Hi! That break between chapters was super long. Sorry and I will try to update a little more timely next time. I also realized that I haven't really talked about John Henry Irons at all but I do want him to kind of have been there a little bit in the background so if I started mentioning him more, that's what's up with that lol.

"Do you know the direction of Edge's…place from the point your father picked you up?" Sam asked. The entire table was full with the entire Lane/Kent family. Jordan had been looked over for the past hour, ending up being diagnosed with a sprained wrist, minor concussion, and a row of stitches on his left elbow and forehead.

"Um, no, I don't really think so. I just got a chance to run and ended up going super speed I guess." Jordan looked down, his thumb rubbing against the wooden kitchen table. "It happened kind of fast."

Clark had been firmly against trying to question Jordan about the past few days until Jordan had a chance to rest. Sam had been adamant to pick up any info on Edge as fast as possible. Lois was firmly torn in the middle. Which meant questioning now it was.

"Could you see the sun in your line of sight?" Sam tried to meet Jordan's gaze which was planted firmly toward the table.

"I'm…not sure."

"But no memory black-outs, right?"

"Nope," Jordan shifted in his seat. "No black-outs. No weird Eradicator cult machines."

"Did Edge say why he took you?"

Jordan looked across the table and Clark had to force himself not to tap his foot from anxiety and guilt, knowing the answer already.

"To get to dad." Jordan said bluntly. "And I think Edge wanted to use the Eradicator on me. Apparently I would be a good addition to the Kryptonian cause, powers and all."

"What about-"

"Maybe we should take a break from questions." Clark cut off his stepfather. Ever question was spiking his son's heart rate which was probably the reason Jordan hadn't completely passed out asleep by now. The father had no idea how to handle this situation even though it had been the center of his nightmares for years. He was worried he was already failing at it.

"You want to eat anything now, sweetheart?" Lois asked, the voice of reason in the group.

"I'm not hungry." Jordan answered, shrugging. "We can keep going with questions. It's fine.

Lois frowned.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"They gave me some granola bars at first bunker I was in." Jordan answered immediately, a look of regret crossing his face like he hadn't meant to say that as the table suddenly creaked and a crack formed right in front of his father's place.

"The first bunker was Edge's facility, right? Where Larr moved you from." Lois frowned, her eyes flashed dark for a second when Jordan nodded.

"That was over two days ago." Clark's voice was tight as he stood up and headed straight toward the pantry. "They didn't feed you for at least two days."

"I mean, I feel fine. The half Kryptonian part and all. Edge must have known that."

"Dude," Jon started, a weird look on his face. "You ate four peanut butter sandwiches last Tuesday as a snack."

Clark stopped, staring into the pantry, apparently realizing that he had no idea what a person would need to eat in a situation like this. He had read over a hundred books preparing for half human sons including quite a few on human nutritional needs but this scenario was definitely not covered. He met Lois' gaze from across the room and she got up automatically to help him. Reading his mind, she point to a can of soup and Clark nodded.

"Can we just get back to what grandpa was saying?" Jordan put his hands out flat on the table. He took a moment to choose his next words carefully. "I think I might have heard Edge talking to his father's hologram about something important. About the Eradicator."

Everyone in the room froze.

"We have the Eradicator." Sam leaned forward. "Kryptonian or not, he won't be able to find it with the defensives we set up."

"Edge is coming after it. Like soon. He has a whole list of military bases he's going to target in a big attack with Leslie Larr to find it."

"What bases?" Clark asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he set a bowl of soup in front of Jordan who doesn't acknowledge it or his father at all.

Jordan paused a moment, not for the first time since waking up a little look of indecision passing quickly over his face. The light from the kitchen window dimmed as clouds started to form over the farm.

"The acoustics in Edge's fortress were weird, so I couldn't really hear as well. There were a couple different names, though, and Edge and Larr were in the other room. Fort Benson and Myers were definitely on it."

"Not Benson or Myers." Sam shakes his head, seeming satisfied by those two. "We can fortify their defenses as much as possible, though, in case of attack." Same winces. "I hate to take any Kryptonian resources away from the actual location."

"I could probably recognize if the name of the place you're keeping it is somewhere they're going to hit if you told me it." Jordan tapped his foot against the wood floor unconsciously.

"And that's enough with military talk for today." Lois cut in, tension clear on her shoulders at the turn in her fourteen year old son's interrogation.

"Wait," Jordan eyes widen. "I can help if you just tell me-"

"Jordan, you're mom's right. You've already done enough." Sam shakes his head, stopping the boy. "And we're already acting like Edge could hit the base at any time, so him targeting or not targeting it can't change anything."

An annoyed look passed over the teen's face for a split second.

"It can't hurt to know Edge's information, though. And you just asked me a dozen other questions. I was fine then." Jordan's voice raised just a notch. "It's fine."

"It's not fine, Jordan." Clark said slowly, concern now etched more firmly on his face. "I know you must feel like you need to do everything possible to stop Edge right now after everything that happened, but that's not your job. Your mother, grandfather, and I will handle this. You and Jon are both safe here now."

"Like we were so safe here when-" Jordan stopped himself as his father's eyes widened. The teen bite his lip and glanced at his mother who quite obviously wanted to say something in that moment. "I didn't mean that. Sorry, dad." He finally murmured.

"You don't need to apologize." Clark answered quickly, getting up from his seat and wrapping his arms around his son once again. "Not after today. I love you." He pulled Jon into the hug. "Both of you. And I'm serious when I say Edge isn't getting within 50 miles of this house without me knowing."

"Or the DoD for that matter." Sam added.

The Kryptonian father had to fight through the fear of letting go to finally release Jordan and Jonathan from his grip.

"Dad," Jordan suddenly looked straight into Clark's eyes. "There's something…" He paused, then rubbed his temple like a headache was coming on. "Nevermind," The teen shook his head. "If we're done talking about all of this for now then I think I need to go sleep before I pass out on the kitchen table."

"Okay, honey." Lois nodded. The mother glared at the completely full bowl still on the table but decided to let it go for just now.

"Hey," Jon spoke up and smiled. "Want to have a sleepover in my room? Just like old times? I definitely wouldn't mind the company."

"Um, no thanks." Jordan responded immediately, shrugging his shoulders then leaving the room without a backward glance.

"oooookay then." Jon blinked, glancing back and forth between his parents. He gave Jordan another second to get all the way upstairs even though he knew it wouldn't really mean anything if his brother decided to use super hearing. "So that was weird."

Clark put a hand on Jon's shoulder, trying to hide the worried looks him and Lois were giving back and forth.

"Give your brother some time, okay."

Jon nodded slowly.

"I just kind of thought I'd feel more relieved at this point." Jon started suddenly. "But it still feels like he's gone. Like something's still up…How can we be sure he isn't just like secretly possessed?"

Clark swallowed, this question weighing on him heavily as well. That was honestly his huge fear in this whole situation. He didn't know what to do if he had to face his own son like that.

Sam used the beat of silence to take the lead.

"Every past subject remembers being possessed and usually has some idea that they are also experiencing blackouts." Sam recited as if it's something he had been saying to himself over and over again in his mind. "Plus, the subjects didn't exhibit strange behavior unless they were in the moment of being possessed by the Kryptonian. Jordan isn't showing any of those symptoms and there's also that we have video tape of him appearing unpossessed at the exact time we retrieved the Eradicator from Edge."

Jonathan looked only slightly more comforted by that response.

"I think…" He looked over his shoulder toward the stairs. "I'm gonna go upstairs in case Jordan changes his mind or wakes up or something."

"Jon," Lois stopped him for a second and gave him a look. "How many of John Henry Iron's weapons did you sneak to your room?"

"Umm…" Jon got up from his seat slowly. "Would you feel better if I said under ten or just over two? I've been practicing."

Lois sighed.

"Go up to your room." She waved Jon off, changing her mind and putting a hand on his arm as he passed her seat. "Hey, you're a good brother."

"I'm just trying to do…anything I guess right now." Jon looked down then headed up the stairs.

Silence encompassed the room after his absence.

"Jon's right, though." Lois said slowly, standing up from the table then unceremoniously dumping the soup into the sink. "That was weird."

She turned toward her husband.

"We need to find Edge as soon as possible."

Earlier that day

"This timeline is faster than I would like, but I believe the boy is as prepared for his piece of the plan as possible given our current time constraints." Edge spoke to the hologram of his father. He stood tall at the front of the room with Larr and Jordan looking on from behind.

"Get the boy to come forward." Zheta-Rho called out.

Edge looked back then motioned for Jordan who took a step after a beat of hesitancy.

"Zheta-Rho." Jordan attempted not the flinch in front of the Star-Wars-villain-esque man glowing on the pedestal at the center of the room.

"Silence, son of Kal-El." Zheta-Rho's face was unreadable as he spoke. He didn't mince his words."You are pathetic. The weakest of our kind."

If Zheta-Rho had been attempting to sucker punch the teen with just his ghostly figure, he had succeeded.

"But Kryptonians must be generous to our own kind, however much blood that may be, in these dire times. Even you then now have your chance to rise to our ranks. You do want that, correct?"

Jordan blinked.

"Yes, of course." The teen answered immediately, panic clear in his expression. "I'll do whatever you ask."

"And you will accomplish your tasks despite your human DNA?" Zheta-Rho's words echoed around the tavern like a boom.

"Yes." Jordan looked down, his nails digging into the skin of his palms.

"Yes what?"

"I will…accomplish my tasks despite my human DNA."

"Good." A trace of what must have been a smile on the deceased Kryptonian's warped face appeared. "Now, if Kal-El's son is to have made a daring escape, he must appear as such."

"I think we can keep to a minimum with the-"

Zheta-Rho waved his hand to dismiss his son.

"Leslie Larr will take care of this portion of the plan."

The woman motioned for Jordan to follow her, already rolling up a sleeve on her black suit.

"Jordan," Edge started before he turned around. "Your Kryptonian half will prevail. You'll be okay." The man offered, ignoring a fleeting look of displeasure on his father's face. The teen nodded once, offering his uncle a not-quite-smile before an odd look flickered over his face that he shook off.

Jordan sat on his bed in silence.

He considered what he needed to do next. Edge had been clear with the goals of this plan but execution would have to come down to Jordan being able to gain information on the Eradicator on his own, whatever way possible.

Downstairs he could hear his parents and grandpa argue about what to do next to capture Edge, all of them somehow thinking they could solve all of their problems by tracking down the rogue Kryptonian. He snorted at how easily they were just buying into his act.

Jordan grimaced as he felt another headache coming on. He stood up quickly, too quickly, and practically crumpled back to the ground, holding out a hand to catch himself on his nightstand. The teen sucked in a breath as a wave of something dark hit him.

What am I doing?

The thought hit Jordan hard and left him just as fast.

…

Whatever panic had just set in for that split second was quickly fogged over with the weird feeling that had been colluding over his thoughts since…he didn't quite know when. He pushed those thoughts away, his mind immediately drifting back to his previous thoughts.

…

Anyway, none of that mattered because he had to succeed in his mission for Edge, for Larr, and for his entire kind. Despite his human DNA.

Jordan felt shaky and prayed that his father hadn't just picked up on his slip up. He waited a moment, holding his breathe as he heard his father stiffen from where he and his mom were trying to get a few moments of rest in their bedroom. His father seemed to want to give the teen a little space since he asked for it because he didn't make a move to come check on him.

That wouldn't last, Jordan figured and started trying to guess how long he had until the world' best investigative detective, Lois Lane, sniffed out that something was off. Not long was the only answer.

He glanced out the window and zoned in on his grandfather taking a call on the patio. He had been a second away from getting the Eradicator's location from Sam Lane earlier that day if his parents hadn't frustratingly stepped in. The teen couldn't push back then without really making them suspect something.

This would work.