It was a peaceful summer day in Washington D.C. Birds sang and children played in the parks. There were a few RV's parked around and families were grilling. All was calm.

Until an explosion rocked a local park.

The explosion launched a man-sized projectile from a distance as it arced through the sky, trailing smoke and landing in the middle of a park, causing a few park-goers to run and scatter. In the small, smoking crater was a humanoid man that appeared to be made of red stone and flame, the fire around his head flickered before flaring to full strength as he lifted it. "Okay," he groaned with a slightly gravelly voice like warm coals, "That laser packs a bigger punch than I remember." Standing up, a grey circle surrounding a white hourglass was visible on his chest. Following the flaming man, a large, mutated frog with four eyes and a set of horns leaped through the air and landed in front of the crater. An older man rode the creature wearing oversized gauntlets attached to a chest piece that seemed to act like a big battery. The older man had tattered clothes and long white hair, as though in defiance to his balding head. The older man sneered at his fiery adversary. "I do so hope you liked my upgrades, Tennyson. I made them especially to combat your little aliens."

"Only thing you're going to upgrade next is your prison time!" The flame hero cried out defiantly, bringing both his hands up together and a fireball appeared between them. Throwing is hands forward, the fireball shot out and blasted the oversized frog. The large amphibian flinched and recoiled from the hit, causing the older man to fall from his mounted position. Gathering himself, the man stood and stalked around the frog whilst said frog lashed out at the hero with its tongue. Ducking, the fire hero dodged the attack, retaliating with another fireball from a free hand. The older man charged up his gauntlets and let out a laser attack, the red beam striking the ground near the hero. Flinching, Tennyson staggered backward and charged up his flames, crossing his arms in the process across his chest. Flinging out his arms, an arc of flame followed, rushing to the two opponents. The older man blocked the attack with his gauntlets, but the force of the flames knocked him down roughly onto his back. The frog took the brunt of it, knocking it, too, onto its back. Satisfied, the hero smiled and looked down at his adversaries before cheering, "Uh-huh! Who's bad?"

His smile was wiped off his face when he felt a tug from the symbol on his chest and he was starting to get pulled backward. "What? What's going on?!" Suddenly, the symbol began flashing red and beeping a warning. "Oh, please be a good thing this time," Tennyson hoped. The beeps dropped in pitch and after five of them, a flash of red light surrounded him. As quickly appeared, it faded as quickly revealing a small eleven-year-old boy wearing a white t-shirt with black stripes, green cargo pants, and black and white trainers. His short chestnut-brown hair was messy, and the bangs crept upon his electric green eyes. The symbol that was on his chest moved to a black and white watch on his left wrist, symbol a solid red. Tennyson, however, still felt that tugging feeling, and it intensified to where his arm was thrown back behind him! "What?!" His young voice cried out, surprised, "What's going on?!" As his arm was pulled back further and further, eventually a yellow field of what appeared to be electricity surrounded his hand as it disappeared. His eyes widened and he tried to reclaim his hand by pulling back, even running in place as his hand was stuck fast and pulling the rest of him through! Tennyson screamed as the pull suddenly lurched and yanked him through and pulled him away from the park.

Still screaming, Tennyson was finally yanked through a machine and roughly deposited onto the ground, causing him to grunt in pain. Looking around, he saw that he was in a strange, cave-like laboratory with machines everywhere, and a circular portal-looking one that he had landed closest to. The lab was red and organic in appearance. Near him, he saw two scientists, each with a small, gargoyle-like creature with little horns. The scientists looked surprised to see him. Tennyson looked at the watch and disapproval washed over them as they noticed that it was red. Looking back up, he saw one of the creatures had their horns light up a bright red before dimming. "Uh," he chuckled a little bit, "you wouldn't happen to have a reverse on that thing, do you?" He gestured to the machine with his thumb.

The female scientist looked over to the male scientist and glared at him accusingly, "I thought you said this was going to get us a genetic weapon, not some kid!"

The male scientist stammered, "I-I thought so too!" He paused, "Wait, what if the kid is the weapon? Or at least has it on them?"

Tennyson's eyes widened, he looked at the watch and back at the scientists. The little gargoyles looked at him with rapt attention. Slowly, he got to his feet, watching the four, and slowly inched his way over to what looked like a large door. The scientists continued arguing, the female against the male's suggestion. Suddenly, the door opened, startling everyone in the room. At the door was a tall, gargoyle-faced humanoid with long horns. His red eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the small boy. Taking this as an opportunity, Tennyson bolted past the newcomer, causing them to spin about slightly and through the closing door. He looked behind him as he ran, keeping an eye on the tall gargoyle-man as they turned to chase. Occasionally, the gargoyle man's horns would light up and random objects would float in Tennyson's path, guiding him on some unknown path. After about a minute of running, Tennyson noticed that gargoyle-man would drop back and not be seen. Keeping his sight on where he had been, he ended up running into someone in his haste. Grunting, both parties fell to the ground. Rubbing his head from his grounded position, Tennyson looked up and gasped. Looking at him with confusion and concern were three young heroes. The downed hero was wearing a red and yellow full-body suit, red goggles on his forehead above his green eyes. Red hair was visible on the top of his head due to the opening in the suit. The taller of the two standing heroes had dark skin and silver, reflective eyes, and black tattoos that looked like eels. He had a red sleeveless shirt and black pants with no shoes. His hair was shaved short and platinum blonde. The last hero had a red and black shirt on with a black circle over his left chest with a yellow R in it. He had black pants, boots, and cape. The cape had a yellow lining to it. His messy dark hair hung down to his eyes, covered by a black domino mask.

Right before a word could be said, the gargoyle-man appeared again and cried out, "Halt!" His horns lit up and lifted two barrels and lobbed them at the group, exploding to Tennyson's right. Tennyson and the downed hero leaped to their feet and all of them bolted down another path. The hero in yellow and red ran ahead of them at an impressive speed, rushing out of site. Down the path, he heard him collide with someone. Closing the distance, he saw another female researcher down on the ground and the speedy hero moving a container to a closing door, barring it open. "Hurry!" He yelled to the rushing group.

They all ran through the open door, first the speedster, then the caped hero, then Tennyson, then the barefoot hero. Once through, they saw an approaching horde of more gargoyle-looking creatures. Taking note of their situation, the barefoot hero kicked the container free of the struggling door, retreating their foot right as the door snapped closed. The caped hero had a wire run from their gauntlet into the nearby terminal and a loud thunk was heard from the door. "I've disabled the door," he said. "We're safe."

"We're trapped," said the tattooed hero. He looked at Tennyson, "and with a civilian. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I dunno," Tennyson answered honestly. "I was hoping the scientists that managed to bring me here would answer that, but then they started talking about a genetic weapon. I was not going to stick around."

"Genetic weapon?" The caped hero turned to Tennyson.

"Yeah, but they can't have it!" Tennyson exclaimed. He also brought his left arm behind him, hiding the watch. The movement was not unnoticed by the caped hero, though they did nothing about it.

"Well, we can't just keep calling you 'kid', can we? What's your name?"

"Ben," Tennyson said, "Ben Tennyson and you guys are?"

The caped hero and the tattooed hero looked at each other and then at Ben in surprise. "You don't know who we are? Perhaps our mentors?" Said the tattooed hero. Ben shook his head. "I wonder why that is," he said aloud to no one in particular, hand on his chin in thought.

"Well, let's fix that right now. We've got some time," the caped hero said looking at the tattooed hero before turning back to Ben. "I'm Robin," he pointed to the tattooed hero, "and this is Aqualad." He then pointed to a spot to his right, "And over there is Kid Flash." He noticed Kid Flash wasn't standing where he thought, though Kid Flash spoke up, "Guys, you need to see this."

In the center of the room was a tube. Inside at the top were three little gargoyle-creatures. Underneath them was a boy about the heroes age. Muscular with dark hair, wearing a white, gloveless bodysuit with a red S shield on his chest. On the glass, a box with the letters Kr inside. "Woah," was all that Robin had to say about the matter. There was a terminal in front of them a few feet from the tube. Walking around the terminal, Kid Flash walked up to the tube. "Big k, little r," he remarked. "The atomic symbol for Krypton!"

"Krypton?" Ben asked, "What's that?"

"It was a planet," Kid Flash responded. He turned to the group, looking at Robin. "Clone?"

"Robin," Aqualad said, "Hack."

Snapping out of his reverie, Robin responded with a, "Right, right," and took out a wire from his glove and plugged it into the terminal. A screen with the words Project Cadmus was minimized and password input came up. This was followed by a large red circle with the word Bypass blinked up in the center. Four digital faces of Robin acted as a loading bar, turning from red frustration to green mischievous mirth. The circle then minimized and brought up a picture of the resting boy. "Weapon designation: Superboy. A clone force-grown in," a slight pause before Robin cried out in surprise, "sixteen weeks! From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected.

"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid Flash remarked.

"I'm guessing this is a really big deal?" Ben questioned.

"Try huge! Superman is invulnerable, flies, has super speed, heat vision, and super strength! If they stole his DNA somehow, that's bad news for heroes everywhere."

Ben didn't have a response other than for his jaw to drop.

Robin continued, "Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four seven."

Aqualad pointed to the creatures in the picture that was above Superboy, "And these creatures?"

"Genomorph Gnomes," Robin answered. "Telepathic. Force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else." Kid Flash spoke somberly. "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's … son."

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad said, certain. He reached down to his belt buckle and pressed it, causing the arch the buckle was to light up. Kid Flash pressed the pointed ear cover on his hood and Robin tapped a few inputs onto a holographic display appearing from above his left glove. All were met with static.

"No signal," Robin commented.

"We're in too deep," Kid Flash said, "literally."

They paused momentarily when they heard light muffled voices before turning back to each other. Kid flash then looked towards Superboy and back to the group, commenting, "This is wrong."

"We can't leave him like this," Robin agreed.

"What do we do?" Ben asked.

One hand on his hip and the other on his chin, Aqualad was contemplative. He then placed his other hand on his hip and declared, "Set him free." He turned to Robin, "Do it."

Complying wordlessly, Robin brought up another holographic display above his glove and typed in a few commands. Worried, Ben looked at his watch and glowered at it when he saw it was still red. After the commands were input, the pod opened. Superboy then flexed his hands, clenching them into fists. Aqualad narrowed his eyes, examining Superboy's movements under heavier scrutiny. Superboy then opened his eyes, revealing a shade of baby blue. Aqualad's gaze softened, but as a result was suddenly caught off-guard when Superboy tackled Aqualad at high speed, becoming a blur. They tumbled twice, Superboy pinning Aqualad. Superboy then punched Aqualad while he was pinned three times before Kid Flash and Robin ran up to him and held his arms.

"Hold on, Supey!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"We're on your side!" Robin strained to keep Superboy's arm in place.

Superboy, however, slipped his right hand free from Kid Flash's grip and punched him in the jaw. Seeing this Ben looked at his watch and saw it was still red. "Oh, come on! Work!" He fiddled with the circular part, turning it, and even pressing the button below the face, frustrated. He looked back to the fight in time to see Kid Flash hit a glass tube after a brief flight from the punch and go through it, knocking him to the ground.

"I don't want to do this!" Robin took out a disc that flashed yellow before it popped into a gas, forcing Superboy to rear back and clutch his throat. Taking advantage, Aqualad pulled up his leg and kicked Superboy hard enough to fly into the terminal, breaking the computer. Superboy managed to roll up to a kneeling position, forearms flat on the ground. Ben realized this put him too close to a clone from a guy with super strength and slowly backed away to the side of the room and tucked his way behind some containers. There, he resumed fiddling with the watch, as though to attempt to get it to work faster. Meanwhile, Robin took out a two-pronged device and fired it as Superboy's chest as he coughed to clear his lungs. Twin cables launched from the device and clung to Superboy's chest, sparking with electricity. Not even flinching from the energy, he grabbed the cables and pulled Robin to him so fast he couldn't cry out. Robin was then thrown to the ground and stepped on. He grunted in exertion as he tried in vain to lift Superboy's foot off him as his weight was pressed onto the young caped hero.

Groaning and holding his head, Aqualad got up and saw this, angering him. He grabbed a handle that was holstered onto his back which pulled water to it, forming a spiked mace. "Enough!" he cried, swinging. The attack landed solidly, launching Superboy sideways into the upright "bed" that was in the open pod before falling unceremoniously to the ground. Aqualad wasted no time in getting Robin upright before he clutched his chest and fell backward, unconscious. Superboy stood up and strode over to Aqualad. Aqualad rose a hand out towards Superboy to stop his advance and stated, "We are trying to help you!" Superboy did pause for a moment before determination crossed his face and he charged Aqualad. He punched downward, with Aqualad dodging to his right and countering with a tackle into the wall, breaking it.

At this Ben covered his head for a moment, then resumed looking at his watch. It was still red. "Come on, work already!"

Aqualad attempted a punch at Superboy, only for it to be caught and he was kicked away from the clone. The aquatic hero flipped and landed in a three-point landing. Superboy charged up and the two began trading punches, nothing landing as they dodged each other for a few seconds. Aqualad then grabbed Superboy in a Full Nelson, tattoos lighting up and zapping Superboy. These shocks finally registered on the clone, as he cried out in pain. He then crouched, then jumped up into the ceiling, cracking it and causing dust and small rubble to shake loose, forcing Ben to once again cover his head. Once landed, Superboy notice Aqualad was still holding firm, even if he wasn't shocking him anymore. He leaped again, this time, Aqualad let go from the impact, grunting, almost crying out from the pain. He landed heavily onto the ground. He didn't get back up. Satisfied, Superboy looked around. He suddenly turned when the watch on Ben's wrist beeped and turned green. Pumping a fist, Ben quickly turned the dial a couple of times and slammed the face down. A green light flashed and enveloped Ben. It faded as Superboy approached. He threw aside the containers and looked.

He saw a small, grey-skinned creature with a black and white jumpsuit with frog-like eyes. "Aw, man, not Grey Matter," came the small, high-pitched complaint. Bewildered, Superboy shook off his surprise and quickly grabbed the small creature. It protested with a "Hey!" and attempted to bite him, but the bites did not affect him. Superboy carried the small being with him as he grabbed the door with one hand and with a small amount of effort, shoved his free hand through the door and pushed it open with enough force to shake the area momentarily.

There, Grey Matter saw the scientist that had fallen earlier, the tall gargoyle-man, a male scientist with long brown hair that was greying lightly pulled into a ponytail with a gnome on his shoulder, and a man in blue armor with a gold helmet and small shield on his right arm also with a gnome on his shoulder. The male scientist walked past Superboy as he stared ahead. The scientist saw the passed-out heroes and turned to Superboy. "Atta, boy," he said with some enthusiasm, a wicked smile appearing on his features. He looked at Grey Matter in Superboy's hand. "And what do we have here? Something to dissect?"

Grey Matter gulped audibly, "Not again."

AN: Don't forget to check my profile if you want to put in your two cents what one I should update.