[LN] Don't Mess With the 'S'

[matchmadeinhell]

Kon was excited. As soon as Mikey said Manny had given the word that a woman wearing an S on their chest had showed up, he'd been psyched.

"I wonder if it's Linda. I haven't seen her in ages; she retired from superheroing a while back and dropped off the radar. Or it might be my cousin Kara. There's been a couple Supergirls."

He brought the sleigh down towards the location Manny had given, Aurora, Nevada, an abandoned ghost town. The rickety buildings that were still standing looked like they were made of driftwood, dry and lifeless.

Comments

[matchmadeinhell]

Ugh, just another reminder that every time they fought he was beating on a relative, even if she didn't know it. How did someone like Lois come from such a screwed up family?

Then again, someone might ask the same of him since his DNA had came from Luthor.

"Can't take away something you never had."

He let go of her, shoved her away to face her again. The front of his shirt had been burned away. His invulnerability wasn't as strong and it meant he went through clothes constantly whenever he fought.

"In case you haven't noticed? Your dad's a jerk. He treats you like dirt over something that isn't your fault - over something that happened because of a situation he put you in." He tilted his head at her. "Your father denigrates and uses you just like Lex does the same to me. That should tell you something - not something about you, something about him. Your dad's a psycho, Luthor's a psycho, and people like us, that want to help people? We get used. We get caught up in the middle of their insanity."

[superwoman]

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, her cape coming to settle over her chest as well. Downcast eyes looked at Superboy's friend for a moment before coming back up to look at Superboy.

She cringed at what she saw in his eyes.

At what she heard in his voice.

Eyes flared red for the briefest of moments before that light died out.

"I don't want your pity," she half-snarled. "I don't need your pity. Just because you suddenly have some hu-" she choked on the word, "humanity in you doesn't make you better than me."

He was right. There was a part of Lucy that was all too aware of the fact that on some level, Kon was right. General Sam Lane had used Lucy, and what was worse? She had let herself be used. She'd been so desperate to be the favourite daughter - to one-up Lois - that she hadn't seen what was happening.

A shadow crossed over her face. If it was possible for a human to turn into an alien, surely it would be possible for an alien to turn human, no? It would require some experimentation, but there had to be a way to reverse things. She looked at Kon with new interest. He had humanity that he didn't deserve. He had the DNA of one of the greatest men alive.

He didn't deserve that DNA.

But she had no way to extract it from him.

Yet.

"I hate this."

[matchmadeinhell]

"You're not the only one."

He hated that this wasn't black and white. That she wasn't pure evil. That she was related.

As much as Lois and her had their adversarial thing, he was pretty sure Lois still loved her sister, at least somewhat.

"And it ain't pity. That'd mean I'd think you're pathetic for getting duped. I don't. Crazy thing, and I know you don't believe it, but there's little thing called empathy that even us aliens and half-aliens are capable of. All I think is that you never deserved that."

He added dryly, "You deserve me caving your face in for what you did to me, but you didn't deserve that. Especially when you decked yourself out in those duds because of Krypton. Which was a threat." Strange that he'd admit that. Wasn't he half-alien? "You government people are paranoid but this started with you wanting to protect people."

[superwoman]

Had Lucy known about the fact that they were related - really related, not just by virtue of being Kryptonian - would that have changed anything?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

If anything, learning about it now would just make her feel more betrayed.

"You agree that the Kryptonians were a threat?" Lucy's lips twitched. "Guess there is a little bit of Lex inside of you after all." That much, at least, was promising.

"Regardless," she added, "We're not paranoid. We're realistic. Paranoid is dressing up like a giant bat and patrolling the streets, thinking you can make a difference." Easy blow? Maybe. But it was, as far as Lucy was concerned, the truth. "Newsflash. You can't."

There was another heavy, heavy moment of silence. "So. What now?"

[matchmadeinhell]

"Don't have to be Luthor. Just have to live on Earth."

He rolled his eyes at her.

Of course he'd be against the Kryptonians and their threatening shenanigans. His home was Earth. He was one of the idiots that lived on it. His friends and family were there.

"As for what's next..." He drew in a deep breath and blew it out. "This part's the part I don't even know how to explain. So I'll start by saying this: you're not in Kansas anymore."

[superwoman]

"Sorry," Lucy said. "Not a Kansas girl." She'd been around a lot, of course. Being an army brat did that to a girl. But Kansas? Not one of the places that she identified with.

Lois loved it, of course, but then that's where Lois' in-laws were from.

"Try again."

[matchmadeinhell]

"We're in another universe and there's a threat here that's trying to break it's way in from outside the universe. If it breaks all the way in it'll destroy this world and then use it as a stepping stone to destroy all of existence. Every universe. Every world."

That was why he was going to have to tolerate her as long as she wasn't trying to kill or torture him or capture him again. She was a heavy hitter and they needed all the help they could get.