Warning: I do not own these shows such as Ben 10 Alien Force/Kim Possible/Danny Phantom/Young Jusitce. Fictional events that I make are mine as well as my OC's.
Washington, D.C:
July 5, 00:01 EDT
After several long hours, the head scientist of Cadmus pondered what to do with the intruding sidekicks and that strange boy with the even stranger device. Dr. Desmond, as he was known, paced nervously in his office as he waited. He had sent a message to his superiors several hours ago, and it was taking time for them to assemble; he knew that it would be a long wait, but it didn't help his nerves.
Finally, eight dark screens came down from the ceiling with blue circuitry flashing suddenly as the 'screen saver' with the word Cadmus displayed in yellow at the bottom of each screen. Once they were all down and surrounding Desmond, the screen saver changed which showed the outline of a figure, but any and all details were obscured by a white light. Even though he couldn't see their expressions, Dr. Desmond could tell that all of them were either annoyed or curious.
"Dr. Desmond, you require an audience with the Light?" One screen spoke with the voice of a man but, the voice was obviously filtered and disguised.
"Y-yes." Desmond stammered, knowing that these people could end his career—and his life—with but a word. "Very sorry to disturb you at this late hour…"
"Just make your report." Another male voice demanded as it seems his superiors are irritated and unamused by Desmond's sudden call.
"Of course." Desmond said, taking a breath before continuing, "Well, we had a small fire here at Project Cadmus. The origin of the incident is still unclear, but it seems to have attracted some… unwanted attention. The four sidekicks, teen superheroes, an unknown shapeshifter, and teen ghost, Robin, Wonder Girl, Aqulad, Kid Flash, Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, and the boy's ID Ben Tennyson breached our security. They found and released the weapon, the Superboy. Of course, the clone is under our telepathic control and as ordered turned against his would-be liberators. The seven are contained and we don't believe the League knows they're here."
Now, Desmond looked uncertain. "Uh… what should I do with them?"
The figures were silent for a moment; then one, the one who had told him to get to the point, spoke up. "You said there was a shape-shifter? Another Martian?"
"No, in fact, the peculiar thing is this boy uses some sort of watch-like device to change, the CCTV footage is very intriguing," Desmond stretched his collar to allow oxygen to flow through his shirt and relieve stress.
"Clone them, all seven, remove this watch by any means." The man orders.
The first figure agreed. "The substitutes will serve The Light… and only The Light."
"And the originals?" Desmond wanted to know.
The first figure's response was quick in coming. "Dispose of them. Leave no trace."
"But leave Danny Phantom to me." Another male figure spoke.
As the screens switched off, the meeting over, Desmond let a sick smile appear on his face.
"Time runs short. You must awaken." A man's voice spoke in the seven heroes' heads as they were still unconscious. "You must awaken now!"
All seven heroes shot their eyes open with a gasp for air, the first thing they noticed was they were all bound by their arms and legs to an upwards table by metallic-straps in some sort of pod, different from the one that held Superboy though. Speaking of whom was standing right in front of them staring relentlessly.
"What? What-What do you want?!" Kid Flash demanded as he spoke up first. "Quite staring. You're freaking me out!"
Superboy didn't say anything but raised an eyebrow in response as Ben attempted to cool things down.
"Easy dude, we don't want to piss off the guy who can fry us with a look." He stated narrowing his eyes at Superboy.
"Prepare the cloning procedure for the new Project: Sidekick, now." Dr. Desmond said as he entered the room followed by an assistant holding a clipboard.
As Desmond finished preparations for the new Project: Sidekick, he decided to check on the status of Superboy in the clone's chamber; he didn't really care about the clone, but he didn't want to risk the wrath of his superiors if the weapon was in any way damaged.
"Almost done here, doc." Guardian spoke as he informed his boss.
Instead, Desmond found a chamber that was empty, save for a handful of Genomorphs repairing the damage it had sustained earlier.
Desmond glared at Guardian, who was overseeing the efforts. "Where is the weapon!?" He demands, though there's anger in his voice, there's fear in his eyes.
"Superboy?" Guardian ask as he look at the room to see he wasn't in there. "He carried the intruders to the cloning chamber." Guardian replied.
"We have Genomorphs for that!" Desmond cried, gesturing to the gray-skinned creatures. "Get the weapon back in its pod, now!"
"I don't see the harm in letting the kid stretch his legs." Guardian argued.
"Don't you, now?" Desmond asked as the horns of the G-Gnomes on his shoulder and Guardian's began to glow.
For a moment, Guardian's expression was blank, before being replaced by fury. "That clone belongs in a cage!"
As Guardian stormed off to retrieve Superboy, Desmond smiled; mind-control was a wonderful thing.
"We only wanted to help you." Wonder Girl tries to tell the clone, calmly.
"Yeah. We free you, and you turn on us." Kid Flash pipes up, clearly still annoyed at the minimum. "How's that for grat-"
"Kid, please, be quiet now." Aqualad firmly says to the younger teen.
"Yeah, I don't think he was in control of himself." Danny spoke up. "I saw the horns of those Genomorphs glowing right before he attacked us."
With the conversation gaining ground Robin and Kim activate a lockpick in the pointer finger of their glove and begin to work on their restraint.
"Wha—what if…" Superboy cleared his throat, unused to speaking at all. "What if I wasn't in control?"
"He can talk?" Kid Flash asked in shocked.
Superboy's hand clenched into a fist again as he practically growls his words at Kid Flash with a hardened expression. "Yes, he can."
The other heroes shot Kid Flash a dirty look as Kid Flash was a bit confused at why they were giving him dirty looks. "It's not like I said 'it'." The speedster defended himself.
"So, the Genomorphs taught you?" Kim asked as she realizes what was happening. "Telepathically, I mean."
Superboy nodded. "They taught me much; I can read, write, and I know the names of things."
"But have you seen them?" Robin asked. "Have they ever actually let you see the sky, or the sun?"
"Images are implanted in my mind." Superboy said, but then admitted. "but no, I haven't actually seen them."
"Do you know what you are?" Kim asked. "Who you are?"
This time, Superboy straightened and said, almost with pride. "I am the Superboy, a Genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him, should he perish… or destroy him should he turn from the light."
The seven trapped heroes looked at each other in apprehension, before Ben spoke. "To be like Superman is a great goal, and to be part of his legacy is an honor and a privilege, but you have the right to a life of your own. Beyond that solar-suit, beyond your pod and beyond Cadmus ."
"I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" Superboy shouted, but they could all see a twinge of doubt.
"Your home is test-tube." Kim reasoned as she spoke up next. "My friends and I can show you the moon. We can introduce you to Superman."
"No, they can't." Desmond says resolutely as he, Guardian, and the female scientist walk into the chamber. "They'll be otherwise occupied." his tone is almost smug now, then he turns to the female scientist. "Activate the cloning process." The two men stop and she walks off to the left to do as he instructs.
"Pass! Batcave is crowded enough." Robin jokes, though the thought of being cloned by the bad guys made his stomach turn.
Desmond ignored him, turning instead to Guardian. "And get the weapon back in its pod!"
"Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an it?" Kid Flash asked, seeming partially annoyed and partially saddened by the prospect.
Guardian walked up and placed his hand on the clone's shoulder to guide him out. Said clone looked into Danny, Ben and Kim's eyes.
"Your our friend." Kim tells him.
"Help us." Danny asked quietly. "please."
To the hope of the trapped heroes, Superboy shrugged off Guardian's hand; before he did anything else, the G-Gnome on Desmond's shoulder jumped to Superboy's.
"Don't start thinking now," the scientist said, as the G-Gnome's horns began to glow, and Superboy's expression turned blank, "See, you're not a real boy; you're a weapon, and you belong to me!" Desmond momentarily looked uncertain. "Well, to Cadmus; same thing. Now get back to your pod!"
"How come he can call Supey an it?" Kid Flash questions.
Slowly, Superboy turned to leave the room; once he was gone, the female scientist activated the cloning process. Inside each pod, several probes mounted on mechanical arms jabbed into any exposed skin of the heroes. At the base of each pod, a transparent sphere was slowly filling up with DNA and trace amounts of tissue. The process was agonizing, and their screams could be heard throughout the level.
As Desmond observed, he noticed something. "Where's Dubbilex?" he jumped when the Genomorph suddenly appeared behind him. "Lurking, as usual; get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories. When that's done… delete the source material."
Danny heard this; he knew that if something wasn't done soon, he and his friends would die, while their clones-to-be would replace them and their families would be none the wiser. Danny only knew of one person who could help them; whether or not he would help was another matter.
"Superboy," he whispered as quietly as he could, knowing that only someone with super-hearing would hear him, "You are a living person; that means that you can choose your own destiny: slavery, or freedom. But ask yourself this: what would Superman do?"
Down the hallway, the clone heard the whisper. At first, he ignored it; then a small part of him remembered that warm feeling he had when Kim had called him friends. With that memory, came determination; he had something in this world, people who actually cared about him as a person.
He would not lose that.
In an act of willpower that would have made anyone in the House of El proud, Superboy forced his body to stop moving; fighting the Genomorph for every inch, his hand moved to his shoulder and flicked the G-Gnome. It was only the slightest of taps for him, but it was still enough to knock the creature out.
Free of the Genomorph's influence, Superboy made his choice.
All action in the cloning chamber ceased when a loud impact crashed against the door; a second impact hit a moment later, and then the door was ripped out of the wall. Through the pain, the trapped heroes grinned when they saw Superboy heft the two-foot-thick door over his head and then heave it at the computers in the room. The computers crumpled like tin foil; when they did, the DNA-extractors went offline.
Desmond, Guardian and Dubbilex moved to intercept him.
"I told you to get back to your—oof!" Desmond was cut off when Superboy backhanded him in both Guardian and Dubbilex.
Superboy stands tall and glares down at Desmond. "Don't give me orders." Superboy growled, before moving to the pods.
"You're cutting in a little close." Ben said with a sigh of pain he is in. "Any longer we might have been barbecued." Superboy just smirks at those words.
"So," Kid Flash said, recovering fastest, "You here to help us or fry us?"
Superboy's eyes narrowed at him for a moment, before he gave a small smile. "Huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option."
Before he could free any of them, Robin and Kim's restraints opened, allowing them to kick open the glass part of the pod and fall to the floor; Superboy noticed several lockpicks retract into the fingers of their gloves.
"Finally!" Kim said, as she rubbed her hands. "Never thought it would take this long to get out.
"Agreed." Robin said who was wrapping his arms in pain of the restraints. "Lucky Batman isn't here; he'd have my head for taking so long."
"Seriously? That's what you're worried about?" Kid Flash asked.
"The whole League will have our heads after tonight!" Wonder Girl shouted.
"Just get us out of here." Danny tells the boy wonder. "We'll worry about that later."
"Agreed." Aqualad said with a nod.
Robin ignored them and walked over to one of the remaining computers; after a moment of studying them, he pressed a button, opening the glass of the other pods, before he turned to Superboy and Kim. "Free Ben and Danny. I'll get Wonder Girl, Aqualad, and Kid Mouth."
"Don't you give me orders, either." Superboy said warningly, but he jumped up to Ben's pod anyway and ripped off the restraints, while Robin picked the locks of the others.
With the restraints gone, Ben fell forward, only to be caught by Superboy, who slung his arm over his shoulders.
"Thanks." Ben said sincerely; Superboy only nodded in response before they dropped to the ground.
Kim was doing the same as she was picking Danny's lock before it finally opened. Kim unlocks the ghost boy as he nearly falls on her, luckily she catches him.
"Thanks." Danny said with a nod.
"No problem." Kim said back to them before he floated them down.
The two floated to the ground just in time to see Robin had already freed his friends.
Danny looked at Superboy and asked. "Please tell me you know you're way around this place."
"Nope." Superboy
"Greeeeaaat…" Danny mumbled.
"Now let's make our escape before it get's worse." Wonder Girl suggested.
"Agreed." Aqualad said as the eight of them began running for the door, only for the voice of Desmond to stop them at the exit.
"You—you'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!" Desmond shouts, but the group din't listen, they only continue to run
Robin turns at the doorway and pauses, causing Wonder Girl and Kid Flash to do the same. "That guy is not whelmed," Robin said, digging into his utility belt and drawing seven explosive disks, before throwing the disks; a second after each disk hit one of the spheres. "Not whelmed at all."
"What is it with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" Kid Flash asked.
"I don't think he is going to stop anytime soon." Wonder Girl tells him as they turned to leave the hellhole.
The three disks hit all three of their DNA containers and begin to beep, then explode, destroying the material they would've used for cloning and the pods themselves.
Desmond rose to his feet just as the heroes left; after briefly glowering at the burning remains of the lab, he snapped his fingers, and a G-Gnome jumped onto his shoulder.
"Activate every Genomorph in Cadmus." He orders.
The G-Gnome's horns began to glow.
The teens ran through the halls lined with giant organic egg-like orbs; each one began glowing a sicAqualading red as they sprinted past them.
"That doesn't look good!" Wonder Girl yelled as they continued down the hall towards the elevators.
"How far do we have to go until we reach the surface?" Kim asked as they ran.
"We are still forty-two levels below ground, but if we can make it to the elevator-" Aqualad answered but was cut off by the sight of two giant G-Trolls blocking their path, the same giant beasts from earlier that nearly turned Kid Flash into a pancake.
"Oh boy." Robin commented as Kid Flash looked over to Ben and Danny.
"Guys, I don't wanna rush but, could you guys maybe blast them away." Kid Flash asked in desperation.
"This hallway is still too small for my stronger aliens, I guess I'll go with," Ben projected the hologram on his Omnitrix before slapping the dial initiating an intense glow. What came from the light was a green humanoid with a red and yellow flower-like skull and a stench that could kill an elephant. "Swampfire!" the alien announced with a voice sounding as though he had no nose to speak of.
Danny, who was standing next to him, was disgusted by the smell Swampfire is making. "Dude, you reek!"
Swampfire just groaned as he was used to hearing that. "I know."
The two heroes formed two spheres of fire and ecto-energy in their hands and tossed them at the beasts in front of them, who just merely growls at the threat as they werent scared one bit.
"That's new." Swampfire said as he wasn't expecting them to not be scared.
"Uh, guys!" Robin yelled as he pointed behind them; every pod in the entire hall had begun glowing and releasing hundreds of the clawed Genomorphs began awaAqualading from stasis.
Since the G-Trolls were closest to the elevator, the group decided to go through them and ignore the smaller enemies.
The lead G-troll strikes from behind and all four jump back to avoid its crushing blow. Not wanting to get bogged down, Aqualad jumps into a backflip over the assault, Wonder Girl flies over the Genomorphs' reach, while Robin and Kim's acrobatics, with Kid Flash's speed, allow him to get around easily enough. Danny just turned intangible and walked through them as Swampfire ran around blasting any that comes near him. Superboy glares and jumps to cross it in the jaw. Knocking it down, but he is then surrounded by three more and is brought down as one pins him to the ground with its massive paw.
The only one who chose to fight was Superboy; with a feral roar, he lunged at the first G-Troll and knocked it flat on its back. Before the clone could follow up on his offensive, another G-Troll smacked him to the floor; thankfully, Superboy was back on his feet seconds later and slammed his attacker into the wall. To the other heroes, it looked like Superboy would rather fight than flee.
Superboy, the goal is escape!" Aqualad shouted, as the impacts from the clone's blows began shaking the entire sublevel. "Not to bury ourselves here!"
"You want to escape!?" Superboy shouted, then grabbed one of the fallen G-Trolls and threw it, knocking the others down. "Now we can go!"
"Here I thought you loved to fight." Robin muttered to Wonder Girl, who had to agree.
Instead of waiting for Robin or Kim to hack the security systems, Superboy just ripped the doors open with ease. The rest of the heroes join him, looking at the twelve-story drop below them, and the seemingly never-ending darkness above them.
Aqualad, Swampfire, and Kid Flash jump to the side of the column, while Robin uses his grappling hook to get a couple of stories above them. Danny and Wonder Girl just uses their flight powers to just fly up. As a G-troll comes to take out both Superboy and Kim with a mighty punch the Boy of Steel grabs Kim's waist, which the girl who can do anything wasn't expecting, jumps into the elevator shaft. Attempting to fly, and getting nearly thirty levels before gravity begins to pull them back down.
Shock shows in Superboy's eyes, while confusion shows in Kim's. "I- I'm falling." He realizes in disbelief.
Kim manages to fire her grappler gun as high as it can as she strains but doesn't let go. The hold is now reversed so Kim is holding him, Superboy's eyes have sadness and confusion filling them. "Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?"
"Don't know." Danny says, drawing the Boy of Steel's attention to him, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Swampfire, Wonder Girl, and Robin who are standing on the level just below them. "But it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound."
"That's still cool though." Wonder Girl tries to encourage. Then she helps Superboy down to the small ledge. Kim follows shortly thereafter.
Guys!" Robin shouted, pointing up at the incoming express-elevator. "This'll have to be our exit!"
Superboy kicked open the door, and the eight dove through, the elevator barely missing them. Before they could decide where to go next, swarms of Genomorphs appeared to their right and their front; with nowhere else to go, they headed left.
"Turn left, brother." Superboy heard in his mind.
With no time to question what had just happened, Superboy shouted. "Go left! Left!" The group turned at the first left they saw.
"Turn right."
"Right!" Superboy shouted againmake the tight turn, only to lead them to a dead end. The only thing available is an air vent a few feet below the ceiling.
"Great directions, Supey." Kid Flash said sarcastically, "You trying to get us repodded?"
"No, I…" Superboy scratched his head, "I don't understand."
"Don't apologize," Robin said, pointing at the large vent near the top of the wall. "This is perfect!"
A few seconds later, when the Genomorphs reached the same dead end, they found nothing but the vent's grate on the floor.
"At this rate, we'll never get out," Swampfire groaned as they crawled through the vents
Kid Flash just smiles as he happens to be behind Wonder Girl, which also means he has the chance to look at her ass. And unfortunately, he decided to speak of it. "I'm not complaining."
Wonder Girl just has a disgusted face, before intentionally kick Kid Flash in the face for that.
"Ow." Kid Flash shouted before apologizing. "Sorry."
Kim rolls her eyes at that. "Boys." She said in disbelief that Kid Flash would act like that as she thought they would be more mature.
"Shh!" Superboy hissed, then glanced at Danny, who was ahead of him. "Do you hear that?"
Danny nodded; both of them could hear the sound of dozens of the smaller Genomorphs inside the vent with them.
With every second, Desmond grew more and more annoyed as he, Guardian and Dubbilex ran down the hallway, a squad of Genomorphs in tow; Desmond was tracking the heroes' progress on a datapad.
"Someone—Robin, I'd wager—hacked our systems, deactivating internal security cameras," his face lit up as he realized something, "But he neglected the motion sensors!"
The sensors indicated that the heroes would end up on the men's restroom; the three of them waited under a vent.
"The Genomorphs are closing in," Desmond said excitedly, "We have them cornered!"
A few seconds later, the vent popped open, but it wasn't five teenagers who flew out; instead, the pursuing Genomorphs fell on top of Desmond and the others. Angrily, Desmond punched away a Genomorph that had fallen on him.
"He hacked the motion sensors." He said with a growl as he couldn't believe he was outsmarted by a kid.
"I hacked the motion sensors," Robin said as he closed down his holo-computer and gave Aqualad a high-five.
"Good job," Aqulad praised. "but there's still plenty between us and out."
"But Wonder Girl and I finally have room to move!" Kid Flash said, before dashing off.
"Hey wait for me." Wonder Girl said with a grin as she flew after the speedster.
The rest of the heroes just followed after them as they have no time to rest and wait it out.
Kid Flash ran up a dozen flights of stairs, while Wonder Girl flew straight up; if they could get out of the building, they could contact the League. However, several squads of Genomorphs blocked Kid Flash's way; while the speedster simply barreled through them, Wonder Girl took the time to knock out any stragglers that might try to go after Kim, Swampfire, Danny, Aqualad, Robin and Superboy.
Those six were only two sublevels below Kid Flash and Wonder Girl; in order to keep up, and allow Robin to focus more on his computer-work, causing Danny and Swampfire to nodded to each other. They then grabbed the two human and put them on their shoulders as Danny flew with Robin, while Swampfire carried Kim as he ran much faster than she could,
"More behind us!" Robin shouted, pointing backwards, where dozens of Genomorphs hissed and snarled as they chased them.
Superboy, who was running at super speed but not as fast as Kid Flash, solved that problem by stomping down on the stairs behind them, shattering them and preventing any further pursuit.
In the elevator Guardian, Dubbilex, Desmond, three G-dwarves, and a G-sprite. "We'll cut them off at Sub-Level One." Guardian assures as they boost past Sub-Levels 15 and 14.
"We'd better or the board will have our heads- my head." He realizes nervously, then presses the stop button on the elevator. The door opens and he walks out briskly. "I need to get something from Project Blockbuster, just in case. I'll meet you at Sub-Level One."
Kid Flash continues up the staircase at super-speed, making out the door first; it indicates that he is at Sub-Level 1. As he does an alarm begins to blare, and massive doors in front of him close. His eyes widen as he realizes he won't be able to stop in time. "Oh, crud." Hitting the doors hard, and his head hitting first, then falling back to the ground a few feet away from the barrier then tumbling over twice before coming to a stop on his butt.
"Dude, that was an epic fail." Robin said with a laugh as the rest of the heroes ran to catch up with him.
"We are cut off from the street." Aqualad grumbles annoyed.
Kid Flash rubs the back of his head with a grimace. "Thanks. My head hadn't noticed."
Swampfire then slammed on the Omnitrix and in a flash of green light he seems to be a humanoid alien that is ten feet tall. He has well-developed muscles, two pairs of four-fingered arms, and red skin. A black stripe goes from his chin to his lower lip, and he has four eyes: a main pair and a smaller pair below them, while he lacks ears or nose. He has whisker-like spikes on each forearm. He now wore gold wrist and ankle bands, a pair of black underwear that has a gold waistband, as well as two golden sashes that went across his chest. His eyes were recolored green, he had a black ponytail, and he wore the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
Four Arms?!" Four Arms questions as he looks at himself in surprised as he was going to go for either Big Chill or Goop, but this will do. "Didn't know that was still in there.
That's when Four Arms, Danny, Aqualad, and Superboy walks past the fallen speedster, punching the door, but all it does was makes huge dents. They begins trying to pry it apart as two takes one sid eof the door and try to rip it apart. It was working but it was only going so slow as Wonder Girl got in the middle and try to pull the doors apart too. They would need a minute or so to get through, but it looks like they don't have a minute.
Robin shut down his holo-computer with a frustrated huff. "I can't hack the security fast enough," he said, then saw the incoming mob of Genomorphs and kicked open a side-door. "This way!"
The eight ran through, only to find themselves trapped between their pursuers and a waiting mob of creatures, led by Guardian. Robin drew his brass knuckles, while Wonder Girl grabbed her lasso of lightning, Danny's hands glowed green with energy, Aqualad removes his water bearers as it forms dual swords as Four Arms, Kim, Superboy, and Kid Flash took fighting stances.
If they were going to go down, they'd do so fighting.
Just before the heroes made the first move, the stubby horns of the dozens of G-Gnomes present began to glow; with a massive telepathic assault, the heroes' minds were overwhelmed, and they fell to the ground, unconscious.
Superboy felt something brush against his mind and he weakly opened his eyes to see Dubbilex standing in front of him, his horns glowing.
"Perhaps, for the sake of all Genomorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind." Dubbilex spoke.
Superboy's eyes widened in realization. "It was you…"
"Yes, brother." Dubbilex answered. "I started the fire and lured your new friends into Cadmus, woke them when they were in danger…"
"And guided me." Superboy finished, "Why?"
"Because you are our hope, the Genomorph hero." Dubbilex gestured to the other Genomorphs, who seemed to be waiting for something. "You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing us the way to freedom."
Guardian, who had also been incapacitated by the G-Gnome on his shoulder, shook his head when the little creature hopped away. "What the… what's going on?" He asked
On the ground, Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Four Arms, Kim, Danny, and Wonder Girl began to regain consciousness; Four Arms looked around uncertainty.
"Um, is this a good thing or a bad thing?" The Tetraman asked, then looked at Superboy, "Please say that it's a good thing."
Superboy ignored him as he stood up, looking Dubbilex in the eyes.
"What is your choice, brother?" Dubbilex asks Superboy.
Superboy glanced at the other heroes. They'd risked everything to help him; he couldn't do less for them, but he couldn't do that as a slave to Cadmus . "I… choose… freedom."
It appeared that this answered the Genomorphs, because Guardian seemed to be released from their control. He shook his head in confusion. "Guh…Feels like the fog lifted."
"Guardian." Aqualad noted as he turned his attention to the older hero.
Guardian appeared angry, but not at them. "Go. I'll handle Desmond."
"I think not." Desmond growls, all Genomorphs behind Guardian part ways to allow Desmond to be visible. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." he says then downs one of the blue vials that he was working on in his lab.
Guardian backs up, standing protectively in front of the four teenagers as Desmond begins to transform. First, it's just his veins popping under his skin, but as he falls to his knees and his body rips through his lab coat and shirt most of the heroes eyes pop in shock. Desmond's head lifts from his arm as growls, some of his skin tearing off as his sclera turns black and his irises go bright red, Aqualad and Danny grimaces in hesitation. Finally, he stands back up and growls all his old skin ripping off him and now replaced by thicker grey skin instead of his normal skin in most areas. Superboy and Four Arms tenses as they glare, but don't attack, even as the once-Desmond turns towards the eight heroes and growls, some of his hair and old skin still attached to the left side of his head, breathing heavily.
"…Well, crap." Phantom mumbled.
"Everyone back!" Guardian charged, but Desmond merely backhanded him into a wall, denting it and knocking the hero out.
"Who didn't see that coming?" Wonder Girl muttered.
Superboy and Four Arms tried their hand next; the two glares harder before charging at Desmond with a hard cross hitting the mutated scientist in the jaw. However, he's hardly affected and refutes by punching downwards on Superboy and Four Arms's shoulder and upper-back. Superboy and Four Arms plants their feet and turns a tight 180 to hit an uppercut on Desmond's underjaw. Then jumping to do a double-cross combo while he's still off-balance. Desmond finds an opening and unleashes his own hard cross to Superboy and Four Amrs's face, knocking them back a good ten feet. As Superboy and Four Arms lands on his shoulder, they keeps his momentum going and rolls back to his feet. Standing up and charging, but this time jumping into the air with his hands over his head. Desmond jumps at Superboy and Four Arms, catching the teen's core and throwing all three of them through the ceiling.
"That plan was a bust." Kim said to them as they stood under the hole.
"Okay." Robin murmurs, amazement. "That's one way to bust through the ceiling." He and Kim released their grappling hook through the same hole.
"You think lab-coat planned that?" Kid Flash questions as he grabs onto Robin's utility belt and the two zip up and out with Kim not far from behind.
"I doubt he is planning anything anymore." Aqualad says darkly, before jumping through the hole himself.
Wonder Girl and Danny gave each other a shrug before the two heroes flew up through the hole.
When they reached the fight, they found Superboy and Four Arms were still fighting Desmond. The two seemed to be tag teaming the monsters as when one punch landed on Desmond he was forced to face the other person, but only received another punch in the process. It seems to go at a stalemate before Desmond manages to grab Superboy's fist, who was surprised by it. That's when the monster got a better hold before dragging Superboy and managed to knock Four Arms away before throwing the Boy of Steel towards the rest of the heroes.
Wonder Girl seems to be ready for the incoming though as she flew through them. "I got you." She told Superboy before catching him in her arms as she was forced a few feet back.
"Thanks." Superboy said in gratitude before the seven teens looked at each other and nodded in a wordless agreement. If they are going to go down again, then they'll go down fighting.
Desmond only roared, then charged at the heroes.
Kid Flash quickly pulled ahead and slid between and behind Desmond's legs; distracted by the speedster, Desmond wasn't able to defend against Superboy and Danny when each landed a punch on his face. Unbalanced, Desmond stumbled back, only to trip and fall over the crouched Kid Flash.
"Learned that one in kindergarten." Kid Flash said smugly.
Robin tried to follow up the attack with several batarangs, but Desmond easily batted them away, then kicked Wonder Girl in the chin and into the ceiling when the Amazon hero tried to dive-bomb him.
Kim tried to attack Desmond when she ran in with rocket skates and tried to kick him, but it didn't even faze the monster. She then tries a sort of combo attack as Desmond was not amused before he slaps her away.
That's when he got hooked in the face by Superboy, "Your fights over here, ugly!" the boy of steel screamed as he jumped and threw a left hook that slammed into Desmonds jaw sending him off his feet and into a pillar.
"Wanna get in on this?" Superboy yelled at Four Arms who cracked his knuckles in response.
"My pleasure." Four Arms smirks.
Desmond threw a fist that connected with Four Arms's chin knocking him backward momentarily. The shapeshifter grunted in response, throwing a punch that knocked the behemoth into the wall; Desmond stood only to be knocked back down by Superboy, whom barraged him with blow after blow until the creature backhanded him through two pillars severing them from the ceiling.
Danny, who just got back up, and Four Arms's fist came from nowhere crushing Desmonds face into the concrete wall, shaking the very foundation of the facility. Several devastating punches later, Desmond caught Danny and Four Arms's fits surprisingly then knocked the two together hard before sending them through a line of pillars that supported the building.
Superboy jumped at Desmond who caught the half Kryptonian by the arm and whirled him around and tossed him into a recovering Wonder Girl knocking them both over. Desmond was about to throw another punch but was stopped by a grappling line wrapping around his arm suddenly.
"Not so fast, gruesome." Kim spoke as she, Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash held his arm back with all of their strength giving Four Arms the opportunity to get to his feet.
Desmond didn't seem impressed though as he yanked them all over to him effortlessly and sent a bone crushing jab into Aqualad's face knocking him through several pillars and into the ground whilst Kim, Robin, and Kid Flash landed in a heap, Robin barely managing to land on one knee.
Robin rushed after catching his breath, ducking under Desmond and placing several exploding Birdarangs at his feet before back flipping through his legs and of the way, letting the explosion cover the beasts face before sending more into his back.
The explosions barely fazed him as he grabbed the boy wonder and tossed him aside, hitting a pillar and landing on his stomach.
Kim then comes in once more with a staff she grabbed from her pocket. It looks to be an escrima stick before it extends into a staff as the two ends crack with electricity. This new staff happens to be one of Wade's new inventions as it would be a good enough time to use this band boy.
"Let's rumble." Kim mutters before the two charged at each other.
Demond threw a punch, but Kim easily dodge it due to her athletics. She slides over to the side before she hits the monster with her staff. Each time she hit him, Desmond could only scream in pain at the amount of electricity it was generating. Having enough, he tires to crush her with his fist, but she dodges it again. But sadly that is what Desmond was hoping for as he grabs Kikm's leg mid air before tossing her to Aquald who was just about to help out. This knocked them both down with a groan.
Just as Desmond was about to turn his attention back to the strongest four he was met by two fists slamming his face. One Kryptonian and one Vaxasaurian sending him through several more pillars and nearly knocking him unconscious on the concrete wall, but no such luck as the creature stood once more releasing a mighty roar of rage and incoherent growling.
That's when he was hit in the back again when Danny and Wonder Girl tag teamed and sent a barrage of punches towards the beast. Each hit knocked him back so much that they ended up in the back walls before they repeatedly hit him as there was a Desmond shape in the wall.
Desmond seems to get angrier by the second before he pushes the hero's arms away before giving them a double headbutt knocking them away in the process. The sound was so loud it made a sonic clap like noise.
Superboy then charged the beast but this time he caught Superboy mid-swing and sent an uppercut into his chin, the boy of steel
Desmond stood up and saw Superboy in a ready stance; despite that, Desmond slammed the clone into a pillar and viciously punched him in the face. Superboy was stunned for a moment, and Desmond readied his fist for another blow; this time, though, his attack was stopped when Aqualad caught his arm with a tendril of water. Desmond yanked his arm forward, drawing Aqualad with him; just when he got close, the monster elbowed Aqualad in the face, and he fell to the ground.
Kid Flash saw Desmond raise his foot to stomp on Aqualad and dashed forward to help; Wonder Girl, having recovered, saw the same thing and charged again. Desmond merely backhanded Kid Flash into Wonder Girl, and the two flew into a wall. During this, Desmond's grip on Superboy slipped, and was accidentally thrown into another pillar; when Danny was able to get back up, Desmond tackled him into a wall. This time, though, Danny was able to go intangible, and the only thing Desmond hit was the wall itself.
Robin and Kim, who had been hanging back to see if there was a strategic weakness in Desmond, realized that it wasn't the monster who had a weakness that they could exploit.
"You thinking what i'm think?" Kim asked the boy wonder who grinned.
"Yup." Robin answered. "KF, get over here!" he shouted; the speedster shook off his daze and hurried over to the Boy Wonder and Kim.
Desmond might not have been smart, but he had instincts; he knew that Danny would simply stay intangible, so he moved on to Superboy. Seeing that, Danny sighed; Superboy, Four Arms, Aqulad, and Wonder Girl weren't up yet, so he'd have to keep Desmond busy. Becoming tangible once again, he blasted the monster in the back with a column of ecto-energy. Before he could go intangible again, Desmond turned and brought both of his fists down; while he didn't have time to go intangible, Danny was able to bring up a shield made of ecto-energy.
While Desmond worked on bringing that down, Superboy, Four Arms, Aqulad, and Wonder Girl finally got back up; they saw the monster attacking Danny and charged. Once he was hit by Superboy, Desmond turn to him only to receive a bunch by Wonder Girl. This knocks him around only to be punch by Aqualad, and again he was forced around until Four Arms came in with a barrage of punches. Then Danny got in with the mix as the five heroes were in a circle beating the living shit out of Desmond.
"Got it?" Robin asked Kid Flash after explaining the plan.
"Got it," the speedster confirmed, and dashed off; he dove at Desmond, just as he was going to throw Aqulad towards the group. Kid Flash's punch hit the monster in the face, but the remaining human skin on Desmond's face stuck to his glove.
Kid Flash was surprised to see it on his fist before getting an idea. "Got your nose!" Kid Flash taunted, holding up the partially-dissolved cartilage.
Enraged, Desmond dropped Aqualad and attacked Kid Flash, though the hero used his speed to stay just out of reach; it gave Aqualad, Four Arms, Danny, Superboy and Wonder Girl the chance to get their second wind.
"Aqualad! Danny! Four Arms! Superboy! Wonder Girl!" Kim waved the five over to her, while Kid Flash continued being the distraction.
"Come and get me, you Incredible Bulk!" Kid Flash dodged another blow that shattered another pillar, only stumbling when a piece of debris hit him in the back.
Kim pointed at five of the remaining pillars. "This one, this one, the one over there, this one, and that one!"
The five teens did as Kim directed, smashing apart the pillars, while Robin began deploying several explosives.
Kid Flash drops under a cross by Desmond and stays just to his right, another pillar now weakened. Desmond attempts to hit the speedster again, only to miss. Kid Flash chuckles. "Sorry. Try again." then bolts again.
Robin uses chalk to draw a white X on the floor and Aqualad uses his water bearers to create a puddle as Kid Flash lured Desmond into position, when Danny and Superboy tackled the monster's legs, while Wonder Girl and Four Arms punched him in the face; Desmond fell backwards onto the large puddle. When he fell, Aqualad shot a bolt of lightning from his hand at the soaked monster, doing a hefty amount of damage, as well as stunning him.
"Move!" Robin yelled, as the explosive he'd strategically placed on the remaining pillars went off.
The explosion was set off in a way that made the building implode on itself, right at the very center, where Desmond stood; still, even with most of the building focused on one spot, Four Arms dove on top of Kim and Danny, with Aqualad doving on top of Wonder Girl, while Superboy covered Robin and Kid Flash. In a few seconds, the entire above ground section of Cadmus Labs collapsed.
A few moments later, the debris shifted, then fell away, revealing the eight teenagers; Kim, Aqualad, Wonder Girl, Robin and Kid Flash's costumes were torn in several places with Superboy's solar-suit, Four Arms, and Danny's suits was ripped.
Four Arms then transformed back into human as his clothes seemed to have a few rips and tears. He then looked around at the devastation, but didn't see Desmond get up. "I think we won… all right! Let's all get smoothies to celebrate!"
Robin panted heavily for a moment before replying. "Was there ever any doubt that we'd win?"
He and Kid Flash high-fived, but quickly winced and held their bruised ribs.
Wonder Girl grinned slightly. "That was kinda fun." she said, "Can we do that again?"
"Please no." Danny and Kim say at the same time, exhausted in their voice.
"See?" Kid Flash questions, drawing Superboy's attention away from the villain and using his thumb to gesture. "The Moon."
Superboy can only stand and take it all in, it was everything he dreamed of and it was beautiful, but then a figure appears in its light, cloaking him in shadows. Superboy squints slightly, trying to see who it is. As he slows and turns perpendicular to the ground it's obviously Superman.
"Oh, and Superman." Danny said. "Do we keep our promises, or what?"
Behind Superman, other figures arrived, all of whom were recognizable; there was Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkwoman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, and so many more. It looked like over half of the Justice League had arrived; there was even another teen.
He seems to have shaggy black hair that was combed over to the right side of his head, along with his crystal blue eyes. With his face alone, many would just assume he was a normal high school jock, but the rest of his appearance would make them realize that wasn't the case.
He was in a red armored jacket, with an even darker shade of red for shoulder pads, under the jacket, but unseen to all, is a black t-shirt. He also had navy blue, armored pants, with black military grade boots. He seems to have crossed his arms as it covered up something on his chest.
Wonder Girl swallowed nervously when she saw her sister, Wonder Woman. She leaned over to Kid Flash. "Dude, my sister and your uncle are here."
"I know." Kid Flash said, his eyes wide. "We are so dead."
"Is it too late to let that ugly guy kill us?" Robin asked, seeing the look in Batman's eyes.
No one could answer though, as the Leaguers landed in front of them, Superman in the lead; before anyone could stop him, Superboy met him halfway between the two groups. Superman looked down at the clone, his head tilted in confusion. Taking a deep breath, Superboy lifted the ripped front of his solar-suit, showing the crest of the House of El. Superman's eyes widen in shock, while Superboy's features soften. Only for Superman's gaze to turn hard and cold, bringing on an annoyed look of confusion on Superboy's face; several Leaguers gasped, including the other teen.
"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked.
Kid Flash rushed up to stand next to Superboy, the others right behind him. "He doesn't like being called an 'it'."
"I'm Superman's clone." Superboy announced proudly; now, nearly every Leaguer was shocked.
Superman's eyes were the widest, but he soon recovered, his expression turned very cold; Batman, on the other hand, gave the younger heroes a hard stare. "Start talking."
After explaining everything that happened Superman, Batman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman gathered into a group and began discussing the events, Ben and Danny's abilities, why those two plus Kim are here and what to do with Superboy.
The heroes could only watch with anticipation as the teen from earlier walked up to them. "So, this all seems horrible." He said, looking around at the destruction.
"I've seen worse." Ben countered the teen.
"I know." The teen said in agreement. "I've seen the reports from the Plumbers."
"The Plumbers?" All of the heroes question in confusion.
"You know about the Plumbers?" Ben asks in surprise.
"What is a Plumber?" Kim asks.
"Aren't those the guys that fix toilets?" Wonder Girl guesses.
"Not those Plumbers." The teen told him. "The Plumbers are a secret organization in the universe that helps save worlds from alien threats. They even have higher jurisdiction than the Green Lanterns."
"Woah!" Danny said in awed as he never thought there would be an organization to stop alien threats.
"How do you know about them?" Robin asks the teen.
That's when the teen pulled out a Plumber badge as it looks like a circular, disk-like object marked with the galactic peace symbol on it that Ben has. "My…birth father had one when he worked with the Plumbers years ago as he was considered a member."
"Does Batman know?" Robin asks as he was not happy about not knowing this.
"Yes, he knows a lot more." The teen explained to his brother. "You guys just got a crash course of it."
"So who are you?" Superboy asks as he seems too familiar.
"What? Don't recognize me cuz?" The teen asks as he finally stops crossing his arms as the hero sees he has a Kryptonian symbol on his chest with the House of El.
"Your a Kryptonian?" Superboy ask in surprised.
"Yup." The teen confirmed.
"But your so young." Aqualad said in surprised as he figure the teen would be Superman's age.
"Yeah, i get that a lot." The teen said cryptidly. "The name is Solarstorm."
He then went to shake everyone's hands, before stopping at Ben. Just as they let go, the Omnitrix started blinking rapidly. "Uncatalogued DNA detected."
"Your watch can talk?" Danny asks.
"It does that sometimes." Ben said as he messed with the watch a bit. That's when the dial popped up and began to scan Solarstorm in a yellow light, who was not expecting that.
"What did you do?" Solarstorm questions, but Ben didn't say anything.
"Unknown DNA samples acquired. Scan complete." The watch said before it went back to rest mode.
"I scanned your DNA. Now I can turn into a Kryptonian."
"You can do that?" Wonder Girl ask in surprised.
"Yup, but only when I'm around aliens that are not already in the watch." Ben explains.
That's about that time when Superboy doesn't listen anymore as he was watching Superman intensely. Manhunter caught Superboy staring at Superman causing him to place a hand on the Man of Steel's shoulder, glancing over at the clone. Superman sighed and walked over to Superboy, with a distaste in his stagger.
"I'll… We'll figure something out for you, the League will… I mean. I better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away though," with that Superman took flight and once he had reached a high enough altitude, he reached super sonic speeds in seconds to catch up with the group who was handling Blockbuster.
"Jackass." Solarstorm mutters as he glares at his cousin for that.
"As for you," Batman spoke referring to Ben and Danny. "I want a detailed list of your abilities." he looked down at Ben's wrist, "And everything you know about that."
"Sorry. But that's the Plumbers business." Ben told him with a glare that matches Batman.
"Besides, we don't work with you either." Danny told him.
"Yeah it's not like you guys investigated this place." Kim said lastly.
"Cadmus will be investigated." the Dark Knight said. "All fifty-two sublevels; but let's make one thing clear…"
"You should have called!" Flash interrupted, giving an uncharacteristically stern glare to his nephew.
"End results aside," Batman said severely. "We are not happy; you hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed orders and endangered your lives. You will not be doing this again."
The eight teenagers looked at each other for a moment before Ben stepped forward. "Actually, yes we will."
Batman looked back at Hal and John, who both explained to the League on who Ben is specifically, who merely shrugged. "You're barking up the wrong tree. I think they should do this again." Hal told the dark knight.
"You can distrust me all you want, Batman. You can even think we failed here tonight." Ben stated firmly.
"Ben is right." Kim spoke up next. "In the end, we did good work. The work we've been trained to do or had been doing."
"Even without the League, we made something important." Danny said as he stepped besides his new friends.
"If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you…" Wonder Woman began.
"There are eight of us." Wonder Girl interrupted while gesturing to Superboy, Ben, Danny, and Kim. "Also, it's not."
"Aqualad, stand down." Aquaman commanded.
"Apologies, My king, but no." Aqualad stated firmly causing Aquaman to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"Batman, we're ready to do what you taught us." He speaks the quietest out of the group, but as he steps up to speak to his mentor it's obvious that he feels just as strongly about it as they do.
"Why bother teaching us at all if you won't let us use what you taught us?" Kid Flash said standing at attention across from Flash.
"Why are we letting them tell us what to do?" Superboy asked, then stepped forward, "It's simple: get on board, or get out of the way."
The eight stood shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to make good on Superboy's ultimatum if necessary as Solarstrom was surprised to see that happening.
Batman's eyes narrowed in thought. "Give me three days."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD THAT"S A WRAP! OMG! YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER WITH 8 CHARACTERS IN IT AS THEY TALK, BUT I FINALLY DID IT!
This was finished yesterday, but I was too lazy to write this. Here it is anyways, lol. But wdyt of this chapters? I did had Kim, Danny, and Ben try to be close to Superboy as close as possible, but the plans is for him to trust them more. And yes, Solarstorm has made his way into into this series as he will be a regular. There is still unanswered questions though like which member of the Light wants Danny? You'll find out soon enough. There is also the fact that the Plumbers has higher jurisdiction than Green Lanterns, so thwat's something. Please review/favorite this story.