MAN OF TOMORROW

     the look on bruce’s face when clark had left the GCPD stirs something like resentment in clark’s chest when he thinks about it too hard. the joker murdered his wife, his baby, his city ; clark had been kind to end it so quickly. still -- “ was i wrong, diana ?? ” it’s not quite clear if he wants an answer because clark isn’t quite present at the moment. mentally, he’s entirely shut down. even if diana were to rationalize the last three hours, clark wouldn’t process a second of it. 

    there’s blood splattered over the symbol on his chest. clark hadn’t realized it when he first landed back at the fortress because the blood up his arm had demanded most of his attention. most of it has dried now and some of it flakes to the floor if he moves too much. it’s not a reasonable thought that comes to him as he sits, but it grips him anyway: was any of that blood lois’ ?? it was likely the pressure of breaking the atmosphere that killed her so he doesn’t think - well. it didn’t matter now. visible or not, he’d live with it for the rest of his life. it’s a stain on his very being that overwhelms him as it mixes with the now obliterated metropolis. 

    he killed them and he killed the joker and he can’t separate what he feels about any of it right now. it’d be easier to feel numb, but that’s not quite the right word for what swirls in his chest. he’s been mulling it over for hours. he doesn’t hear kon’s arrival because of it but the younger super has never been lacking in presence. clark drags his eyes up from his outstretched hands and blinks slowly at kon.

“U-uh - well, I -” Jess has been working hard on not taking things personally. On not putting too much pressure on herself because she just knows she will crumble the second she realises she’s failed. And she’s definitely getting better at it - most of the time. Today isn’t one of those days. For a moment she freezes under Clark’s questions, eyes widening as her mind races, trying to find the right words, trying to think of what to say, what she can say, but it’s so damn obvious she’s failing again and she can’t afford to. Not with this. This is Lois’ life.

“N-not yet?” She stammers weakly, clasping her hands tightly together behind her back in an effort to keep herself from fidgeting. “But - I’ve never had to look for Lois before so I can’t just locate her like I would you, that doesn’t mean I won’t! I’ll keep looking, I -” Biting back an apology, Jess turns to leave, her thoughts running a mile a minute as she tries to figure out exactly where she should look next. She’s been flying around for hours, but that thought doesn’t even cross her mind - all she can think of is doing something, doing more. “I’ll find something, I just need to keep searching. I’ll find something.”

   he feels terrible immediately. jess is under enough pressure as it was and clark had no right to project his own fear on to her. “ wait, jessica, please. you look exhausted. you need a break. ” he bites his tongue to keep in his own tired sigh. this isn’t her fault nor her problem and clark is simply grateful she’s done so much already for him. “ i’m sorry. that was unfair. you’ve been a great help already. hal is out there. take some time to recharge, please. ”

She’s never seen Big Blue so upset, and it makes sense. If the person Ivy loved most was with the Joker…well, Ivy and Harley had been down that road and it had never ended well. “He doesn’t leave Gotham often,” she says after a pause. “I haven’t heard anything from Harley since his breakout, but I’ll ask around. You’ll be the first to know if I do hear anything.” Interacting with her fellow villains is something Ivy only does out of necessity, and as much as she likes to pretend she has no human side, she does.

there’s a moment, the briefest moment where kon is filled with wonder at what clark says.  baby.  except – except then the crushing reality of it comes down even harder, and kon thinks he might buckle under it, might suffocate in the helplessness right along with clark.  “ the baby, ” he repeats, shell-shocked, but after a moment of despair he strengthens his resolve again.  these are not the most insurmountable of odds that kon’s come up against.  kon’s already half a foot off the ground when he grips clark’s shoulder tightly.  “ i swear to god, clark – we’re gonna find her.  everything’s gonna be okay.  i’m going back to square one – i’ll call gar.  we’ll all keep looking. ”  

@shieldthcm

“Rumor has it you need help finding Lois Lane.” Ivy sighed, mock disappointed. “You sure do seem to lose her a lot. Nevertheless, I’m here to offer my help. She helped me expose the head of Greene Pesticides for what he’s doing to the environment, so I suppose you could say I owe her one.”

@shieldthcm

    as much as kon tries to pretend otherwise, fear is what propels him on right now.  fear of where this could go, of what a piece of shit clown might do with the situation – kon’s known a few bats for long enough to be afraid.  and fear creeps up more quickly when it becomes clear that this isn’t a situation superman can just handle.  if superman is powerless, then what is superboy?  he’s anxiety personified at clark’s side as he gives a shaky rundown.  

    “ some of the teen titans are in metropolis, still looking for clues.  we’re looking everywhere, clark, i promise. ”  hell, garfield hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep since the all-call went out.  “ what else can i do ?? ”  kon suspects no one is as close to lois as clark, certainly not him, but she’s family.  and there’s not a mountain kon wouldn’t move to get her back, if he only knew where to start.

    what else can i do ?? clark doesn’t know how to answer that. he doesn’t know what to say to kon because clark hasn’t been able to keep the helplessness from suffocating him ever since he found -- god, jimmy. clark can’t think about jimmy right now. he needs to focus on lois, but even the thought of her with the joker, stuck in the clutches of a man who lives to destroy...

“I merely worked on what was already here. People used to dump trash here all the time.” Ivy smiles, with teeth. “I put an end to that.” She doesn’t dislike Superman -he’s not the kind of dirtbag she usually deals with (no offense to the soil of course.) But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to scare him a little.

“Kal!” She says again, another unbidden smile rising to her lips, and her words are full of such dizzying emotion, a whole array of leaping joy and stuttering worry and, buried far where she refuses to acknowledge, a sleeping envy, slow and insidious. The flurry of it all turns her stomach and fills her chest with an undeniable happiness, especially at the look on his glowing face, and she’s helpless but to smile and squeeze his hand in return. No need to worry of her strength with him. “A heartbeat. A baby. Kal, that is wonderful. Hera has blessed you.” Diana nods, the acknowledgement of the sacred warrior bond her, Kal, and Bruce share steadying the roiling emotions within her. “I am honored. Any kin of yours shall have my sword, shield, and loyalty, the same I have given to you.” Her words carry all the weight of her statement, but she smiles again. “And congratulations. May I bring sparkling cider to congratulate Lois?”

@shieldthcm

“you know what’s hard to find?” it’s not a typical entry line, but given the number of years between them - dick figures that particular form of etiquette is long since out the window. he takes seat beside clark in the tower with an offering of pastries, a new-forming habit to help sweet over anyone before a favour. when he could remember to, anyway. “the guy who keeps jetting off the moment you figure out where he is. if you ever start a JLA hide and seek tourney, my money’s on you and B.”

bruce may have suspected, but there’s something flooring to hear it come from clark nonetheless.  the awe in clark’s voice awes bruce, and he’s glad that he didn’t beat clark to the reveal.  bruce thinks he can feel his own heart stutter for a moment – there are no two people on the planet who deserve this more than clark and lois.  clark will make a fine father, an exemplary father.  as bruce fixes his eyes on the horizon, a smile creeps across his face.  “ that’s incredible, clark.  congratulations, to both of you. ”  he’ll send flowers or something for lois first thing in the morning.  bruce is no romantic, but he thinks this may be the kind of news that rearranges the stars, changes a world.  clark and lois, two of the very best people this world has to offer, will have the perfect legacy. 

“Such is the way with Lois, I believe.” Her smile can’t help but echo his, even if it’s a pale, shielded shadow of his unbridled warmth. “Oh? One that even surpassed the set of ceramic cookware for them I sent you along with?” Her eyebrow quirk up with curiosity even as her mind races. It’s still a joke, still more than passably light-hearted, but there’s a suspicion lurking in her gut, a suspicion that turns things sour in her heart of hearts. There’s nothing more genuine, more sincerely joyous and uplifting than a smile of Kal’s, something that all the art in this world can’t compete with, but even after spending millennia in a land without men, Diana can uneasily foretell where this is heading. She will be happy for his happiness, it’s nothing short of what he deserves.

Ivy doesn’t want a fight, but she’s ready for one. “Indeed,” she says, laying a hand on one of her Venus flytraps –it purrs imperceptibly and leans into her touch. “But every place needs a garden. Gotham’s no different.” Are they making small talk? She can do that. “Metropolis has lovely parks as well.”

@shieldthcm

“Kal.” There’s an undeniable warmth waiting in her smile for him, a fondness grown over years that settles into her more neutral, regal expression, but the light in her eyes never dims. Diana clasps his forearm in her hand for a moment, a warrior’s greeting with a pause to reflect their friendship. Then she takes a slight inhale, casting about for the right thing to say. “I hope the holidays with your family went well? I trust Lois charmed and dazzled your parents with her lovely wit.”

     bruce is surprised, just a little, to see clark in gotham unannounced.  which isn’t to say bruce minds per-se, but it’s unusual.  he looks back at clark and sees his face, the flush and his eyes, and he just thinks he knows where this is going.  but maybe it’d be wrong to guess, to take the wind out of the boy scout’s sails.  “ it must be something very important, to interrupt patrol. ”  there’s an edge to bruce’s tone that makes it clear that he’s mostly joking, though, only prevalent enough for perhaps clark to catch.

@shieldthcm

“And what do you want?” Her tone is hostile, but no more so than usual. In fact, the rhododendrons are blooming, so she’s in a better mood than usual.