It was only a week later, exactly two days before Clarks birthday. Kara had been beyond excited and was planning a Kryptonian birthday ritual as Clark had never had one since his birth blessing and she had been practising the wording and insisted Clark fetch Kal X from the fortress of solitude so she could make sure she had remembered the wording correctly.
Superman was on a mission. It was yet again cutting into his work day and he was a little annoyed especially as he was pretty sure he had already captured this particular fort rozz escapee a few weeks ago and dropped him off for the DEO. Maybe they weren't taking prisoners anymore… perhaps he got out either way he was slightly ruining his day and Clark couldn't even be bothered to let the guy monologue himself into capture. He just went straight into the fight to get it over with . Minimal damage done to city and himself.
Sometimes he liked the show of it and he could always count on a really stupidly good bad guy quote he could write into his articles but he really wasn't in the mood today especially considering he was dead sure this was a repeat capture.
Dragging an unconscious bad alien behind him Clark landed at the DEO. Normally he would walk a few paces into the tunnel before throwing the bad guy down and leaving making as much noise as possible with his movements to catch attention on cameras and with his footfalls so the prisoner would be taken in.
But this time he decided to go deeper into the tunnel to make sure they noticed and took this guy into custody. That's when things went badly wrong.
The next thing he knew was pain. He had never experienced pain before except during a solar eclipse but even then that must have barely been pain compared to what he was suffering now.
He didn't notice as he was whisked away down the tunnel and strapped to an examination table.
When he opened his eyes all he could see was green, he was so weak and in pain he didn't really noticed as they raided the pockets of his supersuit.
"It was a trap" he moaned and he didn't realise he said it outloud as the face of Hank Henshaw blocked the green light that was above and all around him
"Indeed it was Mr Kent" he replied and it took Clarks pain fuzzed brain a second to realise he had said his name and not referred to him as Superman.
"No" he tried weakly protesting
"Too late" Henshaw replied, "But I suppose you might be pleased to know wiping your existence from the face of the earth is not my goal today"
He leaned forward right into Clark's face, "Where did you put the Martian" he said dangerously, "I know you fought him last week and I was so excited for that delivery but it never came, you are a week late" he spat and Clark could feel the wet spittle on his face
"Where is the Martian" he repeated
"I .. Don't know" Clark replied his mind whirring fast, Bruce was right Henshaw had a suspicion and last week would have confirmed everything and now he was here for his prize.
"Liar" Henshaw replied, "Tell me or the pain gets worse, there is no way you let that parasite go"
This guy had some serious beef with J'onn Clarks brain thought idly as it tried to escape the pain it was so unused to.
"He escaped" Clark tried but a shock of pain went through his nervous system.
"Lair"
Everytime Clark evaded the question but the pain was getting worse,
"You know this rock is from your own planet" Henshaw started explaining as a bit of a respite as Clark tried to breathe, "We found it lining the cells in Fort Rozz of all the Kryptonian prisoners" he laughed, "Did you know you're not the only one left?" he added
"I'll tell you all about who they are if you tell me where the martian is" Henshaw bargained, the pain wasn't working so he was trying to exploit clarks weaknesses.
"I don't know" Clark croaked not even sure how long he had been strapped to this bed, He was disorientated, did Henshaw say there were other Kryptonians?
Henshaw paused as an alert tone rang sharply through his phone and he exited the room Clark was being held in so Clark took the opportunity to maybe try and wiggle free of the green penetrating light that seemed to go right through him like a knife. He was unsuccessful but he did manage to turn his head to the side hoping his heat vision would work but it wouldn't. He couldn't even get his eyes to change.
"Oh good you're already looking the right way" Clark heard Henshaws voice from the door and suddenly a laptop screen was in front of him
"I wonder who she is, too young to be your partner I should hope unless aliens are sicker than I thought, too old to be your daughter unless your biology is freaky so I'm going with sister" Henshaw rambled as Clark watched a short clip of Kara in her room floating above her bed in meditation. It repeated itself as Clark watched wondering how they found her.
"Handy things Driver's licenses, name, address, age, height … everything I needed to know about Superman in a little package" Henshaw laughed.
"Now tell me where the martian is or whoever that girl is in your house is going to die. I have teams outside ready to storm in, do you really want her to die Clark" Henshaw mocked
Clarks brain was going a mile a minute, if they had Kryptonite on them they could really hurt Kara, J'onn would do anything to keep her safe as would he but he couldn't tell them J'onn was in the house too.
Then again if they were close enough to the house J'onn would know they're their…
"Thats a lot of silence from a guy who could be choosing about a young girl's life, surely the answer should be straight out, she's not part of this - you let the martian go"
"Now this is the last time I ask, where is he"
Clark laughed out loud suddenly, "He's behind you" he cackled almost deliriously and Henshaw turned on the spot gun raised in alarm but it was too late for him as he received a resounding punch to the face knocking him to the ground and smashing his head further on the bed clark was strapped too.
J'onn then transformed into Henshaw moving to the control panel around the side of the bed and Phasing his hand through it casually and the kryptonite cage that was holding Clark hostage spluttered then switched off.
J'onn then moved as Henshaw and helped Clark up, "How?" he asked weakly his strength not having returned yet
"Not the time lets just get out of here" J'onn replied and he jumped and phased them both to the surface and out into the open desert space where he sped off
Clark was still really weak when they landed in a place he just about recognised and he was hit with a speeding bullet of hugs from Kara
"Cousin!" she cried as she saw how hurt he was. Clark accepted her hugs as he looked around and realised he was in the Bat cave.
Complete with one grumpy Batman / Bruce Wayne and a boy Clark didn't recognise. J'onn had resumed his usual human form.
"They were at the house" Clark said weakly trying to ask what an earth had gone on in his lost hours.
"Yes I noticed their presence as they began forming a circle around the flats" J'onn replied, "Once I managed to assess their motivations I transformed into Kara and we both flew out the house, I gave Kara instructions to come here as me the slower flyer led their helicopter on a wild chase before I vanished and came to rescue you before they figured out what had happened"
"We can't go back there can we" Kara asked in a small voice from Clarks chest and he could only shake his head
"I did warn you both" Bruce started but was cut off by the grown men's glares, "Fine but you can't stay here too long, I enjoy silence" and with that he swept up the stairs to the main house,
"He doesn't mean that really" the boy smiled, "I'm Dick" he introduced, "Bruce adopted me last year you learn to understand his moods"
He rocked back a little on his heels suddenly nervous, "I know it's probably not the best time Mr. Superman but could I shake your hand?"
Clark laughed a little, "I don't see why not, though if I'm going to recover any I need sunlight not Bruce's cave of darkness - perhaps a handshake of gratitude if you can help me find a chair near a window?"
Dick eargly accepted the task and soon he and Kara were sat in a drawing room together, Kara rather marvelling the old house as J'onn slunk away to talk to Bruce.
"You know it is too dangerous now" Bruce said the second J'onn walked into his office, Bruce would just bluntly say what he thought around J'onn as it was pointless to hide his thoughts or feelings on anything.
"I know" J'onn replied, "Kara is never going to have a normal life around Clark or me, it was a pipe dream"
"You could help her have a normal life" Bruce countered, their work over the days before Karas night terror had helped Bruce rehabilitate many of the deranged criminals he had at arkham that needed help not more jail time.
"Clark won't be on board, she is his family" J'onn replied
"I found her a family willing to take her" Bruce countered and threw a file down on the desk, "They have another child Kara's age"
J'onn sighed, "It's going to take more than that for Clark to go...no mind for Kara to go"
Bruce looked him dead in the eyes, "Again you can help her" he paced to the other side of his desk and picked up the file to push into J'onn's hands "Imagine just for a second that you weren't in the house tonight, Boom, One kryptonite bullet and she's gone"
"Then how is she safer with a family with no powers at all?" J'onn countered to Bruce
"She's only a target because of Superman and he's only a target for information because of you" Bruce told it to him straight, "I warned you Henshaw had it out for you especially with the footage of you and Kara"
"I'll speak to Clark" J'onn admitted defeat and headed back to the sunny room the Kryptonians were in and he could hear them as they approached talking about what had happened,
"I can help Cousin!" Kara was saying excitedly, "I mean I managed to take down a few of the guys who were after us and if you train me more I can be just as good as you are right?"
Clark looked to her then looked up to where J'onn was, "I'll get back to you on that Kara" he promised and then excused himself
Clark looked up when J'onn came in and caught the look in his eye so he excused himself from Kara and together they walked to the far end of the house where they knew Kara couldn't here.
It was a disused room full of furniture covered in sheets but not a cobweb in sight. It was eerie complete with a large portrait that loomed over them.
J'onn passed the file to Clark and didn't say anything as he read it,
"J'onn" Clark started weakly but J'onn cut him off
"Just let me me the bad guy here for a second" he said, "If she stays with us best case scenario is this kind of thing maybe happening once more…"
"Henshaws only interested in me but he is going to use the both of you wherever you are to find me, we need to split up and well Bruce found a solution"
Clark sighed he knew J'onn was right, if Kara was away from them both she would be safe, "But she won't go"
J'onn stared at the floor, "I can erase her memories, or modify them so she never remembers this last year, like she's just arrived on the planet"
Clark took to staring at the floor next, "They seem like a nice family" he said but he choked up toward the end
"I lost my daughters before you know that, through my own stubborn pride - I'm never going to let that happen to Kara, this might be what's best for her"
Clark nodded, "When you say memory modifying?" he asked and J'onn understood the gist of the question,
"I think I'll leave the knowledge she has gained this year, putting her back to not understanding english seems cruel I'll make it so she studied earth when she was back on Krypton or something similar whatever fits with her narrative that doesn't stand out to be questioned"
"So she will just think she arrived and I full on abandoned her?" Clark asked
J'onn sighed, "I don't see a way around this, I tried to fix everything, I took their kryptonite, I wiped Henshaws memory as to your identity but I couldn't go after everyone at the DEO, soon they're going to go back to our house to question why they went their in the first place and it has to be destroyed before then"
Clark just looked too emotional, "I don't think I can"
J'onn tried to hold it together as well, "We have to for Kara, place her with this family- safe with a new name and different age we stay away make sure shes okay from a distance"
He left Clark then and he heard him fly away from the room as all the covers on the furniture whipped up slightly.
He headed downstairs to where Kara was happily chatting with Bruce's ward, Dick. She had insisted on not leaving without her box of photos and memories and was happily showing the boy all the memories from the last year
"Okay that looks cool" Dick commented on a photo of her and Clark posing like they had just shot out of the volcano in the distance, "You totally have to take me flying sometime!"
"Yeah!" Kara happily agreed, "I can just about fly with Clark so you should be easy!" she grinned
J'onn decided to leave them until Clark was back. When he returned only about an hour later he smelt a little burnt and J'onn understood he had probably torched the place.
He looked at J'onn with a dark look, "I still don't agree with this" he ran a hand through his hair, "I couldn't even find Karas box of pictures to save" he looked destroyed
"She has them" J onn replied and indicated the room where she was still happily sharing them with her new friend.
"I went to meet them" Clark started a little brokenly, "Their little girl wasn't home but they seemed great and they said I could visit whenever" he stopped short as J
Onn shook his head
"It might trigger her memories, you have to leave her alone distance yourself" J'onn replied, "I have to do that as well"
Clark snapped then "Yes because it is exactly the same thing for you"
J'onn ignored it Clark was just angry, he was losing the only family he had come to know. Both him and Kara in one swift afternoon.
"Do we have to do it now?" Clark asked, "Just one more trip for ice cream or something?" he tried bargaining
"I have to be the bad guy clark i said that" J'onn repeated his earlier statement, "She will be safe, you can go back to your normal life and I will make sure to stay far away from the both of you"
"You should" Clark repeated, "I don't think I'm going to ever be able to look you in the face after this" he said shortly and J'onn didn't need to be a mind reader to know he meant it
Excusing Dick from the room they both sat down to talk to Kara, Clark insisted on explaining but J'onn thought it would be too hard on her but Clark said he needed the closure
He explained while looking like he had just been kicked in the face, that Kara had to go and live with other people now. It wasn't safe with either of them anymore and this recent event really proved that
Kara kicked up a fuss and began to look like she was going to run away from them when she suddenly slumped in her chair not quite unconscious but no longer physically bolting from the rom
Clark looked at J'onn in anger, "I had that!" he snarled.
J'onn just looked at him in sadness, "There was no point in it let's just do this"
"No I just.. I can't I know its necessary but I can't" and Clark left the room as J'onn pressed two fingers to Kara's forehead
"Tanthu?" she questioned sleepily before J'onn put her to sleep, he was very undeserving of that title
With the altered and erased memories all sorted in Karas head J'onn also added a small compulsion to just hide her powers. She would be safer that way he reasoned.
Kara remained asleep after he finished and he was quite surprised to find it was early morning when he opened his own eyes. He was weary and tired and collapsed into the armchair next to Kara's
Clark walked in but didn't acknowledge J'onn at all he just lifted Kara and carried her away. That was the last he saw of Clark Kent for a very long time.
J'onn remained at the mansion for awhile before he said his goodbyes to Bruce and also left he headed to a place as far away as he could think from Superman and Kara and just blended in with the animals of the tropical rain forest. Henshaw was determined sure but there was no way he was finding him in here.
Clark did the hard part he needed to do . He introduced himself to Kara as though for the first time and then pretty much straight away dropped her off at the Danvers household. He knew if he stuck around her he would risk everything just to keep her with him. But that everything included Kara's life so he knew that it was stupid plan
After that he headed back to metropolis dressed in the only clothes he had left and knocked on Louis's door. They had only been dating a year but she let him stay, after all his house had just burnt down. After a month Louis didn't want him to leave, after that she found out about who he really was and then he was never leaving.
-Fin-
There is a sequel but this is it for this story for now, hope you enjoyed.
