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“And we have enough provisions for everyone?”
“We’ve bundled everything we could from the entire north-eastern part of the city, ma’am.”
“That’s only enough to last another month. We’ll have to figure something out…”
Conner turned up the collar to his leather jacket and looked out at the empty night sky, away from Lois and her appointed lieutenants. There hadn’t been a Parademon within earshot since the resistance moved into this new facility, but that was little comfort. Whether they came now or six months from now, it made no difference. What was the point.
Even amongst all the murmuring from deep within the base, her steps rang clear in Superboy’s ears. He halfway glanced over his shoulder as Lois approached to acknowledge her.
“I know I don’t have to tell you this, but there are a few girls in there that wouldn’t mind sharing their dinner with you,” said Lois humorously. Conner wanted to groan.
“Maybe I’ll go back in time for breakfast,” he said dryly.
“You should take the night off,” Lois said gently. Conner returned his gaze to the dark sky, ignoring that sentiment. “Shazam is already out there flying patrol,” she tried again.
“Wasn’t enough last time,” muttered Conner bitterly under his breath. Regret filled him the moment the words left his mouth. He twisted around quickly with an apology on his tongue, but Lois was made tougher than he still gave her credit for. She simply held a hand up to stop him and had an understanding look on her face.
“Well,” she continued, seemingly unbothered, “if you don’t want to take even one night off, how about some company?”
Conner’s eyebrows knit together as Lois joined him at his side and folded her arms, gazing up at the night sky with a determined look in her eyes. Giving up on figuring her out, he fixed his gaze skywards again, though there was only vast darkness to register.
“You know it wasn’t until I met Clark’s parents that I really learned to appreciate this,” said Lois softly after a quiet moment. Tenderness touched her hard gaze. “It wasn’t until a few evenings with his family out on the ranch that I really started to appreciate the little things we had.”
Conner’s eyes shone as the moon’s face came out from hiding. “Have,” he corrected her.
Lois’s gaze dropped down to him. He wasn’t looking, but the corner of her mouth tilted upwards the tiniest bit, the first time it’d done so in the three nightmarish months since the world ended…
~
It was two nights later that Conner heard something unfamiliar. It was like air smashing in on itself and twisting. Flying from the covers of his cot, that he’d just laid down in, Conner yelled at everyone he passed to seek shelter deeper in the base or grab a rifle if they were designated to.
“What’s going on?” yelled Lois, throwing on a jacket over her nightshirt, but Conner didn’t stop. The noise was right outside of the facility and Shazam was still looking after the refugees in the west. He had to be the first one to make it there.
Conner slammed onto the pavement outside of the facility in an attempt to make the most noise, painting himself a target. He grit his teeth and prepared for war, flashes of Titans Tower blasting in his mind’s eye.
He had been very fast. A shinning violet portal that perhaps only a single Parademon could fit through on the ground in front of him hadn’t yet faded. Conner’s fists were up, but his aggressive demeanor dissolved as he saw only two long figures step through: a short and thin one, and a tall, burly one.
Conner gaped as the light faded.
“It can’t be…”
The taller, burlier figure lowered his hood and revealed a morphed, but still familiar face. “Son?”
His father, Superman, had returned. Raven of the Titans lowered her hands as her portal dissipated. Her strange, otherworldly amethyst eyes stared unblinkingly from beneath her hood.
Conner jetted forward and wrapped his biological father in a bear hug, although immediately let go.
“Ow!” grunted Clark in pain. “I missed you, too, son.”
Conner retracted his arms, took a step back, and looked up into the face of Superman. He needed a second to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light. Etched lines like green glowing veins scarred Clark’s face. The sclera of his eye was pitch black with his used-to-be-handsome-blue iris now the same shade of poisonous green. Almost like-
“Kryptonite,” Conner breathed. Clark shut his eyes tight in hallowing defeat. There was a tumultuous parade of stomping feet and barked orders as the facility’s wide doors opened and a small legion on unready men and women stormed out to fight, Lois leading the charge. But just as Conner before them, they slowed down to an unsure halt as they appraised Superboy standing with the two lone figures. Clark’s eyes reopened and his breathing hitched audibly as he saw her standing out front.
“Lois.”
Lois Lane’s rifle dropped from her hands and clattered on the pavement as she gaped similarly to Conner. She and Clark ran forward at the same time, embracing one another firmly. Conner watched their sweet seizing of one another like everyone else around them. When they separated, she gazed up at him as if he were the stars, perhaps not even noticing the imperfections that now plagued Superman. He held her face between his hands and looked as if the world was in his possession.
“How?” she asked him.
Clark’s expression faltered. “It wasn’t an escape if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Lois’s eyes tightened fractionally. Her gaze shifted Conner’s way, but he quickly realized she was looking behind him and remembered the other figure there- Raven.
“Come in and eat,” said Lois. “We’ll fix something up immediately. You two must be famished?”
“We’ve been having to survive off of my cooking skills over open fires,” smiled Clark. “So I know Raven is.”
Conner glanced at Raven and saw that she did not share his humor. “You okay?” he asked her. Raven’s gaze slanted from Clark and Lois to him. Did she ever blink?
“Fine,” she said shortly. Without another word, she drifted past almost ghost-like to follow the resistance back into the base. Conner watched her go.
~
“He dropped me off right at the Hall of Justice, just so I could see how destroyed it was.”
“I’m so sorry, Clark,” said Lois soothingly. Her husband was eating with one hand as she refused to let go of the other. Them, Conner, Raven, and a couple of dozen soldiers all filled a long cafeteria table, though only Clark and the ex-Titan were having anything to eat. It was the dead of night.
Clark continued. “After I found Raven, we decided to set off together to find anyone we could. It took a few days, but she was able to feel out large gatherings of emotions from vast distances, which is how we found you all,” he finished. Clark stared down at his eggs as if they were his failures on a plate. “What a fool I was,” he muttered to himself bitterly.
“Is there any information you can tell us at all?” inquired Lois professionally. Clark snorted and dropped his fork.
“Darkseid is more powerful now than ever,” he said. “He tortured Bruce and I for the longest, don’t ask me what he did with the others, I don’t know. But a couple of weeks before he was satisfied with injecting me full of kryptonite, he’d turned Batman into his slave. Molded some sort of Apokolips Batman-themed armor to Bruce’s skin and stuck him on the Mobius chair to do his bidding.”
“We know,” said Lois softly. After Clark’s questioning look, she adopted a snarling expression and clarified. “Lex is Batman’s lackey. He’s hold up in Lex Corp tower guarding the only passageway back to Apokolips.”
Clark’s eyes widened. “Lex is collaborating with Darkseid? No, there has to be some mistake. Not even he-“
“I’ve seen it, Clark,” Lois cut across. “Lex is reporting directly to Batman. He even has his own military legion doing his bidding.”
“They believe that if they serve obediently, Darkseid will allow them to live,” added Conner in a disgusted tone. He sat across from the couple.
Clark wretched his fist away from Lois’ grasp to bury his face in his hands. Raven gently put down her fork, gazing sadly downwards. Conner’s gaze flickered to her for a moment- she was so quiet, he often forgot she was there.
But he turned back to his father again. “How long have you been back on Earth? Where have you been?”
Clark lifted his damaged face from his hands. “Well, maybe a little foolishly, I checked out the other areas I knew heroes were, thinking maybe the Paradooms didn’t know all the spots to hit. Undamaged cars still had gas in them, so I was able to get around pretty quickly so long I didn’t make much noise to draw attention to myself. One of the first spots I checked was Titans Tower… to see if you and the team were okay, at least.”
Conner glanced curiously at Raven again, whose eyes finally closed. “But no one was there?” he said. “We fled. After Raven retrieved Robin from the water after being knocked out, we flew away. The Paradooms have your strength, but not your speed, so we managed to escape. Which is what we should have done in the first place…”
“You fought to protect,” Lois reminded him sympathetically. “Don’t forget that.”
It didn’t do anything to comfort Conner. Because now he remembered the next part. He swallowed tightly, manning up to look his father in the eyes, and said, “After Raven and Robin went north to figure things out, I flew to Kansas, to see…”
Clark met his gaze, then shut his eyes tightly.
“Ma and Pa…”
Conner shut his eyes just as tightly, his jaw flexing. He felt the brim of his eyes begin to wet. “Yeah…” he finished.
Lois let them grieve for a moment before hooking a hand around Clark’s arm. “Come on,” she said gently, “we need to rest. It’s late.”
Clark nodded and stood with Lois, everyone else following suit after them as if they had been dismissed. Conner’s cot wasn’t far off from where Lois slept, so he walked with them and Raven a good bit of the way. It was enlightening but immediately disheartening, to see how many people got up from their slumbers to see them with wide smiles. But those quickly left their faces. They’d heard Superman had returned with hushed, excited voices. But what they got was a blighted Clark Kent. The day would not be saved.
It was enough for Conner though. It was more than he’d had two hours ago. He walked on with his head held high.
Lois turned towards Raven before stepping into the room. “You can have Shazam’s cot tonight. It’s just in this next room. We’ll find something more permanent for you tomorrow.”
Raven nodded once and let Conner show her the way. Before she stepped inside, she quietly thanked him.
“Why were you back at Titans Tower?” he couldn’t help but ask her. Raven didn’t blink or look away, but her eyes drooped tiredly.
“Not tonight,” was all she said in that same low tone. She stepped inside and closed the door, leaving Conner standing there without answers.
~
The next few days passed in a blur of Conner giving everyone who looked at Clark as if he drained their hope instead of fueling it foul looks. Shazam had been by to embrace his old comrade with a fierce hug and catch up on everything he missed before having to set out again.
“So it really is true,” he’d said sadly, “now we’re fighting both Darkseid’s might and Batman’s strategic mind.”
Clark nodded and the powerful allies cast broken glances downwards. Lois groaned in agony.
“Will you two knock it off,” she said angrily. Clark and Shazam both looked up at her in surprise. “So things are a little bleaker now. That means we fight back even harder.”
“I agree,” Raven had said from the corner of the room she’d been quiet in. “Nothing gets done with mopping around, Clark.”
“Jeez Raven, tell me how you really feel,” Clark had mumbled, but he smiled in a guilty fashion afterward for being called out.
It had been an odd thing. Clark ate side-by-side with Raven as often as Lois, Conner noticed. Whenever his wife was busy, he’d see them together, whether eating, working, or planning. Other than that though, Raven was often alone, usually meditating. Conner’s eyebrow cocked curiously one evening when she was in the middle of it and her hand randomly grasped her forehead and she grimaced in pain. A part of him wanted to go over and ask if she was alright… but in his six-month tenure at Titans Tower, before the world had gone to hell, Raven was the Titan he was least familiar and, well, comfortable with. Her demeanor was mystic like she was somehow all-knowing with a crystal ball, her staring was off-putting, and she was so reserved unless you somehow already magically knew her.
“Hey,” came a friendly voice. Conner turned and saw a very pretty girl about his age walking up with an odd smile.
“What’s up?” said Conner curiously.
“I-“ she stared off hesitantly, then cleared her throat and spoke with more gusto. “Hi,” she restated, “I was wondering if you’d maybe like to have some coffee? The last scouting found some really good beans and I haven’t had anyone to sit down and chat with in a while.”
Conner mentally went through the long list of faces there their age and tried to look as if he was sorely tempted by that offer.
“I would,” he said quickly, “but I just have too much to do. Patrols and all that.”
The girl’s face fell and he was sorry for it. But he waved goodbye nonetheless and turned away from her, unable to help fleeting a curious glance Raven’s way…
~
“You should talk to her,” said Clark after a few weeks.
Conner looked up. It was a clear day and he and his dad were stories high, having sandwiches on the roof of the building, their feet and legs dangling off. Clark had noticed Conner looking down below, watching Raven train with several soldiers. She emitted a dark energy shield that none of them were able to blast through.
“Why?” asked Conner.
“Well, you keep looking at her,” said Clark in a teasing voice. Conner scoffed.
“Ever heard of dinner and a show?” said Conner dismissively. He took another bite of his sandwich as Raven blasted all the men onto their backs with one shot.
~
“We’ve made contact with other heroes!”
Clark looked relieved at the news that came a week later. Conner though, skeptical.
“Who?” he asked Shazam, who was on the monitor in the main office/war-room. “Where’ve they been this whole time?”
“Hiding others as best they can,” said Shazam. His scarred, decolorated eye was twice as intense as his other one. “It’s the surviving members of the Gotham’s family- Batgirl, Batwing, and Batwoman. They’ve found shelter well outside of the city limits. Regular Parademons are still flying around the skies of Gotham and Metropolis.”
“And pretty much every major city in the world,” muttered Lois. “But it’s good that we’ve made contact with them, we can coordinate now. Great work, Billy.”
Shazam nodded once and the screen went black. Lois let out a heavy sigh.
“What do we do?” Conner asked aloud to the room.
No one had an answer.
~
“We’ve retreated south,” said Barbara Gordon very seriously six weeks later. Grime covered her patchy clothes and a nasty cut was open and unbandaged on her left cheek. “Batwing took a battalion of soldiers and led the horde of Parademons north. With any luck, they’ll be quick enough to loop back around and evade a fight to meet us at the new bunker.”
“We’ll pray for you, Barbara,” said Lois soothingly. “God’s speed.”
Conner grimaced after the screen cut out. Lois dropped her face in her hands with a disgruntled sigh and Clark wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in.
“We’ll figure this out,” he promised. “There’s a way to win.”
Lois laughed once without humor but hugged him back nonetheless. “We need to find a way to stop those Paradooms from returning.”
“Sounds plausible,” said Raven. She stood straighter. “I’m going to fly around on patrol. Be back in a few hours.”
“Stay safe out there, Raven,” said Lois gently, but Clark shot Conner a meaningful look over her head. He wanted to sigh.
“I’ll go with you,” he said, glancing at Raven.
Raven didn’t say thank you or so much as a nod. She simply looked Conner’s way and then turned, as if to say, come along then. Conner shot Clark a quick look before following her.
It was a half-hour of total silence other than Conner shouting over “How about we check over there?” or “Let’s check out the valley west of here.” Even then, Raven would simply nod as they soared through the air.
When she landed softly on a cliff overlooking a tortured city in the distance, he landed beside her and attempted to strike up some form of conversation.
“What do you think the chances are we find some good clothes in that city?” he asked, peering over the demolished skyscrapers.
“Not worth the risk,” said Raven. She frowned over at him like she didn’t know if he was serious or not. “But I know how you feel. I’ve only been wearing my leotard for five months now.”
“Is that what that’s called?” asked Superboy looking down her body. Whatever it was she wore, it left her entire shapely legs exposed in a thin, mesh-like fabric. “I thought it was a corset in all honesty.”
Conner quickly muttered an apology at the look on Raven’s face. They stood there for another minute in silence, during which Conner finally kicked himself while voicing a question that had been plaguing the wondering dark parts of his mind.
“So how did it happen?” he asked. Raven glanced over at his change of tone. “How did, I mean, did he… were ya’ll ambushed?”
Her eyebrow shot up quizzically. Conner couldn’t believe she didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Robin,” he clarified, inspecting her now. Raven’s mouth fell open fractionally and her eyes widened as if she were surprised for once, but quickly regained her controlled composure, looking away towards the city again.
“You two left together when I split to Kansas. I mean, when did he…?” he trailed off. If he didn’t have supervision, he might not have noticed the tightening on her eyes again.
“He’s alive,” was all she said. “Come on.” And with that, she left the clifftop and flew towards the destroyed metropolis. Conner blanched, but followed her after a moment, wondering what the hell there was to that story that she wasn’t sharing.
~
A few nights later, Conner was again pondering over that exchange as he laid in his cot. If Robin was alive, where was he?
He hadn’t been very close to Boy Wonder, but towards the end of the last days of everything being right there had been some fort of comradery formed. Respect, at least.
‘Comradery’ and ‘respect’ would be mild phrases used to describe Robin’s relationship with Raven, however. It appeared she was as close to him as she was to Starfire, or as Robin was to Nightwing. He had a very hard time believing that they would part willingly.
Conner glanced at the time and rolled out of his blankets to start the day. It was nearly time for morning patrol, which he would be sharing with her.
Ten minutes later he knocked gently on her door two rooms away. Not a mouse stirred inside. Conner sighed and creaked the door open lightly in hopes the light would wake her, but ending up pushing it wide open in his surprise to find her cot already empty. He peeked his head in to find the small room entirely abandoned and stepped inside.
“Well alright then,” he said, placing his hands on his hips. Before he turned, however, he spotted something curious on her nightstand and couldn’t help but investigate. He reached down and lifted the small photograph carefully by the edges.
It was of the team, taken years ago. A little beat, but still clear, the photo showed Starfire, Raven, Robin, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Nightwing, and, right there in the middle with Beast Boy’s arm around her, the one he’d never met, Terra. Raven had the smallest smile he’d ever seen on anyone.
Conner smiled, too. Though that quickly vanished when he heard sharp steps of somebody’s heels and twisted around just in time to see the current-day Raven stop in her own doorway, staring at her intruder. Conner was caught with his foot in his mouth, holding perhaps her one worldly personal belonging.
“I wasn’t snooping,” he said quite awkwardly.
“Uh-huh,” said Raven doubtfully. Her stare went from the photograph he was holding to his face. There was no amusement in her unblinking amethyst eyes.
“I was coming to wake you up for patrol,” Conner tried explaining.
Raven stared for a moment longer. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said, “so I went out early. You get the morning off now.”
“I do?” asked Conner unsurely. “Thanks…”
Raven stepped inside and they were quite close together. An odd feeling occurred in Conner when she let down her hood. He suddenly didn’t see the odd magical girl who surveyed the world beneath a dark hood at all times, but a girl who was just a stroke different from all the rest and quite… angelic, really.
“I really wasn’t snooping,” said Conner in a firmer voice, “I just came in to wake you and I saw this… I-I couldn’t help myself.”
A spark of feeling finally touched Raven’s eyes (or perhaps it was always there and Conner had lacked the familiarity to have seen it): understanding.
“I get it,” she confirmed, gazing down at the photo, “I miss them, too.”
Conner glanced down at their faces again. They all looked so happy. Would the world ever be right again? Will there ever be a family photo taken like this in the future? Beast Boy looked ecstatic especially.
“Damn, I miss that guy’s loud mouth,” he said, surprising Raven with his jubilant turn of mood, and smiled at her. “Did he ever shut up?”
Raven scoffed lightly. “Not in the time I knew him.”
Conner closed his eyes reminiscently. “I remember a week after I got there we had that first foosball tournament with him, Jaime, and Wallace, and he absolutely wrecked us. Gloated for days. He kept calling himself the king so Jaime went out and bought him a tiara.”
“Leave it to Garfield to wear it around the tower proudly for a week straight,” said Raven. Perhaps it was his imagination, but it appeared she was smiling softly.
“I thought you and Donna were going to join us,” he stated, folding his arms and giving her a playful, accusing look, wanting to keep the fond memories going, “but I knew Robin was never going to. Was there ever a night he didn’t go out on patrol?”
And with that, Conner knew immediately he had brought up the one thing he shouldn’t have. The change in her serene expression wasn’t significant, but it was there, almost closing herself off with the most subtle click. Raven’s eyes dropped down to the photograph and Conner could tell they were on one member specifically.
“Damian took the job very seriously,” said Raven in a softer tone. Conner was legitimately confused for a second before realizing something.
“Da- oh, right, I forgot that was his name,” said Conner seriously, in a tone far more cautious than exuberant, “you and Dick were the only ones who ever called him by that. He wore his costume like ninety percent of the time that I knew him.”
Raven didn’t answer. She looked back up at Conner. “I think I’m starting to wind down now,” she told him, “if you don’t mind, I’ll try to get some sleep.”
Conner wanted to grimace at the change in tone but nodded instead. “Yeah, no problem. I- we’ll be out there if you need anything.” He stepped aside and towards the door left open for his exit, casting one last glance at the empath; she sat gracefully on the edge of her bed gazing down at the photo as if it were her longtime canine companion that she’d just been told had to be put to sleep.
~
Explosion, screaming, and gunfire was all that could be heard that night two months later.
“Go!” shouted Lois as she raised the barrel of her rifle skyward. She fired off its high caliber at a couple of Parademons that had managed to get by Conner, Raven, and Steel.
“You two okay?” shouted Steel across the way. The night sky was filled with the revolting minions of Apokolips. They’d found their hideout.
“Conner!” shouted Clark from the ground. Like his wife, he now fought with the same high caliber rifle, firing off into the crowd of demons.
Conner punched one off into the distance before laser beaming another in half, flying many stories high over the crowd of refugees escaping to Site B. A swarm gathered around Raven, but he knew he needn’t fear for her: Raven was the only one beside Donna to have actually killed a ParaDoom that day. Mere pathetic Parademons wouldn’t stand a chance against the violet shield she now formed around herself.
Until they did.
Conner gasped in horror as the sight of a half dozen of their foes slamming into her barrier managed to break it and heard Raven cry out. He flew towards her with such intensity that he cut straight through a Parademon like butter and dove to catch her mid-fall. Unbelievably, Raven was unconscious.
“Get her out of here!” shouted Steel from above. Though the same crowd that attacked Raven now ganged on him, he seemed boldly confident. “The cavalry is here!”
And so it was. Conner looked east to see the world’s mightiest mortal, Shazam, soaring in.
Conner nodded Steel’s way and flew off, following the cargo trucks full of people and equipment making their way towards the new safe haven.
Site B wasn’t quite as large, so many people would be forced to camp in rooms together. Clark laid Raven down in what would be her bed. When he straightened up, he, Conner, Lois, and Steel all watched her for a moment, only looking up as Shazam flew in through the door and landed on his feet.
“Coast is clear,” he told them. “Smoked every last one of them so there should be no rogue scout to report back to Darkseid. We’re safe, for a while anyway.”
“Thankfully it wasn’t the ParaDooms,” muttered Lois.
They all frowned together, knowing what that would have meant.
Shazam stared down at the unconscious Raven in concern. “How did that happen?” he asked them aloud. “Raven trapped an interdimensional demon that wrecked the entire Justice League and nearly destroyed the world. Parademons laid her out?”
“Her powers are tied into her emotions,” said Lois uncertainly, looking at her husband for confirmation more than anything, “could it be she panicked?”
Clark shook his head. “She’d never lose her cool like that. Something’s gotta be draining her.”
Conner silently agreed. He recalled the nightmarish image of hat faithful day. Beast Boy in green tiger form being caught in a ParaDoom’s arms and squeezed to death easily, then thrown to the side like a rag doll in front of her very eyes. A gasp was all she let go before remaining cool as a cucumber. Then Kori ripped in half was when she nearly broke down, but found her composure and kept fighting.
It was only when Robin was knocked back into the water that she let go a cry of fear, choosing to listen to Conner when he yelled for her to retreat after she’d retrieved him from the water. He figured it had been one teammate too far.
“We can monitor her from here on out,” said Conner. They all looked at him in surprise. “Just to make sure she’s alright. Make sure she isn’t pushing herself too hard on patrol every night.”
Clark smiled and Lois nodded.
~
So it was his own words that found Conner beginning to have lunch by Raven’s side for those next months, often joined by their father and, when she wasn’t busy running the world’s resistance, Lois.
Conner found himself watching her during those moments more often than he’d care to admit, even though she only spoke to Clark the most. There was something… truly divine about her, he thought. He pondered it late at night, thinking about it when he didn’t want to. Could a demonic entity like Trigon the Terrible he vaguely heard of have given birth to an angel?
Conner flinched when he realized he was thinking of it that way and tried his best to put it from his mind.
The next morning he and Raven had breakfast side-by-side across from Clark and Lois, who’d had a very rare morning off from looking over reports.
Conner acted nonchalantly but was very aware when Raven looked sideways at him for a moment.
“Who’s the barber around here anyways?” she said unexpectedly. Conner glanced at her in bewilderment as Clark and Lois looked up. “Everyone’s hair sure is on fleek for it being the apocalypse.”
Lois and Clark laughed as Conner touched the shaved side of his head absently. “I get Lois to do it for me,” he admitted sheepishly.
“I’ve been noticing your hair getting longer,” said Lois friendly to Raven, “want me to give you a trim?”
“If you ever have a free second other than right now and don’t mind,” said Raven. Conner hadn’t noticed her hair now falling to her shoulders. He day dreamed it pulled up into a fancy bun.
“If only Clark here would join you,” muttered Lois, innocently taking a bite of her English muffin while her husband looked offended. Conner rolled his eyes as his father massaged his thin beard; he’d been trying to grow out his facial hair ever since they arrived at the new base.
“I thought you didn’t mind the rugged look, honey?” he asked. Lois quickly looked at the time on her wristwatch and claimed she had somewhere to be and that she’d be by Raven’s cot tonight for a trim. Clark turned to Raven across from him with a puppy-like expression.
“It doesn’t look bad, right?” he begged.
“No comment, Clark,” said Raven politely and stood as well. Neither Clark nor Conner missed she’d only eaten half of her breakfast.
~
Raven was now more chatty on their patrol flights, dropping witty one-liners that made Conner laughed. He enjoyed their time together but was afraid at times during them. Raven would stop more often than before, touching ground and claiming she wanted to inspect an area further, but Conner (who could’ve just used super hearing and supervision from far above to do so) had the distinct feeling she was using this time to catch her breath.
He stopped her from taking flight a month later when she grasped her head and grunted in such pain her knees buckled.
“Slow down for a minute, okay?” he implored her desperately. Raven glared at him sideways as a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead. “What’s going on with you?”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” shot Raven. Conner took a half step back but didn’t let the matter go.
“Clark said,” he started off slowly, watching her eyes narrow in annoyance, “that your powers are tied into your emotions. Are they, I mean, are you-“
“I can take care of myself just fine, thanks,” said Raven crossly.
Conner grimaced as it seemed Raven tried to have an unnecessary stare down with him. He only wanted to help. Unable to look away from her face, despite trying to, he noticed something today: her cheeks were slightly narrower than before as if she’d lost a few pounds.
“Maybe if you tried talking about it you wouldn’t feel so bad inside,” said Conner in a voice almost as annoyed as her own. When her expression changed to surprise, he finally managed to look away from her beauty. “I mean, whatever’s been bothering you.”
Raven stared at him dead-panned. “Gee. Wonder what ever could be bothering me in this day and age?”
Conner almost scoffed but managed to turn back towards her with a serious expression. “I mean I know something is up. If you want to talk about anything, you know I’m here for you.”
Raven’s mouth twisted and she looked away. Conner took this chance.
“What happened after I took off to Kansas?” he asked flatly. She glanced back at him. “Where did you and Robin go? Why’d you two willingly split? Seems crazy to me.”
Raven watched him steadily for a moment. Conner wasn’t sure, but he thought perhaps she turned a shade paler.
“We traveled to Gotham together,” she said shortly. “But all we found was Wayne Manor in ruins.” Her gaze went to the ground. “Alfred had sat in Bruce’s room as it happened…”
Conner swallowed hard. “A captain down with his ship,” he said.
Raven nodded. “Afterwards, there was still so much panic going on that I had no shot at tracking down the members of the Bat-family that were still alive if they had even survived at all. We spent a few days just surviving and then he made his decision.”
“Which was?” inquired Conner, folding his arms.
Raven took another silent beat. “That he would go back to Nanda Parbat,” she said, “to lead the League of Assassins. He thought with those kinds of troops he could formulate an attempt to defend the world again, though he had no idea how.”
“That dude was always insanely confident,” said Conner, now feeling a bit of disgust towards Batman’s son. “So he just up and left you there, huh?”
“No,” said Raven. He watched her swallow before continuing. “He… he asked me to join him. But I couldn’t accept his offer.”
That struck Conner as odd. “I’m surprised he didn’t just drag you along,” he said carelessly and immediately regretted it. For the first time since he’d known her, Raven’s eyes flared with overwhelming emotion: anger.
“Do you think so low of him that he’d ever force someone to do something against their will and not honor their wishes,” she acidly spat at him, and now Conner took a full step back, “or so low of me that you think I’d let someone easily take me against my will?”
“I’m sorry!” said Conner urgently, holding up his hands in surrender. “Seriously, I am. I wasn’t thinking.”
Raven let that be, but her lip curled into a sneer as she looked away. Conner let her cool for a few seconds before continuing.
“So you left him,” he said to get things back in order, “and returned to Titans Tower? Why? There was nothing and no one there anymore. What’s your thinking?”
Raven’s expression dramatically softened. Her eyes became tender. “I know,” she said, and it was almost a whisper, “but I loved that view, looking over the bay. It was the most at-home I ever felt in my life, being there. I wanted it to be my last… to just pretend for one final second that I was back home with my friends. That he…” she broke off, closing her eyes in obvious pain.
Conner felt cold all around as only one word rang clear in his ears.
Final.
Oh, Raven…
“How could you ever-“ he tried to begin.
“It’s time to go,” decided Raven. Her eyes were open again and all composure was back. She looked steadily at Conner, who couldn’t see any exposed emotion in her eyes. “Don’t tell Clark we spoke about any of this.”
She waited for him to answer and Conner finally nodded, agreeing to her wishes. Without another word or gesture, she took off into the sky. Conner watched her dearly for a moment before following suit.
From that moment on, he knew what he wanted: to never leave Raven’s side so that she was never alone again.
~
Months passed and daily life became harder, though they still fought on. Conner’s concern (like Clark’s) never wavered for Raven as she slowly became skinnier. Weaker. Her cheeks began sinking in. Conner went alone on patrols often, telling her to get rest. It always appeared she wanted to argue, but the first time she couldn’t quite make it a mile out without stopping it became clear.
“Maybe you should take Steel with you,” said Clark in worry one morning as Conner was about to set off early.
“I’ll be faster on my own,” countered Conner, tugging on his jacket. “Don’t worry pops, I’ve got this.” He ran to the open door and speedily took off into the air. If he made the routes quick and all was clear, he could maybe get back in time to have breakfast with her.
And so he had, zooming back into the building, giving Lois the all-clear and making it in time before Raven and Clark got up from their morning meal. (Only Raven’s tea was touched, however.)
“Thanks, I’m starving,” said Conner happily, grabbing Raven’s toast and taking a large bite of it.
Her eyebrow lifted up, not entirely sure what’s gotten into him. The brown-haired girl who he denied over a year ago cast a scornful glance at them from two tables away.
~
An odd occurrence was presented just a few weeks later: Lois received a tip from an outside source referring to themselves as ‘Sleeper’.
“We can’t trust it,” argued Conner in the office that night, “it has got to be Batman playing us. Where on Earth would we get outside help from?!”
“Kid’s got a point guys,” agreed Steel. “I can’t think of anyone out there that we aren’t already in contact with that would help us out and stay anonymous.”
“It’s a risk,” said Lois, “but on the off-chance this information is legitimate, we need to take action. If Lex really is moving a battalion of troops to the east side of where Batgirl and her refugees are, we need to stop them in their tracks with an unexpected result.”
“Lois is right,” said Raven, and Conner hated to hear it, “we can’t risk letting a war unit land on their doorstep.” She looked at Clark. “We need to take action.”
Clark rubbed the back of his neck as everyone watched him expectantly. “Fine,” he finally said, “a small unit though, only our best. If it isn’t Parademons, that’s all we’ll need anyway.”
Lois smiled. “You got that right.” She turned to the rest to give orders, but something seizing Conner made him cut across her first.
“Me, Steel, and Shazam,” he said, catching them all by surprise. “The three of us will attack tonight. And quick.”
“When I said small unit, I didn’t mean just three,” said Clark in alarm, looking at his son.
Conner waved his concern off. “We’ll hit them hard. I’ll laser beam any pile of arms and equipment I see. Be in and out in no time.”
Raven glared at him and then to Clark, who looked at Lois; the couple was wearing identical masks of barely concealed fear.
Conner sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m Kryptonian,” he reminded them all, “Shazam has the power of literal gods and Steel is, well, Steel.”
“Thanks, pal,” said Steel evenly.
“We got this,” finished Conner with a bite.
Lois exchanged a long look with Clark. Then, slowly, she turned her gaze back to Conner and nodded. He grinned.
Raven caught up with him after they’d been dismissed with a hard expression.
“The stupidest thing any of us could do right now is play big guy saving the day,” she scolded him.
Conner shrugged easily. “I just suggested the most effective route,” he said innocently.
Raven disregarded him. “I need to talk to Clark about this-“
Conner unthinkingly grabbed her wrist before she could walk off. “You need to be safe,” he said desperately.
Raven yanked herself from his grasp and gave him the craziest expression he’d ever seen on her face. Conner sighed, knowing he went too far.
“Sorry,” he muttered, his eyes falling, “but I know your powers are losing their strength. We need to be faster and efficient in this fight.”
“A half Kryptonian’s power has its limits,” said Raven severely as she turned. “Remember that.” And with that, she walked off, leaving Conner standing there feeling hopeless and rather foolish to have tried to protect her.
~
The information had been golden, and so was the further hint that followed. After the trio struck a battalion of no less than three hundred men setting camp less than twenty miles from Batgirl’s organized refugee site, they fought and destroyed a horde of Parademons circling to their south.
And then the day came where Raven’s healing powers stopped working on the wounded.
“It’s not your fault,” Clark comforted her. Conner had wanted to be the one with his arm around her shoulders. But he couldn’t kid himself in thinking that was what she wanted.
He walked away, feeling down in the dumps despite their many recent victories, wondering why she didn’t care to sit by his side for any period longer than what it took to finish her tea at breakfast, why she seemed uninterested, even unaware entirely, of his attempts to hold her bright-eyed gaze.
It broke him in pieces when he got his answer.
It came after another attack on Site B just a couple more months down the road. A repeated process of Site A, Conner yelled for people to run as he punched, kicked, threw, and laser beamed every Parademon he set his sights on.
They had managed to damage the facility this time. It was lit in a monstrous fire and Conner hated hearing the screams from those trapped inside, though Raven, Clark, and Lois managed to get many out as Conner, Steel, and Shazam fought. Towards the end of the battle, Conner heard his father scream Raven’s name, and he panicked.
He threw himself down like a bullet to the ground, using his x-ray vision to find her. Raven, having cleared out every living person she could, had jumped into the depths to retrieve something. Conner beamed through flames to grab her.
“You idiot!” he shouted, but his anger relented as she coughed in a sickly manner and grasped her head. In no time, he had them cleared of the building collapsing in on itself and joined Clark and Lois helping the last of the evacuees.
Conner dropped Raven and himself off in the back of a pickup that was already on the move. He watched her swat at something that appeared to be cindering.
“What on Earth could have possibly been that im-“ he had begun to say angrily, but froze as he saw it held gently in her hands. The photograph of the team, nearly entirely burned away. She held it by the edges up to her face. Conner couldn’t see her expression from over her shoulder.
“Ah,” he said, feeling choked up, “I’m sorry… it’s ruined…” But what she had done next greatly surprised him.
Raven carefully wiped away soot from the remaining image. The fire had annihilated all but the middle part of her and Robin, where she had on that smallest of smiles. Robin’s own smile was hardly bigger.
Conner’s lips parted as Raven’s thumb caressed over Robin’s image. She folded the photo neatly and tucked it away.
And there it was. Conner had his answer. Something that was sitting so absurdly obvious in front of his face that he had failed to see it. He looked away from Raven and didn’t say anything for the rest of the trip, nor acknowledge his father asking him if he was alright when they arrived at the next site.
He was the fool in love with the fool who was still in love with him.
~
It was a few weeks before he could muster the strength sitting with the group of Clark, Lois, and Raven for breakfast again. And even then, he couldn’t quite meet her in the eye, which had become sunken within that time.
Most of his nights were spent thinking about it. Was that why she couldn’t join him, he wondered. Did he ask for her further companionship out of courtesy rather than reciprocated love? Did he even think about her at all, while he obsessed over the few times their skin made contact?
Conner punched a Parademon out on patrol, wishing it was Robin, his old comrade. Then hugged his pillow at night, wishing it was Raven, who was down the hallway, probably thinking of him. Damian.
~
A month later something boom-tubed into Earth’s atmosphere. A strange sort of demonic red-and-black tower of machinery slammed into the ground off the coast of England. The sky around it grew red.
“Any word of what they’re for from our Sleeper pal?” asked Steel as they watched a large monitor that displayed the machine. He, Shazam, Raven, Clark, Lois, Conner, and several of their military best were gathered in the dark room with an ominous tone in the air.
Lois shook her head. “None, but,” she shot a quick glance at her husband sideways, who stepped forward.
“We have a plan to set in motion to stop another one of these things, or anything else, coming from Apokolips ever again,” said Clark. The polluted green eyes seemed truly hopeful for the first time in two years.
“That’s a mighty big statement, dude,” said Steel. Shazam looked hard and determined- he must already be in the know, figured Conner.
“It’s a long shot,” admitted Lois, taking the reins of the debriefing, “but it’s the only shot we got,” she addressed them all.
“What’s going on here, Clark?” asked Raven directly. Clark watched Lois tap something on a screen, changing the image, and Raven’s jaw dropped.
It was three men, all of whom they knew. Batman, outside of Batman’s clothes as Bruce Wayne. Dick Grayson on one side of him, who had been Nightwing. And on the other-
“Damian,” Conner heard Raven whisper. His stomach felt sick at the way his name sounded from her lips.
It must have been taken years ago, like the photograph of the two of them she kept. He was much smaller than when Conner had known him and wore an aggravated expression as he stared at the camera, as though he thought it was stupidly silly to be taking a photograph together.
“You all know these men already as Batman, Robin, and Nightwing,” addressed Clark, “their other aliases are Bruce Wayne and his two sons, Damian Wayne and Richard Grayson.”
“And this helps how, exactly?” grunted one of the officers.
“Before Darkseid dropped me onto Earth, I was there to witness Bruce being told about Dick’s death,” Clark explained, “it roused him. It nearly got through Darkseid’s hold. That’s what we need.”
“Nightwing died that day,” said Conner almost slavishly. Clark raised an eyebrow questioningly at his son while Lois carried on.
“Damian is the key,” she said, “we know through Sleeper that one day very soon, probably within the week, that Darkseid will be leaving Apokolips. If we make it through during that window and get Damian to Bruce, he can break through. With Bruce’s help in the Mobius hair, we can cut off Apokolips’s power supply and leave the big guy trapped wherever he took off to.”
“That sounds like a mighty long leap,” said Steel. Many of the officers (and Conner) seemed to agree. “First off, no one even knows where this guy is.”
Clark shook his head. “No, thanks to Raven, we know Damian is in Nanda Parbat, leading the League of Assassins.”
“But I don’t know where that is,” argued Raven, tearing her eyes from young Damian for the first time, “I just know that’s where he went. I don’t have a way of locating where Damian is.”
“But we do,” said Clark unexpectedly. Now he shared an unsure glance with his wife before going on. “All we need is a way to magically locate him.”
A few of the officers laughed, causing Clark and Lois to frown. “I’m serious,” said Clark, “we know through Batgirl’s keeping up with Orchid that… John Constantine is not too far from this location.”
There was a moment of stillness.
“You can’t be serious,” spat Conner, folding his arms crossly.
“That coward?” asked Raven doubtfully.
“John is many things,” said Clark slowly, “but a coward isn’t one of them. I don’t know why he did what he did that day, but I swear to you John Constantine has never truly backed down from a fight, no matter the size and strength of an opponent.”
“And either way,” interjected Lois before anyone could retort, “we’re not asking for a lot here. Just a locator spell.”
“And then?” asked Raven, folding her arms as well.
“We make as much resistance noise as we’ve ever made,” answered Lois, “get the real big baddies here on Earth- the ParaDooms.”
“This plan sounds insane,” said Steel uncomfortably.
“We need them here and not on Apokolips so Damian can confront his father one-on-one,” argued Clark. “It’s the only way. Then when the ParaDooms are called back to Apokolips, we boom out of there while simultaneously destroying the planet’s power source.”
“So they’re stuck there for good,” said Shazam with a tone as if that settled all debates. He looked all the heroes in the eyes in turn.
Steel sighed. “Alright. So who goes to get JC?”
Clark looked at Raven. “Raven and I, if she accepts.”
Raven made a face that clearly said she wanted nothing to do with that vile sorcerer. “Why me?” she asked.
“You know Damian best,” said Clark simply, and Conner hated how that was true, “and I know John best out of anyone here. We together have the best shot of anyone here to convince them.”
They watched Raven for a moment in which she internally debated. Conner felt foul as her eyes stuck to Damian’s face on the screen. It wasn’t dramatic to those who did not know her. A slight widening of her eyes. The parting of her lips. A deeply subtle reaction to most. But for those who knew, it was the longest duration of the loss of her composure they’d seen.
She nodded at last. As the others further planned, Conner sneakily watched her from the corner of his eye. A small tug lifted the corners of her mouth as she stared at the screen. Her amethyst eyes were shinning.
Because of course they were. She was going to see Damian again.
Conner felt as if he’d lost at something.
~
He’s told by a grim Shazam two nights later that he’ll be joining Steel and himself at attacking the Reaper that had landed in England. Barbara and the other heroes of the Bat-Family would be attacking the second that had landed that morning in the congo. There was still no information on what exactly they were doing.
Conner nodded and tilted his head, indicating that Shazam could go and he understood.
He knew what this meant, becoming the big distraction. Especially when doing it alongside the determined Shazam. Somehow, he accepted it rather easily. It wasn’t even overtaking his mind that night. For it was the next morning when Clark and Raven would be setting off to find Constantine.
He strolled down the hallway after dawn feeling weightless to her door, unsurprised to see it open and that she already had company.
“We found this when patrolling around the city yesterday,” Lois was saying as she pulled a shiny black leather jacket from a cardboard box and held it up for Raven to take. “They grabbed it for me, but it’s more your fit… and style.”
Raven thanked her when grabbing it and tried it on. It definitely looked made for her, in Conner’s opinion. Lois looked around at him in the doorway.
“Come to see them off?” she asked. Raven turned and saw Conner as well. She seemed curious more than anything.
“Thought I would before morning patrol,” said Conner lightly. He didn’t need to wear a grieving face and make this any harder than it had to be. He didn’t want to remember the last time she looked at him with worrying eyes.
“Well come on,” said Lois briskly. “They’re off to find that Brit in the pubs in ten. Let’s get going.”
Raven nodded. She turned towards the small mirror in her room and touched her sunken cheek, looking downcast. It was the first time Conner had seen her fret over her appearance.
“You look fine,” he said, catching her by surprise, “just good enough to hit the apocalyptic pubs with John and my father.”
Raven snorted. They walked together down the long hallway in silence. He knew it was because she was simply too focused on what she was about to do to care for small talk. But he didn’t want to think about it in that way. He simply enjoyed the comfortable silence.
A truck was already waiting for them at the ready. Clark would be driving. Shazam and Steel were there already talking to Clark. When seeing them, he hugged Conner and told him to be safe before doing the same with Lois. Their tenderness afterward reminded Conner of when his dad and Raven had first appeared. It was a mirror of the way he held her face then.
“Time to go,” said Lois as if she didn’t want to believe it.
“We’ll be back in a day or two,” said Clark with a warm smile. And you couldn’t help but believe him. “And maybe then this will all be over.”
“I sure hope so, Smallville,” muttered his wife.
Conner turned to Raven, who looked perhaps the most fashionable person in the apocalypse.
“Be careful out there,” he said softly. She spared him a glance and nodded with a “sure”. He watched her walk away without another look back. A pang hit his heart that nearly stopped his breath, but still he stood tall.
“You all be extra careful these next few,” said Clark, climbing into the driver’s seat. Raven already shut the passenger door. Conner was watching her as much as he could, his breathing getting uneven.
And then… the truck revved up and began pulling away. He couldn’t make her out anymore. She could have only seen him one last time in the rearview mirror, but of course, she didn’t. Her goal, like her eyes, was ahead. To him.
Damian.
Conner finally let his eyes fall sadly to the ground as the hope of a new morning sun arose.
“Cheer up pal,” said Steel, clapping him on the back before walking away. “Your pops will be back in no time.”
Conner didn’t answer. Lois touched his arm before she left as well. Only Shazam stood by his side.
“We’ll pull through this,” he said diligently, staring off at the spot Clark Kent and Raven had just driven off to. Conner almost laughed.
“Don’t be foolish, Billy,” he muttered miserably, “we’re not the Justice League. We’re the Suicide Squad.”
Shazam spared him a pitying glance but didn’t argue. For he knew it. In a few days, they’d willingly be calling for ParaDooms to swarm them. Their fate was sealed. In this game, they were pawns, and the Knight and Queen just drove off for the other treasured pieces. They both knew sacrifices were made and they accepted the ultimate one unflinchingly.
All is fair in love and war.