Like Conner, Danny was a clone of Superman. However unlike Conner, Danny was not designed to replace him. Instead he was created as a test dummy. Day in and day out, he was subjected to various injections, toxins and experiments. All for the purpose of one day using them on the real deal. Danny quickly lost track of the days and the pain as he slipped into mental oblivion. That is until one day, his brother comes busting through a wall.
Kool-Aid Man Conner
But also, I just love the idea of Conner having from day ONE of his existence been planning on a way to get his big brother out of the facility.
Having always been able to hear his brother’s screaming, the pain endured, and the frantic heartbeat that cusps on the edge of going out entirely. It scared him and left him with great resolve: he would save his brother, because some nights, on the better nights when he would be able to keep his consciousness, when things have gone quiet and his brother has been left alone until the next experimentation, Danny would whisper to him.
His voice unable to be caught by human ears, but so easily reached from one Kryptonian Clone to the other.
Danny whispers with soft nothings of a world outside of the walls they had been made from. Painting it all in a glow of endless landscapes and sky touched buildings. Of bright lights and colors that reach from all ends of the world.
Conner wanted to show his brother that world. The world he painted, and how much more better it was than what he had imagined, he only needed the chance to live in it.
Imagine that Danny learns of another clone - a younger one. He does his best to be quiet, to not let them hear his screams. He tells them stories every night when the scientists and guards are gone, rephrasing past experiences into an adventure as a distraction from that trial's pains. He shares songs and lullabies from a sister long gone, and tells his new sibling (a baby brother!) About the life that waits for them once they leave.
Eventually, as the younger clones lessons progress, he not only hears the words, but understands them. And in times he begins to respond back. That was the first time Danny smiled again.
They begin to converse. Danny's younger brother asks questions and Danny does his best to answer, and is honest when he doesn't know, but shares how they can find that information when they leave (no matter where you go, there's always a library right?)
With the young clone now being aware and cognizant, he also becomes aware of what the scientists are doing. Of the pain his older brother goes through on a regular basis (is it weekly? Daily? How can you tell time when there's no 'sun'?). And he swears - they'll make it out.
One day, Danny surprises the young clone by asking if he has a name. And he realizes, he doesn't. He has a designation, but no name. He tells his brother, feeling ashamed. He knows everyone else has a name, and doesn't know why he doesn't. In a quiet whisper no one else can hear, in between gasps for breath and clenched teeth, he's given a name. One he holds close to his heart even after being rescued, even after being named by his new friends (are they friends? Is that what this is?), even after being given the last name of their father. Because its the name given to him by his brother.
Would probably be Kryptonian? Since Danny remembers being dead? Probably MET actual Kryptonians. So Conner gets something a whole lot better then fucking Kon-El. Which if I'm remembering right is "abomination of the house of El"?
Like? Clark and Kal-El aren't close! Conner could have a PROPER non-insulting Kryptonian name that isn't a "we f*ckin HATE clones, it's a huge social issue we're going to take out on you, an actual child" thing! Clark may be OF house El and Krypton... but he doesn't freaking OWN them. Neither does Kara.
He gets a real name! One born of LOVE and HOPE d*mn it! YES I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THIS.
Oh this is gorgeous 😭
If Conner does get a proper Kryptonian name, via Danny’s death and reincarnation status, would Conner then reject the name that Clark ‘gave him’?
Danny who shared so much of their unknown culture, teaching Conner as secretly as he can of their language, of the nuances that belongs to Kryptonian’s?
If we go with JUST language it’d be so interesting if due to this language that was believed to have been “made up for rebellion” Danny would have been punished for it continuously. After all, there is no need for the dummy to have sentience beyond what they need. How dare he speak in code and even teach the other, more useful, clone!
Like, what if Conner has an unspoken trauma of Kryptonian language due to Danny being immediately harmed if it’s uttered? He HATES it, and gets this immediate instinct of anger bubbling in his stomach when he hears it, because it never came with something good after.
Yet he holds his name so close, hating and loving, a whirlwind mess of emotions that he doesn’t know where to stand.
But he knew enough, he knew enough to know as well when he was being insulted, and maybe it’s all he needs to reject being part of Clark. The man who is Kryptonian and who presents everything that had caused Danny harm, even led to the existence of Conner to be less than a person but far more important.
So instead of Conner hoping for a welcoming hand, he instead snarls in the face of his original.
There is far more rage, far more distaste, because he knows that Clark — that Superman — would be the last person to help his brother, when he so obviously hates the mere existence of Conner. Why would he chance it, when he had so much more to lose.
But perhaps in the future, once Danny is safe with Conner, maybe Danny while try and ease that hate? Because he finds it so sad to reject a part of yourself due to the violence and ignorance of others.
Danny who knows more than he should, who has been damaged so much that his heart has slowed to a sluggish crawl even humans would worry over. Danny who smiles as if their is a secret only he can share, whose hands are cold against Conner’s own, like frostbite against skin. Danny whose eyes are tired old from all he had endured, and yet still so willing to embrace even the things that Conner despises, because all Danny ever wanted was for his brother to be safe, to be happy, to know that he would never be rejected no matter how he was made or where he came from.
this needs more angst-
so what if it’s not just conner who has a strong reaction to hearing kryptonian being spoken, but also danny?
but where conner if filled with anger, rage, danny is filled with fear. he speaks to conner in kryptonian very much on purpose, and he refuses to stop, refuses to take that away from his baby brother, but, well, there is only so many times you can be punished for doing sometjing before you start unconsciously linking that sometjing to pain, to fear, to hurt. and so danny’s heartrate skyrockets, when speaking to his little brother, he shakes and sweats and tries his best to not let his voice tremble, blaming his racing heart on pain and not fear, a little lie to ease at least a bit of his brother’s worries and not add even more guilt and trauma at knowing what happens to danny
and then, when conner finally manages to get danny out, after danny has worked hard to get conner to accept the language again, but not too long after having gotten out, conner slips into kryptonian to speak with danny, and danny unprepared the way he usually is, with no time to steel himself and hide his reaction like he usually does… danny flinches So Hard
he doesn’t want to flinch, dammit! this is his brother! his little baby brother whom he would live and die for! who recently got him away from the people that hurt him, he is Safe! but fear and conditioning follow no logic and care for no knowledge, and ao danny flinches
and conner, conner finds new rage where he thougt he already had it all, and he is also filled with so much guilt and sadness and emotions he can’t even name, because all this time that danny did so much for conner, in the small ways that he could, while he assured conner that he was fine, that he could take it, that it was not his fault, it would be alright- inside his brother was falling apart, and even through his fear and his pain he still made himself do sometjing that scared him, day after day, just for conner
idk where this goes, i just had the idea of danny being scared of kryptonian himself even though logically he knows he shouldn’t be
@hypewinter how do you leave this in the tags!!!
#dp x dc#oh that's good#but what exactly would kon be angry at?#would he be angry at the people of cadmus?#for instilling this fear within his brother#angry at superman for never bothering to care before?#maybe he's angry at the kryptonian language itself#because it was speaking it in the first place that led to danny being punished#oooo what if he was angry at danny himself?#he doesn't want to be#but he's so used to reacting with anger#that his first reaction to his brother lying to him#is to get upset
conner being angry at All Of The Above, but the most delectable angst would come from him being angry at danny speciifically!! for lying to him about being scared, for teaching him kryptonian in the first place and getting hurt, for making him feel guilty, for not getting out sooner, etc etc
and he doesn't really want to be! be he can't help it!! anger is a knee jerk reaction at this point, and the fact that his anger is hurting the person he cares about the most?! pisses him off even more!!! he doesn't know wtf to do! fuck!
and danny tries to help him through it, but conner just gets angrier and angrier bc danny didn't do anything wrong! conner doesn't deserve his help! why is he trying to help?!
it's a vicious loop and the anger grows and grows until he explodes, and then he can start recovery, and they both heal and live happily ever after bc while i do love me The Angst and h/c, i also love me a happy ending, but damn if they don't have to be dragged through the floor first :D
(conner gets therapy and anger management help, and he makes a very conscious effort to recognize his anger as the knee jerk reaction that it is, and trying to get it under control/calm himself quicker each time, and communicating with the person who his anger is affecting but not actually directed at. i have no experience with the first two, but i do with that last thing, anger is my knee jerk reaction to any surprising or unexpected thing, but i have learned to process it in seconds at this point and recognize what it is the anger is covering and who or what it is actually directed at, which took years to be able to do, but i honestly was tired of yelling and glaring at friends and scaring them when they did nothing wrong, and i feel conner would be the same and would, in time, learn to manage the anger better, while also accepting the feeling and letting himself feel it but work through it in more productive/less harmful ways)
oh man, this got longer than expected, i just- Anger, man. It is So Good in a story and i project on this man now apparently
But imagine if Kara or Clark learn Danny knows Kryptonian. So one, or both of them, try talking to him in Kryptonian.
They're not trying to be mean or cause him hurt. They overheard that he'd talk to Conner in Kryptonian, and assumed that talking to Connor was one of the few bright points and happier memories for Danny. They had no idea he'd been conditioned to expect pain and punishment after hearing or speaking Kryptonian.
They hadn't expected Danny to flinch violently away and curl up, bracing like a kicked puppy expecting a strike.
I feel like the fact that Superman is thinking of Danny as only a 'test dummy' and 'it' says an awful lot about where he is in his personal growth journey here.
Someone points that and says, "You aren't giving either of them much reason to think better of you," and that's where Clark gets to grapple with that.
As for Conner's Kryptonian name; feel like Danny would call him something that translates to "blessing/gift of the house El" or something along those lines. (IDK how much of the language is actually established in canon, so IDK if there's already a word for blessing/gift or if we need to invent one for this.)
Is Danny Dan-El or something else? Did he name himself? Or did Conner name him?
