16 - Life Of Luke Kent II

There's something quant about being in a park, maybe it was the juxtaposition of it being a piece of nature inside of a very much artifical city.

Apparently, Clark's definition of 'showing me around the city' was a picnic in the Metropolis park.

...Not that it wasn't a bad park or anything, I have seen much worse than this throughout the Universe.

Aside from the divine food, what these Terrans had was a great sense of aesthetic—I'll give them that, at least.

I wasn't the type to admire scenery, but seeing as there wasn't much else to do, I didn't see a problem in it.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked the Kryptonian, who was busy making a local dish known as a PJ sandwhich—I wasn't exactly sure what the P and J stood for, but it smelled vaguely like peanuts.

"Well, I realized that you're probably already used to the sights of a city, right?" He remarked, adjusting his glasses as he did so.

That was... true. Although the architecture was unusual and somewhat pretty, it was just another city.

I have burned down dozens of the same archetype.

"I guess so." I said with a noncomittal shrug. "...But I have also seen a lot of parks before."

"But have you taken the time to actually enjoy them?" He said as he finished preparing the sandwhich and tossed it in my direction. "Catch!"

I'd be a disabled vegetable if I couldn't catch that weak throw.

Reaching up onto my face, I brought the nice-smelling PJ sandwhich into the valley my mouth and took a bite.

The flavours melted in my tongue like an exotic ore in a steaming forge. I couldn't help but see my entire life flash before my eyes at the contrasting tastes.

The various jams intermingling between the crusty layers of bread...

"I'm conviced that this planet used to be some God's Divine Kingdom." I commented as I swallowed a mouthful. "There's no justifying this delightful taste otherwise..."

"It's really that good...?" Clark asked with a smile. "Well, wait till you taste this..."

He then shot out a pair of laser beams onto the sandwhich in my hand, thin and fast enough to not be visible to the human eye, but just hot enough to warm the dish up and melt the jams within.

I took another bite and found that he right.

It tasted even better.

I returned my gaze at the Kryptonian as he bit down onto his own sandwhich with a relatively calmer pace.

"What gave you the impression?" I asked. "There is nothing stopping me from sightseeing in my free time."

"...I figured you were like a child soldier or something." Clark remarked, to which he wasn't really in the wrong.

On this planet, it was apparently innapropiate for children to partake in large scale combat for some reason——they have even deemed it as a crime against morality, which I found rather odd.

How was a young boy suppossed to become man if he couldn't even kill properly?

It was a kill or be killed Universe, after all.

"I have been trained to be a soldier all my life." I answered his statement. "It is expected of my kind to grow into capable warriors."

Clark gave a thoughtful look before he gave a nod.

"Yes, warrior culture and all, it doesn't really surprise me. I suppose, your planet must have been like Space Sparta, huh?" He mused with a slight chuckle.

"What's Sparta?" I asked almost immediately. "I don't recount seeing such a place on Terra's map...

"Or is it one of your pop-culture references?"

"No, no. Well, not really." The Kryptonian shook his head. "It was a city state from ancient Greece. They had a militaristic and might-centric society..."

"Do elaborate..." I asked with faint curiousity.

"The Spartans were trained to be warriors from a young age, those who excelled were celebrated, those who weren't qualified warriors were... weeded out." Clark said. "On the otherhand, Spartan women apparently had more rights than the rest of the female Greek population at the time, so I guess that's a plus."

That does sound a lot like Viltrum. I'm surprised such teachings were lost to time... I thought to myself in dissapointment. Had the Terrans adopted such a culture on a wide scale, I would have viewed them in an initially more favourable light.

"I wonder..." I stared as I glanced at the other parkgoers.

There were a few children playing with strange, floating objest called kites. Even some of the adults joined in on the activities.

"What's the benefit to this style of civilization...?" I asked Clark with a musing expression.

He blinked. "What do you mean...?"

"There are millions of planets just like this one." I revealed, glancing at Clark. "Primitive and never had any contact with the wider Universe..."

"So why is it that the majority are like this? Democratic, Egalatarian, and Materialist." I explained to the Kryptonian with an uncertain look. "Isn't this convergent evolution? But I don't understand, that means there should be an advantage for a society to adopt those ethics, but..."

"I don't see any."

Clark hummed as he considered that question deeply. "Truth be told, I wasn't expecting that democracy would as popular as your described."

"But I thing I can give an answer..." He paused as he pointed at a nearby child being closely watched by their parent. "It's all about piece of mind, really."

"...Peace of mind?" I repeated, not really sure what he meant by that.

"Yes, isn't that why everyone wants?" Clark said with a smile. "But no one can ever trily have it..."

"When you're in poverty, living day-by-day having to worry about food and shelter, you'll get peace of mind after having enough money not to." Clark continued. "But then... you'll need more to get peace of mind, more money, more stability, and more... everything."

"Some people get peace of mind by religion, spiritual belief, and other things..." He said, pointing to the church at the other side of the city, of which we could both see in great detail. "Some people, like me, get peace of mind by helping others."

"...Okay, but what does that have to do with the convergent choice of ethics?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "What you're describing is just greed."

"Exactly, Luke. People are greedy, people are motivated by greed, and people always become greedy." Clark said with a plain expression. "In a world where everyone is filled with greed? What do you think will happen?"

"Uh... wouldn't that lead to a more class-divided society then?" I asked.

"Not really, think about it. People who get to be the at the top are mostly depicted as stupid, but that's not always the case." He argued, finishing the PJ sandwhich. "Greed and peace of mind are one and the same, with the driving force being stability..."

"What do you think will give a leader peace of mind?" He asked, staring into my eyes with an unusual amount of passion.

"...A guarantee that their people won't rebel against them?" I proposed, knowing just how dangerous rebellions were and the dire need to have precautions against them.

"Exactly, which leads to two solutions. Either, a total authoritarian dystopia, or the opposite, egalatarian equity." The Kryptonian concluded. "...The latter is more popular for obvious reasons."

"It's a bit weird hearing such words from a Kryptonian..." I chuckled a bit. "You would have been a laughingstock amongs those classists."

Clark just shrugged. "What about your Empire? Was it classist?"

"Viltrum was a pure meritocracy." I answered immediately, unflinchingly. "Your combat power and ability to kill determined your place in the pecking order. Genetics helped, of course, but effort and talent were much more relevant."

If it was just genetics, then my Father wouldn't have had the need to produce so many offspring until I showed potential.

"That's interesting..." Clark placed a hand on his chin. "How old was your Empire...?"

"6 million years old." I answered curtly, making his eyes visibly widen.

"W-Wow... that's... that's two times older than the human genus...!" The Kryptonian muttered with stars in his eyes.

"Why are you surprised? Krypton shouldn't be that much older." I revealed nonchalantly.

He seemed genuinely stupified.

"It's just... I didn't think civilizations could even last 1 million years, let alone 6..." Clark exclaimed. "The Universe must be a lot bigger than I thought."

"Well, maybe that's the case for lesser races that can't even live past a century." I shrugged. "You and I will outlast this entire nation that we're standing on, you know?"

Clark blinked. "Wait, really...?"

"Yes." I confirmed, realizing that Clark probably wasn't aware.

He didn't seem to know how to respond to that statement as he went completely silent.

Before the conversation could continue, both of us snapped our head to the west.

"Did you hear that too...?" Superman asked, his eyes narrowing as he began to take off his shirt, revealing the costume within.

"Yes..."

Another Rogue was causing trouble.

[——]

A/N: Been a bit, huh?