catgirl ! crushed (nightwing)

«chapter thirty-five: zenith and abyss»

  "Indeed," The man continues. "We have nothing here, nothing but each other. I calculated using the Super boy as bait would pay off. I've been expecting another attempt to retrieve him ever since that Ghosty escaped from the Zone," His eyes scan over us. "Now you people will release us all."

  "No problem," Nightwing says, putting his hand on his hip. "Any friend of Super boy is a friend of ours."

  "Super boy, does this friend of yours speak the truth?" He asks, making my eyes narrow at him.

Conner looks at us, studying Nightwing.

"No."

  "Conner," I mutter disapprovingly, my eyes shifting to the threats in front of us.

  "They're trying to play us," The leader states. "They must learn the House of Zod does not play. The House of Zod conquers."

  "Conner, these are criminals," Kaldur links him to our communication. "The worst of the worst placed here by Kryptonians decades ago. You cannot side with them against your oldest friends. Remember who you are. What we've all meant each other."

"It's all broken." He mutters weakly.

  "That can be fixed," I cut in, his sad eyes looking to me.

  "Trust me, we know. M'gann can help you," Kaldur sympathizes.

  Almost as if her name were a trigger for him, he recoils. "No! I could never go back to M'gann."

"Why would you say that?"

  "Because I might hurt her," He says, making the deep ache in my chest even worse.

  "You would never do that," I mutter, taking a step closer to him.

  "I would. I'm a weapon, a killer." He closes his eyes in shame. "I killed Superman."

  In that moment I almost thought I was looking at myself in a distorted mirror. The lines are not exactly matching up, but the overall picture is the same.

It made me fight back a flinch.

  Everyone looks back at him in confusion, him having admitted that out-loud.

  "I'm so sorry Conner," Nightwing takes a step closer to both of us. "You didn't kill Superman. He's not dead."

  Conner looks at his hands and flinches, making a few steps back. It takes everything in me not to step closer, to help him ground himself and know that he didn't hurt anyone.

"The son of Jor-El lives?" Zod questions.

  "Yes. We saw him just before we came here." Zee states, everyone confused as to why Conner would think he was dead.

  "This one told us Kal-El was dead. He also told us Krypton was destroyed," Zod reveals, eyeing Conner. "Was that true?"

  "Yes, over 40 years ago. I am sorry." Kaldur answers.

  "Then our sentences in this hellscape will last an eternity," Zod says almost to himself.

  "We can create a probationary court," Kaldur says, making a plan of action to try to calm everyone down. "Consider each of your cases, individually."

  "Yes, we can do that," Zod agrees before adding, "After we've been released from the Zone. We've already served our full sentences. So release us now as a show of good faith." I look to Nightwing, his eyes on mine before we both look to everyone else.

No way in hell.

  "I see," Zod states. "You don't want to release us because you fear our power under your yellow sun. Not much has changed in 40 years. The House of El and the Kryptonian High Council feared my power, too. That's why we're here. But if we can't leave, you won't either."