The moment he opened his eyes, he was only seeing the clear blue sky…
He was laying on his back on a soft, but also hard ground. Reaching out his hands, Jonathan realized that it was grass. He heard insects. He heard the wind blowing over the ground. It was pretty cold and a bit foggy.
With a loud gasp, Jonathan shrieked up and sat upright now. That was the moment he realized that it was a park, surrounded by tall modern buildings of a big city…
How did he get here? What happened? The last thing he remembered was that he… No! No, it can't be! He should be dead! He shouldn't be here! He should be nothing! He should be ash!
Jonathan looked down on himself and saw that he was wearing his firehouse-shirt and the working trousers. His phone was in his pocket and he felt his valet in his other pocket. Jonathan raised from the ground and walked away to the nearby walking path while he grabbed his phone. His display had a crack, but the phone was still working. He had no service, and the time was not correct. It was bright day, early morning maybe, but according to his phone it was around 10 p.m. in the evening. The same time he was at home and… No! No, he didn't want to think about it!
The park was pretty empty. A jogger was approaching him. And in the distance, he saw a woman. The jogger passed him and Jonathan realized that the man was looking on him with big eyes before he went on his way.
Jonathan had no clue what to do now? Should he talk to someone? Should he try to call someone? After what happened just a few minutes ago, he wasn't sure about it! He was more convinced to remain silent and don't call his family! At least for a few hours until everyone calmed down enough! Until he calmed down enough? But is he still himself?
Is he dead? He has to be dead! And this is the realm of the death? Heaven? Purgatory? Hell? And why is it looking like a modern American city? Jonathan walked across the walkway and passed a trash-bin with the words 'City of Metropolis' written on it! Metropolis? This is not Metropolis? Jonathan grew up in Metropolis and he spent hours with glaring on pictures of it after the forced move to Smallville! He knew every Skyscrapper and every landmark. He didn't recognize any building and this park was foreign to him, too.
The woman, Jonathan spotted earlier, walked in his way and stopped when she was just a couple of feet away from him.
"Hey young man, are you okay?" she asked.
"Huh… ehm…" Jonathan needed a moment to realize that the woman was talking with him. "…I… excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
"Metropolis!"
"Metropolis?" Jonathan was even more confused. "No… no that can't be… Metropolis is different!"
"Listen, young man, you are in Metropolis! Centenial Park!" she responded.
Jonathan looked around again. This was never Metropolis! It never got so much destroyed that it's appearance changed that much! The woman meanwhile looked on that boy, with the grass stains on his clothes, the torn shirt and the lost expression in his pale face. The boy was a minor, that was obvious and her trained eye saw immediately that he needed help.
"Shall I call a doctor?" she asked carefully. She actually wanted to ask: 'Are you drunk?' because Jonathan looked as if he slept in the park last night after drinking too much yesterday evening.
"Ehm no I am… Aghhh…" that was the moment, Jonathan realized that his beloved Lil'Kent-shirt was torn and full of stains. It must had happened when he and Jordan fought. "…that will Jordan regret!"
"Are you really okay? I am a social-worker, and I could arrange some help for you!" the woman offered. "Or shall I call someone for you?"
"I am fine!" Jonathan moaned and looked on his torn shirt again. He really looked like a jerk, who slept on the streets last night. Was it the punishment for what he did? After everything what happened, did his father dumped him in Metropolis to get rid of him? But this is not Metropolis! At least not the Metropolis he knew! Even if he liked this city, it was foreign to him!
"Could you… could you tell me where I can find a place to get a new shirt?" Jonathan asked.
The woman told him about a souvenir-stand that was not far away and that had also some cheap T-shirts to offer. Jonathan was not very keen to walk across Metropolis with an 'I-love-Metropolis-t-shirt' but it was better than walking around with a torn firehouse shirt from Smallville. After some convincing that he was really okay, Jonathan walked away. Happy that at least someone asks him for his well-being these days! Something he really missed over the past few years!
Jonathan found the souvenirs-stand, right where the woman described. But it was still closed. Jonathan counted the money he had with him while he waited and noticed the newspaper-stand right next to it. The man there was loading new issues of the Daily-Planet on the display and Jonathan looked over there out of curiosity.
'First on-screen interview with Superman announced.'
Reading that headline, made Jonathan confused. First interview? That was decades ago! Before he was born! Before his mother knew that it was her boyfriend! Hell… so many years ago.
Jonathan walked over to the display and grabbed and issue to read the front page. Jonathan didn't look on the photo to see a much younger and different Superman with a different crest on the photo, holding a truck over his head. He only focused on the text below. Telling that Superman is giving his very first live interview with a handful of chosen reporters on Friday evening. Eight months after his first appearance and willing to give some answers about himself and about what he was able to figure out about his own past.
"1 Dollar and 90 Cents, please!"
"What?" Jonathan was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard that male voice.
"You have to pay for that!" the man said reaching out his hand, expecting Jon to give him money.
"Ehm, sorry…" Jonathan had only 7.10 $ with him and he had to buy himself a new shirt first, not knowing if he had even enough for that. And so Jonathan put the newspaper back onto the display. "…I was just looking for the… date…"
This was impossible, Jonathan thought! It couldn't be. The date on the newspaper was March 31 2023! But the first interview? It couldn't be! That could only mean he is dead! Or in coma! Or in another Dimension? Jonathan took a closer look on the headline and saw the names of the authors: Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen?
Are they still working for the Daily-Planet? Did they never move to Smallville? But this place is so foreign!
"Hey, you! Are you okay?" the newspaper vendor asked.
The man saw Jonathan's torn shirt, his stained clothes and his pale face. The boy looked like a scared and abandoned homeless. Jonathan looked at the man and tried to find the right words. Or figure out at least where he is, or why he is here. He only remembered that he was with his mother, his father and his brother in the living-room and that there was a loud boom…
"I don't know!" it finally blurted out of Jonathan.
"Did you get mugged?"
"No! I… I just… don't know how I got here!"
The man too his phone, ready to call 9-1-1 and tell them about the 'drunk-junkie' when suddenly the blinds at the souvenirs-stand opened and Jonathan turned around to get a clean shirt. Knowing he couldn't walk around the city with his damaged, dirty clothes he would buy what he could get, and then leave and figure out where he is, and what's going on here.
"Hello, I had a little accident…" Jonathan said, showing his torn shirt. "…I need what ever you have!"
The souvenir-vendor smiled and presented him a shirt in two shades of blue with a very familiar but also totally different crest…
"Six Dollar! Two for ten!"
Jonathan's eyes widened when he saw the shirt, this man offered him. A blue Superman t-shirt with a different but recognizable crest.
"Is that a test?"
"What?"
"Are you testing me? Do you want to know if I am willing to forgive them to send me to heaven or to hell?" Jonathan asked. He found no other explanation.
"Ehm… This is not a test! This is our bestseller!" the vendor said confused. "The people don't want anything else!"
"Oh… I understand! I died and now you put tests on me, first this fake Metropolis, and now a shirt with a fake Superman crest. Okay… I understand…" Jonathan said while counting 6 one Dollar bills and handing them to the man. "…fine I take it. But just because Superboy couldn't left his dirty hands off me."
After giving the money to the man, Jonathan carefully put off his torn shirt and watched that he didn't tear it apart even more while folding it carefully to take it with him and then he put on the Superman-t-shirt he just purchased. It was so soft and comfy but Jonathan ignored it. For him, it felt like the crest was itching his chest.
"Gosh… this is so not me! But well… purgatory is never easy. After three years of Smallville, I hoped that I have it behind me!"
And with that, Jonathan left the both stunned men alone and walked towards the nearby gate that led out of the park and to the already crowded street that was full of people on the way to their workplaces or schools.
"What was that?" the souvenir-vendor asked shocked.
"I KNEW IT! I should had called a doctor for that boy! He thinks he is dead?"
"A fake Metropolis? Superboy? That boy is on drugs!" the souvenir-vendor said and was about to put the money into his cash-register when he realized it. "Hey… wait a moment… what is that for money?"
During Jonathan's weird speech, the man was so distracted that he didn't see that the money was different. That were US-Dollar-banknotes! But they were different!
"That boy is not on drugs; he is a thief! This is counterfeit money!"
Jonathan didn't notice that. Embarrassed by the shirt he was wearing, he walked in the crowd looking for a clue where he was, how he got here and what happened to him…
A mile away, in the Daily Planet building, former interns Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen were in their former 'base' and talked about the upcoming interview…
Clark knew he has to do this one day. He couldn't go on with the 'I am still figuring out' excuse any longer. He was a public figure. People had questions. And after gotten hunted by Task-Force-X and the events regarding Lois' father, they knew they should come up with an proper interview. To answer questions and to gain the people's trust.
It was planned to be with a handful of chosen reporters from the city's biggest media companies and filmed in a secret location. Clark was prepared for many questions, but he was still extremely nervous.
"Why am I doing this?" Clark moaned, while thinking about it.
"To show the people, that you are not an alien intruder who plans to take over the world!" Lois said.
"And because the people love you!" Jimmy said, showing him the various posts of people in their brand-new Superman-t-shirts on his Flamebird-page.
"What if they ask me questions about Krypton and why I left it?" Clark asked.
"Then you say that you were sent here as a baby to survive a war! I mean that's what you saw in that vision your father gave you in the ship!" Lois said, remembering Clark what he told them about everything he saw.
"And the strange technology that popped up in town?" Clark asked again.
"They stole it!" Jimmy said. "Clark, we went through this countless of times. You will rock it on Friday!"
Clark smiled carefully. Being grateful for Jimmy's and Lois' support. Together they left the room, they only used for Superman-related-conversations and went back to their workplaces before anyone notices that they their coffee-break got too long again…
"You know… I really hope for a little miracle!" Clark told them. "Someone or something that can tell me a bit more about me before the interview!"
Clark had no clue that the 'miracle' he was hoping for, was walking around in the hilly city center and passed the huge 'Parasite-Monster' that still stood in the city like a huge Kaiju-Statue and attracted a lot of attention from tourists…
Jonathan looked up on the 'statue' and wondered why someone would put such a thing voluntarily into a city. Jonathan only shacked his head and went on his way. Feeling more and more uncomfortable in the Superman-t-shirt he was forced to wear.
When Superman is active for only a few months, does it mean he isn't born yet? But it is 2023?! And Metropolis looks so different. He found a street map on a bus-stop and couldn't find his old neighborhood, his old school or anything else he used to know…
The most famous landmarks, like the Daily-Planet-Building and other well-known places were in this Metropolis, too. But this Metropolis was surrounded by water at three sides like San Francisco and as hilly as it. A weird mix of East-Coast and West-Coast and he saw modern technology all over. As if he was twenty years in the future…
Should he risk it? Is it another test? Jonathan had no idea why, but his legs were carrying him closer and closer to the tall Daily-Planet building. The only building in this big foreign city, he could easily recognize, thanks to the big globe on it's top…
Meanwhile, in an unknown part of the city, two people had a conversation…
"How long?"
"Only 25 milliseconds!"
"And someone or something really got through?"
"Obviously! And it has to be Kryptonian!"
"A Superman from the multiverse?"
"Or an alien that is related to him?"
"Whatever! We have to find it! Maybe that will give us some more information!"
Jonathan meanwhile felt so lost like never before when he was in Metropolis. He grew up in Metropolis. At age four he was able to navigate easily through the whole city by bus, subway or by foot. He knew everything! But here was everything so different! It was very clean and modern, too which he actually liked! But it was still foreign! The fact that he and everyone and everything around him was an anime, he didn't even realized.
While walking across the streets, he avoided looking at anything Superman related. The streets where full of posters and other stuff, celebrating the hero. Jonathan was so mad on him. This is all his fault! Otherwise, it was Jonathan who explode and snapped! So why his legs were carrying him closer and closer to the Daily-Planet? He didn't want to go to them. But it was dragging him to them anyway. His head said no! But his heart said do it! Because he knew that no one else is going to be able to help him.
Jonathan was so lost in his thoughts, that he couldn't think about his parents who were panicking about his disappearance and worked hard to figure out what happened…
Before Jonathan could realize what, he was actually doing, he already entered the lobby and went straight to the welcome-desk to talk to the woman there.
"Excuse me, I am looking for Clark Kent! Is he working here?"
