Catching Icarus

Chapter Five: Archers and Amazons

After Flash left him, Superboy spent the rest of his morning continuing his research into the world's history. Whatever had summoned the speedster away had put everyone on the building on edge. He heard the heightened heartbeats of everyone in the building as they paced nervously across the floor. A small group forming around the perimeter.

It was nearly lunch when a frazzled Black Canary arrived to greet him, clearly having fought her way through the crowd outside. She was still smoothing down her now messy hair.

"Superboy." Canary greeted as the blonde approached him with a warm smile. The same one his would always offer. "How are you doing, buddy?"

A lot of people had been asking him that the past couple of days. And what was he supposed to say? He felt terrible. Awful. Homesick. That he wondered if his friends were looking for him? Did they think he was already dead. Were they already mourning him? Had they already replaced him?

But he couldn't say that.

"Okay," he said finally.

"Are you okay?" She asked in concern, examining him with a fine tooth comb for apparently any form of injury. Though what she thought could hurt him, he didn't know.

"Shouldn't I be?" He asked.

Canary stared at him intently. "You don't know do you?"

"Know what?"

Canary pulled out her cellphone and played a fuzzy clip of him talking to Superman the other night. A bright, red banner on the bottom declaring, 'WHO IS SUPERBOY?'

"It's on every channel. We're being flooded with calls," Black Canary said. "Reporters and paparazzi are camping outside for another look at you."

Superboy stared at the screen as the clip played on loop with reporters making predictions and guesses about his existence. The image of him beside his progenitor on was a eerie experience. Unlike most of his team he wasn't a public member. He had no history of interacting with the media, so seeing them dissect his every action made his stomach churn.

Canary noticing his discomfort said, "It'll die down. But to be safe we shouldn't be down here for the rest of the day. They'll disperse come nightfall. So let's go up to the watchtower and grab some lunch then we can train. You can show me what the other Canary taught you so far, okay?"

Canary kept him busy with small talk as they made their way back to the teleporter. His distaste for the station, a mild issue compared to the threat of having to answer their questions outside.

Superboy wondered what he could even say if he was asked as he stepped on the platform beside her. 'I'm Superman's clone from another dimension. I don't have all his powers and he can't stand being around me.'

Disappearing and reappearing on the Watchtower, Superboy was greeted by the sight of this world's Martian Manhunter at the control panel . Like the others, his costume was distinctly unfamiliar. Barely in more than his cape and Martian x instead of his black garb that Superboy was used to.

Superboy expected this.

But he had hoped he wouldn't encounter the other man just so soon. Martian Manhunter had been his first psychic attack since Cadmus. Since his brothers had been forced by Desmond to steal his agency.

"Hello," M'gann's uncle who was not her uncle said walking towards him. Superboy's heartbeat thundering in his ears with each step closer. "I am J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter."

It's all Superboy could do to not snarl that he knew that. That he had felt the man in his head the other day. But like he had been doing a lot lately he choked it down. The voice that sounded like Kaldur'ahm in full force to keep his rage from making things physical.

J'onn noticing his obvious resentment closed the gap between them. His crimson eyes staring deeply at him but Superboy refused to make eye contact with hm.

But the Martian pushed on.

"I sincerely apologize for what I did to you the other day. I never would have done that if I was aware of your history with psychics."

Superboy clenched his fists at the words. He made it sound like it was a problem with him. Like he was being sensitive for wanting his head violation free. M'gann was a teenager and and she knew better.

Not wanting to spend anymore time in his attacker's presence he stormed past the Martian. Desperate to make as much distance as he can from the mental invader. He saw Canary give the man a look of sympathy from the corner of his eye before she followed him to the elevator to reach the upper levels of the Watchtower.

"Listen," she said gently as the elevator doors closed. It was the same tone his Canary used when she wanted to hammer a point through. "I'm not quite sure what happened between you and J'onn and I won't tell you how to feel. But I can say he's a good man and I'm certain he didn't want to hurt you."

Superboy's frown deepened but luckily Canary didn't push on. And they made their way to the cafeteria to grab their meal. The lunchroom was practically barren compared to the last time he came. A miracle, he was grateful for. Lunch was a simple meal of burgers and fries. Though one of the lunch ladies made a point of giving a particularly large portion of fries to him after noticing his mood.

"Hey Pretty Bird!" Green Arrow greeted loudly catching their attention and waving them down to sit next to them. This Green Arrow was slimmer, younger than the one he was used to. But still seemed just as loud and jovial.

"Superboy, right?" He greeted shaking Superboy's hand before he could properly respond as soon as he took a seat. His exuberance blowing away the heavy atmosphere from the encounter with Martian Manhunter. "I'm Green Arrow. Though you might already know that. Do I exist in your universe?"

"Ollie," Canary hissed before turning her attention to Superboy. "you don't have to answer that."

Green Arrow huffed. "We have a once in a life time opportunity here. How aren't you curious? You don't care do you, kid?"

Superboy waved them off. "It's fine." Turning his attention "And yeah, you do."

A mischievous glint entered the archer's eyes.

"So I exist and Canary exist in your universe. Are we together?"

"Arrow!" Canary said blanching.

"No, she's with Batman," Superboy said with a straight face.

The archer paled instantly and a sharp squeak escaped his throat. Black Canary let out a cruel laugh in response.

"Oh, you're messing with me," Green Arrow said in realization. Slapping Superboy on the back with a grin. "I like you, kid. Reminds me of something Kara would do."

Superboy didn't know who Kara was. Probably one of the many other heroes that littered this much larger league. But he took it as a compliment.

Green Arrow continued to grill him about his world and eventually even Canary started to join. Superboy answered honestly for the most part, dancing around the subject whenever his Superman was mentioned. Luckily, the duo didn't seem to notice.

"I'm a therapist?" She said in surprise after learning her other worldly career path.

"You're not here?"

Canary shook her head. "I'm a florist. I flipped a coin back in my bartending days to go back to school to get my psych degree or use that money to fix my bike. Bike won. But I guess it didn't in your world. Was I a good one?"

"Definitely," Superboy agreed. His heart pining for the other woman. "The whole team loved you."

"You mean the team of sidekicks you're on."

Superboy nodded.

"It was me, Robin, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Aqualad and Artemis."

"Well I can already guess which one is Arrow's," Canary teased.

"I have another protege," Green Arrow said shocked. "I'd have thought after the blow out with Roy I'd have learned my lesson. Unless we're on better terms there?"

"You're still on the outs with him there too," Superboy corrected having seen Red Arrow burst into screaming with the archer about how he felt like he was being treated like a child.

Superboy could never understand it himself. Green Arrow's love for Red Arrow was obvious to anyone who saw them. How could he just throw it away?

Didn't he know people would kill for that attention?

"Artemis is your niece." Like Robin she had omitted giving her real name to the group so far. Not that Superboy blamed her. She had just joined.

Green Arrow frowned. "I don't have a niece. I'm a only child."

Superboy dropped the fry he was holding out of shock. Artemis had been a new addition to the team. But she was still precious to him like the rest of the team were. He had thought with the existence of Green Arrow, she'd have been safe from the changes of one universe to another. Even older like Wally he would have accepted instead of the nonexistence of M'gann.

It was a cold reminder that Superboy had to leave this world as soon as possible.

"Lex?" Clark repeated.

Bruce nodded and Clark collapsed onto the monitor chair.

It would be a lie to say that Clark was surprised by this behavior. Lex was a scheming snake who lacked any sort of boundaries or common sense in his constant search for more power. It's what made him so dangerous in the first place. It wasn't even his first attempt at cloning him. When Bizarro was created Lex felt no remorse in getting rid of him when he didn't live up to his measurements, to move onto his next plan in defeating the man of steel.

But with Superboy…

This other Lex created a child with his own blood. He engineered a child that was as much his as he was the alien he so loathed to use as a weapon against him. Clark had believed until now that Lex's own inherent vanity would offer some protection to his children if he ever had any. But J'onn's report of psychic trauma had disavowed him of the notion.

Clark's stomach rolled as he thought up the many possibilities that the boy had experienced at the mercies of the billionaire. Each one worse than the last.

And they had made him experience it all over again.

"Don't tell the boy that you know," Bruce advised. "He didn't say. And we violated enough of his trust so far."

Clark ruffled at the comment crossing his arms. Bruce had a way of stating the obvious that made clear how little faith he had in others to not say something stupid.

"So what should we do about this?" He gestures to the busy monitors obsessing over Superboy's appearance.

"Lie." Bruce said bluntly.

That didn't need to be said. There was no good from anyone knowing the origin of Superboy. Every detail they learned about him made him more and more of a suspicious figure to the eyes of the public. "I meant how, Bruce."

Clark distantly heard the whirr of the teleporter from the lower floors and J'onn's voice.

"I was thinking as soon as he leaves we declare it's a prank from Mxyzptlk. How long has it been?"

"He'll be back in a month." If the fifth dimensional had any good qualities it was how meticulous his appearances were.

The flow of the conversation was stopped when Clark heard the sudden but familiar roar of Superboy's heartbeat. The sound practically deafening to the kryptonian with how quickly it was beating. Using his X-Ray vision to peer below, he saw the Martian try to approach the clone in a attempt to apologize.

Superboy to his credit, didn't show his anxiety at being near J'onn on his sleeve, deciding to cloak it in a shield of rage instead. He stormed away just as quickly escorted by Canary.

"Something happen?"

"He's on the watchtower," Clark said. It took all of his restraint to not zip down to see him. To apologize all over again. But he doubted the boy would want to see him just so soon after the episode he just had with J'onn.

He would give him some time to cool off. He was this close.

Clark could wait a little longer.

Superboy's training was mostly sporadic. Canary was the trainer for the team. But she was still a full time member of the Justice League. So her schedule was random and unpredictable. And whenever she had the chance to teach, her attention was split between himself and the rest of the Team. To make sure everyone was up to snuff.

Superboy, didn't mind so much. Despite her limitations, his Canary was still the closest thing he had to a proper mentor. The woman did try her best to give him extra attention since he didn't have another hero to rely on.

After their meal, he was taken into a one of the training rooms by the duo of heroes. And Canary of this earth had quickly taken over from where the other left off.

"Adjust your stance," She ordered, posing so he would get it right. It took Superboy several tries before he was comfortable with the pose. Canary gave him a thumbs up once he managed.

Green Arrow had joined in as well. Making adjustments so Superboy could better make use of his frame.

But the most surprising addition was the person who had been in the training room already.

Wonder Woman.

He had never spoken to the woman. In this world or his own. In his world, every time he had seen her, she had been practically glued to Superman who always kept himself as far as possible from Superboy. She had no partner, and had no reason to come the cave.

Robin had once told him that she wasn't fond of the idea of sidekicks as a whole. Openly objecting to the idea of him fighting beside Batman, and again when the other heroes followed suit. The oldest hero on the league at a firm century. And the only hero who had appeared in the two ages of heroes. She felt the idea of children fighting on the front lines disgusting, a cruel reminder of her days back in the war.

But this one didn't have the other world'a baggage according to The Flash. In comparison to older version of Wally, this Wonder Woman was practically a child in comparison to her doppelgänger. And unlike the stern woman, he always saw back home from a distance. This one was smiling brightly at the clone.

"Nice to meet you, Superboy," she greeted. "May I join you?"

Superboy nodded.

The Amazon gave adjustments at how to best use his super strength. How to control his strength when dealing with people without. A problem that Superboy had been dealing with ever since he left the pod. To the point he had been banned from sparing with Artemis and Robin.

It was a strange experience for him to deal with so much attention at once.

"I'm surprised," Wonder Woman said. "I would have thought your Superman would have taught you this already."

Superboy said nothing, looking away from their gaze instinctively at the mention of his progenitor. But the three adults seemed to have a silent conversation that the clone didn't understand. After a beat of silence, Green Arrow was the first to speak. "Well, I think like any red blooded male, Superboy's a lot more grateful to have you here. Aren't ya, buddy?"

Superboy sighed on relief at the lifeline and the training continued. Wonder Woman teaching him several holds and movements from her homeland of Themyscira.

Wonder Woman was eager to speak of her homeland and find the differences between his world's and her own.

"It's part of your UN?" Wonder Woman said her eyes, bright. "Fascinating. Our island has been shut away from Man's world for so long. It's amazing to hear of a world where they're not."

"It's the top vacation spot for women now." he informed her. "And Themysciran Greek is taught aside alongside Atlantean.

"You speak it?" Wonder Woman asked, switching to her mother tongue.

"Yeah," he said. Cadmus had implanted every earthly language in his head alongside several alien. The team had played around with linguistic skills as a way to pass the time, hoping to stump his Cadmus education. It was how he learned Artemis knew Vietnamese and Robin, Romani. Wally, the sorest of the bunch had tried several dead languages and huffed when it didn't work.

Wonder Woman rewarded with a sudden bone crushing hug. The sudden contact made him instinctively rigid until he was certain it wasn't a attack.

"It's been so long since I heard this," Wonder Woman said before switching back to English, beaming widely as she released him. "Thank you."

The bright grin made his cheeks flush and he turned away, suddenly unable to make eye contact with the Amazon. He mumbled under his breath, "You're welcome."

The sound of the door hissing open was a welcome distraction from his sudden embarrassment and Superboy quickly turned his attention to the entrant. His face immediately fell as he recognized the figure.

The other Superman was standing in doorway, sizing up the occupants. Surprise quickly crossing his face when he noticed Wonder Woman and Green Arrow.

"Superman," Wonder Woman said evenly, sending a quick side glance to Superboy who turned his attention to the training mat underneath his feet. "What are you doing here?"

The kryptonian didn't answer and apparently oblivious to Superboy's mood. He made his way towards him, forcing Superboy's attention.

"Hi, Superboy," he said uncharacteristically softly. "Can we talk?"

End Chapter

Sorry I lied. I genuinely thought the conversation would make it this chapter. But hope to make next chapter. Will update a lot faster than I did last this time. In like a week or so. Had a lot of stuff irl.

YJ Wonder Woman's characterization is just a interpretation from what little information she has in season 1. 100 years old, Objected to Batman having Robin. And was no where near Superboy despite her being very useful if she was. And extrapolated from that.