"Clark!" My mom exclaims, running over and hugging me. "You've been gone so long. I thought you'd be back by sundown. Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Um no. Not really any place for a watch out in space." I responded.
"Smart alec. It's 10 o'clock at night! We were so worried! What if you got stranded in space!? We were talking about it and we decided you'd be fine with breathing because you can hold so much air - you demonstrated your super breath and we figured you could hold your breath for a really long time and if you ran out of air, you'd be fast enough to enter the atmosphere before you passed out." Martha said in a rush.
"Mom, I'm sorry to worry you, but I don't need to breathe. It's purely a reflex. When I'm fully saturated with solar energy, I can even go without water or food. I'm like a plant or something. A Super Plant considering I don't even need water when I have enough sunlight. Oh, by the way, I didn't stay just outside the Earth." I said.
"Oh good. That's smart. So you decided to stay above the clouds?" Martha asked.
"No, I hung outside to where there are no satellites, far outside the orbit of the earth and stayed there for hours before I headed towards the Sun and was around Mercury before I meditated and stayed there for most of my time in space before I headed back." I said.
"What!?" Martha screamed. "What if you got stranded!? What were you thinking!? You would have died out there!"
"Martha. It's ok." Jonathan reassured. "Clark wouldn't do that if he wasn't 100% confident in his abilities. Right, Clark?" He asked with a slight glare. I could tell he was angry but keeping calm so we could have a calm discussion.
"Yes, Dad. I swear I was being careful. Why do you think I didn't get closer to the Sun? I want to make regular visits where I get closer and closer and eventually I'll be able to withstand the surface of the Sun." I explained.
"WHAT!?" Both of my parents yelled.
"Yes. Eventually, I'll be able to go to the surface of the sun to meditate. When I develop my body even further, I believe I'll be able to withstand it. I'm 99% sure I could even survive it now considering my adaptive abilities, but I'd like to play it safe. I'm sure the Sun's exposure around Mercury's distance is plenty fine for now. And 12 hours of direct Sun should be suitable for what I have to do next." I said.
Martha and Jonathan looked at each other and sighed deeply. "Ok, Clark. We trust in you, but if you even have a 1% doubt in your chance to survive out there, you don't risk it. It's not worth dying just to get closer to the Sun. I'd feel better if you tested that when you have escape or rescue options." Martha acquiesced.
"Yeah, right. Who's going to rescue me from the…" I stopped talking and a thought came to the forefront of my mind. "That's right! Kara!"
"Who?" Jonathan asked.
"There's another Kryptonian on Earth who I'm related to. Her name is Kara and she's my cousin." I said.
"Your cousin? You have other family here? Why haven't they come to check on you?" Martha asked.
"She's in hibernation. Her ship was submerged near the dam. I have to go rescue her soon!" I exclaimed urgently.
"Alright, son. I'd love to meet anyone from your birth parent's family and you know they're welcome here, of course." Jonathan said.
"Thanks, Dad," I said, while hugging him.
"Ok - hey, Ma? Do you have that key to the spaceship? I need to get started on the artifact collecting to build the fortress." I said.
"Don't you want to have dinner first? I fixed you an extra large plate since you skipped lunch, too." Martha offered.
"Yes, please!" I responded enthusiastically, even though I wasn't even the least bit hungry. I thought it was a good idea to continue to eat to keep up appearances and I still wasn't sure how Kryptonian physiology worked. If I could sustain myself on the Sun's energy alone, would it affect my growth if I stopped eating food? I'm not going to risk it for now. I'll keep eating food regularly and might even increase the uptake before I start working out and try to build a heroic physique.
Martha went to heat up the food in the microwave before I stopped her and gestured for her to set it down. She looked confused, but didn't say anything. I sat in front of the plate and focused energy into my eyes before a heat beam burst out, setting the food on fire and burning the steak to a crisp.
"Oops!" I said hurriedly and blew the fire out. I super sped and ate the rest of the dishes and stared at the steak before shrugging and eating the steak, too.
My parents chuckled at my antics. I got up from the table slowly and put a stern expression on my face.