Zerayah's Adventures with Superman 3: Kent meet Cain
Clark Kent did not know what he was, and frankly it didn't usually matter, his ma and pa had assured him after all that no matter what he was still their Clark and that was the end of it. But when the astartes got down on one knee proclaiming him a Primarch he felt in that moment so far away even when he stopped hovering his feet didn't feel like they would touch the ground. He knew some things about the legendary warriors of old, and vague details of the Horus Heresy which despite being so censored defined the very existence of the Imperium as it stood for millennia and likely for the rest of time. Yet to be directly assumed to be one of those legendary existences? That was something even he had a hard time imagining, even now well past midnight the day after the incident.
Was he? Honestly he didn't know, he had denied it vehemently of course when the subject first came up with a nervous chuckle but the more Hektor kept talking the more uncomfortably close things fell into place. He had arrived as an infant from the stars in a pod of incredible lost technology, he had developed strange powers early in his youth even though he didn't have a rushed childhood like the primarchs of the history tomes, he never got ill nor did his body ever waver from peak condition. So many things would fall into place so easily if it was simply the truth, however...
He rested a hand on his chest, feeling the steady beating of his heart. His single heart. He knew the Primarchs were beings meant for conquest, but he didn't want to conquer. He didn't want anything to do with actually ruling, he struggled not to go mad knowing he could not possibly help everyone already! And if he truly sought out power, sought to oust Cain from his chair and take the reins of the planet...
He had vivid nightmares once, of himself, older and worn down by the world, heart frozen in ice and caged in steel. A tyrant with an unquestioned rule over a world... perhaps more than a world... feared by all and questioned by none. The idea horrified him and he awoke in a cold sweat bawling his eyes out incoherently until his mama sung him back to sleep. Was that what he was meant for? He wanted nothing to do with it.
What would he even say to his loved ones if he suddenly declared himself lord of their world? Could he even look Zerayah in the eyes if that was what he was to become?
Speaking of the little devil, her true origin was a bit of a shock, but in truth it was his fault for not noticing, honestly she had not even really been hiding it. It was his own wilful lack of exposure to live broadcasts of events, instead relying on less headache inducing auditory media, that caused his terrible lack of knowledge in the first place after all. Still there was doubtless a strange irrational sense of betrayal that his friend, one of his only true friends besides Jimmy and the only one that knew his secret, that he would reveal his secrets to her before she gave him her own. Then again what right did he have to expect that anyway?
What were they truly?
A loud buzzing from his dataslate shook the bad thoughts away. Someone was calling, at this hour? Wouldn't most people need to sleep at this time? Unless...
It was Zerayah. Of course it was. With a strange mixture of dread and anticipation he answered the call.
"What is it L- Zerayah? It's three in the morning." He gave a faux yawn, pretending he was sleepy. Honestly he could probably go a long time without sleep, he just hadn't tried. It was one of those pointless little rituals that could distract himself from how other he was.
"Emergency! My dad has demanded to see you!" Zerayah hissed on the other side.
"Wait... your dad... Cain?" He gasped. He knew it shouldn't have been so shocking, especially after... recent events... but to see the Liberator in person was something he had only dreamed about until recently. It still didn't feel real in fact to have been so close to his daughter.
"Yes! Bring your fanciest clothes and a special escort will be taking you straight to the Palace shortly after dawn!" She instructed. "I really wanted to call you earlier about this but ugh... papa still insists I am too young for 'boy business' and Aunty Malicia has been practically glued to my back all day..."
"He chuckled a the somewhat comedic idea of the always larger than life Liberator acting like a mundane strict father before a terrible thought struck him. "Say... if you are Cain's adopted daughter how old are you really?"
"Six." She replied far too nonchalantly.
"Are you sure you aren't the Primarch?" He chuckled, trying to hide some of his more uncomfortable feelings from entering his voice. He actually assumed she was older than him when he first met her! What the frak?
"I know what I am, I am worse." She replied far too confidently for it to be a lie or bluff. "Good luck for tomorrow... or rather later today!"
"Thanks..." He said before hanging up, hoping his dread didn't seep into his voice too much.
Cain sipped his recaf as he patiently awaited his guest. Only Malicia was by his side with Jurgen presently occupied driving the young lad here personally, this meeting was far too important and secret to involve some of the more... excitable... members of the council. It had been a small miracle Hektor wasn't more talkative in fact about the apparent primarch that was right beneath his nose all this time!
How had he missed it? How had anyone missed it? How often do boys with strange supernatural powers fall out of the sky anyway? Why did he so happen to be so close to his daughter and what did he do to offend the God Emperor so that his son was his problem!
...actually scratch that he knew the answer to the last one. The others were valid concerns though!
Still he could not afford to show weakness, he was meant to be the great Liberator after all. Screaming and throwing a panicked fit over the fact a demigod had slipped right past any of their noses in front of his loyal retainers would probably result in nothing less than his head off his shoulders and his soul exposed to the tender mercies of Emeli. So he sipped the recaf, and practiced some meditative exercises to keep his heart rate down.
It was perhaps a blessing in disguise. He studied up on Primarchs to prepare for this meeting, he knew each of them held ambitions to take over their homeworlds one way or another by the time adulthood came around. He could use this! Why fight the unstoppable demigod who thinks he can, and let's not kid himself probably would, do a better job ruling the two worlds presently under his belt when he could simply acknowledge his superior credentials after a short meeting and be free to live out the rest of his life in a safe advisory position! He had long since accepted fleeing back to the Imperium was a direct ticket towards his execution, but perhaps a cushy administrative role wasn't out of the question if all the nitty gritty of ruling could be managed by someone else.
Wait... Slawkenberg was a mess of Chaos Cults, ones he struggled to balance at the best of times. What would happen if they disagreed with the new rulership? Or perhaps worse, agreed far too well? Was a new Horus in the works?
Before he could continue much further down that path of reasoning a polite knock informed him of Jurgen's arrival. Internally he swore to himself, he had expected the traffic-law obsessed psyker to have taken at least another half hour but clearly he had managed to make his way early. Ah well, it was for circumstances such as these he always made sure to at least present the illusion of preparedness at all times.
"Come on in and make yourselves comfortable!" He called out as the doors to his office swung open. He did not miss the hardened look in Malicia's eyes beneath a layer of dread. He didn't wuite blame her, after all this was the man his daughter had been gushing about, and something about that thought made him irrationally ready to rev his chainsword despite the obvious consequences.
By Jurgen's side was a tall (though only humanly tall, and perhaps just a few inches over Cain's own height), athletic and distinctly nervous youth with raven hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked like he was some sort of young actor for a popular Holodrama, not a Demigod who alongside Zerayah easily banished a daemon of Nurgle in the sewers. Then the boy straightened his back and those deep blue orbs met his own and hardened with a steely determination that hit him like physical force. His survival instincts were screaming this boy was dangerous, no longer a slightly lost teenager, but a credible threat to him and likely most of the planet.
He smiled as politely as he could manage. "Clark Kent I assume? My daughter has spoken a lot about you! Come take a seat!"
Once more the young man stiffened and hovered his way to his seat, and even Jurgen's eyes widened at the mundane use of the power, and sat down shrinking back into the image of a nervous boy perhaps caught in the windowsill of a girl's room. "I uh... it's a pleasure to meet you Lord Lib-"
"Just Cain will do, please! Recaf?" He offered, laughing down the lad's deference. After all, in all likelihood it would be him who was in his chair soon enough and he couldn't afford to piss off a primarch!
"Y- yeah Cain... sorry it's still so surreal... I looked up to you, you know? It was your acts during the revolution that inspired me to become a hero... sorry it's all still so surreal..." Clark replied, nervousness melting and a strange undercurrent of reverence entered his voice. Internally he wondered just how exaggerated his exploits had become to garner the admiration of a Primarch.
"Well, I am glad to hear it young man, for what it is worth I am happy you find me a worthy role model." He said between contemplative sips. "Truth be told I was wondering if you had any complaints about the way I run things."
Clark's eyes grew sharp and Cain thought he ahd found the golden ticket to escaping power, before the boy actually began to speak. "I could imagine no greater leader for Slawkenberg than you, even now you demonstrate the humility I have written entire essays about. You are my idol, but I am under no illusion that I could do any better than you. Even in the most difficult of times you always find the best choices which define the lives of countless millions, I only feel confident of saving people with my own two hands. You brought hope in the most hopeless of times, you showed me that there was still a point in seeking change, I could not imagine a better representative of the Great Architect if I tried."
Internally Cain's soul screamed so hard at the boy's naked gushing it shook his very metaphysical essence. Not only did the primarch have no interest in leadership, but apparently he was already embroiled in Jafar's cult! He didn't even have the decency to have the ambition so inherent to every other Tzeentchi! But he was in too deep, he had to push on. "I am flattered, but I am truly only human after all... I fear I may not be as perfect as you think."
"And that is exactly why you have for so many years been my inspiration!" Clark beamed with a dazzling smile that forced him to actually squint his eyes, by the Emperor his daughter had actually undersold the effect of the smiles what sort of Witchcraft was this? "I cannot even imagine taking your place! After all I am but a simple farmer's boy in the end, I don't even know a lick about ruling! But I believe in spreading the sacred truth as you do which is why... I want to be a journalist!"
He said it with such heartfelt earnestness that Cain could no longer deny the simple truth that somehow he had either landed the one primarch who actually wanted nothing to do with power, managed to convince a primarch that he was somehow the ideal ruler or quite possibly both. What sort of truly monstrous sinner was he in a previous life?
"I see... now then, I have already been briefed about your... nature." He continued, hoping to move on before he was literally melted by the intensity of the idol worship going on in his office. "I take it you have bonded with my daughter over it in fact, she always had quite the stories to share about you. Though of course I didn't expect you to drag her straight into a Nurglite cult..."
Clark paled before hardening his expression with conviction. "If you fear I was leading your daughter into danger know that I will never allow any harm come to her, I swear on my life and honour! In truth I wanted to investigate the cult first, but Zerayah managed to somehow track them down and convinced me that such a dangerous rot could not be let to spread any longer and that we were both least likely to be infected and hurt across the entire world. Had any true danger emerged I would have ensured your daughter's safe escape with my life."
Cain didn't miss the small blush on Clark's face as he continued prattling off some storybook knight-pilot speech. Evidently Malicia and Jurgen didn't miss it either considering the mildly murderous pressure in the room. He had some concerns of his own to air as well, which he did with more harshness than perhaps was wise. "What pray tell are your intentions with my daughter Clark Kent?"
Turning red as a beet and exhibiting some truly remarkable facial expressions Clark stammered as he struggled to answer. "I- she's a friend! One of by b-best friends actually! I-I can be honest around her and it's... it's nice..."
"Just a friend? Really?" Cain hummed before he leaned forward to look Clark in his eye. "Let's not kid ourselves, I was a boy your age once as well, and I-"
Suddenly in the middle of the room another smothering presence murdered the rest of his sentence before he could spit it out, overpowering even the combined pressure of Malica and Jurgen's protective aura, made itself known as Zerayah appeared quite literally out of thin air. Hissing much like that giant furred beast she was so fond of she screamed, various spiky and venom dripping spines, claws and teeth erupting as she did. "DAD! UNCLE JURGEN! AUNT MALICIA! I AM NOT A BABY ANYMORE! STOP TRYING TO CONTROL EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IN MY LIFE!"
Ah. She was probably there the whole time wasn't she? Despite the fact she once again reminded him how easily she could murder him before he even realised he felt a strange pride and worry enter his heart.
"We just want to make sure he doesn't take advantage of you dear. We hardly knew anything about the boy after all, what if he wanted to use you?" Caiphas responded first, words flowing far more naturally than anticipated.
"You are far too young to be thinking about things like boys young lady!" Jurgen huffed. "I know you don't age like other children, but you are six years old! Of course I am not going to be happy about any brutes getting near you!"
"I just wanted him to know if he ever thinks about hurting you our kind has techniques for dealing with creatures of his durability." Malicia offered nonchalantly, causing Clark to go whiter than the hole he had inadvertently torn in reality still floating in space ominously to this day.
"NONE OF YOU TRUST ME SO OF COURSE YOU DON'T TRUST HIM!" She hissed, tears in her deep purple eyes. Cain felt his heart twist uncomfortably in his chest which for once had nothing to do with fear, at least not for his life. "HE'S NICE, HE'S SWEET AND BY THE GODS WE HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING! I COULD FIGHT THE UNITED SLAWKENBERG ARMY AND WIN, I KNOW MORE THAN EVEN SOME OF MY TEACHERS AND EVERYONE ELSE MY AGE IS BARELY ABLE TO WRITE IN FULL SENTENCES! SO WHY... why won't you trust me to make my choices?"
She grew quiet at the end, a silence that had spread across everyone else in the room. Before anyone could speak further she grabbed Clark's hand and started to drag him off. "Let's go Clark, you don't deserve to be interrogated all day."
Clark mouthed a silent apology before the two of them disappeared in a gust of heavy wind, a sonic boom ruining his neatly arranged office decor in their wake.
"You know, I know family can be difficult sometimes, they just really care about you Zerayah. I could tell they are only doing this because they truly love you." Clark said when Zerayah finally calmed down in some hidden section of the Liberator's palace where they were hiding at the moment. She knew that of course, but in the heat of the moment it didn't matter to her, drowned out by outrage that they would even think about accusing innocent Clark Kent of being a danger to her. That they did not trust her to know how to keep herself safe, like she was still only a month old and fragile and unknowing and weak. An idea that rubbed every single instinct the wrong way.
"Not enough to trust me..." She ended up saying, more bitterly than even she believed deep down.
"You don't mean that." Clark picked up instantly, how wonderfully astute as always. "And you know they didn't mean any of that either. They are just worried because even though you don't age like a human, or whatever Malicia is, they think your lack of experience might lead you to trouble. I suppose you could take it as lack of trust but I would rather think of it as-"
"Do you trust me Clark?" She whispered, cutting him off. It was so weak so vulnerable some part of her wanted to vomit up acid and melt straight through the floor as she had done on multiple occasions.
"Of course I do!" He answered as if it wasn't even a question.
"...and are we really just friends?" She asked, downright pathetically.
"What- what do you mean?" Clark stuttered before a terrible impulsive thought washed over her and she found herself leaning over to kiss the big idiot straight on the lips. It was a quick, honestly incredibly chaste thing, but nonetheless when she pulled herself off she was panting for breath and fighting to keep a coherent shape.
"That answer your question?" She huffed indignantly, not quite willing to meet Clark's eyes.
Clark seemed to be taking a time to process the moment, sitting in complete silence with a far off expression in his eyes for so long she began to worry she had managed to somehow synthesise a toxin that could affect him. "Ah I- uh... I didn't know you felt that way m- miss Cain..."
"Ah forget it farm boy." She sighed, fighting the urge to collapse into a boneless ball and develop multiple sets of mouths for the express purpose of screaming. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, I didn't even ask you if it was alright and I don't even know if y-"
He put a sturdy set of hands on her shoulders and looked her in her eyes, waiting for her to centre herself. "Calm down Zerayah, I can't say I really mind it to be honest. To be honest after you first told me that you were like me, that you understood... I felt the- the same way."
A deep blush coloured his face as his fingers fidgeted with non existent glasses.
She felt a mixture of elation, relief and uncertainty which hit her like an Adumbrian coastal storm-front that manifested in her mouth as a simple. "Oh."
"...and if you want to do this you will have to meet my ma and pa as well. Don't worry, they won't be as intense as your father, but they might ask some similar questions. All parents are like that, I think." He said perhaps a bit too quickly, face still nigh crimson.
"I look forward to it..." She responded with a wide, toothy smile.