Ch.51

I told them. "The suits can be deactivated as need be from said remote viewing stations so should someone go rogue you'll know and with the cameras and GPS, all you need do is trigger a shutdown and they'll be locked in the suit for pickup. That's all for the civilian sector, now remember the military ones have all that plus more."

The next suit went in and demonstrated the jet pack and flight capabilities. The path up was revealed and we watched on a monitor as I told the driver of the suit. "Activate stealth mode. Begin air maneuvers and tactical protocols once you reach the gorge."

The suit went invisible inwards but we could still see it on the monitors and the cameras pointing outwards showed us a rough idea of where it was. I told the admirals and General Lane. "Cloaking technology that'll pass muster in the air at high speeds. On the ground it's less reliable, but you get more stability and trade speed for power."

The scans of the gorge showed no life signs so I gave the order and told the General I'd added several missiles and weapons systems already available to the suit's capabilities including a plasma torch for dismantling enemy nukes on the fly if need be. "As sad as it is, sacrificing a hundred soldiers to protect this nation from nuclear fallout is acceptable if it comes down to it. One man per suit and one suit per nuke. I'd do it any day of the week and be the first one in if no one else volunteers simply to go out with a bang and protect all we hold dear within our nation's boarders."

I gestured to the suit doing maneuvers and firing on the gorge, blowing holes in the cliffs, incinerating dust and unleashing a volley of miniaturized hellfire missiles. When it was over I told them. "Capable of reaching up to Mach three and actively dodging and countering enemy stealth fighters, for air support it can carry enough firepower to take out a squadron of enemy fighter crafts."

I hit the coms. "Return and power down, testing phase is done for this one."

I got a 'roger that' back and it returned soon after. I turned to the sea suit and sighed. "Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to set up any decommissioned submarines for a test run, but if you'd like, you can set it up later to see what sort of firepower the suit brings to the table."

They agreed and I turned to the last one who nodded and went into the testing room. It cloaked and General Lane asked. "I thought you said it can't do that?"

I shook my head. "This camouflage cloaking like a chameleon only there's shock resistant compressors on the boots. So it's far quieter and the user has to go slow if they intend not to spook the target. Not all the kinks are worked out or it wouldn't be considered a prototype. Still, like all the others it's fire and weapon resistant, has its own onboard weapons system and is capable of blending in under nearly any weather conditions. Baring an act of god or someone seeing through camouflage, it's nearly unstoppable. Plus, it can leap nearly two unfree meters in the air and come down with an impressive shockwave that'll blow anyone not in a suit on their asses without harming the pilot at all."

I nodded to the pilot and he uncloaked with an eighteen inch blade at the doctor's throat next to me. The pilot put the blade away and I told him to activate subterranean mode. In moments he was below the earth in a tunnel and I told General Lane. "It can dig up to fifteen thousand meters below the earth's surface and survive up to two thousand five hundred meters before it needs to turn back. With twenty of them one could in theory surround and neutralize a terrorist camp from below with the Tesla grenades by simply ejecting them to the surface."

The suit came up behind the admirals and it was time to begin the Tesla grenade demonstration. After knocking out men, animals and the suits once, it was time to talk brass tacks. I told them the suits were still prototypes and needed some kinks worked out before they were ready, but all in all they were nearly done while the Tesla grenades were in fact done and the interrogation and training simulators were ready for a more varied human beta testing to make sure no bugs were in them.

I told them that besides the more strenuous testing for the suits and the kinks in them, the rest could be ready within two months while the suits would need six months entirely before we were ready to move on to mass production in whatever quantities they desire. General Lane asked about the training and interrogation chairs and I told him they'd be ready by the end of the month for mass production, but I need an official military contract to step up the testing phase and begin going further.

I added that I'd also need some kind of number for the mass production assembly line so I can begin making them in sufficient quantity because the programming was the kinks needed worked out, not the physical machines. He smiled and said he'd have the numbers by the morning and I nodded. "Alright then, since we're done here for now in the tech area, how's about we take a look at the medical labs. I'm sure you boys will want first crack at having the ability to give your men a pill to heal them instantly including growing limbs back before sending them right back out into battle."

They really liked that idea so we had show and tell before I warned them that I had no pull with the FDA so it could take years for anything I'd shown them to become available. I told them the science was solid and the parents were mine, but the issue came down to what was ethical and what big pharmacies didn't want approved because it was more profitable to have the government pay for treatments than curing the ailments entirely. They'd seen limbs and even eyeballs regrown as good as new.

General Lane asked. "Exactly how far does one have to be before they're incapable of being treated by those pills of yours?"

I gave him a blank look. "Dead. They have to be dead, incapable of swallowing and or lacking a head. Pretty much anyone that can't swallow or is already dead is fucked. Beyond that it'll regrow and heal the entire body and even repair paralyzed limbs from old wounds, leaving no visible scarring. So long as it's not disease that's the issue and just physical trauma, the soldier pills as I call them, will get the men off the ground and on their regrown feet within minutes, capable of fighting back naked if they have to."

I gestured to the last examiner who gave a man with shrapnel in him a pill. We watched as the shrapnel was forced out the way it came and the wounds closed up behind it. He'd been paralyzed from the neck down before and even his atrophied limbs were restored, albeit weak. "Nothing short of death, poison or disease could stop the men with those kinds of pills. I'm currently looking into an all cure for every known poison in the world. It'll take time, but one day we hope to limit the list down to just death and with the suits, it makes it highly unlikely that'll happen either."

They all nodded in approval and I offered them dinner topside. Only General Lane accepted while the others left to get shit done. We rode the platform up and the admirals left saying they were in, they just needed to figure out the numbers. I told them how much the suits would cost apiece alongside the machines and Tesla grenades before telling them the medicines were another thing altogether sadly.

General Lane said he had contacts he could call to see it done because something so damned useful would make a world of difference. The admirals agreed so I gave each of them flash drives saying. "These contain all the specs and things you've witnessed here today. Feel free to let me know when you have a target for the naval suit."

I made dinner while Lois and her father talked and served an American meal, steaks, potatoes, cornbread and coleslaw with apple pie and whipped cream for desert. General Lane asked Lois if she was happy with me here and she told him she was. She added that by tomorrow morning she'd officially be the CEO of my company, OzCorp.

He looked to me and I confirmed it saying. "She's my conscience and guiding light in all this. Without her I'd likely be making light speed cannons that could wipe out continents or orbital lasers to target and wipe out cities. I'm sane enough to know I need someone to tell me when to stop because it's wrong. Besides, she has a calming effect on my darker side. Everyone has a darker side after all, mine is just more dangerous because of the toys I have access to."

General Lane almost appeared human when he said Lois's mother was a lot like that. The next morning General Lane, Lois and I were in a conference with Admirals, Generals, SecNav and the Secretary of Defense. What I was developing could redefine war as we knew it and tip the balance of power in our favor for generations to come. The medical supplies alone could change the world and empty hospitals of all the physically injured people at once.

I told them the pills would be specifically for military purposes to start off with because I had healing tanks I could supply the hospitals across the globe with if necessary that do similar things only slower and within days instead of minutes. I told them it would be slower and power consuming, but I already had an unlimited supply of clean energy and I was ready to begin building solar reactors to harness the power of the sun itself to power all of the US within months.

I told them fossil fuels would become a thing of the past as most vehicles could have unlimited fuel just from sitting somewhere sunny for a while. I smiled saying the farm and all the labs and buildings OzCorp owns is powered and run by smaller, safer and clean solar reactors as big as a normal generator so the technology was proven, but my truck was entirely electrical and solar powered as well along with several of my close friends I'd given the upgrades to their vehicles. SecNav asked how unlimited it was and I tapped on my pad before telling him that just with the stored solar power cells in the basement from the roof of my building these past two weeks, I could power all of Metropolis for a full day, cars and all.

I told them that the panel charge from any form of solar energy and any star so they charge at night on clear nights from the stars and the reflective moonlight as well. I told the SecNav that in the same time with a city as big as Metropolis, it could charge all of the US for an hour with two weeks worth of charge and build up. "If we put them in the desert or simply molded them into roof tiles of every home in America, we could power the globe indefinitely without waiting more than a day. Infinite clean energy at our fingertips. It could be simply sold since the power distribution chips are incredibly complex and take someone who knows the designs intimately to make. Consider this, if all the tech and medicines I have in the world, the power distribution chip is by far the most complex thing I have in the labs."

I waved a hand. "Without it at best anyone trying to forge my tech will melt it to slag. At worst it'll explode like a nuclear meltdown with no radiation fallout, vaporizing a crater wherever it is. That chip makes it safe enough that a child could beat on the whole damned thing with a sledgehammer and it'd spark at best before turning off. You couldn't make it explode if you strapped a dozen pounds of C-4 to it and a miniature nuclear bomb to boot. Sure, it would be destroyed, but it wouldn't explode."

I shrugged. "Take that however you like, but the tech simply doesn't work without it and only a handful of my people can make them barring myself. All of which answer directly to me. Even if they went rogue and sold them, each chip is designed with a secret lockout that only I have. If they go missing I send a satellite signal and fry said chip after being notified of it's whereabouts."

They didn't like that, but I reminded them I would only be selling to America. Lois took over from there and I stepped back to only answering about the tech itself soon she had OzCorp a contract most would drool at. A multibillion dollar military contract with approval from the FDA and most proven to be ready for human trials. Soon the pills were run through a severely strict panel and many grew back their limbs or were healed from other physical damages.

The FDA gave their stamp of approval on the tanks and the pills so the whole company was busy besides Lois and I. I worked on my laptop to sift through coding and mathematical proofs until it was time to fully fix up the armor sets. The naval suits proved devastating and the Tesla grenades were a severely effective crowd control device that was rechargeable. Then came the genetically engineered crop seeds, the water cleaning filtration units, sea and land quake inhibitors.

Finally it came to the inorganic compost solution which in and of itself was world altering. When the air purifier towers were released and sold to cities and towns, OzCorp hit the global news as a Titan of industry. Lois became a big wig of sorts rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful while the company expanded rapidly. Soon anyone that was coming out of the painted world was out.

I did manage to skip away to help Clark and Chloe deal with a vampire rabies virus outbreak. The slayer in me took over and I beat down Buffy Sanders as Chloe called her. Before she could stop me, I'd dusted all except Lana and I nearly dusted Lana as well. I literally had a stake hovering over her heart as Clark held my wrist before shoving me back saying. "No! Not Lana!"

I shook myself out of it and dropped the stake, apologizing repeatedly. I told him it'd been instinct. As if every fiber in my body wanted them gone and knew how to react. I apologized to Lana who tried to bite me saying I smelled irresistible because of something in me.

She took a swipe at me and Clark stopped her before I broke her neck. Clark was horrified and I told him. "Relax, it's me this time and she'll heal. We need to get her the cure and I don't exactly have super power suppression cuffs on me so unless you want to turn into whatever the hell happened to her, it's the most efficient answer. I wouldn't do it if I didn't know she'd heal."

I had to do it another three times before Lex gave us the serum when Professor Fine said he had it. I eyed Fine wearily and we went to see Lex before giving Lana the cure just after she woke up and fixed her neck. When she was better, I apologized after telling her what happened. Just like that I was soon back to working with Lois.

I was a bit busy when Lois went to spend time with Chloe and got wrapped up in a murder surrounding the Kansas state Senator, Jack Jennings. She dumped me however when it was over even if she retained her job. Apparently giving Clark a lap dance and nearly getting turned into an unwilling prostitute was a bit too much like cheating for her tastes. Still, we maintained our friendship even though she moved back in with the Kents.

I went to check on Clark when I heard he became paranoid since the orders for the virtual training and interrogation machines were completed. Most of the hard work was done and the mass production on the solar power batteries and reactors had reached near completion. I found Clark half out of his mind before finding Lana with the silver Kryptonite. I made the kryptonite vanish and told her if it'd knocked her she'd be paranoid and crazy as well.

She asked what it was and I grimaced. "Nothing good. I think it was sent to cause this."

I left and caught Clark before taking him to the fortress where Jor-El helped me synthesize the device to pull the sliver out of Clark. Clark wasn't exactly being cooperative so I had to knock his kryptonian ass out. I told Jor-El that Brainiac was on earth and warned him that it may come to the fortress to mess with things.

Clark asked what Brainiac was and I grunted. "One of the many things your lazy ass isn't prepared for Clark. It's time you stop pretending to be all normal and devote your spare time to learning from the fortress or it may be too late by the time you're ready to learn. I can't take Brainiac down by myself and I won't face your trials for you, Clark. You can't ask that of me."

He grimaced and left so I said softly. "Kal-El, your true darkest hour lays before you still. I pray you have the strength to overcome it or this world may be swallowed whole by Zod."

Jor-El asked if I was going to interfere in his destiny more than I already have. I shrugged. "I'll do what I think I must to make him stronger as I have with all the other worlds I've walked. I just pray that in forging him into the savior this world needs, he doesn't break and lose his way for good."

Jor-El sighed. "Then the hopes of Krypton and it's people will lay with you."

I grunted. "You're not sticking me with all that crap, Jor-El. I'm far too old and not nearly as good as Clark is at heart. Still, I may yet have a solution for the people of Kandor."

I left and headed stored away the sliver of silver kryptonite with the rest. I knew it was made from Brainiac and some kryptonite, but I didn't care. Soon Brainiac nearly had Clark destroy the fortress. I was busy elsewhere cleaning up the seas and dump sites.

As seemingly unimportant as it was, it was a vast improvement for the world itself. I spoke with the fish and sea creatures, pulling all the litter from the oceans, cleaning rivers and lakes and ending pollution all together. The government made it a requirement for manufacturing companies to purchase an environmental impact package from OzCorp, pretty much shutting PETA and al the other activists up when the rivers and lakes were cleaned of trash and the oceans weren't littered with it anymore.

Waste dissolving plants opened up and took in all the trash America had, no matter the quantity. Barrels of environmentally friendly super goo were sent out and sold to farmers once it was proven harmless and quite a bit better than any fertilizer on the market. OzCorp and Lois hit the news again as America's Saint of a company. It helped Johnathan a great deal when she endorsed him and contributed a huge donation no strings attached to his campaign.

Soon Lex was shot over Christmas and a campaign war began. When Johnathan was nearly killed by a sniper, it came to light that the sniper was Lex's intern. All the secrets surrounding that came out and Lex lost a lot in the polls. By the time Johnathan died, OzCorp had begun donating and selling armors to for police, firemen and military respectively.

The state of Kansas got a serious bargain and soon every cop and fireman on duty had a suit and were saving lives. All of it was heavily monitored and regulated because of the potential damage it could do. Each suit cost the state a cool million while the military paid fifty million apiece for the war specs. It radically altered the balance of power in war to America's favor when thousands of soldiers were equipped with nearly indestructible suits of armor.

Terrorists and insurgents were super fucked and things like IEDs became useless toys. Tesla stun rifles OZ Corp developed, terrorists were stunned, brought in for interrogation and more were hunted and tracked down. It wasn't just the army or navel either. Fighter jets were replaced by suits capable of dropping enemy aircrafts with ease.

Instead of eighty million dollar for a single jet that would take tons of people to clean, repair and maintenance, one suit capable of so much more with so little maintenance or space requirements made a hell of a difference all for thirty million dollars cheaper. The old jets were quickly retired and suits became the wave of the future as some the most advanced of them were capable of near space travel capabilities, much higher than regular old jets.

Napalm and other weapons were added to them and with how small they were, no radar could detect them in stealth mode. All that paled for me as I attended Johnathan Kent's funeral. Then came crime cleanup of the century as cops equipped with suits found they could respond much faster and handle situations easier when they could identify the suspects with the HUD and run instant facial recognition software on the fly.

Even the sensors picked up cries for help blocks away and domestic disturbances, robberies and all else. Scenario holograms we're released from their armor to project all possible actions that'd happened and X-ray vision mode would allow them to see concealed weapons as detected, all the way down to running the registration numbers or if none existed, identifying the suspect and running sensor scans on the fingerprints found on the weapons.

A single suit was like having a team of detectives aiding your investigation and making you nearly invincible. Everything was recorded at all times and projected in real time to the chiefs of police, captains and sheriffs if they broke the law or if they simply want to check up on the police under them. Paperwork was a breeze as incident reports and all that simply printed out as needed per case. Not everything was perfect and some cops trying to abuse the power were stopped before bing brought in themselves.

Those on the take found it impossible to stay that way. Sonar echo location HUDs allowed the police to see into buildings if a violent altercation was taking place or if they had warrants only so yeah, shit was getting done. Stash houses, gang bangers and mafia types were hit the hardest with drug dealers and runners. In the time it took Clark to run into a vigilante, the average crime rate in Kansas as a whole had plummeted drastically.

Soon the people brought OzCorp to senate court hearings and demanded to know if it was a violation of rights. There was always someone's pockets hurting or someone bitching so while the crime rate dropped and most illegal drugs, guns and prostitution were ended in the whole state, Lois had to deal with the whiners. She told them simply put that the police themselves were heavily monitored and abuse of such technology was reported to their bosses while ignoring such abuse was reported directly to the city or county commissioners offices and the police were stopped in their tracks with the suits shut down.

She told them that only in the case of life threatening danger were the suit's sensors able to show what was happening inside a home or place of work without a warrant. Beyond that the suits were there to protect the cop's lives and to protect the citizens from those who would abuse said power. She gave the reports of all the corrupt cops caught and any and all incidents where the sonar and X-ray HUDs were used, telling the Supreme Court and the senators as well as the people that OzCorp would never violate their privacy rights.

She told them our goals were to save and protect as many lives as possible, both foreign and domestic while stopping terrorism and crimes in it's tracks, cleaning the environment and saving our world. She announced the soon to be diapered super crop seeds that would end world hunger along with water desalination tanks freely given to clean all pollutants out of our drinking and bathing water.

She told them world hunger and dehydration were only the beginning, because soon the latest tech will be used to develop housing for the homeless, teach them job skills and help all of the country get back what it's lost, the drive to improve, be better and help our fellow man. She told the reporters and the news that if they want to nit pick the technology that's saving lives legally without violating anyone's rights, they were free to and they could not pick themselves into a corner while we bring this world to an era of peace and prosperity where mothers don't have to worry about their children not coming home from gang bangers and drive by's or drugs and child abusers.

She told them straight up that they can complain all they'd like and stir up whatever they'd like because it was their right to do so under the first amendment, but it was her right as well to ignore them and continue saving the world we all have to live in. In the meantime Clark and Lana brought Victor Stone, aka Cyborg, to me. They told me what Lex was doing to him and I looked over Vitor with my X-ray vision.

I winced seeing the power core and the extent of the bionics. I stood up from my shop table and sighed. "I can't make you more human, Victor. From what I can tell they removed most of your organs to accommodate the biomechanics. The power supply is where your heart should be and even if I could remove it and regenerate your organs, the left part of your skull and left eye appears to be all metal with ties into your brain no doubt."

I shook my head. "Taking it out would kill you and de-powering it will do the same."

He frowned. "Then what can you do for me?"

I shrugged. "I can turn all that mechanical metal into microscopic bio-mechanical robots controlled by your mind. Your organs would recover and even your true eye would regenerate, but the nanites would be apart of you, like a hive of ants that keep you alive inside without harming the outside. It'll all look normal and you'd be able to have normal kids, but you'll know and if anyone looked at your body on a microscopic level they see the nanites."

I tapped my lips and smiled. "Plus I can give you more power, more speed, more everything. No one would be able to play with your insides again without your permission. You could make yourself functionally immortal or live as a human, hack into computers with a simple connection and possibly learn anything and everything in the world in the time it takes humans to blink."

I stood up and walked to him. "You can set the rules for your life. No fear of being caught or used as a lab rat. You'll set the limits of your power and you alone can choose to live a normal life or live an extraordinary one."

He looked me over and asked. "Will I still be human?"

I nodded. "Yes, your genetics won't change, though with time I'm sure you could change them at will. No, what I'm offering you Victor, is the chance to take back what Lex and LuthorCorp have done to you. You and your alone will decide your fate. You can find that girl you're thinking about, protect her and if you learn how, you can share your nanites with her and make her immortal as well. Never to age, get sick or even tire out. You could live to see the end of this world as humans go out and colonize space, watch the evolution of stars from their birth to their death, uncover the secrets and reasons of life and perhaps even become a god should you choose to. Though I don't recommend it, from what I hear they're all self entitled assholes and man whores."

He smiled and agreed before telling me to hook him up. I grunted. "Yeah, I should probably warn you, this will hurt beyond your concept of agony and will come to redefine the word for you in whole new ways."

I walked over to a wall safe and opened it, taking out a glass case with a silver pill inside. I held it out to him. "Bottoms up and buckle up because you're about to go on a trip."

He took the pill out and swallowed it. His face contorted into horror in seconds and I caught him, paralyzing his body with a touch before laying him on the lab table. Lana said he looked like he was in pain and I chuckled. "No, he's not in pain anymore. I just paralyzed his body so he wouldn't thrash around and hurt himself."

I checked his injured arm and we watched liquid silver come out, attach to the skin and pull it back together without spilling a drop. I smiled. "On the bright side he'll never have to worry about being injured for long. Any damage to his body will heal instantly. Sadly that means any tattoos he has will be removed and getting more will be a virtual impossibility, just like piercings. The drawbacks of having metal machines in a body."

I sat back down and Clark asked. "What'll happen to him now?"

I shrugged. "He'll wake up tomorrow ready to learn. I'll give him all the knowledge I have and he'll decide for himself what he wants to do. The nanites are currently deconstructing and rebuilding all the organs and bones in his body out of the materials they find. I'll monitor him and ensure he has all the raw materials he needs to make his body fully human or as close to it as he'll ever get."

I waved a hand. "After that I'm sure he'll go see his girlfriend, beat anyone dumb enough to try and hurt her and make it painfully clear that if they come after her they'll regret ever having lived. They'll either back off or, well, a threat's only as effective as one is willing to follow through with it. If Lex pushes he could be the one needing mechanical prosthetics when Victor pulls him apart like taffy. If he can't stomach or go through with it, Victor will either submit to more tests to protect his girl or go on the run like AC and Bart to protect her."

I shrugged. "As for what he'll become, that's his decision. I merely showed him the doors, the possibilities and gave him the keys. What he chooses will be his choice entirely. The nanites obey his will, not mine. Unlike Lex, I don't wish to control anyone, just help them however I can."

Lana asked to stay and I waved to a seat. "Go ahead, but it may get weird. The raw materials humans are made from will need to be set on him and it's not all pretty shiny robot pieces."

She sat down and I went to work on my laptop while Clark left. I sighed and told her. "You two are growing apart like Lois and I did just before the breakup. Towards the end I knew it was coming. I've known since the day she returned actually. I wasn't the one so when her father told her he didn't approve she spent the next few months looking for a reason to call it off."

I turned to Lana. "So what Lois and I didn't, talk it out as a couple and no more secrets. I never looked into Lois's mind because I feared the truth, but I should've talked it out with her. Don't be like us, be better to be happy."

She smiled sadly. "Is that why you called it off with us?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't feel like I was worthy of you and wanted, hoped, you'd find someone better. Clark is better, safer. With him you know he may keep secrets, but you'll also know he'll love you to his last breath."

I glanced at her once before she asked what I was doing. I grunted. "Monitoring his condition while keeping an eye on Lex. If he or his men come barging in they'll learn I'm not some farm boy they can shove aside to get what they want."

I held up a hand and healed Lana's head wound before standing to bring out bottles of pills. Everything from Calcium to Zinc was laid out on Victor's chest and absorbed into it by the bottle full. By morning Victor was breathing naturally and he opened his eyes while I handed Lana coffee after waking her up. Victor sat up before asking for the bathroom.

I gave him directions and he headed inside. When he was done, he asked why it was metallic. I smiled. "That was the leftover materials the nanites couldn't use from the machines. Be happy I didn't program them to make you shit it out. You'd have really hated me then."

He shrugged. "Whatever man, just tell me how I'm supposed to control this stuff."

I handed him my laptop. "All that I know is stored on this. Use your finger to point at the USB port and think about connecting with it."

He did and his finger excreted liquid metal, creating a connection. He gasped and I told him. "Don't focus on one thing, just think about making a copy for you to learn later."

He did so and stopped the connection as I instructed. I patted his shoulder. "Now all you need do is think about what it is you want to know and the information will be readily available to you. From martial arts to the science and understanding of the nanites in you, everything is at your behest."

He nodded and closed his eyes, rapidly learning everything he'd taken in. He learned of the twenty eight galaxies of people and all of it, far faster than even myself. He even learned how to keep psychics out of his mind and soon I felt him block me out. He understood how to becoming functionally immortal and how to remain as human as possible along with all the things he could do with his body.

When he opened his eyes, he asked. "Are you-"

I shook my head. "No and it's not my secret to tell. Now you have your choices, your life and fate are in your own hands and I've given you my suggestions. Do what you want, but if you do decide leaving is for the best, Tell Bart and AC that they aren't forgotten."

He took in a deep breath before nodding. "I'd like to say thanks, but the words just don't seem nowhere near enough."

I huffed. "Just go before I get my tool kit and turn you into a can opener or maybe a pez dispenser."

He smiled and thanked Lana before leaving at super speeds. She raised an eyebrow and I shrugged. "He's slower than me, but faster than the average car. Once he decides on what he wants, there's no limits to what he can achieve, but then that's his story."

I turned to Lana. "Some friendly advice Lana, don't let go of love until it lets go of you."

She smiled. "Now why didn't you figure that out years ago?"

I shrugged. "We're all works in progress. Now off your pop, I have to shower and get ready for the next project I'm starting. Technologically advanced apartments for the homeless don't build themselves after all."

She sighed and stopped me at the door, thanking me for everything. She smiled and told me the one thing she regretted from our relationship was not remembering our first time together. I touched her head and gave her the memory of everything up until we ended up in the hospital. I smiled wryly. "Our time has passed. Now go and don't let your's and Clark's time slip away as well."

She said she wouldn't and left, heading to see Clark. Weeks later, I was getting coffee from the Talon when Simone walked in right on schedule. I simply ignored her presence and waited. The next evening I saw her speak to Lex on my laptop via the cameras I had bugged all over the Luthor mansion.

He was on his jet conference calling her via video chat and asking about Clark. When I had what I needed, I went and swiped her necklace as she left the Luthor mansion while taking her into the painted world to join Mrs.Luthor, Lex's first wife and my former teacher in cryo sleep. Mewtwo handled it while Claudia took the necklace of hypnosis. I grabbed Lana and Clark, making them sit and watch the recording of Lex and Simone talking.

Clark had been snapped out of it already so I told them. "I sent Simone elsewhere and took her necklace. She won't be returning unless she learns to teleport or has a very long walk ahead of her to the nearest airport. As for Lex, it's not my business and I'm only showing you both this so you both know it wasn't your fault, it was another Lex Luthor scheme to get closer to Lana by screwing with Clark."

I handed them each a memory card of the recording. "Do what you want with that, my involvement was only because you're both my friends and I want the best for you. Talk it out, fuck it out or tuck it away, I don't care, it's not my business and I'm officially stepping out of it."

I left them there in Clark's loft and headed home, bored. My clone returned and months of memories assaulted my mind. Saving livings and protecting the world all boiled down to what I could do to help. With the clean air, tons of fast growing crops in even the harshest environments, clean water and no chance of earthquakes or sea quakes, the amount of life saving needed was reduced by a lot.

Hell, the suits had begun to spread, being sold to every state. Soon every city and large town in the entire country had at least a few of them. Rich philanthropists bought some to donate wherever was needed so fire fighters and cops were plenty safe. No civilian could own one individually no matter how powerful so there was no need for issues.

I went out with my clone and met AC who was extremely happy with the environmental cleanup that was being done. When I returned, Lana came over and told me she and Clark broke up for real. We spent the next few hours taking and I held her as she cried herself to sleep. I put her in the guest room and went to bed myself.

Lana stayed with me for the next few weeks and we ended up in bed together, repeatedly and without any protection. It was comfort sex with an old lover and when it ended, she left without a word. I didn't hear from her again until I heard from Chloe who said she'd seen her and Lex getting intimate. I didn't comment and instead continued to work after a brief pause.

I was working on the same project as Brainiac only unlike him, I wanted to share the serum with the world. It was an all cure for every disease on earth. A single dose and one would never get sick again from any outside virus or disease. Sure, heretical and biological diseases like cancer were still possible, but no more sicknesses like the common cold or fevers.

Nothing like them at all be they lethal or benign could effect the human body afterwards. Not even infections. Needless to say with two of me and four of him, I was a bit slower in the process. I did stop to take an asshole's ability to control glass with telekinesis away and again with a hitman Clark made friends with who could turn entirely invisible at will by refracting light instead of camouflage like the way I had before.

When the serum was finished, I knew Lex had finished his own. I began mass production and stored the original viruses I'd used to create the super vaccine. When Brainiac sent out a virus to bring down the global infrastructure, I saved Lois and Martha from Brainiac's clone while Clark was in crisis.

I sought out Davis Bloom after I destroyed Brainiac's vessel and brought Martha with Lois to my place via teleporting. The police were declaring martial law and keeping the violence down via the suits and Tesla grenades. The power kicked back on as the solar reactors kicked on across the US, hours after the nuclear reactors were shut down. Zod saw a world where order was maintained and he wasn't satisfied, but it wasn't of interest to me. Instead I took Davis Bloom to my secure facility in the Appalachian mountains.

There I used a tunic array to hold him as I used the ferugala Gemina to separate Davis from Doomsday. Doomsday attacked me and lost it's powers, all of them besides the basic Kryptonian ones. It would regain them eventually, so I separated the two. With the spell Alaric and Josette used to separate Josie and Lizzie.

With that in mind, I sealed Doomsday in my ring since it couldn't kill him. I erased Davis's memory of what happened and sent him back to Metropolis before seeking out Zod with Doomsday's inherent ability to track and know where Kryptonian's were. He and I faced off on the roof as Lana stood beside him. I looked to her in surprise and not because of the fact she'd sided with Lex or now Zod.

I turned my gaze from her to him and spoke. "I'm no hero. I've done as Jor-El asked of me and protected the people of this planet while using the house of El's symbol to inspire hope. Seeing as Kal-El's gone thanks to you, consider this me stepping aside. You and the house of El will have a reckoning, but it is not my fate that is entangled with your own. Leave me be and you'll not have issue with me no matter the outcome once Kal-El returns to earth."

He frowned. "Now why should I do that when you have a bit of my blood in your veins? After all, it was my actions that sent my son to this planet and it was his blood that gave you your power. Brainiac found out the whole story when he was apart of the fortress."

I clenched my fists. "Doomsday is gone, I saw to that the moment you were brought into this world. Whatever that remains in me isn't as powerful as my will. Do not press me General, you've not seen what I can do. Leave me alone and go rule your world or whatever it is assholes like you do."

I turned to look at Lana again and left faster than even Zod could follow on foot. I did my best with my clone to mitigate the damage until Clark returned. I finally found the star blade and took the orb from the mansion while Zod was out at the pentagon. I found the blood and growled before taking the black box on the computer.

I stored it in my ring with the orb and waited for Zod to return. When he did, I pulled out the star blade and told him. "You really shouldn't have hurt her. Now I'm angry and I have the star blade, forged to kill Kryptonians."

He grimaced and sneered. "Don't you get it yet? You are Kryptonian! Everything that you are is because of me! My son's blood changed you and did more than give you o his power. It made you into one of us!."

I glared at him as we circled each other. "Then you'll understand that you died as an equal. Goodbye Zod."

We moved and collided, trading blows and moving as masters of weapons and war. Seconds at a time each of us traded the blade while trying to kill the other in a deadly dance that sounded akin to a carpet bombing. When I got the upper hand, Lana came out of hiding and begged me not to kill him, distracting me and getting the star blade shoved into my heart. Zod worked me over as I fell against the floor.

He demanded the black box back and beat me the rest of the way to death. I woke up sucking in a breath as Lana was there. She told me that she was knocked out trying to stop him and didn't know what happened. She showed me the bloody star blade she'd pulled out of my chest and I took it with the broken crystal blade from fortress.

I told her. "I never intended not to fight him. I just needed to buy time to find the star blade so that I could end this. As it turns out, he killed me we my own weapon. It won't happen again."

She asked if I could save Lex and I shook my head before telling her I'd try, for her sake. I gave her a pill and left. I found Clark standing over an unconscious Lex. I told him to follow me and we left at super speeds.

When we reached the fortress, I took out solar batteries while telling Clark about everything that happened while he was out. I showed him the star blade and told him the fortress couldn't help and I had no other way of stopping him so I tried and died for it. He asked how I was alive and I told him of Doomsday. I told him of the origins of my power and how I found the man, separating him from the monster and sealing the monster away after I absorbed it's powers.

I told him I couldn't die permanently anymore thanks to the powers I'd fully inherited now before sighing. "I've taken a step I can never come back from Clark. I'm not even human anymore. Zod's words only confirmed the one topic I never wanted to know because the answer haunted me."

I gave him the star blade and told him my weakness. "I've not died more than once so if you cut off my head and destroy my body on a cellular level, leaving no body to adapt, I should die permanently. If I ever become like Zod, I need you to be able to stop me Clark, for the sake of the world. The phantom zone won't be able to hold me for long and with my magic, no amount of time traveling will stop me. I know it's against everything you stand for, but I need to know you can stop me, if only so I can stop myself from turning into the creature I sealed away."

He grimaced and nodded. "I give you my word I'll do everything within my power to stop you if you turn evil, but not a second before."

I sighed and thanked him before telling him. "Go home then. I'll restore the fortress. They need you more than I do and Clark, hide the blade well. Use the fortress and learn to guard your mind so I can't ever know where it is."

He agreed and left while I breathed life into the fortress, bringing Jor-El back online and cleaning out what remained of Brainiac inside it. I told Jor-El everything that happened and all that I've become and he offered to seal me away in sleep. I shook my head and told him that should it come to that, I'd try to allow it. I spent all my time restoring cities across the globe with and without the company.

Lois was crucial in the cleanup efforts and charity work on a global scale so I worked local with Clark while my clone went global. I barely stopped long enough to tell Lana about Zod, Krypton and Doomsday. I told her how it was what changed me and that I wasn't human anymore. I went back out and continued working until I heard Clark got sick and Lex went missing.

I told Clark I'd get on the phantom issues while he learned to control himself. I told him that the huge lung capacity allowed for tornado level breaths or if he focused it, hot or cold breaths, going so far as to breathe fire or ice if trained properly. I demonstrated it and told him that he needed to visit the fortress after he gets better and spend some of his free time each week training with Jor-El. I gave Lois a hard drive filled with tech, medicines and other things including better suits, weapons that stun or incapacitate and solar powered light weight all terrain military vehicles, ships and more.

I told her to release it as she sees fit and to trust those I'd hired before. She asked what I was doing and I told her to announce the all cure vaccine alongside the fully finished free homes for homeless. I warned her she'd need to follow the contract I set out per homeless person signing it. She finally stopped me and asked what was going on.

I sighed. "I've finished what I've set out to do. All the work is there and the lab facilities can do the grunt work. We've cured more sick people, saved more lives and stopped more crime than all of the world combined. I've been told the drug and human trafficking trades have dropped to nearly zero in the US alone and with the addiction resistant drugs being released, soon no one will need much more. It'll be up to you and the company on how you want to go global, but I've done all the good I'm going to as a scientist and doctor. It's time I do what I can as a powered individual. I'm no hero, but I'll do whatever I can to help whomever I can."

She told me I was wrong, that I was a hero. I told her I signed over the house to her so it was all hers. I left and hunted down Gloria, the first phantom and a plant using alien. She speared me to a tree with her plants.

I fried her and the plants with fire and electricity, calling us even as she died for good having been hit with enough electricity to turn her plants into charcoal. I tracked down Baern and beat him into wasting the energy he'd absorbed before taking in his powers. I brought him before Clark with the mind control wraith I trapped with magic in the Carolina's grasp. He banished them both and freed the kid while I left him to explain what happened to Baern's former host.

I went after Alder next and fought the bone marrow eater on the ship of dead bodies. It was brutal and I died once, but I was revived and fully healed in the end when I killed him. The Martian Manhunter showed up and I told him thanks for nothing before going after Titan, the last zoner besides Raya and Bizarro that remained. Unlike Clark though, I disposed of Alder and Titan's bodies when I killed them.

The Martian chased after the last zoner while I washed up in a hotel having spent months tracking and ending zoners. When the Martian was injured chasing Bizzaro, I flew him to Mars so he could heal before flying back alone and stopping a farmer named Jed from using meteorite powers to scare immigrant workers. He lost his powers and Lois asked Martha to help for the illegal immigrant workers.

I vanished and kept an eye on things, particularly Lana and Lex eventually marrying. My clone was out making a difference so I meditated and kept an eye on all Lex's shady shit, recording everything illegal he said or did. I was invisible and intangible so neither he nor Lana noticed me. I didn't however watch them have intimate moments.

I simply didn't care and all I did care about was what I sensed from her. She eventually found out she was pregnant and it wasn't false either. She and Lex tried to make it work and I ensured all the shady shit Lex got up to with Project Aries was well documented. Hell, his illegal cloning projects and 33.1 was enough to have him tossed in a deep dark cell, but I forebear.

When Lana gave birth to a baby boy with my green eyes, I smiled because of the three men she'd been with around that time, I was definitely the only one of the two Kryptonian's whom had green eyes. What I was sensing before was the Kryptonian it was thanks to Doomsday's ability to sense Kryptonians. I watched over my baby boy, Alex, named after the only man on this planet I could sympathize and relate to.

I still disliked Lex, he's a dick and so am I so we weren't meant to be friends, but I sympathized. When his eyes and incredible strength for a toddler made Lex ask questions, Lana told him that it was possible Alex was my blood or Clark's, though with his eyes being nearly a match of my own, she said she hadn't known. Lex said it didn't matter to him because Alex was still his son and Lana agreed. Still, he had doctors run a lot of tests and when it became evident Alex's life was in danger, Lana and he got into it big time.

I clenched my fist in frustration as she faked her death when she saw his true monstrous ways. He'd been harvesting DNA from Alex to move forward with project Aries and had his men scouring the globe for me because the tests showed only half of Alex's DNA was human. Lana went looking for me after faking her death and I took revealed myself to her while shit went down at Reve's dam. I gave her all I had on Lex and told her I'd been watching over her and Alex all this time.

I told her I knew she was pregnant on dark Thursday and assumed it was Zod's which it still might be. She said she didn't have sex with him and I nodded. "Then Clark or me. Still, I didn't interfere because you had your life and I don't fit in with normal people anymore. I gave up everything human about me and left it all behind in Smallville."

I turned to the baby in the car and told her. "Lex will come for you both and we both know he won't stop until he gets what he wants."

I handed her my laptop. "That's a list of safe houses around the globe that are both technologically and magically protected. There's a bank account there with all I'd made as a human including my parent's life insurance. I'll make myself known and let Lex have his chase. I'm the one he really wants anyways. For whatever it's worth Lana,I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted it."

I cupped her cheek and turned away. "But I can't be what you'll want. I was always the placeholder for Clark and I won't be second best to Lex just because it didn't work out. You made your choice the day you left my bed and jumped into his."

I touched the car and runes appeared before sinking in. She hesitated before asking what they did. I grunted. "They'll keep Lex off your scent by making it invisible to technology. If a cop pulls you over he'll forget why and who you were without running your name."

I put a hand between her breasts as tattoos appeared on her skin. I told her. "These will prevent cameras from seeing you at all and not even your voice can be recorded. People will forget your face after looking away unless you desire them not to. The wards will protect the child as well until it's capable of speech."

She put her hand over my own and asked me to come with her. I shook my head and she asked for something else instead, to feel me and the protection, warmth and safety that had scared her away before one last time. We ended up at my secure apartment in Metropolis where she asked what it was. I smirked. "An old clocktower from the late eighteenth century. I turned it into Watchtower. A ground based version of a satellite station orbiting earth cloaked and hidden from everything."

I told her. "My clone and I have been running with AC and Bart alongside the Green Arrow on occasions. The safe houses were an emergency situation thing while watchtower is so much more. Everything from tech to gear and world wide satellite coverage with a full two hundred satellites cloaked and orbiting the planet with the Watchtower HQ. It's all meant to protect earth from aliens or anything nasty and looking to ruin the world's day. A place where like minded powered individuals could meet up and go out in teams or solo the powered bad guys popping up."

I turned around and saw her naked standing there so I set baby Alex in a room asleep and let her have what she thought she needed, over and over again. I left her sleeping soundly while I fed and changed my son. I burped him and watched him watch me without a sound, as if my stillness made him still. Eventually he fell back to sleep and I turned to see Lana watching in my T-shirt from the door.

She bit her lip and I held out a hand. She took it and I pulled her into my arms, telling her that Watchtower was safe and unused, unhackable and secure enough that not even I could break in with all my powers without using magic and a fuck ton of it. I told her the walls were lined with magical crystals and wards so heavy and powerful Metropolis could be hit with consecutive nukes from now until the end of time and the place would be unscathed.

I splayed my hand over her lower stomach on instinct and told her about the portal doors that lead the user to wherever they're thinking on earth. I told her it works door to door so there has to be some form of door there or she'd appear even further away. She put her hand on my own that had simply stayed there before moving it lower and under the shirt to her lower lips from lack of panties. We were soon back at it and when we broke apart I told her that I'd be leaving and should some say she decide I'm what she wants, I'd take her and Alex somewhere no one can harm them.

I told her of a place where she could be immortal and happy while Alex could grow up with kids that would become immortal like he will be when he gets older. I told her that it was where I sent Simone and Lex's other wife, Desiree, because they had power and were too dangerous. I told her they were in cryo freeze to await the day when I pass judgement or strip them of power. I told her both were murderers and capable of a great deal of damage and suffering if let loose.

I told her they were human so the phantom zone wasn't the right for and too dangerous to be left with humans so people like Lex can get at their power or worse, they get free. I shrugged and told her there they were bound, asleep and incapable of harming anyone in the immortal dimension. I told her to think about it before going to shower. She joined me and when she rode me while we relaxed in the living room, I waited for her to get a belly full before telling her I knew what she was doing.

She stiffened and I sighed. "I don't care that you're doing it, wanting to convince me to stay and all, but even if you could get pregnant again with my kid, I still can't stay and we both know it."

I slid her off and laid her on the couch sighing as I entered her willing depths face to face. I told her. "Kryptonians have an extremely low fertility rate. They had to use incubation and artificial wombs or cloning towards the end. It was extremely rare for another to conceive a child naturally and Alex is a miracle because of that."

I put a hand over her womb as I pumped into it and moved with well practiced precision. I told her that the odds were slim that she'd ever have another Kryptonian child even if we spent every day enjoined like that filling her with as much as I could release. I reached up and held her arms above her head telling her as I added two vibrating fingers to her clit. "You know my terms Lana. I just want to see you happy and not regretting anything even if it's not with me."

I released in her a few minutes later as she bucked. I washed us up before going to get Alex who started crying. He wanted his mother so I helped Lana lay against the pillows, sore from having pushed herself too far. I left and stocked up the place, remodeling Alex's room and leaving Lana all she needed.

I headed back to Smallville, hearing about Lex's arrest and the destruction of the dam. Chloe was back from the dead and Raya was with Clark and the Martian plotting to take on Bizzaro. I told them not to worry because I'd kill it now that it has a physical body. Raya asked how and I tilted my head. "It's weakness is the sunlight so my clone will take it into the sun itself and destroy it entirely."

Raya frowned saying I was Kryptonian and I growled. "Not Kryptonian, Doomsday and not even that entirely."

She looked at me horrified and I stripped off my shirt. I grabbed the railing and my clone climbed out of my back. I gave it clothes and it spoke. "Leave Bizzaro to me. I've been wondering if Kryptonians can survive in a star. After all, what does kill me only makes me stronger."

We disappeared and left them there while we met Bizzaro at the dam. I told Lex who was with him to piss off. Lex said I didn't know who I was dealing with and I knocked him out telepathically. I turned to Bizzaro. "When you're done sucking up the power of the refined meteor rocks in there, I have a lot more you can feast on before we fight and one that'll really give you a boost."

He frowned and I spoke evenly. "You have all of Clark's memories so you know what I am and what powers I possess. You also know I prefer to fight my own battles so it isn't a trap."

He called me a fool and feasted on the meteor rocks before I walked in and took the crystals, telling him to follow me. I took him to the woods not far away and brought out a veritable mountain of meteor rocks, literally. He was so juiced, he didn't think twice about feeding on all of it at once. At the very bottom was a blue meteor rock and once all the greens were sucked dry of radiation, I made them vanish.

I told him he forgot one and he was so drunk on power he actually picked it up. My clone grabbed him and flew fast towards the sun. The massive blast before they entered said sun could be seen from earth easily. Raya, Clark and the Martian found me and asked what happened.

I told them how I tricked it and got it drunk on power before giving it a piece of blue Kryptonite that would strip a normal Kryptonian of his or her powers and leave them human. I told them he fed on it and overloaded, exploding with the force of a billion nukes. "My clone is definitely dead and vaporized even. The connection I had with it is gone entirely. On the bright side, I have a lot of purified crystal from krypton now. I'll leave some of it in the fortress because it could be useful to make weapons you can wield against any more pissed off evil Kryptonians like Zod."

Clark looked at me knowingly. "Or yourself."

I nodded. "If need be, yes."

I grunted. "I've given up on being human altogether so that I can focus on saving them from themselves. My new clone and I will only assist you if you choose to learn from now on. I will not take on your destiny for you and I cannot protect this world alone despite all my powers."

He agreed and I wished him luck. He agreed and I left them to continue helping where I can. I ran into Kara a bit later and stopped her from harassing small kids on the playground. I made her follow me to her ship where I cupped her face in my hands.

She asked what I was doing and I told her. "I'm going to show you…everything. It may help you with whatever you're doing."

I closed my eyes and lowered my forehead to hers, connecting our minds telepathically. I showed her everything from the meteor shower onwards to the moment I found her, editing out the nudity. I opened my eyes and she did hers where we stared at each other. I broke the silence and spoke as I released her. "I don't know if it helps, but whatever you're doing, it's upsetting the locals. I may not be human anymore, but I've devoted what's left to helping Kal-El protect them."

I held up a ring and her eyes went wide until I explained. "It's magical. It'll store anything you touch in it with a thought, like say a big red ship that stands out like a sore thumb."

She took it and winced as it bit her. I grunted. "Blood bound. Sorry, my mind is a bit dizzy. It's been a very long time since I've connected with another that way."

She nodded and put away her ship, thanking me. I smiled lightly. "Be safe and be careful. Zod did a number on the inhabitants of this planet with his two subordinates and Brainiac. That's not to mention the phantom zone escapees that killed plenty of people. Try not to draw attention and you'll do just fine. Good luck Kara Zor-El."

She nodded. "And you as well, Ryan Doomsday."

I smiled wryly and was gone faster than even she could react. Still, she knew everything or enough to get by now. I went and broke open the time capsule in town, taking Dax-Ur's pendant. I resealed the capsule and put it back before leaving no traces I was ever there.

I stayed in the apartment above the Talon and meditated while my newest clone was out saving lives, shutting down 33.1 experiment labs and taking all the research Lex had done. I only moved myself to find and capture Brainiac who looked worse for wear. He was sealed away in my ring and I moved on to meditating, practicing my Kryptonian martial arts and training my mind. Lana soon returned a week later and I left the apartment for a bit to see the little miss sweet corn stuff because the three competing meats needed to be stopped.

I watched them and Kara watched me with Clark, making me turn to them. I raised an eyebrow and spoke calmly from across the road. "They're Kryptonite infected and dangerous. They're killers."

I took the powers of the cold manipulation girl when she killed the heat manipulation one before confronting the weather manipulation girl, aka the ringleader. She blew me into a wall and lost her power just as her friend came in to warn her. I stopped by the farm in time to see Kara in a bikini and Lana there with Alex and Clark. I didn't comment on the too human awkward moment and only told Clark. "The two infected killed the third. I took their powers and dropped a tip to the cops since they're only human now."

He nodded and I turned to Kara. "The government and Lex have been searching for you. I'll erase their memories of you, but if they catch a hint that you're not Kara Kent the memory blocks will tumble and they'll come straight to your door."

She thanked me before asking how she looked. I raised an eyebrow. "Human."

She smirked and I turned to Lana. "Be careful, if Lex gets ahold of Alex he'll make an army of super soldiers. I've led a travel halfway across the globe his men are following to try and capture me."

Lana asked. "Why don't you just erase his mind of Alex?"

I grimaced. "My control over other minds isn't extensive. I can erase and block recent memories but the farther they recede into the past the more it'll damage them. If I tried erasing Alex and the pregnancy I could leave him a vegetable."

She grimaced. "It's no worse than what he deserves."

I shook my head. "It would be kinder to send him to the phantom zone. To be locked inside your own mind incapable of responding to anyone or thing-"

I shook my head. "I'm trying not to become the monster inside me, not give in and destroy everything needlessly."

Clark agreed saying it wasn't the way to handle this. I told them Lex can chase my clone while I needn't fear him finding me. I turned to Clark and grunted as my clothes shredded, leaving me a black wolf with green eyes. I told them telepathically that he'd have better luck catching an idea.

Kara asked if I could turn back so I did, not caring about nudity. She smiled and hit me with a heat vision blast. It burned a hole through my chest and I grunted as I leaned against the table, healing. She apologized and when my lungs were healed, I told her that it wasn't a problem.

Clark said it happened to him a lot before telling me to put some clothes on. I slipped some panda on and walked to the baby. I turned to Clark. "I could smell him when I was a wolf. He isn't my son. Congratulations Kal-El, you're a father after all."

I played with Alex's toes before turning to Lana and telling her my offer was rescinded because I couldn't deprive Kal-El of a chance to raise his son. Kara asked if I was sure and I nodded. "A wolf's senses with the senses of a Kryptonian? I could find you from across the globe by smell alone. Trust me, it's Kal-El's kid. They both smell alike to me."

Clark told me to call him by his earth name and I told him I won't be here long enough to out him to humans. He asked if I was still going to go through with it, running to distract Lex. I nodded. "It may not be my son, but he's an innocent and so long as Lex wishes to chase, I'll run. If he comes after the kid-"

I clenched my fists and grunted. "There's a line where even humans can become monsters and I kill monsters. I will do whatever is necessary to protect your child Kal-El, of that you needn't fear. I may have a bit of monster in me, but all other monsters will learn to fear me or suffer my wrath."

He went to speak with a frown but I held up a hand. "Save it. It may not be your way, but trust me, every living thing in life has the potential to kill. If you lost a son to Lex, you would fall into darkness just as any father would. You nearly did already from what I heard."

He grimaced and nodded so I stood up straight and told them. "It will be a long while before we meet again. Lana knows how to contact me with Watchtower if you have need of me."

I turned to Kara before stopping and turning away. I left faster than any of them could perceive including Clark and Kara. I gave Lex's men the run around in the longest sense of the word. I didn't see Clark or Kara again until Clark used the crystal from Kara's ship to bring Lara and Zor-El back via cloning.