Jonathan tells his friend about Season 2 Episodes 10 to 15 and his time at the fortress. The story continues. This chapter is a bit long. But the second half of season 2 was very eventful and Jon got way not enough attention in this time!
The more Jonathan told, the better he felt. It was already dark outside. And it was evident that they were close to Metropolis. His friend Timmy was visibly shaken and upset, but surprisingly cool and calm, too. Maybe out of respect? Maybe out of shock? Jonathan already wondered why Timmy hadn't freaked out by the revelation that the man, he adored like a god, was his friend's father and his neighbor for years. Or by all the other stuff Jonathan told him. Maybe after the kidnapping-attempt on the farm he was too tired to freak out. Or already in some kind of shock redid.
Jonathan decided to continue with his story…
"In these 33 days… I… I asked myself if he left because of me! Is he so madding on me that he does not endure my presence anymore? Will he return when I leave instead? The longer he was gone the more I wanted him back. I wanted to hug him! No matter if he shatters my bones in respond or beats me, or yells at me… I… I thought I will never ever have the chance to get even with him!"
"It… ehm… that was the month Superman was missed, right? Where was he?"
"In the inverse-world! He tried to stop Ally Allston. He went through the portal and was gone."
"So long?! What did he did so long there?"
"For him only a day passed. But according to Jon-El's memories I got while he tried to merge with me, he had fun with him flying together around the world…"
"Merge?"
"That was… ehm… later! The day before he came back… I talked with Jordan about how I feel and how I feared to never ever get even with our dad. And he suddenly came up with the story that he thinks he can fly…"
"Fly?!"
"Fly!"
"That is the coolest power of all!" Timmy said.
"Yeah! And Jordan came up with it, while I talked about how bad I feel. I was happy for him, yeah. But also, so pissed. No matter what, I just had to get out. Another power-story was the last thing I needed. I… was able to convince Candice to talk to my mother and with her help, my mother's infamous ability to get in trouble and Jordan's superpowers they were able to stop the X-K production and destroyed the whole supply chain."
"And you! What did you?"
"I… Nothing! I walked Candice home in the meantime! I don't know what they did but when I came home suddenly my doppelganger from the inverse-world stood in front of me and tried to merge with me."
"That weird event Ally Allston tried to destroy the world with?!"
"Yeah… in the inverse world, my doppelganger is the one with the powers. Arrogant, selfish, a horrific fashion-sense… And once again I needed to be saved. Jordan jumped in, they fought a while, my doppelganger made a bad joke about in this world the 'weak one getting powers'. My dad returned, and Jon-El escaped."
"Jon-El?"
"His name! In the inverse-world… my dad has no secret-identity. Everyone knows my family's secret there. The Superman there was selfish and loved the public. The total opposite of this world. I… ehm… Jon-El… you know, my father's birth-name on Krypton is Kal-El! El is his family-name!"
"Yours, too!"
Jonathan moaned. "Aww… According to my grandmother yes. So, my name in the inverse-world is Jonathan-El! Kryptonian name! Well, I can say… when he tried to merge with me it… it was the worst I ever went through. It felt like being on fire… my head felt like it was going to blow up like a balloon. And I… I saw his life… his memories… His father neglected him and his Jordan, too! Until the day he revealed that he has powers, too and became a 'Superhero' by himself and stole his father's spotlight. My father… when I was laying on the couch after, he tried to convince me that he loves me… but 15 minutes later he once again proved that he does not care about what I have to say."
Jonathan took a deep breath. He became pale. Timmy looked on his friend and thought about making a stop at the next rest area to give Jon the chance to make a break and get some air before he continues. But Jon just showed him to drive on to get to Metropolis as quick as possible…
"My mom told him about Candice, and he asked me why I didn't tell him about her being the dealer. I said: I didn't want her to get in trouble… but before I could even finish the sentence and tell him about the trouble, I tried to safe her from, he cut me off and told me that she should had been getting trouble. He… After 33 days he finally returned, he made promises again but once again he asks me questions and does not listen to what I say. Then we continued to argue about it and then the topic changed to his secret, and I told him that it could have been better if I and Jon-El merged. Because than, I would have powers and then he would actually listen to me!"
"The whole powers thing seems to rule your life?"
"It does! It's all about powers and because I don't have some, I am not important enough for him. My inverse doppelganger… The following days my father spent more time with him in his cell than with me. I was… I wanted to talk to my inverse doppelganger. I… have seen some of his memories and I need certainty."
"For what?"
"For my inner peace! I… some of those things I saw I don't get out my head. I just… I need to draw the line. But no! Too dangerous! Even after he got caught and set powerless. I think my dad was more worried about the powerless Jordan in the inverse-world. I was allowed to go to school again. My mom insisted on it. Telling me I should be grateful that Principal Balcomb allows me to go to school again and that it is safe there because Jordan is there who can protect me… Just to get threads from the football-team. They told me I will regret that I ever moved to Smallville! And today they proved that they are even more ruthless than I imagined."
Full of sorrow, Jonathan looked on Timmy's injuries again.
"Sometimes I really believe my father wants to replace me with my powered doppelganger. To have two sons to fly around the world. I really consider that. One day, he said he wants to spend time with me and Jordan together. Doing farm-chores together!"
"Farm-chores? When my dad wants to spend time with me, we make a trip together!"
"Oh, he made a trip… with Jordan! We were in the barn! He asked me about how I feel… and… I suddenly felt like he is really going to listen to me, this time. So, I start to talk about my feelings. How the whole shit with the X-K affects me and how I regret it. And about how I feel with everyone hating me. And… and about how sad I was about how mad he was on me. He… said he was never mad on me and promised to help me to deal with everything… just to…"
Jonathan stopped. His hands turned into fists…
"…just to… aww… I… I mentioned briefly that Jordan is in town to talk to his ex-girlfriend's mom. Because Jordan's ex-girlfriend's mother is also my father's ex-girlfriend! And to protect her, my father decided to fill her in with the family-secret and she didn't take it as well as he expected and cut all ties with our family. And Jordan was so upset that he didn't want to accept it. So, my dad left… promising to be back in a few minutes, just to… I… I waited… I waited for a few minutes. Then I continued with the chores to show him that I am reliable. And they… they return, hours later… happy, careless, and well-tempered from a flying lesson somewhere else in the world. While I finished all chores alone!"
"NO!" Timmy said shocked. "How crappy!"
"I… I first thought that something happened again! But when I figured out that my dad took Jordan to improve his flying skills… 10 seconds after I was about to talk about my feelings… I… you can't imagine how furious I was. I really wanted to slap them both. My father tells us something about bonding-time but leaves just to bond with Jordan while I take care of his beloved farm. His beloved farm he dragged me to. His beloved farm, I gave up my life in Metropolis for. I… I left to the bathroom. I avoid screaming and yelling on them. I really wanted to call my father a good-dammed bastard and a son-of-a-bitch because he just screwed me up… But when they stood in front of me my voice failed. I just told them that I finished all the chores and left to go to my room and cry. Because I realized that I did it again: I believed my father just to get screwed up by him."
Jonathan buried his face under his hands to hide his tears from Timmy, who was trembling much more. He tried to imagine the scene and just got mad. Mr. Kent might be 'the' Superman, but he was not 'a' Superman. That for sure.
"And that's when I decided to give up! I knew it now! I knew my position in the family now. I didn't want to accept it before. But I often got that feeling! I never wanted to face the truth, but I realized that there is no other explanation: My father does not care for me! He only cares about being Superman, training his successor and his farm. Gosh… I sometimes wish to burn that place down! But he does not care about his boring human-son who needs hours for chores he can handle in a second! I… hid in my room for the rest of the day. Preparing to run away. That was the day I asked to visit you for the first time, remember?"
"Yeah, I talked to my parents, and they agreed. I wrote you back that you can come but you never respond to that."
"Because, while I prepared to leave angrily and planning to ghost my parents, things start to escalate… With the whole world-merging and Ally Allston who already merged with her doppelganger, and she tried to kill first my grandpa and then my dad… she… she sucked out his powers and left him powerless."
"Powerless!" Timmy realized that the story became much more interesting.
"Yeah… He… One second, I was so mad on him that I wanted to leave and in the next I feared for his life. When my mom brought him home from the DOD-hospital… he… he was so weak that he couldn't even walk without help. He wasn't used to be powerless."
"After everything you told me he didn't deserve better! Honestly! Did he… ehm… did his powerlessness at least remember him about you?"
"I thought about it! Yeah… I… for some reason I thought that we would talk about it and… maybe he comes to me, and we talk. I expected one of this 'I can relate to you now' speeches or 'I-know-how-you-feel-now' stories. I already knew I would tell him to fuck-off and accuse him of being hypocritical. I mean it would be extremely hypocritical. But no! Nothing! Even for that he I was not important enough for him. First, he asked his friend to fly him to his brother's fortress to check when his powers return. Then he put on his suit to tell the forty people in the school's auditorium to calm down and keep cool about the second square sun that suddenly appeared on the sky."
"The whole world was in panic when the second sun appeared! And he goes to talk to that few people there? Why didn't he talk to the big masses over the media?"
"It's his so beloved Smallville! Crappy people, he cares more about than any other people." Jonathan moaned. "And then… suddenly my inverse-doppelganger showed up again. Together with the inverse-doppelganger of his ex-girlfriend, who is in the inverse-world married to the inverse-world Morgan Edge and got so much X-K to give her powers permanently. And Jordan began to fight them! I stood there… watching my brother and my powerless father getting beaten up by my asshole-self, and I just stood there and got a reminder of how useless and unimportant I am!"
"Come on, that's not true!"
"You weren't there! I was standing there like… like a… Like a scared little child that was abandoned and forgotten. I wanted to jump in and help Jordan. I wanted to help my dad… But I was just standing there and watching it happen. Unable to do anything. Useless as I am supposed to be! Too worthless to even try to! Jordan… Jordan was able to defeat them, but things were still not okay."
A loud beep suddenly interrupted Jonathan's story…
Timmy, still very shaken by his friend's story, looked down on the fuel gauge…
"I need to refuel!"
"I'll pay the gas!" Jonathan said and already pulled his wallet out of his pocket to get the money.
"No need to!"
"Please, that's the least I can do for everything you did to me!" Jonathan moaned handing his friend 20 Dollar. "And… and for listening…"
Reluctantly, Timmy took the money before he turned the car to a gas-station, right next to the highway to get fuel for the remaining way. Jonathan used the chance to leave the car and walk a bit. His legs were trembling. He felt like a traitor who will regret that he told everything to his friend. A friend he met in person, today for the first time in years. To a Superman-fanatic!
Jonathan watched Timmy while he was refueling his car and while he went to pay. Timmy was trembling, too. His face was pale, and he looked like he was bottling up his emotions. Jonathan wouldn't be mad if Timmy freaks out, or yells, or makes a scene. It was a lot to deal with.
Timmy paid at the self-service terminal (obviously to avoid talking to a foreigner now) and went back as quick as possible. His face turned from pale to deep red when he came back.
"Do I bother you with my story?" Jonathan asked.
"What? Ehm… no… I am fine…"
"Come on!" Jonathan moaned after they sat in the car again and the doors were closed. "I just told you that my dad is Superman and you act way too cool. Aww… thank you!"
"For what?"
"For acting so cool! But don't do that. You are allowed to yell, to freak out, to scream that it is cool…"
"Ehm… sorry but… what you told me isn't cool!"
"Aww… you are right… well… we just arrived back to the farm when the whole world-merging start to begin I once again felt so… useless! I urgently wanted to help and only had to watch everything. But luckily… Uncle Tal, that's how I call Morgan Edge now, decided to change sides and fight for humanity now. So, he took my dad, threw him into the sun to help him to restore his powers…"
"By throwing him into the sun?" Timmy asked shocked. "For me that sounds like he tried to grill him?"
"My father gets his powers from the sun! As a Superman-mega-fan you should know that!"
"Oh… Ohhhhh…" suddenly Timmy understood it.
"You know how it end… Happy end for everyone! The merging of the worlds was stopped, Ally Allston was separated again, the portal to the inverse-world was closed, and everyone thought we can live on and… I thought things will finally get better for me, too!"
Jonathan took a deep breath again. They just passed the 'Welcome to Metropolis' sign…
"We… ehm… I was able to talk to my parents without that they frown. I thought they finally forgave me the X-K. I … hoped to finally get the driving lessons I was waiting for so long. You know how many driving lessons I got from my dad since he offered them to me? Not even one! So, I hoped they will come now, that I got that great brand-new truck from Uncle Tal."
"The black fancy trucks I saw in the barn are yours?"
"One is mine, one is Jordan's. A present from Uncle Tal! I tell you; I was so happy. I would have guessed that he only buys Jordan one, because he is Kryptonian. But that I also got one, let me feel like a member of the family again. And not just the uninvited guest…"
Jonathan moaned again and leaned back. Without that he mentioned they already left the freeway and drove threw a suburb…
"Where are we? Are you living here?"
"Yes. After we returned from Germany we moved in at my grandparent's house. It's a bit far to the city but it's nice."
"The main thing is that it isn't Smallville. Aww… Anyway, I don't think I will ever drive my new truck. Jordan has superspeed and can fly. So, he does not need his one. And I am sure my parents are not happy about that they come from a man who tried to replace humanity with 'kryptonity' only a year ago. I think I sign up in a driving school. That will be better. Maybe when I have a license, I can prevent that my parents sell my truck, too. But the worst was when… aww…"
Jonathan moaned again, thinking about it made him pensive.
"Today, you know… after he knocked me out and almost destroyed my brain permanently, my dad… brought me to the…"
Jonathan stopped talking when Timmy suddenly turned the car on a driveway of a neat, detached house in a quiet side street.
"Here we are!" Timmy said.
Jonathan left the car quickly and looked around. It was one of those neighborhoods of Metropolis which he always said, he would never want to live in. Too quiet. Too far away from the center. And nothing to experience. A place full of bourgeois people. But he was just glad to be out of Smallville. Timmy left the car, too and took Jonathan's luggage out of his car trunk when both boys could suddenly hear each other's stomach growling…
"My mom left some leftovers in the fridge." Timmy offered when they both walked to the rear door.
They entered and arrived in a narrow laundry room that was attached to the kitchen. After placing the luggage in the corridor Timmy came back, opened the fridge, and put a big glass bowl with a dish, Jonathan guessed was something German, into the microwave to warm it up.
Jonathan settled himself down at the kitchen table. He couldn't believe that he was in Metropolis again. His home… He hadn't been in Metropolis, since he stopped his brother from killing Cutter and broke his arm in progress. Timmy brought some drinks and some more leftovers. Both were hungry and tired.
"Where he brought you today?"
"What?"
"You were about to tell me about what happened today. "
Jonathan took a deep breath again. "After he knocked me out, he brought me to our new so called 'family-fortress'."
"You have a fortress, too? And he didn't tell you?!"
"No… ehm… you know, two weeks ago my parents took us on a boat trip to the middle of the ocean. And there… my father said that he creates a whole new fortress. He didn't want to use Uncle Tal's fortress anymore. And his original one got destroyed by Uncle Tal… And he said the new fortress is for the whole family."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Timmy said just before the microwave beeped. Timmy got the dish and placed it on the table, so Jonathan could take some. "Or… what?"
"Well… I told him that… that the new fortress is only for the family members who can fly!" Jonathan said. "I mean… why else he chooses the new fortress to be at a place, I only can reach when one of them 'carefully' flies me there. And he looks at me… and tells me my Kryptonian grandma wants to meet me and show me all the cool Kryptonian things, I could only imagine so far… And… and I did again: I believed him. First the new truck I got… and suddenly my Kryptonian grandma wants to meet me… I… I was so afraid that she does not want to meet me! That she sees a failure in me! Too human to be Kryptonian! So, I thought I will finally meet her… Maybe figuring out what I am."
"Wha…?"
"My parents see me as human! My brother wants me to be Kryptonian like him. And I… I had never any clue who or what I am. Ever since he lift that truck from the ground in front of me, I had no clue what I am supposed to do, what I am supposed to be. I guess I am supposed to be the human-cover for Jordan… Or a training subject as the damsel in distress, I guess… I… was really looking forward to getting answers. Sure, I focused on being human and denying being part-Kryptonian. But as soon as we watched the building being created… My father returned the boat and I have never seen the place again. Or met my grandma, or seen anything… It was like… It really felt like he is ashamed of me! As if he tries to avoid a meeting with her at any cost."
"And why? If my parents would hide me from my grandparents, I would demand answers why!"
"I never got some!" Jonathan answered. "Today… I already told you what happened today in the morning. But what I didn't tell you was that my father and my brother continued their almost daily trips to the fortress and… I came home, after I was forced to walk to town alone, got a Slush on my head, a branch on my head and walk home in rain… and they sit happy together at home and have burgers… I have no clue when I had my favorite burger for the last time. They didn't even bring one for me, too… And then… it suddenly blurted out of me… we had a fight and the rest you know what happened. I think it was an accident when he knocked me out! It went so fast… The next thing I remember is that I am in the fortress, and I finally met my Kryptonian grandma…"
"Finally!"
"Yeah, but even after my father almost destroyed my brain, he didn't want to bring me to her. If he had waited a few minutes longer, I would be dead… or a permanent nursing case…"
"Fuck!"
"And then, my Kryptonian grandma start to give me a crash-course in our family history and in the language and culture of Krypton. And now, at least I can say I speak better Kryptonese than my brother and my father." Jonathan smiled for the first time and blushed. "She said I speak with less accent than my father and sound like a native speaker."
"At least!"
"I am not sure if anything I experienced was true. Sure my family did today everything to show me how much they love me. But… still my head says, not to do this mistake again. I mean… At least I can say… my father was honest to me. When I told him that I have the feeling to be mad on him, he told me the truth. He didn't deny it, or tried to change the topic. And I have to admit… flying with him was so wonderful. I actually wish he would had done that with me earlier. And not only because I was mad on him."
"So, that's how you two ended up on Instagram?"
Suddenly Jonathan's smile vanished…
"Oh my god! This is awful…"
"Come on! The people are very excited. They love you!" Timmy said cheerfully and took his phone to open Instagram again. "You are officially now the worlds most popular celebrity."
"And why I feel like I stole that fame? That it should be Jordan on that picture and not me?" Jonathan moaned.
"Because you are so much used to be in your brothers and your father's shadow that you forgot how to enjoy things." Timmy spontaneously respond.
"OH…" Jonathan began to blush again. He took his friends' phone again to take a closer look on the photo. Timmy's words made sense.
"Your brother got more than enough attention. It's time for you to get some, too. You played the second fiddle long enough!"
"I don't even know how I got into the suit. Gosh… I made a fool of myself. I was acting like I can… aww… It was so embarrassing. I always thought I will never be allowed to wear the family-crest because of my powerlessness. Lara… ehm, my Kryptonian grandma, convinced me that it was okay. I tell you… she is awesome. She was not mad on me. She really likes me. And you should had heard how she scolded my father today after she… after she scanned me!"
Please Review and keep well!
In the next chapter will be reveal what many of my readers are waiting for: The scan result! It will also be the storys epilogue and there will be a new revelation. I hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment and let me know!
