Superman: Man of Tomorrow

5:31 AM

5:31 AM

Conner turned off his alarm, grabbing his t-shirt from the nearby chair. He scratched his stubble absent-mindedly, whistling Imagine Dragons as he entered the washroom.

He stared into his reflection two seconds too long. He had seen that face for the last seven years, and he still wasn't sure if he looked more like Clark or like Lex.

He turned his attention to his Samsung smartphone, scrolling through his social media feeds. His friends were living the life. Malibu, Hollywood, the Andromeda Galaxy. And he was stuck here, pulling the remnants of Young Justice towards the future. What the future held for him, Cassie and the others, he didn't know.

"What would Clark say?" Conner asked his reflection, observing his facial movements as he applied shaving foam. They didn't betray any of the frustration brimming within, like a simmering cup of black coffee. Unlike the cup of joe, however, no bubbles popped on his face.

He pictured Clark, looking at him, blue eyes twinkling. He hated that stare, sometimes. It looked through his soul in a way that told him that yes, both of them were alone in the world, but at least they had each other.

He still wasn't sure what Clark was to him. Lex had always insisted that he was Conner's real dad, but Clark never acted like a dad around him. Which is ironic, considering how fond of kids he usually is.

Conner focused his gaze on the mirror, his eyes glowing red as they shaved his stubble with missile-like precision. Clark had taught him this, and while this had always felt like a rather crude way of shaving, he really hadn't found better alternatives.

That's what happens when you are one of the two surviving males of an entire race.

At least his stubble looked pretty cool, Conner thought, stuffing his own keys into his pocket. He checked his watch. 5:34 am. Almost time for the start of his own patrol.

He nodded at Krypto, who came running up to him as he exited the Kent home. Nuzzling Kyrpto's nose with affection, Conner rose upwards, surveying the terrain that surrounded him. It was Smallville, and there wasn't much to say about Smallville. Conner spotted Lana Lang nursing her belly in the safety of her home; he stifled the urge to wave her by as he flew above the Lang estate.

Krypto followed suit, his cape billowing loudly in the wind. He barked joyously; unlike Conner, he never grew tired of flying.

"Let's see how the rest of the world is doing, boy," Conner said, accelerating to supersonic speeds before blowing past Kansas state lines.

~*~

Kara was just getting started with her own rounds. She was finished with her initial scans, and now she was going through the Indian subcontinent with a fine comb, searching for any signs of robberies.

She caught a few domestic disturbances. By now, she was skilled and even tempered enough to handle them without killing or mailing assailants. It still boiled her blood when men raised their hands on women and little girls. But at least she wasn't screaming bloody murder when she was tossing them in the river.

That's a joke, by the way. She can't really toss human beings into water without anything to grab onto. That's why she fetched a stray log of wood from the Sundarbans before promptly dropping it into the Ganges. She took a minute to survey her handy work, hovering over the men trying to hang onto the log for dear life.

She smiled surreptitiously, before recoiling in disgust; she caught one of the men leering, eyes big as saucers trained on her thighs.

Guess she was asking for it, given the provocative nature of her uniform. Maybe she should have covered her midriff and wore a longer skirt. But she had tried that, and it didn't help in the least bit.