The line begins to blur
"That's nuts", said Conner suddenly, taking Robin out of the trance the green bubbles inside of the tank had put him into.
He turned to face his best friend with a frown.
"You are wellcome", he said bitterly.
"You know what I mean. This... thing you are doing down here! It's just nuts!"
"It's what had to be done."
"Don't try this Batman-like shit with me. You know as well as I do this is not right, Tim."
Robin sighed and closed his eyes.
"It is, Con, I'ts the only right thing I've done since then. And I'm well aware it may seem not right in so many levels... It may not be right morally speaking, but... it's the right thing to be done."
Superboy sighed too, for he couldn't fight Tim when he showed his real vulnerability.
"Still... I don't get why."
Tim kind of smirked.
"Are you dumber than I remember? Isn't it obvious? To have you back."
"No, not that kind of why...Just... WHY?"
Yeah, he had known all long.
Why?
"Once... it seems so long ago now..." He nearly loosed trace of his own thoughts drowning down Memory and Nightmares Sea. But he managed to compose himself. "Once I swore noone else was going to die on me."
"I didn't die on you!"
"Yes, you did. I was not there. I should have been."
"You were somewhere else saving lives, Tim."
"I was in Blüdhaven, egoistically putting the rest of the Titans in danger. We all should have stayed. Then you'd have never died. Besides..."
"Oh. You have another fine excuse to be playing the evil mad scientist?"
Tim bit his lip. That was not what he needed.
"Besides" he repeated, "when Superman died saving the Earth, lots of people put their efforts and money to work to have him back. You died to save the Universe. The fucking Universe, Con! Hundreds and thousands of worlds... And they just put a statue."
"I have an statue?"
"You are missing the point!" Shouted Tim, angry at his friend for not understanding, not even trying to understand...
"No, Tim, you miss it, by a zillion miles. Don't you realize where all of this will take us?"
He felt like crying, so he just gave his back to Superboy.
"Of course I realize. So what? Do you think I care? The world is fucked up all the same, even if I try to fight it. We already put it all in motion, we got separated. Now it doesn't matter anymore."
"So, do you really belive it? The future we saw is coming? Perhaps you can still prevent it for happening, prevent me to become that Superman we found... I don't want to be him, Tim. You know it."
"And I don't want to be Batman either. That's why I need you, and Cass and Bart. And they won't come back to me. But they will come back to you, Con, and then everything would be allright again. We can have the real Titans back."
"I thought those morons up there were the real Titans now."
"Oh, come on..." He grimaced. "Vic is right. They're nothing but a bad facsimile. A devil, a psycho and two nerds. Please... They are handy by now, yes, but they are not the Titans."
"Tim, listen to you. Now you don't even sound like Batman anymore."
"And I supose that's not a compliment."
"No, it's not. Because you sound just like Luthor."
"Oh, now I'm turning into a supervillian because I want my friends back? Missing you guys like hell and feeling lonely and hollow turns me into a supevillian?"
Superboy put a hand on his shoulder. Tim tried to revolve, angry and pained, but Con had always been stronger.
"No. But cloning dead people as a mean of not being alone, maybe."
"I need you." He pledged, begged...
"And I want nothing more than to be there for you, really.. but that's nuts."
"Yeah, you said so already. Don't you have anything better to say?" He frowned again, getting away from him, giving him his back again.
He could see Con's reflection in the green glass. He was not angry, he was sad, and worried.
"It's all I have to say. But I guess you don't want to listen."
"You guess right."
Conner sighed heartbrakedly.
"Then I'll leave. And perhaps I would never come back"
"Yes", was Tim's answer, resting his hand over the cold surface of the cloning tank, were the amniotich liquid rocked gently a foetus. "you will."
He could see Conner's reflection in the glass no more and he turned just to discover an empty laboratory.
He took a hand to his forehead. He felt feverish out of lack of sleep and fresh air. But this foetus was attemp one hundred and twelve, and it looked as it would finally work. He wanted to monitor the entire process if possible...
He had just dozed off.
Damn, Con was right, this was nuts. He was nuts.
But soon he'll be back and everything will be allright again.
Yes, soon, really soon...