[Third Person POV]
Clark was walking Komi home after school, his hands tucked into his pockets and his gaze distant. A faint frown crept onto his face as his steps slowed, lost in thought. His eyes weren't focused on the path ahead, but rather on his earlier encounter with Lois.
He barely noticed when something flashed quickly in front of his face. Blinking, he was pulled from his thoughts to see Komi holding out her phone with a message typed neatly on the screen:
"Are you okay?"
Clark paused and looked at her. Her eyes were wide with concern.
"I'm fine," he said gently, giving her a reassuring smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just thinking about all those mock exams we had today. Kinda fried my brain."
Komi nodded and quickly typed another message.
"Yes, they were very stressful. I can see why you'd be distracted. Do you think you passed?"
Clark shrugged with casual confidence. "I think so. It wasn't too bad once you broke it down. Some of the questions were tricky, but manageable."
They continued walking, falling into an easy back-and-forth about the school day — what subjects had been hardest, which teachers had been the most brutal, and how much everyone had groaned when they saw the essay questions. For a while, Clark was able to push aside the nagging thoughts that haunted him and just enjoy the company of someone who, despite being quiet, listened earnestly and cared deeply.
Eventually, they reached Komi's front gate. She gave him a small bow, and Clark returned it with a wave.
"See you tomorrow," he said warmly.
She smiled and nodded before heading inside. Once she was out of sight, Clark turned the corner, ducked into a quiet alley, and let out a breath.
He took off his glasses, which started to dissolve, before shooting into the air, a blur of red and white cutting across the sky. The transformation was seamless — one moment a high schooler, the next a soaring figure of strength and hope.
Now clad in his Superman suit, Clark soared higher and higher, piercing through the cloud layer. He spun into a series of tight corkscrews, letting the wind rush past him as the world shrank below. Soon, he reached the edge of the atmosphere, where the sky faded into the blackness of space.
Hovering for a moment, suspended between two worlds, he closed his eyes and let the silence wrap around him.
He inhaled deeply.
"I really should stop thinking about it. None of that matters right now. Not Lois. Not school. Not anything else."
"My duty as Superman — that's what comes first."
His eyes snapped open, determination blazing in them. A crack echoed through the heavens as he burst forward, shattering the air in a deafening sonic boom.
---
Superman sped through a quiet European town, catching sight of a man dangling helplessly from the ceiling of his home, clutching a support beam. Below him, a ladder had toppled, leaving him suspended and panicking.
Clark caught the man with ease, gently lowering him down as he spoke in fluent German, "You really should be more careful."
The man chuckled nervously, clearly embarrassed, but offered his heartfelt thanks before shaking Superman's hand.
---
Later, Clark stood in front of a small car with its hood open, grease smudged across his gloves. A woman sat inside, brow furrowed as she turned the key again and again.
"Some of the engine wiring wasn't connected properly," Clark explained in perfect Swedish, pointing to the adjustments he had made. "Try again."
She turned the key, and with a roar, the engine sprang to life. Her face lit up with joy as she jumped out of the car and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you! You're amazing!"
Clark chuckled and shut the hood. But before he could respond, she pointed down the street and asked, "Uh… is that your dog?"
Clark turned — and froze.
Sure enough, there was Krypto, his cape flapping dramatically in the wind as he proudly trotted across the road… with a bent lamppost clenched between his jaws, causing a traffic jam.
"Superdog, no! Put it down…" Clark groaned, dragging a hand over his face. Krypto looked at him, tail wagging, eyes glinting with mischief.
The next second, Krypto launched into the air, lamp post still in tow.
"For god's sake! I told you to stop doing that! I get blamed for the property damage!" Clark shouted as he chased after him through the sky.
The woman burst out laughing as the two red and white streaks zoomed overhead like comets playing tag.
A minute later, Clark returned, holding the lamppost. He gently set it upright and welded it back into place with a precise beam of heat vision. He turned back to Krypto, who now floated beside him innocently, tongue lolling out.
Clark sighed, hands on his hips. "Not everything long and metal is a chew toy or a game of fetch."
Krypto only barked happily.
"Of course you think this is funny," Clark muttered, then shook his head with a reluctant smile as the two shot off once more.
---
Later that day, Clark hovered beside a tall oak tree in a quiet park. High above, a young boy clung tightly to the branches, his eyes squeezed shut and his limbs trembling. His cheeks were wet with tears.
Clark floated up slowly until they were eye level. He exhaled through his nose, his voice gentle.
"Alright, buddy. How'd we end up in this situation?"
The boy whimpered, "I… I wanted to show my friends I wasn't a scaredy-cat…"
Clark nodded with understanding. "And what did we learn?"
The boy sniffled, his lip trembling. "That I am a scaredy-cat… and I'm really, really scared of heights…"
Clark tilted his head. "Honestly? I was going to say we learned you might've been a monkey in your past life, because I have no idea how you even managed to climb this high."
"I'm not a monkey!" the boy exclaimed, momentarily forgetting his fear as Clark gently lowered him to the ground. His arms flailed as he pointed up, adding with a pout, "You're the monkey!"
Clark chuckled, feet hovering inches above the ground as he landed beside the boy's group of friends. "Now, remind me again… who exactly was stuck up in a tree squealing for help?"
The boy's cheeks flushed a deep red as the other kids erupted in laughter and cheers.
"You were saved by Superman! That's so cool!"
"I want to be saved by Superman too!"
"Awesome!"
"Now then, little monkey boy," Clark teased with a wink as he began to rise slowly back into the air where Krypto was already waiting for him, "don't let me catch you jumping on the bed next time."
"I'M NOT A MONKEY!!" the boy screamed with an exaggerated scowl, stamping his foot as he glared up at the man of steel.
Clark cackled, a grin spreading across his face as they vanished in a streak of red and white across the sky. There was truly nothing more satisfying than bullying children—it was the closest thing to mischief he allowed himself these days.
But that moment of levity was short-lived.
"AAAAAHHH!"
"OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!"
"WE'RE DONE FOR!!"
"THE SHIP—WE'RE CAPSIZING!!"
Clark's eyes narrowed, his body halting mid-flight. His head snapped sharply to the east, across the vast ocean in the direction of Japan. His super hearing picked up the panic, the desperation, the terror.
Focusing, his vision zoomed across thousands of kilometers in an instant—from Italy, across Eurasia, locking onto the distant coastline of Japan. What he saw made his blood run cold.
A colossal creature was emerging from the ocean, its mountainous head breaking through the surface with a thunderous roar. Waves crashed violently as a nearby cruise ship flipped onto its side, the massive hull cracking in two like a toy under pressure.
Clark's expression hardened.
Without hesitation, he rocketed forward, pushing his speed to the very limit. His figure stretched through the sky as velocity distorted his image, the force of his movement splitting the clouds apart in his wake. Krypto right beside him.
Thanks to his recent meditation and training in energy control, he didn't unleash the usual earth-shattering sonic booms.
Within seconds, he arrived over the coast of Japan, just in time to see what could only be described as Godzilla rising from the depths, its reptilian form growing taller with each thunderous step toward the city.
But Clark's focus wasn't on the beast—not yet.
People were screaming, flailing in the churning waters. Survivors were clinging to the remnants of the shattered cruise ship, some drifting unconscious, others already slipping beneath the waves.
"You know what to do" Clark said towards Krypto, who barked in confirmation.
Clark and Krypto dove like a missile, their body cutting clean through the air before plunging into the sea. With incredible speed and precision, they began collecting people—scooping them out of the water, sometimes two or three at a time—and flying them back to the listing half of the ship.
With a single powerful kick, Clark righted one half of the broken vessel, stabilizing it enough to hold survivors. He gently set people down, some coughing up water, others limp in his arms.
"To anyone with medical training," Clark called out urgently, his voice cutting through the chaos like a bell, "start CPR! Help the unconscious! Do what you can—I'm counting on you!"
He turned, scanning the wreckage again. More people were still out there.
Clark flew to the other half of the ship, flipping it over just enough to check for trapped passengers. All the while, the Kaiju lumbered closer, water falling from its scaled body like waterfalls, each step causing a mini-tsunami.
But people came first.
With tireless speed, Clark and Krypto continued collected every last person, placing them safely aboard the broken vessel.
Then, with another deep breath, he blurred into motion again. He was like a whirlwind moving around the ship, used his heat vision with careful precision, welding parts of the ship back together—just enough to make it float steadily and hold weight.
The air shimmered with residual heat as Clark lifted the patched-together ship from beneath, Clark's spiritual energy closely resembled tactile telekinesis, which allowed him to lift the ship without it caving in from the force of his strength.
"Brace yourselves!!" he shouted as he floated back, people screamed as he carried everyone to the docks and gently set it down.
Cheers and sobs broke out from the survivors, but Clark didn't linger.
His body cut through the ocean, emerging with water cascading off his suit and slicking back his hair. His red cape shimmered with heat turning the water to vapor.
Krypto was beside him shaking his body, splashing water everywhere.
Clark looked up at the creature, now fully emerged. Its jagged dorsal plates along its back began to glow, charging with ominous blue energy.
Clark's eyes narrowed again.
"Sol, use the thing! We've got to minimize casualties to zero!"
A voice answered from his earpiece. Calm, solemn.
"Forgive me, Master Kal-El… but Empty Space will not work on this target. That Kaiju is not supernatural in origin. From my scans, it appears to be a prehistoric organism native to Earth that has undergone natural evolutionary changes over time. In other words… it's a creature of science, not spirit."
Clark exhaled slowly through his nose, lips twitching into a grimace.
"Fan-fucking-tastic," he muttered. "Of course it's not supernatural. That would've been too easy."
He flexed his fingers, cracking his knuckles as he stared the beast down. His cape fluttered behind him.
"Alright then..." he growled under his breath. "Looks like it's time to do this the old-fashioned way… with Maximum effort."
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