Author's Note: The title for this chapter comes from a description Hans Zimmer gave of what he was trying to capture while he was creating the main theme of Man of Steel. This chapter ALSO happens to contain what I think might be the greatest scene I've ever written. But I'll let you all be the judge of that.
Also, to the unnamed guest who left a review, I haven't forgotten about Star Wars I'm just trying to find my love of the franchise again.
Alright, enough from me, enjoy!

Chapter 7: The Sound of Infinity

He was heading in a north-western direction. Not that Theo cared. The knowledge that his appearance was irreversible corroded his mindset until he was focused on nothing in particular and yet something very particular. Nothing matter. Only one thing mattered. Through tear-filled eyes, he could see the lights of Madison, Wisconsin glowing brightly in the darkened terrain. He crashed into the grassy terrain, kicking up showers of dirt as he did. He kept running, barreling towards an electrical substation beyond the outskirts of the urban district.

Theo hoped the raw voltage would be enough.

Disregarding the warning signs tied all over the chain-link perimeter fence, he lunged into the midst of it and threw himself into the high-tension wires. They ripped apart and sparked wildly, tens of thousands of volts lashing his body as he fell atop circuit breakers and current transformers. Theo felt the buzz and then the searing heat, praying it would be enough to kill him. But his skin adapted an insulating layer underneath until the voltage became little more than a harmless tingle and his eyes adjusted, the blinding glare of sparks reduced to a mere flicker in front of him.

"No… No no no no no… Why?!"

His cry went unanswered by the crackling electricity. Theo searched among the wreckage, quickly finding a sharp piece of metal; scrap from his fall. He picked it up and raked the sharp edge across his wrist. A sharp, burning pain emanated from his skin as thick blood began to form. But almost as quickly as it had, his skin healed. Theo tried again but the metal didn't leave so much as a mark behind, his skin too dense now for mortal material to harm. Growling in frustration, Theo plunged the sharpened scrap towards his guts, only for the shard to crumple into a useless mound on coming in contact with his body. He stared at the lump of metal in his hand in dismay.

"WHY?!"

Theo lunged out of the ruined substation, charging across grassy terrain as he picked up speed. Tears streamed down his face as he launched into the air again and continued his journey. Wisconsin flew past as he approached Lake Michigan, charging right to the coast of the Great Lake where he stopped and fell to his knees on the shore, looking out at the dark, roiling water. Grasping his head in his hands, he screamed. Screamed in anguish, in despair, in agony, in unbridled hatred. The beastial roar that rose in the back of his throat carried through his torment, echoing across untold miles…

Kara heard it acutely, her super-hearing picking up Theo's scream all the way back in Kansas, and she grit her teeth as though physically pained by frustration and sadness. She leaned against one of the standing wood posts on the farmhouse porch, her face buried in the palm of her hand. She cursed the residual Kryptonite radiation weakening her, she cursed Deadeye, she cursed Amanda Waller and whoever else did this to Theo.

The shutters in an upstairs room banged open as a rush of air precluded Superman bolting from the house after Theo, Kara looking up to catch a streak of blue and scarlet disappearing into the night sky. She exhaled loudly, resigning herself to the house where Ma and Pa were sitting around the dinner table with cups of tea in hand. She sat down with them with a sigh. "What's wrong, Kara?" Ma asked.

The blonde brushed back a few stringy bangs. "Ever since I came to Earth I've been surrounded by adults. When they pulled me out of the stasis pod, when Kal brought me here to stay with you, even when I started being Supergirl and working as a hero with the Justice League. Teddy is the first person my age I've ever met and lived with, probably one of the few people I'd call a friend… like, one of the first I've really made here on Earth. Now he needs help and there's nothing I can do. Nothing! I can fly around the world in seconds! I can level a mountain with a punch! And I can't do anything for him. All this power and what good is it?"

Ma and Pa Kent looked at each other for a moment before regarding Kara again. "Being a friend isn't about using your powers, Kara. Being a friend means sticking with Theodore through the good and the bad. You don't have to be his savior or his hero, you just have to be shoulder-to-shoulder with him while he goes through life's difficult challenges." Pa said.

"That's right." Ma agreed. "Long before we got married, we were best friends all throughout our school years." She explained, reaching over to grasp her husband's hand. "And we went through a lot together, good times and bad times."

"If you want to be Theo's friend, then it's not a question of what you can do for him but how you can be there when he needs you most. You know the old proverb; A true friend sticks closer than a brother." Pa continued and Kara nodded quietly.

"But, then… Like, what do I do about this feeling? What am I supposed to do about feeling so powerless to help him?" She wondered.

"Helping Theo isn't about power, Kara. Helping him is about your words and your presence. You might not be able to pick up this mountain, physically, but you can pick it up emotionally. Just be there for Theo, help him, be nice to him, and that'll lift any sized weight off his shoulders." Pa said.

"So you just have to re-think the way you look at him, dear," Ma picked up, reaching over to grasp Kara's hand, "don't think of yourself or your powers as useless. They're just… not the right tools to fix this. You need different ones. Instead of freezing breath, offer nice kind words to make him feel better. Instead of heat vision, maybe a smile or an interest in his activities to brighten his day. You're not powerless, Kara, you just need some different powers. The power of being a friend, the power to turn his frown upside down."

Kara smiled, her expression somewhere between sadness and acceptance. "Easier said than done, right?"

Pa chuckled and patted her arm. "Kara, honey, nothing worth fighting for is ever easy."

At its deepest point, Lake Michigan was nearly 1000 feet deep. Theo was somewhere slightly shallower, submerging himself in only 500 feet of water. It was dark enough that no visible light could pierce the depths. But his eyes adjusted to the low-light environment, just like his lungs had. Despite Theo's attempt to drown himself, his body evolved a gland to produce oxygen to fill his lungs and hardened the tissues of his organs and skin to adjust to the atmospheres of pressure at the lake's bottom.

Bemoaning his inability to die, Theo remained on his knees on the muck-covered lake bottom, lamenting fate. Maybe he would stay down here forever. What good was living so long as he looked like Doomsday; the monster who once killed Superman? Every time he looked at his grey-skinned hands and the bone plates on the backs of his forearms he saw only reminders of the darkest days in superherodom. He cursed those who made him, who turned him into this hideous creature. Death was preferable to this.

But he couldn't die. No matter how hard he tried, his body would not let him die.

So here he would remain, forever, perhaps, forced to endure a miserable existence as a humanoid reflection of the worst monster in living history. Unwilling to live. Unable to die. Theo sank deeper and deeper into his despair, his adapting body able to withstand his choice of environments. He had no idea how long he knelt there in the cold dark, visited only by the odd specimen of marine life, but he was aware of the moment his agonizing reverie was broken by the acute sounds of splashing water overhead. His super-sensitive hearing picked up an object impacting with the surface of the lake.

Superman dove down without hesitation, scooping Theo up in his arms and hauling him back to the surface. It all happened so fast the young man never had a chance to react. Suddenly the darkness of the lake bottom gave way to crisp night air as Superman carried him higher and higher. "No… No, please!"

"Theo, I need you calm down and just listen to me-" Superman attempted to say.

"Please! Just let me go!" Theo cried, squirming in his grip. "Let me go! Let me die!"

"I can't do that! I won't do that!" Superman retorted, increasing his strength just enough so that Theo was locked firmly within his arms.

"Superman please!"

Theo struggled, the brute strength of his progenitor coming to pass as Superman struggled to hold him. Focused on Theo, his flight pattern grew erratic, rocketing through the night skies on a northbound pattern. At last, Theo wiggled free, throwing himself into the air. Superman dove and caught him, powering Theo onwards. If he was going to prove this volatile, the Man of Steel knew they needed to discuss things in an environment where no bystanders could be hurt and no law enforcement would be around to interrupt. Theo fought against his iron grip as Superman carried them back towards the arctic, the young man punching at his arms in a vain attempt to get free.

They dove low as Theo tried to kick himself out, his limbs butting up against Superman's immovable body. "Theo! Theodore, stop!" The Kryptonian ordered, barreling him down into a glacial island where they kicked up ice and snow in abundance. The shock of the cold gave Theo enough pause to lay still for a moment, long enough for Superman to stand up. "I know you're upset. I get it, I really do. But what you're trying to do is not the answer."

"Then what is?!" Theo exclaimed, tears streaming down his face. "Look at me! I'm a monster! I'm stuck looking like the thing that killed you!" He gestured to himself. "And I can't even kill myself because his stupid damn body keeps regenerating and adapting so it can't die! I CAN'T DIE! What am I supposed to do? Will you do it? Will you kill me like you killed Doomsday?"

"NO!" Superman shouted. His expression hardened. Not into one of malice or rebuke, but that of a man firm in his position. It was a line he would not cross. "God almighty, no! Every day I loathe the fact I had to kill Doomsday! I don't want to kill anyone, no matter how murderous or misguided they might be! And you're none of those things! You deserve to live, Theo! You deserve a fair chance at life! I'm sorry your normalcy was taken from you, but you still have a life to live!"

"No I don't!" Theo screamed. "Not so long as I look like this!" He threw himself out of the snow and crawled to the edge of the glacial mound. He forced himself to his feet and looked back over his shoulder. Superman was motionless, looking mountainous in the land where the sun never set some days. He stood with his hands on his hips, framed by the scarlet-coloured clouds like a strongman, a colossus… Hercules, Samson, the myths of Ancient Greece, all rolled into one titanic figure. Theo briefly wondered why he didn't just leave him alone. "I can't even go out in public. All anyone will ever see in me is a monster… Superman's killer reborn." He fell to a seated posture, hands around his head. He said nothing, blubbering quietly. Superman approached and sat down beside him, still unspeaking. "I just want to die…" Theo whimpered. "I can't live like this. They… I'm a monster." He held his head in his hands, regretting every second of his existence.

For a moment, Superman just sat silently, saying nothing as he waited for Theo to calm down. When the teen finally lifted his head to stare at the ice, he reached an arm around his shoulder in simple solidarity. "My powers manifested for the first time when I was in grade school. I'll never forget it; Miss Rampling's homeroom class. One minute, everything is fine. Suddenly I can see her muscles, then her bones. I was terrified of myself, what I could do, everything. I felt a lot like you do now. I thought I was a monster. I wondered if God did this to me or if I was a freak in the making." He said in a quiet, understanding voice. "I told my folks about it. Ma settled me down with a glass of warm milk and some fresh cookies. Pa told me all about the space capsule he had hidden underneath the barn, told me I was an alien and that I came from the stars and landed in a cornfield. I felt a lot like you do now; I just wanted to be normal again, not some stranger from space. That's when Pa told me something I'll never forget." He looked at Theo, smiling faintly. "Wanna know what it was?"

Theo sniffed. "What?"

"He told me, 'Clark, you're our son. And we love you no matter what. No matter where you come from or what you can do, we love you, and we'll do our best to turn you into the finest young man the world has ever seen. But you have a choice to make: you have to choose what you're going to do with your life and the power you've been given. You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Because whoever that man is, good character or bad, he's going to change the world.' And I've clung to those words every day since." Superman answered, repeating from memory. His smile grew and his grip on Theo's shoulder tightened. "Those people might have wanted to make you a monster, Theodore, but you don't have to be. You're a bright young man, full of potential and promise. Who cares if you look different? There's still good in you. They tried to strip you of your humanity, but they could never claim your soul: who you are. The course of your life is your choice, it's not up to them. You can choose for yourself if you want to hurt people or help them. It's totally up to you."

Theo sniffed again, wanting to believe what Superman said with every fibre of his being. He looked up, crimson meeting blue. His emotional tumult fought back against the infectious sense of hope Superman radiated. He wanted to wallow in his misery but Superman wasn't giving him any room to.

"I wish I could choose to be normal again." Theo mumbled and Superman chuckled.

"I know. I'm pretty sure I said those exact words the day I found out I was a Kryptonian. Life just isn't fair sometimes. Nothing we can do about that. All we can do is decide how to manage the hand we've been dealt. It took me a long time to come to terms with who I was, Kryptonian instead of human. Those were some of my hardest days and nights. Until I learned to accept myself for who I am and not let my circumstances define me, as well as come to grips with the inherent responsibility that came with my reality, only in acceptance did I find peace. You can too. You have people willing to help you, Theodore. Me, Kara… Batman to an extent. You're not alone in this. All you have to do is let us in. We'll help you. And I'll be there for you every step of the way. I promise. I don't care if you look like Doomsday. I care about you wanting to live. Someone still has plans for you, Theo, to give you hope and a future. And if I'm the guiding hand that will give those to you, so be it. Be true to yourself. Be true to the morals that you believe in with all your heart. That's what matters." Theo nodded slowly, noncommittal but understanding.

"A-Are you… sure? Because all I feel like is that there's nothing for me. That the… the choice to change my appearance came with the inclination to hurt people, like Doomsday did."

"That choice is still yours to make. Maybe it was a coincidence, or it was providence, but you managed to escape when you did for a reason." Superman urged, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and pulling Theo closer. "It's all up to you. You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Theodore. Because whoever that man is, good character or bad, he's going to change the world. And you can't do that if you're dead." Theo looked up, some sort of cautious optimism hiding behind the forlorn look in his eyes. In that brief moment, Superman's wisdom was akin to a father's… and Theo wished that, to some degree, he had a father like Superman. Theo had never really known a model figure, no man of the house outside of himself.

Maybe, just maybe, the Man of Steel was right about being the one to put him on the right path.

Superman's gaze turned up, studying the rising sun as it caused the arctic landscape to shimmer like a million diamonds. "Besides, you wouldn't want to miss out on a beautiful day like this." He said with a soft smile.

Theo looked up, his gaze sullen. "Sorry… but I dunno what's so beautiful about it."

Superman gave him a pat on the shoulder and then stood, moving just in front of him. "Well, the sun's up, the air is crisp, it's already off to a good start. Of course, this is just part of it. There's a lot more out there that's beautiful, not just the Arctic." He surmised, studying the land. He turned back and offered his hand, still smiling. "Wanna see something really cool?" He wondered with near-childish eagerness. For a moment, Theo just stared at his hand, struggling to decide if he wanted to keep sulking or maybe, just maybe, see what Superman was talking about. He glanced between his eyes and his hand for some time. Superman did not move.

He accepted his hand and Superman helped him up, wrapping his arm around his waist. His infectious grin persisted. "Hold on tight."

Faster than a speeding bullet, Superman launched them into the air, taking flight in a graceful arc as he flew Theo across the Atlantic, a sonic boom shattering behind them as he flew the young man across the world. Leaving the barren polar region behind, Superman zipped them across the ocean to the coast of Africa where they passed over the lush green forests and towering snow-capped mountains of the Congo to Kenya, where he cruised above a grassy brown savannah, barnstorming a herd of stampeding zebras and skirted past a herd of giraffes. Theo was in awe, witnessing creatures he'd only ever encountered in textbooks or school trips to the local zoo. To see them in their native realm, running wild… free… it was awesome.

His gloom disappeared, Superman taking note of Theo's awestruck expression with a smile.

The hot African sun filled Superman with speed and energy as he rocketed back up into the jet stream, heading west toward America. Miles sped by in seconds. A cool ocean spray pelted their faces as Superman skimmed across the Pacific. The salty air was fresh and invigorated, further purging Theo's melancholy as he crossed waters that, at one time, he believed he never would. They bolted over islands of white sand and vibrant green trees, shot across oceans so blue they put every other instance of the color to shame.

The ocean behind them, Superman continued on his way, climbing higher and higher into the sky. A thick layer of clouds hung before him, but he punched through the misty barrier and emerged into the sunlight. The Man of Steel rocketed up into the atmosphere as blue turned to black while he carried Theo above the world, showing off the magnificent blue planet as only people like them could see it. His enhanced body allowed him to survive the vacuum of space and the sight of his world captivated Theo, the whole of the Earth was laid out before them and Theo was left dumbstruck by the sheer enormity of it all. He'd never seen the world like this before.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Superman asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Theo replied, a little choked up. "Yeah, it… it really is."

Superman looked at him and grinned. "It's all we got, Theodore. But it's worth living for. It's home to all kinds of colorful characters… you and me included. Sometimes you just have to hope tomorrow will be better than today… If you look for it, really look for it, you can see the good in life and know that living is the better choice. Life is victory, Theo. Never forget that." Theo chuckled, finally regarding Superman with a tearful smile.

Beaming brightly, Superman launched them back down to Earth, a fiery glow enveloping them as they re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Reaching North America faster than any commercial jet, Superman took them on an aerial tour of Monument Valley, Utah. He wove through the rusty limestone buttes and mesas jutting up from the desert floor. Clark's fist stretched out in front to control his flight, Theo still secure under his other arm, and he banked and rolled like a fighter jet. He took a corner too quickly and clipped the edge of a towering rock formation, sending a loose boulder plummeting toward the cacti that grew on the desert floor.

"Oops. Hang on!"

He dived after the dislodged rock, catching it with one hand before it hit the ground, Theo still snug under his other arm. Superman placed it safely on top of a convenient mesa before continuing on their way. Rising up out of the canyons and valleys, he shot back towards Kansas, shattering the sound barrier as they did. They skimmed across fields of purest green grass, dodged roaming herds of wildlife, bolted over prairies golden with wheat, Theo stretching out his hand to glide across the tops of the crop as Superman powered them at high speed across state line after state line. Theo looked at him, the Man of Steel, cool and confident in every motion and action, with a newfound sense of admiration. He looked down at the great 'S' shield on his chest and realized it never stood for 'Superman'. It was a symbol. A symbol for hope. Hope for the living. Hope for the downcast. Hope for the future.

He would be there for him. Theo could feel it. Superman was, after all, the Man of Tomorrow.