Superman Movieverse Forum

Chapter Nineteen: Get Back Up Again (Part One)
 
--
 
"-and of course I got all the homework you missed so you won't fall behind," Kimberly Koe told her friend Ella as she helped the girl into some real clothes.
 
"Ummm…" Ella frowned as she shrugged on her jacket, pleased to be out of the horrible hospital gowns. "Thanks."
 
"I am, of course, kidding," Kim told her, laughing as she saw the look on Ella's face. "It's not like you haven't got enough on your plate already. And besides, I only went yesterday- I was here Wednesday and given it's 11am on a Friday morning I probably won't bother today either."
 
"Oh, good," Ella sighed in relief, she wouldn't have been too surprised if her friend had collected missed homework for her but she was glad she hadn't. Now she had the weekend at least to prepare for more schoolwork.
 
"It was so scary though," Kim continued, "when I heard you'd been attacked." She shook her head. "I was so freaked out."
 
"I'm fine now though," Ella assured her. "Dad's even saying he'll probably let me go back to school on Monday."
 
"Because of your super-healing powers?" Kim asked with a grin, "that must be so cool. Remember when I broke my arm last year? I had a cast for six weeks. You get freaking stabbed and are up and out in less that a week. Life is so unfair," she sighed, retrieving Ella's shoes from the bag Lois had bought in that morning.
 
"Yeah, so what's been going on at school then?" she asked, changing the subject. "On Thursday at least."
 
"It actually calmed down pretty quickly, well at least around the school. The news trucks are gone and most of the kids who didn't go because of them were back on Thursday. By the way..." Her voice changed suddenly, becoming slightly higher, and her face broke into a grin. "Had you talked to Theodore Gregg much before Tuesday?"
 
"When he was poking me with that pencil in math?" Ella raised her eyebrows. "We did a science project together last year but we don't really talk. Why?"
 
Kim shrugged. "No reason really," she said in a tone that told Ella very clearly she had a very good reason.
 
"C'mon, Kim." She narrowed her eyes at her supposed best friend, glad to have something normal to concentrate on. "Why?"
 
Kim shrugged again. "He was sort of asking after you. I mean, everyone was," she corrected herself, "but he seemed… really concerned," she added with a smirk, the emphasis making it clear what she meant.
 
"He did?" Ella asked with a frown, not sure how she felt about that.
 
"Oh my God!" Kim's mouth dropped. "You're actually thinking about it?"
 
"No!" Ella exclaimed, hurrying to backtrack before her gossip loving friend got any ideas. "I don't like him or anything, especially not after the way he acted on Tuesday."
 
"Really? Because you seemed kind of interested," Kim teased.
 
"Kim, I do not like him," Ella insisted, laughing as the other girl waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "And especially not like that!"
 
"Who don't we like?" Dean asked, looking confused as he entered to find the two teenagers giggling madly.
 
"Just this guy at school Kim reckons is into me," Ella sighed, shaking her head, it felt good to talk about something so normal again.
 
"Really? Do I need to pay him a visit then? Tell him what's what if he wants to date my little sister?"
 
Ella laughed again, fully aware that her brother was only half-joking. "For the last time, I am. Not. Interested," she said, directing the last two word pointedly at Kim. "Especially not in some guy who thinks the best way to get my attention is to poke me with a pencil."
 
"I'm not going to ask," Dean decided, shaking his head as the two girls giggled again. "Okay, so we're meeting on the roof in ten minutes. Mom's just filled out all the forms to get you out of here but Uncle Perry called her and she has to go to work for a bit so Dad, Jason and I are going to take you guys back the apartment."
 
"Awesome!" Kim grinned. "We're actually going to fly?"
 
"Statistically speaking it is the safest way to travel," Ella told her, sharing a smile with her brother as she recited the old family joke.
 
Kim raised her eyebrows as she looked from one to the other. "I know I missed something there," she said, shaking her head, "but I'll go fetch a wheelchair for you, El, then we can go."
 
"I can walk," Ella protested with a frown, "I feel fine."
 
"Hospital policy," Kim told her, shaking her head, "when my Dad was her getting his appendix out they wouldn't let him go anywhere without one."
 
"That's a good idea," Dean agreed, "I'll wait here with Ella."
 
"Back in a mo'," Kim chirped, practically skipping out of the room with a cheerful, "Hi, officers!" to the policemen outside the door.
 
"So where is everyone else?" Ella asked, afraid she knew the real reason Dean had gotten rid of Kim and eager to avoid the subject.
 
"Mom's at the Planet like I said before, Dad's just dropped Chris off at the apartment with Lucy, Eric and Uncle Richard, Jason's just on his way from New York, Sophie's…" he frowned, tilting his head in the way he did when listening to something far away. "She was with Dad but now she's in Rohde Island, helping with a car crash."
 
"Maybe you should go help too?" Ella suggested, hoping her attempt to avoid talking with him alone wasn't too obvious. Talking with Kim had put her in a good mood and she knew talking with Dean was bound to do the opposite.
 
"No, she's fine," Dean said, shaking his head. "She's just left now actually, on her way back to Harvard."
 
"What's it like?" Ella asked in another attempt to delay the subject she knew he would soon bring up but also with genuine curiosity. "Finally being out there, helping, without worrying about blowing the secret?"
 
Dean shrugged. "It's… not what I expected," he said slowly. "But then again, when I used to think about it, I never imagined the whole world would know who Dad actually was."
 
Ella nodded, she understood that, when she was younger she used to imagine making her own super-suit one day and fighting crime as a masked hero, or maybe donning glasses in her civilian life and using the, now useless, disguise her Dad had. And she would have been Supergirl, not Ella Kent.
 
Now she wasn't sure she wanted any of that at all.
 
"You're still the number one story on the television," Dean told her, nodding towards the one in the corner of her room, which was blank at the moment. "I think Lucy's jealous."
 
"Jealous of not being the one knifed by a maniac?" Ella asked, shaking her head, "I think the media is blowing it out of proportion. Three days in a hospital is hardly a big deal," she said, shaking her head, "I don't even need a wheelchair."
 
"Ella, you were in surgery for three hours and they honestly didn't think you'd make it for the first two," Dean informed her quietly. "It was only once your recovery started that it went quick. Before that we weren't even sure you'd recover at all. You have no idea how messed up Dad was while we waited." He walked to the window and looked up at the sun. "It was scary, seeing him come undone like that," he said so quietly Ella wasn't sure if he was still talking to her or just himself now.
 
"I guess it just shows how important keeping the secret really was then, doesn't it?" Ella said after Dean was silent for a while. "At least no one should be asking why he never told now."
 
Dean nodded but didn't reply. After a moment he turned back to Ella and sighed. "Ella, I think we need talk about what you said on Tuesday."
 
"No, we don't," she said firmly, her good mood from before finally vanishing completely. "Just forget I ever said anything at all."
 
"El…" Dean sighed, "I can't do that. I just want to help."
 
"It would be helpful for you to forget everything I told you," Ella said again, not looking at him.
 
"Ella, I think you need to talk about this," Dean insisted, "I mean, I think it will help if you do. For starters, Kryptonians and humans really aren't as different as you might think. Or else we wouldn't even exist."
 
"Like horses and donkeys?"
 
"Yes."
 
"So you're calling us mules?" Ella shook her head, she was smart enough to already know her parents wouldn't have been able to even have kids if they were that different. It didn't change how she felt.
 
"No," Dean sighed, wincing at her tone, "What I mean is there has to be a reason you feel like this and if that's not it…"
 
"Dean-" Ella started again but she broke off as the door opened and Kim re-entered, pushing a wheelchair.
 
"Found one," she announced, "I had to get one from upstairs because I couldn't find them on this floor. Your Dad's coming in a minute too and-" she stopped as she looked up and noticed the serious looks on the siblings' faces. "Oh, did I interrupt something?"
 
"No," Ella told her, forcing a smile, "nothing important."
 
--

Sophie expected the crowd of gawkers outside her student apartment near Harvard. What she didn't expect was to see a small chest of drawers tumble out of the window to the cheers of the crowd. They only lived on the third floor so it didn't shatter but it did crumple beyond repair. The crowd applauded, and it was then Sophie noticed the shattered remnants of many other objects on the footpath.
 
She shook her head and decided to go around the back entrance to find out what was going on. She tried to remember if throwing things out of a window onto the street was illegal. Well, it obviously was but no one was hurt… yet.
 
What on Earth was Dani doing?
 
"Danielle Green, what do you think you're doing?" Sophie asked sharply as she entered the apartment, trying to remember exactly how Dani's mother sounded when she was angry.
 
Dani yelled and jumped a foot in the air, dropping the digital alarm clock she'd been carrying towards the window. "My god, Sophie," she yelped, placing a hand over her heart. "Have you ever considered wearing a bell?"
 
"Huh?" Sophie asked, hardly listening, "Dani, what on earth-"
 
"Do anything interesting on your way up?" her roommate asked, as if she hadn't heard her speak.
 
"There was a five car pileup in Rohde Island that I helped with," Sophie told her distractedly, "but what-"
 
"I said anything interesting?" Dani repeated, interrupting her questions again.
 
"Well, I did have to push a guy's eyes back into his head," she said casually, putting her confusion aside for a moment to see if she could shock her friend.
 
"Really?" her roommate asked, looking intrigued rather than disgusted like a normal person.
 
"Yup," Sophie replied, shuddering as she remembered the feel of the poor man's eyeballs on her fingers. "They'd just popped almost right out."
 
"Sounds like ocular distension- when a moving object hits a solid object and the impact forces the eyes out of socket," she recited as if reading from a textbook before grinning at her friend, "Cool."
 
"It was kinda gross, actually," Sophie told her, "but let's get back to why you're throwing our apartment out into the street!"
 
"Not all of it," Dani explained as she picked up a pillow and tossed it out the window. "Just the stuff tainted by the backstabbing, money-hungry ***** we used to call a roommate."
 
"Natalie's stuff." Sophie realised as a pile of clothing followed the pillow.
 
"Yup." Dani nodded. "I figured seen as she stole that tape of home movies from your room and sold it to the press for a tidy little profit, she doesn't really need all this junk." She punctuated the last word by heaving a pile of lecture notes out onto the street. "Let's see you pass without those, you greedy *****," she muttered.
 
"Okay," Sophie rushed to grab another pile of notes before they followed the other ones. "while I don't object as much as I feel I should to you destroying most of her personal possessions, don't completely destroy her life."
 
"And why the hell not?" Dani asked, even as she placed the rest of Natalie's study notes back on the table.
 
"Because we have more important things to worry about."
 
"True, true," Dani sighed, shaking her head. "So, I gather by the fact you're here, Ella is alright?"
 
Sophie nodded, impressed at how well the news was being kept from the media. "She's going home today, it was a bit touch and go at the start but she's fine now." Not completely of course but Sophie didn't want to go into all the details of her sister's sudden bipolar-ness and strange ideas.
 
"That's good to hear." Dani took a break from destroying Natalie's possessions to sit next to Sophie on the couch. "And they got the guy right?"
 
Sophie nodded. "Yeah, we got him." She closed her eyes as she remembered the sickening crunch of bones as the man impacted the wall where she threw him. "The cops have offered him a deal," she continued, pushing it out of her mind, "he pleads guilty and gives them the name of the guy he got the kryptonite from and the judge will give him a lighter sentence."
 
"So…" Dani frowned as if she was trying to think of a proper way to ask her question. "You're safe here right? I mean, if that guy could come after you guys a day after everyone found out…"
 
"I'm not really sure," Sophie sighed, "but honestly, there's only one thing in the world that can hurt us, you could die walking out of the apartment and tripping on the stairs," she pointed out.
 
"Wow, thanks," Dani muttered, rolling her eyes.
 
"You get what I mean," Sophie said, getting up because she felt she should be doing more than just sitting. "Besides, the cops think the guy that attacked us just got lucky. Kryptonite is pretty rare and the there's really no way to tell the New Kryptonite, the stuff that can hurt us, from the normal stuff, which can only really affect Dad."
 
"Hmm, true," Dani agreed, "the New Kryptonite's the stuff they got from the harbour right? After that New Krypton island thing."
 
"Yeah." Sophie nodded again, pacing up and down. "Do I need to tell you not to tell anyone else that that's the-"
 
"The only stuff that can hurt you?" Dani asked, raising her eyebrows. "I'm not an idiot, Sophie, I know when to keep my mouth shut."
 
"I'd rather not take chances," Sophie said apologetically, "but I know you're more sensible than most." She looked out onto the street, still scattered with shattered parts of Natalie's things. "Sometimes, " she added as an afterthought.
 
"So are you back for good now?"
 
"I guess." Sophie shrugged, sitting back down. "I mean, I have to get back into it sometime don't I? The sooner the better. I mean-" she frowned "- if I am still going here."
 
"Oh, I meant to tell you about that," Dani cried, slapping her forehead, "the Dean stopped by before. He heard about Ella so he said for you to go visit him whenever you were ready."
 
"Did he say anything else?" Sophie asked, eager to know how bad it was.
 
"He didn't act like he was just going to toss you out if that's what you mean," Dani told her, "he said he wasn't allowed to tell me anything else other than what he told you on Tuesday."
 
"You mean that they have evidence to support the claims I cheated using my powers?" Sophie asked bitterly.
 
"Pretty much," Dani sighed, "but it can't be that bad if you never cheated. Which I know you didn't."
 
"It has to be pretty bad if they're taking this seriously," Sophie retorted. "It's not like they can take every claim that someone cheated seriously."
 
"Actually, I was thinking about who might have filed the complaint," Dani said, looking through a pile of papers she had stacked on the coffee table. "Here," she announced, picking one up. "Do you remember Henry Hills?"
 
"My ex-boyfriend? I wish I didn't." Sophie frowned, remembering the seemingly nice man who'd become rapidly clingy and absurdly jealous every time she spoke to another man. She'd left him down as softly as possible but she'd still had to change her cell phone number afterward.
 
"Yeah, he was so creepy," Dani chuckled, "but you know how we were talking about the news stations being swamped with "information" about you guys," she asked, using air quotes to emphasize what she thought about the type of information people had been calling in with. "and how it was weird they'd picked this particular piece of information up so quickly?"
 
"Yeah." Sophie nodded, wondering where she was going with this.
 
"Well, according to good ol' Google," she said, patting her laptop fondly, "the first station to get hold of this was CNN and guess who works there?"
 
"There's no way Henry got a job a CNN."
 
"No," Dani agreed, "but his brother did, Gareth Hills, executive producer."
 
"Oh, this makes it interesting," Sophie mused.
 
"This is good," Dani assured her, "a guy you dumped tries to get you kicked out? Clearly he's just holding a grudge. Let's go see the Dean, we'll have this overturned in no time."
 
Sophie knew it wouldn't be that easy, but Dani's confidence was infectious. She couldn't help smiling as she followed her friend out the door. Sure they'd have to refute the actual evidence as well but she was innocent and no way was she letting a disgruntled ex of all people get her kicked out of Harvard.
 
--

"Jason!" Tristan yelled as he saw his friend in the studio for the first time since Monday. "Man, how've you been?" he asked, clasping his friend's arm and pulling him in to thump him on the back.
 
"It's been a weird week," Jason replied, shaking his head, "just thought I'd check in here before I come back next Monday."
 
"Good idea," Tristan agreed as he walked with him to down the hall to the conference rooms. "Hey, sorry to here about your sis, that just really sucks. Hope she gets better soon."
 
"I just dropped her home actually," Jason said, looking through the building to find one of the producers. "She's doing great." It wasn't a completely lie, physically Ella was fine.
 
"So, is that because you guys all have like, super-healing powers?" Tristan asked excitedly.
 
Jason frowned at the slight note of hero-worship in his friend's voice. He hoped it was temporary and Tristan would relax around him after a while.
 
"Kinda," Jason replied, frowning as he recalled the weirdly accurate Inquisitor article. "Hey, you didn't talk to the media about any of this did you?"
 
"Nope," Tristan said truthfully, his heart rate remaining the same. "You didn't want me to did you?"
 
"Oh, no," Jason assured him. "Just… someone we know is talking to the press and we just need to ask them to stop."
 
"Okay…" Tristan sounded confused but then just shrugged and continued, "The producers aren't going to fire you by the way, in case you were wondering."
 
"Oh, good," Jason said idly, remembering he hadn't even told Tristan or Kate about his siblings' powers.
 
"Kate might be a bit harder to deal with though-"
 
"Pardon?" Jason asked a bit worriedly, remembering how upset his other cast member had been on Monday. "Is she really that mad?"
 
Before Tristan could answer a voice from behind them called out, "Jason! In here."
 
The pair turned to see Leo, the producer who's help Jason disappear, waving from a door behind them.
 
"Oh, we thought you were in the main conference room," Tristan explained as they turned around.
 
"No, in here. We'd like to speak to Jason alone," he told Tristan who nodded.
"I gotta go to rehearsal anyway." Tristan nodded once to Jason, giving him a reassuring smile.
 
Jason followed Leo into the room, finding two of the other producers for BreakOut waiting for him.
 
Trying to shake the feeling he was being ganged up on, he tok a seat.
 
"Don't worry," Leo reassured him, "we're trying to keep this short, we know you must wan to get back to your family."
 
Jason nodded thankfully, thinking of Evelyn back at the media-surrounded apartment.
 
"First things first," Pauline, another producer Jason liked, started off. "Is your sister doing alright?"
 
"She is, thank you," Jason replied, catching himself before he added that she went home today. Tristan he was reasonably sure he could trust but they'd agreed not to tell the public and he didn't quite know how much the producers would tell their fans to keep up ratings.
 
"Good, good," Mr. Davis, his least favourite producer grumbled. "But back to why you're here. We've been discussing what to do about you now that the fact your Dad is Superman is all out in the open."
 
"We're thinking of making it part of the show," Leo continued, "We obviously don't want to change it too much-" he paused slightly to give Davis a look that Jason made a note to ask Tristan and Kate about later, assuming Kate was talking to him. "-but we'd like you to be using your…abilities on the show and stuff."
 
"We think it will really increase ratings," Pauline told him, stating the obvious in Jason's opinion.
 
"How do you want me to use them on the show?" Jason asked slowly, not sure how he felt about using his unique powers to get his work more money.
His father had always been against using his gifts for anything other than helping people, and certainly not for personal gain. Then again, that had been before Monday.
 
"On Wednesdays," Leo started, "with the '2 Minutes At Your Place' segment. We always send the camera crew to the kid's house beforehand right? And you Kate and Tristan just talk over the radio."
 
"But you can just go visit now too," Pauline continued, "straight from the studio without ruining the surprise factor."
"Okay," Jason agreed.
 
"We're also offering you a pay rise," Davis said, answering the next question on his mind.
 
"I won't take it unless Kate and Tristan get one as well," Jason said quickly, he knew it sounded old-fashioned but Kate had turned down a pay rise a year ago because Tristan and Jason hadn't been offered one. It seemed like the right thing to do, regardless of how Monday's revelation had affected things they were still a team.
 
"Told you he'd say that," Leo laughed, grinning at Davis. "We'll have to get back to you on that," he spoke to Jason again. "but I'm pretty sure the studio will agree."
 
"Good." Jason nodded. "Now what else did you have in mind?"
 
Far from keeping it short it was another hour before he left the conference room.
 
He immediately sought out Tristan, finding him with Kate in the kitchen. "Hey, guys," he greeted them as he walked in.
 
"How'd it go?" Tristan asked, "It went well didn't it?"
 
"Pretty well," Jason confirmed.
 
"How's Ella?" Kate asked suddenly, not looking at him.
 
"She's doing well," Jason replied, pleased that Kate was at least talking to him.
 
But his relief was short-lived as Kate muttered, "Good," then simply walked out of the room.
 
"She's angry, isn't she?" Jason watched her leave, noting the tension in her shoulders which he didn't recall seeing before.
 
"I think she's upset you didn't trust her," Tristan explained. "She thought you were friends-"
 
"We are friends," Jason interrupted, "but does that mean I had to tell her everything about me?"
 
"I'll talk to her," Tristan told him, "I think she just needs to know you didn't mean anything personal by keeping it from her."
 
Jason nodded, as much as he would have liked to chase Kate now he wanted to get back to Evelyn more. And maybe if Kate was that angry with him he should try and let Tristan play peacemaker until next week.
 
"I do want something in return though," Tristan said, grinning in a way that told his friend it probably was going to be something strange.
 
"What?" Jason asked with a sigh, remembering the last time he'd owed Tristan something and ended up getting stuck spending the whole day teaching him swear words in different languages.
 
"You have got to teach me how to swear…" Tristan started, making Jason roll his eyes, "in Kryptonian," he finished, his grin getting bigger as he watched his friend's face.
 
If Jason thought the wall could handle it he would have banged his head against it at the predictability of his friend. Instead he settled for rolling his eyes again. "Fine," he sighed, "I don't know that many because I did learn it from my father- but I'll teach you the ones I do know, okay?"
 
"Man, you are epic," Tristan told him, thumping him firmly on the back. "See you Monday."
 
"See you."
 
He took a quick loop over the city, prevented a mugging, then quickly sped to the apartment.

"New York's loving having their own personal superhero, you know," Evelyn commented as he stumbled through the window. "Nice landing," she giggled.
 
"My jacket caught and I didn't want to rip it," Jason said defensively. "I had to lean back and unhook it."
 
"Uh-huh, of course," Evelyn teased, rolling her eyes. "They're already trying to come up with names for you."
 
"Who?" Jason asked, checking that he hadn't ripped his jacket.
 
"New York," Evelyn reminded him, coming over to kiss him lightly. "I know your Dad was kind of international but everyone knew he lived in Metropolis anyway. Now New York has the one thing Metropolis always held over them. Some people think we should be calling you Superboy."
 
"I'm twenty-six," Jason reminded her, "I think I'm a little too old to be called Super-boy. Besides, what's wrong with calling me Jason?"
 
"Try telling them that." Evelyn nodded towards the muted TV which was displaying pictures of Jason in his black outfit assisting with a car crash last night. "Nina thinks it's cute as well."
 
"You sister stopped by?" Jason was surprised that the woman had braved the press outside. He'd never say it to Evelyn but he hadn't thought her oldest sister was the sort of person who would face trouble like that instead of hiding in her apartment. He was rather pleased to have apparently underestimated her.
 
"She just left about ten minutes ago. She was concerned about Dad." Her face twisted when she said the last word, as if it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
 
Jason moved forward and wrapped his arms around her. "What did she say?" he asked, trying to comfort her. Even though her Dad's anger was directed at him, he knew it was hurting Evelyn the most and it pained him to see her so unhappy.
 
"She's worried," Evelyn said, surprising him again. "She doesn't agree with what he went and did but she says he's been acting different for months now. Like tense and upset."
 
"Really?" Jason couldn't remember ever meeting the man when he hadn't been tense or upset but then again, he was dating the man's daughter which probably wasn't the best position to be in when meeting him.
 
"Yeah, but I don't know…" Evelyn shrugged, "going on TV and publicly blasting you for being Superman's kid seems way over the top even for him but when I saw it, I honestly wasn't as surprised as I maybe should have been."
 
Jason nodded, not sure what to say. He turned back to the TV just as the picture switched to one of Kate and him on BreakOut, he recognised it from just last week. They were doing the obstacle course segment where two teams of kids from different schools raced against each other to win $1000 worth of books for their school.
 
It had been his turn to demonstrate and he watched himself grab the flying fox and drop into the slime pool at the end to the laughter of the audience. Kate was laughing too, especially when he'd chased her around the stage trying to hug her.
 
"How did your thing go then?" Evelyn asked, changing the subject as she followed his gaze.
 
Jason shrugged. "About as well as I could have hoped, they want me to start doing super-stuff on the show to pull in more ratings."
 
"That's understandable," Evelyn said, nodding thoughtfully, "I think it'll be great."
 
"You do?" Jason asked, looking back at the TV. He had mixed feelings about the proposal, but he loved his job and if was that or be fired…
 
"You shouldn't feel bad about using you natural talents in your job," she told him, kissing him again. "That's how the rest of us try and get by anyway."
 
"True…"
 
"And you will still have time to use them to help people won't you?"
 
"Yeah." Jason nodded, his eyes still fixed on the TV until Evelyn switched it off. "Hey, I was watching that," he protested.
 
"Fine," Evelyn sighed sadly, "I was going to go have a shower and I wouldn't have minded some company but you just stay here and watch your TV then," she said, shaking her head while slowly unbuttoning her blouse.
 
"TV?" Jason asked, watching hypnotised as his fiancée threw her top into the bedroom and started slowly unzipping her skirt. "We have a TV?"
 
"That's more like it." Evelyn grinned. "Now, come on, I know a much better way to get your mind off things and pass the time until dinner," she called, heading into the bathroom.
 
Jason wasted no time hurrying after.
 
--