Clark wondered what happened…
According to what he saw in all the hurry, he guessed that the air-vent crashed down on Mrs. Stone and knocked her out while she was calling. But what about the man they could hear? Or Mrs. Stone's statement that someone was drilling holes.
Everyone watched in awe how Superman placed the unconscious woman on a table, where someone placed a jacket as a pillow. A present mother, who works as a nurse, quickly began to check the injured teacher while another mother called an ambulance.
Clark rushed downstairs again to check the area. Nobody to be seen. No trace of someone doing anything evil. If that guy was a metahuman, too, he might get out already and was gone. With his x-ray-vision, Clark checked the floor. Especially around the crack in the foundation. There was nothing to be seen. At least nothing suspicious. His eyes wandered to the lead-lined closet. He didn't see the man who was hiding inside, since latter kept sure to not get detected.
"Superman! Are you down there?" a child yelled from the stairway.
"Stay out of here!" Clark yelled back and rushed upstairs again to calm down the people and tell them to stay out of the basement, in case more debris crashes down from the ceiling and injures more people.
Once Superman was gone, Luthor's henchman came out of his hideout to continue with his work…
Clark knew he had to go back before Johnny notices that he is gone and left. He looked around, told the people to take care of the injured woman and that everyone should stay out of the damaged basement before he flew out and rushed back to Smallville while the man continued drilling…
In Smallville…
All eyes were fixed on Johnny now who came down the stairs slowly and with big eyes. Lois lift from the desk to get closer to her son who was totally red in his face.
"Johnny… how are you?"
"Daddy is Superman?" the boy asked, still not fully able to realize it.
"Yes, Johnny!" Lois confessed. This time it came out of her mouth surprisingly easy. "Yes, your daddy is Superman!"
"Where is he now?"
"He's looking for Mrs. Stone! She seems to be in trouble."
"Mrs. Stone knows?"
"No!" Lois shook her head. "But she is suspicious, and it looks like we have to tell her."
Suddenly there was a swoosh over the house again, indicating Clark's return.
The front door opened, and Clark came in. In his Superman-suit and without glasses. The moment he spotted Johnny on the stairs, looking on him with big eyes, he stopped and looked back on him with big eyes, too.
"You are really Superman?"
"Yes!" Clark said, lowered his head and put on his glasses again.
It was odd to see Superman with glasses. Even for Lois, Jimmy, Martha and Jonathan. Jon made big eyes, since he was not used to it from his Earth either.
"Oh… how… you hide it? How… how you…"
"Let's take a seat… there is a lot to explain!" Clark said, reached out his hand to take Johnny's and walked with his totally stunned son back to the living-room to tell him everything.
Now that the secret was out, he felt a lot better in some ways, but was still scared in many other. Everyone else went back to the couch, too. Not closing the laptop on the desk where everyone could clearly see the file about Trent MacGowan and his current address… right in Smallville…
Trent MacGowan thought that he could leave everything behind. Metropolis, his criminal past, Luthor… the list of things he ran away from was long…
The day he and his brother broke into that LexCorp warehouse, he wondered, why they didn't stand up against the order of their boss, a.k.a. their father, because this seemed too hot for them. He wondered why they began playing with those chemicals, which caused them to get caught, spilled themselves with that stuff and mutated into metahumans. He with the ability to morph into metal, his brother with the ability to turn into water.
While it also made their lives easier, and more exciting, it got them first on Luthor's radar, who hired them to commit even more crimes, and then on Lois Lane's radar, who sent Superman after them. And the thought of getting captured, locked up and examined in a lab again was horrifying. Worse enough that Luthor threat them that he would do that, if they don't do what they want.
After fleeing to Gotham, getting captured by Luthor, gotten brought back to Metropolis to get caught by Superman, escaping to Gotham again, getting captured by Batman and barely escaping again, he and his brother decided to end their criminal career and keep a low profile.
And now, after years of living an honest life, Trent was here in this small house, in a quiet neighborhood, in this rural Kansas-town. Far away from any trouble. Keeping a low profile, attracting no unnecessary attention, and working in a garage where he repairs cars and tractors. Earning honest money.
But now he was hastily packing bags with clothes and the most important things to flee. Luthor found him and forced him to flood a school. It was only a matter of time before Lois Lane will discover him and send her flying friend after him again. And this time, Trent has much more to lose than just his freedom. Not to forget Luthor! Who knows what this bald lunatic will force him to do next?
Trent cried… it was not fair…
Lex meanwhile, stood on his desk and looked full of joy on the blueprints for the new building-complex he was about to build in New Troy. Bright, futuristic, modern, Kryptonian-proof, metahuman-proof and most importantly: legal!
Thanks to the 'natural-disaster', and a little bit help, the city will have no other choice than demolish it, so Lex can build his new labs right near Lois Lane's house. With the new Kryptonite-lab, that allows him to create synthetic Kryptonite, he gets one step closer to create a world where Superman is no longer able to survive…
"Yes, Lena! I have the plans here, right in front of me! I will see you at this school tonight when we give a press-conference! Don't worry about the other issue… I have everything under control!"
Lex ended the call and dialed another number…
"Yes, this is Lex! Is the mayor in his office?"
There were two short knocks on the other end of the line before the call ended, too.
In Smallville…
Johnny sat on the couch again, his father standing in front of him in his Superman-suit and his glasses on. The rest of his family and their closest friends around them.
The more Clark told him, the more he relaxed. He told his son how he once discovered his powers at age 11, how Martha and Jonathan showed him the buried spaceship below the farm, how his powers grew stronger, and he became Superman after moving to Metropolis. How he believed that he was sent to conquer the world, but figured out the truth with Jon's help when he came visiting from his Earth, revealing that Jon was actually Johnny's doppelganger.
"What?" Johnny looked now on Jon.
"Yes! We are actually the same person! I am another version of you!" Jon told.
"And you have powers, too?"
"On my Earth I am one of the Superboys!"
"And Aunt Kara is Supergirl?" Johnny asked again.
"Yes! It was a huge surprise!" Lois now added.
"And… I have powers, too?" now Johnny was astonished and looked on his hands.
"We… we guess so…" Clark confessed. "I saw you lifting Mrs. Stone! And your mother said… you are sleep-floating!"
"What is sleep-floating?"
"Flying!" Clark confessed.
"I can fly?!" the boy said excited.
"At least you float when you sleep, so… I guess it's possible!"
"But… how I couldn't see it before? My daddy is Superman and I didn't notice?"
"Well…" Clark said and took of his glasses again. "…people see what they want to see! They want to see Superman, so they don't care about Clark Kent. And vice versa! When they see Clark Kent, they don't think about Superman! You didn't either!"
"No!" Jonny confessed.
"Johnny… I think it is time to meet your other grandparents, too! They will be so happy to see you!"
"My other grandparents?" Johnny asked and looked over to Martha and Jonathan.
"Yes…" Clark said. "…in the fortress!"
While Clark took his son's hand again to bring him to the fortress back in the fields, a few miles away, the metahuman Trent, checked one last time if he has everything he needed before writing a note that he would leave before he gets out of town.
He was unaware that Lois Lane already knew his address and that someone else was on the way to his house, too…
In the farmhouse, Lois closed the laptop on their way out. It burned on her tongue to tell Clark that the guy who presumably flooded Johnny's school was living at the other end of this town and worked in the garage where his parents regularly fix their car. But telling Clark now was inappropriate. Johnny was more important now. And if Clark leaves now, it will look like Johnny is no priority for them.
"Hold on!" Clark said, before he took his son into his arms and rushed with him in a blur to the toolshed, which was a huge fun for Johnny.
Full of awe Johnny watched his father opening a hidden door in the shed's floor that cleared the way to a long stairway that began to illuminate as soon as the hatch was opened.
"The reason, we never allowed you to enter this shed, was because we feared you could find the hidden stairs and react to it!"
"What is this place?"
"This… is what grew out of the remnants of the spaceship that brought me to Earth!" Clark explained. "And down there… there is someone who is really eager to see you again."
"I have been here before?"
"Yes! You were… gosh… you were just 18 months old when your mother and I brought you here for the last time!" Clark said before he took his son into his arms again to fly him down the stairs. "You'll like it!"
"This is so cool!" the boy said while they went down into the fortress…
Lois, who was still on the way to the toolshed, wondered if it was not better to tell Clark quickly about the metahuman. But he didn't want to ruin Johnny's happiness.
"Lois, shall I go and take a look at that guy?" Jon offered.
"Oh… that would be so nice of you! I don't want to drop the bomb now! Just… don't scare that guy off. I don't want him to know that we know about him! And I would feel a bit better!"
"Sure… go and look after your son!" Jon told before ripping off his shirt to reveal his own suit below and depart into the air.
Lois reached the toolshed and rushed down the stairs as quick as possible…
Clark meanwhile landed with his son in the main room, right in front of the bright stage and placed the boy on the floor again.
"WOW! COOL!" the boy said in awe again when he looked around. "Is this your Superman-headquarter?"
"No… this is… actually like a classroom where I learned where I came from!" Clark explained while presenting his son a crystal that was resting on a shelf. "You know… when I was your age… I had no clue that I was adopted. Or that I was not even from Earth! And I never learned it until I was an adult! The reason your mother and I tell you… is that we love you and we don't want you believe that we exclude you! And because… it is your birthright, too!"
"So… I am an alien?"
"Oh… ehm…" Clark blushed. "…well… ehm… I am the alien! You got born here on Earth, so you are an Earthling! But… you are Kryptonian… as much as you are human, too!"
"And Grandma and Grandpa? Who are they?"
"They are still your grandparents! But here…" Clark said and inserted the crystal in the control-podium. "…are your Kryptonian grandparents!"
The moment Clark inserted the crystal the lighting changed, and the holographic images of his biological parents appeared. Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van.
"Kal-El, my son!" Jor-El said.
"You brought your son with you!" Lara said with a smile.
"Yes! Mother, Father… this is my son Jonathan Samuel Kent! We just told him the secret of my origins! Johnny, say hello!"
"H… Hello!" the boy told astonished to the two holographic people in the weird outfits and the Superman-symbols on their chests who smiled on him. "What means Kal-El?"
"That's my birthname!" Clark whispered.
"My dear grandson, it is so nice to meet you!" Lara said.
"Are you ghosts?"
"No… we are recorded copies of the memories and personalities of the original Lara and Jor-El. We are dead for a long time now!" Lara explained while she let some holographs appear. "Let us show you everything…"
While Johnny got to see an impressive holographic and virtual tour about Krypton and his ancestry… his adult doppelganger Jon flew to the address Robin gave to Clark and landed in the bushes in the rear-yard unseen to use his x-ray-vision on the small house.
Trent was still rushing to get his bags and then left to get them into the pick-up truck that was parking in front of the house. It was so obvious that the man prepared to flee. He knew he couldn't interfere and risk the rumor about a second Superman on this Earth, so he just watched. Suddenly another car, a station-wagon, parked in front of the house and a woman walked over to the house.
Hearing someone coming, Trent got so scared that he transformed his right arm into a sword while his left arm became shield. Almost as if he wanted to defend himself from an intruder. Jon thought about interfering, but the man transformed his arms back as soon as he heard the woman's voice. She was obviously living with him. And everything else Jon could see and hear, let Jon be shocked…
A few miles away below the farm, Johnny was still in awe about the impressive story his Kryptonian grandparents told him together with the holographic lightshow to show him how Krypton once looked. Continued by the story of his parents and how Clark first got his suit and then decided to use his powers, that he had hidden till then, to help others in need. And of course, how he was born…
"You are the very first Human-Kryptonian-hybrid that has been born in this universe!" Lara told proudly.
"So… I am different than the others?"
"But in a positive way! You are… special!" Clark interfered, fearing that it might come up to this matter.
"You are an heir to the noble House-of-El!"
"What is the House-of-El?"
"You are very curious, Jonathan! Let me explain you…" Lara said before Johnny's doppelganger returned.
Since the whole family was already present, Jonathan Sr., Martha and Lois were the first ones to notice Jon's return.
"Psst… Lois!" Jon hissed.
Lois turned away from her son, who was distracted by his grandparents and sneaked over to Jon who whispered her into her ear what he saw and that they were running out of time since he planned to flee.
Upset about this information, Lois sneaked over to Clark to whisper the same info to him, too. And he was shocked about this new info…
Knowing that Johnny was distracted for a while, they decided to leave to handle it.
"Johnny, your mom and I are right back!" Clark said before he took Lois and flew out.
"Hey… I want to fly, too!" Johnny said.
"Jonathan, let us make a scan of your genetic structure to test if you will be able to fly." Lara said, which made Johnny very happy again…
A few miles away, the metahuman and the woman were talking. Clark could clearly listen to their conversation…
"What is this?"
"I need to leave! Just a couple of days?"
"All that sudden?"
"Family-emergency!"
"Who?"
Before they could talk further, Superman and Lois Lane suddenly stormed in through the unlocked rear-door and stood now in the living-room. The woman yelled in shock. The man immediately shrieked back.
"Trent MacGowan! You have a lot to explain!" Lois yelled, pointing with her finger on her. "You used your metahuman powers to flood a school! Why?"
Lois and Clark expected everything when they came here. But not that Trent began to cry like a baby, while sitting down on a couch and wailing an unreadable gibberish.
"I AM SORRY… I AM SO SORRY… THAT WAS NOT WHAT I WANTED… AWW…"
Lois and Superman looked on each other while the man's girlfriend or whoever she was, was just sitting on the armchair perplexed and shocked about the reveal that the man she lives with for years now is a metahuman with powers. Or that his name was Trent and not Jamie…
"You caused a lot of trouble, you know that?" Lois said harshly.
"I didn't want it… I swear… but he forced me…"
"Who?"
"Aghh… He is going to hurt my son! He said he will expose me and get me and our son into the lab! I can't… I can't go back there; it was so horrific… these experiments and the…"
"SON?!" Lois and Clark yelled shocked.
Trent pointed on a photo on the wall. It was a photo of him, the woman and a baby that was sitting between them. Clark became pale. He was a father, too and suddenly felt some empathy. Lois was shocked, too. But still demanded answers.
"WHO?" Lois demanded harshly.
"Mrs. Kent, let me handle this!" Clark said with his best Superman-voice and kneeled to face the man on eye-level. "Listen… I am someone who believes in second chances! You changed and you try to live an honest life. So, I believe you! We can imagine who forced you! So, you can save that name…"
Clark looked over to Lois, knowing that Luthor was the only one who could be the one…
"…we can help you! But for that you have to cooperate! Tell us what happened! Everything… from the beginning…" Clark told partly demanding, partly sympathetic.
Trent began to cry again…
"…I just wanted to leave everything behind me! That live and the dangers… start all over again… so after moving from town to town for a while I got a job here… fell in love…" Trent's eyes wandered over to his wife who cried, too. "…two… two weeks ago… this man came to the garage where I work…"
"Was it… him?" Superman asked.
"No! It was a bulky thug with tattoos all over! He gave me a phone and I heard… him on the other end. He demanded me to do what he orders, or he will hurt my family and tell everyone here about my powers… awww… I… when the hard rain was announced in Metropolis, he called me again… telling me to use my powers, to clog the sewers…"
"Very effective… a multi-million-dollar damage!" Lois said with her arms crossed.
"It was never my purpose to cause so much damage! They said they only want the building's basement to be flooded!" Trent continued crying.
"And why?"
"They didn't tell me! They… just told me where and for how long I must block the sewer! And which way I should take to get away! I just did what they demanded. And I really thought that I only flooded the basement! I had no clue that I caused all the damages till I had to meet with… him again!"
"And what did he say? What is his plan?" Lois demanded.
"I don't know what his plan was! He said… I wouldn't understand it! But… it is about the property! That's all I know!"
Lois and Clark looked on each other again. It made sense! Lex wants the property, and the school is in his way for his plans for whatever. But what?
"What else? Do you have any proof?" Lois demanded.
"He wanted to pay me. There was a bag full of cash stored in a locker at the train station. But when I realized what I did and how much damage I caused I left the bag at the door of the school-authority with a note."
Lois took her phone to check it. Indeed, a local TV-station reported already yesterday morning about a sports bag with 50.000 Dollar cash that was found in front of the building of the Metropolis-school-authority. Together with a note: 'I am sorry!'
50.000 Dollar was a drop in the ocean considering all the damages. But at least it meant that he was truly sorry.
"You stay here!" Lois demanded. "I want your statement and you will tell us so we can report it. I know exactly who did that! Superman… we have to leave!"
"You endangered my s… my friend's son!" Superman ranted. "You better obey, if you are truly sorry."
Trent just nodded, more tears running down his face before Superman took Lois into his arms to fly with her out again.
Once they were gone Trent and his girlfriend looked on each other in embarrassment and shock…
"You have powers?!" she yelled.
Trent just burst out in tears again…
Lois and Clark wondered if it was not better to take that guy into custody, but the reveal that he has a son, too bothered both of them and let them only think about Johnny.
Latter meanwhile stood on a podium and watched the colorful lights dancing over his body and in the room. It looked like in a nightclub. He saw it in TV recently. He didn't feel anything, but it was fun. At the other end of the room, he saw his grandparents, Jimmy and Jon talking upset about something he couldn't hear.
"Your genetic structure shows a clear relation to our house and to your mother!" Lara explained. "Your cells are absorbing solar-energy and seem to be able to store them in a minimal extend that is limited but increases in a currently very slow range. Similar to your father when he was your age, but we have no data about him when he was that young!"
"Ehm… what?" Johnny asked. For a seven-year-old boy, Lara's words were a bit too difficult.
"Your body should be capable of handling the powers." Lara said.
"Cool!"
"But we don't know how long it will take for your powers to develop. For that we need to perform further tests in the future."
"Can I fly?" Johnny asked with big eyes.
"No!"
"WHAT?" Johnny was shocked.
"According to your current solar-energy level you are not able to fly yet! But it is too early to say when and if you will be!" Lara continued.
"That's not fair!" Johnny said offended. Flying was the best power of all. Everyone in his class says that flying is their favorite Superman-power. And he would be really happy if he could do that, too.
"Only time will say!" Lara told.
Suddenly Johnny's parents came back in a blur…
"Johnny… where are you?" Lois literally yelled.
"Mommy, Daddy… They say I can't fly!" the boy wailed.
His parents rushed towards him to tell the boy the bad news…
"Johnny, listen your mother and I figured out what happened at your school and we know now why it got flooded!" Clark explained. "We need to leave!"
"We leave?"
"No… you stay here with your grandparents!" Lois continued. "Me, your father and Jimmy need to go to your school to stop those evil people from demolishing it!"
"Demolishing?"
"Yes!"
"I don't want to go to another school! The other schools are so far away!"
"We don't want you to go to another school, too! That's why we need to go now! But we promise to be back as soon as possible! And you can stay here and learn more about you!" Clark told while the others got closer. Jimmy already prepared to leave with them. Jon wondered what happened.
"Jon… that metahuman you watched is at his house with his wife. Please go there and keep sure he does not run away!"
"Okay…" Jon said before vanishing in a blur, which amused Johnny.
"Cool!"
"And Johnny, please stay with your grandparents! We'll be back, soon!" Clark said before they left, too. Leaving a disappointed little boy behind.
"I want to help, too!" he yelled.
His human grandparents could only shrug, while his Kryptonian grandparents began to smile…
In Metropolis meanwhile…
The ambulance with Mrs. Stone just left when a black Mercedes stopped in front of the school, that was immediately ambushed by reporters. The mayor of Metropolis left the car. Followed by a woman and Lex… who had a neutral poker-face on, but was laughing internally…
Everything was running according to the plan…