HERETIC

-when heroes fall-

Chapter 1: Shattered Steel

Clark Kent stared out of the large windows by his desk, it was a slow day. For almost two months now every day had been a slow one. Ever since the league had started to really crack down on crime, well there had been none. Nothing more than petty stuff, and the cops could handle that. But he still kept his ears open, always listening, always waiting for something to happen.

"Hey Smallville, that story gonna get done on it's own?" Lois Lane looked down at him with her normal glare, somewhere between playful and genuinely annoyed. He snapped out of his daze and looked up at her, then at his open laptop. There was nothing but a blank page on his screen.

"Yeah sorry things have been a little slow lately and I'm just a little off." She raised an eyebrow and moved the stack of papers she was holding from one arm to the other.

"Yeah? Your quick to apologize Clark, something really that wrong?" He shook his head and smiled.

"Oh no don't worry about it Lois everything is good." She shrugged, walked off and he looked back out of the window. There was no reason why he should be upset that there was no crime, that was what he was here for after all, to get rid of crime. So why was he so worried about it? It was because it made him uneasy. Without villains was there a need for heroes? And without Superman what was Clark Kent?

But then he heard it, a cry for help. A cry that sounded so beautiful to his ears that it almost made him ashamed to hear someone in trouble. It was a cry for a hero, but not just any hero. It was a cry for him, for Superman.

He jumped from his desk and dashed to the roof, within minutes he was flying across Metropolis, no longer Clark Kent, he was himself now, he was Superman, man of steel.

He was so excited to be doing something again. It reminded him of when he first started doing this, it had been a long time since he had felt that way. The fact that it might be a trap never crossed his mind.

The sun and the wind felt good as he soared through the sky, it was a good day. He followed the cry to its source, a simple looking building, might have been a restaurant at one time, abandoned now. He touched down and ripped the door right off its hinges, he might have been a bit too eager.

It was dark, the windows had been boarded up and the only light was that that was spilling in through the doorway. A girl was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, she was badly beaten and looked only semi-conscious.

"Don't worry, I'm…"

Her head warily looked up and he could tell she was crying. Her eyes were wide with fear as she saw who he was.

"No no...he… he said…"

BOOM!

Flames and smoke engulfed the room as the girl's chair exploded. Superman couldn't react in time, regardless of how fast he was. The blast leveled the building, there was no chance that the girl survived. Superman stumbled out into the street, he couldn't stop coughing and his head was spinning.

"A trap? But that blast wasn't nearly enough to hurt me… it was made to kill the girl…" Anger swelled within him, whoever did this, whoever did this was going to pay.

"Well well well, the man of steel himself."

A voice came from behind him and he spun to see a person he had never seen before.

"You! You killed the girl?"

The man smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"She was merely a means to and end. Her death is of no importance."

Superman clenched his fist tight and got ready to destroy the man before him. The man was about six feet tall, maybe two hundred pounds, and muscular build. He wore all black, jeans, shirt, jacket, fingerless gloves, everything in a simple black. His hair was a pale white and was pulled back into a neat ponytail. He looked to be maybe twenty five, and well kept. He spoke again as he dusted off his shoulder.

'You, now your death is one of great importance."

Superman thought about not even listening to him, he thought about ripping him in half for killing some innocent girl. But he couldn't do that, no matter what kind of sicko this guy was, he couldn't do that. The man seemed to read the expression on the man of steel's face.

"She was a hooker. Does that make you feel any better? No? Fine then, live with your misguided conscience."

Superman coughed again and he almost fell over. His vision blurred and he felt his nose running. He reached up and wiped blood from his nose.

"What? What the hell?"

The man laughed and put his hands in his pockets.

"You know, I'm not as fast as you, nor am I was strong. And I can by no means fly. No x-ray vision, no laser beam eyes, hell I don't even have a spiffy costume. Yet there is one thing that you have that I don't that really sets us apart."

Superman looked up at the man and couldn't seem to put together what was happening.

"That's right man-o-steel, a weakness is what truly makes me different from you."

Superman dropped down to a knee as spasms of coughing rushed over him and he tasted blood in his mouth.

"Kryptonite a fascinating substance really."

Superman's blood ran cold as he heard that word, kryptonite. What had this man done? Why did he feel so weak?

"You see, that explosion, well the bomb was coated in a fine layer of kryptonite, and that explosion was filled with kryptonite dust. It filled your lungs as soon as the bomb went off. I'm sure that the particles are reeking havoc on your insides right about now. It is a pity. I assumed that you would be the toughest to kill, disappointing really."

"You… you can't…I am Super...man"

The man of steel fell to the ground hard. The man raised his arm and a flat blade shot out from his coat sleeve. It had a slightly glowing green edge to it that shimmered in the noon time sun. People had started to gather around now, worried people, why was Superman on the ground?

The man walked casually up to the downed Superman, admiring the blade on his arm. Superman struggled to his feet, staggering around as he did so. This couldn't happen to him, he was Superman. There was no hero in the world that was greater than him, Destroyers of entire worlds feared his name, and this was to be his fate?

"You are the forerunner for every hero in this world. You are the most well known, the most powerful. And that is why you must die first. But know that you will not be the last, others will follow you to the grave, all others. Every single one of you so called heroes will not survive, none will escape me."

He dashed forward, fast, to fast. With a single swipe of his blade, he slit Superman's throat. The blood of Superman spilled in the streets as the onlookers stared in awe. The man of steel fell to the ground without a word, for he could not speak. He lay there, staring up at the sky. Who the hell was this guy? Why had he set him up? He would never know. The sun felt good on his face, that was the last thing he thought as the world faded into darkness.

The man turned to the silent crowd as the blade slid back into his coat sleeve.

"I am the Heretic! Believe what you have seen here today! Believe and remember it! For this man is a symbol for things to come!"

And he ran off into an alley, jumping up and kicking from wall to wall until he was at rooftop level and out of sight. The crowd slowly moved towards Superman's body.

"Is he?"

"No way, he's Superman"

"I think he is…"

None of them could believe it. The man before them was indeed dead. Superman, the man of steel, was dead. The first had fallen.