Set Backs
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of DC, I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Wally tore through the base refrigerator rapidly assembling an unstable tower of junk food that barely fit on the plate. Then he withdrew to the table with his booty.
A short while later Superboy came in. He took a cup-of-noodles out of the cupboard then turned on the tap while he opened cup and rummaged around in the dishwasher for a spoon. He filled the styrofoam cup with water then brought his lunch over to the table. At the first spoonful Superboy's nose wrinkled up in disgust. "This tastes wrong," he complained.
Wally told himself that the Gegnomes and Cadmus probably hadn't considered teaching Superboy about instant food to be a priority. "You need to heat it up," he explained. "Just stick it in the microwave for three or four minutes."
Superboy gave up on glaring at the unsatisfactory soup and blinked at Wally. "I didn't zap it?" he asked in bewilderment and Wally's blood froze.
"Stay-there-I'll-be-right-back!" he exclaimed as he blurred toward the teleporter. He left the matrix at a dead run, slowing to human speeds only as he reached the steps of the Central City Police Department. "Gotta see Uncle Barry!" he told the desk sergeant forcing the words to come at a comprehensible speed.
"He's back in the lab Wally," the sergeant said as he waved Wally past him.
An endless few seconds later Wally made it to the lab. "Uncle Barry! Something's still wrong with Supey. He was making ramen and he didn't heat it and ten seconds later he couldn't remember that he didn't and it's not the first time he's forgotten weird stuff and he was supposed to be fixed!"
"Easy Wally," Barry said. He turned to one of his co-workers. "This is urgent. Could you sign me out?"
As they left Barry sent off a quick text message. "Taking SB to Dr.M, meet us there."
Batman and Robin were waiting in Dr. Midnight's waiting room when Barry, Wally and Superboy arrived. "What happened?" Batman demanded. He pulled Barry aside while Robin joined Wally and Superboy.
"It was a small incident, might be nothing," Barry temporized, then sighed. "But it might be a good idea have an MRI done all the same."
Batman caught Barry's arm in an uncomfortably tight grasp. "You think the lesions spread to his brain!" he lowered his voice to a furious whisper as he glanced across the room at the three boys.
"I think it wouldn't hurt to check," Barry said quietly.
Batman grimaced, "You're right."
Batman realized the print-outs were crinkling in his hands and very deliberately set them on the table in front of him. Destroying the evidence that the lesions had spread to Superboy's brain wouldn't change the fact of it.
"The serum stabilized tissue in his muscular-skeletal system," Atom reported. "We assumed the nerve damage he experienced a secondary effect because it was so limited in comparison, we were wrong. We're working on a new formulation."
"Do we remove the dead tissue now or after the serum's finished?" Black Canary asked. "What hurts him less?"
"We remove it now," Dr. Midnight replied. "First, one of the lesions is near what would be the medulla oblongata in a human. If that lesion is allowed to grow it will quickly begin to effect autonomic functions such as breathing. Beyond that the dead tissue releases toxins as it degrades which increases the rate at which the surrounding tissue is effected. From what we've seen new lesion formation is slower than the growth of existing lesions in terms of total cell loss. We operate now and repeat as needed until the formulation is completed." He looked way. "At least there are no pain receptors in his brain."
"I'll be preforming the operation from inside," Atom said. "We won't have to find a way through his skull."
"The impact?" Batman demanded shortly.
"The effect of damage to the brain is always difficult to predict, and that would be true even if he were human. Superman sent us all the information he possessed on Kryptonian physiology, but they didn't fully understand the functioning of the brain anymore than we do. Further, the electrical activity mapping we've done thus far shows that Superboy is atypical for a Kryptonian: Activity is unusually concentrated in a few areas. This has nothing to do with the degeneration. If I had to take a guess, I'd say is most likely due to his learning occurring through memory implants rather than actual experience. All I can really say at this point is that the symptom Wally noticed, difficulty with completing sequential task, is unlikely to go away."
"The areas are quite small," Red Tornado said. "I have heard of cases where the brain was able to... rewire itself, thus restoring lost functionality after brain damage was incurred."
"It's possible," Dr. Midnight replied. "It is also completely out of my hands."
"In other words, pray for a miracle," Batman stated acidly.
"Yes," Midnight agreed unruffled. "At this point all we can do is minimize the damage and hope his brain is capable of adapting. Given that his thought processes currently appear adapted to a highly unnatural state, there may be cause for hope, but no one could promise you a favorable outcome."
From a hundred miles away, Superman heard the inarticulate screams of rage and the sounds of rocks shattering. It sounded like some sort of mindless creature on a rampage, what he saw when he arrived did little to dispel his initial impression. He was thankful the quarry was abandoned as he watched Superboy lash out at everything around him for no apparent cause.
"What is wrong with you?" he demanded, standing in mid-air above the quarry with his hands on his hips. In response the furious clone uprooted a boulder about the size of a minivan and lobbed it at him.
Superman caught the boulder and let it drop. "Okay, that is enough!" he ordered. He swooped down and grabbed the furious teenager by the arms hauling him away from the scene of destruction through simple brute force.
Superboy screamed at him, he kicked and twisted and fought, without regard for tactics. There were no niceties, Superman can tell the kid didn't give a damn which of them got hurts as long as he could continue to lash out. The occasional swear-word mixed in with wordless growls was the only sign that the clone hadn't simply gone feral. It didn't matter, Superman was stronger and larger and in the air his ability to fly gave him even more of an edge over his younger clone.
Suddenly the clone's left arm turned slick and hard to hold and the smell of iron filled the air. Superman let the boy go and backed off in alarm. He stared at the blood on his hand and the broken scar tissue on the clone's arm his stomach twisting. "I'm sorry," Clark said as he settled to the ground.
Superboy wasn't, he was free and ready to fight and Superman was there. Clark blocked the sloppy, angry punch and held his ground. A closer look at his clone showed tear traces in the dust on his face and Clark was feeling more and more out of his depth. "Talk to me! What happened?" he demanded to no avail.
After blocking several more punches that were hard enough that he knew he was going to have bruises in the morning, Clark tried grabbing hold of the kid again. This time he was more careful, trying not to hurt him. "Calm down!" In the background he heard a plane landing.
"Enough." Batman didn't raise his voice but the wild-cat of a child in Clark's arms went limp. Cautiously Clark released Superboy. He wanted to warn Batman to keep his distance, that the boy was dangerous with the way he was lashing out, but Batman has never responded well to being reminded that he's only human.
"You have every right to be angry," Batman told Superboy and from the set of his mouth, Clark could see that Superboy wasn't the only one who was angry. "But that is enough of throwing tantrums."
Superboy started to say something then glanced warily at Superman.
"I have the situation under control," Batman stated, dismissing his colleague.
Clark felt guilty but mostly he felt relieved to be excused. As he flew away he could hear the boy, "You said I wouldn't have to, not again."
"We were wrong," Batman replied.
"I can't, won't. No more."
"If you choose to die, I won't stop you," at Batman's flat statement Clark turned around and started back.. "It won't hurt, but I'm not going to lie to you and say it will be fine. Dr. Midnight explained the your options. Doing nothing, allowing the lesion near your brain stem to grow until it kills you is one of your choices. I won't take it away from you. But I would prefer that you keep fighting." From a distance Clark watched as the boy surrendered, his shoulders slumped and he followed Batman docilely back to batplane. There was nothing for him to contribute, Batman was correct, he has the situation under control, Clark wasn't even completely certain what the situation was.
"Authorization B6, Red Arrow." The computer's mechanical voice seemed to echo more than usual to Roy's ears. From what he'd heard the members of Young Justice were sticking closer to their mentors and hometowns these days, leaving Mount Justice abandoned between missions. 'Hard for them to be here with Superboy gone,' Roy thought.
As Roy continued deeper into the base he heard faint sounds of battle. Warily he followed the noise to the gym. There he found Robin in the middle of a combat simulation. The little ninja fought without his typical battle cries or wise-cracks, he was focused completely on causing destruction.
After watching for a few minutes Roy moved to join the fight. He almost got a kick to the head in thanks but Robin recognized him and diverted the blow at the last moment.
"Bats is going to have your head when he checks the logs and finds out you ran it at this level without a spotter," Roy commented.
Robin ignored him in favor of smashing another combat-bot. Roy shrugged and picked his own opponent. Several minutes and a half-dozen 'bots later Robin started talking. "Another round of operations. Over and over again and there's less of Superboy left every time," he ranted. "He's never going to be okay again and it's still getting worse! They're doing their best and he's still getting sicker! They're the fucking Justice League! Why can't they stop it?"
"Even they're not all powerful," Roy said, "but I have some connections in places they don't."
Robin killed the simulation.
Roy took a small, metal vial out of a pouch on his quiver. "A sample of the stabilizing agent Cadmus was using on Superboy. There should be enough for STAR Labs to begin duplicating it."
Robin stared up at Roy worshipfully as he accepted the vial. "How did you get this?"
Roy gave him a twisted half grin. "Now that's my secret, but I wouldn't mind if you gave me a twenty minute head start before you told anyone where that came from."
The worship in Robin's eyes transformed to worry. "Roy, what did you do?"
"Don't go all Bats on me little bird, I've got it under control," Roy said. He gave Robin another odd smile. "Just remember, no matter what it might look like, I'm still your friend."
Before Robin could agree, disagree or make-up his mind as to which he intended Roy had pulled an arrow out of his quiver an shot it into the ground at Robin's feet. The younger boy was instantly engulfed in a cloud of knock-out gas.
Roy hastily backed out of the room and sealed the door. "Sorry kid, I should have known you'd be stubborn," he said as he left. "Anyway, tell Superboy to get better soon. I hate seeing all of you hurting."
6 Months Later - The Daily Planet
"Well, look at you, Lois," the sarcasm in Cat Grant's voice made Clark wince. Cat was cranking things up to nine and Lois had never been one to back down from a challenge. "All dressed up and we don't even have a pool going on who's security is going to be throwing you out."
"I'm not surprised it slipped past you," Lois replied with poisonous sweetness. "It's not really my sort of story that I'm investigating after all. Still, I suppose it's not your fault that when a real story drops into your lap you can't recognize it."
Clark sighed as Cat snatched a photo off of Lois' desk. He pushed his chair back, putting more distance between himself and ground zero before the next strike could be called in.
Cat gave the photo an unusually serious look. "Lois, leave Brucie alone. He's fun guy and a good sport. But you don't want to be pressing this button."
Clark stopped edging away. As far as he knew, Bruce only had two hot buttons as far as a gossip columnist like Cat Grant would know: His parents and his ward. Bruce Wayne had made it pointedly clear that he didn't answer questions about his parents and he wouldn't tolerate anything that could be construed as slander against Dick Greyson.
"No one knows anything about the new kid," Lois exclaimed. "No interviews, the kid barely leaves the Wayne Manner, hell, I can't even find a last name! Someone is hiding something big. And that is a story."
Clark moved around to get a look over Cat's shoulder. He hadn't heard anything about Bruce taking in another ward.
"What it is is intrusive. Not to mention a lawsuit in the making," Cat argued.
"What are you? A reporter or a mouse?" Lois demanded. "There is something about that kid that's being covered up and I intend to find out what it is."
Clark's breath caught. Everything about how the boy in the picture held himself screamed wrongness, but there was no mistaking that it was Superboy standing between Bruce Wayne and Dick Greyson.
Cat shook her head. "The Greyson kid is sharp as a tack, born to be in front of an audience and he handles interviews beautifully. But you say the wrong thing about that kid and you can pretty much count on a career change. Rumor has it there's more wrong with the new kid than the obvious. You think Bruce is going to be less over-protective of him?"
"The obvious?" Clark asked, his voice tight. He wondered how Bruce could have not told him.
Cat directed Clark's attention to the forearm cuff around Superboy's arm and he realized that the boy was using a crutch. "We may not print much about the kid but we do take notes." Cat spared Lois a haughty look. "I hear he has some pretty serious scarring but the way he moves? I'm guessing cerebral palsy or something like it; a brain disorder."
Clark sat down heavily. He didn't know what to think or feel. 'Why wasn't I told?'
"We're not talking abut Lex Luthor here," Cat continued. "Lexy doesn't like seeing anything unflattering when he reads the paper. Sometimes you've got to say damn the lawsuits, just to remind him he doesn't own everyone in this town. Brucie? He gives us plenty of copy. Supermodel or heiress of the week? Print whatever you like about his love-life, true or not someone'll get a good quote out of it when the story gets back to him. Then there are his extreme sports. First, the man is an incredible athlete but he doesn't have even a passing acquaintance with common sense. I wouldn't even believe some of the stories he tells if I hadn't seen the scars with my own two eyes. Brucie is always good for an exciting column." Then Cat stopped. She shrugged and dropped the theatric tone. "But he wants to be a good parent. Which means not letting the tabloids run rough-shod over his kids just because they're his. Who are we to get in the way of that?"
Lois rolled her eyes.
"The only story here is that the new kid is too fragile to handle much attention," Cat stated. "For people who look it's as plain as the nose on your face. Still Bruce did bring him to Metropolis, so maybe the media ban's lifting. It's a pretty good plan when you think about it, introduce the kid at one of Lex's big shows of public spirit and it's a footnote, do it in Gotham and it's all anyone will talk about. But Lois? Stick to your own turf, there are a lot of people who've been waiting patiently for Bruce to formally introduce the kid, you scare him back into hiding and we won't forgive you."
"Lois, maybe Cat has a point. This isn't our beat," Clark said while privately resolving to have a discussion with a certain Bat as soon as superhumanly possible.
"Oh no, I know a story when I see one," Lois said stubbornly. "There is just something about that kid, something that is just on the tip of my brain. Something about this really doesn't sit right and I am going to find out what is going on. So help anyone who gets in my way."
"Then I'm coming along," Clark sighed. "We are partners."
"And someone has to hold her leash," Cat added as a parting shot.