Apologies for the long delay between chapters. Life can get hectic sometimes. Please enjoy and any feedback is appreciated.
Chapter 3
The sound of her sword singing as it cut through the air, air that would soon be Wilson's neck, helped Sandy focus. It was a strange sound, her steel singing along with song birds in spring, mixed with the sound of snowmelt filling creeks. But though her sword was hitting air, in her mind it was hitting Wilson's sword.
Sandy could see Wilson before her, could feel her sword make contact with his through every block, parry, feint, slash, or stab. She could see the desperation in Wilson's eyes as he realized the inevitable. Sandy had a similar half smile on her face as the one she often saw on Kon. Wilson lunged making a stabbing motion which Sandy parried to the right, stepped with a pivot to her left foot and swung around in a full 360 degree turn. As Sandy sheathed her sword, Wilson's head came off his neck behind her.
"Still don't get why you waste so much time dancing with Wilson? When you know you'd have a lot more fun dancing with me." Kon standing in front of her extended a hand to Sandy, smiling at her.
"This is not about fun." Sandy turn her back on Kon.
"Oh, and what is it about then?"
"Retribution." Sandy now faces Kon.
"Retribution? What about Justice?" Kon takes a step and now stands directly in front of Sandy.
"What about it?" Sandy asks an edge to her voice, never taking her eyes off Kon.
"Once upon a time, it meant something to you." Kon's voice softens and his eyes never leave Sandy.
"People change Kon". Sandy backs away from him. "Or maybe they were never what you thought they were." Sandy turned her back on Kon "Maybe you were a fool for thinking a killer could ever be more than just killer." Sandy walked away from Kon and began her climb back to her campsite. Once she completed the climb Sandy found her cheerful friend waiting for her at the campsite.
"You are so much more than what Cain tried to make you." Kon pated a spot on the rock he was sitting on and waited for Sandy to sit next to him. "I've seen past your training, past your walls. To the woman inside, and you know what I saw? Kon's gaze never left her.
"No" Sandy whispers, not looking at Kon next to her.
"A hero." Kon stands and extends a hand to Sandy. "Dance with me."
"But you're not here." Sandy avoided eye contact.
"Wilson's not either. If you can have a sword fight with him, you can dance with me." Kon's hand was still extended.
Sandy looks up into those cerulean blue eyes she knew so well, and a small smile appears on her lips and she takes the offered hand. And as she rises and closes her eyes, Sandy reached into her memory and heard the melody and lyrics of the song "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" and fondly remembered dancing with her friend in a Kansas barn one Valentine's Day what seemed like an eternity ago.
Flashback:
From her apartment, which had been given the name Watch Tower by Team Bat (as Superboy had taken to calling them) Oracle poured herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen then wheeled back to her office with one hand, other hand holding her coffee cup, not spilling a single drop. Her training under Batman adapted to her new life as a paraplegic, handy capable being a very accurate term to describe an invaluable part of Batman's burgeoning team. Watch Tower was a computer network that had been set up by Batman in Oracle's apartment to link with their main computer in the Batcave, allowing Oracle almost unlimited access to all digital information available on the World Wide Web. Information which she turned into invaluable intelligence to Batman's team. And on occasion, for the Justice League.
Oracle frowned and put her coffee down when she reached her monitor, that reading can't be right. Batgirl's GPS tracker showed her leaving Gotham City at 70 MPH. "Batgirl, this is Oracle, tracker shows you leaving Gotham, is this accurate?"
"Yes"
"Cass, is everything alright?"
"Yes"
"Mind telling me where you're going?" Oracle began massaging her temples, this was a headache in the making.
"Kansas, Smallville."
"Smallville, but that's where Superboy…" Oracle smiled from ear to ear. "Good for you Cass, Oracle out."
Later:
Sandy read the Kent Farm sign and knew she was in the right place. It was night and only one window showed an occupant still had his light on. Sandy easily climb to the second story of the farmhouse and looked inside the lone illuminated room, and sure enough there he was.
"And your crowned king nothing…" sang Kon-El as he floated in his room upside down, playing an air guitar. A knock on his window stopped his one man karaoke show. "Sandy?" Kon righted himself in the air, opened his window and let Sandy in his room. "How did you know where to find me?"
"Detective." Sandy took Kon's hand and entered his room, giving it a once over.
"Man I really suck at this secret Id thing."
"Batman helped Superman create your Connor Kent identity. Did you really think I wouldn't know?" Sandy continued looking around Kon's bedroom. A bed, desk and chair were the only furniture. "Your room is not as messy as I thought it would be." Sandy looked sideways at Kon.
"Yeah well if you ever saw my room in Honolulu. That looked like a typhoon hit it. But you know the Kents, not really ok with the messy."Kon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "So Sandy, not that I'm not thrilled to have you see me in my Ninja Turtle jamies, but what brings you…"
Sandy jumped into Kon's arms giving him a kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist. Kon floated backwards to avoid Sandy slamming into him (Teen of Steel remember) and the two young heroes accidentally bumped Kon's desk and knocked over his lamp.
"Mom." Kon stopped kissing Sandy and looked toward his door.
"Mom?" Oh he better not be thinking what she thinks he's thinking.
"What, no." Kon turned back to Sandy. "Mrs. Kent's coming, hide."
"Hide? Where?"
"Seriously? You're a ninja, vanish into the shadows, or whatever you guys do." Kon started making gestures with his hands, was he doing spirit fingers?
"Is that the best the alien/human clone can come up with?" Sandy put her hands on her hips.
"In the closet, hurry." Kon got under the covers of his bed as Sandy hid in the closet just as the bedroom door opened, and in walked a woman with grey hair who looked to be in her sixties.
"Connor, is everything alright?
"Mmm, oh Mrs Kent, sorry my TK can sometimes go off when my dreams get too intense." Kon sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, and used his best "I just woke" up voice.
"You live in this house and are a part of this family now. You know what to call me." Mrs. Kent pulled the chair from Kon's desk and brought it next to the bed. "Did you have another nightmare sweetie?"
"What? No mom, I, I.." Kon's eyes looked toward his closet.
"It's alright Connor." Mrs. Kent took Kon's hand into her own. "Valentine's Day is tomorrow, it'll be one year right?"
"Yes." Kon slouched
"So did you have another dream about Tana?" Mrs. Kent never took her eyes off Kon.
"I haven't been sleeping enough lately to dream." Kon shifted uncomfortably in his bed and looked away.
"Because of the dreams?" Mrs. Kent gently prodded.
"I wouldn't really call them dreams." Kon closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"What would you call them then?"
"Reliving the worst moment of my life." Kon stood and walked to his closet, where Sandy was hidden, listening.
"If you ever want to talk, Jonathan and I are always here for you." Mrs. Kent walked over to Kon and took both his hands in hers, getting him to turn towards her. "You don't have to mourn alone Connor."
"I know, and when I'm ready, we'll talk. I'm just not ready yet." Kon avoided making eye contact.
"Do you need to go let out some steam?" Mrs. Kent asked with a knowing smile.
"Yeah, if it's ok?" Kon now made eye contact and smiled.
"Of course it is, have fun sweetie." Mrs. Kent gave Kon a kiss on the cheek and walked to the door. "Oh and Connor, just stay inside the state of Kansas this time."
"Yes mom." Kon gently shut the door behind Mrs. Kent.
Sandy came out of the closet and walked up to Kon, who had his back to her and was resting his head on the door. "Kon?"
"There's an Oak with a rope swing down by the barn, you should be able to find it pretty easy." Kon said with more raw emotion in his voice than Sandy had ever heard from him before. "I'll meet you there in a few minutes ok?" Kon still had his back to her.
"Of course." Sandy went out the window and found the Oak in the moon light easily enough.
Sandy sat in the rope swing, but did not have to wait long.
"So, remember what I could do with my Tactile Telekinesis?" Kon appeared out of thin air and Sandy noticed he was now wearing his usual blue jeans, but with a plain white t shirt instead of his usual black t shirt with a red S.
"No S shirt tonight?" Sandy asked and noted that Kon sounded and looked like his usual self, smiling that roguish smile of his.
"Gotta protect that new secret identity of mine. But back to my question, what can I do with my tactile telekinesis that Superman can't?" Kon was now floating off the ground and offered a hand to Sandy.
"You can control anything you are making physical contact with." Sandy wondered where Kon was going with this and took his offered hand.
"That's right, which means while flying with Supes feels like he's carrying you. Flying on Kon airlines is more like you're the one doing the flying, as long as we're still making physical contact." Sandy noticed that she was now also floating off the ground, but it did not feel as if she was being lifted, it more felt as if she was weightless. "Ready to go for a spin?" Sandy found Kon's impish grin adorable and enthusiasm infectious, returning his smile with her own equally enthusiastic one, she nodded her head in consent.
As the two heroes flew side by side holding hands, Sandy found the cool wind against her skin and the sight of her reflection looking back at her from the calm surface of a lake they were flying over in the light of the full moon exhilarating. Kon suddenly picked up speed and they flew straight up toward a rather large but lone cloud.
"So I can control anything solid that I touch right, but then I thought why does it have to be solid? So I started experimenting with liquids like water, and what do you know, I could control them too. And what is a cloud?" A light blue aura seemed to be emanating from Kon and his eyes began glowing blue, and Sandy noticed that the cloud around them began taking the shape of a building.
"Water in gas form." Sandy's eyes were the size of dinner plates as the cloud now took the shape of a castle. So in shock was she that at first Sandy didn't notice she was no longer holding Kon's hand. "Wait, how? You changed the density of the cloud?" Sandy lightly stomped her heel on the floor and it felt like brick to her.
"Yep, made it solid enough to stand on. I have a lot of free time out here so I've been experimenting with my powers you know. And my TK is only limited by my imagination and concentration, so I figured why not liquids? Why not gases? And so I….."
"Kon, shut up." Sandy grabbed Kon's T shirt with both hands and pulled him down to her, pressing her lips to his.
Sandy deepened the kiss and felt Kon's hands let go of her waist and could feel he was no longer kissing her back. Sandy opened her eyes and unwrapped her arms from Kon's neck to see what was wrong. I may be new to this, but my kissing isn't that bad? Right? Sandy thought before going into freefall.
Sandy could see the ground getting closer and hear the wind whistling as it passed her ears, but before she could even wonder what happened, her fall slowly decelerated then came to a halt and she found herself bridal style in a very sheepish looking Kon's arms.
"Yeah sorry about that, I uh need to focus when I use my TK. And my mind was way off focus just now." Kon looked away.
Sandy placed a hand on Kon's cheek and turned him to face her. "Was I that bad?"
Kon now made eye contact with her. "What? No, no, no you were great. I've wanted to kiss you since we met." Kon turned away again and closed his eyes. "It's me Sandy. I, I.."
"Is it because of Tana?" Kon now opened his eyes and smiled a smile so sad, Sandy wondered if it could even be considered a smile. I didn't think Kon could ever look this sad, Sandy thought and tried to get her friend to open up. "What was she to you?"
"Everything." Kon now made eye contact with Sandy and it shocked her to see such a deeply wounded young man looking back at her, where was her happy go lucky friend with the sunny personality?
Sandy was about to speak when she suddenly found herself back by the oak with the tire swing. Kon lite an oil lamp hanging from the tree with his heat vision and Sandy knew it was more for her benefit since he could see in the dark.
"What do you know about Tana?" Kon leaned back on the oak and slide down into a sitting position, back against the oak, face looking down.
"Tana Moon was the first journalist to report about you, though she was a student and not an actual journalist at the time. Despite her lack of experience she was hired by Edge TV since you refused to do interviews unless it was with her." Sandy crouched in front of Kon and put a hand under his chin and lifted it so he faced her.
"Tana broke down on national television when it appeared you had been killed in a nuclear explosion. She then resigned and moved back to her native Hawaii where she took a job with the local KONA TV station and worked her way out of their mail room through skill and hard work." Sandy sat next to Kon rested her head on his shoulder.
"You followed her to Honolulu, made it your home, and declared yourself the Hero of Hawaii. The Pacific Rim's most powerful criminal organization the Silicone Dragons began targeting you for assassination and failed every time. You and Tana shared a very public romance, so they targeted her."
"Valentine's Day. Tana and I had been through a rough patch, but were working through it you know. She made this awesome dinner and we were at her place." Kon now turned and Sandy could see her friend was holding in tears. "She was wearing this new necklace, I didn't even think about it until she thanked me for it. When I told her it wasn't from me, I could see the wheels start turning in her head." His voice was now so hoarse it was almost unrecognizable. "She always was, very inquisitive. And that's when it happened. The necklace sent an electrical shock into her heart and fried it." Kon let out that last part in a whisper.
"Some hero I was." Kon now stood up and began pacing. "I never thought, it didn't cross my mind, ever that they would do something like that. How could I have been so stupid, so naïve?" Kon's voice was rising. "All this power, and what good did it do me? What good did it do her? And you wanna know the worst part? I never even got to say goodbye." Kon's shoulders slumped.
"Why did you not say goodbye?" Sandy stood and joined her friend.
"Tana's family blamed me. They didn't want me anywhere near the funeral. But the part that hurt the most, was when her mom looked right in my eyes and told me I might's well have killed her myself."
"You left Hawaii shortly after?"
"Didn't feel like home anymore." Kon returned to the oak and sat, covering his face in his hands.
Sandy knelt beside her slumping friend. "Have you ever gone to her gravesite?"
"Her family won't let me visit."
"What would she want?"
"You heard Mrs. Kent. I can't leave Kansas."
Sandy cupped Kon's chin and lifted his head so they were making eye contact. "You are Superboy. You can do anything."
A small smile appeared on Kon's lips. "Thank you."
Suddenly Sandy was in Kon's arms again and they were back in the air. "Where are…we? Is that planet Earth below us? Are we in outer space?" Sandy did not have freak outs, but if she did, they might feel like she's feeling now.
"Yes that's planet Earth. Not quite outer, we're still technically in Earth's atmosphere." Kon was now just holding Sandy's hand, enjoying her reaction.
"How am I still alive? How am I able to breathe?" Sandy wanted answers.
"Ever the detective, Batman would be proud if he could hear you now. To answer both questions, telekinesis. Have you noticed any atmospheric differences?"
"No, temperature and air feel the same."
Kon lifted his hand. "Look."
And Sandy could see it now that she was focused on it. A faint, bluish aura that surrounded them, a lot like the one she saw when they were on the cloud. "Your TK field?"
"Yep, I brought some of the surrounding atmosphere up with us. Not enough to last very long, but I figured not many people get to see this, but you should be one that does. Look at her." Kon pointed towards the Earth. "Amazing isn't she." Kon said, looking right at Sandy. "She is beautiful." Kon was still looking right at Sandy.
"Yes she is." Sandy answered looking at the Earth.
"Look over there." Kon pointed to a spot on the Earth's surface. "See it"
"Is that an island in the Pacific?"
"Not just any island, that's the Big Island of Hawaii. We're going to Hilo, it was her hometown. It's were she's….."
"Lead the way, Super…..Man." Sandy said with a smile.
"Love it when you call me that. Makes me feel all. Super."
Later:
A young man carrying Ohia tree blossoms of varying colors knelt down in front of a headstone in the shape of a gothic cross with a crying angel sitting atop. The young man placed the blossoms at the foot of the headstone and read the inscription. A quote "How can people make a decision, if they don't have the truth?" was written on the headstone.
"I remember you saying that all the time, guess it's why we got along so good. We were both all about fighting for truth and justice." "Brought your favorites." The young man pointed to the blossoms. "Lehua blossoms from an Ohia tree, the one where we wrote our names, and you told me the story of how they got those names."
Standing several feet back, Sandy listened to her friend speak to his lost love's grave. She knew Batman would also visit and speak to his deceased parents graves though she never understood the purpose. But it seemed to help Batman so Sandy hoped this would help Kon come out of the funk she found him in.
"One day Pele met a handsome warrior named Ohia and she asked him to marry her. The problem was Ohia had already pledged his love to Lehua. Pele was furious when Ohia turned down her marriage proposal, so she turned Ohia into a twisted tree. Lehua was heartbroken. The gods took pity on Lehua and decided it was an injustice to have Ohia and Lehua separated. So, they turned Lehua into a flower on the Ohia tree, so that the two lovers would be forever joined together."
Kon knelt and hugged the stone cross and wept openly. "I'm sorry Tana, I'm so sorry. For everything. For not appreciating you and what we had. For not saving you. But most of all, for not being brave enough to come visit you for so long."
Kon stood and kissed the top of the stone cross. "I met you the first day I busted out of Cadmus. You were my first friend, my first kiss, my first…everything." Kon took a steading breath and a step back.
"Promise I'll visit more often."
Sandy came and stood next to Kon taking his hand into her own. "What other firsts did you two share?"
"Shaved ice, swimming on the beach, surfing, oh and Tana took me to my first reggae concert and taught me how to dance." Kon told Sandy as the two young friends took to the air.
"I never understood the point of dancing."
"Lucky you, I can hear a family BBQ not far, and they're playing reggae." Kon informed Sandy.
"We can't just…."
"Trust me"
There he is Sandy though, seeing the sparkle back in his eyes, the enthusiasm back his voice, and most of all that roguish smile back on his face. "Always."
"Besides, you haven't lived if you've never been to a Luau."