FIC: Smelt, Chapter 46
Title:Smelt
Author : Legendarytobes
Rating : Through at least R eventually for sex/language
Pairings : by this point in the story - Chlark, J'onn/Martha, Bruce/Diana, Cassie (Wonder Girl)/Conner Kent, and Lois Lane/Zatanna (no really) and mentions of past Chlollie.
Summary : AU - Chloe wasn't able to stop Clark from putting on the gold K ring in "Finale, part 1," and he has to deal with an ordinary life and the realization that he's not always enough for the people around him now.
Warnings : TC, violence, cursing
Previous Parts - http://two-of-us.svtometropolis.com/viewstory.php?sid=1214
What Happened Last Time: Granny reassured Clark about his choices and asked him to go with her to the Fortress to take back his suit and tear the rest of it to the ground.
Author's Note : This fic was a runner up for "Best Chlark" at the sv_fca
"Chlo, honey, you're gonna need to eat something to keep up your energy," Lois said, setting out some Corn Flakes and milk. Lois was like me, she wasn't a cooker so, if I had had an appetite, it was definitely the safest food option than eggs a la Lane.
Sighing, I reached instead for the coffee pot and poured a large cup. Taking a sip, I added, "I can't eat. I just...you don't want to know."
Lois frowned and set the Green K between us on the table. I'd have to go with her to Smallville to pick up some supplies. I hadn't had to keep Green K around in a while so I'd gotten out of the practice of it. I know that sounds mean and I love Clark, really I do, but when he was just himself (and didn't that feel like years ago), he had a terrible track record. There was always magic or mind control or some other reason I had to be saving him from himself or from hurting even his mom and dad. Still, after he'd become mortal, I'd shed myself of the Kryptonite stashes, figuring some spare items in Watchtower would be enough (or Diana and Cassie for that matter) should Conner ever go rogue.
Now we'd need every piece we could get and the League would have to pack, even work something up to shield pieces so they could be kept near Conner.
"You didn't sleep."
"I tried."
"But you didn't. I get it. After Clark went all Cullen on you, even I had a hard time getting any rest last night, but I did. Chloe, you look like shit."
Nodding, I sipped my drink. "I went to the JSA yesterday."
"I know. You did that while Dinah and I started pooling our Godfrey 2.0 list and the Amazons were reading Carter's journal over again."
"No, you don't understand. I didn't go for the archives."
Lois frowned and started to pour out cereal at least for herself. "The Fate Helmet."
It wasn't a question.
"We don't need to look backwards. There can't be a way to free Clark. Granny has him where she wants him and she's a far better witch than Z is a wizard. There's only one way this is going to end."
"What did you see?"
I pushed my coffee aside, now no longer able to swallow, not while I thought about what I'd seen. "Blood, a lot of it. They're going to do everything we're afraid of."
"But what you saw last time? It wasn't always true was it?"
"I saw what the VRA wanted to do and, yeah, before I told Clark where to find her, I flat out saw Tess burn."
"So it can change."
"But I saw so much that did happen just like I thought it would---your engagement, where Ollie was being held, the way the VRA set up their mind control. We can probably stop some things, but this is going to get bloody. I don't care what Clark said."
"Said?"
I nodded. "Yeah, he says that granny doesn't want to purge and I'm sure it's not as fast and easy as scaring people into submission, but she's...the streets ran red, Lois."
My cousin shivered. "They don't have to anymore than the Suicide Squad kept Oliver or the VRA trapped us, okay? We just need to think."
I shrugged and looked back towards Blue on her kitchen's window ledge. "Granny's got Clark high out of his mind and convinced she's part June Cleaver and part the second coming. He's really bought her lies completely. He says he wouldn't...that it's not what he wants...but if she did ask him, I don't doubt he'd kill for her."
"You can't just be resigned to this. If you'd been that way last time you wore the Fate Helmet, then we'd have been toast!"
"Does it even matter, Lo? The second he kills someone, even if we can snap him out of it, he'd never be the same after."
"Then, we don't let him touch anyone. She's got the Blur? We've got Wonder Woman and Wondergirl, Superboy, The Batman, Green Arrow, and the Martian Manhunter and that's just our A roster . We can fight this."
"I failed."
Lois shook her head and then grabbed my shoulders. "You can't sink too. You heard Oliver. Hell, you know better than anyone how hard he fell with this. J'onn's right. We start to doubt ourselves or fight with each other and we're done; we'll be Omega'ed too. Chloe, you've never quit anything in your life. This would be a shit time to start now."
"I've quit a lot of things. You just didn't see me do it."
"Is this about the DP? Cause you'll be back there some day and you're kicking ass at The Journal and before at The Register."
"I gave up on Clark and me so many times," I admitted. "There's been a lot of times I should have fought and I just rolled over and took it."
Lois paused then and eyed Z's collection of toadstool and herbs on the counter. "That's not what matters now. Who ended up with who really doesn't matter at all. When the big things happen, when the League collapsed or I was missing or the VRA was gunning for us, you didn't give up. This is like that."
Sighing, I stood up and set my cup in the sink. "I'll try but you didn't see it. I did. We're globally fucked, and there's not a lot we can do about it. As strong as we are, even together, you have to be able to do enough math that Granny, the Furies, and Clark are stronger. You add in a final prophet and Omega'ed humans, not to mention Darkseid himself, eventually. We don't have a lot of options."
"Well rolling in blame's not gonna help at all, cuz," she said, grabbing her jacket and keys. "I'm taking you to where you can get your own Green K stash and then you have to snap out of this. We don't make this about stopping Granny."
"We don't?"
She shook her head, long hair cascading off her shoulders. "We get Clark back. I don't care how much she's hocus pocused his brain. We get him away from her and Z works on a cure. Hell, has out of it as he is, he's still more interested in listening to and pleasing you than Granny Goodness."
I snorted. "So I'm the ace in the hole because what's left of Clark thinks he loves me?"
Lois stilled and quirked her head at me. "Chloe, to be honest, and I have a terrible track record of noticing things, but I think he was always in love with you."
I didn't have anything to say to that.
**
I had a lot to say when she dropped me off at Wayne Towers in downtown Metropolis.
"Are you serious?"
"Bruce has more Kryptonite than you've ever had."
I blinked. "Clark wasn't even powered when they met!"
"It's Bruce and he's paranoid and all he did need to know what Conner was half Luthor."
I rolled my eyes. "That's judgmental."
"And totally The Batman. It's like a Kryptonite boutique up there, behind lead of course. Pick your favorite collection and get something with a nutritional value, Chloe. You know those of us who can are reconvening back at Star City tomorrow. I mean Diana, Z, and J'onn will be trying to have any luck they can in the British Isles, but the rest of us...we have to get to Clark and Granny before they find the third."
Sighing, I unclipped my belt and hugged my cousin. She was trying; I just wish I had her faith. "Fine, but at least tell me Mein Fuhrer is out."
"Chloe," a deep voice rumbled behind my head and I gritted my teeth. "Why don't you come up now to my penthouse."
Smiling, faking everything for what people passed by us, I stepped out from the car. "Bruce Wayne, pleasure. The Journal is beyond thrilled to be able to interview you."
Bruce smiled, that look of is as well practiced as my reserve smile, one that didn't meet his eyes at all if you were really looking. "Miss Hatcher, please follow me."
***
I was half-impressed and half-sickened by the stash Bruce had. It was far bigger than what I'd once had for the Kandorians and I had to admire his forethought, that he was prepared enough for all of the League to have more than enough materials to use against Clark. At the same time, knowing he'd stockpiled this for one teenage boy really pissed me off. After I'd picked a few large chunks and set them inside of a lead-lined box and, yes, selected a ring that hid the green K in a lead sheath unless that sheath was retracted.
Bruce took a seat at his desk as I stayed standing, glaring across the mahogany at him. "You seem upset."
"This is for Conner. He's seventeen."
"He's a Luthor with infinite power, I don't forget these things. I was there at Excelsior and I'm quite clear about what Lionel was capable of. You know I'm more than familiar with what Lex did while I was abroad. That's in him. Besides, you still are judging me unfairly."
"Am I?"
He nodded. "You think that store is just for Conner. It was always for Clark. I started the day I came to Metropolis, once I could get to Lowell County in person."
"He was human---"
Bruce shook his head. "He was muted. It more than occurred to me that if Granny could take his abilities that one day she might restore them. Besides, from what you'd mentioned to me already in Gotham, I knew Clark had a habit of regaining his powers."
"You knew this time was different."
Bruce shrugged. "I knew that my world was drastically different after meeting you, that what I'd heard about all over the world, those glyphs, had something they were based in. You told me there was an all powerful alien out there and his weakness and expected me not to collect?"
"I...Clark's not like that."
"He is now and Conner's not above reproach. Don't act holier than thou. Oliver told me what the JLA budget two years ago went to."
I sighed. "The Kandorians aren't Clark."
"The Clark we're facing isn't the Clark you all have worked with. You know that."
"I just...it feels terrible."
"It's nothing you haven't done."
"Maybe that's why it feels terrible, that if I could bear to do it, I would have done the same thing."
He nodded. "Lois texted me before you came over as well. I need to know everything, in detail, about what you saw. I'd put on the helmet myself, but..."
"You know it can drive people insane."
"No need to risk two of us and you seem to deal well with it, perhaps because of your gift."
"Maybe," I said, adding nothing else to my reply.
"You have to tell us everything. There's no holding back now, no protecting feelings. We tried that---"
"And Clark broke bad on us, I'm aware."
He nodded. "What did you see?"
"Darkseid is coming and we're going to kneel to him; it's just a matter of time."
***
I felt dirty after leaving Bruce's and going back to my hotel room in Granville. I should have just gone straight to Star City but Bart or Conner or even Cassie would just be my shuttle service in the morning. It was a perk of knowing a ridiculous amount of people with flight, super speed, or both at once. Still, telling Bruce everything I'd seen, all I knew Clark would and could be made to do, it felt like a betrayal. I didn't know what he'd suggest tomorrow among the full League meeting and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Bruce wasn't a killer, never had been, and his willingness to stick to certain lines had cost him Rachel. He'd bent it a bit on the technicality that Granny was alien when he'd tried killing her. I wondered how far he'd bend that for Clark, assuming that one could even permanently kill Clark and, to be honest, even I wasn't sure he could be killed.
I didn't want to live in a world where I was weighing options to save the planet and the number one point was if it was physically possible to murder the man I loved and my best friend since middle school.
When I opened my door, I almost screamed. Then my visitor stepped out from the shadows of the curtains and I realized how much shorter and narrower he was than Clark. Different Kryptonian.
"Conner?"
He nodded and sat down on my bed. "I didn't know where else to go."
"J'onn and Martha---"
"They know I came here. I wasn't gonna worry them. Besides, I know someone has to get you to the new Watchtower digs tomorrow morning."
"Why aren't you in D.C. though or with at least Cassie and Diana?"
"Mom's crying pretty hard. I think she just needed a night to get herself together and it was just...I can't see her like that. It's mom. I mean, yeah, I'm new but she's still been taking care of me since about March and she's always in charge, always knows what to do next. I can't see her collapsed like that because then, I'd do it and none of us can fall apart right now."
I nodded, thinking of Martha, of what she'd lost. If Bruce suggested what I figured he was going to tomorrow, she had yet more to lose.
I sighed and sat down next to him, placing one hand on his shoulder and rubbing wide circles there. He was taller than I was, not that that was saying much, but so much smaller than Clark and probably always would be. Even so, even with all that was Luthor in his appearance, the way he held himself there was so painfully Clark---that hunch of shoulders, that inability to make eye contact. It was Kent self-flagellation 101.
"Conner, it's going to be okay."
"You don't believe that."
"I've been in more apocalypses than I can count by now. I've always saved the day."
"No, you and Clark have always saved it as a team. This is different."
"And I have you and the League and Diana and Bruce."
"Granny doesn't lose. She's played us for months."
I blinked. Wasn't this what I was telling Bruce and Lois earlier today. When had I suddenly been promoted to the team's Pollyanna. "We always win because we're the good guys."
He snorted. "We've really sucked at being them this last month or so. We should have told him." There wasn't accusation this time as there had been yesterday, just resignation.
"I couldn't, Conner. It was probably selfish but I couldn't be the one to tell him he wasn't human."
"Not that bad a thing to be," he added, sniffling a little.
Nodding, I kept rubbing his shoulder. "I know but he just...everything drug him down so hard. He hated being Kryptonian in some ways so much. I didn't want to shackle him and I did it wrong; I'm sorry."
"Are Bruce and Diana going to kill him?"
"I won't vote for that."
"Would Bruce do it on his own. Some days he only half considers himself even a consultant."
"I won't let anyone touch Clark. I...we'll figure this out. Somehow, we'll figure this out."
"You know, if it came down to it, even for the world, I couldn't, Chlo. He's my family. With Kara poofed to who knows when and Tess dead, he's it. Fuck Lex. Clark's all I have left by blood. I'd never touch him."
I shuddered and paused just a second, hearing the crack of bone snapping in my head again. I knew now who was going to win. Clark was warped enough to do anything to please Granny, save maybe kill me and even I wasn't betting on that. Conner had a line. If the two met, Conner wouldn't survive it.
Maybe Bruce...
No.
No, that wasn't true.
"We would never ask that of you."
"Maybe," Conner said quietly, finally looking back at me. "Can I wake up now? Can we just go back to this summer before you got married and Granny hadn't started toying with him?"
"Kara took our only ring."
"Figure of speech. I just...don't ask me to kill him, Chloe. I won't."
I sighed. "I wouldn't and even Diana probably couldn't, even if she tried. I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse but Kryptonians are hard to keep down."
Conner laughed long and bitterly, his hands swiping at his eyes. "I've heard. I just...what do we do now?"
"Stop lying. I swear I'll never do something like this again. You're not wrong, it's all my fault."
"And J'onn's right. It doesn't matter who did what. We just need to win."
"Well clearly good has always kicked Darkseid's ass before. He might have gotten close before with us or with the JSA in the '40s but he failed . He's still 0-for-2."
Conner brightened at that. "Well, then three strikes and you're out?"
"Hopefully, Conner you just---" He screamed then, bringing his hands to his ears and I freaked out, not sure what could be wrong with him. "Conner? I demanded, pulling at his arms, "Conner? What's wrong?"
He didn't answer but fell to his knees, still screaming at whatever was assailing him. I got down next to him, shaking at his shoulder until his screams faded and he finally focused back on me. "God."
"What was that? Did Granny?"
He shook his head. "I...the Fortress has a tone, did you know that?"
I frowned. "What?"
"I...our House, the House and the crystals and all of it, there's a frequency. I can hear it."
"They're visiting Jor-El?"
Conner shook his head and grabbed my hand. "No, Chloe, they didn't visit, they tore it down."
Author : Legendarytobes
Rating : Through at least R eventually for sex/language
Pairings : by this point in the story - Chlark, J'onn/Martha, Bruce/Diana, Cassie (Wonder Girl)/Conner Kent, and Lois Lane/Zatanna (no really) and mentions of past Chlollie.
Summary : AU - Chloe wasn't able to stop Clark from putting on the gold K ring in "Finale, part 1," and he has to deal with an ordinary life and the realization that he's not always enough for the people around him now.
Warnings : TC, violence, cursing
Previous Parts - http://two-of-us.svtometropolis.com/viewstory.php?sid=1214
What Happened Last Time: Granny reassured Clark about his choices and asked him to go with her to the Fortress to take back his suit and tear the rest of it to the ground.
Author's Note : This fic was a runner up for "Best Chlark" at the sv_fca
"Chlo, honey, you're gonna need to eat something to keep up your energy," Lois said, setting out some Corn Flakes and milk. Lois was like me, she wasn't a cooker so, if I had had an appetite, it was definitely the safest food option than eggs a la Lane.
Sighing, I reached instead for the coffee pot and poured a large cup. Taking a sip, I added, "I can't eat. I just...you don't want to know."
Lois frowned and set the Green K between us on the table. I'd have to go with her to Smallville to pick up some supplies. I hadn't had to keep Green K around in a while so I'd gotten out of the practice of it. I know that sounds mean and I love Clark, really I do, but when he was just himself (and didn't that feel like years ago), he had a terrible track record. There was always magic or mind control or some other reason I had to be saving him from himself or from hurting even his mom and dad. Still, after he'd become mortal, I'd shed myself of the Kryptonite stashes, figuring some spare items in Watchtower would be enough (or Diana and Cassie for that matter) should Conner ever go rogue.
Now we'd need every piece we could get and the League would have to pack, even work something up to shield pieces so they could be kept near Conner.
"You didn't sleep."
"I tried."
"But you didn't. I get it. After Clark went all Cullen on you, even I had a hard time getting any rest last night, but I did. Chloe, you look like shit."
Nodding, I sipped my drink. "I went to the JSA yesterday."
"I know. You did that while Dinah and I started pooling our Godfrey 2.0 list and the Amazons were reading Carter's journal over again."
"No, you don't understand. I didn't go for the archives."
Lois frowned and started to pour out cereal at least for herself. "The Fate Helmet."
It wasn't a question.
"We don't need to look backwards. There can't be a way to free Clark. Granny has him where she wants him and she's a far better witch than Z is a wizard. There's only one way this is going to end."
"What did you see?"
I pushed my coffee aside, now no longer able to swallow, not while I thought about what I'd seen. "Blood, a lot of it. They're going to do everything we're afraid of."
"But what you saw last time? It wasn't always true was it?"
"I saw what the VRA wanted to do and, yeah, before I told Clark where to find her, I flat out saw Tess burn."
"So it can change."
"But I saw so much that did happen just like I thought it would---your engagement, where Ollie was being held, the way the VRA set up their mind control. We can probably stop some things, but this is going to get bloody. I don't care what Clark said."
"Said?"
I nodded. "Yeah, he says that granny doesn't want to purge and I'm sure it's not as fast and easy as scaring people into submission, but she's...the streets ran red, Lois."
My cousin shivered. "They don't have to anymore than the Suicide Squad kept Oliver or the VRA trapped us, okay? We just need to think."
I shrugged and looked back towards Blue on her kitchen's window ledge. "Granny's got Clark high out of his mind and convinced she's part June Cleaver and part the second coming. He's really bought her lies completely. He says he wouldn't...that it's not what he wants...but if she did ask him, I don't doubt he'd kill for her."
"You can't just be resigned to this. If you'd been that way last time you wore the Fate Helmet, then we'd have been toast!"
"Does it even matter, Lo? The second he kills someone, even if we can snap him out of it, he'd never be the same after."
"Then, we don't let him touch anyone. She's got the Blur? We've got Wonder Woman and Wondergirl, Superboy, The Batman, Green Arrow, and the Martian Manhunter and that's just our A roster . We can fight this."
"I failed."
Lois shook her head and then grabbed my shoulders. "You can't sink too. You heard Oliver. Hell, you know better than anyone how hard he fell with this. J'onn's right. We start to doubt ourselves or fight with each other and we're done; we'll be Omega'ed too. Chloe, you've never quit anything in your life. This would be a shit time to start now."
"I've quit a lot of things. You just didn't see me do it."
"Is this about the DP? Cause you'll be back there some day and you're kicking ass at The Journal and before at The Register."
"I gave up on Clark and me so many times," I admitted. "There's been a lot of times I should have fought and I just rolled over and took it."
Lois paused then and eyed Z's collection of toadstool and herbs on the counter. "That's not what matters now. Who ended up with who really doesn't matter at all. When the big things happen, when the League collapsed or I was missing or the VRA was gunning for us, you didn't give up. This is like that."
Sighing, I stood up and set my cup in the sink. "I'll try but you didn't see it. I did. We're globally fucked, and there's not a lot we can do about it. As strong as we are, even together, you have to be able to do enough math that Granny, the Furies, and Clark are stronger. You add in a final prophet and Omega'ed humans, not to mention Darkseid himself, eventually. We don't have a lot of options."
"Well rolling in blame's not gonna help at all, cuz," she said, grabbing her jacket and keys. "I'm taking you to where you can get your own Green K stash and then you have to snap out of this. We don't make this about stopping Granny."
"We don't?"
She shook her head, long hair cascading off her shoulders. "We get Clark back. I don't care how much she's hocus pocused his brain. We get him away from her and Z works on a cure. Hell, has out of it as he is, he's still more interested in listening to and pleasing you than Granny Goodness."
I snorted. "So I'm the ace in the hole because what's left of Clark thinks he loves me?"
Lois stilled and quirked her head at me. "Chloe, to be honest, and I have a terrible track record of noticing things, but I think he was always in love with you."
I didn't have anything to say to that.
**
I had a lot to say when she dropped me off at Wayne Towers in downtown Metropolis.
"Are you serious?"
"Bruce has more Kryptonite than you've ever had."
I blinked. "Clark wasn't even powered when they met!"
"It's Bruce and he's paranoid and all he did need to know what Conner was half Luthor."
I rolled my eyes. "That's judgmental."
"And totally The Batman. It's like a Kryptonite boutique up there, behind lead of course. Pick your favorite collection and get something with a nutritional value, Chloe. You know those of us who can are reconvening back at Star City tomorrow. I mean Diana, Z, and J'onn will be trying to have any luck they can in the British Isles, but the rest of us...we have to get to Clark and Granny before they find the third."
Sighing, I unclipped my belt and hugged my cousin. She was trying; I just wish I had her faith. "Fine, but at least tell me Mein Fuhrer is out."
"Chloe," a deep voice rumbled behind my head and I gritted my teeth. "Why don't you come up now to my penthouse."
Smiling, faking everything for what people passed by us, I stepped out from the car. "Bruce Wayne, pleasure. The Journal is beyond thrilled to be able to interview you."
Bruce smiled, that look of is as well practiced as my reserve smile, one that didn't meet his eyes at all if you were really looking. "Miss Hatcher, please follow me."
***
I was half-impressed and half-sickened by the stash Bruce had. It was far bigger than what I'd once had for the Kandorians and I had to admire his forethought, that he was prepared enough for all of the League to have more than enough materials to use against Clark. At the same time, knowing he'd stockpiled this for one teenage boy really pissed me off. After I'd picked a few large chunks and set them inside of a lead-lined box and, yes, selected a ring that hid the green K in a lead sheath unless that sheath was retracted.
Bruce took a seat at his desk as I stayed standing, glaring across the mahogany at him. "You seem upset."
"This is for Conner. He's seventeen."
"He's a Luthor with infinite power, I don't forget these things. I was there at Excelsior and I'm quite clear about what Lionel was capable of. You know I'm more than familiar with what Lex did while I was abroad. That's in him. Besides, you still are judging me unfairly."
"Am I?"
He nodded. "You think that store is just for Conner. It was always for Clark. I started the day I came to Metropolis, once I could get to Lowell County in person."
"He was human---"
Bruce shook his head. "He was muted. It more than occurred to me that if Granny could take his abilities that one day she might restore them. Besides, from what you'd mentioned to me already in Gotham, I knew Clark had a habit of regaining his powers."
"You knew this time was different."
Bruce shrugged. "I knew that my world was drastically different after meeting you, that what I'd heard about all over the world, those glyphs, had something they were based in. You told me there was an all powerful alien out there and his weakness and expected me not to collect?"
"I...Clark's not like that."
"He is now and Conner's not above reproach. Don't act holier than thou. Oliver told me what the JLA budget two years ago went to."
I sighed. "The Kandorians aren't Clark."
"The Clark we're facing isn't the Clark you all have worked with. You know that."
"I just...it feels terrible."
"It's nothing you haven't done."
"Maybe that's why it feels terrible, that if I could bear to do it, I would have done the same thing."
He nodded. "Lois texted me before you came over as well. I need to know everything, in detail, about what you saw. I'd put on the helmet myself, but..."
"You know it can drive people insane."
"No need to risk two of us and you seem to deal well with it, perhaps because of your gift."
"Maybe," I said, adding nothing else to my reply.
"You have to tell us everything. There's no holding back now, no protecting feelings. We tried that---"
"And Clark broke bad on us, I'm aware."
He nodded. "What did you see?"
"Darkseid is coming and we're going to kneel to him; it's just a matter of time."
***
I felt dirty after leaving Bruce's and going back to my hotel room in Granville. I should have just gone straight to Star City but Bart or Conner or even Cassie would just be my shuttle service in the morning. It was a perk of knowing a ridiculous amount of people with flight, super speed, or both at once. Still, telling Bruce everything I'd seen, all I knew Clark would and could be made to do, it felt like a betrayal. I didn't know what he'd suggest tomorrow among the full League meeting and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Bruce wasn't a killer, never had been, and his willingness to stick to certain lines had cost him Rachel. He'd bent it a bit on the technicality that Granny was alien when he'd tried killing her. I wondered how far he'd bend that for Clark, assuming that one could even permanently kill Clark and, to be honest, even I wasn't sure he could be killed.
I didn't want to live in a world where I was weighing options to save the planet and the number one point was if it was physically possible to murder the man I loved and my best friend since middle school.
When I opened my door, I almost screamed. Then my visitor stepped out from the shadows of the curtains and I realized how much shorter and narrower he was than Clark. Different Kryptonian.
"Conner?"
He nodded and sat down on my bed. "I didn't know where else to go."
"J'onn and Martha---"
"They know I came here. I wasn't gonna worry them. Besides, I know someone has to get you to the new Watchtower digs tomorrow morning."
"Why aren't you in D.C. though or with at least Cassie and Diana?"
"Mom's crying pretty hard. I think she just needed a night to get herself together and it was just...I can't see her like that. It's mom. I mean, yeah, I'm new but she's still been taking care of me since about March and she's always in charge, always knows what to do next. I can't see her collapsed like that because then, I'd do it and none of us can fall apart right now."
I nodded, thinking of Martha, of what she'd lost. If Bruce suggested what I figured he was going to tomorrow, she had yet more to lose.
I sighed and sat down next to him, placing one hand on his shoulder and rubbing wide circles there. He was taller than I was, not that that was saying much, but so much smaller than Clark and probably always would be. Even so, even with all that was Luthor in his appearance, the way he held himself there was so painfully Clark---that hunch of shoulders, that inability to make eye contact. It was Kent self-flagellation 101.
"Conner, it's going to be okay."
"You don't believe that."
"I've been in more apocalypses than I can count by now. I've always saved the day."
"No, you and Clark have always saved it as a team. This is different."
"And I have you and the League and Diana and Bruce."
"Granny doesn't lose. She's played us for months."
I blinked. Wasn't this what I was telling Bruce and Lois earlier today. When had I suddenly been promoted to the team's Pollyanna. "We always win because we're the good guys."
He snorted. "We've really sucked at being them this last month or so. We should have told him." There wasn't accusation this time as there had been yesterday, just resignation.
"I couldn't, Conner. It was probably selfish but I couldn't be the one to tell him he wasn't human."
"Not that bad a thing to be," he added, sniffling a little.
Nodding, I kept rubbing his shoulder. "I know but he just...everything drug him down so hard. He hated being Kryptonian in some ways so much. I didn't want to shackle him and I did it wrong; I'm sorry."
"Are Bruce and Diana going to kill him?"
"I won't vote for that."
"Would Bruce do it on his own. Some days he only half considers himself even a consultant."
"I won't let anyone touch Clark. I...we'll figure this out. Somehow, we'll figure this out."
"You know, if it came down to it, even for the world, I couldn't, Chlo. He's my family. With Kara poofed to who knows when and Tess dead, he's it. Fuck Lex. Clark's all I have left by blood. I'd never touch him."
I shuddered and paused just a second, hearing the crack of bone snapping in my head again. I knew now who was going to win. Clark was warped enough to do anything to please Granny, save maybe kill me and even I wasn't betting on that. Conner had a line. If the two met, Conner wouldn't survive it.
Maybe Bruce...
No.
No, that wasn't true.
"We would never ask that of you."
"Maybe," Conner said quietly, finally looking back at me. "Can I wake up now? Can we just go back to this summer before you got married and Granny hadn't started toying with him?"
"Kara took our only ring."
"Figure of speech. I just...don't ask me to kill him, Chloe. I won't."
I sighed. "I wouldn't and even Diana probably couldn't, even if she tried. I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse but Kryptonians are hard to keep down."
Conner laughed long and bitterly, his hands swiping at his eyes. "I've heard. I just...what do we do now?"
"Stop lying. I swear I'll never do something like this again. You're not wrong, it's all my fault."
"And J'onn's right. It doesn't matter who did what. We just need to win."
"Well clearly good has always kicked Darkseid's ass before. He might have gotten close before with us or with the JSA in the '40s but he failed . He's still 0-for-2."
Conner brightened at that. "Well, then three strikes and you're out?"
"Hopefully, Conner you just---" He screamed then, bringing his hands to his ears and I freaked out, not sure what could be wrong with him. "Conner? I demanded, pulling at his arms, "Conner? What's wrong?"
He didn't answer but fell to his knees, still screaming at whatever was assailing him. I got down next to him, shaking at his shoulder until his screams faded and he finally focused back on me. "God."
"What was that? Did Granny?"
He shook his head. "I...the Fortress has a tone, did you know that?"
I frowned. "What?"
"I...our House, the House and the crystals and all of it, there's a frequency. I can hear it."
"They're visiting Jor-El?"
Conner shook his head and grabbed my hand. "No, Chloe, they didn't visit, they tore it down."