"Years has Metropolis, has the world been witness to the destruction, the perversion that this evil company and its owner has unleashed upon the world without any consequences. Without the retribution that he deserves… and now, now he has plans to become the leader of this great country. Wake up, America! Lex Luthor is the devil in disguise! And he will stop at nothing to pillage the less fortunate for all the lives that he has destroyed! We have reporters like the great Lois Lane eager to put him in the spotlight as if he's our saviour — NO! I REFUSE! I refuse because I know the truth… and so will you, America. That… that is my promise…"

"Oh my god, oh my god," Ellie panicked, her hands still clasped to her mouth as she and Jon watched the madman leader of the terrorists piercing his eyes into the stolen cameras while he waved his knife. Her eyes began to water as she blurted out, "They're gonna kill them! J-Jon, are they gonna kill them?!"

"I-I don't know…! I don't know!" Jon's voice could barely even squeak that out either. He just watched a crazy group of terrorists wearing a mirrored shield of his father's iconic symbol have his mother at gunpoint along with several other witnesses and he was supposed to know what to do next. "M-maybe we can call Superman! Yeah, w-we'll call Superman!"

"Y-yeah, yeah, he'll hear us, right? Okay, call him."

Jon nodded as he pushed his glasses sliding down his sweaty nose and turned around to pretend to be on his phone — there were so many apps that claimed to give off certain frequencies to have Superman at your door in minutes, most of them just counterfeit, but Jon had the mainline method that trumped them all. It never failed him before.

"Dad, help," did he whisper under his breath. "Mom needs your help… she's in trouble, Dad…"

Twenty seconds passed by but Jon couldn't hear anything. He heard no thunderboom in the sky of his dad arriving at the speed of sound, not even a minor shift in the wind outside. Jon called for him again, speaking just a little bit louder that Ellie asked what he was doing, only for Jon to ignore when it hit him the third time trying: his dad wasn't coming. No… no, no, no, he always came whenever Jon would call for him. He was just late that's all — wouldn't let his wife die, Jon just knew he wouldn't.

…

"He's not coming," Jon breathed out when he could no longer deny the inevitable. "Superman… he's not coming…"

Ellie looked like she wanted to burst into tears, clutching her throat as she then began to breath in deeply before exhaling, each breath growing quicker until it became hysterical. She tumbled to the ground of the van as she couldn't control her panicked breathing, eyes flooding with tears until Jon quickly crouched down, unsure what to do and so just hugged her.

Closing his eyes tightly, Jon then felt Ellie calming down steadily, her body becoming less tense and the sound of her heartbeat becoming at ease once again. She returned the hug and sniffled into Jon's shoulder, mumbling, "I'm sorry — I'm the adult here, yet I don't have it together at all. How are you so calm when your mom is —?"

"I'm not. I'm… I'm so scared, Ellie," Jon revealed with his voice shaking. "I don't think that Superman is coming and I promised my mom that I wouldn't…"

Ellie moved her head away from his shoulder to bring him face to face, eyes red but confused. "Promised her what, Jon? I-I don't understand."

Jon stared back into her catlike hazel eyes, millions of alternative thoughts on what to do pointing towards just one option, the thing that was completely irrational and stupid — but it was one option. The only option that he had left. If Superman wasn't going to come and save the day, then someone else had to.

"Ellie, what I'm about to do won't make any sense to you," he started to explain as Ellie's eyebrows furrowed; Jon held onto her shoulders gently and continued, "I've… I've gotta go and… do something."

Ellie instantly started to shake her head and firmly gripped his wrists to restrain him. "A-about this?! Jon, you're a kid; you can't do anything against these guys! They — they have guns and got your mom hostage! I know I'm crying right now, but I am not going to let you out of my sight, do you understand me!"

"Loud and clear," Jon nervously replied before he gave her cheek a soft peck on the back of her hand pthat threw her completely off guard, as well as her grip on his hands loosening just enough that he didn't need to use any strength to escape them.

"Jon, no! Please don't!" but Ellie's pleas went ignored as Jon quickly slipped out of the van and shut the sliding door, squeezing the metal by the lock to make sure that Ellie couldn't leave — at least before realising that she could climb to the front seats. But now wasn't the time to think about that at all — his mom told him not to be the hero, but the hero that everyone needed wasn't there. Somebody had to do something, and Jon wasn't going to sit and watch any longer.

Jon couldn't even describe how scared he was with every measured step across the power plant site, his mouth ready to vomit his heart out at any given moment. This wasn't like when he was with Robin trying to crack the case about Riddler: this was real lives on the line where if he even made the tiniest mistake, then it meant that they'd all be dead. That his mom would be dead. But no, he had to shake that out of his mind. If he kept on thinking it then it could come true and nobody was gonna die today. If only he had his costume with him…

Finding a giant silo with a ladder, Jon then carefully climbed to the top where he could just make out where the terrorists had gathered all the hostages: a gigantic metal plate in the ground where a massive contraption glowing white with hints of green was inserted in the middle of the plate. Energy was surging through the clear wires across the ground connected to the power engine and the hostages was gathered right around it, armed men sauntering around them with their rifles clutched tightly. Jon tried to zoom in with his telescopic vision but it was out of whack for him — expected after having a sensory overload as bad as that. Jon was about to climb back down and find another way to the engine when he saw two gunman patrolling the area down below him, unaware of his presence. Well, that was going to be impossible — maybe if he could make it to the facility crates by the engine if he timed his jumps properly. But it had to be just right…

He nearly overshot it, launching himself high across the air and skidding over the crate until he dug his nails into the metal to stop himself from tumbling off the side. Lucky too, otherwise he would've fallen right into the danger zone for everyone to see. Speaking of the hostage area, Jon now had a better view where he could see the leader from before, significantly shorter than his accomplices, waving his knife in front of the hostages, guffawing at their whimpers and flinches.

He then stopped at Lex, pressing the knife onto his cheek as Jon strained his superhearing to try and pick up on what they were saying. "… I'm gonna detonate your little project to take out half of Metropolis, all in the name of Superman, so that you can pay for your sins," did Jon hear the head terrorist goad on while Luthor's nonchalant voice replied, "If dying to a Superman fanatic is the way to go, then at least I'll die knowing I was right…"

"Huh…" Jon mumbled as he hopped down to the space in between the crates, thinking himself crazy that their little exchange almost felt… performative to him. Villains weren't usually this eloquent and so open about their motives, where they? To be fair, Jon did go up against the Riddler though. Still, he needed to find a way in there to catch them all off guard, and he needed a plan quickly —

"What the hell?! Who let a little kid in here?!" Jon immediately spun around to see the same two masked gunmen from before standing behind him — they didn't even seem to care if he was a kid as the speed they raised their guns at him was with no hesitation. Still, Jon was faster than that. Much faster.

Bounding from the spot did Jon blitz towards the first gunman and crumpled the barrel with an easy squeeze, and before the other one had time to react did Jon then grab him by the leg and battered him into the other gunman, sending them slamming into the crate before crumpling into an unconscious pile. Jon winced when he saw that he may have swung him too hard with their leg sticking at a horrid angle, but that feeling died down quickly enough. They were gonna shoot a kid as well, so they were lucky to even have some sympathy.

No time to waste now — Jon had to save the hostages now before it was too late. He quickly took the mask of the gunman that wasn't dribbling and stole his trench coat that was basically a cape on him. This would baggy even on his dad. Okay, the disguise had to do for now; he just needed to make sure that when he made his entrance that he would close enough to take out every terrorists before they could even blink. Easy enough, right?

"Okay, Jon, remember," he whispered to himself to install the hype that he so desperately needed, "stay light on your toes, don't trip and — wait, what the hell is happening?! Whoa!!"

This was not on purpose, not at all. Jon's glasses fell off his mask and smashed to the ground with a painful crack as he was doing flips in the air, his power of flight deciding that now was the perfect time to appear again. Jon was flailing his arms to try and position himself properly but it was no use as it felt like someone else was in control over his own body. Even worse when he realised that he was moving forwards, soon being right in everyone's view high in the sky above. Oh why couldn't he do anything right?

Jon then thunked his head against the top of the engine and clutched onto to it for dear life, twisting himself right side up before pushing away to float right above the terrorists and hostages, all completely perplexed by the sight of him. Good, Jon wanted to keep it that way. Finally managing to balance himself in the air, somewhat half in control, then put his fists to his hips like his father would iconically do, staring down at everyone as he declared with a comically deep voice, "Never fear, good citizens of Metropolis, for I, um… uh, Maskman, has come to save the day! You, terrorists who besmirch my dad's — I mean, Superman's name, will be defeated and have to answer for your —!"

"FIRE!!"

Never had Jon felt so much pain before in his life. He went up against a mutated clone of his, sure; he even been shot before in the head and was fine but having a mini army blasting him relentlessly at the same time? There was definitely going to be some bruising if he made it out of here alive.

Jon plummeted to the ground like a shot bird after being hunted, causing a dent into the metal ground. Curling up into a ball, Jon didn't move — not because he was playing dead but because that hurt like hell and he just needed a second.

"NOOO!" did Jon hear Lois scream before the sounds of a slap silenced her. "You keep that bitch quiet, you hear me? We need her to skin alive with Luthor if Superman is gonna arrive — where the hell is he?!? R, go check if the runt is still alive, and shot them in the head if they are."

"Sure thing, boss."

Giant stomps became louder as Jon was still winded, trying to catch his breath as the henchman poked him with his rifle, prodding him again and again until he dug underneath Jon's ribs, making him snort. "Night night, kid. Not everyone grows up to be Super—"

Jon immediately kicked him right in the stomach to send him flying, and jumped right up to darted his head in every direction, taking note of the number of terrorists, the distance between each of them and him and the probability of if he'd succeed. Well, not the last part but there was only way to know. Using his blistering speed did Jon then ram into the closest gunmen like a human pinball as they spun in the air like flung rag-dolls. But five more had their guns lifted at the hostages — Jon moved quicker than he ever did before in his life and before any of them could pull the trigger did he get in front of them and clapped his hands as hard as he could. The sheer power of the shockwave blew them all away, earning a chorus of awe and wows from the hostages.

"Whoa, I couldn't even see you! Are you sure you're not Kid Flash?!"

"Man, it was like seeing Baby Superman out there!"

Jon rubbed the back of his mask sheepishly, not noticing that his clothes were almost completely shredded; he turned his head to see his mother's reaction — only she wasn't there. Jon turned quickly on the spot and widened his eyes in shock, instantly ready to burst forward until the gun was pressed further into her temple.

The leader of the terrorist group had a demented smile on his face, bloodshot eyes staring Jon down with his gun aimed straight at Lois' head as his other hand had her body restrained — her lips were pursed, her face trying to remain stone-cold and calm but Jon could hear her heartbeat going crazy. They were too far away for Jon to stop the bullet. He couldn't save her…

"This vain, conniving and treacherous example of a woman seems to have a soft spot for you, little hero," spat the leader, "and judging from the way your hands are shaking, I guess it goes both ways. So here is what's going to happen: you are going to reach inside that core and destroy it with your bare hands or…" he pushed the gun further against Lois' head who shut her eyes, the unfazed quickly breaking down.

It was true that Jon was shaking. From fear and anger; he didn't know what to do. He stared at his mother's face as if to beg for advice on what to do like he was a little kid again, but she said nothing. The faint rattle of bullets in the gun told him that this wasn't a bluff, scaring Jon even further. He slid his foot just a little bit towards the engine —

"Don't!" shouted Lois with a hoarse tone. "Listen to me: do not touch that engine, okay?! Don't do it!"

"But —"

"You want to be a hero? T-then that means you have to lose something to save everyone else," Lois continued, a rare inflection of defeat that Jon had never heard from her ever. "That's what comes with the job. Just always do the right thing, okay…?"

"Shut up! Just shut up, you bitch! You! Destroy the core now, or I pull the trigger!"

"No! Don't!"

"Do it now! NOW!"

"Dad, please, help me…!" Jon pleaded under his breath. "I don't know what to do…!"

"Five!" the leader began to countdown. Jon couldn't hear anything in the air approaching him. "Four!" Jon begged again, but still nothing. He really was all alone. "Three!"

"Three…" Jon repeated to himself, eyeing that little gap between the tip of the gun and his mom's temple.

"Two!"

"Two…" If he went faster than he ever went before, then just maybe could he get there in time…

"One!"

"One…" Jon moved so fast that his shredded trenchcoat was completely torn through by his speed as blitz towards his mother with his hand outstretched, hearing the trigger being pulled and bullet blasting through the barrel in slow motion. In that moment of the world standing still did Jon realise that he wasn't close enough. His mom was gonna die because he wasn't fast enough…

He instinctively closed his eyes to block out the sight of what was inevitable, his heart being torn to shreds when he heard the gunshot in full as he skidded to the ground on his knees.

"I'm sorry, Mom," sobbed Jon with his head hung low, his mask soaking up his flooding tears. "I wanted to be a hero, but I couldn't save you. I'm so sorry…"