The Age of Shade- The Power of the Crystal

Chapter 1- Independence Day part 1

(Third Person POV)

It was Independence Day in Gotham City and residents were enjoying a peaceful afternoon at the local park celebrating the holiday when Mister Freeze decided to ruin everyone's day by testing out his new freeze ray on the unsuspecting families. People screamed and ran away in terror as he froze everyone and everything in sight. He silently crept up a hill overlooking a family who was having an outside barbecue. The father noticed Freeze creeping up behind his family and pushed his children behind him to protect them from the ice villain.

"Enjoying family time? My Family has other plans," Freeze sneered as the two children shuddered from fear and cold and cowered further behind their dad. Freeze raised his gun and squeezed the trigger, freezing the family before they could react.

He created an ice ramp from the top of the hill to the floor and slide on it until his feet firmly touched the ground again. As he raised his gun to resume the act of freezing people a batarang flew out and hit the side of his helmet with enough force to knock him off-balance.

"Batman" he muttered as he regained his footing. "I was wondering when.." he whipped around prepared to face the Bat, but was surprised to see no one in sight. He looked around the area cautiously looking for any sign of the hero when he heard the signature laugh of the boy wonder ringing in the air.

Robin jumped out of his hiding spot and landed on Freeze's helmet using it as a platform to jump off of and flip into the air. As he flipped he pulled out two batarangs from his belt and threw them at Freeze's helmet cracking the glass as Freeze fell to the ground.

Freeze raised his head to look up at Robin's cocky smirk and snarled in annoyance .

"Oh, Boy Wonder" he muttered picking himself off the ground. "The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison? Frankly, I'm underwhelmed."

"Great, but I'm kind of in a hurry here," Robin blurted rapidly to Batman who was silently creeping up behind Freeze. Since he didn't notice Batman coming up behind him Freeze thought Robin was talking to him. He raised his freeze gun and aimed it at Robin's chest as he laughed arrogantly "kids...always in such a rush."

Robin folded his arms and tapped his foot impatiently "not talking to you" he said slowly.

Freeze stared at Robin confused until Batman jumped out from behind and superman punched him in the face breaking his helmet and successfully knocking him unconscious. Batman landed in a crouch next to Freeze and stood up slowly shaking his head as he looked down at the defeated ice villain drooling on the floor. He hand cuffed Freeze and propped him up against a tree for the police to pick up as he heard sirens in the distance.

"Great now can we go, I made a bet with Shade that I'd get to the hall before she did and you know I hate to lose a bet" Robin said to his mentor as he ran to the car. Batman raised an eyebrow at Robin and smiled slightly.

"Fine" Batman said as they jumped into the bat-mobile and drove off towards the Hall of Justice.

Washington D.C (Hall of Justice)

Batman, Robin, Green Arrow, Speedy, Aqualad, and Aquaman stood side by side on a small hill overlooking the Hall of Justice as they waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Batman placed a hand on Robin's shoulder "today's the day."

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice" Green Arrow said.

"Headquarters of the Justice League" Aquaman added.

"Seriously guys, you started the party without me? I'm hurt" a young female voice called out playfully from above them.

The group of heroes looked up to see Shade smiling down at them. Dawn Parker, a.k.a Shade is the same age as Robin and is Batman's second sidekick. She has long straight dark brown hair that's longer than her shoulders but doesn't go past mid back. She's slightly taller than Robin, but not quite as tall as Aqualad. Her skin is naturally tan and her big ocean blue eyes sparkled as they reflected the light from the sun. She has a natural beauty to her and even though she's only 13 she already has a few curves.

Her costume was inspired by Black Canary's since she looks up to her and Canary's like her second mentor. Her costume consists of a black skin-tight leotard with two blue stripes criss crossing over the front of the leotard creating an X from her shoulders down to her hips. Underneath the leo she wore black tights and knee-high length black boots. Hidden inside the sole of each boot was a small knife that was easily accessible at a moments notice. Her mask is the same as Robin's and unlike her partners she has powers. She can fly, control the elements, use telekinesis, and is one of the best in hand-to-hand combat as a result of being trained by both Batman and Black Canary. She's been Robin's best friend for years and their extremely close. They both know each other's secret identities and she knows Batman's as well. She's also good friends with the other sidekicks and certain members of the Justice League.

"Hey Shade!" Robin waved as she floated down to the ground.

"Hey Rob haven't seen you in a while" she said smiling and pulled him into a hug.

"Its only been a week since you two last saw each other when Shade went off to camp" Batman told them in monotone folding his arms over his chest.

"Well a week can feel like an eternity when you can't hang out with your best friend, use your powers, or do superhero stuff" she quipped resting her hands on her hips. "You know you missed me Batman, Gotham just isn't the same without me there and you know it."

"I believe we got on just fine," Batman told her cracking a microscopic smile for a split second.

"Yeah, Yeah whatever you say" she said waving her hand at the man casting his statement aside.

"Anyways I beat you here Shade, so I win the bet. You owe me" Robin taunted grinning.

Shade turned to him and glared "Fine a promise is a promise " she sighed reluctantly. "I lost you won, I now have to clean your bikes, weapons, and tools and do all your chores for a week." She crossed her arms and muttered under her breath "I hope you're happy."

Robin, having been trained to pick up soft sounds, heard her snarky comment and smirked in satisfaction "Oh I am, I'll make sure to make all my tools extra dirty this week just for you."

Shade continued to glare at him until she heard KF's whining as he ran up behind the group "Oh, man! I knew we'd be the last ones here. Even Shade got here before us and she was at camp thirty minutes ago."

"Even with all that speed your still the slowest KF" Shade taunted flying over to give him and Flash a hug.

"Oh shut up Shade I'm not slow" he muttered returning the hug. Now that everyone was present the procession of heroes started to walk towards the Hall. Shade levitated herself a couple inches above the ground and floated beside the group.

"You know you love me KF," she yelled as they walked down the hill.

Dawn's POV

We arrived at the Hall of Justice and were immediately surrounded by citizens and fans taking photos and screaming our names trying to get our attention as we walked towards the door.

"Is that Batman?" someone asked.

"I see Flash and Flash jr.," another stated.

I laughed at the comment and caught a glimpse of KF's frustrated visage.

"Why can't people ever get my name right? It's Kid flash, KID FLASH! Why is that so hard to remember?" he ranted to himself.

I heard small bits and pieces of people's conversations as I passed by but out of all the chatter and comments one conversation caught the attention of all the young heroes. A group of freshman high school boys were talking among themselves as they watched the heroes pass by. One boy started shaking his friend's shoulder and yelling in his ear to grab his attention "Dude, Dude, DUDE! Look, it's Shade. She's soooo hot man. I mean look at her costume, she wears it almost as well as Black Canary. Man I'm so glad we came today or I would've missed the opportunity to see my future wife in person."

One of the boys wolf-whistled and winked as I passed by. As they walked by Speedy, Aqualad, KF, and Robin turned to see the group of boys leaning against the rope blocking our walk way from the people to shamelessly stare at my ass as we walked by.

I just ignored the boys and didn't let their comments affect me. My friends on the other hand weren't as nonchalant as I was. I was like a little sister to Kaldur, Roy, and Wally and to Robin I was his closest childhood best friend. None of them liked the way the boys were talking about me and they DEFINITELY didn't like the fact that they were blatantly staring at my ass. As they walked by the group they all gave the boys harsh glares.

"You know you should just ignore them like I do," I said when I noticed their harsh glares.

"Or I could super speed over there, punch the dude in the face, and be back before anyone knows I was gone" KF muttered under his breath.

"I like that idea" Robin muttered in agreement.

"As long as I get to shoot him with one of my arrows first" Speedy growled lowly.

I chuckled "I heard that, and theirs really no need for any of that. They're just stupid teenage boys with a little hero crush, it's not a big deal, so just let it go"

Aqualad glared at the boys one last time before turning and decided to change the subject "I'm glad we're all here."

"Have all 5 sidekicks ever been in the same place at one time?" KF asked struggling to contain his excitement.

"DON'T call us sidekicks" Speedy cut in sharply "not after today."

"Sorry" KF apologized, "first time at the hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin asked as we entered the building.

"Maybe because it's not an actual word or a state of being" I pointed out.

"I'm just saying why can't anyone ever just be whelmed for once," he said as he looked up at the giant golden statues of the founding members of the League. He froze and his eyes widened in amazement "Oh, maybe that's why."

We walked up to the door underneath the statues that had the sign 'Justice League members only' on the front and it opened to reveal Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Shade, welcome. You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked Galley, and of course our library" Manhunter said as we walked into the room to see a lounge area with a huge computer mounted on the wall and another door on the opposite side of the room labeled Justice League Members Only.

"Make yourselves at home" Flash said. Robin, Aqualad, and Wally each took a seat in a chair, while I floated above the ground in-between KF and Robin's chairs. Roy continued to stand and glared at the League members as they huddle together to talk about the ice villain attacks earlier in the day.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of 4 ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long" Batman said as he turned to face the scanner that appeared from the wall. It scanned the League members, individually calling out their names and access codes. "Recognized: Batman, 0-2; Aquaman, 0-6; Flash, 0-4; Green Arrow, 0-8; Martian Manhunter, 0-7; Red Tornado, 1-6 the computer announced as it scanned each person.

"That's it?" Speedy yelled, "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass."

"It's a first step, you've been granted access few others get" Aquaman told him.

"Oh really?" Speedy said incredulously pointing to the huge glass panel in the wall that was full of civilians with cameras taking photos of us from the other side. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?"

Green Arrow tried to calm him down and diffuse the situation "Roy, you just need to be patient."

"What I need is respect" he snapped at Ollie. He turned to Robin, KF, Aqualad, and I. "They're treating us like kids. Worse—like sidekicks! We deserve better than this."

The four of us just looked at each other confused.

"Your kidding right?" Speedy said a little upset by our cluelessness. "You're playing their game? Why? Because you think they play fair? Today was supposed to be THE DAY, step one in becoming full-fledged members of the league."

"Well sure" KF said shrugging "but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ?

"Except the hall isn't the League's real HQ. I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching zeta beam tubes to the real thing, an orbiting satellite called the watchtower."

Everyone in the room was shocked by Speedy's comment, but for two completely different reasons. The League members were surprised because Speedy wasn't suppose to know anything about the Watchtower, while their partners were shocked to discover that their mentors have kept such a huge secret from them. I turned to Batman and felt a pang of betrayal.

"Why would he keep such a secret from Robin and I? I mean we've only worked with him every day for the past few years and look up to him, but it is Batman I'm talking about, so now that I think about it I'm not as surprised. Feeling a little betrayed, yes, but not entirely shocked either. I always knew this place seemed to small to hold all their members," I thought to myself.

I floated down and silently placed my feet on the ground as Batman gave Ollie the famous batglare. GA glanced at Batman nervously and quickly tried to defend himself "I know, I know, but I thought maybe we could, maybe, make an exception" he said hopefully. Batman's glare intensified. "Or not" Ollie muttered in a small voice before averting eyes from Batman's cold ones.

"You're not helping your cause here son" Aquaman said to Speedy "Stand down or…"

"Or what? Speedy cut in hotly. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his" he spat pointing to GA whose eyes widened in disbelief.

"I thought I was his partner, but not anymore." He tore off his hat and threw it on the ground before walking towards the door.

He narrowed his eyes at us as he passed by and scoffed "Guess they're right about you 4, you're not ready."

I was about to race after Speedy and persuade him to stay, but Robin grabbed my arm before I could get far and shook his head.

"Let him cool off. If you go after him now he'll just snap at you and that's something you'll both regret later" Robin whispered. I looked down at him then back at the doors Speedy just slammed through before deciding Robin was right. I floated back down to the ground and folded my arms.

Suddenly the computer on the wall turned on and Superman appeared on the screen. He told us about the fire at the downtown Cadmus facility. Batman thought this was the perfect opportunity to discretely investigate Cadmus since he's been suspicious of them for a while, but before he could leave Zatara popped up on the screen and informed us about Wotan's plans to blot out the Sun.

Batman decided helping Zatara deal with Wotan was more important and Cadmus would just have to wait until another day. He accessed the League's COM link and ordered all League members to rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates.

He disconnected the link and turned to the remaining teens "Stay Put" he said firmly.

"What? Why? Robin asked.

"This is a League mission," Aquaman said stepping forward.

"Your not trained" Flash added.

"Since when?" Wally asked incredulously.

"I meant you're not trained to work as a part of this team" Flash quickly clarified.

"There will be other missions when you're ready" Aquaman said as he walked towards the door.

"But for now" Batman cut in looking us all in the eye "Stay. Put" and with a swish of his cape he stalked out of the room.

Green Arrow leaned over and whispered to Manhunter "Glad you didn't bring you know who?

J'onn nodded " Indeed" he whispered back as the rest of the Leaguers left the room.

"When we're ready," Wally yelled bitterly throwing his hands in the air.

"How are we ever suppose to be ready when they treat us like…like sidekicks" I ranted.

"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me" Aqualad said sadly lowering his head.

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in SPACE!" KF yelled pointing to the sky.

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad wondered aloud.

"I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin said quietly. The boys looked down at the ground as the guilt for not sticking by their friend filled their guts.

"I tried to do that, but someone stopped me!" I growled glaring at Robin.

"Well, excuse me for trying to look out for you" he replied angrily.

"Alright, that's enough" Aqualad said getting between us stopping the fight before it could get worse.

He looked up at the computer screen on the wall and raised an eyebrow. "What is project Cadmus?" he asked.

"Don't know...but I can find out" Robin responded grinning mischievously. He walked over to the computer and started hacking into it. "Access denied" the computer announced.

Robin laughed, "Wanna bet" he said cockily as he continued to hack.

"Whoa! How are you doing that?" KF asked impressed.

"Oh he does this all the time, it's his thing, he would do this all day everyday if he could. This is the reason I write my journal on paper instead of saving it on my computer" I said walking over to the computer to stand behind Robin as he hacked.

"Same system as the batcave" Robin said casually, "and he's hacked into that countless times" I added.

"Oh and Shade just because it's not on the computer doesn't mean I can't find it" Robin said eyes glued to the screen as his fingers flew across the keyboard. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously "Rob you haven't been reading my journal have you?"

Robin didn't say anything but his grin grew and his eyes twinkled at the question. "ROB!" I yelled slapping his bicep.

He chuckled as I placed my hands on my hips. "We agreed my journal was off-limits" I said but my rant was interrupted by a beep from the computer.

"Access granted" the computer announced as files on Cadmus labs filled the screen.

"All right" Robin said sifting through the files. "Project Cadmus. Genetics lab here in D.C. That's all there is, but if Batman's suspicious…" he started "maybe we should investigate" I finished for him.

"Solve their case before they do, it would be poetic justice" Aqualad agreed smiling.

"Hey, they're all about justice" Rob said.

Kaldur sighed "but they said stay put."

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this." Rob stated pointing out the small loophole.

"Wait, are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going I'm going," KF told Robin.

"Not without me your not, I can't let you boys have all the fun, plus someone has to be there to bail you two out when you get in trouble" I taunted as I wrapped an arm around both of their shoulders.

We turned to Aqualad as he battled an internal war on if he should allow this to happen or not. "Just like that we're a team on a mission? He asked skeptical.

"We didn't come for a play date" Rob said determined. Aqualad agreed to the plan and we took off towards Cadmus.

Cadmus Lab's

Firefighters were already on the scene trying to put out the growing flames consuming the building. Two unlucky scientists were still stuck in the building and were yelling out for help from the window. The firefighters yelled up at them reassuring the men that they were going to be saved. Suddenly an explosion knocked the two scientists out the window and they fell towards the ground screaming for their lives.

KF was running ahead of us so he ran up the side of the building and caught the two scientists from the air saving their lives. He ran up to the top of the building and lifted them up to the roof. However when KF placed the men on the roof he had to slow down as he got closer to the top and he lost his momentum. Without the extra force he couldn't pull himself up in time and slipped from the roof, but he thankfully caught himself on a window ledge.

"Oh KF why do you always have to get yourself into situations like this" I muttered as I flew up to him. I used my powers to lift him from the ledge and into the building where the fire wasn't as bad. Robin did his signature cackle as he used his grappling hook to swing through the window.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aqualad using his water bearers to make a water whirlwind platform for him to stand on. He lifted himself up to the roof and pulled the two scientists onto the water platform and brought them safely back to the ground before letting the water whirlwind fall.

"I've got it from here Aqualad" I yelled as I passed him. He nodded and waited for me to do my thing. I flew up into the air until I was just higher than the top of the building and held my hands out in front of me. My blue eyes started to glow as the water from the firetruck hoses started to rise and swirl around me in the air. The firefighters jaws hit the floor as they saw the water swirling in the air.

As I moved my hands around in the air the water followed and did as I commanded. After I'd collected all the water I lifted my hands above my head and the water followed in a spiraling funnel towards the building. I made the water flow through the building letting it consume and put out the fire. As the water went through the building I was unconsciously aware of my two friends still in the building and made the water swirl around them and the things they were searching through so it wouldn't get wet. After the fire was extinguished I lifted the remaining water back up to me and closed my eyes. I felt the water particles on and in the building and fully concentrated on them, blocking out everything else. Keeping my eyes closed I held out my hands and drew all the water out of the building leaving it dry but a little scorched. This way the owners of the building wouldn't have to build a whole new building from scratch since the wood wouldn't be soaked and useless.

Once I was done I collected all the water and moved my hands towards the firetrucks making the water flow back into the firetrucks hoses and fill the tanks back up, no need to waste water if we didn't need to.

Once the water was back in the trucks I relinquished control over the water and opened my eyes as they stopped glowing. My eyes only glow when I do something big with my powers or concentrate on performing an advanced move. I floated down to the ground and took a deep breath.

"That was amazing! I sure wish we had someone like you working with us everyday, but we really appreciated the help" the chief firefighter said gratefully as he shook my hand.

I smiled "No thanks needed sir, I'm just doing my duty" I said flying over to Aqualad. He wrapped his arm around my waist tightly and I flew us both into the building to regroup with KF and Robin.

"We really appreciated the help," I said to them sarcastically as I flew through the window and released Aqualad.

"You handled it, besides we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember? Oh and nice job with the water movement, you've been practicing" Robin said his eyes never leaving the computer screen he was hacking into.

I grinned but rolled my eyes at him and turned to Aqualad. We walked around the room looking for anything useful when we passed by an elevator. We both turned to see a shadow of a tall horned creature inside the elevator just before the doors closed.

KF ran over to us and looked at the elevator suspiciously "elevators should be locked down."

Robin walked up to the elevator doors "this is wrong" he said pulling up the holographic computer in his glove and started hacking into the system. "Thought so. This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building," he said as he deactivated his holographic computer.

"Neither does what Shade and I saw" Aqualad forced the elevator doors open and looked down to see a deep elevator shaft going down multiple levels.

I peered around Aqualad's shoulder and whistled when I saw how deep the shaft was "Well that's a little more than 2 levels."

"And that's why they need an express elevator" Robin concluded pulling out his grappling hook from his belt. He hooked the rope around the pipe at the top of the shaft before jumping down the shaft, his cape flapping behind him silently in the wind.

I turned to Aqualad and KF, "need a lift," I asked and they both nodded. Wally wrapped an arm around my waist and held on tightly not wanting to slip. I flew up into the shaft and raised the hand not attached to the arm supporting Wally and used my telekinesis to lift Aqualad into the air and the three of us slowly floated down the shaft after Robin.

Robin zipped down the shaft until he suddenly stopped moving. He looked up confused and noticed that his grappling hook was out of rope. He looked around and noticed a near by platform and started to swing towards it. After he'd gained enough momentum he released the rope and swung onto the platform landing in a perfect crouch. He moved over to the control panel in the side of the wall and started hacking into the elevator doors on the level he was on.

I flew down beside him but there wasn't enough room on the platform for all of us so I gently placed Aqualad next to Robin while Wally and I floated behind them. Robin successfully hacked into the elevator doors and gave Aqualad the all clear. Aqualad nodded and forced the doors open and we all rushed through. I placed Wally on the ground and he released my waist as we took in our surroundings.

We started walking down the hallway and KF, being KF, ran ahead of the group and almost got trampled by a group of g-trolls. We all looked up at the creatures with a combination of shock, horror, and slight fear.

"Noooo nothing odd going on here" Aqualad said sarcastically. We continued walking down the hall once the creatures had passed and ended up in a room filled from floor to ceiling with g-sprites, creatures that created electricity. I flew up to one of the sprites in the middle of the room to get a better look at it.

"Ok I'm officially whelmed" Robin gapped looking around the room.

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing" I asked looking down at him. Robin just shrugged his shoulders.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these…things. Must be what they're bred for." KF said studying the g-sprites intently.

"Of course. Even the name's a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons' teeth into the earth" Aqualad told the group.

"And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let's find out why." Robin pulled out a cord from his glove, plugged it into the computer, and started looking through files. "They call them genomorphs. Whoa! Look at the stats on these things—super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!" he whisper-yelled as he continued to read.

"They're engineering an army, but for who" Wally wondered leaning over Robin's shoulder to look at the files.

"Wait, there's something else. Project Kr? Ugh! The file's triple encrypted I can't…"

"DON'T MOVE!" a loud voice commanded from behind us cutting off Robin's explanation. We all swerved around getting into fighting positions ready for anything and I was surprised to see Guardian running into the room with a group of g-elves by his side. I floated down to stand in-between Aqualad and Wally never moving my eyes away from Guardian and the g-elves. Robin continued to hack into the mainframe as we stalled and bought him some time.

"Wait, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Shade? Guardian said recognizing us.

"At least he got your name right," I whispered to KF.

"Oh yeah well that's just great, the bad guy henchmen in a secret underground genetics facility knows my name but the good kids above don't, that's absolutely ridiculous" he grumbled making me crack a small smile despite the situation.

"I know you, Guardian, a hero," Aqualad said to Guardian.

"I do my best," Guardian said shrugging.

"Then what are you doing here?" KF asked him.

"I'm chief of security. You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League and figure this out."

"I don't think the league is going to be pleased with you breeding weapons in a secret underground facility" I said glaring at him.

"Weapons? What are you…" suddenly the horns on the g-gnome perched on Guardians shoulder started to glow as it took control of Guardian's mind making him groan and clutch his head in pain.

I glanced at Guardian suspiciously and got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I crouched lower and clenched my fists feeling a fight about to break out.

Guardian stopped groaning and looked up at us, this time though his eyes were full of hatred and violence instead of patience and compassion "take them down hard! No mercy!"

The minute the words left his mouth the g-elves rushed us. Robin dropped a smoke bomb and used his grappling hook to evade the fight and started hacking into a nearby elevator creating an escape route. KF was fighting a group of g-elves, but was quickly being overpowered, so I went to help him.

I flew over and used my power over the air to blow the creatures away from KF and slam them into a wall. Wally and I fought back to back as more g-elves appeared. Aqualad ended up facing Guardian and was having some difficulty defeating him in a hand-to-hand battle so he ended up electrocuting him with his powers leaving Guardian dazed on the floor just long enough for us to escape.

Aqualad, KF, and I ran down the hall towards Robin while the g-elves chased after us.

"Way to be a team player, Rob!" KF yelled accusingly at Robin as he ran up next to him. I just crossed her arms and glared at him. If I could I would have hit him, but that would have broken his concentration on opening the doors for us to escape through, which at the moment was very important so I settled for hitting him later.

Rob laughed "weren't you right behind me?"

He bypassed the last firewall and when the elevator doors opened we all rushed inside. Aqualad barely had enough time to jump into the elevator as the doors were closing before the g-elves crashed into it. Once the doors were closed everyone let out a sigh of relief.

Once the elevator started moving I turned and slapped Robin's arm.

"Ow Shade what was that for" he yelled rubbing the spot where I'd hit him.

"That was for ditching us in the fight. Having an escape route was nice and all Rob, but we could have really used your help back there. And anyways I was going to hit you earlier but that would have broken your concentration on hacking into the doors so I waited until now" I said before leaning against the wall of the elevator with my arms folded.

Robin muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear, but knowing Robin it was probably a snaky comment about me.

"What was that?" I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"Nothing" he answered quickly, a little too quickly if you ask me. He sounded like I'd just caught him doing something he knew shouldn't have done and I smirked. No matter how many times I did it, messing with Robin never gets old.

KF looked up at the numbers in the elevator that told us what level we were on and realized that we were going down deeper into the ground "Dude out is up" he said pointing upwards.

"Excuse me? Project Kr is down on sub level 52" Rob said.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, "I want to leave just as much as you do KF, but Robin does have a point. We have to find out as much as we can about Cadmus before we leave, especially after what we just saw."

"This is out of control. Perhaps… perhaps we should contact the league," Aqualad suggested hesitantly, but before anyone could respond the elevator reached level 52 and the doors opened.

We all got into fighting stances ready for a fight, but no one was around. We ran out of the elevator and down a creepy red hallway.

"Which way?" Kaldur asked as we came up to a hall that split into two different directions.

"Yeah" I whispered pointing to the two paths "bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two."

Without anyone noticing Dubbilex managed to sneak up behind us as we were talking and yelled, "Halt!" as his eyes started to glow a bright red. He used his telekinesis to levitate some near by barrels and threw them at us causing them to explode and block one of the hallways.

"Well I guess that answers our question," I yelled as I deflected the second wave of barrels thrown at us as we ran down the unblocked hallway. KF ran ahead and accidentally collided into a scientist who was leaving a room labeled Project Kr.

KF saw that the door was closing and placed a barrel in-between the door to keep it open so everyone would have enough time to enter. Once everyone was inside I used my powers to dislodge the barrel from the door and it closed shut with a loud bang. Robin hacked into the door and disabled it so we were safe.

"Yeah but for how long there's only one way out of here, we're trapped." I muttered before noticing a large chamber in the middle of the room. I flew over to it and stood in front of the chamber.

"Hey guys come check this out" I called out to the boys. KF pushed a button by the chamber causing it to light up and reveal what was inside. Inside the chamber was a sleeping teenage boy who looked like a 16-year-old version of Superman.

He was tall and muscular with short choppy black hair. He was wearing a white body suit with the red Superman symbol on the chest. His eyes were closed so I couldn't see what color they were, but if I had to guess I would say they were bright blue just like Superman's.

Behind the boy, each in their own little containers, were three g-gnomes who seemed to be sleeping.

"Oh my gosh" I gasped looking at the boy as my eyes widened behind my mask. I faintly heard Aqualad order Robin to hack into the system and Rob telling us that the boy's name was Superboy. He was Superman's clone made by DNA acquired from Superman and was force grown in 16 weeks.

"More like stolen from Superman," I thought to myself.

"Their making a slave out of well...Superman's son" KF gapped.

I honestly wasn't paying attention to anything they said after that, but snapped back to attention when a hiss came from the chamber and the cover started to lift up. I stepped back from the chamber and stiffened upon seeing Superboy's hand clench into a fist even though the rest of his body was still.

I watched as Superboy opened his eyes and just like I'd predicted they were bright blue, just like Superman's, but I didn't have much time to process this fact before he jumped out of his pod and charged at me.

I flipped out-of-the-way and pushed him back with a gust of wind, but he recovered quickly and continued to attack. I dodged his punch and side stepped his foot as he aimed for my chest. I took a few cautious steps back, creating some distance between us, before lifting us both into the air so I could keep him from attacking while simultaneously trying to calm him down. If we could get him calm for half a second we could talk and explain ourselves. I understood why he attacked; he just woke up for the first time in who knows how long surrounded by complete strangers with powers and weapons. If I were him I'd probably be a little freaked out and attack as well, which is why I wanted to talk and explain that we aren't a threat.

I was going to keep him suspended in the air until he calmed down, but the three g-gnomes in his pod didn't like that idea. They invaded my mind causing me to lose my concentration and clutch my head in pain. My vision went fuzzy and I couldn't concentrate on keeping my powers activated. I released my hold on Superboy and fell towards the ground just as my body shut down and my world went dark.

"Shade!" Robin yelled as he ran to catch his friend before she hit the ground. He jumped and caught her just before she hit the floor. The mind blast had rendered her unconscious so he laid her safely on the ground in the corner away from the oncoming fight before glaring at Superboy.

"We're on your side," he yelled as he jumped on Superboy's back and grabbed his arm to try and keep him from punching Aqualad, who he had pinned to the floor. Wally ran over and grabbed his other arm and pulled with all his strength to keep Superboy's arm back. Superboy slipped out of their grips and punched Wally in the face sending him flying into the wall, knocking him out cold.

Robin activated one of his smoke bombs in Superboy's face causing him to start coughing and release Aqualad. He then pulled out his taser and shot it at Superboy's chest. He released the electricity hopping that would incapacitate the boy, but it only succeeded in annoying him further.

Robin's eyes widened in shock as he was pulled towards Superboy when he yanked the taser wires, which Robin was still holding, and punched him in the face knocking him unconscious. Aqualad saw that his teammates were all defeated and unconscious on the floor and clenched his fists in anger. He ran up behind Superboy and jumped on his back. He wrapped his arms around the boy's neck and used his powers to send out electricity from his hands and into Superboy's body. Superboy squirmed, but couldn't get Aqualad off his back, so he went to plan B.

With Aqualad still on his back he jumped up and slammed him into the ceiling. Aqualad grunted but kept his grip firm. Superboy slammed him into the ceiling a couple more times until his grip weakened. Eventually Aqualad hit his head against the ceiling wall and was knocked out. He slipped off Superboy's back and fell to the ground landing next to his teammates.

Superboy walked past his unconscious would be liberators and pushed the door to the room open. Doctor Desmund, the head of Cadmus facilities, stalked into the room and a large smirk grew on his face when he noticed the 4 unconscious teens splayed out on the floor.

He turned to Superboy who now had a blank expression on his face as he waited for his new orders.

"Attaboy" Desmund said patting Superboy on the shoulder. He ordered Guardian to lock the teens in pods and prepare them for cloning. The teens were collected and transported away to the cloning center.

"Well this should be fun," Desmund thought to himself before turning to the door. His evil chuckle reverberated through the halls as he left the room.

Tada! Chapter 1 is finished, what did you think? Please R&R!