Last Son of Krypton

Strange Visitors, Part 1

Disclaimer: all character are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: general spoilers for Superman.

Author Note: as with Batman, my version of the Superman mythos draw from several sources.

A.N. 2: revised by JediKnight, from TtH


Smallville, Kansas. Almost eighteen years ago

Jonathan Kent, a tall, blond farmer that looked to be around thirty years old, was loading the fertilizer sacks in his father's old pick-up truck when he saw the sheriff coming along with another man.

"Sheriff Dale." Jonathan Kent said, shaking the hand of the county sheriff "What can I do for you?"

"This gentleman was looking for somebody called Jack Kent." Said the sheriff, a thin, unassuming man, with a bald patch in his dark hair and a thin mustache. "And I thought that you could give him some help."

"I'm Jonathan Kent." Said Jonathan, giving a good look at the man. He was a tall black man, around forty, with short, kinky hair that started to go white in the temples, and a small goatee. He was wearing black sneakers, jeans and a black leather jacket over a dark gray T-shirt. He had slung over his shoulder a backpack. "I can't say that I remember a Jack Kent in my family, but I don't know all my cousins, though."

"I'm Nick Fury, and the man that I'm looking for should be close to seventy, a World War II veteran." Said the other man. "He and my father became friends back then, and..."

"World War II, you say?" said Jonathan, snapping his fingers "That's my father, I remember he told me once that back in the war everybody called him Jack. I'm going back to the farm after I'm finished with the sacks, do you have a car?"

"No, a friend left me in Topeka and I took the bus from there." Fury said, shaking his head.

"Well, if you don't mind riding in a pick-up that has seen better days..."

To his surprise Fury laughed, before removing his jacket putting his backpack aside and taking one of the sacks of fertilizer.

"Don't worry, I have ridden in far worse getups. So, where do you want the sack?"

Solar System. Kuiper's Belt, beyond Pluto's orbit

The Kuiper's Belt was filled with the detritus of the formation of the Solar System, balls of ice and rock, some of which were occasionally dragged inside the system and became comets. But other than that, cold and darkness, as the Sun only an exceptionally bright star at this distance, were the constants of the Belt... until now.

A flash of light was the only sign of the arrival of the spaceship that carried the last survivor of a dead world. It remained unseen from Earth, the Moon in the way. The ship stood motionless for a moment, the onboard computers taking on the system and plotting a course through the system, completely unfazed by the debris that had accompanied the ship in its travel though the conduit.

Suddenly the gravitic engine activated, propelling the ship toward its destiny in the third planet, dragging bits of the debris in tow. Soon afterwards, from its hiding place inside the debris, Brainiac's drone ship, following its programming, continued its relentless pursuit of the last son of Krypton. An alien sensor drone documented the arrival of both vessels and sent a transmission to its masters.

Kent Farm

John Kent, Jonathan's father, was in his 70s, had a bald patch and needed glasses to read, but otherwise still looked fit as a fiddle, and age seemed to have barely slowed him. His blue eyes looked at Nick from head to toe.

"Jacob's youngest, hmmm?" said John Kent to their guest. "Nicholas, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir." Nick said

"I am no 'sir', young man. I was only a sergeant." John said with an smile, "Call me John."

"Okay...John." Nick said with a smile.

"So, what brings you here?" John said, meeting his gaze, "I suppose that it wasn't only to tell me that Jacob is dead."

"No, his last will contained a provision about you..." Fury started to say, but he stopped, clearly trying to find the words.

"Oh?" John said, frowning, and then looked at Jonathan. "Well, lets' go for a walk, I think better when I'm walking."

"Pa, are you sure?." Jonathan said "The doctor said..."

"Bah, I'm not going to walk to town, kid, only a bit around the farm." John said.

"Okay, but don't be late, Martha is going to make your favorite stew for supper." Jonathan said, acknowledging his defeat in the argument.

"Martha?" asked Nick as they went out of the house.

"My daughter-in-law." John said, "A good woman, shame that she and Jonathan can't have children."

As they got far enough from the house, he turned back to him, his expression grim.

"Let me guess, he left you a green metallic box about the size of a toolbox?" he said, "And instructions to seek me to explain what was all of that about? Or if I was unable to, Peggy Carter, Daniel Dugan or James Farnsworth?"

"Eh... yes. Were you a member of...?" Fury started to say, stopping himself before saying the name of his agency.

"SHIELD?" John answered with a sad smile "No, I was offered, though, by Carter herself, back in '48. But I had enough of war and conflict." He added, shaking his head

"Then, how...?" Fury said, dumbfounded.

John didn't answer, instead he turned to look at the cornfields, as if taking strength from looking at something familiar.

"It was just after the war. After slogging through the Pacific during the war, my unit was part of Japan occupation forces." John finally said, his voice flat, "We all have heard about HYDRA, but few people knew that the Japanese had their own version, the Black Dragon Society." He looked at Fury.

"Yes, I have heard of them." Fury said, "They were more oriented toward the political and less toward mad science than HYDRA, but they left some nasty messes around."

"As we could see personally. You see, we were tasked with guarding the entry to one of their secret project until the SSR could check it." He took a deep breath, "We were surrounding it, following our orders of leaving it alone, and stopping anyone trying to enter."

"I guess that somebody did try to enter." Nick said.

"Yeah, some bonehead convinced himself that the reason we were guarding it was that the Japs had gold hidden there, and he got some members of his platoon to check it out with him." John said, "Bunch of idiots."

"What happened?" Nick said, having the feeling that he knew where this was headed.

"We never saw them again, as living human beings at least." John said, shaking his head, "We noticed their disappearance next morning, and it was not long afterwards we realized that they had gone inside."

"So, what you did?" Nick asked.

"Before we could talk to the brass, the Howling Commandos and the SSR people arrived." John said, and the looked back at Nick "I don't know if he told you, but your father, Jake Fury, was..."

"One of them, yes, I knew that." Nick nodded "I guess that they didn't like the situation."

"You can say that. My captain got an earful from Colonel Phillips…" he paused for a moment, reminiscing, "That man could blister the paint of a Sherman when he got going."

"I have heard things to that effect." Fury said, "What happened afterwards?"

"Well, the SSR people had a closed room reunion, and then Carter and Stark entered the complex with the Commandos."

"And they found something, didn't they?" Fury said.

"You could say that. They got out barely fifteen minutes later, shooting back at something that was pursuing them." He paused a moment, closing his eyes, "Things out of a nightmare, and the worst thing was that some of them had been people before: our own men were still somewhat recognizable but the others… prisoners or maybe the scientists there, we never knew. The worst were the other things, the ones that had never been human." He shook his head, as if he was trying to dispel the images of that day from his mind, "We were hard pressed to stop them, we needed flamethrowers, field artillery, even a bit of fire support from the USS Canberra to kill them all, at the end." He paused for a moment, gathering strength to continue.

Nick waited. He didn't say, but he doubted that the Black Dragon had really known what was going on that base. It looked more like the work of a cultist of the Old Ones.

"The Commandos had been decimated, so a troop of the best soldiers of my regiment, me included, were selected to go with them inside." John continued. He shivered for a moment before saying the following, "We saw things there that don't belong to God's green Earth. Those damned fools had opened a door, and one of their scientist had been possessed by... something in the other side, and was now letting things out of nightmares in and change people into... things. We destroyed the door, picked its pieces, and sealed the surviving creatures inside under many tons of concrete."

"I guess that whatever is in the box is one of the door pieces." Fury said, guessing where this was headed. He had the feeling that the possession hadn't been all that unwilling if his experience with cultists was any indication.

"Yes. One piece is still down there, in the lab, under all that concrete, while the survivors who had been in the fight in the door room picked one each." John said "Stark, Carter, Dugan, Farnsworth, your father and me."

Fury nodded. He had known personally all of the survivors. Hell, he had been recruited into SHIELD by Dugan's oldest grandson.

"And that's all. He probably directed you to me because I'm the only one who wasn't involved with the SSR back then. " John said, looking at the other man with a shrewd look. "Or with SHIELD later."

"I can't comment on that." Fury said. "But what you have said, well, I need to think about it. Thank you."

"Can you at least stay for dinner?" John said, "I guarantee you that you won't be sorry, Martha is an excellent cook."

"If you put it that way, who am I to say no?."

After dinnertime. The Kent Farm

"It's a bit too late to go back to Smallville now." Fury said, looking at the night sky, "Not to speak of taking a bus."

"Well, you can use our guest room, Mr. Fury." Jonathan said.

"For the last time, Jonathan, call me Nick." Fury said with a smile. And it was a genuine smile, not the fake one he wore as part of the service, "And thanks."

After entering the room, Fury undressed and got into the bed. But sleep eluded him, thinking about today's revelations. Carter, Dugan and Farnsworth were still alive, and dad's piece was in a safe place, but Stark had died in a car crash a few years ago, and his son... He pursed his lips. Like father, like son, if some of the stories he had heard from Howard Stark younger years were accurate. Maria Stark, nee Wayne, had been an stabilizing influence on the often hyperactive genius.

Anyway, first thing when he came back is to ask Carter about Stark's piece. If somebody knew where his piece was, Peggy Carter was that person. He hoped that it wasn't in some forgotten cupboard in one of the many Stark mansions, or worse, being tinkered over by Stark's son.

And then, there was SHIELD brass. Director Faraday was a good man, but he was getting a bit too paranoid in his old age, an attitude fomented by some of his subordinates. He shook his head turned around and closed his eyes. His last conscious thought before falling asleep were that tomorrow would be another day.

TO BE CONTINUED...