Jonathan's hands cramped into fists. His legs were trembling so hard, that it almost looked like he was running, despite still sitting. His pale face turned deeply red in fury when he glared on the ELT as if it was a bomb.
The woman from the CPS and the Tanners, who actually wanted to give Jonathan some space but could hear the Kent's screaming from the other room, too were shocked. How crappy is this? This 'pager' or whatever Lois gave to her son just turned out to be a bug, the Kents used to spy out their son. How sick and shabby is this?
Suddenly every good feeling he had about his mother and her reaction to his outburst were gone… She fooled him! She fooled him to figure out how to lure him back to this Podunk… That's why she promised him to talk tomorrow! She would have known how to fool him again!
"You know, Mrs. Parker… I always wondered what I do wrong…" Jonathan began to say with trembling voice and on the verge of freaking out, holding the ELT closer to his mouth to keep sure they hear him. "…I do everything my parents expect from me. I never ask for anything in return. But this little thing here… you know how long I was waiting to get one? Very long! Ask me what it is! Ask me!"
"What is that?" Mrs. Parker asked shocked.
"This thing… is … or better was… supposed to be a lifesaver… you know my mom… she has the bad habit… to always get in so big trouble… that she needs to be saved by Superman…" Jonathan continued stuttering. "…this thing… you know what happens when I press this button?"
"Oh no…" Sam realized that it was not good, since Jon was on loudspeaker. "JONATHAN, DON'T PUSH THE BUTTON!"
After hearing his grandfather's desperate call, Jon did it anyway…
A piercingly, loud and thrilling noise filled the Kent-farm. It was so loud, even Lois and Sam had to hold their ears. When Sam activated the microphone, he also expanded the sound range.
Clark and Jordan, due to their superhearing, winched in pain when the familiar sound of the ELT hit their ears stronger than ever before and caused Jordan even to stumble on the ground and cry up in pain. Clark suddenly felt like back when his hearing kicked in for the first time… back then it was the same pain. The sound of the ELT was so strong that a glass with water, that stood on Lois' desk, shattered…
In the Tanner's house, the unpleasant sound of the ELT filled the room, too. Not as painful and loud as in Smallville. But still loud enough to let everyone (expect Jon) hold his or hers ears in reflex…
Jon took his finger off the button to stop the sound and hold the ELT now directly on his mouth to yell into it…
"Seriously? You spy me out just to figure out how to fool me? This is not what I meant with that I want you to listen to me! Forget our talk tomorrow! I quit! I don't want to have anything to do with you all anymore!"
After his outburst, that let Lois start to cry again, Jon threw the ELT on the floor with the purpose to shatter it. But it remained intact and was still active…
"Jonathan, I am sorry…" his mother's voice cried out of the device that slipped over the floor and was now laying in the kitchen.
Jonathan stormed towards it, tipping over the chair he was sitting on in the progress and stomped as strong as he could with his feet on the device. Only to cry up in pain, when his bare feet (Jonathan just came out of the shower and only wore a pair of borrowed white tennis-socks) hit the reinforced little device and hurt himself in the progress. Still full of fury and with blood dripping out from his right food, Jonathan limped towards the counter to grab the wet frying pan that was lying next to the sink to dry…
"Jonathan, please… this is not what it looks like…" Lois begged, despite knowing that it was useless. "…we we're worried about you and…"
BANG
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Jonathan yelled after the first smash with the frying pan on the ELT and smashed a second time on it.
BANG
"MY WHOLE LIFE, YOU ONLY LIED TO ME…"
BANG
"…YOU DRAGGED ME INTO THAT DARN PODUNK…"
BANG
"…YOU NEVER HELPED ME WHEN I NEEDED HELP…"
BANG
"…AND ALL THAT… "
BANG
"… JUST BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE…"
BOOOM
Silence! Suddenly there was only silence! Lois let out a horrified scream, Jordan and Clark were not able to hear. Since the shrill sound of the ELT was too much for their ears earlier and all what they could hear was a whistling … but they could see Lois falling on hear knees and yelling desperately on the ELT because she was not able to hear anything anymore.
What nobody knew, was that after sixth hit with the frying pan, the handle of the pan broke off… the heavy pan got smashed away and hit Jon directly on his forehead…
The flying frying pan hit Jon's forehead so strong, that he lost his hold briefly, roared in pain, stumbled backwards, slipped on his own blood and fell with his head on the other countertop before cramping up on the floor and bursting out in tears again…
Jonathan felt so fooled again. How could he be so stupid again. First his father fools him, then his mother! No surprise she suddenly gave him an 'own' ELT: It was just to figure out how to appease him with wrong promises again. Tomorrow, during their talk she promised, she would have been able to come up with a plan to lure him back to Smallville! Back to all those people who hate him. To all those people who always openly showed him that he is not welcomed and not one of them. It doesn't matter how hard he tries to fit in: He is supposed to be a fooled loser!
Jon could feel that someone hugged him. He heard people scream in shock when the frying-pan broke, and it hit his forehead. He could hear a female voice saying 'call 9-1-1 and my husband' before the same voice tried to comfort him.
"Shhh… there there there… don't worry… you are safe!" Mrs. Parker said. She knew how to deal with a child that has a panic-attack and was having a mental breakdown. "Everything will be fine! Nobody is going to hurt you!"
The shocked Tanners in the meantime were busy to call an ambulance and Mary's husband: the police-detective. Especially after realizing that someone, they once considered as friend, bugged their house…
In Smallville…
Clark needed several minutes to recover from the ELT-incident that was very disturbing. Lois was screaming frantically to Clark to force him to get her back to Metropolis so she can look after Jonathan. Jordan was too upset to react, and Sam was already kicked out.
When Clark was able to hear again, he realized that they just worsened everything…
Jonathan was already mad on them! He felt left out and unloved. And now the boy realized that they spied him out as if he was some criminal that gets observed. As if they don't trust him. As if nothing has changed since the time right after he got caught with the X-K…
But Clark had good intentions. Just like Lois and Jordan… about Sam he wasn't sure. But Clark just wanted to be sure that Jonathan was safe. Just in case his doppelganger shows up. But that backfired. Just like Jordan's visit at the fortress to tell Lara about his brother backfired and just worsened everything…
They left Jordan behind on the farm with the strict order to wait in his room before Clark took his wife into his arms to fly her back to Siegelberg, to look after Jonathan. They were shocked when they found a police-car and an ambulance truck in front of the Tanner's house.
Forced to land around the corner, to not to be seen by any witnesses, Clark couldn't even place Lois on the ground before she jumped out of his arms and ran over the sidewalk into the dead-end road where the Tanner's house was.
Just as expected in this kind of neighborhood almost all other people who live here and were at home at this moment, were in their yards or on their porches now to watch what was going on at the house of the 'Germans' and why the police and the ambulance were there.
"JONATHAN!" Lois yelled desperately when she saw how her dazed and injured son, who had a bleeding wound on his forehead, was loaded into the ambulance.
Jonathan began to scream like a maniac, the moment he spotted his parents. He kicked violently with his legs and both paramedics needed to hold him.
"NO! NO… GET AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE… AGGHHHH…"
"Jonathan, please… we are sorry…" Clark begged but Jonathan kicked his with feet against him.
Not that it hurt but Clark instinctively shied away to prevent that his son hurts himself even more by kicking him. Clark could see that the sock, Jonathan was wearing was already full of blood. And some of it even got on Clark's shirt.
"MONSTER… ALIEN… LEAVE ME ALONE… AGHHHH…"
"Stay away, sir! You are scaring him!" the female paramedic ordered harshly and tried to push Clark away.
"Please, he is my son…" Clark cried. Hearing that he scares his own son hurt.
"THAT'S HIM, DETECTIVE PARKER! ARREST HIM!" Helen Tanner yelled angrily.
Clark ignored that. He ignored all the hateful glares he received from the onlookers. He just wanted to hug his son, take him back home and make amends for everything.
"Jonathan, please…" Clark wailed. "…we never meant to spy on you… we were worried…"
"LIAR… YOU LIE… AGHHH…" Jonathan screamed like a maniac. Like someone who lost his mind. "…YOU ONLY WANT CHILDREN WITH POWERS…"
"That is not true!" Clark yelled desperately. Hoping that none of the people around understand or heard the last sentence completely.
"COME AND GET ME, JON-EL! COME AND MERGE!" Jonathan yelled up towards the sky, in a desperate attempt to catch his doppelgangers attention. "HE WANTS YOU AS HIS SON! I MERGE WITH YOU! TAKE MY PLACE!"
Jonathan's frantic screaming was reason enough for the paramedics to give Jonathan an injection with a strong sedative that forced the teenager to fall asleep quickly. Jonathan had without doubt a mental breakdown and needed to be brought to a certain institution quickly…
"LIAR! LIAR… LI… AR…" Jonathan yelled while he could feel the dizziness taking over and he closed his eyes.
"Jonathan!? Jonathan?" Clark begged before suddenly two more people grabbed the totally terrified Kryptonian from behind and pulled him away from his now unconscious son.
"Mr. Kent, you come with us…" one of the officers said harshly.
"What?" Clark was totally shocked when he heard that when suddenly a man in civilian clothes appeared in front of him. Accompanied by Mrs. Parker. In his hand, he was holding a translucent plastic-bag with the damaged leftovers of Lois' ELT!
"Mr. Kent, I am Detective Parker, Metropolis Police Department! You and your wife are suspected of child-abuse, false imprisonment and for breaking into the privacy! You are under arrest!"
"WHAT?" Clark yelled again when he could already feel the handcuffs around his ankle.
In shock, Clark realized that he really gets arrested. Then he looked on Lois, who was totally hysteric, too and already wore her handcuffs, too. Then he looked to the ambulance to see its doors close…
"No! Jonathan… please, let me to my son!" Clark begged.
He could easily tear apart the handcuffs, grab his son and fly him to the fortress, just like Lara ordered earlier. But he was like paralyzed. He was not able to think clearly anymore. All he could feel was weakness! Weakness and powerlessness to get out of this situation. This was one of those moments, he realized that his powers could not solve every problem. And so, he had to obey when he was loaded together with Lois on the rear seat of the police-car… Lois crying waterfalls, and Clark with the wish that he never went flying with Jordan today…
Latter was crying waterfalls at home and banished Sam away from the farm again…
Clark meanwhile was terrified when he heard a certain name…
Belle Reeve!
That name was like a demonic nightmare, spooking in Lois' and Clark's minds for years! A name that always convinced them to keep sure that Jordan was fine. That his issues and his later diagnosed social anxiety were not getting so strong, that he needed to be treated there.
The Belle-Reeve-Psychiatric-Hospital was often said to be one of the best psychiatric institutions in the country. But for Lois, Belle-Reeve only woke up memories on the movie 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'. She wrote articles about that place. She visited it, when she was investigating on stories. That place was uninviting and scary. It let her shiver. Just thinking that Jordan could be a patient there, caused her to have nightmares.
That's why Clark didn't tell her when he heard the paramedics considered bringing Jonathan there directly after witnessing his outburst and his breakdown. He was relieved when he heard that Jonathan was brought to the West-Metropolis-Medical-Center first to treat his head injury first and then look what to do next.
Clark whispered this to Lois. And what he heard Timmy, Randy and Helen Tanner tell the police. And even that was not nice and let him and Lois look like the worst people in the world.
This was so humiliating! Never ever in his life, Clark got arrested! Lois, the stubbornness and the relentlessness in person, had already 17 arrests on her account. Including this one! What made it worse was the fact that they are arrested because they are suspected to be abusive parents! The main reason for the arrest was the bug (the ELT) Lois gave to Jonathan. If they are lucky, they will be out by tomorrow morning.
The interrogation room was just like portrayed in TV. Cold, sterile and bright. Clark and Lois sat across a police-detective, who looked on them with a disappointment, that let them feel even worse. The fact that the man looked a lot like Nathan Fillion in a mix of his roles as Richard Castle in the series 'Castle' and John Nolan from 'The Rookie' should normally be something, he and Lois should be amused of. But this was a serious situation: They were the interrogated ones…
"A quite impressive history you have, Miss Lane?" the Richard-Castle-John-Nolan-mix said. "Arrests for trespassing, harassing, offending… placing a bug in a foreign house fit into your profile!"
"This is not what it looks like!" Lois cried. "How long is this taking? We need to get to our son! He needs help!"
"Your son is taken care of!" the man said harshly and start to make some notes. "We have the statements of the family, who gave shelter to your son. They all said that your son was extremely distraught. Also, that he had injuries on his body, that clearly show that someone attacked him!"
"We don't abuse our son! We would never hurt him!" Clark said. Now he had tears in his eyes. Just thinking that someone accuses him of hurting his boys on purpose was hard to bear.
"I have the statement of Timothy Tanner here…" the detective told and took a piece of paper from his file. "…according to him, your son told him today that you two don't love him because of a certain 'thing' he does not have, but his brother! What thing?"
"It's… private!" Clark wailed. "But it is nothing illegal!"
"I hope that for you! But what is the thing?" the detective asked again.
"It's a private family-issue!" Lois wailed. But in her face, the detective could see that she felt the urge to blurt it out loudly. Just to tease her husband.
"Fine… If you don't want to make it easier…" the man murmured and took the bag with the damaged ELT to place it in front of the worried couple. "…let's talk about this bug!"
"This is not a bug!" Lois told.
"And what is it instead? I have four witnesses, who can all confirm that you used this device to listen to your son while he was pouring out his heart to his friend! Telling him how difficult you make his life since your move to that town! One of them is working for the CPS! Was it to keep sure to know how to lure him back into your trust? When my son has problems, I talk to him in person, and I don't spy on him to make decisions on his life that might hurt him!"
"We never meant to spy on him! It just happened!" Clark cried up. "He doesn't trust us anymore, I have broken his heart, I let him feel inferior and unworthy… I… I brought shame over the family! And for the wrong reasons Jonathan believes that he is the shame! Yes… I admit it: Some of my decisions have hurt my son. I didn't see it and I should have noticed on my own. I have failed! In many ways! But I want to make amends for it!"
Seeing Clark crying let the detective wonder if the Kent's do really regret what happened. But they still didn't answer his questions…
"What is this device, if this is not a bug?"
"It's a device… to call Superman!" Lois confessed.
"Superman?" the man said with big eyes and looked on the damaged ELT again.
Even after 6 heavy punches with a frying pan and the attempt to stomp on it, the ELT was still halfway intact. Thanks to the reinforced materials that were used. It was damaged but still intact and halfway functional.
"Yes… ehm… my father, is the head of the DOD! He works with Superman! So, they designed this device to call him if necessary. It emits a special frequency only Superman can hear." Lois told before she thought, and one of his sons, whom she wished he wouldn't. "I got one, too! You know… I have the really bad habit to get in trouble due to my work as a journalist and need to be saved, more often than it is healthy for me… or my son's…"
Suddenly Lois thought about the RV incident when Jonathan got himself almost shot death. She yelled on him. But now she realized that the boy was just a lot like her, too. Stubborn and relentless! A true Lane… and therefore needing an own ELT, too! Not just a shared one with his brother who was now able to defend himself and who also took it with him to the arctic, where he didn't need it. Since Clark was with him all the time.
"And you gave it to your son because…?"
"Because… He was… ehm… is in danger!" Lois told.
"Lois…" Clark interfered worried.
"Clark… shut up! You did enough today, when you left our son behind to teach our other son to… drive!" Lois said the last word extremely spiteful. Almost blurting out 'fly'. She turned back to the detective and start to tell him under tears a censored version of the events with Ally and Jon's doppelganger…
Jonathan meanwhile was sunken in thoughts, when he was laying sleeping on that stretcher and was offloaded from the ambulance and brought into the emergency-room…
He was dreaming of being surrounded by people, who all laughed him down, while his father and his brother were floating over his head. People threw stones, dirt, poop and X-K inhalers on him. And every time Jonathan begs to stop, his father yelled from over him to don't complain with glowing eyes…
The paramedics could see in Jonathan's enhanced pulse and his high blood-pressure that the boy was still extremely upset.
"The boy had a severe psychosis before his head trauma. He is mentally unstable and suicidal! We wanted to bring him to Belle Reeve, but his head injury was better to be treated here!" the paramedic told the doctor.
"Right decision… I arrange that he will be brought there after we checked him. We take precautionary measures that he does not harm himself when he wakes up!"
"There is one more thing, doctor…" the woman told and presented him three invalid blood-type-tests. "We were not able to detect his blood-type! He… he has no blood type!"
"This is impossible! Everyone has a blood-type!" the doctor told and went back to Jonathan to start the examination.
The doctor had not much information on Jonathan. There were not many medical records on him, since Jonathan's parents always avoid doctors. All he knew from the statement of the paramedics, who knew it from Timmy, was that Jonathan had once taken X-K. This new 'Superman-drug' was said to dangerous because it gave people powers, but without lasting side-effects. Maybe Jonathan Kent's behavior was a late side-effect? Psychosis, brain-damage, depression, suicidal-thoughts… the range of possible side-effects from drug-abuse was wide. Maybe Jonathan gives him some new information about this matter.
The doctor used a syringe, hit Jonathan's vein at the first attempt and watched the blood filling the small vail in his hand. A nurse was with him and assisted…
"Looks like a severe concussion! We make a scan of his head and his brainwaves to be sure!" the doctor told while finishing the vial with Jonathan's blood and handed it to the nurse. "Melissa… please take this to the lab. I want a full blood count. And tell them to test for drugs."
"Yes, doctor!" the nurse said and left with Jonathan's blood.
The lab was understaffed, so it would take some time before Jonathan's blood would make it to the lab workers.
Time the Kent's had before everything gets even worse…
That's at least what Jordan thought when he was walking up and down in the living-room. Thinking about his brother, Lara's words, his relationship with his parents and his relationship with Sam.
Was it true? Was he only loved because he has powers? He asked himself regularly what would be if Jonathan would be the powered one? How would his life be? Would he have ever met Jor-El? Or Lara? He was sure, his brother would have told their father to take him to the fortress, too because it would be unfair. Because Jonathan was caring brother! A good brother! Why did he not do the same for Jon?
The answer was simple: He was selfish! He was arrogant! After all these years of feeling inferior, worthless and weak, Jordan should have known how others might feel compared to him and his powers. His brother was turned into his former version, and he was turned into his brother's former version. This proved that nothing changed. Just the name of the 'better' son!
Sam was banned out of the house and left to go to Metropolis and look if he could do something to limit the damage. After a while John-Henry showed up. In their one call they were allowed to make, Jordan's parents asked him to look after Jordan and keep sure that he stays at home while his parents handle everything with the police. Just thinking about his parents getting arrested for 'child-abuse' let Jordan shudder.
But Jordan was not going to sleep tonight! For that he was too upset, since nobody told him what happened with Jon. For now, he was forced to wait and do nothing! And this was a terrible feeling. Now he knows why his brother is always so bad tempered…
The hours passed…
At the police-station, Lois told the detective about Ally Allston's cult, the inverse-world and Jonathan's doppelganger who showed up one night at the farm to merge with him. How Superman had to safe him and how that event must have traumatized Jonathan, but they didn't help him afterwards. Talking about it now, let Lois realize that she pulled Jonathan into something, the boy needed her, too. But they let him down…
"You really want me to believe this? A backwards talking, cubic world full of goths? Superpowered doppelgangers who want to merge with us to feel 'completed'?"
"I know this sounds like a freaky sci-fi movie, but it is true! You can ask Superman, the DOD, and the police in the town where the fight between Ally Allston and Superman took place, today. I mean… yesterday!" Lois wailed. It was already past midnight. "The members of the inverse-society can confirm everything, too! And the DOD gives a statement in the morning!"
"So, there is a super powered Morgan-Edge-eradicated version of your son out there with the desire to merge with your troubled and struggling son, and you leave the boy alone at home without any chance to call for help if necessary. No surprise the boy was so mad!"
Clark shuddered again. It proved that Jonathan was not mad because of Jordan's powers, but of the way he treats him. If Jonathan's doppelganger had known that Jonathan was alone, he would be merged, and they would lose the fight against Ally! And Jonathan was now even willing to merge. Just to get his attention!
"The more I talk to you, the more I am convinced that your family is a case for the youth-welfare! I clearly see that you prefer your other son over the one who is now in hospital, you emotionally abuse and neglect him and you shamelessly ignore his problems." the detective said, before taking another file. "I have here a police-report from last year! Your son's name appeared on it… a boy named Jimmy Cutter was accused of breaking your son's arm. But I have the statement from Timothy Tanner, that your other son broke his arm. What can you tell me about this?"
Lois and Clark lowered their heads in shame again. The truth was no option. More hours passed, and after hours of grueling interrogation, Lois and Clark were allowed to go but not allowed to see their son in hospital. Telling it was the best to stay away from him until the CPS has decided how to continue…
