Superboy

Scene 11: Meeting Your Match

It had not been easy to locate a building directly in front of Lex Corp without raising suspicion. Yet Roy knew the real hard part would actually be getting inside Lex Corp itself.

However, this was going to be the only way he was going to find out the truth about Superboy. He had to know what had really happened earlier that day. He needed to find out what Lex Corp was up to.

That was when he saw a distant figure from another roof top jumping straight for the Lex Corp building. A quick look with his binoculars confirmed it was Superboy. He recognized that profile after seeing his picture on the news, which one of the witnesses had taken.

If he was going to get answers, the time to act was now. Reaching into his quiver, Roy brought out a grappling hook arrow and aimed for the Lex Corp rooftop. By the time he was ready to fire, there was no sign of Superboy. He must have already gone inside. Time was running out, and Roy knew it.

Taking the shot, Roy fired the arrow. The arrow sailed through the air and settled on the rooftop in the distance. Wasting no time, Roy began to slide across to Lex Corp.

Once he was on the building he needed to be at, Roy made his way down the stairs which would take him to the top floor. From there, he would need to be on his guard. There was no telling what he was up against.

As he made his way closer to the door, Roy heard the sound of a woman's voice on the intercom. He heard the angry replies of he assumed was Superboy. Roy only caught a few words of the conversation, but he knew who the woman was: Mercy Graves. It was just as Oliver had had told him. She was picking up where Lex Luthor left off a year ago.

He suddenly heard what sounded like Superboy charging toward Graves. But something was off. It sounded like Superboy had fallen into some kind of trap, something that had weakened him. Roy understood. Predictable though it was, Graves had used Kryptonite to weaken Superboy.

By the time Roy made it to the door leading to the top floor, he could better hear what Graves was saying. Opening the door ajar, he heard her saying, "I need a security team over here. Send Kr to Lab 1, and have everything from Project Match there as well."

So, Superboy had come here trying to oppose Graves and Lex Corp. The only problem was he still didn't have all the answers. He needed to know what was really going on. To do that, he was going to need a better form of surveillance.

***

When Connor opened his eyes, it was to see Mercy Graves standing in front of him. He wanted to run at her, but his muscles ached. What was more, he had been restrained by the arms and ankles.

If only he had his full strength, then he's be free no problem. Unfortunately, that Kryptonite had badly hurt him. As a result, he was momentarily trapped by Mercy Graves. The worst part, he didn't see any way out of this.

"How'd you sleep?" Graves taunted, making him grit his teeth angrily. "Now, now, Superboy. This is for your own good. We had some big plans in mind for you, but I guess they won't be happening. It's a shame really. I was hoping you would be the success we were looking for."

"What are you talking about?" asked Connor, finally finding his voice, which sounded like it had been stuffed with cotton.

"You came here looking for answers, didn't you?" asked Graves. "Here's a few to the questions you must have, along with many more."

Connor tried again to break free. His muscles felt less sore than they had moments ago, but it wasn't enough to break free. Not yet, anyway.

"The first thing to understand is that Kryptonian DNA is immensely hard to duplicate," explained Graves in a leisure tone. "Before you were made, we tried to make a clone of Superman solely with his DNA. There were many failures due to incomplete data, forcing us to rethink a little. And so I recommended to Doctor Desmond to try and make a clone with human DNA to bridge the gaps in the Kryptonian DNA sample we had."

This shocked Connor beyond anything else. Not only had he been told other clones had come before him. He now understood why he didn't have all of Superman's powers. He was part human.

"The human DNA, it suppressed my full Kryptonian powers."

"That's right," said Graves, looking oddly pleased Connor had figured this out. "But don't worry," she added when he started to pull himself out of his restraints, his strength slowly coming back. "We weren't heartless. The last clone was not killed. How would you like to meet him?"

That was when the door opened and two men pushed a tall pod into the room. Graves made her way over to it and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, the pod's door slid open to reveal another super clone.

"You boys have funnow," Graves called as she ushered her security out the door with her. By thetime Connor had pulled himself free, the other super clone had opened his eyes.He glared at Connor, hate in his eyes, and the next thing Connor knew, he roared inhumanly at him and jumped straight for him.