Clark couldn't believe what had happened. How had he been so foolish? So stupid? He should have known that someone would try this. He had thought that he'd kept Jonathan safe, but his son had gone to see what was happening and had gotten himself into trouble. Clark knew he couldn't blame his son, and he didn't, but still. The sight of his son chained to the wall, with kryptonite pumping through his system had terrified him. It was only thanks to Barry's quickness and Diana's strength that they'd stopped the thing from infecting him completely. Enough to take him to Star Labs to be looked after. Clark might not like Harrison Wells, but he trusted him enough to keep Jonathan safe.
His son was awake now, on a hospital bed, his hand felt so small in Clark's it was almost as if he were a little child again. "I'm sorry, Papa." His son said, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry I could save grandma and grandpa." Clark took a breath, his parents bodies had been strewn, lifeless across the ground when he'd got there, two bullet wounds in them, gunshot wounds to the head. "I should have been strong enough to save them."
Clark gripped his son's hand. "You don't apologise, Jonathan. This wasn't your fault. What happened there was not your fault. Do you understand me?" His son didn't look convinced, so Clark continued. "You were chained to a wall and infected with Kryptonite. You couldn't have done anything. You were tricked. The Joker is a mad man. he would have done something regardless of whether you had made a decision or not." After they'd gotten the kryptonite out of his system, Jonathan had slept then spoken briefly about what had happened. About how the Joker had tricked him and trapped him in a kryptonite daze.
"Do you know who the other girl was?" Jonathan asked, his voice weak.
Clark took another breath, the girl, she'd had blonde hair, green eyes and had looked about Jonathan's age. She'd been killed with a gunshot to the head as well. He'd informed her family, and dealt with the grief and the pain they felt as stoically as he could. "Her name was Cassandra Cain, she was in your year at school, and she'd just applied for a scholarship at Wayne Enterprises."
Jonathan shifted slightly and winced. "Wayne Enterprises? She knew Uncle Bruce?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out. I'm trying to get in touch with Bruce, but can't reach him at the moment." Clark replied, he had a feeling Bruce knew exactly who Cassandra Cain was, that would be the reason why The Joker had taken her. He had wanted Bruce to come there, and had been angered when he hadn't. Clark didn't know where Bruce had been throughout all of this, and his anger at his friend was only growing. Even Chloe hadn't been able to find him.
"There was another person there, alongside the Joker and Harley, another voice. It sounded deep, and official. Like some sort of government official as well." Jonathan said.
"I know son, you've said. We're looking into it." Clark said, or rather Barry and Joe West were. He wouldn't have been surprised if it were someone from Matthews camp barking orders, ensuring nothing got back to that slime ball. Clark took another breath, there was something he needed to ask Jonathan and he had no idea how to approach it.
Before he could ask the question though, Jonathan spoke. "Have you told Caitlin where I am? Is she okay?"
"We told her mother to let her know you were okay. She's busy working above here, in the lab." Clark said. Right now, he didn't want too many people seeing his son, and whilst Caitlin seemed like a decent girl, considering her abilities and what Clark suspected had happened in that crater, he didn't want her near Jonathan until such time as his son was ready.
Jonathan made to get up. "I should go and see her, and let her know I'm okay." He struggled against the wires which were keeping his body free of kryptonite.
Clark put a hand against his son's chest and pushed down. "You're staying here, Jon. You're in no condition to move, not for a while yet." He decided to just go for it. "Besides I don't think you should be seeing anyone right now, especially Caitlin."
Jonathan's eyebrows shot up. "What? Why?"
To hell with it, Clark thought, he might as well say it straight. "Jon, when we got into the room, there was ice near you, and we know that someone with ice powers was there. And with how you were when we found you, well, I don't think it's okay for Caitlin to come near you right now."
Jonathan turned scarlet. "Dad, it's fine honestly, I'm fine around Caitlin. It's not the first time this has happened."
"What do you mean?" Clark asked. He suspected something had happened in that vault, his son's trousers had been unbuttoned after all, but the extent of it was something he was not sure of.
"That wasn't the first time I'd been assaulted." Jonathan mumbled, but Clark heard.
Instantly, anger crept into Clark's being, anger at whoever had hurt his little boy. "When was the first time?"
Jonathan looked at him, then looked away. It seemed he was blinking away tears. "Jon, you can tell me." Clark said, he kept his grip on his son's hand.
Jonathan took a deep breath, and with tears in his eyes spoke. "When I was in London, I met a girl, her name was Louise, Louise Lincoln. She's a friend of Rhodos's, we had a drink, we talked and then I went back to her place. She said she had something she wanted to show me. I thought it would be cool to see whatever this thing was, as she's a biology major I think. But when we got there, she changed. Her hair was white, and her eyes were blue. Everything was cold. I think she'd laced my drink with kryptonite because I couldn't move. She pushed me back onto the bed, and took off my trousers and my underwear, she got me hard and she…she fucked me."
Jonathan looked away then, tears dripping down his face. Clark felt rage, white hot building in him at this Louise. How dare she do this, how dare she think about even touching his son, his Jonathan! He took a deep breath. "Jonathan, look at me. Son, I need you to look at me." His son looked at him, tears falling down his face. "What happened in the vault?"
Jonathan shook his head and Clark could feel his hand shaking, eventually Jonathan took a deep breath and said. "I was chained to the wall. I couldn't move, The Joker kept demanding I make a decision between who I wanted dead, and I couldn't make it. So, the voice in the back of the room said that this had to happen. The temperature dropped and something happened. I don't know what, but before I knew it, she was there again. Cold, and blue, and terrifying. She, she took my thing out and she, she did things to it, that I didn't want. But I couldn't do anything about it." Jonathan broke at that last part and started crying properly. Clark got up and hugged his son, keeping him close to his chest like he had done on countless nights when Jonathan was a baby or a little child and scared of the dark. "I couldn't do anything, and I feel so ashamed and weak. I'm half kryptonian, and a man and I couldn't do anything to stop some woman from harming me."
Clark's anger at this Louise woman grew, he would find her and when he did, he would end her for the harm she had done to his son. "You have nothing to feel ashamed about, Jonathan." Clark said, he pulled back and looked at his son, he wiped the tears from his face. "You have nothing to feel ashamed about. What happened to you was awful, and you will get justice for it, I promise you."
His son looked at him, fresh tears trailing down his face. "You promise?"
Clark looked at his son and at that moment he knew precisely what he needed to do. "I promise." Jonathan nodded and whispered
"Thank you, Papa." They hugged, then Jonathan pulled back and said. "I'm feeling tired, do you mind if I sleep?"
"Of course not, sleep as long as you want." Clark said, he stood up and said. "I'm just going outside, I'll be right outside the room, if you need me." His son nodded. Clark waited till Jonathan was snoring softly before he walked out of the room. Diana and Ollie were waiting as he knew they would be.
"How is he?" Ollie asked. His friend, his oldest friend seemed to have aged at least five years in the last two days.
"He's doing as well as can be expected. I'm going to stay here for now. What word from outside? Has Bruce been found?" Clark responded.
"I've had my team scour every possible place looking for him, and we can't find a trace of him. Even Alfred doesn't know where he is, though Alfred is likely lying. It's almost as if he's just disappeared from the face of the earth, and I don't know why." Oliver responded.
"Alfred would never give up Bruce, so, we can count that out. Has Roy seen Dick?" Clark asked.
"Nope, it seems, Bruce, Dick and Damian have all disappeared. I'll keep looking though. The Joker is out there, so he will go looking for Bruce as well." Ollie replied.
"Thanks Ollie." Clark said. "Any luck on finding out who that voice was in the room as well?"
"I think it might have been a member of Matthews cabinet, but who it might've been I don't know. I'll see what I can find out." Ollie replied.
Clark nodded. "Also, if you can get as much information as possible on who Louise Lincoln is, that would be most appreciated." Ollie nodded, then walked away, leaving Clark with Diana.
"That thing that was found, it is still safe?" Clark asked.
"As safe as can be." Diana replied.
Clark nodded. "The funeral will be in three days' time, I managed to get Father Thomas to move some things around. And I spoke to Pete, he's getting me the files on everything they have on The Joker in Metropolis." It paid to have a friend who was so high up in the Metropolis PD.
"What do you plan on doing once you get those files, Clark?" Diana asked.
"Justice." Clark replied firmly. "The sort of justice that will mean the Joker will never get free, and will never hurt another person."
"And what of Harley Quinn? She didn't do anything, but she was there." Diana asked.
"Quinn will be of use to us. You see, she has a child, and mothers will do anything for their children." Clark replied, hating how he sounded, but knowing that he spoke the truth.
Diana said nothing, she merely stood there looking at him. as the silence stretched on, Clark thought back to the thought he'd had in Jonathan's room and said. "I need you to call a press conference at the UN headquarters. It is time the world understood just what we're doing and why we're doing it."
"Are you sure that is wise? The Joker found Jonathan without any public knowledge, what will happen if you do go public?" Diana queried.
Clark sighed. "I will not leave my son so exposed as he was before. I will do what needs to be done, and if that means playing to people's humanity then that is what I will do."
Diana said nothing for a time, then she nodded. "I'll arrange it." She took his hand then and said. "If you need to talk, I'm here Clark."
"I know." Clark said, Diana nodded then walked off. Clark took a deep breath, opened the door and sat down next to his son. "I'm going to make it up to you, Jonathan, I promise you. I will make this world safer for you, and for everyone."