Superman Movieverse Forum

Title: Family Reunion
Author: Mr. Beeto 
Rating: PG-13
Beta: htbthomas and Shado Librarian
Summary: AU Twist on Donner/Singer Movieverse: Tie the three films together into a cohesive whole, and provide a more credible and interesting reason for Superman to have returned to Krypton.

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Author's Notes:

Note that this chapter contains a combination of Kryptonian and English. Kryptonian text will be in italics and enclosed in double chevrons (« and »). Thanks again to the beta team of htbthomas and Shado Librarian.

Chapter 5 - Homecoming

Wednesday, September 13, 2006 8:15PM EDT

When Kal-El became aware of the high-pitched buzzing around him, his first sensation was one of pain. It felt as if every cell in his body was on fire. His eyes fluttered open and after a moment of disorientation, he finally recognized the cabin of his rescue ship. "Alarm off," he croaked weakly. The buzzing immediately ceased, and he groggily looked over to the cot on his left. Kara had a painful grimace on her face, and he struggled to reach over to her and gripped her shoulder. "Kara," he called to her gently. "You must wake up. We're home."

Her forehead wrinkled and she slowly turned to him, her eyes widening in shock when she saw the stranger wearing her family's crest. «Who are you?» she exclaimed fearfully. «Where are my parents?»

"I'm your cousin, Kal-El," he told her calmly. Finally recognizing the confusion on her face, he repeated himself in Kryptonian. «I'm Kal-El, your cousin. I answered your father's call for help, and brought you back to Earth with me. We'll be landing, soon.»

«Kal-El's just a baby,» Kara pointed out defiantly.

«You were suspended for a long time,» Kal-El told her sadly. «You were too close when the sun exploded, and stranded in space. I made it safely to Earth and grew up here. Then, one day, I heard your father's call for help, and went back for you.»

«Where are my parents, and why does everything hurt so much?» Kara persisted.

Kal-El looked away and sighed deeply. He was really too tired to go through this right now. «We're recovering from kryptonite poisoning,» he explained. «The sun's explosion transformed the crystals of Krypton into radioactive poison. We got too close.» He paused and rolled over to face the ceiling as he recalled the nearly botched rescue.

Zor-El's ship had been badly battered, it's internal atmosphere evacuated into space, and Zor-El and Allura's mummified remains floating in the lifeless cabin. He'd scrapped his initial plans to fuse the two ships together, and bring them both back to Earth, instead recovered all of the data crystals and Kara's stasis cot to his rescue ship. He then ejected the mortally wounded ship and sent it on a trajectory that would incinerate it in a neighboring sun in another thousand years.

Rather than immediately begin the voyage home, he had decided to survey what was left of Krypton. Most of the planet's surface had been decimated and its citizens vaporized in the sun's corona as it expanded and exploded. He'd surveyed what he assumed was the city of his birth, in the shadow of Mount Argo, it's once majestic crystal towers now charred and broken shards. He circumnavigated the home of his earliest days, and was surprised to find monuments in the Valley of Elders which seemed miraculously unscathed among the ruins.

The monuments commemorated Krypton's greatest heroes, Kol-Ar, Pon-Us and Kal-El's ancestor, Sor-El. The three of them had ended the last war among the Kryptonian people nearly half a million years ago. The emotion as he looked upon his ancestor's monument had been overwhelming, recognizing the same coat of arms that he proudly wore on his chest. He felt himself become nauseous before the knot of pain cramped his stomach. He'd stared out the viewport in confusion at the source of the pain before he recognized the green vein snaking through his family crest on Sor-El's monument. Kryptonite! The supernova had transformed the crystals into the deadly substance! He barely managed to squeak out the command, "Home," before he fell back on his cot and lost consciousness.

His cousin's prodding interrupted his rumination. «Kal-El», she interrupted apprehensively. «Where are my parents?»

He turned to her, and told her compassionately, «I'm sorry, Kara, but they didn't survive.»

«No!» Kara wailed, her lip quivering. «It's got to be a mistake. They can't be... can't...» The child was overcome and sank back into her cot, sobbing uncontrollably. Kal-El pushed through his lethargy and sat up, pulling her onto his lap. Her arms automatically wrapped around him as he reconfigured his cot into a seated position.



Martha Kent smiled victoriously as she laid her tiles down on the scrabble board. "Alienation," she announced. "That makes my total, ahem, four hundred and nine."

"I'm just about to make my comeback," Ben promised happily.

"I can hardly wait," Martha chucked. She was interrupted from further comment by a vibration resonating through the house and shaking the scrabble tiles off of the board. The vibration was followed by a rumbling that turned into a deafening roar. Something's wrong, Martha thought. He was supposed to land at the Fortress.

"What in the world?" Ben wondered as he jogged quickly to the back door and looked out in the direction of the noise. Martha joined him and saw the sky turned red as a shiny meteorite streaked directly above the farmhouse, quickly losing altitude. It disappeared over the peak of the barn moments before a flash lit the sky like daylight and a thunderous blast assaulted their hearing. "We'd better call the sheriff," Ben advised

"We're not going to bother the sheriff for a simple meteorite," Martha insisted.

"But..." Ben protested.

"Oh, would you look at the time," Martha interrupted. "I hadn't realized it had gotten so late. Thank you for joining me for dinner," she told him quickly. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Martha, what's going on?" Ben pleaded.

"We'll talk tomorrow," Martha assured him. "Good night, Ben." He reluctantly accepted her dismissal, kissed her on the cheek, and walked out to his truck.



Martha followed the smoking trench and looked up in awe at the huge alien ship, its spikes stretching more than fifty feet into the air. I don't think we're going to be able to hide that in the cellar, she reflected. She moved as close to the ship as the heat still rolling off it would allow. "Clark!" she called out worriedly.

"Ma," he squeaked from her right. He was on his knees, one hand on the ground in front of him, the other struggling to maintain his grip on the semi-conscious little girl in his arms.

"Oh, Clark," Martha sighed, quickly running over to the pair. "What happened?"

"Kryptonite," he answered lethargically. "So weak..."

"Her, too?" she inquired caringly. Her son simply nodded, as he again struggled to stand. "Give her to me," Martha commanded. "I'll get her buckled into the truck and come back for you." Clark nodded his agreement and surrendered his burden, collapsing and rolling to his side as soon as he was relieved.

It seemed to take an eternity for Martha to get her charges stowed safely in the truck and back to the house. She wasn't as young or as strong as she used to be, and she'd stumbled more than once. It was also an exhausting struggle to get the pair inside. Kara was much easier to handle, though still cumbersome as she carried the little girl up to her room and changed her into pajamas. She lingered a moment in the doorway observing her guest, before heading back downstairs to help her son from the truck.



Thursday, September 14, 2006 3:35AM EDT

Clark woke with a start, hearing the blood-curdling scream coming from the upstairs bedroom. When the scream was followed by a loud thump, he pulled himself from his slumber and raced up the stairs to the source of the noise. He grabbed Kara's thrashing arms, and pulled her to him. «Shhh.... Shhhh,» he comforted the sobbing girl. «It's all right. You're safe.»

He was so focused on his cousin, that he seemed not to notice when his mother turned on the light behind him. Martha noticed that her inconsolable guest had opened her eyes, and was struggling to get out the alien words between her sobs. Clark was rocking her gently, speaking soothing words to her in the same alien language. He was still dressed in the skin-tight grey body suit she'd found him in the previous evening. It had taken almost everything Martha had just to get him inside to the sofa and his boots off.

Slowly, Kara's sobs diminished, and Martha heard Clark's deep baritone as he began to sing in a slow, soothing tempo, «Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, Brown paper packages tied up with string, These are a few of my favorite things(1)...» Confident in her son's ability to handle the crisis, she retreated from the scene and returned to her bed, still exhausted from the previous night's ordeal.

Martha rose from her bed and got dressed shortly before dawn, as was her custom. She paused to check on Kara, and was surprised to find the room empty. She continued walking down the stairs, and smiled widely at the sight that greeted her. Clark was lying back in the recliner with Kara in the protective circle of his arms as she cuddled up against him in peaceful slumber. She also believed Clark to be asleep, until he opened his eyes and looked over at her. "How is she", Martha mouthed.

"Sleeping peacefully," Clark whispered. "Took a while."

"You handled that well," Martha whispered back. "You'll make her a fine father."

Clark's eyes went wide at his mother's implication. "Ma, I..." he started quietly. "I wouldn't know what to do."

"Do you think that your father and I did when we first brought you home?" Martha asked in a low whisper. "It's no different with any first-time parent. And you're not in this alone." She approached the pair, placing a hand affectionately on his shoulder. "I'll help when I can," she assured him. "That's what grandmothers do." She chuckled quietly at her son's dumbfounded look.

"The idea's a bit overwhelming," Clark confessed. He looked down at his cousin, who was starting to stir.

"You'll do fine if last night was any indication," Martha declared. "I don't know anyone who could have handled that better, which had nothing to do with your gifts." She observed her guests for a moment, and continued somberly, "It won't be as easy to document her identity as it was for us to document yours," Martha pointed out. "You'll also need to figure out a way to forge a DNA test. Since you're a single man, CPS will never let you keep her unless you can prove that she's biologically yours. As for her human bio... I've worked out a couple alternatives, though we'll need some of your special attention to make it work."

"Just how long have you been expecting that I'd adopt her?" Clark asked suspiciously.

"Not long," his mother answered mirthfully. "Only for the past six years."

Kara opened her eyes and jumped back with a start, though failing to escape the security of her cousin's arms. After a moment of disorientation, she settled back down on Clark's chest as she warily regarded Martha. The old woman bent down and greeted Kara with a friendly smile. "Are you hungry, sweetheart? Would you like me to get you some breakfast?"

Clark whispered to Kara in the alien language Martha had heard early that morning. Turning to his mother, Clark explained, "She doesn't speak English."

"Well, we'll have to fix that," Martha declared. "In the meantime, I'll get her breakfast, while you hide that spaceship you left in the West field. Looks like she could use a bath, too, after crawling in the dirt last night." She held out her hand to Kara, and after some encouragement from her cousin, the girl took her hand and let the kind old woman lead her into the kitchen.



(1)The words are from "My Favorite Things", by Richard Rodgers, from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music.