Superboy Chronicles - 1. Welcome to Metropolis

“Dad, I don’t think I can do this.” I admitted. My knees buckled as I approached my school. Kids were all over the place and all I could see was the dangers of having my powers exposed. But my father was a big guy and he was the world’s greatest superhero. I practically had no escape. “I feel like a failure already.”

“Nonsense.” He nudged at me. His warm and gentle smile seemed to brighten everyone’s day. Especially my mother’s. And then the public eyes. “You won’t really know if you haven’t tried, Jon. And if you don’t try, you won’t learn. That would be the last thing I wanted happen.”

“But dad…” I protested.

“No buts.” My father admonished. Firm but gentle. Strong but soft-hearted. A man of justice and of strong moral compass. I could literally fit in his shadow. “I believe in you Jonathan. Your mother and I are proud of you.”

“Fine.” I put on my brave face. But in reality, I was holding back tears. I was lucky that I have Superman as my dad. “I’ll stay out of trouble for you.”

“Good. That’s my boy!” He rubbed my back. Something he always does to show how much he loves me. We were still both in our family car and he was on his way to work. “But I wouldn’t really say that. You know why?”

“Why, dad?” I chirped.

“Because good guys always get involved.” He advised me. And at that moment, it made a lot of sense. My dad would always something random but profound in many ways more than one. That’s why I love him. He always get involved in the affairs even if it would cost him. “And you’re one of the good guys.”

I nodded with a smile at him and opened the door. The kids that were over the place seemed to be friendly enough. I was wearing a jacket and my usual jeans. A cap was on my head and I adjusted the thick glasses on my face. Dad always told me to hide my identity. After all, I was Superboy.

As I walked through the hallways trying to find my next class, I reminisced the adventures my dad and I had. There were a lot of people I meet whenever I traveled with him. The Fortress of Solitude back in the North Pole was one. That was when we get to tag team and beat down one of his opponents who was a clone of him. But it can really scary because mom could get hurt.

I also got to meet the JLA. Everyone seemed to be happy when they saw me. But with the exception of Batman. He seemed to be always brooding endlessly. Dad said he was an expert at that. His lips didn’t even show a slight of smile. So I thought that Batman wasn’t really amused with me.

And then he allowed me to make acquaintances with his son, Robin. His real name was Damian Wayne and he was a very spoiled brat. To begin with, he would always find a creative way to insult me. Or at at least the people around me. But even so, he was a very strong boy despite having no powers. It had made me wonder if he could defeat me even if I have all these Kryptonian powers.

Every once a while, he would visit my school disguised as our janitor. He never had to go to school since he was already very smart. There was one time he told me that he could have been a graduate of PhD at the age of 5 and be my future profession. I didn’t like the sound of that, though. For sure, I would have flunked in his class after two weeks.

Speaking of which, I passed by the janitor’s lounge and used my X-Ray vision. It was a very handy power especially if I didn’t want to be obvious. When I snooped around, I saw him inside and tinkering something in one of the lockers. As usual, he was wearing the janitor disguise. But he was good at that. No one noticed that was thirteen year old boy in disguise. So I made a decision to surprise him. I silently turned the door knob and snuck up to him.

“What are you trying to do, dimwit?” He asked with his back still onto me. But he was still holding his device was installing some kind of gadget to the power-lines. “Don’t even try to sneak up on me. I could hear you from a mile away.”

“Yeah right. So what the H are you doing? You aren’t supposed to be here. Someone might come in any” I mumbled and crossed my arms. He would always find a way to pop my bubble. And it gets me annoyed every time. But the boy didn’t even attempt to notice me. “Damian, listen to me.”

“First of all, both our parents aren’t here so I will allow you to say curse words.” He replied. A whirring sound came from the device he was holding and he clean up all his gadgets. In one smooth flow, there was no trace of him being there. “And second, I am disguised as a janitor. You are those who isn’t supposed to be here because you are a student, farm boy.”

I just frowned at him and was actually tempted to use my heat vision. A good shot to his butt might push him down a notch. But then I tried to think of what dad would tell me. Especially if he knew that I shot Batman’s son with my powers.

The two of us exited the lounge carefully. We went separate ways before we got questioned by the school administrator. I promised the other night that I will not get to trouble. But in reality, trouble always seemed to find me. And I was right. Because what happened next was out of this world.

During the break-time between the classes, there was a small note in my locker from Damian. He must have slipped it through the hole.

Meet me on the roof after class. -D.W.

It just made me wonder why he wanted to meet with me. Every time we had to do a mission together, he would always tell me that I was nothing but a vulnerability. My dad found a way for me to be able to join the Teen Titans. But Damian made sure that I wasn’t welcomed by him. The others loved me though. They complimented by Kryptonian powers. As well as the symbol on my chest. It was a burden I had to carry just like my dad. The symbol of hope wasn’t always a good thing.

The rest of the day went on quickly and I went up to the roof just how Damian had told me to. When I checked it out, the place was empty. I closed my eyes and tried to listen for a heartbeat. And it was a good call because I heard him just behind me. He had a brooding look, just like his father. I guess the apple doesn’t really fall far from the tree.

“What’s up?” I asked him. “I’m sure you have something in mind.”

Then he walked towards me and slowly removed his disguise. The face mask was made out by some kind of plastic to make him look like an old man, complete with all the gross wrinkles. It was some sick form of cosmetics. But it didn’t bother Damian at all. Not one bit.

“I have traced an important person here in our school. And based on my personal investigations, he should show up anytime now.” Then he started removing the janitor uniform. Under his clothes was his Robin costume. He brought out a bag that I hid my Superboy jacket. Believe me, I was surprised he took it out of my locker. “I believe this is yours.”

“How did you…?” I exclaimed. I frowned at him but he didn’t care. “Oh, never mind. I almost forgot you’re Robin, the Boy Wonder.”

I quickly changed my jacket to my other one and removed my red cap and thick nerd-glasses. I rustled my hair just enough since it was already getting longer. Robin just raised one of his brows and made sure his gear was all ready.

Then my ears twitched when I heard some footsteps coming from the stairs. I looked at Robin who was still waiting for me to finish getting dressed. My red cape dangled in the wind. The person was almost upon us. “Quick, he’s here.”

“Fly us there to the building’s other wing.” Robin commanded. I quickly grabbed his arm and he quickly rode me, piggy-back style. And it would still be awkward for every single time we did it. “We can spy him from there.”

Just with enough concentration, I flew and Robin was right behind me. And for some reason, something was poking from my back. There was probably a big question mark on my head. But before I could ask, a boy suddenly appeared from the stairs. I was able to make it to the other side and the two of us hid from plain sight. We crouched and started to check out what’s up with this particular kid.

“Who’s that?” I asked. The boy was wearing a dark violet jacket with his hood on. But I could see that he had sandy blonde hair and sullen blue eyes. The boy was looking around to make sure that no one followed him. Then he sat in the middle of the rooftop and I could hear that he was chanting some unknown language. “What the H is he doing?”

“He’s a magic user.” Robin stated. He was peeking through a pair of small binoculars that was from his utility belt. It just made me wonder just how many stuff can he pull out of that thing. “I was tracking him down since my last mission.”

“And why?” I asked again. Robin grunted to his annoyance. He just doesn’t like being asked repeatedly. “Is he involved in some kind of evil group? Just who is this kid?”

“No.” Robin muttered. When I checked the boy again, the boy was sitting cross-legged on the floor and he was levitating in the air. Plus, his eyes were glowing and there were some marks on the floor in a circular pattern that were also glowing. “His real name is Aethaniel Chris. The boy was an orphan but grew up in an alternate dimension where he learned magic.”

Robin and I were still observing him. And I think it would be best if we don’t make a move until we were sure what he was doing. Suddenly, his eyes darted towards us and my companion already made a move. He threw a couple of Batarangs at him that suddenly turned into a couple of bolas that could restrict his movements.

Aethaniel snapped his fingers and the thrown weapons suddenly ignited into flames and Robin already swung into action. I threw myself and flew towards my intended target. But the both of us were suddenly stopped on our tracks as if we had hit a solid wall. The boy suddenly started throwing fireballs at Robin who was dodging it graciously. When he targeted me, I took a deep breath and blew hard. My freeze breath created a huge ice wall between me and the target.

However, he was suddenly gone from his place. Then a small magic seal appeared a couple of dozen feet from the ice wall. He suddenly appeared from within the seal like some kind of portal. The boy’s body was levitating and his body was emitting a strong violet aura and his eyes were a fiery pair of glowing violet orbs.

“Why did you follow me?” He asked, pertaining to Robin. But my companion just threw another set of projectile weapon. With one wave of a hand from Aethaniel, they were jolted back to its owner. Robin barely managed to dodge them. “I just wanted to be at peace and I thought I finally got that. Why ruin it for me?”

Robin was silent and still ran towards the target. He threw a couple of Batarangs but hit the ground instead. I was about to protest his stupidity but the weapons suddenly emitted strong sonic waves that rung violently in my ears. I grunted in pain as I covered my ears and fell on the ground. The boy tried to cast a spell but the sonic wave had him pinned down and couldn’t cast a single one.

There was a smug on Robin’s face. “You’re not the only one with new tricks.”

Aethaniel fell on the floor, clutching his head. But he tried to charge towards Robin who easily out-maneuvered him. With one clean back-hand strike, he targeted the boy’s nape and he was knocked unconscious. Aethaniel fell on the ground, knocked out cold. Robin pressed something in his belt and the Batarangs stopped emitting the sound waves.

“What the H were you thinking?!” I roared at Robin. Then I stormed towards him and grabbed his shirt and lifted him off his feet. A normal boy wouldn’t be able to lift another with one hand. But I was no normal boy. I was Superboy! “That hurt and you didn’t even warn me!”

“My goal here was to secure this goof, you dimwit!” Damian gritted his teeth. But I knew he wouldn’t be able to fight me even if he wanted to. I was taller and stronger than him. “Now put me down before I use lethal force on you!”

I raised my arm and was about to punch him. But Robin clicked the command button again. The Batarangs emitted their sound waves again. I fell to my knees, grabbing my ears. He was always one step ahead of me even if I can over-power him.

“I can make this thing emit stronger waves.” He stated. I barely heard what he just said. The waves were more than enough to keep me down. “Calm down and I’ll turn it off.”

“Fine!” I groaned. Then he pressed the button again and it was off. Robin proceeded to tying up the unconscious boy by our feet. “What are we going to do with him?”

“TT” Robin clicked his tongue like he would always do whenever he was amused. I knew wasn’t going to have fun in this new mission. He would always be in control just because he was older. Yet, there was a sly smug on his face. “I will teach you the basics of interrogation.”

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