Rating: T
Where else can I find this story? All five parts are on the first page of Part 5 of the original Young Justice Anon Meme on LiveJournal.
Summary: After the Luthor incident, life goes on for Superboy. Oh, and it's his birthday. Sequel to Red and Green, prequel to Hero. (By this point, I've lost count of how many times Superboy was caught wearing another mentor's costume. From the Anon Meme.)
Author's Notes: This story starts about a month after my other story Red and Green, and it probably won't make any sense without that fic, since it starts off by dealing with the aftermath of that story.
Masks is a series which is now complete and which was originally posted on the Young Justice Anon Meme as a reply to the following prompt:" 5 times Superboy was caught wearing the other mentor's costumes, and one time he wasn't." I am currently editing it and reposting it here, but the whole story is finished and posted on the Anon Meme.
Present
Masks, Part IV
Two months go by before Batman finally gives Superboy the lecture he promised. It's enough time for Superboy to almost forget about the whole fiasco with Luthor, but when Batman lets it be known, through Robin, that he wants to talk to Superboy and Kid Flash, alone, Superboy knows the talk is finally coming.
Batman greets them from behind a desk, he's sitting down, chin resting on his hands, and his face is completely unreadable. Batman just sits there, for several minutes, staring at them through slit eyes. Finally, he smiles. It isn't a pleasant smile.
"Well," Batman says finally, "I think congratulations are in order."
He gets up, and Superboy can't help but think that the reason this has been such a long time coming is because Batman wanted to be properly healed so he could look intimidating. Superboy doesn't understand how Batman can be so utterly terrifying: he's only human, and he's one of the good guys, maybe, Superboy thinks, the best. Still, Batman's the third scariest thing in the world, right after Superman and Lex Luthor.
Batman presses a button, and two brightly wrapped boxes are lowered from the ceiling onto the desk. One is very thin and very long, the other is about a cubic foot. The long one is wrapped in green and purple, the other one in red and black.
"To celebrate this momentous occasion, I'm giving you each a present." He picks up the long green and purple box and hands it to Superboy. He hands the red and black one to Kid Flash.
"Open them."
"There's not a bomb in these, right?" Wally asks nervously. Batman just glares at him.
Superboy tries to look through, his X-Ray vision is coming in, it's still very weak, but it could probably see through wrapping paper. Except, Batman has wrapped it in lead, and not even Superman can see through that.
"Unwrap them," Batman orders, so they do.
They've been given a crutch and a neck brace. It doesn't take a genius to guess whose crutch and neck brace. "You two boys helped put me in the ICU. It's quite an accomplishment. You're now members of a select club that includes people like the Joker and Harley Quinn."
Superboy swallows. He's never met the Joker, but he knows what sort of monster the Joker is.
Batman presses the button again and a monitor turns on behind him. "These are all the crimes that happened in Gotham while I was out of commission." He presses the button again and three pictures flash on screen: Poison Ivy, Killer Crock, and the Ventriloquist. "These are the villains who escaped from Arkham during that time." He pushes the button again, the villain's faces disappear. They're replaced with the picture of a beautiful blonde girl who looks to be about Robin's age. Batman doesn't offer clarification, he just presses the button again, and the picture changes: the girl is now lying lifeless on the floor. Two holes mark her torso with bright red, and her hair is splayed out on the floor.
"Her name was Mary Kay. One of Ventriloquist's goons shot her dead during a bank robbery while I was in the ICU.
"When we screw up, people die. You two, almost died."
"What?" Wally starts to argue, but Batman shuts him up with a glare.
"Luthor ordered Mercedes Graves to shoot you. And I think we're all aware of the fact that Superboy was in a coma for three weeks, and then again for another week after the red kryptonite incident with Superman.
"It's been incredibly bad publicity for the League, and especially for Superman and me.
"But still, we were lucky this time. Lucky Superboy was able to get out of Luthor's trap and take that bullet for you, Wallace; lucky Robin was clever enough to figure out that you were missing, and that you weren't dead; lucky that I was able to think of the red kryptonite; lucky that Robin was able to hack my utility belt and get the green kryptonite out.
"We won't always be lucky. Not everyone has super strength. Not everyone has super speed. Not everyone is invulnerable. Some of us bleed when we get hit by a bullet, and if we bleed enough, we die. Some of us break when we fall from a height."
"But none of that applies to us!" Wally pleads.
"If I prick you, Wallace, you will bleed. All men are mortal. Even Superman can die, all it takes is 20 grams of green kryptonite a meter away for three days, and Superman can die. Once the machine breaks down, there's no putting the ghost back into it. Not all of us can outrun bullets. Robin can't outrun bullets. What if you had managed to talk Robin into going with you? Graves has two hands. Superboy wouldn't have been able to stop both bullets. What if Robin hadn't called me in? He almost didn't, you know, he didn't want to get you in trouble. What if he'd gone in after you?
"I cannot allow this team to continue if its existence endangers the lives of its members through sheer, reckless idiocy.
"You're supposed to be a genius, Wallace. You can't allow yourself to be stupid, not when you're dealing with people like Luthor."
Wally doesn't say anything. His face has gone deathly pale and his eyes have a strange shine to them.
"You are hereby banned from all costumed heroing for a month. You will not be joining the Team on missions, and you will not be joining the Flash, or otherwise donning the Kid Flash costume; Flash has agreed to this arrangement. If I find out that you've so much as sneezed superfast over the course of the next month, I will disband the Team." Batman smiles his creepy smile, "And before you get any ideas in your head, remember, I'm Batman and I will find out."
"What about Superboy?" Wally asks.
"I'm glad you asked. It's none of your business. You are now dismissed. You are to collect anything you may need for the next month, and then you are to leave for Central City immediately. The Zeta Beams will be blocked for you until your punishment is over."
Wally looks like he's going to be sick, but he doesn't say anything. He just gets up and leaves. Then it's just him and Batman, and he wonders what Batman will say to him. Batman can't take the costume away from him. It isn't a costume. Batman can't kick him out of Mount Justice. He has no where else to go.
Finally Batman speaks: "If you would like, you can continue to fight crime."
"I'm not in trouble?"
"Yes you are Superboy, but I can't help you get out of the trouble you're in. Besides, I think you've been punished enough."
"Is that it then?"
"Mostly."
"Why did you make Kid Flash leave?"
"Because he would think I'm letting you off easy, and I didn't want to have to explain to him that he almost got you killed."
"Oh."
"Also, I wanted to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"There are some things in this world that are worth dying for."
"I know that."
"Superman's affection is not one of them. Superman will like you, or he won't. It has nothing to do with who you are, and everything to do with what you are. You can't change what you are, and changing who you are won't help. You should try to better yourself for your own benefit, but you should be aware that it won't make Superman like you more. Which is too bad for him, really, because some of us like you just fine."
Several days later, Superboy finds a wallet on his desk. Inside it's got a hundred dollars in crisp twenties, and a note. It says simply, "Open the closet." He normally doesn't bother with the closet; he's never known quite what to do with it since he hasn't really got all that many clothes. However, when he opens it, he finds it's full of clothes. He pulls a shirt out and tries it on. It fits like a dream. So does everything else. Whoever picked the clothes out has impeccable taste. He wonders if it was Batman.
There's even a suit. He's seen men wear suits, and it only takes him a little while to figure out how to get it on. The tie is another story (he has twenty now, apparently, and he's picked out a blue one that matches his eyes). After a half hour of contending with the tie, he's frustrated beyond belief. None of the boys are at the base however, so there's no one to ask. He decides to ask M'gann anyway, because on her shows women always know how to tie ties for their husbands.
He knocks on her door, grasping the blue tie in his other hand.
"Just a moment," she says, and then she opens the door. She looks up at him, apparently caught off guard and stumbles back. Her eyes are wide and her green skin is getting that familiar pinkish tint that makes her look so pretty.
"Superboy, you look nice," she says.
"Thanks," he answers awkwardly, then hands her the tie he's managed to crumple. "I think Batman sent me these clothes, but I don't know how to tie a tie. I thought maybe you did?"
"Oh!" she cries out. "Yes. I've seen them do it a million times on television."
She takes the tie and loops it around his neck, standing on her tippy toes to reach.
As it turns out, M'gann doesn't know how to tie a tie either, no matter how many times she's seen it done on TV. But Superboy doesn't mind. Somehow, having M'gann fumble with his tie for two and a half hours isn't nearly as bad as trying to figure it out on his own for thirty minutes.
Finally, however, it's dinner time, and M'gann's stomach rumbles.
"Oh, I guess I'm hungry," she admits, embarrassed. "Are you hungry? Maybe I should make dinner."
"Actually," Superboy says, "whoever sent me the suit also sent me some money. I was thinking maybe we could go out to dinner? You know, go to a movie later?"
"Dinner and a movie?" M'gann blushes. "Sure. Let me just, you know, get dressed."
It takes her all of two seconds to psychically alter her clothes into a nice little black dress. She changes the color of her skin to match his and her hair transforms into a pony tail.
Superboy is stunned. At least until she grabs his arm and ushers him to the Zeta Beam teleporter.
Wally is not whelmed when he gets back.
"I leave for a month and you steal the love of my life? Not cool Supey, not cool."
Artemis elbows him in the rib. Robin just giggles.
Superboy shrugs as curls his hand into M'gann's gorgeous red hair.
He twiddles his thumbs anxiously. Superman would have been better, not because he particularly wants to talk to Superman, but because Superman would know. But he hasn't got Superman's phone number.
Batman shows up exactly on time, as expected.
"You wanted to talk with me?"
"Yes. But, um, could we go somewhere private?"
"Yes. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, but it's a little awkward."
Batman raises an eyebrow, but then he just says, "Let's go for a ride." He turns around and Superboy follows Batman to a sleek black car. It must be the Batmobile. Batman gets in and then opens the door for Superboy. He gets in and Batman begins to drive.
"So, what's on your mind?" Batman asks.
"My mind…" Superboy sighs. "The Genomorphs, as you know, taught me much. They taught me to read and write, the names of things. But there's also things they didn't teach me about at all."
"Go on."
"Like cookies, for instance. They taught me to recognize several brands of cookies, but they didn't, they didn't teach me what cookies tasted like, or what they were made of, or how to enjoy them. Like, you know, Robin had to teach me that the best way to eat a chocolate chip cookie is to dunk it in milk. Wally was the one who taught me about splitting oreos and licking the frosting off.
"I guess Cadmus saw no utility in my knowing anything about the best way to eat a cookie. Weapons don't get cookies."
Batman just nods. His face is inscrutable, and if Superboy didn't know that Batman was Batman, he'd think maybe Batman hadn't been paying attention. But then Batman takes a left and drives into a dead end, and Superboy realizes that Batman was paying attention and probably knows where this is headed.
"So, the Genomorphs taught me about, well, you know, zygotes and gametes, but not anything useful."
Batman nods, turns the car off, removes his seatbelt, and then opens a compartment in his utility belt and takes out several pamphlets. And then, with all the patience in the world, Batman explains everything about sex.
After three hours, Superboy is glad he doesn't have Superman's number, because he can't imagine that Superman knows half the awesome things Batman knows.
The first time it happens, it's a complete accident. Conner's eyes are closed, and M'gann, lost in the throes of pleasure loses her grasp on her form—she reverts to her authentic Martian form, and then quickly, in a desperate attempt to regain a humanoid shape, she ends up looking like a girl form of Kladur. Superboy's never thought about the possibilities before, but he's also never been so turned on.
It becomes part of their love making: M'gann loves role-playing. It's like TV. Once, she dresses up in a huge green dress and asks him to call her Scarlett so long as she can call him Rhett. The first time she asks him to dress up, she asks him to be Zorro, and he has to admit, he likes the cape and mask.
It's not far from there to being Batman. He still has the old costume. M'gann asks him to wear it, and then she ambushes him dressed in skin-tight purple latex and cat ears. "I've been a bad gurrrrrrl," she purrs, and the low trill of her voice is enough to get him hard.
"You've taken something that doesn't belong to you," he says sternly.
"Oh?" she walks up to him and lays her head on his chest. "Would that be… your heart?" She traces over his left breast where his heart is, and he can feel it beating harder, like it wants to get out of his chest.
"No. That was always yours."
He looks at himself in the mirror one more time. He barely recognizes himself under the green face paint. M'gann is so often human for him, he wants to be Martian for her, just this once. He's told her, he's giving her a surprise, a present, but he hasn't told her what.
M'gann can change the color of her skin and the number of arms she has at will, but he's resourceful, and Robin knows how to do makeup.
The gesture backfires.
When he opens his door to her (she's wearing a trench coat, and he assumes, very little else), she takes one look at him and begins to cry.
In less than ten seconds, she's sobbing inconsolably, and he has her pressed to his chest trying to get her to stop. It takes fifteen minutes for her to be able to string together a sentence.
"That's what you looked like when Batman brought you in—sob—you were green from the Kryptonite poisoning, and—sob—your heart had stopped beating. I'd never been so afraid in my whole life. I thought you were dead."
"Oh, M'gann," is all he can say as he holds her close and strokes her hair. And they just sit like that for hours.
Finally, M'gann laughs. "Besides, you look like my uncle, not my kink."
Robin's voice has deepened, he's grown taller (he's almost as tall as Batman), and his shoulders are broader, but deep inside, he's still a little kid, and it's clear that he's doing everything he can to keep from bouncing off the walls as he and Batman enter Mount Justice.
"Superboy, you're here, good," Batman says.
Superboy just nods.
"Robin has brought it to my attention that the anniversary of your arrival here is this weekend."
A murmur goes around the group. They'd all forgotten.
"Robin wanted to throw you a birthday party, and I wanted to see if that would be ok with you."
"A birthday party?"
"Yeah," Robin answers. "We didn't throw you one last year because of the whole 'Luthor put you into a coma' thing, but this year there's nothing stopping us, and you should have a party."
"But, I don't have a birthday."
"Stop arguing," Wally interjects, "there's going to be cake!"
Superboy shrugs. "Ok. Whatever."
"Good. The actual anniversary is this Friday," Batman explains, "but, unfortunately, I have a prior obligation. Of course, we can have the party on Friday if you'd like, but Saturday might be easier."
Superboy understands what Batman is saying: If you want me to come, you'll do it on Saturday.
"Saturday is fine," he says.
"Good. Now, as to venue, there are a few places we'd considered. We can have it at Mount Justice, and you could invite everyone in the League, possibly a few external friends, if you wanted. Or, we could have it on the Watchtower, but then only League members would be allowed. Of course, we can always just rent out a restaurant."
"Oh!" Wally cries out, "You should totally do it at the Iceberg Lounge!"
Batman sends KF a glare, and that shuts him right up.
Robin clears his throat.
"And," Batman adds, "there's one more option. We could have it at the Batcave. However, that would mean that only the members of Young Justice and their respective mentors would be allowed to attend."
Wally runs up to hug Superboy.
"I change my vote, I change my vote! Pick the Batcave, pick the Batcave!"
Superboy doesn't need Wally to urge him. He picks the Batcave. Batman nods, that's all he wanted. He gives them a new assignment, and then he leaves.
"Does this mean you can tell us who you are?" Wally asks Robin.
"Nope."
So, it turns out, getting to the Batcave is a logistical nightmare. Every member of the team, except, of course, Robin, has to go through an extensive security search and patdown, and then they need to be knocked out, transported via Zeta Beam, and revived once inside the Cave. It also turns out that it's totally worth it.
None of them, except ironically Robin, are whelmed. They're all overwhelmed. The Batcave is enormous, and it's filled with things. So many wonderful things. Including a dinosaur.
The mentors don't have to go through the same grueling process. They've all been to the Batcave before. Superboy thinks they may actually know Batman's real name.
It's not like the Watchtower Halloween party. It's quiet and nice. Wally was right. There is cake, and the cake is so good it's totally worth the ridiculous security. There's another guest Superboy doesn't know, just a man wearing a tuxedo and a domino mask. He appears to be a servant of some sort, he's giving out hors-d'oeuvres. Certainly, he doesn't have any superpowers of any sort, except maybe the superpowers of exceptional politeness and amazing cooking. The man in the tuxedo offers an hors-d'oeuvre to Batman, who turns it away.
"Master Batman, if I may enquire, what was the last time you ate?"
To avoid answering, Batman grabs a popcorn shrimp and tosses it in his mouth. Both Flashes stare in shock. That's a third superpower: the ability to bully Batman.
Then the time for presents comes.
Kaldur gives him a fish that glows in the dark.
Aquaman gives him a set of scuba gear.
Kid Flash gives him a collection of vinyl records.
Flash gives him a chemistry set.
Artemis gives him a biography of Jor-El, written by Lois Lane and Clark Kent.
Green Arrow gives him a leather jacket.
M'gann gives him a Frank Sinatra CD, on which she has highlighted a single song: "The Best Is Yet to Come."
Martian Manhunter gives him some sort of ancient Martian weapon.
Robin gives him a complete set of Justice League action figures.
And then there's Batman.
Batman simply hands him a 1-inch binder. (Maybe it's a Batbinder—there's a bat icon on it).
He doesn't really understand, until he opens the binder.
On the first page there's a little card. On it are typed the words "Connor Jones" and below that a number: "131-11-6317".
The binder is filled with documents: a birth certificate, a passport, forged medical records, transcripts, and last, but certainly not least, a check book and a credit card.
Superboy's throat closes up.
"You got me a name."
"Do you like it?"
He doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything, he just hugs Batman.
"He got you a social security number?" Artemis asks. "How'd he manage that?"
Robin grins. "Nothing little hacking into the SSA wouldn't fix."
"Isn't that illegal?" Wally asks.
"It's like downloading music, it's only illegal if they catch you."
"I don't think that's how it works."
He lets go of Batman.
"There's one more thing," Batman says. "Superman couldn't come tonight, but he sent a gift. He bought you a car."
Batman presses a button on his utility belt and a distant corner of the Cave lights up. There's a brand new red convertible there. Superboy—now Connor—is confused. He doesn't quite know what to do with a car (he can just kiss the sound barrier now), and he doesn't understand why Superman would send him a present but not come to the party. He's about to open his mouth to say as much, when M'gann says how much she likes the car, and how she cant wait to go for a ride in it.
"Can I take it for a ride right now?" he asks Batman.
"Do you know how to drive?" Batman asks, surprised.
Sup—Connor stops to think for a minute. "Yes. The Genomorphs taught me how. I have no idea why."
Batman nods. "In that case, go ahead, but I'm going to request that I be your first passenger, just to make sure everything goes well."
Connor nods. It sounds like a good idea. So he takes Batman for a spin in the Batcave (Batman won't let him leave, but there are miles of tunnels underground), and then M'gann and the rest of the gang.
Later that night, M'gann proves that she was right. The best was yet to come.
These birthday things are awesome.
To be continued in
MASKS, PART V:
HERO
Author's Notes:
Some minor and major changes here. Notably, I got rid of all references to Two-Face. Two-Face's place in the slideshow has been taken by Killer Crock, and the girl who was previously murdered by Two-Face was now shot by one of the Ventriloquist's goons. The references to the Giant Penny have also been eliminated. It was necessary to get rid of references to Two-Face because DA Dent is mentioned by Bruce in Hero, so, yay, retcon. I'll actually really miss the Giant Penny, because it's one of my favorite props in the Batcave, and it was mentioned in the original draft of Hero also. However, ultimately, I think it's important to have Harvey Dent available as a legal resource in Hero. I'll include more notes when I upload the relevant part of Hero.
Another significant change relates to a ret-con I started in Red and Green. In the original version of that fic, Superboy overheard Superman call Batman Bruce. This raises credibility issues, I think, in Hero, where Conner meets Bruce Wayne and doesn't figure out it's Batman. So now, unless I've missed a spot, Conner has never heard Bruce's given name. I think it's more in character for Superman, too, who at that point would have known Superboy could hear him talking with Bruce and wouldn't have risked outing his friend's secret identity.
A minor change: I've added the detail that Conner had his eyes closed when M'gann reverted to her white martian form, mainly because in Hero, it's established that he's never actually got a good look at her.
Present is the third longest part of the MASKS series, after Hero (which is ridiculously long) and Red and Green. It's 15 pages long, or just slightly shorter than Red and Green. I decided to divide Red and Green into three chapters (though, it could just as well have been just two, Red Costume/Green Kryptonite and Green Costume/Red Kryptonite) because there are two suspense points where we think Superboy is done for. But Present isn't really a self-contained story, as much as it sort of a slice of life fic. Present's primary objective is to mediate the space between Red and Green and Hero. So I didn't see any natural breaks, and decided to keep it in one piece.
Next up is Hero, which spiraled out of control and is really, really long. I have to give some thought to chapter breaks, and I'm still trying to decide if I'll upload it all at once, or have an update schedule, either 3x or 1x a week.