He had agreed to meet her, but he had thought it would be at the café across the street or something equally near. Not her private office in the new building for the Daily Planet. Besides getting to see the top of the art reporting machine he had seen people he could only hope to shake their hands someday. A cup of coffee sat before him untouched as he sat across from her. Lois Lane had not said one word since he had entered and sat, that was five minutes ago. She was typing fast and he couldn't help to be curious as to what it was.
"Superboy saved Luthor last night, where was Superman?" she asked him as she kept typing.
"Dealing with other stuff," he said picking the cup of coffee and drinking from it. It was too sweet, but he swallowed before asking, "What did you need to tell me?"
"It's about Dr. Spencer," she said stopping her typing before pulling a folder from a drawer. She handed it to him, "she was spotted a few months back here."
He opened the folder where he found some pictures taken from security footage. They weren't very good, but he could make up enough of her face to recognize her.
"She was renting a storage space downtown. I already went to investigate it, but it seems she took everything out," Lois said handing him another folder. It contained some information on the storage space, "she registered under a different name, Alice Harkin. It seems that has been one of the aliases she has been using for whatever she is trying to do."
"How many months ago?" he asked her.
"Seven or eight months ago," a trace long cold she hated to admit. But Lois was not one to disappoint, "you will find the other aliases she used on the next pages along with the information of an apartment she used to rent near the storage space. I couldn't get in," she said last with a frown. It was not like her to get held back, "is not ordinary place. I thought you could check it out yourself."
"I will," he said to her putting away the folders in his backpack. He thought of what he still needed to get done that day, "probably tonight."
"Is she your mother?" Lois asked him taking him by surprise, "I mean; since you seem so invested in finding her and she also worries about you. She sent you that costume, didn't she? It didn't say so in the letter she sent me, but Clark's article mentions you have some human DNA. Is it hers?"
"No," he answered shortly.
"You are not even trying to hide is a question you don't want to answer, is it that bad?" she asked him.
Conner considered about telling her the whole truth then. She was making progress with their search and it seemed only fair she had the rest of what happened.
"Lex Luthor," he said cut and dry.
"Oh," was all she could say before leaning back on her chair.
"But something strange happened last night," he told her with a frown. He hadn't considered until then that what happened the previous night was related to this, "it was the first time I talked to him in I don't know how much time."
"Awkward much?" she asked still wrapping her mind around what she was hearing.
"You can't imagine, but the most awkward thing of all was that he couldn't remember meeting me before or his involvement with my creation," he told her massaging his temples. He had to talk to the guy later, "we are going to talk today. I guess he believed me."
"You told him that egomaniac you carry his DNA? I would have let it die if I were you," Lois said turning her chair to the window.
"For someone to mess with Luthor's memories they must be someone with a lot of resources."
"Not enough if you ask me," she said before Conner sighed.
"I have to go, I got class in half an hour," he told her.
"We are not done here," she said with a frown when he was about to get up.
"Yes you are Lane," Perry White said opening the door with a bang. The man gave a curious look at Conner. The boy of steel stood up immediately and faced the man. Here was the legend in the flesh; Perry Bulldog White. After the initial surprise, he turned to Lois with narrowed spectacle eyes, "and what have I told you about spellcheck?"
"To let the interns take care of it?" she asked checking her nails.
"Just get it revised and send it to me," Perry said with a sigh, "I am getting too old for this."
"Oh please Perry, you got at least another eighty years in you," Lois said after a sharp laugh, "you will probably outlive us all."
"The way you find your stories, I don't doubt it," he said before looking at Conner, "Kent's cousin, right?"
"Yes Mr. White," he said standing straight like a soldier.
"Wait here for a sec," the old man said before leaving the office for a few minutes.
"What is it?" he asked Lois, who just shrugged as she started to check her article.
"Here you go," Mr. White said returning with two envelopes. "One is for your cousin. Make sure to tell him to bring a date with him and you too. I read your article and I think it would do you good to show your face to an event like this one. You can get an idea of who you will be competing against in the future."
Before he could ask what it was, the man was gone. He looked down at the two plain envelopes before looking at Lois. Before she had been working peacefully but now a frown marred her features.
"What is this?" he asked her before she rolled her eyes at him. He opened one of the envelopes and found two invitations to what seemed to be Mr. White's retirement celebration. He looked at Lois dumbfounded, "is this for real?"
"He still admires Clark's work," Lois admitted before looking at him in the eye, "make sure that neither of you is late."
"Of-of course not," he said putting the invitations away. A smirk grew on his face, "I can't believe this."
"You time travel, and you can't believe this?" she asked with a skeptical look.
"Unlike most of the surprises we get in that line of work, this one is good," he said with a smile. He started walking to the door, "see you later Ms. Lane."
"Just call me Lois!" she called out to him.
888
"Well, that's better than a no," Lori said with a smile as they sat between classes to eat something.
"I think we should look into other topics," Conner said as he showed her of other topics he had been brainstorming. He was not one to take chances, "you know, in case they say no."
They were doing well with all other assignments given to them by Mr. Global, but the most important one was still in a standstill.
"They better not, or I swear I will hunt them down to the end of the world," Lori said rubbing her hands together with a mocking evil smile. She then noticed Conner looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She blushed for an instant before looking away, "I guess my uncle does it better… when he is not getting attacked."
"Practice is all you need, I am sure," he said with a smirk. He then looked at the newspaper reporting the attack from the previous night, "how is your uncle?"
"In the VIP rooms of the Metropolis General Hospital, surrounded by his grunts," she said with a sigh. She looked torn between worry and anger. After a few moments, she said, "I visited him this morning. He should have been resting; instead he was going over who knows how many records."
"You have to admit he is a hardworking man," Conner said wondering if he was looking for traces of how he was involved with his creation.
"Yeah," she said with a smile but quickly erased it. He knew, probably like him, she felt conflicted about having any relation to Lex Luthor. "You know," she said after taking a long drink from her water, "I used to love seeing him when I was a little girl. He used to bring me the coolest gift."
"I don't doubt it," Conner said giving her a light pat on the back. She jumped in surprise before looking at him with wide eyes, "I know we live in an age of heroes and villains, but you and I know things are never that simple. I am sure you know a lot about your uncle that no one else does; probably good things. You shouldn't ignore those things just because of what others think of him."
"Easy for you to say," She said with a sad smile, "your cousin is a great guy."
"Yeah, which sets the bar very high if you ask me," he said getting up.
Lori opened her mouth to say something, but then a frown appeared on her face. She smiled after a few moments and he knew she understood. For a long time, no matter how great his articles were to be, he would be seen as Clark Kent's cousin.
8888
He landed on the top of the roof of an old apartment building, or so it seemed on the outside. Though the building was now empty and scheduled for demolition, he could sense the apartment Dr. Spencer had occupied had not been ordinary. The things that had been removed from it were not ordinary. He forced the roof's door open and slipped in bending the light around him to go unseen. There were quite a few guards inside, which was strange for a building so close to demolition. Their equipment was top of the art, which was more than he needed to know something strange was still probably inside.
He arrived at the door of the apartment and slipped in. The rooms which had once been simple were now covered with holes and fissures. He could sense the remains of energy he couldn't name. This place had also been her lab and for the way things had been removed he guessed it had not been done by her. She had run off in a hurry, her fear still impregnated the windowsill. She had rushed to the storage unit and emptied before fleeing, and all of this happened around the same time he had started to show his new powers. Was that a coincidence? He didn't think so.
He leaned on the windowsill and tried to understand what she had been thinking. He spotted a dinner with a sign of open 24 hours of the day. He looked around the shadows of the apartment. Nothing remotely resembled a stove or a fridge. He left the building and then changed to visit the dinner.
The place was old and he was sure wouldn't be around for much longer. The whole area seemed to be part of a renovation project which was announced a few months ago. Again, not something he believed to be a coincidence. He entered the diner trying to look like a lost kid. The people around looked as miserable as most of the area. He took a seat at the bar. There were very few others patrons, mostly demolition workers.
"What will it be kid?" a waitress asked him stepping before him with a small notepad. She was a timeworn woman, probably had worked here all her life.
"Coffee and a burger," he said before starting to fiddle with his phone.
While it was being prepared he allowed his senses to expand and explore every cranny of the place.
"You sure?" he heard in the back of the kitchen.
"I am sure," the waitress said and he detected fear and excitement, "I can't believe it."
"Maybe we shouldn't do this Elaine, you saw those thugs across the street," the cook told her.
"In the past forty years Peter, we never had anything exciting happen in this place. I think we should close this with a something like this," the waitress unable to hide her excitement.
"Fine, but we are closing early after this," the cook told her.
It was a few moments after that the waitress peeked from the kitchen door, saw him as if to make sure and then went back in before reappearing with something in her pocket. It was an envelope. Still, she didn't hand it to him until he got his food. She placed it in between a cloth napkin.
"Thank you," he said offering her a sincere smile.
After eating and paying, he gave them another thankful smile and then left. He tried to act normal as he left the area, but couldn't help feeling as if he was being watched. He hurried away, taking the subway and other transport that led him through different parts of the city until he no longer felt watched. It was strange. He concentrated on all the people around, but none of them seemed to be watching him.
When it finally felt safe, he changed to his uniform to start patrolling the city. Mondays, interestingly enough, were always very peaceful. This was a night when they could usually take it easy. There were generally petty crimes here and there. He stopped a few thugs from finishing some small robberies and saved a few people from getting run over. He was planning just to get back home and start in some of his assignments early, but then he felt his senses shift. He only felt this when he practiced with M'gann.
He hurried to the scene. He had expected to fight another psychic user a lot earlier than this. Unlike with Miss Martian, this person had little to no control over their powers. The middle of the street had become a crater where a man stood shouting his head off. His eyes were bloodshot and his clothes haggard as if he had been sleeping under a bridge for months.
"You want me dead! All of you! All of YOU!"
"HELP!"
He arrived just in time to catch a woman who had been blasted away by a psychic blast.
"Are you okay?" he asked the woman as he placed her at a safe distance.
"Su-Superboy!" she said shocked, "I am fine, but I could sense so much anger… I am…" but then she fainted. He rushed her to one of the arriving ambulances.
"Superboy, where is Superman?" a policeman approached him.
"Who is he?" he didn't have time to explain. He could sense the man's power growing and taking a strain on his body. This was not a natural Meta.
"All of you burn in hell!" the man shouted as the ground shook.
"Name is Leon Torsik, a vagrant that gives small trouble wherever he goes. Hooked on crack and other stuff, but had never done something like this before," the officer said a little unsure about giving this information to a child.
"He is coming this way!" the paramedic shouted as the man advanced towards tearing the street around him.
"Leon, you need to stand back!" he yelled as he stood between them. The paramedics were tending to others hurt by Leon.
"Don't tell me what to do!" he shouted before throwing a smashed up car towards them.
"You need to stop!" Superboy stopped the car in midflight and set it to the side before creating a barrier around them. "You are hurting a lot of people and yourself too!"
"You are lying! Everyone lies! He lied!" the man shouted shaking, but not out of rage. Superboy could sense not just his anger but also his pain. Whatever was doing this to him was destroying him from the inside out.
"I need to take you to a doctor Leon! I know you can feel it too. It's tearing you from the inside out!" he could feel it to the molecular level. The man was dying in the most painful of ways.
"He told me it would make me clear!" He said with his fist on the side of his head, "It doesn't feel right! It doesn't!"
"Who said that Leon? Who gave it to you?" he said advancing slowly and showing him his hands hoping he wouldn't see him as a threat even with the big red S on his chest.
"Guy in the car. It was cheap, it was free... Sample, see if I like it... I don't like it. He... he said you'd mess it up!" he said last with a glare at him before feeling as if he had been punched in the face.
"GHNNNH!" he lost count of the number of light post he broke through before crashing into the wall of a pub.
"Are you okay boy?" one of the people inside asked as he pulled himself up from the rubble. His head was pounding as if he had been hit by kryptonite hammer.
"I will be once I get my hands on him," Superboy muttered to himself. That had really hurt. He concentrated on the man and saw to his dismay that he had broken through the underground gas lines. That, plus the electricity lines which were loose was a disaster waiting to happen. He rushed back to the spot. The whole block could go up in flames at any moment if he didn't stop it.
"Everyone! Standback!" he shouted before making it to the spot. "Leon stop!"
"Ahhh! My head is going to explode! MAKE IT STOP!" Leon shouted banging on his head with his fists.
Then he saw the electricity lines connect with the gas and a raging fire started. It was so easy to destroy things with this type of power, but to save someone took more. His thoughts ran a thousand times faster than ever before. He had known the civilians were not far enough to evade the blast and just like the people that remained in the buildings around. He concentrated on every heartbeat, from the smallest to the oldest. A moment later the world around him was in flames, but the fire didn't touch him or those around him. At first, they all watched in horror believing to be their death, but that turned into amazement. They were standing in a blaze and not getting burned thanks to the barriers he had placed around them.
After realizing what had happened, he started advancing towards a raving and shouting Leon.
"Go away! Go back home! Leave me alone!" he shouted before creating a barrier around himself. "I am tearing apart!"
"You have to stop Leon! This is going to kill you…" he pushed through the barrier. He felt as if he was running through mud, but he finally reached Leon. He would knock him out and take him to a safe facility.
"No no no no no!" the man shouted just as he reached him. Leon then fell back and Superboy caught him. The fire went off as he was able to seal the gas leaks.
"Leon…" all heartbeats around him kept on beating, but one.
"Superboy, what did you do?" the officer from before approached them as he started to lie Leon down.
"Nothing, he died," Superboy said looking at the man, "his heart gave out."
"I am sorry son, I know you really tried," the policeman said placing a hand on his shoulder, "everyone here knows."
"I don't need-" but he cut his own words. It was not this man's fault but his own for not being strong enough.
"What is that?" the officer asked before Superboy saw it too. There were some black crystals in a little bag pocking out of the man's pocket. Superboy took it out, "Meth?"
"Not entirely," Superboy said with a frown taking a small piece out. He could sense the makeup of the compound was similar but bumped up countless times. It had driven Leon's body and mind into overdrive until it killed him.
"What type of monster would make something so horrible?" the policeman said before he took out a small evidence bag. Superboy gave him a questioning look. "I will make sure it gets to the labs, I swear."
Superboy divided the contents of the small bag and gave a third to the officer. He would give another third to the League and the last third for their team.
"I will find whoever is responsible," Superboy said turning to the officer.
"I don't doubt it son," the officer said before walking away.
The officer watched as Superboy left after helping with some of the debris. After he had left, he walked to a car in the following block before entering it. Inside a man cloaked in the dark waited for him.
"He is stronger than we thought though he has yet to grasp full control of his abilities," the so called officer said.
"He is making progress at the pace we set. He will be ready," the man in the cloak said.
"What about Spencer?" the man asked.
"She can run all she likes, but she can't hide. She knows that it's futile," a sharp smiled appeared below the cloak. "She only has that boy to help her and he knows nothing. And we will keep it that way."