Sorry for the little delay. Real life sucks sometimes.

Chapter 5 – Infiltrator

Okay, so maybe telling Claire about the beach day with his team was a little reckless. It was just motive for her to drag him to a shopping mall and make it a party out of it. Conner didn't mind Claire's enthusiasm about it, but after five hours, it ought to be tiring.

"Claire, I don't think I need all of these just for a beach day." He complained, after she shoved to him a few more bathing shorts.

"But… It's good to have a few spares."

"They won't rip me out of my shorts, Claire." He smiled for her. "And we're not going far. We're taking the beach behind the Mountain, so it's going to be only us."

She giggled.

"Perks of having a whole freaking mountain with private beach, I guess."

"Yes." He smiled. "So, can we stop?"

She made a face.

"I just wanted to help…"

"And you did." He assured. "Thank you. I just don't need anything else."

Conner saw that his sister was very upset that she didn't have any more reason to stay, so he decided for a second option.

"We can stop by the food court and grab something. And maybe a movie, after?" he said. "We don't have to go home now, do we?"

She perked up at the suggestion, and smiled.

"No. Dad's not going to be around anyway, and I really don't want to cook tonight…"

"All the more reason to go." Conner decided, putting the bathing shorts he had on his arms on the nearest rack. "Let's go. I'm starving."

She laughed and followed him out of the store, going straight into the food court with him right beside her.

~.~

Beach day was surprisingly fun. Conner never had actually went into one, so he didn't know much about what to expect. But they played in the sand – Conner was surprised to notice that he did like being 'buried' in the beach sand – and they also played a little volleyball; and of course, the sea water was warm and nice to go swimming into.

They spent a very nice day talking and getting to know each other in a way they didn't have the time for before. Well, except for Wally, because for some reason, his school started earlier that year and he couldn't just ditch his first day to go to the beach (although he had tried to reason with them to do just that).

Soon, though, when the sun was starting to fall in the horizon, Red Tornado came to the beach and called them back. He told them to go get showered and dressed, because one of the Leaguers was coming to talk to them about something important.

After they changed, they went straight into the main hall, finding Batman, Green Arrow, and a girl in a green suit with a bow waiting for them.

"Team…" started Green Arrow. "This is Artemis. My… new protégé."

Artemis did a little wave at them. Conner found it odd that her heartbeat was so fast, like she was so nervous, and at the same time, she held a position that told everyone in the room how confident she was. It didn't fit. But Conner figured she would try to hide her emotions. She seemed almost wary of them.

"She's going to be your new team mate." Said Batman.

"What about Red Arrow?" Robin asked to Green Arrow. "Does he know you have a new protégé?"

"I'm not sure." The green clad hero admitted. "I haven't talked to him in a while."

"Red Arrow didn't want to get into the Team," Batman reminded them. "But an archer is a good asset. And Artemis is a good one."

That was everything Robin needed to stay quiet. Batman opened his mouth to speak again when they heart the unmistakable sound of the zeta tubes activating, the monotone robotic voice following.

Recognized: Kid Flash, b-zero-three.

"The Wall-man is here! Now let's get this party star-" Wally came bursting through the zeta tubes with a multitude of party accessories, interrupting himself just after coming in, falling to the ground with everything in his hands.

Conner was so shocked he couldn't even laugh. Robin, on the other side of the small circle they were in, giggled quietly behind his hand. All the others just looked at Wally, who was now looking at them with a completely mortified look.

"…-ted." He finished his thought, although Conner imagined it was pointless.

And then, Artemis decided to tease him.

And Conner knew the next few hours were going to be a little hell when Wally got up to tease her back.

~.~

Of course Conner was right. Wally and Artemis seemed to have hated each other at first sight. Artemis also made him a little… uncomfortable, if he was being honest. He was kind of happy when Aqualad made him and Robin go after the misterious' fog next target, and he sighed a little too happily as soon as he got into the bioship.

Robin giggled.

"Artemis is a little intense, huh?"

"Yeah… It's a little unsettling." He admitted.

Robin started typing at his wrist computer while he talked.

"We're gonna get used to it. We have to, she's on the team now."

Conner nodded and then fell into an easy silence for a few moments, while Robin typed and his screen lit up with several different info. He cut through the silence soon enough, though.

"So, how are things with your big sister?"

Conner smiled. "It's good. She dragged me into a shopping trip yesterday, to buy stuff for the beach. You should have seen how many items she made me try it on."

Robin cackled. "I can imagine. She loves this kind of stuff."

"Yeah. We spent the whole afternoon at the mall. It was nice, though. Spending time with her is always good, even if she's a little off."

Robin frowned.

"Off? How so?"

Conner shrugged. "I don't know. She seems weird sometimes. Especially when I talk about the team, I guess."

"What, you think she's jealous?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I think she wants to be a part of the team, too. You know, Clark never let her go out as his daughter, and now we're training together… She goes sometimes, and I can see she really wants to use what she's learned, but she can't do that being Claire Kent."

"She has to be Supergirl." Robin nodded. "I get it. Did you talked to her about it?"

"I'm trying to figure it out how to."

"Well… If you need help with that talk, just let me know." He said, and then stretched to give him a card.

It was a simple card, with just a number on it.

"It's my Robin phone," he smiled. "call any time you need. I keep with me at all times."

"Sure… Thanks, Robin."

"You're welcome."

Their talk was cut off abruptly with a noisy beep coming from Robin's computer, and then they were getting into their destiny.

"Holy crap…" Robin breathed out with the vision that greeted them: Star Labs, crumbling completely.

They were too late.

~.~

After they stopped the impending murder of Dra Roquette, and her infiltrating fog, Conner was a little exhausted. As soon as Batman told them they could go, he said his goodbyes, and went straight to the zeta tubes.

He got home very, very late. The house was quiet, the slow heartbeat down the hall saying that his sister was fast asleep.

His father, tough, was in the living room, the tv was on, and he was sitting on the couch almost laying down. When he saw him, he smiled, turning off the tv and getting up to hug him.

A warm and very good feeling settled inside Conner at that, and despite his tiredness, he sighed in contempt.

"How was the mission?"

"Everything turned out okay in the end." He shrugged. "We couldn't stop the fog from destroying Star Labs, though. But at least the virus the doctor made worked, so the Shadows won't use the data they stole."

Clark nodded. "Good. The Shadows have way too much power as it is. They don't need more."

He nodded. "What you're doing up?"

His father smiled fondly to him.

"Waiting for you. Couldn't sleep until I knew you were okay."

He didn't have an answer for that. It was a little more than a month since he woke up at Cadmus, since he came to live with his father, for all purposes, and the warmth that irradiated from Clark when he talked at him like that didn't cease to amaze him.

"I'm okay." He assured. "Just a little tired, I guess."

"Good. Now come on, you need a shower and then you can rest up. Good thing school didn't started yet."

He giggled, following Clark through the hall to his bedroom.

"By the way… We need to talk about putting you to school. But that can wait until tomorrow." Clark said.

"Ok."

"Good night, son."

Clark hugged him and gave him a little kiss on his temple, and Conner didn't know how to react except for leaning into the touch, as he whispered back.

"Good night, dad."

At least he knew that with this reception, he was going to sleep very well.

I literally just finished writing this, so it's unbetaed and I have no energy left to do that. So tell me (please) if you see any mistakes, so I can fix it.

Thanks for the support and for reading. Don't forget to review.

I'll be back as soon as I can. xo