Chapter Text
After everything that had happened with Ally and the attempted merge, the aftershocks hadn’t come as a huge surprise.
Yes, both planets and both suns were back were they were supposed to be and the crisis had been averted. But, apparently, the unprecedented situation had created ripples in the fabric of reality.
It would have taken a degree in theoretical physics to even begin to understand it— the important thing, however, was that a few isolated incidents of objects and people briefly appearing from other realities had been reported worldwide.
Jordan had viewed that news with some interest, and he knew that his dad and John Henry and grandpa were monitoring things closely. According to the experts, it would probably even put in time. And, so far, there had been no permanent damage.
That was a relief and, quite frankly, Jordan had been happy to focus on other things in the wake of the latest incident. School was back in session, he was back to hanging out with Sarah, and (most exciting of all), his brother had finally started showing his first glimmers of Kryptonian power.
Jordan hadn’t even tried to hide his excitement the night his brother had fessed up to that. Apparently, he’d been having weird flashes of red for a few days— without any trace of X-K or outside interference. This time, it was the real deal. Jordan was thrilled to be on that path together and even Jon had calmed down about it all after he’d been met with loving hugs and confident reassurances.
It was all going to be okay.
Better than okay, actually.
Jordan had been quite happy to put his energy into helping his brother, allowing the weird blips to fade into the background of his mind.
Perhaps it was naive, considering the messes they often seemed to face, but certainly hadn’t expected one of those anomalies to strike them.
Until it did.
It happened on a quiet Tuesday evening. One that had started out like any other. Their dad had made a broccoli casserole, the twins had quickly done their remaining homework, their mom had ducked into her study to continue working on her latest story, then dad had dashed off to help with a crisis somewhere in Asia.
Nothing out of the norm.
After flipping through a few streaming apps and failing to agree on what to watch, the boys had made their way out to the barn to amuse themselves in less traditional ways.
Slowly but surely, Jon was getting more on board with the notion of evening practices. Their dad was trying not to push him too hard, but Jordan wasn’t above some gentle goading to get him out there.
Earlier that day, he’d carted home an old door he’d found discarded on the roadside. And he’d lured Jon outside with the promise of a cool new trick.
There had been a bit of reluctance but, after a bit of encouragement, his brother had tagged along.
“It’s all about dialling it back,” Jordan explained now that they were facing the object he’d leaned against one of the walls. “A full blast would decimate it, but if you pull back as much as you can, you should be able to do it.”
His brother folded his arms skeptically but gave an encouraging nod.
“Alright then Superboy, give me a demo.”
Jordan flashed a wide smile, no longer minding the nickname now that it felt like a far more realistic prospect. And was no longer something that kept them apart.
With a determined nod he narrowed his eyes, releasing a carefully controlled stream of heat towards the smooth wood.
He’d already decided what he wanted to draw first and, while it didn’t come out perfectly, he managed to burn a rather impressive House of El crest into the surface.
He grinned proudly as he blinked the light from his eyes and surveyed his work.
He’d managed to draw steady black lines without setting the item on fire. It felt like a fun little accomplishment.
“You try,” he encouraged his brother, feeling the flutter of excitement he always seemed to get when they did this sort of stuff together. It had only been a few weeks and the novelty was still exhilarating. “Don’t worry, if you over shoot I’ll blow out the flames,” he reminded him.
Jon starred at the door for a moment, squaring it up before giving a small nod.
“Sure, why not,” he said, willing to be a good sport.
Jordan watched as the red filled his eyes and he readied himself to release a stream of cool air, just in case.
But, before his brother could even try and engraving of his own, a loud gasp distracted them both.
Jordan turned his head abruptly to see his mother stranding at the partially open barn door, fear etched on her face and her mouth open in apparent surprise.
His first thought was that she was mad at them for practicing things without their dad around— but he also couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
Very off.
The way she was looking at them wasn’t right. And, even though the glow had faded from Jon’s eyes, Jordan could hear her heart pounding rapidly in her chest. As if she was terrified.
“Mom?”
It came out as a question, even though she looked exactly like the person they’d just seen at dinner. This wasn’t the darker goth-version they’d briefly seen before. Yet a voice in the back of his mind still screamed that this wasn’t the mother he knew.
“Stay back!”
When Jon took a step in her direction, she raised her hands defensively.
“Don’t come any closer!”
The twins exchanged a worried glance, both extremely confused about what was going on and why she was acting this way. It didn’t make sense— even if she was annoyed about their choice of evening activity, the sight would never have made her afraid.
She knew them.
At least, she was supposed to…
Why was she looking between them as if she’d never seen them before?
“I saw you!” she declared again, brave as ever but clearly shaken, “you’re a Kryptonian!”
She looked at Jon before her eyes landed on the familiar crest Jordan had just drawn on the door. The sight of that seemed to make things even worse.
With another gasp, she fumbled in her jacket pocket for something before pulling out a small dark box.
“Mom, what’s going on?” he heard his brother ask, clearly hurt by the accusatory way she’d just labelled him.
It was no secret that he was still sensitive about that sort of thing, and hearing his own mother fearfully call him out wasn’t going to help.
“You know we’re half-Kryptonian,” Jordan tried, wondering if this was some sort of intense memory loss that he could snap her out of.
But that only seemed to make things even worse.
Without another moment of hesitation, she pulled the small box open and began walking towards them.
It only took a second for him to realize what was going on.
The pain was instant and he clutched his head, letting out a muffled groan as he fought to stay on his feet.
Beside him, Jon was in a similar state.
His brother was bracing himself against a nearby beam of wood with a pained grimace on his face.
There was only one thing that could do this. Though he’d never in a million years expected his mother to approach them with Kryptonite.
The pain intensified as she came closer. Her eyes were still wide, but she seemed relieved by their sudden incapacitation. His heart sank and his stomach twisted from the combination of a physical and emotional onslaught.
“You’re our mom,” he managed to gasp out, the confusion and hurt clouding in around him.
“Stop. You need to stop,” his brother choked out, sliding down towards the barn floor as the pain became too much.
Jordan felt his knees buckle as well, the energy flowing out of his body in the glow of that terrible substance.
“Mom, please.”
Now standing above them, his mother shook her head resolutely.
“You’re not my children. You can’t be,” he said, her words stinging him to his core, “you’re not human.”
The statement felt like a punch to the gut.
She’d never looked at them like this— never given any indication that she saw them as anything but her little boys. She’d always been there for them, supporting and accepting them every step of the way.
None of this made sense.
It couldn’t be real.
“Mom.”
He could see the tears welling in his brother’s eyes as he called out to her and he wished there was something he could do. His own eyes prickled with confusing emotions too.
He wanted this to stop.
He wanted to understand.
But all he could do was writhe on the floor, succumbing to a mineral any normal person could withstand.
“How did I get here?” she demanded, ignoring the pleas, “where is my family?”
There was a pause. Then, everything finally became clear.
“Where’s Natalie?” She asked, eyes darting around the barn that was clearly unfamiliar to her.
“Where’s my daughter?”