The Lost Son

by Heliosion

In a world where Superboy escaped before the team found him, a young Conner Luthor changes the world. He puts out the flames of one man's ambition to kill his rival, travels the world and sees in his own eyes the world long before he starts upon the path of the hero. Now in the world's greatest crisis he must do as he agreed when the time came and save the world. This is my AU.

10. Chapter 10 Luthor Tenacity

"Young Justice New World Chronicles"

"The Lost Son"

By Heliosion

Chapter 10: Luthor Tenacity

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the DC universe or its affiliates for if I did I wouldn't have grown men flying around with their underwear on the outside of their spandex pants. Or make a superhero whose special power is driving a taxi.

Oh yeah this is based in an original multiverse world. In this case Earth X for this is a fanfiction and I haven't had the opportunity to read every single comic produced by DC hence continuity will suffer so I will create my own in the spirit of Young Justice.

Constructive reviews only people

XreviewX

Conner stepped out of the limousine like a man on a mission. His hooded cloak swayed with the wind, kicking up the shrouding hood that disguised his masked face. As the breeze continued to blow and Conner looked up at the blue sky, the teen used the moment of solace to listen for life both innocent and guilty.

But he could only pick out the individual mechanical beating of the soulless machine hearts that plagued this land without concentrating further. They drowned out the impotent shaky heart rate of a singular man and the powerful thrum of the monster that stood as his guard. He focused harder hearing haggard wheezing breathing that stuttered but still had the wind for the man to laugh whilst singing lewd songs about Irishmen.

Professor Ivo was insane that wasn't without any doubt but he was still a certified genius. A man capable of fooling his intelligent father that he had died; his foster parent had claimed he had seen the good doctor's cold corpse, and his guardian would have checked closely. Conner continuing his logical deduction had to take into account the level of deviousness, the planning involved, since the lung cancer afflicted scientist had also managed to fool a coroner, because that sort of mysterious death would have been investigated. He hadn't time to muse on it for very long but there was one conclusion he could make. Something had to be done. Left alone, Professor Ivo was a menace to mankind out in the open.

But dare he attack the man without any backup? The League was going to be notified; his father had sworn to contact them when he could which brought comfort before the oncoming conflict. But it was an oversight of his for ABI to lack the frequency of the Justice League Watchtower to contact them directly or his father's communicator on his battle suit if it had one to begin with.

But in the end, his sense of logic prevailed. Against mere machines, without kryptonite or red sun weaponry, they were fodder to even a rookie like him, the monkeys at least and he didn't have to worry about casualties. There was no telling, however, what awaited him precisely in the roofless gym. But it was better to get it over with, move in and seize the situation before it managed to get further out of hand. Who knows what Ivo might do if he knew his father had already fled?

Conner checked his black hooded cloak one last time, admiring the skin tight texture of his body suit under his jacket that had been made that way thanks to the button on his wrist and then moved forward with large brave steps into the lion's den. That meant having to cross the courtyard, a wide open space filled with incoming targets with no fear of death. They were not especially dangerous, the slight fear of their green lasers had proven unfounded once the first one had struck his uniform without agonising pain, but they were numerous, loud when they exploded and capable of potentially unnerving Professor Ivo if he listened to enough of them being destroyed that might provoke him into doing something rash.

His first objective was to search for anyone that had been injured during the stampede earlier. He couldn't rely on his super hearing, for the reason that it hadn't been refined yet. Even in the quiet here, the sounds of the moving parts of the robot monkeys all around him was playing havoc with him. They sounded so human; almost so much so that anyone he could look for would be drowned out if they weren't pleading for help. So he was forced to use a broad general search pattern with his x-ray vision and that required walking to his final destination while doing a sweep.

Like before, he managed his defence by creating a skin deep tactile telekinetic field that repelled the green lasers that were being fired by the tail tips of the robotic nuisances. They bounced with a ripple pattern off the shield, the particles they were made of pulled apart by the nature of his protection. Particles that small were very easy to scatter but the mental strain per shot made using it very hard to maintain. He had only really dismantled simple objects with it before and the feats performed against Doomsday were the extent of his practice. He had little to no experience maintaining this for an extended period of time but he found it simple enough to shield his new clothing from irritating bug bites.

His exploration scanned every inch of the school and instantly his photographic memory took note of everywhere his mind scoured. He remembered the locations of the barren tennis courts, the abandoned cafeteria with hot meals still steaming from them at the far end neighbouring it. His gaze followed the shared dormitories that were closer to the classrooms than the single rooms he was going to occupy to the manicured gardens. But nobody was here, the entire student body, their parents and the faculty had all long since fled from the wrath of Professor Ivo and his automaton that awaited him in the gym.

He felt alone for a scant moment but violently crushed it. Conner could ill afford to be unnerved before the battle and fear was a poor bed mate before charging into a battle for his life. Like Doomsday, he had to keep his mind on the prize.

Conner also took the time to properly investigate the gymnasium, seeing the expected football field behind it, the raised stage and the basketball court that his final foes waited. His inspection was completed in a minute that was no doubt glacier slow in comparison to Superman, who had complete command of his five senses, coordinated them all together in the search and scoured the site in moments. He took strength from the fact that nobody apart from the diabolical Professor Ivo was going to be hurt for his evil deeds today.

Deciding on a plan of action, Conner made the first move by moving at super speed behind a lone monkey that had strayed from the bunch and grabbed it by the throat. He squeezed with a horrible sound of bending metal before throwing it at another group. His provocation worked like a charm, the monkeys all seemed to turn on a kill switch and started attempting to conquer him with numbers.

Once he had gotten close enough to the invaders, he clapped his hands together and slapped them together with a force powerful enough to emit a shockwave. He captured them all in one herculean smash of his palms clapping going off like the bastard child of a sonic boom and a nuclear bomb. He watched in fascination for those caught in the direct line of fire crumble from the pressure while others were embedded in what stopped their flight via Conner airways. He was so overwhelmed by his sheer power, until his ears pricked and he was just in time to fly to avoid being pulled into the fissure he had made into the earth but heard the tinkle of glass that shattered. The aftermath was not a pretty sight, the courtyard once beautiful now a shadow of its former self and a statue of the school's founder crumbled like sand caught in the desert winds.

Instead of gaping in awe of his power, Conner recoiled like the reflex of an abused child at the monstrous power at his beck and call. Had a mere hard clap of his hands caused so much damage? And so much for not antagonising Ivo! That blast that would give a missile jealousy had ripped out every window that hadn't been destroyed by the explosion that had earlier totalled the roof. His school was a disaster zone and on his first day.

"I really need to watch my own strength," he mumbled, scanning the gymnasium. As feared, the human inside's heart rate had skyrocketed and the mechanical entity was heading in his direction. He couldn't allow the main minion to the villain to leave the stadium. If he lost sight of Ivo, his victory would be short lived. The super teen could destroy this android, but it wouldn't take its creator long to construct another and if this one was the same Amazo design as its predecessor…

Superboy, with reluctance, made his eyes burn red with scarlet energy. He unleashed a sweep of heat vision clean through the stadium just above the height of the good doctor. The stands did collapse, the metal grinding horribly via his super hearing as metal collapsed and crushed itself but the old man allowed one observation for the super teen to make. The robot was programmed to keep its creator alive above anything else. He watched intently as the monster reacted instantly to keep him from harm.

Conner suspiciously continued onwards, not keeping his eyes off the fallen robot and its master. Searching around the debris, he figured nobody would care by this point about collateral damage (half the stadium had been cut off like a cake) and took in a deep breath to exhale a hurricane strength gust of air. The wind whipped up abandoned personal property and more of the building crumbled, but it did strike its intended target destabilising the already beleaguered gym and brought the rest down on top of his target.

His x-ray vision and other visual spectrums, like thermal signatures, knew the man was still among the living with his robot on top of him protecting him with ease. The half-ton of building didn't prevent it from standing over its master with the torso perfectly horizontal and with enough breathing room to help the organic life form squirm in the darkness. The Superboy was amazed at the amount of heat the monstrosity was creating, making it appear like it was a human with a fever, the heat produced by its internal systems was only that tiny bit more lit up in nature than its master on the infra-red spectrum.

"So what now?" His question was very valid. What did he do next? He had Ivo, or what he thought was the mad scientist, pinned down with his creation. Did he wait for League aid now the situation was under control or…?

His internal debate was cut off as all around him the a shockwave resounded with the same kind of power as he had used before kicking up wreckage all over causing even more damage. A piece of piping went through a window and roof slates bounced off another unconscious telekinetic barrier. The dust was thicker than lead and made his eyes water until he cleared the air with another gust of air.

"You weren't who I was expecting," crowed an old man with light brown hair, green sweater and black pants. His white shirt was pristine somehow, his red bow tie together with the rest of his getup made him appear like an old English gent on a walk with his pet monster. "I hadn't heard the big blue Boy Scout had a brat?"

"He does now," Conner shot back, more bravado than genuine courage with what was behind the well-dressed madman. It was shaped like a human, grey skinned bringing back unwanted memories of his last brawl only with no spikes if you did not think about the pointed ears. Its joints were visible but the rest of its body appeared organic, real as Conner and the professor that would have made him hesitant about using his strength even more if he could not hear its mechanical heartbeat. It wore mockery of pants perhaps sprayed on and its entire towering form was built like a strongman allowing it to loom over him by a foot easily. He could only stare into its dead red eyes and gulp. This wasn't good.

"Just my luck, though, that Luthor gets away and all I get as compensation is a sidekick," Ivo said showing no fear of the teenager. That stung at his pride, for the weedy tetchy man was not afraid of him. His first mission against normal criminals without powers and there was nothing there to register the weight class differences being something the older man cared about. "But one must do with what he can get. Tell me, who is it that I am going to kill today?"

"My name is Superboy," he introduced; the hooded hero realising this was the first time he had said it in battle. It gave him a rush and bolstered his resolve.

"Let's see if you like my amazing Amazo!"

The Amazo android lunged forward clumsily and swiped at him hoping for a bear hug. Conner was too slow, stunned at the forwardness and was caught off guard into an embrace.

"Sample analysed and registered," Amazo said robotically, holding a struggling Conner with ease, "Access Superboy!"

Then that was where it all went to hell. If he had bothered to keep his head in the game, the short black haired teen would have remembered that the original Amazo, whose file he had taken special care to read before, had the special feature of copying anything it came into contact with, like Superman's powers or even the Flash. By bear hugging him, this new model or, more precisely, the technology embedded into its 'skin' had extrapolated on contact and assimilated all his powers.

His own telekinetic field was used to repel him away from the robot and he came to rest via going through a broken window into a corridor with a collapsed ceiling. He was back on his feet in moments, dazed but upon his mind clearing flying and shoulder charging his foe. The android went flying for a minute, demolishing an iron park bench and a hedgerow before his stolen telekinetic powers kicked in to provide extra traction for his feet digging into the stone floor of the former courtyard. It was enough for its body, its limbs to unnaturally contort to throw the super hero using his own aggressive flight for extra power to shoot off. When he stopped his own acceleration, Conner had to slap away a lump of thrown debris and barrel roll into a landing, better described as a belly flop to avoid the heat vision that came after with a vengeance setting fire to a flower bed.

Between barrages of heat vision, in which Conner was shown just how terrible his dodging whilst in the air, by the way it was trashing his new uniform, the new student decided to attempt a failed tactic he had employed against Doomsday only with a new spin. His palms were slapped onto the loose stone of the courtyard floor, his mind imagined how he wished to expand and contract his field to pull up a small hill of earth and stone to form a barrier between him and Amazo. With some strain, he then blasted the loose mount of debris with a battering ram of his telekinetic field, straining his mind so it felt like an elastic band being elongated and used it all as a gigantic artillery shell.

He knew that wouldn't be close to stopping it, his horizontal avalanche was to surprise more than anything. But it bought him a moment of breathing space, time and most of all let him gain some momentum. His plan in the end was his lightning fast one hundred metre dash, finding him in front of the mechanical terror, staring deep into its stoic gaze and slapping its metal body, displaying his true objective when his other hand reached around its waist to hold them in place. Securely fastened, he began analysing with his x-ray vision for anything that looked vital inside the monster but then, before he even managed to start looking; Amazo took control of the fight and slapped him away.

Conner returned to his unintentional demolition of his new school. He emerged from his new hole that had taken him through two corridors and clean past a set of lockers that was with him when his momentum was stopped only to have to roll away to evade another heat vision surge. He slipped on the polished floor until he had the wits to hover again but not enough time to evade the straight punch to his gut. He clutched his stomach, anger filling him up and before he knew it telegraphed a punch to its face. It cannonballed through a wall, bringing down the entire passageway with it back into the ruined courtyard where it came to rest in the grave of what must have been a beautiful fountain reduced to a burst water pipe and a puddle.

Superboy took the initiative and rocketed into a fist fight, eager to vent his frustration and punched the android on the ground with all his might, creating another crater made of spider like cracks. Then he struck it again, over and over, digging deeper and deeper indentations into the ruined floor until he was pulled off it via yet another telekinetic repulsion force field. It followed through with it flying into the sky after him and punching the rookie hero across the forehead. The super teen recovered better this time, remembering Cadmus trained protocol by controlling his breathing to minimise the effects of the punch. Then, between hammer strikes, the superhero began an equal exchange of blows recalled again from Cadmus telepathy fed implantation.

The mechanical copycat gave it as good as it got. They furiously exchanged fists, kicks and all without powers. Everything apart from his telekinesis, which both was generating cancelling the other out, was ill suited for a good old fashioned fist fight in the sky. It lasted for a while until the point where Conner, aching from sore bones and itchy skin pulled off an amazingly swift retreat and blew an arctic breath worthy of the mightiest blizzard. It hit pay dirt and Amazo froze.

Without hesitation he pounced on his well-earned reprieve and pushed a hand onto its chest once more, breaking the ice with the shockwave. He found something that seemed important with his eyes analysing its innards and twisted it with his powers, trying to seek and dismantle it. But again, he was denied as the monster with his powers took advantage once more of his undisciplined abilities and grabbed his arm to savagely pull the super teen into a wicked arm lock. The pain caused him to lurch out of control, as it probably calculated then used his prone airborne body that doubled as a lever for a free trip to meet the ground.

Superboy bounced off the floor hard, of course leaving a gouge in the earth loudly enough that the stone crunched from the impact and before he could breathe in a heel drop struck him in the gut, stealing the air from his lungs. His eyes bugged open in shock and in pain. Conner's instincts saved him, his survival instincts screamed to attack and his heat vision answered the call. It skimmed the grey being's invulnerable body, melting one of its ears and travelling to an American flag that was set on fire. But it was enough; the ears had to be part of its gyroscope for it stumbled, a lucky break for sure and its opponent took advantage flying up to neck level and inelegantly spin kicking Amazo across the chin.

The mechanical monstrosity hit the floor just as hard as its predecessor, but wasn't given enough time to recover. Conner was filled with a desperate anger to finish the job before it could hurt him again. He punched it in the stomach, reaching out with its telekinetic field to what it had observed so far of Amazo and its internal workings. Then, with a relish and a sudden surge of inspiration, plus an emotion he could not identify but loved all the same, yanked on the metal pins keeping its arms and legs, head and feet attached to the body in place of the power source he couldn't determine in the extraordinary design.

The ping sound of deadbolts ejecting from the body like fragmentary grenades was a very satisfying noise, a welcome rallying call like a bugle before a cavalry charge. The limbs went limp and the beaten roughed up super teen poured a downward force into the area surrounding the body. The detached areas and the torso were separated from the other making a grinding sound and his caution demanded the destruction of the head. His telekinesis made short work of that, forcing two fragments of rubble to move between each side of its head and vindictively bashed its skull in like a primitive caveman in spite. It took two very satisfying minutes for some liquid to pour out of its nostrils and the red light to leave its demonic eyes forever.

"Is it over?" he asked now, holding up an arm and crushing the joint. He casually threw it away and strolled over uneasily to the torso upon which introductions were formally made to his stomping foot leaving a dent where its heart would be. There was nothing in this fight dubbed as overkill if it copied its older brother and its noted regeneration abilities. But this Amazo wasn't anything like the sentient original. Sure it could take powers and make them its own but the spark, the creativity hell dare he say it the soul was missing from this empty machine. "Ivo!" he remembered suddenly, looking around but the Frankenstein had slipped away. No heartbeat could be heard on his powerful hearing and a full sweep of the area with every visual spectrum his eyes were blessed with showed the teenager was alone. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," he shouted, berating himself. He had gotten so caught up in the battle that Ivo had taken the time to escape.

What did he tell Lex now? It was another fight filled with rookie mistakes and errors galore. He was ashamed of how it all turned out. So much of the battlefield had been ruined, a civilian area no less. He couldn't do that in an urban area where it wouldn't have been so easy to evacuate everyone. People would hate him, the government would freak for the millions of dollars he would cost them to repair all the damage. Superboy could seem that some of the classrooms had made it out intact and the dormitories appeared sound but everything else? If they ever found out whom Superboy was Lex couldn't donate enough money if he owned every cent of cash in the world that would sway the hand of the Dean from expelling him.

Then there was his powers themselves. How had he underestimated what Superboy, he Conner Luthor was capable of when he was being careless? The black haired child of the Man of Steel and an Amazonian princess was still dumbfounded that so much potential existed in him. He was aware before, his invulnerability and strength took practice to contain in normal life but when he was allowed to let go… When he became distracted? Was he the world's greatest wrecking ball?

Idly, he noted it was snowing now, too. Small innocent flakes of ice that had to have come from his arctic breath were a very innocent slap to the face about what he was. The idea he could manipulate the very weather was a weight, a responsibility that weighed him down in terror. It wasn't the same terror as the green kryptonite fuelled nightmares of being in the cage and not knowing what was going on but understanding of what he was.

He was a Kryptonian, a being fuelled by the sun and bestowed with world destroying powers. He could if he wanted take over an entire world with a breath. Conner Luthor might be able to do, as Lex Luthor, predicted with a power that even the Man of Steel or the Maiden of Might lacked. His telekinesis… Did his Kryptonian heritage promise to turn that into a world destroying power as well? Pull the very building of blocks of life in a world apart with a touch or grab a tectonic plate and shake it hard enough every volcano on the Earth would erupt as one and revert it into an earlier era of its history when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

Superboy examined his hand and clenched it tightly and became confused about who he was again, when, as if he was seeing it for the first time, the distortion in the air, the simple movement did when he let go. He was in a world of cardboard… Such a fact should have reached him long before now. Only his isolation and careful, no lucky, watchfulness on his part in his brief interactions with mortal men had saved him but hadn't taught him to respect what he was.

Conner could be only happy, clinging to the lifeline of aid from Powergirl as a new-born fear took its place among the various deep seeded ones he already claimed. Buried like a tick, the darkness, or the blackness of the empty void, the silence that lived within the darkness when life normally went to sleep. He could count the colour green, judging from his reaction to the monkey's lasers and kryptonite, his poison. This battle had taught him so much compared to the last one with Doomsday.

He was possibly a god in mortal form. Not that he was so arrogant to believe he was a deity, logic denounced gods as falsehoods, but his self was close enough. God he had so much more problems to share with his psychiatrist next week. But how did you explain a god complex when technically speaking arguably okay screw it hell Conner remembered there were gods. His aunt and his precious mother had met the Greek pantheon. He spent a lot of time reading about them and had asked his mother in that hotel when they had been talking about his future about them in detail but to compare himself to them…

Didn't Donna Troy know he was that strong? No, of course she did… He shivered at the jogged memory of hurting his Amazon mother and she was super strong plus resilient to harm. The pain she had felt haunted him now. If he could hurt her, who could he safely let go with?

How would he conduct a relationship? Touching was an intricate part of the human mating cycle. Holding hands while being nervous usually just meant some sweaty palms to be the worst part. To him it would be turning the bones in her hands into powder. To obtain a first kiss with a woman and get aroused would to a normal person be embarrassing and a need to hunch down. To Conner the arousal might let out his heat vision and vaporise his intended. Holding a breath could accidently send her hurtling into the air if he breathed out without control.

This battle was unravelling his self-esteem. So much had been unwrapped or as humans liked to say 'someone had taken off the rose tinted glasses'. He should be proud of his victory right? But… but was all this carnage worth it? Was it worth anything at all? The gains seemed to have been weighed down and why did everything keep coming back to the word 'normal'? He had always figured that he was a normal person only with special powers that made him stand out from other people.

Conner clutched his head. Nothing was making any sense now, his heart was racing, panicking like someone like trying to force feed him kryptonite… He couldn't lose it here, even if he sarcastically admitted there was nothing for him to blow up anymore that anyone would care or even be able to tell the difference. Now, something no… It had to be this concept of 'normal' screamed at him like a curse word, his lack of being such a thing was screaming out at him. Normality, a state he would never truly know and something akin to jealousy spread before that thought made him feel ill.

That volatile mixing pot translated into a desire for control. His hands shook despite a grip that could crush steel like paper failed to steady him. He needed something to cool him down. The relaxant stored in his headquarters. He had to get it quickly. Listen to ABI's directions and fly back to the Roost before he hurt anyone by accident with his uncontrolled spasms.

His sharp ears pricked up at the sound he remembered from his last teleportation using the Orbital Watchtower's glittering blue coloured zeta beam. Like a spooked rabbit, he associated the ghostly sound it made when it worked with perfect clarity as people who could hurt by his actions and into the air he went, stretching his super hearing to hear the directions as they were issued.

Unknowingly, his jump to the sound barrier he would later learn would create a sonic boom that reduced the rest of the fragile school to rubble due to how close it had been the ground when he accelerated beyond the speed of sound. He would never attend Brentwood academy again.

The journey to the Roost should have taken him five minutes. Conner was so distracted by his own insecurities that he kept overshooting the mark, randomly flying nearly into a commercial airline and could see the suburbs of Gotham once that were according to ABI twenty miles away from his headquarters. All in all, his misadventures flying while utterly terrified of breathing in case he caused a hurricane took him two hours to reach his final destination. Upon seeing the futuristic structure, he sighed with relief as the glass domed roof opened without a command and the teen flew in as gently as he could.

His landing tripped the pre-programmed solar lamps, which blasted him with yellow sun energy. Where upon, before he welcomed the tingling sensation of being bombarded with revitalising energy (Conner wore a lead lined sleep mask to shield himself during his sleep time), the fragile teenager flinched from the energy that would be coursing through his veins and remembered that power made him dangerous.

"ABI shut down the solar lamps for the next cycle," Conner snapped, biting back the instant apology he wanted to give afterwards. He hated losing his temper or/and lashing out to people he cared about. But this was a machine, nobody was here to see him lose it and just for the sake of his sanity, he needed to let out some of the overspill cauldron of emotion that made his very proximity a dangerous thing.

He was so afraid now. His feet he looked down had unwittingly rebelled and were now floating two inches from the ground. His own legs were not willing to touch the metal floor; his arms, he realised, were supporting their load bearing brethren by staying ramrod straight to his sides. His search for the medical chest took him down two floors where he hadn't trusted himself to go down the sliding holes in the floor and instead carefully navigate the black stairs where it was located next to the pizza oven. With the blood pounding in his ears, the super teen tentatively reached out with his telekinetic field, but it didn't work out the way he intended. Maybe it was his frayed nerves, or perhaps his shivering form, but his concentration lapsed and instead of grabbing the small red box he crushed it and smashed it off the pizza oven it was hidden beside.

"It's easier to use your hands, Conner," Lex's voice asked sounding amused. No, it wasn't amusement, Conner gathered. His father had something blended within it. Was there concern or was it its relation wariness? Was his father afraid of him? "Mercy, no," his father ordered.

The blood pumping around his head was affecting his senses badly. His hitched breathing was not applying any benefits either. All he could keep an eye on was the dripping vials of relaxant tinged blue that could guarantee a safety net. Between beats, he had overlooked her footsteps that were backing away now too.

Superboy turned around in the air and faced his foster father and Mercy, the latter appeared desperate to just hug him and take away the anxieties of the teen. But Conner was happy his bald father had stopped her. He was possibly vibrating with enough force to drill through the floor at this minute. Her well-meaning comforting hug could kill her where she stood.

"Conner?" Mercy called out, "What's wrong?"

"He has finally realised what he truly is," Lex answered with wisdom, "His powers, what he is capable of and what he stands for. Conner is a Kryptonian, powered by the sun with amazing powers that will only keep growing the more he ages. He must always be aware of his formidable limitations, accept that normality only exists for us mere mortals."

"So…"

"However, Conner," Lex continued interrupting the teen, "You are still young and learning. Superman adapted through, my best guess, his childhood. His powers grew gradually through his adolescence and his teenage years and that is how he learned to control his abilities. Otherwise, I suspect a child Superman would have been noticed before now, even if he was raised in a rural area and we would have had news reports of a child flying around. You, on the other hand, have been given two years where you journeyed and observed. You learned much but you never put those lessons into practice Conner Luthor as I had hoped you would. You chose to be an island in a sea of people, but now you no longer have that option, Conner Luthor, with the path you have chosen to walk down."

"But what am I supposed to do, father?" Conner asked, his left foot touched the floor and cracked it by accident. He was still so uncertain and lashing out was all he understood when the stress reached its peak. Lex was correct though; his logic cooled him down and heated him up at the same time.

"You have two options," Lex said, pulling out a cigar from his rumpled suit and lighting it. He played with it for a moment creating a silence that created the opportunity for the teenager to cool down. Mercy was still frantically mother bear about it, mouthing him to cool down. Conner watched her every word, his ears picking up the shallow whispers and like a mantra it started to lay siege to the conflict inside. "You can rely on the relaxant forever and allow it steal away your powers forever. We have deduced that, theoretically speaking, taking it with an added 3ccs of blue kryptonite will nullify your abilities indefinitely and you can live like a normal man. It wouldn't matter to me. You are still my son, but…"

"Number two would be me, Conner Luthor," announced a woman who flew through the still open roof and down through the floors to reach him. "I am your other option."

She stood tall emphasising her tall, muscular figure and was blonde haired that was cut into a bob. Her white pristine uniform was scandalous to some old feminists, with the tight material that left nothing to the imagination and the hole that was cut in the middle to display her cleavage like some sort of model. With the small red cape held by a golden string and a broach pushing her cleavage out even more prominently, loose belt and how the white material of her costume didn't pass her hips it was no wonder some people called Powergirl the adult XXX version of Supergirl whom wore the same outfit as her famous cousin. Conner judging from the angle she came to land could appreciate her beauty, the legs that went for miles and her generous proportions.

And was soon brought down to earth when his libido was shoved aside by his logical centre when it informed him technically speaking he was ogling his second cousin. It wasn't a well-known fact in the outside world but Luthor Corp had that information on file.

"Remember, I asked Superman to arrange for someone to train you?" his father asked, quirking an eyebrow at the woman for something she had done that the teenager hadn't seen. "And I said I had requested Powergirl. Well, after today, I forwarded the footage of the engagement from my satellite to the League, and Superman and I rapidly agreed you had to start as soon as possible."

"But the…"

"If you are going to talk about the relaxant, Conner, then yes we will keep using it. But you need to start weaning yourself off it my boy."

"How are you drugging him?" Supergirl asked abrasively, emitting an aura that was very different from the Man of Steel. The woman was far more obvious in her dislike of his father, or was it something else about this whole thing? Right now, Superboy was more interested in keeping his cool. He lowered his hood that hid his face.

"If you read his file you would know we openly informed the league about his fear of the dark and silence, both of which are interconnected." Lex took another nonchalant puff of his cigar whilst Mercy practically had to hold herself still from unease. "To combat this we make sure that when he wakes up Conner can hear sound which helps control his night terrors. He also has claustrophobia that is aided with the other psychological problems he gained from his time with Cadmus with a psychiatrist that he will now be seeing more often."

"But how do you get it to interact with his immune system?" she asked carefully. Conner read between the lines. She was really asking, 'Can you use this technique to hurt us?'

"It is diluted with blue kryptonite, a minuscule amount," he stated, adding the last part hastily. Even Conner had noted the rigid way she stiffened at the word kryptonite. He was glad it wasn't just him that hated the stuff irrationally. It would affect them more considering that to everything else they were invulnerable. "It lowers his immune response to take effect until he does his breathing exercises and remembers where he is."

"Then, it is a good idea to wean him off it," Powergirl agreed. Somehow, his father's somewhat hesitant offer to depower him if he wanted to was now no longer on the table. Not that it appealed either, since Powergirl was now here to save the day. She was going to fix this problem and Conner would be safe for action next time. "But we had better start training now."

"And why is that?" Mercy said warningly, breaking her professional airs. Lex didn't scold her though and instead allowed the woman to step forward with a righteous feminine fury. "He just barely came back from a villain that could on a good day be a real threat to the Justice League!"

Powergirl was a forceful woman. It was obvious from how she became defensive in her response. "It is imperative he gains control of his abilities as soon as possible. He didn't get the luxury of growing up with these powers like Superman and I did. His only other option would be to do as Supergirl did and train with the Amazons."

"What is wrong with that option?" Superboy had to ask. His shakes were wavering and he had found the confidence to ground himself. His grounding did quiver, but Superboy was able to control himself enough to search the room for a vial of the drug that remained intact. He spotted one behind the oven with his x-ray vision walked over and claimed it. It already had a blue tipped needle on it and he used it, hitting the plunger. The veins in his arm turned blue for a time immediately becoming jelly. His powers would weaken for a while but the teenager was still able to do his duty.

"Your grandmother wouldn't let you leave until you were ready to face the world." She looked at the empty needle with disdain. She must have thought he was rather weak willed. He resented her for a moment, knowing she knew about his situation, fears that were very justified taking into consideration what his origins were. To a normal human, they could be hidden away but a fearful Kryptonian was like getting into a fight with a group of bears during salmon season. Someone was bound to get hurt if he was distracted; a mere flick of his hands could produce air pressure powerful enough to send a normal man flying.

Then reality set in and his thoughts travelled to the notion of junkies. When he had been panicking was his first thought on solving the issue taking the drug? Resentment turned to more shame inwardly but his resolve refused to show it outwardly. He had already made enough fatal errors today. He would allow his new teacher to judge him.

"Which is unacceptable," Lex interjected, "He has to attend Gotham High next week." Conner saw him wink at his son and Conner couldn't hide the smile. No matter what happened, Conner could rely on Lex Luthor to fix it. Already, Conner could easily bet that Brentwood was going to be given a donation to rebuild the school from top to bottom just in the name of easing his conscience.

But one thing did slip out that Lex perhaps didn't intend. While Gotham High was a respectable school it wasn't anything like the Metropolis West School for Boys. Lex did want him to stay away from Metropolis.

His father was scheming again.

"Which means," Powergirl grimaced. With his fathers' constantly warring all the time, it was not hard to note that agreeing with his foster father was not pleasant to the woman. "With school out until then, you and I will meet here every day around 4 and practice until late. You have been invited to the Young Justice meeting this weekend. I will work you to the bone to get you ready for that."

It was the thought of a goal, a time limit that something woke up inside. Powergirl and her offer of control gave him back some of the willpower that led him to choose to become to be a hero. It was very true what they said about Luthor men. The Luthor tenacity bred true even if they were not of Luthor blood. A Luthor always found the way forward, a Luthor made him invincible by doing the best he could. That was how a son of Lex Luthor was supposed to think, feel and move. He had to eat, sleep and talk success. His shock was a wakeup call, the battle a personal failure. He had to do better and clung to it like a starving child to an apple.

Damn Lex Luthor should quit being a captain of industry and become a motivational speaker. Those last few thoughts were word for word something Lex had lectured him on once. Those motivational speeches had ended his current personal crisis for now at least.

"Let's get started Powergirl," he offered, holding out his hand. He was smirking at his still hand and Mercy took that like a starting pistol to hug him. His hands didn't touch her, still a bit cautious of touching her, but the woman did not seem to care. She hugged him tightly; whispering words of encouragement at him and his father was bolder, still shaking hands with the teen, forcing the pair to grip. That simple gesture was worth a million words of encouragement. His foster father was not intimidated albeit the gloved hand made it impossible to check if something technological was firing up that statement of trust, but Conner preferred not to know. Sometimes the fantasy was better than reality.

"We will leave you to it," Lex said confidently, happily smirking, his cigarette with his usual debonair manner was inhaled and exhaled making a ring with a cloud of smoke, "Come along, Mercy. He will be staying with you tonight I think and all three of us will go out to eat. It's semi-formal attire Conner so remember to look smart."

"I will father," Conner said, pulling off his hood to reveal his masked face. He though the smile would satisfy Mercy whom appeared somewhat reluctant to leave. "See you later, Mercy."

"I will see you soon," she said, kissing his cheek and walking away reassured with her boss holding the elevator. They both entered the shaft and then disappeared from sight downwards.

"Well, then," Powergirl remarked, knowing that Lex wasn't in hearing range anymore. "Let's start by you knowing my name. It's part of the arrangement with Lex, but if I find out you told him…" She left the threat hang but it was enough to keep his mouth shut for eternity. She really meant business and Conner could almost read her thoughts that this training was going to be tough.

"Let me go first," Conner stated in an attempt to show respect to his new teacher, shaking her hand with a firm grip. "My name is Conner Luthor."

"Mine when not in costume is Karen Starr or if you want my Kryptonian name it is Kara Zor-L."

There was nothing to be afraid of here, as she returned his powerful handshake like a professional would use like the countless businessmen Lex had introduced him to would use to denote power. That strength brought him hope and reminded the teen that she was like him.

Conner wouldn't have it any other way.

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A/N And there you have it! Conner is about to meet the Young Justice for the first time. But what will happen? Will it go smoothly? By hell it will not! This is Conner Luthor who we are speaking about! And remember people REVIEW! If only for the cookies and pie! Also again thank Hockeygoalie1992 for all his help in being my beta!