Superman: A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story; they are the property of their respective owners, although if I did own the characters then Clark would have stopped all of the stupid Lana angsty crap in earlier seasons, and somebody would have put Lex in his place by now, but tis not to be.

Summary: This is my first fan fic, so please, bear with me. This story takes place after the season 6 episode combat.

You want more Green Lantern, you get more Green Lantern.

Note: when I imagined this story in my head, I pictures tom welling wearing the superman returns suit, if that helps.

Warning: There is a little drama in this chapter, but I thought that it would help people in the story to understand superman in not infallible.

Thanks to those who have reviewed my story. Side not, when I was imagining this story in my head, I put tom welling in the superman returns superman suit. And now, on with the story….

Clark was having a bad day. First, there was an avalanche in the Himalayas, which took a while for him to sort out, although not much time, and then there he flew to the Alaskan coast, where a fishing vessel was floundering badly in the turbulent waters. Then he had had to stop numerous crimes from being committed, and then the icing on the cake of a bad day occurred. He was heading back to metropolis when he saw and heard a semi truck run a red light and plummet into a city bus full of people. He arrived just after the bus and semi exploded, and in the afternoon edition of the Daily Planet, the people saw their savior as no longer destructive. The picture that went along with the article showed it all: a side view picture of Superman, his head bowed and his hands clenched at his sides, with his cape billowing slightly from the wind. Superman had been around long enough that people knew that none of his powers included the ability to see into the future, and there was no possible way he could have saved those people on the bus.

Even though people knew that, it was still a shock to see their hero, their savior, looking so dejected, so crestfallen. What they didn't know was that even though he knew he wasn't a god, he had still gone through the litany of "what ifs" and "if onlys," like if only had been a little faster, if only he had increased his speed faster, or sooner. He only stopped going through those when a family member of one of the people who had been killed in the bus spoke to him, and told him that she didn't blame him for the death of her husband, and that he had done the best that he could have. Once she told him this she hugged him, as did the rest of the family members of the deceased bus riders.

After Clark left the scene of the accident, he needed someone to talk to, someone on the outside looking in, and he remembered a friend he had made a year or so ago. A friend who was named Father Jason Dunbar, who knew Clark's secret, but Pastor Dunbar was trust worthy man, and he provided a sympathetic ear for Clark to talk about his problems. When Clark arrived at the church, first changing into his regular street clothes, he found Father Dunbar waiting for Clark in his office, and Clark sat down, and he began to talk, to talk about whether or not he can really make a difference in the world, if he can fail like he did earlier that day. Father Dunbar told him that god has a purpose for everyone, even superheroes, and he must keep his faith. He also told him that he had heard the reports, and told Clark that he shouldn't blame himself, that only precognition could have saved those people, and that Clark WAS making a difference in the world, only he couldn't see it. Clark thanked father Dunbar for his comforting words, and left the church feeling a little better.

Several weeks later he was in Chicago saving people from various accidental gas explosions. He was helping some people get to safety when another explosion occurred, but before Clark could fly to the rescue, the structure that had almost toppled to the street had been caught. The structure was caught by a giant, green baseball glove. Clark smiled when he saw his friend Hal Jordan floating in the sky, and his right hand pointed towards the fallen structure, and a line of hard light energy which extended from a ring on his hand to the giant baseball glove. Once they had finished rescuing people, they flew of to catch up with each other. They landed in metropolis, changed into their civilian clothes, and walked to a coffee chop so that they talk, and get up to speed with what the other man as been doing, although they pretty much know, but they still want to talk.

Once they had settled down in an out of the way coffee shop that Clark knew about, they started talking. Hal was the first to speak.

"So, are you really the last son of krypton?"

"Yes, I am the one and only."

"Wow. When I first joined the corps, I heard some rumors from some of the older corpsmen that there had been a survivor, but it was just a rumor, until now. The news that there actually was a kryptonian left in the galaxy caused quite a stir in the corps, to say the least. So, when we heard that you were a kryptonian, the guardians of the universe sent me to check up in you, even though I did vouch for you, since I met you a couple of years ago. They still wanted to send me here to check you out, since they know how powerful a kryptonian gets under a yellow sun, and they were worried that you might turn out to be a conqueror or something of that nature."

They talked like that for a few hours, and when Hal left because he had to patrol more of his sector, Clark thought that he had made another friend in the fight against evil.

Sorry for the wait, the muses cursed me for a few days, and it wasn't until church this morning that I found what this chapter was missing most notably the part in the church hey, even superheroes need someone to talk to. Also, when I imagined this story in my head, my mind saw Kevin Costner as Hal Jordan; although it sounds weird, just work with me. Again, press the little green