Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a lot to be missed about not having a body anymore. Brain couldn’t feel the sand between his toes, nor could he feel the cool breeze… or the warmth of the sun…He missed those things. Not that he went to many beaches before joining Cadmus. He did generally prefer the lab as a rule.

Though he couldn’t experience things tactically, his sensors told him that those things were there. Not to mention, Mallah could enjoy those aspects of life, and Brain could relish in the contentment of his husband.

Sure, they hadn’t gotten legally married, (Brain can’t imagine how they would even have tried going about that, the closest they had gotten was to use a lab printer to make their own certificate) but it certainly wasn’t for a lack of wanting it. And here, in a lawless land, they could call themselves whatever they wanted. It was very freeing.

Mallah looked over from where he had laid in the sand, his voice sounding amused when he asked, “What is it you’re thinking about mon cher ?”

“Just… admiring the view.”

“Tisk tisk, I know that tone. Don’t think you can cliché your way out of answering me.”

“I don’t wish for you to think I’m not happy, but I find myself musing about my human body— I cannot feel the sand, the breeze, the sun.”

Mallah offered up a soft understanding smile, “Oftentimes, it occurs to me just how much Cadmus tried to take, what they very nearly did take.” Mallah held up his hand to forestall any response from Brain, “I know the black hole collapse was a last resort; we were pushed to extremes, it was forced upon us. I tremble to think what they would have done if they had captured us…assuming they even cared to collect us alive…” 

He turned his gaze to the ground, “However, I find myself regretting not being able to protect you more— to save your body as well.”

Brain quickly floated over to Mallah to comfort him, “Nein ! Liebchen, mein schatz , you put your body in between me and the explosion! Don’t think, for a nano second, that I could not feel your love and fear through that embrace.”

Mallah reached up and cradled Brain’s sphere between his large hands, “Funny how it took us hopping into a parallel dimension before we finally talked about this.”

“I think it was easier to not think about it, constantly living in the shadow of yet another black hole was enough of a reminder—not to mention I fell into quite a bit of denial that first year.”

The first year had been the hardest, rather unsurprisingly. Humans can adapt to a lot of things, however Brain can forgive himself for having to take most of a year to cope with being just his brain and spine integrated into a bot. The mutants had been more of a distraction project rather than strictly the boredom that Mallah had alluded to Jimmy about.

Though they had been a little bored too. Neither of them had been very good at sitting around— even when they had been at a dead end with the black hole portal project— there were so many other scientific inquiries left to explore!

Speaking of inquiries…

Brain let out a vent noise that simulated a sigh, “I also worry over the Kent boy, what if he doesn’t succeed at his acceptance plan?”

Mallah nuzzled him close, “Perhaps we can invent a way to communicate across dimensions? A viewing window?”

Brain hummed in thought, “Well, Cadmus was working on some technology that was somehow related to him, I might have learned enough from studying that to tune into communicating with his particular frequency… plus—” Brain pulled back from Mallah and showed off his hidden sample taking appendage, “I took a sample of his hair, so in theory— I’ll be able to key into his unique DNA sequence to help find him.”

Mallah raised a dubious eyebrow, “Two questions; one, when did you have time to collect that? And two, did you get Mr. Kent’s permission to take that?”

Brain tutted, “You know I always make time to take readings and samples! Plus, it’s just a small lock of hair, he’s hardly going to miss it.” He shrugged, “If it helps at all, I’ll apologize to him when we manage to build a functional communication device.”

“Mmmm… I suppose that’s better than nothing. Not to mention, I did hope to speak to Jimmy Olsen again— getting in contact with Mr. Kent would serve to achieve that end.”

“Exactly, so the sooner we build it, the sooner we can check in on them.” Brain turned to yell out into the ocean where their mutants were gleefully frolicking in the waves, “ Die kleinen, it’s time to come back in from your swim, we have much work to do!”

The mutants, some more reluctantly than others, made their ways back to them.

Mallah smiled at the ones that looked the most dejected, “Don’t worry little ones, we’ll take breaks and come back here.”

Brain nodded his sphere, “Yes, the beach will be here for us later. It’s only fitting that now we no longer have to hide within the confines of the red sun dome that you all would get more chances to frolic.”

Mallah patted the mutants on their heads, “It’s also occurred to me that now that we’re out of the lab, you should pick out non-experiment names if you wish.”

“And if you don’t choose to change them; A-80, C-21, C-23, E-09, E-10, and E-11, are perfectly serviceable names.”

Mallah huffed out a laugh, “I never said they weren’t good names, love, it’s just a suggestion.”

Brain shook his sphere playfully, “They’ve never expressed interest in changing their names before, why bring it up now?”

”Our newfound freedom brought it to mind.”

”What are you going to suggest we change our names too? If so I’ve got a few suggestions for you.”

Mallah chuckled. He and Brain gleefully continued trading quips as they walked.

The bickering only tampered down when they got back to the structure they’d set up in a giant tree. The ‘building’ wasn’t quite up to code, but it was better constructed then what a non-genius castaway or survivalist would build in twice the time that they’d put into building.

Fussing over trivialities actually buoyed Brain’s spirit, a week without mild bickering would be downright boring— not to mention anyone who always agreed with him would actually grate on Brain’s nerves. He’d never liked ‘yes men’ even (and especially) if they were always agreeing with him. 

Plus, he’d never trusted people who never had their own opinions (or at least never voiced them, those types were potentially worse— those are the people who held secret resentments. Brain much preferred people who resented him to his face.)

Brain collected some of the lab materials that had gotten sucked into the portal as it had been forming. Really it was lucky that they had so many metal panels to start working with.

He really didn’t want to put the mutants to work mining for materials if they didn’t have to. He’d rather build a non-sentient machine with a simple A.I. to do the dangerous and tedious tasks.

First things first however, an antenna that could communicate to the reporters Mallah had befriended and Brain begrudgingly had to admit didn’t seem half bad actually.

He’d even admit to feeling a sort of odd kinship to Mr. Kent. It really seemed like he didn’t quite yet have a handle on his abilities. 

The serum that bestowed Mallah’s intellect had been derived from the tech that resonated similarly to Kent. That alone made Brain feel invested into finding the precise location of the technology’s origin.

Kent had said he was an alien, who didn’t know where exactly he was from—and Brain had a theory as to why Kent wouldn’t know.

It could be super amnesia (no pun intended), but that didn’t actually rank high in Brain’s list of speculations.

Brain had studied the alien tech enough at Cadmus to surmise that wherever it hailed from, it was at least a few galaxies away from the earth their reporter associates still inhabited… 

And based on when it was found— assuming Kent ages like a human (Brain hates assuming, but apparently he went to college with Olsen so at least his early development might be comparable?)—22 years ago would mean Kent… Clark came to Earth as a baby. 

A baby.

Chapter Text

Brain is designing the antenna to be powered by genetically modified mold, to prove some sort of point. Mallah is at least 80% sure it’s to win the ‘moldy dishes as an experiment’ argument, and 20% because bio reactors are practical from both a power generation and sourcing perspective. And admittedly, Mallah has always been a big fan of renewable energy sources.

Calling the structure an antenna is admittedly underselling it a tad. The matrix of cables that took advantage of the tree canopy to spread out like a web. Really it had more in common with an enormous satellite dish. The matrix of the cable webbing was really ingenious. By calibrating the various different cable ends just right— one could, in theory, communicate across dimensional rifts. 

This is, of course, their ultimate goal in constructing the antenna. However, they won’t know for sure it will actually work until they’ve got it powered on, but Mallah is optimistic that they’ve done their calculations correctly.

Brain is more concerned, not necessarily with the antenna working, but potential problems once it does start broadcasting, “We have to be careful, if Task Force X intercepts the signal they might figure out some way to back trace it. Plus, I’m not even sure Clark has access to technology that would be able to receive and interpret the signal.”

Mallah hummed deeply in thought. Somewhere along the way Brain had stopped calling him ‘the Kent boy’ and ‘Mr. Kent’ and had shifted to calling him Clark. He knew that Brain had connected with Clark over being targets of Task Force X and their vindictive general, but somehow Mallah knew that wasn’t the only reason.

“The antenna isn’t even finished and you’re already fussing over signal interception? Mon cher , what is it that is really bothering you?”

Brain’s sphere wilted in defeat, “As usual, you see right through me. I was just thinking about when Cadmus got that technology, 22 years ago… I think Clark was very young, and alone, when he first arrived on Earth. It is a worrisome thought, is all.

Mallah blinked in understanding, “Ah, that would explain how he doesn’t know from where exactly he originally hails.”

“I just… find myself thinking about ‘what if’. If Task Force X— if the General— had captured him back then— what would they have done to him!”

“It doesn’t bear thinking about,” Mallah said with a shudder of dread, “We can only be glad he was spared of that terrible fate.”

“It’s not only that, Task Force X knows, somehow, that red sun energy messes with the abilities someone like Clark has, and just how do you think they derived this information?

“ Merde , you think he isn’t the only one of his kind sent to earth? That Task Force X did in fact manage to capture someone of his kind?”

“It’s either; at least one individual, their travel vessel, or both. I can only hope if they did capture an individual they weren’t as young as I think Clark would have been.” Brain simulated a sigh, “Again, it’s not good to speculate without the proper data— so I’ll try to focus on what we can do to help Clark, and his friends, in the here and now.”

“Indeed.” Mallah said somewhat somberly, if only they knew back then what they knew now— but there’s no way to change the past without risking a paradox or just causing a branching timeline. That didn’t preclude them wishing that things had ended up differently.

As it stood, at least it seemed from what they’d managed to eavesdrop on, Clark had a good upbringing.

“At any rate, the antenna is coming along nicely. If we can keep to the planned schedule it should be up and calibrated in a month.”

“That is promising progress, we should be sure to plan a surprise for the mutants to reward them for their good work.”

They both didn’t want to overwork either themselves or the mutants. The schedule they’d settled on made sure they got plenty of breaks for meals, rest, and recreation. If they had gone full tilt they very well might have finished building the antenna by now, but it wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience. There wasn’t any reason for an arbitrary time crunch, so why make themselves miserable for a self imposed due date? 

They could afford to take the time to do this the right way.

Clark had put off showing Lois and Jimmy the ship he’d arrived on earth in. He couldn’t even vocalize why exactly he was so reluctant. Perhaps it was because it would make his alien nature seem even more daunting…somehow. 

Somehow, actually seeing the ship would make them realize he really was a freak. Now, Clark knew that was irrational— but it didn’t stop a small part of him from worrying. He couldn’t put it off forever. And especially not now that his Ma called him.

She had tried to not sound worried, but Clark could tell that something was amiss, “Clark, your Pa and I could really use your help for something down at the farm.”

He’d flown down almost as soon as he’d agreed to come down for a visit and said ‘see you soon’ over the phone.

As soon as he landed his Ma and Pa greeted him, Ma hugged him and squished his face between her hands, “Oh there’s my precious baby boy! I’ve missed you Clark!”

Pa smiled, chuckling deeply, “Martha, he visited just last weekend.”

Ma tutted, “Oh hush you.” She let Clark’s face go, the mood shifted somewhat when she looked out to the corn field, “The ship… it just started— I don’t know exactly what to call it… it started to make a humming noise. But deeper… thrumming I’d guess would be closest to how to describe it.”

Clark gazed out to the cornfield, “That’s…concerning, uh, I’ll go check on that. You both should stay at the house, just in case.”

Ma and Pa nod in a tentative agreement. He flies tentatively over toward where the ship lies buried. There is indeed a deep thrumming noise emanating from below the dirt. It’s vibrating slightly, in slow increments… it sort of seems familiar, in a way Clark can’t quite put a finger on.

He swiftly brushes aside the dirt, and stands in the center platform. The hologram of the man Clark guesses is his biological father makes what Clark assumes from the tone must be a sort of greeting.

There’s a console that’s now emerged from the floor of the ship, and is emitting the thrumming noise. One of the buttons is blinking, glowing blue.

Clark gulps a breath, and presses the button.

Chapter Text

Jimmy had always known there was more out there, though he never had enough physical evidence to move anything from myth to fact. (Though he’d still defend his theories about Atlantis, he knows that is real, even without tangible proof.) Let alone try to get any of his Flamebird stories published in The Daily Planet. He didn’t even want to imagine what the Chief might say. Or do for that matter.

He didn’t let himself dwell on it too much. He had a different mystery to get to the bottom of; where Clark originally came from. The little Clark had divulged since the ‘I am Superman’ identity reveal/un-reveal (since Jimmy knew something was up with his roommate since the day they met) was agonizing to an investigative standpoint. 

However, if Clark really didn’t know, and wasn’t entirely sure how he was meant to get the information himself then Jimmy couldn’t exactly fault him for the sparse information.

Though, Clark leaving in a hurry this morning was cause for concern. He’d been on the phone and rushed out after hanging up with a hurriedly yelled “I’ll be right back Jimmy!”

Jimmy, ever curious, had looked at the last received phone number and recognized it. It was Clark’s parents landline number.

Now Jimmy was worried, he hoped it wasn’t an emergency— though given how fast Clark had left… Jimmy shook his head, no use worrying when he wasn’t in a position to help or change the outcome. Plus Clark (or Superman if it came to that) could probably handle it on his own.

Clark was gone for about an hour before breezing back in, a wide grin on his face. Jimmy could feel himself unclench, it looked like Clark had good news.

“Hey Jimmy, good morning!”

“Good morning Clark, what’s up with you?”

Clark’s grin got even brighter, Jimmy would almost swear Clark was glowing in the moment, “Do you want to come with me and Lois to go see a spaceship?”

Lois didn’t think she’d ever get used to flying with Clark, and having Jimmy along with was an additional dimension of novelty. They were flying out to Smallville—to see a spaceship. Though Lois also secretly was thinking about the trip as an opportunity to meet Clark’s parents.

They landed in a cornfield, next to a large metal patch buried partially beneath the earth. Clark explained, “This is usually covered with dirt, but I uncovered it this morning.”

Jimmy was beside himself with pure glee, “O.M.G this is— it’s— it’s literally out of this world! ”

Lois tapped tentatively on the edge of the exposed metal, she wasn’t entirely sure what information she expected to derive from the action, but it seemed like the thing to do at the time. It felt like any other sort of metal, if maybe a bit warmer than normal.

A woman’s voice broke through the corn, “Clark, is that you honey, back already?”

Lois stood just as an older woman broke through the corn, she seemed baffled to see her, Lois smiled and waved. She recognized the lady from a picture Clark had shown her. Clark’s mom , Martha Kent. Lois greeted her shyly, “Hello Mrs. Kent, I’m Lois Lane.”

Martha smiled, “Nice to meet you Lois, it’s about time Clark brought a woman home to meet me.” There was a teasing note to her voice, but Lois felt her face heat up a bit in response regardless.

“Ma!” Clark protested, a blush furiously rising to his face, “It’s—I… uh—”

Jimmy cut in, rescuing Clark, “Hello Miss Martha.”

That’s right, Jimmy had met Clark’s parents before, back during their college days. He’d mentioned something about how calling someone’s parents by their first names felt weird without some sort of honorific in front.

“Hello to you to Jimmy,” Mrs. Kent had deep laugh lines around her eyes, “Whenever you are done here I insist you and Lois join us for a late breakfast. I believe people in Metropolis call it brunch.”

“Oh absolutely,” Jimmy agreed, he turned to Lois, “she makes the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted.”

Lois nods in agreement, it would be rude to refuse after all. Out loud she said, “Oh absolutely Mrs. Kent, I’d love to.”

“Call me Martha honey, I’ll go and start whipping something together.” With that she left, the corn obscuring her path back up to the house.

Clark coughed awkwardly, “Okay, so… this is the spaceship I crashed landed to earth in as a baby.”

Lois gasped, he’d been a baby when he’d arrived on earth? She hadn’t known that. Jimmy simply nodded, he’d probably already put that together somehow from his time rooming with Clark during college.

He guided them to stand in the center with him. A column-like structure emerged from the metal surface and scanned them. Clark seemed unperturbed by this so Lois figured it was to be expected.

A platform formed around them and they slowly descended into the structure below.

The first thing that Lois noticed was just how bright blue and crystalline the cavernous structure was. The second thing she noticed was a holographic screen floating in the middle of a main platform.

In the middle of the screen were two familiar figures, Brain floated to the right side, and stood just behind him taking up most of the left of the screen was Monsieur Mallah.

Brain spoke first, though he seemingly was distracted typing something on a console“Hello again Miss Lane, Mr. Olsen.”

Mallah greeted them far more enthusiastically. He waved broadly, grinning ear to ear, “Ah Jimmy, we speak again, it is good to see you!”

Jimmy smiled, “Oh hey! It’s good to see you too!”

Clark smiled as he led them up to the platform, “They managed to get in contact with the ship earlier this morning, that’s what the phone call from my folks was about.”

Brain sounded smug when he chipped in, “It took some doing, but the ship is keyed into your particular genetics. Luckily the hair sample I took from Clark was sufficient to tune into the correct frequency. ”

Mallah gave Brain a look, “And you got the sample…”

“Without asking, yes. Again, sorry Clark, my curiosity overruled my social graces.”

Clark shrugged, “Well if you can help me figure out the ship systems I’ll consider us more than even.”

Brain turned to a screen above the keyboard he was still determinedly typing away at, “It’s going to take me a while to crack, but I’m more than glad to work at it.”

A hologram of a man appeared to the side of the screen. The first thing Lois noticed was the eyepatch. The second thing was the man’s passing resemblance to Clark.

The man said something she couldn’t discern, but it sounded like a greeting, so she gave her own greeting, “Uh, hello?”

The hologram mimicked her wave, but just looked on forlornly. Jimmy waved too, and the hologram repeated the motion but didn’t speak anything further.

Clark sighed, “He doesn’t know English, I’m not sure what exactly he’s speaking, but Brain says it’s not a human language.”

Brain hummed, “Indeed, though it bears some resemblance to Esperanto… this is just a supposition, but I think perhaps the ship scanned Earth’s languages upon its initial entry and just aggregated them for whatever reason.”

Mallah consulted another screen, “I’m thinking the ship may not realize there’s more than one language on Earth, or there may be some sort of damage to the databases that are preventing it from separating the languages from each other.” Mallah shrugged, “There’s really no way to evaluate the physical systems of your ship from our dimension. As for the language itself—it is early days yet; I don’t expect we’ll crack the code today at any rate.”

Clark nodded, “I understand, I’m just happy to have help with this.” He then turned to address Lois and Jimmy, “So that’s why I couldn’t answer all of your questions, right now you know just as much as I do about how I got here and where I come from.”

Lois abruptly felt guilty about accusing Clark of lying during her ‘Superman interview’, he hadn’t been evasive on purpose, he really didn’t know.

Jimmy patted Clark’s arm companionably, “Thanks for showing us this, I am truly honored to be here.”

Clark smiled, “I’m honored to have you here.” Clark then clapped his hands once firmly together, “Now, I think I hear my Ma calling out that brunch is ready, so I think we ought to go up to the house.”

Lois and Jimmy both smile, Jimmy starts chanting, “Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes!” as the exit platform ascends.

Once they leave the ship is just left with two holographs, one of a screen and one of a man.

Mallah turns to brain, “Now I find I have a craving for pancakes as well.”

Brain rolls his eye, but chuckles all the same.

Chapter Text

Martha did her best to make her observations of Lois as unobtrusive as possible, but really there was no way that she didn’t know she was being scrutinized. And while Johnathan might have many talents, subtlety wasn’t ranked high amongst them.

Johnathan plopped himself down at the dining table and addressed Lois affably, “Hello, I’m Johnathan Kent, please feel free to call me by my first name. It’s nice to finally meet more of Clark’s friends— tell me all about yourself Lois.” 

Lois holds her own, giving a brief overview of her early life and how she became an intern at The Daily Planet. It’s easy to tell that Clark is paying full attention to everything Lois is saying. There’s a real glow to Clark’s eyes that warms Martha to her core.

Her little boy had a crush. Martha, rather heroically if you ask her, managed to not coo out loud at this revelation. It was a very near thing.

Soon Lois gets caught up to more recent events, “—Secret abandoned labs are crazy enough without a German mad scientist brain in a bot and a super intelligent French gorilla. Luckily, they both actually turned out to be good guys and they helped us. Even now that they’re in another dimension they actually figured out a way to get in contact with the spaceship.”

Martha nods, “Yes, Clark introduced us to them when they first called, it is very nice of them to be trying to help Clark crack the secrets of the ship.”

Jimmy beamed a smile, “They’re both really cool, and based on what we saw at the lab; they’re probably some of the only people I can think of who are smart enough to figure out alien tech— that aren’t supervillains like Ivo.”

Johnathan tilted his head with curiosity, “What exactly happened with Ivo and Amazo-tech? We only know what made the news on that.”

Briefly Lois and Jimmy explain, with Clark adding his own perspective intermittently. At the mention of the Parasite suit Johnathan chuckled in disbelief.

“He actually named it ‘Parasite’? I thought that was just what people dubbed the suit in the aftermath! I mean, it’s an accurate name either way— it’s just baffling from a marketing perspective to name it that as the creator. Are we sure the man is actually a genius?”

Jimmy hummed in thought, “Well, we did find all that stolen tech hidden in Ivo tower— so I’m guessing it’s just that he probably takes credit for other people’s work.”

Lois nods, “It’s corruption and nepotism all the way down with him. He used his massive inheritance as a bit of a smoke screen. Like; ‘if I wasn’t smart, I wouldn’t be so rich’ or something.”

The rest of the conversation circled around similar issues of Amazo-tech. Martha can only imagine the company turmoil of having the CEO turn into a supervillain. 

Jimmy’s concern was who would take over Amazo-tech, “What about the man Ivo threw out of the window, I think he was the head of the board or something?”

Clark shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure he wants to keep working there, bad memories. But he did promise ‘Superman’ that he’d testify in court about Amazo-tech’s corrupt and illegal business practices.”

Lois smiles as she clears up her plate of food, “And we’ll be sure to keep an eye on him to follow through on that promise. Trust but verify and all that.”

Martha nods, she watches passively as Clark becomes a veritable windy blur— he quickly collects the dirty dishware and washes them before she can even think to ask.

Jimmy makes a joke about ‘chores really being a breeze’ and everyone gives a polite laugh at his pun.

Clark found good people , Martha thought contentedly, I’m so glad.

Brain finally took a break after hitting a third dead end, clearly he needed to come back to this problem fresh. He was no stranger to putting difficult problems to solve on a sort of ‘low boil’ in the back of his mind while he worked on other things. Like many of his eureka moments, his ideas and solutions would find him in the moments he is least straining for them.

Mallah is very similar in this regard. The solution to stabilizing the black hole had been decades in the making— culminating in a final flash of brilliance. It really was odd that the answer hadn’t occurred to either of them sooner. It was almost as if the ability to cross dimensions had been held from them until a critical moment… Bah , Brain dismissed the thought, that would imply that some force out in the multiverse was controlling dimensions down to the individual.

Or, Brain supposed, maybe only a few key individuals really would need to be manipulated in order to direct a dimension in the desired direction. Everyone else would be more or less influenced by th—

The train of thought is disrupted by Mallah, “Brain, it’s feeding time for the mutants soon, can you please help me set the table?”

Brain floated over to Mallah and began filling the various mutants’ feeding troughs, why Mallah insisted on the terminology of  ‘setting the table’ when the only one who actually ate at a table was Mallah, Brain would never understand. It wasn’t worth arguing the point however, inaccurate as the statement was, it made Mallah happy to say his way.

The mutants all gathered eagerly, plunging face and claws into their fruit and vegetable mash. Brain has long given up the notion of teaching them any sort of eating manners; their appendages weren’t exactly suited for silverware anyway.

Mallah had his meal set up on the table that he’d just finished building a few days ago. He’d sealed it with some sort of resin so it wasn’t completely raw wood, but there was some mention of trying to find a way to make a tablecloth.

Maybe they could find this dimension’s version of wool or cotton? They hadn’t explored too far into their new home planet yet, so the scope of their available material was still largely a mystery.

More questions to answer, and problems to solve. It’s enough to keep two men of science busy for a lifetime.

Brain, not needing to eat in the traditional sense, still took this opportunity to open up his panel of photovoltaic cells. Soak up the sun , in other words. It was the closest his robotic body got to nutritional intake. The midday charge wasn’t strictly necessary; his power cells could run for a few days without recharging before it would become an issue. However, it was nice to think of it as ‘eating with the family’.

Mallah smiled at Brain, “You’re deep in your thoughts again mon amor, the answers are proving to be elusive?”

“I think the ship is being purposefully difficult. That’s actually a good thing really, strong firewalls and near incompressible code to repel potential enemies!” Brain simulated a sigh, “If only there was a way to communicate my intentions to the ship’s systems in a way it would both understand and believe me.”

“How about I take a look over your work after I finish eating? You can take over building the lab space for a bit, I know you’ll want to set up your workspace by yourself anyway.”

Brain couldn’t deny that he was particular in how everything in his workspace was filed, it was a very stringent organizational system and he really preferred setting it up himself.

“That sounds like a good plan mein liebchen,” Brain said, voice warm with affection, “hopefully you’ll have better luck than me.”

Chapter Text

Mallah finds more dead ends in cracking the code, but he doesn’t let that frustrate him too much. He now knew of four different routes that didn’t pan out. It took Edison thousands of attempts to make an incandescent light bulb. Some things just take time.

He was derailed from any further inquiry by an unexpected visit. He wasn’t expecting Clark to show up when he did, the expectation was that he’d check in with them in a week. It had only been one day since they last spoke. 

Clark looked rather haggard and sleep deprived. Mallah pursed his lips in concern, “Are you okay Clark?”

“It’s… been a long day.” Clark sounded tired, “I’ve suddenly started hearing things miles away… calls for help I can’t ignore. The worst part is, I’m hearing people’s private moments, I feel awful. Like I’m eavesdropping even though I can’t stop it. It’s actually a relief being here— I hadn’t realized how good the sound dampening is in here until now.”

Mallah hummed in thought, “So, you’re gaining new abilities— perhaps as a consequence of aging or there may as of yet be some sort of other outside factor.”

Clark groaned, “And here I thought the laser vision would be the scariest power.” Clark suddenly jerked his head up as a dreadful thought occurred, “What if— what if it never stops? What if I just keep getting more powers and become even more of a freak!”

Mallah crossed his forelimbs, “First off, no calling yourself a freak, I’m putting a moratorium right now on that sort of language. Secondly, you shouldn’t borrow hypothetical problems from the future— focus your energy on the now.”

Brain must have heard the commotion at the antenna console, because he quickly appeared at Mallah’s shoulder, “What’s this I hear about new powers?”

Clark explains about the super hearing, explaining how he had been up all night rescuing people because he could hear their cries for help in all directions.

Brain tapped one of his servos against his sphere in thought, “That power would seem to need some focus, or at least a way to activate it at will. Not being able to filter audio inputs from as wide of a scope as you describe would be a cacophony.”

Clark wilted, “Being in the ship is the most peace I’ve gotten since this started.”

Mallah glanced at the console screen and consulted his and Brain’s notes, “That makes sense, based on what we’ve been able to make out of these schematics, the audio dampening technology of your ship would make any Earth system look pale in comparison. Perhaps as a mechanism to aid in relief against having to constantly, and consciously, have to focus on controlling that particular power.”

Clark scrubbed his face with both of his hands, “I can’t just stay in here all the time, help me please. ”

His voice was getting rather reedy, edged with despair and exhaustion. Brain was sure if he’d still had a human heart it would ache sympathetically at the tone of the plea alone. Out loud he said, “I think this is something you have to train yourself to do.

Clark groans. 

Mallah offers up his own advice, “Perhaps you should take a rest here, away from the noise. I’d imagine control would be easier if you’re rested. Perhaps if you try tomorrow— fresh, and with knowledge of what to expect— it won’t be as overwhelming.”

Brain chirps in agreement, “I second the notion, you look tired… which is…hmmm.”

Clark leans forward, “What?”

Brain taps his servos together nervously, “It’s entirely possible, based on my readings of your unique biology, that you don’t actually need as much rest as you think you do.”

Mallah tutted, “What, are you saying his exhaustion is in his head— Je ne sais… psychosomatic?”

“If he expects to feel tired, then perhaps he himself is unconsciously making it so. I may be interpreting the chart wrong, but it seems to me that Clark should require far less rest than a human.”

Clark yawned, “This certainly feels like I’m really tired— though that could be from me flying around saving people nonstop for hours. That’s certainly the longest period of time I’ve used my powers, continuously, in the time I’ve had them.”

Mallah nodded, “That certainly is a relevant data point. Again, we can discuss this further when you’ve gotten some sleep.”

Clark tiredly mumbled his thanks and wandered into a chamber off to the side of the spacecraft’s main hub room.

Brain clicked a button on the console to mute their audio channel to the ship, no need for them to pipe any noises there when that would only potentially disturb Clark’s rest.

Mallah sighed, “Poor kid. I cannot even imagine what that must be like.”

“If he does manage to get this under control—which hopefully he will— I just know he’ll feel guilty for ‘switching off’ when people are calling for help.”

“Then we should be sure to tell Jimmy and Lois to remind Clark about the importance of self care.” Mallah said thoughtfully, “Wouldn’t do to let him feel like he has to try and save everyone.”

Brain tutted, sounding annoyed, “The Earth does not deserve him.” He turns to evaluate the screen over the console and changes the subject, “Did you make any progress?”

“I have found four more ways that do not work.” Mallah said with a shrug, “And then Clark showed up, so my troubleshooting got diverted.”

Brain started typing, bringing up Mallah’s notes on what he’d attempted and the limited results that had resulted from his efforts. 

He hummed, deep in thought, he mumbled under his breath as he puzzled over the spaceship’s system code, “…There is an underlying thread here, but I cannot quite place my servos on it.”

Mallah smiled fondly at his husband. He could sit here for hours, watching Brain glare at the code on the screen like it existed solely to anger him. 

“It is indeed a slippery puzzle.” Mallah said in agreement, chuckling slightly at Brain’s noises of consternation.

“Slippery indeed ver— slip, Mallah! My love, you are a genius!”

Mallah clasped his hands together in excitement, “A eureka moment?”

“The code itself, the core, is literally shifting. Clark said that the ship had grown bigger since his childhood—initially I thought that he might have imagined that— but if I’m right…” Brain typed furiously, his servos a veritable blur, “Ah HA! Liquid code, It’s ingenious!”

“You’ve cracked it?”

“ We’ve cracked it, mein schatz , this was a team effort.” Brain lifted his left servo up to tenderly brush the right side of Mallah’s smiling face, “A few more hours of work and we’ll have the ship communicating in English.”

Mallah smiled, glad to finally have good news to greet Clark with, once he woke from his well deserved rest.

Chapter Text

Clark feels much better upon waking. Being insulated from all the noise his super hearing had been a huge relief. He took in a bracing breath. Not really looking forward to facing the barrage of noise that existed outside of the spacecraft.

Upon entering the central room of the ship the hologram Clark figured was his biological father greeted him, “Child, Kal-El, the organic brain of the robot and the speech-ing gorilla have repaired the—” There were some garbled words that Clark didn’t understand before the English broke back in, “I hope you can understand me now.”

Clark gaped in shock, “Yes, I can! Well, there was a bit in the middle I didn’t understand, but mostly yes!”

Brain’s voice cut in, “I’m still working on it, there’s just going to be some phrases that don’t translate well— if at all.”

Mallah sounded a little miffed, “It took a few interactions before the holoprogram recognized either of us as sentient— we’re still working on the whole name thing.”

“Kal-El was your given name when you were an infant,” The hologram explained, “ I am your father, Jor-El. We are of the house of El. Did the people on earth who raised you impart their own name according to their own conventions?”

Clark smiled, “It’s Clark— Kent. The Kent’s are the ones who raised me.” Clark pointed to the holographic screen, “These guys are two of my friends, The Brain and Monsieur Mallah.”

The Jor-El hologram blinked, “Good you found caregivers and allies, but where is—” More garbled words, “My siblings family on sister planet were to follow after—” static distorted the edges of the hologram, “The sensors can only detect one Kryptonian life sign, however I am unsure how much damage they sustained in the crash.”

“Kryptonian?” Clark asked curiously, “Is that what I am?”

“We are Kryptonian. From the planet of Krypton, home planet. ” More static, the hologram looked more grim, “Destroyed now.”

“Destroyed how?”

“An invention out of hand. Was supposed to work for the best interests of Krypton. A non-organic brain computer.”

Brain whirred in surprise, “Oh so that’s why the hologram was so insistent on calling me an ‘organic’ brain, it wanted to differentiate me from this tech-brain.”

“Brainiac.” The hologram cast his gaze at the floor of the ship, “Accelerated solar body to red phase,” garbled words, more static, “Torn asunder. Fissures. Sister planet damaged as well, thrown off orbit entirely.”

Clark felt an immense sorrow for these planets he’d never consciously known. He couldn’t find his voice.

“Two earth beings have entered the spaceship perimeter.” Jor-El’s voice warned as he brought up another holo-screen. On it were Clark’s Ma and Pa looking worried.

His Ma spoke first, “Clark, you in there? Lois and Jimmy both called up here looking for you.”

Pa helpfully added, “Jimmy specifically mentioned your having trouble with your hearing,” he held up his hand, and showed what he had, “so I brought down some of the same industrial earplugs I use when I operate the heavy farm equipment— maybe they’ll help a tad?”

Clark turned to Jor-El,  he had so many questions, but he couldn’t spend all day hiding away in the spacecraft. Not if he wanted to keep his internship at The Daily Planet, at any rate. 

Out loud he said, “Sorry, I have to go for now. I’ll be back later.

The hologram nodded, and blipped away.

Brain vented a sigh, “I think that’s about all I can fix on my end, the actual physical systems of the ship are still working on repairing itself— but I’m not sure how much damage those systems can handle or at what rate.”

Mallah grimaced, “Or if they could even repair themselves fully at all.”

Clark gave an understanding nod, “This is better than what I started with, I’m just glad to get any help with this.”

Mallah nodded, “Check in with us in a week or so, maybe we’ll have more.”

Goodbyes are exchanged and Clark flies out of the spaceship to talk to his worried parents.

Pa’s earplugs were a nice gesture, but Clark wasn’t really sure how much of a help they were. It was a bit easier to tell whether or not something he was hearing was not in the bounds of Metropolis, but he still heard them.

Lois tried running him through some calming breathing techniques, and Jimmy gave him some over-ear headphone style protection that he’d got from ‘a friend of a friend’ — they looked like something straight off an industrial construction sight, definitely not commercial grade. 

Clark felt a little silly wearing both Pa’s earplugs and Jimmy’s construction ones, but the combo cut down on the noise pollution so well that he could finally feel his shoulders unclench from his neck.

“What will Mr.White say when he sees me wearing these?”

Lois smiled kindly, she had a knowing look in her intelligent gaze, “You’ll be surprised Smallville, the man does have a soft side.”

Perry did fix a quizzical look at Clark when he spotted them in the records room, but he didn’t say anything about it. If anything his expression turned understanding, and he seemed contemplative.

When Perry called him into his office, Clark moved to take off the headphones but Perry stopped him with a gesture, “It’s okay Clark, you’re not in any trouble…” Perry sighs, “I’ve got a nephew and a niece that have audio processing issues— I understand, you don’t need to take those off if you don’t want to.”

Clark smiled weakly in gratitude. So that was what Lois meant when she’d said that Mr. White had a ‘soft side’.

Perry continued, “Did you keep it secret thinking you wouldn’t get hired over it? Have you been denied employment over it? Because that would be disability discrimination, and I’d be more than glad to investigate any business potentially in breach of the ADA.”

Clark shook his head, “No, the only job I’ve had before this was work around my family farm, and it’s really quiet in Smallville on top of that.”

“Hmmm, I see.” Perry said in thoughtful agreement, “The ol’ noisy concrete jungle is a far cry from the peace and quiet of the rural countryside.” Perry leaned forward in his chair, “If anyone gives you flack about the headphones, you direct them to talk to me— I’ll set them straight.”

Clark smiled, “Thanks Chief.”

Perry grumbled half heartedly at the title, but just shooed him out with a chiding, “Don’t call me Chief. Now, get back to work.”

Clark left Perry’s office with a grin spread wide across his face.