Disclaimer: Superman, Starfire and all the other heroes in this Fanfic belong to DC-Comics.


Metropolis City, United States of America

1:30 pm

"Hey Smallville! Are you even listening to me?" said an enraged Lois Lane as Clark got back to his senses. He still had been thinking about this situation with Mongul and tried to make something of it. Bruce was on the case, but still… something seemed odd about the whole situation. Why should Mongul attack Jump City?

"I'm sorry, Lois." he said meekly, staying in his "shy-farm-boy-persona" and Lois sighted.

"Don't let it happen again. I am so close to finally get this Interview with Superman!" she exclaimed excited and Clark had to control the urge to roll his eyes. Jimmy Olsen next to him chuckled silently and thankfully, Lois did not hear him. His colleagues were something different: Jimmy was kind and welcoming, calling him CK most of the time, and Clark was grateful for his support as a friend. Lois on the other hand was certainly… ambitious. She was a driven woman, who would do anything to achieve her target. An admirable trait surely, and even though she seemed cold at times, she had a kind heart, of that Clark was sure. He even thought, he had romantic feelings for her at some time, but he quickly got over it as he noticed, that those feelings had been for Superman and not Clark Kent. While going through the documents, Lois had chucked on his desk, his thoughts returned to the Titans. They had taken their beating a lot better than he had anticipated. Only Starfire had needed a bit of support. He had seen how she looked after the battle and had recognised that look: It was the same look he had, after he caused the death of a young man, because he had not been fast enough. Thankfully, she did not have to experience loosing anyone, as the Titans all had survived with only minor injuries.

"CK, do you want to get something to drink after work?" Jimmy interrupted his thinking and Clark smiled at him.

"I'm sorry; Jimmy, but I have an appointment today. How about Friday?" he suggested and his friend smiled.

"Sure thing, CK!" he agreed happily and Clark too smiled. He would have liked to go with Jimmy but he was on monitor duty today. The man of steel groaned internally. Monitoring duty was no fun. At all.


Metropolis City, United States of America

6:30 pm

After finally getting out of work, he quickly changed attire, getting inside his Kryptonian battle suit – he refused to call it a "costume", as Wally had said – and called J'onn to teleport him to the Watchtower. As he arrived on the Watchtower, he immediately made his way to the monitoring room, but suddenly stopped. Clark looked around at the members of the League in the corridor, mostly younger and newer members and Kori's words came back to him.

"Even for us other heroes you are the greatest to ever life. You are what we strive to become." she had told him and as he saw the young heroes look at him with awe he felt something weird inside of him. He never saw himself as something "great" or something "to strive for". He was just a farm-boy from Kansas, for God's sake. The other heroes realised he stopped and stared ahead and they looked at him confused. Kori had been right… He saw it in their eyes and the way they stood a little bit straighter around him. Clark had never noticed it before, but it was clear to him now. They really did look up to him. He smiled at them and waved at them happily, startling them, and chuckling he continued his way to his target. He greeted Wildcat on his way with a short nod and entered the room. Sitting down before the large monitors, he used his enhanced vision to keep an eye on all of them. Shocked, he realised… nothing was happening. The world seemed surprisingly calm and the Man of Steel allowed himself to let his thoughts wander some more.

His thoughts returned to the young Tamarean. He had seldom-meet people like her: Of what little he saw, he could say she was very kind, smart and just stunningly gorgeous… Wait! Where did that one come from? He felt his cheeks redden a bit, but forced it down fast. It was true; Kori was an exceptionally beautiful woman, but that was not the reason he sympathized with her as much as he did. She was the leader of her team and had to carry all that responsibility by herself. He knew that responsibility, even if he had Diana and Bruce to help him carry them, but when it came to take responsibility, it was him, who had to do it. Diana was from a faraway land, an ambassador to her people and she still learned about the world, while Bruce was… Bruce. He was a genius and one of the – maybe even the – most competent people he had ever met, but Batman was no public figure. He was a shadow, the Dark Knight himself, but he was not one to step into the light and openly lead something like the Justice League. In the end, it came down to him to guide the League. He knew what holding your teammate's life in your hands means and he did not envy Kori for that. She had no one to rely on with those responsibilities and unlike some others, like Robin and Batman, Zatanna and Raven, Beast Boy and Martian Manhunter, and Aqualad and Aquaman she did not have a mentor to depend on. His attention shifted to the screens as he saw an alarm in Coast City. The man of steel groaned. It would have been too good to finally have a peaceful and calm day on Earth.

"Flash! Green Arrow is not in the City. Do you think you could make a quick visit to the Central Bank?"

"Sure thing, Blue! Quick is my second name!" and with that his signal disappeared from Central City and shortly appeared in Coast City again. This was going to be a long night.


Justice League Watchtower

7:30 am

He did not require sleep; neither did he need coffee, but he liked the taste of it. His mother always made him a cup in his youth and even if this one was not nearly as good, it took him back to these more… simple times. Clark was interrupted form his nostalgic thinking by Dinah, who made a straight line towards him. She smiled as she approached him and Clark took another sip from his mug.

"Can I help you, Dinah?" he asked friendly and Dinah's smile widened.

"Actually, you can." she said sweetly and Clark recognised it as the same smile Diana wore, whenever she asked him for a "friendly spar". Let it be said, that normal people and amazons had an entirely different idea of what that is. He gulped and regretted asking the question this instant.

"J'onn was supposed to work with my team today, but after I asked him he just phased through some walls, lazy bastard! Sooooo…" she drawled out. "I need someone who is strong… very strong. The Titans need to develop a strategy to fight someone who is a lot physically stronger than them." she told him and Clark nodded. He remembered that she was the team's senior-leader and their connection to the Justice League.

"Okay. I will help you." he replied immediately.

"You will?" Dinah cried out in surprise, but instantly schooled her features again. "I … Thank you, Clark… Can we go now? We are somewhat already late." she asked him and the man of steel agreed, happy of meeting the Titans again and one fiery beauty in particular.

He followed her trough the hallways, sometimes greeting or smiling at passing friends and colleagues until finally they arrived at the training room. Dinah opened it.

"Hey guys! I got you a punching bag!" she screamed into the room and Clark followed, chuckling at her joke. The room was perfectly fitted to support the entire League's members, from those who have human levels, to the more… alien members like him and J'onn. Bruce had spared no expense for the entire station and it payed off. The Titans too were already there: He saw Robin who sat in a corner with Raven and Beast Boy who shared some jokes with Blue Beatle. He finally saw her then: She was sitting there with Aqualad and seemed to tell him some sort of funny story, as they both wore a small smile on their faces. All of them stopped what they were doing and looked towards them. Beast Boy suddenly leapt forward and stared at him with a huge grin, while Robin rose an eyebrow and Raven looked at him, as if she analysed him. He only was interested in one reaction though: She looked at him shortly and then sent a huge smile his way. Clark had been near the sun – heck he had been in the sun – but he swore he never saw anything as radiant. He smiled back at her, but their moment was interrupted by Dinah, who cleared her throat.

"Now. I brought Big Blue here for our training today." she began and the Titans formed a circle around him.

"Any ideas how you can attack Superman?" she asked and was met with some silence until Robin spoke up.

"As we cannot defeat him with direct attacks we need to revaluate his weakness." he said and Dinah nodded.

"Exactly. Let's try it." she nodded towards Clark, who slowly made his way towards Aqualad. The young man tried to stab him and his trident just bounced of Clark, but he used the momentum of the stab to propeller himself outside of Clarks reach. Clark took after him and realised he had been trapped, as Raven and Starfire unleashed a magic beam and starbolts from the sides on his form. Clark staggered backwards a bit. This attack may have worked on somebody else, but not on him, even if he did feel Raven's magic. They continued to stay out of his reach or dodge his slow attacks, as the continued to bombard him with magical and conventional attacks. As Dinah finally called a stop to the exercise, the titans were out of breath, while Clark wasn't even sweating.

"You didn't beat him." Dinah dryly told the Titans.

"Yeah, no joking. It's Superman!" Beast Boy exclaimed sarcastically and Raven rolled her eyes.

"Clark, were you holding back?" Dinah asked, but she knew the question and to the surprise of the Titans he nodded. He had been kicking their asses and he wasn't even trying?

"I only used a bit of my strength." he told them and Dinah nodded.

"Yes. And you didn't use your other powers or even your speed." she told them. "If this were a real fight, you would have been dead within ten seconds. What if you have to fight someone like Mongul again? Do you think Superman here will always be there to save your sorry behinds?" she growled at them. Clark had never seen her like this, but he knew she just wanted their best. She was like a mother hen to them.

"We must improve your teamwork, but first we are going to work on your individual skills. I will contact your mentors, as I cannot teach you those." she dismissed them but stopped Starfire from leaving.

"Kori, have you found somebody?" she asked and Starfire shook her head.

"No. Many do not have time to help training me. There were some who had the time, but told me, that they would not have the expertise to train me." she sighed and Clark felt a sting in his chest, seeing the always happy heroine downcast.

"Well… maybe I can help." the two women spun around to look at Clark, having completely forgotten about his presence. Dinah's grin returned and Clark assumed, she did not forget about his presence and neither did she bring him just because J'onn wasn't available at the moment. This woman was almost as bad as Bruce!

"I do not want to impose, Superman. I cannot think of any hero doing more than you do. You probably hardly have time to train anyone." Kori said and he just smiled.

"No. It's really not a problem." he said and that wasn't entirely true. He did have a lot on his plate and he probably would have to cut his time as Clark Kent, but somehow that did not seem as bad as it sounded.

"Are you sure? I can train alone. It's really no problem, if you don't…" she tried to say, but Clark interrupted her with an even larger smile.

"As I said, it's no problem… Actually I insist on it." he said and winked at Dinah, who smirked at both of them. He could see how Kori wanted to form another argument, but she was silenced by a glare courtesy of Dinah.

"I let you two alone now, to get the details straight." Dinah said, as she left the room to give the two some alone-time.

"You meant it?" Kori said with a slight glimmer of hope in her voice.

"Of course. I meant every word I said…" he told her and her green eyes seemed to glow even more. Clark was glad, that he hadn't brought his cup of coffee, because he would have let it fall, as Kori threw herself at him and gave him a bone crushing hug. Shocked, Clark realised for the first time, that she was actually taller than him. She pressed herself against him and he blushed as red as his cape while moving his arms to hug her back. After a moment he let her go and swore he too saw a small blush on her face, although it was quite difficult to see it with her skin-colour.

"Thank you." she whispered and Clarks smile grew even more, turning into a large grin.

"As I said: It's really no problem. I… We really wouldn't want you to hurt yourself out there, just because you did not receive enough training." he corrected himself fast and hoped she did not hear his slip. After a short comfortable silence between them, Clark cleared his throat.

"Would you like to start our training today?" he asked and Kori nodded excited. She really did look adorable and stunning… Clark snapped out of it and blushed a bit as Kory looked at him with slight confusion.

"Alright! Let's go for a walk. I know exactly where we can train." he told her and his old Kansas uprising reminded him to offer her an arm. She giggled and took it as they both strode towards the teleporter. Clark again felt her warmth. It almost felt as good as whenever he flew close to the sun to absorb some energy. As they strode towards their target, some questioning glances were send their way, but Clark thought that Kori either did not see them or just simply ignored them.

"How was it growing up on Earth?" she asked him suddenly and startled Clark a bit, but he decided to answer anyway.

"It was great… but also difficult at times." he explained her and she looked thoughtful for a second.

"My parents are great people. They always are there for me, even today. My powers though were terrifying. I wasn't able to control them." he said and he wasn't even sure why he had told her that.

"It must have been difficult." she said soothingly and grasped his hand with hers. They both continued their way in comfortable silence and as they finally arrived in the teleportation room, they greeted J'onn, who rose an eyebrow at seeing them. It was at that moment, that Clark realised they were still holding hands and he let her hand go. The warm fuzzy feeling inside his stomach disappeared and he turned to the Manhunter.

"J'onn! How are you today?" he asked the Martian and received a small smile.

"It is a calm day, Kal-El." he stopped for a moment and looked at Kori. "It would seem, young Koriand'r has finally found herself a member of the League to teach her."

"Yes." Clark replied "Could you please send us to my home." The Manhunter nodded and both of them stepped on teleporter.

"It might get a bit cold now." he told Kori and he saw, that she wanted to reply, but they already had arrived at their target. A cold breeze surprised them both, but Clark did not feel it, unlike Kori, who began to shiver a bit. He tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the structure in front of them. Clark laughed a bit, as he saw her gobsmacked expression.

"Welcome, to my Fortress of Solitude." he said and the gate opened and they both moved in. Even if the Fortress seemingly was made from ice, it was warm inside. He looked back to Kori and saw she stopped shivering and looked at the Kryptonian tech and heirlooms in awe. He grinned a bit at her awe-struck expression, her big green eyes staring in wonder.

"This is… unbelievable." she whispered and Clark asked her to follow him. They both continued through the different sections of the Fortress. Kori asked some questions and Clark sometimes stopped to show her something, but they eventually arrived in his training hall. He saw her marvel at the Kryptonian technology in the room. Clark knew the Tamareans themselves were quite advanced, but they still were far from the Kryptonians. Clark walked towards a console and typed in some commands. Kori was still standing in the middle of the room and Clark had to supress a smirk, but it still came through.

"Before we begin the training, I have a little gift for you." he said and turned to Kori, who looked at him surprised.

"Batman got Robin his armour, so I think it's fair I get you one too." he said and typed the final line, as a tube came out of the floor. It opened and revealed an armour like he himself wore, but fitted to Kori's frame. She walked towards it and slowly ran her fingers across the material.

"Come on! Try it. I hope I got your measurements right. You were scanned, when you entered the Fortress and while we had our little tour it produced this armour." he said with a smile and saw her smile back at her, until a blush spread across both of their faces.

"I'm sorry… I don't really have any dressing rooms here. I wasn't exactly expecting… company." he told her and both of their blushes intensified. Clark turned around and faced towards the wall, away from her.

"I won't look, I promise." he told her honestly and he heard her change. He really did want to look, but his education by Martha Kent forbid it strictly. Plus his mother would beat the ever-loving hell out of him, if she ever found out he peeped on a woman. As she finally announced she was ready he turned around and this time he was completely gobsmacked. She hovered a few feet above the ground and the blue armour fit her gorgeous body perfectly, emphasizing her luscious curves. Her long fiery red hair cascaded down her back and her glowing green eyes sparkled in amusement. Clark did not even blush, as he just stared at her wide-eyed. As he finally got out of his trance, he smirked. Slowly taking off the ground and gaining height, he ascended to her level.

"Now." he said and his smirk grew to a grin "Come at me with all you got…"