Rocketed from a distant planet to a bold new destiny on Earth. Found by a Kansas family and raised as Clark Kent. He learned he possessed the strength of steel, the speed of light, and the desire to help all mankind. He is...Superboy!
The Adventures of Superboy
"The Awakening"
By: Doug Chambers
“Do you think
things will ever calm down around here?” says Clark Kent as he hangs up the
phone at the Bureau for Extra-Normal matters.
“Are things ever calm around here
Clark? We’re always getting calls from psychos reporting exploding cows,
UFO’s, and any other weird occurrence you could think of. Why should today be
any different?” Lana Lang replies from her desk, next to Clark’s.
“I don’t know. I was just
thinking that after everything that’s happened lately...I just hoped things
would calm down, that’s all.”
As Clark talks to Lana someone
catches her eye. A tall, blonde man walks into the Bureau. Lana instantly
recognizes him.
“Clark, look! It’s Will
Masterson, my one time boyfriend! I dated him back at Smallville High School
remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. Captain of the
football team, prom king, most likely to succeed.......”
“Clark, is that jealousy I detect
in your voice?”
Before Clark can answer, Will steps
over to talk to Lana.
“Lana, hi! Remember your old
beau?” he says.
“Will it’s great to see you
again! How did you find me?” asks Lana
“I was visiting Smallville and
dropped by your mom’s house. She told me you had come here to work as an
intern. Since I live in Capitol City now, I thought I’d come here to say
hi.”
Lana glances over at Clark and starts
to introduce him to Will, but Clark gets up and moves away.
“What’s with him?” Will asks.
“I dunno. You can never tell with
Clark.” Lana replies.
“Um, Lana, I was hoping that maybe
you can I could, maybe, go out on a little date. I mean just as friends.
Y’know go to that nice restaurant down at the pier, maybe see a movie. What do
you say?”
Lana glances at Clark again then
looks back toward Will. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
“I’ll pick you up after work
tonight then.” Will turns and leaves the office. Clark, obviously jealous of
Will, returns to his desk and gets back to work.
Meanwhile, Will arrives at his
father’s house, in a rural area outside of Capitol City. He steps inside and
greets his father, a tall, dark haired man who strangely appears to be not much
older than Will.
“Will. I’ve just talked to the
other men. We perform the ritual tonight.”
“But I have a date tonight with
Lana Lang. My old high school girlfriend.”
“Tell her you can’t make it. In
order for this ritual to work, all of the members must be present. If one, just
one, is missing from the circle, the ritual will fail. And it cannot be
attempted more than once.”
Will gives his father a puzzled look.
“I thought the ritual required a sacrifice. Do you have one?”
“We do not. But some of the others
are trying to find a suitable one.”
“Tell them not to bother. I have
the perfect sacrifice in mind.”
Several hours later, Will arrives at
Lana’s apartment dressed in a tuxedo and carrying a bouquet of flowers. Lana
comes to the door to greet him. He hands her the flowers and escorts her to his
car, parked in front of the building.
“Will, I thought we were just
dating as friends. The flowers and tuxedo really weren’t necessary. But I must
say you look great.”
“And you’re still as beautiful as
you were back in high school.”
Lana smiles and Will drives off.
Within just a few minutes, Land and Will are already outside of the city.
“Will, where are we going? The
restaurant is in the other direction.”
“Oh, we’re going someplace very
special. I want to surprise you.”
Lana starts to get quite nervous.
Will was acting very peculiar, it seemed. He had acted somewhat strangely in
high school but Lana hadn’t really noticed it. Now she was becoming almost
scared. Within minutes, Lana & Will arrive at the mysterious destination. A
cemetery. And a relatively new one at that, but one that Lana never even knew
existed. It’s surrounded by huge trees on all sides and would be completely
invisible from the main road. As Lana steps out of the car, she sees, in the
center of the cemetery, a concrete slab, roughly 6 feet long. Surrounding it are
men in some weird kind of ceremonial robe. Lana turns and starts to run away,
but is caught by Will. His grip is somehow exceptionally strong and Lana can’t
break free.
“What is going on here?! Why did
you bring me here?” Lana screams.
Will’s father steps forward. “You
have been brought here for a very special purpose, young lady. Do you remember
the incident a few years back when a sorcerer appeared in Capitol City and died
fighting Superboy?”
Lana remembered the incident well. A
bystander was gravely injured in a bomb blast during a botched bank robbery.
Shortly after that, several bodies were found throughout the city. Each was
young and healthy, with no apparent cause of death. Lana happened to discover
that the injured man was stealing the life forces of others in order to stay
alive. She told Superboy and he confronted the young man, a type of sorcerer.
There was a long fight. The sorcerer tried to drain Superboy’s life force but
was unsuccessful. Eventually, he collapsed and died when he exhausted the life
energy he had stolen.
“That young sorcerer, Miss Lang,
was my son and Will’s brother! We are all sorcerers. My entire family. And we
plan to bring that young man, Xavier, back to life tonight through a special
ritual our ancestors learned about hundreds of years ago.”
“You can’t bring people back to
life! It’s not possible!” Lana shouts.
“Ah, but it is. Only through very
special circumstances though. You see, the ritual requires all of the living men
of the family to combine their power. But that is not enough. We cannot create a
new life force. We can only transfer a life force from one body to another. So a
sacrifice is required. Our powers will take the life force from that sacrifice
and bond it to our fallen brother. You are our sacrifice, Miss Lang.”
Lana screams and struggles, but she
can’t escape Will’s grip. He picks her up and puts her onto the concrete
slab. No matter how much she tries she can’t get up. Some mystical force holds
her down. Another concrete slab is moved into place next to her. The perfectly
preserved body of Xavier is placed on it.
Lana screams “Superboy!” Will’s
father quickly waves his hand over her mouth and suddenly she can no longer
scream or even talk. Will steps over to the slab.
“I hate to do this Lana, but I have
to. It’s for my brother.”
Will takes out a sword and stands
with it ready as the other men begin chanting a spell.
Superboy flies over Capitol City on
his usual nightly patrol. Nothing out of the ordinary is happening. He has
stopped a bank robbery, flown a pregnant woman to the hospital, and put out a
fire in the Peabody Hotel. All in all, just a normal night. He scans the city
one last time with his telescopic vision and calls it a night. Back at his
apartment building he lands on the roof and changes into Clark before heading
downstairs to his apartment. Clark makes himself some coffee and sits down in a
recliner, turning on the TV. Finally he has some time to relax and get away from
his duties as Superboy. Or so he thinks. When Clark sits down he looks out the
window and sees a strange light about 20 miles outside of the city. A normal
human wouldn’t be able to see it, but Clark’s super-eyes detect it quite
easily. It appears to be a fire out in a wooded area. Clark quickly thinks to
himself: should he check it out, or is it just a harmless brush fire? His
Superboy instincts win in the end and he flies out toward the woods.
The ritual continues as the sorcery
cult chants. Now an eerie blue light has surrounded the group of men. The fire,
contained in a torch above the two concrete slabs, has grown unusually large.
Lana is terrified but she is completely helpless against the power of the
sorcerers. Suddenly, however, there is a ray of hope when she sees Superboy
flying toward the cemetery. He flies down and lands behind Will’s father.
Superboy grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him away from the circle.
“Stop you fool! You’ll destroy
everything!” screams Masterson.
“What are you doing with Lana?!
What is going on here?! Tell me now or I’ll....”
“You’ll what? Kill me like you
did my son?”
“Your son? I didn’t-”
Suddenly Superboy is speechless as
the sorcerer bathes him in magical energy. An airtight force field forms around
Superboy. Superboy tries to break free, but every time he punches the field or
uses his heat vision on it, the energy is reflected back on him. Superboy stops
struggling long enough to see that the blue light around the cult is getting
more and more intense. Superboy notices that all of the members have now shifted
their focus to the ritual again, and the force field is getting weaker with
every passing second. Finally, as the ritual nears completion, Superboy shatters
the force field, sending feedback through all of the cult members. Will jumps
out of the circle just seconds before an impatient cult member grabs the sword
and slices Lana’s throat with it. Superboy screams and watches in horror as
the slab Lana is on explodes. Will holds Superboy back with his own power alone.
“You’re too late Superboy! The
ritual is complete!” Will screams insanely.
A weird blue light emerges from the
smoke of the explosion and moves to the other concrete platform holding
Xavier’s body. The light fills his body and his arm lifts up off the platform.
Then his entire body starts to move and he stands up, alive. Xavier turns toward
Superboy, a look of hatred in his eyes.
“You. You are the reason I was dead
for so long. Now you will learn how it feels to die!” Xavier screams as he
leaps into the air. His eyes are glowing with a bright blue light. He hovers in
place and fires beams of pure energy from his eyes at Superboy. Superboy quickly
blocks the blast with his arm and counterattacks with heat vision. The beams
quickly go from red to bright white as Superboy’s anger increases.
“You killed Lana! And you will see
justice, even if I do have to die for it!” yells Superboy. The two are now
locked in combat. Xavier throws up a force-field to block Superboy’s heat
vision beams and attacks yet again, this time using his abilities to literally
pull the yellow solar energy out of Superboy’s body.
“You cannot stop me without your
powers, Superboy. And once I’ve drained all of the solar energy from you, you
will be completely powerless and completely vulnerable. Then you will die. But
you won’t be resurrected as I was.”
Superboy falls to the ground. Already
his flight power has ceased to function. His other powers, including his
invulnerability, are fading fast. It feels a lot like having the wind knocked
out of you, only much, much worse. Superboy musters up one final blast of
super-breath, which has no effect on Xavier. Suddenly Xavier stops draining
Superboy’s energy. His force field drops, and he falls to the ground. He stand
there, stunned, for a few seconds, then collapses on the ground, just as dead as
he was before the ritual was performed. All of the solar energy he drained
leaves his body and is absorbed by Superboy. Superboy stares at the body in
stunned silence. Suddenly, several cult members run over to the body.
“Xavier! He’s dead again! How can
he be dead again? Superboy did this and Superboy must pay for his actions. Come
brothers! If we cannot have Xavier alive, we shall have Superboy dead!”
Superboy jumps to his feet and faces the cult. Energy pours from the hands of
every cult member directly into Superboy’s body.
“Fill him with your power brothers!
He cannot take it all at once!” screams Will & Xavier’s father. Superboy
feels as if he is on fire. Only worse. Energy is filling every cell of his body,
much more energy than his super body can store. It is only a matter of time now
before the energy has to come out. And Superboy knows that when it does, it will
destroy him. He has one last chance. If this supernatural energy works the same
way as the solar energy that gives him his powers...perhaps he can release it.
Or die trying. Knowing it’s his only hope, Superboy lets loose. The mystical
energy suddenly pours from his eyes, a thousand times more intense than heat
vision. It hits all of the sorcerers at once, knocking them out. Superboy
continues to release the energy until it has all been expunged from his body. He
surveys the area. The ordeal is over. But life can never be the same again. Lana
is dead.
Superboy turns and walks to the slab
where Lana’s body was. He expects to find her remains, but instead he sees her
lying on the slab, whole, unblemished, as if nothing had happened. She opens her
eyes and looks up at him. Their eyes meet and Lana jumps up and hugs the boy of
steel. Tears run down Superboy’s face. Lana is alive!
“What happened? The last thing I
remember was lying there about to be stabbed and then...”
“I’m not sure exactly what
happened. But it’s a miracle.” says Superboy.
“No! It’s not.” a voice yells
from several feet away. It’s Will, who is now awake and apparently powerless.
Superboy and Lana walk over to him.
“What do you mean?” Superboy
asks.
“The ritual transferred Lana’s
life force to Xavier. But I broke away from the circle before the ritual was
complete. So the transfer was successful, but not permanent. Lana’s life force
was strong, and it was not yet locked in Xavier’s body. The process reversed
itself and Lana was restored as a result.” explains Will.
Lana looks at the other cult members,
who are all now awake.
“Our powers are gone. Between the
ritual and fighting you, we’ve exhausted them forever. We do not want to live
without them.” says Will as he slowly stands up. He looks to his fellow
sorcerers. They all nod in agreement. Suddenly, they all begin to glow with a
strange light.
“We are combining the last reserves
of our powers...so we can die in peace.”
“No! Stop!” screams Superboy as
he moves toward Will.
“Do not stop us. It is better this
way. I am sorry, Lana, for what I did. Please forgive me and my brothers.
Goodbye.” Will and the other sorcerers seem to dissolve. Their bodies become
like smoke, and they drift away into nothingness.
Lana stares in disbelief.
“They’re gone. Like they were
never there.”
“It’s over now. They won’t be
bothering us again. C’mon, I’ve had enough of this night.”
Superboy grabs Lana in his arms and
pulls her to him. They kiss as Superboy thinks of what it was like to almost
lose Lana forever. He hopes he never has to experience that feeling again.
Superboy wraps his arms around Lana, and together they fly off into the night
sky.
THE END...