Who:Conner and Dick What:Confrontation Whenbackdated to the holidaysish time Where:Dick's second hq and then a safe house Warnings:none, just a little bit of canon violence Status:complete
Conner had spent the week hiding out in Dick’s secondary building. Dick probably knew it, but he was glad for the lack of intrusion. It meant less stress on Conner. For a moment he’d had a bit of mental clarity, but all that had changed when he decided he needed to stop the noise. One way to do so was physically destroying it. He’d rigged that second building with an explosive and picked up his bag to leave.
He didn’t belong anywhere. He couldn’t let himself forget that. He wasn’t Luthor or Kent. He didn’t really know what he was. He just knew he needed to silence the noise in his head. That was the number one priority. Even that room was immensely loud with an intrusive buzz that took over his entire body. He left that building behind on a timer countdown.
–
Dick was aware that Conner had housed up in the training building. He knew something was wrong, but it was hard to know exactly what since the young man wasn’t being forthright with him. So Dick watched on with quiet worry as he tried to give Conner some space.
After some convincing from others, though, he decided to go see if Conner was ready to talk. He must have just missed the man since when he walked in, it appeared to be empty. Dick called out, moving further into the space. Then, as was his way and how what he’d learned from Bruce, Dick couldn’t help but to snoop. If Conner wasn’t here, then maybe he’d find some sort of information on how to help him. At the very least, maybe he’d learn what was going on.
He didn’t find any of that. What he did find, though, was explosives. And a countdown that was nearing its end.
– Conner wasn’t too sure himself. Even if he was asked, he wouldn’t have had an answer. He was tired of no answers. Angry even. Wanted everything to stop. But then he saw it. Well, more like he heard it. The familiar quiet presence of Dick Grayson. One he usually felt soothing, but this time it sent his anxiety into a spiral. Mainly because of what was left behind.
But Conner did nothing. Conner simply watched from that distant spot he’d chosen. Steel eyes hardening on the building. It exploded. Conner forced himself to move towards that building, and in a split second was inside with Dick. Still saying nothing. Just watching as things began to crumble around them. Like his body wasn’t able to respond properly. He was trying to force it back to control, but failing. The building wouldn’t hurt him. But his brain wouldn’t let him help either.
“Decided to show up?” He asked in disbelief, a cold tone that really didn’t belong there.
–
There were a few benefits of having experience with explosions and with traps directed at you was you learned ways to survive them. It also helped that it was in a place meant for training which meant stuff was around to help with said survival. Not that it made you immune.
He wasn’t dead, which was good, though he was sure there’d be some heavy bruising and he might have cracked a rib. It wasn’t the worst as he pushed off the literal shield he used to help protect himself and climb to his feet. He was covered in debris and he coughed. Then he heard Conner.
He looked up and coughed again before responding, his expression kept neutral on purpose, though his eyes were on guard. “Is there a reason you decided to blow up this place?” He bit back another cough mostly out of principle.
– Conner watched, heard the responses. Saw Dick laying in that crumbling building. “There has to be a way to undo it all. This is only the first one.” There were others planned. The Kent house was next.Deep down, he felt this mild twinge of guilt and this need to help. But he did nothing. “All of this is just an illusion. You’re fucking with me. This is in my head.” He couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t anymore, so he was going to burn it all to the ground.
–
Dick was confused, though he didn't show it. What the hell had happened to Conner for him to be so messed up?
“This isn't an illusion Conner. This is real.” He paused, his jaw clenching a little as he said the next part. He never liked this part. “I won't let you put other people in danger Conner.”
–
If asked, Conner couldn’t come up with it either. He didn’t remember. He was barely a whisper in that shared memory as it was though. But also the only reason that body was standing there. The Luthor in him couldn’t sway him away.
“It needs to stop one way or the other, and this is the only way I can stop it.” The only way in his mind that made any sense was to start taking them out. One by one if he had to just to get answers.
-
His lips pressed together for a moment, his mind on the little device in his pocket. Hopefully it hadn't broken, but Batman tech for as pretty durable considering what they needed to go up against.
“There's another way.” A way Dick didn't want to use. He knew from stories that he'd used something similar on Conner before and even just hearing it made Dick feel guilty. It felt like a betrayal. But it seemed like Conner needed help and this was the only way he could think of helping that wouldn't leave the town a disaster.
Because he needed to get closer, Dick threw himself at Conner, intent on fighting the young man like he had any hope to win. He just needed enough time to get close to Conner, even if it meant he'd feel it for a while after.
–
Before he could ask how, in that smoldering building Dick launched at him. Conner initially put a hand up to try to block him, but Dick somehow caught him off guard with that move. “Get off!” He hissed through his teeth as he went to throw him. Whoever was in control just then, didn’t have all the control that Conner did. Nor the reaction timing of the kryptonian. Conner had been through some things that made him faster recently. But whatever was happening, put him at half speed.
–
One-on-one, the only thing Dick could hope to accomplish was survival and he knew that but Dick just needed to be close. He couldn’t let Conner hurt other people and in turn hurt himself. Maybe he should have said sorry, but in the moment, it was the thing that had to be done. He managed to put his hand in his pocket and pull out a small device. He lifted it up to Conner and pressed the button. It sprayed green dust suddenly - kryptonite in powder form.
– The control he lacked when it wasn’t just him by himself was an insane difference. If it was just Conner he might have been able to throw Dick off with no problem, but with Lex? It was like the blind leading the blind really. Eyes widened as everything went suddenly dark. It didn’t take much at all to disable him with it while that building continued to crumble around them. He collapsed with Dick still on him if he was. A pained look touching his eyes as he tried to remain conscious, but it didn’t last long against that powder. The world went dark around him.
— It would be hours before he woke up again. Sometime early into the morning hours his eyes finally reopened. They were less glassy, but disorientation was still there. Things were blurry, and he made a pained attempt at getting up.
–
There were a few things that Bruce Wayne had taught Dick Grayson over the years. One of those things was to include a safe house. This one was a cabin in the middle of the wilderness. Would it stop Conner? No, but it would slow him down a little bit. Mostly he just wanted to try and help the kid out. There were times he doubted he was any good at that sort of thing, but he still continued to try.
He’d been sitting on a chair off to one side of the one-room cabin. He was hunched over, his elbows on his knees, and when he heard Conner he looked up from his pensive thoughts. He watched him for a moment before he spoke. “How are you feeling?”
– After a moment he was forced to lay back down and put a hand to his head. Kryptonite anything caused what he was pretty sure was a raging headache. He wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. “Like shit.” He managed with a dry mouth and closed his eyes for a moment. Maybe this was what being hung over felt like or something. He didn’t know. There weren’t many things that affected him like this did.
There was some silence before the room came better into focus and he was met with a wooden color he didn’t recognize surrounding them. He shifted pained eyes towards Dick. “Where are we?” His voice was gravely from lack of use.
–
“In the middle of nowhere.” He answered, remaining where he was, but watching Conner with slightly furrowed brows. “I wasn’t sure how or who you were going to be when you woke up so I decided to take away all the innocent people.” Even if it was temporary, though he had a panic button to press and let Clark and Diana know if Conner went nuclear. Superman and Wonder Woman were the only two he could think of that had a chance of stopping him,
– A bit of a frown crept into his features as he looked over at him and rested his arm over his forehead. “...Neither was I.” Fortunately it seemed like he was back to being himself. But he shifted his gaze over to Dick cautiously. Uncertain if he had done anything to him. The man seemed like he was physically intact, but Conner then closed his eyes. “Did I hurt anyone?” He was a bit worried he may have done something to him that he couldn’t see. The last thing Conner actually wanted to do was hurt Dick. Or the others he had come to accept and care about in his life.
–
The annoying thing (he was told) about Dick was that he hid things to make others feel better. So while he was bruised and aching, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to make Conner feel more guilty - he was sure the kid was doing that on his own well enough.
“The training building will need to be rebuilt, but otherwise I think I got to you quick enough.” A pause, then softly. “You weren’t in your right mind, Conner.”
– He looked over at the guy as if to scrutinize him and judge for himself. “....Don’t really remember much of it.” It was a half lie He wasn’t sure he wanted to think about it anymore though. “Can we stay here for a while?” He wasn’t ready to go back yet.
–
“We can. We have enough food and water for a week. I can always go get more too if you want to stay for longer.” It didn’t bother Dick being out in the middle of nowhere and it didn’t bother him that Conner needed help. The only thing that bothered him was he hadn’t seen it coming as well as he wished and that he wasn’t sure how to truly help. “It’s going to be okay Conner.”
– With the reassurance they could stay there for a bit, he nodded and looked over at him. “Probably should tell Clark, but I have no idea where my phone went.” He didn’t have it in his pocket, so for the time being he’d leave it to Dick to do so. His eyes closed. He was drained, and just wanted nothing more than to sleep for a while.