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Future Sins, chapter 6

The Martian Manhunter looked up from the monitor to see Superboy and Match enter the room.

"You're here already J'onn," Match said, sounding confident. "Excellent."

"What are you doing here?" J'onn asked.

"I'm here to question your captive," he explained.

"What are you planning on doing?"

Match turned to Superboy. "Kon, please take him to the practice room. You and J'onn should watch from the control booth."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Superboy asked.

"Yes."

Kon went to get the captive. He didn't know what his brother had planned, but he trusted that he knew what he was doing.

"Please wait in the control booth," Match instructed J'onn. "I believe you'll find it informative."

J'onn tried to probe Match's mind, but found strong mental shields blocking his way.

"Please, J'onn," he said. "I need you to keep your eyes and mind open for this."

"You're not going to mistreat the prisoner, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then, I will observe."

Match smiled briefly. "Thank you."

Kon dropped his older self off in the training room. He had to deal with his pleadings to help him kill Match. He felt sorry for this version of himself that was consumed with hatred.

Match entered the training room and gave the older clone a smile. "We have much to discuss."

Kon and J'onn watched from the control room. They were completely focused on the face-off between the two.
"I have nothing to say to you," the older clone spat.

Match waved his hand. The restraints that blocked his assailant's powers fell off.

"I have questions for you," Match said. "You're welcome to try assaulting me while I ask them."

A blast of heat vision was blocked by a telekinetic shield.

"You say I did something to Superman's wife. What did I do?"

Match dodged a punch.

"What's his wife's name?"

Another punch was dodged.

"What color hair did she have?"

The older clone snarled and launched himself at Match who deftly stepped out of the way.

"What's he doing?" Kon asked.

"He's drawing a complete blank," J'onn said, surprised. "He can't picture her."

Kon gave J'onn a sharp look. "Doesn't that mean..."

"Allow me to try some other questions. We were in a play together; which play was it and what roles did we play?"

"That was years ago," the older man snarled. "You can't expect me to remember something so trivial."

"We have a perfect memory," Match reminded him. "It should be easy for you. What's your name?"

"I'm Kon-El."

"No, what's your other name? It's the one you go by at school. For that matter, what's my name?"

The older man bared his teeth then blinked in shock. "How did you stop that? I should have torn away your powers like I did before!"

"I was ready for it this time. Before, you fought me at the end of a long training exercise. Now, I'm fresh. My powers of concentration are greater than yours. But, I'm the one asking the questions here."

"Will you shut up?"

"What town did we live in? Who lives with us as our legal guardians? What are our school colors and mascot?"

"Shut up! I'm Kon-El! I am!"

Match looked sadly at him. "You're not. You're his clone, just like I am. If you were truly Kon-El, you'd know these things."

"My memories must be scrambled from the trip through time!"

J'onn phased into the room. "If they were, I'd detect something. They aren't there."

The more physically mature clone started crying and fell to his knees. "That can't be! I'm Kon-El! I have to be!"

Match put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You can be your own person. I'm here for you. So is Kon."

The imposter Kon-El looked up at Match with murderous rage in his eyes. "You! This is your fault!"

His hand shot up to grab Match's throat, but Match blocked it.

Match looked at him with pity. "We'll talk when you've had a chance to calm down."

The clone's eyes rolled, and he slumped to the floor.

Kon came into the room. "You manipulated his pressure points? You've got to teach me how to do that."

"When you're ready. Let's put him back in his restraints. I hope that he'll be more reasonable when he wakes."

"I suppose this just leaves the question of who created him," Kon said. "Who's got a genetic sample and would do this?"

"I have a leading candidate," Match said.

Match was the very picture of serenity as he waited for the prisoner to be brought out to meet him. He smiled a polite greeting when the prisoner was seated across from him with security glass between them. He was grateful for the security glass because otherwise he might reach out to wring the man's neck. The man was wary but hid it behind an insouciant smirk on his lips.

"To what do I owe the please of this meeting?" asked Dabney Donovan.

"I owe you my thanks for your efforts in saving my life," Match replied. "I've been remiss in not coming to thank you in person."

Dabney relaxed fractionally. "Oh, well you know that I'm always glad to help. If there's anything else I can do to get out of here quicker-"

"You could explain why you made a clone that tried to kill me."

Dabney tightened a bit before relaxing again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The post-Imperiex War costume was a nice touch," Match continued as if the other man hadn't spoken. "It made it look like he really had something to mourn. What I don't understand is why he was babbling about Superman's wife. I'm not sure where that came from."

"There were pictures of Superman wearing a wedding ring. They claimed it was a JLA signal device, but I didn't buy that."

"Ah," Match said, nodding in comprehension. "Unfortunately, it really is a signal device. This did lead to speculation that I would do something to Superman's to-be-determined-in-the-future wife. There was talk about Wonder Woman, Power Girl, or even Supergirl. I'm not familiar with Kryptonian mating traditions."

"It was worth a gamble."

"Out of curiosity, why me? Have I done something to earn your wrath? If so, I must apologize since I cannot think of anything I've done."

"You're nothing special," Dabney sneered. "You're just a clone. You're not even an original piece of genetic engineering like Superboy. People shouldn't have gotten worked up over you."

"I see. I offended your aesthetic sensibilities. You do realize that you're going to stay in jail for longer."

"It's just your word against mine. One convict's against another."

Match had a small, polite smile on his face as he pulled out a tape recorder from his pocket. He stopped it.

"That, that was obtained illegally! It'll be thrown out!"

Match kept the smile on his face. "You were told that your conversation with me may be monitored or recorded. That's standard procedure here."

"You tricked me!"

"There is still one unanswered question. You must have had help to create this clone while incarcerated. The same person must have teleported him to the Watchtower. Who was it?"

"Go screw yourself!"

"I'll find the one you assisted. That's a promise."

Match got up and walked away without a backwards glance.

The recorded conversation was turned over to the JLA. Combined with J'onn's mindscan of the more physically developed clone, the JLA's fears were quieted.

"Match, everybody here owes you an apology," Superman said.

"Superboy does not," Match corrected him in a calm, clinical tone. "He never doubted me."

"They're trying to apologize," Kon hissed at him.

"What are you going to do with the false time-traveler?" Match asked.

"We don't know yet," Superman admitted. "We might have to keep him in custody if he doesn't acknowledge the truth. J'onn says that events could have shattered his mind."

"That's a pity," Match said, genuinely sad at the possible fate of his assailant. "I had hoped that he would have acknowledged reality."

"You just wanted a little brother," Kon teased.

"I hope we can put these events behind us," Superman said.

"It's not that easy," Match said.

"Match-" Wonder Woman began.

"Let him speak," said Batman, cutting her off.

"Thank you," Match said. "Everybody, with the exception of Kon-El, thought that I was going to harm or kill Superman's wife. You didn't trust me. That's understandable because of my past deeds, but I thought it would take more than that for you to put me under so much scrutiny. As a result of that, my faith in you has been shaken."

"You're questioning us?" Wonder Woman said with a hint of anger.

"I question your judgment."

"We'll try to earn back your faith," J'onn said. "The recent events will require effort on our part to overcome. You did not deserve the scrutiny that we put you under. I apologize for my part in it."

"Thank you," Match said. "I believe we need to be going now. We have school tomorrow."

In their bedroom, Conner said, "I almost had a heart attack when you went after the JLA like that. I don't think I could have done that."

"I was a little scared when I did it," Max admitted.

"Are you really okay?"

"Physically, I'm fine."

"So, you're not."

Max smiled. "You know me far too well. I'm still hurt by the suspicion others felt. Logically, I can see reasons for it, but I'm still hurt."

"You're going to do something, aren't you?"

"After the school year finishes, I may take a little vacation from everything."

"I'll be here when you get back."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

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Future Sins was a little difficult for me to write. I had the concept in mind, but it was very difficult to find a satisfactory ending. As such, the initial ending was considerably different. I decided it was not one that I could use and had to edit the rest of the story to conform with the one I chose. I apologize for misleading everyone who read this story.

Any and all comments welcome!