Hello hello!

First off, THANK YOU FOR 1k FOLLOWERS! I'm still surprised every time I see it smh.

Anyway, This one's been brewing for a while and I have a decent amount pre-written, tho I will say it's a touch tamer than my other fics (violence-wise) and probably (BIG PROBABLY)(as in probably not) a lot shorter. It is, however, a whole lot fluffier, but no less angsty.

We're starting off at 5877 words here, Ima try to keep it in the lowerish range because I'm notoriously bad at overwriting.

(Also publishing two (three?) stories at once is totally going to stab me in the back eventually but thats a problem for future Blizz)

Oh and yeah, all the chapter titles will have X puns in it.

You're welcome.

Guardian had more than a million and a half things to do. He had genomorphs to find, evil scientists to arrest, suffering creatures to liberate, and then all the legal matters that the Justice League was happy to lend a hand with, but it all was laid on him in less than 12 hours.

Currently, he was walking through the more modern looking sub-level 27, to oversee some dangerous chemicals getting transferred. Cadmus would have no need for them now, he would make sure of it.

His mind was abuzz with unrelenting activity, a heavy weight on his shoulders that made him want to sit down for a while. He couldn't do that though, Cadmus needed all the help it could get and he was determined to make Cadmus become what it had always meant to be. Being overworked was not uncommon or unexpected, but it was not quite welcome either. Still, a distraction would be nice, a break between all the paperwork and fixing what Desmond ruined. So when a small G-Gnome stepped into his path and seemed to want his attention he didn't dismiss the brief distraction.

"Hello," He told the small gremlin, stopping completely in the hallway to observe.

The little gray creature hobbled too and fro, occasionally going around Guardian's feet. The man was amused, as the small being seemed to be playing, it even pulled a small chuckle out of his chest. Then he realized the creature kept going back to a certain direction then came to circle him. His blue eyes narrowed and he looked on the G-Gnome in new light.

"You've got something to show me?" He asked, an undertone of seriousness edging in, hoping that alone would deter any wasting of his time. The creature hunkered in its odd crouched form, this time pointing off to the direction it had been walking at. Apparently it was at least somewhat important, he didn't think the small G-Gnome would further jaunt if it wasn't. It was odd it wasn't using its telepathic powers, and he held no prejudice against the creatures for what they did, but he couldn't say he wasn't glad the little beast didn't invade his mind. It was still odd though, no one really told them to not use their powers of mental communication, this little guy was either observant and smart or he must be unable to use it somehow- which considering the nature of how Desmond ran his lab, Guardian didn't think a powerless G-Gnome would have been considered useful and resultantly terminated. But here it was, making little noises, trying to inform him of something.

"Alright, lead the way." He was sure the chemicals could wait, he definitely didn't mind a distraction, especially if it was important.

The little being moved off, leaping oddly as it traveled on the ground with Guardian following behind steadily. They came to the elevator, in which Guardian rose an eyebrow. "On a different floor? How important is this?" He mumbled the last part mostly to himself, but once inside and the floor selected he was already too curious to back out.

They were on sub-level 52, the underground level Project Kr- er- Superboy was kept. His mood turned sour as he followed the G-Gnome. He was disappointed and angry at what happened here, Cadmus was supposed to be a medical research facility, not an underground genetics lab that created their own army and experiments. And clones. Cloning Superman... he wasn't quite sure how he felt about that one. Cloning in general he didn't think he was fond of, but doing it to a hero, to an alien who was the last of his kind- without his knowledge- that's all sorts of wrong.

Guardian noticed they passed the hallway Superboy and the rest of the League's sidekicks... er... partners... broke into and out of, feeling quite annoyed with himself that this had all happened right here under his nose.

The G-Gnome made a croaking sound to get his attention, and when Guardian did turn to look he found a large metal doorway, not unlike the door to Superboy's room. His sour face twisted into a scowl, was it another clone?

"I'll get this door open..." He muttered, stepping forward to the access hatch. When his access was denied he paused in confusion, "What? How is that possible, there is no higher rank above me."

He growled in frustration and abandoned the tech, going to the doors themselves and digging his fingers in the crevices. The G-Gnome below him scampered around, it's tiny little horns glowing a hot red. Soon enough -and a few failed attempts to get the doors open via sheer force- the ground started to shake as a giant G-Troll lumbered over.

"Ah, great, the cavalry has arrived," Guardian grunted as he stepped aside. Wait, but the small Gnome had called the G-Troll, he supposed the Gnome must have been smart then rather than disabled.

The giant beast had better luck with the door, wrenching it open like a candy wrapper then promptly turning and leaving. Guardian attempted to thank it as it left but he wasn't sure it heard him, or made any difference to the creature. They were rather simple-minded but in no way dumb or stupid.

The small G-Gnome frog leaped in, lunging in its odd giant and taking a sharp turn. Guardian had to jog to catch up, wondering why the little guy was so spritely all of a sudden. There was another door the Gnome scratched at, clearly whatever was important was inside. It was a smaller door, human-sized, and the pad next to it looked more intense than the last one. The hero came to the door but was distracted by the cavernous room, it was filled with special cylindrical apparatuses he recognized the G-Sprites had been locked in to provide electricity for the upper levels. This must be the power source for the lower levels, but instead of the insect-like electricity-emitting bugs, the cylinders were smaller, about thermos size, and contained a test tube of bright red liquid that hissed and crackled with red lightning.

"What on earth are those? I don't remember them being documented, probably not even within regulations- or the law if they've taken this many lengths to keep it hidden..." He muttered aloud, taking a mental note to see if he could detach one of those containers and give it to the Justice League for analysis. He couldn't identify what filled the tubes that clearly generated electricity and it greatly disturbed him.

Each thermos-like object was connected by small tubes, like IV drips, to collectively join into one large pipe that went through the wall, while the electricity was sent to a healthy sized wire that went up and out of the room.

Guardian couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, the room hummed with power, the red felt poisonous, acidic almost.

What was he saying earlier about transferring dangerous chemicals?

Guardian was brought back into the present by the G-Gnome that still scratched at the metal door, clawing and screeching incessantly. Guardian didn't even try to gain access this time, he just punched the darn thing and the door slid up, revealing a red glow and a giant contraption.

The Gnome ran inside, climbing up onto a table set to the side where a few giant packs of bottled waters were stacked to the side. Guardian's eyes scrutinized the plastic throw-away water bottles, why on earth were there water bottles here? And so many for that matter? It looked used, one of the packages was open and was missing a few bottles, but it didn't seem too important other than an odd observation. Dismissing that mystery for a second, the man came to the source of the red glow and giant metal pod.

The air seemed to hang with power, even heavier than the other room, and he knew it was because of the dangerous red substance. Two giant canisters, the size of the G-Trolls arms, rested between a thick cylindrical containment unit. Unlike most of the pods so far this one was metal, oval, and big. The bright red liquid in the canisters seemed to sizzle dangerously, there was an almost constant stream of the liquid dripping down into both massive tanks from the top where a brown pipe arched to connect with the containment unit. The liquid was sucked out of the tanks from below, the two wires joining the chord that distributed the red substance to the thermoses in the next room. The containers themselves seemed to be a little more than half full, definitely more than a few dozen gallons.

Whatever was in that containment unit must be one heck of a machine to be emitting that much of the red liquid constantly. What even was the stuff? What was creating it?

He did find it curious that a giant red X labeled the containment unit, it glowed as much as the rest of the liquid but he didn't think it WAS the red liquid, how odd.

He was distracted again by the Gnome on the table (who was gnawing at a lid of a water bottle) and spotted a sheet of paper. He quickly walked over and scanned it to find that the name of the substance being produced was called 'Xenothium'. Apparently it was highly unstable and had off the charts power wattage, definitely a 'handle with care' dangerous chemical. He suddenly felt the need to wear a hazmat suit.

"Well..." he muttered as he put the paper down, not finding anything else of much value on the sheet besides 'maintenance' that was scheduled in a few days. "That explains the giant red X." Guardian went to the containment units' pad, deciding to at least lower the power so he could see whatever it was that was creating the Xenothium, he was rather curious of the process, if the Xenothium was this powerful it could be the next greatest improvement in technology, the amount of things just one canister of the Xenothium could power... The world would change for sure, cars, hospitals, scientific research, space travel, this Xenothium could be invaluable. But he found that there was no dampening the power, it was a simple release switch.

Confused and curious, he pushed the button.

The humming did not cease, the Xenothium still bubbled away, but a clunking sound from inside the containment unit did spark his attention. He pressed another button, one that opened the doors. The pad beeped angrily at him, apparently there was a sequence of events and it could not be immediately opened once the power was shut off. Guardian figured there must be a cool down time for the Xenothium, that way it wouldn't explode in anyone's faces when the doors did open or something. He did notice the drip from container to canister had almost stopped completely, a cool down time gave him a bit of comfort knowing at least with this volatile substance that safety was obviously a concern taken seriously.

The wait seemed forever but eventually, the doors rumbled and parted.

All feelings of complacency and safety flew out the window. Guardian's blue eyes widened in horror and shock, frozen in place for a moment as his mouth gaped and his chest refused to constrict to bring in air.

The battery...

The power source...

The Xenothium generator...

It was a kid... probably no older than 12, male, deathly pale, in a skin-tight dark gray unitard and had messy black hair. The boy's eyes were closed, he was clearly exhausted and sweat could be seen on his forehead and various other places. His frail limp form was crumpled where his hands had clearly been released from the two metal appendages stuck out from the sides of the container. Around his wrists were metal cuffs that went a bit more than halfway down his forearm, his hands free from the dark latex and were bright red and raw looking. The boy's chest huffed and wheezed as he breathed heavily, his body completely still otherwise, he was so malnourished Guardian could easily count his ribs.

"It's a kid." He breathed it out loud, as if his mind just couldn't believe what its eyes were telling it.

Without a second to lose, he lunged forward, his boots making loud banging sounds against the metal flooring and he almost crashed into it as he knelt to help the child up. He gently dug his hands under the boy's boney shoulders but he received a few half-hearted whimpers of pain and protest upon contact. The kid's pale face twisted into raw fear and Guardian couldn't not notice the flinch that traveled throughout his limp body. Guardian tried to be as gentle as possible when he pulled the boy onto his lap. In this state he could hardly move the poor kid because of the constant stream of weak whines and groans of exhaustion and pain emitting from the boy's panting lips made his heart feel like it was being ripped in half. 

"It's alright," He said to the wounded child, but no, it wasn't alright, this kid looked like he was dying. "You're going to be okay, kid, I've gotcha." Guardian shifted the boy on his lap, a solid scowl on his face as even the slightest movement elicited a wounded cry from the frail boy. His wild midnight hair was slightly stuck to his shiny forehead, his face lean and gaunt, hallowed in cheeks and sharp cheekbones. His eyebrows were drawn up in worry and anger but his eyelids remained limply closed. Another wave of anger and sorrow washed over his soul. No child should look like this. Ever.

The G-Gnome then lumbered awkwardly over, hampered because in one hand it held a water bottle, it was almost as large as the little gremlin itself. It was able to twist the lid off and now offered the water to the hero, in which he grabbed thankfully and propped the boy up a bit more.

"This is water, I'm just going to pour a little into your mouth, you'll have to swallow alright?" He said, probably a bit more sternly than he meant to, he wasn't exactly good at controlling his anger enough to speak kindly when he was very much outraged. The boy said nothing, but his wheezing breaths paused as his throat bobbed, a soft click sounding as his dry tongue tried to wet his mouth.

Guardian raised the water to the boy's lips, pouring just a little in case the boy wasn't ready for a mouthful. The boy's mouth was slow to swallow, clearly still in some pain and his body had begun to twitch, but his hands remained ominously still. Guardian let him breathe for a few more moments so he could catch his breath before he poured a little more water. The G-Gnome stayed on watch, sitting stock-still near the boy's splayed twitching feet.

This process of pouring and waiting and breathing kept up for another thirty minutes, in which Guardian spoke softly to the child, promising retribution for the injustices done to him. The water bottle was half empty when the boy refused the drink, for the first time moving on his own accord and shifting his head away when he felt the edge of the water bottle touch his lips.

Guardian set the water down and nodded, his hand moving to his belt and grabbing a small needle that held an anesthetic. "Alright, let's get you to a doctor." As he shuffled and looked to find a good spot for the injection he was concerned to find the boy tense up. "It's okay, I promise they're going to help you." But his words didn't seem to have an effect and that alone rose a roaring fury in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to make this child feel safe, not the opposite.

Guardian sighed and pricked the injection into the boy's upper arm, only to have the boy jerk in response, his mouth gaped in a wordless cry as his frail body arched up and a dangerous crackle filled the air. Guardian felt the heat and the hiss of something dangerous. He instantly knew he was in danger, but could barely widen his eyes before a blinding white wave of red hot lightning pulsed from the boy's body. Guardian was struck forcefully and thrown back into the wall of the containment unit, denting it with a crunch of metal before he fell to the ground with a 'thunk'.

The electricity and power left as fast as it came, leaving a discombobulated and sizzling Guardian on the ground. He shook his head to get the ring out of his ears, his head buzzing and body still recovering from the literal shock.

He looked up, mostly concerned about the child, finding him exactly where he'd been before. He was gasping helplessly on the ground, head lolling from one side to the other as random flashes of red electricity sparked across the gray suit.

Guardian felt guilt tear at him, he had no idea what he was doing and probably hurt the boy. He exited the containment unit hesitantly, not wanting to abandon the boy but knowing that's probably best until he got a real handle on the situation.

His hand thumped against the pad solidly and the doors closed, a loud click echoing in the room as it locked.

The little G-Gnome looked up at him from the ground.

Guardian sighed.

He placed a hand to his ear, the range having been fixed in the lower levels so the transmissions could go through. "Guardian to Watchtower." He spoke, "there's something else about Cadmus that needs the League's attention."

A dark voice crackled in the earpiece, while the transmissions were fixed it was not perfect. "Batman here, what is the situation?"

"Um, I'm on sublevel 52 again," He paused, still unsure how to word it right, he was sure he was still trying to process this at all.

"Another clone?" Batman asked in his break in speech, sounding weird. Well, Batman always sounded weird because he seemed emotionless most of the time, he couldn't pinpoint what exactly he was sounding like now.

"No, well maybe, I don't know." He spoke quickly, but paused, then decided he might as well just rip the bandaid off. "There's a kid here being used as a battery for the lower levels, they seem to be ...harvesting a powerful chemical from him called Xenothium."

"Xenothium? Are you sure?" Batman asked.

Guardian nodded a bit confused at Batman's asking. "Yes, his pod has a big red X on it if it wasn't obvious. There's an information paper too but it failed to mention it was a living breathing boy they were harvesting from. It even mentioned maintenance." That last bit just registered for Guardian and he felt a new rage broil in his gut. It was a child in there, and they scheduled him for maintenance?! It better have been for the machinery and not the kid. For some reason Guardian felt that that hadn't been the case.

"What's the condition of the child?"

Guardian sucked in a breath, calming himself but nonetheless feeling more worried. "H-he- well, he looks like he's dying, small kid, I'd say no older than 12. He was in too much pain to be moved much and I tried sedating him but it didn't work so I left him inside." Guardian explained brokenly.

"I'm on my way. Batman out."

Guardian sighed in defeat and folded his arms. The question was, how long could they wait before it was too late?

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

"And you haven't opened the containment unit since?" Batman asked, inspecting the large cylinders holding the harvested liquid Xenothium. Superman stood next to Guardian, folded arms and eyes locked onto the containment unit.

Guardian shook his head, "I didn't want to at first, but I figured they kept him in there for a reason-"

"He might be dangerous." Batman finished for him, typing quickly on the holographic screen emanating from his glove, his face highlighted oddly with the unnatural blue light contrasting with the Xenothium red. "Unpredictable, maybe even unstable."

"He's still just a kid... we need to get him out of there." Guardian said, not liking how Batman was pitting this kid as this dangerous weapon. While it was good to keep the kid's power in perspective, they really shouldn't treat him like anything other than a person- a mistreated and malnourished child.

"There are no security cameras inside, the radiation would have fried anything anyway." Batman noted, seemingly ignoring Guardian's assessment.

"How long do you think he's been here?" Superman asked, his eyes settled on the containment unit, scowling when his x-ray vision was blocked by a lining of lead all the way around.

"I wouldn't know," Guardian shrugged, feeling useless. "I didn't even know this was down here until one of the G-Gnomes led me to it."

"We can't be sure if they've been using him since this building opened or even before then, I can't get an accurate read on how long the machinery has been here. But however long it is, it's been entirely too long," Batman grumbled from his computer. "I'm not finding any helpful files on their servers."

"Desmond had a personal lab on Sublevel two, maybe he kept his information about the kid in there." Guardian said, barely remembering the room where the doctor was experimenting with the blockbuster formula through the fog that settled over those mind-controlled moments.

"Good," Batman grunted. The man put away his glove and moved to a different part of the room, ignoring the table of water bottles he passed. He was headed for a heavy metal door Guardian had failed to notice earlier embedded into the wall in the corner. 

"What's that room?" Guardian asked no one in particular, trailing behind the Dark Knight. Superman's attention was diverted as well, all three heroes focusing on the door and what could possibly lay beyond.

"The entire room is lined with led, I can't see through it." Superman stated, frowning as he did so. This place was one mystery after another and he liked none of it.

Batman made quick work of the door, it yielded to his hacking with a loud 'chink' of the lock unlatching. He grasped the handle and turned, the heavy door swung open slowly only to show a blackened room. Batman took a single step in when the lights flickered on, revealing a large room that was obviously a lab.

Batman made a b-line for the resident computer, commenting, "I think I'll find the appropriate files here."

Guardian nodded as he took in the room with a growing sense of dread. The place was rather clean for an illegal human experimentation lab (on a child no less), Desmond had still abided by some lab safety rules apparently.There was a table in the middle, leather straps in places where arms and legs would go, even a head. The medical machinery was spotless, except for the wear on the table and straps. Trays were put away on their carts, clean of any tools and or other contaminating substances. Next to the table were some hospital equipment, an IV drip and some machines that monitored heart rate and blood pressure. What didn't fit was the giant evil looking machine behind the head of the table, arching up and over it like a giant claw. Not only were there spires of very conductive metal hanging down like stalactites but there were tubes hooked up neatly around its base. Tubes that had a matching set of needles on a rack next to them.

"Batman..." Superman cautiously spoke up from across the room. Guardian shook himself out of the stupor the creepy lab had put him in and looked over to see what the Blue Boy Scout had found. Superman was at another open door, looking back anxiously at Batman. Wondering what would make Superman of all people anxious, Guardian walked over quickly.

There wasn't a whole lot to this room, it was much smaller and it was very clearly a bathroom, but the idea that this room was unnoteworthy was completely wrong. "I think I know how long he's been here..." Superman said quietly as the two heroes stared at the walls.

"Is that... blood?" Guardian whispered in horror, still not quite comprehending what he was looking at.

Superman stepped back as Batman came closer. The Dark Knight paused just outside the bathroom, the stoic frown on his face deepening. He said nothing as he took a step inside the room and crouched down next to a wall to scrutinize the evidence. "I'll take this into consideration." He said after a few seconds of studying the wall, standing up and turning around again to continue his work on the computer.

The tiny room's walls were covered in red dots and dashes that were very clearly from a finger. A small bloody finger. There were thousands of them, from the floor to just above waist height. Some were clearly very old, the brown clotted blood had already flaked off but there was still a brown residue left behind stained into the wall. The fresher ones were higher, a brighter red and a bigger mark (though not by much).

It was easy to guess what was happening here. The child was keeping track of days in captivity. Though how accurate it was could be in question, which is probably why Batman said he'd take it into consideration. He probably took a picture of one of the more intact fingerprints as well, which would help identify the kid if the computer didn't.

"Superman." The Dark Knight called from the computer.

Superman tore himself away from the bathroom, walking over to Batman while his heart bled for the child. Guardian stayed behind, still transfixed by the horrible display of agony this boy had probably gone through.

"He is not a clone," Batman said as he pointed to the screen that had the boy's profile on it, but even at a glance he could see there was no picture for the kid. "His name is Richard Grayson and he was stolen from the circus where he lived the night his parents died in an accident five years ago. He is currently 13 years old, and had been experimented on until his body was genetically modified to be compatible with the highly powerful and unstable chemical known as Xenothium."

Superman's eyes widened just a titch. "The same kid from the Gotha-?"

"Yes." Batman cut him off, "He's been here the entire time, suffering."

"Batman..." Superman started again, knowing his friend was more than likely to blame himself for this one. But he tapered off, Bruce wasn't likely to listen to him right now, not when the child that had slipped through his fingers years ago was now one room away. Not to mention Bruce was unreasonably stubborn about things like this, when he got in a mood it took ages to get him out of it. Superman was under no illusions that this mood wasn't going to go away until the child was safe. "Well..." the super huffed, annoyed at his inability to help his friend. "We found him now so lets do something about it."

"Yeah," Guardian finally walked over from the bathroom, looking just as anxious as Superman felt, "What is the plan exactly?"

"Until I can look through his files he should stay in the containment unit where it's safe for everyone." Batman said, probably not liking it but liked it better than a dead everyone. Then he turned to Guardian, "But if what you say about him is true then he won't like us rescuing him."

Superman blinked in confusion, "Wait, what? Why wouldn't he want to be rescued?"

"We don't know what they did to him yet but it's obviously bad, bad enough to not trust adults. He might not even know about heroes, he might be frightened by masks and capes. We only know he has been here for about five years in a state of vulnerability and pain. We know he is uncomfortable with doctors and isn't fed as often as he needs." Batman explained with his emotionless scowl, but Superman could see through that and found his friend's carefully lidded rage. "The only part of any adult figure he trusts is the fact they hurt him. We are adults, therefore anything we do will be perceived as a threat."

"That seems like a pretty big stretch though," Superman argued, knowing he was poking the bear but someone had to. Bruce may not be emotionally compromised (yet) but he was attached and that never boded well for the man's decision making skills. Even if Bruce was the most likely to act unbiasedly in any situation, he was not above lying to himself and therefore others if the situation got that bad. That's what friends were for and being Batman's friend meant keeping the man from running himself into the ground when he clearly had it as a goal.

While Superman could see Batman's reasoning this time (he had actually explained it first— that usually doesn't happen without lots of prompting) it was a stretch. As individual heroes they've saved many people who were once scared of them before, they all had plenty of experience dealing with traumatized victims, Batman particularly with youth. Usually saving people from a bad situation granted trust no matter how terrified the person was. "Why not bust him out now?"

Instead of answering, Batman turned to Guardian again, "Guardian, when you were with him did he seem glad you were there?"

Guardian frowned, also a little startled at being put on the spot. "Uh, well no not really, he was kind of out of it though. He definitely didn't like the mention of doctors, I'm not sure he liked me touching him either."

"You told him you were going to help him, right?" Batman continued to grill.

Guardian nodded, "He didn't relax at all when I promised I'd get him help, in fact he was shaky and scared the entire time."

"Then there is the factor of the Xenothium, it is a highly unstable chemical. How they managed to bond it with his DNA is a phenomenon of its own, much more is how it might react within the boy. The chemical might respond to his emotions or simply his surroundings and state of being. Xenothium is highly combustible, if he or any of the Xenothium here were to 'go off' in any shape or form near this much concentrated Xenothium it would have catastrophic consequences." Batman scowled, "We're looking at detaching the east coast and making its own tectonic plate."

Guardian and Superman looked thoroughly lectured, when Guardian made an uncomfortable shift.

"He actually zapped me," The man lifted his hands to calm the other two heroes down, they looked about ready to jump him. "I don't think it was on purpose, I swear! Remember when I said I tried sedating him? Well it didn't work, the second I broke skin he lit up like a firework. I got blasted back and decided to leave him alone, that's when I called."

Point made, Batman shot Superman his 'I told you so' look. Superman almost rolled his eyes, but even with all his super strength the weight of the situation was not light enough for that. The heroes went silent in thought, sobered by this rather tricky situation. Though it was not lost on Superman that Batman was jumping through unnecessary hoops for this kid, and while it didn't surprise him it did make him tired.

"Then what do you suggest we do to get him to trust us then?" Superman asked, the frown that had been stuck on his face since coming down here deepening.

"We won't." The Dark Knight said stiffly. Superman opened his mouth to object and Guardian looked put off but Batman spoke before they could voice their opinions. "But I do know a group of young powerful teens who recently made a fashionable exit from this facility, all they would need to do is do it again."

Superman and Guardian just stared, until Guardian scratched the back of his neck. "So... you want the sidekicks who wrecked the place to come back and do it again?"

"Staged," Batman grunted, "but yes. They asked to be taken seriously, this is a real mission with high stakes and room for improvisation. While not covert, they could use the time to learn how to work together. Optimally, they will bring Richard to Mount Justice where we can further study his situation, but if it's safe and the kid has someplace to go we can watch from a distance." Batman explained.

Superman shook his head. He knew Bruce was going to be weird about this now that it was personal, but this was too much. But he knew he couldn't fight him emotionally, he had to appeal to the man's logic first. "Batman there are so many ways that could go wrong. The kid might be vulnerable now but what if he's just biding his time? He could be evil—" okay, wrong thing to say... Superman swallowed the rest of that argument and he started saying something else more plausible. "The sidekicks don't know how to handle this sort of thing. Staged breakouts and escorting around a bomb? What if the second he steps outside of that containment unit he turns supernova and instantly kills everything within a ten-mile radius? We don't know enough to safely attempt anything!"

Batman stared at him. Clark felt the creeping suspicion the man was offended, and that was never good. "I am aware, Superman. I will find out more from his files before we decide anything. I'd also have to ask the mentors of the younger partners, and of course we would be on hand if anything becomes too dangerous." He turned and started walking. "But whatever happens to the kid, he won't trust us immediately and our safest bet is using the team."

I hope you enjoyed it! See y'all around!! Next chapter up soon!