(no subject)

[manofanxiety]

Who: Clark and Open
What: Clark's Intro
Where: North Pole
When: (Early October)
Warnings/Notes: None yet, will update as needed.

ARRIVAL

It's cold. Clark usually doesn't get cold. Not this much, anyways. The last time he'd felt anything comparable was that freeze ray Intergang had been toting around.

This, however, is worse. At least then he could break himself out of it. Here? There's snow as far as he can see and his sweater isn't much protection. To top it all off he feels much weaker than he should. As weak as he was at Cadmus.

At least there's no attacking robots. Outside, anyways. Who knows what's waiting for him in the building ahead?


Inside

Yeti, apparently. Yeti were inside. Jimmy would freak. Clark was freaking. It's not every day you found yourself in Santa's Workshop. Or get wrapped in a warm blanket and get served hot stew by mythical creatures.

The stew wasn't Ma's, but it was pretty good. Especially after being stuck outside. And as long as he was eating he could put off the inevitable panic about being stuck in an alternate universe with no idea of how to get home.

Comments

Re: Inside

[manofanxiety]

"The shield was blank," Clark says with a shake of his head. "just in the same shape as mine. The robots had a different symbol on them. Three circles connected by two lines in a v-shape."

Maybe it was relevant. Maybe not, but Conner had answers that possibly weren't just more confirmation of his worst fears. Any little bit might help him find them.

Re: Inside

[lowercase_el]

"If it was blank, there's no reason to freak out just yet. Back home there's boodles of bad guys from Krypton, and some of 'em have shield stuff on their costumes. But they're not some invasion force, a lot of 'em are escaped Kryptonian criminals. And if the circles look like this -"

Using his TTK and the napkin scraps, he makes an approximation that matches.

"That's Brainiac's symbol. I don't know if it's the same in your universe, but he's not even Kryptonian in mine. Even if he is in yours, sounds like you've got two bad guys teaming up for some reason."

He lets the napkin pieces collapse and tosses them onto the table.

"I don't know about your 'bots but Brainiac is this crazy tech genius so they might have been hacked or something."

He grabs a chair and plops it down in front of Clark, sitting on it backwards.

"So far, I'm hearing about some coincidences, but they might not mean you were sent to do something bad. In my universe, Krypton was a lot like Earth. There were good people and nasty ones. So..."

He nods his head a few times. It look distinctly like a slow, mellow surfer nod.

"For now, we're gonna go with the idea that things might be the same between our universes, and I can tell you about Krypton and why you might've been sent to Earth. And then I'll tell you more about where I come from, but it seems important for you to get to hear where you come from first."

It's so weird to potentially be the one to explain this. He remembers the day Kal took him on a little holographic journey to learn about Krypton, the day he gave him his Kryptonian name. Does Clark even know his other name yet?

Re: Inside

[manofanxiety]

Even if their worlds aren't the same when it comes to this, it's still more than he'd known

There was just one sticking point.

"Could you at least tell me why you look like me first? I've gone my whole life without knowing anything about Krypton. This is a little more of a concern right now."

[lowercase_el]

The way Kon's shoulders slump a little and the way he puts his head down on his arms on the back of the chair makes it suddenly clear he was trying to give himself time to work up to that.

Trying to take the time to chew over his approach. Does he just say he's a clone? Play down the Lex angle? Does he tell him about the mind control? Will some other Kon come into being and will it ruin that Kon's chances of wearing the S, of being trusted, of getting to live with the Kents?

He thinks about the place he was in when Clark had come to him and told him to come with him to Smallville.

His friend Cooper was dead. Calvin Gardens was in flames, all its residents homeless. He was homeless, after trying to scratch away a life in Suicide Slum, with no education, no guardian, no money. His Hawaii ohana dead or scattered to the four winds. Dubs had left on some kinda of soul-searching journey. Cadmus in hiding, having left him behind without even a note.

The truth is he doesn't have faith that another version of Clark would trust another version of him if he knew the truth, if he didn't have time to bond first.

...how messed up is that?

But he also can't lie. He's seen the kind of trouble that can lie at the end of that road, knows that it could break any trust he builds with someone that's effectively a stranger, someday down the line. Something could reveal it somehow. And wouldn't that be even worse for some alternate Kon? Clark's first experience with any version of himself being deception?

He has to tell the truth and hope for the best, hope he can convince Clark it'll be worth it to not just push some possible future cloneboy away - and possibly right into Lex's arms.

(Lex had tried to win Kon over and get him to work for him right after he'd shown up on the scene, after all.)

He lifts his head again, lips pressed tightly together.

"Everyone's going to love you for the hero stuff. Except for this absolute tool and total psychopath from your hometown, Lex Luthor. If he's not someone you know yet in your universe, you probably will. The only thing he loves more than himself is making himself your problem."

He keeps avoiding Clark's eyes.

"Lex became one of my Clark's worst enemies - maybe even like his absolute worst enemy. And he was totally obsessed with him. Some stuff happened and this government project called Project Cadmus decided to clone my Clark and make a Superman they could control. They couldn't get it right at first but Lex slipped into the project and messed around with it in secret and made the clone stable by using his DNA. I got rapid aged up to 14 before some other clones busted me out of the project."

He finally meets Clark's eyes again.

"The whole thing was a mess. Mind control programming was involved. It got...bad. My brain's clean now but he made me to hurt Clark, years down the line, sleeper cell style. I look like you because the Kryptonian genes are either just naturally potent or Cadmus and Lex wanted me to look like Clark. But half my DNA is human."

He juts out his chin a little, almost daring him to react badly to everything he just said.

"I used to go by Superboy. I don't anymore. It's complicated."

[manofanxiety]

"I guess that explains why Ma and Pa took you in."

He takes a breath. For all Clark thought he'd been made to be a weapon, it was just guesswork. It was one thing to think you were made to be a weapon. It was another thing entirely to know for sure.

"I'm sorry. That's a horrible thing to do to a person. And you are one, whatever Luthor thinks he made you to be."

It sounds like Conner already knows that, but it can't hurt to be reiterated.

"I might have to thank him, though. He went about it in literally the worst way possible, but I did get a new family member out of it."

[lowercase_el]

It is the nicest possible answer he could've given. It is the answer of Clark at his best. His Clark manages to be that most of the time but...

Not always. There are things he overlooks. Things he does that hurt by accident.

Kon's expression softens.

"If you, uh, happen to have some goofy clone kid show up at some point back home, be sure to tell him that, too. When he needs it."

There. That's explained. He doesn't really want to linger on it.

"And I can tell you whatever you need to know, too."