NOTE: I will start putting titles on the chapters. Sincerely it is more for my sake than yours. Sometimes, I need to go back check things and I forget in what chapters they were. This is the usual order in which I update…
Becoming Superboy
The Flight of the Blue Beetle
Kid Flash's Not so Easy Path
A Robin, Red Robin
I try to write at least one chapter per week, so at least every story gets an update every month.
Becoming Superboy 34: The Bachelor
There had to be something very wrong with what he was doing. He had seen some of his friends do it, but he always stayed out of it. It wasn't like he was blind or couldn't appreciate the curves of a woman, but to ogle so shamelessly… it didn't set well with him. There was a lot of guilt whenever they noticed him looking. They all smiled at him, but he still felt like scum.
"I think she likes you," Lois said to him from her desk as she went over his plan for the interview in a few days. It was the woman's fault. She had him sit facing the hall outside and pointing out every young lady that passed by.
"Is it going to take much longer?" he asked shifting on his seat. It had never occurred to him he might lose the bet. He was sure Kal El wouldn't ask him to do something too outrageous, but he still didn't want to lose. Losing would just open more doors for Kal to try to get him to talk about that, and he dreaded it.
"Aren't you in a hurry Mr. I got my first article published?" Lois said waving at the brunette who had been smiling back at him before motioning for her to come inside her glass-walled office.
"What are you doing?!" he asked her wondering if he could jump out the window and claim it was because he wanted to catch up with Superboy.
"Winning us a gamble," Lois said with a smile before the young woman entered the office, "hello there…"
"Holly, Ms. Lane," the lady said with a big smile before turning to look at him, "you are Conner Kent, right? I read your article. I really hope you do your internship here."
"Ehm, yes," he said trying not to be awkward.
"So, Conner here has made a bet with his cousin, Clark Kent," Lois started right off the bat before motioning to Holly to sit down.
"Ms. Lane!" where was a disaster when you needed it!
"You sound just like him," Lois said in a pleased voice, "anyways, because he is a social tragedy just like every Kent with a Y chromosome, they made a bet that if one of them couldn't get a date for this Friday, the loser had to do whatever the other wanted. We were wondering if you would be interested in helping Conner out."
Holly looked shocked for a moment at Lois before turning to look at him. He just couldn't look at that young woman in the eyes. This was probably the most embarrassing moment in his life. Take out the talk he had with Kal a few days before. This one changed standards forever.
"That's so cute," Holly said after a moment, "but I sort of have plans for that night, otherwise, believe me, the answer would be yes."
He looked up at her and saw her blush. There was no trace of insincerity in her voice.
"Maybe a rain check?" she asked him before he nodded, "great. I have to go then, I have to deliver this to Mr. White in the next minute or he will throw me out a window."
When she was gone, he glared at Lois.
"What? She actually does look like she likes you, too bad" she said going back to the plan for the interview, "alright, I won't bring it up again unless I see one of those girls looking your way."
He held back a sigh before he caught Holly's voice a few halls away.
'Oh my gosh, someone is going to get lucky,' she said before he concentrated on her voice.
'What do you mean?' another young woman asked her.
'You know about Kent's cousin?' Holly asked.
'Who hasn't?' what did they mean by that? Yeah, his article was a hit, but it was about the story, not him.
'Well, he is in the dragon's den and it looks like she is helping him find a date for this Friday,' Holly said before the other woman and a few who had been listening gave shrill cries that almost made him cover his ears.
'Seriously? The woman dates the most handsome news anchor in the city and she blows him off all the time,' one of the young women said.
'He is there, they just asked me but you know I already promised Dylan to go to that stupid wine tasting on Friday,' Holly said with a sigh 'so, what are best friends for?'
A few moments later a steady stream of interns started walking in front of Lois' office. Some were better at hiding their intentions, but most checked him out shamelessly and left wording things he wished he didn't understand.
"Don't overestimate the power of office gossip," Lois said with a smug smile. Of course, she had known this was going to happen.
When he got into the elevator, he met with no other than Jimmy Olsen.
"So, I heard you are looking for someone to beat Clark on a bet, right?" the photographer asked him with a dangerous shine in his eyes.
The power of office gossip was frightening.
"There's this place where there's always cute girls. I could take you there tonight if-" Jimmy was saying before one of the young interns entered the elevator.
"Excuse me," another one said entering too.
"Me too," and another.
"Sorry," and another until the place was full.
"Let me in!" some cried out as the doors finally closed
"So, what do you say?" Jimmy asked being pushed all the way to the opposite corner of the elevator.
"I – hey!" he was going to decline but then he felt someone's sharp nails on his behind. It didn't hurt, but it didn't make it right.
"Sorry!" one of the women surrounded him said though he wasn't sure which one it had been. This seemed to encourage the rest and he tried to pull back from them as much as possible, but it was impossible in such a small cramped space. He looked at Jimmy for advice, but the young man only shrugged as if saying 'nothing can be done.'
When the elevator finally arrived at his destination, he all but ran away from the place. Next time he was flying.
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"What happened to you?" Kara asked when he entered the apartment.
He went to sit at the kitchen table across from her and stared at her fixedly.
"You are scaring me," Kara declared after a moment and stopping whatever she was doing.
"How do you turn someone down?" she had seen her turn down a lot of guys before. She had to know.
"I thought the bet was to find someone to date?" she said looking at him with wide eyes.
"Word got out, and all the interns at the Daily Planet are now after me," he told her before she started to laugh. "I am serious, my clothes might not survive next time," he said showing her a few holes and tears on his flannel shirt.
"Just tell them you are not interested," she said controlling her laughter.
"It's that what you do?" she made it seem more complicated than that.
"Of course not, but you really can't spare the feelings of every stranger that is after you. Besides, we are going to be working with those guys," she said matter of fact.
He guessed that made sense.
"Also, you don't want to date someone from the Daily Planet. I have heard Kal say they have a terrible case of office drama. And, if you end up going there… well, it won't be just groping that you have to worry about," she said with an unashamed smile appeared on her face.
"You are not as innocent as you pretend to be, are you?" he asked her.
"Oh please, one of the greatest forms of entertainment in Krypton was to watch dramas unfold before our very own eyes. The things I could tell you," she sighed.
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"These kids are taking the law into their own hands! They are violating the rights of men and women alike!" Gordon G. Godfrey ranted on his online channel. "One has to wonder what the League teaches them; if they teach them anything at all. God knows they probably leave them to their own devices. According to the reports, the ones to orchestrate this disaster were Kid Flash and Superboy. Those kids were violating the curfew for minors to start with." Godfrey laughed sarcastically, "well, you can't really call Superboy a minor, he is a clone, an unnatural freak." The man leaned on his desk and then said with a dark glare, "the saddest thing is that youth is so blinded by their bright costumes and their 'mentors' reputation to realize the true danger they represent. We have yet to see any laws or regulations to keep them from hurting us, everyday people."
"You got that right G-man!" Leslie Willis; a popular radio DJ and Godfrey's guest for that night's show shouted at the top of her lungs. "Take it from me folks, your beloved queen babe of all media, mistress of the airwaves, the one, and only Leslie Willis! I know I have said it before on my own show, but I will say it again and again until all you get it. I am sick and tired of that Superman guy and his little super friends or whatever they are. You can't turn on the news ever because there is always someone praising their tight wearing asses! Then, though who reads them anymore? But they are always on the front page of the newspapers, and again on online media. All of those alien loving jackasses make me sick! Are there some smart people like me out there who are just as sick of Metropolis' pathetic devotion to that phony flying Boy Scout and his troop? C'mon folks, no one can that good in real life. Those capes don't really care for us, they only care about fame!"
"Please turn that off," Clark said from the kitchen as he unpacked their dinner.
"I guess that's enough," he said doing just that.
"Why are you listening to those two in the first place?" Clark asked him with a frown.
"Lois said I should watch every angle of the story, especially if I want to follow up on it," and every angle also meant listening to those two try to get more followers by making outrageous statements which couldn't be proved. Or, in common terms, they were talking out of their-.
"Do you already know where to start?" Clark asked him before handing him the extra-large burger he asked for.
"The group home I went to visit first. That's where I got my source from," he hoped Cisco would help them some more since they did help those girls.
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There was a very short list of things that could take him by surprise, one was added that night. As he was preparing to have peaceful night, until his turn to patrol, Jimmy Olsen showed up at their door. He had not gotten the message across that Conner was not interested in meeting girls with him.
"Hey Jimmy," Clark said from the kitchen.
"So, he is playing it cool," Jimmy said giving Clark a suspicious look.
"What are you talking about?" Clark asked.
"He heard about the bet," Conner said starting to get a headache.
"Please, don't tell me you told Lois," Clark said trying not to laugh.
"You bet he did," Jimmy said before Clark could no longer hold his laughter, "he told the one and only gossip queen."
"I thought you were on my side," he told Jimmy.
"I am, watch. She also told Cat," he said lastly to Clark.
"She didn't," Clark stopped laughing right away before hurrying to his phone.
"You know Lois and Cat might be rivals, but they both love to see you squirm," he said before the man started going through the many messages he had received in the past half hour. "Get ready man, we are going to make CK lose that bet and you know what could be the best thing to ask him?"
"What?" he asked as Clark was starting to panic as he went through more of the messages.
"Make him go on a date with every single one of those women," Jimmy said with a devious smile, something he guessed he learned from Lois.
It was so simple and yet so ingenious.
"No, Conner," Clark said as he looked at him and back to his phone as more messages arrived.
"Give me five minutes," he said to Jimmy before hurrying to change.
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"Please, don't tell me this is a Kent thing? You look like are here to watch over people, not to have fun," Jimmy said as they sat the bar.
"I am having fun," he said calmly. He enjoyed the music that was playing, the cheerfulness and exuberance of the place. His T.K. could pick up on every emotion and feeling. His blood was pumping as if he was the one on the dance floor. His mind was slightly numb from the drunkenness around him. He guessed this would be closest he would ever get to the feeling.
"Tell that to that poor chick that has been waiting for you to hit on her for the past ten minutes. You keep making eye contact with her, but don't move a muscle," Jimmy all but sighed at his hopelessness.
"She is too drunk," he said stating what everyone else could see.
"So what? That doesn't mean she doesn't like you," Jimmy said pushing his shoulder.
"I don't want to take adva-"
"It is a Kent thing, god save us. You, people, are going to become extinct if you don't start taking risks," maybe there really was something about the men from the El family that made them awkward around women. He wouldn't be surprised as there were countless generations behind them made up of arranged marriages. There was never a need to know how to approach women alone. It was more like 'here is your mate, now make genetically superior babies' and that was it.
"Fine," he said before taking a deep breath and crossing the bar to sit next to the drunk young woman.
"Hey there cutie pie, it was about time," she said slurring her words before pushing a drink his way.
"Sorry, I have never done this before," and suddenly he wanted to slap himself. Why the hell did he say that?
"And honest too, how cute. Well, you do have a jailbait sort of face. How old exactly are you?" she asked getting a little too close to him as if trying to make sense of his features.
"Twenty-one," on paper only but she didn't need to know the rest, "are you feeling okay?"
"God, if all men just stayed like this. The world would be such a perfect place," she said with an awry smile. "Would you take me home and make me feel like I am twenty-one again?"
"I-" so that just happened. He was tempted to look back at Jimmy for help before he was distracted by the woman's laugh.
"I am just kidding, gosh you are too innocent. I promise I won't tell, but you really aren't twenty-one, are you?" he could only offer her a crooked smile of his own, "ha, I still got it. Don't worry ehm-"
"Conner," he said politely by placing his jacket on her shoulders. She was shivering in that small dress.
"Jude," she said with a sigh enjoying the warmth on her back, "they don't make them like you anymore. Where are you from?"
"I moved a lot, but my family comes from a small town in Kansas," and before that from another planet, but she wasn't so drunk that she would forget that one.
"You don't have an accent," she said with a giggle.
"People from Kansas don't have strong accents," he said removing the lock of hair that threatened to get into her mouth.
"Well, you learn something new every day," she said with a sigh, "I am really tempted to take you home with me tonight. You are very sweet."
"I didn't come for that," he told her never looking away from her and following Kara's advice, "I don't know if this the best place for it, but I was looking for someone I could go on a date with."
"Definitely not the right place," she said with a short laugh, "your friend brought you, right? Well, look," she said before he turned his head and saw Jimmy with lips locked with a girl, "that's what men and women come for to this place, and some more."
"Do you mind if I talk to you instead?" going back to the photographer didn't seem like an option at the time. He guessed he might even go home on his own the way things were escalating.
"Why not? It wouldn't be the first time I go back home empty handed," Jude said taking another swing from her drink.
He actually got a good chat from Jude, a Californian working as an assistant for a horrible boss who was sucking away her youth. She wasn't really that old, she was in her late twenties, but she claimed her spirit aged a year every day she went to work. She went to the bars once or twice every week looking for what she termed as preying on fresh meat. From looking around, it didn't seem she was the only one to do this.
"You are like the price of the cereal box, you know? You are handsome, not an idiot, and all that. Your downside is that you are not looking for what everyone else is. Innocence has drawn backs too. It feels sort of wrong go after you," she said leaning her head against his shoulder. "You need to go to places for people like you, like church."
"I am not religious," he did believe in Rao but was not devote.
"You are not getting me," she said giving his chest a playful slap, "wow; you pump iron, don't you? So, think of what you like to do, where do people who like the same meet? Isn't there a chance you will meet someone there?"
"That's the soundest advice anyone has given me the whole day," he laughed.
"See, I might be drunk but I am a goddamn good assistance, and that's really important when your boss is an idiot," the woman said taking another drink, but the glass didn't reach her lips, "I think I should go home."
"Let me help you," he said doing just that. He helped her get outside and called her a cab. He gave her his number to call him when she was safely back home.
"Never change kid, you are going to make a girl very happy someday," she told him before the cab drove away.
"Well, wasn't that sweet," he knew the voice, but it took him a moment to recognize it. He turned around and faced no other than Leslie Willis. The Goth makeup, short dark hair, dark clothing, and loud voice were a clear giveaway.
"Can I help you?" he asked faking ignorance as he put on his jacket.
"Yes you can, you can tell that freak of nature to get lost," the way she staggered made him realize she was plastered. The woman's eyes could barely focus.
"Will do," he said starting his way back to the bar to look for Jimmy. It was going to be his turn to patrol soon, so he had to go.
"Oh no you don't!" she said pulling him back fruitlessly, but he stopped so she wouldn't get hurt, "tell him to get here right now so I can tell him myself!"
By then a lot of people were recording them.
"Let go of me lady," he told her, "and go home before you hurt yourself."
"Don't call me lady! I am goddamn-" but the woman staggered almost falling down hadn't he caught her.
"Do you want me to call you a cab?" she asked as she looked at him through cloudy eyes.
"Shut up you- you self-entitled…" she pushed herself away from him, "why the hell you protect those freaks! They are nothing but trouble!"
"How can you say that after they had saved those girls and countless people before then?" he said running a hand through his hair. People like her just didn't make sense to him.
"They did it only for the fame!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"They don't go around shouting their names everywhere they go or imposing their ideas on others, that's you," he said before she saw her clouded eyes become filled with hatred.
"Shut up!" she shouted.
"Even if what you say is true, they are still helping people. How many people have you helped? How many have you saved?" he asked before turning his back on her to get back inside. He planned to take the back exit and just go straight home. That was the plan until he sensed the beer bottle flying his way. He couldn't use his powers to stop it, or duck because there was someone else ahead of him. So, he took the hit and faked to be shocked by it.
"Where are your fucking capes now, eh? Why didn't they save you, eh? Because they don't care about us! That's why!" she shouted before he ran a hand down his face. That woman was impossible.
"Lady, raise your hands," said one of the cops in the area who had made it just in time to see the whole altercation.
"I am Leslie Willis! You can't do that to me bitch!" she shouted before slapping the officer who looked as shocked as everyone else.
"I need a unit, over," the cop called through her radio before giving Leslie a withering look, "you just assaulted an office missy and it doesn't matter if you are human or alien or anything else. That's a big no for everyone."
He had to give his statement at the local station, but thankfully it was fast due to the many people recording the whole thing. He didn't place any charges against her, but he was sure many others would make Leslie Willis realize she had done something foolish the next morning. For the moment, she was screaming her lungs out in the cell where they were keeping her. When he got to his turn for patrol Kal El gave him a tired look. They both knew Leslie, Godfrey, and all of those like them would try to turn this around.
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When he got to school everyone stared at him and whispered about the video that went viral. Some laughed, others sneered (he guessed they were Leslie's sympathizers), and others looked like they wanted to talk to him but didn't dare because of the company he kept. That morning he realized he appreciated friends like Lori very much. She had not said a word about what happened the night before other than why she didn't ask her to join them. After that, it was all about their upcoming interview and about all the trouble her uncle gave her.
"So, like I told my uncle that I didn't need his bodyguards. I told him we could do this ourselves, but he was like 'you can't trust those capes!' could you believe that? I mean, they are not perfect, but they are nice guys, well with the exception of Superboy. He is such a stuck- am I boring you Conner?" she asked giving him a slight glare.
"Sorry, it was a rough week," he said truthfully.
"Yeah, you look gloomier than usual," she said with a devilish smirk.
"I am not gloomy," he said stopping his frowning, he wasn't gloomy.
"Right, right, but what got to you? The fame? The adulation? All the job offers that keep on coming even though you haven't graduated yet?" she said as they walked into their next class.
"I made a stupid bet with Clark," he couldn't tell her about everything else, so at least he could tell her this.
"I love stupid bets, what is it?" she asked really interested. After explaining the whole thing to her she started to laugh, "That's tall order for you! You don't pick on any of the girls that have been hounding you since you got here."
"No one has been doing such a thing," he had felt what hounding was like yesterday at the Daily Planet. He was sure he would have noticed.
"Don't take it so literally," she said shaking her head, "okay, there are at least three girls every class that keeps looking your way, but you never look their way."
"That's a lie," with his powers such thing wouldn't have escaped him, right?
"Oh Conner, Conner, you are too innocent for this world," he was reminded of Jude from the night before. The woman had sent him a quick message that she was okay. "But, there is one that always looks at you're the most. It's so cute, I have been this close to introducing you to each other, but I kept telling myself, no, he doesn't show interest in anyone, so he might actually be…"
"I told you I did have a girlfriend before," he told her checking on who was listening to them, not that he cared for gossip, but after yesterday he didn't want to try Lois' gossip theories at the school.
"It could still happen, you know?" she said with a shrug.
"Which girl?" he asked giving in.
"I only know her first name is Caitlin. She is sort of a loner so there aren't many people I can ask about her, but we have been in all the same classes since we started here. I think she is your type. You know; the quiet, brooding, stern type who stands for nonsense yet polite and sophisticated," she said raising her pinky as if she was drinking a cup of tea, "well, that's what everyone keeps saying."
"You are a terrible person," he said feeling like he was being dragged into another mess.
"It's all in the Luthor gene," she chuckled maliciously before noticing a few were turning around to look at her. She stopped with an awkward smile, "but I will say that's who you have to try to ask out."
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"Wait, what are you doing?" Lori said pulling on his sleeve when he started to walk towards where Caitlin was drinking juice and reading a book.
"I am going to ask her out," he told Lori, who had been making him become aware of the young woman in all of his classes. What helped him make up his mind was her worn out copy of 'The Death and Life of American Journalism' one of his favorite books.
"Just like that?" Lori asked wide eyed. She thought she would have to push him a little more to get him to ask her out.
"How else?" he said knowing he just took hours of fun and teasing from her.
He felt awkward as he walked towards the tree Caitlin was sitting against. There was no denying she was pretty. Her hair was a bright red and her eyes a turbulent green.
"Caitlin, right?" he asked the young woman.
"Ehm yeah," she said looking at him with vexation. Was Lori really sure she liked him?
"Can I sit?" he asked her deciding he might as well give it a try.
"If you must," she said carelessly before returning to her book.
"So, I was wondering if you had any plans for tomorrow," he asked sitting not too close or far from her.
"What is it to you?" she asked not looking up.
"I want to ask you out," there, he said it, and the world didn't explode.
"Why?" she asked with a frown looking up at him again.
"Well, because you see to be sane unlike most people around," it was true. He had finally noticed the other girls that Lori told him about, and he was a little disturbed by their behaviors.
"Sweet talk won't get you anywhere; now tell me the real reason why? Are you playing a prank on me with your friend?" she said motioning to Lori, who was sitting on a bench not too far. When the Luthor noted she had been caught staring at them, she waved at them like a fool.
"I do want to ask you out, and I do have an ulterior motive and if after explaining you want to throw that drink at me, I will accept it with dignity," though he wasn't looking forwards to it. Just a short talk told him Caitlin was the sort of girl who would really do that if offended.
"You are one polite idiot, you know that? Go ahead and tell me," she said closing her book and giving him her undivided attention. So, he explained to her and she listened without making questions. When done, she was quiet for a moment before using her book and hitting him on the top of the head. Not meanly but still… "That's a stupid bet; the two of you could end up with dates so no one really loses."
"In my defense, it was Clark's idea," he said rubbing the place she hit for appearances.
"Fine, there is a concert I want to go to that night. You can be like my bodyguard. I saw you receive that bottle to the back of the head and didn't even flinch, so you can't tell me you can't take a punch or two," she said smiling for the first time though it was a smile of self-congratulations, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
"Woohoo!" shouted Lori from the bench.
"She is not coming, is she?" Caitlin asked him.
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"You really are going on a date?" Clark asked him.
"Yes, that's the bet, right?" he said fixing his hair not to look too much like Superboy's but definitely not all Conner Kent.
"I don't believe it," Clark said as he fixed his tie.
"I will take pictures. What about you?" he said with a smug smile. Caitlin had been right, it had been a stupid bet.
"Dinner and show," Clark summarized.
"So, is it someone from work?" he asked curiously.
"You will see," Clark said with a self-satisfied smile
"The two of you should be ashamed for roping those women into dates just because of a bet," Kara said from her door.
"I told her about it and she was fine with it," Conner said to her.
"Me too," Clark said.
"You can't be serious," she stared at them incredulously.
"Sorry for not fulfilling your quotas of drama," he couldn't help saying
"I still want you to tell me everything when you get back… actually, no don't tell me everything just the bits where you two mess up," she said before locking her door.
"It's always nice to have the support of family, isn't it?" he said with a short laugh.
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"Okay, that has to be cheating," he said as he was faced with a smiling Diana Prince, also known as Wonder Woman wearing a beautiful dress for the night.
"We said no rules," Clark said in his defense.
"But… but…" he said as Diana took the copilot seat.
"C'mon Clark or we will miss the first act," she called giving him a gentle smile to not take it to heart. It wasn't unheard of the League members to do things like this from time to time as friends.
"Oh," but the man of steel faltered on his steep but didn't turn back.
"Oh what?" he asked quietly.
"Behind you," Clark said getting on the car, "don't stay out too late."
"And be a gentleman, or else," Wonder Woman said before they drove away.
Slowly, he turned around and saw Lois standing at the entrance of their building. As if they had a mind of their own, his senses locked on her and what he felt was a horrible ache. He walked to her and offered her a weak smile.
"They are just friends," he said to her.
"Who says I care. I just wanted to see if he would lose the bet," she said before she started to walk away. The pain kept on growing.
"He still has feelings for you," he walked after her.
"I am with someone else, remember? I don't need your pity," she said walking faster to her car which was parked not too far.
"Lois, I am sorry," he said when she reached her car. Her hand stayed on the handle but didn't move, "but you knew he would not wait forever."
"I told you I don't care!" she said getting into her car in a rush. He stood frozen where he was helpless as he saw the tears threatened to roll down her face. He was still connected to her and her emotions. Her chest hurt, she wanted a smoke though she quit years ago at Clark's insistence, she wanted to speak to someone, but there was a knot in her throat, but overall she was confused by her feelings. After taking a deep she drove away, not sparing him a glance, but still wishing he hadn't come into her life.
After that, he wasn't sure if the pain in his chest was hers or his own.