Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 2
By
Jason Richard
And so Clark spent the next few years of his life learning to control his new powers. He was incredibly fast and incredibly strong, and using these abilities proved to be exhilarating once he got used to them. He did save a few more people over the years. If someone was in trouble, he heard it and was there in a flash. There were people falling from scaffolding who found themselves safely on the ground, a few robberies where someone tied up the crooks before they knew what happened, and even an escaped convict was just passing through the town of Smallville when he, within seconds, found himself behind bars. Clark did all of this, but he was in and out so quickly no one ever knew what happened.
There was some sort of guardian angel in Smallville, but who or what it was, no one knew. There were of course the usual conspiracy theories about it online, but most people dismissed this sort of thing as an urban legend and forgot about it in a single Tweet. Despite this, Clark kind of liked the idea of being an urban legend.
It wasn't all pleasant. Clark discovered a few new powers by accident that nearly led to disaster. Once he accidently set fire to Ma Kent's apron just by looking at it. Another time a particularly powerful sneeze not only turned the tractor into an icicle, but sent it rolling several feet out the barn. All these things he found himself capable of kind of scared him sometimes. Of course people started asking questions when wierd stuff happened around him, but Clark usualy feigned innocence. Actually he'd gotten pretty good at acting like he never knew what was going on any more than anyone else. There were a few who seemed to hold their suspicions, but clark found a suble way to allay those suspicions.
Before he got his powers, he needed glasses for a while, but once the powers came in he stopped wearing them. On a whim one day, however, he put them on again, and people seemed to suspect him less because of that. It was a bit of a cliche, Clark realized, but the glasses completed the mild mannered persona he adopted when he accidentally used his powers. That, combined with his good school preformance, made people think of him as a typical bookworm or nerd. It was a little thing, but it seemed to direct people's attention away from him when wierd things happened.
And with his powers, wierd things happened all the time. The more he learned about his abilities, the more he wanted to learn where he came from. He didn't have many clues, however, so he started learning to gather information and news wherever possible.
Mostly he surfed the internet for strange things. He never saw anything related to him, but he never stopped trying either.
In college, this hobby turned into an interest for investigative journalism. At Metropolis University he studied journalism and got his degree...all while expanding his secret heroism from Smallville to the city. During this time he seemed to get more powerful all the time. Stronger...faster...and even able to hear more than ever before.
It all made him even more determined to find out where he came, and one fateful day, he finally found a clue. On one obscure corner of the internet, under extraterrestrial sightings, a ship had been seen some years ago. Of course there were the usual skeptical explanations for the event. Military testing, swamp gas...the works. This sighting, however, piqued Clark's interests for one particular reason.
All of the blurry photos or other evidence were taken on the same day Clark's pod had crash landed next to the Kents. For the first time he seemed to have a solid lead. The only trouble was that there was no consensus on where the ship actually landed. Clark could look in any of the places, but there were so many that there wasn't much point.
He had a lead, but not much else to go on. By this point, however, he figured it was time to stop using more amateurish methods and go professional, that way he could get better contacts and information in general.
In short, it was time to get a real job as a reporter.
…
Clark, now in his twenties, stood on the front porch of his old home in a suit and tie, giving his Ma and Pa a final farewell before he made off for the big city...this time for good. He would come visit of course, but this moment still had a finality to it that the other milestones in his life seemed to lack.
"Oh Clark," said Ma Kent, giving her son a big hug, "I'm going to miss you."
"I won't be gone forever Ma," said Clark.
"Oh I know that," said Me Kent as they pulled away. He had to wipe a tear from her eye, but she was smiling nevertheless.
"I'm glad your getting a job," said Pa Kent. "It means you're a man now. I couldn't be more proud."
"Thanks Pa," said Clark, giving his old man a hug as well.
"Oh!" said Pa Kent as they pulled away, "One more thing, before you go."
He reached down to the porch swing and picked a large package, giving it to Clark, "The...uh...pod...you came in turned on for a moment this morning. It opened a panel and revealed something. I went ahead and put it in here."
"Really?" said Clark excitedly, taking the package and beginning to open it. "Did it do anything else?"
"I'm afraid not," said Pa Kent. "It lit up for a moment, then went dead as it's ever been."
Clark couldn't say he wasn't disappointed by that, but this was still more than he'd ever gotten before from that pod, so he took it as a good sign. Of course the 'gift' the pod had given him wasn't much. It looked like a blue suit with a red cape and boots. The suit had a symbol on the front, a red S in a red Diamond shape with a yellow field. What it meant he had no idea.
"Well," said Clark, closing the package again, "Thanks. You'll let me know if the pod does anything else right?"
"You'll be the first to know," said Pa Kent.
Clark nodded in appreciation, and then said, "Well...goodbye. I'll see you soon."
And the Kent's watched as their only son turned around, took off his glasses, and ran off...just a blur on the horizon for a mere second. Then he was gone.
Ma Kent sighed and said, "He's our son, and I love him...but it still gets to me every time he does something like that."
Pa Kent put a supportive arm around her shoulders and said, "Dear, I know exactly how you feel." and he kissed her forehead. She kissed him back on the cheek, and then they both watched the horizon for a moment...missing their son already.