Jonathan didn't want! He was overwhelmed and confused. Unable to bear anything…
Clark noticed that they made a mistake by luring Jonathan into this 'trap' and they will all apologize to him. For now, he had to get Jonathan to a safe place! He was still a homeless and lost teenager who was 'kind of' related to him. And Clark felt some responsibility for this boy. Especially after everything he told him and about Krypton.
At high speed, Clark entered his and Jimmy's apartment through the window and took Jonathan on the couch.
"Jonathan, I am sorry that we tricked you! Please calm down!" Clark said, holding Jonathan by his shoulders and looking at him.
"Why? Why? No…"
"Hey, it's all okay! No need to worry! Calm down!"
"WHAT? CALM DOWN?" Jonathan yelled. "I am on a foreign planet! I have no idea how I got here! And I suddenly have powers, I was always convinced I never have to bother about. And shortly after I yelled the crap out of my family for the powers of my brother, I suddenly seem to have them. No fortress! No Kryptonian grandmother to scan me to see if everything is alright or if I could blow up the whole block soon…"
Jonathan breathed hardly while talking. Clark could see that the boy was about to have a panic-attack.
"Everything will be okay! Listen… breath… breath… in… and out…" Clark said with a calming voice.
Jonathan followed that instruction and remembered the countless of times, he helped his brother through the panic attacks he had in the past. He only had to repeat it by himself now…
"Better?" Clark asked worried.
"Better!" Jonathan confirmed and nodded.
Jonathan looked around and saw that he was in a small one-room-apartment with a tiny kitchen, a bunk bed, a small bathroom, and no balcony. It was a little bit messy and according to the interior and the way it was furnished, Jonathan assumed that two men live in here.
"Where are we?"
"This is my apartment! I live here with Jimmy!" Clark answered and walked over to the kitchen to get some water for Jonathan. "Here! Drink something! You will feel better!"
Jonathan took the glass with water and drunk it. That was the moment he realized that the tap water on this Earth, tasted exactly like the tap water in his Earth's Metropolis. The tap water on the farm was a lot different. But drinking this water, let Jonathan feel home for a moment. Like being back in his Metropolis.
"Sorry!"
"For what?" Clark asked.
"For freaking out and making a scene!" Jonathan said.
He used that moment to take a closer look at this world's Clark, who was now in full Superman attire. Blue suit in different shades of blue, different crest and with those red trunks his own father used to wear in the first version of his suit. And longer sleeves that covered the backs of his hands.
"Nice suit! Let me guess, your mother made it for you?"
"Well, she added the trunks and the belt. The rest of the suit I got in the spaceship! Or fortress, as you would call it? And when I need it, it appears on command!"
"You're a magical-girl-anime!" Jonathan moaned.
"When you say it!" Clark murmured. In that moment Clark's smartphone start to ring. Clark took the call and walked a few steps away. "Yes, Jimmy…"
"Where he had the phone?" Jonathan asked himself when he looked after Clark and wondered if the red trunks were actually a pocket.
"…yes… okay… thank you, Jimmy… I'll be back, soon!" Clark said and hung off. "Sorry, Jonathan… I have to get back to work before anyone gets suspicious. Listen, we will talk further about it tonight. You can…"
"I know! I know! It is the same in my world. We talk about it after work!" Jonathan moaned. "Some things here are the same and never change."
Jonathan let himself drop on the couch and start to look up on the ceiling. Clark felt bad for letting the boy alone. Especially after everything he told him about how his parents always neglected his feelings for their superhero-business or their work. Clark looked back and forth between Jonathan and the window he was about to fly out. A weird feeling came up in Clark's stomach and he felt that something was about that boy. He felt a connection to him! The feeling and the urge to be there for him and to help him.
"I mean… I just fly back and get your shirt. We talk when I am back! Five minutes! Feel home!" Clark said and was gone in a blur.
Jonathan was sitting on the old hard sofa in this small apartment and wondered if he ever sees Clark again, or if this is supposed to be his home from now? Alone, lonely… powered? What happened? Now that he was alone, Jonathan allowed himself to cry and let the tears flow… Maybe it was just a fluke and he is experiencing just a dream? Maybe the explosion in their living-room just knocked him out and his parents trapped him in some chamber in the fortress? No! No his father wouldn't take him to the fortress when he is injured! He wouldn't even take him to the fortress if his live depends on it! He didn't in the past and he wouldn't do it in future!
The teen looked around again. He feared to get another glass of water. He didn't dare to go into the bathroom to use the toilet or maybe wash his hands. It was so silent. Through the open window he could hear the traffic on the streets. A digital clock was hanging on the wall. Jonathan looked at the clock and saw that it was still forenoon. But for Jonathan, it felt as if it was far past midnight. He wanted to sleep but he feared to fall asleep. He wanted to change out of this Superman-t-shirt but he feared to open any of the drawers.
In his minds, the terrible scenes that led to this played in his head again…
Flashback…
"Do you have any clue how humiliating that was? How much you embarrassed me? And for what? Just that you two have fun together!" Jonathan yelled upset when he was with his family in the farm-house's living-room.
"It can't be that bad!" his father tried to reassure him.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW? You don't know anything! Not about this town and not about what I have to go through every day since we moved here!" Jonathan yelled back.
"Hey… You are the one who keeps everything for himself and does not tell us when you have problems!" Clark defended himself.
"YEAH… But because you always showed me that you don't care. It doesn't matter how bad things go on for me. Your secret and flying around with Jordan is always more important for you than your boring human son everyone is just making fun about."
"Wait? Do you accuse me again that I don't care about you just because you don't have powers?" Clark asked.
"You proved that to me today again. Like you did before in the barn after I told you that everyone hates me! Like you do ever and ever again when you don't listen to me! And when you don't realize that every time you tried to help me, you only made things worse. But once I ask you for help, today, when everyone is pointing on me and accusing me for something I never did, you prefer to just to think about yourself. And what for?!"
That was the moment Jonathan snatched the odd crystal, his brother Jordan was holding in his hand to hold it in front of them. Jordan tried to get it back, but just grabbed Jon's shirt and tore it in the progress.
"WHAT IS THIS? Or is that just for Kryptonians only to know?"
"No… this is…"
"Is this the reason, I got humiliated so terribly today? Is this stupid piece of alien-glass more important than my future? I know for you it is…"
With that Jonathan threw the crystal on the ground with the purpose to shatter it…
"JONATHAN, NO…!" was the last Jonathan heard his father yelling before the crystal hit the floor.
A bright light… the sound of shattering windows and breaking wood… screams… and the next thing Jonathan remembers is that he was laying in that park… in this foreign Metropolis…
Flashback ends…
Jonathan woke up from his dreams when he heard the front door opening again. A short glimpse on the clock revealed that only around 10 minutes had passed since Clark left him alone.
Clark rushed back to the Daily-Planet to tell Lois and Jimmy that he stays with Jonathan and to finish the due article to have at least the work done to have one more excuse to leave work early. Then he went into the room to get Jonathan's shirt and his phone again. Then he rushed to the nearby grocery store to get something to eat and to drink for Jonathan before he went back home again and was now entering the place as Clark again. Wearing the same beige pullover and the tie again.
Clark noticed immediately that Jonathan didn't move since he left. He went closer and start to unpack some things from the bag. Mostly microwave meals and different drinks.
"I don't know what you like to eat! I brought you what they had!" Clark said. "Do you feel better?"
Jonathan looked as if he didn't expect Clark to come back. He really didn't! And Clark could see it.
"What you would like to eat? I have something veggie? Something with meat?"
"With meat!" Jonathan said and Clark took the dish into the microwave to heat it.
"If you want to change into clean clothes you can take anything out of the closet if you want. I just fear most of my stuff doesn't fit you. And Jimmy's stuff might a bit too small…"
"I… well…" Jonathan really really wanted to get rid of that shirt he was wearing. Clark could see that Jonathan felt uncomfortable in the shirt and already opened the drawlers to search his clothes.
"Try this! Might be still to big, but…" Clark said but Jonathan took it already. "I admit, now that I know that this is my family-crest, it is odd to see tourists and Fans walking around with it."
"Let's see what you think when they start to sell your action-figures?!" Jonathan murmured abashed what let Clark blush.
It was a plain white t-shirt. Clark once washed it too hot and it became to tight for him. It was still too big for Jonathan, but better than nothing. And getting rid of the Superman-shirt let him feel better immediately.
"You said it is a family-crest? Why you feel so uncomfortable wearing it?" Clark asked while opening the bottle with coke to fill their glasses.
"Well… I told you… for me it is just the Superman-S. The symbol for people with powers. You told me that… ehm… my father told me that it is my crest, too. But he never truly proved me that. I mean… the whole fortress, powers and Superman-Kryptonian stuff was primarily his and Jordan's thing. I mean there was this superpowered-DOD-team that wore the crests. But this was another odd thing I never understood and never got told!"
"You should keep it! It is looking good on you!" Clark said when he looked at the shirt. "By the way, I found the souvenir-vendor you paid this at. I left six dollar from our money there. So it isn't stolen…"
"Oh, no… please! Don't do that!" Jonathan begged right before the microwave start to beep.
"No, this is okay! I mean, if I would suddenly show up on your Earth, you would do the same for me!" Clark said while he took the food out of the microwave to serve it. "I am a bad chef! Sorry for that?"
"Well, one more thing you don't have in common with my father!" Jonathan said.
"My mother is the true master chef of the family!" Clark said with a smile.
They ate silently. Clark could hear Jonathan's fast heart pounding getting calmer and calmer. Which was a good sign. Jonathan was surprised about his own openness. Maybe it was because his family was not here, this was another Clark, the Lois here was different and after all the frustrations and the terrible humiliation today, or yesterday (he had no clue how long he was actually laying in that park) he felt much better when he let everything out and being so open. He would never dare to be so open and honest to his own father. Not after his betrayal…
The microwave-meal tasted awful. Just like his father always described and why he always insisted on self-cooked meals. This Clark was different in so many ways…
"This interview you told me about…" Jonathan suddenly began. "…this is really your first one?"
"Yes! I have no clue why I said yes to this! It's like I said: I have no clue about Krypton or why I am here! You know a lot more about Krypton than I do! Even if it is different!"
"It's weird to think about it!" Jonathan said. "I mean, I know more about Krypton than the most humans but much less than you could expect from the son of Superman! For me, Krypton is just a place full of autocratic, selfish tyrants seeking for world domination. Lara is so far the only exception."
Hearing that name again, let Clark think about the woman he saw in his vision. He loved Martha, but he was curious about his true mother.
"Tell me about her! Even if they are not the same, I would love to hear what my mother was like!" Clark said. "Or could be like!"
A smile appeared on Jonathan's face. Lara was the only Kryptonian that never hurt him. And even if he met her only twice, he was feeling good and he knew that she liked him and accepted him for who he was or his lack of powers… and so he start to tell Clark everything he knew…
Meanwhile in the city…
The two men in the black suits walked around in the lobby of the Daily-Planet-building. One was walking around with a scanner and the other one talked to the woman from the welcome-desk…
"You say, he introduced himself as Jonathan Kent?"
"Yes! And he wanted to talk to Clark Kent. But I think the name was a fake, just to get to Kent. When he came down here, he expected his father!" the woman explained. "And what is this scanner? Was the boy radioactive or something?"
"There is no need to worry! May we to Mr. Kent, too, please?"
"I check if he is at his desk!" the woman said and called the Editorial office.
Lois picked up the call, as Clark set his desk phone to transfer all calls to her. She told her the same what he told to Perry earlier: That Clark brought a source to the hospital and that it is unlikely that he comes back today.
"Thank you, Ma'am!" the man said and left with his colleague.
"Anything useful?"
"The boy was talking to a reporter named Clark Kent and used the name Jonathan Kent?"
"Kent?"
"Yes!"
"I know that name!" the man said and lift his phone to open a file. "Jonathan Kent, 64, farmer from Smallville, Kansas! The events of zero-day and the Thanksgiving-incident, both occurred near his land. And Clark Kent, 23 years old, and son of Jonathan Kent, is the boyfriend of Lois Lane. She was the first one who interviewed Superman. On this Earth and on multiple other Earths."
"Really? Do we have his address?"
What both men didn't know was that Lois became suspicious about those people who were looking for Jonathan and decided to interrupt her research on Morgan Edge, Ally Allston, and Bruno Mannheim to leave with Jimmy early, too…
Back in his apartment, Clark was delighted to hear the few things Jon knew about Lara and wondered how it would be if he has access to the hologram of his mother, too. A renowned scientist on Krypton, if she was the same on this Earth, too. Jon described her as the only Kryptonian that not openly showed her arrogance, the superiority and all the other bad prejudices people normally associate with Kryptonians.
"Jonathan, I can only repeat myself: I am glad that you could tell me that I was not sent here to conquer this planet! I can't do that!"
"Well… my father always explains it with the fact that he only knows this world as home. He is too much tied to Earth!"
"Like me!" Clark smiled. "Jonathan… you can stay with us for now! And then we figure out how to help you and how to get you back!"
"I don't want to be a burden to anyone!"
"You are not a burden! It's like I said, if I, Lois, or Jimmy would suddenly pop up on your Earth you would do the same for us!"
"Well… that's right!" Jonathan said and looked around again. "And you live here with your roommate?"
"Yes, it's small! But we look for something bigger. Jimmy sold his social-media account to the Planet for a nice sum. I don't know why but Jimmy is procrastinating the new apartment for some reason?"
Clark had no clue that Jimmy was waiting with the new apartment, because he was convinced that Lois and Clark will move together soon. So, he wouldn't need a apartment that is suited for Clark, too.
"Take something with a balcony or a terrace that is also protected from views. So, you can easily fly in and out! That's how I always imagined Superman's home when I was little!" Jonathan told, thinking back to the time when he was little, and he and Jordan could adore Superman without that it was awkward. "Before I knew that my dad is Superman, I always imagined him living in a spacious, top-modern rooftop apartment with a hinged-roof he always can open when he has to fly out!"
"I like that thought! But I am more a fan of detached houses!" Clark smiled.
"Well… we lived in a brownstone! I would call it a mix of big-city and suburb! But it was so much better than the farm and Smallville!" Jonathan said, now a bit moodier.
"The Smallville you described sounds so awful. I would not move back there, if my Smallville is like that!" Clark said. "Mortgage or not!"
"I like you!" Jonathan said with a smile.
Suddenly Clark received a message from Lois about the men at the planet asking for Jonathan.
"Someone is looking for you!"
"Who? My parents?"
"Two men in Black! With a scanner!" Clark said before he received the next message with information. "Lois told everyone I brought you to the hospital. So if anyone asks you, we were at Metropolis General after your visit at the Planet."
"I am used to lies!" Jonathan murmured abashed before someone knocked on the door loudly.
"Hmm… who could that be?" Clark said before he turned around to use his X-ray-vision on the door.
Ever since that power kicked in, it became a habit to check who was at the door when. Clark expected either Jimmy, nor Lois. But there were two men in black suits and with sunglasses. And his X-ray-vision revealed that they also wore protective clothing and were armed.
In a blur Clark got to Jonathan to hold his mouth and hiss on him to be quiet.
"They have weapons! Hide in there!" Clark whispered as quietly as possible and lift Jon off the couch to float him to the closet.
Seeing Clark's scared face let Jonathan immediately believe the worst. This was too nice to be true he thought. Of course he not only had to land on a Earth with a Superman who knows less about Krypton than he, he had to land on a Earth were he is obviously hunted. But that wasn't even the worst.
The moment Clark placed him in the closet, he felt that weird tickling sensation all over his body. As if he was somehow affected by his touch. A weird itching appeared in his eyes, and he shut them close as the migraine hit him at full force. A weird flattering appeared in his ears while Clark made gesture to show him to be quiet. Jonathan just nodded, but he also held his ears out of reflex when his ears start to hurt. At least the migraine waved off quickly again. But he wondered how the contact with Clark could cause this…
Jonathan could see Clark closing the door of the closet, that suddenly vanished. Just like the wall and everything around him. So, Jonathan could clearly see Clark walking over to the door of the apartment, that vanished, too and Jon could see the two suspicious men even before Clark opened the now translucent door.
"Oh, no!" Jonathan thought. "Why is this happening to him, now?"
Clark opened the door, making himself ready to defend himself and Jonathan if necessary.
"Clark Kent?"
"Yes, that's me!"
"My name is Smith, this is Murphy! Metropolis Health Department!" one of the men introduced them. Clark and Jonathan both knew immediately that it was a lie. One more reason to get rid of them as soon as possible. "We figured out that you were in touch with a young man who claimed to be your father!"
"Oh… you mean that teenager who showed up at the Planet today?" Clark said. "Are you looking for him? Is he sick?"
"We urgently need to find him! Is he with you, or do you know where to find him?" the other man asked.
"Sorry, to disappoint you, but I don't know where he is!" Clark lied. Jonathan who could see everything and suddenly hear them even better than before tried to not to let the panic over his suddenly appearing powers overwhelm him and stopped breathing to make even less noise. "The boy came to the Planet and used my father's name just to lure me downstairs. He pretended to have information about Superman. But he was only talking weird stuff. I think he wanted to get information about Superman and thought our newspaper has some. Then suddenly he seemed to have a seizure. I left with him to get him to the hospital but on the way there he sneaked away, and I lost him. I was looking for him all over, but I couldn't find him. I just came home a few minutes ago."
"Mr. Kent, is it right that last thanksgiving, the farm of your parent's farm was the scene of multiple explosions?"
"Yes! Yes, I remember it! It was terrible! A lot of land was destroyed! My parents have received a lot of financial damage." Clark told. And it was the truth. "But what has that to do with this boy?"
"We think this boy is in connection with the people who were responsible for the damages!"
"What?" Clark tried to sound shocked and surprised. "If I had known that I would have told that boy to pay the crop failures!"
"Do you have a name? Or were you able to take a picture of him?"
"No! No, I am sorry! There was no need to! But if I had known that he is connected to the terrorists who blew up my parents' farmland, I would have called the police immediately. But wait… you said you are from the Health Department? What do you have to do with it?"
"The boy has to be taken into medical supervision!" the man said, before he handed a little business card to Clark with a phone number. "When you see him or if there is something you figure out, don't hesitate to call us!"
"Oh, yeah… I will! I want that they pay for that what they did to my parents!" Clark said, trying to sound believable.
"Thank you, Mr. Kent!"
The door closed. Or at least Jonathan guessed that Clark closed, the door before holding his head against the door to see and hear if those men really leave. Clark focused his hearing on the corridor to hear the men whispering.
"What the scanner said?"
"Minimal traces of tachyon particles on Kent's clothes. But that was to expect, as he was talking to that boy. But here in the corridor is nothing! The boy was never here!"
That was a good thing, Clark thought. They will not look for him here. Jonathan starts to breathe again when he saw the walls appearing again and the itching in his eyes and his ears stopped. But he shrieked loudly when Clark opened the closet again to look at him. His face paled and he was scared.
"Don't worry, of course you don't have to pay the damage!" Clark said immediately, after hearing how fast Jonathan's heart was pounding and how scared the boy was. "That was just to get rid of them!"
"Oh, my god… Why I couldn't just…" Jonathan began but feared to finish the sentence and scare or offend Clark.
"Hey, don't worry… we will find a solution. But I think it is not a good idea for you to stay here!" Clark said and looked around. "I know you said you don't like Smallville… but I think it would be a good idea to get you to my parents…"
"Grandma and grandpa?! Yeah!" Jonathan said.
Going to Smallville was indeed a horrific thought for Jonathan. But seeing Martha again and finally meeting Jonathan Kent Sr. was worth it… even if they are not the same, too…