Incredible, this must be the emotion a kid must feel when he sees his favorite heroes, even if in my world they were just men in costumes who were paid to put on a show, but this time, it wasn't a lie, it was the real them.
I have no fear, but more doubts, especially about Superman. Superman's image generates respect even in those who don't know him, or at least I know it would be something like that in my world. Batman steps forward and approaches Robin looking at my arm.
"Robin, is that what I think it is?" -questioned Kid Flash.
They all turn to look at me, their eyes widened and their look of shock was unmatched, even Superman himself took off his serious face for a moment, but then his look went back to the way it was before, scowl and serious look, no words came out of his mouth.
Until now I hadn't noticed, and I guess none of the guys did either due to the situation we were in, on my arm, there was some mark, an "S" inside a diamond-shaped shield with a red outline, it was more like a tattoo on my skin, the same one Superman had on his suit.
Robin checks a device he pulled from his belt and shows it to Batman and Superman, the other members gather around to see the information. Everyone's eyes were once again riveted on me, everyone's shocked face was equal to or greater than the previous ones they had all made.
Superman's look was tinged with pure disgust, I felt attacked by everyone, I felt like at any moment they were going to grab me and start hitting me, their looks were just like the ones I received in my past life, looks I always hated, I put myself on guard in case things got out of control, but they didn't, Robin stood in front of me along with the other guys, Krypto returns to my side and his pose changed to a more aggressive one.
"Whatever he says there, he's not that, trust me Batman, you should have seen him on the inside, this kid is special."-says Robin trying to defend me.
Superman says nothing when he sees me, his look doesn't change, this is not the reaction I expected, I feel attacked, my blood runs faster and my body feels hot, if he makes a move I will fight with everything I have, even if I die, I won't go back to being a loser who let himself be beaten and humiliated in front of people who always had that look towards me.
"They know he's a danger, it's better to keep him locked up."- says Batman.
"Come on Bat relax maybe you're being too demanding don't you think, kids?" says Flash.
"Flash you know what this means."- says Batman.
Flash...the fastest man, in his red suit with a gold lightning bolt design on his chest, backed by a white badge.
"I think we all know what it means guys, why don't we leave him with my truth whip he'll tell us who he is and what he knows."
The woman approached me in an instant, I don't know at what point she came to my side, she put a lasso on my arm, I felt no threat from her but I didn't let my guard down at any point, and she was not the opposite she had a strong presence.
"Alright, kid tell us what are you?"-asks the woman with the whip tied to me.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
"I'm... I'm Superman's clone."
My voice came out on its own, I said what I had read in the files, Everyone's gazes came back to me, it was as if I had confirmed to them everything they had just read in the report Robin gave them.
"And what is your purpose?"-comes back and asks the woman.
"I don't know."
My voice came out uncontrollably, I couldn't lie, I guess if the name lived up to the whip, the whip of truth, this would have been very useful in my world.
I was asked a few more questions, most of which I didn't know how to answer, questions about what CADMUS was doing on the lower floors. Questions to which I had no answer.
"That's enough Wonder Woman, he's not worth interrogating if he has no information." -says Batman.
Batman walks past me and continues to Robin, Electric Whip Boy, and Speed Boy.
"Start talking guys."-says Batman to the boys who were with me.
The guys are talking to Batman about everything that happened downstairs, I guess before they found me, and when they found me, some of the other heroes I didn't know came down and took the monster, who was still under the rubble, they locked him in some sort of green cage that came out of a ring from one of the people present, they were going with some other heroes who came along with Superman and Batman.
Superman comes over to talk to Batman, the woman with the rope, and a man with green skin.
They all look back at me, they give me a dirty look, but instantly their gaze turns into something much more than a look of anger or contempt, they look at me with pity, tap Superman on the shoulder, and slowly walk away from him, his gaze returns to me and each time he takes a step closer to me, tension builds in my body with each step he takes, my fists clench on their own in case any movement might not be friendly.
"Easy kid, I'm not going to do anything to you... Ok...well we'll figure something out for you...the league will do it... I mean, for now, I'll settle for that, so don't do anything crazy or I'll look for you." - says Superman.
Superman flies off, and something in me feels disgusted towards him, despite being a great hero his look from before and this last threat make my perspective change quite a bit, the lord in the room in white gave me the ability to have the power almost equal to his or well a small part of it, the opportunity to start over, to change the shitty life I had led so far, their gazes keep pointing at me and I feel nauseous, I feel like throwing up, but neither them nor superman himself will stop me from finally having a decent life, a life worth living, a life worth living, a life that makes me want to live it.
"Hey hey fist boy."- shouts Kid Flash
As I turned around they all approached me again, Robin and the others seemed happy, despite their injuries, they were acting normal, however, Batman approached again, this time alone.
P.O.V ROBIN.
"CADMUS will be investigated, It's 52 levels but let's get something clear guys.... "- says Batman.
Although I knew Bruce had been bothered by our actions, it was something we had to do, we shouldn't always rely on the big guys in the league, we can do big things too.
"They should have called. Despite the results, we're not happy, are we Batman?"- says Flash.
Barry appears in an instant next to us, joins the conversation without warning, and appears out of nowhere, I guess the lecture is worse when the calmest person in the league is the one saying it, Barry is one of the heroes with the best personality.
"You hacked the Justice League files, you disobeyed orders and put lives in danger AND you won't do it again."-says Batman with a more serious tone.
Batman is pissed of course things went moderately well this time, so he shouldn't get that way.
"I'm sorry, but we will."-interrupts Kaldur.
Kaldur suddenly spoke in a challenging manner to Batman, I didn't know what to reply, so Kaldur crossed through the middle of all of us and stepped in front of Batman.
"Aqualad back off and retreat."-says Aquaman as he approaches us.
Aquaman came up behind Bruce's back and appeared with his strong bearing, worthy of a king with his trident in his right hand, this got pretty complicated, our three mentors were in front of us.
"Excuse me my king, but NO, tonight we did a good job, the job we were trained to do. On our own, we forged something powerful and very important to us."- says Kaldur.
"If this is about what happened in the corridor of the secret league base, you three." -says Batman with a serious tone
"Correction 5, and no, it wasn't because of that."- interrupts Kid Flash.
To tell you the truth, we didn't have an assigned mission, there was finally going to be a swearing-in ceremony for the new team of young helpers of the most well-known superheroes, but due to an important league meeting it was postponed, so we decided to show we were ready by accepting one of the missions in the league's files. Still... I can't leave Kaldur to defend us against them alone.
"Batman we are ready for whatever comes, all of us, kid Flash, Aqualad, the new guy, and his dog."
"Or what were we taught for?"- says Kid Flash
Kid Flash also joins our talk, this is our moment, the end of a stage and the beginning of a great future.
"You know guys...why let them tell us what to do? It's simple: get on board or get out of the way." -defiantly interrupts Kaldur.
The three of us standing firmly and defiantly before our mentors, even the new guy was actually on the defensive, next to us, it was understandable after how the league reacted to the news that he was a clone of the strongest hero on earth, but we were all determined to stand up for our new ideals, the ideal of the new young justice league.
Bruce's look became more serious, but no one backed down or looked down, we all stood our ground.