"So… I had an idea, and you're going to hate it."

Bruce glanced up from where he was reading the crime section of the newspaper to where his son sat across the table for breakfast on a very normal morning.

"To be quite honest, I'm typically not ever thrilled with the ideas you come up with. They often end up with one of us in some sort of mortal danger or at the very least attempting something that logically speaking, humans shouldn't do." He replied without missing a beat, taking a sip of his coffee and returning his eyes to the paper.

"But they also typically work out in the end, with better results than if we'd tried it the conventional route." Dick pointed out smugly.

"I never said they didn't." Bruce agreed evenly. "But I'm still never thrilled."

"I know. But… this time you're really not gonna like it. On the upside though, we're not going to be in mortal danger, not directly at least." Dick hedged nervously, flashing a charming grin at his father in hopes he wouldn't just shut him down immediately.

Bruce sighed.

"Does this have something to do with telling the team our IDs?" He deduced. He really didn't like these conversations because Dick had a really good point in believing that to be a good team, they had to trust each other, and keeping his ID quiet was harmful to that. Still, good argument as it was, Bruce couldn't budge on it (even though "forbidding" Dick to do something was the same as "strongly suggesting" he not to the defiant little gypsy; Dick recognized he had to have Bruce's consent on it as well, seeing as he'd be spilling not just his, but both their secrets—and Batman depended on that secret a lot more the Robin did).

"Actually no. But also yes."

Bruce gave him an exasperated look.

"Fine, fine! I uh… actually it's about Connor. I want to tell Lois who we are so we can tell her about Connor and then she can kick some sense into Clark."

Now Bruce was really staring at him, the paper forgotten on the table.

"You want to tell—not your team—but a reporter who we are? Not only a reporter, but a reporter who has no reason to keep our secret, unlike your team does?" He deadpanned.

"Yes." Dick nodded in confirmation, ignoring his father's already disapproving tone. "And before you say no—consider it…! I mean, I've met Ms. Lane, and she's as much of a hard-ass as you are and still hasn't said a thing about Clark being Superman even though we all know she's been dying to be the one to spill that story!" Dick tried to defend his idea. Though, he also knew if Bruce had already made a decision in the topic, he could also argue with a rock for all the good it would do.

"She has a romantic connection to Clark both in and out of costume—ergo, she has a solid reason not to tell anyone. She barely knows us." Bruce huffed, but Dick didn't miss the way he didn't simply say no, meaning he was actually going through the possibilities of it all and thinking up all the scenarios that went along with it.

"But I heard from Uncle Clark that the first time Bruce Wayne made an appearance in Metropolis he flirted hard with Lois and really ticked him off-"

"That was so she would be Luther's target and I could protect her when he tried to sabotage our business deal and Superman would save her. Besides, she truly is a good writer, and if anyone else had been Luther's target, they wouldn't have held up so well."

"Yes, I know she's a good hostage, and I've heard all the details of that from both you and Clark." Dick brushed that off impatiently. "My point is that she's on good terms with Bruce Wayne, and has been dying to get an exclusive with Richard Grayson since you adopted me—and don't even deny it, even Alfred says she's getting irritating."

"I will admit her determination is that of a Bat." Bruce agreed with a slight shrug, truly thinking it over now as he ran a hand over his dark hair.

"And you like her because she makes Clark's life just as hard as you do." Dick pointed out eagerly. "She'd be a good Bat if she ever decided to go vigilante on us."

Bruce frowned in thought.

"We can trust her! Trust me! She may be terrified of Batman but she loves Robin! Those are both reasons to keep a secret, and she can help us help Connor! I know she can!" Dick begged, his wide blue eyes beseeching.

Bruce pursed his lips together and thought it over for a minute, calculating all the risks and possibilities. It was true, with Lois' stubbornness and bull-headedness (that he truly believed rivaled that of the Bats') she of everyone could keep a secret. YJ was immature, not yet thinking in terms of cause-and-effect, of consequences for their actions, of the strategy and insanity the criminal world could pull on them. Lois was very well used to being bludgeoned by the criminal world and still never gave in, still always ferreting her way back in for the next big scoop.

She was very well traversed in hero life while not actually being a hero with that giant target on her back, plus was stubborn enough to warrant some faith in her ability to keep a secret… if she wanted to.

Plus, Batman was always up for a scare, and Robin loved to make friends. Friend and fear: those were good reasons to keep your mouth shut to protect them.

But still… spilling who they were? Their IDs…?

His mind started to form a parallel plan.

"I'll make you a counter offer." He finally decided, and Dick glanced up curiously, if not warily.

"I'm listening…"

0000000000000

"Ms. Lane, a call on line three for you." Her phone spoke to her. Without taking her eyes off the screen of her computer and her fingers barely halting in their rapid pace across the keyboard, she scooped up the phone receiver and cradled it in her shoulder against her ear.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet, why are you calling me?" She said shortly into the speaker, frowning slightly as she made a spelling mistake in her article that spell-check didn't recognize. Damn it she hated spelling.

"Hello Ms. Lane, my name's Rob, and in case you were wondering it's spelled h-i-e-r-a-r-c-h-y."

Her fingers froze over the keyboard, her eyes instantly going wide yet not seeing the screen in front of her anymore.

She sat bolt straight as if she'd been electrocuted and firmly gripping the phone closer to her ear.

"Who are you?" She demanded fiercely. "How can you see that?"

"Because I am awesome like that. Now, if you'd be so kind as to meet me in the elevator, we can discuss what I really came to annoy you about." He said brightly, seeming totally unconcerned that this was a rather stressful situation.

She turned around sharply and carefully scanned the room around her, busy as always in that they ignored her odd reaction. She didn't recognize the voice, but how else could he see her screen and then ask to meet in the elevator if he wasn't here?

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who the hell you are." She growled into the phone.

"And I am pressing the lobby floor button as we speak, so your chances of finding out are quickly being reduced to zero." He said calmly, and on cue Lois snapped her head up to the sound of the elevator ringing out as the doors slid open.

Her grip in the phone triples in frustration, and she hesitated.

But a moment later she was slamming the phone down, grabbing her purse from the side of her desk and running towards the elevator. She slid in just before they could close and spun around the small space curiously.

There was no one there.

"Great. Just fabulous." She snarled to herself, jabbing the elevator buttons to go back to the top floor as fast as possible. She hated being made a fool of, and so far as she was concerned, the faster she got back upstairs the faster she could start pretending this didn't happen. It was just a coincidence and a stupid freakin' prank caller.

That was, until the doors slid open at the Lobby level and a boy about thirteen years old with dark shades over his eyes stood there grinning innocently at her.

"Hello Ms. Lane, pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard so much from my Uncle Clark." He smiled devilishly.

First off, Lois recognized the voice and was about to yell for security when his words sunk in.

Uncle Clark?

"Who the hell are you?" She snapped, eyeing him warily. She normally would've been even more pissed than she was, but he was just a kid…? How the heck did he see her screen, get the elevator to work for him, and yet beat her down here? She was wary, to say the least.

"I told you, my name is Rob. Well, to those outside the family at least. Shall we take a walk?" He said, gesturing to the front door.

She stared at him. She was about to tell him to take a hike when the elevator doors started to close and she instinctively jumped out of it to face the boy properly.

"Do you have a story for me?" She demanded.

He pursed his lips. "No, I'm afraid I don't." He said with a surprising note of truthfulness to it, though she quickly decided he was good enough to be able to pull that off even if he were lying. She didn't pay it much credit.

"Then I don't care." She said shortly, turning back and jabbing the up button and tapping her foot impatiently as always, trying to ignore the boy was there at all.

She heard him let out a long-suffering sigh. "Please, this is about Superman. If you want to stop me and my father from killing him in the near future, you need to hear me out."

She spun around and gave him a shocked look.

"Who are you?" She hissed.

He looked tired of the circles they were dancing.

"Stand here and ask that to no one, or follow me out the door and find out. I'm as interested in seeing this all work out as you, but I won't if you don't play nice for the next fifteen minutes." He said simply, turning on his heel and striding across the vast Lobby towards the door.

As she had upstairs, she growled in frustration before following him after a moment of angry hesitation. She hated being used like this, but it didn't seem like she had another option. And if this was about keeping Superman safe, she had to at least make sure this threat wasn't real.

They walked down the sidewalk for a few blocks, Lois refusing to be the one to ask again. He'd obviously put a lot of effort into getting her out here, so he obviously had something to tell her, and she wasn't going to beg for information. He had to come to her.

Finally, they came to a small park, and he quickly crossed the street with her on his heels. Once on the paths, beneath the leafy trees of early spring, he started walking much slower, at a leisurely pace.

"So," He said, glancing about at the pretty much empty park, save the occasional jogger or book-reader spread out on the grass. "Nice day isn't it?" He said conversationally.

Her anger flared. "Cut the crap and get to what this is all about." She hissed.

He sighed, but actually smirked a little at her tone. "No wonder my father likes you, you're as to the point as he is." He chuckled to himself.

She felt irked about not being in the know. "And who is your father?" She said scathingly.

"Superman's best friend. That is, if my father had friends. I suppose 'rivals' is the best way to put it…"

She snorted. She was Clark's rival when he wasn't in costume, competing for bylines and the best stories…

"Yes, you are his rival too, aren't you?" The boy mused.

She came up short, stopping dead in the middle of the path. How had he done that?

But he didn't stop, he just kept walking and enjoying the lovely park and waiting for her to catch up. She finally broke free of her shocked daze and jogged a little to get up to walk beside him again.

"You know his ID." She said. Not a question. She should have seen it earlier with his 'uncle Clark' comment followed by talk about Superman.

Rob snorted. "No duh. A pair of glasses isn't a disguise." He grinned, pushing up his own dark sunglasses with a mischievous smirk.

Almost unwillingly her brain made the next connection.

"You're a vigilante too." She blinked in shock.

He grinned easily. "Guilty as charged." He nodded with a casual shrug.

She ran through all the names of the young heroes she knew, but unfortunately, there weren't many.

"Who?" She asked, finally giving into her curiosity.

"I told you, call me Rob. My friends do, though technically it's short for Robin."

She froze again, and this time he stopped and watched her work through this news with an amused smile on his lips.

"Y-you're…"

"Yep." He nodded cheerfully.

"A-and… you're dad…"

"The one and only." He cackled. He turned and kept on walking away, and a moment later she rejoined him at a run.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah…. Are you telling me that Clark is on good terms with Batman?!" She hissed, still not believing.

"You knew they worked together, did you not?" He accused lightly.

"Well, yeah sure, it's been mentioned, but I guess it never really… I mean it wasn't real until…"

"Until you have the proof smirking at you." He concluded, finishing it off with a true-to-form smirk.

"Well… yeah!" She gasped, still amazed. "I think my respect for Superman just doubled. But wait… why would you and him be planning on killing him?" She frowned, eyeing him cautiously. She wasn't so peeved about him tricking her out of the office anymore, now that she knew he was a freakin' Bat…

Robin huffed impatiently. "We wouldn't plan such a thing, for in all honesty it'd probably happen when we've finally had it with his antics, and since we are very well known for our patience, perhaps the threat I implied is not so imminent." He allowed, "Besides, the Bat actually finds him acceptable, which is more than can be said of most, and I've known him since I was nine. He is my uncle, in every sense of the word besides blood I suppose." He explained.

"And what is he doing to piss you off so badly? I kinda assumed him being a Boy Scout in general would irritate you two, but you've put up with him so far." She admitted, and he let out a cackling laugh.

"Well, I couldn't deny that's true." He chuckled. "My father more than me—I'm not quite as dark as he is, though putting on a good show for it can always help." He grinned knowingly. Then, his smile faded some as he frowned a bit in thought. "I don't think you know, seeing as its top secret, but many of the League has younger partners, not just me."

"I know of Kid Flash and Speedy." She supplied.

He rolled his eyes at the mention of Speedy. "Yeah like that I guess, only there are a lot more. I was a vigilante for years before the public— and even the rest of the League— knew that Batman even had a partner. There are others like me, that the public doesn't know about."

"That's... well, it makes sense I guess. I'm sure they'll be great someday too." She acknowledged.

He tilted his head in acceptance of the compliment. "You were there for the public 'welcoming young heroes into the League' fiasco right?"

"When Speedy quit." She nodded, remembering.

"Well, it was me who figured out that it was a front. The real League is… well, it is currently beyond the reach of people like me and those my age group. And to say we were angered would be the understatement of the year."

"I would be too." She muttered.

He nodded in agreement. "However, to remedy that we formed our own team. A covert mini-team consisting of all the young heroes whose mentors are League members. We've been at it ever since, and… though we're probably not the most cohesive team in the universe, we've been doing well."

"That's fascinating and all, but you told me you didn't have a story so I assume you're going to ask me to keep this all confidential." She deduced and he smiled with a nod in confirmation. She sighed at yet another interesting story she had to bury, but moved on. "So… why tell me this?"

He frowned. "Because Superman, whether he likes it or not, is a mentor, and so far he's doing a terrible job."

She stared at him in shock.

"Woah, hold up a minute, who is he supposed to be mentoring?" She demanded.

Robin sighed heavily. He took her shoulder and turned her 45 degrees to the left and pointed across a small pond they were currently standing beside.

Lois was looking, but couldn't believe.

"Oh my god." She heard herself say.

"He's not Clark," Robin said quickly, and she half turned her head to listen to him while still not being able to tear her eyes away from the man she loved, except a couple decades younger than she'd seen him that morning.

"He's… uh, a… son…?"

"No." Robin said firmly and immediately, causing Lois to actually glance his way for a brief moment in surprise, throwing him a quizzical look before going back to ogling at the teenage version of Clark sitting patiently on the park bench, gazing out at the pond where the ducks were swimming peacefully in little groups.

"Who is he then?" She asked.

"A clone." She gave him a shocked look. "I know, I know… basically, a group of scientists wanted a… I dunno, a plan B if Superman ever died, or a contingency plan in case Superman went rouge and needed to be stopped…"

"So they created a clone of him to do that?" She gasped in horror. "And a boy at that!?"

"Well… that's actually our fault. My team incidentally ended up in their labs and figured out what they were doing, and managed to stop it before he… was finished, I guess. They'd planned on waiting until he was a clone of a fully grown Superman, but we stepped in…"

"And now he just a teenager, a boy." She connected, staring at the young version of her lover in wonder and pity.

"Technically he's just barely a year old, though physically he's sixteen or something." Robin sighed. "Unfortunately, he acts like a one year old in a teenage-angst filled body, which is to say, difficult at times. He… isn't very good socially; he only knows what the people who created him taught him, which is pretty much all facts and statistics about Superman and other heroes." He explained, "He was created to be Superboy, and nothing else, but me and my team are trying to teach him to be a normal kid. He chose the name Connor a few months ago."

"Facts and statistics? Well what'd'ya know, a smart Smallville. Imagine that." She snorted, glancing down at him again and coming up short when the boy beside her didn't look amused, but had a very serious, very worried look on his face.

"I wouldn't call him Smallville, he probably doesn't even know that's a town, much less where it is." He sighed.

Lois tore her eyes away from Connor and gave the young vigilante a look. "How could he not know where Smallville is? That's Clark's hometown!" She scoffed.

Robin looked her square in the eyes, and even through the impenetrable glasses she could feel the force of his piercing stare. "I did mention that Clark is a terrible mentor. That's why I'm here. Connor was 'born' about a year ago now, and Clark still refuses to talk to him. The one and only time they talked alone, Connor almost tore apart our training gym he was so upset—and trust me, a teenage pissed-off Kryptonian is never the easiest thing to deal with. I love Clark like an Uncle, but this has to stop."

Lois balked.

"But Clark's good with kids! I mean… isn't he?" She frowned, thinking back, and realizing that apart from saving them from runaway buses or buildings on fire, she'd never seen Clark interact with kids before. She herself was crap with them, but she'd always assumed he was.

"He says he's not." Rob huffed. "Says he never wanted a son or a clone or whatever and just can't deal. So, Connor's being trained by the Bats and other young heroes and doing well, but… it's not the same. He doesn't understand much, but he especially doesn't understand why his hero won't even talk to him. He just idolized Superman like nothing else, and… he doesn't get why Clark doesn't seem to care."

"This is crazy," Lois shook her head in disbelief. "This totally doesn't fit into what I know of Clark. How…? I mean just how?! He's the freakin' Boy Scout, the original Boy Scout, how the hell is he… and why didn't he tell me! I mean, I know it's only been a few months since… no wait, it's been over a year! This happened while I knew who he was and he still didn't tell me! Oh he is going down for this…" She ranted acidly.

"So you will help us?" Robin asked cautiously.

"Help you kill Clark? Definitely." She huffed, glancing back at the boy. "Uh… do you think maybe I could go talk to him?" She wondered aloud.

Robin beamed. "He'd love that actually. He's a big fan of your writing, oddly enough." He smirked.

Lois gave him a curious look. "Does he know Superman's identity?" She clarified.

"Nope." He said cheerfully, smirk even more pronounced though with a tinge of frustration. "He doesn't know anything about Superman that the public doesn't. He does however read the Daily Planet every day because he's curious about what goes on in Metropolis, and loves your and Clark's writing enough that when he chose his name, he picked Connor Kent."

Lois blinked rapidly, and a second later her own smirk started to form.

"Talk about a fate." She chuckled.

"Finally, someone agrees with me." Robin sighed. "Come on, I'll introduce you," He beckoned her forward and they walked around the pond to the bench where Robin had told Connor to wait.

The moment the clone spotted Robin he smiled, and then his eyes slid to Lois and they went wide.

"My god…" Lois marveled the similarity to her boyfriend and the boy before her. It was just so surreal, and yet…

"Connor, this is Lois Lane, the friend I was talking about." Robin said cheerfully, bouncing forward and pulling a shocked Superboy to his feet. The clone looked completely lost for a moment before Robin grabbed his hand and pushed it forward.

Socially inept indeed, was all Lois could think, but with a fond air to her thoughts.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard some great things about you," Lois nodded politely, taking Connor's hand with a welcoming smile. Normally, when meeting someone new, she'd be trying to crush their hand and intimidate them with excess direct eye contact to let them know how their conversation was going to go, but this time she backed way off. She actually smiled warmly and was gentle, even though she could tell by the way his hand was as unmovable as stone and barely reacting to her touch, that he wouldn't feel her grip due to his super strength, and also that he had no idea how to control that strength either, and simply opted to be motionless than risk it.

The boy actually blushed lightly and ducked his head a bit automatically. "Um… it's nice to meet you too." He said quietly, unsure of himself. "I… I like your work." He said softly.

Lois grinned. He was so different from Clark, but so similar… it was just unbelievable, and completely fascinating.

"Con, I need to go signal the Bat real quick, make sure Ms. Lane doesn't get kidnapped again, k?" He grinned jokingly.

Lois shot him an amused/exasperated look, but had to bite back honest laughter at Superboy's completely baffled and concerned expression.

"Connor, he's joking." She said, fighting her laughter and laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. The clone looked surprised, but then nodded silently in understanding, still looking mildly concerned.

Robin turned to Lois and nodded, "I don't think I've said it yet, so I will now: thank you."

She smiled with a short nod of her own. "No, no, thank you for bringing this to my attention. It will be my pleasure the kick his ass for this." She said firmly.

Connor looked extremely concerned now.

"Who are you talking about?" He asked curiously, glancing to Robin with wide eyes. Lois immediately saw that the younger—physically—boy was the clone's go-to person for when he didn't understand something.

"I'll explain later, don't worry about it," Robin smiled at him. "We're exaggerating a little bit—no one's actually getting hurt." He explained, and Connor nodded slowly as he worked through that. "Okay then, I'll be back in a bit." He grinned, nodding to both of them.

Connor nodded and by the time Lois glanced back over, he'd vanished.

She blinked that off—Bat, she reminded herself, he's a BAT— and turned to face Connor again.

"So, Connor, do you like ice cream?" She asked conversationally.

He blinked, and gulped a little nervously at her.

"Um… I don't think so…?" He said, making it sound more like a question than anything.

Oh no, that wouldn't do, she decided.

She was going to have fun with this.