I've been so excited to post this chapter for ages. Writing Skylar in her civilian persona is always fun, especially when she's thrown at an unsuspecting member of the Team.

Thank you all for your lovely comments, honestly, reading them always brings a smile to my face, and I'm glad you love Ski'Lira as much as I do. Seriously, this story got way more traction than I was expecting and I can't thank you enough for all of your support throughout this endeavor.

Especially since we've barely scratched the surface. : )

ST. ROCH, LOUISIANA
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2010
15:40 CST

Ski'Lira was alone in the Hol Residence, a fact that she was relieved by, mostly because it meant she didn't have to use earbuds and she could blast her music as loud as she wanted to. The ambient noise made the chore of a long math assignment slightly more bearable. She didn't really mind math, it was just slightly tedious. With the addition of her increased involvement with the team, she had been forced to alter her schoolwork schedule accordingly. Thankfully, online classes were far more accommodating with ridiculous time constraints.

Finishing a line of numbers, she cracked her neck back and forth before starting on the next problem. But she'd barely gotten two digits in before her phone started to buzz and ring on the table in front of her. The screen lit up, displaying an unfamiliar number.

Brow slightly furrowed, she picked it up to answer it, pausing her music. "Skylar Hall speaking."

"I need you to head to Metropolis."

Her eyebrows flew up to her hairline. "Ba- Mr. Wayne?"

"Clark was set to meet with Conner today after he was finished with school, but he cancelled last minute." Wayne continued. "You should go pick him up."

"Where is he?"

"I'll text you the location."

Sliding off her seat, she grabbed her key lanyard, phone, wallet, and sunglasses before turning off the lights. "On my way. And… please tell me you're going to yell at Clark for this?"

"Yes."

"Good. Farewell, Mr. Wayne."

As she headed out the door (snagging her green khaki jacket from a hook by the door), she took a moment to save Wayne's number as a new contact. Once the door was closed behind her, she stuffed her phone back in her pocket, tied her jacket around her waist, and snapped her wings open to fly to the nearest zeta point.

H

One of the things that Skylar appreciated about big cities was the fact that people didn't try to talk to you most of the time. When walking down a crowded street, people aimed to get from one place to another and didn't have time to stop for small talk. Of course, there were outliers, people with petitions and handing out flyers who made it a point to try to talk to as many people as possible. For the most part, she ignored them.

But she did make it a point to hand over twenty five dollars in donation to a woman representing a local no-kill animal shelter. The woman gave her a Snoopy sticker that she immediately tacked onto the front of her jacket.

Skylar hadn't been to Metropolis nearly enough to have a mental map of the city, so like any normal person she had to rely on a GPS app on her phone. Batman had told her that Superboy was waiting in a slightly secluded area in the park, where he would be able to meet Superman in a neutral location without being mobbed by passerby.

It wasn't her first visit to this specific park, she'd actually been here a few times growing up, mostly when it was the Man of Steel's turn to babysit her. That meant she knew exactly where to find her teammate.

Lo and behold, Conner was sitting alone on a park bench, spine nearly ramrod straight and hands setting lightly on his knees as he stared straight at the ground. Pushing her aviators up her nose, she stuffed her hands in the pocket of her jacket and sauntered over. As casually as she could manage, she sat down on the opposite side of his chosen bench.

"Rough day?"

Conner's fingers clenched tighter on his knees as he finally looked up from the ground to glance at her. "How can you tell?"

At that moment, Ski'Lira realized that he had no idea who she was, not that it was surprising considering the circumstances. And being her, she couldn't resist taking at least a little advantage of his ignorance. "You were glaring at the ground like it had personally offended you… did it?"

"… No." He answered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why would I do that?"

Was this what it was like when people tried to talk to her? Skylar gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. "Just thought I'd extend the offer. My name's Skylar, by the way. Skylar Hall." She held out a hand.

Still looking more than a little wary (and she was so proud of his vigilance), he returned the handshake. "Conner" He stayed silent for a moment, considering her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick up a friend." She answered, not being able to hold back her smirk. "Apparently he's been having a rough day, too." Seeing that she had his interest piqued, she pulled her legs up so she was sitting cross-legged on the bench and continued. "See, he was supposed to meet someone else today, but they never showed up."

The black haired teen let out a short grunt, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "Have you been stalking me?"

Skylar let out an amused snort. "I knew you'd pick up on the ruse quickly, but you don't quite have it all figured out." Seeing his increasingly aggressive facial expressions and the way his hand balled up into fists, she decided to just let the cat out of the bag. "It's not often that I turn down a potential fight, but the middle of a public park while we're both in our civilian personas is far from ideal. But we do have a training session with Canary tomorrow morning, will that suffice?"

Conner blinked exactly twice as the implication of what she meant finally hit him and all of the tension drained out of him like a slowly deflating balloon. "… Hawkgirl?"

"That'd be me, yes." She offered a slight tip of her head in acknowledgement.

"I… didn't recognize you without your armor and mace. Or your mask… thing."

Skylar proudly held up her lanyard that clearly had a small bottle of mace dangling from it.

The half-Kryptonian suddenly looked like she'd handed him a particularly difficult puzzle. "You… don't really need that, do you?"

"Not at all. But I'd never pass up the opportunity to pepper spray someone in the face. If I have to play human, I should at least take advantage of some of the perks."

He nodded slightly, though he was still clearly confused. "Where are your wings?"

Instead of verbally answering, she flexed the feathery appendages ever so slightly, shifting them underneath the thick material of her jacket. The last of his wariness at her presence left him, though he still seemed slightly on edge, no doubt still reeling from his earlier upset. Speaking of which…

"I'm sorry that Superman cancelled."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Batman." His blue eyes snapped to hers, looking slightly astonished. "He told me to come pick you up. And that he was going to have a talk with a certain Kryptonian."

"… Oh"

"I'm pretty sure he intended for me to just take you back home to Happy Harbor, but…" Hopping off the bench, she stretched out her arms and readjusted the hem of her shirt from where it rode up. "I have a better idea. Come on." Jerking her head, she started walking away from the bench. A few moments later, she heard footsteps behind her, and Conner moved to keep pace at her side.

"Where are we going?"

Skylar merely kept walking.

H

"… Do I get to know where we are now?"

Digging her lanyard out of her pocket, Ski'Lira slipped her house key into the lock, and the front door of her home swung open. Heading inside, she toed off her shoes and shucked off her jacket before heading further into the house, flipping lights on as she went.

She heard the soft closing of the door behind her. "This is… your house?" Conner asked as he cautiously ambled inside, head swiveling to take in the interior. His attention was finally drawn by set of framed pictures on the wall, displaying younger versions of herself as well as a few members of the League.

Ski'Lira left him to his investigating, opting to message Batman that she'd successfully retrieved her target. After that, she waited for Conner to finish looking around. Eventually, he ended up in the kitchen where she was leaning against the counter patiently. It was natural for him to be curious. Thinking about it, this was Conner's first time inside an 'actual' Earth occupant's home, instead of a League outpost or whatever exotic locale they happen to visit on their missions.

"I was planning on making myself a sandwich, want one?" She offered. It was a bit of an awkward time to eat by human standards, but they were both nonhuman entities with increased metabolisms.

"… I… am a little hungry." Conner admitted.

"Is turkey alright?" At his affirming nod, she headed over towards the fridge. "Feel free to take a seat." Hearing a scraping noise, she tossed a glance over her shoulder as she was rooting through the fridge to see he had sat down on one of the chairs at the kitchen table, and he was examining the abandoned schoolwork splayed out on the tabletop.

"Is this… homework?" He asked, squinting slightly at a notebook.

"Yes" Pulling out the container of turkey as well as a tomato and some lettuce, she deposited her stack of ingredients on the counter before retrieving the bread and two plates.

"But… you said you don't go to school?"

"I don't." She swiftly answered as she set to work slicing up the tomato. "I take online classes."

"… Why couldn't I have done that?"

"Simple." Skylar finished up the two sandwiches and carried the plates over to the table. She retreated a final time to put away the extra foodstuffs and grab two bottles of water, finally sitting down across from him. "It was a near unanimous decision on the League's part that both you and M'Gann experience sufficient social interaction with peers your age… other than your teammates, in order to better adjust to living in human society."

Conner took a cautious bite, before apparently deeming the sandwich good enough. He carefully swallowed before continuing his line of questioning. "And you don't… have to? You're pretty…"

"Socially maladjusted? How sweet of you to say. Despite what you and our fellow young heroes believe, I'm not. I grew up perfectly normally on Thanagar and have received a sufficient amount of social interaction for a Thanagarian of my maturity, not to mention I'm already in a position where I have regular casual contact with civilians." She tapped the side of her head for emphasis. "Basically, we're wired different, which means I can get away with taking online classes."

"I guess that makes sense."

The two lapsed into a silence that was only slightly awkward, as they were both focusing primarily on eating. It wasn't until Skylar was gathering up the dishes and depositing them in the sink that Conner spoke to her again.

"Were you lying?"

The question gave Skylar pause, pausing halfway through rinsing off a plate before resuming the action. "Lying about what?"

"You said your name was Skylar Hall. At the park." Superboy clarified.

She couldn't help but let out a relieved huff of laughter. "No, I wasn't. Skylar Hall is my name, my human one at least. Feel free to call me as such, if you like. Just… not around the others." Noticing that she'd gotten some water on the hem of her shirt, she briefly debated going to change before opting to just leave it be.

"Skylar." He tested the name out aloud a few times, before apparently deeming it acceptable as she sat back down across from him. "It's… nice."

"Thank you. So, speaking of the park…"

Conner's expression immediately twisted into one of slight distaste. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Fair enough." Skylar put her hands up. "I just thought I'd give you the chance to if you wanted. I can only imagine how frustrated you must be."

The black haired teen remained silent, looking every bit the lost boy he really was. "… I was going to ask him about Krypton."

For a moment, she felt nothing but heartbreak on Conner's behalf, the sheer disappointment in his voice almost too much to bear. Anyone who had ever claimed that a Thanagarian was heartless had never known one personally, as they cared for others just as deeply as most other species, they were just better at hiding it.

But this was one situation where hiding wasn't going to do either of any good.

So that's why Skylar promptly took off her aviators, setting them innocuously onto the table. "I'm sorry, Conner."

Even though he clearly had no clue of exactly how important the action she just performed really was, Conner was still sufficiently taken aback at her newly bared face. Skylar found herself suddenly struck with an idea. "Come on, follow me."

Without another word, she stood up and headed deeper into the house, leaving her sunglasses on the table. She wouldn't be needing them anytime soon anyway.

Opening the door of her bedroom, she silently ushered her friend inside, going so far as to bodily move him to sit on her bed so he wouldn't awkwardly hover. His attention drifted around the room, to the posters on the walls, the lack of general clutter, what was very clearly a switchblade sitting semi-hidden in a pencil cup on her desk, and a sprawling bookshelf in the corner that also had a few knickknacks sitting on top.

Conner's eyes finally settled on a framed photograph sitting on her bedside table. "Is that Red Arrow?"

Skylar froze from where she had been opening the door of her closet, pushing away a nearly empty cardboard box towards the other side and opening up the space. "Yes." Thankfully, he managed to read her tone of voice enough to drop the subject immediately, to which she was grateful. This was about Conner's emotional wellbeing, not hers. Maybe later she would be willing to address the photo that had until very recently (meaning that morning) been hidden away in a desk drawer, literally hiding away the memories of a memorable first meeting and the friendship that unfurled thereafter. But once again, that was not a can of worms she was willing to open up right now.

Moving aside a small framed Firefly poster, she revealed the handprint scanner sitting under it. Placing her hand on it, she cleared her throat before speaking in Thanagarian. "Not all those who wander are lost."

Her current password successfully input (she changed it at least once a month, and it was almost always a book, movie, or television quote in Thanagarian) she stepped off to the side as the back wall of the closet slid sideways, revealing the lit alcove behind it. Gleaming brightly from its stand was her signature armor, her mace stored alongside it with several Nth metal daggers and a few other artifacts, mostly for emergencies.

"There are similar compartments all around the house." Skylar said.

"That seems a little… overkill."

"My people have a saying, 'It's better to be paranoid than to have your throat slit in your sleep and your entrails hung in your enemies home for all to behold'." She replied immediately. "It sounds better in Thanagarian."

Bending down, she opened up a nondescript looking box, retrieving the item she'd been looking for. Closing everything up, including resealing the alcove, she sat down next to Conner on her bed, pulling her legs up into a cross-legged position.

In her hands was in short, the Thanagarian version of a tablet. Silver in hue, it was roughly eight inches long and two inches wide, bisected into two connecting halves. Grasping the sides, she pulled them apart in a quick snapping motion, and a screen of hard light materialized between the halves. After another second or two, the interface burst into life.

"What… is this?" Conner asked.

"Thanagarian tech." She started to explain. "It has a few different functions, but right now we only need the one." Tapping on a specific part of the screen, she pulled up what was essentially a compendium of all of the schoolwork and resources for the Thanagarian side of her education. After a quick search and some scrolling, she found exactly what she'd been looking for. Selecting a specific image, she used her thumb and index finger to zoom in so it filled the screen, and tilted it so Conner could see. "There."

Pinkish hued skies stretched over an alien landscape, jagged mountain ranges framing the horizon as sleek buildings only vaguely similar to any kind of Terran architecture jutted out from craggy rock.

"Is that…?"

"Krypton. Or at least how it was." Skylar explained.

"Are there… are there any more?"

She couldn't help but make a slight face. "Not as many as you're probably hoping." Exiting from the image, she showed off a few more embedded in the text, a few of the environment, a couple more of the major cities, and one of a science lab.

"Is this a textbook?"

"Sort of, yes." She answered. "Thanagarian education has a strong emphasis on foreign powers, especially ones that either are a threat or could pose as a threat. Krypton was a highly respected power in the sciences before its destruction. Now, they're… well… my people see it as a cautionary tale that even the highest empires can fall in an instant." Seeing the slightly distressed look on Conner's face, she quickly backtracked. "A gor'bax doesn't have an option to translate into other languages itself, but if you like I could write down the translation for you."

Conner looked up at her for the first time since she'd pulled out the device. "You'd do that?"

"If you'd like. It wouldn't be too much trouble on my part."

"Yes." He nodded eagerly. "I would. Please."

"Then I'll get on that as soon as possible." She promised, absolutely sincere. It really wouldn't be that hard, though she'd probably have to tweak the wording here and there to sound less… hostile at points. Thanagarians didn't falsify information, but they did tend to… well, let's just say there's a genetic propensity for appreciation of acts of unbridled violence (even if said violence was the explosion of a planet).

"What's Thanagar like?"

The sudden subject change almost gave her mental whiplash, and she snapped the gor'bax shut far harsher than was necessary. "Why do you want to know?"

He offered nothing more than a shrug. Well, she supposed if they were being honest today, she could offer some information. "There's a lot more ocean for one. Our cities are all suspended above the planet's surface and pretty much everything is saturated with Nth metal."

Conner rose a brow in slight disbelief. "… Is that all you're going to tell me?"

"The sky is gray." Her mouth quirked up in a smirk before miming zipping her lips. Truthfully, she was fully capable of telling him more, but she'd shown him her face today. That meant he was one of two people on the Team that knew what she actually looked like, he should be complacent with getting as much information as he had already. "But if you wish to ask for any more wisdom on my part, please do so now."

Skylar was definitely joking.

She wanted to stop all of this mushy emotional stuff immediately.

But she miscalculated.

She forgot that Conner didn't understand sarcasm very well yet.

Which meant he took her advice seriously.

She knew the moment he had come to a decision about asking her another personal question and braced herself.

"I think I like M'Gann."

Okay, that revelation didn't surprise her in the slightest. Those two had been dancing around each other for a while now and it was only a matter of time before it came to a head.

However, that didn't mean that she wanted to be the one to deal with it. But considering she was probably the only person that Conner felt comfortable enough to talk to about it, she was willing to bite the bullet.

"Okay?" She prompted him to speak further, nudging his shoulder with her own.

"I'm… pretty sure she likes me back… the same way." He continued slowly, as if saying the words almost physically pained him. "I think we almost kissed?"

"Gross." At his glare, she put her hands up in a placating gesture. "Sorry, reflex. Please go on."

"I'm just not… really sure what I should do. Do you have any advice?"

"… I'm really not the best person to ask about the matters of human courting." Skylar deadpanned. "Maybe you should ask Wally instead… Wait, no, that's a terrible idea. Robin? He's pretty good with people."

"I… think I'd just like to hear your advice first. What… What would… normal person do?"

Brow scrunching in thought, she tried to formulate a proper response. "Okay, if that's what you want, I'll try. My advice? Relax. Just take things one day at a time. And don't let people tell you what you should want in this relationship. The two of you are… not to sound insensitive, but about as human as I am. Don't ask yourself what a normal person would want and how they would act, that's just going to hurt the both of you in the long run. As long as you're both on the same page and there's open communication, I'm sure whatever you two will have will work out fine."

The two were stuck in what was definitely an awkward silence for a good minute or so, before Conner tentatively smiled at her. "Thanks. That was… surprisingly good… for you."

"You're welcome. For my payment, I demand we stop being emotionally vulnerably immediately."

"Done."

Of course, that's when the sound of the front door slamming shut startled both of them.

"SKYLAR HALL, YOU'D BETTER NOT BE HIDING A BOY IN YOUR ROOM!" Who could only be Shayera Hall, the fearsome Hawkwoman, hollered up the stairs.

Rolling her eyes, Skylar moved a little so she wouldn't shout directly in Conner's ear. "DA'MI, I KNOW THAT YOU'RE WELL AWARE IT'S JUST CONNER!"

"I'M YOUR MOTHER, I'M ALLOWED TO TORMENT YOU IN THIS WAY!"

"YOU'RE SCARING HIM!" Huffing, Skylar hopped off her bed. "Come on, ka'zera, we'd better get downstairs."

Conner's mouth was pulled into a tight line, shoulders rigid and all traces of his relaxed demeanor long gone. "Are we in trouble?"

Skylar snorted. "Of course not. My mom thinks she's funny."

"EXCUSE YOU?! I KNOW I'M FUNNY. CARTER, TELL OUR DAUGHTER I'M FUNNY!"

"YOUR MOTHER IS HILARIOUS!" Carter shouted obediently, though he was distinctly monotone.

"SEE?!"

"This is normal." Skylar assured Conner, herding him towards the stairs and back down into the living room. Her parents were already divested of their own jackets, wings on full display and winding down from a day at work.

"Have fun?" Carter asked.

"Mostly" She answered for the both of them, taking note of the scowl currently on Conner's face. "We talked a lot. Showed him some pictures of Krypton because a certain someone is being a-"

"Oh, we know." Her father swiftly interrupted, frowning slightly. "Bats told us. Your mother's already had some words. Strong ones."

"Damn right I did." The redheaded matriarch of the Hall family agreed, crossing her arms. All of the joviality and teasing was gone from her personality, replaced with her standard stern persona as Hawkwoman. "At first, we were willing to cut him at least a little slack, considering he was cloned without his consent, but now it's just getting ridiculous."

Conner's eyes widened slightly. "You're… mad… at him?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

Conner actually sputtered a little, prompting Skylar to clap him on the back. "See? This I why my parents are the best." Suddenly, she was struck with an idea. "We should all spar out on the beach. It's a nice day for it."

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Shayera agreed immediately, cracking her knuckles and heading outside. "I need to work off a significant amount of aggression."

Her parents were already out the door by the time Skylar realized Conner hadn't moved. "Oh no, you're not getting out of this." Snagging his arm, she pulled him out the door and towards the beach, where a thorough beat down was inevitable.

H

"Thank you, for today. It was… nice. At least, after you showed up." Conner admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

After they had finished the spar (where her parents had both been thrilled with the chance to test Conner's enhanced strength), Shayera had insisted he stay for dinner. During the course of the meal, he had been gently goaded into conversation, starting off with school, though it had evolved into intense discussions about Earth history when Conner displayed his near perfect recall. Needless to say, Conner had acquired a standing invitation to visit the Hall household.

And now here they both were, standing in an isolated part of St. Roch next to the Zeta access point, where Skylar had escorted him.

"I'm glad I could make your day at least a little better." Skylar replied. "And I'll get those translations to you soon."

In the span of a heartbeat, Conner had surged forward and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. It was a little awkward, but he had considerately not crushed her wings to her back. Snaking her own arms around his waist, she returned the hug, not saying anything when she felt him smile into her shoulder. Drawing back, his face was slightly red, but she made no comment on it.

"Bye, Skylar" He said in farewell.

"Take care, ka'zera."

She waited just long enough to watch him disappear through the Zeta tube before she snapped out her wings and took to the sky.

Today could have been worse.

Note: Gor'bax (pronounced Gore-Bahsh)

And now, a glimpse into the author's inner monologue as she wrote this chapter

CADMUS: We made a clone of Superman!

Hawkgirl: You messed up a perfectly good boi is what you did. Look at him, he's got anxiety.

The next chapter will probably be a shorter one, just because it's a very M'Gann and Superboy centric episode, so as compensation, you can expect another oneshot or two on Fight or Flight: Side Stories.

Hope you're all doing well and as always, comments, questions, and concerns are more than welcome!