Awakening And Escape From Cadmus

As Aqualad kicked the blockage out of the way of the closing door, just in time to stop the Genomorphs from getting entry into the room, Robin spoke up behind him.

"I disabled the door. We're safe," he said in time with the clunking sounds of mechanisms in the door that echoed through the chamber. Still, Aqualad didn't look at ease or relaxed, instead choosing to scowl.

"We're trapped," he countered, gesturing to the fact there were no more exits out of this room other than the one Robin had just locked shut. One that had dozens of enemies behind it.

Kid Flash, however, put their little argument to an end as he spoke up nervously, "Uhh, guys?" he audibly gulped before continuing, "You'll wanna come over here and see this," he said before pushing down on a button that turned the lights on throughout the cavernous room they'd found themselves in.

The lights showed a chamber of sorts. Sort of like a glass coffin. It was made of dark metal and thick glass but the make-up of the chambers materials wasn't the interesting part - it was what was inside of it.

Looking passed the 'Kr' written across the front panel of thick glass in a peculiar font, there was a person. A boy, to be exact.

His age was hard to know, considering how he looked, but he couldn't be an adult due to the hint of boyishness on his face that most teenagers have. But this was nearly completely offset by the fact the teenagers body was brawny and well-muscled like a professional Olympic gymnast. Other than that, he had black hair, cut short on the back and sides and left to grow a little more on the top which went well with the handsome features his face was sporting.

Yet none of that was what caught the three's attention. No, what caught their attention was the white body suit he was wearing the familiar 'S' symbol on his chest.

Kid Flash was the first to break out of his stupor and he walked up to the chamber, tracing his finger across the 'Kr' symbol on the glass, "...Big 'K', little 'r', the atomic symbol for Krypton. Clone?" he turned back and asked Robin, his mind running a mile a minute.

"Robin, hack," Aqualad was putting the pieces together himself and turned to the shorter raven-haired boy with a severe expression on his face. Robin gave a nod and turned to the console, inserting a gadget from his gauntlet and letting it bypass the security.

A few moments later and he was in.

"Weapon designation...Superboy. A clone force grown in," he stopped and re-read the section he'd just seen before exclaiming in shock, "17 weeks?! Grown from DNA acquired from Superman and some unknown DNA found on a crashed spaceship*."

(*A/N - What's the DNA? Yato Tribe from Gintama. Before anyone comes in and says ''What could that add to Superboy?'' I'll give you the answer: A lot. Yato like Kagura and her brother could utterly destroy the Superboy from Young Justice. Add Yato to a Kryptonian/Human hybrid and you'll have a Tribid that you really wouldn't wanna fuck with. Not to mention a Yato's incredibly combat talent.)

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected and Kid Flash nodded, carrying on.

"No way the big guy knows about this," he said, his voice showcasing the utter shock he was no doubt feeling knowing there was a clone of Superman in the world.

Robin continued reading as Kid Flash and Aqualad shared a look, "Solar suit he's wearing has allowed him to absorb solar radiation 24/7. Oh man, look at some of the tests they did on his biology - Muscle density, bone density, muscle structure, nervous system configuration, tissue structure and quality--it's all off the charts. Must be a mutation from whatever they added from that crashed spaceship mixing with Superman's DNA," Robin exclaimed, looking through the tests in the files on Project Kr aka Superboy.

"And these creatures?" Aqualad pointed toward three small creatures placed in small glass eggs behind the unconscious figure in the 'Kr' chamber.

"Genomorph Gnomes," Robin answered after some further reading before continuing, "Telepathically force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else," Kid Flash ominously added, "They're basically making a slave out of...well, Superman's son," he said with a frown, causing the other two to frown as well.

Aqualad reached down and pushed his belt buckle, causing it to glow a neon blue, "Now we contact the league," he said, earning a nod from both Kid Flash and Robin who each tried to contact the league through their own communication devices. Except he stopped a moment later, shaking his head, "No signal."

"We're in too deep," Kid Flash said, taking his hand off his own earpiece, "Literally."

Things went silent for a few more seconds before Kid Flash looked at the clone and shook his head, looking back toward Aqualad and Robin, "This is wrong. We can't leave him like this. To be some sort of...I don't know, weapon for whatever Cadmus has planned."

After thinking for a few seconds, Aqualad nods and looks to Robin, "Do it."

Robin nods and presses a few places on his gauntlet before the chamber holding the clone hissed and began to open up.

. . .

POV Change - Superboy

I don't know how long I've been in this place but I know it hasn't been THAT long.

One day, I'm an ordinary teen and then I get hit by a truck. Typical McKinley luck. Then I wake up in a new body, having information poured into my head by some outside source.

It was kind of like being in a coma. Or at least how some people describe comas. I was semi-conscious throughout whatever this experience was--whether it was heaven, hell or even purgatory, I don't know. I just know that sometimes I hear people around me. That sometimes I feel something scanning through me. I hear the clanking of machinery, heavy doors opening and closing and hushed voices talking about something called 'The Weapon'.

Once I'd heard them mention 'Project Kr' and that sounded familiar, and with nothing to do, I looked through my memories on stuff that it could be.

It wasn't easy to look through my memories though. Not when information was being poured into my head. Languages were crammed into my head and I was forced to learn and understand them. Then came what felt like someone was pouring an encyclopedia on the Earth's history into my brain. Then other useless trivia and skills came along.

After who knows how long, I finally figured out what 'Project Kr' meant. It was something from a show called 'Young Justice' and it was a project with the sole purpose of cloning Superman and the way one of the shows main characters, Superboy, was made.

Just as I made this connection, however, I heard the machinery around me clunking and moving. Hissing, as it opened up.

I finally felt like some sort of mental block was lifted, one that kept me asleep and only semi-conscious, but it was soon replaced by another mental affliction. One that told me to kill the intruders. Who were the intruders? The next people I saw. So, when I opened my eyes and laid eyes on some weirdly dressed people, I bite my tongue and raised my hands to my forehead as I fought off the foreign influence in my brain.

I stumbled out of what looked like a glass variant of the super soldier chamber Steve Rogers was put in, in the MCU movie, and fell to my knees. My body tried to move without me but I pushed down the urge and pointed a hand at the chamber hoping the three in front of me understood what I was trying to get across.

They, thankfully did, with the shortest of the trio taking action, a raven-haired teen dressed up in red, black and a bit of yellow spandex lined with what looked like body armor.

He pulled something from a yellow utility belt and flung some projectiles at the chamber behind me, the sharp metal objects easily digging into the chamber and then blowing up, taking with it both the chamber where I'd been held and whatever was putting that shit into my head.

Feeling the pain caused by the invasion of my mind fading, I greedily took in air as sweat poured off of me. That was some unreal levels of pain - and take it from a guy who's been in hospital for a number of health conditions, that I'm not bluffing when I say that pain was mind-breakingly bad. I'm just lucky these three were here to help otherwise I'd have probably snapped.

"Uh, you okay there, Supey?" I heard from in front of me and went to reply, only for my voice to come out as nothing but a hoarse whisper. That was odd.

Coughing and clearing my throat, I forced the answer out of my mouth, "I...I really don't know. My head hurts," a voice that wasn't my own exited my mouth but I kept my shock to a minimum as I was slowly piecing together what was happening.

Died via truck, waking up in a new place, new voice--I looked down at my exceptionally muscular and well-toned body under a skin-tight white bodysuit--new body as well.

...Ah shit, I was transmigrated by Truck-kun, wasn't I? And Project Kr could only mean one thing.

Superboy. If I'm in the chamber where Kid Flash, Robin and Aqualad found Superboy, dressed up in the same white suit Superboy was found in, it could only mean one thing. I'm Superboy.

Shakily, I stood to my feet, noting the power brimming within my body and the utter energy I felt flooding through my veins before composing myself and looking to the trio in front of me just to make sure I was completely right with my earlier assumption.

A lean but muscular ginger with an average height was looking at me with worried eyes but I ignored that and looked at the costume he was wearing. Yellow boots, red spandex pants, a yellow long-sleeve spandex shirt with a white circle on the center of the chest and a red lightning bolt going through it and finished off with red gloves. Oh, and not to forget the yellow mask that covered the neck, forehead and around the eyes but left the hair on top to flow freely.

Kid Flash, Flash's protégé.

The raven-haired kid who'd helped me out before. Dressed up in a red and black bodysuit with a black cape and some yellow splashed in there every now and then. Not to forget the domino mask nor the black circle on the left side of his chest with a yellow 'R' inside of it.

Robin, Batman's protégé.

And finally a dark-skinned man with a tall and defined build, sporting blond hair that was cut very, very short and icy blue eyes. He was wearing a red vest with jagged black lines across it horizontally, stretching toward the mid-point of the vest - specifically three lines, one from just under his pecs, another from under his ribs and another from around his waist. They looked somewhat like the gills on either side of his neck. He had blue pants made of the same type of material a wetsuit is made out of and had what looked like dorsal fins on the back of his carves. He was also shoeless.

Aqualad, Aquaman's protégé.

There was no denying it now - I was most definitely Superboy and these guys were definitely the characters from 'Young Justice'. Which meant we were in the first episode of the series. Goddamn, if I knew I was suddenly gonna die and get transmigrated to this universe, I'd have tried to remember more about the show.

Luckily I knew the first few episodes well enough purely because of nostalgia memory. After that it'd be more guess work, especially with how things will change because I'm here...or rather, how I'm here and how my mind in Superboy's body will undoubtedly change shit.

"No doubt because of those Genomorphs trying to control you to attack us or something," Robin answered what I'd said - my thought process happening extremely quickly due to being half-Kryptonian or whatever - and I nodded in reply, stilling nursing the brutal pangs of pain that rushed through my head.

Pointing to the door, I started, "Look, they're gonna be rushing in here anytime now. With the current situation, we won't be able to escape. They'll surround us with everything they have. We need to put on a little act so we can get alone and then I can break you out."

The trio looked at me with suspicious gazes before Kid Flash couldn't stop himself and spoke up.

"What kind of act? Besides, how can we trust that you won't suddenly go all clone crazy and then try to trick us--?!" he was cut off by Robin clipping him upside the back of the head and I grinned at that, shaking my head and shrugging.

"You can't know you can trust me for certain," I admitted before pointing back to the destroyed chamber I'd just been in, "But at least you know I'm not being telepathically controlled behind your back. Besides, me even offering up a plan in the first place should show my innocence and whether I'm trustworthy or not. All I need to do is wait here for that door to open and you guys to be capture. I'm not the one they're gonna kill when they get in here."

That put a stop to Kid Flash as he froze before putting a hand to his chin and seemingly thinking, all before he let out a sigh and dropped his hand in sync with his shoulders slumping, "...Oh man," he groaned before pointing toward me, "You look like a brute but you speak like Robin over here. Why couldn't you just be a dumb brute?" he complained, gaining a glare from Robin who looked to me soon after.

"Then why help us get out of here? Surely you can just wait around like you said. It'd surely be safer than whatever you have planned," he reasoned and I nodded, agreeing with him before frowning and gesturing to the room around us.

"Do I look free here?" I rhetorically asked before shaking my head, "The answer's no. Whatever they have planned for me, it certainly isn't freedom. I want out. I've wanted out ever since they made me. I've been conscious all this time and...and I just don't wanna be kept in here anymore," my voice was filled with a sincerity which surprised even me and caused me to wonder if some of Superboy had been spliced into my own personality.

My words gained me looks of pity from all three and I felt a spark of annoyance build up inside of me--Yep, definitely been spliced with Superboy a little--but I pushed it down and waited for the trio to make their decision.

They each looked at each other for a few moment before all turning back to me and nodding.

I smiled, before beginning to explain the plan, "So, basically, I'm gonna have to rough you guys up a little bit--"

. . .

"...Was that extra knockout punch really necessary?" Kid Flash asked, though his voice was muffled through the glass of the tube he was currently restrained inside of.

I gave him a grin, "You didn't strike me as the type of person who knew how to act unconscious like the other two. You've only talked since we met...you seem a little too restless for acting unconscious," I joked and Robin stifled a laugh in his pod off to the left while Aqualad gave an amused smiled from his own pod. Jokes aside, I continued, "We wait for the doctor who resides over this facility to come here. He won't want me outside of a chamber in case I get any ideas. He'll come here soon enough. When he does, I'll release your restraints and we'll spring an escape on them. Understood?" I asked the three of them, getting nods in return.

"You seem awfully well put together despite only being 17 weeks old," Robin intoned, squinting his eyes down at me.

"I'm sure you read the files. I was force-fed information and I have a Kryptonian brain. Not to mention I'm being fed solar radiation as we speak. My brain adapts information insanely quickly, it would seem," I answered, pressing a few buttons on the console to get some of the first steps out of the way. I wasn't necessarily lying either.

This new brain of mine was filled with incredible amounts of information and yet remembering it and utilizing it is as easy as breathing. Not quick enough to be as composed as I currently am but these guy's didn't need to know that.

Robin hummed in reply but I could tell he was still somewhat suspicious. No doubt because of who his mentor is and the training he's undergone. ''Question everything'' or whatever.

True to my expectations and my foreknowledge, the scientist who oversaw Project Cadmus, alongside a man who was dressed up in a blue combat suit and had a golden helmet on, walked into the room with an unknown female scientist.

I ignored what the lead scientist said and instead clicked a few extra keys on the console, opening the trios containers and unlocking their restraints before turning around and rushing the three who'd entered.

Consciously holding back so I didn't turn them into clouds of red mist, I tapped the forehead of the lead scientist who I believe is called Mark Desmond - if my memory serves me right - knocking him out before grabbing the golden helmeted man by the neck and throwing him up and into the ceiling, before he fell back down and let out a groan before going unconscious.

The last of the three to enter tried to turn and run but I rushed after her, my explosive power and speed being utterly inhuman and caught up to her which allowed me to 'lightly' tap her on the back of the head, knocking her out with little trouble.

And with that done, it was time to escape.