Waking

Robin was looking at the small monitor on his left hand wrist with a frown. His mentor, Batman, has always told him to be thorough when he was on cases and he almost let him down. That would make it three times in just a couple of hours.

"Why aren't we moving?" Kid Flash asked him. Robin looked up and saw Aqualad, Superman's clone and Kid Flash looking at him with curiosity.

"I was going to hack their motion sensors when I noticed something in their systems! There is a hidden sublevel beyond sublevel 52! It did not register when looking at the maps but the motion sensors go down to that sublevel!" he answered. This made all of them frown.

"Can you tell what it is?" Aqualad asked but boy wonder shook his head.

"Whatever is inside that level, they want it out of the system," he answered. This made them become even more suspicious.

"If a clone of Superman is not even as important as whatever is inside that place, we need to find out what it is!" Aqualad said with finality.

"I agree. Let's see what's so secretive," the clone spoke up but it was more out of jealousy than curiosity. He wanted to know what would make the people of Cadmus become so paranoid while their greatest work was out in the open.

"Alright, let me make sure I misdirect them," Robin said as he continued to hack. A few seconds later, he closed the portable computer and looked up at his friends. "Done. They will think we are climbing up the vents and while they chase after the ghosts, we will be going down to this sublevel."

"Nice!" Kid Flash complimented him with a high five.

"Lead the way," Aqualad told him.

Robin followed the map he had memorized, using the vents. They were going down and a long way for they had gone up a couple sublevels. He and Kid Flash were nimble on their feet but Aqualad and the clone were quite noisy due to their bulky forms. So, he had to pace them slowly and help out whenever a big jump came. This way, they made little to no noise till they reached sublevel 52.

"Right here," Robin told the clone, pointing at a specific point on the floor.

"You sure?" the clone asked.

"I can't find a door but we are directly above it," Robin answered. The clone looked at the floor and went down on one knee. With a roar of effort, he punched it with all he got, causing a dent like crater to form. With another punch, a small hole was created. Aqualad came to help, using their superior strength, they ripped off the metal sheets with great effort and showing a whole new floor below.

"Let's get some answers," the clone said then jumped in first. Aqualad followed then Robin and finally Kid Flash.

"Woah!" Kid Flash gasped, seeing a whole expanse of space coloured white. The entire place was empty except for a large pod at the centre which was almost similar to the clones except it had the words 'Alien Z' written on it.

"Alien Z? Do we have anyone we know from that species?" Aqualad asked but Robin shook his head. They walked to the pod where Robin hooked into the terminal and hacked into it.

"I can't see what's inside!" Kid Flash said as he wiped on the glass but it was still too misty for for him to see.

"Okay, I am officially whelmed!" Robin announced, making the others to turn and look at him.

"What's the matter?" Aqualad asked.

"Listen to this," Robin cleared his throat and started reading. "'After one of our satellites spotted something crashland on the dark side of the moon, we sent a scout to see what it was. Using the scout's body camera, we saw a battered oval ship with a single inhabitant inside it. The scout hacked the ship to determine where it came from and we got information of a whole new starchart!

"'It is our belief the ship is from thousands of galaxies away for even our mutual friend could not recognize them. Checking on the condition of the alien, we found that his armor and skin is unbreakable even to all the metals we have collected over the years. We have tried to collect dead cells from him but to no avail! Every manner of weapon in our disposal, bioweapons or nuclear weapons have failed to phase him! Due to this, we believe his overall threat to the Justice League is as lethal as a full blown invasion by a fleet of solar powered Kryptonians!'"

"That...I don't know what to say," Aqualad was the first to talk.

"We cannot let them keep him! If they manage to do something to him like brainwashing then the Justice League is done!" Kid Flash added.

"We cannot risk him even leaving the pod! We don't know what he is and how he will perceive us," Robin stated, making all of them nod grimly. He looked at a button that showed the disengage icon and then at the pod.

"I have a question though, why has he not broken himself out if he is that powerful?" the clone asked.

"I believe it's because he is in a catatonic state!" someone said from behind them, making them turn around only to see Desmond smiling at them. In his right hand was test-tube with a strange liquid. "I sent the Genomorphs upstairs to box you in while I retrieved something to put you all down. Imagine my surprise when this level's alarms started blaring. How did you find it?"

"Next time, keep it off the motion sensor's grid," Kid Flash shouted.

"Ah, I forgot about that, really!" Desmond sighed before he shrugged. "Won't happen a second time. Now, it's time for you kids to go back to your pods!" Desmond uncorked the test-tube before gulping down the liquid inside it.

His eyes suddenly shrunk down to prick sizes then he let go of the test-tube. He doubled down, clutching his chest, moaning painfully. They all heard bones popping and breaking as his figure started becoming bigger and bigger. The lab coat and the clothes under ripped off as his frame exceeded their tensile strength, making all four of them see his skin beneath. It had turned grey with sections that had actually torn, showing the muscles beneath. He had grown to a hulking monstrosity, letting out a roar to signal he was reborn.

With a grunt, he turned to look at the four before letting out a growl before pouncing towards them. The clone jumped in front of it, getting hold of its hands with his and tried to push back to no avail. The hulk squeezed his fingers with a sadistic grin hearing him cry out in pain only for the speedster to punch it on the face. It barely felt it but it was an annoyance. It turned to look at where the speedster should have gone only for him to punch its face again. Angrily, he tossed the clone after the speeding target, his strength proving more than the speedster's speed for the clone smashed into him, sending the two sprawling.

Before it could celebrate with a roar, a birdarang hit his face and exploded, temporarily blinding him with fire, smoke and the flash. Aqualad took this chance to make a giant hammer construct out of his water and smash it on its stomach. The monster doubled down in pain and he landed the hammer onto its forehead, sending it flying away. However, just to prove how resilient it was, the monster sprang back up and with a roar, pounced towards him.

Robin tried to blind it with his birdarangs but it shielded its face with its left arm. Aqualad rolled out of the way but its landing caused the room to shake, making him unstable. It turned to him and with a backhand, he was sent flying away. The clone took this chance to leap in, landing a heavy punch onto its face, making it stagger. Kid Flash sped behind him and punched its backs as fast as he could then ran off as the clone wound his left hand backwards and brought a powerful punch onto its stomach.

The monster barely took two steps backwards before it lurched towards the clone, got him in a bear hug and started squeezing. The clone tried to free himself to no avail as the others tried to free him by inducing pain. Only, the monster endured, its eyes on the clone, willing to kill him first at the expense of getting more injured for it knew he was the strongest one there. The three knew it too this their desperate attempt to free him. If he went down, their chances became even slimmer! Robin suddenly looked at the pod in the middle of the room before he took a couple steps back.

"This might be a bad idea!" he announced, taking out his monitor then clicked on the disengage button.

Everyone heard a hiss as the pod's glass door slid open and condensed air flew out. Due to its density, it was floating on the floor and making the entire room suddenly so cold even the clone felt like he was freezing. When the air was all out, the finally saw the alien. A 2.4 humanoid with spiky pink hair, grey skin, wearing a golden metallic armor on its torso and a baggy white clothed material pants, metallic sharp ended boots, pointy ears and the most eye catching of it all, a single eye closed adorned on its face. The fight had stopped as all five we're looking at the alien.

"Was he supposed to do something?" Kid Flash asked with a frown, a little disappointed. Suddenly, the alien clenched his fist, causing popping sounds to revebrate across the large room then his single eye opened. The eye trained on the five beings in there for a few seconds before he took a deep breath in and took two step forward. With a deep sigh, he stretched his hands, arching his back, causing popping sounds to revebrate.

"So, who am I killing between all five of you?" he asked in perfect English.