#4
Written By Conner Kent

Conner Kent laid there in his bed, he heard the alarm go off this morning and wished he could sleep in, but he knew that Jonathan or most likely Martha Kent would come upstairs and make sure he was up.

He laid there thinking about everything that has happened to him in the last few weeks. He came to Smallville at Clark's request, to have a normal life.

"He thinks it's going to help me become a better person, like hanging with a bunch of backwater hicks will make me a better person," Conner said in a hush tone as he reviewed the last few weeks.

He started out as a part of the In Crowd, befriended by the Captain of the Football Team Duncan Mathews.

"What a waste of space," Conner said with a sigh as he continued to reflect.

He was actually enjoying this town, even his chores on the farm, which he helped Jonathan bring back up. Then it started, he began to see what the In Crowd did to those not in the loop.

Whitney Ford just wanted to join the team, to become a Smallville Crow, but he wasn't a Legacy, he wasn't lucky enough to have someone related to him that was a Crow.

"But I did, I had Clark Kent, the legendary Clark Kent. Like having to live up to Superman wasn't bad enough, but now I have to live up to the man behind him as well. I would say Whitney was the lucky one, no pressure, no expectations," Conner said as he began to sit up in his bed, his depression visible.

"Conner, come on dear, you'll be late for school," Martha said as she knocked on his door.

"Ok Ms. Kent, I'll be ready in a few minutes, just a rough start that's all," Conner said, then he thought Aww man, she's so going to bust for not saying Aunt Martha.

"That's Aunt Martha, dear. Remember, we're family now." Martha chimed in like clockwork.

A half smile grew on Conner's face, he knew it. The Kent's were cool, too bad everyone else wasn't.

Whitney made the B Team, top of the list actually, while Duncan and Conner became Co-Captains. Whitney took a lot of bull from the team because of his size and the fact that he wasn't a Legacy Kid, or popular at all.

Conner didn't pick on the kid, he did something worse, he stood by and let them do it. Chloe Sullivan brought that to his attention, but it was his talk with Clark that made him understand it.

So he stood up for him, because it was the right thing to do, and gave up his spot on the team so Whitney could have it. That was the end of his popularity.

Now everyday was pure hell. The kids that just last week considered him a friend now considered him an outcast.

Conner stood up as he pulled his pants up and zipped them up. He walked over to his desk and grabbed his shirt, which he had laid over the back of his chair. He buttoned the shirt up and headed back over to his bed and reached over to his nightstand, grabbing his glasses.

"Damn I hate these things," Conner said as he placed the glasses on his face. "But Clark thinks it's a good disguise, and he's gotten away with it for a few years so far."

The last week for Conner had been rough. After Conner gave up his spot to Whitney, Duncan and his crew had left him alone. Which was good for Whitney, but now they'd focused on Conner.

They had been doing everything they could think of to make sure he understood he wasn't one of them. They circled around him in the hall by his locker and taunt him, they threw crumbled up paper at him in class, and it wasn't just the students, some of the teachers had been harder on him.

Smallville is a small country town, and High School Football is everything to some. When they heard that Clark Kent's cousin was on the team they were thrilled. They could just already the championship. Then they were bummed when they heard he quit the team, it was like someone had stolen the trophy from them.

Conner began skipping classes, to avoid Duncan and his friends and get in a little fly time.

Conner walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What do you want for breakfast dear?" Martha asked in her usual nurturing tone.

Conner looked around and as usual Martha cooked up a buffet. She does this every morning he thought, then he saw the bagels.

"I'll just make me a egg and sausage on a bagel ok," Conner said as he grabbed the bagel and began to cut it open.

Conner stood there putting on a big front, he had to make the Kent's think everything was ok. He placed the egg and sausage on the bagel and sat down at the table and ate it.

"Here you go Conner," Martha said with a smile and a kiss on the forehead as she placed a glass of orange juice in front of him.

Conner smiled as he took a bite of his bagel and a taste of his orange juice.

"So, son, how is everything at school?" Jonathan asked from behind his newspaper.

"Good. Fine. You know, the usual stuff," Conner said before he stuffed his mouth with more bagel.

"That's good dear," Martha said as she served Jonathan his breakfast.

Conner stood up finishing his bagel and washing it down with his orange juice.

"Conner Kent, your going to get indigestion if you don't stop doing that. Take your time dear," Martha said.

"I have to go, I'm running late for school and I don't want to miss the first bell," Conner said as he left the table.

"Ok, but I want you to start sitting down to a full breakfast soon," Martha said as she sat down with her plate.

"Sure thing," Conner said as he rushed into the living room.

Conner walked to the door and grabbed his red coat with yellow trim and headed out the door.

Conner walked down the path to where the bus that will take him to school stops. He got there just as the bus pulled up, but then he heard a beep. He turned around and saw Duncan and his friends behind the bus in Duncan's car.

"Hey Kent, ditch the bus man, hop in with us," Duncan yelled as he waved him over.

Conner looked at the bus driver then at Duncan and thought for a moment. Duncan must be over the whole thing.

"Go ahead. I have a ride," Conner said to the bus driver and the bus pulled off as the driver shook her head.

Conner stood there as Duncan's car pulled up to him. Conner walked over to the car ready to jump in when Duncan peeled out. The car stopped  ten feet ahead.

Duncan stood up and turned around to Conner as he yelled, "Yeah right, loser! Better get walking before you're late for school!!"

Duncan turned around and flopped back down into his seat and tear out as he and his goons laugh at Conner.

You know I could rip the road up in front of him just by kneeling down here and touching it, Conner thought to himself.

"But what is it that Mrs. K. always says? Two wrongs don't make a right, or something like that," Conner said as he brushed the dust off him.

Conner looked around No one's around, he thought. He took off his glasses and pulled open his shirt and shoved his jacket shoving into his backpack, he then took off into the air.

Conner touched down behind the school and put his shirt, jacket and glasses back on as he walked to the doors.

Duncan was just pulling into the schools parking lot and Conner leaned up against the wall. Duncan and his crew walked up to the doors laughing about how they left Conner standing there in the middle of the road.

They approached the doors and one of Duncan's friends slammed his hand into Duncan's chest, stopping him in his tracks and caught his attention.

"Yo, man, what's your malfunction?" Duncan said.

Then Duncan followed his friends other hand that was pointing to the wall where Conner was.

"No freaking way man," Duncan said in disbelief.

Duncan strutted over to Conner and said, "No way man. There is no way you got here before us. What did you do, take a shortcut through a wormhole or something, freak?"

Conner looked up, using his right index finger to slide his glasses up.

"I guess the field and class aren't the only places where you're slow," Conner said as he walked into the school with a grin on his face.

Conner walked through the crowded hallway, making his way to his locker. He was feeling a little good now. He still didn't like being cooped up in school all day though. It kind of made him think of being in a cage or a lab.

Conner stood in front of his locker trying to remember his combination.

"Oh come on. 36... 24... 36? No, it's 28. Gotta be 28," Conner said to himself in a frustrated voice.

"God. This is so frickin' lame," Conner said as he tried to open his locker without success.

Conner rubbed the back of his neck to help calm him down and relax some, but the locker was still not opening and Conner became pissed.

"Screw it," Conner said as he looked around to make sure the hall was clear.

He tried to make it look as natural as he could. He lifted his glasses up as if he were fixing them back into place, while he surveyed the hall. Once he did he placed his hand over his locker door, and using his Tactile-Telekinesis he disassembled the lock and the  locker opened up.

"Hey Kent," a voice with a nasal tone said from Conner's left hand side. Conner was shocked that anyone would talk to him since he dropped out of the team.

He saw a kid dressed in a golden orange sweater with a white sash that read 'Hall Monitor', blue jeans, and glasses that took up half his face walk up to him, which made Conner thank God that Clark didn't stick him with those.

The kid was clearly a nerd, but at least someone was talking to him.

"Conner Kent," the kid asked as he approached Conner.

"Uh, Yeah! Hi," Conner said putting his hand out for a welcome handshake. "And you are--?"

"I'm not here to make friends, Kent. I'm here to deliver a warning," he said as he met Conner's hand with a pink piece of paper. "Ms. Patterson knows you're new, but she said if you miss one more English class you're getting Detention--"

"And she's going to call your parents," the kid said as he stepped up to Conner and touched his chest with his right index finger. "You need to take pride in this school. Get involved."

Conner looked at the small kid and with a seriously pissed off look on his face he said, "I'm sick of getting involved."

"BBBBBRRRRNNGGGGG," the bell rang signaling it was time for class.

"The almighty bell," the kid said as he turned to make sure the halls were empty. "I'd get to English class pronto if I were you--"

The kid turned his head back to finish his sentence, "--Kent?" When he did, though, Conner was gone and all that was left was his warning slip still floating in the air.

Conner stood outside behind the school and took off his shirt and jacket, then packed them into his book bag and took off flying as he removed his glasses.

"Call my Parents? Right," Conner said as he flew above Smallville. "Good luck finding them."

As Conner flew over the fields of Smallville, something was going on at the now abandoned Cadmus Labs, the place where Conner was created.

"Mr. L.," a guy in a black suit said as he walked into the dark office of the mysterious Mr. L. "There is movement at the old Cadmus Labs."

"What kind of movement," Mr. L. asked.

"Someone in all black is snooping around, we thought you would want to know," the guy answered.

"Very well Agent, I shall see what this new player is doing. Set the next test up, and let me know when it is in motion," Mr. L. said as he turned around in his chair, tapping away at a keyboard.

The wall in front of his desk became a plasma screen, which showed the mysterious person's movement.

A figure dressed in all black walked through the fallen debris and shinned a light over a desk. The desk had some wires, a rat and some disks on it.

The mysterious figure walked over to the desk and went for the disks, the reason why he was there. The black-gloved hands looked through the disk, scarring the rat away. Then it found what it was looking for, a disk labeled Project Superboy.

"My boy...," the figure said. "...What a wonderful time we'll have."

"Mr. L., the next test is being administrated now," the man in the black suit said.

"Are the news crews in place," Mr. L. asked.

"Yes Mr. L. Each network at a different angle just as you requested sir," the man answered.

"Very well. You are dismissed Agent," Mr. L. said.

Mr. L. looked at the screen and zoomed in on the disk "Hmm Project Superboy, that's interesting. Looks like Superboy is keeping secrets, secrets he might not know about yet. And it looks like there's a new player on the board as well."

Mr. L. tapped a few more keys and the screen changed into multiple screens. Each screen covered a different angle of a bank robbery.

Conner flew above the city just lost in thought when he heard an alarm go off. He swooped in and saw that the Smallville Savings and Loans was being robbed.

He touched down and walked over to the Sheriff, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Superboy. There's three men in there and they're armed. They have seven hostages including a pregnant woman," The Sheriff said, filling Superboy in. "Whatever you can do to help, will be appreciated."

Superboy swooshed and and then in a blur guns appeared on the ground before the officers, then in another blur Superboy appeared with the three robbers.

"Thanks Superboy," the Sheriff said with a salute.

"Anytime," Superboy said returning the salute and heading back to school.

"I didn't know Superboy could move that fast," one of the Deputies said to the Sheriff.

"Me either," the Sheriff shared.

The screens all shut off and then the large screen in the office of Mr. L. was filled with the giant Chess board.

"Interesting," Mr. L. said as he moved the infrared mouse on his desk and another piece on the board moved in response.

In Metropolis, Clark Kent was in his apartment drinking his morning orange juice when he noticed a TV report about Superboy stopping a bank robbery in Smallville.

"Conner, please tell me Ma and Pa kept you home today," Clark said as he dialed his phone.

On the Kent Farm Jonathan Kent wiped grease and oil off his hand to answer his phone, "Hello."

"Pa, it's Clark, is Conner home?" Clark said putting on his glasses.

"No Clark. He's in school today. Why Son? What's Wrong?" Jonathan asked.

"Nothing Pa. Well nothing I know of yet, but do me a favor," Clark asked while putting on his jacket.

"Sure thing Son. What is it?" Jonathan asked.

"Drive Conner to school tomorrow and see if Ma and you can have a talk with him," Clark said. "And maybe after school you and Conner could clean out the Barn? You know like we use to do."

Jonathan knew that Clark wanted him to have a heart to heart with the boy and agreed, "No problem Son."

"Thanks Pa. I have to got to work now, but first I have to stop by S.T.A.R. Labs. Victor Stone contacted the Watchtower and said he needed to see me," Clark said as he walked close to his door.

"Ok Clark, give Lois our love Son," Jonathan said.

"Ok Pa, will do, and give Ma ours," Clark said as the two Kents each hung up their phones and resumed what they were doing.

Conner touched down behind the school, and as he did he slipped his glasses on. He then reached into his bag and took out his shirt and jacket, placing them back on as well.

Conner walked around to the front of the school and slipped in undetected and blended into the swarm of kids in the hall and headed off to his next class.

Hey everyone, J here again.

This month I wanted to start bringing Conner into the Conner we read every month in Teen Titans.

The first three issues acted as a gap filler for all of the readers who asked why Conner went from the fun loving Superboy in Superboy and Young Justice to the angst ridden Superboy in Teen Titans. This issue finishes that transformation.

I wanted to recap what has happened, and bring him up to the point he is at now. I know it is hard for some people to believe that Donna's death had such an impact on him, so I gave some more things that could have contributed to the way he is.

I used Conner's scene from the Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2003, so I'd like to thank Geoff, Judd, Ivan and Carlo for their work, for me to play off of. I just hope I did it justice.

I'd like to thank everyone who reads and sends in their letters every month about this series. Going into this issue I had  lot of problems going on in my real life and writing this issue helped me take a break from real life.

I did this issue because I knew there were people out there who enjoyed this, so I thank you for helping to take my mind off of my problems for a little while. I can't wait to read the responses from everyone.
 

Message Board Folder  Omniverse Readers List  Email