Hi. I know this is one of the shortest chapters yet, but I promise, the next one will definitely be longer. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Superman. Unfortunately.


Chapter 26 - Crisis Averted?

„Uh, people, I know you want to see the show of a guy holding a skyscraper, but please, you need to leave in case the building becomes even more unstable. You could get hurt," said Clark to the on-lookers who looked at him like they've never seen anything like this before. Well, they probably haven't, but that is not the point.

He could see, from the corner of his eye, that Jimmy Olsen was taking pictures of him with his camera, but he couldn't care less at the moment. He knew the moment the metahumans started going berserk, he would have to reveal himself to the world a lot sooner than he expected.

Much, much sooner.

He remembered he still had the Justice League comm Cyborg had given him.

„Cyborg, you there?"

A few seconds later, the voice of the half-man/half-machine answered.

Yeah, I'm here. I'm almost there, just a few minutes. How you holding up?" he asked him, and Clark could hear a little bit of panting through the comm.

He supposed that having with half of your body made out of not-so-light metal, running long-distances wasn't very easy.

„It's more of a logistics problem than the problem of strength, but the civilians are still here, and I worry that they could get hurt. Somebody needs to stabilize the skyscraper. Somebody who knows what to do."

We'll send someone there as soon as we can, but you have to wait for at least a few minutes, until I put the counter-gas in the machine. It's still there, right?"

Clark looked at the direction of the LexCorp building, and with the use of both his x-ray and microscopic vision, he could see that the counter-gas was right next to the machine.

„Yeah, it's still there. I checked it out already and I know what to do, so I can give you instructions if needed. There is still a lot of metahumans who have not been restrained yet, we can't afford to lose much time."

Got it. But I have one question for you," he asked, and Clark sensed something strange in his voice. Curiosity.

„Shoot," said Clark. He looked at the police officer among the on-lookers. „Not you."

It took him a few seconds, but eventually, Cyborg asked him the question he's wanted to ask since he first saw him. „Who are you? What should we call you? Why are you here?"

Clark chuckled a little at that, but he was very careful not to move any muscle supporting the skyscraper. „That's more than one question. Alright, I'm someone who wanted to help, even though I didn't think I would reveal myself to the world this soon.

I have no idea what you should call me, I didn't think of a moniker as of yet, but I guess you can call me," Clark thought about it, „Kal. For now. And as for why I am here, I'm here because I saw what was happening in the city, and I knew I had to do something to help.

Now, any more questions?"

He took the silence he got as a no.

Clark looked at the on-lookers, who didn't listen to him and stayed and watched anyway, and was surprised to see that some of the police officers put a tape in front of them, so that they couldn't come any closer and accidentally hurt themselves.

He was glad for that, and with a nod to his officers, he gave them the message. They nodded back.


Cyborg arrived to the LexCorp building and now he was running up the stairs to the roof, where, according to ‚Kal', the counter-gas and machine responsible for it all is situated.

Finally, he reached the door which led to the roof. Kicking it down, not caring if it was locked or not, he stepped onto the roof, and immediately saw the machine.

The machine itself was tall, slender, and had a black and silver color scheme, and it was humming. Not surprising. It was a machine.

„Okay, Kal, I'm right next to the machine. Where's the counter gas?" he asked into the comm.

A few seconds later, Kal answered.

3 feet on your 3 o'clock. Be careful and not step on it, please," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Clark was surprised at how exact his instructions were, but he looked to the right and right there, 3 feet away from him, was a vial with blue liquid inside of it. Quickly grabbing it, he made his way over to the machine.

Alright, Vic, now you just need to put it in. Somehow. It's not like the whole world is depending on me. Just the city. Of 10 million people. Yeah.

He started analyzing the machine with the use of his various equipment installed within him, and was surprised to see the signature wiring of one of the criminal inventors the League kept an eye on. Toyman.

„Alright, Kal. I scanned the machine and I think I know what to do, but just to make sure, tell me what you think I should do. The machine was made by an inventor who calls himself Toyman, and he has a knack for traps in his inventions," said Cyborg.

Okay. I checked it with my x-ray vision," With his what? Cyborg thought, „and based on the wiring, you should pull the red lever 6 feet above the ground." Cyborg gestured to the first red lever that he found. „Yeah, that one. Okay. Now, pull it."

Cyborg pulled the lever.

Okay, now I need you to push the green button on your left. Yep, that one," he said as Cyborg gestured to a green button.

After he pushed it, the machine humming of the machine seemed to slow down.

„It's slowing down."

Good. After it stops, a pocket of sorts should open up and there will be the vial of the original gas. I need you to get the original vial out and replace it with the counter-gas. Then, you just pull the lever and push the button again, and it's done. Got it?"

Cyborg nodded, and then, when he figured that the man couldn't probably see him, he confirmed it into the comm.

When the machine slowed down, Cyborg did as instructed. The original gas looked green-ish – no surprise there, it looked green in the air, too – and it was in a liquid form just like the counter-gas. He figured that the machine somehow leaked the liquid in the form of gas.

No shit, Vic, he thought.

He quickly replaced the vials and activated the machine again.

After the machine started working again, it released the counter-gas, which this time, looked blue in the air.

Cyborg proceeded to do a victory dance, much to Clark's amusement, who was watching from his position about a mile away.


Batman listened to the conversation on the comm, and a few minutes after the man who called himself Kal gave the instructions to Cyborg, he noticed that the air started losing the green tint to it and was replaced by blue.

He looked around, where some of the metahumans were. They stopped. They no longer had that clouded look in their eyes.

It was over.

„Good job," he said to the comm.

And it was. Now, he had one more mission. Find out who this Kal was.


Alright, so this is the 26th chapter. I know it's short. And I promise, as I said up there, in the first AN, the next chapter will be longer - it will deal with Clark's revelation to the world and so on :)

See you until then.