AN:

This is my first time writing a fanfiction, so please give me your reviews and suggestions for this, so that I can improve.

The story is an AU were Kal-El arrives om Earth in 1908 instead of 1980. This story was inspired based on many stories I came across here. There may be instances where you may find similarities with another story.

Now, onwards to the story.

DISCLAIMER

All characters appearing in Superman and Justice League are copyright D.C Comics and Time Warner. I do not own any of it.

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Planet Krypton

"It's almost time my love."

Jor-El has just finished confirming the warp course waypoints on the ship's hyperdrive navigation computer. He and his wife will perish today but their child that symbolised their love for each other and the their hopes for fellow sentients will at least have a chance.

"Let me just look at him, please." Lara softly pleaded, her tears were flowing in singular streams down her cheeks and onto her son's little head, adorned with ashy and soft curly hair. "He's beautiful, Jor."

"He's our son, my love. Krypton's first free birth in centuries. He will be the embodiment of all that we have stood for. He is the ultimate evolution of our race."

Kryptonians were one of the most efficient civilisations in the known universe. They streamlined and perfected their population by manufacturing new-borns in birthing matrixes and their role in society were pre-selected based on the optimisation of their genes. It made for a controlled, communistic and extremely draconian society where everyone had a place. But the children of Krypton were robbed of any uniqueness and choice.

"This planet you've chosen, will he be a god amongst them." Lara solemnly stated.

"His cells will drink in the yellow sun's radiation, it will make him more powerful than I could have ever imagined. But unlike us, he will be free, Lara, and he will live to make his own choices, his destiny is his own making. He can choose to be a god and ruler, yes, or he can choose to be a symbol of hope, and he can inspire the Earthlings to achieve something greater than themselves."

Lara kissed the baby's head while cradling him close to her. She was about to leave her son to fend for himself in the vast and uncharted universe. She prayed to Rao for safe guidance and very reluctantly placed him in the chamber.

"One last thing." Jor-El pointed out.

Jor-El took the liberty of downloading all of Krypton's knowledge and history into a small vessel which he inserted into a console on the ship's instrument panel. He also created an interactive intelligence version of his and Lara's consciousness for their son to interact with when he was of age, and the conduit for that was also integrated into the small rock-shaped information vessel in the ship's console.The Codex.Construction crystals which were used to create the El technology were also stored in the ship and locked into Kal-El's complex genetic code.

"The ship is almost ready, the heat shield calibrations are almost complete, and the artificial gravity emulators are set to auto-adjust. Fuel is at the correct concentration levels. " He solemnly replied. Jor-El gave Lara a reassuring squeeze.

Kelex, the house's A.I. guardian and servant, materialised near them. "Master Jor-El and Mistress Lara, small earthquakes have been registered all throughout the region and stronger quakes are following them."

Jor-El's expression turned grim at the news. "It's happening." He said.

"You were right all along." Lara concurred. Then she remembered "I gave the schematics to Zor-El and he agreed to send Kara away as well."

"That is good, they will be the last bastions of our kind."

Jor-El was one of Krypton's greatest scientists. He and his wife Lara were a formidable think-tank. Their forward thinking, openness to change and near godly intelligence meant that the House of El was one of the driving reasons for Krypton's latest advancements and superiority over other civilisations. The House of El was among the most respected in Krypton until Jor-El predicted its impending doom. The High Council, consisting the other scientists and the Kryptonian houses dismissed his theory and stripped him from his position for blasphemy. Believing that Rao would never let anything so cataclysmic like that happen, the Council reasoned, and continued in mining the minerals from the planet's unstable core without any further reservations. Jor-El pointed out that their own arrogance will become their undoing, but his warnings fell upon deaf ears, sealing Krypton to its fate. He barely had enough time to scout for potential planets that he could send his son to, and even less time to design a craft that would take him there.

Jor-El gave some commands to the control panel. Two platforms with glove-shaped sensors rose out of the console, waiting for input.

Kissing his son's forehead for the last time, he moved to Lara and placed his hands on her shoulders. "It's time Lara, we need to move fast." He pressed.

Jor-El and Lara put one hand each onto the glove-sensors which scanned and verified them both at a molecular level. The sensors retreated and the access doors of the ship started closing and the dome over their lab opened. The Crest of The House of El adorned the access doors proudly and magnificently. A countdown started on the main display panel of the command centre.

With the last digit, the thrusters on the ship ignited and began the slow ascent from the launch platform. Jor-El was monitoring the ship's critical sensors while Lara watched their baby slowly leave their home. When the ship cleared the dome, she couldn't hold it back anymore, Kryptonians were an emotionally cold and logical race but she was still a mother. A mother watching her only child leave her and the doomed world she loved. As tears flowed freely, Jor-El encircled her in a warm embrace.

"Goodbye, Kal-El." She managed to say between sobs.

"May Rao watch over you, my son."

The craft picked up speed and disappeared in the red and black sky above the El laboratory. The tremors all around the planet intensified and scathing lava geysers started shooting up from the trenches in the ground caused by the earthquakes.

Kal-El's ship reached escape velocity and started traversing deep space, when it completely escaped the system's gravitational pull red shards of electric energy enveloped the ship and seem to cackle around the outer skin. The wormhole projector on the front of the ship deployed itself and a portal opened some distance away, Kal-El's craft flew into the portal which promptly closed itself. It was now safe in hyperspace, journeying to the solar system.

Seconds later, another portal opened, created by Kara Zor-El's ship. Before the ship can reach the portal however, Krypton split along its axis and exploded in a supernova-like flash of sheer nuclear energy, the huge explosion hurled great chunks of glowing rocks outwards into space and a giant piece smashed into the front of the Zor-El spacecraft, knocking out the wormhole projector and shutting down the portal, while a few chunks of the rocks entered the wormhole. Due to the impact the craft veered off-course and had to adjust itself. The journey for Kara Zor-El was now going to take much longer due to the loss of the wormhole projector. She will have to make the trip towards Earth the traditional way. In the stasis chamber she slept, suspended in reality. She was tasked by Zor-El in protecting, guiding, nurturing and culturally shaping Kal-El as he grows up on Earth, she was supposed to arrive at the same time as Kal-El but fate dictated otherwise. Kal-El will forge his own path.

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Year - 1908

Close to planet Jupiter, a portal opened and Kal-El's ship emerged out of hyperspace and began crossing the Solar System. The ship bypassed Jupiter, navigated through the asteroid belt and encroached on the final part of its long journey. Cloaking devices were automatically activated to hide the craft's electromagnetic signature and artificial meteorites were deployed around the ship to further mask the deception of the true nature of the ship's arrival. It worked, many astronomers concluded that it was just a freak meteor storm, such a thing was uncommon but there was no cause for any alarm since the meteors would burn up at re-entry over the state of Kansas

Martha Kent has just finished her evening prayers and was about to go inside when she felt a rumbling and a a change in the wind, when she looked up, she saw nothing but it looked like a huge meteorite just flew over her house, then a sudden quake. Jonathan and Martha ran out and saw a trench dug out in the field adjacent to their house.

"What the?!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"I'll get the shotgun!" Martha ran back in the house and returned with a pump-action shotgun.

"Gimme that!" Jonathan tried to reach for the shotgun but Martha batted his hand away.

"I got it first, dear, now let's go!" She gingerly followed the trench, finger on the trigger-guard. Reluctantly Jonathan followed behind her.

"Careful, we don't know what it is."

"Yes, I know that Jon." she remarked dryly.

The two followed the flaming trench until they reached the end, where there was a truck-sized capsule shaped thing with strange markings on the outside and a shield-like insignia on the front. The metal skin was smouldering from re-entry but remarkably intact.

"Quiet, I see something." Jon shushed quietly.

"I am quiet. What is it?"

"Some sort of ship maybe?"

"Is that because there's an 'S' on the front?"

"Oh funny, seriously though, this doesn't look like a ship."

"I know what you mean Jon, should we call the sheriff?"

"Yes." Jon nodded, but for some reason neither of them walked away and continued staring in bemused wonder at the alien craft for quite a while.

Suddenly, an antennae probe rose out of an outer panel on the craft's body, it then began beam scanning the immediate environment and locked onto the two humans beside the craft. The probe scanned them up and down and recognised the presence of a weapon. A defensive tractor beam shot out of the antennae and seized the weapon from the human female's hands.

"Oh my God! We're gonna die!" Martha cried.

"Okay, okay, honey, don't panic. If it wanted to kill us it would've already!" Jon reasoned albeit half-heartedly, trying to be calm but inwardly fearing for their lives.

At this point a holographic model of a humanoid male and female, both with black, slightly curly, wavy hair and striking blue eyes were projected out from the probe and stood in front of the Kents who were now white-faced with shock and awe.

The tall, black-haired male started speaking, "Bonjour, Guten Tag, Saluto, Hello, Namaste, Kamusta…." he continued greeting in many languages repeatedly.

Martha found her tongue and blurted out "Hello?"

The male recognised Martha, "Ah, English, how do you do? My name is Jor-El and this is my wife Lara, we are of the House of El, we are from the planet Krypton. Krypton is approximately 108 light years from the planet Earth."

Jon was still in a state of surprise, "108 light years?! What kind of sorce-"

"Shush!" Martha interjected with a light elbow to Jon's side, it would be a warm day in Alaska before they forgot their manners. "Greetings Jor-El and Lara, my name is Martha Kent and this is my husband Jonathan Kent. I apologise for our manners, we don't usually get visitors like you in this part of town." She smiled.

"Ah, no need to apologise, we are not here to cause harm but we need to be sure the arrival of this ship remains discreet." Jor-El said in a soft voice which drew intrigue from the Kents.

"Why?" Jon asked.

"This ship carries a cargo that is precious to us, and we know that your Earth governments may act out in a hostile manner against his arrival." Lara explained.

"His?" Martha and Jon said simultaneously.

"Yes, this ship carries our baby son. His name is Kal-El and he is the last male survivor of our race. We sent him here to protect him against the annihilation of our planet." Jor-El answered.

Martha and Jon were visibly saddened by Jor-El's revelation and waves of sympathy radiated from their eyes. After a moment of silence, Martha spoke first "Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry. So you two are-"

"Perished? Yes." Lara confirmed. "What you see are holographic,a three-dimensional representations of our consciousness and physical appearance."

"Wow." Jonathan responded, awed by the technology but still pained from knowing that they are both gone. "I hope you two are in peace." He offered.

"Thank you for your sentiments, Jonathan." Jor-El and Lara smiled.

"Jonathan and Martha of the house Kent. We have something to request of you." Jor-El stated.

Martha's woman intuition already knew what the request was and her face lit up in a small smile. Jon was slow to the catch and raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, what is it?" Jonathan queried.

"We ask you to take our child and raise, love and nurture him as you would your own."

Martha's eyes were moistening at what she just heard. Her prayers have been answered and knowing she would help other people at the same time almost overwhelmed her with joy. Before Jonathan could even blink she answered Lara. "Yes, of course, we would be more than happy to adopt him!"

Jon turned to her "Are you sure honey? This isn't the most normal adoption process out there you know."

"Yes, I'm more than sure dear, this is what we both have wanted for years now right?" she pleaded.

"Of course…well all right." He seemed to contemplate his words but broke out into a smile. "You're gonna be a mother dear!" Jon hugged her tightly and kissed her on the forehead, his own heart bursting with affection.

"What does he look like?" Martha asked through teary eyes.

"Why don't you come see him?" Jor-El invited. The access doors lunged to the side and opened in a slight hiss. Martha and Jon walked over to the entrance and saw the most beautiful thing they have ever seen. Sleeping inside was a small, cute and adorable baby boy with black curly hair, they were taken with wonder and admiration towards their foster child.

"He's, he's beautiful Jon."

"He's our son, my love." Jonathan assured.

Martha expressed her gratitude for them, "Thank you, thank you Jor-El and Lara. Thank you for giving us the gift of a son that we can share our love with."

"You're welcome. We are also thankful that it is you who found Kal-El and it is you who will raise him into a man. We ask that you imbue upon him the principles of freedom and teach him how to make his own choices. We also ask that you only tell him of his true parentage when you know he can handle it, we want him to grow up as a human with only earthly influences and without any of the burden that will be bestowed upon him when he realises he is the last of his kind."

Jor-El then went on to concisely explain the differences between Kryptonians and Earthlings, he especially highlighted the otherworldly traits and abilities that Kal-El will possess due to his physiology. Jon and Martha were taken aback when they learnt of how their newly adopted son will have fantastic power beyond anything they could imagine. And they expressed silent concern at how they were going to raise a child who can lift a ton at five. Jor-El also told them that his lifespan will be likely measured in centuries and his powers will exponentially increase as he grows older and possibly reach godly levels of dominance. Jon and Martha assured the two Kryptonians that they will raise Kal-El to cherish the core values and morals pillared by love, understanding, compassion and reverence for all that is living, and further emphasizing their belief in the golden rule of how to treat others;Love and serve others as you would love and serve yourself.Relieved and gratified Jor-El and Lara in turn promised them that they will take the main responsibility of educating Kal-El of his true bloodline and origin when he was ready, giving over the Codex in the Kent's possession until Kal-El was ready to learn.

"Uhmm, Jor? What does the 'S' stand for? And how did you know all those languages when you just crashed here?" Jon asked. Martha herself wanted to know the answer to this question too.

"The 'S'? I am not sure what you mean by that."

"The 'S', you know, this symbol on the front. The 'S', in the pentagon."

"Ah, I understand. It is not the letter 'S', even though the in the English alphabet it is an 'S', on Krypton it is the ancient crest of the House of El. And as for the second question we monitored this planet for weeks, before landing." Jor explained.

"Oh. Right." Jon conceded.

Martha was cradling the sweet little child in her arms and wrapped him in a red blanket adorned with the House El crest. Jor-El and Lara gave out instructions on how to hide the spacecraft Kal-El arrived in. The sophisticated cloaking technology would make the craft completely invisible to anyone and anything unless you already knew it was there they explained. Jon proposed that he could put the craft in a storm cellar inside their barn. Jor-El agreed but he also extended the fact that the craft itself can be used as a storm cellar just in case the need arises.

"May Rao watch over you Kal-El."

Jor-El and Lara said their farewells and the hologram projector switched off. The spacecraft turned invisible again and the two new parents started walking back to the house.

"So, what do we name him?" Martha mused.

As if hearing the question the baby stirred and opened his big cerulean eyes and gurgled. Both parents looked at him in wonder.

"Oh hey cutie!" Martha whispered lovingly.

"Hi, did we wake you up?" Jon added, poking the baby's nose with his finger. The baby laughed the most adorable little laugh and reached to squeeze Jon's finger. Jon gulped in silent adoration. "I think I love him more than I love you dear." He teased.

"Me too." Martha agreed.

"Clark Kent."

"Hmm?"

"Clark Kent." Jonathan repeated.

"Clark Kent, I like that. Hello Clark." She caressed and lightly squeezed his fat cheeks. "I am your mother Martha and he is your dad Jonathan." Little Clark Kent just laughed at hearing his mother's loving voice and his eyelids started fluttering, slowly letting out a small yawn and falling back to a silent slumber.

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AN

Well that's it for the first chapter. Please give me your feedback on this.