"An egg. Of all the things, the kid was in an egg!" Jason choked on his beer and spluttered wildly between giggles. The rest of the team seemed to find much amusement in Wally's statement as well, including Connor and Aqualad.

Earlier...
"Why must we go back to Cadmus? The place is nothing but rubble!" Batman said nothing because his furrowed white lenses of his mask did all the talking. And right now, they were telling Wally to shut his mouth before something bad happened.

"Guardian gave us a tip about an additional level under 52. One that the lift doesn't take you to. In order to get to it, you must take a stairway. You, Aqualad, and Superboy will be the only ones on the team going on this mission. M'gann is staying here at the mountain." Wally abruptly stood up at the words.

"Why!? Can't M'gann come too?" Batman's covered eyes moved to narrow at the speedster who once again questioned him. "Jon wants to spend some time with his niece. That is why. But Red Robin will be accompanying you." Superboy and Kid Flash groaned in unison as the mentioned vigilante stepped out of the shadows along with his older brother, Red Hood.

"I still don't see why Red Hood couldn't have gone with them instead."

"I didn't want to go with them. Seniority beats the youngest!" Jason grinned, not having his red helmet on. Only a mask hid his eyes.

"But I have better things to do than babysit a couple of kids!" Tim protested, his hands folding into fists at his sides.

"Look who's talking!" Wally retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean, Kid Mouth!" Tim stomped over to where Wally was standing.

"It means you're a fucking 13 year old. I'm 16, so suck it! Bitch."

"You're a fucking jerk!"

"Ooh. Now the kid cusses."

"Go suck your dick and die in a hole!"

"Ouch! That hurt. Luckily I don't have a dick to suck!"

"Oh my god." Tim erupted in laughter and tears at the speedster's statement.

Wally finally realized what he had said and tried to protest. "No. Wait! That's not what I meant!"

"Too late now, Kid Mouth. Tim's officially made you his fucking bitch!" Jason was in tears on the ground, right beside his brother as they howled with laughter. Wally looked pleadingly at Batman, but was stunned when he saw the man's own lips turned upright in a smirk.

"Maybe next time, you will think before you say anything." Aqualad chided, his tone laced with amusement. The luck of having the fastest mouth yet seemingly the slowest mind.

"I hate you all."

CADMUS | July 23 | 16:45 EDT

"So...how are we supposed to go down to level 53?"

"By using the elevator, Kid Bitch."

"Let's refrain from fighting until after we complete the mission." Aqualad said firmly, gaze directed toward Kid Flash and Red Robin before observing the main entrance room. "It is amazing how fast they repaired the building in such a short time. After all, it has only been 20 days since we were last here."

"Yeah. Last thing I recall was this place completely collapsed." Superboy added, walking behind Aqualad. The elevator doors opened for them. Kid Flash grinned mischievously and said, "I spy with my big eye 52 buttons. Where is 53?" Tim let out an exasperated sigh as he punched the button that had '52' on it. The elevator doors closed and a minute of silence passed before Tim began to rant.

"Were you not listening to Batman? Obviously you weren't or you would know these things! We have to take the damn stairs to get to level 53!"

"Dude! Take a damn chill pill! You're looking red. I was only playing." Kid Flash chuckled at the Robin's fury. "You take these too damn serious."

"Why don't you go f-" "ENOUGH!" Both Kid Flash and Red Robin turned to look at Aqualad, who was very stern. "I am the leader of this team, and therefore I have the right and responsibility to report everything that happens in a mission to Batman. This childish bickering will not continue until our mission has ended. Understood?"

Tim and Wally nodded in fear. It was never good to get an Atlantean upset.

The elevator came to a stop with a ding before the doors opened, revealing something none of the boys were expecting. There was no cave anymore. Just a long, neat hall that extended further into the ground. The sealed doors were gone, leaving a large opening connected to the room where Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Red Hood had discovered Superboy. The room was full of genomorphs, along with Dubbilex. The g-goblin turned around upon sensing the arrival of the teens and his gaze fell on Superboy.

"Welcome brother. What brings you back to Cadmus?"

"Guardian said that there was another level beneath this one. Any news?" Superboy asked.

"Yes. There is a level beneath 52. The stairs will take you straight to it." Dubbilex guided them to the staircase before stepping aside for the heroes. "Would you like me to lead the way?"

"No. Thank you...brother." Superboy gave Dubbilex a small smile before following Aqualad down the narrow staircase. Behind him, Kid Flash and Red Robin were shoving each others sides with their elbows. Wally raised his elbow to hit Tim back but froze when he saw it.

A human-sized egg was in the middle of the room. "What are they trying to make with this? Chickenzilla?"

"Be quiet! You ruined the moment!" Tim whispered, elbowing Wally in the side. "Ow! You little shit!" Wally went to kick Tim, but was surprised when the younger beat him to it. They were too close to the egg, the hint being when Wally collided with Superboy's back, the clone jolted forward and swung his fist.

Which cracked the egg and it rolled off a small pedestal.

All bodies froze as the egg rolled on it's side and something inside it released a tiny whimper. The crack grew larger, circling around the egg before it finally broke. By then the tiny whimper had grown into several whimpers.

Superboy slowly walked toward the egg and lifted the top of it up, revealing another teenager. His ice blue eyes were full of fear, but they were partly covered by stray strands of raven black hair.

"What. The. Fuck. Is that?" Tim elbowed Wally's side again before walking closer to the egg and the boy. "Hi. I'm Red Robin. What's your name?" The teenager's whimpers had finally stopped, and he was now staring at the masked vigilante and his friends.

"Hello? Can you speak english?"

"Cine esti?"

"Nope he's fucking broken." Wally said bluntly and was hit in the back of the head by Tim.

"He's speaking Romanian, you fucking dolt." Red Robin scowled before turning his attention to the lost teenager.

"Eu sunt Red Robin. Tu?"

The boy didn't answer, frightened by the other three guys behind Tim.

"Ei nu sunt aici pentru a vă răni. aceștia sunt prietenii mei. Superboy, Aqualad, și Kid Idiot." The boy snickered at the name while Kid Flash scowled. "Enough with the greetings. Who is he and why is he here?"

"He was an experiment of Cadmus. A current one actually." Dubbilex answered, scaring Kid Flash and the boy in the egg. "He was codenamed Project SSS." His horns glowed red as he stared at the boy.

"Speed. Strength. Sparrow. He is basically a relative to Superboy. Only...he is not a clone." Red Robin's eyes narrowed.

"Are you telling us that Cadmus experimented on a boy without knowing the results?" Dubbilex's gaze turned to him as he answered.

"No. They did a few test runs before hand. Making sure everything went smoothly. They made clones of the boy and after they were sure the success rate overran the failure rate, the clones were destroyed and they began to experiment on the boy himself."

"Do you know who he is? Where he came from?" Superboy asked. 'This boy has a family probably worried about him.'

"They found him in the Juvenile Detention Center. His parents were killed during their circus act on the trapeze. That is all I know. They never care of names, because we were just projects to them." Dubbilex informed them, staring at the lost boy.

Superboy groaned. 'That throws out the possibility of getting him home.'

"We will be taking him back with us. After all, it would be unfair to leave him here for the rest of his life." Aqualad informed Dubbilex, who simply nodded and said, "That may be for the best. Good luck."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Later

"So where is the kid right now?" M'gann asked curiously, hoping to see what the egg-kid looked like.

"I'm not a kid. I am far from actually." All heads turned to the speaker, who was much different than before. His eyes were masked by a pair of sunglasses and he was dressed in a plain red hoodie and black skinny pants that hugged his skin. His hair was a messy heap still but he seemed okay with it.

"I am officially whelmed."