Something Extraordinary

Author's Note: DC Comics owns Superman and related characters. Only the following literary work is mine.

***

He could see the birds flying freely in the sky, no strings and no boundaries. Fourteen year old Clark Kent always wondered what it would be like to fly up away in the sky, through and above those clouds.

"Why are you here?" He asked himself.

"Clark, why are you here?" The voice asked again. It apparently belonged to his best friend Pete Ross.

"Are you here to play football or what?!" Pete had to repeat his question twice to bring Clark to the present. Everyone was surprised that Clark had come to play ball. He never did, even when invited. Oh well, one more player.

"Go long Kent." Billy yelled at him throwing him the ball. Nothing seemed to exist when Clark's concentration was on the ball and nothing else. He was too involved to see Pete running towards him.

"I'll get the..."Clark managed to say before colliding with Pete.

Clark could easily hear the crack of Pete's arm. Somehow he had lost control his strength in catching the ball.

Pete was screaming painfully clutching his left arm. Everybody was running towards them. Clark was too horrified to notice the punctured ball in his fist.

"I'm so sorry" Clark was repeating himself over and over.

***

"You told me you were going to the library, Clark." Jonathan Kent asked plainly.

"I said I'm sorry, Pa." The only words he get out of his mouth.

***

"Don't be sorry Clark." Pete said. His grin had never left his face in the last half hour. His left arm was fractured pretty bad and would be in the cast for a few weeks, the fact that didn't seem to worry Pete.

"This, my friend, is the greatest day. Of. My. Life." Pete continued with a smug expression on his face as the swarm of girls surrounded him to sign his cast. It was not that the girls didn't take notice of him, but this was a whole new level for Pete. So, he was quite happy with the status quo.

In that commotion, one of the girls shoved Clark away dropping all his books on the floor.

"Need some help?" a soft voice asked him.

That voice belonged to the one of the most beautiful girl of the school, Lana Lang. Red shoulder length hair on the head, cute little upturned nose, beautiful almond shaped green eyes and a few freckles on her cheeks to touch up the beauty. Every boy wanted to date her but somehow she was only interested in Clark ever since she knew him, the fact that seemed to surprise everybody in the school. Not that Clark was ugly or anything but he was far from the most handsome boy in the school. Jet black hair, long face with a long pointed nose and a thin frail body which was 'frail' just in appearance. Actually no work out was enough to tense up his muscles so his body remained thin though he was far more stronger than any other human could ever dream of. The only positive characteristic in his appearance were his eyes, striking blue, pure cerulean, totally out of this world.

"No thanks" Clark answered her question not looking into her eyes.

"I called yesterday. I left a message with your mom."

"Sorry Lana. But I don't feel like talking to anyone." Still not looking at her.

"Not even me?" Lana asked.

"Wanna sign my cast, Lana?" Pete interrupted hoping to get a hit with her seeing the present circumstances.

"No thanks" Lana replied blankly.

"What about you Clark? The doc says good vibes from friends make it heal faster. And what better friend do I have than you?"

Clark looked down at his cast. He could hear the small buzzing sound emanating from the back of his eyes. He tried to shake away the sound but suddenly the cast disappeared from Clark's vision as if it was never there. He blinked then the clothes, the skin, the flesh, the veins, all of them disappeared one after another. The only things he could see were the number of skeletons standing in front of him and in the centre a particular one with broken bones in the left arm talking to him. Fear took the grip of his body. It was like the scene from the horror movie he saw a few nights ago. He did not like horror but, no, he had to be dragged to the movie hall by Pete.

"Clark? You don't look so good. Are you okay?" Pete's voice fell on his ears.

"Clark? Clark? You are white as a ghost. Are you alright?" He turned to Lana's voice and saw another skeleton right beside him.

"Holy-!" He could not take it anymore and ran away as fast as he could.

"Clark?!" He could still hear Lana's distant voice. Though the buzzing had stopped, he did not dare to look at anything.

"Are...you...okay? Man...you run...fast." Lana asked with labored breaths as she reached him.

"No. I am not okay. I saw right through Pete's cast, Lana! I broke his arm. It was my entire fault."

"Clark, look at me." Lana cupped his chin and slightly raised his face so he could look at her. "It's not your fault. You were just playing football. You didn't do it intentionally. Well looking at the present situation, I don't think Pete minds at all." She tittered lightly.

"You weren't there, you didn't hear his bone snap and you didn't hear his scream." Lana did not like pain and horror in his eyes. "And dad. He had warned me not to play with them. Even though he didn't say it he knows it was my fault too. I could see it in his eyes."

"You remember what you said the first time we found out how strong you were? We were playing hide and seek and I was in Ben Hubbard's field. I could hear the thresher but I didn't know it was coming right at me but somehow you did. And you came to get me out of the way. The blades broke when they hit you and we were both safe. That day you said, 'I am stronger than steel. COOL!' What you're capable of? It's still COOL, Clark."

"Not anymore. It's not. I hurt Pete real bad. I am afraid to touch anyone, Lana."

"Don't ever be afraid of that, Clark" Lana took hold of his chin and made him face her.

"What, Lana...?" Clark stopped when he saw the look in her eyes. Something was about to happen. Oh god, Lana was going to kiss him.

But before their lips could come in contact, he felt the sudden rush in his blood and the sudden increase in his heart rate. Suddenly his eyes were burning. He held his head to stop the pain. He pushed Lana away.

"It's really hot in here." Clark grunted through the pain.

"Clark. Your eyes." He heard Lana gasp.

Hot red beams of fire shot out of his eyes onto the school banner in front of him immediately catching fire.

The fire alarm went off instantly soaking them in the sprinklers. They were still trying to understand what had just happened.

***

"Dad, I didn't put fire in the school intentionally. It was just that fire shot out my eyes." Clark answered.

"So you're telling me that the whole school burnt down due to your 'HEAT VISION'?" Jonathan seemed more amused than being angry.

"Yes dad."

"Clark. Okay son I believe you. But from now on be careful and try not to use your powers in front of others. I don't want my son to be taken away from me by those government people." Jonathan said still trying to grasp the fact.

"Yes dad. I'll be careful. But may I ask something?" Clark said.

"Anything." Jonathan answered.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you. You are just a very special boy." Jonathan answered but he seemed to be worried about something.

***

"Oh my god, are you okay baby?" Martha Kent was pretty shocked when she heard there was a fire at the school. This discussion interrupted the dinner in the Kent house.

"Mom, please relax. I can't get hurt, remember? Anyway the fire was my fault." Clark informed her.

"What? What do you mean your fault?" Martha asked dropping her spoon in her plate.

"I did not do it intentionally. I guess I got excited about something at school and fire shot out of my eyes." Clark was clearly embarrassed about the real reason of the accident but he had to tell something to his parents whenever any new power emerged.

"Look Clark. We love you more than anything in the world but you need to get control over powers as fast as possible. On your last birthday instead of blowing off the candles on your cake, you blew the whole cake into the wall in the front. Thank god, we did not invite anyone from the outside. At first it seemed amazing that you had special powers but now it's going out of control. You need to get control over them." Jonathan spoke first.

"I think its past time, Martha." Jonathan took his empty plate to the sink. "Well past time."

"Past time for what?" Clark was now concerned.

"Nothing, Clark." Martha assured him with a weak smile.

"He almost set the school on fire, Martha" Jonathan spoke again as he returned to the living room.

"No, he is too young for that."

"But he needs to know."

"I need to know what?" Clark again interrupted, again curiosity winning over him.

***

Jonathan took Clark to the barn and pointed at some large rusted junk covered by a dirty rug. Clark had seen it over all these years but never bothered about it much but wondered why his dad didn't sell that old scrap.

Clark looked at Jonathan totally clueless.

"Clark, the day we found out that you are stronger than the blades of Ben Hubbard's thresher wasn't the first day we knew you were special. Neither was it the day you blew out just more than the candles on your birthday."

"Dad it was my last birthday." Clark chuckled. Somehow Clark found it funny that he blew the whole cake into the front wall instead of just blowing off the candles.

"1st of December is not your birthday, Clark." Jonathan spoke with a serious tone as he approached the old junk. "It was the day we found this." Jonathan removed the rug.

It was not rusted at all and it looked like some kind of a small rocket shining brightly in the light of the electric bulb.

"What is that?" Clark asked fascinated by the rocket.

"As far as we've been able to tell, it's a rocket."He heard Jonathan speak.

"I know that. Where did it come from? It is awesome."

"It came from the sky, Clark. It landed right in front of us." Jonathan paused for a moment then continued. "You were in it."

The last sentences did not register in his mind as he watched the rocket in awe. He could not resist touching it. As soon as his fingers came in contact with the ship, it started glowing brightly. Jonathan and Martha had to cover their eyes until they could adjust to it.

"Clark?!" He heard Martha gasp.

"#&$*#& $*@#& #*$# $#@$@$#! <#&$@" Some kind of electronic voice came from the ship.

Suddenly a hologram of a tall man and a woman wearing some kinds of robe appeared in front of him. There was a godly glow on both their faces. The robes were brightest of white they had ever seen and a symbol looking much like 'S' on their chest which seemed to be very familiar to him but could not recall where he had seen it before. Both of them had a caring smile on their faces.

"#@{{@ *#@( #(@. #* $** #$*# #(@. #*$ #*& #*$#@." The man spoke in the same alien language as the ship.

"What did he say?" Clark's voice interrupted the message.

The message stopped immediately.

The voice from the ship again spoke: "TRANSLATION TO LANGUAGE: PLANET EARTH, ENGLISH. COMPLETED." Again it continued.

"IDENTITY CONFIRMED: KAL EL."

Again the man and the woman appeared.

"Hello Kal El. I am Jor El. I am your father." The man spoke and turned towards the woman. "This is Lara. She is your mother."

Clark turned towards Martha with a questioning look, but nothing escaped her mouth except from the tears flowing freely from her eyes.

"You were not born on Earth, Kal El. You were born on planet Krypton." Jor El's eyes saddened as he continued. "Krypton was the victim of its unstable RED SUN. But ultimately our fate was sealed because of my failure. I couldn't save Krypton. But I saved you, Kal El." He turned to Lara. "We saved you."

Adrenaline was again rising in his blood now due to the mixture of various emotions, anger, confusion, grief, panic. Again he could feel the same heat in his eyes.

"You were sent here with a reason, Kal El. You are the Last Son of Krypton. You will be protected on this new world by the abilities this world itself will provide you. And you will be free to move among the people of earth, but never forget, although you look like one of them, you are not one of them."

Clark's vision was blurred by the vapors of his tears from his red hot eyes.

Fire shot out of his eyes passing through Jor El onto the ship curiously unaffected by it.

"Chief among your protective abilities is your enhanced strength fueled by the yellow rays of the Earth's sun."Jor El continued.

Clark plunged through Jor El punching into the ship as hard as he could.

"GO AWAY!!" Clark yelled through his tears. At last the message stopped at his orders.

"This isn't true. It can't be." Clark ran out of the barn as fast as he could. He could still hear his parents' voice telling to stop but he didn't.

Finally he tripped over his own feet and fell face first. Not a single scratch on his skin. The fact that he could not get hurt was hurting him more. The fact that he was an alien.

He didn't stand up. He could not. He just laid there on the ground until Jonathan reached him.

"Clark?" He turned to look at his father speak. "I know this is scary."

"Why do you have to show me that? Why?" Clark yelled through his tears.

"I didn't expect that. I only wanted to show you the ship. I thought you deserved to know. It might help you understand."

"I... I don't want to be someone else. I don't want to be different." Clark spoke rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. "I want to be Clark Kent. I want to be your son."

"Clark!" Jonathan hugged him tightly, tears flowing freely from both their eyes. "You are my son."

***

"Mom, I can't wear these. I can't see anything. I am sure I look like a dork." Clark said took off the specs. "These glasses are way too large for me."

"Well use your X-ray vision to look through the glasses. We couldn't do much about the size of the glasses. But we don't want anymore fires now, do we?" Jonathan told him.

"How are these glasses gonna help, Pa?" Clark stared blankly at his spectacled reflection. Yup, he looked like a dork, well, even dorkier.

Martha answered the question. "These lenses we made from the crystals that broke from the rocket when you punched it. Your heat vision had no effect on them and they are quite durable too. By the way, you look adorable."

Clark groaned. Jon just laughed at the boy.

"Come on, let me get you to school." Jonathan said pushing Clark out of the main door.

***

After a few months, Clark got control over his X-RAY VISION and HEAT VISION. But he stopped using them frequently as he feared to give some kind of cancer through his X-rays and his head hurt after using heat vision. He was even more cautious about his STRENGTH than before. He was afraid that he would hurt someone unintentionally. The world seemed like made of paper to him so had to be careful. In doing so, he started pushing away from everybody else. The only person and friend at school who was determined to stay close to him was Lana. He would always try to push her away but she would find some or other reason to be walking alongside him. But Clark never let her in a few feet radius around him.

***

Another day that was another milestone in his life was the day he turned fifteen. Clark and Lana were walking to their home from the school all the way alone, no one to be seen around. Suddenly a car lost its track on the road and was speeding at full speed towards Lana. Before anyone could understand anything, Clark ran to Lana pushing her out of the car's way. The car smashed into him and stopped right there. He could see the pieces of glasses shattered from the windshield thrown towards him in slow motion but none of them could pierce his skin let alone injure him revealing his power of invulnerability for the first time or we can say he noticed his invulnerability. Almost nothing of the car was left, but Clark hadn't moved an inch from his initial place. The driver side door opened and driver fell out, thudding softly onto the pavement catching his attention. It was a woman in her early 20s. She did not appear to be moving. Clark took a monster leap and jumped onto that side of the car.

"Get away, there's gas leaking out of the car!" Lana yelled at him. He took the lady to the safety where Lana was standing.

"My sister. Save her," Clark heard her mumbling weakly.

Clark went back to the car as fast as he could despite Lana's protests. He looked through the rear passenger window, seeing her sister lying in a crumpled heap. The force of the collision had flung her into the back, and she was lying against the driver side of the car. She, too, wasn't moving.

Clark grabbed the door handle and pulled, only to find it was stuck. He braced himself and tried again only to tear off the door and throwing it away. He let himself in and leaned to check on her. He fought hard against his urge to puke when he saw the blood on her head, the ugly bruises on her face and shoulder. She had a huge swelling on her left leg.

"The fuel is getting near the engine; you have got to get out of there!" He heard Lana yell as he tried to get the girl out of the car without damaging her anymore.

Suddenly he felt the car catching fire. He knew that within few seconds the car would explode. He threw the girl towards Lana and away from the car.

"Clark, hurry!" Lana yelled from somewhere close by, and as he tried to climb out of the car he saw her standing way too near. "It's going to blow!"

Suddenly he lost his balance and fell back into the car shook due to explosion, the last sight he saw was Lana being thrown away by the explosion. And then all he saw was fire surrounding him, the whole car was burning. His clothes had caught fire. He could feel the warmth of the fire but nothing uncomfortable nor any burning sensation on his skin. The fire could not damage his skin. He stood up calmly through the fire and got out of the car.

Lana recovered from her fall and managed to stand and saw him running towards her. It was a sight she could never forget. Almost all his clothes were burnt away, one or two spots of modesty still on fire which died out as he brushed his hand over them. His hair was tousled but nothing of his body was damaged

"Are you okay?" Lana heard him say as she felt his still warm fingers brushing against her cheeks.

"Y-Yeah. I am okay." Lana snapped out of her thoughts.

"Lana. Call 911 from the lady's cell. Please stay until the medics get here. I have to go. I cannot explain people how I survived the explosion." Clark said.

"What the hell just happened here? I mean how did you survive the explosion? You are not burnt anywhere?" Lana asked him.

"I really have to go now. I will explain everything LATER. I promise." Clark said as he sprinted away from the sight.

She looked up after dialing 911 to find Clark out of sight.

"Hello. 911."

"Hello. It's an emergency. There has been a car accident."

***

Clark reached home in his shredded clothes covering his exposed body parts with his hands.

Martha Kent was the first person in the house to notice him walking through the door. She was standing on a chair and cleaning the house when she saw him and almost lost her balance on the chair.

"Good lord. What happened to you Clark?" Martha asked him out of her shock.

Jonathan walked out of the kitchen to look at him and was shocked dead in his tracks. Eventually Jonathan found his voice and asked him sternly, "What happened to you boy? Answer me."

So he did.

"We are very proud of you, son. We are very happy that you used your powers to save lives even though you didn't know you had them until then. You risked your life here." Jonathan said.