The Kon-El version of Superboy created by Karl Kesel and Tom Gurmmett is hands down my favorite comic book character of all time. I was with him from the beginning, to his rebooted Lex/Clark love child origin, untimely death, return and ultimate disappearance after the New 52. Was always intrigued by what could have been between him and the Cassandra Cain version of Batgirl, so here's my take.
World's Finest Romance?
Disclaimer: The characters of Connor Kent and Cassandra Cain aka Kon-El and Sandy aka Superboy and Batgirl, and anyone else mentioned therein, are not mine but belong to DC; I'm just taking them out for a brief spin.
CHAPTER 1
In a small valley hidden within the Himalayan Mountains, spring has arrived. The sound of song birds mixes naturally with that of snow melt filling dried creek beds. It is here we find a young woman practicing a two sword kata, the sound of steel singing with her every movement. Raised to be an assassin from infancy, she was one of the best. Until Batman and his partner Oracle offered her another life, that of a vigilante named Batgirl who aided Batman in his war against organized crime in Gotham City.
It was a life she was good at and in which she found a sense of satisfaction. A life she enjoyed, until it was ripped away from her by Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator. Wilson was considered the deadliest mercenary in the world, but to her he would soon be another mark, one who would suffer from an untimely and most agonizing demise.
"And then everything will be right as rain. 'Cause nothing makes the sun shine brighter than some good ol' fashioned revenge, right, Sandy?" A young man standing nearby said, watching her perform her kata.
Sandy didn't look in his direction or miss a beat of her kata. "You're not really here."
"Course I am. Remember when we first met, and Batman told you not to go after the psycho Dr. guy, but you did and I followed you, and we almost blew it and let the Dr. get away with that bio weapon he was gonna sell to some terrorist, but we caught him and Bats was furious you didn't follow orders, and I told him whatever punishment he had for you I wanted half, and….."
"Kon, shut up". Sandy sheathed her ninjato.
Kon smiled. "Remember what you asked me later that night?"
"Of course I do." Sandy's voice softened.
"You disobeyed orders and compromised the mission. What have I taught you about the mission?" Batman stood in front of his protégé, hands behind his back.
Sandy sighed. "Work as a team, follow orders, improvise when necessary, complete the mission at all costs." Batman was being hard on her, but Sandy knew it was because her past as an assassin made him nervous whenever she "improvised".
Batman turned his attention to Superboy, slouching against a wall on the roof of one of Gotham City's many warehouses lining the shipping docks. "And you. Go home. You've done enough damage here."
"No."
Wait, did he just? He wouldn't dare thought Sandy.
"What was that?" Batman turned and faced the Superboy.
"No. If Batgirl messed up, then so did I. And I want half." Superboy kicked off the wall and stood to his full height and locked eyes with Batman.
"You want half? Fine, be here, tomorrow, 4 AM sharp. If you have plans for the weekend, cancel them." Batman leaped off the roof and used the gliding capabilities of his cape to soar into the night sky.
Impressive Sandy thought. Besides Oracle she couldn't remember ever seeing someone stand up to Batman before. "Why?" Sandy asked Superboy, as he looked at her with a smug smile on his face.
"I just talked my way into spending the weekend with a gorgeous lady. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. By the way, Kon" Superboy put his hand out.
Sandy looked at his hand, then back at him and very puzzled asked. "Kon?"
"It's my name, Kon-El. It's Kryptonian. Superman gave it to me." Kon was still holding his hand out.
"Cassandra" Sandy shook Kon's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Sandy."
"Sandy?" Sandy gave Kon a look that would make most grown men cry. Really, she's killed for less.
"Yeah. It's a nickname, short for Cassandra. You like it, I like it, I think it fit…."
"Kon, shut up. Why?"
And there was that smile again as Kon winked. "Cause I've got your back Sandy. I'll always have your back."
Of course she remembered. It had been the beginning of their friendship. As she looked into Kon's blue eyes and he looked into her dark brown ones, Sandy was filled with the familiar feeling that they were both seeing past the usual walls and facades people put up, and were looking directly into each other's souls. The intensity of the moment got to her, and she turned her back on Kon.
"You're not really here, this isn't real. It's all in my head." Sadness tinged her voice as Sandy tried to get back to plotting her revenge on Wilson. The sound of Kon's laughter brought her out of any thoughts of revenge as she looked at him wondering what was so funny. As his laughter died down, he had that warm look he'd so often given her.
"My dear Sandy, of course it's in your head. Why would that mean it isn't real?"
Sandy looked affronted; she knew he was kind of a geek, but really? It had been one of his picks for movie night. "That's from Harry Potter!"
A sly smile adorning his face, and using his most sagely voice, Kon said, "Truth is truth, no matter the source."
That sounded familiar too. Intrigued, Sandy asked, "Who said that?"
"Someone very wise, who also happens to be my favorite person. You Sandy. I think you're losing your way. And like I said, I got your back, always."
Sandy began her climb up to the campsite she had called home for the last few weeks. "But you don't have my back anymore, do you, Kon? You'll never have my back again. You left me."
"Sandy, you know I didn't…"
"It doesn't matter what you want, or what I want. You're dead, I watched you die, and even you can't come back from that." Sandy knew she would have to bury Kon's voice deep inside if she was to get retribution on Wilson for what he had done to her. But, unable to help herself, Sandy turned and looked at the empty space where she imagined her friend was standing and chided herself for wasting time talking to ghosts.
Sandy meditated atop the Tibetan Plateau, at the mouth of the cave she had set up her campsite, overlooking the small hidden valley. But she took no joy in its natural beauty; she took little joy in anything since the crisis in which she'd lost Kon. It had been in the aftermath of losing her dearest friend that Wilson had attacked; in effect destroying what remained of the life she had built.
The need to get away and come to terms with the last year of her life, a year spent as a drugged puppet for Wilson, overriding any thoughts of making amends with her friends. No, not friends. Colleagues, to them she had been Batgirl, a tool to be used against the criminal element of Gotham City, but not to Kon. To him she had been a girl named Sandy.
"Now that's kinda harsh, I mean I know the Bat clan can be kinda anal and all, but didn't Oracle try to get us to go on a double date with her and Nightwing? Comes the adorably (no, not adorable) annoyingly chipper voice of Kon.
"There was no way we were going on a double date." Sandy opened her eyes and cringed at the idea.
"And be honest, Oracle totally saw you as her little sister and tried to get Bats to go easy on you. In fact I remember the time…."
"Kon, shut up" Sandy closed her eyes so she could resume meditating on her revenge.
Sandy had not just sought the solitude of the mountains to plan her revenge on Wilson; it was also about mourning her friend, Kon. She needed to mourn, so she could say goodbye and not have to hear his adorably, no, annoyingly chipper voice try and talk her out of her revenge.
Many knew of the international super hero Superboy, very few truly knew him, not like she did. To the world he had been Superboy, Superman's clone and protégé, but to her he was Kon. Sandy was aware that no one (Batman in particular) seemed to either understand or approve of the bond she shared with Kon, and why would they? She kept to the shadows while he shone in the sun. She rarely spoke, he never shut up. She had no super powers; he could bench press a mountain. They were opposites in many ways, yet maybe that was the key to their success "she mused".
His enthusiasm for life was infectious, and whenever she started to lose herself in the shadows, Kon would be there like her own personal sun, shining so brightly no shadow could withstand him. Only Kon could get her to accept being called a ridiculous name like Sandy. He even got her to go out dancing. Don't ask her how he did it, she was still hadn't figured it out. Sandy remembered the first time she saw Kon. He had been in Gotham City to visit Batman's other protégé, Robin, the Boy Wonder, who was Kon's good friend and frequent collaborator.
Sandy was on her way to join Robin for a night out patrolling the streets of Gotham City. Batman preferred that she and Robin not go out on their own. If they got in over their heads, they'd have each other for back up. Sandy found Robin on the rooftop of one of the warehouses near the docks, but did not reveal herself, as Robin was not alone.
Sandy climbed to the rooftop and stuck to the shadows deciding to discover the identity of Robin's companion before making a move. As she got a better look at Robin's companion, Sandy wondered why he was wearing a paper bag with what looked like ears sticking out of the top and a goofy looking face that was drawn on, oh wait I get it, he's supposed to be Batman she thought.
"Come faithful sidekick, evil is asunder; let us smite it, for it is no match for the dynamic duo." The young man with the bag on his head said while using his best Shakespeare in the park voice.
"Seriously, dude if Batman sees you…"
"Batman? But faithful sidekick named after a spring bird, I Am the Batman." The young man with the bag on his head exclaimed while floating off the edge of the roof.
"Whatever Superboy, and can you keep it down. Makes it hard to go unnoticed when I'm accompanied by a six foot plus floating guy with a bag on his head." Said Robin, while Sandy wondered how Robin could let his friend continue to mock their mentor.
"Says the guy who fights crime while dressed like a circus trapeze artist." Kon took the bag off his head. "Seriously dude, this is why I've got to get you away from the big black bat, the longer you're around him, the shorter your sense of humor gets."
So this was Superboy. Using those powers of deduction she had learned from Batman, Sandy decided to see how much she could learn about Superboy. About 6'3, well built, jet black short hair, cerulean blue eyes, and what was he wearing? Blue jeans, sneakers, and a black t-shirt with a stylized red S in a diamond? Seriously? What a slacker.
"So Rob ol' buddy ol' pal I was wondering…." Kon lightly landed next to Robin.
"No, don't even ask" Robin crossed his arms and looked away.
"Is she hot?" Kon asked anyway.
"Batgirl is a martial arts expert, and very skilled at deduction. She does her job well and I respect her as a colleague." Robin responded. Kon gave Robin a look like a puppy who just wants you to play with him.
"Insanely hot." Robin started massaging his temples.
Insanely hot? Oh Sandy was going to have some words with Robin later.
"I knew it." Superboy fist bumped the air. "So when do I get to meet her?"
"Never, Batman does not want her hanging around Metas." Robin shook his head.
"Metas?" Superboy turned slowly in the air until he was upside down. "Oh you mean Batman doesn't want Batgirl hanging out with humans born with the meta gene that grants them powers? Well then good thing I'm a Kryptonian, so not applicable to me." Superboy pointed at himself with both thumbs.
"Anyone with super powers. Batman barely tolerates me hanging out with you." Robin looked out over the docks.
"Yeah Bat's can be a real party pooper. Well Rob it's been fun but time for me to head out, you know gotta go fight for truth, justice, and babes in bikinis everywhere." Kon started floating further up in the air.
"So have you topped Mach 4 yet?" Robin asked.
"Dude, I barely topped Mach 3 during that whole Metallo fiasco. But I will by the end of the year, so next time Bats lets you use the jet. It's on."
Superboy was suddenly gone and Sandy heard a sonic boom in the distance.
"Oh man, where is she? Batgirl better not be late" Robin said out loud and looked at his watch.
"She is here" Sandy said into Robin's ear, getting a kick out of startling him. She respected Robin and Sandy thinks they make a good team, but Batman's two protégés also enjoy one upping each other on occasion, call it a friendly rivalry.
Robin turned quick as a whip. "Uh how long have you been there?" Robin asked, and Sandy looked at Robin with a stoic expression for an uncomfortably long time before answering.
"Insanely hot".
"Oh man." Robin put a hand to his face.
Oh yeah, Sandy was going to enjoy this.
He's cocky, disrespectful, arrogant, and seems to rely far too much on his power Sandyhad thought of Kon at the time. Something about Kon had rubbed her the wrong way that night. She remembers asking Robin why he was friends with someone who could be so disrespectful towards their mentor. Robin had been deep in thought for a while before answering it's hard to explain, but if you ever get to know him, you'll get it. She hadn't understood then, but when Kon joined her for Batman's punishment she got what Robin meant. Well not while they did the punishment, more afterwards.
"Man that was brutal, is Bats always that sadistic, or did he bring his A game just for me?" asked Kon as the two heroes sat on a park bench having just completed Batman's punishment.
"We are not all born with great power such as Superman's or yours. Some of us must train to substitute skill for a lack of power. Batman's punishment was meant to help us hone those skills."
"Really? And here I thought he just had a bad case of hemorrhoids." Kon gave Sandy a sideways glance to see her reaction.
"Kon, shut up" Sandy could tell Kon took it as a victory that she was grinning.
"I wasn't born you know" Said Kon as he stood and stretched one tricep then the next.
His biceps are pretty, wait did I just, focus Sandy thought. "What do you mean?"
"You said not everyone is born with power like mine or Superman's. But I wasn't born, I was grown in a test tube. I'm the closest thing to Superman modern science could come up with".
"Closest?"
"Yep, yep."
"As his clone shouldn't you be identical to Superman?" Asked Sandy interested, she'd always assumed Kon was a genetic duplicate of the Man of Steel.
"Half of my DNA comes from Superman, the other half from a human donor the director at Cadmus picked." Kon revealed.
"Does that mean you have different abilities than Superman?"
"I can do everything Superman can, just not as much. Being half Kryptonian means I don't absorb solar radiation as fast as Superman, so I'm not as powerful. But there was one unintended side effect to having human DNA. I have an ability Superman doesn't." Kon winked.
"Tactile Telekinesis?"
"Right, you've done your homework huh? Can't say I'm surprised, Bats probably had you and Robin studying me just in case we ever teamed up, or you had to take me down, right?." Kon asked Sandy.
Sandy looked into Kon's eyes as she stood and answered truthfully "yes". She saw no sense lying about the obvious.
"Want to see how my TK works" Kon held his hand out.
"Alright" Sandy took the offered hand.
And just like that, Sandy found herself floating high above the Gotham City skyline in Kon's arms, she briefly wondered if this was what teleportation felt like.
"Using my TTK, I can augment my strength and invulnerability. I can also use it to create a protective field around you, so we can do this." Kon began flying north, slowly at first, but quickly he began flying so fast it all became a blur.
Sandy was impressed, she heard a few sonic booms and should have been freezing moving at those speeds, but it was as smooth a ride as any she'd been on. She could also feel heat coming off Kon's body keeping her warm. Sandy had read from Batman's files that Kryptonians have a higher body temperature than humans. They soon landed in an empty alley behind some buildings.
"Good thing Bats had us undercover, no need to change out of attention grabbing costumes that show off everything" Kon gave Sandy the once over.
"Where are we?" Sandy looked for a street sign though she knew they were no longer in Gotham City, Batman was not going to be happy about this she thought.
"Brooklyn" Kon spread his arms out in a grand gesture.
"New York?" Sandy asked, kind of shocked, how fast could he fly anyway, she thought he could barely go over Mach 3, but he must've been flying closer to Mach 4 to get them to New York that fast.
"Yep, check it out Sandy, Hay Rosie Craft Ice Cream Co. The like bestes Ice Cream ever, and you are so trying one of their Barn Burger ice cream sandwiches, my treat." Kon grinned while hoping up and down with a childlike enthusiasm that Sandy found kind of adorable (wait, she's a former assassin current vigilante who strikes fear in the hearts of criminals, she finds nothing adorable).
Sandy did not expect to eat four Barn Burger ice cream sandwiches (hey there good ok) while sitting atop the Statue of Liberty. Guess it paid having a friend who could fly, and whose excess body heat meant as long as they sat close she was comfortable despite the wind.
"Why?" Sandy asked Kon.
"Huh?"
"Why does only half of your DNA come from Superman and not all?"
"Oh, well Cadmus did try to make a 100% clone of Superman, twelve times actually but they were all genetically unstable and died almost immediately. I'm the 13th attempt. It was decided to try and use human DNA to stabilize the alien DNA and fill in the gaps since Supe's Kryptonian DNA was too complex to fully decipher." Kon explained through mouthfuls of his own Barn Burger Ice Cream sandwich.
"And that's how the best scientific minds at the secret government program Project Cadmus came up with a viable clone of Superman to be used as their very own biological weapon. Too bad for them I could hear what they were saying from my incubation tube. Some of the staff called me the weapon, can you believe that?" "Like that's all there was to me. They also implanted all sorts of knowledge into my head telepathically, stuff like science, languages, history, and a bunch of other subjects. But once I heard them talking about implanting code words into my brain so they could control me, that's when I decided to bust loose." Kon had what Sandy thought was a nostalgic smile on his face.
"Cadmus did try and catch me, but too bad for them I ran into Superman before they had a chance. Supes and I went back to Cadmus, destroyed all the DNA samples and research, then Supes told Director Westfield, all while he's eyes are glowing red he's so mad mind you, that if they came after me or tried cloning him or using his DNA to create weapons again, he'd shut them down permanently. Pretty cool huh." Kon wiped his hands clean on a napkin and stood up. "So how about you Sandy? Where did you learn all those cool ninja skills of yours?" Kon asked innocently.
"David Cain" Sandy also stood.
"The master assassin Batman beat up, who's currently serving several life sentences at Black Gate prison?"
"He took me when I was an infant. I have no memory of my life before, of my family or where I came from. David wanted to train the perfect assassin, he thought starting young would give him optimal results. He raised me in Nepal, in the Himalayas." Kon took Sandy into his arms and began flying back to the Gotham. "As you can imagine growing up in the increased altitude meant my strength, speed, and stamina are at their optimal levels." Sandy noticed a commonality between them. "I guess we were both created to be weapons."
"So what happened to your family?"
"It would only be speculation, but I think David killed them so as not to leave any loose ends." Sandy responded with no emotion in her voice, looking off into the distance.
"What was it like? The training?"
"Did you ever watch the movie Ninja Assassin?" Sandy made eye contact with Kon.
"Yeah"
"That would've been easy in comparison!"
Over the course of several ice cream meetings (they were not dates and Sandy was sticking to that) Sandy revealed some of the details of her upbringing under David Cain. Details like Cain never speaking to Sandy when she was a child, or making her hunt and gather her own food to make her a better predator. The aim being that Sandy developed a hyper sensitivity to reading body language. She was so good at reading body language most people thought Sandy was telepathic.
Sandy learned that Kon was a good listener, and seemed very good at sensing when it was time to stop and find a lighter topic when their talks became too dark. Sandy wondered if it had been a good idea to share so much with Kon (she knew Batman would not approve) but a peculiar incident convinced her that it had been the right call.
Sandy found out that someone had broken in to Black Gate Prison leaving no trace of having done so. Well one trace, a black blur was seen on a surveillance video entering David Cain's cell. Cain had been found shortly after in said cell unconscious with his head shoved into his toilet and written into his wall were the words "Bet you wish you'd flushed huh?" Sandy smiled at the memory; she knew who was responsible though they never talked about it. Sandy thought it was a sweet gesture. Someone who didn't think it was a sweet gesture was Batman.
As Sandy entered the Batcave, she could see Batman was studying surveillance video from Black Gate Prison, crap thought Sandy as she figured out what this conversation was going to be about.
"You heard what happened to David Cain?" asked Batman never taking his eyes off the giant monitor in front of him, all the while typing away in the keyboard bringing up information on the multiple cases they were working on.
"Yes".
"We both know who did it, so please do not insult my intelligence by denying it. And so you know, I've informed Superman of the boy's actions."
"I never asked him to do it."
"I know that as well, if you had you would not be worthy of being Batgirl, and this conversation would be very different." Batman stopped typing and turned his chair to face Sandy.
"The boy may be well intentioned, but he is also reckless and lacks the responsibility and forethought that we cannot afford to be without. So I'm asking you, to please stop seeing him." Batman stood and locked eyes with Sandy.
Sandy sighed; this was not what she wanted. She liked Kon and enjoyed their ice cream hang outs (they were so not dates). Kon's warm personality was something she was not used to but found enjoyable, however, being Batgirl meant too much to her.
"Very well" Sandy accepted Batman's request, never breaking eye contact.
"Thank you" Batman turned and went back to his chair and his work.
"Yeah I remember how you blew me off and ignored me for a few months after that whole Black Gate fiasco. But you know what, totally worth it to see Cain gargle his own toilet water. Besides deny it all you want, I know you thought it was a sweet gesture." Kon's voice brought Sandy out of yet another failed meditation on her killing of Wilson.
"Kon, shut up" Sandy grinned. Hey, it was kind of funny thinking of Cain gargling toilet water.
16
Author's Note: Any constructive critisism and questions are most welcomed.