Ch16
…Fortress of Solitude
After Superman had found Superboy and stabbed him he took him to the fortress to heal in the sun chamber which he sometimes used when he was badly hurt. The problem was that he wasn't waking up. Superboy had spent 3 days in the chamber and he wasn't that badly hurt so he ran a full body scan on him and found that his cells where degenerate he and his super-robots tried to find a quick solution.
The only solution being, Superman's blood.
Superboy was inside a tube filled with blue water mask on and in shorts.
"Call me if he wakes up." Superman says to his robot.
"Of course Kal-El." It says.
Superman leaves.
/Dream
Conner was in a dark place.
"Hello?" Conner calls out and it echoes back. "creepy." He whispers and it echoes back. "ok creepier." He says.
It starts to clear up slowly, bright sun light, he looks down at the grass he was kinda close to it, he looks at his hands they were small, he looks at himself he was small about 5 years old.
"Conner." Somebody yells out.
He looks up everything was clear now, he's at the park, kids playing, teenagers talking to each other, dogs running around, couples walking together holding hands.
"Hey." Clark walks up to him, he was wearing causal clothes, jeans and t-shirt.
"Clark?" Conner says he looked like a giant from where he was standing. Had he shrunk?
Clark bends down to pick him up. "Clark? What happened to Dad?"
Conner looks at him stunned. Clark kisses his forehead. "Come one, we put the picnic up already."
They walk over to the picnic, a blanket on top of the grass, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the plates with some mini milk bottles. He sets Conner down and they sit down to eat.
"After this can we play?" Conner asks him.
"Yeah, I brought gloves and-" Clark looks around looking from them. "I left them at the car." He says to him and stands. "You stay right here, I'll be ok."
"Ok." Conner says and continues to eat, he walks off.
"Hello Superboy."
He turns around and looks up. "What are you doing here?"
"You belong to me." Lex Luthor says to him, Conner stands up and runs off. "You can't run away! You are a Luthor! It's time you act like it!"
Conner ran past people as he gets older the longer he runs and ran past trees and ran into some kinda of forest he stopped now as a 16 years old he looks at himself wearing his S shirt and cargo jeans he was panting then he hears a stick crack and he hid behind a tree and tried not to breath.
"You've been a bad weapon Superboy." Klarion say.
"How about we reprogram it to be a better weapon." Ra's al Ghul says.
"I know my life would be much easier if we just put it out of its misery." Luthor says.
"I'm not…I'm not a-" Conner stammers a little.
"Weapon?" Ra's al Ghul says appear besides him.
"AH!" Conner screams out and backs off.
"But that's what you are." Vandal Savage says to him appear behind him.
"And I'd love teach it how to kill." Klarion says holding Teekl in his hands.
"But maybe Luthor's right." Vandal says looking at him. "Maybe we should put it out of its misery."
Conner looks at them as they come closer to him. "NO!" he yells out and runs off as they laugh.
Conner runs past trees it was getting darker and darker, he stops and looks around panting.
"Oh pretty weapon? Where did you go?" Klarion calls out.
Conner closes his eyes and runs. Not seeing where he was going he falls into some water he swims up and takes a deep breath.
"Pathetic." Luthor says out of nowhere.
"Stop! Go away!"
"But that's the thing Kon-El, I'm never going away. You are a part of me and always will be no matter how hard you try, you are my son."
"A weapon." Vandal says.
"A killer." Ra's al Ghul says.
"A monster." Kalrion laughs.
"NOOO!"
/
Superboy wakes up his eyes bright red the tube breaks down the water falls down the fortress's floor the glass is floating in the air, the robots look at him and Superboy stands walking on the floor one of the robots walks up to him.
"Kal-el will be here soon please-"
Superboy throws the robot to the ceiling pinning him down with the glass and continues to walk. The other robots walk over to him.
"That was unacceptable-" a robot says.
Superboy simply disassembled it along with the other ones in the room and teleports out.
…Mount Justice
"Hello?" Kaldur answers him com in his ear.
They were all training, fighting between each other in the briefing room, the light below them the computer taking up scores.
Artemis vs Dick. Roy vs Zatanna. Wally stood by as Kaldur answered his com.
"What's wrong?" Artemis asks as she blocks a kick form Dick, Wally shrugs.
"What sort of emergency?" Kaldur looked unhappy. "No, we haven't." he says. "Thank you, we'll let you know." He says and looks at the team. They had all stopped training.
"What is it?" Roy asks him.
"It's Conner. He's awake." Kaldur says to them, they all look surprised. "He beat the super-robots and disappeared out of the fortress. No one knows where he is."
"whoa." They whisper.
"What do we do?" Zatanna asks him.
"Well, we have to find him. He's part of our team." Kaldur says to her.
"He's Conner, if he doesn't want to be found-" Dick starts.
"Maybe he went back to Luthor's." Roy says, interrupting Dick.
"Or Gotham, that's where he went last time." Wally suggests.
"Or maybe-" Dick starts again.
"He could have gone after Luthor, since he tried to kill him last time." Artemis suggests.
"We should split up." Kaldur says to them. "Do not engage this is strictly recon." They start to walk off.
"HEY!" Dick yells out, they turn to look at him. "Are we seriously going to after him? He ditched us, three times."
"He's our brother." Wally says to him.
"And our friend." Artemis says to him.
"If you do not want to come, you do not have to." Kaldur says to him.
"I'll go get Megan." Zatanna says and takes off.
…Watchtower
"Batman?" Superman says as he flies in to him in the zeta tubes.
"I can't find him." Batman says to him as he continues to type on the computer.
"Did you check the Luthor mansions, building, penthouses or-"
"Clark, we're checking." Wonder woman says to him.
"What happen?" Flash asks as he runs in.
"Something good I hope?" Green lantern says smiling.
"Superboy woke up." Superman says to him.
"That's good." Flash says smiling Superman, Wonder woman and Batman all look at him. "Not good?" he asks.
"We don't know where he is, he took off as soon as he woke up." Superman says to him.
"He also destroyed most of the super-robots." Wonder woman says to them.
"Then that begs the question, what are we supposed to do when we do find him?" Green lantern asks them. "Send him off to Belle Reve, he knows who we are. Literally, he knows us pretty well."
"We have no idea where he is." Flash states the obvious.
"We don't know what he's thinking, what he's feeling-" Wonder woman says.
"He could be terrified." Superman says agreeing with her. "Maybe he doesn't even remember. Or maybe he does and he's sorry and he's alone hiding somewhere." Superman says then has a thought. "Alone."
"What?" Batman asks him.
"I'll be right back." Superman says and takes off.
…Moon
"Kon?" Superman asks as he sees Kon sitting down looking into space, with the Earth behind him. He lands down in front of him.
"I can hear….breathing." Kon says to him as he stays still, closed eyes. "I can hear hearts beating…blood rushing through veins…teeth grinding together… I can practically hear thoughts. I hear people laughing…screaming…crying…dying and the wind, and rain and animals hunting and trees breaking…so much noise down there. There isn't anywhere I can go." Superman stood looking at him. "I remember sleeping, everything was so quiet. And everyone talks so sweetly and softly, it was nice, it was…peaceful." He says calmly with a small smile. "Not like here." His smile turns to a frown his voice now with venom. "Here people yell at you or hurt you or use you think you're an idiot or crazy and let you down." He says as tears start coming down his face. "I've never hated anyone or anything in my life. But I hate this world. I hate it."
Kal gets down and hugs him. "You and me both kid." he says to him
"I'm so sorry, I think…I hurt people."
"Don't worry, we'll fix it."
"I'm so tired."
"I know."
"Can I rest now?" Kon asks him. "Kal?" he asks him. "Can I rest?" he asks him again.
"Yes, let's rest." Kal says to him.
…S.T.A.R lab
"Stop!" Kon-El yells out opening his eyes heat vision coming out of them he quickly closes them covering his eyes. He had woken up in midair with bright yellow light machine-now broken, in his face the hospital blanket falling down he was in his boxers and wires where sticking to him connected to machines monitoring him beeping.
"Ah destruction of S.T.A.R. Labs property, that means my favorite patient must be awake." A woman in a doctor coat, black hair, glasses, and black eyes says as she looks up at him, some of the yellow light broken machine on the floor and the bed along with the ceilings debris.
"I'm sorry." Conner says as he flies down and looks around. "Um, where I'm I exactly?" he looks at the doctor. "Doctor-?"
"Dr. Cale and you're in Metropolis." She says to him.
"Right." Conner says as he takes off the wires that were sticking on his skin. "Sorry about that." He says to her as he points to the ceiling.
"Don't be. At least you're not a Green lantern. One of them has a nightmare, we have to evacuate the whole ward." Dr. Cale says to him she says with a small smile. "That said, if you want to talk about the dreams-"
"Can I go home?" he interrupts her as he dusts off the bed.
"If I said not for one more day I sincerely doubt you'd listen." Dr. Cale says to him.
"I'm I sick?" he asks her as he gets back up on the bed.
Dr. Cale looks at him, he was worried. "Your molecular structure has healed and there is no more damage in your cells as far as we can tell. The yellow sunlight therapy worked like a charm. Much more quickly than it ever has on-"
"Superman?" Kon finishes her sentence.
"Yes." She nods with a smile. "Might be because you're so young."
"Did you call him?"
"Yes I did he should be here-" she starts and her hair gets blown a little in her face.
"Kon!" Superman yells out and hugs him, Kon hugs him back.
"now." Dr. Cale says as Superman had appeared, Kon looked so small next to Kal-El. "I'll leave you two alone." She says and leaves.
"I was so worried." Kal says to him.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm just glad you're alright." He says as he continues to hug him.
Kon pulls away from him. "Kal what happen?"
Kal looks at him. "You don't remember?"
"Bits and pieces. I remember a mission going to Russia and I remember fighting with you but I don't remember why or what happen afterwards and I think I hurt people and-"
"Kon, it's going to be ok."
…Mount Justice
"I actually don't remember all that much about the last month or so. Kal tells me that I wasn't nice." Conner says to the entire Team.
"Nice?" Roy asks him.
"You tried to kill us." Artemis says to him.
"And Batman." Dick says to him.
"And Superman." Zatanna adds.
"Yeah, I don't remember that. I'm really sorry." Conner says to them, they look at him. "I'll make it up to you guys."
"Yeah ok." Megan says really quickly and hugs him, he hugs her back.
"I didn't like this new Conner anyway." Wally says and hugs him.
"Yeah, I want my brother back." Roy says to him.
"Alright so." Conner says. "I'm sorry."
"You said that already." Artemis says to him.
"You can't take it back. It happened let's all agree to stop whining about it." Wally tells them.
"Ok." Conner says.
"He's back." Roy says as he rolls his eyes.
"Thank god." Dick mumbles.
"So who what's to go to the beach?!" Zatanna yells out smiling.
"ME!" Artemis yells out.
"ME TOO!" Wally yells out.
"Oh Yes! Yes, yes!" Megan says exited.
"Egnahc sehtolc otni ruo gnihtab stius!" Zatanna yells out Change clothes into our bathing suits! With a poof of smoke surrounds them and they get dressed up in their swim suits.
"Let's go!" Wally yells out and they all run out to the beach.
…
"That's it, you are officially back on duty." Batman says to Conner as he sat on a table in the middle of the briefing room.
Roy and Conner smiles, Wally giggles.
"What?" Dick asks them.
"He said duty." Conner says simply, Roy and Wally chuckle a little bit louder.
"Yeah, he's back." Artemis says rolling her eyes.
"So-" Conner starts and jumps off the table. "How's Mike?"
"He's fine, he's still in the hospital, physical therapy." Kal says to him.
"But he's ok?"
"He will be."
"So can I go check on him?"
"Yeah, go he's your friend." Kal says to him, smiling.
"Ok, I'll see you guys later."
"Conner wait." Batman calls out to him.
Conner turns to him. "Yeah?"
"Why Mike?" Batman asks him.
"Well…it's kinda my fault that he's hurt I mean he is my friend-" Conner says to him, not answering his question.
"No not that, why do you think they went after him when anyone of the Team would have done."
The team turns to him, he had a valid question, why not Robin, Kid Flash, Red Arrow or anyone else that was closer to him.
"I'm not sure, I did overhear Psimon saying that I had a connection with him." Conner guesses.
"What kinda connection?" Megan asks him.
"I dunno." Conner shrugs. "Might have something to do with us having sex."
They look at him shocked, mouth open, eyes wide and speechless. Conner looks at them raising an eyebrow.
"Wha?" Roy manages to ask.
"Well it's just a guess." Conner says not knowing the problem.
"He's a guy…right?" Dick asks not sure.
"Yeah, Mike tends to be a guy's name." Conner answers him.
"So…you had sex…with a…" Kal stammers a little not being able to finishing his sentence.
"Mike." Conner finishes his sentence for him, Kal flinches.
"Who is a guy?" Artemis asks him confused.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" Wally asks him stupidly.
"That we had sex?" Conner asks him. "Yeah 100 percent sure."
"So? You and Mike had…" Zatanna starts then stops to think.
"So what you're saying is you had sex with Mike?" Artemis asks him fully.
"Yes."
"Really?" Roy asks him.
"Yes." Conner says a little annoyed. "Is that a problem?"
"No." they all said in a chorus except Superman who was stunned.
"Not at all." Zatanna says to him.
"Fine by me." Dick says to him.
"Whatever you want." Wally says to him.
"I'm good." Artemis says to him.
"As long as you're happy." Kaldur says him.
"It's cool." Roy says to him.
"Why?" Kal asks him still shocked.
"I was curious."
"Ok, so it was just the one time?" Kal asks him.
Conner smiles a little and his cheeks turn a little pink. "Not all."
"oh, bad image." Roy whispers shaking his head a little.
"Right there with ya buddy." Wally says rubbing his temples.
"Well look at you stud." Artemis says to him going over to him punching him slightly on the arm smiling. "Was he better than me?" she asks him serious.
Conner smiles at her. "Are you kidding? Nobody can compare you."
"Good answer." She says to him.
"Should I be jealous?" Wally whispers to Dick, Dick shakes his head.
"So how was it?" Zatanna asks him walking over to him.
"You know I would love to talk about this some more, but I should go to the hospital before visiting hours are over." Conner says to them.
"Yeah alright." Zatanna says to him.
"But we really want to know how it was, everything ok." Artemis says to him.
"Got it, from start to finish." Conner says to them and starts to walk away.
"I'll go with you." Kal says to him.
"What?" Conner looks at him confused, everyone else looks at him also confused.
"Well, I mean if you're going to be spending time with him, if you care about him, I should meet him."
"You didn't get to know Wendy."
"Yes I did."
"What color was her hair?"
"It was…" Kal starts then stops realizing he'd never actually met her. "blonde?"
"Bad guess." Conner says to him smirking. "Look nothing is gonna happen, he made that very clear last time we saw each other. He wants a relationship, I don't."
"Aw he wants a relationship." Zatanna says smiling then stops smiling when Conner looks at her. "But you don't, I see the problem."
"I'm gonna go to the hospital, and you are gonna stay. I'll be back later. Try not to miss my too much." Conner says to them and teleports out.
"I refuse to believe he's your clone." Roy says as he walks away to the living room.
"I'll take that bet." Wally says as he follows him.
"Oh my god! It is so cool, I'm gonna ask him so many dirty things." Artemis says smiling.
"We should write a list." Zatanna suggest.
"Yes, a list, number one, pitcher or catcher?" Artemis says smiling, Zatanna giggles and they go to the living room, followed by Dick and Kaldur.
"You can't ask him that." Dick says to him.
"Sure I can." Artemis says.
"Should I be worried?" Kal asks Batman.
"No." Batman says to him.
"Yeah, that was convincing."
…Hospital
Mike was having trouble as he walked through the bars with a brace on his right leg, physical therapy was a bitch.
"Breathe."
"Relax."
"Don't overdo it."
"One step at a time."
The chorus of the woman's instructions, given with worry and anxiety, went unheard by Mike as he too small steps forward, both shivering hands clutching tightly on the wooden railings by his sides. Taking deep breath, he lean his weight on the damaged leg and he keeps going over and over the road. His hair, forehead, chest, arms wet from sweating.
"Good work today." She says to him as she gives him a towel to dry himself.
"I can go again." Mike says to her.
"No that's enough." She says to him, giving him a water bottle. "If you over do it, you'll undo all your hard work."
"If I listened to people like you, I'd still be in bed." Mike says smirking.
"Points for stubbornness." Conner says as he sees him.
Mike turns to him surprised to see him. "Yeah." He says as he looks at him.
"Friend?" the woman asks him.
"Yeah."
"Alright take it easy." She says to him as she pats him in the back and leaves.
"Hurts?" Conner asks him as he walks over to him.
Mike grabs some crunches and walks over to a bench. "Like you wouldn't believe but I've learned to push through the pain." He says he sits down.
Conner goes over to sit next to him. "What about swimming?"
"I swim when I can, season doesn't start until late October so I'll be in shape by then."
Conner looks down at his right leg and touches it slightly. "Nasty scar." He says to him.
Mike pulls away. "Yeah."
Conner looks up at him. "Sorry, I didn't come visit."
"Right." He says not looking at him.
"I was having some family issues." Conner says hesitantly.
"Really? What happen?" he says a little more interested.
"I got in a fight with them it got majorly ugly."
"And you ran away." Mike says to him.
Conner gives him a small smile and Mike looks at him. "My family has very strong ideas of what I should be, how I should act. And I had had just enough." He says to him. "I'm sorry I bailed on you."
"Yeah?" Mike asks him, looking at him.
"I'll be here for you. For anything. I'll join the swim team if you want me too."
Mike smiles then suppresses it. "Yeah, ok, that would be a start."
"A start? I have to do more? I regret it already."
"You should talk to Wendy."
Conner hisses. "Is she angry?"
"No, I think she passed angry and went straight to pissed off."
"She'll be next on the list."
"Who was first?"
"You."
"Seriously?"
"We'll my family but yeah, you."
"Ok." Mike says and looks at him, Conner looks back and smiles. Mike looks at him the first time in about a month, he really wanted to hug him, kiss him and…"Well, I gotta shower." He says standing up getting his crunches.
"You're not gonna make me help you are ya?"
"Just get me up to my room."
"Ok, but I'm not giving you a sponge bath." Conner says to him.
"Sure, gotta draw a line somewhere." Mike shrugs.
…Mount Justice
"Hey, Conner, movie time." Wally says to him, followed by Artemis, Zatanna and Wally.
"As much fun as that sounds, I have a ton of school work that I need to catch up on, so I'm gonna be at the library all night." Conner says to them as he walks off with his backpack.
"Conner, look, we just want you to know that if you need to talk at all, we're here." Zatanna says to him.
"I know that. I'm okay." Conner says to them.
"Really?" Megan asks him. "Cause you haven't spent like five minutes in the same room with us since you got back."
"I'm sorry." Conner says to her. "It's just there's some things, that I need, and I sort of need to find them for myself, you know?"
"Soul-searching?" Zatanna asks him. "Cause I can do that for you, spell soul-search it's really easy."
"No thanks." He says quickly, then smiles nervously. "No offence."
"None taken."
"So soul searching?" Artemis asks.
"Definitely... searching, yeah but I'm okay, don't worry about me." Conner says as he walks off. "Bye." he says and teleports out.
"What are we going to do with him?" Roy asks.
"I don't know." Wally sighs.
"We leave him alone and wait until he comes to us." Zatanna says to them.
…Happy Harbor High school
They whole about 10 students in class were on the floor the desks piled up behind them with Marvin reading up in the front. Karen was leaning on Mal as he whispered something in her ear, she smiles slightly. Conner was leaning on a desk as Wendy casually put her head on his shoulder listening. Megan sees this and moves over a little to lean on Conner's other shoulder, Mike looks at them and back at Marvin reading. Philosophy teacher Finn, brown hair, brown eyes average height and weight.
"And they built their gods a brazen pillar high as the sky. Yet reserved a thousand chariots of full force." Marvin says.
"Mal?" Karen whispers.
"Yeah?" Mal answer back.
"I've got one word for you Dance."
"Karen, would you like to be my date for the Dance on Friday?"
"Never accept a date for Friday on a Thursday afternoon." She says to him, he rolls his eyes.
"With their fires and their glories and the rest, Love is best." Marvin says. "The End." He sighs and goes to sit down.
"What does this poem mean to anyone of you?" the teacher asks them, nobody says anything. He looks over at Conner who was holding Wendy's hand, while Megan clung to Conner's arm. "Conner?"
"Yeah?" Conner looks up at him.
"Had a crush lately?"
"Ahhhh…maybe."
"Ok, well, what poem-no what song, makes you feel."
Conner thinks. "Break your heart." He says to him.
"Never heard it, let's hear it." the teacher says to him, Conner looks up at him. "You don't have to sing it, just recite it. Go on."
"OK." Conner says and thinks of the lyrics. "If you fall for me, I'm not easy to please, I'm gonna tear you apart, Told you from the start, baby from the start-"
"I'm only gonna break break ya break break ya heart." Mal starts singing, they look at him. "What? It's a good song."
"These words comfort us because we personalize them. Now, let's personalize Browning." The teacher says to them. "Anyone?"
"Maybe what Browning is saying is even the strongest armies and empires can be wiped out." Mike says to them and pauses. "No one can stop people from falling in love."
"Spoken like a hopeless romantic." The teacher says, the bell rings. "Alright! Clean this mess up before you leave." He says pointing to the desks, they gets up and start cleaning up.
"So Conner, do you have a date?" Wendy asks him, Megan looks over at her.
"Nope, I'm going solo." Conner says to her as he gets a desk and puts it down.
"Well I could go with you." She says to him.
"What about Marvin?" he asks looking over at Marvin putting a desk down.
"He's not going."
"Why not?"
"I don't know, I didn't ask."
"Why don't you go ask him?"
"I'm asking you." Wendy says to him.
"Well…"
"I have this really great yellow dress that I know you'll love."
Conner looks at her. "Wendy. I don't think that's a good idea."
"As I recall, you owe me." she says smiling at him.
Conner looks at her and smiles. "Ok, but can I meet you there?"
"Sure be there at 7:30."
"Am?"
"Ha,ha." Wendy says to him and grabs his hand. "We need to go shopping, get you a suit."
"Aw man, a suit? Do I have to?" Conner asks as she pulls him away.
"Yes! With a hat."
"Oh good god."
…
"Good morning." Conner says as he carries his books passing people. "Excuse me." he says as he almost bumps into some one. "Sorry." He says to another person.
"Conner!" Megan yells out as she tries to catch up to him.
"Hey, Meg, can't stop. Busy." He says as he continues to walk off, Megan behind him following him.
"Conner, ready for practice this afternoon?" Mike asks him as the continue walking.
"Practice?"
"Swim team, you joined remember."
"Yeah! I am totally ready! To kick your ass, in the pool." Conner says to him, Mike looks at him. "I'll be ready with better insults."
"Ok. The coach in psych to meet you." Mike says to him smiling and walks off. "It's a 5 don't be late!"
"Mr. Kent, the environmental action club thanks you for organizing the clean-up of Happy Harbor Park." A girl in a hippie dress says as she gives him a folder.
"No big. It will be beyond spotless." Conner says to her as he continues to walk off, Megan still behind him, as hippie chick walks off.
"Conner! A word, please, Conner." A girl in glasses and a preppy outfit says giving him a folder. "As chair of the committee for the next dance as well as the President, are we on track?" she asks him.
"Tell Wendy that I promise this dance will rock out!" Conner says to her smiling and preppy chick walks away.
"Conner don't you think you're taking on too much for your first week back at school?" Megan asks him.
"No way I have total-complete control over everything." Conner says as he doesn't notice a door open and runs right into it, he falls down, books, folder and his pride all over the floor. People start laughing and pointing.
"Total, complete huh?" Megan asks him as she looks down at him, he sighs.
…
"Maybe you should cut back on the extracurricular activities." Megan says to him as they walk out of class.
"Don't have to. I can do it all." Conner says confidently.
"I know, it's just, with the dance, swimming, everything else, don't you think you're-what's the word I'm looking for?"
"Overdoing?" Zatanna says as she over hears the conversation. "Going overboard? Overloading? Stretching yourself to thin? Bite off more than you can chew?"
"Exactly." Megan says to him.
"Really? I thought it was just guilt." Conner says honestly, he knew why he was doing everything, he was trying to make everyone like him again.
"That too." Zatanna says smiling. "By the way, the man that likes bats called, we gotta go."
"What now? I can't I have-damn it." he says as he walks and grabs them teleporting to the cave.
…Mount Justice
"Ok, let's go really quick, cause I gotta go to the swim team in an hour." Conner says to them.
"Conner, the Team comes first." Batman says looking at him.
"I didn't mean it like that." Conner says to him. "But seriously, this better be global."
"I found out where the witness is being held, 355 Montgomery, between Fifth and Sixth." Batman says to him.
"Should I know what's he's talking about." Conner whispers, hesitantly.
"The Mayor." Zatanna says to him.
"Got it, of New…Hampshire?"
"New Mexico." Megan corrects him.
"I knew that."
"My source confirmed the hit's going down today, so you've gotta get over there." Batman says to them.
"So you don't need us all?" Conner says smiling.
"Conner you're the one with the bullet proof skin we need you there." Megan says to him.
"Can't we just you know, prepare ourselves mentally for the task at hand."
Batman looks at him glaring. "Rescuing this witness and keeping him alive to testify tomorrow is the only chance we have of bringing down Mayor Parker once and for all."
"I know that." Conner says glaring back. "But you know what else, time zone difference 2 hours. It's not even dark out so nothing will be going down for a least 2 hours, I'll get him myself if you want me too. But right now I've got swimming practice."
"Glad to see your stubbornness is still intact." Batman says to him.
"It's a genetic thing." Conner shrugs and teleports out.
"What should we do?" Robin asks him.
"Conner's kinda right though, it's like 2 pm over there." Zatanna says to him.
Batman looks at her.
"We'll go in the bioship." Megan says to him.
"Good idea." Batman says to her.
Happy Harbor high school…pool
"Conner!" Mike yells out as Conner runs in from the locker room taking off his towel and tossing it to a bench. "Your-" he starts, Conner was wearing tight black swim jammers with a red strip on the side. "…late." He says as he sees him, he had forgotten when he looked like. Muscular, tan, abs, chest, arms, legs. He also forgot to breath.
"What's wrong?" Conner asks him a little worried.
"Fine." Mike manages to say, Conner smiles.
"Shepard what are you doing?" The coach says to him walking over, also in a swim suit, slightly built, bald but around mid-30s. "Get back in the pool."
"Sorry coach Kipling, this is Conner Kent, the guy I told you about, he's amazing."
"Right, I've heard a lot about you." Coach Kipling says to him.
"Thank-" Conner starts smiling.
"You're late." He says angry. "I don't accept tardiness, now get in the pool, and show me what you're made of."
"Yeah, alright." Conner shrugs.
"Sir." Coach Kipling says to him glaring.
"Yeah, alright sir." Conner says to him.
Coach Kipling rolls his eyes and walks away muttering something under his breath.
Mike chuckles quietly. "You always make great first impressions."
"I do my best." Conner says smiling.
"Shepard! Kent! Stop your talking and get in positions." Coach Kipling yells out. Conner and Mike both walk over to the standing board. "On my mark, get set…" he says then blows his whistle and they dive off then swim.
After an hour of swimming, practice was over and they went back to the locker rooms. The guys where tired and sore, the season was starting soon and the coach was running them ragged. Conner was fine, he quickly showered to get the chlorine smell off him then walk over to the lockers. Nobody actually bothered to shower, they were too tired. Conner had his towel wrapped around his waist and starting to get the lock unlocked twisting it around to get the right numbers.
"Aren't you tired man?" a guy asks him as he sat on the bench barely had his boxers on.
"No not really." Conner says as he gets the lock out and gets the door open.
"Geez Michael, where did you find this guy?"
Michael just smiled.
"I'm Riki by the way, I do backstroke." He says to him. Riki had black hair, black eyes and like most swimmer a nice body.
"Conner." He says to him.
"I'm Sam, I do butterfly." Another guy says. Sam had cut his brown hair all off, green eyes and nice body.
"Conner." He says again. He drops his towel and puts on his boxers, the 3 guys look at him a little stunned that he just got naked in front of some guys he just meet then turn away.
Mike just keeps on looking at him as he starts to put on his pants. "You really haven't changed have you?" he asks him, remembering how when they first met, Conner took off his clothes right in front of him.
"What are you talking about?" Conner asks him a little confused sitting down on another bench putting on his shoes.
"Nothing." Mike says to him.
"Ok, well I gotta go." Conner says as he grabs his lock putting it on his new locker locking it, grabs this t-shirt and takes off.
"Bye!" Mike yells out.
"Later!" Conner yells back.
As he runs out of the locker room takes a quick scan around the outside of the school, teleports out and into his room at the cave. He throws the shirt away into his bed, takes off his shoes and grabs S t-shirt takes off his jeans and puts on his cargo jeans plus his boots. This all happen in less than 2 seconds.
Then teleports out.
New Mexico…
Superboy teleported into a building and took a look around everything was quiet. Then he heard gun shots and saw a man running away.
'Superboy is that you?' Megan asks in the midlink.
'About time.' Robin says to him.
'I have a knack for that.' Superboy says.
'Get the guy, he's getting away.' Zatanna says as she runs past Superboy.
Superboy runs super speed and stands right in front of the guy, he bounces off Superboy and lands on his back knocked out. Zatanna looks down slightly panting, she looks up at him shaking her head.
'oops.'
'Let's just go already.' Robin says as he shows up.
'Can you teleport all of us to the cave?' Megan asks him as she flies down.
'Yeah.'
'She means with the ship.' Zatanna says to him.
'Yeah, I'll try.' Superboy says to her.
Superboy touches the guy on the floor first and Robin takes a hold of Superboy's shoulder and Zatanna on the other, they teleport out to the cave. Superboy comes back and Megan smiles at him, she flies up to where the bioship was in camouflage and touches it. Superboy grabs her hand they teleport back to the cave.
…Mount Justice
"I can't do this all by myself, I need to be in two places at once, not even I'm that fast." Conner complains to Wolf as he lays down on the bed. "You're so luck, you get to do nothing, such a slacker." Wolf looks up at him and yawns. "A cute slacker." He starts rubbing him, running his hand on his fur, from head to back. "Two places at once." He says to himself and smiles and an astral he comes up in front of him. "Hello Conner!"
"What's up?"
"Alright this is what's gonna happen, we have practice at 5 but we also have to do the park clean-up." Conner says standing up. "So which one do you want?"
"Park clean-up." Astral Conner says to him.
"Alright! Oh and try not to use superspeed, they have cameras."
"Got it." Astral Conner says to him and teleports out.
"Perfect." Conner says smiling, Wolf looks at him as if saying what he was doing was wrong. "What? Don't look at me like that, it's already done, now I have practice, I'll came back to take you from a walk, and then a belly rub, ok?"
Wolf barks happy.
Happy Harbor high school…
"Conner will be here soon. I'm sure. And he has a very good plan, I'll just bet." Wendy says nervous as she waits for Conner to show up, with 5 other people in the gym 3 girls and 2 boys. Conner comes in his swimsuit jammers. Wendy looks at him a little stun he was really…perfect.
"Sorry, I didn't have time to change." Conner says to her, slightly dripping water.
"That's ok." She mumbles as she continues to look at him.
"But I got the perfect theme." Conner says. "How is the Roaring Twenties?"
"The 20s?"
"Yeah, golden decade of prosperity and growth. I have everything planned out I just forgot the list at home. Think The Great Gatsby. "
"And we can do this by Saturday?" Wendy asks him.
"I'll make it happen by Saturday." Conner says to her.
"Ok." She says to him. "I trust you."
"You wouldn't regret it." Conner says to her. "I better go back, I actually wasn't finished with practice."
"Yeah." Wendy says smiling and he runs off, she sighs and turns back to the 5 people, 3 of the girls had been drooling over Conner. "Alright! Let's go home." She says clapping her hands.
Next day…gym
"What do you mean you're not going to put them up." Conner asks a big burly man.
"Sorry kid decorations aren't my thing." The man says to him.
"Do I look like a party planner to you?" Another burly man says to him.
"Do I?" Conner asks him angry.
"You got a punk-ass mouth on you, kid." the guy says.
"My name's not kid. It's client, as in the person who pays for your opulent lifestyle." Conner says to them. "Now the dance is on tomorrow, you gonna help me or not?"
"Not." They say to him and walk off getting out of the gym.
Conner looks around at the boxes the guys had dropped off. They were filled with decorations of the 20s. Megan walks in wearing her cheerleading outfit and looks around, it was a mess. He sits down on the floor and sighs.
"Mm, Conner." Megan says as she walks up to him.
"Hi." He says unenthusiastically.
"Wendy asked how it was going but you know-" She looks around. "Need help?"
"Nah, I'm good." Conner gets up and makes an astral Conner. They look at each other. "Come on. We've got a schedule."
"Um, Conner I actually wanted to talk-" Megan starts.
"You hang. We'll decorate."
"Huh?!" Megan says a little surprised as Conner super speeds her to a corner. "Ugh!" she grunts again feeling a little woozy. She looks around as Conner and astral Conner run around opening boxes decorating the ceiling, the walls, putting up tables, and chairs.
"All done." Conner sighs.
"No big." Astral Conner sighs.
They high five and Astral Conner disappears.
"Conner I wanted to talk to you." Megan says to him.
"Oh Yeah, what's up?" he asks her as he motions for her to follow him.
"About the dance."
"What about it?" he asks her as he opens the gym's door for her.
"Well, are you really going with Wendy?" she asks him she walks out the gym.
"Yeah I owe her." he says to her as he follows her.
"So, you're not getting back with her?" she asks hesitantly, he walks besides her.
"Not at all." He says to her. "She's my friend."
"That's great." Megan blurts out, Conner looks at her. "That you guys are friends again."
Conner smiles. "Who are you going with?" he asks her.
"I'm not sure."
"You can ask Marvin."
"I don't think so."
"Wally? Artemis would be ok with that." Conner says to her.
"Nah."
"What about Roy? I'm sure he'd love too."
"No." Megan says smiling, blushing.
"I can ask him for you." Conner says to her.
"No!" Megan yells out. "Don't you dare!"
"I'm just saying." Conner shrugs. "He wouldn't mind."
…Mount Justice
Conner walked out of his room wearing his 20s suit suspenders, jacket, a bow tie, a fedora hat, Zatanna walks by him and whistles at him.
"Nice."
"Thank you." Conner says to her and looks at her. "Where's your clothes?" he asks her.
"Egnahc ym sehtolc." Zatanna says Change my clothes, and her clothes turns to a purple dress, her hair up in a bun, with white peals.
"Shall I teleport us?"
"Yes please."
"Wait for me." Megan says as she runs in and transforms her clothes to a green dress, black feather boa around her, with her hair up in a bun.
"Very pretty." Conner says to her.
"Why, Thank you sir." She says politely, she looks over at Zatanna. "Where's Dick?" she asks him.
"Oh yeah, is he meeting you there?"
"No." Zatanna says, they look at her. "We got in a stupid fight."
"Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, no big deal." Zatanna shrugs.
"About what?" Megan asks her.
"He thinks I've been using too much magic."
"Isn't magic kinda your thing?" Conner asks her.
"Yeah, like mind reading is mine." Megan says trying to understand.
"Yes! Make sure to tell him that when you see him."
"We will." Conner says as he grabs her hand and Megan's. "But first party like it's the 20s." he says as he locks arms with them. "Shall we Ladies."
"We shall." They say together smiling.
They start walking forward, and Conner teleports them to out.
Happy Harbor High School…gym
They place was filled with people none of them actually noticed them just appearing out of thin air and they just walked forward. The party is in full swing with lots of students dancing to the music.
"Conner!" Wendy yells out she was in a yellow dress with a bandana on her forehead with a feather. "Hi." She goes over to hug him, Zatanna and Megan automatically let go of him, feeling a little awkward.
"Are they back together?" Zatanna whispers to Megan.
"No, he owes her a favor." Megan whispers back.
"Oh good, it's hard to keep track."
"Come on let's dance." Wendy says to Conner as she takes his hand to the dance floor.
Conner turns back to the two girls. "Hey, make sure to save me a dance ok." He says to them.
"Sure." They both say to him.
"Have fun!" he yells out to them as Wendy pulls him away.
…
Conner walks up to the drinks table where Mike was taking a drink.
"Hey, having fun?" Conner asks him smiling.
"Yeah, I can't believe you got it all done in a week."
"I have a great organization skill." Conner says as he takes a cup. "So, you came with Brooke."
"Yeah, I told you I was coming with her didn't I?" Mike says to him.
"Yeah, I just wasn't sure that-but it's good you know."
"You came with Wendy." Mike points out.
"She asked."
"So did Brooke."
"I wasn't trying to make you mad at me Mike I was just-"
"Hey, guys, we are having technically difficulties." Karen says to them both, they noticed that the music had stopped.
"What do you want us to do about?" Conner asks him.
"It's your party, fix it." Karen says to him.
"Fine." Conner says as he puts down his drink. "If you see Wendy, tell her I'll be in back."
"Yeah, yeah, go. People hear that we don't have music, they'll start to leave. Go go, shoo, shoo."
"I'll go with you." Mike says.
"Cool, go." Karen says to them pushing them way.
Mike and Conner go out the gym and to the back to a room where the wires where and basically all of the technology was at. Conner started plugging stuff in then plugging them out, making sure the colors where in the right place, checking if anything was broken, etc. While Mike just stood still.
"I'm not jealous." Mike says to him.
Conner turns to him. "I know that."
"Right." Mike says to him then lends down to kiss him.
"Mike what the hell is wrong with you?" Conner asks him pushing him away.
Mike gaze diverted for a moment then returned looked back at him. "Nothing, I was just, kissing you."
"Why?"
"Because I like you."
"I thought you weren't gay." Conner says stepping back.
"I'm not, I don't want other guys but I want you." he said quietly. "I get worked up when we're together. All I can think about is holding you next to me, kissing you and making love to you."
"Mike-"
"You are the only guy I've ever wanted to make love to." Mike says to him as his hand went to the back of his head pulling him close, they're lips touched once again, but this time Conner did not withdraw and continues to kiss him, making out. Mike takes off Conner's hat, jacket and is about to take off his pants…
Until there was a knock at the door, they pulled away.
"Hey did guys fix the music?" Wendy asks as she walks in.
"Yeah almost." Conner says to her.
"Cool." Wendy says and walks back. "What happen to your clothes? You guys making out?"
"No." they both say.
"Ok then." Wendy says looking at them. "Michael do you mind?" she asks him.
Mike looks at her. "Oh yeah, I'll see you later." He says to them then walks away closing the door behind him.
Mike walked out to the dance floor passing students as they danced. Trying to make a quick exist.
"Michael." Megan says as she tries to catch up to him.
He turns when he hears his name. "Yeah?"
"Do you know where Conner is, I'm looking for him."
"Oh he's in the back room."
"I don't know where that is, can you show me?"
"Oh I was just leaving."
"Please."
"Yeah ok."
Mike walks back to the room he really didn't want to get back too. Megan behind him. Mike opens the door and freezes, Megan looks over his shoulder and sees Wendy and Conner kissing, she quickly walks away.
Wendy breaks the kiss and turns to Mike. "Do you mind?" she asks him.
"Sorry." He says quietly and walks off closing the door behind him.
"Where were we?" Wendy asks as she puts her arms around his neck.
Conner grabs her arms and puts them down, she looks at him confused. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"I haven't changed, not really.
"Sure you have."
"No, I haven't. What I've been trying to do is make up for lost time because I've been feeling guilty for well…a lot of things.
"Fine then we can start over." Wendy says smiling. "Hi I'm Wendy Harris I'm a cheerleader and President, you are?"
"Broken and Confused." Conner says to her, she looks at him confused. "I can't let you in. You broke my heart twice and I can't go through it again." He leans down to kiss her cheek and then goes over to the machine plugs in a wire and the music turns back on. "Bye Wendy."
"Bye."
…
"Hey have you see Megan?" Zatanna asks Conner.
"Hey have you see Mike?" Conner asks Zatanna.
They ask each other at the same time.
"No." they say at the same time.
"Great." They mumble at the same time looking around trying to find them people they were looking for.
"Last dance?" Zatanna asks him.
"Yeah ok." Conner says to her.
They pull each other close and start dancing with each other to a slow song. They didn't say a word just enjoyed the closeness, moving to the slow music.
…Happy Harbor High School
Teacher Finn was outside under a tree, in the grass, Conner was sitting by himself, Megan was following along with her own book, Karen and Mal holding hands listening, Wendy trying to listen plus a couple other students are listening as well. Mike is reading aloud from a book.
"Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? 'That was not a threatening gesture,' I said, 'It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra." Mike says holding a book, he finishes. "Intense." He says.
"Yes. It is." Mr. Finn says to them. "So, what do you make of it?" he asks Mike.
"The guy thought he could outsmart death by running off to Samara. But learned Death is just one of those things you just can't escape." Mike says back.
"Nice summary." Mr. Finn says to him, slightly sarcastic. "But what's it really about?" he asks them.
They say quiet for a little while.
"Destiny." Conner blurts out. "Life is predetermined. Nothing you can do can alter your fate."
"Believe that?" Mr. Finn asks him.
"Sometimes." Megan says.
"I'd like not to." Conner says.
"Why's that?" the teacher asks him.
"I'd rather have control over my own life." Conner says to him simply.
"Wouldn't we all." Mr. Finn says with a chuckle. "You might want to take that up with Buddha or the Dalai lama or Gandhi or any number of Eastern Religious icons." He pauses. "I feel like it's more about specifics, sometimes philosophical sometimes just practical but the important part of any given situation is to know the differences."
"So there are some things you just can't change." Wendy says trying to understand.
"That's often because you don't know how to change things." Karen says.
"Or how to just deal with them." Mal says.
"That's true, let's explore this." Mr. Finn says changing the subject, going with the flow of the class. "What things can't you change?"
"You're height." Mal says.
"Okay."
"You're personality." Mike says.
"Questionable." Megan says to him not agreeing, looking over at Conner.
"You're parents." Conner says.
"That you definitely can't change." Teacher agrees 100 percent. The bell rings. "Go, be free and don't forget to read."
Conner stayed sitting down while everyone else stood up and took their backpacks with them. Zatanna walked up him.
"Ready to go home?" she asks him.
Conner looks up at her. "Yeah, alright." He says and gets up. "Movie first?" he asks.
"Yeah, ok." Zatanna says and they walk away. "Funny."
"Action." Conner says to her.
"Funny."
"Action."
"Funny Action."
"I hate Funny Action."
"Scary." Zatanna suggests another movie genre.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Conner says agreeing smiling, she laughs.
…
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