"This place is incredible." Jordan said as he and father walked through the fortress, him staring at everything in awe.
"Don't touch anything. A lot of stuff in here is incredibly dangerous and is likely to kill you if you're not careful." Clark warned and Jordan nodded, holding his hands up to show that he wasn't touching anything.
"Alert, intruder in the Fortress." Kelex said as he hovered down.
"Whoa, you have a robot?" Jordan asked.
"Yes, Kelex, stand down or I'll turn you into a toaster. This is my son Jordan, you are to show him the same respect that you'd give any other member of the house of El." Clark said.
"Of course, my apologies Master Kal. Should I also give him the same level of access that you and Mistress Kara in the fortress?" Kelex asked.
"No. Guest level only, since there are things in this place that a 14 year old boy does not need to know about or be able to have access to." Clark said, making it clear that it was not up for discussion.
"Seriously dad?" Jordan complained anyways.
"It's not up for debate. My fortress, my rules." Clark said firmly.
"How can I assist you today Master Kal?" Kelex asked.
"Jordan has begun to display kryptonian powers. We're here to run tests on him to determine the extent his powers will grow to." Clark said and Kelex nodded.
"One moment please." Kelex said as he floated away and Clark smiled, since he knew what was coming next.
"Hello son." a new voice said, startling Jordan as he and his father turned around to see a hologram of an older gentleman wearing what looked like a black and white version of his father's Superman suit, standing in front of them.
"Jordan, meet my birth father, who your mother and I named you after, Jor-El." Clark said.
"You've brought your son to me at long last. Why?" Jor-El asked.
"Because it would appear that despite our initial tests saying otherwise, Jordan has begun to develop powers like me." Clark said and the hologram smiled.
"Then it appears that our Kryptonian heritage may live on in you Jordan. Let's begin." Jor-El said as Jordan grinned.
"So, how'd it go?" Lois asked Jordan after Clark dropped him off at their home in Metropolis.
"I met a hologram of dad's birth father." Jordan said and Lois smiled.
"Yeah, I remember the first time I met Jor-El. His opinion was that his son could do so much better than a human reporter." Lois said with a chuckle.
"Wait, hologram grandpa didn't like you?" Jordan asked.
"Not at first. But he warmed up to me over time. Though honestly I'm not sure if that's because Clark got your aunt to reprogram it for him." Lois said.
"Why couldn't he do it himself?" Jordan asked.
"Because while your father has many strong suits, kryptonian science is not one of them. Kara on the other hand, grew up in Krypton's science guild. There are honestly times where I wonder why she went into reporting when she could've made quite a career for herself as a scientist. But anyways how did it go?" Lois asked, getting them back on the topic.
"Well, dad also told me not to touch anything in the fortress." Jordan said.
"Good, I'm glad he remembered that rule, since honestly, there are some things in that place that he won't even let me touch, not that I can blame him since a lot of it is dangerous. But anyways, how did the tests go?" Lois asked.
"I don't know, dad brought me back here in case Grandpa shows up unexpectedly while he waits at the Fortress for the results." Jordan said with a wide grin, right as Clark entered the house.
"So, did you get the results back?" Lois asked.
"I did and I've got good news and bad news." Clark said, causing the smile on Jordan's face to fade.
"Okay, well, what's the good news." Lois asked.
"The good news is that according to the scans we did at the fortress, as Jordan gets older and his cells absorb more energy from earth's yellow sun, his powers will gradually begin to reach the level that mine are at, though maybe slightly weaker." Clark said.
"Is that the bad news?" Jordan asked, since that wasn't so bad.
"No, the bad news is that Jordan's human DNA is compromising his cells' ability to fully process and utilize solar energy like mine do." Clark said.
"What does that mean?" Jordan asked.
"It means that your cells don't absorb solar radiation at the same rate that mine do, so to compensate for that, the solar radiation is only channeled through specific parts of your body, which means that you only have some of my powers Jordan, not of all of them." Clark said.
"Some are better than none and at least it means that I'm kind of like you." Jordan said, choosing to look on the positive side of things.
"Do the test results say which of your powers Jordan will develop?" Lois asked.
"Well, we already know he has my durability which will grow into invulnerability and heat vision. Only other power that the fortress confirmed that Jordan has or will have is super strength." Clark said.
"So no freeze breath, super speed, super senses or flying?" Lois asked.
"I really wanted to be able to fly." Jordan said and Clark smiled.
"You're still young Jordan. It's possible that over time, when you get older, you may start displaying more powers, but for now, I'd say consider yourself lucky that you have the ones you do. But this also means new rules." Clark said.
"Like what?" Jordan asked.
"Well for starters, you need to start learning how to use your powers." Clark said.
"How, in the basement?" Jordan asked.
"No. For right now, every weekend I'm going to be taking you to either my mom's farm, since that's where I learned to control my powers or the Fortress and the sessions at the Fortress will also be used to further your knowledge about krypton and our family and that's the best place for you to learn and since your aunt would kill me if I didn't, I'm also going to start teaching you how to read, write and speak Kryptonian." Clark said.
"Can I get in on any of those lessons?" Jonathan asked as he joined them, since he'd just gotten home from practice.
"No. This is my thing. You have sports and everything else, but this, this whole krypton thing, it's mine." Jordan said before either of their parents could say anything.
"Jordan." Lois said and Clark sighed as Jordan walked upstairs.
"Yes Jonathan, though your lessons will still be taking place at home. I was already planning on teaching both of you about your heritage after I revealed that I was Superman to you two, the current circumstances just caused me to focus on Jordan, but yes Jonathan and I promise once things calm down with Jordan, I will take you to the Fortress, since I want to have you retested in case you actually did inherit any of my powers like your brother did." Clark said.
"I get it dad. And I'm cool letting you teach Jordan first, but at the same time." Jonathan said.
"You don't want to be left out of this club that I seem to have with your brother." Clark said knowingly.
"How'd you know?" Jonathan asked.
"Super telepathy." Clark said.
"Really?" Jonathan asked, suddenly looking nervous.
"Don't do that." Lois said with a smirk as she smacked her husband's chest.
"I'm sorry, but the look on his face was hilarious." Clark said with a laugh and Lois chuckled.
"Your father cannot read minds, that's a mom power, but he is your father and we can both tell that you feel a bit left out." Lois said.
"We're not staying in Metropolis forever are we?" Jonathan asked knowingly.
"Did you overhear us last night?" Clark asked.
"Bits and pieces. I heard you guys talking about moving in with Grandma Martha in Smallville, saying that it would be better for Jordan there." Jonathan asked.
"Just to be clear Jonathan, nothing is set in stone yet. There are still a lot of variables to take into account before we make that move, but it likely won't be for awhile, since you still have football and your father and I have work here. Yes we are likely going to be moving to Smallville in the future, but we're not going to uproot our whole family immediately." Lois said.
"Yeah, just another reason for Jordan to hate me." Jonathan said.
"He doesn't hate you." Clark said.
"Really, cause I think the way he reacted when I asked to learn about Krypton too tells a different story. I bet he's hoping that I never develop powers like him." Jonathan said.
"Jonathan, your brother loves you, but at the same time, you can't deny that he's kind of spent his life living in your shadow and now he finally has something to help step out of it. It's natural he doesn't want to give it up. But he does not hate you." Clark said.
"I wish I could believe that dad." Jonathan said as he headed upstairs.
"Well, that's not how I anticipated tonight going." Clark said.
"Oh, by the way, my dad called earlier, he wants to talk to you." Lois said.
"About?" Clark asked.
"Kara." Lois said and Clark groaned.
"Might as well get that over with quickly so that I can let him know that if he attempts to pull anything like Red Tornado again, I'll see it as the United States attacking Superman." Clark said.
"He wouldn't. He respects Superman." Lois said.
"But not Supergirl. The only reason I'm okay with Kara being involved in the DEO is because I know that J'onn would rather die than let her be hurt. But your dad, the second he crosses a line he shouldn't is the second he becomes my enemy." Clark said.
"I know and I agree with you. I'll call him and tell him that you can meet with him tomorrow." Lois said.
"No, I'll go now, get it over with." Clark said and Lois nodded as Clark sped out of the room.
Sam Lane was currently on his way out to his car from the military base he was stationed at when he heard someone behind him.
"General, I heard you wanted to speak with me." Superman said as he landed in front of him.
"Took you long enough." Sam said.
"Family stuff. Not that you'd know about that." Superman said.
"Okay, let's move on. Speaking of family, you wanna tell me why you never mentioned her." Sam asked as he pulled up Kara's article about Supergirl on his phone.
"It was none of your business." Clark said.
"The hell it's not. This whole time, you've had a cousin out there who's been hiding out and doing nothing before all of sudden showing up out of nowhere. Talk. Who is she?" Sam demanded.
"That's none of your business and it's not my place to tell you. Not without her permission." Clark said.
"Clark, the five stars are on a warpath, they trust you, but her?" Sam asked.
"Talk to Director Henshaw, I hear she's pretty chummy with him. But you don't have to worry General, Supergirl is not a threat. She's like me, she only wants to help. But I want to make something very clear to you Sam." Clark said.
"And what might that be?" Sam asked.
"If you attack her, do anything to treat her as an enemy and I will become yours. She's the only blood related family I have left aside from the boys. I'm not gonna let anyone, especially you, hurt her. Am I clear." Clark said.
"Crystal. Still, I'd feel a bit more at ease if I could at least meet with her myself." Sam said.
"No promises. Now I need to get back, Jonathan and Jordan just had a big fight and Lois wants me to help with damage control." Clark said and Sam chuckled.
"Good luck, also, see if Jonathan's up for a fishing trip anytime soon." Sam said.
"Will do. But remember what I said General. If you attack Supergirl, then these friendly chats, they come to an end." Superman said as he flew off.
"Good to know." Sam said as he got in his car, wondering what the best way to proceed was before driving off.