// 1. twofold - having more than one decidedly dissimilar aspects or qualities //
It is a quiet day in the Watchtower, and as of such, Clark's eyes find themselves wandering to the man at the computer, whose gloved fingers tap at the keyboard with so much vigor Superman could have guessed he was a meta—had he not known the man so well. Clark can hear the man's breathing, his pace quickening.
He will die.
A curious thought, to be sure, but the thought of his best friend dying happens to appear in his mind at that moment, out of nowhere. Faster than a speeding bullet. Clark chuckles.
Bruce keeps his head level. He doesn't want to hear what's going on in Clark's brain. Just keep your thoughts away from me.
However, despite Clark's invulnerability, super-hearing, super-breath-holding, and super-tasting, he cannot read minds, and his thoughts roam back to the demise of his friend.
A battle—in Gotham, his mother city, maybe, or fighting in space. A plug will be pulled, he'll keep fighting until he remembers that he can't breathe. Kal-El had, after so long, discovered one thing—the only boundaries you have are the ones you give yourself. Batman may be more "real", but reality has its pitfalls.
Namely, its nasty habit of coming back to haunt you.
No—Kal-El lives in a world of science fiction, one where good is always greater than evil, and Bruce lives in one where wounds bleed and babies die and there is gray matter where black or white should be.
There were two kinds of laws; the ones set by the universe and the ones set by men. Each of the men in the Watchtower obeyed one and laughed in the face of the other.
Maybe that will be their downfalls; men will decide they don't trust what they don't understand, the universe will let probability and physics run its course. A life begun with a gun and ended with one.
Will they take his mask off? Clark searches the ceiling. Maybe. Either way; wounds will still bleed, babies will still die and all the colors will still descend into darkness. Maybe they will paint him as a hero when his heart stops beating. Maybe a madman. "Reality" has a habit of turning its subjects against themselves.
Kal-El searches the sky for the answer. Then the Earth. And, really, once you eliminate those two, what is left? Will Clark cry super-tears?
"Clark."
Kal-El turns his head to the man in front of the computer.
"I'm not dead yet."