Chapter 3: ProtectiveJon and Jordan heard their dad enter through the back door. They had just started dinner.
“Sorry, I'm late,” he said, going to the table.
“Everything okay?” Lois asked.
Clark sat down, not as relaxed as he was earlier that week after his interview as Superman with Lois and Tal.
“Killgrave escaped and is still missing,” he said.
“Oh. So that's where you went after the cruise liner,” Lois said.
“The transfer and attack was happening while I was still pushing the liner into port. I wasn't able to get to Metropolis before he disappeared,” he said, annoyed.
Jon and Jordan glanced at each other.
“You'll get him, babe,” Lois assured.
Clark nodded before refocusing and smiling at the twins. “So how was school?” he asked.
“Good. Everything is still a little weird with Gaines gone, but no one is upset with me,” Jon said.
“People keep randomly thanking him,” Jordan said, amused.
Clark smiled, happy things were going so well. “Making friends?”
“Yeah, Tag and Sean, the others on the team are too now. They've apologized,” Jon said.
Clark looked at Jordan and he shrugged. “I've... Uh, a guy in Spanish is cool. Paul Lincoln.”
“Lincoln? Is his dad's name Luke? If he is, his family helps with the rodeo every year,” Clark said, pleased.
“Oh, uh, yeah. I told him I'm learning about horses from the Darrens and he told me about setting up barrels between the bull rides during last year's rodeo,” he said happily.
“I never participated in the rodeos, but I loved watching,” Clark said, glad to see his son's excitement. “If the Darrens do something for it this year, would you want to participate?”
“Yeah!” Jordan immediately answered before noticing Lois’ hard stare at their dad, no doubt imagining Jordan riding a wild bull and being thrown.
Lois glanced at Jordan and swallowed. “Well, if they do, make sure to let us know,” she eventually said, unable to squash the interest she saw, no matter her concerns about his safety.
“Okay,” he said, before taking another bite of dinner.
“So, change of topic,” Clark said. “Since it's been a while, I think this weekend we'll go to the Fortress to run those scans I said we'd do before Tal gives you his lecture.”
Jon and Jordan glanced at each other before looking back excitedly.
“Do you think anything's changed?” Jon asked.
“You tell me. Have you noticed anything?” Clark asked.
“Uh. . . .” Jon glanced at Jordan, before looking back at Clark. “Well, what sort of things are we looking for? I mean, how does being . . . well, super feel?”
Clark blinked before looking to Lois, a little confused.
“That’s actually a good question,” Lois commented. “I think giving them examples of things you’ve had to keep in mind when you blend in would be helpful.”
“Oh!” Clark nodded his sudden understanding. “Well, temperature doesn’t affect me like everyone else. Growing up, my parents had to remind me to put on my winter jacket whenever it was cold and then, when summer came around, to not wear layers and to act hot when others are hot. Of course, I don’t sweat easily, so that was sometimes easier said than done.”
Jon and Jordan’s eyes widened.
“Do you feel temperature, though? I mean, you know when something is cold or not, right?” Jon asked.
“Yeah, I feel it. My sense of touch is just as super as my other senses, so I can differentiate between even a fraction of a degree, I just have a much broader range I can tolerate, temperature and pressure wise. Though there are times when certain sensations can become too intense, overly sensitive, but that's different.”
Lois avoided eye contact, knowing it would cause Clark to blush.
“Do you get hungry or thirsty?” Jordan asked, blissfully unaware of the connotations of what Clark had briefly mentioned.
“No, but, from what people have described to me, what I sometimes do feel are cravings for certain things. It’s not hunger exactly, but I sometimes do seek certain things, even though, thanks to the sun, I technically don’t need to eat. Some foods are healthy for me though. Like foods with high fat content, interestingly enough,” Clark said.
“Is that why you like chocolate bacon?” Jordan asked, intrigued.
Clark stilled before slowly nodding, considering it. “Yeah, that's most likely why. Wow, that makes a lot of sense actually. Anyway, for thirst, I’ve never gotten to the point of becoming thirsty, but I do need water,” Clark explained, before looking thoughtful. “At least I think I do.”
“How does the sun feel? Is It different to you?” Jon asked.
Jordan glanced at him.
“Yeah. I guess it feels . . . hm. It feels warm and comforting, and when I really need energy, it feels like a rush, making my skin tingle,” he explained.
Jordan fidgeted, nervous. “I've been feeling that lately, I think. It's not all the time or on all my skin though.”
Clark’s eyes widened, and Lois leaned forward.
“You have?” Clark asked, his eyes somehow holding both excitement and uncertainty as he tentatively smiled.
Jordan nodded.
“W-well, it won't be a constant sensation,” Clark went on. “It happens when cells are low in energy and so when they’re exposed to the sun, they absorb solar energy quickly to recharge and that's what the tingling is about.”
Jon grinned. “So like a battery.”
“Yeah, I'm pretty much a big battery,” Clark said good-naturedly before looking at Jordan who was now grinning.
“So I guess–” Clark started, before sharply turning his head. He looked back at them apologetically. “I'm sorry. We'll talk more when I get back,” he said, before looking at Lois. “It's Killgrave.”
And then he disappeared.
O o O o O
"Glenmorgan Square,” Sam's voice said over the radio chatter.
Superman shot across the city and landed at the edge of the park.
There was a man with an AR-15 in front of a monument.
Interestingly, there were a few dozen people enjoying the evening air, scattered throughout the area and oblivious to the armed man. Of course, it was getting dark and the man was not attracting attention.
“Where’s Killgrave?” Superman asked, walking forward and, understandably, garnering surprised looks from those around.
The man immediately dropped his weapon and simply replied as he moved away, “He just said to get you here.”
A surge of pulsating pain slammed into Superman from behind, propelling him forward as a high-pitched whirring sound drilled into his ears and through his whole frame.
He didn't know what had just happened other than he had just been attacked.
“For this sonic blaster to work, I needed you in closer range,” a man said. Killgrave.
With his unruly hair, scruffy beard, and thick framed sunglasses, Killgrave looked as insane as he truly was.
“Now pay attention,” Killgrave said.
He pulled the trigger again and humming agony pummeled into Superman once more, forcing him to remain crouched beside the chain divider.
“Let me show you what this baby can do,” Killgrave continued, before firing again.
He was given only a second of reprieve when the onslaught resumed, before briefly lifting.
Superman's head swam. For one of the few times in his life, he wondered if he was going to throw up.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about you, obsessively tracking your patterns,” Killgrave admitted. “I noticed you haven’t been around Metropolis quite as much.”
He fired again, slamming Superman and pushing him backwards.
“But that’s how I knew that the, peh, bigshots would move me to a more secure prison. It seems like you’re obligated elsewhere,” he said, falling into a monologue, as villains often did. “That makes you distracted. Vulnerable. . . . A weakling.”
Superman couldn't help but bristle at the words, but he quickly refocused and weighed his options in a fraction of a second as his body did its best to recover.
Heat vision was out of the question. If his gaze was redirected, his heat vision could hit a bystander or even a whole group, potentially killing them. It wasn't worth the risk.
He thought about clapping his hands to create a shockwave to knock Killgrave unconscious, but several people were nearby and would also be caught in it. Killgrave wouldn't be the only one hurt. However, if Killgrave kept it up, he might have no other choice.
He considered retreating, putting distance between them, but again there were people who were too close who could get caught by a blast Killgrave would undoubtedly fire – either in an attempt to hit him or in plain frustration, or even to force Superman to intercept a blast aimed at a bystander – and Superman was quite sure a human wouldn't be able to survive a sonic wave.
Which left the direct option. In his experience, it more often than not was the best option in dire situations, as it held the lowest risk to the public and ended threats quickly, especially cocky ones.
He moved.
Only to be brutally bashed against the stone monument behind him by another sonic blast.
He rolled as the agony continued, and he couldn't bite back a groan as the throbbing mounted, becoming exponentially worse than before as Killgrave approached. Superman was currently seeing double and it felt as if the ground was tilting back and forth on a top.
After several seconds, Killgrave relented, adjusting something on the weapon.
Superman shifted, about to try to raise himself up since his equilibrium was returning, but then Killgrave fired again.
The disorientation was unparalleled and the only thing that was more severe was the shearing pain concentrated and escalating in his eardrums and ebbing across his entire brain like an endless stream of ruthless internal fireworks. It was even worse than when his hearing had fully engaged when he had been eight.
Killgrave didn't let up, and, blurrily, Superman made out the man's hand doing something else with the weapon that altered the pulse, causing it to emit a frequency reminiscent of the ELT, only one hundred times more potent.
He cried out in pain as the intensity rose higher, but all sound suddenly vanished, save for a single ringing noise that reminded him of a tuning fork.
His whole body was buzzing, and he forced himself to concentrate as he resigned himself to his last option, but before he could act on it by bringing his hands together, a black shape thundered into existence between him and Killgrave.
Tal.
He hadn't heard his arrival, but he had felt the pulse of displaced air and heavy landing through the earth.
O o O
Tal startled at a sound that abruptly cut above all other noise.
He had never heard anything like it.
He didn't have much practice actually using his enhanced hearing, but he automatically triangulated the location that was on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and opened his awareness to what other sounds were near the origin.
His heart was instantly in his throat as he heard his brother's winded scream.
He didn't think.
He didn't hesitate.
And he flew faster than he ever had before.
As he entered the city air space and came within view of the park, he took in the scene in less than a human blink.
His brother was on the ground and a man was hurting him with some kind of sound weapon.
Rage consumed him and his eyes blazed red, his fury boiling so hot within him he could barely keep himself from shaking.
His landing cracked the concrete, shaking the ground, and he was only faintly aware of the audience around them as his left hand yanked the gun away from the crazed man, crushing it and thus severing the onslaught against his brother.
Instantaneously, he grabbed the man by his throat and hoisted him up, levitating into the air with him.
Wrath beat in sync with his heart as his crimson, glowing eyes stared into the petrified eyes of the pathetic human who had dared to harm his brother.
“Tal.”
His brother's voice, soft but direct, cut through.
Tal didn't move, suddenly very conscious of the man's weak and vulnerable flesh just beneath his fingers and palm. As well as the fragile trachea and vertebrae between the carotid arteries he could feel blood frantically pumping through.
Everyone in the area was frozen. Couples holding each other as they looked on, concerned but too afraid to move. People with their cellphones held out, recording every second. Stunned onlookers unsure of what to do. All of them staring at him and his brother.
Tal let the heat in his eyes pulse dangerously but released no beam as he glared at the man, pulling him so close his nose almost touched Tal's mask.
The man whimpered.
“You owe your pathetic life to my brother. Remember that when you wake up,” Tal informed the shaking man before simply thumping him on the head and letting him drop.
His eyes cooled.
He turned and zipped to his brother, who was struggling to his knees, holding his head.
Tal helped him get upright and moved to lift him to his feet, but Kal resisted, shaking his head. So they remained kneeling.
“Wait,” Kal said, bringing his hands up to his ears while opening and closing his mouth, as if he was trying to pop his ears.
While he was doing that, Tal noticed he was also leaning hard to the left, and continuing to tilt.
He grabbed Kal's arm, preventing him from tipping over.
“Kal?” he asked, concerned.
He didn't respond.
Tal immediately leaned forward and made eye contact.
“Kal?” he asked again.
“Tal, I can't hear you. I just hear ringing,” Kal answered, still leaning.
Suddenly, Tal heard a dozen vehicles racing to the area and he knew, thanks to the radio chatter and sirens, that they were the DoD and police.
“Brother, the DoD is coming,” he said, hoping his brother could read his lips.
“Okay. I'll need to talk to General Lane,” Kal said, even as he continued rubbing his ears.
“Can you even stand?” Tal countered.
Kal smiled at him. “That's why I have you.”
Tal smiled despite himself, though his mask hid the fact.
“Superman!”
Tal turned his head and looked up to see General Lane hurrying toward them as soldiers swarmed the area. Tal tensed and quickly stood while keeping a stabilizing hand on his brother's shoulder.
Lane and the soldiers tailing him immediately slowed upon seeing Tal's movement and Lane raised his hands non-threateningly, his eyes bouncing back and forth between him and Kal.
“General, I can't hear right now, so I'll need to keep this brief,” Kal told him, still kneeling.
Tal rolled his eyes. “Kal, your equilibrium is completely shot! I think you have more important things to worry about than a debrief.”
“I agree with your brother. The medical team is here, and they have the lights that should help,” Lane said, surprising Tal.
“Lights?” Tal questioned, before glancing beyond Lane to a military van that came to a stop just off the sidewalk.
There were military personnel throughout the area now and they were guiding the civilians away and had arrested one of them for some reason. The man who had had the gun was also being secured and loaded up, still unconscious, and official looking people were taking pictures and gathering evidence, including the crushed gun.
“We have a medical team devoted to providing Superman aid. And we have lights specifically designed to recharge him,” Lane explained.
Tal refocused on the van and x-rayed it. Through the walls, he saw a gurney and high tech equipment, including powerful lamps, scanners, and intimidating medical devices. He looked at Kal who gave him a knowing look.
He knew he had peeked into the van.
Tal turned back to the General whose concerned gaze was on Kal before his eyes snapped to Tal.
“When we learned what was happening, the medical team was deployed. So the lights are here,” Lane said, his voice tentative with an underlying question.
Would Tal let them help Superman?
“Show us,” Tal decided, helping Kal stand.
Kal stood and, though he had mostly recovered his strength, his balance remained heavily skewed.
“Follow me,” Lane said, immediately leading the way to the van.
Tal ignored the gawkers at the edge of the perimeter the police and DoD had made, helping his brother up the stairs and along the sidewalk to the now open van.
There was a military doctor and two assistants waiting outside the van beside the open doors, revealing a miniature medical set up just beyond.
Kal went forward and Tal hesitantly allowed him to approach the medical team who quickly received him and helped him keep his footing.
“Turn on the lamps,” Lane instructed.
The doctor nodded and flipped the switch before aiming the lights out of the van at Kal.
Light flooded the area, bathing them in power.
Kal immediately straightened and slowly inhaled, basking in the rejuvenating energy going into his skin as a brief, visible flare of healing-red and white flashed at his ears.
“Thank you, General,” Kal said. “That’s exactly what I needed.”
“Glad we could help,” Lane said, pleased.
And even Tal had to admit, if only to himself, that he was glad too.
O o O o O
Lois slowly exhaled as the talking heads on the morning news came back on screen.
They were replaying one of the dozen recordings of Tal, eyes blazing red, stopping Killgrave and hoisting the man up before knocking him unconscious. By this point, most people had seen at least three different angles of the incident, with varying degrees of sound and video quality.
“Really, I think Superman's brother showed amazing restraint,” the co-host said. “I mean, can any of us honestly say we would have been able to do the same if we saw someone hurting one of our loved ones? If I had been in his place, I might have outright killed the guy!”
“I agree, but I think the only reason why he didn't kill him was because Superman stopped him by saying his name,” a guest on the show commented.
“Perhaps, which I think goes to show Superman’s character,” the host said. “After being hurt like he was, because that definitely didn't look pleasant – I mean, did you see the light show at his ears and stuff?”
“That was his body healing, right?” one of them asked.
“Yeah, solar energy, I think?”
“That's right. But anyway, this all proves how lucky we are that Superman is the way he is. After all, he could be like that parallel world’s Superman or whatever. The Stranger’s world. And you know, it really makes me wonder what made that Superman turn,” the co-host added.
“Who knows? Maybe that world’s Superman had to choose between his kind or Earth, or, heck, maybe an evil kryptonian mind took him over or something?” the guest proposed.
“Phffff. Awful, however it happened,” the host said gruffly, clearly not wanting to imagine things further.
Lois fully agreed and was happy when they broke off the talk for commercials.
“How long do you think people will talk about this?” Clark asked, entering the room.
Lois couldn’t help but give a snicker. “Forever.”
Clark sighed but smiled at her teasing.
“I think this is good though. No one is concerned about how he reacted. On the contrary, they understand and sympathize with your brother,” Lois said.
“It is a relief to hear that most people don't fear us,” Clark agreed.
Lois smiled tenderly, her teasing now replaced with pure understanding.
“The world knows how much you care, and while Tal is still mostly an unknown to people, they trust you to keep them safe,” she said.
“Even from my brother?” he asked, his eyes holding tentativeness.
“Especially from your brother. But really, no matter who his father was, he is too much like you to not be good,” Lois said confidently as she hugged him tightly. “His recent actions prove it.”
“I still can't believe we don't have a mortgage anymore,” he whispered.
“Me neither, but the numbers were clear. Tal just made the bank honor them,” she said, before playfully adding, “With a bonus.”
Clark laughed and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll remember to thank my brother.”
O o O o O
To be continued in Sound
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