Everyone present, from Jonathan, over to Clark, his parents and his friends was shocked about the sudden presence of the older Clark. Jonathan's father. A bit smaller and not as bulky as the Clark of this world. Visibly older and with a five o'clock-shadow, Jonathan realized was looking more intense than usual, as if his father didn't shave since they last met. The cape in a darker shade of red, the boots shorter and without the red trunks, Martha made with a lot of love and passion for her Clark and for Jonathan.
The older Clark opened his eyes and spotted Jonathan immediately among the group of foreign anime-figures…
"Jonathan! Oh my gosh… I am so rel…" Clark began when he was getting closer to Jonathan, but his doppelganger immediately got between them and pushed Clark away.
"Jonathan, fly away! I take care of him!" Clark yelled, before Jonathan's father attacked him back and pushed him away, thinking he was trying to steal him.
"Jonathan, I am here!" Clark yelled, before the younger Clark tackled him down.
"STOP!" Jonathan yelled so loud, that it hurt in everyone's ears. "STOP THIS!"
Suddenly it was deadly silent. Nobody said something. Everyone just stared on Jonathan who threw himself in-between his father and his younger doppelganger and raised his arms to keep both at distance.
"You know him?" everyone asked.
"This is my father!" Jonathan explained.
"Oh!" everyone said. Clark could hear the disappointment in their voices. Otherwise, he knew why they were not having the best picture of him.
The older Clark lift from the ground and looked around before his eyes wandered to his son and his new supersuit…
"Oh, Jonathan… I am so glad to see you again!" Clark said and went to his son. "We were so worried and… you… you look great in that! Seriously!"
Jonathan looked down on himself and saw that he was still wearing this Superman-suit with the trunks Martha sewed. His face turned deeply red, before he suddenly realized that this was a chance to stand up to his father.
"What? That was a present? You always say it's impolite to reject a present." Jon moaned and turned away with crossed arms. "Don't worry, it is not your crest! I know the rule!"
Clark became pale after that sentence and the accusing glares of everyone else present…
"Jonathan, I am sorry that you got the feeling that you are not allowed to wear my… ehm… our crest. Please, ever since you vanished, we were working endlessly to get you back! Your mother is only crying, your brother is falling in despair, and everyone blames me for what happened! Jonathan, please…"
Jonathan's father tried to get closer to his son again but was suddenly trapped in a forcefield by the Lara of this fortress.
"Stay back!" Lara demanded.
"I just want to get my son back!" Clark begged. He knew why everyone was mad on him. "Please… Jonathan, everything will be okay! We arranged everything at home. Everyone is now working hardly to make it better for you in Smallville. Just please, let's go home and we talk in our own living-room, in our own world…"
"Wait… our living-room?" Jonathan was confused. "But I blew up the house?! I remember the sound of shattering glass and a loud poof!"
"Jonathan, that was just because you got electrocuted when the crystal hit the ground. The shattering glass was your mother dropping her waterglass. You didn't blow up the house! And even if you did, we understand it now!" Clark begged.
"What? You try to fool me!" Jonathan said and turned away hide his sad face from his father.
"Jonathan, I know you are mad on me! And not only on me, but on your mother and your brother, too! And you are totally right to be mad on us!" Clark tried to reassure his son.
"What I should be mad for? Just because you guys let it look like as if all the lies, Coach Gaines spread about me are true? That I will probably lose my job at the firehouse and that every college I will try to attend to, will reject me for crimes I never commit? That my whole life and my entire being seems to be only for you to look better? Safe it… I know how this will end!"
"Please, Jonathan… I…" Clark's eyes wandered over to the group of foreigners, he knew were actually the this-world's-doppelgangers of himself and his parents, Lois and Jimmy Olsen. The holograph of Lara looked on him, as if he was a criminal. "…may… may we talk about everything in private?"
Before anyone could respond to this, Jonathan turned to his 'adoptive-family', who was already discussing it.
"STAY! Please!" Jonathan said.
The older Clark realized that his son grew very close with those people over the last 24 hours. And they all made no intention of leaving. Clearly taken side of Jonathan and showing that they were on his side. Clark was not surprised. His son was always the one who made friends easily and got along well with others without big effort. At least before they moved to Smallville, where everyone was openly showing Jonathan that he was not welcomed. Even before the X-K.
Seeing the harsh glares of this Earth's Martha and Jonathan sr. let Clark shiver. He was well aware that his own parents would have been extremely disappointed in him, too. But much earlier… from the first day, Clark took only Jordan to the fortress, or spent just time with his powered son…
The presence of the others seemed to have a positive effect on his son. Clark decided to use that…
"Jonathan… After you vanished, we figured out what happened and…"
"I told you what happened!" Jonathan cut him off angrily. "I told you what Gaines did! I told you about the trouble I got in after that. I told you about the consequences I was about to expect. And I told you how important it is, to come to the meeting in school."
"Yes!" Clark confessed full of shame and lowered his head.
"And you told me, you and Mom would come and help me. Proving that I never did what Coach Gaines said. Proving my innocence! Where I had been on Friday at 6 PM?"
"Jonathan, you…"
"Where?" Jon insisted.
"Home! With me and your mom, talking about Luthor and how to avoid him better." Clark confessed.
"Yes, home! I was home and not in school to burn the new tricots of the football team out of revenge that I was kicked out. Gaines spreads lies about me to destroy me, and you are keeping telling me to be patient and don't defend myself. If he would spread these things about Jordan, you would fly him to the next prison without a second thought! But when I have a problem, you don't care. This is how it was my whole life: Jordan comes first because of his powers and his problems. Why I even complain? I should have known that you won't make any intentions to help me!"
"That's not true!" Clark defended himself. "I made a mistake! Yes! I should have seen earlier how much you are suffering! I should have realized earlier that Smallville is not the place I loved to grow up in anymore! And I should have been there for you yesterday!"
"And where you have been instead?" Jon asked upset.
That was the moment, Martha and Jonathan Sr. placed themselves right behind Jonathan to show that they were on his side. Clark became pale.
"Tell us, Dad! Where have you been instead, when I told you to come to the appointment Principal Balcombe agreed to, to prove my innocence?" Jonathan asked.
Clark lowered his head in shame again. "I… I took your brother on a trip to the fortress!"
"And what was the reason for this 'spontaneous' trip?" Jon asked.
"Your brother… got upset about a comment on his suit! And… to calm him down, I lifted his grounding and took him to the fortress…"
"So, you make everything to keep sure your powered son is fine? While your unpowered human one is in even deeper trouble and does not have to expect any support…"
"Jonathan, Coach Gaines is in custody now!" Clark pleaded. "A witness called your mother and confessed that Gaines blackmailed him to help him! Kyle is collecting signatures to let him get fired! Your mother is preparing articles to destroy the entire school and the whole school's administration. And your brother is banished from the fortress! Your grandmother is extremely mad on me, your mother, and your brother now… we heard everything you told them…"
"WHAT?" suddenly Jonathan became pale. "What do you mean with that?"
"Aww… Jonathan when you threw the crystal on the ground, you got electrocuted. You are not really here in this world… just your mind!"
"WHAT? Are you kidding me?"
"No! Let me explain! Your mind is trapped in this world! Your body itself is still in our world. But unconscious! And here in this world, you are like a Kryptonian of this world! I mean… you are here, but also not! This is why you have powers here!"
"Is this a joke?" Jon murmured.
"This entire world here is a joke, Jonathan! Or haven't you realized that you are in a cartoon?" Clark asked.
Jonathan looked around confused and didn't see it.
"Cartoon?"
"Yes! And the fact that you haven't realized that, proves that you are slowly turning into a part of this world! Oh… please Jonathan! You get everything you want! And a lot of people will apologize to you! Everyone is missing you! You…"
Clark's eyes wandered over to the other people in the fortress. The Kents, the Clark of this world, the Lois of this world and the Jimmy Olsen. It was bothering him to discuss everything with Jonathan in front of so many foreigners. And they all looked at each other, wondering why someone calls them a cartoon. Jon didn't see it.
"Pah, cartoon…" Jonathan moaned and turned back to his father. "What did you mean with you heard everything?"
"I brought you and the crystal to the fortress after you got electrocuted. Your grandmother was able to create a connection and we were able to see you from the moment you bought that shirt."
"Oh my gosh… Oh my gosh… you heard everything!" Jonathan realized shocked and turned away embarrassed. "Oh my gosh… you heard how I told them about… and about the… or…"
"Yes, yes and yes!" Clark nodded. He didn't know which embarrassing moment Jonathan was meaning but he could guess them. "Jonathan, I knew tha…"
"You heard how I told everyone about the… and the other thing…" Jonathan stuttered again. "Aww…"
Full of embarrassment, Jonathan used his cape to cover himself. Clark understood the gesture and realized that his son was talking about the day, the boy secretly put on his suit.
"Jonathan, I know that you once put on my suit! I knew it all the time! I could smell your deodorant on it…"
This made Jonathan's mood just worse.
"Aww… you knew it?" Jonathan yelled and blushed.
"I think it is cute! At least you didn't tear it, like your brother when I caught him in it!" Clark said. Remembering how he surprised Jordan one day in his room while he was posing in Clark's suit in front of the mirror. The boy was so surprised that he ripped of the suit from his body, tearing it in the process. "And let me tell you… you look much better in this than your brother! And I don't say that to placate you, it's true!"
Jonathan turned away again to look down on himself. Wondering how to put off this suit, that was literally transformed on his body, but felt incredibly comfortable.
"Jonathan, I can only repeat myself, I am sorry for what happened! And I understand that you are mad and feel better here! But we have to return to our Earth!" Clark begged.
Clark's eyes wandered over to his younger doppelganger and he could feel the jealousy raising up inside him. Within a day this guy was able to develop a better relationship to his son Jonathan, than he in the past few years. But he understood where it comes from. Clark was younger than this one when he learned about Krypton. And this Clark had a very bad opinion on Krypton, too. No surprise he and Jonathan got along so well. If Clark had shown his son that Krypton was more than just powers, he would have a better relationship with the boy.
"Your fortress is very nice by the way!" Clark smiled innocently.
"Thanks! Jonathan helped me!" the younger Clark responded with crossed arms before he walked over to Jonathan, put an arm around the teenager's shoulders and looked at the boy proudly. "It's open for everyone!"
"I see!" Clark's eyes wandered over to the humans who were looking at him accusingly.
"I decide that powers or being Kryptonian, are no condition for being allowed to enter this place! Everyone who wants to learn something is welcomed!" the younger Clark continued.
"It's your fortress! You can do with it whatever you want!" the older Clark said. Knowing that he should had opened his fortress to his mother, Sam, Lois, and both of his sons much earlier, too. But before he could add that they should keep sure that no foreigner is able to enter the fortress, his younger doppelganger let the bomb drop.
"I even share the power this place generates!"
"What? You share the fortress' power with the humans?" Clark asked his doppelganger horrified.
"Is that a problem for you?" The younger Clark asked with crossed arms. "Unlike you, I don't feel like a superior Kryptonian, who keeps everything for himself."
"This place generates more power than a nuclear power-plant! You could overload the power grid of the whole state!" Clark warned. "And not only that, but people could also localize it! TURN IT OFF! Or you have the FBI here sooner than you believe!"
Clark's yelling alerted them. And the younger Clark suddenly realized that such a high amount of energy must had been noticed somehow. In panic he turned to the holograph of his mother to order her to cut the connection. And so, she did…
The underground antenna that was connecting the fortress with the energy substation was pulled back, which caused an almost immediate power failure in most parts of Kansas and in neighboring states. In the nuclear power plant, the shutdown reactor had to be restarted. Even in Metropolis, some people realized that there were power fluctuations.
"Maybe nobody noticed?" Clark said with a shrug.
Suddenly Jonathan's newfound superhearing picked up a car breaking nearby and a voice: "It must be here! The signal gets stronger…"
"Oh no, they're here!"
"What?" Everyone yelled.
Jonathan's father reached out his superhearing, too and confirmed it.
"See… and this is why the fortress needs to be at a place where humans can't…"
"SHUT UP!" Everyone yelled on Clark, who muted down immediately.
The younger Clark looked back and forth between his parents and the stairway. Suddenly he had an idea. A stupid one, considering that he wanted to keep his parents out of any more trouble regarding his heritage. But he made his decision to make the fortress here, so he had to accept it…
"Ma, Pa, go and distract them! I'll come in a few minutes! Thread them to call the Sheriff if they don't leave…" Clark told while he took his parents and flew them up the long stair and put them back on the ground when they were at the surface.
Martha and Jonathan left the 'tool shed' and walked over to the house, where they could already see the two men in their black suits walking over their property and towards their location.
"Excuses, Gentleman? Can you tell us what you want here?" Martha asked innocently, but still politely to keep up the façade.
"Ma'am, Sir, this is a control! We must search this place!" One of the men said.
"You have a warrant for that?" Jonathan Sr. asked.
"We don't need a warrant! This is a matter of national security!" The other one said, and both men passed them to search the acre.
"Hey, where are you going? You can't just enter our land. I want to see your ID, or I will call the Sheriff!" Jonathan Sr. thread and turned to his wife to demonstrate that he was the one here who gives orders. "Darling, call Sheriff Sheridan! He has to…"
"Mr. And Mrs. Kent, you are not going to call anyone. First you tell us what you are hiding!" the other man said.
"Hiding? We don't hide anything here!" Martha said.
Down in the fortress, Clark (the younger one) took his friends up the stairs. Leaving Jon and his father alone with Lara. Seeing Lara's accusing glare, reminded Clark on the one he received from his Lara when she heard too what Jonathan told to the Kents on this Earth. Followed by a long rant for excluding him from any knowledge of his heritage.
"What do you say in your defense?" Lara asked.
"Nothing!" Clark confessed and lowered his head in shame. "There is nothing that excuses my wrong choices and I take the full responsibility for it!"
Jonathan was honestly surprised by that sentence.
"You know how I felt?" Jonathan suddenly asked. "In that office with Balcombe and Gaines? Waiting for you guys to clarify it? This was so embarrassing! Ever… since we moved to Smallville, I did everything you wanted! I gave up everything. I left my friends and everything I love behind to support you all! Because I believed what you said!"
Upstairs, Lois and Jimmy peeked through the window of the new 'tool shed' while Clark used his speed and the remaining wood, they had there, to build a proper 'floor' to cover the hole in the ground.
"Clark, your parents look worried!" Jimmy whispered.
Clark went behind them to look with them through the window. To see his parents desperate attempt to get rid of these men.
Outside, Martha demanded to see an ID or a badge, while Jonathan Sr. turned to the house and threatened to call the Sheriff again.
"No, you won't call the Sheriff! This is not necessary!" One of the men said and suddenly pointed with a handgun on Martha and Jonathan Sr. The elder couple shrieked loudly and raised its arms.
Seeing this, Clark (who was in his civilian attire again) stormed out of the shed in fury.
"HEY, HOW DARE YOU?" Clark yelled upset.
The man with the handgun pointed with the gun now on Clark. Knowing that he was bulletproof, Clark shied back anyway to prevent that guy shoots on him and exposes his powers.
"Mr. Kent? Nice to see you again!" The man said and pulled out his badge to present a badge and an ID from the FBI. "Agents Smith and Murphy! FBI!"
"FBI? Yesterday you told me, you are from the health department?" Clark knew that everything was a lie. He also didn't believe that these men were from the FBI!
With his Supervision, he saw that the badge was made of plastic and the ID was looking different from the one he saw from the real FBI-Agent, who interrogated them all last thanksgiving, after his pod emerged from the acre.
"The lie was necessary to prevent our target from possibly leaving! So, where is he?"
"Who?"
"The Kryptonian you are hiding!"
"I have no clue what you are talking about!" Clark lied and put on his best poker-face.
"Don't try to fool us, Mr. Kent…" one of the men said and presented them a scanner-like device. "…the young man who was talking to you at your workplace yesterday was full of particles. And your mother here, is full of them as if she just recently hugged him…"
Martha became pale! Indeed, she hugged Jon just a few minutes ago. So, it was no surprise that she seemed to have traces of him all over her now.
"Mr. Kent… there are two possible scenarios: you hand over this boy to us voluntarily! Or you will be taken all under arrest and we call the army and the authorities to search every square inch of this place…
Down in the fortress, Jonathan reminded his father of all the promises he made and all the time, his father disappointed him, or clearly showed him that Jordan is more important due to his powers, or that the move was indeed only to train Jordan and not to grow closer as a family.
"You told Jordan that you are proud on him when you two returned from your trip! I made all chores. Your chores, you told we would do all together! If I would had left the farm to be in town, you would have grounded me! But every time Jordan abused his powers, or messed up, or even hurt me, you were fine with it and even rewarded him. You know how ashamed I was when you told him how proud you were on him for being able to fly?"
Clark lowered his head in shame when he thought back to that day. He really only thought about helping Jordan to feel better. But Jon was in severe trouble back then and needed his attention more than Jordan…
"I told you everyone hates me, and you go to Jordan to help him! An evil doppelganger tried to merge with me, and you were more worried about Jordan! Jordan broke my arm and caused everyone in Smallville to exclude me and bully me and you just take care of him. You never wanted me to be in your fortress, you never wanted me to meet your father and your mother, you even avoided my driving-lessons at any cost. I actually wanted to yell on you that day and leave. I should had run away and go into foster care voluntarily. Or to the orphanage or to a homeless shelter… anywhere but just away from you. I should have yelled on Jordan loudly that you only spend time with him because of his powers…"
With every sentence the shame inside Clark grew more and more. He knew that this new self-confidence in Jonathan came because the people on this Earth actually listened to him and gave him the feeling of being important, too.
"I understand why you want to stay here!" Clark said ashamed. "Here you have a voice! People who listen to you! Who show you that you have more to say, even if you don't have powers! Or have powers now!"
"You showed me from the first day, that I will never be able to stand up against a Kryptonian. That you are always more powerful than me because you have super speed and super strength, and I am just a weak human! You told me my grandmother wants to meet me and show me your fortress, but you only take Jordan there all the time. Your so called 'family-fortress' is just for you and Jordan, and you know that! I am so fed up with your lies and your empty promises. If I hadn't heard you talking about Luthor, I wouldn't even know about this man being after me, too! Hell, if I hadn't found the spaceship together with Jordan, you would have never told me about the big secret at all to focus on Jordan completely and to keep sure I don't distract you with my human problems..."
"This is not true!" Clark yelled shocked, now with a tear running down his face. "I made mistakes, yes! Unforgivable mistakes! I am a raven father, an idiot, and an ignorant bastard, who doesn't know what it means to be human! But… if your brother would had found the spaceship alone, or if I would had realized that only he has powers, I would have told you the truth, too! Because you are my son! Because you are Kryptonian, too! And I accept every punishment for my mistakes! And I should had taken you to Jor-El and your grandmother, too! Just please come back with me, so we can work on it!"
Jonathan looked at his crying father and was not sure how to react on this. He was mad on him! And when he returns to their own Earth, he would be forced to face an enemy, his parents support by their apathy…
Jonathan couldn't think about this further as suddenly his superhearing let him hear the yelling upstairs, and the demand of the armed men to hand out the alien. And he heard the gun…
"Oh, no… there is trouble up there!" Jonathan said and looked up.
"Jonathan, these men are looking for you!" Lara explained and let a holograph appear to show them what happens right now up there.
Jonathan was shocked about the scene. The two men-in-black were back and they thread the Kents with a gun!
"Oh, no… no… this is my fault…" Jonathan said. "…Clark can't use his powers; he would be exposed… I… I have to do something…"
Clark was shocked. "Jonathan, you…"
"SHUT UP!" Jonathan and Lara yelled on Clark before they start to make up a plan… excluding Clark, who felt that he had nothing to tell his son on this Earth…
"I start a scan… these men are…"
Upstairs, one of the men opened the door of the fake tool shed to look inside and shoe Lois and Jimmy out. Luckily, the wooden floor Clark built was looking real enough to let both men believe that the shed was just a tool shed, the Kents just recently built.
With raised arms, the Kents, Lois and Jimmy were shoed back to the house. Clark was just glad that the fake tool shed was working and that they were moving away to give Jonathan a chance to hide. Clark knew, this is going to be difficult. He couldn't use his powers, or he would be exposed. He couldn't give Jonathan to them, knowing the boy would suffer. He just hoped that this new fortress down there, will help Jonathan to hide or to come up with a plan to get out of this.
"You have a lot of explaining to do…" the armed man said.
"STOP IT!"
Everyone turned around shocked and looked up to see where Jonathan's voice was coming from. And everyone was shocked to see the teenager floating in his new Superman-suit, ten feet over the ground…
"LET THESE PEOPLE GO!" Jonathan demanded. "They don't have anything to do with it! I am the one you are looking for…"