"How did you do that?!" Conner demanded. storming into the office. 

One second he'd been in Metropolis with the team, keeping an eye on a location that was allegedly being used to ship unregistered weaponry out of the country, then as if by some unseen force, Conner had been walking. He left his post, blindly following this scent. A few cars swerved to miss him, horns blaring, but still he followed. It was like tracking a delicious perfume, or following a flashlight with your eyes. His brain seemed to buzz, an ever rising thrum rattling around his skull. As the hum in his head hit a zenith, and he tilted his head back, relishing in its drone. He'd opened his eyes then, and realized where he was; the lobby of the local Lex corp. building.

"There you are." Lex said, turning to the two other men in his office. "See, just in time."

"How did you do that?!" Conner ordered again, panic flaring up in his chest.

"Genomorph pheromones," Luthor explained, more to the two men than to him. "When Superboy and the other Genomorphs were being crafted, they were given the ability to emit and read pheromonal signals. Think of it like army ants."

"Okay, why?" The teen demanded. "Why did you lead me here?"

"Because the CADMUS investors never got to see where their money was going." Lex took his drink off the coaster on his sleek glass-topped desk. "There he is, boys, the first genetically stable kryptonian clone. Now think, if we can clone Superman, we can clone any human."

Conner's heart sank. "...no..." but it was too late that he realized he was being exhibited.

"Certainly looks like the real thing." One of the men said. "Does it sound like him?"

Lex turned to him with a patronizing smile. "Go on, speak up."

"No." Conner growled. "I'm not going to participate in this!"

"I don't think it looks like the real thing at all," the other man spoke up, "The real Superman smiles."

Lex shook his head. "Yes, I'm afraid this one's got a bit of an attitude," he said, "Superboy was taken out of his pod too early, it left him a bit... stunted."

"You talk about it as if it's real." The first man observed. 

"It usually wouldn't be necessary, but this is a special case;" Lex leaned closer to them, lowering his voice. "A clone carried to term would obey orders without hesitation, but since he's a little bit underdeveloped, he responds better to being treated like a human."

Conner turned to leave, he wasn't putting up with this! He stormed back to the door. "I'm not your toy, Luthor!"

Suddenly that perfume was back, his head tilted up as if listening to a siren's song. he moved without thought, drawing him to the center of the room. He stood there, dumb, staring blankly up at the air vent.

"What did you do to it?" The second man asked.

"I turned on the air conditioning, releasing a concentrated chemical factor extracted from a G-gnome's glands."

Conner stared at the man. "Did you kill it?"

"Of course not, I don't kill Cadmus' working class genomorphs," Lex tutted. He set down the AC control and addressed the other men: "The method of calling him here was likewise simple, I own-- of many things under the conglomerate-- a company which sells air conditioning and heating units. All I had to do was see that they each blow these pheromones at the same time, the intensity increasing the closer he got to this building."

"How did you know I was in metropolis?"

"I'm afraid I had to set that up, apologize to the sidekicks for me, I didn't mean to waste their time..." Lex paced over to the boy, "I just had to make sure you'd be in town today."

"This is ridiculous!" Conner turned back to the door, but as he got further and further from the vent, the scent fading, he found himself involuntarily turning, walking past the door and striding back around in front of the vent.

The second man laughed. "Your control of it is impressive, Mr. Luthor."

"Oh, you know..." he looked back at Conner, "I'm sure if Superboy really wanted to leave, he would."

Conner grit his teeth, face steaming red. "What do you want from me?!"

"Come now, I won't have you throwing a tantrum in front of the investors." Lex placated. "Now be good and show the gentlemen your powers."

"No."

"Stand back, gentlemen." Luthor advised, grabbing the AC control.

"No!" Conner lunged to stop him. Luthor barely evaded the clone as he barreled into the desk.

Suddenly he was taken by something strange and visceral; the sting of anxious sweat and something oily filled his nostrils. Lex was smiling at him.

He slammed a fist down in frustration, shattering the glass top of the desk. He was fuming-- no, he was furious-- but there was also a touch of fear in his stomach. He hit it again, splintering the wood beneath. He hit it a third time and the thing split almost exactly in two. He kept attacking it in a fury, knuckles busting and teeth ripping and heels kicking blindly as he desecrated the piece of furniture. He didn't know where this animosity came from, but there was no stopping himself as he pummeled the glass and wood shrapnel. 

"What have you done now?"

Conner turned to face the voice and stood straight, trying to make himself look bigger to the three men.

"Raised his cortisol levels, elicited a fight-or-flight response." Lex replied simply. "You'll see, folks, that  in a few short seconds, a sturdy, brand new desk has been reduced to woodchips, all because I induced a mere hint of fear to his system."

"Is that safe?"

"Don't worry, Superboy wouldn't hurt innocent people." Luthor said with a smile. "After all, Superman wouldn't like that."

Conner balled his hands into fists, glaring at him.

"But Mr. Luthor," The second man said, "If the company property keeps getting stolen by the Justice League, how can we hope to get our investments back?"

"Simple, just think of the medical applications; think of the cosmetic applications. We might not have any more full body clones running around, but CADMUS still has great work on the way."
Lex strode up to Superboy, sizing him up. "And in the meantime, I know how to contact this one." He pat Conner's shoulder. Conner pulled away. "Now, gentlemen, if you've seen enough, I suppose his keepers are looking for him."

"They aren't my keepers." Conner growled.

"I suppose you'll need a... ah, a parent's note to excuse you from your world-saving today." Luthor removed a letter from his inner pocket, tucking it into Conner's fist. "Just so your supervisors don't unfairly prosecute you for wandering off." Lex leaned closer to Conner's height, looking the boy dead in the eyes. "After all, he was only following orders."

Conner took the letter, stepping cautiously towards the door. Luthor had turned off the AC, and without the pheromones calling him back, Conner crossed easily to the exit. He kept Luthor in sight as long as possible as the door closed after him.

It took him half an hour to find the team again, wandering blindly through downtown metropolis, his hands clamped over his ears.

"Superboy?"

Robin landed beside him, his gymnast elasticity bouncing him up into the middle of the sidewalk to grab his friend. Looking up, Conner could see the rest of the team lurking over the roof edge of the smoke shop beside them. 

Robin lead him into the thin gap between the buildings, by which time most of their teammates had descended from the low-roofed building.

"Dude! Where did you go?" Kid Flash demanded. "You can't just dip on us during a mission, man."

"Yeah, seriously not cool to scare us like that." Artemis agreed. "We had to leave our posts to look for you when you didn't reply to the sound off."

Conner frowned at the ground.

"You shouldn't have wandered off." Aqualad agreed. "If you needed too leave your post, you should have communicated with me first."

Conner grit his teeth, fists tightening. He felt something crumple, and looking down, he remembered the note he'd been given-- the once slick green envelope now wrinkled and crushed-- and unsurely, he released it. 

"Guys, for al we know he had a good reason not to tell us." M'gann defended. "Maybe he saw someone in danger and went to help?"

They're team leader sighed, shaking his head. "Ms. Martian is right: Superboy, what's your story?"