Action FanFic #3

Up in the Sky…

I got back to Smallville rather hurriedly. What can I say? Pa's excitement finally hit me and I couldn't wait to feel the freedoms of using my abilities without having to do something to hide the fact. Sure, I was flying, but normally I have to look out for energy waves that satellites use to scan the Earth. I'm very good at dodging these, sometimes flying in wave patterns are fun just as a bit of a game. However, I try to avoid spending any more time getting to Kansas than I already have.

I see the house with my Telescopic Vision, at that point I drop to the ground and I run like there's no tomorrow. I see the field and as the fence line comes up I jump and as I look down, I can see all the crops that Pa just planted. I look back up and there's the house, guess I'd better land before I crater it. Using my flight, I slow and descend as gentle as a feather. As I do I see Pa sitting out on the front porch looking me square in the eye.

"You're one big bird Clark, I could've fed us for a few Thanksgivings with one your size." He laughs at me just a little.

"How's Ma coming with the uniform?"

"Son, she's been going hot and heavy on that thing since you left. Thank God for your theater days, because that woman knows how to make a costume in no time flat."

I blush just a little. "Pa it's more than just a costume, it's going to be my ticket to not having to hide all the time."

"That's a good thing, I know how difficult it is for you to hide your gifts all the time." He gets up from his chair and we walk into the house. He starts to wander to Ma's sewing room and I follow suit behind him. "Martha! How goes the boy's outfit?"

"It's done! Luckily all I had to do was let out a few seams here and there to some old outfits you used to wear."

I look at the outfit. The blues and reds just meld so well. "I'm gonna look very patriotic, Ma."

"You're a down-home Kansas boy, regardless of what other planet you come from. You need to look patriotic."

"I was wondering though, would you mind adding something on for me. My Kryptonian parents gave it to me to wear, as a symbol of my other family." I pull it out from my coat and hand it over. Ma and Pa look at it. They recognize it almost immediately and Ma grabs the shirt from the table. In what seems faster than even I'm capable of she grabs the emblem and starts to work stitching on the front.

"Jonathan, Clark, could you get out for a moment. I have something else I want to do for modification's sake." She gets up and starts pushing us along the way. "I'll be another hour, maybe. But I've got work to do, so just go!"

Pa and I leave the room and go sit out on the front porch for a time. He regales me with war stories from when he was in Vietnam. And I tell him stories of Krypton's bloody past too. Some of the history lessons I learned were gruesome indeed. I can remember my father telling me the story of time before Krypton became a whole planet instead of divided into the two main continents. The bloody battle that ended with the survivors of the 'losing side' leaving for another world. I questioned my father at length about that.

"They had space craft? Why didn't they have more by the time Krypton exploded?"

"The last volley of the Daxam Continent, my son. They wiped out fleets of our ships and in return our two main weapons destroyed several of theirs. A lot of Kryptonians and Daxamites died that day. If not for Kem-L, who created the Eradicator and the High-Council's decision in creating the Brainiac program we would've surely been wiped out. We never rebuilt any because after the Daxamite population had left we became something of a xenophobic society. At first space travel was something that would help us to learn new sciences and other technologies. We accomplished the same thing with sending probes and having Brainiac control them."

"Brainiac and Eradicator? "

"Eradicator is a direct translation, but Brainiac is the closest translation to English we can manage to find. "

"What did they do that made this such a victory for Krypton? It sounds like the Daxamites had you over a barrel, if you'll forgive the slang."

"I do understand my, son. Your internet is a very helpful tool. The Eradicator technology shot beams of energy hotter than that of a lava flow and was programmed with the ability to do much more damage. Using a technology that was revised afterward for this very reason, the device could also shoot nanobots programmed for a variety of purposes. "

"Nanobots are what help the technological parts to be created while the crystalline structures were built. How sure are you that these won't become a problem?"

"After we found out what it had done, they were destroyed. As far as we know it wiped out even the Eradicator's nano-blasts. Most hoped that it had been done before it committed this horrible crime. It coordinated it's attack with Brainiac and devised the best way to deal with the threat of further Daxamite invasion. The nanobots genetically altered them to become vulnerable to lead. Had they not escaped when they did, it would've spelled the end of their people."

"Why the war father? All of this sounds like such an atrocity! What was the point of the two continents fighting?"

"It was Krypton's time of religion my son. Before we became a race based on pure science there were quite a few amongst us that believed in the Sun God, Rao. Even several on the High Council of Krypton believed. It was a much different time. The Daxamites, however believed in the Sun-God Valor. As time went on we started to embrace more technology and science than our Daxam cousins. Somewhere down history Kryptonians and Daxamites would do as your America does and sit in a sort of political debate arena and discuss matter of common interested between the two continents. It was there that Daxam came to believe that we were only advancing in weaponry to use against them for their 'heretical beliefs'."

"And were they?"

"Partially, but no one at the time was willing to admit that. It was in the dark ages of Krypton my son. At that time cloning had just commenced for the strict purpose of creating harvest organs. And possibly even replacing those scientists who's bodies were giving out on them. Those that were necessary to further advancements and the cause. We killed so many Daxamites and yet we were unconcerned with our losses. Kryptonians never discussed these times. Not that it was forbidden, but it was frowned upon."

"This was the first war?"

"Yes. The three wars were the Krypton/Daxam, Scientist/Rao, and the Black Zero campaign. The last of which were the clones fighting to be their own individuals instead of organ harvests or replacements. They cloned one of the militant generals and more than a few scientists. During an accident within the same building their stasis units opened and they awoke. Once they realized they were clones and that they were treated as sheep they fought for their equal rights. They were property as far as the Kryptonians were concerned. The general who named their coalition Black Zero, disagreed. We shall discuss it further at a later date, it's all much to discuss in one sitting. Even in hologramatic form I still find it weighing heavily upon me."

I was just about to start telling Pa about what my father had finally told me about Black Zero when Ma came back out. I can't believe it had been that long already, but history as deep as that does tend to kill time quickly. "Hurry Clark, I think you'll like this!"

She dragged me to the backroom and she threw the outfit at me. "Put this on son, I want to see how it fits!" She shut the door.

I grabbed everything and started to put it on. First the shirt to see how the shield looked on me. It covered my chest fully and I smiled. I slipped on the pants and I stared at the red…overpants? I stared in the mirror with questioning, "You have got to be kidding!" Then I picked up the cape. As I looked over it I finally saw the reason that Ma wanted us to wait. In yellow, off center of the middle she'd placed another shield. It was just a little touch, but it added something. I looked at myself for a few minutes not believing it was me I was staring at. "You can come in Ma."

She walked into the room and stood there almost in awe, if it's possible for a mother to look at a son that way. Pa's eyes widened as if I had just stepped out of one of his Justice Society magazines. "Clark, my God…"

"I like this Ma, it's really nice. The overpants though…I don't know."

"Hawkman wore them, so can you. Besides it cuts through all the blue. You don't want to look like you're wearing a one piece and you don't want your legs hanging out of your shorts either."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Symmetry, it makes sense."

"I think we've got the look Clark, now it's just a matter of when you'll start doing your mystery man thing."

"I was thinking now." I smiled with a Cheshire cat grin.

Pa looked up at me with a tear in his eye, "Go be a hero, boy. Just don't get hurt." I gave him a farewell salute and I took off like a jet and headed back to Metropolis.

The flight there was different, I didn't feel as if Clark Kent was a shroud over my abilities anymore. I know he had a point to exist. I was proud to be him, but there's a certain feeling that he was a mask that I couldn't shake some days. Now it was all different. I zoomed to my apartment to drop of my Kent clothes and flew back out before anyone could see me. It was time for my first patrol. Yeah, I know I'm not the police. I don't know that the police would be too upset to see me though, especially considering I caught a jet from space. How common was that though? Even though it wasn't something that happened everyday, maybe the mystery men villains had kids that followed in their parents' footsteps. Yeah, I'm gonna have archenemies…I really do think in clichés.

I start listening out for anything going on in the city trying to zero out anything that didn't need to be heard by my ears when I picked up a police radio. "Capt. Sawyer to HQ, we need a SWAT team sent to the Metro-First Bank. These guys have some major firepower. Three cars destroyed and we also have a hostage situation in progress! Repeat, we have a hostage situation in progress!"

I start looking for the place and find the lights rather easily. I dart down to the building within a couple of seconds. I land beside the Capt. Luckily she's the only female there in plain clothes so it's easy to spot her. I use my more booming voice in front of her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

She looks at me and just blinks. "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

From behind me a familiar voice comes out of nowhere. "That's the guy that saved the Space Jet!"

I turned to see who made the comment and standing there was Lois. "Hey blue man, you got time for an interview after you get done playing Good Samaritan?" She raises her eyebrow and smiles that same smile she had when she walked into Perry's office not 4 hours previous.

"Sure, Ms. Lane. I'll be more than happy to once this is over. Right now I've got more pressing matters."

:"You know who I am?"

"Of course, you're a world-famous reporter for the Daily Planet, who doesn't know you? Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna try and help to end this."

Capt. Sawyer had turned her attentions back to the bank as a gun fired. The energy blast was coming straight for her head and before she had a chance to react I stepped in front and took the brunt of the blast. It tingles a little, but it didn't harm me. I turned and saw the dumbfounded look return to her face. "Thanks… Listen, I understand that you want to help. Right now there are hostages to consider and we can't afford to let them..."

No sooner did she try to finish the statement I went in at superspeed and got all 10 people out. "… Get hurt. Um, where did these people come from?"

"These are the hostages."

"I'm not believing this! You got them all out? What about the bomb?"

I scan over the area looking for any sort of device. The building's big, but there are areas I can't penetrate. What the hell? I can't look through the pipes? Still, unless they planted something in the vast array of pipes there's no foreign object that I could detect. Still, gotta look into this whole not seeing through pipes thing. It's a little unnerving. I turned back to her, "I don't see one, unless they've got it well hidden I think they're bluffing. Still, the ordinance is bad enough to cause some real harm."

"You don't have to tell me," she pointed at the fires being put out by firefighters, "I'm well aware of how destructive they can be."

"Capt. Sawyer, I can stop them. I'll bring them out unharmed and with the weapons intact, but you'll have to trust me."

She gave me the hard look over. She shook her head a few times, "Alright, you've been deputized, go bring me some criminals."

I took off towards the building. Even with the screaming of the thug that were pointing their basic hand held cannons at me I still heard her Lieutenant.

"Maggie, what are you doing? You know what happens if he messes up? It'll be your badge!"

I heard her pull her pistol and hand it over to the worried Lt. "Noted. So go back him up, we haven't gotten close this far and we're about two steps from giving in to their demands. But if you think you can bounce that off your chest just by flexing a little, be my freakin' guest!"

As I near my first target he opens fire. The weapon is producing a fair amount of heat, I starting to feel better about offering my services to the police. I doubt they want their officers extra crispy. Ooh, Clark...bad joke. The panicked thug keeps up the blasting while screaming his ever-loving head off. I guess he figures that a combination of both will somehow deter me from the task at hand. I realize that I'm not moving nearly the speed I could be, namely because I don't want to hurt him or the weapon. I walk right up to him and he stops firing, he looks at me horrified. I grabbed the gun from his hand and set it down on the ground. He decides that the best thing to do is punch me. Sure, the gun that can destroy cars and take out walls didn't do a thing to me, but his fist will do better. I truly don't understand the criminal mind, I guess I will once I've done this awhile. That's a scary thought. He punches me with all he has and I pull away just a second so that he doesn't cripple himself entirely, but as the fist connects to my jaw I hear the bones shatter in his hand. "Sorry friend, I was hoping you wouldn't do that."

He screams in pain and runs out of the building and straight into the cops' arms. I dart out and hand the officer the gun he was carrying before heading back in to get his partners. In the moment that I stopped to look for them they had flanked me from the second floor and they fired. I can't imagine what it was that they saw outside. The light was so intense in the room I'm pretty sure the glow through the windows brightened the street like it was daylight. I turned my head to focus on one of them and I fly upward towards him. The barrel of the gun is rather wide, good that means I can fit my hand in there. I looked inside and found the element that allowed the blast to be heated. As I approach I throw my hand inside and remove the element I hold it in my hand for the crook to see. Immediately he drops the gun and raises his hands. I turn to see the other guy and he tries the running approach. I turn towards the area he went out examining him trying to leap to the next roof. I see him so unsure.

I drop the guy I have in custody off to the police as I take off towards the crook. He's got his cash well in hand and the weapon on his back. Apparently it's heavy enough for a strap. I never really paid attention when I started to take them down. He's still so unsure as to how he's going to clear the gap with that huge weight on his back. But a land right behind him as gently as I can. He waves his arms wildly balancing himself on the ledge between the 3 feet it'll take to get to next rooftop. He finally gets balanced when I pipe up softly, "Need some help?"

He turns in panic and falls and I rush down and pick him up. I grab him and he screams even louder than when he was falling. I guess it's not everyday that someone does that. I'm confused, he's seen me flying all over the bank. You'd think he'd guess that I could do that again.

"Don't drop me man!"

"Oh, I won't. Not after all the trouble I went through of catching you." Somehow those words don't comfort him. All I can do is smile.

I drop him in the capable hands of Capt. Sawyer. She nods in thanks, but I can tell she's less than enthused about my help. "I'm glad I could help Capt."

"Glad you could too… I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"A friend." I take to the sky about ready to fly off into the distance when I hear that voice again.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE BUSTER!" I turn back to see Lois standing there with a very upset look on her face. "No one skips out on an interview with me, not even some Superman!"

"Superman?" I look at her puzzled.

"Yeah, as in Ubermensch? Nietzsche's idea of the perfect specimen. I think you qualify for that."

"I don't know about that Ms. Lane. I'm not sure that I'm what Nietzsche had in mind."

"He's never seen you in action. I think I win this argument."

I just laugh a little bit, what else can I do? "Where would you like to conduct this interview Ms. Lane?"

"Let's go back to my place, I've got a nice terrace at my apartment. 12th floor so we won't have to worry about any interruptions, unless there's meteor about to crash into Guatemala or something?"

"Your apartment? That's a bit personal, isn't it? I mean can't we do this at the Daily Planet?"

"A Superman and a Boy Scout. Who could have guessed that?"

I try to pass off the fact that I'm blushing a bit. I can't help it, I'm not someone who goes back to another woman's apartment when I don't know them that well. And let's face facts this is Metropolis. It's a pretty obvious observation to say that this isn't Kansas anymore. I have no idea if she's going to be all business or what. I can't believe this woman has flustered me this much. Why can't she be more like Lana? This would be a lot easier for me if it were.

"Well? Are we going back to my place or what? Don't worry about anything happening big guy, I think I can control my womanly urges. I'm a reporter, not a slut!"

"I wouldn't have thought otherwise. If you're sure you want to, then I don't see any problems with it." I scoop her up and look back at Capt. Sawyer. "Do you still need me for anything?"

"No, I think we have it…Superman."

"You too?"

"You fly, you're invulnerable, and you're obviously stronger than any of the guys on the force. I say if the 'S' fits…" as she trails off again she points at my chest.

"Actually, that's a symbol from…"

"HOLD IT! I'm not letting these details get stolen by my rivals here. It's not going to happen. You're mine! And I'm quoting Maggie Sawyer as calling you the name I gave you. That makes this exclusive, doesn't it Mags?"

Capt. Sawyer tries to open her mouth to say something when Lois answers for her. "Of course it does! Now as to you, fly us out of here. We've got some work to do, because this is going to be the morning edition. 'My Night with Superman'!"