Chapter Two
Location: Earth-19753
Another day had already begun, with the sky of complete bright grey slowly hovering over the small urban city. Countless cars and other vehicles dawdled along through irregular traffic, and scattered crowds of people marched back and forth among the streets and pavement. Even in a world filled with superheroes and supervillains alike, this Earth still remains stable enough and easily kept together.
Among the many people wandering along the streets was a young woman of fair-toned skin, innocent azure-blue eyes, and bright ginger-orange hair that ran down past her shoulders. She wore a simple white T-shirt and a black knee-length skirt within a bright blue hoodie jacket as well as grey slip-on shoes. Through headphones, she played and listened to some alternative rock music, slightly bobbing her head and stepping her feet to nearly each and every beat.
However, along her way, something or someone caught her eye, making her turn her head and halt her step. An elderly man with wrinkled pale skin, greying hair and beard, and weary eyes that stared slightly down into the low distance. Between his peeling boots was a small plastic yellow cup, barely devoid of any content within, with several scratches across its surface. He shivered and shrivelled in the chilling air, even when he wrapped himself tight within his worn out green coat.
The girl looked on with dewy eyes, slightly wide with clear innocence. The music in her headphones still played on as usual, but even that didn't break away her attention and focus. If anything, it almost matched the very mood itself. She reached into his pocket, hoping to offer at least something for the poor man, before eventually pulling out a couple of pennies among a few bits of dusty fluff. Glancing at the man again, she looked down at the coins once more before laying them down on the cup itself.
Hearing the clinking sound, the old man moved his whole head down to see the coins safely dropped inside the cup before looking back up to see the person who gave them before him. The girl gave a little nod and a smile at the man, who in turn smiled and nodded back. Feeling her heart and spirit lifted at least a little bit, the young girl gave a fleeting wave to the man before she carried on walking down the pavement in the street.
Someone like her could've very easily kept such coins to herself and buy something herself, and only herself. But the act of giving them away to someone with lesser fortune and in greater need than her, even just the mere thought of it, made her feel something within. A feeling of selfless fulfilment and relish, enough to make her smile glow with radiance.
Just then, as she reached a vast grassy field and continued walking along path on the side of it, with much less life surrounding if any, a flashing glimpse of light erupted by the corner of her eye. Turning her head to the source, the girl could see what looked like a glowing disc of bright blue light, swirling and shimmering on the distance in the field of green. She walked a few steps towards the strange light, pausing her music and taking off her headphones. Soon yet suddenly, a figure leapt out of the vortex and fell face-first to the ground. A man in azure, black, and white, with a long glowing stick of sickly greenish-yellow hardlight sticking right into and through his back.
The girl leapt over and dashed forth towards the seemingly injured man, just as the portal started to shrink and evaporate altogether entirely, vanishing without even a trace as if it hadn't been there at all. As soon as the girl reached the laying body, the lance itself too disappeared as well but leaving the wound still clear and severe. She took off her jacket, folded it, and pressed it into the wound itself. Struggling carefully, the girl then rolled the man onto his back while still holding and keeping her jacket in place, only to find that the impalement had already made it through to the other side in the man's chest.
"Sir, you okay?" She asked. "Can you hear me?"
In response, the man coughed a few bits of blood before groaning and looking up at the girl. "Ye-yeah... I can..." He barely spoke an answer.
"I don't exactly know what happened or what you just came from, but you seem definitely hurt", the girl explained the obvious.
"Of course..." The man huffed weakly. "Where's this?"
"Earth. My name's Eudora Eaton", the girl introduced as she closely observed the bleeding man and his somewhat unique yet familiar supersuit. "What's your name?"
"I- I am..." The man tried to talk again, but paused to give a few heavy breaths. "I'm Alex... Alexander Luthor, Junior..."
To be continued...