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Parents and Children, epilogue
Max was lying in the healing bed that Clark had set up. He was being watched over and cared for by robots of varying self-awareness. He was quite bored, but tried to pass the time by learning Kryptonian. It was a difficult language, but he was picking it up.
The door slid open, and Conner walked into the room.
"Max!" he said, coming over to his brother's side. "You're looking a lot better. When I first came here, you were unconscious. I would have stayed, but Clark forced me to go home."
"I'm glad to see you," Max said. "I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."
"It's not your fault. How are you?"
"I'm doing well. However, I've felt better. I'm learning Kryptonian, but there isn't a lot to do here."
"What did they do to you?"
Max looked away for a moment before turning to Conner. "It could have been worse."
"If you're angry, you don't have to hold back. You don't have to be strong for me. I'm here for you."
Max looked weary. "Not holding back my emotions almost ended in disaster. I've been through worse. I'll be fine in a few days. I'll be ready to head back to the Kent's farm by then."
"You've got a few more visitors, but they let me come in first," Conner told him. "Are you ready for them?"
Max took a deep breath. "I think I am."
"You can come in now," Conner called out.
Lois, Clark, Martha, and Jonathan entered. Martha started fussing over Max while the others took a less active method of trying to make him comfortable.
"How are you holding up?" Jonathan asked.
"I feel a lot better," Max replied. "I must have looked like quite a mess."
Conner and Clark shifted uncomfortably. They hadn't told the others about the extent of Max's injuries, only that they were serious. Lois had suspicions, but Martha and Jonathan were in the dark.
"You'll be back at the farm in no time," Martha said. "You're looking great!"
"That will be good," Max said. "I'm looking forward to coming back. There isn't much to do here, so I'm trying to learn Kryptonian."
"That's good," Martha said. "Clark tried to teach us when he was younger, but it didn't work out. I couldn't get my voice to make some of those sounds."
"I sounded like a gagging cat," Jonathan recalled.
Max smiled. Conner was glad to see that; it was a sign that he was recovering from his ordeal. He knew that Max would bottle up all of his feelings.
Lois entertained them all with stories of how Clark had left her to change into Superman. Clark blushed a bit shamefacedly; some of the excuses he had used were really bad.
Max enjoyed their visit. He thanked them when they left; Clark made Conner go home, even though he wanted to stay with Max. Conner knew it was the right thing to do; both of them had been away enough that their identities were in danger of slipping.
A couple of days after his last visit, Conner visited again, this time with Robin, Nightwing, and the Martian Manhunter.
"I want to thank you all for helping find me," Max said. "I've already thanked Superman, but I wanted to do this personally. I've got a card I was hoping someone could pass on to Oracle, since I can't access the internet from here; the Fortress only gets radio and satellite waves, it won't let me connect to an unprotected wireless network."
Robin frowned. "You shouldn't do that."
Max nodded. "You're right, and I normally wouldn't. Still, I'm not feeling my best, and I don't really want to slip past someone's security unless I'm healthy. It would be insulting otherwise."
Robin gave him a look, and then the two burst into laughter. Kon, J'onn, and Dick all exchanged blank stares.
"Did you get what was funny?" Kon asked.
"I think it's some sort of hacker humor," Dick replied. "I'll repeat the joke to Oracle and see if she finds it funny."
"You look like you're feeling better," J'onn noted.
Max nodded. "I'm ready to get back to work."
"Your condition was quite bad. Are you sure?"
He looked at J'onn steadily. "It could have been worse."
There was an uncomfortable pause.
"I've been trying to track down Luthor," Tim said. "I haven't had any luck so far, but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time."
"He'll surface when he wants to," Match said. "I'll be waiting to catch him."
Conner smiled. Max was starting to sound like himself again.
"You sound confident about that," Dick remarked.
"It's a matter of probabilities," Max explained. "Eventually, the numbers will win out, no matter how intelligent or lucky he is."
"That sounds like something he may have said in regards to Superman," Dick said. "Are you sure that's a viewpoint you want to take?"
Max shrugged. "He may have come to that conclusion without really knowing Superman. In contrast, I know more about Luthor and the way he thinks. The comparison isn't valid."
"I know you aren't always like this," Robin said. "What's driving you so much? How can you shrug this off so easily and want to get back to business as usual?"
"I've been through worse," he replied.
Robin looked at him quizzically and then turned to the others.
"I think Match wants to put all of this behind him," Kon said. "If he gets back to his normal routine, then this will be a lot easier to do."
"Besides," he continued, "if I know my brother, he really wants to get back to his regular run. He gets a bit cranky if he has to change it if it's raining too hard."
"I don't get cranky," Max objected.
"Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that."
"What's a cranky Match act like?" Nightwing asked, playing along.
"He does everything the same, except he's a bit cooler about it," Kon told them. "It's like an iceberg in the room. His voice becomes just a little more precise too."
"You're saying that his normal voice isn't as precise as it gets?" Robin teased. "I'm not sure that's possible. An English butler doesn't speak as properly as he does."
"Now you're all ganging up on me," Max complained.
"It is good to see that your recovery is progressing well," J'onn said. "We have been worried. I'm glad that you're putting your ordeal behind you."
"Thank you, J'onn."
"Though it would not hurt you to relax more often," J'onn said without cracking a smile. "Perhaps you should consider eating some choco cookies once in a while."
Match sighed. "Even J'onn is joining in. I'm overwhelmingly outnumbered."
Kon smiled. This visit was what his brother needed.
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I felt that it was important to end on an up note, given the bad stuff that I put Match through. As I was writing this, I wondered if I really liked Match since I've written about putting him through lots of bad stuff.
Any and all comments welcome!