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Characters: Hayley Stark & Clark Kent/Superman [CLOSED]
Date: Today, evening
Location: Hayley's suite
Situation: Hayley wants to show Superman her new Kryptonite ~~by attacking him~~ in a totally innocent way and then realizes it's Clark.
Warnings/Ratings: PG for violence

Hayley took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her mouth. Just because she felt things like this were necessary and maybe even enjoyed them for that reason, that didn't mean it was ever easy. Aaron, Jeff. They really did haunt her in a way, though not the way Jeff would have led her to believe, and this was her first attempt at justice since coming to the turtle.

She curled up more tightly in the closet, the lead box hidden between her stomach and thighs by lumps of jacket gathered in her lap. The girl was strategically positioned, hiding half-beneath a rack of clothes in the back corner of the closet in her room, the best way she could think of to force the man close to her. She would only have one chance before he knew what she was doing, before he could get away and know to never return here.

She knew Jor-El might never speak to her again and that the other heroes might come after her. But Superman was a villain. Any single individual with that much power who refused to allow the weak a way to challenge them was a villain; Batman was anything but weak. Originally she had toyed with the idea of trying to kill Superman, but, as Jason had said, what difference would it really make when they just come back again? Now, she had no intention of trying to kill him, only of teaching him a lesson. That he didn't have any right to control her or the others here. That he wasn't invincible.

The girl hoped her voice would carry out the half opened closet door and the slightly cracked window. At least she had made certain that her neighbors were all gone for now, hence the timing. Now was her only chance. Hayley contorted her voice with fear and sadness and forced tears from her eyes, pulling her legs closer to her in order to almost completely surround the box. Then she called out.

"Superman!"

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"I swear I heard someone."

She made her voice intentionally scared and broken, running a hand through her hair and playing the role of the innocent and victimized little girl perfectly. Although not entirely in character for her usual self, the threat of death so recently after her own really would make her react in nearly such a fashion. She hoped he would believe that.

"Please. I can't go through that again." Hopefully his hero complex and ego would distract him from the thought of a potential threat from her. After all, the victim is rarely the perpetrator. "You know I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't- if I wasn't.."

Trailing off, Hayley remained where she was in the closet. She didn't know the extent of his abilities, but trusted that he should be able to find her from her voice if nothing else.

While he had seen and noticed Hayley act as Clark Kent, he'd ironically never caught it as Superman. He's never questioned people's intentions when they ask fir help, and specially not from people who so obviously wanted to do things their own way and take care of themselves like her.

"It's fine, there's no one here but you and me. I checked." He hovered closer, opening the door of the closet and crouching in front of her. "What did you hear?"

In one swift motion, Hayley grabs the box from her lap as she leaps up and forward to hug him, wrapping her arms around his neck as if fear has overcome her and he's her only salvation. Before he can realize or process that she's holding a box or what might be inside of it, her thumb flicks the lid open to drop the palm-sized piece of Kryptonite into her other hand. With both arms wrapped around him, the rock now resting at the back of his neck, she looks at him.

Any sign of panic or fear is gone from her features. All that remains in her expression is anticipation. Mischief and satisfaction rest in the undertones of her voice as she whispers to him, meeting his gaze head on. "I heard you like playing god and trying to save everyone."

The smallest smile tugs at the ends of her lips. "Busted."

He doesn't realize what's happening until it's too late. He doesn't even hear what she she's saying at first, the shock of the radiation too big and too sudden.

His knees go instantly weak, not able to suport him anymore with the added weight of the girl around him. He falls to the ground, and for a second he thinks someone - whoever it was Hayley had heard, maybe - attacked them from behind. Panic is clear in his eyes as he frantically fights against his weakening body to stay alert, to keep on thinking. If he's in danger Hayley might be as well.

(So close, so close to him and bigger than a bullet. And it had taken him less than an hour to lose consciousness back then, with Batman by his side.)

But the only people who knew about Kryptonite were those from his world and-

It hits him by the time she's finished talking, finally processing what she's saying even if his brain has a hard time registering her as a threat. Maybe he shouldn't have dismissed her anger.

"Why?" He grits out through his now dry lips as confusion replaces the fear from seconds before in his eyes.

Hayley follows him as he falls to his knees and releases her grip on him as he collapses further. She keeps the stone somewhat close to him, not willing to take any chances of him getting away, but not wanting to kill him either. Her fingers curl tightly around the green, bringing it into his sight in the hopes that he can fully grasp what's happening right now.

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you," she mutters, rolling her eyes at his fear. Then she crouches down in front of him, taking his expression in. "Don't you see? Everything can hurt us, but there's only one thing that can hurt you. And you made sure no one could have it. You wanted to feel safe. You were willing to put every other person here's life in the hands of a crazy old Bat. And he failed. He failed and two people died."

Her voice is genuinely upset by the end, edged in desperation. Because she really does want him to understand. He has to understand why this is so important or it's all in vain. "No one should be invincible, Kal-El. Not even heroes. You have to know what it feels like, to be afraid.. so you won't make the same choice next time. Everyone should feel safe. Not just you."

He can feel the radiation hitting him in waves, making him sick, killing more and more cells the more he spends around it. 'I'm not going to kill you', she says, but with that fistful of Kryptonite it would only take a couple hours. Maybe less. He wonders if she knows, and he wonders if she would care either way.

The dismissal of Batman stings, but for now he ignores it. Bruce can fight his own battles.

"I'm not invincible" He says, forcing himself to speak clearly through the pain. "I have been hurt, many times over. I have been close to death-" A pause. And then, through gritted teeth: "I died once, saving the world."

When he looks up at her again he doesn't really look angry. If anything, he looks disappointed. "You don't know anything about me, and yet look where we stand. Are you sure you weren't the one who wanted to feel invincible by making Supeman kneel?"

For as ignorant as she is to the specific effects of Kryptonite, Hayley can recognize how quickly he's growing ill from it. While remaining crouched in front of him, she extends the rock out and away from him with the appropriate limb, trying to prevent his escape while simultaneously slowing his path to unconsciousness. The box is still in her other hand, ready to lock away the substance when she's convinced that he's ready.

"What? You died, thus you must be a saint and a martyr?" She replies with all the skepticism and mocking of a teenage girl. The expression dissipates with his look of disappointment, replaced instead with something longing. If only he could understand.

"I know enough." Her eyes narrow slightly as she leans in. "I'm every person who was ever hurt.. or died.. or suffered because you thought you knew better what they needed. If you won't feel the guilt, then you can feel their fear, and sense of danger, and pain."

"Don't you dare decide I don't feel any guilt for them."

His words are still hissed out, trying to keep his anger at bay but noticeable relieved when she pulls the Kryptonite away even only a little bit. He can still feel it, feel how the land that was once his parents is now twisting his body and killing him second by second but at least he can now think past the pain.

"I hear every heart stop beating, every last breath, every-" A pause as he catches his breath, something he isn't used to doing. But his memory and perfect recall mean he can indeed remember every last person that died because he wasn't fast enough, smart enough, powerful enough. Every person that died because he wasn't there. He remembers the time he had to decide saving the whole space station so it wouldn't crash on Earth instead of a single astronaut's life, and he remembers the look in the man's face when he realized Superman wasn't going to save him.

He remembers Jonathan dying of a heart attack while he saw a city grow in the other side of the planet. He firmly closes his eyes, not sure if the way his eyes sting is because of pain, anger or something else.

"I can see life leaving a body and the black hole it leaves behind, Hayley. A permanent reminder of my failure. Kryptonite has been used time and time again to stop me, Kryptonite has meant I was lying on the floor half-death while people died around me. And you think- what?" He forces himself to look up at her. "That the only thing I care about is that it hurts me? That I need to be invincible?

You're afraid, Hayley. There is nothing like me in your world, and I understand that. But you don't get to use people's deaths as an excuse, as an example. You don't know me, and you can't talk for the innocents whose life I mourn every day."

His initial words only harden her determination, but it begins to falter as he continues. She can see the genuine torment and guilt on his expression, those feelings she has never seen from him in any way and thought him incapable of. Her expression softens with her resolve as he speaks, understanding too well the hurt behind his words.

When he uses her name, however, it immediately forces a disconnect, an opposite effect of the intended. Her expression turns cold again. The talking needs to stop. Because he's clever and too good at talking down anyone from anything, regardless of what's right. She can see that now. "People like you can justify anything, Kal-El. But you really can't talk me out of this."

Hayley straightens, stretching to her full height. She extends the Kryptonite roughly toward him, only slightly closer than it was before she stood.

'People like you can justify anything'. And just like that, he knows he's lost her for now.

He's compared her to Lex in his mind, many times over but he can see now how unfair that is. Lex never had the moral compass Hayley has, he never did anything for the good of anyone but himself no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise. He'd had a whole year without Superman, a whole year where he could have saved the world like he had claimed he would if he didn't have Superman to plot against many times over... and all he did was spend the year underground to learn how to use Kryptonians spaceship to do as he pleased. Lex thought of Kal in terms like the ones Hayley was using, both Lex and Hayley saw him as a potential menace...

But Hayley believes in justice, believes in what's fair. Hayley is doing this because she truly believes what she's saying, she really thinks Superman doesn't know what loss, guilt, pain and regret are. And for that only Kal-El is to blame, because he'd just told and never shown, expected her to understand where he couldn't just because others had understood. And now it's too late. When she brings the Kryptonite he hisses in pain, body twisting as he finds it harder and harder to breathe as seconds go.

"Then do what you must when I pass out. But remember that it might take time, but a murderer always gets caught."

Hayley resists the urge to roll her eyes again. She's already said that she won't kill him and she means it, but she'll leave him in the middle of the street, or in a warehouse somewhere, so he can wake up to-

The words cut through her thoughts with the sudden recollection of a specific memory. 'A murderer always gets caught.' Clark had said the same words to her over apple pie in her suite weeks ago and they had meant very little to her then. Now, these words can change everything.

The girl immediately drops to her knees and holds the Kryptonite at arm's length again, staring at him. She brings her face down directly in front of his, tilting it to roughly the same angle and staring. She drops the box nearby. Her free hand shakes at Superman's shoulder with a new found panic. "Why did you say that? Why would you-"

The resemblance is uncanny. She doesn't know why she never noticed before, but now it's as clear as day. Suddenly she's scrambling backwards, grabbing the lead box and shoving the Kryptonite inside. It's secure within a few minutes, but the man's already unconscious. She shakes him again, then immediately stands.

"Shit." She calls out to the empty suite. Think. First, get rid of the Kryptonite. Then, talk to Clark. Superman. Whoever he is.

A moment later, she's at her console, sending a message to Bruce Banner. She'll be back before he awakens.

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