Seriously, putting words from paper to the computer is annoying! But whenever I have time to write I got no computer.

Green Mother Pt 4

Mount Justice

August 2nd

The Machine whirred to life. Turbines and rotors began to visibly spin as light blossomed into existence and a shadowed figure came racing out. "B03 Kid Flash"" A feminine voice intoned loudly as the red head came to a skidding halt with a smile on his face and duffle bag over his shoulder.

"The Wall Man is here!" He announced to the empty chamber, his voice echoing against the walls. He stood there for all of three seconds with his arms spread wide before blinking his eyes open. "Hey, where is everyone?"

Getting no answer he zipped out of the room at inhuman speeds to explore the rest of Mount Justice and to figure out where his friends were. It didn't take him long despite the base's size. He just had to follow the giggling.

As he should have guessed they were in the kitchen den area. It was the best place in the whole mountain to hang out in that they knew about, so far. They still hadn't explored their home away from home, or just home for two of their members, just yet.

Something for the to-do list.

"Hey, guys!" He greeted, skidding to a halt just behind the coach Robin and Miss Martian sat at. His duffle bag falling to the ground as he leaned between them, "What's so funny?"

M'gann gave him a bright smile, "Robin was just showing me some funny videos. I think he called them 'I email out' videos. I feel bad for laughing but they're just so funny."

"If you think those are funny," Robin's smile became just a bit too wide for Wally's comfort, "Check this one out."

Wally recognized the video right away and instantly tried to snag the phone out of his friend's hands. Unfortunately, the boy had already started moving, "Not cool Robin! Not cool at all!" He made for it again, hoping to catch the Boy Wonder before he could do any more damage.

Half the world already knew about that spaghetti incident with the Trickster and he would like very much to keep M'gann on the side that didn't know.

Robin, meanwhile, just laughed at his teammate's attempts. Flipping off the table to the counter to the table to the door while making obvious attempts to keep obstacles between them. The last of which was solidly built and holding a small cactus.

"Watch it." A familiar voice barked, it's owner looking almost ridiculous as he held the potted plant high in the air for safety.

"Oops, sorry about that Supey. Just trying to catch an annoying little bird."

The frown on superboy's face was anything but encouraging, in fact, it made Wally more than a little worried for his own safety. It was like he had said something very wrong and landed on a landmine. "My name is Christopher."

Wally blinked up at his friend and then blinked again as he let those words process in his head. Before long realization kicked in and a smile worked it's way onto his face, "Heh, you've finally gone and yourself a name huh? Well good for you buddy! How'd you pick it out?"

Superboy, Christopher, actually smiled. A rare sight indeed, "I didn't, my mother did."

Once again Wally blinked, "Your mom? Did you get adopted or something?"

The frown was back, "No."

"But, I mean, you're a clone!"

"Wally!" M'gnn admonished from the couch. "Be nice."

God, she sounded like such a mom. Or a teacher. A hot teacher.

Still, her tone made him feel bad and a bit defensive, "What? What'd I say?"

Surprisingly it was Superboy, Christopher, who answered him. Sounding calmer than what Wally was used to, "When I was made me only half the DNA was Superman's and when they couldn't they understand the other half they filled in the gaps with human DNA. My mother's DNA. I, we've started talking."

Wally's first thought was that sounded a lot like Jurassic Park. His second thought was to question why there would be any gaps at all in the DNA sequence. Cadmus obviously had enough of a sample to make a clone, a partial clone, and if they were willing to put in some substantial effort could obtain more. Cloning should have been infinitely easier to do than Gene Splicing and Chimera Engineering.

Maybe it had to do with a lack of understanding of the Kryptonian Genome? Or was it a lack of proper equipment? If Superman was anything to go by the species was obviously a genetically advanced race, further evolved than humans had yet to achieve.

"Are you going to move?"

"Oh," Wally said, feeling a bit sheepish for getting lost in his thoughts, "Sorry."

It wasn't until a handful of moments later, mid-flirt with the amazing Miss Martian, that he wondered something out loud, "Wait… What was with the cactus?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Metropolis

August 3rd

The diner was one of Clark's favorites, one of the hole-in-the-wall places he had come to love since moving to the city. Metropolis had so much charm to it that it was hard not to feel at home. Considering who he was meeting, and what the conversation was likely about, he felt that he was going to need at the comfort he could get.

"Hey Bruce, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." He took his hat and coat off, hanging them on the side of the booth before taking a seat.

"Not too long. I just ordered some coffee." Bruce seemed out of place in the diner with his expensive tailored suit and gelled hair but that that didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he acted like he either owned the place or was getting ready for a high-staked meeting.

Both were just as likely.

In order to stall the conversation he knew was coming Clark raised his hand to call the waitress over. "You have to try the apple pie here. It's the best this side of Kansas, I swear."

"I didn't come here to talk about apple pie, Clark." Bruce had always been one of the hardest people for him to read, the man had trained himself to be that. A near constantly controlled heart and breathing rate, bare amounts of involuntary body movements or twitches, and if it weren't for Bruce's eye Clark was embarrassingly sure he would have to go by smell to get a read on the man's thought process.

Bruce's eyes, probably by personal design, were always intense and usually intense. In costume it made him look like a statue, a gargoyle, whose eyes would follow you across the room. It was an appearance that scared the superstitious and cowardly. Clark was neither but from them, he could tell he was not going to like the man's next words, "I'm here to talk about the boy."

With a stomach drop his suspicions were confirmed, "There's nothing to talk about." those words instantly fell out of his mouth though he knew there was plenty to say.

"The boy needs you."

"He has you, he has Red. The League is providing for him, he doesn't need me."

"Every boy needs his father Clark."

"I'm not his father." Clark stood then, his voice just a touch too loud and gained him some unwanted attention from the nearby patrons. He reached for his coat.

"Then what would you call him Clark?" He would have left then if not for the tone of Bruce's voice and the hand gripping him. "He's part you, he's part someone else. The hows and whys don't matter, he's here. He's a thinking breathing person and he needs his family to help show him the way."

"I can't have a family Bruce." He said, still there despite how much he wanted to run, "I'm, I was the only one like me. Do you know what that meant Bruce? The last of my kind, effectively sterile because I just didn't fit or belong. I've known this for years, since I was eighteen, and I thought I had accepted that. My parents did, so I thought I could too. But then… Lois… I had to check.

I went to the Fortress and looked into the archives. You know what I found?"

Bruce's eyes searched him carefully before dutifully asking, "What?"

"Kryptonians can't have clones. They degrade, quickly. They become insane and wither away in weeks. And if you try to add new unfamiliar genes to stop it heavy mutations happen almost instantly. Nothing but a natural combination of pure Kryptonian cells would work. But then, there he was. The impossible staring right at me. Six months old and still stable. I couldn't Bruce, I just couldn't. What does this mean for me? For Lois? For my species?"

Bruce had somehow guided him back to his seat mid-rant, sinking him back into the bench so he could rub the sudden exhaustion from his , kindly enough, had kept quiet long enough for him to center himself again. The last month had been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster and he wasn't sure how to deal with it all… He hadn't even told Lois yet.

"Is this why you told us to keep a close eye on him?"

"Mostly." He admitted, not offering much more than his hunched shoulders.

They sat in silence long for their pie to arrive and for Doris, the waitress, to lay a beer next to his plate. "Here hun, on the house." She told him with a smile before giving a brief glare to Bruce. Clark had to smile at the gesture of kindness, even if the staff had no idea what was going on they were taking the side of their regular.

The beer would do nothing for him but it was nice to imagine.

"Clark, look, I get where you're coming from a bit better now but you still can't keep going on as you have." He said, blunt as always, "The boy needs you, as a role model if nothing else. The Team and the mentor at the mountain are doing what they can but he needs more. Especially considering who his mother is."

Clark let out a wince, there was another reason why he felt so uneasy around the boy. He felt like the product of an affair that never happened. "I thought you said she was improving."

"And she is, in small steps, but that doesn't change she was a known ecoterrorist for years. Who still stands by much of her rhetoric she said. He needs someone to balance that out. Someone whose words would have equal weight to his mother's."

Clark nursed his beer, "I still need time Bruce."

"I understand, just don't take too long." Bruce filled the coming silence by staring at his refilled cup of coffee suspiciously. As far as Clark knew the staff the staff there liked him but probably not enough to put something in the customer's drink. "She's given him a name by the way."

Something in his chest lurched, "Did she?"

Bruce gave him a nod, taking an experimental sip of his coffee, "Christoper."

"... It's a good name."

AN:

So, Superboy's name was picked because not only did Clark have an adopted Son named Chris in the comics but Pamela made a family of clones in the DCAU with a son named Chris.

And, outside of Superboy most Kryptonian clones either end up Bizzaros or in the case of the movies (and a few AUs) Doomsdays.

Hope you enjoyed, please tell me what you thought of the chapter.