Superman/Steven Universe:
The Shield of Hope
Disclaimer:This is a nonprofit fanwork Steven Universe and all it's characters belong to Cartoon Network and Rebecca Sugar, Superman and any other DC Characters and properties used in the fanfic belong to DC Comics. Please support the official release.
Enjoy
Chapter 1:
Beach City, Summer, Year 2016
Within a small house built into the beach statue the laughter of two children could be heard, these two children were Steven Quartz Universe and Connie Maheswaran. Connie was a young Indian girl, dark skin, waist length dark brown puffy hair, and a pair of magenta lens-less glasses rested atop her head. Steven was a short stocky Caucasian with curly black-brown hair, he looked like any other kid you would meet on the street but underneath his salmon pink T-Shirt with a gold star in the middle right where his bellybutton would be a pink gem rested. He inherited this gem from his mother Rose Quartz, he was a member of the Crystal Gems a team dedicated to defending the Earth from Magical threats, though right now Steven was just happy to hang out with his best friend watching their favorite show.
"It's impossible you'll never be able to remove that diamond from his brain" a female voice from the TV said
"Nothing's impossible, now hand me the scalpel nurse were going…Under the Knife" a Male voice said dramatically.
Both children watched in astonish as the show ended
"Oh I gotta know how he removes the diamond" Steven said excitedly from bouncing a bit on his bed
"We'll just have to wait for next week Steven" Connie said just as anxious but with a bit more control.
Steven picked up the remote and looked at Connie
"We still have half an hour till you have to go, anything else you want to watch" Steven asked
Connie simply shrugged and replied "Just flip through the channels and see what's on". Steven proceeded to do so going through multiple channels until he came to one
"This a Daria Selby reporting from Metropolis…" a female voice said
"Oh stop here I love hearing about Metropolis" Connie said intrigued
"Metropolis" Steven asked curious
"Metropolis is one of the biggest cities in America, it's also one of the most technologically advanced, and everybody calls it the City of Tomorrow the only other city that's as well known is Gotham, I always wanted to go there" Connie said with wonder in her voice
Steven then to became intrigued by the city and began watching the report with Connie. "Miracles some say there impossible others say they're a once in a lifetime occurrence, but for six months now our city has been home to multiple miracles the most recent being Young Paige Marcus who claims an angel saved her" the female reporter said as the camera turned to a young African American girl
"I was playing on the balcony of our apartment even though my daddy told me not to because the railing wasn't safe I leaned against it and it broke I started to fall, but then this big blue angel with bright red wings flew up and caught me he put me back in the apartment he told me to be more careful around the railings I'm definitely going to now" the girl said happily.
"A blue angel rather fantastical but in six months multiple similar acts have occurred across the city near deaths and disasters averted, and some of those saved claim to have seen a blue and red blur, what do you think viewers does Metropolis have a guardian angel this is Daria Selby signing off" the woman said as the picture went back to the newsroom.
Steven and Connie looked at the screen curiously processing what they just learned
"Do you think it's some kind of Gem Monster" Connie asked Steven
"I don't think so gem monsters don't save people, unless someone trained it like I did with centipeetle" Steven replied intrigued by the report.
"Do you think we should tell the gems" Connie said as she got off the bed and walked down the stairs to the main floor
"Probably, but they've been busy with all those marble robots falling out of the sky" Steven replied following her. After saying that a large crystal pad in the back of the house began to glow and a pillar of light erupted from it, both Steven and Connie turned towards the pad and walked towards it ready to greet the three figures standing on it.
The first was slender, thin build, pale cream-colored skin, sky-blue eyes, a pointed nose and thin lips she wore an aqua-blue tunic-leotard with a small gold star on the center of her chest and a lighter satin sash ribbon around her upper waist, an Oval shaped gem embedded in her forehead this was Pearl.
The next was the shortest of the three purple skin and hair that almost touched the ground, she wore mauve, oversized, off-shoulder tank top with a black bra underneath, black leggings with star-shaped cutouts on the knees there being a tear above the left star, a round purple gem embedded in her chest slightly obscured by her shirt she was Amethyst.
The final was the tallest of the three she has medium, maroon colored skin, and black hair styled into a cube-shaped afro she wore triangular futuristic, translucent orange-tinted shades. And she wore a black and crimson bodysuit, with cubic shoulder pads, and a pink star with a magenta outline on her chest She also had long, elbow-length black gloves that covered her middle fingers, on each of her palms a circular gems rested one with a square cut the other with a triangle cut, the final one was Garnet and together they were the Crystal Gems.
"Hello Connie, Hello Steven did you two enjoy your show" Garnet said
"Oh it was amazing it left on a cliffhanger you would never see coming" Steven replied excitedly, Garnet smiled back and replied
"Try me"
Steven blushed and giggled nervously realizing what he just said
"So did you guys destroy more of the marble robots" Connie asked curiously, Amethyst jumped on the answer with her usual energy and bravado
"Heck yeah we did, though I don't know why they're still coming I thought it did what it was supposed to do already"
Pearl was next to answer "They're probably trying to gather more information on the planet and what's here, any way of halting that progress would be beneficial to us". Steven thought back to meeting Peridot back at the kindergarten and wondered what she and Homeworld would want with Earth his thoughts suddenly snapped back to what he was going to ask the gems
"Oh guys I wanted to ask you if you knew about the weird stuff going on in Metropolis", "What going on in Metropolis" Amethyst asked, Garnet put her hand up signaling that she had something to say
"We can talk about that later, we have to head out to the Kindergarten I'm sensing a disturbance coming from it".
"Uuuugh probably more of those things, say Steven Connie you two wanna come with us and smash these things, it's really fun" Amethyst asked the two
"Smashing sound fun" Steven said
"I should probably start heading home, but you guys have fun smashing alright" Connie said as she gathered her things. Steven waved goodbye to Connie as she walked out the door "Come on Steven we gotta go" Amethyst yelled to Steven as she and the others stepped onto the warp pad. Steven ran onto the pad with the other smiling for the adventure ahead of him "Care to do the honors Steven" Garnet said smiling at him he smiled back and began to focus, the pad began to glow and a pillar of light erupted from the pad engulfing the four people and sending them far away from their home.
Daily Planet, Metropolis
"Were going…Under the Knife", the TV played from the break room of the Daily Planet Metropolis's oldest newspaper
Three people sat at the table watching the program. The first was a woman in her early twenties Caucasian, black hair that went to her shoulders, and violet eyes she wore a purple business suit and a white skirt her name was Lois Lane ace reporter of the Daily Planet.
The next was a young man 15 years old messy orange hair, freckles on his face, and green eyes a camera on the table next to him. He wore a green plaid button up shirt, brown pants, and converse sneakers this was Jimmy Olsen.
The last man was the tallest of the group though he tried to hide that by slouching, large spherical glasses overtake his face and dim his eye color, his hair neatly swept back, he wore a dark blue business suit with a white shirt and red tie, his clothes were a size to big hiding his body shape this man was Clark Kent reporter and writer for the Daily Planet.
"I can't believe you guys spend your Wednesday's watching this drivel, it's like every other soap on TV" Lois said in a bored tone
"This is so much more than those other shows filling the timeslots, it has so much more emotion and depth right CK" Jimmy said with pride and bravado as he face Clark. Clark simply shrugged and said in a soft voice
"I just think its fun to watch"
Lois sighed and took the remote changing the channel going to the Metropolis News
"….for six months now…."
Jimmy's face lit up as he heard the report "Hey they're talking about him the blur" Jimmy said excitedly
"Yeah Yeah Jim we all heard about the blur who saved you from a falling air conditioner" Lois said passively waving Jimmy off.
"He did I was right under that thing and he pushed me out of the way, it was a miracle" Jimmy said yelled slightly annoyed.
"No you just got really lucky, who walks down a crowded street with headphones anyway you're in the city" Lois said as she stood up from her chair and walked to the door
"You don't believe in Miracles Ms. Lane" Clark asked as he began to follow
"I believe what I can see Smallville, and that everything has a reasonable answer angels don't come from heaven to save people" Lois said walking into the bustling newsroom of the Daily Planet.
The room was full of people some sat at cubicles, some were in small groups talking to each other, and some ran around with piles of paper with either photos or words they all had one objective to make the next issue of the Daily Planet as interesting as possible. Lois sat her desk which was a pigsty, covered with various sheets of scrap paper, food, and clothes she wiped some of the junk off her keyboard and began working. Clark's cubicle was right across from her and was the complete opposite everything was neat and tidy paper filed into piles or put into his cabinet, on his desk was a picture of him and his parents, sticky note with various reminders, and a clock in the shape of a cat, and finally under his desk was a brown duffel bag.
"I don't know Ms. Lane I like the idea of someone just doing something good just because he should" Clark said as he sat at his desk and began working.
"Okay even if this angel did exist and was responsible for all these 'Miracles' the past six months why would he bother doing all that what's his angle" Lois asked Clark starkly ready for his answer
"Maybe he's just a nice guy with some spare time" Clark replied just as starkly.
Lois sighed at him before going back to work "Yeah keep holding on to that ole Kansas charm it'll get you far around here"
"Maybe you should pick up some of that charm it could help you with…. This" Jimmy said as he walked up to Lois looking at her desk.
"This is how I organize I know where everything is when I need it" Lois said as she reached under her desk pulling a sticky note off from the bottom
"Maybe you could get something to brighten your area up a bit" Clark asked sheepishly "What you mean like your Cookie Cat Clock, you know they don't even make those things anymore right" Lois said pointing to the clock on Clark's desk
"It's vintage I had it ever since I was a kid" Clark said defensively.
"The day Cookie cats left this world was a dark day for humanity" Jimmy said grimly looking down
Lois groaned at the two people who for some reason she decided to hangout with. For the most part she kept to herself at work that was until four months ago when Clark Kent was hired onto the Daily Planets dying staff, the Planet was going under and they needed more reporters, then this Kansas farm boy who wrote an okay piece on the assassination of an revolutionary in Africa and was given a job. Clark was an enigma to Lois of all the papers he could work he choose the one on its last legs, and he was so nice and clean he spoke softly, always said good morning and good night even if no one replied, and he had this optimism that was practically an aura around him. It threw Lois off a bit that someone like him would come to Metropolis, guys like him would be eaten alive though to his credit he is lasting longer than most would.
Next was James Bartholomew Olsen a high school sophomore wishing to get into the news business, he came to the Planet wishing to become a photographer and to run a blog along with the newspaper the chief made him an intern saying that if he proved himself he might get a chance. So he picks up coffee, doughnuts, and fills the copier with paper he been getting a lot more work since most of the planets janitors quit, but Jimmy never complained he really wanted to do this Lois respected that. If only he could control that mouth of his, he would go on and on about movies, theories, books, and TV shows like that crying food show.
For the longest Lois believed that it was survival of the fittest in order to survive in this line of work so she didn't have many friends at the planet, then these two came and she spends her lunches with them. Perhaps she gravitated towards them because they were the odd ones in the office like her, it felt good to hang out with them despite they're weird choices in TV.
"By the way how's that blog of yours coming along Jim" Lois asked eyes still glued to her computer screen
"It going good, last night I one follower so now I'm finally ahead of that Keep wherever Weird Blog" Jimmy said happily.
"Alright everyone listen up" a voice boomed getting the attention of everyone in the newsroom.
The voice came from a man in his mid-forties brown hair greying on the sides, black pants held up by red suspenders, dress shoes, and a blue shirt this was Perry White editor in chief of the Daily Planet. He took his lit cigar from his mouth and brought out a bar graph
"These are the sales from the past month, they're even lower than before, the only people who buy our papers are the homeless so they don't have to be cold at night" Perry said clearly upset
"We need to step up our game people the Daily Star is getting ahead of us, they have better pictures, better interviews, and overall a better set up than ours, I need all our reporter looking for stories to catch our readers attention and propel us out of this rut before we're all out of the job understood" Perry said looking around getting nod from all the workers.
Perry took a breath as he walked to Lois Lanes desk
"Please tell me your working on your next big story" Perry asked exhausted
"I am Perry, Lexcorp has sent a huge team of scientist and military to study those…." Lois said but Perry stopped her
"How many times do I have to tell you that Luthor is a no go" Perry said raking his hands through his hair.
"Oh come on chief we both know Luthors crooked, this is just another offense to add to the huge list of stuff he's done" Lois said getting up from her chair looking Perry straight in the eye
"A list of offensenses that have not been proven to be connected to him, get me something concrete on Luthor then we can use it, until then get something that sells" Perry said. Jimmy then came up to Perry smiling
"Hey chief it's me Jimmy, Jimmy Olsen, in wanted to ask if you have seen my blog yet"
"Yeah last night, one follower while impressive is not job material your gonna need more if you want to make it here, and don't call me chief" Perry said sarcastically
"I hear yah chief mark my words those numbers are gonna go up I promise" Jimmy said has he ran down the hall. Perry sighed and faced Clark Kent
"Alright Kent show me what you got", Clark was a bit surprised the question
"Uh, Well M-Mr. White I'm almost finished on the piece you gave me on the opera house, I was able to get a real good interview with one of the older actors" Clark said giving Perry a nervous smile. Perry gave another exhausted sigh as he put his face in his hands
"Is there something wrong Mr. White" Clark asked
"Kent I hired you because of that African piece, in order to get that you had to go neck deep into a war torn country where you had a 75% chance of being shot for just being white, I hired you because you looked like someone who would do anything to make sure the truth gets out, in the four months you've been here what have you done" Perry asked Clark not quite yelling but above speaking tone.
"Um….Well I've done all the assignments you gave and on time if I might add" Clark said ending with a nervous laugh
"Exactly you done everything I told you, you haven't come to me to suggest one story you want to do you stay at your cubicle only leaving when works over or one of your sudden excuses to leave, we can't have people who just skim by here Kent not with our situation, I hired you based on your potential now I want you to show me that potential or you're going to be the first on the chopping block when we start cutting people off" Perry yelled at Clark. Clark flinched at Perry's outburst and asked
"So what should I do Mr. White?"
Perry groaned and put his cigar back in his mouth
"I don't know Kent just go out and find a story like a…. city hall scandal, or the living conditions in the slums, or even…." Perry said trying to bring up another point.
Suddenly a boom was heard throughout the entire office it was far away so everybody knew it wasn't from inside the building everyone rushed to the windows and saw a ball of fire rise from the harbor smoke billowing from an unknown location.
"That doesn't look good, what do you think happened CK" Jimmy asked but when he turned around Clark wasn't at his desk his chair was left spinning and the door to the stairs slammed shut
"Finally just needed a little motivation to get off his ass, should've taken the elevator though" Perry said smiling.
"That will be his loss, come on Jimmy ready for some field work" Lois said as she grabbed her coat and ran to the elevator
"Right behind you Ms. Lane, but aren't we stealing Clark's story" Jimmy said following Camera around his neck
"It's not his story unless he gets there first Jim, that's the unspoken rule of the reporter" Lois told Jimmy as the elevator closed.
In the staircase Clark was running with the duffel bag slung over his shoulder though he wasn't going down the stairs he was going to the roof. He opened the door to the roof of the Daily Planet where the globe sat, he ran towards the ledge and removed his glasses he began to focus intensely at the smoke from the harbor. Instantly his sight enhance zooming past and through the various buildings until for him it was like he was standing in front of the building, he recognized the building as one facilities for Star Labs. People were running out the building some were hurt but nothing serious Clark then increased his vision going inside the burning building he then looked for anyone trapped inside. He found five people still in the building one of them was unconscious and two were trying to open a steel shutter door it was to thick for them the break through and the explosion was causing the building to collapse. The emergency workers and firefighter were on their way but at this rate either the fire or the building was going to kill those people if somebody didn't do something soon, and that somebody was him.
He removed his glasses revealing his blue eyes putting the pair into his jacket pocket, he then unraveled his tie stuffing it into another pocket, and he finally unbuttoned his suit jacket and white shirt and with both hands tore the open revealing what was beneath them. A bright blue T-shirt with a red stylized S surrounded by a diamond on the chest Yellow filling the spaces between the curves of the S. He then opened his duffel bag revealing a pair of brown work boots and jeans, both looked worn like they have been in constant use, and also a red bundle of some sort. He took out the two pieces of clothes and put in his suit, he then looked around nervously trying to see if anyone was near before removing his dress shoes and pants, and put on the ones from the duffel bag. After he put the last bit of his work clothes in the bag he walked over to the globe opening a small panel in the base and putting the bag in. He unraveled the red bundle revealing it to be a cape with the same symbol on it as his shirt only black he put the cape on his back attaching the ends to openings on his shoulders. The final touch was that he took a small bit of his swept back on the front and curled in the shape of an S allowing it to hang loosely on his forehead. He looked out to the harbor with a determined look on his face
"Those people will die if help doesn't come soon, this looks like a job for me" he said to himself.
Suddenly the dust and small rocks around him began to slowly lift off the ground and then Clark himself began to rise levitating off the ground. He slowly rose into the air rising until he was above the Daily Planet Globe, he stared down the area at the harbor and in an instant he zoomed across the sky like a bullet ready to save the innocents still trapped.