It burned as they left the doctor's office. His mother worried over him as they settled in the car, thinking the boy had caught a fever in reaction to the vaccines.
The fever worsened when they arrived at home in their apartment in Gotham and she put him to bed early.
Sweating profusely in his bed, Jon did his best to keep it together, even when the strange voice spoke up in his mind.
[Primary user detected, implementing cellular changes.]
Jon nearly screamed when the pain started, a burning in his veins that quickly spread to the rest of his body. As he thrashed in bed, he knocked over his bedside lamp, causing it to break and somehow shock him.
And as if pre-ordained by an omniscient being, an explosion went off hundreds of miles away, but this wasn't your ordinary explosion. No.
It originated from the particle accelerator in Star Labs, sending out a pulse of energy that changed the genetic makeup to anyone who's bodies would accept the change, and Jon was one of them.
As the energy passed through him at the exact time the electricity did, he felt something change inside him. It wasn't radical, but it was there.
But before he could even attempt to process the change, his vision went dark, and he quickly found himself falling into the comforting embrace of unconsciousness.
—
…
…
Gasping to life, Jon grasped his chest, his heart racing a million miles an hour and his eyes darting around the room even faster.
As he realized that the dreams that attacked him in his sleep weren't present, he slowly relaxed, his breaths coming easier and slower.
What happened? He thought to himself, remembering the events of last night, the voice in his head, the strange energy that still sent chills through his body.
Then he noticed something strange. This isn't my room? He found himself to be sitting on a cot of some kind. It was comfortable, but he could tell it was still rather cheap.
There was equipment all around him, some beeping, some displaying strange patterns. …Am I in a hospital?
The next thing he noticed was that everything was…moving slow. Not the slow that one experienced when running on adrenaline, but so slow that it nearly looked as if time was standing still.
He could tell because one of the machines hooked up to him was displaying his pulse, which was slowly updating, showing a blank line. Is my heart moving too fast for it to monitor?
He had no way to answer that question, and while the experience was extremely cool, he wanted it to end already. As if responding to his thoughts, time resumed, the monitor picking his pulse back up now that it was slow enough.
Jon sat there, trying to understand why he was in a hospital, when a few moments later a man in a doctor's coat rushed through the door and froze when he saw him awake.
"Y-...You're supposed to be in a coma." He said incredulously.
Jon just stared at him, both surprised and confused. They both stared at each other for a moment before he spoke up. "...Should I be trying to escape right now?"
"..."
The next few hours were intense for Jon, as doctors rushed him to and fro for different tests and the like. Apparently, he had been in a coma for nearly three years.
The first thing he asked was for his mom, as she was nowhere to be found. "Where's my mom?"
The doctors just looked between each other awkwardly for a long while before gently explaining the situation. His bills were expensive when he first arrived here, and she had been struggling for a long time trying to take care of him, but eventually she couldn't resist anymore.
She started by selling her body at bars, and it quickly devolved from there. In a month she started doing drugs. A month after that she started to steal to pay for her drugs. A few after that and she was caught stealing medicine from the hospital.
A year after he was admitted in the hospital, she was found dead in Crime Alley, covered in…Let's just say she had fun before her time.
The reality hit hard for Jonathan. She had never been perfect, but she was his mom, and to suddenly lose her…
One of the doctors put a hand to his shoulder. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. A few months ago, Bruce Wayne came by and paid all the bills in the hospital, and said that every future expense would be covered by him."
Well, at least I don't have to live the rest of my life in debt. He thought, but she wasn't finished.
"But here's the kicker: He offered adoption for all the orphaned children who would wake up from their comas! It was obviously a publicity stunt arranged by his PR team, but it's all legally mandated!"
Jon frowned, not understanding. "Why should I care? He's only gonna put me out on the street when I get there."
The doctor's grin widened. "But he can't! The stupid fuck put his company up for collateral on accident! If he does that, ownership of Wayne Enterprise would be transferred to you, and there's no way he would let that happen!"
She calmed down, calming her breathing. "Plus, he's had a few wards before, and they all turned out great! He's got this one now, and he's always running around causing him-"
A rather deep voice interrupted her gossiping, causing nearly everyone in the room to look at the door. "Alright, I think that's plenty enough picking on me, right?"
There, standing in the doorway, was a rather muscular man, different from how Jon remembered him from headlines. Before his coma, Bruce had just arrived back in Gotham, and even then he was rather fit.
But now he had put on more weight, and though most wouldn't have noticed, Jonathan immediately witnessed the drastic change that Bruce Wayne went through in the last three years.
What once was a thin but fit playboy, was now a muscular jockey who was still playing the role of playboy. "...You got big." Jon muttered, not knowing what to say in the uncomfortable silence.
Bruce stared at him for a moment, as if studying him, before a great big smile stretched the features of his face. "Haha! You got spark, kid! I think we'll get along just fine!"