Camp Justice

Justice

Smoke rose from where Oz hit me in the chest. He stepped through the hole in the wall. I groaned as I stood. His scythe began to glow. "Did you honestly think that someone could love an abomination like you?!" he said. "A half-breed Kryptonian? You're just lucky that Dr. Manhattan altered you. If he didn't, your DNA could break down until you're just a puddle. You could have experienced unending pain. You could have turned into Doomsday. Honestly, it's amazing you're even alive with everything that's against you." He aimed the scythe at me. "You're nothing; just a pawn."

I stood as tall as I could. "I am not 'nothing.' I am Jonathan Samuel Kent, son of Lois and Clark Kent. I am part of the House of El and you're grandson."

He paused for a moment. Then, he lowered the scythe. It looked like it retracted back into nothingness. "Oh...Son of El..." he said softly. He looked at the ground in shame. "You're right." I started towards him. He swiftly looked back at me and fired heat vision. It knocked me against the wall. And it hurt. Not only was it heat vision, but it had some kryptonite infused with it.

I screamed out as the kryptonite radiation coursed into me.

He then stopped. But before I could collapse, he sped over to me and picked me off the ground. He hovered both of us into the air. As I started to come back to my senses, my vision was blurred, or should I say...x-rayed. I could see through Oz's skull and the kryptonite imbedded in his brain. The pulsing light from the radioactive rock hurt my eyes, kind of like looking at the sun.

With a flick of his wrist, he sent me flying head-first through the floor...and the next floor too. I coughed on the dust and shoved some of the debris off me. Oz floated down to me.

"You may have grown, Son of Man and Krypton, but you still have the experience of a ten-year-old." His eyes began to glow red and green energy. He fired.

My own heat vision met his. We pushed against each other, but he was definitely better. The energy got closer and closer to me. I strained and groaned; I felt like a weight was being pressed against me.

"That's the problem with you, Jon," said Damian. "You're a wrecking ball. You just leap in without thinking."

"Patience, Jon," said Dad. "Focus. Wait for the right moment. Plan."

"You destroyed Metropolis because you couldn't control your emotions," said the future Tim Drake. "You couldn't control you power."

Focus, Jon.

I focused on the power of the solar flare. I did it somewhat with my battle with that purple alien guy, but it was still wild. I needed this to be perfect. I focused the energy into my heat vision. I could tell right away the beam was getting stronger. I let my fear of the future and my frustration for being rejected by the Titans flow into it. But this time, I didn't let it consume me. Just like with the guilt over Goldie, I let it go. I let it flow out of me; I accepted it. I finally got what Dad said about not worrying about some possible future; now was what mattered.

Oz began to move back as he realized my power was increasing, but it was too late. The heat vision blasted through his and traveled through his left eye and into the embedded kryptonite. The blast hit the shard.

The next thing I felt was a blast of energy and I was flung backwards. Smoke, dust, and heat rose around us. Everything got dark and blurry for a moment. I groaned slightly as the smoke cleared. Mr. Oz was also thrown against a wall. He looked to be unconscious. Oz's cloak began to crumble and what was left underneath was Jor-El in his Kryptonian clothes. He suddenly opened his eyes. Both were blue. The scar over his left eye slowly began to heal. And more of his white hair was coming back.

He stood with a soft groan. "Jon, are you all right?"

I nodded, not quite sure what to make of this situation.

"Jon...the kryptonite...it, I...I'm sorry for what happened." He held out his hand to help me up. "Let's get back to your father."

***

Jor-El led me deeper into the Blue Light Technologies building. He seemed to know where he was going. I didn't ask how he knew what to do. Finally, we reached something similar to an airport terminal. There were lots of chairs for people to sit in, and there was a desk and what looked like a departure times board. It looked like it hadn't been used in awhile.

"Shift 118 to 12-1b-$A departing at 7:15," I read.

Jor-El slipped behind the desk and began typing on the computer. Across from us stood a large mirror with a black frame. It had strange purple lettering on it. In each corner was some kind of crystal-gem: red, green, blue, white. Somehow, I could tell what the writing said. "The three dimensions of space. The fourth dimension of time. The fifth dimension of imagination and magic. The six dimension of the Nothing. The seventh dimension of the Everything. The eighth dimension of the Dark Tower at the Center of Creation. The ninth dimension of the Great Old Ones." There were some more, but Jor-El interrupted me.

"It's ready."

Suddenly the writing lit up and the stones glowed. The mirror then stopped copying me. I saw me, but he/I was aboard Jor-El's ship. A sign to the side of the mirror stated, "Shift to 52-dC-0F now boarding."

"That explosive pulse of yours," said Jor-El, "didn't reboot our world; it just shifted us here. It's time to go home. Touch the mirror."

I reached for the mirror. It felt cool and rippled under my touch. Suddenly, the mirror's surface broke free and covered me in its silvery liquid. I panicked and gasped. I wanted to scream but the quicksilver-like substance covered my mouth.

"In a near-infinite sea of possibilities, no one can hear you scream," Mr. Oz's voice echoed in my head.

***

"Jon," said a muffled voice. "Jon."

I slowly opened my eyes. "Mom?"

"Oh thank heavens, you're all right." She embraced me in a hug that'd put bears to shame.

"Mom...too tight."

"You're invulnerable. You'll live."

That's when I realized something. She was taller than me. I gasped as she released me. I checked my hands then ran my hand through my hair.

"Is something wrong, Jon?" she asked.

My clothes. I wore sneakers and ripped jeans. I had my Superboy jacket on. A slight ripple also told me that this was not my original suit. Shortly after reaching Jor-El's ship, he gave me one of the Kryptonian suits. "It'll keep you safe while we travel," he said. "There are great dangers out there. Even for us." Not long after putting the suit on, it changed into the Superboy suit I wore—but this one still fit.

I let out a gasp of excitement, joy, and relief. "I'm ten again!"

"Again? I think you have some explaining to do."

"In a moment." I glanced up and down the hall. "Where's Grandpa?"

"He's already setting a course for Earth." Mom got that look on her face. You know the one. "Jonathan Samuel Kent, what is going on?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Uh, where do I begin?"

"The beginning is preferable."

"Uh...OK...The sounds of my feet clicking on the smooth floor echoed down the dark halls..."