"Help! Get us out!"

"Okay, stay calm. I will help." I smiled, flying above the building and created a slide and gestured for the scientists to use it. "You'll be fine."

An explosion goes off behind them and the force of it pushes the two out the window while I turned the slide into a baseball glove and caught them with ease. Kid Flash zooms onto the scene, running up the wall but he's not fast enough to get there, causing him to slip and fall into the glove as well.

"Really, Kid Flash?" I smirked.

"Not all of us can fly!" He defended, helping the scientists get off and I elevated him back to the building only to see Robin typing away on a computer. "How did you get up here so quickly!?"

"I have my ways... Besides we're here to investigate." He smirked.

The clang of the doors meets draws the attention of the other two. Bringing them right behind Aqualad.

"There was something in the-"

"Elevators should be locked down." Kid Flash says, standing straight.

Robin grabs his elbow and shoulder before moving past him without a word, then slipping right of Aqualad and I. Coming to the area of the elevator, looking at it with scrutiny.

"This is wrong." He pulls up a HoloScreen on his gauntlet. "This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad states gravely, before trying to force the doors open but couldn't. "Red Lantern, can you-"

"On it." I said and pried the doors open without using my ring, leaving all of them shocked. "It's not that hard..."

Robin ducks under his arm, kneeling down to try and get a better look.

"And that's why they need an express elevator." Then he stands, shooting his grappling hook into the top of the column. Once it sticks, he jumps, letting himself fall. Aqualad and Kid Flash follow with almost no hesitance while I flew down next to Robin.

Once we were in the sub-level 25, Robin's rope ended and he swung to the ledge.

"Bypassing security." he waits as his five little robin heads go from red to green. "There. Go."

I pried open the doors and we all walked out, only for Kid Flash to speed away.

"Kid, wait!" Aqualad tries, but the speedster doesn't stop. The sounds of heavy footsteps in the hallway that cuts across the one he's running in forces him to skid.

However, he can't stop in time, falling into the hallway as massive creatures that walk on all fours but stand nearly as tall as the hallway walk down in two rows. He barely dodges the hand of the leader. Breathing a sigh of relief, then standing and running back across where we were.

"You ever seen that in space?" Robin asked and I shook my head.

"Not even when I was being trained in Okaara with my old friend Koriand'r when I was younger."

"No... nothing odd going on here." Aqualad says sarcastically and I chuckled.

"I've seen worse."

"Of course you have."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"Okay, I'm officially whelmed."

"I still don't understand what that means."

Within the room are towering rows of bug-like creatures, giving off electrical pulses that seem to then go through a generator in the wall before them, but nearly 20 feet off the ground.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world." Kid Flash realizes as they walk between the towering rows. "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these... things."

"Even the name is a clue." Aqualad agrees. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too." Robin agrees stepping up to the computer nearest one of the rows of creatures. "Let's find out why."

"I have a bad feeling, boys." I called out, not tearing my gaze from the creatures.

"They call them Genomorphs... Look at the stats on these things- super-strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army, but for who?" Kid Flash questions.

"Wait. There's something else." Robin says as another batch of information comes through to his gauntlet. Aqualad now steps up behind Robin, looking over his shoulder. "Project Kr." he tries to start decrypting it. "Ugh! The file's triple-encrypted. I- I can't-"

"Don't move!" Guardian calls, Genomorphs growling around him. "Wait, Robin, Red Lantern, Aqualad, Kid Flash?"

"At least he got your name right." I teased and nudged Kid Flash.

"I know you." Aqualad speaks, momentarily catching Robin's attention. "Guardian, a hero."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash questions, confused.

"I'm Chief of Security." Guardian responds. "You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

"You really think they'll approve of you breeding weapons?" I scoffed, creating a shield when I noticed the Genomorphs step closer to us.

Take them down hard!" he tells the Genomorphs. Then points directly at the three teenagers. "No mercy."

"Time to go!" I yelled, wrapping all of us around the shield, but Robin threw a smoke bomb and swung away on his grappling hook. "I hate it when he does that!"

"Go after him, we got this!" Aqualad ordered and I nodded, flying to the other side of the room where Robin was trying to hack open the door.

"You really should stop disappearing like that."

"Why? Gets on your nerves?" Robin smirked as I formed a shield around him.

"Can you not leave yourself open like that as well!? You're asking to get killed!"

"Aww. Worried about me?"

"More like that if you die, I have to explain to your mentor why and how I got you killed because he doesn't like me very much."

"Geez, I wonder why."

"Way to be a team player, Rob!" Kid Flash says as he skids to a stop beside us.

"Weren't you right behind me?" he questions, surprised, but not stalling in his hacking of the elevator. It opens and the three of us dive in, turning and facing back down the hall as Aqualad continues to run from the Genomorphs, diving into the elevator and the door closes right behind him.

"Why are we headed down?" I asked. "Out is up."

"Excuse me?" Robin questions, offended. "Project Kr, it's down on Sub-Level 52."

"Okay, good point."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"Which way?"

"Why does it look like the inside of an intestine?" I grimaced and they all turned to me. "What?"

"How... how do you know what it looks like?" Robin asked.

"You do not want to know what I've seen before I came to Earth." I shrugged, stopping in front of a door. "I think I found it."

"Open it!" Kid Flash ordered and I used the ring to pry open the door. "Oh, now you use it!?"

"By the size of the door, it would be difficult for my normal strength to open it, stupid." I ushered all of the. inside and Robin disabled the door.

""Uh, guys." Kid Flash calls out. "You'll want to see this."

Hitting a single button to turn all the lights on in the chamber and inside the pod in the center of the room. We all stared in disbelief as I took a step closer to the pod, ignoring Robin as he called out to me.

"Robin, what's this about?" I asked, not tearing my gaze away from the boy in the pod.

"Weapon Designation Superboy, a clone force-grown in... sixteen weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman." Aqualad accuses.

"No way the big guy knows about this." Kid Flash agrees.

"Solar Suit allows him to absorb yellow-sun radiation 24/7." Robin continues to read off.

"And these creatures?" Aqualad questions indicating to the ones on the projection off of Robin's gauntlet.

"Genomorph Gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education." Robin relays sourly.

"And we can guess what else." Kid Flash says, capturing the attention of the other two. "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son."

"We contact the League." I decided as we all called our respective mentors but got no answer. "Or maybe not..."

"We're literally in too deep." Kid Flash says and turned to me. "There's no way you can contact Green Lantern with your ring?"

"My ring might summon the entire Corps and alert the Oans, not just my mentor... you don't want me to take that risk, especially if Red and Green Lanterns are close by and not fighting a war."

"What do you mean?"

"Red Lanterns are the enemies of the Green Lanterns. Rage overcomes willpower, which is why it was a shock to everyone when Green took me in as a protégé and the Oans allowed me to live in Earth with him."

"So why did he take you if Red and Green are enemies?" Aqualad asked and I shrugged.

"I was a child fighting a war when the Ring chose me... he was the only one who saw me as I truly was and not what Tamaran made me believe I was. I think that's why he took me in. If the Red Corps found me before he did-"

"There's no telling what you would've done." Robin realized and I nodded. "Talk about perfect timing."

"You have no idea." I smiled softly and turned my attention back to the pod when the Genomorphs started glowing. "We can't leave him like this."

"Set him free." Aqualad decides and turns ti Robin who immediately started hacking. "Do it."

The Boy Wonder needs no further prodding and begins work on it immediately. All four of us watch as the pod falls away from the boy who looks physically 16. Though the pod is gone he remains calm.

As the G-gnomes begin to hiss again his bright blue eyes snap open. Aqualad raises his eyebrows in a silent question, but no one dares to actually speak. Before anyone can blink Superboy launches himself at Aqualad. Tackling him to the ground and leaving us to watch the movement in shock.

"Anytime now, Red." Robin whispered and I shook away the initial shock, running over to Superboy and knocked him off Aqualad.

Using the ring to create chains, I tied them around the boy as Robin and Kid Flash held his arms down.

"Whoa! Hang on, Supey." Kid Flash tries, holding the Kryptonian's forearm with all his strength.

"We're on your side!" Robin also attempts to talk to the raging maniac. Kid Flash loses his fight against Superboy and gives the clone enough time to land an uppercut under the speedster's jaw. Knocking him up and back and through a display cylinder. Then on the back of his neck and flopping to the ground, unconscious.

Aqualad ran up and landed a solid sidekick to the stomach, which sends him into the console and to the ground before his pod. I moved the chains further up his neck, fighting against the urge of the Ring to kill him.

Robin keeps going and pulls out a high-voltage taser. They pin to his chest and send high amounts of electricity, but they have no effect. He grabs the wires and yanks on them, breaking free of the chains in the process. Catching the young teen by surprise and pulling him towards him with ease. Catching him on the front of his cape then slamming him to the ground.

"Robin!" I yelled and regenerated the chains to swing Superboy to one of the walls and then to the ground in front of me, creating a dent in the process.

Yanking the chains back, Aqualad pulls out his WaterBearers, creating a massive hammer and landed a solid hit, knocking him back through the support of his pod.

I helped Robin up to his knees, but he's groaning and clutching his chest in pain. Until he finally falls into my arms, unconscious.

"Shield them!" Aqualad ordered and I dragged Kid Flash towards us and created a dome, sealing the three of us in.

Superboy noticed the shield and threw Aqualad to the ceiling light a few times, rendering him unconscious. He ran up to the shield and started hitting it repeatedly, the shock causing me to lose focus and allow it to break.

Before I could hit back, Superboy grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground. I clawed at his arms trying to fly away but his grip kept tightening until I started to lose oxygen.

However, before I fully lost consciousness, I pressed the symbol on my suit in one last hope of calling Hal.

After all, hope overcomes rage.