The Haunting of the Man of Steel

by Chuck Burke

In the clear afternoon skies of Metropolis, a blue and red streak was briefly visible to those who happened to look up.  If you listened closely, you might hear the high-pitched whistle of a body speeding over the city, but only if you could screen out the sounds of traffic, people, and the other signs of life in the bustling city.

He counted on that background noise several times a day.

In the heart of the city stood the building, the trademark globe gleaming on its roof.  He flew around the globe, once, twice, a third time as he slowed in his flight.  When he came to a halt, it was not the famous red and blue costume that he wore, but a rather ordinary outfit of blue slacks, and khaki shirt.  As he stepped toward the door leading to the stairs leading down into the Daily Planet building, Clark Kent pulled his glassed from his pocket and put them on.

Taking care of that hijacking took longer than I expected, he thought as he hurried down the stairs.  "Perry's probably spitting nails," said Clark as he opened the door into the newsroom.

"He would be if he hadn't postponed the meeting, Smallville," replied Lois Kent, who was standing beside the doorway.  "When I told him that I needed twenty minutes to finish the writeup on my interview with the mayor, he decided the meeting could wait.  Sometimes a deadline can be useful, you know?" she said with a wink as she fingered a ruby pendant hanging on a silver chain around her neck.

"I thought you finished that two hours ago?" asked Clark.

"I know that. You know that.  But Perry doesn't."  She turned and walked toward Perry's office.  "But, we'd better not leave him waiting any longer."

After the meeting, Clark settled down at his desk to write up his report on Superman's capture of the team of hijackers an hour earlier.  Got to work up another credible source for this one, he thought, as he described his alter-ego's entry into the airplane and short-lived battle with the Ukrainian terrorists.  As he typed, he heard soft footsteps behind him.

"Hey, Mister Kent, I've got to scoot on down to the waterfront.  Got a hot tip on a drug deal going down."  As he started to rise, Lois laid a hand on his shoulder, bent down and kissed his cheek.  "Just sit tight.  I'm meeting a team from the Metro PD, and this shouldn't require your mighty sinews.  Get your story written, and I'll meet you at home."

"As you wish, Mrs. Kent, but I'll be keeping an eye out, just in case."  He reached up and caressed her cheek.

"Of course you will."  Lois smiled over her shoulder as she walked out of the newsroom.  "Haven't you always?"

It took a small fraction of his attention to listen to her footsteps down the hall, to the elevator as it descended to the ground floor, her footsteps on the marble floor of the building lobby, the squeak of the right-side glass door, the scuffing of her shoes on the rought concrete sidewalk, her shrill whistle for the cab, the sound of the door opening and closing, her sigh of relief as she settled into the seat, the click of the detonator switch under her seat.

The newsroom erupted in a maelstrom of papers and other loose items, and the conference room window exploded outward, the shards vaporized within hundredths of a second by a burst of heat vision. A brief burst of flame marked the passing of Clark's clothing, revealing the familiar blue and red garb of Superman in a blur as he shot toward the ground fasr than the eye could follow.  Where his passing had been marked earlier by a high whistle, now a sonic boom rocked downtown Metropolis.  Fast as he was, he saw he fireball expand out of the taxi.  Hard as he pushed himself, , his mind told him that it wasn't fast enought.  He drew in a breath and let it out sharply, chilled air striking the car as he approached.  He arched his back to angle his flight trajectory, aiming himself in through the rear windshield, wrapping his arms around the body in the back seat so his clenched fists extended before her, punching through the front, sweeping up the driver in his grasp and emerging from the mass of burning gasses in one swift motion.

The people on the street were just starting to register the exploding car when Superman appeared as if from nowhere, holding two charred bodies in his arms.  He knelt, laying the two bodies on the ground.  Wisps of vapor, from his attempt to cool them in the midst of the flames, swirled around the bodies as he bent over Lois, simultaneously checking for pulse and respiration, starting CPR, and trying to cool her body to gentle puffs of supercooled air.  He spared precious microseconds to check the driver for signs of life as well, finding none. 

"No," he whispered, getting no response from her.  "No," he said, barely audible, after listening for any sounds of respiration or circulation.  "No, no, no!" he said, louder now, as he cradled the body of his wife in his arms, great sobs wracking his body. 

A police officer cautiously approached, laying a hand on the hero's shoulder.  "Are you all right, Super- oh, jeez."  When Superman turned and glared at him, he backed off, hands held up in front of him.  "Umm, look, man, I'm sorry, it's just, I, uh-"

"I understand, officer," answered the Man of Steel, rising and reaching out to put his hand on the officer's shoulder.  He reached up and took off his cape, wrapping it around Lois' body and laying her back on the ground.  A pair of ambulance attendants were approaching, as another pair bent over the driver.  "I, um, I have to go," he said, leaping into the air.

"Whoah, that's not like him, to dash off like that," said one of the attendants, "must be something big going down."

The only reply was a distant roar of rage and sorrow, echoing from over one hundred miles away.

In the frozen wastes of the artic, Superman knelt in the snow as the tears flowed freely from his eyes.  For over an hour, he remained there, overcome by grief for the woman he loved.

"It wasn't your fault, you know," said a soft voice.

"I should have been able to-"  Superman stopped and looked up.  "Lois?"

"Who else would it be, Smallville?"  Standing, or more accurately, hovering, in front of him, was his wife.  Or, at least a pale, translucent image of her.

"No, it can't be you, you're-"

"Dead.  Yeah, I know.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but, well, it's not something I recommend."

"I know.  Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

Superman shook his head.  "I don't understand, Lois, why are you here?"

"I'm not sure, myself.  One moment, I'm getting a high-temp makeover in a taxicab, and the next, I'm here."  Lois paused, a faraway look in her eyes.  "But you need to move."

"What do you mean?" asked Superman, standing up.

"Your parents.  They're in trouble, and they need you.  Go!"

Snow swirled in the air, filling the void left by the Man of Steel.  Like a red and blue comet, he streaked south toward Kansas.  Somewhere over Michigan, Lois appeared just in front of him, seeming to stand still even as she remained eight feet in front of his speeding form.  "Forgetting something?  Your parents aren't in Smallville this week.  They're on that cruise, remember?"

"Great Scott!"  Turning on to his side, Superman angled his body and adjusted his direction toward Bermuda.  Telescopic vision swept far ahead.  "Can't see over the curve of the horizin yet.  If I remember the ship's itinerary, they were in Bermuda over night."  As he flew over the east coast at supersonic speeds, he started to angle his flight downward.  "I see it."

"Hurry, Clark.  Hurry."

Superman flew toward a column of smoke in the sea.  At the base of the column, a cruise ship sat dead in the water.  From a hundred miles out, he saw the flames shooting from cabin windows and doors.  While he was fifty miles away, an explosion rocked the ship, sending part of the ships upper structure out over the water.  At twenty miles, Superman dipped below the surface of the water, and a swell formed in front of him.  While he was still five miles away, the swell crested and sent a small wave over the deck of the ship, extinguishing some of the flames.  The wave continued, even as more explosions shook the ship.  Under the water, he saw the hull start to break apart.  Superman squinted his eyes, and breaks in the hull seemed to flow together and fuse themselves.

Superman emerged from the water a few hundred yards from the ship.  Scanning the decks, he saw an elderly couple helping people into a lifeboat.  In spite of the dire situation, he smiled:  just like Martha and Jonathon Kent to place the safety of the other passengers ahead of their own.  "Just hang on half a second more, Ma and Pa," he said to himself, as he arched up and filled his lungs, then exhaled with a burst of chilled air that covered the ship.

Feeling the blast of cold air in the tropical climate, Martha Kent looked up to see her adopted son in the sky.  She nudged her husband and pointed upward, the sunlight glinting off a ruby ring on her fight hand.

Superman peered through the ship, seeking the heart of the fires.  Near the engines of the ship, the generator that converted part of the mechanical motion of the engines into electricity stood, sparks and smoke shooting from it.  "Looks like the main generator coil has gone haywire," said Superman as he crashed through the topmost deck and started down toward the generator.  "Got to get it out of here before it blows completely."  Just as he reached it, the generator did just that.

All around him, flames and sparks filled the compartment for half a second before the pressure exceeded the limits of the ship's structure and ripped the ship apart.  Superman just had time to glance up through the ship's structure before the force of the blast ripped through the people on the deck and in the lifeboats.

"Dear God, not again!" he screamed, tearing through the shattered ship's structure toward the lifeboat station where his parents had been assisting others.  He couldn't see them there as he tore through the ship.  Looking around, he spied their shattered bodies floating in the sea.  Another blast of cold air cleared the deck of flames, and he darted around the water scooping victims from the water.  Heat vision fused together a collection of beams and plates from the ship into a makeshift raft where he deposited survivors.

"Lois, are you here?  I don't hear a heartbeat from either of them."

"You did everything you could, honey," said Lois, appearing next ot him.  "You did save most of the passengers, after all." 

"It doesn't matter, Lois.  Not now, none of it matters."  Superman cradled the body of his adoptive mother in his arms.  "In one day, I've lost the three people that I can't live without."

"Now, son, don't be talking like that."  Superman turned to see his father floating behind him.  "I always tried to tell you that you have a greater responsibility that just to your family.  You were sent to our world, and you need to watch out for our world.  You can't let our deaths stop you, Clark."

"That's right, Clark.  There are others out there who need your help.  Even if you weren't able to save us, don't you think you should be there for all those others?"  The image of Martha Kent faded into view beside that of her husband.  "We'll try to be here for you, but you have to keep going as Superman."

"No, no, I don't know if I can, Ma."

"Look, Clark, I don't know what you're thinking of, but why don't you go up to your Fortress and think it over?"  Lois faded into view next to Superman.

"But, I don't know what I'm going to do without you three."

"That's why you need to go there, dear.  Consider it, make your decision about your future, son."

Martha reached over to place her hand over that of her husband, though it passed right through.  "Listen to your father, and your wife."  Together, the three of them faded away.  "We'll know when you're ready to talk."

"He has some talking to do all right!" said a new voice.  Superman whirled to see several dozen spirits floating behind him.  "Why did you let us die, Superman?" said a man at the fore of the group.

"I have three children back home in Fawcett City.  How could you let me die and leave them alone, Superman?" asked a thin, haggard-looking woman.

"My wife and I saved for thirty years to take this cruise," added an older looking man.  "It shouldn't have ended like this."

Looking around, Superman spied more spirits appearing over the water, many of them hovering over their former bodies.

"I did everything I could, I'm sorry," stammered Superman.

"It wasn't enough!" cried the apparition of a little girl, clutching the torn, headless body of a rag doll.  "Where are my mommy and daddy?"

Superman looked over at the raft and saw a couple kneeling over a small body.  The girls saw where he looked, and floated over there, but was unable to make herself heard by her parents.  Before any of the other spirits could berate him further, he flew off into the sky, heading north.

A short time later, Superman touched down at the entrance of his isolated Fortress.  He ignored the frigid wind and the bite of the snow as it blasted him, and slipped inside.  There, he made his way to the space he set aside as living quarters for those times when he did not return to Metropolis.  Emotionally exhausted, he dropped into a chair that instantly molded itself to his contours.

"I'm sorry about that, Clark," said Lois, fading into view on the couch that she had favored on her trips to the Fortress.  "I was, I don't know, I guess I was drawn to you after I died.  Apparently, that left a path for other spirits to follow."

"They're right, you know.  I should have been able to save them, all of them on the ship.  If I hadn't been distracted by your, by-"  His head fell onto his hands.

"Hey, it's all right, I understand."  For a moment, there was silence in the room.  When Lois spoked,  she spoke slowly, emphasizing each word. "You can't save everybody."

"I have to try, Lois.  Don't you understand that?  I am Superman.  I have to try."

"No, you don't."  Lois 'stood' and approached him.  "You might have all those powers, but you are still a man.  If you don't accept that, you'll drive yourself mad."

Superman looked up at her, and something odd caught his eye.  Glinting just below her neck, her ruby pendant stood out in stark contrast against the pale, silvery not-quite-substance of her body.  "I should have noticed it before," he murmured.

"Noticed what?  Don't change the subject, Clark.  You have to stop trying to play god with people's lives."

"I've never played god, Lois, but I'll never give up trying to save others, either.  And you know that."  Faster than could be seen, Superman reached out and grabbed the ruby pendant.  "Or you would, if you really were Lois."  He ripped the pendant from her neck and crushed it.

"No!  Not now, not when I am so close!"  The apparition of Lois waverd, and was replaced by a blue-clad, skeletal figure. 

"What's the matter, Doctor Destiny?  Reality not living up to your dreams?"  As the fortress itself started to fade away around them, Superman added "Or should I say, isn't my dream matching up with your dream?"

"You were this far from giving in to despair, Superman.  Looking into your dreams, I knew that the death of your loved ones, compounded by your wife's prodding, would send you into a downward emotional spiral.  Once that happened, I could sap your will power and add it to the might of my Materioptikon to return myself fully to the world of the waking."  Destiny now floated in the air before Superman in a dimly-lit, formless void.  "Now, I'm left to find another psyche to fuel my dreams of escape!"

Before Superman could react, darkness engulfed him.  Even his enhanced senses could find nothing, until a voice called him.

"Clark!  Wake up, honey!"

A bare-chested Clark Kent sat up in bed, looking around for the source of the voice.  When he found it, his jaw dropped in shock.

"What's the matter, Smallville?  You look like you've seen a ghost."  Lois stood in the doorway, her face a mass of burned and melted skin.  "Oh, don't tell me you forgot!"

"Forgot?"

"Yes, silly.  Remember, we're the special guest 'victims' at the Metropolis Fire Department's Fire Safety Show, for the kids at Metro Central Park.  Now hurry up and get your make-up on."  Lois gestured toward the dresser, where a bag of latex faux-skin lay surrounded by jars and tubes of theatrical make-up.

"Of course," said Clark, throwing off the sheet and coming over to embrace his wife.  "But I hope I never see you looking like this again."

Not the sort of trick or treat I want to have this Halloween, but I hope you've enjoyed it.  As always, comments, criticisms, eta are welcome.