Ch.56

I didn't normally keep an eye on TR Industries's business, mostly because it was River's baby, but where the military was involved it beat out the monster of the week stuff that went on around town. Still, the military got their super soldiers and body armor capable of tanking tank rounds so they found no issues with TR Industries. Hell, the kind of political pull River had from that successful venture alone made the rapid expansion into all allied countries and cities around the globe an easy success.

With the clean and cheap energy, biologically enhanced super crops and everything atop that no country was willing to turn down TR Industries especially when they hired locally, did tons of community outreach programs, cleanups, charities and all around help. The employees were paid handsomely and put under microscopes while the military applications for projects remained solely on US soil so there was no chance of such things being stolen. With how guarded the super soldier serum formula was, it wasn't even possible for Lionel to get his hands on it and oh boy did he try.

There was no chance for it to get out because only River knew the formula and the serum itself went through her under enhanced security armed guards at all times. The security had Kara at it's head and they weren't messing around. They all had chameleon suits on that made them invisible unless outside the building and forcefields with River and Kara doing weekly sweeps and interrogations made sure they stayed honest. The fact that they were paid more than anyone else besides the scientists who came up with working projects and patents made them very loyal at a hundred grand a month per security guard.

Their loyalty was damned near fanatical and the fact that they were all combat trained by Kara and River made them extremely dangerous to anyone who tried to bribe them or blackmail them. It would be easier to break into Fort Knox butt naked and hog tied with just your wits about you and a note that said you were a thief there to rob them taped to your ass. Yeah, it could be done if you're me, but not even powered individuals could reach that area because the closed circuit power dampening field covering the whole damned building prevented it.

Clark and Kara were powerless themselves in the building and for good reason. Even I could only overcome it with the sheer amount of magic in me and sure, technically I could be killed on the premises, but I'd come right back as soon as my carcass was dragged off and that's assuming they could kill me physically because it wasn't powers that made me indestructible, just the natural state of my being.

Back to the current events, the refined meteor rocks that were stolen were given to me by Clark and Pete and locked in the vault which Pete whistled to. I told Clark the company had figured out a way to cleanse the meteor rocks so most of it would be turned into pieces of crystal he could take home without issue while a few pieces would be in case any of Zod's warriors came to earth looking for war.

I told him that I wouldn't kill unless I had to, but I'd do whatever I had to to defend this planet while I'm here even if it means killing him if necessary. I shook my head. "You're a kid so you don't understand and you've a heart of gold wanting to think the best of people, but your home-world wasn't destroyed by hugs and kisses and I won't let that happen here even if I have to make your people extinct for good. I'm the world's oldest warrior and murderer, not a joke or bragging, it's a fact I don't take lightly and just so we're clear, I don't kill without reason."

Pete swallowed. "But you said you've killed kids-"

I held up a hand. "Let me be more clear. The kids I've killed were either possessed with their souls eaten and little more than meat puppets for dark creatures or were dangerous and threatening to kill millions. I do whatever is necessary and if it means killing women and children when I have no other options, I do what I have to."

I turned to Clark. "The day you stop believing people can be saved is a sad day indeed, but live long enough and that day will come. Sometimes there isn't time to save everyone and people have to be sacrificed or everyone dies."

He frowned. "And you're the one that decides whose worth saving?"

I shrugged. "I save as many as I can and I don't weep for those I can't."

I clenched my fist. "You don't get to judge me kid until you've lived through what I have. Until you've loved and lost everything, seen worlds destroyed and survived the deaths of everyone you've ever loved simply because you can't die. Until that day comes, you're just a kid with a naive view of life and see through hope colored glasses."

I closed the vault and he frowned before Inara told him while I left that I'd lost everything several times and every time I've tried to save everyone, I lose it all. She told him of the wives and children I'd lost eons ago and my attempted suicides, the hopeless losses that weighed on my soul and the hard things I'd had to do so worlds like his could prosper. I stopped listening to her lecture to the brats and went to the garden to meditate so I didn't bitch slap the taste out of kid Superman's mouth.

I opened my eyes to see they were in the hologram room watching things from my memories, seeing how life was even recorded. A few hours later Clark apologized, but said he still had to believe in the best in people. I shrugged. "Just so long as that isn't me you won't be disappointed so often, kid. I lost the best parts of me long ago and I don't even remember what they were like properly."

Weeks later a cloning issue showed up and started causing Lana problems. The lab and LuthorCorp employees were recorded taking all the clones. I recorded everything personally while cloaked and followed them back to Lionel who met with the clone girl's father. I watched Lionel call her LuthorCorp property and give the girl a bunny and tell her that he was going to take care of her now.

The entire video was released to the cops and global news coverage under LuthorCorp does Illegal Human Cloning Experiments. LuthorCorp took a massive hit considering the capabilities of the clones and the psychotic activities the one did nearly killing Lana and forcing me to save her from drowning. Lana hadn't expected me to save her with CPR and thanked me.

I shrugged and told her to be careful before I followed Lionel's men. Hell, the police found Lionel with the clone of Emily Densmore. That pretty much made Lionel blame Mr.Densmore and ruined his project. Lionel was in and out of jail fast, but the media hounded him and LuthorCorp took a massive hit in the stock market.

Emily was put in Belle Reve so the power she had was dampened and the doctors worked with her. Dr.Walden, the linguist Lionel hired, had been affected by Clark's more recent visit to the caves and it resulted in him going after Clark the day before Lex was to marry Dr.Helen Bryce. Dr.Walden died in a fiery explosion and Lionel demanded the man's hand from the medical examiner at the hospital he had on the payroll.

In the end Clark ended up blowing up his ship, but Martha's baby was fine due to them living not far from us and Kara and my intervening. Everyone was fine, but Clark's ship was destroyed so there was a mess to clean up. Kara calmed Clark down and I cleaned up the crater where their storm cellar used to be, rebuilding it in about half an hour at super speed. I used reinforced vibranium and cement covering it to ensure it would be safe before telling them that it was safe even in a meteor shower now with the metal I used that can deflect kinetic energy.

I cleaned up the outside mess and checked over Martha before letting her use my suit to heal from a head wound. Johnathan used it afterwards while I worked on their truck that was damaged. Once it was repaired, they sat down and talked to Clark as a family with Kara. I listened in and when I heard Clark was to rule humanity, I spoke up, stopping Clark. "There is no word for leadership in Kryptonian. To lead is to rule and even if the ship's AI meant for you to conquer the earth, it was likely damaged in the meteor shower while it was surrounded by kryptonite the entire way here so it was likely glitchy at best and confused about it's primary directives Clark."

He showed us the burn on his chest and I frowned before turning to Kara. She sighed. "It is our symbol for trials. The males of each house would be branded before being sent out to different worlds to experience life before they returned with an understanding of why they're to take their place in society on Krypton. Jor-El and Zor-El were branded similarly long before we were born by our grandfather. When the trial is over and they've experienced the ways of the outside worlds the brand is removed naturally by nanites similar to the ones you use to heal people in the suits."

I nodded slowly and turned to Clark. "In that case it can be removed, but without the key and the ship, we'd need to go to the caves with the key to force Jor-El's AI to release it's hold over the nanites it injected you with. Otherwise they'd likely destroy the suit's nanites or repurpose them since they aren't nearly as advanced."

Clark frowned. "How are you going to force it to do anything? It's not like it feels."

I scoffed. "Kid, I'm a powerful immortal that can wipe out entire realities. If one dumb AI no matter how advanced pisses me off, I can unleash a wave of destructive energy that would erase it from existence. I don't use the all powerful god like card often, mostly because different realities tend to have similar beings that get pissy, but if it keeps you from getting mad at Kara for something neither she nor you have control over, I'll lend a hand."

Clark said he doubted he could ever be mad at Kara and I shrugged. "Tell that to her lack of direction when it comes to the clothes hamper. I swear Inara blames me for her laziness just because-"

Kara covered my mouth and said it was none of her cousin's business and if I wanted to remain a male I wouldn't finish that sentence. I scoffed before kissing her hand. She released my mouth and kissed me, saying she loved me but sometimes I said too much. I shrugged and Clark smiled before rubbing his chest.

It started to glow and I frowned as he felt pain. I grunted. "Screw the cave, I'll fry the nanites in you here and heal you afterwards."

I stuck the corner of my hand in his mouth, telling him. "Bite down and don't worry kid, you can't hurt me. If you have a happy place, go there now in your mind because this is going to feel excruciating."

His eyes went wide and Kara held his arms, telling Martha and Johnathan to back away incase he struggles so we don't hurt them. My hand glowed gold from chi and turned red from magic. Clark's muffled scream that followed was blood curdling. Chi and magic tore through him as nanites exploded and the chi healed him just as fast.

It was chaotically painful for him to the point of passing out after struggling. I released him when it was done and told Johnathan to pass me my watch. I put it on Clark and the suit covered him before I set him on the couch. I told them the Kryptonian nanites were destroyed and the new ones would remove the pieces after healing him so when he pissed next it would likely be silvery and crystal based mostly until they were all out.

I tapped the armband he had on and Martha asked what I was doing. I shrugged. "Telling the nanites to study the Kryptonian ones before sending all the data to the suit so maybe we can improve the ones at the lab we used on you and Ryan to eliminate all forms of illnesses. Every little bit of knowledge helps where it can."

I looked up to his parents. "Don't worry, it won't hurt him or slow them down. In fact the scar is the only thing they're healing. Everything else was healed by me as I destroyed the nanites."

I held up a glowing yellow hand. "Chi, pure concentrated lifeforce. It's what healed your body mostly and made you feel like a hundred bucks. Enough of it can lengthen the human lifespan indefinitely. It's harmless unless intentionally weaponized like this is. I had to punch the heart of a dragon to bring it to the surface in both my hands, one apiece."

I made my other hand glow and put them away. "Anyways, the nanites we use are infused with them so when he wakes up he'll feel like a million bucks and won't remember passing out like a whimp. Then again he's still just a kid so I can't really blame him for that."

I smiled wryly when Johnathan asked what I'd know about pain. I tapped his head and he grimaced at the images and emotions. He saw my physical and emotional pain so much he never asked that question again. I stopped the memories and sighed. "I was a young man of just over two million years at that time. I hadn't understood the depths of true agony until those days and I'd relive it all over again to get back what I'd lost, but I can't, not ever. I thought about time travel, going to similar universes to find and relive it, anything, but I knew it wouldn't be the same or even close in the end. Trust me kid, you mortals have it easy. In the end you'll all die and get to be with each other in whatever afterlife you believe in."

I waved a hand to Clark. "Even Kryptonians die no matter how powerful they can become. But I can never die. Your God won't kill me and it's the only one powerful enough to do so in this reality, and even that's a maybe. Trust me, I've tried to destroy myself and nothing works. So I live on, find new love and comfort wherever there are crazy enough females to do so."

Kara scoffed and slapped my chest but sat across my lap and put her head against said chest. I sighed as Johnathan asked if Clark was immortal. I nodded. "Semi immortal, like you and Martha are with the rings. He can be killed, he can get sick and die if there's something that kills Kryptonians on earth. But eventually he'll stop aging if he lives long enough and live so long as the sun remains yellow in the sky. His powers will grow as he grows older and the longer he's on earth the more solar radiation he'll take in, making him near godlike in a few thousand years, but that's what will happen to all Kryptonians under a yellow sun."

I shrugged and leaned back. "Of course if he takes in too much before his body's ready it'll crack his cells and the solar radiation will become a sickening disease that'll destroy his heart, killing him. The heart's blood flow leads everywhere so it's the most vulnerable to such a disease and it'd be fatal without an exact match for transplant so he'd have to need a twin or a cloned heart to transplant using DNA from before the disease."

Johnathan and Martha looked at me oddly and I grunted. "Sorry if I talk to much. I spent over half a decade in the last reality a near mute because my brain was scrambled and it was hard to talk coherently. Ever since it's been hard to know when to shut up."

Johnathan said it wasn't a problem because it was information they may need to know someday. I nodded. "In that case you should know my heart would work for him. The synthetic materials that make me indestructible, plus the magic and powers it contains, if he ever needed a heart I can cut mine out. It'll grow back of course so it's not like it'll hurt much, but it would more than qualify as an acceptable transplant and may make him stronger."

Martha thanked me for the offer and I shrugged nonchalantly. Clark woke up and the suit turned back into a watch before flying into my hand. I put it on and Clark asked what happened. I told him that he screamed like a woman and fainted.

Kara smacked my chest with the sound of a carpet bombing. She turned to Clark saying he'd be fine and once the nanites the suit put in him pass out of him, he'd be able to live without the crazy AI. Though it may call him back with the key someday when it feels it's being ignored. He thanked us and I shrugged before getting up and telling him. "Just don't expect me to save you every time Jor-El or whatever gets in your way. I'm not responsible for you and I won't influence your life by stopping everything that comes your way. You're a Kryptonian and you can handle most of it yourself."

He nodded slowly and I left, spending some time in central city with Jesse and Desiree. Jesse needed me because she was entering her last term of pregnancy and the doctors recommended sex so she wasn't as tight for when the baby came out. Yeah, it was awkward, but I was the baby daddy and she didn't want random guys. After the baby boy she named Zachary was born a few weeks later, I made sure she had everything including a wet nurse and nanny to raise our son.

As it turns out, I had traces of meteorites in my bloodstream as well from handling them so they sped up my healing powers even more to the point where my son would be immortal or near enough as well. He could still be killed, but he would have a durable body with latent minor super soldier serum enhancements, Inhuman DNA and maybe bone claws or if not, some form of mutant gene with the minor healing.

Just hearing the meteorite infection increased my own healing capabilities made me want to smack my head against the wall and die. As it was I'd likely regrow from a drop of fucking blood! I was dumbfounded by the unnecessary enhancement. Hell, I mostly wanted the Kryptonian's powers to fly without a suit, cause that was always fun from Jessica's perspective.

I thought about her and crushed that thought because it led to painful memories I'd buried long ago under eons of instinct and primal rage. Three months later I was back in Smallville when a metahuman hunter got caught killing a aquatic metahuman at the school when he tried to drown Lana. In the meantime the cops caught Van McNulty after fishing Jake whoever's body out of the school pool.

I ended up robbing some asshole of sleeping meds when his telepathic niece dropped Kara, River and me for a nightmare of fun. She woke up and he went to sleep when I gave him a megadose, dropping him into the mother of all comas. The niece, Sarah Conroy, thanked me when she woke up as Clark arrived. He asked me what I'd done and I told him the asshole was still alive, but he was never going to wake up and I'd added a spell to relive the worst experiences I'd lived through in my immortal life.

Sarah asked if I was really immortal and I nodded, telling her she's an extremely powerful telepath so with some training she could view my memories and help a lot of people if she chose to. I told her that if she decides to stay I'd teach her how to control her power and show her how to help people. I told her that she could be a genius and learn a lot in that time if she chose. She agreed to stay and once her uncle was in the hospital, in a long term medical facility on his own dime, she stopped by the mansion and began her training which started with meditation and centering herself to build a strong mental defense so she wasn't overwhelmed by other people's crap.

It was slow but steady progress I was still teaching her when Perry White came and went, Seth Nelson was captured because he abused his magnetic metahuman powers and Lex, after having an abrupt divorce from his black widow wife, ended up being placed in Belle Reve after finding proof Morgan Edge killed his grandparents by his father's orders. I'd gotten a record of that interview myself while Sarah finally managed to fully fortify her mind.

While Clark was blinded in a robbery, Kara taught him how to hone in on his hearing, sense of smell and touch. She then fixed his eyes by burning away the scarring with low powered heat vision. He was in pain, but his vision recovered and Clark saved Pete while Sarah was taking a trip through my mind, learning martial arts, sorcery, languages, science, everything I could teach her up to and including nano technology, zero point energy extraction and magic.