Chapter 3

So that's what REAL kryptonite feels like, Jordan thought to himself grimly.

His mom's coat still lay draped over him like a blanket, partly shielding him from the bomb's green liquid. He had no idea how it was protecting him – was it made of lead somehow? No, it didn't feel heavy enough for that. Maybe it was some kind of experimental material from the DOD? Or could it be Kryptonian?

Whatever it was, he was just grateful he felt better… but the bomb's effects were still sending light waves of nausea and the occasional twinge of pain through his system, causing him to have to hide a wince every now and then as his family tried to formulate a plan in the booth next to him.

It wasn't technically his first encounter with kryptonite – after his dad's exposure to synthetic kryptonite gas had caused him to pick up some kind of kryptonite virus last year, he'd been given a window into what this might feel like. Even so, Jordan felt completely unprepared for the onslaught of pain and sickness that he'd felt as soon as the kryptonite bomb was revealed.

Watching his dad, who had managed to retain his composure so far, he was embarrassed and somewhat terrified to acknowledge that it probably wasn't even a strong form of kryptonite he was being exposed to… which meant next time it could be much much worse.

Jordan shivered at the thought.

His brother must have felt his body's slight tremble in the booth next to him and quickly turned his head, giving Jordan a concerned look. He gave him a weak smile back and mouthed 'I'm fine', encouraging him to return to the hushed whispers he'd been exchanging with their mom and dad for the last few minutes.

After gobbling down an obscene amount of Tacos and driving Vicky out of the kitchen and into the safety of one of the booths in the back, the wild-eyed man picked up a plastic mixing bowl and made his way around the diner, barking orders for everyone to place their cell phones inside.

Jordan doubted anyone would have dared to use them anyway. Everyone in the diner was terrified – the kind of fear that was likely to keep them obedient. Most of them simply sat in their booths in silence at first, afraid to even draw attention to themselves by speaking.

Thankfully, a few families began to exchange hushed whispers as the minutes went by, and now there was a low but steady background murmur that helped mask the content of his own family's discussion.

Jordan wished he could do something other than just lay there under the protection of his mom's coat. He felt completely useless, and that's not something he was used to feeling anymore.

Things had been so complicated since he'd found out he had powers like his dad. At first he'd been so angry – after all, he'd been feeling like an alien for so long, and yet no one thought to tell him he actually WAS one? He couldn't help but wonder if maybe his life in Metropolis could have been different if he'd known the truth.

It hadn't been long before that anger faded, and a growing sense of gratitude took it's place. He couldn't deny that having powers like Superman had dramatically changed how he felt about himself. He'd been so lost and confused before about his place in the world. Now he had something that made him confident, powerful… he could help people, help his dad and his mom when they were in trouble.

His entire role in the family had been shifting ever since that first ocular blast. He knew that wasn't easy on his brother, but he had to admit it felt good not to be the one everyone else needed to take care of anymore.

Tonight's events reminded him just how quickly all of that could be taken away… by a glowing green rock.

Jordan shifted his attention back towards his family who were leaning in towards each other across the table, trying to look like they were just comforting each other and not masterminding an escape plan.

'How are you doing sweetie?' his mom asked, noticing the pain on his face.

'I'm okay,' he answered shakily, directing his answer to his dad as well, whose eyes gave away a look of undeserved guilt.

Jordan noticed his dad's complexion was also pale and his jaw tense as though he were silently clenching against an invisible pain. Maybe the kryptonite is effecting him more than he's letting on after all, Jordan thought.

'Really, I can barely feel it now,' he reassured them, fighting to suppress another wince. 'Can we just take these guys out and go home?'

A look passed between his dad and mom that didn't exactly fill Jordan with hope.

'I don't think it's going to be that simple, bud,' his dad said despondently, and his mom gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

'Why?' Jonathan asked, looking at his dad in frustration but making sure he spoke quietly enough that no one could hear outside their booth. 'Why can't you just use your heat vision or your cold breath on their guns or something?'

'It's not that easy,' Lois defended for him, 'not with so many people here to see it.'

'Are you serious?' his brother exclaimed as quietly as he could, looking back and forth between them and then back to his dad. 'You could melt their guns with heat vision, freeze Sharon's hand over that hair trigger with your breath AND take all three of them out in 5 seconds! Why are we even talking about this?'

'Jonathan, we've been over this,' his dad replied, looking exasperated with Jon's constant dismissal of their need for his secret identity to remain intact.

He glanced over to the gunmen warily as he spoke, and Jordan followed his dad's eyes. The gunman with the short hair was eyeing them curiously from his spot by the window, and Jordan quickly looked back down at the table.

That guy gave him the creeps.

Jordan watched his dad gently rub his temples, clearly tired and in pain from the kryptonite exposure, even though he was trying to hide it. His brother didn't seem too mindful of that, but Jordan knew his attitude was about more than just their current predicament.

Things had been pretty fraught since Jon had been caught with X-K. His dad disappearing for a month shortly after hadn't exactly helped – Jon had way too much time to sit and stew over what his dad had said, and he clearly felt angry at him for the way he'd reacted.

Despite his own feelings towards Jon for lying to him about getting powers and generally behaving like a dick while he'd been on X-K, he could see his brother's point. Their mom & dad had come down so hard on him for having X-K and not telling them who he got it from, but barely acknowledged the fact he had been taking it or bothered to really look at and address the reasons why.

It seemed like Jordan was the only one who could see his brother had been imploding ever since they came to Smallville.

'Keeping my identity a secret isn't just a life preference, Jonathan,' his dad explained with a sigh. 'Your mom and I have enemies who would come after you and your brother if they knew the truth about who I am.'

'Besides sweetie, they have a bomb made of kryptonite,' his mom added. 'I doubt that's just an unhappy coincidence. Clearly, they have some kind of agenda with Superman, and if they find out who your father is…'

Jordan watched his mom trail off. None of them needed her to finish her sentence.

'None of that justifies letting a diner full of people die,' his brother retorted, looking his dad right in the eye like he was fully aware he was pressing his buttons.

Jordan swallowed a lump in his throat as he saw the anger and frustration flash across his dad's face, but then he seemed to soften, and a sort of understanding look washed over him.

'You know I would never do that Jonathan,' his dad responded firmly, giving his brother a meaningful look. 'But that doesn't mean we don't look at all the options first.'

Jordan watched his brother's face drop from challenge into a sort of apologetic submission and turned his head towards the window. His dad sighed again and glanced at his mom once more, before picking up on some movement over to his right and turning his head quickly towards it.

Jordan's eyes followed his dad's, and he watched the wild-eyed gunman walk out of the diner's bathroom, wafting his hands in the air theatrically.

'Woof, I wouldn't go in there for a while,' he said loudly, seemingly addressing the whole room like he was putting on a performance for their entertainment. 'Those tacos were fierce, Vicky! Went straight through me.'

Jordan crinkled his nose in disgust. He couldn't believe how much fun the guy seemed to be having at their expense. He was clearly unhinged and in this for more than just money – this was some sort of sick pleasure to him.

The other gunman was still standing near the door, gun up to his shoulder. Something about the way he stood and spoke reminded Jordan of his grandad – like maybe he was ex-military or something. He peered out the window expectantly, as though he had no doubt the DOD would be on their way.

Jordan was sure his grandad would be on his way, but he didn't know how likely it was he'd be coming through with their demands. He didn't have the authority to release the X-K, let alone his uncle! He'd only recently been brought back on board to help with the search for Anderson.

Jordan suspected there would be some very heated debates going on between his grandad and the higher-ups at the DOD right now, and he had no idea what the outcome would be.

He continued scanning the room and his eyes caught Sarah's from the booth her family was now sitting in. His heart clenched as he realized she looked terrified. He fought the urge to use whatever power he had left to just speed over there and fly her right out of the building, and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. No matter what had happened between them lately, he still cared about her more than she would ever know.

'What about the lights?' Jordan suggested, pulling himself back towards his family's conversation with a renewed sense of urgency for this all to be over with. 'If we could knock out all the lights, couldn't you take them out without anyone seeing?'

'It's too dangerous,' his dad replied. 'If one of the gunmen gets spooked and starts shooting, there's no guarantee I'll be able to stop every bullet, especially with the kryptonite bomb slowing me down.'

He saw his dad looking over at Mrs Cushing, whose expression gave Jordan the impression she'd give anything to be in on their conversation. Ironic really, considering she'd decided she wanted their families to have nothing to do with each other.

Jordan wouldn't admit it, but despite the danger, a part of him was excited by the idea that Sarah might find out their secret after all. Then she'd know why he'd had to lie to her so much, why he hadn't been able to be there for her when she needed him.

'Maybe it's not about taking everything out fast… maybe we need to do this slowly, stealthily. Action in stages,' his mom suggested.

His dad frowned, looking at her curiously. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, what if you use your heat vision just to take out the firing mechanism of the guns?' she explained. 'Just a really small blast, not enough for anyone to notice anything, but just enough to stop the gun from being able to fire if they try and use it.'

'That would reduce the risk sure, but…' his dad started.

'…but what about the bomb?' Jordan finished, nervous about the kryptonite elephant in the room that he and his dad were constantly being painfully reminded of.

'Hmmm… that's the hard part,' his mom admitted, glancing over at Sharon like plans were still whirring through her mind.

'Even if I did freeze her hand to that trigger, how do we know they don't have some other way of setting off that device?' his dad asked.

'Stages,' his mom sighed reluctantly. 'Let's focus on harm reduction for now. Tackle what we can until we can work out the rest.'

His dad nodded, seemingly accepting her logic was better than anything they'd come up with so far, but still looking dubious.

Jordan's eyes drifted to the clock on the wall.

20:40

They had 20 minutes left before they'd know if the gunmen would really make good on their threat. Jordan glanced once more around the room, lingering briefly on the counter where Natalie had been standing.

He really hoped she'd found a good hiding place.

Natalie had been pouring a glass of cola for little Sophie Cushing when two armed men and a woman with a bomb strapped to her chest entered the diner. She'd frozen solid at first, cola spilling out from the glass as she continued to pour. Thankfully, her survival instincts had kicked in and she'd been able to unthaw, ducking behind the counter and shielding herself out of sight.

She stayed there low and silent, hoping they hadn't noticed her when they arrived but sure that at some stage they would realize there had been a waitress standing behind the counter and pull her out from her hiding place and onto the diner floor.

Natalie listened intently as the gunmen delivered their over-confident introductions, fear gripping her chest. But Clark was there… this would all be over soon, wouldn't it? She listened expectantly for the moment when Superman would leap into action, but all she heard was one of the men attacking the coach, and then Clark's voice weakly defending him.

When she heard the other gunman telling him to sit back down and then Lois agreeing to call her dad, she knew something was seriously wrong. Even if what the man had said about the woman having a hair trigger under her finger was true, she was sure Clark would have done something a bit more 'Superman' by now if there wasn't some other reason he was having to be cautious.

As she heard Lois making the call to her dad, she decided it was time to move. Hoping all the attention of the gunman was fixed on the phone call, she moved to the end of the counter and gently pushed the door to the back room, trying to make the movement as imperceptible as possible. She opened as small a crack as she could so that she could just about squeeze through and then gently pushed it closed behind her, sacrificing the ability to hear what was going on for the freedom to move around with slightly less caution.

Okay… okay… what do I do? She thought, her mind spinning wildly through her options, desperate to figure out what the priorities were.

She reached down into the pocket of her ridiculous uniform and grabbed her phone. As much as she didn't want to, she knew she had to let her dad know what was going on first.

He was not going to be happy with her. She'd lied and said she was going to be at Sarah's – now she was going to have to explain what she was doing at the diner in a waitress uniform. Oh well, it's not like she was going to be able to keep her secret tonight after all of this anyway. With the Kent family unexpectedly stopping by, the cat was already out of the bag.

She knew she should have just told him, but her dad had been treating her with kid gloves ever since she arrived on this earth and she was so tired of trying to convince him otherwise. She understood that he was protective of her, but he had to realize that everything they had been through had caused her to grow up… fast. This fantasy he had of her relaxing into a 'normal' childhood again… it was just never going to happen. She didn't even want it to. She knew too much now, and there was no way she could go back to just watching things happen, knowing she could help.

That was why she'd built the suit. Whether her dad wanted to admit it or not, she knew she was capable of stepping in when needed. All of the mechanical knowledge she'd learned, along with a seemingly god given flair for technology, gave her something that she knew she had to use. It was a gift, and after seeing how much people can suffer when there is no one there to protect them, she understood it was also a responsibility.

Maybe one day he'd understand that was her responsibility as much as his

She opened up her phone and briefly thought about calling, but decided a message was the safer option.

SOS. SMALLVILLE DINER BEING HELD HOSTAGE. GUYS WITH GUNS & A BOMB. CLARK IS HERE BUT CAN'T STOP THEM. DON'T KNOW WHY. I'M HIDDEN AND SAFE BUT THEY MIGHT HEAR ME SO DON'T CALL. FIND GENERAL LANE.

She wrote quickly, not worrying about forming full sentences at a time like this. She just needed to get the key information she knew to him and hopefully, General Lane would fill him in on the rest.

Once the message was sent, she returned to looking around the diner's office. There must be something back here that could help them get out of this!

Natalie began eyeing up anything around her that she could take apart and her mind began visualizing plans of what she might create.

Then her eyes drifted over to the set of coat hooks by the door, smiling as she remembered this is where she'd left her bag.

It was 20:45.

Sharon Powell continued to pace back and forth in front of the diner entrance and Clark gritted his teeth against waves of sharp pain each time she moved closer to his family's booth. His heart was beating erratically in his chest, and he knew it wouldn't be long before his steadily growing nausea overwhelmed his system. The kryptonite in the bomb might not be full strength, but the longer he was exposed, the more toxicity his body absorbed.

He could see Jordan attempting to hide his reaction in time with his own and he tried to squash down the guilt he was feeling in response to each poorly concealed flinch. He knew it wasn't his fault exactly, but if it wasn't for who he was, Jordan wouldn't be experiencing this pain… and he knew first hand, it was only going to get worse if they didn't get out of there soon.

Thankfully his son was somewhat protected by his wife's coat, or his sudden deterioration might have given away their secret already. Man, that thing had gotten them out of some jams over the years.

He caught Lois scanning his face for signs of how he was doing and tried his best to mask the truth of his worsening condition, giving her a weak smile. She responded with a skeptical raised eyebrow, and he felt that all too familiar pull to cave into her knowing expression. Somehow, he fought against it, wanting to hold on to the illusion for now. There was nothing any of them could do about the kryptonite right now anyway, and he didn't want to worry Lois or the boys any more than they already were.

Clark tried to focus on the task at hand. He just needed to take out the two guns right now, that was all. Simple, right? But the way he was feeling, if he wanted to use his powers, he needed to move fast. Unfortunately, the short haired gunman still had his attention split between peering out at the dimly lit street and then glancing back over to his family every few seconds.

Or more specifically, to him.

There was something really unsettling about the way the man had been looking at him, almost from the moment he arrived. Clark had started to notice after the wild-eyed gunman attacked the coach and he'd tried to intervene. The man's gun had been trained on him so fast, steadily and with precision, and it stayed there for what felt like much longer than necessary for a bumbling farmer from Smallville.

More worryingly, the man hadn't stopped watching him since. He was trying to disguise it, making it look casual… but Clark could feel the man's eyes on him in a way that felt like more than just caution.

It was like he'd come in with some knowledge that Clark could be a threat, or some agenda not yet revealed. What that might be unsettled him almost as much as the kryptonite.

Lois looked at him in confusion, clearly wondering why he wasn't taking the action they'd agreed.

'I'm being watched,' Clark whispered, resisting the urge to point his head in the man's direction and hoping she would clock on to who he was referring to.

Lois kept her eyes on his too, understanding the need to avoid drawing attention to them by looking over in his direction. 'The guy by the window?'

Clark nodded gently, letting her see the anxiety in his eyes. He wasn't used to being the center of attention when he wasn't in the suit. Clark Kent always tried to be as forgettable as possible in public. This man's constant curiosity about him felt horribly exposing.

'Do you want me to create a diversion?' she asked, and he thought he could almost see a flicker of excitement in those fiery eyes.

'Mom, no!' Jordan exclaimed quietly from the other side of the booth.

Jonathan looked at them anxiously too, but his eyes gave away a bit more conflict than his brother's. Understandably after everything that he'd just said about his dad's level of caution.

Clark nodded reluctantly. He hated it when his wife put herself in reckless danger, but he knew they couldn't just wait for something to happen to distract the man's attention. It was 20:47. They only had 13 minutes until the gunman's deadline. The guns had to be out of play by then.

'Just enough to draw his attention for a few minutes…' he said reluctantly. 'Please, just don't do anything antagonistic.'

Lois feigned a hurt look. 'What, me? When have I ever been antagonistic?'

'Oh, I forgot, you're such a people pleaser,' he scoffed, trying to keep his expression serious but failing to hide the light that sparked inside him at her playful tease.

'Watch me,' she said, winking at him and giving him a gentle squeeze on the arm. She looked over at the boys and added. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything dangerous.'

With that, she stood up. Clark followed suit, stepping out of their booth and letting her slide past. He touched the small of her back lightly as she went, hoping the little bit of familiar contact would let her know he was right behind her.

All three of their captors looked up, guns raising threateningly towards her. Clark readied himself to move fast if necessary. Kryptonite or no kryptonite, if they made a move towards her…

Lois cleared her throat and said, 'Excuse me, Mr…. what do we call you again?'

'The name's Johnny, Miss Lane,' the wild-eyed gunman said confidently, as though he wanted her to know he had no worries about his identity being revealed.

He let his gun drop to his waist as he sauntered over to her, keeping it just high enough to make it clear he was ready to use it if she tried anything funny.

'I have to go to the bathroom,' Lois stated simply, and Clark fought the urge to laugh at the simplicity of her distraction tactic.

'Do you now!' the man exclaimed, clearly enjoying the opportunity to play with one of his captives. He stepped closer, invading her personal space and looking her up and down suggestively. 'And you want some company in there?'

Clark fumed with rage, unconscious of his hands under the table bending the metal bars beneath. He saw his wife's body tense and she crossed her arms slowly and pointedly. He knew his wife well enough to know her eyes would be dancing with fire right now at the man's unsolicited advance.

'Hey, back off,' came Lana's voice from behind him, and he turned around in surprise.

She was standing next to her booth with an expression of solidarity on her face, Sarah tugging insistently at her sleeve. Lois glanced back at her and gave her a grateful smile, before turning her attention back to her defiance of Johnny's attempt to bring her down a peg. They might be on rocky ground as friends, but that didn't mean Lana didn't care about her.

Sharon Powell moved towards them at the sound of her lover's suggestive comment, a look of jealous discomfort on her face. As the kryptonite bomb came closer to them, a surge of pain ripped through Clark's body so unexpectedly he couldn't stop himself from grunting, and his eyes squeezed tightly for a moment.

Jordan slumped over in his seat, his eyes flickering like he was struggling to stay conscious. Jonathan tried to support him so that he was at least still sitting up, pulling the edges of the coat tighter to try and prevent any more of the kryptonite's rays getting in than were unavoidable.

Clark didn't know who else had heard his expression of pain, but he was sure Lois had. She spoke up quickly and loudly, clearly trying to bring the attention back to her.

'Look, you're obviously not a genius, but I'm assuming you aren't quite dumb enough to let me go in there by myself and climb out the bathroom window?' she retorted with a little bit too much venom in her voice.

Clark rolled his eyes, even as his heart rate quickened, and his head started to swim. Less than a minute. That's all it had taken for her to antagonize the lunatic with the gun. His wife was hopeless.

And he was hopelessly in love with her.

'Can't Sharon just take me to the bathroom,' Lois continued, nodding her head over to her former source. 'Then maybe we'll avoid any 'mixed messages'?'

'Maybe I just won't let you go at all?' the man said, clearly aggravated by her insult. 'Think you'll still be feeling so sure of yourself once you've wet your pants?'

'Just take her to the bathroom,' the short-haired gunman said impatiently, his attention finally turning away from Clark and towards his wife's growing disagreement with the man's so-called partner. He waved his hands toward Sharon and nodded in the direction of the bathroom. 'Stay outside the bathroom door, but hold it open so you can see what she's doing. I don't want that bomb leaving this room, understood?'

Sharon, who seemed equally eager to get Lois away from her lover, didn't wait for Johnny to agree. She grabbed her by the arm and dragged her roughly towards the bathroom door. Clark watched his wife briefly glance back at him before heading inside, her eyes a mixture of hope and concern.

With the kryptonite further away, the pain and nausea he'd been fending off decreased significantly. He fought the urge to let out a loud and obvious sigh of relief.

Jordan sat up shakily as his own body started to return to some semblance of normal functioning. Both boys looked vaguely hopeful about their renewed window of opportunity, but also worried about their mom who was back there with a woman who clearly hated her.

Clark tried to focus on the task at hand. The sooner he took out both of the guns, the sooner he could get Lois back in that booth and away from the spotlight. He glanced briefly at his observer to check his attention was still diverted to his unseemly counterpart before continuing with their plan.

Using his telescopic vision, Clark zoomed in on Johnny, who was glaring at the well-dressed gunman, while pacing back and forth and looking around the room like he was itching for a fight.

'You got anything else to say there, Miss Mayor?' Johnny spat in Lana's direction. She shook her head gently and allowed Sarah's hands on her sleeve to finally pull her back down into her seat.

Clark tried to ignore the man threatening his friend and focused a second time, zooming in closer to the gun itself. Finally, he shifted his focus a third time, allowing his X-ray vision to kick in and the outside of the gun to fade away, revealing the mechanics inside.

'Sensible move,' the man said, smiling like his ego had gotten the stroke it needed. 'Let that be an example to the rest of you! You voted for this Mayor, right? You trust her? Well, now you should all do what she's doing. Sit down, and shut up!'

Clark suppressed his growing anger towards the man who was attacking the people of his hometown, and concentrated on looking directly at the firing mechanism. He shot a very small and short burst of heat vision towards it, holding his breath to remain as still as he could.

It hit the spot he was aiming for perfectly, with only the tiniest puff of smoke leaving the very small hole. Johnny didn't even flinch and no one else seemed to notice a thing either.

Clark felt relief and excitement rise up, but he pushed those feelings away, for now, trying to look as innocent as possible as he turned quickly to face the short-haired gunman, who was facing Johnny with an intimidating glare on his face.

'Can you just try and keep your big mouth shut for two seconds and act like a professional,' the well-dressed man said, his disdain for his comrade evident in his voice.

'You know what, Kurt,' Johnny exclaimed, turning to face his so-called partner defensively. 'I'm getting a little tired of you talking to me like you're the boss here.'

Clark somehow doubted the man's real name was Kurt. His partner might be blaze about his own identity, but this guy seemed like he wanted to fly under the radar and he clearly didn't trust his associates.

Trying to ignore their altercation, Clark focused his vision once more, this time repeating the process but with the other man's gun. He inwardly celebrated and his whole body relaxed slightly as he successfully completed his mission.

Both boys seemed to notice his body's subtle response and he glanced over at them. The three of them shared a relieved but wary smile.

Clark's relief came abruptly to a halt when his hearing kicked in unexpectedly. The sound of an insistent beeping alarm was coming from Kurt's direction... and with it came a phrase that sent panic through Clark's body like a huge tidal wave, washing away any sense of achievement.

Warning. Kryptonian powers detected.

The other man touched something in his ear and twisted a dial on a device attached to his belt, before suddenly snapping his eyes directly toward Clark.

Unsure whether it was just the speed the man had moved or a sign of how much the lingering effects of kryptonite exposure were still slowing him down, Clark found himself completely unable to conceal the surprise and fear on his face.

Their eyes met for what felt like the longest moment, and Clark saw a flash of recognition on the other man's face. A faint hint of a smile curled the corners of the well-dressed gunman's lips.

Clark turned his attention to his son's as quickly as he could and tried to look as naïve and useless as he was usually seen as. Dread grew like a boulder in the pit of his stomach as he felt the man's eyes continue to bore into the side of his head.

Clark steeled his expression, refusing to give away any further sign he knew more than his innocent face would suggest, but he cursed himself for not being able to hide his initial response. He must have looked like a deer in headlights. A guilty man caught red-handed.

Kurt had clearly suspected Clark of something from the moment he arrived, and that device might have just given him all the proof he needed. He had no idea how much the man knew, or who he worked for… but whoever it was, they'd clearly sent him in with a mission that the hold-up was neatly covering up.

This was bad. Really REALLY bad.

He allowed himself another brief glance at Kurt, who was looking uncharacteristically happy. He seemed deeply satisfied, like a hunter who'd just found his prey.

'What the hell are you smiling abount,' Johnny questioned, looking agitated the man wasn't paying full attention to their disagreement. 'And what's that thing on your belt.'

Suddenly the man's face turned threatening again and he replied cooly, 'That's none of your business. The Boss says it's need to know, and you most certainly don't.'

Johnny looked enraged, leaning forwards with his chin out as though he were about to either argue back or simply punch the man, but he hesitated, searching the other man's eyes for a moment.

'Fine,' he conceded, stepping back a step. 'You do your thing, I'll do mine!'

Johnny waved his gun around the room, as if to emphasise his point, and elicited a wave of frightened sounds from the diner's crowd.

Kurt gave Johnny one last intimidating look before walking slowly back to his position by the window. Clark saw the man lift his cell phone and begin typing a message, probably to whoever this 'Boss' was. His throat tightened and his mind spun.

'Dad, what's wrong,' Jonathan asked, obviously picking up on Clark's anxious expression.

Staring at the phone and fighting the urge to simply shoot it with his heat vision, Clark decided against the impulsive action. So far, the guy hadn't actually seen him use his powers. He clearly had some kind of device that would detect them, and it had gone off when he took out the guns… but was there still room for doubt here? Was there still a chance he could convince him the device had gone off by mistake?

Clark turned to his sons. Jordan was sitting up on his own now and Clark could see the color returning to his face. Jonathan was still waiting anxiously for a response to his question.

'This is much worse than we thought,' Clark said heavily, and he saw the concern on their faces growing. 'The guy by the window…. I think he knows who I am.'

'What do you mean?' Jordan asked, sitting up even straighter.

'They recognized all of us when they came in. They were hoping we'd be here so that mom would call grandad, right?' Jonathan replied, unable to accept the worst-case scenario unless it was explicitly stated.

'No… I mean… he knows,' Clark responded with emphasis that was impossible to misinterpret.

His heart clenched in his chest at the sight of the fear it produced on Jordan's face.

'At least, he thinks he does,' Clark explained. 'I don't know exactly what he knows, but he has some kind of device that's triggered when I use my powers. He just looked right at me after I took out the guns.'

Jordan's jaw dropped and he shook his head in dismay. Even Jonathan, who was stubbornly trying to stick to his earlier attitude that the secret didn't matter, was clearly rattled.

'Then why isn't he doing anything about it?' Jonathan asked.

'I don't know,' Clark sighed, looking around the room again as though taking in the full scope of the situation once more, outside of just this added threat to his family's wellbeing. 'All I know is we have to get you both out of here before he decides to test his theory.'

Jordan and Jonathan looked at each other, understanding the implication of what he was saying. If that man had really found out they were Superman's kids… who knows what he would do to them both.

The man, known to the diner's gunman only as 'The Boss', watched the sunset through his dank hotel's blacked-out windows. The fading light peaked out from behind the tall Metropolis buildings, bathing his pale skin in a faintly orange glow. He stood silently; his eyes closed in anticipation. He knew he could still be proven wrong… but something about this information just felt RIGHT somehow. Like something, his intuition had been trying to tell him for years. He could almost taste the victory his discovery would inevitably lead to.

His eyes snapped open at the sound of his phone vibrating and he looked down eagerly. A faint smile appeared on his lips as he read the message.

20:53. Mr Kent is here. He's definitely acting suspicious. He made one wobbly failed attempt at heroics. The kryptonite bomb must be affecting him even more than we'd hoped. I managed to create some distance from it to see if he'd try anything. Then the device activated a moment ago. I don't know what powers he used to set it off, but it looked like he heard the alarm. I saw unmistakable fear in his eyes when I looked at him. Nothing concrete yet, but we will know for sure soon enough.

The man sat down in the hotel chair, breathing in a long deep breath and stilling his excited mind. He needed to remain calm and clear-headed. He'd lost so many battles against his foe already – this time, there was no room for emotions to get in the way.

If he was right about this, he finally had everything he needed to end this war once and for all.

He responded to the message with a few choice words.

20:55 Good work. You have the go-ahead for phase 2. Don't screw it up. Or you will regret it.