Kal awakens beneath the rubble of several collapsed buildings, of course he is furious, thrown halfway across a city by her, he almost had been able to fulfill a murder he had been plotting on for years, but the two together again prove to be difficult, more than he originally thought possible. As for Talia, they had her now, and that was that, he would just have to recover the child, she would die, he would blame her death on Bruce or something. If she did die, it was someone's fault, but he knew Ra's wouldn't take well to a snafu in his plan. He takes off and begins the search anew for where Bruce might have told her to go once getting away from the decrepit hotel.

He also grew tired of reminders about who he used to be, the fact was he was content to forget it except when reminders made memory flashes of that person he was before. The memory of people like Dan Turpin, Jimmy Olsen, Ernest Walker, Lana Lang, Lois Lane, but most deep cutting of all his adopted Earth parents as well as holographic images of his biological Kryptonian parents. He had to keep shoving it to the back of his mind because somehow all their voices seem to shout in his nightmares that he was a fraud, that he was doing a lot of things that weren't really him, that the whole thing is a mistake. At least until the memory of Luthor's taunts, Darkseid killing Turpin, Flash's murder, all the bad things that happen because he kept restraining himself from using his powers to the full, and of course that's where he would he remember burning Luthor, bashing Darkseid's skull in…

… Then there was that other Flash who tried to dissuade him from killing again.

The next thing after that was losing his original powers and the incarceration in that sham of a reality, sure he had thought of dealing down his other self and that pathetic Justice League, but their ability to stop him had been brought on by one person. A certain Justice Lord Batman better known as Bruce Wayne is the real problem to him. The logic in his desire to kill his former friends, former comrades is that everyone dies eventually, but he will be the last one standing when that day comes, this is his purpose now, to be the one standing at the end. Everyone else would probably view him as insane or psychotic, but it made sense only to him, only if you thought that your entire world is gone so the only way to erase the echoes is to erase who is making the echoes.

He tries hard to forget, but there are the reminders everywhere and in everyone, it must end. His mind was stuck in a loop, if there is such a thing to be stuck in, but of course somewhere in his nightmares, the ones he forgets, he has murdered everyone that ever meant anything to him including Clark Kent and Superman. It was the only way he would mumble in his sleep when that happens, but then he would wake up unable to remember because his mind would lock that away just so he could keep on going while still blaming others. He did not call it blaming, but the fact that he would say such things at random intervals made it predictable.

***

Elsewhere in Metropolis, Lois Lane meets Lana Lang for dinner, the two for better or worse became friends, looked after the Kents when they could find the time, but Jonathan was getting worse especially after news of what happen with Kara and rumors about someone like Superman wrecking things worldwide. His heart couldn't take it for much longer and Martha when not worrying about her husband would be occasionally crying over her only son, the one she had seen as a gift when she had been unable to have children.

Meanwhile in Smallville, the Kents are recalling when they first found him as a baby, because today it is about the same time of year that he had come from the sky to them.

The time he squeezed Jonathan's index finger, her husband jokes he has quite a grip, they were speculating that he was a space baby, but she did not care, he owned her from the first image of him beneath that strange blanket with a funny logo on it, the symbol of the his family from the world that had blown up. The world and the parents that had sent their only surviving son to this world, to her, which it all the harder not to sob for hours at a time when she had no more housework to do for the day. It would be late at night when a weary and achy Jonathan would attempt to console his beloved wife even though he misses the boy, the man that used to be Clark as much as she did as he recalls what happen years earlier with that one case. He couldn't remember the poor fella's name, but the man was terribly grateful after wards and the real killer got the gas for it.

The same man, the real killer, had phoned them about Clark's 'demise', but of course they knew otherwise as he was with them when the call came, Martha played it like shock even as she looked into her perplexed son's eyes. After the call they were debating what to do next, naturally he felt responsible to the innocent man slated to be executed, but without evidence what did they have so he went back to the city not long after he resolves to finish what he started with Walker.

"Well, this is a fine mess."

"It's not like he's really dead, Martha, he just can't be Clark anymore."

"But I am Clark. I need to be Clark. I'd go crazy if I had to be Superman all the time!!"

Jonathan in his memory of that conversation, he sees or believes just a little that he had been right about going crazy as Superman, the power went to his head or something like that.

'Superman' and Lois were able to fake out the real guy not long after he, after Bowman blew up Clark's apartment in an attempt to cover up the rest of what Clark might have found and her too as Lois tells Lana about the bomb from her point of view. As for how to bring back Clark after clearing Walker, Lana finally tells Lois about how Clark came to her, and they arrange to make it seem like he had a concussion, been in and out of consciousness for days. Lois remembers reacting both happy and furious though more towards furious thinking the farm boy was just endlessly lucky. Both women knew that when he gave up Clark, part of Superman would suffer for it, but so would anyone that knew him, loved him. As time went on, Lois tells Lana, he became like a walking frame of absolute power.

At first she tried to be understanding, but he became increasingly paranoid about things as he worries or rather fears what the governments are up to, but of course everyone was playing it safe after seeing that Superman was willing to kill someone. Lana confesses to crushing on Clark for his powers when they were younger and she also admits flirting almost excessively when she dated Lex many years ago. At the time, he was so protective, so warm, so many things that were instantly foreign to him once the Lords assumed control as she calls their stewardship. Lois recounts the last time she saw Bruce before his trial, he had told her from the start that somebody had to own up to this and it might as well be him.

Lana could respect Wayne for that even though he had not done much to stop the lobotomies, but of course by then Superman had almost no hesitation, no inhibitions, just a compulsion to assure a world where they never have to fear a war to end all wars among other things. After the Lords were gone, the world gradually moved on though of course this business with the Outsiders made everyone jumpy, but both of them knew these allegations against Bruce's 'family' were excessive, they would not harm anyone let alone kill, that was an early Bat principle no kills.

***

The trouble in Bludhaven finally seem to be subsiding after several days though of course someone else had to get Alfred and the baby out so Kara had brought them to the Kents.

It was an awkward time for the older generation, but the Kents were open to having them there. Martha dotted quite a bit on little Cassandra and Jonathan was glad for the company of the butler and cook Alfred. Eventually Dick and Barbara came over to the farm after several days, but of course the troubles were not over yet as there had been little news from Kasnia, but of course most were not talking about global affairs not around here. Somewhere in the world, there had to be a quiet refuge from things of that troublesome sort.

***

Even so in Kasnia, another mother is dotting on another baby, a boy named Darius. Bruce and Diana watch from the other side of the one way glass. Talia had been lucky to have at least the standard available medical care in a country where a civil war has finally broken out. As for what to do about Kal, Talia reveals his new weakness is blue kryptonite, the kind once believed only to work on Bizarro due to his 'genetic imperfections' and disposition to be well the opposite of what Superman was all those years before in Metropolis.

"Do we believe her and how do we get our hands on that stuff?"

"I doubt Savage would lie twice and the solution to that is trying to reverse engineer actual Kryptonite or find some somewhere…"

"How are we going to do that then?"

"Not sure yet…"

"We are on the clock though you know that already."

She kisses Bruce and whispers that she wonders about children of her own. Bruce gulps yet wonders what their kids might look like and if they actually be able to have any. She kisses him again except on the neck and he responds in kind yet something was going to happen or strike again.

***

As early morning comes with the dawn at the farm, Martha gently sways little Cassandra in her arms. Jonathan sleeps in the rocking chair though briefly awakens to see his wife with the little girl, he smiles a little before admitting he was very tired inwardly so drifts off again. Alfred checks the phone messages, one is from Miss Lane and the other is from Miss Kara, both indicate that the Kents should expect more visitors today. He kindly goes to make some tea for his friends and after decides to tell her about another woman named Martha and her husband as well their little boy yet in a way that is only the beginning of that story though she takes small joys in their legacy.

"I think if the four you ever met, you would get on very well, I doubt that living in a Manor or a Farm would change much, but of course I had to be the one to often remind him of what he had done, still does even when I had begun to lose faith those years before, but like that little girl's father reminded me not so long ago this life is too short, we must forgive because its the only way to move, to remember what matters and who needs us.

"Sounds like a somewhat wise young man."

"I think we rub off on those close to us whether we embrace it or reject it that's something else, yet like I said, it is for little bundles of joy that we must continue, the world might still be afraid of them, but this business was never a popularity contest even when it was nice to have appreciation and all the other nuances."

"Right, he enjoyed being liked, and of course loved, we loved him, still love him, one would ask how do you love what he has become, and of course I haven't an answer. You look at that room, those pictures, or even what I can still remember of the day we found his ship decades ago, then try asking me that question again. I'm sorry, I just get worked up when I hear people talk about him or questions to me on how could I have been 'blind' to what he had become."

"You weren't... nobody expected that, but a lot went wrong very fast, we all went through something... what matters is us together like this and especially for her."

"I can see why her parents, why Bruce count on you so much, you really are more than a butler, and he more than a nut I used to think he was when Clark first met Lois."

Cass sleeps almost quietly in Martha's arms. She begins humming a little something that she used to hum to Clark as a toddler. After awhile she talks about the Kryptonians that sent him to Earth, it is a touching story there as well. This is where the stories of two somewhat different little boys intersect, one in an alleyway shattered by two bullets and the other in a space ship leaving a world doomed to destruction. He only imagine what it might been like for Jor-El and Lara, but of course it was their last hope, their only son. It would have been the hardest act they would have to make in the time remaining, more so for Lara he would expect after she was as much his mother as Martha.

If one were to believe in something more than just what is, that somehow to be entrusted with the most precious and priceless part of someone else's life.

"Why do you give a damn Alfred, its not your family!"

"I give a damn because a man and a woman once made me responsible for what most precious to them in the entire world."

Alfred remembers such moments when thinking of their emotional exchanges so of course when he heard that Bruce and Diana had finally gotten together from the Graysons, he could finally say to some that his duty, that his service to the late Waynes had finally been done, but now his service to the future Waynes and Graysons had begun as well.

As for Martha, she recalls the night they told Clark about how they found him. He was naturally in upheaval after saving that girl and her parents from a fiery death in an RV explosion. Lana was likewise worried about him so eventually he did come to some terms with his alien origins and she remembers how he told her about his birth parents from he saw in the memory module than later when studying what he could from the orb he saved from Brainiac's vessel. She saw him as the benevolent true legacy of that world and the machine was a perversion of it as it had been responsible for intergalactic miseries. She also remembers how she kept all the articles that even remotely sounded like something he had done.

Her husband also once said something to Clark when they had this talk about his powers and how they increasing over time.

"I never really understood why we of all people found you after your vessel came to Earth, how it landed so close to our farmhouse, but there is not a day now that I can imagine life without you, you may not be our son by blood, but you are our son in our hearts and in our memories. I also believe that you are here for a purpose, one that none of us understands yet either, but believe me you'll find out someday...and someday someone will love you in the way that we can't...and someday maybe you'll have kids of your own... but for now enjoy what you are and your time among us... this is what we are... family... in a way I almost feel like Jor-El and Lara entrusted you to us."

"Thanks Pa, it feels good to hear you say that, I think Ma is crying now, you okay Ma?"

"I'm fine dear, your dad is just very good at that sort of thing, how do you think he got me to say yes?"

"Persuasive honesty goes a long way, but remember too that your abilities are part of you too, just not parts to be abused is all."

Clark at the time and for many years later understood this well, but of course, after what happen with Darkseid, Martha recalls being really inconsolable even after Clark came home after Turpin's funeral. The cop might have not totally taken to Superman at first, but they had grown closer in a very short time before he was murdered in the defense of Earth. The video footage of the aftermath of Darkseid's departure had been seen almost worldwide in days, but it hit hardest of all in Metropolis and in a little farmhouse in Smallville. It snapped him to let Turpin die, but of course he seem to get through it yet the next blow came when he was under Darkseid's brainwashing to conquer the world. He almost got killed that time too and each time something went really wrong... it took more of him away... until all that was left was that super powered being in a dark costume. The evils of the world had gotten to him, and he broke because he had made a decision not to continue as he had before. The decision or call made by someone at that stage is consequential, but even then, it happen, and it was then she knew the boy she raised might just as well have died not long after.

She found ways to go on but of course hearing anyone talk about him except those closest to her, made her withdraw often from the things that made her happy and active until the day came when others like Kara or Lana would make her leave the farm because she had to live, not wither away over the son that is not with them anymore. She took their advice, but of course she still mourns as do the others that knew him longest. She knew it probably did bother some of the former Lords, but they were always very well concealed with emotions until she met Alfred, heard his side of the story. They put on stoic faces and rationalized it to the breaking point.

Eventually it crashes down and then it is time to embrace the realities of it in order to get through the all of the feelings including the pain.

***

Back in Metropolis, Lois went with Lana to a fashion show after dinner last night. Lois had accumulated vacation time so the women decided to take a train ride to Smallville where Alfred picks them up in the Kents' pickup truck. As much as much as Smallville would be a reminder, they still saw that it was important to stand up for what means most, who counts most, especially for that sleeping little girl in what used to be a baby room and could be again as Dick and Babs are in there with Martha as Jonathan had fallen asleep a second time in the rocking chair.

***

Elsewhere Kal hovers above the capital of Kasnia still searching for Talia and the baby, but so far nothing, so he resumes knowing they could not hide forever.

A/N 1: This time I really thought of getting inside Kal's mind and of course its not pretty in there, but it becomes clear that he has gotten worse ever so slowly in the years between the two separate sets of powers. His particular realization about what he is going to do is well of course disturbing to say the least.

A/N 2: I figured Lois and Lana could be friends despite having a slight rivalry over the separate facets fo the same man. I began this segment with him and somehow it turned into a story about all the people he was thinking about, at least the ones that are still alive and how they have tried to cope for years with what he has become.

A/N 3: The Kents, my how I have neglected them for awhile, so of course I 'ran' and 'ran' until I found them again. Getting older, health not so good, but of course Alfred with some help from Kara arrives with little Cassandra. Another child for them to be caught up with especially Martha. Alfred and Martha bond over tea and tales of their 'children'. I lifted that tense moment between Bruce and Alfred from that flashback in Batman Begins except Alfred's response refers to both parents, not just Thomas Wayne.

A/N 4: References to StAS episodes Last Son of Krypton and The Late Mr. Kent especially dialogue that Jonathan 'Pa' Kent is remembering even though he seems to have forgotten the falsely accused man's name. Likewise Martha is sympathetic to the stories about a young Bruce Wayne over what happen in Crime Alley, it certainly changes her view a little of that 'nut in Gotham City.'