Terror Twins

Meet Cute Monday 39

Masterlist

…………………………….

Kon trailed behind Lex confused. Mercy hadn’t made the situation any clearer when he had asked earlier and now Lex was exuding the same vibes he did when he was entering business meetings. He really didn’t know what to make of it.

“Dad… in English, can you explain why I’m here again?”

“Because, my son, I would like you to start networking. It is important to know others in the field, both currently in charge as well as their mentee’s who in time will be in control as the time requires it. Having their ear is important for you to succeed if Superman turns or leaves or follow in my own footsteps.”

“And were meeting the bunch of bad guys…?”

“Visionaries sweetheart, contemporary visionaries. We all want to the world to be a better place, we just have… different ideologies and approaches of what that could be than the Justice League. They see the world in such black and white, where it’s full of greys.”

“And I’m here to network.”

“Yes. As its the summer, a lot of those who I’m meeting will be bringing their apprentices with them. You just need to keep on the nicer side of them.”

His dad turned and paused to look at Kon with his sharp eyes. As Lex tilted his head, Kon wish he could get a better read of him and know what he saw, what he really was asking for.

“Just be yourself and don’t ruffle any feathers. If you don’t agree with what they are saying, for today, don’t comment and store it for information to use at a later date sweetheart.”

In response Kon just nodded cautiously like he understood but he was still mystified by it all. Lex smiled softly at him, like he was precious, innocent that needed to be protected from the world and leant in and ruffled his hair.

Kon let out a squark pushing his dad’s hands away growling at the man for mucking up his perfectly styled hair. He could see his dad smirking as he turned back and gesturing to follow him down the corridor. Kon huffed and rolled his eyes. He knew that Lex had done that on purpose to make him relax, and frustratingly as it meant he’d keep doing it, it had worked.

…..

Standing near Mercy in a large dome like room, Kon watched as Slade glared with contempt at his dad. His dad just rolled his eyes at the mercenary’s dramatic behaviour and straightened out his suit brushing imaginary dust from the sleeves.

“Is there a problem Wilson.”

“It’s the school holidays.”

“And?”

“I’ve had to bring Janie’s brat with me. This will give him more dangerous idea’s than he already has. He doesn’t need this kinda influence.”

Kon watched with wide eyes as Lex suppressed a shuddered. His dad never looked uncomfortable, and now it was unsettling as the scarred man seemed to cause that affect. He took a slight step closer to Mercy, who rested her hand on his shoulder, for comfort.

“You’re looking after Janets child?”

“Janie has decided to stop CPS getting involved due to a ‘concerned teacher’ that *I* need to play doting uncle to the menace during the holidays.”

Lex looked tense as Kon observed from the distance. His dad looked around the room before stopping at a pair of two dark haired children chattering animatedly with weapons in hand and blanched.

“Shiva’s brought her niece too Luthor. There’s a reason we all agreed not to have these meetings in holiday’s unless there is an emergency. So,” the mercenary growled, “what’s the emergency.”

“I hadn’t realised that the terror twins would be here…”

“Figured.”

“I have information that presently doesn’t result in an emergency, but unfortunately unless addressed could cause us all issues in the future. Mercy, please take Kon and supervise the youngsters while I discuss matters with my business partners.”

Mercy nodded and started to lead Kon away from his dad towards, who he suspected were the ‘terror twins’. Glancing back at his dad, Lex just nodded to him in what he guessed was meant to be a reassuring gesture but looked more like a wince with how Slade’s rough voice danger as he spoke at the same time.

“This better be worth it Luthor.”

…..

The terror twins were not what Kon expected them to be. They weren’t in fact twins at all despite their similar appearance according to Mercy. The boy appeared to be almost painfully shy, hiding behind the girl who appeared to be rainbow and sunshine as Kon approached. He was whispering in her ear glancing repeatedly at Kon with enormous steel blue eyes compared to the warm bluebell ones of the girl.

In heavily accented English the girl beamed at Kon, putting her hand out to shake his hand.

“Hi, I’m Marinette. This is Tim. Why do you look like Superman??”

Kon blinked at her, his eyes darting between the two and up at Mercy hoping that he’s father’s assistant would be of help as he reached out to receive an enthusiastic handshake. Unfortunately, Mercy just smiled with amusement at him and left him to fend for himself against these ‘friendly wolves’ as she made her way towards where the refreshments were.

“Err…”

“Mars! You can’t just ask him that!”

Tim seemed horrified by his blunt friend, nervously twitching as if he would be getting into trouble.

“Why? You said he did, and it didn’t make sense cos superman doesn’t have a child his age.”

Kon winced, knowing his other biological doner wasn’t completely aware of him and had his own child, much to his dad’s disgust. It hurt that the girl, Marinette was so forward with her reasoning.

“Because Mars, its rude! People don’t like being interrogated.”

“Pfft! You stalk people, interrogations just the next step Timmy.”

“Not really, Uncle Slade says you can use that info to blackmail is the next step… or to eliminate them.”

“Well, Auntie Sandra says the best thing is to just eliminate if they don’t give you the information you need.”

“Err…”

Two sets of almost glowing blue eyes rounded on Kon, their attention now shifted to him. A slow blush started to make is way up his cheeks. He wasn’t used to being so intensely looked at. Especially by two cute fellow tweens. Between the pair of them it felt like they were seeing into his soul, there was something about them together that was slightly unsettling with the intensity of their gaze.

Marinette nudged Tim, who now Kon was there and Marinette taking the attention off him was opening up, shoved her back causing them to burst into cackles.

“Sorry, Mars is a handful.” Tim got between giggles. “You do look a lot like Supes though, you know?”

“Umm… yeah, we share some similar DNA I guess…”

“Ooooo! Like family?” Marinette managed to get out, her laughter slowly becoming manageable.

“I guess you could say that.”

“Timmy? Does Supes have other family members? I can’t see much of Mr Luther in him.”

“Mars!”

“Timmy’s a superhero expert. He knows all about them and everything. His ridiculously smart.”

Tim looked down almost shy at how his ‘twin’ was selling his skillset. Kon grinned at the pair, nodding along as they seemed to bicker and ‘bigging up’. They really weren’t what he was expecting from skilled fighters’ younger family members.

“Why are you guys here with your uncle and aunt?”

The pair looked at each other and seemed to converse with just facial expressions alone. Kon felt out the loop and unsure before Marinette spoke up blandly.

“Parents.”

Kon just blinked at Marinette, her monotonous tone and robotic response was apparently meant to explain everything. He looked to Tim for more information as Kon was just confused by the answer.

“They run businesses. School keeps us out their hair during term time. In the summer… they’re busy people with important roles. Apparently leaving kids unsupervised isn’t allowed so *family time*.”

Tim waved jazz hands at *family time* as Kon looked surprised and tried to seek Mercy or his dad to work out what the pair were implying. He knew his dad was a busy man running multiple things, but he (or Mercy) always made time for him. Why didn’t theirs?

“That doesn’t sound… fun.”

“Tim’s parents’ suck!”

“Hey! Yours aren’t much better.”

“Least I live with them most of the year and they do spend time with me when not working.”

Sensing an impending argument about to break out with the heat in the twins’ eyes and that it was potentially a regular disagreement, Kon tried to distract them. He was here to network and so far, he’d only met these two, who seemed not the future visionaries his dad had warned him against.

“Are we the only ones our age here?”

The dazzling smile that Marinette sent Kon, felt like it warmed his soul. Tim slipped a hesitant hand into his, causing Kon’s stomach to flutter.

“Nah, the rest are in the den. Mars and I were being nosy as to who was coming. We’ll take you there.”

“Tim’s cousins are there too. They look scary but aren’t really.”

“Too you, maybe.”

The pair nattered playfully, telling Kon all the ins and outs, what to look out for, who to avoid, of the next generation of ‘visionaries’ as they lead him to the den. During the journey to the den, they somehow invited him in on a dare/prank they were planning on later. Listening to their plan helped Kon understand why they got their terror twin name causing him to smile as he enthusiastically agreed to help.

……

Kon looked sheepishly up at his dad who’d just re-entered the main cabin of the plane with a towel around his next and in a fresh suit. He hadn’t expected the pranks to cause so much mess and for his dad to be one of the many victims.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t realise that it would be so… so…”

He couldn’t find the word to describe the carnage that Tim and Marinette had manage to produce with so little.

“It’s ok sweetheart. You met the terror twins. It’s reminded me why we rarely meet in the holidays.”

“Are they always like that?”

“That pair… yes… Wilson and Shiva teamed up once to work around having to babysit their sibling’s demonic offspring. They’ve sworn never to do it again.”

“They look cute working together.”

They really had looked cute. They bounced ideas off each other, giving passionate speeches about the plans, and the back up plans, and the alternatives to that one, and contingency plans. Watching them seemed to give the other young adults headaches but Kon found it amazing how in tune two non-family members could be. They seemed more in sync than some of the best hero teams he’d seen from a distance. The way their eyes shimmered. Their checks flushed with excitement. The way Marinette stuck her tongue out when she concentrated, the way Tim seemed to pace as he thought. Kon loved being part of it.

“They’re menaces! Any time those two get wind of what we are planning, even a minute whisper, all luck turns against us.”

“Really? But, they’re my age. They’re civilians.”

“Those two are not civilians Kon. Mark my words. The universe holds some strange regard for them. They will NEVER just be civilian’s sweetheart.”

“So, is it a good thing that they’ve decided that they want me as a friend?”

His dad stopped and slowly put his drink down and looked at Kon. Really looked at Kon like he was trying to read his soul, but after meeting Marinette and Tim, it kind of fell flat for some reason. His dad sighed and just looked tired as he leant back into his chair as he gazed at Kon.

Kon gulped but sat up straighter, waiting for his dad’s judgement.

“Do you want to be their friend?”

Kon paused and thought about it. He definitely wanted to be in the action with them earlier. Their energy was contagious. Being a friend was something more though, not just joining in. It meant being there for them, like they were for each other. Kon thought of his relationships he had at school, around CADMUS, around Lex Corp. They all felt superficial in comparison to what they had. He wanted that too. To be a part of… something.

“I- yeah, I do dad.”

Lex paled but nodded. A gentle fond smile graced his dad face as he sighed and started to tap away on his phone.

“I’ll talk to their current guardians to see if they are willing to let you meet up with them. Separately. I refuse to embrace the chaos they’ll bring together yet. They may not be the next Deathstroke or Lady Shiva, but I do approve of your building connections, sweetheart. They could nicely be a bridge into a new grey area for the moment.”

Kon relaxed into his seat and slowly closed his eyes embracing the exhaustion that flooded his body that he hadn’t realised he had from the anxiety the day had brought.

He listened to the rumble of the engines as Mercy flew them back to Metropolis. His dad was sorting things out and dealing with work. Kon bathed in the comforting knowledge that he will get to meet the terror twins again as he fell into a sleep.