Supermartian One-Shots

Apprentice Part II

Conner! Conner! Conner, please, where are you?

M'gann, you've been calling him for an hour! If he was gonna pick up, he would've done it by now. M'gann shook her head as she flew over the city. No! I can't give up! She tried hard not to cry. I don't understand! Where could he be?

Nightwing, Beast Boy, Impulse and Lagoon Boy looked around in the sewers. "We can't find any traces of Superboy here." Guardian, Batgirl and Robin were at the Cave, looking at a digital map of Happy Harbor. "No sign of him here, either. We've been monitoring all the frequencies, but he hasn't checked in."

M'gann covered her face with her hands, still in mid-air with Bumblebee, Wondergirl and Blue Beetle. "Oh! I'm a terrible person! I never should've let him run off to find Lex alone!" "Yeah, 'specially since Lex's big doo-dad was a dud!", Beast Boy said, morphing from his alligator form. "The Cronoton Detonator wasn't a dud.", Batgirl said. "It was a decoy, to lure us away from Superboy...and we fell for it." Nightwing punched the sewer wall next to him. "I should've known it was a fake!"

"But I don't get it!", Wondergirl said. "Why would Lex want to separate us from Superboy?" "Why wouldn't he?", Mal said sarcastically. "But if the Detonator was a decoy...", Impulse wondered aloud. "...Than what was Lex's real plan?", Blue finished for him. Suddenly, on the map of the Cave, an alarm went off. "Trouble at Happy Harbor Labs!", Batgirl said. Nightwing contacted the others. "Miss Martian, Guardian, Bumblebee, meet me at the bank. We're going to stop the intruder. The rest of you, keep up the search."

A dark shadow jumped into the laboratory through an open window and saw the heat blaster gun that the HHL scientists had been working on for months, secured safely in a containment device. The shadow put his hands on opposite sides of the device and crushed the glass, grabbing the device as the alarm went off. The sound of running came from down the hall. "He stole the thermal blaster! This way!" The shadow slipped through the window and out onto the roof.

"FREEZE!" The shadow saw Nightwing with bird-a-rangs in each hand and Miss Martian floating next to him. On the other side of the shadow was Guardian and Bumblebee, ready to fight. Both ways were blocked on either side. He ran ahead, the others close on his tail, stopping at a dead end. He turned to face the heroes as the moonlight shone down on him, revealing who he really was. They all gasped. Bumblebee folded her hands over her mouth. Guardian's jaw fell open. Miss Martian felt her heart break. Nightwing dropped his bird-a-rangs, his masked eyes widening. "Superboy?"

Their old friend stood before them, wearing the colors of one of their greatest enemies. "Whoa!" "No way!" Miss Martian took a step towards him. "Conner, why are you-". Before she could finish what she was saying, Superboy stomped the ground with his foot, creating a crack in the pavement. She stumbled back in shock and toppled over on her side. "Hey!", Mal yelled at him. "What is your deal?!" Superboy opened his mouth to say something when Lex's voice came over on his earpiece. "Not a word, son. Remember, they're not your friends anymore."

Instead, with a mighty yell, he charged towards Nightwing, who was stunned into stillness, not preparing himself for the attack. Not waiting around anymore, he leapt into the air, landing off the roof and doing super-jumps further and further from his former teammates. M'gann got up to her feet and watched Superboy's shadow disappear into the night, a lone tear slipping from her left eye. "Conner..."
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Conner stepped out of the darkness and into the single spotlight that lit in the middle of the lair, holding out the stolen thermal blaster. "Excellent work, Superboy. You're already proving to be the perfect apprentice." Conner growled under his breath. "This deal can't last forever." "Oh, but it can. And it will."