Author's Political Disclaimer:

I did actually mean to put something like this in about so-called 'America Bashing', but a few reviewers pointed out I should as well.

I am not intending to bash America.

Politicians?

Damn straight!

There will be very few politicians in my stories that manage to show they have two braincells and common sense. I am British and if you read Potter's Protector then you know I happily bash my own government.

Furthermore... the American Government I am bashing is a fictional one based on those created by Rowling, DC and Marvel. You are not entitled to take offence unless you also happen to be a fictional character from those universes. If you are... please let me know in a review as I would love some of the great tech you guys have. Armoured Power Suits, genetic manipulation, the ability to give people super powers. What's not to want?

Some queried if this was a jab at the current US Government Shutdown. I wrote this nearly a year ago and I can assure you I am not a seer.

On a side and unrelated note: People keep asking me to write or add SG1... Try The Champion. It is a Xander-centric SG1 tale. I haven't worked on the sequel for a while (mainly because I never saw seasons 9 and 10), if I get the chance I intend to give The Champion an over haul though, it was my first foray into a crossover and it could use it.

I have no plans to add additional crossovers if they are not DC.

On to the chapter...


Whilst the political jousting was going on Clark and the girls had returned to school. Clark was picked by Emma to mentor a new student, Jordon Cross. Jordan had been home-schooled until recently and Harry had warned them that he had some form of kryptonite infection. Jordan had issues with touching people but Clark didn't mind as long as Jordan was ok. Whilst meeting Jordan at lunch time out the front of the school he noticed that Jordan seemed distracted, he spent a fair amount of time staring at Assistant Coach Joseph Altman.

"Jordan, is everything ok?" Clark asked carefully. As far as he knew Coach Altman was a good man. He only worked part time but Harry would never have let Emma hire him if there was a major problem.

"Clark… if- if you could see some- if you knew something bad was going to happen… what would you do?" Jordan asked, his eyes never leaving the Coach.

"I'd do everything in my power to stop it." Clark replied. "Do you know if something bad is going to happen?"

Jordan hesitated for a split second before he shook his head vigorously, clearly in distress.

"Jordan, I've seen lots of bad things happen. I've dealt with-" Clark stopped as Jordan gasped.

He quickly followed the younger boys gaze and saw a car driving down the road and Coach Altman just standing at the side of the road in a slight daze.

Clark vanished from his place into the air before anyone noticed and changed his costume. Just as the Coach stepped off the curb Superman moved him from out of the path of the car as the car swerved and mounted the pavement before crashing into a lamppost.

Superman placed Altman on the pavement he was about to move off to help the driver when he heard Altman say.

"I just want to be with my little girl." Before he burst into tears.

"Somebody get Doctor Potter and Principal Frost." A nearby Mindee snapped.

Lana could be seen running into the building as the Cuckoos made their way over to Superman who was ripping the door off the car that had crashed.

"Can we help?" Phoebe asked seriously.

"We might need an ambulance for the driver." He indicated the man at the wheel who was unconscious. "Someone also needs to keep an eye on Coach Altman. He just tried to commit suicide." He said quietly.

"We'll inform Doctor Potter and have someone stay with him." Phoebe assured him.

"Thank you ladies." Superman said respectfully.

"Superman, just in the area?" Harry asked with a grin as he jogged up with Emma, Scott, Dani and Laura in tow.

"Fortunately I was. I don't normally patrol at this time of day but I was travelling nearby and saw this happening." Superman told his most famous known associate other than the mysterious Aphrodite.

"We are most grateful for your assistance, Superman." Emma inclined her head.

Superman nodded to the Principal. "The driver appears to be suffering from standard whiplash and bruising to the forehead and brain. He wasn't speeding so it could have been a lot worse."

"The ambulance is on the way so we'll leave it to them to move him." Harry nodded.

In the distance they could hear the sirens.

"It looks like you are going to have your first meeting with Sheriff Adams!" Dani grinned.

Superman just glared at her.

He turned back to Harry. "You've been told about Altman?"

"Lana relayed the message." Harry nodded. In truth the Cuckoos had informed everyone, but for the purposes of timelines it would be claimed that Lana told him.

They all turned as the emergency vehicles arrived. Harry quickly briefed the paramedics whilst the others just looked to the Sheriff.

The Sheriff was just standing there… gawping at Superman. She was clearly in awe.

"Sheriff?" Scott asked carefully.

Superman resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he heard several snickers from behind him. "Sheriff Adams?" He said he held out his hand to shake.

"You are?" Came the awed and confused response.

Superman lowered his hand and sighed. "Sheriff, snap out of it!" He hissed under his breath.

Then the worst possible thing happened.

"Te-he-he"

Yes. The Sheriff let out a girly giggle.

Superman turned to Emma. "Can I leave this in your hands?"

Emma just smirked as the others were trying not to laugh. "Of course Superman. It was good to see you again and thank you for your help."

Superman just nodded before he shot into the sky.

"Awww"

The pitiful whine caused them all to turn back to the Sheriff.

"That was Superman!" The Sheriff said excitedly. "I can't believe I got to meet Superman!"

"I can't believe she considers what just happened a good thing." Dani muttered to Kyla.

The Sheriff's face dropped.

"I think realisation just kicked in." Chloe muttered across Kyla.

"I met Superman… and I forgot to ask for his autograph!"

"Not the realisation I was expecting." Chloe said in surprise.

"Oh god!" Kyla whispered. "I bet she has posters of Superman in her bedroom!"

"Should we tell Clark?" Chloe asked.

They looked at her as though she were nuts.


Whilst Scott, Harry and the girls were trying to break Sheriff Adams out of her daze Clark had done his best to get back to Jordan who was still staring at the scene. Nobody else noticed him leaving and returning either, they too were entranced by the sight of Superman saving Coach Altman and then leaving the Sheriff a speechless mess.

"You knew the Coach was going to do that, didn't you?"

Jordan snapped out of his daze. "What do you mean?" He asked nervously.

"Come with me." Clark smiled.

Jordan was still wary but he followed Clark to where the girls were.

"Chloe, can I borrow your car?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Try not to break it."

"One time!"

"You totalled it and you weren't even in it!"

"And I fixed it didn't I?"

"And that's the only reason you aren't in the dog house over it." She glared.

Clark shook his head in defeat and turned to Dani. "I'm taking Jordan here to see Jean. I think he could do with talking to her."

Dani frowned but nodded. "Not Harry?"

"Harry might be a bit much." Clark explained, Jordan was skittish at best; Harry would likely cause him to bolt.

"Take him to Lorna then." Dani suggested. "Jean doesn't quite look the part yet." She reminded him. It was true, Jean still looked about fourteen, she would age naturally from this point on.

"Right. Come on Jordan, I've got some friends who can help you out."

"Help with what?"

"Trust me, you'll see." Clark smiled.


Clark spent the trip to the castle telling Jordan all about the various Kryptonite infected people he had met. Everyone from Greg Arkin to Earl Jenkins. The good the bad and the ones taken over by their powers. He didn't give any names though, just what the powers where and whether they had managed to help them or if they had to put them away.

"So they can really tell someone's future just by holding their hand?" Jordan asked as they pulled up to the castle. Of all the powers he had heard from Clark, Cassandra's was the one that he had latched onto.

"She can, but as Superman proved today nothing is set in stone. Even your premonitions can be changed."

"Premonitions? I don't have premonitions!" Jordan said hastily.

"Relax, no one here is going to cut you up. People come here and they are taught to control their abilities." Clark said reassuringly.

"Clark, I take it this is the student the others mentioned?"

Jordan was slightly wide eyed at the green-haired goddess that descended the stairs with the beautiful blonde behind her.

"Jordan Cross, meet Lorna Dane. She is the headmistress of the school they hold here." Clark introduced.

"Thank you Clark, I'll take it from here. You can head back to school." Lorna smiled.

Clark just nodded and walked off.

"Jordan, this is Cassandra. She can tell a person's future when she touches their hand. I think you could learn a lot from her."


"Doctor Potter, Miss Danielle Moonstar, I'm Agent Don and this is Agent Delgado, NSA. We were hoping to ask you a few questions."

Harry and Dani eyed the two men in smart black suits with amusement. They had turned up at the door to Harry and Dani's office just minutes after the last bell rang. Agent Don was maybe in his forties, a very fit black man. Agent Delgado looked to be in his late twenties with Latino features and a definite military bearing.

"Couple of questions from us first." Harry said. "First, have you secured permission with the Principal to be on school grounds?"

"We have." Agent Don nodded.

"This is a voluntary Q and A where we aren't going to be 'ordered' to answer questions?"

"We have no authority to demand anything at this time. We merely came to see if you might be open to answering a few questions that have come up."

Harry looked at Dani and then back at the Agents and shrugged. "Then take a seat and ask away."

Agent Don nodded and took a seat whilst Agent Delgado, who had yet to make an expression, stood by the door.

"Agent Delgado, try not to look so threatening. If students come here then they generally need me for something and the last thing they will want is to be scared away by one of the 'Men in Black'."

Delgado shuffled uncomfortably and instead of crossing his arms he stood at parade rest. It wasn't much of an improvement but it was a start.

"If we can start with the obvious, Miss Moonstar, Superman recently spoke on television and stated that the name of his home planet is 'Krypton'. You registered the name of the green meteor rocks as 'kryptonite' long before that event. Did Superman give you that information?"

"Superman made me aware of the name of his birth planet. I turned it into the name for the meteor rocks. Much more snappy, don't ya think?"

"I would have to say it is more… definitive, every piece of Kryptonite is a meteor rock but not every meteor rock is Kryptonite."

Harry just nodded with a smile. So far he liked this agent.

"Sure, but… snappy!" Dani insisted with a grin.

"I think it depends on your personal definition of 'snappy', but I do like it." Agent Don chuckled.

"Leave the man alone, Dani. He's doing a good job. So is Delgado considering he's managed to cause Felice to scuttle off quickly."

Agent Don looked over his shoulder to Agent Delgado with a frown.

When he turned back he asked: "Felice?"

"Felice Chandler, has a real 'hot for teacher' thing with Harry." Dani smirked. "It's why I have an office with him. Harry needs protecting."

"Yeah, is your partner available for hire?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Ask after he's finished at least year with the Agency please." Agent Don joked lightly.

"Meh, Felice will have graduated by then. Oh well, next question."

"Superman was here earlier today. Do you have any means of contacting him?"

"He's not exactly at our beck and call." Dani said with a slight frown.

"No, of course not, what I mean is does he just show up randomly or can you arrange times to meet. Do you have a method of communication, telephone, Morse code, semaphores even?"

"We have methods, but they are private." Harry admitted carefully.

Agent Don just nodded. "Understandable."

"Really?!" Dani asked in surprise causing Harry to laugh. "I'm sorry, but considering the last time the government was here about superheroes I figured you would be demanding more answers." She said petulantly.

"No, I understand where you're coming from." Don smiled. "But like I said, we have no authority to demand anything at this time. This is a literal fact finding mission for the moment. I'm not sure where my orders are coming from exactly but my boss sent me to find out some basics so we can hopefully mend some fences and build some bridges.

"Your session with Congress did not sit well with the public which in turn makes the President unhappy. He can't unilaterally control Congress but he can make use of Agencies like us."

"What about the incident with the Amaterasu?" Dani demanded with a little heat. "We have friends on that shuttle."

"I really can't give you answers about that. I did inquire about the incident but I couldn't find anything out." He admitted.

"It happened, North Korea takes good care of its prisoners, it will probably hand them over soon, too much hassle to keep them." Harry said dismissively.

"Is it really that different there now?" It was clear that Agent Don was asking the question for himself.

"Sure, the people don't have to watch over their shoulder to make sure they are going to be arrested for thinking badly about the government. They have access to food and medicine as they need it. It will be some time before they are ready to open their borders though, they have essentially been in isolation all this time." Harry explained.

Agent Don nodded clearly engrossed by what he was hearing.

"Next question?" Dani prodded.

"Right… um… yes, you have the ability to contact Superman, would you be willing to ask him if he would meet with us. By us I mean myself and my silent and imposing young partner back there."

"I can ask him." Harry admitted.

"Asking is all we want but I would like to point out that talking with me would go a long way to easing some fears back in the capital."

"Of course." Harry nodded.


"So, is Superman going to have to avoid Smallville?" Clark asked that evening in the Castle.

"Are you kidding?" Kyla asked. "Sheriff Adams looked like someone had stolen her baby when she realised you'd left!"

"So… yes, Superman can never go to Smallville again." Clark sighed.

"She wasn't that bad Clark." Scott chuckled.

Clark just stared at him.

"Name one person that ever did that to you Scotty." Harry challenged.

"Well, Emma did seduce him when he was married." Logan offered.

"That doesn't count." Jean said dismissively. "Emma was a conniving, selfish bitch. The Sheriff, from what I heard, was rendered completely speechless."

"I love you too, darling." Emma drawled.

Jean just grinned.

"How did things go with Jordan?" Clark asked Lorna.

"Fairly well." The green-haired witch smiled. "Once we showed him he wasn't alone he really warmed up to the place."

"It's a shame we can't turn their powers on and off like with the x-gene." Jean sighed. "People like Ryan and Jordan deserve better."

"These powers are completely energy based." Harry explained. "They are triggered by chemical reactions like hormones that eventually become consciously controlled through the brains chemical and electrical reactions.

"There are a few incidents where they actually force a physical mutation like with Greg Arkin.

"I also have an idea on how to de-power these people."

"You do? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Jean demanded.

"Because it involves putting them through the same process that neutralises kryptonite." Harry said unhappily. "I'll need to see some experiments done on at least myself, Laura and Logan first. I could also use a regular human to test it on."

"I'll do it." Xander offered. "I don't have any other jobs at the moment, just helping Lorna out around here at the moment."

"You don't count Xand." Neville pointed out. "You are not only magical but a werewolf too."

"Oh yeah." Xander mused. "I still think of myself as the sidekick at times."

"We could always kidnap the Luthors and use them." Loki offered.

It was hard to tell if she was joking.

"I'll talk to the parents of some of my students, see if they might be willing to help out." Lorna countered.

"Tell us about the interesting stuff!" Dani ordered. "Tell us about the Men in Black." She nudged Harry.

"But you were there." Chloe argued.

"Yeah, it's a good story. I wanna hear it." She said in a mildly petulant tone.

"They were a couple of decent blokes." Harry explained. "Agents Don and Delgado. Don was fairly easy going but still professional and respectful whilst Delgado looks like he was either a Marine or a member of one of the more elite sections of the armed forces, but both had nice clean souls."

"Delgado doesn't seem to realise he's not in the military anymore, he stood at attention for most of the meeting." Dani laughed.

"I thought you wanted to hear the story?" Chloe asked with a smile.

"Hush, Harry's talking." Dani said with mock seriousness.

"Anyway, they asked a few simple questions including the one we've been waiting for about Dani knowing Superman due to her naming the meteor rocks. "They also asked if we could ask Superman to meet with them."

Everyone turned to look to Clark.

Clark looked uncomfortable.

"Don did point out, without malice, that talking to them would make a good impression on the government." Dani added.

"I can see the… logic." Clark allowed. "But it just seems like the start of a long line of meetings. I meet with these Agents and then another agency comes along and wants a meeting."

"The United Nations!" Tess said suddenly.

"What about them?" Clark asked.

"Don't meet with the Agents, have Harry ask them to arrange a meeting where you address the United Nations and answer questions from the representatives. That way no country can say they need their own answers and meetings."

"Plus the whole thing can be televised so the whole world can see it." Chloe added.

"As long as I don't have to answer questions I don't want to."

"There is a way you can pre-empt some of their queries to save time." Aphrodite offered from where she was wedged between Musubi and Yume with Ku on her lap. "It may be time to publish information on Krypton and your people. Your Internet is a powerful tool, all of you are experienced in its use and Harry has plenty of people in his personal country that could work on it."

"But we know so little of Clark's world." Tsukiumi argued mildly.

"Most of what we do know could be summed up on a single sheet of paper." Brunhilde agreed with annoyance.

"Perhaps we should call in some aid then." Amara said firmly. "We have often bandied about the idea of calling on the Vision to investigate the computer systems from Clark's ship. Let us put action to word."


"Really? All of you?" Harry sighed in exasperation.

Standing in the entrance hall was Bruce Banner, Jamie Madrox and the Vision.

"I was bored." Bruce shrugged.

"Jean said you had some people like me!" Jamie said excitedly.

"You did request my aid." The Vision pointed out calmly.

"Emma is going to throw a hissy fit. I'll let Laura know she has to create three more identities." Harry said as he turned and walked away.

"Hey, tell me about these multiple men Jean mentioned!" Jamie insisted.

"After I get Vision and Bruce started on the Kryptonian tech." Harry said. "Then I'll take you to meet… actually, just go down to the dungeons. There's a kid down there who isn't like you exactly but he does have the ability to duplicate himself. It's a mutation though."

"He's in the dungeon?" Bruce queried.

"He's a murderer."

"I believe Bruce is asking why you haven't executed him yet." The Vision pointed out.

"Ask Jonathan Kent." Harry grumbled.

"If you could send me to Brunhilde, I will begin my work." The Vision offered.

"Vision! It is good to see you again." Brunhilde smiled as she teleported in. "Bruce, Jamie? Why are you here?"

"Jamie wants to meet Manuel and Bruce… is bored." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Ah, well his presence is fortuitous." Brunhilde nodded slowly.

"It is?" Jamie, Harry and Bruce asked.

"Were we not just discussing procedures to remove the meteor infections from our prisoners? Who better to aid us then one of the foremost minds on radiation and mutations?"

Harry turned to Bruce with a grin. "So… you said you were bored?"


"Jeeze, you're just a wannabe."

"Who are you? Are you my lawyer?"

"Only way you get a lawyer is if my friends can take away or inhibit your little ability." Jamie laughed as he addressed the cell containing Ian Randall, the boy who could 'duplicate' himself.

"When I get out of here the whole world will know you kept me prisoner illegally." Ian sneered.

"Chances are we'll tell them ourselves. Along with the fact that you murdered a guy over…" He checked the data on the tablet next to the cell. "A C-GRADE?!" Jamie screeched. "Jeeze kid, you may never get out of here, seriously man, you don't even have OCD and… whoa!" Jamie was suddenly impressed. "You actually tried to date multiple girls at once… and your teacher? Ian my man, take it from someone who's been in your shoes, stay in the cell."

"If they let you out they'll have to let me out." Ian reasoned.

Jamie snorted. "Well I didn't murder anybody. On the other hand, you are much safer in there. Cheating on multiple women will put you in a world of hurt. I didn't even realise it was happening when I did it and they still never let me live it down!

"You get out of that cell and you will never have a happy day on your life. At least in there you get food, sleep and a TV."

"Women are easy… you just need to sweet talk them." Ian smirked confidently.

"EASY?!"

Jamie's face paled as he heard Jean screech behind him. "Later kid… well… maybe."