Unlimited Legends #9 (The Legion of Super-Heroes)

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Unlimited Legends #9
Superboy & the Legion of Super Heroes!
Chapter 1:
School Daze

Featuring... the Legion of Super-Heroes

Writer: Scott D. L. Kruger
Artist: Jim Dufresne
Colorist: Scott D. L. Kruger
Editor: Daniel Dyer

First it was the strength and invulnerability… then came the speed. Luckily he wasn’t at school when it happened. If he’d have been in PE, during track & field, there would have been no hiding it. He was on summer vacation when, from the cornfield, his father called for him. Next thing he knew, he was somewhere in New Mexico. It was after accidentally discovering that he could sprint 300 miles in less than 5 seconds that his parents finally confided in him.

He already knew that he was adopted & his amazing strength was strange enough. Well, maybe not by Smallville standards. Since the meteor shower over fourteen years ago, Smallville had been an odd place to live. Cows with multiple heads and odd lights in the skies at night were commonplace in Smallville. Now he finds out that not only was he adopted, his parents, were more than likely not even from Earth. Not exactly an easy thing to cope with when you’re a 17 year old boy.

Clark Kent’s life had become very complicated. Now to top it all off he was seeing things. Rather, he was seeing through things. He was almost afraid to ask “what’s next?”, for fear that the term his father used to say, regarding the “lighting of a fire under his tail” could possibly come true.

He and his parents, instead of having the “birds & bee’s” talk that most parents had with their children, had the “don’t tell anyone about your abilities or bad things could happen” talk. Not that he’d complain at all about his parents, they were the two greatest people he had ever known. He just felt lonely.

He had friends, but still, he couldn’t tell them anything. His best friend Pete just thought Clark was strange, in a rather normal way. Lana, the girl next door, had a crush on Clark since they met in Mrs. Schmidt’s pre-school class. Then there was Chloe, the only person in Smallville that, although normal by human standards, was stranger than anyone else. Always the conspiracy theorist and not afraid to tell anyone her odd theories about the world. She was also the only person Clark knew that actually understood what was going on in the “X-Files”. Maybe she wasn’t human either.

With all that weighing on his shoulders, Clark had one other hurdle to leap over… The first day of his senior year in high school.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Monday, September 12th, 1994, a.k.a. the first day of school.

"Earth to Clark… Anyone home?” Pete Ross waived his hand in front of Clark’s eyes. The both of them sat in ‘homeroom’ awaiting dismissal to the first period of the day. Clark had been resting his head on the desk in front of him, staring blankly forward as the homeroom “teacher” went over the first weekly bulletin. Pete, as usual, talked to Clark through the entire bulletin about the fishing trip he’d taken with Susan Sweeny and something about second base.

“Huh? Oh, sorry Pete. I was thinking…” Clark replied.

“Yeah, well don’t strain yourself, it’s not your strong suit!” Pete quipped as he playfully punched Clark in the shoulder. “Ow!” Pete shouted disrupting Mr. Samuel’s droning voice.

“Mr. Ross, Mr. Kent, is there a problem?” Mr. Samuel’s asked looking over his reading glasses.

“No sir,” both replied to the sound of giggling girls.

“Very good. Now, tryouts for the girl’s soccer…” Mr. Samuel’s continued undaunted.

“What the Hell, Kent?” Pete whispered, while rubbing his knuckles. Clark just shrugged.

In the far corner of the classroom sat three teenagers. A girl and two boys sat staring at each other. Not saying a word, but glancing, on occasion, from one to the other as if in conversation. All three nodded in unison and turned to stare at the back of Clark’s head as he laid it back down on the desk before him.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Martha Kent was going about her routine day doing chores around the house. Jonathan had gone into town to fetch a few supplies, so she passed the time doing laundry. She couldn’t believe how tall her boy had gotten over the summer as she picked up a pair of his well-worn jeans. Usually the major growth spurts end around the age of 15 or so, but Clark was anything but usual.

The day she & Jonathan found young Clark in Sutter’s field had been the most frightening, yet happiest day of her life. The day the town was hit by the meteor shower. The shower she thanked God for every waking moment of her life since it had brought them their only son.

She stood over the kitchen table folding the freshly laundered socks, humming a tune, when the doorbell rang. She stopped what she was doing and walked to the front door. A young woman in her early twenties with red hair and a tall dark man with a goatee & mustache in black suits and dark sunglasses stood on the other side of the door.

“Can… can I help you?” Martha asked warily.

“Yes, I hope so Mrs. Kent,” the young woman introduced herself. “I am Agent Aries & this is my partner Agent King. We are with the D.E.O. and we have a few questions regarding your son, Kal, er, excuse me, Clark. May we come in?”

Panic suddenly struck Martha Kent. She had heard, as had everyone, tales of the mysterious D.E.O., “Is Clark alright… what’s wrong?” she blurted.

“Nothing, nothing at all, may we come in?” replied agent Aries in a very soothing tone.

Her words eased the fear from Martha, and she opened the door wide and stepped back. “Yes, of course, please come in…”

Agent Aries & Agent King followed Martha inside the house, with a smile, Agent King turned and closed the door behind them.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Clark Kent, had gone about the first half of his day in a fog. Usually he enjoyed going back to school, but the summers revelations were still weighing heavily on his mind. He paid no attention during his trigonometry class and even less in his English class. Even during lunch, he just sat there with his friends, half-listening to what was being said. Pete had been telling lewd jokes to Chloe and Lana for the past 10 minutes. Chloe cackled & snorted with every punch line, but Lana, as usual, gave a half hearted giggle and continued to quietly pine over the oblivious Clark.

“Hey, Clark…” Pete said as he threw a tater tot at his best friends head, “man, wake up. What’s with you today? I’d rather not be at school either, but at least I’m trying to make the best out of it… did someone tip your favorite cow?”

“Pete Ross!” Lana barked.

“What?” Pete shouted back, “He’s my best friend, I have a right to be unusually cruel to him! What’s going on Clark?”

“Nothing… it’s just…” Clark began, “Have you ever had a secret that you weren’t supposed to… Never mind.” He stopped when he realized Pete wasn’t paying attention. Pete had seen the new blonde girl enter the cafeteria.

“That girl, Clark… she’s been in every one of our classes and she’s been watching you.” Pete explained as he nudged Clark in the shoulder.

“That is so typical of you Pete… always thinking with another part of your body. Can’t you see Clark’s worried about something,” Lana scolded, her face turned almost as red as her hair when she realized Clark’s attention had been drawn away by the girl as well.

She was beautiful. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a pony-tail showing her long neck and an odd set of earrings shaped like Saturn. She wore dark blue jeans and a tight black top. She smiled in Clark’s direction and walked confidently in his direction.

“Oh, man, she’s coming over to talk to you!” Pete teased. Lana quietly fumed and Chloe just sat there basking in the strained silence since she alone knew of Lana’s obsession… felt like the tension between Mulder & Scully. She fiddled with her camera, trying to look oblivious.

“Hello, Kal El, my name is Imra,” the girl said smiling as she stood before Clark. “Can I speak with you?”

Clark was taken aback by the girls forwardness, Pete and Chloe just laughed over the obvious case of mistaken identity. “Um, no, I’m sorry, my name is Clark Kent, you must have the wrong person.”

Lana looked at the girl with sheer fury in her eyes. Skank.

Imra glanced quickly at Lana with a quizzical look. Then stood there for a moment, silent. She closed her eyes for a moment, and everyone at the table stared at her like her head was going to explode.

Her eyes opened suddenly and she blushed, “Of course, I’m sorry, Clark. You just look so much like him… Please forgive my interruption.” She turned and walked away.

Pete broke the awkward silence with a whistle followed by a crashing noise. “Crash & burn, Clark! That had to be the shortest romance in the history of all romances.”

Clark watched as the girl walked towards the cafeteria door where she joined two boys. One was shorter than her with black hair & the other was a little taller than her with bright red hair. All turned to regard Clark, then exited the cafeteria, except Imra. She smiled at him again… her smile was intoxicating… and followed the other two.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Jonathan Kent pulled up to the house in his Ford truck, loaded down with the feed he set out to purchase that morning. He walked into the house, calling out for Martha, but when she didn’t answer, he grabbed his gloves and went back to the truck to begin unloading.

She must have driven to town to pick Clark up after school, maybe I should wait until he gets home. Naw, must be getting lazy in my old age.

He began to stack the bails of hay when he noticed that Martha’s car was parked in the open garage. He decided to look in the barn. He walked up to the barn & slid the door open and found Martha unconscious, tied to the rafters. Her face and clothes had blackened burn marks on them.

“Martha!!!” He shouted as he searched for a ladder, “Hang on honey, I’ll get you down!”

Finding the ladder, he quickly set it up, under her. “Hang on baby, I’ll get you down.” When he was under her he realized she was tied up with metal rebar. “What the devil?”

“No Mr. Kent, not the devil,” came a man’s voice. He turned to see a man in a black suit standing at the base of the ladder. “You may call me Mr. King!”

The ladder suddenly sprang to life and bucked Jonathan off. He landed flat on his back, with the wind knocked out of him. The feet of the ladder pinned Jonathan by his neck as he struggled to get free.

“If you hurt her, by God, I swear…” Jonathan spat.

“Now now Mr. Kent,” came a female’s soothing voice, as agent Aries stepped into view, “there’s no need for threats. We’re just here for your son. Once we have him, you and Martha will be free to go.”

“NO!” came the third voice from above. “It is best not to lie to them. Always be honest with your victims, have I taught you two nothing? No, they will most certainly die. Kal El will watch them die right before we kill him.”

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Imra sat on the bleachers by the football field with her two friends, Rokk and Garth. To anyone gathered nearby, they looked like 3 ordinary teenagers, strangely sitting in silence, watching a gym class running laps. These, however, were not your ordinary teenagers. They sat in silence as Imra held the telepathic link between them.

Garth: {The girl called you a what?}

Imra: {It doesn’t matter… It was fascinating just looking into his eyes. He’s amazing.}

Garth: {Hrmpf! He didn’t look so special to me, maybe the history pads were wrong. You sure we found the right guy?}

Imra: {Not a chance, Garth! That was him. But, M’onel was right, he is very secretive about his identity. When I looked into his mind and…}

“Imra! You looked into his mind?” Rokk interrupted their silent exchange. He quickly realized he was shouting and continued telepathically, {The greatest hero in the history of the universe & you violated his mind?}

Imra: {We had to know Rokk! It’s been a thousand years… how are we to know that history wasn’t distorted through time. He’s going by a secret identity, I didn’t want to come out & ask him if he was Superman…so I looked into his mind. This is cute, his parents told him not to tell anyone. It’s really bothering him though. I guess his powers are just now manifesting…}

Garth just rolled his eyes.

Imra: {WHAT??? Is there a problem?}

Garth held up his hands in a defensive posture.

Rokk: {SPROCK IT! That means Brainy was right (as usual). He’s more vulnerable at this age. We shouldn’t have let him out of our sight.}

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

After school, Clark met Pete, Lana and Chloe in the parking lot next to Pete’s new car (actually, it was his mom’s station wagon, but he had a new paint job & rims put on it so as not to look too un-cool).

“Come on Clark, we’re going to the Talon, come with us! I’ll give you a ride home afterwards, I promise!” Pete implored as he referred to the time the year before when he & Chloe left Clark at the Talon as a practical joke.

“No, you guys go ahead, I’m going to walk home,” Clark said, “but thanks anyway.”

“Clark, do you want me to come with you?” asked Lana.

“No thanks Lana, I’m good.”

“Suit yourself Clarkey!” Chloe shouted, snapping a picture of him as Pete floored it. His car sputtered and slowly lurched forward, before rolling away casually.

Clark casually strolled along Shuster Way toward his home until he was sure no one was in sight. He took off at super speed and in a split second he was home. He walked in the open front door and set his bag down on the entryway table.

“Mom! Dad! Hello! Anyone home?” he called out, but there was no answer.

He made his way into the living room. A man with slicked back, white hair wearing a black suit and sunglasses sat in his fathers chair.

“Welcome home, Kal El”, the man said mockingly with his arms outstretched, the air around him seemed to ignite with electricity.

{RUN!} came a girls voice an instant before the house around Clark violently exploded.

To be continued...

[Dark Knight of Steel]

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