Part 1: Fall from Grace
He took a day off today. Told the editor he had caught the flu, that he'd be out cold for the weekend. But truth be told
You must be registered for see links
just wanted to spend more time in his kryptonian themed suit. He learned a lot of things so far, such as his dependence on the sun and the abilities it seemed to be giving him. If only he knew why he had even been given all these abilities, and just where in this galaxy his story originated. His PlanetNB dad was quite adamant on leaving the past behind, and refused to talk about the day Clark fell from the sky and destroyed his entire corn field. Sometimes Clark found himself going out to the corn field at nights and looking up at the stars, imagining supernovae, black holes, and all the other glories of space happening simultaneously, and invisibly. And every night he'd ask question no one could answer: where does he belong in this universe? And where did he come from?But now he belonged to the sky, soaring over the PlanetNB, keeping vigilance on this his first weekend as a full time superhero. Every now and then he would tune his senses, try and listen in on any trouble, but most were minor stuff that didn't require drastic superhero attention. However, there had been a constant stream of signals coming from above him, and above the PlanetNB. He had assumed them to be mere cosmic radiation but suddenly a voice assumed itself from the chaotic static;
"This is NBSSC Station 3, we are losing altitude, failure on all starboard engines. Impact in twenty minutes! I repeat, impact in twenty minutes!" came a panicked, female voice. Even though it sounded scared, the voice remained professional and began detailing log entries just in case the station should crash so that the exact reason could be deduced and future lives could be saved.
A transmission of the same frequency radioed from below, he had the right angle to eavesdrop, "This is NBSSC HQ, we copy your situation, but we have no methods of rescuing you and the team, Station 3. At the least set your bearing to a major ocean and avoid parking on any civilian areas. Good luck, and may God help you. HQ out."
"Damn, damn, damn, damn! We're on our own up here, the NBSSC pretty much told us we're ****ed!"
Clark tuned his eyes and looked beyond the atmospheres of PlanetNB. Sure enough, a falling satellite had begun its flaming reentry. It was a fairly large station, and its pieces flaked away like dandruff under the immense friction colliding with the atmosphere. He shot off toward the falling satellite with speeds far surpassing any known vehicle.
(The people first, then the wreckage)
Clark circled the falling metallic meteor and found a service hatch on its side. He ripped the metal and tossed it into nowhere. Inside he saw a team of five people, huddled up inside the command room trying desperately to bring the structure to bearing. A woman, no doubt the one who initiated the distress call, had her teeth gritted as she tore at the controls. The sound of a raging atmosphere roared around them.
"Listen to me, this thing is going to kill you all, you need to abandon ship!" Clark yelled above the rushing air.
"Negative on abort, stasis impact bubbles are located south wing, we have no way of getting to that now. And how did you--"
"No time to explain, I'll get you those stasis bubbles."
Clark removed himself from the command room and found the rapidly deforming south wing, its metal had already began crumpling under the heat and pressure. Sure enough, five stasis bubbles were latched on to mechanical arms. He had to carry them all back to the north wing two at a time.
(Ten minutes left, move faster!)
As soon as all the crew were locked away in translucent, bubbly spheres, Clark got to the harder part of the day: stopping the satellite. He removed the stasis bubbles from the command room and had them hobbled around him as they all plummeted toward the ground at near supersonic speeds.
"We have precious cargo aboard that station in the research lab, cargo that could make a helluva difference in the technology field!" called the female astronaut from her bubble.
"More difference than your life?"
"Exactly."
Clark plowed through the center of the station and retrieved a lead suitcase.
(Five minutes!)
The ground came rushing up on them as a vast, orange landscape. Most likely a desert. One of the astronauts whimpered in his stasis bubble. Clark was slowly quickly running out of options, the station's fall was inevitable no doubt, but the survival of these people? He wasn't so sure anymore. He tried retarding its momentum with his own strength but it barely slowed enough. Maybe if he had done it from earlier...but to hell with that now.
"Oh God, we're gonna die!"
"Relax. No one's gonna--"
The ground slammed into them.
A storm of dust and debris rocked the vast desert and sent shock waves in every direction for miles. When it all cleared the massive Station 3 laid shattered into a million pieces ranging in size from pebbles to houses. Underneath it were six bodies.
The hull, already stressed from unannounced reentry, moaned as Clark's immense strength prevented a section from falling on the five astronauts who's stasis bubbles had just reached its maximum limit. The five of them spilled from the blue balls like the yolks of eggs. The twenty meter wide and five meter crater steamed.
One of the astronauts removed his helmet and caressed his own face, "I'm...alive?"
The metal groaned once more, Clark was visibly having a hard time keeping it up. "Not much longer if you sit there like ducks."
The five of them scrambled out the crater, feet shaking wildly from weeks of micro gravity. Clark allowed the structure to fall on him then. They gasped in horror before he punched through the 'roof' and came floating down to them.
"Congrats, you've just broken at least twenty Guiness NB World Records with that fall."
"What are you, sir?"
"Superman, at your service."
"You saved my life here today, I don't think I could ever thank you."
"Well, you could start by telling me why you'd risk your life for that case." He pointed at the dark grey case held tight in her clutches. He frowned at the fact that he couldn't see past its exterior, it must be lead, one of the few materials that could scatter X-rays.
"It's top secret." She instinctively held it closer to her body.
His brow arced, "I thought you were thinking of a way to thank me?"
Another of the astronauts, the one who had screamed he was about to die, placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. He didn't need to say much. Not that he could anyway, his larynx had been damaged from all the screaming he preceded with when the ground shot up in their faces.
"We, NBSSC, recently picked up traces of a unique form of radiation coming from a neighboring cluster of stars. At first we thought it was the remnants of a supernova long gone, but we found that it had no readings associated with our codex so we thought it was maybe a new cosmic phenomena." She looked at the case intently. "Then we saw that this radiation had shape, matter, and was actually shards of crystals. In our little time of research we've found these crystals to be highly radioactive and had many other properties we've never seen on PlanetNB crystals before."
"Interesting indeed, but what caused your station to suddenly fall from grace?"
"We began tampering with the crystals, experimenting how much energy they could absorb, relay, or even store. It was a stupid move I admit, and it would've cost us our lives had it not been for you."
"Sounds like some sort of almighty object if you asked me. May I see it?"
She hesitated at first and then entered a 12-digit pin on the box's side along with fingerprint readings and voice confirmation from all five astronauts.
A beam of sunlight broke the clouds behind him and shone down on the box with drooling grace as if to reveal something precious. It was after the box opened that he realized the sunlight was green, and that it wasn't sunlight at all, but the light being emitted from the crystals.
Suddenly he felt sick, weak in the legs, and the urge to move away. He fell to a knee and held up his hand as if crying for mercy, "Wha-what is that?! Take it away from me, now." A trickle of blood left his nostril.
(What is this feeling? Could this be the cold hand of death?)
Bewildered, the woman closed the box with a loud metallic sound. The locking mechanisms began working on the box's interior, securing it again. "But these radiations are harmless to humans...?"
"Well you learned something today," he said as he wiped the blood away. It was the first time in his life that he'd seen his own blood, let along got damaged so badly. "I'm not human. But before you ask, I don't know what I am either."
"I'm so sorry! I didn't know, I'll move it away at once." She placed the box a full fifteen feet away.
He energy returned him slowly, he painfully stood up and grimaced as the pain riveted his bones. After a while the sunlight began healing him and he felt somewhat normal again. "It's not your fault. I need a favor, place one of those shards in a smaller lead casing, I need to research it."
"Sure, but I can't let them know that I did, okay?"
"You can't let them know I was even here. Speaking of which, who are they?"
"The NBSSC, of course."
"Do they have any more of these...things with them?"
"Oh hell yeah, tons, actually. We've been studying them for about ten years now."
Something shot through his chest as she said this. It wasn't pain from the strange green crystal this time, it was fear.
"In that case, I'll need one last favor from you..."
Techs Used:
Technique Name: Keenness of Senses
Technique Name: Godspeed
Technique Name: Radiative Vision
Technique Name: Solar Energy Transmutation
EXP: 5
Type: Mutant
Rank: D
Description: With his Kryptonian physiology Clark is able to see and hear even above superhuman. In addition to a higher perception:reaction quotient, Clark is able to see other waves of the Electro Magnetic Spectrum such as UV, Gamma, and even Microwaves up to long ranged. He is also able to hear varying frequencies such as radio and telephone calls up to long ranged. He cab only listen however and can't reply or talk on these frequencies. He is also able to feel the slightest of tremors on ground and distortions in the air such sound or delicate air pressure changes. His Intelligence increases by +5 because of this.
Note: Passive
Type: Mutant
Rank: D
Description: With his Kryptonian physiology Clark is able to see and hear even above superhuman. In addition to a higher perception:reaction quotient, Clark is able to see other waves of the Electro Magnetic Spectrum such as UV, Gamma, and even Microwaves up to long ranged. He is also able to hear varying frequencies such as radio and telephone calls up to long ranged. He cab only listen however and can't reply or talk on these frequencies. He is also able to feel the slightest of tremors on ground and distortions in the air such sound or delicate air pressure changes. His Intelligence increases by +5 because of this.
Note: Passive
Technique Name: Godspeed
EXP: 10
Type: Mutant
Rank: C
Description: Using his superhuman physiology, Clark is able to reach great speed. By pushing from the ground in either a run or flight Clark can reach incredible speeds only appearing as a blue and red blur to mundane eyes. This ability grants him a boost of +5 Speed. While using Godspeed Clark is unable to use any of his other superpowers however as all his focus is on this otherworldly speed and keeping himself from wrecking stuff.
Type: Mutant
Rank: C
Description: Using his superhuman physiology, Clark is able to reach great speed. By pushing from the ground in either a run or flight Clark can reach incredible speeds only appearing as a blue and red blur to mundane eyes. This ability grants him a boost of +5 Speed. While using Godspeed Clark is unable to use any of his other superpowers however as all his focus is on this otherworldly speed and keeping himself from wrecking stuff.
Technique Name: Radiative Vision
EXP: 10
Type: Mutant
Rank: C
Description: By harvesting his stored Solar Energy Clark can emit focused beams of radiation from his pupils that, with enough concentration can be used offensively and in a supplementary manner. In the offensive way Clark can fire beams of high energy lasers at his targets that can reach up to mid ranged. These beams aren't really dangerous, they can deliver 2nd degree burns to regular human skin, after sustained contact and melt traditional metals like Iron and Copper. If left trained on a target these lasers can become quite dangerous. For more "strategic" uses Clark can also tone down the radiation to provide X-Ray Vision. With this he can see through people and objects up to short range. The X-Ray doesn't hurt people or things.
Note: Laser Vision aspect costs a move while X-Ray can be used passively for a max of 3 turns per use. After which it takes 2 turn to recharge.
Type: Mutant
Rank: C
Description: By harvesting his stored Solar Energy Clark can emit focused beams of radiation from his pupils that, with enough concentration can be used offensively and in a supplementary manner. In the offensive way Clark can fire beams of high energy lasers at his targets that can reach up to mid ranged. These beams aren't really dangerous, they can deliver 2nd degree burns to regular human skin, after sustained contact and melt traditional metals like Iron and Copper. If left trained on a target these lasers can become quite dangerous. For more "strategic" uses Clark can also tone down the radiation to provide X-Ray Vision. With this he can see through people and objects up to short range. The X-Ray doesn't hurt people or things.
Note: Laser Vision aspect costs a move while X-Ray can be used passively for a max of 3 turns per use. After which it takes 2 turn to recharge.
Technique Name: Solar Energy Transmutation
EXP: 20
Type: Mutant
Rank: B
Description A unique ability seen in Kryptonians, is the act of absorbing/processing radiation, especially that of stars. Clark carries this ability with him at all times and passively stores solar energy from the orange sun of PlanetNB within himself. He is also able to harvest the radiation of Blue Star should he venture beyond PlanetNB but not that of a Red Star. By passively absorbing solar radiation Clark is able to turn that energy into many other forms for his other superpowers, and can even use it to sustain himself--much like how humans eat food to stay 'alive'. Clark may also fly absorb extra solar radiation and to heal himself of any injuries someone might have inflicted. The passive ability of Solar Energy Transmutation grants Clark the following abilities (which are also passive);
Flight: Clark is able to lift his body from the chains of gravity with something that can only be described as will. He can fly at blinding speeds or just hover when stationary. His flight speed is correspondent with his (Speed) attribute.
Durability: Due to constantly having solar radiation within and his Kryptonian physiology, Clark has an immensely durable body. Able to fall from orbit unharmed. Being an alien and all he also has the ability to survive in the vacuum of space by converting solar energy for sustenance. His durability is corresppndent with his (Durability) attribute, following the normal Damage rules.
Even though Superman is able to absorb various forms of radiation not all are ideal for his body. Namely the radiation of a Red Sun or green Kryptonite. If green Kryptonite is brought within short range Clark he begins to feel immediate effects which begin dropping his stats until they are zero, essentially turning him into a regular man. And if Clark even goes into the same region as a Red Star he begins to be stripped of his powers. He has recognized the radiative patters of these his weaknesses however, and can spot them with his radiative vision if he has reason to be suspicious. He has a resistance of 1:1 to Radiation type attacks, with the exception of those mentioned, instead of a 1:0,5 as usual.
Note: Healing can only heal +5 to Durability per turn and cannot heal above 50 in a battle.
Type: Mutant
Rank: B
Description A unique ability seen in Kryptonians, is the act of absorbing/processing radiation, especially that of stars. Clark carries this ability with him at all times and passively stores solar energy from the orange sun of PlanetNB within himself. He is also able to harvest the radiation of Blue Star should he venture beyond PlanetNB but not that of a Red Star. By passively absorbing solar radiation Clark is able to turn that energy into many other forms for his other superpowers, and can even use it to sustain himself--much like how humans eat food to stay 'alive'. Clark may also fly absorb extra solar radiation and to heal himself of any injuries someone might have inflicted. The passive ability of Solar Energy Transmutation grants Clark the following abilities (which are also passive);
Flight: Clark is able to lift his body from the chains of gravity with something that can only be described as will. He can fly at blinding speeds or just hover when stationary. His flight speed is correspondent with his (Speed) attribute.
Durability: Due to constantly having solar radiation within and his Kryptonian physiology, Clark has an immensely durable body. Able to fall from orbit unharmed. Being an alien and all he also has the ability to survive in the vacuum of space by converting solar energy for sustenance. His durability is corresppndent with his (Durability) attribute, following the normal Damage rules.
Even though Superman is able to absorb various forms of radiation not all are ideal for his body. Namely the radiation of a Red Sun or green Kryptonite. If green Kryptonite is brought within short range Clark he begins to feel immediate effects which begin dropping his stats until they are zero, essentially turning him into a regular man. And if Clark even goes into the same region as a Red Star he begins to be stripped of his powers. He has recognized the radiative patters of these his weaknesses however, and can spot them with his radiative vision if he has reason to be suspicious. He has a resistance of 1:1 to Radiation type attacks, with the exception of those mentioned, instead of a 1:0,5 as usual.
Note: Healing can only heal +5 to Durability per turn and cannot heal above 50 in a battle.
Last edited:
