Author's Note: Thought or Emphasis; Flashback; Thought or Emphasis in Flashback. Certain type may also be used signify SOUND or other dramatic effects as necessary.
I don't own Teen Titans. I also don't own the Fortress of Solitude: a nice, large, cool-tempered place which I think would be a nice change from this stuffy room I've been in all year.
What's that? Going outside for air? Well, how would I write this story then, silly?
Read and review.
Teen Titans: The Titans of Tomorrow
Episode III Part 2: The Boy of Steel
"Look, Nightstar, I don't want to hurt you."
Under Cyborg's crafting hands, the Tower's exercise room was filled with weights, fighting dummies, and state-of-the-art machines, each designed to mold Earth's young heroes into fighting form. The level below even held an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
None of those were in use right now, however, except for a couple of punching mitts worn by the strongest Titan in the city... possibly second-strongest, if her training partner bothered to put forth the effort.
Said partner, the famous Superboy, was in a breathable black mesh T-shirt, the classic S-shield in red print, keeping on his usual blue pants. Martin had offered him the spare shirt (fan merchandise) since the blue top he first came with was being repaired at the time. Rather than wear the whole costume on all the time, Jon chose to keep the black shirt on for training purposes.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I am... you know."
"It's just a couple of punches. One, two." She patted the mitts together. "I've got some alien strength too, in case you forgot how I saved you?"
"Don't remind me."
"Believe me, I can take it."
"Okay, here goes."
He unleashed his fist... and made contact, a normal jab barely making her budge.
"...Really, Jon?" She pouted. "Robin can punch three times harder than that... and that's with a cold."
"But-"
"Don't ask about it!" A possibly primal urge to see such strength pushed her to push him. "Just do it!"
"Alright, fine!"
The second attempt went much as Mar'i expected.
His punch was certainly stronger.
The attempt also went better than expected.
She felt proof of that when she crashed back-first into the padded, now dented, wall.
Standing on wobbling legs, she moaned. "Not... bad."
"Hey, M'gann!" Jon looked to his other training partner. "You wanna take a shot at me?"
She froze, a deer caught in cerulean headlights. "Me?"
"Don't see any other Titans here." Hornet and Kid Flash were in the living room—the Game Station 7 wouldn't play itself, after all.
"Okay..." For convenience, M'gann's cloak receded into the costume. "…but I warn you, I'm not much of a hand-to-hand fighter."
"Hey, that's all good." He tried to keep things comfortable. "Tell you what: I'll make the first move."
"Alright." She took a defensive stance. "Could you take it easier on me than...?" Her amber-red eyes glanced at the girl still leaning against the wall.
"You got it."
He ran in, throwing a right-handed punch as before, trying to pare down his power...
…and landed right next to where Mar'i stood. A matching dent was in the wall beside hers, his body upside-down and his eyes wide open.
M'gann instantly came to his side. Hurting a new potential teammate in the first week? And Superboy? The Superboy? She would never be able to live it down! "Are you okay? I didn't use too much strength, did I?" She muttered to herself, "I thought I was in control of this form..."
"Are you serious?"
His voice cut so deep, she briefly considered going invisible—no, she would sink right through the floor, despite her density training being incomplete. Yes, never breaching the earth's surface again was the best way to hide her shame-
"That was AMAZING!"
"…huh?"
"Dad always took it easy, so he never showed me that!" Cerulean orbs sparked with excitement. "You gotta teach me that move!"
Her heart swelled with pride.
"Sure!"
"The rules are simple," Hornet announced. "Five laps around the track; the first to cross the red line wins."
On the shore of the island, the Titans waited at the start of a flattened path wrapping around the island. A metal obelisk projected a waist-high beam of light that acted as the starting line.
"You might have some powers to go with that S on your chest," she pointed, "but that still doesn't make you..." she posed, hands on her hips. "The Fastest Girl Alive!"
"Well, I sure hope I'm not, KF," he responded, "or else both our dads have some questions to answer."
Kid applauded. "Ooh, you made me a nickname, and you're quick on the draw!" She yelled over to the Titans at the monitor, "HEY MAR'I! THIS ONE'S A KEEPER!"
Hornet rolled his eyes. "Can we just start the race already?"
"Your boyfriend's right, you know." Jon stared ahead with a smirk. "We really should go."
Her sly smile vanished. Jon did not realize his use of a certain word may have sealed his doom. "I hope you're hungry, Super Slug, 'cause now you're definitely gonna be eating my dust!"
"3, 2, 1, GO!"
They were gone.
Hornet paused for reflection.
"You know, I probably should've set this up for just one lap."
"Why?" M'gann inquired.
"Because…"
WOOSH.
Two blurs blew past, nearly taking everyone off their feet.
"…that's gonna happen four more times."
Four gale-force winds later, the duo came to a stop, each grinning in presumed victory.
"HA! I win! Flash speed trumps Super speed every time."
"No way, that was my win!"
"Ha!" She stared him down, despite the fact he was a head taller. "I literally raced circles around you!"
"I think those goggles are messing with your eyes!"
Green and blue clashed, neither giving ground, until it was decided.
"Rematch?"
"Rematch!"
They were gone.
"Aaaand there they go again." Hornet wiped the newly upturned dust off his costume. "I'm going out for lunch. Anybody up for pizza?"
"Are you ready?"
"I think so."
Two Titans joined Jon in the rocky desert east of the city. The team had decided that he would need space for this next part of his training. He wore his full costume now, figuring that if he was going to show off, he might as well be wearing the proper threads.
"So what did your father ever teach you?"
"About this? Not much. He said it came pretty much naturally to him. He figured my powers hadn't matured enough yet." The boy did not know it at the time, but a solar flare that day awakened his dormant alien genes, which had been active for well over a year and a half now.
"From what Mar'i told me, Tamaraneans absorb solar radiation to feed their powers." Miss Martian explained her theory. "Uncle never told me, but judging by your reaction to the solar lights in the infirmary, I believe Kryptonians work the same way. This sunny afternoon should bring us the perfect conditions for flight."
"It's still hard to believe you didn't know how to fly," the star child mused.
"I can cross city blocks in a single jump when I get moving fast enough, but staying up in the air? Nothing." His posture slumped from the weight of his failure. "Just… don't rub it in, okay?"
"There's no need to feel bad, Superboy. I'm still working on my powers too," M'gann confessed. "I've been at working on density shifting for about a decade. And with Killroy…" She recalled his startling collapse. "I'm still not quite sure what happened."
"Well, why don't you just show us, Jon?" Mar'i cut in before a pity party could start. "Get in the air, and maybe we can give you some pointers."
"Alright." He stepped away a few paces and crouched—then thought about it, and stepped back further. "Here goes."
He tensed…
…and jumped, a blue rocket launching into the sky. He stretched his arms straight ahead, as if reaching out to the sun would propel him further.
The girls followed him below, tracking his ascent—and true to his word, he faltered. The outstretched arms now flailed helplessly as gravity began to reclaim him.
"AAAAHHHH—"
The ground cut him off with a BANG.
Mar'i made it to him first, waving away the dust cloud. "Are you okay?"
An answer eked out of the crater.
"…ow."
"I just don't get it!" Back at the tower, Jon was still rubbing dirt out of his hair. "It's like there's this brick wall in front of me."
"There may be one in your mind," M'gann figured. "A mental block, that is. Either it was placed in the mind for a reason by a powerful psychic—"
"Haven't fought one of those."
"—or it's a psychological obstacle erected by the person afflicted to overcome."
"If that's all, then it's easy!" The desperate boy proclaimed. "You told me that you're psychic—mind-reading, telepathy, that sort of thing, right?" He grabbed her shoulders. "You can break it!"
"I…" The Martian maiden felt his hopeful gaze pulling her in.
She wished she could say yes.
She backed away. "I can't."
His face fell; his arm slackened at his sides. "What?"
"What I mean," she affirming her voice, "is that I shouldn't. Communication with others' minds is one thing, and skimming for information is another, but breaking barriers, especially if they're deeply set, can have dangerous consequences. I don't want to risk hurting you."
A groan left his lips, but there was still hope.
"I believe, though, that when you need it, your power of flight will come."
His hand twitched to dish out the despair on the nearest wall, but he managed to restrain himself with a huff. "Fine."
He worked without flying this long, he could wait a bit more time.
That didn't mean he would like it.
He had no idea that Kid Flash would provide him with a release for his frustrations as she burst from the living room. "Nightstar, we got trouble!"
Rather than check the breaking news, Jon extended his senses, picking up a sound that was growing louder. It was the same assault on the ears, multiple times.
BOOM.
His telescopic sight witnessed the events.
A blonde man in alien attire, laughing evilly, shouting orders to…
What in the world…?
Mari asked the obvious. "Let me guess: Killroy?"
"Yeah." Jon closed his eyes, focusing back into the room. "He's back. He's got monsters, troops, whatever they are... a lot of them."
Jon stated it simply:
"I'll need your help."
The leader simply looked back to her team. "What do you say, Titans?"
Hornet adjusted his gloves.
Kid Flash put on her goggles.
Miss Martian answered for them all.
"You didn't even have to ask, Superboy."
Nightstar felt a familiar rush as she said the words her distant partner had a dozen times over.
Another feeling went through her too—a stroke of uncertainty.
She just hoped those two words brought them good luck:
"TITANS, GO!"
The Titans stopped downtown, making their way opposite the flow of scared citizens, to get a full look. They each had their reactions.
Nightstar: "Great X'hal above!"
Miss Martian: "By the sands of Mars…"
Kid Flash: "Holy crap."
They had good reason to be disturbed, as the Boom Tube that heralded their recent foe's return was accompanied by several more, each releasing an outpouring of ghoulish creatures. Each of the monsters had granite-shaded skin, black, mindless eyes, jade-green under armor, and gold-plated wings, similar to the colors of their leader. Some held guns of Apokoliptian origin, others held golden clubs, and still others scraped at the city's walls, windows, and people with their bare claws.
"YES, MY PARADEMONS! GO! DESTROY IT ALL!"
The Titans found Killroy above the carnage, standing on a floating platform of energy apparently manifesting from his boots.
Superboy came into the villain's view, the S-shield a tantalizing bullseye. "Ah, so you've finally come out of hiding?"
"Look, you want to have some stupid vendetta with me? Fine, we'll fight it out..."
A Parademon swiped at a scattering crowd of civilians.
"...But you can't take your anger out on these people!"
"Oh, I can, son of Superman, and these mortals are to blame!" His eyes filled with hate. "They brought my wrath upon their heads when they interfered with our battle!"
"You picked a bad place for a second round, dreg!" Hornet proclaimed. "We got home field advantage!"
"You'll have neither home nor field once I've razed everything to the ground, you lowborn bug."
"Not while I'm here, Killroy." Jon-El proudly raised a thumb and pointed to his family's crest.
The enemy beckoned, arms wide.
"Then face your better!"
As the menacing multitude coalesced around the five, Miss Martian asked, "How can we stop all of this?"
Nightstar looked around, gulping at the sight. There were so many of these monsters, worst of all the one in man's guise at their head…
But she would not be daunted. She took a breath, gave a silent prayer to X'hal and her mother for strength, and made her decision.
"We contain the threat. Hornet, Kid Flash!" They snapped to attention. "Distract them, knock them out—do whatever it takes to keep them close. No one goes beyond a three-block radius from this position."
"On it," they resounded in unison.
"Since most of them are still here, Miss Martian and I will handle the inside. If necessary, we'll be support for Superboy." She looked his way. "Superboy, you-"
"HAH!"
The four heard a pounding sound, followed by a pained screech. They spotted a green-and-yellow mass speeding overhead and landing head-first into an office building.
"…go after Killroy." She shook her head. "Titans, move!"
Hornet and Kid sparked with their respective energies, and they were off, crashing through a few enemies as they departed.
Miss Martian took the enemies to her left, using the nearby debris to her advantage. In minutes, one after another collided with a wrecked car, was crushed by a concrete boulder, or was batted back with a lamppost.
One descended from behind to crush her bones in a bear hug, but his growls gave him away. A field of psychic force surrounded her and pressed back with a thought. He bounced off the invisible wall, giving Miss Martian the opening to grasp onto his head.
The telepathic Titan learned quickly via mind-scan that the Parademons had practically no identity of their own, following the orders of their commander as if ingrained into their very DNA.
This rid her of any guilt she would have otherwise felt as she pierced into the little mind there was.
Sleep.
The compulsion froze the attacker, who she used as her next projectile.
Meanwhile, Nightstar put her physical ability to good use. She floored each creature before her with one or two punches, and blasted a few back with her starbolts and eye beams.
Still, she could not catch them all, and a Parademon grazed her shoulder with his gun. Channeling that spark of new fury into power, she returned fire with a terse purple bolt, the resulting explosion taking out its gun and charring its armor.
The creature was undeterred and came head on, displaying a surprising bit of intelligence when it leaped over her next shots and came down with his hands in a double ax handle. Nightstar met the overhead strike with an arm block, and the asphalt beneath her buckled from the force. She forced back and returned the favor, grabbing the Parademon's shoulders and shoving him face-first into the dirt. A pound to the head planted the enemy for good measure.
Nightstar could not even take a breath of relief before a screech of another sounded behind her. She turned and instantly lashed out her hands to meet its clawed ones. Faced with the thought of losing time and lives, she decided to finish this faster.
"I hate to do this kind of thing, but…"
She let her hands glow with energy. The creature heard and felt the skin of its hands begin to sizzle, and after a torturous half-minute released its grip. The painful distraction was enough for the heroine to deliver a fist that sent her opponent bowling into a trio of the incoming beasts.
The swarm circling her and her nearby teammates suggested that this fight could and would take much more effort to beat.
"I'm not quite sure if I have that much in me," she whispered to herself. "But I have to try."
Getting into the air, she faced her next opponent head on.
"I just hope the others are having an easier time than us."
Kid Flash wasn't the best student in school, but she had a knack for physics.
Newton's second law of motion, in particular, was her best friend. In simple math terms, force equals mass times acceleration.
And she was very good at accelerating.
This was how her fists, with a little help from the Speed Force, were able to dent a Parademon's armor with a rush of punches.
With that one finally felled by a rising uppercut, she tripped another by sliding at its leg with a discarded crowbar. Finding a use for the dropped mace, she grabbed it and, with a spinning hammer toss, hurled the burdensome object at a third's head, downing it with one blow.
"TAKE THAT, YOU UGLY ALIEN SCUM! ...heh, sure hope Megan didn't hear that." A group of the beasts did, however, and fired at her from above.
"That's right, come and get me." She zoomed down the street, their vision too focused on her to notice the trap ahead: an electric web that shocked them and caused them to plummet to the ground.
While Kid was always fascinated by Hornet's bio-electricity constructs, this time he wasn't around to appreciate the results himself.
A short distance away, the boy in question enlarged from his perch on a Parademon's shoulder to deal a shocking strike it its neck. He departed and watched his falling foe, but couldn't enjoy it; for another low flier clipped a taxi, causing the car to launch at a helpless trio of teenaged girls. Two managed to run, but the third tripped and fell to a knee. She rubbed her shin to soothe the pain, but spotted a shadow growing on the ground.
She looked up to the heart-stopping sight.
One girl gasped. "SHELLY!"
It was too late to move in time.
She closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate…
…when the car suddenly halted in midair, captured in a neon-green electromagnetic field.
"Hey, ladies." Their guardian angel arrived, speaking casually despite the slight strain. "Need some help?"
Hornet landed the car back on the curb, drinking up the cheers. He descended in front of the three girls, one with her phone in hand as she told her circle of online friends the news.
The girl he saved from being a pancake pecked him on the cheek, a portrait for internet prosperity (about ten minutes). "Thanks, Green Hornet!"
"No problem, but uh," he found himself off-balance for more than one reason, "it's just 'Hornet.'"
While the others gushed about how incredible this was, Shelly had a proposition. "So, I was thinking..." her hand fell on his chest, "Maybe if the world hasn't ended, we could go out for-"
"Hey, Romeo! I've been running in circles without air support over here!" Kid Flash braked a few feet behind him. "Fighting now, fangirls later?"
"Wait! Here's my number!" Shelly hastily scribbled onto a slip of paper and stuffed it into his hand, her sisters giggling behind her.
He grinned, happy that the hero life had its perks…
…but when he blinked, his glove was empty, courtesy of a wind that also blew the girl's hair into her face.
He knew the cause. "Kid!"
"See what happens when you take your eyes off the prize?" The redheaded racer dangled the slip from her fingers. "You end up wide open."
"Excuse me! We were talking! Who do you think you are?" Shelly wondered, moving in a little closer to her prize, who'd raised his brows in curiosity and surprise.
Two fiery emeralds stared at the girl's move with laser focus. For a brief moment, the heroine considered the ethics—and physics—of smacking a civilian away from her partner at half the speed of sound.
"Me? I'm Kid Flash, one of the heroes saving your skinny butt right now, and the Fastest Girl Alive." As a demonstration of her speed, the slip of paper in her hands instantly turned to shreds. "Oops, ripped! Sorry about that." She couldn't resist a satisfied smile at hearing the normal girl gasp. "You get home quickly now! Buh-bye!" A red, yellow, and blue blur was left behind.
Hornet wasn't totally sure what just happened, but he found himself chuckling all the same. "She's right. Duty calls." Saluting goodbye, he summoned his wings and reentered the fray, making sure Kid didn't get killed riding that Parademon on which she'd just leaped. "Stay safe!"
This left the girl standing on a curb with a slacked jaw and a bruised ego.
"Hmph! Fine!"
She trudged back to her sisters, who would no doubt laugh at her adventure on the long walk home.
"I liked Robin more anyway."
Back with the trio, Superboy was not faring well. He may not have been beheaded like Killroy wanted, but he found himself back where he started—with some really annoying additions.
To his luck, he began to match the alien adversary blow for blow when it came to strength, but his attacks could never stay consistent, as he would either float out of his reach or (with a command of "PROTECT!") have a Parademon to summon.
"Dangit…" He swung a frustrated punch where the man's head used to be. "Quit fighting dirty!"
"I merely fight to win." Killroy tossed a backhand that knocked the boy back into the path of a gold-colored club swung by yet another annoyance. Stumbling forward left Superboy open to the verdant villain's kick. His back met the deformed carcass of a bus.
He fell to his knees, coughing up specks of blood.
"You seem more resilient than I remember." The Apokoliptian stood amused.
"Guess I'm…" the Earthling forced down a cough and wiped the red line off his chin, "tougher than you think."
"Then the game continues." The villain gripped the weapon at his side. "Surely you remember this?"
The boy's face blanched.
Killroy threw his ax, a glowing, spinning razor as thirsty for blood as its wielder. Superboy's brain shouted at his muscles to move, and they painfully complied with a great leap. The bus was but a stick of butter sliced with a hot knife from outer space, an even bigger mess of warped metal left behind.
The blade returned to the owner, who threw it for another attempt. Superboy thought to run but was intercepted by another Parademon, its clawed left hand aiming for his head.
Superboy ducked under the arm and grasped it, an over-the-shoulder throw putting the Parademon into the path of Killroy's ax. He grimaced at the hiss the flying blade made when it cleaved through the armor and sank into the flesh.
Thank you, M'gann.
"So cowardly."
Its master gave no pause to the dying beast, ripping the ax out of its back with nary a grunt of exertion.
"Just as before, you run from the fight."
"Give it up already." The boy in blue tried to ignore the words. "You're not hitting me with that thing."
The monstrous man threw it again, heading for Superboy's chest.
"Perhaps not… but I may hit my target yet."
With a flick of the hand, the ax curved away, soaring over his head.
"But where would you…?" His eyes followed to none other than Miss Martian, occupied with a psychic wall thrusting an enemy away.
"NO! Miss-"
"CRUSH!"
On Killroy's command, a veritable platoon of Parademons tackled Superboy from all sides, forcing him into the dirt and smothering his warning. "Mmmph!"
Miss Martian sensed something amiss, but it was no use. Widened blue orbs were unable to look away from the ax cleaving a path through Miss Martian's right shoulder. "AHH!" Her body bleeding and her consciousness lost, she started to plummet.
Nightstar heard her cry out, and screamed herself at the sight. "M'GANN!" A clawed hand swiping across her cheek forced her back into her own brawl.
"Now you see, son of Superman!" Hovering on the platforms beneath his feet again, the blonde brute had grabbed the unconscious Martian in mid-fall, now lifting her by her left arm. "This is what your weakness has cost you!"
Jon-El, under the mountain of minions, heard it all; the strikes to his teammates; the screams of the innocent; the seemingly joyous shrieks of the Parademons as they wreaked havoc on a city that inherited his troubles.
They're all suffering because I wasn't strong enough the first time...
Because I was afraid.
His hands dug into the pavement.
I can't let this happen anymore.
I won't let this happen anymore...
I won't be afraid anymore…
No more!
"You may not be Superboy, green girl, but one way or another, I will take a trophy today!" He retrieved his weapon, looking for just the right angle to deal the imminent death blow.
He failed to notice the rumbling from the dogpile.
"NO MORE!"
The pile exploded outward from a flare of solar energy.
In the middle stood the battered boy in blue, eyes aglow with the threat of fire.
"KILLROY!"
The shout shook the evil alien down to his bones, but his pride would not let him ignore the battle cry. He turned to see Superboy tense for a jump.
That was all he saw.
A flicker of blue later, and Superboy appeared beside him, a grip on Killroy's wrist growing tighter, almost daring him to hold Miss Martian for a few seconds more.
It had not even occurred to him that his supposed prey was at eye level beside him; his tension before was not a mere leap, but preparation...
...for flight.
"Let her go."
Faced with those fearsome eyes and the increasing pain spreading through his arm, he released Miss Martian into Superboy's grasp. Another blur later, and the two heroes were on a distant rooftop.
"M'gann?" He lightly patted her face to see if she would respond. "Come on, please don't be dead..."
A pained moan showed that she was coming out of her forced slumber.
"Superboy?" Her vision cleared, she stared into those twin cerulean orbs with awe... but the beautiful distraction had to wait. "Mar'i—ahn!" The wound to her shoulder curbed her outburst.
"I'll help her out in a minute. Are you going to be okay?"
"I'll heal quickly." It was one of the perks of having a Martian's physiology. "I just need some time."
"Good to hear." A gentle smile hit his lips. "And don't worry." The smile succumbed to sadness. "You and the others won't be hurt anymore because of me."
"Jon, it's not your-"
"Just sit tight." He looked back into the fray. "I have a fight to finish."
Meanwhile, Killroy was still trying to comprehend what happened, how the blue blur smashed through the crowd assaulting the purple girl with such ease, how he survived the onslaught of maces and lasers that felled him minutes before… and more importantly:
"How did he… make me feel fear?" He mumbled, unnerved. "The quarry is not supposed to frighten the hunter!"
"Like I said," Superboy came back to him, arms folded, "I'm tougher than you think."
A vein pulsed over Killroy's left brow. "No! I… I am stronger!" His fury consumed him. "SUPERIOR!" A forehand swing of his ax came at the young hero's head with the force to shear a normal man in half.
He simply intercepted the sides of the blade with his hands, bracing through the burn, pushing back at equal strength.
"Why... won't you..." the man strained to push forward, "just give up?"
The boy's eyes glowed red.
"Did you forget who I am?"
He fired a low-powered blast of heat-vision at Killroy's chest, breaking the villain's focus. This slackened his forward push just enough for the Titan to leave the ax's path and deal a jaw-shaking right cross.
"I'm Superboy!"
When the ax swung his way out of pained reflex, he flew with it and slammed a left fist into the wielding arm, stunning it and causing the weapon to fall from his opponent's grasp. With only one arm for defense, the adversary from off-world could not protect himself from an iron-hard jab, sending him into the brick wall of a building his forces wrecked in their attack.
"And you're DONE!"
Not letting up for a moment, Superboy unleashed a furious flurry of fists. Each punch, with the speed of a Flash but the force of a freight train, crashed into Killroy's wall-bound form, small booms elicited at impact. Every blow the Apokoliptian had thrown in their first battle was returned tenfold by the half-Kryptonian in this one.
A final uppercut laid Killroy to land on his back, staring into the sky of the planet he invaded.
This boy... is... too much...
Superboy saw him sit up, and was set to slam him down for the count-
"STOP!"
Killroy yelled out to the Parademons, halting as programmed. Nightstar stopped her eye beams from toasting the nearest one, despite a slight temptation.
"You..."
The verdant villain's glare lost focus, his eyes glassed over as the truth set in.
"You... win."
His body began falling back...
...But he was not allowed rest.
Superboy grabbed him before his head hit the dirt, yanking him up by the scruff of his top.
"Look at you now. You can't even stand."
He lifted him higher.
"Me? I've still got some power to spare."
Now only his left hand held up the villain, the other hand clenched into a fist to line up with Killroy's face.
"I could pound your head until it falls off your shoulders... or, if I really try, turn you and your friends to ashes."
Brown eyes widened, pupils shrinking in fear of failure and death. "But Superman does not kill!"
"True..."
The corner of Superboy's blood-marked lips upturned.
"But I'm not Superman, am I?"
His teammates watched for a sign. The purple powerhouse charged a starbolt, just in case.
He wouldn't go that far, would he?
She felt another voice in her head respond.
He won't.
M'gann! While the voice was familiar to her mind, it was still a surprise to hear. Did you read his mind?
I don't have to. Jon won't do it... I can feel it.
"But... I'm also no killer." Sure enough, his hand let slack, the arm falling to its proper place. Nightstar loosed a breath she didn't know she held. "Which is why I'm giving you one chance. You set up that Boom Tube, you go home, and you never threaten Earth again. If not..."
The son of Superman pulled the son of Steppenwolf close, staring deep into his eyes, reflecting a burning crimson.
"...we finish where we left off." The deadly light receded. "Understand?"
Killroy, too tired and afraid to speak, nodded.
With a single arm, the Boy of Steel tossed him at the feet of his minions.
"Now get off my planet."
The invader's communicator (surprisingly not broken after the beatdown) broadcast the message directly into their minds:
"PARADEMONS! BACK TO APOKOLIPS! RETREAT!"
BOOM.
Multiple Boom Tubes appeared once more, the two-toned swarms returning to their homeworld, to be wielded as living weapons or turned into food for the lowlies another day. Carried off by the crowd before him, Killroy vanished into the bright portal... hopefully, never to be seen again.
At long last, the invasion was over.
Jon let his senses take in the city, hearing some of the screams and sobs change to cheers, Jump's citizens knowing that their heroes saved the day.
Heroes...
He was a hero.
He fell to his knees, the weight of the threat no longer a yoke on his shoulders, but the pain of the day taking its place.
Hornet reached out a hand, gratefully accepted.
"Thanks."
The boys began to make the trek back to the girls...
...when a streak solidified in front of them, talking at rapid fire.
"So I was just making sure those green freaks were all gone—no offense, lightning bug—stopped to pick up a quick bite, and-"
Kid Flash saw nothing but debris.
"You already took him down?"
Superboy only smiled.
"Aw, man, I missed everything!"
"Are you going to be okay, Jon?"
The Titans stood at the island shore, wishing their newest member goodbye. Hornet and Kid Flash had already said their piece: the former asking to get his cousin Power Woman's autograph and picture whenever he got the chance (for which he received a speedster's slap upside the head), and the latter promising to beat him for sure in their next race (no flying allowed, of course). In return, Superboy wanted to meet the "Robin" that Nightstar talked about; Batman and Superman were friends, so maybe they could get along too.
"I'll be fine, thanks to you—to all of you guys, really." He stared up at the giant metal T. "You didn't just help me feel like a hero again; you made me feel at home.
"Oh, and thanks for patching up my clothes again," he gave a knowing grin, "though I couldn't help but notice the shield was a little different."
Indeed, where an altered S-shield once spread over his chest, the true family sigil now showed itself proudly.
It felt right.
"That was my doing. Consider it my gift to you for helping me." Also, being the Super-fan that she was, M'gann couldn't help but add it this time. "I just wish that my weakness wasn't the impetus for your growth, Superboy." She gripped the shoulder that once suffered a wound, and stared down in shame.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up about that." He waved it off. "After all, you were right. When I truly needed the power, I bashed down whatever was in my way. If I got the power of flight by saving a friend, that's okay with me." He stepped over and placed his hand over hers, gently pulling it off and returning it to her side. "Besides, if there's anything I've learned these past few days, is that we all take a couple hits sometimes. We just gotta brush ourselves off, stand tall," he raised her chin with his free hand, "and keep on fighting, right?"
Superboy's contact with her and his award-winning smile was enough to make the Martian maiden melt—almost literally. "Right!"
"Well, I'd better be moving on." He stepped out to the edge of the rocky cliff, looking up into the morning sky. "Knowing my hometown, it probably needs the help." And knowing my mom, she's probably gonna kill me, he kept to himself.
"How are you getting home?" Mar'i was still the worrywart.
"Easy." He leapt gently, and stayed in the air. "I'm pretty sure I've gotten the hang of this!"
"Good." She nodded. "But remember-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. When there's trouble…"
He raised his new Titan Communicator.
"…I'll know who to call."
With a salute, he went up, up...
"Later!"
WOOSH.
…and away, a blue and red streak cutting across the sky.
"There he goes."
M'gann stared dreamily into the distance.
"Yeah."
The boy was already out of sight. "He really has gotten better."
"Yeah."
Mar'i caught on, with a grin usually seen on her little brother.
"You so have a crush on him."
"Ye-" M'gann blinked. "WHAT? ME? No, I just... um... he's just..." She wisely left to save herself from further embarrassment. "I'll see you inside!"
Mar'i held in a giggle. She had a lot to write about in her diary today (yes, even a girl of a digital age wrote in a paper diary), and a lot to tell Robin when he got back.
But before she could head inside herself, she needed to assist someone.
The son of Superman returned from his brief journey with an important question:
"Hey, uh, which way is Kansas again?"
Episode III END
Another heaping helping of heroism—and another twist on the next generation.
An early inspiration for this "episode" was the Elseworlds graphic novel titled Son of Superman, from which I got his original S-shield.
I named him Jon Kent/Jon-El, by the way, because it would be a perfect way to honor his grandfather Jonathan and make the name short enough to remember. Also, the alien name sounds like something Jonny Kent would carelessly blurt out in a Daily Bugle interview ("My name's Jon... EL! Jon-El is my name, yeah, that's it!"). The existence of the villain Jon Lane Kent in the New 52 comics turned out to be a coincidence I discovered while writing the story.
You may be asking, am I gonna do anything with M'gann and Jon here? I dunno! I guess we'll find out together, won't we?
Keep your eyes peeled for more, Titanic readers.