What was once a dream of his was turning into a nightmare pretty quickly… or not. He didn't know what the time was anyway. Although he never gotten really tired before in his life, Jon was rather drained. The night was so long; Robin was out cold and now he was facing what was effectively an amalgamation of himself and the Riddler. Seriously, you couldn't make this up. It looked… unhinged yet sort of… dead. Like a predator holding its position, the clone didn't move. It just stared mindlessly at Jon.

'Robin is still down… if I move slowly, maybe this thing won't try and attack me…'

But it didn't even take one step, just the twitch of his leg was enough for the clone to spring on Jon, attempting to ravage him as they both crashed straight out of the warehouse. Jon's balance was all over the place as he was violently flung through the air across Centennial Park until he crashed right into a statue of a horse. Sprawled on the ground, Jon groaned holding his head. How the hell was he supposed to fight this thing when he never fought anybody in his life?

The clone's screams pierced his ear; his body forced itself to stumble back onto his feet and he saw the beast hurtling through the air like a cannonball towards, arms outstretched. Upon instinct, Jon brought his arms out wide and clapped them together as hard as he could, creating a shockwave that uprooted the ground beneath him as well as sending the clone flying backwards. His hands stung but he ignored the pain — the sensation of using his real strength filled him with euphoria and adrenaline. It was almost surreal.

Getting back onto its feet however, the beast latched its arms onto the closest tree and ripped it from the ground, exposing its roots. Suddenly, it again burst from where it stood to Jon and swung at Jon — he ducked but the tree was swung back around again. Jon winced, bracing for impact but… he caught it in his left hand. Like it was nothing. The clone tugged and tugged at the tree as Jon held it still.

"Ha, you're not so tough now, aren't you?" Jon taunted with a smile. "Let's see if you can — whoa whoa whoa!"

The tree was lifted up and came crashing down, along with Jon. He tried to protect himself with his back to ground but the force of the clone slamming the tree on his entire body was certainly… felt. It continued to smash the tree ballistically on Jon as if he were a nail being hammered in the ground.

Eventually nothing was left of the tree as the clone threw away its remnants. That. Hurt. A lot. Through blurred vision, Jon saw the clone loom over his body, limp if he could add, staring as if to check if he was dead. This was certainly the worse that he had ever felt like in his life. Was this how it was to be a hero? Maybe he should've listened to his parents. Huh, could be the simple solution to most of his life problems.

"Hey," he let out, hoarse in the throat. The clone gargled as Jon carried on, "If you can understand me… then you know you don't have to do this. You don't have to be a monster and… ah, who am I kidding, you can't understand me."

Jon was yanked off the ground and brought level with the clone eye to eye. Now Jon didn't get a closer look at it before but to him it looked like it was getting… older. Like wrinkles were slowly starting to form on its face and it was starting to look sickly. No wonder why it was gargling. But it was still strong enough to chuck him thirty feet in the air and jump right after him. Still dizzy in the head but stable enough, Jon clapped his hands again to propel himself in the air towards the warehouse. He'd take Robin and run; hopefully if his guess was true, the clone would deteriorate before it could get to him.

"Robin! You're okay!" Jon ran towards to his friend who was leaning against the wall nearby the pile of (Jon hoped so) unconscious goons. His arm looked less purple and was moving but Robin was still groggy. Jon could barely get a response from him. "Dick, come on, we gotta get out of here!"

"The pod… it's gonna blow…"

"Huh? But I destroyed it, didn't I?" Jon turned his head towards the broken pod that looked damaged behind repair. Nothing about suggested it was still on until he saw the wires — the power was still surging through it, he could see it now. "Okay, h-how do I stop it?!"

Robin clutched his rib and wearily said, "I don't think you can. We need… to get… out of here…" Robin dropped to his knees, just as the clone choked screams came from the hole it made. It looked more than sickly — it looked like it was on the brink of death. Hobbling, it gasped for air with its hands, skin peeling off the bones, outstretched towards Jon. But this time, Jon didn't see it as a threat. It was barely clinging on for life, trudging with the little energy that it had until… nothing. It collapsed right in front of him, lifeless. Guess that's what happened when a clone wasn't made properly.

Forgetting about his dead clone, Jon rushed to the pod that was now volatile with the energy that it was storing. He wanted to disconnect the wires; throw the damn thing in the air but Robin said they needed to run. But he couldn't just — it was too late for any of that now. Cracks, huge cracks formed in the ground as the giant hole began to grow in size with the energy seeping through those crevices. If Jon didn't act fast, it could create a huge sinkhole with him, Robin and Riddler being the victims.

He leapt over to Robin and flung him over his shoulder and did likewise to the still unconscious Riddler. Jon made sure he had them steadily held in his arms but as soon as he broke into a run to the hole in the wall, the building had already began its collapse. The roof, walls and fall crumbled into debris as Jon lost his footing and began to fall. He didn't hesitate to throw the two passengers outside just before the gaping hole was no more — a huge chunk of the roof smashed right on top of him and it felt like more weight was being piled onto him.

Further and further was being dragged down the hole, like he was being forced into a tomb that he couldn't escape from. Slowly could he not see anything as an impossible weight had its hold on him — holding him, crushing him… he couldn't even scream for his dad to save him…

'No… I… I can't call for him… come on, Jon… come on...! You can get out of this! Y-you can get out of this! Just push through…'

His left arm was somehow free as he didn't know which way was up anymore.

'Push…! Come on, Jon, push…!'

He could feel everything shift under his strength as it was like a mole digging its way through the dirt, but he could barely move.

'You've come this far to give up…! You're not gonna die here today so push…! Push, Jon… PUSH!!!'

It was like he was bathed in energy that was hidden away for so long, filling him to the brim and overflowing. Jon used every fibre of his being, mind and body, and exploded upwards straight through the sunken debris like a bullet through the air. In just seconds did he feel the cool air across his face, colours of Metropolis covered by the blanket of dawn hitting his eyesight. He never felt so strong before… so alive, so… wait. Something was wrong. Why wasn't he falling? He was at least forty feet in the air but he wasn't falling unless — no. He wasn't…

Jon looked down to his feet, one of his sneakers lost in the destruction and sure enough the warehouse's remains were far down below but it wasn't appearing any closer like he was falling because he wasn't falling. "I'm flying…" he mouthed with no conviction. He couldn't believe it himself. "I'm really flying…" Jon looked down at his shaky hands and almost felt tears streaming down his face. This couldn't be real. "Wait. Robin!"

Flying was tougher than it looked thought Jon to himself. Flailing his arms like he was swimmer through air, Jon began to float down as two dots standing near the site of destruction came into focus, washing a wave of relief over the young Kryptonian. Robin had a naked(?) Riddler cuffed by his hands and legs facing down (thank goodness), now looking better than before. In fact, he was utterly baffled by the sight of Jon in the air followed by a pointed finger.

"You're… y-you're fly— you're fly…"

Jon flapped and grinned — and then he fell. Obviously this was going to be a bit of a learning curve. He got up and brushed himself before saying, "That was awesome — the flying thing, not the whole being trapped underground. I can hear sirens coming this way. They'll probably be here in five minutes. Should we go?"

All that Robin could do was nod and he carefully placed a USB on Riddler's back which he explained to Jon the evidence that they had collected all this time before he brought out his grappling hook and aimed at the nearest building. Jon grimaced at Riddler's skinny frame and turned to the the debris mountain that was certainly the clone's final resting place. Was it weird to feel… sad for it? Sure, it tried to kill him and all but it was probably confused, maybe even traumatised from how it came to be. A life created from a freak accident; its life over so soon. It just felt unfair.

The sirens were getting louder now and Jon was having existential thoughts over a clone that didn't last for even an hour. He jumped into the direction where Robin traversed, high enough in the sky to see his friend on top of a law firm, looking to nurse his wounds. A few up and downs followed by a crash landing, Jon finally arrived as he threw his cape away from his face, surprised that it survived any of that, and so did the 'S'. Too bad about his shoe though.

Walking over next to Robin, Jon watched from afar the cops, the fire brigade and ambulance surround the site as the rising sun allowed him to bask in it for a moment — but he felt something horrid lurch in his stomach when he remembered something. "Riddler's henchmen — we didn't get them out! Dude, we basically killed people!"

"Relax, man. They were all clones," Robin began to explain. "Riddler could only make one clone at a time before the machine would give out and that's why he was inside the cloning pod. It was gonna make an army of copies faster than you could blink. Lucky for us, you decided to punch your problems."

Jon sheepishly ruffled his hair, looking down to his feet. "So they weren't properly made, like that other clone of me and Riddler? It was already dying and it hadn't been alive for so long."

"We don't know how the Riddler did it or how that clone was even made. To be honest, we really screwed this up — but," added the Boy Wonder when Jon's relived expression faded away, "you did impress me out there. In a novice, chaotic, I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing sort of way."

"Thanks… not just for that but for letting me come out here with you, really," Jon smiled, still looking down. "I don't know what's gonna happen after all this but if this is the first and last time I can ever be a hero then… ah, who am I kidding? I'm getting grounded for the rest of my life."

He finally looked up when he felt Robin put his hand on his shoulder. No further words were said as the two just continued to watch from up the building the Riddler being stuffed into a van by unwilling officers and a perimeter being set around the demolished warehouse. Looks like they were out all night: the sun was coming up and there was no doubt in his mind that his parents were up by now. Boy, was his mom going to freak out. Might as well face her sooner than later.

"Imma… Imma head on home now," Jon began after the lengthy silence. "I'll see you at school, if I'm not locked in my room forever. Bye, Dick— I mean, Robin."

"See you later… Superboy."

Jon blew air out of his nose as he began to walk away towards the edge of the building, facing the high buildings of the city. Superboy, huh? Robin told him that one of the member's of his team, his father's clone was called Superboy. If there were multiple Green Lanterns then there could be two Superboys, right? Questions for later. Right now, he needed to get home.

Once again did he take off in a giant leap above and beyond the high rises and focused hard on keeping afloat in the air — but for some reason he was still falling. Weird. Wasn't the end of the world however as Jon just resorted to jumping, now catching the attention of some early risers that were in the streets, pointing up in awe. He really hoped nobody was following him. Soon enough did he make it to his apartment complex, landing on top of the roof. Jon shimmied down the fire escape down until his bedroom window and opened it gently. Maybe, just maybe his mom would be asleep and his dad was —

"Jonathan!"

He slipped through the window, startled as he tripped onto his bed, bounced off it and crashed into the floor. He looked up to see his mom standing in her favourite purple dressing gown in front of his door, arms folded, and her eyes were sore and red. Guilt stabbed him in the chest multiple times at the sight of her; but he knew what he was doing and he wasn't going to excuse himself at all.

As Jon got back on his feet, he braced for a flurry of screams so loud that Robin would hear from wherever he was and he started, "Okay, Mom, before you ground me for life which I know I deserve, I just wanna say that —"

"Are you hurt?" his mom cut in sharply, voice a little hoarse as if she had been crying all night — of course she was. All that Jon did was shake his head. Lois closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. This was it, what was coming was going to be — a tight hug? "I am so angry at you, Jonathan… do you know how it feels to see you disappear from your bed and not have your father to call?!"

"I just… I just wanted to be like dad, like you. I wanna help people, Mom, just like you guys."

He was again face to face with his mom, still red rings around her as she cupped his face, "Well, don't expect to help anybody when you're gonna give me a heart attack like that!"

"I'm sorry," Jon apologised quietly. He watched a smile force itself on his mother's face as she brushed away at his hair, asking him again if he was okay, ignoring his replies when she ordered him to take a shower and new clothes. Truth be told that Jon felt absolutely filthy and was shocked at was going on. He didn't expect this, nothing like this. Maybe his punishment was to come soon after but he kinda liked it like this. Maybe his parents wouldn't budge at all but this day was worth it all if it meant he could be — he couldn't believe he was going to call himself this — Superboy just for a minute, let alone a whole night. Just maybe…