Similis

"Guys! We have to get out of here." Jonathan reminded them.



Pulling at Jonathan's wrist, Haze reached out to Bruce. Between one blink and the next, they were outside, and standing by the Batmobile.



"How?" Bruce looked in awe at Haze.



"We don't know." Jonathan answered for them both. "Haze has done this a few times before. Clark asked but Haze couldn’t tell him, at least not in any way that Clark could understand. Best we could decide was that when Haze needs to be somewhere, he just lets himself be put there."



"Teleportation?" Bruce suggested.



"Maybe? Or maybe it's just one of those things that happen for him because of what he is?" Jonathan was watching Haze closely. "Haze? Are you alright, son?"



"Is it because of how you got us out of there?" Bruce asked, activating the door lock on the huge vehicle.



Haze shook his head, gesturing that moving them had not been a problem.



"I'm betting that it was seeing Clark acting like that." Jonathan decided. "It's upset you, hasn't it?"



Haze nodded unhappily.







"What were you thinking of, letting him get close to you like that?" Bruce remembered how angry seeing the other boy's hands on Haze had made him. "You saw how out of control he was."



Almost-luminous eyes locked onto his. 'Needed … touch … Clark …' Signs flowed from Haze's fingers.



"I saw." Bruce told him curtly.



Haze signed an urgent 'no'. He made a sign that Bruce had never seen him use, a tightening ring with his thumb and forefinger, close to his eye, then 'no' again, and the c-shape by his hair that meant 'Clark'.



"He's saying that that was Kal and not Clark." More experienced at interpreting Haze, and more familiar with what the 'eye-sign' might be referring to, Jonathan caught on first.



Haze's hands fluttered rapidly. He looked beseechingly at Jonathan.



"What do you mean? Clark is what?" Jonathan's eyes widened. "Choking? Smothering?" He ran his fingers through his hair in a gesture that Bruce had come to recognise as despair.



"Kal has him trapped in there, doesn't he, and he's weakening? That's what you were doing when you touched him! Finding out what was happening inside him! Oh lord, Haze. How long have we got before …" Jonathan's voice dried and he looked to the dark-haired youth.



Haze lifted three fingers, then four.



"Only three to four weeks?" Jonathan was aghast. "How are we going to search the whole city for him in that time?"



Miserably Haze shook his head and gestured 'Small … time…'



Jonathan's eyes widened. "Haze? You mean ... three to four DAYS?"







For a moment the three of them stood in the car park, each reacting in their own way to the new knowledge.



Jonathan shut his eyes and tried to come to terms with the legacy that the meteors had brought with them.



Shivering, Haze clasped his arms around his upper body, staring off blindly into the distance.



Bruce stood, seeing his companions react to the terrifying reality of having one of their family members disintegrating almost in front of their eyes. He found himself torn between a mixture of sympathy and concern for Jonathan, and annoyance at Haze for allowing the entirely dangerous personality that was Kal, such intimate access.



No, you weren't angry with him back there, you were jealous The small voice in the rear of Bruce's mind insisted. You've started to care for Haze, and you can't stand the idea of someone else having a greater hold on him. Or is it that you realise how deeply Haze still cares for that lad? That Haze would take Clark back in an instant and what he gave you probably means nothing now. Isn't that what you can't cope with?



"We should be getting back to the house." Bruce shook himself out of his introspections and took it on himself to act. "We can check the cameras and see where Edge has gone, and maybe we might also find some sign of Clark … Kal." He amended.



Shaking his head, Haze pointed at the sky, and then at himself.



"You can't be serious!" Bruce demanded. "You don't think that you are going to be able to stop him do you? How much of that red mineral has he got slopping around in him by now? Face it, Haze, even you can't save someone from themselves..." He stopped short. Wasn't that exactly what Haze had done with him?



The look that Haze gave him was unmistakeable. 'Know, we' He signed. 'Pull, you.'







Yes, they did both know the truth of what had happened that first night. Haze had pulled Bruce back from the emotional downward spiral that his life had become.



Bruce fancied he could almost hear the stern words being spoken. Now that he had had the chance to hear Haze's 'twin' speaking, he found himself mentally assigning Kal's voice to Haze's signs, however reluctantly.



"Haze. I didn't mean that the way it came out. I was just worried that you would get hurt." He told the youth.



'Clark … no ... hurt ... me.' Haze was not accepting that.



"Listen, just come back to the house. We can all sit down and work on this together…" Bruce promised.



'No.' Haze flattened his hand across the air. 'Find … Clark… Time … small…'



"Small? Oh, there's not enough time left? I agree, Haze." Bruce understood what Haze was trying to convey, but he didn't think it had a chance of working. "Gotham's big, Haze: we could search the whole city, spend all night on it, and still not find him. He won't make it easy for us."



'Not … you.' Haze's busy hands affirmed.



"I'm not going waste what time we do have, in driving around the streets on a fool's errand. We can use the resources back at the cave. That's our best chance. It might even get us Edge as well."



That earned him a swift shake of the head. Haze slid out of the formal shirt and tossed it to Jonathan. Standing under the sodium lights, his bare skin gleamed with a soft pearly sheen, but when the youth turned his eyes to Bruce his expression was uncharacteristically hard. 'Going' He signed tersely.



Wings sprang out of nowhere and the angel tensed them, shivering the feathers into flight alignment. Before either of the two men could react, Haze had leapt into the air and was already fading into the dimming sky.







"Damn." Jonathan swore. "Well, that could have gone better."



"It was my screw up." Bruce apologised. "I let my emotions get involved. I should never have let Haze see that I was angry. Now they're both out on the loose. Jonathan, I'm so sorry…"



"Forget it." With a shrug, Jonathan slapped him on the shoulder. "I'm the last person to be giving lectures on people-skills. If either of those two actually count as people?" He sighed.



"Haze was in no mood to be reasoned with, I don't think I've ever seen him like that, it’s a sure thing that neither of us is the person he wants right now. Besides, the risk is probably fairly low: I very much doubt if Kal is going to let anyone find him until he's good and ready. Haze will have to come back to us when he cools down, Bruce, after all - where else is he going to go?"



"You're right. So lets get back there and see if we can't salvage something from this evening?" Bruce suggested. "Jump in, and I'll contact Alfred and get him started on scanning the city-wide CCTV cameras and the radio frequencies. Maybe we'll get lucky?"







Powering up through the darkening air Haze flew on instinct. The thermals above the buildings were powerful and he let them lift him, riding the turbulent currents until the hall and the two men were minute blips on his senses. If the two humans had not both borne traces of his own intervention the angel would not have even been aware of them at this distance.



Turning his attention away from the strong tug that was Bruce, and the weaker flicker that was Jonathan Kent, Haze let his wing beats settle into an easy rhythm.



Where is Clark/Kal? That was the big question.



Haze allowed his mind-touch to gradually expand. This city was full of living beings, millions of them, all of their minds closed away from his, including Kal's. At longer range most humanoid bio-signs were identical: the usual methods would not work.



This needs something else.



Detouring around a tall glass tower, Haze rode the acceleration wave, letting it lift him over the next block. As he soared along the air currents, something that Bruce had said floated to the surface of his thoughts.



He remembered the exact words … 'How much of that red mineral has he got slopping around in him by now?' …



Good question. Just how many concentrated sources of red-K were there in Gotham tonight?



Haze powered up the face of the tallest tower in the immediate area and landed lightly as a snowflake on the very tip.



The angle of the roof was just shallow enough for the angel to stand on it without sliding too much, although the rubber soles of his shoes squeaked as his feet settled into a relatively secure position on the glass. Leaving his wings open, Haze closed his eyes and invited the city to give up at least one of its secrets.



* * * * *





In the distance, a pale moon rose, reflecting off the inky waters of the docks. Silent now, the cranes rose like broken reeds above the stilted piers. Haze's arrival went almost unnoticed as he drifted along between the roofs of the empty warehouses. There was one source of red-K just ahead, and it was housed in living flesh.



There had been two others, neither alive. The first batch of red-K was still securely stored on the top floor of the huge Wayne Corporation laboratory complex that Bruce had proudly shown Haze and Jonathan around during the first week of their stay. Haze had deemed it unlikely that he would find Kal in that location.



Likewise, Haze had immediately discounted the second batch, high up in a tall office building in the financial district. There was red-K there, several pounds of it, but the red signature had been almost blotted out by the sheer bulk of its green counterpart, and there were no life-signs with either. Haze had flitted away without bothering to do more than note the location. With that much Green-K Kal wouldn't be there, at least not willingly.







But Kal could be here. Dropping to the floor, Haze put his wings away. He definitely didn't want the indescribable mix of oil, dirt, and organics from the old piers ending up on his flight feathers.



At the end of the dock, a familiar shape waited…



Yes! Truimphant excitement flooded through Haze.



"Haze." Kal greeted him. "Glad you came." Getting up from the crate that he had been using as a seat, he sauntered over, grinning knowingly. "I guessed you'd come looking for me, and without the chaperones…"



Haze smiled in reply. Where was the red-K that was maintaining the transformation and how could he get it away from Kal?



"Now that I've pissed Edge off, he'll be gunning for me." Kal stated. "I really missed you Haze, but we're a bit too public for me to show you properly just how much." Strolling toward one of the disused buildings he paused, "You coming?" His eyes narrowed as he looked back at Haze. "Unless you're not really on my side either?"



The very last thing Haze wanted was for Kal to start thinking too closely about Haze's actions, and more particularly to begin wondering about his current loyalties. Stepping closer he rubbed his hand over Kal's.



"Good." Kal smiled. "I found this place last week while I was out for a dawn run, I'm betting that Edge doesn't know a thing about it." Reaching out, he casually unbent a section of twisted steel bar that was holding the door shut. "We'll be safe enough here."



Inside, the warehouse was dark and empty. The section that they had walked into was huge, open all the way to the ceiling.



"It's secure." Kal took another piece of bar and twisted it into place on the inside of the door. "All the entrances are sealed. I've made sure of that." He said quietly.



Haze felt himself becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Something was setting his inner senses tingling. He glanced around the echoing box of a place and found nothing to account for his unease, so why had he started to feel like a caged bird the instant Kal had fastened the door behind them?



Because I am? With all the entrances secured, he was sealed in here with Kal…







The light from the rising moon filtered in through a wall of fogged windows, casting distorted squares of blue-white along the debris-strewn floor.



In the reflected light Haze could make out the alternating stripes of the corrugated walls, the looming empty metal staircases, and the rusting panels that had once vibrated to the constant pounding of feet. Piles of twisted metal and torn canvas sheeting littered the floor, and from somewhere outside came the eerie lament of a ship's horn.



A pair of steely hands clamped unexpectedly around Haze's biceps, making him jump slightly. But he should have felt safe with Clark so close … except this wasn’t Clark…



"Whoa, buddy." Kal smiled at him, sliding his hands over Haze's back. "No need to stress. You're with me now, and nothing is going to touch you. Except me of course."



Haze hoped that he was doing the right thing, as he leaned in and pressed his lips to Kal's. He had formulated a simple two-part plan, but it needed certain factors to go his way.



Haze intended to reach Clark, heal him to undo the effects of the red-K and help him put the Kal part of him back to sleep, but the continuing presence of the red rock was complicating the process.



Healing Clark would also leave Haze vulnerable, therefore Kal/Clark not only had to want it to happen, he had to be prepared to guard Haze afterwards while Haze recovered. To have a chance of succeeding, Haze therefore had to first get Kal to actively want to co-operate.



There would be no problem if Clark could regain control, Clark was naturally trusting and would allow Haze to do anything to him. However Kal was definitely in the ascendant and his personality was by no means as easy or as stable as Clark, plus Kal would realise that he had a lot more to lose.



To get Kal into the mood where he would willingly let Haze call the shots, Haze was going to have to get Kal totally relaxed and completely convinced of his loyalty.



Unfortunately, given Kal's variable state of mind and his greater physical strength, Haze could only think of one feasible way to achieve that. Something that Martha had said, about not beating but joining… It seemed doubtful that Clark's human mother would have had this particular scenario in mind though…







The first stage was accomplished relatively easy, as Kal was more than happy to let Haze get up close and personal. However, as Haze worked on re-acquainting himself with the inside of the other boy's mouth, he could taste the taint of the red-K on Kal, in his breath, his lips, even in the skin on his face and neck. It tasted sharp, and slightly sour.



They broke for Kal to take a breath and Haze was dismayed to see how the other boy's eyes glowed like neon signs in the near-dark. He concluded that it would have been handy if his own body had managed to mimic Clark's invulnerability a little more closely during the copying process.

Some of the Kryptonian durability had duplicated, rendering Haze's skin quite a lot tougher than a human's, but he was in no sense proof against sufficient damage and Kal was not being careful.



Allowing Kal to take control of their next fevered exchange, Haze deliberately shut down the feedback from his pain receptors as far as he could, even as he sent out tiny hair thin trickles of energy probing into Kal, testing just how far the corruption had spread. Hopefully he could continue to keep Kal too pre-occupied to notice his alternative agenda, the last thing he needed now was for Kal to correctly guess why Haze had really come after him.



From the way Kal's hands were wandering, Haze guessed that the emotional rollercoaster had already cycled along the track from paranoia back up to rampant sexual desire. Not that from Haze's angle this was much of an improvement. Their lips met again and this time Kal totally abandoned finesse, intent instead on obtaining maximum contact.







Haze was glad that he did not need to breathe as the humans and Kal did. Even so, the irregular pain as Kal's hands explored him was dragging intermittent gasps from him. Kal's nails were like chisel blades, and the tips of his fingers dug in deep into Haze's bare skin each time Kal pulled at him.



"You're… so ... beautiful ... Haze." Kal was saying, punctuating each word with a demanding kiss. Running his face along the edge of Haze's jaw, he nipped at him urgently, panting hard and rubbing his groin against Haze's.



"I bet you taste good too!" Kal tested that theory by biting Haze's shoulder, drawing blood, which served only to excite him further. By now the Kryptonian youth was working on maximum coverage, exploring Haze with teeth and hands in equal parts.



"So good!" He panted. "So fucking good! I can't wait to have you properly, Haze…" Kal stopped, yanking Haze tight against him, and scanned around the warehouse. "Now where would be the best place?"



Haze froze in dismay: in his current mood, Kal was more likely to kill him than pleasure him. Whatever his motivation, Kal was completely invulnerable and seemed to have forgotten that Haze was not. Clark would never have treated him so roughly, not even at the height of passion.



With rising horror Haze finally understood just how very little there was left of the proper occupant of this body: only faint memories buried under layers of selfish indifference and raging emotion. Pulling back against the hand that was tugging at him, he shook his head, signing 'No. Not. Here.'



Kal gave him a hard yank and snagged him with a steely grip. "No?"







For a second Haze wondered if Kal had seen through him and was about to crush him? But the heated arms remained around his shoulders, the pressure steady. It appeared that Kal was still being led by quite different urges.



Thankfully!



"Okay, angel. Maybe you're right?" Kal whispered, licking and biting his way up Haze's neck and tugging his head back for better access. "After all, we've got plenty of time, and I did want our first time together to be a bit more special. We shouldn't hurry this, and we do deserve better than some cruddy warehouse." He ran eager hands over Haze's buttocks and squeezed him forcefully. "But if I don't get off soon, I'm gonna blow a gasket!"



Haze realised that this was his chance, and maybe the only one he would get? He licked across Kal's mouth and nibbled on his lower lip, figuring that it was the least painful way for him to keep that dangerous mouth occupied. He wriggled his hips back so that there was a little space between them.



"What?" The red eyes narrowed suspiciously and Kal tensed. The tension was palpable. Hastily, Haze slid his hand down between them, and thankfully Kal caught on. "Oh. You're offering to bring me off by hand, huh…?"



Nodding, Haze cupped the tight leather mounded over Kal's heated erection under his palm and kneaded firmly.



The tense set of the shoulders relaxed and Kal leaned in against him. "Well, I guess that would be okay."



From the groan and thrust that Haze received as his fingers dug in, Kal was beginning to appreciate the attention. "Yeah…" The other youth moaned into Haze's mouth. "Get rough with me, angel!"



Pushing Kal against the steel girder that held up the roof, Haze massaged him as hard as he dared, ignoring the bursts of pain in his hand each time Kal thrust back unexpectedly hard into his palm.



Repeatedly Haze traced a tight trail through the leather with a thumbnail, moving quicker and harder all the time.



"Faster!" Kal ordered. "Oh, Haze, yeah, I knew we were going to be good. No one really touches me, Haze… No one else could ever make me feel anything! Only you!"



The bones in Haze's wrist were agony; every muscle in his arm already aching from the force it took just to keep Kal content, building him to a climax like this was out of the question.



"Stop teasing me." Kal commanded. "Do the energy thing!"



He wants it? Until now Haze had deemed that approach best avoided, in case it aroused suspicion in Kal's paranoid mind, but now he had his instructions.



So why not? Reaching around Kal, Haze pressed his free hand onto bare metal, at the same time inserting his tongue into Kal's mouth and delicately extending his mind-touch into the fluid energy field of the world around him. He tapped the local area for a mild charge, however as Kal rocked against him, distracted, flushed and only too eager, Haze decided that he was going to make far more of this opportunity than Kal would ever expect…







Kal leant back against the column, already nearly blissed-out from the combination of the delicious friction and the oral stimulation, his overloaded senses far too busy to track all of the tiny changes going on within and around him.



'Haze…'



For a split second Haze tasted Clark.



"Oh, yes! Haze!"



Delighted, Haze reached eagerly for his friend, seeking the sweet, warm essence. Tracing along the fringes of the mixed mind, Haze pushed, hoping to call Clark closer to him, to free him.



In that microsecond, while Haze was urgently extending his mental contact that bit further, the rest of the energy that he had summoned arrived. Filling the angel it overflowed, surging along the temporary contacts forming within the body next to Haze.



The exact instant that the summoned energy channelled out through Haze and into his flesh, Kal climaxed. The resulting orgasmic yell was strong enough to craze two-thirds of the windows and to set the metal walls vibrating.



Quickly, while Kal was still drifting on a post-coital high, Haze delved back into the multi-layered confusion that served as Kal's mind. Inside, it was red and rough and horribly empty: Clark was no longer answering.







"Oh, Haze!" Kal gasped, clutching Haze to him and trembling from the aftershocks. "That was … fucking fantastic … " Laughing, he ran one finger over Haze's face, and stroked Haze's lips with the tip. "I'll return the favour in a minute, I promise. Just gimme a bit to get it back together…"



Leaning against the column, Kal grinned. "Whew! I didn't think anything could feel that good!" He laughed. "And we could have been doing this all those times you were together with Clark! Damned boy scout … What a wuss!"



Haze shuddered. This perversion that had taken his friend from him sickened him, but thankfully Kal was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice.



"C'mere." Releasing him, Kal fumbled a length of thick silvery metal from his neck. Suspended within the design of the chain was an elegant polished red crystal.



"I want you to have this." Kal pulled himself together and stood upright. "Take it, angel."



'Red Stone?' Haze signed the question. 'Why?'



"So you can wear it." Lifting Haze's hand to his lips, Kal kissed the grazed knuckles. He gave him a megawatt grin. "I want everyone to know that you belong to me. What better way than you wearing my freedom stone?"



Haze stared incredulously; never in his wildest imaginings had he expected that Kal would just give him the crystal. He reached for it, and waited, yearning for the instant when the red effects faded and he would have his Clark back…



The minutes passed and Haze continued to look at Kal expectantly, waiting for the familiar eyes to look at him again, for Clark to regain control.



"It's okay, Haze, I don't need it any more." Kal assured him, happily misreading the question. "I'm here to stay. While you were getting me off, I felt the last bits of the old ball and chain surrender. It was just so perfect. You pulled him out and blew him away." A rumble of laughter rolled up through him as he gazed deep into Haze's eyes.



"I just knew we were right together, Haze… Edge started it, and that crystal helped it along, but it was you that finally did it for me, my sexy little angel, you helped me kill off Clark Kent!"