SUPERMAN: REBIRTH
We are all the sum of parts bound from fear, will, strength, mental and physical robustness, hate, anger, greed, desire, lust, hope, compassion, ambition…and Love. Without Love, what makes a savior…a savior? How can one be a savior if he does not Love? How can one Love if he isn’t encompassed by the gift of being able to open one’s mind…one’s heart…and one’s soul…in asking this…how can one be…a Hero?
SMALLVILLE - Home of the Kents
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Lana asks Clark as they rummage through the fields, with the grass cutting short at their ankles.
“It’s the most beautiful thing in Smallville!” Clark whispers without ever noticing what Lana was showing him…for all he focused on, was her hazy eyes…her flowing hair, which dressed her shoulders elegantly…long and dreamy dark hair…and her slender sleek figure…as she wore that white vest that Clark always got nervous around.
He adjusted his glasses as he held her hand tightly, and noticed her out of breath as they stopped running through the fields.
“Look at how the night’s filled with these stars, like a Christmas tree…decorated!” she bellowed as she spun around him.
Clark smiled and nodded as he watched the windmill protrude and stab into the night sky.
He looked at the pond behind the windmill and gracefully escorted Lana over to the pond.
“Stark’s Pond Milady!” he exclaimed with a grin.
“Always a gentleman!” she replied with the gorgeous smile that made Clark giddy!
Lana took out from her duffel bag something that seemed out of place though. It was a pair of skates. In fact, it was 2 pairs – one for her…and one for Clark!
Clark winked his right eye at her…and blew a cold breath over the pond…and froze it…rock-solid and stone cold!
Lana grinned and jumped into his arms…with pure joy!
“My first time ice-skating!!!” she yelped.
“Mine too…but I think I’ll balance and manage slightly better than you,” Clark whispered.
Within 10 minutes, they were geared and slivering across the now-frozen pond.
“It feels good…your warmth!” Lana whispered as Clark wrapped her tightly in his arms…and pressed her…not too strongly!
“Lemme make sure I don’t squeeze you and break you in half,” he teased as she giggled playfully, as if a young schoolgirl awoke within her.
This was the stuff of young teenage lovers. It was summer romance, permanently, between two of Smallville’s most affectionate teenagers…dating and now…clearly…head over heels for each other.
They held no secrets from each other…the things they couldn’t even tell their parents…they told each other.
As she pressed her head onto his chest, for he stood a foot taller than her, she closed her eyes…and felt at ease…as if to fall asleep…and she felt so light in his hands, it seemed Clark was her gravity. He wouldn’t let her fall…he’d catch her as she cut through every air molecule. As she rubbed her nose on his chin, Lana Lang suddenly realized that her feet were not on Clark’s and her skates…weren’t pressing against any solid fluid!
As she opened her eyes…and gasped aloud…
“CLARK…WE’RE FLYING!!! YOU’RE…YOU CAN…”
“Yep…I discovered it about a month ago…and umm…I decided to surprise you tonight…of all nights!” he told her as his eyes fixated into hers and never left her gaze.
She was in disbelief but in a welcome state…and as they floated…hovering above the pond…Lana kissed Clark…and they were as one…she felt her hand mesh and envelope into his…and she swore she felt that electrical pulse that transfers from his synapses into those of her hands…she felt it electric…as it passed through them both. It felt like a fluidized motion, that she couldn’t describe, come through her entire body…from…and into…Clark’s.
They kissed as they fluttered into the moon’s silhouette…and she never worried no matter how high they hovered…she felt…safe…she was…in Clark’s arms…at home!
“Heima…means …at home…” she whispered in his ears, teasing him of the Finnish lessons she took in her spare time!
“Now…Always…and Forever!” Clark responded as they hugged.
Suddenly, Clark’s mind was broken as he heard the barking of the Kent’s dog, circa a mile or so away!
“Oh man…it’s minutes to midnight…and the dog’s loose…again! Jeez…it’s no wonder I never named her…and I just call her ‘Dog’! The thing’s so damn stubborn!”
“Just like you Mr. Kent! Relax Clark! It’s okay…I gotta get home anyway…Family’s gonna be waiting…and they’ll be ready to lynch a Kent if they find me missing!” Lana replied as she tried to hear the barks that Clark heard…but she heard only silence!
Clark descended the skies…and stared strongly at the pond…and as he concentrated…Lana noticed his squint…and the frozen pond began melting…and within 2 seconds…the water was hot…steam rose above it…juxtaposed to the surface…and Stark’s pond was a hot spring! It was…a pond…again!
They packed their stuff and Lana jumped into his hands…
She pressed her lips strongly as he held her…as if to throw her into the pond…
“HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY CLARK!”
As she blinked, Clark was holding her…in front her bedroom window.
“That’s very speedy Clark,” she teased, “Now my hair’s a mess from that quick run!”
She grinned as Clark kissed her…and floated her into her bedroom via her window.
“I’ll see you tomorrow for Math?”
“Of course you will hun…you’re helping me after all? I gotta get that A?” Lana harassed with her blessed lovely smile.
“Sure thing. You know the payment…one kiss per question…and you know I’m good for it. I’ll save you my dear madam!” he joked.
“Of course you will won’t you...the dashing Mr. Clark Kent…cuz you’re my hero!” Lana quipped playfully as she closed her bedroom window.
Clark turned in the air, focused through the corn-fields and husk empires…and saw a rock in his path…squinted harder, readjusting the light focusing into his eyes…
“Jeez Dog! You’re behind that thick ugly grey rock! How’d you get there?”
Clark heard her whining and whimpering…she was lost!
He flew to the rock, and as he dropped…he saw the dog with her paw stuck…
Clark grabbed the big rock…and moved it…simply because he was too lazy…to walk around!
It’s an easy task when lifting a few hundred tons or so…seems like a feather!
Clark took the dog, scolded her by mouth…and headed back to the farm!
He looked at his watch…one minute to midnight!
As he and the dog walked back slowly to the farm, he never thought he’d strike his 18th birthday out in these same fields he tolls in…but as he wandered about, a sharp ringing caught his ears…a frequency that he didn’t recognize before….and as he fell to the ground…he saw a few meters away from him, a crystal emerge from the ground…it shone fluorescent silver…incandescent…and Clark was taken aback when he realized the sound emanated from the crystal…it was piercing and pounding his mind…and he stumbled over to it…and decided to grab it, yank it from the ground and toss it away…without thinking that such contact may not be the best step forward…but as he carelessly grabbed the crystal, a flash of hot white light engulfed him in the field…for once, he felt a pain…the light burnt…he was blinded…and in agony…he felt Pain...for the first time!
At the Kent farm –
Martha and Jonathan lay in the hammock…cradling each other…
They were in love more than ever…and growing old with each other was their dream.
“So it’s his 18th…” Martha whispered.
“I know…Jonathan replied cutting her off, “I know…When he wakes tomorrow…we’ll tell him…I remember that day…the day we found him…I’ll tell him…but for now, let’s leave him in this romantic rendezvous…he and Lana…deserve each other tonight…reminds me of our days…”
Clark’s eyes opened to the sound of a monotone robotic voice…
“Greetings Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas…state Midwestern of the United States of America, country of the planet Earth. Welcome to the interface of Kryptonian data…Welcome to the Brain Interactive Construct of Jor-El, Head of the Science Guild of Krypton!”
Clark couldn’t catch his breath as he realized he was in a holographic form…in a computer-like world or some sort of simulation…
“What the…This…is…is it…God…Is this Tron? Jesus…what…dreaming?”
“You are not experiencing the fit of restlessness and brain activity that is derived and evolves into that which the human race dubs…a dream! Your Kryptonian consciousness has been incorporated into the Construct that I represent…”
“What the hell are you?”
“I AM…nothing…I REPRESENT the database of stored Kryptonian data, as well as data, gathered through eons of studies via the House of El…last known proprietor…Jor-El…your biological father of the Planet Krypton. This data is collected from and within Krypton, your home-world, and contains also gathered information for systems in the existing and known galaxy…divided into sectors as some refer, or quadrants…or districts…it is similar to what you have dubbed ‘States’! This database contains the collected knowledge of the House of El, for the explored galaxy!”
“My father? What the…my father is…John…”
“Your adoptive father is Jonathan Kent. His spouse is Martha Kent. My program scanned their faces upon the first landing into the Earthen soil, and cross referenced the databases of your nation’s security…and attained their identities!”
“Landing? What the hell are you talking about?”
“CLARK KENT of SMALLVILLE…you are not a human offspring…not of the Kent lineage…”
As Clark gulped, he sensed some huge revelation coming.
“YOU ARE KAL-EL, Son of Lara and Jor-EL!”
The Construct then showed Clark an image of Krypton.
“What’s this place?”
“Your home-planet…Krypton…”
“Look at the sun…it’s magnificent!...Is it…?”
“KAL-EL. Your father has instructed me to inform you of the option of playing the last sentient message recorded….before your home-world perished. Do you wish to play this message?”
“Perished? What…YES PLEASE…PLAY THE MESSAGE!”
Clark didn’t blink…and he was suddenly in the quarters of his father it seemed.
He was viewing a last message towards him.
He was in awe.
“Kal-El…My Son…I am your father…Jor-El…It is with great sorrow and untimely regret that I cannot be there with you…to witness your growth into a Sire of the House of my Fathers! My Son, I have recorded this with great sadness, and pain in my heart…for it bears no good news My Child.”
Clark was scared…the message showing the recording was becoming unstable…and he noticed the structure in the background collapsing…and as he saw this, he realized his father bore rubble marks on his face, dusty and brown, and as the resolution cleared…he saw Jor-El was cut in the face…and tiny droplets of blood governed his face, as his white robe, around the S-symbol that stood on the chest.
“Kal-El…This is your home planet of Krypton…When you view this message, you will hear explosions, turmoil, decay and anarchy…these are the screams and cries of your people…in our final hour…Kal-El…our planet is a scientifically advanced one, our race…we lie in the upper echelon of the galaxy…and as head of the Science Guild here…we have made enemies, outside Krypton…and within our own doors. My Progeny…today is the final day Krypton lives…
Our civilization has run primarily on geothermal energy and its process, both domestically and industrially over the centuries Son, and we have become dependent on this. Our planet’s molten core has been used as feed to supply heat to our surface for our running of Krypton and topside heating processes. But these stations were secretly compromised and the same stations that provided us with this source of energy was now used against us…to destabilize our tectonic structure sub-planet…and transmit shock waves and explosions within our planet’s center…they were used to destabilize our planet’s core...my Son! Our planet is set to explode from the core due to these villains and their technology, and I am in distress to tell you that the architect has been one of our own ARMY GENERALS. The core gases, as well as tectonic destabilization, has set off volcanoes, earthquakes, heat waves, demolishing our surface…all in prelude to the explosion to come…to the bang that will signal our end…our demise. I take responsibility as the Head of the Science Guild, as we found this nefarious and inhumane plot out a few par-cycles ago…and are too late…Krypton…it’s fate is doomed my Child. You have been left here…in my lab by your mother Lara…as she fled to our house…to arrange transport for us…as a family…out of Krypton…but from a flailing transmission from my blood-brother Zor-El, and his wife Alura, our citadel of Kandor…has fallen first…and they’re all…after that transmission…I assume dead…there is no response from that district…and soldiers have reported our home…grounded to dust…and recovered your mother’s body. The House of El has fallen…but it will live on…through you my Child!
I have placed you in a prototype transport in my lab…from which my devices were made…but this carries one…alone…and this ship has been programmed to take you to the Sector of the Galaxy…which has been tagged 2814 by the Unified Science Council of the Galaxy. My son, I cannot continue this journey with you…and you will not remember your family…for in Earth years…you are too young as I wrap you waddling in our family emblem and cowl…but know that your planet, your family…will live on through you! Though we will not be physically beside you, keep us within your heart and in your mind…in your soul…for while you will be within Earth, you will not be one of Earth. You are what must be assumed…the Last Son of Krypton…and I pray that you arrive safely…and if you view this, then you have! May the flames of RAO take you in safe flight and fleet wings, and may you go…and become one of us…on Earth. Though you will find you are superior and physically different, I implore you Kal-El, I urge you…be pure of heart…for me…for your mother…for Krypton…May RAO be with and guide you…for all the days of your life…”
END MESSAGE
“Jor-El stored the Construct which I represent as the mother-box of the ship you escaped Krypton in. This ship barely escaped the blast radius, but the transport of you to Earth was successful over the 2 moon jumps and 700 parsnip equivalent length run with an exponential warp of 24.8945 ion plus wormholes - tedious but a success. Upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, my programme scanned all satellites of all nations, and downloaded the data into the Construct, and surveyed the best potential spot to set base. With respect to mortality rate, spying and surveillance, natural disasters, crime rates, health incidents, epidemics and casualties, a destination was chosen where the chance of discovery and potential danger to you was reduced to a minimal percentage…and Smallville was selected. The ship set base and upon docking into the soil of Smallville, first contact was made, and upon the American database file scanning, the 2 homosapiens were identified positively as Martha and Jonathan Kent. The Construct deemed the next logical step, based on the algorithm Jor-El embedded, was to offer you, Kal-El, to the couple, as scans already showed Martha infertile and basis this emotional probability, there was a 88.903% chance of them accepting you as their own. Human conditioning studies were carried out and emotional scans were taken in a 0.155 multi-nanosecond human mental traverse-scan to ascertain that this was the proper choice, and they were instructed to not reveal your true heritage and the events of that day…till your 18th birthday on Earth. You presence via coincidence or purpose at this site is of no consequence, as the Construct has taken the initiative to reveal its nature to you…as your body analysis, coupled with the Kryptonian mindscan, has shown that this is new to you…and the Kents did not speak to you as yet, perfectly acceptable considering that according to Earth time…you are 18 years…and 23 seconds old…Time seems to move slower in Kryptonian mindspace! You may have assumed that the timespan we have spent in this construct may hint at hours, but in Earth time, we have been processing for 23 seconds minimal. Your Kryptonian consciousness and essence was transferred through the crystal to this mother box of the ship that brought you here upon your physical contact with the crystal. For when the Kents took you in, to maintain stealth, the ship buried itself underground with technology that is void of Earth and makes it undetectable. We are in a holographic mental programme projected by the Brain InterActive Construct of Jor-El…establishing first contact with you Kal-El. You will find that many questions have to be answered, for example, your body has adapted under the Yellow Earth Sun, much more differently than a human, giving you superior physical strength and stamina, a rigid structure near impenetrable…much like this ship, and certain abilities or powers that are alien and inhuman…for that is what you are exactly! My purpose as a Construct is to relay Jor-El’s final word to you…and to offer you the gift of his knowledge and his father before that…stored in the Ele-Krystals within the ship. They contain the recorded data of the Galaxy…and hold the key to many of the Universe’s operations. They are yours…the gift from father to Son! Should you accept this gift, return to this same location, and embrace the crystal key…your consciousness will be returned to your physical body now…but you will not wake for at least 24 Earth hours, as this first contact has expended the stability of your short term mental state of consciousness.”
BEFORE CLARK COULD ANSWER, THE LIGHT FLASHED WHITE AGAIN…
“Mom..uhhhh,” Clark groaned…
“Kiddo…you okay? It’s been 2 days since Tuesday…what the heck happened that night? We were worried sick when you didn’t come home?” Jonathan echoed!
“I was…uhhh…I dropped Lana home…and then…Dog..ummm…it’s blurry…”
“We found you the next morning sleeping by Conner’s boulder there…seems it shifted out of place…” his mother told him.
“Yeah…the dog’s foot stuck…I moved…” then with a moment of clarity, “the crystal…I found a crystal in the ground…an Ele-Krystal!”
“Clark…We’re so sorry…but about that spot…something’s special about there...years ago…we found…”
“Dad…it’s okay…I know…everything…”
And before they knew it, Clark grabbed them with appreciation and the family embraced each other in tears of revelation.
As the family embraced in tight proximity…there was a knock on the door…and Jon wandered over eerily.
Clark and Ma Kent were hugging strongly as Clark wondered his next move…but no one could anticipate what would happen next…
As Jon made his way back in to the room, Sheriff Johns was behind him…
“Umm…Clark…there’s…there’s something…”
Clark grew fearful as he wondered if his discrepancy had been made…his nervousness raced with his heart!
Jon’s voice was breaking…
“Clark…Lana…and her…her family…they…they…were…murdere…they were kill…they died last night Son!”
1 MONTH AFTER THE FUNERAL FOR THE LANGS…
Clark remains heart-broken…and he cries everyday…every single day…the thing is…there are no tears that are allowed by his system’s physiological build…he never could shed tears! Clark always felt like an outsider, except with his family, and with Lana…’Heima’…he felt at home with her! From thinking that he was a metahuman as his parents hinted…to finding out the truth…he was the last assumed survivor of a fallen planet…the Last Son of Krypton…it was much to bear…a burden…but he was strong.
He resented himself…for not telling Lana…how much he loved her…how much she meant to him…or how he couldn’t live without her…he was young…but he was wise….he missed his first love!
Clark vowed to never take anything for granted…she was a gift…and he’d never take another gift for granted.
Robbers broke into the Langs’ home the night before Clark awoke from his incapacitation, and killed her and her parents…and in the highway chase, they crashed off the Smallville Bridge…and the car exploded! Clark couldn’t even exact some sort of vengeance…and his parents were glad that he would never get the chance to cross this line, as there’d be no turning back.
He blamed himself…he felt weak because he couldn’t wake from his slumber! If he was waking he felt he could save them…something that deep down he knew he couldn’t do…short of eavesdropping every night outside Lana’s house…
But he realized…he couldn’t save people if he slept…and he knew…what he wanted to do right now with his life! He didn’t know where his Destiny lie…nor what Fate had in store but…he knew what he wanted to do…right now! He knew his body could go without sleep…he was no ordinary man…all he needed was a simple few seconds in the yellow sunlight…to recharge! He knew insomniac problems were not a part of his physiology…he never needed to sleep…and he vowed…never to again…
“Mom…Dad…I…know what I want to be…”
"I know..now!" Clark said softly as he cradled the cloth…red and yellow with blue…representing the fire of Krypton’s Sun…and the blue of its skies and oceans…and he recalled seeing his father’s gown before he died…
“I have…a gift…a chance…to do…something…to be something…more…more than…more than a man! I’ve been given a gift with my abilities, and now, the Construct has offered me a gift…with which I can help… not only Earth, but…the Universe…I will not take these gifts for granted…it’s not what Lana would want me to do…I want…to make the Langs…and the Kents…proud of me! This emblem and cowl…impervious to the conditions of Earth…as am I…when I heard Jor-El…and I saw the S-symbol…I don’t know…how I can decipher…but it’s…I know it…now…I know what the symbol means…it means…
’PROTECTOR!’
Clark Kent walks to the Conner boulder region…and as he approaches…the crystal emerges from the ground, shining and ringing…but a confident Clark walks over to it…
“TELL ME…EVERYTHING…!”
And as he grabs the crystal, the ground roars and opens up…and his ship emerges!
“Greetings Kal-El…The journey has now commenced. Geographical scans have determined the most appropriate place without disturbance to conduct this education in solitude, are the latitude and longitude as displayed below in the holographic map! This region is known as your Arctic Region!”
“THEN LET’S NOT WAIT…NOT ONE SECOND MORE!” Clark gleamed with heroic determination as his eyes gazed the ship!
1 year later – METROPOLIS
I am not without Love…for I am the product of Love of Jonathan and Martha Kent…and of Jor-El and Lara-El…I am whole…I am able…I am willing… I am fierce…I am a warrior…I am with compassion and understanding…I am for Truth…I am for Justice…I am for Hope…I am with pure heart, body, mind and soul…My will is strong as is my determination…I am a Man…yet I am more…I AM MORE… I am a Son of Earth…I am a Son of Krypton…Who am I?
I AM SUPERMAN!