Unaccompanied

“You two, slow down!” One of the volunteer chaperones called over the noise, having to cup her hands around her mouth to do so. “Roy! Jason! I'm talking to you!”

Roy slowed down and stopped, handing Jason back his reindeer antlers with a roll of his eyes. “Jeez, guess we were having too much fun.”

He stumbled forward when Jason laughed and shoved the horns onto his head, and the two quickly chased each other into the activity room to hopefully get away from the watchful eye of their chaperone.

Jason made a beeline for the line leading into the bounce house and Roy followed, until something caught his attention and made him stop.

Jon, the little kid who had been in the bathroom with his older brother just a few minutes ago, was now running around in Santa's area.

Alone.

That was odd.

Granted, he didn't know either boy well, but given how tightly they had been holding onto each other, Conner didn't seem like he would just let Jon play by himself.

Maybe he was nearby?

Roy heard Jason call his name, but kept scanning faces, looking around the crowded room for Conner as the bad feeling in his gut grew.

He knew on the surface he had no reason to be concerned, but growing up in foster care had resulted in him trusting his instincts.

“Hey. What's wrong?” Jason came back over and asked softly.

“Do you see a kid about our age, leather jacket, spiked choker, about yay big?” He held a hand just higher than his own head.

“Uhh,” Jason got up his tiptoes to look, then pointed towards a door all the way on the far side of the room. “Is that him?”

It was, but Roy’s unease only grew when he saw what was going on.

They were way too far away to even hope to overhear the conversation, but a woman in a green elf costume was leaned partially out of the door clearly marked ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’, whispering hurriedly into Conner’s ear.

Conner, now much more pale than he had been on their first meeting, looked terrified as he stared down at something she was holding just out of view. He didn't move a muscle until she opened the door a little wider and gestured for him to follow her.

He hesitantly did, and the door clicked shut behind them.

“Did we just see that?” Jason turned to Roy, who was trying to figure out the same thing.

Was there some rational answer to this that they weren't seeing, like maybe Conner had had another panic attack and the elf was taking him to another room to get away from the noise?

But Jon was too young to just be left in a crowded room alone.

Sure there were chaperones, but it really didn't look like any of them had been asked to keep an eye on the kid.

“I, uh, think we did.”

“I'll get Dick and Damian.”

“And I'll catch up with Conner.”

The two of them ran off in indifferent directions without another word.

Yyyyy

He had gotten dressed up.

In his nice, holiday, business-casual sweater and new, fresh-out-of-the-box slacks.

For this?

Tim felt uneasy as he looked around the room and saw all of the… everything.

Everything was messy.

Noisy.

Chaotic.

Someone threw a cupcake and it hit the wall beside him, stuck for a moment until the frosting lost its grip and it fell to the ground.

Maybe this hadn't been a great idea.

He'd never attended a party like this before.

And he'd never attended a Wayne or a Queen event without his parents.

But his parents were in Cancun, renewing their vows.

Which totally wasn't a problem. They traveled a lot for work so he was usually home alone anyway, but at sixteen he had thought he'd be able to arrive, mingle, and maybe have some fun and hang out with people his own age for Christmas.

He hadn't expected so many out of control kids.

Or was this just… normal kids?

He, despite the years of training and practice in party etiquette, seemed to be the odd one out-,

“Agh! Hey!”

Two teens his own age ran right past him, chasing each other. They didn't pay him any mind, but their handler-, no. That was rude. Their… guardian, he assumed, yelled over the rest of the noise for the two of them to stop running around.

Tim shoved his hands into his pockets and walked along the wall to the next room over.

Perhaps people would be more calmed down without so much arts and crafts?

But this room seemed even more wild.

It was discouraging to feel so out of his element among those who should have been his peers.

Maybe he should just go home-, no.

No, he didn't want to go home.

Going home was giving up, and he really did want to have a fun Christmas.

He could do this.

He could pick something that looked fun, and do it.

But what?

He scanned the room, eyes darting from one activity to the next, until something caught his attention.

It wasn't an activity, but one of the boys that had nearly barreled into him just a minute ago was trying to tug open a locked, employee access door.

Tim stood on his toes and looked around for the woman who had scolded him before, but she must have still been in the other room, as he didn't see her.

Well… fine.

He could handle this on his own.

It wouldn't be the first time he dealt with unruly guests, after all, and most people just needed a reminder that their bad behavior was visible to others, so he walked over.

“Hey, you're not supposed to-,”

“Unless you can open this door, shut the fuck up.” The other boy snapped not even glancing Tim's way.

“... Why do you need to open the door?” He asked.

“I just saw someone leave with one of the elves. I'm not sure, but it looked like they were being threatened.”

“What?! Shouldn't we tell someone?”

The teen, either Roy or Jason, Tim wasn't sure, tugged on the handle with a grunt. “We don't have time for that, even if any adult here would believe us. But I know what I saw, and that kid needs help now.”

Tim bit his lip as he mentally weighed his options, and then grabbed one of the other teens hands and pulled him towards the double swinging doors of the kitchen.

“I don't have a key card, but I know my way around. That hallway meets up with the service entrance used for deliveries.”

Yyyyy

Mercy kept one hand on the kryptonite injector clipped to her belt as they walked, their footsteps echoing in the long, empty hallways.

Kon should have known this day would come.

The day Cadmus came for him.

It had been stupid to let himself think that he was finally free and safe.

Of course they wouldn't just let him go.

“I hope you had fun playing civilian, but that's over now. You're far too valuable to just let go and you know how much Lex hates wasting money.”

He didn't want to go back.

Every fiber of his body was screaming at him to find some way out.

Some opportunity to escape.

But he had spent the first decade and a half of his life finding out firsthand just how fast the kryptonite injectors could take him out.

How fast Mercy was.

How lethal she was willing to be.

He couldn't escape.

Superman could have, easily.

But he wasn't Superman.

He was hardly Kryptonian.

In fact, the only Kryptonian ‘ability’ he had managed to develop was a severe weakness against kryptonite.

No, he was doomed.

Back to the lab.

Experiments.

Tests.

Doctors and scientists and extraterrestrial biologists, all of whom had idea after idea about how to trigger his flight, or his super strength, or his laser vision.

Nothing ever worked, but Lex had spent so much time and money creating him to be the ‘next, improved Superman’ that there was no way he could just start the program over, especially now that Cadmus had been both discovered and dismantled.

There was no way out for him.

Not for good, at least.

Maybe it was even better that they found him now, instead of down the road, after he'd gotten used to freedom.

Family-,

“Hey-ya! Where we going?”

Kon nearly jumped out of his skin and, judging by how fast she whipped around and pointed the kryptonite injector, so did Mercy.

The redhead from the restroom stood there, grinning wide despite the weapon.

“Whoa, is that a new toy?” He reached out and poked the kryptonite injector, which seemed to break the spell on Mercy, who quickly yanked it back.

“What do you think you're-,” she cut herself off and awkwardly forced a smile. “I mean, this area is restricted. What are you doing back here?”

Roy, the maniac, shrugged casually and kept up his cheery attitude while avoiding making eye contact with Kon. “Well, we're with you, right? Miss Lance said we had to stay in sight of a chaperone or one of the elves at all times. So, where are we going? To get more games?” He flexed his arms, showing off the small muscles on his biceps. “Cause I'm pretty helpful if you need something carried.”

“Uh, no. Thank you. I only needed one kid to… help carry… things.”

Kon's heart raced.

What was Roy doing?!

He had Mercy off her game, but she wasn't going to play pretend for long.

As if he read Kon's mind, Roy glanced at him and winked, quick enough that Kon almost wasn't sure he'd seen it.

“Oh, c’mon. Pleeease? It's so loud back there I can't hear myself think.” He sauntered closer and threw an arm around Kon's shoulders, putting himself in between Kon and Mercy while still holding onto the oblivious act. “And it'll go a lot easier if you've got two helpers instead of one.”

Kon saw the injector twitch in her hand.

He felt cold.

This was bad.

This was so bad.

He couldn't even save himself, how was he going to get Roy out of the line of fire?

He couldn't.

There was no way.

And then the fire alarm went off.