Getting closer to the end of the story and the end of the mystery.
Start placing your bets!
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CJ descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen. His father was sitting at the table quietly eating a bowl of cereal. Aside from him, the house was completely empty.
“Morning.”
His father lowered his spoon. “Good morning.”
“Um, where’s Mom?”
“Getting a haircut.”
“Oh.” There was something cold and distant about his father’s responses. CJ came further into the kitchen and stood by the table. “Where’s John and Laura?”
“Visiting your grandmother.”
He stilled. The house had been cleared on purpose. But why?
“Sit down, son. Your breakfast is on the table.”
CJ pulled out his chair and slowly sank into it. There was a plate of food in front of him; next to the plate was a section of the newspaper, turned to an article about Metropolis’s newest superhero. Something was sticking out from between the pages. With two fingers, CJ pulled the black strip of cloth out of the newspaper.
His mask.
Clark watched him as he stared silently at the domino in his hand.
“You know?”
“Yes, I do.” Clark stood and put his dish in the sink. “CJ, we need to talk. First of all, what possessed you to go out and do something like this behind my back?!”
“I just wanted to help.”
“I see. CJ, wanting to help is a fine and noble thing, but you’re just a kid! You don’t have enough experience to go out and try to clean up Metropolis by yourself!”
“I am not a kid!” CJ snapped, “I’m seventeen years old! And besides, *somebody’s* got to do something about the crime wave!”
“Seventeen still makes you a kid, CJ! A young, very green kid, and if you go out there and try to declare war on the Underworld, all you’re going to succeed in doing is getting yourself killed!”
“I’m not gonna get myself killed, Dad!”
“Oh?! And who’s the fortuneteller who told you *that*? You’re an amateur CJ; you have no idea what you’re doing, and some of the criminals out there are seasoned pros! They’ll maim you and humiliate you just for laughs, and when they get bored with you, they’ll just pick you off like an insignificant bug! A mere pest!”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I have superpowers, just like you!”
Clark slammed his hand down on the newspaper, nearly breaking the table. “I know that! And so do the papers! Don’t you get it, CJ? If they know that ‘Nightwing’ has Superman’s powers, it won’t take long for them to realize that he probably also has Superman’s weakness!
“You’ve never been exposed to Kryptonite, CJ; I hope you never are. It’s a very unpleasant experience. It’s the worst pain you can ever imagine! And even if you get away from it before it can kill you, it still weakens you to the point that anything else can!
“I don’t want to wake up one morning, open the paper, and read that my son was found lying dead in an alley or something! It would break my heart; it would break your mother’s heart, and we would have a hell of a time explaining it to your brother and sister!”
“Dad, that’s not gonna happen!”
“You’re damn right it’s not gonna happen, because you’re going to give up this ‘Nightwing’ foolishness right now!”
“No I’m not!”
“CJ, you didn’t just say that.”
“Dad, you can’t make me give it up! You don’t control my life!”
“In case you’ve forgotten, CJ, I’m your father!”
“I’m not so sure about that anymore!”
“Oh? And I suppose you think you got those superpowers from your mother?”
“My father helped people; he didn’t sit by and watch the world go to Hell in a hand basket! I don’t know *who* the hell *you* are!”
“Do you think I *like* being retired? Do you think I get some secret thrill from sitting idly by while people out there get hurt? I retired so I could be here for my family who needs me, CJ; not so I could watch my oldest son run out there and commit suicide!”
“Who needs a hypocrite? When I was a kid you taught me that it was important for each person to try to make a difference, that evil prevails when good men do nothing! You taught *all* of us that! What are you teaching us now?”
“That family is important! That a man should be there for his children!”
“Dad…” CJ sucked in a breath and lowered his voice. “Dad, please listen. When you were Superman, you got called away a lot; yeah, but you didn’t neglect us! You were always there when we needed you!”
“No I wasn’t! Don’t you remember your tenth birthday? The one I completely *missed* because I spent the entire day in Timbuktu? I still can’t shake the look you gave me when I finally returned home!”
“What about when I was five and I ran out in the snow in just my shorts and caught pneumonia?”
“CJ, that was the scariest week of my life!”
“I know. Mom said you never left my side. She also said she saw your head perk up several times. Dad, you might’ve missed a few special occasions, but you were always there when it was important!”
“But that’s not enough, CJ. Look at you; you’re almost a full-grown man now, and yet there’s so much about you that I don’t know!”
“Dad, nobody knows everything there is to know about their kids. Yes, there’s a lot about me that you don’t know, and there’s probably a lot about me that you’ll *never* know.”
“I would at least like to *try* to get to know you, CJ.”
“Okay then, fine! If you want, you can cut back on the Superman thing, but don’t retire. Please? I know you want us to have a dad, but if you force yourself to not be who you are, then you’re not giving us our real dad! I want my dad back.”
Clark sighed. “Alright, CJ. I’ll come out of retirement. But I want you to promise me that you’re not going to be Nightwing anymore!”
“Okay, fair enough. I promise.”
