Mysterious Compound Outside of Gotham City...

Dr. Charles led the new intern, William, down the corridor in the section of “The Compound” under his administration. He always like to break in the new ones, make them familiar with how things worked as well as the command structure. This applied to his subjects as well as interns, though the process could be much more painful for the subjects.

“And now we approach the holding area for Subject 17, Codename: Secret. Our Acquisitions Team acquired the subject 18 months ago. The subject is female, with as far as we can figure a physical age of 14. The Subject’s body is made up of a mist-like structure with the ability to change its subatomic particles into several different gases on the periodic table. The Subject is…”

“Gone.” William interrupted as he looking through the window into the holding cell that was suppose to hold Subject 17, but instead held empty space.

“What…” Dr. Charles started as he looked up from his clipboard. “No, that impossible! That cell is airtight, there is no way she could have escaped!” Dr. Charles rushed to the door, and entered his keycode. The door opened with a hiss…

She concentrated hard not to let her own molecules (which she had transformed into oxygen molecules) mix with the other oxygen molecules in the air. It was hard and she knew if she had to do it much longer she would fail. But then she heard the hiss of her cell door opening; she quickly turned back into her normal form and flew past a stunned Dr. Charles and company, out into the corridor, and into an air vent, which lead her outside.

Freedom! At last she was free! After all that time locked in that cell, subjected to test and torture, she was FREE! The night air mixed with herself and she felt it, it felt good! The sky is was so beautiful, with its stars, and a full moon! He could remember these things from somewhere, but now it seemed like they were totally new to her, and it was fantastic. So many new things to experience, so many things to do!

Off in the distance she could see lights reaching up into the sky. She decided to head towards them. As she came closer she heard something that sounded familiar…it was music! It had been so long since she had heard music. She quickened her pace towards the music’s source.

	The Next Generation of Heroes..... "IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT"
Young Justice #1 - August, Year One	by James Hickson

Robin

Secret

Impulse

Superboy

A Concert in Gotham City...

“I’m glad you could come, Tim.” Ariana Dzerchenko said to her boyfriend, Tim Drake, as she snuggled up to him at their seats in the nosebleed section of the concert.

“Well I figured I was overdue for some culture. I’m just glad your uncle let you out of the house.” Tim replied.

“Well, actually I told him I was going to the concert with some friends from school.” Ariana replied.

“Oh.” Tim replied solemnly.

“Oh, Tim, It my fault, I shouldn’t have...you know.” Ariana replied trying to make him feel better.

“Don’t go blaming yourself. It isn’t like I’ve been the best of boyfriends.” Tim replied.

“Hey, come on, let’s change subject. Aren’t you having fun? Hey isn’t that Superboy!” Ariana replied

“Well it’s a little big to be a bird, and a little small to be a plane…”

Ariana elbowed Tim playfully in the ribs. “Quiet you.”

“Oh so one minute you’re all snuggling up to me and such, but the minute you see some pretty boy in tights its ‘Quiet you’? What if I were to tell you I were a superhero?” Tim replied jokingly.

Ariana burst out laughing.

“What?” Tim asked.

Manchester, Alabama…

“I don’t get it.” Bart Allen, the 30th century descendent of Barry Allen, said as he sat in the living room of his best friend Carol Bucklen, watching a concert on Pay Per View.

“What don’t you get Bart?” Carol replied patiently, she was used to explaining things to Bart.

“Well, the name. They're not Barenaked, nor are they Ladies.” Bart replied.

“It just the name of the group, Bart. The Beatles weren’t really beetles, that was just what they were called.” Carol replied.

“Ohhhh. Who are the Beatles?” Bart replied “*Sigh...Let me put this in different way. The Flash isn’t a flash is he?”

“No, he’s the fastest man alive.”

“Well they don’t call him “Fastest Man Alive” do they?”

“Actually they do.”

“Oh. Well you get the idea, don’t you?”

“No.”

Back in Gotham City, At the Concert…

Superboy loved a good concert. Sure the music wasn’t always that great, but it was the atmosphere that he liked. People all getting together to hear some music and most of all have a good time. He was definitely down with that. And the fact that when he showed up at this sort of thing, a bunch of teen girls (and a few old ones) decided that it was a good idea to congregate around him was something he never got tired of. It wasn’t like he made it hard for them to find him. It was kinda hard to miss a guy in tight spandex and a leather jacket (specially one as handsome as himself) dancing a few feet above the rest of the crowd.

He was eyeing a particularly attractive redhead; when the guy in the police uniform came on stage, right in the middle of “Pinch Me”. The cop took the microphone from the lead singer and said simply, “Folks, in light of recent events, the Gotham PD has found this gathering to be out of control and unruly. We ask you to leave the area in a calm and orderly fashion, and we apologize for the inconvenience.”

Superboy was wondering what they saw as unruly about the concert. There was nothing out of the ordinary from most of the concerts he went too. He thought that maybe they were a little jumpy seeing as what happened to the last concert tour to stop in Gotham, so he decided to put them at ease by informing them that there was a bonafied superhero in the audience.

He picked out the cop who was obviously in charge of the whole shebang and flew over next to him, and introduced himself. “Excuse me officer, but I don’t know if you know, me I’m Superb…”

“I know who you are, clone, and this is none of you business. Go home.” The officer interrupted

“Hey! Where do you get off calling me…ufff.” Superboy started to tell the officer when something hit him hard in the side. Real Hard.

This was a mistake she thought to herself. She shouldn’t have come here. She tried to hide herself in the crowd of people leaving the area, but then a weird purple colored light went over the crowd and stopped on her. She looked down at herself; every part of her was lit up like a Christmas tree. The she heard somebody cry out that they had found her, and suddenly she was surrounded by men in police uniforms, carrying blaster rifles and something that looked like an industrial strength vacuum cleaner.

“Get into the canister Secret.” The man holding the hose to the “vacuum cleaner” said to her.

“I’m not going back there,” she protested. “I’m free now! Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Now you know it’s never that easy. The minute you were brought to ‘The Compound’ you became our property.” The man replied, “There’s no such thing as freedom. Not for you.”

“No! That isn’t true.”

“You know it is, so just get into the canister like a good little girl and we won’t torture you too badly when we get back to ‘The Comp….” The man began but was interrupted as there was a rush of wind and suddenly the men’s blasters were gone as well as the “vacuum cleaner”. She looked around only to see a boy in a red and white costume, with wild hair and big shoes, standing cross-armed with the blasters and “vacuum cleaner” at his feet.

“That was something my cou…the Flash taught me.” The boy said. Then there was another rush of wind and then the men’s police uniforms were gone, now on the same pile as the blasters, leaving the men who had surrounded her in nothing but their boxers and briefs, except for the one poor guy who had picked that day to go “commando”.

“That was one of my own. What’d you think?”

This is very wrong, Tim Drake thought to himself as he and Ariana headed through the crowd to the exit. He knew most of Gotham’s cops and he was sure that guys who had broken up the concert weren’t the real thing. Add to the fact those blaster weren’t standard GCPD issue, not even for the QRT*. There were so many things wrong with this situation it made his head hurt to list them all. Which made what he to do next clear, though he would still fill like a rat for doing it.

“Ariana, I think I left something at our seats.” He said.

“What?”

“…My wallet.”

“I didn’t know you carried a wallet.”

“Well I just started. Listen you go ahead to the car, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay. Don’t be long.”

“I’ll try not to.” Tim replied. He hated lying, especially to her, but it seemed that he did it allot. You would think he would get used to it. Now he just needed to find a safe place to change into the costume hidden in his backpack.

Superboy’s head hurt. His back hurt. His ribs hurt. Everything on him hurt, with the possible exception of the little toe on his left foot. No, wait, that hurt too. He was about to ask if anybody had gotten the license plate of the comet that hit him, but when he looked up he realized he didn’t have to, because the “comet” was standing over him. To be more exact the clone was standing over him. His clone: a white haired punk, wearing a urine-colored costume, calling himself Match.

Match was saying something, but Superboy couldn’t hear him, because there was this really loud ringing in his ears. And whatever he was saying he didn’t get to finish, because it was just as he realized what was going on, that Superboy put a whole bunch of force in his legs and raised them up to hit Match from behind. Sending his clone from over him and through a concrete wall on the other side of the concert grounds. Superboy then got up and started flying at full speed to where his clone had landed. But before he even took off, Match was up and flying at him full speed. There was a loud boom as they meet each other full speed, but neither yielded an inch.

That was when Superboy’s hearing came back, and he was able to catch a little bit of what Match was saying. It was something about “stupid” and “better than you”. Then Match let loose with two energy bursts from his eyes, something that he could do that Superboy couldn’t. Superboy hated that. It also didn’t help that those energy blasts really smarted, knocking his head back, and he was pretty sure (couldn’t really check at the moment) that the force had given him a bloody nose. That theory was pretty much confirmed when he saw a sick grin spread across Match’s face. His face soon changed though from the sick grin to cross-eyed agony, as Superboy extended a magnitude of tactile telekinetic force into his right knee and drove it into Match’s groin area. Hard.

Match fell to the ground below. Superboy landed next to him a moment later and a quick check revealed Match to be unconscious. Suddenly there was a rush of wind and Superboy turned to see Impulse standing next to him looking down at Match.

“Wow, that looked like it hurt.” Impulse said still looking down at Match.

“Not like he was ever going to use them. By the way, who’s your friend?” He asked looking over Impulse’s shoulder

“Who…Yipes!” Impulse jumped as he turned around to see the girl he had helped earlier only now she was floating a couple of feet off the ground surrounded in mist. Then shrugged his shoulders and said, “I have no idea.”

The mist girl looked down at Match and asked, “What happened to him?”

“Forgot his cup.” Superboy replied, and then put on his best lady-killer smile and said, “I don’t think I got your name.”

“She’s with us.” A voice came from behind them. They turned to find a group of the men who had broken up the concert standing there with blasters rifles and all pointed straight at them. “Now you’re interfering in Gotham PD business so…”

“Actually,” a voice came from the shadows, “I know the Gotham PD, I’ve worked with the Gotham PD, and you people are no Gotham PD.” With these words a figure draped in Forest Green and Crimson stepped out of the shadows, his shoulders draped with black and gold, a silver staff in his hands. Robin, the Boy Wonder continued, “So I suggest you people, whoever you are, leave now, because the real thing will be here any minute.”

“Not without the girl.” The leader of the group protested.

Robin glanced at the mist-girl, then back at then men with the blasters. “No deal.” Then with a slight movement of his hand a wall of smoke appeared between the youths and the men. When it cleared the only thing the men with blasters saw where the youths had been was Match, still curled in a ball, unconscious on the ground.

“I can’t believe we just ran like that. I could have taken those guys.” Superboy protested as they stood in the shadows of the parking lot of the concert grounds, Robin more so then the rest.

“Nobody forced your hand.” Robin replied. “I was following you guys. When you left, I left.” Superboy said

“Well if you think that you still need to fight, be my guest. No one is stopping you.” Robin said

“I don’t ‘think’ anything, I know.” Superboy replied

“Fine, as long as you know you won’t be getting innocent people hurt in the process.” Robin replied.

“Oh, just 'cause you were trained by the Batman you think you can do a better job?” Superboy asked, no looking angry.

“I never said…” Robin protested.

“Well, I do know one thing. I could kick your butt in a Metropolis Minute.” Superboy said his face now an inch away from Robin’s.

“Oh -- A guy with superpowers, threatening a guy without. That's really heroic.” Robin replied.

“Guys?” Impulse said from beside them. Neither noticed.

“What’s wrong, birdboy? don't think you can handle it?”

“Guys.” Impulse said from beside them. Again neither noticed.

“Bring it on.” Robin replied anger now evident on his face too.

“GUYS!” Impulse yelled from beside him. This time both looked at him, a quizzical look on their faces. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” nodding towards the mist-girl who was floating off to the side just watching them.

“Oh…Yeah.” Superboy said.

Robin walked over to the mist-girl and asked calmly “Do you have a name?”

“Secret.” She replied.

“Well, you can tell us. We all know how to keep a secret.” Robin replied.

“No, Secret.” She said

“Looks like she doesn’t want to tell you, birdboy.” Superboy said with a smirk. “Let the old charmer try. What’s you name beautiful?”

“Secret!” She replied getting quite frustrated.

“Okay, Okay. You don’t have to bite my head off.” Superboy said.

“Guys, maybe she doesn’t mean he is a secret. Maybe she means her name is Secret.” Impulse said

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever…” Superboy started

“Yes!” The mist-girl named Secret exclaimed with joy and relieve. She landed and the ground, the mist around lessened and she rushed over to Impulse and gave him a big hug. Impulse blushed and got that “oh gosh” look on his face. Secret then let go and went back to her mist form.

“What kind of name is ‘Secret’?” Superboy asked.

“This from the guy whose only name is Superboy?” Robin commented then turned back to Secret, “Do you know why those men were after you?”

“They wanted to take me back to ‘The Compound’.” She replied.

“What’s ‘The Compound’?” Robin asked

“It’s this place that’s I’ve lived for as long as I can remember. They keep me in a cell and preformed all kinds of experiments on me. I escaped just tonight.”

“Well I think maybe we better find you a place to stay for the night then. I’ll arrange for a suite at the Ritz Gotham. One of us will stay with you, just in case. Impulse?” Robin said, and then indicated Impulse.

“Umm…actually I just told everybody I was running out for chips. I should have been back like twenty minutes ago.” Impulse said shaking his head.

“I understand. I’ll try calling …” Robin began

“What about me?” Superboy offered.

“What about you?” Robin asked.

“I can stay with her.” Superboy said.

“No.” Robin said.

“Why not?” Superboy asked

“Not somebody of your reputation.” Robin said

“Oh come on! I won’t try anything, honest.” Superboy said almost seeming like a small child.

“Swear on your superpowers?” Robin said

“Swear on my superpo…. okay, yeah.” Superboy replied a little bit reluctantly.

“Alright then, I’ll arrange for the room. It should be ready in about five minutes under the name…Carmichael. I trust you to get her there safely. And I swear if I hear that you made so much as an off-color joke, I’ll shove those shades where the sun doesn’t shine. Do you understand me?”

“Uhh…sure, Rob.” Superboy said, slightly taken aback.

“Fine then, I’ll stop by in the morning to see how things are going.” Robin said then walked into the shadows until he was indistinguishable from them and vanished.

Later, In Another Part of the Parking Lot…

Tim Drake returned to his car to find Ariana sitting in the passenger’s side staring out the window.

“Hi, beautiful.” He said as he climbed into the driver’s side seat.

“Did you find it?” she asked.

“Find wha…oh, the wallet? No, somebody made off with it, but luckily they left my driver’s license and library card, so at least I can drive and do book reports.” He said trying to inject some humor into the situation.

“That’s funny, because while I was waiting, I found your driver’s license and library card in your glove box.” She replied.

“Ummm…Uhhh…” he fumbled. You would think with all the lying he had been doing lately he would be much better at it.

“I think you should take me home now, Tim.” She said and turned back to the window.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence.