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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 814
Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 814 |
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1
Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1 |
Yeah real world is pretty inconvenient    Time for Clark to shine. If he succeeds in containing the tornado, it might go a long way in convincing the general masses, I think.. I totally love how you give us snippets of people from all walks of life as they are being rescued by Superman. 
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,445
Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,445 |
I love the "Action Comics #1" thought - it hadn't occurred to me before, but naturally everyone is going to be looking at him and thinking of the iconic comic book covers etc.
Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,018
Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,018 |
“Then who’s flying the car?” tornadoes were constructs of heat and cold, and those were things Clark had some power over. It wasn’t something he’d tried before, and he ran the risk of making the problem worse, but he had to do something more than just try to dig survivors out. Wow, great concept. Delightful tale.
Framework4
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
Wow, the legal headache of being a superhero in the real world these days!!! First of all there's the business of paying your attorney... “I can recover ghost pots in Alaska, I guess,” he said. “I paid for college working on a crab boat, and there were times where you'd lose the crab traps. There was a program to recover the traps in my world where they'd pay you fifteen dollars for each one you recovered.”
“Don't those things weigh like eight hundred pounds apiece?” Susan had watched enough episodes of Deadliest Catch with her husband to know a little of what he was talking about.
He shrugged. “I can probably collect several hundred of them, if I can get someone to pay for them without identification. Those ghost traps keep killing crabs, which damages the crab industry. It'd be a public service.” Hmmm, yes. Good idea. And this is another testimony to how much research has gone into this story. “Do you have a dollar…a real, United States dollar?”
He was silent for a moment, then reached into his boot, pulling out several crumpled bills. He handed her one. I had to laugh at this! What a wonderful mental image! Susan smiled slightly. “What do you want to accomplish?”
“There's a good chance that we may never be able to get home,” he said. “If it means endangering this world, I'm not willing to try to reopen a rift home. If we can't go home, I want those people to receive status as American citizens, and to have a chance to make some sort of life here without being prisoners.”
“Was everyone on the plane American?” Susan asked.
“Um…I'm not sure,” he said. “Then they should get asylum here if their country of origin don't want them.”
“And for yourself?”
“I can't do what I do alone,” he said. “I want to help the people of Myanmar, but unless charities are willing to work with me, I won't have anything to take to those people. If I were to try to stop crime, the police could refuse to hold anyone I captured.” I love what he wants to accomplish. Only a truly, truly good guy would honestly want all of those things, and mostly just those things. But the nit-picky details you have to think about when carrying out your superheroics.... “There are some serious legal issues related to stopping crime,” Susan said. “Ones we'll need to go over. Even though you aren't a citizen, you could make citizen's arrests in every state except North Carolina. There you can only detain someone, but you can't transport them.” “You make it sound like I shouldn't even try,” he said. He was silent for a long moment. “I can't do that. I can't see people hurting and not do everything I can to help. Not anymore.” That's wonderful! It's crazy, but I feel proud of Clark. As if I had anything to do with him! Susan nodded approvingly. “You wouldn't be who you are if you did anything different. You just have to get the best legal protection you can get and hope for the best.” I love Susan's comment, too. He sighed and nodded soberly. “So what's the game plan?”
“I'd like to get Lois out first,” Susan said. “She's already my client, and the rules applying to her are going to be different from those applying to the rest of you.” Yes, please! Do get Lois involved! She and Clark should be a team, at least as much as Batman and Robin are a team. The one thing he was certain of was that he wasn't going to be able to blow any but the smallest tornados off course.
But tornadoes were constructs of heat and cold, and those were things Clark had some power over. It wasn't something he'd tried before, and he ran the risk of making the problem worse, but he had to do something more than just try to dig survivors out. Wonderful! Wonderful! Clark is going to try to do something to the cause of tornadoes! ![[Linked Image]](http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/tornado/images/tor_alley_lg.gif) Tornadoes happen when cold and warm air meet and clash, usually over the Midwestern plains. Could Clark do something to change the temperature of that air? They didn't crash at all. After several moments she opened her eyes. The ground was no longer rising up at them. Instead all she saw was blue sky.
It took her several moments to understand. They weren't falling; they were flying. She wondered if perhaps they had died and she simply didn't remember the crash. Perhaps they were heading to heaven together.
If they were heading for heaven, her neck wouldn't hurt this much. I love this, a religious woman trying to figure out if she is going to heaven or not. Well, her neck says she isn't! Her daughter was staring out the window. “I'm ok,” she said. She was silent for a long moment. “I thought you said Superman wasn't real.”
“He's not,” Mary-Lou said.
At this age Suzy sometimes had trouble distinguishing reality from fiction.
“Then who's flying the car?” Well, out of the mouths of babes...  In his time as a paramedic, Thomas had seen everything.
Everything but a man in a Superman outfit flying, carrying a car over his head in a pose that reminded Thomas a little of the cover of Action Comics number one. ![[Linked Image]](http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/action-comics/1-1.jpg) Clark would be flying this car instead of smashing it... but I love the Action Comics #1 comparison, nonetheless! Thomas blinked as he saw what was on the horizon.
“Move, move, move!” he screamed, gesturing toward the other paramedics who were standing around staring.
Three tornadoes were visible and they were headed directly for town.
Against them stood a lone figure floating in the air. Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Well, one thing is certain: If Clark stops those tornadoes, after flying those heavy containers to Myanmar and rescuing the Russian space shuttle, any person who still hasn't got a clue that Superman has come to this world should be regarded as almost criminally ignorant! Please come back soon with more! Ann
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 391
Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 391 |
Two chapters in two days! Hooray!  Honey…” Her husband stared at her with a pleading expression. He’d always been a Superman fan and Susan groaned. If she didn’t accept the case she’d be hearing from her husband. I hope there are a lot of people like her husband, because I have a feeling Clark is going to need their support. “People knew my name,” he said. “But they didn’t know my face.” Clark still has a chance at a secret identity if he manages to get home... “There’s a good chance that we may never be able to get home,” he said. “If it means endangering this world, I’m not willing to try to reopen a rift home.” You know, if the scientists at CERN knew what was going on, I bet they would not only stop endangering the world (even if it took a work stoppage to thwart the bureaucrats), they would try to help figure out what was going on. Frankly, the physics implied by the rifts and by Clark is way more interesting than the current planned research at CERN. I think physicists would gladly put that aside until they could figure out what was going on. And I doubt that a pair of glasses is going to be enough to disguise you I know everyone scoffs that this would never work in the real world, but I always thought Dean Cain looked quite different as Clark Kent and as Superman. I think he might actually be able to get away with it in a world where everyone didn't already know that Superman hides by wearing glasses. “I’m saying that if you want to do this, you’re pretty much going to have to keep a lawyer on retainer at all times.” I have a bad feeling about this... Three tornadoes were visible and they were headed directly for town.
Against them stood a lone figure floating in the air. A great image to end with, but please don't leave us waiting too long! 
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,994
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,994 |
'Lou'ing someone is what happens when the author does a find-and-replace on sue and doesn't look carefully at what they are replacing  Loved both of these, but I have a bad feeling about Clark ripping the door off the car. The occupants are obviously conscious. James, who wouldn't want to be a 'superhero' in the real world. I much prefer being the hero to my little girls, kissing their boo-boos and the accountants at my work when I restore the global database so they can get their reports out in time.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144 |
2 chapter in 1,5 days! Wow!   Now I still have a few remarks concerning the whole problem our world has with Clark. Of course the government is paranoid, even more since 9/11. Clark should have shown them by now that there is nothing to fear from him. So why do they still behave like that? The agents and the government see his abilities, but they haven´t got a glimpse of the real person behind it. Clark said it one time: `Superman is what I can do, Clark is who I am.´ So they (and the rest of the world in front of their TVs) still have to gain trust in him. How? I think he has to show some emotions. That was the same with Lois. When he first started showing the real Clark, she began to trust him. I mean that passage of your story, when she found him in front of the 9/11 video. Of course he is very hesitant to let down his guard, thanks to Lana.  I hope he doesn´t have to go the lawsuit way and you find him another way to show emotions, preferably in front of a camera. I could think of several ways, but of course I won´t try to tell your story! Usually you have plenty of surprises for me in stock, and the story goes another way then I would have thought! Perhaps I´m completely wrong with all I have written above... all I can do is wait for your next chapter! Please, soon!
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864 |
"Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane?... No, it's Pecos Bill!" I love the idea of Clark trying to figure out the most logical way to tackle tornadoes, from a scientific point-of-view. Of course, being from Kansas he's given it some thought beforehand. I'm glad James clarified what it was to be Loued. Very logical explanation. Although... I much prefer being the hero to my little girls, kissing their boo-boos and the accountants at my work I've met some of the accountants at your work and would prefer if you wouldn't kiss them. Nice work, as always, Shayne. Elisabeth
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Joined: Feb 2008
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,823 |
“I don’t suppose you have any money,” Susan said. “This world’s money…I heard about your problems with currency.” .....“And what about in the meantime?” she asked. “Do you have any other way of making money?” It's all about the money! “There are some serious legal issues related to stopping crime,” Susan said. “Ones we’ll need to go over. Even though you aren’t a citizen, you could make citizen’s arrests in every state except North Carolina. There you can only detain someone, but you can’t transport them.” Wow! I didn't know that, and I'm impressed by your research. “The laws are different in every country. You have to be careful. People can sue you for almost anything and the one inevitable fact is that they will. If you arrest someone, they are going to try to claim that you hurt their arm or caused whiplash or infringed on their rights in some way and they’ll try to get as much money out of you as they can.” Darn depressing, but true! “You need to be careful even in rescuing people. You aren’t in as much risk in other countries, but in this country if you rescue someone they may still Lou you. There are Good Samaritan laws that may provide some degree of protection, but it’s not complete. In Minnesota and Vermont there is a duty to assist, which usually only applies to people at the scene of the crime. Do you have super hearing?”
He nodded.
“Then in those jurisdictions you might be liable for NOT assisting.” There's a Catch-22! “All this should be simpler,” he said.
“If this were the comics it would be,” she said. “But this is the way that it is.” That's why it's more fun to read the comics than it is to deal with real life. "You make it sound like I shouldn’t even try,” he said. He was silent for a long moment. “I can’t do that. I can’t see people hurting and not do everything I can to help. Not anymore.”
Susan nodded approvingly. “You wouldn’t be who you are if you did anything different." The essence of Superman! It still amazed Clark that this world had a channel devoted to nothing but the weather. In his world the weather was something that got talked about in a short segment on the news, unless there was some sort of emergency. You know, maybe when Clark gets back to his world, he could think of this as an investment opportunity? In his time as a paramedic, Thomas had seen everything.
Everything but a man in a Superman outfit flying, carrying a car over his head in a pose that reminded Thomas a little of the cover of Action Comics number one. All these bits where a minor character gets to see Superman - the kid in Myanmar, the Burmese sergeant, the Russian officer, the Kansas paramedic - it's great! It adds so much to the fic. Shayne, all the talk with Susan about paying for things, and the legal issues involved with being a Good Samaritan, are really interesting. It's in the "no good deed goes unpunished" category. Poor Clark! All he wants to do is help, and he's getting brickbats from every corner. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do about the tornadoes. And what's happening with Lois? She's absent in this segment. Will Clark try to break her out? It sounds like he's going to work on getting her out legally. If there's a hearing, I can't wait to see Susan call Superman as a witness. (Or will she call Clark Kent? Nah, I think he'd better wear the Suit in the courtroom.) What about Lucy? And you know, we're no further ahead with solving the original problem of getting the planeload of people back to their universe (and one thing I couldn't help but wonder - did any of the people from our universe get to meet their counterparts on the plane?) and closing the rifts. It's going to take a lot of doing on Clark's part to get things moving there. I hope he gets to meet all the scientists who are working on the Large Hadron project - I'm sure that all the scientists are comic book geeks and they'll be thrilled to meet Superman.
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