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 Eighteen: Wrap Up

Stately Wayne Manor

April 2 – 9:16 pm

The rest of the League trickled in slowly over the course of the evening.

Some where battered and exhausted, barely able to stay on their feet as they gave the Batman their report of events. Others were still obnoxiously fit and energetic and had the gall to crack jokes with the Dark Knight as he tried to compile a complete picture of the invasion. He would have very much liked to have established their motives for coming to Earth in the first place. Understanding the Apokoliptan's initial reasons would be a key factor in determining whether or not they would be back.

Unfortunately, no motives were made clear by the others' narratives of their battles with the aliens. That left the Caped Crusader to come up with his own theories –and Bruce could come up with some wild theories (to varying degrees of plausibility)!

Then there were the kids. Each and every member of the Team lingered after giving their report to ask how the Superboy was doing. So had Black Canary, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Marvel. Even Red Arrow made a small inquiry as to the boy's condition. The Batman forced himself to remain impassive as he had to tell them that there were no new developments and that his condition had not changed since Superman brought him to the mansion hours earlier. But if they wanted to, they were more than welcome to go up to his room and sit by his bedside. Clark might even appreciate the company; he hadn't left the boy's side since returning from the final battle with Granny Goodness.

The Kid Flash zoomed upstairs the moment the words were out of the Dark Knight's mouth. Robin paused a moment longer, casting a glance at his mentor –silently asking if he was needed for anything else before he too joined the young speedster at their friend's bedside.

"Leave the ring." Was all Bruce said.

The Boy Wonder fished into his belt, withdrew the small lead ring-box and placed it in the Caped Crusader's hand before disappearing out of the cave. The rest of the Team followed –all but Miss Martian.

M'gann hung back.

The Batman fixed her with a questioning gaze and she averted her eyes.

Finally, after a prolonged pause, she asked, "He's not there anymore, is he? I know Uncle J'onn hasn't finished looking at him yet, but… From what he described before –from what I know his condition… There isn't anything of Conner left."

Bruce regarded her for a moment longer, then said, "Kryptonians are a resilient people. He might still recover."

M'gann looked up at him then, her eyes filled with a bitten-sweet mingling of hope and grief. "But he wouldn't be the same. All his programming, his memories, the things that helped make him who he was won't be there anymore. He wouldn't be the same person. He wouldn't be the same man I-" Her voice cracked, but she refused to cry. After a prolonged pause in which her shoulders shook noticeably with the effort to control her emotions, the girl finally said. "Thank you, but I think I'd rather just go lay down for a while. I assume the same room Artemis and I shared last night is still available?"

The Batman nodded. A silent statement, 'Go do what you have to do.'

…

Stately Wayne Manor

April 2 – 9:45 pm

Wolf was curled up at Kon's feet. Clark had taken the second-best position at the boy's side, on the side without a bedside table, right next to the headboard –effectively ensuring that he would be the first thing the boy saw when he woke up. …If he woke up. He had already been asleep longer than the Superman had anticipated.

J'onn stood at the side of the bed, hands placed on Kon's temples, head bowed –assessing the damage to his mind.

When Bruce and J'onn had used the signal on Clark, they said he was only out for five hours. He had lost roughly twenty-four hours worth of memories, but he had only been unconscious for four. So, Clark had expected Kon to be out for a similarly short amount of time. But it had already been six hours now and was approaching a seventh and still the boy did not stir.

Someone, Alfred most likely, had tried to make him more comfortable, removing the boy's battle suit and tucking him under the covers. Kon looked serene in his unconscious state, almost like he was just sleeping. But kryptonians did not need that much sleep (at least, not under a yellow sun they didn't).

The Team was gathered in the room. Well, the Team sans M'gann. That struck Clark as odd, considering that prior to this incident, they had been intimately involved. She had spent the two week that he'd been missing passionately helping Clark try to track Boom Tubes with his instruments at the Fortress, he would have thought that now that Kon was back she'd be plastered to his side. The rest of the Team was here, but she was not.

Dick stood leaning against the wall opposite the foot of the bed. He had changed out of his Robin uniform and into a black and yellow Batman T-shirt, his Superman jammy-bottoms and socks. He had not showered.

In fact, none of the children had showered before stampeding into room –smelling of nervous sweat, blood, munitions residue, and Parademon filth- to inquire after Kon's condition. Following the admission that nothing had changed since Clark had used the melody on him in the first place there was a morose silence. They now all drifted about the room as if at a loss as to what they should say or do.

Wally, still in his Kid Flash uniform sans the mask, paced back and forth at a speed that was slow for him, but still sent soft currents of wind spiraling outward to ruffle everyone's hair.

Artemis was starring listlessly out the window at the dark manor grounds. Every now and again she would cast a glance at the Superboy unconscious on the bed, as if to check if he had miraculously woken up before turning her attention back to the window.

Kaldur absentmindedly ran a finger over the spines of a row of books on a shelf. As if he couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to sit by Kon's beside and read or remain standing and able to move at a moment's notice.

Black Canary had come in to sit with the Team for a while. But then Diana popped in to tell her that Green Arrow was being transferred from Themyscria back to Star City and she had rushed off to be home (at his home) when he arrived.

Red Tornado walked in to inquire after the boy just as Dinah was leaving. After being told that Kon's condition hadn't changed, the android nodded and left. Not having particularly strong or compelling emotions, he saw no further purpose in his remaining in the room. After all, it seemed cluttered with enough bodies as it was.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the Superman, J'onn straitened, his hands returning to his sides. The Martian Manhunter heaved a sigh.

The atmosphere in the room changed instantly, everyone snapping to attention and focusing their eyes on the martian. It must have taken every ounce of will each and every one of them had not to pounce on J'onn with questions of 'So, what's the problem?', 'How is he?', 'Why won't he wake up?' etc. The Martian Manhunter fixed each young hero with a measured gaze, as if decided whether or not he should tell them what he knew. Finally, his eyes fell on the Man of Steel and he said, "Clark, may we talk in the hall?"

The Superman cast a reluctant glance towards the boy on the bed. He did not want to leave Kon's side. If the boy should suddenly wake, Clark wanted to be there. But, J'onn was just in the boy's head, he would not have asked the Superman to leave if he though Kon would wake any time within the next five minuets.

Reluctantly, Clark nodded and stood.

The Team said nothing about being excluded from hearing the latest news about their friend, but the moment the door had closed behind them, Clark heard sound of four roughly human-shaped ears and one fuzzy canine-shaped one being pressed against the wood. To spite the anxiety he was feeling, the Man of Steel could not help but smile at that.

Bruce was striding up the corridor towards them, still in his Batman uniform, sans the cape and cowl.

"I just finished the debriefings." He said.

Clark pounced on him. "What's wrong with him, Bruce!" He snarled. "You said I was only out for five hours, why's he been down for seven? What didn't you tell me before? What did I unknowingly do to him!"

Instead of answering the borderline-hysterical Man of Steel, the Caped Crusader turned his gaze to the Martian Manhunter. "Have you finished your assessment?"

J'onn nodded. "I have."

"Then, will you please answer his questions."

The martian turned to his friend and colleague. Placing a comforting hand on the man's shoulder, J'onn lead with the good news. "His Chalice is undamaged." He said. "So, there is a strong change that he will recover."

"What in the name of Rao's flaming pits is a 'chalice'?" Asked the Superman.

Bruce was tempted to reply with, 'It's a large goblet-shaped cup used for drinking wine.' But decided that now was not the time to be poking fun or stating the obvious. Besides, stating the obvious was Clark's job and he didn't look to be up to it at the moment. So, the Dark Knight remained silent, scathing attempt at humor going unsaid, while J'onn explained.

"Apologies, it's the closest English approximation to what my people call it. It's the Center of a person's being, the part of the psyche that acts as a container for all the core pieces that make up the Self. Conner's Center is undamaged, with enough time I believe he might recover."

Clark heaved a sigh, his whole body noticeably relaxing. "Thank Rao…"

"However," the Martian Manhunter began again.

"No. Don't say 'however'. Don't say 'but'." Clark shook his head. "He's gonna recover. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"Clark, you have to understand; the enemy's mind control was so deeply embedded in his mind that when it was wiped out, everything was wiped out with it." J'onn pressed on anyway. "You were rescued before it could be fully implanted and so it was still on just the surface of your mind when Bruce cleaned it out. As a result, you lost a day's worth of memories. But Conner lost everything. Not just memories of the past months, of the Team, of you- He won't know how to speak, or walk, or feed himself… If he does regain consciousness he'll be like an infant in a teenager's body."

The Man of Steel remained silent. Contemplative. Finally, he said, "I read in one of the Team's case files, there was a mission where they all lost their memories and didn't know each other or that they were Teammates, but M'gann used her powers to restore their memories. Can't you do that with Kon-El?"

J'onn hesitated.

Down the corridor the door to another bedroom opened and M'gann walked out. Her eyes were puffy and rimed with a darker shade of green. She looked like she had been crying. The martian girl walked right up to the three of them and said in a subdued voice, "Its not the same. In Bialya, everyone's memories had been suppressed, but they were still there. All I had to do was reawaken them. But Conner… There's nothing there. Its not suppressed, its gone. He's a blank slate."

"We could…" Again, the Martian Manhunter hesitated. "We could implant information in his mind. Like language and basic skills like how to feed himself and use the bathroom. It… it would be very similar to how Cadmus thought him."

"No!" Clark snarled rather passionately. "No more hypnotic learning. No more programming. I don't want anyone messing with his head ever again. If he's gotta learn that stuff all over again, then he'll learn the old fashioned way same as everyone else."

J'onn nodded his understanding.

M'gann also nodded, but it was more of resignation than anything else. She muttered a soft 'Excuse me.' and disappeared back into her room. A few moments later Clark heard her crying again.

Bruce placed a hand on the Superman's shoulder. "We're all still a bit tense and exhausted." He said. "You and Kon-El can stay here tonight and in the morning I'll help you move the boy."

"Move him?" Clark blinked.

"Well, he's not gonna stay here forever." The Dark Knight replied.

J'onn took that as his cue to leave. This sounded like it was going to be a World's Finest conversation.

"Right." Nodded the Man of Steel as if this had just occurred to him. "I guess I'll take him back to the Fortress. If I put him in the Solar-Matrix maybe he'll recover faster."

The Batman sighed and smacked the Superman up the side of the head.

Clark sighed. "Alright, what did I say wrong this time?"

"Clark, its not sunlight he needs right now." Bruce said in his rarely hears 'bedside manner' voice. "Its not a physical injury he's suffering from, it mental. It won't help him recover any faster to be stuck in that sterile and impersonal healing Matrix of yours. Yeah, he'll need sunlight, but he also needs to hear laughter and voices, to smell bacon frying downstairs or the wind rustling through corn fields, to feel a homemade quilt over him or-"

"You're suggesting I take him to my parents' house."

His friend nodded. "The only reason we didn't send him there before was because he might have been a danger to your parents. Now he's practically a rag-doll. –Sorry, that was insensitive of me. But you know what they say about people in comas, they can still hear when people speak, so its best to talk to them. Well, with all his enhanced kryptonian senses, its better to not only talk to him, but immerse him in a comfortable and wholesome places that he'd want to wake-up to."

"With the sound and smell of bacon frying and wind through the fields…" Clark echoed. "And dogs playing outside in the yard, and cats and cowbells…"

"Exactly." Bruce nodded.

"Okay." Clark leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "But let me take him there alone. I… haven't exactly told them much about Kon-El. When I take him there, it should just be me, I want them to know that he's mine, not the League's. –If that makes any sense."

"I understand. I'll come by the next day to drop off Wolf."

…

Kent Family Farm

April 3 – 10:30 am

Jonathan Kent was tilling the east field when a streak of red cut across the sky over him. He lifted his head just in time to see a man clad in blue and red flying towards the house. So, Clark had come home for a visit. That was good; the Kents hadn't seen their son in several months.

Clark landed by the back porch, where he wouldn't be seen by any possibly existent traffic from the highway. Holding Kon-El in his arms, the Man of Steel took a long breath to steady his nerves. He could fly around the world so fast he could almost turn back time, stave off alien mind-control with nothing more than a nursery rhyme, and save the world over a billion times. But the most terrifying task he ever had to undertake would forever and always be facing his mother.

Martha Kent was bent over, weeding her kitchen garden. She wore a faded pair of coveralls and a bright yellow straw hat with a wide brim. She turned when Clark's shadow fell over the herb bed, her smile making the elderly woman look younger than her years. Then the corners of her mouth turned downwards in a silent question when she saw what her son held.

"Hi, Ma." The Superman flushed plaintively. "I, uh- This is Kon-El. He's kinda my son."

She stood, duster her gardening gloves as she did so. Ma placed her hands reprimandingly on her hips and made a point of not commenting on Clark's use of 'kinda'. Instead, she said, "Well, don't just stand there. Bring him inside."

Martha, with the agility of a much younger woman, practically hopped up the three steps of the porch and opened the door for her son and… grandson, apparently. She dashed past Clark through the living room and led him upstairs to the spare bedroom. Pulling sheets, blankets and pillows from the closet, Ma quickly made the bed.

Kon was laid down, a homemade quilt tucked up around his chin. Clark moved the bed closer to the window where the boy would get the most fresh air and sunlight possible, where he could smell the wind in the fields and hear the animals in the barn.

"We shouldn't have to worry about trying to feed him so long as he gets plenty of sunlight." Clark was saying absentmindedly. "He's just sleeping and not using much energy. I'll make a run between the Cave and my Fortress tonight to pick up his stuff."

"Clark," Ma cut him off, commanding his attention with the kind of quiet calm right before a mid-western storm. "You know your Pa and I have a great deal of patience when it comes to your sometimes downright bizarre adventures, but I do think that this merits a bit more explanation than usual. If its not to much trouble for you, dear."

He nodded. "I'll change and meet you downstairs. I saw Pa in the east field on my way in, I'd like to wait for him before I explain."

…

Watchtower

April 6 – (irrelevant)

Watchtower needed minor repairs, a better security system, and a thorough cleaning. After the Apokoliptan ground forces had rabbited, so too had those still left on the station and thy had left behind every conceivable mess a group or organic life forms could leave –but to spare your fair sensibilities, they shall not be listed. Clean up and repair duties were divided up based on members' abilities and Clark was glad to have been assigned 'exterior hull repair' rather than toilet detail.

Someone had dug handholds along the outer-hull of Watchtower and they needed to be patch. Luckily, none of them had punched clear through to the inner-hull and depressurized the station, but they were still chinks in the stations armor and needed to be repaired –lest some stray bit of space debris made of an amalgamation of kryptonites, infused with yellow fear energy, possessed by evil spirits, set anyone who touched it on fire, and carried a highly contagious alien virus happened to find its way in. It could happen!

Clark welded a patch over the last of the shallow holes (that were just a littler smaller than his own hands). His task finished, the Man of Steel reentered the Watchtower, happy to be done and ready to go home.

Barry and Hal were chatting by the zetta control when Clark entered the bridge. He hadn't heard what tasks they'd been assigned in the post-Apokoliptic clean up but they couldn't have both finished already. One or both of them had to be procrastinating. But, at the moment, Clark didn't care. He just wanted to get back to the farm and check on Kon. Bruce had said that people in comas could still hear voices, so Clark had taken to reading to the boy in the evenings. It had been three days and tonight they were going to start on the third Harry Potter book. Clark figured that was a nice kid-friendly thing to read to someone who was catatonic. Ya know, up until you finished the fourth one, then they got pretty dark. But he was hoping the boy would wake-up before then.

Both Hal and Barry looked up as he approached the zetta control.

"Hey, did you hear what they found when they opened the Cave back up?" Asked the Flash.

He hadn't.

Barry continued without being prompted. "Apparently, while they were locked up, all the Parademons sealed in the Cave tried to eat each other. Bats says that the Apokoliptans probably kept them on half rations so that they'd be more vicious in battle. Guess once they realized they were trapped it didn't take long for that viciousness to turn towards their own kind."

"That's sick." Clark couldn't help but comment.

"I've seen it happen before on other planets." Hal admitted soberly.

"Its happened here on Earth too. There've been some pretty evil sadists in our history." Barry reminded him. Then, to change the subject, "Hey, how's the kid? He doing any better?"

"He hasn't woken-up yet, if that's what you're asking." Clark had to inform him.

"Hey, chin-up." Hal squeezed his shoulder. "You kryptonians are a resilient bunch. He'll bounce back."

"Yeah." Barry agreed. "From what Wally's told me about him, the kid's to stubborn to stay down. You'll see."

…

Daily Planet, Metropolis

April 7 – 9:45 am

"Hey, CK, you awake?" Jimmy snapped his fingers in his colleague's face.

Clark blinked. "Huh? Oh. Sorry, Jimmy. My mind was somewhere else." He sat up strait and pulled his chair closer to the desk. "Did you need something?"

"I was just wondering if you could proof-read this for me. You're the best spell checker in the building, computers included." The red-headed photographer passed a document to him.

Clark looked at the words without fully processing them.

After a prolonged moment Jimmy said, "Jeez, you and Lois both!" He leaned against the desk. "I know why she's in a discombobulated stupor but what's eating you?"

"I… Sorry, Jimmy, it's a personal problem. I'd rather not talk about it." Then as if he had only just head the man, he asked, "Lois is in a stupor? From what?"

"You mean you haven't heard!" Olsen's eyes went wide. "Apparently, Superman has a son! He told Lois himself, I was standing right there and heard the whole thing. So, now she's been dividing her time between trying to figure out the mother's identity and why she's never gotten even so much of a hint about this from the Big Gut before now, and crying her eyes out that he's taken and calling herself an idiot for all the flirting she did over the years… ya know, standard woman break-up stuff. Except, they were never together, so it's weird."

…

Kent Family Farm

April 8 – 2:16 pm

Five days Kon had been unconscious when Dick showed up at he farm one afternoon for a visit. He had explained that the whole Team wanted to come, but Bruce had told them all that it wasn't their place to invite themselves over to his civilian home (one of his civilian homes) where they weren't supposed to know where he lived in the first place. Robin had no right to share details like that.

But Clark was sort of Dick's unofficial pseudo-uncle –sometimes. He had been to the Kent Farm and Clark's apartment in Metropolis numerous times before –usually to complain about Bruce to someone besides Alfred who understood. Today, he came to see Kon. Bearing flowers, balloons and 'Get Well Soon!' cards, he headed up to the spare bedroom.

Someone had changed his pajamas, but aside from that, the Superboy looked much the same as he had back at Wayne Manor.

Dick arranged the cards and flowers he'd brought on the bedside table –careful not to cover a copy of The Prisoner of Azkaban that also rested there. He sat by the boy's bed and talked. He told Kon about the Team –two knew girls had joined, Zatanna (which everyone totally saw coming) and Rocket (but only because her mentor had joined the League). He thought Zatanna kinda liked him, but shush 'cause he wasn't supposed to know about that. Wally and Artemis had started dating, something which had come as a surprise to no one but them. M'gann seemed to be going through either grief or withdrawal… or both. It was a little hard to tell. Green Arrow had apparently proposed to Black Canary and she was making him sweat for her answer (as if it wasn't obvious to everyone else what she'd say). Red Tornado was the same as always –of course.

"…but all of this means nothing to you 'cause you'll have no idea who we are when you wake up." The Robin heaved a sigh. "Anyway, I better get going."

Clark was just on his way in while Dick was on his way out.

"Oh, Dick! Hey."

"Hi, Clark. I was just dropping off some stuff from the Team." The bird-boy heaved a shrug. "I see he's still the same."

"Yes…" The Superman nodded gravely.

"I also saw you've been reading to him. –Or, someone's been reading to him."

"I have."

Dick fidgeted, then ventured, "Listen, I know you're not very good at it –least not as good as Bruce- but have you tried singing?"

"Singing?" Clark blinked in complete and utter confusion.

"Its something Bruce and I were talking about." The Robin explained. "Since all of this seemed to revolve around music… the signal they used to control him, the canon you used to wipe his programming, all that 'natural melody' crap, maybe a melody would bring him back too. Something in-tune with his 'natural melody'. I'm not saying it'll work but it might be worth a try. After all," he glanced back at Kon unconscious on the bed, "its not like it can make things any worse."

Clark thought about that for a while after Dick left. Really, what could it hurt?

That evening, instead of reading to Kon, he hummed. He did not sing. Clark could carry a tune like it was nobody's business, a talent derived from his flawless hearing. But he had a very unpleasant singing voice. In fact, it was so bad, that one Christmas the entire Daily Planet staff had forced him to sign a contract agreeing to never sing at their office holiday parties –ever! But, he could carry a tune, so that was what he did. He hummed.

It didn't work that night.

Nor the night after that.

But the third night he tried…

…

Kent Family Farm

April 11 – 9:32 pm

He had been aware of things around him for some time. A warmth on his face that came and went in regular intervals, the sounds of creatures somewhere near him, but not next to him, a voice making patterned sounds… The voice also came and went at regular intervals. With the fading of the heat and coming of cooler time, the voice would appear next to him and make sounds for most of the cooler time until warmth would begin to return and the voice would leave.

Recently, however, the voice had changed its pattern. Instead of making its usual sounds it began a new sound. Also a sound with pattern, but more rhythmic. It was pleasant and inviting and he wanted to follow that sound. For three intervals he listened to the new sound until, at the close of the third interval when he felt the cooler time begin to end and the warmth return, he decided that he did not want to new sound to go. He followed it, chasing that new but pleasant pattern.

…and he opened his eye.

Another creature leaned over him. Its face holding a look of… he did not have a name for it yet. He understood face. And he understood the look. But he did not have a name for the look. It was what he felt when he had first heard the new pattern of sound. Pleasant. Surprise. The creature blinked at him, the covers of its eyes closing and opening again very quickly.

"Kon!" Its mouth moved and sound came out. But it was not the pattern he had wanted. "You're awake!"

He did not know what these sounds meant and so he only stared at the creature whom suddenly wrapped two thick limbs around him. As the creature pulled away, he noticed that their limbs ended in the same digited appendages. Acting on nothing more than impulse he closed his digits around the other creature's and brought the appendage closer to his own face to study them together.

The other creature's appendage was larger than his, but only slightly, with longer digits. But the shape was the same, even the lines on them were the same. He looked back at the creature's face in wonderment. Reaching out with his other appendage he felt the creature's eyes and the spaces around them, the strait part that came down between them and ended above the mouth, the mouth and the bottom of the face with a cleft in it. Then he felt his own face to compare. Also, nearly the same.

The creature was like him.

That was probably why he had liked the sounds and patterns it had made.

"Kon-El, do you know me?" It made more sounds, but the pattern was unfamiliar and he did not understand. "J'onn said you wouldn't know anything, but I thought maybe…?"

While the creature was making plenty of sounds, none of them were the pattern he had wanted. He lost interest in the creature and turned his attention to the rest of his surroundings. He was in a nest of some sort, sandwiched between two soft pieces of nesting material. He liked the feel of them and the bright colors they had. Like a… well, he didn't have a name for it either. Like when your eyes made patterns when your eyes were closed.

The nest was pressed against the side of a… a solid surface that stretched up until it connected to another solid surface. There were six of them I all, four around them one above and the other below. The one his nest was pressed against had a hole cut into it. It was through this hole that he heard the other creatures making sounds. He looked down, noted that it was much farther down on the other side of the hole than it was inside and shifted his gaze up.

It was dark up. Sort of a soft darkness, like the inside of his eyelids only different. If he looked off into the distance (without looking down) he saw the darkness growing lighter and as the light grew the warmth returned. So, the warmer time and the light were the same thing.

"Kon, look at me." The other creature was making sounds again. But he continued to stare at the light growing in the distance, chasing the darkness out of the above, making pretty colors with the everything, and bringing with it the warmer time. He liked that light. There was something… energizing about it. "Kon-El."

The other creature placed an appendage on his face and gently turned him back to look at it. He whined in protest. He wanted to watch the light grow. If the creature wasn't going to make the sound with the pattern he liked then he wasn't interested in paying attention to it.

"Look, Kon, I know its probably pointless so soon, J'onn said you wouldn't understand language. But I've been reading to you this whole time, do you… can you understand just a little of what I'm saying? Kon-El?"

He didn't know what the creature wanted from him, but he kept repeating that one sound, 'Kon'. Maybe if he tired to emulate it the creature would leave him alone until he was ready to make the sound with the pattern he liked again.

"K-ko." He tried.

The creature's eyes brightened noticeably. He liked that look on the creature's face, it made him feel good –though, he did not have a name for the feeling. "Kon, do you understand!"

He had gotten the sound wrong. He tired again, "Ko." No, that didn't sound right either. "Kon."

That was it!

"Kon!" He said again, with more confidence this time. "Kon. Kon. Kon."

"Yes, that's right!" The creature wrapped its limbs around him again. "You're Kon-El. You are Conner Kon-El Kent, and I am your Pa."

…

END

(A/N: Well, END except for an epilogue. Yes, RenkonNairu is actually doing an epilogue for onece.)