Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any of its characters. Really, I don't.

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Chapter 5: Broken || Bruce & Clark.

He probably wouldn't have found out about the incident if he hadn't overheard Barry speaking to Ollie about it only minutes after arriving at the Watchtower. Batman had been injured during today's training session with the children, nothing serious, but he needed medical attention. Or at least that's what Wally told his uncle.

Clark didn't approach his colleagues to ask for details about the situation and instead went straight to the Zeta-Beam tubes to be transported to Mount Justice.

He didn't visit the mountain often, but even he could tell the place was strangely quiet as he arrived. Clark flew down to the third level, following the soft murmur of conversation down there.

He found Robin and Superboy sitting side by side on the couch in the entertainment room, both silent and still. Superboy was the first to notice him, blue eyes widening as soon as he saw him.

Superboy looked toward the doorway when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, expecting to see Canary or M'gann again, telling him this hadn't been his fault. He froze as he caught sight of Superman hovering there and staring at him. He swallowed, dropping his gaze to the floor.

Clark didn't miss the way the clone slumped in his seat, making his eyes narrow. He was sure he hadn't imagined the guilt in the clone's eyes. He gave Dick a nod and a small smile as the boy's head came up too, but he was saved from having to approach them when a female voice called behind him.

"Superman."

Clark turned to meet Canary's eyes, giving her a small polite nod.

While Canary wasn't as outspoken as Batman (but then again, who was?) about the issue with Superboy, it was no secret she did not approve of the way he was handling things with the clone. They hadn't been close friends before, but now any interaction outside missions or meetings was short and to the point. And she always made her disagreement with him clear whenever anything relating Superboy came up.

Because of that, he went straight to the point. "What happened to Batman?"

"He hurt his hand during today's training session," Canary replied plainly, trying to get Superman away from Superboy as soon as possible. A visit from Superman was the last thing Conner needed right now. "He's at the med bay with Red Tornado."

"Thank you."

Canary turned toward the entertainment room as soon as Superman flew away, the corners of her mouth slowly curling into a small, fond smile as he saw Robin put a hand on Superboy's shoulder.

Red Tornado was already putting the medical supplies away when Clark arrived. He gave the robot a small nod before turning his attention to Bruce.

He was sitting on a chair, full armor still in place and only the gauntlet on his left hand missing. There was a dark cast covering the hand, the last three fingers and the wrist immobilized by it. Superman scanned the hand, finding five broken bones in it before doing a full body scan. He found nothing that couldn't be explained by Batman's usual activities. There were a couple of bruised ribs, as well as a handful of contusions all over his body.

"Stop scanning me," Batman growled without turning around.

Clark waited until Red Tornado left the room before speaking to the dark figure. "What happened?"

Batman looked up as Superman came to stand before him, eyes narrowed behind the white lenses of his cowl. "An accident, that's what happened, but I'm sure Canary already told you that."

"It was him, wasn't it?"

"The word 'accident' implies there is no one to blame, as you know well. So no, it wasn't Conner's fault. But if you want to blame someone, blame me."

"He crushed your hand and you're telling me it was your fault!?"

Bruce snorted as he raised to his feet. He hated having Clark towering over him. "Don't be melodramatic. My hand is fine. And I only said you can blame me since you're so dead set on finding someone to blame. I should have been more careful."

Clark said nothing to that. He knew letting Batman and Canary in charge of Superboy's training was a bad idea. The clone clearly didn't have the faintest control of his strength, and his bad temper was bound to explode at any moment against whoever was around. In fact, he was surprised it had taken this long for someone to get hurt because of him.

He couldn't let him hurt Batman again. Or anyone else. Even if that meant he had to take charge of the clone's training. But first, he needed to talk to him and make him understand how serious this was.

"Don't even think about it," Batman growled, glaring at Superman. "You're not going out there to berate him for something he already feels guilty about."

"I think I should talk to him. He doesn't- "

"No. You don't get to do this. You don't get to pick the times where you want to be involved and where you don't. The moment you decided not to take part in Connor's life was the moment you gave up the right to storm in here demanding explanations and then going out there to punish him for something you think he did wrong. If you-"

"I think he did wrong? He hurt you! How's that not wrong?"

"It was an accident, for god's sake! Things like this happen all the time when you're training. I've been hurt training with Robin before and you know it."

"Except Robin never broke five of your bones with his bare hands!"

Bruce took a deep breath before reaching for the discarded gauntlet on the table at his side. His fingers clenched around rough fabric as he walked away without another word.

"What if he had broken Di- Robin's hand?" Clark called softly, making Bruce stop but not turn back.

"I would be angry." Worried. Guilty. Livid. Shaken. Afraid. Like every time Dick had been hurt before. "But I would understand it was an accident, because I've seen how much effort Conner is putting on his training. How hard he's trying to keep control of his temper." Bruce turned his head back, looking at Clark straight in the eye. "I would be out there telling him it was not his fault, just like Robin has been doing now."

Clark didn't say anything, his expression conflicted as he watched his friend walk away.

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a/n: First off, I want to thank the guest who left the last review, because his/her prompt inspired me to finally write more of this series. I can honestly say this wrote itself. Seriously anon, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, but mostly for your wonderful prompt that put me finally back in the game. I hope you liked this and don't mind I put both ideas in this one-shot. I might be doing another one with Bruce getting hurt at some point, but can't make any promises ;)

To anyone still reading, I'm really sorry for the long wait. As I said when I started posting this fic, I do have a few ideas in my head, I do. The thing is, they just wouldn't get written. I'm going to be honest and say I write when I truly want to do it, and not when I feel like I should which is why my updating is so sporadic. I hope that after this I can get back to writing more for this series because I truly love it. But beyond that, thank you so much for all the comments and kudos. You're so awesome! *hugs*

I was actually hoping to get this out yesterday to celebrate Batman's day, but well. Happy belated Batman day everyone!

Lastly, you're welcome to leave prompts and ideas (hurt!Conner, cute Robin trying to convince Batman to let Superboy into the Batcave, and Batman/Superboy training are already in my head, though) I can't promise I would write any or all of them, but maybe one of them will light the spark for a new shot like this one did.