Disclaimer: I do not own either Young Justice or its related characters. Such are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Signals

Chapter One: Static

Mount Justice

Dec. 29 - 5:45 pm

Conner blinked in confusion. It had been just a moment since he had switched on the TV and sat down to watch the static, he was sure it hadn't been longer than a second, maybe even less. But the small clock on the digital cable box now blinked at him that several hours had passed from the time he'd switched on the TV to the time he sat down. What the hell?

The clock must be wrong. That was the logical explanation. He'd ask Robin about it this weekend. He was by far more tech savvy than the kryptonian genomorph, the Boy Wonder would fix the clock for him. The matter required no deeper thought.

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 1 – 1:09 am

It happened again on New Years.

The Team had decided that they should have a party, not just to ring in the new year, but also celebrate the six months that they've been working with one another and all the near death experiences they'd survived together. Artemis, being a veteran of Gotham North, had snuck in some real alcohol for a little under-aged drinking. It had no noticeable effect on him, Conner supposed his kryptonian blood protected him from the consequences of alcohol consumption and human excesses, but everyone else had reached varying degrees of 'drunk' by the time the ball dropped. M'gann had a particularly adverse reaction to the drink and left the party early, leaving Conner with no one to kiss at midnight. After the count down he had been the only one left sober and able to carry them each to their respective rooms to sleep it off, leaving the Superboy alone to clean up after.

He switched on the TV but not the digital box and just let the static play like white noise in the background as he worked.

The next thing the kryptonian genomorph knew, he was standing in the Cave's main computer room. What the hell? How in the heck did he get in here? The last thing Conner remembered was picking up empty Smirnoff bottles and paper plates off the floor in the common room. What was he now doing in the computer room, with no idea why he'd come here in the first place or even how he'd gotten here? Maybe the alcohol had affected him; it had just been a delayed reaction. Maybe blackouts were a normal symptom of kryptonian inebriation. A shame he wasn't on speaking terms with Superman. Maybe he could ask Canary, or Red Tornado, or J'onn to ask the Man of Steel for him. He'd consider asking Batman, but that would mean fessing-up to underage drinking and would end-up ratting out everyone else too.

The clone decided that it might be best to just let it be and try not to think about it. He promised himself not to drink again and went back to the common room to finish cleaning up the aftermath left by his comrades' illicit party.

The clock read 5:15 am. He had lost four hours due to his blackout.

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 1 – 11:45 am

It was nearing noon when everyone began emerging from their rooms, staggering into the kitchen in varying degrees of stupor, demanding coffee, tabasco sauce and whatever other remedies for hangovers that they might have heard of. They all snapped and snarled at each other for a little bit, but mostly all just pulled up barstools and crowded around the island that separated the kitchen from the common area and rested their heads on the cool faux-marble surface. There was something universally soothing about resting one's head on a cool porcelain-like surface when you were drunk or hung-over, whether is was a marble countertop or a toilet bowl, it was just… nice.

After coffee was served and everyone started to perk-up, slowly recovering from the previous nights binge, Artemis began to glare disapprovingly at Conner. When the genomorph inquired as to what her problem was, the fem fatal archer snarled that his shirt was blocking her view and demanded that he take it off. The Superboy was so taken about by this had he found himself at a loss as to how to respond. Luckily for him, Artemis' mention of 'views' jogged something in Robin's alcohol addled memory.

"View!" The Boy Wonder suddenly exclaimed. His outburst caused his fellow hangoveries to wince at the sudden volume. "I forgot to reactivate the cameras last night!"

He then explained in a fractured narrative how he didn't want Batman or the other mentors learning of their little underage merrymaking last night, and so when Artemis had entered with her brown paper bags of Smirnoff and Cuervo he had cut the camera feed. But that had been over twelve hours ago by now and someone must have noticed. Batman was probably on his way over as they spoke to kill him (and maybe the rest of the Team as well).

The adrenaline from his panic-stricken realization sobered the Boy Wonder better than any coffee or hot sauce ever could and he was dashing off to the computer room to correct his mistake and hopefully placate his mentor when he arrived. There had made a startling discovery, the implications of which went far deeper and were far more freighting that the prospect of punishment for a little indulgence in adolescent stupidity.

At first the little bird thought that perhaps he had drunk just a little to much the previous night and he was still to hung-over to hack the Cave's system. Then he reminded himself that that was stupid, he could hack the Cave's system in his sleep! A little hang-over should be nothing. He went to his room to fetch the gloves from his Robin uniform and hooked up his portable wrist computer to the Cave's main terminal to run diagnostics. He then quickly discovered that the Cave's systems had been hacked! The mole, whoever he or she was, was back in action!

The Dark Knight arrived not long after that and Robin rushed to intercept his mentor and pull him into a secluded room before the others had a chance to say anything. Bruce assumed his little bird wanted to grovel for forgiveness without having to endure the embarrassment of having his comrades watch. The Batman crossed his arms over his chest and put on his best reprimanding glare, the one he saved for fellow members of the Justice League and people who talked at the movies. His glare did not change as the boy confessed to deactivating the surveillance feed and to having a party at which they (he and everyone else) had indulged in substances that were as of yet, illegal to them.

It was as much as the World's Greatest Detective had guessed. He uncrossed his arms, preparing to give his little bird a speech about responsibility and upholding the laws, even the small ones and how as fledgling members of the Justice League of America they had to hold themselves to a higher moral standard than the average citizen. That speech died on his lips, however, his expression turning from stern to shocked when Dick then reported that some time during the night or morning, the Cave's system had been hacked, that the mole was back in operation (or had never been out of operation but had just become bolder) and that they still were no closer to finding out who he or she was.

Batman called everyone to a meeting. Not in the briefing room, even if he had a mission for them they were in no condition to actually fulfill one. No, he called them all to the common room and watched with a critical eye as they all migrated from the kitchen island to the couch or chairs, all but Conner had a slight sway to their movements. Of course, the kryptonian clone wouldn't have gotten plastered. Bruce had seen Clark drink enough to know that his alien physiology was unaffected by alcohol. Damn kryptonians! Sometimes, Bruce just wanted to put his kryptonite ring on and pop one right in the Man of Steel's jaw if for no other reason than to reaffirm his confidence in his own humanity.

J'onn's niece seemed the worst affected and the Dark Knight was ever so slightly surprised that her uncle never thought to warn her that alcohol had extremely adverse effects on martian physiology. Her skin, usually a rich virescent jade had turned a sickly shade of olive and she shook slightly as Conner helped her to a seat on the couch. Poor girl, but chances were (assuming her condition wasn't an act) she wasn't the mole.

Kid Flash's accelerated metabolism seemed to have burned off anything he might have drunk the previous night and he zipped around the room, still in his pajamas, refilling everyone's coffee before finally taking a seat himself. Bruce considered the energetic readhead but then dismissed him as the mole. He and Dick had been friends for so long that the young speedster was above suspicion.

Then there was Artemis. She was snarly and irritable but otherwise seemed fine. Being a veteran of Gotham North she was probably also an accomplished delinquent and would be an experienced drinker and adept liar. Her parentage also made her a bit suspect. Both of the young archer's parents had been assassins, her mother had reformed, but her father was still in the profession. He had dismissed Roy's concerns over the girl in their last meeting but that didn't mean that he still didn't consider them from time to time. She had also been the one to bring in the alcohol in the first place, giving Robin motivation to become an unwitting accomplice.

Then there was Kaldu'ram, King Orin's protégé. The boy displayed absolute respect for not only his King, but all JLA members. He was always calm and respectful, even when taking an opposing stance in a discussion. But, as the Dark Knight was more than well aware, it was always the quiet ones you had to look out for. Could his past concerns over the mole and current insistence that it couldn't be anyone on the Team be a misdirect? Maybe. But not likely when Bruce considered he had a much better suspect.

He swung his attention back to Conner Kent, the Superboy, a clone of Superman known as Project Kr, whom had been programmed by telepathic genomorphs called G-gnomes. He'd broached the possibility before and it was one that he always seemed to return to in his own musings: Could Cadmus have left some sort of 'sleeper program' dormant in the Boy of Steel? The answer to that question was of course 'Yes'. They could have. They certainly had means and opportunity. But did they? That was the real question. Unfortunately, it was a question that couldn't be answered until said hypothetical sleeper program was activated; and so, the Dark Knight had to operate under the assumption that Conner (and everyone on the Team for that matter) was innocent until they proved themselves guilty.

Batman did not mention the hacking of the Cave's computer. Following under Kaldur's logic from the first round of mole-paranoia he did not want to alert the perpetrator prematurely. Instead he reprimanded them for their irresponsible behavior and demanded a narrative of what each of them had done that night.

M'gann had been the first to go under well before midnight and Conner had carried her to her room. He'd stayed with her for some time after that and did not return to the group until a few minuets to midnight. He had been out of sight and unaccounted for for almost forty-five minuets, but M'gann vouched for him, confirming his alibi. He was with her, making sure she was alright and getting for her anything she might need (such as a basin to puke in).

His own little bird had been the next to retire for the evening. Shortly after midnight he had announced that he was 'drunk, betches!' and that 'daddy-Bats' would kill him if he found out. So, Robin had attempted to stumble down the hall only to trip over his own feet halfway to his room. He was carried the rest of the way by Conner, all the while wailing about how he was a gymnast and that trips and stumbles were something that he just didn't do! It was a lie! It never happened! It would be their little secret. Of course, that all seemed rather silly to the Boy Wonder now that he was awake and sober and seeing himself without 'beer goggles' clouding his judgment.

After Conner returned from Robin's room he was pounced on by Artemis, the fem fatal archer proclaiming herself to also be to drunk to walk and demanding the 'smexy Superboy' carry her to her room in his 'yummy muscley arms'. Conner had groaned at that, not appreciating being treated like a pack animal or a taxi one bit. He slung the young archer over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried her to her room. He unceremoniously dumped her on her bed and exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

When he once again returned to the common area it was to find Kaldur passed out on the couch, drooling heavily and Wally attempting to duct tape the empty bottles together to make something he called 'Wizard Sticks'. The genomorph warned the speedster that he wouldn't succeed in making anything but broken glass that one of them would have to clean it up (three guesses who). The Kid Flash had brushed off his concerns and twirled his newly made staff just to prove his teammate wrong. The two bottles on the ends broke off and shattered on the wall and floor (respectively). A then the vexed genomorph had declared the evening be over and asked the speedster if he could walk to his room on his own or if the Superboy had to carry him. Wally assured him that he could carry himself to his room and left Conner to see Kaldur safely to bed.

Conner then explained how he had spent the entire rest of the night-morning cleaning up after his deposed comrades. He described in boring detail how he'd swept up Wally's broken glass, gathered the remaining undamaged bottles and thrown them in the recycle bin, mopped-up any spills, thrown away their paper plates and plastic cups, flipped over the couch cushion Kaldur had drooled on, etc. He did not, however, mention his four-hour blackout. He assumed it was a symptom of kryptonian inebriation but he wanted to be sure before bringing it to the attention of the ever-so-paranoid Dark Knight.

After the interview was concluded and Batman had delivered a speech on higher moral standards and adhering to the law, the Team was dismissed and everyone returned to whatever it was they had been doing prior to the Dark Knight's arrival while the Dynamic Duo slunk away to the computer room to dust for prints and look for any other clues that might give away the identity of the mole within the YJ Team.

Conner helped M'gann back to her room and held her hair back as she puked in the toilet of her suit's adjoining bathroom. When he later returned to his own room for a change of clothes and a light nap, the genomorph found a jump-drive that he did not recognize in his pants pocket. He stared at it curiously for a moment or two wondering how it could have gotten there. It wasn't like the standard run of the mill jump-drive that you could put on a keychain and only carried one or two gigs, no. This was a large piece of technology that was almost as big as the palm of his hand with a swivel USB plug and it looked like it would hold upwards to two terabits.

Not a normal jump-drive at all. He wondered where he'd gotten it. Weird.

…

Undisclosed Location

Jan. 6 – 7:45 pm

The next time Conner recovered from an odd blackout, he found himself standing in the middle of know where far from Mount Justice. For all he could tell, it was a wide-open and completely empty field. He stood in the lightly falling snow, staring around him in utter confusion. The last think he remembered, he had arrived home from school, pulled off his boots, turned on the TV, and sat down to watch the static like he always did. Next thing he knows, his standing in the middle of nowhere, still in his socks, with no memory of how he got there or any idea as to why he would come here in the first place.

Now Conner was worried. It had been a week since New Years, whatever alcohol he'd drunk that night must be out of his system by now. He couldn't brush this off as a symptom of kryptonian inebriation. This was something else. He suddenly remembered another time he'd had a blackout and lost a few hours of his memory, it had been just before the new year but he'd come-to on the couch safe in front of the TV in the common room so he hadn't thought much of it then. But now he was thinking about it and thinking seriously. Once was an isolated incident, no need to blow it out of proportion, twice was a coincidence, don't read more into it than there was, but three times… three times was a pattern. Three times meant something, he just didn't know what. Neither did he know what would happen if it occurred a fourth time…

The sun had already set, so there was chance of getting any sort of directional heading from that. The Boy of Steel leapt up into the air, climbing just above the clouds dusting the landscape with snow and studied the stars for the few moments they were visible to him before he began to plummet earthward once more and they were once again obscured by their snowy veil. He guessed his current position and chose a direction based on that. With great leaping strides, the genomorph made his way back to Mount Justice, leaving a path of craters behind him.

M'gann was in the kitchen when he arrived back at the Cave. She looked up at him from an attempt at what looked like stir-fry, her eyes full of displeasure. "You sure left in a hurry."

"You saw me leave?" He asked, hopeful that she might be able to shed some light on his missing four hours.

"Hello, Conner!" She said much in the same way she said her trademark 'Hello, M'gann'. "Who do you think was the person asking you were you were going? You were in such a hurry you didn't even bother to put your shoes back on! And when you ignored me vocally I tried talking to you telepathically and all you gave me was static! I didn't know you knew mental shielding."

Neither did he.

"Did I do anything else?" He asked.

"No. You just left." She turned her attention back to her cooking to give the fry a little stir, then back up at him. "Anyway, you're all wet now. Go change before dinner."

He did as he was told. Retreating into his room and shucking off his snow dampened cargo-pants and t-shirt and donning a pair of PJ pants and a different red and black S-shield shirt in their stead. It was as he was double checking his pockets before he threw his pants in the laundry hamper that he noticed that the jump-drive was somehow, suddenly and inexplicably gone.

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 7 – 10:30 am

"Thanks for agreeing to speak with me, Canary."

They sat in twin green armchairs in the lounge, the same two chairs they had sat in during their therapy sessions shortly after the botched training simulation back in October. He had confessed one of his darkest secrets to her then and she had comforted and supported him, helping him to cope with the guilt taking pleasure from the invasion of Earth. Now he was going to confide another secret to her, and he hoped she would give him the same comfort she did before, not for guilt, but for fear.

"Of course, Conner, I'm always here for you." Her expression remained sober –serious, but her eyes glowed with compassion and empathy.

He offered her a flimsy smile, unsure of how to begin. Canary waited patiently for him as several moments ticked by. She would not rush him, she would wait until he was ready to talk, it was one of the things that endeared her to him, made him trust her. Well, he trusted her, he might as well dive right in.

"Lately…" He began softly. "Lately I've been having lapses in memory. There are blocks of time where I can't remember anything I've done or where I've been. Yesterday, I woke up and I was standing in the middle of nowhere and I had no idea what I was doing there or how I'd gotten there. But yesterday wasn't the first time. It happened on New Years too, I thought it might have been the alcohol so I didn't think much of it. But even before that it happened, I just thought the clock was broken." He paused, looked up at her, looked away, studied his hands. "Ever since the guys pulled me out of Cadmus I've known I'm flawed. There are things that I just can't do that I should be able to do, but… but now I'm wondering if I'm not… deteriorating as well." He looked up at her and confessed, "Canary, I'm scared."

…

Watchtower

Jan. 7 – (irrelevant)

"…and when I asked him what he was doing before these memory lapses occur he just says 'relaxing', which doesn't really give us much to go in." Black Canary had promised everyone on the Team that the things they shared with her never left the room. But there was one caveat that she had not stipulate to them and that was that doctor-patient confidentiality did not apply in the case that the information shared could harm either the patient himself or herself or someone else. In light of Batman's alluding to the return of the mole and Conner's mention of one of his blackouts occurring on New Years, she felt it necessary to bring to the Dark Knight's attention.

"Thank you, Dinah." He said gruffly. "I'll look into the matter."

…

Batcave, Gotham City

Jan. 8 – 6:24 am

Bruce had spent the past week sifting through file access logs trying to figure out what specific information the mole had been after when they hacked into the Cave's computer system. As far as he could tell, they hadn't done any damage and so their objective must not have been sabotage but rather espionage. He had, thus far, been unsuccessful in his search, a fact the Dark Knight found maddeningly frustrating considering he'd been at it for a week already. Whoever had hacked the system (or whoever had instructed the mole on how to hack the system) was a master.

But the new information about Superboy that Dinah had brought him gave the Dark Knight another (hopefully easier) project with which to distract himself. Her account of Conner's blackouts and memory lapses gave all the confirmation the World's Greatest Detective needed to convince himself that the genomorph was the mole, now he just needed to sift through the footage from the security feed that they did have to get the physical evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. If he couldn't learn what information had been leaked, he could at least plug the leak so nothing else slipped through.

Dinah had learned the dates of Conner's blackouts and she had passed that information onto the Dark Knight, he now pulled up the surveillance feeds for those days and began long boring task of surveying the footage for any sign of suspicious behavior in the clone.

Watching the recorded feed on fast-forward, Bruce was on his third cup of coffee when he saw the first sign of suspicious behavior from the genomorph. After Superboy and Miss Martian had returned from school, had a snack and finished their homework, the girl took the clone's pet Wolf out for a walk leaving the genomorph alone. Bruce watched as Conner turned on the TV and left the static playing as he'd been told he often did, but he didn't sit down to stare blankly at the screen. Instead he walked right out of the room, through the hangar and off the base where the cameras couldn't watch him. He did not return until three hours had passed, sitting down in front of the TV as if nothing were amiss.

Bruce replayed the segment several times to make sure he caught everything there was so see, then he turned on the sound and repeated the segment several more times. There were no discernable visual cues to trigger the genomorph's programming that the Dark Knight could see, neither were there any sounds that he could hear that seemed out of place. But that didn't mean they weren't there. The kid was a clone of Superman and he had already shown time and again that he had inherited Clark's superior hearing and possessed at least one of his alternate vision powers. Just because Bruce couldn't perceive a trigger didn't mean it wasn't there.

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 9 – 9:45 am

"I can't believe you roped me into coming down here just to fix a TV." Clark crossed his arm over his chest in annoyance. He stood in the Cave's common area watching the Batman lean behind the large flat-screen TV to examine the cables and wires there. "I don't know how I let you talk me into these things."

"Oh, stop your grumbling. This is nothing like that cruise in Bermuda." The Dark Knight growled from behind the TV. "I asked you here when the kids are off at school so that you don't have to worry about me 'accidentally' throwing you and your neglected son together."

Clark opened his mouth to protest.

"And don't you dare say you're not his father." Bruce added before the Man of Steel had the chance to form even one syllable. "I'm in no mood to deal with your little denial train today. …See anything now?"

Clark shifted his attention back to the TV. "No, just static."

Bruce sighed. "Alright, that's it for the visual fiddling. Now for audio."

"I don't see what you're expecting to find." The Man of Steel continued, playing the uncharacteristic role of a pessimist. "Its more than likely we'll only find the boy's trigger when they actually transmit a signal. If they –whoever 'they' are- were using something that was a constant then he'd always be in the mindset of a spy and would be having these blackouts and memory lapses he's claiming to have. If you really wanna find whatever it is that's activating his programming you'll have to stake out the place until it happens again."

Bruce withdrew himself from behind the TV and blinked at his alien comrade. Then he grinned.

"W-what?" Clark did not like that look.

"Thank you for volunteering."

"You can't be serious!" The Man of Steel protested, realizing all to late what he had stepped into. "I can't! I have commitments. I have a job. I have responsibilities."

"You can see and hear things that no one else but yourself and Superboy can."

Clark knew this was an argument he couldn't win. No one ever won arguments with the Dark Knight. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try and weasel his way out of it. But ultimately, no matter how eloquently he made his case or how passionately he defended his stance, he lost. Bruce won him over, Batman always wins.

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 11 – 6:00

"…and so Superman volunteered to be your den-mother for the next few days." Batman finished explaining to the skeptical looking bunch of teenagers and Clark had to wonder what Artemis and Kid Flash were doing here on a school night. His clone and J'onn's niece lived here and while Kadur did have a home in Posidonis the Cave was his home on dry land, Dick was obviously here because Bruce was here, no surprise there. But what were Berry's nephew and Ollie's new protégé doing here? Did they come over every evening after school? Would he have to deal with a full house of teenagers from now until he found the clone's mysterious 'trigger' that Bruce was convinced only he could find.

Clark watched as their eyes flicked to the genomorph, looking to him to take cues from on how to approach the Superman. Had the clone already sewn distrust of him among their young and inexperienced ranks?

Bruce turned to leave.

"Batman, a word?" Clark stopped him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the clone begin to exit the hangar first, he was then quickly followed by Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Artemis. Dick hung back.

"You own me big-time for this, Bruce." The Man of Steel hissed through clenched teeth in a voice just barely audible to human hearing.

"Really?" The Dark Knight blinked in mock innocents. "After all the crap we've done together and all the bullshit I've asked you to go through in the past, baby-sitting a half-dozen children is the thing you're demanding I repay you for?"

That gave Clark pause. When he said it like that…

"His name's 'Conner', by the way." Bruce patted him on the shoulder and left.

"Wait, who's name is 'Conner'? Bats? Bats!"

Behind him Clark caught the distinct sound of Dick's whimsical yet eerie laughter disappearing into the corridor that lead to the Cave's common area. So, Bruce had left his little bird to spy for him, huh. Well, that was just fine. Damn Bats and his damn over-controlling, micro-managing, doctoral tyranny!

With a heavy sigh, the Man of Steel followed the Boy Wonder and rejoined the group. "So, what do your other 'den-mothers' usually do?"

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 13 – 3:45 pm

Clark learned that all the mentors that had acted as 'den mothers' for the Team each did their own things. Captain Marvel liked to watch after-school cartoons with them (not surprising, Zatara read and practiced his magic (stage magic, slight of hand, no real magic), Canary (when she wasn't putting them threw drills) slunk off into a corner with the other girls to discuss 'girly things' that the boys were ignorant of and expressed a preference to stay that way, and Red Tornado gave the kids their space, mostly keeping to himself and only coming when he was called. Clark was more than ready to adopt the android's game of 'least in sight' when Dick asked him if he could teach M'gann how to country-fry a steak.

The Boy Scout had glared murderously at the little bird and was about to refuse when Kid Flash suddenly appeared at his side, looked up at him hopefully. "Did someone say 'steak'?"

"Wow, you know how to cook?" The martian girl's attention was also suddenly fixed on him and she gazed pleadingly. In less time than it took to say 'Great Guns!', Robin had made him the center of attention thereby making it impossible for the Man of Steel to slip away unnoticed. Damn kid was subtle. Bruce had trained him well. Damn bat!

"Of course he can." His clone's low growling voice cut through the air. "…he's Superman."

The boy stood from where he'd been sitting on the couch and turned off the TV static before exiting the room.

That had been three days ago and the genomorph had continued to avoid the Man of Steel like a leaper. Or, more accurately, had tried with marked success to avoid making any sort of actual contact with the Man of Steel. Clark still caught the boy watching him from around corners or behind doors, he would hear the boy's foot falls following him in the halls but when he would turn around to confront him all he's find was a retreating back with a defeated looking slump to his shoulders. Clark had to admit that the clone's behavior was strange but it didn't exactly scream 'enemy spy', it seemed more like 'timid fanboy reluctant to approach his idol' to the Daily Planet reporter.

This interpretation was supported by a conversation he'd overheard between the genomorph and the martian girl where she tried to encourage the boy to speak to him only to have Superboy mutter excuse after excuse as to why it was a stupid idea. The boy was a little lost, but not a traitor. Bruce was just being paranoied.

Or was it paranoia? Bruce had been trying to get him, Clark, to take responsibility for the boy since his first appearance in July. Was this whole mole-scare just some elaborate plot to force him and the boy to get to know each other? Such a scheme was neither below the Caped Crusader, nor was beyond his means or inclinations. With sudden stark clarity Clark saw the flimsy excuse the manipulative little rich-boy had used to get him to agree to this. Looking for some sort of subliminal trigger that only he could see or hear, ha! Now that he thought about it, it sounded so stupid! Like something out of the Silver Age of DC Comics, not a method any real villain in this day and age would use. The next time he saw him, the Man of Steel was going to give the Dark Knight a piece of his mind!

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 14 – 12:00 pm

It was as he was supervising M'gann cooking lunch that he heard it, that strange sound like a dissonant cord.

He looked up, scanning the room for the source of the sound. Conner had been sitting in front of the TV watching the static for some time, but now he stood and moved as if to leave.

"Where're you going, kiddo?" Superman asked.

The boy did not reply, just walked past the island that separated the kitchen from the common area on his way to the hangar. He didn't look like he was being controlled or was in a trance. His face was not blank or expressionless; on the contrary, he looked quite determined. Like he had some great mission to fulfill and only he could do it.

"He's done this before." M'gann said, sounding worried. She turned the stove off and stepped out of the small kitchen. "Conner…?"

Before she could reach her errant boyfriend, Clark had zipped to the common area and switched off the TV. The sound stopped, the dissonant cord vanishing with its source and the boy blinked, looked confused, snarled wordlessly and stormed to his own room.

Okay, so maybe this hadn't been a ruse by Bruce after all. Maybe there was somebody or something out there controlling the clone and using him to spy on the Young Justice team and by extension possibly the rest of the JLA. Clark switched on his comm and called the Batman.

…

Mount Justice

Jan. 14 – 12:36 pm

"Its the static." Clark said, only confirming what Bruce had already assumed. "There's a sub-sonic frequency imbedded in the static, but its not there all the time. Its like whoever's controlling him turns it on and off. Kinda… kinda like a dog-whistle, they call him when they want him and the rest of the time he's perfectly normal. The other kids couldn't know, only a kryptonian would hear it. He was the mole and didn't even realize..."

The Dark Knight nodded. All this he had already guessed, but he had still needed a confirmation. Clark's super-human hearing had given him that, next was to work-up a strategy to stop or at the very least impede their control (whoever 'they' were). "So, as a kryptonian and my 'expert consultant' in this matter, what do you suggest we do?"

"My opinion?" Clark crossed his arms over his chest. "Chuck the TV out a window and don't bother to get a new one. Ma always did call the thing an 'idiot box'."

Bruce waited to see if this was the Boy Scout's idea of a joke. When he decided that the man was serious he said, "You don't spend much time around kids, do you?"