...I've never enjoyed killing one of my daughters. 
- — Contessa
Superboy (Volume 4) #71 is an issue of the series Superboy (Volume 4) with a cover date of February, 2000.
Synopsis for "The Evil Factory Pt 2 of 5: Prisoners of the Project"
A Guardian Clone drags Superboy across a chamber in Project Cadmus. Superboy struggles to regain consciousness, but Dubbilex hits him with another telepathic jolt. The Kid is made a prisoner with Mickey Cannon, Serling Roquette, and the original Guardian as Mokkari and Simyan look on. The two contemplate killing the Gene-Gnome which they have used to manipulate Dubbilex but then Amanda Spence appears and reminds them that they work for her and the Agenda. Amanda herself thinks about killing Superboy before a hologram of the Contessa Erica Alexandra del Portenza, now the sole Director of the Agenda, tugs her leash. An alarm goes off and everyone rushes out of the room.
Luckily, Superboy was only feigning consciousness, per Dub's telepathic signal, and breaks out when everyone's gone. Then he frees the others and they agree that the Agenda must be stopped. Unfortunately, they run into an platoon of clones of Dr. Avilia who sound the alarm on them. A running battle ensues as Superboy and his team try to get clear of encroaching Clone Troops. They make it to a side passage but are set upon by tentacle like machines.
In another part of the Project, Dabney Donovon is captured and dragged before Simyan and Mokkari who are all to ready to treat their creator with the tenderness he showed them. Amanda steps in again and decides to put Donovon to work, starting with work in Area X.
Superboy and Guardian manage to free Mick and Serling and they all escape into a maintenance tunnel. Unfortunately, a swarm of insects flood into the tunnel and attack them. Superboy manages to protect Serling by extending his TK field. Guardian covers the rest as they escape but when Superboy goes back to retrieve him, Guardian has fallen because of being stung so many times. They mourn their fallen comrade but press on. They encounter a fire pit next and Superboy realizes the trick--every danger that has arisen has done so because someone mentioned something about the scenario. So Superboy flies into the fire pit and "dies" which shocks everyone out of the VR hookup they were in.
Guardian explains that the memories of his first murder are never far from his mind, so his "death" in the VR setup was not sufficient to shock everyone back to reality. He tells Mick that if he dies for real, he does not want to be cloned again. They all hear a commotion from up ahead and check it out. They are shocked when they see the Clone troops being attacked by Hex, who has Angry Charlie and Krypto with her and is riding on the back of Grokk the Living Gargoyle.
Appearing in "The Evil Factory Pt 2 of 5: Prisoners of the Project"
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