Chapter Text
Washington, D.C
July 4, 15:53 EDT
He came to as he abruptly hit the floor. The impact jarred him, a shock more than anything, but once he hit the floor he found his limbs too heavy to move.
The floor was cold.
His eyes, aching behind his eyelids, were just as tired as the rest of him. Light burned straight through them, and he felt his face scrunch involuntarily. He managed to make them open a bit, catching a blurry glimpse of the area surrounding him – four figures around him, fleshy looking red walls, some sort of glass tube – before his eyes fell shut again. Vague shapes blocked the worst of the light, and his face relaxed.
There were voices – high-pitched and concerned – around him, muffled by the pounding in his head and the overwhelming scent of sweat and dirt around him. They faded in and out of his hearing. Distantly, he felt arms wrap carefully around his unmoving body and pick him up.
They smelt of salt with a tang of electricity, a storm breaking over the ocean, and the chest he was held against was warm. He sighed.
He was finally safe.
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Washington, D.C.
July 4, 15:47 EDT
Once Superboy had helped them all escape their pods, he led them to a separate room eerily similar to his own.
Kid Flash cursed as Aqualad and Robin stared in shock.
There was another containment pod, ‘MKr’ displayed on the front. This one wasn’t empty either – inside was a kid who appeared a couple years younger than Robin, ten or eleven at the most. His uniform was almost an exact replica of Superboy’s, but it was black and green where the others' was white and red. There were no G-gnomes around him.
While the others were frozen in shock, Superboy walked forward to the controls. He smashed a fist into them, destroying the complicated array of buttons, and the pod opened up.
The kid fell straight to the floor. Unlike Superboy, who had woken up almost as soon as his pod opened, the younger clone was still out cold. They all burst into action at the thump his impact with the ground made.
Kid Flash ran to him, checking his pulse. He sighed in relief. “He’s alive. Why isn’t he awake though? Supey was awake as soon as we opened the pod!”
The other heroes ran over as quickly as they could, then looked at each before looking at Superboy. He glared, mouth twisted in confusion, before saying, “The G-gnomes woke me up. MKr wasn’t assigned any.”
“MKr?” Aqualad asked. He was standing behind Kid Flash, hovering over him in order to keep an eye on the unconscious clone. Robin was rapidly typing on his wrist computer behind him.
Superboy shrugged. “I only found out about him from hearing Dr. Desmond talk after you guys were in pods. He said something about how ‘at least these hero brats won’t be resistant to telepathic control like MKr’.”
“He is resistant to telepathic control?” The Atlanteans’ eyes widened. “But how? If he is also a clone of Superman…” He trailed off.
A small movement drew their attention to the littlest occupant in the room.
MKr’s face was screwed up, eyes still closed, with his eyebrows furrowed and mouth pulled down in a frown.
“Aww look! You guys have the same grumpy face!” Kid Flash poked Superboy’s cheek.
This caused Superboy to tense, his shoulders rising and arms crossing. His eyebrows furrowed more, highlighting the resemblance between the two clones. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Robin spoke.
“Here it is,” he said, fingers flying over the holographic display. “ ‘Project MKr: an attempt to blend the abilities of Superman and magic. Only DNA obtained from GZ has proved stable when combined with Kryptonian DNA, but stability fluctuates when introduced to outside sources of magic. Subject displays physical distress when innate magic is forcibly activated. Subject MKr01, created May 25, 2010, is considered a failure and to be terminated once sufficient data has been gathered. Further testing required.’ ”
“GZ? Who’s that?” Kid Flash questioned. “Wait a second, terminated?”
“I’m not sure,” Robin replied. “I have a guess, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions. There are hundreds of magic-users. Man, this is a disaster, heavy on the dis.”
“Indeed,” Aqualad sighed, and they all turned to the boy still sprawled on the floor.
While both clones bore a close resemblance to the Man of Steel, they still held distinct differences to one another. Up close, the differences between the two were apparent. The youngers’ skin was a few shades darker, his hair a bit messier, his nose hooked rather than straight.
The most obvious of these differences were their eyes. Superboy’s eyes were an icy blue, the same exact shade as their shared genetic donor’s. MKr’s eyes, on the other hand, were a striking emerald green. Eyes that were currently open and hazily staring back at them.
“Gah!” Kid Flash shouts, hovering over the boy. He waved his hand in MKr’s face rapidly. “Hey, you awake? Took long enough! …uh, anyone home? Hello? … and he closed his eyes again. Well, it was nice while it lasted.” Kid Flash went to pat Superboy’s arm, but the clone growled and flinched away.
The others had come to hover over MKr with the speedster. Standing in a tight circle around the boy, they all cast each other wary glances.
“So…” Robin trailed off. “Who’s going to carry him?”
“I believe it would be best if I carried him. Kid Flash and Superboy need to be able to scout ahead and fight, and Robin would likely not be strong enough to carry someone so close to his size for an extended period of time,” Aqualad said calmly, his hands already reaching for MKr.
Superboy made an abortive motion, looking as if he was going to lunge at Aqualad but stopped himself. The Atlantean stilled before he brought the boy fully into his arms.
“Peace, Superboy. I will not hurt him.”
The clone scowled.