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tallihensiaTitle: Making Plans
Fandom: Smallville/DCU - Characters, Pairing: Conner w/Clex
Rating: PG - Words: 20,523
Type: drama, adventure, au
Warnings: none
Spoilers: none
Summary: Now that Lionel Luthor has been revealed, the League and Lex must make plans... and Conner learns that he has some growing to do.
Notes:
8th in the Conner series, "Not a Villain". (See the Master Post for link and summaries to all stories.) Betas by Ronda and Sue. Cross-posted to Archive of our Own.
Disclaimer: Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
Conner practically bounced down the stairs next to his dad. He was so excited he barely remembered to put his feet on the steps. His dads were meeting with the Justice League. Just a few of them, true, but it was official and real and they were going to know that Dad Two wasn't the villain they thought he was.
"Conner," Clark warned with a long-suffering sigh contained in Kon's name.
With a guilty glance at his feet, Kon floated back to the ground. Then he left his father behind and ran down the rest of the stairs, leaping when he got to within five steps of each landing. He'd seen normal teenagers doing the same, and it was easier to stay grounded when he was moving fast. An odd combination, that. In normal Earth physics, the opposite was true. Kryptonian physics were definitely not Earth physics. Conner wondered if it was possible to figure out just what laws did govern Kryptonians on Earth.
The Fortress was no help – it knew Kryptonian physics all right... but only as far as they had existed on Krypton, which didn't turn out to be all that different to Earth. The effect of the yellow sun on former red sun inhabitants was something the Fortress had no clue about. Investigating the Kryptonian-Earthian physics was like going back to days of Sir Isaac and the apple. Trying to discover what the very basic building blocks were, not doing the more complex building upon blocks previously discovered.
Thinking about that kept Kon occupied long enough for his dad to make it a normal human's time down the stairs.
"Conner," Clark's voice this time was laced with disapproval.
"So I'm a teenager, sue me," Kon said defiantly. He'd kept to normal human speed and ability that time, really he had.
"This is serious," Clark said. "Not a game." He kept walking through the small lobby and out the door to the city.
Kon watched after his dad for a moment, then followed more soberly. He knew. He knew it was serious. Dad Two thought that his dad, Kon's grandfather, was the devil incarnate, and Conner knew it was true. His early life had been full of evil, as he and his brothers had been trained to kill, practicing against each other against their will. The revelation that it had been his grandfather that had been behind all that sent chills down his spine.
He wanted to destroy that evil, to make his own grandfather pay for the lives of his brothers. Truthfully, he wanted to kill his grandfather the way his grandfather had made him kill his brothers. He knew, though, that killing was wrong and he shouldn't want to. He'd killed enough, he didn't want to kill any more. As a hero-in-training, Kon fought with villains, and he intellectually realized that at some point he might have to kill one of them, but that would be in defense of others. Protecting people, innocent people who didn't know evil the way he'd known evil, was Conner's new life goal. He'd been created to destroy, but he would live to protect.
"I know, Dad," Kon said quietly as he caught up with Clark. "It's just... there's more."
As much as Conner wanted to take down his grandfather, Kon also wanted to see his Dad Two unvilified. He wanted his dads together, to be his parents and for him to live in a home with both of them, secure and loved forever. It was an impossible dream, yet Kon believed it could come true.
Already, his life had come so far, in ways that he and his brothers had never dreamed. He had a father who loved him. He had another one, too. People who loved him and cared for him and would protect him. People who mourned his brothers as much as he did, though they'd never met them. Conner didn't know by what miracle he had been the only clone to survive, and he felt guilty about it sometimes, but there was no point to dwelling upon it. There was only striving to make it all worth it.
Clark didn't verbally reply, but he put his arm around Kon's shoulders and they walked together for awhile like that; a father and son, together.
At the next block over, in an area where a sidewalk scaffolding from a construction zone blocked general sight and there were no people directly around them, Clark sped up to full zoom mode. He ran one quick circle around Conner so that Kon could see him and come up to a similar speed. It was a technique they'd perfected as they learned to work together over the last year. The first few times Clark had speeded up to full speed and taken off, Kon hadn't been able to tell where he'd gone. Kon was almost as fast as Clark, but Clark's reactions were incredible, honed by a lifetime of responding to emergencies. The circling gave Conner a chance to see and join Clark.
Together, they flew up the side of a building, along a path they knew were no security cameras, and they landed on a forgotten balcony to change into their uniforms.
When Conner had found out how many clothing caches Clark had hidden around the city, he realized there was another reason for Clark's standard garb of dorky suits – they all looked the same and nobody would notice when he was wearing something other than he'd had on earlier. Conner had pouted bitterly about having to restrict his variety of t-shirts and the cool jokes on most of them. When Kon had said that out loud, Clark just laughed – apparently for a teenager, appearing in different shirts throughout the same day wasn't all that surprising, for one reason or another. So Conner got to keep his daily wear different designs in the clothes catches and was much happier. His working uniform was the same as his dad's, the Kryptonian version of a policeman's outfit, with the symbol of the House of El. Now that he wasn't brainwashed and had a mind of his own, Kon privately thought it was a bit gaudy, but hey, whatever. He wasn't the one who had to look at it.
They were flying west when the sound of metal crunching and a cry caught their attention. A forklift had run into the load it was supposed to be lifting and had crumpled it, trapping two of the spotters. Superboy immediately dropped down to help, only noticing after he'd rescued the first man that his dad was a few seconds behind him.
After Superman got the second person to safety, he flew up in the sky without reassuring the people or waiting for any thanks. Kon blinked, then quickly made his own farewells and dashed to catch up.
"What's up, Dad?" Superboy asked as he pulled alongside.
"We have to get to the meeting." Superman grimaced as he saw a traffic accident. "Oh for heaven's sake, people, drive safer!" he muttered under his breath as he dove down to help.
A few more minutes of assistance, and they were on their way again.
"Dad, the meeting's not for another three hours! I thought we were going to patrol first."
Clark glanced wryly at him. "Kon, they're professional paranoids. I can almost guarantee that they're all going to be early. And I want to be there first."
"Three hours early?" Not that Conner didn't believe his dad, but...
"Lex probably had Mercy or Hope stationed out there as soon as Oracle sent us the coordinates yesterday."
Okay, Kon had to give his dad that one as a certainty. Dad Two totally would have. But the rest were heroes.
"I mostly want to be there before Hawkman shows up," Superman admitted. "If he and Lex are there on their own... there may not be any survivors if we get there afterwards."
Superboy sped up his flying and ignored a fire that the firemen were already taking care of.
They flew over roads leading east out of town. While they knew the universal coordinates, road directions were still easier to use when flying, going by the lines and patterns below. Clark sometimes would go into raptures over how the advent of readily available satellite images combined with road maps had been a big boon to him in figuring out where things were before flying out. Kon couldn't even imagine trying to find things without them. The slide rule of flying heroism.
When they came to the smaller roads that weren't as easily seen from above, Kon let his dad lead. He wasn't sure what Clark was using for guidance, but he seemed to know his way. Slide rules were apparently good for flying blind. They were roughly a couple hundred miles out from Metropolis at this point. That was... probably a few hours drive for normal people. Conner wasn't quite sure, not being all that familiar with car speeds and driving times.
"Have you been here before?" Kon asked, curious.
Clark shook his head. "Oracle picked the location. I checked, it's a private resort in the woods, doesn't seem to be connected to any of us. Haven't been there, though. I almost went by last night," he admitted wryly, "but I didn't want to interfere with whatever patrols Hope or Mercy were doing."
Conner closed his mouth on a remark about who was a professional paranoid. Though he supposed in Superman's line of work, it was to be expected. After all, Lex ambushed him on regular occasions, not to mention the other villains. Dad Two had even told Kon about some of his successes attacking Superman, barely containing his satisfaction and glee while Conner was hard put to keep his horror repressed. Kon had weird parents.
They landed by a nice lodge-type building. It was single story, with ramps leading to the doors; a rustic look combined with modern efficiency.
"Hi, Hope," Kon greeted the pretty blonde bodyguard. She probably wouldn't thank him for using those terms when thinking of her. Then again, she was the one who had said her breasts were a useful distraction to attackers.
"Superboy," she greeted him coolly in return, stepping from the side of the building where she'd been mostly hidden. She nodded at his dad. "Superman."
"Hope," Clark returned the coolness.
Conner rolled his eyes. Much more of this and the weather would be in the Arctic.
"Lex is on his way," Hope informed them. "Be warned, I will tolerate no tricks."
Conner's, "It's us, Hope," ran over Clark's serious agreement.
Hope shook her head in disapproval at Kon, then turned to continue her patrol around the building.
Clark went into the building without saying anything else. Kon stayed out for an extra minute, looking at the cedar and elm trees around them and admiring the setup. They weren't all that far out from a town, yet from here, one didn't know it. There were birds in the trees, a constant background sound that Conner heartily approved of. He liked this even more than the farm. No cows, for one thing.
Eventually, Conner went in, only to stop short with his feet barely over the threshold.
"Wonder Woman?" he asked incredulously, though she was very clearly standing there talking to Clark.
"Superboy." She greeted him with a genuine smile.
Kon had always liked her, from the moment he'd first been surrounded by super heroes all pissed off because he'd tried to kill his dad. Wonder Woman had been one of the few not judging him. His dad, of course, had been the main one, and Kon's focus had been on him, not the others, yet he'd never forgotten the others.
He'd liked her even better when he found out Wonder Woman liked Lex. That was a rarity among the heroes. Conner cleared his throat. "Hi. Um, aren't you a bit early?"
"I wanted to get here before Hawkman."
Kon stared at her in disbelief, then he turned to face his father. Superman spread out his hands in a "I didn't set this up" gesture.
"Also, I was putting up the defenses." Wonder Woman gestured around them where there was nothing.
Almost nothing. Conner blinked a few times, turned his head to one side, and finally saw a faint shimmering in the air. Great. Magic. He hated magic, it made no sense. "Is Lex going to be okay with that?"
Wonder Woman smiled. "I cleared it with Hope first."
"Luthor likes magic," Superman sighed, sitting down in one of the low leather chairs. "He was even going out with a sorceress for awhile. Personally, I would have thought it would make him even more paranoid, something he can't control or predict."
Kon had been wondering the same, yet hearing it spoken made it snap into place. "Another mystery to explore..."
Clark glanced up, eyes narrowing. "He does like his mysteries," he agreed, an old bitterness in the words.
His dads really had a lot of history to work through. Conner was frankly surprised they'd gotten as far as they had so quickly. Though he was happy they had. It had seemed like forever while it was happening. It still was, to a certain extent. They were together, but awkward moments made up more of the time than real connections. Conner could see every time Lex bit back sharp remarks and the way that Clark tiptoed around Lex just made Lex madder. There were the heated looks they didn't try and hide now, but there was also silence and recriminations. Still, it was more than they'd had before, and Kon was hopeful.
Wonder Woman broke the lengthening pause. "Technically, the protections are religious. So metaphysical, yes, but not magical."
Conner and Clark both stared at her, though Conner was the one to ask. "What's the difference?"
She laughed, a light chiming sound that was nothing like Cassie's hardy rich tones. She ran the fingers of her right hand over her left bracer, then dropped her hand down to her whip. "Magic generally is a type of science – if the properties are correct, and the conduits of the right material, you go through the steps and something occurs. In religion, though, I'm not the one performing the acts directly. Instead, I ask the Goddesses if something can be done, and if they agree, then it can happen. Sometimes, they ask first and I am the conduit. However, it's not always the same."
In other words, religion was gobbly gook. The first part, though... "Magic is science?" Conner hadn't ever thought about it that way. But if there were rules and properties... "Huh."
"Oh, now you've done it," Clark said with resignation, the words directed to Wonder Woman.
She merely looked serene. "Once things are not as mysterious, they are no longer as frightening. Of course, the channels that magic can take are different depending on what properties have come to Earth and who can interact with them. Now that science is well-established, both magic and the gods are starting to return."
Superman straightened up in the seat where he'd been lounging. "I don't like the sound of that."
Wonder Woman shrugged. "Haven't you wondered 'why now?' Why there are so many mutations, so many differences, so many things the world had never heard of before?" She casually leaned against an empty wall. "The world is returning to how it used to be, though things will not be the same as before. Humans have evolved and grown, and the response to such things will likewise not be the same." Her fingers went around her bracers again, slipping over the metal with a determined movement. "Don't worry, though, there will be time."
"Time for what?" Superman asked, his gaze intent.
"Time to adjust, time for them to slip in slowly, time for people to learn along the way." She gestured between herself and Superman. "We are the first generation." The motion of her hand then singled out Kon. "They are the next. There will be more following. Earth and the universe adjusts, and so do their children."
"You don't normally..." Superman hesitated over a word, finally choosing with a slight frown that suggested it wasn't ideal but would do. "... discuss things like this."
Diana pushed off the wall and paced around the room.
Conner noticed that there was a lot of space for her movement. From what he'd seen and the artificial memories he had, most sitting rooms were crowded with furniture, tastefully designed, but not sparse like this. Normal rooms gave options of places to sit, with tables and knickknacks everywhere. This room was simultaneously luxurious and bare. The leather seats were wide and comfortable, speaking of a richness Kon only saw in Dad Two's office, but there weren't that many of the chairs, and there were wide open spaces between. The walls had forest and animal paintings, but they were placed high up, leaving the walls where a person would stand free and clear. There wasn't even the all-important coffee table in the middle, just a few lamp tables near the chairs.
A place designed for fighting? There would certainly be the space for it. He narrowed his eyes, picturing a fight with Hawkman and Mercy within the room. Maneuvering space for both of them, yet they would probably contained enough for the others to intervene.
"Times change, people change." Diana's hands restlessly moved around her body, not settling. "In the Amazonian culture, I am no longer a maiden, and that means a shift in my learning and my duties. A warrior will not be all that I am."
Clark snorted softly. "It never was."
Diana stopped pacing and they shared a glance together; a look full of memories and experiences, past times that Kon knew nothing about. The basics might be in Legion histories, but what the two heroes had been through together would always be only theirs alone.
History and memory. Two things Conner didn't have a lot of on his own. He was trying, but he felt the weight of his youth and his inexperience. A couple of years out of the tubes, and barely a year in the real world wasn't a lot to draw upon. Every moment he was in now had to count for the fourteen he'd not really lived.
The moment passed and Diana settled into a recliner diagonal to the door that faced the outside windows. From that spot, she had a direct line to the door and could see the rest of the room easily. She tucked her feet under her and relaxed, looking very like Cassie as she did so.
"So," Conner perched on a chair arm on the opposite diagonal. He could see anybody coming in the door and Diana easily, but Clark was behind him and others could get so. He wasn't worried about his back with Dad behind him. "Gods. Is Zeus really Cassie's dad? What's he like? Outside the myths, that is?"
With a laugh, Diana answered, and the talk turned to myths and realities. Deep in the discussion, minutes ticked by, not unnoticed, but at least not painfully slow.
At one point, Conner caught a wistful look on Clark's face. While continuing to listen to Diana, Kon thought about it. It looked like Dad's Lex-thinking expression. But what did Dad Two have to do with Amazons?
At the next opportunity, he asked a little hesitantly, still not sure why it would matter. "Should we wait for DT to talk about this? I mean, it's not business, but..."
"DT?" Diana raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, Lex. Lex, I meant." Kon hadn't actually thought up a good secondary explanation for the DT yet. He hoped Wonder Woman wouldn't ask.
"Everybody needs a nickname," she remarked mildly. Then she grinned. "I assure you, Lex Luthor and I have already had this discussion and many, many more like it. Any time I'm near, he asks me about the mythologies. Unlike most scholars, he doesn't mind learning that most of what he knows is wrong."
At that, Clark snorted, almost but not quite muttering something under his breath. An aborted thought before it became actual words.
The wistful look had, though, gone away. At least Kon had done something right there.
The sound of steps on the wooden ramp and porch outside caught everybody's attention and they turned to look at the door. With all the wood construction on this place, it would be hard to sneak up without flying powers. Kon glanced at the clock on the wall. Still two hours early.
The door opened and in came Hope, with Lex behind her and Mercy bringing up the end of the train.
Looked like Dad had been right. Kon rolled his eyes. Two hours before the meeting... If they weren't there, what was Dad Two going to have done? Played poker with Hope and Mercy?
All three of the newcomers were scanning the room, ticking off the people inside and visually assessing the hazards. None of them, not even Lex, acknowledged Conner by so much as an extra nod or a pause when seeing him. Instead, Hope peeled off to an inside door, opening it and stepping inside the corridor that presumably lead to the rest of the lodge. She didn't go any further, though, just stood there assessing it as well, before turning back to the room, angling so she could also see down the hall.
Lex took a step forward and to one side, removing himself from the direct line of the door, while his attention flicked back over the room again and then settled on the people. There was the brief pause of eye contact that Kon had been missing, though Lex didn't maintain it long before he nodded to Wonder Woman then focused on Superman. His expression was still and careful, not showing a lot of anything.
After the scan through the room, Mercy also stepped to one side, on the opposite side of the door from Lex. After assessing Kon and Superman, her gaze went to Wonder Woman.
All is clear.
Greetings.
Conner blinked. He had caught the dialog but not in sound. In sound, Lex was saying "Superman," with dripping scorn. Conner almost turned around to see Dad's expression, but the more interesting expressions to watch right now were between Mercy and Wonder Woman.
How have you been? That from Wonder Woman.
Did you set protection? Mercy ignored Wonder Woman's question and responded with something else.
At least Kon thought it was something else. Wonder Woman's question could have been, 'How is the situation' but he was pretty sure it was personal. He wasn't quite so sure about Mercy's question about 'protection' either – it was strange, not something he and his brothers had discussed much. The scientists hadn't let them talk to each other, they'd been punished for speaking outside the trials, though they'd done so anyhow. Instead of speaking, they had relied more on expression, focus, a twitch of a hand, a slight turn of the body, a dip of an eyelid. They could 'talk' quite well to each other without speech. All of them did it, and they had done it every day.
Conner hadn't seen its like since the rest of the clones were killed. Not until today.
I did. X..y and X..y are both interested in this meeting. Are you well?
Kon blinked several times. He hadn't picked up the names at all. He was sure they were names, and names both were familiar with, but whatever they were, they were outside his frame of reference. He was concentrating so hard on trying to figure out what Diana and Mercy were saying that he completely ignored whatever Clark and Lex were talking about. Their exchanges were white noise to the focus Conner had on the silent conversation.
Mercy's lips twitched in what might have been a smile. A pre-smile. Or something. I survive. What about--- Somebody listens.
The conversation stopped abruptly and both women turned to face him, expressions now still and silent, not saying anything at all.
Conner kept blinking. He looked from Mercy to Wonder Woman to Mercy to... "Oh my God..." he breathed. "Mercy's an Amazon!"
There was a sudden collective silence within the room, a stillness that went deeper than people not talking and became that of the moment before a fight, where everything was readied and waiting for the next moment.
Lex moved so he was slightly in front of Mercy, as if he was protecting her. His eyes were molten lead, boiling with anger and all directed towards Kon.
Kon flinched.
Hope cleared her throat, "Just because somebody has black hair and blue eyes, doesn't automatically make them an Amazon."
With a slightly guilty relief, Kon stopped looking at the angry eyes of his father and took another look at Mercy and then at Diana. He hadn't even noticed it originally, but they did really look a lot alike. More than just the hair and eyes. There was the high cheek bones, a similar small nose, ear swirls, angles of the eye creases... Woah. Mercy had slightly darker skin, but other than the short hair cut on Mercy versus the long hair on Wonder Woman, there weren't a lot of difference. They could be sisters, though not clones. How had nobody noticed this before? Kon looked back to Lex, who hadn't relaxed an inch and his fury saturated the air.
"Um..." Conner faltered. Under Lex's intense disapproval, Kon desperately wanted to back down, to retreat and do something, anything to just make Dad Two less angry at him. Instead, he felt himself floating upwards, towards the ceiling before he caught himself. By the time he recovered, he was backed into the far wall, tucked into a corner of the ceiling. Below him, his first dad was folding his arms across his chest in classic Superman pose, but Conner couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Superman was either preparing a defense of Kon or he was another person against him. Kon gulped, pretty sure nobody was on his side. He'd really screwed up.
"Was." A cool, crisp, unemotional voice broke into the newly gathering silence. All eyes went to Mercy, who looked just as calm as her voice. She took a step forward so that Lex was no longer in front of her. "The appropriate verb in that sentence should have been, "was an Amazon"."
Hope turned to gape at her, quickly controlling the expression and smothering out her surprise, but her first reaction couldn't be undone. Likewise, Superman blinked and dropped his pose, his startled glance going to Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman sighed.
Mercy shrugged. "One way or the other, this was the time. That one," she nodded up in Conner's direction, "reads our silent language, and speaks it too, though with a strange accent." She looked at him with calculation on her face. Then she seemed to figure it out. "Your brothers. In the laboratory. That's how you communicated."
Mercy was the first person other than his two dads who called his siblings his brothers. Most everybody else, if they referred to them at all, said, "the clones" or "the others". Conner made himself float back to the ground. Experimentally, he tried to talk to Mercy. You understand?
She nodded. Amazons are sisters too, and we were captives long ago.
Diana nodded right after Mercy, the two gestures almost equal and rather eerie. We do not forget. "But we should speak out loud."
"How does one get to be an ex-Amazon?" Conner wondered. He was very carefully not looking at either of his dads. Dad Two was still silently furious, only restrained by Mercy's touch to his arm. Dad One... Conner couldn't see him now without turning, and he didn't want to.
Mercy grinned without humor. "I was exiled when I was thirteen for killing my sisters."
Diana rolled her eyes. "You chose exile, and it was a training accident."
"Thirteen?" Clark asked with disbelief and disapproval laced through his voice.
Conner edged sideways so he could see Dad. This wasn't going to be everybody dog-piling on him, apparently. He breathed out a small sigh of relief. A sharp glare from Dad Two had him stiffening in apprehension again. There might be another conversation going on, but he'd not been forgotten.
"Romeo and Juliet were getting married and killed at thirteen," Diana replied impatiently.
Clark cleared his throat. "Actually, Romeo's age wasn't specified, and Juliet was sixteen in the original poem – Shakespeare lowered her age for the play. Probably so that young boys could play the role."
"Thank you, oh literary major," Diana said dryly. "The point I was making is that Amazons are a very old culture, and our people are trained much younger than yours. You people waste half your youth for nothing; it seems more of a way for so called "adults" to keep privileges to themselves more than protecting the young. I left the island when I was sixteen, and I was fully vested in all the Maiden's rites. The elders would not have ordered exile for her punishment, but neither would they deny it when it was chosen."
"You take all the fun out of a tragic tale," Mercy retorted. "I chose exile because I wasn't a Goody Two-Shoes, nor did I want to be. This world suits me better."
"So how many Amazonian exiles are there?" Superman asked warily.
"None that you know of," Diana archly replied.
"So if thirteen and sixteen are okay," Kon couldn't help interjecting, "Why am I still a kid at fourteen?"
"A year old. And still very, very much a child," Lex spoke for the first time, his anger not having diminished at all.
Maybe bringing their attention back to him wasn't such a hot idea.
"You are a destructive menace. Perhaps not to yourself, but definitely to all those around you. Do you even think before you speak?" Scorn dripped from the last sentence. Lex's voice didn't raise, and his volume didn't get louder. It just made his words all the more biting.
Kon cringed, feeling each word
"Mercy," Lex said coldly, "Deal with him."
Mercy's grin was scary. Dad Two's anger was scarier. Conner gulped.
"Do you, Superboy, know what you have done to me?" Mercy asked, a dark eyebrow raising up and taking aim at him.
Done to Mercy? Conner was confused.
"By revealing that which was held close, you've possibly lost me my best friend in this land," Mercy nodded towards an impassive Hope, "who now knows I've been lying to her for over a decade. You could have cost me my employment, and even my life, had not Lex already been aware of my origins."
He didn't lose his grip on gravity, but it was a near thing. "I'm sorry," Kon whispered.
Hope snorted. "That is what domestic abusers say, and honestly think they mean, right before they go back to beating those they love."
Mercy and Diana both nodded at Hope's remark and even Clark didn't look convinced at Conner's apology. But he'd meant it!
"You have apologized before for other slips. Yet you do not curb your tongue upon the next occasion." Mercy continued. "Beyond me, you have caused Superman to doubt his best ally, Wonder Woman, and to question all Amazons. If you had blurted out what you did when Oracle or Hawkman were here, the rift would be greater and the doubt for all we do would have been turned into a conspiracy. Lionel Luthor would no longer exist and they would think all that we were here to tell to be a deeper plot by Lex Luthor, that no Amazon could be trusted again, despite all that Wonder Woman has done. It would have driven a stronger wedge than any Lionel could have imagined between our groups."
Conner felt a little dazed. "But you said this was a good group to reveal it to!"
"You little twerp!" Mercy took a few rapid steps forward and grabbed his ear, twisting it.
"Ow! Owowowo..." Conner was abruptly grounded with the pain. He rose up on his toes to escape it but couldn't leave the ground.
"Listen! Do you want to get your friends killed?" Mercy hissed in his face, almost spitting. "You've got a scholarship meeting coming up... if you see somebody you know there, are you going to give them away? You won't say anything, but you'll smirk at each other and you'll go up and greet each other with laughs in your voices, and every. single. person. who sees you will know something is up. Every other kid, every parent, every reporter, every criminal."
Superman broke in, asking, "Criminal?"
Conner couldn't see anything but Mercy in his face, the twist on his ear keeping him in his place, but he heard Dad Two's voice, now slightly mocking. "You'll have to ask my counterpart in Gotham about that. Either his background checks aren't as good as mine, or he doesn't care that several of the Wayne Scholarship recipients have less than legal parents or guardians."
"Goddamn it..." Clark growled.
"Games," Diana sighed. "I hate games. At least those type."
"I can't say I'm too happy at this one myself either," Lex echoed Clark's growl. "I'll be watching."
Mercy paused while they were talking, then resumed, with an extra pinch bringing fresh pain that brought Kon's attention back to her. "If those who watched and saw don't do something right then, then the next day, or the day after. And perhaps not directly to your friend, but to their dad, their mom, their sibling... somebody without powers, without training. Somebody who knows nothing, but just is in the way or a way to somebody else."
The pain was adding another layer to Mercy's words, as minor as it was. Tim's parents were still alive, and it was a real concern. "Tim's careful!"
"And you are not!!" Mercy shoved Conner up against the wall, not losing her grip on his ear. "I didn't say his name!"
Conner cringed as much as he was able to while someone was holding him up against the wall with one hand on his ear. "I'm sorry!"
Mercy snorted in disbelief, reminding Conner just how many times he'd said that before.
"Permission to have this idiot for the upcoming week," she requested in a flat angry tone. Conner couldn't look away from the icy stare.
"Granted," Lex said in tones that matched Mercy's stare. "Hope, you will also work with them. I want him taught, and I want it done before that meeting."
"You have plans," Hope said, not protesting, but simply stating.
"I will change them," Lex said. "I will stay in Lex Corp tower and people will come to me, for as long as it takes the both of you to knock some sense into that one."
The non-use of Kon's name was perhaps the most hurtful thing about it; as if Conner wasn't really a person anymore. And that from his Dad Two. Kon couldn't help the sound of protest out of his throat, and he turned to look involuntarily at the one person left who still loved him.
Superman's arms were folded across his chest and there was a frown upon his face. Kon knew his dad wouldn't let anything happen to him and he started to relax.
"I agree," Clark said. His eyes were shaded green, not the blue of the superhero, but his voice was just as inflexible as Kon's other dad.
"When you're done with him," Wonder Woman said dryly, "Can you train the other Teen Titans?"
"When Mercy and Hope are done with him," Lex replied, "he will train the others. They look to him, and he will teach them. Either that, or he will kill them. There are no other paths."
KN-5's protest this time was silent but even more heartfelt. He'd killed his brothers before. He never would again.
Then learn. Mercy replied just as silently, yet inflexible and solid.
She let him go. Gravity held Kon for a moment, dropping him downwards before it released him completely and he floated instead. He caught himself before he went up too far and returned to the middle ground.
"Dad?" Conner said, not believing still.
Clark sighed. "Kon, we love you, but you still have a few miles to go in what's appropriate behavior and what's not. Sometimes, I think you think this is all a dream, a fantasy that you made up while captive and all this is not real and you can do what you want. It is real, and we love you and won't ever let you go. But part of life is discipline, and judgment, and learning. You love to learn... but you don't seem to want to apply the discipline or judgment."
There had been more than enough of discipline in the lab.
Discipline is neither good nor bad. It just is. Wonder Woman unsaid serenely.
"Very useful, Diana," Mercy snorted. "Look, twerp..." she paused and then she shook her head. "No. If you don't get it yet, talking at you won't change that. You need practical and you need example." She looked at him grimly. "You'll get both this week."
There was another collective silence, with all eyes on Kon and Kon afraid to say anything.
"Alright," Lex broke the silence. "Now that we have that taken care of... Mercy."
Mercy left Kon and turned to face Lex, her posture partially angled from Kon but he could still see her face. "Yes, sir?" She looked ready for action, for another assignment.
"Show me your hands."
Conner blinked. He blinked again when instead of a confused expression similar to his or Wonder Woman's, Mercy's face read in the silent language a clear and distinct, Oh shit.
She held her hands out, palms up.
"Other direction," Lex said dryly.
With a sigh, Mercy flipped her hands palms down. Everybody stared at her hands. Somewhat meaty, they were working hands, made for gripping and grappling and strength, not elegance alone. Mercy apparently didn't totally distain all the female trappings, though in her own gothy way with black fingernail polish and a single cool ring, silver-looking, mostly smooth around her left ring finger with a black stone set in a cross-hatch pattern.
Lex made a disgusted sound. "Do I even need to ask what's mixed inside that polish?"
Conner gave it another look. The black was glittering. Glittering faintly with... green? He finally connected all the dots and with an involuntary eeping sound, he darted backwards, as far from Mercy as he could get, coming up next to his dad.
Clark gave Kon a wry look but didn't say anything.
"Hope," Lex said grimly, "hold out your hands."
Her face perfectly expressionless, Hope held them out, showing that she had the same polish on.
"What the bloody hell were you two thinking?!" Lex exploded. It was a more volatile anger than his freezing distain at Kon. This was a volcano blowing up, heat and lava burning through, with sound and fury and a rage barely contained. "We're in a meeting with Superman and Superboy and you're wearing kryptonite polish? That they don't even notice until you twist his ear? What possible good did you think it might be?!"
"We could rake the nails over his eyes," Hope said matter of factly. "It would buy you some time."
Superman winced. So did Conner.
"With Wonder Woman and Hawkman here too?" Lex shook his head. "I let you have the bullets because they are shielded while inside the gun. I occasionally let you practice with other weapons because we have to be prepared in case of an emergency. This..." Lex seemed to struggle for words for a moment before finishing with, "this is beyond ridiculous. Have you forgotten what kryptonite is? It's dangerous!"
Mercy and Hope didn't shrug, but it was a near thing. Their body language read complete indifference to Lex's words, though they were focused on him.
"Damn you both," Lex said tightly. He pulled out his cell phone and turned it on.
Wonder Woman quickly made a gesture in the air and the faint sparkles around the room disappeared.
Lex shook his head and then punched a speed dial. "Justice. I want Mercy and Hope's access to kryptonite cut off. Both the raw materials and the working labs. Unless I am with them, they are no longer allowed in any Stage One areas."
Mercy and Hope made identical protesting sounds. It sounded very similar to Conner's earlier. Cautiously, Kon looked away from the scene for a moment to his Dad. Superman didn't notice, his attention focused on Lex with an expression very like hope on his face, his hands clenched and his feet hovering an inch above the ground.
"Also, they're both to have full cellular workups done tonight. Arrange for the technicians to stay late and make this their highest priority." Lex didn't look away from his bodyguards, splitting his attention equally between them despite their separate positions in the room. It was a neat trick and Conner wished he could do it.
Lex nodded to something Justice said, and Kon belatedly sharpened his hearing. "... Lab Seven in the Tower." Justice's deep voice chuckled over the phone connection, "I told them the bracelets were a bad idea."
"Bracelets?" Lex's anger seemed to have reached a plateau and his voice became a solid growl. "I want you to go through their workshops and their rooms and confiscate any and all items they might have made. You personally. I don't care what else you're doing. This is your highest priority for the day and tomorrow as well if needed. Take what resources you need to neutralize any traps they might have. If you need them present, you'll have them and me as well, but I want their rooms cleared tonight!"
Lex angrily punched off the call and he addressed his minions directly. "I would twist your ears if I thought it would help! Idiots! You two are supposed to be the brightest and the best! What were you thinking!?"
There was no answer, not that Conner thought any answer would be accepted anyhow. It was amazing how similar his own position earlier had been to theirs now.
"Kryptonite kills!" Lex shouted, his pale face reddening. "It mutates, it disrupts cells, it changes your life! What good do you think you'll do me dead?" He started to pace against the outer wall, his body still angled towards theirs. Like a swimming side stroke, only walking, and much more violently.
"I know you think you'll get a mutation that might help. Do I really have to quote you the odds? The statistics? How many people get cancer or an uncontrollable jitter? That even if it's something that you can control, how it destroys people? The cat's paw effect will never, ever, give you one thing alone, and it's the second part that rips people apart. How good of a bodyguard will you be if you can't be near me anymore? What if somebody targets me while you're adjusting? What if your mutation is not something that can be hidden? What do you think my dad will do if he finds out what you have done?"
Lex's pacing halted abruptly and his eyes narrowed, his gaze going to first one then the other. "Did somebody say something to you that pushed you into this casual attitude?"
For the first time, Mercy and Hope looked away from Lex, exchanging startled glances.
"Idiots," Lex said, but much softer. "And over what? Protecting me from Superman?" He snorted and then turned his back to the room, walking to one of the windows and staring outside. "When we get back, you'll both report to Justice. And then you'll each write me a twenty-page report on case studies of adverse kryptonite affects, enumerating in detail."
"Yes, sir." First Hope, then Mercy acknowledged their orders.
Lex waited a moment before accepting it. He looked at Conner, "This does not negate your own stupidity. You will still report next week for training, and you will learn the dangers. You are a hazard, and they are still the best, despite other mistakes. Theirs was from an excess of desire to protect. Yours is pure carelessness and a failure to acknowledge reality."
"I know reality!" Kon protested.
Lex shook his head. "You know evil, and horrors most people have never even dreamed of. This gives you a weight of experience, but it's not the same. I agree with Superman on that." He raised his right hand to waist level and sliced it through the air, palm down. "This discussion is done. Until you learn, you'll just keep repeating the same. We will talk about it tomorrow at your first session."
His gaze moved to the left of Conner. "Do you have anything to say?" The words and voice both were a challenge to Superman.
Clark moved from his position next to Kon, taking several rapid steps forward until he was directly in front of Lex, in his personal space. Lex didn't move his body, but he tilted his head up to keep meeting Superman's eyes.
"You are magnificent," Clark breathed, then leaned in and kissed Lex.
Lex stiffened, his whole body registering outrage and denial. Clark didn't push the kiss and lifted his head with the rejection, but he didn't move away. One of his hands cautiously touched the side of Lex's face with the gentlest of contacts.
"If you think I said that just for your approval..." Lex bit out furiously, his words tight and clipped. Yet he didn't move back and he didn't push Clark's hand away.
"No," Clark said, low and tender. "No, I don't think that." He kissed Lex again, moving slowly in and giving Lex opportunity to pull away if he wanted to.
Instead, Lex allowed it, his body relaxing in millimeters until he was returning the kiss.
The hand that Clark had on Lex's face caressed gently as he reached to hold Lex, big hand on the back of Lex's neck, fingers spanning upward to cradle Lex's head.
Mercy cleared her throat, "I'm going to go check the perimeter."
"I'll come with you," Diana stood up from the recliner quickly, without looking like she was hurrying. "I have to reset the protections."
"I'll check the interior," Hope said, edging back towards the door.
Kon didn't care; he was enjoying watching his parents together. Lex had finally reached a hand up to return the gesture, but he didn't wrap it all the way around, simply leaving his fingers resting on the edge of Superman's cape. Not even really touching Clark directly except through the kiss.
"Superboy." Hope's summons was low but definitive. When Kon looked over to her, she gestured for him to follow her.
He did so, with a final look back. When the door closed behind them, he demanded, "What?"
Hope looked at him in exasperation. "Privacy. We're giving them some privacy." She started off down the corridor, making sure he was following and checking each of the side doors as they walked.
Conner blinked. "Why?"
Hope opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, then shook her head. "Because that's polite. People do intimate things between each other without an audience."
"They started it," Conner pointed out.
"Superman started it," Hope replied. "And if we didn't leave, Lex would stop it. Because it's too revealing. Particularly with others watching."
"We all know they're together!"
They reached the end of the corridor and were at another exit to the outside. Hope opened it and went out. She observed with some acidity, "You know, most teenagers don't like watching their parents kiss."
Kon snorted as he followed. "I worked hard to get them together! Why would I be upset at them making out now? I think it's great and they need to do it more."
With a sigh, Hope threw her hands up.
Outside on the patio, twirling her lasso, Diana chuckled. "He has a point."
"He has his own point," Mercy said. "That's not the whole of everything." The ex-Amazon was sitting on the railing, with one leg drawn up and her hand resting lightly on her gun. The black fingernail polish glittered in the sunlight.
Conner frowned. "What? Is it too weird? Am I too different? Would that stand out as an odd thing for a human teenager?" He didn't worry about it too often, but sometimes it didn't seem like he fit in well enough.
The loop that Wonder Woman was creating on her lasso spiraled wider as she twirled the rope higher. "It's odd, but it's not too different. There is no 'normal'. People talk about it, but it doesn't really exist. There is a range of patterns and behaviors based on cultural training and upbringing, but it differs between individuals and their parents, their social situations, their natural inclinations, and experiences. Normal is a myth."
The rope was now impossibly long and the loop expanding to wider than the building. Kon stared at it. Cassie's lasso didn't do that. At least, he hadn't seen it do that.
"Your..." Wonder Woman paused briefly in a hunt for a word. "...indifference to social niceties can easily be interpreted by people as part of being a nerd."
"Hey!" It was true that Kon hadn't been out in the world for very long, but he knew that 'nerd' was an insult. Associated with thick glasses and wimpy kids with no sense of coolness or fun. Rather like his dad's normal persona, actually. And like some of the scholarship kids. Conner felt a little pang of guilt for applying the label himself to others.
"Smart, slightly removed from the world, concentrating too hard on other things like math or physics to notice that a social boundary has been overstepped." Wonder Woman continued to play out the line.
"Or was even there to start with." Mercy squinted up. "How high are you going to make that?"
"As high as they tell me to. We're containing more than just traditional surveillance but also the force of emotions and feelings that can be sensed. I was originally thinking of the fireworks when Hawkman and Luthor meet, but I think I'd better also adjust it for Superman and Luthor."
Hope chuckled. Mercy rolled her eyes.
"I was worse than you when I first came out from the island," Wonder Woman said, her words directed again to Conner. "Despite all my studies of the worlds outside, I was unprepared for the reality. I could fight, and I could work, but they all saw I was different. Steve protected me and explained what he could. Fitting in, though, was beyond both of us. The war distracted people from looking too close, but more even than that was that people are used to some oddities. If something's not right, there's an explanation – "that's just Diana" – it's not because of aliens or mythologies. It's something different, but not a thing to be concerned about."
"If," Mercy put in, "you're in a big city or a mixed population where people were all raised differently, others are used to there being some differences. The mixing bowl mixes all sorts and differences are normal. If you tried to insert yourself into a tight community where beliefs and patterns of behavior are rigidly conformed to, it would be more noticeable and feared."
Hope made an inquiring sound in her throat, soft enough to be ignored if nobody wanted to acknowledge it.
Mercy stared at Hope, a wistful expression flitting across her face. My sister... will you forgive?
Conner was suddenly overwhelmed in memories of the arena after one or the other of them would come out with blood on their hands and the knowledge of what they had done. The words were identical, the feelings unmistakable. They had betrayed a brother. Conditioning or no conditioning, it was still on their hands. Would they still be accepted by the others? Where did the lines get drawn? If ever. How far would siblings forgive and still love?
Hope didn't react to the words, and Conner realized that she couldn't hear them, didn't know what Mercy had said, didn't know how she felt. She wasn't an Amazon. Conner really had torn something apart with his careless words, and he didn't know if he could ever put it right.
"After the island," Mercy finally said out loud, "I went to Gotham. They didn't care about social differences there. They only cared about power and how well you could fight. When it got too hot for me there, I came to Metropolis. The Slums was the place that felt the most like home by then. Accepted for ability and not judged by an external standard. I could live there, accepted for what I could do, not defined by what I wasn't. Eventually, Lex brought me out, and he protects me, prevents any from seeing too close." She paused at the end, looking but not looking at Hope.
"I'm glad you made it," Hope spoke softly, the tone uncertain.
A word Wonder Woman spoke jerked all three of their attention to her and off anything else. The word was something that Conner couldn't wrap his mind around, and he didn't think he'd be able to duplicate the sound. It was definitely and recognizably a word, yes, but nothing he'd heard before.
Blue light ran up the lasso and jumped off the top of the spiral, flowing out and down, encasing them and the house in a fading dome of sparks.
A second word shot a ray of orange up the same path, the light interacting with the fading remnants of the other. A third ray was green, then something dark that somehow still glowed. The power dropped down like mist from a waterfall, their faces upturned to capture it.
Conner shivered, feeling the weight of something beyond him and an attention that was not precisely friendly. Tolerance but wariness. KN-5 was watched – not trusted, but not rejected. Yet. He gulped, shrinking to the side of the house, but that didn't help as it felt the same. Even the ground was absorbing the power, dirt and grass alike.
"That was showy," Mercy remarked calmly.
Wonder Woman shrugged, gathering her lasso back to herself. The lasso was a normal size and color now, though Conner eyed it mistrustfully. "The Goddesses wanted their concern to be noticed."
"Is it safe?" Kon blurted out.
"It is safe." Unexpectedly, it was Hope who answered, her face turned up to the sky and her features content. Mercy watched her with the same wistfulness as before, but this time also with a touch of hope.
Diana hooked the lasso back on her belt.
A sudden thought struck Conner. "Say, does that mean the model trains weren't real?" After he asked the question, Conner wished he hadn't. Or at least not right then. He really did have a tendency not to think first, didn't he? He could have saved that, not butted into whatever was going on now.
Mercy slanted a glance at him. The interruption is not unwelcome. Out loud, she answered, "For your identity? Real enough. You are not the first to have your identity made up out of others', and they just as real as another."
That meant... Conner thought about it for a moment. Mercy's past, her official one, was just like Conner Kent's – designed and planned and thought about, and somebody put themselves into her life, just as the others had put them into his. Lex's bear, Augustus, still sat by Kon's bed. It had become his, just as it had been Lex's before.
He had a desire to know what the previous part of Mercy's tale had been, and what the other significance of trains had been. Who the other person had been, and what they had given. This time, though, he kept his mouth shut. The parts beyond this were only his if they were shared.
This time the interruption was the sound of a car engine, and the rumble of tires over a paved road.
Mercy hopped off the railing, her gun clearing the holster while in mid-air. She touched ground and darted to one side where she was partially protected by the angle of the ramp, yet she had a clear view of everything and could get easily to the door where Lex was.
Hope went the other direction, to the entrance on the side of the house. Her view of the front would be obstructed from that angle, yet she had a clear view of the back of the place. She didn't have her gun out, but her hand was by her ear and Conner suspected some sort of electronics though he hadn't seen any before.
Electronics that worked through whatever Wonder Woman had done? Conner frowned, not understanding how magic, or mythology, worked.
"It's localized," Diana said. "Anything that operates within the confines of the protection is fine. Luthor's phone call was beyond the area. It wouldn't have gone through if I hadn't taken the first one down." She shrugged, "Unless, of course, the Goddesses decided to allow it."
Conner looked at her.
Diana smiled. You asked.
Silently. Kon suddenly realized that he'd been using the language all along, ever since he'd come to live with Clark. Even though there was nobody to respond anymore, he still used it. And that meant... he glared at Wonder Woman. You never said!
Her mouth moved up the tiniest of increments, but her eyes reflected more sadness. Nothing you said before was for me. She'd heard all he said, but had ignored it all, knowing he didn't do so intentionally.
Conner was angry for a moment more, then let it go. He blurted out stuff in his out loud voice all the time. There wasn't anything so different about the silent language. He didn't even think he could stop doing it, it was such a part of him – him and his brothers, though he had no brothers anymore. Diana wasn't quite a sister... but maybe an aunt?
It would be an honor. Diana looked as solemn as her words, giving a weight to his impulse that he hadn't thought of. She quirked a little grin and also conveyed that there didn't need to be any immediate decision. Then she looked away from Kon and watched instead the dark blue van that had pulled up and parked near them.
Kon wasn't quite sure what Pandora box he'd just opened. He thankfully turned as well to the van and gave himself up to the distraction. He'd think about the other later.
Fandom: Smallville/DCU - Characters, Pairing: Conner w/Clex
Rating: PG - Words: 20,523
Type: drama, adventure, au
Warnings: none
Spoilers: none
Summary: Now that Lionel Luthor has been revealed, the League and Lex must make plans... and Conner learns that he has some growing to do.
Notes:
8th in the Conner series, "Not a Villain". (See the Master Post for link and summaries to all stories.) Betas by Ronda and Sue. Cross-posted to Archive of our Own.
Disclaimer: Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
Making Plans
Conner practically bounced down the stairs next to his dad. He was so excited he barely remembered to put his feet on the steps. His dads were meeting with the Justice League. Just a few of them, true, but it was official and real and they were going to know that Dad Two wasn't the villain they thought he was.
"Conner," Clark warned with a long-suffering sigh contained in Kon's name.
With a guilty glance at his feet, Kon floated back to the ground. Then he left his father behind and ran down the rest of the stairs, leaping when he got to within five steps of each landing. He'd seen normal teenagers doing the same, and it was easier to stay grounded when he was moving fast. An odd combination, that. In normal Earth physics, the opposite was true. Kryptonian physics were definitely not Earth physics. Conner wondered if it was possible to figure out just what laws did govern Kryptonians on Earth.
The Fortress was no help – it knew Kryptonian physics all right... but only as far as they had existed on Krypton, which didn't turn out to be all that different to Earth. The effect of the yellow sun on former red sun inhabitants was something the Fortress had no clue about. Investigating the Kryptonian-Earthian physics was like going back to days of Sir Isaac and the apple. Trying to discover what the very basic building blocks were, not doing the more complex building upon blocks previously discovered.
Thinking about that kept Kon occupied long enough for his dad to make it a normal human's time down the stairs.
"Conner," Clark's voice this time was laced with disapproval.
"So I'm a teenager, sue me," Kon said defiantly. He'd kept to normal human speed and ability that time, really he had.
"This is serious," Clark said. "Not a game." He kept walking through the small lobby and out the door to the city.
Kon watched after his dad for a moment, then followed more soberly. He knew. He knew it was serious. Dad Two thought that his dad, Kon's grandfather, was the devil incarnate, and Conner knew it was true. His early life had been full of evil, as he and his brothers had been trained to kill, practicing against each other against their will. The revelation that it had been his grandfather that had been behind all that sent chills down his spine.
He wanted to destroy that evil, to make his own grandfather pay for the lives of his brothers. Truthfully, he wanted to kill his grandfather the way his grandfather had made him kill his brothers. He knew, though, that killing was wrong and he shouldn't want to. He'd killed enough, he didn't want to kill any more. As a hero-in-training, Kon fought with villains, and he intellectually realized that at some point he might have to kill one of them, but that would be in defense of others. Protecting people, innocent people who didn't know evil the way he'd known evil, was Conner's new life goal. He'd been created to destroy, but he would live to protect.
"I know, Dad," Kon said quietly as he caught up with Clark. "It's just... there's more."
As much as Conner wanted to take down his grandfather, Kon also wanted to see his Dad Two unvilified. He wanted his dads together, to be his parents and for him to live in a home with both of them, secure and loved forever. It was an impossible dream, yet Kon believed it could come true.
Already, his life had come so far, in ways that he and his brothers had never dreamed. He had a father who loved him. He had another one, too. People who loved him and cared for him and would protect him. People who mourned his brothers as much as he did, though they'd never met them. Conner didn't know by what miracle he had been the only clone to survive, and he felt guilty about it sometimes, but there was no point to dwelling upon it. There was only striving to make it all worth it.
Clark didn't verbally reply, but he put his arm around Kon's shoulders and they walked together for awhile like that; a father and son, together.
At the next block over, in an area where a sidewalk scaffolding from a construction zone blocked general sight and there were no people directly around them, Clark sped up to full zoom mode. He ran one quick circle around Conner so that Kon could see him and come up to a similar speed. It was a technique they'd perfected as they learned to work together over the last year. The first few times Clark had speeded up to full speed and taken off, Kon hadn't been able to tell where he'd gone. Kon was almost as fast as Clark, but Clark's reactions were incredible, honed by a lifetime of responding to emergencies. The circling gave Conner a chance to see and join Clark.
Together, they flew up the side of a building, along a path they knew were no security cameras, and they landed on a forgotten balcony to change into their uniforms.
When Conner had found out how many clothing caches Clark had hidden around the city, he realized there was another reason for Clark's standard garb of dorky suits – they all looked the same and nobody would notice when he was wearing something other than he'd had on earlier. Conner had pouted bitterly about having to restrict his variety of t-shirts and the cool jokes on most of them. When Kon had said that out loud, Clark just laughed – apparently for a teenager, appearing in different shirts throughout the same day wasn't all that surprising, for one reason or another. So Conner got to keep his daily wear different designs in the clothes catches and was much happier. His working uniform was the same as his dad's, the Kryptonian version of a policeman's outfit, with the symbol of the House of El. Now that he wasn't brainwashed and had a mind of his own, Kon privately thought it was a bit gaudy, but hey, whatever. He wasn't the one who had to look at it.
They were flying west when the sound of metal crunching and a cry caught their attention. A forklift had run into the load it was supposed to be lifting and had crumpled it, trapping two of the spotters. Superboy immediately dropped down to help, only noticing after he'd rescued the first man that his dad was a few seconds behind him.
After Superman got the second person to safety, he flew up in the sky without reassuring the people or waiting for any thanks. Kon blinked, then quickly made his own farewells and dashed to catch up.
"What's up, Dad?" Superboy asked as he pulled alongside.
"We have to get to the meeting." Superman grimaced as he saw a traffic accident. "Oh for heaven's sake, people, drive safer!" he muttered under his breath as he dove down to help.
A few more minutes of assistance, and they were on their way again.
"Dad, the meeting's not for another three hours! I thought we were going to patrol first."
Clark glanced wryly at him. "Kon, they're professional paranoids. I can almost guarantee that they're all going to be early. And I want to be there first."
"Three hours early?" Not that Conner didn't believe his dad, but...
"Lex probably had Mercy or Hope stationed out there as soon as Oracle sent us the coordinates yesterday."
Okay, Kon had to give his dad that one as a certainty. Dad Two totally would have. But the rest were heroes.
"I mostly want to be there before Hawkman shows up," Superman admitted. "If he and Lex are there on their own... there may not be any survivors if we get there afterwards."
Superboy sped up his flying and ignored a fire that the firemen were already taking care of.
They flew over roads leading east out of town. While they knew the universal coordinates, road directions were still easier to use when flying, going by the lines and patterns below. Clark sometimes would go into raptures over how the advent of readily available satellite images combined with road maps had been a big boon to him in figuring out where things were before flying out. Kon couldn't even imagine trying to find things without them. The slide rule of flying heroism.
When they came to the smaller roads that weren't as easily seen from above, Kon let his dad lead. He wasn't sure what Clark was using for guidance, but he seemed to know his way. Slide rules were apparently good for flying blind. They were roughly a couple hundred miles out from Metropolis at this point. That was... probably a few hours drive for normal people. Conner wasn't quite sure, not being all that familiar with car speeds and driving times.
"Have you been here before?" Kon asked, curious.
Clark shook his head. "Oracle picked the location. I checked, it's a private resort in the woods, doesn't seem to be connected to any of us. Haven't been there, though. I almost went by last night," he admitted wryly, "but I didn't want to interfere with whatever patrols Hope or Mercy were doing."
Conner closed his mouth on a remark about who was a professional paranoid. Though he supposed in Superman's line of work, it was to be expected. After all, Lex ambushed him on regular occasions, not to mention the other villains. Dad Two had even told Kon about some of his successes attacking Superman, barely containing his satisfaction and glee while Conner was hard put to keep his horror repressed. Kon had weird parents.
They landed by a nice lodge-type building. It was single story, with ramps leading to the doors; a rustic look combined with modern efficiency.
"Hi, Hope," Kon greeted the pretty blonde bodyguard. She probably wouldn't thank him for using those terms when thinking of her. Then again, she was the one who had said her breasts were a useful distraction to attackers.
"Superboy," she greeted him coolly in return, stepping from the side of the building where she'd been mostly hidden. She nodded at his dad. "Superman."
"Hope," Clark returned the coolness.
Conner rolled his eyes. Much more of this and the weather would be in the Arctic.
"Lex is on his way," Hope informed them. "Be warned, I will tolerate no tricks."
Conner's, "It's us, Hope," ran over Clark's serious agreement.
Hope shook her head in disapproval at Kon, then turned to continue her patrol around the building.
Clark went into the building without saying anything else. Kon stayed out for an extra minute, looking at the cedar and elm trees around them and admiring the setup. They weren't all that far out from a town, yet from here, one didn't know it. There were birds in the trees, a constant background sound that Conner heartily approved of. He liked this even more than the farm. No cows, for one thing.
Eventually, Conner went in, only to stop short with his feet barely over the threshold.
"Wonder Woman?" he asked incredulously, though she was very clearly standing there talking to Clark.
"Superboy." She greeted him with a genuine smile.
Kon had always liked her, from the moment he'd first been surrounded by super heroes all pissed off because he'd tried to kill his dad. Wonder Woman had been one of the few not judging him. His dad, of course, had been the main one, and Kon's focus had been on him, not the others, yet he'd never forgotten the others.
He'd liked her even better when he found out Wonder Woman liked Lex. That was a rarity among the heroes. Conner cleared his throat. "Hi. Um, aren't you a bit early?"
"I wanted to get here before Hawkman."
Kon stared at her in disbelief, then he turned to face his father. Superman spread out his hands in a "I didn't set this up" gesture.
"Also, I was putting up the defenses." Wonder Woman gestured around them where there was nothing.
Almost nothing. Conner blinked a few times, turned his head to one side, and finally saw a faint shimmering in the air. Great. Magic. He hated magic, it made no sense. "Is Lex going to be okay with that?"
Wonder Woman smiled. "I cleared it with Hope first."
"Luthor likes magic," Superman sighed, sitting down in one of the low leather chairs. "He was even going out with a sorceress for awhile. Personally, I would have thought it would make him even more paranoid, something he can't control or predict."
Kon had been wondering the same, yet hearing it spoken made it snap into place. "Another mystery to explore..."
Clark glanced up, eyes narrowing. "He does like his mysteries," he agreed, an old bitterness in the words.
His dads really had a lot of history to work through. Conner was frankly surprised they'd gotten as far as they had so quickly. Though he was happy they had. It had seemed like forever while it was happening. It still was, to a certain extent. They were together, but awkward moments made up more of the time than real connections. Conner could see every time Lex bit back sharp remarks and the way that Clark tiptoed around Lex just made Lex madder. There were the heated looks they didn't try and hide now, but there was also silence and recriminations. Still, it was more than they'd had before, and Kon was hopeful.
Wonder Woman broke the lengthening pause. "Technically, the protections are religious. So metaphysical, yes, but not magical."
Conner and Clark both stared at her, though Conner was the one to ask. "What's the difference?"
She laughed, a light chiming sound that was nothing like Cassie's hardy rich tones. She ran the fingers of her right hand over her left bracer, then dropped her hand down to her whip. "Magic generally is a type of science – if the properties are correct, and the conduits of the right material, you go through the steps and something occurs. In religion, though, I'm not the one performing the acts directly. Instead, I ask the Goddesses if something can be done, and if they agree, then it can happen. Sometimes, they ask first and I am the conduit. However, it's not always the same."
In other words, religion was gobbly gook. The first part, though... "Magic is science?" Conner hadn't ever thought about it that way. But if there were rules and properties... "Huh."
"Oh, now you've done it," Clark said with resignation, the words directed to Wonder Woman.
She merely looked serene. "Once things are not as mysterious, they are no longer as frightening. Of course, the channels that magic can take are different depending on what properties have come to Earth and who can interact with them. Now that science is well-established, both magic and the gods are starting to return."
Superman straightened up in the seat where he'd been lounging. "I don't like the sound of that."
Wonder Woman shrugged. "Haven't you wondered 'why now?' Why there are so many mutations, so many differences, so many things the world had never heard of before?" She casually leaned against an empty wall. "The world is returning to how it used to be, though things will not be the same as before. Humans have evolved and grown, and the response to such things will likewise not be the same." Her fingers went around her bracers again, slipping over the metal with a determined movement. "Don't worry, though, there will be time."
"Time for what?" Superman asked, his gaze intent.
"Time to adjust, time for them to slip in slowly, time for people to learn along the way." She gestured between herself and Superman. "We are the first generation." The motion of her hand then singled out Kon. "They are the next. There will be more following. Earth and the universe adjusts, and so do their children."
"You don't normally..." Superman hesitated over a word, finally choosing with a slight frown that suggested it wasn't ideal but would do. "... discuss things like this."
Diana pushed off the wall and paced around the room.
Conner noticed that there was a lot of space for her movement. From what he'd seen and the artificial memories he had, most sitting rooms were crowded with furniture, tastefully designed, but not sparse like this. Normal rooms gave options of places to sit, with tables and knickknacks everywhere. This room was simultaneously luxurious and bare. The leather seats were wide and comfortable, speaking of a richness Kon only saw in Dad Two's office, but there weren't that many of the chairs, and there were wide open spaces between. The walls had forest and animal paintings, but they were placed high up, leaving the walls where a person would stand free and clear. There wasn't even the all-important coffee table in the middle, just a few lamp tables near the chairs.
A place designed for fighting? There would certainly be the space for it. He narrowed his eyes, picturing a fight with Hawkman and Mercy within the room. Maneuvering space for both of them, yet they would probably contained enough for the others to intervene.
"Times change, people change." Diana's hands restlessly moved around her body, not settling. "In the Amazonian culture, I am no longer a maiden, and that means a shift in my learning and my duties. A warrior will not be all that I am."
Clark snorted softly. "It never was."
Diana stopped pacing and they shared a glance together; a look full of memories and experiences, past times that Kon knew nothing about. The basics might be in Legion histories, but what the two heroes had been through together would always be only theirs alone.
History and memory. Two things Conner didn't have a lot of on his own. He was trying, but he felt the weight of his youth and his inexperience. A couple of years out of the tubes, and barely a year in the real world wasn't a lot to draw upon. Every moment he was in now had to count for the fourteen he'd not really lived.
The moment passed and Diana settled into a recliner diagonal to the door that faced the outside windows. From that spot, she had a direct line to the door and could see the rest of the room easily. She tucked her feet under her and relaxed, looking very like Cassie as she did so.
"So," Conner perched on a chair arm on the opposite diagonal. He could see anybody coming in the door and Diana easily, but Clark was behind him and others could get so. He wasn't worried about his back with Dad behind him. "Gods. Is Zeus really Cassie's dad? What's he like? Outside the myths, that is?"
With a laugh, Diana answered, and the talk turned to myths and realities. Deep in the discussion, minutes ticked by, not unnoticed, but at least not painfully slow.
At one point, Conner caught a wistful look on Clark's face. While continuing to listen to Diana, Kon thought about it. It looked like Dad's Lex-thinking expression. But what did Dad Two have to do with Amazons?
At the next opportunity, he asked a little hesitantly, still not sure why it would matter. "Should we wait for DT to talk about this? I mean, it's not business, but..."
"DT?" Diana raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, Lex. Lex, I meant." Kon hadn't actually thought up a good secondary explanation for the DT yet. He hoped Wonder Woman wouldn't ask.
"Everybody needs a nickname," she remarked mildly. Then she grinned. "I assure you, Lex Luthor and I have already had this discussion and many, many more like it. Any time I'm near, he asks me about the mythologies. Unlike most scholars, he doesn't mind learning that most of what he knows is wrong."
At that, Clark snorted, almost but not quite muttering something under his breath. An aborted thought before it became actual words.
The wistful look had, though, gone away. At least Kon had done something right there.
The sound of steps on the wooden ramp and porch outside caught everybody's attention and they turned to look at the door. With all the wood construction on this place, it would be hard to sneak up without flying powers. Kon glanced at the clock on the wall. Still two hours early.
The door opened and in came Hope, with Lex behind her and Mercy bringing up the end of the train.
Looked like Dad had been right. Kon rolled his eyes. Two hours before the meeting... If they weren't there, what was Dad Two going to have done? Played poker with Hope and Mercy?
All three of the newcomers were scanning the room, ticking off the people inside and visually assessing the hazards. None of them, not even Lex, acknowledged Conner by so much as an extra nod or a pause when seeing him. Instead, Hope peeled off to an inside door, opening it and stepping inside the corridor that presumably lead to the rest of the lodge. She didn't go any further, though, just stood there assessing it as well, before turning back to the room, angling so she could also see down the hall.
Lex took a step forward and to one side, removing himself from the direct line of the door, while his attention flicked back over the room again and then settled on the people. There was the brief pause of eye contact that Kon had been missing, though Lex didn't maintain it long before he nodded to Wonder Woman then focused on Superman. His expression was still and careful, not showing a lot of anything.
After the scan through the room, Mercy also stepped to one side, on the opposite side of the door from Lex. After assessing Kon and Superman, her gaze went to Wonder Woman.
All is clear.
Greetings.
Conner blinked. He had caught the dialog but not in sound. In sound, Lex was saying "Superman," with dripping scorn. Conner almost turned around to see Dad's expression, but the more interesting expressions to watch right now were between Mercy and Wonder Woman.
How have you been? That from Wonder Woman.
Did you set protection? Mercy ignored Wonder Woman's question and responded with something else.
At least Kon thought it was something else. Wonder Woman's question could have been, 'How is the situation' but he was pretty sure it was personal. He wasn't quite so sure about Mercy's question about 'protection' either – it was strange, not something he and his brothers had discussed much. The scientists hadn't let them talk to each other, they'd been punished for speaking outside the trials, though they'd done so anyhow. Instead of speaking, they had relied more on expression, focus, a twitch of a hand, a slight turn of the body, a dip of an eyelid. They could 'talk' quite well to each other without speech. All of them did it, and they had done it every day.
Conner hadn't seen its like since the rest of the clones were killed. Not until today.
I did. X..y and X..y are both interested in this meeting. Are you well?
Kon blinked several times. He hadn't picked up the names at all. He was sure they were names, and names both were familiar with, but whatever they were, they were outside his frame of reference. He was concentrating so hard on trying to figure out what Diana and Mercy were saying that he completely ignored whatever Clark and Lex were talking about. Their exchanges were white noise to the focus Conner had on the silent conversation.
Mercy's lips twitched in what might have been a smile. A pre-smile. Or something. I survive. What about--- Somebody listens.
The conversation stopped abruptly and both women turned to face him, expressions now still and silent, not saying anything at all.
Conner kept blinking. He looked from Mercy to Wonder Woman to Mercy to... "Oh my God..." he breathed. "Mercy's an Amazon!"
There was a sudden collective silence within the room, a stillness that went deeper than people not talking and became that of the moment before a fight, where everything was readied and waiting for the next moment.
Lex moved so he was slightly in front of Mercy, as if he was protecting her. His eyes were molten lead, boiling with anger and all directed towards Kon.
Kon flinched.
Hope cleared her throat, "Just because somebody has black hair and blue eyes, doesn't automatically make them an Amazon."
With a slightly guilty relief, Kon stopped looking at the angry eyes of his father and took another look at Mercy and then at Diana. He hadn't even noticed it originally, but they did really look a lot alike. More than just the hair and eyes. There was the high cheek bones, a similar small nose, ear swirls, angles of the eye creases... Woah. Mercy had slightly darker skin, but other than the short hair cut on Mercy versus the long hair on Wonder Woman, there weren't a lot of difference. They could be sisters, though not clones. How had nobody noticed this before? Kon looked back to Lex, who hadn't relaxed an inch and his fury saturated the air.
"Um..." Conner faltered. Under Lex's intense disapproval, Kon desperately wanted to back down, to retreat and do something, anything to just make Dad Two less angry at him. Instead, he felt himself floating upwards, towards the ceiling before he caught himself. By the time he recovered, he was backed into the far wall, tucked into a corner of the ceiling. Below him, his first dad was folding his arms across his chest in classic Superman pose, but Conner couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Superman was either preparing a defense of Kon or he was another person against him. Kon gulped, pretty sure nobody was on his side. He'd really screwed up.
"Was." A cool, crisp, unemotional voice broke into the newly gathering silence. All eyes went to Mercy, who looked just as calm as her voice. She took a step forward so that Lex was no longer in front of her. "The appropriate verb in that sentence should have been, "was an Amazon"."
Hope turned to gape at her, quickly controlling the expression and smothering out her surprise, but her first reaction couldn't be undone. Likewise, Superman blinked and dropped his pose, his startled glance going to Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman sighed.
Mercy shrugged. "One way or the other, this was the time. That one," she nodded up in Conner's direction, "reads our silent language, and speaks it too, though with a strange accent." She looked at him with calculation on her face. Then she seemed to figure it out. "Your brothers. In the laboratory. That's how you communicated."
Mercy was the first person other than his two dads who called his siblings his brothers. Most everybody else, if they referred to them at all, said, "the clones" or "the others". Conner made himself float back to the ground. Experimentally, he tried to talk to Mercy. You understand?
She nodded. Amazons are sisters too, and we were captives long ago.
Diana nodded right after Mercy, the two gestures almost equal and rather eerie. We do not forget. "But we should speak out loud."
"How does one get to be an ex-Amazon?" Conner wondered. He was very carefully not looking at either of his dads. Dad Two was still silently furious, only restrained by Mercy's touch to his arm. Dad One... Conner couldn't see him now without turning, and he didn't want to.
Mercy grinned without humor. "I was exiled when I was thirteen for killing my sisters."
Diana rolled her eyes. "You chose exile, and it was a training accident."
"Thirteen?" Clark asked with disbelief and disapproval laced through his voice.
Conner edged sideways so he could see Dad. This wasn't going to be everybody dog-piling on him, apparently. He breathed out a small sigh of relief. A sharp glare from Dad Two had him stiffening in apprehension again. There might be another conversation going on, but he'd not been forgotten.
"Romeo and Juliet were getting married and killed at thirteen," Diana replied impatiently.
Clark cleared his throat. "Actually, Romeo's age wasn't specified, and Juliet was sixteen in the original poem – Shakespeare lowered her age for the play. Probably so that young boys could play the role."
"Thank you, oh literary major," Diana said dryly. "The point I was making is that Amazons are a very old culture, and our people are trained much younger than yours. You people waste half your youth for nothing; it seems more of a way for so called "adults" to keep privileges to themselves more than protecting the young. I left the island when I was sixteen, and I was fully vested in all the Maiden's rites. The elders would not have ordered exile for her punishment, but neither would they deny it when it was chosen."
"You take all the fun out of a tragic tale," Mercy retorted. "I chose exile because I wasn't a Goody Two-Shoes, nor did I want to be. This world suits me better."
"So how many Amazonian exiles are there?" Superman asked warily.
"None that you know of," Diana archly replied.
"So if thirteen and sixteen are okay," Kon couldn't help interjecting, "Why am I still a kid at fourteen?"
"A year old. And still very, very much a child," Lex spoke for the first time, his anger not having diminished at all.
Maybe bringing their attention back to him wasn't such a hot idea.
"You are a destructive menace. Perhaps not to yourself, but definitely to all those around you. Do you even think before you speak?" Scorn dripped from the last sentence. Lex's voice didn't raise, and his volume didn't get louder. It just made his words all the more biting.
Kon cringed, feeling each word
"Mercy," Lex said coldly, "Deal with him."
Mercy's grin was scary. Dad Two's anger was scarier. Conner gulped.
"Do you, Superboy, know what you have done to me?" Mercy asked, a dark eyebrow raising up and taking aim at him.
Done to Mercy? Conner was confused.
"By revealing that which was held close, you've possibly lost me my best friend in this land," Mercy nodded towards an impassive Hope, "who now knows I've been lying to her for over a decade. You could have cost me my employment, and even my life, had not Lex already been aware of my origins."
He didn't lose his grip on gravity, but it was a near thing. "I'm sorry," Kon whispered.
Hope snorted. "That is what domestic abusers say, and honestly think they mean, right before they go back to beating those they love."
Mercy and Diana both nodded at Hope's remark and even Clark didn't look convinced at Conner's apology. But he'd meant it!
"You have apologized before for other slips. Yet you do not curb your tongue upon the next occasion." Mercy continued. "Beyond me, you have caused Superman to doubt his best ally, Wonder Woman, and to question all Amazons. If you had blurted out what you did when Oracle or Hawkman were here, the rift would be greater and the doubt for all we do would have been turned into a conspiracy. Lionel Luthor would no longer exist and they would think all that we were here to tell to be a deeper plot by Lex Luthor, that no Amazon could be trusted again, despite all that Wonder Woman has done. It would have driven a stronger wedge than any Lionel could have imagined between our groups."
Conner felt a little dazed. "But you said this was a good group to reveal it to!"
"You little twerp!" Mercy took a few rapid steps forward and grabbed his ear, twisting it.
"Ow! Owowowo..." Conner was abruptly grounded with the pain. He rose up on his toes to escape it but couldn't leave the ground.
"Listen! Do you want to get your friends killed?" Mercy hissed in his face, almost spitting. "You've got a scholarship meeting coming up... if you see somebody you know there, are you going to give them away? You won't say anything, but you'll smirk at each other and you'll go up and greet each other with laughs in your voices, and every. single. person. who sees you will know something is up. Every other kid, every parent, every reporter, every criminal."
Superman broke in, asking, "Criminal?"
Conner couldn't see anything but Mercy in his face, the twist on his ear keeping him in his place, but he heard Dad Two's voice, now slightly mocking. "You'll have to ask my counterpart in Gotham about that. Either his background checks aren't as good as mine, or he doesn't care that several of the Wayne Scholarship recipients have less than legal parents or guardians."
"Goddamn it..." Clark growled.
"Games," Diana sighed. "I hate games. At least those type."
"I can't say I'm too happy at this one myself either," Lex echoed Clark's growl. "I'll be watching."
Mercy paused while they were talking, then resumed, with an extra pinch bringing fresh pain that brought Kon's attention back to her. "If those who watched and saw don't do something right then, then the next day, or the day after. And perhaps not directly to your friend, but to their dad, their mom, their sibling... somebody without powers, without training. Somebody who knows nothing, but just is in the way or a way to somebody else."
The pain was adding another layer to Mercy's words, as minor as it was. Tim's parents were still alive, and it was a real concern. "Tim's careful!"
"And you are not!!" Mercy shoved Conner up against the wall, not losing her grip on his ear. "I didn't say his name!"
Conner cringed as much as he was able to while someone was holding him up against the wall with one hand on his ear. "I'm sorry!"
Mercy snorted in disbelief, reminding Conner just how many times he'd said that before.
"Permission to have this idiot for the upcoming week," she requested in a flat angry tone. Conner couldn't look away from the icy stare.
"Granted," Lex said in tones that matched Mercy's stare. "Hope, you will also work with them. I want him taught, and I want it done before that meeting."
"You have plans," Hope said, not protesting, but simply stating.
"I will change them," Lex said. "I will stay in Lex Corp tower and people will come to me, for as long as it takes the both of you to knock some sense into that one."
The non-use of Kon's name was perhaps the most hurtful thing about it; as if Conner wasn't really a person anymore. And that from his Dad Two. Kon couldn't help the sound of protest out of his throat, and he turned to look involuntarily at the one person left who still loved him.
Superman's arms were folded across his chest and there was a frown upon his face. Kon knew his dad wouldn't let anything happen to him and he started to relax.
"I agree," Clark said. His eyes were shaded green, not the blue of the superhero, but his voice was just as inflexible as Kon's other dad.
"When you're done with him," Wonder Woman said dryly, "Can you train the other Teen Titans?"
"When Mercy and Hope are done with him," Lex replied, "he will train the others. They look to him, and he will teach them. Either that, or he will kill them. There are no other paths."
KN-5's protest this time was silent but even more heartfelt. He'd killed his brothers before. He never would again.
Then learn. Mercy replied just as silently, yet inflexible and solid.
She let him go. Gravity held Kon for a moment, dropping him downwards before it released him completely and he floated instead. He caught himself before he went up too far and returned to the middle ground.
"Dad?" Conner said, not believing still.
Clark sighed. "Kon, we love you, but you still have a few miles to go in what's appropriate behavior and what's not. Sometimes, I think you think this is all a dream, a fantasy that you made up while captive and all this is not real and you can do what you want. It is real, and we love you and won't ever let you go. But part of life is discipline, and judgment, and learning. You love to learn... but you don't seem to want to apply the discipline or judgment."
There had been more than enough of discipline in the lab.
Discipline is neither good nor bad. It just is. Wonder Woman unsaid serenely.
"Very useful, Diana," Mercy snorted. "Look, twerp..." she paused and then she shook her head. "No. If you don't get it yet, talking at you won't change that. You need practical and you need example." She looked at him grimly. "You'll get both this week."
There was another collective silence, with all eyes on Kon and Kon afraid to say anything.
"Alright," Lex broke the silence. "Now that we have that taken care of... Mercy."
Mercy left Kon and turned to face Lex, her posture partially angled from Kon but he could still see her face. "Yes, sir?" She looked ready for action, for another assignment.
"Show me your hands."
Conner blinked. He blinked again when instead of a confused expression similar to his or Wonder Woman's, Mercy's face read in the silent language a clear and distinct, Oh shit.
She held her hands out, palms up.
"Other direction," Lex said dryly.
With a sigh, Mercy flipped her hands palms down. Everybody stared at her hands. Somewhat meaty, they were working hands, made for gripping and grappling and strength, not elegance alone. Mercy apparently didn't totally distain all the female trappings, though in her own gothy way with black fingernail polish and a single cool ring, silver-looking, mostly smooth around her left ring finger with a black stone set in a cross-hatch pattern.
Lex made a disgusted sound. "Do I even need to ask what's mixed inside that polish?"
Conner gave it another look. The black was glittering. Glittering faintly with... green? He finally connected all the dots and with an involuntary eeping sound, he darted backwards, as far from Mercy as he could get, coming up next to his dad.
Clark gave Kon a wry look but didn't say anything.
"Hope," Lex said grimly, "hold out your hands."
Her face perfectly expressionless, Hope held them out, showing that she had the same polish on.
"What the bloody hell were you two thinking?!" Lex exploded. It was a more volatile anger than his freezing distain at Kon. This was a volcano blowing up, heat and lava burning through, with sound and fury and a rage barely contained. "We're in a meeting with Superman and Superboy and you're wearing kryptonite polish? That they don't even notice until you twist his ear? What possible good did you think it might be?!"
"We could rake the nails over his eyes," Hope said matter of factly. "It would buy you some time."
Superman winced. So did Conner.
"With Wonder Woman and Hawkman here too?" Lex shook his head. "I let you have the bullets because they are shielded while inside the gun. I occasionally let you practice with other weapons because we have to be prepared in case of an emergency. This..." Lex seemed to struggle for words for a moment before finishing with, "this is beyond ridiculous. Have you forgotten what kryptonite is? It's dangerous!"
Mercy and Hope didn't shrug, but it was a near thing. Their body language read complete indifference to Lex's words, though they were focused on him.
"Damn you both," Lex said tightly. He pulled out his cell phone and turned it on.
Wonder Woman quickly made a gesture in the air and the faint sparkles around the room disappeared.
Lex shook his head and then punched a speed dial. "Justice. I want Mercy and Hope's access to kryptonite cut off. Both the raw materials and the working labs. Unless I am with them, they are no longer allowed in any Stage One areas."
Mercy and Hope made identical protesting sounds. It sounded very similar to Conner's earlier. Cautiously, Kon looked away from the scene for a moment to his Dad. Superman didn't notice, his attention focused on Lex with an expression very like hope on his face, his hands clenched and his feet hovering an inch above the ground.
"Also, they're both to have full cellular workups done tonight. Arrange for the technicians to stay late and make this their highest priority." Lex didn't look away from his bodyguards, splitting his attention equally between them despite their separate positions in the room. It was a neat trick and Conner wished he could do it.
Lex nodded to something Justice said, and Kon belatedly sharpened his hearing. "... Lab Seven in the Tower." Justice's deep voice chuckled over the phone connection, "I told them the bracelets were a bad idea."
"Bracelets?" Lex's anger seemed to have reached a plateau and his voice became a solid growl. "I want you to go through their workshops and their rooms and confiscate any and all items they might have made. You personally. I don't care what else you're doing. This is your highest priority for the day and tomorrow as well if needed. Take what resources you need to neutralize any traps they might have. If you need them present, you'll have them and me as well, but I want their rooms cleared tonight!"
Lex angrily punched off the call and he addressed his minions directly. "I would twist your ears if I thought it would help! Idiots! You two are supposed to be the brightest and the best! What were you thinking!?"
There was no answer, not that Conner thought any answer would be accepted anyhow. It was amazing how similar his own position earlier had been to theirs now.
"Kryptonite kills!" Lex shouted, his pale face reddening. "It mutates, it disrupts cells, it changes your life! What good do you think you'll do me dead?" He started to pace against the outer wall, his body still angled towards theirs. Like a swimming side stroke, only walking, and much more violently.
"I know you think you'll get a mutation that might help. Do I really have to quote you the odds? The statistics? How many people get cancer or an uncontrollable jitter? That even if it's something that you can control, how it destroys people? The cat's paw effect will never, ever, give you one thing alone, and it's the second part that rips people apart. How good of a bodyguard will you be if you can't be near me anymore? What if somebody targets me while you're adjusting? What if your mutation is not something that can be hidden? What do you think my dad will do if he finds out what you have done?"
Lex's pacing halted abruptly and his eyes narrowed, his gaze going to first one then the other. "Did somebody say something to you that pushed you into this casual attitude?"
For the first time, Mercy and Hope looked away from Lex, exchanging startled glances.
"Idiots," Lex said, but much softer. "And over what? Protecting me from Superman?" He snorted and then turned his back to the room, walking to one of the windows and staring outside. "When we get back, you'll both report to Justice. And then you'll each write me a twenty-page report on case studies of adverse kryptonite affects, enumerating in detail."
"Yes, sir." First Hope, then Mercy acknowledged their orders.
Lex waited a moment before accepting it. He looked at Conner, "This does not negate your own stupidity. You will still report next week for training, and you will learn the dangers. You are a hazard, and they are still the best, despite other mistakes. Theirs was from an excess of desire to protect. Yours is pure carelessness and a failure to acknowledge reality."
"I know reality!" Kon protested.
Lex shook his head. "You know evil, and horrors most people have never even dreamed of. This gives you a weight of experience, but it's not the same. I agree with Superman on that." He raised his right hand to waist level and sliced it through the air, palm down. "This discussion is done. Until you learn, you'll just keep repeating the same. We will talk about it tomorrow at your first session."
His gaze moved to the left of Conner. "Do you have anything to say?" The words and voice both were a challenge to Superman.
Clark moved from his position next to Kon, taking several rapid steps forward until he was directly in front of Lex, in his personal space. Lex didn't move his body, but he tilted his head up to keep meeting Superman's eyes.
"You are magnificent," Clark breathed, then leaned in and kissed Lex.
Lex stiffened, his whole body registering outrage and denial. Clark didn't push the kiss and lifted his head with the rejection, but he didn't move away. One of his hands cautiously touched the side of Lex's face with the gentlest of contacts.
"If you think I said that just for your approval..." Lex bit out furiously, his words tight and clipped. Yet he didn't move back and he didn't push Clark's hand away.
"No," Clark said, low and tender. "No, I don't think that." He kissed Lex again, moving slowly in and giving Lex opportunity to pull away if he wanted to.
Instead, Lex allowed it, his body relaxing in millimeters until he was returning the kiss.
The hand that Clark had on Lex's face caressed gently as he reached to hold Lex, big hand on the back of Lex's neck, fingers spanning upward to cradle Lex's head.
Mercy cleared her throat, "I'm going to go check the perimeter."
"I'll come with you," Diana stood up from the recliner quickly, without looking like she was hurrying. "I have to reset the protections."
"I'll check the interior," Hope said, edging back towards the door.
Kon didn't care; he was enjoying watching his parents together. Lex had finally reached a hand up to return the gesture, but he didn't wrap it all the way around, simply leaving his fingers resting on the edge of Superman's cape. Not even really touching Clark directly except through the kiss.
"Superboy." Hope's summons was low but definitive. When Kon looked over to her, she gestured for him to follow her.
He did so, with a final look back. When the door closed behind them, he demanded, "What?"
Hope looked at him in exasperation. "Privacy. We're giving them some privacy." She started off down the corridor, making sure he was following and checking each of the side doors as they walked.
Conner blinked. "Why?"
Hope opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, then shook her head. "Because that's polite. People do intimate things between each other without an audience."
"They started it," Conner pointed out.
"Superman started it," Hope replied. "And if we didn't leave, Lex would stop it. Because it's too revealing. Particularly with others watching."
"We all know they're together!"
They reached the end of the corridor and were at another exit to the outside. Hope opened it and went out. She observed with some acidity, "You know, most teenagers don't like watching their parents kiss."
Kon snorted as he followed. "I worked hard to get them together! Why would I be upset at them making out now? I think it's great and they need to do it more."
With a sigh, Hope threw her hands up.
Outside on the patio, twirling her lasso, Diana chuckled. "He has a point."
"He has his own point," Mercy said. "That's not the whole of everything." The ex-Amazon was sitting on the railing, with one leg drawn up and her hand resting lightly on her gun. The black fingernail polish glittered in the sunlight.
Conner frowned. "What? Is it too weird? Am I too different? Would that stand out as an odd thing for a human teenager?" He didn't worry about it too often, but sometimes it didn't seem like he fit in well enough.
The loop that Wonder Woman was creating on her lasso spiraled wider as she twirled the rope higher. "It's odd, but it's not too different. There is no 'normal'. People talk about it, but it doesn't really exist. There is a range of patterns and behaviors based on cultural training and upbringing, but it differs between individuals and their parents, their social situations, their natural inclinations, and experiences. Normal is a myth."
The rope was now impossibly long and the loop expanding to wider than the building. Kon stared at it. Cassie's lasso didn't do that. At least, he hadn't seen it do that.
"Your..." Wonder Woman paused briefly in a hunt for a word. "...indifference to social niceties can easily be interpreted by people as part of being a nerd."
"Hey!" It was true that Kon hadn't been out in the world for very long, but he knew that 'nerd' was an insult. Associated with thick glasses and wimpy kids with no sense of coolness or fun. Rather like his dad's normal persona, actually. And like some of the scholarship kids. Conner felt a little pang of guilt for applying the label himself to others.
"Smart, slightly removed from the world, concentrating too hard on other things like math or physics to notice that a social boundary has been overstepped." Wonder Woman continued to play out the line.
"Or was even there to start with." Mercy squinted up. "How high are you going to make that?"
"As high as they tell me to. We're containing more than just traditional surveillance but also the force of emotions and feelings that can be sensed. I was originally thinking of the fireworks when Hawkman and Luthor meet, but I think I'd better also adjust it for Superman and Luthor."
Hope chuckled. Mercy rolled her eyes.
"I was worse than you when I first came out from the island," Wonder Woman said, her words directed again to Conner. "Despite all my studies of the worlds outside, I was unprepared for the reality. I could fight, and I could work, but they all saw I was different. Steve protected me and explained what he could. Fitting in, though, was beyond both of us. The war distracted people from looking too close, but more even than that was that people are used to some oddities. If something's not right, there's an explanation – "that's just Diana" – it's not because of aliens or mythologies. It's something different, but not a thing to be concerned about."
"If," Mercy put in, "you're in a big city or a mixed population where people were all raised differently, others are used to there being some differences. The mixing bowl mixes all sorts and differences are normal. If you tried to insert yourself into a tight community where beliefs and patterns of behavior are rigidly conformed to, it would be more noticeable and feared."
Hope made an inquiring sound in her throat, soft enough to be ignored if nobody wanted to acknowledge it.
Mercy stared at Hope, a wistful expression flitting across her face. My sister... will you forgive?
Conner was suddenly overwhelmed in memories of the arena after one or the other of them would come out with blood on their hands and the knowledge of what they had done. The words were identical, the feelings unmistakable. They had betrayed a brother. Conditioning or no conditioning, it was still on their hands. Would they still be accepted by the others? Where did the lines get drawn? If ever. How far would siblings forgive and still love?
Hope didn't react to the words, and Conner realized that she couldn't hear them, didn't know what Mercy had said, didn't know how she felt. She wasn't an Amazon. Conner really had torn something apart with his careless words, and he didn't know if he could ever put it right.
"After the island," Mercy finally said out loud, "I went to Gotham. They didn't care about social differences there. They only cared about power and how well you could fight. When it got too hot for me there, I came to Metropolis. The Slums was the place that felt the most like home by then. Accepted for ability and not judged by an external standard. I could live there, accepted for what I could do, not defined by what I wasn't. Eventually, Lex brought me out, and he protects me, prevents any from seeing too close." She paused at the end, looking but not looking at Hope.
"I'm glad you made it," Hope spoke softly, the tone uncertain.
A word Wonder Woman spoke jerked all three of their attention to her and off anything else. The word was something that Conner couldn't wrap his mind around, and he didn't think he'd be able to duplicate the sound. It was definitely and recognizably a word, yes, but nothing he'd heard before.
Blue light ran up the lasso and jumped off the top of the spiral, flowing out and down, encasing them and the house in a fading dome of sparks.
A second word shot a ray of orange up the same path, the light interacting with the fading remnants of the other. A third ray was green, then something dark that somehow still glowed. The power dropped down like mist from a waterfall, their faces upturned to capture it.
Conner shivered, feeling the weight of something beyond him and an attention that was not precisely friendly. Tolerance but wariness. KN-5 was watched – not trusted, but not rejected. Yet. He gulped, shrinking to the side of the house, but that didn't help as it felt the same. Even the ground was absorbing the power, dirt and grass alike.
"That was showy," Mercy remarked calmly.
Wonder Woman shrugged, gathering her lasso back to herself. The lasso was a normal size and color now, though Conner eyed it mistrustfully. "The Goddesses wanted their concern to be noticed."
"Is it safe?" Kon blurted out.
"It is safe." Unexpectedly, it was Hope who answered, her face turned up to the sky and her features content. Mercy watched her with the same wistfulness as before, but this time also with a touch of hope.
Diana hooked the lasso back on her belt.
A sudden thought struck Conner. "Say, does that mean the model trains weren't real?" After he asked the question, Conner wished he hadn't. Or at least not right then. He really did have a tendency not to think first, didn't he? He could have saved that, not butted into whatever was going on now.
Mercy slanted a glance at him. The interruption is not unwelcome. Out loud, she answered, "For your identity? Real enough. You are not the first to have your identity made up out of others', and they just as real as another."
That meant... Conner thought about it for a moment. Mercy's past, her official one, was just like Conner Kent's – designed and planned and thought about, and somebody put themselves into her life, just as the others had put them into his. Lex's bear, Augustus, still sat by Kon's bed. It had become his, just as it had been Lex's before.
He had a desire to know what the previous part of Mercy's tale had been, and what the other significance of trains had been. Who the other person had been, and what they had given. This time, though, he kept his mouth shut. The parts beyond this were only his if they were shared.
This time the interruption was the sound of a car engine, and the rumble of tires over a paved road.
Mercy hopped off the railing, her gun clearing the holster while in mid-air. She touched ground and darted to one side where she was partially protected by the angle of the ramp, yet she had a clear view of everything and could get easily to the door where Lex was.
Hope went the other direction, to the entrance on the side of the house. Her view of the front would be obstructed from that angle, yet she had a clear view of the back of the place. She didn't have her gun out, but her hand was by her ear and Conner suspected some sort of electronics though he hadn't seen any before.
Electronics that worked through whatever Wonder Woman had done? Conner frowned, not understanding how magic, or mythology, worked.
"It's localized," Diana said. "Anything that operates within the confines of the protection is fine. Luthor's phone call was beyond the area. It wouldn't have gone through if I hadn't taken the first one down." She shrugged, "Unless, of course, the Goddesses decided to allow it."
Conner looked at her.
Diana smiled. You asked.
Silently. Kon suddenly realized that he'd been using the language all along, ever since he'd come to live with Clark. Even though there was nobody to respond anymore, he still used it. And that meant... he glared at Wonder Woman. You never said!
Her mouth moved up the tiniest of increments, but her eyes reflected more sadness. Nothing you said before was for me. She'd heard all he said, but had ignored it all, knowing he didn't do so intentionally.
Conner was angry for a moment more, then let it go. He blurted out stuff in his out loud voice all the time. There wasn't anything so different about the silent language. He didn't even think he could stop doing it, it was such a part of him – him and his brothers, though he had no brothers anymore. Diana wasn't quite a sister... but maybe an aunt?
It would be an honor. Diana looked as solemn as her words, giving a weight to his impulse that he hadn't thought of. She quirked a little grin and also conveyed that there didn't need to be any immediate decision. Then she looked away from Kon and watched instead the dark blue van that had pulled up and parked near them.
Kon wasn't quite sure what Pandora box he'd just opened. He thankfully turned as well to the van and gave himself up to the distraction. He'd think about the other later.
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Date: 2013-03-04 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-04 10:09 am (UTC)Hope you like! I promise, the next part will be coming *much* quicker. ;D
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Date: 2013-03-06 09:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-07 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-22 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-07 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-10 09:59 pm (UTC)"You are magnificent," Clark breathed, then leaned in and kissed Lex.
*wolf whistles* LOL Get'em Clark! ^__^ I love Clark taking initiative anddd the fact Lex deffered to him after scolded all their wayward children lol they are sooo so married