Clark knew that everything bad that was going on right now was only his fault! It was his fault that Jonathan was in this cell and that he was mad on all of them. It was his fault that everyone else in his life was mad on him: Lois, Jordan, Lana, Tal, Lara… he could imagine John-Henry and Natalie to be upset, too since they knew what it meant to live on a planet that has been taken over by Kryptonians.
His marriage with Lois was on the brink of divorce! Jordan didn't want to talk to him anymore and Jonathan… well, with Jonathan, he destroyed it before he could even build up any connection.
He could imagine that the boy feels fooled: He is in a cell, designed to contain Kryptonians, his blood has been detected as Kryptonian, while his superpowered brother's blood was human? One more thing he had to check in the fortress as soon as Lara allows them to come back. He had met his doppelganger and Tal, and both obviously shared his anger over his neglect. All while the press (Clark guessed Timmy and/or his uncle called them) reported about his 'kidnapping'.
Clark already knew that he was losing. He knew they will take away Jonathan. He knew it was his fault that Jon took the X-Kryptonite. And he knew that Jon was right to be mad on him for screwing off with Jordan to the fortress, while he was home alone!
But he was like paralyzed…
General Hardcastle and probably a lot of more people at the DOD knew his secret identity now. After General Anderson's stunt with the Supermen-of-America, they will not stop it, they will just push forward with a new team. A team they will force him to train Jordan and Jonathan into. His boys will be examination-subjects. Jordan for his powers, and Jonathan for being a powerless Kryptonian.
Jordan, who just woke up again, start to scream when he figured out where he was and why he was here! But the entire building (expect Jon-El's cell) was flooded with red sunlight, that set him and his father powerless. A bunch of armed guards forced them into a narrow room with another TV screen and some chairs, where they were ordered to wait.
As much as Clark wanted to grab his whole family and fly them out of here, he was forced to obey. After everything what happened in the past 24 hours, he feared that he would only make everything worse. And it couldn't even get worse from now…
"Wait here! You can watch the news!" Hardcastle ordered as harsh as usual and smashed the door close before walking back to Jonathan…
"I have no clue who of your friends did that, but it changes nothing about the fact that you are Kryptonian, and your powerlessness needs to be researched!" she told harshly.
"Pah… you know what: You are the first one who actually cares about that!" Jonathan said dismissively.
Hardcastle ignored that respectless statement and left the room again to go to the small office that she had here.
As soon as she was gone Tal-Rho went closer to his own cell wall to talk to his nephew. He was very curious now…
"HEY… Jonathan, if you were really never allowed to meet Lara, your father has brought a lot of shame over the house of El!"
"Don't pretend that you are on my side! You called me a weakling!" Jonathan ranted. "And don't even try to tell me that I am Kryptonian!"
"I grew up on Krypton! I didn't have a good childhood and not many friends, due to my father, but it was a great place, where nobody had superpowers! Kryptonians were proud and self-confident people. If your father really never showed you all the good things. This symbol does not mean Superpowers!" Tal explained.
"It means Superpowers!" suddenly Jon-El, Jonathan's inverse-doppelganger, interfered. "My brother was not allowed to wear it, too!"
"See!" the Jonathan from this world moaned.
"Stay out of this! You wailed all the time that your father only loved your powers, and now it is here the same!" Tal ranted. Jonathan was a bit surprised that this genocidal Kryptonian suddenly seemed to step in for him. "Jon-El, my dear nephew… tell me what happened, please!"
Jonathan wanted to complain about the fact that he called him Jon-El, but he was sick and tired of everything…
"I know they are eavesdropping again… but fine… so you hear it, too…"
And so, Jonathan, who expected everyone to watch him over the security camera's and the microphones again, start to tell his so-called 'uncle' about the barn-scene, too…
Indeed, the only one who listened to him was General Hardcastle, who watched Jonathan and Tal talking on the screen of her computer. All while listening to the news on the TV-screen, that even told that Jonathan has a lawyer now, who was organized by his friends from his former school…
Hardcastle realized that this made everything more complicated. Jonathan Kent's face was in the news now. Everyone reported about the DOD kidnapping him under Sam's order. All while the CPS, the police and countless of friends of the boy did everything in their power to help Jonathan.
"This lawyer will make pressure!" Hardcastle's aide said, presenting a file to her boss. "He is good!"
"How could these teenagers organize a lawyer for him in that short amount of time?" Hardcastle asked upset.
"The lawyer is the uncle of a former classmate of…" her aide starts to explain but Hardcastle kicked her out before she could finish.
"I don't want to hear it! Go and organize everything for the press-conference! We can't afford any more bad press!" Hardcastle ranted and closed the door again to be alone.
The Anderson-disaster and the catastrophic outcome of the Supermen-of-America brought a lot of bad press to the DOD. The higher ranked in Washington were already upset enough. And now her phone didn't stop ringing.
For someone who insists that he lost all his friends because of his family, Jonathan Kent had more friends and supporters than a popular jock. And since the police and the CPS were already involved, her original plan to let Jonathan Kent simply vanish was no option anymore. Hardcastle was trapped between a rock and a hard place now…
She had with Jonathan Kent an incredibly value subject: a powerless Kryptonian! He could deliver them answers about how to set every other Kryptonian powerless, too! But the boy was first: Not willing to cooperate and secondly, he was strictly denying being Kryptonian at all. But with a father who openly preferred the powered son over the unpowered, it was no surprise the boy hates Krypton so much. It also let her doubt with Superman's will to help humanity was just an act. If he is not able to accept his own son for being too human, how they can trust him at all. Not even Sam sees Jonathan as Kryptonian! Or why else he once threw a can with Kryptonite-gas on him.
Another problem was now Superman's threat to cut all connections with the DOD, stop his support and press charges! The only thing that prevents him from doing so was their treat to expose his identity if he doesn't cooperate. And then there was the problem with that grandmother-holograph they talked about. Who knows how powerful she is?
On one side, if she could find a way to turn Jordan Kent and his father powerless and Kryptonians in general, Earth could be a safer place. On the other side, America could lose a powerful ally and a powerless Superman could cause a sudden worldwide crime-spree. When everyone knows Superman wouldn't stop them anymore, criminal organizations could quickly take over. Not to forget the higher death toll during natural disasters, accidents and other bad events, Superman usually helps in.
Victoria Hardcastle realized that she never ever had such a headache like right now! The whole Anderson-disaster was barely dealt with and now this! Suddenly her phone rang again.
Knowing that only important and chosen people knew this number, Hardcastle took her phone out of her pocket and saw that it was a number from Metropolis…
"Yes!"
"Victoria Hardcastle?" a young male voice said.
"Speaking! Who is there?"
"I am from the online-news platform The Truth! I have some questions about the supposed kidnapping of Jonathan Kent!" Jay Nakamura said with a disguised voice while standing in a phone-booth in Metropolis.
"PRESS?!" Hardcastle said shocked and surprised. "Where you got this number from?"
"Is it true, that General Sam Lane used his army-contacts to let his grandson get kidnapped, to prevent him from getting taken away by the CPS?"
"This is a secured and classified line! You are breaking countless of federal laws with your call…" Hardcastle ranted.
"How is it possible that the DOD helps to cover child-abuse and at the same time oversees the high amount of illegally circulating X-Kryptonite that is distributed from Smallville…" Jay continued unimpressed.
"You call will be traced back and then you will be… Hello?!" suddenly the call ended.
Jay hung off…
"LARKIN!" Hardcastle yelled loudly and her aide came back into the room.
"Yes, General!"
"Larkin, figure out all you can about The Truth!"
"The truth about what?"
"Not that! I mean THE TRUTH! It is supposed to be something from the press!" Hardcastle ordered harshly. Her aide nodded and left again.
In Metropolis…
Jay left the phone-booth and looked around. There were security cameras all over… he suddenly felt as if he was on display. Then he looked up and saw the famous Daily-Planet-Globe on the top of the Daily-Planet-building…
He suddenly had another idea…
In his house in Siegelberg, Timmy was laying on the couch. Totally pale and in shock. He expected the thing to be big! But he definitely didn't expect it to be that big! To be that 'super-big'!
After reading this letter, Jonathan wrote to his deceased grandmother, in which he talks about how it is to know that your own father is Superman, Timmy was shocked. Suddenly everything in Jon's censored and incomplete story made sense! Suddenly he understood absolutely everything: Jon's father is Superman, the 'thing' is superpowers, and it meant that Jordan has superpowers and Jonathan not. Suddenly the X-K made more sense and why Jordan playing in the football-team was called 'cheating'!
How is this even possible? How can Jon be the son of Superman and doesn't have powers, too? Is this why Jordan was able to find him today? Is the man, who took Jordan with him in the secret, too? Timmy was too scared to read any of the other letters he saw in that file. His picture of Superman, his hero, his idol, the god he worshiped, was destroyed anyway.
His uncle, who read the letter, too was totally shocked, too. He couldn't believe that he scolded Superman just an hour ago in the hospital. After getting Timmy to the couch, Joe went to the kitchen where he had to drink a glass of Scotch to calm down somehow, before he filled some Coke into a glass for Timmy and went back to him.
"I can't believe it!" the boy wailed.
"Honestly… nobody dares to believe this!" the man said, not able to cope with the fact that Superman is an emotionally cruel, dorky farmer from Kansas.
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know! Tell it to Mrs. Parker?"
"No, Uncle Joe! We can't do that!" Timmy cried up and suddenly sat upright.
"Why?"
"This is… bigger than us! This is something we could destroy the world with! The literally most dangerous secret in the world!" Timmy cried and looked around without really focusing on anything.
When he thought about helping Jonathan, he suddenly realized that it became impossible. Since absolutely everything that came into his mind, had the public exposure of this secret in its wake. And the people wouldn't help Jon! They would only make fun about him! He would be the laughingstock of the world! People can be cruel. And only a few idiots could cause such a chaos by ruling the public opinion.
Timmy woke up from his thoughts when suddenly his phone rang again. It was Jay…
"What's up, Jay?" Timmy asked nervously. He tried to not to sound too upset. He knew he couldn't tell Jay what he just figured out. Not that he didn't trust him, but he couldn't risk it. Not to forget that it was not his secret.
"Aww… Timmy, I have good news and bad news!" Jay cried. "The good news is that the press is now in it. Turn on the TV! They should report about it again any second."
"Really!" Timmy said. "Uncle Joe… turn on the news! Which channel, Jay?"
"RBS1!"
"And the bad news?"
"Well… I used my contacts and figured out the phone number of another high-ranked DOD General!" Jay explained embarrassed. "And… I called a classified number and asked some questions, that woman was not willing to answer and now I am in trouble…"
"WHAT?" Timmy exclaimed shocked. "How could you? They could arrest you!"
"I just wanted to say I went to the Daily-Planet building to have witnesses when the military-police arrives to arrest me! Bye Timmy! Stay safe!"
Jay hangs off and Timmy looked on his uncle with his big eyes…
"Jay is such a big fan of Lois Lane… he even adapts her bad habit to always get in trouble…" Timmy murmured while his uncle turned on the TV…
At the DOD prison…
Everyone waited nervously in front of the screen for the report to start. Jordan didn't stop crying. Lois sobbed. Sam was ashamed. And Clark was trembling as if he was freezing. On another screen they were able to see Jonathan in his cell. He had a TV-screen, too. But he turned away from it to not to see it. Believing that it was just a fake to let him feel fooled again. His doppelganger and his uncle on the other hand looked closer on the screen. Especially after hearing the barn-scene-story…
Clark understood why Jonathan was so upset and believed that it was just to fool him. After everything what happened, Clark would think that, too!
Suddenly there was the opening of the news-show to be seen and a reporter who stood in front of the hospital, Jonathan was taken from…
"…the supposed kidnapping of a 15-year-old teenager by the Department-of-Defense from the emergency room, has caused a lot of open questions. The teenager, who was in treatment after a head injury, was supposed to…"
"Can it even get worse?" Lois cried up loudly and sobbed even harder.
"…with me is Mary Parker from the Metropolis Child-Protection-Service!" the reporter told, and the camera zoomed out to reveal the social-worker, Jonathan talked to the previous evening, standing next to the reporter. "Mrs. Parker, you are in charge of his case. What can you tell us about the possible motives?"
The reporter held her microphone now in front of Mary's face.
"I think we can find the motive in the family! The boy fled from his parents' home in Smallville yesterday after a fight with his brother! He was afraid of his parent's reaction to it. There have been severe familiar issues over the past years. He was neglected by his parents! We also found prove for emotional abuse…"
Lois cried up and burst out in tears…
"…the boy's grandfather is the head of the DOD! It can't be a coincidence that the DOD takes the boy the same moment when we decided to take the boy out of his family…"
"AGHHH…" Lois screamed. Clark cramped up so hard that his chair broke. Jordan cried harder and Sam became pale.
It happened!
"…next to the already mentioned neglect and the emotional abuse, we also found prove that the town of Smallville, where the family currently resides, is a danger for the boy. He became the victim of a slender campaign. He receives death-treats from various people. Including teachers and other adults. And we found prove that all this was planned long hand!"
"How they…?" Clark murmured before suddenly the picture changed to a phone-video.
It was a video, taken by another student at Smallville-High. Showing Coach Gaines and Candice (her face was made unclear by the TV, but everyone recognized her body) being arrested.
"…this video, posted by a student of Smallville High-School on TikTok a few hours ago, shows the moment the corrupt football-coach and a student who was revealed to be the main-dealer of X-Kryptonite in the school getting arrested by the FBI…"
That was the moment, Jonathan turned around in his cell and saw full of horror how Candice was loaded into the FBI-van. Her hands handcuffed behind her back, her head lowered and her shirt wet of tears. Even if her face was blurred out by the TV, Jon could see that she was crying hardly.
"…the 16 years old girl has made a full confession. Meanwhile, Harold Gaines has…" the reporter continued but Jon's eyes only focused on Candice.
This is what he wanted to prevent! This is what he wanted Candice to be spared from! How could they? Was this because of him? Did his parents betray him again and delivered Candice to the police!
"…the corrupt coach, who had actually no permission to work as a teacher anymore since the death of a student at his former school, still insists that Jonathan K. is responsible solely for the X-Kryptonite abuse of his players. Investigators have already found prove, that the coach not only knew about the doping all the time, but that it was also long hand planned to use Jonathan K. as the scapegoat…" the reporter continued.
Jon was overwhelmed. Does it mean he is rehabilitated? Does it mean Gaines is getting punished? His parents will blame him! He was sure of that. Jon had no clue that his parents were right now full of guilt for not realizing it earlier.
"His father was assistant coach and never interfered! His mother is a world-famous journalist and was not able to figure out what happened in front of her! This and the fact that the boy is in danger in Smallville, let us no other choice than taking custody over him! We already have various friends of him who offered to take him in…" Mrs. Parker continued.
Lois, Clark and Jordan all burst out in tears again… they lost him! And they figure this out over TV. This was a public humiliation… Not because of the barn-scene! The barn-scene was only the tip of the iceberg. This was because of all their mistakes in the past 15 years and 11 months since his birth…
The only one who didn't cry was Jonathan… he only fell on his knees and looked on the screen… knowing he has lost anyway: The DOD will lock him up here and force to stay with his family anyway. And they will find a way to hush this up and pretend that it never happened, like they always do…
In the meantime…
Chrissy Beppo never felt so humiliated. After an hour-long interrogation in a dark and sticky DOD-interrogation-room she was finally allowed to leave.
They believed her when she told them that she didn't know anything about the Kent's family-secret and that Lois told her only minutes before they arrived to arrest them.
A soldier escorted her out and Chrissy realized that she was in the middle of nowhere. They told her to wait, since there would be a transport for her to get her back to her car in Metropolis and that she was advised to keep everything for herself and to not to tell anyone. Chrissy used the chance to think about everything she learned today.
It was too crazy to be true… it was so… surreal… so weird…
Chrissy tried to reach out for her phone, to get some distraction but her phone was still with the DOD. She was just about to turn around to ask the present soldier if she can get her phone back before suddenly the present soldiers were all called inside for an important meeting…
Chrissy, who start to believe that she might never see that phone ever again, turned around, walked to a bench she found coincidentally and sat down to wait and to brood…
Inside meanwhile…
Jonathan tried to imagine what was going on in Smallville now, after seeing the news, he slowly began to believe, were no fake…
His parents might be journalists, but GBS-News was a totally different company the Daily-Planet, or any of their contacts in the news world had any influence on. At least that's what Jonathan knew. Mrs. Parker seemed to be on his side, so she would never agree to a fake-news report. Then there was Timmy. In the report, they said that his 'lawyer' was organized by a group of friends from his former school. He could imagine that Timmy asked for help from that gay guy from 'The Truth' he once told him about. Jay was his name…
"Jonathan… Jonathan, please…" Tal said with a calm voice.
"SHHHH…" Jonathan hissed and looked on the screen again to not to miss anything.
"…it is absolutely incredible how much afford the people in Smallville put into all of this to hide the truth…" the reporter continued. "…another former football-player of the local High-School-team is already in custody, too after the arrested girl told the present FBI agents about his own doping. The whole scandal goes wider and according to unconfirmed sources, the whole X-Kryptonite scandal goes up to the highest ranks in this town. Even up to the former mayor…"
"Jonathan…" Tal said again. "…please… let me…"
"LET YOU WHAT? Explain to me why you are better than me?" it blurted out of Jonathan angrily.
"Wow, I thought you are a pussy, but you seem to have some backbone!" Jon-El interfered sheepishly.
"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Jonathan ranted now on his doppelganger.
"Hey… For that I know what it means when your father only loves your powers! That's why I left… And that's why my brother took Kryptonite, too!" the inverse explained.
Suddenly Jonathan was curious…
"What?"
"After you told me about how your father ditched you to fly with your brother, I had to think about how my dad did the exact same thing with my brother one day, to fly with me instead. My brother was so sad and thought he could get my father's love if he has powers, too. So, he took my father's inhalers, but my mom caught him!"
"What happened after?" Jonathan asked. He knew how his parents reacted after he got caught but how they reacted with Jordan (or his doppelganger)?
"My brother start to cry… telling her how he feels left out. My mom was so mad on my dad. She packed her things and moved with him to Metropolis, filing divorce from my dad because he was 'a bad and neglective father'. That's what she told at least in an interview, two days before Ally declared her a fugitive. Does your mom leave your dad for you?"
"No!" Jonathan said. "No… my mom wouldn't even divorce him if he beats me!" Jonathan said.
Not knowing that his mother left his father this morning and that his parents were on the brink of divorce…
"Jonathan, I have to say that it breaks my heart that you have such a bad picture about our home!" Tal said.
"Your home! Not mine!"
"It is your home, too!" Tal said. "I know what Krypton was! I know what great things that place had to offer. Things the people on Earth can only dream of and will never reach. I can imagine that Lara wants to meet you urgently and that it is true what your brother told. Who knows, maybe she really takes your brother's powers?"
"My parents would never allow that!"
"When I was your age, everyone constantly reminded me that I should be ashamed to be Kryptonian. But I never was. Krypton was a great place. So, I can understand why you are upset: Your parents obviously taught you to deny your heritage."
"Being Kryptonian is only about having powers!"
"Yes, exactly!" Jon-El added.
"In your world maybe, but not here!" Tal interfered harshly and looked on his nephew's doppelganger angrily forcing him to stay out of it. "I used to live on Krypton, I never had powers there, so I can tell you that being Kryptonian is not about having powers! Your brother and your father don't seem to value the true legacy of Krypton…"
Tal felt honestly bad for Jonathan. As a proud Kryptonian, he had absolutely no comprehension for excluding a son of Krypton only for powers, he wouldn't have there. And thinking back to his own arrival, he would have done everything to have no powers, so they won't lock him up in that lab. Every good thought he had about his brother's family were gone…
"…I help you to get out!" Tal whispered.
"Why should I trust you?" Jon moaned.
"Because I know what it means when your own family doesn't accept you!" Tal said and made a discreet gesture to show Jon where the cameras were…
In the other room…
Jon's family was yelling and fighting with each other. After the news, that denounced them all to fugitives, and the reveal that the CPS wants to put Jon into foster-care, everyone was not able to think anymore and did what they usually do in that situation: yelling!
Before Lois could yell loudly that she is going to divorce Clark, the door suddenly opened again and Hardcastle came in again. Followed by her aide and two armed guards…
"SILENCE!" she yelled, and the fighting family went silent immediately. "You are such broken bunch of people, you know! I think I understand why that boy so strictly denies being Kryptonian and tried to run away! With such bad parents, it is the only plausible outcome!"
"Hardcastle… take me!" Clark suddenly said. "Lock me up, experiment on me, do with me whatever you want! But please let the boys go! They have nothing to do with it!"
Clark was willing to do everything to protect his family…
"Your supposedly powerless son… has caused us a lot of trouble! The press is on it!" Hardcastle said. "People will ask unpleasant questions."
"You shouldn't have kidnapped him!" Jordan ranted and went a step ahead. If he would still have his powers, he would run havoc. But Lois and Clark were worried for him and held him back.
"Jordan, please…"
"I have no clue what kind of friends your brother has, but one has informed the press. And they even called me on my duty-phone."
"But the numbers of these phones are classified!" Sam said shocked.
"Yes, they are… usually!" Hardcastle murmured. "And that lawyer, they organized for him and the other news… We have an offer for you: We let you and your family go, but you are always available for missions, and we examine your sons like we examined you in the past! And for that you come up with an excuse story for the press, saying that all of this is just a misunderstanding and a bad coincidence! And we organize discreetly that the CPS forgets you."
"And why should I agree to that?" Clark asked disgusted.
"Because your only alternative would be to reveal your secret identity and expose your family and then nobody is going to support your son anymore. They will only make fun about his powerlessness." Hardcastle said.
Clark shuddered at that thought… this is what exactly happened in Smallville. With the only difference that the people were not aware of the secret… but they turned Jonathan into a laughingstock for his powerlessness. Just because Jordan was allowed to play with his powers…
Before Clark could respond or give a statement there was suddenly a loud scream from the cells…
"HELP… WE NEED HELP HERE!" Tal yelled in fear and shock.
Hearing the screams, Hardcastle and her recruits turned around quickly and locked the trapped family in again.
"What? WHAT IS GOING ON?" Lois yelled and hammered with her fists against the jammed door. "CLARK… WHAT CAN YOU HEAR?"
Clark couldn't hear anything. The red sunlight drained him too much…
The soldiers meanwhile arrived back in the cell to find Jonathan having a violent seizure on the floor of his cell. Looking as if he was suffocating…
"HE NEEDS HELP! LET ME TO HIM!" Tal yelled like a scared little child.
"What is going on?" Hardcastle yelled while her men surrounded the cell.
"I KNOW WHAT THAT IS… THAT IS AN KRYPTONIAN ALLERGY… HE NEEDS A SPECIAL CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION. THE KRYPTONIAN WAY… I KNOW HOW TO DO THAT. I CAN HELP HIM! PLEASE!"
Hardcaslte was shocked: If Jonathan Kent dies, she will lose her power over Superman and might get in trouble if the press figures out that, too.
"Open his cell!" Hardcastle ordered harshly…
Tal smiled… and the shacking Jonathan, too… everything went according to the plan…