Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League or any of its characters. Sadly.

...

Clark descended slowly, keeping his feet from touching the ground as he hovered over the man standing on top of the bridge. It was disturbing, seeing another man wearing his suit, crest, and face. It took a second for the words to leave his mouth, but when they did his tone was hard and commanding. Bruce would have been proud.

"Where is he?"

Superman lifted his head in a slow, deliberate move, deep blue eyes meeting Clark's. "Safe."

"Safe!? You kidnapped him! You-"

"I removed him from a dangerous situation. He was hurt and about to be shot while you were busy playing the hero!"

Clark clenched his fists, struggling not to show even the smallest sign of guilt.

Bruce and he still had been trying to figure out where they had been transported when they were attacked by ... odd-shaped being. With just a look, they split; Bruce fighting on the ground while he attacked from the sky. He was keeping an eye on Bruce, like he always did, when two of the beings attacked him together, followed by three more. It had been enough to throw him to the ground, and by the time he had neutralized them and looked around, Bruce wasn't there anymore.

It had taken him precious minutes to deal with the beings before he was able to look for Bruce.

"Where is he?" Clark growled.

Superman glared; eyes dark with fury and a glimpse of crimson flashing in them. "I'm not going to let you take him. I'm not going to let your carelessness get him killed!"

Clark flinched. "I didn't-"

"He's only human and you're Superman. You're supposed to be there to protect him! To save him!"

Superman's feet left the ground as he floated to look at Clark straight in the eye, teeth bared in a snarl as he moved forward, his face mere inches from Clark's. "I'm not going to let you kill him."

"Like your Batman," Clark whispered after a moment of silence, eyes wide as the shocking realization slowly creep into his mind.

"Yes," Superman hissed, moving slightly away from Clark. His deep voice sending shivers down Clark's spine. He hadn't been expecting such a short, plain answer. There was so much raw emotion buried in that single word.

"Bruce was- he was magnificent. Deathly. Perfect." The hardness around Superman's eyes and mouth softened just barely as he lost himself in the memories, staring blankly ahead. "He had ... this way of acting, of handling himself that made you believe he was another super-powered God among the rest. Powerful. Invincible.

"At least until the rush of the battle passed and you saw the wounds and broken bones. The blood. And he just- brushed it all off like it didn't matter. As if his body hadn't just been torn apart."

Superman paused, fixing his cold, hard gaze on Clark's face again. "And by the time the next battle came, you forgot again. Until you saw his lifeless body sprawled in the middle of a wrecked street in a pool of his own blood, and you were remembered one final time he was only human. Vulnerable. Fragile. Breakable."

"You need to tell me where he is," Clark demanded after a moment of thick silence, his voice slightly hoarse. He forced himself not to dwell on Superman's words too much. Not now. No matter how much he wanted to drop to his knees and bow his head in shame. He needed to get Bruce back. Then, and only then he could drown in guilt and shame.

Superman met his eyes for a moment before shaking his head, something akin to pity flashing in his eyes. "You don't understand. You can't. But I do, and I'm going to do anything to keep him safe."

"How are you going to keep him safe?"

"I'm going to do what you can't. I'm going to force him to see he can't keep foolishly risking his life fighting a losing battle." Superman lifted his chin almost defiantly, hard eyes looking into Clark's. "I will keep him in a safe place where nothing can hurt him ever again."

"Force him? Keep him? You're not talking about keeping him safe, you're talking about taking away his will and control him. Keep him locked somewhere as nothing more than a possession or a prize," It was Clark who was growling and glaring now, hands curled into fists at his sides. "So you're right, I can't do that. For the same reason you didn't do it to this world's Bruce. Because that's how he is. Because fight bad guys and save lives is more than just a choice for him. Because taking that away from him would destroy him."

"Can't you see being Batman would end up destroying him anyway!?"

"I know," Clark admitted softly. It was something he had been afraid of almost from the moment he met Bruce. "But I also know I would never forgive myself if I took that choice from him, and neither would he."

Clark caught a flash of fragile sanity in his double's eyes, just for a second, before the angry hard gaze came back full force, burying any glimpse of it.

"I don't know why I'm wasting my time with you," He spat. "I don't care what you say, I'm not going to let you take him."

"I'm not asking for your permission," Clark growled before charging at the other man, fist connecting with invulnerable flesh and sending his double to crash on the ground.

...

a/n: And that's it. What do you think? The original idea for this fic was Bruce and Clark being transported to an alternate universe where that world's Superman kidnapped and injured Bruce, but somewhere along the way it turned into this. I like how this came out so that's why I'm posting it instead of start again and go along with my original idea.

I'm considering writing a second chapter where Clark finds and 'rescue' Bruce, so let me know if you would be interested in reading it!

This is my very first time writing for this fandom (though not the characters. I've written for Young Justice), so any comment or criticism would be very much appreciated. I'm also not a native speaker, so go ahead and point out any mistakes you find!