The Son of Bat - 4. The Boy of Hope

A few hours later, I arrived at the small base that Batman had set up just beneath the city of Metropolis. The place was always loud and always bright. It was like the complete opposite of Gotham. There were no crime lords or mafia that were trying to take each other’s throats out.

I didn’t leave a note about my whereabouts. Only Nightwing knew about it and I was sure that father would assume that I was on a mission with the Teen Titans. It would be a matter of time before he would find out what I was getting into. And I didn’t have the intention to tell him just yet. Batman would be too detached to even care.

Based on the report findings on the blood culture, the boy’s name was Aethaniel Chris. He was an orphan adopted by a couple in Metropolis. His foster parents’ names were Brian and Jennifer Marshall. As of the moment, the full custody was still not yet given to the couple and would still take a few months. He was just adopted recently from a nearby city. The boy was also 13 years old like me even if he looked a lot younger. Plus for some reason, he had an inconsistent record on his past.

It was the best bet to check him out on his school. Based on the social records that I tapped into, he was studying in Metropolis Junior High School that was right beside the Elementary wing where Jonathan Kent was. Even if I didn’t want to check out on him, his super hearing might be able to pick up my presence. Might as well use this chance to mentor him if he was going to be involved. Having Superboy as my back up was a very advantageous choice.

I had to use the janitor-disguise again because there wasn’t really any other choice that I had. If I disguised as a student then I would get myself in detention for not being in class. And detention wasn’t really at the top of my list.

Tapping into the school surveillance system was on my priority list and being the janitor gave me access to it. I entered the lounge and took out my gadget before I used my tools to create a window opening on the data lines behind the walls. As I expected, it gave me the records of the camera and it wasn’t hard to hack into their system. I started downloading the information to take a review on it later. Then I felt the presence of another person entering the door. It was most likely Jon.

“What are you trying to do, dimwit?” I asked him. My voice was kinda muffled from the fake mustache I was wearing. I didn’t bother to take a look at him since I had no intention to be so close with the boy. “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 anytime.” Jon mumbled. But I completely ignored him. He really acted like Superman Jr. and it was kind of irritating. The way they move around and speak were getting too identical. My device finished downloading the records and I started fixing things up before we get noticed. “Damian, listen to me.”

“First of all, both our parents aren’t here so I will allow you to say curse words.” I admonished. My gadget made a whirring sound as I finished cleaning up the devices that I used to hack into the system. “And second, I am disguised as a janitor. You are the one who isn’t supposed to be here because you are a student, farm boy.”

Then I frowned at the boy in front of me. He was wearing a cap and thick nerd glasses to conceal his secret identity. Although he was pretty obvious that he was Superboy. His messy dark hair was a bit longer than the last time I saw him and his deep blue eyes were really standing out. In short, Jonathan Samuel Kent was a very handsome boy. And it was only a matter of time before he would start learning the bad realities of life.

I walked past him and he had no choice but to follow me. Jon was pretty easy to intimidate because he didn’t have much experience with being a superhero. Both of us made our quick exit before someone would notice. We went our separate ways as I walked around the hallways after I watched the records. I used the face-recognition program to check out if Aethaniel was around the school lately. If he was seen lately then that was more than enough to track him down easily.

The device made a small alarm as it revealed all the sightings of the boy. It looked like he was a stupid kid. Aethaniel was seen that morning in the school grounds. He was wearing a violent hoodie. His blonde hair and sullen blue eyes were very easy to recognize. I checked the other sightings and he was seen on the rooftop multiple times. When I checked the time-frame, it seemed that Aethaniel would always go up to the rooftop every after class. And that already snapped a plan into my mind.

As I was going around, I passed by Jon’s locker and took a quick guess on his combination. I tried his birthday and it immediately opened up. It looked like he was just as silly has his father. Just underneath his books was his Superboy jacket that also served as his costume. I put it in a spare bag and left a note to go the rooftop after class.

The day went on quickly and I ended up waiting on the rooftop. I was just standing right beside the door just in case someone came out. There was going to be a battle and I felt it. But I had a few surprises prepared for Aethaniel in case he was going to use a lot of tricks on me. I heard the bell rang and there was a sudden eruption of noise form downstairs. The other kids were probably on their way home. After a few minutes, Jon went through the door and didn’t notice me at first. He took a pause before turning around to look at me.

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

Then I walked towards him as I removed my janitor disguise. The plastic face mask hugged my skin tightly. It stretched as it slowly let my face go. My Robin suit was just already prepared underneath my clothes. Disguising oneself along with my voice was one of the first few things I learned from the League of Assassins. It offered the element of surprise and scouting within enemy lines.

“I have traced an important person here in your school. And based on my personal investigations, he should show up anytime now.” I explained as I removed the rest of my clothes and showed him my Robin suit. Then I threw him the bag that contained his Superboy jacket. “I believe this is yours.”

“How did you…?” Jon exclaimed. But I just frowned at him further. The boy was an idiot for using such an obvious combination. I didn’t have to be the son of the Bat in order to figure it out. “Oh, never mind. I almost forgot you’re Robin, the Boy Wonder.”

Jon suited up and wore his Superboy jacket before closing the zipper up to his chest then removed his red cap along with his thick nerd-glasses. He rustled his hair as I raised one of my brows in question of his low class costume. Jon just looked like a cosplayer who failed his target look of Superman. I started checking out the gadget in my belt to make sure they are complete. And I made sure the special Birdarang I modified was with me.

Superboy looked back as he was finished getting dressed. His red cape dangled in the wind that showed the yellow S symbol just like the cape of his dad. At least my suit was still far from my father’s. It wasn’t a complete knock-off. Jon’s ear twitched and his face all got serious. “Quick, he’s here.”

“Fly us there to the building’s other wing.” I commanded. Jon grabbed me and I rode on his back, piggy-style. I would’ve said that he was being an effective donkey but held back. And honestly, I never liked the fact that I had to ride him every time we got into a situation like this. It was dead awkward. “We can spy him from there.”

I felt Jon concentrating and in one jump, he was able to lift us both. But there was friction between his back and my crotch causing a strong stimulation. My mind was suddenly back to what Grayson did to me and how good it felt. For some reason, I wanted more. I couldn’t get out the sick suggestion he made that I should look for someone to play it with. And the first person that popped into my mind was the good looking boy right under me. I couldn’t help myself but to pop a boner and I was wondering if he felt it.

When we landed on the other wing, I prepared myself for Jon’s big question. His face was a bit of red and I knew he felt it. Before he could ask, both of us saw a kid came out of the door. So we hid from plain sight and crouched. The target was where I wanted him to be. There was no way I was going to let him get away this time. I was able to think of a strategy that could pin him down.

“Who’s that?” Superboy asked. Aethaniel was wearing his usual dark violet jack and had his hood on. From the looks of it, he was very cautious as he looked around to make sure that no one followed him. But the next thing he did was unusual. It caught my attention and the only point of comparison I had was Raven. He sat down in the middle of the rooftop. So I took out a pair of small binoculars to check him out. “What the H is he doing?”

“He’s a magic user.” I stated as I observed him from my lenses. Aethaniel’s mouth was moving and I couldn’t read his lips properly because he must have been saying something in an unknown language. I could only assume that he was speaking some sort of enchantments. “I was tracking him down my since my last mission.”

“And why?” He asked again. I grunted in annoyance. He was obviously not yet ready to be a superhero. Superman was stupid to allow his boy to be part of big things like this. I was starting to doubt if I should’ve called the Teen Titans instead of Jon. “Is he involved in some kind of evil group? Just who is this kid?”

“No.” I muttered. But I focused on Aethaniel who was sitting cross-legged on the floor and he started to levitate in mid-air. Plus, his eyes were glowing and there were some marks on the floor in a circular pattern that were also glowing. I took a snap shot of the marks so I could research them further when I have some extra time. “His real name is Aethaniel Chris. The boy was an orphan but grew up in an alternate dimension where he learned magic.”

The last part was just a hunch since he had a very mysterious history. We observed from a distance. I drew a couple of Birdarangs just in case. Aethaniel would most like have empathic abilities and should be able to sniff us out if he was this much in focus. And as expected, he looked at us as I threw the specialized Birdarangs at him that released a couple of bolas to restrain his movements.

With a snap of his fingers, my projectile weapons burst into flames as I shot my hook to a nearby roof and engaged him in combat. Superboy used his flight ability and charged straight at him. A typical maneuver Kryptonians would use. But both of us suddenly hit an invisible wall. Probably a spell that he managed to cast. Aethaniel has his hands in flames and started throwing at me. It wasn’t all that fast so dodging them were a lot easier.

Much to my surprise, Superboy suddenly blasted our opponent with a wall of ice that erupted from his breathe. But Aethaniel was nowhere to be found. The kid was able to quick-cast a displacement portal. However, I knew that the range wouldn’t be too far. As expected, he was just a few feet away from the ice wall that Jon had made. I looked at him as he went out of his portal with eyes glowing, embraced in a shroud of magical energy and was in mid-air.

“Why did you follow me?” He asked as he glared at me. But then I threw another set of Birdarangs but with a wave of his hand, it flew away from the intended target and was jolted back to me. Thankfully, grandfather had taught to me effectively dodge those kinds of attacks. I knew that the battle was almost over. Aethaniel was getting tired based on his movements. He wasn’t prepared for a fight. “I just wanted to be at peace and I thought I finally got that. Why ruin it for me?”

I ran at him and threw my trump cards. They were a couple of specially modified discs and it should be able to stop him from casing spells. Jon was surprised that I didn’t hit our enemy with it. I clicked the switch at my belt and the discs emitted high-frequency waves that could disrupt anyone’s concentration. Then I noticed Superboy clutching his ears and was wincing in pain. But I had to push on since Aethaniel was also pinned down. His mind should be highly saturated with magical energy and the waves were designed to cause disruptive signal amongst the same frequency as the magical energy inside him.

I slowly walked towards him with a smug on my face. “You’re not the only one with new tricks.”

Aethaniel fell on the floor as he clutched his head. But then he tried to charge at me and I hit him on the nape with a back-hand strike. The boy was knocked unconscious with one swoop. So I pressed the off-switch before further harm was done to Jon.

“What the H were you thinking?” Superboy roared at me. The boy approached me with a frown on his face and suddenly lifted me up with one hand. “That hurt and you didn’t even warn me!”

“My goal here was to secure this good, you dimwit!” I gritted my teeth. Then I slowly crept my hand towards the switch. “Now put me down before I use lethal force on you!”

Superboy raised his arm against me which forced me to click the switch. The discs emitted the specialized waves again and he fell to his knees, grabbing his ears. Jon needed to know his place. He may be Superman’s son and a half-Kryptonian but I was still far more superior than this farm boy.

“I can make this thing emit stronger waves.” I said. But I knew he shouldn’t be able to hear me clearly. And I didn’t care anyway. “Calm down and I’ll turn it off.”

“Fine!” Superboy groaned so I flipped the switch. That should make him cower down in fear of me. I proceeded to tying up Aethaniel before he would open his eyes and get away from us. “What are we going to do with him?

“TT” I clicked my tongue. Then I made a smug as I glared at Jon. “I will teach you the basics of interrogation.”