Green Lantern's Protégée

2: "We're the luckiest idiots in the whole galaxy!"

Superboy looked conflicted about her question, not knowing how to answer it. Aqualad saved him with a slice of motivational wisdom of his own, "To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. Beyond your solar suit. Beyond you pod. And beyond Cadmus."

I never knew Atlanteans were so wise and poetic.

This seemed to strike a nerve in Superboy as he shouted, "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" But his voice seemed to shake a little like he was trying to fight a useless battle.

"Cadmus, your home. The place that kept you in a pod your whole life and probably never planned to let you out," Cyra snapped at him and Superboy turned a glare on her. She was surprised she didn't get laser-eyed right then and there.

Robin shot the protégée a glare of his own before addressing Superboy in a gentle tone. "Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun."

"I'm pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon," Kid Flash put in his not-so-helpful opinion.

"Which is just as good as the sun," Cyra assured, poking fun at KF.

"We can show you—" Aqualad rephrased, "—introduce you to Superman."

Superboy seemed to actually be considering the offer and Cyra had to hold in her joy. But that joy was quickly burned to the ground as another scientist with brown hair, a lab coat, and glasses entered through the door, followed by Guardian, the lady Kid Stupid knocked over earlier, and some genomorph gnomes.

"No, they can't. They'll be otherwise occupied," He said with an evil intention in his voice as he turned to the scientist lady with a smirk. "Activate the cloning process." The female scientist responded back with a nod as she started prepping.

"Pass. Bat Cave is crowded enough," Robin said with a shrug.

Robin was ignored by the scientist, soon to be remembered as Dr. Desmond. Desmond yelled to, basically, anyone who was listening, "And get the weapon back in its pod!"

"Why does he get to call Supey an it?"

"Shut up, Kid Idiot."

Aqualad, the ever-serious one, said to Superboy, "Help us." A final plea.

Desmond scoffed at Superboy as he saw the hesitant look crossover his face. "Don't start thinking now."

A genomorph hopped onto the sixteen weeks old's shoulder and Superboy suddenly got a blank look on his face. "See? You're not a real boy! You're a weapon and you belong to me!"

Desmond paused for a moment, backtracking. "Well Cadmus, but same thing! Now back to your pod!"

With robotic movements, Superboy walked out, the steel door sliding shut behind him. Cyra could only vaguely hear Aqualad's small murmuring under his breath. She assumed he was praying, which is something she should have seriously considered because hope was coming in extremely small portions at the moment.

Then, needles emerge from the pods and poke into our sides, taking out blood roughly as static shocks flow through the sidekick's systems. The Green Lantern yelled out curse words as she struggled against her bonds. Her veins felt like they were on fire and moving in her arms back and forth, like a snake. Hal's protégée could feel the needles in her skin as she shook about, making them nick at her sides painfully.

Willpower.

The word flew through her head as she looked down on her ring and started to focus. But with her drained battery and pain, she wasn't getting very far. She needed to recharge. Her ring was still its regular emerald green color, softly illuminating off her finger.