Jon continued to rock back and forth on the spot with his head between his knees, begging for everything to be silenced as he heard booming footsteps echoing closer and closer towards him. Someone was saying his name and gently holding his shoulder — fresh pears with a tad scent of smoke.

"… Jon? Jon, talk to me! Why d'you run away for? Jon!" Jon squinted to see Ellie up so close, her pretty face wearing a rare worry towards him. How did she even find him? "Jon, you gotta tell me what's wrong, otherwise I can't help you."

"Just leave me alone…" he muttered, shaking. "You already think I'm a weirdo so just… just go away…"

"No, no, Jon, I don't think you're weird at all. Well, maybe a little bit but in a good way! This — this doesn't make you weird at all, trust me, I know." Jon didn't respond as he continued to shake, the overload's grasp on him mightier than ever before. "Look! Your mom is here — Lois, I ran after him and found him here. He's really fast; I almost lost him."

"Thank you, Ellie — oh, sweetie!" Jon felt a familiar soft touch gently grasp the sides of his head, covering his ears as Lois' voice then said, "Focus on me, okay? Focus my voice and then focus on yours. Remember how you always used to do it?"

"But it hurts so much, Mom…"

"I know, baby, I know — but you're stronger than this, okay? Just focus… focus on me…"

It wasn't sudden but it was as if a tap was slowly being twisted to decrease the flow of all the stimuli that had assaulted his senses. Jon did as he always used to do whenever this happened as a kid: just to narrow in on his mom's voice and forget about every other thing that ever existed. And it worked eventually. Every insect buzzing by the nearby trash cans or a broken pipe that was dripping into a murky puddle soon ebbed away as Jon's senses went back into normalcy.

Lois caught him into a crushing embrace when Jon lifted his head and smothered his forehead with kisses. "I thought that you were done with overloads," she whispered sullenly, nuzzling into his messy hair. "Sweetie, I want to stay with you to make sure you're okay, I really do… but I can't miss this scheduling. Perry will have my head if I don't get this done — you understand, right?"

Jon looked into his mother's eyes that mirrored his own, wanting to blurt out that he wanted her to take him home but instead, he just slightly nodded. Lois gave him one more kiss on the cheek and asked Ellie to watch over him in the van before rushing off in her heels without losing balance.

The walk back over to the van was already humiliating if that whole ordeal wasn't mortifying for him. Not once did Jon say or even look at Ellie walking beside him, opting that the best thing to do was to never say another word again for as long as he lived. She definitely thought that he was a weirdo.

The two entered the van where Jon resigned himself to the front seat while Ellie went into the back where there were several monitors connected to the live cameras. Let's just hope nobody would say a word until the day was all over so that Jon could —

"My… my little brother is on the spectrum as well," Ellie quietly revealed, twiddling the rings on her fingers. "He sometimes gets really overwhelmed and starts to scream with his hands over his ears… so I get it. You're not weird at all, Jonathan."

"I'm not really on the… forget it. Thank you, Ellie, for staying with me." Jon turned his head and gave her a nervous smile that she returned, a real genuine smile that made her that much prettier in his eyes.

"Plus, a lot girls are into that, weirdly enough. Just make sure they're not crazy, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jon chuckled until something faint was being picked up in his ear. No, not another overload, that was for sure.

"… I said everyone on the fucking ground, NOW…!"

It was his super-hearing latching onto the sounds of metal clacking against each other, harsh voices screaming orders to people — and it was all nearby. Ellie asked what was wrong as Jon jumped out the door and entered the back where the monitors where, his heart dropping when he realised what was happening — Ellie gasped when she did as well.

The feed showed the image at a lopsided angle which couldn't have been the doing of a professional. No, what Jon saw was multiple figures in tactical gear and full masks each brandishing a rifle, sticking them in the fearful faces of all the reporters and camera crew kneeling at their mercy. And in the background could Jon make out Jimmy being whacked on the side of his head and slumping to the ground next to a stone faced Lex Luthor who had seemingly arrived on the scene — also a hostage though. But it was the hostage that was there in the centre, half-laying down with a hand holding her cheek that made Jon's blood freeze to utter stillness, his eyes unable to be ripped away.

"Mom…"