A/N: Hank Henshaw is the Cyborg Superman, aka the main antagonist of the comic arc that introduced Conner.
For the record, the comic version was wayyyy bloodier than the movie, Darkseid was not in fact involved, Henshaw ranked up a kill count in the millions, and he managed to break Green Lantern and turn him evil
Henshaw is basically a mix of Brainiac(Smallville version) and Clark. His soul is basically latched onto machinery and he can mimic Clark's genetic structure to the point where Star Labs weren't able to tell he wasn't actually Superman based on his DNA.
Okkkkay, in other news:
YJ comic is back! And so is the cartoon. And Reign of the Supermen was awesome.
And Conner is apparently the next Titans season because of course he is
And I totally agree with Tumblr. This is the year of the Superboy.
Published: 1/22/2018
Warnings: None
Chapter 4
I'm a Dad
Okay, so maybe Conner's priorities were not as on point as they should have been considering the current situation, but hey, his parents were actually somewhat getting along.
Well, if getting along translated to the pair of them snarking at each other back and forth. Considering this was Conner's usual relationship with Tim, he considered this progress.
Although, snarking was the wrong word, Conner supposed. It was mostly a one sided massacre, with Lex stating this or that while Clark kinda just rolled with the hits and tried to strike back as best he could.
Honesty, he wasn't getting very far. Lex was a master wordsmith. As expected of the future president of the United States.
"Maybe we should concentrate on finding out who, exactly, triggered the killer robots?" Tim decided to interrupt.
Lex rolled his eyes.
"They aren't killer robots. Their anti Kryptonian robots. I've hardwired do-not-harm-humans into their make up to the point that tying to disable that feature would cause them to implode." Lex said hauntingly.
Conner lurched.
"You… Made weapons against me and Superman?"
Lex crossed his arms.
"I made weapons against sociopaths like Zod." Lex corrected. "They're designed to incapacitate, not kill. Have you ever been possessed? It's not fun. It's not fun at all."
Clark lurched, almost falling over before getting his bearings back. Staring wide eyed at Lex, Clark spoke.
"You remember that?!"
Lex glared at him.
"No, you incompetent moron. I did, however, manage to hack into Oliver Queen's satellites and found the images. Imagine my surprise when I learned that not only had I'd gotten possessed by a Kryptonian manic bent on world domination but also, and oh gosh darn it, it just slipped Clark's mind ta tell meh!" Lex slipped into a rather bad southern accent.
Clark winced.
"How long have you know?"
"Since this morning, you secret hoarding draconian." Lex snipped.
Tim frowned.
"Wait, if you've known since this morning, they couldn't possible be a defense against Zod." Tim pointed out.
"I knew about Zod. I could find enough evidence of him. I just didn't realize there was a link between the two of us before and please," Lex turned to Clark, "for the love of all that is holy and in the name of Warrior Angel, please tell me you made sure there wasn't some sort of residual link that Zod could use to repossess me and/or remote control me."
Clark opened his mouth before snapping it shut again. Fuck. Had they done something about that? All Clark could really remember was that Zod had given him a choice, Lex or the world, and Clark…
Clark had chosen Lex, despite the fact they hadn't been anywhere remotely close to civil in months with one another, and nearly lost the world in the process.
Sure, he'd managed to banish Zod back to the zone and they did(eventually) manage to get Brainiac out of the Fortress of Solitude, but not only had been a chore and a half, the death of Dark Thursday had been catastrophic.
The entire time they had not, however…
Er…
The guilt showed on his face clear as day.
"Oh, for fuck sakes Clark." Lex facepalmed.
"Zod has a physical body again, so it's not like he's going to try the possession thing again!" Clark defended himself. This was true. Zod had merged with his clone, meaning he was no longer a body snatching phantom.
"So? That doesn't mean he hasn't left some sort of subliminal command in my head!"
Clark snorted, arms crossing over his chest.
"Even if he had, they'd of been erased since the body you're in now isn't the original." Clark reminded Lex.
The other three froze.
Oh. Oh crap, had no one been aware of that?
"What do you mean," Lex said slowly, menacingly, "that this isn't the original body?"
Clark winced.
"Okay. So… Green Arrow might have blown you into itty little pieces and Lionel might have resurrected you through the power of cloning." Clark admitted.
Lex stared at him.
"Clark… It doesn't- I see." Lex looked away, voice cracking slightly. What? Clark looked towards Conner and Tim, to see if they understood any better than he did. Tim was looking at Lex in sympathy, of all things, and Conner had a look of realization which meant, yet again, Clark was the one left out of the secret.
This was becoming too common. Clark was used to this being the other way around.
Lex turned towards Tim.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but if I give you access to the main hub for LexTower security, how quickly can you track the breach and how quickly can you put these robots out of commission?" Lex told the boy.
Tim cracked his knuckles.
"Gimme 15 minutes, 20 tops." the boy boasted.
Then, they all heard an ominous beeping sound. Turning, they locked eyes on one of the robots. Said robot that had stopped in midair to stare at them, its photoreceptors scanning them.
"Code Red. Repeat. Code Red. Priority Gamma. Target found. Target found! Exterminate!"
With that, the robot lifted an arm, the end of it transforming into a cannon. A cannon that was aimed straight at Robin.
The four of them scattered, Clark rising up high and opening fire with his laser vision. Below, he watched the rooftop explode, chunks flying everywhere.
That had been a kill shot.
That had been an over killshot, coming from robots that Lex had claimed would explode if they attempted to kill a huma-
The robot promptly exploded.
Lex snarled, floating beside him on his little mini repulsors. On Clark's other side, Conner appeared with Tim, hand latched onto the others shoulder to keep him afloat using his telekinetic powers.
"Whoever's doing this, they're trying to override my failsafe lock- and they're getting closer." Lex admitted with grit teeth.
"But why attack Tim?" Conner asked. "Sure, he claimed he could do disable them, but that doesn't mean they know he can."
Tim's eyes widened.
"He's right. The robots will try and eliminate anyone their creator thinks can hack in and disable them. Which means, they probably have a list." Tim said.
Clark turned to him.
"Other than you, do we have anyone else in the city capable of hacking into LexCorp security software?"
"My system is not that hackable, Kal-El." Lex snapped. Clark flinched. The only other times Lex had called him Kal had been bloody. Very bloody. Bring down the Fortress of Solitude or trigger the Apokolypse bloody. "I doubt there's more than half a dozen people alive that can do it."
"He's right," Tim assessed. "Other than me, there's Oracle, Nightwing, and Watchtower. That makes four."
Conner blinked at Tim.
"Bats can't hack, but three of his apprentices can?"
Tim stared at his best friend for several seconds before deciding, fuck it, he's risk it, even if they were floating a thousand miles off the ground.
"Owe! Seriously, where do you hide that staff?!"
Lex rolled his eyes.
"I already know about Oracle, batbrat." Lex informed them. "I told you. Sullivan had very detailed files."
"... I'm burning her server later on." Clark decided. Yes, Chloe would kill him, but it would be for the greater good. Then, another realization hit him. "Wait, Chloe's down in the city now!" Clark spun, eyes zooming about, tying to track the proverbial needle in the haystack.
"Presuming 'Priority Gamma' means third target, that would mean either Oracle, Nightwing, or another target we haven't anticipated is also on the list." Lex decided to helpfully interject.
Clark shot him a narrow eyed glared.
"Lex-" Clark began.
Conner put an a hand on Clark's shoulder, halting his speech. Looking up, he met the teenagers gaze.
"Go find Chloe. Me and dad will get Tim to mainframe and hopefully shut this all down."
Clark spluttered incoherently.
"Dad?!" Clark repeated incredulously.
Conner blushed.
Lex beamed victoriously, which, honestly, he looked like he kind of needed it considering how utterly depressed he'd looked after Clark had revealed his resurrection. What was up with that?
"Don't just stand there, Kal." Lex said, and not for the first time Clark got the impression that he'd fucked something up without realizing it, "go find your friend." Lex told him before turning towards Tim. "Oracle and Nightwing?"
"Probably on their honeymoon while adamantly denying they're married." Tim shrugged.
Conner shot him a look.
"Wait, they aren't married?"
"They keep doing this on and off thing. It's outrageously obnoxious and blah." Tim's face scrunched in annoyance.
"Robots." Lex reminded.
"Right! Robots! Move out, people!" Tim declared before looking at Lex expectably.
Oh right. Lex was suppose to lead them. And Clark… Clark was suppose to go find Chloe. Right. Guard Chloe, leave Conner and Tim in the presence of one of the most dangerous supervillains of all time while going on a mission to stop killer robots, and hope it doesn't backfire.
When Bruce tried to kill him for sacrificing his child to Mr. Clean Satan, Diana would probably help.
With one last nod to the others, Clark turned and blasted away.
Chloe, he honestly couldn't focus enough to find.
Lois, though?
Clark could hear her heartbeat from the other side of the planet. Focusing in on that, Clark zoomed his way towards it. If anyone knew where Chloe was, it would be Lois.
Name: Alexander Luthor.
Status: Deceased.
Lex Luthor was dead. Lex Luthor, the real Lex Luthor, was dead and gone and the current Lex was just an amalgamation of his scattered memories, a being that thought he was Lex but really wasn't.
That… Was a hard pill to swallow.
Clark didn't even seem to realize it. He truly believed Lex was the Lex he'd known since high school when, in reality, Lex was something new entirely that an alternate version of his father had pieced together through science and experimentation. Idiot moronic alien.
Lex turned to Conner.
"I suppose, given the current revelations, that makes us more akin to brothers than father and son?" Lex asked. Conner, unlike Clark, was not an utter moron and, from the look on the boy's face, he'd seen what Clark had not.
He knew the real Lex was dead, and that the current was just an imitation. Lex the Second, of you would.
Conner blanched.
"I- if that's what you want." Conner told him before zooming off with a protesting Robin. Counterproductive, really, when Lex was the only one who actually knew the path they needed to take.
Lex twitched. Oh hell no. This boy was just like Clark in all the most infuriating ways. Clark also had the annoying habit of not telling him exactly what he meant, running off, them coming back annoyed later because Lex did not have telepathy and therefore had not read Clark's mind to find out what he wanted.
Conner zoomed back towards him with a sheepish look on his face.
"Er… Where to, pops?" Conner asked.
Pops… Right. The boy wanted a father figure. Ah. Lex got it. Lex telling him they were more akin to siblings had probably stung. From what he understood, that was the same way Clark characterized his relationship with Conner as well, and Conner evidently did not like it. At all.
Regardless… The boy was clinging to an idea that wasn't there. His father was dead. The real Lex Luthor died before Conner Kent had even been breathed, one of the many felled by Oliver Queen.
Lex wanted to kill the man for it, but what would that accomplish? Oliver hadn't killed him. He'd killed the real Lex. The current Lex was nothing but a copy. A fake. An imitation, pretending at reality.
Not that Lex personally believed clones weren't people. No. That would mean Conner wasn't a person and Conner was very much a person.
The primary difference, of course, being that Conner wasn't pretending to be Lex. All he was was himself. Lex wasn't. Who was he, really?
Lex was so deep in thought over it all that he hadn't even realized he'd landed. Hell, he hadn't even realized he'd led them to the mainframe, and they were standing right before the entrance.
"Okay, I know you're kinda going through shocking revelations and philosophical blah blah, butttt… Mind opening this lock?" Drake's voice drawled over Lex's senses. Lex looked up to spot the teen standing expectantly before the door to the mainframe, locked thirteen different ways with half a dozen traps designed to kill anyone who dared access it while unauthorized.
Oh. Right.
"Can't you hack through the door too?" Conner asked.
Robin shrugged.
"I could. Totally could. It would cost us valuable time, but I could." Robin assessed before giving Lex another look.
"Right. Right. Okay." Lex strode forth, placing his palm on the scanner before another probe came towards his face, scanning his eye.
His fake eye. Everything about him was fake. Fake, fake, fake.
Half a dozen motions later, the door opened, the swirling locks clicking into place as the entrance unveiled itself.
"I could have probably broken that down faster using my Tactile Telekinesis." Conner complained.
Lex blanched. He'd never (surprisingly) been subjected to one of Superboy's famous rants about his powers(seriously, Conner should learn not to give so damn much away), but he had of course heard of said rants and did not want to be subjected to one.
"Yes, and trigger whatever Kryptonite trap your dad had in case Superman came barging in." Robin drawled, striding in like he owned be place.
"You know what, why am I even friends with you, you arrogant midget ma- DOWN!"
It was a surprise. Lex shouldn't have been surprised. All in all, he should have expected there to be a guard. It was the logical thing to do, considered the robots were hunting down potential targets who could potentially breach Lex's security mainframe.
Lex blamed Clark for scrambling his brains. Either way, the second they entered half a dozen of his robot opened fire, two of them combusting immediately after when their do-not-harm-humans programming kicked in. Another third spasmed a bit as if shocked before righting itself.
"I think they got past your programming!" Robin decided to helpfully interject.
Conner was trying, rather stupidly, to guard the boy. Rather stupidly because head robots had been designed with Kryptonians in mind. The Kryptonite mix wouldn't kill, otherwise Lex would have gone for full green, but the more blows they landed the weaker Conner would get.
"Kon! Maneuver 16!" Robin called.
"Got it!"
Conner zoomed up into the air towards the ceiling as Robin sped forth. Two shuriken went flying towards the robots, impaling in before exploding. Conner himself landed in a crouch behind the robots, hands splayed across the ground.
Instantly, the floor ripped itself apart, massive chunks wrapping around the machines like a flower blossoming in reverse. Said ball crumbled rapidly, compressing tightly, snagging anything unfortunate enough to be caught within.
Lex gaped a bit.
"Yes!" Conner cheered, standing to full height and pumping a fist in the air. "I'd like to see Superman pull that one off! Tactile Telekinesis for the win, baby!"
Lex… Had not been aware Conner could do that. At all. Alright, so he knew Conner could affect things he touched to the point where he'd once been spotted making a literal castle out of clouds he'd solidified(see issues of Batgirl for reference, can't remember which one), but there was a difference between that and this.
Lex didn't make his robots cheap and Conner had just crushed several of them as easy as balling up a wad of paper. Perhaps it had something to do with the shuriken the boy wonder had tossed, Lex theorized.
"You made sure not to damage the computer, right?" Robin, apparently nowhere near as impressed as Lex, strode right by.
Conner huffed, lowering his arms and pouting at the other teenager. Ah. His son was a showoff. A show off that was displeased his intended audience was not awed.
Lex was slightly offended the intended audience was not him but Drake.
"'Course, Rob. What do you take me for?" Conner asked.
"Honestly? If I didn't know any better, half the time I'd think you and Bart are twins." Robin proclaimed, fingers picking away at the mainframe.
Conner rolled his eyes. Not that Robin could see, but details.
"You're just jealous of of metahuman swagger." Conner somehow managed to state this with a straight face.
…
Lex was pretty sure the parent were the ones that were supposed to embarrass the children but, right now, Conner was doing a pretty good job of reversing that particular equitation. Maybe more of that famed Tactile Telekinesis.
The sound of metallic feet landing drew their attention. Turning, Lex watched as more of his commandeered robots began to make their way towards them.
"Priority shifted to alpha. Repeat. Priority shifted to alpha. Operation: To Kill a Mockingbird is a go."
"Did that robot just call me a mockingbird!?"
"More working, less snakring!" Lex snapped before tossing himself at the robots, power suit already beginning to glow. Conner fell in step behind him, all to guard one little teenager in the hopes that said teen could stop the robot maniacs plaguing the city. Joy.
Chloe realized rather quickly the moment the robots went from property damage scions of destruction to assassin droids protocols. How?
Well, it's pretty easy to tell when you're dodging laser fire.
"Now he's trying to kill you? Lex has seriously lost it!" Lois decided to helpfully add as the two cousins ducked behind a car. Which, honestly, wasn't going to provide much cover. People were running up and down the street in panic, there were at least a dozen fires, and Chloe was pretty sure the only reason she wasn't dead was because the robots kept exploding whenever they tried to kill her.
Which was counterproductive. Why on earth would Lex build robots designed to combust when attacking their mark?
…
"Lex isn't doing this," Chloe realized with a start.
Lois stared at her wide-eyed.
"If Lex isn't doing it, honey, then who is?"
"I-"
The car they'd been using as cover was unceremoniously flung away. Leaping up to their feet, the two cousins stared into the glowing eyes of one of the LexCorp Robots.
"Target acquired. Repeat. Target acquired. Exterminate!"
Exterminate? What was this? Doctor Who? Before the robot could do much more than move, however, an arm suddenly sprouted from its chest, too quick to see. An arm covered in dark blue spandex. A second joined it, tearing the robot in half.
Clark. Superman. They were going to be fine. They were going to be okay. They-
The figure before them looked like Clark. He had a face identical to Clark's. Part of it, anyways. Half of it was covered in gleaming metal, gleaming metal that adorned half his body. A malicious grin overtook the fake Clark's face, although that might have more to do with the metal teeth and jaw not covered by skin or flesh than anything else.
"Target acquired."
Before Chloe could even think to move, the Cyborg Superman was before her, hand raised and fingers splayed against her forehead, the tips just barely touching against her skin.
The world went white.
Clark arrived a moment too late. Not too late in the concept of dead Chloe, because really, if that was the case Clark just might risk the whole try and change the past thing again(even if that had backfired rather terrible last time, but still, Chlo), but he did arrive in time to watch Chloe collapse while a robotic version of him stood victorious over her prone body.
"Target successfully neutralized. Report, Code: Four-alpha-six-bra-"
Clark didn't let the imposter finish. Spinning him around, Clark clocked him hard, sending him flying and straight into the side of a skyscraper.
"Chloe! Damn it, Chloe! Don't you- don't you die on me!" Lois was clinging to Chloe's downed body, tears streaming down her face. Clark couldn't blame her. If only he'd been quicker, if only he hadn't spent so much time trying to psychoanalyze Lex, if only-
White light, pure and blinding, erupted from Chloe's body. Lois flinched back in awed surprise as Chloe's body heaved once, twice, before her eyes snapped open. The white glow flowed through her a second time before flickering away. Eyes falling shut, Chloe's head swayed.
And, she started to snore.
Clark opened his mouth. Before he could even get a word out, a pair of hands latched onto him and dragged him away as he was caught in the imposter's grip.
"Superman, Superman, Superman! You have no idea how long I've waited to make you pay for what you did!" The Cyborg grinned at him psychotically(helped very much by the fact that one of his eyes literally flowed red), of all things, as opposed to the previous robotic motions.
Knowing supervillains, Clark probably forgot to notice the guy's kitten was stuck up in a tree. Villains were very melodramatic about those kinds of things. Still, Clark wasn't about to let himself get beaten to a pulp.
Smacking the hands aside, Clark shifted back before kicking out. His foot smashed into the fascimilie's side, sending it smashing to the ground. This cyborg was going down.
Tim typed away. Whoever the other hacker was, they were good. Really good. So good, in fact, that Tim was starting to suspect his opponent wasn't a person at all.
"Where's Vic Stone when you need him?" Tim muttered to himself.
An explosion sounded behind him. Twitching, Tim turned to glare at Kon and Luthor, both beating robots left and right. Kon had just eviscerated one with heat vision which had caused the explosion and was currently dodging out of the Kryptonite range of another robot.
Seriously. Did Luthor have all of Krypton stored here in rock form?
"Keep it down, would you!" Tim called.
Kon shot him a sharp smoldering glare, eyes still glowing red. Tim's heart did a weird little beat.
"Hurry it up, would you?" Kon snarked.
"Yeah, yeah." Tim dismissed, turning away and back to the mainframe. Alright. Everytime he managed to block one access point a dozen more would open. His opponent seemed to know everything Tim was doing, even before he'd done it. He couldn't even track where it was coming from. All the signals traced back to this very computer, which was impossible unless they were literally inside the machine.
Inside…
Oh. Duh. Duh! Tim felt like smacking himself. Of course. The Cyborg analogy was better than he'd anticipated. It matched perfectly. Whoever the hell he was fighting was in the machine.
They'd uploaded themselves to the mainframe…
What was this, Final Fantasy VII?
Well, only one thing for it then. Luthor would forgive him. Or, at the very least, Kon would stop Luthor from killing Tim thirteen different ways.
Tim couldn't save the mainframe. Maybe if Babs and Dick were here, the three of them could do it together. Maybe, but not enough time. There was only one solution for it.
Make it go boom.
Bart would be so proud.
Clark knew the moment it was over. It was kind of obvious, with the way the Cyborg Superman just stopped in mid air before him before collapsing into literal parts. The rest of the robots followed, some breaking apart entirely and others just sort of fizzling out before collapsing.
Looking around, Clark spotted Batman, the Dark Knight taking a step away from half a dozen robots he'd probably taken out before Robin's hacking did its work. He did need to check on Chloe, but… First thing first. Congratulations were due.
Clark landed next to Bruce.
"You know, I kind of didn't believe Robin when he said he could hack his way through Lex's mainframe and shut down the robots, but man did he deliver." Clark told the other without preamble.
Bruce froze.
"Superman… How did Robin get near the mainframe?" Batman, and not Bruce because that was definitely the Batman voice, hissed furiously.
Clark didn't see the danger. Poor, poor Clark.
"Lex led him and Superboy there. Lex claims he didn't set the robots on the city and, while I had my doubts, I think he was telling the truth, all things considered." Clark answered honestly. Considering the robots were, in fact, out of commission, Clark could give Lex the benefit of the doubt, just this once.
Bruce apparently did not extend that particular courtesy, eye twitching below his cowl.
"Er… Bruce?" Clark asked, taking a small step back as he finally noticed how waves of rage seemed to be flowing off of Bruce.
"You left my son alone with Lex Luthor, a sociopathic monster so dangerous he is literally at the top of the Justice League's list for potential threats to global peace from within?" Batman snapped.
Oh hell. Clark had actually forgotten about the whole Lex-corrupting-teenagers bit.
"Sorry, gotta go, Chloe needs me, bye!" Clark zoomed off, leaving a twitching Bruce behind.
This… Was so going to bite him in the ass later on.
Regardless, the battle was over, so it was time to clean things up a bit.
In the days that followed, Chloe herself recovered from whatever the Cyborg had done. The return of her healing powers had apparently burned any impurities from her body, so they couldn't even tell what the Cyborg had tried to do. Not that it mattered. The cyborg was gone.
At least, that's what was assumed.
Hank Henshaw dropped the hogtied body of Lana Lang before his master. Before him, Darkseid watched impassively, arms crossed behind his back.
Henshaw met his gaze.
"It's done, Master. Not only did I succeed in retrieving the few remaining shards of Brainiac within Sullivan, I also retrieved the Valkyrie as requested." Henshaw spoke.
Darkseid smiled. The Legion of Superheroes had believed they'd purged every ounce of Brainiac from Sullivan, but Darkseid had known better. If they had, her powers would have been restored. As it was, the woman could heal again, but it was of no consequence.
Darkseid had what he needed to continue on with the plan. There was only but one last piece to put into place.
A week later found Clark rather reluctantly taking Conner to Lex's for the weekend. Even midair, Conner looked excited. Like a little kid during their first time at Disney World(the author has never been to Disney World nor would they want to, bleh, too many people).
"- and I know he's probably gonna be, like, really busy, 'cause Lex Luthor and all, but I'm really really excited and this is the best and you're the best and I'm glad you guys are getting along better and hopefully I can talk dad out of trying to kill you or mess with you as often as he does, but I don't think he's really trying to kill you, pretty sure he's just trolling you and I-"
Clark wondered were the babbling came from. As far a he knew, neither he nor Lex babbled, but who knows. Maybe Lex had babbled as a child. That would be just the thing someone like Lionel would work to stamp out.
"You can call me dad too, you know." Clark interrupted gently.
Conner froze mid flight, turning to stare at him with wide eyed. Clark instantly regretted his words. Okay. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Maybe he should have eased into that kind of territory. Maybe-
One second, Conner was hovering before him. The next, he was clinging to Clark like a sloth on a tree.
"I always wanted to call you dad but you said we were more like brothers and then you sent me off to live with Ma, so it really was like we were brothers even though we really aren't and I didn't wanna be a nag, because seriously, that's just annoying but this is so awesome-"
Clark laughed and hugged right back.
Son… Clark had a son. A fully grown son who's mental state was in some bizarre place, a mix of child and teen, but a son nonetheless. A son that he loved and cared for.
A son with Lex, of all people.
Lois had been totally right and there was no way she was ever going to let Clark live it down.
Before Clark knew it, they were already at Lex's penthouse. Lex let them in easily enough and Conner shot off, apparently intent on exploring every inch of the place as Clark and Lex stood there awkwardly.
"I should… Go." Clark fidgeted slightly, turning to do just that. Conner would be safe here. If there was one truth Clark knew, it was that Lex cared for Conner. Weird as it was, it was true.
"Clark." Lex stopped him. Clark froze. Lex hadn't called him Clark in years. It was always Kent or Superman or Kal, but not Clark. Not Clark and not in that tone.
It reminded him of a simpler time, when he and Lex would just gaze at the stars or hang out and do stupid shit before all the messes and fighting and the drama drove their friendship into mutual loathing and animosity.
Clark turned.
Lex looked slightly frightened. That was another bizarre sight. Still, Lex seemed to compose himself before speaking.
"As long as there are no more secrets pertaining me specifically," Lex emphasized the 'me' part of that sentence, "I'd like to try being friends again."
Clark gaped a bit.
Lex… Lex was extending the olive branch? Clark must have died and landing in an alternate universe. Regardless, the offer was temping. Working with Lex instead of having to fight him at every turn sounded like a godsend.
But… We're there any other major secrets that Lex needed to know about? Lex had emphasized the me in the sentence, making it clear he didn't expect all of Clark's secrets, just secrets that related directly to Lex himself.
So, what? Maybe that bit about Lionel getting a personality rewrite by Jor-El? Nah. That was history. It no longer mattered. Was there anything Lex absolutely needed to know?
Maybe… Maybe the bit about how the alternate Lionel had made a deal with Darkseid to get Lex's soul back from the other side?
…
Nah. Lex didn't need to know any of that. What could possible be the harm in letting it go? It's not like it mattered anymore.
So, putting the thought aside, Clark smiled and extended a hand out.
"Friends."
Friends again. At last.
The moment was interrupted by a loud crashing sound. Clark and Lex both froze, turning in the direction.
"Anything he breaks, you're paying for. He's your child." Lex informed Clark before rushing off towards the hallway.
Clark spluttered.
"Wha- he's your kid too, Lex! You can't just pawn him off on me whenever he's bad!"
Lex stuck his head in the room just long enough to meet Clark's gaze and say, "Watch me," before he was off.
Clark groaned. What, exactly, had he gotten himself into?
Elsewhere, Darkseid smiled. The last piece… Was right where he wanted it to be.