#wip: den mom black zero

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for cat; “den mom Black Zero”. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“I realize you likely subscribe to putting up with operating in constant uncertainty regarding where the point that everyone you’ve ever met will eventually decide you’re too much trouble to deal with lies, but some of us really prefer to know where to stick the lever from the start,” he replies dryly. “Or who to kill, more specifically.” 

“I–what the fuck does being annoying and an asshole have to do with that?!” Superboy demands. Black Zero just sighs. 

“The same thing it did when Batman was attempting to needle me about clones’ rights being a ‘gray area’,” he replies dubiously. “Do you ever assess a situation? Ever? Or do you just grab the first hyperjacket you see and jump in head-first?” 

“. . . uh,” Superboy says. 

“Oh wait, that is how we met, isn’t it,” Black Zero “recalls” dryly, making a show of tapping a finger against his jaw. “How could I have forgotten.” 

“For the record, I am never gonna feel self-loathing again because it is all getting outsourced to you from now on, man,” Superboy says sourly, which is a frankly adorable lie because Black Zero is the only version of them he’s met who wasn’t a good sixty to seventy percent self-loathing. 

“Do tell,” he says even more dryly, raising an eyebrow at him. “And exactly how much self-loathing are you currently feeling?” 

“Oh, I’m definitely loathing a self,” Superboy retorts, folding his arms and glowering sulkily back at him. He looks exactly like every single other version of them that’s ever happened, except for Black Zero himself. 

He doesn’t know why none of them can just understand. 

Before having to learn it the hard way, he means.

[suzukiblu]

made another quality investment in life, gang. ✨️😌✨️

Commision for @suzukiblu for their 'Den mum Black zero' WIP, I really enjoyed this piece I need some lighting practice in

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Denver; "den mom Black Zero". (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“This has nothing to do with you being a clone. You’ve explicitly confessed to attacking multiple realities completely unprovoked,” Superman says as he folds his arms with a flat expression, which is not, in fact, what Black Zero “confessed” to. 

“That had everything to do with me being a clone,” he replies with a sneer, half-baring his teeth at the spare parts. “And no one in the conversation missed you not mentioning the other Kryptonians issue there. Much as we all know you like to be special aside, of course.” 

“I’d much rather not be, actually,” Superman says, which Black Zero would not believe if the entire multiverse sent him a signed and notarized filing cabinet’s worth of verified third-party evidence that he should. “But if you really do have comparable powers to mine, I know exactly how dangerous you are.” 

“They’re not remotely comparable, actually,” Black Zero informs him. “I did say ‘all Batman’s worst projections and then some’, didn’t I?” 

“Hm,” Batman says. Black Zero spares him a dubious look. 

“Yes, I am including the two you think I don’t know about,” he says. 

“. . . hm,” Batman repeats, just barely narrowing his eyes at him and tilting his head to one side.

“It is literally a different reality, oh my god, you know nothing about anyone’s stupid weird Bat-paperwork!” Superboy says in exasperation. 

“I know Batman,” Black Zero says. Batman wouldn’t be Batman if he was in any way a different person, after all. Maybe he’d be dead or a super-villain or just have actually gone to therapy at some point in his life, who knows, but he wouldn’t be Batman. 

“You are talking literal nonsense, man,” Superboy accuses. “Are you literally trying to piss them off?” 

“Yes,” Black Zero says. “Was that in some way subtle?” 

“You–what?” Superboy cuts himself off, and blinks at him in bemusement. Black Zero raises an eyebrow at him. 

[suzukiblu]

Den mom black zero please 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

Just–why haven’t any of them understood? 

The one who Black Zero had genuinely thought finally might understand, out of every single one of them that he’d spoken with . . . the one who’d gotten the closest to it . . . well, that was the little bastard who’d ended up running with one of the most effective resistances that he’d encountered in all of Hypertime and stealing the damn jacket to begin with and setting all this in motion, of course, and therefore being directly responsible for the entire damn fall of his empire. 

And getting himself killed, the stupid brat. 

Though that was also the only version of them that’d successfully convinced his own Knockout to come around to his point of view and one whose reality had dealt with their Henshaw without having the original Superman available, so it hadn’t exactly been a surprise either.

[suzukiblu]

Alright, since your being so generous, how about I throw Kon at you with a sticky note on his back that says "Hug Me!"

-MBT

He didn’t want to kill any versions of himself, even the most irritating ones. He doesn’t even want to kill this one, really. At least, not enough to actually do it. Especially not if . . . 

Well. Superboy is going to grow up, and that’s the one thing that none of Black Zero’s other counterparts had ever done. And none of them had understood, either. They’d all been too black and white, too convinced of what they thought was “right”. Hadn’t had the lived experience or the mental maturity to think of any of the shades of gray there, much less recognize them to begin with. 

So . . . this Superboy really might understand, once he’s older. 

That might almost be worth losing a war, Black Zero thinks distantly. Worth ending up trapped on just one world after having all the potential of all of Hypertime open before him, and failing at the only goal he’d set for himself in it. Just–for one other version of himself to understand, at least. To not judge him for simply knowing better, and for being willing to make the decisions to and live with the consequences of what it took to protect their people. Protect them, even, the stupid, shortsighted, idiotically deluded optimists that they all were. 

Just–even just the one. 

He wasn’t an optimist for all that long, himself.

[suzukiblu]

Den mom black zero please?

“I’m sorry, are you attempting to assign me an external moral compass? Are you attempting to assign me a therapy animal?” Black Zero asks her incredulously. “A therapy animal that is literally a version of myself?” 

“Ew, therapy,” Superboy mutters, making a face. “I liked ‘parole officer’ better.” 

Does Black Zero have a single not-embarrassing alternate, he wonders? Just one, somewhere? One single one?

[suzukiblu]

Wonder Women is the best in Black Zero Den Mom

“Why did you allow Kon-El to bring you to the Watchtower?” Wonder Woman asks. 

“Because I am very literally stranded here and wanted to know who I’d have to kill if your Justice League turns out to be anything like mine,” Black Zero replies frankly, and for some reason Wonder Woman smiles again. He has no idea why. 

And Batman . . . pauses, for some reason, and his lips just barely thin. 

“Hn,” he says. 

Well, that’s about to either get him a kryptonite spear to the heart or exactly what he wants out of life, so that’ll be interesting, Black Zero supposes.

[suzukiblu]

den mom black zero please please!!!

“That’s a different conversation,” Black Zero replies dismissively, waving him off. Superboy glares angrily at him, clenching his fists in obvious frustration. Black Zero thinks, again, about what he might grow up to be. What he might grow up to understand. About how quickly he gets between someone he thinks needs defending and whatever he thinks they need defended from. About how they’re still the same person, at the end of it. 

He also thinks about how little Superman apparently actually talks to the brat.

Obviously he thinks about that.

[suzukiblu]

Den Mom Black Zero pleaseeeeee 🖤

“This isn’t a court, Diana,” Superman says shortly, and a flash of nerves crosses Superboy’s face. Superman, unsurprisingly, isn’t actually looking at him and doesn’t appear to notice. 

Black Zero, again, thinks of what Superboy might come to understand, once he reaches adulthood himself. Even doing it the long way around. 

Well, this reality’s clearly off to a good start at giving the brat a foundation of valid concerns. 

“It is not,” Diana agrees. “Which was rather my point, Kal.”

[suzukiblu]

Fuck yeah Den Mom Black Zero let's go

“Does your noticeably biased opinion on this situation have something to do with your reported tendency to be goddamn useless at handling the existence of other Kryptonians or is it the clone thing?” Black Zero inquires curiously, half-eyeing Superman. Who knows, with a Superman. 

“There are multiple other reasons for somebody to be worried about you, man, and the only ‘other Kryptonians’ that even exist are in the friggin’ Phantom Zone for being, like, mass murderers and shit!” Superboy protests in exasperation, throwing his hands up again. “Which you kinda are, asshole, whether you think it counts or not!”

[suzukiblu]

And den mom Black Zero 💕

“You are literally holding a magic truth-lasso, I don’t actually see how that’s an issue,” Superboy says, frowning at her in confusion. “Or like, why you even think I’d lie about that?” 

“Legally, it doesn’t do much for reasonable doubt,” Wonder Woman replies mildly as she winds up her lasso, and Black Zero–frowns. “Not that the Justice League is, of course, any kind of a court.” 

What does she mean by that?

[suzukiblu]

happy wednesday!! I would love more den mom black zero, I love the “you’re all idiots” vibe of it!

“Hm,” Wonder Woman says, and lets her lasso slip off his wrist. Black Zero doesn’t particularly care, but that’s her decision. If he actually thought anyone in this room or on this Watchtower could kill him, it’d be her. One single Superman really isn’t going to be enough, and a Batman might always have a plan, but that implies giving that Batman time to enact that plan, which is not something Black Zero has ever been stupid enough to do. “I do believe that testimony would be considered ‘hearsay’, Kon-El, as would anything else that you can tell us about your alternate.”

[suzukiblu]

den mom Black Zero <3

“Nothing telling about that reaction,” he says, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at them. 

“What reaction?” Superboy mutters under his breath. Black Zero spares a moment to despair for the state of his interdimensional reputation for the umpteenth time, because there is not a single other version of him that is even basic levels of “competent” or “observant” or “emotionally intelligent”. Just–nothing. Not a one. 

No damn wonder this Justice League isn’t more concerned about him showing up in their reality.

[suzukiblu]

den mom Black Zero!!!

“Hm,” Black Zero says, tilting his head and making a mental note about the “only other Kryptonians” comment. That’s . . . interesting, reality-wise. “You do realize starting a war or two isn’t actually classified as committing murder, yes?” 

“Well it fuckin’ should be!” Superboy says, looking even more exasperated. “And throwing us all in a room with a bunch of Doomsdays was at least a war crime, either fucking way!”

[suzukiblu]

den mom Black Zero

“Would you prefer we exiled him to the Phantom Zone without fair trial or tribunal, Kal?” Wonder Woman says, raising an eyebrow at him. “Perhaps he’d meet your acquaintance Zod and they could swap notes.” 

Superman grimaces, just barely. Black Zero decides to refrain from mentioning exactly how many times he’s killed a version of General Zod. It’d distract them from more pressing concerns, specifically– 

“I could literally go anywhere in your entire reality,” he says. “Exactly why do you think I’d bother sticking around for this ‘probation’?”

[suzukiblu]

For wip not-Wednesday, could I request den mom Black Zero?

“Oh, surely nothing so formal as that will be necessary,” Wonder Woman says just as smoothly, hooking her lasso to her hip while still directing a pleasantly–and alarmingly–diplomatic smile at Black Zero. He debates the inconvenience of leaving the planet. He could do that. He could definitely do that. He could do that right now, in fact; they’re already on a satellite, and it’s not like he has anything to pack. “Kon-El could simply be your guide in your adjustment to this reality, and surely he and anyone else employed by our own Project Cadmus would be willing to discuss any of your thoughts about the ethics of cloning your fallen foes.”