Red Robin sat at the head of the conference table alone with a combination of written files and virtual files scattered about him on the broad expanse.
"What troubles you, my friend?" The tall and dark Atlantean asked.
"Kaldur! Please, come sit down." Red Robin asks as he jumps up and takes his old friend's hand. They look one another in the eye for a moment before they break eye contact and hold each other in a deep embraced that neither on wishes to break. Eventually they do, and Kaldur sits to Robin's side and he quietly waits for the questions that he knows are coming.
"Kal… your coming at the sewers was just in time." Robin stated. For a moment the Atlantean emissary was disappointed until he heard the rest of Tim's statement. "I think you know what Sleez could do. Your coming gave us hope. You came back beyond all hope. I missed you brother." Tim said fighting back tears in his eyes. Both strong and stalwart and stoic, only a fool would say that either young man wasn't moved by finally being together again. If each was alone, they would have silently wept in joy yet again.
"I sense your questions and all I remember is Klarion's dagger in my chest and then a deep, haunting voice… a beautiful voice. The depth of it called me back to the depth of the sea, but we were far from it in space. I floated in space and water… the stars of the sky were reflected in the sea, and then the sea was reflected in space. I can only say it was a beauty that I did not wish to awoken from, yet it was the only reason I could awake."
"Kon hurt for a long time, you know." Tim said softly, implying he had as well.
"I know, and I with him." But just then the Kryptonian husband of the Team leader edged himself into the room very slowly. They were past their victory at the slums and past their celebration of all they had accomplished. Now was the empty time where they gathered their thoughts, and gathered those they held most dear. Kaldur stood up from his seat next to Tim and looked over to the newcomer. Before either could help themselves, Kon rushed forward in abandon and pulled the Atlantean in a deep hug and cried softly on his shoulder where the only one who could see was Tim… finally.
"No… we decided that before. You're in charge of this mess we call a team." Nightwing said to his adoptive little brother.
"He is correct, Robin. We had already decided this." Kaldur agreed.
The young vigilante all but slumped his shoulders at the continued burden. He was never one to shirk responsibility, but they had just gotten an old friend back and didn't want to lose another.
"So… what's the next mission, hermano?" Blue Beetle asked. They all knew one another in the real world, but it had become their way to address each other by their 'code names' when in uniform. The dichotomy might seem odd, but then again these young people were unlike any other the world had known. Already five of them had come back from the edge of death and still held true to themselves and their mission.
"I think for the time being we take it easy a little bit. Superboy and I will patrol Metropolis from time to time and look in on our new friends in Suicide Slums and make sure they are doing okay. I also need to spend a little more time back in Gotham. We might have a little clean-up left after getting Dr. Crane off the streets. Hell, we might even get a chance to go to a hockey game. KF and Bart, Flash might like to know you're still around. Maybe head off to Central City once in a while? Jamie… I think you would probably like to help the El Paso PD finish off what is left of the drug cartel there and aid the new mayor in cleaning up the police department."
"I would like that, but I need Impulse to help me." He said as his black and blue symbiotic armor bent into a smile.
"I trust this is not a prelude to disbanding this Team, Robin. We have come so far, done so much, and have one another's love and trust." Aqualad asked in quiet wisdom.
"No… Never. But we all need a break and we have our own lives that we all have neglected to take care of the greater issues. Kon and I, for one, have to get settled into our new home and need to discuss some important matters. And, we all have jobs we need to attend to before we get fired. Otherwise, we'll all be moving in here."
A couple of the Team members whisper amongst themselves at Tim and Kon having things to discuss and Kon catches the gist of the concern.
"No guys… we're both fine really. We're not breaking up or anything. You should know us better than that." Kon said to diffuse the concern heard from some across the table. And you could tell who, as a sigh of relief was heard from some, especially Nightwing. But Superboy and Red Robin looked at each other with nothing but joy and delight in each other's eyes.
"So…" Robin continued "Let's go back to our old schedule like when we started. We'll spend the weekends here together; and even that will be pretty light, mostly hanging out together. The Justice League owes us bigtime and they're not dropping missions on us for a while."
"WOOT!" Kid Flash exclaims, then looks over at Artemis and says "More time for you baby."
"OMG… they only way I'd be worried about you is if you pulled your butt off Nightwing's…"
"Artemis!" Arsenal exclaims suddenly.
The whole team erupts in laughter and Kid Flash and Artemis share a hug in friendship.
Life quickly returns to normal, or what passes for normal among such guys as these. Tim spends his days at the helm of Drake Pharmaceuticals preparing the company for finalizing the merger with Wayne Enterprises. Conner is still getting situated at CADMUS, which is a longer process, especially considering he doesn't trust or like his boss, Lex Luthor. Luthor had absorbed CADMUS into his business empire some time before and hired Kon to run its laboratories. Kon had his own reasons for being there. It worried Tim immensely that being involved with CADMUS would bring back bad memories for Kon… but the young clone was on a personal crusade that he could only fight from the inside. The job was a great one with a lot of responsibility and a lot of authority. Some were disgruntled that this college age guy that still looked like a strapping 16-year-old farm boy was running their lab. Kon didn't care one bit. They tended to shut up when they realized that he had "started out" in the company, so to speak. Kon wasn't vindictive at all, but once in a while he passed someone in the halls that recognized him from his first days in the white solar suit as an experiment and they almost fled from him. It didn't hurt his feelings. But just now… he was rushing back to his office. He had a couple small time sensitive things to finish up before his lunch appointment.
"Mr. Kent… your 12:30 is here to see you." Kon heard over the intercom. His secretary didn't like the visitor very much, but she did respect and like her boss… or at least the man that her real boss had sent her to look after.
"Thank you Mercy. Please send him in."
Tim hadn't been working today and was dressed casual. Maybe it might not have been right for Kon's office, but being casual made the lunch date more date-like. His off-white slim jeans cut such a tight figure that you could almost get a cut off the hot young man. Over that he wore a grey hooded top made by one of the finest Rhelasian designers. It was freakin' hot, Conner thought. With him he carried a picnic basket that had to be super powered because the smells coming from it were weakening Kon and it smelled… warm.
"I don't think she likes me very much honey." Tim said as an aside after a kiss.
"No, she doesn't like you at all."
Tim would never have asked Kon to fire or hire someone on his staff because of what he thought, just as Kon would never do the same to him at Drake Pharmaceuticals.
"But, she is very good at what she does."
"What's that honey?"
"She handles my secretarial work, and sometimes fills in as bodyguard."
"Does she know you don't need one of those?" Tim asked jokingly.
"Yeah, but the public doesn't. She keeps up appearances."
"And… hates me." The young vigilante asked.
"Yes, but only because you are an outside influence, unknown quantity. Can't be controlled or pigeon-holed. She really works for Lex. She is his way of keeping tabs on me and we both know it and accept it as such. She is incredibly loyal and will do anything honorable that I ask of her, so long as it does not conflict with Luthor's orders."
"Do you know what those orders are?"
"No."
"Sweetie…" Tim asked "I didn't bring you lunch, at your request by the way, just so we could stress out over your secretary. You said you wanted a celebratory lunch and that a picnic was the way to go. I brought it up, so should we carry it back down to the car or spread a blanket here on the office floor?"
"Neither, baby-bird" Kon said with smugness.
"OMG… its bad enough Dick calls me that, but now you?" Tim exclaims.
"Yes, this time." Kon responds and pulls his husband by the hand over to a small alcove. He presses a button hidden in the molding of the wall and a panel opens to reveal a small elevator that will accommodate two. The door almost closes on the two young men when Kon suddenly remembers he forgot something and presses the door button and runs out. Sure, he's not as fast as Kid Flash or Impulse, but he is Superboy and pretty darned fast himself. He's back before the door closes and has a file folder in his hand grinning.
"Show-off" Tim says smiling.
The elevator runs up for some small distance and then opens upon and broad lawn… a garden in the sky above Metropolis.
"Oh my god honey, this is wonderful!" Tim declared transfixed.
"Yeah, it is. I didn't even know it was here until the other day. I 'saw' the gap in the wall for the elevator and then just followed it up. Once I found this I asked Mercy why she didn't tell me about it. You know what she said?"
"No."
"'You didn't ask.' That's so like her. Perfectly precise."
To one side of the rooftop garden is a lovely luncheon table and Tim spreads out their picnic which he kept warm in insulated containers. He was particularly proud of the bar-b-que ribs he had made and wanted Kon to be able to eat them warm, which he loved.
"So… what was the big deal today?" Tim asked around a mouthful of vinegary German style potato salad.
"Oh… this." Kon said trying to be understated as he pushed the folder he had brought over to his young husband. "Read it."
Tim starts to read through the computer printed pages and his eyes grow wider and wider.
"Honey… isn't this the 'Kr Protocol' that they used to…"
"To make me? Yes, it is. Keep reading."
Beyond the initial paperwork was some of Kon's research and some new breakthroughs in genetic science. Things unknown to the public. A rib bone drops with a clatter onto the melamine plate beneath him as he finds the bits that Kon really wanted him to understand.
"Conner… is this… what I think… sweetheart…?" The young socialite turned vigilante asks his husband with trepidation.
"Yes, it is. Isn't it more of what we wanted than we thought possible?" Kon asked quietly.
"It is…." Tim said deep in thought. "What will the boy think?"
"Bart? I think he'll be delighted!"
Tim read over the papers that Kon had given him once again…
"I think he'd make a wonderful uncle." Tin said with quiet tears in his eyes.
"You see honey… there is a way to actually truly combine our DNA to clone a child that is truly ours. Since he will be from half of you, he won't have the problems with his Kryptonian blood like I had, but it won't be as strong either."
"How would we raise a child like that… a boy?" Tim asked carefully.
"Yes, a boy. I agree. But we would raise him like Bruce did with you… with a lot of love and if you wanted we could train him enough to be able to look after himself and never be a victim like so many people are these days."
"Kon, are we too young to be fathers?"
"Too many children are born to people younger than us and less ready than we."
"What about an identity and birth certificate?" Tim asked pragmatically.
"I know a good hacker." Kon answered playfully.
For the next hour they talked of hopes and dreams now made possible and what their future might really hold, for both them and the Team that had just started calling itself the Teen Titans after Wonder Woman had made that one comment. They thought about their newest adventure not being one of danger or a fight against some powerful villain, but one of a new and growing family. They moved over to the grass and sat down with their iced tea that Tim had brought and continued to talk, until talk became hugs and kisses, and those hugs became something more. Kon had swept the area for cameras or bugs once he had discovered the place, but Tim simply didn't care at the moment. They made love together on the rooftop of CADMUS's headquarters… the place that had made Kon and yet would also give them their son.
Several days later, the movers had brought the last of the boxes from Tim and Kon's old loft into the new penthouse. They had given the loft over to Bart and Jamie. Ironically, Bart had spent most of the week helping them unpack. In all fairness, Bart had the closest thing to the feminine touch that the home was ever going to get. Not all the furniture had been set up and the speedster had been spending his nights on the couch with the television permanently tuned to Cartoon Network. Come morning, Kon made a large breakfast, as they always had for Bart… and before they even got dressed Tim sat on the floor next to Impulse in front of the television and casually asked:
"Bart, did you have any brothers or sisters… back there?" Bart had come back in time from a terrible future and had helped save humanity from that fate, but he couldn't return. He wouldn't return now if he could though. He had too much to love and enjoy in this time.
"No Tim, I always told you, I was an only child. Why?"
"What would it be like, you think, to have a little brother?"
"I don't know. I think it would be wonderful to have a brother to play with, protect, and pester. You know… FUN! But why do you ask? You have a little brother."
"Well… Damian is kind of a special case." Tim said evasively.
"Well… doi! He is. OMG he's cute, but like that 'screw you' shield he puts up? Like he's afraid of being judged by everyone else if they know him."
Tim stifles a laugh at Bart's ability to sometimes see things clearer than others. "But what if you suddenly had a little brother, what would you think of that?"
Bart pulls his eyes away from the TV and looks dead into Tim's deep blue orbs. The boy was exceedingly intelligent and saw where his older friend was going. He knew Kon was a clone, and he knew where Kon worked, and he knew they had always wanted a little boy, even though Bart filled in pretty good.
"Timmy… are you trying to tell me that you and Kon are going to have a boy?" Bart says slowly and carefully… like when he's being super-sure of something.
"Yeah Bart, you're going to be a big brother... or an uncle. What do you think of that?"
They had gotten the penthouse almost settled. But at least two days of progress was lost by Bart's maniacal giggling laughter as he ran about the house carrying on like an idiot. His little butt looked like two ferrets in a pillowcase as he skipped across the room in his rocket ship underwear.
"Kon…" Tim asked "I love the boy to death but will he be a good role-model?"
"Bart? Are you silly? He's good, kind, and loving. He's loyal to the end. Just remember what he went through to help fix Jamie. He's certainly courageous, no doubt there; sometimes to a fault. Sure, he's a randy boy that will likely never grow up much, but neither did Peter Pan and see how loyal and tough he is?"
The following year was a busy one. Tim still had a business to run, which was quite a task for such a young man. The merger with Wayne Enterprises was delayed due to legal issues with the distribution of tainted Venom that Scarecrow had accomplished while being employed by Drake under a false identity. Timothy Drake and his company took full responsibility and things were going well, but it took time. Meanwhile, Conner continued his research at CADMUS and saw to the progress of a little boy growing in a cloning chamber.
Both Tim and Kon spent many hours with him as he grew at his accelerated rate. Kon remembered how he was taught and sought to do the same for the little boy, but with more love and kindness. They had others among their friends and family sit with him, lending their presence from time to time, so that he would know love, companionship, and a sense of family, thing that Conner had not known at the time. It then became natural for each of the friends and family to come at times where the computer systems were uploading certain subjects into his fertile mind or neurotransmitters nurture and tone his young untrained muscles.
Wally had always been a science nerd and he would read interesting articles of scientific coolness to the boy. Voices were captured by microphones and fed into the young clone's auditory nerves. They timed the regimen so that right after Wally was with him Dick would sit with him and talk about his days as an acrobat when he was a little boy while the neuro-electro connections toned his young muscles. Bart and Jamie would sit with him and read comics to him or tell him jokes and teach him humor. Bart was eager to have his little nephew… like a kid waiting on cookies to finish baking. Each of the friends took their turn: Kaldur taught him something about mystical arts, Jamie about alien technologies, and Roy about street smarts. But the surprise to all, was when Damian barged his way into the laboratory and shooed everyone out and he sat and talked with the growing boy in his chamber. The youngest new Robin strode out and his eyes were slightly red like he had shed a tear or two. But if you said anything, you might have gotten a good bleeding wound for your trouble. Maybe the little fiend wanted a nephew too.
Kon and Tim both had taken to wearing tech watches that kept tabs on everything related to the coning chamber where their little son was being "born." It would be soon and they were both nervous and excited. The penthouse had a charming boy's room ready for him, but mostly decorated by Impulse and Damian. It seems they had come to an understanding, and they were the youngest among all the heroes. Tim wasn't sure what to do for décor since he had already been too serious at a very young age and Conner never had a childhood. But Bart and Damian did very well and the room was both playful and inviting.
But even so… reality and work took its moments. Kon was making progress in his research and was looking more and more toward finding Match and fixing him… something Bart had mixed feelings on. But with his new sense of creation, he wanted to give Match the chance he had never been given… the chance to be a normal young man, either human or Kryptonian. Yet he knew he and the lab would be a magnet for the tortured boy, like Frankenstein's monster returning to his creator. But no one could have seen it coming quite like this.
Tim felt his wrist vibrate as the tech watch told him that there was something wrong… very wrong… with the cloning chamber. He was across town at his office in a meeting. He looked over to his assistant, Robert Trimble (he and his wife had been as eager to meet the new child of his boss too) and said:
"Call my helicopter, I'll meet it on the helipad." Tim calls out to Robert. "I apologize gentlemen, but I have to call this meeting closed. This is a medical company and sometimes medical emergencies require my personal attention."
There never was a helicopter and Robert never called for one. He knew it to be a cue to cover for his boss and friend as he leaved to solve a problem. He ran to his office, and into his personal bathroom and pulled off his suit to reveal the lightweight uniform he wore underneath. Running over to the coffee bar he opened a secret panel and pulled out a fully equipped utility belt and his staff.
"Is there some way I can help Tim?" Robin heard behind him. He spun abut and saw Trimble's stalwart form close the door quietly.
"It's the beacon from the lab… it's our boy."
"He's due?" Robert asked as his eyes sparkled in eager anticipation.
"No… there's something wrong."
A cold dread settled on Robert's heart, but he had always promised himself that he would stand by his friend who had stood by everyone else for so long. When he looked up, the young hero was already gone, and a window was open overlooking the city. With a curse over his human speed, Robert Trimble took the express elevator to the lobby, forcibly pulled a cabbie from his taxi, and stole it, driving off across town.
But it was only an accident of irony that Robin knew before Kon that something was wrong. The hidden cloning lab was next to Kon's office but was shielded against radiation, heat, light, sound waves, and anything else Kon could think of. But the moment something was wrong, the computer called Robin. Kon never heard the sounds beyond the far wall and the door between him and his son… it was a fact that would never assuage his guilt or his rage.
But finally, there was an impact against the lab door, leaving an epic dent. Kon tossed his useless glasses aside and bolted for the door thinking there was something wrong with his boy. He might have been strong enough to do that with his bit of Kryptonian DNA… but it was too soon. He just reached the wall where the door to the lab was hidden when the window at the 37th floor exploded behind him. Red Robin flew in, tucked himself, and rolled and came up to his feet right at the door, just as Kon began to bend the titanium door aside with his meta-human strength.
The sight before the two heroes caused so much pain and grief that they almost did not know how to react. Every computer was shattered, destroyed. Electrical conduit was ripped apart… and power was disrupted to the cloning chamber. The end, which was his beginning, is such a delicate time… too delicate. As intelligent as Kon was, it was almost too much to take on at once. He had secured the lab and reinforced the doorway to it… but the far wall had been ripped apart in a rage… and every wall behind it out to the open sky. A lone figure raged about, destroying everything in his path. Conner raged against the intrusion until he saw the face of the vandal.
Frankenstein monster did indeed return to his birthplace… but it wasn't that simple. Something about the existence of a cloning chamber perhaps called him and he was working his way through the technology to destroy it. Conner looked upon his twin, mindlessly filled with rage, and his breath caught in his throat. Robin saw him once again… momentarily glad Bart was not present… to see Match destroy the lab until the chamber and its small occupant was all that remained. He loosed every birdarang he had in his limited arsenal and Kon launched into the other cone in a pile-driver punch that would have destroyed a small building. The floor did in fact shudder under the impact as Match ignored the blow and took one more step where time slowed.
Kon was reeling from the reverse impact…
Robin ran, snatching his back belt pouch open…
"KON!... RUN!"
Conner… Superboy… could never run, not now. Not away from his clone brother, and not away from his son where he could not protect him.
It happened all at once… a single strong arm swung wide in rage and shattered a cloning chamber filling the floor with the artificial amniotic fluid… and the body of a small boy. So Kon did run… right to the base of the blasted cloning chamber and caught his boy before he fell to the ground. He then felt the pain and weakness… and forced himself to endure. The pain was terrible because it was so near and focused… he ground his teeth and wept at the pain, but only gripped the silent and quiet little boy tighter covering him with his body. He was part Kryptonian. Kon was shielding his son with his own body.
Robin held the small green stone with one hand, barely wielding his staff with another. He could strike and face defeat, or he could hold the stone high and hope real hard… but the decision was taken from him.
Robert Trimble had made his way to the CADMUS building and up to Kon's offices… in time to see the little boy fall into Kon's arms. Robert remembered the sacrifices they had made and had asked nothing in return… except for the once thing that others took for granted… to have a family. His Glock pistol fired uselessly… but it was a statement. When would people stand up for those who sacrificed everything for them? He chose to do that… at this moment. He fired his pistol right at Match. It wouldn't hurt him, but maybe take his focus away from his friends and their unborn son. In his mind and heart he said goodbye to his wife and daughter and kept firing… and Match kept coming.
Conner gasped with the pain and endured… he looked into the little boy's eyes and saw… nothing… at all. His breath caught, even through the pain of the Kryptonite that Robin was forced to use. He looked into the beautiful face and lifeless blue eyes and his crying breaths became gasping pains.
"TIM! KILL HIM!" He called out in hopeless rage. He had never used his name like that in a mission before, but they both knew this mattered more than any cover identity… Conner held their still-born child and rocked and rocked holding the little boy weeping in rage.
"Kill him… fucking kill him!"
Robin felt the same pain… he had now lost everything. Not the company, not his skills, not the Team. But if they lost their son they would have lost everything. His hand tightened around the kryptonite and he punched Match in the face… not daring to hope he would survive the counter attack. Match felt the blow… and it hurt him… badly. Robin saw the pain and wanted to cause more of it. For the first time in his life, he took joy in causing pain. He struck Match again and again… and he saw the clone bleed. It was horrible for Robin to do… How do you destroy a villain who has murdered your child and looks like your husband? But as Match backed away he turned to a new threat… and single indomitable human that would stand for what was right and honorable, regardless of consequence. That human fired again and again….
Superboy held the silent still boy and wept. The pain receded as Robin forced Match further away. His mind told him there was gunfire… but it did not fully register. He leaned down to kiss the quiet lips of his stillborn son… and just wanted to give one breath so he could say he had shared breath of life with his son. The boy's chest expanded with the breath, then relaxed… silent. But it was first a breath, then the parting kiss of a father to his lost son. This time there was a longer pause before the little boy's chest settled. He breathed into him more gently but determined how… praying for a miracle…
Match strode towards Robert as he emptied his pistol and changed magazines for a fresh one. It wouldn't matter, he was too close. Robin tossed aside his staff and held the piece of Kryptonite in his hand and hit Match yet again… this time he did not let up. He wept thinking of the son they almost had… his cries came out in gasping sobs as he beat the purer clone of his husband and thought only of Kon holding their little boy that would never be… no longer was there any justice, or love, or truth… but only that single moment where he beat upon him again and again. He dragged him to the edge of the office, by the shattered window.
The only way to ensure he died from the fall was to carry the Kryptonite with him. He looked over to his beloved husband. His heart said goodbye where his voice could not. From 37 floors up he was taking Match with him… then he heard something no one had ever heard before.
Kon gasped at hope for the brief moment he saw movement of the boy's chest. That movement gave him hope and he tried a little harder… breathed for him a little more. His right hand massaged the boy's chest and pressed a bit harder, encouraging the heart to beat. But the boy had the heart of Superboy and Robin and though come young, it would take more to keep him away. The boy coughed and bucked and coughed… and saw his daddy looking over him with tears in his eyes. Tears of remembered pain from the Kryptonite and tears of the pain of a lost son. Now they were tears of unbridled joy. The little lad weakly reached up a hand to Kon's cheek and touched a tear.
Tim made his peace and struck his final blow… then he heard that single word.
"FATHER"
It was so soft and weak… but he knew he heard it, not imagined. He dared to look behind him and saw a small hand touch his husband's cheek. He laughed madly… he had his life again… He struck Match once again, driving him through the window high above Metropolis… Robin ran back to his husband to see the beautiful young lad in his arms who had survived.
Robin let out a laughing cry of release and joy… their son had survived.