First Encounter
Prince Kal-El of the House of El softly closed the balcony doors behind him, cutting down the babble of conversations and live string orchestra of the reception into a muted background hum. Walking towards the fourth-floor balcony, he leaned on the marble balustrade and inhaled the rich jasmine scent of the night air in what seemed to be the first deep breath he had taken out of the whole night. The reception will continue until midnight, and after three hours of non-stop verbal fencing with the various ministers and dignitaries, and dancing with their wives and daughters, no one could begrudge him a few minutes of breathing space.
The rough-silk golden cravat that came with his royal blue dress uniform itched. He stuck a finger in the thin space between his neck and the material and pulled at it in an umpteenth vain attempt to gain some breathing room. It had taken almost a full hour to get all the accoutrements attached and all the lines straightened just so, taking the combined effort of Martha and Lana who had fussed and cooed at the end result. He was just glad that he only needed to do this twice a year, firstly for the Blessing of New Year and secondly for the annual celebration of Metropolis’ Founding and Remembrance Day.
Almost involuntarily, his eyes were drawn to the right where a brightly-lit monument rose above the tree line of the crown-owned forest surrounding the Royal Residence. It went up half a kilometre into the air, a jagged mountain made entirely of crystal, dwarfing the sprawling city of Metropolis that grew around it.
Usually the monument was lit only by moonlight and starlight, gleaming faintly under the heavenly illumination. Today, however, it shone incandescent from the multiple spotlights aimed at it. For today was the day the citizen of Metropolis remembered the Landing, when the coming of the Visitors ended the argument of alien life once and for all and everything changes.
Kal sighed, fiddling with the bejewelled sword that hung from his belt. Stupid sword, tripping him up everywhere he went, and it was not as if he would ever use a sword anyway! But it was part of the uniform set and it was expected of him. Later he would be making a public appearance and a speech at the stage set up in front of the monument. The event would be televised live across Metropolis and her sister cities. The Prime Minister had come over to visit him this morning and made a point of reminding him of his ‘duties’, and he did not need to give the man any more ammunition to bring against him and his family. He wished that Henderson was still Prime Minister. The man had a good working relationship with his father, but Henderson had retired prematurely a few years back amid a cloud of scandals.
Sudden vibration against his leg knocked him back from his musings. Pulling out the palm-sized comm device from his pocket, he frowned at the messages scrolling past the screen faster than human eyes could read. Before his duties as Crown Prince had taken over everything else, he had been the Head of Security and he still kept some of the automated alerts sent by the security system. He trusted Kon, but old habits die hard and he was not comfortable being completely cut off from events around him. He had minimised the amount of distraction he would receive for today, so any alert that got through would have to be critical.
As Kal read the message, his frown deepened. The succinct automated message had been triggered by the prison security system - a breakout in one of the cells, perpetrator unknown, several prisoners on the loose, guards assembled to protect critical targets…
A soft whistling of wind over fabric was the only thing alerting him before a black something landed on the balustrade in front of him, the soft thump lighter than it should have been. Too surprised to cry out, Kal glimpsed pale skin stark against the mass of midnight black fluttering against the wind. Icy blue eyes stared back at him, seizing him with shocking intensity.
Just as his brain stuttered back online he saw the man, for it was a man, quirked the corner of his lips in the most minute of expression. And leapt back into thin air, arms outstretched like a flyer.
Kal found his voice in a strangled scream, “No!” Thoughts were subsumed by action as he leapt into the empty air, diving after the falling human, arm outstretched to grab an ankle, a corner of his cloak. It was a ten-metre drop to the ground and the human was falling head first, he did not know if he was fast enough to catch him.
Again, he did not register what was happening until it was too late. All he knew was one moment he was accelerating after the human trying to grab him before he hit the ground, the next all he could see was blackness, soft but tangling weight that wrapped around his head and his limbs, completely disorienting him. He blindly reached out anyway but finding only thin air before his fingers grazed thin grass and he was skidding against the hard ground.
None the worse off from his aborted flight, Kal sat up and grabbed the obstacle around him, yanking hard. Fabric ripped easily and he was left holding a half-torn cloak of deepest black. Kal raised his head at a whistling sound from the right and saw a slim-line body cutting through the night air in a graceful arc before executing a perfect somersault to drop on the ground in front of him in a crouch.
Blue eyes were staring at him. The other man’s head wrap had come loose in the intervening seconds and Kal saw slightly mussed short black hair and a glint of metal on one ear. He had a second to take in the rope in his grip trailing up to a wrap around a thick tree branch above, head-to-toe loose black garments and black sandals before a distinctive booming sound from above snapped his head up.
“Kal, get away from him!”
Several things happened in the next second. The stranger turned but his reflexes were only human and Kal’s brother was not. Kon-El dove from above like a falcon and ploughed into the man’s stomach and both crashed into the thick oak tree behind them. He heard the blow drove the breath out of the stranger, heard the nauseating crack of bones breaking. The oak shuddered and leaves rained down around them.
And Kon fell to the ground, choking and clawing at his throat, surrounded by a pale green mist.
“Kon!”
His mind blanked out at the sight of his little brother convulsing on the ground and he ran towards him. In retrospect, it really was not the smartest thing to do, for the moment he inhaled the mist it burned like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. Worse than the red beams in the simulation chambers, the burn of the radiation chamber in the heart of the Ship. Kal was vaguely aware that he had grabbed hold of Kon’s shoulders and was trying to drag him away, but when had he dropped to his knees? Kon’s body had never felt so heavy, and the next breath was an eternity away.
A hand materialised in his blurry sight, placing something over Kon’s mouth. In another second he felt his mouth covered by a transparent cup that smelt vaguely of plastic. Kal blinked at the looming presence above him.
“Take a deep breath. It’s pure oxygen,” a deep voice rasped against his ear.
His weak gasp was rewarded by a cool flow of air into his scorched throat. It took away some of the burn. He gasped again, never more grateful to inhale slightly stale, canned oxygen. A quick look down showed Kon doing the same, his chest rising and falling with his breathing, eyes screwed shut in pain.
“I never intended this.”
Tilting his head up, he saw the black-clad man standing up from his crouch. A slight tightening of his lips and a smear of red on the corner of his mouth were the only indication of the injury he must had received from Kon’s attack. He pulled the corner of his wrap across his mouth, hiding half of his face and leaving only the intense eyes that flicked up at a commotion coming towards them.
A company of human guards came charging round the corner, some of whom he knew by names from his previous stint in Security. Kon must had left them behind in his rush to charge to his rescue, little good that it had done both of them. Some had unsheathed swords in their hands, real weapons rather than the fancy tool he had on his hip, but a few wielded guns which they promptly aimed at the stranger.
Kal saw the man’s left hand flickered to his belt and flicked out. He just managed to make out three small balls the size of his thumb-nail when they hit the ground and exploded into black smoke. His heart seized in his chest at the surprised shouts and coughs that immediately sounded from the middle of the smoke-shrouded company.
One moment, the man was by his side. The next, he had leaped halfway across the intervening ground and dove silently into the smoke. He could see glimpses of movements, graceful turns and sharp strikes. Cries of surprise turned into pain and solid impacts of flesh hitting flesh, the heavy thuds of full-grown men hitting the ground. Two bodies tumbled out of the smoke, hopelessly tangled up in black lines. Another one was hurled out to crash beside him, out cold.
By the time the smoke had dissipated into faint wisps, only one man was left standing in the middle, surrounded by five unconscious or groaning, incapacitated men on the ground.
From start to finish, it had taken less than five seconds.
It was getting harder to keep his eyes open. The oxygen helped but the burning in his lungs and stomach continued, making him dizzy and nauseated. When he heard the faint gallops coming towards them, he was sure that he was starting to hallucinate. It came as a dubious relief when a pair of horses burst through at full speed from a hidden path in the forest. The rider expertly reared them up to a stop in front of the stranger and extended a hand down.
“Come on, I lost two companies in the forest, but they’re going to catch up soon.” The rider was wearing a grey prison-issued uniform, no doubt one of those missing prisoners on the run. He threw Kal and Kon a wary gaze.
Blue Eyes ignored the hand and hauled himself up the other horse with one smooth motion. As his horse danced beneath him, he locked gaze with Kal. For a moment, it was as if he would speak further. Instead, he dug his heels in and his mount leapt ahead towards the opposite side of the forest, his companion hot on his heels.
In a matter of moments, they had disappeared as if made of dreams or nightmares, leaving a path of broken and bleeding men behind them.
Kal concentrated on breathing deeply and evenly, one hand on Kon’s chest to reassure himself that his brother was doing the same, waiting for help to come.
The memory of icy blue eyes set in a cold, impassive face haunted him.
+++
Six hours later...
The horse-drawn cart crested the hill that overlooked Metropolis. The light of dawn was gently breaking across the sky. From this high ground, a man could see the entirety of the City of Tomorrow, spreading across the low ground all the way to the coastline.
The two occupants of the cart never looked back. The taller man rested against the hard wooden seat, letting the younger man drive the cart. Underneath his loose cotton shirt, his chest was tightly bound to minimise movements from the broken ribs.
The sound of galloping horse from behind produced an almost imperceptible tensing in both men, the younger man’s hands tightening on the reins until the knuckles turned white.
“Steady, Dick,” the other man murmured in the barest of whisper.
Exhale. A small nod.
A tawny roan with a single cloaked and hooded rider ran past them before slowing to a trot. The rider pulled the horse to a stop and waited beside the road.
Both men relaxed, Dick even producing a smile. When the cart passed the horse, the rider nodded to them slightly and greeted them in a rich, velvety purr. “Hello boys.”
“Did you get it?”
She laughed, un-offended by the brusque words. “Have to hand it to you boys, you made a very good distraction. Between the prison breakout and whatever you did at the Royal Residence, they practically pulled all available guards.” She reached into her cleavage, winking when she noticed the younger man’s cheek reddening. Taking out a small leather coin purse, she handed it over to the taller man with a flourish.
“Best thief in the western hemisphere, honey. And don’t you ever forget that.”
The man took the purse and vanished it into one his many pockets. “Not going to check, Bruce?” The woman taunted.
“I know you, Selina.”
The simple words erased the wicked edges of the smile into something softer, almost fond.
Bruce settled back against the seat in the companionable silence, mind already going through his strategies and planning five steps ahead. The memory of a regal man in blue and red, reaching for his hand, kneeling on the dirt, came to his mind’s eye. Blue eyes the colour of the sky washed by the first hint of dawn, filled with determination. An infinitesimal pause, and Bruce Wayne added the man as a variable into his calculations, constructing a scenario for when they next meet again.
The rough-silk golden cravat that came with his royal blue dress uniform itched. He stuck a finger in the thin space between his neck and the material and pulled at it in an umpteenth vain attempt to gain some breathing room. It had taken almost a full hour to get all the accoutrements attached and all the lines straightened just so, taking the combined effort of Martha and Lana who had fussed and cooed at the end result. He was just glad that he only needed to do this twice a year, firstly for the Blessing of New Year and secondly for the annual celebration of Metropolis’ Founding and Remembrance Day.
Almost involuntarily, his eyes were drawn to the right where a brightly-lit monument rose above the tree line of the crown-owned forest surrounding the Royal Residence. It went up half a kilometre into the air, a jagged mountain made entirely of crystal, dwarfing the sprawling city of Metropolis that grew around it.
Usually the monument was lit only by moonlight and starlight, gleaming faintly under the heavenly illumination. Today, however, it shone incandescent from the multiple spotlights aimed at it. For today was the day the citizen of Metropolis remembered the Landing, when the coming of the Visitors ended the argument of alien life once and for all and everything changes.
Kal sighed, fiddling with the bejewelled sword that hung from his belt. Stupid sword, tripping him up everywhere he went, and it was not as if he would ever use a sword anyway! But it was part of the uniform set and it was expected of him. Later he would be making a public appearance and a speech at the stage set up in front of the monument. The event would be televised live across Metropolis and her sister cities. The Prime Minister had come over to visit him this morning and made a point of reminding him of his ‘duties’, and he did not need to give the man any more ammunition to bring against him and his family. He wished that Henderson was still Prime Minister. The man had a good working relationship with his father, but Henderson had retired prematurely a few years back amid a cloud of scandals.
Sudden vibration against his leg knocked him back from his musings. Pulling out the palm-sized comm device from his pocket, he frowned at the messages scrolling past the screen faster than human eyes could read. Before his duties as Crown Prince had taken over everything else, he had been the Head of Security and he still kept some of the automated alerts sent by the security system. He trusted Kon, but old habits die hard and he was not comfortable being completely cut off from events around him. He had minimised the amount of distraction he would receive for today, so any alert that got through would have to be critical.
As Kal read the message, his frown deepened. The succinct automated message had been triggered by the prison security system - a breakout in one of the cells, perpetrator unknown, several prisoners on the loose, guards assembled to protect critical targets…
A soft whistling of wind over fabric was the only thing alerting him before a black something landed on the balustrade in front of him, the soft thump lighter than it should have been. Too surprised to cry out, Kal glimpsed pale skin stark against the mass of midnight black fluttering against the wind. Icy blue eyes stared back at him, seizing him with shocking intensity.
Just as his brain stuttered back online he saw the man, for it was a man, quirked the corner of his lips in the most minute of expression. And leapt back into thin air, arms outstretched like a flyer.
Kal found his voice in a strangled scream, “No!” Thoughts were subsumed by action as he leapt into the empty air, diving after the falling human, arm outstretched to grab an ankle, a corner of his cloak. It was a ten-metre drop to the ground and the human was falling head first, he did not know if he was fast enough to catch him.
Again, he did not register what was happening until it was too late. All he knew was one moment he was accelerating after the human trying to grab him before he hit the ground, the next all he could see was blackness, soft but tangling weight that wrapped around his head and his limbs, completely disorienting him. He blindly reached out anyway but finding only thin air before his fingers grazed thin grass and he was skidding against the hard ground.
None the worse off from his aborted flight, Kal sat up and grabbed the obstacle around him, yanking hard. Fabric ripped easily and he was left holding a half-torn cloak of deepest black. Kal raised his head at a whistling sound from the right and saw a slim-line body cutting through the night air in a graceful arc before executing a perfect somersault to drop on the ground in front of him in a crouch.
Blue eyes were staring at him. The other man’s head wrap had come loose in the intervening seconds and Kal saw slightly mussed short black hair and a glint of metal on one ear. He had a second to take in the rope in his grip trailing up to a wrap around a thick tree branch above, head-to-toe loose black garments and black sandals before a distinctive booming sound from above snapped his head up.
“Kal, get away from him!”
Several things happened in the next second. The stranger turned but his reflexes were only human and Kal’s brother was not. Kon-El dove from above like a falcon and ploughed into the man’s stomach and both crashed into the thick oak tree behind them. He heard the blow drove the breath out of the stranger, heard the nauseating crack of bones breaking. The oak shuddered and leaves rained down around them.
And Kon fell to the ground, choking and clawing at his throat, surrounded by a pale green mist.
“Kon!”
His mind blanked out at the sight of his little brother convulsing on the ground and he ran towards him. In retrospect, it really was not the smartest thing to do, for the moment he inhaled the mist it burned like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. Worse than the red beams in the simulation chambers, the burn of the radiation chamber in the heart of the Ship. Kal was vaguely aware that he had grabbed hold of Kon’s shoulders and was trying to drag him away, but when had he dropped to his knees? Kon’s body had never felt so heavy, and the next breath was an eternity away.
A hand materialised in his blurry sight, placing something over Kon’s mouth. In another second he felt his mouth covered by a transparent cup that smelt vaguely of plastic. Kal blinked at the looming presence above him.
“Take a deep breath. It’s pure oxygen,” a deep voice rasped against his ear.
His weak gasp was rewarded by a cool flow of air into his scorched throat. It took away some of the burn. He gasped again, never more grateful to inhale slightly stale, canned oxygen. A quick look down showed Kon doing the same, his chest rising and falling with his breathing, eyes screwed shut in pain.
“I never intended this.”
Tilting his head up, he saw the black-clad man standing up from his crouch. A slight tightening of his lips and a smear of red on the corner of his mouth were the only indication of the injury he must had received from Kon’s attack. He pulled the corner of his wrap across his mouth, hiding half of his face and leaving only the intense eyes that flicked up at a commotion coming towards them.
A company of human guards came charging round the corner, some of whom he knew by names from his previous stint in Security. Kon must had left them behind in his rush to charge to his rescue, little good that it had done both of them. Some had unsheathed swords in their hands, real weapons rather than the fancy tool he had on his hip, but a few wielded guns which they promptly aimed at the stranger.
Kal saw the man’s left hand flickered to his belt and flicked out. He just managed to make out three small balls the size of his thumb-nail when they hit the ground and exploded into black smoke. His heart seized in his chest at the surprised shouts and coughs that immediately sounded from the middle of the smoke-shrouded company.
One moment, the man was by his side. The next, he had leaped halfway across the intervening ground and dove silently into the smoke. He could see glimpses of movements, graceful turns and sharp strikes. Cries of surprise turned into pain and solid impacts of flesh hitting flesh, the heavy thuds of full-grown men hitting the ground. Two bodies tumbled out of the smoke, hopelessly tangled up in black lines. Another one was hurled out to crash beside him, out cold.
By the time the smoke had dissipated into faint wisps, only one man was left standing in the middle, surrounded by five unconscious or groaning, incapacitated men on the ground.
From start to finish, it had taken less than five seconds.
It was getting harder to keep his eyes open. The oxygen helped but the burning in his lungs and stomach continued, making him dizzy and nauseated. When he heard the faint gallops coming towards them, he was sure that he was starting to hallucinate. It came as a dubious relief when a pair of horses burst through at full speed from a hidden path in the forest. The rider expertly reared them up to a stop in front of the stranger and extended a hand down.
“Come on, I lost two companies in the forest, but they’re going to catch up soon.” The rider was wearing a grey prison-issued uniform, no doubt one of those missing prisoners on the run. He threw Kal and Kon a wary gaze.
Blue Eyes ignored the hand and hauled himself up the other horse with one smooth motion. As his horse danced beneath him, he locked gaze with Kal. For a moment, it was as if he would speak further. Instead, he dug his heels in and his mount leapt ahead towards the opposite side of the forest, his companion hot on his heels.
In a matter of moments, they had disappeared as if made of dreams or nightmares, leaving a path of broken and bleeding men behind them.
Kal concentrated on breathing deeply and evenly, one hand on Kon’s chest to reassure himself that his brother was doing the same, waiting for help to come.
The memory of icy blue eyes set in a cold, impassive face haunted him.
+++
Six hours later...
The horse-drawn cart crested the hill that overlooked Metropolis. The light of dawn was gently breaking across the sky. From this high ground, a man could see the entirety of the City of Tomorrow, spreading across the low ground all the way to the coastline.
The two occupants of the cart never looked back. The taller man rested against the hard wooden seat, letting the younger man drive the cart. Underneath his loose cotton shirt, his chest was tightly bound to minimise movements from the broken ribs.
The sound of galloping horse from behind produced an almost imperceptible tensing in both men, the younger man’s hands tightening on the reins until the knuckles turned white.
“Steady, Dick,” the other man murmured in the barest of whisper.
Exhale. A small nod.
A tawny roan with a single cloaked and hooded rider ran past them before slowing to a trot. The rider pulled the horse to a stop and waited beside the road.
Both men relaxed, Dick even producing a smile. When the cart passed the horse, the rider nodded to them slightly and greeted them in a rich, velvety purr. “Hello boys.”
“Did you get it?”
She laughed, un-offended by the brusque words. “Have to hand it to you boys, you made a very good distraction. Between the prison breakout and whatever you did at the Royal Residence, they practically pulled all available guards.” She reached into her cleavage, winking when she noticed the younger man’s cheek reddening. Taking out a small leather coin purse, she handed it over to the taller man with a flourish.
“Best thief in the western hemisphere, honey. And don’t you ever forget that.”
The man took the purse and vanished it into one his many pockets. “Not going to check, Bruce?” The woman taunted.
“I know you, Selina.”
The simple words erased the wicked edges of the smile into something softer, almost fond.
Bruce settled back against the seat in the companionable silence, mind already going through his strategies and planning five steps ahead. The memory of a regal man in blue and red, reaching for his hand, kneeling on the dirt, came to his mind’s eye. Blue eyes the colour of the sky washed by the first hint of dawn, filled with determination. An infinitesimal pause, and Bruce Wayne added the man as a variable into his calculations, constructing a scenario for when they next meet again.