get you, so let's go- Is that a super clone of Superman?"

"Now's not the time, Wally," GL warned, speaking with a scorning tone as her patience was beginning to be pushed to it's limits.

"I disagree," Aqualad said as he finally caught up with everyone. "We cannot leave him there."

GL groaned out loud as the boys re-entered the laboratory and reluctantly followed them in. Aqualad took in the situation and turned to Robin, "Can you get him out?"

"Do we want to?" Robin asked, heading to the control panel.

"Don't think we have a choice," Kid interrupted, stepping away from the glass dome as Superboy opened his eyes from within. His eyes narrowed at the team as he was released from his bonds. He pounded on the glass twice before it erupted in an explosion of fragmented pieces.

Aqualad grunted as he took the first hit, flying back into the wall of the room. The others set themselves into action as Superboy quickly became a real threat. Kid ran and threw himself on the clone's back, doing his best to restrain the power house. "Calm down, Suppy! We're not your enemy!"

Superboy ignored him and reached back, tearing the boy off his back with ease. Kid gasped in surprise as he was picked up and hurled beside a recovering Aqualad. Robin came next, hurling several freezing batarangs in Superboy's direction.

Superboy growled with rage as he flinched against the blocks of ice that traveled up the right side of his body. Green Lantern quickly assisted him as she quickly chained Superboy down with a heavy weight.

With another animalistic grunt, Superboy forced himself through the ice and broke free. He grabbed his end of the heavy chain GL had put around him and turned it into a weapon of his own. He began to twirl with it, using the heavy ball at the end like a wrecking ball as he knocked GL out of the air. Robin ran in just then, gaining a hit or two before Superboy stopped him mid-kick and punched him hard in the face.

Miss Martian caught Robin with her powers before he could tumble too far and helped him to recover his balance. Seeing he was okay, she turned back to Superboy and gave it her own try. 'I don't want to hurt you!'

Superboy roared in response to her voice in his head and jumped high in an attempt to grab her. Miss M floated away in time and again tried reaching out to him. Superboy, however, tore into the construction that was his birthplace and ripped it from the ground. He hurled it at Miss Martian before she could evade, effectively trapping her inside what was left of the dome as she fell against the ground.

A punch came at his side as Aqualad teamed up with Kid Flash for a rematch. Kid followed up with two more punches before being joined with a kick from Robin. Superboy roared in anger at the onslaught, giving into his fury even more with the attacks. He grabbed Robin, who had yet to escape, and slammed him into the ground. Aqualad ran to his rescue but missed as Superboy jumped high with the young teen and slammed him into the ground. Robin groaned helplessly against the ground, quickly losing consciousness from the impact. Superboy got off him and turned, punching Kid Flash as he tried to sneak up on him. Kid Flash shouted in pain, taking the hit hard as he rolled off to the side.

Superboy grunted, slamming against the ground suddenly as a railcar fell upon him, courtesy of a very pissed off Green Lantern. He rolled his shoulders under the car and huffed with force it took to lift it off him. GL quickly dematerialized her construction before he could use it against them again. Instead, she secluded him in half of a wall as Aqualad produced his weapons and came at him. The walls served to trap Superboy as Aqualad cornered him inside.

Aqualad dodged a punch from the false kryptonian and used his mallet to throw Superboy into GL's wall. He came closer and zapped him with his electricity while he was still recovering, yet it didn't have the effect he had hoped. Superboy managed to throw him off before his powers could take full effect. He seized Aqualad and used him as a projectile against GL, who had again taken cover in the air. She gasped as Aqualad was helpless to stop himself. The two collided heads with a harsh impact and tumbled to the ground.

Superboy huffed with victory, but was quickly overcome with a severe headache as the recently freed Miss Martian began tinkering with the telepathic aliens in the room. Miss Martian gasped as she found the telepathic residue of his force-fed education. She resurrected the communications, experiencing everything he did.

She quickly became overwhelmed by the memories and kneeled to the floor as her mental guards were broken down. Superboy recovered himself and approached her slowly to take her down. She remained still, calling out to him once more as her mind was flooded with Superboy's past. 'The world is so much more.'

'You deserve a life of your own, Superboy,' she said finally.

Then everything went black.

10:04 pm.

"I told you we should've left."

"It's not my fault the clone turned on us!"

Miss Martian stirred as she awoke to the sound of her friends bickering. She instantly registered the restraints on her hands as she hung limply in a glass compartment. Slowly regaining consciousness, she registered her surroundings. She along with everyone else were entrapped while Superboy watched over them from the outside.

"Hey, moron! We're the good guys," Kid Flash berated him as he resisted against his restraints with all his might. Superboy turned to him and glared, but remained silent, not speaking a word.

'Superboy.'

He turned to her as she said his name. Miss M couldn't help a sigh of relief as she realized she was still connected with him. 'You have to get us out of here.'

Superboy remained stone-faced, as somber as when she first laid eyes on him. Miss M groaned, trying to pick herself up as she hurriedly recovered herself. 'I know what you are. I know what they made you to be, but I see something else. You're more than what they raised you to be.'

'Cadmus is my home. I live because of Cadmus.'

Miss Martian shook her head. 'You're more than that. You're modeled after the Superman. You're everything he is. If you could see how amazing he is...we could introduce you.'

Superboy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the entrance of Dr. Desmond and his assistant. "What are you still doing here? You belong in your cage! Return at once!"

Superboy glared at him, but did nothing as he turned to follow orders. He was on his way out when Miss Martian reached out to him once more. 'Please. What would Superman do?'

"You!" Desmond pointed and barked at his assistant. "Clone the heroes and prepare for disposal of their bodies."

"Pass! Batcave is crowded enough," Robin quipped as he fished a piece of metal from his glove to pick his locks.

The rest of them started struggling against their bonds in vain as large needles extended from their pods and leered threateningly over them. Desmond's assistant typed something on the panel, causing the needles to strike them and send waves of pain over the young heroes.

From deep beyond Cadmus, Superboy heard them cry out and turned back. The genomorph at his side glowed red as it curiously searched his mind. It made a clicking noise with it's voice, questioning him. Superboy turned fully and began walking back to the lab. The genomorph, following Superboy's thought pattern, clicked it's agreement and hung on tightly as Superboy gained speed and raced back to the lab.

"You? I didn't call for you," Desmond sneered, coming up to Superboy only to be pushed on his side. Superboy didn't miss a beat as he strode up to the panel. The assistant backed up, scared when Superboy's genomorph took action. It glowed, controlling her mind to release the heroes as Superboy desired. She followed orders dazedly, and the heroes were released.

The five heaved with relief as their torture was halted. Robin, recovering first, fiddled with his locks some more before finally freeing himself. He hopped down and rubbed his wrists, shaking off the lingering pain of their cloning treatment. "Ugh, finally! Lucky Batman isn't here or he'd have my head for taking so long!"

"Wrong thing to be worried about here," Green Lantern gritted out as she hung weakly against her restraints with the others in similar conditions.

"Yeah, yeah," Robin replied as he darted over to Superboy and his genomorph. He took over the control panel and set everyone free while Superboy went to Miss Martian. He caught her as she fell with her sudden release.

"Oh," she blushed and held her head as she rested in his arms. He helped her to her feet as everyone recovered themselves.

"It's what Superman would do," he explained, looking at them blankly.

"It talks?" Kid gaped, freezing mid-stretch.

"He's a friend," Miss Martian corrected, coming to Superboy's defense.

"Whatever," Green Lantern brushed them off. "Can we leave now?"

"Couldn't agree more, beautiful," Kid said, adjusting his goggles over his eyes as he ran ahead of everyone else.

"Come on," Aqualad ordered as Robin destroyed their DNA samples and retreated. Green Lantern followed after them as Miss Martian and Superboy remained inside.

"Come with us," Miss M said, pleading more than asking. Superboy turned to Desmond and then back at her. His genomorph glowed at his side, voicing its approval. He nodded and together they ran out of the room as Desmond started barking out more orders to stop them.

"Activate every genomorph in Cadmus."

"Get in! Hurry!" Green Lantern ordered, ushering the two aliens inside of the elevator as Robin finished hacking it to his favor. She stood back, holding off a troop of genomorphs trying to stop them from advancing. She formed a wall with her powers and pushed it ahead, shoveling the lithe genomorphs down the hall as she ran into the elevator.

Robin closed the doors as soon as she was safely inside. She huffed, overwhelmed for a while by the calmness inside from that of the war zone outside. She shook it off and raised her arms to her head so she could take larger breaths while the others made a plan.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" She turned to Miss M as the boys argued over what strategy was better to escape.

"I looked into his head. We can trust him. His name is Superboy and he belongs with us," Miss M appealed, unconsciously stepping closer to protect him. GL narrowed her eyes as she evaluated Superboy for herself. Strong, a threat, and capable of turning on them at any time. He was by all means untrustable, but one look at Miss Martian and she changed her mind.

She backed off with a dismissive 'fine'. At least he was useful as eye candy.

Her musings were cut short as the elevator came to a screeching halt and the doors opened to an army of genomorphs. GL acted fast and threw up a shield, holding off the horde as Robin started dismantling the emergency exit. He climbed up and out of the elevator, followed by the others. Green Lantern was last as she removed her shield and replaced it with bars over the exit hatch.

"Need a lift?" She joked as she created a platform for those without the power of flight. The three boys hopped on, causing GL to start their ascent. Superboy jumped up after them with Miss Martian beside him. His genomorph clicked again panickedly as he began to lose momentum. Superboy's stomach heaved upwards as they began to fall. He curled one arm around his g-gnome as he realized it was trying to tell him he couldn't fly.

Miss Martian gasped as she realized their predicament and were quite literally falling behind. She called out to Superboy in surprise and raced to catch him, using her powers to help lift him up.

"I can't fly," he said in disbelief as she carried him to where the others were.

"It's okay," Miss M cooed as they took shelter atop GL's construct. Seeing them stop, she turned to them with curiosity. "We are not leaving?"

"Red Arrow's still down here somewhere. We don't leave without him," Kid explained as Robin opened the door for them.

"Why is he here?" GL found herself asking as they ran down the hall in search of him.

"The same reason as us. His independent research led him back here," Aqualad informed in place of Kid. The group raced down the hall and turned down a corridor, running straight into the enemy lines. Quickly backing up, they turned to run again but were stopped as they were cut off by another horde.

Desmond pushed his way to the front angrily, fury radiating off him as he glared at the heroes. "No one leaves here. Cadmus will give me the power to stop you."

The heroes stepped back cautiously as Desmond produced a glowing, blue vial from his coat pocket. Desmond by himself wasn't a threat, but his brawns, or lack thereof, was not what they should be afraid of. What he lacked in physical ability, he made up for in intelligence.

The six heroes readied themselves as Desmond tipped back the vial in his mouth, drinking every last drop. Desmond hunched over in pain as the fluid ran down his throat like acid. The feeling quickly spread as his whole body came on fire . His muscles rippled beneath his shirt as they quickly tore and expanded. Every bone in his body seemed to break and regrow itself as his skin turned blue and he grew to unimaginable size. His skin tore off him in pieces as he became a monster completely unrecognizable from his human body.

Superboy stepped forward, naively confident as Desmond displayed his new form. Despite his bulking size, Desmond was surprisingly quick and seized Superboy in one hand before the boy could react. His genomorph hopped off his back in fear as Desmond roared in his face. He jumped high, breaking through the ceiling all the way to the top floor of the building.

"Superboy!" Miss Martian called out in alarm as she caught his g-gnome and flew up after him. Green Lantern chased after her, building a staircase as she went for the others to use. When the five made it out, Superboy and Desmond were in the midst of trading blows. Superboy had gotten a grip around Desmond's waist and was trying to topple him on his back, but that proved to be more difficult than he initially thought.

Desmond smirked at his effort and set two large, meaty hands on either of Superboy's shoulders. He squeezed hard as he picked the boy up and flipped him onto the ground, creating a crater in the cement with the impact.

Miss Martian quickly came to his rescue, occupying Desmond's attention before he could do anything else to their new teammate. Desmond took two swipes at her but missed as she kept her distance a safe foot away. She called on several large pieces of equipment and hurled them at Desmond as the others joined the brawl.

GL swooped in and swung a sledgehammer over his head. Desmond dropped, dizzying at the hit but refused to go down. He picked up the equipment previously thrown at him and used it as a bat against Green Lantern. She grunted as she was hit hard in the gut and sent flying back.

KF took GL's place as she was thrown out of the game. He punched Desmond across the face and whipped around to his back. He hopped on top of him, squeezing his body around him as tightly as he could.

Desmond ignored him as Aqualad and Robin tag teamed together and uppercut him. Kid laughed as Desmond's head snapped back from the force of the hit. Desmond recovered himself and quickly blocked two separate attacks from either of the boys. Kid gasped and hung on tightly as Desmond started bashing around the two boys like an angry bull.

"Woah there, big fella!" He exclaimed, quickly slipping from Desmond's back and flying off. He rubbed his head as he hit the back wall. He looked up dizzily, just in time to see Robin and Aqualad coming his way. He flinched as the two collided against him, giving him a headache all over again.

"We can't overpower him," Aqualad said, rubbing his head as he rolled off the others.

"I have a plan. But I don't think you'll like it," Robin announced, looking out as Miss Martian and Superboy kept Desmond busy.

"We have to find another way," Aqualad replied, shaking his head.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Robin quipped back as the three of them got back on their feet.

"Looks like you guys could use some help."

The group turned, finding their lost companion walking towards them. "Red Arrow!"

"Keep him busy. I've got a plan," Red Arrow announced, withdrawing an arrow from his back. The other three nodded with a smile as their friend took charge. Red arrow was always meant to be the leader of their group. They should have followed him in solidarity instead of working under the League's command, a decision they were beginning to regret.

"We'll leave it to you," Aqualad announced as he and the others took on Desmond. Red Arrow smirked as they left him. Calmly, he found his vantage point, unconcerned with the beating his friends were taking to give him time. He pulled out his bow slowly and launched several arrows into the building's infrastructure, setting them to explode in 10 seconds through a device on his arm.

With a start, the others quickly realized what he was doing. Robin turned to him incredulously and shouted. "No! Don't!"

Red Arrow ignored him and aimed another arrow at Desmond. He released his hold, sending it flying as the clock to his explosions reached five. Desmond caught the arrow before it could impact him. He smirked, thinking he won, when a cloud of gas exploded in his face.

The others, having no time to go after Desmond quickly regrouped and started running for safety. They were still several feet from the exit when the building exploded. Superboy threw himself over Miss Martian and his g-gnome while GL constructed a shield around her and her younger teammates. Aqualad raced to Red Arrow and tackled him to the ground as he took the brunt of the explosion.

The building fell around them, covering the young heroes in ruthless debris. Superboy was the first to escape, powering through the strength needed to lift the rubble off of them. He huffed tiredly as he helped a coughing Miss Martian up. His g-gnome clicked and pointed to his left where a faint glow of green could be seen beneath the debris. Superboy turned and moved to help Green Lantern and the others out. They had just been uncovered when Aqualad and Red Arrow resurfaced to the top at the same time.

"What were you thinking?" Aqualad glared, his anger getting the best of him for once.

"What do you mean? I saved us," Red Arrow growled back defiantly as the group gathered near.

"You nearly cost us our lives," Aqualad scolded, feeling a number of injuries across his back from their fight. He put his trust in the older to make the best decision and he had been betrayed.

"Cadmus needed to be shut down, and I took down Desmond in the process," Red Arrow defended.

"We lost all the research that was inside!" Robin yelled back, his torn suit hanging loosely off his shoulder. The others were in similar conditions, scrapes and bruises lining their bodies. They all wore frowns on their faces, having lost a deep measure of respect for their eldest comrade.

"Heroes should be willing to do whatever it takes to take down the enemy. If you aren't willing to recognize what I did was the best point of action, then maybe you do deserve to be in super school. Let me know when you graduate to a real hero," Red Arrow chastised scaldingly as he stormed off without another word.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late update on this one. This is one of those chapters I felt like was filler but necessary to write so I was a bit unmotivated to write this time. I also completely lost all track of time so I totally didn't mean for it to be updated so late! Won't happen again!

I'll be updating soon with a new chapter and some new characters to introduce! Also, next chapter will be the beginning of merging Japan plotline with US so look forward to that!

I want to thank those of you for the consistent reviews. I love all your thoughts about the story and where it's going. Would love to hear from you guys again soon!

Anyways, thanks for reading!