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.
Signals
Chapter Three: Interlude
Watchtower
Jan. 26 – (irrelevant)
Loath thought he was to admit it; Bruce had to concede that Barry was right –it was not fair to keep Conner locked up like a prisoner. He might have passed on classified information while under the enemy's control, but the boy could not be held accountable for that and it was wrong to punish him for things he did (or might have done) while being manipulated by a third party.
But they couldn't send him back to the Cave. As Clark had pointed out, he would be a danger to the other children, especially since Bruce had discovered the enemy's signal imbedded in more than just TV static now. Talk then turned to where else the boy could be sent.
"I might be able to take him to Oa for a while…" Hal was saying. "The Guardians might not be all that happy about it, but I see no reason why they'd really object."
The seven founders sat in the conference room on Watchtower, Batman having finally decided to bring them all in on the Conner-situation. He was finally making it a League priority not just a World's Finest priority.
"You mean, like, banish him?" Flash asked as he reached to the center of the table to where they had stacked almost a dozen pizza boxes, searching for another slice. "That's a little harsh, dude. He hasn't done anything; it's just a mind control thing. We can't kick him to the other end of the galaxy for that."
Clark silently agreed with the speedster. After seeing just how fragile the boy's emotional state was he decided that sending him so far away would be the worst possible thing for him. If and when they did find a way to put an end to the enemy's control of him for good and brought him back, he'd never trust them again. What reason would he have to? They would have been the ones to send him away. Oa would certainly be out of the enemy's reach, they'd never be able to touch the boy there, but that was about the only thing it would accomplish. There had to be another place they could put the boy.
Under the table Clark felt Bruce kick him.
"What about Atlantis?" Asked the Man of Steel. "Could Conner stay in Posidonis with you?" He focused his eyes on Orin.
"Ordinarily, I wouldn't mind…" The Sea King began diplomatically. "Kaldu'rham speaks very highly of the boy, as he does of all his teammates. But the city's security has already been threatened once. As much as I'd like to help I'm afraid I must look to my own people first."
It wasn't spoken aloud, but everyone heard the silent concern for his very pregnant wife beneath his polite refusal. He did not want a possible traitor with Superman-like powers staying anywhere near Mera or their unborn child. A perfectly understandable sentiment.
Again, Bruce kicked Clark under the table. The Boy Scout supposed he disserved that, he should have been more sensitive to Orin's situation, it was unfair of him to ask the man to take such a dangerous liberty with his family.
"It would be a little radical, but I could take him to Themyscira for a while." Diana offered. "He can't stay there indefinitely, but Bruce and Clark have visited the island enough in the past that my sisters wouldn't be to alarmed by a man's presence there and on the island he'd still be cut off from sources of the enemy's control." She offered a lopsided grin. "We don't get much TV or internet on Themyscira."
"That doesn't sound to bad." Clark nodded.
For a third time he felt Bruce kick him under the table, this time the action accompanied by a bat-glare.
"Dump a teenage boy on an island of nothing but hot amazon women?" Flash blinked.
"You're implying that, in such a setting, he would not remain faithful to his current romantic partner?" J'onn inquired, slightly defensive on the behalf of his niece.
"The kid's got a girlfriend?" Hal blinked. "Wow, that's… unlikely. I mean, considering his stock. –No offence, Supes."
And thus the conversation was officially derailed. For the love of Pete! They were the world's greatest heroes, all adults in their early thirties (or equivalent) and yet, somehow, they always managed to degrade into an infantile gossip-circle.
"How in the heck…?" Flash gaped. "How in the world does a guy who's less than a year old with no social skills and Supes' pedigree manage to get himself a girlfriend?"
What was this? Roast on Clark Kent's lack of a love-life day? Just because he was celibately pining after Lois didn't mean it wasn't possible for him to get a girlfriend. But this really wasn't what they had called a meeting to discuss. If they wanted to gab about each other's personal lives there was always Skype chat.
"Can we stay on point, please." The Man of Steel drummed his fingers on the table. "If no one can think of another idea, I think we should take Diana up on her offer. Conner will go to Themyscira until we find out who's controlling him and stop them."
Bruce once again gave Clark a sharp kick under the table.
"And what are you doing?" He turned to face the Dark Knight. "You're gonna hurt your foot if you keep at it."
Bruce's only response was another one of his patent-pending bat-glares, which sadly, did not seem to have an effect on the Superman today.
"You two playing footsy?" Barry swallowed his pizza and grinned.
"Should we leave you two alone?" The Green Lantern joined the red-clad speedster in his jeers.
"Well, I guess now we know why neither of them can keep a steady girlfriend." Orin jumped on the bandwagon.
Bruce silenced them all with his glare; it still worked just fine on them. "I think this meeting is adjourned." He stood to leave. "Clark, a word."
"Oh, looks like they wanted to be alone after all, Hal." The Flash flashed a smile at the Lantern.
Once out in the hall Bruce wheeled around to face the Man of Steel. "What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you made real progress the other day but now you're back to your old tune of pretending to have nothing to do with Conner."
Clark looked insulted. "Nothing to do with him? I'm trying to think of what's best for him. We can't keep him locked up on the 'Tower, but he can't go back to the Cave while he's still a danger to the other kids. Diana's island seems a good enough place for him for now."
The Batman groaned and smacked the Man of Steel on the back of the head. It hurt the Dark Knight more than it did the Boy Scout, but it was the principle of the thing that really mattered.
"What was that for?"
"You're being an idiot!" Bruce snapped. "Just how thick is that kryptonian skull of yours? What's stopping you from taking the boy?"
"You're kidding, right?" Clark gave him his best 'get real' face. "My apartment is barely big enough for even me and its smack dab in the middle of one of the most technologically dependent cities in the country. TV towers, wi-fi, cell towers, radio… bringing him there would just be asking the bad guys to reach out and grab him."
The Dark Knight was not impressed.
"What? Were you thinking of sending him to the farm?" Clark asked. "My parents would love to have him, sure. But it's a farm, not 1873. They've got a TV of their own and internet and radio. It would be just as possible for him to pick-up the enemy's dissonant cord from there and then he becomes a danger to my parents."
The Dark Knight was still not impressed. He crossed his arms over his chest and attempted to use his bat-glare on the Man of Steel for a third time. It didn't usually take this long to work on him, the Boy Scout usually folded much more quickly than this. There was a prolonged pause. Clark fidgeted. Bruce increased the intensity of his glare. Clark snarled.
"What! What do you want me to say? Yes, I want to help Conner but that doesn't mean that I can turn a blind eye to the danger he presents. Its best if he stays in a place where the enemy can't influence him and with people who'll be able to handle him if they do."
Bruce nodded in agreement.
"On Themyscira with Diana is the best place for him right now."
Bruce smacked him on the back of the head again.
"What!"
"I'm lousing my patience with you." Snarled the Batman. "You're taking Conner to your Fortress. End of discussion."
"You can't just-."
"The whole thing runs off of kryptonian crystal-tech which is not compatible with Earth's technology, everything in the place is a closed circuit. The only part of that place that can give or receive signals from the outside is your control room, which you usually keep locked anyway. I don't see a problem. –Unless you're upset that you won't be able to call it your Fortress of 'Solitude' anymore."
"That's not-"
But the Batman was already reopening the conference room door. He poked his head in just in time to hear the end of a bawdy joke the Flash was telling.
"Diana," he called. "Clark's taking Conner to his Fortress with him. You won't have to worry about a teenage boy running loose on your island after all."
…
Antarctica
Jan. 29 – 8:52 pm
A very awkward feeling Conner, carried by an equally awkward feeling Clark, landed on the icy ledge that formed the 'doorstep' of the Fortress of Solitude.
"Wait here." Ordered the Man of Steel and while Conner did not take kindly to being ordered around, he really had no choice but to comply as his genetic-parent then few off in the direction of another mountaintop leaving the boy locked outside of the Fortress in the snow.
It had taken the Man of Steel three days to 'child proof' (as Bruce put it) the Fortress. In that time, Conner had stayed on Watchtower back in his own room under the red-sun lamp and a careful watch in case he chose to take the task of removing the mole into his own hands and attempt to harm himself. The sedative Clark had asked Bruce to bring from the Fortress had been an invaluable help to that end.
While the red solar radiation from the light fixture nullified the boy's invulnerability, it did not magically turn him human, like his genetic parent his physiology remained kryptonian; and so while it became possible to pierce his skin with needles and dope him with neuroleptics, the League quickly learned that Earth-born tranquilizers intended for human use didn't exactly work on aliens. (Admittedly, common sense should have told them that, but since when has common sense actually ever been 'common'?) That was where the sedative Clark had asked Batman to get for him came in.
It was a little 'night cap' the Man of Steel had designed for himself, not as a sedative but as a relaxant –something to help him sleep after particularly anxious missions. Three drops of the home made cocktail mixed into some apple juice or just dropped directly on the tongue pacified Superman enough to get a healthy amount of sleep for a kryptonian. For Conner, whom was of a smaller height and weight than his genetic-parent and had his invulnerability nullified by red-sun radiation (artificial though it was), one drop was enough to knock him out for hours in sleeps so deep that, were it not for the fact that they could see him breathing, his keepers would have feared that they'd killed him with an over-dose.
The past three days had been like that and now that Conner had been discharged from the Watchtower the only improvement that he could see was that he would no longer have to put up with being weak and vulnerable. No red-sun lamps here!
But a prison was a prison all the same. He couldn't go home because the enemy knew where that was and how to get to him. It was 'unfair' (a word he'd decided meant 'inconvenient' within the context) to keep him on Watchtower, so he had been dumped on his genetic-parent. Two weeks ago if he'd been told he was going to stay with Superman at his Fortress of Solitude, he would have jumped for joy, whooping and hollering with elation. Now he just felt… numb? No, not exactly. Something between numb and despondent. He was coming to live with the Man of Steel (at least until the League –or maybe his Team?) put a stop to whoever was controlling him and while the circumstances that brought this about were anything but 'ideal', Conner thought he should feel more satisfaction in it. Maybe if his genetic-parent would share a conversation with him that lasted longer than two lines? Their communication thus far had been deplorably short.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yes."
End of conversation.
"Are you cold?"
"I don't have my full powers back yet."
End of conversation.
"Wait here."
No response.
End of conversation.
They were a real chatty pair, weren't they. And yet, every now and again, Conner got the odd impression that Superman wanted to say something to him. During the short walk from his suit on the 'Tower to the zetta beam and then later during the long flight from the Hall of Justice in Washington to the Fortress, it seemed almost as if the Man of Steel were about to say something but just… didn't. It was a ridiculous idea, of course. The man had jumped at any and every opportunity to avoid Conner since his first discovery last summer, to think that he suddenly felt the urge to talk now was just pure fantasy. If he did have anything to say to the genomorph, it was probably just to express his displeasure at being saddled with the unwanted clone.
Superman returned promptly with a gold-colored key that was twice the size he was.
"The heck is that!" The boy exclaimed.
"Front door key." To accompany this explanation the Man of Steel thrust the over-sized key into the equally monstrous keyhole and turned. There was the sound of well-maintained gears turning, then a click and the faux-ice door bearing the S-shield swung open.
A huge white dog with a red cape attacked to his collar and an S-shield shaped tag hanging from his collar came bounding out and jumped on the Superman.
"Whoa!" He exclaimed. "Down, boy. Get down! No jumping." Then turning to face Conner. "Krypto, this is Conner, he's gonna be our guest for a while. Conner, this is Krypto."
Not knowing what else to do, the boy extended his hand out to the Super-dog whom sniffed it then looked from between boy and man in abject confusion. Of course, they would smell the same, they were in some respects the same person.
A pair of robots then greeted them from the entranceway, each bearing a shield similar to Superman's on their torso-plates, only instead of the S was a number (numbers five and three to be precise). They spoke a few words in a language that Conner did not understand and he assumed it was either an alien or a computer language since Cadmus had programmed him to be fluent in almost every major language native to Earth.
"English, please, while our guest is here." It had taken him three days to get the rest of the Fortress ready for Conner and in that time he hadn't thought to mention to the robots that they should speak English rather than Kryptonian.
"Good evening, Kal-El." They choired in hollow synthetic voices with just a small hinting at an attempt to mimic an American mid-western accent. "May we be of assistance?"
"Please take Conner's things to his room." Said the Man of Steel and the boy in question handed his travel bag off to the robot sporting the 5-sheild. It disappeared down the corridor and Superman dismissed the second one.
He led Superboy into the Fortress, giving his clone the 'grand tour' himself. Or more accurately, the tour of the areas that hadn't been sealed off from the boy. It went without saying that both the armory and the control room were off limits; Clark had even gone so far as to add a second and third level to the chambers' locks just to make sure. But the rooms containing his Time Telescope, the Mirror of Truth, the baby Sun-Eater he'd rescued had all been sealed off as well. He had also shut and locked his 'shrines' to Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, the Daily Planet and just because it happened to be in the same wing, Batman. (It was a little creepy that he kept shrines to them anyway, some time without them might do him some good.)
The parts of the Fortress that Conner was allowed access to were the grand chamber, containing the space shuttle Columbia, his 'ship building' collection (containing the Lusitania , the Titanic and the Mari Celeste, among others), his life-size chess board (though, he'd removed the wax figures of Perry White, Jimmy, Lois, and Lana Lang; but those of Lex Luthor, Batman, Braniac, etc. stayed) and various other non-lethal souvenirs from his adventures and misadventures. Also, the library, the terrariums of his recreation of the Scarlet Jungles of Krypton, his orchards, his herb gardens and a plot of soil currently resting fallow where he usually liked to grow corn and turnip-greens, his intergalactic 'zoo' (many residents of which are also the last of their kind like himself and Conner) and, of course, the living areas of bedroom, living room, shower and kitchen.
The tour ended in the kitchen. Clark turned to the boy, not really sure what he was supposed to do or say at this point and asked, "Uh, are you hungry."
"No." Conner replied. Then, as an after thought, "Thank you."
There was an awkward silence filled only by the rustle of fabrics as both men shifted their weight, neither sure what to say to the other.
"Listen…" Clark ventured hesitantly. "About what you asked me to do before…"
"Oh! Um…" The boy looked equal parts ashamed and alarmed. "Sorry. I know the League has a rule against killing. I… I promise I won't ask that again."
"That's not what I… Listen, Conner, I understand what-"
"Pardon the interruption." The Man of Steel was cut off by one of his robots, Number Nine to be precise. "But the monitors show a disturbance in Metropolis."
Superman gave a sigh. He thanked the automaton before turning his attention back to the Superboy. "Would you mind if I left? I can ask another member of the League to cover for me if you'd rather I stay."
Conner's eyes widened in shock, but then narrowed rather quickly with wary suspicion. Superman had never offered to stay with him before; he usually jumped at any excuse to get away from the boy. Why was he offering to stay now?
"No…" The boy said. "That sounds like a job for Superman. I'll still be here when you get back."
…
Mount Justice
Jan. 30 – 5:45 pm
Damn, she'd made to much food again. It had been two weeks since Black Canary had taken Conner up to the Watchtower with her and M'gann was still cooking for two. She sighed as she put the remaining half of her dinner away in tupperware containers and stowed them in the fridge. She'd take it to school for lunch tomorrow, no sense letting good food go to waste.
As she was washing dishes, M'gann couldn't help but look up and pass her eyes once again over the empty living room. The blank patch of wall that had been obscured by the Cave's large TV, the empty couch where Conner usually sat… The cushion still held the imprint of his backside; he always sat in the same place.
Black Canary hadn't said why she was taking Conner away, but the martian girl could guess. Uncle J'onn had come to see her several times in the past two weeks to ask her about her mental connections with Conner, how deep she ever went, if she noticed anything strange about his mind, why she never mentioned it to him before now… After witnessing her boyfriend's odd behavior twice and between his being taken away to Watchtower and her Uncle's questions M'gann could guess that the Superboy was under some kind of mind control, that the alleged mind control had something to do with the television and that it was very possible that the League though Conner might be the mole. All of this was just guess work, however. She was no detective, not even the protégé of one.
Still, if it was possible that the League thought that Conner was the mole, the rest of the Team had the right to know. Kaldur's withholding of the mole tip the first time around had done nothing but fracture the Team, she didn't want to go through a round of that a second time.
…
Mount Justice
Feb. 4 – 8:30 am
Batman knew there was something up with the kids the moment he entered the briefing room. It didn't take the World's Greatest Detective to figure it out. All five of them stood shoulder to shoulder in a semi-circle facing him, arms crossed over their chests, feet planted, their mouths set in firm lines, but most notable of all was that not a one of them were in their uniforms. They stood, still in their civies, glaring at the Dark Knight's entrance.
Beneath his mask, Bruce raised one curious eyebrow. He mimicked their stance, planting his feet and crossing his arms over his chest and waited for them to make their statements. He did not use his bat-glare on them, but nonetheless, they each began to fidget to varying degrees at his quiet patience.
"We wanna see Conner!" M'gann blurted out.
The Batman remained silent, but his gaze shifted ever so subtly to his own little bird whom looked uncomfortable as if battling with conflicting loyalties, but there was no plaintiff sheepishness to his body language. He had not been the one to tip the Team off. Which meant that they had figured it out on their own. He was suddenly torn between feeling frustrated and proud.
"Apologies, Batman." Kaldur stepped forward. As Team Leader, the responsibility of spokesman was his. "But Conner is one of us and we worry for him. We ask your permission to visit him. Please be aware that if you refuse this perfectly reasonable request that we are prepared to-"
"We'll strike!" Artemis cut him off.
Aqualad sighed at his comrade's outburst but continued all the same. "We will refuse any and all further missions. If you have a need of a covert team then you will either have to acquiesce to our request or else seek another black-ops outfit. Likewise, we are prepared to abstain from our usual 'sidekick duties with our individual mentors as well. I have already spoken to my king about this and he understands my feelings. I do not know if the others have yet had the opportunity to broach the subject with their respective mentors."
"Yeah, what he said." Wally nodded. "Uncle Barry's totally got my back!"
Miss Martian remained silent, but she gave the slightest of nods to indicate that her uncle was also already aware of the situation. Artemis didn't actually work with Green Arrow as a sidekick and so the threat of a strike wouldn't really affect Ollie to much, but she would still abstain from YJ missions. Hm, it wasn't often that the Dark Knight was the last to hear about things. This certainly set a precedent.
Batman was silent a moment longer. Then his eyes once again fell on his own partner. "Robin?"
"Sorry, Bats." The kid said softly. "But… I wanna see Conner too."
And with that, all five teens joined hands and sank to sit cross-legged on the floor, glaring up at the Dark Knight. It was his move.
Bruce sighed and tried his best to suppress a smile at their willful independence. Kids, they grow up so fast… His voice was its usual gruff baritone when he finally said, "I'm not the one who's permission you need to ask."
…
Metropolis
Feb. 4 – 8:45 am
Clark had decided very quickly that 'commuting' to Metropolis everyday from the Fortress was obnoxiously inconvenient. Every day he would fly from the Arctic to Clark Kent's apartment, change clothes, go to work then repeat the process in reverse at the end of the day. He had just sat down at his desk in the Daily Planet's bull-pin when his JLA comm. buzzed.
Luckily his comm was equipped with a sub-harmonic transmitter that picked up his voice even when Clark spoke at volumes to low for the human ear to hear. It was a nifty little feature that allowed the Man of Steel to answer JLA calls even when he was at work or otherwise surrounded by people. He still glanced around himself to make sure there wasn't anyone in the immediate area of his desk just to make sure before he answered, "This is Superman. Go ahead."
"Why's his voice all weird?" He heard a young female voice that might possibly have been the archer from the kids' Team. Why would Green Arrow's new apprentice be calling him?
"It's the sub-harmonic feature of his comm." Bruce's voice answered her. "He must be at work."
"Superman has a day-job!" And that would be Barry's nephew.
"Superman," Bruce began, ignoring the boy's exclamation. "I have a room full of kids here who have a question for you."
Clark paused a moment longer dreading the types of questions teenagers tended to ask. Then used a bit of logic to decide that whatever it was had to do with Conner and he decided that 'dread' might be a bit to strong of a word, but it still applied. Cautiously he said, "Go ahead."
"We apologize for disturbing you while in your civilian guise, Superman." Aqualad's calm and tempered voice sounded in his ear. "I understand that Superboy is currently staying with you in your Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic. We, the Team and I, respectfully request your permission to visit with him. Today would be ideal. Again I apologize for the short notice."
"The kids wanna have a play-date." Bruce's voice was light with amusement and Clark could almost hear the man struggling not to smile.
The Man of Steel wasn't too keen on the idea of his Fortress being invaded by a squad of teenagers. Living with Conner this past week had been easy enough, he supposed. The boy spent most of his time playing with Krypto, he and the dog got along markably well and when he wasn't with the super-pet Conner kept mostly to himself and tried to stay out of the Superman's way (something that was actually beginning to frustrate Clark as he still was yet to talk to Conner about the revelation his outburst on Watchtower had given him). The boy had just been generally downcast and mopey. As reluctant as Clark was to admit five new people to his sanctuary, maybe they were what his wayward 'son' needed to lift his spirits.
"That sounds alright."
"Great!" And that would be J'onn's niece now squealing in his ear. It hadn't taken him long during his few day stint as 'den mother' in the Cave to figure out that she and Conner were more than just roommates, her ecstatic outburst only reinforced that opinion. "I can get us there in about four hours!"
"Hear that, Uncle Supes?" That would be Robin. "We'll be there just in time for lunch. I want fried tomatoes and some of your homemade cornbread!"
"Now hang on a-"
The call was ended.
…
Fortress of Solitude
Feb. 4 – 1:06 pm
Conner was elated to see his Team. He rushed forward to greet them only to be pounced upon by a four-legged hulk of white fur and a mouth-full of sharp teeth.
"Wolf!" He smiled as the cobra-venom enhanced predator licked his face affectionately. The boy sank to his knees to pet the wolf, patting his head and scratching behind his ears.
Krypto glared at the new canine as if debating on whether or not they could be pack-mates or if the cobra-venom enhanced wolf were an unfriendly encroacher of his territory. When the wolf and the boy had finished their greetings, the Super-god trotted up to the new creature and the two began sniffing each other to become better acquainted.
"He's been pining without you." M'gann said. Conner rose back to his feet and pulled her into tight hug, kissing her on the lips. "And it looks like you pined without me." She whispered when their lips parted again.
"Whoa! Hold it!" Wally zipped between the martian girl and the kryptonian clone. "Hey, Supey, I know you haven't seen us in a while, but kissing like that is not the appropriate way of showing how much you missed us."
Artemis punched him in the shoulder.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"Ya know, for the 'Fastest Boy Alive', you're pretty slow." She grabbed the red-haired speedster by the ear and pulled him away from the rest of the group to explain a few things. It was a little nice to learn that she hadn't been the last to know.
Robin and Kaldur greeted him last. They were dignified and did not hug or jump upon him, but there was much slapping for the shoulders and calling each other 'man' and 'dude'. Clark hung back and watched them, there was a strong sense of comradery between them, it was a little surprising to see in a group of people so young. He waited until they had all finished their hellos and Artemis had finished breaking the harsh news that J'onn's niece wasn't 'his little Megalicious'. It was a little nice to know that he wasn't the last to have learned of his clone's romantic commitments. He stepped forward and cleared his throat for attention.
"Okay, house rules." He announced. "Anywhere that's off limits to Conner is off limits to all of you. I'm sure Bats already explined this to you, but no outside electronics, any cell phones, radios, iPods, or whatever, please leave in Miss Martian's bio-ship. Robin, stay away from my door locks, in fact, hand over your utility-belt and gloves right now. You can have them back when you leave."
Everyone stared in shock as, with much mumbling and grumbling, the Boy Wonder complied with the Superman's request and pulled off his gloves and unclipped his utility-belt. He placed them both in the Man of Steel's outstretched hand.
"Thank you." Clark nodded to the boy. He didn't know how, but the Boy Scout was fairly certain the industrious little bird would have them back on him by the end of the hour, he was a Bat after all. But no sense in worrying about that. He turned his attention to Barry's nephew. "Kid Flash, you have free reign of the kitchen, the 'fridge is fully stocked. Number Ten is already preparing lunch for everyone. Eat whatever you want but stay away from my gardens."
He passed his eyes over Artemis, Aqualad and Miss Martian wondering if he needed to give them any individual stipulations as well. Clark's eyes fell on Conner and M'gann with their arms around each other's waists.
"Lastly, girls and boys are to maintain a distance of no less than five feet from one another."
"What?" The pair choired in unison. J'onn's niece dropped her arm obediently and wriggled out of the clone's grip. Conner looked up and asked, "Why?"
…
Fortress of Solitude
Feb. 4 – 11:45 pm
As the day dragged on, it became apparent to Clark that the children had no intention of leaving until the weekend was over, and so talk turned to possible sleeping arrangements. He had not designed his Fortress with an over abundance of living quarters, intending for it to be a place for him to get away and seek isolation and seclusion (as should have been apparent by its name). He had his own master bedroom, the slightly smaller guest room that Conner was currently occupying and then that was it. He supposed he could make the boys share Conner's room with him an give the girls his room for the night. He could spend the evening in the control room, it wasn't like he needed much sleep anyway.
But then a better, or at least, much more whimsical solution presented itself as he was wandering through the grand chamber (giving the children some space). Clark hovered over his ship collection and noted that most of them had been mostly restored. He wandered through decks examining the staterooms to judge whether or not they were serviceable. After he deemed to be so, he offered the kids a pick of the fleet. There then ensued almost an hour's worth of quoting and parodying the movie Titanic before they calmed back down, chose their respective rooms and settled in for bed.
Confident that he wouldn't have to worry about the children for a minimum of eight hours, the Man of Steel retired to his own room for the night.
Conner waited until he heard Superman's bedroom door shut, counted to one hundred then slunk out of his own room. He crept from the living area to the grand room and snuck onto the aft segment of the Titanic, seeking M'gann's room.
/'M'gann…?'/ He called to her on a psychic thread. Or rather, he thought while he stood outside her door, whether she actually picked it up or not depended entirely on her. He was not a telepath, telepathy was not a kryptonian ability. When she didn't respond he rapped gently on her stateroom door and winced as the sound echoed in his sensitive ears.
/'Who is it?'/ She sent out in that impossibly polite mental voice of hers.
/'Someone who wants to get closer to you than five feet.'/ Conner sent back.
/'Conner!'/ The door opened and she slipped out into the narrow ship's corridor. /'Won't Superman be mad at you?'/
He offered her a wicked mischievous grin and thought, /'What he doesn't know won't hurt him.'/
Wrapping an arm around her waist he pulled her body flush against his and leaned down to kiss her passionately on the lips. She moaned in response, deepening the and reaching up to tangle her hands in his short ebony hair. Conner backed them up into her room, kicking the door shut behind them and steering her towards the bed.
/'Wait!'/ She pulled back for a moment. /'What if we wake up the others?'/
Conner suppressed a grumble of frustration, it had been so long since they had been alone together. He cast his brain around thinking of possible other places within the Fortress that they could go to to be together. One place seemed serviceable enough, but M'gann might not be to thrilled about it. He grabbed her wrist, leading them back out of the room.
/'Follow me.'/
He lead her through the corridors to the terrariums containing the Scarlet Jungle, Superman's orchards, herb gardens and the as-of-yet empty plot of land that Supes said he was leaving 'fallow'. Within the chamber that held this plot, however, was a small wooden barn containing bails of hay. It was to this barn that he led M'gann.
/'What is all this stuff?'/
"Straw." Conner answered aloud. "Superman uses it as padding or feed in his intergalactic zoo." He flopped down on a bale, pulling the martian girl down with him. "Its plenty soft and we're far enough away from everyone else to not be heard."
…
Fortress of Solitude
Feb. 5 – 4:20 am
Clark sat his kitchen table ignoring a half-eaten plate of biscuits and gravy as he struggled over the Daily Planet's crossword puzzle.
12. Across : Man of…
You'd think the answer would be 'steel' –'Man of Steel', right? But the answer was eight letters. No matter what New Age spelling of 'steel' you used you could never stretch it out to eight letters. It was very frustrating. But the worst part was that Clark knew the moment he did get the right answer it would seem so damn obvious he would kick himself in the head for not knowing it. That was what made the Daily Planet's cross words so evil.
5. Down : God of War
Four letters, second letter A. So, it wasn't 'Ares'. If Diana where here she'd be ranting about how the one who make this stupid puzzle didn't know anything. It was as Clark was running through all of Earth's poly-theistic pantheons searching for a war-god who's name fit the criteria that Conner entered the kitchen, yawning but otherwise looking quite pleased with himself. He certainly looked worlds happier than he had seemed this past week. Clark was glad he had allowed the boy's Team to visit; maybe they could come back next weekend too? There was just one thing that was odd about the boy's appearance…
"Were you jumping on my hay bails again?"
The boy paused, looked alarmed for at moment as if he'd been caught in a forbidden act, composed himself and then said with a perfectly strait face, "Yes. Yes, I was."
He opened the 'fridge and withdrew the pitcher of orange juice, lifting the large plastic container to his lips the boy took one large swig from the pitcher's pour-spout before the Superman turned around and reminded him to use a glass. It felt so odd telling the boy to do so and Clark couldn't help but wonder if this were how his parents felt. He also wondered how long it was going to take to get him to start asking 'What, were you raised by wolves?' when correcting his manners at the table. Conner fished a glass from the cupboard and sat down at the table.
This was the first time Conner had not bolted from the room upon realizing that Superman was using it and Clark froze as if afraid the slightest movement from him might frighten the boy off again.
Number Ten paced a fresh plate of biscuits and gravy in front of Conner and the boy attacked his plate with a vigorous passion.
"Hungry are you?" Clark commented, folding his paper and setting the annoying crossword puzzle aside.
"A bit." Conner replied through a mouthful of food.
"Swallow, then talk." He reminded the boy, then reached out to pluck a straw from the boy's hair. "Am I going to find a mess next time I walk into my barn?"
Conner paused again, thought some more, then swallowed and Clark wondered what he'd done that required such careful planning before answering. "I'll clean it up."
They lapsed into silence after that, but it wasn't quite as awkward as some of their previous silences had been. Clark decided that they were making progress and he was glad for it. Not wanting to do anything to disturb this tentative easiness that had formed between them, Clark let the boy eat in peace, returning his attention to the villainous crossword. Bruce had always told him that he would never be able to go up against the Riddler, sometimes these crosswords made the Man of Steel feel like he'd never be able to beat David Bowie's character from Labyrinth, for get the Riddler.
When Conner finished his meal he pushed the plate away and complained over the fact that everyone else was still asleep. He lamented over how annoying it was to only need three to four hours of sleep a day and how abysmally boring things were. At which point Clark said he could help him with the crossword.
"Four letters, 'god of war'."
"Ares." He answered without hesitation.
"Second letter's an A."
"Mars."
"That's a planet." The kid's girlfriend was from Mars, he should know that.
"Its also the name given to the war-god of the Roman pantheon. When Rome invaded Greece…" There then followed a brief history of Greece and Rome which he recited in a monotone with a slight blankness to his eyes and Clark assumed this was his Cadmus programming manifesting.
Still, his answer fit the criteria, so he took his pencil and very lightly wrote in 'Mars'. That placed an R smack dab in the middle of the answer to 'Man of…'.
It was approaching six in the morning when the kids started filling into the kitchen. Robin was the first to rise, not surprising since Bruce had (no doubt) trained him to go on less sleep than a normal boy his own age. Clark was also not surprised to see that he wore his utility-belt slung over his shoulder. Somewhere between confiscating it from the little bird yesterday and this morning he had reclaimed it and the Man of Steel was also rather confident that he'd find little bat-shaped 'bugs' all over the Fortress after the kids left.
The Boy Wonder muttered a groggy 'Good morning' to the Superman before sitting down next to Conner. He looked his friend up and down with still sleepy looking eyes, taking in his wrinkled shirt and PJ pant, and noting that he as covered in bits of hayseed and straw but looked rather chipper to spite his messy attire and said, "You look 'heveled."
That was a new one. Clark took a moment to try and figure out what word Bruce's little bird was amputating this time. Dick's little word game was easy enough to follow so long as you kept your missing prefixes and suffixes strait. The most common prefix that he tended to drop was 'dis', adding 'dis' in front of 'heveled' gave you 'disheveled'. Oh, dear Rao! He was becoming fluent in Robinese! That settled it; he spent way to much time with Bruce and his partner.
"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty 'asterous." Conner smiled, replying in Robinese.
Oh, Rao! The boy was also fluent in the language of Robin. But more importantly, the boy smiled! Clark didn't think he's ever seen the boy actually smile before. There was that tentative, hopeful but vulnerable half-smile he'd given him back in July among the wreckage of Cadmus' surface lab. But that hadn't been a real smile, not something filled with lighthearted good humor like what he was giving Robin right now. Clark was suddenly a little jealous that Bruce's little bird could get his equivalent-son to smile while he could not.
"You might want a shower at some point." Clark suggested and he told himself it was because he was trying to be a 'responsible parent' and not because he was envious of the easy relationship Robin had with the boy.
"Yes, sir." Conner stood.
When he was gone, Robin scooted his chair closer to Clark's. "Bruce told me to give you something after I'd had enough time to observe you and Conner and decide whether or not you deserve it."
A small stone of dread sank into the man's stomach. 'Gifts' from Bats weren't usually very pleasant. "And what is it?" The Boy Wonder smacked the Man of Steel on the back of the head. It didn't hurt, of course, but that wasn't the point. He sighed. "And what was this one for?"
"You and Conner need to try and get to know each other better." And then before Clark could protest he added, "Don't worry, I gave Conner a smack last night while you were MIA. But you two have got to get your act together."
Clark sighed. "Dick, you are definitely you foster-father's son."
The other children filed out of bed slowly, all finding their way to the kitchen. M'gann was last to rise. She entered just as the other kids were finishing up their breakfasts and Clark was getting ready to leave to Metropolis (trusting the Team not to destroy the place while he was gone). The Man of Steel took one look at her, noted her cheerful face and disheveled appearance. She had morphed her clothes into that neat pink and white cardigan set he'd seen her wear most often during his stint as 'den mother', but what she could not morph out of her appearance was the hayseed and straw that covered her and stuck out of her hair at odd angled giving the red tresses an almost 'birds' nest' like look. To spite his Five Feet rule, that little clone of his had gone and taken this young woman out to the barn for a tumble in the hay… literally.
Clark wouldn't say anything to the girl about it, she was not his daughter, his niece or his sidekick, but he was honor bound to make apologies to J'onn for what his clone was doing with the martian's niece. He wasn't quite sure how things were done on Mars, but Clark had been raised 'country', where parents took responsibility for their kids, boys asked a girl's father (or uncle) for permission to date her and if a pair was caught doing something they shouldn't have, weddings were preformed soon after at gun-point (not that the threat of a shotgun really meant anything to them).
Also, he and Conner were going to have a long conversation and he was not going to let the boy avoid him on this.
…