Just Another Day Part One: A Jonathan Kent fanfic by Dalton Lewis

This is a fanfic. It isn't copyrighted. I write novels and try to make it into a professional thing. If you like this story check out We the Gamers by Dalton Lewis on amazon and pick it up for three dollars. Three! It's not expensive. Thanks. Or if you really want to help you can sign up for my at /daltonlewis although no one does. Thanks and enjoy reading it.

I, Jonathan Kent, woke up on the couch in the Kent farm. I had dreamt of being in college and needing to find something but couldn't remember what I wanted to find. I wished it was a cute boy or girl but figured I'd never get that lucky. Clark Kent, my father, walked into the living room where I had collapsed the night before.

"Wake up," Clark said.

I got up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "Hey, Dad," I said. I grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom to change from boxer briefs into clothes. I brushed my teeth and combed my hair and looked in the mirror. I looked young and alienated and like a high school student. My dark hair was mussed and dark.

The sound of my dad getting his car keys could be heard from the other room. I walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a banana for breakfast.

"Want a ride to school?" Clark asked.

"How fast can you get me there?" I asked.

"Ten minutes, depending on traffic," Clark said.

Um.

Something was wrong.

"Right," I said. "You can't get me there faster?"
"Speeding is dangerous, son. There could be a car accident. Remember your knee? I'm disappointed in you," Clark said - although I doubted that it was Clark Kent. My dad - Superman - could super speed me to school and this person clearly wasn't aware of that. I didn't know who this person was, but I wanted to get my dad back as soon as possible.

"Right," I said. "Get me to school." I decided that there was nothing I could do until I was at school and safely away from the fake - and I didn't want to attack someone who may have lucked into my dad's body. There was too much at risk to just attack someone looking like my dad. I needed to do some detective work first.

He grabbed an apple as he walked out of the house and into our family's truck. I walked into the front passenger seat and sat down. He started to drive carefully, driving to the high school. He turned the radio on to the rock station. I frowned. Dad listened to classic rock. The fake got that right. Clark Kent didn't listen to modern pop music. He wasn't that guy. I sat there, in silence, wondering if the fake would realize that he was replacing Superman.

I looked at my phone. I, like many teenagers, spent a lot of my life on this basic device - it was an integral part of who I was. I started to sift through the noise, listening in for the chatter about what crimes had been committed near Smallville or Metropolis. I listened in and heard about a person admitted to the hospital with several broken bones and a black eye: Teresa Sunwell. She was a student, a classmate of mine. I decided to check it out. It sounded like it might be something: it might be a case. First I had to ditch fake Dad.

"School," Clark said.

"Thanks, Dad," I said. I walked into school and waved. He drove away, slowly and carefully, signaling before every turn.

I texted Damian: fake of my dad

Damian texted back: thanks for the heads up - can you handle it?

I texted Damian: let me think if I need you

Damain texted back: I'm here if you need backup - faithfully your friend

I walked into the high school in the southern entrance and immediately walked straight through the high school and walked out through the northern entrance. I walked over three blocks to the hospital, ignoring the strange look that Mr. Detmer, the English teacher, gave me. I saw Lana Lang in the hospital's waiting room.

Lana hugged me. "I didn't know you would be here today, Jonathan," Lana said.

"I'm here," I said. "God, it's good to see you, Lana. I have to talk to Teresa Sunwell about an English assignment."
"Okay," Lana said. "I'll take you to her."

"Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," Lana said. She smiled. "Is this really an English assignment?"
"No," I whispered. "Can you do a favor for me? Figure out if something is wrong with my dad?"

"Yes," Lana said. "Your dad is someone very special to me and I would love to make certain that he is okay." She hugged me. "I would love to do it. I will call you. Teresa is in there."
I stood outside a hospital room. I walked in and knocked on the door. Teresa looked slight and slender and small, but had a strength of personality. She smiled.

"I'm sorry about what happened," I said. "I want to help. I'm secretly a D-list superhero. Can I help you out?"
Teresa smiled. "Of course, Superboy," she said.

I looked down. I wasn't wearing my Superboy gear yet.

"You know?"
"Someone published all the superhero identities," Teresa said. "Sorry, stud."
"Oh," I said.

"You are Superboy and your dad is Superman. The world knows," Teresa said. "The journalist and Lex Luthor decided that you heroes cannot hide from investigation any longer. We get to check to see if you are innocent or guilty. We get to learn if you are the heroes that you claim to be."
"Oh," I said. "What happened to you?"
"Boyfriend beat me up," Teresa said. "He's a real son of a bitch, the local drug dealer. I used to be a drug addict. I sobered up and started to stand up to him, and he didn't like that, not one bit. He got very angry and beat the shit out of me and showed off to his gang banger friends that he had hurt me."

"I'm sorry," I said. "His name?"
"Dmitri Markov," Teresa said. "He's a scared boy, playing as a man."

"I'm sorry," I said. "He has to suffer some consequences."

"Oh, I agree," Teresa said. "You should lock him up in juvy for a year or so."

"Will do," I said. "Let's get a picture from social media to make certain that we have the right guy." I showed her a picture. "Is that the guy?"
"Yes," she said. "That's the guy."

"I will lock him up, send him to juvy," I said.

"Let's see if you are up to the task," Teresa said.

I walked out of the room and smiled. I put on my Superboy gear and super-sped towards the high school. I checked the location of Dmitri Markov. I looked him up. I put my normal clothes back on and walked into the school's offices.

A bored assistant sat at a computer. She ate a donut - strawberry with cream.

"I need Dmitri Markov," I said. "I need to talk to him. School project. He didn't do it. It's important."

She looked him up in the system. "He's in Mr. Detmer's English class," she said.

"Thanks," I said. I walked over to Mr. Detmer's English class. I walked into class and looked around. The class was watching me. Mr. Detmer was writing on the board about The Catcher in the Rye.

"Yes?" Mr. Detmer said.

"I need to talk to Dmitri Markov," I said. "Outside."

"Fine," Mr. Detmer said. "Do you have a pass?"
I super-sped to the offices and grabbed a pink hall pass and signed it in garbled gook with a name no one could understand. I showed it to him.

"Okay," Mr. Detmer said.

Dmitri walked out of class. He wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He had a leather jacket and a bracelet that looked expensive and a gold chain. He was pale and white and in good shape.

We walked out of class. I walked out of school with him and he smiled.

"What do you want? Molly? Cocaine? Heroin?" Dmitri asked. "I can hook you up."

"I want to arrest you for beating up Teresa," I said. I wore my superhero garb.

"Oh," Dmitri said. He smiled. "A hero. Shit. This is awkward."

"Why?" I asked.

"I'm a junior justice league member," Dmitri said. "I'm untouchable."

"I don't care," I said. "I don't care what corrupt person tries to clear you. You are under arrest. You beat up a teenage girl."

Dmitri shrugged. "Try," he said. He drew a knife and tried to stab me. I dodged the blow and punched him in the head. He stayed up, swinging at me again. I grabbed the arm with the knife and yanked, and he dropped the knife. I cuffed him and called the police.

Fifteen minutes later he was in a cop car on his way to juvenile detention and I was on my way back into civilian garb and to my next class. I walked to Mr. Detmer's English class as the next period started and began to learn about the Shakespeare that we were studying - we were studying Hamlet and learning a lot about writing.

After class I looked at the news on my phone and was shocked.

"Lex Luthor stops local villain."
I looked at the article.

"Local villain Dmitri Markov, a drug dealer and notorious supervillian, was caught today by Lex Luthor, legendary hero. Dmitri beat up his ex-girlfriend and dealt drugs that did crippling damage to today's teens. Luthor answered questions to the press and smiled for pictures as fans had him sign autographs."

What the fuck?

I did that arrest.

Lex didn't do that.

I looked up the evidence on the internet.

I called up my detective friend, the assassin Damian Wayne.

"Damian," Damian answered.

"Damian, it's Jonathan," I said. "I thought I arrested Dmitri Markov."

"But Lex got the credit," Damian said. "The physical evidence, the video, the interview with Teresa, all says that Lex did the mission."

"What? That's impossible. I talked to Teresa myself."

"She denies it. She only talked to Lex."

"What?" I asked. "No. I did the mission."

"No," Damian said. "He did the mission. You did not do the mission."

"Well, I tried very hard to do the mission."

"It would appear that you failed to do the mission, and Lex Luthor succeeded in his attempt to do the mission."

"Can you check for effects?" I asked.

"Yeah, processing," Damian said. "Oh."

"What?" I asked.

"You have to get near Lex and use a Wayne Industries device and it will check to see if he did anything supernaturally in regards to this case. You need to get within ten feet of Lex for the scan to work."

"Okay," I said. "Get within ten feet of Lex. Got the device on my phone. Right."

"Good," Damian said. "Good. Get it done. Call me when you have the scan."

I walked out of class then. I didn't want to go to science class while all of this was happening. I then paused.

I should do class. I should go to school.

I called someone - Braniac V. I told him to check whether or not there was a fake of my dad and then decided to finish school for the day.

School was boring. School was often boring, but I powered through the whole thing, doing well at everything that they had me do.

After school I walked out of the school to see Braniac V standing there.
"Hello," Braniac V said.

"Hey," I said. "Learn anything?"
"Not only did I not learn anything, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that Lex Luthor is innocent of everything and a great hero." Then he winked at me.

"You're hacked," I said.

"Of course not," he said. "I could never be hacked by such a gentlemen that we love like Lex Luthor. Understand?"

I nodded. "You're hacked, Dad's replaced, and Lex stole my credit for an assignment, a low-level arrest of a drug dealer who beat his girlfriend. What is going on here?"

Braniac V shrugged. "Figure it out," he said. "I have to go do whatever the bad guys tell me to do. Excuse me."

He walked away from me. I called Damian immediately.

"Good, you got the trace," he said.

"I didn't get it," I said. "I need you to have someone de-hack Brainiac V."

"I'll get Fox on it immediately," Damian said. "Get that trace."

"Next on my to-do list," I said. "Talk later?"

"Yeah, yeah," Damian said. He hung up.

I looked up Lex Luthor's location. I didn't know how to do that so I asked around. Alex Danvers reported that Lex was at the Daily Planet at the top floor just then.

I started to fly super-fast to the Daily Planet, going so fast that no one could see me. I flew through Smallville and to Metropolois and to the Daily Planet.

I crept into the top floor of the Daily Planet. I looked around. I saw Lex, talking to Kara Danvers and James Olson. I walked up to them.

Lex looked at me. "This is a murderer," he said. "Jonathan Kent is a murderer."

"I'm a hero, actually," I said. "I arrested Dmitri Markov."

"I did that," Lex said. "I'm a hero. Not you. You cannot be a hero. You cannot live that life, loved by everyone. Everyone cheering on you, loving you, adoring you. You cannot have that. I will not allow it. No, everyone knows that I am the hero and you are a murderer, that you murdered Courtney Whitmore."

"I didn't do that," I said. "And I'm pretty sure that she's alive."

"I had to resurrect her!" Lex said. He looked infuriated. "I had to bring her back. It was almost impossible. It took everything from me."

"To pretend to resurrect Courtney Whitmore?" I asked. "That must have been a chore."

"No, to really get her back," Lex said. "This young man has to go to prison. Adult prison. For murder, terrible murder."

Kara Danvers smiled. "Really, Lex?" she asked. "Okay."

"Wait, what?" I asked. I left, flying away at full speed. Kara Danvers, Supergirl, followed and punched me. I slammed into the ground a couple blocks away from the Daily Planet and turned and punched her repeatedly. She grabbed me and I tried to break away, but she held me down.
"I got you, murderer," she said.

"You don't believe me? Jonathan Kent?" I asked.

"I don't believe you, Brad Ashwood," she said.

Uh oh.

She didn't know who I was.

She saw Brad Ashwood.

She couldn't see reality.

Neither could my dad.

Neither could I.

I couldn't see reality.

Kara held me down.

I needed to get out of here, figure out how to defeat this effect.

I pushed hard against Supergirl, but she held me down. She was one of the greatest heroes of all time, and I was a plucky teenager. A few seconds later I was in a cell in her prison of choice.

I sat there, in a cell with a force field holding me there. Lex walked into the room, smiling and wearing a warsuit - armor with weapons on it. He had his superhero gear all ready.

"I caught you," he said. "Murder. I caught the great Jonathan Kent, murder. I am one of the greatest heroes of all time."

"This is sad," I said. "Lex, needing invisible illusions to pretend to be a hero, to steal people's credit, to prevent other people from being heroes. This is sad, Lex. I'm sorry for you."

"I'm preventing you from doing the missions! I'm doing them myself! Even if it takes ten tries to win each mission!" Lex was mad now. "And how dare you judge me, I have to do this with - zero - powers. I have to do this with intellect alone. I have nothing and you have everything. Why shouldn't I fight for my piece?"

"This is sad, Lex," I said.

"I am going to go on a date with two beautiful women," Lex said. "Goodbye. See you in twenty-five years."

Lex walked away. I saw a prison guard and was in a room with a toilet and a bench with a pillow. I sat down, waiting to see what would happen. I tried to break open the force field. Nothing. They had taken my gear and my phone. I sat there, in prison, unable to see reality, not knowing what to do next.

Then I asked for help from the guard. "I want a lawyer," I said.

The guard smiled. "Of course," he said. "Your lawyer is on her way."

I waited fifteen minutes, and then Lucy Lane walked in. She smiled.

"You're a murderer?" she asked.

"No," I said. "There are mental illusions."

I tried to pantomime that there were mental illusions.

Lucy laughed.

I tried something else. "Can you get Brainiac V?" I asked.

"No," she said.

"Please?" I asked.

"No," she said.

"Can you get me a phone call?" I asked.

She gave me a phone. I called Braniac V.

He answered.

"There are mental illusions," I said. "You need to beat them in order for anyone organic to communicate with any other organic person."

"You need to de-hack me," Braniac V said.

"I'm in a cell," I said.

"Your powers are back. Break out the back wall."

I slammed through the back wall, full force, and flew back away towards Wayne manor. I didn't know who could de-hack Braniac V, but Damian Wayne might understand to do so.

"How do I get a message through to Damian Wayne?" I asked.

"Hmm," Braniac V said. "Text him on the justice league website. It beats everything."
I texted Damian: mental illusions. de-hack Braniac V and he can beat the mental illusions and we can finally communicate.

I flew into the entrance to Wayne Manor. I knocked on the doors, expecting to be seen as a murderer or a monster or something.

"Hey," Batman said. He stood on a gargoyle on the roof.

"You can't hear me," I said. "Mental illusions."

"Actually, I have willpower," Batman said. "What would beat that?"

"Braniac V, if you dehack him," I said.

"On it," Batman said.

He grabbed a computer and began to type furiously on the keys. I saw a truck start to pull up to the manor. I looked at them. Joker gang members, a dozen of them.

"Grim," Batman said. "But the mental illusions are gone from around us. The heroes from this reality can communicate with each other and affect the outside world. Our missions are happening now."

The Joker gang members ran out of the truck and walked towards Wayne Manor, wearing colorful clothes and carrying swords and guns and lead pipes and all sorts of bizarre weapons.

"Funny thing about mental illusions," one of the Joker gang members said. "It gave everyone a chance to escape Arkham Asylum. Every Gotham City bad guy, out there, causing trouble, and no one can see them doing it."

"Except me," Batman said.

"We got out," the Joker gang member said.

"Good sport to lock you up again," I said. I super-sped to the first one and punched him straight in the head, knocking him down. Batman leaped at the one in back, hitting him with a martial-arts kick that disabled him. Damian Wayne rushed outside in his Robin gear, punching one of the Joker gang members.

One gang member used Venom and immediately became huge. I punched him, and he didn't even stagger. He punched me back, and I managed to hold my ground despite the immense power of the blow. I then tried to wrestle him to the ground.

He laughed. "I'm a god," he said.

"Or a delusional drug addict," I said. I flipped him and knocked him onto the ground by using his leverage against him. I looked up.

Batman was wrecking them, having already taken down half a dozen guys. We finished off the last three guys. The last guy stood there with a machete, grinning like a lunatic, Batman battering him repeatedly and avoiding every attack against him.

We stood there, arresting these guys.

"Fox found a way to hold them without guards. It's all automated," Batman said. "They appear in a private prison when we handcuff them. Very advanced technology."

We handcuffed each of them and watched them disappear and appear somewhere else. I turned to Batman. "Got the trace," I said. "Got arrested for doing it."

"Sorry," Batman said. "I'll have you cleared immediately."

"Thanks," I said. "What happens now?"

"We catch Lex," Batman said.

My dad, Superman, showed up.

He hugged me.

"I thought you were a fake, but we were just not communicating correctly," I said.

"Almost everyone isn't," Clark said. "I'm sorry, son. Lex Luthor will go to prison for framing you and stealing your credit. We will make it our mission to catch him for this. For now,, we have to handle this disaster and try to research how to defeat all the illusions. I can only guess what's happening in the world - for real."

We went inside and began to plan our next move - we would do anything necessary to stop Lex Luthor and prove what was real to everyone.

To be continued if anyone likes it…