Full disclosure: I forgot about the earthquakes in the last chapter! I'm working them back into this one.
Chapter 8: The last Super supper
Back in the Cave, Alfred was there to greet them all. When he learned where Batson had been for the last few hours, he insisted that the boys eat a good meal before their molecules were reshuffled back into their universe. Bruce attempted to protest but Alfred gave a decisive raise of his brow and declared that "he would not give the other Alfred Pennyworth any reason to doubt his ability to care for the members of the Wayne family under any circumstances."
Clark half-raised his hand. "I was just exposed to a lot of kryptonite, Alfred," he offered tentatively.
"Then you must join us upstairs for dinner, Master Clark."
Any remaining traces of kryptonite-induced nausea seemed to vanish from Clark's face as he happily followed the three upstairs to the dining room.
Batman knew when he was beat and so began to work at the mainframe while Wonder Woman decided to catch up on her mission log dictations for the time being. They worked quietly until Bruce saw something on the monitor that he didn't like. "Diana, look," he said simply. She came to his side and her eyes widened as she studied the screen.
"A series of earthquakes at every site we flew over on our way from England," she observed aloud. "I don't understand – you said that fear was the trigger for these earthquakes?"
"They've been here for two days now. Their unstable molecules might have set off their previously stable ones too. Either that, or they might not require a trigger anymore."
"Then why this delay? We must send them back as soon as possible!"
Bruce gave her a wicked grin. "Granted you're not afraid of me, Princess, but I didn't see you object this strongly in front of Alfred." He received an Amazonian thwack in return.
Meanwhile, upstairs the Super Sons were seated on either side of Clark. Clark had spent a good amount of time with each of the boys individually but when the two were together their dynamics were next level (and to be perfectly honest Clark felt a little stunned by it all). The questions were coming at him, rapid-fire. "Clark, is there In-N-Out in this universe?"
"Why do you even care about In-N-Out? There's no In-N-Out in Gotham! Clark, is there McDonald's in this universe?"
"Dude, what the… You know there's McDonald's in this universe! We passed like seven of them on our way here! We even went through their drive-thru earlier! No, Clark, answer me this: is there a Haagen-Dazs in this universe? Also, more importantly, what does Haagen-Dazs mean in this universe?"
"Wait, Batson buddy… that's important, but shouldn't we ask more important questions if we're breaking the 'no questions about parallel earths' rule?"
"You're absolutely right, CJ baby. Clark, is there a Beyoncé in this universe? AW YEAH!" The two boys reached across Clark to exchange elaborate high fives while Clark continued unobtrusively to eat his meal. "Speaking of beautiful women, Clark, what's the Commander's deal in this universe? Is she seeing that lucky bastiche Colonel Trevor?"
"DUDE, get this: in this universe, not only does your dad have history with your mom and Talia al Ghul, but with Wonder Woman too!"
"Wait, WHAT?! Uncle C, is this true?"
There was finally a pause in the conversation as both young men looked at him expectantly. It took a second for Clark to realize that they actually expected him to answer when they addressed him this time. "…Well, now," he began, unsure of how to explain his best friends' complicated romantic history, "It is true that Bruce and Diana—"
"It's true! My dad HIT THAT in this universe?!"
Clark's eyes widened as he backtracked quickly, "Well, now, I don't know if—"
"They're alone downstairs right now! No wonder you wanted to come up here with us!" CJ cried.
"Hey, that's unfair!" Clark protested weakly, "I just like Alfred's cooking."
But the Super Sons didn't hear him, so busy were they wrapping their heads around the implications of what they wanted to hear. "Yo, there is *definitely* some monkey business going on down there."
"They're probably making out all over the mainframe keyboard right now," CJ hypothesized placidly, "Putting up all sorts of weird characters onscreen. Making the spellchecker go crazy…"
"Dude, that's my dad you're talking about," Batson objected as he made a face, but then reconsidered. "But I did inherit my mojo from him and he's the dude who's scoring with the Commander! AW YEAH!" They exchanged their bro-fives again.
Meanwhile Clark was muttering, "They never even went out on a single date…" but then sighed. It was no use. It was Bruce's own fault for being so… flighty.
The boys grew serious a few minutes later only when the ground began to shake. CJ glared. "Batson, remember the earthquake thing we talked about yesterday? I don't know what you're thinking about right now, buddy, but put a lid on it."
Batson shook his head blankly. "Ra's and Talia hit me with so many sedatives that I'm incapable of feeling any strong emotions right now."
"What have we been doing this entire time?"
"Those were a little *baser* than emotions, if you know what I mean." His irreverent grin was interrupted when he nearly toppled over from an especially strong jerk of the earth.
Clark knew that it was time to get them downstairs in one piece without stirring up any of their emotions. "One of you is afraid right now, but you shouldn't be," he told them gently, standing up, "I'm here to keep you safe."
The rumbling became stronger. "You're making it worse, Superman," said CJ with a sad smile, "The trigger for the earthquakes isn't fear. It's love."
This resonated strongly with Superman. Big Clark and little Clark finally met eyes and the former felt a powerful tug behind the base of his sternum…and he understood. Despite their differences up until now he finally saw himself in CJ (it was the look in the boy's eyes!) and felt a wave of love and protectiveness so strong that it almost physically brought him to his knees. CJ was his son. CJ was his son!
Of course love was the trigger! What could be stronger than that?
"Dude, STOP loving your parallel dad!" Batson cried as he fell over again.
"Your molecules are becoming increasingly unstable," Clark explained, "We need to send you back home before not even the transporter pod can contain you." He scanned the next room over to check if Alfred was safe (he was) then grabbed the two boys to jet them to the Cave.
Batman and Wonder Woman appeared ready for them. "NOW," Batman bellowed as he waved them into the pod; Diana dodged falling chunks of stalactite as she slung her lasso around it and pulled tight; Bruce began to enter a combination of numbers into the transporter keypad and pressed the red button; Clark was only beginning to wish that he'd had a chance to say goodbye properly to the boys when the blue flash of light appeared and –
EXPLOSION!
The three of them were knocked back from the impact of the blast! Bruce flew up and smashed into the mainframe keyboard. Diana was flung onto the staircase. Clark fared slightly better and managed to steady himself with a flip as he was lobbed into the air and before the other two had shaken themselves back into consciousness he was digging through the wreckage of the transporter casing…
But there was no one there.
"Bruce!" he cried, "They're not here!"
"Then they were sent back," grunted Bruce as he gingerly slid off of the keyboard onto his feet. It was oddly still. He ran over to help up Diana (who had taken the strongest hit) and together they slowly made their way over to Clark, who was still on his knees sifting through the rubble.
Clark shook his head. "They couldn't have survived this explosion."
"The earthquakes have stopped, Clark. They're gone."
"You and I both know that that doesn't happen when someone is transported!" Clark stood up so that he was face-to-face with Bruce and gave him a defiant glare. "It. Didn't. Work."
For a split second, Bruce wavered. If Clark and Diana didn't know him so well, they wouldn't have noticed it. But they did, and it was enough to confirm Clark's fears. Clark fell back; with a cry of frustration he slammed his fist against the wall next to mainframe. Huge chunks of rock fell from the Cave ceiling.
"Control yourself, Kent!" Bruce snarled.
"Don't take your anger at your failure out on me!" Clark snapped back. The two were facing off chest-to-chest again.
Annoyed by the petty bickering of the World's Finest, Diana extended her arms between them and forced them apart from each other. "That's enough!" she declared. Before she could berate them for their childishness, at that very moment something from the ceiling fell into her outstretched arms. The three of them gaped speechlessly at this new introduction for a good second before Batman was the first to collect his wits about him (naturally). "Batson," he said.
Batson was only coming to but managed to give a cheeky grin. "In the dangerously-incompatible-with-this-universe flesh!"
The look on Clark's face was one to see! "I'll find CJ," he offered, overwhelmed (as Bruce correctly suspected, he needed a moment to collect himself away from his friends).
"Are you all right?" Diana asked the boy she was now inadvertently carrying.
"Yes, thank you, Wonder Woman." (Somehow, Batson's arms had found their way around her neck again.) "That eruption was right below us and shot us straight up. See? My Toms are gone, back to my own universe, probably." He wiggled his bare toes to demonstrate.
"Judging by the energy with which you're exercising your jaw, you're well enough to stand on your own now," Batman remarked.
"No, I like it just fine here in Wonder Woman's embrace. It runs in the family, eh, dad?"
Bruce was temporarily dumbfounded.
Batson didn't miss a beat and turned his full powers of charisma onto Diana, who looked like she was seriously considering dropping him. "You know, Wonder Woman, if you decide to trade in for a younger model, I'm currently single. And unlike present company, I *can* express my emotions. I get that from my mother." This was followed by a flirtatious wink and a grin that would have surely disarmed a less experienced woman.
"Easy there, little man," replied Diana, who was amused in spite of herself, "The 'older model' is a dear friend of mine and has a few good years left in him yet." The air between Wonder Woman and Batman suddenly grew so thick with tension and chemistry that Batson, who was experiencing it for the first time, felt solidly out of place and even gave an involuntary squirm. Fortunately he was spared further discomfort for Clark landed next to them wielding CJ in his arms.
Bruce looked from Diana carrying Batson to Clark carrying CJ in a near-mirror image. "For God's sake, they're grown men, not infants!" he grumbled loudly as he swept towards the mainframe.
"Actually, Batson didn't hit puberty until he was seventeen," CJ muttered as he slid out of Clark's grip.
"And yet I'm the one whom Wonder Woman hugged twice," Batson hissed back as Diana had to forcibly extract him from her person.
Bruce ignored them as he began to type furiously on the mainframe keyboard. "We have to find out what went wrong and see how to get you back before you set off another round of even stronger earthquakes." CJ bounded over to join him while Clark and Diana began to restore order to the Cave.
Batson meanwhile looked around absently until he noticed the console by the transporter pad. After inspecting it for some time he asked loudly, "Have you guys tried turning this knob to the 9 o'clock position?"
Bruce and CJ whipped around simultaneously with the same look of caution in their expressions. "Don't touch, bro!" CJ warned, "Why would we even do that?"
"Because I did that to the transporter pad on our universe before we got here," Batson explained as he started twisting the knob, "You know, we were going to see a cat at the Fortress… a cat has nine lives… nine o'clock… yes, I was a little stoned."
Before any of them could react Batson pressed the red button to activate the transporter… and something happened! A blue light suspended in air and coruscated and grew. Clark recognized this at once. "Batson opened up a portal to his universe!" he exclaimed, ruffling the younger man's hair affectionately. Batman and CJ stared incredulously as they joined the other three.
Then there was a blinding flash of light and a sudden SNAP and Bruce found himself staring at the Batcave of an alternate universe. Standing in the midst of it – close enough for him to touch – was Batwoman!
It was her… it was Andrea.
Granted, half of her face was hidden under a cowl, but it was her authoritative stance and her red hair billowing out in the back and her lips (lips that at one point were more familiar to Bruce than his own) that demanded, "Are you the Justice Lords?" in her too-familiar yet too-distant voice. The last time he had seen her twelve years ago, she had disappeared forever into a cloud of smoke with the Joker. Now Bruce couldn't tear his eyes away lest she disappear again.
"No," answered Superman, taking charge – he couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through Bruce's heart right now – "In this universe we are the Justice League, a team that works together for the ideals of peace and justice."
Batwoman held up Batson's shoe. "Why shouldn't I interpret this as a threat?" she demanded.
"Because we kept experimenting with the transporter to get us back and we kept failing," piped up CJ from behind Clark and then gave an excited little wave. "Hey, Aunt Andy!"
"CJ!" she exclaimed, visibly relieved, "Are you and Batson all right?"
"We're fine, mom," Batson answered, appearing from behind Clark's other side.
"Are all of these failed experiments too?" She stepped aside to reveal a pile of mannequin parts, all labeled 'C. J.' CJ nodded.
"Activating the transporters at the same time in both universes must have created this portal," offered Clark, whose working knowledge on these matters came from spending hours with Dr. Hamilton at STAR Labs, "You boys need to go home quickly before it collapses in on itself again." Batwoman nodded her agreement.
This suited Batson just fine. "Well, I guess this is goodbye!" he exclaimed cheerily and gave Wonder Woman another hug (this time she let him), then shook hands with Bruce and Clark before he jumped across the portal to where Batwoman put a protective arm around his shoulders at once. CJ also shook hands with Diana and Clark, thanking them in a low voice, then turned to Bruce.
He saw his alternate-mentor staring speechlessly at his would-be wife and son, drinking in the sight of them. His Batman was so self-assured that seeing him like this made CJ want to cry. But no – he would not cause another earthquake by feeling affectionate and sad. Instead, he crashed into Batman and wrapped him a tight hug.
This snapped Bruce back to reality, and, to Diana and Clark's utter surprise, he returned the hug just as strongly. CJ let go and shook his hand. "Take care of yourself, Uncle Batman," he smiled.
"You too."
CJ sprung through the portal into his own universe where Batwoman enclosed him with her other arm. He accepted gladly, then turned to give one last look at the three heroes who had protected him for the last two days.
The boys waved at them. In another blinding flash of light, the portal disappeared. And just like that, the Super Sons were back home, safe and sound.
In the original comics, Haney tried to explain away the Super Sons by saying that they were computer stimulations that Batman and Superman ran in the Fortress just for fun. However, in that last issue, through a programming glitch they became real! But they were so unstable that they caused earthquakes right, left, and center. The only way to save the earth was to destroy the Super Sons. When Bruce Jr and Clark Jr found out, they jumped into a huge disintegrator pit – effectively killing themselves to save the world. Batman and Superman are left hanging their heads in the Fortress. It is SO creepy and I hated it so much that I *had* to write this story to give them a happy ending!
The way I picture him, Batson is totally the type of guy who would wear Toms. CJ probably sports a sensible pair of Adidas sneakers…Star Wars editions. Aw yeah! The next chapter will wrap everything up, so stay tuned for one final installment!
