The mention of time traveling to meet teenage Bruce is from Bekkoni's 20 One-shots. I used Grammarly to help me with the grammar.
After the Call
By Marie Nomad
I sat in my Fortress of Solitude catching up on all that I had missed. I told the Justice League that I needed some time to myself and they agreed after my ordeal. I also had J'onn scan my mind in case of any residual traces of Starro remained. It was strange; I didn't hate him for stealing my life since I didn't do anything after Lois died. I watched the footage from the past two years. Starro had done an excellent job of playing Superman; he was a better Superman than me.
There was a communication from my communicator. "Yes?" I asked as I sank into my chair.
"Clark, you broke my car."
My heart jumped with excitement. I didn't expect to hear from Bruce so soon after Terry left the tower. He must have been upset at Terry's treatment by my coworkers. "Starro broke the car."
"Starro's not here, but you are. You broke my car, come to my cave and fix it." He barked.
I let myself smile a little. Bruce Wayne does not ask for help, he demands it, and even then it is rare. "I will come. I'm taking a break from world-saving. I'll be there today."
"Good." He hung up.
I smiled as I watched the news in fast forward. For the first time in over thirty years, Bruce has invited me to his cave.
XXX
It had been a long time since I had been at the Batcave. I felt awful for what happened to Terry, but he did save us from Starro. Bruce greeted me in his usual seat. I can see the soda cans in the trash cans and the various signs of life in the cave. "I'm here."
"I could see that. The car is over there. I have put the blueprints pulled up. I will take care of the electronics."
"Sounds good." I looked at the car and nearly winced as I try to remember what happened during Starro's fight with Batman. The kid is lucky that Bruce had made the suit resistant to my blows. It also helped that I probably held back somewhere under Starro's influence.
"This brought back memories," I confess as I grabbed a piece of the hull and straightened it out.
"I never let you work on the Batmobile."
"I meant working on the tractor with Pa," I recalled. I remembered fixing tractors with my powers, using my heat vision to fuse the various pipes and metals. Pa made sure that I know how to repair stuff especially after I keep on breaking them. His lessons stayed with me even to this day.
"This is not a tractor." Bruce's heart pounded with an intensity that made me concerned about his health.
"I know. Pa's tractor doesn't fly." I didn't want to help strain Bruce's somewhat weak heart. Pa died of a heart attack, and Bruce is older than him and seems weaker. Everyone is getting older than me. Jimmy used to be a teenager, but now he's a congressman with kids who look my age. Lois is gone. I miss her very much. I had vowed not to let go of my inner humanity and my desire to only make sure Earth keep on going but not to be its king.
"Are you done?" Bruce's voice interrupted my musings.
"I'm sorry." I couldn't help but feel guilty. Bruce hated being around me now. I look half my age while Bruce is old. "I was just thinking how much time passed. I miss you."
I can barely hear him even with my super hearing. "I... miss you too."
"Terry is a good hero. He saved the world. I thought that he might like being with other heroes his age."
"He's not like me. He has a life; a real life."
That had nearly floored me. I could tell that the kid is different from Bruce, but Bruce usually keeps to himself and create this facade of a playboy. He didn't have very many friends who knew him. "You must be proud of him."
"A little, don't tell the kid that."
"I think you should. Terry is your son after all."
Bruce's heart started to pound faster and his muscles tensed. "He's not my son."
"I'm sorry. Grandson?" I guessed since Bruce looked old enough to be Terry's grandfather.
"No! Where did you get the idea in your head that he's related to me? He's my assistant, and he happened just to find out that I'm Batman and so he decided to be Batman." Bruce glared at me. I know that he cannot hurt me, but I would rather face a mountain of kryptonite than an angry Bruce Wayne.
"I'm sorry it's just that that when Terry time traveled to about fifty years ago-" Suddenly, I saw the end of Bruce's cane right in my face.
"Don't tell me anything."
"But-"
"No." Bruce lowered his cane but looking like he was going into 'Batman' mode. "If Terry is going to be doing some time traveling, I don't want to know. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Now, why did you think that he's related to me?" Bruce's voice switched into interrogation mode.
"Well, he looks like you. He has your eyes, your hair, and your suit. He also had that same attitude you had when you were a teenager." I confessed. "He looked just like that teenage version of you that we met when we had to travel back in time."
Bruce grumbled and then marched to the Bat-computer. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm proving to you that Terry and I are not related."
"You don't have to." Bruce could never let something go. I believe that he's not related to Terry. But once you suspect anything about Bruce and he doesn't like it, he will make sure to prove that it wasn't right.
"Yes, I do. Computer, bring up Terrance McGinness' DNA sample 10 and compare it to Bruce Wayne's DNA sample 153."
I sometimes wonder why he has so many samples of DNA on him. "I believe you. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the two of you just happen to look alike."
"I know, Clark. But if you think that I'm related to him, then there are others who think the same way. I won't let that happen."
**Half of the alleles are identical to both sets. Bruce Wayne is Terry's father.** The computer beeped.
"What?!" Bruce did another test, but I can sense where this is leading. "That's impossible. I haven't had sex is over forty years."
"Bruce, I'm sure that there's a logical reason for this; clones, alternate versions of you, time travel..."
"Shut up, Kent." Bruce did another test and closed his eyes. "Matt is my son too."
"Matt?"
"Terry's nine-year-old brother."
"Uh... congratulations?" I said not sure what to say. I was just here to fix a Batmobile; I didn't know that I'm going to find out that Bruce is a father to a couple of kids.
Bruce glared at me again, and I stepped back. "Terry must not know about this. He does not need to know about this."
"But... he's your son." I know that Bruce thinks low of himself but he has two kids, one of them is carrying on the Batman legacy.
"Warren McGinness is Terry's father. I was just someone who happens to share DNA. Terry's already struggling under my shadow. If he knows that he's my biological son, don't you remember how you felt when you were not human?"
Oh, I remember. Pa told me that I was adopted and an alien, I ran out of town and out of the state. I felt confused, alone, and a freak. It wasn't until that I learned to fly and meet people who like me for me that I didn't feel so alone. "Fine, I won't tell Terry, but if he asks me about it, I will tell the truth. I won't lie to him."
"Good."
We kept on working on the car. I managed to get the large parts repaired, but there was smaller and more delicate stuff that Bruce wanted to handle.
We looked at the car. It seemed good as new, maybe even better. It was just exciting that two old superheroes had bonded over fixing a car. "That was fun."
"It was handy to have a superman around to do the heavy lifting."
"You enjoyed it." I teased.
"Whoa." Terry walked in dressed in civilian clothes. I looked at him and felt my heart ached. The kid has no idea what he is, and I hope that he never finds out. Is this how Pa felt when he watched me grow up?
"Kal came by and helped fixed the car," Bruce said as he went to his chair.
"I broke it and so, I thought it would be fair to help fix it," I explained as I wiped my face with a towel.
"Schway. I was worried that I have to spend the night helping fix the car." Terry grinned. "I have homework."
"That doesn't sound like fun. I had to sharpen my pencils every five seconds because I did mine at super speeds. Not to mention all the paper I accidentally burned up."
"Pencils?" Terry repeated and at that moment, I felt old.
"Never mind. Look, Terry, I'm sorry that your time with the League isn't..."
"Nice? It's all right." He's lying, but he was just polite. I can almost feel his tension with me.
"No, it's not. You're a good kid, Terry. If you want help or advice, you can talk to me."
The kid's eyes shifted to me and then to Bruce. He looks like he didn't know what to say. "Superman may be Kryptonian, but he's very human, and he had a more normal childhood than I did."
"Bruce, when I was Terry's age, I learned how to fly literally."
"And I was living on the streets of Taiwan learning the mind of the criminal by being a street rat."
"You were a thief?!" Terry asked. The look on Terry's face was just flat out priceless.
"He was a punk. I met him when we time traveled back to Bruce's teenage years. We had to get this cube from him. Bruce knocked him out."
"Bruce knocked out his younger self? I thought you couldn't interact with yourself when you time travel."
"You can. Also, if you ever went back in time and had to knock out your younger counterpart, you get a splitting headache." Bruce spoke up.
I can see the wheels in Terry's mind whirl as he slowly smirked. "I know a few other stories about Bruce back in the Justice League," I stated.
"Kent..." Bruce whispered knowing that I can hear him.
I reached into my pouch and gave Terry my card. "Here's my email address. I have to go. If you want to do anything, talk spar a little, email me."
"Thanks." Terry accepted my token of friendship. I'm glad. I wanted to connect with the kid.
"I will see you later, Bruce," I said as I waved at my friend.
Bruce just nodded. I flew out of the cave and out into the sky. So much change and yet so much didn't. I didn't like being in that dark cave, but it seemed lighter than before. There is hope for Bruce. And there is hope for me. I may outlive everyone I care about as Clark Kent, but that doesn't mean that I will lose them.
The End