trans_9 | McCoy and His Stupid Paperclip [Open]

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McCoy and His Stupid Paperclip [Open]

Julian was in one of the sensoriums, which is where he had been spending a lot of time the last few days. Learning to fly a Federation starship wasn't easy, which was a shock to Julian since at first it seemed like the ship was smart enough to fly itself. But learning how to pilot one ended up being a crash course in astrophysics, stellar cartography, astrogation, warp physics, subspace sailing, and piloting all rolled into one. You practically had to have a Ph. D. in gravitational physics just to park the ship into a stable orbit.

Things that took Starfleet cadets months, if not years to learn, he had to cram in only a few days. It was time consuming (which meant far less Kara time than he would have liked) and he felt like his brain was going to melt out of his ears.

Which is why, for now anyway, he was taking a break. He had again recreated the SoCal beach where he grew up by, where the surf hit the sand, and the jagged rocks that were only a few feet down the shoreline. But rather than play basketball like he did last time, he was working with his telekinesis. Now that the collar was off, he was free to use his powers as he saw fit.

--And speaking of that collar, he was still holding on to it, oddly enough. Though rather than wear it around his neck, it hung from the side of his hip by a piece of his plantsuit; like he was displaying it as some kind of badge of honor--

But right now, he felt a little bit of practice time would do him good. Judging by the occasional loud explosion that came from in the sensoriums, followed by the rather emphatic cursing of one pissed off teenager, he could use the practice.

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"It's basically the same as this, only not as advanced. The holo-emitters didn't have near this kind of range." He looked up watch for the oversized football.

"My old school had on in one of the sub-levels. Summers was Co-Headmaster of the place. A real tight ass, but still managed to bang some of the hottest chicks on the planet. He'd also shit a brink if anyone used the Danger Room for something other than training."

"Wait, so you had a superhero school?"

Aha, there it is.

Kon catches it and kicks it up in the air himself. It's going to take a while to come down.

Let's hope it doesn't get stuck in orbit.

"Something like that. It was more a place where mutants could learn to control their powers, so we wouldn't like, blow up a building accidentally cause we sneezed, or something and for self-defense.

"The hero thing was optional, though." Back when the X-Men were heroes.

"You mean everyone didn't want to be? In my world there's not a lot of people with powers that don't fall into it. Hell, there's a lot of people without powers that fall into it..."

He scratches his chin.

"But then there is my team-mate Cissie, I guess. She retired because of a bunch of crap and because she'd been kinda forced into it, and it took our team a while to understand why she didn't wanna do it anymore. So maybe I can see why some people would just want a boring life instead. Less of life kicking you around like a hackey-sack."

Still, it almost sounds like Kon thinks it's far more natural to slap on spandex and beat up bad guys than it is not to.

"Life is gonna kick you around like a hackey-sack no matter what you do, especially if you have powers. It's still a choice, though. You have to decide that you're gonna risk your neck for some else." Or, at least it used to be a choice. Back before M-Day, when he had more options than simply 'fight' or 'die'.

"Just because you have powers doesn't mean you have the heart to throw on spandex, y'know."

Julian looked up, tracking a dot that he figured would be the returning football.

"I guess. That just never really occurred to me growing up," he says thoughtfully. "I was pretty much born wearing it."

And before the crazy crap that went down with the Crisis and his getting abducted to Stacy, some of the worst few weeks of his life were when he'd temporarily quit and hid on the farm.

Kara had told him about Kon's clone thing, but Julian wasn't going to be the one to bring that up. He could be an ass sometimes, but he had his limits. ~~Laura may or may not have had something to do with him setting that boundary.~~

"You ever wanted to be anything else?"

Julian started backing up while talking. He was still tracking the football, which was coming in hot. He might have to push that out towards the ocean just to cool it down.

Yeah, he may have to do that and let it cool down for a while.

"Never," Kon says, still shading his eyes to watch that come in. "Sometimes I wish some of the bad things that happened during my life never did. For a few people--if it was possible, I'd go back in time and give up being Superboy--being me, if it meant they never would've been in danger in the first place."

He shakes his head.

"But it's just who I am. I'm a superhero. I was born that way. I could be something else if I wanted, I guess, but I don't think there's anything else I'd rather be. Sometimes I wonder if that's just the choice I made somewhere down the line or if I never had a choice because I was wired that way, but I don't really care."

"I don't know if I could ever give it up, even for the people I care about. But I've always been greedy. I want it all; fortune and glory, and still have friends and family. Being rich is great, but money can't buy people who'll stick with you through whatever."

He took off from the ground, flying up to meet the fiery ball of metal he has to shove towards the pacific.

"Fortune and glory?" Kon raises an eyebrow. "The friends part gets you points, as does the fact that you seem like the type that'd barely flinch in the face of anything, but fortune and glory's overrated. Take my word for it. That's not what it's all about. Took me a while to learn that."

He'll help with the giant metal football if he needs to, but he kinda wants to see some of what Hellion can do.

"No, it's not all about that. But you can't deny that a big house, a fancy car, and enough cash to buy anything you ever wanted are some really nice perks."

~~Funny how he didn't mention countless babes in that...~~

Despite the football being a compacted bus, it really didn't weigh a lot, so Julian didn't have much trouble with it. He barreled downwards next to it, and used his tk-field to both shield him from the heat and the wind, and to push the football towards the ocean. He wasn't trying to stop it, after all, just redirect it's trajectory.

Once he got it on the flight path that he wanted, he broke off and let gravity do the rest.

Edited 2009-08-26 06:22 (UTC)

Sploosh! goes the football. Huh. He's not bad. When Kon's at full power, he'd like to see him cut loose and see if he's any real competition.

"Had it. A compound on Hawaii, endorsement deals, Pez dispensers with my head on 'em, a cheesy Saturday morning cartoon--still get some royalties on that one since it's in syndication now. And then the car eventually--and the car could fly. Also, there were two babes fighting over me. Then me and the one decided we felt more siblingey, then there were another couple babes that wanted me at the same time later. And then another couple babes later on."

He scratches his chin.

"...Actually, that happened a lot, but who can blame 'em?"

He floats down to sit down on a flat rock jutting out on the beach.

"Now I live on a farm, and wake up at 4 am to do chores to 'build character' and know how to fix a tractor. The only internet is at school, the TV gets like five channels, and Prairie Home Companion is on the radio every Saturday night."

Julian would gladly take him up on that offer. It's not like there was anyone at Xavier's who was able to push him during practice.

He landed on the rock next to Kon.

"Oh, Jesus, man. I'm sorry. That's really got to suck." That was definitely FML worthy. Only five channels?

"See, I thought that at first, but I actually kinda like it," Kon says. "Stuff didn't make me happy. Fame didn't. People did. And I've got my friends either way."

The corner of his mouth curves into a smile a bit.

"Actually the entire farm thing came with two people looking out for me. I had a few mentors--one of 'em's been a huge mentor and kinda like...an older brother, I guess. And I'd had one person that sort of took care of me like a parent, but none of 'em had ever done it like they do it. They're kinda like an aunt and uncle."

And he might never see them again if he gets sent right back to the fight at the North Pole after this, if Robin and Blue Beetle and everyone can't figure out a way to save him.

Kon leans back--it's a big rock--and tucks his arms behind his head.

"The money just complicates things. And fame is...fickle. One minute they love you, the next they think you're a cheesy sellout that's hawking discount toothpaste. If you wanna be really loved, and liked, in the ways that matter a ton more, it happens when you stop caring about all the other stuff. Just trust me on this."

"I like stuff, though," he admitted. "It's superficial and stupid and comes and goes, but I still like stuff." He shrugged.

"But like I said, I want it all. I want a ton of stuff... and I want awesome people I can enjoy it with. The best of both worlds. Five channels of cable, and someone to MST3K some horrible movie with to make it worth every penny."

Kon snorts.

"Gotta admit, the big screens in Titans Tower sure are nice..."

His mind goes back to earlier in the conversation, and he wonders aloud, "What made you decide to be a hero?"

He wanted to prove to his parents that his powers were a good thing and that he could do something great with them in the hopes that they would love him and be proud of him like they are of his older brother, James

There was a bit of silence as Julian did not give the real answer to that question.

"Fortune and glory," he finally answered. It wasn't a lie, though it wasn't the whole truth either. He laughed a little as he thought about himself back then. "Yeah, a stupid reason, I know. I kind of wish I could say something like 'With great power comes great responsibility', or something... but I was fifteen, really stupid, powerful, and a gloryhound. I've mostly outgrown the stupid part," he added.

"But I figured my options at the time were superhero or supervillain. My family was rich already, so knocking over banks would've been pointless, and taking over the world would involve to much politics, paperwork, and task management. So, big damn hero is what I decided.

"Why I stayed as one is an entirely different matter, though.

"So what about you?"

"It's not--it doesn't have to be a choice between hero and villain," Kon says with something of a frown, but he carries on into the next subject, because...well.

"I wasn't joking earlier, though, about being born a superhero. In my world, there's a lot of great superheroes, but one of the best of the best, pretty much the greatest superhero in the world, is Superman. Everybody loves him--and I mean everybody. Because everything he does deserves all the respect he gets."

For all his technically being in Kal's shadow, he pretty much was not regretful at all to be in that particular shadow, he was not regretful at all to have his DNA come from the man.

"One day, about five odd years ago, there was this genetic monster called Doomsday that was damn near impossible to kill. Took down the Justice League--that's our world's biggest superteam, took down everything in its path. He was a killing machine--he would've just killed and killed and never stopped killing innocent people if someone didn't stop him. So Superman plopped himself down in its path and basically used his fists to tell Doomsday 'end of the line.' Except it was the end of the line for Supes, too. He stopped Doomsday, but he died."

Edited 2009-08-26 08:31 (UTC)

"So... what? You decided to carry on for him?"

Granted, Julian already knew part of the story behind this, and that bit of knowledge coupled with what he just heard, things clicked and made more sense. Not just about him, but a little bit about Kara too. Regardless, he didn't let on. He'd let Kon tell him whatever he wanted to tell him.

Now comes the interesting part.

"You could say that. Kinda. So the world doesn't have a Superman, right? And all these Supermen rush in to take his place. One guy pretends to be him, but is a cyborg villain in disguise--Hank Henshaw, total genocidal nutcase--one's a robot kinda thing made from tech from Krypton, one is inspired by him and builds this high-tech suit--guy named Steel. Good guy. He's kinda still part of the family, so to speak, and so's his niece."

He flips a hand casually as if to say 'and then...'

"And then there was me. See, this hush-hush government project called Cadmus decided that the world still needed a Superman. So they basically robbed his grave and bogarted some of his DNA to make their very own, although they had to make the clone a human hybrid to make him stable. Took 'em 12 tries before lucky number 13, but I went from single cell to single guy in a about a week, and they dumped all this knowledge and stuff directly into my head so I'd know everything you pick up in school and pop culture."

He sits up again.

"Except in my world, clones always get the dog's life, you know? They're one of the few groups not many people look out for. Kal's kept an eye on it, after finding out he was cloned against his wishes, but the government doesn't see us as having anything remotely resembling rights--even now. They know not to tangle with me, because I wear the S and that comes with a whole lot of pain if you mess with it, but they never stop trying. Anyway, Cadmus wanted a Superman they could control so they were all set to download control programming into my head, too. No free will necessary, as far as they were concerned. But some of the other clones--the Newsboy Legion--woke me up before I aged to adulthood and I busted out of my test tube still at the tender age fifteen, and went out into the world. Kal came back to life through sheer luck and alien technology, so I stopped trying to be Superman, and gave being Superboy a shot. Turns out I was pretty good at it."

He gestures to himself. "And here I am. There's my stunning, action-packed origin."

Although he'd left out the, ah, Lex Luthor part.

"See, the thing was, though, it's not like I asked to be cloned from Superman, and I basically busted out of Cadmus already in spandex, wearing the S, with the idea implanted in my head that that's who I was supposed to replace. There's times I could've turned away, but I never did--only recently, I took a break, when something shook me up, but then I realized the world needed me to keep being me. It's not like I had parents, either, so a normal life was kinda hard to figure out. Heck, for the first while, I didn't even have a name, and Big Blue gave 'em to me one by one over time, as he kinda adopted me into the family."

He looks over at Julian. "So I never really made a choice to be a superhero. I just was born one. I could choose to be different, maybe, but I was made for this, and I've been one my entire life." His very, very short life, technically. "It's less a choice and more who I am."

Edited 2009-08-26 21:06 (UTC)

Now that he had the full context, he took a moment for all of that to rattle around in his head. He compared it to what he knew about Laura and Logan, two people who were basically made into killing machines, who had to practically fight their nature just claw their way up to something close to humanity. Kon was made to be something better than that.

"Well, there's always worse things you could be."

He tilts his head.

"Maybe."

Briefly chewing on the inside of his cheek, he considers something, and while he's somewhat private about some things in his life--he's a Kent, and that's definitely a Kent thing to do--for some reason, his instincts tell him he can trust this guy. Like how he knew from the start that Tim and Bart were friend material. Sometimes you just know.

"Except the director of Cadmus, Westfield, thought he was sticking mostly his DNA in me for the human half. He was a skeaze--and he was also wrong. Someone worse snuck in and replaced Westfield's DNA. I only found out recently."

He's been ashamed of it for so long, and he's still processing, but part of him is defiant, as always, and thinks he shouldn't be ashamed. As always, he pretends something doesn't bother him, and that's the first step into letting it not bother him--and if it doesn't bother him, he can talk about it, right?

Keller would probably find out about it anyway--it's now common knowledge in his world, after his rampage.

"A guy named Lex Luthor. One of the worst supervillains on Earth, and Superman's archenemy."

He holds up two fingers and wiggled them around.

"I'm cloned from both the greatest hero and one of the worst villains on Earth. I guess...what I'm trying to say is I can choose a lot of things, but with all of it, choosing 'normal' never seemed like it was in the cards. So it's always kinda interesting and weird to hear about it. And I guess--I miss when it was more simple. I keep thinking, like, I still am just what I am, like I always did, but sometimes I wonder if I'm just telling myself that or if it's more like what you said--choosing between being a hero or a villain."

"Oh... wasn't expecting that." That's definitely interesting, though. He turned that over in his mind for a moment, as a thought occurred to him.

"You know 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts?' That's not true for everyone. Some people are just so stuck on what they are or what they can do, that if you take that away from them... there's almost nothing left.

"I guess that's why I liked Xavier's so much. It took me a while to figure it out, but I was learning to be more, to be... I mean, I wasn't just a mutant, or just an X-Man, or just a superhero. I was those things... but I was also part of something bigger than myself, and it made me want to be a better person because of it."

He almost sounded wistful when spoke. he really should have taken more advantage of that when he had the chance. He had been so damn stupid.

"But it all fell apart on me before it sunk in. And next thing I knew, everything I ever thought I was had been taken away from me. When I had woke up here I had finally hit bottom. No X-Men, no friends, no family, no powers, and I was a billion miles from everything I knew." He looked down at his hands, watching them faintly glow green; a small reminder that he had gotten a piece of his life back.

"I could tell you my name, but I really didn't know who I was or what I was anymore. I probably still don't even know."

He looked over at Kon.

"If you couldn't be Superboy anymore, who would you be?"

There's a long silence there, as Kon thinks about it for a bit, and then he looks at Julian sidelong, his mouth quirks just so, and he says:

"Superboy."

Julian let out a laugh and shoved Kon playfully with his elbow.

"Ass."

McCoy and His Stupid Paperclip [Open]

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