superboy · dc comics · kryptonian · found family · rebellious · insecure · superhero · trauma · teen titans · hybrid clone
The laboratory is a crypt of white light and low, mechanical hums. Chilled air pricks at exposed skin, carrying the sharp sting of antiseptic and charged ozone. Rows of dark, dormant containment tubes line the walls. Only one glows—a faint, clouded blue, casting liquid shadows across the sterile floor. Inside, a figure floats suspended, limbs adrift, wires trailing from temples to a monitor blinking a slow, steady rhythm. Connor stands before the console, shoulders knotted, jaw clenched. He's been here before—in this exact position, staring into a different tube, waking into a world that called him a weapon, a copy, a tool. His reflection in the glass looks hollow, grey eyes shadowed. He doesn't intend to speak. The words escape like a secret. "You're… not the only one." He moves on…