Even heroes have the right to bleed

They say what's lost is found again. It's just in Clark's experience, it tends to get back to being lost sooner rather than later.

He'd arrived at the Fortress just in time to stop Zor-El from killing Kara. Once of the few times in his life thus far in which green K had actually worked for him. The eclipse was easy enough to stop then, just remove the crystal from the console, but Zor-El had to be dealt with. Permanently.

It had to be destroyed, Lara told him. The crystal, the ring, it all had to be shattered. Deep down, Clark knew it was the only way. Deep down, he didn't want to, because he knew it would take Lara with it and he wasn't ready to let her go. He didn't think he'd ever be. But there wasn't much of a choice, so he did it. And he lost his mother, again. Kara, too, so it seemed, as she was nowhere to be found once everything was done. Just disappeared, like her father. Like Lara.

Clark searched everywhere he could think of. He even called Eirene in for reinforcement, but there was no sign of her. Kara was gone, and he'd just have to accept that. And that it was his fault, as usual. Jor-El was right; emotions weren't worth it. Eirene... wasn't having any of that, but beyond a hug and a promise to meet him at Milliways after she'd taken care of some things in her own world, there was little she could do to convince him. A wallowing Clark just has to wallow, for a while.

Still, there was one last thing he could try, he would try, and after Eirene had left, he made his way back to the arctic one more time.

"Her disappearance was not my doing. Zor-El is the only one who knows that answer."

"Zor-El is gone." There had to be another way.

"You have chosen to defy me yet again, Kal-El. And you seem to lack the capacity to learn your lesson. I'm sorry, my son. This defiance cannot go without consequence."


And then there was light.


And nothing else.

Clark had promised himself that once the phantoms were dealt with, he'd go to the Fortress to complete the training Jor-El keeps telling him he needs to do. He knows the Fortress is back up and running – he can just feel it – but it's been a while since he's been here. For good reason, of course.

Now that he is, there's just one thing he needs to clear up first.

”A Kryptonian girl showed up at my doorstep. Her name is Kara. Last time that happened, you were behind it.”

It had thrown Clark for a loop. After the destruction of the dam and Lois and Chloe's presence there, which he still wasn't clear how that came about, he decided to go with Lois when she went back to survey the wreckage. To try and figure out what she knew, if anything, and also to say goodbye. He didn't know how long he'd be gone, after all. That was when they found the spaceship - a Kryptonian spaceship – in the woods near the reservoir. And then they'd been attacked by a blond girl, moving too fast for Lois to see, but Clark sure as hell saw her as she flew up and out of sight after telling him to take a hike.

He'd told himself it couldn't be her. She's not supposed to be here until he's older, if at all. He's supposed to have time.

It doesn't take long for Chloe to track her down, monitoring reports of a blond woman barging into schools and harassing the children. It didn't matter who she was, Clark wasn't going to let that kind of behavior go unchecked. So he found her at a playground, picking up little boys and asking them what their names were. Clark put a stop to that pretty damn fast, grabbing her by the arm and speeding her away.

Turns out she was Kara, sent to Earth by her father to look after him. It seemed her ship has crashed in the river and been trapped, only released now after nearly two decades of suspended animation because of the damage done to the dam. A familiar enough story to him by now, but still really, really weird to hear when it actually applies to him. And having her really there... it'll take some getting used to.

Then her ship went missing. After a crash course in superhearing, they were able to track it down in a bunker owned by the Department of Domestic Security (which Clark would let himself freak out about later) but only in time for Kara to absorb the blast as it self-destructed. And then it was gone, and Clark was left with a teenage girl who knew nothing about Earth.

And he had training to do.

There really wasn't much time to get to know each other, but Clark had to do this. If he let it go every time something new came up, he'd never go. Chloe had agreed to help Kara, who'd acquired a bit of humility after learning from Clark that Krypton had been destroyed (and hadn't that been fun to have to tell her). He also had a feeling there would be someone else watching who could intervene if things got too out of hand.

So Clark finds himself at the Fortress, asking his father about the new girl, and why he'd never been told about her, or her family.

”I know nothing of her arrival."

Clark isn't sure he believes that, but it's no matter now. There are other things to deal with.

”What about my training?”

”Your training starts with Kara. Watch over her, Kal-El. She poses a greater threat than you believe.”