Adjustment Period [open]

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

The first thing he'd insisted on them fixing was the clone brand, but the surgery to fix his arm had come first, to allow all the tissue to heal right. His tendency towards fast healing was taking care of the rest. Then they got rid of the stupid clone brand after.

His hand was gone.

It was still a thought he had to get used to. One second it'd been there and now it was gone. It hadn't even been all the dramatic, like things like that were in the movies. It wasn't some moment over a gaping pit, with a villain chopping off his hand and revealing he was his father. He didn't have to saw it off to escape from some deadly trap, horror movie style.

There'd been a fight, he'd fallen on the teleporter pad, there'd been a bright light in front of his face and that was it. Apparently, it could happen just that easily.

Then again, it wasn't the first time he'd lost a hand--that same hand, in fact--but after healing for a thousand years under the North Pole, all the damage from the fight that had killed him had disappeared, and the thing had apparently regrown. So losing limbs wasn't exactly something he never expected would happen, when it already happened once. This time, he was fairly sure it wasn't going to grow back, though.

Ultimately, he decided that was okay. He was a little freaked out about it, but he'd cope. You rolled with the punches, right?

Sometimes you have to roll with the accidental amputations, too.

It was war. This stuff happened, it was going to keep happening, and at least it hadn't been his head.

It was war, and people got hurt in wars, just like you made decisions you weren't sure were the right ones. Just like his decision to let Moses free all the clones was one that was weighing on his mind. (He was just WAITING to hear from Leon on that one).

Superboy sat upright on his bed in Medbay, arm bandaged and in a sling, and played Tetris on his omnicom one-handed. Hopefully, they'd let him out of Medbay soon, and then...then he'd figure out the rest.

Comments

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

Kara had come rushing to the Medbay as soon as she had learned of Kon's condition. She'd zipped over there really quickly, but stopped and composed herself before she actually entered the place where he was being kept.

She'd brought him some flowers she'd picked from Hydroponics, since it was Earth custom and, well, despite the fact that Kon was genetically Kryptonian, he was the only one of them who had actually been born on Earth.

She plastered what she hoped was a bright, energetic, optimistic smile on her face and walked into the Medbay.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Before you say a word, I'm fine," he said, not looking up from his Tetris game. "So don't get all weird on me."

[noboothneeded.livejournal.com]

Clark let out a deep breath.

"So. Holy crap just about says it all I think."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Pretty much."

He lifted his arm slightly.

"Got in a fight with a teleporter and lost."

Superboy gestured to the healing bruises on his face with his free hand.

"Got in a fight with a adult clone of myself and lost that one, too."

[staturity]

"Hey." Cassie looked almost normal now. You could still tell from the slightly discolored skin what skin had been transplanted onto her face and neck, but otherwise she was (almost) completely functional. But she had given up on keeping what long hair she had. It looked ridiculous when the other half of her head was almost totally shaved. So now her hair was cropped to near buzz cut levels while all of it regrew.

Not that looks mattered right now.

"Heard you had some problems on the mission."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Heard you had a gift for understatement," Kon quipped back cheekily.

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

Part of her was wondering what she was even doing there. She could keep telling herself it was boredom, or even for taunting, but she knew better. Hit Girl wasn't vindictive enough to taunt someone when they were down, not unless they were trying to specifically kill her. She barely knew if this guy would want to see her in the first place, they had been pretty snippy at each other on the comms.

Looking back, it seemed stupid, fighting over stuff that ultimately meant nothing once the fighting started. That was the part of her who understood, once she heard he'd lost a hand and that he'd done exactly what he wanted to do, that made her come here.

She didn't have flowers: she didn't know how that way,. and it just seemed meaningless. She could figure his type wouldn't have any use for the gesture, and it would seem empty anyway, coming from her. So she just brought herself.

"Hey."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

Just what he needed. The tiny sociopath.

He didn't look up from his Tetris game.

"I'm not sure why you're here, but if any part of it involves pity, you'd be better off leaving."

[theboywhowaits]

Rory looked like hell, to put no fine point on it. Normal human in open combat with people who had powers beyond his wildest dreams? Well, there really wasn't a contest. Between getting thrown into a wall, the Doctor's clone, and numerous other encounters with things he'd rather not think about...well, this had been bad. Four cracked ribs, the scanner had announced, a concussion he couldn't be sure was caused by the cloned Doctor fussing around his head or one of the many impacts with unyielding surfaces. His body was one large bruise, the burns had mostly been tended to, and he had six stitches on his forehead.

But really, his first concern once they got back to the ship was Conner.

There had been a lot of things done and said, a lot of things that he wished hadn't happened but had, and he needed to see him. To reassure himself that Conner had made it, that his son was alright.

He paused in the doorway, stitches on his forehead and a mottling of bruising apparent now that the dirt and grime had been washed away. "You look better." The arm still ended in a stump, but...they would deal with that. He crossed the room, settling carefully on the edge of the bed to spare his ribs further jostling and spare Conner a further bounce. "Who looked after that?" Physical was always more practical to deal with up front, and then they could talk about the less than physical.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"I'm not even sure. By the time they got me in here, I'd lost so much blood I was out of it."

Much to his embarrassment, he'd very nearly fainted once the adrenaline rush had died down and wasn't making him chug along.

[itsaboutaction.livejournal.com]

Superman had been worried sick over those who had went to Galilee, especially after that message. Someone had branded Kon and the others and he wanted to go down there and straighten them out. And once they got back, there was a communication block. Truth be told, he would have joined Allenby and he certainly didn't like how they had treated her over her decision.

Maybe there was some need to fix that little bit of communication problem.

For now, he needed to see Kon. It probably wouldn't be too hard to find him, though it caught him off-guard seeing him without his hand. Again.

"Kon." he called out, if only to get his attention.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

The Tetris game got tapped off and he turned and immediately gave Kal a grin.

"Hey, Kal. Before you say anything, I'm okay."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

In the busy bustle that occurred after they were teleported and returned, Jr. didn't get the chance to really do more than just mentally note every person as they returned, to make sure they all made it back okay.

Jr. was well off enough that he didn't need to take up an extra bed in medbay, though he still had a small limp as he walked. But it was nothing, and being a designer child he would heal fast enough. He was more than sure he'd see a number of familiar faces from Galilee when he entered, and when he saw Kon, he gave him a quick wave and a smile.

"Yo! Good to see you're looking better than earlier."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Not hard to. I must've looked like death warmed over."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"How's it feel?"

Now that the adrenalin rush of the battle's over, Howard's looking tired. Unfortunately for everyone else, that means his usual cranky mood is back in full force, but he's not sure what he's supposed to do. If he goes home he'll just end up pacing around the house for hours, so he's helping out at the Med Bay. There are certainly enough cuts and scrapes from the last battle to tend to.

Kon losing his hand was one of the uglier injuries, for sure.

"Looks like it hurts."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Considering I burn through pain-killers like a fat kid goes through candy, yeah. It hurts. It's healing, though."

No big.

"I've been through worse."

[encourage]

"What are you playing?" Sakura had a better handle on the Omnicomms since starting to learn with Jeka, but games were months (who could tell what months really were) off yet. She peered at his comm curiously, far more a teenager in that moment than a medical professional.

She had her moments. After all, if she wanted to know more about physical condition, she could check records; pain or pain management was tricky. Still, this beat out (in ways) the last two times Kon had been in medical. Both of those had been related to the same problem, but aging out of existence was a different kind of problem than starting to adapt to life with one hand.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Little game. You have to arrange the blocks as they fall so they snap into place and destroy parts of the wall, or else the wall builds up to the top and you lose."

He turned it so she could see him play. "Pretty easy. Well, usually."

Bit more of a challenge with one hand.

[stupidnecklace.livejournal.com]

Tana felt like she could have slept for a week, after that mission, but instead had worked on her reports and busied herself with things that had not been Kon-related.

Which had worked for about an hour until she found herself leaving the command deck and heading for Medical. Tana stopped short of Kon's bed, still in uniform. "What level did you get to?" Not, how's the arm? or You worried me so much. or anything like that. She knew he'd heard it a lot lately, after all. Tana took a seat on the side of his bed.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Fifteen's my daily record. Still haven't hit it again."

[battorch]

Tim hadn't been back long-- in fact, he'd just gotten free of the mazes when he'd done his investigating, and heard about what had happened. At least, he'd seen Conner's communications post, then found out about the return of the crew-- and discovered who was among the wounded. More specifically, that his best friend had supposedly been hurt badly.

He could avoid thinking about any guilt or anger until he sorted through that, fortunately-- and he was on his way to the medbay as quickly as possible. It was another scare, for the same thing he'd already dealt with once on the ship, and in the past even more. Conner had to be okay.

He was only careful entering medbay out of necessity, but he could feel the adrenaline in him, eyes darting across the medbay from underneath the cowl, absolutely fearing the worst--

And seeing Conner playing a game. For a moment he felt himself relax a hair, before his eyes fell on the most obvious difference, and he sank again. But he was alive. There was that.

"Conner," he managed out, voice a little rough, as he approached.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Don't get all choked up on me or I'll deck you."

He looked up reassuringly.

"I'm fine. Really."

[telekinetic_badass]

"You know, for someone who's supposed to be the Kid of Steel, you sure as hell end up here a lot. Maybe we should start calling you Aluminum Boy, or something."

That was about as close as Julian could come to admitting that he was worried about Kon. Not to mention that he was trying not to freak out over his bro losing his hand.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"It's more like a steel will. The flesh is, on rare occasion, weak, but the spirit takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'."

He could still joke around. He was fine.

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

"Dude, you are not supposed to be following my example. I am a terrible example. Well, okay, I'm an awesome sidekick and the ladies love me, but besides that."

Kon was probably sick of being asked how he was, so Paco wasn't going to do that. He was just going to sit down on the edge of Kon's bed and offer him one of the candy bars he'd bought last Shore Leave. And just...be there. Be normal. For the given value of 'normal' available on a giant, reality-hopping meatship.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Aw, but stumps bring all the girls to the yard. I want chicks to dig me."

Frowny face.