Issue 7: The End of the Begining...

Superman launched at him and the force of the impact created a shockwave that rippled through the whole of the island.  Deeply rooted trees were ripped from the ground near the impact point, and anything not nailed down or rooted for a mile wide went flying.  They grappled with each other like titans, their raw strength and power pushing them into the ground, cracking the crust of the earth.  Superman ducked underneath Nuclear Man and launched upward with a sonic boom that took them both into the air.  As they scorched the atmosphere breaking escape velocity Nuclear Man pummeled the man of steel’s back.  Finally kicking Superman away, Nuclear Man charged at him.  Superman moved to the side at the last second and grabbed him around the neck in a choke hold and the pair plummeted to the Earth.  Seconds before hitting the ocean, Superman kicked free of Nuclear Man in and the impact sent a towering recoil of water around him.  Superman unleashed his freezing breath creating a pillar of ice to entomb the mad titan.

The pillar exploded and Nuclear Man roared, severe cracks forming in his skin as radiation poured out.  “I will kill you ALL!!!” he bellowed.  The sea around him churned and rose up like two massive hands and clapped around him, squeezing down with what appeared to be immense pressure.  I looked out and off the coast sat a U.S. Navy vessel and, on the flight deck was a blonde man in odd armor with green, scaly pants.  I would later know him to be Aquaman, but right then and there he just looked weird.  But his hand movements matched what the water was doing, so…Aquaman seems to fit.  He called out “Superman!  Freeze him now!”

Superman, I realized now, held onto the device that brought us back from the future and he activated it, throwing it into the ball of water.  He then unleashed his freezing breath again, sealing Nuclear Man inside.  He grabbed hold of the ball of ice and tore through the sky into space.  Deep inside the ball of ice, Nuclear Man began to glow, Superman put on more speed, even though the friction of escaping the atmosphere was weakening the ball from inside.  Finally somewhere between here and the moon, he spun and launched the ball into the black void.  Nuclear Man exploded again, but his energy wave caught the device and triggered it.  The sky filled up with a flash of light and Nuclear Man was gone.

Superman was caught in the wake of the blast.  He found himself adrift, a castaway in the fourth dimension.  He could see alternate realities, some were so distant they appeared monochromatic.  As they got closer to his own reality they became clearer.  He saw himself fighting a version of himself, battling Zod, Ursa, and Non, the Nuclear Man in his first appearance.  Then he saw a version of himself, younger, and larger, breaking Zod’s neck as he threatened families.  Other versions spilled out, varying in age.  Some were younger, wearing a version of his uniform, one did not, but wore a jacket that called back to his red cape.  He looked at his hands and he could feel his atoms destabilizing.  Nuclear Man was there too, also destabilizing, and glowing with rage.  He flew towards Superman, but a red clad arm reached out and caught Superman around the waist, pulling him free of limbo.

I was holding my breath for dear life.  Wonder Woman managed to fly me to the upper atmosphere and throw me into the light.  I vibrated my molecules at just the right frequencies to break free of mater, and grabbed Superman.  Now I hung there in space, unconscious and dying.

I awoke in S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman in a plaid shirt and jeans standing next to me.  Jason  was there too, as was Lois and Diana, who tried to hide herself in a human disguise.  “He’s awake!” Jason cried as I came to.  Harrison was monitoring my vitals.  “Good good…” he said looking at me with a smile “He’s going to be fine.  We’re pushing some serious nourishment into him, but he should be up to snuff in no time.

“Quite a risk you took there, son.” Superman said.  “Totally worth it…” I think I said back, but my head was pounding so hard that it was hard to tell what I was saying.

“Alright alright, you had your moment guys.” Wells interjected.  “He’s still recovering, you can play super friends later.  He needs to rest.”

A week later I was standing at an abandoned building.  There was Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Superman, and myself, all in costume.  “I’ve come to a realization…” Superman said.  We are all committed to the same cause, to protect this world.  But we can’t do that on our own.  Not one of us is capable of handling all the threats alone.  I am proposing a united force against evil.  A league dedicated to justice, to fight for freedom of all sentient beings who call Earth home.

Aquaman scratched his beard “I don’t know.” He said “Atlantis has been handling things on the ocean floor just fine by itself.”

Wonder Woman stepped forward “Amazon is its own state…”  I shook my head.

They started to argue about who had the greater responsibility before I cut in “Guys!” they stopped and looked at me. “Look, none of us work on a team, none of us know what kind of dynamic this is going to be.  But we have to look at the bigger picture here.  Nuclear Man was just one threat, and word on the street more and more villains are teaming up.  Soon we may have an actual factual crisis on our hands.  Do we really want to face unknown odds alone?”

“No.” Aquaman conceded.  “So how do we make this work?  As Flash pointed out, none of us have much team experience, including you, Superman.”

Superman nodded “You’re right.  I don’t.  But I know someone who does.”

From the shadows emerged a dark figure with pointed ears.

Issue 5: To Tomorrow and Back...

I waited for him in what remained of the Metropolis headquarters for STAR Labs.  To be fair he was only about ten minutes behind me, but when you live your life literally in fast forward, ten minutes is an eternity.  I scoped out the perimeter while I waited.  The city was pretty much a living ruin, not that I didn’t expect that given that apparently Nuclear Man ran rampant across the city over two hundred years ago.  No, this was what I was actually expecting.  What I was not expecting was to find the building for STAR Labs nearly entirely intact.  There was some structural damage here and there, but nothing too terrible, more cosmetic than anything else.

“I’m impressed.” He said as he descended from the sky.

“Thanks.” I tried not to let my voice crack when I showed my appreciation.  The thing you should understand is, I grew up watching Superman.  He was my idol, and my reason for getting into science.  “The door is locked with a four digit code.” I pointed out.  Superman scanned it with his x-ray vision “I don’t see any tampering or traps, but much of the building is lined with lead.”

“They started doing that in the early two thousands as they started dealing with more and more radioactive materials.” I pointed out.  I sped through about six thousand combinations before the door clicked open.

“I’ll open it.” Superman said.  I guess it made sense to have the invulnerable guy open the door.  There was a click followed by a massive explosion that shot Superman across the street.  I sped to his side, but he was already getting up like it was a mild inconvenience.  “Thought you said it wasn’t trapped?”

“I also said the building was lead lined.  That bomb was from the inside.”

Fair enough, can’t see what you can’t see and all that.  But that did tell us one very important thing.  “We’re going to have to be very careful.” He said.  I felt a little twinge of pride knowing he and I were on the same wave length.

Entering the building I pulled a pen light from my belt.  Shining it around I looked for the origin of the explosion.  “Found it.  Pretty rudimentary, really.  They attached a impact sensitive pipe bomb to hammer and hung it from the ceiling.  When the door was opened, it tripped the release for the hammer and dropped it on you.  You can see what’s left of the hammer up there, secured with a rope.”

“Impressive.” He said dryly.

“Oh, you haven’t heard impressive yet…” I knelt down at the debris caused by the bomb.  “Looks like it was a high end bomb, cutting edge, the stuff Luthor used to cook up.  It’s got bursting patterns, but little to no scorching, this was a kinetic energy bomb, using antimatter.  Intergang used to do that back in Central City.”

He stopped and turned to me “How do you know all this?”

“I’m a forensic scientist with the Central City Police Department.”

“Very impressive.”

I shrugged “We’ve had to keep pace.  After Nuclear Man first showed up, we were dealing with a whole new brand of crime.  Suddenly guys were making islands…it got crazy.”  We continued to walk down the main corridor.  “My lab is actually based in the STAR Labs Central City Division.  The city couldn’t keep up with the changing technology on their budget so they contracted STAR Labs at a fraction of the cost.  Harrison Wells used to work out of my unit.”

“Who?”

“Dr. Harrison Wells.  He founded STAR Labs and when the need arose, started setting up satellite offices.”

“So Emil Hamilton…”

“I’ve met him, kind of argumentative, but brilliant mind.  He’s pretty much the major brains but from what I’ve seen he and Wells have a very “you do your thing, I’ll do my thing” relationship.”

“That makes sense.  You seem oddly at ease for being flung hundreds of years into a dystopian future.”

“It’s apocalyptic, not dystopian…” did I just correct Superman on GRAMMER! “and this isn’t actually the worst one I’ve seen.  I’ve…stumbled through time a few times.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, different timelines, completely separate universes.  There’s one where…um…is that wall moving?”

We looked ahead and saw that the far wall on the end of the hallway was seemed to be vibrating.  Superman used his x-ray vision, then shouted “Get down!”

The wall exploded and this massive purple man-like thing emerged.  “What the heck is that?” I said speeding to the far wall.  “His name is Parasite.” Superman explained.  “He siphons energy, and if you have powers he can copy those as well just by touching you.”

“Got it, bad touch.”

Superman opened up with heat vision on the creature, and it reeled back “Rudy, calm down, you don’t have to do this.” He said pressing the attack.  “Rudy” just growled and launched himself at Superman.  I sped around the pair building up as much energy as I could.  Then I scooped up a handful of the energy and threw it at him as hard as I could, basically hitting him with lightning.  This apparently angered him more than the heat vision because now he was chasing me.  That was fine because I needed Superman to get back to the past.  They’ll probably get by without the Flash, but they clearly need Superman.

“Keep going, I’ll take care of bad touch!” I shouted and we were gone.

                Superman stood alone in the corridor, the silence deafening.  He turned to the wall that had shattered and flew towards it.  He arrived in a large chamber that had various display cases.  One contained a suit of armor outfitted with a cape and hammer.  Another contained the shattered remains of a red robot.  Yet another tiara and golden lasso of Wonder Woman.  Superman stopped at one that had a tattered blue t-shirt with the Superman shield across the chest.  The room was filled with such mementos, and one case had its door open.  Superman figured that one had contained Parasite.  “Do you like it?” said a withered voice.  A soft whirring sound came down a dark doorway.  A wheel chair bound figure emerged.  Its cybernetic torso was merged with the wheel chair; the back of his once bald head was replaced with circuits and wires.  Even half machine, the form looked decrepit and old as it leaned to one side, unable to hold itself up straight.  “It’s my trophy room.” The figure said.  As it emerged into the light, the wrinkled face smiled.  “Lex?” Superman whispered.

“I always knew it’d be us in the end, Clark…” he said wheeling around the trophy room.  “Just thought it would have lasted a little longer…”

“What have you done, Lex?” Superman asked.  “I did what I set out to do, Clark.  I beat you and everyone like you.  It took a long time, but I did it.  I formed a legion of doom that washed destruction across the planet.  Not one hero could stand against me.  It wasn’t until I killed the Batman that they suddenly realized that they needed to band together, but by then it was too late…the damage was done.”  He looked wistfully at the cases, his eyes resting on the one with the tattered shirt.  “You would have been proud, Clark.  Jason went down fighting.  He ended up taking Nuclear Man with him.  So brave.”

Superman moved to grab the cybernetic corpse that was Lex Luthor but Lex held up a hand “Oh come on, Clark, that won’t do you any good.  That happened hundreds of years ago.  Besides, I’m going to help you get home, help you…stop me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When I unleashed the Legion of Doom, I thought I was doing the world a favor by tipping the balance of power, putting into place an organization that could do what was necessary to fight a threat from beyond the stars.  I was very, very wrong.  Now, with you here, I see my chance to fix that…”  He rolled to a cabinet and opened a drawer.  “I’ve held onto this for a long time, Clark.  It’s what you need to get back.”

He handed it to Superman “Now, go to the Flash, to Barry, and get home, Clark.  Stop us.  You will need others like him, like you, in order to do it.”  Superman took the device and scanned it.  He nodded and flew out the door after me.  Lex rolled back from the door and waited for the sonic boom announcing Superman’s departure.  He opened up a panel on his chair that displayed a flat holographic screen in the air at his eye level.  A young and healthy Lex Luthor smiled back at him “It’s done, Lex.  He’s on his way home.”

“Excellent.” Young Lex said.  Behind old Lex two more trophy cases slid up from the floor, one containing the tattered cape of Superman, the other the shredded remains of a Flash costume.

 

We were in New York in Time Square when Superman caught up with us.  I raced around trying to avoid letting Parasite pound on me.  I'd always wanted to visit Time Square, but not like this, not with rotting decaying buildings and the giant purple man with a leach mouth trying to eat me.  Superman landed hard, cracking the pavement, and slammed his fist into the ground.  I barely had time to move before the street opened up and swallowed Parasite whole.  Superman then punched the sides of the crevice, causing them to cave in on "Rudy".  "Well, that was very forward." I said.

Superman shrugged "I figure I can't do that much more damage to an abandoned city."  Buildings on either side of us rumbled as they crumbled into dust and debris.  "Well..." I said, leaving the word hanging in the air.

Superman pulled out the device.  "Is this it?"

"Yeah, that's it."  I turned it on and it started to glow.  "Alright, this should be interesting."  I started to run as hard and fast as I could.  Landscapes shot past me in rapid succession before I passed Superman again, causing him to step back.  Again and again I circled the globe, building up as much speed as possible before my vision started to blue shift.  Then I grabbed Superman on my last run and we vanished.

The universe seemed to bend around us, matter became energy, energy became tangible, and time seemed to twist.  We could see visions of things that had happened, Jason's birth, me getting struck by lightning, my parents dying, a man in a black cape leaping off a building, and a green man with red eyes dropping to his knees in a landscape of red soil.  "What are we seeing?" Superman asked.  It startled me.  I'd never crossed time with someone before, so it never occurred to me that we could talk on the trip.  "We're time and space separating.  We are physically moving backwards through time, seeing past events.  Our consciousness is tapping into the collective unconsciousness of the universe.  We'll talk about it sometime but I think this is our..."

With a thunderous boom we landed in the present, creating a massive crater on Amazon Island.  My whole body hurt, but Superman stood as if it was nothing.  Nuclear Man stood over a weakened Diana.  Superman locked eyes with him and said "Stop."

Issue 4: 2525

Sometimes life doesn’t quite work out the way you’d want it to.  Sometimes things just get away from you, and slip through your fingers, even if your grip is as firm as steel.  If you are wondering who I am, I’m the narrator.  I’ll be walking with you for the rest of this story.  If you are wondering how on earth I am aware of what Superman and the others are going through, well, all will become clear in the end.

Diana’s invisible jet was swift as it cut through the skies.  Clark looked out the window and could see she was flying directly into what appeared to be a massive storm, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint where on earth they were.  Slicing neatly through the clouds, the jet was buffeted by hurricane force winds and lashed at with terrible lightning.  Then it parted as they entered the storm’s eye and approached a pristine island.  Diana spoke in Greek, ancient Greek as Clark understood the dialect, advising them of their approach and that they were carrying wounded.

The jet’s vertical takeoff and landing mechanism allowed them to set down on the stone tarmac like a feather.  The back opened and women entered.  They were dressed in armor that was reminiscent of ancient Sparta but with modern twists here and there.  They were tall and had the build of competitive athletes, but none were as tall or as defined as Diana.  “I will speak with my mother.” She said as she exited.  Two of the women carried Kara out of the jet and a third nodded clearly intent on giving the message.  As they exited they were met by a contingent of more warrior women.  “Follow my lead, Jason.” Clark said as he followed Diana out of the jet.   Diana led the men through an open air path past buildings modeled after the Greek style of architecture.  Jason took everything in, while Clark seemed more intent on the road ahead.  Finally they reached what Clark assumed was an infirmary.  There a beautiful woman in flowing white robes with a white cloak and golden crown stood over Kara as she lay comatose on a bed.  “You have brought men to our home, Diana.” The queen’s voice cut with a knife’s edge.  “I have brought the kin of Kara Zor-El, mother.  This is the one they call the Superman.”

Clark stepped forward and bowed his head.  “Please pardon our intrusion into your home.  Clearly you have taken great steps to not be found and we will not violate that level of privacy.  We are concerned for Kara.  She is the only family we have left.”  The queen nodded.

“We have heard of you, Kal-El of Krypton, as of you Jason Lane.  We understand what it means to have few in numbers.”

“Its devastating to realize that one hundred and four is, population wise, very close to three.” Jason muttered.

“What did you say?” the queen asked.  “I, apologize, your majesty.  I just…super vision and all, I couldn’t help it.  There’s only one hundred and four of you.”

“One hundred and five.” The queen corrected.  Jason looked at Diana. “Of course.”

“Since you seem to versed in our people…young man…” The queen crossed her arms, annoyed.

“Please, your majesty, I again do apologize.  Themiscyra is relegated to myth in our world.  The home and hold of the Amazons, the fiercest warriors of the ancient world, capable of turning back even the famous Spartans.”

“You are a scholar?” The queen seemed intrigued.

“A reporter, of sorts, like my father.  Its…something you do when you are alone.  You look for others like you, even by way of legends.  Greek gods, ancient Egypt, the mysterious Wonder Woman who aided allied forces in World War 2…”

All eyes went to Diana.  The queen led them out of the hospital “I told you your rebellious youth would come back to you.”

“As interesting as all of this is…” Clark interjected “What about Kara?  Will she be alright?”

“The attack that injured Kara, while similar to the one that has drained some of your powers, is much more pervasive.  I must commune with our oracle to divine a means to heal her.  Maybe both of you.  The Nuclear Man cannot be allowed to live, he will cost this world too much before he is done.  As much as you are this world’s savior, Superman, Nuclear Man is its doomsday.”

The queen led them to the top of a hill, Jason quietly mused that this seemed ridiculous. Clark whispered back “You are the hybrid of an alien and a human, I am an alien launched to this world from a distant planet who’s exposure to yellow sun allows me to lift a battleship one handed.  We are on an island hidden from the world by a perpetual hurricane, and we are battling a super powered entity that is a partial clone of myself and Lex Luthor.  We can go with this.”

Atop the hill was a small altar.  The queen motioned for the men to stand back and she and Diana knelt before the altar and chanted in Latin.  Suddenly a bolt of white lightning shot from the sky and everything went white.

A pale light and mist filled the sky and Clark felt himself floating.  Through the light images appeared, a man dressed as a bat, Diana and a blond man battling unholy hordes of monsters, Lois crying out for help, and Clark, as Superman, cradling Kara’s limp body as Jason looked on.  Then, an explosion of lighting erupted, casting the world into black.

                Clark struggled to his feet, his vision slowly returning, his skin stinging.  The smell of old smoke and stale air filled his nostrils.  He blinked a few times before his vision finally returned and looked on with horror.  The altar of Zeus was destroyed.  Scanning the horizon, the grass was gone, left as barren dirt and dust.  The mighty structures were reduced to rubble, and no one was around.  The sky was still and red with thick black clouds looming overhead.

“What happened?” Clark asked to no one in particular.  He began to walk.  Heading back to the temple he found it abandoned.  The hospital too was long deserted.  The tarmac was dotted with destroyed planes and alien aircraft.  Diana’s own plane was slumped to the side, with some surface damage.  “Where is everyone?”  He tested his strength, finding himself able to lift the aircraft with ease.  “How…”  He propped the aircraft up using a fallen tree and entered.  Thick dust covered the control panel but he found the computer still able to power up.  The calendar readout made his heart stop.  “Its 2525?”

“That’s only the half of it…” I said from behind him.  He was, understandably a little shocked to see me.

                Superman shot to his feet tearing the chair free of its bolts.  “What’s going on?!” he demanded.

I raised my hands “A lot, and I’m sorry to startle you, but you need to hear what I have to say.”

“Who are you?” he said closing the distance on me.  I reflexively backed up and in the time it would take someone to blink we were outside the jet.  “My name…” I explained “Is Barry Allen.  Folks call me the Flash.  In reverse order of your questions, my powers come from a thing called the Speed Force.  I channel it and it allows me some…I’ll admit some pretty damn amazing abilities.  Anyway, I’d been tracking Nuclear Man across the globe, using the Speed Force to limit the range of the nuclear fallout he causes.”

“You’re the red blur that shows up when he’s around.”

“Yes.  I’ve actually been working with Jason for months now.  He found me in Central City.  He’s been reaching out to a lot of super humans.”

“So what happened?  Why are we apparently in the year 2525?”

“That’s a little more complicated.  My powers allow me to, under certain circumstances, travel through time and dimensions in space…relatively.  I was tracking Nuclear Man and he was tracking you.  He attacked Amazon island with the force of a nuclear blast, at the same time I tried to move you out of the way.  The resulting energy output launched us apparently over five hundred years into Earth’s future.”

“How do we get back?  Nuclear Man is still a threat.”

I couldn’t agree with Superman more about that.  The evidence was all around us, this post-apocalyptic wasteland stretched as far as I could see, across the island and probably much further.  However we weren’t going to get there conventionally.  We needed a little help.  “Well, shy of detonating another nuclear bomb, which I’m pretty sure was a one-time thing, we need a quantum burst stabilizer.”

“You know where to find one of those?”

“STAR Labs was working on one, well two actually but one blew up in California.”

“I recall.”

“So their main lab may still have the original prototype, depending on a lot of factors.”

“Five hundred years of factors.”

Still, this was our best shot at getting back home.  Superman crouched down and launched himself into the air. “You need a lift?”

I smiled and took off across the water straight for the American coast.

Superman 6: Issue 3: A Friend

Chapter 3

Nuclear Man stalked away from the smoldering wreckage of the helicopter and extended his arms.  The fissures in his skin began to glow and seal up.  He could feel something buried deep beneath the ground and slammed his fists into the thick concrete.  The ground trembled, sending massive waves that obliterated Kohr Island, cracked Shelly Island in half, and nearly washed out River Road.  Shockwaves were felt as far north as Pineford, where building trembled and broke apart.  Nuclear Man continued his assault.  Police and emergency personnel were desperately trying to evacuate the surrounding areas.  White light was erupting from the cracks, and the ground quivered of its own accord.  Thunder clouds swirled overhead as lightning struck the ground and rain began to fall.  Nuclear Man began tearing large chunks of concrete out and hurling them madly.  He reached into the crevices, like a junkie savagely searching for his syringe.  Beams of white hot light cut into his arm and he jerked back.  He looked into the sky where they’d come from.  The clouds parted and a golden haired woman with a wide spread, windswept crimson cape descended, the sun creating a white halo of light.  “You need to leave.” She said in a commanding voice.

 

“So the goddess returns…” Nuclear Man said, rubbing the fading burn on his arm.  “I wondered about you.  You haven’t been seen since Superman returned from deep space.” He spread his arms wide “What brings her majesty down from on high?  Certainly not little old me.  You couldn’t even be bothered when Superman was killing himself trying to defeat me the first time.  You couldn’t even help him push New Krypton away.  Where, o where have you been?”

She gently landed, her cape collapsing around her, but looking no less regal.  Electrical energy surged around them.  Nuclear Man glanced at it and kept his head turned slightly.  “There it is again.  Friend or foe?”

He suddenly charged at her, and she sidestepped him.  Even so she could feel energy leaving her body and entering his.  She leapt back and away keeping distance between him.  “Gonna have a hard time fighting me if you don’t touch me.” He growled.  She tore a piece of lead shielding from one of the wrecked reactors and bent it into a curve.  With blinding speed she launched herself at him and slammed the metal around his arms and lifted him into the air.  At seven miles per second air ignited around them as she took him further into the upper atmosphere.  “What are you planning to do?  The sun strengthens me to and this lead will only keep my powers at bay so long.”  She realistically hadn’t thought that far ahead.  He angled his head and opened his mouth, white hot fire exploded into her face with enough force to knock her back.  He spread his arms and shredded the lead shielding and flew down.  He grappled with her and pummeled her face and body, gripping the front of her ivory uniform.  They slammed into the ground, splitting 3 Mile Island in half.  He rose from the smoldering crater and started to walk away, but turned when he heard her groan.  “Still alive?” a wicked grin slit his face.  A golden rope descended around him, gripping him tight and starting to glow.  He turned.  The woman holding it had jet black hair, was tall with an athletes body and was clad in red, blue, and gold with a outfit that left her arms and shoulders bare but still carried the weight and appearance of armor.  “Leave her alone!” the woman shouted.  She jerked hard on the lasso and yanked him into the air, spun him wildly and smashed him back into the ground.  He stood, struggling with the lasso until he could loosen it as she advanced.  A metal disk caught him in the back of the head.  He turned and saw Superman and the boy who saved him standing on a ridge.  “Care to pick on someone your own size?” Superman called.  Nuclear Man examined his arms, the cracks were growing, more light was spilling out.  He took off into the sky and vanished.  Jason moved to go after him, but Clark caught his arm, “No, Kara needs us.”  They ran down the slope and met the woman over Kara’s prone body, her uniform badly torn.

“Let’s get her out of here.” Clark said.  The dark haired woman took his hand “We can take her home.” She said, and moved him aside.  Lifting her up she looked back “You are her cousins.  This is correct?”

“Yes.” Clark said.  “Then come.”  She took her about two hundred yards down the island and a strange aircraft seemed to appear through the smoke.  She took her in side and directed Clark and Jason to sit.

The interior of the aircraft, Clark supposed it could be considered a jet, was basic, with rows of seats along the walls and an area to lay the patient.  The woman didn’t let them sit up front with her.  With the roar of vertical take-off engines the craft lifted into the air and blasted away from Three Mile Island.  “Where are we going?” Clark called.  “Themiscyra.” The woman said.  “I am Diana of the Amazons.”

 

                Lex Luthor stormed down the central corridor of the vessel.  Opening a hatch he arrived in the command bridge.  A tall black man with a dark complexion approached.  He was well built, broad shouldered with a swimmer’s body, outlined by his black suit which appeared to be a technologically advanced diving suit.  “What is it Manta?” Luthor barked as he approached.  “Do NOT take that tone with me on my own ship.” Manta wheeled on him.  “Your plan appears not to be working so well, eh?” Manta motioned towards the large screen that dominated the far wall.  It was new footage of Nuclear Man fleeing Three Mile Island while Superman and company tended to the woman in white.  “What do you see, Luthor? Because I see four meta-humans united against a common foe.”

“Do you?” Luthor said with a smile.  “Because I see a weak Superman, a Supergirl nearly dead, a kid and a woman who don’t know what they are doing.” He turned to Manta “Besides, they were going to come together eventually.  This way we control the circumstances.  Besides, they’re so busy chasing Nuclear Man around the world, they aren’t paying attention to us.”

Back in the cell, Lois paced.  She banged the wall in frustration and found it was hallow.  The thump felt like it reverberated.  She banged again.  Maybe, if she was lucky, she could raise enough noise for Superman to hear her.  She continued to bang and began screaming for help.  It wasn’t long before Lex was back in his lab, arms crossed glaring at Lois.  “You know what, Ms. Lane, you’ve always been more trouble than you’re worth.”  He tapped keys on a control panel.  Vents above her opened up and water began flooding the cell.  Before she was certain it was happening, the freezing water was up to her chest.  “I want you to know, I take immense pleasure in this.  It’s my undying hope that this finally makes you shut up.”  Lois panicked and began desperately screaming for help.

The sound of tearing metal answered her, More water spilled in from the side, but the wall was being torn away from outside.  “Oh dear.” Lex said.  He hit the control panel and the wall slid back into place.  “Manta…we have a problem.”

Lois felt like her head was about to cave in when the water was pushed away from her face.  A bubble had formed around her head and she floated freely in the ocean as the weird sub sped away from her.  She turned and found a man carrying a trident, in armor that looked ancient yet flexible swimming next to her, his free hand outstretched.  His dark blond hair was short, but shaggy, as was his mustache and beard.  She took his hand and he pulled her close.  His body was warm to the touch.  He aimed his trident upward and she gripped tight to his torso.  Like a torpedo they were launched upward.  They exploded through the water’s surface, the pressure around her released immediately.  The sky was blue, the air clear, with only a few clouds in the sky.  She took a deep breath and looked down, realizing they were free falling to the deck of a ship 500 feet below.  “Hold tight!” the man shouted as they fell.  He slammed onto the deck of the ship in a crouch, the trident arm extended away  from them, her body tucked into his side in the fetal position.  He stood, but she didn’t uncurl.  “Ms. Lane. You’re safe now.” He said with a slight chuckle.  The opened her eyes and looked around.  Crew from the ship ran towards them.  He spoke to them in Portuguese, but she understood enough to know he was telling them she needed dry clothes and medical attention.  He turned and walked to the edge of the deck.  “WAIT!” she called out.  “Who are you?”

 

He turned with a smile.  “A friend.” He almost tossed the word at her.  “Superman needs your help!” she said shouted.  The strange man stopped and looked back at her, a grave expression across his face.

Superman 6: Issue 2: Enemy from the Past

Chapter 2

“Find him.  He’s looking for you.  You have to find him.” A voice seemed to echo across eternity.  Lois found herself walking across a platform of unknown material, something like plastic, but also like metal.  Her foot falls were muffled, almost non-existent.  She walked, not knowing where she was walking to, but feeling called forward.  Someone stood in the distance, a dark cape slightly moving against some barely felt breeze.  Ivory white hair cascaded down the back of the figure halfway down it’s back.  As the cape and hair moved, they revealed a feminine form, standing with arms crossed, like a captain or a general overseeing some great force.  She stood before a massive wall of stars, planets and galaxies expanding into forever.  The figure turned to her, with stern expression across an olive drab face, something like a head band or headdress forged of bronze, or a bronze like metal, and a single emerald eye burning with some fierce inner fire looked directly at her.  She said again firmly “Find him!”  Lois awoke.

                Metropolis Nuclear Power Plant, little more than a housing facility for radioactive waste since Superman helped the entire city work off of green energy five years prior.  On an ordinary day, it served as an abandoned corpse of a bygone era, populated only by scientists trying to uncover secrets behind radiation related phenomenon.  Today, however, was not an ordinary day.  One of the main reactors had exploded, and out stepped a ghost forgotten for almost a decade.  A tattered cape fluttered in the wind.  It’s scarred face, rotten and decayed, glared around in pure, unadulterated hate.  It’s head, once full of golden locks now erupting with radioactive fire.  Its hands gripped the sides of the containment unit, clawed talons melting the industrial strength metal.  Its suit, once black and gold now tarnished to charcoal gray and ash white, and where there once was a starburst emblem with a stylized “N”, now was a constant eruption of nuclear energy.  “Superman!” it roared in Lex Luthor’s voice.  “Where…is…Superman!”

“I’m right here.” Superman said descending from the sky.  “You don’t look so good, Nuclear Man.  Perhaps you should lie down.”

“I’ll tear you apart!” Nuclear Man growled as he launched himself at Superman.  He swiped wildly at Superman, but remembering too vividly their first encounter, Superman dodged.  The scientists had fled the area, and the power plant existed on a manmade island to protect the city from the event of a fall out.  Nuclear Man swung around again, but Superman caught his arm and spun him into one of the satellite buildings, creating a massive hole.  He felt a stinging in his hand and looked to see it suffering heat rash.  It soon healed itself, but he felt disoriented by the contact.  He looked and saw Nuclear Man standing back up, seemingly unaffected by the fight.  If anything, his fanged grinned made him look stronger, more confident.

Superman unleashed his heat vision, striking Nuclear Man.  A white flash of light erupted knocking both back.  Nuclear Man was first to stand up, laughing with a sound like two rocks grinding together “I like that.  Give me more.”  Superman struggled to his feet as Nuclear Man unleashed another barrage of raw power from his chest.  It launched forward like a white hot flame.  Superman braced himself against the barrage, pushing forward against the blast.  Burns started to appear on his skin, his cape disintegrated and pieces of his uniform caught flame, but he pushed forward.  Nuclear Man halted his assault and Superman collapsed to the ground.  Standing over him, Nuclear Man let out a mocking chuckle and kicked Superman onto his back.  Looming over his fallen foe, Nuclear Man reached down with a clawed hand.  Superman’s eyes snapped open and he unleashed his heat vision into Nuclear Man’s white eyes.  He summoned all he hand and pushed it out through his eyes.  The blast launched Nuclear Man back, his eyes smoldering as he clawed his face against the pain.  He saw cracks form in his skin, seeing white light starting to pour out.  He glanced back at Superman, and moved to end his foe, when yellow lightning seemed to spark around him.  He could feel some energy he didn’t understand pushing him back.  A red wind moving too fast to understand moved between him and Superman.  He stepped back, and heard the rush of sound from a distance.  He looked at his glowing hands again; he realized that if he delayed or engaged whatever was coming, he would die.  The cavalry was arriving.  He took flight and disappeared over the horizon.

With a sonic boom, Jason landed on the battlefield.  He saw Superman, prone, beaten, burned and helpless.  He could see Nuclear Man flying off, but his attention flipped back to Superman.  Something whispered in his ear.  He recognized it, he knew the voice and trusted it.  He nodded in silent agreement and scooping up the Man of Steel, Jason disappeared in the opposite direction of Nuclear Man’s flight.

                Lois woke up in some kind of solid cell, just a cot, a sink, and a toilet.  The room was maybe ten feet across at best and about six feet deep from the door.  The door itself was solid metal with a single window.  She could hear creaking outside the cell.  “Alright, Luthor, what are you doing?” she asked the empty air.  A speaker concealed in the ceiling popped on “Oh, good, Ms. Lane, you’re awake.  Or is it Lane-White?  It’s so hard to keep up with the times.  I’ve been, eh, a little busy these last eight years.

“Why am I here?” She asked angrily.  “Insurance.” Luthor said before he clicked off the speaker.  Lois paced the cell, it was chilly and there was no visible means of escape.  She wondered if she could call for help, but figured this cell was what Luthor considered “Superman-Proof”.  But what was the creaking noise, she wondered.  She paced the inside of the cell, her mind unable to think about anything but the strange dream.  “Find him…” she whispered.  “Find who?”  The wall suddenly shuddered and began sliding down revealing some kind of glass that was at least five inches thick.  Lex Luthor, bald head gleaming stood before her.  He wore some kind of black body suit with electric nodes placed on his shoulders, elbows, back of his hands, chest, thighs, and lower legs.  Behind him was a large lab featuring a large robotic suit.  Lois pursed her lips.  “Nice outfit.”  Lex glanced at his suit.  “A necessary evil, I assure you.”

“There’s really nothing necessary about you, Lex.” She quipped.  He smiled.  “Touched.” He tapped his heart “Really.”  His face went suddenly serious “Now who do you need to find?”

“What?”

“You said…and I quote: “Find him.”  Find who?  Who are you looking for?”

Lois shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Crazy dream, probably brought on by whatever you drugged me with.”  Lex grimace.  “Possibly.” He turned and went to a control panel.  “Mercy.  We’re leaving.”

“Yes, Mr. Luthor.” Said a female voice over the intercom.  The entire building lurched and Lois was unceremoniously dumped to the floor while Lex braced himself on the mounted work table.  “Oh, you might want to hold onto something.”

                Superman awoke at S.T.A.R. Labs, his head felt heavy.  His whole body felt heavy.  He struggled to get up, not having felt this weak since he first threw New Krypton into orbit.  “Its okay, dad, take it slow.” Jason whispered.  He was in some kind of hospital room, sensors and machines were hooked up to him.  “I…don’t…what happened to Nuclear Man?”

“You knocked him pretty good, I think he was starting to destabilize.  But he flew off before I got there.  If I had been there, we could have ended it.”

“No…it’s alright.  We’ll get another…ouch.” He looked down at his arms, left bare from the scorching of his suit.  “I’m…hurt.”

Dr. Hamilton entered the room “Superman, I’m here.  I’m sorry I don’t have more answers for you, but everything indicates you’re powers have been greatly weakened.  It’s like the solar energy that fuels your abilities has been…siphoned away.”

Superman clutched the side of his bed and twisted its metal frame.  He looked back at Hamilton.  “You do have some residual powers, your strength and foot speed is still far beyond human abilities.  You can still take quite a bit of damage.  Judging from satellite recordings of your fight with Nuclear Man, the blast he fired at you would have vaporized a tank…so there’s that.”

General Lane burst through the door.  “Goddammit what the hell happened out there.”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking, Sam.” Superman said, getting to his feet.

“Screw you, big blue.  I’m talking about the walking, talking nuclear bomb that just few off to god knows where.  Besides, I thought you were dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, General.”

“Jason, what the hell are you doing here?”  Lane glared at his grandson.  Jason looked around, not knowing how to respond.  Every computer monitor and cellular telephone clicked on.  General Lane spun around to look, but at the same time a signal emitted, at a decibel that no normal human could hear.  Superman could barely pick it up, but Jason clutched his own ear.  The screens showed an image of Lex Luthor.  “Good afternoon world, and I do mean world, because I’m hacking into every communication device on the planet.  Superman! How are you?  I know you can here this, you and I’m guessing your kid side kick as well.  Well the Nuclear Man is out of the bag.  Here’s the thing, I suspect he’s probably not going to be happy with dear old dad here…” he tapped his chest. “So I have a proposal.  You defeat Nuclear Man within the next 48 hours.  End him as a threat.  If you don’t, and he comes after me, Lois Lane will die.” An image of Lois pacing her cell flashed on the screen.  “Pretty straight forward really.  You kill Nuclear Man, I set Lois free.  Nuclear Man kills me, she dies since I’m the only one who can release her.  You try to find me, and you just might, Nuclear Man is left to run rampant across the globe.  So…this looks like a job for Superman.”

The screen cut off.  Lane turned and glared at Superman.  “This is your fault.  You brought this on us and now my daughter.  I thought she was safe from you on the other side of the country, but no.”

“Grandpa, stop.” Jason said, his voice brimming with rage.  “You hush up, Jason.” Lane pointed at the young man.  “Me and this…thing are talking.”

“I said, stop Grandpa.” Jason said again.

“Jason, no.” Superman said, holding up a hand.  “Let him say what he has to say.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have time.  General Lane, I am speaking with my patient.” Dr. Hamilton said.  “Which is under doctor/patient confidentiality and you have no business in here.  We are now aware of the situation and any more time you spend flapping your mustached mouth about it is time not spent on finding a solution.”

“What the hell are you saying, Hamilton.” Lane growled.

“I’m saying get out.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

“The head of S.T.A.R. Labs, a private institution that works with the U.S. government on an at-will basis, which means at any time I see fit, I can pull out of our deal with the government without repercussions.  Do you want to be the one telling the president that the institution with the most meta-human knowledge on the planet won’t work with them because you can’t shut your damn mouth!”

Lane glared at Hamilton, then at Superman, then at Jason.  “Come on, Jason, let’s go.”

“Screw you.” Jason said.  “I’m staying to help.”

“You are my grandson, you have to go with me.”

“I am eighteen and the hell I do.”

Lane stormed out.  Hamilton picked up a phone “Security.  Please advise General Lane his clearance to the lab has officially been revoked.  He is no longer welcomed on the premises.”

Hanging up “I’ll set up a new liaison with the government later.  Right now we need to address your problems.”

“Problems?” Superman asked.

“Yes, I’m afraid your physiology isn’t absorbing solar radiation like it used to.  This isn’t a matter of flying into the upper atmosphere to re-charge.  I’m frankly at a complete loss of how to help you on this.”

Superman thought for a moment.  “If Earth science can’t help us, maybe Kryptonian science can.”

“That might have to wait…” Jason said motioning to the television.  It was helicopter footage of Nuclear Man at Three Mile Island.  He glared at the helicopter and fired his eye beams destroying it instantly.  The footage cut back to Kat Grant asking “Where is Superman?”

Superman 6: Issue 1: The Family that Saves Together...

“I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”

Christopher Reeve

Chapter 1           

Superman tore through the sky, the friction for the air igniting small bits of debris on his uniform, creating a flaming comet from the man of steel as he hauled bank vault sized case, causing it to glow red hot.

“Superman.  This is Doctor Hamilton from S.T.A.R. Labs.” A voice came over an ear piece tucked away in his ear canal.  “A little…busy…doctor.  What…do…you…need?” He said, his arms straining against the intense violation of physics he was performing.  The object was only the size of a bank vault, but its contents were heavier than several battle ships, and Superman pushed everything he had into getting it as far away from earth as possible.

“I understand, but what I have to say is very pertinent to your present situation.”

“If…you…could…cut…to…the…chase…please.” Superman grunted. 

“Of course, the object in the safe is going to detonate in approximately sixty seconds, but I’m afraid you are not going to be able to get it to a safe distance in that amount of time.  You won’t be fast enough.”

“Don’t…have…to…be.” Superman knew how fast he was going.  He had reached escape velocity twice over but he knew he couldn’t hold out against the strain of the contents.  He just needed to get away from Earth, halfway to something that could take the blast from it.  “Superman, your trajectory shows you heading towards New Krypton.”

He hated that name.  The chunk of rock resting just outside the orbit of the moon was laced with Kryptonite, one of the very, very few substances in the universe that was known to severely weaken Superman.

“Oh my god!” Hamilton said from his headquarters in S.T.A.R. Labs.  “He’s going to throw that thing to New Krypton.”

“Wait…” said General Lane, a barrel chested man with a graying beard “Won’t that rain down Kryptonite across the planet?”

General Samuel Lane licked his lips at the thought.  He was not a fan of Superman, he had never bought into the praise the hero had received since his return from deep space.  As far as Lane was concerned the five years he was absent from earth were the best in human history.  He felt humanity should solve its own problems and not rely on a savior from the stars, one who could easily wipe out humanity with his god-like powers.  The fact that his daughter, Lois, seemed to grow out of fascination with Superman over the years helped, but the notion that the Earth could become uninhabitable to the Last son of Krypton gave him a delightful pause.

“Quite the opposite, General Lane…” Hamilton interjected.  Hamilton, a tall, thin man of science with wild, uncombed dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, brought up a computer screen “You see, if he lands that object…a Mother Box I’m told it’s called, on New Krypton, when it detonates it will create a miniature wormhole capable of swallowing all nearby matter.  If it had detonated on Earth, it would have wiped out the western hemisphere of the planet.  If it had landed on the moon, it would eliminate the very thing that commands our tides.  Either way, humanity would be wiped out.  However if he lands it on New Krypton it could take out the entire floating island with no harm to the planet.  My concern is that Superman won’t be able to escape the event horizon of the wormhole and will be sucked in.”

“We can only hope.” Lane growled.

Superman spun hard and flung the mother box towards New Krypton.  There was spherical flash of light that lit up the sky, like a second sun for just a few moments, then black.  “Did it work?” Lane asked, rubbing his eyes.  “Is he…”

Superman’s voice came across the intercom “Dr. Hamilton, please inform General Lane that I am just fine and heading back to Earth.”

                Lois Lane-White raced across the office of the Los Angeles Times, bursting into the door of editor Morgan Edge.  “Mr. Edge…Superman just touched down north of Houston.”

Edge, a man in his mid-sixties with greyish white hair and a trim physique looked up from his meeting.  “No.” is all he said.

“But…”

“This isn’t the Daily Planet, Lane.  I’ve got better things to do with this paper then fill it with fluff pieces about the hero of Metropolis.  If Superman touched down in LA, that would be something.  He hits the club scene, that would be something, but he’s from Metropolis, he’s in Houston, what the hell does that have to do with LA?”

“Sir…”

“Lane, you wanna cover weird shit, fine.” He tossed her a stack of blurry photos.  “There’s been weird green thing seen near the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite facility near Middletown.  You want to get your jollies chasing aliens, go check that out.”  She snatched up the photographs and began examining them. “Oh and if you could not make out with this little green man, that’d be great.  Unlike the Planet, we like our reporters to have some level of distance from the stories they’re covering.”

Lois fumed as she stormed out of her office.  Approaching her car she let out a scream of rage, one that attracted the wary looks of those around her.  “Jeez, mom, you okay?” Jason said from behind her.  She jumped, startled “Jesus is the light…!” she exclaimed, having made an conscious effort to curb her swearing habit over the last ten years.  “Why aren’t you at school?”

Jason shrugged “Early out.”  She narrowed her eyes at him.  “Okay, I may have gotten into some trouble…”

“Gotten into or are going to get into?”  He wouldn’t meet her gaze.  “It’s what, five days to winter break; I’m already ahead of everyone literally in the entire school.  I just…I get bored, you know.”

“Okay, get back there before they notice you’re gone and I’ll come up and sign you out.  I may need your help on this one anyway.”

“Really, what is it?”

“Could be nothing, could be another strange visitor from another planet.”

                The car ride out to Middletown was exactly what Lois needed.  She rolled down the windows and let her amber hair blow in the country breeze.  Edge may have thought the assignment was a dead end, but even if it was, it was a chance for her to get away from Los Angeles, if even for just an afternoon.  Despite how horrible he was to her, she valued the job.  At her age it wasn’t easy to get reporting jobs for an actual newspaper anymore.  Most, like the Daily Planet, were becoming “media outlets” with an actual newspaper a distant thought.  There didn’t seem to be many old school reporters left in the world of news, just her and Clark and a handful of others.  Her mind drifted briefly to Clark.  How was he handling things at the new and improved Daily Planet?  With Lacy Warfield taking over for Perry White after his retirement, she imagined it was uncomfortable for him, but his work was holding up.  Apparently he was given the Superman beat.  The fact was that she knew Morgan Edge wasn’t going to send her to Houston, but her asking the way she did was a sure-fire way to get out of the office for a while; he’d send her away to “teach her a lesson.”

Jason on the other hand stared out at the vastness of the California country side.  Flat and desolate with tufts of trees here and there.  He allowed his vision to extend out across the expanse.  He could see past the horizon, past where the Earth started its gentle curve, the tops of buildings waiting for their chance to rotate into place as the planet turned.  “I like the wide open.” He said softly.  “I can see for miles and miles.  There’s a plane taking off from Mexico right now.  It’s just, drifting into the air…”

“I know son.  The city is hard to grow up in.  Its tight, it’s packed…”

“There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to fly.”

“Jason, we’ve talked about this.  If you use your powers…”

“People will expect things of me like they do Superman.  I get that…but why shouldn’t they?  I mean, I have the power to help people, like he does.  Why can’t I use that?”

“Son…”

“Mom, turn the car!”

“What…?” But Jason was already moving.  He yanked the wheel hard to the right, sending their small SUV into a skid.  The vehicle started to roll and he launched himself out of the passenger door.  Life was going in slow motion for him, he felt like he had all the time in the world. He grabbed the vehicle by the frame and carried it off the road and into the air as an invisible wall of sound slammed into them.  He allowed the vehicle to spin in the air so it wouldn’t be crushed by the shockwave.  He landed it a split second later mentally calculated the launched debris in the air and made sure it slammed down on the asphalt where the car had been.  Another chunk of rubble threatened to crash down on where he stopped but he backhanded it away and it spiraled off into the desert.  He ran to the passenger side of the car.  “Are you okay, mom?”  Lois was still disoriented from the event but faintly nodded.  Jason helped her out of the vehicle and scanned her body.  “Nothing broken, nothing ruptured, physically you’ll be fine.”

“What was that?” she asked looking at the pillar of black smoke rising into the air.

Jason took her GPS from the car.  “Near as I can tell mom…” he said looking into the distance “Its Middletown.”

                Rescue crews from Los Angeles County and surrounding areas descended on Middletown.  Superman himself swooped down and sifted through the heavier debris and aided rescuers in finding people trapped under rubble.  “It’s him, mom.  It’s really him.” Jason whispered to Lois.

“Honey, we’re here to work.”

“Got it.”  Jason moved to assist with the relief efforts, moving to a solid piece of wall that was tilting towards rescue workers.  He calmly edged his way to the wall, placing his back against it. He could feel the tangible weight of it, how the structure was fundamentally week, so he placed a hand on it.  A trick he learned was that, if he thought about it clearly enough, he could hold a structure together even though all of his super strength was actually applied to one single point.  He called it “tactile telekinesis”.  As far as he knew, Superman couldn’t do it, or maybe never thought to do it.  As soon as they were clear, he moved away from the wall and it collapsed into rubble.  Every stood and looked, some crossing themselves that they weren’t hit.  Superman looked directly at Jason and gave a single, knowing nod.  A helicopter swooped in with the S.T.A.R. Labs logo.  Dr. Hamilton hit the ground and sprinted towards Superman.  The helicopter moved away as to avoid hindering the workers any further and once it was clear Jason could hear their conversation.  He relayed what they were saying as Lois took notes.

“Any idea what happened here?” Superman asked.  “The point of origin for the blast was S.T.A.R. Labs.”

“We’re still going over data that was being transmitted to our main office.  It appears that there was a surge of unidentified energy that ruptured space and time, but became unstable.”

“Hamilton, it wiped out an entire town.  I was assured that S.T.A.R. Labs had over site to avoid this kind of thing.”

“Yes, we do.  The lead researcher at this facility was Dr. Saul Erdel.  I’m afraid his lab was ground zero for the explosion.”

“Hopefully the data you retrieved will provide some answers.  Do you know what Erdel was working on?”

                Lois scribbled down in short hand what Jason translated for her.  “Why would he be working on an interstellar communication device?”  Jason shrugged “They don’t know, but Superman wonders if maybe the destruction is someone’s reply.”

She shook her head.  “I need to talk to him directly.  I appreciate the assist, but…”

“Lois.” Superman said suddenly standing in front of her.

She stammered for a second.  “Jason, how are you doing?”

Jason averted his eyes “Doing alright.”

Superman nodded.  There was an awkward, pregnant pause between the three of them.

“We really should find somewhere to talk.” He finally said.  “The crews can handle the rest from here, mostly triage and patching up the wounded survivors.  Luckily the damage was mostly cosmetic to the town, most of the outlying buildings, where residents live and work, were heavily reinforced in the event of something like this.  The central hub of town was the Star Labs building, which was wiped out.”

“Are there any survivors from the lab?” Jason asked, looking past him.  “That’s part of the mystery.” Superman replied grimly.  “The only staff on duty was Dr. Erdel, apparently he had given the rest the day off.  It’s a satellite lab so it’s critical that people stay on the clock or in the building.”

“There’s a diner about a mile back that way.” Lois pointed.  “Let’s meet over there.  Do you have anything less conspicuous?”

“I’ll meet you there.” Superman said and was gone in a blur.

                Arriving at the diner, Lois took a quick glance at the crowd.  She found him in the back, at a table in the corner far away from the crowd.  He was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans.  “Huh…” she said absently as she and Jason sat down.  “What?” Superman asked, honestly.  “Just…you look a lot like Clark in that outfit.”

Superman and Jason looked at each other, both fighting the urge to smile.  “So…” Lois said “How has training been going?”

Superman nodded “He’s amazing, really.  He’s far more advanced than I was at that age.  I mean he can already fly, I didn’t master that for another year.”

“Yeah, and there’s this other thing I can do to.” Jason volunteered “I call it ‘tactile telekinesis’.  You know how when you lift something, you risk breaking it because it’s not designed to hold together against your strength?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, when I focus on it, I can actually…I don’t know…channel my strength through the whole object.  Like that wall back at the site.”

“That’s…amazing.” Superman was wide eyed.

“No.” Lois said, glancing at the menu.

“No what?” Both Jason and Superman asked.  “No, you are not putting on a costume and flying around. I don’t care what new power you find.”

“Mom…”

“No, Jason, she’s right.  It takes a lot out of you.  A lot of effort and time away from the things you really want.  These things we can do, they’re a gift, but you have to be careful when and where to use them.”

Jason just shook his head.  The waitress came over.  Lois looked at Superman “You paying?”

“I’ve got it.” He nodded.  They ordered and waited.

The diner wasn’t busy at all, it was well past lunch time and with the events only a mile away, nobody was really thinking about eating.  Jason picked at his chicken basket, Superman sipped his coffee and Lois examined her turkey sandwich skeptically.  “I don’t get this.  You are like the most recognizable person on the planet, how can that waitress look right at you and not know who you are?”

Clark shrugged “People see what they want to see.”

“It’s not that hard…” Lois volunteered “Just keep your head down, don’t make direct eye contact, his looks are good but they are pretty common, plus no one thinks Superman needs a secret identity son of a bitch you’re Clark Kent.”

Jason nearly chocked on his soda, Clark just kept staring at her evenly.  “Twenty damn years you stood beside me.  I had your child…” she motioned to Jason “and I never knew.  You never told me but I never thought…” She just stared at Clark for a long moment.  She jumped up from the table and ran outside.

Jason moved to follow but Clark told gently to sit.

“Lois…” he found her by her SUV “I’m sorry.”

“No…” she shook her head.  “No, you don’t get to be sorry.  You don’t get to ask for forgiveness because…I need to.”

“What?”

“Look…twenty years.  Twenty years, Clark.  All that time, I never looked at you.  I looked…through you.”

“I don’t understand.”

She shook her head, wiping tears away with the back of hand.  “No…no you wouldn’t.  You wouldn’t because you see everything, everybody.” She shook her head.  “It…it doesn’t matter.  Look, I…can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

He nodded, then looked away.  “What’s wrong?  You hear something?”

“No…more like I feel…something.” Jason came out of the diner, he was looking towards Middleton, the same direction Clark was inadvertently looking “You feel that too, right?” Jason asked.

For both of them, it passed.  Both turned their heads north east “Nuclear reactor near Metropolis.” Superman said, his form becoming a blur.

Lois looked at Jason “No…no you don’t.”

“Mom, people could be hurt.  You don’t understand…I can hear them…they’re scared.  They need help.”

“Superman…”

“Nuclear, mom.  I read the stories…I know what nuclear means to Superman.”

She looked off in the distance, following the path Superman went.  “Be careful, baby.”

“I will.  I love you mom.” Jason was gone in a blur just as fast.

Lois fought against the tears in her eyes.  Her phone rang, it was Morgan.

“I’d let it go to voice mail.” Said a voice from behind her.  A hand firmly gripped her shoulder.