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Bonus: 2 weeks later

Danny: Damian look! She likes me! *petting a black hen with white speckles*

Damian: She does. *also happily petting some black and yellow chicks*

Tim: I can't believe you bought them chickens.

Bruce: Danny stopped crying, Damian stopped stabbing, we adopted some in-need animals, and we get fresh, cruelty free eggs in the future.

Danny: What should we name this one?

Jason: Fillet.

Danny: *whimpers*

Kon was just heading in for the night when he spotted it, something glowing out on the edge of the fields, practically right on top of the property line. It was pale and greenish, not a good combo, but that made it all the more worth investigating. He flew down, approaching the glow slowly.

It turned into a figure, a pale person laying in the grass and looking up at the stars. Everything about them was pale: their hair, their skin, their clothes, not that he could make out much about their clothes. It seemed like more of a suggestion of clothes than actual clothes, the same with the person's bottom half. They just kind of trailed off below the waist, not even an imprint in the grass of where invisible legs could be, just hazy and then nothing. About the only color were the figure's bright Kryptonite green eyes staring up at the sky in a worried frown.

"Hello?" Kon asked carefully, trying not to spook the person.

They started and sat up, looking up at Kon with wide, blinking eyes. They suddenly had arms to support themself, strange that Kon hadn't noticed they didn't quite exist before.

Kon flew down slowly and gently, they didn't feel like Kryptonite.

After a long moment of staring, the person seemed to deem Kon not dangerous, or not interesting at least. They flopped back down and moved their misty hands under their head, their arms going hazy once more.

"Are you okay?" Kon tried, landing a couple yards from the stranger.

"They're different."

Kon looked up at the sky, the stars looked back. "Well, every planet has its own stars." It was all about perspective, Robin had explained when they'd gone on a few adventures on other planets. Well, Red Robin now, but he was still just Rob to them.

The person frowned harder, "Am I on a different planet?"

Kon moved to sit next to the person, leaned back to look up at the stars. "Maybe, I suppose it depends on what planet you're from."

"It has lots of names," the person said airily.

Kon waited for more, but the stranger seemed content to just star gaze. Kon couldn't blame them, the view out here was amazing, the milky way a dazzling splash of light and color across the sky.

After a long while the stranger sighed, "This is a nice dream."

"Oh, you're dreaming?" Kon asked. That might actually explain why they're only half there. Strange that Kon could see them though, usually someone who went wandering off in their dreams couldn't bee seen.

“Well those two are his shoulders and those two are his hips or knees or something,” Kon said conversationally as he pointed out said stars. “There’s more to it, but I can’t remember the rest.” He glanced over at his stargazing companion, they seemed just a little less see through, glowing a little bit brighter. Guess he did a good job distracting them. He went on to point out the big and little dipper, complete with Polaris. He didn’t know many of the constellations, just some of what Tim had taught him for navigating. Finding which way was north was really useful, if you can find north you can also find east and west.

Kon glanced over again to see his companion’s eyes had drifted closed, their face peaceful. That seemed weird, if they were already dreaming were they dreaming they were asleep?

Wait, were they getting more see-through?

Slowly, bit by bit, they were definitely getting more see through, until all that was left behind was a barely there indent in the grass. Kon put his hand to it and the grass felt cold, not cool, downright cold. The only hints that someone had been there at all. This was definitely something he needed to ask his team about.

Kon gave a jaw cracking yawn.

In the morning, this would be something to ask for advice on in the morning.

✦✧✦

The next time Kon saw his mystery visitor was early evening nearly a week later. He’d prepared for this, he’d memorised all the constellations visible this time of year, several star facts, and a list of information to try to get out of them. Currently they were sitting on a split rail fence, face turned towards the setting sun, feet gently kicking the air. It was odd, watching their feet swing. On the upswing they had a full leg: pants, toes, and all. On the downswing the leg faded to nothing shortly below the knee.

Kon intentionally made noise as he walked closer, not wanting to startle his guest. “Hello again,” he called gently as he approached.

The visitor turned slowly at his voice. Their eyes opened and blinked in surprise, then a smile lit up their face. Literally lit them up. Made them look just a bit more solid too, enough that Kon could guess they looked like a kid, somewhere in their early to mid teens. Maybe. Just because a lot of aliens looked similar to humans didn’t mean they aged the same.

Kon smiled back, both happy and sad to see them again. He leaned against the top of the fence one section down from his guest. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”

“Neither was I, but I guess I should've.” They laughed to themself a little at that, already turning to face the sun again, their face peaceful as they basked in the warm rays.

“My name’s Kon, by the way. Kon El, he/him.”

His guest hummed in acknowledgement, though his brows furrowed in confusion near the end. “He… him…?”

“Sure, makes it easier to refer to someone by their pronouns if they’re part of introductions.”

They turned to look Kon up and down in confusion. “... okay?” They turned back to their sunbathing, little that they would have left.

“... And what should I call you?” he eventually asked.

His guest huffed a quiet little laugh before replying, eyes still closed and face turned to the sun, “Danny.” Such a strangely human sounding name. Then again a lot of names sound pretty similar, there’s only so many ways a mouth like theirs can form sounds. After a moment they tacked on, “He/him.”

Kon wasn’t sure if they- if he just copied Kon’s pronouns or if those were his actual pronouns, but until he said otherwise that’s what he was. “It’s nice to meet you, Danny.”

“Nice to meet you too, Kon.”

Kon smiled and let the silence sit for a minute. So he finally had a name, though no family name. He wasn’t sure if one would help, but Tim insisted the more information they had the easier it would be to find where Danny was from and go help him, because anyone who was afraid of waking up, anyone who needed to run so badly he could only do it in his dreams absolutely needed help.

Now to just… find ways of getting that information out of Danny without scaring him off.

He watched for a bit as the sun touched the horizon, the sky changing colors and the golden light beginning to fade. Beside him Danny opened his eyes, the light no longer too bright to watch the show.

“I’ve missed this.”

Kon just nodded, unsure what to respond to a statement like that. Instead they sat in silence, enjoying the sunset until it became dark enough for the first stars to come out. Danny leaned back, slowly floating down until he was settled against the grass and staring up at the stars.

Kon joined him on the ground, staring up at the stars. “You like space, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Danny replied nonchalantly.

“You know which star is yours?”

“No.” He sounded sad as he said it.

Time for a distraction, “So I looked up Orion and I know the rest of the constellation now.” He pointed out the rest of the stars and what shape they made, then finally asked the next question. “What about your constellations?”

“What about them? I can’t show you, they’re not here.” Danny glared up at the sky as if he could move the stars around if he just thought at them hard enough.

“So draw them for me.” Kon pulled out a tablet from his jacket. He quickly turned it on and opened it to a simple art program. When he handed it over Danny stared down at the device with huge eyes.

“What’s this?”

“A tablet. It’s… it’s like a big phone, though it doesn’t have the call function like a phone does.”

“It’s a big phone without the actual phone?” Danny sounded confused, looking the whole thing over. “Where are the buttons?”

Kon laughed, then poked the screen. “Here, it’s touch screen.”

Danny’s face turned greenish, “Oh.”

“Guess our worlds have different tech.” 

Danny was already back to looking the device over, flipping it around and checking the thickness. “This is some real Star Trek shit.”

“Star Trek?”

Danny glanced over with another amused huff. “It's a show back home, really popular.”

Kon just nodded, something else to help them look, he guessed. He quickly ran through which buttons did what and helped Danny get started. Then he just sat and watched over Danny’s shoulder as he worked.

He started by filling the whole thing in black, then making a colorful smear across the canvas, then began putting white dots of various sizes all around. It was obvious he was very familiar with his own night sky, even going so far as to draw both hemispheres. He nudged a few of the stars this way and that, had to resize the canvas a few times to make room for everything, kept adding in more stars as he remembered them, and then did something Kon didn’t expect. Danny changed the color to a bright green and started writing.

While he wasn’t sure giving the names his planet called the stars would be helpful, a written script would really help narrow things down. Tim would eat this up!

“Oh, I guess names won’t help much,” Danny said after writing a few letters.

“Doesn’t stop me from being curious,” Kon said quickly.

Danny shrugged, “It doesn’t matter.” He handed the tablet back to Kon and went back to stargazing.

Kon quickly saved the picture, then sent it to Tim. Even a few letters or hieroglyphs or whatever would be helpful. Though… Kon squinted down at the start of the label for the Milky Way. It looked… kind of like the start of the word milk? Just loopy and the letters strung together? Odd. Probably just a coincidence, right? Pareidolia, he expects the word milk so he sees it.

Tim shook his head. “Every bit of info you can get does help, just some more than others. But what I want to know is: what's this?” Tim looked up at Kon, pointing at where Danny had started writing.

“I think he was about to start labeling things, then suddenly gave up.”

Tim hummed as he squinted at the screen. “Well try to get his planet's name at least.”

“I think I can sneak that into a casual convo.” Kon knew exactly how he was going to sneak that in! It would be perfect!

☆☆☆

He watched another sunset with Danny, enjoying the wash of colors and the birds singing their goodnight before settling for the evening. He couldn't remember the last time he'd stop to watch a sunset before meeting Danny. It was nice to slow down and enjoy the scenery sometimes.

Once it was fully dark they laid out to stargaze again, Kon pointed out a few constellations and told Danny the stories behind them. “... and then of course that star there is Rao,” he said after talking about the constellation it was in.

“Rao?” Danny asked curiously, looking up at the star.

“Yup, it's the star my other home planet belonged to before it, you know… blew up.”

Danny turned his misty head to look at Kon incredulously. “Your other home planet?”

“Yeah, I was born here but,” Kon tried not to cringe, what he was about to say would feel really weird, “one of my parents is from there, from Krypton.”

“Oh, that's cool.” Danny smiled at Kon before turning his gaze back up. Kon expected him to be full of questions about Krypton blowing up, but it seemed Danny wasn't about to.

“I've never been to Krypton, it blew up before I was born.”

“That really sucks.”

Kon shrugged, he can't miss what he never knew. “What about your home planet? What's it called?”

Danny looked over and smirked. “Dirt.”

Kon sputtered, “Dirt?!”

Danny laughed and shifted to his side, half propped up to look over at Kon. “Read it in a sci-fi magazine once, since most people will name their home planet long before figuring planets out, usually it's just an old name for dirt.”

“What?” Kon was confused.

“What planet are we on now?”

“Earth.”

Danny laughed, “Exactly!”

“What? How does that,” Kon stopped. Earth was an old fashioned or poetic way of saying soil. Or as Danny put it: dirt. “Does Krypton mean dirt in Kryptonian?”

“I dunno, dude. You tell me.”

Kon huffed and let out a laugh. “Dirt!”

“Dirt,” Danny agreed as he lay back down.

☆☆☆

“Planet name's a bust, he said it just means dirt.”

“Most planet names do,” Tim said with a tired sigh.

“Is Krypton just dirt in old Kryptonian or something?”

“The most common element the mantle’s made of, actually. It'd be like if we renamed Earth to Iron. And then all that iron exploded and turned into radioactive ironite while hurtling through space.”

“I don't know how to feel about that. Hey! Wait, how do you know all that?”

Tim just gave Kon a Look™. “See if you can get a planetary system map.”

“You think that'll help?”

“I think it'll either confirm or deny a theory.”

☆☆☆

“Sunsets are nice and all, but I miss sunrises,” Danny commented as they watched yet another sunset.

Kon perked, “I can help with that. Probably.”

“Huh?”

Kon stepped closer, “If I can hold you I can take you to the sunrise.” Danny was only half there most of the time, Kon hadn't even attempted touching him aside from handing over the tablet.

Danny shrugged and stepped closer, allowing himself to be picked up. It was an odd sensation, like holding mist without the wet feeling but just as cold. A little more solid than mist, Danny still barely weighed anything though, truly not there in body at all.

“Okay, hold on tight.”

Danny did indeed hold on tight as Kon took off, heading directly for the sun. It was almost like watching time go backwards as Kon zoomed to the otherside of the planet, going from sunset to noon to early morning until they passed the sunrise altogether. In the gloom of early morning, when the eastern sky was only just starting to lighten, Kon looked around until he found a good spot.

Clear skies, out in the country, just the two of them and a fence to sit on as they watched the sky turn pink.

Danny ended up basking in the morning light once the sun was fully up. He looked peaceful, eyes closed and face turned heavenward.

Kon may have just made a problem for himself. How does he bring up planets if they aren't stargazing? Or worse, what if Danny starts showing up here instead of the farm?

Fuck it.

“Will you draw your planetary system for me?”

“Huh?”

“I'm just really curious, I think it'd be pretty cool to learn more about an alien planet and-”

Danny laughed, “No, it's okay, I get it. That was just outta left field is all. I wanna know about Rao's planetary system too.”

“Yeah, I think we can arrange that.” Kon pulled out his tablet, opened up the art program again, and told Danny to have at it. He started with a big yellow dot off to one side.

“Oh, a yellow star?”

“Yeah, it looks white from the ground but it's yellow. This won't be to scale, by the way.”

“Of course,” Kon agreed. Cosmic distances could be wild.

Danny went about putting smaller dots in a row away from his star, each one a different color. First was a dark red-brown, then yellow-orange, soft blue, bright red, a bunch of little brown dots, a big yellow-ish dot with a small red dot on the lower right… another big yellow-ish dot with white rings around it…

Kon frowned as a very familiar planetary system took shape. Two more big blue dots, then a final little white dot. That was quite the coincidence. Then Danny switched to a thin green tool and started writing in the same looping script he had before.

That didn’t say “The Sun” did it?

Kon frowned harder as no, despite how loopy and curly the letters were those looked like English letters spelling out the names of the planets in the system they were in right now.

Danny glanced up at Kon and smirked as he wrote “Dirt” under the little blue dot.

“What? But… but that’s where we are now.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda obvious you didn’t really put me on an alien planet. Not sure why you didn’t fix the sky, I gave you that star chart and everything. But it’s kinda fun listening to you make shit up though, so I don’t mind.”

“What? Danny? What are you talking about? Fix the sky?”

“It’s okay, Nocturn, I figured it out when you changed it to a sunrise. I thought this was just an NPC you put here to keep me company, I appreciate you spending so much time with me though.”

“Danny, who’s Nocturn?”

Danny glanced up at Kon with one of his soft smiles. No, not soft, indulgent. “Sure, okay, guess we’re still playing. Nocturn’s the ancient of dreams.” Danny looked back down, finishing giving names to all the planets.

Kon thought it was strange that the asteroid belt was called that but for some reason the Kuiper belt was labeled as just Pluto.

No, focus. What did it mean that Danny was from Earth but the stars were wrong? The stars wouldn’t have changed that much in even 100 years, so he can’t be from the distant past or anything. Hell, Orion was mapped out in antiquity. So Danny had to be from another Earth. An alternate timeline.

Fuuuuuuuck, this is what Tim needed confirmation of, isn’t it? Other planets they could handle, but other universes? They were definitely going to need to get help for this.

Danny handed the tablet over when he was done labeling everything. Kon saved it and sent it off to Tim, then pulled up planetary charts for Krypton, Tamaran, Rann, Thanagar, Ungara, and any other systems he could find. He handed the tablet over to Danny, who immediately began eagerly looking over them.

☆☆☆

“Kon.”

“I know, Tim. I figured it out.”

“I hate to bring in others too, but interdimensional travel isn’t exactly something we can do ourselves.”

Kon sighed, he was really hoping this would be one mission they didn’t have to involve others in. It was supposed to be a way for the Just Us team to get back together, it’d been a while since they could all hang out. “I know, but it doesn’t stop me from being disappointed.”

“Right, I guess the first thing we need is to contact JL about this so we can find a way to hunt down his home dimension.”

“Probably a JLD thing, since he’s astral projecting and all.”

It was nice having all of Just Us together again, even if it was only for a pre-mission information gathering meeting. After contacting Wonder Woman about it this was now official League business, specifically JLD business. So here he, Tim, Cassie, and Bart were, sitting in one of the meeting rooms on the Watchtower across the table from Wonder Woman and John Constantine. Tim had a presentation all ready to go, including Danny’s drawings and one blurry photo he somehow managed to get of the boy, as he explained everything they knew so far.

“It does seem this boy is from an alternate universe,” Diana agreed as she looked at the star chart Danny had drawn compared to their own. It seemed about half the stars Danny had drawn were a match.

“And even if not, I can’t help search for him with this,” Tim said.

Diana looked over to Constantine.

“I would need to get a read on him, preferably after I get some supplies and get everything set up.”

Kon sighed, “I’ll talk to Ma and Pa. Promise you won’t do any damage to the house.”

Constantine held his hands up, “I’ll clean up after myself.”

“I’ll put together a rescue team,” Diana said.

Kon and his friends all frowned, “We’re already a team.”

“Kon will need to go since Danny already knows him,” Cassie pointed out. “And since we’re already a team we work best with each other.”

Diana nodded, “Alright, I and John will come with you as back up and to make sure we can make it home. We’ll make arrangements to get his supplies, in the mean time I think it’s best you start introducing Danny to others. Ma and Pa at the least.”

Kon nodded, “Sure, I can do that.” He stood up, since it sounded like the meeting was over.

“Before you lot go running off,” Constantine interrupted, “just wanna say not everything from Earth is human.”

Kon sat back down.

“You mean like us?” Cassie asked with a confused frown.

“Yes and no. There’s Amazons and Atlanteans, sure. But there’s also the Tuatha Dé Danann, Hulder, Vila, Kami, whatever you wanna call them.”

Kon had no idea what Constantine was talking about, he looked over to Tim. “The fair folk, or fairies. Like Morgaine le Fey.”

Kon nodded, he had some idea what Constantine meant now.

“Dream walking isn’t something many humans can do.”

Kon remembered something he hadn’t paid much attention to earlier. “Danny called me Nocturn, the Ancient of dreams. He thinks this is all a dream, I don’t think he even knows he’s astral projecting.”

“Right, so he could be fae and knows it, he could be fae and not know it, or he could be a human who managed to make friends with something that sounds like a fae lord. And depending on what it is it changes the rules of hospitality, so be careful about that.”

Tim sighed, “I’ll give them all the fae crash course.”

“The Bat is surprisingly correct and thorough on that.” Constantine sighed, then looked towards Kon. “Look, mate, I know you won’t like this but it might be best to let him think he’s still dreaming for now, just until we get him out of whatever situation is so bad it has him dissociating into the next universe.”

He was right, Kon didn’t like it.

✧✦✧

It had only been a day, Kon wasn’t expecting to see Danny again so soon. At first there had been a whole week between the first and second sighting, but they had been getting closer and closer together over the last couple weeks. Kon wasn’t sure if that meant he just didn’t always run into Danny or if he was actually astral projecting more often. But he hadn’t seen Danny two days in a row yet.

Except now he had.

Kon had finished explaining the whole situation to Ma and Pa, had helped them pick out which room in the big old farmhouse they would let Constantine borrow, and promised to introduce them to Danny the next he saw him. He’d previously told them about him so they could keep an eye out for him, but it seemed they hadn’t seen him yet. Kon was just heading out to the barn for evening chores when he saw a misty figure out in one of the fields. Kon had almost missed them, due to how misty the fields were with rain coming down, but he stopped and squinted and yeah, that was Danny.

“Hello,” Kon greeted as he approached.

Danny didn’t look over, keeping his face turned up and eyes closed. “I can almost feel it.” The rain was going right through him, leaving misty trails in his translucent body.

“At least you don’t have to worry about getting wet.”

“I miss it.”

That’s it, just miss it, not even a comment about how he wants to go stand in the rain when he’s awake.

“Would you like to come inside? Meet my Ma and Pa? I’ve told them about you.”

Danny did blink, looking over at Kon owlishly with his haunting green eyes. “I suppose I have been too lonely.” Danny lifted off the ground and drifted towards Kon, who also lifted into the air and started leading Danny towards the farmhouse.

“I’m not Nocturn.”

Danny looked over with one of his indulgent smiles.

“I mean it,” Kon said quickly. “I don’t want you to think I lied and said I was him when I’m not.” He may need to let Danny think he’s still dreaming, which technically he’s not wrong about, but Kon wasn’t going to try to pretend to be someone he’s never even heard of.

“If you say so.”

Kon sighed, he’d tried. They arrived at the house then, Kon carefully wiped off his shoes before going in. Danny didn’t have a lower half to bother with. “Ma, Pa, I have a guest.”

“Oh, is it one of your friends or did Diana and John finish their shopping trip already?” Ma asked as she walked into the room. When she spotted Danny she stopped and looked at him for a moment before smiling brightly. “You must be Danny, Conner’s been telling us about you.”

Danny looked up at Kon, “Conner?”

Kon shrugged, “Earth name.”

Danny just nodded, then turned back to Ma. “I am Danny, it’s nice to meet you.” He held a hand out, the arm attaching it to his body barely there.

Pa came in just as Danny introduced himself, then he gave the boy a hearty handshake.

“Well, can you eat?” Ma asked.

Danny shrugged and looked to Kon, who also shrugged. Danny turned back to Ma, “I can smell.”

Her mouth rolled into a thin line, “Well how about I make you a cup of hot cider and we can see how that goes.”

“Sure.” Danny followed Ma into the kitchen. He managed to pull out the chair himself to sit in it, legs still missing and hands barely a suggestion as they were folded in front of him on the table.

Ma set about pouring some of the cider they had into a pot to heat up. While that was going, she bustled around the kitchen gathering enough mugs for everyone.

Pa sat across from Danny at the table while Kon stood to the side, just watching her until she poured the steaming cider into the mugs. Kon picked up two of them and handed one off to Danny, while Ma gave Pa his.

“Thank you,” Danny said to both Kon and Ma when the mug was placed in front of him.

Interesting, according to Tim fairies were allergic to saying thank you. So either Danny was raised human and didn’t know he was a fairy, or he was a human and this was all Nocturn.

Danny closed his eyes and seemed to savor the long sniff he took of the mug he’d pulled closer to himself. “It smells so good.”

“Thank you,” Ma said proudly, taking a sip for herself.

Danny leaned forward and carefully picked up the mug, tipping it to take a sip. Cider splattered on the table. Danny frowned down at it.

Kon quickly picked up one of the kitchen towels and wiped the spill up. “That’s a bummer.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can make myself solid enough. It’s so weird, normally I have to try to not be solid.”

“Well I’m sorry you can’t eat,” Ma said with a sigh.

“It still smells really good.” Danny settled the mug in his hands to be cradled just under his nose.

No one seemed sure what to say to that. It was Pa that tried to change the subject. “Why don’t you tell us about yourself, Danny?”

“I’d rather not.”

Kon couldn’t help wincing, even said in Danny’s soft, dreamy voice that was a bit harsh.

Pa recovered, “Alright then, how about we tell you about the farm? It’s been a real nice year so far. The animals and crops are doing well.”

“It’s been easier since Conner’s been actually staying instead of just visiting,” Ma added.

“What?” Kon asked.

Ma tittered, “Since Danny showed up you’ve been staying the whole time instead of just visiting.”

“I visit every day!”

“You do,” Ma agreed with a wide smile. “Don’t change that it’s been lonely since Clark and Lois moved back to Metropolis, took little Jon with them.”

“They visit a lot too!”

“That they do,” Pa agreed. He gave Danny an exaggerated wink, “We’re real lucky our boys can make the time to come visit us so often.”

Danny smiled gently at Pa, “It does sound-”

Danny’s mug clattered to the table, spilling cider across it and splashing some on the floor. Kon moved to start cleaning it up when he realized why Danny’s mug had fallen.

Danny’s right arm was missing.

Danny looked down at it with his usual passive expression, “Oh, so that’s what that feeling was.”

“What?” Kon asked blankly.

“They’re gonna run outta limbs eventually.”

Kon looked over to Ma, who had her hands pressed over her mouth, and Pa, who was frozen half standing. Then he looked back to Danny, who was still frowning at his shoulder. “W-what?”

Danny looked passively up at Kon. “You already know what’s going on, it’s why you made this waking dream for me after all.”

Kon stared at the arm that wasn’t there, not even a misty hint.

Danny sighed and closed his eyes, a nearly invisible arm and hand reappeared and quickly became as solid (half at best) as the other hand. He picked up his fallen mug.

Kon thought about how Danny’s arms only seemed to be there half the time. He thought about how Danny’s legs almost never seemed to be there. Kon thought about how he wasn’t entirely sure what Danny’s face looked like besides his brightly glowing eyes.

Thankfully there were others to keep Danny distracted while Kon sat out in the dirt, quietly explaining everything to Clark. Even more thankfully Clark had the good sense to just sit there with him and listen, let Kon explain everything in his own piecemeal way, then just sit there in silence because there really wasn’t any comfort to give. Danny needed help, they were already working on a way to get it to him, the only thing to do right now was to just… help distract him from the horrors his mind was already distancing itself from.

The next day, when Diana and Constantine showed up with all his supernatural supplies, Kon had a chance to explain to them what he’d discovered the night before. This time much more coherently than he’d managed to Clark. He’d helped move what little furniture was in the room out of the way, then left them to it.

He didn’t see Danny that evening.

Kon was a little worried, Danny’s appearances had only been getting more often, not less. But it was also still spotty, so he wasn’t going to worry about it yet.

“Guess three days in a row is a bit much,” Constantine said, about to flick away his spent cigarette when Kon held out an empty tin can.

“Perhaps it is a sign that his captors give him some rest after such… drastic measures,” Diana theorized.

That didn’t make Kon feel any better, if Danny was only here when he was at his worst and his appearances were happening more often… Kon didn’t want to think about it. Still, they couldn’t do anything until Danny showed up again.

When Danny didn't show up the next day either he really started to worry. What if he was showing up somewhere else? What if he never showed up again? What if that was the last time Kon ever saw Danny and he'll never know why?

It was such a relief when he did spot Danny the day after that, that Kon nearly collapsed. Danny was laid out in the grass of a meadow just past the property line, looking up into the sky like he was stargazing. Kon looked up to see clouds slowly meandering across the sky like a small herd of sheep. Kon quickly let the others know before floating down to greet Danny.

“Cloud watching?”

“That one's shaped like a train.” Danny pointed up.

Kon tilted his head and squinted, “I guess I can kinda see it.”

Kon lay in the grass next to Danny, the two taking turns as they pointed out various shapes in the clouds. The late afternoon light was already fading, it wouldn't be long before the sun set.

Tim let him know they'd all arrived.

Kon stood up and brushed down his pants. “Wanna come inside? Ma and Pa missed you.”

Danny gave one of his indulgent smiles. “Sure.”

Together they went back to the house, finding everyone in their full gear. Kon started making introductions. “These are my friends! This is Bart, also known as Impulse.”

Danny seemed slightly confused, “The way I'm also Phantom?”

Kon looked to his friends, who all just looked back. “Yeah, the way you're also Phantom.” So Danny was also a hero, did that mean he had powers? Was this his arch nemesis?

“I'm Red Robin, you can just call me Red for short.”

Danny scoffed, amused, “I already call Red Huntress that, bird boy.”

Tim just laughed. Everyone else went around, introducing themselves. Danny wrinkled his nose at Constantine, but didn't comment.

Then the whole group went upstairs to the spare room where Constantine's circles and supplies had been left. “... to track you down we're just gonna need you to stand in this circle,” Constantine was saying.

Danny stopped and turned to give a mildly accusatory look to Kon. “Nocturn, I don't appreciate this.”

“What?” Kon asked, confused.

“Making a bunch of comic book super heroes to come rescue me. Trying to give me hope. I don't need it, I don't want it.”

Kon had no idea how to respond to that.

Danny's form flickered as his voice rose. “No one's coming for me. I heard the gunshots, I know my family's dead. Sam and Tucker would've come for me by now if they could, so either they can't or they tried and died too. Same for Dani, Dan, and Vlad, but they were probably captured. I know Dani was, she was with us when… when I…” Tears were streaming down Danny’s face only to leave frozen tracks.

“Danny, Danny I'm not Nocturn. I don't know who those people are or what happened to you.”

“Bullshit, I know I'm dreaming.”

“You are,” Kon agreed. “But I'm not, the rest of us aren't. You're Astral projecting right now.”

“Outta the way, ya git.” Constantine shoved Kon out of the way, and Kon obligingly moved, glad one of the adultier adults was taking over. “He's not Nocturn, yeah, none of us are. But Nocturn set up this dream for you, right? A fun, safe little place where you can do whatever you want. Even if it's not real, don't you wanna rescue your friends?”

Danny sniffled, “Not even Vlad deserves this.”

“Not even Vlad deserves this,” Constantine agreed solemnly. “If we're rescuing more people, guess we'll need more help.” He gave the rest of them a firm look.

“Clark, Kara, we need more hands,” Kon said.

Diana was tapping away at her comm.

Clark and Kara arrived quickly, already in their full costumes. Kon stepped out to go change out of his cities. By the time he got back Captain Marvel and Zatanna Zatara had also arrived.

“Alright,” Constantine said, “this spell should take us right to Danny, but after that we're gonna need to search the rest of wherever for any other uh… people who need rescuing.”

Kon couldn't blame him, no one liked being called a victim.

“Now Danny, if you could just stand in this circle…” 

Danny huffed, but did as he was asked. Constantine lit some candles that had already been placed around the circle then mumbled out some kind of chant.

A magic portal opened in the center of the circle attached to Danny's.

“Alright, everyone through.” Constantine led the way, walking confidently into the portal. Everyone else filed through.

Kon stayed behind. “You don't have to come if you don't want to.”

Danny looked confused, “Isn't this whole thing supposed to be for me?”

“Kinda.” Kon had an epiphany. “You sure this isn't a shared dream?”

Danny frowned in thought, “Sam and I had the same dream when he was trying to take over the world, wouldn't it have been easier to put us in the same dream if he could?”

“If he was trying to take over the world, it's better to not have you two wake each other up, right? He kept you separate so he could tweak the dream. Here we can distract each other.”

Danny nodded as his face smoothed out to nothingness. “Yeah, that makes sense. This is a shared dream.”

“Go on down and hang out with Ma and Pa, I'm gonna go play out my big hero fantasy for a bit.”

Danny smirked, “Okay. Have fun storming the castle!” He turned and started floating away.

Kon went through the portal. On the other side the room he found himself in was quite cramped despite only having Tim, Clark, and a few scientists being tied up in the corner. A good portion of the room was taken up by a large, steel table. And the tiny person laying on it, Diana leaned over and removing something from his head.

Kon was going to be sick.

It was Danny, he had to be. His hair was dark and shorn close to the scalp, like they couldn't be bothered with taking care of it. His chest was splayed open. His face was splayed open! He was also missing all of his limbs: right arm just below the shoulder, left at the elbow, both legs shortly below his body, just far enough for a tourniquet. The edges seemed to be rotting, except for the right arm, which looked raw and freshly cut.

“Kon, go help look for the others,” Diana said softly as she started gently trying to put Danny’s face back together.

Kon did as she ordered, following the trail of destruction the others were already leaving. A few rooms down and he found Marvel in an identical room leaning over a nearly identical Danny, gently pulling the skin back over this Danny’s beating heart.

Clark had joined him, gently pulling him from the room's doorway. “Red will be here soon to look him over, he's helping Diana with Danny right now. Let's go check on the others.”

Kon swallowed. “Right.”

He let himself be guided away. There was the sound of fighting nearby, they hurried to join in. What were clearly agents in all white business suits wielding shiny silver guns clearly weren't prepared for Kryptonians and Amazons were quickly being tied up.

“You ecto scum are going to pay for this!”

“You're daft if you think we're ecto whatever, your little toys didn't even scratch us,” Constantine said from the sidelines.

“I found another,” Bart called from a couple doors down.

Kon took a deep breath.

“You don't have to look,” Clark said.

“I know.” Kon went up to the doorway and looked in to find Bart gently taking something off another Danny’s head. This time he finally got a good look while it was on, some kind of strap that went under the chin and over the top of the head.

A muzzle.

A simple muzzle that kept the mouth closed while these absolute maniacs flayed these children's faces open.

“I used to have nightmares about stuff like this,” Clark said from just behind Kon. “That someone would find out I was an alien and take me away to some facility to cut me open and figure out how I work. And it would all be legal because I wasn't human.”

Kon finally turned to look at Clark. “You think that's what this is?”

“John said Danny probably isn't human, right? That not everything from Earth is human.”

Kon just nodded. Danny and his family(?) were probably fairies or something.

“Kal,” Kara called.

“C'mon, let's go help put an end to this nightmare.”

Kon was just coming back from morning chores when he spotted a misty figure out on the edge of the cornfield. He rushed to put away the milk and leave the pail drying before zipping back out. Danny, the younger, all white version of him, was standing just on the other side of the fence, hands gently stroking a leaf.

“I was wondering when you'd come back.”

Danny’s face, already more distinct, scrunched up. “I wasn't sure this was real.”

“It's real, it's all real.”

“It doesn't feel real.”

Kon nodded, “I was told it wouldn't, it's going to take a while to get used to all these sudden changes.” He'd pestered poor Black Canary about it until she finally huffed and just gave him some books to read. Actual text books, not just some self help nonsense.

Danny frowned as he looked down at his see-through hands. “It doesn't hurt anymore, so why am I like this again?”

“Because it worked, didn't it?”

Danny looked up at Kon in confusion.

“You were hurting, and when you astral projected it stopped hurting. But more than that you got help and now it's not that you're not feeling the pain, there's nothing causing pain.” Well, all four of the halfas were on meta grade pain killers while their healing factors got to work, potay-toe potah-toe. “It'll take a while to stop dissociating, it may never truly stop.”

“Just another power to add to my long list?” Danny smirked.

Kon shrugged, “Welcome to the club. It's mostly full of aliens, so I'm sure you'll enjoy the meetings.”

No one was coming for him.

It was a fact he had resigned himself to the moment he was taken away in cuffs. His family had fought, of course, and regardless of his status, his parents would stop at nothing to get him back.

It was not a comfort or hope he was able to carry with him past the threshold of Fenton Works front door. The bag over his head did nothing to drown the three gun shots that echoed from guns that carried bullets instead of Ectoplasm.

They were three blocks away when the explosion of the portal being forcibly shut down rocked Amity Park.

So no one would be coming for him.

The first year, he fought back. He kept track of days by scratching them in the wall, like in all the cartoons and tv shows. Attempted to escape, refused to cooperate with tests and experiments, sassed back against questions.

He no longer had the energy. It was always bright, except for the times they sealed him in small dark containers for transport. His many escape attempts had only helped them strengthen their containment measures, he should have waited, but there was nothing he could do now.

His living self had deteriorated to the point it was no longer capable of sustaining itself and his ghost, leaving him to remain in his spectral form to the researchers delight. His Core ached from the strain of holding himself together, unable to spare energy to heal more than wounds that might end him.

If he didn't think of something soon, he'd either shatter or reveal the best kept secret of the Infinite Realms. So Danny closed his eyes during a lull in the latest torture and prayed to whoever could hear him, this worked.

He felt fuzzy at the edges and sank into the feeling, letting it take him away. The almost forgotten sensation of floating soothed him just a little before his Core constricted tightly. Condensing down, down, down. Shedding excess ectoplasm to become smaller and smaller, until he was sure it could fit on the top of a pinhead. Danny wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, he just wanted to stop being so aware of everything.

He didn’t fight it though, letting the sensation of fuzzing take over him. It was like holding his hands up in front of those old clunky tv sets, palms barely touching as the static brushed against the skin like fur. Suddenly,as though he were a puppet with their strings cut, he was floating in a nothingness.

,”,”,”,”,

A bolt of electricity shocked through his body, alarms around him blaring but muffled. There was no pain once the shocks subsided, and Danny felt himself floating in a way that reminded him of the Far Frozen Medical Center.

It made sense his mind would create a world around that first. He needed so much medical care. When Danny opened his eyes, however, it wasn't Frostbite who created him, but people in another lab.

No, a different lab. One missing the blinding white of the GIW facilities. There were no lines of green running along the wall to indicate anti-ghost measures.

This was a Lab he could escape from. For the first time in years, Danny grinned, eyes flashing a bright green as the thick glass around him shattered, and he dropped to his feet.

------

Project R-13 Status: Terminated Escaped Vitals: Unknown Brain Activity: Unknown R-13 was terminated at 08:04 July 19, 20XX. Confirmed vitals ceased functioning and what little Brain Activity there was ceased. At 08:08 an electrical malfunction caused sparks to electrify Containment Pod 413 for approximately two minutes. Subject R-13's vital signs spiked and machines registered full Neurological activity. R-13's eyes opened for the first time at 08:11. The subject proceeded to shatter the Super Grade glass of the Containment Pod 413 before engaging scientists in combat. At some point, Subject became aware of nude state and stole Head Researcher Torrance's lab coat, trousers and my own badge when I attempted to intervene. Suspicions that the Robins possess meta abilities confirmed despite donor subjects not carrying the Meta Gene. R-13 removed clothing by simply pulling them off and through Dr Torrance, putting them on while continuing the escape attempt. Then ran through the sealed door of the Observation Room in a manner not unlike a ghost Phase Shifting. Security pursued R-13 through the facility before Subject turned a corner and vanished, despite being a dead end with no rooms or visible ventilation. Subject may have inherited abilities from several of the Genetic Templates used for Project R, which DNA samples were used remains classified to Researchers pending capture and study of him Subject R-13. Tracker located in R-13's tag is malfunctioning, possibly due to use of previously displayed Abilities. Signal becomes lost before appearing miles away from previous location. Points seem sporadic with no specific direction over another, several movement patterns suggest Play Behavior confusion when in one place as the signal loops on itself or circles before moving elsewhere with no warning. Several task forces have been mobilized to locate and contain R-13 before undesired parties can discover Subject. God Speed kid.

--------

Meanwhile, the GIW are livid that their own test subject fucking “melted”. Scientists blaming the Agents for not properly sustaining the ghost, with the Agents arguing that letting the monster heal too much was too risky.

Danny's Core straight up just shrunk down and Yote itself into the nearest Husk. Which luckily for Danny was the Just Terminated R-13 Project 'Clone' bc he was being transported between facilities and was passing nearby enough. The Shrinking allowed his Soul to pass through the Ecto defenses by being under the threshold that registers enough to activate them.

Literally a last ditch effort because if there HADN'T been a viable vessel for him to settle into... well...

Danny flew away as far as he could. He went West. Then South. Then North. Then East. Then North again. He just kept moving, uncaring about the direction even looping back again. He didn’t care as long as it was anywhere but there. But he wasn’t there anymore. 

Instead soon he found himself landing where there were no tall buildings nearby or people. Farmland. Quiet. No walls anywhere near him. Just crops and dirt. He stared at the tall stalks of what seemed to be corn and was reminded of a childhood memory from a family trip a long time ago to a farm. They had a field like this, but smaller. 

Danny let himself stand there for a while just looking.

It was a nice dream. Finally being able to escape. To get away from those dammed white walls and go outside again. It was so easy to slip away from scientists that had actual names on badges and not just letters. No glowing green of ecto-weaponry that would burn. He smiled as he slipped the badge he stole into a pocket and looked up. 

The sky was right there. There were clouds with the sun peeking out from behind. It was the afternoon by its position. Danny could feel the wind, so different from the stagnant air in the room where they cut into him again and again. So different from the sensation of those agents’ breaths mingling right above him as they discussed his organs and the tests they still needed to conduct. Even the lab coat and pants he stole felt nice despite being too big on him.

He was more than happy to focus on the sensations his mind had come up with. 

It wasn’t very long until Danny noticed someone else had arrived. Their arrival had been silent. There were no footsteps or sound of tires on the ground. Instead, it seemed that suddenly there was someone there, standing not far from him. Danny didn’t recognize them. Dreams were typically like that though. 

It was a boy. Black hair. Blue Eyes. It was amusing seeing the similarities he had with him.

But what interested Danny more was the clothes the boy was wearing. Underneath a leather jacket was something skintight and colorful. Blue and red with a giant S on their chest. 

It seemed that Danny’s mind conjured up a hero. 

That was nice. He had always wanted to meet one. To not be alone. Being in Amity Park there was only him and then Red Huntress, but it wasn’t the same seeing as she hunted him down before becoming an ally. He had always imagined what it would be like to meet someone like him. Someone with powers. Someone who he could have fought alongside, and gotten help from. 

But people like that didn’t exist. Every search for one left him empty-handed. As far as Danny knew he was alone. Except now… there was someone there. 

“Hi,” Danny said. He could see them looking at him closely and they almost looked frozen, as if shocked that he was even there. The “Hey” he eventually got in response was a little stilted, though Danny wasn't one to judge. He’d been awkward more times than he could count. 

Danny dug his feet deeper into the dirt. Watching how his pale skin went underneath the brown. It felt better than the metal table. He could be free of it at any point he wished. It was better than being strapped down as they cut deeper and touched what they shouldn't. Better than being treated like he wasn’t alive, the agents uncari-

“What are you doing?” the hero’s voice was curious and warm. A stark difference compared to the clinical terms and demanding voices Danny had gotten used to.

He focused on that warmth and the warmth he felt on his skin. He focused on the dirt going in between his toes. He focused on the wind ruffling through his hair. Danny really liked this instead. He looked at the hero who looked so bright and alive. A wish of what Danny had wanted so long ago. 

“Hiding.”

Kon had memorized his friends’ heartbeat. He hadn’t even realized he'd done that until Clark mentioned it one day. It was something he had done too. 

It was comforting to know the rhythm and be able to pinpoint it out of a sea of noises. It was helpful on missions too. 

So when Kon noticed when he suddenly one heartbeat oddly similar to Tim’s appear. An odd copy that was slightly different. Except Tim was on a mission somewhere else.  It wasn’t a hard decision to follow where the sound led him once it stopped moving. 

It led Kon to farmland and one figure stood out, white amongst the green and brown.

The heartbeat didn’t speed up or show signs of being startled when Kon landed near them. Kon couldn't say the same about his own heartbeat. There in front of him was someone in a white lab coat and pants too big. He could see the pants being cuffed and Kon could see a badge in a pocket. The Cadmus name was clear with his sight. Then he finally looked at the person. 

Kon was hit with a sense of odd familiarity. They looked like Tim and Jason. Some sort of odd combination of the Robins. Kon could imagine the old photos Tim had shown him that he had taken of Jason when they were younger. The red tag on their ear was a deciding factor. 

A clone.

Cadmus had made another clone. 

For a moment Kon couldn’t breathe. He thought they had taken care of Cadmus, and had prevented any chance of something like this happening. But there was a clone standing right in front of him. Someone like him. Someone who managed to escape.

“Hi,” the boy said to him and Kon felt like he had just stepped out of the pod again. Unsteady on his feet and words not coming so easily to him.  His “Hey” was as awkward as the first time he talked to anyone. 

But the clone just looked back down at their feet in the dirt. There was no sign of aggression. Kon could hear their steady heartbeat. He could hear their feet digging into the dirt. It was so different from what Kon had experienced when he had first gotten out. That explosive anger and no short supply of people to fight.

But there was nothing here. Just farmland. Just two clones. 

“What are you doing?” the question slipped out of Kon. He couldn't help but be curious about what was going through their head. If it was anything like what he had going through his head. 

Again the clone was calm, he didn’t seem bothered. It was completely different from the expressions on Tim or Jason’s faces, two people who were almost always expressive. Whether it be anger, exhaustion, or just being an ass. Then here was someone who was a mixture of both, who had a combination of their hair, nose, jaw, and eye color that looked at him with no recognition but no apprehension. 

“Hiding,” they said. 

Kon couldn't help how his eyes drifted to the tag on their ear. Probably tracking where they were. Anxiety made his hands twitch. “Can I take that off? The ear tag I mean?”

Those blue eyes just stared before nodding. When Kon came closer they still stared. No wariness just curiosity. 

Kon made quick work of the ear tag, already knowing how to take off without it hurting, but the boy didn’t flinch. Damn did Kon wish he knew what their name was. The tag simply said R-13. 

He moved away and called for Bart through his comm. He was sure to get the idea of what Kon was trying to do and tell the others what was going on. Kon didn’t think he’d be able to get away and explain to anyone else. Bart showed up in no time and with Kon barely getting a few words out nodded like he understood. It was clear that he was curious about the clone but Bart didn’t hesitate to grab the tag and run off. 

It made Kon grateful to know him. 

When he turned back Kon saw the boy crouching on the ground. Their hands were in the dirt this time. Kon could hear how they stretched and flexed their hands open before slowly closing it. Holding fistfuls of dirt before slowly loosening their grip and letting the dirt slip through their fingers. 

There was a certain look in their eye. Something dissociative, they were so intently focused on the dirt on their hands. Kon didn’t like it. Someone was already giving directions into his ear through the comm about taking the clone to a secure location maybe even the Watchtower. 

That could work, but Kon thought of those cold walls and floors. He thought about that taste of freedom; how the clone in front of him seemed so intent on being outside after escaping. 

“Do you want to come with me?” Kon asked and they looked up at him, hands still buried in the dirt. Parts of the white fabric of the pants and lab coat were already stained brown “I can help you hide” Kon added because he would. Something deep inside of him was screaming for him to help the boy in front of him. To not let them slip away. To keep them away from people with labcoats and pods and machinery. To be the person he had wished someone had been for him since the very beginning. 

The clone stood up, uncaring about dirt, not even bothering to wipe their hands. “Okay.”

The relief that filled Kon for some reason made him want to cry. 

***

Danny had seen what he assumed was another hero stop by, the two shared some words before the other left. It was someone who ran fast in a blur of red and yellow. It was interesting but Danny found he was more interested in the dirt again. It was ridiculous how much he liked it. 

Then the hero offered for him to go somewhere. To help him hide. Danny saw no reason he should have refused and he was glad he didn’t because he felt almost giddy in the hero’s arms. They were flying. He could feel gravity pulling on them and warm arms secure around him, as if scared he’d fall and get hurt. But Danny couldn't care; he never got to be carried by anyone living like this.

It had always been him carrying someone or flying. Or being thrown through the air roughly. Never carried by someone with a beating heart. 

When the hero landed in was in front of a house still surrounded by farmland. It was an old one with wood paneling. A wooden porch with a screen door. It reminded him of houses from old movies. The stereotypical type that usually belonged to an older couple or family. 

Danny was only proved right when the front door opened and two people emerged. A man and woman that showed their age with grey hair . 

“Kon!” the woman said with a smile and her voice was gentle, loving. She was looking at the hero and so did the man. 

Danny watched the hero or ‘Kon’ greet them as ‘Ma’ and ‘Pa’. There was no hesitance in their affection even with a stranger in their midst, but maybe that was because Danny didn’t want that. 

“Ma, Pa this is…someone like me,” Kon said and Danny thought that was an amusing way to introduce him. There had never been anyone like him. Or there was Vlad and Dani except Vlad had rarely been kind and Dani was no-

“Well, it's very nice to meet you. Would you like to come inside? I just made some pie.” the woman called Ma said and Danny found three pairs of eyes looking at him. Yet it didn’t feel like those inspecting him, wanting to know how he ticked. Wanting to see what was inside. 

“Yes please, Ma’am,” Danny said and he got a dismissive wave from the woman and a chuckle from the man. 

“Oh honey, just call me Martha and this here is my husband Jonathan.”

“I bet you’ll be insisting he calls you Ma before he can get a second silence of pie,” Jonathan said. Only laughing when Martha playfully hit his arm and they walked inside. The door was left open. 

Danny watched them go; it was quiet. He could hear their muffled voices coming from inside sounding light. He looked back at Kon. 

Kon was already looking at him. They stared at each other. 

Kon gestured his head to the door. 

Danny went ahead and walked inside. The wood floor creaked underneath his feet; he liked the sound. 

Kon stepped inside behind him before heading off towards the table where four plate settings were being placed. Jonathan easily set plates and cups and utensils. There were signs of them being well-used and well-loved. Then Martha came in with a fresh pie, steam coming off of it. She stepped gracefully around her husband to set it on the table. Then there was Kon taking a seat Martha ushered him in before turning to get a glass pitcher and handing it over to Jonathan who filled each cup. 

It was a well-oiled routine. No spills or glasses crashing to the floor. Danny couldn’t see any ectoplasm staining the plate or pie coming to life. 

“Well take a seat son,” Jonathan said and it sounded nothing like an order but a gentle offer.

Danny took a seat and watched as slices were cut and placed on each plate. Once a slice was placed in front of him the smell hit him. 

Apple. Cinnamon. His eyes closed and he couldn’t place when he last had apple pie. 

He didn’t think he ever did. 

“Sweetheart, do you want to wash your hands?”

Danny opened his eyes; the others were eating but Martha was looking at him. She glanced at his hands. 

They still had dirt. His fingerprints and the lines in his palms stood out amongst the brown; Danny could feel the dirt underneath his nails. 

“No thank you,” he said because he liked the dirt. Danny liked how his hands were no longer clean. No longer being wiped away just so that the agents could have a clear view. Just so the needles were easier to enter. 

“Alright, but if you want to wash up later there is a sink in the kitchen and I’m sure Kon could show you the bathroom later on,” Martha said before she finally took a bite of her own pie. She didn’t seem at all annoyed by his refusal. 

When they had gotten news there was a new clone the league admittedly were worried. They didn’t have the best history with clones. People had never had any good intentions when it came to creating copies of heroes, even moreso Cadmus who they already had a painful history with. One they thought was over. 

But when Bart came by, a tag with the number R-13 and news that Kon found someone, they knew they were wrong. 

Hal was on the one Bart had come to, the others on various missions or busy in their own cities. He didn’t hesitate to contact Kon and tell him to take the clone to a secure location. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind that Clark and Bruce would want to do a threat assessment. Also Cadmus was most likely looking for their newly escaped clone. 

Yet while Kon technically listened, the Kent farm wasn’t exactlt what Hal had in mind when he said secure location. 

“Wait, he’s where?” Clark asked when he finally arrived and Hal tried to ignore Bruce’c cowl covered stare practically burning into his skull. 

“At your parents’ farm,” Hal repeated again and he had a feeling that the reason wasn’t because Supes couldn’t hear him. 

“For how long?” Bruce asked. Hal could see that he subtelty placed a hand on Clark’s back reassuringly. Though Hal himself didn’t feel so reassured. He wished he had taken another shift to be on duty. 

“A few hours.” A few hours the clone had been on the farm and Hal only found out atfer he finally managed to track Kon down after he had shut off the comm and went radio silent. Unfortunately it wasn’t a rare occurrence and Hal felt he had a certain Robin to blame for that habit among the younger heroes. 

Though Red Robin would deny it with a smile. 

Clark tilted his head, listening for his parents’ heartbeats along for Kon’s. All three were fine and on the Kent farm, but he noticed the fourth one close by. “I’m going,” he said and when Bruce moved his hand to his shoulder, he knew he would be coming along for the ride. 

Then they were off. 

***

Kon could hear the moment Clark arrived with Bruce. He rushed out there leaving Ma inside before Clark could even finish landing. 

“I know what you’re gonna say about protocol and rules but I just couldn’t take them somewhere else,” Kon rushed out to say trying not to worry too much about the looks on the two adults’ faces. “It had to be here. Ma and Pa don’t mind either and we had pie! Pie; it was apple. It went fine. Things are okay, promise!”

Kon didn’t want them to be mad. He wanted to make it clear that it was okay. This clone wasn’t at all aggressive, no sign of it at all. Kon would have never put Pa or Ma in danger like that. Clark had to know that. He did. He had to know that he would ne-

Clark’s hands cupped Kon’s face. “Kon, are you okay?”

Kon was about to say he was but the words wouldn’t come out and he finally noticed that he was breathing fast. His eyes felt a bit wet and even Clark’s face was a bit blurry. “I-”

Clark didn’t at all look mad. Just concerned. 

“I don’t know,” he said because Kon didn’t know. He had been feel off kilter ever since he landed and first saw the clone standing barefoot in the dirt. He’d been ignoring how fast his heart was going, how there was a twisting sensation in his gut in favor of focusing on the steady heartbeat that sounded too much like his friend’s. “He’s like me but different and he said he was hiding so I just-I couldn’t- it wa-”

He was pulled into a hug and Kon could hear just how fast Clark’s heart was going too. A man that supposedly was invincible was just as scared as he was. 

“It’s going to be okay Kon. We’re okay.” Clark said and Kon didn’t hear any sign that it was a lie.

***

Bruce remained silent as they finally went inside the house. Clark handing off Kon to Martha who just smiled warmly and comforted Kon. Not fazed at all by them still in their costumes. She was always someone who kept calm. It reminded him of Alfred. 

Bruce already had Hal getting ready to get into contact with Tim, Jason, Dick, and Damian. The tag had said R-13 and from the what Bart had reported, itseemed it be a clone of one od his sons. Though he wasn’t sure which one. 

Only Martha had been inside but through the back screen door he could see Jonathan Kent in a chair of the back porch looking at a newspaper. Bruce stood beside Clark who had paused from opening the door. 

“Down. Four letter word. Celestial bear. Theres a major and minor. Group of stars,” Jonathan said without looking at them. A cross word puzzle.  

“Ursa,” a young voice said and Bruce could imagine it had been said with a smile. There was no hesitance in their answer. An undertone of confidence that reminded him of Tim giving him the answers to a cold case that had Bruce stumped though he didn’t admit it. 

The floor creaked under Clark’s feet and Jonathan finally looked at them. He smiled before setting down the newspaper and getting out of his seat. 

Clark didn’t move as Jonathan came inside and pulled him into a hug. Despite his large stature, Clark looked small in his father’s arms. He always did even with Martha. Bruce could hear a muffled “Hey Pa”, from Clark.

“They don’t look like you, son,” Jonathan said without an preamble or letting go of Clark. “But they remind me of you. Like when you went out to go play and came back all dirty and so on. He’s wearing some white clothes like a scientist but doesnt look uncomfortable.” Jonathan pulled away but let his hands linger on Clark’s shoulders. “A polite young man if I do say so myself.”

“You’re okay?” Clark asked, his voice full of concern. 

Jonathan sighed with a wiry smile. “I’m just fine, you know we can take care of ourselves. Raised you after all.”

Finally Clark smiled and Pa stepped to the side. Giving Clark one more pat and a nod to Brue. 

When they stepped out onto the back porch the clone wasn’t in any of the woodeen chairs. Instead he were on the steps of the porch sitting. The bright white stood out against the wooden steps along with the splotches of brown on the fabric. The clone hadn’t reacted to their presence. He sat with his head leaning against the wooden post, eyes closed face exposed to the air and light from the sun that had just begun to set.  

He looked like he was asleep. Completely at ease. There was even dirt still coating his hands and feet.

But what drew Bruce in was how he looked like a cultimation of his children. An odd mixture. He was reminded of Jason when he was younger, not influenced by the pits and of Tim. He seemed lanky like Tim did out of his uniform and had pale skin. His hair was messy reminiscent of Jason. He could see Jason’s nose. 

“He looks like them,” Clark said softly.

 Bruce nodded and wondered what color eyes they would have. 

***

Danny sat with Pa on the back porch after they finished eating, and he had been right. Ma insisted on being called Ma. Pa looked rightfully amused with himself. 

The man settled into his seat like it was an old friend and grabbed a paper while Danny took a seat on the steps. Danny could see the blades of grass touching the last step. The wood was warm beneath him from the sunlight hitting it and he let himself lean into the wooden post that was warm too. 

Soon Pa’s voice joined the wind. He was reading cross word puzzles out loud. It was pleasant just to hear that voice work through the options and Danny couldn’t help how a guess slipped out at one of them. Pa had thanked him and afterward would pause after reading each one just to let Danny answer one if he knew it. 

He of course knew all the space related ones. 

They stayed there for a while. Danny listened to Pa’s voice, the wind, and how the paper would crinkle in Pa’s grip whenever he readjusted his hold. He heard the wood creak under another pair of feet and how Pa got up. Though Danny stayed where he was even when two new arrivals stepped out onto the porch. 

He let what little of their voices he heard mix and mingle into all the other sounds. A gentle symphony. 

A voice came closer, maybe even trying to speak to him but Danny didn’t pay attention. He only let out a hum to join the sound of the bugs that had started to make their presence known among the fields. The voice retreated and Danny stayed there enjoying the last bit of warmth as the sun continue to go down. 

It was much later after he couldn’t see light that a voice came to him again. This time much clearer before. When he opened his eyes Ma standing near him. She had her hands stretched out, holding out a blanket close enough to touch. 

It looked homemade; some parts faded and a few crooked stitches. 

His hands still had dirt. Danny didn’t want dirt touch the stitches. That would have been rude.

“Can I wash them?” he asked and held out his hands. 

Ma just smiled. “Of course sweetheart, let me show you the bathroom. Kon is talking to the others.”

Danny followed her, stepping into the spots where her feet had just stepped. Her gait was smaller than Pa’s, but the wood didn’t creak as much where she stepped. 

The bathroom was small, but Ma didn’t make him feel trapped when she stood inside of it showing him the soap and just the right way to turn to the knob so it didn’t splash him. After he had washed his hands he looked down at his feet. They still had dirt on them too. 

“Do you want to get that cleaned up too?” she asked. 

He nodded and then watched as Ma set up the tub. Her hands twisted the knobs and water came out. She checked to see if it was warm before letting him use it, then went off to get him a towel. 

Danny sat on the edge of the tub and watched as the water hit his feet and the water turned brown before going down the drain. The temperature was perfect. 

When Ma came back she had a towel, a pair of sturdy looking boots, and thick blue socks. 

“Thought you’d might want some shoes. It can get cold and I know I hate cold feet. Knitted these socks myself so I promise they’ll keep you warm.” She said as she handed over the towel. 

“Thank you,” he said and she smiled before walking away. 

When his feet were dry and the socks slipped on. He wiggled his toes. They were warm.

There was a sound of a slight thud of the boot against the floor when he walked out of the bathroom. He could feel the grooves of the blanket against his skin as he held it to his chest. Danny made sure to fold up the white sleeves so the brown part didn’t touch it. 

He ran into Pa first who when he saw the boots crouched down with a smile. Uncaring about any strain he put on his joints. “Gotta tie these up. Don’t want you tripping,” he said before grabbing the loose laces of the boots that Danny had left untied. 

Danny hadn’t realized he’d forgotten such a simple thing. 

There was a pat to the boot before Pa got back up and the two of them went back outside. 

He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed when Kon suddenly  showed up in front of him. The sky was dark and Kon looked tired. 

“We’re gonna leave,” Kon said and Danny looked to see that there was some sort of jet waiting for them. A man in black and man in blue and red stood on the top of the ramp. 

More heroes. 

“Okay,” he said and Kon looked relieved before looking back at the two other heroes while Danny got up. 

He eyed the jet, it looked like something that should have been in Tucker’s dream. But he saw the metal and was grateful for what Ma gave him. Those floors would be cold.  

Ma and Pa stood behind him, standing close to each other. A couple that reminded him of something he only got to see on television. So open and warm. He looked at them and wondered just how his mind could have come up with them. He didn’t think it should have been able to. 

Then Ma smiled and pulled him into a hug. He let her.

Hands cupped his head; fingers were running through his hair. He could hear Ma’s heart beat. It was a reassuring sound. There was another hand that joined her’s and another that was on his shoulder. Danny could feel the callouses on the fingers that brushed against his neck. They were hands that belonged to a hardworking man. 

“You’re welcome here any time sweetheart, you hear,” Ma said and she sounded so sincere that Danny couldn’t help but respond with “Yes Ma’am.” He liked the sound of Jonathan’s laughter that followed. 

   Danny swallowed as the ramp finished its ascent, closing him off again from the outside world. Danny had only ever flown in a plane once or twice to visit his Aunt Alicia. The memories were blurry, fuzzy with age like an old photograph left out in the sun, but he was fairly certain that the jet was more spacious than the typical plane. Still, he couldn’t help but feel that the walls were closing in around him, locking him away from the dirt and fields and fresh air. 

   His fingers clenched the armrests of his seat. The vibrations of the jet traveled up from the pads of his fingers and into his ribs as it took off. His teeth clacked with the force. The plane felt cold. 

   Danny took a deep breath, allowing the tension to leave through his lungs. His fingers released the plastic and metal beneath them. This was a dream. There was no GIW in here. There were no cattle prods to overload his nerves with electricity. There were no muzzles to dig harshly into his cheeks. There were no scalpels to cut into his chest and allow entrance for gloved fingers to take take take.

   This was a dream.

   The hero from the field -Kon they had called him- is sitting beside Danny, fingers playing with the sleeves of his jacket. Across the cabin, the blue one and the dark one talk in deep conversation. The dark one is tense and apprehensive about something. He doesn’t physically show it but Danny can taste it on the air. Kon’s brow furrows as he watches the two.

   The boy turns to him, smiling. Danny only cocks his head in response. Kon’s lips falter ever so slightly, and Danny almost feels a little bad. This dream hero had been nice. He was helping him hide. He was helping him pretend that everything was okay. Still, he can’t bring himself to smile. No matter how much he pretends, his lips are sewn shut by the weight of the waking world, so Danny simply hums.

   The crickets beyond the porch had such nice songs. It reminded him of Before when he was free to run and fly to wherever he wanted to go without a wire around his neck. Some nights Danny would fly to the fields just outside Amity. There he would lay in the soft grass to look up at the stars, eyes tracing constellations as the crickets chirped a symphony around him. 

   It’s their song he hums now, hoping to achieve the same peace. Kon seems to enjoy it too, listening for a few seconds before joining him in humming the tune of freedom. 

   Their song eventually peters out, Danny blinking in the confinement of the jet once more. So far up in a metal box, there are no crickets to sing with. Except for the boy beside him. 

   Danny can’t help but feel a strange sense of camaraderie. Perhaps he is just starved for human connection. He’s spent so long trapped in GIW facilities with only the cruelty of scientists for company. Danny is desperate for companionship. Desperate enough for his synapses to construct somebody to fill a void left by gunshots and a bag.

   It's a dream.

   Danny shouldn’t get attached.

   He resolutely turns away, focusing his attention on the window across from them. The occasional dark grey shape of a cloud drifts by on a tapestry of night sky. Danny has never been so close to the stars before. He watches as they sparkle. He can see the distant shape of Jupiter, suspended among them above the Earth

   “Do you like the stars?” Kon leans forward to peer out the window as well.

   Danny watches as a meteor trails across the sky, combusting in the atmosphere. A shooting star.

   “Yes,” he replies after it fades.

No one was coming for him.

It was a fact he had resigned himself to the moment he was taken away in cuffs. His family had fought, of course, and regardless of his status, his parents would stop at nothing to get him back.

It was not a comfort or hope he was able to carry with him past the threshold of Fenton Works front door. The bag over his head did nothing to drown the three gun shots that echoed from guns that carried bullets instead of Ectoplasm.

They were three blocks away when the explosion of the portal being forcibly shut down rocked Amity Park.

So no one would be coming for him.

The first year, he fought back. He kept track of days by scratching them in the wall, like in all the cartoons and tv shows. Attempted to escape, refused to cooperate with tests and experiments, sassed back against questions.

He no longer had the energy. It was always bright, except for the times they sealed him in small dark containers for transport. His many escape attempts had only helped them strengthen their containment measures, he should have waited, but there was nothing he could do now.

His living self had deteriorated to the point it was no longer capable of sustaining itself and his ghost, leaving him to remain in his spectral form to the researchers delight. His Core ached from the strain of holding himself together, unable to spare energy to heal more than wounds that might end him.

If he didn't think of something soon, he'd either shatter or reveal the best kept secret of the Infinite Realms. So Danny closed his eyes during a lull in the latest torture and prayed to whoever could hear him, this worked.

He felt fuzzy at the edges and sank into the feeling, letting it take him away. The almost forgotten sensation of floating soothed him just a little before his Core constricted tightly. Condensing down, down, down. Smaller and smaller, until he was sure it could fit on the top of a pinhead.

A bolt of electricity shocked through his body, alarms around him blaring but muffled. There was no pain once the shocks subsided, and Danny felt himself floating in a way that reminded him of the Far Frozen Medical Center.

It made sense his mind would create a world around that first. He needed so much medical care. When Danny opened his eyes, however, it wasn't Frostbite who created him, but another lab.

No, a different lab. One missing the blinding white of the GIW facilities. There were no lines of green running along the wall to indicate anti-ghost measures.

This was a Lab he could escape from. For the first time in years, Danny grinned, eyes flashing a bright green as the thick glass around him shattered, and he dropped to his feet.

------

Project R-13 Status: Terminated Escaped Vitals: Unknown Brain Activity: Unknown R-13 was terminated at 08:04 July 19, 20XX. Confirmed vitals ceased functioning and what little Brain Activity there was ceased. At 08:08 an electrical malfunction caused sparks to electrify Containment Pod 413 for approximately two minutes. Subject R-13's vital signs spiked and machines registered full Neurological activity. R-13's eyes opened for the first time at 08:11. The subject proceeded to shatter the Super Grade glass of the Containment Pod before engaging scientists in combat. At some point, Subject became aware of nude state and stole Head Researcher Torrance's lab coat, trousers and badge. Suspicions that the Robins possess meta abilities confirmed. R-13 removed clothing by simply pulling them off and through Dr Torrance, putting them on while continuing the escape attempt. Security pursued R-13 through the facility before Subject turned a corner and vanished, despite being a dead end with no rooms. Subject may have inherited abilities from several of the Genetic Templates used for R-13. Tracker located in R-13's tag is malfunctioning. Signal becomes lost before appearing miles away from previous location. Points seem sporadic with no specific direction over another. Several task forces have been mobilized to locate and contain R-13 before undesired parties can discover Subject. God Speed kid.

--------

Meanwhile, the GIW are livid that their own test subject fucking melted. Scientists blaming the Agents for not properly sustaining the ghost, with the Agents arguing that letting the monster heal too much was too risky.

Danny's Core straight up just shrunk down and Yote itself into the nearest Husk. Which luckily for Danny was the Just Terminated R-13 Project 'Clone' bc he was being transported between facilities and was passing nearby enough. The Shrinking allowed his Soul to pass through the Ecto defenses by being under the threshold that registers enough to activate them.

Literally a last ditch effort because if there HADN'T been a viable vessel for him to settle into... well...

It was amazing to feel the wind again and the brush of the clouds soaking his clothes when he passed through them. Using his intangibility on the pants, he'd pinned them well enough they weren't trying to slip off anymore, even if they were still big and baggy. That was fine, though. He liked the feeling of clothes too big to fit. The lab coat was surprisingly soft and light compared to the harshness of the antiecto suits the scientists and Agents wore before.

Danny shook his head to shove those kinds of thoughts aside, and hovered for a moment above the cumulus cloud cover. Swooping around a bit more, he shaped them like playing in the snow until he realized how cold he had gotten. For the first time since his ice powers had manifested, Danny shivered, and he touched his face as his teeth chattered.

Letting go of a giddy laugh, he rolled in the air and dove lower to see the squares of greens and browns stretched out before him. Farmland. He was so far away from the crowded cities and concrete structures. Amity Park had been a pretty even split after undergrowth, but even then it was nothing on the sheer expanse of peopleless farmland.

When his feet touched the earth, he sank his toes into the muddy dirt, forgoing his powers to feel the way it rubbed against his bare skin. He could feel it under his toenails. The wind swirled around him, and he shivered again, smiling a little as he crouched down and dug his fingers into the wet soil, startling slightly a moment later when the water he hadn't noticed yet came up around his hands.

It was a pond, bigger across than he was tall but not deeper than he was tall, he was sure. Danny just knew it without checking, he didn't want that, so it wouldn't be. Straightening, he realized he wasn't alone, even though he hadn't heard footsteps or anything before catching sight of them out of the corner of his eye.

He turned his head and made eye contact with a young man, probably about the age he should be if not for his captivity. Looking away, Danny examined his hands a moment. Small, soft and new. Was he fourteen again? Yeah, that would make sense. After all, he hadn't spent a lot of time looking at himself in the past, however long it had been. Humming, Danny stepped into the water and made for the middle. The guy shouted something, but he was already in up to his shoulders and giggling at the way the lab coat floated up around him, soaking in the water.

There was a splash just as he found the deepest part, curling his toes and making a face at the squish of the mud and flora. The water itself stopped just below his nose, the perfect depth, exactly as he wanted. Turning his head and then his body to face the person with bright, concerned blue eyes, Danny lifted a hand to wave. The guy stopped, the water up to his ankles. He'd taken off the leather jacket, just behind him, it hung on a fence post he hadn't noticed.

The skintight suit was red and blue, with an interesting crest like the one Sam made him but for an S. A pair of round shades sat on top of his head, almost lost in his dark hair.

"Hey... I'm not gonna hurt you." Danny blinked at him. Of course, he wasn't. Danny didn't want to hurt anymore, that's what this whole dream was for. So he nodded, and that seemed to encourage the guy to go on. "Just, wanted to know what you were doing out here, are you okay?" His face twisted a little, like he was recalling a bad memory.

Danny shifted to stand on his tip toes. "I'm okay." He said with a shrug, attention straying to the various sized fish swimming around him now. "I'm just, being alive, I guess." Hands cupped around one of the orange, white and black splattered fish, he giggled again because its movements tickled his palms.

-------

Kon was chill. He was so chill about this. It had been just a normal day helping around the farm and spending time with Ma and Pa, cleaning pens and shelling peas. Whatever chores needed doing.

Then there was a fourth person. One that he'd thought was falling from the sky, but there wasn't any screaming. Checking it out brought him to now, having changed out of his farm clothes and into his Superboy 'uniform', and watching a small kid standing in the fishpond. Not just a kid, though. A clone that looked like Tim, but not just Tim, with a tag on his ear that said CADMUS in thick black lettering against red painted metal.

It was bizarre and disorienting, to see another clone, another person like him, after he had been sure they shut all that down. This was fine, he could handle this.

This was a weird situation for a lot of reasons. Mainly how docile the kid was. He'd barely paid Kon any attention, and then there was his answer. 'Just being alive, I guess.' before giggling like a kid (god but he was just a kid) about the fish.

Kon could still remember when everything was new, but he hadn't taken time to look around the way this clone was doing. He'd woken up with so many implanted experiences and with a purpose. Had he looked like this to everyone else? Had he gone through all of that shit in the beginning looking to the world just as small and innocent?

He shook it off. Now wasn’t the time to think too hard about his own life.

He watched the clone kid blow bubbles and scrunch his nose like Tim would sometimes. Amused, but deciding if he liked a sensation or not. Kon crouched down, arms resting on his knees, and waited.

'being alive, I guess.'

"What did they call you?" He asked, fishing for information as gently as possible. Maybe that would give them him, an idea of what to expect.

"No." The boy said softly, but firm. He'd moved to shallower water, digging his hands into the mud and rolling the stones between his fingers.

"No?"

"It was never anything nice, and I want to call myself something new here. I don't want to think about before. If I do, then all this... All this would be for nothing."

That, wasn't close to anything he had expected. Kon could only nod when they looked at him, expression serious, but their eyes dulled and faraway. "I, I want to be called Zenith."

"Ok. I'm glad I get to be the first one to meet you, Zenith." Kon managed a small smile and offered out a hand. "I'm Superboy, but you can call me Kon. I'm a clone too."

Zenith came back to himself a bit and focused on the offered hand. Kon waited patiently, relieved when it paid off and Zenith took his hand to shake it.

"Superboy's a weird name. That why there's an S on your suit? You're a hero?" There was an irrational bubble of pride in his chest at the kids display of cleverness.

"Something like that. This is the El Family crest. My full name is Kon-El, I've been told it represents hope to our culture." Zenith nodded and let himself be led out of the pond. He was soaking wet, which wasn't too different from before he got in the water. "Is it okay if I take that out?" He pointed to the tag and watched him tug on it a moment, frowning slightly.

"Sure." Awe replaced the irritated expression when his TTK took the tag apart and floated the parts over to drop into his hand. "How did you-?"

"It's one of my powers. Tactile Telekinesis. I can manipulate anything I touch." Kon was almost expecting the usual gags that came after a bare-bones explanation. Instead, Zenith nodded.

"That explains the warm pressure. That's cool." He tilted his head slightly, like a bird, Kon thought, eyes focused on their hands and clearly thinking more than he was saying.

Kon was pretty sure he'd destroy a city if anything happened to this kid. Definitely Tim's kid.

--------

Things happened surprisingly quickly after that. Kon took him to a farm house, where he was greeted by an older couple, Johnathan and Martha Kent, or Ma and Pa. They'd laughed in a way that made him feel warm and fuzzy instead of made fun of when he asked why not Jo since his name was Johnathan if Martha was Ma.

He did feel a little silly after Kon explained it. His soft "Oh, right." had gotten him a head pat from Pa and forehead kiss from Ma, who quietly called him sweetheart. This was the nicest dream he'd ever had, that he could remember. If he could stay here forever, that would be amazing.

They hadn't even gotten cross with him for dripping on the floors, or when he'd gotten possessive of his few things. Ma just promised he could keep the stuff with him if he wanted, and she would just be washing and drying the clothing, so they'd be more comfortable. Da- Zenith, he was Zenith now, felt a little stupid for not realizing that sooner.

Kon had reassured him that was fine, he did the same kind of things in his first few months out of the lab. He'd wanted to take the bath himself, and Kon told him to hand the coat and pants through the door for them. From the startled sounds, they hadn't expected him to take that literally.

"Hey, hey, Zen, it's okay, we were just surprised. You didn't do anything wrong." Kon's voice filtered through the solid wood. Cutting through the fearful haze he'd fallen into while clutching the clothes and small stones to his chest. The press of warmth against his skin was helping with calming down. "It's okay, kiddo, I promise."

He meant it. It was his dream and Kon was safe. The second time he passed them through, they were taken away gently and replaced with soft clothes he could wear after the bath until they were dry.

The bath was the best thing ever, once he sank into it. The ID card sat on the toilet seat lid next to the tub, and on the edge of the tub he placed the four stones he'd picked. Lining them up from lightest to darkest. The ones from Sam were long gone, but they were smooth and pretty and flattish. So similar to many of the ones she'd given him before.

Zenith stayed in the bath until the water was cold, and his skin was all wrinkled. Ma used a blow-dryer on his hair, smiling at him all soft and fond, while he giggled anytime his hair covered his eyes, or she blew cooled air into his face.

Dinner was interesting. He hadn't realized he was hungry until there was a plate of food in front of him. Was it weird to be hungry in a dream? Maybe it was just because his body was hungry. The mind was weird like that. Before he knew he was doing it, he'd shoved a whole baked potato in his mouth. Thankfully it wasn't a very big potato, but it was still more than he could comfortably chew.

The Kents and Kon sort of stared at him in surprise, and Zenith blinked back at them. The sudden thought that they all looked like a group of startled meerkats made him laugh and choke a little. Luckily, Kon was quick to help.

"Maybe some smaller bites." He suggested, smiling back when Zenith grinned up at him and nodded. Though his face felt hot as Ma and Pa started chuckling, it was nice. He liked this a lot. Feeling welcome and safe. They didn't stop him from picking at the food and using his hands to eat.

Kon did ask him if he needed help and Zenith had to look back at his plate; he wanted to avoid seeing the sad look again when he told him, "No, I just haven't gotten to use my hands in a while."

After the meal, he got to help Kon with the dishes. Normally he would try to get out of chores, but even knowing it was a dream, he wanted to help. To show he appreciated being let into this little family. Especially if this was going to be his Dream World family.

"I need to go make a phone call, okay? You be alright staying here with Ma and Pa?" Zenith tilted his head and blinked up at Kon for a moment before nodding.

"Y-you'll come back, right?" Any other time he might have restrained himself, if he'd actually gotten free and wound up here, he would have. He certainly wouldn't have clutched at the sleeve of his leather jacket like a frightened little kid.

"Course! I'll be back soon as I take care of some hero stuff." Kon ruffled his hair with that warm fuzzy pressure again and Zenith couldn't help but grin. Letting go of Kon's jacket, he turned back to Ma and followed her to the laundry.

-------

The League couldn't know about him. At least not yet. It felt bad to keep this from Clark, especially since he had taken the kid back to the farmhouse, but being interrogated and tested by Batman was the last thing he would have wanted fresh out of Cadmus.

From the inner pocket of his thigh bag, Kon pulled out a sleek red and black comm unit. It fit perfectly in his ear and he tapped the YJU insignia they had designed ages ago.

"Superboy to active members of Young Just Us." He said, watching the corn below him sway with the wind. "I've got a code Juliette, Uniform, Mike. Status Sierra, Golf, Urgent."

Silence for a beat longer than he'd like.

"Red Robin here."

"Wonder Girl ready and waiting."

"Impulse ready. Do you need extraction SB?"

Kon grinned and let a little tension leave him. At one time, their roll call would have taken two or three minutes. Between banter and how many members of the team were active. They should do a reunion thing soon.

"No, no extraction needed, but it's big guys. I don't think there's an immediate threat, but this is..."

"Something you want to keep quiet for now." Tim's voice was just as reassuring as it always was, everything was going to be fine. They'd take care of this old school.

"Yeah. Meet me at my location, we can figure out where to go after you meet him."

"Meet who exactly?" Cassie could be heard getting ready, keys jingling as she hurried to her car.

"Kid, thirteen or fourteen in appearance. I found him out in the fishpond. I'm keeping it together, but I'm kind of freaking out, guys."

"Impul-" Tim started before being cut off with a huff of irritation.

"I'm trying, but I can only jump so high!" Kon turned slightly and looked down. Sure enough, there was Bart decked out in his red and white. "Get down here!"

Obligingly, Kon touched down and at the same moment had his arms full of buzzing comfort. "Thanks man."

“Anytime. Literally.”

————

Log 035: 14:00 July 20, 20XX

I’ve been reassigned to a different research project. This one closer to my ‘specialties’ apparently. I’m to be working directly with Genesis and their prized specimen.

Looking at the reports I was given to review, I had a difficult time keeping my composure. These experiments and lab notes are nothing more than documented torture. Subject PH13 is listed as a non-sapient, basically non-sentient Ecto Entity.

Ghosts. A very different type of spirit than most are used to seeing or dealing with but perhaps the most important of them. My family and now I have spent our whole lives protecting the secret of the Realms, ensuring nothing tips the balance.

And here these idiots have not only captured several, but have been torturing the most powerful one I’ve ever encountered!

He’s weak right now. The body barely holding his form. To hold out this long without retreating into his core is remarkable. Even more reason something must be done.

Before the boy fades, or this damned project throws our world and the next into a war no one will come out of as the victor.

-EN

—————

Aaayyyy Danny’s got himself a new name, Kon has so many concerns, ma and pa are soft, and Dr N is going the fuck through it!

Kon and friends come into the Farmhouse to find Zenith curled up against Pa’s side, wearing the comfy after bath clothes under his stolen lab clothes. Fast asleep.

Tim proceeds to have three major personal crisis’ overlapping. He takes five seconds for that and yeah no hes fine. ‘What do we know?’ Classic Rob.

Also what we didn’t see was that Danny’s little freak out lasted way more than a couple minutes. Kon spent like half an hour trying to soothe him and NOT break down the door.

No one was coming for him.

It was a fact he had resigned himself to the moment he was taken away in cuffs. His family had fought, of course, and regardless of his status, his parents would stop at nothing to get him back.

It was not a comfort or hope he was able to carry with him past the threshold of Fenton Works front door. The bag over his head did nothing to drown the three gun shots that echoed from guns that carried bullets instead of Ectoplasm.

They were three blocks away when the explosion of the portal being forcibly shut down rocked Amity Park.

So no one would be coming for him.

The first year, he fought back. He kept track of days by scratching them in the wall, like in all the cartoons and tv shows. Attempted to escape, refused to cooperate with tests and experiments, sassed back against questions.

He no longer had the energy. It was always bright, except for the times they sealed him in small dark containers for transport. His many escape attempts had only helped them strengthen their containment measures, he should have waited, but there was nothing he could do now.

His living self had deteriorated to the point it was no longer capable of sustaining itself and his ghost, leaving him to remain in his spectral form to the researchers delight. His Core ached from the strain of holding himself together, unable to spare energy to heal more than wounds that might end him.

If he didn't think of something soon, he'd either shatter or reveal the best kept secret of the Infinite Realms. So Danny closed his eyes during a lull in the latest torture and prayed to whoever could hear him, this worked.

He felt fuzzy at the edges and sank into the feeling, letting it take him away. The almost forgotten sensation of floating soothed him just a little before his Core constricted tightly. Condensing down, down, down. Shedding excess ectoplasm to become smaller and smaller, until he was sure it could fit on the top of a pinhead. Danny wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, he just wanted to stop being so aware of everything.

He didn’t fight it though, letting the sensation of fuzzing take over him. It was like holding his hands up in front of those old clunky tv sets, palms barely touching as the static brushed against the skin like fur. Suddenly,as though he were a puppet with their strings cut, he was floating in a nothingness.

,”,”,”,”,

A bolt of electricity shocked through his body, alarms around him blaring but muffled. There was no pain once the shocks subsided, and Danny felt himself floating in a way that reminded him of the Far Frozen Medical Center.

It made sense his mind would create a world around that first. He needed so much medical care. When Danny opened his eyes, however, it wasn't Frostbite who created him, but people in another lab.

No, a different lab. One missing the blinding white of the GIW facilities. There were no lines of green running along the wall to indicate anti-ghost measures.

This was a Lab he could escape from. For the first time in years, Danny grinned, eyes flashing a bright green as the thick glass around him shattered, and he dropped to his feet.

------

Project R-13 Status: Terminated Escaped Vitals: Unknown Brain Activity: Unknown R-13 was terminated at 08:04 July 19, 20XX. Confirmed vitals ceased functioning and what little Brain Activity there was ceased. At 08:08 an electrical malfunction caused sparks to electrify Containment Pod 413 for approximately two minutes. Subject R-13's vital signs spiked and machines registered full Neurological activity. R-13's eyes opened for the first time at 08:11. The subject proceeded to shatter the Super Grade glass of the Containment Pod 413 before engaging scientists in combat. At some point, Subject became aware of nude state and stole Head Researcher Torrance's lab coat, trousers and my own badge when I attempted to intervene. Suspicions that the Robins possess meta abilities confirmed despite donor subjects not carrying the Meta Gene. R-13 removed clothing by simply pulling them off and through Dr Torrance, putting them on while continuing the escape attempt. Then ran through the sealed door of the Observation Room in a manner not unlike a ghost Phase Shifting. Security pursued R-13 through the facility before Subject turned a corner and vanished, despite being a dead end with no rooms or visible ventilation. Subject may have inherited abilities from several of the Genetic Templates used for Project R, which DNA samples were used remains classified to Researchers pending capture and study of him Subject R-13. Tracker located in R-13's tag is malfunctioning, possibly due to use of previously displayed Abilities. Signal becomes lost before appearing miles away from previous location. Points seem sporadic with no specific direction over another, several movement patterns suggest Play Behavior confusion when in one place as the signal loops on itself or circles before moving elsewhere with no warning. Several task forces have been mobilized to locate and contain R-13 before undesired parties can discover Subject. God Speed kid.

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Meanwhile, the GIW are livid that their own test subject fucking “melted”. Scientists blaming the Agents for not properly sustaining the ghost, with the Agents arguing that letting the monster heal too much was too risky.

Danny's Core straight up just shrunk down and Yote itself into the nearest Husk. Which luckily for Danny was the Just Terminated R-13 Project 'Clone' bc he was being transported between facilities and was passing nearby enough. The Shrinking allowed his Soul to pass through the Ecto defenses by being under the threshold that registers enough to activate them.

Literally a last ditch effort because if there HADN'T been a viable vessel for him to settle into... well...

Danny flew away as far as he could. He went West. Then South. Then North. Then East. Then North again. He just kept moving, uncaring about the direction even looping back again. He didn’t care as long as it was anywhere but there. But he wasn’t there anymore. 

Instead soon he found himself landing where there were no tall buildings nearby or people. Farmland. Quiet. No walls anywhere near him. Just crops and dirt. He stared at the tall stalks of what seemed to be corn and was reminded of a childhood memory from a family trip a long time ago to a farm. They had a field like this, but smaller. 

Danny let himself stand there for a while just looking.

It was a nice dream. Finally being able to escape. To get away from those dammed white walls and go outside again. It was so easy to slip away from scientists that had actual names on badges and not just letters. No glowing green of ecto-weaponry that would burn. He smiled as he slipped the badge he stole into a pocket and looked up. 

The sky was right there. There were clouds with the sun peeking out from behind. It was the afternoon by its position. Danny could feel the wind, so different from the stagnant air in the room where they cut into him again and again. So different from the sensation of those agents’ breaths mingling right above him as they discussed his organs and the tests they still needed to conduct. Even the lab coat and pants he stole felt nice despite being too big on him.

He was more than happy to focus on the sensations his mind had come up with. 

It wasn’t very long until Danny noticed someone else had arrived. Their arrival had been silent. There were no footsteps or sound of tires on the ground. Instead, it seemed that suddenly there was someone there, standing not far from him. Danny didn’t recognize them. Dreams were typically like that though. 

It was a boy. Black hair. Blue Eyes. It was amusing seeing the similarities he had with him.

But what interested Danny more was the clothes the boy was wearing. Underneath a leather jacket was something skintight and colorful. Blue and red with a giant S on their chest. 

It seemed that Danny’s mind conjured up a hero. 

That was nice. He had always wanted to meet one. To not be alone. Being in Amity Park there was only him and then Red Huntress, but it wasn’t the same seeing as she hunted him down before becoming an ally. He had always imagined what it would be like to meet someone like him. Someone with powers. Someone who he could have fought alongside, and gotten help from. 

But people like that didn’t exist. Every search for one left him empty-handed. As far as Danny knew he was alone. Except now… there was someone there. 

“Hi,” Danny said. He could see them looking at him closely and they almost looked frozen, as if shocked that he was even there. The “Hey” he eventually got in response was a little stilted, though Danny wasn't one to judge. He’d been awkward more times than he could count. 

Danny dug his feet deeper into the dirt. Watching how his pale skin went underneath the brown. It felt better than the metal table. He could be free of it at any point he wished. It was better than being strapped down as they cut deeper and touched what they shouldn't. Better than being treated like he wasn’t alive, the agents uncari-

“What are you doing?” the hero’s voice was curious and warm. A stark difference compared to the clinical terms and demanding voices Danny had gotten used to.

He focused on that warmth and the warmth he felt on his skin. He focused on the dirt going in between his toes. He focused on the wind ruffling through his hair. Danny really liked this instead. He looked at the hero who looked so bright and alive. A wish of what Danny had wanted so long ago. 

“Hiding.”

Kon had memorized his friends’ heartbeat. He hadn’t even realized he'd done that until Clark mentioned it one day. It was something he had done too. 

It was comforting to know the rhythm and be able to pinpoint it out of a sea of noises. It was helpful on missions too. 

So when Kon noticed when he suddenly one heartbeat oddly similar to Tim’s appear. An odd copy that was slightly different. Except Tim was on a mission somewhere else.  It wasn’t a hard decision to follow where the sound led him once it stopped moving. 

It led Kon to farmland and one figure stood out, white amongst the green and brown.

The heartbeat didn’t speed up or show signs of being startled when Kon landed near them. Kon couldn't say the same about his own heartbeat. There in front of him was someone in a white lab coat and pants too big. He could see the pants being cuffed and Kon could see a badge in a pocket. The Cadmus name was clear with his sight. Then he finally looked at the person. 

Kon was hit with a sense of odd familiarity. They looked like Tim and Jason. Some sort of odd combination of the Robins. Kon could imagine the old photos Tim had shown him that he had taken of Jason when they were younger. The red tag on their ear was a deciding factor. 

A clone.

Cadmus had made another clone. 

For a moment Kon couldn’t breathe. He thought they had taken care of Cadmus, and had prevented any chance of something like this happening. But there was a clone standing right in front of him. Someone like him. Someone who managed to escape.

“Hi,” the boy said to him and Kon felt like he had just stepped out of the pod again. Unsteady on his feet and words not coming so easily to him.  His “Hey” was as awkward as the first time he talked to anyone. 

But the clone just looked back down at their feet in the dirt. There was no sign of aggression. Kon could hear their steady heartbeat. He could hear their feet digging into the dirt. It was so different from what Kon had experienced when he had first gotten out. That explosive anger and no short supply of people to fight.

But there was nothing here. Just farmland. Just two clones. 

“What are you doing?” the question slipped out of Kon. He couldn't help but be curious about what was going through their head. If it was anything like what he had going through his head. 

Again the clone was calm, he didn’t seem bothered. It was completely different from the expressions on Tim or Jason’s faces, two people who were almost always expressive. Whether it be anger, exhaustion, or just being an ass. Then here was someone who was a mixture of both, who had a combination of their hair, nose, jaw, and eye color that looked at him with no recognition but no apprehension. 

“Hiding,” they said. 

Kon couldn't help how his eyes drifted to the tag on their ear. Probably tracking where they were. Anxiety made his hands twitch. “Can I take that off? The ear tag I mean?”

Those blue eyes just stared before nodding. When Kon came closer they still stared. No wariness just curiosity. 

Kon made quick work of the ear tag, already knowing how to take off without it hurting, but the boy didn’t flinch. Damn did Kon wish he knew what their name was. The tag simply said R-13. 

He moved away and called for Bart through his comm. He was sure to get the idea of what Kon was trying to do and tell the others what was going on. Kon didn’t think he’d be able to get away and explain to anyone else. Bart showed up in no time and with Kon barely getting a few words out nodded like he understood. It was clear that he was curious about the clone but Bart didn’t hesitate to grab the tag and run off. 

It made Kon grateful to know him. 

When he turned back Kon saw the boy crouching on the ground. Their hands were in the dirt this time. Kon could hear how they stretched and flexed their hands open before slowly closing it. Holding fistfuls of dirt before slowly loosening their grip and letting the dirt slip through their fingers. 

There was a certain look in their eye. Something dissociative, they were so intently focused on the dirt on their hands. Kon didn’t like it. Someone was already giving directions into his ear through the comm about taking the clone to a secure location maybe even the Watchtower. 

That could work, but Kon thought of those cold walls and floors. He thought about that taste of freedom; how the clone in front of him seemed so intent on being outside after escaping. 

“Do you want to come with me?” Kon asked and they looked up at him, hands still buried in the dirt. Parts of the white fabric of the pants and lab coat were already stained brown “I can help you hide” Kon added because he would. Something deep inside of him was screaming for him to help the boy in front of him. To not let them slip away. To keep them away from people with labcoats and pods and machinery. To be the person he had wished someone had been for him since the very beginning. 

The clone stood up, uncaring about dirt, not even bothering to wipe their hands. “Okay.”

The relief that filled Kon for some reason made him want to cry. 

***

Danny had seen what he assumed was another hero stop by, the two shared some words before the other left. It was someone who ran fast in a blur of red and yellow. It was interesting but Danny found he was more interested in the dirt again. It was ridiculous how much he liked it. 

Then the hero offered for him to go somewhere. To help him hide. Danny saw no reason he should have refused and he was glad he didn’t because he felt almost giddy in the hero’s arms. They were flying. He could feel gravity pulling on them and warm arms secure around him, as if scared he’d fall and get hurt. But Danny couldn't care; he never got to be carried by anyone living like this.

It had always been him carrying someone or flying. Or being thrown through the air roughly. Never carried by someone with a beating heart. 

When the hero landed in was in front of a house still surrounded by farmland. It was an old one with wood paneling. A wooden porch with a screen door. It reminded him of houses from old movies. The stereotypical type that usually belonged to an older couple or family. 

Danny was only proved right when the front door opened and two people emerged. A man and woman that showed their age with grey hair . 

“Kon!” the woman said with a smile and her voice was gentle, loving. She was looking at the hero and so did the man. 

Danny watched the hero or ‘Kon’ greet them as ‘Ma’ and ‘Pa’. There was no hesitance in their affection even with a stranger in their midst, but maybe that was because Danny didn’t want that. 

“Ma, Pa this is…someone like me,” Kon said and Danny thought that was an amusing way to introduce him. There had never been anyone like him. Or there was Vlad and Dani except Vlad had rarely been kind and Dani was no-

“Well, it's very nice to meet you. Would you like to come inside? I just made some pie.” the woman called Ma said and Danny found three pairs of eyes looking at him. Yet it didn’t feel like those inspecting him, wanting to know how he ticked. Wanting to see what was inside. 

“Yes please, Ma’am,” Danny said and he got a dismissive wave from the woman and a chuckle from the man. 

“Oh honey, just call me Martha and this here is my husband Jonathan.”

“I bet you’ll be insisting he calls you Ma before he can get a second silence of pie,” Jonathan said. Only laughing when Martha playfully hit his arm and they walked inside. The door was left open. 

Danny watched them go; it was quiet. He could hear their muffled voices coming from inside sounding light. He looked back at Kon. 

Kon was already looking at him. They stared at each other. 

Kon gestured his head to the door. 

Danny went ahead and walked inside. The wood floor creaked underneath his feet; he liked the sound. 

Kon stepped inside behind him before heading off towards the table where four plate settings were being placed. Jonathan easily set plates and cups and utensils. There were signs of them being well-used and well-loved. Then Martha came in with a fresh pie, steam coming off of it. She stepped gracefully around her husband to set it on the table. Then there was Kon taking a seat Martha ushered him in before turning to get a glass pitcher and handing it over to Jonathan who filled each cup. 

It was a well-oiled routine. No spills or glasses crashing to the floor. Danny couldn’t see any ectoplasm staining the plate or pie coming to life. 

“Well take a seat son,” Jonathan said and it sounded nothing like an order but a gentle offer.

Danny took a seat and watched as slices were cut and placed on each plate. Once a slice was placed in front of him the smell hit him. 

Apple. Cinnamon. His eyes closed and he couldn’t place when he last had apple pie. 

He didn’t think he ever did. 

“Sweetheart, do you want to wash your hands?”

Danny opened his eyes; the others were eating but Martha was looking at him. She glanced at his hands. 

They still had dirt. His fingerprints and the lines in his palms stood out amongst the brown; Danny could feel the dirt underneath his nails. 

“No thank you,” he said because he liked the dirt. Danny liked how his hands were no longer clean. No longer being wiped away just so that the agents could have a clear view. Just so the needles were easier to enter. 

“Alright, but if you want to wash up later there is a sink in the kitchen and I’m sure Kon could show you the bathroom later on,” Martha said before she finally took a bite of her own pie. She didn’t seem at all annoyed by his refusal. 

When they had gotten news there was a new clone the league admittedly were worried. They didn’t have the best history with clones. People had never had any good intentions when it came to creating copies of heroes, even moreso Cadmus who they already had a painful history with. One they thought was over. 

But when Bart came by, a tag with the number R-13 and news that Kon found someone, they knew they were wrong. 

Hal was on the one Bart had come to, the others on various missions or busy in their own cities. He didn’t hesitate to contact Kon and tell him to take the clone to a secure location. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind that Clark and Bruce would want to do a threat assessment. Also Cadmus was most likely looking for their newly escaped clone. 

Yet while Kon technically listened, the Kent farm wasn’t exactlt what Hal had in mind when he said secure location. 

“Wait, he’s where?” Clark asked when he finally arrived and Hal tried to ignore Bruce’c cowl covered stare practically burning into his skull. 

“At your parents’ farm,” Hal repeated again and he had a feeling that the reason wasn’t because Supes couldn’t hear him. 

“For how long?” Bruce asked. Hal could see that he subtelty placed a hand on Clark’s back reassuringly. Though Hal himself didn’t feel so reassured. He wished he had taken another shift to be on duty. 

“A few hours.” A few hours the clone had been on the farm and Hal only found out atfer he finally managed to track Kon down after he had shut off the comm and went radio silent. Unfortunately it wasn’t a rare occurrence and Hal felt he had a certain Robin to blame for that habit among the younger heroes. 

Though Red Robin would deny it with a smile. 

Clark tilted his head, listening for his parents’ heartbeats along for Kon’s. All three were fine and on the Kent farm, but he noticed the fourth one close by. “I’m going,” he said and when Bruce moved his hand to his shoulder, he knew he would be coming along for the ride. 

Then they were off. 

***

Kon could hear the moment Clark arrived with Bruce. He rushed out there leaving Ma inside before Clark could even finish landing. 

“I know what you’re gonna say about protocol and rules but I just couldn’t take them somewhere else,” Kon rushed out to say trying not to worry too much about the looks on the two adults’ faces. “It had to be here. Ma and Pa don’t mind either and we had pie! Pie; it was apple. It went fine. Things are okay, promise!”

Kon didn’t want them to be mad. He wanted to make it clear that it was okay. This clone wasn’t at all aggressive, no sign of it at all. Kon would have never put Pa or Ma in danger like that. Clark had to know that. He did. He had to know that he would ne-

Clark’s hands cupped Kon’s face. “Kon, are you okay?”

Kon was about to say he was but the words wouldn’t come out and he finally noticed that he was breathing fast. His eyes felt a bit wet and even Clark’s face was a bit blurry. “I-”

Clark didn’t at all look mad. Just concerned. 

“I don’t know,” he said because Kon didn’t know. He had been feel off kilter ever since he landed and first saw the clone standing barefoot in the dirt. He’d been ignoring how fast his heart was going, how there was a twisting sensation in his gut in favor of focusing on the steady heartbeat that sounded too much like his friend’s. “He’s like me but different and he said he was hiding so I just-I couldn’t- it wa-”

He was pulled into a hug and Kon could hear just how fast Clark’s heart was going too. A man that supposedly was invincible was just as scared as he was. 

“It’s going to be okay Kon. We’re okay.” Clark said and Kon didn’t hear any sign that it was a lie.

***

Bruce remained silent as they finally went inside the house. Clark handing off Kon to Martha who just smiled warmly and comforted Kon. Not fazed at all by them still in their costumes. She was always someone who kept calm. It reminded him of Alfred. 

Bruce already had Hal getting ready to get into contact with Tim, Jason, Dick, and Damian. The tag had said R-13 and from the what Bart had reported, itseemed it be a clone of one od his sons. Though he wasn’t sure which one. 

Only Martha had been inside but through the back screen door he could see Jonathan Kent in a chair of the back porch looking at a newspaper. Bruce stood beside Clark who had paused from opening the door. 

“Down. Four letter word. Celestial bear. Theres a major and minor. Group of stars,” Jonathan said without looking at them. A cross word puzzle.  

“Ursa,” a young voice said and Bruce could imagine it had been said with a smile. There was no hesitance in their answer. An undertone of confidence that reminded him of Tim giving him the answers to a cold case that had Bruce stumped though he didn’t admit it. 

The floor creaked under Clark’s feet and Jonathan finally looked at them. He smiled before setting down the newspaper and getting out of his seat. 

Clark didn’t move as Jonathan came inside and pulled him into a hug. Despite his large stature, Clark looked small in his father’s arms. He always did even with Martha. Bruce could hear a muffled “Hey Pa”, from Clark.

“They don’t look like you, son,” Jonathan said without an preamble or letting go of Clark. “But they remind me of you. Like when you went out to go play and came back all dirty and so on. He’s wearing some white clothes like a scientist but doesnt look uncomfortable.” Jonathan pulled away but let his hands linger on Clark’s shoulders. “A polite young man if I do say so myself.”

“You’re okay?” Clark asked, his voice full of concern. 

Jonathan sighed with a wiry smile. “I’m just fine, you know we can take care of ourselves. Raised you after all.”

Finally Clark smiled and Pa stepped to the side. Giving Clark one more pat and a nod to Brue. 

When they stepped out onto the back porch the clone wasn’t in any of the woodeen chairs. Instead he were on the steps of the porch sitting. The bright white stood out against the wooden steps along with the splotches of brown on the fabric. The clone hadn’t reacted to their presence. He sat with his head leaning against the wooden post, eyes closed face exposed to the air and light from the sun that had just begun to set.  

He looked like he was asleep. Completely at ease. There was even dirt still coating his hands and feet.

But what drew Bruce in was how he looked like a cultimation of his children. An odd mixture. He was reminded of Jason when he was younger, not influenced by the pits and of Tim. He seemed lanky like Tim did out of his uniform and had pale skin. His hair was messy reminiscent of Jason. He could see Jason’s nose. 

“He looks like them,” Clark said softly.

 Bruce nodded and wondered what color eyes they would have. 

***

Danny sat with Pa on the back porch after they finished eating, and he had been right. Ma insisted on being called Ma. Pa looked rightfully amused with himself. 

The man settled into his seat like it was an old friend and grabbed a paper while Danny took a seat on the steps. Danny could see the blades of grass touching the last step. The wood was warm beneath him from the sunlight hitting it and he let himself lean into the wooden post that was warm too. 

Soon Pa’s voice joined the wind. He was reading cross word puzzles out loud. It was pleasant just to hear that voice work through the options and Danny couldn’t help how a guess slipped out at one of them. Pa had thanked him and afterward would pause after reading each one just to let Danny answer one if he knew it. 

He of course knew all the space related ones. 

They stayed there for a while. Danny listened to Pa’s voice, the wind, and how the paper would crinkle in Pa’s grip whenever he readjusted his hold. He heard the wood creak under another pair of feet and how Pa got up. Though Danny stayed where he was even when two new arrivals stepped out onto the porch. 

He let what little of their voices he heard mix and mingle into all the other sounds. A gentle symphony. 

A voice came closer, maybe even trying to speak to him but Danny didn’t pay attention. He only let out a hum to join the sound of the bugs that had started to make their presence known among the fields. The voice retreated and Danny stayed there enjoying the last bit of warmth as the sun continue to go down. 

It was much later after he couldn’t see light that a voice came to him again. This time much clearer before. When he opened his eyes Ma standing near him. She had her hands stretched out, holding out a blanket close enough to touch. 

It looked homemade; some parts faded and a few crooked stitches. 

His hands still had dirt. Danny didn’t want dirt touch the stitches. That would have been rude.

“Can I wash them?” he asked and held out his hands. 

Ma just smiled. “Of course sweetheart, let me show you the bathroom. Kon is talking to the others.”

Danny followed her, stepping into the spots where her feet had just stepped. Her gait was smaller than Pa’s, but the wood didn’t creak as much where she stepped. 

The bathroom was small, but Ma didn’t make him feel trapped when she stood inside of it showing him the soap and just the right way to turn to the knob so it didn’t splash him. After he had washed his hands he looked down at his feet. They still had dirt on them too. 

“Do you want to get that cleaned up too?” she asked. 

He nodded and then watched as Ma set up the tub. Her hands twisted the knobs and water came out. She checked to see if it was warm before letting him use it, then went off to get him a towel. 

Danny sat on the edge of the tub and watched as the water hit his feet and the water turned brown before going down the drain. The temperature was perfect. 

When Ma came back she had a towel, a pair of sturdy looking boots, and thick blue socks. 

“Thought you’d might want some shoes. It can get cold and I know I hate cold feet. Knitted these socks myself so I promise they’ll keep you warm.” She said as she handed over the towel. 

“Thank you,” he said and she smiled before walking away. 

When his feet were dry and the socks slipped on. He wiggled his toes. They were warm.

There was a sound of a slight thud of the boot against the floor when he walked out of the bathroom. He could feel the grooves of the blanket against his skin as he held it to his chest. Danny made sure to fold up the white sleeves so the brown part didn’t touch it. 

He ran into Pa first who when he saw the boots crouched down with a smile. Uncaring about any strain he put on his joints. “Gotta tie these up. Don’t want you tripping,” he said before grabbing the loose laces of the boots that Danny had left untied. 

Danny hadn’t realized he’d forgotten such a simple thing. 

There was a pat to the boot before Pa got back up and the two of them went back outside. 

He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed when Kon suddenly  showed up in front of him. The sky was dark and Kon looked tired. 

“We’re gonna leave,” Kon said and Danny looked to see that there was some sort of jet waiting for them. A man in black and man in blue and red stood on the top of the ramp. 

More heroes. 

“Okay,” he said and Kon looked relieved before looking back at the two other heroes while Danny got up. 

He eyed the jet, it looked like something that should have been in Tucker’s dream. But he saw the metal and was grateful for what Ma gave him. Those floors would be cold.  

Ma and Pa stood behind him, standing close to each other. A couple that reminded him of something he only got to see on television. So open and warm. He looked at them and wondered just how his mind could have come up with them. He didn’t think it should have been able to. 

Then Ma smiled and pulled him into a hug. He let her.

Hands cupped his head; fingers were running through his hair. He could hear Ma’s heart beat. It was a reassuring sound. There was another hand that joined her’s and another that was on his shoulder. Danny could feel the callouses on the fingers that brushed against his neck. They were hands that belonged to a hardworking man. 

“You’re welcome here any time sweetheart, you hear,” Ma said and she sounded so sincere that Danny couldn’t help but respond with “Yes Ma’am.” He liked the sound of Jonathan’s laughter that followed. 

No one was coming for him.

It was a fact he had resigned himself to the moment he was taken away in cuffs. His family had fought, of course, and regardless of his status, his parents would stop at nothing to get him back.

It was not a comfort or hope he was able to carry with him past the threshold of Fenton Works front door. The bag over his head did nothing to drown the three gun shots that echoed from guns that carried bullets instead of Ectoplasm.

They were three blocks away when the explosion of the portal being forcibly shut down rocked Amity Park.

So no one would be coming for him.

The first year, he fought back. He kept track of days by scratching them in the wall, like in all the cartoons and tv shows. Attempted to escape, refused to cooperate with tests and experiments, sassed back against questions.

He no longer had the energy. It was always bright, except for the times they sealed him in small dark containers for transport. His many escape attempts had only helped them strengthen their containment measures, he should have waited, but there was nothing he could do now.

His living self had deteriorated to the point it was no longer capable of sustaining itself and his ghost, leaving him to remain in his spectral form to the researchers delight. His Core ached from the strain of holding himself together, unable to spare energy to heal more than wounds that might end him.

If he didn't think of something soon, he'd either shatter or reveal the best kept secret of the Infinite Realms. So Danny closed his eyes during a lull in the latest torture and prayed to whoever could hear him, this worked.

He felt fuzzy at the edges and sank into the feeling, letting it take him away. The almost forgotten sensation of floating soothed him just a little before his Core constricted tightly. Condensing down, down, down. Shedding excess ectoplasm to become smaller and smaller, until he was sure it could fit on the top of a pinhead. Danny wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, he just wanted to stop being so aware of everything.

He didn’t fight it though, letting the sensation of fuzzing take over him. It was like holding his hands up in front of those old clunky tv sets, palms barely touching as the static brushed against the skin like fur. Suddenly,as though he were a puppet with their strings cut, he was floating in a nothingness.

,”,”,”,”,

A bolt of electricity shocked through his body, alarms around him blaring but muffled. There was no pain once the shocks subsided, and Danny felt himself floating in a way that reminded him of the Far Frozen Medical Center.

It made sense his mind would create a world around that first. He needed so much medical care. When Danny opened his eyes, however, it wasn't Frostbite who created him, but people in another lab.

No, a different lab. One missing the blinding white of the GIW facilities. There were no lines of green running along the wall to indicate anti-ghost measures.

This was a Lab he could escape from. For the first time in years, Danny grinned, eyes flashing a bright green as the thick glass around him shattered, and he dropped to his feet.

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Project R-13 Status: Terminated Escaped Vitals: Unknown Brain Activity: Unknown R-13 was terminated at 08:04 July 19, 20XX. Confirmed vitals ceased functioning and what little Brain Activity there was ceased. At 08:08 an electrical malfunction caused sparks to electrify Containment Pod 413 for approximately two minutes. Subject R-13's vital signs spiked and machines registered full Neurological activity. R-13's eyes opened for the first time at 08:11. The subject proceeded to shatter the Super Grade glass of the Containment Pod 413 before engaging scientists in combat. At some point, Subject became aware of nude state and stole Head Researcher Torrance's lab coat, trousers and my own badge when I attempted to intervene. Suspicions that the Robins possess meta abilities confirmed despite donor subjects not carrying the Meta Gene. R-13 removed clothing by simply pulling them off and through Dr Torrance, putting them on while continuing the escape attempt. Then ran through the sealed door of the Observation Room in a manner not unlike a ghost Phase Shifting. Security pursued R-13 through the facility before Subject turned a corner and vanished, despite being a dead end with no rooms or visible ventilation. Subject may have inherited abilities from several of the Genetic Templates used for Project R, which DNA samples were used remains classified to Researchers pending capture and study of him Subject R-13. Tracker located in R-13's tag is malfunctioning, possibly due to use of previously displayed Abilities. Signal becomes lost before appearing miles away from previous location. Points seem sporadic with no specific direction over another, several movement patterns suggest Play Behavior confusion when in one place as the signal loops on itself or circles before moving elsewhere with no warning. Several task forces have been mobilized to locate and contain R-13 before undesired parties can discover Subject. God Speed kid.

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Meanwhile, the GIW are livid that their own test subject fucking “melted”. Scientists blaming the Agents for not properly sustaining the ghost, with the Agents arguing that letting the monster heal too much was too risky.

Danny's Core straight up just shrunk down and Yote itself into the nearest Husk. Which luckily for Danny was the Just Terminated R-13 Project 'Clone' bc he was being transported between facilities and was passing nearby enough. The Shrinking allowed his Soul to pass through the Ecto defenses by being under the threshold that registers enough to activate them.

Literally a last ditch effort because if there HADN'T been a viable vessel for him to settle into... well...

Danny flew away as far as he could. He went West. Then South. Then North. Then East. Then North again. He just kept moving, uncaring about the direction even looping back again. He didn’t care as long as it was anywhere but there. But he wasn’t there anymore. 

Instead soon he found himself landing where there were no tall buildings nearby or people. Farmland. Quiet. No walls anywhere near him. Just crops and dirt. He stared at the tall stalks of what seemed to be corn and was reminded of a childhood memory from a family trip a long time ago to a farm. They had a field like this, but smaller. 

Danny let himself stand there for a while just looking.

It was a nice dream. Finally being able to escape. To get away from those dammed white walls and go outside again. It was so easy to slip away from scientists that had actual names on badges and not just letters. No glowing green of ecto-weaponry that would burn. He smiled as he slipped the badge he stole into a pocket and looked up. 

The sky was right there. There were clouds with the sun peeking out from behind. It was the afternoon by its position. Danny could feel the wind, so different from the stagnant air in the room where they cut into him again and again. So different from the sensation of those agents’ breaths mingling right above him as they discussed his organs and the tests they still needed to conduct. Even the lab coat and pants he stole felt nice despite being too big on him.

He was more than happy to focus on the sensations his mind had come up with. 

It wasn’t very long until Danny noticed someone else had arrived. Their arrival had been silent. There were no footsteps or sound of tires on the ground. Instead, it seemed that suddenly there was someone there, standing not far from him. Danny didn’t recognize them. Dreams were typically like that though. 

It was a boy. Black hair. Blue Eyes. It was amusing seeing the similarities he had with him.

But what interested Danny more was the clothes the boy was wearing. Underneath a leather jacket was something skintight and colorful. Blue and red with a giant S on their chest. 

It seemed that Danny’s mind conjured up a hero. 

That was nice. He had always wanted to meet one. To not be alone. Being in Amity Park there was only him and then Red Huntress, but it wasn’t the same seeing as she hunted him down before becoming an ally. He had always imagined what it would be like to meet someone like him. Someone with powers. Someone who he could have fought alongside, and gotten help from. 

But people like that didn’t exist. Every search for one left him empty-handed. As far as Danny knew he was alone. Except now… there was someone there. 

“Hi,” Danny said. He could see them looking at him closely and they almost looked frozen, as if shocked that he was even there. The “Hey” he eventually got in response was a little stilted, though Danny wasn't one to judge. He’d been awkward more times than he could count. 

Danny dug his feet deeper into the dirt. Watching how his pale skin went underneath the brown. It felt better than the metal table. He could be free of it at any point he wished. It was better than being strapped down as they cut deeper and touched what they shouldn't. Better than being treated like he wasn’t alive, the agents uncari-

“What are you doing?” the hero’s voice was curious and warm. A stark difference compared to the clinical terms and demanding voices Danny had gotten used to.

He focused on that warmth and the warmth he felt on his skin. He focused on the dirt going in between his toes. He focused on the wind ruffling through his hair. Danny really liked this instead. He looked at the hero who looked so bright and alive. A wish of what Danny had wanted so long ago. 

“Hiding.”

Kon had memorized his friends’ heartbeat. He hadn’t even realized he'd done that until Clark mentioned it one day. It was something he had done too. 

It was comforting to know the rhythm and be able to pinpoint it out of a sea of noises. It was helpful on missions too. 

So when Kon noticed when he suddenly one heartbeat oddly similar to Tim’s appear. An odd copy that was slightly different. Except Tim was on a mission somewhere else.  It wasn’t a hard decision to follow where the sound led him once it stopped moving. 

It led Kon to farmland and one figure stood out, white amongst the green and brown.

The heartbeat didn’t speed up or show signs of being startled when Kon landed near them. Kon couldn't say the same about his own heartbeat. There in front of him was someone in a white lab coat and pants too big. He could see the pants being cuffed and Kon could see a badge in a pocket. The Cadmus name was clear with his sight. Then he finally looked at the person. 

Kon was hit with a sense of odd familiarity. They looked like Tim and Jason. Some sort of odd combination of the Robins. Kon could imagine the old photos Tim had shown him that he had taken of Jason when they were younger. The red tag on their ear was a deciding factor. 

A clone.

Cadmus had made another clone. 

For a moment Kon couldn’t breathe. He thought they had taken care of Cadmus, and had prevented any chance of something like this happening. But there was a clone standing right in front of him. Someone like him. Someone who managed to escape.

“Hi,” the boy said to him and Kon felt like he had just stepped out of the pod again. Unsteady on his feet and words not coming so easily to him.  His “Hey” was as awkward as the first time he talked to anyone. 

But the clone just looked back down at their feet in the dirt. There was no sign of aggression. Kon could hear their steady heartbeat. He could hear their feet digging into the dirt. It was so different from what Kon had experienced when he had first gotten out. That explosive anger and no short supply of people to fight.

But there was nothing here. Just farmland. Just two clones. 

“What are you doing?” the question slipped out of Kon. He couldn't help but be curious about what was going through their head. If it was anything like what he had going through his head. 

Again the clone was calm, he didn’t seem bothered. It was completely different from the expressions on Tim or Jason’s faces, two people who were almost always expressive. Whether it be anger, exhaustion, or just being an ass. Then here was someone who was a mixture of both, who had a combination of their hair, nose, jaw, and eye color that looked at him with no recognition but no apprehension. 

“Hiding,” they said. 

Kon couldn't help how his eyes drifted to the tag on their ear. Probably tracking where they were. Anxiety made his hands twitch. “Can I take that off? The ear tag I mean?”

Those blue eyes just stared before nodding. When Kon came closer they still stared. No wariness just curiosity. 

Kon made quick work of the ear tag, already knowing how to take off without it hurting, but the boy didn’t flinch. Damn did Kon wish he knew what their name was. The tag simply said R-13. 

He moved away and called for Bart through his comm. He was sure to get the idea of what Kon was trying to do and tell the others what was going on. Kon didn’t think he’d be able to get away and explain to anyone else. Bart showed up in no time and with Kon barely getting a few words out nodded like he understood. It was clear that he was curious about the clone but Bart didn’t hesitate to grab the tag and run off. 

It made Kon grateful to know him. 

When he turned back Kon saw the boy crouching on the ground. Their hands were in the dirt this time. Kon could hear how they stretched and flexed their hands open before slowly closing it. Holding fistfuls of dirt before slowly loosening their grip and letting the dirt slip through their fingers. 

There was a certain look in their eye. Something dissociative, they were so intently focused on the dirt on their hands. Kon didn’t like it. Someone was already giving directions into his ear through the comm about taking the clone to a secure location maybe even the Watchtower. 

That could work, but Kon thought of those cold walls and floors. He thought about that taste of freedom; how the clone in front of him seemed so intent on being outside after escaping. 

“Do you want to come with me?” Kon asked and they looked up at him, hands still buried in the dirt. Parts of the white fabric of the pants and lab coat were already stained brown “I can help you hide” Kon added because he would. Something deep inside of him was screaming for him to help the boy in front of him. To not let them slip away. To keep them away from people with labcoats and pods and machinery. To be the person he had wished someone had been for him since the very beginning. 

The clone stood up, uncaring about dirt, not even bothering to wipe their hands. “Okay.”

The relief that filled Kon for some reason made him want to cry. 

***

Danny had seen what he assumed was another hero stop by, the two shared some words before the other left. It was someone who ran fast in a blur of red and yellow. It was interesting but Danny found he was more interested in the dirt again. It was ridiculous how much he liked it. 

Then the hero offered for him to go somewhere. To help him hide. Danny saw no reason he should have refused and he was glad he didn’t because he felt almost giddy in the hero’s arms. They were flying. He could feel gravity pulling on them and warm arms secure around him, as if scared he’d fall and get hurt. But Danny couldn't care; he never got to be carried by anyone living like this.

It had always been him carrying someone or flying. Or being thrown through the air roughly. Never carried by someone with a beating heart. 

When the hero landed in was in front of a house still surrounded by farmland. It was an old one with wood paneling. A wooden porch with a screen door. It reminded him of houses from old movies. The stereotypical type that usually belonged to an older couple or family. 

Danny was only proved right when the front door opened and two people emerged. A man and woman that showed their age with grey hair . 

“Kon!” the woman said with a smile and her voice was gentle, loving. She was looking at the hero and so did the man. 

Danny watched the hero or ‘Kon’ greet them as ‘Ma’ and ‘Pa’. There was no hesitance in their affection even with a stranger in their midst, but maybe that was because Danny didn’t want that. 

“Ma, Pa this is…someone like me,” Kon said and Danny thought that was an amusing way to introduce him. There had never been anyone like him. Or there was Vlad and Dani except Vlad had rarely been kind and Dani was no-

“Well, it's very nice to meet you. Would you like to come inside? I just made some pie.” the woman called Ma said and Danny found three pairs of eyes looking at him. Yet it didn’t feel like those inspecting him, wanting to know how he ticked. Wanting to see what was inside. 

“Yes please, Ma’am,” Danny said and he got a dismissive wave from the woman and a chuckle from the man. 

“Oh honey, just call me Martha and this here is my husband Jonathan.”

“I bet you’ll be insisting he calls you Ma before he can get a second silence of pie,” Jonathan said. Only laughing when Martha playfully hit his arm and they walked inside. The door was left open. 

Danny watched them go; it was quiet. He could hear their muffled voices coming from inside sounding light. He looked back at Kon. 

Kon was already looking at him. They stared at each other. 

Kon gestured his head to the door. 

Danny went ahead and walked inside. The wood floor creaked underneath his feet; he liked the sound. 

Kon stepped inside behind him before heading off towards the table where four plate settings were being placed. Jonathan easily set plates and cups and utensils. There were signs of them being well-used and well-loved. Then Martha came in with a fresh pie, steam coming off of it. She stepped gracefully around her husband to set it on the table. Then there was Kon taking a seat Martha ushered him in before turning to get a glass pitcher and handing it over to Jonathan who filled each cup. 

It was a well-oiled routine. No spills or glasses crashing to the floor. Danny couldn’t see any ectoplasm staining the plate or pie coming to life. 

“Well take a seat son,” Jonathan said and it sounded nothing like an order but a gentle offer.

Danny took a seat and watched as slices were cut and placed on each plate. Once a slice was placed in front of him the smell hit him. 

Apple. Cinnamon. His eyes closed and he couldn’t place when he last had apple pie. 

He didn’t think he ever did. 

“Sweetheart, do you want to wash your hands?”

Danny opened his eyes; the others were eating but Martha was looking at him. She glanced at his hands. 

They still had dirt. His fingerprints and the lines in his palms stood out amongst the brown; Danny could feel the dirt underneath his nails. 

“No thank you,” he said because he liked the dirt. Danny liked how his hands were no longer clean. No longer being wiped away just so that the agents could have a clear view. Just so the needles were easier to enter. 

“Alright, but if you want to wash up later there is a sink in the kitchen and I’m sure Kon could show you the bathroom later on,” Martha said before she finally took a bite of her own pie. She didn’t seem at all annoyed by his refusal. 

When they had gotten news there was a new clone the league admittedly were worried. They didn’t have the best history with clones. People had never had any good intentions when it came to creating copies of heroes, even moreso Cadmus who they already had a painful history with. One they thought was over. 

But when Bart came by, a tag with the number R-13 and news that Kon found someone, they knew they were wrong. 

Hal was on the one Bart had come to, the others on various missions or busy in their own cities. He didn’t hesitate to contact Kon and tell him to take the clone to a secure location. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind that Clark and Bruce would want to do a threat assessment. Also Cadmus was most likely looking for their newly escaped clone. 

Yet while Kon technically listened, the Kent farm wasn’t exactlt what Hal had in mind when he said secure location. 

“Wait, he’s where?” Clark asked when he finally arrived and Hal tried to ignore Bruce’c cowl covered stare practically burning into his skull. 

“At your parents’ farm,” Hal repeated again and he had a feeling that the reason wasn’t because Supes couldn’t hear him. 

“For how long?” Bruce asked. Hal could see that he subtelty placed a hand on Clark’s back reassuringly. Though Hal himself didn’t feel so reassured. He wished he had taken another shift to be on duty. 

“A few hours.” A few hours the clone had been on the farm and Hal only found out atfer he finally managed to track Kon down after he had shut off the comm and went radio silent. Unfortunately it wasn’t a rare occurrence and Hal felt he had a certain Robin to blame for that habit among the younger heroes. 

Though Red Robin would deny it with a smile. 

Clark tilted his head, listening for his parents’ heartbeats along for Kon’s. All three were fine and on the Kent farm, but he noticed the fourth one close by. “I’m going,” he said and when Bruce moved his hand to his shoulder, he knew he would be coming along for the ride. 

Then they were off. 

***

Kon could hear the moment Clark arrived with Bruce. He rushed out there leaving Ma inside before Clark could even finish landing. 

“I know what you’re gonna say about protocol and rules but I just couldn’t take them somewhere else,” Kon rushed out to say trying not to worry too much about the looks on the two adults’ faces. “It had to be here. Ma and Pa don’t mind either and we had pie! Pie; it was apple. It went fine. Things are okay, promise!”

Kon didn’t want them to be mad. He wanted to make it clear that it was okay. This clone wasn’t at all aggressive, no sign of it at all. Kon would have never put Pa or Ma in danger like that. Clark had to know that. He did. He had to know that he would ne-

Clark’s hands cupped Kon’s face. “Kon, are you okay?”

Kon was about to say he was but the words wouldn’t come out and he finally noticed that he was breathing fast. His eyes felt a bit wet and even Clark’s face was a bit blurry. “I-”

Clark didn’t at all look mad. Just concerned. 

“I don’t know,” he said because Kon didn’t know. He had been feel off kilter ever since he landed and first saw the clone standing barefoot in the dirt. He’d been ignoring how fast his heart was going, how there was a twisting sensation in his gut in favor of focusing on the steady heartbeat that sounded too much like his friend’s. “He’s like me but different and he said he was hiding so I just-I couldn’t- it wa-”

He was pulled into a hug and Kon could hear just how fast Clark’s heart was going too. A man that supposedly was invincible was just as scared as he was. 

“It’s going to be okay Kon. We’re okay.” Clark said and Kon didn’t hear any sign that it was a lie.

***

Bruce remained silent as they finally went inside the house. Clark handing off Kon to Martha who just smiled warmly and comforted Kon. Not fazed at all by them still in their costumes. She was always someone who kept calm. It reminded him of Alfred. 

Bruce already had Hal getting ready to get into contact with Tim, Jason, Dick, and Damian. The tag had said R-13 and from the what Bart had reported, itseemed it be a clone of one od his sons. Though he wasn’t sure which one. 

Only Martha had been inside but through the back screen door he could see Jonathan Kent in a chair of the back porch looking at a newspaper. Bruce stood beside Clark who had paused from opening the door. 

“Down. Four letter word. Celestial bear. Theres a major and minor. Group of stars,” Jonathan said without looking at them. A cross word puzzle.  

“Ursa,” a young voice said and Bruce could imagine it had been said with a smile. There was no hesitance in their answer. An undertone of confidence that reminded him of Tim giving him the answers to a cold case that had Bruce stumped though he didn’t admit it. 

The floor creaked under Clark’s feet and Jonathan finally looked at them. He smiled before setting down the newspaper and getting out of his seat. 

Clark didn’t move as Jonathan came inside and pulled him into a hug. Despite his large stature, Clark looked small in his father’s arms. He always did even with Martha. Bruce could hear a muffled “Hey Pa”, from Clark.

“They don’t look like you, son,” Jonathan said without an preamble or letting go of Clark. “But they remind me of you. Like when you went out to go play and came back all dirty and so on. He’s wearing some white clothes like a scientist but doesnt look uncomfortable.” Jonathan pulled away but let his hands linger on Clark’s shoulders. “A polite young man if I do say so myself.”

“You’re okay?” Clark asked, his voice full of concern. 

Jonathan sighed with a wiry smile. “I’m just fine, you know we can take care of ourselves. Raised you after all.”

Finally Clark smiled and Pa stepped to the side. Giving Clark one more pat and a nod to Brue. 

When they stepped out onto the back porch the clone wasn’t in any of the woodeen chairs. Instead he were on the steps of the porch sitting. The bright white stood out against the wooden steps along with the splotches of brown on the fabric. The clone hadn’t reacted to their presence. He sat with his head leaning against the wooden post, eyes closed face exposed to the air and light from the sun that had just begun to set.  

He looked like he was asleep. Completely at ease. There was even dirt still coating his hands and feet.

But what drew Bruce in was how he looked like a cultimation of his children. An odd mixture. He was reminded of Jason when he was younger, not influenced by the pits and of Tim. He seemed lanky like Tim did out of his uniform and had pale skin. His hair was messy reminiscent of Jason. He could see Jason’s nose. 

“He looks like them,” Clark said softly.

 Bruce nodded and wondered what color eyes they would have. 

***

Danny sat with Pa on the back porch after they finished eating, and he had been right. Ma insisted on being called Ma. Pa looked rightfully amused with himself. 

The man settled into his seat like it was an old friend and grabbed a paper while Danny took a seat on the steps. Danny could see the blades of grass touching the last step. The wood was warm beneath him from the sunlight hitting it and he let himself lean into the wooden post that was warm too. 

Soon Pa’s voice joined the wind. He was reading cross word puzzles out loud. It was pleasant just to hear that voice work through the options and Danny couldn’t help how a guess slipped out at one of them. Pa had thanked him and afterward would pause after reading each one just to let Danny answer one if he knew it. 

He of course knew all the space related ones. 

They stayed there for a while. Danny listened to Pa’s voice, the wind, and how the paper would crinkle in Pa’s grip whenever he readjusted his hold. He heard the wood creak under another pair of feet and how Pa got up. Though Danny stayed where he was even when two new arrivals stepped out onto the porch. 

He let what little of their voices he heard mix and mingle into all the other sounds. A gentle symphony. 

A voice came closer, maybe even trying to speak to him but Danny didn’t pay attention. He only let out a hum to join the sound of the bugs that had started to make their presence known among the fields. The voice retreated and Danny stayed there enjoying the last bit of warmth as the sun continue to go down. 

It was much later after he couldn’t see light that a voice came to him again. This time much clearer before. When he opened his eyes Ma standing near him. She had her hands stretched out, holding out a blanket close enough to touch. 

It looked homemade; some parts faded and a few crooked stitches. 

His hands still had dirt. Danny didn’t want dirt touch the stitches. That would have been rude.

“Can I wash them?” he asked and held out his hands. 

Ma just smiled. “Of course sweetheart, let me show you the bathroom. Kon is talking to the others.”

Danny followed her, stepping into the spots where her feet had just stepped. Her gait was smaller than Pa’s, but the wood didn’t creak as much where she stepped. 

The bathroom was small, but Ma didn’t make him feel trapped when she stood inside of it showing him the soap and just the right way to turn to the knob so it didn’t splash him. After he had washed his hands he looked down at his feet. They still had dirt on them too. 

“Do you want to get that cleaned up too?” she asked. 

He nodded and then watched as Ma set up the tub. Her hands twisted the knobs and water came out. She checked to see if it was warm before letting him use it, then went off to get him a towel. 

Danny sat on the edge of the tub and watched as the water hit his feet and the water turned brown before going down the drain. The temperature was perfect. 

When Ma came back she had a towel, a pair of sturdy looking boots, and thick blue socks. 

“Thought you’d might want some shoes. It can get cold and I know I hate cold feet. Knitted these socks myself so I promise they’ll keep you warm.” She said as she handed over the towel. 

“Thank you,” he said and she smiled before walking away. 

When his feet were dry and the socks slipped on. He wiggled his toes. They were warm.

There was a sound of a slight thud of the boot against the floor when he walked out of the bathroom. He could feel the grooves of the blanket against his skin as he held it to his chest. Danny made sure to fold up the white sleeves so the brown part didn’t touch it. 

He ran into Pa first who when he saw the boots crouched down with a smile. Uncaring about any strain he put on his joints. “Gotta tie these up. Don’t want you tripping,” he said before grabbing the loose laces of the boots that Danny had left untied. 

Danny hadn’t realized he’d forgotten such a simple thing. 

There was a pat to the boot before Pa got back up and the two of them went back outside. 

He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed when Kon suddenly  showed up in front of him. The sky was dark and Kon looked tired. 

“We’re gonna leave,” Kon said and Danny looked to see that there was some sort of jet waiting for them. A man in black and man in blue and red stood on the top of the ramp. 

More heroes. 

“Okay,” he said and Kon looked relieved before looking back at the two other heroes while Danny got up. 

He eyed the jet, it looked like something that should have been in Tucker’s dream. But he saw the metal and was grateful for what Ma gave him. Those floors would be cold.  

Ma and Pa stood behind him, standing close to each other. A couple that reminded him of something he only got to see on television. So open and warm. He looked at them and wondered just how his mind could have come up with them. He didn’t think it should have been able to. 

Then Ma smiled and pulled him into a hug. He let her.

Hands cupped his head; fingers were running through his hair. He could hear Ma’s heart beat. It was a reassuring sound. There was another hand that joined her’s and another that was on his shoulder. Danny could feel the callouses on the fingers that brushed against his neck. They were hands that belonged to a hardworking man. 

“You’re welcome here any time sweetheart, you hear,” Ma said and she sounded so sincere that Danny couldn’t help but respond with “Yes Ma’am.” He liked the sound of Jonathan’s laughter that followed. 

No one was coming for him.

It was a fact he had resigned himself to the moment he was taken away in cuffs. His family had fought, of course, and regardless of his status, his parents would stop at nothing to get him back.

It was not a comfort or hope he was able to carry with him past the threshold of Fenton Works front door. The bag over his head did nothing to drown the three gun shots that echoed from guns that carried bullets instead of Ectoplasm.

They were three blocks away when the explosion of the portal being forcibly shut down rocked Amity Park.

So no one would be coming for him.

The first year, he fought back. He kept track of days by scratching them in the wall, like in all the cartoons and tv shows. Attempted to escape, refused to cooperate with tests and experiments, sassed back against questions.

He no longer had the energy. It was always bright, except for the times they sealed him in small dark containers for transport. His many escape attempts had only helped them strengthen their containment measures, he should have waited, but there was nothing he could do now.

His living self had deteriorated to the point it was no longer capable of sustaining itself and his ghost, leaving him to remain in his spectral form to the researchers delight. His Core ached from the strain of holding himself together, unable to spare energy to heal more than wounds that might end him.

If he didn't think of something soon, he'd either shatter or reveal the best kept secret of the Infinite Realms. So Danny closed his eyes during a lull in the latest torture and prayed to whoever could hear him, this worked.

He felt fuzzy at the edges and sank into the feeling, letting it take him away. The almost forgotten sensation of floating soothed him just a little before his Core constricted tightly. Condensing down, down, down. Shedding excess ectoplasm to become smaller and smaller, until he was sure it could fit on the top of a pinhead. Danny wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, he just wanted to stop being so aware of everything.

He didn’t fight it though, letting the sensation of fuzzing take over him. It was like holding his hands up in front of those old clunky tv sets, palms barely touching as the static brushed against the skin like fur. Suddenly,as though he were a puppet with their strings cut, he was floating in a nothingness.

,”,”,”,”,

A bolt of electricity shocked through his body, alarms around him blaring but muffled. There was no pain once the shocks subsided, and Danny felt himself floating in a way that reminded him of the Far Frozen Medical Center.

It made sense his mind would create a world around that first. He needed so much medical care. When Danny opened his eyes, however, it wasn't Frostbite who created him, but people in another lab.

No, a different lab. One missing the blinding white of the GIW facilities. There were no lines of green running along the wall to indicate anti-ghost measures.

This was a Lab he could escape from. For the first time in years, Danny grinned, eyes flashing a bright green as the thick glass around him shattered, and he dropped to his feet.

------

Project R-13 Status: Terminated Escaped Vitals: Unknown Brain Activity: Unknown R-13 was terminated at 08:04 July 19, 20XX. Confirmed vitals ceased functioning and what little Brain Activity there was ceased. At 08:08 an electrical malfunction caused sparks to electrify Containment Pod 413 for approximately two minutes. Subject R-13's vital signs spiked and machines registered full Neurological activity. R-13's eyes opened for the first time at 08:11. The subject proceeded to shatter the Super Grade glass of the Containment Pod 413 before engaging scientists in combat. At some point, Subject became aware of nude state and stole Head Researcher Torrance's lab coat, trousers and my own badge when I attempted to intervene. Suspicions that the Robins possess meta abilities confirmed despite donor subjects not carrying the Meta Gene. R-13 removed clothing by simply pulling them off and through Dr Torrance, putting them on while continuing the escape attempt. Then ran through the sealed door of the Observation Room in a manner not unlike a ghost Phase Shifting. Security pursued R-13 through the facility before Subject turned a corner and vanished, despite being a dead end with no rooms or visible ventilation. Subject may have inherited abilities from several of the Genetic Templates used for Project R, which DNA samples were used remains classified to Researchers pending capture and study of him Subject R-13. Tracker located in R-13's tag is malfunctioning, possibly due to use of previously displayed Abilities. Signal becomes lost before appearing miles away from previous location. Points seem sporadic with no specific direction over another, several movement patterns suggest Play Behavior confusion when in one place as the signal loops on itself or circles before moving elsewhere with no warning. Several task forces have been mobilized to locate and contain R-13 before undesired parties can discover Subject. God Speed kid.

--------

Meanwhile, the GIW are livid that their own test subject fucking “melted”. Scientists blaming the Agents for not properly sustaining the ghost, with the Agents arguing that letting the monster heal too much was too risky.

Danny's Core straight up just shrunk down and Yote itself into the nearest Husk. Which luckily for Danny was the Just Terminated R-13 Project 'Clone' bc he was being transported between facilities and was passing nearby enough. The Shrinking allowed his Soul to pass through the Ecto defenses by being under the threshold that registers enough to activate them.

Literally a last ditch effort because if there HADN'T been a viable vessel for him to settle into... well...

Danny flew away as far as he could. He went West. Then South. Then North. Then East. Then North again. He just kept moving, uncaring about the direction even looping back again. He didn’t care as long as it was anywhere but there. But he wasn’t there anymore. 

Instead soon he found himself landing where there were no tall buildings nearby or people. Farmland. Quiet. No walls anywhere near him. Just crops and dirt. He stared at the tall stalks of what seemed to be corn and was reminded of a childhood memory from a family trip a long time ago to a farm. They had a field like this, but smaller. 

Danny let himself stand there for a while just looking.

It was a nice dream. Finally being able to escape. To get away from those dammed white walls and go outside again. It was so easy to slip away from scientists that had actual names on badges and not just letters. No glowing green of ecto-weaponry that would burn. He smiled as he slipped the badge he stole into a pocket and looked up. 

The sky was right there. There were clouds with the sun peeking out from behind. It was the afternoon by its position. Danny could feel the wind, so different from the stagnant air in the room where they cut into him again and again. So different from the sensation of those agents’ breaths mingling right above him as they discussed his organs and the tests they still needed to conduct. Even the lab coat and pants he stole felt nice despite being too big on him.

He was more than happy to focus on the sensations his mind had come up with. 

It wasn’t very long until Danny noticed someone else had arrived. Their arrival had been silent. There were no footsteps or sound of tires on the ground. Instead, it seemed that suddenly there was someone there, standing not far from him. Danny didn’t recognize them. Dreams were typically like that though. 

It was a boy. Black hair. Blue Eyes. It was amusing seeing the similarities he had with him.

But what interested Danny more was the clothes the boy was wearing. Underneath a leather jacket was something skintight and colorful. Blue and red with a giant S on their chest. 

It seemed that Danny’s mind conjured up a hero. 

That was nice. He had always wanted to meet one. To not be alone. Being in Amity Park there was only him and then Red Huntress, but it wasn’t the same seeing as she hunted him down before becoming an ally. He had always imagined what it would be like to meet someone like him. Someone with powers. Someone who he could have fought alongside, and gotten help from. 

But people like that didn’t exist. Every search for one left him empty-handed. As far as Danny knew he was alone. Except now… there was someone there. 

“Hi,” Danny said. He could see them looking at him closely and they almost looked frozen, as if shocked that he was even there. The “Hey” he eventually got in response was a little stilted, though Danny wasn't one to judge. He’d been awkward more times than he could count. 

Danny dug his feet deeper into the dirt. Watching how his pale skin went underneath the brown. It felt better than the metal table. He could be free of it at any point he wished. It was better than being strapped down as they cut deeper and touched what they shouldn't. Better than being treated like he wasn’t alive, the agents uncari-

“What are you doing?” the hero’s voice was curious and warm. A stark difference compared to the clinical terms and demanding voices Danny had gotten used to.

He focused on that warmth and the warmth he felt on his skin. He focused on the dirt going in between his toes. He focused on the wind ruffling through his hair. Danny really liked this instead. He looked at the hero who looked so bright and alive. A wish of what Danny had wanted so long ago. 

“Hiding.”

Kon had memorized his friends’ heartbeat. He hadn’t even realized he'd done that until Clark mentioned it one day. It was something he had done too. 

It was comforting to know the rhythm and be able to pinpoint it out of a sea of noises. It was helpful on missions too. 

So when Kon noticed when he suddenly one heartbeat oddly similar to Tim’s appear. An odd copy that was slightly different. Except Tim was on a mission somewhere else.  It wasn’t a hard decision to follow where the sound led him once it stopped moving. 

It led Kon to farmland and one figure stood out, white amongst the green and brown.

The heartbeat didn’t speed up or show signs of being startled when Kon landed near them. Kon couldn't say the same about his own heartbeat. There in front of him was someone in a white lab coat and pants too big. He could see the pants being cuffed and Kon could see a badge in a pocket. The Cadmus name was clear with his sight. Then he finally looked at the person. 

Kon was hit with a sense of odd familiarity. They looked like Tim and Jason. Some sort of odd combination of the Robins. Kon could imagine the old photos Tim had shown him that he had taken of Jason when they were younger. The red tag on their ear was a deciding factor. 

A clone.

Cadmus had made another clone. 

For a moment Kon couldn’t breathe. He thought they had taken care of Cadmus, and had prevented any chance of something like this happening. But there was a clone standing right in front of him. Someone like him. Someone who managed to escape.

“Hi,” the boy said to him and Kon felt like he had just stepped out of the pod again. Unsteady on his feet and words not coming so easily to him.  His “Hey” was as awkward as the first time he talked to anyone. 

But the clone just looked back down at their feet in the dirt. There was no sign of aggression. Kon could hear their steady heartbeat. He could hear their feet digging into the dirt. It was so different from what Kon had experienced when he had first gotten out. That explosive anger and no short supply of people to fight.

But there was nothing here. Just farmland. Just two clones. 

“What are you doing?” the question slipped out of Kon. He couldn't help but be curious about what was going through their head. If it was anything like what he had going through his head. 

Again the clone was calm, he didn’t seem bothered. It was completely different from the expressions on Tim or Jason’s faces, two people who were almost always expressive. Whether it be anger, exhaustion, or just being an ass. Then here was someone who was a mixture of both, who had a combination of their hair, nose, jaw, and eye color that looked at him with no recognition but no apprehension. 

“Hiding,” they said. 

Kon couldn't help how his eyes drifted to the tag on their ear. Probably tracking where they were. Anxiety made his hands twitch. “Can I take that off? The ear tag I mean?”

Those blue eyes just stared before nodding. When Kon came closer they still stared. No wariness just curiosity. 

Kon made quick work of the ear tag, already knowing how to take off without it hurting, but the boy didn’t flinch. Damn did Kon wish he knew what their name was. The tag simply said R-13. 

He moved away and called for Bart through his comm. He was sure to get the idea of what Kon was trying to do and tell the others what was going on. Kon didn’t think he’d be able to get away and explain to anyone else. Bart showed up in no time and with Kon barely getting a few words out nodded like he understood. It was clear that he was curious about the clone but Bart didn’t hesitate to grab the tag and run off. 

It made Kon grateful to know him. 

When he turned back Kon saw the boy crouching on the ground. Their hands were in the dirt this time. Kon could hear how they stretched and flexed their hands open before slowly closing it. Holding fistfuls of dirt before slowly loosening their grip and letting the dirt slip through their fingers. 

There was a certain look in their eye. Something dissociative, they were so intently focused on the dirt on their hands. Kon didn’t like it. Someone was already giving directions into his ear through the comm about taking the clone to a secure location maybe even the Watchtower. 

That could work, but Kon thought of those cold walls and floors. He thought about that taste of freedom; how the clone in front of him seemed so intent on being outside after escaping. 

“Do you want to come with me?” Kon asked and they looked up at him, hands still buried in the dirt. Parts of the white fabric of the pants and lab coat were already stained brown “I can help you hide” Kon added because he would. Something deep inside of him was screaming for him to help the boy in front of him. To not let them slip away. To keep them away from people with labcoats and pods and machinery. To be the person he had wished someone had been for him since the very beginning. 

The clone stood up, uncaring about dirt, not even bothering to wipe their hands. “Okay.”

The relief that filled Kon for some reason made him want to cry. 

***

Danny had seen what he assumed was another hero stop by, the two shared some words before the other left. It was someone who ran fast in a blur of red and yellow. It was interesting but Danny found he was more interested in the dirt again. It was ridiculous how much he liked it. 

Then the hero offered for him to go somewhere. To help him hide. Danny saw no reason he should have refused and he was glad he didn’t because he felt almost giddy in the hero’s arms. They were flying. He could feel gravity pulling on them and warm arms secure around him, as if scared he’d fall and get hurt. But Danny couldn't care; he never got to be carried by anyone living like this.

It had always been him carrying someone or flying. Or being thrown through the air roughly. Never carried by someone with a beating heart. 

When the hero landed in was in front of a house still surrounded by farmland. It was an old one with wood paneling. A wooden porch with a screen door. It reminded him of houses from old movies. The stereotypical type that usually belonged to an older couple or family. 

Danny was only proved right when the front door opened and two people emerged. A man and woman that showed their age with grey hair . 

“Kon!” the woman said with a smile and her voice was gentle, loving. She was looking at the hero and so did the man. 

Danny watched the hero or ‘Kon’ greet them as ‘Ma’ and ‘Pa’. There was no hesitance in their affection even with a stranger in their midst, but maybe that was because Danny didn’t want that. 

“Ma, Pa this is…someone like me,” Kon said and Danny thought that was an amusing way to introduce him. There had never been anyone like him. Or there was Vlad and Dani except Vlad had rarely been kind and Dani was no-

“Well, it's very nice to meet you. Would you like to come inside? I just made some pie.” the woman called Ma said and Danny found three pairs of eyes looking at him. Yet it didn’t feel like those inspecting him, wanting to know how he ticked. Wanting to see what was inside. 

“Yes please, Ma’am,” Danny said and he got a dismissive wave from the woman and a chuckle from the man. 

“Oh honey, just call me Martha and this here is my husband Jonathan.”

“I bet you’ll be insisting he calls you Ma before he can get a second silence of pie,” Jonathan said. Only laughing when Martha playfully hit his arm and they walked inside. The door was left open. 

Danny watched them go; it was quiet. He could hear their muffled voices coming from inside sounding light. He looked back at Kon. 

Kon was already looking at him. They stared at each other. 

Kon gestured his head to the door. 

Danny went ahead and walked inside. The wood floor creaked underneath his feet; he liked the sound. 

Kon stepped inside behind him before heading off towards the table where four plate settings were being placed. Jonathan easily set plates and cups and utensils. There were signs of them being well-used and well-loved. Then Martha came in with a fresh pie, steam coming off of it. She stepped gracefully around her husband to set it on the table. Then there was Kon taking a seat Martha ushered him in before turning to get a glass pitcher and handing it over to Jonathan who filled each cup. 

It was a well-oiled routine. No spills or glasses crashing to the floor. Danny couldn’t see any ectoplasm staining the plate or pie coming to life. 

“Well take a seat son,” Jonathan said and it sounded nothing like an order but a gentle offer.

Danny took a seat and watched as slices were cut and placed on each plate. Once a slice was placed in front of him the smell hit him. 

Apple. Cinnamon. His eyes closed and he couldn’t place when he last had apple pie. 

He didn’t think he ever did. 

“Sweetheart, do you want to wash your hands?”

Danny opened his eyes; the others were eating but Martha was looking at him. She glanced at his hands. 

They still had dirt. His fingerprints and the lines in his palms stood out amongst the brown; Danny could feel the dirt underneath his nails. 

“No thank you,” he said because he liked the dirt. Danny liked how his hands were no longer clean. No longer being wiped away just so that the agents could have a clear view. Just so the needles were easier to enter. 

“Alright, but if you want to wash up later there is a sink in the kitchen and I’m sure Kon could show you the bathroom later on,” Martha said before she finally took a bite of her own pie. She didn’t seem at all annoyed by his refusal. 

When they had gotten news there was a new clone the league admittedly were worried. They didn’t have the best history with clones. People had never had any good intentions when it came to creating copies of heroes, even moreso Cadmus who they already had a painful history with. One they thought was over. 

But when Bart came by, a tag with the number R-13 and news that Kon found someone, they knew they were wrong. 

Hal was on the one Bart had come to, the others on various missions or busy in their own cities. He didn’t hesitate to contact Kon and tell him to take the clone to a secure location. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind that Clark and Bruce would want to do a threat assessment. Also Cadmus was most likely looking for their newly escaped clone. 

Yet while Kon technically listened, the Kent farm wasn’t exactlt what Hal had in mind when he said secure location. 

“Wait, he’s where?” Clark asked when he finally arrived and Hal tried to ignore Bruce’c cowl covered stare practically burning into his skull. 

“At your parents’ farm,” Hal repeated again and he had a feeling that the reason wasn’t because Supes couldn’t hear him. 

“For how long?” Bruce asked. Hal could see that he subtelty placed a hand on Clark’s back reassuringly. Though Hal himself didn’t feel so reassured. He wished he had taken another shift to be on duty. 

“A few hours.” A few hours the clone had been on the farm and Hal only found out atfer he finally managed to track Kon down after he had shut off the comm and went radio silent. Unfortunately it wasn’t a rare occurrence and Hal felt he had a certain Robin to blame for that habit among the younger heroes. 

Though Red Robin would deny it with a smile. 

Clark tilted his head, listening for his parents’ heartbeats along for Kon’s. All three were fine and on the Kent farm, but he noticed the fourth one close by. “I’m going,” he said and when Bruce moved his hand to his shoulder, he knew he would be coming along for the ride. 

Then they were off. 

***

Kon could hear the moment Clark arrived with Bruce. He rushed out there leaving Ma inside before Clark could even finish landing. 

“I know what you’re gonna say about protocol and rules but I just couldn’t take them somewhere else,” Kon rushed out to say trying not to worry too much about the looks on the two adults’ faces. “It had to be here. Ma and Pa don’t mind either and we had pie! Pie; it was apple. It went fine. Things are okay, promise!”

Kon didn’t want them to be mad. He wanted to make it clear that it was okay. This clone wasn’t at all aggressive, no sign of it at all. Kon would have never put Pa or Ma in danger like that. Clark had to know that. He did. He had to know that he would ne-

Clark’s hands cupped Kon’s face. “Kon, are you okay?”

Kon was about to say he was but the words wouldn’t come out and he finally noticed that he was breathing fast. His eyes felt a bit wet and even Clark’s face was a bit blurry. “I-”

Clark didn’t at all look mad. Just concerned. 

“I don’t know,” he said because Kon didn’t know. He had been feel off kilter ever since he landed and first saw the clone standing barefoot in the dirt. He’d been ignoring how fast his heart was going, how there was a twisting sensation in his gut in favor of focusing on the steady heartbeat that sounded too much like his friend’s. “He’s like me but different and he said he was hiding so I just-I couldn’t- it wa-”

He was pulled into a hug and Kon could hear just how fast Clark’s heart was going too. A man that supposedly was invincible was just as scared as he was. 

“It’s going to be okay Kon. We’re okay.” Clark said and Kon didn’t hear any sign that it was a lie.

***

Bruce remained silent as they finally went inside the house. Clark handing off Kon to Martha who just smiled warmly and comforted Kon. Not fazed at all by them still in their costumes. She was always someone who kept calm. It reminded him of Alfred. 

Bruce already had Hal getting ready to get into contact with Tim, Jason, Dick, and Damian. The tag had said R-13 and from the what Bart had reported, itseemed it be a clone of one od his sons. Though he wasn’t sure which one. 

Only Martha had been inside but through the back screen door he could see Jonathan Kent in a chair of the back porch looking at a newspaper. Bruce stood beside Clark who had paused from opening the door. 

“Down. Four letter word. Celestial bear. Theres a major and minor. Group of stars,” Jonathan said without looking at them. A cross word puzzle.  

“Ursa,” a young voice said and Bruce could imagine it had been said with a smile. There was no hesitance in their answer. An undertone of confidence that reminded him of Tim giving him the answers to a cold case that had Bruce stumped though he didn’t admit it. 

The floor creaked under Clark’s feet and Jonathan finally looked at them. He smiled before setting down the newspaper and getting out of his seat. 

Clark didn’t move as Jonathan came inside and pulled him into a hug. Despite his large stature, Clark looked small in his father’s arms. He always did even with Martha. Bruce could hear a muffled “Hey Pa”, from Clark.

“They don’t look like you, son,” Jonathan said without an preamble or letting go of Clark. “But they remind me of you. Like when you went out to go play and came back all dirty and so on. He’s wearing some white clothes like a scientist but doesnt look uncomfortable.” Jonathan pulled away but let his hands linger on Clark’s shoulders. “A polite young man if I do say so myself.”

“You’re okay?” Clark asked, his voice full of concern. 

Jonathan sighed with a wiry smile. “I’m just fine, you know we can take care of ourselves. Raised you after all.”

Finally Clark smiled and Pa stepped to the side. Giving Clark one more pat and a nod to Brue. 

When they stepped out onto the back porch the clone wasn’t in any of the woodeen chairs. Instead he were on the steps of the porch sitting. The bright white stood out against the wooden steps along with the splotches of brown on the fabric. The clone hadn’t reacted to their presence. He sat with his head leaning against the wooden post, eyes closed face exposed to the air and light from the sun that had just begun to set.  

He looked like he was asleep. Completely at ease. There was even dirt still coating his hands and feet.

But what drew Bruce in was how he looked like a cultimation of his children. An odd mixture. He was reminded of Jason when he was younger, not influenced by the pits and of Tim. He seemed lanky like Tim did out of his uniform and had pale skin. His hair was messy reminiscent of Jason. He could see Jason’s nose. 

“He looks like them,” Clark said softly.

 Bruce nodded and wondered what color eyes they would have. 

***

Danny sat with Pa on the back porch after they finished eating, and he had been right. Ma insisted on being called Ma. Pa looked rightfully amused with himself. 

The man settled into his seat like it was an old friend and grabbed a paper while Danny took a seat on the steps. Danny could see the blades of grass touching the last step. The wood was warm beneath him from the sunlight hitting it and he let himself lean into the wooden post that was warm too. 

Soon Pa’s voice joined the wind. He was reading cross word puzzles out loud. It was pleasant just to hear that voice work through the options and Danny couldn’t help how a guess slipped out at one of them. Pa had thanked him and afterward would pause after reading each one just to let Danny answer one if he knew it. 

He of course knew all the space related ones. 

They stayed there for a while. Danny listened to Pa’s voice, the wind, and how the paper would crinkle in Pa’s grip whenever he readjusted his hold. He heard the wood creak under another pair of feet and how Pa got up. Though Danny stayed where he was even when two new arrivals stepped out onto the porch. 

He let what little of their voices he heard mix and mingle into all the other sounds. A gentle symphony. 

A voice came closer, maybe even trying to speak to him but Danny didn’t pay attention. He only let out a hum to join the sound of the bugs that had started to make their presence known among the fields. The voice retreated and Danny stayed there enjoying the last bit of warmth as the sun continue to go down. 

It was much later after he couldn’t see light that a voice came to him again. This time much clearer before. When he opened his eyes Ma standing near him. She had her hands stretched out, holding out a blanket close enough to touch. 

It looked homemade; some parts faded and a few crooked stitches. 

His hands still had dirt. Danny didn’t want dirt touch the stitches. That would have been rude.

“Can I wash them?” he asked and held out his hands. 

Ma just smiled. “Of course sweetheart, let me show you the bathroom. Kon is talking to the others.”

Danny followed her, stepping into the spots where her feet had just stepped. Her gait was smaller than Pa’s, but the wood didn’t creak as much where she stepped. 

The bathroom was small, but Ma didn’t make him feel trapped when she stood inside of it showing him the soap and just the right way to turn to the knob so it didn’t splash him. After he had washed his hands he looked down at his feet. They still had dirt on them too. 

“Do you want to get that cleaned up too?” she asked. 

He nodded and then watched as Ma set up the tub. Her hands twisted the knobs and water came out. She checked to see if it was warm before letting him use it, then went off to get him a towel. 

Danny sat on the edge of the tub and watched as the water hit his feet and the water turned brown before going down the drain. The temperature was perfect. 

When Ma came back she had a towel, a pair of sturdy looking boots, and thick blue socks. 

“Thought you’d might want some shoes. It can get cold and I know I hate cold feet. Knitted these socks myself so I promise they’ll keep you warm.” She said as she handed over the towel. 

“Thank you,” he said and she smiled before walking away. 

When his feet were dry and the socks slipped on. He wiggled his toes. They were warm.

There was a sound of a slight thud of the boot against the floor when he walked out of the bathroom. He could feel the grooves of the blanket against his skin as he held it to his chest. Danny made sure to fold up the white sleeves so the brown part didn’t touch it. 

He ran into Pa first who when he saw the boots crouched down with a smile. Uncaring about any strain he put on his joints. “Gotta tie these up. Don’t want you tripping,” he said before grabbing the loose laces of the boots that Danny had left untied. 

Danny hadn’t realized he’d forgotten such a simple thing. 

There was a pat to the boot before Pa got back up and the two of them went back outside. 

He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed when Kon suddenly  showed up in front of him. The sky was dark and Kon looked tired. 

“We’re gonna leave,” Kon said and Danny looked to see that there was some sort of jet waiting for them. A man in black and man in blue and red stood on the top of the ramp. 

More heroes. 

“Okay,” he said and Kon looked relieved before looking back at the two other heroes while Danny got up. 

He eyed the jet, it looked like something that should have been in Tucker’s dream. But he saw the metal and was grateful for what Ma gave him. Those floors would be cold.  

Ma and Pa stood behind him, standing close to each other. A couple that reminded him of something he only got to see on television. So open and warm. He looked at them and wondered just how his mind could have come up with them. He didn’t think it should have been able to. 

Then Ma smiled and pulled him into a hug. He let her.

Hands cupped his head; fingers were running through his hair. He could hear Ma’s heart beat. It was a reassuring sound. There was another hand that joined her’s and another that was on his shoulder. Danny could feel the callouses on the fingers that brushed against his neck. They were hands that belonged to a hardworking man. 

“You’re welcome here any time sweetheart, you hear,” Ma said and she sounded so sincere that Danny couldn’t help but respond with “Yes Ma’am.” He liked the sound of Jonathan’s laughter that followed.