Story of a Ryptonian

Prologue: The Boy Of Steel

Looking up in the blue sky, 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 heard the voice of his heart asking him his purpose in this world. Apparently the voice really belonged to his best friend Pete Ross.

"Are you here to play football or what?!" Pete repeated his question twice Clark could fully understand the meaning of his question.

"Go long Kent." Billy screamed at him throwing the ball in his direction. 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 to tackle him.

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

KRAK!!

Clark could easily hear the sound of snapping of Pete's arm. Sometimes even he himself could not control his strength.

Pete was screaming painfully. Everybody was running towards them. Clark was too horrified to notice the ball punctured in his clutched hand.

***

"You told me you were going to the library to study after school." Jonathan Kent asked his son with a plain expression on his face.

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

***

"Don't be sorry Clark." Pete said with a huge grin on his face. His left hand was fractured pretty bad and would be in that bloody cast for a few weeks, the fact that seemed to do nothing to worry Pete than to make him even happier.

"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. Rarely girls took notice of him, but it was due to the cast that he was the centre of attraction and he was quite happy about that.

In that chaos one of them shoved Clark away enough to drop all his books on the floor.

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

That voice belonged to 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.

Well though Clark was not ugly or something but also he was not by far 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, strikingly blue, bluest of blue, totally out of this world, as if carrying the entire oceans on the surface of the earth.

"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 acquired a blank look.

"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. Suddenly the cast disappeared from Clark's vision, and then the clothes, the skin, the flesh, the veins, all of them disappeared. 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 and horror took the grip of his body.

"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 looked in the direction of Lana's voice to see another skeleton right beside him.

He could not take it anymore and ran away as fast as he could.

"Clark?" He could still hear Lana's distant voice. He was crying his eyes out ironically with his eyes closed tightly. Though his vision was back to normal, he could not dare to look at anyone.

"You are not okay. Are you?" Lana asked as she approached him.

"No. I am not. I saw right through Pete's cast. 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 chuckled lightly to lighten up the mood.

"You weren't there, you didn't hear his bone snap and you didn't hear his scream."A look of pain and horror in his striking blue eyes. "And dad. He told 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 heard 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 of adrenaline in his blood and the sudden increase in his heart rate. His head was feeling dizzy. He pushed Lana away against his own will. He could feel something extremely hot in his eyes.

"It's really hot in here." Clark fell back on his butt.

"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.

RING! RING! RING!

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 so called '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 can I ask to something?" Clark said.

"Anything." Jonathan answered.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you. You are 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 did you do now?" Martha asked dropping her spoon in her plate. Fear was clearly forming the crevices on her forehead.

"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.

Now Mom seemed to be amused too at my answer but still quite worried.

"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 spoke again taking his empty plate towards the kitchen. "Well past time."

"Past time for what?" Clark was clearly curious about the present situation.

"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." Again the worry lines formed on her face.

"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 sold that old crap.

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 looked like some kind of a small rocket or spaceship shining brightly in the light of the electric bulb.

"What is that?" Clark spoke, his eyes not leaving the sight of the rocket for a second.

"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. At first you looked ...um....quite....different. I mean you did not look quite like us. But as soon as we touched you, you turned to a human being and never turned back."

The last sentences did not register in his mind as he watched the rocket in awe. He could not resist touching it. But 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 humanoid alien about 6'4" with a pale green complexion and another similar but smaller about 5'11" maybe a female appeared in front of him. Nothing in their features were human like. There was a godly glow on both their faces. They were wearing cloaks 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 which seemed to have a calming effect on Clark, he couldn't understand why.

"

#@{{@ *#@( #(@. #* $** #$*# #(@. #*$ #*& #*$#@.

" 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. We sent you in form of a raw potential which means you will almost gain the form of any species of the planet you first come in contact with to help you disguise your true nature. We truly hope you gained the form of Homo sapiens of the planet Earth. "

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 it 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 totally 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 his speed could move him. 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 look like a dork." Clark said looking at himself in the mirror. "These glasses are way too large for me."

"Well. 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 reflection.

"These glasses we made from the crystals that broke from the rocket when you punched it. Your heat vision had no effect on them. But they are quite durable too. Thus we couldn't size them properly. But right now you will have to do with them." Martha answered.

"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

(with the guidance and training from Jor El). But he stopped using his X-rays frequently as he feared to give some kind of cancer through his X-rays and he would always be careful about his STRENGTH that he would hurt someone unintentionally. In attempting to do 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 along side him like a sidekick alongside a superhero. 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 uproot 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 shockwave of 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. Nothing of his body was damaged but his hair was tousled.

"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? How are you 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.