Cadmus, Washington, D.C., 12:26 AM.
July 5th, 2010.
Deep in the sub-labs of Cadmus, even below the famous Superboy, is a lab that has long since been abandoned. Research papers and documents were scattered everywhere, the lights were flickering sporadically, and at the very center of the room is a pod containing a teenage boy with black hair wearing a black skintight suit.
The lab shakes violently, as if a war is raging upstairs. The unmaintained ceiling cracks under the constant vibrations, causing debris to fall into the lab and destroying the panel near the pod. Nothing happened and the only thing that could be heard is the sounds of destruction in the upper-labs; until the sound of pressurized gas being released followed by the mechanical opening of the pod.
The boy's eye twitches as if he's being awakened from a long nap. He opens his eyes, scanning his surroundings almost robotically, he takes his first step out of the pod… and trips unceremoniously. He groans and rubs his head before walking around the lab and laying his eyes on a document titled [Project Thaûma]. Curious he opens the document and begins to read it or well attempt to because he soon realizes that… he's illiterate.
Frustrated but not willing to give up the young man glares at the document and shoves it under his armpit and walks out of the lab before a thunderous boom echoed through the building shocking him. A part of him wishes to find out the origin of the boom to satisfy his curiosity and another part tells him that it's probably a bad idea.
Well, his curiosity got the better of him.
Slowly making his way to sub-level 52 he came face to face with the destruction caused by… well he doesn't know really but it wouldn't hurt to find out. After following the trail, it seemed to end at an elevator. Grabbing each side of the elevator he effortlessly pried the doors open and peered his head through the door looking up. He began to wonder how he was supposed to get up there.
Suddenly there was a feeling in his mind, like instinct, no something greater than that; it was telling him to leap, to leap into the air and takeoff, and so… he did. He leaped into the elevator shaft, and he started falling, and as he shut his eyes believing that this was the end and then, there was nothing, no impact, no pain, just… nothing.
Hesitantly, he opens one of his eyes and notices that he was floating. A look of shock engulfed his face followed by an ever-widening smile. Correcting himself so that he would be upright he looked up to the remaining labs and with a smile, he flew straight through the building.
Cadmus Ruins, Washington, D.C., 12:39 AM.
As the dust settles in the remnants of Cadmus' building, the rubble shifts, and then Superboy bursts through the debris, followed by Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash. Their uniforms were damaged, and their bodies were a little worse for wear, but despite that, each smiled.
"We," Aqualad pants, "We won!"
"Was there ever any doubt?" Robin said, equally exhausted. He gives Kid Flash a high-five, and they both flinch from pain. Superboy walks over to the fallen scientist and stares at his mutated form.
"See?" Kid Flash called, getting Superboy's attention. "The moon," he said, gesturing to the sky. The clone moved past the trio and looked up to the moon before squinting his eyes and noticing something flying in the distance.
"Oh, and Superman." Kid Flash said, walking next to Superboy, "Do we keep our promises or what?"
As the Man of Steel descended, the entire Justice League followed surrounding the group of teens, giving them a leveled gaze. Superboy walks closer to his 'father' and shows him the same shield the world knows as hope. Superman looked at the shield, surprised. A hopeful look appeared on Superboy's face, but it disappeared once Superman returned to an indifferent look.
Batman speaks up, "Is that what I think it is?"
"He doesn't like being called and it." Kid Flash whispered.
Not wanting to beat around the bush any longer, Superboy went ahead and said, "I'm Superman's clone."
The League looked at each other in shock, and Batman narrowed his eyes at the group of sidekicks. "Start talking."
Kid Flash and Robin looked at each other before staring at Aqualad with hopeful eyes. Aqualad sighed and stepped up to explain everything from hacking the League's systems, finding the sublevels of Cadmus, and finding Superboy. Half an hour went by and most of the League was gone; some took Blockbuster away while others just returned to their own cities.
Superboy looked at his predecessor with all the teenage angst he could muster despite being less than a year old. Superman noticed his stares and made his way over to him. "We'll... we'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now, I better help them get that Blockbuster creature squared away."
As the group stared at the Man of Steel flying, Batman walked up behind them and said, "Cadmus will be investigated. All 52 levels." The group turned to look at him as he continued, "But let's make one thing clear."
"You should have called." Flash interrupted, earning the Bat's glare.
"End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."
The young heroes stared defiantly, and Aqualad spoke up, "I am sorry, but we will."
"Aqualad, stand down." Aquaman ordered.
"Apologies, my king. But no." Aqualad said, causing his mentor to raise a brow, "We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."
Flash stepped forward. "If this is about your treatment at the hall, the three of you..."
"The four of us. And it's not." Kid Flash interrupted.
Robin walked up and asked, "Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?"
"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple: get on board or get out of the way." Superboy said.
Batman gave them a leveled glare, then sighed, "Give me three days." Before the teens could celebrate the ground shakes violently and the sound of concrete being destroyed echoes beneath them. The remaining Leaguers and the teen heroes stood on guard waiting for whatever's coming.
With a boom a figure bursts through the rubble and lands on the ground in front of them. Squinting his eyes Superboy peers through the dust cloud to get a better look at the figure before his eyes widen in shock.
"Wait!" Superboy shouted, "He's a clone too!" That got the teens and some Leaguers, Flash, to lower their guards but the rest still stood ready to attack.
Superboy walked over to the clone as the dust settles and stretches out his hand for a handshake. The clone looked at his curiously before mimicking him, "I am the Superboy. Clone of the Superman. Are you one of his too?"
The clone looked at Superboy confused before handing him the document he found in the lab. Superboy begins reading the document as Batman walks up to them with the others in tow. "Well?" Kid Flash asks.
"He can't read, write, speak, or anything! For some reason the G-Gnomes couldn't feed his mind with information of any kind; he's essentially a child!" Superboy shouts as Batman takes the document from his hands.
Batman reading through the document says, "Project Thaûma is a clone force-grown in 15 weeks made to destroy Dr. Fate with the DNA samples 'acquired' from Zatara and Wonder Woman."
"Stolen from Zatara and Wonder Woman," Aquaman spoke up.
Kid Flash laughs and nudges Aqualad, "Sounds familiar?"
Batman ignored the interruption and continued, "The clone was made with the intent of having the most magical potential on Earth thanks to the DNA of a demigoddess and the of the most powerful homo magi. It ended up being successful—too successful; the clone is impervious to all forms of brainwashing and mind control we have available, so the project will be abandoned until we gain better means of control. Starro..."
"What does Starro mean?" Flash asked.
"We can worry about that later. For now, let's think about what to do with him." Batman said, pointing at the clone.
Martian Manhunter speaks up, "I can attempt to feed him the information he needs but whatever's protecting his mind is wild, chaotic, it'll take me awhile to give him everything that he needs." He walks up to the clone and places a hand on his head.
Batman copies all the information from the document on his gauntlet and asks, "How long is awhile?"
"12 hours at most."
Batman nodded and said, "Take him to the Hall if you need to and contact Diana and Zatara. As for you four." He turns to the teens, "Head home, we got it from here." And so, he and the other Leaguers dive into the hole Thaûma created.
The only ones left on the surface were Martian Manhunter and then teens. The teens looked at each other and shrugged, "Three days isn't so long." Kid Flash says as they all began to walk away until Robin stopped them and looked at Superboy. The Batcave was a no go and there's no telling how long he could survive underwater.
Kid Flash thinks for a second before saying, "Hey, Supey, want to crash at my place? I'm sure my parents won't mind." Then realizing something he turned his head to Thaûma opening his mouth to say something.
"He will be with me until he gains the necessary information required to be a U.S citizen as Batman said before. After that it'll be up to his parents to decide." Manhunter says.
Kid Flash snorts and whispers to Robin, "Like divorced parents." Robin elbows his ribs chuckling.
Martian Manhuter sighs before looking at Thaûma, "Follow me." He says before floating up. Thaûma nods, finally understanding English, and follows him up to the sky and follows him to the Hall of Justice.
Hall of Justice, 30 Minutes Later.
Thaûma is sitting in the lounging area of the hall absentmindedly staring at Martian Manhunter contact his parents. "Wonder Woman, Zatara, the both of you need to come to the hall immediately."
Wonder Woman nodded, "I'll get there as fast as I can."
Meanwhile Zatara looked hesitant, "I don't know if I can leave my daughter alone again tonight."
"Isn't she 14 now? She'll be fine." Wonder Woman rolled her eyes.
Zatara narrows his eyes at her, "That's hardly the age for leaving a child home alone, Diana."
Martian Manhunter coughed, grabbing the heroes' attention, "Well, you may bring her with you." Zatara was about to argue but Martain Manhunter raised his hand, "I assure you while this is urgent there will be no danger at all."
Zatara sighed, "We'll be there."
Sometime later, Diana arrived at the hall with Zatara and Zatanna following closely behind. Once they entered the lounge, they encountered the strange sight of Martian Manhunter helping Thaûma learn with flashcards.
Martian Manhunter pulls out a card with a red fruit on it, "Ok, what is this?"
Thaûma rolled his eyes like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "A strawberry."
"That is incorrect." Manhunter shook his head and Thaûma's eyes widen in shock, "This is an apple."
Thaûma slammed the table in frustration shattering it, "But it's red! You showed be that strawberries are red!"
"That is true, but strawberries are more heart-shaped and covered yellow seeds." Manhunter said pulling out another flashcard with a strawberry on it.
Thaûma groans as Zatara nudges Zatanna behind him protectively while her and Diana looked at Thaûma in amusement. "J'onn, who is this? I believe you mentioned that there will be no danger." Zatara points at the destroyed table, "This seems dangerous."
Martian Manhunter stands up and gestures for Thaûma to follow him, "Superboy wasn't the only clone Cadmus made.
"Another clone of Superman then?" Wonder Woman guessed but the Martian shook his head.
"Unlike Superboy, Thaûma here is the product of two heroes." Martian Manhunter places a hand on Thaûma's shoulder, "I would like you introduce the both of you to your son. I believe I should say Mazel Tov." He joked looking at the shocked faces of Wonder Woman and Zatara.
In his shock Zatanna slipped from Zatara's grip and walked toward Thaûma before turning to Martian Manhunter and asking, "How old is he?"
"Biologically he's 15 but he's truly 15 weeks old."
Zatanna grinned wildly and gave Thaûma a hug, "Nice to meet you little brother!" That shook the two heroes out of their stupor.
Zatara grabbed Zatanna and pulled her back, "Be careful, we don't know what he's capable of Zatanna!"
Zatanna rolled her eyes, "I doubt he's going to hurt me, Dad."
"Your daughter is right Zatara." Wonder Woman spoke, "He seems innocent enough and even if he does plan on harming her there's three league members present so he won't be able to do much."
Thaûma looked at them weirdly before turning to Martian Manhunter and pointing at them, "Family, right?"
Martian Manhunter nodded before coughing to gain everyone's attention, "The main reason asked you all to be here is because I believe that the both of you should decide who he will be staying with."
Zatanna looked at her father expectantly, but he shook his head, "I'm sorry but I refuse to allow something so close to Cadmus to be near my daughter at first meeting."
Diana sighed at his overprotectiveness and looked at Thaûma, "I'll gladly take him in. But first he needs an actual name." She looked at Zatara, "I don't suppose you have any suggestions?"
Zatara hummed, "Maybe Heracles? He is a famous Greek hero and all."
Diana grimaced at the thought of him, "I rather not have him be associated with that monster. He is no hero."
"Then, Elias?" He suggested.
Thaûma didn't looked so pleased at the name; then Zatanna piped up, "How about Magithor?" Thaûma frowned as Zatanna began rapid firing out names. "Mister Boom? Sparkles? Arcadion?"
Diana deadpanned at her, "Zatanna, please."
"Fine. Since he's probably going to be a hero why don't you name him after one of the good Greek heroes? I'm sure there's plenty to choose from."
"Unfortunately, there is not." Diana sighed, before staring at Thaûma "But there was once a hero that can be defined as a true hero and not just a man that accomplished something great."
"And who that might be?" Zatara asked.
"Perseus; Slayer of Medusa, Rescuer of Andromeda, and Son of Zeus."
Thaûma blinked, then mimicked her slowly. "Per…seus?" He said the same a couple more times before nodding in acceptance.
Diana smiled brightly, "Your name shall be Perseus Zatara Prince." She turned to Giovanni Zatara, "I hope you don't mind me using your name?"
He merely smiled while Zatanna vibrated at the inclusion, "Not at all. And I hope you could understand my hesitance on keeping him but, forgive me for asking, do you have a place of residence?"
Diana arched a brow, "What do you mean?"
Zatara coughed, "I mean, do you have a house? An apartment? Or is the child going to grow up in the League's base of operations surviving on rations?"
Diana gives him a dry look before answering, "I have a diplomatic suite here in Washington. An apartment in New York. And my sacred home of Themyscira. Take your pick."
Zatara coughed again, "Ah, I see." He grabbed Zatanna and began walking to the Zeta-tube. "We'll be leaving first then."
"Wonder Woman." Martian Manhunter called, "May I suggest that you stay here tonight?"
"Why?" She asked.
He pointed to the newly named Perseus creating mini arcs of lightning in between his hands, "He doesn't exactly have the education suited for the outside world yet and I am the only one currently that can speed up his learning process."
Diana nodded, "I understand, then I'll be in my guest room." She turned to Perseus and smiled, "Goodnight son."
Martian Manhunter sent some information to Perseus' brain, and he says, "Goodnight mom."