"It's hard to believe, but it's only been one day since a warrant was officially placed for the arrest of the supposed hero group Young Justice. In that time the team has clashed with the Department of Extranormal Operations, the Super-Unit Police and the terrorist group the Point Men.

"However, two more events have occurred that some sources say may be linked to the team. Earlier in the evening yesterday, the authorities were anonymous tipped off to a fight in the harbor district downtown. Though there was a warehouse and harbor all but destroyed, in the surrounding waters the entire Egyptian treasure, previously declared as missing, was found. It seemed as though a man with super powers, calling himself the Living Monolith was responsible for the stolen treasure.

"He claimed he was bringing the treasure back to those it belonged to, and that the ones who stopped him were terrorists. He seemed to describe certain members of Young Justice, including Wonder Girl and Cannonball, as well as adding more weight to the suspicion of a masked hero called Robin. Robin, for those of you unaware, is an urban legend, like the Batman. However, it is possible that both are real.

"The second event yesterday occurred even later at night, when a small mountain in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island mysteriously exploded. None of the surrounding area was damaged or touched by fire, just the mountain. Some of you may remember that that mountain was a reserve base for the Avengers League back before they disbanded the first time. Was this an assault by Young Justice? Were they attempting to strike at the League? Or was there something else going on? We don't know for sure . . . and the only way we will know is when someone finally brings them in.

"And my guess? It's gonna take the Avengers League to do it."

Seven young heroes sat in their seats, pondering the mission ahead. It would be their first time encountering another team of super-heroes . . . and their feelings were mixed. What would be the outcome? What if they lost? What if they won?

The members of Generation Next all had their own thoughts . . . but most of them revolved around their targets: Young Justice.

Superboy and Graviton sat as they had for the past day and a half since Kon-El found himself trapped down there. He had no idea what had happened to his friends, where we was, or what was going to happen. All he knew was that this guy, Graviton, could get him out of the hole they were trapped in.

"Now, I've told you everything," Superboy said, sighing. "There's nothing I know that you don't."

"Though there's plenty I know that you don't," Graviton grinned. "For I know the reason why you've been feeling weak."

"What?" Superboy asked. I didn't tell him . . . that I haven't been feeling up to snuff. Ever since the explosion* I've felt weaker than ever. That's why I haven't tried escaping myself or fighting him.

*(He's referring to YJ #16 - Paul)

"Yes," Graviton grinned, his eyes almost glowing. "I know more than you think, young hero. The reason for your weakness is not my doing. No. It appears that, before you wound up down here . . . you were cloned."

"What?" Kon asked. He was caught totally off-guard.

"I told you this place is no longer my prison. I knew everything going on up in that castle . . . well, before your teammates got it blown up. And Zola made a clone of you. A clone which is currently free . . . and probably roaming around with your precious Young Justice."

"No . . . " Superboy frowned.

"So long as the clone exists, your powers will continue to weaken," Graviton continued. "He must be destroyed for you to regain your natural powers."

"But how can I do that if I'm this weak?"

"I was hoping you'd ask that," Graviton grinned. "Care to make . . . another deal?"

There are many old and abandoned warehouses throughout the city. And in one such harbor warehouse we find our heroes.

Robin sat in a corner of the building, watching his teammates slowly awake from their slumber.

Last night didn't go as I had hoped . . .

(Detective Comics #12 - Paul)

I didn't want to have to blow up our old base . . . but it was necessary. Now I wonder how the team's gonna handle it. It can't be good.

"Hey stranger," Cissie King-Jones said as she walked over to him. She leaned against the wall and slumped down beside him.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Hmm? Yeah, yeah . . . I guess the Monolith gave me more of a beating than I thought," Cissie answered. She was lying, of course. The extra soreness came from me being the Spoiler and helping you blow up our base. That's also why I didn't get much sleep. God, I just barely beat you back here, Rob . . . this is getting totally out of hand. I need to do something about this. Hopefully, when this whole mess is over with . . . if it's ever over . . .

"Welcome back, Rob," Sam Guthrie said to him. "How'd the mission at base go?"

"Not good," Robin frowned. "Might as well gather everyone to hear this."

And everyone did gather. Cissie King Jones: Arrowette; Sam Guthrie: Cannonball; Kon-El: Superboy; Bart Allen: Impulse; Cassie Sandsmark: Wonder Girl; Linda Danvers: Firebird; Jennifer-Lynn Haden: Jade; Hallie Takahama: Jolt.

And Robin could see it in their eyes. In their body language. They had only been on the run for one day . . . but it was taking its toll. The constant fighting, with no clear idea of when things would be safe again. This wouldn't help.

"I got to our base," Robin started, swallowing nervously. "And found it had been infiltrated by the Hellfire Club."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Oh, man," Wonder Girl frowned.

"They'll never leave us alone," Linda frowned.

"So what'd you do, wonder boy?" Superboy asked.

"Well," Robin started. "I surveyed part of the base to see what they were doing . . . and I learned that they were in the process of downloading and decrypting our computer core. The core which has all the information on us and our missions . . . "

"What aren't you telling us?" Jade asked, noticing his hesitation.

"There were files on all of us in there," he continued. "Including possible ways to take any of you down should you go rogue."

"What?!" Superboy exclaimed.

"It was Batman's idea," Robin said, quickly displacing blame. "He has files like that, too. He and I were the only people who had access to them."

"You actually know how to take us all down?" Superboy asked. "You know how to exploit our weaknesses?"

"Easy, Kon!" Robin said. "After what happened with Linda? Of course I did! Imagine if it happened again? Then I'd be able to stop things from getting out of hand."

"It's understandable," Linda said quietly.

"No it isn't," Superboy frowned. "So what'd you do, huh? You let the Hellfire Club learn how to kill us?"

"No!" Robin said, standing quickly. "I would never allow something like that! So I . . . I rigged the place . . . and blew it up."

"You . . . " Cassie started.

" . . . What?" Jade finished.

"He said he blew it up," Bart recapped.

"Asshole!" Superboy exclaimed. He grabbed Robin by the shirt and flung him across the warehouse at an incredible towards the far wall.

Robin's legs impacted the wall and pushed off. The boy wonder leapt into a forward roll that brought him back onto his feet. Just as he did, Superboy came flying at him. Robin fell to his back, catching the charging Superboy with both feet and kicking him across the stomach.

"Superboy, stop!" Linda yelled.

Wonder Girl quickly grabbed his arms and tried to hold him back. As Robin stood, ready to strike at him, Sam held him tight.

"I don't need you guys to save me," Robin frowned. "I could've handled Kon just fine."

"Of course you could," Superboy replied trying to shrug off Wonder Girl. "You know all our weaknesses, remember?"

"This has got to stop," Sam said. "An' Ah mean now. We're in enough trouble as it is without you two goin' at it every five minutes. We need to work together and stay together."

"You're not at all upset that he blew up our home?" Jade asked him.

"He did what he had to do," Sam frowned. "Ah was a team leader once . . . an' Ah did what had to be done. And one time, that got one o' mah team killed. Bein' a team leader's all about makin' the hard choices. Y'just gotta hope that you make the right one. Ah'd say, it looks to me like Robin made the right choice. We all know how bad the Hellfire Club is . . . me, prolly more than most. The information we had at base was too important to fall into their hands. End of story. Right now, we got bigger plans to worry about."

"He's right," Jolt chimed in. "I mean, I never lived in your base, so it could be out of line for me to say this, but . . . well . . . whatever was in there was material possession. You can get those again. What matters is that we're alive and with friends, right?"

"Says the girl who was in a prison cell," Superboy frowned.

"No, she's right," Bart said. "We're alive and with friends. That's what's important . . . we just gotta stay that way!"

Hallie smiled at Bart, showing her appreciation for someone finally siding with her.

"Tensions are a bit hot right now," Cissie took over. "I think the best course of action would be to lay low for awhile. Get some street clothes, maybe split up into smaller groups . . . let the buzz die down. Then, maybe when everyone's stopped looking for us we could find a way to clear ourselves."

"Clear ourselves from what, though?" Robin asked. "The more I think about it, the more I realize that this isn't something where we can just capture the bad guy and have him confess to the authorities that he framed us. All those times we caused property damage in our fights . . . the only way to truly clear our names is to go to court and defend ourselves, legally."

"They'd eat us alive in court!" Cassie exclaimed. "And what if Shaw is involved? We'd never get a fair trial!"

"I'm not turning myself in," Superboy frowned.

"There's gotta be another way," Linda said.

"I do have some files on Shaw's illegal activities," Robin said. "They're in a safe place . . . but that won't be enough to clear our names. It would be a start, though."

"So . . . what's the plan?" Hallie asked.

"Yeah, what's the plan?" Bart echoed.

"Ah've been an outlaw hero before," Sam said. "Ah think we should turn in any evidence we have against Shaw . . . and then just let our actions speak for ourselves. We should keep on bein' heroes . . . fightin' the bad guys, savin' the world. Hopefully, by doin' that, we could show people that we're just misunderstood."

"That's a longshot," Jade frowned.

"It could take years," Superboy added.

"I . . . I don't know," Robin shook his head. "Maybe . . . maybe if I turned myself in? As leader of YJ, I could probably get you all pardoned . . . strike a deal, y'know? If I--"

"No way," Cissie said.

"Notta chance," Sam added. "We're stickin' together on this . . . no matter what."

"Does that mean you'll all surrender?" a voice called from the entrance to the warehouse.

"Eh?" Robin asked as the team turned to the doorway. For a moment, he thought: Why is someone always coming in a door somewhere, making one of us ask 'eh' and causing all of us to turn around? I could go for something a bit more original right now . . .

[[Hey! At least I'm consistent, bird boy! - Paul]]

"The name's Valor," the boy in the doorway said. "With me here are Chamber, Secret, Damage, Skin, Argent and Husk. We're Generation Next . . . and we've been sent by the DEO to take you down. Young Justice . . . you're under arrest."