#depending on where you begin it started with all of them ohhhhh my god

[parcai]

my fav takes r adam = soldier, ronan = poet, gansey = king AND ronan = soldier, gansey = poet, adam = king

and i cannot decide which is better 😓

[comicteaparty]

December 21st-December 27th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from December 21st, 2019 to December 27th, 2019.  The chat focused on the following question:

Without heavy spoilers, describe the worst thing you’ve put one of your characters through?

carcarchu

for a comic i haven't released yet (this happens in literally the first chapter so i don't really consider it a spoiler) the main character in this story has a rough life. she's saddled with enormous debts and gets fired from her job, then when things finally start looking up for her she gets hit by a car and "dies" the whole premise of the story is that people who die and get brought back to life by doctors (dead for just a few seconds) get powers

Cronaj

Hmmm.... I won't say whose, but probably the death of their child, and I've done some awful things to my characters. For some reason, all the pain and suffering in the world does not amount to the loss of one's child. To be fair, I don't usually consider it my fault that these horrible things occur in the story, because I couldn't change it if I wanted to. To do so would feel like a lie. These stories exist in my mind independent of what I want, and I'm simply telling them to the world. But yes... that child is the saddest creature I've written.

eli [a winged tale]

Torn apart, watched their friends die, forced to live forever... you name it, we got it In all seriousness, I also like focusing on the small (but not insignificant things) like not having your love reciprocated and questioning your worth. Sometimes it’s the small things that can collectively be destructive.

Capitania do Azar

In some ways, I think I have already done the worst I possibly could to my characters (war, being unable to help and losing their loved ones in darkness and loneliness). But on the other hand, I do plan to extend the mechanics of mind intrusion to the point of completely mangling up people's psyches, so I guess I'll have to wait and see which one feels worse

FeatherNotes

So far in GJS, we've had a character go through some, well, explosive limb loss There's quite a lot of hard things the chars go through / will go through, but i def see the brutality of the leg loss as something pretty huge for the character!

taterviking

I threw my main character under a semi, off a cliff, and shoved a tree branch into his brain. And then when he woke up I gave him long term memory loss and stole 80% of his memories from before he was 12

Kelsey (Kurio)

Boy am I glad none of us are gods heh

taterviking

I kind of treat writing like the Sims: which one am i torturing and which two did I build specifically to get naked together.

eli [a winged tale]

Omg Tater that’s a perfect analogy (edited)

taterviking

the only difference is that I can follow them to work and they're alllllll the money slave/work horse

Also, Viking is my father's name, you can call me Tater ;P

snuffysam

the worst thing that has happened to one of my characters canonically is something i have not and will not describe in-comic, so i'm not about to describe it here. there are certain... types of trauma... where even if a story depicts things realistically, respectfully, and with properly directed condemnation, fans romanticize the hell out of it. and i want no part of that. so, like, i'm keeping this stuff in the character's backstory, because i want to depict living with and growing past traumatic experiences, but i refuse to actually describe/depict what happened so fans don't get the wrong takeaway. the important thing isn't what happened, it's how she deals with it. as for things that actually happen in the comic - one character does get tortured by a government for information?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Oh boy. So I am rather known for torturing my characters. I don’t even know what the worst thing is, but ‘dying horribly’ or ‘very dark and tragic backstory involving abuse and/ or terrible loss’ describes 95% of my casts.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Several of my characters get horribly bitten/eaten by hungry spirits. If they aren't already completely wrecked by the attack, the resulting cursed bite leads to quarantine and ostracization. Even little kids get abandoned or sent away. And those who are eventually totally consumed by the curse... basically become half-dead. ...Yeah, I got a lot of 'worse than death' stuff going on

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Won't say who, but i don't think i could do much worse than giving a character the perfect life and then taking it and everyone they've ever loved away from them in one fell swoop, leaving them to wander aimlessly.

Deo101

I've put all of my characters through different things that I think aren't really comparable as far as saying one is "worse" than the other. Though, I think that I'll probably say making one of them essentially live through a genocide is pretty undeniably the worst thing, and also the only one that I've really canonically discussed.

DanitheCarutor

I'm lowkey into character torture porn, so I like putting my OCs through some shit. Apollo probably has the most cushy life of every character I've ever made, the spoiled brat! The worst thing that will happen, in TGtaHR at least, will be related to death and/or near death. Not so much the subject in itself but how it is used, which may or may not be the worst thing from a reader perspective, but from the character's perspective. I mean...? I guess anything relating to death is pretty bad, but I've kind of seen situations where the person would have considered it a luxury, soooo. I don't know where I'm going with this!(edited)

Deo101

sounds like you're going towards "my comic is the meanest thing I've put my characters through"

you big meanie.

DanitheCarutor

Ah! I'm such a bully! Nothing like putting your characters through the worst to make the positive payoff more worth it.

khkddn

is psychological or physical pain more impactful to readers? prolly depends heavily on the context huh

anyway for my comic I think it is a tie between a psychologically hurtful thing and a physically hurtful thing

the psychological one is a little something I like to call The Dress Arc, and the physical one is called Cold Swiss Cheese

Deo101

Incredible

khkddn

what is the point of having painful scenes if one does not give them cool names amirite

Deo101

Absolutely. You know whats up

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I’d say psychological pain is much worse. A broken leg can heal in a month, but trauma stays with you. Of course, the former can cause the latter, but I always find it much more emotional when the character is feeling internally tortured rather than externally.

DanitheCarutor

I'm no expert but from personal experience with my comic, it's kind of depends on the reader? But physical is more universally comprehensible. A lot of the pain depicted in my story so far is psychological, with a little physical, and I've noticed people who have experience and/or are educated with the psychological aspect are more impacted by that than people who have never experienced or learned about it. Or to be more straightforward, people who have never experienced or have no knowledge of mental/emotional abuse have no idea what's going on in the story. Although when I had a scene where my frail, mentally unstable MC got punched in the face, everyone flipped out equally.

Of course this is just relating to abuse, when it comes to other stuff relating to pain I can't really give an opinion. I would say it's similar, since most people generally need to have a certain level of understanding of something to be impacted by its depiction of fiction, but I have no idea. Lol(edited)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

No, you make a really good point. People generally can’t comprehend a pain they haven’t experienced, so I admit it would make sense to only feel empathy for physical pain if you’ve never known psychological trauma.

DanitheCarutor

Yeah, it's a douchey thing to do since this is subjective (there are people who have experienced trauma who lack the ability to empathize with others who go through something similar and vice versa), but I like to make a game out of figuring out who has and hasn't been in a really bad relationship based on how they respond to my comic irl, and online to an extent. Admittedly I'm hardcore into getting feedback half due to wanting to psychologically evaluate my readerbase.

Kelsey (Kurio)

Wait what?

DanitheCarutor

"What what" what? Don't worry, I don't do anything or judge based on stuff like that since it's so little info, I just like psychology... even if I may not be very good at it.

But yeah, I'm kind of a creep.

DanitheCarutor

Oh yeah, don't be scared to go back to posting in this channel? Thing? I won't be hanging out here, unless someone talks to me directly. I just responded originally because I had a tiny bit of knowledge on the subject asked.

Cronaj

I get that. I'm also kind of creepy. Plus, I kind of feel like webcomics are a bit of a social experience to begin with, which often involves a lot of studying the readers' emotional responses to the story.

keii4ii

Human beings automatically judge each other alllll the time, so part of it is inevitable. I think the most important thing is to acknowledge that you can be a little, very, or even totally wrong. ...The other important thing is, I do think there's a difference between subconsciously judging others and actively looking forward to it? If you are actively looking forward to judging others, that sort of turns your comment section into a social experiment of sorts, and I don't feel comfortable about that. If I knew the creator of a comic I follow was like that, I would be like "uhhhh you do you, but I want no part in that" and never comment.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Just.... ideally should be consensual?

I know some people who actually enjoy that kinda stuff, like even if they found out, they'd be like "ohhhhh SMART! :D"... Then there are people who would feel upset if they found out. So yeah, ideally this would be all consensual so people can opt in or out, but I don't know how you can do this while fully informing prospective participants.

DanitheCarutor

It sounds like a lie, but really, I don't judge. I make up fantastical concepts of what kind of person this is based on the little info I get from body language, facial expressions, what they say, and tone of voice but it's all thrown out the window because people are more complicated than that. At the end of the day I'd rather actually get to know the person before I truly judge their character. Also when it comes to normal comments I don't analyze unless the commenter is analyzing, usually the "judging" is when I ask for feedback... like, more than a couple sentences worth to get a good idea of how the story is mentally processed by that person. For example when I was asking for feedback after finishing chapter 4. While I was asking for critique, I also wanted to know how the story affected that person, get a vague idea of what kind of people the story draws in or what kind of people it drives away, etc. And yeah, I kinda go the extra mile with it because that's just how my brain works, it just runs all the time. I assume that person consents to me analyzing them and their experience when they respond to me asking for their opinion, but I dunno. Maybe I'll just... teach myself to not think when it comes to my comic or audience, I don't want to scare people off just because I'm an overly analytical weirdo. <_<'

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

I like when you use the physical pain for psychological pain. like someone is in heavy dangers, and comes out with only a broken leg. the other characters can feel guilty, hurt, etc other feelings. For me, physical pain is not enough, it is the reaction it sparks

DanitheCarutor

Oh uh, also @keii4ii, I can vouch that being analytical doesn't make you smart. My dad is like that and he's a complete moron, also I'm not the brightest bulb in the box either, I'm just a slave to my thoughts. Sorry, just wanted to clear things up to make myself look less bad.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I can understand that side of analysing. I’m often curious about my readers because I don’t have very many; my comics tend to be quite niche. So I wonder about what sort of demographic I’m attracting. From the people who have commented and shared a bit about themselves, it seems to be a lot of European and American adults in the 20-40 range who have received higher education (med students, professors, people in STEM, etc), which to me is kind of wild because I’m not writing ‘smart’ comics. There’s no real science or anything in my dark and morbid fantasy comics, so I’ve wondered what about them appeals to this demographic. This isn’t counting my new WT audience I’ve gained over the last couple of years, which is a very different demographic from those who follow on my site, but it’s really interesting to think about ‘What kinds of stories appeal to certain groups of people?’.

keii4ii

@DanitheCarutor Oh, I didn't mean to imply it was a bad thing. I apologize if that's how it came across. I meant it as a "thing I want vs thing I don't want." Just because I don't want a thing for myself, doesn't make it a bad thing.

Re: demographic analysis, more power to you if you're naturally into it. I'm like 'no..... let me just sit here and make this comic in peace.........' and even that's hard enough!

I do think about that stuff from time to time, but when I do, it's usually because I'm sad and am trying to think of non-worst-case-scenario explanations. So yeah, not something I enjoy pondering.(edited)

DanitheCarutor

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) Same, even though my comic has gotten more readers than I imagined, it's still niche. Honestly don't know the age range, but I've gotten a range from psychology and medical students, or people with PHDs to normal 9to5ers who've been through similar experiences. (People who live with schizophrenia or clinical depression, or who have been in bad toxic relationships.) It's really interesting too because some of the readers who comment are very open about sharing intimate stuff about their lives without me even asking, which I'm not sure is due to the type of comic it is or because they relate to it? Either way I don't mind, it's kinda nice that someone feels comfortable enough to share that kind of info despite me being a total stranger. That's really interesting with your comic, though! Like, it's cool the types of people your work can attract, maybe your comic is smarter than you think. Lol

@keii4ii Yeah, but I don't want to discourage readers from interacting with my comic just because I'm into that stuff. Even though the work itself is far from safe I want people to feel comfortable enough to leave comments or discuss amongst each other.

keii4ii

Yeah, I think that's the dream for pretty much all of us, cultivating a comment section where everyone feels comfortable and welcome to interact

keii4ii

Getting back to the question, I really don't think I could answer, given the theme of my comic: "your pain matters, even if it doesn't affect the fate of the world/ even if it seems insignificant in the grand scheme of things." I don't have it in me to go against that and say to my characters, hey, guess what! Your pain pales in comparison to [this other character]'s!

Cronaj

That's an interesting thought. I mean, I spoke of what I consider the saddest scene, but really, in regards to the characters, they might not see it that way. That scene makes me cry, (and probably the character(s) directly involved), but the other characters have other sorrows weighing on their hearts, and those sorrows are also powerful in their own way.

[teentitansblackbird]

Chapter 4

The Watchtower. April 24th, 2028. 2:40 PM EST.

Damian entered the computer room and pulled his cowl off, letting a worn sigh pass his lips as he approached the seated figure currently still unaware of his presence. He didn’t think too much on it, but he and Drake hadn’t talked much since Damian became Batman. After Tim earned his Master’s in Forensics, he and Stephanie were in and out of Gotham rather frequently. Of course they saw each other every November, but they hadn’t actually sat down and had a proper conversation since… well, since Damian had been Robin.

“You certainly seem to enjoy monitor duty,” the Batman said as he leaned over the other cowled figure’s shoulder.

The Red Robin smiled as he looked back to meet his younger brother’s eyes. “Well, Stephanie always says I’m good with computers.”

“How are they, by the way?” Damian asked, taking the open seat beside Tim and running his eyes over the swarm of displays before him.

“Good,” Tim smirked. “Ryan’s about ready to start walking.”

“That’s big,” The younger man remarked, his eyebrows raised.

“Well… not as big as your news,” Tim said with a wink. “Congratulations, man.”

“Thank you,” Damian replied, rolling his eyes. He wasn’t surprised; Tim had a way of finding things out.

“Boy or girl?” The older brother leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, his eyes moving back to the screens.

“We don’t know yet,” Damian leaned back, looking at the photograph Tim had placed on the console. In it he could see Stephanie smiling back at him, holding young Ryan in her arms. The boy had her hair and Tim’s eyes. Ryan was rather soft-spoken, not quick to warm up to new people. Still, the baby took to Damian well enough, much to his relief.

“You got names picked out?”

“Yeah.” Damian smiled. “Thaddeus if it’s a boy. Angela if it’s a girl.”

“Thaddeus…” Tim turned to look back at Damian. “Like Alfred.”

“Mhmm,” Damian replied. “And Angela for Arella, Raven’s mother.”

“Where is she, by the way?” Tim reached for his coffee as he asked.

“She’s gone to see Zatanna, tell her the news…” Damian paused for a moment before looking back to Tim. “Is Superman around?”

“The big one? Yeah, he’s here talking to some of the new guys,” the other replied. “Haven’t seen yours around, though. Sorry.”

“Ah well. Thanks anyways…” Damian sighed as he looked past the displays out at the planet below. He’d seen the Earth from orbit countless times during his time as Batman, being in and out of the Watchtower periodically. But even so, the sight of the world from so far away still seemed to mesmerize him every time.

“You hear anything from Jason lately?” Tim asked, casting his gaze out at the planet as well.

“No, not in awhile…” Damian was a bit slow to reply, thinking to himself. “Pretty sure he’s still on the road with Harper and Starfire.”

“Hmm…” Tim leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “I should probably give him a call. Make sure he’s not in jail or anything.” Damian stifled a laugh at the idea. Wouldn’t surprise him one bit; Todd was as dependable as they come, but that didn’t make him reasonable. He was still a loose cannon, and rarely did he ever do things by the book. That pattern of behavior evidently had rubbed off on Kori and Roy as well, earning their little triad a new moniker: “The Outlaws”. Damian thought it was a bit concerning, but he knew Jason meant well.

“Oracle to Batman. Dame, you there?” Damian jolted back to the present as Barbara’s voice came over his communicator. He quickly slid his cowl back on and engaged the suit’s HUD to see his sister-in-law looking back at him.

“Batman here,” the Dark Knight replied. “Go ahead, Oracle.”

“You need to get back to Gotham, now. Quinn says she’s going after Joker, and she needs you to come with her.”

“For God’s sake, I told her not to…” the Bat let out an irritated groan. “Fine, I’m on my way.” Damian looked back over his shoulder at Tim with a smile. “Drop by the Manor sometime. Dad’d probably like to hear from you.”

“We will,” Tim waved back at him. “See you soon, Little D.”

John Constantine’s apartment. Paddington, London. April 24th, 2028. 7:45 PM BST.

A light splash of water spilled into the doorway as the sorcerer stumbled through the doorway, his coat drenched from a walk in the rain. Cursing himself for not bringing an umbrella, Constantine stared back at his reflection in the mirror as the door slid closed behind him. He ran a hand roughly through his greying hair, studying the subtle lines of age beginning to show beneath his light beard. Time was beginning to catch up to him, it seemed. He smiled weakly, wondering why time had been so much kinder to his partner. Zatanna had hardly changed in the past ten years, he thought. Or maybe he just didn’t notice because they were always around each other. Despite the occasional fighting and butting heads, Zatanna Zatara was the only person John could always come back to at the end of the day. She just got him, better than anybody. Sure it sucked a little not living in the House anymore, but he didn’t mind. He hardly used all the space to begin with.

“Z, I’m back,” he called into the apartment as he stepped away from the mirror. “Knocked of early tonight, everybody was ‘eaded on home an account of all the…”

Constantine trailed off when he discovered that Zatanna had company over, locking eyes with Raven as he walked into the room.

“Hey John,” the younger mage spoke gently, leaned back into the sofa next to her sister. “How’s work?”

The detective chuckled. “Crap as always,” he replied. “Good to see ya, Sunshine.” Constantine shuffled further into the room, planting a quick peck on Zatanna’s forehead as he walked by her before dropping into his recliner.

“You hear the news?” Zatanna looked over at John as she took Raven’s hand. “You’re gonna be an uncle, pal.”

“I hadn’t heard,” John answered, peeking up as he did so, “but I could feel somethin’ comin’ off ya when I walked in. Kid’s got a strong spirit, an’ that energy comes off ya real strong if ya know how to sense it.”

“I know what you mean,” Raven said, looking down at her abdomen. “I could feel it almost as soon as it happened. I didn’t realize then what it was, but…”

“It?” John piped up curiosity. “What ya mean 'it’? Can’t ya… can’t ya tell what…”

Raven’s eyes widened. “Wait… you can??”

Zatanna turned back to Raven, one eyebrow cocked. “You really can’t? I thought you knew, what have you been doing up in that penthouse if you can’t tell?”

Constantine let out a laugh. “Boy, are you outta practice, aren’t ya kiddo?” He smirked as he began to pull off his tie. “You wanna know?”

“No!” Raven threw her hands up as she spat the word out, almost frantically. “I mean, not yet. Damian and I said we want to find out together.”

“Seems fair,” the older magician grunted as he propped his feet up on the coffee table. Before Zatanna could open her mouth with a “get your feet off the table, you moron”, a quick alert tone sounded from Raven’s communicator.

“Crap, I gotta take this, it’s from… huh.” Raven looked down in surprise at the ID displayed on her communicator. “That’s… wow, after all this time… I’ll be just a second.” Without another word, Raven quickly stood up and walked into the kitchen. Just as she left the room, John and Zatanna both looked right at each other, their faces both beaming.

“Ohhhhh ho ho, boy,” Constantine whispered. “Little Batsy’s gonna 'ave his 'ands full!”

“Right?” Zatanna replied, grinning wildly. “Can you even picture that punk with a kid?”

“Swear to god, we HAVE to get over to visit sometime,” the detective began to scheme, “even if i’s just to catch the freakin’ Batman at a little tea party in makeup for his princess!”

“You shut your mouth, John Constantine,” the older mage-girl snipped playfully, “there’s no way that little girl is gonna be the princess type. Have you SEEN her parents?”

“Z, I’ve 'eard the stories about that wank Raven 'ooked up with! They called 'im 'Prince Damian’! The girl’s already a prin–”

Both of them froze upon hearing the thump of Raven’s communicator hitting the floor, turning to see her walk back into the room.

“… cess.”

Raven’s eyes widened. “… you’re messing with me.”

Zatanna quickly stood up, walking quickly to Raven’s side. “Sis, I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean for you to– oof!” The words cut off as Raven’s arms slung around Zatanna’s neck, holding her tight.

“It’s fine,” Raven assured, a smile forming on her face as her cheek pressed into her sister’s. “This is… this is just… oh my god, it’s a girl, isn’t it?”

Constantine rose to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Heh, sorry kid. But 'ey, at least now namin’ the kid’ll be easier!”

Raven beamed back at John contently. “Actually, we already have a name picked out…” her cheeks began to redden slightly as she looked down. “… her name is Angela.”

CADMUS Headquarters, Washington DC. April 24, 2028. 11:36 PM EST.

“Welcome back to the real Project CADMUS, Mr. Wayne.”

The glass elevator doors swiveled back as Bruce walked alongside Director Waller into the dimly lit corridor. Aside from the hum of electricity, the hall of massive marked doorways was eerily quiet, save for the rhythmic clatter of the two elders’ footsteps, accompanied by the tap of Bruce’s cane. The old billionaire scanned his eyes over each doorway carefully, taking mental note of each door’s designation. He’d have to enter these into the Batcomputer when this whole ordeal was done… Bruce never trusted Cadmus. Not when he was the Batman, not they first came to into the public eye, and certainly not now. They made a habit of meddling in affairs that they had no business meddling in.

The two of them stopped abruptly at the end of the hallway and turned to the door on the left. PROJECT: KR, the door read.

“Mr. Wayne, before I show you what’s behind this door, I need to know you trust me, and that I can trust you. No more secrets here…” Waller peered over at Bruce from the corner of her eye. “… so you can go ahead and ditch that two-bit walking stick. I’m not buying your old cripple act.” Bruce looked back at the woman for a moment, before a faint smirk appeared on his wrinkled face. Chuckling low in his chest, the old Bat stood up straight, collapsing his cane and tucking it away in his coat. Waller shook her head subtly as she pressed her thumb to the print scanner on the wall. A puff of steam emitted from the doorway as the enormous metal door rose out of sight, and the two of them stepped forward into the room.

What stood before Bruce shook him to his core: at the very back of the room was a stasis pod, with the shield of the House of El emblazoned on the glass. Inside the pod was a boy, who looked about the age of sixteen, who bore a striking resemblance to…

“Dear god, Amanda…” Bruce muttered. “… what have you done?”

The old woman stepped forward, making her way to the console beside the boy. “Bruce Wayne, I’d like you to meet the Superboy.” Upon entering a few commands into the console, the pod erupted with a billow of steam as the glass case began to rise. As the fog dissipated, the boy opened his eyes slowly, revealing the same electric blue irises that Bruce had looked back into time and again throughout the years. Waller smiled. “Superboy, come greet our guest.” Immediately, the boy dropped to the floor from his pod, and walked up to the old man.

“Hello, Mr. Wayne,” the creature said quietly. “I am Superboy.”

Bruce’s brow furrowed as he thought hard about the situation he was in. The kid even sounded like the Boyscout. But his tone, the way he looked at him, the slight tremble in the boy’s knees… something was off.

“Waller, you need to start explaining exactly who and what this is, and why he’s here.”

Waller cocked an eyebrow. “Go ahead, child.”

The boy looked down at his feet for a moment before looking back up and meeting Bruce’s eyes. “I am a genetic replication of the hero called Superman. My purpose is to supplant the Superman should he fall in battle, or to destroy him should his behavior become contradictory to the interests and survival of the human race.”

Bruce crossed his arms, still processing this information. “You’re a clone of Superman.”

“Yes sir,” the creature replied, “however, I am not a perfect replication. Due to the limitations of modern human science, CADMUS was unable to produce a full Kryptonian. Instead, I am a human-Kryptonian hybrid, engineered to have as many of Superman’s traits and abilities as possible.”

“And I suspect you’ve never left this facility?” The old vigilante asked.

“No sir,” the boy answered. “The risk of Superman discovering my existence was deemed to great to permit my exposure to the outside world. Instead, I have lived here for the past year since my creation, developing my abilities and replenishing my strength through exposure to microscopic yellow suns kept within this facility.”

“Smart…” Bruce looked back to Waller, his expression grim. “So why are you showing me this?”

“Because I need some things from you. Three things, to be exact.” Amanda walked back from the console to join the two others in the room. “First and foremost, I need a favor…”

“A favor?”

“Yes…” Waller put her hand on Superboy’s shoulder. “I’ve had a change of heart after seeing how well the other Superman has been doing. What was his name? Jonathan?”

Bruce remained silent.

“Well, either way…” Waller looked to Superboy, then back to the old man. “Superboy has expressed a few times that he wants to see the rest of the world. He wants to know what it’s like out there, and… honestly, there’s not much left for him here. Doesn’t seem right to keep the boy locked away anymore.”

“This is rather out of character for you, isn’t it?” Bruce asked.

“Maybe so, but I stand by my decision. And I need your help.” Waller took another step towards Bruce. “I need you to take Superboy with you. Bring him to Superman, let him have a chance at a real life.”

“Why didn’t you just call Superman?” The Batman inquired, his eyes squinting with suspicion.

A twinge of a smirk appeared on Waller’s face. “Because you’re easier to reach, Mr. Wayne.” Bruce shook his head before looking back at the clone.

Superboy reached out, placing a hand gently on Bruce's arm. “Please.”