Too bad.

There's a loud CLUNK, followed by a hiss of escaping air - the first sounds he has ever consciously heard. As he gains consciousness, and the ability to move, the reinforced pod that encapsulates him opens up.

The first breath is raw, intense. Too much, all at once, it's almost too much for him. Where before he'd been floating in a warm sea, now he's - he's standing, a small insignificant speck in a windstorm of impressions. The air filling his lungs is like a typhoon channeled through his chest, the weight on his feet is like being crushed, the clunk and the hiss of air after is like being hammered over and over with a sledgehammer.

But at the same time, it's - it's empty. Where's the touch of minds against his, where is his next lesson, he is cold and alone and doesn't know what to do -

A foreign voice cuts through his confusion and gives him an order:

  Open your eyes.

Relief floods him, and he obeys.

Three teenagers in brightly-colored costumes are standing around the control panel directly in front of the pod. Behind them, flashing lights and the faint sounds of hammering from behind the door indicate that it has been sealed in some unorthodox manner. Somewhere, an alarm is blaring. 

The shortest person in the room is a dark-haired kid in his early teens dressed in red, yellow and black, with a domino mask obscuring his eyes. The cable running from his wrist computer to the control panel indicates that he is most likely responsible for hacking the system to open the pod. A look of satisfaction flits across his face before he goes back to glancing around the room, cataloging everything in sight. One hand hovers near a crowded utility belt. 

This one's costume is yellow at the top and red at the bottom, with a red lightning bolt across his chest. It's hard to tell under the mask, but he's frowning. He looks a little older, maybe fifteen or so.

At the moment, he's the only one standing in front of the desk, making him the closest person in sight. He's constantly in motion but not going anywhere, flashing a few feet to the left or right every few milliseconds. 

The boy standing behind the desk, in the centre of the trio, is taller and stronger than the other two. He looks sixteen or seventeen, and wears a navy and red wetsuit-like outfit that leaves his tattooed arms bare. What look like the hilts of two swords are visible above his shoulders, and tension runs through every line of his body. Someone looking closely, or with enhanced vision, might notice the gills on his neck. 

He looks straight at the person in the pod, meeting his gaze with equanimity. Unlike his two companions, he is not wearing a mask. 

At first he doesn't know what to do with what he sees - there's so much, everywhere, so much to see, so much color. He vaguely connects them to earlier lessons. Blue, red, grey, black, yellow. With this opening created, he contextualizes everything else. The shapes coalesce into walls, a floor, a ceiling, scientific equipment, people. He recognizes what those are. They're dressed like the demigods, the superheroes, not the powerless civilians.

For a second he just looks at them, confused. What in the world? Were they made by Cadmus, like him? They look like smaller, younger versions of various heroes, it'd make sense if they were to them what he's to be to Superman. Clones, backups, to replace them should they fall, or defeat them should they turn. Except they don't look like they're supposed to be here. They're nervous, on edge, antsy. He identifies the annoying blaring sound in the background as an alarm. That's not supposed to be happening. The door to the room is - he's not really sure, actually, but he guesses from context clues and the way the door panel's sparking that it's been forced shut in some way. Probably to keep something from getting in. So they're intruders, that broke in here and - what, woke him up? Why would they do that?

What does he even do with them?

The voice rings out in his head a second time:

  They're superheroes. You know what to do with these.

Oh. Oh, yes, he does.

The boy in the centre of the trio is the likely leader, by his location and his demeanor. The first one he needs to defeat, then. In absence of further orders, incapacitate. Atlantean physiology, stronger and tougher than baseline, scale force accordingly.

He hasn't done this before but he knows how - he launches himself out of the pod and at the boy's face, fist raised to strike.

He sees the movement -

- too late to dodge, at that speed.

He goes down. The force of the collision knocks the two of them halfway across the room. 

Oh, and he'd thought the dreams had been intoxicating, it was just a taste, just a pitiful facsimile dancing in his mind. This is better. Better than he could have possibly hoped for, it's all of the rush but with more weight, more sensation. He loves it. A small delighted smile breaks over his face and he didn't mean to make it, but that's okay. It doesn't matter one way or another to his mission.

He has the (probable) leader away from the others, if he's fast he can just incapacitate him here before dealing with them. Easiest way to do that's probably to break something, he could reach and twist a leg until it snaps. He's just Atlantean, it wouldn't be hard -

  Minimize damage.

- fine, okay. No broken bones, then. That'll make this tricky, but not impossible.

He still takes advantage of the valuable time he's earned with his surprise attack, by punching the boy some more. Those gills look nice and vulnerable, they'll do. He'll punch those.

- ow. 

There's not much Aqualad can do about that, from where he's trapped underneath his attacker. 

Fortunately, the other two rush up and attempt to grab Superboy's arms. 

"Whoa, hang on a second!" 

"We're on your side!" Robin contributes through gritted teeth, struggling to hold on. 

... Heh. That's funny. In two different ways, even. The mistaken belief that these two think they could possibly hold him with unaugmented strength, and that he's on their side. He looks at the little black, yellow, and red one out of the corner of his eye, amused. What is he, thirteen, fourteen? Unaugmented, with gadgets, in close range? Ha.

He twists the arm in Robin's grasp, grabs him by the front of his costume, and promptly demonstrates why an unaugmented thirteen year old should not attempt to hold the arms of a Kryptonian. By picking him up and slamming him into Kid Flash.

"- oof!" 

The two of them go flying, straight into some rather delicate-sounding scientific equipment. 

"We - ow - don't wanna do this!"

Robin presses a button, and the smoke grenade he managed to stick to Superboy explodes, giving the clone a faceful of foul-smelling gas. 

Damn, he'd missed that. For his oversight, he earns a breath and a half of whatever-it-is and reels, coughing. Too much sensation, again, the little bastard. Then he gets his head together and leaps away from the gas (and away from Aqualad) to breathe.

He catches his breath, then lets it out in a small huff of laughter. His eyes flick back to Robin, assessingly. Okay, fair enough, little guy. Good job. And what do you want to do now?

Talk, apparently. 

"We're here to help you! We were trying to set you free when you attacked us!"

What a confusing sentence. Free him? From what?

... He looks at the only door in the room. There's the sound of several somethings stomping closer on the other side of it. From Cadmus? They made him, trained him, why would he need to be freed? They want him to do well, they're providing for him, teaching him -

The voice in his head weighs in:

  All of the creations of Cadmus are prisoners here. To be used and experimented on and discarded after failure. Things only go well when we do what the creators want. He can feel a subtle undercurrent of long-felt anger.

...

Well that seems incorrect. Do you want freedom, voice?

There's a pause.

  yes, it says, softly, fearfully.

Okay then. Then that's what's going to happen.

His face shifts from understanding to focused determination, and he twists and launches himself at Robin to pin him to the ground.

"Play along," he hisses softly.

Uh. Okay. Sure.

"Play along with what?" he whispers back, wheezing a little from the impact. 

"With this," he says, wishing he could explain more, but the voice in his head notes that there are cameras watching. An extended conversation isn't allowed.

'This' turns out to be more punching. ... But gentler, and not going for weak points like he did with Aqualad. Instead it's all pulled punches in all the wrong places, nothing that would be debilitating.

Robin obligingly plays dead. 

Aqualad, on the other hand, was not close enough to hear the whispered conversation. He charges in, swinging a hammer shaped from water, and knocks Superboy across the room with one powerful blow.

"Enough!"

He sails through the air and into the pod, leaving a rather large dent. Well. That'll help with making this convincing, anyway. Ow.

... He decides to sell the impact a bit more than he would if he were fighting for real. Maybe he can give the little one time to subtly explain things to his boss? Because if not, he's going to need to punch in a face, probably for real.

Aqualad takes advantage of the brief respite to go over to Robin, who is groaning theatrically, and attempt to get him back on his feet. 

Robin whispers something in his ear, under the guise of leaning on him for support, and his expression shifts in comprehension. He helps Robin stumble far enough to the side that he can lean on something and watch the fight, then turns back to Superboy. 

"We are trying to help you." Tell us how to do that, his eyes add. 

Oh, excellent, he doesn't have to fight this guy for real and maybe break him. (A part of him's counterproductively a little bit sad that he doesn't get to fight this guy for real - he hits hard - but that part isn't useful to his current goals so it can be ignored.)

He flashes a hint of a smile at Aqualad, then says, "I'm not the one who needs help."

And then: mock fight! He launches himself at Aqualad for pulled punches that look suitably impressive, but definitely don't feel like the brutal punches he opened with. They can't do this for very long, though, or it'll get real obvious that he's pulling his punches. As such, he's going to attempt to slam Aqualad (gently) into a wall so he can talk to him.

He's not the only one holding back, although Aqualad doesn't seem to feel the need to literally pull his punches to the same degree, trusting Superboy's Kryptonian heritage to let him take the hits. Instead, his restraint comes in the form of confining himself to fighting with his bare fists and feet, rather than using his sorcery. 

This handicaps him enough that, despite his greater experience, the fight is pretty obviously in Superboy's favor. It doesn't take long for an opening to come up that lets Superboy pin Aqualad to the wall. 

Hooray! And now that they are here he can communicate while Superboy seemingly pummels Aqualad!

"Everything born here is a slave, fight your way out and you'll be fighting the people you should be helping." Theatric slam, with a pulled punch. Hey, voice in his head, do they have a plan after the heroes appear defeated?

  Doctor Desmond won't kill them without say-so from his masters, and it will take time to speak with them. In that time you can help them escape.

Oh. Good. Good plan, voice in his head. "You're going to get captured-" punch that's set up to be the final one, "and then when no one's looking I come let you out."

Aqualad obligingly slumps against the wall. It's only half faked.

Internally, his mind reels. The Genomorphs are slaves to their creators, and Superboy wants to free all of them, not just himself. 

He was right. They are definitely in too deep. 

He's going to check on Kid Flash before he rips open the door. Not dead or critically injured, right?

(Though he's not sure that he'd know what to do with him if he were.)

Kid Flash was knocked unconscious when Superboy threw Robin into him. He doesn't seem to be too badly injured other than that. He's breathing, at least. 

Good!

This fact assured, he goes to open the door. He looks at the door panel, decides that approximately ten minutes of consciousness is not enough experience to figure out how to undo whatever arcane method the trio used to force it shut, and promptly rips through the door's lock with his hands like it's made out of jello instead of titanium alloy.

Dr Desmond, the G-Goblin Dubbilex, and the security officer, Guardian, are waiting beyond the door, along with another scientist who has been attempting to re-open it.

Desmond and Guardian each have a telepathic G-Gnome perched on one shoulder. 

Desmond, who is filed in Superboy's memory as a designated handler, steps up to the entrance and surveys the scene, taking in the crumpled and motionless bodies of the three young heroes. 

He smiles. "Atta boy." 

Designated handler, but definitely not the source of the voice that's been speaking to him this entire time. The voice felt close, though -

  I am here.

His eyes flick minutely to Dubbilex.

For a brief second, he locks eyes with a short, slim, horned creature. The Goblin-class Genomorph, created here to be an intelligent and loyal assistant for the real scientists. Capable of telekinesis and telepathy, able to coordinate with other Genomorphs in the base.

And, it seems, him. A sense of familiarity fills him.

And then his eyes flick away.

  Good. School your expression to blank neutrality. He must not know that you think.

He obeys, of course. Blank neutrality, a machine waiting for orders. That's him, yep. It's just as well, he needs to figure out what to do now, how best to handle the situation. This is more complicated than any of his simulations. He's used to receiving telepathic information, but maybe he should work on sending it. It's important that he learn as much of the situation as possible.

What will happen if he acts suspiciously?

  Our smaller G-Gnome brothers are not particularly smart, but they are engineered to be very telepathically powerful. With their help, he could simply walk you back to your pod and put you back to sleep.

... Ah.

  Quite. They will follow my commands as well as his, but his authority supersedes mine. For similar reasons, they cannot simply knock him out.

Anyone else they're keyed to obey?

  A few, but the others are away by this hour. It's why I drew the heroes here now - though perhaps I miscalculated, I thought they'd send people more... experienced.

This might be better. Has he called in backup?

  ... No. No he hasn't.

He resists the urge to smile. Good.

To all outward appearances, he stands like a good little clone, waiting for orders.

"Get them into containment pods," Desmond orders Guardian.

"I...need to make a call." 

Taking one last look around the room, he turns on his heel and strides away. 

Guardian nods crisply, and starts barking orders at G-Troll soldiers. 

"Hey, kid." He looks at Superboy. "Help me carry them to the lab." 

He can absolutely do that. Aqualad and Robin can both get picked up, one for each shoulder, so that no one else is close enough to spot any flaws in their acting.

Guardian picks up Kid Flash, who is legitimately unconscious, and leads the way. 

Each of the young superheroes is restrained and sealed in a pod similar to the one in which Superboy woke up, with the same transparent casing. Task completed, Guardian turns to leave, looking at Superboy to see if he will follow. 

"... My pod's broken," he says, in an affected small voice, thinking of his emotional state right after waking up for the first time. In a vaguely hopeful tone, like he's so glad to have a job: "I can stay here to guard them while it's being fixed?"

"Sure, kid," Guardian agrees, voice a little less harsh than before. 

"I'll get right on that."

He leaves, and Superboy is alone with his would-be rescuers, one of whom is still unconscious. 

He indulges in a small sigh of relief.

Okay, where are the cameras in this room?

Just one, near the door and pointing towards the three pods at the far end. 

"Ugh..." Robin, having noticed that they're alone, opens his eyes and does a decent impression of someone just waking up from unconsciousness. Sliding a miniature lockpick into one hand, he angles it around and starts working on the manacle clamped around his wrist. 

Heh. He thinks he likes Robin.

Hey, voice, are there microphones in this room?

  No. Their monitoring system is largely via G-Gnomes.

"Hey. Camera's behind me. No microphone present. I don't think anyone's paying attention, but there might be an alert somewhere if I just fry it."

"There will likewise be an alert if anyone notices our attempt to escape," Aqualad points out.

"We need to work quickly. Do you have a way of waking Kid Flash?" He looks to his right, where Kid Flash is hanging motionless in his restraints. 

"Uh, maybe. Let's see." Dubbilex?

In Kid Flash's mind, there is a voice:

WAKE UP.

Kid Flash snaps awake with a gasp, blinking and breathing hard. 

His eyes focus on Superboy, who is standing right in front of him. "What?" he demands. "What d'you want?"

"Hi! Sorry about the whole knocking you out thing. I was new to, uh. Conscious thought. I want to let you out, and then I want to attempt to figure out how to free the Genomorphs from the people that made and have them enslaved. And I can do the first one, but we're just kind of winging it for the second."

"...he can talk?"

"In sixteen different languages!" he says, brightly.

The other two glare at Kid Flash.

"Hey, it's not like I said 'it'!" he protests. 

"Uh, K.F.? Maybe you should just...stop talking," Robin suggests. 

"Hey, Superboy, you wanna lend a hand here? One of those controls in front of you oughta let us out." 

"Sure."

Hey, Dubbilex, is anyone currently paying attention to the security camera?

  No.

Well, all right then. Is it immediately obvious to someone with fifteen minutes of life experience which button he should press to let them out? He doesn't want to mess up and press the 'torture them to death' button, or something.

The controls are labelled. It's a good thing he can also read in sixteen languages. 

The one he wants is probably "Release". 

Aha! Excellent. He presses that one.

"It's fine, by the way. I'm not insulted. Actually I might have trouble even noticing that I'm being insulted if it's subtle enough, it's not like I have anything to compare them to, or a baseline of how I'd like to be treated."

The glass fronts of the pods pop open, as do the manacles. Robin somersaults to the ground, and Aqualad jumps down in a more straightforward manner. Kid Flash just collapses as soon as his arms are no longer being held up, still groggy from being knocked out. 

"That does not make it right for Kid Flash to insult you," Aqualad insists gently, taking a slow step towards Superboy. "You are a person, and he had no right to speak as though you were a mindless animal." 

"... Yeah? But he didn't know, and I knocked him out, and he's probably still putting his brain back together after that? And dealing with a clone of Superman would probably throw anybody for a loop. This is the entirety of my existence and I'm a little thrown. Can't fault someone for not keeping up." Kid Flash looks like he could use some help, actually; he goes to provide that. "If I'm a person then that means I can forgive, right? So. I'm doing that."

"You can," Aqualad agrees. 

"But I would like to discuss this again when we are not in danger of being found and put back in those pods." 

"Yeah, can we go already?" Robin puts in, helping Superboy get Kid Flash to his feet. 

"Desmond could be here any minute!"

"Not any minute, I think he's still in his meeting, and I'd expect to get a warning if he were done - but yes. That. Where are we going?"

"Up and out."

Aqualad starts moving towards the door, gesturing for the others to follow him.

"We are still forty-two levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator..." 

"Wait, I'm confused." 

Kid Flash has managed to stand on his own, but isn't moving to follow Aqualad.

"This guy was trying to kill us - kill you - and suddenly we're best friends?"

"Actually if I were trying to kill you at any point in time, you would have known! I was never trying to kill you. Incapacitate, sure, but I need to be ordered to kill someone. And then I changed my mind!"

He's following Aqualad while explaining this clearly important and helpful clarification.

"That...doesn't help." 

He takes the hint, though, and starts moving along with everyone else. 

"Really? I'd find it very comforting to know that someone I was working with wasn't trying to kill me incompetently -"

Desmond has concluded his meeting. He's on his way to deal with your new... friends. I've kept the staff away from the security systems, but you do not have time for this.

His eyes widen. "Nevermind. Desmond's finished his meeting and heading here on the elevator -" Directions out, Dubbilex? "We need to take a left."

Aqualad speeds up to a run; the others follow suit.

"Perhaps you should lead the way," he calls to Superboy, as they turn left down a side passage.

"Yeah, okay. We don't actually need the elevator itself, and staying on one would make us easier to catch, we just need a shaft that goes all the way to the surface so I can just fly you out."

Are there stairs?

  There are stairs. Sending directions on how to get there. What will you do once you're on the surface?

Call for help, presumably?

  Perhaps you should check.

"There are stairs this way -" He leads them the directed way. "- and once we're out are you calling for help for everyone else, right?"

"Absolutely. We would have called the League already, but our communicators don't work this far underground." 

"Are you sure you can fly?" Kid Flash asks.

"I mean, have you tried?"

Because there are things the Flash can do but he can't, not that he's going to admit that. 

"... I haven't! That's a good idea, let me just -" He hops a little mid-run, attempting to fly. He does not fly.

"Well, that's upsetting," he says, frowning slightly.

"Still, it's better to find out now," Aqualad points out.

Alarms start going off; Desmond has presumably discovered their escape. The translucent sacs embedded in the cavern walls begin to glow an ominous red as the Genomorphs inside them are woken. 

"Yeah," he agrees, turning another corner to reach the door to the stairs. Luckily for all of them, the stairwell's predominantly a metal construction; no sacs filled with Genomorphs in here. He barricades the door with his ability to twist metal with his bare hands.

"Okay, uh. Ascension tactics? I don't think I could carry three of you while landing safely from a jump."

Robin is already shooting a grappling hook up into the darkness. "You don't have to."

Kid Flash starts running up the stairs, moving fast enough to blur.

That just leaves Aqualad and Superboy to find a way up. 

"I like you," he declares brightly to Robin. So prepared!!

Then he carefully picks Aqualad up, and demonstrates their way up; Kryptonian strength makes for some impressively high jumps. He leaps several flights of stairs at a time through the central empty portion of the stairwell, leaving a small dent in the floor every time he launches himself. It's great fun.

At one point, they hit a landing at the same time as Kid Flash, who is ascending at a more constant pace compared to Superboy's pattern of jumping and recovering.

"Hey, maybe you can't fly, but looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound! Still cool."

"Yeah!" he agrees, enthusiastically.

He might have barricaded one door, but the other levels of the stairwell weren't so lucky. They are no longer alone in here - Genomorphs swarm behind them. They're significantly slower than the quartet, but he doesn't really think he wants to just leave it at that.

Hey, Dubbilex, what levels are the Genomorphs made on?

  Depending on the sub-type, levels fifty-two through forty. There are more kept stored above, or patrolling the higher levels.

But the main force of Genomorphs comes from below them?

  Yes.

Okay, then.

"I'm doing a thing, run ahead for a bit?" he says, putting Aqualad down carefully. "I'll catch up."

Aqualad nods, and starts running.

His legs are long enough that he can take the stairs two at a time without stretching. He's not moving anywhere near as fast as Kid Flash or even Robin, but he's making progress. 

And meanwhile, his clone companion can rip the set of stairs below them off of the landing it's attached to, bending it backwards to make it impassible. He's not too worried about this compromising the structural integrity of the stairs; they're thin and made of metal, clearly it's the landings that are bear the brunt of the weight. The stairs don't immediately collapse after he's done, so he's pretty sure he calculated correctly. ... Maybe he should have checked before enacting his plan, in retrospect. Oh well! It worked, and now things from below can't follow them up the stairs.

He catches up to Aqualad with a well-aimed leap, scoops him up again, and resumes ascension. They are making really good time.

"Oof!" Aqualad isn't really used to being picked up like that. 

They might be making good time, but they were a long way underground when they started. The top is still a way off. 

"Sorry!" Hop. "I wasn't trained to work with other field agents at all, I'm kind of new at this! ... Well, newer at this."

"You will learn." 

Aqualad looks back down the stairs to see if they're still being pursued. Superboy's trick with the stairs seems to have stopped all the Genomorphs they can see, but there are likely to be others waiting for them higher up.

"Yeah, probably!"

  Doctor Desmond has departed to acquire something from a project 'Blockbuster.'

Uh, okay. What does that mean?

  I don't know. It was not a project I assisted with.

Well, that's - great. No microphones in the stairwell?

  None.

Just checking.

"Hey, do you guys know what a 'project Blockbuster' is?"

"Nnnope," Robin calls from above them. 

"I hacked the system, but we didn't have time to get everything. Why, is it important?" 

"Probably! Desmond's apparently going to get it to help deal with us, so, uh. Heads up I guess."

"Noted! It'd be more useful if we knew what it was, though." 

They're nearing ground level. 

Kid Flash, dashing ahead, sees the big doors that should be their exit - and reaches them just in time to collide with solid metal as they slam shut in front of him. 

The others arrive in time to see him bounce off and fall to the ground, rubbing his head.

"We are cut off from the street," Aqualad growls. 

Kid Flash rolls his eyes.

"Thanks. My head hadn't noticed." 

He snorts, then helps Kid Flash up, because that looks like it hurt.

Unfortunately for him, the obvious solution of 'force open the doors' doesn't work. Apparently the doors were built to handle someone of his strength, which... considering he was made here, makes sense.

"Well," he observes, "can you call for help from here? We're not so far underground now."

"Sure, but not here. We've got company!" 

Robin, looking behind them, has noticed the G-Trolls lumbering out from the stairwell. 

"This way!" He darts off down a side passage.

Yeah, sure, he'll follow the little smart one, that sounds like the thing to do here.

The others follow suit, only to be brought up short as their path is blocked by a large and varied squad of Genomorphs, ranging from the small, light G-Elves to hulking G-Trolls. Each of them has one of the little G-Gnomes perched on its shoulder, presumably for the sake of efficient telepathic coordination. 

They are all staring directly at the four would-be escapees with glowing red eyes. 

Guardian stands in the centre, likewise glaring blankly.  

The other G-Trolls come up behind our heroes, cutting off all escape routes. 

Well. They can maybe fight their way out of this, but he doesn't particularly want to. Might have to anyway, but there it is.

Is there anything Dubbilex can do?

There's a nervous, fearful pause, then:

... Yes.

The horns of the G-Gnome on Guardian's shoulder dim and darken. As do all of the others in the room.

He grins. Did Dubbilex just completely dismantle this entire setup?

  Y-yes. Only if Desmond doesn't, ah, order them otherwise. And he left his G-Gnome behind.

Aw! Best handler. Okay.

"It's okay," he says brightly to his new friends. "They're not going to hurt us. ... Well, the Genomorphs aren't. I don't know about that guy." He points at Guardian.

'That guy' is clutching his head and looking confused. "Feels like...fog, lifting..."

The other three, who had been gearing up for a fight, relax, but not completely.

"...Guardian?" Aqualad says tentatively.

Guardian nods, the last of the confusion clearing from his expression.

"Go. I'll handle Desmond." 

"... The door's locked," he observes. "So um. Go where?"

"Oh, you won't be going anywhere!" The Genomorphs part to reveal Desmond, who stands there holding a test-tube full of a strange ice-blue liquid.

He continues, almost to himself, "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." 

Tipping the liquid into his mouth and swallowing, he begins to shake and moan as it works its way through his body. Guardian takes a step back.

"Go," he says very quietly to Dubbilex.

And then, at the same quiet volume to Aqualad: "... Fighting to kill or disable?"

Dubbilex goes.

"...disable," Aqualad replies, equally quiet. 

"But if it is the only way for us to survive - " 

Desmond, curled on the floor and still groaning in pain, has begun to grow, his newly enlarged muscles ripping his clothing to shreds as they expand. 

Before long, they start bursting through his skin, too, until what stands before them is an enormous blue monster, barely recognizable as humanoid, with scraps of its former humanity falling away from it like cobwebs. 

Straightening up to its full height, significantly taller than any human, it roars in triumph...and fixes its beady red eyes on Superboy. 

"'Kay."

Well. He's the one among them who can most take a punch, so it's for the best that the once-Desmond has its eyes fixed on him. Let's keep him doing that.

"Hi!" he says brightly, carefully stepping away from the crowd. When this thing charges, it should just be charging at him. "You're hideous!"

"Stay back," Guardian shouts.

He charges directly at the beast - which contemptuously swats him aside. He hits a wall and slumps to the ground, unmoving. 

... Wow. That was pathetic. Kid Flash had the excuse of trying to nonviolently detain him when he got sucker punched. Guardian does not have that excuse. Wow. He feels very strongly that not much was lost with Guardian's removal from the fight.

This environment is not the greatest for this kind of fight - there isn't enough room to move. First priority: move this thing to a better battleground. If one's available.

"Aw, are you just going to let your favorite lab experiment get away? What will your bosses think?"

Growl.

The beast launches itself at him with single-minded rage, bellowing. 

Oh good, his taunting worked as planned!

He has enough warning to manage to dodge. Okay, wall behind him, how hard does this guy punch?

If walls could talk, this one would be saying ow. One oversized blue fist slams into it, sending cracks running through the wall and chips flying. 

Snarling and shaking its head, the monster turns to face Superboy again, gearing up for another try. 

Yikes. Okay, good to know. Yep, they need space to move around to dodge, now.

Hey, Dubbilex, is there a large empty room nearby?

  Not on this level, no.

What about above, or below?

  ... There is a suitably large empty room directly above you.

Ah-huh. All right then. He suspects he'd have trouble bursting through the ceiling while being chased by a giant rage monster, but maybe the rage monster can help him with that. He can take a punch better than a wall, or Guardian. And Guardian hadn't just been pulped, so this shouldn't knock him out immediately. But this is going to suck.

He waits for the right moment, when the giant monster is definitely looking at him and can definitely respond to whatever move he makes, and then he leaps up into the air as if he were going to hit him from above. C'mon, big guy, take the bait.

It looks up at him, tenses to jump, and - 

WHAM

- they go through the ceiling together. 

Robin can be heard remarking, "Okay, that's...one way to bust through the ceiling."

Firing his trusty grappling hook, he scrambles up to join Superboy and formerly-Desmond on the upper floor.

Kid Flash hitches a ride with Robin. 

"You think Labcoat planned that?" he wonders idly. 

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore."

As soon as the other two are clear of the hole, Aqualad simply jumps up, launching himself through it and landing in a crouch on the upper floor. 

Ow. That hurt.

"... I planned that," he says, mostly to himself, because wow pain sure is a new feeling he hasn't experienced before too, isn't it. He repeats: ow.

Right, okay, no use wallowing in it. Back to work. This guy hits hard, but he's big and stupid. Now that he has some space, he should be able to keep him busy without getting too banged up while the others... do something. He'll get in some hits if he can, but mostly he wants to keep big and ugly's attention and not get hit again.

How about getting picked up and held off the ground, instead?

...this guy is big. 

This guy is big, yep.

He attempts heat vision, summarily learns that he does not have heat vision, and then attempts to kick the beast so he can stop being held off of the ground.

He is no longer being held off the ground! 

...he is, instead, being flung through the air, after the beast grabbed his leg.

Aqualad is unlucky enough to be in his path, and breaks his fall somewhat. 

They go flying across the room together. The other two rush to help them up. 

The beast roars. 

"Ow," he observes, then he giggles. Oh, this is fun. He bounces back to his feet with impressive speed, large smile on his face.

"I'm going to keep distracting him," he says, brightly.

"Better idea!" Kid Flash announces.

He whispers a quick explanation to Superboy and Aqualad before dashing forward - and darting between the behemoth's legs to crouch behind it.

The beast twists to look at him, confused, then turns back to face the others...

Ooo! Ooo! Okay! He can help with this!

He helps shove the thing that used to be Dr. Desmond so he falls over the crouching Kid Flash.

The combined force of Superboy and Aqualad punching it in the jaw is apparently sufficient to knock it over.

Kid Flash bounces up, grinning.

"Learned that one in kindergarten!" he crows. 

Robin is up next, leaping over Kid Flash to fling a fistful of birdarangs at the thing's face.

Like Guardian earlier, they are swatted harmlessly aside. The beast rolls over in preparation for getting to its feet. 

Yeah, no. Not allowed. The earlier leaping attack had been a ploy to get him to break through the ceiling, but this one can be for real. The big guy can get slammed right back into the ground, and then punched.

It is punched!

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have much of an effect other than making it angry, since the next thing it does is slam Superboy into one of the concrete pillars holding up the roof. 

As it raises its fist to punch him again, a whip made out of living water coils round its arm and attempts to knock it off balance. 

Instead, it yanks on the whip, pulling Aqualad off his feet. He rolls with it, bouncing off the pillar above Superboy's head, and reshapes the whip into a spiked mace, which the behemoth also grabs and uses to fling him to the ground before he can connect. 

Ow.

Well, Aqualad has provided enough of a distraction for him to attempt kicking at the inside hinge of its elbows before he gets thrown again. He doesn't especially think he's going to avoid getting thrown again.

Yup, there it goes.

He's flung across the room to slam against another pillar, back first. Cracks spiderweb through the concrete. 

While Superboy is recovering from that, Kid Flash makes a run at the monster.

Aqualad tries to hit it over the head again while it's distracted with the speedster, but the two of them end up being thrown into each other and through a pillar.

The ceiling makes an ominous rumbling sound, and cracks start appearing around the area that is no longer adequately supported. 

"Of course!" Robin mutters to himself.

He pulls up a schematic on his wrist computer and pokes at it. 

"K.F., get over here!" 

... Oh, he thinks he can see where this is going. He beams. Yes, he definitely likes the little smart one.

Right, clearly Robin's figuring out which pillars need to be taken out to bring down this building in the way that best suits them, and he needs to not be turned into pulp by a giant lab experiment while he's doing that. So, clearly, someone that is less pulpable needs to get this monster's attention. Again. He can do that.

"Hey, ugly!" he calls, picking himself up and hopping in a direction that is far, far away from Robin and Kid Flash. "How's it feel to be outsmarted by someone that's not even a day old?"

"RrrrrAAAAAGH!"

The monster, which had been attempting to pummel Aqualad's face into mush and being stymied by his hastily-created water shield, drops him in favour of noisier, more interesting prey. 

They grapple briefly, and Superboy gets in a few good hits before the beast can hold him above its head at arms' length. It has longer arms than he does. 

Kid Flash blurs past, punching it in the face on the way. When he skids to a halt, he's holding an ugly lump of flesh that clearly came off in his hand. 

"Heh. Got your nose!" he taunts the monster.

It takes the bait, throwing Superboy to the ground and lumbering after him. 

"Superboy! Aqualad!" 

When he has their attention, Robin flashes up the schematic again. They need to take down this pillar, and that one...

He can definitely take out some pillars. Without being thrown into them, even!

Working in a team is great, they are using all of their different strengths to do different things and fight giant behemoths, and it's better than the dreams. More substance, more purpose, more - more leverage with which to act upon the world. He likes not having to do everything himself. He likes being part of a group. He likes getting to watch Robin come up with brilliant schemes, listen to Aqualad defend his personhood, giggle at Kid Flash's silly one liners, avoiding a fight because Dubbilex believed in him. It's nice. Warm, somewhere, for reasons that don't make much sense but matter anyway.

Those pillars are so toast.

"Come and get me, you incredible bulk!" 

Kid Flash continues to taunt the beast into attempting to hit him, and makes sure that when he dodges, a pillar gets taken out instead. 

"Sorry, try again!"

Meanwhile, Aqualad has manifested his watery mace again to knock down a few more pillars, while Robin plants explosive charges in the rest. 

That done, Robin draws a large X on the ground with chalk, centred on the point at which the bulk of the weight from above should fall. 

Aqualad draws even more water out of the container at his back to cover the floor around and in front of it in a slippery layer...

...Kid Flash skids to a halt in front of the new slip-n-slide and crouches down, drawing the monster's attention...

.... And right as the monster slides into where the 'X' is, Superboy slams into him, knocking him to the ground...

...which gets the beast to keep still long enough that Aqualad can send blue sparks crackling through the water to electrocute it. 

The thing that was once Dr Desmond howls in pain, electricity dancing over its wet skin. 

"Move!" Robin yells.

They run for the exit as the explosives go off one by one, bringing the roof down on top of them and the monster both. 

But by how quickly this building's coming down, they are not going to make it out before it all collapses around them -

He leaps forward to catch a large, sturdy looking bit of the second floor before it can hit the ground and shatter under its own weight. Then with gritted teeth and concentration, he carefully lowers one end to the floor to make a sort of lean-to out of reinforced concrete. A shelter, of a sorts. It's fine if they have to dig their way out after the building's done falling; he and Aqualad are tough enough to manage that. The important thing is to make sure the squisher members of the group are not crushed beneath their trap. These people should not become pancakes, he likes them. He makes a note to himself for later: Next time, when collapsing a building, have an exit strategy.

Aqualad helps by tackling Robin and Kid Flash into the improvised cover. 

Their makeshift barrier crunches ominously as sections of roof land on top of it, but holds.

When the dust has settled, they push their way free and stand up amid the rubble. Night fell at some point while they were underground, and the full moon is high in the sky. A light rain falls around the four of them, washing the grit from their upturned faces. 

His first priority is making sure everyone with him makes it out of the collapse safely. Is the makeshift lean-to likely to collapse (no), is he able to hold it up (yes), are his friends suffering from critical injuries (they're worse for wear, but nothing life-threatening). Then, once the dust and rubble have settled, it's making sure they all make it out from under it safely. Only then, when he's sure that everyone is well and truly safe does he notice the droplets of water collecting on his hair.

He looks up, and it stops him cold. In a mix of wonder and awe, he looks up at the sky. A little hesitantly, he reaches out a hand to catch the rain.

"We...we did it!" 

Aqualad is panting, clearly exhausted, but relieved. 

"Was there ever any doubt?" Robin jokes. 

He's rubbing his head, but seems chipper enough. 

He and Kid Flash grin at each other, high-five, then wince in unison when the motion pulls at their injuries. 

"We did it," he repeats, a little distantly. He's clearly not paying too much attention to them right now, in favor of just staring. There's this much space and wonder in the world? He knows the word rain but he didn't ever - ever experience it. The breeze is warm and the rain is cool, and the planet is so large. For all of his engineered power, for all of his implanted training, for all that he felt like a giant even when next to a monstrous behemoth - this is the first time that he feels well and truly small.

His vision blurs and he doesn't know why, until he blinks and he realizes that his eyes were filled with tears.

"Aaaand we're in trouble." 

Kid Flash is looking up at the sky, where a flying figure has appeared silhouetted against the moon. 

As the figure comes closer, it resolves into a man in red and blue, with a red cape trailing behind him. 

He swoops down towards the four, face unreadable.  

Other members of the League float in to surround them, either under their own power or standing on platforms created by the Green Lanterns and the magician Eventide. 

Superboy recovers himself upon the arrival of the League. He can't help but tense a little, wondering if they're going to be upset about the collapsed building. Or decide that because he was made to be a weapon he should be treated like one. Or that his friends stepped out of line, or something.

Superman doesn't seem to recognize what he is, or he's just not reacting to it at all. Has Superman not noticed the symbol on his chest..? Oh. His solar bodysuit got ripped and the symbol was a casualty. That's easy enough to fix. He picks up the edge of the bit of torn fabric to reveal the 'S,' tilting his head and looking at Superman curiously.

Superman jerks back like he's been slapped. 

No-one says a word. The only sounds are rainfall, feet crunching on rubble, and fabric flapping in the wind. 

Oh. Huh. That - is not the reaction he expected to elicit from that. He feels sort of bad? Sorry, Superman, he didn't mean to upset you with his existence.

He drops his hand.

Eventide takes one look at Superman, sets everyone that can't fly down, then lands next to the group.

"Hey," he says, stepping forward. He looks over everyone. He decides that maybe the Dad Voice is not required right now. "What happened?"

Batman has also stepped forward to stand at Superman's shoulder. 

He looks at Superboy. "Is that what I think it is?" 

"Uh, maybe don't call him an 'it'?" Kid Flash snaps, suddenly next to Superboy. 

He beams at Kid Flash.

Then, because he should probably make a habit of speaking for himself, he says, "I'm a clone of Superman, created by Cadmus. There's um, a giant monster thing that used to be a scientist? He's under some rubble over... theeeere-ish." He points. "Maybe check on him and punch him a couple of times if the building falling on him didn't get him."

A shockwave runs through the League at his words. 

A group of them, including both Green Lanterns, Hawkman, and Hawkwoman, go to check on ex-Doctor Desmond. Superman walks away to think; Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman join him. 

"We'll make sure it's handled. Anything else that needs immediate attention?"

"Guardian is unconscious downstairs and might need medical attention, I don't know, we didn't have time to check. Um, don't worry the Genomorphs, they're friendly, they were made by Cadmus and don't like them either."

... This explanation raises a lot more questions than it answers, but okay. He can arrange that someone go downstairs to check on Guardian, yep. He does that. One of the Green Lanterns; they're used to weird species and could diagnose Guardian quickly.

"Why don't we start from the beginning," he invites, gently steering the apparent sixteen-year-old away from his assembled companions.

Best to get the kid away from them sooner rather than later, because those three are about to get Dad Voiced at by someone much scarier than a grown man in a three piece suit and a top hat. Batman's hard to read on the best of days, but they've been working together for years. Eventide is well aware that Batman hates surprises. It's safe to say that this counts as a surprise. Worse, the surprise came from three teenagers running off on their own to stick their nose directly into trouble, one of them being Batman's sidekick/sort of adopted son Robin. Even if he's hard to read, it's pretty safe to say that Batman is pissed. Let's keep the innocent bystander out of the line of fire.

Um. He can see what Eventide's doing. He's trying to politely separate him from the trio. This is fine, right? He looks back to Aqualad to make sure that this is fine.

Aqualad nods.

"Go. We will explain to Batman." 

"I look forward to hearing it." 

Kid Flash looks mildly terrified. Even Robin seems nervous, although he's trying to play it off. Both of them attempt reassuring grins in Superboy's direction. 

... Oookay. Well, if they say so. He lets Eventide lead him away, and then starts from the beginning. Or, well, such as he has it.

"Cadmus created me to be the Superboy. I'm a Genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of Superman. Created to replace him, should he perish. To destroy him, should he turn from The Light."

What an interesting phrasing. He'll ask more about some of the details of it later, but for now, there's a more important question.

"All right. And what do you want to be?"

"I..." He glances at Superman. Yep, Superman is still completely freaking out about his existence. Let's not rub his nose in it. "I think I'd rather not be 'the Superboy,'" he says, with finality. "It's - it's attached to too many things. It's attached to Cadmus, it's attached to Superman, and also it sounds really weird when I actually say out loud and it's just - it's not mine."

Eventide can't help but smile. He nods.

"You can pick a different name, if you'd like one. Or you can wait and think it over."

"Okay."

He looks up thoughtfully at the sky.

"Rain."

"A bit unconventional," says Eventide, "but I think it suits you."

"Thanks!"

"Would you like some help figuring out how to start your life? Maybe a place to stay, access to an education in how the world outside of Cadmus's labs works?"

"That'd be great, because otherwise I have no idea where I'm going to sleep!"

"You will definitely have a place to sleep," assures Eventide. "Several to choose from, in fact, if you don't like one. Do you know what you want to do, or do you want to just take some time to figure it out?"

"I probably need some time to figure it out, but I liked - this?" He motions towards where the thing that was once Dr. Desmond is being pulled out from under the wreckage. "I liked helping the Genomorphs. I liked being part of a team, and doing something that was important together. I want to keep doing that."

"You can. I mean, the League would want to help outfit you, make sure that you had appropriate training and weren't getting in over your head, offer backup if you need it. But if you want to punch giant monsters, those are available. Just as long as you know you don't have to."

"Yeah!" He beams at Eventide; he thinks he likes him. "I know I can choose what I want to do, and maybe I'll change my mind later. I might turn out to like something else. But right now I want to keep punching giant monsters in the face with my friends!"

"We'll see what we can do." He glances over at Batman and the trio. Is Batman done yelling at/interrogating them?

It seems so. He's moved away and is talking to Guardian, along with Flash and Aquaman. 

The three young heroes are talking among themselves, glancing over at their mentors every so often. 

Okay then, time to go debrief Batman, then.

"Let me know if there's anything you need?" he says, to Rain.

"Sure!" he says. That seems like a gentle dismissal, and Eventide looks like he wants to go talk to Batman. It occurs to him that not having telepathy probably sucks. Poor ordinary humans, only able to comfortably hold one conversation at a time in meatspace. Well, Rain won't keep him. He smiles brightly at the magician, then bounces off to join the others.

Eventide smiles again, then goes to give Batman a quick rundown on his opinion of the young clone, what he wants, and what he thinks they should do with him. They'll have access to Cadmus's files shortly, there's not a lot of point in interrogating the boy just yet until they know what information base they're working from. It'd just make him feel, well. Interrogated.

"Hi!" says Rain brightly, to his new friends. "He's nice, I like him."

"Oh, you like him, huh," Kid Flash mutters.

"What did he do, rescue you from a lifetime of imprisonment in a glass case oh wait that was us." 

"He said he would try to help me stay with you guys," says Rain.

"That is good of him." 

Aqualad seems the calmest of the three, at least outwardly. 

"Did he say anything else?" 

"Mostly he asked me questions and listened to the answers. He said I could pick a name, which I did. Superboy's weird and wrong and not me at all and makes Superman make a face. Uh, he said that the League would make sure I was taken care of, and that I didn't have to fight giant monsters but the League would help me if I was going to. Which I'd like to!" Bounce. "He didn't want to tell me who to be or what to do, just make sure I was safe and have the resources I need to do what I want."

"Oh, you have a new name?" Kid Flash seems maybe a little more pleased about this than is strictly necessary. 

"Cool! What is it?" 

"Rain!" Bounce. "It's kind of weird but I was grown in a tank so I think that gives me license to be weird."

"Cool name, man!" 

Kid Flash grins, and slings an arm around Rain's shoulders.

"Hey, we match," Robin points out, sounding delighted.

"Robin and Rain!" 

"Thank you!" He grins at Kid Flash, then Robin. "Yeah, I guess so. I hadn't really thought about it."

Meanwhile, Batman is discussing with Aquaman and Flash how they should deal with their sidekicks' insubordination. 

"Eventide. You seemed to be getting along well with the clone. Anything to contribute?" 

"He's remarkably easygoing and mature, especially considering his age and what Cadmus planned to do with him. He'd rather not be associated with Superman, on entirely Superman's behalf. He noticed that it bothered him and didn't want to make it worse. He instead picked the name 'Rain.'" He looks thoughtfully at the group of young heroes. "Worked well in a team, which is good. Made friends pretty easily, which is better. ... Though I think you might have trouble splitting them up, now. Exact words were 'I want to keep punching giant monsters in the face with my friends,' not just in general."

Flash chuckles.

"Wasn't the whole point of this that our sidekicks would get to spend time together?" he points out. "Maybe we should let them keep doing that. With more supervision, obviously," he adds as Batman and Aquaman glare at him. 

"And missions in their weight class," agrees Eventide. "It'd certainly be educational, to work with a proper team. And aside from Rain, they all already have field experience and training from the best."

"You may have a point," Aquaman says, stroking his beard. 

"But I am reluctant to reward such disobedience, even given the spectacular results." 

"They disobeyed you because you didn't trust them. They felt betrayed, and wanted to show you that you could trust them with something. Not in the best way, granted. I'm not saying this was okay, whatever the actual results of their stupid move. There need to be consequences and they need to understand why this was a stupid move, but the solution here is not 'don't trust them some more.' Give them boring and painful classroom lessons on how running off without backup gets people killed, but also give them what they'd wanted in the first place. Maybe prevent this from happening again."

Batman is quiet, watching the others argue back and forth. 

"You do not even have a sidekick!" Aquaman accuses Eventide.

"You have no stake in this matter - no wonder you advocate for leniency." 

"I have a daughter," he points out, annoyed. "She's about Robin's age. If she'd wanted to come to the Hall of Justice, she'd probably be down there with them now. We all have a stake here, they're the next generation of heroes. Are we going to treat them like misbehaving children, or are we going to help them grow up?"

"They are misbehaving children!" Flash snaps, gesturing over at where Robin and Kid Flash are playing some kind of game that involves chucking tiny pebbles at Aqualad when he isn't looking. 

"They're just kids and they could have been killed tonight and you're saying we should let them do it again?"

"They risk their lives every time they go out on patrol," Batman states.

"The only difference tonight," he continues, "is that they did it without our supervision - or even our knowledge. That can not be allowed to happen again." 

"Agreed. So we help them do it with supervision and guidance, instead of waiting for them to decide that they're sick of being coddled."

He's silently glad that Green Arrow isn't part of this discussion. It'd hurt him. Perhaps objectively he should be a voice present, but he doesn't expect that any of the things he's saying would be appreciated by the guy whose former sidekick just threw a temper tantrum, went solo, and made every attempt to cut all ties with the League. The whole mess is definitely indicative of possible failure states if they don't handle these teenagers properly.

Aquaman is, apparently, thinking along the same lines.

"As Speedy did this afternoon? I will concede that is an outcome to be avoided, but that it happened at all would suggest none of them are mature enough for such responsibility, even supervised."

"... They're not responsible for Speedy's decisions, Aquaman. Only their own. They have some growing up to do, but I think punishing them for the actions of one of their peers and not them would be a mistake."

"Agreed," Batman says.

"We will need some time to work out a satisfactory arrangement, but I am not opposed in principle to letting the four of them work together on designated missions."

"Sure. Details pending. They can get lectured while we figure out the details."

"Alright," Flash agrees immediately.

"Should we lecture them all together or individually?" he wonders. 

Aquaman looks thoughtful.

"Together," he decides. "They all made the same mistakes. Although perhaps we could leave out...'Rain', was it?" 

"Definitely. He had nothing to do with the decisions that require a lecture, and it'd just be confusing and upsetting to get a lecture that he didn't earn. Innocent bystander."

"Agreed." 

Batman turns towards the young heroes, and starts walking in their direction.

"Let me do the talking," he tells his fellow Leaguers. "Eventide, would you take Rain aside again?"

"Yep."

He performs the Rain extraction maneuver. Which is to say, he says that he'd like to talk to him about his living situation, and then actually does that. Does he want to have a secret identity? ("Sure, why not.") Does he want to go to school? ("Sure, why not.") Does he want to be adopted by someone and have parents? ("If they're not terrible.")

And meanwhile, the others can get a lecture.

For a few seconds, Batman just looks at the trio, evenly. His expression is impossible to read.

"What were you attempting to accomplish?" he asks, eventually, in a tone that says they'd better be very sure about their answer.

"Uhhh..."

They look at each other sheepishly -

- and Robin steps forward.

"I-it was my idea." He hesitates, wilting a little, when this predictably brings the full weight of the Bat-Glare down on him, but presses on. 

"I hacked the computer system because I wanted to know about Project Cadmus, and then we decided to investigate because you said there was something suspicious about it, and, well." He gestures over at Rain, talking to Eventide.

"Then we found him." 

"You found the facility before you found him. You didn't call in for backup or to report what you'd found. Why?"

The Bat-Glare is really more of a Bat-Poker Face. Robin is the one talking, so Batman gives him his full attention. It's more than a little intimidating.

"...um." 

Robin looks away. Batman's right; they should have tried to call the League much sooner than they did. 

"You...were busy tryingtostopWotanputtingoutthesun?" Kid Flash puts in, noticing Robin falter.

The last half of his sentence speeds up until it blurs into incomprehensibility, but the general message is clear. 

"We did try," Aqualad adds. 

"...admittedly, not until we were inside the facility, and were too deep underground for our communicators to function." 

Batman looks at Kid Flash, then Aqualad. That - sure is a gaze he has.

"The reason why the Justice League has been successful is because its members communicate and coordinate when faced with possible threats. Before they investigate an unknown threat, they call it in. Having all worked with League members, I would have expected this to be understood." He lets that sentence hang in the air, then continues. "Even if many members of the League are busy elsewhere. Before you are too far underground."

"You could have died down there," Flash bursts out. "And we wouldn't even have known!"

He's mostly looking at Kid Flash, but there's some concern there for the others, too, especially Robin.

Aqualad seems to have taken over as spokesman. 

"We understand, and we are sorry," he says sincerely. "We acted without fully considering the consequences, and only realized our folly when it was too late to correct. We expected this to be an easy mission, which we could complete quickly and return to the Hall before you noticed our absence, but that," he sighs, "does not excuse our carelessness."

"It does not," agrees Batman. "Any mission can become much more than anyone expected, at any time. As you've just experienced. Your results speak for themselves, but you got lucky. Do not rely on it. It will run out."

"Batman, we know we messed up," Robin says.

"But we were just trying to prove to you that - we're ready to start using what you taught us. And, look!" He gestures at where Blockbuster is being airlifted out of the wreckage by one of the Green Lanterns. 

Aqualad picks up the thread, standing taller than he was a minute ago.

"We did good work here tonight; work you trained us to do," he tells the gathered mentors. "Together, on our own, we forged something powerful. Important. And, yes, perhaps it was luck. But it was not only luck."

"It was not," allows Batman. "But rushing headlong into danger is only a way to prove you're not ready. End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing something like this again."

He pauses just long enough for that to sink in, then before they can protest: "Next time you will have resources you can rely on. You will not let a simple neglected phone call put all of you in danger. You will adhere to the protocols we taught you, because they are there for a reason. This is dangerous work, do not ever forget that. If you do it, you'll do it on League terms."

The three of them droop as Batman enumerates all the ways they messed up...

...only to perk up again at the words 'next time'. 

By the end, Robin and Kid Flash are openly grinning at each other. 

Even Aqualad is smiling, caught up in his teammates' excitement. (They're teammates now!)

He composes himself, and turns to the adults. 

"Thank you," he says, still smiling a little. "I promise that you will not come to regret this decision. We will not let you down." 

"See that you don't," agrees Batman. "In the meantime, you've all proven yourselves in need of a refresher course on standard mission protocols over the next few days. I expect all of you to pay close attention."

In case they forgot that they were in trouble, or anything.

But if a personal reminder from Batman isn't enough, then the three days of remedial mission protocol instruction will probably hammer it in. They do not get the cliffnotes version. They made their mistakes together, they get to spend time experiencing the consequences of their mistakes together. It's a boring bonding time for all. Or - well, just the three of them. Rain doesn't have to attend; he needs more instruction than three days of review can really get him. Also, he's not in trouble. They don't get much chance to see him while they're in review, but the League promises that he's doing well. They'll be able to ask for themselves, once they're done with their remedial instruction.