Next Week

A man with dark hair was standing next to a hospital bed, he had a distinct smell of not taking a shower for a few days, his beard was un-kept and his hair was a mess.

The woman lying on the bed had gone into a coma due to excess blood loss.

An older man approaches the young adult. "Son, you need to give it a rest. You couldn't have done anything more than you already have. You are a doctor, not Superman."

Nathan: "I might not be Superman but I could have done something. She would be fine if I was paying attention, or was next to her when Polaris attacked..."

Ben: "You can't blame yourself for that. You couldn't have done anything even if you were there."

Nathan: "But I could... Dad, there is something I need to tell you."

At that moment May's eyes slowly opened, drawing two mans attention.

Ben: "Thank God you are okay."

May: "Ben, Nate, where am I?" she said trying to get up, only for both son and husband to stop her.

Nathan: "Mom, you are in the hospital. There was an accident in the gala, but you are fine now."

Ben: "Yes May, everything is alright now. Nathan, please go and call the doctor." Nathan nods his head and walks out of the door.

He comes back with a doctor and a nurse.

The doctor checks May's vitals and then turns to the father-son duo. "May looks fine to me, but as you both know we need to run a few tests to make sure. In the meantime go to the cafe, they have a strawberry cake that is to die for."

Ben nods his head "Thank you, Josh."

Ben and Nathan went to the hospital cafe they ordered the strawberry cake. Ben had a cup of coffee while Nathan had tea with it.

Ben: "So son, you were about to tell me something in there. What is it?"

Nathan: "It's nothing, dad.

Ben: "Are you sure? It sounded quite important."

Nathan: "Seeing mom like that was getting to me and I was blabbering about nothing in particular."

Ben raises an eyebrow, "I see..." he knows his son wasn't telling him something, he always knew that his son was hiding something from him and May. But Ben was fine with it. His son was a good, smart young man, so what if he had a secret or two, everyone had those.

Nathan: "So dad, I hadn't actually seen the news yet. Did they say anything about this new hero?"

Ben: "Oh yes. The news is calling him The Shadow."

Nathan: "I think it's kinda edgy, but to each his own I guess. How are the people viewing him?"

Ben: "Superman seems to approve of him, that actually made a lot of people look at him in a favorable light."

Nathan *nods*: 'Clark exudes that aura of trust, I guess some of it rubbed off to me thanks to our little talk.' he thought to himself before looking at his watch, his eyes widen "Dad, I need to go to the bathroom," his dad nods and Nathan goes to the bathroom, he goes into a stool, but instead of peeing he does a tiger hand seal and mutters "Kai"

Nathan then gets a sudden rush of memories.

-- A Few Seconds Earlier, New Mexico, Federal Maximum-X Security Penitentiary Number One --

Nathan's shadow clone was wearing his Shadow costume. He was standing in front of a Magneto wannabe with a wooden Senbon in his hand.

He checked his watch, it was less than a minute until it will be a week since his mother arrived at the hospital, in which time Neal would stop breathing...

SC: "10... 9... 8... 7-" and then the clone suddenly got dispelled, right before he had killed the man who put his mother to the hospital.

-- Back With Original Nathan --

Nathan *phew* 'Saved by the bell. That helmet head is very lucky, if I was a few seconds late he would have died... Not that he didn't deserve it.' he thought the himself

The original who had just gotten the memories of the clone was walking back to the cafe.

On his way there he bumped into a dark-haired woman. Her eyes were slightly puffy, she must have been crying, which wasn't that uncommon given that they were in a hospital.

Nathan looks at her face and it took him a good minute to remember who this was. "Hello, Jessica, fancy seeing you here."

Jessica: "Nathan..."

[To Be Continued]