Title: Somewhere to be

Summary: Superboy had more important things to do than to throw punches at petty goons all night.

—

"Watch out!"

The warning came a little too late and Conner Kent found himself crashing head first into a wall. Being invulnerable hardly meant he was impervious to irritation, he thought to himself angrily as he felt the structure come down around him. Why was it that these super-villain creeps and their failed lab experiments always chose to play baseball using him as the freaking ball? Inhaling the cloud of dust particles coming from the rubble brought on a coughing fit and discomfort.

His blood began to boil.

He didn't have time for this, he had somewhere to be.

"You wanted my attention right? You got it." He snarled bursting out from underneath the debris to charge right at the goons responsible for humiliating him like this.

"Careful Supey." Zatanna called out watching her friend's fists fly in a frenzy. "We want to apprehend not hospitalise."

She was exaggerating; these lowlifes were juiced up on cobra venom benefiting from skin tough as concrete and inhuman strength. Conner was hardly hurting them at all.

The criminal groaned as he felt the young man's steel fists collide with his jaw.

Okay, maybe he was hurting them a little.

Too bad he didn't care. They asked for it by trying to ruin such an important night.

"We need to end this." His every word was punctuated by punches knocking his opponent further back until he crashed into one of the buildings nearby. Conner continued his furiously focussed attack. One down three to go.

Time still ticked on.

Zatanna seemed to be engaged in a dance rather than a battle. She was rather enjoying herself as she skilfully avoided any contact from the brutish figure three times her size.

"Relax, we have time." She laughed dancing on, darting left and right, back and forth. She never missed a beat, her glossy dark hair effortlessly flying in the process.

That was the problem, he didn't have the time to toy around. Why couldn't she have asked another league member?

As if reading his mind Zatanna immediately responded.

"We're spending some quality time together buddy. Try and enjoy it." There was a slight warning in her voice like he was hurting her feelings.

"Seriously Z, couldn't you just have picked a less important night?" He growled roughly disarming his second goon. Two more to go.

"But I miss the riveting conversations we used to have." He rolled his eyes at the comment. Despite her habit of teasing him he found himself missing her too. The one thing the mischievous daughter of Zatara knew how to do better than anyone else is how to have fun.

Too bad today was just too important of a day for it.

"Besides, it's not my fault you left it this late." She reminded him slowly beginning to tire out her dance partner. Maybe Conner was right and it was time to end this.

Conner let out a loud roar, caught off guard he collapsed under the weight of his attacker.

Zatanna could sense his annoyance but continued with saying what she had to say. "Moan all you like but in our line of work it pays to expect this kind of reception wherever we go." She barely managed to avoid a swing the brute took at her head. Okay, now she was done with this. Time to bid her date goodnight – the hard way.

"Bad boy! Don't you know that it's rude to interrupt a conversation? Also attempting to crush a lady's skull is a sure way to lose her affection."

A quick mutter of words from the beautiful young woman and the brute found himself staring in disbelief at a flying car that was about to park right into his deformed face.

"!nwod yatS" And with a lazily flick of the hand the sorceress managed to compel her attacker to stick to the ground like a piece of irresponsibly disposed gum.

She smirked at Conner who had to resort to more traditional ways of subduing his partner – namely by pummelling him into the ground.

"Stay down." He grunted taking a satisfied breath and throwing Zatanna a quick smile.

"I'll call for back-up to help round them up. You go on ahead and fulfil yourpatriotic duty." Again she mocked him in that playful way she always did. Conner looked slightly embarrassed; he knew she didn't understand why he was got so worked up about today.

"What about you?" He asked trying to get the attention off of him and onto her.

Zatanna winked at him. "I've already voted."

An incredulous look spread across the young Kryptonian's face.

"You're kidding me right? Magic?" He asked half-afraid to hear her response. Was that even legal?

A giggle and a playful shove.

"No, early voting. Anyway, get going!" Zatanna began to shoo him away before he could respond. "Remember, you owe me a coffee and conversation, Tiger!"

"Right. See ya." Conner muttered before turning around and waving for the Super-Cycle. A quick glance at his watch showed him that he still had plenty of time to make his vote count. He knew it seemed a little strange to magician's daughter that he was in such a hurry, but Election Day made him anxious. Trying to explain it to her over coffee would be quite impossible.

He waited so long for this. It meant far more to him than his birthday. Every birthday party or wish was just a hollow lie reminding him that he was just a cheap imitation of a person force grown in a lab. What was the point of a birthday if you were never truly born, he thought bitterly.

Election day however, was different. Today, it didn't matter if he didn't age or never had a mother. Today, he would be counted as a citizen and he could truly feel like he belonged. It sounded cheesy but it was true. It really wasn't about the candidates or politics. For Conner Kent it was about being the same as everyone else. Ticking that ballot sheet made him more than just the Boy of Steel. It made him an individual with a voice and a similar purpose.

He would count the exact same way as everyone else.

It made him feel real.

—-

A/N: I KNOW! You are all judging me for writing a fic about voting.

"BOO! HISS! Politics and Young Justice shouldn't mix!"

I'm sorry, it just felt appropriate to write an election night themed fic.

I tried to not make it preachy but yeah…voter apathy sucks.