Conner wasn't human, that much I had already known. He was kryptonian, an alien clone who was one of the last surviving members of the once thriving planet Krypton. I had known that from the beginning, it was my job to know that. I know why I accepted this job, why I jumped at the first chance to get away from the mansion. It wasn't because of Hellion's teasing, or M-day drama, or the fact my older 'sisters' were always treating me like I was five (being the baby of the family sucks, I can promise you that), or even the fact that Laura had ratted me out to Logan about the pheromone power I kept hidden from everyone.

No, I left because I wanted to be my own person, with my own goals and expectations. See, my family is really complicated, all my adopted sisters are, or where, X-men and so was Logan. Pretty much everyone else in my family was a mass murdering villain that had killed a ridiculous amount of people. Literally, ridiculous amounts.

I wanted something different, not an X-man, not a mass murdering psychopath, and I definitely was not going to go all anti-hero on everybody. Young Justice provided an opportunity for that, for getting away and making my own name.

Anyways you get the picture, but back to Conner. I knew he was an alien clone who had little to no knowledge of the way a human was supposed to act, but no one warned me that instead of acting like a human, he acted like a freaking puppy!

I growled low in my throat as I glared a the TV, a warning to back off, but of course, he didn't listen. His arms only pulled me closer, nuzzling his face deeper into my neck, and kissing it softly.

I kept my arms crossed, refusing to acknowledge this attention. Conner had enough of being rejected by me verbally, so he stopped offering his affection, and just did what he wanted. Apparently he liked cuddling while he was awake too.

I ground my teeth together as he smiled into my neck. I hated everything about this moment, except him. He had just walked in here while I was watching an episode of 'I Almost Got Away With It' and just plopped right down next to me, wrapped his huge arms around my waist, and yanked me onto his lap like I was his snuggle bunny.

I just growled again, and he responded by ghosting his lips over my neck again, leaving a soft kiss. There was no lust with Conner, no trying to get to the next base, none of the stuff I knew teenage boys did. This wasn't an act of passion, more like an act of puppy love.

The more I started to think about it, the more Conner seemed like a puppy. Whenever he got sad, there was always that cute little pout on his face that was so puppy-like, the only thing missing was a collar.

That thought made me smirk, thinking about putting a collar on him. He probably wouldn't object, he was that vulnerable to me.

Robin suddenly walked into the room, his eyes widening beneath his mask at this sight. Conner ignored him, either that or didn't notice him. I gave him a glare that could put Batman to shame, "You tell, and I will cut you into a thousand little pieces and force feed you to Batman, and make Alfred watch."

Conner suddenly perked up, "Who's Alfred?"

"No one." Robin said quickly, running out of the room. Logan, thank you so much for the many death threats you screamed at me while I was dodging weapons of mass destruction in the danger room. It really paid off.

Conner smiled, happy we were alone again and put his head right back where it was, snuggled against my neck.

"You're such a puppy." I growled.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Never mind." I snapped, trying to wiggle out of his hold, but he held fast, not letting me move. I really didn't want to have to stab his arms to get him to let me go, last time I stabbed someone I nearly got fired. "Let go of me." I ground out.

"No." Was his short reply.

"Why!" I asked, exasperated.

"Because I love you." He said, smirking and holding me closer.

"You're annoying." I snapped. "If you really want to show affection, don't do this!"

He let me go, leaning back a little to get a clear view of me, "What do you want me to do?"

I growled again, and then grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him forward, and cramming my lips onto his, my hands grasping his shoulders, holding him in place. There was no love in the kiss I forced on him, it was simply filled with aggravation and dominating. The kiss was just me telling him that I was in charge, and that he did what I told him.

For a moment, Conner was just dumbstruck, but when I pulled away, he tried to follow, but I just stood up, "No."

"Why?" He asked, getting angry, "Why can't you just let me love you! Why can't you just give in? I know you love me, and I know you're killing yourself refusing!"

I just shook my head, "I don't want to-"

"Don't lie to me." He ordered.

I was taken back a little, Conner usually just begged, pleaded with me, but never ordered me around. He was growing a spine, and I didn't like it. "Don't tell me what to do."

"Why not?" He snapped.

"Because." I growled, "No one tells me what to do."

"You're father sure does." Conner said, saying the words that we would both regret. "Everything he asks you to do, you just do it like you're his little puppet!"

My jaws clenched, my fists tightened, and my eyes narrowed. My chin raised in defiance, I calmly yet darkly said, "What did you just say to me?"

"You were ready to die for him, just so he could get a little amusement!" Conner snapped.

"I was going to let him kill me so Lovette-"

"Don't give me that crap!" Conner roared, "I know you've got way to much fight in you to just give up and let someone you hate win! You keep saying you're nothing like him, you have nothing to do with him, that you hate him and want to kill him, but it's all a lie!"

I stepped back, appalled "It is not a-"

"Don't lie to me." He hissed out. "You are just like him!"

"No." I said, shaking my head. "I am nothing like him."

"He can't be his own man to save his life." Conner hissed, "Always going after Logan and trying to prove he's better. You're the same way! Can't be your own person, and just move on!"

His words cut like the sharpest of knives, strange, knives had stopped hurting me long ago. "Yes I can-"

"Then why can't you let yourself be happy! You know that until you do, you're. Just. Like. Him!" Conner screamed.

A dam, holding back everything, put up so long ago. They told me not to scream. Screaming shows you have been defeated, it is the greatest dishonor.

I have been defeated. So I screamed. "AH!"

Lord knows I screamed, I screamed so loud. I knew I had shattered my own ear drums, that's how loud I screamed. Conner grabbed his ears, sinking to his knees. The scream felt good, all the pent up emotions, betrayal, anger, shame, affection, hurt, depression, and ones I didn't even understand, flying out of my mouth.

Eventually, my lungs ran out of air, and I had to stop, taking air in with great gulps, until I could finally speak again. "You know why I don't try to be happy Conner? Why I don't take Lovette away from all of this and just live a happy life with her? Why I don't give in and try to have a happy ever after with you? Why I won't even let you really kiss me?"

I paused, taking in a deep, quivering breath, "Because every time I'm happy, that man ruins everything! You have no idea what he's done to me Conner. He infiltrated the X-mansion and beat the life out of me, in front of everyone! He gutted me right in the middle of the hallway!"

Conner's eyes widened, taking a step back.

"You know what's even better than that?" I asked sarcastically, but my tone was laced with hurt and betrayal.

"It was my first time being away from Logan, he was… in Hell for a while. Literally. So, I was hanging with Laura until things calmed down. We went to Madripor, with Gambit and Tyger Tiger." I shook my head, "Like idiots, we trusted him for literally less than five minutes, and with that time, he handed Laura over to a guy called Colcord who was trying to recreate the Weapon X project. He had tests done on her, cut her open with a chainsaw, all to create mini versions of us to use as soldiers."

I stopped for a moment, eyes narrowed slightly in remembrance as Conner stood up, facing me again. "And my father… My own father, my flesh and blood… He locked me up in some rat invested basement in Madripor to keep me out of the way. Of course, he made sure I couldn't go anywhere. To do that, he had to make sure that I wouldn't be fit to so much as move for hours… considering I can heal multiple fatal injuries within two minutes, it would have to be something that even He would consider over the top brutality."

I shook my head slowly, remembering the cruelty, the pain that was the worst I had ever, and probably will ever experience. "He shaved ever muscle fiber from my arms, legs, neck, face, hands, and feet. As if that wasn't enough, he pumped what was left of my body full of drugs that slowed my healing factor down."

Conner looked like he was going to throw up, and I'm pretty sure he was trying really hard not to empty his stomach right onto the floor.

"I sat there for nearly a full day before Gambit found me. Nearly didn't see my body lying there, covered with so many rats."

Conner gets even more pale, and wobbles a little.

"You gettin' the message?" I spat, "He didn't even have the decency to find a clean place. Rats, mindless rodents, feasting on my body, which by then, could have been a corpse."

Conner finally just sat down, sweating slightly, shaking his head. "That's why I'm not going to try to be happy Conner. Being happy and then being miserable hurts a lot more than just constantly being miserable."

"You don't have to stop being happy." Conner offered weakly.

"Conner, the only way to stop him from taking you from me, is to not have you." I said, walking away.

"That makes no sense!" He protested. "It isn't fair!"

"It makes perfect sense." I mumbled, walking to the front door/teleporter thing. "It's Daken."