His world exploded before his birth. Propelled by a futuristic craft powered by a science beyond mans comprehension he arrived on our world as a baby. Raised as a human by loving, caring parents who instilled in him the difference between right and wrong, he derives his powers from our yellow sun that give him enormous and unheard of abilities! His massive strength and incomprehensible powers are matched only by the great and true heart that beats within his chest! He is one of the most powerful champions for truth, justice, and the American way that has ever lived! A man from the stars ever seeking to make the Earth his home, and to protect that home from evils no one else would have a glimmer of hope against! He is the man of steel, the man of tomorrow...he is..

Superman #23

By Ralph L. Angelo Jr.

Birthing pains Part I

The sliding doors of Metropolis general hospitals emergency wing whoosh open as a hurricane of red and blue streaks through, a bundled woman in his arms.

"Help! This woman is about to have a baby!" shouts the Man of Steel as he lays Lois Lane-Kent down on a gurney that was empty and by the door.

"Relax, Superman." A young black woman with a stethoscope says as she walks over and begins checking Lois. "You’re almost as nervous as this poor woman’s husband must be."

Lois looks over at Superman and smiles between labor pains, as he looks on nervously. Superman," She grimaces, could you go back and get Clark? You flew me out of my home so fast; he must have not left yet. Hopefully you’ll be able to catch him and bring him here, otherwise he’ll be stuck in traffic for hours."

"You’re right Lois, I’ll go back for him right away. Thank you Doctor. " He nods towards the Doctor and then is gone, as 10 seconds later, Clark Kent, expectant father bursts through a lobby door nearby, jacket over his arm, and glasses almost askew on his face.

"Lois! There you are. Are you okay honey?" He asks as he grips her arm.

"As good as can expected, Mr. Kent." The Doctor answers for Lois. "I’m Dr. Nyobi, and your wife is doing fine so far. I expect her to be in labor a few hours. She has a ways to go yet from the look of things. We have a private room ready on the 22^nd floor, right down the hall from maternity, and the nursery, so you can go and see your baby any time you want."

"Thank you Dr. Nyobi." Clark answers as he and Lois make their way down the hall to an elevator, she on the gurney, he by her side.

"Clark," Lois grimaces through a painful moment; "Don’t you think you should contact our parents?"

"Uh, yes, you’re right. Dr, do I have a few minutes yet?"

"You have plenty of time I would say, Mr. Kent. Go do what you have to. I’ll have you paged if need be."

"Thank you Dr. I’ll be back soon hon." He kisses Lois on the forehead and then jogs down the hall.

"Lois will kill me if I don’t get back in time for the baby’s birth, but I know what she meant. Yes, she wants me to get all our friends and family here, but she knows I have to warn Gold’n that I won’t be around for a few days at least." Clark thinks as he jogs down the hallway, then into a stairwell, where a quick burst of heat vision blurs a camera’s lens, and he is gone! Streaking out the nearby window, and re-garbed as SUPERMAN!

The Man of steel whips through the city, covering its distance at hyper-velocity, also splaying over its depth and breadth with his telescopic and x-ray vision powers.

"There she is!" He thinks to himself as he drops down from on high to the young girl’s side, as she sits atop the Daily Planet building.

"Superman!" She shrieks with delight! "When you called me with my watch thingy I knew it had to be important! What up big blue?"

Superman lands lightly, as the warm breezes atop the "Planet" unfurl and refurl his flowing red cape.

"Gold’n, I’m going to be incommunicado for the next few days, to possibly a week, maybe more. I need you to watch over the city in my absence."

"What???" She shouts as she drops to the rooftop in her rear end, her legs giving way immediately as the words left his mouth. "You can’t be serious, Superman! No WAY I can take your place, even for a coupla days."

He places his hand on her shoulder as he looks down on her. "Gold’n, relax. You’re more then adequately trained. In fact, you could give quite a few JLA’ers a run for their money. Believe me, you’re ready, as ready as you’ll ever be. I’m not throwing you into the middle of the street in traffic, Gold’n. If anything, you can consider this a final exam. You are ready, and I have the utmost confidence in you."

"A-are you sure?" She asks quietly, as she looks up into his eyes.

"Positive. I’ll be back in a few days. If you get into trouble, call the Titans or the JLA on your com-link watch. Both frequencies are in there already, and if you see any trouble that the SCU needs help with, dive right in, I’ll be letting Henderson know what I’m doing in a minute."

He leans forward and kisses her on the forehead lightly, and then streaks away as she waves to him from the rooftop, her eyes gleaming with tears, and a smile on her face that lights the city more then even her bright glowing light!

Minutes later, Superman lands at the Kent farm in Kansas, 3 minutes later, his parents bundled up protectively under his arms, Superman blasts skywards and towards Metropolis!

He lands atop Metropolis General and ushers them towards a rooftop door "Hurry M-, uh Mrs. Kent, Mr. Kent. Clark and Lois are expecting the baby any minute."

"My word Superman, I’ve never flown with you, in all the years we’ve known you, that was amazing!" His mother exclaims like a child.

Superman smiles as the three of them make their way to the maternity ward. "Okay folks, I’ve done as Clark asked, now I must be going. Good luck, Lois." Superman is gone flying out the doorway of the hospital ward.

Across the city, Superman stops at the apartment of Lois and Clark, and carefully and quickly calls Lois’ parents. "Hi, It’s Clark, she’s having the baby, yes Metropolis general. I’m on my way too. No, Superman dropped her off already, we figured it was faster and safer that way. Okay, I’ll see you both soon. Yes, I love you both too." He hangs the phone up and smiles.

"This is the most exciting thing that I’ve ever been involved with." He thinks to himself. "Nothing I’ve ever seen compares to this"

He streaks out the window and returns to the hospital, instantly changing to Clark in mid step, faster then any camera could follow, or eye could see.

"Clark!" Jonathan Kent practically shouts from the end of the hallway, "Lois just went into delivery, the baby is coming faster then they thought, move it son, your wife needs you in there!"

"I’m coming Pa!" Clark answers as he jogs into the delivery room. "It’s taking everything I have just to not move at super-speed!" he thinks to himself. "Oh no! I forgot one thing!"

"Pa! Can you call the ‘Planet’? I forgot to tell Perry and Jimmy that Lois was ready to deliver."

"Will do, son." He answers as he pulls a cel phone from his jacket pocket. "Dad gummed thing, I never did get the hang of using these. But for Clark, anything." Jonathan mumbles to himself.

Across Metropolis… Gold’n lands in front of the main Metropolis Police headquarters as light as a feather.

Simultaneously, Chief of Police Henderson exits the door of the Police station. "What are you doin’ here kid? I was expecting Superman himself."

"Huh? I thought he was going to call you and tell you he wasn’t gonna be around for the next few days? He must’ve forgot."

"What are you talkin’ about, kid? Superman is not going to be around?" Henderson asks.

"Nope, he’s gone for a few days and asked me to cover for him, that is, if um, you’ll let me?" She finishes a little sheepishly

"That’s not like him." Henderson muses aloud. "He never forgets to spread the word, whatever it is."

"Well I guess he did this time." Gold’n adds authoritatively "What do you need Chief? I’m your girl.

"Since you put it that way, The call just came in from Futura City to our north. The place is not even up and running yet, but people are starting to move in by the boatload. And right now they’re under attack."

"Attack? From who?" Gold’n stammers.

"From that metal skinned maniac you and Supes fought a few weeks back. That green suited freak, Catalyst."

"I’m there!" Gold’n shouts as she races skywards, then almost instantly doubles back, "Uhh, where is it?"

"Head north kid, about a hundred miles, you’ll see it. It’s all, well futuristic, and it’s the same danged color as you, though no way it glows as brightly."

"Thanks Chief, I’m outta here!"

Gold’n races skywards, disappearing instantly in a trail of golden light. Two minutes later, she pulls up short and one word escapes her lips…

"Wow."

Before Gold’n spreads the new Futura city. A city so far ahead of its time that it appears as if from another time, almost another planet! Modern monorails ring the city, as do moving walkways enclosed in high-density plastic. Dozens of medium level skyscrapers ring the city, most un-occupied. Nearby the tallest of the lot, a figure is seen, firing blasts of energy from glowing gauntlets, decimating the gleaming structures!

Catalyst fires a bolt of energy through a rooftop, shattering the glass dome in a million shards when suddenly…

Ba-Zaam!

Catalyst is hurled backwards as he spins in mid air out of control to slam through a wall and out the other side of a building he already destroyed!

Ba-Kroom!

"Wha?" His mechanically augmented voice mumbles with surprise.

"Not ‘Wha’ big loser, more like ‘Who?’ " Gold’n taunts as she streaks in and unleashes a powerful right across the armored villains face!

Ta-BOOM!

He tumbles across the sky to right himself instantly. "You girl? What happened, your master release the leash? Or you just broke the collar?" He taunts as he fires twin bolts of energy that splash against Gold’ns glowing energy aura.

"You gotta do better’en that shiny top." She laughs as she breaks away from his energy blast, to answer with her own. "Sorta like THIS!"

Fa-VOOM!

She bathes the villain in glowing energy, smashing him again, but this time he rockets directly towards her, through her barrage, to pound her with a powerful left haymaker!

Tha-SHOOM!

Back at Metropolis general hospital…

"There you go Lois, breathe deeply, almost there." Dr. Morrison, Lois’ Doctor coaches her, as Clark looks on nervously.

"I see a head." The Doctor says aloud, Keep working at it, Lois, here he comes, and it is a "he". The Doctor continues.

Clark stands there, frightened as well as awed by what is transpiring. "I never thought I’d see this moment. No matter what marvels I’ve encountered across the universe, this makes them all pale in comparison."

And then the Doctor proclaims… "He’s here!" as he slaps the baby’s behind, causing the young child to cry and begin it’s new born life. He hands the baby to Lois, as Clark holds her and the child in his strong arms, a hug as gentle as a lambs fleece from arms that could crush a mountain to dust.

"Do you have a name yet?" The Doctor asks.

"Yes, yes we do Doctor." Lois answers through tears of joy. "His name is Jonathan. Jonathan Clark Kent ."

"Well welcome to the world Jonathan Clark Kent" Clark whispers as he holds his sons tiny hand. "I’m very happy to finally meet you."

Back in Futura City…

Gold’n kicks away from Catalyst, freeing herself from his grasp. "Get away from me, you perv!"

"Ha! You amuse me, child. But the time for games is over. You and your mentor could not stop me last time we met, what makes you think you can alone?" He fires another blast of energy at her, nailing her square in the chest, blasting her through an unfinished skyscrapers wall, and into the building inside. She lands in a heap, unmoving, and covered in dust and debris…

Metropolis general hospital…

Lois and Clark hold their child lovingly and play with the small baby’s hands, as nearby the nurses and Doctor look on while they ready to wheel Lois into the recovery room. All is silent in this most special of moments. All of their attention is focussed on the child in their arms. Lois is exhausted, but smiles from ear to ear. Clark holds his family close. Ready to protect them from anything. All his attention is on these two lives in his arms. The moment is perfection.

Tha-ROOOM!

The wall shatters behind them all as, almost in slow motion, segmented metallic limbs reach in and tear the child from Clarks and Lois’ grasp! And then, a powerful voice intrudes on all their minds!

"At Last!" The voice roars, drowning out all words, all thoughts, save its own. "At last the child is mine!"

"NOOOOOO!" Lois screams as she throws herself at the arm holding her crying child, instantly another appears from seemingly nowhere, to smash her across the jaw, a loud "Crack" fills the air as her head suddenly lays at a sickly angle upon her neck, as she hits the wall and slides down it. Clark is immediately at her side

Doctors and nurses fill the room, along with security personal, but a sheer wave of thought batters them all to their knees!

"FOOLS! Do not interfere with me in my moment of triumph! The Child is within my grasp, the child of …SUPERMAN!"

Across the room, Clark slowly rises from where Lois fell, and still lies, tears stain his face as he turns towards the tentacles that shred the wall again. To reveal a gleaming metallic face floating in the sky outside, as if from hell itself! "You killed her." He whispers in a fearsome tone. Then repeats louder. "You killed Lois, you monster!" as he shreds his shirt and hospital clothes to reveal his costume beneath! Then hurls himself through the wall at his deadly foe. His most fearsome enemy of all…

"Brainiac!" Superman bellows with words from a pained and unhealable soul, "By all the Gods of Earth and Krypton, I’ll kill you for this!"

To be continued…

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