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1.
Clark froze, a vaguely familiar person was lounging on the couch, wearing a black kevlar suit only broken up by a blue logo that stretched from his chest all the way to his fingertips.
“Can I help you?” Clark asked, he should probably sound the alarm or something, but it wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong, they were just laying there, taking a nap.
“Nope,” the stranger said, seemingly content to stay there.
Clark shifted awkwardly, debating with himself on what he was supposed to do. Realistically, he should probably sound the alarm, maybe he should look for a bomb or something… he subtly used his X-ray vision but everything looked to be in place.
“How did you get up here?” he asked.
“The Zeta.” they motioned in the general direction of the Zeta before draping his arm over his eyes like he was going to sleep in again.
“The Zeta?”
“The Zeta.” the stranger confirmed, a twinge of annoyance in his voice at having to repeat himself and Clark found himself feeling bashful.
“How..?” Clark trailed off, furrowing his brows as the stranger groaned, stretching their arms and legs in a way that reminded Clark of a cat before sitting up.
“B was right, he talks too much,” they mumbled, if Clark didn’t have super hearing he probably wouldn’t have heard anything. “I came here to take a nap in some peace and quiet, and you’re making it really hard dude.” they leveled Clark with a glare so impressive that even Batman would’ve taken a step back. They crossed their arms, softening their glare to raise a brow at Clark, like they were waiting for him to apologize or just leave.
“How do you have access to the Watchtower?” Clark asked, it was clearly the wrong thing to do as the black-haired man just groaned and walked away, towards the bedrooms.
Clark stood for a second before jumping up and after the man, just to see him slip into Batman’s room.
The only room Superman couldn’t see or hear into.
2.
Clark stopped short, it had been a couple of weeks since The Incident and Clark was finally getting over the weird and unsafe feeling that he hadn’t been able to shake ever since he met the stranger. and now there was a new person.
He was hunched over in his seat, eyes trained on the screen as his fingers flew over the keyboard, he would occasionally make comments as he tore through the Watchtower security, scoffing at security measures and rewriting them before he had even finished his scalding critique.
“Who are you?” Clark found himself asking before he even finished a thought.
The kid didn’t flinch, merely mumbling a “give me a sec’ O.” before spinning the chair to come face-to-face with Clark.
he was wearing a what looked like an upside-down cowl for a mask, his hair the same shade of black as the guy from The Incident , his outfit was black, with a red version of the stranger from The Incident ’s outfit had, though this one was significantly more bird-like and had the shadow of a bird in the middle like a logo.
“I’m Red Robin, B asked me to run some security updates,” Red Robin said, Superman wasn’t completely sure who ‘B’ was, there were a couple people whose names started with a B in the League, so he couldn’t be sure.
(Barry, came to mind)
“We already have someone to do that,” Clark said, shifting awkwardly where he stood.
“But I’m better.” someone coughed and Clark realised that it had come from the comms piece Red Robin was wearing.
“ We’re better,” he corrected, sulking a little.
“I’ll need to confirm your story with other League members,” Clark said, growing more and more suspicious of this Red Robin person.
“There’s no need, we’ll be done in five minutes and I don’t have time to stick around. Besides, B isn’t here right now so he can’t confirm,” Red said, going back to the computer. Clark stared in shock, Red Robin was clearly young, he probably couldn’t drink yet, so why in the world was he acting so… confident?
He hadn’t realised he had been standing there, debating on whether or not he should take him into the interrogation room or let him finish what he said was updating the security system (Clark knew how to work a phone but he wasn’t a master at such things, although the kid did seem legit) for five minutes already, but then Red was stretching, patting Clark on the chest twice before leaving, right out of the door.
He had already entered the Zeta before Clark had gotten out of his stupor, the mechanical voice calling out a “B03” as it powered down.
3.
It had been five days since Red Robin had visited the tower, nothing particularly bad had happened yet, so Clark assumed that he had been truthful, but whenever he asked a Leaguer if they knew about Red Robin they just asked “The restaurant?” before looking confused.
So Clark was at zero.
Then there was a child, an honest-to-god child , he wasn’t even a teenager yet, and he was just there, sitting on the couch and sulking.
“Where are your parents?” Clark asked, voice accidentally slipping into the voice he used when calming down people.
The child’s head snapped towards him, he was wearing a domino but the scowl he sent Clark had him taking a few steps back.
“My mother is somewhere in the world, I am unsure where, but even if I did know, I would never tell you , alien.” his scowl deepened, “My father is working, I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept, being poor,”
“Do you have anyone you can call? Any older siblings?” Clark asked, shifting.
“Many, they dropped me off here as it’s safer, tt,” he started mumbling, but he kept switching languages every other word, some of them he couldn’t even recognise as human languages (he was pretty sure he even heard some Kryptonian mixed in there) which made him unable to keep up.
“How did you get up here?” Clark asked, now much more worried.
“The Zeta.” he nodded in the direction of the Zeta, “my family thought it safer to be in space, my grandfather is in town, but I doubt something as simple as me being in space would stop him.” he rolled his eyes, like the mere thought was ridiculous.
“No matter, if he arrives I will just kill him.” Clark choked on his own spit.
“How much danger are you in?” he asked, crouching down in front of the child.
“None, my family will have hunted him out of the city within the hour, this is simply a contingency plan,”
“Do you want to eat anything? I don’t know how your family has access to the Watchtower, or even know that it exists, but I won’t let anything happen to you,” Clark promised.
“I am not hungry, I’d like to join my family in their battle against the League, but they say it’s unsafe.” he pouted, looking at Clark in a way that even made the white-out of his eyes emote as he puppy-eyed him.
“Could you start the Zeta for me? I would have done it myself but they changed my settings so I couldn’t escape.” he looked down at his feet now, swinging them back and forth as he slouched slightly.
Clearly, a manipulation tactic, and it was very close to working.
“I can’t let you go into battle! And, what do you mean by your family's fight against the League? Why would they drop you here, with the League, if they hate us?” Clark asked, confusion littering his features.
“Tt, not this League, you imbecile, I was talking about the League of Assassins.”
Clark didn’t have the brain cells to process that information, luckily (or unluckily?), he didn’t have to, as the guy from The Incident came barging in; the Zeta saying “B01” as he power-walked toward them.
Weird, who was this kid that Batman had let him have a 01 designation? The Batman he knew wouldn’t give up 01 to anyone! Even if it was a sub-designation.
“Robin! Your mother came and took care of him, she wants to have a family dinner with you and Hood,” The Incident Causer said, Robin nodded once, turning to Clark before he spoke.
“Your presence has not been enjoyed, I have three pieces of Kryptonite on my person and would not hesitate to use them should you try to follow us. I hope to never see you again, goodbye,” Robin said before he turned on his heel.
“Lead the way, Nightwing,” he said, and then they were both walking towards the Zeta.
Clark stood dumbfounded for a second, before deciding to repress the whole meeting to the point where many days later he wouldn’t be sure whether he had dreamt it or not.
4.
Due to the immense number of black-haired boys that had been arriving in the Watchtower (only when Clark was there, he realised when he continuously spoke of them and no one believed him), Clark had chosen to make up the Black-haired-boys-protocol, which, when enacted, meant that anyone who felt the need were allowed to tackle any Black haired boy.
No one had taken him seriously, Green Lantern had just laughed before throwing himself over Clark, screaming “BHB protocol!” and Flash had joined him.
He now realised that the protocol needed fine-tuning, he looked at the girl standing in front of him, she had normal clothes on with a domino mask.
She also had black hair cut very short.
So the protocol needed to be extended to include every black-haired individual.
He would learn from his mistakes, what was that saying Kon kept repeating? Survive, adapt, overcome?
Yeah, he could do that.
“Superman,” she greeted, “Came with the Zeta,”
She was definitely an affiliate to the other people, clearly, she had heard what his first question was and was answering it prematurely, just as vague as the rest of them.
“Why are you here?” he asked, leaning heavily against the door, wishing he could just die.
“Spoiler wanted waffles,” she said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.
Great, now these people were breaking in just to make food! Wasn’t it bad enough that one of them had broken in to take a nap?
“And she couldn’t have them at home why?”
“Banned,” the girl said, smiling at him.
Great.
Just great.
“BB! Taste these!'' Another girl came crashing into the room, a plate filled with waffles (Clark was pretty sure they weren’t obeying the laws of gravity, the stack was much too high and she was moving much too sporadically).
The other girl (BB?) took a piece and hummed happily, a beaming smile spreading across her face.
“Hey Supes, you want any?” Spoiler asked, holding out a plate to him.
She was also wearing casual clothes with a domino mask, though her clothes were much more purple compared to the mostly black clothes of the other girl.
“No, thank you,” Clark politely declined.
“Suit yourself,”
he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now, should he talk to them or call the rest of the League? The other people had just left on their own without doing anything wrong.
One of them had even helped the League by updating the security!
“You’re all connected, right?” Clark asked, eying the chair, he really wanted to sit down.
“Yes,” BB said.
“You could call us a family,” Spoiler said.
“We are family,”
“But not legally, at least not for all of us, and some are only half-legally, some are biologically but not legally, it gets complicated,” Spoiler said, speaking with her hands, “You probably get it, what with the Speedsters,”
Normal civilians didn’t know how many things the speedsters had messed up, but then again, none of these people had been normal civilians.
“Right.” he nodded, which the girls apparently found funny as they started laughing.
“We’ll just eat these and then be out of your hair, don’t worry,” Spoiler said, smiling.
“Right,” he awkwardly repeated before just leaving the room.
5.
He didn’t know where all these people were coming from, just that they needed to stop coming. Honestly, if he had to see one more of them he might die.
Yet here he was, not dead.
“Not another one,” Clark said, sighing as he looked at the boy in front of him, he had dark skin and was wearing a yellow sweater and jeans.
“Don’t worry, I’m the most recent,” he answered, it seemed more of a reflex than anything else.
“Wait, no, that’s not true, forget what I said,”
Clark blinked.
“Why are you here?” Clark asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“I needed some peace and quiet to do my homework, A isn’t home so they’re all kinda crazy,” he answered, shrugging.
Clark wasn’t even sure why he kept trying.
“Who are the others? Why do you keep coming here? How do you guys have access?” he asked, frustrated.
“The others are my fam- vague relatives? People who sometimes live in the same house as me?” he frowned, seemingly trying to come up with a good way to describe who they were, after a couple of seconds his face became neutral again.
“We keep coming because it’s new, I guess, we have always had access but B said that we were allowed up here so, here we are.” he shrugged.
“And we have access because B gave it to us, not that it would’ve stopped us, if I’ve learned anything it’s that we’re more similar to termites than any other animal.”
Clark had no idea what that meant, but he guessed that was as much information as he was getting out of the teen as his phone pinged.
“Speaking of vague relatives,” he mumbled, taking out the phone, he looked at it for three seconds before sighing and packing his bags.
“I probably won’t be back, but if I am, make sure the cabinets are stocked with coffee and cookies,” he called out before disappearing into the Zeta, the same B in front of his designation.
Clark wasn’t sure why, but he did restock the kitchen and the next day the cookies had all been eaten.
+1
There had been a lot of very weird people coming and going, and Clark hadn’t known what to do any of the times, but this time, this time he knew exactly what to do.
He pressed the emergency button and used his super-speed to capture the Red Hood, cuffing him and tying him to a chair in the interrogation room.
He was actually feeling pretty accomplished.
Diana came into the room, face stern as she stared down at the man.
“I’m appalled, I wasn’t even doing anything shady when you arrested me!” Hood said, his voice modulator making the words sound strangely creepy.
“Why are you here? How did you get up here?” Diana questioned him, taking out her lasso.
“I wanted to go to space,” he shrugged, “and this was the easiest and cheapest way to do it. I obviously didn’t want to build a rocket and get up here, it’s a waste of money and terrible for the environment. B has many flaws, but his effect on the environment isn’t one of them” he said.
The answer was strangely honest, the lasso hadn’t even touched him and he was telling the truth easily.
“And how did you get up here?” Diana asked, not putting the lasso on him, yet.
“The Zeta,” he said, nodding his head in the vague direction of the Zeta.
Oh.
Oh.
Just like all of the other people, not only had he said the same thing, he also mentioned a ‘B’ which the others had mentioned.
“You’re one of them!” Clark said before he could stop himself, wagging his finger in a way that was, quite frankly, embarrassing.
He had a feeling that Red Hood was raising an eyebrow at him, and he shrunk back into himself.
“One of them?” Diana asked.
“He means my siblings,” Hood clarified.
“They’ve been breaking into the tower just to do… nothing.” Clark shrugged.
“B gave us permission to reveal ourselves, not our identities, obviously, but at least that we’re a cauldron,” he said, like that made any sense.
“A cauldron?” Clark asked.
“Yeah, a cauldron, a colony, we’re bats,” he explained, arms rubbing against the rope he was bound by like he wanted to move his hands while he spoke.
“Bats? Like Batman?” Diana asked.
“Exactly!” he seemed genuinely happy that they had found the Batman connection, which was more than a little weird.
Distantly, Clark heard the Zeta starting, but he didn’t think much about it.
He probably should’ve.
A couple of seconds later, a large group of people barged into the room.
Everyone Clark had met was there, the people wearing civvies now wearing armour, they were also joined by a… starfish?
“Hood! You promised not to do it without us!” Nightwing whined, draping himself over his brother, with complete disregard for the fact that Wonder Woman was now gripping her lasso much tighter than before.
“It’s not like I got captured on purpose !” he said, hands suddenly free as he tried to shake a clingy Nightwing off.
“Now we have to reveal it much earlier than planned!” Red Robin said.
“As the blood son, I feel as though I should have the honour,” Robin said, stepping forward from the crowd.
“As the oldest, I think I should get to do it,” Nightwing said, finally taking a hint and stepping away from Hood who stood up (how did he untie himself?) and walked over to his family.
“I died, so I feel like-” Hood started, but was quickly interrupted by Spoiler “Oh, join the club! Even Robin’s died before!”
And wow, wasn’t that an awful implication? That a prepubescent kid had died.
“I’m favourite child, I get to do it,” BB said, raising her hand.
“Batman is our dad!” Red Robin shouted before anyone else could respond to BB.
Immediately, everyone jumped on him, screaming and play-fighting in a way that honestly looked frighteningly professional, fighting as a family was normal, but why was he doing Olympic-level gymnastics to get away from them? Why were they responding with the same level of skill? How were none of them getting hurt! How were they that flexible?
Clark had many questions, but none of them held a candle to the most prevalent: BATMAN HAS KIDS?
Clearly, he had a lot, a whole cauldron!
Clark needed to sit down, and drink something, preferably something with alcohol, the strong kind from that alien planet that got him drunk.
Diana was stood similarly to him, watching the chaos unfold as she tried to process the information.
“I didn’t know Batman was a father,” she said, which made all of the bats pause, looking comically like a renaissance painting.
“Batman has been a father for twenty years, I get that he isn’t the type to show baby photos but I feel like you guys should’ve noticed,” Nightwing said, crossing his arms over his chest after putting his two (electrified!) escrima sticks back onto his back.
Now that he mentioned it, there had been times where Batman acted like a dad, especially when he was around Captain Marvel, there had also been that one period in time where Batman had seemed… depressed, and if as many of his kids had died as these people said… Well, then it would make sense.
“I can’t believe Batman has kids,” Clark muttered, sure, it made sense in theory but… really?
Mr broody Mcbroodster, a father? Of more than five children? Batman? The guy who had multiple files with the sole purpose of having a plan in case he had to take out the Justice League, that guy, he had children ?
No, Clark’s brain couldn’t handle that, that was too much, goodnight world, sweet dreams, he’d wake up when the next world-ending catastrophe happened.
“I think we broke them,” Spoiler said.
“We should go, the others want to do a whole thing,” Nightwing said.
“They said that there will be cake,” the starfish said.
Clark sat down on the chair that Hood had previously been tied to, how he had gotten out Clark still didn’t know, it was probably a bat thing.
He shivered at the thought, there were more of him.
A lot more.
So many more.
They were talking about ‘the others’.
How was Clark supposed to live with this knowledge?
He needed another robot invasion, that would let him take his mind off things.
That would be nice.
Yeah.
He could pretend Batman was still a loner for a little while longer.