Clark could feel his heart sink when he saw his son, or at least a man who looked exactly like a ten-year older version of his son, laying in a crater in front of him.
Why? How can that be? Is this a Jonathan from another Earth? Or his inverse doppelganger? No! This is all impossible. Jonathan… isn't he supposed to be with Kyle in Wichita, right now?
"CLARK?" Lois yelled from behind him, while he could hear Jordan starting to vomit.
Clark turned around to see Jordan throwing up. Whatever this Jonathan-doppelganger/ lookalike did to Jordan was not good.
"LOIS… get Jordan inside!" Clark yelled back. "As far away as possible from the Kryptonite and the other crystal! And call Jonathan!"
"Why?" Lois didn't understand why they should call Jonathan in this.
"Just keep sure that he is safe!" Clark simply responded and turned to his son's doppelganger again. Lois meanwhile understood it and start to try to call Jonathan. Clark wanted to be sure that it is not their Jonathan.
He was unconscious, but alive. He was breathing and his heartbeat was normal. But what is this guy doing here? Why he came here to attack Jordan and take his powers? And how he should explain to Jordan, that his brother, who told him that he wishes he loses his powers only a few hours ago, just came back in time to do so? Or his doppelganger? Or a lookalike? What the hell is going on here?
Clark looked over to the lead box, with the weird yellow-golden crystal, the older 'Jonathan' used to damage Jordan's powers. And then on the letter in his hand? He knew that there were a lot of questions. And this man will answer them all, as soon as he wakes up! He has powers? Clark's first thought was X-K…
"Clark, I can't reach Jonathan! I think he is… OH MY GOD!" Lois suddenly yelled.
Without that he noticed, Lois came out of the house again, after Jonathan didn't pick up her calls. And she was shocked to see her son in that crater. Just older…
"Lois, something is going on!"
"IS THAT…?" Lois was not able to finish that question because she was so terrified. "BUT… THEY WERE FIGHTING IN THE AIR… X-K…"
Lois first thought was that Jonathan took X-K again. Why else he should have powers? Otherwise, he was Clark's son, too! Just because he doesn't have powers 'yet', doesn't mean he will never have them.
"MOM, DAD…" Jordan yelled from the porch.
"JORDAN, STAY INSIDE!" Clark yelled, placing himself in front of the unconscious older Jonathan to prevent the boy from seeing that his brother was the one who took his powers. "Lois, try to call Kyle! Jonathan might not pick up because he is still mad on us?"
Lois guessed that was right. When Jonathan left in the morning, he was very mad on them!
"Dad, who is that?" Jordan yelled from the porch.
"JORDAN… get back in the house and cover yourself with the lead blanket that is in your closet. To seal you from the radiation of the crystal." Clark yelled, trying to spare Jordan from this shock and getting at least a few more minutes to come up with a plan. "Maybe your powers return then!"
Hearing that, Jordan ran back into the house to see if it works. Getting his powers back was his highest priority. After that, he wanted to beat the crap out of that guy…
Lois called Kyle's number and was relieved when the call wasn't transferred straight to voicemail, like on Jonathan's phone.
"It's ringing…"
"Lois, give me the phone and seal the box with the crystal. And get another box for the Kryptonite. I talk to Jonathan in the meantime." Clark ordered while Lois handed him the phone and she left to do what Clark said.
Clark took Lois' phone and listened to the dial-tone…
Jonathan meanwhile did his best to forget the offending words of his brother, he heard today in the morning and that led him to leave the house without breakfast and even forgetting his notepad he wanted to take with him today.
When Kyle invited him to join him on this seminar, he agreed without hesitation. It felt great to do something useful. He was not willing to be as useless as his family saw him and his brother called him. Kyle was here since yesterday. Jonathan had school and was therefor just able to join him today. And Jonathan was happy to get out of Smallville after this morning.
It was time for a coffee break and he and Kyle were standing at the bar with their coffees and Sandwiches from the buffet when he noticed his phone vibrating in his pocket. He saw it was his mom and ignored the call. He didn't want to hear her apologizing, he wanted to hear Jordan apologizing to him. After three ignored calls, suddenly Kyle's phone start to ring.
"It's your mom, again!" the fire-chief said to Jonathan.
"I can't believe it. Now she tries it over you." Jonathan moaned. "Tell her that Jordan has to apologize by himself."
Jonathan was frustrated and threw his sandwich back on the paper-plate. Kyle picked up the call.
"Hello, Lois!"
"Kyle, it's me! Is Jonathan with you?" Clark asked worried.
"Yes, yes he is with me, Kent!" Kyle said before he whispered to Jonathan. "Your father!"
Jonathan was even more frustrated.
"Give him to me, please!"
Kyle looked over to Jonathan, who just crossed his arms and shacked his head. He could hear his father over the speaker but made clear gestures that he doesn't want to talk to him now.
"Sorry, Kent… but…" Kyle began.
"Please, it's important!" Clark begged over the phone. "I need to know if he is really with you?"
"He is! He is standing right in front of me! But he…"
"Really?"
"Really! Kent, what's going on?"
Suddenly Jonathan had the feeling that something happened. Clark meanwhile looked down to the doppelganger of his son who suddenly start to tremble as he slowly regained consciousness.
Clark looked back and forth between Lois, who was handling the Kryptonite, the house, where Jordan was hiding, and this boy who was only seconds away from waking up again. Clark acted instinctively and lifted the older Jonathan off the ground to bring him away from here. The DOD was too risky. Ever since Jonathan's inverse-doppelganger, Sam had to hide all photos of Jonathan from the people there. The fortress would be the better solution. There he will also figure out how long the X-K in his body will need to lose its effect.
"I'll be back, soon!" Clark yelled before he departed into the air with the elder Jonathan and dropped the phone.
"Kent? KENT?" Kyle yelled through the phone that was now laying on the ground.
Lois didn't notice her phone, while she rushed over the area and freed it from the Kryptonite.
"HEY, DAD WHAT ABOUT ME?!" Jordan yelled shocked when he came out of the house again, wrapped in the blanket and tried to jump to fly after his father.
In Wichita, Kyle put his phone away and looked worried on Jonathan.
"I think something is going on at your place!" Kyle said.
"In that case they would never call me for help!" Jonathan moaned, before suddenly an ice-cold shiver ran over his back. "Aww… but for some reason… agh… the last time they hid something from me… Chief, sorry! I go back to Smallville…"
The most exciting part of the seminar was already over, and Jonathan was not in mood to get excluded again. He took his keys and left the hotel…
His father meanwhile, flew his unconscious doppelganger to the fortress, where Lara contained him in a forcefield. Then he went back to the farm, where he took the both lead-boxes with the Kryptonite and the other crystal and flew them to the fortress, too. After that he went back again and took his son to bring him to the fortress to let him scan and to check when his powers will return…
The older Jonathan meanwhile, found himself back in his happy life he had before everything went downwards…
He was back with his friends. Back in that office, where they uncovered so many things. Back with the love of his life… All that suddenly changed when he was surrounded by flames that destroyed everything around him… his life, his future, his faith… he found himself back on the boat he used to reach the ocean Fortress, to steal Lara's crystal and blow the place up with a bomb… and then he found himself fighting again…
The plan was easy: Go back in time, to a moment Jordan is home alone! Destroy his powers with the special golden Kryptonite he and Lara developed together. Only leave the note for Clark and Lois. And then leave ASAP without changing anymore.
Time-travelling is risky! Extremely risky! One wrong move could cause more damage than it should. And he travelled back to prevent damage!
When he arrived, the first thing he did was using a public-phone to call the landline-phone in the farmhouse, knowing that Jordan would never pick it up by himself. Nobody picking up, meant Jordan is alone and he was lucky. But he didn't expect his mother coming home earlier, witnessing everything, and then calling his father who ruined everything…
And now he was here! Trapped! Helpless! Failing!
Lara was shocked about the story, her son told her when she brought in the unconscious young man to the fortress, ordering her to remove all the X-K from his system and to contain him as long as necessary before he brings the other stuff.
But Lara's scan revealed immediately that there was no X-K involved…
Jonathan could hear Lara's soft and kind words talking to him through the darkness, while he had the feeling that his whole world around him was crumbling to dust… she was like an angel in a dimension full of demons and a spark of hope in a sea of hopelessness… a sea that was suddenly getting stormy, when he heard his father's voice…
"Mother, here is the crystal I talked about!" Clark said, when he returned to the fortress, two minutes later and placed the two closed lead-boxes on the ground.
"Kal, this man has taken no X-K! He has powers because he is a Kryptonian like you, your brother and Jordan! Why do you assume that he took X-K?"
"Jonathan has no powers, mother! The only way he can achieve them is by taking X-Kryptonite!" Clark moaned.
"Kal, Jonathan is your son! And therefore, a son of Krypton, too! Where is your Jonathan, now?"
"Safe! I go and get Jordan! Maybe you can restore his powers!" Clark said before speeding out again.
"KAL, WAIT!" Lara said loudly. But her son was gone before she could tell him to bring Jonathan here, too.
Full of worry Lara continued the scan of the now only half-unconscious Jonathan in the forcefield. She had seen her other grandson only twice. And never, got him scanned or got a chance to talk to him more. So, she had no data to see if this Jonathan was truly her Jonathan, or just another superpowered Human-Kryptonian-hybrid who just looks like him…
But what she figured out was that he was around 26 Earth-years old, that his cells were absorbing yellow-solar-energy like her son and Jordan do, and that he had some terrible healed injuries all over his body, that proved that he went through a lot… too much for a young man.
"You came here for a reason, tell me which one!" Lara said softly while getting a step closer.
The older Jonathan suddenly opened his eyes. All he could see was blurry orange light and his grandmother's holograph that was looking on him full of sorrow.
"I failed, grandmother! I failed humanity!" Jonathan murmured in perfect and accent-free Kryptonese before fainting again.
"What? What do you fail in?" Lara asked, now in Krytonese, too. "Jonathan, stay with me!"
Lara scanned him again. Jonathan had a terrible concussion from the fight with his father. And she was shocked about the fact that her son had beaten her grandson. No matter what he did, this was no reason. And according to the old injuries she saw, it was not the first time, he got beaten… She immediately initiated a healing protocol…
After bringing the two lead-boxes to the fortress, Clark headed back to get Jordan. Lois, who was worried (and curious about the older Jonathan) insisted on coming, too. To see if she can convince him to open up to them.
"Dad, who was that man?" Jordan demanded to know.
"Jordan… calm down! Everything will be all right!" Clark assured him. "Listen… I brought him to the fortress and your grandmother is scanning him now to keep sure to get the X-K out of him!"
"So, it was really X-K!" Lois said frustrated. She couldn't believe that Jonathan dared to take that stuff again, after everything he and this family went through.
"WHO?" Jordan yelled angrily and threw the blanket; he was wrapped in, on the ground. "TELL ME WHO!"
Lois and Clark looked on each other worried. Knowing they would have to tell him sooner or later anyway. At latest when they arrive in the fortress.
"Jordan… The man who attacked you… he… looks like Jonathan!" Clark confessed.
Jordan became pale.
"Jon?"
"Yes… But older and adult! And it could be…"
"THIS FUCKING IDIOT! HE IS JUST JEALOUS!" Jordan yelled angrily and stomped angrily with his feet on the ground.
"Jordan… so far we don't know if it is really him!" Clark said, hoping it was really just a lookalike. "Lois, did you reach Jonathan in the meantime?"
"How? You have my phone?" she moaned.
Clark looked over to the crater, where Lois' phone was still laying on the ground. Lois walked over and took it again to see that there was no respond from Jonathan…
"He isn't calling!" she said worried.
"Yeah, because he is now at the fortress and gets the X-K out of his body. He just can't accept that I have the powers and he doesn't!" Jordan moaned again.
"JORDAN, ENOUGH!" Clark said. "We figure out what happened! But first let's get you to the fortress!"
Clark ordered Jordan to hold on his shoulders while he carried Lois in his arms. With Jordan currently powerless and Lois not able to withstand too fast flights anyway, the flight back to the fortress will take a while. And so, they departed and left the farm and Kansas behind…
What they didn't know was that Jonathan tried to call back his mother right in this moment, but Lois' phone was already out of range for any transmitter.
"Dammed!" he cursed when he ended the call and pressed the buttons on his steering wheel to call his father's and his brother's phones. But they didn't pick up eighter. "First making stress and then ignoring me?"
Jonathan asked himself if it was not a mistake to leave the seminar? If it is not better to stay and learn a bit more? It would be more than he can expect to learn from his family anyway. Otherwise, he had this uncomfortable feeling in his guts that something terrible happened and that he should go home? Powers or not, and no matter how useless it would be, he had the feeling he should do something! When he reached the highway, he tried to call the landline-phone in the farmhouse. But only the machine picked up…
"Hey, what's going on there? I left the seminar and come home now! But I swear you, if I left for nothing, I demand an apology! So, I hope it is important!" Jonathan spoke on the answering machine before hanging off.
He had a feeling that he will regret it…
Jordan meanwhile felt so out of place, when he was holding with both hands around his father's neck while laying on his cape when Clark flew them all back to the fortress. He tried to feel this incredible feeling when his body is flying. But he felt nothing. All he felt was cold wind, blowing into his face unpleasantly and the feeling that the whole world is a blur, instead of a clear image. His father flew them as fast as possible, but even that felt too fast for him. Lois seemed unimpressed by the speed. That shocked Jordan, who suddenly thought that he is weaker than his mother now.
His parents both didn't speak during the whole flight. Both were brooding about the recent events, too! Jonathan's (or his doppelganger's/ lookalike's) stunt on the farm with Jordan's powers made them all a bit pensive. It tore up wounds, they thought they successfully treated. But anyway, they have enough problems right now…
Lex Luthor was still on the loose and probably managed to get his daughter's support on his revenge on them. They had no clue what happens next or what bad surprise awaits them. Is this Jonathan lookalike maybe sent by Luthor? NO! This is impossible! Luthor has 'still' no clue that Clark and Superman are one and the same person. But they fact that Luthor sent his 'Doomsday-creature' to the farm, where it burned down the barn, was a prove that Luthor will definitely use the Kent family as a bait for Superman. Making him the most dangerous foe they had, ever since Clark decided to be Superman.
But where does Jonathan fit in it? Clark never told anyone, but after the barn-scene, he once had a nightmare in which Jonathan angrily tells Lex Luthor their secret and Lex uses the barn-scene for his anti-superman propaganda! While Clark thought about Jonathan, Jordan had suddenly that evening in Sarah's living-room in his mind again. And his offensive coffee-speech, he didn't see as offensive until Sarah told him. And Lois suddenly had this scene from the election-day in her head again, when this other mother and Coach Gaines attacked her son, and she didn't even try to step in to defend Jonathan. She suddenly had to ask herself if she gave Jonathan the feeling that she doesn't care about him.
There were too many open questions. But they hoped that this guy in the fortress will answer them all. Whoever he is?
After a flight, that felt like a whole car-ride from Smallville to Metropolis, Clark landed carefully at the fortress' entrance and carefully placed his wife and his son on the ground.
"Okay, here we are!" Clark said. "Listen, we don't know who this boy really is! So, we don't know if it is really Jonathan, or just a guy who looks like him! We first see what Lara figured out and then we clarify why he is here and why he did that to you Jordan!"
"I want my powers back! It sucks to be just a passenger!" Jordan said, before he suddenly had his brother's offended face in his mind again.
"Jordan, stay calm! You will get your powers back! Your grandmother figures out everything! So don't worry!" Clark said, ignoring that weird feeling about this situation.
Together they entered the fortress, where Lara was awaiting them. The older Jonathan was still in this forcefield and still unconscious.
"Mother, what did you figure out?" Clark asked.
"Kal, this man has no X-Kryptonite in his system and not a trace of it anywhere on his body or his clothes. He has powers because he is your son!" Lara said.
"What? But this is impossible?" Clark said instinctively.
"Kal, I can't believe what you say! What makes you so convinced that your son Jonathan is no Kryptonian?" Lara asked. "I don't even know if this is really your Jonathan, because I have never scanned him to have something to compare him with."
"What about my powers? Can you restore them?" Jordan ignored his grandmother's statements. "I want my powers back!"
"Mother, I don't know how he is suddenly able to have powers?" Clark simply said.
"Kal, this man is your son! But I need a scan of your son Jonathan to be sure they are one and the same person!" Lara said.
"Scan me! My powers…" Jordan begged.
"Are they everything you can think about?" Lara asked, now angrier.
Suddenly the mood in the fortress became darker. Jordan only saw his grandmother's mad expression when suddenly a cold shiver ran down his back.
"Please excuse him, he is still under shock about this event!" Lois tried to safe the situation.
"Mother, there is a lot to process for us all!" Clark said and took a deep breath. "Okay… so there is no X-K involved and you can't tell us if this is our Jonathan! What about this crystal he used to take Jordan's powers?"
"I haven't analyzed it yet! But when you insist on Jordan getting his powers back, I will scan him now." Lara said. Before she could finish her sentence, Jordan already stepped on the platform. "I have considerations!"
Lara wondered if there was something about her son's family, that got hidden from her. The longer they were here, the longer she felt as if it was true. She commenced the scan and indeed found an explanation quickly.
"Jordan, it looks like your body's ability to absorb yellow solar energy has been damaged. I can still see weak process in your body, and you already began to restore. But I think it will take some time before you will be able to use your powers again."
"How long?" Jordan asked upset.
"For that I need to run more tests and analyze the mineral that was used to cause this effect. But according to the current state of your own recovery, I assume your powers will return in a couple of weeks…"
"WEEKS?" Jordan yelled.
"This is not good!" suddenly a new voice said.
Everyone turned around and saw that the older Jonathan woke up again and looked on them with poison in his eyes…