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Where Do We Go From Here, chapter 4
Over the next two months, an identity was created for Match; he became Maxwell Kent. Oracle had already gone through all the steps of creating an identity before, but this was a little trickier since it also involved amending Conner's history to include a previously undiscovered twin.
Match was surprised to learn that Superman was really Clark Kent. He hadn't thought that Superman had a civilian identity.
Kon got a cool reaction from Robin, Wondergirl, and Kid Flash about the news that Match was going to be living with him. Kon was a little hurt by their reaction, but knew that it was understandable given their experiences with him.
It was a little eerie to Kon how quickly Match took to his new secret identity. When he mentioned this, Match reminded him that he had experience in undercover work.
During this time, Match's hair had grown to be halfway down his back. Dr. Mid-nite had speculated that it was temporarily growing at an accelerated rate due to his regulation of his body's functions. In any event, the growth was returning to its regular rate.
Match hadn't regained all the muscle mass he had lost and was still about 12 pounds lighter than Kon. Kon's clothes hung loosely on him when he wore them.
Before Match left the Watchtower to move in with the Kents, Batman paid him a visit.
"You're going to be leaving soon," he stated.
Match nodded. He knew that Batman was against his leaving, much less being told Superman's civilian identity.
"You've been entrusted with a great secret. If you betray that secret..."
"If you don't trust my emotions, will you trust my logic? It would be suicidal to have both the JLA and the remains of the Groups as enemies. I am many things, but suicidal is not one of them."
"I generally make it a point to not trust others."
"Trust has never been a part of my life before, but I'm learning to trust a few people."
Match was outwardly calm, but nervous inside. He was going to be meeting the Kents for the first time. He wasn't sure what he should say or do. Kon had told him to 'be himself' but he wasn't sure that was a good idea.
Superman (Clark, Match reminded himself) noticed him looking tense. "What's wrong?"
"It's unimportant."
"You're nervous, aren't you?"
"Perhaps a little."
"You'll be fine, Max. My parents are great people."
"Conner's told me about them. They sound like nice people."
"You'll love them," Clark assured the teen.
Max went back to quietly worrying.
As they approached the door, he briefly entertained the thought of running away, but forced himself to put it out of his head.
Clark opened the door and called out, "Ma! Pa! We're here!"
Match entered the house and looked for a place to put his duffle bag when an elderly woman bustled in.
"Clark, it's wonderful to see you!" she exclaimed. "Pa and Conner are preparing a bed for our new family member. You must be Max. Goodness, you're so thin! Didn't they feed you anything? I'm Martha."
"Hello, Mrs. Kent," Max said softly. "Thank you for letting me live with you. I hope that I'm not causing you any trouble."
"Nonsense! You're family; it's no problem at all. You needn't be so formal either, call me Aunt Martha. Now, I'm sure the two of you must be famished, but you'll want to drop off your bag in your room. You'll be sharing with Conner, I hope that's okay?"
"Of course."
"I'll show you where it is," Clark volunteered. "It used to be my old room."
Clark took him upstairs and pointed out where Ma and Pa's room was and where the bathroom was. They ended up in the other bedroom where Conner and Pa were finishing setting up a cot.
"Clark, you're early!" Pa said. "I thought we had a little while longer to set this up."
He turned to Max. "You must be Max. I'm Jonathan."
"Hello, Mr. Kent," was Match's reply. "You didn't need to go to this trouble."
"It's no trouble. You're family after all. And call me Uncle Jon. Mr. Kent sounds like we're complete strangers."
Max banished the thought that they were complete strangers and instead said, "I'll make up the cot."
"You don't have to," objected Conner. "I'll do it."
"It's fine," Max said, taking the sheets from him and quickly preparing the cot.
"Ma's making dinner," Clark said. "We should go down before anything gets cold."
Ma Kent had prepared a large dinner, figuring that with two teenagers and Clark, it would be eaten quickly. Clark and Conner had appetites that met her expectations, but Max ate less than she thought he would.
The conversation at dinner was very casual. Max was very polite but talked infrequently.
"You'll be starting school tomorrow," Pa mentioned. "I drive Conner there at seven in the morning. That's not going to be a problem for you to be ready by then, is it?"
"It will be fine," he replied.
"Are you going to do anything about your hair?" Martha asked. "It's a little unusual."
"I hadn't thought about it," Max admitted. "There wasn't a barber on the JLA Watchtower, so I've just been taking care of it as best I could."
"You might get a few comments about it at school," Conner said. "They're kind of conservative here."
"I'll get it cut soon."
While Conner and Max were taking care of the dishes, Clark and his parents were having a whispered conversation.
"He's quiet, isn't he?" Martha commented.
"He's just a little shy," Clark said. "He's still getting used to the idea of being here."
"I hope he liked the food," she fretted. "He didn't eat as much as I thought he would."
"Martha, the boy's probably not used to that kind of a spread," Jonathan assured her. "I mean, he's all skin and bones."
In the kitchen, Conner said, "They're taking about you, you know."
Max began washing the dishes. "I know."
"You want to tell me what's wrong?"
"Why do you think there's something wrong?"
Conner started drying the clean dishes. "I've spent a lot of time with you over the last few months. I've got a pretty good read on you."
"I'm not good with people," Max admitted. "I'm nervous, and I'm pretty sure that I've already managed to offend them."
"What happened to the cool and collected person you were when we fought against the Groups?"
"I was in my element then. Infiltrating a heavily guarded building, take down guards, and retrieve secure information? I know how to do that. Have a family dinner with casual conversation? I don't know where to begin."
"I'm just not going to understand you, am I?"
Max thought about it as he continued to wash the dishes. "Probably not."
Just a little explanation. Where Do We Go From Here? is listed as a Drama first, then an Action/Adventure, so there's a lot more focus on characters and how they relate to each other than in Brothers in Arms which had the two flipped.
All comments welcome!