New Beginnings Part 2

Washington D.C.

July 5, 00:01 EST

"Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken NOW!"

My eyes flew open and an audible gasp escaped my lips as my head snapped up. I, along with my companions were suspended in tubes like the ones we had found Superboy in, our wrists and ankles shackled. On my left, Kid Flash awoke with a start too, his green eyes landing on Superboy, who was staring up at us blankly.

"What? What do you want?" KF demanded. When no response was given, the speedster spoke again.

"Quit staring! You're freaking me out!"

"Calm down, Kid." I said, my tone surprisingly calm, "Give him a minute to collect his thoughts. Odds are he hasn't done much talking."

"We only sought to help you." Aqualad said to the clone, trying to keep his own tone calm and even.

"Yeah, we help you and you turn on us," Kid sneered, "How's that for grate-"

"Seriously, Kid, shut up," I snapped, "I don't think our new friend here was totally in control of himself back there."

Superboy looked to the ground, then back up at us as he thought hard to form the right words in his mouth, "Wha- what if... what if I wasn't?"

"He can talk?" Kid asked a bit too loudly. Superboy scowled up at him.

"Yes. He can."

Robin, Aqualad, and I all gave KF a look of distaste and he shrugged, "Not like I said 'it'."

"The genomorphs taught you telepathically." Aqualad asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question. Superboy nodded, his scowl slightly faded.

"They taught me much. I can read, write... I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them?" Robin piped up, his voice cracking, "Have they ever actually let you see the sky... or the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind but... no I have not seen them."

I leaned forward a bit and got a good look at the clone, "Do you know what you are?"

Superboy stiffened up and answered robotically, "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."

I was taken aback by his response, it seemed a bit extreme. Apparently, so did Aqualad.

"To be like Superman is... a worthy aspiration. But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own, beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

Superboy steeled himself, his hands clenching into fists, "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!"

"Dude, your home is a test tube." Robin said plainly, "We can show you the sun-"

"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight," KF interrupted, "But we can show you the moon."

I nodded expectantly at Superboy and offered, "We can show you, introduce you to Superman."

A glimmer of hope flickered across Superboy's face at the thought of meeting his 'father', but as he moved to walk toward us, a new voice echoed of the walls.

"No, they can't."

We looked up to see a bespectacled man in a lab coat with long brown hair and a sinister-looking face. Following behind him in a subservient way was the genomorph we saw in the hallway, now more visible as a lanky, large-headed and clearly humanoid creature, and the scientist we had bumped into on our way to Project Kr. Bringing up the rear, was Guardian, walking in as though our previous interaction had never even happened.

The scientist looked up at us arrogantly, "They'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process."

The woman nodded and silently went to work typing on a touchpad console.

"Pass, Batcave's crowded enough." Robin said flatly.

I smirked, "Yeah, there's already four Green Lanterns on Earth so I think we're good."

The man glared up at us for a split second, then whipped around to Guardian, "And get the weapon back in its pod!"

As Guardian began to lead Superboy away, Kid Flash let out a small huff and leaned over toward me, "Why does he get to call Supey an 'it'?"

I whipped my head around and gave the speedster a look, making him clam up quickly. Before he left the room, Superboy turned and gave us one final look, hesitancy on his face as Aqualad muttered one final plea for his help. But the man in the lab coat stepped in front of him, cutting us off from the clone.

"Don't start thinking now. See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon! And you belong to me! Well, to Cadmus... same thing! Now get back to your pod!"

Almost reluctantly, Superboy turned away and began to follow Guardian while the woman typing on the console pressed a final button and began the cloning process. Sets of prongs appeared from the sides of the pods were trapped in, targeting our shoulders and torsos with a menacing flicker of electricity. As the boys and I began to struggle against our restraints the prongs drove themselves into our bodies, coursing electric shockwaves through our systems.

We all cried out in pain as beneath us, glass orbs began to fill with our blood to provide an endless supply of DNA for future clones. The pain stretching through my bones, down every muscle, into every individual nerve, was unlike any other pain I had ever experienced, as my blood curdling screams bounced off the empty walls of the room.

Below us, though we couldn't see it, we could hear the sound of dissent, even though we were overwhelmed by the pain in our bodies. The man in the lab coat gasped after a loud crash erupted over our screams.

"I thought I told you to- Uh!"

"Don't give me orders!"

The pain suddenly faded away, my muscles relaxed, and I was able to open my eyes to see Superboy standing at the console, his scientist pals unconscious on the floor. I managed to hear a soft thud and turned to see that Robin had picked the locks on his shackles.

"So, you here to help or burn us to a crisp?" I asked Superboy. He faced me and narrowed his eyes as though he were concentrating for a moment then relaxed, the faintest smirk on his lips.

"Huh, I don't seem to have heat vision, so I guess helping you is my only option."

He reached over to the console and pressed a release button, opening the pods and allowing Robin to hop down.

"Finally!" The kid exclaimed, rubbing his wrists, "Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long."

KF and I both rolled our eyes, the speedster sarcastically quipping, "Seriously? That's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!"

Robin ignored the remark, instead moving to our pods and releasing our shackles. I landed heavily on my feet nearly falling forward from the impact but was able to catch myself on the console. Since KF estimated we were well past midnight, I knew it had been over 24 hours since I had charged my ring.

"Ring, power level?"

"Power at 21%."

I let out a sigh, I would have to be careful with my constructs for the rest of the night. Rely heavily on defense compared to attacks. I clambered to my feet just as Kid and Aqualad were released from their cuffs and together, Superboy included, we began to make our way out.

As we left the room, the scientist guy began to come to and called out, "You- you'll never get out of here! I'll have you all back in pods by morning!"

Next to me, Robin paused and turned on his heels tossing a couple of smoke bombs into the room, muttering, "That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all."

"Seriously, what's with the whelmed thing?" I asked him as smoke erupted into the tunnel. Robin didn't answer, he only shrugged and lengthened his stride to catch up with the others.

Aqualad took point, jabbing a finger in the direction of the elevator which was starting to come into view, "We're still 52 levels below ground, but if we can make it to the elevator-"

With a deep roar, Superboy leapt nearly 100 feet forward, landing atop a giant gorilla-like genomorph and crushing it into the ground. Unbridled rage seemed to flow off the clone as he continued to punch and slam the creature around the tunnel, loosening rocks above us and generating an eerie creaking sound. Any more heavy impact and the tunnel would collapse with us inside.

"Superboy!" I yelled over the crumbling rock, "We need to escape! Not bury ourselves!"

His head whipped around, his eyes wild, "YOU WANT ESCAPE?"

With a hefty throw, the genomorph slumped against the nearest tunnel wall, allowing us to enter the empty elevator shaft. Casting a green glow around myself and forming a platform Robin and Kid Flash, I began to ascend, bringing them with me as Superboy took hold of Aqualad. The clone leapt up into the air, in full belief that he would be able to fly like Superman. But despite the height of his jump, gravity still pulled him downward, a look of genuine confusion forming as he and Aqualad began to sink.

Robin reacted faster than I could, tossing a batarang and lodging it level with the sub-level below us. Aqualad was able to get a grip on the batarang, hanging on to Superboy as he looked downcast. Robin and KF leapt down and landed on the ledge in front of the elevator doors as I floated down, barely catching Superboy mutter partly to himself.

"Superman can fly... why can't I fly?"

Kid Flash shrugged, a kind half-smile appearing, "Don't know, but it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool."

Superboy shook off his confusion and swung out of Aqualad's grasp to the ledge, a sheepish hand moving to his neck, "Uh, thanks."

A low rumbling above us shook the shaft, and I glanced up catching the slightest glimpse of silver streaming down towards us. The elevator car.

"Guys, we gotta get out of here. Quick."

The clone rose from his crouch and set his broad hands on the doors, pulling them off their tracks like pieces of now crumpled paper and tossing them aside. Seconds after we all spilled into the brightly lit hallway, the elevator car rushed past us, sending a gush of wind down my spine. Superboy took off at a run and we all followed behind as he seemed to know exactly where he needed to go... until he brought us to a dead end.

KF's brow furrowed as he spread his arms in anger, "Great job, Supey! You trying to get us re-podded?"

"N-no I... I don't understand."

Robin glanced up and smirked, "Don't apologize, this is perfect! GL, give me a boost!"

I stepped forward and weaved my hands together as I knelt. Silently thanking whatever god was listening that the Boy Wonder was so slight, I hoisted him up to an air vent near the ceiling so he could remove the cover. One by one, we all climbed into the air vents, which were surprisingly roomy I might add, and began to follow Robin's downloaded schematics of Cadmus.

"At this rate, we'll never get out!" KF growled after we had army crawled a good chunk of the vent system. A Die Hard quote was on the tip of my tongue, but Superboy shushed everyone when he paused for a moment.

"Listen."

At first, I couldn't hear anything, but after a few seconds, I was able to pick up the sound of growling and scraping of metal. We were being followed. Robin pulled us into an offshoot a vent barely big enough for us to fit through and began hacking into the security system again. The growling and scraping began to grow louder as Robin continued to work, and sucking in a deep breath I readied my power ring.

But the incoming onslaught of genomorphs never came. Instead, the approaching horde seemed to veer off in a different direction and once the sound had finally gone away, Robin kicked the vent cover out on to the floor and grinned.

"I hacked the motion sensors." He quipped as he began to slip out of the vent. We all followed and stretched out a bit, silently thankful to not be stuck in a tube anymore.

"Nice work, Rob." I said, letting out a relieved breath. We finally had some time to breath before we ran into our next hurdle.

"Thanks, but there's still plenty of them between us and out."

Kid slid his goggles on and grinned widely, "But I've finally got room to move!"

Without us being able to stop him, the speedster took off down the hall to a door labelled as a stairway. The rest of us followed as he climbed the stairs at super speed, pushing through any and all genomorphs who tried to meet him on the way up. A familiar snarling echoed behind us as we began to climb and glancing over my shoulder, I could see more genomorphs following us. Superboy did the same, only turning around briefly on one of the landings to stomp his foot hard enough to crumble the stairs, taking our pursuers out with them.

The stairs didn't quite bring us to surface level, coming to an end at sub-level 1, but it would have to do. As we filed out of the stairway, the flourescent lighting shut off and was replaced with a menacing red as the entire level seemed to go into lockdown. Kid attempted to outrun the closing metal doors at the end of the hall that no doubt led to the surface but couldn't quite beat it as his skull bounced off the metal with a heavy clang.

As we approached, Aqualad remarked, "We're cut off from the surface."

The speedster, rubbing his head gingerly, glared up at the Atlantean, "Thanks, my head hadn't noticed."

Robin moved to try and hack into the door but let out a grunt of frustration after a few seconds, "I can't hack this fast enough. We need another way out."

I glanced around, looking for another door and found a hallway instead. It would have to do.

"This way!" I exclaimed, leading the boys down the short hall, only to be stopped at an intersection filled to the brim with just about every genomorph Cadmus had. Standing in the center, Guardian stared blankly ahead as several genomorph gnomes began to glow red, and suddenly my vision went black.

When I woke up, a broad hand was stretched out in front of my face, offering to help me up. I glanced up to see Superboy standing over me while Aqualad hoisted Robin up to his feet behind him. Taking a firm hold of his hand, the clone lifted me with ease and set me gently on my feet before looking over at Guardian, whose blank stare was replaced with a look of determination.

"Go. I'll deal with Desmond." He said firmly.

"I think not." The familiar voice of the man in the lab coat sneered from down the intersecting hall. His eyes looked crazed as he lifted up a test tube containing a bright blue liquid.

"Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus."

In one swallow, the man, Desmond, downed the liquid and began to wretch. His muscles twitched as he began to writhe and slump to his hands and knees while his skin began to turn a purplish-blue. Desmond's form began to shift and grow, ripping his lab coat to shreds as he began to nearly triple in size. Guardian moved in front of us as Desmond stood and roared.

"Everyone back!"

Guardian charged toward the transformed scientist, who threw him aside easily with a swing of his massive hand. I readied myself to fight as Desmond lumbered forward, but before I could form a construct of any kind, Superboy landed a few good slugs and sending the blue beast busting through the ceiling to the ground level.

"You think lab coat planned that?" KF asked us as we began to follow Desmond.

Aqualad's eyes narrowed, "I doubt he is planning anything anymore."

With all of us on the first floor of Cadmus, Desmond could easily go on a rampage throughout D.C., and with the League on a mission, we had to stop him. In the main atrium, the monster began charging toward us, his blood red eyes ablaze. Forming the construct of a warhammer in my hands, I swung slowly up and connected with Desmond's chest. As he began to stumble backwards, I saw Kid Flash fall to his hands and knees, making the transformed scientist trip and fall flat on his back.

"Learned that one in kindergarten." Kid quipped as he dusted himself off, making me laugh as I began to hover.

"Try and keep him off-balance!" I called out to the others as I saw Desmond begin to clamber to his feet. With a collective nod, both Robin and Aqualad started to move in on him.

Bouncing back and forth between us, Desmond's enhanced strength and stamina wore us down quickly, and after only a few rounds each, we were all exhausted, ending with Aqualad being slammed into a worn-out, chipping pillar.

The aura around me began to flicker and fade as I sorely rose to my feet.

"Ugh...Ring, what's your power level?"

"Power at 6%."

"Shit." I muttered under my breath.

"Low on juice?" Robin asked from behind me, tossing a few explosive disks my way, "Here, give me a hand with this. KF, get over here!"

The speedster met us in a blur of yellow and red, skidding to a halt while Superboy and Aqualad kept Desmond busy. Robin pulled up a structural schematic of the atrium and highlighted a couple pillars in red on one side of the atrium.

"GL, plant charges on these pillars. We can take down the structural support beams right on top of this guy. KF, keep the big guy busy. Aqualad and Superboy will destroy a few more pillars while you get him into position, once you do, take cover. Got it?"

Kid and I both nodded, "Got it."

"Go."

I sprinted toward the pillars that Robin hand pointed out to me, while KF charged at Desmond. With a skilled toss, I managed to lodge the charges into the pillars without any trouble. As I finished, I caught sight of Robin marking out an 'X' with white chalk in the center of the room, while Superboy and Aqualad took out pillars on the other side of the room and planted charges. With that done, Aqualad pulled his water bearers from the pack on his back and began to flood the floor with water to create a slip 'n' slide.

KF practically bounced off the walls around Desmond before coming to a sliding halt on top of the 'X', "Come and get me, you incredible bulk!"

With a ferocious roar, Desmond began to charge the speedster, slipping onto his back as soon as he set foot on the water and coming to a stop just as Kid got out of the way.

"Move!" Robin yelled as Aqualad's tattoos began to glow, sending volts of electricity up Desmond's body. Once the beast fell to his knees, we all took off running toward the exit, trying to give ourselves enough time to get out as Robin ignited the charges.

We weren't fast enough. The charges destroyed the pillars in front of the doors first, blocking our only way out as the ceiling caved in above us. Mustering the last of my ring's power, I raised my hand and summoned a dome as debris began to bury both us and Desmond.

When the smoke finally cleared and the rubble settled, I used the last remnants of my power to break through the heavy rock and rebar. Everyone let out a heavy sigh of relief. It was over. Sure, we were bruised and battered, and our uniforms had taken quite a beating too, but we had beaten Desmond and taken down Cadmus in one fell swoop.

"We... did it." Aqualad panted, just as surprised as the rest of us by our survival.

Robin smirked, "Was there ever any doubt?"

He and Kid Flash high-fived, but immediately winced as their ribs collectively cracked. My gaze followed Superboy as he walked slowly over to Desmond. I joined him, catching a glimpse of the scientist crushed and unconscious beneath a massive slab of rock. It was so, so satisfying to see him lay there helpless in the moonlight. Wich reminded me-

"See?" I asked, setting a hand on Superboy's shoulder and gesturing skyward, "The moon."

The clone looked up in awe of the full moon overhead, but as he continued to watch, his eyes narrowed as something came into view. As the small black dot grew larger, it began to turn blue, and the 'S' on the chest was a dead giveaway.

"Oh. And Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?" I grinned, setting my hands on my hips. Big Blue wasn't alone though. In fact, the entire League was hot on his heels from Aquaman to Zatara. And none of them looked happy.

We all lined up as our mentors met us on the ground, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Hal were all looking pissed as they watched Superboy approach Superman. His solar suit had become torn in the fight, covering the 'S' symbol, but when Superboy held it up to show him, the Kryptonian didn't look surprised. He looked angry.

Superboy's face fell as the Dark Knight's eyes narrowed, "Is that what I think it is?"

Kid Flash leaned toward him, trying to make the situation lighter, "He doesn't like being called an it."

"I'm Superman's clone."

The League was stunned, even Batman was caught off guard by Superboy's declaration. But just as quickly as his surprise appeared, it vanished.

"Start talking."

It took us about an hour to cover our bases in decent detail, but once we were done, Superman and company hauled Desmond, now called Blockbuster, away, leaving the boys and I with our mentors.

"Cadmus will be investigated," Batman said, "all 52 levels. But let's make one thing clear-"

"You should've called!" Flash interrupted. Batman glared at his speedster companion for a second, but then turned that glare back on us.

"End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

We all fell silent, until Aqualad stepped forward and spoke our collective thought.

"I am sorry, but we will."

Aquaman took a step toward his protege, surprised by his reluctance to obey, "Aqualad, stand down."

"Apologies, my king. But no. We did good work here tonight, the work you taught us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

Hal eyed me sharply, "Look, if this is about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you-"

"Five of us." I growled, "And it's not about that."

Robin looked up at his mentor, finally finding his voice, "Batman, we're ready to use what you've taught us, or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy asked angrily, still upset about Superman's coldness, "It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way."

Batman's gaze narrowed even further, "The League will need to discuss this further. A couple of days will allow us to determine where we go from here. Until you here from us, all of you are on house arrest. No excuses. No exceptions. Dismissed."

Superboy looked around nervously at the mention of house arrest, making me realize he didn't have anywhere to go. I set a hand on his shoulder and steered him toward a very upset Hal.

"And what exactly do you think you're doing?" He asked me with an arched brow.

"Taking him home." I replied casually, much to Superboy's surprise, "C'mon, Hal, he's got nowhere else to go. And Dad's at the Pentagon until the end of the month. He won't even know that Superboy was there."

Knowing that I wouln't let up, Hal pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Fine. I'll grant him temporary zeta authorization. Come on, Baby Blue."

Superboy rubbed his neck sheepishly, but muttered a thanks and followed behind me and Hal as we began our waiting game with the League.

Mount Justice

July 8, 08:04 EST

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again," Batman explained as John, Captain Marvel, and Captain Atom were clearing out sections of the mountain around us, "Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado has volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary is in charge of training. I wil deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" His protege asked.

Batman nodded, "Yes, but covert."

Flash sped over to our side with a childish grin, "The League will still handle the obvious stuff. And this team won't interfere with any off-world assignments that the Lanterns may have."

"But Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." Aquaman continued.

The Dark Knight nodded again, "The six of you will be that team."

I smirked, "Sweet. Wait, six?"

Our mentors parted, revealing Martian Manhunter and a Martian girl wearing a similar outfit to his. She looked over at us shyly and offered a small smile.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." Batman explained as Miss Martian walked closer to us. Kid Flash nudged me and Robin in the ribs and gave Miss Martian a saucy grin.

"Liking this gig more every minute. Uh, welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash, this Robin, GL, Aqualad, it's cool if you forget their names."

My eyes rolled, not hidden by my mask since we were all dressed in civvies. Punching the speedster in the arm, I walked over to Miss Martian and offered a hand to shake.

"Ignore the smooth talker. We're all happy to have you here."

She grinned, "I'm honored to be included."

We all gathered around our newest team member, save for Superboy who was still a bit uncomfortable with the whole independence thing. But when Robin called him over, he obliged, even smiling a bit when Miss Martian shape-shifted her t-shirt from white to black to match his.

As everyone mingled with each other, next to me, I heard Aqualad say softly, "Today is the day."

I couldn't help but smile at that.