"You have to start out learning to believe the little lies to believe the big ones."

[matchmadeinhell]

They had to try their best to do this thing incognito. After all, the plan was get in, get the shard, get out, and while several of them were total unknowns in this world, three of them ran the risk of being recognized by some of the resident superheroes and supervillains since they were from a similar dimension and had equivalents here.

Nightwing, not so much since he usually wore a mask, but Cassie and Kon didn't wear masks as part of their costumes, and Kon especially wore a very familiar face. He was younger than Kal but still approaching adulthood now and that meant his cloney resemblance to the current de facto ruler of the world was pretty uncanny now.

That was why Kon was in disguise. He was wearing his usual jeans, black long-sleeved shirt, black boots, and black gloves. But he had a dumpy, shapeless, brown jacket over top of it all, a blue baseball cap, and a pair of dorky, large-framed glasses. Fortunately, spring was only just starting in this world and hadn't quite chased away the chill of winter so they could all bundle up with clothes that made them look innocuous.

The magical door had appeared in an alley, against a nondescript wall. As soon as they were all through and had closed it behind then, Kon peered around a corner to see if he could recognize where they were by the city's night-time skyline.

"Looks like Gotham." A pause. "It's hardly recognizable, though. I've never seen Gotham this clean."

He squinted instinctually, trying to peer around some more with his X-ray vision and found it working in full when he usually struggled with it back in the Guardians' universe. He held up his hand and poured on the teke, creating a field around it.

"My powers seem to be stronger here for some reason. The ones that are limited in the Guardians' universe are back, like my teke. You guys feeling the same? Most of us are superheroes or equivalents in our worlds. Being in a superhero universe might be amping up our powers or something. Maybe making the belief stronger."

It all ran on narratives, right? Stories? This was a story superheroes were supposed to be in.

Comments

[injustice_npcs]

"What do you plan to do?" asked Pa. "If you're anything like the Conner and Cassie we know, I know you won't stand for this."

He looked afraid to hear the answer but also hopeful, like he was desperate to hear something would be done.

[matchmadeinhell]

Kon pressed his lips together for a moment.

"If I tell you our plans, you can't tell him. And I know that's a tough choice, knowing it might hurt him. I know it's asking a lot when I'm not your Conner. But this is...this is fate of the world stuff, and we gotta do what we gotta. If you tell him and ruin our odds, you're going to make it so this world doesn't have a chance. And if Cass and I can't get back to the dimension we came from, with the reality shard we came for...that could doom all of existence."

He shook his head.

"This is us taking a side-trip, helping out, because we can't just look away. But we have huge responsibilities we're dealing with on top of this. We screw that up - or die so we can't do our jobs - and we're looking at a potential multiversal apocalypse. You can't tell him anything we're telling you. You can't tell him you know about what happened to the Titans and your Conner. You can't even tell him we were here."

[mark_in_the_sands]

"We barely even sit for this," Cassie quipped before sobering again. "We came here because we wanted to make sure you were safe. We just told you what he did to your Conner, and this one-" she jerked her thumb at Kon, "-knows you two well enough to know that you wouldn't stand for this kind of thing either. So we wanted to check in and make sure you were staying safe while trying to talk him down...and help keep you safe, if we can."

Which they damn well couldn't do in Superman's childhood home.

[holynpcsbatman]

"We won't tell him," Ma promised. "Even if - I know you might have to do something drastic. Lord knows what he'd do to you if he were warned, and you're - well, you're family, even if you're from another world."

She was still crying, because she had to say the words and actually admit her son might kill them.

[injustice_npcs]

Pa was far colder.

"As far as I'm concerned, at this point, anything that happens to Clark, he brought down on his own head."

There was no reasoning with his son and he refused to admit anything he'd done was wrong.

"He's our son and nothing'll change that, but he's dug himself into this hole he's in. I won't do anything that helps him hurt more people so he digs himself deeper."

[matchmadeinhell]

He could trust them. He could feel it. They were just so...so much the same. Every single good thing this Clark could've been. Should've been.

"We're working with Batman. We don't like it. Guy's been a monumental dick, but he's the only one organized, that has any resources and we can't do it alone. We, uh, have a few options open, to maybe overpower or depower him. We do plan on freeing the Titans from the Phantom Zone. Getting your Conner out will have to wait until we can get a hold of some of our friends back in the universe that we came from to heal him, and that'll probably have to wait for the end of all this. But we plan on sneaking into the Fortress and getting the Phantom Zone projector out and freeing the other Titans. So we have more firepower. And so we can get Conner out after the fighting's over."

He went on, "We have some people we brought in with us, like Nightwing and some other superheroes, and there's a few heroes Bats thinks our guys can talk out of retirement. They're doing that right now."

He looked at the table.

"We're gonna try to take him in alive, that's what I want you to understand. We'll do whatever we can to bring him in alive, to make it so he faces justice, and, I don't know, has time to think about it in jail. Maybe in time he'll actually have some remorse."

He drew in another deep breath.

"But if we can't bring him in alive, we do have a...a magical option. Last ditch. We're not using it unless there's no other way and even then we're still - we're still working out how far we're willing to go. You know? It's not easy. Even after all he's done, none of us really wants to..."

[mark_in_the_sands]

Cassie put a hand on Kon's forearm and squeezed it reassuringly before looking at the Kents again.

"We want you to come with us, if you're willing," she said softly. "I won't pretend that we didn't consider that having you somewhere he can't find would be a substantial psychological blow, but we mostly want you along because we want you to be safe." She smile humorlessly. "I'm sure he promised you safety too, but if you feel at all inclined, we'd like to have you along."

[matchmadeinhell]

"Please consider it. We don't know how this is going to trip him off. And I could hear your heartbeats when you were getting us inside, looking out on the horizon..."

Kon's expression was almost anguished.

"You're afraid of him, and you have good reason to be. We don't know that he won't snap and if he does -"

He couldn't bear the thought of that.

"You may not be my Ma and Pa but I can't stand the thought of something happening to you." He looked to Pa. "I wasn't there when my Pa needed it. I was...incapacitated, is a good way of putting it. It wasn't just his heart, it was Brainiac, he attacked the farm and Pa just - it was the shock. His heart gave out."

He shook his head frantically.

"But I can be here for you two right now. We can take you to Batman's bunker - at least until it's all over. I mean, either we'll win and you can come right back to the farm, or we'll lose and this world won't have another chance, and you can leave and pretend it was all under duress or whatever. And hell, if you want a chance to talk to him and say what you really think without risk of him losing it, we can arrange that. You can talk to him and wouldn't have to dance around it or mince words. You could maybe shake some sense into him."

[holynpcsbatman]

"We can't," Martha said, shaking her head furiously, looking at her husband. "Oh Jonathan, we can't. We just can't."

[injustice_npcs]

"Martha, we need to at least consider it. Look at all he's done - all he'll do. Land sakes, what he did to Conner - are we supposed to just nod along and act like nothing's changed? He's our boy, but from the sound of it he was willing to hurt our other boy and lock him away without a care in the world."

He shook his head.

"He didn't care about Conner or what it'd do to us, thinking he might be dead."

He jutted out his jaw.

"There's lines, Martha. There's so many lines he's crossed. He killed poor Oliver right in front of us. Why, he even left me there in the Fortress with that arrow in my arm so he could run off after Bruce. All of it shows what he thinks of this family. Not a care for anything we ever taught him, any of the values this family holds dear, for Conner, for us, for anything but his crusade."

Pa was not a man of many words but right now he had more to say than he probably ever had before.

"A crusade it'd break Lois's heart to see, God rest her soul."

[holynpcsbatman]

"If there's any chance at all of him listening to a word we say, of getting through to him, getting him to stand down and turn himself in, that chance'll be gone the minute we leave this house for Batman's bunker."

She was still crying, tears plopping down.

"And I know the chances of that are - well, they're a damn sight near impossible at this point - but I still can't... He's our son. And Lord knows I think every single choice he's made lately is wrong. Cruel. Even evil sometimes. But if there's any chance at all of reaching the boy we raised in there, it's going to be in this home, probably in this kitchen."

She looked over to Kon and Cassie.

"I won't get in your way. You need to do what you need to do," she said. "But so do I."

She turned to look at her husband.

"We'd do the same for Conner if it was him. Try to get through. They're our boys, Jonathan. They're both our boys and you don't give up on your children, even if they've done wrong. And we need to be here to do that."

[injustice_npcs]

Jon considered all this.

"I can't say I agree entirely but there is no moving her when her mind's set and I'm not leaving without Martha."

He looked at his wife lovingly, admiringly, as if even though it was clear he didn't entirely agree, he admired the love tenacity she was showing. Then he turned to look at Cassie and Kon.

"You've done what you can - more than anyone could've asked of you, considering we're not even your Kents. And we appreciate you looking out for our family, Conner. I can tell you're a good boy just like our Conner us. But we're going to stay and we're going to keep trying and if that sets off his temper, well...that's our risk to take."

[matchmadeinhell]

Now Kon started crying a little.

"You are literally too good for this world," he said, wiping at his eyes. "What is wrong with him?"

He rubbed furiously at his eyes, trying not to cry in front of Pa.

"I don't understand how he could do this to you. Or your Conner."

He just couldn't wrap his head around it. They were still just as good, just as kind, just as loving, just as principled. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he ignoring everything they'd taught him, that they'd shown him just by existing?

[mark_in_the_sands]

Cassie's eyes were damp as well, to see all these good people so upset, but she scrubbed at them with the heel of her hand and nodded to the Kents before putting her hand on Kon's arm.

"We should probably get going," she said, flashing a sympathetic look at Mrs. Kent. "If my hearing was as good as his, I'd definitely come to see why my mother was crying."

[matchmadeinhell]

Kon nodded, taking a few swigs of lemonade. He'd left it sitting and he just...he needed to taste it again after all this time. One small sweet thing from home amidst all this misery.

His mouth puckering up made it a little easier to not curse Clark's name.

He stood up, taking in a deep breath and letting it out.

"You yell if you need me, okay? If he loses it. I don't care about the danger, you yell. I won't always be able to hear it, with what we have to do next, but if I do, I'll come. We can at least try to get you out. I can't - I can't stand the thought of something happening to you."

He smiled a watery smile.

"'Cause you're still you. Universes away." He tapped a hand to his chest. "We're supposed to be the special ones, with all the superpowers, but that - that's a superpower if I ever saw one. Being that decent, all different versions of you. Worlds away."

Ma got up and wrapped her arms around him and he hugged her back, briefly closing his eyes and just reveling in the feeling.

"I love you, Ma. Pa. You don't even have to be mine for me to. Just one talk and I can tell you're just like my Ma and Pa and that's enough. Please be careful."

[holynpcsbatman]

"Oh, Conner, the same right back to you. I can tell you're every bit the brave young man our Conner is."

Ma hugged him in a fierce hug.

"Please, when you get the other Titans out, let him know you're coming for him after it's all over. I don't want him alone in there, not knowing if he's getting out. And you tell him we love and him can't wait to get him home."

Then she let go of Kon to gently hug Cassie.

"And you, young lady, I'm so glad to see Conner's found you in another universe, too. Bless your heart for coming out here for us."

[injustice_npcs]

Jon went in to hug Kon now.

"You're the ones that need to be careful. Please take care, son. You're not the only one that can't stand the thought of something bad happening to family and Martha's right - we can barely tell you and our Conner apart, other than the age."

He drew back and nodded firmly.

"We'll keep your secrets. You do what you need to. He won't hear a word of it from us. And just like Martha said, you tell our Conner he's coming home and we'll be waiting for him when he does."

He gripped Kon's shoulder.

"Thank you for telling us he's alright and for helping get him back. Be careful out there."

[mark_in_the_sands]

Cassie hugged Mrs. Kent back, trying not to wonder about her counterpart's mother in this universe. She just had to believe that, with her daughter out of the picture, Helena Sandsmark was considered to not be any kind of threat.

"Stay safe," she said with a smile for both of them, and jerked her thumb in Kon's direction. "I'll do my best to keep him safe, too."

[holynpcsbatman]

"You keep each other safe," said Martha, leaning into Jonathan, looking over at him with a smile, the meaning very clear.

Whatever came next, they'd stand up to it together and they hoped Cassie and Conner would do the same.

The Kents saw Cassie and Kon to the door, their expressions wistful as they left. The ache Ma felt in her chest was almost a visible thing as they flew off.

[matchmadeinhell]

Kon kept the wistful smile on his face until the Kents were just little dots in the distance.

Then, when it was impossible for them to see or hear him, the smile dropped and turned into a scowl.

"I'm gonna feed him his own heart," he said hatefully. The only people he'd ever held more hate for than this were Lex Luthor and Amanda Spence. "He made Ma cry."

[mark_in_the_sands]

"No you're not," Cassie answered calmly. "If it has to be done, I'm doing it."

Because the last thing Kon needed was the blood of any version of Superman on his hands.

Even a shitty, awful Superman who made his mother cry.

[matchmadeinhell]

"Nuh uh, you should take on Wonder Woman. You're better equipped to deal with her than I am anyway. With all the kickin' booty with martial skill and everything."

He just really did not want to see Cassie facing Superman. The chilling image of the Superman robot killing Donna Troy entered his head, only in his little mental picture, it wasn't a robot, and it was Cassie instead of Donna.

"And it's my family he hurt." A pause. "Sort of."

[mark_in_the_sands]

"I've seen the way you fight now, don't sell yourself short."

Cassie turned in the air so that she could rub her knuckles across Kon's cheek.

"And don't do that to yourself unless you have to."

[matchmadeinhell]

That made him freeze there in the air, staring at her. For a moment, the look on his face was as loving as the looks Ma and Pa had given each other a few times during their conversation with them. And that...said something. It really did. He didn't even have any idea that he was looking at her that way.

Then his expression faded to something far more brittle and he avoided her eyes.

"If everything goes wrong and our nuclear option stops being an option, somebody's gonna have to try to do it by just toughing it out. Might as well be me."

A pause.

"You can't break what's already broken, right?"

Batman calling him a murderer hadn't really helped his self-image. He'd hidden it, trying to just grit his teeth and keep moving forward with the mission, but it had affected him.

"I've got blood on my hands already, what's it matter? Adding more?" He shrugged one of those shrugs he did where he was trying to act like something didn't bother him and it was just very, transparently obvious that it did.

He'd practically been born - well, cloned - with his heart on his spandex sleeve and it was more obvious now than ever.

[mark_in_the_sands]

It made her heart break, hearing him say that about himself. Cassie looked at him, struggling to find a way to verbalize what she felt he needed to hear, but words weren't going to cut it, were they? Diana could tell him he was still worthy of wearing the 'S' and he was still reeling too hard to believe it.

And Batman, Persephone damn him, had hurt him again, in the wound he was still recovering from.

"Object lesson," she said calmly, and stopped flying and started falling; momentum carrying her forward as she allowed gravity to reclaim her. They were low enough that the fall probably wouldn't kill her, not with her durability, but hitting the ground wasn't going to be fun.

But she wasn't going to hit the ground. Kon was going to catch her.