(FIC) Fractals on a breaking wall (Superman/Batman, PG-13)
Also for the music meme, but this one went out of control! What can I say, I *love* reunion fic. Beta by mithen, also for her! XD
Title: Fractals on a breaking wall
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Characters: Superman/Batman
Word Count: 3800+
Summary: Reunion fic set at the end of the Earth vs. New Krypton war, crazy speculations of current canon. Superman has been captured by General Lane, but the war is still being waged by Earth's heroes in both planets.
And through a fractal on a breaking wall,
I see you my friend and touch your face again,
Miracles will happen as we dream.
Captured. Again.
Everything was so clear, now. He sat in the energy cell, looking at the terrified faces along the way. He couldn't hear them, but he could read their lips. "Superman!" "It's him!" "He's betrayed us!" "Not him!" "They all want to kill us!". He forced himself to keep looking. These were his people, the people of his adopted planet.
He failed them all.
He failed New Krypton as well when he failed to protect them for Brainiac. His tenure as general of the military guild now made him responsible for the last attack on Earth and for the new technology that had been developed under his command, even if he hadn't known anything about it.
He had been too naive. He had thought there was hope for New Krypton, hope for a new beginning. A world without war. Peace for Earth and New Krypton alike, and maybe one day...
Now, he had been accessory to the massacres on Earth. Hundreds of Kryptonian deaths, thousands of human lives lost. For nothing. He was being delivered to General Lane as a prisoner of war, Eradicator's latest capture, the beginnings of a truce that would get Earth right where Brainiac wanted it, submerged in chaos and fear.
He had been a pawn in their game.
He saw a familiar face in the crowd, running, trying to catch his attention. He frowned. Tim? What...
"S! He's alive!" Kal turned, trying to find Tim's face in the crowd, but the contingent was moving too fast. He looked frantically for the young man, his breath held. The frantic light in the young man's eyes, and his words... "Wait for us!". He didn't know what to think, didn't want to hope, it was beyond hope. He had seen... he had held him, had made sure, it couldn't be, it couldn't be.
His heart was beating loudly, the sound drowning out everything around him.
It felt like it was the first time it had beaten in a year.
---
In the red sun labs of General Lane's base, unspeakable things were done to him. He was studied for weaknesses, measured, interrogated, tortured.
It was only pain, and Clark had been through worse.
Curled on the cold floor of his cell, he slept. The first night there were no dreams.
The second night he woke up, exhausted and sore, with the sensation that someone was calling him. His cell was empty and dark, and after a while he fell back asleep.
The third night, a curtain of white opened, and light flooded everything. He dreamed of suffusing brilliance and warmth.
The fourth night, Bruce was waiting for him. He expected him to plan, to talk about strategy, to interrogate him so he could find him, so they could stop the war, so they could stop the madness.
Instead, he held him in his arms and stroked his hair through the night.
Which is how Clark knew it was only a dream.
---
A new team of scientists started a new battery of tests. Clark was tired. He wanted to go back to sleep, wanted to go back to the warm light, to be comforted by a friend, to be held and loved. When they were done for the day, he was dragged back to his cell.
The soldier who shackled him stroked his hair softly, just once. Clark's eyes were closed, and for a moment he was afraid to open them. Anyone could spare a kindness for Superman, anyone could feel pity for him right now. He had been Earth's greatest hero.
::Pity? For you, Kal-El? Never, my friend. Only joy.::
Clark's eyes snapped open, the whisper in his head completely unexpected. He didn't know the soldier, but he knew his voice. ::J'onn?::
The soldier nodded before he stood up and left. Clark swallowed hard, his heart beating loud in his ears.
He hoped beyond hope that this was the first of many reunions. He feared he was imagining things that made his failure and capture more bearable.
Clark slept, and he dreamed of fields of golden light, soft caresses soothing his pain.
And it was Bruce who held him, Bruce who touched him, and Clark knew that J'onn would never deceive him like this, would never cheat him like this and bring him pain.
---
A blond woman brought him his meal the next day. She had big blue eyes and a kind smile. He didn't say a word, he told himself he didn't recognize her, that he didn't know her scent, that he didn't know the strength of her hands, the timbre of her voice.
That evening, an African American medic tended to his newest set of wounds, and Clark pretended not to know those callused hands, pretended not to notice the light in his eyes, like the man had a secret he wanted to share, happy news for both of them. About a mutual friend, maybe. About the infiltration of General Lane's command center. It was impossible to know.
When the night shift started and the guards in front of his cells changed, he recognized one of the new guards. The proud stance, the set of her shoulders. Dark hair pulled back, her skin like alabaster.
He allowed himself to hope, even though she never turned back to look at him.
---
By his second week, the staff and the soldiers around him were more and more familiar. A clean-shaved blond technician never looked over the machine readings, his green eyes hard. Clark didn't think he enjoyed being here any more than he did. A red headed soldier guarded his cell, constantly shifting his weight.
The tests became more invasive, different light frequencies being tested, some of them healing, some of them hurting. The days were a blur of discomfort and humiliation and pain. He didn't hear any news, if the truce had held, if New Krypton was in orbit, if Earth was being ravaged by war.
Guardian angels stood ready by his side, and held steady. Clark could only hope.
In his dreams, he would turn to Bruce and the other man would smile, not a beatific or dreamlike smile, but a half crooked smile that seemed to say 'Well, we have met under weirder circumstances.'. Clark didn't dare to talk, didn't dare to wake up. Bruce never spoke a word, but he was warm and solid and the sound of his heartbeat carried Clark through the night.
---
He couldn't sleep. He wanted to, more than anything, but he couldn't. Drugs that made his skin crawl and his blood burn were keeping him awake, the pain clearing his mind instead of fogging it like other days.
In the midst of his thoughts, he could see a shadow. He didn't want to acknowledge it, didn't want to let doubt grasp him and strangle his hope, but he couldn't delude himself any longer.
In the course of the past three weeks he had seen -he had thought he'd seen- at least two dozen Leaguers, and a handful of friends from the Justice Society and other teams.
He hadn't seen Bruce once in the waking world, not a glimpse. He had been doubtful about some of his identifications -he had seen a blond man with short cropped hair and broad shoulders looking awkward as he tended to one of the communication stations, but Arthur was dead, and a kind looking man with brown hair and mischievous brown eyes that could not be Ted getting very busy with repairs of the testing equipment- but he hadn't seen Bruce once.
With a clear mind, he saw his dreams for what they were, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he accepted the truth. In a world full of miracles, of friends who came back from the grave, Bruce would not stay idle, and Bruce would not just sit down with him and comfort him. He would be out there, fighting, planning, side by side with Earth's heroes.
And because he couldn't bear to harbor more groundless hope, he stopped sleeping.
---
Yellow light washed over him, slowly healing his wounds. A foul-smelling liquid trickled down his chest, eating away skin and muscle, and he screamed. The pain was exquisite, and he was tired and angry -why wasn't anyone doing anything, what were they waiting for? how did he allow the situation to get so bad?- and then the light intensified and his wounds closed, leaving him with a tingling sensation, a gentle heat, and the ghost pain still searing down his nerves.
They spent the morning trying different acids and the spectrum of light. The afternoon was reserved for hallucinatory drugs and oxygen deprivation.
He was thrown into his cell and shackled by another blond guard, the gray of his uniform nowhere as flattering as his usual blue and gold. "Tomorrow's a big day," he said cheerily. "Get some rest."
Clark laid awake, shivering in anticipation. Closing his eyes, he centered himself, finding strength in his weary muscles and clarity in his mind, preparing himself for whatever would come next.
When he opened his eyes, there were no guards in front of his cell.
---
He shifted down hallways carefully, looking first for soldiers, then for traces of his friends. The base was silent, the metal walls creaking as the temperature shifted. All systems were offline, emergency lights barely lit the way. He took refuge in the shadows, trying to figure out what was going on, and what his part in it would be.
"There you are," Karen whispered, and she grabbed his arm.
He startled. He hadn't heard her approaching, but then, she was floating a couple of inches above the floor. He followed her as best as he could, his limbs heavy and clumsy. The toll of the past weeks and his last few days without sleeping was hard to ignore.
"Here. Get this on," she said, handing him a package that had been hidden in a locker, and turned to give him some privacy. He ripped it open and stared at his Superman uniform, the red and blue in stark contrast with the bleak gloom of the base.
"I don't think I can do much in this," he said, fighting the dryness of his mouth.
"No need for your big guns," Karen said, her eyes twinkling. "But we have to make a statement. It's the grand finale. Come on, get ready for the fireworks."
Taking off his orange pants and the white shirt he had worn for almost a month, he put on his uniform. It didn't fit anywhere as snugly as it usually did, but he felt better already.
---
Diana dominated the room, her dignified power stance much more intimidating than General Lane's sneer and vitriol. Arthur stood beside her, and two dozen superheroes in military uniform had the rest of the base's personnel subdued. Clark could easily tell them apart, his friends from the soldiers -it was their eyes, he realized, it was the light behind their eyes- and he felt a bit out of place being the only one wearing his bright colors.
"These men followed you because they trusted you," Diana said. "They trusted you because you promised them safety and because you swore to them that your war was inevitable. You said it was us or them.
"We say, it's all of us in this together. Earth and New Krypton need not to fear each other. You spoke of power imbalance, of their strength being necessarily a threat to Earth's survival. We're Earth's guardians. We do not rule the nations of this Earth, nor do we want to, but we have the power to protect her. That includes protecting it from people like you."
Karen nudged him, and he walked up to Diana, standing by her side.
"You were working with Zod. All this time, were you a spy, Kryptonian scum?" General Lane spat.
Clark made himself smile, a smug and condescending smile. Let him think whatever he wanted. It didn't matter anymore. He crossed his arms over his chest and planted himself firmly on his feet in Superman's victory pose, not the one that said 'I'm here to save the day', but the one that said 'You never stood a chance.'
Bruce would usually lean against him when he did that. The empty space beside him made his mouth taste like ashes.
"You're going to let them destroy us. You're going to deliver us to them in a silver plate, they will kill everything, everyone! Do you think they will show you any kindness? They're animals, you idiots!" General Lane said.
Ted was on one of the communication stations. He made a thumbs up signal to Arthur, and he nodded.
All the screens of the control center lit up, blinding light for a moment, and then the image focused. It was Kandor, and it was eerily quiet. Buildings had been destroyed, turned into rubble, debris cluttered the streets. Wounds crossed the surface of the earth, proof of the battles that had been held there.
Ted channeled one of the images into the center screen. In New Krypton's Council, Brainiac was held in an energy field. The giant holographic representations of the leaders of New Krypton were gone, but the leaders -the ones that remained, at least- stood close to the creature. Clark's eyes went wide.
In a world of miracles, where friends came back from the grave, Bruce would not stay idle, he would fight, he would plan, he would find a way to stop the madness.
"We have nothing to fear from you, Alura's voice came faintly, interference muffling it. "The council has decided to use the Eradicator matrix to enslave you, and you will be delivered to the Green Lantern Corps. We have no reason to war with Earth. Your manipulations have put our existence in danger and have cost us precious lives, we shall not allow this."
Standing beside Alura were Zod and Ursa, Nar and Tyr-Van. Behind them he could see Kara and Chris, Steel and Mon and Kon. And next to Kon, Red Robin. Batgirl. Batman and Robin. Bruce.
Incongruously out of costume, incongruously alive.
His arms crossed across his chest, head tilted back, his power stance for 'You never stood a chance.'
Clark started to laugh.
---
After the capture of General Lane, the peace that had seemed to fall over the base dissipated. U.S.government agencies took over, and he thought he saw Amanda Waller looking sour as she gave orders, but then, Waller seemed to get more and more annoyed each time she had to team up with the 'uncontrollable' heroes.
As they flew to the Justice League headquarters he found out half a dozen other teams had taken over various bases and operations on Earth. It seemed that a lot of the Kryptonian resources had been waiting for them on Earth -smuggled, Clark was sure, during the time Zod had been recovering and Kal had been the head of the military guild - and the JSA and the Titans had disabled them. The Outsiders and the Suicide Squad had taken over Toyman's replica factories and contained the Eradicator.
Clark's head hurt. He had never been in a situation where he wasn't in the middle of the fray, and all the stories were becoming a blanket of sound. He let himself be carried by them, closing his eyes, letting sound wash over him, let friendly hands guide him to the medlabs, undress him, check his wounds.
"I'm going to set up the sun lamps, but I think mostly you just need to rest, Kal," Diana said, her voice soft and warm. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "For not stopping them from hurting you. Such atrocity... it should have never happened, especially not with us there."
Clark shook his head against the pillow, his eyes still closed. Through his eyelids, the light of the sun lamps turned red. His powers were slowly returning, and he could hear the voices outside, a cacophony of joy and victory, diplomatic calls being made, affairs of state being discussed with world leaders and the UN. Old friends reuniting, their voices full of surprise and excitement. "It bought you time," Clark said. "It had to be that way. Winner takes all. And we won." He opened his eyes, and Bruce was standing beside Diana, looking at the support system readouts with a concerned frown.
Clark's voice left him entirely. His lungs locked and for a second he couldn't breathe. In a rush of sound, he could hear Bruce's heartbeat, singled out of all the heartbeats, he could hear his breathing, the rush of blood through his veins. The computer bleeped and Bruce turned to look at him, a half smile tugging at his lips.
"Hey."
The note broke through the net of sound cradling Clark's mind, a single word refocusing his world around it.
"Don't I get a hug? Ollie got a hug."
Without transition, Bruce was in his arms and he was burrowing his face in the crook of his neck, hot tears down his cheeks as he laughed. Bruce's arms around him were impossibly tight, his scent overpowering, his voice a beacon as he chuckled, one of his hands cradling Clark's skull. Clark's knees gave and then they were on the floor, and Bruce was holding him, stroking his hair, his breathing erratic -he couldn't be sobbing because he wasn't crying like Clark, who was crying and didn't give a damn, not after a month of torture and a year of mourning- and his body solid and warm against his.
"You took the only thing I could do for you from me, you idiot," Bruce said lowly.
Clark let go enough to look at him, to search his eyes, to drink in the sight of his brother, his partner, his friend. He never noticed when Diana left the lab. "I did?"
"The dreams. You have any idea what a headache it is to handle Dr. Destiny's materioptikon? And then you never came back."
"I thought... I didn't think they were real. I didn't want to believe... Just in case."
"In case of what? In case we never came for you?"
"No, in case you never came for me."
Bruce nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "I would have. But I couldn't bear to... be there. See you and not... not help you. I would have blown our cover. I'm sorry." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm such a coward."
Clark leaned against his chest, letting Bruce's heartbeat become his safety net. He thought about the dreams, and the feeling of being safe, warm, and loved, and realized they had settled into the same position Bruce held him in the dreams. "Why didn't you say anything? When you contacted me, why... you could have let me know it was real."
Bruce huffed. "I thought you knew it was real." He paused, shifting his body, trying to get more comfortable with the weight of Clark's body against him. "It is real." He bopped Clark in the back of the head instead of stroking his hair. "And then you took it from me. You. Idiot."
Clark chuckled, feeling sleep taking over him. "I'm sorry."
"It's impossible to lie in dreams, Clark, did you know that? Unless, I don't know, you've split your head open with the materioptikon to the point it doesn't make you crazy to use it. While we were there I knew that anything I said would be... terrifying."
Clark opened one eye. He saw Bruce above him, Bruce, who wasn't wearing a uniform, who had just been to New Krypton fighting Brainiac, who had just waltzed back into his life. He needed to ask him how, but he suspected that was a long story, and all he wanted right now was to sleep. He could not believe anything Bruce could say could be terrifying. There was nothing scary about Bruce, nothing at all. He had seen him in the dream, he had felt him. "Terrifying how?"
"I can get a bit intense. Sometimes. When I see things clearly, it's impossible to not just.. go for it." He shook Clark, forcing him to open his eyes again. "Clark, do you know what I'm telling you?"
"Not at all," he said tiredly. "Your aura of mystery precedes you."
Bruce made a little desperate sound and held him tighter. "Augh, Clark."
"We'll talk about it later, okay? I just... I can't even say ma-te-ri-op-ti-kon right now, Bruce, even less discuss it."
"Yeah," he said softly. "Okay."
"Will you be here when I wake up?"
Bruce took a deep breath, his chest heaving against Clark. "Every time."
Title: Fractals on a breaking wall
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Characters: Superman/Batman
Word Count: 3800+
Summary: Reunion fic set at the end of the Earth vs. New Krypton war, crazy speculations of current canon. Superman has been captured by General Lane, but the war is still being waged by Earth's heroes in both planets.
And through a fractal on a breaking wall,
I see you my friend and touch your face again,
Miracles will happen as we dream.
Captured. Again.
Everything was so clear, now. He sat in the energy cell, looking at the terrified faces along the way. He couldn't hear them, but he could read their lips. "Superman!" "It's him!" "He's betrayed us!" "Not him!" "They all want to kill us!". He forced himself to keep looking. These were his people, the people of his adopted planet.
He failed them all.
He failed New Krypton as well when he failed to protect them for Brainiac. His tenure as general of the military guild now made him responsible for the last attack on Earth and for the new technology that had been developed under his command, even if he hadn't known anything about it.
He had been too naive. He had thought there was hope for New Krypton, hope for a new beginning. A world without war. Peace for Earth and New Krypton alike, and maybe one day...
Now, he had been accessory to the massacres on Earth. Hundreds of Kryptonian deaths, thousands of human lives lost. For nothing. He was being delivered to General Lane as a prisoner of war, Eradicator's latest capture, the beginnings of a truce that would get Earth right where Brainiac wanted it, submerged in chaos and fear.
He had been a pawn in their game.
He saw a familiar face in the crowd, running, trying to catch his attention. He frowned. Tim? What...
"S! He's alive!" Kal turned, trying to find Tim's face in the crowd, but the contingent was moving too fast. He looked frantically for the young man, his breath held. The frantic light in the young man's eyes, and his words... "Wait for us!". He didn't know what to think, didn't want to hope, it was beyond hope. He had seen... he had held him, had made sure, it couldn't be, it couldn't be.
His heart was beating loudly, the sound drowning out everything around him.
It felt like it was the first time it had beaten in a year.
---
In the red sun labs of General Lane's base, unspeakable things were done to him. He was studied for weaknesses, measured, interrogated, tortured.
It was only pain, and Clark had been through worse.
Curled on the cold floor of his cell, he slept. The first night there were no dreams.
The second night he woke up, exhausted and sore, with the sensation that someone was calling him. His cell was empty and dark, and after a while he fell back asleep.
The third night, a curtain of white opened, and light flooded everything. He dreamed of suffusing brilliance and warmth.
The fourth night, Bruce was waiting for him. He expected him to plan, to talk about strategy, to interrogate him so he could find him, so they could stop the war, so they could stop the madness.
Instead, he held him in his arms and stroked his hair through the night.
Which is how Clark knew it was only a dream.
---
A new team of scientists started a new battery of tests. Clark was tired. He wanted to go back to sleep, wanted to go back to the warm light, to be comforted by a friend, to be held and loved. When they were done for the day, he was dragged back to his cell.
The soldier who shackled him stroked his hair softly, just once. Clark's eyes were closed, and for a moment he was afraid to open them. Anyone could spare a kindness for Superman, anyone could feel pity for him right now. He had been Earth's greatest hero.
::Pity? For you, Kal-El? Never, my friend. Only joy.::
Clark's eyes snapped open, the whisper in his head completely unexpected. He didn't know the soldier, but he knew his voice. ::J'onn?::
The soldier nodded before he stood up and left. Clark swallowed hard, his heart beating loud in his ears.
He hoped beyond hope that this was the first of many reunions. He feared he was imagining things that made his failure and capture more bearable.
Clark slept, and he dreamed of fields of golden light, soft caresses soothing his pain.
And it was Bruce who held him, Bruce who touched him, and Clark knew that J'onn would never deceive him like this, would never cheat him like this and bring him pain.
---
A blond woman brought him his meal the next day. She had big blue eyes and a kind smile. He didn't say a word, he told himself he didn't recognize her, that he didn't know her scent, that he didn't know the strength of her hands, the timbre of her voice.
That evening, an African American medic tended to his newest set of wounds, and Clark pretended not to know those callused hands, pretended not to notice the light in his eyes, like the man had a secret he wanted to share, happy news for both of them. About a mutual friend, maybe. About the infiltration of General Lane's command center. It was impossible to know.
When the night shift started and the guards in front of his cells changed, he recognized one of the new guards. The proud stance, the set of her shoulders. Dark hair pulled back, her skin like alabaster.
He allowed himself to hope, even though she never turned back to look at him.
---
By his second week, the staff and the soldiers around him were more and more familiar. A clean-shaved blond technician never looked over the machine readings, his green eyes hard. Clark didn't think he enjoyed being here any more than he did. A red headed soldier guarded his cell, constantly shifting his weight.
The tests became more invasive, different light frequencies being tested, some of them healing, some of them hurting. The days were a blur of discomfort and humiliation and pain. He didn't hear any news, if the truce had held, if New Krypton was in orbit, if Earth was being ravaged by war.
Guardian angels stood ready by his side, and held steady. Clark could only hope.
In his dreams, he would turn to Bruce and the other man would smile, not a beatific or dreamlike smile, but a half crooked smile that seemed to say 'Well, we have met under weirder circumstances.'. Clark didn't dare to talk, didn't dare to wake up. Bruce never spoke a word, but he was warm and solid and the sound of his heartbeat carried Clark through the night.
---
He couldn't sleep. He wanted to, more than anything, but he couldn't. Drugs that made his skin crawl and his blood burn were keeping him awake, the pain clearing his mind instead of fogging it like other days.
In the midst of his thoughts, he could see a shadow. He didn't want to acknowledge it, didn't want to let doubt grasp him and strangle his hope, but he couldn't delude himself any longer.
In the course of the past three weeks he had seen -he had thought he'd seen- at least two dozen Leaguers, and a handful of friends from the Justice Society and other teams.
He hadn't seen Bruce once in the waking world, not a glimpse. He had been doubtful about some of his identifications -he had seen a blond man with short cropped hair and broad shoulders looking awkward as he tended to one of the communication stations, but Arthur was dead, and a kind looking man with brown hair and mischievous brown eyes that could not be Ted getting very busy with repairs of the testing equipment- but he hadn't seen Bruce once.
With a clear mind, he saw his dreams for what they were, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he accepted the truth. In a world full of miracles, of friends who came back from the grave, Bruce would not stay idle, and Bruce would not just sit down with him and comfort him. He would be out there, fighting, planning, side by side with Earth's heroes.
And because he couldn't bear to harbor more groundless hope, he stopped sleeping.
---
Yellow light washed over him, slowly healing his wounds. A foul-smelling liquid trickled down his chest, eating away skin and muscle, and he screamed. The pain was exquisite, and he was tired and angry -why wasn't anyone doing anything, what were they waiting for? how did he allow the situation to get so bad?- and then the light intensified and his wounds closed, leaving him with a tingling sensation, a gentle heat, and the ghost pain still searing down his nerves.
They spent the morning trying different acids and the spectrum of light. The afternoon was reserved for hallucinatory drugs and oxygen deprivation.
He was thrown into his cell and shackled by another blond guard, the gray of his uniform nowhere as flattering as his usual blue and gold. "Tomorrow's a big day," he said cheerily. "Get some rest."
Clark laid awake, shivering in anticipation. Closing his eyes, he centered himself, finding strength in his weary muscles and clarity in his mind, preparing himself for whatever would come next.
When he opened his eyes, there were no guards in front of his cell.
---
He shifted down hallways carefully, looking first for soldiers, then for traces of his friends. The base was silent, the metal walls creaking as the temperature shifted. All systems were offline, emergency lights barely lit the way. He took refuge in the shadows, trying to figure out what was going on, and what his part in it would be.
"There you are," Karen whispered, and she grabbed his arm.
He startled. He hadn't heard her approaching, but then, she was floating a couple of inches above the floor. He followed her as best as he could, his limbs heavy and clumsy. The toll of the past weeks and his last few days without sleeping was hard to ignore.
"Here. Get this on," she said, handing him a package that had been hidden in a locker, and turned to give him some privacy. He ripped it open and stared at his Superman uniform, the red and blue in stark contrast with the bleak gloom of the base.
"I don't think I can do much in this," he said, fighting the dryness of his mouth.
"No need for your big guns," Karen said, her eyes twinkling. "But we have to make a statement. It's the grand finale. Come on, get ready for the fireworks."
Taking off his orange pants and the white shirt he had worn for almost a month, he put on his uniform. It didn't fit anywhere as snugly as it usually did, but he felt better already.
---
Diana dominated the room, her dignified power stance much more intimidating than General Lane's sneer and vitriol. Arthur stood beside her, and two dozen superheroes in military uniform had the rest of the base's personnel subdued. Clark could easily tell them apart, his friends from the soldiers -it was their eyes, he realized, it was the light behind their eyes- and he felt a bit out of place being the only one wearing his bright colors.
"These men followed you because they trusted you," Diana said. "They trusted you because you promised them safety and because you swore to them that your war was inevitable. You said it was us or them.
"We say, it's all of us in this together. Earth and New Krypton need not to fear each other. You spoke of power imbalance, of their strength being necessarily a threat to Earth's survival. We're Earth's guardians. We do not rule the nations of this Earth, nor do we want to, but we have the power to protect her. That includes protecting it from people like you."
Karen nudged him, and he walked up to Diana, standing by her side.
"You were working with Zod. All this time, were you a spy, Kryptonian scum?" General Lane spat.
Clark made himself smile, a smug and condescending smile. Let him think whatever he wanted. It didn't matter anymore. He crossed his arms over his chest and planted himself firmly on his feet in Superman's victory pose, not the one that said 'I'm here to save the day', but the one that said 'You never stood a chance.'
Bruce would usually lean against him when he did that. The empty space beside him made his mouth taste like ashes.
"You're going to let them destroy us. You're going to deliver us to them in a silver plate, they will kill everything, everyone! Do you think they will show you any kindness? They're animals, you idiots!" General Lane said.
Ted was on one of the communication stations. He made a thumbs up signal to Arthur, and he nodded.
All the screens of the control center lit up, blinding light for a moment, and then the image focused. It was Kandor, and it was eerily quiet. Buildings had been destroyed, turned into rubble, debris cluttered the streets. Wounds crossed the surface of the earth, proof of the battles that had been held there.
Ted channeled one of the images into the center screen. In New Krypton's Council, Brainiac was held in an energy field. The giant holographic representations of the leaders of New Krypton were gone, but the leaders -the ones that remained, at least- stood close to the creature. Clark's eyes went wide.
In a world of miracles, where friends came back from the grave, Bruce would not stay idle, he would fight, he would plan, he would find a way to stop the madness.
"We have nothing to fear from you, Alura's voice came faintly, interference muffling it. "The council has decided to use the Eradicator matrix to enslave you, and you will be delivered to the Green Lantern Corps. We have no reason to war with Earth. Your manipulations have put our existence in danger and have cost us precious lives, we shall not allow this."
Standing beside Alura were Zod and Ursa, Nar and Tyr-Van. Behind them he could see Kara and Chris, Steel and Mon and Kon. And next to Kon, Red Robin. Batgirl. Batman and Robin. Bruce.
Incongruously out of costume, incongruously alive.
His arms crossed across his chest, head tilted back, his power stance for 'You never stood a chance.'
Clark started to laugh.
---
After the capture of General Lane, the peace that had seemed to fall over the base dissipated. U.S.government agencies took over, and he thought he saw Amanda Waller looking sour as she gave orders, but then, Waller seemed to get more and more annoyed each time she had to team up with the 'uncontrollable' heroes.
As they flew to the Justice League headquarters he found out half a dozen other teams had taken over various bases and operations on Earth. It seemed that a lot of the Kryptonian resources had been waiting for them on Earth -smuggled, Clark was sure, during the time Zod had been recovering and Kal had been the head of the military guild - and the JSA and the Titans had disabled them. The Outsiders and the Suicide Squad had taken over Toyman's replica factories and contained the Eradicator.
Clark's head hurt. He had never been in a situation where he wasn't in the middle of the fray, and all the stories were becoming a blanket of sound. He let himself be carried by them, closing his eyes, letting sound wash over him, let friendly hands guide him to the medlabs, undress him, check his wounds.
"I'm going to set up the sun lamps, but I think mostly you just need to rest, Kal," Diana said, her voice soft and warm. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "For not stopping them from hurting you. Such atrocity... it should have never happened, especially not with us there."
Clark shook his head against the pillow, his eyes still closed. Through his eyelids, the light of the sun lamps turned red. His powers were slowly returning, and he could hear the voices outside, a cacophony of joy and victory, diplomatic calls being made, affairs of state being discussed with world leaders and the UN. Old friends reuniting, their voices full of surprise and excitement. "It bought you time," Clark said. "It had to be that way. Winner takes all. And we won." He opened his eyes, and Bruce was standing beside Diana, looking at the support system readouts with a concerned frown.
Clark's voice left him entirely. His lungs locked and for a second he couldn't breathe. In a rush of sound, he could hear Bruce's heartbeat, singled out of all the heartbeats, he could hear his breathing, the rush of blood through his veins. The computer bleeped and Bruce turned to look at him, a half smile tugging at his lips.
"Hey."
The note broke through the net of sound cradling Clark's mind, a single word refocusing his world around it.
"Don't I get a hug? Ollie got a hug."
Without transition, Bruce was in his arms and he was burrowing his face in the crook of his neck, hot tears down his cheeks as he laughed. Bruce's arms around him were impossibly tight, his scent overpowering, his voice a beacon as he chuckled, one of his hands cradling Clark's skull. Clark's knees gave and then they were on the floor, and Bruce was holding him, stroking his hair, his breathing erratic -he couldn't be sobbing because he wasn't crying like Clark, who was crying and didn't give a damn, not after a month of torture and a year of mourning- and his body solid and warm against his.
"You took the only thing I could do for you from me, you idiot," Bruce said lowly.
Clark let go enough to look at him, to search his eyes, to drink in the sight of his brother, his partner, his friend. He never noticed when Diana left the lab. "I did?"
"The dreams. You have any idea what a headache it is to handle Dr. Destiny's materioptikon? And then you never came back."
"I thought... I didn't think they were real. I didn't want to believe... Just in case."
"In case of what? In case we never came for you?"
"No, in case you never came for me."
Bruce nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "I would have. But I couldn't bear to... be there. See you and not... not help you. I would have blown our cover. I'm sorry." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm such a coward."
Clark leaned against his chest, letting Bruce's heartbeat become his safety net. He thought about the dreams, and the feeling of being safe, warm, and loved, and realized they had settled into the same position Bruce held him in the dreams. "Why didn't you say anything? When you contacted me, why... you could have let me know it was real."
Bruce huffed. "I thought you knew it was real." He paused, shifting his body, trying to get more comfortable with the weight of Clark's body against him. "It is real." He bopped Clark in the back of the head instead of stroking his hair. "And then you took it from me. You. Idiot."
Clark chuckled, feeling sleep taking over him. "I'm sorry."
"It's impossible to lie in dreams, Clark, did you know that? Unless, I don't know, you've split your head open with the materioptikon to the point it doesn't make you crazy to use it. While we were there I knew that anything I said would be... terrifying."
Clark opened one eye. He saw Bruce above him, Bruce, who wasn't wearing a uniform, who had just been to New Krypton fighting Brainiac, who had just waltzed back into his life. He needed to ask him how, but he suspected that was a long story, and all he wanted right now was to sleep. He could not believe anything Bruce could say could be terrifying. There was nothing scary about Bruce, nothing at all. He had seen him in the dream, he had felt him. "Terrifying how?"
"I can get a bit intense. Sometimes. When I see things clearly, it's impossible to not just.. go for it." He shook Clark, forcing him to open his eyes again. "Clark, do you know what I'm telling you?"
"Not at all," he said tiredly. "Your aura of mystery precedes you."
Bruce made a little desperate sound and held him tighter. "Augh, Clark."
"We'll talk about it later, okay? I just... I can't even say ma-te-ri-op-ti-kon right now, Bruce, even less discuss it."
"Yeah," he said softly. "Okay."
"Will you be here when I wake up?"
Bruce took a deep breath, his chest heaving against Clark. "Every time."