Chapter Eleven

Clark and Diana materialized on the tele-pad. Diana had a concern expression to her face, but Clark was the one that disturbed Bruce. Bruce knew this wasn't going to be an easy debrief considering the deep scowl on Clark's face. He knew Kent well enough to know that when he lost his temper it wasn't pleasant for anyone. Even in battle Clark managed never to lose completely his temper, but this was different.

"Clark," he said.

"Bruce," he said coldly, "who killed Clark Kent?"

He was referring to himself in third person noted Bruce, and he killed off Clark Kent. This was worse than he thought. He had to find a way to revive the Kent identity because it was where Clark's humanity was forged. Superman needed his humanity. It stopped him from being something that Bruce feared – unstoppable.

"Steve Trevor told me Amanda Waller had been enlisted to kill Superman by someone of power and influence. He killed Deadshot after Deadshot shot you," said Bruce.

Diana's face fell. The thought that Steve Trevor acted so dishonorably hurt her. He was the first man she ever trusted. Bruce noticed.

"He is going to turn himself in. The man is guilt ridden," he said.

"What will happen to him?" she asked.

"Considering who is involved, I'm betting that it somehow all gets swept under the table," Bruce told.

His words made Clark's eyes to glow red. Bruce sighed.

"I assume she knows who went after Kent considering he was hammering Intergang and slowly exposing Morgan Edge," he said.

"I see," said Clark.

"I'm finding a way to bring Clark Kent back to life, Clark. Give me time to come up with a good cover story," he said.

"I think I should take Kal to the cafeteria and get him a coffee and calm him down," said Diana.

"Good idea," said Hal Jordan.

Taking Clark's left hand in her right hand she led him away. Bruce noted Diana now. There was a territoriality about her now with Kent. She also moved like a panther. Diana was always graceful, but now she was exuding a certain confidence. Superman and Wonder Woman were an item. Batman noted that. Diana and Clark exited.

"How soon before he goes off half-cocked?" asked Hal.

"He's going to demand answers from Waller soon, if I don't supply them. Waller doesn't realize that she's better off talking to Batman than an angry Superman," said Bruce.

"We'll have to stop him if he goes rogue," said Hal.

"We can't," growled Batman.

Bruce touched the lead container on his utility belt with the Kryptonite ring he had fashioned. He doubted that Clark would let him even get close enough to use the ring.

Diana and Clark walked down the corridor. Several of his neighbors were hurt in the explosion and one of them, an elderly woman Mrs. Hunter, was dead. Someone was going to play for this. Before they reached the cafeteria, a red blur whizzed past them then doubled back. The Flash was suddenly standing in front of them.

"Thank God, Big Blue, you've recovered," said Barry.

"I'm feeling better," said Clark.

"If you need to test your speed, you know I'll be glad to race you," he said.

"He knows, Flash," said Diana.

"Well, got to go. I'm due back on earth in ten minutes," he said then blurred away.

Diana squeezed Clark's hand. He looked at her and some of his anger dissipated. She and he had only thirty hours together before they were disturbed with the news of the death of Clark Kent. Thirty hours of joy followed by news he never anticipated. Yeah, he was pissed, but, at least, now he had Diana.

They continued into the cafeteria. Dinah, Huntress, Zatanna, and Mari looked up and saw them enter.

"It looks like our Amazon Princess has finally let off some steam," Mari said.

"Lucky girl," sighed Zatanna.

Dinah looked at her and shook her head, "He'd probably crush you in bed by accident."

"Yeah, but what a way to go," Zatanna blushed.

Clark heard their conversation and smiled slightly. He had a reason to be angry, a good reason, but damn if he didn't have a reason to be happy, also. Diana and he were together. For the first time in his life he felt as if he was with someone who he could truly be himself with.

"Are you hungry, Kal?" she asked.

He leaned in close to her and whispered into her ear, "Yeah, I'm hungry for you."

Diana blushed. She leaned into him and whispered, "Maybe we should take this to my quarters instead."

"I agree," he said. "I can be angry later."

JLJLJL

Amanda Waller exited the Cadmus facility. A driver in a military uniform with his hat pulled down low pulled the car up for her. She got into the car, settled into the backseat where a thick, bullet proof glass separated driver from passenger, and then pressed the button to speak to her driver.

"Take me back to the city. I have a dinner date at Nobu's," she said then took out her i-Pad from her briefcase and started to review some reports.

Waller didn't pay attention as the car headed off towards Metropolis. She didn't notice that her driver took a road that didn't lead to the highway. Suddenly, the car came to a screeching stop. Waller reacted quickly and reached for her weapon in her bag. The passenger door opened and the car started to fill up with tear gas. She started to gasp for air and cough, when a strong hand disarmed her, grabbed her jacket, and then pulled her out of the car. Waller felt herself tossed to the side. She landed hard on her ass, as she continued to cough and gasp for air.

"Son of bitch," she yelled.

"I don't think so," growled Batman.

With burning and watery eyes, she looked up and saw Batman standing over her. She was too far from her bag to get her weapon.

"You were my driver?"

"Yes."

"What do you want, Batman?"

"The truth, Waller, if you can manage it," he growled. "Superman is recovered and I have Clark Kent in a private location recovering from his wounds. A friend from the Justice League saved Kent. Who got you to do their dirty work for them, Waller?"

"Why should I tell you?" she asked. "I know you won't kill me and until the government disavows me, I have carte blanche to protect this country at all costs."

"You should tell me because the next person to ask you these questions is a pissed Superman and I won't be able to guarantee your safety," he growled. "He'll tear apart your Cadmus facility until he gets the answers he wants, Waller. You should be proud of yourself you've managed to anger him."

"Let him do his worst," she said.

"You don't understand, Waller; you've pissed off a Kryptonian and that is hard to do. He'll level your facility and all the experiments being done on it. Once he starts he won't stop until he gets what he wants."

Doomsday and the clone were too important to her. She'd have the separated tomorrow, but for now he give Batman what he wanted. Luthor had put her in bad position, so he can deal with it.

"Lex Luthor provided the bullet to kill Superman and blackmailed me into using Deadshot," she said.

"Luthor," growled Batman with disgust.

"You want to talk to someone than you talk to him. Someone hired him to take out Kent by offering him the Kryptonite bullet to use against Superman. Trust me I have no love for him, Batman. He's a pain in my ass," said Waller. "I knew it was too early to move on the Kryptonian."

Batman tossed to her the keys to the car.

"What am I going to do with these?" she asked him.

"Drive yourself home," he growled the he flipped opened a small computer on his wrist and put in a command.

One of his Batmobiles came roaring out of nowhere. It pulled up beside Batman. He got into the vehicle and drove away leaving a pissed off Amanda Waller. She found her bag and took out her cellphone and called the Cadmus.

"Get a hold of Luthor. I need him to move the Doomsday Project now," she ordered.

She didn't want to use Luthor but she knew that he had the secret labs where he could hide Doomsday. Plus, if Superman was on a rampage, she'd rather Doomsday be found with Luthor than with her.

JLJLJL

After arriving back on the station Bruce filled in Clark on what he learned from Amanda Waller. Clark expected Luthor to try and kill him; he'd even grown used to it, but the thought that Amanda Waller believed she was above the law infuriated him. She needed to be taught a lesson.

"You're not going to do anything stupid, Clark, are you?" said Bruce.

"No, Bruce, not stupid, just something that needs to be done," growled Clark.

He stormed out of the conference room. Bruce contacted the monitor room.

"J'onn, don't let Clark off the station. He's angry and I'm afraid he might do something stupid," Bruce warned him.

"It's too late, Batman. Clark already exited via the shuttle bay already. Negative emotions were flowing off him," J'onn told him.

Bruce found himself cursing Clark's super speed.

"Alert Hal, Oliver, Dinah, and Diana, and tell them that I need their help with Clark. We need to teleport down to the Cadmus facility," he said.

Clark landed so hard in front of the Cadmus Lab that the concrete cracked under his feet. He walked forward and through the security barriers that had come down to protect the lab. Security converged on him as he burst through the barrier. They opened fire on him causing bullets to ricochet off his body sending the security to take cover.

He walked past them not even bothering with them. Stopping at the elevator banks, he scanned the facility with his x-ray vision. He saw what he was looking for then ripped open the elevator doors and headed down the shaft at sonic speed. Crashing through the elevator doors of the subbasement, he was met by security with experimental energy directed weapons. The energy beams hit Superman in the chest pushing him back at first, even hurting him slightly, but he pushed through the pain and then used his heat vision to destroy the weapons. Once the weapons were destroyed he walked past the men, who did nothing to stop him.

He continued on unimpeded until he got to the lab door. It was a thick steel security door, which Clark melted with his heat vision then walked into the lab to find a teenage boy floating in a stasis chamber. He ignored the scientists and Amanda Waller because he was drawn to the boy, who looked slightly like Clark. Using his vision he checked the boy on a cellular level and found that his DNA was a mix of Kryptonian, his Kryptonian DNA, and human. He was a kind of clone. Clark's anger went to a new level.

At super speed he appeared at Waller's side and lifted her up by the throat and growled, "Who is the boy?"

Above ground Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Wonder Woman arrived. They immediately followed Superman's trail of destruction, disabling the security as they went. There wasn't much of a battle as the security was shell shocked by Superman. When they reached the elevator bank, Wonder Woman grabbed Batman by the waist and she and the Green Lantern followed Superman's trail. When they arrived in the lab, they found Superman looking as if he was ready to kill Amanda Waller.

"Superman, put her down," demanded Batman.

"The teenage boy in the stasis chamber is a clone of my DNA and human DNA," growled Clark then he looked at Bruce. "He is part of me, Batman. She had no right to do that. No right."

Batman walked over to the computers and immediately started to retrieve information. He took a thumb drive out of his utility belt and downloaded the information.

"Superman, we can review their records on the Watchtower. Let's take the boy and go. Just put her down now," growled Batman.

"I've got the boy. We can leave," said Green Lantern.

Diana walked over to Superman and placed her hand gently on the arm that was holding up Waller by the throat. Waller looked to be panicked and in need of air in her lungs.

"Kal, this is not your way. Do not soil yourself with her blood. Drop her," she said.

Waller closed her eyes and prayed that he listened to Wonder Woman. Clark dropped her to the floor.

"Tell Luthor that I'll be paying him a visit once I deal with this clone," he told her.

"I'm ready to go," said Hal, who had a green bubble around the chamber.

Wonder Woman grabbed Batman around the waist and flew off with him. Superman and the Green Lantern followed. Waller slowly got up and looked around at the wreckage of the lab. Some of her security came stumbling into the lab. She knew that she was lucky to be alive.

"Get me Luthor on the line. I need to warn him," said Waller.

JLJLJL

Mister Miracle, Dr. Hoshi, Batman, and Mister Terrific worked on the clone. They stopped the aging process to begin with so that the clone would start aging normally. He appeared to be sixteen years old. Their next problem was to stabilize his DNA so that they would be able to wake him up.

Superman along with Wonder Woman entered the lab.

"What can I do to help" asked Clark.

"His DNA isn't stabilizing. I believe it's the effect of the human DNA. Kryptonian DNA is so complex it is having problems bonding with the human DNA," he explained. "We are looking for a solution."

"I may have a solution," said Clark.

"What is it?" asked Dr. Hoshi.

"Kryptonian armor. It bonds with our DNA so only that one Kryptonian can use it. It has medical capabilities, also. It has more than once stabilized me when I was injured," he said

"It might be able to force the Kryptonian DNA into the dominant position. He might have to wear the armor for a long period of time, but it might work," she said.

"I'll get a suit of armor from my Fortress," he said. "I'll be back in ten or fifteen minutes."

Clark exited the lab. Bruce looked over at Diana. She appeared concerned.

"Is he all right, Diana?" he asked.

"He is detached and quiet. There is now another Kryptonian in the world and it is his clone and for intents and purposes it is like his son," said Diana. "I don't think he is sure on how to handle this."

"A sixteen year with super powers, I don't blame him," said Bruce.

"He'll need help. I think the clone should stay on the station," said Hoshi.

"Until his DNA stabilizes," said Mister Miracle, "then he should decide to either treat this clone as family or just a fellow Kryptonian."

"He'll be impressive. I've checked the cortical scans and he may even have kinetic abilities, but he will never be as strong or as fast as Superman," said Mister Terrific.

"Kinetic abilities?" asked Batman.

"Yes, I believe that the human who volunteered the DNA had latent, unused kinetic abilities," said Mister Terrific.

"I see," said Bruce. It was time to open up a file on the clone.

"He needs a name," said Diana.

"Who needs a name?" asked Bruce.

"The boy. He needs a name," she said as she pointed at the stasis chamber.

Everyone turned and looked at the boy in the stasis chamber. He was a clone of one of the powerful being they knew existed. Unfortunately, he didn't have a birth or a childhood and they were unsure how he would react when he woke up. Diana was right in that they needed to make him feel like a person and a wanted one as soon as possible.

"I think he looks like a Connor," said Hoshi.

All the men looked at Hoshi. She stared back at them confused.

"I like it," said Diana. "Connor Kent."

JLJLJL

Lex Luthor had the Doomsday Project relocated to one of his many secret labs. His scientists worked on bringing the stasis chamber back on-line. Once it was stabilized they would begin to accelerate brain washing and growth.

"How long until it's ready?" barked Luthor.

"If you want him at peak strength then a minimum of two months," answered Dr. Menken.

"Can we shorter that period of time at all?"

"Days at most," Menken said.

"Do your best, doctor. I want that creature ready to be awakened and unleashed on Superman as soon as possible," said Luthor.

"Yes, sir," he said.

Luthor stormed out of the lab. According to Waller, Superman had been pushed too far. She actually sounded shaken by her experience dealing with him. No, he wasn't going to be intimidated by some alien. He was Lex Luthor.

JLJLJL

The suit of armor was stabilizing his DNA. The name Connor was agreed to for now. Connor was in the armor without a cape, but with the El crest on his chest. Clark decided his Kryptonian name would be Kon-El. They hadn't awakened him yet. Clark knew that they would be able to bring the boy out of his hibernation soon. He also knew that the boy probably had all sorts of garbage downloaded into his brain, which needed to be counteracted. There was only one solution to counter that and that was to hook him up to one his Kryptonian computer and download real, untainted information into his brain and hope it counters whatever they did to him.

"Once he is ready to travel, I'm taking him to the Fortress of Solitude," Clark announced.

Diana and Bruce looked over at him but didn't react. Hal, John Stewart, and Simon Baz reacted.

"We won't let you take him. He's a potential danger," stated John.

J'onn, who was observing and reading everyone, spoke up.

"I will help Kal-EL if you try and stop him," said J'onn.

"You turning against us, Manhunter?" growled Baz.

"I am doing what it right. He is Kryptonian and Clark's family," said J'onn.

"I'm going to treat him, as if he is my son, or younger brother. It doesn't matter which because he is family to me now," Clark said quietly. "He deserves a chance. At the Fortress I can counter whatever programming they put in his head. I can download information and knowledge into his brain. When he wakes he will be better able to deal with the situation."

"I don't like this. He should be under League observation," said Hal.

"I'll allow Bruce, J'onn, and Diana to join me. They can observe and report back to you," said Clark then his whole demeanor changed and he became cold and distant. "No one else enters my Fortress without my permission. If they try, I won't even let Kryptonian technology soil itself on them because I will stop them. Is that understood?"

"Understood," said Hal. "I don't want to be adversaries, Superman; I just want to be cautious."

"J'onn, Bruce, and Diana and that's all," stated Superman.

"Agreed."