3

"I don't understand," George said, pulling ineffectually at his handcuffs.

They were all three seated at a long stainless steel table, hands cuffed in front of them. The room they were housed in was barely that, more like a ten by ten concrete box with no light or windows save the flickering fluorescent ones overhead. Two large soldiers stood by the one door, each fully armed. Flynn sat on the other side of the table with a portable DVD player in front of him.

"Oh I want to help you understand. I can't imagine you or Mr. Kent, was it?"

Clark nodded and forced himself into a stuttering mess. "Kent...yeah, Clark Kent...with a K. I was in Shanghai on assignment for the Daily Planet and I heard and had to get over here as soon as I could."

"Because you and Mrs. Dean are colleagues, how touching," Flynn said.

Clark swallowed and didn't give the other man eye contact. Superman made eye contact, commanded it. Clark Kent let everyone think he was too afraid to. "My fiance is Chloe's cousin and we all grew up together in Smallville, I mean, not completely grew up but we did finish out high school and that was like fifteen years ago and so I guess grew up works and-"

"I get your inane point, but isn't that funny."

"I don't think anything's funny today, sir," Clark said.

"But Lois Lane's your fiancé, right?"

"Yes, yes sir."

"Funny, everyone thinks she's Superman's girlfriend. Can't say I've even heard of you in passing."

"We don't make it out to Singapore very often."

"Superman certainly gets around then doesn't he, Chloe?" Flynn said, turning to her. "Working his way through two cousins, kinky."

Clark wanted to tear through the handcuffs terribly. Chloe didn't deserve to be talked to like a whore. "Stop, what does any of that have to do with us and why we're here and, with all due respect sir, my fiance loves me."

Flynn nodded. "She may but I can't imagine with all those long hours and trysts on a roof top that she doesn't love someone else more. Or lust, all the same."

"Flynn, stop," George said, holding up his arms. "Why are we being held. None of us did anything. For fuck's sake, Clark just got off a plane."

"I'm glad you asked," Flynn said. "Dramatic pauses over. Christopher's not your son, George. He's Superman's."

Clark had to give Chloe credit. She faked laughter without flaw by now. "Yes because that makes so much sense. He and I are on each other's speed dials, sure."

Technically she was on his. He didn't think he was on Chloe's. They hadn't talked over the phone consistently in half a decade and now Clark knew why.

"Maybe, maybe not, but imagine our surprise when the paramedics tried and failed to give your son a tetanus shot four times."

"Why fail?" George asked, and he was breathing in ragged gasps, well on his way to hyperventilating.

"Needle bent when it made contact with the skin. Every time," Flynn said, pressing play on the portable DVD player. Grainy images of the cafeteria security footage popped up. "Christopher wasn't sitting with either of you when the bomb hit, was he?"

"I think he went to get an extra thing of chocolate milk," George said.

Flynn nodded. "When we reviewed the footage we found this."

He angled the screen so that all three of them could see the footage. At first it didn't look like anything more than rubble. The dust in the air, the large chunks of ceiling and wall in a pile. Then the rubble started to move and rise. Clark knew exactly what was coming next, he'd done it himself a hundred times over. Christopher was standing up now throwing parts of the ceiling off himself like it took no effort at all, and it probably hadn't.

It took everything Clark had to fake surprise, to keep playing the role of just confused uncle. "My God."

"That's not real. It can't be," George said flatly. "Christopher doesn't have abilities."

Chloe, nestled between Clark and George at the table, closed her eyes and turned her head away. "You can't have him."

"Well we can't find him is more the operative term, Mrs. Dean. We already were interrupted by you at the embassy and half my team is at your apartment searching for him, but he's not there."

"Imagine that," she said.

"We did find a series of journals in your office. Encrypted, I'm impressed on that score, Chloe. We'll crack it eventually of course."

Clark wanted to know very badly what she'd written then. He assumed if her cipher wasn't strong enough that Flynn would be reading a lot about him too and not just about Christopher. "Chlo," Clark said, voice timid. "What...what's going on?"

"I'd like to know that too, Chloe. What he's saying can't be true. I mean you've never even met Superman."

"She seemed very tight with him when he showed up to save them both at the embassy this morning. There was hugging."

Chloe swallowed. "I was glad not to be being chased by your goon squad. I...you won't find Christopher. I'm many things, a bad secret keeper is not one of them."

George frowned between Chloe and the view screen. "No that's not...I know you got pregnant fast after we jumped into dating. I get that. I know that Christopher was born a little premature but you don't know Superman. I...Christopher's my son."

Chloe looked down at her hands and, underneath the table, Clark patted her knee with his own. "I knew I was pregnant when I left Star City. It's why I took the job in Asia. I didn't want to be even in the same continent as Metropolis, not close enough for Superman to realize it. Then you and I clicked so fast and I did like you and it'd be easier to hide Christopher when he had an 'obvious' human father. I...I'm sorry."

George looked as if he'd gone several rounds with Clark in a ring. "No. That's not...why would you use me like this?"

"I didn't, exactly," Chloe hedged. "I cared about you and then everything was so amazing together and with him. I'd never had a marriage like that before. Hell, I'd never had a marriage not get annulled before. I didn't know it could exist without the other person wanting you to change everything you were or leaving nasty facebook messages and stealing from your life savings. I...you're different."

Clark winced. He'd never really understood what had gone wrong between Oliver and Chloe. He didn't think Dinah had anything to do with it, but it was more a product of it being a marriage that alcohol had induced to start. Jimmy, well, he had no idea that weasel had been stealing Chloe blind for his drugs. It was sad he'd died, that Clark couldn't save him, but, no, Jimmy had not been a good person, not by a long shot.

"You used me and lied to my face for years. How could you?" George repeated.

Chloe hesitated, biting her lip. "I do love you, but I love Christopher more than anything. I was avoiding something like this happening, frankly, trying to spare everyone's feelings."

"I don't even know who you are."

Considering Chloe had worked for The Star City Register as "Elizabeth Chloe Cochran" and was still under the DP payroll officially under that name, had nothing on her files but an intricately created past back in San Jose, California, and that George knew nothing about "Chloe Sullivan" who had died seven years ago and been erased, that couldn't have been more true.

"I'm sorry," she said, finally looking George in the eye. "I did what I had to do."

Flynn shook his head. "Touching. You have one hour to figure out how to get Christopher to me. I'll be back then with persuasion."

"You can't do that," George said. "We haven't done anything wrong. We're all American citizens and this base is American property. We have rights. Chloe, tell him, you're the Bill of Rights expert here," George insisted.

She gave Clark a quick look and shook her head at her husband. "Those don't count under these types of circumstances."

"What type? We're talking about them torturing two reporters and an embassy official on American soil. Those are good 'this is illegal' circumstances."

Flynn nodded. "You do get it, Chloe. I forwarded the tapes directly to Washington. They want the boy. The higher ups have always wanted Superman to be more than first on the spot in natural disasters. He won't play ball politically speaking."

Of course Clark wouldn't. It was something the Fortress insisted he never do-take sides in human events. It was also League policy. They couldn't pick one country over another. They were for metahuman and alien threats, for massive natural disaster relief. They weren't chess pieces in wars. The secretary of state had approached him several times in his first year with offers and Clark had refused repeatedly, making his position clear. He'd been naive to think they had stopped fantasizing about it.

"So?" George asked. And Clark blamed the concussion for making him this obtuse.

"They want Christopher. They want to raise him to be the ultimate weapon. America's already the super power. But with an invulnerable half-alien on its side, fighting its wars, who'd ever question it again. Am I right? Oh and, of course, for bringing him in, you get off the crap assignment in a city-state no less and probably get an extra star or two on your lapels."

"Very astute," Flynn replied. "I want him. You have an hour before I bring back our specialist in interrogation."

He left the room and the guards followed. Clark activated his X-ray vision to confirm what he already suspected. The guards were now standing against the doors, joined by three others, each with an uzi.

Perfect.

Chloe didn't waste time and he'd never been more glad that she still moonlit as Watchtower for tactical advise when needed. Reaching beside her right ear, Chloe activated her commlink. "J'onn? We have a problem. We're somewhere on the U.S. base in Singapore being held. I'll explain later. I...Clark's here but he's detained too. If you and John and Diana could? Thanks, see you in sixty," Chloe said, pulling her hands back down.

George was staring wide mouthed at her. "Who are you?"

"I can't even remember," Chloe replied. "But I have friends in high places," she finished as Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, and the Green Lantern broke through the walls and grabbed each of them, hurrying them away.

Walking through Watchtower was awkward. Everyone stopped and stared at her and at Christopher. Those who ranked high enough to know Clark's real identity would look at him as well. Rumor spread fast there. Chloe steeled herself and stood taller, her hand clutching Christopher's tightly. Her son was the only one among them who was excited. His eyes were widen and he shook as he took in all the wonders the gleaming satellite held. He'd always loved heroes, whether it had been Robin Hood or now was Warrior Angel and Superman. This was better for him than Disney World.

Clark and George trailed behind her, both men silent. In front of her J'onn and Diana kept walking, leading them to the bunks where Christopher could rest. Her heart thumped heavily as she walked. She didn't even understand how it had gotten this far. She had loved George, damn it. She'd used him to protect her son but any mother with a child as special and as valuable as hers would do anything to protect him. George had presented a perfect cover but he'd been so attentive and sweet over the last five plus years that she really had fallen in love with him. Now she'd crushed him. Forget Clark. Outside of him reassuring her in life and death situations, he'd probably never talk to her again. She'd cost him the formative years of his son's life. Oh Christ and Lois. She would find out about this and soon, maybe in hours if she hadn't already learned.

Chloe shook her head and gathered her son closer.

It was okay, she could be alone; she'd earned that. As long as they could find a way to protect her son, she could manage.

Clutched in Christopher's hands was a small locked case. It was the fireproof safe she used to hold the comics she'd made. George had no idea they existed and, thank God or whoever looked after fugitives, Christopher had insisted on bringing his favorite reading to Dr. Fong's. While she had to worry about her journals being decoded, she didn't have to fret about Flynn's men finding something even more incriminating.

Eventually, they came to a spare pleasant, if sparse, bedroom. Diana turned and knelt before Christopher. "You can go in there if you like. We have some things to discuss with your parents and your uncle."

"Will I be bored?"

J'onn laughed and it filled Chloe's mind, reached down to her soul. She noticed George look around in confusion for the source of "the sound. We'll send Impulse in to entertain you, don't worry. There's a television and a DVD player.

"Is there the internet?" Christopher asked and now even Diana laughed.

"You are your mother's son. Come with me and I'll get you situated until Impulse comes." With that, Diana led her son inside and shut the door. The three of them followed J'onn in silence with Chloe occasionally sending death glares at the younger League members who were gaping between her and Clark. Eventually they came to one of the myriad of conference rooms and sat down.

J'onn started into things with no preamble. Bruce is on a mission with Zatanna several dimensions over. You should be glad for such things, Chloe. I can't even imagine what you and Clark have been thinking or how you lied to all of us for so long, let alone to Lois.

Chloe didn't have a chance to respond before George was up and pacing. "You and Clark? I'm incredibly confused. What does Lois's fiance have to do with any of this?"

Clark sighed and took off his glasses. Sitting up instead of slouching and dropping his feigned stutter, he looked George in the eye. "I'm Superman."

It was much harder to argue with that, sitting in League headquarters and with Clark not acting like a spaz. George didn't speak for a long time, just looked between Clark and her, and shaking his head. "You're Superman and that makes you-"

"Christopher's biological father, yes," Clark replied.

It hurt Chloe to hear the resignation and longing in Clark's voice. She'd stolen a lot from him in whatever misguided attempt she'd made to spare herself another go-round in the "Chloe's Second Choice Olympics" and to spare Lois her relationship.

"Clark and Lois broke up for a while, J'onn. This was obviously back years ago. They weren't actively dating when we slept together and by the time I realized I was pregnant, they were back together. I never told him. No one knew but me and Oliver."

I suspected when we met Dr. Fong that you'd had help from one of us. I just assumed you and Clark both had conspired to hide the boy.

Chloe sat up rigidly. "No, J'onn. I made this mess on my own. All Clark did was have a night of weakness after Lois dumped him. I didn't think...I felt it wasn't worth ruining what they had with an illegitimate child. It wasn't good planning."

"Understatement," George huffed, still staring at Clark. "You didn't just hop by Singapore one night for a little release while she was dating me, did you? Was she really pregnant before she left the States?"

Clark couldn't even look at her as he answered. "I've only slept with Chloe once in my life. I slept with her nine weeks before she left for Singapore. If I'd known, I'd never have let her leave and, even if she had still left for Asia...I would never have someone cuckolded like this. George this has been incredibly unfair to you."

"No shit."

Clark nodded. "You're angry, I understand, believe me I do. I'm adopted."

"Also no shit."

"My father clashed a lot with my human parents. Long story, brainwashin involved, alien computers, very complex. However, the gist is my adoptive father, Jonathan Kent, and my real father didn't get along at all. I know the kind of tension there can be in a situation like this and I'd like us to...when all the chaos with Flynn has settled...I'd like for us to be more united than my fathers were. It's not good for Christopher if we aren't."

"How generous of you, Superman. I'm glad I'll be allowed to still have an audience with my son, the one I raised for five years-every cut and scrape and nightmare-while you were getting accolades half a world away."

"You can just call me Clark. It's fine, but I was trying to help."

Chloe wasn't focusing much on the rest of their strained squabble. She was feeling sick to her stomach in a way that had nothing to do with her own messes. She'd only heard Clark refer to Jor-El as his "real father" after he'd come back from training and had been so cold, that douchebag in the trench coat. She thought he'd been coming more back to himself and to his life as a Kent. Certainly, at least he'd gone back to red and blue a year later and reconciled quite a bit with Martha through her efforts with the VRA. Still, it unsettled her for Clark to be so callous about what Jonathan had done for him. It wasn't like the boy she'd known at all, including that hard winter after Jonathan's death.

Of course, the boy she'd known wouldn't have sold the farm on pain of death or reduced his visits to DC so severely or...

She'd been so busy hiding in Singapore to give them the life he deserved that she hadn't kept up with him. She'd promised Martha she would, that she'd never really leave him. Hell, she promised that to Clark her last time in the loft. Who was this man who trusted Jor-El even more than his parents, who wore a mask all day at work, and who had cut ties with everything human save for Lois.

And why hadn't she realized he'd been wearing Clark's skin for so long?

Chloe! J'onn shouted, startling her out of her worries. Did you hear us?

"I'm sorry. I just...long day J'onn. Where were we?"

George sighed. "We were trying to figure out what to do. Your uncle is four star. He works at the Pentagon now. Can't he intercede?"

Clark shook his head. "There's nothing Sam wouldn't do for his girls, but, this is over his head, I'm sure. I'd really not be shocked if this was a mission on direct orders from the president."

"Of the United States?" George asked.

"No of Wal-Mart," Chloe snarked. "Yes, the PotUS. This is clearly something the government has wanted since Clark first came out. They can't corrupt Superman and they can't force him to do things against his will, but they can indoctrinate a child."

"You mean brainwash," George added.

"Yes," she said. "I'm sure the president and secretary of defense cleared this themselves. I don't think there's anything that can be done to call it off, ever." Her voice shook a little on that last part. She'd lived in hiding before, still did to an extent, but she'd been on the run for seven months as a young woman. It was hard and lonely. It would crush a five year old.

"We can't go home because they're there. We can't step foot on American soil cause we'd be easy targets. We certainly can't live forever in the base of the JLA."

"We call it the Watchtower," Clark added offhandedly.

"Yes, that. Where exactly are we going to go, Chloe?"

"I don't know. I...that secret can't just be out there. It's why Clark's always guarded his identity so fiercely. Once people know, that's the ballgame. Christopher will always be pursued by the government as long as he lives, which, not to add insult to injury, because of his genetics is going to be a long damn time."

"How long?"

"A thousand years, maybe two," Clark said and the lack of emotion in his voice about that also scared Chloe a little.

George was apoplectic. "My basically immortal son is going to have to hide in the Watchtower for the next millennium because the government will never stop looking for him. Is that about right?"

J'onn nodded. Christopher Dean has no place in the world any longer. For this, I'm sorry. We can figure out a way for you and for your son to have a normal life. Well, as normal as possible, but you three will always have to live under an alias. Chloe, this is nothing new for you.

"What?" George asked, staring at her.

She shook it off and looked instead at J'onn. "I can start manipulating the records we'll need tomorrow, and I'm sure Batman or Arrow can arrange a new place for us to live. Frankly, I think Switzerland would be good."

"Are you serious?" George asked.

"I am. It's neutral territory, non-extraditing. If we were ever found there, the American government would have no legal way to get to us, not that we don't have to just go underground and stay hidden. We do. But we have to stay out of the United States or any U.S. controlled territories. We have to cut ties to everything this minute. Your parents, your friends, everything. As far as they know, we'll float the story you died in the explosion. It wouldn't be hard with the right hacking and a few placed stories."

"Are you even listening to yourself, Chloe? I'm not going to scare my mother and father like that, especially when I'm alive."

Clark finally spoke again. "You have a choice to make, George. It's not a fair one and we're all sorry Chloe roped you into this."

She didn't even object to the sentiment. Chloe knew it was true, and that she'd set all this in motion long ago with her lies.

"And?" George asked.

"If you love Christopher like you say you do, you have to give up life as George Dean for him. I'm sorry, truly I am, but the government will never stop looking for Christopher, George and Chloe Dean. The only way to survive is to have them die."

"You act like giving up an identity is so easy!"

"It is," Clark said, shrugging. "Ask your wife, but my point is that if you don't want to do this, alright. We'll arrange for you to be sent away from the Watchtower and go back to your life, make sure that you can't reveal information that compromises me or Christopher."

"Why does that sound ominous?"

"We'll make sure you can't slip," Clark said and Chloe shivered at the thought of Zatanna or J'onn playing with her husband's mind. "But you can either have your life back and your family and friends and what you've worked forty years for or you can have Christopher. You have a lot of choices to make. I suggest you start prioritizing." Clark stood then, his posture stiff and unnatural. "Chloe, J'onn, George, I'm going to take a rest myself before I call my fiancé when it hits 8:00 AM in Kansas." And, although he was still in that idiot red jacket she'd saved for him, she couldn't help but imagine the cape flaring out behind him as he left the room.