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

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Chapter 8: DNA || Bruce & Conner.

Batman stood unmoving for a moment, the wind making his dark cape flow behind him. He watched Superboy sitting on a rock near the beach with the large white wolf he kept as a pet at his side. Gauntleted hands were curled into fists at his sides as he walked toward him.

"Did you know? That I have Luthor's DNA too?" Conner spat even before Batman came into his line of sight. Wolf's soft growls and his hearing giving away the man's presence. He was too angry and frustrated to be intimidated by him right now. "Is that why Superman hates me? Because I'm not just his clone, but Luthor's too."

"Superman doesn't hate you," Batman replied gruffly, earning a snort from the teenager who didn't even bother to look at him, glaring instead at the ocean waves before him. Bruce couldn't blame him for reacting that way. Finding out about Luthor's involvement only made the situation much worse. In every sense.

"He doesn't," He emphasized. "He just doesn't know how to deal with this. With you. So he's decided to stay away until he makes up his mind." That wasn't the best course of action, anyone could see that, but force Clark to accept Conner would only make the situation worse, so he had done his best to respect Clark's decision. "It is more complicated than what he first thought. Than what any of us thought."

Conner said nothing. He only moved his hand to pet Wolf's fur when he whined softly.

"I didn't." The words made Superboy look up at him. It took him a moment to understand Batman was answering his question. "The information Robin retrieved from CADMUS the day they found you mentioned the mix of Kryptonian DNA with human DNA, or a DNA very similar to human in your creation, but did not identify the donor."

"Luthor said that Kryptonian DNA was too hard to replicate so they had to fill in the gaps with human DNA," Conner's brows were furrowed as he spoke. "That's why I don't have all of Superman's powers."

Batman nodded. "Kryptonian biology and genetics are far too complex to understand them fully, but with CADMUS' data and the information provided by Superman we came to the conclusion that that was the most likely cause of the discrepancies between your powers and Superman's, as well as your higher resistance when exposed to Kryptonite. Of course, there's no way to confirm it."

Conner shifted his eyes away from Batman's face.

"The tests we made when you joined the team confirmed traces of human DNA in you. I analyzed it, and compare it with DNA of members of the Justice League as a precaution, but found no matches." Bruce hesitated for a second. "When this new information came to light, I realized new tests that confirmed Luthor is telling the truth. He is the second donor."

Bruce saw Conner's fist clench over the white fur of Wolf as they fell silent.

"What happens now?"

"Nothing." Bruce's voice softened when he was met with the loss, almost desperate look on the boy's face. "Sharing DNA with Lex Luthor or anyone else doesn't change who you are. You're your own man, Conner. Regardless of your connection to Superman or Luthor. This doesn't have to change anything unless you want it to."

He could bring up Artemis' situation now. Reassure him of his own value and independence using her as an example, but he wouldn't do that. It was not his secret to tell.

"Luthor, he- he called me son. He admitted he was responsible for starting the cloning projects, and told me Superman would never accept me because I was created by the bad guys, but that he was different." Superboy opened his mouth to tell Batman about the Shields hidden on his quarters, but no words came out. He didn't want to admit to having not only taken and used something from Luthor but also kept it.

Damn Luthor! Of course he saw the clear gap in the relationship between Superboy and Superman and was exploding it to his benefit. And damn Clark too for even giving him an opening!

The team may be tasked only on covert missions now, but that hadn't stopped Superboy's existence from becoming public, what with him wearing Superman's S-Shield and following in his footsteps; saving and protecting people.

There was already plenty of speculations flying around about the mysterious teenager, and his relationship -or lack of it- with Superman, even when they were yet to have a clear shot of Superboy to confirm the rumors of the striking resemblance with the Man of Steel. No one had seen Superman and Superboy working together so far, even when the rest of the sidekicks, as they were called, were known to spend time with their respective mentors, even when most of them were less sociable with the public than Superman.

He could only hope shared DNA wouldn't make Superboy go knock on Luthor's door, hoping to get the attention and approval Superman had denied him. He had no doubt Luthor would exploit that to his benefit.

"And you're considering his offer." It wasn't a question.

"I don't- I don't know."

Batman said nothing in reply, but Conner observed what he could see of the man's face carefully. He noticed the lips stiffened into a faint scowl.

"You don't think I should listen to him."

Bruce had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from blurting out his answer. If there was something he had learned over the years, it was that you don't order a teenager to not do something. That never went well.

"I think you should do what you think is right," He started. "And if you decide you want to contact Luthor I wouldn't stop you, but there's something you should remember," He waited until he had the boy's full attention before speaking again. "He's a brilliant and manipulative man; calculating. He may act like a nice man, but he wouldn't hesitate to use people for his own gain, and he's dangerous. He has made it his main goal beat Superman, but he has no qualms to destroy anyone that stands in his way. Anyone."

Conner remembered the easy way Luthor had called himself his father, acknowledging him as his son. The way he met his gaze straight on; no hesitation, no wavering. The smirk on his face and the warm brush of his fingertips on his arm as he took the blackened Shield. But then he remembered the unapologetic way he admitted to having manipulated him all along to do what he wanted him to. The strange gleam in his green eyes when he told him Superman didn't care about him and never will. The way in which with two simple words, he had shut him down and walked away leaving him all alone.

He curled his hands into fists as he remembered the way he kept Match frozen and hidden for so long. A clone just like him; his predecessor. With the fortune of having full Kryptonian powers, but the flaw of being uncontrollable. Deemed a failure and stowed away instead of destroyed; frozen and ready to be taken out of his pot in case he was needed again. Just as he would be too if Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin had not freed him.

No, Conner decided. He didn't want to have anything to do with Lex Luthor.

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a/n: Surprise, surprise. Bet you weren't expecting to have a new chapter up so soon (or soon at least where I am concerned) but I was inspired and well, here is it. I have no idea where the idea for this shot came from, it just did and next thing I know, I have the whole story formed in my head, waiting to be written. Can't complain about it, though. But I have to admit I had been contemplating going the 'Batman is the other DNA donor' route, even if I wasn't sure about it yet. But well, who knows? Maybe I will make a chapter dealing with that at some point too, since these are supposed to be unrelated one-shots.

Anyway, thank you for reading and all your reviews and favorites! You're the best guys!