SUP Chapter 22: Homecoming! The Change in Superman!

The pendant was flickering.

Like a faintly beating heart, it emitted an ominous deep black glow.

Exactly like the color of that evil spirit.

“Did the spirit slip inside?” Ian held the pendant, examining it closely, but found no seams to pry open. Even if the spirit was hiding inside, he couldn’t just dig it out with his hands.

As Ian puzzled over this.

“Ian?”

Clark Kent’s voice suddenly came from behind.

Ian jolted, startled, and turned to see his bespectacled father, carrying a briefcase, looking like he’d just returned from overtime.

“What are you doing standing at the door?”

Clark shrugged the shoulder with the briefcase, his tone puzzled. Facing a parent, Ian instinctively let go of his jacket, covering the pendant beneath his shirt.

He knew.

If Clark wanted, he could see right through to Ian’s bone cells, but seeing Clark’s normal expression, Ian figured his dad wasn’t constantly using his super vision.

“I’m thinking about something.”

Ian gave a dry laugh, quickly finding an excuse.

“Stop daydreaming, come on, let’s go home.” Clark seemed to buy it, accepting the explanation, and reached out with a warm hand to pat Ian’s shoulder.

He headed toward the front door first.

Ian followed closely.

Opening the door, warm lights and the sound of the TV flooded out. They walked in, one after the other, to find Jonathan sprawled on the couch scrolling his phone, Jordan fiercely mashing buttons on his game controller, and Lois standing at the kitchen doorway, biting her finger.

Her expression seemed to relax when Ian and Clark entered.

“I ran into Ian at the door after working late.” Clark spoke up, his tone suggesting he was unaware of Ian’s late return, though his two brothers clearly knew.

“So, where the heck were you? Coming back this late.” Jordan glanced at Ian, then returned to his fighting game on the TV screen.

Before Ian could answer.

Jonathan cut in, his tone exaggerated, “Bet he was out dating, right? Our little Ian’s finally wised up, hanging out with a girl after school.”

He winked at Ian, clearly covering for him. Obviously, before Ian got home, Lois’s mood must’ve been bad, maybe even throwing a few tempers.

Ian’s heart warmed.

But he was prepared for this.

“No! Way scarier than hanging with a girl!” Ian patted his chest, and both brothers froze, the whole family’s attention instantly on him.

“I was actually kidnapped by a taxi driver, a huge scary guy with a partner. He took me to an abandoned house and almost got me killed.”

“But I was smart, managed to steal… steal a bike, pedaled like crazy to get back.” Ian nearly slipped, almost revealing his Grand Theft Auto escapade.

That would’ve definitely set off Lois’s temper. Of course, he only tweaked the truth in this final detail; everything else was fact.

But Clark’s eyelids twitched several times.

“Traffickers?”

Jordan put down his controller, his tone shocked. He’d been pummeling a character named “Lightning” in his game, beating up some unauthorized Superman knockoff.

“Hm?”

Lois also looked at her husband with uncertainty. Clark returned a rather helpless expression, giving his wife a subtle nod.

“This isn’t some rebellious teen nonsense story?” Jordan eyed Ian suspiciously, but seeing Ian’s frown, he judged his little brother wasn’t lying.

“Damn it! And you didn’t call the cops? What’d the driver look like? Got the license plate?” Jordan, quick to anger, slammed the table, reaching for his phone.

“Criminals these days are too bold. What’s Superman even doing? Crime rates are still sky-high after all these years!” Jordan grumbled furiously, about to dial 911.

“We’re a white family.”

Before the operator could speak, Jordan was already announcing himself, and you could hear the call being rerouted with a noticeable lag.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

The operator answered.

At that moment, Clark, his mouth twitching, stepped up and pressed the hang-up button.

“Dad? Don’t tell me, even in a situation like this, we’re supposed to back off?” Jordan’s relationship with Clark wasn’t great, so his tone was laced with fire.

“We’ll handle this. You kids go to your rooms.” Clark didn’t respond, just spoke in an authoritative parental tone that brooked no argument.

Jordan was about to explode.

Jonathan held him back.

“Is it because the people who kidnapped Ian were targeting you two?” Jonathan’s imagination was vivid, always sensitive to their parents’ high-risk journalism jobs.

“Kids.”

Lois stepped in, “Listen to your dad. Trust us, we’ll take care of this. Ian won’t be in any more danger.”

“Right, Clark?”

She glanced at her husband.

“…”

Clark opened his mouth, wanting to tell the truth, but after looking at his two older kids, he nodded, promising all three.

“No one can hurt my children.”

He gave Ian, who was trying to blend into the background, a pointed look. Maybe the promise worked, or perhaps a mother’s words were more soothing than a father’s.

“That better be true!”

Jordan shot Clark a look, grabbed Ian, and headed upstairs. “Looks like starting tomorrow, we’ve gotta take you to school. You can wait for us to head home together.”

Their high schools were indeed close by.

“Uh.”

Ian wanted to protest.

Jonathan joined them, “You gotta tell us how you escaped those kidnappers. That’s badass. If it was me, I’d be toast.”

Both brothers showed their concern for Ian in their own ways.

Ian’s heart warmed.

Quietly, under his brothers’ escort, he went upstairs. Clark and Lois didn’t stop them, just watched the three brothers leave the first floor.

Once the kids’ footsteps faded completely.

“So, what’s the truth?” Lois immediately turned to Clark, arms crossed, expression stern. She knew both Ian and her husband were hiding something.

“This might be a scary story.” Clark took a deep breath, removed his glasses, and rubbed his nose. But he didn’t immediately recount what he’d witnessed.

“To be honest, I still haven’t figured out if Ian’s sudden change is related to what happened to me this morning.” Clark rolled up his sleeve.

And there, a ghastly wound ran across his muscle, its edges glowing with an eerie green light, as if some energy surged within, preventing his flesh from healing.

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