Progress: Update complete

Status: Enjoy!

[Meeting Room, Mount Justice, Happy Harbour]

The Team and their mentors are discussing the predicament, Robin and the others didn't want to be left out and thus argued their way in, Conner was their friend and teammate so no way they won't be un-involved. Various holographic screens floating above the table top project images of Luthor "spending time" with Superboy.

"He's a sicko." comments Green Arrow as he flicks through various articles.

"It's unbelievable that he's actually taking care of Superboy." adds Captain Marvel as he watches the tv footage.

"How are we supposed to get him back, people are starting to think that Conner might be his son!" Black Canary was very uneasy, she hoped that Luthor wouldn't do anything bad to the kid.

"Superboy's mind is still developing at his 'age', he won't be able to receive much information like new programming or other new knowledge for the time being." the dark knight eased her worries, if not most of the others' concerns as well.

Luthor could easily make up a story, make a birth certificate and other papers to convince the public of their relationship, the League wouldn't be able to do anything by then. However, if he were to do that, he wouldn't be able to forcefully age him and use his abilities unless he wanted to compromise himself. There were a few options; some include negotiation, covert retrieval mission, or Superman but that wouldn't happen any time soon.

[Luthor's Office, Lexcorp, Metropolis]

Luthor was signing papers and going through many documents. Countless files were neatly stacked in rows at the corner of his desk, "this is what I get for skipping a day of work…sigh", he glances to the side every now and then to check on the small being enjoying himself in the play pen. The area was fenced off by colourful plastic walls that fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces, within it were various toys scattered on a large foam mat. Conner was playing in the ball pool, he gleefully threw some at Mercy who was seated on the floor next to it, the android caught them with utmost accuracy and juggled a little before throwing them back at him lightly.

"Mr Luthor, a reporter from the Daily Planet wants to interview you, a Clark Kent." came the secretary's monotone voice from the phone speaker, his eyes lit up at this, he smirked and scheduled an appointment. The same man that babysat Superboy a week back. None of the media or news ever showed him with Superman, but if they were actually friends, that would certainly make his day.

Hours later and said man arrives just minutes before the appointed time, very punctual. Mercy opens the door to usher the bespectacled man in, he looked very worried, timid actually…this was going to be fun.

"Come in, Mr…"

"Kent, Clark Kent. Reporter from the Daily Planet, sir."

"Take a seat." when he does, Mercy pours him a glass of water, he gives his thanks and sips before setting it down.

"This interview will be recorded on this," Clark fumbles with taking out a small voice recorder," but if there is anything you want to leave out, you have the right to request for it to be off record."

"Shall we start then?" says Luthor as he reclines back in his obsidian leather chair.

Nearly half an hour later, prior to the end of the interview Clark smoothly changes the subject.

"Mr Luthor, what about your current project?"

"My current? Ah yes, as I have told others at the press conference, the new military bots are built with the latest- "

"No sir, I meant the small, um... not military-or business one."

"Oh, how about you meet him? His nap should be over by now." he gestures for Mercy to leave.

Luthor stares the man down, seeing him squirm in his seat makes up for lost time, the reporter is fidgeting and looking away due to the uncomfortable relentless gaze given by the businessman. This Kent is as large as Superman, over towering Luthor by a head and more. Yet he doesn't use his size to his advantage, looking to his bandaged hands, Luthor recalls that his strength was incredible, being able to pull metal from cars was not something anybody can do. Working on a farm has its perks he guesses, lifting hay bales, cows or something like that. Before he can ask, Mercy comes back with a small bundle in her arms, he yawns sleepily as he is introduced to the sunlit skyline of Metropolis from the windows.

"Mr Luthor…what do you want with him?" questioned Clark in a bold voice.

"Didn't Superman tell you, or is he keeping secrets even from his friends?" replies Luthor as the boy is handed over to him, "I know what you're here for, but don't think I will give him up that easily."

"I-I was supposed to help babysit him, but after the accident they thought it be better to care for him themselves."

"They? The Justice League, hmph, they did a very good job as you can see.", he holds Conner up like a victory trophy of sorts with a smug look on his face, "When they got him back, they lose him within a day. Oh, so trustworthy, the boy's parents must be so grateful."

Clark's worried features turn sour, though angry he refrains from raising his trembling voice. "Sir, why do you want him?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I am his father?", Clark's mouth was wide open, "I can prove it, here are the DNA tests".

"Who's the mother?" inquires Clark nervously as he looks through the documents.

"Take a guess.", he points to the S shield on the boy's shirt, "But this boy wasn't made naturally so you don't have to feel…disgusted".

Conner was a clone of Luthor as he was a clone of him, this made his stomach lurch badly, he wouldn't be able to get him back without some sort of lawsuit and the press making obscene articles about Superman and Luthor-ugh. He shuddered at the thought, he didn't think it would be that complicated, did Batman know? He winced a little as he figured the dark knight wouldn't tell him, at that time he was already against being there for Conner, he would have gone ballistic if he knew about Luthor being the other donor.

Clark knows he has to get him back no matter what the cost, he swallows, trying to loosen the tension caught in his throat.

"Superboy, you remember me, right? I'm Clark." the boy just stares blankly at him, not acknowledging his superhero persona or Clark.

"Your daddy wants you back home with him." Clark reaches out with both hands, wanting Conner to react and reach for him.

He doesn't, instead he drops his toy and turns around to cling even tighter to Luthor, whining and starting to cry.

"As you can see, he prefers me over that alien. And now that this is done, goodbye Mr Kent, do tell Superman that I will be taking very good care of my boy." said Luthor in a dark voice.

Mercy's dangerous expression warns for Clark to get out. As he gathers his things, he drops some of his papers in his hasty retreat, so he bends down quickly to pick them. He also picks up Conner's toy before handing it to Luthor.

[The Fortress of Solitude, an extremely cold undisclosed location]

Superman is looking at his computer, by now he knows by heart that the tracker he put on the toy only goes to a few places; Luthor's Metro penthouse, Lexcorp and a certain building. That last place could be a hidden Cadmus lab, they might be trying to revert Conner back to normal. If they manage to do so, any information he has on the Justice League will go into the wrong hands, everybody would be compromised. He still doesn't understand why Conner didn't recognise him, he still did when they were at Mount Justice. Clark cringes at the memory of the poor boy running after him, not wanting him to leave, crying and brokenhearted. Luthor must be controlling him somehow. The previous creation, Bizarro, did listen to his creator quite well but could also go against him if he wanted, Cadmus must have included that kind of programming in after Bizarro to prevent it from happening again. Even though he was a clone, Conner was still a person with his own thoughts and feelings, Clark would have to find a way to disrupt or fully remove the programming so that no one could control Superboy ever again.

"Batman, I need your help, oh-and call Professor Atom."

"Why?" asked Batman.

The sounds of typing on a keyboard could be heard in the background, the bat was working on something, probably a new case he guesses.

"I think Luthor is controlling Su-Conner somehow and- "

"Already working on it, you just need to stay out of our way since you don't want to be involved." The man of steel flinched, the truth burning him greatly from the inside.

"I want to help, I-I was wrong. I should have taken the time to know him, to care for him."

"And suddenly you want in, you think he would let you, after all that you've done… actually you have done nothing for him." growls the dark knight, he had stopped typing at this point.

On the other end of the line, Batman had his fists curled up into a ball, he trembled slightly with unseen anger. Alfred, who stood by with a pot of freshly brewed coffee, had a look of disdain on his face. When the butler had heard of Superman's folly from Robin, the man was in utter shock, he saw the supposed "boy scout" in a whole new light from then on. It wasn't very bright. It wasn't very good.

"Bruce…" Clark starts weakly.

"I've sent files from the old Cadmus facilities and other related articles as well, scan through everything then get back to me, Batman out."

Clark was confused at first then grinned widely as he realised Batman gave him a way to possibly help Conner, the files there could contain the information they needed. He couldn't act on this alone, he needed the League's help, he was glad the Bruce gave him a chance to redeem himself. He immediately set off to work and read as much as he could and committed it all to memory. There was so much data that he had to forgo sleep, not that he actually needed it. The more time Clark spent doing research, the more time Luthor had to his advantage with the situation, so he had to finish as soon as possible.

[Luthor's Penthouse, Metropolis]

"Get it done as soon as possible, if you can get all of them at once, it would be easier with the dwindled numbers."

"Will do, the Justice brats wouldn't know what hit 'em."

"Remember to get Robin first, or else the plan's ruined, the boy may be petite but his knowledge and detective skills are impressive. His intervention will be your downfall."

"You don't have to tell me twice, get the birdie first then the others, I'm not stupid!"

"However, you can be careless, if they get you then the operation fails."

"Yeah, Yeah, I'll get to work."

Luthor hangs up and proceeds to turn off the screen, he takes a quick shower and enters his bedroom. Conner is lying in bed playing with a stuffed teddy bear, Mercy who sat next to him, gets up to leave, then Luthor slips into bed and turns off all the lights from a switch on his nightstand. The boy snuggles closer and hugs the bear tightly to his chest, the man puts an arm around him and hugs him as well.

[Warehouse H, Keystone City]

There were too many of them to take on, the team though cornered was still fighting strong, however some were badly hurt.

"Running out of arrows here!"

"More like running out of space, where did all these guys come from?!" No matter where he zips to, Kidflash keeps getting blocked off by henchmen left and right.

Robin frowns behind his mask for the umpteenth time. "My comms' jammed, I can't call Batman."

"Mine too, there must be a signal jammer somewhere."

Miss Martian notices something at the corner of her eye but does not register it until it is too late. "Rocket, look out!" she yells.

Sports Master knocks the heroine out of the air and she hits into one of the shipping containers on the other side of the warehouse. He then sheaths his baseball bat and takes out a strange looking gun and aims straight for Robin. Their group scatters as Miss Martian uses her powers to lift several containers to block the possible projectile path, the large object disintegrates into nothing, seeing this, Aqualad does not want to take risks and immediately orders everyone to fall back. The containers that were knocked around have become a maze, losing the skilled enemies were difficult, finding their friends was even harder. When he finally reaches the entrance of the warehouse, Miss Martian has already activated the bioship and is ready to lift off, the others needed to hurry.

One after the other, the team pops up from somewhere around the warehouse and heads straight for the bioship while still fighting off some bad guys. Sports Master breaks through a window as he follows Robin, and just as he aims with the weapon once again, Aqualad summons the surrounding harbour water towards them. The older man is knocked off his feet and the beam that shoots out hits a rusted pipe, instead of disintegrating it became as good as new like the day it was made, its new shiny coat glinting in the sunlight. Upon seeing this, Aqualad wonders what is going on, there must be more to this, as he gets onto the bioship.

As soon as they reach Mount Justice, they immediately head for the meeting room, Batman needed to know. After the debrief, the Atlantean speaks with the dark knight about what he saw, Batman seems to know what the villain was using and strides quickly to the zeta beams. Robin sees this and says a quick goodbye to the rest before joining Batman. The others had to clean up and head home, Batman said they wouldn't have any more missions till the League sorts out the situation, the Team was clearly being targeted.

[Bat Cave, in an undisclosed area in Gotham City]

Bruce is in his chair typing and searching on the computer, villian profiles zoom past in a rotary manner across the screen, this category consists of those who are scientifically adept in making advanced weaponry. There were countless suspects and each with their own unique set of blueprints or interests that influenced and personalised the development of their creations. For example, Firefly the pyromaniac prefers his flamethrower, the self-proclaimed high-class Penguin with his multi-functional umbrellas and Mr Freeze with his aptly named freeze rays. The billionaire swore he had seen something similar, the problem now was that without the chance for close inspection and reverse engineering, he might not be able to pinpoint the culprit. The only leads were the bioship's surveillance footage and the Team's personal recounts. Robin was on a another computer watching several footage from their data base, he had finished the plate of cookies within the hour and Alfred was quite annoyed that neither of the duo had drank his soup.

"Sir, it's time for bed." abruptly declares their butler.

Bruce replies instantly. "I don't have any meetings tomorrow."

"Not you, Master Bruce. Young Master Dick has a full day of appointments. I do believe the first of which is the 8 o'clock, Mr Civics of the Gotham Academy?"

"Alfreddddddddddddddddddddd." Bemoans the young hero with a pouty look upon his face.

"Stop playing around with the tapes, off to bed."

Metaphorically speaking, a light bulb goes off in the dark cave and Bruce really gets to work while a pouting Dick is 'escorted' upstairs by the butler. He works into the night, fending off sleep with only two cups of joe and an emptying coffee pot. Soon he finds what he needs and pulls on his cowl, jumps into his Bat mobile and heads for shadier areas of downtown Gotham. He goes from criminal to criminal, searching for information of the perp's whereabouts, it's not long before he finds the one he's looking for and hangs him by his ankles. The underlings were no match for his prowess even when he was distracted with interrogating their boss, throughout this process Toyman somehow manages to keep his bobble-head like headpiece on, the dark knight threatens to break his 'toys' if he doesn't tell the truth. The criminal is adamant on keeping secrets. Oops, there goes a tin soldier. Another. One of the flipping monkeys too. As he sets his sights on one of the dolls, Toyman finally breaks and spills the beans.

When he and his gang are found by the police, Detective Bullock can't help but shiver at the thought, what the hell did Batman do to the poor guy this time. The unfazed Commissioner Gordon just shrugs and orders the rest to round up the other henchmen. When they bring him down, he discovers why Batman roughhoused him so much, it wasn't the real Toyman.

[The recesses of someone's sub-conscious mind]

Soft sunlight spills through the familiar windows, he feels warm and cosy, everything is hazy yet comfortable. Strong arms pick him up from the bed, one ruffles his bed hair affectionately as he yawns, he is carried to another room and placed upon that person's lap. He looks up with hope and love, other-worldly blue eyes smile back from behind rimmed glasses, he snuggles closer which earns a chuckle. He knows who this person is but he can't seem to remember, something or someone is calling for him, but he doesn't want to go and clings tightly to the cloth of the man's flannel shirt.

[West Residence, Keystone City]

Wally huffs frustratingly. "Guys, I can't just wait and do nothing, Supey needs us!"

"We have to lay low Kid Mouth, Batman's orders."

"But he didn't say our civilian identities couldn't!" chips an eager M'gann.

"All in?" asks Robin and everyone nods, "Okay, we meet tonight at these coordinates that I'm sending…now."

"Batman is going to find out eventually, so we have to do it fast." warns the Atlantean.

"Er hello, I'm the definition of- "

"Ahem." coughs the archer.

Wally corrects his almost-statement. "Secondddd definition of fast."

With that they end the webcam chat, and just in time too, as his mom suddenly opens the door unannounced and demands that he get to bed because he has school tomorrow. As the computer is shutting off, Wally superspeeds into his pajamas and prepares for bed, but his mom is still glaring at him, he sighs exaggeratedly then speeds to clean up his room and jumps into bed. They say their good nights before she shuts the door, once he is sure that she won't enter again, he checks his phone for the meeting place while under his blanket.

[Team Rendezvous point, nearby Luthor Penthouse, Metropolis]

In covert civvies, they've gathered on a rooftop nearby the Lexcorp owned building, an impressive eighty storey high condominium, the most expensive and luxurious in Metropolis housing some of the most wealthy including Lex Luthor. The top ten lead-lined floors were all his, with the top most floor being his penthouse, any one of those floors below could be hiding labs or incriminating secrets but those would be for another day, right now their priority is getting Superboy back. They go over the plan one last time, they can't afford any mistakes, Robin's wrist computer displays the floor plans again. It zooms into the entry points and positions for each small team; one does distractions, one does lookout while the last is the retrieval team.

Disguised as one of the tenants, Miss Martian distracts the front desk while KF and Zatana slips into one of the open elevators, she follows soon after. After knocking out the guards in the security room, Robin uses the console to hack the sprinkler system outside some of the supposed labs, through camera feed he sees that it caught Mercy's attention. He replaces and edits in video loops for the path the trio are going to take, everything's going smoothly, this was going to be a piece of cake.

The lookout team survey the penthouse from an opposite building. Scanning through the open windows, Artemis says Luthor isn't doing much, just watching TV by himself in the living room. The other functions of the binoculars were useless, Rocket couldn't find Superboy mostly because the building was shielded, they had to assume that he was in one of other rooms. Once they reach the front door, Miss M phases through and disconnects the alarm system with Robin's instructions. Luthor was very stringent with security measures and all the systems in his home were separate from the building, everyone of his floors had individual security systems. It seemed that the billionaire had fallen asleep, they could search about without easily alerting their presence to him, Miss M looked for Superboy as the speedster did a little snooping on the side and Zatana watched the sleeping man.

The little angel of steel was fast asleep in the middle of the king-sized bed, enveloped in a thick warm blanket and fluffy pillows, M'gann hopes that he doesn't wake up when she carries him. She gingerly removes the blanket and gently scoops him up, he stirs a little with a whine so she quickly hushes him. His eyes flutter open to reveal glassy irises, she knows that this was not from sudden awakening, she reaches into his mind to only to find his consciousness being blocked and controlled by something else entirely. She doesn't know how to remove it, worrying that if she tries, he might wail and wake up Luthor. They have what they came for, Zatana uses her magic to put misplaced objects back to their original places, then they leave just as quietly as they had first entered.

To be Continued…

I deeply apologise that it took so long, school and life and all that happened, writers block too. Moreover, I had to write something that could come together well, a too rushed progress would make a bad story and you guys won't like that and I'd be guilty ):