Chapter Text
Clark was aware of Phantom. The entire League was aware of Phantom. He one of the first heroes. He’d saved the world while Superman was trying to decide if he wanted to be a hero or not. A lot of people didn’t remember how young Phantom was, but Clark knew. He’d met the man once, just once. It was a year after Superman made his debut, and Clark had finally worked up the courage to take himself to Amity Park. At the time, already so much had changed since Phantom saved the world and more than a decade had past. People forgot. Superman was saving the world from aliens and meteors every other week by that point. But a decade before, it was just Phantom. Ten years flew by, and Phantom went from the savior of the world to that old timer who micromanaged one small town.
So yes, Clark had taken advantage of the fluff piece Perry wanted written about a decade of heroism. Even if it meant having to write over half the article about his alter ego, Clark hadn’t been about to miss the chance to meet his childhood hero. That was how he met Phantom, and how he met Danny Fenton. Super-hearing and Super-vision got much more press coverage, but Superman also had an excellent nose. Danny and Phantom smelled the same. Oh, Phantom smelled more death, but the core scent was the same. It was cold and staticky and honestly reminded Clark of the Fortress of Solitude and the small pieces Clark had of his home’s culture. There was a certain scent around all Kryptonian pieces that also wafted off of Phantom. It was the scent of something ancient and new and a monument to the dead.
Years passed and Clark didn’t know the whole story, but he was about 90% certain he and Bruce were the only ones outside of Amity Park (where the whole city and every one of Phantom’s villains clearly knew) who knew Danny Fenton was Phantom. Bruce, of course, just researched until he figured it out. He asked for Clark’s confirmation once years back and then left it alone. Or, at least, Bruce didn’t do more research and safeguarding than he normally did. Clark suspected Bruce knew as much about Phantom as anyone living.
So, when Phantom created the “Like and Survive- Phantom’s Guide to Young Hero Survival” channel, Bruce informed Clark immediately. Bruce, of course, watched all of the videos, for intel. But Clark watched too. He listened to the podcasts. He had the audio downloaded to his Bat-mp3 (Bruce-created and had yet to break, even in the further reaches of space). He’d go flying and have Phantom in his ear, speaking about what it meant to be a hero.
Clark had looked up to Phantom when he was a child. He hadn’t known it back then, but Phantom was his age. Phantom was a hero at 14 and looked young. And Clark was a 14 year old trying to navigate powers, torn between fear of being found out and the frustration of wanting to do more. Phantom was his idol. And when he started making a series about how to be a hero, Clark listened religiously and wished that he’d had those words of advice when he was a child.
“Today’s lesson,” Phantom said in his ear as Clark did his patrol out in space. “Is that good can come from bad, and that betrayal isn’t the end of the relationship.”
“To be fair,” Phantom’s clone, Ellie, cut in. “It seems like betrayal is how you make all of your friends.”
“Ha ha, laugh it up. Anyway, I know you’ve all met Ellie here a lot. So, let’s do a quick rundown on the facts of how we met. See, when I was in my first year of hero-ing, there was the Fruit Loop who had it in his mind that he should kill my dad and marry my mom and that I should be his son.”
“Dear old dad,” Ellie said dryly. Superman smiled. He heard this episode before. He heard all of them multiple times.
“So, when the whole murder-and-marry plot kept not going anywhere, the Fruit Loop decided he was going to clone me. Which, again, Fruit Loop. But see, with my abilities, you can’t just clone me. At all. The Fruit Loop tried. A lot.”
“A whole lot,” Ellie said. “I have no idea how many siblings I actually had. Cause they would just… melt. They weren’t stable. I was the only one that ever came close to stable, and I wasn’t stable. This asshole had me convinced, convinced he loved me and my siblings and we just needed something from Phantom. So, he sent me in to trap Phantom. And it did work, because Phantom’s nice and trusted me, and I just shot him in the back and helped the fucker capture him.”
“Come on, El, you know kids listen to this,” Phantom said tiredly.
“Well, he is.” Ellie sounded quite indignant. From Superman heard between the Like and Survive series, and Batman’s research, The Fruit Loop, aka Plasmius, aka Vlad Masters, could be properly classified as a fucker by anyone’s measure.
“No disagreement. Anyway, so what the Fruit Loop said the thing he’d needed wasn’t going to stabilize Ellie. Instead, we, the Team, had to do something else to stabilize her. What the Fruit Loop needed was something to make a new stable clone, but it wasn’t going to do anything for the ones he’d already made.”
“Gotta tell you, finding out you’re going to die by melting the same second you find out your dad actually doesn’t care about you at all just sucks. Luckily, Phantom saved me.”
“I just wasn’t in time for the others.”
“Don’t feel guilty for that,” Ellie cut in. “Remember, what do we always tell the kids?”
Phantom chuckled ruefully. “That we can’t save everyone, and it’s not our fault if time isn’t on our side or someone else gets in our way… I’m still trying to learn that myself.”
Clark hummed in agreement. He was too. Everyone in the Hero Community was. It was a hard pill to swallow when someone died or got seriously injured because you couldn’t get there, especially if you had power that could have saved them if you had been there.
“Anyway, you lot should know how close Ellie and I are now. What happened back then was painful and complicated. Hell, it’s still painful and complicated. Are we friends? Cousins? Distant relatives? Siblings? Is she my kid? Am I a parent?”
“I mean, you’re not my parent,” Ellie said. Danny Fenton had kids, which was a fact Clark just knew. Phantom nor Ellie, or the rest of the Team ever talked about them on the videos or podcast.
“We settled on Sibling-Cousins. Like if you meet a long lost twin,” Phantom continued. There was a pause where he probably considered how his words sounded. “Which is also weird and all. Anyway, the point is this-”
“One, if you meet a clone of yourself that you didn’t know about, they probably aren’t on your side to begin with, because who clones someone without their consent for good purposes, am I right?” Ellie said. Clark could imagine her rolling her eyes. “But that doesn’t mean they have like to stay your evil twin.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that’s “one”, but that’d probably be “two”,” Phantom said.
“Yeah, so what’s one?”
“Your clone is a person too. They have wants and needs and feelings. They have memories and things they care about that have nothing to do with you. You may have to fight them, but always remember that they didn’t ask to be made. They’re just as stuck in the situation as you are. So don’t ever forget that.”
When Clark thought back about it, it was good that he was such a religious listener to Like and Survive. Kon was asleep on Clark’s sofa with his head pillowed on Clark’s leg and Clark had been petting his hair for an hour.
He wasn’t on planet when Kon was found. Bruce had a full DNA breakdown and every one of CADMUS’s remaining notes in hand when Clark arrived. Bruce’s newest Robin was right behind him, glaring at Clark like he might be a threat, one the tiny little boy would take down if he had to. It wasn’t lost on Clark that Robin was making himself one more obstacle between Superman and the room which held Superman’s clone.
“Lex Luthor?” Clark asked weakly once Bruce finished explaining the situation. He was looking through the pad with the notes, flipping through rapidly, reading all the notes and data that confirmed exactly what Bruce told him.
“Yes,” Bruce stated. His voice was neutral. Robin shifted, readying himself to get into a fight if he had to. Clark would bet anything that Robin had bonded to Clark’s clone, and that Bruce, in his infinite paranoia, had been fighting Robin tooth and nail about getting attached to someone who might stab them in the back. Still, Clark knew Bruce well enough to know that he’d probably bonded to Superman’s clone in his own way as well.
“I want to meet him,” Clark said. Robin became even more tense. “I won’t hurt him,” he added. “I just want to meet him.”
“He’s in there,” Bruce said, nodding to the door behind him.
Clark walked around the pair. It didn’t get past him that Bruce had put his arm around Robin, stopping him from follow Clark. Clark didn’t walk too fast or too slow, not wanting to show any sign of aggression, hesitation or concern. It wouldn’t do to show this Robin weakness. Clark had a feeling the boy was going to take after Bruce’s infinite paranoia and his infinite ability to hold a grudge. Stars knew that all of Bruce’s other children could hold grudges longer than the Bat himself.
The door swished open, allowing Clark inside. He could feel how the insides of the walls were lined with some type of kryptonite-lite or something. He was going to have to have a talk with Bruce about that. It gave Clark a bad headache the instant he stepped inside. He had no idea how his clone was handling it. Considering how small the boy seemed to be trying to make himself, Clark would guess it was hurting him quite a bit.
“Superman,” the boy said through gritted teeth.
“You’re in pain, right?” Clark asked.
“What made it obvious?” the boy snapped. Clark set that aside for a moment. Even he was getting agitated from the pain, of course a clone who hadn’t been alive for very long and hadn’t had time to learn to handle pain would be crabby at the bare minimum in this situation.
“What would you like to be called?” Clark asked instead.
That had the boy hesitating. “My friends called me Kon.” Friends. More than one.
“Kon?”
“They… they said “Connell” is a normal human name.” There was an ache and desire in his gaze. Clark swallowed.
“And it sounds like my name.”
“Yes,” Kon said.
“Kon-El… that’s not bad.”
Kon’s eyes were mistrustful. “Are you unhappy about it?” His words were as wary as his gaze.
“Well… I’m not happy. But I think we should go somewhere else for this conversation. This room is giving me a headache.”
“Is it?” Kon asked.
“I’m just better at hiding it,” Clark answered.
Superman reached out, offering Kon a hand up. Kon stared at his hand for a long moment. Superman kept an eye on his face. The boy was so expressive. He hadn’t learned to hide his emotions yet. Superman was looking for a hint that he didn’t know what the hand was for. But he did recognize what it was for. He just wasn’t certain about accepting it. So, Clark waited.
Finally, finally, Kon reached out an accepted his hand. Clark gently pulled him to his feet. Kon stumbled and Clark caught his shoulders.
“Easy,” he cautioned.
“Where are we going? Batman said I had to stay here.”
“Well, normally we listen to Batman, but this is an instance where I override him. We’re going to the observatory. Have you gotten a chance to stargaze yet?”
That earned him a curious look and a shake of the head. Kon was still holding his hand. He hadn’t let go. That left nervous butterflies in Clark’s stomach which didn’t lessen as he guided him out. When the door opened it revealed that both Robin and Batman were still hovering nearby. Clark raised a brow at them.
“We’re going to the observatory.” He dared Bruce to try and tell him no. Whatever Bruce saw in his eyes, though, kept him silent. Bruce nodded once and stepped aside.
“Kon, are you okay?” Robin asked, the sound bursting out of him.
Kon’s heart sped up just a little, Clark heard it. Clark also caught the smile that Kon pulled on. “A bit tired, Robin, but I’m fine. We’re going stargazing.” He couldn’t keep his childlike wonder at the idea out of his voice.
That sound eased Clark’s concern. He could practically hear Phantom’s voice in his ear. Clones were people. They were people with wants and needs and reasons. They had memories and experiences that had nothing to do with the people they were cloned from or for. No matter what. Kon-El hadn’t been alive all that long. He was still a child, and a child who wanted to see the stars at that.
Clark had an easy time leading Kon through the base. The boy’s eyes went everywhere, taking in everything. Clark knew he could be concerned, worried that Kon was just a trick from Lex Luthor, that he was storing all of this information for Lex’s later use. But he wasn’t concerned. For one, it was Bruce’s job to be concerned. Bruce had already run a ton of medical tests on Kon and done multiple brain scans searching for any type of mind control. For another, Kon hadn’t let go of his hand. And once they arrived at the observatory, Kon headed right for the window, moving past Clark to take the lead. He still had Clark’s hand and just dragged Clark along with him.
“It’s beautiful,” Kon gasped. He laid his free hand on the glass, his eyes fixed out at the thousands of stars. “Have you been to all of them?”
“Hardly,” Superman said, amusement running deep in his tone. “There’s far too much in just this galaxy for any one person to see all of it, let alone the entire universe.”
“Well, maybe I’ll be the one who manages it,” Kon said. “T- Robin says you won’t know until you try.”
Ah, so Kon did know Robin’s name. Interesting.
“Well, he would know,” Clark said. “Listen, how are you feeling now?”
“Huh, a lot better.” Kon turned away from the window, regarding Clark with a new wariness. “And you?”
“All better,” Clark confirmed.
“Are you going to lock me up too?” Kon’s eyes shifted from Clark for a fraction of a second, like he wanted to look out the window again. He probably did. He was probably afraid that Clark would steal the stars from him when he’d only just offered them. But Kon kept his gaze on Clark. Clark was the most dangerous thing in that room for multiple reasons, after all.
“I won’t,” Clark said.
“Batman thinks you should. He wants to.”
“If he wanted to lock you up, he would have found a cell for you so wrapped in kryptonite you would have lost all of your senses and barely be breathing.” Kon shuddered. Clark didn’t blame him. He had come on too strong with that explanation, even though it was true. “What I mean is that Batman is extremely cautious. He wouldn’t just let you run around when there was no one in the Watchtower who could stop you.”
“I wasn’t going to do anything.”
“He doesn’t know you yet. But trust me, he’s my best friend, and that room you were in wasn’t made for you. It was definitely made for me. In case something happened.”
Kon scowled. “He doesn’t sound like a good friend.”
“He’s a great friend,” Clark said. He searched for a way to explain before finally settling on something he thought the boy might understand. “Listen, you know about doctors, right?”
“They’re supposed to heal you,” Kon said, nodding as he spoke.
“Right, but that also means they know how to cause a lot of damage. Batman probably knows more about Kryptonite than me. And that means if something happens, he can help me. Things have happened many times before, and when he’s around, he’s always able to help me the fastest with the least consequences. His way of showing love just involves a lot of paranoia… though that’s also how he shows hate too.”
Kon grinned. “Kinda sounds like Robin.”
It was Clark’s turn to shudder. “I bet. The kid’s going to be scary when he grows up.”
“He’s already scary. I want to be just like him,” Kon said cheerfully with a big smile. Clark had never seen Lex Luthor grin, but he would bet that the way Kon smiled was how Lex would look if he smiled.
“Not a bad role model,” Clark said.
“So…” Kon trailed off. He shifted a bit.
“So?” Superman pressed.
“What now?”
“I’m not sure,” Clark admitted. Given the way Kon’s face fell, Clark had a feeling that he may well have broken his heart. After all, it’s heart breaking the first time you realize adults don’t have all the answers.
“What’s going to happen to me?” His distress made Clark’s chest ache. He wanted to fix it immediately.
“Well,” Clark said. “I was thinking maybe you could come home with me?”
“Home? With you?” Kon’s eyes got huge, and Clark had to wonder if Ma would recognize Clark in that look.
“Well, yes,” Clark said. “Look, I don’t really know much about parenting. I don’t even know if that’s what we want from a relationship or who we will be to each other. But I know two things: One, you’re a person and two, you’re a kid. And kids deserve spaghetti after a hard day and a bed to sleep in.”
“I haven’t had spaghetti…” Kon trailed off.
“And… and a bed?” Clark hoped the answer to that wasn’t also no.
“The team’s let me try theirs before,” Kon said.
“Ah, so one of the bunks. Well, you’re going to get to sleep on a good bed tonight. I promise.”
“Pinky promise?” Kon asked. He offered Clark his pinky. Clark smiled in return and hooked his pinky with Kon’s.
“Pinky promise.”
It had taken a little production to get Kon out of the Watchtower with him. Batman really hadn’t wanted him to go, either of them. Robin hadn’t either. He clearly didn’t trust Clark and he was worried about Kon. He only relented when Kon repeated what Clark said about Spaghetti and a real bed. That was made Bruce relent too.
Clark knew he’d need Bruce’s help later. They’d need to either fabricate an identity for Kon as his son or cousin or something. He’d also need to call his parents and let them know they were grandparents. But those wasn’t the numbers he pulled up first on his phone when he was certain that Kon was deep, deep asleep.
Clark hit call and pressed the phone to his ear. It rang twice before someone answered.
“Phantom.”
“It’s Superman,” Clark said quietly. Phantom had excellent hearing as well.
“Something happened?” Phantom had a way of packing a lot of emotion into a few words. He clearly was bracing himself to hear he needed to leave Amity Park and come running, but he also wasn’t presuming a catastrophe yet.
“My archenemy cloned me by using both of our DNA,” Clark said.
“Oh, fun,” Phantom said sarcastically. “Are they safe?”
“He’s asleep with his head in my lap.” He looked down at his clone. He kept treading his fingers through Kon’s dark hair for well over an hour now. Kon looked cute asleep. He looked young, younger than his supposed teenage body should be.
“Is he an evil twin?”
“No idea,” Clark said. “And he knows my secret identity now.”
“Ancients, and Ellie calls me a sap.” Phantom chuckled. “Okay. I’ll talk to Ellie and the Team. We’ll get back to you. How would you feel about coming to Amity Park.”
“I wouldn’t mind. You mind if it’s a civilian meeting? There’s a real chance I may legally claim him as my kid. I don’t want to force him into the news already.”
“I understand,” Phantom said. “And that’s fine.”
“Thank you,” Clark said. “And thank you… for your videos. I was pretty scared when I got the call. But I just… I remembered what you said.”
“Yeah?”
“And he’s a kid. It’s hard to look at someone younger than you and assume they’re going to slit your throat.”
“Or shoot you in the back,” Phantom said. “Go ahead and bring him in a couple of days… and Supes… thank you too.”
“For what?” Superman couldn’t help but feel baffled.
“For telling me that. I know I get comments and the like. But it doesn’t… it doesn’t feel real sometimes, you know?”
Superman smiled to himself. “I understand.” He was used to being praised, and still sometimes it still didn’t feel like enough. “I’ll see you in a few days.”
“See you then, Supes.” Phantom hung up.
“Who’s that?” Kon asked, sounding sleepy.
“That,” Superman said. “Is my hero.”
“Your hero?” Kon blinked more awake. He didn’t try to sit up or pull away from Clark’s hand. Clark took that as permission to keep petting.
“Yes. He’s my age. He’s been a hero for longer than me. And he’s got a clone too… and they’re like family.”
“He does?” Kon stayed where he was, but he wasn’t asleep at all anymore. He was wide awake and his eyes were huge with surprise.
“Yes, we’re going to go see them in a few days. His clone, Ellie, I think she’ll like to meet you. And I think you’ll like her.”
“Really? How do you know?”
“They made videos for young heroes. Would you like to see?”
“Yes!” Kon did sit up then, but only to snuggle into Clark’s side. Clark pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and tucked it around Kon. He had a feeling Kon had done this with Tim or one of the Team. He seemed entirely comfortable there. The thought that he might actually be comfortable with Clark warmed his heart.
Clark pulled up a video called “What to Do When Your Best Friend is Mind Controlled”, and hit play. Phantom was the one with the commentary on this one, and two of his human friends were off screen and adding to the story, but Ellie was there to heckle and make jokes. For an episode about such an (obviously) painful topic for Phantom, it was really funny. That was part of why Clark knew Phantom had a great support system. His human friends didn’t come on often, except perhaps Red Huntress who was Amity Park’s other hero, but they were all there for the mind control episodes. Whenever Phantom looked the tiniest bit upset or uncomfortable, one of the others would start goofing and Phantom would fall into a fit of giggles. It was nice to see people love another.
And, as Clark hoped. Kon broke into his own fit of giggles really, really quickly. By the time the video was over, Kon had tried to take the phone so many times that Clark just cast it to his TV so they could watch there. He had a full playlist of every video. The pair of them watched until after the sun rose and they fell asleep tucked against one another on the sofa.