Chapter Three – 2020 Vision
The year was 2020.
Ever since he'd left the land of the many Supermen, Clark Kent had been having sleepless nights. It would start with the recurring dream where Lana, in the middle of a tender moment with him, would suddenly morph into his mother Martha. This would cause Clark to suddenly wake up, with a mixture of revulsion and more revulsion, and then, for the longest time, he'd try to get back to sleep - but his mind wouldn't let him. It was too busy remembering what the Virgil Swann Superman had said; it was too busy pondering the same question that had been asked by the great intellects of the past (Newton, Einstein, Gödel, Cher) - what if he could turn back time?
The sad thing was that Clark knew instantly what he'd do - no matter how much it would change the future he had to do it. The question was "When?" - after all, with time travel there was no need to rush. As Clark struggled and struggled in vain to get back to sleep (mentally counting sheep and, when that didn't work, speeding bullets) he decided that tonight was the night. Taking the package he'd prepared, putting his glasses on and changing into his costume he opened the window and, faster than the eye could see, soared off into the night sky.
As he circled round and round the globe, the night became day became night became day became ... and then he was going so fast that night and day were flickering before his eyes. As he looked down with his telescopic vision at the stroboscopic world below, he saw everything slow down and then freeze and then, ever so slowly, start to go backwards. It was working - he couldn't believe it. As he went faster and faster so did the time reversal. Superman watched history fold below him - within minutes he'd literally been going round and round in circles for the whole of his adult life. He saw himself moving from Metropolis to Smallville, Luthor turning from evil to good, from his enemy to his friend, Pete Ross undiscovering his secret, a war giving birth to Whitney (if only all wars could have been in reverse), and finally a car leaping out of a river to leave Clark deposited on a bridge. It was 2001 - time for his travels to finish (or start, to be strictly chronological about it). As Superman slowed down he saw young Clark walking rapidly away from the bridge backwards, then slow down, stop and start walking back towards the bridge.
Superman landed in a nearby cornfield and changed into Clark. Then he set off to the bridge - by his calculations he'd get there just ahead of the younger Clark.
When the younger Clark Kent reached the bridge he was surprised to find the older Clark Kent waiting for him. The older Clark had been preparing for this moment for a long time, whereas the younger Clark hadn't been expecting it at all, but once they saw each other there was only one thing they could say - they couldn't help themselves, it just had to be said:
"Nice hair!" they said in unison, and then both nodded in agreement.
"I've been standing on this bridge, waiting for you, Clark. I knew that you'd be here by now," explained the older Clark.
"You can call me Kal," added the older Clark, deciding it was safest to keep his true identity secret from his younger self.
The younger Clark was puzzled. How did this Kal know his name - Clark had never seen him before. But then, slowly, recognition dawned as he recognized the face of the strange visitor - it was an older version of himself. There was only one rational explanation - this man was his true father. A mixture of emotions welled up inside Clark.
"I know who you are. Why have you come back now?" asked the younger Clark, who appeared as emotionless on the outside as he was stunned on the inside.
The older Clark was impressed that his younger self had worked out who he was so quickly. Sometimes he amazed himself.
"Well, if you've figured out who I am, then you probably also know that I want to get out of here with the minimum of interference - after all, time's precious. Once I've done what I came here to do I'll be back to my own life and leave you in peace."
The younger Clark Kent listened aghast. His father had returned and now he was going away again.
The older Clark continued. "To answer your question, I've come back now because this is about the latest I thought I could leave it - just before a young man called Lex runs into you for the first time. Take these. You'll need to use them from now on." He handed his younger self a glasses case.
The younger Clark looked disbelievingly at the glasses case, and then, opening it, looked even more disbelievingly at the glasses inside. His father had returned after all this time just to give him these?
The older Clark saw the look on the younger Clark's face and put a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me - you've got to do this. It's either this or go to the arctic for ten years. Anyway, I've got to go now - I don't plan to spend a second longer here than is absolutely necessary."
With that, the older Clark started to walk away.
"But wait," shouted the younger Clark, "I've got so many questions."
"I know," was the older Clark's only reply, but then he stopped and turned back to face the younger Clark. "Wait, I forgot, there's something even more important that I've got to tell you."
The younger Clark listened intently - all he wanted now was for his father to tell him that he loved him, was that too much to ask. Apparently it was.
"If someone in the same outfit as you asks you look at some drawings in their pad, just make your excuses and leave," were the words of cryptic wisdom from the older Clark. Hopefully it would save his younger self from the recurring dreams that he'd been having.
The younger Clark looked blankly at the older Clark as he turned away yet again and started running towards a cornfield. "Wait," shouted the younger Clark, helpful to the last, "there are no roads that way."
But it was too late, his father wouldn't hear him.
As the older Clark's super-hearing heard the words, and as he changed into his Superman outfit hidden by the ears of corn, and as his legs left the ground, he thought "Roads? Where we're going, Clark, we don't need roads."
And then it was time to go back to the future, his future. One of the Supermen he'd chatted to in the land of Supermen had told him that time travel would only create an alternate timeline, not change his present, and he hoped that this was the case. Anyway, there was only one way to find out. He flew round the globe in the opposite direction to previously and, just as before, time changed its course, and things slowed down and started going backwards. Superman went through numerous Kryptonian oaths as he realized that time travel was a one way process - he'd never get back to the future. No wonder that other Jor-El had told that other Superman not to interfere with history.
As he came back down to Earth with a bump, Superman's only consolation was that today, in some small way, he'd no doubt improved the other Clark Kent's life for the better. Admittedly, he wouldn't be as popular in high school with the glasses (and that threesome with Lana and Chloe was probably now totally out of the question), but, in the long run, Clark would thank him.
The young Clark stood on the bridge staring out at the river, still feeling numb from his encounter with his "father". Not only did his father want nothing to do with him, but he also appeared to be insane. With the glasses case safely zipped up in his pocket, Clark held the glasses out in front of him and looked at them, the numbness inside him slowly turning to hurt, confusion, and regret. As he sank deeper and deeper into self-pity and tears welled up in his eyes, Lex managed to snap him out of his introspection with the aid of his car.
Seconds later, Clark was underwater. As he saw his glasses float off in one direction and Lex sitting in his submerged car in the other direction, he had to make a choice of what to save - the glasses or Lex. The choice was, of course, obvious.