trans_9 | Like 31st Century Fanfic Really... [open]

A battle raged above a barren world, the odds against the two heroes fighting side-by-side in the thick of it all, but they both refused to give up; there was simply too much at stake for that.

"Keep fighting, we’re winning!" One hero declared. He looked a little like an older version of Kon-El, but with some slightly different facial features and a different costume.

Brainy turned to say something in return, but his eyes focussed instead on the cannon levelled at Superman’s back and primed to fire.

"Look out!" But he could see that the warning wasn’t going to be enough, so threw himself desperately forward, managing to shove Superman clear as the weapon fired and hit him full force, ripping open his side and exposing the circuitry within. As he spiralled out of control and fell to the lifeless rock below, he could only watch as Superman quickly finished off the last of the enemy’s forces and rushed to his side.

"Hold still! You’re going to be fine," Superman insisted, clutching the Coluan boy’s hand tightly. It felt real and warm to Brainy’s sensors, and he gasped weakly, playing up his injuries.

"No Superman, I’m too—" a break for another gasped breath "—it’s too... late for me..."

"Don’t say that! I won’t leave you here!"

"You have to! I can’t go—" GASP. And a weak, pathetic cough. "—You have to save the... universe... Please..."

Superman’s eyes began to tear up. "I’ll never forget your sacrifice, Brainy," he said. "No matter what happens, you’ll always be a hero in my mind."

"Super—" Brainy tried to say, but he coughed again and, with a final sigh, went limp in the hero’s arms as the music swelled to a crescendo and—

Someone was in the room with him. The moment he realised, Brainiac 5 sat up and snapped out an order – "Stacy, end simulation" – mentally cursing that he hadn’t picked up on the intrusion sooner. Trying to act like he hadn’t just been involved in that simulation, he picked himself up off the ground and turned to face the new arrival.

[[if you’re curious, this is all completely canon, so feel free to wander in and comment as you see fit!]]

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"T-that's not true." Except he was suddenly aware that it actually is. Kon wasn't Superman, and that was all that had concerned him up until this point. He got a tiny guilty twinge at that, but it didn't stop him from continuing with Mission: Capture the Kryptonian.

"Besides, it isn't as though I've had the chance to spend more time with you."

"Not that you wanted to try. Typical Brainiac--too focused on the science to get to know the people--"

He flips under another forcefield.

"And apparently you prefer fake people to real ones, too."

Kon's words hit a nerve, and Brainy stopped trying to catch him. "I'm not like that," he insisted. "I just..."

His arms wrap around himself in a vaguely protective gesture. "Never mind. When you're done laughing, I'd appreciate it if you left."

Kon stops, finally. He likes his ribbing, but he doesn't like making people feel bad.

"I'm just joking around. Everybody hero worships him. Hell, I do too. Not that I'd do something like this or anything, but..."

He smirks, "...I know a thing or two about what it's like to really want to make someone like Big Blue proud of you."

There was a moment or two of silence, then, "...he does have that effect on people, doesn't he?"

But something was clearly still bothering him. "Do you... really think I'm like that?"

"Antisocial, and too dumb to realize connecting with other people is a good thing? Yeah. But I wasn't calling you out on being like the first Brainiac. I'm used to the other one who's pretty dumb the same way," Kon says. "It's like you both forget you're supposed to be people."

Brainy ~~pouted~~ frowned at that. "I have friends and I'm better at connecting with people than he is." Or at least he liked to think so. It wasn't as though he had done any research into the claim.

"Besides, he's the one who's supposed to be a person." It sounded more bitter than he intended.

"And what, you're not 'cause you're a robot?"

Kon rolls his eyes.

"That's now how it works." He says it like it's the most matter-of-fact thing in the world.

"...try telling that to other Coluans." It was little more than a muttered comment, then he sighed and glanced back at Kon. "But... Maybe you're more like Superman than I thought."

"I knew a guy who was a robot. Red Tornado. He looked out for my team, back in the day. Young Justice. Got us out of all kinds of trouble," Kon says. "He has a daughter. A family. And he used to get ten kinds of crap over not being human, when he was one of the most human--and one of the most sarcastic--people we knew. They tried to take his kid away from him and everything, but we all knew better."

Robots can be people and that's that.

"Anyway, Kal has a way of...making you want to be better than you are, without making you feel like who you are isn't good enough. But one thing he always told me was that I should...be proud of myself and kinda forge my own destiny, and that I didn't need anyone else--not even him--to tell me what I already knew--that I was a hero."

He raises his eyebrows significantly, and floats back down to the floor.

"I kinda think it was good advice."

"...really?" He hadn't heard much about anyone by that moniker, but he wanted to look into it further now. "Coluans in my dimension would prefer it if I abandoned my desire to become more... human. It makes things a little difficult."

He smiled to himself. That did sound exactly like something Superman would say. "I think so too. He was always good at saying things like that. Thank you."

"I'm gonna leave you alone to your, um...'training simulation.'" He does quotey fingers. "And I am going to keep laughing myself stupid over it, but I promise I won't tell anyone else."

The quotey fingers earned a sigh, but at least he was getting left alone now. "I suppose that's something," he said. "Thank you. Again. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my training simulation."

The high-pitched teeny voice comes back. "I know you need your alone time with Soooperman. Your dreamy, dreamy alone time!"

Then he's out the door with a laugh before Brainy can smack him.

Like 31st Century Fanfic Really... [open]

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