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Jordan was working on his English essay, head bent over his copy of Hamlet, when his twin brother’s head suddenly popped through the wall.
“Gah!” He nearly lost his balance and crushed the pencil he held in his hand. “What the hell, dude?”
Jon snorted, wearing an annoyingly smug grin. “You gotta work on your game face if you want to convince Dad to let you help out with stuff.”
“Shut up.” Jordan brushed the pencil shards into the trash bin. Jon’s head was still eerily hanging halfway up the wall, the rest of him still in his own bedroom. “So, are doors just a thing of the past for you now?”
“Uh, well, not exactly.” His hand phased through the wall to scratch the back of his neck. “I haven’t really figured out how to take my clothes along for the ride.
The snort of amusement was impossible to hold back even if Jordan wanted to.
“Shut up,” Jon said. “I haven’t said anything about all your crash landings.”
“Yeah you have.”
“Anyway. Want to come into town with me to meet up with Nat?”
Jordan thought for a second and then shrugged. “Okay. We driving?”
“Yeah.” They made their way down the stairs together, waved goodbye to their dad, and then climbed into the truck together.
It was a few minutes on the road before Jordan got an idea.
“Hey, if you do figure out the whole clothes thing, you can probably figure out how to fly, right?”
Jon frowned faintly, reaching to adjust the stereo knob. “Huh?”
“Well, you can phase through matter, right? And Grandma said that gravity wouldn’t have an effect on you.”
“Oh. Yeah, I dunno…” There was a weird stiffness in Jonathan’s movements, and Jordan probably should have taken that as a hint to stop talking. But he had never been great at letting something go once he got started, and he was soon digging himself deeper into the hole.
“Well, it’s worth trying at least. If you could fly, then it’d be way easier to help people.”
Jon gripped the steering wheel. “What?”
“You know. Like Dad does.”
“Who said I could– I mean, who said I wanted to?”
“Oh.” Jordan blinked. He had just sort of… assumed. He knew what Jon was like. But apparently the same thought hadn’t crossed his brother’s mind.
“You know we’re not actually the same,” Jon said, eyes glued on the road ahead. “You might be happy being Superboy but that’s not gonna be what I do, okay?”
“Okay. Yeah, sure.”
“I mean, what would I even do? Run around and recharge people’s phones? Scare everyone with my—" He scoffed as he yanked on the steering wheel. They had turned off into town, and Nat’s house was just a block away.
“There’s other ways you can use your powers.”
“Really? How?”
The blunt question caught him by surprise, and in the second he hesitated, Jonathan let out another scoff.
“See? Look, Jordan, it’s fine. So quit trying to make me feel better about it, okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.” Finally, Jordan shut his mouth and dropped it. He could tell his brother was getting more and more upset about the whole thing and it wasn’t worth starting a big fight.
But Jon’s hang-ups had come as a total surprise. Did he really think his powers weren’t going to do much good out in the world? That was so obviously wrong, even if Jordan hadn’t taken the time to think it all through.
Clearly, that’s what he’d have to do. And the next time they had this conversation, he’d be prepared.
Natalie never liked walking on eggshells around people. Being straightforward was how she had been as a kid, and living through a world-ending alien takeover of her home world had solidified that instinct all the more.
So, when she found out her half-alien half-brother had untested, unknown powers, she handled it with the exact same blunt attitude she handled everything,
“Don’t touch that circuit board! Remember how you burnt out the soldering last time?”
Jon grimaced and pulled his hand back just in time. “I know. I’m sorry. At least I fixed it?”
She frowned. Yeah, he had fixed it but what was really annoying about it was that she still didn’t really understand how he had done it.
He noticed her attitude of course, but he just laughed. “Okay, okay. Peace offering? I brought more energy crystals for you.”
“Okay, yeah, instant forgiveness. How many do you have?”
The random shorting out of her inventions was annoying, but Jon’s newest offering more than made up for it. Apparently, his body both unconsciously absorbed surrounding energy and produced its own. She had seen a few brief displays of glowing eyes and static bolts, and was glad that Jon had a way to temper those reactions when he needed to blend in with everyone else. The fact that she got to make use of his carefully stored offloaded energy was a bonus on top of that.
Jon pulled three of the small, glowing crystals out of his bag and laid them on the workbench.
“Awesome! These are way better than the X-K we were using. My dad was getting low.”
“Good. At least someone’s getting something out of my weirdness.” He scuffed his shoe on the floor, and Natalie noticed Jordan shoot a heavy look towards his brother.
Okay, obviously something was up between the two of them. And Natalie hated being left on the outside.
“What’s going on?”
Jon scowled, and then slumped his shoulders when she didn’t let up her stare. “Nothing. Just Jordan thinking that having even the smallest amount of powers means I’m gonna somehow be Superboy with him.”
She raised an eyebrow. It was pretty obvious to her that Jon had a lot more than just a ‘small amount’ of powers, but before she could say that, he spoke up again.
“Look, Jordan and I aren’t the same and it’s not that big a deal. Can we just drop it for now? What’s that chip even for, Nat?”
That was something she was more than happy to talk about.
“It’s an upgraded scanning ability for my suit. I can use infrared light to do a biological inventory of any object. Want to see it in action?”
“Yeah, sounds cool.”
Eagerly, Natalie placed the chip into the housing of her helmet. She had actually hoped to do a test with the twins on this anyway. They were genetically unique, after all, and it would be good training for Hedy.
The boys stood side by side as she slipped the helmet over her head. Instantly, the familiar digital display fired up, giving her a stream of helpful statistics as she scanned over the wooden tabletop. Then she turned the sensors towards the boys.
In unison, they winced, let out a cry of pain, and stumbled backwards.
“What the hell?” Jonathan blinked rapidly and shook his head. The heart rate sensor on Natalie’s suit showed that his was spiking, along with Jordan’s.
She yanked the helmet off and laid it to the side. “What happened? Are you guys okay?”
Jordan squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just… remember how I’ve been waiting for the X-ray vision to kick in? I think it did.”
“Wait, really?” She stepped forward in interest. “What can you see?”
“Everything. This is the fricken worst.” A green tinge was starting to wash over his skin, and he cautiously stretched a hand out for stability.
“Maybe the light my sensors use triggered something?” she guessed. “Sorry, I had no idea it would do that.”
“S’fine. I’ll figure it out. Eventually.” Then he paused and tilted his head blindly towards his brother. “Wait, Jon, what happened to you?”
“Same thing.” He stood there, eyes clamped closed in an expression that was eerily similar to Jordan. “I can see everything.”
When Lois heard the sound of wind rushing overhead, she abandoned her laptop and made her way out of her office just in time to watch Clark steer the boys through the front door.
They looked exhausted, drawn, grey complexions washed over their skin while their eyes stayed firmly glued to their feet.
“What did your mom say?” Lois asked.
“Well, it’s definitely Jordan’s vision powers.” Clark led the boys through to the living room, depositing them side by side on the sofa. “The frequency Natalie’s scanner uses acted as a kind of catalyst. No long-term damage, and he’ll figure it out soon.”
“And Jonathan?”
“That’s a little more complicated.” Clark frowned. “My mom ran some tests and apparently he can now see every frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum. Radio signals, microwaves–”
“UV light,” Jon grumbled with a dirty glance towards the window.
Lois winced in sympathy. “Sounds like a lot.”
“She says they’ll both be able to handle it. It’ll just take time to adjust.”
“I’m supposed to take a Math test tomorrow!” Jonathan complained.
“We’ll call in sick,” Lois said.
“And my truck’s still at Nat’s.”
“Okay.” Clark gave his son a guilty look. “I can go pick it up for you. But you and Jordan need to be doing those drills your grandmother taught you, got it? Practicing will make it better, I promise.” With a quick glance over to Lois, he was gone from the room.
Both boys slumped back against the sofa, eyes drifting up towards the ceiling and seeing things that Lois could only imagine.
“This sucks,” Jordan muttered.
They both looked miserable, and Lois really had no idea how to relate. She had never had to completely relearn how to use her eyes.
But she was an expert in pulling her kids out of a funk. That’s what they needed most right now, anyway.
“You’re going to get it figured out soon,” she told them brusquely. “We’ll practice together. First thing: Jonathan, you need to take off that armband of yours.”
“What? Why?” He squinted furiously at her.
“Because your powers are easier to control without it, right?”
“Yeah…” With a sigh, he slid his fingers underneath the armband and then pulled it off. Electricity flooded his eyes like it always did, and Lois gave him an encouraging nod.
His hesitation to be seen like that bothered her. There was nothing wrong or dangerous about his eyes, and here in the privacy of their house there was no reason to hide. He didn’t need to be ashamed of who he was.
But right now there were other things to address.
“What kind of drills does your grandmother want you doing?”
“Uh…” Jordan blinked a few times. “Just working on shutting the x-ray thing on and off.”
“And Jon?”
“She wants me to try tracking stuff through all the other noise.” He passed his finger in front of his face to demonstrate.
“Okay.” Lois let her own eyes search around the room before she finally picked out a picture frame from the mantlepiece. “Would this work to practice with?”
It took longer than she expected for them to figure out what it was. Jonathan leaned forward and squinted intensely while Jordan did the same set of rapid blinks he had performed a few times already.
Then their eyes finally lit up as they recognized the family photo.
“I hate how my hair looks in that one,” Jordan complained.
“Luckily, that’s not what it matters. Now let’s get to work.”
Although there was some grumbling, the boys soon put their heads down and tried their best. Jordan was used to this kind of thing by now, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was the last thing for him to get, too. Now he had all of the same powers as his dad and, according to Clark, he was rapidly catching up with his strength and his speed.
Would these make it even harder to convince him to stay on the sidelines? How much longer could they keep him safe?
After a half hour of practicing, he disappeared up to his room. He was apparently managing okay, but wanted to take a break for a bit.
Jonathan stayed on the sofa, though, eyes roaming around the room restlessly as he reached out for the armband once again.
“You don’t need to put that back on right away, do you?”
“Wha– Uh, no, but…” He dropped his gaze. “It’s pretty creepy. I’ve looked in a mirror, you know.”
“It’s not creepy.”
He scoffed, but Lois wasn’t going to let it go that easily.
“I’m serious, Jonathan. I know you can’t share this with everyone in your life, but you can share it here. It’s a part of who you are.”
“Well, what if I don’t want it to be?” He clenched his fist, but not fast enough to prevent a web of sparks from sizzling over his knuckles. Sighing in frustration, he scrubbed his hand across his jeans.
“Honey…” She dropped into place beside him, but he hunched away from her.
“Look, some of it’s okay. Never having to charge my phone is pretty awesome or whatever. But…” He swallowed. “All I’m saying is if Dad showed up on the scene all those years ago with glowing blue eyes, there probably would have been a way different reaction.”
Stunned, Lois stared at her son. It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that his mind had already wandered towards his own potential heroics. And her heart broke to realize what was at the heart of his worries.
“Jonathan, you weren’t there, but trust me, there was a big reaction. But your dad got through it and people trust him now. You know they do.”
“Yeah, but–”
“And Superman has heat vision, in case you forgot.”
“Yeah, but not all the time!” He drew back from Lois, shoving a hand through his hair. “I– I’ve tried, okay? Whenever I’m alone, I take off the armband and… It never goes away. Ever. I thought… like, I’d have to practice and eventually I’d get better but… But what if this is it? What if I’m stuck like this for life?” He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. The blue glow leaked out regardless.
Lois couldn’t take it anymore. She grabbed hold of his arms and he thankfully paused. Slowly, he brought his hands away from his face so she could see that same electric blue once again. There wasn’t a single part of it she was afraid of, and she hoped that he’d be able to see that, shaky vision or not.
“Look, honey, none of us know how this is going to work out in the future,” she admitted. “But I do know that however your powers develop, you’re going to figure it out, and you’re going to be able to do anything you want to with them.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Anything?”
“Eventually.” She nudged her shoulder against his side. “You can do anything you put your mind to. Even…” She nodded her head in the direction that Clark had taken off in not that long ago.
But the movement was apparently too subtle for Jon to pick up on today. He blinked at her dumbly.
“Even… what?”
“Even being your own super person some day. And I know it sounds really hokey, but the more confidence you have in who you are, the easier it is to put yourself out there.”
“Yeah…”
“We all love you,” she assured him. “No matter what, okay?”
Finally, he nodded, the tension in his neck uncoiling. He leaned sideways, resting his head against her shoulder and she brought her arm around him. He was so big these days, but he still fit right where he needed to. No matter what, she’d make sure he always had this place of safety.
“Okay,” he said, voice coming out softly in a sigh. “I’ll work on it. Thanks, Mom.”
Jonathan stood outside his brother’s bedroom door, squinting to see through the haze of interference that faded in and out of focus. Being able to see through it had gotten easier in the last couple days, but his eyes still got tired faster than he liked, and using anything with a screen was a real pain in the ass.
But that wasn’t what he wanted to focus on right now. He gave a brief knock and barely waited for Jordan’s response before he walked into the room.
“Oh. Hey, man.” Jordan blinked as he lifted his head, and Jonathan tried not to squirm.
He wasn’t wearing his armband, and his strange, glowing, electric eyes were on full display. There was still no telling how long this would stick around, but his mom had actually given him some good advice. He needed to get used to them and stop hiding it away.
Keeping his chin held high, he dropped into the desk chair. He didn’t want to get sidetracked.
“I have something to show you.”
Slowly, Jordan laid his phone on the pillow and sat up on his bed. The wireless signal spiralled out from the device, but Jon did his best to ignore it.
“Yeah. I was, uh, thinking about the energy field I create when I phase through matter. You know I can basically send my energy through whatever I want. It doesn’t have to be just me that I influence.”
Jordan stared blankly. Heat from the air vent leaked out into the room and a ripple passed through the home wifi. Jon pushed his eyes to focus on only his brother.
“Okay, maybe it would be easier if I just showed you.”
There was a small trash bin at the base of Jordan’s desk. Reaching down, Jonathan put his pointer finger right on the rim. Then he pushed out.
He could actually see the flow of energy coming out of him now, even if this particular frequency wasn’t visible to anyone else. It felt like an extension of himself, and he focused on working it into a tight net around the bin. The glowing lattice encompassed the entire thing, even all the bits of scrap papers inside. That should hold it. Slowly, he drew his hand upwards and, just like he knew it would, the trash bin came with him, controlled only by his one fingertip on the rim.
“Holy…” Jordan sat forward. “That’s awesome!”
A smile grew on Jon’s face. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
“Have you tried it with other stuff? How heavy do you think you can lift? And how fast can you do it?”
He set the bin down. “I, uh, I don’t know yet. I just figured it out like an hour ago.”
“We gotta do some experiments outside,” Jordan decided. He scrambled to his feet, dashing towards the door, but then he hit an invisible wall, face paling as he wobbled.
“Whoa!” Jon took his brother’s arm to steady it. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just… Vision issues.”
“Yeah, I get that.” Jon steered Jordan back to the bed and then flopped down beside him. A dizzying river of radio waves passed over their heads.
“You too?”
“It’s getting better, but…” He shrugged. Things were still hard, there was no use denying it. But having Jordan deal with a similar struggle wasn’t the worst way to get through it.
“So.” Jordan smacked his mattress lazily. “You know what your whole electric forcefield thing means, right?”
“What?”
“It means you can totally figure out how to fly without being naked.”
“Jordan!” It didn’t make a difference, but Jon still took pleasure in grinding a sharp elbow into Jordan’s side.
“What? It’s true! You should be happy.”
He wanted to glare at his brother, but with everything else swimming around the room, it didn’t feel worth it. Instead, he let his eyes slip closed and gave himself a bit of a rest. He could still sense Jordan’s warm, stable presence beside him, though, each of them ready to support each other like they always were.
“Yeah. I am happy.”