Chapter 3

'Hello Captain Luthor,' came the voice of the AI, as the newly linked-up monitors and speakers flickered to life.

The Stranger stepped back from the repaired electrical board and set down his tools, grateful once again for his many years' experience working as a mechanical engineer at Luthorcorp, before his former boss became his Captain.

Lex had always been suspicious of Superman – he'd tried to open the world's eyes to the dangers of an all-powerful alien threat, but he'd been painted the villain for it. So he stepped back from the public limelight and began developing anti-kryptonian technology at Lexlabs.

It wasn't until Kal-el showed the world his true colours, that people finally recognised Lex for the hero he really was.

Without Lex's research and designs, they would have had no defence against the kryptonian uprising – but in the end, even Lex's arsenal of weapons and machines hadn't been enough. He'd been brutally murdered in front of his eyes, along with so many others.

He grimaced as the gruesome memory of Captain Luthor's final moments flashed through his mind.

'I told you not to call me that,' he said gruffly.

The days events hadn't exactly put him in a good mood, but at least Lois had finally agreed to set up a meeting with Superman. It seemed her husband had done some of the convincing, which only confirmed what he'd suspected. There was no way Superman had discovered his identity.

If they'd known he was the masked figure who'd made two attempts on their heroes life, there was no way they'd be agreeing to set up a meeting with him.

'It seems we have a problem, sir', the AI warned him, her memory system immediately prioritising the threat it had detected before it had been attacked.

The Stranger sighed, 'I know, Superman broke into the RV.'

'Sir, you might want to see the video I captured on the monitors,' she advised.

He spun around to the screen set up on one side and peered at the image before him. It was not who he was expecting to see.

'That's… her husband. Clark Kent,' he said, confusion crossing his features as he watched the man snooping around.

'That's correct Captain,' the AI replied, the video continuing on to show the man discovering his suit and hidden arsenal, seemingly so shocked he lost his balance and fell backwards. He looked oddly pained.

The RV then went into shutdown and the man slumped to the floor.

'I don't understand. It had to have been heat vision that destroyed the electrical board…' his mind scrambled to make sense of the scene unfolding.

'It was Captain,' she confirmed, as the video continued on to show the man he'd thought was insignificant, looking up at the board and blasting it with fire from his eyes, just seconds before he would have been annihilated.

Marcus's expression turned from puzzled to deadly serious. His jaw tightened as the truth dawned on him and some of the pieces started to fall into place.

'I can confirm he has Kryptonian physiology,' she continued, now showing him a holographic image of the body scan she'd registered. 'As you can see, he was affected by the Kryptonite and the solar flares.'

This was why he hadn't reacted to the explosion earlier. Why he was staring so intently at that silver case.

This was why Sam was working so closely with Superman instead of seeing him for the threat he was. Why Lois was so protective of him. Why she had written so many Superman stories. Why he seemed to always be close by, whenever she was in trouble.

'Dammit,' he chastised himself. He'd known something felt familiar about the guy, but he hadn't listened to his instincts.

His thoughts suddenly turned to the meeting they'd agreed, disregarding his earlier assertion that they'd never go ahead with it if they knew who he was. Clearly he'd been wrong.

What exactly was their game here? Where they planning some kind of set up?

He knew his original plan was useless now, but he felt even more determined to finish this tonight.

He needed a way to get Kal-El to meet him, alone. He needed leverage, something the so called 'hero' wouldn't be able to resist.

Then he remembered – on this earth, Lois Lane & Clark Kent had two teenage sons.

He quickly put on the suit and took off, heading straight for the small town's high school, and trying to ignore the embers of his conscience flickering in protest.

Jordan peered through the little window in the classroom door, craning his neck to see if his brother was in there. He spotted him towards the back of the room, gazing out of the window in the direction of the football field.

He'd tried his brother's cell but there had been no answer, so he'd figured he must be in class; but he couldn't just sit around and wait until it finished.

Familiar anxiety coursed through his body but he swallowed it down and opened the door. The teacher looked up at him in equal parts surprise and annoyance. His classmates all looked back at him too, welcoming a distraction from the monotony of their history lesson. Jordan randomly appearing at the door was much more interesting than the man droning on about the French revolution.

'Uh… I.. Uh… Jonathan needs to come home,' he began, struggling to get his words out while he felt so exposed. 'We have a…. a… family emergency,' he managed to get out.

It was a half truth. He braced himself for some kind of questioning or demand for proof. To his surprise and relief, the man shrugged and sighed.

'Kent' he yelled in Jon's direction, waving his hand towards the door dismissively.

He could see his classmates giving each other glances and raised eyebrows, but they said nothing, turning back to the front of the class reluctantly.

Jon gave his brother a look of concern as he gathered up his things and headed out the door, making sure it closed fully behind him.

'Jordan, what's going on? Why are you at school?' his brother questioned.

Jordan just gave him a wordless look, shook his head, and gestured for him to follow him down the hall and out the front of the school building.

Once they were far enough away on the road out of town, he turned to his brother.

'I did it. I focused my hearing,' he explained. There was a hint of pride in his voice as he told his brother he'd successfully used his superpowers.

'That's great Jordan… but that doesn't really explain why you'd pull me out of class,' he pointed out, seemingly annoyed at being kept in the dark while his brother lead him towards home.

'I focused on dad. I heard him and mom talking to this guy about Edge building an army… I know I shouldn't really have been eavesdropping, but I couldn't help myself, so I kept listening,' Jordan began.

He definitely owed his Dad an apology for how he'd reacted to him listening in on them at school… he understood now how hard a temptation it was to resist when you were worried about someone.

'What did they say?' Jon asked, his interest peaked by both his brothers' words and the urgency of his tone.

'A whole bunch of stuff! How this guy from another world knows about kryptonite and is trying to kill dad. How he might be some other version of Lex Luthor. How they were planning to set up a meet but have Grandad there for back up. Mom was worried it was too risky. And by the way, did you know Dad had been shot by kryptonite bullets before?' Jordan babbled at his brother.

Just one of the ways he took after his mom.

Jon's shocked expression confirmed he was just as clueless.

'Okay, okay, Jordan, let me get this straight,' Jon shook his head, trying to make sense of what his brother was telling him. 'Dad's going to go meet some nut job who has kryptonite?'

'Yes! Jon, it didn't sound like this was just out of the blue. They're still hiding stuff from us! I thought all the secrets were over,' Jordan said, his voice frustrated and hurt.

He turned around, clasping his hands over the back of his head.

'Well… maybe it's like a national security thing. Maybe Grandad said they couldn't tell us,' Jon reasoned.

'We need to do something,' Jordan said as he turned back to his brother.

'Woah there Superboy, what exactly are you thinking we should do?' Jon asked sceptically. 'You know Dad wouldn't want us getting involved in this stuff. Besides wouldn't we just be making it worse showing up there? I mean, wouldn't Lois Lane's kids randomly showing up to help Superman look kind of suspicious?'

Jordan bit his lip. He knew Jon had a point, he just hated being so useless when his parents were risking their lives.

'Your brother's right,' a threatening voice spoke from behind them, setting his nerves on edge. 'It would be a bit of a giveaway.'

Jordan spun around, instinctively backing away as the figure landed on the road in front of them in some kind of high tech suit of armour.

'That is… if there was anything left to give away,' the armoured man added.

Jordan looked desperately at Jon for any sign of what to do. Who was this guy? And could hereally know who their dad was somehow?

His hand flew instinctively to his pocket, searching for the ELT.

'Don't even bother calling out for him,' the man said coldly, gesturing towards a peice of tech embedding in the arm of his suit. 'This sound dampener will make sure your dad has no idea i'm paying you boys a visit.'

'What do you want?' Jon demanded, stepping in front of his brother protectively.

Even though Jordan was the one with Superpowers, he was still always looking out for him.

'To save this world,' the man answered with conviction and emotion. 'And you two are going to help me make sure that happens.'

Before either of them could say anything else in protest, Marcus grabbed them and flew up into the sky.

Jordan watched helplessley as the high school disappeared out of sight.

'I'm gonna go home and check on the boys,' Clark told Lois as they pulled up in Smallville's high street for the second time that day.

Despite all the days distraction, he hadn't forgotten what Jordan was going through back at the farm.

He remembered what it was like when his super hearing first kicked in – it was physical agony, sure, but it was also really isolating. He wanted Jordan to know that he didnt have to go through this alone.

'You go, I need to get this over to the DOD,' Lois replied, gesturing towards the case by her side.

At his confused expression, she continued.

'I asked Chrissy to see if she could establish any connection between our guy and Lex. She said Luthor's biographer confirmed there is no way he has a son. No cousins, no distant relatives. She walked her through every branch of the Luthor family tree. Our guy is definitely not on it.'

'Okay… But what does that have to do with the case of X-K?' Clark asked.

Lois looked at him with that sparkle in her eye that usually meant she'd done something sneaky.

'You said the voice in the RV called him Captain,' Lois explained.

'Right, so he's military…' Clark, said starting to catch on.

'Which is why I'm going to take this to the DOD for processing,' she said, once again pointing towards the handle of the case for emphasis.

Clark found himself laughing softly and he smiled at her, finally understanding why she'd insisted he hand it over.

'What?' she asked, with fake innocence.

'Nothing,' he replied, still smiling. 'Just… it has his prints. You know, you're really good at this,' he complimented her. 'You'll let your dad know the plan?' he added.

Lois nodded, starting the truck back up again.

'You better get moving, Superman. We don't have much time before your 'meeting',' Lois said.

'All right,' he nodded and got out of the truck. Remembering something, he bent down towards the window and added, 'Wait, has he given you a location yet?'

Lois checked her phone again briefly before shaking her head. 'No, not yet... but I'm sure it won't be long. He seems to have a one-track mind when it comes to trying to kill you,' she said wryly, before pulling away.

Clark ducked out of sight down a deserted alley way before taking off towards home.

The farmhouse was eerily quiet when Clark arrived and he could see no lights inside.

'Jordan?' Clark called out as he stepped inside, a bad feeling washing over him when he was met with silence.

'Boys?' he tried once more, slightly louder this time.

Still no response.

He scanned his super hearing over any sounds he could hear around the farm or nearby, but he couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Just the rustling of corn swaying in the evening breeze and the scurrying of animals settling down to rest.

Where were they?

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Jordan's number, hoping this was just a result of his son's often frustrating recklessness. They'd made it clear to him that it was much too dangerous for him to be around people when his powers were this unpredictable, but his son just didn't seem willing to listen to them lately.

Why couldn't he understand how serious this was? If someone ever connected the dots between his powers and Superman, it was all over for them having a normal life.

He was about to give up after the 10th ring when he finally heard the click of someone picking up. 'Jordan, where are you?' he began, not bothering to hide the worry in his voice. 'I told you it was too dangerous…'

'You were right about that,' a familiar voice responded unexpectedly, causing the bad feeling in to form into a giant boulder in his chest.

Clark went deathly still, and his jaw tensed. It was Marcus' voice. How did he have Jordan's phone? Had he hurt him?

Clark's mind raced, but somehow he managed to maintain some rational thought, and decided to play dumb. He wanted to hold onto the one card they had left, if he could.

'Who is this,' he demanded, trying to make his voice a balance of demand and innocence.

'You know who I am Kal-El,' Marcus said, revealing his newfound knowledge menacingly. 'Just like I know who you are now, Clark. No more secrets. No more pretences. Just you… and me.'

'Leave my son out of this,' he pleaded through gritted teeth, not bothering to deny what was clearly exposed.

'Believe me, I don't want to hurt either of your sons… but they are the only way I can be sure you'll meet with me. Alone. Without the military audience,' he explained, letting him know he'd correctly guessed their plan.

There was no way out of this. The Stranger had his children, and he wasn't going to get them back unless he did what the man wanted.

'Dad!' he heard Jordan call out in the background, before his voice was stifled somehow.

'Jordan!' Clark called down the phone, his eyes wide and frantic at the sound of his son's plea.

He felt something primal begin to take over, a protective instinct that blotted out all the fear he'd been carrying with him since his visit to the RV had brought the name Luthor into the mix.

'Where are they?' Clark practically growled down the phone. He didn't care who he was or what weapons he had, he wasn't going to let him hurt his sons.

'The abandoned Luthorcorp factory, about 5 miles beyond the mines,' the man told him, before his voice took on an even more threatening tone. 'And don't even think about telling Lois or the DOD where you're going... or you will regret it.'

As if to emphasise his point, Clark heard a faint crunching noise and Jonathan cried out in anguish as the man put pressure on his son's already broken wrist.

'Jonathan,' Clark cried out desperately, but the man had already hung up.

He felt his eyes glowing red with rage, his son's screams rang in his ears. Without a rational thought in sight, he took off towards the factory, dropping the phone as he did.

An incoming call from Lois flashed up on the screen as the phone lay spinning on the kitchen floor.