A/N -Trigger warning - child abuse (Cadmus to Conner)
Two years ago
"Luthor, it's Lawton," Deadshot said into the burner phone.
"Floyd," Lex said back in surprise. "Don't tell me someone's taken out a contract on me. I'll be very displeased," he cautioned.
"Shut up, man," Floyd said impatiently. "It ain't like that this time. Cadmus has got a kid locked away in their Area 57 base. A teenager, I guess. Waller called him a clone, like he wasn't even a person. Said he was an experimental weapon."
"And that concerns me how…?" Lex asked.
"He's yours," Floyd said.
Lex paused.
"What do you mean, he's mine?" he asked Deadshot.
"I mean," Floyd said, "except for the black hair and blue eyes, the kid is the spittin' image of you."
"What the hell?" Lex mused.
"Oh, that ain't even the best part," Floyd said heavily. "He's half Superman, too."
"What, now?" Lex said, his eyebrows raising to the sky.
"Boy's Kryptonian," Deadshot said. "Heat vision, flies, and that's just what I saw. Waller was none too pleased I was gettin' up in her face about him being there. But he's a kid, man," Deadshot said. "You gotta get him out of there."
"I will," Lex said immediately. "He's a prisoner, I take it?"
"Fuck, yeah," Floyd grunted. "They got him in a shielded room, tons of kryptonite weapons around, making him run drills and tests and all this shit. Kid's miserable as all hell, Luthor," Floyd said. "They're treating him like an animal. Or worse. Like a machine," he said. "Like a machine they'll beat the shit out of with green cattle prods if he doesn't follow orders."
"And you really think he's half mine?" Luthor asked.
"I do," Floyd said. "Bitch called him a weapon, right? Now you ask me, you want to build a living super weapon, what's better than combining the strongest man on the planet with the smartest man on the planet?"
Lex grunted.
"But I got a DNA sample you can check," Floyd added.
"How did you manage that?" Lex asked, impressed.
Floyd gave a slight chuckle.
"The kid managed it," he said. "Boy is smart like his daddy, Lex. I bullied Waller into letting me into the chamber to talk to him," Deadshot said.
"Waller doesn't bully," Lex said.
"A wrist magnum to the head held by a prisoner with a death wish works wonders," Floyd said dryly. "Anyway, I get in there and start asking the kid how they're treating him, if he needs help - you know what he does? Fucker flies up to me and spits in my face. Huge fucking wad of saliva," Floyd chuckled appreciatively.
"Oh, that was clever," Lex hummed. "You collected it, I assume?"
"Hell, yeah," Floyd said. "Dabbed it off with my coat cuff and cut that piece off and sealed it up in a plastic baggie as soon as I got home."
"Good," Lex grunted. "Where are you? Can you bring it to me? Don't let it out of your sight until it's in my hands."
"I'm in Sedona, but I can't leave town, man," Floyd said. "Waller's got me on her Suicide Squad, got a bomb in my head and trackers implanted fuck knows where."
"Oh, shit," Lex said with startled feeling. "Sorry to hear that, Floyd."
"Yeah, no shit," Floyd grumbled.
"I'll come to you," Lex said, thinking out loud. "The bomb, it's operated remotely, I take it?"
"Yeah," Floyd said. "That asshat Rick Flag and Waller both have kill switches, and I don't know who else."
"That's not a problem," Lex said. "If the bomb's remote activated, it's electronic. I'll have Star Sapphire teleport in with a localized EMP. She'll bring you back here to Metropolis as soon as it's neutralized and my neurosurgeon will get it out before it reactivates. The trackers, too."
"Thanks, man," Floyd said in surprise. "I'll go in with you to get the kid out, in that case."
"I appreciate it," Lex said. "I'll be damned if Amanda Waller is going to steal my DNA and manufacture a child - my son," Lex said in wonder.
"Where are you gonna stash him once we get him?" Floyd asked. "Cause Waller's gonna be all over your ass. You ain't gonna be able to keep your hands clean with this one, Lex. She's gonna nail you to the wall."
"I don't think so," Lex said thoughtfully. "DNA gives me parental rights. Amanda Waller might have the US Government backing her, but I have lawyers," he said with a malevolent chuckle.
Deep inside the secret Cadmus base in the heart of Area 57, Experiment 13 was sitting glumly on a thin bunk in a tiny cell flooded with the red solar lights that the Terrors used to neutralize his powers whenever he wasn't being called upon to perform for them.
Today had been bad, worse than usual. They were testing his strength against lasers and had battered him again and again with more and more force, just to see how much he could take before getting slammed backwards into the reinforced wall of the training room.
His chest still hurt. Not to mention his back and his head.
Experiment 13 didn't lie down on his bunk but sat with knees drawn up to his chest, head sunk low and resting on them. He didn't understand this. He didn't understand anything. How he had suddenly blinked to consciousness in what he now knew to call the Lab, where he was met with cheers and adulation.
The first part of his training hadn't been awful. The mental work, teaching him to speak and to read, and how to identify all types of wondrous objects that didn't exist in his cell or the Lab or the Training Room. Testing his intelligence, how fast he could learn - and the Terrors seemed to think he was quite fast, indeed, although the lessons seemed arduously difficult to Experiment 13.
He hadn't known to call them the Terrors, back then. They'd been full of happy smiles and proud looks - not for him, but for each other. Still, they'd been pleased with him and nobody had hurt him and although he felt scared and confused and some empty feeling that he hadn't yet learned a word for, his life hadn't been that bad.
Not like it was now.
Experiment 13 couldn't hold back a small sniff as a tear rolled down his cheek where it rested on his knees, hidden by his arms. Why had they bothered teaching him about trees and sunshine and weather and cities and buses and lakes and birds if they were never going to let him see any of those things?
If all they were going to do was hurt him, again and again, and force him to punch and destroy and fly and burn? The first time they'd hurt him, Experiment 13 had lashed out towards his captors, only to be met by the most sickeningly painful green ray. Kryptonite, they'd laughingly called it.
Now, they taunted him with it on a daily basis, not only if he looked as though he might rebel, but if he didn't perform his tasks quickly enough, or efficiently enough, or if they thought he could do better even though he'd already done his best the last twenty times they'd asked.
Experiment 13 hated it here and he hated all of the Terrors, but he hated the one they called Waller most of all. She was the cruelest, the one most likely to pull out the kryptonite even if he'd been working really hard. Motivation, she called it, wanting to see how hard he'd fight to avoid being poisoned by its green death.
That strange bearded man had hated her, too. Experiment 13 could tell. He'd lifted his gun right up to Waller's head as he shouted at her about a child being kept prisoner - him, Experiment 13 had slowly realized the man meant. He hadn't known he was a child.
They'd taught him the word for child, but he was an experiment, not a child. A clone, he'd heard the Terrors say sometimes, made from the DNA of the planet's two most powerful beings - an alien called Superman and a genius named Lexluthor. Experiment 13 understood DNA. They had explained it to him back in his better days, in his brain lessons.
That was why when the angry man finally stalked into the Training Room, having won his battle with Waller by claiming not to fear death - Experiment 13 had quickly formed a plan. He had been alive for ages, now, and had never once seen either Superman or Lexluthor, which made his super brain wonder if perhaps these superbeings did not know that Experiment 13 existed.
Surely, if they knew, they would have been curious to see how the experiment they had created was performing. Waller visited him at least two or three times a week to check on his progress.
So what if the superbeings didn't know? Would they be displeased to know that a weapon as powerful as Experiment 13 existed and that he had been created from their own DNA? Perhaps they would want to take Experiment 13 and use him for their own purposes instead of letting Waller keep him for herself.
Experiment 13 didn't know if the superbeings might treat him better than the Terrors, but he rationalized that they could not possibly treat him worse. So, when the strange man had come into the Training Room, and looked at Experiment 13, really looked at him in the eyes and asked him questions about his wellbeing and had been worried for him - well, Experiment 13 had spit in his face.
Waller was pleased, of course, thinking it was proof of his obedience to the Terrors. But the man had raised an eyebrow and then smirked at him and wiped the spit off most carefully with his sleeve.
"Guess you're all right, then," the man had said to him, but he had an intelligent gleam in his eye that gave Experiment 13 hope.
That had been days ago, though, and nothing spectacular had happened. He was still being punished and trained and battered with lasers and his chest hurt tonight, yes, but that wasn't why the tears were rolling down his cheeks.
Experiment 13 lifted his head when he heard the shouts and gunfire. Quite close by, of course, since his powers were being suppressed at the moment by his cell's red lights. He stared in wonder as a pack of oddly dressed people burst into the detention chamber. A woman and man in purple, an albino man in a black top hat, a bald man in a light green jumpsuit and - the strange bearded man who'd argued with Waller.
The bald one locked eyes with Experiment 13 and inhaled sharply.
"Son," he said to him, "we're going to get you out of here. Sit tight. Polaris," he barked at the man in purple.
"On it," the man said, raising his arm.
The forcefield surrounding the Experiment's cell crackled and fizzled out and then the cell bars were being pulled apart by an invisible force.
"Can you stand?" the bald man was asking him.
"He's hurt," the bearded man grunted.
"I've got him," the purple lady said, and suddenly Experiment 13 was being pulled forward by a purple ray.
"Get down," the bearded man shouted suddenly, and he was raising his arms and firing, and the albino man was tapping his staff on the floor and an inky blackness filled the room, and the purple ray was expanding to hold the whole group of them together in it and they were floating through the base, twisting and turning through corridors and tunnels and flying up stairwells, past downed guards, most of them dead, it looked like, based on the blood.
A few shots bounced harmlessly off the purple forcefield as the lady controlling it confidently steered them through the maze of the sterile metal monstrosity that was so much bigger than Experiment 13 had ever imagined, confined as he was to a few small areas in it, and suddenly they were bursting out out of a door and Experiment 13 was gasping, because he'd never seen the sky before.
And even though it was distorted by the purple shield, it was there and he could see it and there were clouds and a bird, a huge bird with white and black striped wings was flying overhead and then there was a tug and a flash and they were inside another building, but a much nicer one than the one they had left.
Experiment 13 ignored the carpet, although it was a novelty, and the soft furniture, bigger and fluffier than he'd ever seen, and the fancy pretty objects sprinkled around the room, because the building had windows.
So many windows, and Experiment 13 could see the sky right out of them, and the clouds, and the purple haze was gone, now, and he was stumbling forward to look outside, pressing his face up against the glass and staring in wonder.
Trees. He saw trees! And grass! And… water? A lake? Or, that other word… a pond, maybe? And streets and people and cars and buses and when he ran to the next set of windows he gasped because there was an ocean, it had to be, with huge waves and boats and bigger ships and other birds, white ones, and he was crying harder than he'd ever cried after the Terrors were done with him.
"Poor kid," he heard the bearded man mutter, but the Experiment couldn't stop crying and staring and longing, longing to run outside - outside - to touch it all and breathe it in and find out what grass felt like, and what birds sounded like, and what a hot dog smelled like, and -
The bald man was standing beside him, now.
"Son," he said.
He had said that word in the cell, too. Son. Sons belonged to fathers. Experiment 13 had learned this.
"I'm Lexluthor," the bald man said, and the boy gasped and turned to him.
"You came," he said in wonder.
"I came," Lexluthor said. "As soon as I knew. I didn't know. I'm sorry," he said, and his eyes were wet, too, and looked… sad? Was that the right word?
The Terrors had taught him emotions and feelings with pictures and faces but Experiment 13 wasn't sure how to match the pictures with Lexluthor's face because he looked sad, yes, in his eyes, but he was smiling, too, and reaching a slow hand out towards his face.
"You really do look like me," he said as he touched the boy's cheek more gently than anyone had ever touched him before.
"I do?" the boy said.
"So much," Lexluthor said. "This is Deadshot," he said, turning and indicating the bearded man.
"You can call me Floyd," the man said, and he was smiling and looked happy as he came over. "Glad we crossed paths, kid," Floyd Deadshot said. "I hate to think what they've been doing to you in there."
"Hurting me," Experiment 13 said softly, looking down towards the ground, which was covered with wood planks, all shiny and polished, imagine that!
Lexluthor was growling low and deep and angry in his throat and Floyd Deadshot was muttering what the boy knew were curse words and the other three people were grumbling their agreement.
"Damn shame," the albino man said, shaking his head.
"This is Shade," Lexluthor said, introducing him. "Manipulator of shadows. And this is Starsapphire and Doctor Polaris."
"Hi, kid," Starsapphire said, and her face definitely looked sad, the boy decided.
"Glad we could get you out," Doctor Polaris said. "Any kid of Lex's is a friend of mine," he added.
Experiment 13 didn't know what to say to that, but he felt something warm inside his chest, almost like when he activated his heat vision but not as intense.
"Will Waller find me here?" the boy asked. "She has kryptonite."
Lexluthor hissed.
"Fuckin' bitch," Floyd Deadshot spat.
"We're all going to stay to protect you until Lex works the legal situation out," Starsapphire said.
Experiment 13 didn't know what that meant, exactly, but he understood the part about them protecting him, and he felt… glad.
They had some clothes for him, softer than the coarse jumpsuit he'd had to wear in the base.
"I just guessed your size," Floyd Deadshot was saying to him, showing him the pants with the drawstring and stretchy waistband and the soft, soft t-shirt. "Lex'll get you some new stuff that actually fits."
The boy nodded his head as he fingered the material. The bearded man smiled at him.
"If somebody gives you a gift or does something nice for you, you can say 'thank you,' to tell them you like it," he said gently, much more kindly than any of the Terrors ever spoke to him.
"Thank you?" the boy said hesitantly and Floyd Deadshot nodded.
"That's it, kid," he said and reached out and ruffled the hair on top of his head.
That was… odd. A strange thing to do. What purpose did it serve? It felt nice, though, the boy realized, and his chest was a little warm again as he picked up the small stack of clothes.
Lexluthor had been talking on his phone low and quiet, although without the red lights draining the boy like back in his cell, Experiment 13 could hear him. That word 'lawyers,' again, and 'legal rights' and 'lawsuit' and 'child abuse' - so many words.
But he was hanging up now and coming over to him.
"I'll show you your bedroom and you can get changed," Lexluthor said to him, leading him towards a door - a wooden door - that opened and closed without a remote control.
Maybe… maybe they wouldn't lock him inside? The boy felt a flicker of hope.
He gasped when Lex opened the door. The room was enormous and had windows, too, and a giant bed with a soft fluffy looking mattress, and a desk and chair and bookshelf, although it was mostly empty, and a dresser, he had learned that word, and a soft rug over the wooden floor, and Experiment 13 thought it was the most marvelous place he had ever seen.
"You have your own bathroom," Lexluthor was saying, "right through here," he said, moving to another door in the room and opening it to show Experiment 13.
"Thank you," the boy said softly, still clutching his new clothes to his chest.
Lexluthor looked at him like he was sad and happy all at once again, and came over and took the clothes from him and sat them on top of the dresser.
"You're very welcome," he said, and then he did something most unusual.
Lexluthor put his arms out and gently wrapped them around the boy, before squeezing him to his chest, for a long, long time. The boy wasn't sure what to do at first, but tears were leaking out of his eyes and he slowly felt his arms stretching out and around Lexluthor's back and squeezing him back and the strange empty feeling that had always lived in the boy's chest felt like it was slowly beginning to evaporate.
"I love you," Lexluthor said to him. "I never imagined I'd ever have a child, but now that you're here…" he trailed off and squeezed him even tighter. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again," Lexluthor promised him when he finally released him, before pressing his lips into the boy's hair.
"Thank you," the boy whispered.
"Why don't you get changed and then we'll see about some food," Lexluthor said.
"Ok," the boy said.
Lexluthor turned to leave and began to pull the door shut behind him, but he froze when he heard the boy's panicked gasp.
"Son! Son," Lexluthor said, letting go of the handle and rushing over to him. "I wasn't going to lock it," the man said, reaching out to gently grasp his upper arm.
"I was only closing it so you could change. Nobody is ever going to lock you in again, anywhere," he said and the boy sniffed and wiped his eyes and the man looked sad again when he left him alone to change.
When the boy came out, Lexluthor and the others were arguing over what food to order for dinner.
"I want pizza," Doctor Polaris was insisting.
"Thai," Starsapphire countered, hands on her hips.
"Chinese," Shade said back.
"Hoagies," Floyd Deadshot said.
"You can all order from different places you know," Lexluthor was grumbling, but that made everyone madder, it seemed.
How confusing, the boy thought.
"We can't," Starsapphire grumbled, "because we're all starving and whoever's gets here first, everybody else is gonna steal it."
Lexluthor muttered something under his breath which the others didn't seem to hear, but of course the boy did. "Fucking pack of children…"
Lexluthor turned and caught the boy looking at him and gave him a smile and a wink.
"What do you like to eat, son?" he asked.
The boy blinked.
"Nothing," he said honestly.
"Didn't they feed you in there?" Shade said in horror.
"Yes, but I did not like it," the boy said. "Protein shakes and energy bars."
"Ew," Doctor Polaris said with feeling. "You deserve to know what some good pizza tastes like."
"Cut that out," Floyd Deadshot said, very annoyed, the boy thought. "Rock, paper, scissors and that's final."
Lexluthor chuckled and led the boy over to sit by the windows while the strange people began some elaborate hand ritual.
"I don't suppose you have a name, son?" Lexluthor asked him.
"Experiment 13," the boy said and Lexluthor growled.
"You need a real name," he said. "Let's pick one," he said, opening up his laptop.
"How?" the boy asked as the man typed for a few minutes.
"Here," he said, turning the screen so the boy could see it, too. "These are popular baby names that people use for their children. You can pick whatever one you like."
"There are so many," the boy said, awed.
He began to scroll through the list, moving to the L's first.
"Lexluthor is not on there," he said with a frown.
"Oh," the man smiled. "Lex is my first name and Luthor is my last name. Your last name, too, now," he said. "But Lex is short for Alexander, under A."
"Oh," the boy said.
He began reading through the A's, but his head turned a minute later, distracted by the view outside the window.
"What are those white birds by the water?" he asked Lex.
"Seagulls," Lex said.
"Seagulls," the boy repeated to himself quietly. "Do you know what the bird was I saw outside the base? When Starsapphire took us outside? It had black and white stripes."
"That was a condor," Lex smiled.
"Condor," the boy said, still staring out the window.
"Let me see something," Lex said, taking the computer back and scrolling through the list.
"Conner is a name," he said, looking over at the boy. "That's kind of close to condor. And it's a bit similar in some ways to Alexander, too," he said. "What do you think?"
"Conner?" the boy said, and a smile stretched out across his lips as he spoke, feeling strange but good. "Conner," he repeated with more confidence.
"Conner Luthor," Lex said.
"I like it, Lex," Conner smiled at him and Lex smiled back, big and broad.
"I'm your father," he said. "You can call me Dad."
"Dad," Conner said, and then his dad was leaning forward and squeezing him again and Conner thought the warm feeling in his chest might be happiness.
His dad had told him that a team member would sit up awake in his bedroom all night to guard him, in case Amanda Waller tried to steal him back. When his dad had apologized for the intrusion, Conner had shrugged.
"I'm used to being watched all the time," he said, and his dad's eyes had gotten all sad again like they kept doing.
It was easy to fall asleep, feeling safe and cozy on the comfortable mattress, in the beautiful room full of windows, and Conner was sleeping soundly when he was awakened by the sound of crashing glass and shouting and Shade pulling him out of bed.
"Stick with me, kid," he said. "Don't want to be too close to the windows."
Shade tapped his staff and the bedroom windows filled with dark shadows, but Conner was peering around Shade into the living room where a muscular man in a blue jumpsuit and red cape was yelling at Conner's dad, who had been sleeping on the couch, apparently, anticipating trouble.
"Waller said you stole a top-secret government weapon!" the big angry man was yelling. "She gave us security footage of you breaking into the base. Where is it, Lex? It's not like you to do something so obvious and then come back home and kick your heels up."
"He's not a weapon," Lex said calmly. "He's a child. My son. Waller didn't give you all the facts."
"You have a son," the blue man said flatly, disbelief written all over his face. "And Waller kidnapped him and lied about him being a weapon, is that it?" the man sneered.
"Not at all," Conner's dad said. "We have a son, as it happens. She cloned our DNA and grew a teenager who she's been abusing down in Area 57. My lawyers have already filed all kinds of lawsuits against Cadmus," Lex said, polishing his fingernails on his dress shirt that he had apparently slept in, along with his dress slacks and shoes.
"You have no business here, Superman," Lex said. "Let the courts handle this one or you'll be embarrassed."
"Superman?" Conner exclaimed, accidentally pushing past Shade in his excitement. "You're my other dad?" Conner asked, his eyes lighting up happily.
The big blue man turned and stared at Conner and… his eyes went hard and cold. Like the Terrors' eyes always looked. Conner didn't mean to but he whimpered and stepped back but Lex was already stepping in front of him, with Star Sapphire to his right and Floyd to his left.
"A clone?" Superman growled. "Of you and me?"
"Yes," Lex said calmly.
"She had no right," Superman spat, looking furious and like his heat vision was about to activate.
"Obviously she had no right," Lex said a trifle impatiently, "which is why I'm taking her to court and taking custody of Conner."
"You gave it a name?" Superman said angrily, crossing his arms on his chest. "It's a clone, Lex. You said so yourself. Waller called it Experiment 13."
"He is a child, and he is mine," Lex said coolly, taking a step backwards towards Conner.
Superman's eyes flicked towards Conner, who had started shaking despite Shade's steadying hand on his shoulder.
"Waller said it was an experimental weapon," Superman said in a tight voice.
"She was abusing him with kryptonite to force him to train," Lex said. "That doesn't mean he's a weapon. He's a child."
"It means it's dangerous," Superman growled in a low voice. "I need to take it to the Watchtower."
"Like hell you will," Deadshot said, lifting up his magnums.
"What could possibly be the purpose of taking the boy to the Watchtower?" Lex said in a silky smooth voice. "LexCorp doctors have already looked him over for injuries or implants. I'd be glad to provide you with their reports."
"The clone has been programmed to kill and destroy and obey Amanda Waller's orders," Superman snapped. "The Justice League will also pursue action against her for what she's done, but that doesn't change the fact that a weapon with the powers of mass destruction has been created. We can keep it safe on the Watchtower, away from Earth."
"Keep Earth safe from him, you mean?" Lex said.
"Yes," Superman acknowledged.
"To be clear, you want custody so you can parent Conner yourself on the Watchtower? Instead of allowing me to parent him here in Metropolis?" Lex asked.
"What?" Superman frowned. "No - I don't live on the Watchtower - this isn't a parenting situation, Lex," he said. "It's a cloned weapon that needs to be safely contained where it can't hurt anyone."
"Imprisoned, you mean," Lex said.
"It would have a large room it could - "
"Imprisoned," Lex repeated. "On the Watchtower. Like a criminal, with no parenting whatsoever."
"Yes," Superman said loudly, his anger rising. "It's not a child, Lex. It's a thing. An abomination," he growled, "ripped out of my own body and blended with yours and -" he broke off in disgust.
"No," Lex said calmly. "You can't have him. Conner is my son and he will remain here with me. If you wish to apply for joint custody through the courts, you're welcome to do so. In the meantime, stay out of my home which you broke into tonight."
"I don't think so," Superman said, starting to stalk forward. "The clone is coming with me."
A cry of terror erupted from Conner's throat but even before Shade could cast his darkness, Deadshot had fired right into Superman's chest.
"Get us out," Lex ordered and they were all in the purple bubble again and floating towards the open elevator that Doctor Polaris was waiting beside and as they flew, Conner looked over in shock towards Superman, because the Kyrptonian had fallen.
And… there was a glowing bullet lodged in his chest.
"Kryptonite," Conner whispered as the elevator flew down to Lex's safehouse buried low beneath LexCorp.
"I've learned to never be without it," Lex said sagely.
"Why didn't it affect me?" Conner asked him, staring at Floyd and his dad with big eyes.
"Lead lined guns with a cap on the end," Floyd grinned back at him. "Big Blue couldn't see the bullets and the green shit couldn't leak out and hurt you until I fired."
"Thank you," Conner said, starting to understand how his dad could be both happy and sad at the same time, because tears were filling Conner's eyes but his mouth was smiling and it was a strange and wonderful feeling like nothing he had ever felt before.
Lex, Conner, and his team of lawyers were already sitting in the otherwise empty courtroom when Superman stalked in, glowering with anger, with the Justice League Founders on his heels.
"Ah, Superman," King Faraday said, reaching out to shake the Man of Steel's hand as he stood from his seat in the first row behind the defendant's table. "And Founders," the Earth ambassador assigned to the Justice League greeted them.
"Some of you have met Ms. Goodwill and Mr. Harris already, of course," he said, indicating the lawyers behind him.
"Yes," Wonder Woman said after a pause that no one seemed inclined to fill as the team filed into the row of observational seats while Superman strode up to sit at the defendant's table with his lawyers.
She glanced over towards Lex and the clone - but Hera, he was a boy, wasn't he? And he was frightened, Diana observed, noting the panicked glances the child was giving Superman and the way that Lex's arm went around the little one's shoulders and the soothing way that Lex whispered in his ear.
Batman was watching Lex and the boy, too, with a small frown on his face. He wasn't very old - maybe a little older than Jason had been when he'd first adopted him, Bruce thought to himself. Neatly dressed, of course Lex had made sure of that, putting him in an obviously tailored suit, but one that was age-appropriate, not making him seem older than his years - a wise strategy, no doubt, on Lex's part, but as Batman watched Lex comfort his obviously distressed child, the Bat felt his heart sink with the knowledge that all was not as Kal had made it appear when he had frantically slammed on his emergency distress beacon for help after being shot with kryptonite.
They'd almost lost him; it had been touch and go for days, given that Deadshot had fired the bullet straight into Kal's heart. If Batman hadn't whizzed over from Gotham in minutes in the Batwing and removed the bullet right in Lex's living room before whisking Superman away to the Batcave, where Alfred had patched the wound as best as he could before calling in Dr. Thompkins, who had performed open heart surgery under Batman's brilliantly bright yellow solar light lamps that he kept stocked just for Kal's rare encounters with kryptonite… well, Superman would have been no more.
Of course Batman had been furious at the attempt on his best friend's life, even when Kal began ranting about the clone that Amanda Waller had made from his DNA. But the way Kal had talked, Batman had gotten the impression that the being was some kind of psychopathic, barely living organic weapon.
Not a child, even younger than Jason had been when Jason had -
"All rise," the bailiff said as the judge entered the courtroom, and the proceedings began.
Batman's jaw was getting tighter as the trial went on.
Yes, Amanda Waller had called the Justice League for help on behalf of Cadmus, Superman testified from the witness stand. Yes, she had gone through Faraday and the proper channels to request assistance. Yes, she had specifically said that an experimental weapon with enormous destructive capabilities had been stolen by Lex et al. Yes, she had provided some video footage of the initial break-in at the base, but the cameras had gone out shortly thereafter, thanks to Polaris, no doubt.
No, she had not specified that the weapon was humanoid, or a clone, or a person, or a child, or whatever Superman very much didn't want to identify him as.
"But once you realized that the weapon Ms. Waller had described to you was a living being, a child, did you not pause to think that perhaps her request for the return of her so-called weapon was problematic?" the prosecutor asked Kal.
"Of course I did," Superman said with evident irritation. "Lex informed me that Waller had stolen my DNA. Naturally I wasn't going to return a weapon to the person who had violated and robbed me and used my own body material for experiments."
The judge's lips pressed tightly together, but Kal didn't notice.
"So what course of action did you propose to Mr. Luthor at that time?" Lex's lawyer asked.
"I told him that I would take the weapon to the Watchtower where it could be properly secured," Kal said with a derisive glare. "The penthouse of LexCorp Tower is hardly the place to keep a weapon of mass destruction."
"Is it the proper place to keep a child?" the prosecutor asked.
"The weapon is not a child," Kal said dismissively. "It's a clone."
"Conner Luthor is a living being, height and weight and physical development equivalent to a human child of approximately fourteen years of age," the prosecutor said, referencing the medical records that Lex's team had provided. "Conner Luthor's DNA is 50% that of the human Alexander Luthor, and 50% that of the Kryptonian alien known as Kal-El, or Superman. Are you aware, Superman, that every human child in the world contains 50% of the DNA of each parent?" the prosecutor pushed.
Superman sulked and sat silently.
"Answer the question, please, Superman," the judge said.
"Yes, I am aware," Superman spit out. "But that does not make the clone a child. There was no egg. No sperm. No willing donors."
"Are children of rape that mothers choose to carry to term not considered human beings?" the prosecutor asked. "Does the lack of a willing DNA donor nullify the rights of the subsequent living child?"
"It is not a child!" Superman roared.
Lex's prosecutor glanced back at him with a small smirk as the defense lawyers sighed quietly to each other. They had tried to prep Superman for his trial. They really had. But the Man of Steel was as stubborn and unyielding as steel, refusing to heed their advice and insisting that he was in the right, Lex was a villain, and that Kal-El of Krypton would be vindicated in court.
"The prosecution submits the home security recordings from Alexander Luthor's penthouse on the night in question," his lawyer said.
There was a pause as the video footage was loaded up into the monitor, and then the Justice League was forced to sit in uncomfortable silence while they listened to their founding member threaten a small, obviously terrified boy with imprisonment on the Justice League's base before calling the child an abomination to his face.
"I've heard enough," Batman snapped, standing as soon as the video finished.
"Batman, this is a trial with set procedures," the judge chastised him.
"Fine," Batman snarled. "Then I want to make an official statement to the court."
He continued without giving the judge a change to cut him off.
"The Watchtower will never be used as a prison cell for children, no matter how that child was created," Batman growled.
The judge raised her eyebrow.
"Do you speak for the entire Justice League, Batman?" she asked.
"I speak for myself," Batman said, "because I built the Watchtower and I own the Watchtower. I will evict the Justice League and destroy the base before I allow a child to be imprisoned there," he snarled.
"Give the boy to Lex," the Bat snapped. "He loves him."
Batman caught the surprised respect and gratitude in Lex's eyes just before he whirled to leave and stomped out of the courtroom, his black cape fluttering behind him. Superman watched him go with stunned, hurt eyes, but the rest of the Justice League was exchanging nervous glances with each other.
"This is a shitshow," the Green Lantern whispered to J'onn, who nodded his head even as Superman shot them a dark glance from the stand.
"I've heard enough to reach a verdict," the judge said. "You may step down, Superman, but remain standing at the defense table," she said.
Lex and Conner rose as well at the bailiff's instruction, Lex's arm still tight around his son and Conner looking shaky and nervous, while Superman glowered at the judge.
"In the custody hearing for Conner Luthor, I grant his father Alexander Luthor full custody," the judge said.
Lex burst out into a smile, and Conner tried to, but he started crying. As Lex pulled him into his chest in a tight hug, Wonder Woman found herself swallowing and thinking some very unkind thoughts about the teammate she'd only recently considered one of her closest friends.
"In the criminal charges against Alexander Luthor, Star Sapphire, Doctor Polaris, Floyd Lawton, and Shade, for the breaking and entering of a government facility and the theft of a government weapon, I find all of the accused not guilty," the judge continued, "due to the fact that the so-called weapon was in fact Mr. Luthor's biological child, created without his knowledge, who was being held illegally and subjected to extreme levels of physical and mental abuse."
"In the criminal charges against Kal-El of Krypton, also known as Superman," the judge said, "in the case of breaking and entering into Alexander Luthor's home, I find him not guilty, as he was following Justice League orders issued according to proper governmental procedures."
"In the charge of attempted felony kidnapping," the judge continued, and Diana felt her stomach knot, "I find Kal-El of Krypton, also known as Superman, guilty as charged."
"What?" Superman roared.
Diana stood up and pressed a hand down firmly onto his shoulder.
"Kal, please," she said. "Be calm. Now is not the time for emotional outbursts."
Lex was looking over at Superman now with a look so cold that Mr. Freeze could have borrowed it for his next ice ray.
"In light of your former service to Metropolis and to the world, Superman, the DA's office is prepared to offer you a plea bargain in exchange for a reduced sentence," the judge said.
"If you fully sign away all current and future parental rights to Conner Luthor, disowning him as your child, you will be sentenced to five years of parole during which you will report three times a week to a parole officer," the judge said.
"You and the Justice League will keep strict documentation of all of your superhero activities, whether in Metropolis or on behalf of the greater League, no matter how large or small the feat, which will be reviewed on a weekly basis with your parole officer to ensure that excessive force or prejudice is not being used."
J'onn began to grumble under his breath.
"As conditions of your plea-bargain," the judge went on, "you will be imposed with lifetime restraining orders prohibiting you from being within one mile of either Alexander Luthor, Conner Luthor, LexCorp Tower, and Conner Luthor's future schools and places of employment."
Superman drew in a sharp breath on a hiss, but the judge was far from finished.
"Additionally," she went on, "you may only continue to serve Metropolis in your capacity as Superman under the direct supervision of at least one Justice League member, who must work in tandem with you at all times."
"That is not -" Superman started to say, but Diana squeezed his shoulder harder.
"Shut up," GL whispered.
"Furthermore," the judge said, "due to the long-range capabilities of your heat vision, you will be required to wear heat restrictive eye goggles at all times within Metropolis city limits and at any time that you find yourself operating in a city that either Mr. Luthor or Conner Luthor is visiting."
Superman's chest started to heave with rage.
"Due to your super-speed capabilities, as well as your super-strength with which you may easily overwhelm a fellow League member should you decide to go rogue, Mr. Luthor and his bodyguards are granted permits to carry and conceal kryptonite weapons to be used in the defense of either Mr. Luthor or Conner Luthor's life or wellbeing."
Superman looked about ready to explode; in fact, Diana wondered if he was not considering taking off into the air and fleeing the scene, because she found herself lifting up her second hand to press down harder on both of his shoulders at once.
"These are extraordinary limits," Superman's lawyer tried to protest, but the judge shook her head.
"Superman is an extraordinary being capable of killing or kidnapping in an instant. Mr. Luthor and his son have the right to live a life as free from fear as possible, and in as much safety as is reasonably attainable from a being such as Superman," the judge said.
"If the terms of the plea bargain are unacceptable to Superman, he will be sentenced to one hundred years in Iron Heights with no possibility of parole."
A stunned silence fell over the Justice League.
"Take the deal," J'onn said.
Superman stood silently.
"Kal," Diana said urgently. "Take the deal."
Superman gritted his teeth, but finally ground out, "I accept the plea-bargain."
Batman sighed when Superman buzzed him from the Batcave's locked entrance, but he opened the security gate with a click of a button from the Batcomputer and let him in.
An angry, fuming Kal flew over and landed in front of the Bat, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at him with deep hurt written all over his face.
"Well?" Batman said snarkily.
"Of all the people who I would have thought would have my back -" Kal started to say, but Bruce cut him off.
"You were wrong, Kal," the Bat snapped. "And if you can't see that, then maybe I don't know you as well as I thought I did," he growled.
"They stole my DNA, Bruce!" Clark cried in frustration. "And made a - THING!"
"They made a child, Kal," Bruce said with irritation. "I know you don't like it," he said. "I know it hurts," he said with a touch more patience. "I know you feel violated and you have every right to. But you do not have the right to put a child in prison just because you don't like that they exist," Batman said.
"Oh, and you have the right to put a child in a cape and get him killed?" Kal snapped.
Bruce's mouth fell open and tears filled his wounded eyes.
"Bruce!" Kal said in horror. "Rao, I'm sorry! Bruce, I didn't mean it. I was angry, I -"
"Get out," Batman said flatly.
Tears began to roll down Superman's cheeks as he stared miserably at his best friend for one more long second before lifting up and flying out of the Batcave.
Only then did Bruce draw a shaking hand up to his face to wipe away his tears, before swiveling in his chair to look at his son's uniform, preserved forever in its glass case, never to be worn again.
"I'm sorry, Jason," Bruce whispered, laying a bare hand on the glass as sobs overtook him.
Never again, Bruce thought to himself. Never again would he take on a Robin. That way he'd never lose another child. Not ever again.
A/N - More to come! Comments are life
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