Robin subconsciously rubbed the bandaged area of his upper arm, pausing for a moment to stare out over the scene displayed before him. It was a perfect Fourth of July day, the sun shining bright and a slight breeze to take off the heat of midsummer. The trees of Gotham Park waved gently back and forth as families sat underneath them stretched out on blankets and cooking hotdogs over grills. Robin smiled, enjoying how serene it looked, almost making him wish he could enjoy it too.

Him and Bruce had never really celebrated Independence; not in this day anyway. Bruce always made a big deal about the holiday, but never went out into the park to have a picnic, preferring to sit at home and mull over the history of it. Dick, if it was a nice day, would go outside and shoot some hoops; recently he’d taken to hanging out with Barbara for a few hours as Bruce didn’t usually come out from his secluded solitude until dinner. Alfred would always cook a special dinner, but no matter how good it was, it never compared to hotdogs on the grill. Dick had gotten used to this form of celebration, but he still sometimes longed spend the day with Bruce, whatever they did. Alfred said that the holiday reminded Bruce of his parents, which was why he stayed inside and acted almost downcast. The holiday reminded Dick of his parents, which was why he wanted to go outside and celebrate it.

Now here he was, in Gotham Park on a perfect day, Bruce hanging around nearby as the Batman, and all Robin wanted to do was leave. Any other year he’d have given anything to spend the Fourth with Bruce, even it meant chasing down one of Gotham’s criminals, but this year all he wanted to do was get over to the Hall of Justice and then from there to the League Headquarters. This detour could cause him to be late. Not that Robin was always super worried about being perfectly punctual, but this was something he didn’t want to miss. If only Freezey could see it the same way he did.

After Mister Freeze’s escape the night before, Robin and Batman had returned dejectedly to the Batcave, Batman unable to pick on his trail again. Batman had then had to break the ice of Robin’s arm from Freezey’s ice gun (painful, to say the least) and they’d both gone to bed feeling despondent. The next morning, though, Batman had gotten a call from the Commissioner that Freeze was wreaking havoc in Gotham Park, freezing people at random. It seemed he wasn’t too happy either about not being able to spend the Fourth with his family. They’d suited up and immediately headed over to the park, hitting the rooftops and treetops as they kept constant vigilance for the ice villain.

There! Robin immediately radioed Batman and sent him his coordinates as he shot a grappling hook towards a tree nearer to the suddenly revealed cyro-suited man. Robin landed neatly in a tall oak tree, watching as Mister Freeze jumped down from a ledge he’d frozen and began terrorizing a family, shooting his ice gun at them, instantly freezing them and their picnic, terrified expressions on their faces. He turned, aiming his weapon at a small crowd of people running away. Robin acted fast, whipping out a batarang which hit its target perfectly, knocking Freezey’s gun off target and sending him stumbling over from the force of the hit.

“Batman,” he breathed. “I was wondering when-”

Robin cut him off a cackle, leaping from his spot in the tree and flying through the air, landed directly on the ice villain’s helmet, succeeding in cracking it and sending its wearer to the ground. He used the helmet as a spring board, flipping off him and landing in a crouch on the grass, sending two batarangs flying at the man on the ground, cracking his helmet even more. Freeze looked annoyed, his face set in a grimace as he picked himself up off the ground.

“Oh, Boy Wonder,” he sighed, sounding disappointed. “The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison? Frankly, I’m underwhelmed.”

Robin sighed, looking past Freeze at his mentor now hiding in the treetops. He shot him a look and Robin frowned.

“That’s great, but I’m kinda in a hurry here.” He said, putting his hands on his hips. Bats, didn’t know the meaning of the word quickly. He should really take some lessons from the Flash.

“Kids,” Freeze complained, obviously thinking Robin had been talking to him. Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask. He was not a kid! “Always in such a rush.” He straightend fully, smiling as he aimed his ice gun at the boy in front of him. “I prefer to preserve these moments. Forever.”

Robin heard the gun firing up. “Not talking to you.” He said through gritted teeth. He knew Batman was just trying to get on his nerves, taking so long. Freezey’s smile faded as he felt a shadow fall over him. Robin smirked. Batman really did love dramatic entrances. Turning around Mister Freeze and Robin watched as Batman seemingly shot out of nowhere into the sky, his cape splayed out like wings, the sun making him look like a silhouette. Freeze had one moment to look terrified before Batman’s fist slammed into his helmet and it was lights out for him. Finally!

“Who’s underwhelmed now?” Robin asked, running over stand over the defeated villain. He was out cold. Batman’s punch would do that to you.

Batman quickly cuffed his arms with Batcuffs and pushed a button on his utility belt alerting the police force that he’d been caught. Robin sighed impatiently as Batman hauled the man up, propping him up against a pile of dirt and began disarming him. Robin waited patiently-ish for five minutes, tapping his foot as Batman rechecked the villain for weapons at least five hundred times until he looked satisfied.

“Can we go now?” Robin finally asked, not wanting to have to wait for the police force to take Freezey to jail.

Batman gave him a look, but nodded, shooting a grappling hook back towards where the Batmobile was parked. Robin whooped, following him, impatiently waiting for his mentor to start the car, and then tapping his fingers on the door until they finally got to their destination.

Speedy and Aqualad were just arriving also, along with their mentors, the Arrow of the Green color and the Man of Water. Batman and Robin went out to stand by them, the other two peering around for a sign of the speedsters. Robin smirked smugly at Speedy who was standing next to his mentor, trying for all the world to look serious and foreboding in his rather lame yellow hard hat area-like hat and skirt-like red tunic. The archers didn’t have the best fashion sense in Robin’s opinion.

Speedy noticed Robin’s face and narrowed his eyes at the younger boy, crossing his arms over his chest. While the two were close friends, Robin knew Speedy was jealous of him, being the first sidekick, er partner, and all and Robin was secretly jealous of Speedy superior age and the trust the rest of the League put in him because of it. This caused Speedy to try to show up Robin whenever possible and Robin to try to annoy Speedy to the fullest extent whenever they got together, which, their mentors always said, thankfully wasn’t too often. Robin, despite being the first, was one of the youngest sidekicks and he didn’t always take kindly to it. Even now, Aqualad and Speedy, the former sixteen and the other eighteen, were on par with their mentors heights, towering over Robin and making him feel, if only in the slightest, intimidated. He knew he could probably take down either of the two with his Bat-smarts, but if it came to hand-to-hand combat, they’d probably have the upper hand because of their size and strength. Pushing such thoughts aside, Robin decided to rub Speedy in the wrong direction.

“Hey Speedy, finally figure out an excuse as to why your names Speedy when you’re an archer?” People always questioned Speedy about his name; that or called Kid Flash Speedy and him ‘that red archer guy’, which he hated even more.

“Robin, do you know how immature and, quite frankly, lame that just sounded?” He growled, his expression emotionless to most, except Robin who caught the tightening of his jaw and clenching of his fists.

“Someone crabby today?” The acrobat asked, gleefully bouncing around the older sidekick in a manner which he knew annoyed him. “Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

“You know what’s happening today.” The red haired archer ground out, seemingly wanting Robin to take the hint. Robin did, but in a different way.

“So, you’re nervous.” The younger boy stated, cackling and sending a knowing smirk to his friend.

“I never said that!” The redhead exclaimed indignantly. He was saved from having to explain to Robin exactly what he’d meant by his previous comment by the arrival of the Flashes. Flash zoomed up, Kid Flash quickly skidding to a halt beside him, his shoulders immediately slumping.

“Ah man!” The red and yellow speedster exclaimed. “I knew we’d be the last ones here.”

Batman glared at him, then put a hand on Robin’s shoulder, his face coming as close to a smile as it ever did.

“Today is the day.” He said quietly. Robin smiled, knowing he’d been waiting for this day since he first learned of the Justice League.

“Welcome to the Hall of Justice.” Green Arrow announced rather needlessly, Aquaman saying even more needlessly how it was the headquarters of the Justice League. Either, Speedy and Aqualad were completely clueless or their mentors were exceedingly thick-skulled.

Robin could feel Kid Flash vibrating beside him as they walked through throngs of civilians all snapping photos and cheering on their way to the entrance of the Hall of Justice. Kid Flash, of the other partners, was who he was closest, and was the only one who knew his secret identity. They even hung out as civilians sometimes, even though Wally was two years older than him. But what Kid Flash had in age, and height, he lost in maturity level, so they got along pretty well.

“Dude, chill out, you’re gonna drill a hole in the ground.”

“First time in the Hall of Justice. I’m a little overwhelmed.”

Robin rolled his eyes. That was the understatement of the century. Then suddenly he was hit by a thought. “You’re overwhelmed, freeze was underwhelmed; why isn’t anyone ever just whelmed?”

“Grow up.” Speedy smirked, crouching down to elbow him in what was meant to be the ribs but ended being his hurt arm.

“Ouch!”

“You’re too short.” Was all Speedy said in his defense.

“Whatcha do to your arm?” Kid Flash asked.

“Mister Freeze.”

“You had an ice villain attack too?”

“Yep.”

“Weird.”

The finally reached the doors, revealing giant statues of the original members of the Justice League. It was pretty, Robin laughed to himself, whelming to say the least, but he’d seen it before so all he could think about this time was how awkward a view it was when one stood directly below them. The statue of his mentor was to Superman’s right, but Robin always thought they totally exaggerated his muscles. Yeah, he was strong, but let’s not get carried away here. The statues all looked kind of robot-ish, with their knee joints standing out and their chiseled features. It was cool, but Robin hoped that by the time a statue was made of him, the sculptures would be a little more talented. Well, except the muscle thing, they could totally exaggerate his muscles as much as they wanted.

Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado greeted them at the entrance and explained all the stuff that was now available to them, not like Robin needed any of it anyways, living with the richest man in Gotham and all, and then gave them a dramatic welcoming in which Kid Flash looked like he was going to pee his pants, and led them all into the library. Robin and Wally quickly themselves down onto the chairs, Aqualad following their example slowly, but Speedy remained standing, glaring at the older heroes. Robin was content to wait here until they showed them the real deal. After all, the Hall was really only a tourist attraction, which was shown by the glass windows near the ceiling where civilians stood snapping pictures. Robin looked up briefly at the people, a strange desire to see Barbara up there watching him, even if she didn’t know who he was. Of course she wasn’t though. His head snapped up at Batman’s voice.

“Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day.”  Now this sounded like something that would take place in the Headquarters. “We shouldn’t be long.” Okay, not what Robin was expecting to hear. It almost sounded like they were not planning on taking them up to the real Headquarters after all. Speedy seemed to be getting the same vibes. As the computer announced that it recognized the heroes Speedy finally burst.

“That’s it?” He almost yelled. “This was the day we were supposed to finally take the first step to becoming full-fledged members of the League! That would involve a look at the real headquarters, not some glorified backstage pass!”

Aquaman attempted to placate him in the not-so-helpful way he always does, but it seemed Speedy had a lot of steam to blow and was angry. Really angry.

“Why does it matter what side of the glass we’re on?” He demanded, waving his hand towards the tourists. “You’re treating us like kids! Worse, you’re treating us like sidekicks.” He turned to Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. “Are you really going to stand for this?”

“Well,” Kid Flash began. “I thought that we were taking the first step, you know, first look at the HQ.” Did KF really not know? Robin didn’t say anything, though, waiting to see what Speedy would say. He seemed to have been thinking along the same lines as Robin as he said:

“You don’t know, do you?” Both Aqualad and Kid Flash looked blank. Really, Aqualad, you too? Robin thought. He had had faith in Aqualad at least to figure it out, cause really, it was asking a lot KF.

“This isn’t the real HQ.” Speedy continued, glaring angrily at the Justice League members. “The real headquarters is a floating watchtower in space.”

KF and Aqualad both gaped. They were rather dense, Robin decided. The League members also looked taken aback, all of them glaring angrily at Green Arrow. Did they really expect their own partners not to know where they went almost every week? Stealing a glance at Batman, he saw he was sending a look at Robin which told him not to mention the fact that he had known too. Robin considered doing just that, just to make his mentor angry. This was so not what he’d been expecting and frankly he wasn’t too happy about it. He had half a mind to stand up with Speedy and join the yelling match, but decided better on it, secretly knowing he’d let it all loose on Batman later.

Speedy glared at Green Arrow, then reached up and pulled off his lame construction hat and chucked it to the ground. “I’m through.” He said, then turned on his heel and stopped out past the other sidekicks who watched stunned. As he passed them he muttered under breath:

“I guess they were right about you three: you aren’t ready.” And then he was gone. At least he left in style, Robin thought, looking at the spot where his lame hat lay abandoned on the floor. Speedy: what a drama queen.

“Roy…” Green Arrow called, but he was already gone. Robin glanced over at Kid Flash and Aqualad, KF mouthing ‘what?’ and Aqualad looking worried. Robin just rolled his eyes and mouthed ‘quitter’, nodding in the direction of where Speedy had disappeared, trying to lighten the mood so the others wouldn’t follow the archer’s example. Speedy might have been ready to go solo, but Robin knew he wasn’t. He was only thirteen for crying out loud! Sure, Batman would get a verbal lashing for this and Robin was already formulating a plan to openly defy the Justice League, but he knew deep down he wasn’t ready to go at the crime fighting thing alone.

**

A half hour later found him going at it with two others by his side.

After Speedy’s outburst, the League members had beamed up into the Watchtower, something about League business, leaving their partners alone in the library. First mistake. Their second was letting slip something about a fire at a place called Cadmus. Their final mistake was really only Batman’s: the Hall’s computer ran on the same system as the Batcave. After KF and Aqualad had gotten over the fact that their mentors weren’t perfect and that Aqualad’s “king” wasn’t nearly as great as he was made out to be, they’d decided that the best course of action was to prove to the League and their mentors that they were “ready”.

Robin, of all of them, was the least affected by what had taken place; though it was probably because he’d known about the HQ in the first place, hence not discovering that his mentor had lied to him. Batman had never said that the Hall was their Headquarters as he knew Robin had figured out the location of the real one within a couple months. Sure he was mad about not being taken up into the real one, but he didn’t have the same feelings of betrayal the others did.

After they’d pulled themselves together, Robin had hacked into the League computer and pulled up the location of Cadmus. Finding it close, they’d left immediately, each glancing at Speedy’s hat as they walked by and wondering if they’d ever get the guts- or the reason- the ditch their mentors. None of them really believed it would happen soon, but after today, it seemed a lot sooner than before. They’d reached the fire as the sun had nearly set and wasted no time rescuing the remaining civilians in the building. They then climbed into the building as the fire was being put out, and set to work looking for clues about a secret lab.

“I appreciate the help.” Aqualad said sarcasm Robin never knew he had, climbing in the window and stowing his water bearers.

“You handled it.” Robin told him, already hacking into a computer while Kid Flash riffled through a book, looking extremely confused. Had that kid ever read a book before? He sure didn’t act like. “Besides,” Robin added. “We’re here to investigate. Poetic justice and all that.”

“It sure is dark in here.” The Atlantian commented, wandering around the room they were in.

“Fire probably took out the lights.”

“Hey, guys, come here!” Kid Flash shouted, jumping up and down.

“What?” They both asked when they’d rushed over.

“I found an elevator!” Great, Robin thought sarcastically, but pulled up a holographic computer from his gauntlet and began hacking into the elevator, a hunch suddenly forming.

“There was something creepy going into it!” Kid Flash continued, looking a little freaked out. “It looked kinda like E.T. from that really creepy movie that all parents make their kids watch cause they think it’s good for kids and they watched it when they were little, but it really gives the kids nightmares for months.”

“I think that was only you.” Robin murmured, then: “Guys, it’s a high-speed express elevator. But why would one be in a two story building?”

Aqualad had already crossed the distance and pried open the doors. Robin hurried over, gaping at what he saw. The elevator shaft went on for what looked like miles, the bottom not even visible in the gloom.

“Wicked.” KF mumbled, cautiously peering over the edge. “Should we throw a flare down there or something?”

“You got a flare on you?” Robin asked.  

“Um, no.”

“Didn’t think so.” Robin shot a grappling hook to the ceiling, attached the end to his utility belt and leaped over the edge, plummeting immediately down into the darkness. As he went down he heard Kid Flash comment to Aqualad something about ‘Kid Flare’. Truthfully, he had a flare on him, but this was way more fun. Suddenly his line went taught. I’ve reached the end of my rope, he thought, then laughed at what he’d just said. He swung his legs back and forth before letting go, flying forward onto a ledge. He was KF and Aqualad slide down his rope behind him. Someone would get some serious rope-burn.

Once on the ledge, he sat down quickly, not wanting to lose his balance, and hacked into the elevator door in front of him, opening it as his teammates landed on the ledge beside him. They charged in, rather heedlessly and nearly ran into a stampede of elephants. Robin did a double take, staring at the massive creatures which filled the equally massive corridor in front of him. Kid Flash, going super-speed had been unable stop in time and went sliding under the elephant-like creature’s legs, nearly turning into a speedster pancake. He leapt up and flew back to the others.

“I will tell you now, not a pretty view under there.”

Robin laughed and Aqualad raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, but didn’t say anything. He would have to get used to this sort of thing if he was going to be spending time with KF and the Boy Wonder.

On closer inspection, it was made clear that the elephant-creatures actually resembled more closely giant half hippo half gorilla monsters and each had a small, white thing on its head, the things horns glowing red every now and then. The boys eyes widened as the troop of hippo-gorillas made its way by, continuing down the seemingly endless hallway. Aqualad narrowed his eyebrows, an intense expression on his face.

“No, nothing odd going on here.” He said, his sarcasm rather failing. Seriously, since when was he involved in the art of aforementioned way of speaking?

They continued on their way through the facility, avoiding run-ins with other giant mutants, eventually coming to a room bigger than any they’d seen previously. It housed giant glass tubes which reached to the ceiling, each containing a white creature which reminded Robin strongly of a kind of sea creature which would only live in the deepest depths of the ocean. The room was filled with them, electricity coming off of their bodies in flashes of lightning.

“So, this is how they keep Cadmus off the grid. They generate their own electricity.” Kid Flashed proclaimed. “With these… things.” He added, gesturing to the electricity creatures.

“Huh, must be what these things are bred for.” Robin mused, heading over to a computer and plugging in the USB from his gauntlet.

“The name Cadmus gives us a hint.” Aqualad added suddenly. “The Cadmus in ancient myth created its new life by sewing dragon’s teeth into the earth.”

“These guys are making their own life too.” Robin said, scrolling through the Cadmus files. “Let’s find out why.” He stopped when he came to a file listing the creatures. “They’re called genomorphs. Their stats are… Woah.”

“Dude!” Wally exclaimed, leaning over Robin’s shoulder. “They’ve got everything: super strength, telepathy….”

“They’re living weapons.”

“They’re engineering an army!” Wally yelped.

“But for what?” Robin asked, scrolling through the files again. “Project Kr.” He said, stopping on said name. He attempted to hack in but: “The files triple encrypted. I can’t get-”

“Don’t move!”

The three heroes spun to face the door, the sight greeting their face a strange one. A man with a yellow helmet and blue body armor with small, monkey-like white creatures following him was running towards them. It was safe to assume he was a threat, seeing as they were breaking into a top-secret, illegal lab, and he seemed to be involved in it. Robin drew out his batarangs as Wally put on his red goggles and Aqualad drew his water-bearers.

The monkeys attacked them first, one knocking Robin to the ground as he threw a batarang at the man. The thing was ugly up close, but now that he thought about it, they were pretty ugly from far away too. They had really chunky forearms and small wastes, with Martian-like head, though they were completely grey aside from a few red stripes on their waste and arms, and their eyes, which were red also. The one on Robin hissed, tearing at his hair until managed to kick it off over his head. He somersaulted to his feet and shot a grappling hook towards the a rafter on the ceiling, flipping onto the support beam before leaping down and running towards the door the man had come from.Glancing behind him he saw Kid Flash and Aqualad fighting the monkey-creatures, the blue armored man watching with a suddenly confused expression. 

“Robin?” The man asked, turning and staring at the Boy Wonder who’d begun hacking into the door. “Kid Flash, Aqualad.”

“Hey, KF,” Robin called. “He got your name right!”

“What are you doing here?” The man asked, acting even more confused now.

“Guardian!” Aqualad exclaimed, hurling a monkey-monster over his shoulder. Guardian… that name sounded familiar….”

“What are you doing here?” Aqualad asked, dodging another monkey-monster. That was it! Guardian, used to be associated with the League. Disappeared.

“I’m…” Guardian began, seeing unsure of why he was there, but then a smaller white creature that was perched on his shoulder, similar to the ones that had been on the hippo-gorilla, turned its head, its horns glowing red, and Guardian’s face went blank as he charged Aqualad, yelling for the monkey-monsters to take Robin’s friends down hard. So not happening. Robin finished hacking door; it opened to reveal an elevator. Kid Flash ran up, Aqualad close behind, both being pursued by the monkey-monsters, and all three dashed into the elevator, Robin closing the door quickly behind him.

“Wait to be a team player, Rob!” Kid Flash accused his younger friend.

“You know, I can open this elevator anytime and feed you to the monkey-monsters if you’d prefer.” Robin quipped, putting his hands on his hips.

“Monkey-monsters, really?”

“Shut up.”

“Calm down,” Aqualad interrupted. “Both of you. Robin did well opening the elevator and providing a way for us to escape.” Robin stuck his tongue out a KF behind the Atlantian’s back.

“Yeah, escape to what?” KF asked as Robin started the elevator. “Those, quote quote, ‘monkey-monsters’ are probably tracking our every move right now!”

“Project Kr.” Robin murmured, going through the locked file again.

“Come again?” Kid Flash asked, confused, then noticed the numbers on the elevator slowly getting bigger. “Dude, why are we going down? Out is up!”

“I’m not stupid.” Robin shot back, looking up from his holographic computer. “Project Kr. It’s down.”

Wally’s mouth formed an “O” and he stopped talking. Aqualad looked stressed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“This is getting out of hand. Maybe we should contact the League.”

“NO!” Kid Flash and Robin both shouted at the same time.

“We can handle this.” Robin insisted. “Come on, imagine if we are the ones to unearth Cadmus’ secret! The League would have to induct us then.”

“We’ve already unearthed Cadmus’ secret. Why do we have to investigate this Project Kr?”

“It’s obviously important, as it’s the only file I’ve found so far triple-encrypted.” Robin explained. “Who knows what it could be-”

The door opened before Robin could finish his sentence, revealing a room with the walls covered in red goop. Robin actually thought it looked kind of gross. The floor and ceiling were also covered in the same goopy substance and when Robin stepped on it, it made a dull squishy sound. Not waiting for the others, Robin took off, his cape fluttering behind him as he made a bee-line for a corridor which looked promising. Even though it looked essentially the same as the other one next to it. He was halfway there when the screams of the monkey-monsters sounded behind him. He changed gears and sprinted, Aqualad and Kid Flash catching up to him. He could hear Guardian’s shouts of “get them” but they were drown out as the three skidded to a halt in front of a door. It was labeled Kr, causing Robin to smirk at the fact that he’d picked the right corridor. Aqualad dug his fingers into the cracks in the door, attempting to force it open.

Robin turned and saw a long, skinny, pale man-thing walking towards, Guardian and his monkey’s following close behind. The man-thing, who had horns on his head, resembled a goat, and was wearing only a white t-shirt and pants, raised his hand and sent two barrels flying towards the teenagers. They were forced to leap out of the way to avoid getting hit. Kid Flash immediately bolted back to the door, only to run into a young scientist-looking woman who’d just walked out. She screamed threw her clipboard in the air as she went flying.

“Come on, guys!” The speedster shouted, speeding through the rapidly shutting door. Aqualad leaped through after him and Robin followed, nearly getting smashed in the door if it hadn’t been for Kid Flash who’d grabbed his cape and pulled him through. The heavy metal door clanged shut, instantly drowning out the sounds of the Guardian, the monkey-monsters and Goat-man. Robin ran over to a computer and plugged in his USB from his gauntlet, disabling the doors. Unless there was another entrance, they were safe, but also trapped; the only way out now was through Guardian and his monkeys.

The three heroes immediately began analyzing the room, taking in the high-tech computers, rock walls, empty tubes and-

“Guys, you’re gonna wanna see this.”

Kid Flash stood at a control-panel looking computer in the center of the room, facing the largest tube they’d seen yet. The speedster pressed a button and lights sprang to life, illuminating the once dark cavern-like space and lighting up the tube in front of them. Three pairs of eyes widened at what lay before them. In the tube, his eyes shut and back resting against a sheet of metal was a boy who looked like an identical twin of Superman in his teens. Robin eyes flitted down to the large “Kr” on the front of the tube. It all made sense now.

“Project Kr.” He said out loud, the others still in shock. “Kr is the atomic symbol for Krypton.”

Wally sped up in front of the glass, peering at the boy in the tube. “Clone?” He asked, turning to look at them.

“Robin, hack.” Aqualad ordered.

“Right.” Robin plugged into the control-panel computer, hastily bypassing the little security there was, obviously they never expected anyone to be able to get in the room in the first place, and pulled up as much information as he could get his hands on.

“Weapon designation: Superboy,” He read out loud. “Grown from DNA acquired from Superman. More like stolen.” Robin scowled.

“Yeah, no way the big guy knows about this.” Kid Flash blurted out.

“He’s got a solar suit that allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7. And-” Robin’s eyes widened. “He was grown in only sixteen weeks!”

“And yet he looks old enough to be sixteen years old.” Aqualad whispered. “What are those things?” He suddenly asked, pointing to a spot just above the clones head where three white creatures with horns, identical to the ones that had been on Guardian’s shoulder and the hippo-gorilla’s backs, slept. If one could call it sleeping.

Robin brought up another file and read: “Genomorph gnomes. They’ve been force feeding him information.”

“And who knows what else!” Kid Flash pointed. “They’re making a weapon out of, well, Superman’s son.”

They all stared at the clone again, the weight of the situation hitting them full force. Aqualad looked uneasy, then a determined look crossed his face.

“Now we contact the League.” He ordered, pushing the upside-down “U” on his waist, attempting to send a distress signal to his king. Robin tried to send a message to Batman from his gauntlet-computer but found that there was-

“No signal.” Aqualad announced.

 Then they looked at each other, then back at the clone, Robin wondering whether they were thinking the same thought he was.

“Free him?” Kid Flash asked.

Aqualad nodded and Robin immediately hacked into the control-panel computer, hitting the button that would release the clone from his genomorph induced sleep and open the tube. What happened next was not what Robin had been hoping for.

The sides of the tube lowered down until they disappeared in the floor, the top of the tube, with the genomorphs, which Robin now saw were in miniature tubes of their own raised slightly. The clone himself remained motionless, appearing to be still asleep, but then the horns of the creatures above him glowed red and his hands clenched and his eyes snapped open. Aqualad narrowed his eyes and Robin unconsciously felt his body stiffen. The clone eyes locked on the three heroes and Kid Flash raised a hand, an unsure smile on his face.

“Hey, uh, Superboy, I-”

Whatever the speedster was going to say next was cut off by a primal yell ripping from the clone’s throat, his body tensing as he sprang at the three heroes, forcing them to all throw themselves to the side. Great, Robin thought, rolling to his feet and going for his batarangs, not only did they have to fight a genetically enhanced army of monkey-monsters and their master but now they had to fight a rabid clone of the Kryptonian himself. Supey launched himself at Aqualad, pinning the Atlantian to the ground and commencing in pummeling him with his fists. Robin leaped up, sprinting over and grabbing onto the clone’s arm while Kid Flash did the same to his other. Robin soon found it was all he could do to keep a hold on the young Kryptonian, his feet consistently being pulled off the ground by the clone’s struggles. Kid Flash was having similar troubles, though was faring a bit better, being able to keep himself firmly planted to the stone floor.

“I really hate to do this.” Robin said through gritted teeth as he pulled out two smoke bombs and shoved them in the clone’s face. “But you’re not playing very nice.”

Superboy staggered back, freeing Aqualad, but the respite didn’t last long. Angry now, the clone let out a roar as Kid Flash, his goggles in place, shot towards him. The Kryptonian easily stepped out of the way of the charging speedster, grabbing onto his arm as he passed, and used the heroes own momentum to swing him around into a tube, shattering the glass as the boy hurtled through it. Kid Flash was out like a light. Robin threw three batarangs in quick succession, though they had absolutely no effect on the Superboy and only served to irritate him and make him angrier. He turned to charge Robin, but Aqualad stepped in the way, throwing a punch at the clone’s jaw. He hit the boy’s jaw, but it barely fazed him. He then grabbed the Atlantian by his shoulders and jumped up to the ceiling, ramming Aqualad into the unforgiving rock. They both dropped back to earth, one collapsing in a heap, the other with a wild look in his eye.

“Alright, my turn.” Robin muttered, reaching for his Taser in his belt. Aqualad would be fine; Atlantians had thick skin, but if this thing wasn’t stopped, it couldn’t end well for any of them. Well, maybe for the clone, but Robin didn’t really know how the scientists would feel about him out of cage, especially if they knew how wild he was.

Supey turned his attention now to the only conscious person, other than himself, in the room. Robin shot out his Taser, hitting the clone in the chest. Robin turned it on full power, knowing that would be the only way he could affect the Kryptonian. The clone looked down, confused, but otherwise unharmed. Robin cursed, then his eyes widened as the clone grabbed the Taser’s prongs and yanked. Robin had a fraction of a second to apologize to Batman for his dumb mistake (really, why did he think that a Taser would affect a clone of Superman?) before he felt his feet lift off from the air as he went flying towards the boy-hulk. Supey snatched the front of the Boy Wonder’s tunic and thrust him to the floor, causing his bandaged arm to flare up in pain.

Robin saw a large foot pass in front of his line of vision and then felt an indescribably strong force slam into his chest. Robin cried out in pain, muffled by his gritted teeth, and wriggled feebly as he tried to escape the crushing weight of the Superboy’s foot. The pressure increased and Robin let out another yell as he thought he heard something crack. He could barely breathe now, his head feeling light and black spots danced in front of his vision. Just as he was about to pass out, the weight lifted and he saw the legs of his Atlantian friend cross the floor as the hero threw the clone off of Robin. Robin felt a strong arm on his shoulder, pressing uncomfortably hard into the injured area, as Aqualad cautiously raised him off the floor. Robin’s breath came in deep pants and his arm was pressed hard against his burning chest as he struggled not to pass out. Aqualad watched him concerned, holding him up. Robin felt his vision go fuzzy and then fade to all black as the pain from his injuries was too much for him.