Superman Movieverse Forum

Chapter Seventeen: No More Secrets
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The sharp report of the gun had barely echoed around the room before the shooter found himself disarmed and pushed to the ground. The bullet, which had been on its way towards the leg of a smartly dressed bank teller, was snatched from its path by a hand moving so fast it blurred to the eyes of the watching hostages.
 
Dean sighed as he tucked the bullet into his pocket and nodded politely to the stunned, and now, former hostages. “Are you alright, ma’am?” he asked the shaking woman on the floor.
 
She nodded slowly at him before looking at the man who had, just a moment earlier, been about to shoot her. She frowned and suddenly her head whipped back to Dean and she blinked. “You’re not...”
 
“I’m Dean,” he introduced himself, “Dean Kent.”
 
He didn’t stay long after that, just to give the police his statement then he shot back into the sky. His navy blue overcoat cracked in the wind as he arced high over the city. Under it he had thrown together a hurried version of what he hoped would at least help people identify who he was. A pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt with the symbol of the House of El in silver upon it. And, at Chris’ insistence and to his sisters’ amusement, he had also put on a pair of bright red Converse shoes that clashed terribly with the rest but seemed oddly fitting.
 
He’d borrowed the T-shirt from Jason but unfortunately Dean was a good deal larger than his older brother and it was almost uncomfortably tight. Although his mother had pointed out that if he wanted to look like Superman then the tighter the better.
 
It was still hard to believe that only two days ago he wouldn't have entertained for a second even the mere thought of displaying any of the amazing powers in public he'd inherited from his father.
 
However he hadn't had much of a choice in the matter. Only shortly after Ella had got out of surgery last night there had been a landslip in China which certainly required Superman's help. Unfortunately, Clark was busy twisting himself into knots of worry and guilt over Ella and the general state of his family's life and it took all of five seconds for Jason to declare him in no fit state to mount any sort of rescue mission.
 
With the world's opinion on the Kent family yet to be confirmed the worst thing to do would have been nothing. Of course good PR was just a bonus as neither Jason nor Dean could stand to see people being hurt when they knew they could do something to help without fear of destroying the secret anymore.
 
Sophie had wanted to join them as well but they had decided it best if she stayed in the hospital for the time being. As if things weren't stressful enough their oldest sister was now under investigation for assault. Or something like assault- Dean couldn't remember the exact phrase- she'd acted in defence of Ella, Chris and himself but the man she'd thrown across the ally had ended up in the hospital only two floors below Ella. He'd broken several bones and suffered internal bleeding.
 
Lois had almost ripped Commissioner Henderson in half when he'd apologetically informed the family of the charges. But even Clark had to admit they couldn't argue with it.
 
"The second we start hurting people, regardless of circumstances, and getting away with it is the second the world will start to fear us," he told his wife quietly.
 
Dean did an extra circle around the city to clear his head before diving down to the roof of the hospital, landing lightly behind his brother's fiancée.
 
"Hey," she greeted him with a tight smile, folding her cell phone up and pocketing it. "And before you ask I haven't heard anything new," she said, clearly anticipating his question as he opened his mouth.
 
"Is Jason back then?" he asked instead. They had parted ways after they had done all they could in China. Jason had headed to Europe where a train had derailed in a tunnel and Dean had gone back down to Australia to catch up with his friends and help with a few wildfires venturing too close some houses.
 
Evelyn shook her head. "No, sorry, I haven't seen a TV in a while either. I just came up here to call my cousin. I've got a few more to make but Sophie was in Ella's room last I saw."
 
"Thanks." Dean nodded to her as he headed to the roof access. He hadn't spent that much time with Evelyn although she seemed nice and if Jason was willing to marry her that was all Dean needed to know to trust her. She had seemed very tense but then he'd seen her father's message on the TV and he supposed that would make anyone upset.
 
"Hey, Superboy, how'd it go out there?" Dean blinked as Sophie appeared behind him, looking at his outfit with a small grin.
 
He shrugged. "It was alright, a little odd with everyone staring so much," he admitted, "but it's nice to finally be able to help. How was your thing?”
 
Sophie shrugged. “Alright,” she said rather unconvincingly, “he’ll probably live and given that he pretty clearly intended to kill you guys or at least cause significant harm. Henderson says I should be able to get out of any serious charges. A fine at most, no way I'll be doing time or anything.”
 
“Shouldn’t you be able to get out of all the charges?” Dean asked, “You were saving our lives.”
 
“Yeah,” Sophie sighed, “but I could have done it without throwing your attacker into the wall and breaking half his bones.”
 
“Probably not in the time you had,” Dean insisted, “I mean I would have-“
 
“No you wouldn’t,” Sophie snapped rolling her eyes. “Dean, you of all people would have found a way not to hurt that man and you know it. Well, probably Dad as well,” she added with a shrug. “I just got so angry I didn’t think.”
 
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Dean muttered, glancing upwards to where his little sister lay fighting for her life. He remembered his rage at the man when he’d seen what he’d done to Ella and how he’d tried to punch him himself, not even holding back. If it hadn’t been for the kryptonite Dean knew he’d been the one talking to the police instead of Sophie.
 
“But-“ he started again before Sophie angrily interrupted him.
 
“Look, Dean,” she snapped, “I saved you lot and I’m happy for that but now I’ve got to deal with the aftermath and I don’t need your commentary on how stupid our justice system can be. I know what I’m doing, I’m a lawyer.”
 
“Not yet, you’re not,” Jason told her, startling both his siblings as he came from behind them.
 
“We’ll I’m closer than either of you and what are you wearing?” she asked without pausing.
 
Jason looked down in confusion. “It doesn’t look bad does it? Lucy picked it out.”
 
"Well you both look like something from The Matrix but at least Dean's has colour," Sophie told him, sounding amused as she looked at his, hopefully temporary, super-suit.
 
He was wearing a long, black coat with black pants, black sneakers and a black T-shirt with a silver 'S' shield on it. "Lucy said black made it look sophisticated," Jason said defensively and, if he hadn't been far too old for such things, Dean could have sworn he was pouting at his sister.
 
"Whatever, Neo," Sophie muttered, rolling her eyes.
 
“I gotta go change anyway," he said, "I’m picking up Uncle Richard and Eric at the airport."
 
“Eric’s coming too?” Sophie’s face brightened for the first time that day. “No one told me that. I haven’t seen him for ages.”
 
“We should be able to see them more often now that we don’t have to lie anymore, right?” Dean asked with a smile. “Chris will be pleased- Eric and him get along great.”
 
“You know, the more I think about that the more I wonder why dad never told him who he was,” Sophie said half to herself. “It just doesn’t seem like him. Uncle Richard and Dad get along great and Richard still treats you like you’re his son Jase, so why would Dad keep something this big from him?”
 
“I’m sure he had his reasons. Any update on Ella?” Jason asked, abruptly changing the subject.
 
Dean didn’t really blame him, Jason was the only one who really knew what the relationship with their Dad and their mother’s ex-fiancée was like. Besides, Jason was the only one of the kids Richard ever considered his son and therefore probably the only one with a valid opinion on how the matter should be handled. Dean planned on staying out of the way entirely until things had been sorted out.
 
“The doctor is, and I quote-,” Sophie told the pair, “‘cautiously optimistic’- she’s been downgraded from critical to ‘serious but stable’ but she’s healing way faster than even Dad expected. They put her in a really sunny room so it should help.” Dean was relived and Sophie seemed to be too, until rolled her eyes and muttered, “Not like she’ll be appreciating that or anything though.”
 
Dean and Jason shared a looked before Jason shook his head. “I’ll talk to her when I get back,” he promised. “I think she’s just so worried about Ella she’d rather be angry than afraid.”
 
Dean nodded. Jason was closer to Sophie than he was and he’d probably understand her better. He knew Sophie would never wish anything other than a full recovery for her sister but her tone unsettled him.
--

Jason only narrowly avoided swearing loudly as he looked at the arrivals board at the airport. Richard and Eric's flight from Tokyo was twenty minutes late and instead of arriving just in time to meet them coming out the gate, he was now going to have to wait for them to come through customs.
 
Usually something like that wouldn't have bothered him at all but he was already getting a few stares and he didn't know how long it would take for the cameras to show up. He doubted the mainstream media would bother leaving the hospital but there were plenty of other vultures wanting a piece of the story everyone was talking about.
 
There wasn't much he could do about it though. Last night Sophie had explained to them that the photographers were legally allowed to take pictures of them if they were in a public place. Jason already knew that- after it had been announced he was going to be a host on BreakOut he'd been very surprised to see pictures of him on the street appearing in teen magazines but there was nothing to be done about it. He didn't really mind the occasional one but he knew he'd probably never be a merely well-known celebrity again.
 
At least Lucy had been rather gleeful in her expectation that the whole family would soon be 'going A-list'.
 
"Excuse me," a small voice startled him from his thoughts and he looked down to see a young teenage boy and two girls standing beside him.
 
"Yeah?" he asked, a tad apprehensively.
 
"You're Jason right?" one of the girls asked excitedly, before the boy could continue. "I love BreakOut, I watch it like every day. Is it true your Dad's Superman?"
 
"Uh, yeah," Jason replied with a smile. "To both." It felt odd to be able to openly acknowledge that his Dad was Superman but he decided there really was no point denying it anymore.
 
"Oh, wow." The three looked up at him in awe, making him very uncomfortable.
 
"Can I have your autograph?" the boy asked, searching in his bag for a pen and a piece of paper.
 
"Oh, me too," the first girl exclaimed as her friend nodded as well.
 
"Can you sign my TV guide?" the last girl asked, causing her friends to give her a strange look until she explained, "There's an article about BreakOut in it."
 
"So can you fly?" the boy asked as Jason took the offered pen and paper.
 
Before he could reply the first girl rolled her eyes. "Don't you watch TV? He help put out that fire Mia's friend was in. Our cousins' friend lived in that building those reporters torched," she explained, turning back to Jason. "I think it's totally cool you guys helped your Dad with that."
 
"So are you guys going to be all like superheros now?"
 
"Haven't actually had time to think about it," Jason admitted, uncomfortably aware that more and more people were staring at him.
 
"But you helped with that thing in China last night and the bank robbery this morning," the boy pointed out.
 
"The bank was my brother," Jason told them, signing the TV guide. He remembered the interview in it. It had only been two weeks ago. He made a mental note to drop by tomorrow and see what was going on.
 
"So why are you at the airport? I thought you guys could fly," the girl asked curiously.
 
"Ella, don't be rude," the boy reprimanded her. Jason flinched suddenly but the kids didn't notice as they were called away by someone and waved to him as they disappeared.
 
He ignored the people whispering as they pointed at him and pulled out the cell phone he'd bought at the gift shop last night. There were no messages and he didn't know whether to feel relived or not. He'd only been gone ten minutes and no news was good news he supposed.
 
He'd been thinking constantly about Ella since she'd been rushed to hospital. It had been a shock to realize the meeting with the kids had made him momentarily think of something else until the girl's name had jolted his mind back to where it should be.
 
The kids seemed to have told a few people who he was and he hurried away towards the gate before anyone else came up to him. The passengers were only just starting to come through the gate and Jason quickly x-rayed through the doors to see how long he would have to wait.
 
Thankfully, Richard and Eric were already through baggage claim and were almost at the front of the declarations line. They had nothing to declare, Jason noted, glancing at their cards, so it wouldn't be long.
 
He was just starting to relax when an odd click sounded to his left. He frowned and turned to see a man standing almost on the other side of the arrivals hall with a long-lensed camera pointed straight at him.
 
"That's just great then isn't it?" he muttered to himself as he tried too not-too-obviously move so that there was a concrete pillar between him and the photographer.
 
Unfortunately several more of the waiting people had noticed him and were taking their own pictures with their own cameras and cell phones. Some were trying to be subtle but others weren't even bothering to be inconspicuous as they snapped his picture.
 
It was very hard to ignore but he managed to make it look like he wasn't bothered for five more minutes. Just as he thought he might snap and use his heat vision to vaporise several devices he spotted Richard and Eric coming through the gate.
 
Eric saw him first, although with the amount of people now pointing at him he was hard to miss. "Jason!" The boy yelled, and as annoyed as he was Jason couldn't help grinning as his brother ran towards him.
 
"Heya, Eric." He snatched the boy up into a hug as he reached the pillar Jason had been trying unsuccessfully to hide behind. "How's it going?"
 
"Is Uncle Clark really Superman?" the boy asked, cutting straight to his point.
 
"Ah, we'll talk about that later," Jason told him firmly as Richard joined them. "Richard," he leaned forward to give his first Dad quick hug. "It's great to have you guys here."
 
"It always great seeing you," Richard replied, "but I think we could maybe talk back at the apartment?" he suggested, looking pointedly at the cameras.
 
"I'll drop your stuff at the apartment but everyone's at the hospital right now," Jason told him as they walked quickly to the exit.
 
"What?" Richard asked, looking shocked, "The hospital, why?"
 
"Didn't you hear?" Jason asked, "Oh, right you've been on a plane for almost a day," he realized before Richard or Eric replied. "Well, something happened to Ella."
--

Richard hadn't said anything since Jason had explained the events of yesterday afternoon. He seemed to be thinking, he didn't even blink as Jason flew him and Eric to the hospital.
 
"Are you okay, Dad?" Eric asked finally as they went down from the roof.
 
"Huh?" Richard seemed to snap out of his thoughts. "Oh, I was just thinking kiddo, it's been a hectic few days."
 
"You're telling me," Jason agreed. He lead them towards the third floor TV room where he could see his Dad with Lucy and Chris watching the news.
 
"Hey, Uncle Richard, Eric." The group turned to see Sophie and Lois coming towards them.
 
"Hey, Sophie, Lois. I only just heard about Ella, how is she?" Richard asked, his concern genuine.
 
"She's getting better. Thankfully she seems to have already gotten some of Clark's healing ability."
 
"I gotta go call Dani," Sophie muttered, her tone unusually sharp and Jason remembered he'd promised to talk to her about what was bothering her.
 
"Um, I'll be back in a minute," he told Richard before following his sister.
 
"Sophie, wait up," he called, as she turned the corner.
 
"What now?" Sophie asked, frowning at him, "Jason I've got a lot to sort out here and it looks like you do too."
 
"I know, I just want to talk for a minute. You've seemed a little… weird ever since Dean told us what Ella said."
 
"Oh, you mean that she hates us all because we're- what was it- 'half-breeds' or something?" she snapped. "Jeez, why would I be upset about that?"
 
"Soph, I don't think she hates us."
 
"How on Earth can she not?" Sophie asked, "She doesn't like herself being half-Kryptonian so why wouldn't she hate us too?"
 
"She's sixteen," Jason tried to reason with her, "everyone has issues when they're teenagers. She's probably just confused or something."
 
"You don't think Dean got it wrong do you?" she asked, seemingly ignoring his last statement.
 
"I think it would be hard to misunderstand something like that," Jason told her with a frown.
 
"Well, Dean…" Sophie frowned as if the next words were hard to say, "You know him, he sometimes gets things wrong…"
 
"Just because Dean never did well in school doesn't mean he's dumb," Jason said sharply, hoping she wasn't honestly thinking that. "And unless she wrote it down and gave him a note I don't see how he could have got it wrong."
 
"I didn't mean that at all," Sophie sighed, "I know Dean's not an idiot. I'm just… Ella's weird issues are just another layer of crap I have to deal with right now. And they make the least sense as well."
 
"Soph-" Jason started.
 
Sophie stopped suddenly and turned to him, interrupting him. "It's just- all of sudden I feel like this scared little kid again who just wants to run and hide in Mom and Dad's room. Except now they're scared too and now there's no one who's going to hug us and tell us it's going to be okay because no one thinks it will be!" Her voice rose steadily until the last words were a shrill cry that bounced around the hallway and made their ears ring.
 
Jason was only momentarily stunned. It had been a long time since he'd seen his usually calm and controlled sister display her emotions so openly. He pulled her into a firm hug which she returned without hesitation. "It's going to be okay," Jason told her. "Maybe not right away but it will be."
She deflated almost immediately, her tight grip relaxing and letting Jason breath a bit. "Sorry," she apologised, "I didn't mean to lose it like that."
 
"I think you're allowed to lose it every so often," Jason said with a small laugh, "especially when we're all so stressed out."
 
"Everything was going so well, you know?" Sophie sighed, letting go of her brother and taking a seat, "I had a scholarship to Harvard, Ella was happy- and healthy, Evelyn's Dad liked you and now…" she trailed off and shrugged. "Now everything's falling apart and-"
 
"Nothing's falling apart," Jason assured her, "it just feels like it at the moment. No, really," he continued as Sophie gave him a sceptical look, "you've still got your scholarship- and I know you'll figure out some way to prove your innocence. Evie's Dad… her and I were talking and we need to talk to him but I'm sure he was just doing what he thought best for his daughter."
 
"What about Richard?" Sophie asked, apparently not willing to give up proving her point.
 
"He was talking to Mom but I think I need to go explain things to him myself. Are you okay?" He didn't really want to leave her how she was but Richard deserved an explanation.
 
"I'm fine," Sophie assured him, "I've still got to call Dani then I might go back and say hi to Eric."
 
"He's with Lucy and Chris now, I think they went to the café," Jason told her, scanning the hospital to find them.
 
"Right, thanks, Jase," Sophie leaned in to hug him again quickly before heading down to the floor below.
 
Jason took a few moments to prepare himself for what he was going to have to do then stood up decisively, hoping Richard hadn't already confronted Clark.
 
He was only a little too late, he discovered as he turned the corner. Lois had disappeared somewhere, a quick glance upwards showed her sitting with Ella. Richard was standing in the TV room with his arms crossed, glaring at Clark. “So why, Clark?" he was asking angrily, "Why did you keep this from me?”
 
“I asked him not to.” Both men turned ito Jason as he stood in the door looking serious. “Richard- it wasn’t Clark’s fault. I asked him not to tell you who he was.”
 
“Jas-“
 
“Dad, I’m twenty-six,” Jason interrupted Clark with a sigh, “let me take responsibility for my own decisions.”
 
There was a heavy silence before Richard rubbed his temples and looked back to his son-turned-nephew. “Jason...” he searched the man’s face for some hint that he was lying to protect Lois or Clark and that he hadn’t been the one to deny Richard the truth but he couldn’t find anything other than honesty.
 
“I think we should be the ones talking,” Jason suggested, “Dad...”
 
Clark just nodded and looked back at Richard for a moment, his eyes still asking for forgiveness but Richard refused to return his gaze.
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