Wow, I actually managed to get you to check out my fanficiton. Sweet. I really hope that you enjoy it, and I will try to post new chapters as regularly as I can. Reviews are always appreciated!

Notes: This story takes place towards the beginning/in the middle of season two. Basically what I'm getting at is that M'gann and La'gann are together, Tim is Robin, Dick is gorgeous I mean Nightwing, and hey, Jason exists/is dead. There's going to be some non-canon stuff in here (obviously), so I'm just going to put that out there now.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the story. Everything else belongs to DC.

The title of the story is inspired by William Shakespeare's quote, "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

Love All, Trust a Few

Chapter 1: Conner

Why was he here again? Oh, yeah. That's right.

Just a few hours ago, he'd been getting ready for a much anticipated good night's sleep, and unfortunately, as he was brushing his teeth, a high-pitched squealing sound pierced his eardrums. No matter how hard he tried to cover his ears and make it go away, an enticing voice was suddenly heard over the frequency, giving him an alluring offer and coordinates to a rendezvous point. Conner hesitated at first, thinking it crazy to even consider associating himself with the bald-headed businessman, but he couldn't manage to get what Luthor had told him out of his head. It had caught him off guard. So after a few minutes of staring at himself in the mirror, he rinsed out his mouth and threw on some clothes before getting on Sphere and quietly making his way out of the cave. Typing the location into her GPS, he'd found himself ending up in the middle of a Smallville cornfield. Which brings us back to the starting question of: Why was he here again?

He combed his fingers through his hair as he tried to convince himself that there was a logical reason for him to have listened to Superman's arch enemy, but nothing stuck out. He should know better. He should know better than to be out here in Clark's hometown dealing under the table with Lex Luthor. The man claimed to have discovered some way to permanently unlock Conner's full Kryptonian half, giving him all the powers that he was missing, much like the shields that Lex had once given him, only this time it wouldn't wear off. It would be eternal.

Conner cursed at himself under his breath. Falling weak to temptation had always been one of his strong suits. He couldn't even be sure if this would even work, let alone if Lex was even telling the truth. What kind of an idiot would actually trust Lex Luthor? His biogenetically engineered half-clone son, that's who. Whether it be some kind of Luthor instinct or just plain stupidity, he didn't know. He was mainly just interested in what Lex had to offer. No strings.

The ear-shattering noise of helicopter blades spinning interrupted his thoughts. It seemed to have come out of nowhere, and as he looked upward, squinting against the air being blown towards his face, he wondered how long he'd been standing there waiting.

As the copter made its way to the ground, Conner's heart pounded. The fact that he was nervous frustrated him. He hated it, hated being intimidated. It made him feel weak and helpless.

The door with a big LEXCORP logo painted on the side of it slid open as the helicopter landed, revealing the conniving billionaire who wished for nothing more than to kill Superman or make him his own personal play thing. Conner gritted his teeth, trying to keep a calm exterior while watching Lex step out into the field and walk towards him. The voice in his head suddenly grew much louder, screaming three words at him over and over again: Turn back now. In another attempt to keep a sound mind, he clenched his fists, digging his fingernails into his palms.

Lex stopped a few feet in front of him, keeping his distance. To Lex, Conner always felt like a caged animal, on display for all to see, providing entertainment for him whenever he made a command. Like he was some sort of rare animal breed that could either make Lex a lot of money or screw them both over. And he couldn't help but think that maybe Lex felt the same way.

They made eye contact, staring at each other in silence for a few moments before Conner's impatience finally got the best of him. "So where is it?" He'd hoped to have come off as a bit less accepting, but it would have to do.

Lex smirked as if he was pleased to see his elaborate plan unfolding, which was probably exactly what was happening. "Well hello to you, too," he said.

"I'm not here for games. Where is it?"

"Where's what?" How could he sound so genuinely confused like that?

Conner's muscles tensed as he clenched his fists even tighter, separating his legs a bit to make his stance seem a bit more threatening. "Don't give me the run around, Lex. You know what I'm talking about."

"Do you even know what you're talking about?" Conner froze. Lex crossed his arms. "Yes, I called you here, made you an offer, but has what I'm offering you ever been fully identified? No. You don't have the slightest clue of what you're really here for. You came on blind faith, a mistake that I, myself, had to learn the hard way." He raised an eyebrow, sizing Conner up. "I guess you've got more of the Luthor genes in you than I thought."

"Don't remind me," Conner growled.

Lex chuckled, "Well, I don't blame you. It is something that most would be ashamed of. Me, on the other hand…" It was then that he pulled out a small, metal case from his inside suit pocket, holding it in front of him. Fixing his vision back on Conner, his smirk grew into a grin. "I embrace it."

Conner's eyes widened. He stared at the object that Lex held in his hands, knowing full well that his entire world could probably be changed using just the contents of that little, metal box. No, not metal.

Lead.

This was bad. This was very bad. Lex knew Conner's weakness, and his weakness came from his Superman half, and his Superman half got its weakness from Superman himself, whose weakness was shards of his home planet that made their way to Earth, and the only way to suppress their effects was to conceal them in lead, which makes lead usually mean…

This was very, very bad.

Lex would never kill him, would he? No, he had worked much too hard to create him, and if there was one thing that Conner knew, it was that Lex hated getting his hands dirty. So what was it then?

He seemed to have noticed Conner's discomfort. "Don't worry," he assured, "I have no intention of killing you. This is, however, a type of meteor rock."

"Kryptonite," Conner stated, "We both know that, that's what it's called, what it is…where it's from."

Lex nodded. "Yes, that may be true, but…have you ever heard of Red Kryptonite?"

Red? Was he joking? Superman…Clark would have told him if there was more than one type of Kryptonite, right? This had to be some sort of placebo; a hoax. There was no way.

Conner's muscles relaxed a bit as he stood up straight, crossing his arms. "You're kidding me with this, right?"

Lex looked terrifyingly satisfied. "Should I take that as a 'no?'"

"Red Kryptonite?" He chuckled. "Next I supposed you're going to tell me that there's Kryptonite for every color of the rainbow?"

Lex smiled, trying his best to deal with Conner's sarcasm. "I can assure you that this is no joke, Superboy. This stuff is very real and can be dangerous if not handled correctly." Shrugging, he stepped a bit closer. "However, in the proper hands, it could provide one with great power. Unfortunately, like all other types of Kryptonite, only Kryptonian blood is affected by it. That's why I've called you here."

Conner's stomach knotted. Why was Lex suddenly trying to help him? They'd kept a pretty large distance from each other for the past five years or so, never really speaking unless one needed some sort of unexpected favor from the other. Or, you know, whenever Lex was plotting to destroy the world or anything like that. That was always fun. So it was easy to tell that something was obviously up.

Before Conner could say anything else, Lex placed a hand on top of the box, gently unlatching the front and opening it. Truthfully, it was not what Conner was expecting. At all. Inside was a thin, braided leather bracelet. At first glance, it appeared to be an ordinary bracelet, nothing special about it, but when Conner leaned in for a closer look, he noticed that there were small, red beads woven into it with an almost alien-like glow. Nice choice of words.

Keeping his eyes locked on the appealing accessory, he questioned, "What does it do?"

Lex's smile was creeping him out, making him feel as vulnerable as a fish about to take the bait. Conner knew that there was something wrong, heck he knew that before he even got here, but he honestly couldn't help himself. He was genuinely curious. Though he did keep in mind what they usually say about curiosity.

"A better question would be 'what doesn't it do?'" Lex picked the bracelet up, holding it for both of them to see. "If you were to wear this," he began, "along with unlocking your full Kryptonian DNA, you would have no more struggling. No more pain. No more sorrow or grief. You would be free from all guilt or past regrets. All of your problems would be gone in an instant. Anything you want would be yours."

He almost felt like Lex was trying to sell him drugs or something, as if he was trying to make it sound like wearing the bracelet would get him eternally high. Of course, he was no druggie, but if that didn't sound good, than Conner didn't know what did. But truthfully, he was still more interested in the "full Kryptonian DNA" aspect of Lex's speech than any of the parts about him being numb to everything. He just wanted to fly.

Conner scrunched his eyebrows, thinking. "So…so it would give me all of Superman's powers…forever?"

Lex laughed, probably at the fact that this was all that Conner seemed to care about after everything that he'd just told him. "As long as you wear it, yes. You would, however, have a bit of a different outlook on things, but then again, it seems as though you already do anyway." His demeanor darkened. "If I had to guess, I would say that you and Superman don't exactly see eye-to-eye on a lot of things."

"That's one way of putting it," Conner said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, then here's your chance," Lex proclaimed, "With this, you can finally prove to our red and blue friend that the way you see things is the right way. Show him who's boss." He put the bracelet back in the box and held it uncomfortably close to Conner. It was so tempting, so easy. All he had to do was take it and the world was his. Or so Lex claimed. This was too…one-sided.

"What's in it for you?" He asked, bringing his face closer to Lex's in somewhat of an attempt to beat him at his own game.

"What?" Lex smirked. "Can't a father give his son a gift simply because he feels like it?"

"Okay," Conner snorted, "I'll pretend that, that wasn't a lie." He raised an eyebrow. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Lex reassured, "No strings. All you have to do is put it on."

This was driving Conner insane. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him that this was a trap, that this was wrong, that no one in their right mind should ever trust Lex Luthor. Anyone with a working brain could tell him that. But there was just something…something inside of him that made him reach out. Something inside of him that made him grab the box.

Examining it, he couldn't think straight, couldn't figure out what possessed him to be in any way a part of what had just happened here. It had already taken him five years to get himself to the point that he was at today, and now, he'd kind of just went and ruined that by showing up to this little escapade. In a way, he was thoroughly disappointed in himself for being stupid enough to show up, but one thing that kept pushing all of the negative thoughts from his mind was what he held in his hands. Whatever this was, whatever it could do, he wanted it. As much as he hated to admit it, it was his. And he was content.

However, he continued to play it off as if he was still unconvinced. "What happens when I don't want it anymore?" He waited for a response, but one never came. Where Lex had once been standing, there was now just a patch of bent wheat, so he looked to the sky. The helicopter had already lifted off in front of him, soaring upwards before eventually flying away.

"Man," Conner whispered to himself, "He could really teach Robin a thing or two."