Notes: The *A few months later* at the beginning means a few months after Part V and The Return of the Suit/Part 5.5.

This took a bit longer to write than it was supposed to, as I came down with a cold on Wednesday.

This whole series ended up being a whole lot longer than I originally planned; I'm actually kind of glad that it's over, lol.

-Vincent


****
<A few months later>
****

“David, this is *not* funny!” Jonathan spoke vehemently as to the school’s yearbook editor. In his hand was a draft of the senior awards section; Jonathan had been voted “most likely to take over the world” by his classmates.

“Whoa, easy there, Jonathan. It’s just a joke!” David responded, holding his hands up in front of him defensively.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that.” Jonathan sighed. “But I’m *serious* – for me, this isn’t like being voted class clown or anything like that. The problem is, *I could actually pull that off*! Nobody’s found a new sample of kryptonite in over a decade, and that’s even assuming that it would work on me!” he stressed.

“Even right now, nothing much short of a nuclear explosion could kill me; in a couple of years, I’d be unstoppable but for my dad.”

“But, everybody knows that you’re not *really* going to take over the world.” David replied, still confused.

“I’m not so sure – everybody at this school, maybe, but what about others? I just don’t want anybody getting any ideas about me. Please, David, it would really make my parents and I uncomfortable. There’s enough pressure on my folks as it is; knowing that if I don’t turn out right, all the good that my father has done over the years could be undone.” Jonathan said.

“Well, all right. I guess I can see how it might be a problem.” David relented.

“Thanks, David.” Jonathan said with a smile. To lighten the atmosphere, he joked, “Besides, do you have any idea how long I’d be grounded if I tried something like that?”

David did not respond to the question, for he was suddenly staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. “Wow, I never thought of that…being grounded by Superman…” he mused.

****

“So, are you looking forward to college?” Ben asked as he and Jonathan ate lunch in the cafeteria.

“You bet! But I’m also kind of nervous about it; people didn’t know that my dad was Superman until senior year here in high school. But at the University everybody will know straight from the start – it might be kind of weird.” Jonathan responded to his best friend.

“Yeah, I had kind of realized that. Here, look at this article that I found in the newspaper.” Ben said as he slid a newspaper clipping from the Daily Planet over the table to Jonathan.

The article was titled “University Officials Reject Proposed Regulations.” Apparently, a small group of concerned parents had asked the University’s board of directors to mandate that the walls of the women’s locker rooms and showers all be painted with lead. The board had turned down the plan, citing the fact that “see-through vision works just as well through clothes as it does through walls”, and therefore the measure would be useless.

Ben grinned at his friend and asked conspiratorially, “So, have you ever looked into the girl’s locker rooms?”

Jonathan smiled wryly. “No, I never have.”

Ben groaned in mock disappointment. “Oh, but Jonathan, Jonathan – nobody would ever know!” he ribbed.

“Yeah, I know. But my dad and I don’t have the luxury of such vices. You do it once, and then it becomes easier to do it again. And the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Then, before you know it, you start doing bigger things, and still bigger things after that. Such is the nature of evil.” Jonathan said.

“Wow, I never thought of it that way. So, you have to be totally scrupulous in everything, just in case you end up taking over the world or something?” Ben asked cautiously.

Jonathan dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. “I once believed that my father was naïve in his approach towards megalomaniacs. How easy it would have been to kill, say, Lex Luthor, for the good of humanity! But that would make him judge, jury, and executioner, well on the way to becoming a tyrant.”

Ben sighed. “Tough decisions – do you kill somebody you *know* to be a murderer and save lives, but risk becoming a murderer yourself? I guess there’s no easy answer to that one; thank goodness your dad has already dealt with all of the really big criminals.”

Jonathan nodded in agreement. He had read the tales of those four years, in which certain criminals had somehow gained unprecedented power and resources, threatening entire societies. Their stories seemed so unrealistic, so unlikely, and yet they had happened. Thankfully, after that period, the odds had started prevailing again, and no more one-in-a-trillion criminals had emerged.

“Yeah, seems people have wised up over the years. I’ll probably mostly be dealing with natural disasters and accidents and such when my brain kicks in, which should be around the time I get my bachelor’s. Hey, I wonder what my first rescue effort will be – do you think it will be an earthquake? A tsunami, perhaps?” Jonathan speculated.

“Nah, the odds of that are pretty slim. Most likely it’ll just be a car accident – *maybe* a burning building. Still, the stakes will be high and there’ll be a ton of pressure. Man, I wish you luck with that! In the meantime, try to enjoy yourself in college.” Ben said.

****

Lois and Clark were at home, leisurely going through the mail together. Clark was sitting at the dinner table, inspecting the normal mail that came through the mailbox. Lois was rummaging through the large post office bag that contained the fan mail.

“Oh no, I wish they would stop doing this! It looks like the electric and water companies ‘forgot’ to send the bills again! I’ll have to fly over to pick them up.” Clark complained.

“Well, I guess that was to be expected once everyone found out about you being Superman. At least the IRS didn’t increase the amount of your tax refund by as much as we had thought they would.” Lois remarked.

“Hey – and just *what* is this!?” Lois had pulled a lacy black bra out of the bag of fan mail. A note was attached to it along with an address.

“’If you ever get tired of the old lady, you know where to come for some *real* action??’” Lois read indignantly. “How dare she! I thought these would stop once they found out that you’re *married* to *me*!”

Clark stood up to stand next to his wife with a rueful grin on his face. “Most of them did stop, but there’s some real crazies out there.”

As he wrapped his arms around Lois and leaned over to breathe on her neck, Clark murmured, “If only they knew just how much action I get…”

“You know, I *really* could have done without hearing that!” Jonathan said as he walked into the room, seemingly out of nowhere.

Clark instantly disengaged himself from Lois. “Oh, Jonathan! I, uh…didn’t hear you coming home!” he exclaimed, embarrassed.

Jonathan waved the sheaf of papers he was holding in front of his father. “I need some help in filling out these forms for college – that is, unless you’re *busy*?”

Clark turned to Lois for help, only to find that she had become totally engrossed in the mail. Great, no help at all. “Uh, no, of course not! What is it you need help with?” he queried.

“All right, so what should I fill out under ethnicity? Should I check ‘Caucasian’ or ‘Other’?” Jonathan asked.

Clark scratched his head. “Well, I check ‘Other’ and write in ‘Kryptonian’…but I guess you could go with either one.” he replied.

Taking a look at the form, he brightened up. “Well, it says ‘check all that apply’ – so I guess you just check both boxes and write in ‘Kryptonian’ on the line for ‘Other’!” he said cheerfully as he beamed at his son.

Jonathan fervently prayed that the college officials wouldn’t think that he was some kind of weirdo.

****

The rest of the school year passed relatively uneventfully – people had adjusted to his family’s secret as well as could have been expected, and Jonathan had more or less gotten over the humiliation of his first post-revelation day of school. Still, sometimes he could have sworn that he could hear people making kissing sounds when he got near.

Not all of the jokes made were to tease him about his parents’ relationship, though; he had gotten a good laugh out of it when one of his classmates had presented him with a Superman action figure. However, it was no ordinary Superman action figure – the gift giver had replaced the figure’s voice box with one he had taken out of a Darth Vader action figure, so that Jonathan could hear Superman say to him in Darth Vader’s voice, “I am your father!” That had been a riot.

There had also been a popular fad going on for a while where students would use Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Paint pictures to digitally create pictures of Jonathan wearing a variety of ridiculous superhero outfits. That had lost its novelty quickly enough, however, when Jonathan had made it clear that he was *not* going to wear anything of the sort.

Jonathan had also developed cold breath during the school year, although so far he hadn’t found too much of a use for that beyond chilling drinks. But then, over the summer, something strange and wonderful had happened.

One day, after waking up in bed, he just *knew* that he could fly. It had been something that he had been looking forward to for years – in fact, even more so than the prospect of gaining super brainpower. He had immediately shouted out with joy, and had taken great pains to demonstrate his new ability to his proud and delighted parents.

Lois had insisted that Jonathan immediately fly off all by himself to inform his grandparents of the news. Flying to the Lanes’ hadn’t been too difficult, as they lived in Metropolis. Grandma Ellen had been insufferable, pinching Jonathan’s cheeks while exclaiming how great it was that “cute widdle Jonathan” had taken his “first eentsy weentsy baby flight”.

The Kents had shown more dignified pride. However, getting to Smallville had been tricky. Jonathan’s brain didn’t yet possess innate, precise senses of time, direction, and location, nor could it process his surroundings fast enough to control where his super-speed would take him.

So, he had practiced hurtling himself through the air at constant, high speeds while his father flew alongside him, telling him to slow down or speed up such that he would end flying at a constant 10,000 miles per hour.

After that, Clark had done the exact calculations in his head, given Jonathan a stopwatch, and pointed him in exactly the right direction to Smallville. When Jonathan took off, he started the stopwatch, flew his constant 10,000 mph, and stopped when the display read 6 minutes and 27 seconds. He didn’t land exactly at the farmhouse, of course, but his stopwatch-controlled flight had put him close enough so that he had been able to fly the rest of the way at more manageable speeds, using a map to guide him to the proper address.

Some time later, Clark had flown to Kansas so that Jonathan could find his way home just by following him on the return flight. But those were all small, unimportant details – the important thing was that he could *fly*!

Flying under his own power was unlike any experience Jonathan had ever had before. Sure, he had flown before when his father had carried him, but actually *doing* the flying was totally different in a way that he just couldn’t put into words.

Jonathan grinned as he flew over the city of Metropolis aimlessly, going nowhere in particular, just flying for the sake of flying. Life was good.

****

Jonathan’s flying had made big news; photos of him soaring through the air soon graced the front page of every major metropolitan newspaper. Although the media hadn’t detected his rarely utilized cold breath, a soon-to-be college freshman flying through the air was pretty visible.

Unfortunately, it also had the effect of bringing his powers to the forefront of the public consciousness again. Jonathan hovered over the living room, watching the news.

“The latest controversy is over the NCAA’s proposed ‘one-drop’ rule. As all of you know, if this rule is adopted, any athletes of extraterrestrial descent – people who have ‘one drop’ of non-human blood running through their veins - would be ineligible to participate in collegiate sports. The measure has already encountered fierce opposition from the ACLU, which has a representative here to speak to us today.”

The news anchor gestured towards the distinguished looking black gentleman who was sitting across the table from him. “Mr. Walters, would you care to explain your organization’s position?”

“Certainly, Tom. Our position is that this rule is clearly discriminatory towards a certain small minority group. While it is undeniable that members of this group possess a clear advantage in athletics, you *cannot* have it *as a policy* to exclude individuals from participating based on either species or race. It would be preferable, and more equitable, to change the rules of the sports – for example, explicitly prohibiting the use of flight in the game of basketball.”

Mr. Walters continued, “I would like to pose a question of your viewers. If you start discriminating against interspecies children, are interracial children next? What we have here is a yet another example of a half-white…”

Jonathan turned off the TV, a sinking feeling beginning to form in his chest. Although he had no intention of joining any sports team, he was still unsettled by the debate. College was going to be complicated.

****

By the time the University had been in session for a week, Jonathan’s worries had mostly subsided. Everything had gone pretty smoothly so far – he had been able to register for all of the courses that he wanted, he was forming good relationships with the professors, and he was making friends among his fellow undergraduates.

He had even been pre-accepted into the Computer Science major under the Early Decision program, no mean feat. He wasn’t sure whether or not he had been given preferential treatment as Superman’s son, but it wasn’t as if he should just remove himself from consideration from everything just because of his father’s celebrity status.
Heck, if he did that, then he wouldn’t have even been able to apply for college. Besides, his grades were good enough anyways to have been a strong candidate for Early Decision consideration.

Hovering over campus after his last class of the day, Jonathan noticed a large group of people gathering in the plaza. As he flew lower, he realized that it was actually two groups of people – a small protest and a much larger counter-protest. The antagonists were shouting at each other angrily.

Landing next to a student in the large group, he asked, “What’s going on?”

The student responded with his lip curled. “White supremacist group.” Turning to face Jonathan, he said apologetically, “I…think they’re here because of you.”

Jonathan raised his eyebrows. “What? I’m probably just as white as they are!”

The other boy shook his head. “Not by their definition – they’re going by 100% *Caucasian*. I know, it’s ridiculous – but technically, your dad isn’t *Caucasian*.” he said, rolling his eyes.

Before Jonathan could think of a response, a voice called out, “There he is! There’s the filthy half-breed! Beware the alien, the abomination – for in his heart, he yearns to be your master!”

This brought a chorus of boos from the larger group. Jonathan turned to look at the person who had made the remarks; apparently, he was the leader of the protest. Behind him, his lackeys started unfurling a large banner. Jonathan clenched his teeth when he saw what the words were.

The banner read, “E.T. GO HOME”. By now, the demonstrators on both sides had worked themselves up to a frenzy; it looked as if they might be about to come to blows. Deciding that his presence could only exacerbate the tense situation, Jonathan flew off towards the other end of campus, wanting to be alone in his thoughts.

****

Jonathan stared through the Astronomy building’s telescope into the evening sky. The observatory was deserted except for himself, so it was completely quiet. However, Jonathan was so sequestered within his own thoughts that he didn’t hear the sound of encroaching footsteps.

“’When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return’” a voice quoted reverently.

Surprised, Jonathan turned around to face the newcomer. “Leonardo Da Vinci, source unknown.” he said. “I didn’t hear you come in, professor.”

Professor Stout raised his eyebrows slightly. “Impressive. I didn’t realize that you were so well-versed on the figures of the Renaissance.”

Jonathan blushed slightly. “Actually, I heard it from a computer game. What are you doing here, professor?”

“Looking for you, actually. What was it that you were looking at?” the professor responded.

“Oh, nothing.” Jonathan shrugged.

“I see. Well, you were staring quite intently at nothing.”

At that, Jonathan let out a deep sigh. “It’s just that I was thinking – somewhere out there,” he gestured in the direction the telescope was pointing, “there are people who are just like my father. But I am completely alone in the universe.” he finished in a slightly bitter voice.

The professor made a grim face. “Pay them no heed – those who spread messages of hate are themselves the architects of their own tears and isolation.”

Jonathan nodded, but said, “Yet they’re right about one thing; among all of the beings on Earth, I alone can look at both of my parents and see an *alien*.”

Professor Stout’s eyes widened. “Surely you don’t-“

”No - of course I’ve never looked at or thought about them that way. I never actually gave much thought to being half-human until recently; in fact, I believed myself to be fully human for most of my life.” Jonathan interrupted.

“Would you change it, if you could?” the professor queried.

Jonathan shook his head. “No. The alien-ness, the powers – they’re part of who I am. I wouldn’t change anything about myself, but the fact remains – I’ll always be different from everybody else, perhaps never quite fitting in.”

“Humanity is about more than just biology-“ the professor began.

“Is it? From a scientific standpoint, I would have to disagree.” Jonathan cut him off.

“Yes, you’re right - forgive me for being trite.” Professor Stout sighed. “But what makes you believe that you are so different?”

Jonathan turned his back to the professor as he looked through the glass ceiling at the darkness of space. “Did you know I never dated in high school?”

Before his confidante could respond, he continued, “Not from girls’ lack of interest, either. I always told myself that I never asked them because it would be better for them not to be seen dating a ‘computer nerd’. But all along, deep down I’ve known that that was never true – I could just never escape from the idea that I would be imposing myself on them as a half-alien.”

“That was never a problem for your parents.”

“True – I suppose they’ve done unspeakable things together.” Jonathan smiled slightly, “things that some would hate them for, that they would hate *me* for. My father didn’t find out that he was an alien until he was 29; I wonder if my mother was ever intimidated by it.”

“She must have a remarkable character – most humans would find it extremely difficult to even contemplate associating outside of the species, regardless of what they may say to the contrary. Perhaps you should look at it this way – rather than feeling isolated, you must think of yourself as belonging to *both* sets of peoples.” the older man responded.

“Perhaps. I guess it’s just easier to see differences than similarities.” Jonathan stated.

“What you must also consider is that humans have great potential to fall into hatred, deceit, excess.”

“As do I.”

“No doubt. But my point still stands – perhaps, when it comes to *people*, whether or not they are human may be as trivial and unimportant as race or gender. You must find your own validation in life – and until you do that, you may very well be alone in more ways than one.“

****

As Jonathan flew over campus the next morning, he found that he still couldn’t escape all of the insecurities that had accumulated over the course of his life. It was Saturday, so he had the entire day to brood to himself.

<Humans get sick. Humans die without food and water. Humans can be killed by bullets. Humans feel the heat and the cold.>

He didn’t understand why it bothered him so much. Humans and Kryptonians were evidently genetically compatible, so it could even be argued that they were different strains of the same species.

Neither of his parents had ever shown the slightest discomfort with the fact that he was half-Human and half-Kryptonian. His mother had actually *gotten into bed* with an alien – well, he supposed both of his parents had. People generally didn’t seem to think of them as deviants or anything – so why had he always felt so…different?

Was it the powers? Did he feel, deep down, that the advantages in every field of human endeavor that he would have in a few short years would separate him from the rest of humanity?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a large crowd clustered around something on the ground. Some of the people saw him in the sky, and immediately started hollering and gesticulating frantically.

Worried, Jonathan started to descend towards the crowd. When he saw what was going on, his blood stopped cold. His own self-pity completely forgotten, he took stock of the situation. A life was in danger, and he had no idea what to do! Panicking at the sight of the hopeful, expectant faces in the crowd, he did the only thing that he could think of.

Whipping out his cell-phone, he dialed his dad’s number at the Daily Planet. <Come on, please answer!> There was no response. <Oh no, what am I going to do now?> It wasn’t as if anyone else had any experience with these types of things…wait! Mom had been Ultrawoman for a while! She might know what to do! While he waited for an answer, Jonathan mused at the irony of the fact that his mother, who had no superpowers of her own, had more experience being a superhero than he did.

“Lois Lane of the Daily Planet.”

“Mom! Thank goodness you’re there! Look, there’s an emergency here, and I don’t know what to do!” Jonathan spoke frantically.

As quickly as he could, he provided his mother with the details of the situation.

“Oh my god, OK, don’t panic, here’s what I think you should do…” Lois started babbling nervously.

After listening to his mother’s directions, Jonathan steeled himself for the ordeal that was to come. <It’s now or never> he thought as he flew down towards the trapped individual.

One grueling minute later, Jonathan descended to the ground amidst the jubilant cheers of the assembled throng. As he looked at the life that he had saved, Jonathan knew that he had come to terms with his humanity. From now on, people could say what they would – it wouldn’t change the fact that he had done something truly spectacular.

****

“…And it must have been over 50 feet tall!” Jonathan boasted as the Kents excitedly discussed the big event of the day over the dinner table.

In the center of the table, the Daily Planet’s front-page headline read, “SUPER-KID RESCUES KITTEN FROM TREE!”

Clark beamed at his son. “That’s nothing. Why, I remember this one time…”

Lois lowered her gaze down to her food as she smiled knowingly. Men – if you asked them, rescuing kittens from trees was the most macho thing to do in the world. Oh, they’d be all humble about it at first, but with each telling of the story, the tree would get taller, the kitten cuter.

“You know the Patterson’s kitten? Well, this one was like…*10 times* cuter…”

****

****
Epilogue – four years later
****

Jonathan was completely, hopelessly, in love. Oh, he had practically just found out her name, but from when he had first laid eyes on her, he knew that he was lost.

She was a *beautiful* reporter that he had been assigned to work with; unusually for a man of his vocation, Jonathan had followed in his parents’ footsteps and had gone to work at the Daily Planet after he had graduated from college.

She had made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t intimidated by his powers, and that he had better do his job properly or else there’d be hell to pay. They had started talking, however, and she revealed that Superman had saved her, along with all of the other passengers, from an out-of-control train over 10 years ago.

Jonathan remembered that day well. It had been his 12th birthday, and he had been sorely disappointed that his father had been unable to be present for the festivities. Never in his life had he ever wished more that his father did not have to be Superman.

Suddenly, he heard a cry for help. Looking up from their work to exchange a brief nod, father and son flew off to the rescue, for the first time, together.

As they sped to the scene of the highway pile-up, Jonathan silently though to himself, <Thanks, dad. I owe you one.>

****

Back at the Daily Planet, a certain beautiful reporter yelled aloud from sheer frustration. She angrily marched off in the direction of the editor’s office to vent her grievances.

“Jimmy! Is this the quality of the help that you hire around here?? How the heck am I supposed to get my computer fixed if the tech support guy keeps flying out the window???”

****

<the end>