21

I walked across the cargo bay towards the school bus sized, oblong object that was M'gann's bioship. The biomechanical construct was a deep red color and had a sort of pebbly texture while in that state, but otherwise was completely featureless. I wasn't sure how aware she was of her surroundings while resting, but I got the impression that she started paying attention to me as I came to a stop next to her.

I looked at the ship for a few moments before I reached into the bag I held and pulled out a cube, about four inches on each side. I held the cube out to the pod, and after a second the surface bulged outward and enveloped my hand. When the mass pulled back the cube was gone, and the bioship made a sound I could only describe as a trill.

"Good Moya." I said, patting her surface before I started fishing around for more in my bag. "How has your week been?"

"Eh, not bad."

My free arm formed into a laser cannon as I turned, but I stopped when I found Robin standing behind me with a grin. I forced myself to calm down as I glared at him. "You know, a lot of the mystique is lost when I know that you're basically just holding your cape in front of your face like an idiot."

"You'd have to actually see me doing it for it to count, though."

My laugh was flat as I took note of his costume. "So, what's up? Is there a mission?"

"Nah, had some free time so I thought I'd swing by for some teamwork training." The boy said. "I got some maneuvers I'd like to try out before we use it on a mission."

I hummed as my arm returned to normal, fishing another cube out of the bag. "Well, while I appreciate the sentiment, you will have to make do with Superboy or M'gann. Kori and I are going out on patrol with Wonder Woman again today."

I could see him arch an eyebrow through his domino mask. "Then what are you waiting around here for?"

I offered another cube to the bioship as I said "It was a bit spur of the moment on Wonder Woman's part, and she said she's meet us here first. Didn't give us a solid time, but she should be here soon. So I decided to spend a little time feeding Moya, and last I left Kori she and M'gann were watching cooking shows." I frowned and looked off to the side. "I hope they're learning something. Last time I walked in on the two of them in the kitchen I found them covered in flour and cake batter."

"… I get the feeling that if Wally knew about half the stuff the girls got up to in this mountain he would insist on moving in." Robin said.

"He must never know." I replied solemnly.

"Uh huh. And the cubes?"

"They're silicate-carbon lattices filled with highly charged ions." I said. "They're basically sugar cubes for bioships."

As I spoke, Moya started to get impatient and her mass started to engulf the rest of my arm. I turned back and tried to pull my arm out. "No, bad Moya! No eating me so you can get the rest of the sugar cubes!"

"Moya?" Robin asked.

"My name for the bioship," I said as I managed to pull my arm free. "She technically does have a name, but it's purely telepathic. So I've settled on Moya."

He gave me a look. "And where did that name come from?"

"Nowhere in particular." I said. Unfortunately, I had to revise my earlier assessment of this being the best of all universes, seeing as how apparently Farscape didn't exist here.

There was a pause before he changed subject. "So… what was your home life like?" I gave him a look, and he held up his hands placating. "You know, before all this."

I hesitated at the non-sequitur for a moment before I replied "Good. Normal, but good. My family's spread out all over the east coast, so we didn't see each other as much as we should have, but it was good."

"And you've got none left?" He asked. "Every time someone's asked you about it you just say 'there's nothing to go back to'."

A frown settled on my face as I resumed feeding the bioship. "I really don't care to talk about it."

"Dude, it's ok. I know."

I turned to look at him fully. "You… know?"

"Batman told me about where you came from."

My eyebrows rose. That wasn't what I was expecting. "I see. So you know about… the thing."

"Yeah, I know about the thing." Robin said, matching my tone.

I took a deep breath. "Wow, I wasn't expecting this. I knew that I had to talk about the thing eventually, but man… its serious business, the thing. I mean it's not as bad as the stuff, but the thing is something else."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Alright, you don't have to be that snarky about it."

The corners of my mouth quirked upwards. "Well, what do you expect? I mean, the old 'pretend that you already know the secret' trick? Come on Robin, give me a little credit."

He grinned as he perked up. "So you are hiding something!"

I shrugged. If he already suspected something, there was no way I was going to hide the fact that I was hiding something from the apprentice to the world's greatest detective. "So what if I am, Mr. Dark Shades?" I asked pointedly.

"Because you don't make sense!" He insisted. "Prior to showing up from outer space, you didn't exist. There isn't a single person matching your profile or given background I can find."

A frown formed on my face. "Wait, you've been trying to snoop into my past without telling me? What the hell, kid?!"

He shrugged. "Hey, I was trained by Batman. I snoop on everyone I know as a matter of course."

"That doesn't make it alright. Seriously, people aren't going to trust you if you act like that."

"So what, I should just accept what people tell me as the truth without checking?" He argued back. "That's a quick way of getting yourself killed when you thought you were safe."

"Well, if it bothers you so much, why didn't you just ask Batman who I am?" Robin grimaced and looked off to the side, and I made a small noise. "You already did, didn't you?"

"He wants me to find out on my own, that's all." Robin insisted as he looked back at me. "He likes to set up challenges like that."

I sighed. "Look, I'm going to ask this once." I said. "Can you please just wait for me to tell you what it is when I'm ready? It's not great for team cohesion if we're all trying to uncover each other's secrets."

The boy just smiled at that, though. "What, you think you can find out my secret identity first? Challenge accepted."

I groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose. To be honest, I wasn't all that concerned for myself. After all if he somehow found my family I'd be way too excited by how he found an interdimensional portal to care about anything else. No, I was more worried that he would take the same sort of attitude with Artemis. I had half a mind to ask him not to do that do her, but given his last response, it'd probably just encourage him.

The Mountian's audio system came to life, and Wonder Woman's voice came through. "Starfire, Machina, I have arrived. Met me in the main hall."

I didn't want to deal with Robin right then. I decided to take it up with Batman later, and hopefully I wouldn't have to get too confrontational.

So, I just let out a huff as I turned my back to him, walking down the tunnel to the main room. "You are such a dick sometimes."

I didn't look back, but with my blindsight I could see him stiffen just a little. That should mess with him for a while.

I stopped by the lab to drop off my bag of 'sugar cubes' before resuming course. When I got to the main chamber, I found Kori and Diana waiting for me. "Jacob, ready to insure the safety of the populous again?" Kori asked.

"Hopefully better than last time," I remarked. "If we encounter another League-level threat I think I'll let someone else take point."

"But if your abilities are needed again, you will take the point regardless. Oh, I know! Perhaps you could form yourself into a weapon to be wielded by your comrade. Then they can take the point, and the point will be you!"

I raise and finger and opened my mouth, but no response came. After a moment I just hung my head in defeat.

Diana chuckled before she turned to look at me. "Actually, there has been a change of plans. Today it is just going to be myself and Starfire."

I blinked. "Oh. Uh, alright." I will admit I felt a little let down at that. Ok, more than a little let down, but to be honest I had been surprised by the invite the first time. I assumed it was because Kori, kind hearted soul that she was, had took it upon herself to bring me along.

And sure enough, Kori turned to Diana and opened her mouth to say something, but the other woman held her hand up first. "You are going out today, Jacob, just not with me. Another League member has expressed interest."

Before I could ask who, the Zeta Tube whirred to life. "Recognized: Superman, 0-1."

The Man of Steel walked out of the light and smiled at us. "Hope I'm not too late. Had to help put out a fire on my way here."

Oh, I wasn't patrolling with Wonder Woman because Superman wanted to hang out with me today.

…

Holy shit, Superman wanted to hang out with me today!

"You're on time." Diana said, unaware of my internal fanboy. "I was just informing Machina how you'd be the one mentoring him today." She looked at me. "Is this alright with you?"

"Yes, yes of course!" I said just a little too loudly. "I mean, I still can't fly, but I've gotten a bit better with the grapple lines, so if we stay in the city it shouldn't be too much of a problem, unless you have to get somewhere super-fast, but then I can catch up, and I'm going to stop talking now." My mouth clicked shut.

Superman just laughed. "It's good to see you're so enthusiastic. Let's put that energy to use, shall we?" he said as he gestured back at the Zeta Tubes.

"Ah, right." I said as I started to move, but I stopped as a thought occurred to me. "Actually, could Superboy come along too? I think he'd really appreciate it." The kid still had a bit of a complex when it came to Superman, so getting some encouragement from the man himself would probably help. If nothing else the time together it should help reduce Superboy's perception of his progenitor being this distant, unachievable thing.

However, Superman filched as I said it. He schooled his features quick enough that I almost missed it, but I still saw his mouth twitch a little before he said "Actually, I'd prefer if it was just you and me. Keep things one-on-one, you know?"

"Oh. Alright." I said, and the smile returned as we both made our way to the Zeta Tube. I was about to say something else, but after a moment I shook my head and decided not to.

----------------------​

To my surprise, the day passed without incident.

Alright, that wasn't really true. There were two muggings, one car theft, a small gang fight, and one incident of a construction worker falling off the top of a half done building. But those were all relatively mundane things that were resolved quickly and easily. And man, doesn't saying that show just how much my perception of things have already become skewed? But nevertheless, as the day wore on I realized something: I was actually enjoying myself a little.

Certainly that was thanks in no small part to Superman. I was spending time with the most iconic superhero ever, and the man himself was just generally pleasant to be around. But more that, I found I wasn't as anxious as I normally was when doing superhero stuff. After all, Superman was here. Of course everything would be alright.

It was edging into late afternoon when we found ourselves taking a break near the top of one of the taller buildings. I was stuck to the side like a certain wall-crawler while he floated nearby. "You know, we don't have any cities like this back where I come from?" I said as I gestured to the Metropolis skyline. "This particular architectural style I mean. This sort of art deco simply never made it into practical use." Wait, was Metropolis art deco, or was I thinking of Gotham? I'll look it up later.

Superman nodded. "It's the only one of its kind here. It was built to be The City of Tomorrow, so they hired some architects to make sure it looked the part. These days I couldn't imagine living anywhere else." He glanced at me. "If you ever want to move out of Mount Justice, I could recommend a few places."

I shrugged. "Living in the Mountain is less stressful, though. I only have to worry about my teammates. Having a city to patrol all the time must be exhausting." I paused. "If you don't mind my asking, how do you… not go crazy from having to constantly hear people in trouble?"

"I think you are assuming that my hearing is better than it is." He remarked. "True I can hear accurately out to several blocks, and less accurately many more blocks beyond that, but I can't hear what is going on in the entire city. As well, the crime rate in Metropolis isn't so bad that that I am constantly being pulled away from what I am doing. Most days anyway."

"Huh." I said. I had never really payed too much attention to the power scale between different versions of the DC universes, but that was definitely 'less' than any other version of Superman I had ever seen. I decided to focus on something else though. "In the… stories I've read there are a lot of plot lines that focus on the difficulties of living two lives. I suppose I'm lucky I don't have my own city to patrol on top over everything else. That said I'm glad for the chance to get to do any good really. I mean, it's still kinda my job and all."

Superman arched an eyebrow at that. "I don't think most superheroes consider their work to be their 'job', at least not like you're implying. Are you saying you have no interest in a normal job?"

"A bit hard to hold down a 9 to 5 with this complexion." I said as I gestured at myself.

"What if that wasn't a problem? Would you not want a secret identity?"

I had asked myself that question before, and had already come to a conclusion. "To be honest, I don't feel like I need one. I'm getting most of what I want out of life right now. I live in a high tech mountain fortress with access to a global teleportation network. I hang out and do things with my roommates, and on occasion the rest of the team. I'm even getting to know Doctor Roquette and Kord Tech's scientists better. I'm not sure what a secret identity would get me."

"A chance to be normal?" He said softly. "A chance to go back-"

"No." Superman pulled back at my sudden response, and I shook my head. "Sorry. I don't mean wouldn't want that exactly, I just… I don't want to try to replace what I've lost. I have a chance to do something new. Something extraordinary. I feel like, for what this has cost me, I should take it as far as I can."

Superman was silent for a long moment, taking in what I said. Before he could respond though, our coms activated. "Batman to Superman and Machina."

Superman's hand went to his ear. "Copy."

"Martian Manhunter's investigations have revealed an Intergang weapons cache in Metropolis. Data shows that it just received a shipment up from Miami, and is going to be shipped off to parts unknown in a few hours. The location is a warehouse down by the docks, Pier 13, 5th from the back."

"Right. We'll take care of it." Superman took his hand off his ear and looked at me. "Looks like we have a little more work to do before we're done today. You up for it?"

"Of course."

-------------------​

It wasn't long before we found ourselves down by the Metropolis waterfront, standing on top the warehouse adjacent to the one Batman had told us about. It was… well, it was exactly what you would expect a warehouse to look like. It was three stories tall and about the size of a small city block. Neither I nor Superman wanted to barge in right away, so we took a minute to scope out the place.

And by that, I meant Superman was scanning every inch of it with his X-ray vision while I kind of awkwardly stood off to the side. After a minute or so he said "This is definitely the place. I can see several crates full of equipment that are not terrestrial in origin."

"Apokolipian tech?" I asked.

"I'm not that familiar with it yet, but probably." He said. "There are about two dozen men spread throughout the warehouse-" He stopped and tensed a little. "And one hostage up in the offices, unless Intergang's usual method of entertaining guests includes tying them to a chair and bringing out the bolt cutters."

"Now that's just excessive." I muttered, looking at the warehouse as my mouth twisted.

He turned to look at me. "We don't have a lot of time before things get ugly, so let's keep it simple. I'll rescue the hostage and take care of the men upstairs, you head in through the ground floor and make sure no one gets away. You can handle baseline humans with guns, right?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Go!" And without wasting another second Superman flew up into the air and came right back down through the warehouse roof. I blinked for a second before I fired a grapple line at the edge of the roof and swung down. "Man, superheroes in this universe really don't like wasting time…"

I swung around back to the loading bay and landed with a heavy thud at the entrance. The shutters were all closed, but I could hear some activity inside. I took a moment to configure my internals before I simply punched the shutters, tearing through the metal sheet and stepping into the warehouse. In that moment I took stock of the dozen or so men that turned to face me, all dressed in a variety of workman clothes but clearly armed.

Wait, should I say something? This feels like the right moment for a superhero one liner. But I was drawing a blank. Shit! A screw it, I'll let the Bruce handle this one.

"I would have knocked, but my fist had other plans."

And then everyone pulled their guns and opened fire on me.

I was hit with a barrage of bullets from a variety of handguns and automatic weapons, but for a few seconds I simply stood my ground and took it. The kinetic manipulators I had gotten from Amazo nullified the impacts to the point where I almost felt nothing. I had yet to really test them out in the field since I had gotten them, but the results I was getting right then certainly seemed exceptional.

I used the time to scope out the room and the people in it. The warehouse floor was massive, but most of the floor near the wall was staked with crates and boxes arranged in aisles, so the open space was merely large. There was a van in the middle of the floor which six men had been loading up with some of those crates. Three men had been positioned near the door until I had done my impression of the Kool-Aid man and they backed off. And finally, there were three more men up in the catwalks above, all of which were shooting at me.

I needed to take out the guys shooting from the catwalk before they hit one of their own, but I was hesitant to just start throwing lightning. There was a lot of metal in this warehouse (the catwalk included), and I did not trust myself to have the proper control to knock them out without doing permanent damage. So, I had to try something else. My right arm morphed into a cannon configuration, and as I aimed it at them waves of sound ripped forth from it, the air visibly distorting from the force of it. The men were knocked off their feet by the blast and sent tumbling over the railing, crashing into a tall pile of crates below.

Technically another thing I had gotten from Amazo, but I had been experimenting with sonic cannons long before him. This was just the first time where it seemed like the best solution

With that taken care of I folded my arm back to normal and moved forward towards the nearest group of three thugs. By the time they had finally realized that guns weren't going to work I was already on top of them. Careful now, I thought as I punched the first man's sternum. He collapsed and evacuated his stomach on the ground, but I hadn't felt anything break. The man next to him tried to pistol whip me, but I grabbed his arm before it could connect and hurled him at the third man. The two crashed into each other before sliding to a stop some distance away.

I could have shocked them to unconsciousness, but I needed to learn proper strength control when it came to normal humans. If I was always afraid of hurting people it would cut down on my options in combat, and I didn't think I could afford that in the long run.

My attention snapped back to the van as I heard the screeching of tires and the vehicle accelerated towards me. I could have gotten out of the way, but the man I had just punched out was still curled into a ball at my feet. Ah god damn it, I thought as charged forward, my frame expanding as I met the front of the car head on and grabbed it. I grit my teeth as I was pushed back, the floor of the warehouse tearing up beneath my feet. With a grunt I got my hands underneath the front bumper and lifted, removing the front wheels from the ground and cutting off its forward acceleration. A second later I hoisted the whole van into the air and, turning it way from the man I had downed, smashed the front into the warehouse floor. Two men came tumbling out through the windshield and onto the floor, groaning but otherwise unmoving. I set the vehicle down carefully and mentally congratulated myself on how I handled the situation.

…Wait a second, wouldn't it have been way safer and easier it I had just picked the downed thug up and moved him out of the way rather than trying to lift the van? Damn it! No one must know.

Well, eight down, four to go, and it looked like the remaining criminals had run deeper into the warehouse to get away from me. Or, considering that they were supposed to be transporting weapons, to get better armaments. I didn't want to give them the chance and took off running down the aisles of crates after them.

It only took me a few seconds to locate them. They weren't exactly trying to be stealthy, so my enhanced hearing was able to pick out their location quickly, though they were in aisle right next to mine. I jumped over a twenty foot pile of crates and saw my quarry underneath me as I moved through the air, three men looking around nervously while the fourth desperately pried open a container with a crowbar. I landed with a heavy thud behind them before I turned, sweeping out with my leg and knocking one of the men to the ground. I tried to move to the man who was unboxing something, but another got in my way as he tried to bull rush me over. I was much studier than he thought though, and I simply grabbed him and flipped him over my shoulder. I heard him scream before it was cut off by the sound of crashing wood.

Still, he had given his friend the time he needed to pull a weapon of some kind out of the crate. It looked to be some sort of bladed staff, covered in those circles and angular line patterns which had always been used for New God technology in the comics. The head of the weapon crackled with some form of red energy as the thug swung at my center of mass, and I danced back out of range. The man pushed forwards swinging wildly, and I was forced to juke to the side as he thrust the spear at me. The container the tip of the staff touched simply disintegrated at the contact.

Definitely not getting touched by that, I thought as my arms reconfigured to channel lightning. I swiftly stepped into the thug's reach as he tried to reset his stance, and when we swung again the half of the staff hit my side as I was too close. One arm wrapped around the weapon while the other reached out and grabbed his chest, shocking him into unconsciousness. I glanced at the weapon I held in my hand. If I remembered correctly, Apokolipian tech was supposed to be some of the most advanced in the universe. It was also, if I remembered correctly, powered by a form of energy that was the antithesis to free will.

Think I'll play it safe, I though as I tossed the staff back into its container. I hadn't forgotten about the last man, but he has started to make a run for it after his buddy tried to engage me in glorious melee. I let out a breath as I saw him bolt around the corner at the far end of the aisle and followed after him, putting on enough speed that I had to slide around the corner to make the turn

And I stood just in time for the man, who had stopped just out of sight to take aim, to level his pistol at my face point blank and fire.

My head snapped back, more out of reflex than anything else, but after a moment I realized something. Holy shit, did I just…? Slowly, I turned my head to look at the frozen thug standing in front of me. I then smiled, showing the bullet I had managed to catch between my teeth by pure chance (not that he needed to know that).

He stared at me for a moment longer before he dropped the gun and put his hands in the air. "I think I'll go to jail now."

--------------------​

"…and then I tied them all up and waited for you to show up." I told the police officer about ten minutes later, the middle aged man nodding as he jotted it down in his note pad. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, I think that about covers it." The man said as he put the pad away. "Next time though, you think you could manage not to leave a mangled van for us to clean up?"

"Oh, uh, sorry." I apologized.

However, the cop just laughed, his weathered face gaining a mess of wrinkles in the process. "Ah, I'm just busting your chops, kid. You have any idea the kind of messes we have to clean up after Big Blue? This is nothing compared to that giant robot that went sightseeing downtown a few years back." The man then narrowed his eyes a little as he looked at me. "Hey, I know you're not from around here, but you look familiar."

I shifted a little. "Well, I've never been to Metropolis before… but you might have heard of me a few weeks back. I was the one who took down that android in New York."

"Ah yeah, now I remember. There was this big deal about how it was your first day but you had to do it on your own. Caused a minor media ruckus when the casualties came out."

I winced. "I haven't really been paying attention to the news. Should I be worried or…"

The man waved me off. "Screw 'em. There's always someone complaining about superheroes not doing a perfect job. They don't understand you don't always get the perfect circumstances, that you have to make do with what you've got. I'm sure you did the best you could. And hey, if Superman likes you enough to let you tag along, I'm sure he thinks so to."

I was silent for a long moment before I said "Thank you, officer."

"Call me Mike." He said with a smile and a nod before he walked off. "See you around, kid."

I smiled, and then I frowned. "Wait, kid?" I said, but the officer had already left. I rolled my eyes before looking around. The various Intergang thugs were being herded into a police lock-up van, though it was slow going as some of them had gotten a bit busted up. And right next to the van was a man who was, I had been informed, the now freed hostage, an average looking man with glasses and receding brown hair. And I found him looking back at me. It… actually made me surprisingly uncomfortable, like he was staring right through me or something…

"You did a good job." I gave a start as Superman floated down next to me. "You'd think the bad guys in this city would to only fire a couple a bullets and check if it actually works rather than emptying their entire clips."

"Oh, thanks." I said, snapping out of my thoughts.

He tilted his head a little. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing. So, who exactly-" I turned to point at the former hostage, but for to my surprised that he was gone. "What the… the hostage was right here."

Superman looked around before he shrugged. "Must have wandered off, the man was pretty shaken up. He told me that he works inventory for the docks and came in after finding a clerical error in the manifest, and stumbled on the men we stopped. Not exactly the problem he was expecting."

"Right…" I said before I looked back at him. "So, are we done here?"

"More or less. I took a quick stock of the Apokolipian tech and compared it to figures Batman gave me from his last investigation of Intergang. It seems to be almost the entirety of their remaining alien tech. A few bits are left though, but whether they were moved from here or sent elsewhere I don't know. Do you have any investigation training?"

My mouth pressed thin. "I'm afraid not. Robin usually handles that for the team. I do technically have sensor technology, but I don't really know how to use it correctly. Not with my software issues."

He nodded. "I couldn't find any clues either, so let's leave it to the detectives for now. That said, Batman will likely be taking a look himself later." He glanced at the reddening sky, the sun just barely visible on the horizon. "Well, I'd say this was a fairly successful day. Do you want to head back to the Mountain? You can stay in the city if want."

I glanced at the city skyline before looking back at him. "No, I think I'll just head back home. No offense, I'd just rather have a full day to explore a new city."

"Alright, if there's anything you need, just let me know." He said as he started to take off.

At his words a though occurred to me, and I reached out to him. "Actually, I do have something of a request."

Superman stopped before he floated back down next to me. "What is?" He asked.

"Could you give me any medical data you have on Kryptonians?"

Superman went still at this, and I could feel the intensity of his gaze as he asked "Why?"

I glanced around before lowering my voice. "Well, Superboy has been feeling… frustrated at his limitations due to being a hybrid, especially in comparison to you. I promised him that I would try to bring out his full potential, but that has been difficult to say the least."

"What do you mean by 'full potential'?"

"In the comics Superboy's power was always described as tactile telekinesis, sort of a result of his mixed heritage. As time went on he developed completely unique abilities based on this. I was hoping to find a way to help that along." I sighed. "Unfortunately, the only thing I've learned after a couple of weeks of study is that I have no idea how Kryptonian biology works. I've read up all the literature I can find, but..."

"What about the notes we retrieved from Cadmus's computers?"

"They have been helpful, but are incomplete. Most of the files relate to the Genomorphs rather than Superboy himself, and what there was seemed to mostly about his containment and upkeep. I'm pretty sure that facility was only where they were keeping him, not where he was… made. Have you made any progress on finding anyone else involved in his creation?"

"Unfortunately, no. The facility in which we found Superboy was apparently made to function with minimal oversight. As far as we can tell there were only a dozen people - well, humans - working there, with Dr. Desmond at the head. There are no records of anyone else being involved."

I sighed. "I've already checked the info on all of those scientists, none of them were involved in his creation. The one lead I have is a single memo that arrived with Superboy the day he showed up to the facility, detailing nutrient and sunlight levels while he was kept in stasis. On that memo is a signature that doesn't match any of the scientists that worked there. Well, just initials really: CF. The last time I ask Batman about it he said he was still looking into it."

Superman's mouth pressed into a thin line before he looked off to the side. "I'm… a bit reluctant. STAR labs does have some information on my physiology, but I assume what you are asking for is what I keep in my fortress?" I nodded and he continued. "I've never moved any of the data off the crystals as a security measure. If detailed knowledge of Krypontian technology, or my own biology, ever fell into the wrong hands…"

"I think the ship has sailed on that last one," I pointed out.

Superman's actually winced a little before looking at me. "Are you are sure that this information will help him?"

I shrugged. "I can't be certain of anything at this point, but if nothing else, it will help me understand Kryptonian biology more. Which I imagine will be very useful as I think I might kinda be the team medic now." He looked at me with an arched eyebrow and I continued. "I can mimic a good amount of the equipment in the med bay and have been studying the physiologies of my teammates for comparisons. Someone's gotta make sure they come out ok."

"I see." He said as he nodded to himself. "You are the one helping him. Right." He took a breath. "Alright. I'll see what I can do about converting the files into something the Mountain's computer can parse, and send it over. Then you can… do what you have to do."

I smiled, but in truth I was starting to feel a little concerned. Superman… was being hesitant and awkward. It was just wrong to see the world's greatest superhero act like that somehow, like something fundamental with the world was off. "Thank you. But, sir…" I said hesitantly. "If you don't mind my asking, is something wrong?"

He looked taken aback at that. "What? No, no! Of course not." He shifted a bit before he rose into the air. "I'll see about getting you those files. Keep up the good work!" And in a blue blur he was gone.

I stared after him for a long moment before I said to the open air "What the hell was that?"