Mirror, Mirror.
Clark would be lying if he said he didn't miss being a reporter with Lois. But he also found joy in the farm life which he had grown up with, and teaching it onto his son. His father once told him that hard work, regardless of the task, is what helps builds character. Now that didn't mean that every boy Jon's age should go work out on a farm, Clark had met hundreds of people who never stepped foot on a farm and were just as good a character. The key was the work they did, it was hard work to farm but rewrding as well, seeing the rows upon rows of crop each year was something Clark always found to be satisfying to see, even more so when his own hands had….well, a hand in it.
However in the winter, crops dried up and simply couldn't produce anymore and the fields would be barren until spring. That also meant the time he spent farming could instead be spent with his wife and son, "Ha! Three Kings!" Lois said triumphantly as she set her cards down, she only had one king in her hand but the other two on the table made it clear she was the winner.
Jon groaned as his head fell to the table, "Pair of sevens." he said in defeat as Clark gathered up the cards, having folded when he felt his wife raising the bet was well founded. Poker at the Kent farm was a regular game they would play, mostly because Lois was the reigning champion of the game and the father and son constantly trying to usurp her.
The current total was 12 to Lois, 6 to Jon, and 2 to Clark…..and those two had been more on accident.
"Ok are you SURE she doesn't have superpowers? Like maybe mind reading? Because it'd explain a lot." Clark asked his father as he used his super speed to mix the deck of cards up. Lois smirked as she pulled in the chips they used for the game, which were actual poker chips she had gotten a few years back to play with her friends at the Vale News Network.
"I'm sure….ok 90% sure…Lois?" he asked jokingly as she flashed him a winner's grin and dealt out the cards.
"What can I say Smallville? You can't be perfect at everything." she replied amusingly as Jon took his cards in his hands. Theoretically he could use his X-ray vision to see what cards they were holding, and of course that would be extremely unfair, which is why he never did it.
Though he'd by lying if he said he wasn't tempted a few times.
"So Jon, how's the speed training going?" he asked curiously as he passed out the cards to Lois.
Jon rubbed the back of his head bashfully, "Um…still working on it." he admitted shyly, his attest training with super speed only had him clip one tree…..of the thirteen haybales he had used to set up as obstacles. It'd been a few months since then and his super speed hadn't really improved since trying it out. His other powers, flight, hearing, x-ray vision, heat vision, even his super and freezing breaths hadn't come in.
"Give it time Jon, it could just be that your human half is making the progress longer." his dad supplied. His son smiled but said nothing as Clark dealt his own cards out, "Alright now lets-" he started before he picked up blaring alarm with his super hearing.
"Attention! Attention! There has been an accident in section 4 of the mine! Everyone please evacuate to safety outside!" he heard a loudspeaker cackle, he heard the shifting of rock, the screeching of broken metal grading against rock, the thunder of explosions.
He zoomed up from his seat and upstairs to get his costume before reappearing in the blink of an eye, "Sorry guys." he pecked Lois on the cheek, "Emergency in Atlas." he ruffled his son's hair, "Gotta go, Love ya!" he said cheerfully before zooming out the front door and taking off into the sky as Jon fixed his hair and Lois rubbed the sot on her cheek where he smooched her.
Turning back to her son, she noticed him looking out the door to where if father flew off with a forlorn expression. She set her cards down on the table, "Something wrong honey?" she asked with concern. He shook his head dismissively, however when he looked at his mother with her arms crossed and her eyes reading over him like a book, he knew it was futile to try and play off what he was feeling.
"It's just….kind of hard seeing how easy dad can use all his powers when I can't run without crashing into something." he admitted. He knew his dad wasn't showing off or anything, in fact he wasn't sure if his dad was even capable of doing that, but it still showcased how far he had to go.
the reporter gave her son a soft look, "Jon, your dad has been dong this since he was half your age. Your just now starting to embrace your powers." she consoled him.
Jon put his cards down, "Yeah but maybe….maybe if I wasn't so scared of myself earlier on I'd….I'd at least be better then I was now." he explained, folding his arms across the table in dejection. "I feel like I've just…..wasted my life." he admitted.
His mother's hand reached out into his, "Hey." she began, making her son loo up at her with saddened eyes, "Don't think like that, you haven't wasted anything. You didn't want to be….super, you don't think your dad doesn't wish that he could be like that?" she asked with an amused but understanding tone. Jon snorted at the idea, but also believed it, he saw how happy dad was doing seemingly mundane things. "You have your own pace, me and your dad both understand that. You want to go to Beacon, and we support that, but we're not asking you to be exactly like your dad by the time you get there."
Jon smiled at his mother's assurance, "Yeah….I know I just…..he's Superman."
"And you're his son." Lois replied knowingly. "You know hat your dad couldn't even fly at first right?"
He rolled his eyes, it was hard not to feel like he had to live up to his dad when he wanted to be like him. But what really worried him was what if he couldn't be as good as his dad? What if I'm NEVER as good as he is? he thought to himself as he squeezed his mother's hand. "Yeah he told me that too. Also that he used to run on power lines?" he asked.
Lois smirked, "Yeah between you and me, I think at that point he was just showing off." she said amusingly.
Jon snorted, "Dad shows off?" he asked.
Lois pulled her hand back and picked up her cards, "On occasion. Now come on, I want a new pair of slippers." she said as she looked back over her cards.
When Clark had first arrived on Remnant, his first priority was getting a lay of the land. The clustering of population into only four massive Kingdoms would be bizarre on Earth, however with the Grimm it was understandable. But out of all of them, Atlas might be the most surprising one of the four, considering the Kingdom was floating in midair above Mantle, the city where it once was a part of. However as he flew through the sizable gap between Atlas and Mantle, he was reminded of why this Kingdom wasn't a particular favorite of his.
He could hear shouts of hate directed at Faunus, he could hear people shivering as they tried to breathe under their blankets, hear a father tell his daughter that they need to wait a while before they can get another meal. He wished that he could fix these as easily as he could fix what he was heading into.
Flying across the sky of Mantle, the frozen tundra stretched out for a good couple miles before he came across the source of the distress. a dust mine at the base of a cliff with smoke billowing out from the entrance to the mine. There were already a number of people from the mine evacuated, mostly humans with a few faunus. He could hear emergency services in Atlas being contacted. They were about thirty minutes away by airship, but a lit could happen in that time.
"Look out!" a shout came from below as a conveyor line of dust went off like a line of stacked dominos and blew up at the base of a shipping crane. Zooming down as the crane toppled over, he came underneath it and pushed it back towards the cliffside wall, leaning it against it securely before flying own to the ground. "Superman!"
"Is anyone else trapped inside?" he asked with concern.
The foreman, a human man with a bushy beard shook his head, "I got all my men out." he said before looking back at the mine, "Some idiot must have somehow set off the Dust!" he spat out in frustration. Superman, while understanding of the man's frustration, has his priotirty on the people.
His X-Ray vision pierced the wall of cliffside and peered into the mind, looking through the little dust that hadn't already been harvested. However though the smoke he saw that behind a section of the collapsed tunnel, a number of workers were trapped! "There's still men inside!" he exclaimed.
The foremen looked around and shook his head, "What? Are you sure? All my men are here." he asked in confusion before Superman zoomed forth to the mouth of the mine. He exhaled the air he had in his lungs before in hailing a long, deep, and most importantly powerful breath, the smoke filling his lungs as it was sucked out of the mines. The foreman's jaw dropped, "Holy….." he breathed out in awe before Superman unleashed the breath up the side of the cliff, making a large cloud of black smoke roar up the wall of rock before flying into the mine.
Need to be careful. Heat Vision could set off the dust. So I can't carve my way inside like I usually would. he thought as he flew through the maze of tunnels towards the collapsed tunnel. While Dust did have an effect on him, it wasn't as though it were kryptonite, and his powers worked to counter the damage it would do if say he was caught on fire with Fire Dust and extinguishing it with his ice breath. But it still hurt, and that was just him, no telling what an explosion could do to normal people.
Reaching the wall, he could hear the people on the other side, "Heeeeeeelllllllllpppppp!"
"Is anyone out there!"
"Get the mining lasers! We'll cut our way out of here!"
It was dark inside the partition of the tunnel that collapsed, the lights had gone out when the support beam collapsed and took the power with it. The only thing light was from their headlamps, all the lights shone on the wall when it shook, the middle portion gave away an the lights shone onto the crest of Superman as he used one hand to hold open the hole he made. "It's ok everyone, your all going to be fine." he assured as he used his ice breath to freeze the hole in place.
The workers all breathed out in relief at the sight of the Superman, "Alright everyone one at a time, once your clear of this tunnel I'll escort you all out." he said as he stepped aside to let the miners climb through. A few were injured which the Miners each helped get to the hole where Superman helped them through. As one after another of the workers left the dead end tunnel, Superman noticed all the workers were various Faunus. A suspicion entered Clark's mind, one he hoped was wrong. "Does anyone know how this happened?" he asked the group of miners once they were all out of the tunnel. The Faunus looked amongst themselves but remained quiet, Clark could tell that they knew.
"I know this was an accident, no one is responsible for what happened here today. I just want to know so hopefully something like this doesn't happen again." he explained to the miners.
A Mule faunus with long ears folded into his helmet took it off, he was maybe a few years older than Jon was and it made Clark's throat tighten a little. Letting his ears stand free, "Superman we…we don't want to loose our jobs. This is all most of us can do in Atlas." he explained for the group.
"He's right, and even if it's an accident, McCoy will fire us anyway." another said, making the Kryptonian frown. Atlas may have been one of the most advanced of the Kingdoms in terms of technology, but that was where it ended, Clark knew about how humans treated Faunus across the globe, but Atlas seemed to be the worst offender of the people's rights.
The Kryptonian walked to the Mule faunus, "What's you name son?" he asked as he laid a hand on his shoulder.
The faunus swallowed in disbelief at the man of steel's kindness, "Um….Cooper, Ian Cooper." he introduced.
"Ian, I know that your trying to do what's best for yourself and for the ones your doing this for." he said, knowing that no boy would willingly take a job down in a mine if he had any choice. "And I know that you telling me the truth would risk more for you than it ever could for me. But all of you could have died if I hadn't come, no job is worth your lives, no matter what others may tell you." he said, his voice speaking with assurance and conviction. Ian looked down in contemplation before looking over to the others, who seemed to bow their heads in agreement.
"It….it's the equipment." Ian finally said, "We use mining lasers to extract Dust from the mine, but ours are ten years old. They don't have safeties to make sure the Dust doesn't go off if we hit them with the lasers." he explained as he looked over on the ground at one of the devices, it was cylindrical with the end having a telescoping cylinder. The SDC logo painted on it's side but almost faded, "We've been asking for new equipment but the foreman only gives it to the human workers."
Superman frowned at the news, "Ian, thank you." he said gratefully, "I'll make sure all of you never have your lives endangered by these people again." he swore.
The faunus smiled bashfully at the praise from the man of steel before he walked forward and led the workers out of the mine, taking one of the mining lasers off the ground with him.
Winter was having tea with Weiss when they overheard their father storm into his office, their butler, Klein, informed her that there had been an accident at one of the mines and he was put in a foul mood for it. So to spare both her and Weiss some grief, she informed her sister that they would do some training at the Atlas Academy, which she seemed excited about in regards to spending some time with her sister.
Which might have caused the older sibling to smile to herself…..not that Weiss could see it.
However as they were taking her personal ship to the Academy, a call for her came in. Superman was at the scene.
When he first appeared on Remnant over a decade ago now, she was a teenager when she firs saw him on her scroll flying through the air while lifting a train car full of passengers over his head. She remembered how her father's jaw dropped when he saw the footage, Whitely and Weiss were too young to really remember so they had for the most part grown up in a world with him in it.
However General Ironwood was understandably warry of the man from the stars, he had seemingly limitless power and could do as he wished. And there didn't seem to be anything that could stop him from doing whatever he wanted aside from his word. Winter understood how dangerous that was, he had come to Mantle a number of Times, Atlas far less, always to help in some way. Just last yar there was a group of Faunus protestors who were outraged at the SDC's management of their faunus workers, her father made a call for Atlas Mechs to disperse the crowd.
Superman stood between them and stopped things from escalating, which not only frustrated her father to no end, but also allowed the Faunus' voices to be heard.
Looking over to her younger sister in the passenger seat as her Atlas Drone guards flew, her sister looked out the window to the mine as they descended, "Weiss, I want you to stay on the ship while I deal with this." she said firmly.
Her younger sister nodded dutifully, "Of course Winter." she replied.
As her ship landed she took a breath and walked to the door as it slid open and the ramp lowered, she saw that the emergency response was already here. The workers were all gathered far away from the mine towards the medical evac shuttle, "Ms. Schnee!" Winter's head snapped towards the sight of a man ushing over, the lack of any dirt on his uniform told her that he was the foreman. "I'm glad you came Ms. But the situation is under control." he assured, Winter recognizing the way he was trying to down play the incident. Winter's hands clasped behind her back, "O-Oh! Forgive me, I'm McCoy, the foreman of this mine." he introduced as Winter kept walking towards the mine. "Um…is there anything-"
"I'm here on military business McCoy, not the SDC." she stated coldly before she caught sight of the mine entrance as Superman walked out carrying one of the wounded miners in his arms. Winter felt herself stiffen at the ready initially, however when she saw the look of concern on the man of steel's face for the wounded Faunus in his arms, she felt herself relax. Instantly, she regained her composure and straightened herself out, "Superman, I'm Winter Schnee, Atlas Specialist. May I ask what it is your doing here?" she asked in an authoritative voice.
Setting the wounded Faunus Down, Ian walked over and looped his undamaged arm over his shoulder and nodded before Superman turned to Winter, "I picked up the Evacuation Alarm from the mine and came here to see if I could lend a hand. These men were trapped deep within the Mine inside a collapsed tunnel." he explained easily before holding up one of the Mining Lasers. "I believe this is what caused the accident." he explained as he handed it to Winter for inspection.
The specialist raised and eye and looked at the laser while McCoy turned to the Faunus, "Oh which one you idiots did this huh!?" he asked as he began to stop towards the workers.
He felt a solid hand on his shoulder, "Actually. They explained to me that this is outdated piece of hardware, and new equipment with safety measured weren't provided to them because you only assigned them to the human workers." he said with firm disappointment as Winter narrowed her eyes at him.
McCoy turned and looked at him is disbelief, "What!? And you believed those animals!?"
The Man of Tomorrow gave a stern glare. "Yes." he replied simply as he let go of the man and crossed his arms over his chest.
Before McCoy could respond, Winter stepped forward, "Mr. McCoy, I would advise that you perhaps try and find something, if there IS anything, that might dispute this claim." she replied coldly. The foreman's face paled and nodded as he walked back towards the office of the site while Winter sighed in aggravation. "How people incompetent for leadership get into those positions are beyond me." she said tiredly.
Superman frowned as he looked over to the Faunus, "Specialist Schnee, is it possible that these men could find a more safer profession? Possibly inside the Kingdom and away from the Mines?" he asked.
Winter looked away, "Unfortunately, I don't have the sway to guarantee that…..but I shall see what I can arrange." she replied, she didn't have any pull with her father after she joined the military, but she might be able to convince General Ironwood to pull some strings if he'll hear her out.
While Winter questioned the man of Steel, from her private Ship, her younger sister watched with interest out the window. She had never seen Superman in person, only in events that he's done for charities on TV or footage of him saving people from some sort of disaster. Her father didn't much care for the alien but she thought it was more that he wasn't interest since he didn't sell his services.
He always says he just wants to help people, and that's perfectly fine and all, but what made her a little uneasy about him was how chummy he was with the Faunus. She'd seen interviews with him regarding the White Fang, he calls them misguided and angry, like that somehow excuses all the horrible things that they've done. It didn't mean she disliked Superman or anything, she simply just didn't entirely agree with him. Most people in her family's social circle simply saw the man of steel as something of an enigma, why would he do everything he does and not try and capitalize on it?
He's saved countless settlements, and even the Kingdoms, time and time again, yet he never used any of that pull to push for what he wanted. Like the crime in Minstrel is astronomical compared to Atlas! But he doesn't lead police in apprehending those criminals, or simply brings them before the councils. It was just bizarre to her.
Maybe father might be right about us being better off without concerning ourselves with him. she thought, she didn't always agree with her father but he honestly didn't seem to respect the man of steel. Weiss wasn't that arrogant, she at least saw the value he had in what he did.
As he and Winter finished talking, he shook her hand respectfully before taking off into the air, …..that's still…..wow. Weiss thought as she watched him fly off.
She felt a pang of envy in her chest, she wished she could just fly off from Atlas just as easily.
The warmer weather of Patch was much more welcoming then Atlas', relatively speaking of course. He had stopped a couple dozen other small emergencies, including the rescuing of a small settlement.
Landing at the front door, Clark walked inside and found his son on the couch with Krypto as a pillow which he was sleeping on, the TV projector playing a documentary about the Great War which Remnant endured around 80 years ago. Picking his son up in his arm, he carefully lifted him up and smiled at how heavier he had gotten, carrying him up the stairs, he set him down on his bed where he immediately started snoring on. Walking out he entered his own room to find his wife in bed with the light on, "Hey Smallville, how'd it go?" she asked as he took his cape off his shoulders.
Hanging it off the back of her desk chair, he craned his head back and felt a few pops, "Accident at the Dust Mines in Atlas. The foreman was making the Faunus workers use outdated equipment to meet production quotas." he explained briefly as he pulled the top portion of his costume off.
Lois sighed, "You know I was really hoping we wouldn't deal with racists on a new planet. But apparently that's part of the baseline for the multiverse." she said with irritation as Clark sat down beside her and pulled his boots off.
"I wish intolerance was only something that existed in a singular universe." Clark said as he swung his feet up and sighed. "But it's not something that can't be fixed with enough work." he said optimistically. Lois smiled at her husband's approach, rolling over she pecked his cheek which she felt him relax against. "How'd Jon do at poker?"
"He almost had me. You know if I can actually teach him how to lie? This Beacon thing could go off without a cinch." she said jokingly. Clark snorted, "…..I think he's frustrated." she admitted.
Clark's smile slowly vanished, "He's just starting to learn about his powers. He's doing better then I did with control at the rate he's going." he praised.
Lois shook her head, "It's not the pace, it's the rate." she explained, making Clark frown sadly. He didn't want his son to feel like he was failing, he was proud of him! Every day he made him proud, "I was thinking, maybe next time you have something manageable? Maybe take him with you?" she suggested.
Clark turned to her questionably, "You think that'd help?" he asked.
"Maybe? I mean it'll show him why he's learning these things. Give him a sorta goal you know?" she suggested.
Clark Hummed, "I can see that. I was thinking of taking him over to the Fortress next to be honest." he admitted, making Lois sit up in interest. "When I was his age, part of what took me so long to reach my full potential was not feeling…..comfortable with who I am." he admitted. "I mean it took me months until I decided to announce to the world that I was an Alien instead of a superhuman." he recalled.
"You think that might be what's bugging him." she observed. That didn't exactly sound outrageous, Jon was by definition a mixed child….only by species instead of race. Add to that, the world that she and Clark called home was now gone, growing up with that was bound to make him question some things. Maybe like who he really was? "Could be…why not do both?"
He smiled, "You know that also means his Earthling half." he added.
Lois smiled, "Ah yeah, that's true…first lesson about being human, don't be like Jimmy Olsen."
"I like Jimmy."
"I do too honey but I don't want our son to wear a bowtie to Beacon." she replied.
Clark shrugged, "I always thought he pulled it off well."
"Clark only Jimmy Olsen can wear a bowtie and not look like an asshole."
"Bill Nye."
"….goodnight Smallvile." she declared before rolling over in bed, Clark snorting as he laid back.
AN: ….so everyone how we barely holding together after that Finale? BECAUSE HOO BOY I WAS NOT EXPECTING TO BE EMOTIONALLY WRECKED LIKE THAT.
In other news, I've got the Covid, unfortunate but I'm well on my way to recovering at home. Still I'd rather take a vaccine then be sick for a week or so. I've also been working hard on the Spidey/RWBY fanfic which while a different flavor of fanfic, more showing RWBY through the normal people's eyes, is still fun to write.
Now then, reviews:
Dcras: Buddy, look man I apricate all the sugguestions but I can't just write a new fic just by hearing one or two characters/properties. But to answer, I'm not sure if I can write Wonder Woman? I mean she's badass beyond belief and I've read some awesome stories with her, but I've never really taken a deep dive look at her.
Jackmann69: I'll be honest that originally had nothing to do with it but as soon as I wrote the watch I went "wait a second…..Jon…..watch….SHHHHIIIIIIIITTTT." I love Watchmen, I even think Snyder's flick isn't horrible but it does totally miss the point of the story.
Red: I answer that here actually, it's kinda like Kingdom Come where he farms, but I imagine he's Lois' editor as well.
He revealed to remnant what he basically did to Earth. He is from another planet, Krypton, it was destroyed, he gains his powers from the Yellow Sun, and yeah Kal is what he's mostly known by as his 'real' name. And most people simply think that he doesn't have a secret identity because why would he need one?
No, Ozpin would most likely learn all he can about Clark before revealing anything regarding Salem to him. And due to his Nature, he would probably go straight to Salem. Right now he's basically a nuclear deterrent for Salem. She knows that Ozpin has this huge player on his side of the board and unless she can take it out somehow, she can't move as freely as she could before.
And yeah it's really interesting to see others react to Clark. With my Spider-Man fic I think a good number people thought his presence would change the world, but he's just a dude who can make webs and is pretty strong. Yeah he's interesting but he's not world altering. Superman however sorta makes Everyone reevaluate something about themselves.
Atlas is more guarded because they aren't the biggest gun in the world anymore, and we see that here.
Archer: Hmm, see I wonder that myself, part of me thinks the Hero Commission might not even let Clark operate on Earth due to his powers, origin, and morals. Obviously not going to get super into it because it spoils some great moments from the show, but they have an agenda and I think Clark would oppose it. So I think he'd protect the earth still, but wouldn't be allowed to protect the people without causing a mess.
Guest1: Thank you! And honestly I think it comes down to me thinking of one cool moment and working backwards from there. Like with Spider-Man/RWBY, I had the Highway rescue in volume 2 to aim towards. Here I have…something else. There's also characters interacting with each other in both contrast and comparison.
Mortal 18: Sorry Mortal, I'm not sure where I could take that fic as it was being made as book 2 was coming out and it clearly shows.
