Lex efforts to make friends in the city's administration and his philanthropic work gave him a reason to offer the mayor of Metropolis to get him to the damaged school in his car. Joined by Lena, who was nervous but tried to maintain a calm presence.
Lois and Jimmy got flown by Clark to a nearby alley to walk the rest and join the other reporters discreetly while Clark kept ready in the distance in case he needs to interfere. But before, he flew through the sewers again to check if Lex hasn't left any more surprises.
Indeed, the small bombs in the building's foundation were ticking, ready to let the building's floor crack. In his imagination Lex could already see the bulldozers tearing apart the building brick by brick and it let him smile.
Reporters bombed them with questions while a flood of flashlights blended them. Together they went up the stairs to get to prepared podium for the mayor…
Below the building, Clark looked for any clues. Using his x-ray-vision, his superhearing and all his eagerness to find anything. A bomb, a crack, a solution…
Suddenly he found an opening and used his heat-vision to dry the ground below. If he does not find anything, he at least tries to dry it and safe what he can safe. Maybe that will stabilize the building better…
Then he searched the surroundings again. But he couldn't see the bombs, since they looked like nails…
In Smallville, Johnny was frustrated and disappointed. He just figured out that his father is Superman and now they leave him behind to do cool superhero-stuff without him. His grandparents (living human and holographic Kryptonian) all told him that it was because it is too dangerous for him, since he has no powers yet and would not be able to help them without getting in danger.
"We understand that you are eager to help, but you can't go out there in your current state." Lara explained.
"Mrs. Stone got hurt. I want to help!"
"Johnny… I am sure your parents would love to take you with them. But it is too dangerous right now! Not to forget that people would recognize you! Your friends, your teachers, the other parents…" Martha explained.
"In that case I think I can help!" Jor-El interfered. "Come closer, Jonathan Samuel, my grandson! It's time that you get what you need to show your proud heritage."
Johnny jumped on the podium again, before a bright light suddenly surrounded Johnny when he felt in a weird trance that gave him the feeling as if he was floating…
"JOHNNY…" Martha yelled, while her husband needed to stop her from running over. But he was shocked, too…
Johnny suddenly felt as if something appeared on his skin. Like the cloth of his father's suit. Surrounding his arms and legs. But it was so bright that he barely noticed it. But what he noticed was the heavy cape that suddenly appeared on his back…
Jonathan Sr. and Martha made big eyes when the bright light fainted and their grandson was floating in front of them in a skin-tight blue suit, with red boots, a red cape that was even longer than Johnny was tall, and of course with the famous crest of his father's Kryptonian family on his chest. This was not a cheap Halloween-costume, like it is sold millions of times every year. This was a real Superman-costume, made of the same soft, Kryptonian-materials as his father's suit.
When Johnny regained consciousness and his eyes stopped glowing blue, he looked down on himself briefly to see that he was indeed wearing his father's suit now. And he was floating…
"WOW!" the boy yelled in awe, when he saw that he was wearing a suit like his fathers now. And that he was floating…
In Metropolis…
Lex noticed Lois' presence immediately and his good mood vanished instantly.
"Lois?!"
"Lex?!" Lois got disgruntled, too.
"What are you doing here?"
"This is the school my son attends to! But I guess you already knew that! Since you know everything? Or at least claim to!"
"Lois, are you still convinced that I have foolish plans?" Lex asked.
"My son almost got hurt! His teacher got hurt! I want to figure out what happened here!"
Lex looked around as if he was looking for someone…
"Is he here?"
"Who?"
"Your son! Did you bring him with you to rub me into my face that I did something again?"
"No… My son is with his father and his grandparents! But that's not your business!"
"Right! I don't care about your son! What about the big blue boy-scout? Whenever you appear, he is not far!"
"Superman is busy with private problems he didn't want to tell me!" Lois lied. "I haven't heard from him for a very long time. But do you know who told me some very interesting things: Batman! He figured out some very interesting things about a man who once broke into your warehouse in Hobbs Bay: Trent MacGowan!"
Lex smile faded immediately, but he kept his poker face on…
"I know that name very well! Everyone does! But why I should care… the man left years ago…"
"Lex…" suddenly the woman approached them. "…the mayor starts his speech!"
The woman looked at Lois, too. She was nervous and reverent. Holding her blueprints tightly as if she wants to protect them.
"Thank you, Lena! Lois, we talk later…" Lex said and turned away.
Lois looked at the woman.
"You are an architect?"
"Yes!" she confessed.
"Let me guess, you planned something for this area that requires the school to be demolished?"
"No, I swear… All my plans were only for the free property over there. Whatever Alex plans here, I have nothing to do with it!" the woman wailed while everyone else already turned to the podium to watch the mayor's speech.
Lois did so, too but she remained close to the woman to continue talking to her.
"You seem to be a smart and eager woman, Lena! Why are you working with a guy like Alexander Luthor?"
"Awghh… he is my brother!" Lena wailed.
"Oh…" suddenly Lois blushed. "…sorry!"
"Sorry for your son!" Lena blushed again and lowered her head in shame.
Lois was just about to ask what that was meaning before the mayor start to talk…
"…dear people, the terrible storm that caused the flashflood here in this neighborhood was a painful reminder that we are all just…" the mayor began before suddenly his lectern began to vibrate. "…what is going on here?"
Indeed, Clark was right below them and using his heat-vision to dry every place he could. The faster he finishes this task, the faster he and Lois can go back to their son. Other people could feel the vibrations, too and thought about an earthquake. Or at least some big trucks. Lex knew that this were not his bombs…
"…well…" the mayor continued. "…we in the city-hall are very eager to figure out, what has caused this disaster and how it could become as bad as it was…"
Lois rolled her eyes when she heard that fuss… she knew exactly who caused it…
Meanwhile in Smallville…
Johnny was totally extatic about his new Superboy-suit and jumped wildly up and down.
"Grandma, Grandpa, look… I am now a Superhero!"
"That's nice sweetie… But let's go and see what your parents are doing!" Martha suggested before turning to her son's biological parent's holographs. Usually she would be more excited for Johnny, but she was worried for Clark, Lois and Jimmy. "Aren't you… able to show TV down here?"
In truth, his grandparents were shocked and surprised. They also felt a bit sad for Clark and Lois to miss this moment. But everything was such too crazy now. Jor-El made a movement with his hand to let a huge holographic screen appear that showed a local channel from Metropolis, where the speech of the mayor was shown…
Clark in the meantime flew so fast through the sewers that the people in front of the school could feel the vibrations below.
"This is not the subway!" the mayor murmured.
Suddenly a manhole cover opened, and Superman flew out of it, catching all attention again. Clark looked on the crowd, that gawked on him in awe and all the children that start to cheer. Wishing Johnny would be among them and not alone in the fortress…
Johnny wished to be with his parents there, too…
Clark landed right next to the mayor who looked on Superman with big eyes. Sure, they have met before multiple times. But it was always awe-inspiring…
"I am sorry to disturb, Mr. Mayor! But may I saw something to the people? Just a minute!" Superman asked politely.
"Oh… of course!" the mayor said and stepped aside to free the podium for Superman. Clark nodded and turned to the people. The children start to cheer again…
"Yes… thank you… please listen…" Clark had to wait for the cheering kids to stop. "…listen, please! I have checked the sewers below the building, and I think that something is wrong with the whole natural disaster-theory…"
Clark knew he couldn't speak out directly that Lex hired a metahuman to block the sewer. Lois and Jimmy knew that, too. For that they had not enough proof. Lex knew that and smiled sheepishly, which got noticed by Lois.
While Clark was talking, the other man who works for Lex got out of the basement, opened another manhole cover and climbed in to leave the scene. While running through the sewer he passed a door…
Believing it was a door to an old, abandoned fallout-shelter, or a forgotten storage he took one of his small mini-bombs to open the door…
Hearing the small detonation, Clark thought about a misfire… he ignored it at continued…
"…I have no proof and I know that this is a very hard accusation, but I believe that this disaster was intentionally caused…"
Below them, the man opened the door and regretted it immediately. The room, which turned out contained several old gas-tanks, was still flooded with water and the water inside shot out like a tidal-wave. With a loud scream, the man was able to hold on at the door…
The ground over the room began to shake again. Clark, hearing the scream, used his x-ray-vision to see what was going on below. Immediately he used his speed to get to the place right over the man and shooed the people aside.
"STAY BACK!" Superman yelled before he starts to spin around to use his body as a drill to get down into the sewer again.
The people got closer again and gathered around the hole. Lois pressed herself past the people to be in the first row to look into the hole, her husband drilled with his own body, how he was helping a man to get away from a flooded room where the water was still shooting out.
The man was coughing and was shocked. Superman caught him. Now it's over…
"Are you okay, Sir?" Clark asked without knowing that he had just caught the terrorist.
"Aghh… what was that?" the man wailed.
"You are safe now!" Superman said while placing the man on a dry spot a few feet away from the room. But suddenly he could smell gas…
When the door opened and the water was able to escape, the force of the water pressure tore away several of the old rusty pipes, that were already damaged. Allowing the gas to escape freely…
Superman couldn't even ask the man, what he was doing here, or how he was not able to find him before, since he had to warn the people up there to stay away.
"SUPERMAN? WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN THERE?" Lois asked with her best neutral-reporter-voice.
"GAS!" Clark yelled and flew up again to warn the people…
The man meanwhile wanted to use the chance and leave. If he manages to escape and leave the city, he might get away with it unharmed… he lift from the ground but let his last mini-bomb drop…
Clark meanwhile put his head and his upper body out of the hole he made to yell on the people to get away…
"GAS! Everyone stay away, please! There is gas escaping. And call an ambulance, there is a man…" Superman yelled but was not able to finish…
The mini bomb, that fell out of the man's pocket was so damaged, that it exploded when it hit the floor. And the small explosion set all the gas on fire, causing a huge explosion.
Clark, using his accelerated perception, didn't hesitate and brought as many people as possible to a saver distance…
A heavy explosion caused everyone present to dodge in reflex, while suddenly a huge crater was torn into the ground. The mayor stumbled backwards, while his bodyguard threw himself over the man. The school's flagpole tipped over and was close from crashing on them, before Clark caught it on time and placed it next to them before rushing back to the hole to see where the origin of the explosion was.
Lex, who was in the crowd, fell on his knees, too but was unharmed while he looked in shock over to the hole… something went terribly wrong!
His henchman in the meantime got thrown into the water and torn into the sewer and out of sight.
That was the moment, Lois grabbed Lex by his collar to force him to look into her eyes.
"YOU! That was your fault!"
"Mine?! Are you crazy?" Lex said shocked.
Sure, he hoped that there will happen something. But he didn't plan this! This idiot messed up!
Clark meanwhile used his frost breath to blow the flames out, while the hole itself suddenly got flooded by broken water-pipes.
Johnny, Martha, and Jonathan Sr. stood in the fortress and watched everything, too. The cameraman focused on Superman again who was floating over the hole and looked down to see if there was any trace of the man… but he was gone…
"Is anyone hurt?" Superman asked around and looked at the crowd.
Many people were dirty from the flying mud, but nobody was hurt. His eyes wandered to the school to use his x-ray-vision on the foundation. Everything luckily remained intact. Just some windows shattered. But Clark couldn't see any structural damages, which meant the school was save.
Immediately the people began to applaud…
All expect Luthor of course. But latter was too shocked and too stunned about the hole in the ground to realize that it was not over, too.
In the fortress, Johnny and his human-grandparents cheered loudly and applauded, too…
"YEAH… DADDY MADE IT!" Johnny said.
Lex had enough of this mess…
He grabbed into his pocket where he had it. A small lead etui with a tiny piece of synthetic Kryptonite. As big as a paperclip and probably not as effective as the original, but it was worth a try. Lex was just furious that Superman ruined everything again and so he threw the tiny crystal into the fire…
Clark was still floating when he suddenly felt the piercing pain of Kryptonite, but just briefly. He looked down and suddenly saw a glowing green crystal that was falling into the small flame…
The small flame, that was a leftover of the gas-explosion, suddenly turned into a huge green jet of flame that hit Clark from below at full force. The people gasped in shock at the sound of Superman's pain filled roar. Knowing that fire couldn't hurt the powerful hero, but that was never a normal fire. It was a normal fire as quick as it suddenly happened. But this glimpse of a second was enough for Clark to faint and fall back into the deep hole…
Lois yelled louder than everyone else and rushed back to the hole to see her husband down in the mud. Unconscious, with his head underwater…
Seeing everything live in the fortress, Johnny was shocked. His father got just knocked out and fell into that crater that opened right in front of his school. And the camera focused now on him, how he was laying down there in the mud, with his face down and not moving anymore…
"DADDY!"
"Oh, my god… Clark?" Martha yelled.
"Wake up, son!" Jonathan added.
"What's wrong with him?" Johnny asked.
In shock, the elder couple saw that their grandson witnessed everything…
"Don't look on it…" Martha tried to order, but Johnny turned around and start to run.
"Johnny, wait! Where're you going?" Jonathan Sr. yelled.
"We need to help him!"
"Wait… you can't…" Martha yelled before suddenly the boy vanished in a bright blue light…
Johnny fell into a kind of shock rigid. He forgot everything else around him. His grandparents, the fact that he was 10 floors underground, or that his new holographic grandparents just told him that he can't fly (yet)… Johnny's only thought was that his father was in peril… that he was in a hole where nobody can reach him… that's when suddenly this weird energy seemed to prickle in his whole body…
Martha and Jonathan Sr. ran after their grandchild as fast as their old bodies could carry them. But Johnny was young and active. And not only that… suddenly it seemed as if his body was surrounded by blue flashes. His eyes glowed and he seemed to get faster.
"JO…" before Martha could even finish to yell out her grandson's name, the boy seemed to become a blur and shot upstairs at inhuman speed…
Martha and Jonathan stumbled in shock and fell on the floor when they saw their grandson being gone…
Latter was still like in trance when he raced up the stairs at Mach 1, his feet not touching the steps anymore shortly before reaching the toolshed and crashing first through the closed floor hatch and then through the closed door of the shed, that he shattered into pieces before the shockwave of his departure let the whole toolshed collapse burying the entrance…
Jon, who was at the other end of town, trying to comfort the crying metahuman (who was overwhelmed by the presence of one more superhero), looked up into the sky to see someone shooting through the air like a speeding bullet. But Jon was too stunned to realize that it was Johnny who slowly regained halfway consciousness and just rushed back to Metropolis to save his father…
"Oh, no!" was everything Jon got out. Not even thinking about flying after the boy to stop him before he exposes himself.
In Metropolis…
The panicked people on location and on their screens couldn't stop screaming while they saw Superman laying in the water. Still unconscious and it was just a matter of time before he drowns. Every attempt to get something down to help him failed. Every person who would jump into the crater would immediately be torn into the sewer by the water and drown. Desperately Lois continued yelling to Superman to wake up and get out.
That's when suddenly everyone looked up and a loud uproar sound up in the crowd spotting that other person flying directly towards them…
Lois looked up and saw him, too. Her first thought was that Kara was back. But that was impossible. Or maybe Jon? But suddenly she realized that it was Johnny…
"AGHHH…" Lois screamed and pointed with her finger on the boy, which was the worst she could have done, since that was causing everyone to look at her son now. People screamed… others took their phones immediately… but mainly they all yelled in awe when this caped, flying child flew at high-speed into the hole, grabbed the unconscious hero and start to fly him out of it… Away from the Kryptonite dust… pulling his head out of the mud, freeing his mouth and nose to let him breath again…
When Clark opened his eyes again, he realized that he was flying. But not by himself. Someone was holding him. A smaller person! Kara? Jon? No… someone much smaller… too small…
"Don't worry, Daddy! I got you!" Johnny said loud enough for everyone down there to hear it, too. Causing many people to cry up astonished.
Clark looked up and was shocked to see his son. He was flying! Johnny was flying! And he was wearing the same blue suit as he. Just without the trunks and the belt. But the people couldn't see it since Clark was a lot bigger and covered most of his son with his own body. They flew higher and higher, and Clark could feel that there was a lot of mud in his cape. But he didn't care. He was shocked about his son showing himself in public… flying… his face full of mud and barely recognizable, but visible for everyone.
He should be mad… but suddenly Clark realized that Johnny got him out of the water before he could be torn into the sewer where he might had remained unconscious and have drowned. Johnny literally just saved his life…
"You… you fly… you fly by yourself?!" Clark wailed.
"Yeah… ain't that cool!" the boy cheered.
"I missed your first flight? Oh…" he continued loud enough for everyone on the ground to hear him.
Clark looked down and saw that the people still gawked at them and every reporter, student, parent, teacher and other took every available camera and smartphone to film them. The only ones who didn't were Lois (who was too shocked and stunned), Jimmy (who cheered more than the kids) and of course Lex. And latter was not very happy about it…
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! SUPERMAN IS REPRODUCING HIMSELF ON OUR PLANET! NOW WE HAVE ONE MORE OF HIS KIND HERE…"
While Lex began his tantrum towards Superman's child, with the purpose to stop the people from being happy about it and instead to be scared of it, Clark's mud-filled cape slipped out of Johnny's hands and the whole mass (maybe the content of a half wheelbarrow) slipped down…
Lex had no chance to jump aside or to say anything. When he looked up, he only saw a big mass of mud falling on him before it hit him and covered him in a thick, stinking, dirty mass of mud and sewage… Nobody cared about Lex literally getting pelted with mud, since all eyes were fixed on the flying child that was without doubt Superman's…
Clark placed himself in front of his son to cover him from the crowd. It was useless, since everyone already saw him, but he didn't like it.
"Who taught you to fly?"
"I don't know… I just saw that you need help and then I began to run and suddenly I was in the air!" Johnny told before the crowd's astonishment turned into frantic applause.
Clark and Johnny looked down on the crowd and slowly Lois began to applaud, too. Tears flowing down her cheeks. Then Clark looked on his son's face to see that it was still full of mud. For that, his suit and his son's suit were already clean again.
"My son… we need to talk about this… but not here! We should go now!" Clark lectured before turning back to the crowd to give a final statement. "The building is safe! There won't be any need for demolishing!"
And with that Clark took his son in his arm to fly with him at high-speed away. Letting the crowd be even more cheering…
In-between all the cheering people, Lex got so angry about this humiliation, that he decided to do it by himself. Blow up the school by himself with the spare detonator he has hidden in his pocket. But as soon as he got it out, the shockwave of Superman and Superboy flying away caused Lex to shudder so hard, that the device flipped out of his muddy and slicky hands and fell directly into the hole and into the flowing water and out of reach… ruining Lex' last and only chance to destroy the school.
Lex yelled angrily and stomped loudly on the ground, which finally caught the attention of the people around him who burst out in laughter when they saw Lex, who immediately turned to Lois…
"YOU… That goes on your account! I know it! Who is this brat?"
"BRAT?!" Lois, who wanted to remain calm to not attract more attention, suddenly saw red when she heard Lex talking about her son that way. "THIS LITTLE HERO… JUST SAVED ANOTHER ONE! THE ONE WHO JUST SAFED THIS SCHOOLHOUSE! AND YOU DARE TO CALL HIM BRAT?"
"Why does it bother you so much?" Lex asked, getting suspicious. "Do you know this child?"
Lois remained calm and kept her best poker face on… this was her debut to protect her child from suspicious people…
"As a mother, I can't stand people who are mean to other children. No matter if they are human or alien or whatever! You don't have kids by yourself! So, you don't know what it means! If you ever get a son or a daughter, you will understand!"
Lex turned away his head offended. Lois in the meantime got closer to smell on him…
"Ughh… but before you ask out a woman you should take a shower. I fear that is not just mud!" Lois said.
Full of disgust, Lex looked down on himself. Knowing that some of that what was covering him, was something the people usually flush down the toilet…
"LENA!"
Lex' sister didn't listen. She just took the blueprint of the building Lex planned to build on this property and tore it apart demonstratively…
Full of joy… Lois realized that they won and saved Johnny's school…