John walked into Greg's office early the next morning and passed him the two-sheet interview. Lestrade stared at him in disbelief, and then read it with a huge smile on his lips.
"Watson, this is great," he commented on his work, looking back at him, amazed, "but, where did you find him?"
"Uh, technically, he found me," John replied quietly.
"How are you feeling?" he heard the editor say, and he perfectly knew what he was talking about.
After the train accident, the Pulitzer party had been cancelled, since their most important host wasn't able to arrive, so they moved the event a week later, for today.
"They won't give it to me because he came back," John sighed, appalled. Greg stood up from his chair and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts, "I have nothing."
"You know, these things are like every other award," he said, trying to comfort him, "nobody knows why they give it to you, but they do it anyway. It won't really matter if Superman is back or not. They will be giving the prize to you tonight, and it'll be a big achievement in your career as one of the most important journalists of the country. Now go and prepare yourself, you should dress yourself decently for this occasion."
John stepped out of the office and saw Sherlock sitting inside his cubicle, probably checking the news on his computer. Well, now that he had done his work, he would investigate more about the important things that were going on here.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
How are you doing for tonight? M
He stared at the screen. It was Mary, who had been really excited and supportive when he had received all the positive comments on his article.
Some people choose to live ignoring what happened to them, not mattering if it was relevant or not, and some people simply choose to forget about it. That's how he succeeded and was recognized, because Superman abandoning the earth had hurt them so much that they decided to start again, accepting any bitter comment about the hero leaving them on their own.
John suddenly realized it had been the time when the human race had needed Superman the most.
I actually really need to keep investigating about Superman. I think I'll be there just in time to change my clothes and go to the Pulitzers. Wait for me at home. J
Do you need any help with work, any details? M
For God's sake, he knew every single detail about him, why would he need help? He laughed desperately.
No, I don't think so. J
He took his bag and walked towards the elevator. He had to call some sources to know more about the train accident and he had little time for that.
His phone rang, announcing Mary's call.
"Hey John, I've got a question for you, now that we're talking about Superman," she said, entertained by the topic.
"Yes?"
"How tall is Sherlock?" Mary asked, laughing softly.
"He might be, uh, six feet tall, maybe?" He calculated as he turned around to watch Sherlock stand up and look at the other cubicles surrounding his, "why are you asking this?"
"He's as tall as…"
"Superman?"
"Well, yes. And he sort of looks like him."`
John looked at Sherlock and when his eyes were met by his, Sherlock waved his hand in the air, saying hello. Watson laughed, being followed by Mary's laughter. He nodded and mouthed a "hello" in return.
"Oh, Mary, don't be absurd," he said, getting into the elevator, "see you later?"
"See you tonight."
He wouldn't give up so easily on the investigation about his train ride; he just wasn't going to pass it up like that.
"Right, so the address you're giving to me is accurate," John said, holding his cell phone with his right hand and a pen with the left, "okay, thank you very much."
The plan had been to go there and interview whoever had to do with the technical problem. As a journalist, he considered he had to give the best he had to the rest of the world; after all, he really was one of the most important journalists of the country.
He started driving as he thanked the person on the other side of the line when he remembered he had to take Juliet home from her music lessons. He sighed, changing his destination. Then, arriving at her school, he told her to get into the car and accompany him, because I'm going to visit someone I have to talk to; it won't be long. Juliet just nodded after hearing this, and sat quietly behind John.
He would have to drive to Crossways Boulevard, near the Thames River in Gravesend. It wasn't really far away from his home in Belvedere so it wasn't going to take too long.
When they got to the right place, they stopped in front of a colossal boat. John supposed it was where he had to go.
His phone started ringing and the caller ID announced in bold letters: "LESTRADE". He decided to let it ring until it stopped; he wasn't available at the moment.
"Dad, can I stay here?" Juliet asked with a little voice, always so sure about problems happening in the future. She was used to this. After all, having a professional journalist at home made her feel more and more concerned about her father's safety.
"No, of course not," John whispered and got out of the car, opening the door for her, "you have to stick with me, honey. I can't leave you alone just like that, eh?"
They walked towards the boat, hand in hand. John had to admit that he was sort of afraid by the way Juliet acted in this situation; it wasn't the first time he brought her to an interview, and she always followed him without making any questions. Also, it was quite frightening to see the door opened, like the people inside were waiting for him to come in.
When they entered "the floating thing", as Juliet decided to call it, they were welcomed by tons of ties and suits put on a showcase in front of them. Each tie was paired up with tie pins of any form: animals, objects, and also a couple of letters. They reminded John that he needed some new ties, as he saw one of the blue ties with thin white stripes and the letters "J" and "M" on it.
"Boys, I swear that if you're trying to steal one of my ties, I'm gonna skin you."
The Watsons felt their chests tighten in seconds, paying attention to the voice that sounded stiffened and soft behind them; Juliet turned around with fear and John did the same, though he recognized whose voice it was.
"Oh, what a surprise! I wasn't expecting you…"
John took Juliet on his arms and tried to run away but, when they reached the door, they saw Crossways Boulevard turn into water as they got further the ground.
"Welcome to my crib!" they heard the voice again, and now John tried to relax, turning around, not letting Juliet leave his side.
"Right, thanks," John answered roughly, one of his fists clenching, "hello, Jim."
"Good old John," he heard the response as he tightened the hold on Juliet's hand, who was now staring at her father in disbelief. She didn't… she couldn't understand what was happening, "please come with me and have a seat."
They walked through the hallway and entered some kind of living room, but bigger. Actually, it was like a library transformed into a living room. John and Juliet proceeded to sit on a big sofa and were instantly surrounded by Jim's ―as the journalist had called him before― assistants, who looked more like murderers. John sighed, covering his daughter's back protectively.
"I have to ask you some questions," he said, staring cautiously at the leader of the group. When the alluded man sat in front of him, he decided it was about time to start with the interview, "I suppose, Jim, that you have something to do with the accident on the train."
"Has anyone told you what else happened, like, outside of that train?" Jim laughed, crossing his legs.
John had been informed by Greg that the London area had lost the electricity power for a while, though they didn't quite know what had happened there. Everyone was more interested in Superman's return and no one would volunteer to help him, except Sherlock, who had been assigned to that.
"So you're telling me that this thing was huge, it wasn't just the train." John had said after Sherlock told him about the quake and the blackout.
"No, I mean, it probably was just a quake," his colleague replied, paying attention to the information he had collected, "after all, it wasn't a failure in any system or anything. It was pure nature."
"And what if anyone was controlling us, you know, geologically?"
Sherlock scoffed at this and shook his head, "you're really immature."
"You should help the world and let me help you with that investigation. You're not doing much on your own."
"Thanks."
"I'm just trying to help," John smiled at him, "please, Sherlock. We can have some coffee later."
"Right, okay," Holmes replied, handing him the papers, "focus on this, though. It's not child's play."
"Ah, my hero," John finally took the paper and ran back to his cubicle to make some contacts and search more information about this, not actually getting anywhere. Well, until he stepped into this giant boat.
"Yes, but me and my colleague have come to the conclusion that it had something to do with nature," John replied to Jim's question, completely unfriendly, "though I had thought about someone making an artificial quake, but it was only a theory."
"I'm glad to know that someone finally used their mind for something more important than a stupid superhero."
"Always, Moriarty."
John was immediately reminded about the thoughts he had had for about three years, before Superman's reappearance. Those were the words on his mind when he noticed the hero's absence: "use your mind for something more important than that stupid superhero". John Watson had been a prick about it, he realized.
"Before you make any questions," John's enemy continued, staring at John's face, which looked completely puzzled, "I'll do the talking."
"But how were you found not guilty?" John replied, angrily.
"You, of all people, should remember why I wasn't found guilty," Jim laughed at him, making fun of their current situation, "Don't you remember? Your man left this planet and couldn't stay longer to save the world from this horrible threat."
"Do me a favor and continue explaining your plans," John gestured with his hands for him to go on as he watched Juliet, who was simply staring at him in confusion. He understood her, though; anyone would be confused if someone talked about their father being romantically involved with Superman.
John's wife had arrived at their floor like a tornado, desperately running towards Lestrade's office and Sherlock, as he usually did, started listening to their conversation.
"John is not answering his phone," Mary said, running into her uncle's office, "where did you send him?"
"Hey, hey, Mary, stop right there," he heard the editor-in-chief reply calmly, taking her by the arms, "what happened?"
"So you don't know what happened to one of your journalists," she shouted, running back to Sherlock's cubicle now, who looked slightly worried by the time she got there.
"Hey Mary," he smiled softly, pushing up his glasses with his index finger, "do you need any help?"
"Have you talked to John; do you know where he is?"
"Well, no. The last time we saw each other was before he left this morning," at first, Sherlock swore it all was about jealousy and that maybe John was cheating on her, but after really looking at Mary, he knew it was something else. After this, he got up and walked with Mary to John's cubicle, turning on his computer, "I promise you, I haven't seen him."
"God, I don't want anything else to happen to him. You know that after the train accident, he's had quite a bad luck with everything," Sherlock tried to calm her down, telling her to sit. He hadn't seen such demonstration of affection since the last time he saw John getting worried about him.
"What do you mean?" he asked, taking the conversation to a point where she would finally relax a little. Then she stood up and sat next to him, in front of John's computer screen.
"He's been distant and really… sad. I've never seen him like this before," the blonde lady continued her story while Sherlock opened the password box, then staring at Mary, "right, I think you'll need some help trying to find the right word."
He passed her the keyboard and she started typing different names like hers or Juliet's and every time she pressed enter, the computer would announce it wasn't the right answer.
"I don't know what other word would work," Sherlock heard her say as she passed him back the keyboard. She was clearly confused; she had been through a lot and was quite frazzled.
"Let's try with Superman."
Sherlock typed the name and pressed enter, hoping it would work. After this, the desktop appeared on the screen with an opened folder named "T". He scanned the archives, looking for an answer, but he found nothing.
Mary just stared at Sherlock's face as he did all of this. She would've never thought this would affect him that much; he surely was John's best friend or something. Also, it was such an irony to realize that John's computer key-code had been "superman" all along.
Before Sherlock turned to look back at her, the lights went off and darkness blinded them.
They sat in silence as they waited for the light to come back. Any kind of technological object stopped functioning and they desperately needed the energy to come back; they needed it to update their news, write them, correct them, sometimes even re-write them and, most importantly, they had to find John.
All the people stayed still until the lights illuminated the room again; the elevator started functioning, all the computers were working, and Mike was calibrating the focus on his camera, shooting random photos of his colleagues, when he saw one of them holding a sheet of paper with some numbers on it and a big "HELP US" written below it. He recognized the handwriting; it was John's but… why would he be begging for help?
James Moriarty, Superman's archenemy, had gone back to the streets after he refused to attend his trial as a witness to support the cause of putting him in jail. After he was informed about Superman's trip to Kripton and he was able to see his plans from a different perspective; he'd be free and unstoppable.
He was a brilliant mathematician, a teacher, and he wasn't paid as well as he would've wanted, and most importantly, he was a scientist. He had recently married a dying woman, a young one. It had been one of his classmates at Uni and when he knew how crazy she was about him, he decided to marry her. She was rich and he had no money, so the opportunity of obtaining her fortune was absolutely great, and he wouldn't miss it. When she was close to her death, she had called him to visit her; he thought she would never call him. He ran towards the hospital and listened to her, claiming her love for him with the biggest smile he had ever seen on his face as she passed him the heritance papers, telling him to sign them.
"You're the love of my life, Jim," she said, taking his hand as she took her last breath, writing her name with the other hand. Those were her last seconds of life, but she was completely sure she was doing what was right, what she needed to do. Her Jim wasn't a wealthy person, and he very much deserved the world for making all of her dreams come true.
James said nothing, squeezing her hand as she closed her eyes for the last time and then took the pen out of her hand. He stood up from her bed and kissed his no longer wife on the cheek, smiling at her for the last time.
As he left the room, he saw her whole family standing in front of him, disapproval irradiating from them.
"You never loved her, you sod," he heard his mother-in-law say as he practically could feel her spitting him on the face. He looked back at her, putting the signed documents into a folder. He has promised to himself he would stay serious until he knew his wife had left the world to see no more of his behavior, "you used her all this time."
"Oh," he laughed, walking towards the exit door, "I'm so changeable!"
After reading about John Watson's Pulitzer Prize for his article, he felt the world smile at him again. God, he had waited for this moment to come for so long. He traveled immediately to the arctic, to make a visit at Superman's Fortress of Solitude, where he found some instructions recorded for his son in the future. Oh, what a shame he would use the treasure first.
After a really long speech about something of fathers and sons and humans, Jor-El finally asked the important question.
"What do you want to know about this place?" Superman's father said in the projection of his face in the cave made out of Kryptonian material.
"Tell me everything!" Jim yelled impatiently.
Moriarty's plan was to grow a new continent, "New Krypton" as he decided to call it, near the north of United Kingdom, between this island and Denmark, that would imply, in the nearest future, the sea levels to rise, the death of billions of people in the process and the disappearance of Deutschland, Norway, France, Denmark, part of Italy and Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom itself, but he wasn't quite worried about it, not at all.
When he and his assistants got to their hiding place, they tried one of the Kryptonian crystals, immersing them on water. His partner in crime, Miss Irene Adler, constantly wondered what the purpose of all of it was, and then she just stared at her acquaintance's experiment, thinking it was pure stupidity; she knew Jim was just bored and was doing this for fun.
At first, all of them thought it wasn't going to work; their model of a small town still looked the same and nothing had happened yet, until they saw it shaking, and Jim felt good, very good. At the end of the experiment there was pure chaos: Jim, his Adler friend and the rest of the group were touching the wall behind them, all of their backs touching it as their eyes saw a crack on the floor. James raised his eyes from the ground to see the water and discovered it was now blue, and their model of London no longer existed. The mini train station was completely destroyed, some houses had fallen into the water and everything was a disaster.
He would pay anything to see something like that happen in real life, because all they had experienced in that moment was a soft quake and then the lights went out.
"So that's what it does," Irene said, staring at the now ruined London model drowning on troubled waters.
After Jim had been quite proud of the results of the beginning of his project, he and his companions visited the London Museum of Natural History and stolen the sample of Kryptonite from the rock's showcase, hacking the security system so he would get out of there without having any kind of problems. Meanwhile, Irene was sitting on the driver's seat of a car with its brakes cut, making a fool out of herself as she drove down the streets. She didn't know how to get out of there or how to stop it, and she swore she would kill Jim if she got out of this alive. Her car was probably going to fall into the Thames and she saw through the window the people on the streets watching her and the vehicle fly. It's showtime.
He's here.
She sent Jim a message, informing him that she was with Superman, before the wheels were touching the ground one more time. She got out of the car, putting her mobile phone back into her pocket.
"Thank God it's you," she sighed, smiling at the man in front of her, "I thought I was flying but it was you."
Irene laughed uncomfortably, looking at her savior and fixing her hair.
"Well, you're safe now, miss," Superman replied, smiling back, "choose a bus or a cab for the next time, though. And check your car."
"No, no, no, mister," she said, holding his arm, "wouldn't you like to stay a little longer with me? You know, I'm in shock and I'm supposed to be accompanied until I calm down, don't you think?"
"Well, no. You seem to be perfectly fine," he replied, pulling away.
She raised her eyebrows, smiling at him seductively. God, this man was blinded by his lover.
"You know that face doesn't work on me, right?"
"Let's have dinner. It won't take you long."
"I'd prefer not," he said, shaking his head.
Adler saw him fly away from her and then she heard her phone ring. They were done for now.
"Sherlock, Sherlock, look!"
Both Sherlock and Mary turned to see a man running towards them. Apparently, Mike Stamford was desperate for them to see what he had on his hand. It looked like a paper, though they didn't know what it said.
"It's John, I think you might want to see this," his friend sighed heavily, giving the message to Mary.
They read the message and looked at each other in complete silence.
"I suppose that's where he is?" Mary asked, putting her glasses on.
"Uh, I think they're-"
"They're coordinates," Sherlock said, interrupting Mike, "Mary, do you think you can fly a helicopter? John told me some things about you and him taking flying lessons."
"Yes, yes I can, I can manage," she nodded, taking her coat and walking towards Lestrade's office, "I'll call you if I need anything. Thanks Sherlock."
When he noticed Mary wasn't near him anymore, he ran towards the elevator. He pushed the down button and the doors opened for him. As they closed in front of him, he got rid of his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He was always ready.
When he got out of the building, he flew the fastest he could over the Thames, watching London get smaller and smaller. He stopped, trying to remember the coordinates when he saw a crack beneath the water, getting bigger as it got closer to the city. Shit.
He looked at London, and then turned around to where he could rescue John. He stopped himself; could he leave the Londoners alone just because he wanted to save John? He turned around again, flying back to where he had flown from. He needed to trust Mary on this; he knew John would be safe with her.
"I've already rocketed three of those crystals into the sea, though this time they're covered in kryptonite spheres," Jim winked at John, disconnecting the fax from the energy source, "don't think you're fooling me."
"What do you want from us?"
"Don't be daft, why would I need you?" Moriarty asked at him, this question being followed by laughter, "why don't we talk about your child?"
"Don't include her on your plans, Moriarty. You know damn well I defend my people when I need to."
"Calm down, Johnny Boy. She's as useless as you in this very minute; if you think about you, you just came into this boat when it was about to start its journey."
John sighed and took Juliet on his arms, who remained silent while they talked. She never interrupted her father's conversations with people, only because she wanted to know more about him. What she didn't know was that she would get to know that much of his past this day.
"Sir, I think we're ready, let's go," one of Jim's assistants said as the man in a black suit and gray striped tie stood up form his set and whispered something into his ear, staring at both of them. When John saw the other man nod, he knew what was coming; Jim was going to lock them on the boat and leave them to drown. He embraced his daughter and followed the other assistant that entered the room; if they would lock them into a room, it wasn't going to be more violent than it was meant to be. He didn't want Juliet to get hurt, he decided as he saw Jim go.
A tall man led all the way through one of the hallways and stopped in front of a door covered in metal, which was immediately opened to let them in. John sighed as he took Juliet's hand and entered the cupboard.
If someone had ever asked him how he imagined he would die, he would've never answered something like "locked inside a cupboard". It sounded like a very sick joke.
He saw Juliet sit on the floor and he sat next to her, stroking her blonde and soft hair. She's too young for this, he caught himself thinking and praying, for the first time in many years, for Superman to come and save them. He believed in him more than in anything else.
"We're gonna be alright," he whispered, mentally cursing himself for leaving his phone inside his car, "I'm sure someone is going to come and get us out of here, love."
"I hope so," he heard his daughter mutter.
He didn't know when it all started, though when he arrived the first thing he saw was a big advertisement fall from his work's building after the earth reacted again, shaking everything and everyone again. He heard people scream under his thin figure as he approached to them, stopping the big poster from smashing anyone around.
Mike welcomed him with a warm smile as he took photographs of him holding what was going to be his cause of death seconds ago. Superman took a moment to look at the camera before leaving the heavy burden fall on a car. Mike bowed down and smiled at the superhero.
Superman flew around, noticing that the sewerage, which is directly connected to the gas pipes, was on fire on every street. He had to stop it before it reached the gas station or it would make a big explosion. He entered one of the aqueducts and followed the fire, blowing it all away as fast as he could.
When he got out of there, he was in central London, surrounded by people applauding him. He had saved the world again, but not his.
When Mary arrived at New Krypton, it was in a very bad weather; it was raining and it didn't help at all. She found the abandoned boat balancing on what seemed to be a mountain. She left her helicopter near the boat and entered it, running around and opening every door, finding nobody.
"John!" she screamed, "John, are you there?!"
John's wife kept yelling his name and looking for him until he found the cupboard door. "You better be here," she whispered, terrified, as she forced the door; she feared she would break the door knob at first, but then she finally opened it. What she found in front of her eyes made her heart break in four parts now; she didn't know Juliet was there, too.
"Mary," John said, standing up and waking Juliet from her sleep, "look who's here, it's mom. God, Mary, how about we get out of here?"
Mary nodded and she had taken her husband's hand when they fell to the back of the cupboard. Gravity had made its way home, the boat parting in two and their side of it rapidly drowning into the sea.
"Mary, are you alright?" she heard John ask as she lifted Juliet. She said yes, keeping her head high and helping John with their daughter.
Mary watched John trying to open the door, but nothing happened. They were locked inside a cabinet that was basically drowning. They wouldn't get out alive from this. John tried the same thing for what seemed to be a long time until he succeeded; the door was unlocked and he finally opened it and pushed it back, starting to get out of there, holding Mary's waist while Juliet was attached to his neck.
The taste of victory wasn't present for so long; a wave pushed the door towards them and hit John's head, leaving him unconscious. Mary tried not to cry, telling Juliet to keep floating as she went to the back of the room again, looking for John. When she got to find him, she swam back to the door with her arms around John's chest.
Come on, come on, please save us, she found herself repeating these words like a mantra. They just couldn't end up like this.
Just in time, she felt the hinges of the door squeak and then she was welcomed by Superman's figure.
"Mary, are you holding them tightly?" she saw him extend an arm towards her as she nodded and took his hand. The rest of the work would lay on him.
Superman lifted them and let their side of the boat fall into the ocean again, leading the way back to Mary's helicopter. Jesus, if flying felt like that, she swore she would never try it again. She definitely didn't like the view from there.
When they got into the helicopter, Juliet sat on her seat behind the pilot and John was deposited behind her by Superman, Mary watching them silently.
The superhero scanned John's body from head to toe with caring eyes, his whole face demonstrating how worried he was about him.
"He'll be fine," she heard him say as he walked towards the door. Mary nodded, staring at him sadly.
"Where are you going?" she dared to ask as he was leaving, "I think I'm gonna need the impulse to lift this thing. Can you help me with that?"
"Of course!" Superman said and closed the door behind him.
Mary sat on the pilot's seat, taking control of their helicopter. When she found herself flying again, she swore she would be grateful for Superman for the rest of her life.
He had saved her family. Or something like that.
"So you thought that if you came back, you would not be risking your life?"
A dark voice asked from the back of a pillar. He knew whose voice it was, though he wasn't planning on hearing it again. He remembered asking Mike about James Moriarty's return to freedom; he had said something about him being found not guilty after Superman "left them". He didn't think he would find him again; he thought Jim had reconsidered living life to the full.
"Moriarty," he whispered, walking towards the place the voice came from.
"Guess what, super? I've returned! You can't stop me, you just can't" Jim laughed, getting out from his hiding place next to his assistants and Irene. When he saw her, he detected an evident grimace of guilt on her face; after all, he had saved her life the day of the car accident, "what do you think about this place? It will look very good. I'm planning to build a mansion here, a bedroom for Irene on the second floor, a big dining room, rooms for the boys, a playroom… do you think that's a good idea? I think it would be great."
"People will die."
"That's what people do!"
Jim's scream turned into an echo as he walked closer to Superman. He stared at the superhero's face, seeing a drop of sweat running down his brow. He was ready.
Irene closed her eyes as she saw Moriarty get close to her savior, a shard of kryptonite on the hand behind his back. Then she heard Superman whimper, and then a deafening scream coming out of his lips.
"Look at that," he whispered near his ear, stroking the side where he had stabbed his enemy, touching the sticky liquid around it, "you're bleeding."
Superman opened his eyes widely, staring at the ground. It hurt a lot, he couldn't help it. He would be completely vulnerable in front of his nemesis' assistants with that piece of kryptonite on his system.
"Boys, take care of him now!" he heard the order come, and he stood up slowly.
He tried to fight, throwing punches everywhere, not really looking anymore, as he received the double amount of kicks he had tried to throw at them. He was weak, and they took advantage of it. He fell to the floor one more time, weakening even more. He was a simply mortal right there.
"At the end, you realize we are the same, and so do I. Thank you, Superman. Bless you," he felt the other man whisper on his ear again, holding the kryptonite on his hand again and breaking it, leaving a piece of it inside of his body, "let him fall."
When those last words were pronounced, Superman was lifted by four men and thrown to the ocean. Considering the possibility of having someone to save him was utopian of him, his situation was helpless in this very minute and he was on his own.
Even though you've been raised as a human being, you are not one of them. They can be a great people, if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way.
John slowly recovered his consciousness, waking up about fifteen minutes after Superman had left. He held his head with both of his hands and sat on the floor carefully. Juliet turned around and helped him move to the seat next to the pilot's. He walked towards it and sat down, staring at Mary. She looked back at him, relieved.
"John, you're back," she smiled, kissing his cheek.
"Where's he?"
"Who?" she asked before staring into his eyes, "oh, you noticed. Well, he left after saving us."
"Where did he go?" John widely stared back at her, closing his mouth. Mary decided to remain silent, "Mary, where did he go?" her husband repeated.
"He…" Mary Watson took some seconds to reply, "Uh, he went back."
"Mary, turn around now. Please."
"He said we needed to get out of here, we can't disobey him, John. It's for our safety."
"I always disobey him," John yelled at her, desperate, "please, Mary, turn around and go back to New Krypton. We can't leave him now."
Mary stared at him for a moment before finally deciding to turn the helicopter around. They flew back to the kryptonite island and got closer to it, looking for the hero to appear. John looked everywhere and anywhere, until he found a body crash into the sea and drown helplessly. It was him.
When John felt like he had come back to his senses, he got rid of his coat and shoes, telling his wife to get closer to the ocean and then jumping into the ocean, swimming towards the man he had waited for so long.
It had been hysterical; John held him and sneaked his arms around his waist, swimming towards the helicopter as he tried his best to keep him alive. When they got to it, John lifted Superman carefully, with trembling arms and wet eyes. He would never allow anything to happen to him, ever.
"Oh, John," he heard Mary sigh as she helped him enter the helicopter, "shall we go now?"
"Let's go, Mary," he replied as he checked the superhero's vital signs. After that, he told Juliet to pass him the medical kit and got a pair of forceps, groaning.
There was kryptonite on his side and he couldn't do that much, aside from getting it out of the kryptonian's system. He had succeeded, he convinced himself as he threw the kryptonite into the sea. Superman had started to wake up, staring at him with a small smile playing on his lips.
"Thank you, John," he heard the man whisper and he took his hands, caressing them.
"Oh, God, you're alive," John sighed and turned to Mary, "Mary!" he yelled at the pilot's cabinet, "Mary, he's still alive!"
Juliet ran towards her father and sat by his side, looking at the superhero recover from his previous fight. Superman looked at her and beamed at her as he stood up again; the kryptonite inside of him was minimal, and he felt like new. As long as he had the radioactive rock away from him, since it meant a lot of effort to have it near him, he would be as immortal as usual.
"Mary," the Watson family heard him say, "Juliet. Please do me a favor and fly straight to your destination, and don't let your father or husband tell you otherwise. I'm begging you."
"Wait, what do you think you're doing?!" John took his hand, turning him around for him to look at his face, "You're not gonna leave this helicopter."
"Goodbye, John."
Superman walked towards the door and opened it, looking back at John before flying back to where he had been found, "take care of yourself."
"Follow your advice, super," John sighed as he saw him leave.
He wasn't sure he would have him back this time but the only thing he was sure about, was that it wouldn't be pleasant to lose him forever.
Their helicopter had only been started a few minutes ago and they were flying away from New Krypton, both Jim and Irene sitting uncomfortably on their seats, the woman holding the kryptonian crystals to her chest. Her only mission was to protect them.
Why would I keep following these orders?, she wondered, playing with one of them. She knew Jim would never leave her, since they had been so close to each other for such a long time. After this, she opened the door and let all the crystals fall to the ocean.
"What did you just do!?" he heard her boss ask her, angrily. She saw him shaking his head, trying to contain his fury, "for God's sake, Irene, what were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry, Jim. I'm so sorry," she answered in a whisper, staring through the window. She didn't feel like staring at him, it was so embarrassing.
As they left, Jim saw his dreamed land follow them. God, Superman always had a way to destroy all of his plans.
On the other side, Superman started to lift New Krypton up to the sky, feeling the weight of it; after all, the kryptonite was making the right effect on him, though he kept on flying. He was sweating, exhausted, but his will of saving the world again helped him from giving up, as usual. He was perseverant about it, until he reached the space and had the opportunity of finally letting go of that harmful imitation of his homeland.
Superman let himself fall into the Earth again, turning into a ball of fire; he had lost all of his strength, he almost didn't feel anything at all.
The end of his journey was when he violently arrived at the Paddington Street gardens, raising thick clouds of dust at the place.
Half a day later, Irene would be talking to Jim again, after their helicopter ran out of fuel and they had arrived at a small desert island. And Jim had been pissed off again, yelling a complete repertoire of his best insults, and she didn't apologize that time.
She was sure he would never see him happy; it was his destiny, she thought.
"We've got two options, we need to be prepared."
John stared at his boss, trying to relax. After their flight back to London and taking John's car back to their home, the Watson family decided to stay indoors for the rest of the weekend. They needed to be left alone after all the adrenaline experienced the day they left Superman.
"He won't die," John replied after being silent for a while. Mike had taken some pictures and Sherlock had left his report about the blackout and the earthquake.
Lestrade told them Holmes had talked to him about his parents having some troubles where they lived, and that they needed to stick together for a while. Greg didn't refuse to Sherlock's petition; after all, he was one of his favorites. The bloke knew how to do his work.
"I think Greg is right," Stamford stuttered, putting a hand on John's shoulder, "we can't decide who is gonna live and who is going to die."
"I suppose you know he's not human, right?" John yelled at them, inhaling sharply through his nose.
"John," Greg said, clapping to get him out of his shocked self, "we know damn right that's not quite true."
John remained silent until the atmosphere abruptly disappeared as his phone rang; his wife was phoning him.
"Lestrade, I need to answer this," the journalist said, getting out of the editor-in-chief's office and answering the phone call.
"Hello, John."
"Mary, I was in the middle of a meeting."
"There are tons of people here at the Saint Thomas hospital, and you may want to come. Juliet and I are waiting for you inside."
John felt his knees turn to jelly; he couldn't believe his luck.
"Do you need me there; has anything changed since he…?"
"We know he will always need you, right? Please come."
That's all John needed to run down the stairs and drive his car to where his family was, including Superman. His wife was the best woman in the world, he had a great daughter, and he swore he wouldn't think twice before already considering him a part of their lives.
When he arrived at the hospital, he pushed people away, muttering apologies and pulling the main door to enter the building and reunite with his wife and daughter.
"Where is he?" John asked, taking Juliet on his arms after she told him to go with her. Mary decided to isolate herself this time, she didn't belong there today.
"Room 221B, please be quiet," she replied, smiling caringly at her husband. She had never felt so happy for him.
"Thanks, love," he whispered back before taking the elevator to the second floor, next to his daughter.
When they got to Superman's room, they found him peacefully asleep. John smiled, letting Juliet go first as he watched them from the couch placed on one of the corners of the room.
The journalist sat down, staring lovingly at both the superhero and the little girl. He was so grateful for Superman, and he had to admit that, even when he hated to remember that he had left him alone, Juliet's figure wouldn't be present if he hadn't been absent for all those years. She wouldn't be his daughter, he wouldn't have met Mary, they wouldn't have formed the family they'd become.
Every family saves a secret, some of them are bigger than others, but they're still hidden from the rest of the world. Well, Juliet was his secret; the secret of the Watson family.
After Superman went to Krypton and left the Earth, John felt completely destroyed; he was broken. He needed a long time to recover, and when he did, he decided to start a new life, to leave all the pain behind. He repeated everyday to himself that the pain wasn't worth it, and so he did for the next five years, not knowing the hero would come back to his life someday. And what was the best way of starting something new, if it wasn't after having children?
He remembered that day perfectly, when he got letter that said he was able to adopt a child; he felt the happiest man alive. He contacted a foster home and they told him to go the next day and asking him for all the documents he needed to finally get in charge of a child. He accepted instantly.
The next morning he had woken up earlier than usual and had prepared himself to take this big step on his life. He took the bus and arrived at the place just in time, carrying all the papers with him. He was welcomed by a young and sweet woman with blonde hair, a pair of emerald green eyes and a large smile, who examined all the stuff John had brought with him and, when they were done, she told him to follow her.
"Have you thought of a name?" the woman said, smiling at the new dad in front of her, "it must be really important for you to adopt a boy or a girl, John."
"I was planning to choose a girl and call her Juliet," he laughed softly, grinning, "I'm so excited about this; it is definitely going to be the most wonderful adventure of my life."
Long story short, John finally got to adopt a five months old baby girl, named Juliet Watson and born on an autumn's day, his favorite season of the year. When he signed the last papers before bringing her to her new home, he thought of his love, of Superman, wondering what it would've been like to form a family with him.
And now they were here, five years later and being the great team they were.
"Hey, dad!" his thoughts were interrupted by Juliet's soft voice and her hand taking his, "I drew this for Superman, do you think he will like it?"
It was a drawing of Superman taking Mary and John's hand and Juliet holding on to his neck.
"Is this from the day he saved us?" he asked and saw her nod, "It's so beautiful. I'll fold it and put it under his pillow, darling."
He stood up and let her sit there now, walking towards Superman's hospital bed.
"Hey there, stranger," he said, feeling a big smile forming on his lips, "I feel like a mad man talking to you, but some people say it works sometimes and maybe you can hear everything I'm saying right now."
He turned around and stared at Juliet, who was silently waiting for him. Then he looked back at Superman and stroked his damp hair.
"I have to tell you something, but it's a secret," he continued as he got closer to his ear, and then whispered, "You probably think Juliet is the product of my relationship with Mary, right? Well, I came here to tell you that I adopted her, and she may not be yours but…" he stopped and breathed out, "I thought of what it would have been like to, you know, have a family. With you."
John folded the paper where Juliet's drawing was and put it under Superman's pillow before tenderly kissing him on the lips. "So, there, big man. I said it; now please come back, for us."
After that, he took his daughter's hand and left the room, hoping for things to get better. Yes, nobody assured him he would survive, but he knew Superman would do anything to keep on living.
"Doctor, Doctor!" the nurse screamed, pushing a red button. In less than five minutes there were more than 10 people in the room number 221, letter B, searching for their patient, finding nobody.
What they didn't know was that their famous patient hadn't been disintegrated or abducted; he was only standing in front of his daughter's bed, watching her in her sleep. After kissing her goodbye, he flew out of the window and turned to see John standing below him.
"Calm down, super," he heard John laugh, "I suppose we, uh, we'll see you around?"
"John, I'm always around," Superman said slowly, nodding as he smiled tenderly at his lover, "goodnight."
"Welcome back."
Oh, dear Juliet, you will be different. Sometimes, you'll feel like an outcast, but you will never be alone. You will make my strength your own; you will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The… daughter becomes the father, and the father becomes the daughter.
Right, so, final chapter! Unbelievable.
I want to thank my beta Jerrica one more time. This wouldn't have been possible without her help. And, also, thanks to you for reading this story. : )
- Melissa