Let's Deal
Robin was concentrating on hacking the place while Kid Flash continued giving him the stink eye, something Robin decided to aggravate further by winking right at him. If Kid Flash could, he would have wanted nothing more but punch that blasphemous eye black. He was glad that Angel was not like the other female heroes in that her entire body was covered by armor, so Robin would not take a look down her armor's chest intentionally or otherwise.
"Just got something," Robin announced and Angel decided to stop the descent so that she could hear too. Her wings stabbed the metallic walls of the shaft once again, stopping them.
"I found a few files that are bound to raise flags. Apparently, there is a breeding program for organisms called Genomorphs. These things are built for war looking at their stats, super strength,durability, claws even telekinesis! In another file, I found that they bred organisms that can emit vast amounts of bioelectricity that they used to power this entire facility!"
"That's why there has been no flags! They must be using enough power to run New York alone!" Kid Flash stated.
"There's a file that contains the letters Kr. I can't go any deeper or I will activate alarms," Robin said.
"Kr? Isn't that the atomic symbol for Krypton?" Kid Flash asked.
"So whatever they are doing down there must involve Superman. We can call the League and they can handle this," Aqualad said.
"Whatever is down there might be kryptonite. Lex Luther proved that making other variants of Kryptonite is possible. We need to make sure that whatever is down there is not harmful to Superman or the rest of the League before we call them," Angel said. The three boys thought for a few moments before nodded in agreement.
"Fine. But we call them as soon as we find what Kr means," Aqualad spoke up. She grunted in agreement and resumed their downwards journey.
"There it is, sublevel 52," Robin announced when they arrived at the required floor. Angel swung Aqualad onto the door and he pulled it open. The two boys jumped over to opened door and she pushed herself after them, her wings furled behind her.
"I'm not taking you all up like that again," she complained.
"This way," Robin told them and led the way using a map on his wrist's computer. It was then they came across a female scientist coming out of a vault writing in a clipboard. When she saw them, her eyes widened in panic before hitting a pad in the wall next to a vault door, causing it to start closing.
"No you don't!" Angel said, flapped her wings as hard as she could, catapulting her forwards, sliding to a stop between the giant door sliding shut and its metal frame. She got hold of the door and started pushing back, stalling it.
"Hurry!" she called out to the sidekicks. Kid Flash ran in fast followed by Robin and Aqualad last, tapping her shoulder to show he was in. She let go and took a step in while the door closed with a snap. Her left wing slashed the control panel, destroying it and also magically making anyone that would try to open it from outside to fail.
'I always fail to imagine how that usually works,' she chuckled inwardly then turned around. There in the middle was a cryopod and inside it was sleeping beauty himself, Superboy. In smaller pods above his own were three little Genomorphs which were bound to cause mischief later on.
"It's those letters again, Kr," Aqualad said pointing at the two letters etched on the cryopod. Robin quickly hocked into the computer next to the pod and hacked into it.
"Guys, you won't believe this! It says here that this is Superman's clone force grown in 16 weeks!" Robin announced.
"So, you're saying Cadmus is keeping Superman's son locked up down here!" Kid Flash said. "They are making a slave out of his son!"
"What about those creatures?" Aqualad pointed at the little creatures above the clone's head.
"Genomorph gnomes, telepathic, force feeding him education," Robin answered.
"We can guess what else!" Kid Flash added.
"This is wrong," Aqualad said looking at the clone with pity. "W...We should let him out." All three agreed, not even asking for Angel's thoughts on this. Robin opened up the pods, causing the cold air inside to escape with a hiss.
The clone became active now that the cold was not restricting him and the first thing he did was clench his hands into fists, producing popping sounds showing he had not moved for a long time. His blue eyes opened, showing the rage inside him and with a bestial roar, he pounced towards Angel for she was the meanest looking of them all, thinking he would defeat her quickly enough to take care of the small fry only for her to throw him away with a judo throw. He hit the metal vault like door with a bang, his breath taken away and slid down with squeks.
"Keep him occupied for a second," she told the three who quickly went into action as she turned to the small Genomorphs in their own pods. Her right wing slashed them all into halves before she turned and flapped towards the fight.
Superboy, even with no prior fighting experience, was very much formidable. His half Kryptonian side made him annoyingly invulnerable, strong and durable. He was tanking Kid Flash punching his stomach repeatedly in superspeed while tanking Aqualad's punches.
"Got him!" Angel announced as she got hold of his other arm. She slinked behind him just as Aqualad punched him on his fast, staggering the clone. With a kick to the back of his knee, Superboy was brought to one knee.
"Rwaargh!" the clone roared defiantly as he tried to free his hand with brute force but she was just as strong. Thanks to Kamikaze's crazy training regime, she could hold out to the early version of Superboy just nicely and she would be growing stronger with even more training. Aqualad had gotten hold of his other arm from behind and was trying to force him in his other knee but the clone defied this with all his will.
"I got this," Angel told Aqualad and slashed the clone behind his other leg's knee with her wing, causing blood to fly off and the clone to roar in pain, folding his leg painfully and now he was in a kneeling position. The two of them forced him into his stomach amidst his unintelligible roars.
"Robin, do you have any knock out gas?" Angel asked boy wonder who quickly nodded and produced a collapsible gas mask from his utility belt and a gas canister.
"Batman used this once to take down an evil version of Wonderwoman in another dimension," he said as he fixed the gas mask onto the clone's face and proceeded to connect the canister to the mask and let the gas flow inside. The clone struggled the best he could to get off but with two people same physically strong as he was, he had no chance of escape. The gas hit hard, making him lose consciousness in a few seconds then his body went limp. Angel and Aqualad still continued pressing on for a minute just in case he was faking it but he did not even budge. Robin removed the mask after closing the canister as they let go of the clone.
"That's why you need all the votes when making these decisions," Angel told the boys who nodded back.
"What do we do with him?" Kid Flash asked.
"Right now, there might be an army waiting for us outside that door. If we open it, we might be torn apart. But don't worry, I have a plan and it involves this clone," Angel assured them. A sudden thump on the door made Kid Flash jump away in fright. Angel looked at him and laughed softly.
"Don't worry, they aren't coming in soon. Hope the clone wakes up before then. But first, let's restrain him," she said. Robin produced a titanium cord from his utility belt and they used it to tie him up.
"Almost looks innocent when he's asleep, almost," Kid Flash said, looking at the sleeping clone.
"The resemblance to Superman is uncanny though. Looks like a younger version of the boy scout," Angel said, poking Superboy's cheekbones. As if he felt it, the clone's eyes opened with a start before seeing the helmeted face of the person that restrained him first close to his. He tried to move but Robin had earned his Batman boy-scout knot tying badge a long time ago.
"Can you talk?" she asked him, softly. The clone grunted in dissatisfaction.
"Yes, I can!" he growled. The three boys looked at him with interest.
"Good, we want to broker a deal with you. If you can stay calm and listen, it will be favorable to you. If you can't, we'll take the short cut way," Angel told him. "For starters, the first way involves you meeting Superman in a positive way." The last sentence brought the fight out of the clone.