Adventures of Superguy

July 8, 2010 - Happy Harbor, RI

Mt. Justice

08:09:15

‘Recognized. Kid Quick, B-03.’

‘Recognized. Superboy, B-04.’

“And after- oh, I don’t feel so good…” Connor said as he leaned against the curved wall of the Zeta-Tube, clutching at his stomach.

“Yeah, that happens the first time. You get used to it after awhile.” Walli stated matter of factly. She laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder and ushered him out of the Zeta-Tube and into their destination. After a moment of queasiness that passed, Connor straightened and followed her, resettling the backpack he had thrown over one shoulder.

“That felt like I got turned into an infinitely long spaghetti and got shot out of a cannon. You guys do that all the time?” He asked incredulously. 

“Oh yeah! Not everyone can be as fast as me and Jess. We’d never get anywhere in time if we had to wait for everyone to get a Bat-Plane or whatever. They still do but if you need point to point instant transmission, nothing beats the Zeta-Tube.” Walli said as she patted the steel ring that was the tube’s exterior. There were two of them, side by side. The interior was lined by machinery of arcane description, though big articulating spinning rings seemed vital to the whole process.

It’s kind of like taking the subway but you’re the track…

As they stepped into the cavernous space beyond, the sight took Connor’s breath away. A massive vaulted space of natural rock with a leveled floor with metal decking in a central circle. One wall was dominated by a set of massive screens and an elaborate computer console; exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a superhero base. There were marks on the floor on the metal circle where it looked like furniture had been moved.

Dang, where’s the round table with everyone’s chairs with their emblems on it? This is the war room!

The whole place was clearly being renovated; he could see dust on the computer screens and then he caught sight of a violet glow floating towards him in the gloom of the cavern. It was revealed as an industrial machine of some kind, held in an enormous violet energy construct hand, trailed by its creator, Star Sapphire.

“One side, kids!” She shouted down from where she flew close to the ceiling, moving whatever-it-was down a side corridor.

“We’re not kids anymore, Sapphire!” Walli insisted as they both moved to the side for Star Sapphire and her burden to pass.

“So you kids keep saying…” the Violet Light empowered heroine said as she floated past and down the corridor.

I gotta research the Guild more. I don’t need to know who their secret identities are but that’s a big change from the League; Star Sapphire instead of Green Lantern. I don’t think that’s a lady Hal Jordan either. Carol Ferris?

The tangled web of continuities and possibilities were put aside as he saw Kaldura and Robin… who was curiously out of costume, in a red cropped top t-shirt with a wide collar, exposing her black athletic bra straps, green yoga pants, a long sleeved yellow button up shirt tied around her waist, and black high top sneakers. Around her waist and over the tied shirt was a black and yellow fanny pack. She was also wearing slim and fashionable sunglasses, even in the darkness of the cave.

Beside her, Kaldura was dressed in a sea green track suit with white piping and trim, but was still barefoot, showing off her mocha skin and webbed toes. She was, without a doubt, wearing her costume beneath the track suit, but she looked surprisingly normal except for her lack of footwear. The jacket was zipped up to the top, mostly hiding the gills along her neck. 

“Kal, Robi, long time no see!” Walli said as she rushed over and exchanged a fist bump with Kaldura and a complicated handshake with Robin. Connor approached, feeling a bit left out until Kaldura offered her knuckles for him to bump as well. Their greeting ritual complete, apparently, Robin turned to him and stared back at him as he looked her up and down.

“What?” She asked.

“...I’m not sure about the protocol now. Are you still Robin now?” He asked, throwing up his hands.

“Ha! He’s got you there, Robi!” Walli crowed as she slapped her friend’s back.

“Your labyrinthine machinations in regards to your secret identity do seem… impenetrable to anyone not already familiar with it.” Kaldura added, softening the blow to the increasingly exasperated Girl Wonder, who rolled her eyes behind her shades.

“Look, it's not my decision, okay? It's Batwoman’s. She needs to protect her identity, among other people’s. I understand it's not easy if you’re not used to the life, but its how we operate. If you knew who I was, you’d figure out who she is. Yes, I can be out of costume around you. Trust me, you’d probably recognize me out of costume anyway with your super-everything. But no, I can’t tell you my real name and we can’t socialize when I’m living in my secret identity. If you see me on the street, pretend you don’t know me. While we’re here, just us, we can hang and I don’t have to wear twenty pounds of body armor and another ten for the utility belt.” Robin finally finished, her exasperation finally run its course. He could see her eyes peering at him under her shades, searching for something, though she probably thought he couldn’t see her eyes. They were a turquoise shade of blue.

I get it. She has to protect Alfred and anyone else in the Bat-Family, and if I knew she was Wayne’s ward AND Robin, short jump to figuring out who Batwoman is. Oy vey…

He held up his hands to make peace.

“It's okay, I get it. You don’t owe me more than that. You girls rescued me out of a pod, so I’m not gonna demand more than you’re willing to give. We can be friends without exchanging secret identities.” Connor said, smiling, and offered his hand to shake.

Robin smiled, warmly, and took it. She had a firm handshake, and her hand was callused.

“I appreciate it. Some people around here think if you won’t share your whole life story, then you can’t really be friends.” She added, a little wistfully. “Speaking of secret identities, are you gonna have one? The Guild, even Batwoman, couldn’t find anything about a Connor Clark matching you now or anything you gave us. You don’t exist here. Well, you didn’t, until yesterday. Here, lemme see…” She trailed off as she dug into the fanny pack and pulled out a plastic envelope and handed it to him.

Connor took it and opened it, discovering a slim wallet and passport, the former containing a driver’s license, library card, another Wayne Financial credit card, and assorted other pieces of identification that assured the reader that he was Connor Clark, 18 years old, residence Boston, Massachusetts, DOB surprisingly close to his real one. The passport showed the same, the pictures all looked real, showing his new face. 

Curiously, the passport was issued by a country called the United States of Columbia, with a different and arguably more aesthetically pleasing version of the US flag stamped on it. The cash in the wallet were familiar greenbacks, but all the portraits were of women. The feeling of unreality taking the ground out from under his feet returned again…

“Connor?” Came Robin’s voice, snapping him out of his fugue.

Looking up, he saw all three of the girls looking at him with concern.

Shaking his head, he slipped the wallet and passport into his pocket, and gathered himself.

“I’m fine, fine. Just… some things are taking time to adjust to.” He said weakly.

“It is the most profound change in circumstances I have ever heard of, my friend. It is, as Black Canary has told me, ‘ok to not be ok.’” Kaldura said, with sympathy.

That’s probably good advice.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. And thank you, Robin, for this. It would be a real pain to not be a legal person. Thank Batwoman for me, too.” Connor said, genuine gratitude in his voice. They had discussed his need for documentation, since he apparently had never existed on this Earth before Cadmus had created him. That made things simpler, but overcoming the essential problem of having no papers of any kind was something that would take money and connections to solve. Thankfully, Batwoman had all of the above and had secured him papers in less than a day.

“But the secret identity… I dunno yet. The only connections I have here are you guys, and Walli’s folks, now.” Connor said, eliciting an ‘aww’ from Walli.

“Dad’ll be proud to hear that.” She said smiling and batted his arm, which drew curious looks from the other two. Walli suddenly looked embarrassed when she noticed and took a half step back from Connor. He looked at the three curiously but all avoided his gaze.

What’s that about?

“Whyyy don’t you show off your costume?” Walli suggested, waving towards the backpack he had over his shoulder.

“Please, I am curious as to what you have chosen.” Kaldura said as she smiled and crossed her arms.

“I wouldn’t recommend much body armor, you can definitely take a hit. Maybe a helmet.” Robin snarked.

“Ha ha. Not all of us were taught ninja-death-boxing by Batwoman, ok? Cadmus put some stuff in my head but I’d never been in a real fight before you found me.” Connor said as he set the backpack down and unzipped it. He pulled his plain black tee off and balled it up to stick into the bag when he heard a series of horrified gasps from his friends. Looking up from his crouch, he saw Walli had turned beet red, Kaldura’s eyebrows were somewhere in the stratosphere, and Robin was literally turning her head using her hands as blinders.

“What?” He dead panned, genuinely lost.

“Connor!” Walli said in a strangled voice and zipped in front of him, shielding him with her body. “You can’t just go around taking your shirt off in front of people!” 

…What?

“...What?”

“Your… nipples are showing!” Walli declared, as if it were a travesty.

Connor looked down at his own broad chest, reflecting it was really nice to be this jacked after having done no work for it, and saw that indeed, his nipples were visible. He looked back up at Walli, and felt adrift on a sea of social expectations with neither rudder nor sail.

“...Okay?”

The girls turned to each other, nodded in unison and formed a huddle, whispering to each other in voices that anyone could probably hear. But for him it was truly child’s play. He began to pick up on what was going on from context clues and their discussion.

“He has no idea he’s not supposed to do that!” Walli whispered fiercely, and perhaps, protectively.

“Well, someone has to tell him! He can’t walk around like that! He especially can’t do that in front of the Guild. Or the public!” Robin retorted, very insistent that Connor shouldn’t do… whatever he was doing.

“I understand the surface-world has different conventions. In Atlantis that would not be considered… immodest, but it is here. We can surely explain it in a fashion that he will not feel like he is being shamed for his body.” Kaldura added helpfully.

“Don’t ruin this! He’s been through a lot, and now he’s in a whole other universe, and things are different and it keeps freaking him out!” Walli insisted, and it warmed him that she was trying to shield him from whatever social norm he was violating by taking his shirt off.

Wait, she never said anything when I took my shirt off before? Except for…

Oh.

I’ve been flashing Walli a bunch. Well, then why did she freak out with Robin and Kaldura now?

The hamster assigned to spin the wheel that powered social reasoning slowly got up to speed in Connor’s mind, and he eventually reached the conclusion that seemed glaringly obvious when he finally got there.

Because she liked me taking my shirt off. But doing it in front of Robin and Kaldura is… bad? 

Connor reflected that perhaps Walli was more concerned with keeping his exhibitionism to herself than protecting his delicate sensibilities. He thought he should feel badly about this, exploited, perhaps? Mostly it just felt like an ego boost to be reminded that she liked his body, desired him, wanted to ogle him. From a stranger it might feel gross, but he liked Walli, both as a friend and… a lover, so it felt fine. A little bit funny to hear her try to cover for peeping on him.

“You know I can hear you all, right?” He interjected and froze their group huddle.

With a shared look, they broke the huddle and turned back to him. He finally fished out his new shirt from the screen printing place and tugged it on, much to their relief and then interest. 

The new shirt was a deep blue, with a familiar S shield on it, but with its own twist. The shield was lined in a golden yellow border, and the S was highly stylized and more angular than traditionally depicted. Within the yellow border, the negative space was black while the S was still bold and red. It was an original design on this Earth; Superwoman had never worn anything like it, and she was unique here. Well, except for him. He had even looked up how to get it trademarked, and now that he had ID, he could start the process.

He then drew out one of the studded yellow belts and put it through the loops on his blue jeans, and over the shirt he put on The Jacket. It was even more perfect than it had been when he first laid eyes on it; a brilliant scarlet, wide collar and the screen printer had hooked him up with an embroidered patch to add to its back, a yellow-on-yellow patch of the shield, just as Superwoman wore on the back of her cape. Along with his red high top sneakers, he was complete, and he did a little twirl for the girls.

Walli wolf whistled, which earned her a smack from Robin, but both she and Kaldura had broad grins at the sight of him. 

“Not bad, eh?” He said, holding the lapels of the jacket. It felt good.

“Going with the streetwear look, then.  You know, if you wanted to get a real costume, Batwoman knows some people…” Robin offered.

“Maybe some day, when I feel a little more comfortable with tights. The solar suit felt fine until I actually saw myself in the mirror. It was showing off… everything.” He shuddered a bit at the memory. The tear down the front had basically ruined it…

A thought occurred.

“So, I’m getting the impression guys aren’t supposed to be showing their… nipples?” He asked, the embarrassment they seemed so worried about finally arriving.

“Yeaaah, that’s not really, uh, ‘acceptable’. You’re practically naked. Were, practically, naked. Ah jeez…” Robin trailed off, rubbing her forehead.

“Right, so maybe don’t go whipping your shirt off in front of any gals you meet.” Wally said a little hotly. Connor didn’t fail to notice the glances Kaldura and Robin gave her.

“So… the other night, when we were leaving Cadmus, and my suit was all ripped. Was I… flashing the Justice Guild?” Connor asked with trepidation.

Their reactions told him everything he needed to know.

He facepalmed, unable to look at them in his own embarrassment.

“So that’s why that cop kept trying to wrap that foil blanket over me…” He said miserably.

“Yeah… you were kind of going through a lot so we didn’t want to make a big deal of it.” Walli added.

“...Appreciate it.”

“Speaking of, they should be downstairs now. They’re ready to lay it out for us.” Robin said, resolve creeping into her voice.

“Great! Yes. Let’s do that. Lead the way…” Connor said, his desperation to move on from the previous topic obvious.

As they headed across the cavern room to the stairwell that led down to the next level of the base, he leaned into Walli and whispered to her.

“Maybe we should talk about certain expectations and boundaries…”

She had the decency to look embarrassed at least.

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