Wow, now that is the mother of all delays. I don't wanna say a Super delay but, well, too late. I will be attempting to update this story more often.
But! I would hereby like to dedicate this story to Hollie Van Dyke. A very, very dear friend of mine. Hope you like it honey bunny.
How long had it been? Days, months, years even? All there was in the beginning was darkness. The beginning was death. Then waking to find the light, brighter than anything, so blinding that even with closed eyes, it was a brilliant white. And the heat had been unbearable, at first. Certain to end anything living, it had slowly become nothing. The light and heat, once believed to be the killers, now barely registered. They meant nothing. But freedom… that was everything.
The swirls, the pulling, all attempts to leave the heart of the sun had proved futile; it's gravitational pull too much. But that was before. Before now, with each passing day he got stronger and stronger. He knew he would get free.
Now, being able to look out into the darkness of space and at the planets dotted around the solar system, he felt the desire to return to earth. To soar through the blue skies; high above the clouds where he could be free. But he didn't think it could happen, his resolve had waned…until he saw him.
He could see him flying towards him and then, just hovering there, looking for something. Looking for him maybe? No. He was looking at the flares. Yes, he was aware of the flares. They were his doing. All his attempts to break lose. They had only become this violent recently as he had gained in power so drastically. Then, as soon as he was there, he was gone. Superman was gone.
Superman…out lived…Superman…usefulness…Superman…
Then everything changed. His mind suddenly became primal and savage. Thoughts that where not his own started to take precedence. Each one fixated on one single goal. He no longer felt the desire for freedom; he felt a lust for power. 'Might is right' echoed through his mind. A burning rage fuelled by the desire to destroy, destroy the obsolete, destroy his fathers' enemy, destroy his enemy.
Destroy Superman.
…
The spray coming up from the water was refreshing. He only went low long enough to get lightly showered but it served its purpose in waking him up a little.
After the way he had felt before leaving the apartment, Clark decided it was best to fly lower than usual and to keep his speed down to a reasonable level. He felt fairly certain that he wouldn't have another episode, but he had no intention of losing his powers and becoming a human stone, skipping across the Atlantic at over 500 miles an hour. Considering what had happened and that his powers had been unreliable as of late, flying to France for croissants wasn't something that should even be on his to do list. But if it was to be a case of priorities, making Lois happy by getting her croissants came first. She would always be first.
He gained altitude as he approached land and before long he was flying towards the Eiffel tower, but most importantly, slightly to the left, the best croissants in the world. Making a swift but gentle landing in an alleyway about a street away, the strong blues, red and yellow colours were replaced by a grey suit, white shirt, a vibrant tie and a pair of glasses. The bold body language of Superman had dissolved into the laid back demeanour of Clark Kent. It was an acting masterpiece.
Yet it would fall apart if not for the glasses. Sometimes even he wasn't sure how no one else had figured it out. It was far from flawless.
There had been close calls, the incident with Diana Stride for instance. Luckily his mum had been experimenting with holographic art, and the hologram she created fooled everyone. But when the secret had gotten out, the results were nothing short of catastrophic. There was Jason Trask, who wanted him dead because of an alien invasion that was in his own mind. Tempus, a criminal from a future utopia, a time of peace created by the man of steel, despised Superman, wanting to remove him from the present to forge a future in his own image. But a nightmare came to pass the day Lex Luthor discovered Clark Kent is Superman.
Lex attacked Clark with ferocity unlike anything he had ever seen. As fate would have it, the one thing the two men had in common would lead to a moment of recognition. They're love for Lois Lane. Letting her go with Superman, Lex took the secret to his grave. But few things stay buried for long, as his son used the information to try to decide, what would end up being, the final battle of the house of Luthor. More people had discovered the truth as the years had gone by. Maybe Clark was right that day when he talked to Lois. Maybe his new glasses don't work as well as the old ones.
But as he walked along the small Parisian street, the only sense he was noticing was the sense of smell, as the warm, buttery scent of croissants floated through the air. Stepping into Pierre's' 24 hour Patisserie, Clark was greeted by a smiling familiar face.
"Ah! Bonsoir Monsieur Kent!" A short man came out from behind the counter.
"Bonsoir Pierre"
"How are you? And your lovely wife? Both well I hope."
"We're fine, thank you."
"So are you in Paris on assignment for ze Daily Planet or are you finally on a holiday?"
Clark laughed, knowing that Pierre was concerned for the non stop lives of Lane and Kent, "No, I'm just stopping off in Paris to see an old friend. Lois is in Metropolis. But I could not leave France without getting a few of your finest pastries."
"Oui, of course!" The man walked back behind the counter and began to place an assortment of croissants, cream cakes and other delights into little boxes. Placing them all into a bag, he handed them to Clark.
"Thank you, Pierre. What do I owe you?"
"Owe? For you Monsieur Kent, nothing! It is the least I can do for what you did for my son."
"It was nothing, I assure you." Clark smiled
"Nothing! Pah! The signed photo of Superman would have made my sons' birthday a memorable one, but for the man of steel to deliver it at his party, well, it made his year."
Clark wasn't lying when he said it was nothing, of course being asked if Superman could do one little thing was easy, especially as he was the man of steel. And while it may seem an unnecessary use of his time and powers to cynics, there weren't many feelings greater than the one you get when you make someone genuinely happy.
"Please, all I did was ask a friend for a favour."
"Don't make me insist Monsieur Kent." Pierre pleaded.
Clark didn't want to hurt his friends' pride, "Alright, just this once. Well I must leave, my plane leaves in a few hours and well, you know me."
"Do not worry! Remember that flying is the safest way to travel."
"Sure, easy for you to say." Clarks' voice cracked with nerves but on the inside he harmlessly laughed. Lois had put it in Pierre's' head that Clark was afraid of flying, something found totally hilarious to her. A man who can break the laws of gravity afraid of flying. Lois humour confused Clark sometimes.
"I hope your right. Au revoir Pierre."
"Au revoir Monsieur Kent."
Clark left, waving at the man as he walked out the door. Stepping outside, Clark began heading to back towards the alleyway. When he had ensured that nobody was around, he removed his glasses and tucked them into his shirt pocket. Spinning like a tornado, Superman re-emerged. Taking one final look around, he effortlessly lifted up off the ground.
He only made it up 5 feet.
Suddenly his body felt tonnes heavier, it was becoming harder and harder to gain any height, instead, he was slowly losing altitude. By the time his feet touched the ground, he felt as if he had ran round the world a ten dozen times. He was exhausted after about 6 feet? And now, try as he might, he couldn't fly at all. One by one he went through his powers. Vision, hearing, nothing, he had nothing.
"Oh Boy."
…
Lois turned off the shower, stepped out and wrapped a towel around her. Walking into the bedroom she began to wonder what her husband was up to. She gingerly crept downstairs, put off a little by the silence. On the unit by the phone was a note. Reading it, Lois knew what Clark had gone to France for. He could still surprise her but the familiar, reliable things always pleased her the most. Like how he knew what she wanted for breakfast, or how he could make her smile but especially how he was always there when she needed him, whether it was as Clark or Superman.
The ringing phone broke her train of thought.
"Lois Lane."
"Clark Kent."
"Very funny Clark… hey wait a minute, why are you phoning, hot story?" Lois' reporter curiosity kicked in immediately. The mere thought of a great story increased the heart rate of 'mad dog' Lane.
"Well you know I'm in France…"
"How is Pierre?" Lois teased.
"I can't get anything past you can I?" Clark joked.
"Not even with glasses on." Lois smiled.
"Ouch, that hurts." Clark pouted.
"If baby comes home, I'll kiss it all better." Lois whispered seductively.
"That's the problem." Lois voice quickened Clarks pulse.
"You don't want to come home to me?"
"I can't come home. Well, at the moment."
"Why not?"
"I can't fly."
"What!"
"Lois don't panic, it's probably just a glitch."
"Do you have any other super-power loss?"
"Total."
"That is not a glitch Clark!"
"Honey, please just keep calm." Clark tried, in vain, to comfort Lois.
"How can I? What are you going to do?"
"I'm not certain. I felt bad before I left for France but I shrugged it off. I'll give it an hour or so then if I'm still grounded, then I'll get a flight home."
"That would be funny if this wasn't so serious."
"I know. Look, I'm gonna go relax, you have to go to Star Labs, let Dr. Klein know that Superman will be stopping by sometime."
"You do have casual clothes don't you?"
"Yes, but I'm in the suit, hiding down an alleyway. Superman on the phone isn't a photo I want being taken."
"You'll get begged to become a sponsor from all the mobile companies."
"I know."
"Super low rates."
"Lo-is."
She giggled, "Sorry couldn't help it," Seriousness returned to her voice, "I'm just trying to keep optimistic."
"It'll be ok Lois, I'll be home soon. Well, soon-ish."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Lois put the phone down and took a deep breath to gain strength and composure. She then headed up stairs, already her mind was formulating cover stories for Clark Kent and for Superman. If it came to it, Clark wouldn't be around for the day so that was one excuse. Of course, telling Dr. Klein that Superman will be in to see him but it will be some time 'soon-ish' would require a little more thought. Luckily though, Klein was well aware of the power losses that Superman was having so that would make it marginally easier to explain delays. But then she wasn't going to say he'd be in as soon as he had gotten back from bringing her breakfast from Paris.
But all this was barely distracting her from the real turmoil that she was feeling. She had faith in her husband and knew that his real strength had nothing to do with him being able to bench-press mountains. But no matter what, she would be worried about the man she loved.
…
The second Clark heard the click of the phone being hung up, he knew, he could feel Lois' concern. He wanted desperately to be able to fly home, hold her in his arms and reassure her that everything was fine. But he couldn't, not at the moment. And it hurt him.
He had almost forgotten what it was like changing outfits at normal speed. Spinning tornado style into the suit wasn't for show, it was efficiency. He chuckled to himself, remembering one time, whilst changing into the suit in a toilet, he put his elbow through the door, scaring the hell out of some guy. But putting on Clark Kents' clothes over the cape and tights required a certain amount of precision. And a bit of patience.
When he had managed to tuck away all traces of the red, yellow and blue, he put his glasses on andwalked out of the alleyway,sat down on a street bench and retrieved a croissant from the bag of pastries. If only for a second, the warm, moist, buttery delicacy took his mind off things. Pierre really was the best. As tempting as it was, he wasn't going to eat everything. A few minutes later, Clark got up, deciding that it was time to head for the airport.
He was stopped though, by another dizzy spell. Staggering back into that now far too familiar alley, Clark fell to his knees, his whole world spiralling out of control.
Then as spontaneously as they had disappeared, his powers returned to him, but it was too much. His vision powers violently shifted, battling between themselves for contention. Telescopic, microscopic, x-ray, heat vision, all of them where surging at once making the world impossible to comprehend. Clark only managed to find short term relief when his vision returned to normal. Super hearing, the sounds, it was an apocalyptic orchestra cascading him from all directions. Cars, people talking, whispering, heartbeats, breathing, water dripping from a tap, a dog barking, construction work, a vacuum cleaner, music, whistling infinite ticks from millions of clocks.
When his hearing began to stabilize, Clark decided it was all or nothing.
Once again looking around to make sure that no one was around, Clark lifted himself from the ground. This time, however, there was no loss of power. Rising up above the rooftops, he slowly at first flew towards home, picking up speed as he felt more confident. He felt completely fine again as he flew out over the ocean, although he still had no desire to becoming a skipping stone so he kept himself low and at a steady speed. If all was well, he'd be home within the hour.
…
Unknown to Clark, but known to a few scientists across the world, moments ago the world had been bombarded with an unusually high amount of solar energy.
The scientists felt it was no concern though as it wasn't dangerous by any means. They just believed it to be another of the on going solar flares and it was dismissed after a few minutes of checking and testing. But what they didn't know was the real cause.
They didn't realise that a huge fireball had erupted out of the sun and was heading for Earth at an incredible speed.
And no-one could have known that the core of the blazing inferno was in fact alive, and had murderous intent.