2015 Author's Note 1- This story was originally written back in 2008/2009. It's influenced by the Justice League characters, the Terminator movies, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Richard Donner and Bryan Singer Superman movies, the Smallville TV show and also by classic DC Comics storylines 'Death of Superman,' 'World Without a Superman' and 'Reign of the Supermen.' Metropolis Kid started as an experiment and within a few days, took me on as a co-writer. With both of us working on it together it blossomed from a single chapter into a 126,000+ words. It contains some of my best work.
Backstory: We've moved Superman Returns to 1997. This takes place in 2007 starting a month after Superman's fatal battle with Doomsday. Lois Lane, her husband Richard White (nephew of Perry White) and her son Jason White have been traumatized by Superman's death. Richard White has moved his family west to Los Angeles, hoping that a new start will help them cope. And just so you know, I've set Jason's [Jason White, Superman and Lois Lane's son from Superman Returns] powers a little bit bellow golden age levels. That means no flying, freeze breath, heat vision or x-ray vision, and his maximum lifting strength is about 10,000 pounds (5 tons). If you've watched the movies were Superman's lifting continents and moving moons, this may seem a little weak. However, keep in mind that Jason's only fifteen and half human.
Prologue: Forging Steel Part 1
Original A/N – This chapter takes a bit of a wider view, to recap events from the Superman universe which brought us to where we currently find ourselves. Your Pilot for this leg of the trip will be Chris St Thomas. Navigator will be Metropolis Kid. Flight Engineer will be Dragonlots.
POV: Hank Aaron Jefferson
A month ago, the nightmares stopped. But I almost died.
I was up fifty floors above the streets of Metropolis in a building under construction. Guiding in a girder, I gave hand signals to the crane man.
They're always building something tall in this town, the Big Apricot. That was why I moved here from California when I saw how my designs were reallyused at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and quit.
A huge gust of wind blew; I lost my balance and fell. My safety line somehow malfunctioned and I felt free fall. In resignation, I greeted Death as the street slowly drifted toward me.
Like a slow motion movie, I watched Superman in the street below. He was locked in a life or death struggle with an ugly gray monster whose bones stuck out of its shoulders, neck, back. The monster hit him with a wallup of a punch, knocked him up in the air. I locked eyes with the Man of Steel as I fell. He righted himself and flew over to pluck me out of free fall.
The Son of Krypton set me down on the ground with a teenager in a Halloween costume. The young man wore a costume of red and blue with black lines on it. At the time, I couldn't think of which movie hero's uniform it was.
"Thank you for my life, Superman!" I called out as Superman began to rise up into the air.
"Make it count," the Man of Steel said in that quiet, assured way he has. It's like he has no doubt I'll do the right thing. It's as though he x-rayed my soul and saw I had greatness in me. Okay, I know I'm reading into the last part. But still...
As soon as the Man of Steel handed me off, the kid guided me to an ambulance where a medic flicked a light in my eyes, checked my pulse and gave me an IV.
The youngster didn't sling webs or climb walls, but he was incredibly fast and unbelievably strong. He just ran up and down the street, pulling casualties out of the rubble and grabbing more supplies for the medics. I thought I heard one of the Rescue Squad say something like, 'Aren't you on the wrong side of the River, kid? Spider-Man works in Manhattan, not Metropolis.'
The Metropolis Marvel flew back into the battle. I heard the crashing pops and painful cracks echoing between the towers of glass and steel as the medic treated me. A stunned hush descended over the whole of downtown as the bone-jarring sounds drifted into the distance.
A transmission came over the emergency band in the Ambulance where the medics were treating me. "Superman is down." The medics, the whole Rescue Squad froze.
Transmissions continued over the emergency band. "Reporter Lois Lane is running out of the crowd." Different voices described what they saw.
"Hey Rookie! Let the lady through, and her photographer friend, too. Is Kent with them?" came the grizzled voice of a veteran cop. He had no doubt cooperated with Lane, Kent and Olsen many times during the years they covered the Police Beat. They probably solved some cases together, too.
"She's calling for medics... Rescue Two go see what you can do."
"Superman's waived us off, sir. The Man of Steel is taking Miss Lane's hand and breathing his last."
I saw Jimmy Olson's photos of Superman's Final Battle all over the newsstands and networks for days.
Superman was dead. So was the monster, Doomsday they called it, but the public hardly cared about the creature who had killed their beloved hero. They mourned the Son of Krypton.