Hands (SuperBat)

2 Hello

When Bruce arrived back to the Fortress of Solitude, Kal was exactly where he left him.

Bruce said, standing by his side, "Everyone was happy that you were safe." He waited for a response.

None.

Bruce said, "As you can smell, Barry brought us some pizza and chocolate." He gestured at the food he sat on the table despite Kal not looking at him. "Have at it. While I'll leave that to you, leave the kitchen to me." He left the dining room and went to the kitchen.

The smell assaulted his nose as he tried to find where it was exactly coming from. Soon, he found out it came from the trash can, fridge and sink.

This was going to be a long day.

After Bruce was done cleaning, he worked up an appetite. He left the sparkling clean kitchen and went to the dining room. He could thank Alfred's expertise for that.

Kal was in the same spot as before, but one of the boxes was opened.

Excitement almost flooded Bruce to see that Kal ate, but he saw that only one slice had a bite taken out of it. Bruce may have an appetite, but it seemed like Kal didn't.

Bruce sat down at the table and ate a slice of pizza. "You don't want pizza?"

No response.

"You know Barry got this straight from Italy. It's surprisingly still good cold." He took another slice. "Can you go days without eating as a Kryptonian? Or are you just depressed?" He was surprised at how much he talked when Kal was quiet.

He ate another few slices. As he did, he glanced over at the Kryptonian.

This man had no one else in his family to fight for, or even live for.

He wondered what Kal has been doing for the past few months. Since Kal was obviously depressed, did he try to hurt himself in that time It was obvious that he hasn't been taking care of himself, but would he go any farther? Was it possible in the first place?

The only Kryptonite around was a piece that Bruce kept and far off in the galaxy somewhere. There were also ways to make synthetic...

Bruce's brow furrowed. He remembered how the lab station was a mess, but he didn't pay attention to what was being made there.

Would he...

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Bruce got up from his spot. He glanced over at Kal, who hasn't looked up. He walked out of the dining room. He went into the Study/ Lab. He walked over to the messy table of crumbled paper and broken glass. It was a mess and possibly dangerous area.

Bruce picked up one of the balled up sheet of papers.

As soon as he began to unravel it, a whoosh of air blew behind him. A hand appeared on top of his. The one attached to the hand was Kal.

A soft, scratchy voice said, "Don't." A look of guilt was on Kal's face.

Bruce could see it from the paper. An attempt at the formula of synthetic Kryptonite. He observed, "You tried to find a way to kill yourself."

Shame was written all over Kal's face.

"Answer me this," Bruce said. "Do you still want to die?"

Kal seemed like he wanted to explain himself, but he looked away and kept his mouth shut. Nothing but guilt and shame was shown. He nodded his head.

Bruce didn't know what to do. Should he try to restrain the Man of Steel? Should he hug him and tell him that everything will be okay, when all of his family is dead and the public doesn't trust him? What should he do for Kal?

Before he could think of any emotional healthy actions, Kal turned to walk away. He didn't use any super speed or any power of sorts. He slowly dragged his feet on the floor, towards the door to the hallway.

"Cla- Kal," Bruce called.

Kal stopped walking. He didn't look back.

"What... What do you need?" This was a difficult question to ask, but he had no idea how to help him. He needed Kal to help him help him.

Kal took a deep breath. He seemed to be thinking of an answer. He still couldn't look at Bruce. Then he ultimately ended with a single worded answer: "Nothing." He wanted nothing to do with anything. He didn't want to do anything.

Kal walked out of the room.

Bruce wasn't sure whether to follow him or not. He went ahead and walked into the hallway. It wasn't hard to follow him at all, for he was walking at such a slow pace, even for a human. He watched Kal into where he remembered seeing the bedroom.

He won't follow him inside.

He just went to the doorway. Just before it closed, he saw Kal crawl into bed.

Bruce tried to think of something to do. It wasn't night time at Gotham yet, so he wasn't going to go out. He decided to work on some Wayne Enterprises things in the study. Since the location was in the Bermuda, he decided to go on Gotham time.

It was quiet in the Fortress of Solitude, so it was easy to work there. Then it was easy to fall asleep in there. It was comfortably warm. The couch in the room was more comfortable than the desk chair.

Soon Bruce was woken up by his butler, Alfred calling him on his phone. He picked up. "Alfred."

"Master Bruce, I don't suppose you plan on missing your meeting."

Bruce looked at his watch noticing the time. He sighed, "Can you cover for me?" He forgot all about the meeting for that time of day. It was around noon.

Alfred replied with his normal sarcasm, "Sure. It would be a delight."

"Thanks, Alfred."

"How long do you plan to stay hidden?"

Bruce wasn't sure, but he knew that the trek to and fro the Fortress of Solitude would be very time consuming. He'd rather deal with that just to go to Gotham in the night, so it would be once a day. He wouldn't be available during the day. "I'll figure it out later. I'll come in the evening."

"Okay," he said. "I'll make sure to have some dinner ready. You need to eat healthy."

"Yes, Alfred," Bruce sighed.

The two talked a bit before he hung up. Bruce finally noticed that a blanket he didn't have before he fell asleep was over him. The blanket was plaid blue and red. Typical color palate for the blue boy scout.

Bruce got up from the couch. He checked for any signs that Kal had done any more research on synthetic kryptonite while he was asleep. He searched around the tables in the lab area... Nothing.

Bruce could only hope that nothing happened while he slept.