Chapter Six: The Tornado

The supermen made it to the scene. It took barely three seconds for them to get there. Sometimes, within that super speed mentality, everything seemed so peaceful, nothing seemed to move. It was all so still. For a person who could hear almost everything on the planet, those were his true moments of absolute peace. He shared this with no one, but he felt like Barry might know part of the feeling. But none of them would know the beauty of the silence: not having to hear everything and everyone. Then he gets to the place of danger, and snaps back into focus. The moment of reverie is over.
"Looks like the tornado has been formed," said Superman. They were above it, looking at the swirling winds underneath them. It was beautiful. A circle in the middle of great winds, it almost seemed peaceful. Then a car came flying at them. The tornado flung its treasure at them. Emmet caught it with one hand, as if it were merely a football.
"It's definitely stronger than anything I've ever seen," said Superman.
"Agreed. It does not seem like your world has the power to conjure up such beasts."
"The best way to dissipate it is to negate the winds. I'll go to the bottom and you stay at the top, if we fly fast enough-"
"The wind caused from our flying will equal that of the tornado. Agreed. Let us go."
Without further ado they gunned it down to the Earth. On the ground it was all dark, winds were bellowing and forcing everything to uproot.
"I will run, you go a bit higher than me," said Emmet, and ran. Superman was right behind him, flying around the great circumference of the tornado. The wind was pushing hard against their faces. Superman could only see ahead of himself due to his super vision, otherwise he would have been unable to see anything. If not for his invulnerability, the winds would have forced him to close his eyes. There were some things that humans couldn't do, thought Superman. And again he thought of the perplexing words of his clone, or his original. He might be nothing more than a clone. A copy. Not truly the last son of Krypton. This other person may be his father in a way. But it didn't matter. Emmet may be another Superman, but there is only one Clark Kent. It had already become evident that they disagreed with each other's choices on some level. This person placed himself as a government. This person judged: to judge means to put yourself in a place that a hero shouldn't be. It was not their job to judge, but to stop wrongdoing and help when they can.
"The winds are not moving further inland!" yelled Superman, as he saw for the who-know-how-many-eth time the same house in the far distance that was slowly being wrenched from its foundations. It was at the same distance still, even though the tornado should have progressed forwards by now. This was all wrong. The winds were staying the same only because they were countering its momentum, but it was meant to stop the tornado completely. Superman turned into the tornado.
The winds were howling and pulling him in all directions. They were fighting him, trying to force him out of the centre. That's impossible. And yet it was true: there was a system to the winds. They didn't seem to be just arbitrary: they were working together! He was hit by a cross wind that came from dead ahead. A car slammed into him from the right while a wall from the left tried to crush him in the middle. This wasn't possible.
With a quick surge of strength, he forced his way into the eye of the storm. All was chaos around him, but for a circle that was about fifteen meters in diameter. Inside was a boy. He couldn't have been more than twelve. His arms were raised and from them seemed to issue wind, his back was to Superman. He was wearing a torn shirt and pants that were brown. The pants were in terrible condition.
"Hey!" yelled Superman, "who are you?"
The boy didn't answer, maybe he couldn't hear Superman.
"Stop this now!" yelled Superman, edging towards the child. A scan revealed that the child was human.
"It's ok! Everything will be alright!" yelled Superman and flew in front of the child. The child was crying. His eyes were swollen from tears and his frame was shaking.
"Help me!" yelled the boy, he was so young. The boy stretched out his hands towards Superman, wind still coming out of them and joining the rest of the tornado.
"I will. Just stop this and I can help you."
"I can't, I don't know how to stop it!" yelled the boy and collapsed onto his knees. The tornado continued to roar around them. In the distance Superman thought he heard some kind of cry.
"Hey, I'm here for you. It's going to be alright," said Superman. He put his hand on the young boy's shoulder. The boy looked up.
"The monster made me do it. It said it would kill me. It said that using my powers was the only way to stay alive." mumbled the boy, he was starting shake uncontrollably.
"I won't let anyone hurt you. What's your name?" Superman was using his gentlest voice but loud enough to be heard.
"James."
"Alright. James. I need you to relax. To calm down. It's going to be alright. I need you t-"
It came so fast, Superman barely saw it. Emmet was there, behind the child. Superman was unaware of that for a moment, and that was all that Emmet needed. Quickly, Emmet hit the kid on the head. And the boy fell unconscious. Not dead.
"What the hell are you doing?!" screamed Superman. The winds began to dissipate.
"I was stopping the tornado."
"You hit a child!"
"Who was making a tornado we couldn't stop."
"You hit a child!"
"It was the safest and quickest way."
"He was hysterical! He just needed to be soothed! You didn't need to hurt him!"
"He was dangerous. How many lives could have been lost while you were here chatting?"
"There isn't a living being in this tornado. The evacuation worked! You didn't have to hit him!"
"You are mistaken: I took the necessary steps to ensure everyone's safety. And there is a living being. Just well masked."
The winds have died down and then Superman heard it. A pulse. Coming from above and falling fast. This wasn't over between them. But it would have to wait.
Superman flew over to the being. It was a large minotaur-looking creature. Its skin was hairless though. It had blue skin that looked like leather. Its horns were black and large, though not very long. It was over nine feet tall, and was very muscular. Its eyes were yellow and terrible. It looked like something out of a fable. It was lying on the ground, and a quick look revealed that it had broken its legs, probably from the fall. It was trying to get up. Superman grabbed it by the neck and lifted it towards his face. Staring at it right in the eyes.
"Who sent you? Why are you here?"
"I work for my lord, and he wishes to find the right people."
"Who are you working for!" shouted Superman, and allowed his eyes to start burning red.
"I don't fear you, Kryptonian. My lord is truly to be revered, and feared. You are nothing compared to him."
"You don't fear me? That's brave, considering I didn't just break my legs," said Superman pushing him down into the ground, "who is your Lord? Who sent you?"
"Helspont. I was sent by Helspont. That information you may receive for free. It is of no consequence."
"Why did you scare the boy?" asked Superman, allowing his rage to fill him, but not so that he lost control. That's the difference between him and them: he doesn't lose control.
"That is not your concern, Kryptonian." And with that he pushed his upper body off the ground and swung at Superman, missed and fell to the ground.
He knew he'd miss, he wants to fight, thought Superman, or maybe just to die. Either way, thought Superman, I think he's afraid.
Emmet came towards Superman. "He won't tell you any more," said Emmet.
"Let's bring him to the lock up. There are more than enough prisons that can hold him."
"Not yet, I meant that he will not tell specifically you anymore. My turn." He walked over towards the monster, his whole body glowing red.
"You!" called the monster, and crawled away. But slowly, and definitely not fast nor far enough.
"Why did you scare the boy?" asked Emmet, calmly. And that was more menacing than most yells.
"I was ordered to. We all were!"
"You were ordered to scare a child?"
"We were ordered to find humans with power. People that mutated."
'Why?"
"I don't know!"
"Answer me!" And with that he ripped an arm off. Completely tore it away.
"No!" yelled Superman, and rushed to Emmet and flung him aside, "that's not how we do things!"
"It has to be sometimes. He was lying before, I wanted to make sure. You can lock him up if you wish now, I shall cauterise the wound. I do my best not to kill, but monsters are an exception."
"To some, we are the monsters," said Superman, as he cauterised the wound, he didn't trust Emmet to do it.
"To the blind, yes. I do not scare little boys, do you?"
"Shazam, I need some help here. I need you to take care of a kid. Take him to the Watchtower for me."
"No problem Supes, tornado clear?" asked Shazam, and before Superman could reply, he was standing there in front of him.
"Yeah. You're coming with me," said Superman to Emmet. They went to the nearest super human detention facility that ARGUS had around, it was at the heart of an Island in the middle of the Pacific. Not a bad place for a prison for people who had great powers.
"Why save him?" asked Emmet, "he is a monster, a criminal. Who knows how much damage he could do?"
"It is not our place to judge such things. It is not our place to take a life."
"Is it not? Then who's place is it?"
"No one has that authority."
"And when the ships were destroyed and Daemonites were incinerated, that was alright?"
"War is war. Our priority is the innocent. There's not always a way to save everyone. But when there is, then we must do it. However difficult."
"You could just target their weapons capabilities or not kill their soldiers."
"We don't know how to do that."
"I see."
"See what?"
"That your intentions are quite noble, if a bit wrong."
"Wrong?"
"Yes. Wrong. You put yourself above the law, and because of your immense power no one has done anything to you. You judge yourself to be above everyone else. If anyone else went about other people's business like you did, they would get arrested. You are not arrested. You judge them and yourself, but you are not willing to dirty your hands to make this world better."
"So you would kill?"
"Only the unworthy. Him I would kill for his crimes, and because he has no place on my planet."
They reached the island and already a team with a cell were ready to receive the monster. He was locked up and then brought underground. It took only a minute and it was all done in silence. A few people glanced at Emmet as he floated in the distance. All nervous, secretly hoping Superman would save them. And they knew he would. Though they didn't like that thought too much. They were there to prove humans could match these people, it was a cruel slap in the face when they were proven wrong.
"Let's get back to the Watchtower," said Superman.
"Agreed."
"Why did you end up turning to politics and not just helping people?" asked Superman as they flew towards the watchtower.
"My world was like yours: divisions of all kinds. My example wasn't doing enough. By forcing them to be united as a planet, I was able to make true change."
"Sounds like you took their choices from them."
"True. But we must all make sacrifices for democracy and safety."
"Your planet doesn't sound democratic."
"It is not anymore. But I tried to make it so. I turned it into something better: a world where everyone knows his place."
"And you at the top?"
"Alongside others. We formed the committee."
"I don't agree with your methods-"
"You do not have to. Our planets are different with different issues. We each adapted according to our surroundings."
I am the only Clark Kent, thought Clark as they entered the Watchtower.