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Konnor Kent stepped out towards the living room, slightly dripping wet from a nice shower he just took to cleanse himself from the work day. Just like how the city of Metropolis was, Konnor’s life was just as, if not, even livelier than that. Blending in and being a “model student,” as his Dad puts it; a ‘productive’ member of society, whatever that means, and last but most importantly; being a hero of the people. The hero's life, although dangerous, has its perks. He stared out the window of their apartment, with his vision he could see everything that goes on in the city, down to the tiniest of rats, running along the alleyways. Normally this would be a patrol night, but Kon decided that tonight is a chill night.
‘The Metropolis police force could handle things.’ He thought for a moment, ‘Hmm maybe just in case I’ll go out for a little bit.’ It was quiet in the apartment, save for his little brother, Jon. Their Dad left for some Justice League stuff an hour ago, and their Mom needed to finish up a report for her work. So it was just him and Jon.
“Shower’s all clear now, little man!” He looked at his younger brother, who was frowning on the couch. “Baby blue?” He tried the other nickname, which Jon normally didn’t like, but there was no answer from that either. “Jon?”
“Huh? Oh, hey Kon, when did you get out of the bathroom?”
“Uh, I’ve been here, dude.” Kon leaned over the couch and stared at him, “something up?”
Jon set down his phone on his chest and huffed, “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
“Hmm, are you sure?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it…I should get ready for bed then, night, Kon.”
Jon shimmied past the taller super and quickly ran inside the bathroom, leaving Kon standing by himself. He looked down at the table and spotted Jon’s phone, which was open to a blank message addressed to Damian. Kon thought for a moment and shook his head. He didn’t even dare intrude on his family's business. But it didn’t help that he was worried for the guy.
‘Maybe he had an argument with his friend? Did he and that Wayne kid fight? Is that why he’s upset?` All those thoughts buzzed around in Kon’s mind until it was too much for him to bare. He slapped his face and glanced at his brother’s cape. He knew the best way to cure a sad sack.
“Jon?” Konnor knocked on the bedroom door and opened it. “You asleep?” There was some shifting in the bed as Kon opened the door further. “Hey, you wanna talk about it?”
“No…not really,” Jon grumbled. “What do you want anyway?” He sounded a bit annoyed, but Konnor was adamant.
“Well, I was about to go on patrol in Metropolis, you wanna come with me?”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on, it will be fun! Maybe you can punch a few bad guys, or save some cats! You love doing that.”
“Hehe, you’re right. I do.” Jon chuckled, “Wait, wouldn’t Mom get mad if I went out with you?”
“Nah, it will be fine; I’ll take the fall if anything happens, WHICH it won’t!” Kon winked and threw his brother’s cape at him. “Come on, get dressed, we got some work to do.”
The two brothers flew around the massive buildings of the city, Kon scanned the area ahead of them and sighed. “Well, there’s nothing big going on for a moment, oh there’s a stuck cat in a tree down by Metro Park, let’s go, Jon!”
“Okay…let’s get this over with,” Jon grumbled. He flew ahead of his brother, who rubbed the back of his neck at that response.
‘Wow, he is feeling it tonight…Come on, baby blue. I wanna help but you’re not making it easy…ugh it’s like talking to brick wall well in his case an iron wall.’ He shrugged and followed Jon towards the park. There an elderly woman spotted the pair and waved at them.
“Oh Superman, Superman can you help me please?” She asked.
“Actually,” Kon chuckled, “It’s Superboy and-” he pointed to Jon.
“Superboy can we just save this lady's cat and move on?” Jon glared at his brother, who just clapped his hands.
“Right, uh Boy of Steel can grab the cat for you then.” Kon watched as Jon flew up to the tree and grabbed the cat.
“Here you go, ma’am.”
“Oh thank you, young man.” She took her cat and pinched Jon’s cheeks, and looked at Konnor. “You must be proud to have a sweet little sidekick helping you around.”
“Uh, he’s not really-”
The elderly woman smiled at the pair and directed her attention to Jon. “Make sure to listen to him, so maybe one day you can be ready for the real hero work!”
Jon gritted his teeth and opened his mouth but quickly stopped as Kon gently pulled him away.
“You have a good night citizen, try not to get any more cats stuck in trees now!” Kon waved at the old lady and the pair flew off. After flying for a few moments, he turned to Jon. “Dude, what was that all about?”
“She…she’s wasting our time, with all her talking and pinching!”
“I mean like this is really unlike you, Jon! You love saving pets, what’s with you?”
“I told you it’s nothing! I’m just, I’m just tired that’s all. Come on there’s a bank robbery a few blocks down. Let’s take care of them and head home.
“Alrighty then.” Kon wasn’t sure what to say, but he figured stopping these guys would help relieve some stress Jon could have. “Let’s go, lead the way-” Kon looked around and noticed Jon has gone ahead of him. If it weren't for the supervision. Kon would’ve lost him. “HEY WAIT UP!”
Kon quickly caught up to Jon. Sure enough, something was going on with him, and whatever that old lady said set him off.
‘What did she say again? Let’s see,’ He recalled to their interaction and tapped his shoulder.
“Hey, Jon, you feeling alright, bud?”
“What? Yeah, I’m fine, dude.”
“Come on, we both know you’re not. What’s the matter? Did you have a fight? You can talk to me. Are you upset that we are just doing small hero work? I mean don’t worry about the small stuff. Give it time and you’ll be able to do some real heroing in no time!”
Jon immediately stopped and almost caused Kon to bump into him. He turned around and clenched his fists. Kon froze as he saw Jon’s face, he hasn’t seen it in a while but remembered the feeling all too well.
“I SAID I’M OKAY, KONNOR! LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU’RE SO ANNOYING!”
Jon quickly realized what he said to his older brother and covered his mouth.
“No, Kon, I didn’t mean it; I just…I’m sorry.” Jon fumbled around with the zipper of his jacket and hugged himself. “I didn’t mean to; I was just-”
Kon reached for Jon to give him a hug but the sound of screaming nearby. “We can talk later, for now, let’s handle this noise.”
“Okay, Kon.” Jon sighed and bit his lip before following alongside his brother.
A group of robbers ran out of the bank and hopped into their vehicle, carrying a few bags of gold bars with them. The driver stepped on the gas and zoomed around the streets while staring back at the cop cars. One of them in the passenger began shooting at the cars and glared at the driver.
“Get moving! Before they catch-” Suddenly the car lurched forward causing the car to halt to a stop, causing the robbers to slam into the dashboard. They looked up and spotted Kon, who had his hand in front of the vehicle.
“Lovely night for a drive ain’t it gents? But uh…seems like you’re going above the speed limit. I’m no cop but-” Kon held out his other hand and stopped a bullet that was shot at him. “Really, I stopped a car with my bare hands, you think a gun is gonna stop me?”
The robber tossed the gun to the ground and looked back as the cops began to catch up to them. “Crud boss, we are being pincered.”
“Not for long…” The boss grumbled. “Time to test out a little new toy we stole from that bank.”
Kon noticed the robber take out a small metal capsule that had the familiar, Lex Corp logo on it. He quickly lunged at the robber but a small explosion appeared, sending him flying back.
“Kon!” Jon flew towards where his brother landed and helped him up. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, but be careful who knows what kind of tech they got their hands on.” Kon pointed towards the car and spotted a pair of mechanical arms that crawled out of the roof of the car. “Oh, great, more robots…”
It was a tall mech-like device that towered a small building. The pair of robbers were in a cockpit that sat on the mech. One of the robbers pressed the button and caused the mech’s arms to spin sending out lasers that destroyed some trees, empty cars, and buildings alike.
Kon sat up and placed his hands on his brother’s shoulder. “Jon, get the people to safety.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll handle this, it’s too dangerous right now.”
“But I can help!”
“You can help by helping those people first, remember what Dad taught ya.”
“I…” Jon sighed, “Okay, just be careful, okay?”
“Always will-” Kon gave Jon a fist bump and flew towards the mech and slammed into it with his body. “What’s the matter, can’t fight on your own and have to rely on some nerdy crap?”
“Oh, we are just evening the odds. Superbrat!” The mech grabbed Kon’s body and slammed him into the ground. “Mister Luthor really knows how to make his toys boss.”
“Shut it, and blast the brat already.”
The mech aimed at Konnor and a bright light shined over him.
“Oops.” Kon quickly kicked the robot’s arm and caused the blast to fire off into the sky. “That was close-” He had no time to react before the robot grabbed him again and threw him into the sky. Kon flung around into the sky and stopped himself. “Okay, wow that mech is tough…”
“Kon!” Jon flew towards his brother, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, nothing like a good slap around to get the blood pumping, how are things on your end?”
“All the civies have been evacuated. Now let’s handle this guy.”
“Baby Blue look out!” Kon pushed him out of the way as the mech flew towards them.
“Superboy!” Jon watched as the robot grabbed his brother and squeezed him. “Let him go!” Jon shot his heat vision at the mech, causing the fist the break apart.
“Thanks, little man.” Kon broke free from the arm and cracked his knuckles. “Someone ordered a knuckle sandwich? It’s on the house!” He punched the robot down and stomped on the body, causing it to come flying down into the streets below. He slammed his knees into the bot and punched the glass cover and slowly pried it open. “You guys are coming right out of there- huh?” Kon fell back onto the ground as he began to feel weak. “What the…” His eyes strained as a green light spilled from the glass.
“What’s the matter Superbrat? Afraid of a little light?” The robot stood up and a panel fell as it exposed a green rock. “Looks like you discovered what’s powering this mech.”
“Kryptonite…damn, I should’ve known.” Kon clutched his chest as the pain from the radiation made him weaker.
The mech kicked him away and slammed its leg into Konnor’s body. One of its remaining arms began to charge point blank at the teen hero as the two robbers laughed at him.
“Superboy!” Jon flew towards his brother but stopped as Kon shook his head.
“Run…don’t…it’s too dangerous, go get help.”
“But!”
“Listen to him mini brat!” The boss shouted. “Run along and bring someone else, there’s no need for someone so small, clearly you’re not ready for these kinds of things. Now run along or you can watch us kill a super!”
Jon gritted his teeth and stomped hard. “I’m sick and tired of everyone telling me I’m not ready, I’m sick of people looking down on me! I’m not going to let anyone tell me again. I AM STRONG!” Jon shouted as he kicked up a hub cap and blasted it with his heat vision. The cap flew across the sky and sliced into the panel, knocking the piece of Kryptonite away from Kon. Jon then flew towards the mech and punched it away, sending it flying into a building.
“Whoa…” Kon sat up as Jon stood panting in front of him. Kon then smirked as he stood up. “Nice moves there Boy of Steel. Shall we finish this?”
“Think you can keep up?”
Kon cracked his knuckles. “Oh, you bet I can.” The duo rushed the bot and quickly ripped its arms and legs off, leaving only the main body with the robbers inside. Jon punched the crack and pried open the glass while Kon grabbed the two robbers.
“Well, well, you gave us more trouble than we thought, but I suppose you guys learned not to mess with us supers now?” Kon bumped their heads together and knocked them out, leaving them for the police as he ruffled Jon’s hair. “Good job out there, Jon, you did great.”
“Thanks, Kon…uh…I wanted to apologize for the thing I said to you. You’re not annoying…well sometimes you are,”
“Thanks.”
“Let me finish Kon,” Jon said while rolling his eyes. “I didn’t mean to shout out at you, I was just…well…you remember how I met the Titans!”
“Yeah, I think I remember you mentioning that.”
“Well, they all liked me a lot, and asked me if I want to join, but Damian…” Jon sighed, “He said I was too young and not ready for it.”
“Ah dang, that’s…”
“I don’t know, he’s right, which is really hecking annoying! But, man…it sucks, I’m strong too; you saw it right then and there.”
Kon hugged his brother and ruffled his head. “Dude, who cares what Damian said…you called yourself strong yeah?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Then you already have your reason.” Kon hooked his arm around Jon’s neck and ruffled his head. “You are strong my guy, don’t let anyone else make you think otherwise.”
“Kon, stop you’re making my hair a mess.”
“It’s been messy, dude, you should style it like I do.”
“I tried, but then it just exploded into more fluff.”
“Fair point, come on, it’s getting late, let’s fly home.”
“Okay, Ko-” Jon took a step forward and fell into his brother’s arms. “Legs…oh gosh.”
“Whoa, you good?”
“I’m…getting sleepy…”
“Well, it is a little late and you used a lot of energy…come on hop onto my back, and I’ll carry us home.”
“Thanks, Kon.”
Kon slowly flew back to their apartment with Jon on his back. It was a quiet night now that they made it to their apartment. He helped Jon change into his pjs and brought him to his room. Kon smiled and ruffled Jon’s head as he tucked him in. “You did great out there, baby blue.”
“Thanks, Kon.” Jon yawned and shut his eyes, quickly falling asleep in his bed.
Kon walked towards the door and shut the lights and smiled. “Proud of you Jon, you are ready to me at least.”