1 Cadmus

"Okay, this is a whole new kind of freaky," Kid Flash exclaimed as they walked into the hidden sub level. He was in a team of four, his two friends, Robin and Aqualad and accompanying them was their just made friend, a Cadmus clone of Superman. He did not have a name so they just referred to him with Superboy.

They had just rescued Superboy from being indoctrinated by the bad guys and Robin had hacked Cadmus to map a way out when he accidentally stumbled across this new sublevel. So, he had asked Superboy if he knew what was being kept there and became more curious when the clone declined any knowledge of it existing. So, despite Aqualad protesting, they went the the sub level, fighting their way through a horde of genomorphs till they reached it.

"I agree. This is not ideal for us. We need to leave before we are overwhelmed," Aqualad tried to convince Robin. But, as Batman's protege, he had inherited his hard headedness.

"Guys, everything about this level has been scrapped from the Cadmus servers except a tiny mention of its existence that I just stumbled on. They are willing to hard it even harder than a literal clone of Superman, this means whatever is down there is even more precious to them. We need to find out what it is or risk them destroying it in case we go to call the League for help," Robin explained. Aqualad sighed in defeat at the sound argument of his friend. Besides, if things went back, at least they had a Kryptonian with them.

"Let's make it fast," he said as he used his mystic water as a light to shine in the darkness. They hurriedly walked down the hall till they arrived at a giant vault like door.

"Ohh, that is not ominous at all!" Kid Flash scoffed sarcastically.

"Superboy, you mind?" Robin asked the clone who just growled at him, displeased at being given an order. But, he walked towards the door before forcefully digging his fingers into the metal and he tried to pull out the door. But, besides it groaning and creaking, it didn't budge.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Robin sang, extremely intrigued by this as he took out two glow torches while giving Aqualad a nod. The Atlantean went to help Superboy while Robin cracked the sticks, throwing one to their feet for illumination while holding the other for him and Kid Flash.

Aqualad helped Superboy, groaning in effort as they used their all. The giant door creaked more and more before it started breaking off the walls. This encouraged them to pull even more till the giant door was finally off the hinges. They carried it to the side and sighed in relief at the huge effort they had to exert.

"Great, more darkness," Kid Flash sighed in frustration at the food of darkness going on forever in front of them. Suddenly, the lights flickered on as if voice activated, making them wince at the sudden flooding of light, making them close their eyes or shield them. Superboy and Aqualad were the first ones to recover followed by Robin and finally Kid Flash.

"Woah!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

The light revealed a whole hall of whiteness the same size as a football stadium and at the middle of it all a fogged cryopod. The fact that the pod was all alone in this huge hall was a huge red flag of what it was holding.

"Maybe its another League's clone?" Aqualad asked in uncertainty.

"A clone of a League member more powerful than Superman? I doubt it. This might be something else," Robin answered before leading them towards the pod. The others looked at each other for confirmation before following him. Robin arrived at the pod and wiped the vapour off the glass.

"That's unusual," he said in surprise. This prompted Kid Flash into action, wiping the entire pod clear of dog in a second. Now, all of them could see the cryopod's inhabitant.

Inside it was a reddish brown, one eyed, brawn and bald alien that was deep in sleep.

"Give me a moment," Robin told his friends as he started hacking into the console connected to the pod. "Interesting, the console is not connected to Cadmus at all. In fact, this entire room can be said to be not Cadmus. The code in here is vastly different. It might take me a little while to crack it," Robin told them.

"What is he?" Superboy asked the others. His genomorph forced education did not cover this kind of species.

"An alien, most definitely. Strangely handsome too," Kid Flash answered, sound jealous. Aqualad could agree that even to a human, the one eyed alien was quite handsome. He was eleven feet tall, muscular with three fingers and toes on each arm and feet, wearing a white skin suit.

"I'm in," Robin joyously announced. "Let's see. Yep, our guy's an alien. It says he crash landed in Chille where they found him unconscious but unharmed even when he had physically crash landed with his body. They had done a number of experiments to him. Whoa, guys, you have to see this," Robin exclaimed in surprise. This made the others surround him as they started reading.

"Extremely high durability, enough to withstand missiles. Ultra fast Regeneration, enough to recover a severed hand in half a minute, suspected to have a base strength of a hundred thousand tonnes!" Kid Flash read.

"If they were to weaponize him, the amount of damage they produce is just scary!" Aqualad said as he looked at the alien warily.

"This is a surprise," they all heard a familiar voice exclaim from behind them. Looking back, they saw Dr Desmond, the head researcher of Cadmus, standing at the doorway looking at everything around with surprise. "I didn't know this sub level existed!" He then looked at the side kicks and grinned evilly.

"But,nit doesn't matter," he said carelessly.

"It does matter. Cadmus kidnapped and experimented on an innocent alien, that's evil," Kid Flash quipped, making Desmond laugh at him.

"After everything we have done, you think we will stop at the morality that an alien is innocent? Cadmus has been the fore front of genetics research and if that alien is here, it means it is prime material for research," Desmond answered with a mad grin on his face.

"The fact that you didn't know about this sub level says your employers don't trust you. I could say, you are the most ignorant person here," Robin quipped, but it didn't make Desmond falter. He grinned even more.

"It just means at the grand scheme of things, their plans are beyond my understand. But, for the moment, I succeeded in my purpose," he laughed crazily as he took out a vial with a blue liquid in his lab coat's pocket. "And you kids are about to experience it first hand, my breakthrough from mediocrity." He uncorked the vial and drunk the liquid with three gulps.

He didn't quite finish the liquid as a sudden pain suddenly assaulted him. He releases the vial as he clenched his chest in pain. His heart had started to beat faster and faster as heat spread all over his body. He roared in pain as he stature started growing, ripping his clothes to his very skin, becoming a raging 2.76m tall greyish hulk of a monster that still had its former human like skin loosely hanging on it. It roared offensively before charging at the team.

"We don't know what the alien in the pod is capable of. So, let's make sure the fight does not let if free," Robin told the others as he threw three birdarangs at the hulk. The birdarangs did not even deter it, it was still charging at them, only to stop when Superboy blitzed it, sending it sliding backwards.

It snarled at the clone and was about to charge when Kid Flash blitzed a punch on its face, merely making it barely turn while Kid Flash sped off. Aqualad had already pounced at the hulk, sending a mace made of mystic water to its face, hitting it successfully. The hulk groaned in pain as it staggered before its giant fist came up and hit the approaching Superboy away. It turned to Aqualad and threw another punch which the Atlantean blocked with a shield of mystic water. The hulk became angrier, sending him flying with a Spartan kick. He was about to follow Aqualad when two birdarangs exploded on its face, disorienting it.

Superboy took this chance to throw three heavy punched on its back, sending it face first. He climbed on its back and savagely punched it at the back of its head, trying to knock it out. But the hulk was not going down with a fight, punched the floor with it's all, shaking the entire hall and making Superboy loose balance, falling off his back. The hulk got him by his legs at it stood up and roared in indignation, slamming him onto the floor three times.

It would have been four times had Aqualad not tagged in, landing a flying knee to the hulk's jaw, disorienting it. Kid Flash was fast appearing behind it in a dogeza stance, tripping it. Aqualad did not let this chance go to waste, accelerating the fall with a powerful blow to its head. With a bang, it landed on the floor, dazed as the team regrouped.

"Whatever it drank, it's quite powerful," Aqualad said. "I don't recommend we stay for round two."

"We can take him!" Superboy growled.

"No, we can't at the moment. The more this fight goes on, the more we risk this entire structure destabilizing and killing us all. Aqualad is right, we have to go," Robin said as he retrieved his portable super computer. Superboy growled at this before looking at the alien.

"If we are going, then we are taking him with us," he said, resolutely.

"What? No! Are you insane? We don't know what kind of alien he is. He could be here to conquer Earth for all we know," Kid Flash refused instantly.

"Or he could be an innocent alien that happened to crash land on Earth. We have to let him go or else, what kind of good guys are we?" Superboy, in a rare show of soberness, said. This caught all of them off guard. The three look at each other before sighing in agreement.

"Fine, fine. But if he kills us, I'll haunt you forever," Robin said as he started to connect his computer with the console only to wince when Superboy broke the glass with his fists, catching the alien before he fell.

"We are in a hurry," he said as he pointed at Blockbuster that was shakily getting to his feet. That bloow to the head was particularly disorienting that he hadn't fully shrugged it off.

"Whaa... What's happening?" the alien asked, disoriented. He looked at everyone with his huge one eye, warily. "Who are you?"

"You speak English, that's a relief. I am Robin, to my right in Kid Flash, to your left is Aqualad and the one holding you is Superboy. We are here to save you," Robin quickly answered, as he smiled disarmingly.

"Rwaaargh!" Blockbuster gave a roar of anger before charging at them.

"Okay, we need to go. Superboy, Aqualad, keep our host busy, we'll take our new friend to the elevator. I'll call out when we are at a safe distance," Robin instructed as he put the alien's one hand on his shoulders.

Superboy and Aqualad went and started battling it out with Blockbuster as Kid Flash and Robin struggled to carry the alien to the elevator shaft.

"My memories, they are shambled. They are my own yet they don't feel like they are," the alien said, totally confused.

"You're just in shock and confused. It'll pass. For now, we need to get out of here," Robin said as he nervously looked behind.

"I can help your friends. I have the instinctual feeling that hulk wannabe is quite easy to handle," the alien said. Robin looked at Kid Flash who shrugged.

"Okay," Robin said before they turned and headed back into the hall just in time to see Blockbuster completely wiping the floor with their two friends. The alien nodded at the two, making them let him go. He wobbled to stability before looking at Blockbuster.

"Hey, shit brain. Why don't you try somebody your own size," he shouted at it. Blockbuster turned towards him, throwing away a limp Superboy before roaring at him and charged. Robin and Kid Flash gave them space as the alien got into an awkward boxing stance.

Blockbuster came with a haymaker which the alien did not block, letting it hit. He staggered one step backwards from the face as his left hand clutched onto Blockbuster's wrist.

"Other than losing balance from being weak, I didn't feel that," the alien exclaimed incredulously. Blockbuster tried to pull himself free to no avail before trying punch him. But, a shockwave punch from the alien sent him demolishing sub level floors after sublevel floors till he was flear of the building!

"Holy shit!" the alien exclaimed as he looked at his muscular hand, his eye widening in more shock at the sight. He looked around before wobbling to the broken glass of the cryopod. He picked up a broken glass and looked at himself. They saw he had a look of shock then recognization.

"So that's how it is!" he said, surprisingly calm as he put the glass shard down. He turned to the four with Robin and Kid Flash supporting Aqualad and Superboy. "Guess it's my turn to introduce myself. My name's Ale...Allen. Guess you can call me Allen the Alien after this fiasco."