Night fell over the Arctic glacier.
The wind howled across the ice, driving snow sideways in sheets that could blind a man in seconds. The temperature had plummeted to somewhere around negative forty Celsius, cold enough that finding a nice snow drift to curl up in and wait for death didn't sound half bad. Clark stood at the edge of the camp, staring dubiously at the shipping container where Lois was presumably sleeping.
"You're sure she'll come out? In this weather?"
He looked doubtful. Even the soldiers ddin't want to step outside right now. Why would a reporter risk hypothermia for a story?
Mario grinned from where he stood invisible beside him. "You can always trust me."
Several minutes of wind-blasted silence passed.
"She's moving. Get ready. Stick to the plan."
Clark nodded. He'd initially refused this whole scheme, but Mario had listed so many benefits that his resistance had crumbled. He was a healthy young man with normal urges. The idea of having someone in his life wasn't entirely unwelcome. So here he was, sneaking around in the middle of an Arctic blizzard like some kind of stalker.
He started walking toward the glacier, using his heat vision to carve a tunnel through the ice. At Mario's insistence, the tunnel was perfectly square.
"What happens next?"
Mario pulled an engineering robot from his inventory. Ivan had built it for construction work, but intimidating one reporter should be well within its capabilities.
"The robot will threaten Lois. Then you rush in and save her."
Clark's expression immediately soured. "No. We're not hurting an innocent person."
Mario looked at him and smiled. "That's exactly who you are, Clark. Good."
He adjusted the plan on the fly. "Fine. We'll modify it. Once Lois enters the ship, Ivan will pilot the robot close to her. You make your move before it touches her. Hero rescues damsel in distress. It's cliché as hell, but it works."
"Shh. She's coming."
Lois had indeed emerged from her container, bundled in so many layers she looked like a human marshmallow. She raised her camera toward the drilling platform, snapped a few shots, then scrolled through the images. That's when she spotted the figure walking alone across the ice.
She recognized him immediately, the strong young man who'd carried her luggage earlier that day. What was he doing out here in the middle of a deadly blizzard?
Without hesitation, she decided to follow him.
Protagonist aura in full effect, Mario thought. No sane person would follow a suspicious man into negative forty degree weather. But here we are.
The tunnel Clark had carved led directly to the Kryptonian ship. Lois followed it.
"My God," she whispered when the ship came into view. She pulled out her camera and started documenting everything.
"Where did that guy go?"
Mario, watching through hidden surveillance cameras, chuckled. "She's adorably stupid. Clark, once you two get together, you need to teach her some basic survival instincts. This level of impulsiveness is going to get her killed."
Clark said nothing. When Mario glanced over, he found Clark staring in Lois' direction with a strange smile on his face.
Oh right. X-ray vision.
"Everyone has their preferences, I guess."
In the original timeline, these two had barely met a handful of times before falling for each other. Apparently Superman liked women with more guts than sense.
Lois climbed through the entrance tunnel and emerged inside the ship. She crept forward, completely unaware of the engineering robot standing motionless behind her. She pulled out her camera to document her discovery.
CLANG.
The metallic sound made her jump and spin around. The sight of the robot froze her in place, but when it didn't move, she relaxed slightly.
"Oh... my God."
She raised her camera. The flash went off.
"This woman's got serious balls," Mario muttered. "Ivan, light it up."
The robot's head illuminated with red optical sensors. Its humanoid arms began reshaping themselves, metal flowing like liquid until both limbs terminated in serrated blades.
Lois' relaxation evaporated instantly. Even the densest person could recognize that arms turning into blades probably wasn't a prelude to anything pleasant. The robot moved with shocking speed, closing the distance in three long strides. It raised both blade-arms high.
"Ah!"
Lois' scream echoed through the ship's corridors. She fell backward, scrambling away on her hands and backside. Her camera went flying.
"Your turn," Mario started to say, then looked around in confusion. "Where did he go?"
---
Clark materialized beside Lois at full speed. As the blade descended, he raised one hand and caught it. The impact surprised him. Even though this was just an engineering model, it was still advanced technology. The blade's edge broke his skin. A few drops of blood welled up, but within seconds the wound sealed itself.
He stared at his hand in shock, but he didn't have time to process. He looked at Lois and said, "Don't worry. I'm here."
Then he wrapped both arms around the robot in a crushing bear hug. The metal frame crumpled like aluminum foil, circuits sparking and components shattering. He'd just accomplished what Captain America had always wanted to do but never could, choke a robot to death with his bare hands.
Sparks showered down as he crushed the robot into a compacted metal sphere. Watching the entire sequence through their monitors, Ivan and Tony shared identical expressions.
"His strength is really greater than the Hulk's," Tony muttered.
"That's it. I'm buying vibranium. Lots of vibranium. Standard alloys won't do shit against him."
Superman casually destroying the robot served as a wake-up call, dragging their confidence back down to earth where it belonged.
"Don't be afraid," Clark said gently, approaching Lois. "It can't hurt you anymore."
Between the world's invisible influence and his own protective instincts, Clark felt an overwhelming urge to keep her safe. Lois sat limply on the floor, eyes wide with shock. She'd come within seconds of being turned into deli meat, and the realization was still sinking in. But under Clark's reassurance, her panic gradually subsided. Her body was too weak to stand, so she remained seated, trying to process what had just happened.
"Who are you?"
Before Clark could answer, a figure emerged from the shadows. Lois barely registered the person holding something that looked like a rod with a glowing tip.
A flash of light burst from the device, and her world went black.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Clark panicked slightly. In his assessment, Lois had been frightened but nowhere near the threshold for fainting.
Mario couldn't help but laugh. "One thing always conquers another. Clark, acting that intense is a great way to scare someone off. Men need mystery to be attractive."
"She's just sleeping."
Despite Mario's explanation, Clark still looked worried.
"Don't worry. She'll come looking for you soon enough."
Mario patted Clark on the shoulder and turned to leave.
In the corridor, he found Bruce studying Clark. This meeting was happening far earlier than in the original timeline. In the movies, Bruce hadn't truly encountered Clark until after General Zod's invasion, when he'd witnessed godlike power firsthand. That overwhelming destructive force had planted a seed of fear in his mind, fear that eventually led to manipulation by Lex Luthor, culminating in their legendary battle.
Bruce looked at Mario and said quietly, "You've created a weakness for him."
Mario shook his head. "Superman has only one weakness, his kind heart. You should be grateful his adoptive parents are good people."
Superman hadn't become like other Kryptonians ancestors largely because of the Kents' love and guidance.
Mario started walking deeper into the ship, then paused and returned to Bruce with a grin. "Oh, and by the way? Clark's mother is also named Martha."
---
Early morning light filtered through the ship's viewports.
"Where are you planning to go, Clark?"
"I want to follow my father's advice. Learn to control my powers so I can face the coming crisis."
"Good plan. But I know the perfect place for you to train."
Mario smiled, then turned to Jor-El's holographic projection. "Does this ship have cloaking capabilities?"
Jor-El replied, "No. Cloaking is useless against higher-level civilizations and unnecessary against lower ones."
Mario blinked, then nodded. "That's actually perfectly logical. I have no counter-argument. All right then. I'll grab some Pym Particles later so we can shrink the ship for storage. If it stays on Earth, someone will eventually find it."
Clark didn't object. He'd learned his origins and gained what he'd come for. But one problem remained.
"What about Lois?"
Mario glanced at the unconscious reporter, then at Clark. "Come on. Don't be like that. You'll ruin my image of you."
Clark was the type to fall hard when he fell in love, otherwise he wouldn't have turned dark so quickly after Lois' death in certain timelines.
He looked at Lois, then back at Clark. "Just sneak her back to the camp."
Clark nodded. For someone with his abilities, the task was trivial. The camp personnel would investigate the ship's area eventually, making it easy to slip her back unnoticed.
Thirty minutes later, he returned to the ship.
Mario looked at him suspiciously. "Why did it take you half an hour to deliver one person? You didn't do anything weird, did you?"
Clark looked confused. "I just had to avoid the camp personnel. It took some time."
Mario stared at him for a long moment.
"Right. Let's get moving."
With a sound like the world ending, the Kryptonian ship blasted free from the thick glacier. Its propulsion system was clearly formidable, more powerful than Ivan's stealth craft.
Fortunately, the Canadian drilling company didn't operate around the clock. Otherwise, everyone on the platform above would have been vaporized. The ship accelerated rapidly, outpacing even Ivan's advanced design. Definitely something worth studying.
Sitting in the cockpit, Mario watched the sun rise over the horizon. Warm sunlight felt pleasant on his skin, but it felt even better to Clark.
Sun radiation was Superman's path to unlimited power.
"You should put on your suit. I have a feeling it helps you absorb solar energy more efficiently."
Clark looked confused. "Suit?"
This time Mario was the one who looked shocked. "Your father didn't tell you?"
He turned to Jor-El's hologram. The AI responded without emotion, "There wasn't time. His attention was entirely focused on that girl named Lois."
Clark followed Jor-El to retrieve the suit his father had prepared for him.
Bruce, who'd been observing silently, approached Mario. "He can grow stronger just by absorbing sunlight?"
Mario smiled and nodded. "That's one of his abilities. How will you deal with it?"
Bruce heard the teasing tone but ignored it. How could anyone counter someone who gained power simply by existing in daylight?
Minutes later, Clark returned wearing his suit.
The deep blue armor fit his physique perfectly, every muscle visible beneath the advanced Kryptonian material. At this moment, he embodied the perfect fusion of power and speed.