Author's Note: Hello everyone. Here's the next chapter for my story. And as promissed guest stars have started to appear, and others will appear at later dates. Just to let everyone know, the last two remaining articles written by Vegerland will appear at the end of the next chapter as soon as I finish it, and have been used with her permission. I think that in the coming weeks I will also have Clark and Lois write and article or perhaps a short series of articles on child abuse and what Superman sees when he hears about it. I've decided that it will win them a joint Pulitzer. It's just something I feel I can't leave in the air, though I may end up not writting them. Depends on the storyline, since I plan it to be quite packed. Stay tunned. ALso I have plans for another Arc Chapter soon. Which idea do you like best: The characters in the writter's office complaining about something in the story, Playing painfully with the villains in the fire pit, or perhaps a guest appearance from the members of the 3rd still on the drawing board story Super/Moon, perhaps meeting in the arc and explaing why they are soon to appear? PLease review and let me know. The next chapter is already on it's way and I'll have it posted as soon as possible.

Chapter 12: Into the Night

It took a few minutes for the doctor to come back. The social workers briefed him on the plan to send Kala with Superman to the home of her temporary custodians as they signed her release papers. After that the doctor walked in the door to release the patient, Superman and Kala parted. The doctor couldn't help give them a small smile. He knew of the Man of Steel's gentleness towards children, he'd been the one to receive many of those poor little souls whom he had rescued from this very situation. He nodded at them, "Since everything seems okay, we'll be releasing her, now." He handed Superman a package of papers and prescriptions. "These are her prescriptions and instructions for their use as well as some other materials that Mr. Kent and Miss Lane may find useful. We gave Kala a tetanus vaccine in case of infection because of her lacerations and they will need to monitor her for any possible complications and infections. If anything should seem a miss to them they should take her to a pediatrician or bring her here immediately." Then he whispered too low for Kala to hear as he pretended to pick up some things in the room. "I was informed that she was possibly suicidal. There's also some information on what to do and what to look out for in the package, the signs tend to be a little different with young children than with adults and teenagers. But the main thing is that she should not be left without supervision and that anything that could possibly be used by her to harm herself has to be removed and/or kept under lock and key. I really think it was a case of circumstances, but ideas like that may not go away overnight. She's too little to be given medication for depression but love is really what she needs right now. Please, let the couple know that anything sharp or possibly poisonous needs to be removed from the home, and any medications, whether prescription or over the counter, need to be kept under lock and key and the child safety caps properly fastened, and also to watch her around large amounts of water and the stairs to keep her safe. I understand there's another child in the house so their interactions need to be supervised so there's no danger to the other child as well." He raised the level of his voice, "Oh, before I forget, Kala still has a couple of old cracked ribs that have not yet fully healed. In the bag are calcium and Vitamin D supplements to help with that and her results show she's somewhat malnourished and underweight so we're putting her on a special diet to help her gain weight. The diet is explained in the package but basically she needs to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and proteins, as well as good carbohydrates to get her back in health. Other than that though Kala's ready to go."

Superman nodded, "I'll pass it along doctor." The doctor nodded and walked out of the room. Superman then turned to Kala, picking up the child. "Let's go home," he told her. Kala beamed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and he walked out of the room with her in his arms. Once outside of the hospital, Superman flew into the night sky with his small passenger. But they were watched by someone…

Henderson was parked down the block from the hospital and as he walked to his car finally able to go home, he looked into the night sky in time to watch Superman fly away with his young passenger. He smiled a small smile, "That little girl has got to be the luckiest kid in the world. Not only did she receive a new family in one night, a new future… but the world's greatest protector has now become her father…" He shook his head as he unlocked his car and headed home…

As Clark flew home with Kala in his arms, he reminisced about what happened that night. Kala had fallen asleep not long after they had taken off and he decided to take a leisurely flight home with her. It was a brisk night but Kala was safe and warm in his embrace as he reminisced. He heard a scream in an alley, but ignored it, police sirens were already heading that way and besides he had a child with him. He looked up at the stars, lost in thought. I don't understand any of this, what was done to this poor child. I can't even fathom it. I've seen it all too many times, I've heard their cries and their pain and I can't understand it. He looked down at Kala as she snuggled deeper into his chest. Despite her bruises to him she looked like a tiny fragile angel. I was so lucky to be found by my parents and not end up with someone like Kala's mom; I would have been a different man had that happened. Thank you God for your blessings and I promise I'll take good care of this sweet angel you placed in my arms and the other one sleeping soundly in my bed as well. She'll be safe and loved all the days of her life, Clark thought as he watched the skies.

Shrill screaming broke into his thoughts. The voice was enraged and swirled by alcohol. "You can't do this to meeee….. The basta'd aliin took my littla girrrrl from me and all we was doing was teeech her a lllison in manners." He heard a woman scream as he flew over the downtown apartments on his way home. Curious despite himself, he looked down using his telescopic vision. On the street below a very familiar woman was being cuffed by the police. A man was being escorted to the black and white unit; on his head was a rather ugly bruise and a small cut. Superman shook his head, finally justice was served. He continued on his way as Kala's mother and her boyfriend were taken into custody; he was confident it would be a long time before they ever saw the light of day as free individuals again.

It was getting late, but they were almost home when he spotted a man dressed all in black on the roof of an apartment complex a few blocks from the house, beside him stood a black haired woman in a gold and red costume and a blond man in a robin hood like costume. He shook his head and, despite his small passenger, he landed for a few moments wrapping his cape more securely around Kala's little body. She shifted resting her head more securely on his chest, her little hand over his heart. "Long time no see, Kal-El," Wonder Woman whispered, noticing his little sleeping passenger, nodding in greeting.

He nodded at his friends holding Kala closer. "It's good to see you all as well," he whispered.

"Who's your little friend?" Green Arrow asked.

He smiled, "If the courts agree, my new daughter Kala. I was just taking her home," he explained.

Batman nodded, "We heard the news over the police scanner of the kid you saved tonight, good job, but do you know what you're getting yourself into? Taking care of children isn't easy with jobs like ours."

He grinned, "And you would know that well Bats, considering your three robins…"

"And 4 little bats with me," Wonder Woman said with a small smile.

Superman's eyes widened in shock, "You finally figured out how to drag him out of his cave?" he said in surprise.

"Threw the entire League into shock too," Green Arrow said with a small grin. "You've been gone a while, there's much you missed."

"Love to hear about it, but I need to get Kala home and in bed first, and let Lois know everything that happened before that."

"Lois LANE? So she finally managed to net you fly boy?" Green Arrow joked playfully punching his friend's shoulder.

"More like he finally managed to net her. Not that hard apparently considering she gave him a son," Batman mentioned, and Green Arrow's eyes widened behind his mask. He grinned a small smile, something that Superman had rarely if ever seen on his long time comrade in arms. "What, I saw her on the news when she visited the hospital with the kid. How no one saw that she was holding a mini Kal-El is beyond me," he finished. Then looked at his friend, "He looks just like you."

"My mom says so too."

"Clark Ken, I know you can hear me. If you're not home in five minutes…" he heard Lois threaten playfully. But he knew she was getting impatient.

"Lois is getting impatient. I have to go," he told his friends.

"Here," Wonder Woman said handing him a small metallic box. Shifting Kala carefully in his arms he took it in his right hand. "It's the new com systems and security tokens assigned to you. Meet us tomorrow for lunch at the Watchtower and we can get you up to speed," she told him. Superman nodded and waved goodbye to his friends before heading off.

"And be careful with those articles flyboy," Green Arrow told him as he was flying way. "Wouldn't want to make people more curious about you, would you?" Superman nodded and headed for home. "Has Question come up with anything in regards to that group, yet?" he asked turning to his friends after he had seen Superman land in his backyard with his daughter through his binoculars, knowing his friend was now too preoccupied to hear them.

Batman scowled. "No, Bureau 39's a ghost, not even I have been able to get much on them."

"How's Jonn doing, really?" Arrow asked seriously.

Wonder Woman sighed. "He's getting better, but Dr. Fate says it's slow going. Physically he's all healed but mentally… It'll take more time."

"And the others? I've been out of the loop for too long." It was true. Green Arrow/Oliver Queen had been in near retirement taking care of his youngest, premature daughter. His wife had died on the operating table following the premature delivery of their fifth daughter Melanie after a car accident. They just had not been able to stop the bleeding and save her. The baby had been delivered at 27 weeks gestation, and it had been touch and go for months before the little girl finally pulled through. She was now 3 years old and her father would still be in retirement taking care of her and her older 4 siblings were it not for the events that happened six months before Superman returned. He was still haunted by nightmares of that hellish night when so many of his friends nearly died and he as well as the other Leaguers had been powerless to help them, sentenced to death for the crime of not being born on Earth, or being too different to be considered human. They were lucky, no one was lost, the Leaguers reaching the Watchtower in time to help but the injuries were severe. When Arrow heard he had decided to return and help.

"Recovering," Wonder Woman answered.

Arrow nodded. "We need to warn him," he finally said. "They will probably be coming after him next."

Batman nodded, "Tomorrow, tonight, he has a new little girl to take care of."

"And we'll keep an eye out to make sure nothing untoward happens in the meantime," a voice said behind them. The three heroes turned to see who had spoken. Standing before them was a young woman wearing a female version of Superman's costume, beside her were Huntress and Static, two of the new generation of heroes.

Her name was Kara-El, she was Superman's cousin from Krypton. Her father Sor-El had listened to the warnings of his brother and sent his daughter into space just as Kal-El had been sent, but unlike Kal-El, she had been sent to a Kryptonian colony to live with other relatives. Over time, as she grew, the harshness of the colony's environment had killed off the last few survivors of Krypton, most of the colony's inhabitants. And then to add insult to injury, their power source had been lost and without it the few remaining colonist had no hope to survive. It was tracked to Earth and Kara, despite all the warnings against doing so, had come to retrieve it, arriving on Earth a year after Superman had left for Krypton. She succeeded and returned, but she was forever changed, having become super powered like her cousin, the main reason why no colonists had come to Earth or sought out Kal-El. They feared the powers gained from the light of the yellow sun of Earth. Because of this, upon her return, though being deemed a hero by the last few colonists, she became an outcast, even amongst her family. She endured it, but survival was not in the cards for the colonists. Because of the harshness of the planetoid in which they lived most of their technology was useless and therefore the planetary detector did not work correctly. Because of this an asteroid that was to crash into the planetoid was not detected until it was almost too late. The colonists had managed to detect it with barely enough time to evacuate and the planetoid was lost. In the maelstrom of the explosion many of the ships were destroyed and of the few that survived, many were too damaged to effectively escape the galaxy since they were not able to generate the necessary power to do so and were forced to fly at too slow a speed for the passengers to survive the trip to anywhere.

Kara had escaped the same fate since her ship had managed to outdistance the explosion but there had been few in her small ship. Illness had killed off most of the survivors while still in their stasis chambers. Upon arrival at their destination, a small planetoid two galaxies away from the original colony, only 50 of the original 150 survivors on her ship were still alive including herself. The planetoid was harsh, there was no atmosphere and illness and hunger killed off most of the few survivors that had reached the planetoid. Finally only Kara and 15 others remained. She was healthy, thanks to the changes in her because of the yellow sun of Earth. Of those last few remaining survivors most were ill, and it was decided that they would take refuge on Earth, the only place they could survive, despite their qualms about the yellow sun. But it was not to be, upon arrival on Earth, Kara awoke to find that only she and two small children had survived the trip. One child was a cousin of her and the other was a young boy of common decent. Kara took the two children under her wing and cared for them as if they were her own. She had returned a year before Superman had and had used that time wisely. She got in touch with the Justice League and they helped her establish an identity and home for herself and the two children. She was a teenager still, although 3 years had passed since her last visit, she had spent so much of that time in stasis and had not aged further. She joined the League, but worked in secret, thinking it better since she was still a teen, had two children to care for and her cousin was still not on Earth.

Batman nodded in agreement, "Make sure he doesn't see you. It's best if we explain everything at once and your appearance Kara will no doubt be a shock." Kara nodded and the three elder Leaguers left, of to their respective families as the girls stood guard to watch over Earth's Greatest protector.