Chapter Text
When Clark decided to move to the city and become a superhero — he thought that it would be more along the lines of helping kids cross the street, bringing criminals to justice, protecting women from harm and maybe the occasional rough fight with an alien invader. Sure he knew that it would definitely be more complicated than that but nothing could have prepared him for this.
Clark had finally gotten into a good rhythm for his life in the city: he managed to get a payed internship at the Daily Planet, has a decent if small apartment, he is passing all his college courses(on scholarship of course), and has somehow managed to keep a regular schedule of superheroing while balancing visiting his parents every other weekend. If he were a regular 21 year old human there'd be no doubt that he'd have fainted from exhaustion by now.
Clark never thought he would have been grateful for that fact. He is thankful though, especially right now.
He had just finished fighting a kaiju when he had heard the strangest noise he had ever heard coming from almost entirely across the city. It was faint and would've been completely drowned out by the constant noise of the city if not for the unique oddness of it. So odd that Clark was already subconsciously floating towards it before he even realized what he was doing. Once he did he went forward in earnest.
As he got closer the sound became clearer, it was some sort of crying sound. It was probably a wounded exotic animal or pet that needed help. Either way he felt the need to hurry up.
As he came to the area the crying was coming from he was mildly surprised to see it was from a partially collapsed LexCorp building. No wonder he had never heard this type of cry before, with the money they have they probably could have brought an animal from the other side of the earth, heck even from outer space if they wanted to. The white noise machine in every company building is probably why he didn't notice it until now. Really Luthor needs to stop being so paranoid, it's not like he makes a habit of memorizing every dirty secret he hears.
The hole in the side of the building seems to go down to the basement. By the looks of it, the debris came from the kaiju fight Clark just had. Clark winces, that isn't going to help with Lex's grudge against him even if he tries to clean it up. It would be best to help the animal, clean up a bit and be on his way.
As he descends into the hole he can't help but wonder what this building is even for. He can't see any remains of weapons or any of the usual m.o. for LexCorp. It's really odd…
The crying suddenly gets louder. It startles Clark so much so that he instinctively responds with a sound of his own. A useless sound that has no meaning whatsoever to any living being on this planet, if they could even hear it. One of the sounds that he had to train himself to not use or be seen as the monstrosity that Lex thinks he is.
Simultaneously, both Clark and the crying stop. Then Kal-El shoots forward! Instincts bursting through him! He need to get to the source of the crying immediately!!! Superman races through the rubble as fast as he could without disturbing the structure, despite the crying sound stopping he knows where to go. Deeper and deeper into the seemingly abandoned building Kal-El can't help but think that he should have seen a civilian by now, but that is secondary to his need to reach his location.
As he finds the right floor he slows down his speed for a softer landing. He heads straight for the room he somehow knows has what he is looking for, silently walking all the way. In his haste he is practically breaking the doors in his way open.
It's close now. Kal-El's heart is beating with anticipation. Just behind this door is something that will change his life forever, he just knows it.
Clark hesitates, only briefly, but still he hesitates.
Why did he feel like he absolutely had to had to open this door? Why was he so certain that when was behind it would change his life? Why was he acting like this? Almost like he was affected with red kryptonite, but without any rage.
His hands is gripping the doorknob, literally halfway to opening it and it's only now that he realizes how ridiculous the situation is. What if this is some kind of trap set by Luthor? What if whatever being inside was created to destroy Metropolis?! Or heaven forbid, the world!!!
Hundreds and thousands of questions are flooding Clark's head as he floats there. He is practically paralyzed with indecision, a rare behavior from the great Superman. He suddenly knows that whatever is in there is not gonna be something he can handle easily.
However, Superman has overcome many obstacles, challenges and tribulations and there hasn't been one yet where he helped by doing nothing.
He turns the knob slowly and opens the door.
There.
In the middle of the farthest wall in the back of the hospital-like room was a capsule as large as Clark himself. Glowing almost radiantly in the comparative darkness of the absolutely silent room. It was filled with a mysterious fluid and had the S-shaped symbol on it, almost completely hiding what it was holding from direct view. It was surrounded by computers and medical equipment. The
The capsule suddenly burst open with a wave of the fluid and Clark rushes to catch what was inside. In less than a quarter if a second he is covered in fluid and safely holding it.
Holding perfection.
Sleeping in the arms of Clark 'Kal-El' Kent was the most adorable baby he had ever seen. Seen, Smelled, Heard, Felt, and Everything. The baby truly was the most beautiful precious and perfect thing he had ever laid his eyes on. His instincts were right earlier, his earlier hesitation seeming silly now. How could something so amazing be a trap? He takes off his cape with some difficulty due to being down an arm full of baby and wraps it up in the closest approximation of a swaddle Clark could currently do.
Concerned for its health Clark used his x-ray vision to see if there were any injuries. Although the babies organs were slightly different than those of the average human baby. All things were working as the should. Ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes, two ears, one nose and one mouth. Only a few "extra" organs and some of the human-like organs being being smaller as well to accommodate them, as well as a slightly different bone structure.
Overall a healthy if odd baby boy.
An absolutely perfect one at that.
Wait….
Clark checked over the baby again. His anatomy seemed familiar, although not exact the anatomy of the baby was similar to the diagrams of Kryptonian babies he had seen when the fortress of solitude was first made.
Clark needed more information.
He walked over to the important looking computer to the left of the capsule, carful not to jostle the baby, thankfully it hadn't gotten wet and had enough power to turn on. It was password protected but there was a notepad nearby with a very long list of passwords, it seems changing the password every day had done the opposite of making it more secure.
After a couple minutes of searching the computer Clark finally found the file that hopefully had the information needed. It was his best guess on the number since there was a little piece of tape still on the capsule with 13 written on it.
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Human-Kryptonian Embryo #13 biological report: updated **\**\****
Status:living and stable
DNA Percent:30% Human 70% Kryptonian
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Personal notes from Dr. Zlydevna
log 27:
Subject 13 seems to be the most prosperous of all the embryos so far. It's growing at a steady rate, if a bit slower than the other experiments due to the lessened speed aging formula. It now has the appearance similar to a 3 month old post-utero human offspring. To have this much progress done in only 120 days since fertilization is truly fascinating. Compared to the previous subjects used as cadavers for dissections this one is the most fit to thrive in earth's environment despite limited exposure to the yellow sun. Perhaps too much sun too soon was what lead to the previous premature deaths. It also has the least amount of kryptonian DNA out of all its siblings. To prevent unnecessary destabilization we've been forbidden from vivisecting subject 13, but what would I not give to be able to try.
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Concerning, this was extremely deeply concerning and terrifying, but since it did confirm that the baby was healthy it was technically good news. It was also confirmation of Clark's theory. This Perfect little thing is a Child of krypton just like him!
This child was Kal-El's child, brought to him in a capsule just like he was brought to his parents in a ship. Made for mysterious reasons that he doesn't understand yet. But he doesn't need to. This innocent child has already stolen his heart just by existing.
Clark never thought about children. More accurately he never thought about having children of his own. With his strength and speed, not to mention his obviously alien features, he never thought he could get a girl to love him let alone have a kid with him. If it was even possible for a Human woman to be able to carry a kryptonian child.
This child is a miracle.
Clark needed to get it out of this room. He began gathering files and information in the room about the kid and downloading them onto a usb stick. It will be useful for knowing about the kid's health in the future. When everything was finished Clark began the arduous process of flying out of a near collapsing building without waking a sleeping baby. Taking almost 16 minutes until they were outside.
Once outside Clark realized that this would most likely be the baby's first breath of fresh air in his short existence. It seems the baby realized it too since it started to squirm and wriggle in the confines of the Cape swaddle.
Deciding to make the best of it Clark began to carefully ascend towards the warm yellow sun. The source of life for everything on this planet and the star that allowed Kal-El to have the powers that help him become Superman. Despite the destruction of buildings around them the sky was clear of almost all clouds. It was a beautiful day.
A perfect day for a Kryptonian to be introduced to the sun.
As they rise above the city Clark slowly unwraps the cape to reveal the naked baby. Once they were at a good height he raises the baby above his head into the direct sunlight, so that it is one of the first sights the child sees in this new open and beautiful world.
The warm glow and slight breeze are all that is needed to wake up the child fully as his tiny eyes open to reveal breathtakingly beautiful silver-colored eyes. He stretches out his arms and legs and starts to wiggle around, causing Kal-El to readjust his hold, then he starts to make noises, weird chirp-like squeaking sounds that Clark also made when he was a baby. Only now they don't seem as weird, they had no meaning besides the babbling of a babe but they made Kal-El been with pride. They were such cute noises and Clark couldn't help but feel immense joy when hearing them. Clark unconsciously started making some sounds of his own. Halfway between a human chuckle and the purr of a large cat he responded to the nonsense of the baby. They both smile. Right now under the warm embrace of the yellow sun a father is meeting his son, a young man in meeting the only other of his species, and a baby is being truly born into this world; And despite all the chaos, pain, and suffering around the world that can't be stopped right now, in this moment of life everything is perfect, And everything is beautiful, and everything is right.
.
.
.
This baby deserves a name that represents him. Silver eyes, precious, sweet and perfect. There isn't one word in English that could fit all of this, thankfully there is one in Kryptonian.
Lowering the noisy child into a close embrace, Clark immediately knows what to name him. A name with some negative connotations but a very fitting meaning.
"I, Kal-El of the house of El, welcome you to the world. Good morning, Kon-El."