Chapter 72

"Come on, Nolan. You can do it." Standing behind a forty year old man who was jogging in front of him.

Leonardo lightly clapped as he trailed behind encouraging the older man. He had to give this older man credit for being brave in something many won't do. Since this man basically up and left to become a police officer after his wife divorced him.

As for the man's looks, he was a fairly fit man who is around forty years old with dark hair that seemed slightly gray in a couple spots. Which only really showed if one stood near him or actively looked for it. Otherwise the man could possibly pass for his mid thirties.

"How aren't…you winded yet?" Nolan said between heavy breaths.

Despite running for a while, Leonardo didn't show much reaction be it sweating or even a hurried breath. Which can't be helped since even if he ran at full speed for three weeks, he won't break out in a sweat.

"This doesn't even count as a warm up." Leonardo replied.

"It's been five miles." Nolan complained.

"Really? Then let's do another five before class." Leonardo smiled happily as he looked at the time. "We still have a few hours before class and since you are older. You need to work a bit harder to show promise compared to the others.."

"Ah!" Nolan bitterly nodded.

Nolan knew that he was at a disadvantage due to his age since the first day. Not to mention he is reminded of this each day when he sits with their instructor cracking jokes when he could.

"If we hurry, we can review some class work or old cases to improve ourselves further." Leonardo encouraged.

While Leonardo truthfully had no need for this, he mainly did it for Nolan who became his friend. He truthfully wants to see his friend get through this and achieve his dream.

"Thank you, Leo." Nolan sighed.

"It's always nice to meet someone who will push forward to do their own thing despite others' strange looks." Leonardo smiled.

For how this scene came about, well when Leonardo entered the academy for the police. He met this older man who seemed a bit shy and out of place. Since this man was basically twenty years older then all the other students and even the instructor at times. So he struck up a conversation with him and learned about the man chasing his dream.

The man always wanted to be a police officer and possibly become a detective. So Leonardo nodded and encouraged the man not to give up halfway. Hence, he began to tutor the man and help the man to outshine the others.

So that is how this scene came about as Leonardo was running with Nolan. Not only to keep him company, but to push him to strive outside of their class work. Which was working well, and Nolan already saw the benefits, and Leonardo didn't need to hound him like Clark to learn more. Though he wouldn't hound him anyways since Nolan was his friend and not his student.

While he was thinking of this, Leonardo's phone began to ring. After picking it up, he heard Clark's worried voice on the other side. Which just confused him since most issues Clark could solve by himself.

"Hey, Leo, I need your help."

"What's up? Did you finally learn to fly?" Leonardo asked. "Did you break the barn roof again? If so, there should still be some planks in the barn to repair it."

"No, that is not the issue." Clark replied.

"Did you finally fully lure a girl to your bed…with you joining." Leonardo asked.

"No." Clark's annoyed voice replied.

A loud sigh among grumbling were heard while Leonardo could hear a few voices in the background. Among the sounds was splashing and children being children. Which made Leonardo truthfully wonder why Clark called him.

"Did you finally discover the wonders of the female body?" Leonardo tried.

"There is currently a nuclear crisis happening in Smallville. I am currently tied up with a few things and can't rush over. So can you do me this favor." Clark ignored Leonardo's question and stated what he needed.

"Fine, I will go clean it up." Leonardo sighed. "Barely into college and already partying so hard. Just keep it age appropriate since children can be heard in the background."

Hanging up the phone, thanks to super hearing, he could hear Clark cursing. So Leonardo looked at the half tired Nolan. Who was catching his breath as he lightly stretched out.

"Sorry, it seems we have to end it here this morning." Leonardo apologized. "I have to go help my brother with something before class."

"It's alright." Nolan nodded. "I may be old, but I still got a few tricks in studying by myself during my college days and I got a few things to do this morning anyways. So go help your brother with whatever is going on."

Leonardo sighed, since he thought about checking out and reviewing a few old serial murder cases.

"Alright I will see you in class."

Leonardo quickly said goodbye to Nolan and began running off towards his rented apartment. Well until he was out of sight then he shot off into the sky heading to Smallville quickly. While he was heading to Smallville, he turned his hearing to there so he could get the load down of what was happening.

It has turned out that Gabriel, who graduated with him and Clark, has plans to nuke Smallville. For no other reason than because his father became paranoid due to the meteor rocks. Since the man has discovered that the rocks can grant others abilities and many tend to run a bit wild with them. 

"Clark, why did you call me at the last minute?" Leonardo sighed.

For what Clark was dealing with, well he seemed to have hooked up with Lana. While he didn't approve of it, it's Clark's choice. Not to mention since killing her last boyfriend's mother, she has been thrown into therapy and began to mature quite a bit. Her ambition seemed to died down and began working through her own problems.

Now they are at the lake where Clark is staring at Lois trying to flirt with a guy. Only for the man to continue to talk about fish and unable to break away. Otherwise, he wouldn't need to call Leonardo to rush and save the day.

As for why he was complaining about Clark calling at the last minute. Well it is because despite arriving within a minute of being called. The missile was already flying in the sky so Leonardo shot up after it. Right before hitting the top and pulling out the bomb before grabbing hold of the rocket body.

"Clark should have just said he was going to the bathroom." Leonardo sighed to himself.

Dropping the rocket body off into a field, Leonardo quickly ran away. He had to rush to his apartment and get changed before heading to class. Hence he once again shot off into the sky.

"You're back early." Aurora greeted him as she rubbed her tired eye.

"Clark called and needed help during the run with Nolan." Leonardo replied. "So I had to rush to Smallville to take care of it."

"Really? How did you make it there, get it done and back so quickly?" Aurora asked.

"I flew." Leonardo shrugged.

"You shouldn't spend money recklessly." Aurora mumbled. "Spending so much just to fly there and back just for a short visit."

Waving his hand offhandedly, Leonardo didn't bother to explain. He has tried in the past and it seems to go over her head. So he just decided to let nature take its course and let Aurora discover it on her own schedule.