CHAPTER 2
LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science
CHAPTER SUMMARY:
Damian begins training Jon in secret and making the necessary arrangements to find them the time and the space to train in. But this could all be over before it begins when a trip to the LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science goes horribly wrong and Jon finds out what kryptonite feels like long before Damian had initially planned.
Jon felt a series of metal devices hit his chest and he bolted upright. Damian had dumped a number of locks onto him. Confused Jon picked up one of them looking annoyed.
"Here you go," Damian said handing him a small piece of metal. "It's a lock pick. Their are over 100 locks there. Every morning this is the first thing you'll do. you're going to unlock each one, and I'll time you. You won't have to do this exercise anymore when you can complete them in seconds."
"Seriously?" he frowned. "What time is it?"
"4 am," Damian explained.
"Seriously? Our first class isn't until 8."
"Their are only 24 hours in a day, we're in class for 9 of them. You'll be sleeping for only 6 of them. Which leaves us a grand total of 9 hours to train you," Damian pointed out while he pulled a stop watch out of his pocket. "Begin."
"..." Jon frowned. "I've never used one of these before..."
"It's a lock pick, don't you at least watch movies?" he asked.
"I mean... sure... But... Why are we even doing this? We should just practice heat vision. I could melt any lock I come across."
Frowning Damian stopped the timer and walked over sitting on the edge of his bed. He pulled his own lock pick out of his shoe and one by one started opening the different locks. Each one he opened within' 3 seconds of picking it up. "You never know when you might one day find yourself without powers. Or when you might be in a predicament where using your powers is inconvenient. We start with the basics. By having you attempt to beat your time you'll improve your super speed as well as your lock picking skills. I can open a typical lock in 3 seconds or less. I want you to work your way up to opening 100 locks in the same time it takes me to do one."
"Okay... well how do you use this?" he asked picking up one of the locks and the lock pick.
"Watch me I'm showing you," Damian explained.
"This isn't a watch me situation, I can't see what you're doing in there."
"Really? Isn't x-ray vision a power of your Dad's? Try."
Jon brought the lock closer and closer to his eyes. Once it was less than an inch from his face Damian hit the back of Jon's hand so he smacked himself in the face with his lock. "Ow! Hey!"
"Idiot that's not how this works!"
"Well how do you know?"
"I know Superman doesn't walk up to a wall before he can see through it," Damian put down his lock and grabbed Jon's hand holding it a foot away from his face.
"Look at it. Don't try too hard. Just try to see into it."
Jon looked back down at it and concentrated. He tried imagining that he could see into the object. He tried widening his eyes. He tried narrowing them. None of it helped. After a minute of starting at the object he glanced up at Damian who didn't look pleased.
"I'll hack in to the bat cave servers later and see what my Dad has on your Father's powers. In the meantime I'll teach you how to do this without x-ray vision, the way I do it." He proceeded to explain how their were pins inside locks and you basically had to feel them out and push them down. After a few attempts he was finally able to unlock one.
"Alright!"
"Great, do the rest of them. I won't time you today, but starting tomorrow I will. After that, make your bed and get your shower. You're able to use super hearing to an extent right now correct?"
"A little," he admitted as he started working on the next lock.
"When your in class today, you're going to listen in on the class next to yours."
"What why?"
"Because you're practicing your super hearing. And I'm going to steal that classes's exams so you can take the tests when they do. Each week you're going to add another class to what your listening to and learn what they're learning."
"I understand practicing my hearing, but that's too much information to retain. I like school, but I don't like it enough to attend every class here."
"Knowledge itself is a form of power. Your education up to this point has been mediocre at best. You never know what information can be useful or when you'll need it. So you have a lot of catching up to do. After class, we'll start working on..."
"Okay stop... seriously, this is too much," Jon explained. "Let's just focus on one thing at a time."
"You don't have time to focus on only one thing at a time. We don't know how long we have to do this. If our Father's find out about this training, they'll put a stop to it. I'm going to do my best to take every precaution I can to try to prevent them from finding out. But if your Father wanted to, he could use his super vision and super hearing to spy on us at any time, and at that point it will all be over."
"..."
"My Dad respects people's privacy, he wouldn't spy on us..."
"My Father would," Damian explained. "I need to find us somewhere where we can train in secret as well as have the room to test your powers without worrying about hurting anyone or damaging property."
"The schools gym?"
"No... Anyone can go there. I need something like... like our bat cave..."
How are you going to get that?"
"By convincing Father I need one."
"The whole point of this was you learning to be a normal kid though..." Jon unlocked another lock and set it off to the side. "What else would you need a bat cave for but to train?"
"..." Damian started pacing a little, clearly in deep thought. "Goliath..."
"Go what?"
"My pet Goliath."
"You have a pet?"
"A few actually but he's the most useful on a mission. I picked him up not that long ago, he lives at our manor in Gotham. But..."
Damian hurried over to his bed pulling out one of the drawers below he started shuffling through it until he pulled out a whistle in the shape of a skull. Jon completely forgot about the locks he was supposed to be working on and watched him with interest.
He blew into it but it made no sound.
"Aw, it's broken..."
"No, it's not. It'll take him a few hours to fly here," Damian explained.
"Who?"
"I told you. My pet."
"Like a dog?"
"No he's a bat dragon."
Jon frowned. "Do you just put bat in front of everything to make it sound cool."
"No. He's part bat and part dragon," Damian explained. "But bat-cow is... just a cow."
"You have cows?" Jon was surprised by that. "Does your Dad own a farm too?"
"He owns a lot of things. I'm sure he probably has a farm somewhere among his many properties. But bat-cow is mine. I saved him. So he lives in the bat cave with me."
"Sounds like you like animals. I didn't expect that from you," Jon returned to the locks.
"Why?" Damian looked slightly offended.
"I don't know, you act like your better than the world, like you hate everything."
"I don't hate everything," Damian exclaimed looking upset. "Some things sure... Whatever just, do that faster. You're supposed to be practicing your speed. Later I'm testing you on my weapons. So I hope you were paying attention."
With that Damian marched over to his desk, he pulled his laptop close and buried himself away in it while Jon finished up with the locks. As soon as he was done he jumped up to take a shower.
"Uh-uh. Make your bed first," Damian demanded.
"Why? I just have to unmake it again tonight when I go to sleep."
"Make your bed."
"That doesn't have anything to do with training."
"It does, and I'm not going to ask you a third time," Damian didn't turn away from his computer.
Reluctantly he made the bed haphazardly and then went to take his shower. When he got out he found his bed unmade.
"Hey, what did—"
"Look at my bed," Damian demanded. "Their isn't a wrinkle in it."
He reached in his pocked walked over, and bounced a quarter off the mattress. "Now make yours, the same way."
"What difference does it make?"
"It's discipline. Which is something else you need to learn. Just do it."
Feeling foolish he re-made the bed with no wrinkles. Matching Damian's as best he could. "Happy?" Jon asked when he was done.
"Good enough for today I suppose. It's only 5:30 though. We have time to practice something else before class," he started mumbling through superman's powers. "Flight, x-ray vision, ice breath..."
Damian stopped having seemed to settle on one. "That's something we can try..."
He grabbed a pen and held it out to Jon, "Blow on this."
"Oh this is something I can do!" Jon said excitedly. "I once froze my birthday candle."
He exhaled on the pen, but nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. "Well... I did it, one time..."
Damian frowned.
"Should I try doing it a different way?"
"Ugh... Not sure. I'll do research on that too."
Jon looked disheartened and Damian racked his brain thinking quickly. "This isn't going to be easy and you aren't going to learn things in one night. Accept that now. You have a near impossible task of learning skills and abilities that most people don't have, and I have the near impossible task of teaching you things that I'll never be able to learn. So we just have to accept that theirs going to be a lot of trial and error involved. Don't get discouraged."
"I'm not..." he lied. "It just looks so easy when my Dad does these things."
"For him it probably is easy, but he's also kryptonian. You're only half. Some of the things we're trying to learn you might not even have the capability to do and as I already explained the other night. It's possible that you might have a power your Father doesn't have. We'll be on the lookout for that as well. So you update me on everything that goes on with you. You develop other powers, you have anything go amiss with your genetics or your health. You tell me, immediately. Got it?"
"Got it!" Jon answered. "It sure would be easier if my Dad was training me."
"Probably, but that also wouldn't be as much fun for me."
A loud thump and a roar, a sound of something mixed between a bear and a lion met their ears. Jon turned towards the balcony where a large red creature was glaring in through the glass doors.
"There he is," Damian jumped up opening the balcony doors. The creature immediately pushed his way through the opening and licked Damian's face. It was huge. If this were a normal sized dorm he wouldn't have been able to enter, but because of Batman's money their room was huge so even though the creature took up a large portion of it their was still room for it to move around. Fuzzy, red, with long claws, small eyes. It would be terrifying to most people. But Jon thought he looked something like a mix between a cat and a bear, with behavioral tendencies more like a dog.
"Aw, he's kind of cute," Jon said looking up at him.
"And all part of my plan," Damian explained taking out his cell phone he motioned for Jon to be quite and then hit the speed dial button.
"Yes Master Damian?"
"Pennyworth, Goliath is here. Did you let him out?"
"No Master Damian, he must have—"
"What am I supposed to do with this monstrosity? Hide him under my bed?"
"I will have him collected immediately," Alfred answered.
"He'll just escape again, he clearly misses me, and more important than that he's my responsibility. Tell Father I'll keep him here, but I need somewhere to store him away from my school."
"I understand, is their somewhere you can keep him temporarily?"
"I'll figure something out," Damian answered. "But this won't work out for long. So tell Father to hurry."
With that Damian hung up on Alfred.
"The batcave is as good as built," Damian grinned patting Goliath's head, the creature looked pleased at the attention. "Alright, the weapons, I'm testing you now."
Jon's face fell, and he frantically tried to recall the names and uses of all the weapons he was shown yesterday.
"You're quiet," Clark said softly over breakfast that morning.
"It's a little strange not having Jon at the table with us..." Lois admitted she looked over at the spot where Jon would usually eat breakfast with them.
Clark grabbed her hand softly and kissed the back of it. "It will get easier. Don't worry."
"I know... What plans do you have today?"
"The usual," Clark poured some coffee in two to go cups and Lois picked up their used plates putting them in the sink. "You?"
"I actually have something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Shoot."
Lois walked over and put on her coat. She took one of the cups from him grabbed her purse while she explained, "This little farm is a ways from where we work. Jon will only be home summers and holidays until he graduates, and it doesn't make as much sense these days to live way out here. Maybe we could move to the city."
"Leave the countryside... I don't know."
"You might be able to zoom to work in a few seconds, but it's an inconvenient hour long drive for me."
"I could fly you each morning," Clark suggested.
"Right, that wouldn't be suspicious at all. Me showing up day after day without my car when people know how far away we live. That just screams you're married to Superman. It's like you don't even want to have a secret identity," Lois teased.
"I have to have one. For your sake as well as Jon's."
"I know tough guy," she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Just think about it."
With that she hurried off to the car. Superman glanced back at their home. He had specifically wanted a farmhouse out in the country when Lois and he got married. He wanted Jon to be raised similarly to how he was brought up. It was important to him. But... with all these new changes. Maybe it was time for a another one.
This school was very different from his old one. While he was there as a Kent, all the teachers seemed to know the Wayne family was funding his being there and he was treated like Damian was by the staff. They were ingratiating towards him. Overly kind, they spoke to him like he was someone special. As for the other kids. They spoke to one another like adults. Talking about companies and whatever portfolio's were. They constantly dropped names and mentioned their parents and seemed to take every opportunity to bring up something their family's owned. He hadn't heard one mention of things normal kids spoke of. No comic books, no mention of cartoons, no toys, or even video games.
He didn't get to see much of Damian. Even though they went to the same school they weren't in the same grade. He was 9 and Damian was 12. So he was hanging around other 12 year olds.
Then the classes. They were advanced. Far ahead of where he was at his old school. Jon was completely lost in most of his classes and by the end of the first day he was slightly regretting coming here. Though it did help him to know that he had another reason for being here than just school. He met up with Damian on the walk back to the dorm that night.
"How was your first day?" Jon asked attempting to act cheerful.
"It was a day," Damian responded dully. He scanned the hall to make sure no one was listening. "Did you listen in on the class next to yours?"
"Oh... oops. I forgot."
"You forgot?" Damain looked instantly annoyed. "The only reason we're putting up with any of this is to train you. I forgot is not an excuse!"
Jon frowned.
"If you're not going to take this seriously," he swung the door to their dorm open. "I will leave. If you're not giving your all, the I have better things to be—"
Their dorm was trashed. Everything was ripped or gnawed on. Their clothes had been pulled from the closet. Damian's laptop had a cracked screen and a section of the carpet was pulled back. Goliath was curled up on the pile of cloth he had dragged to one of the corners of the room. Jon hurried and closed he door behind them.
"Goliath! Bad! You know better!" Damian scolded.
The creature let out a soft whimper. It's ears went down and it's tail wrapped around looking upset.
"Don't you pull that face with me. You know damn well what you did," Damian snapped. "Look at this place..."
"To be fair, you probably should have taken him somewhere else..." Jon pointed out. "Animals should be in open spaces."
"I thought he could be left alone until tonight," Damian frowned. He pulled of his jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'll take him to the woods in back of the school."
He went over to his closet and pulled out a grey and black outfit that he started to put on. "Not going as Robin?"
"Father took my suit away," Damian explained. "So I have to wear this old thing..."
"Old thing?" Jon questioned.
When Damian finished getting dressed he went to the mirror looking at his old assassin uniform.
"Never thought i would have to wear this again..." Damian said to himself.
"What is it?"
"Don't worry about it," he turned around and grabbed the chain attached to Goliath. "Move it!"
"Want me to help?"
"You don't have a costume," he pointed out. "Last thing anyone needs to see is someone in the school's uniform riding off on a dragon. Stay here I'll be back soon."
With that he pulled the cloth of his uniform up to cover his face and checked that the coast was clear and then mounted Goliath before taking off into the air. Jon looked around at the room. Some of his stuff had been ruined too. Including...
His cell phone.
He hadn't brought it with him because they couldn't have it out in their classes anyway. Their were bite marks on it and the screen was cracked. He hit the on button but it wouldn't turn on.
"Darn," he sighed.
"Jon?"
He jumped, and spun around. "Dad!?"
Superman was there looking around the room.
"What happened?"
"Uh..." Jon couldn't hide this and was not quick enough on his feet to come up with a convincing lie for what happened here. So he told his Father about Damian's pet and kept to the story Damian told Alfred. That it had traveled there of his own accord and they hid it in the dorm when they went to class.
"I see..."
"Why are you here?" Jon asked.
"Your Mother was texting you to see how your first day went, but she hadn't gotten a response."
"Oh, I left my phone here when I went to class," he held it out. "Goliath broke it."
Superman took it from him and examined it. "We'll get you a new one."
"Thanks."
"So, how was your first day?"
"Great, it's not as bad as I thought it would be."
"I'm glad. Keep up the good work son. I have to go now. I'll get you a new phone tomorrow so make sure you call your Mother. You know how she worries."
"I will, don't worry."
Superman waved and the next second was gone. He left so quickly that a few of the papers and clothing in the room fluttered with his departure. Jon did his best to clean up what he could, but he had no clue how to repair broken furniture or ripped clothing.
He heard Damian's grappling hook connect with the edge of the balcony a few minutes later and saw Damian climb over. He pulled his mask down when he got in. "Don't tell me we've already been found out..."
"No Dad was just checking up on me because I hadn't responded to my Mother's messages," he explained to Damian how Goliath had messed up his phone. "She was just worried about me so he wanted to make sure I was okay."
Damian's stern expression softened slightly and he reached into his pocket and brought out his cell phone which he tossed to Jon nonchalantly. "Use my phone, call your Mother."
"Shouldn't you call yours first?"
"Why?"
"It's your first day of school. Parents like to hear about stuff like that."
"... I've already talked to her today," Damian changed out of his assassin uniform before stating he was going to get some food. He left the dorm and Jon called his Mother. She had very much wanted to hear about her son's day. Jon had to do a little lying of his own because he didn't want her to know exactly what he felt about being there.
The next day Damian timed him on the locks. He was able to open all of them in about seven minutes. Damain explained that he wanted that time beat tomorrow. He told Jon to make his bed again and Jon argued the point of it once more but gave in an made it in the end. When in class Jon made a conscious effort to listen in on the lesson in the room beside his. It was a higher level math class, the one he was seated in was history. It was very difficult listening to both lectures but he decided to divide his notebooks down the middle and put his notes on one side and the other class' notes on the other. The result was two sets of half assed lecture notes and neither one being comprehensive.
Wishing he could ask his Father about how these things worked he sat down on a stump outside during a free period attempting to fill in the blanks in his notes with what he could remember. This was especially hard in the other class because he wasn't signed up for the other class and thus didn't have a book for it.
His book was ripped out from below his pen and he looked up to find Damian eyeing his work.
"Well I can see you tried, that's something," he admitted before closing his notebook and tucking it away with his own stuff.
"Uh, Damian that's mine."
"Take your notes mentally and you'll never lose them," Damian pointed out.
"Are you nuts?" Jon jumped up and made to grab his notebook back but Damian dodged him easily. "I can't remember two entire lectures without taking notes."
"Yes you can. I don't take notes," Damian pointed out.
"Well that's you."
"Tell you what, the day you can take this notebook from me, is the day I'll let you take notes again. How about that?" Jon wanted to punch him. It was one thing to train him, it was a whole other thing to boss him around, take his things, and decide whether or not his bed should be made.
He was getting really annoyed and he kicked the stump he had been sitting on moments before and... it cracked. Almost clean through.
"Good one," Damian said encouragingly. "It's pretty thick, it's not rotted. Looks like some of your super strength is shining through. But cracking a stump isn't going to be good enough in an actual fight. It's not my free period so I gotta head back in. Just read your text book and store the information in your head."
With that Damian turned away and headed back up to the building.
The park looked like a battle ground. Uprooted trees. Broken pavement. A shattered statue. But at least the villain had been neutralized and was being escorted off to jail right now. Batman was finishing up discussions with the officers, and Superman was bantering with some children who had witnessed their fight and he felt a tug on his cape from one of the children.
"Superman are you and Wonder Woman dating?"
He laughed nervously, "No, we're not."
"You should. You would have such cute babies!"
"Uh... Why don't you go find your parents, it's best to clear the way and let the police do their jobs."
After a few pictures the kids rushed off happily.
"I'm heading back to Gotham," Batman informed him.
"So, do you know about this Goliath?"
"Why?"
"I guess he trashed Jon and Damian's dorm. I have to send Jon a new phone cause of that thing."
Batman looked around before leaning in closely, "Could you not mention our children's names while in uniform? Anyone could be listening."
"No one's around," Superman pointed out.
"Nevertheless," he growled as only Batman can and turned he turned away. "I'll reimburse you."
He used his grappling hook and was gone from view shortly after. So Superman found a place to get back into his normal clothes and he went to meet Lois as she got out of work.
"He's mad you know," Lois said as soon as she spotted him. He didn't need to ask who. He had taken an extended break to see to the villains that had arrived and their boss at the Daily Planet clearly didn't like it.
"I'll make it up to him," Superman explained frowning.
"You're going to get fired one of these days."
"I'll find him a good story to take his mind off it."
They headed to a nearby store to purchase a new phone for Jon and then they made the long drive home talking about their day and stories they were working on. It all felt like a normal day until Lois walked in the door of their home, and threw her keys onto the table by the door. "Jon we're home. Did you get your homework done—"
She paused. "Right..."
Clark smiled. "I could fly you to see Jon when I drop his phone off."
"No, it's only his second day away from us. He'll think I'm being silly and overprotective," she laughed softly at her own actions. "Go ahead and take him the phone and have him call me tonight. I'll get dinner ready."
Clark kissed her reassuringly. "I'll be back."
Jon went to his remaining classes without his notebook and found it difficult keeping up with the information, When class was over he approached Damian as soon as he spotted him in the hallway.
"It doesn't work!" he complained. "Give me my notebook back."
"No."
"Damian this isn't funny, I'm trying to do well here, you already want me listening to two classes at the same time. Well I need to take notes then. I don't know how you would expect anyone to—"
Damian held up his hand to silence him as soon as they were back in their dorm.
"Sit down, close your eyes," he demanded.
"Why?"
"I'm going to show you how to take notes with your mind.
"..." Jon folded his arms furiously.
"Close your eyes," he repeated and mumbled a complaint about his not being able to follow basic directions.
Sighing he closed his eyes.
And Damian opened up a nearby text book and flipping to the start of a random chapter he read, "Born to two actors in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe became a famous writer in fields such a poetry, and fiction. Though regarded as one of the most popular figures of American literature, he struggled early on to make a living from this career gaining most of his notoriety after his death in 1849. Orphaned at a young age, he was informally adopted by John Allen and his wife. Though clashing frequently with Mr. Allen he lived in their care until he reached young adulthood. Though he attempted higher education, going into the army, and becoming an officer, he ultimately failed in every endeavor choosing to put much of his focus into writing and poetry."
He stopped because Jon was looking confused.
"What year was Edgar born?"
"I don't know..."
"Who was Mr. Allen?"
"Uh, his Dad."
"Adopted Father," Damian corrected. "The difference could mean a point on your exam depending how picky the teacher wanted to be."
"Which is why I should be taking notes," Jon explained.
"Imagine a place. Pick somewhere you spend a lot of time in."
"... Okay." He choose his bedroom back home.
"What do you imagine when you think of actors?"
"Uh, I imagine fancy cars, cameras, nice clothes, that carpet they walk on to award ceremonies and they win those gold statues."
Damian brought his hand up, "That's a good visual so take that statue and imagine their a two figures on it. Hold it in your hand feel the weight of it. Feel the temperature. It's probably gold. Look at how shiny it is."
He imagined these things as Damian said them.
"Now you have heat vision. Imagine you're engraving 1809 on that trophy. You feel the heat from the lazers on your hands. It's hot, but it doesn't burn. If it makes a noise as it's burning the figures. You hear that as well."
He pictured it.
"Now put it somewhere. A shelf would probably be best so you can store more information there."
In his imagination, Jon walked over and placed the figure on a shelf in his room. Imagining the clank sound as it connected with the surface.
"That's your Poe shelf, everything you learn about this author you attach an object to the information and you physically imagine yourself placing it on said shelf," Damian explained. "Later when you come back to it, it's going to be easier to recall those objects rather than the information itself, but as you go through the objects in your head picking it up, and holding them, with automatically pull the recall files in your brain and you'll remember the information attached to that item. The more sensory information you can attach to the object the more likely you are to remember it. Taste, Touch, Smell, Sound, Sight. Anything you can assign to that bit of information will help you remember it. It'll take practice, but eventually you'll be able to move faster through the information you hear and you'll store it quickly without writing anything down."
"I mean, I remember that now. But I doubt I'll be able to remember it tomorrow."
Damian shrugged, "Guess we'll see... In the meantime, their is something on your bed."
Jon glanced over to the box with a note from his Father. "Oh yea, that's probably my phone!"
He opened the note glancing at the message:
Call your Mother when you get this set up.
- Superman
Jon smiled and started tearing open the packaging on his phone.
The next morning their was a knock at their dorm entrance. Damian told Jon to hide the weapons that he was showing him how to properly store and clean.
"We didn't lose track of time did we?" Jon asked, thinking maybe they were running late and missed class or closed the lid quickly on the suite case where the weapons were kept.
Damian checked his watch. "No, their is still a few hours before class."
Damian opened the door to see Mrs. Atherton standing outside it. "This dorm wing has been selected to..."
Her eyes darted around the mess left by Goliath, "Oh dear lord, what happened in here."
Jon, though he wasn't standing right at the door bit his lip. Oh yeah... They had forgotten about the mess. Mr. Wayne was supposed to send someone to clean everything up soon, but it hadn't happened yet.
"Father refused to buy me a yacht for the summer. Let's just say I was more than a little upset," Damian spoke in a monotone voice as if he couldn't care less. Like most of the other rich kids here. "So now he can pay to fix this dorm. He's sending someone out don't worry about it. Now, what are you here for?"
"Oh... Uh, this dorm win has been selected to go to the LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science today. We'll be boarding the the same time as your first periods and both of your history teachers will be requiring a report on something within' the museum. Due tomorrow."
She handed Damian two pieces of paper that listed the requirements for said report and exactly what the teacher expected form this project. Jon's had his name at the top of his paper and his requirements were slightly less than Damain's due to his being in another grade.
"We'll be ready, thank you," Damian closed the door as Mrs. Atherton made her way to the next room to notify them.
Damian and Jon continued training until it was time to head down.
Jon had been on field trips before so he was excited. Though he found it a little weird that they were only notified of a field trip that morning rather than in advanced. Then again perhaps they missed the memo. They were new after all and had not transferred here at the beginning of the school year. When they got outside their wasn't a bus waiting for them. Their was limo. A rather large stretch limo.
No one but Jon seemed surprised about this. He had never ridden in a limo before. Happily he picked a window seat and once even tried to open the sun roof and look out, but Damian had pulled him back down into the seat looking thoroughly embarrassed. So Jon decided to sit quietly the rest of the ride was some of the other kid's struck up conversations with Jon about what their parents did. They always seem so impressed when he would state that he was billionaire Bruce Wayne's son.
It was an hour or so before they pulled up to the LexCorp Museum of Arts and Mrs. Atherton did a quiet roll call by counting heads before they went inside.
"We've been invited by Lex Luthor himself," Mrs. Atherton informed the receptionist and immediately a tour guide was assigned to them to walk them through the arts and talk endlessly about the sculptures there.
About an hour into the tour they ran into the person Damain was hoping they wouldn't see.
"Are we enjoying the exhibit?" asked a voice from behind them.
They turned to find Lex Luthor himself. In his expensive suit and tie. The arrogant smile. Damian instantly felt uneasy. Why was he here? The LexCorp headquarters as well as Luthor's personal manor were hundreds of miles away. He knew Luthor and Superman were for a lack of better term, enemies. But Jon didn't seem to know this and gazed with the rest of the children in interest. It was a coincidence that he was here. Their was no way he could know who Jon was. As far as Luthor was concerned, they were just a group of kids (albeit rich kids) on a field trip. No need to worry.
"If I'm not mistaken, I believe I heard someone special was on this trip," Luthor walked through the crowd of students, towards them.
He can't know who Jon is... Their was no way... Though the closer Luthor got the more he started doubting it. Damian didn't let his face show any concern. Then Luthor was right in front of them and he held his hand out... to Damian.
"You're the young Damian Wayne, am I correct?"
Damian had been standing with his hands in his pocket. It was a bit of a power move to let the person extending a hand shake hold it for a moment before accepting. So he let him wait just long enough for it to reach the apex of where it would start to be rude that he hadn't accepted and only then did he extend his hand out taking it. He could tell Luthor had noticed.
"Mr. Lex Luthor it's a pleasure," he was slightly relieved. He wasn't paying a single bit of attention to Jon and that's exactly what Damian wanted.
"You know I have been trying to get a hold of your Father for some time little Wayne. Maybe you could introduce me."
Power play on his part, bringing up his age by calling him little. Basically a non-verbal way of telling Damian to stay in his place.
"He's a busy man Luthor. Being the richest man in the world doesn't leave you a lot of free time," he pointed out grinning.
Power play on Damian's part, reminding Luthor that he was only the second richest man in the world. It was a chess game, with words as their pieces. Each countering eachother's moves subtlety, verbally.
Suddenly Luthor laughed and threw and arm around Damian's shoulder's forcing him to the front of the group, "As you say boy," he motioned for someone standing not too far away to come over. This was someone with a camera and appeared to be a reporter. "Let's get a shot for the papers. Lex Luthor gives billionaire Bruce Wayne's son a personal tour of his facilities."
Lex moved his hand from Damian's shoulder to the back of his neck forcing Damian to face the camera. It wouldn't have been obvious to anyone not actually looking for it, but but their was a lot of force in the hand on his neck, pinning Damian to Luthor's side. Damian glared up at him, and Lex was grinning back. He knew what Luthor was doing. The final subtle caveat. A non-verbal warning getting across the sentiment of, don't piss me off again.
Check.
"C'mon smile, for the photo," he shook Damian a little roughly. In an effort to get a smile out of him. But he wouldn't smile, that would have meant losing, so he settled for looking away during the picture.
When his little photo-op was done Luthor ruffled his hair, "You have your Father give me a call sometime. We'll all do lunch."
Then he turned addressing the entire class. "Come, to the labs everyone. I'll show you some of the products not yet available this year."
The group began to follow him and Damian reached up to the back of his neck. It was sore and painful from where Luthor had been holding him. By then Jon had made his way to Damian's side.
"What was that about?"
"Don't worry about it," Damian answered. He was planning to talk to Jon about Luthor later but telling him now was going to lead to unnecessary worry on Jon's part. At least it seemed he didn't have any clue who Jon was, but he still couldn't believe Superman hadn't told Jon about his enemies. When Batman had officially okayed his being Robin one of the first things Batman did was go through the profiles of his most common enemies.
"Are you sure..."
"I'll tell you later, just keep quiet until were back to school."
"O... kay..."
They followed along with the group into an elevator that decedent several flights. Luthor was addressing the whole class with embellished advertising of the sort of things in the future for LexCorp. When the doors opened a large lab met their eyes. All of it the best of the best. Much of the technology appeared to be on par with what could be found in the batcave. Luthor began discussing different inventions. He pointed out how they were working on cures for certain diseases. Their were some alien looking creatures in jars. Apparently dead. Some weapons that unless Damain was mistaken, they looked Atlantian. He was wondering if this equipment had been given or stolen, likely the latter. Then one of the girls pointed at a container.
"Ew, what is that?"
"That little one," Lex said walking over to it. "That is a recovered piece from Doomsday, the only creature who has ever been known to kill Superman."
Jon's face fell.
Shit, Damian reached for Jon's hand. "Jon hey look at this thing, it's pretty cool—."
He knew the distraction wasn't going to work even before he had reached out to him. Jon just pulled away all his attention on the conversation at hand.
"Kill Superman? But Superman's alive," one of the kids pointed out.
"That is indeed true, but this was before most of you kids were born. Their was a period of time where we lost Superman for a few months. It was only through LexCorp tech that he was restored to the full health you know him to be today."
Damian couldn't help but roll his eyes. Lex was spinning his own narrative on that story. That happened even before he was born but he had read about that time. When the world thought Superman to be gone. Jon looked like his whole world had crumbled.
"Hey," Damian whispered as low as he could. "He's fine now. Get that look off your face before someone sees."
"He kicked Doomsdays butt! And then rose from the dead to fight another day. That what makes Superman so cool," One of the kids commented.
"Yes yes, we all love Superman," Lex said in a tone that clearly expressed that he didn't. "I know... I'll show you kids something really awesome."
He walked over to a computer typing away and a small container rose up a pipe from a hole in the dashboard of the counsel. "This... This is one of the rarest substances in the world. The only known non-living substance that can take down Superman."
Before the container opened Jon and Damian caught each other's gaze. The green light started shining through, and...
"Kryptonite! Isn't it gorgeous. This is one of the biggest chunks of it ever found as well, it's—"
The worried commotion got Lex's attention. Everyone had turned when he collapsed. Damian was on his knees holding Jon who was wincing in pain, and shaking. Damian and Luthor's eyes met. This was bad. Collapsing now, at right this moment... Luthor was going to know Jon was kryptonian. One search through the school records and he was going to know who his Father was. It wouldn't be too much of a reach after that point to realize that Clark Kent, Jon Kent's father, was Superman. The cover was blown. Jon's family's safety would be at risk. Luthor was certainly not above selling that sort of information to the highest bidder. Just how much would some people pay to learn who Superman really is?
Luthor smiled.
Damian felt his heart sink further.
Checkmate.
It was over.
Or was it?
"He has epilepsy you idiot," Damian snapped. "Bright colors like that makes him sick. Put it away!"
Luthor's smiled softened but did not disappear. He fiddled with his watch. "Is that so? We have an excellent infirmary here."
Luthor knelt down, "I will take him." One of the lab assistants had already put the kryptonite away but Jon was still shaking in pain. Superman would recover almost instantly once kryptonite was out of range. Was this one of the differences between him and Superman, since he was only half blooded.
"It's okay, he'll be fine in a minute," Damain tried to explain.
"Due to lawsuits and such it would be best if he be seen by our physicians."
Damian couldn't argue. When an adult needs to take someone for medical attention, a child demanding that they stay would not be taken seriously. He couldn't physically prevent anyone from taking him without it being blatantly obvious that he wasn't a regular kid. No one wants to read the headline: Billionaire Bruce Wayne's son knock's out Lex Luthor for trying to take a sick child to get medical care. He was completely stuck, and he only had one choice. Before he made that choice he reached into Jon's jacket grabbing his new phone. He discretely hid it up his sleeve.
Luthor took Jon in his arms and stood up looming over Damian who hadn't yet removed himself from the floor. But from this angle, he saw it. A green glow from below Luthor's watch. He had kryptonite in his watch. He jumped up, "Where are you going to take him?"
"I already said to the infirmary."
"I mean where in the building is that."
"It doesn't matter, non-sick children aren't allowed there anyway. But I'll give his parents a call and let them know where he'll be," he turned to face everyone. "Please continue your tour, the lobby has icecream when you children are done exploring. Good day to you all."
Luthor turned, and in a soft weakened voice he heard "Dami...n."
He preferred to do things by himself. He preferred working alone in various matters. But this... This was not one of them. Jon needed help and even though the very idea of calling to ask for assistance upset him to no end, he knew their was no choice.
"Mrs. Atherton I have to use the restroom," he explained. Without waiting for permission. He rushed to the nearest stairway exist and hurried up the stairs. But he didn't head to the restroom. He followed the exit signs until he made it to the rooftop and took out Jon's phone. He had just set it up yesterday so their were only a few numbers back in it. He scrolled to the DAD contact and hit call.
It rang a few times, and then a few more. He was getting impatient now.
"Sorry Jon, I'm going to have to call you back. Their's a story we're covering and—"
"Mr. Kent!" Damian interrupted.
"Damian?"
"Sir I need... I" He stopped. He almost felt like he was going to choke on the words. Wow, this was harder than he thought. He could feel the prideful side of him screaming that he could do this himself and didn't need anybody. "I need... your help..."
"Why didn't you call your Father?"
"I don't need that kind of help."
"Yeah?" he frowned slightly. "What kind of help do you need?"
"The kind of help Jon Kent's Father can give me," Damian said sternly.
And it finally hit Clark that this was something serious.
"Where are you?" his own tone dropped to one a bit more urgent.
"LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science. Get here now."
*click*
Clark looked up from his phone to see his wife's worried face. "Clark what is it?"
"I have to take an early lunch, let the boss know."
"Clark?"
He didn't wait. The moment he got to a place where he was sure he could take off without being noticed he was up into the air.
It hurt. It hurt so much more than he thought it would. He couldn't move and he kept trying. He could move his fingers a little, but when he tried to move his arms it was like they were weighed down.
"Please continue your tour, the lobby has icecream when you children are done exploring. Good day to you all," Luthor said.
Damian was just going to let him leave. Why didn't he just have them put the kryptonite away. He would be fine if it just went away.
He wanted to explain this to Damian but he could barely get out his name. "Dami...n."
He was carried to the elevator and he heard the doors close, his vision was blurring and he felt dizzy and sick.
"So, you're a kryptonian?"
He couldn't answer, not even if he wanted to, and he didn't want to.
"Did you come he from space? Or were you home grown, that's the question," Luthor grinned.
"I... I'm not..."
"Alright deny it all you want. I'll know better after I examine your blood."
"I don't have the kind of restraints that can hold a Superman anymore. So you will have to deal with the kryptonite a little bit longer so I can make sure you don't just up and escape on me."
The elevator doors opened and he walked into a room Jon couldn't really make out. Their were so many lights and it all hurt his head. The pain was getting worse but he couldn't even scream. It was like his vocal cords were working less and less.
Luthor set him on a table.
"Oh don't look like that," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to take a blood sample or two and then I'll let you go back to your class."
He started speaking more to himself than to Jon. "I'm going to need a kryptonite needle, it's the only thing that would be able to pierce the skin."
He went over to one of his computers and brought up a container just as he had done before in the lab. Jon felt an extra search of pain.
"Sorry," Luthor said but he didn't sound it at all. "The backup krypotnite I had is attached to my watch and it's my emergency stash so it always stays with me. Since I have to leave for a short time, I'm just going to have you hold this peice in your mouth until I get back. That way I don't risk it accidentally getting knocked onto the ground."
He force Jon to open his mouth and placed the rock on his tongue. A surge of pain instantly engulfed him. It was almost blinding. The next thing he knew something metal was placed over his mouth and he heard a motorized click as it closed around the lower half of his face. "Just so you don't spit it out," Luthor explained and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Five more minutes and you'll be eating ice cream with your friends."
He heard footsteps moving away and Luthor grumbling. Now where did I put my kryptonite needle?
The sound of a sliding door opening, and then closing was heard. And then he was alone. Alone and in more pain than he had ever been in in his life. Where was Damian? Did he really just leave him here. Was Luthor really going to just let him go after getting some of his blood? Could he trust him? These very thoughts were difficult to think when 95% of his brain was going haywire from the pain. He wanted to take this thing off his face. He could taste blood in his mouth. He could feel it on his chin.
He wanted to just black out already. It would be easier than feeling this.
Damian's hair whooshed as Superman showed up in front of him.
"Where's Jon?" he asked.
"Luthor took him. He brought out some kryptonite to show our class and Jon was affected by it. I tried lying and saying he had epilepsy, but Luther didn't buy it. He claimed he was taking Jon to the infirmary, but I doubt that's actually where he took him. He should still be in the building though."
"I'll find him. "Go to that red building. I'll bring Jon there."
With that he used his x-ray vision to scan the building. It took him seconds to find Jon and he felt a rage build up in his chest. Even though the room Jon was in had no windows he broke through the nearest window to that room flew to the elevator shaft and forced open the sliding doors to the room where Jon was.
His son was lying on the metal slab in the middle of the room. He looked weakened and sick which Superman wasn't used to seeing. Jon had always been an exceptionally healthy child. Likely due in part to his kryptonite genes. He entered the room immediately without thinking and a second later realized that probably hadn't been a smart move. Had the room been filled with kryptonite he wouldn't have been able to retrieve Jon. Quickly he pulled his child into his arms and was out of the building in seconds. Damain had just finished scaling the building when Superman appeared on top of it. Holding Jon to him. He wasted no time breaking the contraption that Luthor had put on his child's face, and to his horror. The inside of the mask was covered in blood. Blood poured from Jon's mouth and he cough out a rock. Superman instantly nearly fell forward and caught himself with his arm. Using all his strength to hold his son up with the other. The glowing green rock was covered in blood. That was in Jon's mouth.
Damian instantly rushed forward picking up the stone he reached for his utility belt and realizing a second later he didn't have it. Which also meant he had no container that could block the radiation affects of that stone. "I don't have anything that can block this out," Damian pointed out to Superman.
"Just get... rid of it!"
Realizing this wasn't the smartest move, but he didn't have a better one. He chucked it as far as he could throw it away from them.
As soon as it got far enough away Superman instantly feel better. Jon however was still breathing hard and shaking slightly. Superman couldn't tell how present his son was mentally, but he pulled him close so he could feel him there. One arm wrapped around his torso the other pressed lightly against his head.
Damain stood a ways back contenting himself to stare out at the horizon to give Jon a moment. Every time his face twitched from the pain a few tears fell from his eyes. His breath was slowly getting back to a normal pace. Superman could see into his son's body. The injury in his mouth from the kryptonite was healing, but it was extremely slow. Well, slow compared to how fast he healed, but still exceptionally fast compared to normal humans recovery rate.
"Can you talk yet Jon?" Superman asked him softly.
Jon shook his head but that wasn't exactly true. He felt he probably could have talked now. But he was on the edge of wanting to cry and he didn't want to start crying in front of Damian, he was too embarrassed. Almost as if Damian had read his mind he turned his back to them and sat on the edge of the roof staring off in the complete opposite direction. Jon blinked a few times letting his tears fall freely in the brief moment he had where Damian' wasn't looking and then he started trying to wipe his face off on his sleeve.
"Can you talk now?"
"Yeah. Thanks for coming Dad."
"Are you still in pain son?"
"I'm just a little sore now."
"Superman."
Damain had approached him. "I need to get back. It'll be too suspicious if I disappear too."
"I agree, I'm going to take Jon home for now. If Luthor tries anything with you, just call for me. I'll keep an ear out."
"Sure," Damian turned to Jon and handed his phone back to him, "Feel better." With that Damian hurried to the ledge jumping off the side of the building.
He felt like such a baby. He bet Damian never had to be saved like this by his Dad, and he bet Damian never cried after being rescued. He felt so tired, but he wanted to stay awake.
Clark took off into the air at a far slower pace then he would normally travel.
"I should probably explain—"
"Damain told me about kryptonite. I just hadn't ever seen it until today."
"I hoped you would never have to see it," Clark looked down at his son. His front was still stained with blood, but his injuries were completely gone. Jon was struggling to keep his eyes open, and he couldn't blame him. From the kryptonite and the amount of energy it takes to recover from injuries. He was certainly overdue for a rest. "Sleep. You need it."
"Okay," he didn't argue and snuggled his head against his shoulder. "Dad."
"Yes son?"
"Don't tell Mom."
He smiled. "I won't."