[fic] Identities (4/?)
Aug. 20th, 2008 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starrylitesTitle: Identities
Chapter: Chapter 4 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 1
Fandom: Superman movieverse, Batman movieverse, and a little alternate DC thrown in for good measure
Rating: PG (for now)
Word Count: 2000
Disclaimer: All these guys belong WB and/or DC, not me.
Spoilers: SR and DK spoilers, so consider yourself warned.
Summary: Batman and Superman come to an agreement, and Jason spends an interesting night with Clark.
Batman waited in the same warehouse as he and Superman had agreed on the first time. They had neglected to set a time past “after dark before I need to go on my rounds,” but Batman couldn’t help wondering if Superman was late. Then again, when you can travel faster than sound, is there really any such thing as late? He was sure there was, but without making a conscious decision, he doubted it very much.
The warehouse was dark, the only light shining in from the low-light lamps on the street. It was not the best part of town, but the criminal populous ignored the old warehouse; having Batman raid the place on ten successful occasions tends to do that to a hideout. Still, it didn’t hurt to have spy cams running, nor to have C4 packets sprinkled in catastrophic corners.
Batman heard a loud swoop followed by gust of wind. Too fast to be picked up by the motion detectors. It was impressive. He stepped out of the shadows into one of the slivers of light. “Superman.”
“Batman.” Superman stepped forward, just far enough into the light to give his blue eyes a simple gray color. “I have considered your request. I have no doubts it was a difficult decision for you to make.”
“It was. Generally my kind would never turn to a boy in tights for help.”
As Batman expected, Superman ignored the insult. “Your kind?”
“We without superpowers.”
“Oh. Yes. I will point out that Green Arrow wears tights.”
It was Batman’s turn to ignore him. It was a simple statement of very little value, but it was a message. If Batman was not going to play totally fair, neither was Superman. It didn’t seem to be in the boy scout’s character, but Batman had a feeling it would not take long to be able to deduce even a piece of the man behind the suit.
“Did you make a decision?” Batman asked. A trash can tipped over outside, followed by the scuffling of feet much to small to be a human. A moment later his motion detector went off, showing an outline of a cat. Identified: Feline. Note: Not Catwoman.
Superman raised an eyebrow at the device for a brief moment and cleared his throat. “I have. I have decided this situation could very likely get out of hand, and you will need backup.”
“Good. I will be sending you a message in a high radio frequency within a few days. It will give you instructions on how to reach the Batcave. No one else will be able to hear it but you. I will only send it once, so be listening.”
Superman inclined his head. “I understand.”
Batman paused, looking outside to the street lamp that was giving them light and the light rain that was starting to fall. “Will I be receiving directions to your fortress?”
“No.” With that, he was up and out, back through the same hole in the roof, again without setting off the motion detectors.
At least they were clear on the no expectation of friendship unspoken agreement.
***
Clark sat in his Gotham Palace Hotel suite, looking out over the dreary city. He understood why Batman felt the need to act as darkly as he did, but Clark felt no satisfaction in the work Batman did; Gotham didn’t look any better. Gotham deserved a better life than what it led, and it deserved a superhero that didn’t have to break the law. Constantly.
And he had come into the lion’s den with the woman he loved and their son. If he had to guess, Lois was probably safe; she was headstrong enough that any Amazon would be honored to include her in their ranks. But Jason? Jason was going to be a whole lot harder to hide, and a whole lot harder to keep safe. That was the scary thought: Jason would be harder to keep safe than Lois. There was some serious horror in the very idea of that statement.
When Jason had first told him that he was coming to Gotham with them, Clark had been excited. That was time with Jason without Richard’s presence. It wasn’t so much that he changed his behavior around Jason without Richard, but there was something easier about it, something that allowed him to feel a whole lot more like a father.
There was a fumbling at the door of his room, the sound of a card being pulled in and out of the slot one, two, three times before it opened. Jason walked in looking sheepish. “Wrong way, but I got it.”
Clark smiled. “It’s okay, just gives me more warning before you get here.”
Jason gave him a glare very much learned from his mother then smiled. “Thanks.”
Lois followed a second later, carrying Jason’s duffel bag. “Why he couldn’t do this himself is beyond me, but hey, what are moms for, right?” She flopped it down onto the second bed in Clark’s room, and looked at Jason. “You’re sure you want to spend the nights with Clark instead of me?” She was trying to sound upset, but Clark could tell she wasn’t very.
Jason grinned again. “I think you’ll be okay without me.”
Lois laughed, that intoxicating laugh she usually reserved for accomplishments. Jason got it more often than anyone else did. Lois leaned over him, looking like a true mother, and gave him a defensive hug; she frequently did. Jason pulled away, pretending he didn’t like it. “Well, Clark, thank you for putting up with him.”
“Hey, Lois, you know I never have to put with Jason. We have fun when we get time together.”
“Yes, Clark, I know, but I still appreciate it.” She ruffled Jason’s hair, then resituated her dress. “Well, you boys have fun. I’m off to Wayne Enterprises.”
Clark turned his chair around and gave Lois a look, resisting the urge to sound more like Superman. “Gee, Lois, why would you want to go to Wayne Enterprises?”
Lois shrugged and put on her best innocent smile…which looked about as guilty as they come. “Seems silly to come to Gotham and not at least try to get an interview with Bruce.”
“Bruce? You’re on a first name basis?”
Lois didn’t give a response, just smiled and gave a half wave. “I’ll see you boys later.” And just like that, Lois Lane was off to storm Wayne Enterprises. And Clark swore to himself.
It was apparently out loud. “What was that for?” Jason looked at him curiously.
Clark met his gaze and laughed. “Oh, just your mother going off to get in trouble. It’s never a good thing.”
“I guess that’s true.” Jason grinned. “So, what have you got planned while we wait for her to get in trouble?”
Clark smiled.
***
Much to Clark’s surprise, Lois never did yell for help, at least she hadn’t by midnight. Gotham was too busy and too loud to be able to pinpoint her voice, but her heartbeat he had memorized a long time ago. He kept his ear on it, and it hadn’t sped up much since she left; whatever she was up to in Bruce Wayne territory, she was behaving herself.
Meanwhile, he and Jason had a quiet night. He considered going and doing his rounds in Metropolis, but with Lois in Gotham, he figured the greater risk for something to go wrong was there, not at home.
Jason had been asleep for a couple of hours, sleeping soundly in his bed. Clark occasionally smiled over at him, enjoying having his son so close, feeling even slight responsibility for him. It was nice to feel responsibility for someone other than a trouble-making Lois.
After a quick check to make sure Jason was asleep, Clark spun out of his work clothes and into a t-shirt and boxers, turning off the light to slip in between his own covers.
Clark hadn’t been in bed ten minutes when Jason yelped. “Clark! Help!”
He was on his feet in a split second, but Jason wasn’t under his covers. He looked around the room, heartbeat going faster than it had in a long time. Then, he looked up. Jason was suspended in the air, his body hovering just below the ceiling. “Jace, how’d you get up there?”
“I—I don’t know! I wake up from dreams like this sometimes, but usually I fall as soon as I wake up. Why am I still up here?”
“I don’t know…” Clark frowned. Anytime he had woke up floating as a kid, he too had just fallen back to his bed, just like any other kid who jumped in their sleep. “Jason, I want you to relax—“
“I’m ten feet off the ground and you want me to RELAX?”
“Jason, really, you can relax yourself off the ceiling, I promise. Just concentrate on your bed and getting back to it.”
Clark watched him nervously, and saw him squint his eyes shut tight. It was a look of too much concentration, and if he tried to get down concentrating so hard, he wasn’t going to make it. It was the same problem as overthinking a test problem only to get it wrong. “Concentrate” had been a bad word choice.
“Clark…I’m still UP HERE!”
“Jason, don’t yell, these walls aren’t very thick.”
Case and point, just a moment later he heard rustling in the room next door; Lois had come home when he wasn’t listening. “We don’t have very much time, so please, just relax and let your body carry you back down. It won’t be that hard, Jason, really.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I can’t relax.”
“Stop—“ Lois’ door opened. “—Trying. Don’t try, and it’ll go faster.”
“WHAT?!”
Lois had Clark’s spare card out, got ready to stick it into the door, and Clark sighed. Thinking fast, he rushed up to the ceiling, grabbed Jason, yanked his glasses off the nightstand, and sat down on Jason’s bed with Jason in his lap. Jason looked less than thrilled.
Lois got the door open and burst in, pounding the light switch. “What is going on in here?”
Clark looked between Jason and Lois and he smiled lightly. “Jason just had a pretty vocal bad dream, Lois. We’ve got it taken care of. He was hard to wake up.”
Jason looked up at him before looking at his mom with a shrug. “Sorry I woke you up, Mom.”
“I wasn’t asleep yet. I just barely got home.” Her gaze kept shifting between the two of them, almost as if she expected one of them to crack.
“Oh? Well, did you have fun at Wayne Enterprises?” Clark asked conversationally.
Lois gave him a look to mean there was going to be no discussion of the type and he left it alone…for now. “We’re sorry if we scared you, but everything should be all right now. You just ahead and go to sleep, and we’ll climb back into bed, too.”
“Really, Mom, it was just a bad dream. I’m fine now.” Jason nodded.
Lois was still eyeing them suspiciously, but after another ten seconds of stare down, she nodded and walked out the door.
As soon as she was gone, Jason looked up at Clark exasperatedly. “Did you seriously have to wait til the last second to get me down?”
Clark shrugged. “I was trying to teach you to do it on your own.”
“Next time, just get me off the ceiling. Leave the teaching for later.” His tone was tired, but Jason smiled.
Clark nodded and smiled back.
Chapter: Chapter 4 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 1
Fandom: Superman movieverse, Batman movieverse, and a little alternate DC thrown in for good measure
Rating: PG (for now)
Word Count: 2000
Disclaimer: All these guys belong WB and/or DC, not me.
Spoilers: SR and DK spoilers, so consider yourself warned.
Summary: Batman and Superman come to an agreement, and Jason spends an interesting night with Clark.
Batman waited in the same warehouse as he and Superman had agreed on the first time. They had neglected to set a time past “after dark before I need to go on my rounds,” but Batman couldn’t help wondering if Superman was late. Then again, when you can travel faster than sound, is there really any such thing as late? He was sure there was, but without making a conscious decision, he doubted it very much.
The warehouse was dark, the only light shining in from the low-light lamps on the street. It was not the best part of town, but the criminal populous ignored the old warehouse; having Batman raid the place on ten successful occasions tends to do that to a hideout. Still, it didn’t hurt to have spy cams running, nor to have C4 packets sprinkled in catastrophic corners.
Batman heard a loud swoop followed by gust of wind. Too fast to be picked up by the motion detectors. It was impressive. He stepped out of the shadows into one of the slivers of light. “Superman.”
“Batman.” Superman stepped forward, just far enough into the light to give his blue eyes a simple gray color. “I have considered your request. I have no doubts it was a difficult decision for you to make.”
“It was. Generally my kind would never turn to a boy in tights for help.”
As Batman expected, Superman ignored the insult. “Your kind?”
“We without superpowers.”
“Oh. Yes. I will point out that Green Arrow wears tights.”
It was Batman’s turn to ignore him. It was a simple statement of very little value, but it was a message. If Batman was not going to play totally fair, neither was Superman. It didn’t seem to be in the boy scout’s character, but Batman had a feeling it would not take long to be able to deduce even a piece of the man behind the suit.
“Did you make a decision?” Batman asked. A trash can tipped over outside, followed by the scuffling of feet much to small to be a human. A moment later his motion detector went off, showing an outline of a cat. Identified: Feline. Note: Not Catwoman.
Superman raised an eyebrow at the device for a brief moment and cleared his throat. “I have. I have decided this situation could very likely get out of hand, and you will need backup.”
“Good. I will be sending you a message in a high radio frequency within a few days. It will give you instructions on how to reach the Batcave. No one else will be able to hear it but you. I will only send it once, so be listening.”
Superman inclined his head. “I understand.”
Batman paused, looking outside to the street lamp that was giving them light and the light rain that was starting to fall. “Will I be receiving directions to your fortress?”
“No.” With that, he was up and out, back through the same hole in the roof, again without setting off the motion detectors.
At least they were clear on the no expectation of friendship unspoken agreement.
***
Clark sat in his Gotham Palace Hotel suite, looking out over the dreary city. He understood why Batman felt the need to act as darkly as he did, but Clark felt no satisfaction in the work Batman did; Gotham didn’t look any better. Gotham deserved a better life than what it led, and it deserved a superhero that didn’t have to break the law. Constantly.
And he had come into the lion’s den with the woman he loved and their son. If he had to guess, Lois was probably safe; she was headstrong enough that any Amazon would be honored to include her in their ranks. But Jason? Jason was going to be a whole lot harder to hide, and a whole lot harder to keep safe. That was the scary thought: Jason would be harder to keep safe than Lois. There was some serious horror in the very idea of that statement.
When Jason had first told him that he was coming to Gotham with them, Clark had been excited. That was time with Jason without Richard’s presence. It wasn’t so much that he changed his behavior around Jason without Richard, but there was something easier about it, something that allowed him to feel a whole lot more like a father.
There was a fumbling at the door of his room, the sound of a card being pulled in and out of the slot one, two, three times before it opened. Jason walked in looking sheepish. “Wrong way, but I got it.”
Clark smiled. “It’s okay, just gives me more warning before you get here.”
Jason gave him a glare very much learned from his mother then smiled. “Thanks.”
Lois followed a second later, carrying Jason’s duffel bag. “Why he couldn’t do this himself is beyond me, but hey, what are moms for, right?” She flopped it down onto the second bed in Clark’s room, and looked at Jason. “You’re sure you want to spend the nights with Clark instead of me?” She was trying to sound upset, but Clark could tell she wasn’t very.
Jason grinned again. “I think you’ll be okay without me.”
Lois laughed, that intoxicating laugh she usually reserved for accomplishments. Jason got it more often than anyone else did. Lois leaned over him, looking like a true mother, and gave him a defensive hug; she frequently did. Jason pulled away, pretending he didn’t like it. “Well, Clark, thank you for putting up with him.”
“Hey, Lois, you know I never have to put with Jason. We have fun when we get time together.”
“Yes, Clark, I know, but I still appreciate it.” She ruffled Jason’s hair, then resituated her dress. “Well, you boys have fun. I’m off to Wayne Enterprises.”
Clark turned his chair around and gave Lois a look, resisting the urge to sound more like Superman. “Gee, Lois, why would you want to go to Wayne Enterprises?”
Lois shrugged and put on her best innocent smile…which looked about as guilty as they come. “Seems silly to come to Gotham and not at least try to get an interview with Bruce.”
“Bruce? You’re on a first name basis?”
Lois didn’t give a response, just smiled and gave a half wave. “I’ll see you boys later.” And just like that, Lois Lane was off to storm Wayne Enterprises. And Clark swore to himself.
It was apparently out loud. “What was that for?” Jason looked at him curiously.
Clark met his gaze and laughed. “Oh, just your mother going off to get in trouble. It’s never a good thing.”
“I guess that’s true.” Jason grinned. “So, what have you got planned while we wait for her to get in trouble?”
Clark smiled.
***
Much to Clark’s surprise, Lois never did yell for help, at least she hadn’t by midnight. Gotham was too busy and too loud to be able to pinpoint her voice, but her heartbeat he had memorized a long time ago. He kept his ear on it, and it hadn’t sped up much since she left; whatever she was up to in Bruce Wayne territory, she was behaving herself.
Meanwhile, he and Jason had a quiet night. He considered going and doing his rounds in Metropolis, but with Lois in Gotham, he figured the greater risk for something to go wrong was there, not at home.
Jason had been asleep for a couple of hours, sleeping soundly in his bed. Clark occasionally smiled over at him, enjoying having his son so close, feeling even slight responsibility for him. It was nice to feel responsibility for someone other than a trouble-making Lois.
After a quick check to make sure Jason was asleep, Clark spun out of his work clothes and into a t-shirt and boxers, turning off the light to slip in between his own covers.
Clark hadn’t been in bed ten minutes when Jason yelped. “Clark! Help!”
He was on his feet in a split second, but Jason wasn’t under his covers. He looked around the room, heartbeat going faster than it had in a long time. Then, he looked up. Jason was suspended in the air, his body hovering just below the ceiling. “Jace, how’d you get up there?”
“I—I don’t know! I wake up from dreams like this sometimes, but usually I fall as soon as I wake up. Why am I still up here?”
“I don’t know…” Clark frowned. Anytime he had woke up floating as a kid, he too had just fallen back to his bed, just like any other kid who jumped in their sleep. “Jason, I want you to relax—“
“I’m ten feet off the ground and you want me to RELAX?”
“Jason, really, you can relax yourself off the ceiling, I promise. Just concentrate on your bed and getting back to it.”
Clark watched him nervously, and saw him squint his eyes shut tight. It was a look of too much concentration, and if he tried to get down concentrating so hard, he wasn’t going to make it. It was the same problem as overthinking a test problem only to get it wrong. “Concentrate” had been a bad word choice.
“Clark…I’m still UP HERE!”
“Jason, don’t yell, these walls aren’t very thick.”
Case and point, just a moment later he heard rustling in the room next door; Lois had come home when he wasn’t listening. “We don’t have very much time, so please, just relax and let your body carry you back down. It won’t be that hard, Jason, really.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I can’t relax.”
“Stop—“ Lois’ door opened. “—Trying. Don’t try, and it’ll go faster.”
“WHAT?!”
Lois had Clark’s spare card out, got ready to stick it into the door, and Clark sighed. Thinking fast, he rushed up to the ceiling, grabbed Jason, yanked his glasses off the nightstand, and sat down on Jason’s bed with Jason in his lap. Jason looked less than thrilled.
Lois got the door open and burst in, pounding the light switch. “What is going on in here?”
Clark looked between Jason and Lois and he smiled lightly. “Jason just had a pretty vocal bad dream, Lois. We’ve got it taken care of. He was hard to wake up.”
Jason looked up at him before looking at his mom with a shrug. “Sorry I woke you up, Mom.”
“I wasn’t asleep yet. I just barely got home.” Her gaze kept shifting between the two of them, almost as if she expected one of them to crack.
“Oh? Well, did you have fun at Wayne Enterprises?” Clark asked conversationally.
Lois gave him a look to mean there was going to be no discussion of the type and he left it alone…for now. “We’re sorry if we scared you, but everything should be all right now. You just ahead and go to sleep, and we’ll climb back into bed, too.”
“Really, Mom, it was just a bad dream. I’m fine now.” Jason nodded.
Lois was still eyeing them suspiciously, but after another ten seconds of stare down, she nodded and walked out the door.
As soon as she was gone, Jason looked up at Clark exasperatedly. “Did you seriously have to wait til the last second to get me down?”
Clark shrugged. “I was trying to teach you to do it on your own.”
“Next time, just get me off the ceiling. Leave the teaching for later.” His tone was tired, but Jason smiled.
Clark nodded and smiled back.