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Dad was powerless. Practically human is what the doctors said. Natalie, John Irons and Jordan were all focusing on how to defeat Ally. Mom and Grandpa were going over the information Lucy gave them to help. Dad was still weak, tired. Trying to pay attention to Grandpa even as he falls asleep.
Jon bit his thumb. There was something he could do to help with Ally. Everyone was focused on something more important. He doesn’t want to do this, not really. But better him than someone who has a future.
He doesn’t have the necklace. But the merging has already begun. He’s just been fighting it. It wasn’t stopped, only delayed. If he can get to his other self, they won’t need the pendant. The pendant, Jon discovered, only starts the process. But there is no off button. Not when both are alive.
It was easy to slip out the house without anyone taking notice. He expected that. He does not expect to make it to where Jon-El is.
He doesn’t expect to walk right into the base. He does. They probably were focused on Ally. Too focused to spot the teenager. Or they knew he was General Lane’s grandson.
It can’t be anything else.
His doppelganger shot up from the cot at the sound of footsteps. There was a forced smile on Jon-El’s face even as clear blue eyes held hope. Did his own face reveal so much? If it did then why does no one notice?
Doesn’t matter. It won’t matter if everything goes to plan.
“Fight Ally and I will agree to merge,”
“I’ve been under the yellow sun too long,” Jon-El scoffs, though there was a hope layered in his words.
“And I just walked into a restricted military base with no problems,” Jon countered, willing to admit that was strange but not willing to examine further, “Besides, Ally didn’t have powers and merging gave her some. Surely our…genes would give us an advantage,”
“We would just rejoin Ally. Unlike our parents, she wants to help me,” the hesitancy in Jon-El’s voice was all Jon needed.
“She is already here, been here for a while. Long enough to break you out if she really cared,” Jon gave an empty laugh, “It’s just more of the same. Even your aunt Lana is here. Yet you’re still locked up,”
Jon-El shrugged, attempting casual. But this was a version of him and Jon sees the hurt and acceptance flit across his face.
“Why bother for either world, then?”
“You want to merge, don’t you?” Jon shoved his hand in his pocket so he didn’t chew his thumb, “That’s my price,”
Jon-El tilted his head, gaze flickering over him in thought. Jon tried to pretend he hadn't done the same. But he remembers dad saying Jon-El could make amends.
And maybe the reason he is messed up is because he’s only half of what he should be. Incomplete. Jon doesn’t know who he is. There was just emptiness.
He doesn’t know who he was even with football. It was something that he enjoyed and distracted him from the emptiness. Everything is an act. He can’t keep it up. Can’t keep ignoring the numbness.
There has to be something wrong with him. He’s staring right in his own face without a mirror. And they were both messed up.
It has to be inside him. Why else would he be messed up in two universes?
“The only price?” his other-self narrowed his eyes, irritation colouring his tone.
“And you leave my family alone,”
“I won’t go after them,” Jon-El smirked, “Unless it’s self-defense,”
“The only one that will come to that is Ally,”
“Fine. I will fight Ally and leave your precious family alone in exchange for merging,” Jon-El snaps but it’s all show. He wants the merge as much, even more than Jon does. He’s messed up in both worlds. But Jon knows his other self won’t back out.
Jon-El glanced around his prison, “Uh, powerless me, how exactly are we going to get out of here?”
“Give me a minute,” He kneeled on the floor, staring at the base of the prison cell. Jon ran a hand over it, feeling the pulsing. In his third run, he finds the release button. Pressing it, the walls holding his other self shut down.
Jon-El steps out, turning to stare at the cell he was just in. “I thought you didn’t have powers,”
“I don’t,” he snaps, “Merging will give us powers,”
“Denial!” Jon-El crows but doesn’t continue. Instead he spreads out his arms, “Let’s do this,”
Jon can’t go back on his word. At least this way, he can step up. Be useful.
Taking a deep breath, he clasped his doppelganger on the shoulders. Letting the wall down as he stopped fighting the merge’s pressure. Wind whipped through them as they both started glowing.
It didn’t hurt. Not this time. Jon-El drew closer to him, his body absorbing and disappearing as he became one with Jon.
The glow around them settled down, placing them gently on the floor. Two consciousnesses, one body. It appeared unstable. Unstable enough that if one of them fights the other, it could destroy them both.
Jon should be concerned but he knew Jon-El wouldn’t back out. He settled into the back. He could feel a tingling Jon-El’s memories telling him that it was their cells absorbing the solar energy that both of them had been exposed to. Jon doesn’t know how to handle powers and he was tired. Exhausted. Been tired for months.
“Urgh, why did the merge accept your awful taste in fashion?” Jon-El grimaced, poking at his yellow jacket.
Says Hot Topic, Jon grumbles within their head. He doesn’t have any desire to take control. Surprising.
“Oooh, flight is back!” Jon-El grinned, shooting straight up as he chose not to respond to Jon’s comment. Jon knew there was something else Jon-El wanted to add. Jon-El tilted their head, “Woah, superhearing’s back,”
Ally is still a threat.
“We will get on it. We just need my fire breath,” Jon-El frowned, “Oh, I suppose it would be fire vision this time, huh?”
Jon shrugs from within his - their mind. There wasn’t anything he could do to help with that.
Jon-El whoops as he flips in the air, “We have all of them! Let’s destroy Ally!”
He thinks he should be more concerned by those choice of words. But Jon feels lighter. A little happier.
He can’t bring himself to be concerned. It’s not like those words were said about anyone else. Only Ally.
Jon-El tilts their head, letting noises crowd in and out. Jon can’t make sense of them but he knows Jon-El does. He can’t filter the outside world but he can understand Jon-El. They’re hearing the battle against Ally. Something bubbles up inside them - joy - as Jon-El lets out a whoop.
Ally would expect Jon-El to still be loyal to her. They will use that.
They will be useful.
They fly towards the fight.