In case you're confused, Conner still has the red K bracelet, he just hasn't decided whether or not he wants to put it on yet. It's still in the lead box in his room.

Also, all psychic link talking is in bold italic.

Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 4: Conner

All Conner wanted to do was sleep. Considering that he'd gotten none of it in over thirty-six hours, he was exhausted. Sitting on a three hour Bioship ride didn't really help, either. Why couldn't they just have Zeta'd to Star City again? Oh, that's right. A team of Queen Bee's Biyalian goons had managed to power down the tube in the lab – connected to Queen Industries – which they were ambushing. The only other closest tubes were in Seattle and Santa Fe, not really leaving them with many other options than to just truck it in the Bioship. Fun.

Conner tried his best to hold back a yawn. He'd wanted so many times during the flight to get up, stretch his legs, and maybe start some form of conversation with someone so that it wasn't so freaking quiet, but unfortunately, none of those wishes came true. Who would he even talk to? Definitely not M'gann. That was just an awkward conversation full of false feelings and painted smiles waiting to happen.

Gar? Well, as much as he loved the kid, he could never really fully enjoy talking to him. He somehow always managed to switch any subject to his memories of when M'gann and Conner were still dating, and that made Conner's stomach churn. It was almost as if the kid was playing matchmaker between the two, dropping little hints here and there to each of them that they were "meant to be together" in a shameless attempt to get them to make up. Why, he didn't know. Maybe he just really didn't like La'gann. Who could blame him?

So that left Robin. The third Robin; in other words, the most bearable of the bunch. Dick was cool until he grew up to be kind of a jerk at the moment, and Conner meant no disrespect to Jason, who had reminded him a lot of himself the older the kid got, which wasn't necessarily a good thing, but this Robin really was Conner's definition of third time's the charm. Sure, he was a little quiet and a tad unsure of himself, but he had a lot of potential. Conner could see that.

However, he frowned at the thought of trying to talk to him out of nowhere. He was afraid that he intimidated him, belittling his words and actions with his size and abilities.

He hated that; hated making people look down on themselves, especially when it came to this new Robin. Robin already had confidence issues, he could see that plain as day, and he would never forgive himself for ever contributing to the boy's lowering self-esteem.

All Robin needed was a chance.

Taking a deep breath, Conner twirled his chair around to face him. To his surprise, Robin was already looking at him. Was he…studying him, from behind? His tactics made Conner raise an eyebrow, causing Robin to blush and quickly avert his gaze. He rubbed the back of his neck, giving a small smile in the Boy Wonder's direction.

Here goes nothing. "I-"

"Prepare for landing," M'gann stated, steering the ship downward towards the top of a building near their objective.

Of course.

Conner exhaled as the ship touched down. There goes that idea. They unbuckled and exited the ship, forming a circle atop the roof. Conner immediately took the lead. "Okay," he announced, "A quick recap of our main objectives: Get in, take out Queen Bee's stooges, reactivate the Zeta tube, secure any dangerous chemicals, and get out. Also, be sure to check for any workers who might still be trapped inside.

"Beast Boy, you're going to start searching the building for any hazardous spills while Miss Martian and I get rid of Bee's henchmen." He turned and looked at Robin. "Robin, you're in charge of getting the Zeta tube back online. If anyone needs assistance in any way, just ask. Miss Martian will establish a psychic link once we're inside. Everyone good?"

The three nodded simultaneously. "Good. Then let's go."

Inside Queen Industries…

There were eight of them, all dressed in black spandex and full face masks that looked as if they could function as night vision goggles when needed. Five of them charged towards Conner as he made himself known, swords and nunchucks in hands like some sort of ninja squad. As he got into a fighting stance he saw the other three head towards M'gann.

Piece of cake.

How come I only get three? She teased, her light hearted voice-of-mind blatantly contradicting with her stern, battle-ready expression.

Conner mentally laughed. You can have one of mine. And that was their final exchange of thoughts before making their first move. One of the henchmen swung his sword at Conner, another coming at him from behind with a pair of nunchucks. He raised an eyebrow as he ducked, the man's sword slashing through his ninja buddy's nunchucks, splitting them into what were basically now a pair of escrima sticks. In their momentary pause of confusion, Conner kicked one of them in the stomach before punching the other, sending both of them to opposite sides of the room where they were knocked unconscious as they slammed against the wall. Some ninja.

Another one with nunchucks came at him, making a show of his skill, twirling and swinging them around his shoulders as he exchanged them between hands. He swung at Conner who, in turn, blocked his every move before finally finding an opening to land a punch to his gut, causing him to bend over in pain. Conner karate chopped his back, knocking him out against the floor, as he wondered where the other two bad guys ran off to-

"GAH!" He felt the edge of a blade rip into his back. Found one. The back of his shirt was now torn open, but there was no blood. Just a scratch. A perk of being the clone of an indestructible alien. However, he still felt pain, his spine tingling as if someone had set fire to his flesh.

Gritting his teeth, he spun around, sending a punch into what was now just air. As soon as he realized his mistake, the sword made contact once more, this time at his thigh. As it slashed through his pants, he cried out again, now breathing quickly and heavily through his teeth like a rabid animal. Suppressing his anger, he focused, remembering what Black Canary had taught him: Self-control.

He squatted on one leg and spun, sweeping the henchman's feet out from under him with the other. Kneeling next to him, he gave him a quick tap on the forehead, finally knocking him unconscious. Satisfied, Conner stood up, awaiting his final assailant, but, incidentally, he never came. Scrunching his eyebrows, Conner turned around to find M'gann just finishing up her side of the battle. Three of Bee's men lay at her feet as she looked over at Conner and smirked.

Conner rolled his eyes. Robin. Status update.

Still working on it, he replied.

Well maybe you could work-

You're fine, Robin, M'gann interrupted, While you finish up, Superboy and I will help Beast Boy secure the area. You've got some time.M'gann glared at Conner.

"What?" He asked, shrugging.

"Conner…" She paused for a moment, rubbing her temples. Sighing, she gave up. "Never mind."

Oh no. What now? What was her problem? Had he done something wrong? Why was she upset with him? What did he even do?!

Girls are so complicated.

"Whatever," he mumbled, crossing his arms, "Let's just go help Beast Boy." He began walking away from her. "You take the left wing with him, I'll take the right."

The right wing of Queen Industries…

As Conner scouted the area, his thoughts took over.

What were Bee's goons even here for in the first place? Bee always seemed to be in league with Luthor, so why would Lex send her here? Everything that he would find in this lab he could easily obtain himself with his own resources. It just made no sense.

Also, where did that other henchman go? Was it safe to just be mindlessly opening doors left and right?

...And what was M'gann's problem?! He still had no idea what he'd even done to deserve-

He shook his head, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. Bee. Henchman. Lex. Why?

After checking all of the rooms down a long, white-tiled hallway, he couldn't help but notice a door down at the other end. It was almost twice as large as all of the other doors and was painted caution-tape-yellow with the letters "Kr" printed on it in red.

"Kr;" big "K," little "r." The atomic symbol for Krypton. How had he missed that?

Conner's eyes widened at the sight. Why did Queen industries have…what were they up to? His stomach dropped, the thought of what might be behind that door giving him chills, but he had to know. If Queen was, for some insane reason, working with Cadmus, he had to figure out why. Had to put a stop to it before their mistakes could be repeated.

Grabbing the door, he ripped it off of its hinges and leaned it against the wall. The lack of security system set alarms off in his own head, making him even more uneasy than before. Taking a deep breath, he entered the room.

It was dark. So dark, in fact, that he couldn't see practically anything except for a faint, green glow illuminating a small part of the room. Was that…? No, it couldn't be. He apprehensively moved a bit closer towards it, fear welling up in the pit of his stomach. Once he was about ten feet away from it, he stopped, examining the object from afar.

It was. Raw, green Kryptonite.

Conner froze, acting as if he was face-to-face with a tiger, raising his hands up and backing away slowly. He did, however, manage to take one step too far. Suddenly, a siren sounded, the room lighting up with a flashing red light. He jumped. There's the security system. About time.

Well crap.

Abruptly after realizing what he'd done, an explosion rumbled somewhere across the facility, the floors shaking, followed by two more loud bangs, one after the other. What had he done?

M'gann? Robin? Gar? Are you guys ok- And in that instant, titanium bars slammed to the ground, blocking Conner's exit. He spun around, standing at the ready for any danger, when a hissing noise broke out from behind him. Turning to face the meteor rock, it was then that he saw it.

Gas; a thick, green cloud of gas was erupting out of a vent below the Kryptonite. This…was not good. Before he could react, the gas suddenly started shooting out of the ceiling, right on top of him.

From that point on, he forgot what it was like to breathe clean air. Every inhalation burned his lungs, weakened his muscles. He coughed, attempting to expel the Kryptonite gas from his lungs, but his efforts were futile, and as he brought his hand away from his mouth, he fell into a state of panic as he noticed that blood was splattered all over his palm. What came after was far worse, as he was unable to cease the now violent coughing, and more of the sticky red substance continued to spill from his mouth and onto the floor. All of his strength slowly left him as he fell to the ground, clutching his stomach.

He hadn't expected to die like this, die on a simple mission that he hadn't even given a second thought to, but they say that death always comes when you least expect it, and Conner groaned as he tried to prove that saying wrong. All he had to do was hang in there, just a little while longer. One of his teammates was bound to find him sooner or later, right? After all, he had called for them telepathically…though, none of them had answered. But when he doesn't report back after a certain amount of time, then they'll know something's up, right?...though, the entire building was now going up in flames.

He moaned once more, feeling as if his stomach was dissolving into itself, head pounding. How could he have been so stupid? Next time, he told himself, stay away from the big, yellow door. Though as his consciousness gradually began to fade, he found himself not necessarily regretting his actions. Queen Industries was experimenting with Kryptonite. That had to be why Lex and Queen Bee were infiltrating the place, and now, the Justice League would know. They would find him. They would find this room. They would find everything. He just hoped that he would be alive to see it. And that the flaming building didn't burn away all of the evidence. Great.

Conner? CONNER?! M'gann's voice sounded over the psychic link. It was the last thing that he heard before blacking out.