Chapter Four: At the Ends of the Earth
XVIII
The Man of Steel
He sat at the bottom of the world.
Hiding.
Not because he was a coward. He was not. Only because she had asked him to. The president. Lois Lane. The Commander-In-Chief. The woman he loved. He was not sure how or even why he loved her, only that he did… and that there had been no others before her. For all their differences and her frailties, Clark accepted her for all that she was. And loved her.
And so he had done this for her… even if it meant leaving.
When they made love, Lois had to be on top, in control. It fit her, but it was also the safest way. Clark grinned. The woman did like to live dangerously. She knew perfectly well what he was capable of, yet she always believed in him, trusted him.
She called him 'Clark'. The name the nice couple who had found him had called him… before he was taken away. She refused to call him by his code name of 'Big Blue'. You had to be treated like a human to save humanity, she said.
It was nice at the South Pole. Quiet. He liked it here. Chatting with Scott Free had also been nice. His wife, Barda stayed for a short time, but then she had to go back to Lois. That was the deal.
Did Scott know of any others like him? Were there other aliens living on Earth?
Scott told him of the powerful beings he knew. The amazons of mysterious Themyscira, the Green Lantern Corps whose power was their will shining through rings of power, the fair-haired King of Atlantis… but none quite like him. Not like Clark. The Free's said they were from a world called New Genesis, governed wisely by the Highfather as opposed to its dark twin, Apokolips, ruled by the evil Darkseid.
They did not know of his home world, Krypton.
Both Scott and Clark embraced the ideals of America. They enjoyed living there. Clark had been indoctrinated early. It regulated freedom, but it still believed in freedom. Democracy. The government was beginning to put down its weapons and trust him, he believed.
Great minds were allowed to create, to dream, to prosper in America. All they had to do was just get along and stop being afraid. Why was that so difficult? Scott said that people are never comfortable if they're helpless. That it would take time for the fear to become trust.
So they waited at the bottom of the world. Two aliens in a frozen wasteland. Clark told Scott that Lois believed the nuclear weapon in Kahndaq was meant to destroy him. There were individuals that wanted him out of the way.
Scott told Clark that they'd find out soon enough.