trans_9 | Adjustment Period [open]

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Adjustment Period [open]

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.

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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.

"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."

Kara stopped in her tracks. Her smile faltered and she blinked. "I am weird, apparently," she stated then. "Being trapped in animated stasis does that to you." She smiled at him though, genuinely this time. He was cracking jokes. Kon could still crack jokes. That was so very, very of the good. "I brought these for you, though. I still don't understand how they comfort you, but..." she held them out for her cousin. "Earth custom."

"I never got the flowers thing either, but thanks."

He paused his game and sat back.

"So. Hi. I'm not dead. (Again)."

Seriously, don't get weird on him.

"And yet, I'm sure you used the flowers thing on Tana, Cassie, and whoever else it was that you went all romantic on," she teased as she took a seat next to her cousin. She studied him seriously for a moment, and remembered what she'd heard about the Crisis that was supposed to happen back home.

The one in which Kon was meant to die.

She'd been thinking about that ever since she'd heard about Kon's situation, but she tried her best to brush those thoughts away.

No weirdness. Kon would hate that.

"Thank Rao for that?" Kara said, a little unsurely. Did Kon beg to the Kryptonian gods? Kara realized that she didn't really know. "What have the doctors said?"

"They said I could get a cloned replacement but--"

A pause.

"After all that, with the clones down there, there's the fact that we don't exactly know where Stacy gets her cloned limbs and organs from. Doesn't feel right. Mechanical limb would just break. Other than that, it's healing fine."

His hand was just...gone. And he'd have to deal with it.

"Too bad we don't have, like, Cyborg here," Kara replied. "Since he'd be able to...help." She set the flowers down and chewed on her lip for a moment. "It's healing fine, but how are you? Seriously, I mean. Jokes and brave fronts aside."

There was the slightest of pauses.

"To be honest, the hand thing? That was a fluke. Went down on a teleporter pad, lost it, and that was that."

It was traumatic, sure, but not the end of the world.

"It was the situation that was bad down there. The stuff that happened with the clones. That was what was messed up, and I'm still working through that. I think I will be for a while."

"As simple as breaking a nail," Kara said offhandedly. She looked down at her hands. "Which, incidentally, hasn't happened since I left Krypton. I also haven't been able to get anyone to give me a manicure." She blinked. "Kinda makes me envious of Cassie and Courtney." She shook her head. "Sorry. Tangent." She frowned. "I'm still not clear on all the details regarding what happened down there. I just heard...well. About you. And I came straight here."

Clark let out a deep breath.

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

"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."

"Basically, they were using clones as slave labor, and to get what we needed, they wanted us to help them put down the resistance that was trying to put a stop to it and crush any hope at all they'd ever be free."

Yeah, that spelled it out pretty well.

"Also, they branded the clones in the group as clones with a holographic brand like we were special edition comic books or something. Also, they cloned us all against our will. They kinda sucked."

Understatement.

Edited 2011-07-30 09:29 (UTC)

"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."

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

"It's one of my super powers." Cassie smiled and walked closer. "Care for some company?"

"As long as you don't try to tackle me into blocks this time, sure," he said, referring to when they'd been temporarily de-aged.

"Also, this probably goes without saying, but no pity. I will punch every person that does the pity thing with my good hand. In the mouth. Regardless of sex, species, or circumstance."

Edited 2011-07-30 09:25 (UTC)

Cassie sat on the bed next to Kon's. "No pity but no promises when it comes to tackling you into blocks." Cassie shrugged. "Honestly I know how mind numbingly boring being stuck in Medbay is so I thought I'd come visit. They give you any painkillers?"

"Nah, I'd burn right through 'em if they did. My metabolism's that fast. Upside to that is I'm already mostly healed up, though. I'll be out of here in no time flat. They just wanted me in for 'observation.'"

A shrug.

"Another day or two and it'll be back to the usual."

Barring the changes to his life.

Cassie nodded. "That's good. I don't want to pry but- are you thinking of getting uh-" She held up her own left hand. "A replacement?"

Superboy shook his head.

"After all the stuff with the clones, and them cloning body parts on that planet -- we don't really know that Stacy's telling the truth, right? We don't know for sure where the cloned parts come from. We only have her word on it. I'd rather play it safe. And a mechanical hand would break if I used too much force or my teke. I've got one good hand and I've got telekinesis and that should be enough to get by."

"Yeah, I understand." Although she'd made the opposite choice. But her opinion on Stacy improved greatly after being trapped in a ship of psychotic aliens. "It takes a while to get used to."

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."

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.

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.

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."

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