The sound it created when they met...like solid cement on flesh. It made the entire group flinch as one. Everything else was forgotten about. Starfire stopped mid dive to watch Robin and Super Boy collide, descending slowly towards the ground with a horrified expression on her face.
Wren was also forgotten, still kneeling next to the dented steel container and holding her broken rib. There was no other sound except for the grunts and exchange of hard blows between Robin and the clone.
It was an impasse- no one was gaining the upper hand. As soon as they met, Robin ducked the skull cracking haymaker aimed at his face and slammed his fist into the back of Conner's head. Any other person would have dropped- but not Super Boy. He flicked the hit away like a fly and kept at it, battering Robin with a barrage of fatal hits.

Where Super Boy was powerful, Robin was fast and resilient. He dodged most of the strikes and landed a few, but Super Boy was...Super Boy. Damnear indestructible.
And aiming to kill. His punches were hitting Robin's chest, neck, and solar plexus, trying to crush and rupture his organs. Eventually, Robin would lose. But his hatred kept him going. It wasn't about the Kryptonite anymore-, or what Slade would do to them if they lost. It was about Kon-El.

Wren brought her hands to her face and whimpered as she watched her brother fighting. He was using all of his skills, but the super clone was raging and unstoppable. She watched the bruises form on his skin, ugly purple blotches that throbbed and pulsed. She felt each hit as if she was getting beaten, moaning in sympathy. Robin's blood flew across the lot, streaming from the side of his mouth and from a deep cut under his eye. His left wrist hung at an awkward angle, and his nose was slightly swollen. But the arrogant sneer on his face didn't fade, and the taunts never stopped.

"That all you got, test tube?" he spat, reeling a little after a vicious kick to the knee. He was refusing to use his gadgets against the clone, even the most dangerous ones. He kept fighting hand to hand as if he didn't know that he possesed Nega-Rays in his arm braces.
Super Boy bared his teeth and struck out again, catching Robin on the collarbone. The snap of bone made Wren's stomach turn. "Not...even...close..." He was nearly as beat up as Robin was.
Robin was slowing down. Most of his face was smeared with his own blood. Wren silently begged him to stop fighting. Kid Flash had grabbed her arm, but she didn't even notice. Every time he got hit, a hole was punched in her heart. But she was frozen to the spot, mute with fear. She was convinced that she was going to watch her brother die. Super Boy wasn't stopping, and the other sidekicks started seeing it, to.
"C-con..."
"Supe...ease up, dude..."
"Conner..."
"Kon El...!"

He didn't hear them. A red haze had descended over everything, and all he could see was the skinny, black haired rat in front of him, trying to steal what was rightfully his. Taunting him, mocking him, evading him...and the little bastard was STILL SMILING!

"STOP SMILING, DAMN IT!"

And his fist dropped directly into the center of Robin's chest, blowing him a meter backwards. Wren heard a scream, then realized it was her own. Robin landed on the ground like a lead bar, gasping loudly for breath and shuddering in pain. His leg was twisted the wrong way, and a huge dent marred the armor over his chest. Super Boy floated after him slowly, a grim scowl on his face as he glared down at him. "You two think you're so untouchable." he snarled. "That nothing can stop you, and that you're above everyone else. You're WRONG. Dead wrong."

Robin hacked up a fountain of blood and struggled to stand up, holding his leg a good three inches of the ground. "A-at least I was b-born. I w-wasn't M-Made. Y-you're nothing b-but a failsafe. A c-copy. A f-fake."

Fury flashed in the clone's eyes. "And you're nothing but a powerless rat!" he roared, rearing his fist back one last time.

"CONNER!" Miss Martian screamed, at the same time that Wren let out a shriek.
"RICHARD!"
Super Boy's final swing faltered for just a moment as he turned and caught the martian's tear streaked face. The rage flickered, replaced by confusion. It was all Wren needed. She twisted out of Kid Flash's weak hold and rammed her elbow into his face, then kicked the container of Kryptonite at her brother's back. Robin turned almost casually and caught it, as if he had been expecting it. When he turned back around, Super Boy's guard was still down. Moving too quickly for someone so hurt, Robin broke the seal on the container and shoved the contents into Kon El's face.

Super Boy howled and staggered back from the glowing rock, covering his face with his hands. Red and black lines had begun spreading over the side of his face like burns, and the skin turned a diseased looking grey, like zombie skin. It was just like with Wren's hand, except that on him, it spread much faster and was ten times more painful. He batted Robin away, gagging, and collapsed. All of the other sidekicks cried out and rushed toward him. Wren, however, moved for her brother, ignoring everything else but his battered body. She darted over to him and hauled him up, bracing him with her shoulder. "You idiot!" she hissed, pushing him away from the lot and the circle of sidekicks. They only had a short window to escape, while the others were distracted.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed?!" she snarled in his ear. "Did you even think about what it would do to me if he..." her breath choked off at the possibility. Robin let out a bloody chuckle, patting her head weakly. " He wasn't going...to kill me. He's to...much of...a hero. Nice...to know...you care so much. Love...you too, Minnow." Wren rolled her eyes and quickened her steps, headed for their bike. He sounded like me was close to passing out. "Did...you get...the-...?"
"I got it." she growled. "Now hush." The dangerous canister was now concealed in her own metal back pack.

They had almost rounded the side of the factory building where their bike was parked and concealed. Robin's head rolled on his shoulders, and his breath rasped in his chest, but she could feel him getting stronger. "Almost there," she whispered, supporting his thin body with her own. She propped him up against the wall while she strapped the container to the bike, then eased him onto the back gently.

She froze when she heard the roar of the enraged clone behind her. "WHERE ARE THE RATS?!" Seconds later, an inaudible tingle in the air made her hair stand up- sonic radar. They'd been found again.

"Around the building!"
"Get em! Don't let them get away!"
"Hurry! Get up!"

Wren screeched out curses as she leapt on the bike and kicked it to life. The bike roared and spat up greasy water as they tore away from the frustrated yells. Unseen by Wren and Robin, a small piece of soggy paper flew from the back tire and landed in a puddle. A playing card, with the image of a joker stamped on the front. As it landed in the water, the edges began to burn.

Wren struggled to control the bike in the wet deluge. The rain storm washed the blood from their bodies, leaving them looking exactly like drowned rats. She activated her communication link in her helmet, unaware of the steam billowing from the tailpipe. "Master! We retrieved the stone, but Robin is injured and-!"

The bike exploded, pitching them both from their seats and onto the unforgiving asphalt. Time moved in slow motion as they flew into the air and landed heavily, hearing bones snap and watching blood squirt. The pieces of the sleek motorcycle rained down on them like oversized drops of water. Wren's vision glazed over and started to go black. She heard Robin's body hit the ground some feet away, and the muffled chatter of the sidekicks horrified yelps. The smell of oil and burning metal was everywhere.

She tried to open her mouth, to yell for her brother, but the words wouldn't come. The world spun.

The last thing she saw before she blacked out completely was a demonically pale face surrounded by a halo of acid green hair, sporting a slashed, scarlet grin. The face leaned down to watch while her mouth worked pathetically, grinning all the while. "Hola, pretty birdie!" It was the last thing she heard before she faded out.

***

The Joker watched the girl's eyes go blank behind her stupid little domino mask. Her head dropped to the pavement with a nice smack, and blood trickled from her ear and into her long wet hair. He clicked his teeth at her and recovered the communicator by her red stained hand, putting it to his mouth. "Hel-looo? City Mourge?"

"*Wren?! Wren, do you cop-...*what is your sta...*"

The clown smiled gruesomely into the little speaker. "Why, Deathstrike! Fancy hearing from you. We haven't talked in ages!" He looked down at the still girl. "Sorry, the kids can't come to the phone right now. Poor things, all tuckered out. I'm afraid they'll have to stay the night at Unky Joker's house. But don't worry- we'll have loads of fun, just we three! Nighty night!"

He killed the communication, then brushed the debris from his ragged purple suit. "Upsy Daisy!" The clown scooped Wren into his arms and slung her over his back, striding away and leaving Robin to the fast approaching mob of sidekicks on his tail. He would have liked to take the boy, too, but there was no time. One would have to do, for now.

***

There was blood in his throat, leaking from his ears...He couldn't hear, and couldn't talk. The world was a blur of color, noise, and pain, some of the worst he'd ever felt. He didn't know what was happening.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"Are...are they...dead?"
"The motorcycle..."
"Where's Wren?"
"Call the leauge! Hurry, he's really..."

"Ohmygod he's passing-..."

"Robin? Do not worry. We will not let you die this day."