Second Chances: Superman and Lois - Rough Draft

Chapter 15

"Some things never change." John Henry Irons said as he watched news reports from this world comparing them to his own. And one thing that remained the same was that in every universe, Kara Danvers would choose to become Supergirl. And ironically, he'd originally built his suit specifically so that he could help her protect their home and their daughter Natalie. A little husband wife crime fighting duo. But then her cousin, the traitor, had turned on humanity before John had completed his suit, so by the time it was ready, Kara refused to let him use it, saying that she needed to be sure that Natalie would always have one parent to watch her.

To this day, he couldn't help but wonder that maybe if he'd ignored her and put the suit on anyways, maybe he could've saved her. But there was no point in worrying about that now. Now he was in a universe where a version of his wife was still alive, even if she had no interest in him anymore, since according to the information his AI had gathered, it would appear that not only does Kara have a different taste in life partners, but she also has a different daughter and the only thing keeping him from getting angry about that was the fact that he knew that this was not his Kara. She couldn't replace something she'd never had.

"John, as you requested, I have found the person you asked me too." his AI said.

"Location?" Irons asked.

"Smallville Kansas US. How would you like to proceed? Attack him upfront?" the AI asked.

"No. I'm not dumb enough to fight him on his home turf. I'd lose in a one on one brawl. I need to maintain the element of surprise." John said.

"Well, based on the encrypted chatter I've heard from the military, I doubt that you'd be able to do that by showing up in your warsuit." the AI said.

"Natalie programmed you to be sarcastic, didn't she?" John asked, already knowing the answer.

"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" the AI asked.

"Anyways, I have a different plan. I'm gonna do to him what he did to my world. I'm gonna gain his trust and then, once I've earned that, then I'll slam my hammer straight through his skull." John said.

"Can I ask how you plan to accomplish this?" his AI asked.

"It's simple. I can't earn Superman's trust, but Clark Kent, that's another story." John said, since considering the fact that on his earth, Superman had been his cousin-in-law, of course he knew his real name.

"How do you plan to do that?" his AI asked.

"It's relatively simple actually. Superman has many amazing abilities, but mechanical engineering isn't one of them." John said as he continued to put his plans into place.

When Lois returned to the farmhouse with Jordan, she was not happy.

"So, where was he?" Clark asked.

"Down at the lake with Sarah, though they lied to both us and Lana about where they were." Lois said.

"Ooh, rookie mistake and I say that from previous experience." Jonathan said and Lois chuckled, since she'd lost track of the number of times she'd busted Jonathan doing stuff like that with Eliza before they moved here.

"Sarah and I just wanted some one on one time with each other without parental interference. Nothing happened." Jordan protested.

"Yeah, considering your mom probably wrote the book on that excuse, it's not going to work on her." Lucy said, getting Jordan's attention.

"Aunt Lucy." Jordan said.

"Yeah and I will tell you stories about that later, but for now, come give your aunt a hug, since now I'm here to stay." Lucy said, very amused by her nephew's antics as Jordan came up and hugged her.

"Anyways, now that the whole family is here, Lucy, we've decided that it's time to let you in on a little family secret, since we don't want to isolate you again." Lois said.

"What secret?" Lucy asked, only to be surprised when Clark removed his glasses and he didn't need to do anything more for her to put the pieces together.

"You're Superman." Lucy said.

"Wow, I had to actually use my powers to prove it to the boys." Clark said and Lucy chuckled.

"I've honestly had my suspicions for years. After all, you disappeared at around the same time Superman showed up, it can only be played as coincidence so many times. But until now, I thought I was just overthinking things." Lucy said.

"Lucy, this has to stay a secret." Lois said.

"I just got you back in my life Lois. Why would I do anything to jeopardize that. But now I do have questions. Starting with, do the boys have your powers?" Lucy asked.

"I do, though my powers are not as strong as dad's, at least not yet." Jordan said.

"Whereas I rely on my natural skills to rule the football field." Jonathan said.

"Though you still let Jordan play football?" Lucy asked Clark.

"It was Lois's idea." Clark said.

"Say no more. But really Lois, you think that's a good idea?" Lucy asked.

"It's a way to help Jordan learn to control his powers in public situations." Lois said.

"It helps that in addition to running the farm, dad's also our assistant coach, so he can keep Jordan from going too far with his powers." Jonathan said.

"And if Jordan does go too far, he's off the team and going too far also includes upstaging Jonathan." Clark said, since he knew how hard it must be for Jonathan to have his brother come in and take over his sport, since football was one of the few things Jon had left since they'd left Metropolis.

"Good. Now anyways, tell me more." Lucy said and they nodded as they began to bring her up to speed on everything.