-TROUBLES OF YOUTH-
It was warm—Earth's yellow sun. The feeling it emitted was more than satisfying. Conner breathed in a sigh of relief at the feeling of solar energy. He stood there on the side of a mountain, basking in the light rays of morning. His red on black Solar Suit reacted positively with the intake, pumping solar energy where he needed it most…everywhere.
On his right was Superman, also standing to soak in the solar radiation of the sun—eyes closed he smiled. The previous night's battle had drained them both and like everything living needs nourishment, the two superheroes did too.
They remained quiet for the morning, the silence hung in the air and it was making Superboy quite anxious. In Clark's defence, basking in Earth's yellow sun was their peace time. Only an hour or so of standing and peace so quite was sort of required here. The morning rays shone like a beacon of hope for the day and the warmth if gave both literally to them, and poetically was beyond mesmerising.
Despite this great warmth and peace, Conner's mind was buzzing with unanswered questions and concerns. Topping the list was last night's battle and how Superboy was able to out of nowhere blast beams of fire from his eyes. His genetic code prevented him from doing so, or at least that was what he thought.
What was happening to him?
Conner furrowed, he would have no peace that morning. No, there were far too many thoughts in his mind. It could not have been the Shield patches that Luthor had given him, they were like drugs and Conner had been off of them for years.
Maybe it was because he was growing and as such was developing new powers from his exposure to the sun?
As he played that last thought back he realised how stupid it was and quickly dismissed it.
Conner could hear Superman's steady breathing and felt his mind easing a bit. The soft melodic escape of air was soothing. How could Clark do that? Conner thought. Remain calm and steady when I know he has as many questions in his head as I do.
After a few more minutes, Superman opened his eyes to the rays. He looked to Conner whom also opened his eyes and smiled at the boy. 'Wanna head back inside?' he asked.
Conner remained silent; he did not want to go inside just yet. He needed some time to think—time to think about just what is going on. Batman had said that it was only a distraction, the whole Doomsday wannabe fight. Then there were his extra Kryptonian abilities, though he had to admit that he did not feel the Heat Vision anymore.
They were at a sort of hidden army base of some sort in the north of America, an obscure instalment within the mountain itself.
Up at the top of the mountain, Conner still remained. Superman had flown down to the Army Base— he understood Conner's anguish and offered him a few words of comfort, 'We aren't defined purely on our mistakes. It's the attitude and the steps we take to rectify them.'
His thoughts played out before his eyes as he tried to piece together what was happening. After another hour he received a call through his earpiece. It was the rough voice of Batman requesting his presence.
'I'm on my way, Bruce.' With that Superboy jumped off the edge of the mountain top and slid down the side like he was on a skateboard.
In no time he reached the roof entrance of the instalment.
Conner ran through the concrete corridors of the army base. Its walls painted green with yellow lines, the sort of things you would expect in an army base. He saw several rooms where they had weaponry and labs with scientists, testing out something. It all looked rather familiar.
He even got a glimpse of a few genomorphs walking about and assisting some of the human scientists. This surprised Conner a lot. He thought that the Genomorphs were all dead, killed at CADMUS Labs. Conner felt a small ray of joy. His kin were alive. He'd have to ask Bruce about this.
Conner was running, he was rushing by so fast that he did not see a person striding by from the left intersection and to prevent crushing them, he skidded to a stop, tripping them both over.
'Argh, I'm so sorry, sir, please let me help—' Conner was stopped by the sight of who he had just ran into. It was a young woman of about seventeen or so, her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail. She was very beautiful by Conner's reckoning and instinctively he shot up and offered his hand to help her out. She took it and was back onto her feet. 'Sorry, ma'am, I didn't see you coming.'
'Yeah, well I wasn't exactly running now was I. So I guess my advice is to walk a little slower next time.' she said with a sharp edged yet youthful tone. She was shorter than him, tanned white complexion with a slender body hidden away by a white lab coat.
Conner chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. 'Sorry.' He then looked to the ground where he saw several folders and files scattered at their feet and again by instinct went down again to retrieve them.
'Ah, thanks,' she said as this strange young man went up again with her folders in hand to give back. She accepted them quickly and shuffled some over to their rightful placing.
'My name's Conner, what's yours?' Conner gave a lopsided grin.
She chuckled lightly, quickly examined the 'S' shield on his chest and then moved off, 'Not anything you need to know yet.' She said back with a smile.
Conner raced in front of her, blacking her path, 'Wait, I…I don't think I was doing it right. See, I was trying to start off being funny and charming…um, please, can I have, like, a second chance?'
The beautiful young woman smiled, she tried to hide the blush creeping to the surface of her smooth cheeks by tucking some loose strands of hair behind her ear. 'Well, right now you've got the funny bit done.' She gave him a sly grin and walked past him again and said, 'See you later, Superboy.'
By then, Conner was smiling like an idiot throughout his walk.
He hadn't walked far until he reached his destination. It had the words Operations Centre on a silver plaque next to the sliding glass door. Inside, Conner could distinctively see Cyborg and Superman.
He walked in through the receding doors and towards his friends. Each of them had a troubling look on their faces. 'What's up, guys,' he announced, choosing to ignore their expressions of worry. 'Do you guys know what's happening?'
They were at a circular table, much like the one at Watchtower, in a dark room of blue computer lights.
It was relatively empty besides Cyborg, Superman and now he could also see, Catwoman without her cowl and Wonder Woman all seated at the table in front of a huge monitor of about five seven metres across and two metres in height. He stood there for a while and looked at the before taking a seat at the round table.
'How are you feeling, Conner,' Cyborg asked, clearly concerned.
'I'm fine, Victor. It's okay. I haven't felt the Heat Vision coming back so I think whatever happened last night is over.'
'Far from it actually,' they were all startled by the appearance of Bruce Wayne, now in his business suit and tie. He walked over from the side of the room and headed towards the big computer screen. 'Now, I know that there are a lot of questions you all have. I say it's only fair that I give them to you and that I start from the beginning.'
The multi-billionaire pressed a button on a remote and the screen changed, displaying a diagram of a ringlike object that seemed so familiar…
...of course, Conner remembered, that same diagram was playing from Luthor's projection device.
'This diagram shows a device currently in the possession of the United States Government.'
'What is it?' Conner asked.
They all shared a glance at each other. 'I reckon he's ready for the full story now, do you think?' stated Selina.
'Or whatever it is we already know,' added Superman.
Bruce nodded in agreement. 'This is an ancient device discovered a century ago,' he made a gesture to the left. 'Doctor Baker is on the project now.'
Then out from the shadows entered a young and beautiful woman, and Superboy just sat there looking awkwardly stupid again…it was that same woman Conner had just bumped into in the corridor.
'Alicia?' everyone looked at Superman as he got up and walked over to the small figure. He began to chuckle as they hugged.
'Hiya, Clark.' She laughed.
They broke apart but were still holding onto each other's arms, 'God, I haven't seen you since you were… what…ten years-old?'
'You two know each other?' Diana asked, arms crossed emanating a stern look.
Clark cleared his throat though seeming oblivious to Diana's suspicious expressions. 'This is Alicia Baker. I used to babysit her when I attended Smallville High. Alicia lived in a farm next to mine.' He then turned back to Alicia. 'So what are you doing here?'
Alicia smiled and told him that they'd explain everything in due time.
The young woman presented herself in front of the group of superheroes. 'Hello, ah…as Clark has said, my name is Alicia Baker,' she said, 'I am the lead Physicist of SGC, studying the device in question. Now to answer your question...um, it's "Conner" isn't it?' she pointed at the Superman clone.
Conner just smiled nervously, trying his best not to blush but nodded indistinctly. However, the redness of his cheeks did not go unnoticed to some. Both Selina and Diana were looking at each other with knowing looks aimed at Conner.
Alicia's sly grin returned and she moved her attention back to the board. 'We know very little about the device but energy readings found on the inside of the ring matches that of the Boom Tubes that the JL use. So my guess is that the device is similar as that it is a teleportation device.'
'Hmm, it's probably an earlier design that influenced Darkseid's Boom Tubes.' Conner concluded after some thinking.
'That was our first impression, yes.'
Conner then scratched his head, another thought came in. 'So why does Lex Luthor want with this? Doesn't he already have a Mother Box which opens his own Boom Tube network?'
They all nodded. So far that was all that the rest have heard from Wayne. Superman and Wonder Woman were just informed of the whole operation last night as they arrived at SGC. Of course, Selina Kyle, Cyborg and Bruce Wayne were already involved but it appears to have ended there in regards to the Justice League.
'That was what got me,' Bruce started. 'A few weeks ago, our Central computer was hacked by a bounced IP address. They stole the research done on the device and planted an army of viruses.'
'So that was how I ended up seeing it in Luthor's hands?' inquired Conner.
Bruce and Doctor Baker both bobbed their heads. 'Their motives are of yet unknown but are likely unfavourable.' Bruce then changed the display into a golden sword on a rack, seemingly behind a glass case. 'Last night, during the attack in Metropolis, there was a robbery at the Metropolis Museum of Art. The stolen items are a bounded document from the Crusades and an ancient golden sword from England.'
'Okay, that seems strange.' they all agreed.
'My guess is that they are looking for the key that could open the gate.'
This time Alicia changed the screen—a metal looking panel rising about a metre from the ground with an impression of half a ball. It looked almost alien-like. 'This is the control panel found connected to the ring. Now, we know even less about it but judging by the energy signature we have detected it is very distinct and yet still unknown but we believe that whatever it houses must be used to activate the device.'
Clark shook his head, Conner understood his confusion. 'This still does not tell us why Luthor wants a piece of technology obsolete compared.'
Bruce nodded. His stern face began to soften as he considered what he's learnt. 'There is more to this than meets the eye and definitely more than we know of.' Bruce approached the table, placed his hands on the surface and sighed deeply. 'Guys, we are now involved in something that looks beyond the Justice League. Let's just hope that we are all prepared to face whatever is coming.'
He then turned to Superboy.
'Conner, I need to have that talk with you after this meeting. So stay behind, please.' Conner squinted. His suspicions running high, telling him that something else was going on that he was omitting from the rest of the team. But knowing Batman, Conner knew it best not to question him…yet.
The conversation that followed was quite softer and less serious. There was laughing and everybody's hearts were more calm, the melody more harmonious.
Soon after, they all left. Clark and Diana left for Clark's apartment in Metropolis while Selina Kyle and Dr Alicia Baker headed for their dorms as assigned to them in the facility. Conner was actually just about to go ahead and talk to Alicia but was requested to stay behind for a talk with Bruce Wayne.
Bruce just stood there beside Conner, staring at the screen showing the ring device. The distinct symbols along the ring highlighted and with annotations that spoke of Astrophysicist Dr Baker's research.
'A remarkable woman,' Bruce stated about Alicia. 'She completed her PhD in Physics—both astrophysics and Bio-entanglement Physics, at age seventeen.'
'And now you've recruited her?'
Bruce shrugged. 'Her resume was impressive and she was more than qualified. And as you have already seen, she knows everything about us.'
Conner nodded. 'So what did you want with me?'
Bruce Wayne sighed and with the remote he pressed a button and the display changed. The screen became plain blue and then appeared an emblem— an isosceles triangle in a circle with a smaller disk directly above it. There were words below the symbol; Conner guessed that that was the name of the project or facility.
STARGATE COMMAND AND SECURITY
The multi-billionaire playboy smiled, hands in his pockets he glanced at the emblem and then back at Conner. The Superboy, cross genetic clone of the Man of Steel and Lex Luthor. 'Join us.'
—=S=—
C.S Lewis once said that 'Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.'
P.S. Also read my other works too, especially 'Leader Needed'.
