Disclaimer: I do not own ANY from the DC Universe including the characters, except for my own!
A/N: Revelation (Parts 1 & 2) will introduce the main characters of the fanfiction series and these characters will 'evolve' as the story continues and more is discovered about each character.
Now, in regards to my "Watching Arrow" fanfic (if you haven't already read my profile), the YouTuber responsible for my clips has been taken down from both Youtube AND Facebook. Therefore, I have only Arrow season 2 episodes airing in the UK to rely on, so I probably won't be able to complete the other episodes of season 1 (Pilot 1x01 can still be completed). So, I have two ideas for you guys (although if any of you can offer other ideas, I'll be happy to listen).
1. Complete Pilot 1x01 and then continue the story with the characters returning to their time with only knowledge about the Pilot.
2. Start fresh with some of the characters instead watching season 2 of Arrow. The 'present' crew will be from e.g. Sacrifice 1x23
Revelation I 1x02 = Earth has sheltered the 'Lost Son of Krypton' for many years as an actual human being – Daniel Li. However, the time has finally come for the lost son to regain his true self, with his first trial to prevent a chlorokinetic meteor-infected biology teacher going by the name of 'Poison Ivy' from wreaking havoc across Smallville.
[Thoughts]: …
Wednesday January 4th 2012 – Li Farm, Smallville, Kansas – (07:30)
Daniel Li gasped for air, before he abruptly jumped up from his bed, only to then lose balance and have his face smash rather painfully with the wooden floorboards. Luckily for him, nothing seemed to be broken or even bleeding, as Daniel lifted himself off of the floor with a groan and rubbed his face.
"Well, that wasn't pleasant," Daniel remarked through gritted teeth and yawned, as he remembered his freakishly vivid and recurring dream/nightmare. He then noticed the state of his bedroom and swore under his breath. "Goddammit!"
Now, stating that Daniel's bedroom was 'messy' would be an understatement, for it was littered with various pieces of Daniel's clothing as well as numerous video-game disk boxes for his Xbox 360. Old, long-overdue textbooks from the school also lay scattered among the heavily buried floor in the "Sea of Daniel" as Daniel's father, Warren, has dubbed it a few months ago.
"I'll clean it up later," Daniel shrugged half-heartedly, although he did mean it more than he did the last ten times.
(Daniel): After all, this IS my mess to clean up.
Danielexited his bedroom and headed down towards the bathroom located a few doors down, while he dwelled on his peculiar dream which had haunted him for quite some time now. He remembered seeing the terrified look on the blonde woman's somewhat conflicted face, and the calculating sneer on the General's hardened face.
Yet, despite the fact that Daniel could vividly remember what he had seen in the dream, it seemed incredibly difficult to remember the names belonging to the people – people that Daniel could feel were or rather had suffered immensely before their mostly unfortunate deaths.
"It was only a dream," Daniel reassured himself while in front of the bathroom mirror, before he splashed some cool water in his face and then examined his appearance.
Daniel was a rather skinny fifteen-year-old freshman who stood at 5'6"/1.68m and had short, jet-black hair along with chocolate-brown and relatively large eyes for someone of his Chinese ethnicity. Furthermore, Daniel had slight traces of acne along the top of his forehead which was mostly hidden by his hair and had a few spots located around the edges of his nose. Nonetheless, Daniel considered himself quite lucky with the relatively little amount of acne compared to many of his fellow students.
"I wonder what time it is," Daniel wondered out loud, since he found it strange that neither of his parents had woke him up for the first day of a new semester at Smallville High.
In fact, Daniel came to the conclusion that none of them were currently at home, so he rushed to his bedroom and immediately took out his wristwatch from his drawer. That was when Daniel's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror, for the school bus was leaving in less than five minutes.
"Jesus!"
He quickly got dressed – putting on a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt – and dashed out of his room with his bright red backpack, down the creaky staircase and ran as fast as he could out of the house via the back door. It was due to running fast and not minding his surroundings, did Daniel not notice the post-it note stuck onto the refrigerator door written by his mom, Janine, explained how Daniel's parents had to go to the florist to get some new lilacs.
Meanwhile, far out in deep space, several meteoroids ranging from the size of bowling balls to the size of the common car were cruising towards Earth. Unbeknownst to the planet, the meteor shower that would occur in the town of Smallville at eight-fifty-eight in the morning would begin the chain reaction that will change the world forever...
"Will you look at that, Ben!" Joseph O'Connell pointed out while he drove his black 1967 Chevrolet Impala with a cool smile to his son, Ben, although the latter did not seem to care for he was coughing while his nose overflowed with clear snot.
Joseph was a middle-aged man who stood at 6'0" with shaven, graying hair and hazel eyes which gave off a vibe of stealthy deceit from the wealthy individual. The main reason why Joseph was wealthy was because his father, Magnus O'Connell, had gained a fortune through what started off as a small market selling cheaply-made gadgets to what O'Corporation was now – a multimillion-dollar business with some of the latest, state-of-the-art technology money can buy.
Therefore, after Magnus had tragically died alongside Joseph's mother, Sophia, in a terrible yacht accident, Joseph was 'forced' to take over the company. For many years, Joseph used his power to keep an iron grip over the company, and as a result, Joseph managed to evolve O'Corporation even further. However, Joseph knew that he was getting older, especially since Ben's mother, Victoria, had died three years ago to breast cancer. This made Joseph even more determined to 'train' Ben to survive in the cruel and unfair world that they lived in, although it did not seem to be working as planned, for Ben was rebellious like Victoria had once been.
So, even though he learned whatever Joseph had taught him, Ben had adamantly refused to be anything like him as evidenced by how Ben was dressed in a bright yellow Smallville High t-shirt underneath a black leather jacket along with dark-green combat pants. This was in contrast to what Joseph was currently wearing – a professional dark-blue suit and purple tie.
After hearing what Joseph had just said, Ben glanced up to where Joseph was still pointing and rolled his eyes, for it was merely a flock of birds flying away from whatever nature had scared them off with – it clearly wasn't even worth looking at for more than a second!
"How are you feeling, son?" Joseph questioned, although the question lacked the compassion it should have had and thus felt like as if it were more like a status update from a military superior.
"Just wonderful, father," Ben remarked sarcastically, earning a glare from Joseph from the rear-view mirror.
"Watch your tone… son," Joseph threatened lowly, while he gripped onto the steering wheel tightly, before he forced a grin onto his face. "Hopefully, your day will be both productive and educational."
At this remark, Ben smirked as he took his purple backpack and got out of the car.
"Yeah, it'll be fun, dad."
Ben resisted the urge to smile at Joseph's troubled frown, while he walked up the stairs leading to the Smallville High entrance doors, only for someone to knock right into him from behind.
"Sorry!" a familiar voice apologized hastily and made Ben grin when he turned around to see who it was.
Daniel panted and leaned against the wall to the right of the school entrance doors, as he tried to regain his energy. After a minute or so, Daniel checked his wristwatch, only to cringe when he saw how little time he had left before he would be considered late.
"Dammit!" Daniel growled and began running again.
It was after weaving in and out of the crowd of students did Daniel accidentally ram straight into someone from behind.
"Sorry!" Daniel apologized hastily, while he hoped that the person would merely brush the incident aside.
Luckily for him, Daniel noticed how the person he had bumped into was none other than his best friend, Ben, who grinned happily at him.
Ben stood at 6'1" with curly brown hair and the same hazel eyes as Joseph. He was also quite skinny, although not nearly as much as Daniel.
"What happened to you?" Ben smirked with a raised eyebrow at Daniel's exhausted appearance.
"School… bus," Daniel panted which only made Ben laugh - much to the former's irritation. "Not… funny!"
At this, Ben simply shrugged in response, as they walked down the crowded hallway and towards a room titled 'BIOLOGY ROOM 5' on the top of the door frame in gold capital letters. Once they had entered the room and sat down in their desks opposite each other, Ben sneezed loudly, yet no-one in the classroom seemed to notice.
"I think I'm coming down with something," Ben stated, wrinkling his face at the clear snot covering the palms of his hands, and then he smiled at Daniel: "It might be contagious."
Daniel rolled his eyes and took out his Biology textbook just before their substitute teacher – a 23-year-old woman with long, copper-brown hair and bright green eyes who stood at 5'9" – walked into the classroom with a brilliant smile which most students returned hesitantly.
"Good morning, class!" the teacher greeted softly in a melodious tone and explained: "My name is Miss Ivy, and I am going to be your substitute teacher for the next few days."
"Looks like almost everyone's here, except for Hestia Adams?" Miss Ivy called out and frowned when no-one responded after a while. "Oh well, let's get started!"
Biology Room 5 – (08:55)
As the sound of the ticking clock echoed throughout the classroom, Daniel could not help but groan as Miss Ivy continued to explain something which he had forgotten. It was not because Miss Ivy was a terrible teacher – in fact, it was quite the opposite, for Miss Ivy spoke with incredible amounts of interest and eagerness in her voice which captivated most of the students.
No, it was simply because Daniel never truly liked Biology in the first place, no matter how well that subject was taught. So, after enduring half of the lesson examining various types of flora personally collected by the teacher, Daniel decided that it was time for a 'bathroom break'.
"May I go to the bathroom, Miss Ivy?" Daniel asked politely, raising his hand up into the air. He made sure that there was a hint of desperation in his voice.
"Sure," Miss Ivy smiled with a nod and gave him a hall pass. "Don't be too long, or you'll miss some interesting stuff."
Daniel doubted this to be true; nonetheless, he hurried out of the classroom and headed towards the nearest bathroom while ignoring Ben's somewhat pleading gaze as the latter sneezed and coughed frequently.
(Daniel): Thank god my hay fever didn't act up! I forgot take my medication today.
After exiting the cubicle and feeling much better, Daniel went over to watch his hands in the sink and did so. He was about to turn around to get a paper towel, when he noticed a bright blue light shining from his peripheral vision.
That was where he found it – the object that would unknowingly change Daniel Li's life forever.
In the middle of the clear marble sink was the glowing sapphire, five-sided crystal. It mesmerized Daniel so much as he looked at it that he almost made a grab for it, when he realized how dangerous of a decision that was. However, all his worries and concerns seemed to instantly vanish, when the crystal started to glow even brighter.
"Maybe one little touch won't hurt me… badly," Daniel added the last part with a slight frown, as he cautiously moved his left index finger towards the crystal in the sink and gently touched it.
Nothing happened.
Daniel let out a sigh of relief, although he knew that the possibility of injury was still present and, with even more caution, put slightly more pressure onto the crystal.
Still, nothing happened.
The temperature in the room seemed to decrease by a few degrees and everything went deathly quiet, as Daniel carefully scooped the glowing crystal into the palms of his quivering hands and looked directly down upon it in utter fascination.
All of a sudden, an extremely loud and high-pitched ringing noise filled Daniel's ears, making him instinctively cover them as tightly as he could. Of course, this made the crystal drop towards the tiled floor. However, unbeknownst to Daniel, just before the crystal had reached the floor, it had split into three smaller crystals that were each glowed a different color – red, blue, and yellow.
"Ugh!" Daniel screamed in agony, as the high-pitched ringing noise only got considerably louder, until he finally could not take it anymore and collapsed onto the tiled bathroom floor…
Li Residence, The Loft – Five Weeks Later (17:25)
At first, all Daniel could see was perpetual darkness accompanied by the faint sound of footsteps and unintelligible chatter. After several minutes, the darkness started to give way to the light, as Daniel gradually started to gain consciousness. Daniel then immediately noticed that he was lying on the couch in the Loft. Yet, as Daniel was about to get up from the couch, he tightly clutched his temples in pain as a slight ringing sensation hit him.
"Argh!" Daniel winced painfully.
(Daniel): What happened? The last thing that I remember…
A flood of memories came into Daniel's mind, as he remembered scooping up the glowing sapphire crystal and the events that soon followed afterwards.
(Daniel): Kind of reminded me of the Crystal of Knowledge from Smallville.
Daniel chuckled at the thought of something from a TV show actually happening in real-life, especially in the town which Smallville of the comic books had been inspired by so many years ago.
That was when Daniel immediately realized that something was… off.
The supposedly short-sighted Daniel suddenly realized how his surroundings seemed unnaturally clearer to him than ever before in his entire life in absolute marvel. Daniel gasped when he found his vision zooming in on a small speck of dust on the floor at such a rapid speed, to the point where he could easily see the little microbe in the speck of dust as well as many other things that freaked Daniel out.
"What the hell is going on!?"
All of a sudden, the faint sounds of unintelligible chatter and footsteps that Daniel had heard while he was regaining consciousness became screams of extremely clear speech and LOUD, earth-shattering earthquakes, respectively.
"Calm down!" Daniel muttered to himself, while he clutched his ears and closed his eyes and took a few breaths.
The various sounds that bombarded Daniel simultaneously momentarily quietened down, as Daniel carefully slowed down his breathing and calmed down. Unfortunately, just as he had almost cancelled all the sounds, Daniel's parents had barged into the room in worry, and inadvertently brought back the noise.
"Daniel!" Janine Li gasped at the sight of Daniel being in agonizing pain and immediately rushed over to embrace him in a hug with Henry Li not being far behind.
Janine was a 45-year-old Chinese-American woman who stood at 5'0" with dark brown eyes and short hair, while Henry was a forty-nine years old Chinese-American male with balding, jet-black hair and chocolate brown eyes. He stood at 5'2" and also wore a pair of black, thick-rimmed glasses and was somewhat pudgy, despite the fact that Henry did numerous chores around the Li Farm which had been passed down through the generations to his family.
"What's wrong, son?" Henry asked in concern after reluctantly pulling away from Daniel, although Janine did not. "Son?"
"Shut up!" Daniel snapped, which shocked both Henry and Janine, until they noticed the pained and pleading expression on Daniel's face. "Please."
At the tone of desperation in Daniel's shaking voice, Henry and Janine immediately stopped speaking and became absolutely silent. It wasn't until he remained control of his breathing did Daniel finally manage to cancel out the intruding sounds albeit with intense concentration.
"I'm sorry," Daniel apologized guiltily to both his parents, although their faces showed only sympathy and concern, as Henry and Janine shared an unnoticed sideways glance at each other.
"It's alright, sweetie," Janine reassured comfortingly while stroking his hair, before she decided to change the subject for Daniel's sake. "We know you're in a lot of pain right now."
"Thanks, guys." Daniel sent an immensely grateful look towards his parents and asked in curiosity. "How long was I out?"
The question caused Henry and Janine to give another sideways glance towards each other which unfortunately did not go unnoticed this time by Daniel.
"Five weeks," Henry answered reluctantly in the end and sighed. "Your mother and I were in the kitchen washing the dishes, when you suddenly appeared out of nowhere. You were unconscious, so we took you here."
Henry frowned, and his eyes darkened as if reliving a bad memory, before he cleared his throat and continued speaking.
"It was about an hour or so after you suddenly appeared in the kitchen did... the meteor shower happened."
Daniel blinked several times at what he was just told, for he swore that he had incorrectly heard what Henry had said, although Daniel knew that he had literally heard perfectly.
(Daniel): Five weeks of being unconscious and a meteor shower occurs? A meteor shower like in Smallville, as well as the fact that I found a crystal resembling the Crystal of Knowledge from Smallville! This isBizarro!
The pun that Daniel had told in his mind made him chuckle, but the stern look that both his parents were now giving him caused him to stop instantaneously.
"This is serious, Daniel," Janine stated disapprovingly. "The whole town is practically in ruins from the meteor shower, and quite a few people actually DIED as a result – with several others being injured... or worse."
Daniel bowed his head in shame for not taking the situation seriously enough and was about to ask what Janine had meant by "or worse".
"Argh!" Daniel grunted rather loudly and added quickly with gritted teeth to ease his parents: "I'm fine."
Of course, neither Henry nor Janine believed it for a second, as they both folded their arms across their chests and gave Daniel a sceptical look.
"Honestly, I'm fi-!" Daniel hastily reassured them and quickly got off the couch, only to then lose his balance and fall right through the floor of loft and land roughly onto the ground.
"DANIEL!"
Henry and Janine immediately rushed down the stairs and over to Daniel, who was slightly dazed as a result of the fall, yet strangely unhurt without a scratch on his body, which Daniel realized while being lifted up from the ground by his parents.
"What the hell just happened?" Daniel asked in disbelief and gazed up at the hole from where he had fallen from. "How am I not injured from that?"
Unlike the previous time, Daniel narrowed his eyes suspiciously when he noticed the sideways glance between his parents.
"You're hiding something from me," Daniel accused suspiciously, to which Henry and Janine simply looked down with sudden interest at the ground. "And it has something to do with the meteor shower, doesn't it?"
The tension in the room increased, as Warren sighed and nodded to Janine, who tearfully nodded back in silent agreement. They knew that it was time for the truth.
"Daniel," Henry began shakily and then gulped to compose himself. "Do you notice anything… different about yourself? Physically different?"
At this peculiar question, Daniel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and nodded hesitantly.
"I can… see and hear a whole lot better than I used to," Daniel admitted with a contemplative frown. "It's definitely weird."
"Anything else?" Janine questioned with a barely-composed voice. "Like… how things look to you now?"
"But I already told you about my sight-"
"No, son, we mean…" Henry interrupted firmly and struggled to continue. "…how things look from a certain height."
If Daniel was confused before, now he was completely clueless about what his parents were talking about.
[Daniel]: Height. What does Dad mean by height?
That was when Daniel found out what Warren meant LITERALLY by height.
Before the meteor shower, Daniel was already taller than both Henry and Janine for at least two years, although it was nothing compared to the massive height difference now. Because now, Daniel gasped in a mixture of shock and awe at how his parents seemed like little, albeit middle-aged children who didn't even reach his BROAD shoulders!
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Daniel shouted in disbelief yet again, as he surveyed his new reasonably-muscular, broad-shouldered body for the very first time, before he dashed towards a nearby mirror in an unintentional blur of speed.
The person staring back at him was not Daniel Li, or at least; this is what Daniel thought while properly surveying his new appearance with a completely gobsmacked face. No longer did Daniel have ANY acne or blemishes of any kind on his skin, nor did his body have any unwanted fat. This – along with his greatly increased height to 6'5.5" (1.97m) – almost made him faint from the shock of what was happening.
"I know that this is a lot to take in, sweetie," Janine acknowledged cautiously. "And both your father and I can explain to you what's going on-"
"I think that… would be a great idea," Daniel stated breathlessly, with his eyes still glued to the mirror in awe. "Because I am freaking out here!"
Henry and Janine winced slightly. Nonetheless, they both knew that it was either now or never.
"Follow us, son," Henry told Daniel, who reluctantly agreed and the three of them walked out of the Loft towards the locked storm cellar, much to the latter's puzzlement which Henry seemed to pick up. "The truth is in there."
"Truth?" Daniel repeated with an uneasy feeling in his gut. "About what exactly?"
At this, Henry looked crestfallen as he used the storm cellar key to unlock the place which Daniel now viewed in a different light.
"Everything."
Henry pulled open the double doors of the storm cellar and went down into the dark, dusty place followed quickly by Janine and lastly Daniel, whose uneasy feeling had only increased greatly.
The storm cellar was someplace Daniel had only been in twice in his entire life: once when he was two and the other time being when Daniel was five – both of which Daniel could not remember. Yet, as Daniel noted the darkness of the storm cellar and knew that it was cold, he did not truly feel the coldness of the place nor was Daniel almost completely blind from the lack of light. In fact, Daniel felt fine.
That is, until Daniel saw the pentagon-shaped object with a length of two-and-a-half meters, a height of one meter, and a width of roughly two meters well-concealed underneath a large, black tablecloth. Its mere presence made one side of Daniel want to run as far away from it as possible, while the another side wanted to embrace it with open arms.
"What is that?"
"Your spaceship," Henry sighed, before he threw off the tablecloth to reveal the midnight-black Kryptonian spaceship. "The spaceship we found you in."
Time seemed to stop for Daniel, whose brain was unsure if it had heard correctly. Daniel did not register the guilty looks on his parents' faces, as he gaped down at his apparent spaceship which scarily resembled the Kal-El's spaceship from the TV show "Smallville".
"I-I'm an alien," Daniel stammered after what seemed like an hour or so. "An alien!? An alien who came to Earth in a spaceship that looks exactly like-"
"-the one on Smallville," Janine finished softly in shame. "Meaning you know that you're not human, Daniel, but instead-"
"-Kryptonian," Daniel gasped with wide eyes at his parents while trying to control his breathing. He then glared at his parents, although his eyes were mostly filled with a sense of betrayal. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you weren't Kryptonian – at least not at first," Henry explained calmly and continued with tears forming in his eyes.
"When we found you at Miller's Bend on Christmas Day of 1996, you were not an invulnerable, super-powered being. Instead, you were a just a simple, human baby and OUR Christmas miracle sent to us from another planet after so much praying from me and your mother. We only found out about your birthday – November 22nd 1996 – from the paper bracelet that was on your arm that day. But we also found this as well."
Henry went over to one of his many toolboxes located in a far corner of the storm cellar and took out a metallic octagonal disk from it.
"It… does not match any of the elements of the periodic table," Henry explained, while he handed it to Daniel, who was amazed at the very real Kryptonian Key being handed to him. "In fact, it doesn't match any Earthly alloys either."
Daniel examined the Kryptonian in the palm of left hand and used his right index finger to trace the engraved symbols along the Key's smooth edges. However, as soon as Daniel had done so, the symbols started to glow bright yellow.
"THAT has never happened before," Janine gasped in amazement and slight fear, while Daniel stared at the key and then at his spaceship.
It was at that moment when an octagonal hole formed at the top of the spaceship's dome, which caught Daniel's attention and made him instinctively come closer to it before gently placing the Key inside the hole. As a result, the spaceship shone brightly and almost blinded the three Li's, who all shut and shielded their eyes immediately, until the light had faded to reveal a middle-aged man with short, wavy whitish-blond hair and deep-blue eyes standing beside the spaceship with a proud smile on his face.
"Welcome, my nephew," the mysterious stranger greeted warmly with a voice that exuded power and wisdom. "I am the Interactive Hologram of the late Jor-El of the planet Krypton, and I am your biological uncle."
Daniel's eyes widened at this revelation, for it was his own flesh and blood standing before him… in a way.
"You were sent here from Krypton in the Earth-Year of 1987, but you did not arrive until the year 1996 due to a cosmic storm halting your journey as well as your aging. Our planet – Krypton – was dying from not only its unstable inner core but also because of the corruption of its people. Your mother, Lara, and I programmed this ship to Earth as a non-powered human, until the time was right."
"Why? What happened in the final moments of Krypton?" Henry asked cautiously, having found his voice again, to which Jor-El's face darkened, and the latter's deep-blue eyes seemed to cloud slightly.
"Are you positive that you want to know?"
At this, Daniel nodded eagerly in response, as Jor-El began to explain about the events which led to Krypton's destruction.
"Please, explain everything to us," Daniel told Jor-El. "Explain Krypton's final moments, and teach me how to control my powers."
Silence filled the storm cellar for a while, which Daniel feared was a 'no' from Jor-El, when the hologram gave Daniel an understanding yet guilt-filled smile at him.
"Very well, Daniel. It all truly began when I argued with the High Council about the urgency of Krypton's inner core…"
2116 Beresford Road – (18:30)
Towards the outskirts of Smallville, O'Connell Mansion stood out proudly from within the heavily-wooded area which could only be accessed through its wrought-iron gates connected to two towering stone pillars — accompanying gray marble angel statues at the top of each of the pillars. The gates opened to allow the black '67 Impala Chevrolet belonging to Joseph O'Connell to enter past and along the tree-lined private road towards the main entrance of the mansion.
Once there, a smartly-dressed doorman opened the car door for Joseph, who promptly exited the vehicle.
"Thank you," Joseph said curtly and hastily rushed past the numerous butlers/maids, whom all bowed respectfully and stared in poorly-concealed fascination at Joseph's unusually frantic behavior.
Nevertheless, despite being stared at rather rudely (in his opinion), Joseph ignored his "underachieving" staff and practically barged into Ben's bedroom — startling the O'Connell heir, who was currently reading 'Flashpoint' issue one while sat up on his bed and underneath the covers.
"Hey, dad," Ben greeted routinely, not even bothering to tear his gaze from the comic book. "You're home."
"Yes, I am," Joseph replied in a somewhat irritated manner, before he swiftly took the comic book from Ben's grasp — much to the latter's frustration. "And I would appreciate that you make eye-contact with me when I am speaking to you, Benjamin."
At hearing his full forename, Ben glared at his father and gritted his teeth.
"It's Ben, Joseph, although I don't know why I even bother correcting you anymore."
Despite having the strong urge to scold the boy, Joseph took a deep breath and put on one of his infamous "O'Connell smiles", since he didn't come back to the mansion for small-talk.
"Ben." Joseph cleared his throat and continued in a cautious manner. "I came back to the mansion, because I wanted to talk to you about what happened at Smallville High. Do you remember anything particularly strange occurrences when the meteor shower struck?"
Ben's eyebrows rose in a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. The bluntness in Joseph's voice was apparent as Ben remembered it had always been, yet the cautiousness in Joseph's question was unexpected. This made Ben realize whatever he was going to say was something that Joseph was keen to divulge from him.
"Nothing much, pops." Ben saw Joseph cringe at the word 'pops' but not doing anything about it, which only reaffirmed Ben's belief that Joseph really wanted to know what happened. "All I remember is…"
Flashback: January 4th 2012 – Three Hours after the Meteor Shower
At first, darkness was all Ben could feel.
It was if there was nothing else in existence besides the darkness and Ben. However, that rapidly changed in a few agonizing seconds, as Ben's other senses started to kick in.
"Ugh..." Ben groaned unintelligibly, since he couldn't really say anything at the moment, before he scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Grrss..."
The heavy fumes from the flames - which Ben did not know were currently surrounding him - invaded his sense of smell and caught Ben off-guard while coughing rather violently.
"Hello?" Ben tried to shout out but instead his voice was weak and barely louder than the sound of the flames surrounding him - something he saw once he could open his eyes.
That was when Ben saw the burning bodies of what he realized was every other student in the class.
"Dear God..."
Unfortunately, things got even worse. Ben's eyes widened in horror, as he witnessed something that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
"SOMEBODY, HELP MEEEE!"
Ben didn't recognize the student who was screaming in agony while being burned alive with his arm outstretched towards the O'Connell heir and froze in shock as the burning student fell onto the floor without a single sound. Of course, the deadly silence of the burning classroom did not last for more than two seconds, before Ben vomited all across the floor at what he had just witnessed. Once he had finished doing so, Ben started to crawl over to where the exit USED to be and cried out when he found it blocked by a pile of fallen, burning bricks.
"You bastard!" Ben cursed/coughed up into the smoke-filled air. "What the hell have I done!? You took my mom from me, and you practically took my dad, too!"
Tears were now streaming down Ben's blackened face.
"What the hell do you want from me!?"
Ben felt the life drain out of him by each passing second and struggled to keep awake while slumped against a heavily-damaged wall. This was the end.
Suddenly, the ground started to shake violently and cracks began to form a few feet in front of the barely-conscious Ben. From the cracks, thick vines erupted from them and forcefully widened the cracks further to allow even thicker (as well as stronger) vines to push through, even with the fires growing in intensity. Nevertheless, the vines seemed slither towards Ben and then wrapped themselves around his ankles, before they started to pull him down into the cracks. It was there, where Ben heard the melodious yet also husky female voice speak to him.
"I have saved you, precious one. You will be a part of my plan."
By the time he had finished explaining what had happened, Ben had tears running down his face and therefore did not dare to look Joseph in the eye.
"Is that all you remember?" Joseph questioned sharply, to which Ben nodded slowly. He then added in a disapproving tone: "Do not shed any tears, Ben. You are a O'Connell - which means that you are a survivor."
Ben sighed, since he had expected his father to respond like this and wiped his eyes with a tissue. Joseph didn't even care that Ben had been traumatized by that burning and screaming student, who had been invading his dreams for the past five weeks.
"Nevertheless, Benjamin, it is fortunate that this woman saved your life. Although, I believe one must have breathed one too many fumes to imagine vines saving them and depositing them at the mansion's gates," Joseph criticized with a raised eyebrow, before he turned on his heel and was about to exit the bedroom when he turned around to face Ben.
"Remember, Ben, O'Connell's are survivors. We will do anything to survive any predicament that we may face. Furthermore, you still have your health, Ben."
As soon as Joseph had left the room, Ben took a deep breath to prevent the rage he felt at his 'father'.
[Ben]: O'Connell's are survivors? Ha! If that were true, dad, mom would still alive!
Ben punched his pillow in an act of frustration, before he sneakily took out the second issue of 'Flashpoint' from within his bedside drawer and began reading it. However, as Ben delved deeper into the DC Universe, he failed to notice a few strands of his brown hair falling onto his pillow...
"Wait, so you're saying that I'm NOT Kryptonian?" Daniel said in a perplexed tone, before he quickly added: "At least, not your average Kryptonian!"
"You are correct, Daniel," Jor-El answered with his hands clasped in front of him. "Zor-El was 'insistent' on making you better than your fellow Kryptonians. In other words, you are a genetically-superior Kryptonian with certain... advantages over an average Kryptonian."
"Such as...?" Daniel urged eagerly, only to have Jor-El frown in response.
"Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to find out ALL of your 'advantages'. However, with time and research, these answers will eventually come to us."
"Are there any disadvantages?" Janine asked worryingly - preventing Henry from asking the question himself.
"No," Jor-El firmly reassured the Li's with a soft smile. "Daniel is the most successful of the 'Lost Son' clones created by Zor-El, and he will fulfill his destiny as the Protector of Earth and-"
"-But how can you be so sure?" Daniel interrupted - his face plagued with anxiety and doubt. "How am I supposed to be Superman, when I'm not even Clark Kent!?"
Silence filled the storm cellar when this was said, and no-one could blame him. Henry and Janine were concerned for the safety of their child who would be fighting against the unimaginable horrors of the Universe if Daniel was "destined" to be such an iconic superheroes like Superman. Yet, a part of them realized how - in some/most ways - it would be a better life for their son. No longer was Daniel shackled by human limitations and average expectations, Henry and Janine felt... proud that their son would be fighting for mankind and possibly other species.
However, after hearing Daniel's doubt about becoming something more, Henry and Janine realized that their son needed them more than ever.
"You are not Clark Kent – that much is true," Jor-El agreed understandingly. "And no-one will force you to be. You are your own person, Daniel, even when there is other media – comic books, television, movies – acting as pieces of your prophecy, it is ultimately you who writes the story."
"And you aren't alone, son," Henry reassured Daniel with a comforting hand on the latter's shoulder. "You were our miracle – and now it's time for you to miracle for this planet."
Daniel sighed yet wore an appreciative grin on his face with the knowledge that his parents stood by him. He then flexed his fingers. Jor-El had explained to Daniel why he was human for fifteen years – with the reason being to allow him to properly live alongside humanity. Nevertheless, Daniel was extremely glad that his true Kryptonian self had been restored.
All of a sudden, Daniel let out a pained scream and clutched his ears in an effort to block out the deafening sound of rapid gunfire and numerous people running away from something that definitely did NOT sound human. However, it wasn't until Daniel heard Ben's frightened voice shouting for help did Daniel know that his friend needed him.
"I have to go!" Daniel stated seriously, which surprised and confused both his parents. "Ben's in trouble at his mansion, I think, and I have to save him."
"Ben O'Connell?" Henry questioned and added: "Are you sure?"
"Then you must go save him," Jor-El advised. The A.I. then noticed Henry and Janine's reluctant looks. "I, too, had heard the commotion at O'Connell Mansion, and Daniel is the only one capable of saving Benjamin O'Connell. Therefore, you must let him go."
Despite still being reluctant to let him go, Henry and Janine nodded to Daniel, who nodded in response with a determined look on his face. Then, with an intense burst of superhuman speed, Daniel ran out of the storm cellar – blasting the doors from their hinges as a result – and sped towards O'Connell Mansion.
[Daniel]: This is awesome!
It was if the whole world had been slowed down to a near-halt, as Daniel zoomed past the Talon Cafe and gasped in amazement at how – at the same – things rushed past him like a blur of mixed colors. However, even considering this observation, Daniel could still maneuver his way across the roads with almost minimal effort, as if running faster than a speeding bullet was natural to him.
"I'm coming, Ben."
Daniel pushed himself to run faster towards the O'Connell Mansion, which was quickly coming into human sight and broke the entrance doors of the mansion off their hinges as well, before Daniel stopped abruptly with a little wobble a few feet away from an unconscious Ben. Daniel then glanced around the mansion and cringed at the state of it. Most of the stain-glass windows were shattered, with the shards of glass littering the carpeted floor. Various furniture looked as if they had been thrown aside and ruined books were scattered everywhere.
Unfortunately, due to Daniel being too busy observing the damage of the usually well-kept mansion, he did not see the sturdy vine behind him and was sent flying through several walls of the mansion when it slammed into him.
"Ugh," Daniel groaned, while he groggily stood up just in time to see the same vine lunge for him like a serpent in slow-motion.
[Daniel]: Time to do some gardening!
Daniel rolled out of the vine's lunge path and quickly grabbed a machete lying on the ruined carpeted floor. He then used the machete to cut the vine to tinier 'pieces' using a combination of superhuman speed and strength, while the vine was still in what seemed like slow-motion until its chopped-up pieces fell to the floor.
"Well, that was convenient," Daniel commented about the machete in his hands before throwing it away in disgust, when he remembered his unconscious friend and rushed over to him in a flash to check Ben's pulse.
"Ben, can you hear me? Goddammit!"
Unfortunately, Ben's pulse was incredibly weak and getting weaker by the minute if Daniel couldn't bring him to the nearest hospital for treatment.
"Stay with me, Ben!"
Daniel lifted Ben from the floor 'bridal-style' and was about to rush over to the Smallville Medical Center, when several smaller yet unusually strong vines came out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around his wrists and his feet. They then squeezed tightly with unbelievable force that it caused even Daniel to wince in pain and inadvertently drop Ben in the process while rooted on the spot.
"Why would you save him?" a female voice, which Daniel instantly recognized, sneered nastily from behind him. "He is the son of the murderer!"
"I could ask you the same question... Miss Ivy?"
The vines wrapped around Daniel's wrists tightened ever-so-slightly, causing Daniel to bit his bottom lip to prevent himself from wincing in pain, as he was turned around to face Ivy and gasped at her new 'look'.
Miss Ivy's copper-brown hair was much wilder and was alluring merely by looking at it. Furthermore, not only were their tiny, almost 'vein-like' vines wrapped covering certain parts of Ivy's body, but her skin now had a greener tint to it which almost matched greenness of Ivy's eyes – the only feature which had not changed. However, despite how alluring Ivy's hair and "other parts" were, Daniel knew he had to keep his focus even if said parts were barely covered in a rather revealing dress made out of leaves.
"You could have killed him, but for some reason you haven't. Why?"
"Because I need him... for the moment," Ivy explained through gritted teeth, before she gave what Daniel assumed to be a 'motherly' smile and folded her arms across her chest. "I need Ben as blackmail against his father – the murderer!"
"Murderer?" Daniel repeated, wondering who Ivy was referring to, when he suddenly remembered reading about the mass deforestation of several wooded areas from Metropolis to Central City lead by Joseph O'Connell. "Joseph..."
At this realization, Ivy smiled in satisfaction and took a step nearer towards Daniel. She then started to tenderly stroke his right cheek, while he simultaneously tried in vain to break free of the vines wrapped around his wrists and feet. Ivy then began speaking with a seductive, captivating tone in her voice which almost made Daniel lose control of himself.
"When the meteor shower occurred and tore apart the classroom, I was close to death. But the special meteor rocks allowed me to connect to Mother Nature, and she saved me as a reward for my faithfulness. Unfortunately, not all are grateful towards Mother Nature – especially Joseph O'Connell, which is why I will eradicate him and anyone else who opposes our mother. And since you are clearly not on nature's side, you will join him."
Just as soon as Daniel felt his eyes burn up as if on they were ablaze, Ivy passionately kissed him and instantly replaced the burning sensation in his eyes with an even more intense sensation in his mouth. The sensation was unbearable, as Daniel clutched his throat using both of his now free hands and went down vigorously coughing onto his knees. Daniel didn't even notice Ivy casually walking out of the mansion with the unconscious Ben alongside her via a moving 'bed' of intertwined vines, before he screamed his lungs out and instantly shattering all the remaining windows in the process.
A/N: Why did you think of part one? Was it good, bad, or something in the middle? If it were any of those, post a review and keep reading to find out what happened to next! Thank you!
Revelation II 1x03 = While Daniel tries desperately to fight the effects of Poison Ivy's kiss, Ben is kidnapped by Ivy, who plans to use him as blackmail against Joseph in order to stop O'Corporations from "killing" Mother Nature. Unfortunately, when a certain Crystal of Power is involved, things almost always get awry and something even worse than Ivy will be released from the depths of a horrifying realm...
