Julian Keller (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
telekinetic_badass) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trans_92009-08-25 02:55 am
telekinetic_badass) wrote in trans_92009-08-25 02:55 am
Entry tags:
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.
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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"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."
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"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?"
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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, JamesThere 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?"
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"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."
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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.
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"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."
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"Well, there's always worse things you could be."
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"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."
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"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?"
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"Superboy."
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"Ass."
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And he is. For once.
"I've lost my powers and still been a hero. I've chosen the wrong side and aided a fugitive and a murderer, I've been an outlaw on the run from the government, I saw--I saw the first girl I loved die because of me. I've fought alternate timeline evil selves, and evil future selves. I've been brainwashed, and tortured, and nearly killed like a billion and one times. I've been told I wasn't Superboy, that I wasn't good enough for it--that I should be replaced. And I've been told in the future, I'm supposed to die."
He lifts his chin.
"And even through all that, sometimes what I am changes, but who I am doesn't. I'm Superboy--I'm Kon-El. The ladies love me and men wanna be me, and I beat man-sharks twice before breakfast, and I save the world, and that's who I am. The world can change, what people think of me can change, even parts of me can change a little, but I'll still be me, and nothing and no one can take that away."
His expression is a challenging one.
"So who are you?"
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"I'm the guy who's bangin' your cousin."
He patted Kon on the shoulder again, the pushed off and flew down the beach before Kon could kill him.
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Then...
"No, who you are is a DEAD MAN!" Kon shouts, as he flies after him. "And not Deadman, either, an actual dead man!"
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"No, I'm a god damn X-Man!"
And he's bangin' your cousin, Kon. You'll just have to deal.