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Fugue State, chapter 3
Location: Match's mind, section 2A
"It appears that this memory stream relates to you," Robin told Superman. "Did Match really blast Steel like that when you first met him?"
"Wait, why are you blue?" Dan asked.
"It's complicated," Superman said. "Oh, this is going to be embarrassing..."
"I can't believe you said that!" Batman exclaimed. "'Get the clone.'"
"It's no wonder that Match thinks you disapprove of him after this first impression," Kon said.
"Match thinks I disapprove of him?" Superman asked, looking surprised. "Why's he think that?"
Kon stared at him. "You cannot be serious."
"What did I do?"
"You play favorites and are really hard on him."
"That's not true! Does it really look that way?"
"You're harder on him than you were on me for that first year, and you didn't like me at all. You all but freaked out when he told us about his relationship with Dan. When you visit, you want a lot more structured time with him than you do for anyone else. That's not even touching the Kor-El thing."
"I thought it'd be better because he's so...organized. I don't really understand him; he's so different from any other teenager I know. I'm not sure how to relate to him."
"How many teenagers do you really come into contact with?" Dan asked.
"Okay, he's nothing like me when I was his age," Superman admitted. "He's so poised and together that he's more like someone my age."
"You know, it's a big sham. He's as confused and vulnerable as anyone else; he just hides it better."
"When he's not on a mission," Kon added. "That's when he's poised and collected."
"Are you sure?" Superman asked. "I don't get that sense from him at all."
"Trust me, I know my boyfriend," Dan said.
"We're at a transition point," J'onn said.
Location: Match's mind, section 2B
"I haven't seen this," Superman said. "I'm not here."
"Let's watch and see why it's important," Batman said.
Match was attending the Contessa. She was in a lavishly decorated room. This was clearly back when Match was still a servant of the Agenda.
"You're going to be my tool to crush that man," the Contessa told Match. "It will be glorious! Then, I'll reclaim Lena from that barbarian!"
"Who's she talking about?" Robin asked.
"Lex Luthor," Superman answered. "She was married to him and after she gave birth, he tried to do away with her."
There was a knock at the door. She gestured to Match, and he opened it to reveal an Agenda scientist.
"I have the results," the man told the Contessa. "We've done a complete analysis of Match's genetic structure."
"Excellent! Give me the details."
"It turns out that the files we stole from Cadmus were inaccurate. He's a genetic hybrid of human and Kryptonian DNA. He is not just a human altered to be similar to a Kryptonian."
"Can we isolate the Kryptonian part?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"Hh," Batman said. "This is where Match learned that he had a genetic connection to Superman. I suppose that's the significance of this memory."
The Contessa shrugged. "We'll acquire pure Kryptonian genetic material soon enough. What else can you tell me?"
"We've also identified the human donor with a ninety-eight percent degree of certainty."
"Westfield, I assume? The man was certainly egotistical enough."
"No, it's...Lex Luthor."
The Contessa blinked. "Are you suggesting that Paul Westfield was merely Lex Luthor wearing a wig?"
"No, he deceived Westfield and substituted his own genetic material. We ran the test against Amanda Spence's DNA, and he's definitely not derived from Westfield."
There was a pause, and then the Contessa backhanded Match. He fell to the floor in shock, and she proceeded to kick the teen.
"You...animal!" she screamed. "You're a part of that filthy Luthor! I'll never forgive you for that!"
Dan and Conner lunged for the woman, but they passed right through her. This was a memory, and they could not affect it.
After a while, she stopped. "Get him out of my sight! Let whoever wants to do whatever with him! I don't care; just keep him alive so he can help me get Lena! After that, we'll dispose of him!"
The six watching were sickened by what they saw.
"Why didn't he say anything?" Superman asked.
"It's lucky for her that she's dead," Kon seethed. "If she were alive, then I'd kill her."
"Stop it!" Superman shouted. "You can't say things like that, even if you're angry! We have to be better than that!"
"He didn't say anything because he didn't want to relive it," Dan said. "I don't know that for sure, but that's the sort of thing he'd do."
"Let's go on to the next memory," Batman said. "Staying here will only get us all angrier."
Location: Match's mind, section 2C
"Isn't this the JLA Watchtower?" Dan asked.
"This is after he left the Groups," Robin asked. "He's a good guy now."
They watched the discussion between everyone.
Robin turned to Superboy. "You were ready to give up being Conner for him? I didn't know that!"
"I would have hated not being Conner Kent any more," he answered. "But, I would have hated leaving him alone even more. It wouldn't have been right."
"I always wanted to ask you why you stepped in," Batman mentioned to Superman. "You knew the risks were great. It turned out well, but there was no indication it would be that way."
"It was a number of things," Superman answered. "On one level, I felt bad about the way I treated him. On another, I didn't want to lose Conner. What really drove my decision were his actions. He showed that he was a good person. I couldn't just abandon him."
"I'm glad you didn't," Kon said. "Any regrets now?"
"At the time, I made the right decisions," Batman answered. "If I knew then what I knew now, I would have made a different one."
"I didn't think I'd hear you admit that," Kon said.
"There is no shame in being wrong. Refusing to admit you were wrong, however, is foolish."
"He has proven himself to be very capable," J'onn said. "However, he had yet to reach his full potential."
Location: Match's mind, section 2D
Superman's face fell as he recognized what memory this was. "I should have known this was coming."
"What is this?" Kon asked.
"It's where I gave into my fears and betrayed Match's trust."
"You were manipulated," J'onn said. "We all were. It doesn't make what you did right, but there is an explanation for it."
"I never understood why he forced the issue," Batman said. "He could have left it alone and there was just as much chance we'd decide we were deceived as we would continue to distrust him."
"No, he was right to do so," J'onn argued. "Any of his actions would be viewed through the lens of whether he was trying to do the right thing or whether he was attempting to put us at ease."
"I would have been objective."
"Please, let's move on," Superman said.
The memory dissolved, and a pitch black wall appeared. Superman smashed it with one punch.
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More footnotes! 2A corresponds to Superboy #40. 2B occurs between Superboy #40 and Superman Jr. /Superboy Sr. 2C is the third chapter of Where Do We Go From Here. 2D is from Future Sins, chapter 5.
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