PROLOGUE: The Power of Alchemy

Jak Kenway had always had a knack for getting into trouble, but this definitely topped anything he had done before. Jak was a well muscled sixteen year old with black hair and wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans, and black sneakers.

He had been trying to mind his own business for once, just running out to get some late night take out from this Chinese place he liked. Fate it seemed had another idea for him though, because not long after leaving his apartment he had run across Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin as they helped put out a fire at the Cadmus facility before disappearing inside.

After seeing their acts of heroism Jak had felt compelled to follow them in. Getting into the building had been easy enough, since he was no stranger to a bit of breaking and entering, and following them down into the sub levels of Cadmus had also been simple. However once he got down there that is when things started to get really strange. Luckily he avoided the fights that the young team started with the strange monsters that seemed to inhabit the secret laboratory, and continued to sneak down in their wake, but when they made it to Project Kr he was unable to avoid both them and the Cadmus staff, so he decided to reveal himself to the young heroes.

"Who are you, and how did you get down here?" Aqualad demanded. "Names Jak, I saw you guys come into Cadmus and decided to follow. I know stupid idea, and you definitely don't have to tell me that twice, but I've made a habit of stupid ideas. Although this one definitely takes the cake." Jak explained as Robin continued to hack a stasis pod containing a young clone of Superman. Once it opened though the clone attacked all of them. Jak did his best to avoid the fighting between the three super heroes and the immensely strong clone, but was not successful.

And now he had a large shard of metal imbedded in his stomach, due to said battle. The clone had been too powerful for the three young heroes and beaten them all senseless. As he weakly coughed up blood and began to lose consciousness, Jak saw a man in the lab coat come in and smirk at the downed heroes. "Prepare pods for all of them down the hall, except this one" he said, pointing at Jak, "He's nobody so we don't need him. Let him die and dispose of the body later."

Jak was suddenly standing in front of a massive set of stone double doors with countless overlapping circles and runes etched into its surface. The door slowly began to open, showing an infinite blackness on the other side, when out of nowhere there was a white featureless person of similar height to Jak standing in front of him. "Long indeed has it been that anyone has stood before The Gate, and never one from any world but my own. I wonder what brings one from a world so far before my Gate?" The being asked, seemingly speaking to itself.

All of a sudden Jak's mind was bombarded with images of his life in Washington D.C. From the first time he visited the Hall of Justice to every time he ever saw a super hero or villain, and all leading up to his last few moments of consciousness in the sub levels of the Cadmus Labs.

"What an interesting world you inhabit boy." The white being said, this time clearly to Jak. "You have potential and this is why you were brought before The Gate, however before we move forward I must ask you a question." Despite not having any eyes the being seemed to burn its stare straight into Jak's soul, forcing only the truth out of him. "If I granted you power and knowledge, what would you do with it?" It asked the young man.

"I… I would… help people." Jak said slowly as the truthful answer was forced through his clenched teeth. The being smiled massively at Jak's answer, seemingly pleased. "That is good boy. I will allow you to pass through The Gate without a sacrifice since you did not commit a Taboo to end up here. Enjoy the power of alchemy." It said before turning serious. "However if you do commit a Taboo then you will not like what you find on the other side of this Gate." It warned before disappearing. Suddenly a massive eye opened inside the blackness of the open gate and countless hands of shadow grabbed Jak and pulled him into The Gate.

Jak awoke back on the floor of the Cadmus lab gasping for breath before quickly coughing the last of the congealed blood out of his mouth. He looked and felt at his stomach where he remembered the metal chunk having pierced him and found nothing but smooth skin. He was confused for a moment before his mind was again assaulted with thoughts, but these were not his own. His mind began comprehending the concepts of alchemy, the art of manipulating matter through knowledge of its components and the use of a transmutation circle and the laws of equivalent exchange. He understood the Taboo of human transmutation, as well as the likely consequences should he break that Taboo. He also learned the complete composition of the item now lying in his lap, a silvery grey pocket watch with an alchemic transmutation circle engraved into it, as well as how to use it correctly.

Once all the knowledge finished racing though his brain, Jak was able to get up and begin looking around. He didn't see any of the heroes that he had tried to help, the Superman clone, or the scientist. Then he remembered him saying something about getting pods ready for the heroes down the hall. As he headed down the hall with his new watch in hand Jak suddenly encounters two of the human sized creatures from before.

Without even thinking Jak swung his watch at them and used the circle on it to cause a transmutation, extending the chain and forming the watch into a solid and dense ball that struck the first one directly in the face, knocking it out. He quickly transmuted the watch back to its original form and caught it before placing his hand on the concrete wall next to him and causing another transmutation that made a pillar of stone form out of the wall that blasted the other creature. He then transmuted chains from the metal supports in the walls to bind both of them before quickly moving on.

As Jak approached a nearby door it was suddenly blasted out, mainly due to one of the creatures being hurled through it by the clone he had encountered before. "Holy crap." Jak exclaimed as he, along with the other young heroes, emerged from the room. There was a sudden explosion behind them as they looked at Jak with more than a little shock.

"You… but you were dead in the other room." Aqualad said, sounding more than a little confused as to why Jak was standing in front of them.

Before the conversation could move further along Kid Flash interrupted. "Talk later, escape now." Everyone nodded in agreement and began heading toward the elevators.

Robin turned to Jak. "Stay behind us, we'll keep you safe." He said as they all ran. They encountered several huge monsters, but before anyone could do anything the clone roared and started attacking them as everyone else ran around them. His attacks began shaking the corridor they were all standing in. "Superboy! The goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here." Aqualad yelled at the young clone. "You want escape?" He yelled back as he grabbed one of the huge monsters and threw it into two others and knocked them all over.

Once they got to the elevator doors Superboy ripped them open, grabbed Aqualad and jumped up the shaft. However he didn't keep going up and began to fall. Jak didn't hesitate as he placed his hand on the wall and transmuted several poles out of the wall for the two young heroes to grab onto.

All of the young heroes were amazed at what they just saw. "Whoa! Dude how did u do that?" Kid Flash asked Jak.

"With this and alchemy." Jak explained as he held up his watch.

Robin looked confused as he shot his grappling hook up into the elevator shaft. "How can the precursor to modern chemistry do that?"

Jak shook his head. "Not that, real alchemy. The science and art of changing matter through the knowledge of its composition and the use of a transmutation circle." He said as he again put his hand on the wall and transmuted more handles from the walls for all of them to climb. "There's no time to really explain, like Kid Flash said 'talk later, escape now'."

Everyone nodded and continued climbing until they heard a noise coming from above. "Guys, this level has to be our exit." Robin said as Superboy blasted open the elevator doors. Everyone quickly made it out before the express elevator passed where they had been climbing.

They quickly began running down the hall when Superboy told them to make a left turn followed quickly by a right, that lead straight to a dead end. "Oh great directions Supy. Are you trying to get us re-podded?" Kid Flash asked sarcastically.

"No I… I don't understand." Superboy admitted hanging his head.

"Are you kidding? Don't apologize, this is perfect." Robin said with a devious smirk on his face. Needless to say, Jak and everyone else was definitely confused until the Boy Wonder pulled the panel off of the air duct and they all began crawling through.

"At this rate we'll never get out." Kid Flash complained. "Shh. Listen." Superboy warned as his super hearing picked up noises in the vent. They quickly made their way out of the vent in a different area of the floor where Robin started typing on his holographic wrist computer. "I hacked the motion sensors." He explained with a smirk. "Nice computer skills. Now to close off our exit." Jak said as he walked over to the wall.

"What do you mean?" Asked Aqualad. Jak just smirked and placed his hand on the wall. The watch in his hand let off a blue light before the wall paneling formed around the open vent. When he was done no one could tell there was ever a vent opening. "Impressive." Aqualad commented.

"We need to get out of here, but there's still plenty of them between us and out." Robin said as he deactivated his computer.

"Yeah, but now I've got room to move." Kid Flash said as he pulled down his goggles and went into the large stairwell and began speeding up the stairs. When he encountered more creatures higher up he simply sped up even more and ran them over.

"More behind us." Robin warned as the rest of the group followed in kid Flash's wake. Superboy quickly turned around and stomped on the top step of their level, breaking the staircase and knocking the pursuing monsters down several levels.

Kid flash continued to speed ahead of the rest of the group, but was cut off by a closed blast door. Superboy and Aqualad attempted to use their brute strength to open the door while Robin attempted to hack the door, but all were unsuccessful. Jak was about to attempt his alchemy on the door when, all of a sudden, Robin kicked the nearby door open. "This way." He yelled as he followed his own advice and ran through the door. The rest of the group followed him and ran into a whole host of the things of all shapes and sizes, as well as Guardian.

All of the small gargoyle like creature's horns began to glow and all of the young men fell over. As abruptly as it started the psychic attack ended and all of them began to get back up. The small one on Guardian's shoulder jumped away and he began feeling at his head. "What happened? It's like waking from a dream." He commented sounding confused.

Aqualad looked over at the armored hero. "Guardian?" "Go. I'll handle Desmond." The armored hero said.

"I think not." Came Desmond's voice from behind all of the creatures. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." He said as he drank a vial of glowing blue liquid. He immediately began growing and deforming, ripping out of his clothes and even his own skin. This revealed a new form underneath with dark gray skin and red lines running all over, as well as black eyes with red pupils.

"Get back." Guardian yelled as he charged Desmond, who just smiled and swatted him aside. Superboy rushed forward with his own super strength and both he and Desmond started trading powerful blows. Superboy then tried a jumping punch but was intercepted by Desmond who jumped and hit Superboy in mid air hard enough to blow both of them through the ceiling and into the room above.

"Well that's one way to bust through the ceiling." Robin commented as he shot his grappling hook through the hole in the ceiling and grabbed Kid flash. "You think lab coat planned that?" Kid Flash asked as both he and Robin were pulled through the hole. "I doubt he is planning anything anymore." Aqualad said as he grabbed Jak and jumped through the hole.

They saw Superboy and Desmond fighting hard. Desmond grabbed him by the feet and threw him at the rest of the group, all of who dodged except Aqualad who caught Superboy's flying form. The five of them regrouped and the young heroes turned to Jak. "Stay out of sight, we'll draw his attention so you can escape." Aqualad said to the young man Desmond roared and began to charge them. 'Screw hiding, this is as much my fight as theirs.' Jak thought as he prepared himself for the battle ahead.

They all charged as well and Kid Flash immediately took the lead with his super speed. As the two of them converged Kid Flash dodged the massive punch by sliding underneath Desmond. As soon as he looked back up from his missed punch He was struck by a double punch from both Superboy and Aqualad, knocking him backwards and onto his back as Kid Flash had kneeled down behind his legs. "Learned that one in kindergarten." He joked as metal chains came from the ground and began to ensnare Desmond thanks to Jak's Alchemy. Robin then came jumping over Kid Flash and threw several of his batarangs at the hulking former scientist.

Desmond broke the chains with little seeming effort and swatted the batarangs out of the air. As he flipped over onto his knees and looked up he saw Superboy standing over him about to attack, but he quickly tackled the young clone into one of the nearby pillars. Superboy tried to fight back but Desmond punched him hard enough to almost break the pillar before a water whip from Aqualad's weapon wrapped around his arm. When Desmond turned around he caught a knee in the face from Aqualad who then jumped and attempted a strike with a hard water mace. Desmond caught it though and flung Aqualad across the room, following that by quickly throwing Superboy into another pillar.

Jak decided that it was now his turn at the giant and swung his watch at the beasts face, having transmuted the watch into a dense metal ball again. Desmond caught the ball and was about to pull Jak towards him when blue energy ran along the chain and spikes suddenly shot out of the ball, piercing his skin and causing him to roar in pain. Jak immediately pulled his watch back and placed his hand on the ground and transmuted a stone post up out of the ground directly into Desmond's face, knocking him backwards.

"I thought we told you to hide and escape?" Robin asked the young alchemist as he prepared for Desmond's next attack. "Yeah well I decided to stay. I came this far with you guys, and I'm seeing this through to the end." Jak said resolutely as he started swinging his watch in a slow circle.

Desmond had gotten up by this time and attempted to stomp on Aqualad's prone form but was interrupted by Kid Flash, who tried to attack him, but was caught and then thrown into Aqualad. This knocked them both into a pillar, and Desmond followed and smashed both Aqualad and himself directly through one of the support pillars and into the wall behind it.

Robin saw dust falling from the ceiling and felt the building shake before a proverbial light bulb went off in his head. "Of course." He said as he pulled up his holographic computer, which displayed the floor as well as the support pillars in the building. "KF get over here." He yelled at Kid Flash, who quickly got up and sped over to both Jak and the boy wonder.

Meanwhile Desmond was still trying to pound away on Aqualad, who had used one of his Water Bearers to make a shield. He finally broke through the water shield, but was interrupted from striking the young Atlantean by Superboy who struck him hard in the kidney and then jumped on his back while attempting a chokehold. This did not last long as Desmond simply tossed Aqualad aside and grabbed Superboy and threw him through the pillar.

Robin, Jak and Kid Flash were watching this as Robin's wrist computer took note of the structural damage happening. "Got it?" He asked. "Got it." Both Kid Flash and Jak replied. "Go." The Boy wonder ordered.

Kid Flash took off toward Desmond, who had Superboy in his grip, and jumped at him, ripping off the last bit of human flesh hanging off of his face. The young hero looked at the skin in his hand and pointed at it. "Got your nose." He joked at the enraged juggernaut, who roared in anger and began chasing the young speedster.

"Superboy, Aqualad." Robin yelled as he pulled up his holographic display of the pillars. "This one and that one." He said; pointing at the pillars he needed taken out. The two young heroes nodded and began breaking the pillars in question while Kid Flash continued distracting the behemoth, while causing him to also destroy a few pillars with his attacks.

While all of this was going on, Jak was busy drawing a large transmutation circle on the ground where Robin was originally just going to draw an X as a way to show where Desmond needed to be corralled to. Jak however had a much different idea in mind as he worked furiously on the circle. As soon as it was done, the heroes began pushing Desmond towards that area. Once he was within the circle, Jak placed his hands on it and it began to glow blue as the transmutation went into effect. The first thing that happened was that Desmond sank into the ground, followed quickly by many metal chains flying out of the ground to tie up the huge monster and quickly embedding themselves back into the ground all around him.

"Now." Jak yelled as all the heroes got out of dodge and Robin's explosive batarangs took out the last few pillars and caused a large portion of the ceiling, as well as the rest of the building, to collapse directly onto the trapped Desmond. Unfortunately the young heroes were not fast enough to fully escape and part of the building collapsed onto them as well. Superboy was able to keep them safe with his strength and pushed a large chunk of building off of the area they were in, freeing all of them.

All of them were in shambles, their outfits torn apart and they were all bleeding from minor wounds and breathing hard. "We… did it." Aqualad said. "Was there ever… any doubt?" Robin asked as he and Kid Flash gave each other a high five, an act they immediately regretted due to their injuries. "That… sucked. Let's not do it again… ever." Jak commented, causing a round of nods from everyone else.

"See, the moon." Kid Flash said to Superboy as he pointed at the huge full moon that was out. Looking at the moon they suddenly saw a silhouette flying towards them, which turned out to be Superman. "Uh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?" Kid Flash asked rhetorically as Superboy was not paying attention to anything other than his progenitor slowly flying towards them, along with a great many other members of the Justice League. Before long all five of them were surrounded by more high profile heroes than any of them had ever seen in one place at the same time.

Superboy suddenly walked forward and lifted up the front portion of his suit with the S on it, causing a stir among the gathered heroes. "Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked the Man of Steel. "I'm Superman's clone." Superboy said defiantly. Batman merely looked at him and the rest of the group before narrowing his eyes. "Start talking."

Some time later, after the full debriefing, several league members took Desmond away while the young heroes were standing around trying to figure out what would happen to them. Superboy looked over to where Superman, Wonder Woman and The Martian Manhunter were having a discussion. Superman looked over at his young clone and started walking towards him. "We'll uh… We'll figure something out for you. The League will I mean. For now… I… better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." He said as he flew off into the night.

"Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty-two levels." Batman said as he, Flash, and Aquaman walked toward the group of young heroes. "But lets make one thing clear." "You should've called." Flash interrupted. "End results aside we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives, especially that of the young man standing with you. You will not be doing this again." Batman said with a tone of complete finality.

"I am sorry, but we will." Aqualad said. "Aqualad, stand down." The king of Atlantis reprimanded his young protégé. "Apologies my king, but no." He said with as much defiance as the calm young man ever showed. "We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Even Jak, who has neither the training nor the powers we possess, was invaluable to our success. Together and on our own we forged something powerful and important." He explained.

"If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you." Flash began before his sidekick interrupted him. "The five of us." Kid flash said simply. "Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?" Robin asked. "Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy asked belligerently. "It's simple. Get onboard or get out of the way." Jak walked up with the rest of them smirking. "I'm with all of them one hundred percent. Although you were only half right about me Aqualad, I don't have your training, but I do have power." He said as he held up his watch and all of them stared down the Justice League.

Several days later they were standing in a hollowed out mountain in Rhode Island in street clothes, being briefed by Batman. "This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado has volunteered to live here and be your supervisor and Black Canary is in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions." The Dark Knight explained to the team.

"Real missions?" Robin asked excitedly. "Yes but covert." Batman answered. "The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests." Flash explained. "But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." Aquaman said. "The six of you will be that team." Batman said.

"Six of us?" Jak asked. Batman pointed behind them with his chin and they all turned to see a young woman with green skin and red hair wearing white shirt with a red X on it, as well as a skirt, cape and gloves all the same shade of blue. "This is The Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." Batman explained. She smiled shyly at all of them and waived. "Hi."

"Liking this gig more every minute." Kid Flash said as he elbowed Robin in the ribs. "Welcome aboard. I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin and Aqualad, it's cool if you forget their names." Kid Flash stopped for a second and looked at Jak. "Come to think of it, you don't even have a codename yet Jak. What should we call you?" He asked their new friend. Jak smirked. "Simple, just call me Alchemist."

Miss Martian smiled and clasped her hands. "I'm honored to be included." She said as they all came forward to meet their new teammate. Superboy hung back from the rest of the team. Robin looked back at the young clone. "Hey Superboy, come meet Miss M." The young hero came forward with the rest of them. Miss Martian's shirt suddenly changed from white to black and her cape went away. "I like your t-shirt." She said to Superboy, getting a small smile out of him. Aqualad smiled at his new teammates. "Today is the day."

END PROLOGUE

Authors Note: Hey there all my loyal followers. Sorry I haven't posted anything on any of my stories for a while, but I have not felt any kind of inspiration until recently. This idea came to me very suddenly and I decided to run with it because I haven't had this kind of inspiration in WAY too long. Hope everyone likes this particular crossover cause it struck me as an awesome concept.