Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Surrender!" Kaldur orders their opponent. "We have you surrounded."

The rest of the team circle the man, a rogue mage responsible for a series of strange magical occurrences for the past month. Despite these disruptions, however, his actions have not been devastating enough to warrant the Justice League's intervention, placing the man under the team's jurisdiction.

Kaldur gracefully ignores the bitter feeling of being treated as less than and focuses himself on the mission.

The team has the man surrounded, and based on his panic-stricken face as he searches the warehouse, the man realizes this as well.

"It's over," Kaldur says, stepping forward with his waterbearers ready.

"No." The man grips the red stone that hands around his neck and gives the Atlantean a manic grin. "I don't think it is."

The shard burns bright, a red light bursting out towards the team.

"Brace yourselves!" Kaldur warns, the brightness momentarily forcing his eyes shut. He quickly squints them back open, shaking away the after images of the flash.

A glance to his teammates informs the leader that, while blinking or rubbing their eyes, everyone is unharmed. The mage, however, is nowhere in sight.

"He got away," Robin huffs in frustration.

"Ooh a fancy light show and disappearance," Wally scoffs. "Never seen that one before."

"Search the perimeter," Kaldur orders despite not having much hope in actually finding their target.

As expected, their search is fruitless, and the team gathers in the bioship to return to base. Kaldur dreads the lecture they are bound to receive from Batman upon their arrival.

Throughout the flight, Robin and Kid Flash loudly complain about being defeated by a flash of light while the girls make plans for later tonight.

Noticing the silence of one member, Kaldur turns to Conner.

"I'm assuming Phantom is expecting you back?" he asks.

Conner jolts at the question, turning away from the window he was staring at. "Ah, yeah," he answers, rubbing the back of his neck. "We're supposed to visit Danny's family for dinner."

Kaldur nods. "Hopefully Batman's debrief will be quick then."

The other boy makes a noise of doubt, both him and Kaldur aware of how unlikely that would be considering how the mission turned out.

 The bioship stutters as she enters the cave's loading bay. The team looks to M'gann for answers, but her expression is just as baffled.

"What's wrong, girl?" M'gann gently asks, rubbing a soothing hand on the control panel.

The Martian looks up with a frown and observes their surroundings. Kaldur is about to do the same when M'gann gasps, gaining the entire team's attention. Following her line of sight, Kaldur does not find anything to warrant such a reaction, that is until he realizes another bioship is already resting inside the loading bay.

"M'gann?" Wally asks. "You wouldn't have forgotten to mention having 2 ships, would you?"

The martian shakes her head in disbelief.

Before the team can vocalize their theories, Conner tenses in his seat, tilting his head before glaring in the direction of the mountain's common room.

Aqualad, having come to the conclusion that Conner is hearing something the rest of them cannot, orders an urgent, "M'gann," and swiftly feels the pull of her mindlink being connected.

'What's wrong?' She asks.

Conner is the one to answer her question with an unnerving, 'We're not alone here.'

Immediately, the teens are on the defensive. Their bioship lands next to the duplicate, and the team stalks out with their weapons drawn.

'How many?' Robin asks.

'6. Teenagers. But...,' Conner looks between the team and the direction of the other room, 'They sound like us.'

'Clones?' Artemis asks, drawing sharp breaths from the rest of the team.

'They can't be,' Wally argues. 'Someone would have noticed. Besides, Batman knew about our mission; there's no way he wouldn't have said something if he saw all of us still in the cave.'

'Regardless,' Kaldur cuts in, ' be on guard. We move together, and if this turns out to be a trap, trust only those connected to this mindlink.'  

The team responds in a variety of nods and mental confirmations, and they advance towards the common room.

'Wait...' Robin projects. 'If these people are supposed to be us, then does that mean the Supernova here can hear us too?'

No sooner does the thought enter the link when the intruder alarm blares to life around them. Giving up all pretense of stealth, the team bursts into the common room to face their opponents.

Despite prior warning of the possibility, Kaldur is still caught off guard when faced with identical copies of himself and his friends on the other side of the door.

"Identify yourselves," the Kaldur-look-alike demands.

"We could say the same to you," Robin snarks, a birdarang clenched in his fist.

"You're the ones who don't belong here," Not-Conner snarls, stomping towards the team.

'Who does this guy think he's fooling?' Wally asks. 'He didn't even get the costume right.'

'Kid Flash,' Kaldur chides in the mindlink, but privately he agrees with the sentiment. Conner's duplicate is the most noticeable, but Kaldur is able to spot subtle differences in each costume. They are also all missing that slightly green tint that appeared after Phantom's upgrades.

"Do not Engage," Not-Kaldur says to the agitated Kryptonian at his side.

"Don't tell me what to do," Not-Conner growls and pounces at Supernova.

Conner jumps to the side, readying his fists for the next attack. It doesn't take long for Not-Conner to spin around and charge again, but Conner counters with a quick punch that makes the other teen stumble back and touch his face with a puzzled expression.

Like a trigger pulled, the duplicate team attacks. Each team member faces off against their double, finding themselves evenly matched and increasingly more frustrated as the fight continues.

As Kaldur's own fight progresses, a certain detail about this team sticks out to the Atlantean.

'Team,' Kaldur announces. 'Implement code Ghost.'

'Um,' Wally inputs, 'I'm pretty sure these guys aren't ghosts, Kaldur.'

'They're not,' Robin thinks with a tone of realization. 'But they're not equipped for them either.'

With a wild grin, the young teen pulls out a cylindrical shaped weapon with a trigger and points it at Not-Robin.

The other boy freezes at the sight, jaw dropping. "Is that a gu--ack!" His question is both interrupted and answered when Robin pulls the trigger and traps Not-Robin in a glowing green net.

The duplicate team pauses briefly to stare at their downed bird, but they quickly find themselves targeted by other strange glowing weapons.

Not-Artemis is blasted by a green wrist laser with enough power to knock her to the floor.

Not-M'gann is tangled in a web of metallic claws and incapacitated by a burst of electricity.

Not-Wally is tripped by a glowing green lasso tangling his legs.

Not-Conner is wacked on the head with a green-tinged metal bo-staff, and he stays on the floor nursing what Kaldur can assure is a horrendous headache.

As for Not-Kaldur, the teen minutely avoids being wound up in Fenton fishing line due to the threatening voice of Batman ordering fighting teens to, "Stand down."

Both teams freeze at the command, turning to the entryway where Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Canary stand.

"Explain."

Both Kaldurs stand in front of their respective teams and approach Batman. "There are intruders in the cave," they say in sync. Kaldur can feel his eye twitch as he glances towards his double.

Standing taller, Kaldur reports to Batman about the results of their mission and their finding a cave full of duplicates when they returned.

Not-Kaldur speaks his turn, telling Batman that the team had been gathered in the common room when their Conner heard intruders in the loading bay. He gives a brief description of the ensuing fight, placing a great emphasis on the strange weapons Kaldur's team wielded.

Batman turns to Martian Manhunter.

The Martian floats forward, red eyes piercing as he looks between the two leaders. Kaldur feels a faint brush across his mind and suppresses a shiver of unease. 

Tilting his head, Martian Manhunter says, "They are both telling the truth."

"Maybe that's just what they're programmed to believe!" Not-Wally argues.

"It is unlikely," J'onn answers. "I sensed no sign of outside interference in his mind, and it seems that memories of certain events have changed significantly. It is as if they have lived a completely different reality from our own.

"So we're in a different world?" Conner asks, face scrunched up in concentration. "Is that like an alternate time-line?"

"Perhaps," the Martian answers. "One quite diverged from our own."

Batman grunts in acknowledgment. "We will call Zatara to discuss your situation."

With that said, the vigilante strides towards the exit. Right before he leaves, the man stops and turns his head just enough to warn the two teams, "In the meantime, no more fighting."

The teens scoff, each side muttering variations of "they started it."

When all the adults leave the room, Kaldur finds himself wondering what they should be doing to occupy their time.

'Looks like we don't have to worry about Batman's debrief yet,'  Wally jokes in the mindlink, extracting short laughs from Artemis and M'gann and a small, reluctant smile from Conner.

Kaldur, however, shakes his head. 'Or perhaps, it means our lecture will be even longer than we expected.'

The team's faces fall at the thought, and they all move towards the couches to wallow in the realization that Batman will likely assign them all reality travel training procedures to study.

"You guys really aren't worried about finding your way back home?," Not-Robin asks, staring at the lounging team with a furrowed brow. "Cause if I were you, I think I'd be a bit more chalant about being stuck here. We don't exactly have world-hopping tech lying around to send you back.

Conner shrugs at the teen. "They'll find us."

The rest of the team nods in confirmation, taking the time to relax after chasing down that mage the whole day.

"Huh," Not-Robin mutters, giving the team an evaluating look.

Artemis, lifting her head for the first time since she migrated to the couch, snorts when she spots Not-Conner's shirt. "Who are you supposed to be?" she jokes. "Superboy?"

Her smirk drips when the duplicate team stays silent. "Oh my God, you are."

M'gann claps her hands and smiles. "Oh how wonderful! So in this reality, you were taken in by Superman?"

Not-Conner glares at the two with a level of hatred that startles Kaldur. The team is used to Conner's grouchiness, but Kaldur has never seen this amount of venom from his friend, especially not aimed at the girls.

M'gann's smile dims, replaced by a worried expression. "I'm sorry. It seems I misspoke?"

Not-M'gann swoops in with a regretful expression. "It's a sensitive subject."

M'gann distraughtly explains, "I am so sorry. It's just, with the difference in costumes, I thought Conner was mentored by Superman rather than Phantom."

"Who's Phantom?" Not-Robin chimes from behind the girls, leaning his head away from the swing of Artemis's bow towards him.

Kaldur freezes as the question process, the rest of the team reacting similarly, with all side conversations in the room coming to a halt.

"You don't have a Phantom here?" Robin asks and immediately begins typing on his wrist computer.

“I cannot say that we do.” Not-Kaldur responds, his voice betrayed by a tinge of interest.

“He’s Conner’s dad,” Wally adds in, throwing an arm around the clone boy and grinning brightly at the confused exclamations of the duplicate team.

Kaldur sighs, cursing (not for the first time) his teammates’ urges to cause chaos. He explains for the duplicate team, “Phantom is a highly respected Justice League member who began mentoring Conner after his initial discovery.”

“Never heard of him,” Not-Artemis dryly remarks.

“And what kind of name is Phantom?” Not-Wally snickers.

“Like you’re one to talk, Kid Flash? ” Not-Robin remarks with a raised eyebrow.

“I think his name is rather fitting,” M’gann chirps. “He is a ghost, after all.”

Not-Wally scoffs. “Ghosts aren’t real,” he snarks before pausing and urgently turning to face Wally. “Please don’t tell me you believe in ghosts.”

Wally opens his mouth to speak, but closes it, squints at Not-Wally and shrugs. “He certainly has ghost-like qualities,” Kid Flash says with a smirk.

Not-Wally wordlessly screeches in his throat, but the only sound that escapes when he opens his mouth is a pained, “No.”

Wally’s grin grows, but he does not respond.

Kaldur makes a mental note to keep his team from messing with Not-Wally too much, realizing how much of a target the teen would be.

Not-Conner stalks towards the couches, looming over Conner. “Why do your hits feel like that,” he demands more than asks.

Conner frowns at the boy. “Like what?”

Not-Conner clenches his jaw and stands in silence for a few moments before he grits out, “Painful. Why do they hurt so much?”

A look of understanding crosses Conner’s face and he nods. “Oh, that. It’s probably the ectoplasm,” he reparks, tugging on his ghost proof glove. “It tends to bite more than a normal hit, for Kryptonians at least.” He smirks as he tells the other boy, “You should’ve seen Superman after his first hit. Best spar I’ve ever had.”

The mention of Superman darkens Not-Conner’s expression, and the teen sneers. “So what, your Superman actually cares about you then?”

“Um.” Conner blinks at the mood shift and scratches the back of his neck. “I guess? He was kinda just ignoring my existence for a while, but I’m pretty sure my aunt did something to him, because he just showed up at our house one day to apologize.”

“...You don’t live at Mount Justice?”

“Uh no?” Conner looks around, his confused eyes meeting Kaldur’s concerned ones. “I live with Phantom.”

Robin looks up from the wrist computer he had been rapidly tapping at to say, “Guys… Phantom doesn’t exist here.”

“What?” Artemis shouts, the rest of the team not too far behind in their exclamations.

“Look,” Robin says, showing the team a decade old news article from Amity Park titled, “Ghost Fanatics Arrested for Child Endangerment and Manslaughter.” The article continues to explain that after the Fenton’s 14 year old son died in their basement lab, their eldest daughter was taken out of their custody, and the two self-proclaimed ghost hunters were sent to prison where they seem to be continuing to serve out their sentence.

Chills spread through the team.

“So Phantom…,” M’gann says softly. “He never survived the accident.”

“Half-survived,” Conner corrects, just as softly.

“That’s…dark,” Wally speaks up, visibly uncomfortable.

“So much for your ‘highly respected league member,’” Not-Conner scoffs.

The team glares at the duplicate as he stomps away towards the kitchen.

“Okay,” Artemis says. “Is anyone gonna tell us what the hell his problem is?”

Not-Robin and Not-Wally indiscreetly avoid her eye contact, and Not-M’gann stares worriedly at the kitchen entrance. Not-Artemis just shrugs, saying, “He was like that when I got here.”

Not-Kaldur says, “I apologize on his behalf. It is a tragedy that we will never meet this hero who you all hold so dearly.”

Robin huffs a laugh. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The guy’s probably our ticket home.”

“Oh yea? And how is reality travel considered ghostly?” Not-Wally challenges.

“Anything can be considered ghostly if you like it enough,” Conner nods sagely.

“...Is anyone going to explain what that means?” Not-Robin asks.

The rest of the team look at one another and shrug. 

“He said what he said,” Waly states, earning looks of disbelief from the duplicate team.

“What kind of warped reality are they from?” Not-Wally whispers in horror.

“Hey,” Not-Artemis cuts in. “You said something about Superboy not being Conner’s hero name, right? So what’s he called where you’re from?”

“If he’s working with this Phantom guy, does that mean he has a ghost themed name?” Not-Robin questions.

“Ooh,” Not-Wally pipes up. “I know! It’s gotta be Kid Phantom.”

Conner glares at Not-Wally, then at his own Wally when the teen attempts to hold in his laughter.

“It’s Supernova,” the Kryptonian deadpans.

Not-Artemis tilts her head. “Not to agree with these knuckleheads,” she starts, jabbing a thumb at Not-Robin and Not-Wally, “but I kinda expected something more…spooky.”

“It’s harder than it looks to find a good hero name,” Conner mutters, crossing his arms. Robin pats his shoulder sympathetically.

A ding sounds through the room, making Not-M’gann perk up. “Oh! My cookies are done,” she says in excitement before looking back at the unexpected company in the room. “...I’ll make some more.”

“Let me help you,” M’gann offers, and the two Martians excuse themselves from the room.

Not-Artemis slips into the newly vacant spot beside Conner. “So…Supernova, was it?” she purrs. “It’s a good look for you.”

“Thanks…,” Conner trails off, squinting at the blond as he leans back. Artemis gags in the background.

“So not turbed,” Robin says, shudders.

Not-Robin speaks up. “So, what’s with the green tech?”

“Yeah,” Not-Wally complains, “and why are they all so weird? I mean, a lasso? Really?”

“I’ll be sure to tell Wonder Woman your criticisms,” Not-Robin smirks.

The blood drains from Not-Wally’s face.

“I already told you,” Conner answers, not commenting on Not-Wally’s pleas for Not-Robin to spare him. “It’s from the ectoplasm. Phantom gave us all weapons for dealing with ghosts.”

“He also made our uniforms ghost proof,” Kaldur adds. “It was very generous of him to provide such upgrades.”

“Ectoplasm?” Not-Artemis asks with a scrunched nose. “Isn’t that like the green goop in those old ghost movies?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Artemis shrugs. Seeing the disbelieving looks around her, she solemnly informs, “You get used to it.”

“I doubt it,” Not-Wally remarks.

In the kitchen…

M’gann follows her counterpart to the kitchen area, noting the similarities between this cave and her own home. Had it not been for the duplicate team already sitting in the cave, M’gann doubts she would have noticed anything wrong in the first place.

The other Conner is sitting at the table when they enter, head laying in his arms. He lifts his face to scowl at their entrance, but softens his features when he sees the two Martians.

“Hey Conner,” the other M’gann greets with a smile, floating the cookies out of the oven and gathering ingredients to make more. 

M’gann takes time to observe this world’s Conner. He has a black t-shirt with a red Superman symbol, as opposed to Phantom’s white logo, and he has no other noticeable accessories or weapons.

M’gann contemplates if his lack of weapons means that this Conner has additional powers to make up for it, but her train of thought screeches to a halt when her double passes by the boy with arms full of ingredients and pecks him on the lips before continuing her task.

When M’gann processes what just happened, the heat on her face burns so strongly she’s surprised she didn’t catch fire. Despite wanting nothing more than to flee, a startled squeak escapes her lips, too fast for the hands that move to smother the noise.

Both Other-M’gann and Other-Conner turn to look at her, their puzzled expressions meeting her wide eyes.

“Is there something wrong?” Other-M’gann asks, worry lacing her tone.

“I–you–,” M’gann stutters, pointing back and forth between the two before breathing out a hushed, “You just kissed him.”

“And that’s a surprise why?” Other-Conner drawls, irritated.

Other-M’gann gasps in realization and says, equally hushed, “Are you and your Conner not dating?”

M’gann, if possible, blushes even further as she rapidly shakes her head.

Other-Conner smirks and says, “Well, clearly there’s something wrong with their Conner. Guess not everyone can live up to my expectations.”

Both Martian girls turn to glare at the Kryptonian who raises his hands in half-hearted surrender, lips still twitching upward.

Other-M’gann simply rolls her eyes at the boy before turning to M’gann. “Do you like your Conner?”

M’gann nods meekly, not meeting either of their eyes.

Her double’s face brightens, squealing happily as she shakes Other-Conner by the shoulder, whisper-shouting, “It’s just like in my show! We have to get them together!”

“We really don’t,” Not-Conner deadpans.

“I’m fine!” M’gann yelps. “I don’t want to force anything.”

Other-M’gann looks between the two, devastated. “But… my matchmaking arc…”

M’gann shakes her head apologetically. “I appreciate the thought, but…Conner and I are just friends right now. Either way, I don’t think he has any interest in me.”

“So he’s an idiot,” Other-Conner mutters.

“He is not,” M’gann defends, frowning. “He just has other things going on right now. Besides,” she straightens with pride, “I’m currently his baby brother’s favorite team member, so I at least don’t have to worry about his family approving of me… if we get together, that is,” she ends bashfully, completely oblivious to the baffled faces of her audience.

“He has a brother??” Both Other-M’gann and Other-Conner shout in disbelief.

Back in the common room…

“He has a brother??” The faint yell is heard throughout the common room, pausing the occupants’ current conversations about past missions and comparing notes.

“Who has a brother?” the Wally of this world. “I thought all of us were only children.”

“Not M’gann,” Alternate-Artemis chimes in. Artemis herself assumes the girl was also told various stories about the Martian’s sisters back at home. The archer skillfully pushes down the reminder of her own sister to focus on the conversation at hand.

“Are they talking about Neil?” Conner questions, effectively catching the other team’s attention.

“Who’s Neil?” Alt-Robin asks.

“My baby brother,” Conner answers, pulling out his phone. Artemis can partially see the teen searching his gallery for pictures.

“Wait what?” “You guys have 2 Superman clones?” Ask Alt-Wally and Alt-Robin respectively.

Artemis snorts. “A baby Conner?” she says. “How much do you think Danny would pay to see that?”

Wally and Robin laugh. Kaldur does a wonderful job of keeping a straight face as he states, “Far more than the Justice League can approve of.”

This sets off another round of laughter between the team, with the exception of Conner himself who glares half-heartedly at his supposed friends.

Artemis takes pity on the confused faces of the alternate team and informs them, “Neil is Phantom’s clone. He and Conner were found together.” Or so she’s heard anyway, the boys always recount that night with varied amounts of exaggeration.

“Here he is,” Conner announces, showing his screen to the other teens. Alt-Robin and Alt-Wally rush to the screen, while Alt-Artemis turns her head a tad too quickly for her disinterested demeanor, and Alt-Kaldur simply walks closer to get a better view.

The alt-team stares at the glowing baby with wide eyes.

“Okay, so when you said ghost, how exactly does a baby–” Alt-Wally’s question is interrupted by a serious Conner saying, “You don’t want to know.”

“How come Cadmus didn’t age him up like Superboy?” Alt-Robin asks with a frown.

Artemis had always figured Cadmus just didn’t have time to do their whole aging up process before the team interfered, but Conner’s thoughtful expression makes her reconsider.

“I’m not sure,” he answers. “Maybe because Phantom’s clones are hard to stabilize? Chronologically, the two of us are around the same age.”

Artemis can feel the incredulous looks of every teen in the room, her own reality’s included.

“How the heck do you know that?” Wally asks.

Conner shrugs and vaguely responds, “Doctor’s visit.”

Unaware of the confusion around him ( or purposefully messing with them all, a small voice in Artemis wonders), Conner swipes to the next picture. This one has Phantom flying above Amity Park, a laughing Neil floating over his head.

“Whoa,” Alt-Robin says. “Is that Phantom? He looks more our age than the Justice League’s.”

“Well, he did die around our age so…,” Robin remarks, deliberately not mentioning the ghost’s partially living status when the other team winces. Thinking back to Alt-Conner’s attitude earlier, Artemis doesn’t feel so inclined to ease their guilt.

The next picture is a selfie of Conner and human Neil, both boys smiling at the camera, the younger with visibly sharp canines.

“Uhhh, so there’s two of them?” Alt-Wally questions.

“No,” Conner replies, looking at the phone with a soft expression.

“You know, you have a really nice smile,” Alt-Artemis says, leaning closer to Conner.

Artemis shudders. “Nope,” she deadpans, pulling the other archer back. “Too weird.”

Alt-Artemis rolls her eyes, but thankfully stays put.

Artemis takes a moment to look around the room, noticing the two Kaldurs wandering off to talk about who knows what in a corner while Alt-Wally and Alt-Robin yell at Conner about his horrible explaining skills. Her own Robin and Wally watch in amusement as the look-alikes lose the same battle they did months back.

The archer makes eye-contact with her own double and reluctantly gets up to follow the girl to a less crowded area.

When the two find a more secluded spot, the other archer gives Artemis a once over, eyes briefly pausing on the glowing bow-string before asking, “Sportsmaster?”

Artemis groans, Not-Artemis nods.

“Chesire?”

Artemis huffs in frustration, crossing her arms.

“Not too much different for us then?” The other girl questions wryly.

“If you mean apart from the ghost lessons? Then no, probably not,” Artemis states.

Alt-Artemis clicks her tongue and looks over the team members around the room. “And you’re telling me you never thought about getting with Conner?” she complains. “Yours seems a lot less likely to bite if someone comes near him.”

Artemis rolls her eyes, not denying the initial attraction towards the boy.

“Please,” she scoffs. “I do not have the capacity for the amount of weirdness his family gets into. Besides,” she nods her head towards the kitchen, “M’gann already called dibs.”

The archer blinks in confusion, but her face morphs into contemplation and then realization. “Oh my God,” she breathes in a mixture of awe and disappointment.

Not even a minute later, Alt-M’gann and Alt-Conner walk into the room carrying trays of cookies. M’gann trails behind them with a blushed face.

“Cookies!” Alt-M’gann announces, setting down the tray the trays she had been levitating. “I have some more baking right now, so help yourselves.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” two Wallys chorus, reaching for the treats.

“Thank you for your generosity,” Kaldur says, giving their Wally a pointed look.

The speedster nearly chokes on his cookies as he attempts to thank the amused Martian.

“You’re welcome,” Alt-M’gann laughs, moving to stand by Alt-Conner’s side.

Artemis glances at her double and nearly cackles at the girl’s facepalm.

Wally never realized how fun it was to make fun of himself. Sure, the speedster himself still refuses to agree with the existence of ghosts and magic, but the look on other-him’s face whenever he leans into Conner’s weirdness is absolutely priceless.

Munching on another cookie, Wally glances at his team and their counterparts, sighing in contentment when his gaze lands on the two Martians. “Two M’ganns,” he swoons. “It’s like a dream come true.”

“That is the most sense you’ve made your entire time here,” other him states, toasting a cookie in his direction.

After hours of comparing the two worlds, sparring with each other’s alternates, and eating way too many cookies, Robin can confidently say that he is ready to go home. Sure, it was exciting when they first came here, but with the mountain looking like a near exact replica of their own, it's hard to feel like he’s actually in another world.

Robin sighs, flopping bonelessly onto Wally who immediately lets him fall to the floor. Robin sighs again, face first on the cold rock floor.

“Stop being so dramatic,” Artemis (or her counterpart, he didn’t exactly look up to check) says to him. “It hasn’t even been a whole day.”

“But I’m boooaard,” he complains, ignoring the other Robin’s voice as he hesitatingly asks, “Is that really what I sound like?”

Robin rolls over, staring up at the cave’s ceiling. He is the first to notice the increasingly growing dot of neon green ripping through the air. The alternate team, when they finally notice the portal, raise their respective weapons, meanwhile his own team stands at ease at the sight.

Robin huffs in relief over the fact that they will be leaving soon.

A blot of pure white hair pokes its way through the portal, and Conner’s Aunt Ellie turns her head to look at both teams before slumping in relief. “Finally, she says, “I’m getting real sick of getting attacked.”

She sticks her head back into the portal, and a muffled “I found them!” is heard by all the gathered teens.

This time 2 figures appear through the portal, both Ellie and Danny float into the room, the elder with a baby strapped to his chest. The glowing green of the portal halos the ghosts, highlighting their ethereal appearance. 

That image is immediately shattered by Danny zipping over to Conner and lifting the larger teen in the air to twirl him.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again!” the ghost scolds, his echoey voice making the alternate team wince.

Robin holds back a smirk at the sight, barely.

“Do you know how worried everyone is?” Phantom asks, directing his question to the entire team as he holds the Kryptonian in the air like an oversized kitten.

Before Robin or the rest of the team can explain their innocence, Ellie cuts in, wheezing, “You guys got any food here?” 

The younger ghost stands on the floor, panting to catch her breath as the portal closes behind her. M’gann helps to brace her when she begins to sway.

Robin frowns at the ghost’s exhaustion, contemplating if dimensional travel is more taxing than her usual portals. M’gann leads Ellie to the couches to rest, but Robin’s eye is quickly caught by a moving shadow approaching Phantom.

“Identify yourselves,” Batman orders.

Phantom squeaks, flying straight to the ceiling with both kids clutched in his arms. The glowing teen looks down to see the unpressed look on the vigilante’s face. He slowly lowers himself to the ground, laughing nervously the whole time before glaring at the team’s muffled laughter and Robin’s full on cackles.

“Hey there…Batman?” Phantom answers questioningly.

“Alternate world,” Robin confirms for the confused ghost. “They don’t have a Phantom here.”

“Ah,” he nods in understanding. “Good thing you guys didn’t land in an evil reality huh?”

The team looks at him in horror, Wally shouting, “That was a possibility?”

“Oh yeah,” the ghost answers absently while looking around the cave. “If anything, it’s kinda weird how similar this world is to ours.”

Robin can pinpoint the exact moment the ghost’s eyes find Alternate-Conner. The ghost’s eyes widen, and he gasps, shaking the teen in his arms. “Con! It’s your counterpart!”

“I know. We met,” Conner deadpans, unfazed by the manhandling or the gentle return to his feet when Phantom moves to float by the other Conner.

“Ooh, he has a Superman shirt on,” Phantom points out, not noticing the dread on the team’s faces or their desperate gestures to stop talking. “Guess Supes stepped up sooner in this timeline then?”

Robin isn’t sure which he is more impressed by, how quickly Not-Conner filled with rage, or Danny’s obliviousness to it.

“So, what’s your name?” Danny asks, the baby on his chest reaching his hands out to his brother’s look-alike.

The teen snarls at the ghosts who back away in surprise.

“His name is Conner too,” Supernova answers, crossing his arms as he glares at the other Kryptonian.

“Really?” Danny asks, surprise clear in his voice. “But I just picked that name randomly from that diner– I mean! What a crazy coincidence. Who would have thought,” he corrects himself, laughing uneasily.

“You named Conner in your world?” Alternate-M’gann questions, eyes wide.

“Yup,” the ghost nods rapidly as latches onto the topic change. “Conner Fenton and Neil Fenton,” he introduces, waving at each boy.

“Fenton,” Alternate-Conner mutters. “Not Kent.”

The ghost snorts. “Well if Superman took you in, it makes sense he would give you his own name.”

“Superman’s last name is Kent?” the teen asks, absolutely shell-shocked.

Robin hisses in sympathy at Phantom’s blanched face. 

“I’ve said too much,” he whispers before disappearing from sight.

Conner rolls his eyes at his counterpart’s stunned face. He would feel more bad about the guy’s psyche if he wasn’t such a jerk. As it is, Conner is content with just letting him be.

He's about to just walk away when a familiar giggle catches his attention, and he sees Neil slowly floating down from the ceiling and plopping on top of the other Conner’s head.

“Hey!” the other him says, picking up Neil by the armpits. “Get off me.”

Neil babbles at the teen, his saliva covered teething ring smacking against the boy’s wrists.

“Ugh,” the other Conner says, attempting to hold the baby further away from himself. “Go back to your dad or something.”

Conner recognizes Neil’s hands demanding for a hug, but his request goes unnoticed by the other Conner who is frantically looking around the cave for Phantom.

With a final babble of frustration, Neil leans down and digs his fangs into the teen’s hands.

“Agh!” The bitten hand released the baby, and Neil is left dangling in the second by the scruff of his hazmat. “What the hell was that!”

Neil glares at Not-Conner, and Conner raises an eyebrow at the other teen. “He’s just a baby,” he answers.

“That is not a normal baby!”

“Gee, the glowing white hair didn’t give it away?”

The other boy splutters, “You–he–,” but he seems too shocked to even conjure up the anger Conner is sure to be building up in the other teen.

Conner grabs Neil from the look-alike, giving his little brother a hug that he happily melts into. The Kryptonian couldn’t care less about the other boy’s anger, not when his own is beginning to reach a boiling point.

“Look,” Conner starts, “I don’t know what your problem is, and frankly, I don’t care. You have been nothing but rude to me, my team, and my family the entire time we have been here, and I can’t tell you enough how glad I am to never have to see you again.”

Other-Conner scoffs. “Well, I’m sorry to disrupt your perfect little life. You think you’re so much better than me? You would be just like me if it weren’t for your little mentor taking pity on you.”

Conner glares at the other him, a person he could have turned into but didn’t. He couldn’t even imagine his life without Danny and Neil, yet here he is right here, a sad, mad little Kryptonian who pushes away even his own teammates.

“Whatever,” Conner mutters, tightening his hold on Neil.

Other him reels back, confused. His fists are already clenched, ready for a fight that Conner won’t give him.

Slowly, the other boy loosens the tension in his frame, the anger deflating into a lost look.

“You know,” Conner says, voice lower than their previous conversation, “Your Superman here kinda sucks.”

Based on the words of the team of this world and the fact that Conner has yet to see a glimpse of the man in the mountain, Conner can only assume that the man has little to no involvement with this Conner. 

“You think he even knows I’m here?” Conner asks, receiving a snort in response.

“He’d probably leave the country if another clone popped up,” Other-him laughs for the first time since the team’s arrival in this world.

The two fall into a silence, making eye contact with one another.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Conner asks.

“For once, I think I am.”

.

.

.

“Hey Super-dork!” Conner shouts, his hands cupping his mouth as he stands on top of a Metropolis skyscraper. 

Other-Conner snorts at the name, holding human-form Neil in his arms while they wait. They can see Superman flying about 3 rooftops down, so they are in perfect view of when the man freezes mid-flight to look over at the shout and nearly drops out of the air from the sight.

The Kryptonian shakingly floats over to the boys, looking at both Conners with a pale face that only grows more sickly when he looks into the baby’s bright blue eyes.

“Is he–are they–what?” the hero weakly whispers.

Neil reaches out to Clark with a bright grin and says “Pa!”

Superman’s eyes roll back and he collapses onto the roof’s surface.

The two teens stare at the downed Kryptonian, then at each other. Neil is the first to giggle, but the teens are not much further behind in their wheezes.

“Oh my ancients, Neil!” Conner hugs the boy. “That was perfect.”

Neil gives Conner a fanged smile and claps his hands.

Other-Conner is laughing so hard he sits on the floor, struggling to breathe. “He just–” his attempts to talk are blocked by his endless laughs.

With the absolute joy on the teen’s face, Conner sees this mission as an absolute success.

When the 3 return to the cave with bright smiles on their faces, the alternate team stare with worry and confusion while Conner’s own teammates squint at him in suspicion,

“All right kids, who's ready to get out of here?” Aunt Ellie asks, mouth and hands full of cookies. “This is the last time I’m doing this,” she mutters.

Conner’s team says their final goodbyes and the two Conners share an understanding nod before walking through Ellie’s newly opened portal. In a flash of green, the team finds themselves back in their own mountain with Batman staring down at all of them with crossed arms.

All relief of being back home drops from their shoulders as the team readies themselves for the bat-lecture of a lifetime.