#339 - Escalation

When Yang Le obtained the map of the laboratory from the White-Clothed Variant, he complained that the designer of this laboratory wasn't even a mediocre amateur. If something unexpected happened and the elevator stopped working, wouldn't everyone be trapped underground?

Besides the elevators, the only other way to move between floors was through the ventilation shafts. Yang Le had only one thought when he first saw the lab's blueprints.

“If I turned into Armadillo Kong and went in there, wouldn’t that be a total wipeout?”

But this thought had just surfaced when Yang Le dismissed it himself. Unless there was some deep-seated hatred, a place like the Cadmus lab was definitely more valuable left intact than destroyed.

Moreover, the Light's only enemies were the Justice League. Even Batman, the most ruthless member of the League, wouldn't make such a drastic decision to exterminate everything. After all, information still needed to be gathered, and if the building collapsed, all they'd collect would be cement rubble.

“The person who designed this lab is a real genius,” Robin said, wanting to swear but refraining, considering Megan was listening. He settled for sarcasm.

“Can’t Superboy just fly us up?” Wally asked. “I remember Superman can fly.”

“Superboy can’t fly,” Yang Le said, holding down the eager Superboy. “Superboy was created using half Kryptonian and half human genes. His human genes suppress his Kryptonian abilities, including flight. However, his jumping ability is very strong; clearing tall buildings is no problem.”

Superboy looked at his hands in shock. He had assumed he would be nearly identical to Superman, but he realized he was just an inferior version.

In fact, he also lacked abilities like heat vision. Moreover, even the superpowers he did possess were weakened. This was evident during the confrontation with the giant; a real Superman could have taken down the giant doctor with one hand, but Superboy was subtly suppressed. If Aqualad hadn't offered assistance, they might have all been wiped out.

In short, Superboy was an all-around degraded version of Superman.

“So, what do we do now?” Kid Flash peered into the elevator shaft's layout. “There are too many obstacles in there; I can't run up.”

“The Batarang's cable isn't long enough either,” Robin said, glancing at the distance and shaking his head. “And someone clearly won't let us go.”

“Boom!”

The giant doctor threw off the debris pinning him down, roared, and charged at Yang Le and the others again.

“Looks like we need to deal with this roadblock first,” Yang Le said, the red horns on his head glowing. As the giant doctor charged halfway, the entire wall to Yang Le's left was torn down, crushing the giant doctor.

“Bro!” Yang Le shouted to Superboy, who immediately understood. With a powerful stomp, he charged towards the pinned giant doctor.

Just as the giant doctor broke free, Superboy landed a solid punch on his face. The immense force sent the unsteady giant crashing to the ground.

Before the giant doctor could land, Aqualad, brought behind him by Kid Flash, swung a water-constructed mace. With a thud, the giant doctor crashed through the wall into the adjacent room.

Before anyone could catch their breath, the giant doctor, who had just been knocked down, stood up again. His body was undergoing further changes. His original blue-gray muscles bulged continuously, eventually turning into gray armor-like shells. Two red horns sprouted from his forehead, making him look like a larger version of Yang Le.

“The giant formula combined with gene-altering abilities was originally just my hypothesis,” a raspy voice squeezed from the giant doctor's throat. His eyes glowed intensely red, making it unclear whether he was still rational.

“Previous experiments have always failed. Today, I was originally preparing to experiment with the newly adjusted formula, but I encountered an unexpected situation…”

Superboy, not wanting to listen to his nonsense, jumped forward to punch the giant doctor again. The red horns on the latter's head glowed intensely, and with a boom, Superboy was knocked down even faster, leaving an imprint on the ground.

“Superboy!” Aqualad, about to check on his teammate, was similarly pinned to the ground.

Aqualad being knocked down seemed like a signal, and the young heroes were successively pinned to the ground. Superboy touched the ground with both hands, gritting his teeth and struggling to get up.

“Ugh, ah, ah!”

Robin, Impulse, and Kid Flash cried out in pain simultaneously. None of them possessed super strength or steel bones, and this pressure was clearly unbearable.

Seeing this, Yang Le used his telepathic ability, applying it to the three, helping them resist some of the pressure, which prevented them from being crushed into meat paste.

“I thought I would never succeed in my life,” the giant doctor said, gazing obsessively at his hands. “But fate is clearly favoring me; this one-in-ten-thousand chance of success has appeared on me.”

“This proves that I am right!” the giant doctor looked at Superboy venomously. “Those big shots are wrong! They actually want to use you to replace me! My giant project is irreplaceable! Not even Kryptonians can!”

With a wave of his hand, Superboy, who was originally pinned to the ground, flew up and floated in front of him.

“What can you compare to me!” The giant doctor suddenly threw his right fist, and the huge force even caused the air to wail. Superboy groaned and was about to fly out, but he had just flown less than a meter before the giant doctor used his ability to control him in place.

“When I solve you, I can let those big shots see my value.” The giant doctor once again controlled Superboy in front of him, slowly raising his right hand, apparently preparing to punch again.

“Those… hiding guys are right…”

The doctor turned his head and found that the sound was made by Robin, which surprised him. Even Aqualad and Superboy, the two superhumans, were suppressed to the point that they couldn't make a sound. How did Robin, an ordinary person, do it?

'Mr. Yang, if you don't come again, we may really die here.' Robin once again notified Yang Le through the mental channel, still buying time.

“You have always only thought about placing yourself under others, but Superboy does not submit to anyone, just this point, you can't compare with him!”

“I'm going to tear your mouth!” The giant doctor dropped Superboy and rushed towards Robin's direction with a big step. Looking at the hideous ghoul in front of him, even the battle-hardened Robin couldn't help but feel scared. In addition, he couldn't move now. Helpless, Robin could only close his eyes.

“Boom!”

Another loud noise, Robin, who closed his eyes, did not feel pain, curiosity made him slowly open his eyes.