Lessons Learned

Mount Justice

August 3, 13:06 EDT

"He's obviously cheating," I whispered to Robin, gesturing toward Wally who was playing air hockey while eating a banana. Though it didn't look like it, it was obvious by the score margin that the speedster was using his powers to beat Kaldur.

"No doubt." The Boy Wonder whispered back as the red head scored again and took another bite of his snack. Behind us, one of the zeta tubes roared to life and we all turned to see who was coming through.

"Recognized: Superboy, B-zero five."

The clone stalked into the Cave with a terrifying glare. He was supposed to be spending the day with Superman in Metropolis, but whatever had happened seemed to go poorly. M'gann, taking note of his aggravated state, tried to get him to open up about it as he approached us.

"Hi, Superboy! How was Metropolis?"

He didn't reply, instead choosing to storm through the holographic air hockey table, ending Kaldur and Wally's game. It looked like he was hellbent on going to his room in order to stew, but a feminine voice cleared its throat and made him pause. Looking up toward the source of the voice, I saw Black Canary and Martian Manhunter approaching us.

"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!" M'gann lit up at the sight of her uncle, flying over to him and wrapping him up in a hug. Manhunter returned the hug briefly before setting his broad hands on her shoulders and smiling.

"M'gann, I was... in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you are adjusting."

A gentle flush graced the younger Martian's cheeks, "A few bumps, but I'm learning. Cass, er, Green Lantern has been a big help."

Manhunter glanced up and gave me an approving nod which I returned, "That's all I can ask."

Canary's electric eyes flicked over to someone else and narrowed as she called out, "Stick around! Class is in session."

Superboy's familiar broody growl, echoed off the walls as we all gathered for combat training in the center of the mission room. Black Canary stepped onto the training platform and the floor beneath her lit up a brilliant white as she turned toward us.

"I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot of you, everything I've learned from my own mentors," she winced as she began totug of her jean jacket, revealing a freshly bandaged wound on her left arm, "and my own bruises."

"What happened?" M'gann asked worriedly. Canary stiffened up and steeled her expression.

"The job." she answered simply, tossing her jacket aside, "Now, combat is all about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner."

"Right here!" Wally volunteered through a final mouthful of banana. He sauntered up to Canary and swallowed sharply before smirking at the Leaguer and expertly tossing his banana peel into the trash.

"After this, I'll show you my moves."

I rolled my eyes as Canary fell into a fighting stance with a determined smirk, prompting the speedster to do the same. The Leaguer stepped forward and delivered a quick jab which Wally easily blocked, but he was so preoccupied with her hands that he didn't even notice that she swung out with her leg to sweep him. He landed hard on his back with a heavy grunt as next to him in bright red letters, 'KID FLASH STATUS: FAIL' appeared.

"Ugh... hurts so good." He groaned. Canary reached out and helped him to his feet with a kind smile.

"Good block," she commented, "but did anyone see what he did wrong?"

Robin raised his hand, "Oh, he hit on teacher and got served?"

Wally's eyes went wide with embarrassment, "Dude!"

Canary ignored Rob's comment, looking over at the rest of us, "He allowed me to dictate the terms of-"

"Oh, please."

Superboy had stepped onto the platform with a look on his face that told us he felt the training session was completely pointless, "With my powers the battle is always on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time."

I half-expected her to rip through him with a Canary Cry, but instead she crossed her arms over her chest and baited him, "Prove it."

The clone turned to face her fully and they fell into position. Superboy moved first with a cross, but Canary stepped back, grabbing his extended arm and using his own weight to throw him across the ring. With a heavy thud, Superboy landed on his ass before falling flat on his back, 'SUPERBOY STATUS: FAIL' showing up next to him. Next to me, Robin started to let out a little laugh, but Kaldur's elbow lodged itself in his ribs, making him groan slightly instead. Superboy lay motionless on the floor for a moment, then expertly lifted himself onto his knees with an animalistic growl.

"You're angry," Canary said calmly, "good, but don't react. Channel that anger-"

"RRAH!" Superboy leapt to his feet and charged at her with a roar. But the Leaguer, with no change to her expression, leapt over the clone as he reached her, setting one hand on his shoulder to vault, before sticking a three-point landing and swinging one of her legs out to sweep Superboy back onto the floor before he could even comprehend what was happening.

Robin started to laugh again, muffling the sound by covering his mouth with his hands as Canary offered a hand to the clone. Superboy only shoved it away and got to his feet by himself.

"That's it! I'm done!" He snapped, righting himself and pushing away from Canary.

"Training is mandatory." She reminded him. Superboy paused and incited a staring contest between the two that was cut short by Batman appearing on a holoscreen overhead.

"Batman to the Cave. Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents."

A smaller screen appeared showing footage of the fight. Superman flying toward this humanoid creature with his arm held back in a punch only to be caught and swung around with ease before being thrown off-screen. Batman continued to speak as the footage ran.

"Arrow called in reinforcements, which proved nearly disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."

"One guy with the powers of the entire League?" Wally breathed, concern washing over all of us as we continued to watch.

"In all, it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

"An android?" The Boy Wonder piped up at the mention of a non-human combatant, "Who built it? T.O. Morrow?"

"Good guess, Robin," Batman replied, "But Red Tornado doesn't think so."

Martian Manhunter looked over at us, his brow furrowed, "The technology bears the signature of... Professor Ivo."

"No... that can't be right." I said worriedly, "Hal, John, and I helped searched that wreckage. Anthony Ivo is dead."

Canary glanced back at me from over her shoulder, her bright eyes saddened, "So we all thought... or hoped."

"To 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 facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone, tries to recover the remains. You will split up into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

Wally pumped his fist, "Yes! Road trip!"

Superboy, still steaming from the training session glared up at Batman, his fists clenched tightly, "So now we take out your trash?"

"You had something better to do?" The Dark Knight shot back. When the clone didn't answer, Batman looked back at the rest of us.

"Aqualad, you'll take Kid Flash and Miss Martian on the convoy to Boston. Green Lantern will lead Superboy and Robin on the New York team. Coordinates for the rendezvous point have been sent to you. Leaguers, including myself will meet you there and provide an in-depth debrief upon your arrival."

Litchfield County, CT

August 3, 20:08 EDT

When we arrived at the rendezvous point no more than an hour later, the last thing we expected was to be greeted by a line of brand-new motorcycles with matching outfits. Batman simply told us no masks or capes, and most importantly, no powers unless protecting the parts. So we all took turns changing and getting a feel for our bikes before Batman, Superman, Flash, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, and Tornado all gathered us for a final debrief.

With the last few details relayed to us about protocol, we were sent on our way, with the trucks in the lead and our bikes close behind. We rode in silence for a while until the trucks reached the I-90 split, where Kaldur led his team to the east and I steered mine to the west. Our trio of trucks kept a quick pace, the drivers knowing full well that too much time on the road would leave them vulnerable to attack at any given moment.

"Hey, if dislike is the opposite of like, is aster the opposite of disaster?" Robin asked randomly, cutting through my thoughts and drawing a sideways glare from Superboy, "See, instead of things going wrong, they go right."

I gave him an incredulous look, while our resident clone's eyes shifted back to the road in front of him. Robin arched a brow and began to steer closer to him.

"Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong?"

"Canary," Superboy growled, "What business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?"

I shrugged, my gaze warily moving over to the Kryptonian, "Taking down bigger, stronger guys is part of the job. We all learn that at some point. Better to learn it on a training mat than out in the field where you can get yourself killed."

The clone scoffed and popped a wheelie before speeding ahead of us to get right behind one of the decoy trucks. Clearly, he wasn't a fan of my answer. Rolling my eyes, I pressed down on my accelerator a bit to push closer to the trucks.

A few more minutes of now awkward silence passed before a rustle in the cornfields on both sides of the road drew my attention. In one swift motion, a swarm of cackling robotic monkeys lifted up out of the rows of corn and converged on the truck carrying the android parts, catching all of us, even Superboy by surprise.

"Lantern, Robin, Superboy, our truck is under attack!" Kaldur's voice shouted over our comms.

Robin yelled back, "Kinda figured!" as we watched the monkeys swarm over the truck. Superboy's glare turned feral as he fixated his icy eyes on the back of the truck.

"I hate monkeys."

"Great, go destroy them!" I snapped, reaching into my pocket and slipping my ring on. Given the go-ahead, Superboy tore off his helmet and leapt off his bike, forcing Robin and I to steer out of the way as his bike flipped and spun out before landing on its side about fifty feet behind us. Once Superboy's bike was long gone, I pressed a small red button on the handlebars of my bike and let it begin to steer itself as the familiar warmth of the ring on my finger enveloped my entire body. Letting my form levitate, I tipped forward following after the truck as Superboy began tearing monkeys apart, flashes of sparks flying up in his face as he did. Aiming my arm like a gun, I began letting off bolts of bright green light toward the monkeys climbing over the back door of the truck, but for every one that I destroyed, two more appeared to replace it.

Robin, in the meantime, had realized that there was no way to win the fight, especially since the little bastards had already cut a hole into the side of the truck. So he had moved ahead of us to the front of the vehicle and got the driver and his passenger out, before turning sharply and motioning for me to back off. Begrudgingly, I did, slowing my flight speed as the monkeys destroyed the back door and lifted the crates containing the android parts out. As the truck began to spin out of control, Superboy seemed to pay no notice to it, continuing to let his rage out on the small robots one by one until the truck finally tipped and rolled, throwing him ahead a few hundred feet with the sickening sound of skin sliding against pavement.

Robin and I took off toward him, but just as quickly as he was thrown, he took off again in the direction of the monkeys carrying the crates, leaping in half mile increments after the bots. The Boy Wonder and I brought ourselves to a stop; there was no way to stop him now.

"Aqualad to Green Lantern." Kaldur's voice emerged in my ear, calmer this time, "We've lost our cargo, did you-"

"It's gone." I sighed, my gaze still fixed on Superboy, who was now a black speck in the distance, "And so is Superboy."

"Aqualad to Superboy." The Atlantean tried over the open channel, "Radio your position. We'll help you."

"Don't need help! Don't want any!"

Superboy's angry remarks were followed by static and Robin's obvious observation.

"I think he ditched his comm."

"Super!" Wally said sarcastically, "Now we can't even track him."

There was a brief pause on the line before M'gann said, "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?"

I shook my head even though she couldn't see it, "Tornado always tells us to figure things out ourselves."

"And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled." Kaldur pointed out.

"Oh, well that's a great plan, except for the part of us not knowing WHERE TO LOOK!" Wally's sarcasm swapped with frustration towards the end of his remark, and Robin stepped calmly toward one of the destroyed monkeys laying haphazardly on the ground.

"Maybe we do," he muttered, pulling a USB cable from his wrist computer and plugging it into the monkey's back, "We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked. So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?"

He hesitated for a moment and continued typing and hacking until he finally had an answer, "Ha! The parts have GPS! The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track them with the one I've hacked. Looks like both sets of parts are converging on... Gotham City."

"That far south?" Kaldur asked surprisedly, "M'gann and I won't make it there any time soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out."

I let out a heavy sigh and looked over at the Boy Wonder as he dusted himself and slipped his helmet off, "Go change. I'll carry you there, it'll be faster than the bikes."

Taking my own helmet off, before slipping off my biking jacket, my Lantern uniform appeared over my clothes, just as Robin slipped into the nearest cornfield to change. When he emerged a couple of minutes later, I stretched out my arm and created a green bubble around him, lifting up into the air and making my way south toward Gotham.

Gotham City

August 3, 21:21 EDT

Ah, Gotham. The pungent odor of sewage and gun smoke was an unwelcome sign that we had reached the city limits as Wally finally caught up to us, dressed in his Kid Flash uniform. He smiled up at us, ignoring the smell as he continued to run just below the border of Robin's bubble.

"So, you changed too, huh?" Robin asked him.

"You kidding?" The speedster shuddered dramatically, but continued to run, "I feel naked in civvies. You still tracking the parts?"

Robin nodded, "They were heading through Gotham, but they've veered. Wait... guys, they're at my school!"

"Seriously?" I asked, an amused smirk twitching at the corners of my lips, "Okay, which one?"

"Gotham Academy. Downtown."

Kid and I followed the Boy Wonder's directions to the letter, eventually reaching a massive and prestigious-looking campus, complete with ivy and clocktowers. Off in the distance, the faint sound of stone cracking and frustrated shouts led us to where Superboy was, which ultimately turned out to be the field house. As soon as we got to the basketball court inside, we realized that we were too late. The android was already reassembled and it was handing Superboy's ass to him. And seated in the bleachers, watching with a rather bored expression, was Ivo. Setting Robin on the floor and dropping the construct, I started to moved toward Ivo, but a hand on my wrist stopped me.

Wally had already sped ahead, interrupting the android's attempt to grapple and crush Superboy in his arms. Together, he and Superboy danced around the android for a moment or two before being struck back and landing in the bleachers with an aggressive thud.

"We need a plan." Robin muttered, seemingly loud enough for only me to hear. But as soon as he spoke, the android whipped its head around and glared at us with glowing red eyes.

"Access, Superman."

Beams of red light erupted from the android's eyes, heading straight for us. Rob jumped out of the way with ease as I continued to drift in the air, easily avoiding the android's heat vision. The Boy Wonder threw a few explosive disks toward the android's head, but-

"Martian Manhunter."

He density shifted and they passed right through him, exploding about ten feet behind him. I began to form a large war hammer in an attempt to knock the android back into the nearest wall, but like he had done with Robin, his reaction was quick.

"Access, Black Canary."

A canary cry ripped through my ears and broke my concentration. Reaching up to grab my ears, I felt myself being forced back by the soundwaves until my back connected with a cinderblock wall, knocking the wind out of me and making me drop to the floor. Gripping my head and shutting my eyes tightly until the sharp ringing in my ears went away, I shook my head and began to hoist myself up slowly, hearing Ivo's nasally voice echo off the walls of the gym.

"Oh, yawn. Normally, Amazo would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what's the point? You're all such poor copies of the originals."

On the opposite end of the gym, I saw Superboy lift himself up and catch my gaze for a moment before looking to Ivo, "So everyone keeps saying. It makes me ANGRY!"

With one quick jump, Superboy landed in front of Ivo and raising his fist. Ivo, not expecting the sudden attack, yelped and leapt out of the way just in time for the clone's fist to connect with the bleachers, splintering the wooden seats.

Robin and Wally made their way over to me as I began to jog toward the front of the bleachers, all of us watching as Ivo barked out orders for his Amazo android.

"Great, he's gone ballistic again." Wally groaned. I shook my head, recalling the look that he had given me just a moment before.

"I don't think so..." I trailed off, an idea starting to form in my mind, "I think Superboy has the right idea."

The boys looked at me confused as I began to fly up toward the ceiling and reached out to form a bubble around Ivo, lifting him up and swinging him around.

"Who's up for keep away?" I called out, looking down at Wally and Rob. They both smiled and began to spread out, the speedster waving his hands like a ball player looking for a pass.

"Me! Me!"

Once Ivo was about ten feet above him, I dropped him, letting Kid form a speedster tornado to catch him before throwing him into the bleachers. Just as the Professor struck the benches, Amazo struck Wally in the chest, knocking him to the ground as Superboy leapt in front of him. Raising a fist toward Amazo's head, the android density shifted. Superboy drove his fist through his head and froze, not pulling back as Amazo's head reformed around the clone's hand. With a few sparks of electricity dancing around his head and neck, Amazo's head combusted, leaving the Kryptonian unscathed as the rest of his body slowly fell backwards onto the floor with a heavy metallic clunk.

Robin sped forward then, "Help me disassemble it!"

Wally rose to his feet slowly, clutching at his ribs, "Dude, the guy has no head."

"Don't take any chances." A new voice instructed from the gym entrance. We all turned our heads to see Kaldur and M'gann approaching us, finally having reached Gotham after the job was done. The latter flew over to Superboy, looking him over concernedly.

"Superboy, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he answered genuinely, glancing over at Rob and me, "Feeling the aster."

Taking a quick glance around the gym, I got the impression that something was suddenly missing. Looking back at the bleachers, my heart sunk into my stomach.

"Guys, where's Ivo?"

Mount Justice

August 4, 01:06 EDT

"The Amazo android is in pieces again and safely being analyzed at the two separate S.T.A.R. Labs facilities." I reported stiffly, fighting back a yawn, "But since Ivo escaped, and he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android."

Black Canary set a reassuring hand on my shoulder, her eyes telling me to relax, "Capturing the Professor will be a League priority."

"But we understand your mission encountered... other complications." Martian Manhunter looked over at Sueprboy standing next to me, who let his gaze fall to his feet. Batman walked up to him, drawing the clone's gaze back up.

"Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League."

"The whole League?" Superboy asked, his voice twinging with hope.

"Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads."

I nudged his ribs playfully, making him smile a bit as Batman looked us all over.

"Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists, because there are some problems even we can't handle individually."

"Oh, please!" Robin exclaimed, stepping forward and pulling out an arrow, "If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask! Look familiar? You were following us, babysitting! You still don't trust us!"

According to Robin and Wally, while I had been briefly incapacitated by Amazo's canary cry, the android had tried to crush the speedster with his bare hands. Robin had tried to intervene, but before he could, an arrow had been loosed from somewhere in the rafters, aiming for the android's head and forcing him to density shift, dropping KF in the process. That same arrow, the Boy Wonder now waved in the faces of Batman and Green Arrow, the latter pulling out an arrow of his own and holding it up for comparison.

"We didn't follow you."

The arrowheads didn't match. GA's was serrated, and the mystery arrow was rounded and smooth; whoever it was-

"That must mean-"

"Speedy! He has our backs!"

The boys looked between each other excitedly, but I didn't feel convinced. And glancing over at Bats and GA, I could tell they weren't either.

With that, Batman dismissed all of us, and as M'gann and I turned to our rooms, I could see Superboy approaching Black Canary humbly. A half-smile appeared on my face, interrupted quickly by a yawn as I began to fall asleep as I walked toward my big, comfy bed.