Forbidden - Klarion x OC

Chapter 2 - Operation Kid Rescue

Vance's POV

Once Conner had forced the car door open, I immediately reached in to comfort the crying baby in the car. "Shhh... It'll be alright. You're safe now, hon." I whispered in an attempt to calm the crying baby down as I unbuckled the seat belt which was securing the baby. I slowly and gingerly took him out of the car.

"Hey Conner, this one got your symbol!" I grinned, lifting the kid with my two hands, 'showing off' the kid's shirt which had Superman's symbol, to Conner.

I thought my remark about the kid would somehow cheer Conner up, but I guess not. "What's wrong Conner?" I asked.

But he just looked away. "Nothing.." He said.

I shook my head. "Look Conner, I'm not a telepath or an empath or anything of that sort, but even a toddler can tell that you're troubled. Please Conner. I'm your friend. I'm not as close to you as Aqualad, Kid Flash and Robin are, but you can talk to me." I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

It was true. I wasn't there when Dick, Kaldur and Wally went to Cadmus and ended up with a new face by their side. Although I should have been, to take care of them. After all, I was supposed to make sure that they wouldn't get into unnecessary trouble but I let my guard down. But it wasn't that bad. I mean, they came out of Cadmus with Conner and Conner is a great guy.

Conner ignored me and instead took the kid out of my hands. Which I was glad he did, as my hands were getting exhausted from carrying that kid. Not that the boy was heavy of course...

When the boy was in Conner's hands, the kid looked... Comfortable. Looking at Conner's shirt, he touched the symbol and smiled up at Conner, who returned it.

A smile tugged on my lips. "So you can ignore your friend, your teammate but not a kid huh?" I said, not meaning for it to come out so offensively. I immediately shut my mouth when I realised the tone of my words.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out that way.." This time it was my turn to look away.

"N-no. It's fine. I'm sorry too for ignoring you. I just have a lot on my mind." Conner reassured me.

I smiled weakly. "Right..." I said, not wanting to press any further. "Well, we better get moving. Still got a whole town full of kids to take care of, ya know?"

Conner nodded in response.

Although I'm not a mind reader, I am pretty sure that the 'a lot' on Conner's mind, was a certain Martian girl by the name of M'gann M'orzz.

***

"Woah! No pulling of hair!" I exclaimed, trying to ignore the pain I felt when the young girl I was holding in my arms, suddenly pulled my hair in joy. The kid just laughed. Laughed. When I was in pain. Ugh kids.

While I was struggling with one kid in my arms, Conner had like three kids with him. One pulling his hair, one trying to weasel out of Conner's grip and the other one was just drinking from his milk bottle. "Jesus Christ, how are you not in pain from all the hair pulling?" I remarked.

Conner shrugged.

"Ready to go?" I asked Conner. He nodded.

I snapped my fingers and a moment later a black and white portal appeared. Conner and I walked through it, and appeared in the temporary refugee centre at the high school gym where the kids we gathered were being taken care of.

"Twinkle twinkle little star..." Artemis sang. "Um... Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full."

The kids she was entertaining all laughed at her. Which was the goal of course, to calm the kids down and keep them occupied.

Soon after, Wally and M'gann came walking over to Artemis. Meanwhile, Conner and I watched from afar. Or rather Conner did. I was looking at him staring at M'gann. Seriously, he should confess his feelings or something.

"Wanna continue staring creepily at them or?" I teased.

"Sorry.." Conner apologised.

I shrugged. "Eh, it's fine. Don't worry about it, 'kay?"

Just then, Wally and M'gann noticed us.

"Hey Xanver! SB!" Wally called out to us. M'gann waved.

I smiled in reply. "Hey guys.." I said as Conner and I walked towards them.

"How's Operation Kid Rescue going along?" I asked.

M'gann giggled at my question. She found it funny that I liked to come up with names for each mission. "Operation Kid Rescue is going along fine. Although we still aren't quite sure where all the adults went." M'gann reported.

"Isn't Robin and Zatanna working on it?" Conner asked.

"Yeah they are, but we haven't received an official report from them yet. I'm sure Robin will tell us what he has found though, right?" M'gann said hopefully.

Conner nodded.

A second later, M'gann, Wally, Conner, Artemis and I, all received a notification from the phone Dick had given us for easy communication.

I grinned when I saw the notification. "Speaking of the devil." I said.