The story of a Hero, the last son of Krypton

by Catafangirl

Kal-El was sent to Earth on the day of Krypton's destruction, he is found by the Midoriya's who adopt and raise him as Izuko Midoriya; his dream is to enroll in the prestigious hero academia but his aspirations seem impossible until he meets the best Hero All might who helps him overcome the obstacles that were stopping him from entering U. A.

5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: The first step into heroism

"The first incident was in Ching-ching city, an extraordinary child was born who radiated light, after that, reports of people with superpowers popped up across the globe, no one knew what was causing these quirks; before long the supernatural became the totally normal, dreams a reality. The world became a superhuman society with about 80% of the population possessing some uncanny ability, our streets look like scenes from comic books, a city swelled with chaos and confusion, a new profession dominated our collective consciousness: it was an age of heroes!"

---

Inko Midoriya smiled to herself as a soft breeze dissipated some of the heat lingering in the air. It was a pleasant summer afternoon in Smallville, she was currently sitting on the porch swing, a big brim hat on her lap and gardening gloves on her pocket as she waited for Martha to finish changing so they could both go and tend to the garden.

It had been several months since the events of that afternoon, the event that changed the curse of her life, and especially the life of her son forever.

---

Izuku was running late, something he rarely did, worse off he wasn't answering her calls. She tried to reassure herself that nothing was wrong, maybe he had a good reason not to pick up, maybe something had come up in school, there was a lot of perfectly reasonable explanations as to why he hadn't come home on time, still, as it often is with mothers, her heart was heavy with worry for her child, heaviness that only increased as the minutes tick by.

In an attempt to calm herself she turned on the tv, hoping to find something to at least distract her, what she saw however made her heart droop.

There he was, his face clear as day. "And on to what is, probably, today's biggest stories", the pretty female reporter was saying, "A young middle school boy step in where nobody else would all to save his friend, more on the story after a brief pause", she announced cheerfully as the image change to an advertisement for cleaning products.

Inko sat in complete stunned silence for a few minutes before frantically flipping through several of the other news anchors, her stomach just sinking and sinking further every time she found not only images but videos of her son using his speed and strength to rescue a familiar young blond boy.

Finally, she couldn't take it any longer and she turned the tv off, "What have you done Izuku?", she whispered, "What have you done?". Frantically she tried to call him again, begging him to answer but the phone rang on and on to no avail.

With one final try, she ultimately gave up on reaching him that way and got up, determined to look for him the old fashion way. She was in the middle of putting her keys into her pocket when she heard a soft knock.

Hope crawled its way up her throat as she practically ran, and with trembling hands, threw the door open to reveal her son's familiar face.

"Izuku!", she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his chest, "Where have you been child? I was so worried!".

Izuku awkwardly patted her on the back, "I'm...sorry mom...didn't mean to scare you…". He said, trying to reassure her everything was alright. After a few moments, she began untangling herself from the embrace and looking at him fixedly.

Now that he was once again safe in her arms the fear was melting giving way to anger at what he had done, how much he had risked himself. She was about to begin to severely scold him when she noticed the imposing figure behind him.

She stifled a scream of surprise at who was standing behind her son, probably the last person she had ever expected to meet, here, in front of her apartment of all places.

"Good afternoon mam", All might call politely, "If you don't mind, I find myself in need of speaking with you".

That was enough to snap her back into reality, "Is...is this about Izuku?", she asked, placing a protective hand on the boy's shoulder.

The man nodded, "Indeed mam, I have come here to talk to you about your son but...please do not worry he is not in any sort of trouble".

Inko found herself still uncertain about what was going on or even what to do, why was All Might in her doorway? What did he want with Izuku?

She fidgeted nervously with the hem of her shirt for a few seconds before sighing, "Okay…Please, come in sir", she said moving out of the way so the tall hero could enter.

The man walked with surprising grace and silence for somebody his size and after some hesitation, took a seat on her kitchen table after she signaled to him that he was welcome to join her.

The conversation that followed was long and especially trying for her. All might began by explaining how he had met Izuku, how Izuku had confessed his secret to him, and how the boy dreamed of becoming a hero, despite the circumstances he found himself in.

As All might talk on and on, she felt herself panicking more and more, and with every minute that passed, it became harder for her not to show it, her act of calmness and collectiveness becoming harder and harder to keep.

"Mam you son has a great power", All might said, appearing to be finally coming to the end of the long and arduous conversation, "I understand why he had kept himself hidden from the world for most of his life, and believe me it was the best choice but…", he paused for a few second as if organizing his thoughts, "Today Midoriya saved somebody using his powers, not only his strength but his speed, most people will let it go...hell I think there will be very few who will even remember what happened today withing the week...but...there are always those who notice...and those are the dangerous ones".

He laced his fingers together looking seriously at her, "I'm in no way wishing to scare you with this…", he began, "But your son could already be in potential danger…".

Besides her Izuku stiffen, his eyes taking on a guilty look, "I... I have never told this to anybody", he murmured, looking down at the table to avoid eye contact, "But...there was something that happened a little more than a year ago... on our trip to the U.S... I met a man...his name was Lex Luthor".

With every word that Izuku spoke of the encounter Inko felt more and more dread building up in her chest, why was he just telling her this? He could have disappeared one day and they wouldn't even know where to start searching, it was truly a miracle that this individual hadn't yet done something. Considering just how shaken Izuku sounded as he narrated the entire incident, she had little doubt that this man, Luthor, was extremely dangerous.

All might sat through it all, listening attentively and not interrupting Izuku until he was done.

"Well… I must say, that is a very worrying tale young Midoriya", he began turning back to look at Inko, "All the more reason to allow him to attend U.A mam, I will arrange everything for his secret to be kept safe, and I promise you, nobody will get to your son, you can forget about this Luthor guy because U.A will not only dedicate itself to training and shaping Midoriya into a hero, but we will keep anything and everything from getting to him…"

He looked back at the young boy, "You won't have to worry alone anymore my boy", he said in a reassuring voice, "If you join U. A and somebody tries to get to you they better be prepared to fight through the entire staff and me!".

Inko sat in silence for a few minutes before getting up, "Mr. All might", she began, "This offer...it truly generous, in all honesty... all my life I had only tried to protect Izuku from the world...but now...now I'm beginning to see that he will always be in danger no matter how much I hide him and... if you can...", her voice broke slightly but she powered on, "If you can truly help me and his dad protect him... we will be forever thankful".

All might slowly got up, placing a reassuring hand on Izuku's shoulder, "Mam, it will be an honor helping to protect this fine young man", he began, "And it will be even more of an honor to work with him in the future when he becomes a great hero".

---

That night their lives had changed forever, with the help of All might Izuku had applied for U. A, the hero had been straight forward with them when he told them that Izuku's secret would have to be disclosed to a few people in order for him to be accepted in and, more than anything, to guarantee his safety.

It was a risk they had to take, a risk that paid off as Izuku's application was accepted and he was officially invited to partake in the entrance exams and earned a spot in the hero course.

Once it was official, the next thing to do was training, whether other students pushed themselves to their very limits in an attempt to become stronger, with Izuku it was different, what he needed to work on was control.

He had to be able to use just the right amount of strength in a fight in order to avoid seriously injuring somebody, or worse, killing them. This kind of control could only be achieved with practice, but it was an immense risk for him to use his abilities openly, especially in a city where every square inch of land had surveillance cameras.

The solution ended up being simple, instead of their usual two-week stay, Izuku and herself would be staying for little more than two months in the Kent's farm. Big open fields, nobody around for miles, a small town in the middle of the countryside, it was the perfect place for Izuku to train away from prying eyes...

Her wandering thoughts were once again brought back to reality as Martha finally came out of the house, closing the screen door with her hip as she tied her hair back.

"All right", she called cheerfully, "Say we get going? Last I checked my pea plants were doing great, maybe we will have some fresh ones for dinner today".

Inko smiled at her friend getting up from the swing, "That sounds lovely".

---

"Holy shit!", Clark shouted, ducking behind me as the boulder I had been aiming my heat vision at exploded violently.

"Sorry…", I muttered as I shielded him from the shards of rock that flew everywhere.

"You really need to get a hold of that", he said, peeking over my shoulder at what remained of the boulder, "I doubt that will be a useful ability if you just kill everything with it".

I sighed in frustration, so far using heat vision was proving challenging, sure it was useful if you need to kill everything in a 50-meter radius in three seconds, but that was hardly what I was aiming for.

That was probably the reason All Might had advised me to keep the ability hidden for the time being, as well as my advanced senses, the only abilities I would be using openly for the entrance exams, and up until I couldn't hide the others any longer, would be my strength, speed, and invulnerability.

"It's a good combination", All might had said, "Eventually people will find out about your other abilities, no doubt about that, but you will call enough attention to yourself as it is...for the sake of your safety, it's better to go slowly".

At first, I had been disappointed, I wouldn't be able to openly use my super senses or my heat vision which would limit my range since heat vision, technically, was my only long range attack ability...but now, that I was actually trying to control the intensity and power of the heat...maybe it was a good idea to not use this thing in fights just yet… for now, I needed to keep on learning to use it, practice every chance I got, if any ability of mine had potential for utter destruction it was this one.

"Maybe we should stop for today", Clark suggested, seeing my frustration, "Clear your mind...we can try again later".

I wanted to argue that we should give it a few more tries but, to be honest, I was mentally exhausted, and we were running out of rock, how many had I hit today? probably a ton considering we were both covered head to toe in a fine layer of dust.

"Fine", I said, turning around and beginning to head back to the house, "But I'll practice for longer tomorrow to compensate".

"Actually...", Clark began, catching up to me, "I thought that maybe tomorrow we should take a break...do something else".

I raise an eyebrow at him, "Like what? seriously I really need to get this under control".

He sighed passing a hand through his hair, "I know, I know Izuku but...maybe taking a rest is for the better, the more frustrated you get the more your powers go haywire, maybe taking some time off it's what you need?".

I considered his words for a while as we walked besides a large field where cows grazed peacefully, several of the animals coming closer to the fence to see if we had brought them food, "Say we take the day off...what do you suggest we do?", I asked after a while, patting one of the cows on the head.

He smiled, "We should go camping!", he said happily, "There are some nice areas for it in the forest, and it's just a short hike away".

"Only the two of us?", I asked incredulously, earning myself an eye roll from Clark.

"Of course", he said, "We aren't children, no need for an adult to come along...besides... the place is just a half an hour drive from here...you could run that in like... 10 seconds".

I consider his proposition, "Yea...It doesn't sound like a bad idea...I have always wanted to go camping", I said, scratching behind the ear of another cow as a third tried to eat my jeans, "Think my mom will let me go?".

Clark chuckled putting one arm around my shoulder, "Of course she will! if she has her doubts I will just talk my mom into talking your mom into letting you go".

I smiled, Clark's enthusiasm was infectious, and just hearing the excitement in his voice at the prospect made me want to go as well, "All right then, sounds like a plan".

---

Inko moved to the next row of cucumbers, humming a little song as she carefully pulled out the weeds that persistently grew on the soft soil. A few rows ahead of her, Martha, was also tending to some of the plants, making sure her summer garden was all going according to plan.

Both women had been working now for more than an hour in the afternoon heat and after a few more minutes, just when Inko finally finished all the rows of cucumbers, Martha straightened up from her tomato plants.

"I think we are done for the day", She announced, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her sleeve, "Now all we have to do is pick some peas for dinner and we can head inside".

Inko nodded, looking at the mouth-watering peas in question with anticipation, the plants were loaded, the pods vibrant green.

"Those look delicious", She said as her friend handed her a pail to put the peas on.

"They're lovely, aren't they?", Martha answered proudly with a smile as she crouched amongst her plants, picking the most mature pods.

Inko followed her example and in a few minutes, the pail was almost full with the green legumes. As she leaned forward to reach a particularly reap pod, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something amongst the many stems of the plants, buried close to the surface, curiously she moved some of the dirt away revealing a small black rock.

Thinking nothing of it, she grabbed it and was about to throw it to the edge of the garden when she noticed something unusual. The rock had a harsh surface, similar to volcanic rock, but in some parts small green crystals grew.

"What's this?", she asked her friend, who looked up from her work.

"Oh, that just meteor rock", she said, waving it away, "When the meteor shower came most of the meteors were similar to things scientists had found previously, but in some rare cases they came with pieces of that".

Martha got up walking up to her friend, who handed her the rock, "The green crystal emits some sort of radiation according to what the scientist told us", Martha explained, observing the rock, "They assure us it doesn't have any negative effect on any form of living thing", she added, handing the rock back to Inko.

"As a fact, there is one big meteor of that type right under these plants", she said patting the soil around the peas, "It got buried too deep so we just decided to let it stay there...it wasn't worth the trouble of digging it out".

She looked once again at Inko, who was holding the small rock in wonder, "Those are medium rare", she said, "You can sell it for a decent price to a collector or museum".

Inko considered the rock for a few seconds before putting it in one of her pockets, "I'll save it to show it to Hisashi, he's probably going to want to study it".

Martha nodded, picking up the now full pail, "All right, say we go get wash up and begin preparing dinner? I bet those boys will be very hungry after spending the entire day outside".

Inko got up after her, taking off her dirty gloves, "Work never stops on a farm, does it?", she remarked good naturally to her friend to which Martha only chuckled, "You have no idea".

---

Clark opened the screen door with one hand while still trying to dust his clothes off with the other, "Man, I got half the Sahara's worth of sand on me", he complained as the back door to the house opened and aunt Martha and mom came in, both of them looking like they just came from the garden.

"Your back early today", aunt observed, patting Clark on the head, something she had to stretch to manage, "Something came up?".

Clark gave her his signature smile, "Not really...we just felt like doing something different today". He said as mom approached me with a smile.

"My...you two are dirtier than usual", she said brushing some dust out of my hair.

All of a sudden, a weird feeling overtook me, something didn't feel quite right, mom seemed to notice it in my face and got closer, "Is there something wrong Izuku?".

The feeling got stronger and it evolved from a weird sensation to a heavy feeling of exhaustion that bordered on being painful. Had I overused my powers? It seemed unlikely considering my heat vision hadn't ever waver in intensity...and I had felt the same as ever just a few seconds ago.

"I'm fine", I said after a few seconds, "Probably just tire".

Her brows furrowed, "Okay but...you don't usually get tired Izuku", she said with concern.

I shrug it off, "I've been practicing a lot lately...maybe I need to take a break".

She nodded after a few seconds of looking fixedly at my face, "Alright…", she said stepping back, "Try to not push yourself too much honey…".

The feeling began to dissipate, the exhaustion vanishing, "Of course", I said giving her a small smile.

"Well... boys", Martha says, "What about you two go and get clean? can't have you dragging half the dirt in the county into my living room".

"Right away", Clark called already making a run for the shower, a run that proved fruitless as I simply speeded my way there first, causing him to direct some rather colorful words towards me under his breath.

I smirk to myself as I stepped into the shower, the weird exhaustion has completely gone away, maybe I had just imagined it? I shook my head; whatever it had been I was fine now so it probably had been nothing.

By the time I got out of the shower I had completely forgotten about the entire thing, my mind now focused on other stuff, and specially the camping trip. Despite my initial lack of enthusiasm I was really beginning to look forward to it, just a day to relax and take my mind off of training for a few hours, enjoy the outside, it was going to be great.

---

Inko looked at her son from across the dinner table with barely concealed concern. They were all now showered and clean from the day's work, sitting around the table enjoying the food that Martha and herself had prepared.

She took a bite of the fresh steam peas, they were just the right amount of sweet and soft, perfectly cooked so why wasn't Izuku eating them? He was never picky about food, yet, he was devouring all the other things in his plate but completely avoiding the peas.

He seemed to catch her stare from across the table and she raised an eyebrow at him looking pointedly at his peas, immediately he caught her meaning and looked down at his untouched food reluctantly… she only glared at him harder and after a few second of ignoring her stare he sighed and took a mouth full of the green legumes, looking like he had some difficulty swallowing them.

She kept observing him as he ate another spoonful and swallowed it, satisfied that at least he wouldn't let his peas completely untouched, she turned back to her conversation with Martha and Jonathan.

She didn't pay too much mind to Izuku until she noticed his side of the table had gone too quiet, she looked over, just in time to witness the moment Izuku abruptly let his cutlery fall on his plate, his face had gone pale and a thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead.

"Izuku!", she exclaimed, already getting up, there was definitely something wrong, terribly wrong, Izuku never got sick.

"I…feel weird", was all he said in a soft voice, before he ran to the closest bathroom, the sound of vomiting reaching them after a few seconds.

His mother was behind him, horrified as she found her son double over the toilet holding his abdomen in pain.

"Izuku", she breathed, kneeling beside her kid, trying to keep it together for his sake, this wasn't supposed to happen, he couldn't get sick...

"What's wrong honey?", she said cupping his face in her hands.

"I feel sick", was all he said, still doubled over in pain.

"All right just...relax I'll move you to the sofa in a minute", she said, trying to keep herself from falling apart while she wiped his mouth and flush the toilet.

By this point, the entire Kent household was also at the doorway all of them observing the scene with worry.

"I'll help you move him", Jonathan offered, placing one of Izuku's arms around his shoulder. Izuku winced as he was moved but otherwise didn't say anything, not even as he was slowly laid on the living room sofa.

Meanwhile, Martha ran over to the table, carefully observing Izuku's plate, it looked like he had eaten all of his food except for a few peas, she knew the discovery was mostly pointless since none of them felt sick and if there was something on this earth strong enough to make Izuku throw up they would all be dead.

Regardless, she took a mental note of this before moving back into the living room where Inko was kneeling by Izuku's side, he didn't look nearly as sick as before but he was still pale and obviously in pain.

Jonathan was in the middle of questioning both boys as to what exactly had they done that day, inquiring if they had come in contact with a stranger, or anybody really. They both answered not to everything, they hadn't even left the Kent property.

Meanwhile Inko had dialed her husband's number and was explaining in quick Japanese what had happened, Hasashi's voice could be slightly heard as he gave her some instructions while she nodded all the time, some relief coming over her face.

"He said that he had no idea what could have caused it...but the best thing to help him right now is probably sunlight", she said putting the phone away.

"Well... under normal circumstances that would be a problem", Martha said, looking at the deep darkness of night that the living room windows showcased.

The entire group looked at each other, "I think we have it covered", Clark said as he and his dad activated their quirks, their hands emitting a soft yellow glow, sunlight to be precise.

Usually their quirks had little use, but as the yellow light fell upon Izuku, and the lines of pain in his face began disappearing, at that moment, they wouldn't have changed them for anyone's.

---

It had been almost a full week since the "incident", as we had taken to calling it, a full week and the adults still wouldn't let me out of their sight, I wasn't even allowed to stray far from the house. Our camping plans with Clark had gone out the window and I wasn't even allowed to practice my powers. In summary I had done nothing, absolutely nothing, for a whole week except help mom and aunt around the house.

I sighed in exasperation as I sat on the porch swing, sipping from a glass of ice tea as bees and butterflies flutter around aunts' flowers, I wanted to move again, to be able to practice again, hell more than anything I found myself hoping I could go on that camping trip with Clark, but... here I was... doing nothing.

Of course, I could understand my families concerned, I had never gotten sick, sure I use to throw up stuff as a baby but that had been left in the pasts, and what I felt that day...it was pain, and it had scared me, I had never experienced anything like it, and it would have probably gone on for a while if uncle Jonathan and Clark hadn't help me with their quirks.

Most frustrating of all was the fact we still had no idea what may have caused the reaction, we had all eaten the same food, yet, I was the only one who threw up or felt sick. It was my personal theory that it had to do something with the peas, they had smell weird to me, and I had trouble swallowing them, almost like my body was refusing them from the beginning, but I hadn't share this with the others since I couldn't possibly come up with a single good explanation as to why the peas had affected me in particular.

The sound of a car made me look up from my self-contemplation, particularly because of the familiar heart that came with it.

I smiled to myself as I got up, at least one good thing had come out of all of this, dad had gotten permission from work to come and visit us, using a few days of his vacation ahead of time.

I got up, walking to stand in the porch steps as he parked the small grey sedan he used when moving in the states, "Hello son", he called as he caught sight of me.

I smiled at him, going in for a quick hug, "How was your trip here?", I asked, as he stretched his legs.

"It was nice...driving down country roads it's therapeutic", he said with a soft smile, before grabbing me by the shoulders and examining me closely.

"How have you been feeling?", he asked after a while.

I shrug, "Apart from that day...I haven't felt sick since".

He considered my words, "Well...you do look fine...what about your powers? same as always? have any of them been acting up?".

I thought about it for a second as, in the distance, I could hear mom and aunt Martha walking towards the house probably having heard the car, "Not really...", I began, "Well after I got sick...they were weakened for a while but they got back to normal after less than an hour".

Dad frowned at that but finally let me go, "I see…", he said deep in thought, "Well...that sounds like when you got sick you lost solar power but...you have never done that before so there must be something that triggered it…".

He sighed, clearly unable to come to an immediate explanation, "We will figure this out Izuku", he promised me walking towards the house, "One way or another we will figure it out".

---

In a dark office, situated in one of the most impressive buildings in Metropolis, a young, auburn hair man sat back on a comfortable leather chair. Besides him, on an old radio he always kept around, one of his favorite pieces of classical music played at atrocious volumes.

In front of him several monitors showed a video from different angles, that of a young, middle school boy jumping towards a villain to save his friend.

The man tapped something on one of the screens replaying a particular clip of the incident, the only existing recording of the event that had managed to capture this particular angle. It showed the boy's eyes changing from blue to bright, shining red, sclera and all. It was evident the temperature they were producing was so high they almost look like they were emitting red vapor, their glow so intense it made the skin around his eyes translucent.

His smile widened as he leaned back in his chair, his brain taking in every angle from each recording, committing the images to memory.

"You have grown Izuku", he said to the boy on the screens as if he could hear him, "I can hardly wait to see you again".

---

"I promise the place is somewhere around here", Clark said walking ahead of me and up a hill, "Last time I came with Peter we just...walked around here and eventually found the path…".

"Sounds like a solid plan", I said sarcastically, carrying both of our camping bags, "Why won't you just describe the damn place so I can look for it with my X-ray vision? that would be helpfull".

He rolled his eyes at me, "No, I'm in the boy scouts. I'm sure I can find it on my own...besides you don't even get tired, what are you complaining about?".

I resisted the urge to swing him over my shoulder and superspeed myself around until I found the stupid trail, but I guess this was part of the experience of camping, maybe half the fun of it was getting loss?

I looked around as the sun began to dip behind the horizon, well, even if we were probably hopelessly lost at least the forest was interesting to look at not to mention it was just so quiet compared to other places, it was a welcome change, no use spending my time complaining about the trails that Clark never seem to manage to find, I had promised myself I would enjoy this trip since it had been such an effort for mom to allow me to come.

It was two day into dad's visit that he seemed to give up on finding an explanation of what had happened, he had examined every angle, considered every possibility but still couldn't figure it out.

He was the one who convinced everybody to let me wander outside again, there was little point in keeping me confined to the house, and he assured them it was probably good for me to get as much sunlight as I could, he even went as far as to convince mom to let me go camping telling here I had spent too much time cupped up in the house, and so, I was here, trekking through the small hills and forest of Smallville, following Clark who had, so far, only found all the paths by mere chance.

"Oh shit", Clark called, having stopped in front of a rugged, looking half abandoned, small trail that went downhill, "Shit, shit, shit", he cursed, observing it, "We took the wrong turn back there… and ended on the wrong side of the mountain, this one is the long way to the camping grounds".

"I told you didn't I? you should have let me guide '', I say leaning against a three, the forest beginning to get darker as night approached.

"Shut up", he said in between gritted teeth, looking exasperatedly at the path like it was to blame for his poor sense of orientation.

"I will take us too long to retrace our steps", he said, swatting away a mosquito, "Without cheating with your speed that is...and we agreed not to do that so...let's just go… this path leads to the river but you can cross it in one jump so that shouldn't be a problem".

"As long as we don't end up in Hawaii", I say walking after him.

"How the fuck would we even end up in Hawaii?", he said, carefully walking down the muddied path.

"With your very refined orientation skill I wouldn't put it behind you", I said teasingly, making him curse at me as he slid part of the way down and almost fell on his butt.

"Think it's going to rain tonight?", he asked after a while looking up, "It's been pouring like crazy this past few day".

I sniff the air, taking in all the scents around us, I consider the various smells for a few minutes before shaking my head, "Na... we are good for tonight".

"Good to know", he said, "I would hate to get soaked but…", now he was smirking, "Seeing that power of yours in action it just so happens to occur to me...have you considered working in the canine division of the police? you won't even need a dog it would be just you", he said mockingly as he almost slipped again.

"Have you considered opening a tanning salon?", I retorted as we arrived at an even steeper part of the area just after I thought such a thing was physically impossible, "You wouldn't even need a machine it would be just you".

Clark looked like he was thinking of another retort but instead just laughed, "That was a good one", he said looking at the path, "Say...why don't we go around this? I don't feel like mud sliding today".

"As long as you can find the path again", I said smirking at him.

"Oh, shut up", he said, already walking away from the mud mess and into a more solid area.

I followed him, staying a few steps behind him, humming a little song while he still fumed about my comments on his orientation abilities muttering something under his breath. We had walked several meters from the main trail when I began to feel dizzy, at first, I tried to push the sensation away, thinking that I was just imagining it, but it just got worse and worse, pain overtaking my entire body.

"Wait...Clark '', I managed to wheeze out, but he didn't seem to hear me, too busy trying not to step on any snakes or hunting traps, I took another step, desperately, trying to call his attention.

The pain only doubled in intensity, my legs giving up from under me as I stumbled to the grown with a wince.

"Izuku?", Clark said turning around alarmed, his eyes widening as he saw me on my knees.

"Izuku, what's wrong?", he said, kneeling beside me and grabbing me by the shoulder.

"I don't know", I rasped out, "But it hurts...really bad".

He took one good look at my face and curse, fear crawling into his expression as he began fumbling around his pockets, bringing out his cellphone, "It's going to be alright", he told me, probably trying got assure the both of us, "I'll just call our parent they will know what to do".

I nodded weakly, by vision begging to get blurry as waves of pain washed over my body non stopped, making me want to throw up, making me want to scream but I knew that if I did that Clark would only get more scared and I needed him to be as level headed as possible.

With trembling hands, he tried to dial up the number, looking at the screen in increase desperation as the seconds stretched on and the call didn't get through, "Please...please…", he silently begged the phone, more and more anguish creeping into his face until finally, he snaped, "God dammit", he shouted, "Not signal, it says no fucking signal".

"Is okay Clark", I said in between gritted teeth, "Just… walk a little uphill...I'm...I'm sure you can get a signal there".

"Right, Right I'm sorry", he said getting up with the intention of moving, however, in that moment, I felt it, felt as the ground began giving away.

"Clark move!". That was the last thing I shouted before the earth seemed to split open, swallowing us into the darkness.

---

Clark had tried to react, he had tried to go back to grab Izuku and run but it was too late, before he could even take another step forward the soggy ground cave in from under them.

Clark screamed, both out of surprise and fear at abruptly finding himself in free fall from an uncertain height, it was all so sudden he hardly had time to process what happened as he fell, only that somebody seemed to hug him from behind and that same somebody tried to cushion his fall. He felt as his head hit something hard, causing him to cry out in pain before he saw red and the word went dark.

---

What awoke him was the screams, somebody seemed to be screaming right in his ear, "Ugh…so annoying, why couldn't they shut up?". He thought, his head was killing him and the noise wasn't helping. Vaguely he could feel something warm and sticky coating his face, a much more conscious part of him wondered if that was blood, but that thought was quickly shut down by the overwhelming majority of his mind that only wanted to go back to sleep...now... if he could just get a little more comfortable… "ugh, why was the ground so wet and rocky?", he thought, wait… ground? why was he on the ground?

The screams finally stopped, turning into soft moans and whimpers of pain, "Finally", he thought relieved, now he could finally go to sleep in peace.

"Clark", a voice called in between whimpers, "Clark please...please help".

The pleading voice sounded familiar, way too familiar, but Clark's delirious mind struggled to match a face to it.

"Clark...Clark please…", the voice kept on pleading desperately, the sheer pain and anguish that the voice carried made him slowly begin coming to his senses. Hadn't he fallen just now? yea it seemed like it, they had been walking and the ground had just given away, probably eroded by the recent heavy rains... "wait... they?", he suddenly thought, "Who were they? who had he been with?".

All of it came back to him abruptly, the way Izuku had fallen to his knees in pain, how he had gone to help him, how the earth seemed to disappear from under their feet, and how Izuku had cushion his fall.

"Izuku!", he shouted, sitting up abruptly, his eyes snapping open and looking around, desperately trying to see anything in the dark hole, the sharp movement made a wave of nausea hit him so strongly he barely had the time to move his head to the side and avoid throwing up in his lap, his eyes stinging both with the effort of his body vomiting and the blood that ran into them.

"Clark...", Izuku's voice called weakly from somewhere to his right.

"Izuku", he said, dizzily moving to his friend's side on all fours, not yet trusting his sense of valance to attempt walking on his feet.

Izuku was only a few feet from him, at first glance he looked mostly unharmed, only a few cuts here and there, cuts that made him realize that whatever was happening Izuku's powers weren't working, he had never seen Izuku bleed, never, on top of that, and probably more terrifying, was his face.

Izuku had gone completely pale, his expression morphed into one of complete agony, his eyes closed tightly as he whimpered in pain.

With a horrid sensation, Clark realized that the screams he had heard had been Izuku crying out in agony, now he looked like he couldn't shout anymore, his breathing coming out with a painful rasping sound.

"Of god", he said, kneeling by his friend, tears of hopelessness threatening to cloud his vision, "Izuku please tell me what wrong let me help you".

"I... don't... I don't know", the other boy said barely finishing the sentence before falling into a coughing fit, blood emanating from his mouth.

"Okay...it's okay", Clark said shakily, "I'll figure it out I promise".

He didn't know if it was a promise he could keep, but there was nothing else he could think of to help his agonizing friend.

"Think, think, think", he pleaded with himself, "There must be a reason, everything had a reason". He muttered, observing every inch of his friend in search of clues. Just when he had made up his mind to turn Izuku around so he could search his back for injuries it suddenly struck him that he looked green...no something seemed to be glowing green from beneath him.

"I'm going to move you for a second", he said, maneuvering around Izuku and grabbing him from beneath the armpits to drag him back, Izuku was way too heavy to be easily lifted, especially considering just how dizzy Clark felt from his head injury.

His friend cried out in pain as he was moved, it looked like he was trying not to do it for Clark's sake but he just couldn't hold himself back, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry", Clark apologized as he gently laid him back down.

Oddly enough moving him seemed to have helped Izuku, not by a lot but he looked just the tiniest bit better, encouraged by this Clark move back to where Izuku had previously landed, a couple of feet away from the center of the pit.

It had been a rough landing, a pile of rock hardly provides cushioning, but what he found interesting was that tiny specks in the rocks were glowing green.

Having grown up in Smallville he was familiar with meteor rocks, he had seen a couple of big pieces in his lifetime, and occasionally he would still find rocks with just grain size bits of it, still, he had never in his life seen them glow.

He knew the rocks were radioactive, he knew they were supposedly completely safe to be around for humans… a theory began to surface in his mind, a theory that he hoped wasn't proven correct but... Izuku wasn't human and these rocks could very easily come from the same place he had, they had arrived with him after all.

He grabbed one of them, below it more there was more, bigger pieces of the stuff, a meteor rock had fallen here, he realized, a big one, its weight sinking through the grown probably was what created this crater in the first place.

He grabbed the rock he was holding, smashing it several times against another one until it broke clean in half revealing a ping-pong ball size piece of green crystal in its interior.

"Izuku…", he began, "I... I think I know what the problem is…"

---

It had all happened so suddenly, the ground giving away, the fall, my only thought through it all had been that I needed to save Clark, he wasn't going to survive the fall, not from this height.

Somehow, I had managed to grab him midair, holding on to him tightly even as the pain intensified the more we fell until I was close to passing out, even as we hit the ground and sharp painful rocks dug into my back and the pain just became pure agony.

Despite my best efforts, I was sure Clark had hit his head when we landed, still, I didn't check on him, all I could think of was how his weight on top of me made it hard to breathe, how every movement I made sent searing pain down every nerve. It felt like every inch of my body that was touching the sharp rocks was being melted by acid.

I screamed as I push him off of me, the sound bursting from my mouth as it felt like my entire body was being burned, disintegrated, my very cells being destroyed one by one. I was dying... that was all I could think of as I scream on gulping down air in between, sobbing at the thought of dying...at just how painful it was.

I those moments of desperation, as I struggle just to breathe, as I was barely clinging to consciousness knowing that if I succumbed to the darkness I would probably never wake up again, desperation overtook me and for a few minutes there was nothing else on this planet, I didn't even know my name, were I was from, who were my parent, why was I even here, all there was in the universe was the agonizing pain and me, the subject of its torture, if only I succumb to the void, allowed the darkness to take me...the pain the torture it would be all over. ... would be free...

I'm not sure how I managed to pull myself out of the brink of letting myself go into nothingness, but it was probably the small part of my mind that refused to die, the part of me that made me remember, remember that I wasn't in this hole alone...somebody else had fallen with me...somebody could still help me.

"Clark", I called with whatever little breath I had left, as I forced myself to remain conscious, alive, fighting, even if it was agony, "Clark please...please help me", I pleaded, hoping that he was awake, that he was alive and that somehow, he could help me.

I am not sure of how long I cried out for him, but eventually, his voice responded, sounding raspy and choked but still unmistakable him.

His face appeared over me, a huge wound on one of his temples was bleeding heavily, but he hardly seemed to notice it, his face plastered with deep worry and anxiety.

He asked me what was wrong, a question I had no answered for, a question that just reminded us of just how helpless we were, I was dying, there was no way around it, I felt cold, I could feel blood crawling up my throat and into my mouth, my vision seeing double and triple with black dots dancing across it, and worse, the pain never went away, it just continued eating at me making me half wish it would all be over faster.

Clark said something, but it seemed to be coming from far away and I could no longer muster the strength to figure out what he had said.

He began dragging me away from where I had landed, the abrupt movement and my back getting scraped by all the sharp rocks made me scream before I could help it, the sound just sprouting from my throat at just how much pain I was in, I couldn't stop, not even as I felt Clark's hands tremble as he apologized repeatedly.

Even my half-delirious mind noticed how the pain receded the more he moved me, the acid burning sensation gone from my skin, now all that was left was the deep horrible throbbing pain that seemed to be determined to eat me to my bones, despite this, I found myself relishing the sensation, I never knew so many shades of agony existed and I was glad it had at least gone down a notch.

From somewhere I could hear Clark banging something together, rocks? it sounded like it.

"Izuku…", he called after a while, "I... I think I know what the problem is". he said sounding nervous, "I'm going to get close to you...tell me if you feel anything different alright?".

I had no idea what he was going about but I nodded at him, anything to keep me distracted. I heard his steps approaching me slowly, at first I felt nothing, or well nothing outside of the agony I was already in, I only began to feel it when he was just a few feet away from me, the pain worsened.

"What...?!", I gasp, "What are you doing?", I said, turning to look at his approaching figure for the first time. He was holding baseball-sized lumps of a green crystal that seemed to be glowing.

"I'm so sorry for this", he apologized kneeling beside me, "But… I need to see something". He said before pressing one of the crystals to the bare skin on my arm, there it was, the acid burn sensation but even worse, like the very rock, was shoving liquid fire into my veins, melting my arm from the inside out.

I screamed, making a move to push him away, or move my arm away, anything to get rid of green rock, "Stop, stop please stop".

He took the crystal away immediately, "That's it!", he said, throwing both of the lumps of green rock to the other side of the hole, "Izuku it's the meteor rocks...they are radioactive... they are the ones that are hurting you".

It took me a few seconds to fully process the discovery, still half stunt from the pain the rock had caused when in direct contact with my skin, "That's...really? a fucking rock?", was all I could manage to blurt out, feeling like laughing at the stupidest of it all but I just couldn't muster the energy for it.

"We have to get you out of here...and away from those things", Clark said, looking up at the patch of the sky some 10 meters above us, a sky that was now almost completely dark as night took over.

"Easier said...than done", I mutter, also looking up at the fading sunlight and with it my only advantage in this hell hole.

Clark tried once again to call our parents, even 911 but his phone was still out of signal, situation that was only aggravated by the fact we were practically underground, our other communication device, my phone, had been crushed by our fall, effectively leaving us with no way to call for help.

He tried to throw the rocks out of the hole but he hardly managed to get a few out and most of the time they only came back down threatening to hit us.

"Fuck this", Clark shouted in frustration, kicking one of the curse things to the other side of the hole, which wasn't much of a difference in a five-meter space, but it was the best thing we could do.

"Fuck this", he repeated, "I'm going to try climbing up", he stated already looking at the slippery muddy earth around us for any footholds.

"Hold on", I called out to him, "That's dangerous Clark…", I stopped trying to catch my breath and just ended up coughing up more blood, "Clark…" I continued, "The walls are very unstable...you could... bring the entire place on ourselves...besides...you are hurt what if you faint?".

"Dammit Izuku…", he shouted, "I know…I know but…", his voice broke as he fell to his knees, "I... I just can't stand to watch you suffer...I don't want to watch as you slowly die Izuku...I… I just can't", he broke into full-on sobs, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I can't get you out of here…If only I hadn't suggested we go camping...none of this would have happened...I'm so sorry Izuku this is all my fault".

I tried to sit up, an attempt that was far from successful, and I realize just how weak I had become, I couldn't even push myself off the ground, "It's okay", I tried to assure him, "I'm sure it will be okay…", it was an empty promise, even I could hear just how weak my voice sounded, how it rattles off my chest, the sound of a dying person. I felt like, breaking down into sobs just as Clark had, cry because of the pain that just wouldn't stop, cry because I was going to die and because Clark had to see it all, blaming himself for every second of my death, but I held myself back, biting my tong, it wouldn't do for both of us to fall into despair at the same time, maybe later, when Clark had calmed down, it would be my turn.

He cried for a while, seeming to get it all out of his chest before getting up with new determination, "I... I can't get you out of here", he said, "But at least I can keep you alive for longer...until somebody finds us".

He sat with his back against the wall, in the furthest place from the rocks, he placed one hand under my back and lifted my chest forward slowly as I gritted my teeth trying to stop myself from screaming. He put both his arms around me, my head coming to rest on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry…", he said again, "I wish there was more I can do...but this is all I have", he said before activating his quirk to its full power, his entire body glowing with yellow light, especially his hands that were now so bright it hurt to look at.

"Somebody will find us", he promised as we both sat together, "I'm sure of it…"

---

Sheriff. Williams walked slowly down the muddy trail, cursing to himself as he stumbled in the dark, the small led lantern he carried not providing nearly enough light to safely navigate the unpredictable trail. Here he was, his day off, and what was he doing? walking in the middle of a cold humid night through the forest all because his wife had "a feeling".

The sheriff dearly loved his wife Melissa, he truly did, but sometimes he cursed himself for having married a woman with an "I have a feeling" quirk, as he had taken to calling it. It wasn't anything fancy like being able to see the future in clear detail or precise prediction of any sort, sometimes she just had a feeling about something and if she obeyed it, it would lead her to something, be it pleasant or unpleasant, relevant or irrelevant, was always up in the air.

Today she had nagged him for the entire afternoon that he should head out towards this area, she "Had a feeling", that there was something going on here. At first, he had said "no way", he was going out at night to such a remote area only because she had "a feeling", for all he knew her "feeling", was sensing a lost baseball cap... but she had been insistent, claiming she had never felt it this strongly before.

In the end, he had agreed to come down here and check it out, both to get her out of his hair and both because his consciousness was nagging at him that with the last frequent rains something could have happened close to the river.

"So far nothing", he thought to himself bitterly, apart from mud all across the trail and a few fallen trees, the forest was as always, and more full of mosquitos than usual to top it off he thought miserably as he arrived at a particularly steeped part of the trail, he shone his flashlight for as far as it could go but the light only showed more mud, deciding he would rather not end up breaking any part of his skeleton, he began looking at the forest to see if he could walk around this part, that's when he noticed a faint light coming from somewhere to his right, several meters away from the trail.

It didn't appear to be the light of a lantern, it almost looked like it was coming out of the grown, intrigue he carefully began walking towards it, "Is somebody there?" he called, wishing he had his trusty handgun with him.

"Be careful!", a voice shouted from somewhere ahead of him, "The ground is very unstable".

The voice sounded ragged and out of breath but nonetheless familiar, he just couldn't quite remember who it was, well... that was far from his first priority as he was beginning to piece together where the voice was coming from, using the rope he had brought with him he tied it first to his waist and then to a sturdy looking three before getting on his belly and crawling towards the light.

His worst fears were confirmed as he got closer, the earth had caved in because of the recent rains, and it sounded like somebody was trapped.

Slowly and carefully, he advanced, pausing frequently to make sure the floor wasn't about to give away, it was a painfully slow process and he didn't even dare to breathe too hard for fear the earth would give in under his breath, relief flooded him the closer he got the edge and nothing had moved from under him.

With one final, careful, movement he poked his head out to assess the situation.

The scene before him was an alarming one, two boys were trap in the bottom of an extremely unstable looking hole, both of them seem to be injured, Clark, as he immediately recognized the Kent boy, had an ugly gash on his head swollen and cake with dirk and filth, not to mention the kid look extremely dehydrated, his clothes sticking to his body with sweat and a look of extreme exhaustion on his face.

In his arms there was another boy, one he vaguely recognized as a kid that sometimes came to visit the Kents', this one, despite his lack of major visible injuries, looked even worse than the Kent boy, he was as pale as a sheet of paper, his breathing was irregular and it was evident there was some form of internal bleeding going on, as blood trickle down from his mouth and nose.

He paused for a second to thank the heavens for his wife's quirk, if these boys had been left much longer out here it was evident the black hair one would have died, "How long have you been down there?", he immediately asked, his policemen training kicking in.

"About...three...hours", Clark responded, gulping air within every word.

"Clark", he began looking wearily at the kid, "You can stop using your quirk now, I have a lantern, you look ready to faint".

The boy shook his head, "No… no I'm fine...please...please just call my dad".

"He and the firefighters and ambulances, you both need immediate medical care", he said, bringing out the satellite phone he had for exactly this type of situation.

"No…", the other boy blurted out opening his eyes slowly, "Please… no hospitals…".

"I'm sorry kid but this is not the time to be scared of needles, you look like you have some serious internal bleeding", he said, already dialing 911.

"No... please just call my dad first…", Clark pleaded, "He...will...explain".

The Sheriff looked at both boys in turn, none of them looked to be completely in the right state of mind, still, he needed them to remain calm, it wouldn't do for them to go around freaking out, it was better if their parents could calm them down, assured them everything would be alright and that the authorities had this under control.

"Fine… but it will be quick", he said, dialing the number for the Kents's house, it rang two times before Jonathan's familiar gruff voice answered, "This is Jonathan Kent speaking how can I help you?".

"Jonathan this is the sheriff, I'm afraid to tell you there had been an accident, your boy along with a black hair one, I think you know him, fell into a deep pit close to the southern bank of the river, they are both still alive but both need immediate medical assistance".

There was complete silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds, "Anderson…", he began, using the Sheriff's first name, "Please trust me on this one, don't call the emergency services, especially no ambulances, we will be there as fast as we can".

The Sheriff couldn't quite believe what he had just heard, looking at the phone in stunt silence, "Have you gone crazy Jonathan?", he asked, "Those boys need to go to the hospital immediately, Clark has a serious head injury and the other one is throwing up blood for fucks sake!".

The line went quiet again as if Jonathan wasn't quite sure of what to say, "Anderson...I know this is hard to comprehend but...the black hair one...Izuku is his name, he can't go to a hospital, just trust me, it will end poorly for him…", there was a moment of hesitation, "Please get Izuku out of there and then about...Clark...call an ambulance for Clark".

Anderson swallow in disbelief, the Izuku kid looked like the one most in need of medical assistance if there was even the smallest chance of his survival he needed to be on his way to a hospital in the next half an hour, however, he had known Jonathan from primary school, both of them had played together in the football team back in high school, they were good friends and in all his years he had never found Jonathan to be anything but an absolute man of his word, when Jonatan told you to trust him you did because that was simply the best course of action, period.

"I can't believe I'm doing this", he muttered to himself, "All right Jonathan, I'll get the boy out, can't promise I'll be too gentle about it seeing as I have next to no equipment...but I'll trust you on this one".

There was an audible sigh of relief from the other end of the line, "Thank you Anderson", Jonathan said, "We will get there as soon as we can". After that Jonathan hung up not even waiting for any sort of answer from him.

Sheriff Anderson looked wearily at the two trapped boys, what exactly had he gotten himself into?

---

Inko had tried to swallow the lump of worry that had taken a residence in her throat, it had been several hours since they had last heard from Clark and Izuku, the boys had promised to call once they had settled in for the night in one of the camping spots, however, night had fallen more than two hours ago and still nothing, they had tried to dial them up them several times but it looked like Izuku's phone was dead and Clark's was out of signal.

Jonathan had tried to calm her down by assuring her that signal was always poor in those areas, they probably were unable to call, or simply had forgotten to, noting unheard of when dealing with teenage boys.

She had tried to believe him, tried to calm herself down, Izuku was invulnerable, nothing could hurt him...or so she had thought, now all she could think off was of his pained face a few days ago as he clutched his abdomen, a face that was still fresh in her memories.

In an attempt to calm her nerves, she had agreed to play some chess with Martha, both of them sipping cups of warm tea while the men talk in the living room, however, as much as she tried, she couldn't really put her mind on the game and was losing badly, in a few more moves Martha would probably take her king.

The kitchen phone rang as she moved another one of her pieces in an attempt to salvage the game. Jonathan got up to answer it and she didn't really pay too much attention to the call until she noticed that Jonathan had gone pale, fear crawling into his expression, in a usually stoic, calm man like Jonathan the expression was so foreign in him, fear instantly settle in the bottom of her stomach.

Martha noticed it as well, her expression turning into a mask of worry, both women got up from the table in the same motion.

"What is it?", Martha mouthed to her husband, Jonathan only shook his head, still listening to the other end of the line.

"Anderson…please trust me on this one, don't call the emergency services, especially no ambulances, we will be there as fast as we can".

The horrid sinking feeling in Inko's stomach intensified, her body going into shock as she realized what Jonathan had said, and instantly knew that something had happened, something terrible. If Jonathan had said to not call ambulances that meant that Izuku was involved somehow and worse of all, he was probably hurt.

---

Clark wasn't sure anymore of what time it was, it felt like they had been here for days but once he glanced at his watch it looked like it had only been three hours, it had felt like an eternity, an eternity of pain, sweat, tears, blood and misery and he wasn't sure just how much longer he could hold on.

Clark's quirk was a mix of his parents' ones, he had gotten his father's ability but with the added bonus of being able to use it at different intensities, something he had gotten from his mother, however, unlike her, who could maintain her quirk active without getting tired, he had a limit and began experiencing symptoms of exhaustion when using his quirk for a prolonged period of time, especially if it was at its maximum intensity.

He felt hot, way too hot, he was sure he was running a high fever, his head felt like somebody was raming a hot piece of metal through his eyes, the extreme fatigue and dehydration only adding to his misery. At that moment, he would have traded his soul for a glass of water, hell he would do it for just a sip, anything to relieve the painful dryness of his throat. His arms were sore and cramped from holding Izuku not to mention nausea that only got worse the more time he pushed his limits.

Amongst all of his misery, all thought the pain and discomfort there was one force him to keep on going, to keep up using his quirk even if it was cooking him alive, the drive that kept him going was the thought of saving Izuku.

His friend needed him because right now, Clark's quirk was the only thing keeping him alive.

Izuku's condition had progressively deteriorated as time advanced, albeit at a much slower pace, it was still painful to see how he was slowly weakening more and more. Both boys had tried to keep each other company, to distract each other, and most importantly to keep each other conscious.

They had talked about trivial things, serious things, stupid things, anything but their current condition, anything to distract them from the pain and the reality of their situation, and the very real possibility that no one would find them on time.

Over the last hour, Izuku had become weaker and weaker, his answers beginning to sound more and more like meaningless blabbering. Clark felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Izuku was close to losing consciousness, and once that happened the end couldn't be far off.

He felt like crying again, but there was no water in his system to spare, instead, he gritted his teeth, feeling the deep ache of fear in his chest, fear and grief as seeing the friend he considered a brother wasted away in front of his eyes.

He talked softly to Izuku, even if he wasn't sure, he could hear him any longer, he talked on and on, even if it was just to tell him about the internal mechanisms of a tractor, or complain about last year's English teacher, anything to keep him distracting, anything to make sure that Izuku knew he hadn't left him alone.

He was in the middle of telling Izuku a stupid story on how he had outrun a bull in first grade when Izuku's eyes suddenly snapped open, "Somebody is coming", he whispered softly as he made a feeble attempt to point towards the direction of the approaching person.

Clark's eyes went wide as he now too, heard the soft sound of steps on mushy ground, he lifted one hand pointing it upwards hoping at least some of the light would be visible from above.

"Be careful!", Clark shouted, afraid that the person would end up just like them, "The ground is very unstable".

The steps stopped, now seeming to move away, after several minutes of apparent silence Clark began to fear that the person had gone away, or worse, Izuku had imagined it and Clark's dehydratase brain had gone along with it.

He was just beginning to feel despair again when a face poke over from the edge of the pit, a familiar one, "How long have you been down there?", Sheriff Anderson asked.

---

Jonathan made a very conscious effort not to hit the gas and speed down the empty roads like a demon, it wouldn't do for them to have an accident, or for their vehicle to fail here, in the middle of nowhere.

The tension in the car was almost palpable, the fear and anxiety of parents who fear for their children's safety, of parents who now we're trying to keep it together despite not knowing what they would find once they got there.

Nobody even bothered to ask what had happened, or details on the situation, until they were all in the car, one look at Jonathan's face once he hung up the phone, was enough to set them all in motion. Ropes, lanterns, first aid kits, and anything else needed for a rescue were packed up.

It wasn't until they were speeding their way towards Smallville forest that Jonathan began to fill them in, "They fell into a pit", he explained, his voice unusually tight, "Clarks has a head injury and Izuku…", he paused, glad that he couldn't make eyes contact with the boy's parents, both of whom were riding in the back seat.

"The sheriff said he appears to have severe internal bleeding", he said, gritting his teeth as Inko put her face in between her hands, he considered whether he should tell them everything Anderson had said, in truth, it felt like a mercy to spare them the details, but on the other hand Jonathan was hardly a man who sugarcoated things, not to mention Hisashi was knowledgeable in this field, he had probably already figure out how Izuku was looking if he had severe internal bleeding.

"He's not in good shape…", he continued, in the softest tone he could manage, "Anderson said he's throwing up blood…"

Now Inko broke into soft sobs, besides him Martha also looked on the verge of tears, both from worry for her child and for the boy she loved like he was her own.

Jonathan knew exactly what every person in that car was thinking, he knew because he was having the same thought, "Why did they let them go?", it had rained so much, he should have predicted that something like this would happen, that the way would be dangerous, "Why, why, just why?".

Silently he prayed, prayed, and held on tightly to the steering wheel, wishing he could get there faster, wishing he could teletransport, wishing above everything that he could turn back time and make things right.

---

Clark tied the rope around Izuku's chest, waist, and legs in a makeshift harness, thanking the heavens that he had not only grown up on a farm, where tying things together was a constant necessity but that he was an active member of the boy scouts.

"Is going to be okay, you are okay", he kept on murmuring to his friend, who moaned and whimpered in pain every time he had to move him even the slightest bit.

His hands were trembling by the time he was done and he forced himself to calm down as he checked every knot several times to make sure it would hold, "You will be out of here in no time", he promised Izuku giving the rope several hard pulls to give the signal. He hadn't expected Izuku to respond, he wasn't even sure he was still conscious, so it was a surprise when Izuku opened his eyes looking straight at him, "Thank you", was all he said, his voice sounding firmer than it had for hours.

From somewhere out of their sight, The Sheriff, having seen the signal began pulling, slowly and painfully Izuku began to be lifted from the ground.

---

The sheriff's lungs burned as they tried to keep up with his body's demand for oxygen, every muscle in his body tense with the effort of the weight he was pulling, through his work gloves he could feel his palms beginning to blister. Despite all this he continued to pull, pausing every couple of seconds to make sure the ground wasn't giving away before he continued with the arduous labor.

With the lack of equipment at his disposal, the best strategy to get the boy out was to use a nearby three as a pulley to help him ease the weight, it was a solid plan, he just hadn't taken into account how heavy the boy was, he was a tall kid for sure, with the lean muscle of and athlete, still, he had never expected anything like this, did the boy had a higher density level because of his quirk? it sure as hell felt like it.

He puffed and cursed under his breath, pulling and wrestling with the weight for what felt like hours, until finally, he could actually see the kid's head, a few more pulls later his chest and eventually his entire body.

"All right, just a few more pulls", he told himself, "almost there", he thought gritting his teeth as he slowly dragged the kid across the muddy grown as delicately as possible in order to avoid another collapse.

At least the boy was being helpful, not moving at all which allowed him to drag him like dead weight, "Is okay, you are doing great just a few more minutes", he assured the boy, trying to see just how responsive he was.

All he got was a soft grunt from the kid, but at least he was still conscious, or partially so.

After a few well-earned minutes of rest, he began pulling again, not stopping until the kid was right at his feet, with a deep breath he collapsed to his knees beside him.

"You're okay now son", he assured the boy as he brought out his satellite phone again, he had fulfilled his part of the deal now he would see about getting some proper rescue units to get Clark out.

---

The ride to the edge of the hiking trails had seemed to go in slow motion for the desperate parents. All of them scrambling out of the car before Jonathan even had the chance to fully turn it off.

"Which direction should we take?", Hisashi asked barely concealing his anxiety as he hit his flashlight repeatedly until it turned on.

Jonathan took a few precious moments to get his bearings, he had taken these same trails as a teenager but it had been years since he had gone campaign to this area and everything looked different in the dark, he had to be very careful otherwise they would all end up lost.

After several nerve-wracking minutes, he finally pointed with his lanterns to a particularly steep and muddy trail, "Is this way", he said, already walking towards it.

"Of Course, they took the worst way possible...those boys", Martha said, trying to stop her voice from shaking.

Inko placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, both of them walking together in solidarity, both of them wondering just what they would find at the end of this path.

---

The pain had stopped, or at least most of it, this thought was the only thing on my mind as I took deep breaths relishing the sensation, part of me had been scared, scared than even after I got away from those rocks the pain wouldn't go away.

"How are you doing kid?", the man who had rescued me said, kneeling beside me while he examined me under the light of a powerful lantern he had hung from a nearby branch.

"I'm dizzy", I admitted, not sure of just how much I could tell this stranger, "And my back...it really hurts"

The man looked at me, appearing confused, "You seem to be doing better than when I first saw you back there in the pit..."

I swallowed, nervous about his remark, of course I was doing better, I just couldn't tell him it was because I was away from the meteor rocks.

He brought out his pocket knife after a few seconds of deliberation, "I'm going to cut your shirt off, I need to closely examine your abdomen and back".

His words brought in a pang of fear in me, at the moment he probably wouldn't find anything unusual, and it was true most of the pain I was experiencing at the moment was coming from my back, but a lifetime of fear of going to the hospital, of being found out made me anxious about anybody examining me in any way, especially it a weakened state.

"Okay", I said after a few minutes of hesitation, it would look weirder if I refused, especially considering we were already pushing our luck when uncle John convinced him to get me out first before calling the rescue teams.

I wince as he helps me to sit up, my entire body protesting the movement, especially my back which I was beginning to suspect must be in pretty bad shape.

Carefully he cut off my t-shirt, or what remained of it, it was torn in several areas and covered in mud to the point it was impossible to tell what its original color had been.

He whistled from behind me as he examined the damage, "Well...this is a mess I don't know what else to tell you boy", he said, gently touching and are below my shoulder blades, immediately making me yelp and flinch trying to move away from his touch.

He scratched his head, "It looks like it's infected that's for sure", he remarked, "I really don't have the medical knowledge to deal with this…".

"It's okay", I said, "My dad...he is not exactly a doctor...but he knows how to deal with stuff like this".

He sighed, clearly something was weighing on his mind but he didn't say anything, only got up, "Lay back down slowly", he instructed placing my feet above me on a nearby fallen log, before rummaging around his rucksack, bringing out two bottles of sports-drinks, "I can't really give you anything to drink", he apologized, "Standard procedure for internal bleeding".

I nodded, I haven't vomited blood since I had gotten out of the hole, but as he said I would rather not push it, "Ill going to go throw this down to your friend, okay? stay calm and don't move, call me if your symptoms worsen".

I nodded as he walked away, glad that he was also helping Clark out, I hadn't even given too much thought to him during the entire ordeal, but now, thinking back, that head injury had looked serious, not to mention he had let his quirk burn his energy away in order to keep me alive.

When this was all over when we were both safe again, I had to thank him, I literally owned my life to him, I wasn't sure if I could ever repay him, but I was sure as hell going to try my best.

---

None of them were sure of how much time they had been walking, at least an hour, an hour of muddy trail, mosquitos, and constant stumbling, still, the little group moved along, barely noticing the tiredness in their legs, their body pump full of adrenaline fueling them on.

"We are almost there", Jonathan said, walking ahead of them as he reached the top of the hill they had been climbing, his light illuminating the sharp descent to the river, whose sound could be heard faintly, even from up there.

"There's a light coming from there", Hisashi said, pointing to an area several meters away from the main trail.

Jonathan turned to look towards the direction Hisahy had pointed, he had estimated the place to be a little closer to the river but that light could only mean one thing, "I think...that's the place", Jonathan said with a mix of relief and even more worry, "Finally", he whispered, "We are here".

---

Hasashi looked at the mess that was his son's back, "This... it looks infected", was all he could think of saying.

After the first tearful reunion as his family surrounded him, all of them trying to see if he was okay at the same time, the need to move him had arisen.

The rescue team would be arriving at any moment, and they wouldn't accept a no for an answer on taking Midoriya to a hospital. The problem with moving Izuku, however, was that he was heavy, awfully so for a boy his size.

It had been a collective effort between Jonathan and Hisashi to get him far enough away to not risk being detected, now, somehow, they had to patched him up enough for him to at least be able to walk with their help, there was no way they could carry him all the way back to the car.

The task, however, was proving harder than anticipated, Izuku had already updated them on his discovery with Clark, that the meteor rock was the one hurting him, and both Hasashi and Jonathan found themselves lamenting how they hadn't figure it out sooner, something so obvious, the answered had practically been under their noses. The mystery of why Izuku had gotten sick up a few days ago was also solved when Jonathan, with a downcast expression, inform them there was a big meteor under the part of the garden where the peas grew, based on this information Hasashi deduced that the plants had absorbed radiation and thus made Izuku sick when he ate them.

Although the discovery was massive and had finally helped them make sense of recent events, they were still in the dark on just how long the effects would last, or if they would go away at all, Hasashi's worst fear at the moment was that Izuku could be suffering from radiation poisoning.

"Okay Izuku...this is going to hurt a lot, but I need to examine these wounds more closely". He said, adjusting his head lamp. In front of him, Jonathan made the very wise move of getting out of Izuku's easy reach even as he kept his quirk active, bathing Izuku in soft yellow light.

Hasashi wasn't exactly sure of where to start, Izuku's back look like somebody had put him through a wood chipper, the flesh was ripped with deep ragged wounds that kept on dripping dark blood, and more worrying than anything, the skin around some of the bigger wounds had gone white, blackish green swollen veins surrounding them. That couldn't be good.

With a pair of tweezers that were stored in the first aid kit he, slowly, began prodding inside the deepest wound, immediately Izuku scream, a sound that was muffled as he kept his hand pressed firmly to his mouth, his eyes tightly closed, tears forming at their corners.

The sounds tore at Hisashi's soul, oh, how he wished he could change places with his son, take his pain away and suffer through this in his place, but that was simply impossible, the best thing he could do for his son was to keep on working, keep on digging, ignoring his muffle screams and pleas for him to stop.

Finally, he hit something hard, making sure he had a good hold of it he pulled it out, it was a dark shard of rock embedded with diminutive green crystal that glowed softly as they reacted to their close proximity with Izuku.

"So that was the problem", he said, throwing the damn thing as far away from him as possible, "I'm going to pull all of these things out of you Izuku", he assured his son, "You will feel much better soon I promise".

Quickly he returned to his heart-wrenching labor, wishing he could stop hearing his son's screams as he worked on.

---

"You want anything else? I could get you a glass of water", Izuku offered his friend, who was currently sitting in one of the living room couches watching the tv.

"I already told you Izuku I'm fine", Clark said, trying not to get annoyed with the other boy's overwhelming attention.

It had been a week since the accident, Clark had been rescued and rushed to one of Metropolis hospitals, where his injury was treated, he had a mild concussion and was severely dehydrated, but apart from a small scar, the doctor said he would return back to normal in no time.

For his part, Izuku had also fully recovered, to everybody's relief, as soon as every little bit of meteor rock were taken out of him, he had begun healing at an amazing rate, a good night sleep, and a constant helping hand by a combination of his aunts and uncles quirks and he was back to normal.

"You know you should give them a name", Clark suddenly blurted out, "The rocks I mean, sound weird to just calling them meteor rocks… not to mention it's a mouthful".

Izuku's face darkened as he flopped down on the couch, "I'm not sure...why would I even name those things?".

Clark shrugs, "Just seems a lot more practical", Clark muttered, "What about calling them...hm I don't know, toxic emerald? deathly green?".

"I hope you realize how stupid all of those names sounded", Izuku said rolling his eyes, "Not to mention they are way too long…".

"Hey... I'm just trying to help", Clark said muttering under his breath, before falling silent again, looking at the tv, and for a second Izuku thought he had given up on the entire thing until he spoke again, half an episode of an old, corny, mystery series later, "You come from Krypton, that thing probably comes from Krypton so what about kryptonite?", he said, his expression triumphant.

Izuku winced, not sure he wanted the very thing that could kill him to be named after his home planet, but he had to admit Clark's idea wasn't half bad.

"Well see", he said after a while, "But yea...that name... it's better than toxic emerald that's for sure".

---

I looked down at the small lead box I held in my hands, today was my last day in Smallville, it had been two whole months here, a lot had happened, I had trained a lot, I felt confident that my grasp on my abilities had improved significantly, I now felt sure that I could use them to fight, however, the most important thing was that I made that discovery that I wasn't as vulnerable as I thought, I could be hurt, and that perhaps was the most eyes opening experience of my life.

Tomorrow I would be boarding a flight back to Japan, in a few more weeks I would take the U.A entrance exam. All through my stay here, I had kept in contact with All might, updating him on how I was progressing, while he also reported on how things were going on his side of the ocean especially on how the process of getting me into the hero program was coming along.

I look back at the box feeling guilty, I hadn't told All Might about the accident, about my discovery of kryptonite, it just felt like something that had to be explained face to face and I had already promised myself I would tell him everything as soon as I saw him again.

As of now, leaning against a fence in the death of night, I found myself in a dilemma. All my life I had walked with a monstrous fear of hurting people, one wrong move and somebody would die, it was like living in a world made of cardboard.

Even after all the years that had passed, I still felt guilty about breaking my mother's hand and Bakugou's arm.

Some dark part of me also wondered what would happen if I lost control, or if somebody controlled my mind, or worse, if I willingly caused harm to others, could anybody stop me? how many heroes wouldn't have to die in such a fight?

It was a scary thought one that had plagued my mind for years...a fear that only grew as my abilities became more and more powerful, threatening to become uncontrollable...

Now I had a solution, I was holding it in my hands.

My dad had gotten me the lead box after I had opened up about those dark fears of mine it had been on a particularly warm afternoon as we sat together on the porch, watching the sunset, there is those moments of peace and quiet as I felt reassured by my father's presence, sure that he would understand and help me through anything, in that warm summer afternoon I spilled it all out feeling like I couldn't stop until I had gotten it all off my chest.

I remember how he had hugged me, comforted me, but he never denied any of the claims I was making, never told me it was impossible I would lose control or be capable of evil, we both knew it wasn't true and some sugar-coated lies were not what I had been looking for to receive in such an honest and vulnerable conversation.

The next morning, somehow, he had gotten his hands on the lead box. He had also helped me get a good size, pure, chunk of the stuff and store it safely away. I had been so sure of myself back then, but now that it was time to leave, and bring the piece of poison with me I was faltering.

I still remember the pain I felt in the pit, how I had cried in agony, the memory was far from being pleasant and it still gave me nightmares, part of me was clamoring for the moment I could put an entire ocean between me and this stuff.

I swallow, cursing at myself for being weak, for being afraid. I passed a finger over the smooth surface of the box, fighting with myself on what to do...on how to overcome my fear, of course, the solution was obvious, I had to confront it head-on, I just wasn't sure if I had it in me to do so.

Slowly I opened the lid, the pain hit me immediately, that familiar throbbing burning pain, the veins in my hands began to swell and turned dark green as they absorbed the poison, I gritted my teeth, feeling nauseous, my head throbbing with at an agonizing rhythm.

If I hadn't been leaning on the fence I would have fallen to my knees, the alien mineral seeming to drain every bit of energy my body possessed making me feel so weak...so vulnerable…

I could only endure it for a few seconds before I snapped the box close, almost collapsing in relief as the pain and weakness disappeared.

"That wasn't so bad", I tried to tell myself as I took several deep mouthfuls of air. Now that I had faced my fear. I found that... I was truly not any less afraid, if anything, the fresh remainder of the agony kryptonite cause only made me more reluctant to do, what I knew, was right.

I close my eyes, listening to my family's heart beats in the distance, to the soft sound of their breathing as they slept peacefully, I was afraid...even with the deep rooted fear of what I could do clamoring for me to make the right desition, even fully knowing the monster I could become, I was still scared, terrified of the pain… but...If it was for their sakes, for the ones I loved...

I could never forgive myself if I hurt them, and I owe it to them for there to be some way to stop me, even if it meant killing me, I would take that any day if it meant sparing their lives.

With a final reluctant breath, I slipped the box into my pocket, I would take it with me, and give it to somebody that I could trust, somebody I knew would only use it if it was absolutely necessary.

With my mind made up I felt as if a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders as I realized that this was my first step into becoming a hero, not all the training I had done, not all my studying for the exams, this, overcoming my fear for the greater good, for the sake of others.

A hero's mission was to create a better, safer, world for everybody, and I would follow those ideals faithfully, even if in this case, it meant keeping the world safe from me.