The tension in the house was so big, the air felt as if it was made of jelly. It got colder! It was awful…
Connor looked as if he was about to faint, while listening to his mother's story, already proving what he and everyone else already guessed or knew…
The event last month affected them, too. So, they knew about Connor, but also about the other "Jonathan's" and their respective miseries. And how that event, and the following reveal of Janet's pregnancy led Lois to overcome her own struggles and come here…
"But I swear… I have nothing to do with the bomb or whatever happened in that plane!" Lois finished. "I just… wanted to see you, again! Telling you how happy I am for you that you lived on, have a family! And I talked to some of the people you helped, and I can't tell you how proud I am on you!"
Connor let this information slip in and tried to handle it. But his eyes wandered around wildly between her and his father…
"Anything else I don't know but should know? As usual?"
"I am sorry!" Clark wailed.
"You're sorry?"
"Yes!"
"And I? Do you still believe that I am not sorry for what I did?" Connor trembled. "That I am not sorry for getting the season cancelled, or taking that stuff in the first place?"
"No! No… I know now that… I should have been more understanding and… that I should had tried to see things more from your perspective…" Clark trembled.
For years he waited to tell his son on his own how sorry he was. Telling him directly into his face that he was the one who made a lot of things wrong and guided him wrong. Him and his brother. For years, he knew exactly what he would say.
But now the words were struck in Clark's throat. He finally stood face-to-face with Jon, but the words don't come out of him. He guessed, because he always imagined this moment to be while his son is not in danger to get exposed and his whole live to be destroyed again. And that only because of who he is. And not only his son's live was in danger to get destroyed. A public reveal would also destroy the lives of his wife and her family. Nice people who literally adopted the homeless boy when he needed a real family that accepted him just for the way he is…
"What is that meaning?" Connor asked.
"I mean…" Clark began but start to stutter again. "…I… if… if…"
"What?" Connor became impatient and scared at the same time before turning to Natalie. "And you?"
Natalie explained how she and her father saw the news and decided to come here to look around. They figured out about Lois shortly after arriving. Jon believed them. The Ironses were always friendlier to him and had no reason to lie to him. He also trusted them more! Jon nodded and turned to Lois who was sitting on the couch on her hands and was paler than ever.
"And you… you thought you can come here and pretend that Smallville never happened?"
"No… I hoped we could talk! I know… the timing was bad! Bad as always! If I had known that Smallvillains place a bomb in your brother-in-law's plane I would have never come here!" Lois wailed.
"And you wouldn't have reported it?" Connor asked shocked.
"No… I mean YES… I… You know…" Lois now stuttered.
"No, what?"
"I…" tears began to flow down Lois' face again. "I should have protected you better! I should have seen how much it hurts you to feel left out! I should have listened to you better! I should have seen that I only repeated my father's mistakes…"
"What exactly?" Connor's face turned pale.
Lois realized that just mentioning Sam woke up bad memories in her son. And she dumped him there! She told her father to do whatever necessary to get Jon to talk. And that only a day after Jon tried to kill himself!
"I was not a good mother! I let my work, and my own issues get into my way of seeing what I should had done instead of focusing on my articles. You are the best son I mother can wish for! Woman would kill to get you as their son! You are kind, reliable, open-hearted…"
"You said I am a burden!" now a tear ran down Connor's face, too. "You said I am a shame and that I can't be trusted!"
"That was not okay! And I really deserved to go to prison for what we did to you!"
Connor trembled. He got even paler, and it was clear that he was scared by the presence of his parents. Natalie and John-Henry noticed that and placed themselves in-between the scared man and his sad and desperate parents.
"We take them away!" John-Henry offered. "We take them away and you never see any of us again! You and your family will not be harmed!"
"My family has nothing to do with it!" Connor wailed and took a step back.
"Why not calming down and we talk about everything somewhere else?" Clark offered. "I admit, I don't want anyone to see or localize me in your house…"
"Are you wired?" Connor asked.
"I was!" Clark confessed. "But tracker and microphone got destroyed when the grenade hit me…"
"The DOK will take my family away!" Connor wailed.
"I am not going to let that happen!" Clark said and fell on his knees before putting up his hands to show that he surrenders. "I am not here to hurt you! I am not here to take you away from the life you build up! I know you are happy here and you got the chance to have a much better life than you would have in Smallville or at the DOK! I destroyed your life by taking you to Smallville! I neglected you for not having powers like your brother! I let you feel inferior and unloved! I let you feel like a burden! And I was too naïve to see that Smallville had changed for the bad! If I could turn back time, I…"
"You can't turn back time!" Connor said. "You can't make everything you did unhappen! You can't make everything you said unsaid! Do you expect me to forget everything?"
Connor cried even harder. He left for a good reason! He was not Jonathan Kent anymore! He killed Jonathan Kent! He was Connor Reynolds after it! And now Connor Johnson! A man who had no connection to Kansas! And especially not to the Kents!
Connor looked down on Clark. The iconic blue-suit with the red boots, the belt, and the cape, he always loved most about Superman's costume, were gone. Instead, Clark was forced to wear one of these grey 'Supermen-of-America' uniforms like Tag Harris had to wear. The only detail that was left from the past was the red house-of-El crest on his chest and that his father once said it is only for them.
Connor remembered how he heard his parents talking in the living-room one evening, while he was upstairs. The door was open, and he had a dose of X-K a few hours before. Clark complained about Anderson letting his unit wear his family-crest and that nobody who was not an El was actually allowed to wear. That only Kryptonians who are members of the house of El are allowed to wear it. Back then, Connor thought, he would be one of them. But it soon turned out that his father only meant himself and Jordan when he gave that black shirt with the red crest to Jordan one day as a present and him a slap across the face for not cleaning the dishes fast enough…
"I know I can't expect from you to pretend that everything is fine, like you always did in the past, only to help us! I just wish we could…"
Suddenly someone knocked on the door loudly…
All eyes turned to the door after the knock. Only a second later, the person outside used both hands to slap against the locked door loudly and desperately. With his hearing and his x-ray vision, Connor recognized the 81-years-old man outside immediately… and his already pale face turned as white as chalk…
"You… you brought the General with you!" Connor wailed.
Suddenly he could feel the pain in his legs again. That burning sensation when the General's stick hit him. Full of fear Connor shoed back and fell on the floor in fear when seeing Sam again. So many bad memories woke up in him again… especially when the door was pushed open violently and Sam stumbled in to see the crowd.
"Oh my god… that is you?" Sam said. Despite his changed appearance, he saw his eyes, his hair color… the man who was so scared of him, was without doubt his grandson Jonathan!"
Sam went closer but Connor shrieked in fear…
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" Lois yelled in fury and Sam stopped. "HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF THE ROOM?"
"CONNOR… Are you…" suddenly the neighbor, who found the hurt Jordan on the street came in through the open door and saw the chaos. "WHAT THE HELL?!"
He was originally here to warn Connor and tell him about the injured man who said that Smallvillains are here. What he didn't expect was to see a bunch of people, including the infamous Superman standing in the living-room. And an old man standing over a crying Connor who sat with his back against the wall and feared the man over him, his neighbor immediately recognized as Sam Lane.
Out of instinct, the neighbor grabbed the shotgun of Janet's father, that was still laying on the ground and pointed on Sam with it…
"BACK OFF, GENERAL ASSHOLE!" the man yelled, and everyone raised his arms again. Even Clark, who felt guilty for how everything went downwards again. Not that the gun could hurt him, but he knew he already caused enough damage to his son's mental health again.
Sam meanwhile shrieked in shock and raised his arm when he suddenly spotted that foreigner.
"Connor, get out quick… I take care of them."
"Ron?!" Connor wailed, when he realized who just arrived. "What…"
"I explain you later! The Smallvillains are here. You should hide with your family!"
"RON, GET OUT… YOU CAN'T STOP THEM!" Connor yelled. But suddenly he looked on the man with big eyes. "Wait a sec… what did you say?"
"Your so-called family here has brought Smallvillains here! I don't know what they plan, but you are in danger! And now I see that I was right! You should fly your family to a safe place!" Ron said.
"Woah… wait… wait…" finally Connor was lift from the ground again to look at his old high-school friend. "Ron… you… you know… that I…"
"I know you once were Jonathan Kent, that's no big news!" Ron told, pointing with the gun on Sam. "Hands up and get away, General Wannabe!"
"YOU KNEW IT!" suddenly Connor yelled. "You knew it all the time? Since when?"
That news was new for him. As if everything is not crazy enough right now. The other present people were stunned, too…
"Connor, I know you since high-school, when you helped me to get into the football-team and helped me to find the confidence to ask out Cindy! You could be only Jonathan Kent with this hero-complex! Also, I once watched you ripping out a door of its hinges and later playing that only the screws got loose."
Connor's pale face suddenly blushed when he remembered the incident with the door of the gym back in high school when he had his strength not under control for a moment. And it was a heavy door…
"I mean it could have been the screws!" Connor murmured abashed.
"The door was ripped in half!" suddenly Ron's wife Cindy entered. In her hand a small green glowing stone, that was without doubt Kryptonite. "And it was a reinforced one! I have called Janet's parents! They should be back soon!"
"You know, too?" Connor yelled now shocked while also flinching in pain from the presence of the Kryptonite, but not as strong as his father, who stumbled backwards and was closer to it.
"Hey… you are one of us! No matter from which planet you father comes!" Ron said with a smile, that quickly faded when he turned back to Sam. "Hands up and get there!"
Sam obeyed. Everyone got shooed into the corner while Connor just remained standing there and only went one step away because of the small piece of Kryptonite. Still too perplexed about the fact that more people know about his secret than he thought. In the meantime, Cindy took Natalie's tablet, that was laying on the ground, and looked on the screen with big eyes.
"Not identifiable monster?"
"What?" Connor asked shocked.
Cindy turned around the table to show a scan that was obviously made of the house before things escalated. Connor could see the shadow of his son on the screen…
"This thing here says that Joel is a not identifiable monster!" Cindy said shocked.
"My son is not a not identifiable monster!" Connor yelled now upset towards Natalie who shrugged ashamed.
"Sorry… the scanner is not the best!"
"The boy is so cute; we would never call him a monster!" Lois wailed.
"SHUT UP!" Connor yelled and shied back before vanishing in the kitchen…
In the fortress meanwhile…
Janet told under tears how Connor was suffering under the situation. Lara was shocked to hear that her grandson was suffering under his own heritage again. It was a huge shame for her, that her own grandson was not able to outlive his heritage openly and be proud on it. But also, she was shocked about the presence of her son in her grandson's live and the potential danger that was in the air due to the current situation…
"The interdimensional event last month could indeed have affected this worlds version of your husbands' parents and showed them his life." Lara explained.
"I know they seem to feel really guilty for what they did, but…" Janet told before she put her hands into her pocket and suddenly felt something in it. "… I mean… huh… what…"
Janet found a small piece of paper in her pocket. It was the package insert of her pregnancy-vitamins…
"Oh, fuck!" Janet exclaimed when she saw the paper and remembered that she had the package in her pocket and forgot them in it. And since the pills were gone, there was only one place where they could be: the place where they hid from the drones. "Lara… I lost my pills… when the DOK finds them, they will know about my pregnancy… CONNOR!"
In his house, Connor could hear his wife's call and was thinking about rushing to the fortress to look after her and Joel. Tim should be there, too…
Instead, he was paralyzed. He barely listened to Ron, telling him why he never said anything, and thought that it was cool to know the son of Superman and keep such a big secret. All while Ron's wife Cindy still held the sporting gun to aim on Connor's former family…
"May I…" Clark began.
"No!" the woman said.
"But…" Clark tried again.
"No!"
"Ron, Cindy, please… get out of here! Everyone who knows my secret is in danger!" Connor wailed.
"But your wife and her family know it, too?" Ron shrugged.
Connor looked on his old friend, whom he met in high school here as a shy guy, whom he helped to build up self confidence and gave him a lot of tips for football. Now a tall guy with beard and wearing a flannell shirt. The stereotypical Alaska countryman!
"Where you got that piece of Kryptonite from?" Connor asked confused.
"From a flea-market in Seattle! We never knew that it was actually Kryptonite until it one day start to glow in your presence!" Ron murmured.
Before Connor was able to say something, suddenly his parents-in-law arrived…
"Oh my god…" Eloise yelled and went straight to Connor to comfort him.
It was still disconcerting for Clark to see his son having more trust in his parents-in-law than in him. But he also knew that he shouldn't be surprised…
"Connor, get out here. We take care of them!" his father-in-law said while opening the door to the basement to let the red light inside shine into the kitchen, too. "Don't tell me you guys know everything?"
Ron and Cindy just shrugged. Seeing this was too much for Connor and he turned around to get a chocolate-shake out of the fridge.
"Oh my god…" Connor murmured frustrated and grabbed the handle of the refrigerator-door. "…I need something for my nerves…"
The moment Connor opened the door of the refrigerator, it's whole content shattered out of it loudly. When the fridge tipped over, all jars, eggs and other stuff that was stored inside, got thrown ahead. When Clark placed the fridge back upright, he didn't think about the content. So, when his son opened the door, almost everything crashed out with a loud noise, creating a huge chaos in the kitchen.
"Oh, I am so sorry…" Clark wailed abashed and, despite the complains of everyone went closer.
Connor looked down on the mess and wailed again before kneeling and looking for anything that didn't shatter.
"Stay back!" Lois yelled scared. But Clark was not listening.
"Wait, Jon… let me help you! That was my fault!" Clark said and was suddenly so close.
"I take care of it…" his son wailed.
"No, please… I insist on it!" Clark said before he grabbed with his hand after his son's right arm to hold him back.
The moment, Clark grabbed his arm, suddenly everything came up again. Clark could feel his son's body stiffen instantly while his already fearful face turned into pure horror.
"CLARK, HANDS OFF!" Lois yelled in shock. She was the first one to realize that her son's PTSD got activated by his father's touch.
Clark looked down and suddenly had flashback's, too. How he violently pulled Jon away from the table to lock him in his room, just for asking a question Clark didn't like…
Clark's face paled, too when he realized what he was doing but he was not able to get his hand away.
"HANDS OFF, YOU BASTARD!" Connor's mother-in-law yelled while her husband suddenly grabbed the frying-pan from the counter to storm on Clark to smash it on Clark's head as strong as he could.
The impact didn't hurt. The frying pan got bend and the handle broke off. But Clark's invulnerable body did not get hurt. Instinctively he let off his son who stumbled backwards and rushed out with his superspeed to get away…
The shockwave of his son's superspeed let the kitchen window shatter. A heavy gust of wind blew into the kitchen, throwing stuff from the counters, making much more chaos. The door to the basement got swung open again, letting the red light now shine directly on Clark again who was terribly ashamed for going too far now.
How could he touch him? How could he, after everything he knows about Jon's PTSD, do this? Clark was so in shock, he didn't realize how multiple adults all stormed towards him, despite their own lack of powers. Clark had no time to think how much these people must love hiss on when they risked their own health to push him down the stairs while the red light weakened him. Knowing he got what he deserved when he crashed down the stairs violently and hit with his head against the wall and got knocked out again…
In the meantime…
With every new interview and every new report from that town, Gaines' frustration grew. He simply couldn't accept that this remote, isolated town would be happy if Jonathan Kent is living among them. Jonathan Kent, whose family brought only trouble over him, his life, ruined his career and his reputation…
Gaines turned around to look on another screen where he saw the footage from the security camera in the shack. The three former players of his team were kneeling on the floor. Their hands handcuffed behind their backs. All complaining while various heavily armed police-officers in protective clothes searched the shack for more guns, X-K, and traces of him…
"I am surrounded by idiots!" Gaines complained before suddenly the phone on the main console start to ring. Knowing that there was only one person who could call him here and now. "Hello!"
"I just saw the footage of the security cameras! How could it happen?" a female voice asked frustrated.
"Kent seems still to care about his father?" Gaines suggested.
"Get away from there! The DOK, the military and the navy are on the way to you now to besiege these islands. You can't afford to get caught!" the woman warned.
"Kent is here, and I am not going without his head!"
"Harold, it is not worth it… when you get caught everything is over… I hate him, too but…"
Gaines hung off again and switched to another screen to see the town of Ketchikan. Right now, the mini submarine was right below the water surface, right at the airport. The periscope was the only visible part of it that was sticking out of the water. And so, Gaines could clearly see the town…
"So… let's see how we lure you out of your hideout… What place in this town could be worth enough for you to come out like you did with these planes?" Gaines murmured.
Gaines had a map of the town with him and compared it with the buildings he saw on his screen… there was the big hospital, schools, churches, a community-center (Gaines didn't know was Kent's) and countless of other possible targets for another surprise. And he had to be quick, since the military was nearby and approaching fast…
At the hospital…
Despite his injuries and the fact that his face was covered by bandages that made it impossible to recognize him, the governor walked into the secured station to talk to a certain patient that got brought there only a few minutes ago…
"Sir, you need to rest!" a nurse said while trying to stop him.
"Not before I have seen him with my own eyes!" the man complained and passed several security guards who protected the corridor.
It was chaotic in the hospital, due to the high amount of injured people that got brought here. But in all the chaos, Jordan Kent got identified as the man who was found in a nearby neighborhood with a broken shoulder. A blood-test revealed his blood to be Kryptonian and since Jordan Kent's DNA was in all databases, he could be easily identified. There was no way to doubt it…
The governor entered the room where Jordan was laying. His broken shoulder secured, pumped with painkillers and barely awake. Two men, the governor already knew where a local police detective and a man from the town's administration saw the governor and allowed the governor to stay. Not that they could deny the request of this man who had much more influence than them…
"Mr. Kent, do you feel able to answer us some questions?" the detective asked.
Jordan murmured a weak "yes" out. He wanted to nod, too but his head was fixed in a neck brace.
"What can you tell us about the events on Pennock Island?"
"Smallvillains!" Jordan wailed. "They're here…"
"What are you doing here in Ketchikan?" the town's representative asked.
"My brother… I wanted… to see the plane… he saved…" Jordan wailed, still under the influence of the painkillers. "…we met… before he flew away… to save it…"
Jordan thought about lying. The less they know about his brother the better it would be.
"Do you have any contacts to Smallville?"
"No!"
"Who is responsible for your injuries?" the detective asked now.
"The Smallvillains!" Jordan lied, suddenly he had an idea for a perfect lie to protect his brother. "I… wanted to see the plane my brother saved but… these people somehow found me and drugged me. The next thing I know is that I am in this shack and they… they beat me… to force me to tell them where my brother is… but I didn't know… then suddenly… I was in a forest, and I heard my brother's voice… telling me to run and get to safety before I heard him fly away!"
"Did you see his face?" the town's representative asked.
"No!" Jordan said, which was the truth. Among his family, he was the only one who didn't see his face.
The governor, who could clearly see Jonathan's new face, went a step forward and placed himself between the two other men.
"Mr. Kent… your brother, has saved a lot of lives lately. Including mine! Do you know anything about your brother's whereabouts?" the detective became harsher.
"No!"
"Is your brother living here in Ketchikan?" the detective asked now.
"I don't know!" Jordan wailed and closed his eyes. "And if I would know, I wouldn't tell you! You know exactly why!"
"I know!" the detective murmured. Like everyone else in the world he read the book and saw the movie!
"May I talk to Mr. Kent alone for a moment?" the governor asked.
"Ehm… Mr. Governor, we…" the detective interfered worried.
"Please!"
The detective and the town's representative looked on each other and left the room silently. Leaving the governor alone with the former Superboy. As soon as the door was closed the governor start to talk again.
"Mr. Kent, I read the book and I saw the movie, so I understand why you desperately want to protect your brother. I saw his face when he saved us…" the governor revealed, causing Jordan to look on him with big eyes. "…and I saw how scared he was on his own. If I should figure out his name or if he really lives here, I will not spill it! I just want to know how we can prevent more attacks! So, if there is anything you might heard or know that could help to figure out what the Smallvillains plan here tell us, so we can help your brother, too!"
A tear flew down Jordan's face when he thought about how everyone steps in for his brother now. That was so totally not like Smallville would have handled this situation. Jordan thought: When this is over, I move to Alaska, too! Fuck on what the witness-protection says! Jordan closed his eyes again and tried to remember everything he heard in the shack and in his brother's basement.
"I couldn't hear much… but they were looking for something in this area! Not for my brother but… for anything else! For longer! Long before the explosion in the plane! And… I am not sure… but Gaines… Harold Gaines is not the head of this… I… I think it is a woman…"
In the fortress meanwhile, Connor arrived in a blur next to his worried wife in the main room who just explained everything to Lara and hugged his wife worried. Janet was just glad to see Connor again and hugged him back.
Under tears he told her what just happened in their house and what his father did. His wife felt so bad for her husband again.
"Don't worry… we will somehow get through this! We will never allow them to get even close to our place again." Janet told.
"Jonathan, my dear grandson, let me check you!" Lara said.
Connor nodded and turned to Lara. Lara, who was always so kind and understanding to him. Even when he said that he hates Krypton and wished it never existed, she remained on his side. She was so understanding and friendly. And she was the only one, who was allowed to call him Jonathan! Even if she knew that he goes by another name now.
"…you are not hurt, but you are very upset! You need to calm down…" Lara told.
"Daddy!" suddenly Joel's little voice echoed through the room.
The little boy was in total awe when he looked around in the bright, colorful fortress. Too young to realize what this building truly was. Connor rushed to his son to hug him and burst out in tears again. Lara could see in his vitals, that the presence of the little boy had a calming effect on her grandson. A forced calm, instead of a real calm.
"Hey, big boy… Do you like this fairground?" Connor lied. "Look what's there… Dancing lights!"
Connor turned around again to show Lara to turn on the light show. In preparation that if he is forced to bring Joel to the fortress one day when he is too young, he prepared a lightshow to distract the boy from the otherworldly weirdness at this place.
"Mommy is watching a bit with you! I need to talk to the nice lady over there, okay?" Connor said happily and waited for Janet to come before walking back to Lara.
Janet was too upset on her own to confess her husband about the lost pills. Or to notice the weird feeling in her abdomen that led her fear that Martha could decide to come a bit earlier than expected. Connor meanwhile faced Lara again who was full of worry…
"I believe there is no other opinion! You need to get your parents here, so I can isolate them. I can force them to tell the truth about their motives! We can keep them isolated from your son!" Lara told.
Connor nodded and left in a blur again, after keeping sure that Joel wasn't watching him. He couldn't believe what he was about to do…
In his house meanwhile, Lois cried waterfalls while she finally promised to leave with John-Henry and Natalie in and that Clark would dump Sam in the Gobi-desert when they let him out again. She also starts to talk about a possible cover-story she would publish under her alias Luna Ellis and under other aliases as well when suddenly Connor appeared in the house in a blur again.
"We need to leave!" Connor wailed. "Now!"
"Wow… seeing this live is much cooler than in TV!" Cindy murmured.
"Aww… Cindy, Ron, please… I will explain you everything later! Go home and lock all doors! Not a word to anyone! I must handle all this by myself…" Connor wailed.
After that he became a blur again Lois and Sam were gone…
Natalie found a sticky-note with coordinates on her hand with the location of the fortress and the strict order to burn the note afterwards. Realizing she and her father were invited there. Ron and Cindy got kicked out by Janet's parents who joined the Ironses on the hike. A heavy gust of wind indicated that Connor was back in his house… now alone with his father…
What nobody knew, was that Gaines was still in the mini submarine and watched the hospital on his screen…