Chapter Two

Welcome Back

Martha led the tall- handsome man into her house and he took a seat around the kitchen old wooden table after handing his host a very expensive wine bottle to drink during their dinner. They started a small chat between them about various topics but they mutually evaded the topic about the man's night activities as Batman. Both of them were not comfortable when they mention his alter ego especially, after him confessing to Martha that he was not her son's friend but the opposite he was his foe and he was planning to kill him because he thought her alien son was a threat to the humanity. He also told her how wrong he was, and how sorry he was that he did not give Clark the opportunity to explain himself and show him how human he really was. He apologized for being cruel and violent against him besides he also regretted the lost opportunity for having an ally and friend. Martha forgave him immediately, and welcomed him in her house because she really sensed his regret and he showed his sincerity by changing his dark methods while dealing with criminals and he started to co-operate with the Amazonian woman to create a team of the good meta-humans to protect the Earth and trying to follow the steps of the deceased hero in protecting the whole planet and making the Earth's safety their first priority.

The kind old woman served her guest the warm meal and encouraged him to finish his share of it, of course, he cannot say no to Martha so he obliged and he picked the spoon and tasted the soup, it was warm and flavored and so delicious so without thinking he took his second and third spoon to savor and enjoy it. Martha was observing him and she smiled softly when she knew that her guest enjoying her food. After half an hour, the graying billionaire thanked the old woman for the wonderful meal who told him it was nothing; he would not do for her if she visited his manor. While he was washing his hands in the small bathroom, he heard a soft thud on the front yard of the Kent farm as if something fell hard on the grass around the small house.

The cautious nature in him kicked in and he went to investigate what was the source of that sound. He stealthily opened the wooden window of the bathroom which viewed the front yard and he took a peek. Outside the house was dark as the night has come and engulfed everything outside in darkness but he still could see a figure of a person lying motionless on the ground. Quickly, he left the bathroom and opened the front door to see if someone was in trouble and needed help. When he was three or four meters away from the laying person, he stopped in his track to inspect the person before him. That person seemed familiar to him somehow, he has a short shining black hair and pale face wearing a stained navy- blue expensive suit, he felt his heart hammering inside his chest the more he examined the still figure on the ground. He knew that suit; it was the same one he offered to Martha to dress her deceased son with to prepare him for the burial. But t his is impossible. The person who wore that suit was deeply buried on the ground six months ago.

The rich man, the detective cautious hero for the first time left his cautious and calculated side behind and used his emotional and impulsive side to deal with this situation so he rushed without thinking and knelt beside the still body of the young hero, and he turned him carefully to lay on his back then he examined the young man's face, it was really him the same young pale face, the same soft black strands of hair. Although he seemed too worn out, his face was thin, pallid and sickly and from the quick examine he seemed smaller and more fragile than before. He also lost a lot of his weight and lost the perfect mass of muscles, even his hands seemed smaller and delicate than before. The young alien was too motionless that Bruce thought he was still dead and somebody dug his grave and took his corpse and threw it here to traumatize his poor mother but that thought quickly vanished when he put his ear over the alien's chest and heard the quiet and steady heartbeat. The graying- haired billionaire had never felt relief in his whole life more than the relief he felt now knowing that he was given another chance to make amends between himself and the young hero.

Martha called Bruce from the kitchen who thought that he was still washing his hands in the bathroom; she wanted to give him a piece of yesterday's apple pie and a glass of orange juice but he did not answer so she decided to check on him if he needed something and she went to the bathroom and found it empty. She called him again louder but he did not answer so she concluded that he was out in the porch so she went out to give him the glass of juice and the plate of pie. When she stepped out of the door, the rich man was heading back to the house but he was not alone, he was carrying someone. She could not make the face of the person he was holding but she could see the soft black strands that she knew so well and she could see the same navy- blue suit that she kept staring at it for so long six months ago. She knew who this person that Bruce was holding carefully as if he was a delicate gem and yes, he is really a rare gem. But why Bruce would dig her son's grave and when he had the time to do that.

She quickly disposed what she was holding in a near small wooden table in the porch and rushed to help the older man, she was desperately hoping that another miracle will happen and give her son back to her. She rushed towards the approaching man and she called her son's name frantically while shaking him gently as if to wake him up but the other man asked her to open the door widely for him so he can carry the young man inside away from the prying eyes of anybody. She gained her composure and she did as she was told and when the two men became inside the house, she shut the door and she closed all the open windows to give herself and the other two men so privacy. Then she rushed to help her guest to put her precious son on the sofa when they finished securing the body of her son on the old sofa.

She asked her guest why he brought the body of her son here and if there was a threat to his body there in the grave yard but the graying haired man was not paying attention to her, his eyes were fixed on her son's face and there was awe on them she had never seen before. She looked at her son to see what was capturing the attention of her guest and she had received the most gracious gift from God since the day they found her miraculous son in the corn field. A pair of sky blue eyes was staring at her and after few moments, her ears were filled with the sound that she missed for a long time when her son talked to her, "Hello, mum." She could not stop herself from throwing herself on her son and crying her eyes out and hugged him more tightly until the other occupant of the room asked her to ease her hug saying,

"Martha you are suffocating him," after saying those words the captivating pair of shining blue eyes focused on the rich billionaire and Bruce smiled sincerely for the first in ages and said warmly,

"Welcome back,"

To be continued,

End of chapter two