Disclaimer: I do not own either Young Justice or its related characters. Such are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Intrepid Reporter

Chapter Three:

Tana Moon had not always wanted to go into TV reporting. Her major had been in investigative journalism with a minor in ethnic studies. She wanted to write human-interest pieces that dealt with discrimination, the struggle of minorities, economic issues, displacement, etc. She wanted to do something good, something that helped people. She was driven. So driven, in fact, that what usually took most people four years of college to accomplish (or five years in some cases), she completed in only two.

So, fresh out of college, at the age of twenty, Tana Moon had moved from her one-room apartment in Honolulu, Hawaii to Metropolis, Delaware on the main land. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed she had gone strait to the Daily Planet building and applied for a job. She plunked her resume down on Perry White's desk, it was heavy with education and extracurricular activities but held no previous work experience and so, he had laughed at her, saying that she was 'still in school'. Perry did offer her an assignment covering a local Bake-Off to prove herself, but Tana had taken the assignment as an insult.

She had worked her butt off for the past two years to cover serious stories, not plain vanilla no sprinkles, family friendly, fluff pieces for little old ladies sitting at home with their cats. She knew her value as a reporter. And so, instead of taking Perry's assignment, Tana had stormed out of his office and stomped out of the Planet building all together –and right into traffic. It would have been the end of her, it should have been the end of her, but she was saved.

There had been the loud, angry honking of horns, the screech of tires and, to late, she realized the light had changed before she even stepped out into the street. Tana had the sudden and glittering realization that she was about to become street-pizza when her vision was suddenly filled with a black and red T-shirt that sported the Superman shield, two strong arms were wrapped around her, one around her shoulders, the other under her knees and she was, quite literally, swept off her feet. It all happened so fast, she barely had time to process it all before her tall, dark rescuer set her back on her feet on the opposite sidewalk.

Heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, she had looked up into the in-human crystal-blue eyes of her rescuer. She had expected it to be Metropolis' resident hero, Superman. But it wasn't the Man of Steel that looked down at her. He looked like Superman, but was much younger, only a few years younger than herself, actually. But his radiant blue eyes seemed to hold so much more experience than his age could have accumulated. Shaken, disoriented and confused, Tana spoke the only words that had seemed to make sense to her.

"You saved me."

Four years of college crammed into two, sleepless nights spent up finishing term papers, studying for finals, reading case studies, and analyzing social essays, and her first ever news report was three simple words: 'You. Saved. Me.' Congratulations, Tana! What a deep and critical report that was. So insightful! Not obvious in the least! Truly, you will go far in your chosen field.

And then his response, "I do that."

He did that. That was what he did. He –whoever he was- Superkid, Power Boy, Superlad, the Kryptonian Kid… something like that, he was a hero. Saving people was what he did. How deep. They were two of a kind. So eloquent and well spoken. A real talky pair. Then, in an attempt to regain some of her dignity, she extended her hand to shake.

"I'm Tana." She said. "Tana Moon."

He looked at her hand. His luminous blue eyes flicking downwards to study the appendage before his eyes snapped back up to her face. She didn't know anything about him, she didn't know if he had X-ray vision like Superman was supposed to have, but she felt like he was looking right through her. Seeing all her hopes and insecurities laid out before his crystal eyes. It was a highly dramatized and utterly ridiculous thought and she mentally kicked herself for even thinking it.

He never shook her hand, but he did reply, "Superboy."

"I figured it'd be something like that." She gave him what she hoped was an easy smile that didn't give away just how nervous she actually felt. Nearly being turned into steak tar-tar by a speeding car could do that to a person, but investigative reporters were supposed to play it cool and brush off such near-death experiences. Besides, she had thought his name would be something along those lines. It was true, not entirely bravado on her part. Then, she decided it might be better if she threw in a joke, so she added, "The shirt's kinda a give away."

The Superboy raised an eyebrow at her, as if he didn't really know what to say to that. Then after a prolonged pause, "Well, Ms. Moon, try to be more careful when crossing the street from now on."

And then she watched him leap into the air. Not fly, just jump really really high. He became nothing more than a dark speck against the blue sky in her vision, but Tana was pretty sure he had landed on the roof of the Daily Planet building. What was it about the Daily Planet and the Supers? She gave a mental shrug, reminding herself that she had just been turned down for a job there and so would probably never know.

That had been one year ago.

Tana was now twenty-one and had landed an anchor job with Galaxy Communications. It had taken her the whole year to get that job, but it was a job and it was at least somewhat in her field. Looking back, she should have taken that Bake-Off assignment from Perry White. If she had, she probably would have been on the Daily Planet's salary by now. Instead she had turned her nose up at it. She had been fresh out of college and though she was God's Gift to Journalism. She had learned rather quickly that she was a nothing. Hind sight is always 20/20. Also, looking back, if she had somehow managed to convince the Superboy to come with her to GBS, she probably would have been handed a good position right off the bat instead of having to start off as a lowly intern. Ah, missed opportunities…

But not anymore. Now she was a somebody –sort of. She was an anchor for GBS with an early morning time-slot and made a point to always be available to fill in if another one of their anchor's called out. She was on TV. She was being seen. She was being heard. People were listening to her. So, it wasn't exactly what she had majored in, this could still turn into a successful career in journalism.

If she could survive it, that is. Tana had been so sure she would die that morning at the Hobsneck Bridge. When the speeding car was flipped into the air and took out the news copter's tail. Then, he'd showed up again. Not Superman –the city hadn't really been seeing much of him lately. No, Superboy came to their rescue, all six-foot three of him, ebony hair tossed in the wind, muscles rippling, luminous crystal eyes brightened by the exercise. And was just exercise to him. He threw the driver of the runaway car into their copter and carried them all to shore.

Superboy had pulled the driver of the perpetrating car out of the copter almost as soon as he set them down on the bank and handed him over to the Metro PD. While he was being read his Miranda rights, Tana had jumped out of the helicopter, leaving one of her shoes behind in the process, and pounced on the Superboy. This was her big score! To land an interview with a fresh new and young superhero could launch her career to a new level. She might become as big as Lois Lane!

"Superboy!" She had called. "Tana Moon, GBS."

He looked at her, fixing Tana with that crystal-blue stare and she was reminded of their first meeting a little over a year ago when he had fixed her with a similar glance and just like then she felt penetrated and exposed. It lasted less than a second, but in that second she was sure he had analyzed every inch of her.

"I know. I have an edict memory."

Admittedly, Tana had no idea what an 'edict memory' was, but… "Great!" He remembered her. "Do you have a statement?"

He didn't answers her question. Instead, the Superboy turned his penetrating crystal gaze to the news copter's pilot. He stalked to the man and said in a feral growl that sent shivers up her spine. "It's generally considered a good idea that, when you see the heroes going one way, you're supposed to go in the opposite direction. Not directly into the danger!"

The words were a low rumble in his chest, Superboy had not raised his voice one octave and they rolled off his tongue with more frustration than anger. The unspoken message being, 'Don't make my job harder than it needs to be.' Tana was suddenly struck by just how serious he was compared to his predecessor. Superman was always smiling, looking light and easy going –giving comfort to those he helped. By contrast Superboy seemed more urgent, more driven, less happy go lucky and more 'let's get down to business'. That struck her as odd, considering that such an attitude was inconsistent with his apparent age.

Still, he couldn't go around intimidating her pilot like that. "But we didn't even see you!"

Superboy turned those intense crystal eyes to her and she made a conscious effort not to let her breath catch in her chest. "I was referring to the police."

That gave her a moment's pause. He thought the heroes were the police, not himself. That was so… selflessly modest of him. Here he was with all his powers and abilities, having just preformed an incredible feat that no normal human could even dream of doing without killing themselves in the process, and yet, he did not consider himself to be the hero, no. The heroes were the Metro PD. This time, her breath really did catch in her chest. Was it really possible for a man to be so unstintingly… good?

Then, a few days later, he subdued that new rouge at the bay, the one calling himself Sidearm. Superboy had appeared so quickly after the situation had turned bad, arriving long before the SCU did. She had asked him flat out if he knew it was going to happen before hand. He had turned those same crystal eyes at her and Tana wondered if she'd ever get used to his penetrating stare. Once again she was struck by the impression that he held more wisdom than his years should reflect when he said, "No… But I know Metropolis and things like this are bound to happen."

Tana couldn't help but smile at that. He didn't know anything was going to happen yet still made a point of being in the area just in case he was needed. "You showed great forethought in being here at the right time, then."

…

The GBS pundit G. Gordon Godfrey was on when Kon-El returned to the Cave that evening. Not, on the TV, its wide flat-screen was dark. But he heard the passionately venomous spewing of the man's words the moment he stepped out of the zetta-tube. It was the kind of one-sided putrescence in which words themselves became meaningless sounds, which transmitted nothing. The purpose of which was not to communicate, but to render any form of argument impossible. Kon followed the sound until he found the pundit program displayed on a holoscreen in the briefing room. Nightwing stood over it scowling.

"Hey, Dick." Said the Superboy to announce his presence. "What's he on about this time."

The Nightwing looked up at the Superboy, regarding him for a moment behind the white slits of his domino mask, then said, "I really wish you hadn't called yourself Superman's 'fill-in'." he said. "You might as well have said that you know more than you're letting on, and just confirmed what Godfrey's been wailing about this whole time –that the JLA's keeping secrets."

To illustrate this, Dick replayed the clip he had just been watching. G. Gordon Godfrey sat at his desk, one hand splayed over its surface half pushing him out of his chair as he leaned forward into he camera and fixed the audience with a pointed glare. "Some of you might have noticed the recent absences of certain members of the so-called 'Justice League'. Those of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, Hawkwoman and her husband Hawkman, and all the Green Lanterns. Today, Superman's substitute hero was questioned by reporters about said absences."

The screen then cut to footage of earlier that day. Of Superboy with a WLEX microphone shoved under his chin, in the lower right hand of the screen was a small disclaimer that raid 'Used with WLEX permission' –of course Lex would. In fact, Kon would not have been surprised with Godfrey and Luthor were somehow partners, rival channels be damned. "Questions like that would be better directed to Catherine Cobert. If you'll excuse me."

It then cut back to Godfey in his studio. "Look at that brush-off! What a great and fearless hero, to afraid to answer a simple question of where his boss has gone. Its clear that the Justice League knows more than they're sharing and it is this commentator's opinion that the public has a right to know! If-"

Dick cut the feed at that. They didn't need to hear another one of his rants. They were all the same. The Nightwing just looked at him.

"That wasn't all I said." Kon was quick to say. "I told them I wasn't a member of the League. That was the first thing I said. They cut it out intentionally."

"Of course they did." Dick replied. The question of, 'Did you honestly expect them to do anything else?' went unspoken.

Kon crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me what you want, Dick. You know I'm no good with all this subtly and intrigue crap you Bats are so fond of."

"Catherine wants you to do a TV interview to fix what you said." He informed the Superboy flatly. "Something live that they can't cut up and take out of context."

Kon missed one… two… three beast before saying. "Is she insane? Has she met me? I'm more likely to screw things up even more. You know I can't talk to people."

Nightwing threw his arms up in exasperation. "Take it up with her then. You know I have better things to worry about with Batman gone then public relations."

That was true. With his mentor gone, Dick had stepped in to fill the void of, not only the dark stalker of the night that protected Gotham from the shadows, but he was also putting in hours at Wayne Enterprises helping Luscious Fox care for the company in Bruce Wayne's absence (Kon had forgotten what billionaire-playboy excuse they'd given to explain an absence of this kind). And all that was on top of the duties he already had as leader of the Team. Yes, Dick had a full plate of responsibilities to chew on without having to worry about a side dish of media backlash.

"Alright, Dick. I'll talk to Catherine about it."

…

Catherine Cobert arranged for a live studio interview with a non-partial GBS anchor. Galaxy Communications prided themselves on their 'fair and balanced' coverage and Gordon Godfrey had an obvious bias, no PR agent in the world could deny that and expect to be taken seriously. So, GBS had offer up one of their newest reporters, a woman whom had been with the station for only less than a year. They had chosen her because they thought her fresh young face and little notoriety would put the Justice League media correspondent at ease, while her youth and inexperience would make her easy for the station to manipulate.

Tana had jumped at the offer. A live studio interview with a high-profile client. It was the break she been waiting for. Then, when she learned that the person she would be interviewing was the Superboy it had taken every once of self-control she had not to whoop and cheer right there in Mr. Edge's office. She had gone home that day practically vibrating with excitement. She put on the title song to Fame and danced around her apartment, indulging in a moment optimistic egotism.

Then the studio had emailed her the roster of questions she was supposed to ask him. Looking over that list Tana realized rather quickly that they weren't doing this interview in order to learn more about Superman's substitute, they were trying to entrap him –force him to play into the image that Gordon Godfrey was trying to paint of the Justice League and all superheroes for that matter. She had been so outraged that Tana had marched right back to GBS, Barged into Mr. Edge's office and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. Whatever happened to 'fair and balanced' news? Where were his journalistic principals?

Edge had narrowed his eyes critically at her, not the least bit amused by her outburst. He had stood slowly, glaring at her from behind his desk, and informed the naïve little girl that this was a business, and there was no such thing as 'integrity' when it came to business. People didn't want the truth, they wanted entertainment and nothing was more entertaining than watching a hero be dragged down from on high and thrown into disgrace and if she valued her career and wanted to go anywhere in the industry, she'd do as she was told or be replaced.

Tana had gone home again, this time frustrated and angry.

She reviewed the interview prompts. She practiced asking the questions in the mirror. She saw his young chiseled face and intense crystal eyes blinking in confusion at her questions, then trying to answer only to fall into trap the studio had set for him. Superboy had saved her life twice, how could she do that to him? Tana braced her hands on the bathroom sink, glaring down at the drain. Throw her career down that drain for the sake of her integrity or throw her integrity down to further her career?

Unbidden, the memory of Perry White telling her she was still in school rose to the forefront of her mind. She had learned so much since then, but this was the first time in a year she felt like she had truly graduated from school.

…

The Superboy showed up late.

The studio had reserved an hour-long time slot for the interview. Twenty minuets of that had been spent waiting for the guy to even show up. More powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he couldn't seem to show up for a TV interview on time. When he did finally show up, he looked like hell.

Shirt torn slightly, missing one fingerless glove and he was covered from head to tow in… uh, slime. Lets go with 'slime'.

"Sorry." He said, when he walked don the set. Out of the corner of her eye, Tana saw Catherine Cobert's face fall into the palm of her hand. "STAR Labs had this… uh, this thing. With these pincers and- oh! You can read about it in the Planet tomorrow. So, you've got some questions for me."

He flopped down in the plush armchair across from Tana, coating in a layer of whatever it was he was covered in. The Superboy gave her his full attention, his luminous crystal eyes fixed on her own. Over his shoulder she saw her first question scroll across the teleprompter. She ignored it for the moment and instead said, without the slightest hint of a scathing tone, "I'm glad you were able to be here, Superboy."

"Me too!" He agreed. "I've learned vicariously that if you make reporters wait to long for interviews they tend to throw themselves out of windows or off roofs. I would hate for anyone here at GBS to develop the habit, Ms. Moon."

"Is that really how you see us?" She blinked at him, utterly taken aback.

The Superboy gave a casual shrug of his wide shoulders, the action causing a torn segment of his shirt to slide down his arm. "Admittedly, my pool of experience is rather small."

The teleprompter behind him flashed with a different question. "Is that what this is then?" She read. "Are you throwing a pity interview for the crazed media who are so hell-bent on getting your story that they'd risk suicide?"

To his credit, the Superboy did not get defensive. His air of casualness evaporated, however and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and asked her, "Is that how you see me?"

Tana ignored the teleprompter behind him and answered truthfully. "I don't know how to see you, Superboy." She met his crystal-blue stare with a dark-hazel one of her own, refusing to be unsettled by that inhuman shade of sapphire. "You bound around town and save people and stop people from hurting other people and nobody can ever get more than a sentence out of you before you hop away and are just… gone! You say you're filling in for Superman and you wear his symbol, but who are you?"

"I'm Superboy." He said this so innocently, not at all sarcastic or condescending –it made Tana want to believe him. That he was Superboy, that was all he was, nothing more, just what it says on the tin. No secret identity, no double life –everything that he was could be summarized in his name, in that one name 'Superboy'. His entire being devoted to that one job. Tana knew she certainly didn't have that kind of work ethic. Nobody did. But he did.

Beneath her layer of caked-on TV make-up Tana could feel her cheeks flushing.

She cleared her throat. "Lets get back to business, shall we." She glanced back to the teleprompter behind him. "You said that you're Superman's fill-in, what is your exact relation to the Man of Steel?"

His eyes noticeably darkened at the question. Almost as if they had been lit by an internal light that had suddenly gone out. His voice was low and sober when he answered, "That is a long explanation you're asking for, Ms. Moon."

A beat of silence between them.

Then, "The simplest way I can answer that is to tell I'm his adopted brother."

"Adopted?" Tana echoed in confusion. "But you look so much like him!"

"As I said, a long explanation."

"Then lets move on. Where has Superman gone?"

"I can't answer that." Superboy's voice was flat, even and without inflection. Less like someone discussing the absence of a relative and more like a soldier answering the inquiry of an officer.

"Why not?"

"Because its his business."

"Does his absence have anything to do with the absence of several other members of the Justice League?" As she continued to grill him, Tana found herself asking what she was doing. This man was a hero and here she was trying to manipulate him into saying something damning to either himself or the Justice League.

"I can't answer that."

"Do you know?" She asked flat out.

The Superboy once again fixed her with those crystal eyes, some of the light from earlier coming back into them. With a voice that was perfectly controlled he said, "No."

…And she knew he was lying. She had no rational proof of it. But in her gut, Tana knew that for the first time in this interview he had given her an answer that was not true. He was so calm and collected, his voice hadn't wavered, he made perfect eye-contact and yet… she just knew it wasn't true.

But instead of calling him out on it, she said, "So, asking you about it is pointless."

"Yes."

"Because you're not a member of the League."

"I've said as much before." He nodded. "Of course, Mr. Godfrey seemed to have cut that bit out of the footage he showed, so I understand the confusion."

Behind him the teleprompter's white text disappeared and was replaced with the cyan text that indicated someone from the production staff speaking to her. Tana was suddenly tempted to read what was being said out loud. But she did not. Instead she smiled.

"Well, Superboy, I think we're done here."

She reached out to shake his hand, noted that it was still covered in slime then withdrew her own.

He regarded her bemusedly. "I believe we still have ten minuets left in our stop, Ms. Moon. I'm sure those can't be all your questions."

Behind him the teleprompter continued to scream at her. "Alright then." She said, ignoring the screen. She was already good and fired and if she wasn't fired, then she would quit after this. Why not make the most of it? "What's your favorite color?"

…