Staying in the store that day was torture. Clark couldn't stop thinking about Brainy in some police interrogation room—yes, he knew it was the police, and they and the CIA should be working together, but how would Brainy explain to the police that they had to kill the boss of Radio Artist? There was no evidence of Ulnoor's experiment, and it wasn't part of the mission directions, so Garth and Rokk couldn't cover up for Brainy. Clark needed to leave the store and find Brainy.

As soon as the clock hit 8:00, Clark tore off his store clothes and sprinted out of there. He told the cabbie to take him to the nearest police station. He called Lou.

"Superman, this is Triplicate."

"I'm gonna be late for work today." Clark explained.

"Saving Brainiac Five from the police?"

Clark paused.

Lou continued, "Cosmo is over there right now, trying to bail him out."

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"I've been looking at the police station cameras, and it looks like it's going okay. Cosmo's trying his best to convince the chief that Brainiac Five's the best agent here, and that he would never do anything without good reason."

"All right." Clark sighed. "So I don't need to get over there?"

"Everything's under control, Superman. Don't worry."

Clark swallowed and just hoped it was as Lou said. "Okay, then. Wait, stay on the line for a bit--" Clark climbed out of the cab after paying a stupid fare that got him nowhere. "I need a ride to work."

"Saturn's on it. Over and out."

Lou hung up. Clark wondered if he should've stayed in the cab to get over to his place, but sighed and walked.

-------------------

"Clark, you don't need to worry so much." Imra reassured in the car.

Clark was just as jittery as he was in the store. He bit his lip and ran a nervous hand through his hair. His legs bounced. He looked out his window and prayed everything was fine. Once they got to headquarters, Clark took careful and cautious steps over to Brainy's office. His heart was beating erratically, and his mind was everywhere.

Please let him be okay. Please let him be okay. Please let him be okay.

Brainy sat in his swivel chair, staring at his laptop screen. He looked up and smiled at Clark.

"Oh, thank god." Clark sighed.

Brainy's smile widened. "You weren't worried about me, were you?"

Of course he was. Clark wanted to go over there and just give him a giant hug and kiss him everywhere. Instead, Clark wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and said, "No. How'd it go?"

"Rokk was upset that I didn't check with him first about killing Ulnoor." Brainy said, "But he saw the reason and defended me. The chief was impassive, but he finally believed us. I just feel foolish for letting that neighbor see me."

Clark sighed and smiled. The rest of the day went by, uneventful.

-----------------------

Clark paused when he walked into the back room of the store. A woman struggled to get the store T-shirt down on her head. Clark walked over and pulled on the edges of the shirt. Her head popped out of the T-shirt hole. Clark saw miles of blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and plump lips. Clark blinked.

"Thank you," The girl said. She looked about the same age as Clark.

"No problem," Clark replied. "I'm guessing you're new here? Who hired you?"

"Salu. I'm Linda Lee Danvers." The girl said, extending a hand.

Clark took it and said, "Clark Kent. Hope you like it here. It's a pretty easy job, anyway."

"I heard. I'm happy to take a break from my other job." Linda laughed. "It wasn't much of a job, actually. I painted."

Clark sucked in his breath. "Ooh. I heard that business was tough."

"Yeah. Didn't much get me anywhere." Salu shrugged. "It was fun, though. I'll just work where I know I'm gonna get money. And where I know there are nice people."

Linda smiled. It was brilliant, radiating light and kindness, stretching from one ear to the other and showing off perfect teeth. Clark smiled back, but immediately felt out-of-place; he knew his smile wasn't half as good as Linda's.

Chuck came in. He gave a low whistle when he saw Linda, and stared at her breasts. "You're the chick Shrinking Violet hired? Dang, I have to give the girl props!"

Linda's smile vanished. "I'm more than just my boobs, you bastard."

She walked out. Chuck gave Clark a sheepish look. Clark smiled and rolled his eyes.

An hour later, Clark was unlocking the MP3 cabinet when he caught sight of Chuck approaching Linda. Linda was checking off balances and receipts behind the counter.

"Hey, Linda—"

"Go away." Linda snapped.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to judge you by your boobs."

Linda said nothing and just glanced between the store checkbook and the receipt. Chuck continued, "Let me take you out to dinner. Make it up to you."

"Make it up to me by asking me out?"

"Yeah. I mean—I don't know. It's a free meal."

Linda looked at Chuck out of the corner of her eye, as if contemplating whether a free meal would be worth spending time with Chuck. Finally she said, "Sure. Why not. You think Salu and Clark would let us off?"

"I'll make sure of it." Chuck said, and then disappeared to find Salu.

----------------

Clark and Brainy sat in his office, both with their laptops. Brainy had set up a course of bugs and viruses that Clark struggled to get through. Every time he shot down one virus, five more appeared. Clark finally gave in and just dropped a 122a2b bomb, which wiped everyone out, including him.

Brainy glanced up from his laptop. "You gave up."

"Brainy, it was—"

"No, it wasn't. It wasn't impossible." Brainy interrupted. "A Nudgemania download would have worked, and you wouldn't have gotten shut out of the system."

"A Nudge, darn, I forgot."

Brainy turned back to his laptop. "You still have lots to learn, Clark."

Clark sighed. Of course he did. Even if he did get into the CIA by hacking into their site, Clark was better at fighting in hand-to-hand/gun fights than in computer wars. But he was learning from the great Brainiac Five, so it would be no time before he was superb in both areas. Right?

"Brainiac Four trained you, right?" Clark asked.

"That's correct." Brainy glanced up from his laptop again. He had a suspicious look in his eye, like he was wondering why Clark would bring that up.

Clark continued, "How long did he train you?"

"I worked under him for a year, and then I was let go as an independent."

"Did Brainiac Three train Brainiac Four?"

"Yes. And the same with all the others."

"Didn't you say one of them was a girl?" Clark said.

"Yes."

"Which one?"

"Brainiac Three—Clark, why are you asking?"

Clark shrugged. "What, I can't get information on my partner's history?"

Brainy sighed and turned back to his laptop. "That's not my history."

"Well then, what is your history?" Clark said, leaning in eagerly.

"That's classified information."

"Oh, come on, Brainy!" Clark whined. He grinned at Brainy. "Tell me something about you. You have any brothers and sisters?"

"I have no family."

Clark's smile fell. "They're all dead?"

"They're dead to me." Brainy's words dripped with venom.

"What happened?" Clark said, frowning.

"That's really not your concern."

"Are you adopted?"

"It's none of your b--"

"Did they abandon you?"

"Clark!" Brainy snapped. His glare was lethal. "Drop it, okay? It's not important information, and you don't need it to continue working with me. We're fine the way we are. I don't need any damn history."

Clark huffed. He knew he was getting in a touchy area of Brainy's life, but Brainy seemed to know everything about Clark. Why couldn't Clark know the same about Brainy?

----------------------

When Clark came home, he was startled at the sight of Linda Lee Danvers on his couch, watching TV with a cup of coffee. She looked up when Clark walked in, and then nodded to the door.

"Who's he?" She said.

"Who's who?" Clark looked around. No one else was in the room except for him and Linda. "What are you doing here?"

"The guy that drove you home."

"None of your business. How did you get in my apartment?"

"Even if it's not any of my business, I think it is your friends'." Linda said, sitting up. "Because according to Chuck, you're single."

Clark was baffled. "He's just a friend! Why aren't you answering any of my questions?"

"And the fact that you denied telling me your relationship status the first time means that you're not just friends." She took a sip of her coffee. "And also, I saw you give him a kiss before you left his car."

"That was just a friendly kiss."

"Friendly kiss, my ass!" Linda snapped. She stood up and approached Clark. "Listen, Clark, I like you. And you're going on a date with me."

"Like hell I am."

"Do you want your friends to know about that guy?" Linda said, eyeing Clark.

Clark froze. Brainy hadn't liked it when Clark told Salu about him. He would like it even less if Chuck knew, especially since Chuck had a big mouth.

"All right." Clark sighed. "But Chuck won't be happy about this."

"I've already talked to him." Linda said, smiling. She tapped Clark's lips with her index finger. "See you later, Clark."

And she left. Clark sighed again.

------------------

Chuck hadn't really been okay with it. The next day, Chuck pleaded Clark to let him have Linda. Clark tried to let him know that it was just a date, and Clark wasn't really interested in her.

"Then why the hell are you going on a date?" Chuck squealed.

"Linda asked me, all right?" Clark explained. "And she was being really forceful. There was no way out, buddy."

Chuck huffed. Clark punched him lightly on the shoulder with a grin to show that the whole date really did mean nothing.

---------------

Clark couldn't help thinking that he hadn't even gone on a proper date with Brainy while he was at the restaurant with Linda. He slowly chewed the chicken in his mouth and pictured Brainy sitting opposite from him instead of this blonde girl. He would have inspected the food—scanned it with his robot food radar, if he had one. Clark had never seen Brainy eat. Maybe he didn't eat: it could screw with his robot half.

Linda was a very polite eater, like how most girls were on first dates. Her hair was put up in a clampy hair thing (Clark never figured out what it was called), but some bangs still fell across her eyes. Clark had to admit she was really pretty. If Clark didn't already have Brainy, he might have had a go at Linda.

"So who was that boy in the car?" Linda asked.

Clark looked at his food. "Not talking about him."

"Oh, come on, why not?" Linda pursued, "It's obvious you guys have something. Just give me a name."

"Just a name? Tom."

"Not any name, you impossible boy. What's his name?"

"You can call him Tom." Clark said, and then took a bit out of his sandwich.

Linda pursed her lips. "Okay, then. How come Chuck and Salu don't know about Tom?"

"Linda," Clark sighed, "If this date was about wanting me, then it's not really helping that you're asking about my boyfriend."

"Unless I'm gathering information so I can go over there and kill him." Linda said simply. "Well, it's too early on to kill. I guess I'd just find some information on him that you don't know that would arouse conflicts between you two, and then I'd get you."

Clark blinked. This girl was serious. "Tell me about you. You already know about me."

"What do you want to know, baby?" Linda chirped, grinning.

Clark immediately regretted wanting to know anything about this woman. "Have you done this with all the other guys you've liked?"

"A few. Most of them immediately got me when they saw my boobs, but some needed more … convincing." Linda said laughing. Clark didn't know what was so fucking funny. "But you're a harder nut to crack. I wonder what it takes to make you break."

"Totally not funny." Clark ground out. "Any nicknames?"

Linda thought about this one for a while, and then replied, "Supergirl."

Clark's heart flipped. "Really? Why?"

"I did basketball when I was in middle school. That's just what they put on the back of the jersey." Linda laughed softly: it was prettier than before, "I guess I wanted to be the star player, but I royally sucked. Switched to more creative ways to spend my time."

"Like painting."

Linda smiled. "Like painting."

Clark's cell phone went off. Clark looked at the caller ID and saw that "Brainiac Five" was calling. Clark excused himself to Linda's smug face, and walked out of the restaurant.

"Hey, Brainy, what's up?"

"Lightning just tried to kiss me." Brainy sounded really pissed off. He even had a small growl in his voice. "Had me up against a wall and everything. That bastard. I had to clean myself from him and his stupid scent."

"So you called me."

"Well, yes. I needed to be with my … my partner." Brainy whispered these last words, like he wasn't sure if those were the right words after all. Clark laughed.

There was a brief silence, and then Brainy said, "You're outside."

Clark looked around him for no reason whatsoever. "Uh, yeah. How could you tell?"

"Sound waves scatter more than indoors. I can hear wind. Why are you outside?"

"I couldn't talk in the store, Brainy. Unless you want me to get caught."

Brainy was silent again. "Will Salu Digby get annoyed if you stay out too long?"

"Uh, yeah, probably."

"How's the new girl? Linda Lee Danvers?"

Clark glanced back at the restaurant. "She's annoying as hell. Can't get her off me."

"She's taken a liking to you?"

"Yeah. A little too much. She was in my apartment last night. She saw you!"

"Did you give her a key, or something?"

"No! I don't know how the hell she got in there!"

"You're on a date with her, aren't you?"

Clark froze. Brainy waited a second, and then sighed. "Superman. I'm tempted to use your name right now, just to show you how much this bothers me."

"Brainy, I can explain—"

"That's okay. I won't jump to conclusions like you did with me and Adam." Clark winced. "But what other situation would you be in right now? Going on a date behind my back."

"She forced me to, all right? I didn't want to go, but she was going to tell Salu and Chuck if I didn't!"

"We'll see about that." Brainy scoffed, and then hung up.

Clark glared back at the restaurant. He considered leaving Linda in there, but finally marched inside. He decided he was too nice for his own good.

"You two are cute with the nicknames." Linda said as soon as Clark sat down.

"What?"

"Brainy and Superman." Linda explained. "Think about it: You and I having matching nicknames definitely has to be some kind-of sign."

"How the hell—"

Linda jiggled her cell phone in her hand. "Connected it with yours."

Yup. Clark definitely should've left her there.

---------------

Brainy sat on Clark's couch, as usual, but he looked deadly instead of inviting. Clark immediately ran over to apologize, and Brainy jumped up and kissed him. He clutched at Clark's hair and pressed his lips to Clark. Clark felt like his life was taken out of him through his mouth. The kiss was that forceful.

"Brainy, I—"

"Sit down." Brainy demanded, pulling Clark to sit down with him.

Clark sat. Brainy placed his hand on Clark's chest. Clark felt like Brainy was holding his heart.

"What were you doing with Linda Lee Danvers?" Brainy carefully said.

"I was on a date with her because she was going to tell Chuck and Salu if I didn't."

Brainy said nothing. He stared at his hand on Clark's chest. Clark's heart beat uncomfortable fast. What was Brainy doing? Was he listening to Clark's heart?

Clark said, "You're a polygraph."

"I'm feeling your heart for irregular beats, yes." Brainy admitted. His magenta eyes flicked up to meet Clark's. "You're nervous. Why are you nervous?"

Clark traced a finger on the back of Brainy's hand that was on his chest. "I'm not nervous."

A flash of longing passed Brainy's face as he looked at Clark's finger. But he continued the interrogation with a straight face. "Did you kiss her?"

"No."

Brainy paused. "Do you like her?"

"No."

Another pause. "Do you like me?"

"Of course."

Brainy grinned and threw his arms around Clark's neck. Clark wrapped his arms around Brainy's torso and hid his nose in Brainy's neck. Clark could never lose this. He could never lose Brainy.

-------------

BANG! The flat target head wobbled a bit. A fresh hole was straight in the eye.

"I have no idea how you do that, Brainy." Clark said in a deadpan tone. He glared at the target, and weighed his own gun in his hand.

"Practice, experience, aiming, breathing." Brainy said simply. "Your Browning High Power is built differently than my Jericho 941 F, so I wouldn't be able to shoot as well if I had yours."

"Is it worse than yours?"

Brainy pursed his lips. "Not necessarily. I'm just used to this gun. I've had it for a long time."

Clark aimed and took a shot at his own target. It hit the chin. After a few more shots, Clark said, "Oh, yeah, um, Brainy, my phone is tapped."

"Excuse me?"

Clark held up his gun again to the stupid target. "Linda. She tapped it."

Brainy's hand pulled down Clark's raised hand. He stared at Clark carefully. "She heard our conversation earlier today?"

Clark said, "Yeah."

Brainy swore under his breath and turned away slightly. "Did I say anything classified?" Before Clark could confirm or deny this suspicion, Brainy closed his eyes. Clark watched as Brainy's eyes moved rapidly underneath his eyelids. It was like that for a whole minute, and then Brainy's eyes slowly opened.

"No, I didn't say anything." Brainy decided. "Why the hell did she tap your phone? What does she want from you?"

"I don't know—"

"She should get her own fucking boyfriend instead of stealing mine!"

Clark couldn't help breaking a smile. He could practically see the steam coming out of Brainy's ears. Clark asked, "Are you gonna do something—"

"Yes, I'm going to do something about her!" Brainy shrieked. "I'm gonna find out who this girl is and tell her to leave you alone!"

"You already know who she is."

"That's true." Brainy paused, frowning.

Clark said, "Brainy, you don't have to do this. It's fine."

"What's fine?"

"I mean, I don't want you to have to reveal yourself because of this girl." Clark elaborated. "I can handle her for a while."

Brainy glared. "Like hell you can."

And as expected, Brainy showed up the next day at work. Well, not "as expected", because Clark still freaked out.

"B-Brainy!" Clark exclaimed. Brainy walked over to the counter and leaned in with his elbows propped up. He was wearing a green shirt—no surprise there—except it was a button-down green shirt left undone over a plain black tee shirt. The hem of his worn-out jeans sprayed over his red Converse. Bands and bracelets slid down his wrist as he grinned at Clark. He looked positively delicious.

"Hello, Clark." Brainy chirped. His magenta eyes darkened. "Where's Linda Lee Danvers?"

"She's somewhere in the store." Clark said, waving a finger in her general direction behind some shelves. "Brainy, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Marking my territory." Brainy simply said. "She needs to know her place in my life, which means absolutely nothing."

Chuck walked up to Clark. "Hey, Clark, we got any more Weezer CDs in the back?"

Clark glanced between Chuck and Brainy, but started walking backwards. "Let me go check."

When Clark came back out with the albums, Brainy was gone. Clark explained to Chuck's questioning face, "He's a friend. Just visiting."

"Doesn't seem too intent on visiting you." Chuck mumbled. "I think he's gone off to find Linda."

"Well, who can resist a pretty face when they see one?" Clark said laughing.

Chuck nodded and said grimly, "Speaking of which, how'd your date go last night?"

Clark shook his head. "Not my type. Seriously, Bouncy, when I said I didn't want to go on the date, I meant it. You can have her all you want, but you'll have to pry her off me."

"Clark, stop bragging."

"I'm not bragging! I just—"

Brainy and Salu came out from behind shelves. Brainy waltzed through the flappy door thing that separated the cashier from the rest of the store. He kissed Clark quickly, and then left. Clark was left standing silently with Chuck and Salu, all shocked.

"What the hell was that?" Chuck blurted. He looked from Clark to Salu, and blinked. Salu smiled at Clark.

Linda came out from behind the shelves, and growled, "Where'd that bitch go?" She stormed out of the store. Salu called out to her, but Linda didn't come back.

"Are we keeping her?" Chuck asked Salu.

Salu huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, it's a little easier on us if we have her. Do you guys like her?"

"I like her." Chuck immediately said.

Clark frowned. "I don't like her, but, yeah, she's good to have around. Let's keep her."

Salu nodded. They all retreated to their respectable places.

--------------

Clark was surprised and disappointed to see that Brainy wasn't in his apartment when he came home. Clark frowned, because no one was waiting for him. Was work off today?

Clark was pounced on from behind. Clark fell to the floor with an "oof!", and turned around to see Brainy grinning back at him.

"Was I supposed to have caught that?" Clark mumbled, shuffling on the ground.

Brainy laughed, and straddled Clark's waist with his legs. "It would have proved that your have improved, but—" Brainy placed his hands on Clark's chest. "I like this outcome better."

Brainy leaned down and kissed him. Clark gasped into his mouth when Brainy's fingers twisted at Clark's pants button. Brainy kissed down Clark's chin and neck, and then his lips were touching the tip of Clark's cock. Clark shivered as Brainy licked up Clark's dick and then took Clark in his mouth. Clark moaned and writhed in response to every tiny, perfect move Brainy's tongue made, until finally, he released inside Brainy's mouth. Brainy swallowed everything, and then wiped Clark's slit clean with his tongue.

Brainy grinned at a spent Clark, and tapped his thigh twice. "Come on, Clark, we must still attend work."

Clark let his head clunk back against the floor. "Do we have to?"

"Yes, now get up." Brainy said. His uncharacteristic playful manner had completely vanished. He stood up and moved to the bathroom.

Clark sighed and got up. On the ride to Headquarters, Clark asked Brainy, "Hey, what exactly did you tell Linda?"

Brainy glanced at him. When he talked, it sounded as if he were reciting lines at a play. "I said, 'you better back off, bitch, or else,' and she said, 'Or else what?' and I showed her my gun."

"You what?"

"I put it against her lips, grinned, and then left."

Brainy didn't seem to think he'd done anything wrong. Clark said, "You don't know her! She'll take you to court! You threatened her! She'll do something to get back at you."

"But I showed her my gun."

Clark sighed. "Let's just hope she backs off."

"She will. I put a bug on the taxi in front of her place." Brainy tapped the GPS in his car. A red dot popped up a couple yards behind them. "Oh, shit."

Brainy swerved to the left. The red dot followed them mercilessly. Brainy must have driven to nowhere for ten minutes before he parked in front of some trailers on a dock. He and Clark got out and ran for a bit inside the maze of trailers. Brainy pushed Clark against the wall of a trailer. Clark looked down and found seriousness mixed with mischievousness in Brainy's magenta eyes. Brainy trailed his lips across Clark's jaw. Clark sighed in delight.

"Did you think you could lose me?"

With one swift movement, Brainy took out his gun and pointed it at Linda. Clark sputtered and tugged on Brainy's arm, but Brainy wouldn't move. Utter hatred was on Brainy's face, in his eyes, his teeth, his breath.

Linda smiled grimly. "Getting information on you was harder than my last competition. Querl Dox, nineteen, no brothers or sisters, an orphan. Lived in foster care in Ada S. McKinley Community Services for five years before someone picked you up. Janice and Mark Nicholls. Brought you over to England and sped your education up a bit."

Linda took a step in. Brainy's glare remained unfixed. Linda continued, "Oxford. College classes. You didn't have a childhood, any fun or friends—you were always studying. Your parents loved you, yeah, but they shoved more work in your hands. And suddenly, you're being shipped over back to America, and you're in a job you don't want to be in. It must be top secret or the mafia, or something, because it didn't come up on my info. No matter how much they need you here, you don't want to do their work-- you don't want to do this job. You just want to be a normal kid."

Linda was standing directly in front of Brainy's gun now. "Having Clark is like having a normal love life. You want him for that. You don't care if you love him or not. The attention you get for him is too much. You like it. And you want to keep it."

"Linda, stop." Clark pleaded.

"Maybe Clark over here's paying more attention than Lyle did." Linda whispered dangerously.

Brainy bared his teeth. His hand shook a little.

"Maybe Clark won't die like Lyle. Maybe he will. Or maybe you're just not meant to have anyone special in your life." Linda spat.

Clark had had enough. He stepped up to Linda, in front of Brainy. "Would you shut up? I don't care about Brainy's history. I don't care that he had a thing with Lyle. What matters is we're together now, and whatever you do won't make us cut it!"

Linda was silent. And then she said, "Doesn't look like you're together."

"What the—" Clark turned around for backup, but Brainy was gone. Disappeared. Clark looked around, ran deeper in the maze of trailers, but could see no trace of Brainy. He heard a car's tires screeching away.

---------

Sorry, you guys, but I can't continue this. I'm too busy. Really sorry. This was fun to write, though, real fun. Thanks to all the reviewers and shit. I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted!

love,

shaman3