This is regular.

This is thoughts.

This is a day dream or reading from a book or note.

CONNER'S POINT OF VEIW:

"And that's why we need you to fly us to Japan." I summed up, shrugging.

Megan blinked, eyes wide. "Oh…"

"So, will you help us?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled at me, "Or course Conner, you know I'll always help you out." She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around me, hugging me tightly. "Because I love you."

I hesitated, I know I liked Megan, but I loved Mio. Forget Mio, she made her choice. She did, she's told me multiple times she doesn't feel that way about me. I know she's lying but… still, the intent is clear, clear and painful.

I looked down at Megan, and saw she was floating up to meet me, lips pursed. Without even thinking, I pressed mine down to meet her. Her lips were incredibly soft, just like her hands, which were running through my hair. It was like being touched by a pillow, that soft.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer, and she seemed to enjoy that. I pushed my lips down harder, my arms tightening around her.

She yanked away suddenly, letting out a faint cry. I let her go, and watched as she held up her arms to inspect them, finding hand shaped bruises coating them. My hands, my strength, my fault. Mio would have healed already, probably wouldn't have even pulled away.

"Sorry." I mumbled, and someone cleared their throat from the doorway. I looked over my shoulder, to see Mio, clad in her costume, with an unreadable expression.

MIO'S POINT OF VEIW:

I walked into the kitchen to see if Conner had convinced Megan yet, and was promptly greeted with Megan and Conner kissing. I took a step back, shocked, and then leaned forward, unable to look away as Megan ran her hands through Conner's hair. My fists clenched.

How dare she kiss Conner! Conner was- not yours. As I recall, you told him it wouldn't work, this is your fault for not saying yes to him. You hurt him, just like Jake hurt you.

I bit my lip, and felt something inside me die as Conner held her closer, tightening her grip. When Megan yanked away form Conner holding her to tightly, I couldn't help but feel a little happy. You wanted Conner to choose Megan over you. You told him to choose her, stop complaining. You made your bed, sleep in it you pathetic coward.

I cleared my throat, and they both looked over at me, Megan in embarrassment, and Conner in fear. "Mio-"

"Are you taking us to Japan or not?" I asked Megan, ignoring Conner.

"Sure." She said, "Are you sure you don't wanna take Artemis and the others? They'll all wanna help with Lovette, we all love her."

I shook my head, "Megan, it's just us. I'm jumping out of the bio ship to get to my old house, and you're taking Superboy to Hiroshima. You have to stay on the bio ship, do not follow him, even if you think he's about to die, do you understand?"

She bit her lip, "Yeah."

"Megan." I said, staring her down. "I mean this with the highest sensitivity I could ever muster. Do. Not. Leave. The bio ship."

She looked at me for a moment, and then nodded, "Okay."

The flight to Matsuyama was long, and silent. I was just sitting down, elbows on my knees, and chin in my hands, staring at the floor. Logan must know by now she was gone, right? Why wouldn't he be calling me, telling me that? Unless Daken did something with him…

I shook my head, I did not need those thoughts right now. Get to my house, stall Daken, and pray Conner can save Lovette. I looked over at Conner, and he looked over back at me.

"Conner, just… just promise me that you'll get her out of there." I ordered.

He nodded, "No one's going to have a chance to blow it up, and even if they do, I'll get her out before it does."

I nodded, looking back down at the floor "Okay."

He stared at me, then came over, sitting down next to me, "What's wrong?"

"He'll never leave Lovette alone, not as long as she's with me." I mumbled.

"You just need to train more." Conner said. "You can get stronger-"

"No." I said, "The only way Daken would ever stop, reguardless of how strong I get, is if I die."

Conner and Megan were both silent for a moment.

Conner finally spoke up, "Well, I guess you don't really have a choice."

"No, actually, I do have a choice." I said.

Conner raised an eyebrow, and Megan gasped, "Mio-"

"No reading my mind." I snapped.

"Sorry." She whispered, and I thought I saw tears gathering in her eyes.

"What?" Conner asked.

I shrugged, "I think I'm ready to let him kill me."

CONNER'S POINT OF VEIW:

Sometimes, you just never expect someone to say something like that, and when they do, it hits you like a ton of bricks.

A guy in a ups uniform walked up to me with a clipboard, "Excuse me, I have a ton of bricks for a Mr. Conner Kent?" He held out his clip board and a pen for me to sign, and I did.

He stepped back, staring up at the ceiling of the bio ship as a ton of brick came crashing down on my head.

"Can I get that pen back?" The guy asked, and my hand rose shakily through the bricks, handing it back to him. "Thanks."

"No problem." I said, my voice shaking.

Mio raised an eyebrow at me, "Conner, it's been ten minutes, you're gonna have to shut your mouth at some point."

I closed my mouth, staring at her. She shook her head, "Connie, I'm fifteen years old and I've lived the life most people only have nightmares about. I think I'm ready to end it, but not before I make sure she'd safe." I hated that nickname, but I was to scared to be angry.

"Yeah…" I said, "But if you just save Lovette the normal way, Daken might leave you two alone for another… thirty to forty years."

She gave me an amused look, "I think you're being a little irrational."

"No I'm not."

"Everybody's gotta die sometime Conner." She said.

"No they don't." I denied.

"Conner, I'm fine with it."

"But what about our… our duty as heroes to-"

"Boo hoo!" She mocked, "Duty to stay alive, duty to fight a pointless battle, duty to be self righteous fools!" She stopped mocking him and turned serious. "Conner, I don't know if this is because of your personal feelings, or because you're afraid of death, but either option, you can't do either. For Jesus' sake, you're in hero work, and you need to accept that everything a hero spends their whole life training for and fight for, everything, is a stall."

Her words were a stab to the heart, maybe they were true, maybe they weren't, but Mio, whether her belief was right or not, when it came to a hero, she was the real deal. She wasn't golden, she didn't think of herself that way, but when someone really needed her to be, like Lovette, she would let them believe she was golden, even if all they really needed was silver, or brass. Then, she would be silver or brass, and let them continue to believe she was gold, if that was what they needed.

I was shocked by her words, but maybe they were true. "We're just trying to keep the game going, that's it." She paused, as if trying to decide if she should continue, "But ultimately, it always end up the same way. Everyone dies."

A skeleton in a hooded robe stood across from me, a game of connect four in-between us. "I win." Death proclaimed.

"Where?" I asked, "I don't see it!"

"Here." He said, pointing out a row of four black chips. "Diagonally, see?"

I laughed, smiling, "I see it, very sneaky Death!"

I snapped out of that day dream, and stared at her, "You gonna tell Logan?" Logan knew her better than anyone, he'd slap some sense into her.

"He doesn't need that burden, his son killing his granddaughter. Besides, he'd just give me a bunch of reason to change my mind." She said, shrugging.

I was silent for a moment, "But, there's so many things you need to do before you kick the bucket!" I protested.

She gave me a look, "I dare you to find one I haven't done."

I hesitated, "Eat a sausage and pepper burrito from the Mexican restaurant down the street."

"Done that." She said, "Best burrito I've ever had."

"Okay… go to Asia?" I offered, no way had she done this.

She paused, "Ne , daseosbeon, geogie gass-eo."

"I'll take that as a yes, and I'll also check off learn a foreign language." I mumbled.

"Mhm." She said, "You just gonna keep pulling these out for the whole trip?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I said.

"This is gonna be a long flight." She said, sighing.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER, MIO'S POINT OF VEIW:

"Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower." He offered.

"Done that." I said.

"Go to the top of the Meiffel Tower." He said.

"Now you're just making stuff up." I said, standing up and walking to the drop ramp. We were almost there, and I wanted to be ready.

"No, really, I'm not." He insisted, following me.

"Look Conner." I said, "There is not one thing I regret in my life that won't be fixed by my death. I'm ready. I really am."

He sighed, "You have had an amazing life."

"Good." I said, relieved. "Now that we agree, what about that list, how many of those things have you done?" I asked. "For that matter, when's the last time you just laid in the grass and done nothing? Hmm?"

I could tell by his expression, he never had. "You need to start taking some time for yourself Conner. Now, promise me you'll do that." I ordered.

"I will." He promised.

"Good, then there's only one thing left I need to do to make sure I don't regret anything." I said.

"What?" He asked, as I literally jumped up to actually be able to touch his lips with mine. I was ridiculously short, and he was more than a head taller than me. So the little peck I had left on his lips was very short lived, but it got my point across.

He froze staring at me, and then grabbing the corners of my mask, lifting it over my face, until it was pulled completely off. I frowned, looking up at him as he held my mask in his hands, "Are you okay?"

He looked at me sadly, like a young man would look to his father or mother when he was about to move out, or go off to college. "I'm scared."

I sighed, hugging him tightly for a moment, "It'll be okay Conner."

He hugged me back, tightly. "I don't want you to die."

"I'll be fine." I said, patting his back slowly, then pulling away "Hell won't faze me. I've known for a long time that's where I'm gonna end up."

"Wait, what?" He asked, "You're not going to Hell."

"Yeah, I am." I said, "They don't let people like me in Heaven."

He just shook his head, "You mean they don't let people who've saved a four year old from Hydra, risked her life on a daily bases for that child, and people she doesn't even know, worked herself to the bone in training not for her safety but again for people she doesn't care about, and mentored an entire team filled with messed up kids that she hardly knew, and being an example to them daily? Not to mention putting her own feelings to the side for someone who she loved, but thought they deserved better?"

I was silent for a moment, and he broke into a grin, "See?" He held out my mask, "Here."

I took it, and then Megan lowered the ramp. I felt a little guilty about doing that with her standing right there, but come on, odds are I'm never going to see him again. I nodded to Megan, "Talk good care of him, and tell Artemis to take care of Lovette for me."

She nodded, "I'll make sure to tell her that."

I looked towards the open ramp and then tossed the mask to Megan, "Make sure Logan get's that!"

That was Logan's mask, and what I was about to do had nothing to do with Logan or anything he had taught me. I jumped out of the ship, falling a good distance to the ground, hurting most of my lower body including my femur and hips, which had already healed in less than a minute.

I hissed at the sudden pain, walking forward slowly, before looking to my right, to see the hill that the house of my childhood rested upon.