章節 6: Chapter 6: First Fight Part 2/2

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(General P.O.V)

A shadow glinted under the light of the sun, turning into a humanoid figure descending toward the ground.

With a loud impact, Jon landed back on the bridge, shaking its very foundations.

The two villains, now on their feet, appeared in his vision—both wary, yet still prepared for a showdown.

Livewire pushed off the truck, absorbing the remaining current in the vehicle's batteries. Her eyes crackled with electricity as she stared Jon down.

Metallo grunted as he stood, shrugging off his trench coat and revealing his shirtless chest.

The synthetic skin covering his metalic skeleton, failed to hide the green light pulsing from a square-shaped panel at the center of his Torso.

Veins of green energy appeared across the rest of his body, feeding the Kryptonite radiation through his system.

"You shouldn't have come back, kid." Metallo taunted, his gravelly voice tinged with a metallic drone.

"Now you're going to pay for your father's mistakes."

The only sign of Jon's anger was his clenching fists. Otherwise, his voice remained steady.

"You hurt my mom. Now I'll hurt you."

Livewire cut in with mocking laughtee, the sound echoing around the bridge.

"Brave words for a brat. Let's see if you can back them up, Kid."

Jon's eyes narrowed. Taking a deep slow breath, he focused on the solar energy running through his body.

The sensation of the sun shining above provided even more strength. It was intoxicating. He luxuriated in it, letting all that power fuel his legs.

Without warning, he launched himself at Metallo, his fist connecting with the villain's metallic jaw in a resounding crash, faster than the two villains could react.

Metallo staggered back, surprised by the force of the blow. He realized the folly of underestimating Jon. The hit had loosened some of the screws on his jaw bone.

From the side, Livewire retaliated, throwing her hands forward and sending a bolt of electricity at Jon.

He dodged backwards, the energy crackling before him in a blue streak and scorching the pavement.

He turned his attention to her, realizing he needed to avoid direct hits. Out of all his powers, none lagged behind as much Durability.

Dodging and weaving Livewire's attempt to roast him, his mind went to work.

'Lightning moves at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second (km/s). That is roughly Mach 880,000. Faster than my own speed of 7 km per second. But just because she can control it doesn't mean she's as fast as it.'

Jon thought, blurring toward her, faster than before.

With her high reaction speeds, Livewire perceived his approach and changed her attack pattern.

She started blasting away with fast bursts of electricity, failing at every turn as Jon reacted even faster, judging where she would aim.

Her eyes widened as he closed the distance in a blink, his fist striking her square in the gut.

The impact knocked the breath out of her and sent Livewire flying, body crashing into the guardrail with a loud thud.

Jon didn't let up. He followed through, determined to end the fight quickly.

A leap brought him sailing down onto her chest feet first.

Bamm!

He collided with the bridge.

The sound of metal shredding was followed by the guardrail shattering at the joints, a chunk of it falling into the river.

Behind Jon, Metallo recovered and charged, his fists swinging with deadly force.

Jon ducked under the first punch without even looking, spinning around and countering with an uppercut, his fist connecting with Metallo's exposed chin.

The blow sent Metallo reeling back, but he quickly regained his footing.

"You're strong, kid."

The villain growled,

"but you're no Superman. Your punches are weak."

The comment made the already irate Jon angrier.

"We'll see about that."

He replied, his eyes glowing with determination.

With a yell, he charged at Metallo, hand swung back in a hook that would show him how mistaken he was.

The villain smiled and ripped off the panel on his chest, exposing the Kryptonite core on the middle of his sternum.

The core pulsed with a wave of green radiation that washed over Jon.

'Shit.'

Jon stumbled, hand flopping to his side in sudden weaknees.

His body started hurting all over again, caused by the light of the Kryptonite.

Livewire materialized out of the remaining guardrails, having dodged Jon's blow by turning herself into a current and conducting through the metal.

"Let's see you dodge this, you stupid brat!"

Cackling madly, a massive streak of electricity surged out of her hands and stunned Jon.

"HhhmyaaarRRRGGGG!!!"

A scream escaped his lips, back arched as agony assaulted all his senses.

Getting electrocuted had nothing on the torment induced by Livewire's electricity. It was like Jon could feel the hatred and intent to do harm in the electric current assailing his body.

"Metallo! Keep that rock shining his way. We'll make Superman pay by finding the brat's scorched remains."

Livewire leered, pushing everything she had onto Jon. The electricity she was producing changed from blue to purple- becoming deadlier.

The ground below Jon melted and burns began appearing all around his back.

"Don't kill him!"

Metallo pushed her back, leading to the sustained attack fizzling out. "That honor is mine."

"Huh? Says who?"

Livewire frowned, challenging him with a growl.

The two started arguing while looming over a trembling Jon, his body smoking.

'I fucked up. Dropped my guard.'

Jon thought on his hands and knees.

The back of his palms had protruding green veins as a result of the Kryptonite radiation poisoning his body.

'It's leeching out all the solar energy in my cells. This is bad...'

He had underestimated the two supervillains, leading to Metallo taking advantage of his anger and tricking him.

And now his powers were gone, he was hurt all over, and death seemed to be the fate awaiting him. Fear warred with anger at himself.

'Stupid! Stupid!'

Jon felt foolish. After these three years...hadn't he learned anything?!

The crystal pendant hanging over his neck brushed against his hand.

'Wait...I did learn something.'

Jon realized through the pain,

'I learned not to panic under stress. I learned not to lose control. I learned how to beat my fear. I learned mental discipline.'

For three years, under the tutoring of Jor-El's copy in the Simulation Space, Jon had been studying everything to do with Krypton and his powers.

One of the practical skills they had touched on was Torquasm Vo, a Kryptonian martial arts discipline that taught mental resilience and awareness.

Without knowing, he had entered the first initial awakening of this art.

'Ignore the pain. Assess the situation.'

With great difficulty, he raised his head, finding the villains still arguing with each other on who would get to kill him and his mom.

The flash of anger that appeared was instantly cooled by his focus.

He didn't have enough energy to beat them. And there was no time to rest and restore his solar reserves.

'That only leaves one thing to do. Rip that Kryptonite out of Metallo and throw it away.'

He rationalized coldly, hands wrapping around the crystal pendant.

"...all I'm saying is, I have more reason to hurt HIM than you do! He turned me into a freak!"

Metallo yelled.

"That's exactly my point!"

Livewire countered.

"Do you have any idea how hard life is for someone who can shit lightning? You're lucky you became a metal man. I was turned into a fucking power plant!"

"Boo-freaking-hoo."

Jon suddenly interrupted them, now on his feet and glowing with a yellow light.

Before they could fully turn his way, his eyes lit up and white beams of lasers launched out, slamming into Livewire's torso and punching a hole straight through.

There was a moment where everyone was stunned.

Livewire stumbled back, pain and agony flashing across her face.

"Y-you..."

"Yes, me."

Jon looked back at her, expressionless.

To be honest, he hadn't meant to deal a killing blow, but the sudden solar energy infusion from the crystal pendant had temporarily filled him with too much power.

'I didn't lose control. I underestimated myself. That's all.' He decided.

But as a result, Livewire teetered on the edge of the bridge before unceremoniously falling off.

"S-shit."

Metallo turned to look at Jon, fear entering his eyes.

"Y-you killed her."

Jon said nothing.

With a roar, Metallo's chest began to glow, but Jon anticipated the move. He dodged the sudden beam of Kryptonite radiation to the side.

A single step and he was right in front of Metallo.

The latter couldn't react as Jon's hand reached out and grabbed the metallic casing around the Kryptonite core.

With a burst of strength, the young boy ripped it open, exposing the glowing green rock.

'Why is he not being affected?! I thought he was Supes' son!'

Metallo thought in disbelief.

"No!" he shouted, trying to shield the Kryptonite. But Jon was relentless.

Slapping Metallo's hands away, he grabbed the rock with his bare hand and yanked it out, the green glow fading as it left Metallo's chest.

The villain collapsed to the ground, his power source gone.

Jon acted like he had tossed the Kryptonite away, but secretly stored it inside the crystal pendant's small pocket dimension.

His cold gaze befell the cyborg under his foot.

Metallo's body jerked awkwardly. The hands tried to reach out to Jon only to fall listlessly. His now dull eyes seemed to regard Jon in terror.

"You were right," Jon whispered, exerting more strength onto the foot pressed on Metallo's neck.

"I'm nothing like my dad."

Metallo finally stopped moving.

The glow around Jon disappeared as he stopped supplementing his body with the crystal pendant's store of solar light. As a result, the crystal appeared duller than before- most of its energy was used up in shielding Jon from the Kryptonite.

"I...I killed them..."

Jon muttered with wide eyes, the focus and cold logic brought about by Torquasm Vo disappearing.

Now reality was checking him.

He had, by his own hands, taken the lives of two people. Even if they were villains, it didn't change the fact he had killed them.

What would his dad think? He was Superman and, above all else, hated the thought of taking lives. Yet his son had.

Jon didn't know what was worse—the fact he was more worried about what his dad would think, rather than feeling bad for his actions.

"It was in self-defense. A-and he hurt Ma."

he told himself.

What was there to feel bad about? He only protected himself. Yeah. Dad wouldn't know. No one would ever know. This would be his own dirty little secret. Everyone had one.

Now calm, Jon breathed out in relief,

"I just have to make sure I never kill again."

He stood there, his mind racing. The bridge was eerily silent except for the distant sound of sirens approaching.

He had no idea how long he had before someone arrived. He needed to leave, to process what had just happened.

The sirens grew louder, a reminder that the world would soon intrude on this moment of solitude.

Jon surveyed the scene one last time. Livewire's body was nowhere to be seen, likely washed away by the river, and Metallo lay motionless at his feet.

Jon turned away, taking a running leap as he jumped away from the bridge.

His mind replayed the events, analyzing each moment, trying to make sense of what he had done.

He felt a strange detachment, as if the enormity of his actions hadn't fully sunk in yet.

The only thing that bugged him, was why the two even came after him and his mom.

Or rather, how did they find out they were related to Superman?

Someone out there knew who Jon was. That he was the son of Superman. And that knowledge put his family in danger. He was now regretting taking out Metallo without interrogating him first.