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"Man, kids these days. They think it's a competition to have the most friends. One is enough. Find someone completely unique."
– Yato, (Noragami)
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"Wait, you aren't Bruce Wayne from the Wayne family of Gotham, are you? The billionaire heir of Wayne Enterprises?" She couldn't help but ask in surprise but instantly got ashamed when she realized what she had asked.
"Yes, I am, ma'am." I didn't try to hide my identity at all. I had no reason to. In fact, the plan I was slowly hatching in my mind required me to divulge my identity to the Kent family.
I had no desire to fight Superman, I didn't want to repeat the stupid fight from the movies to make myself seem like some dark broody caped crusader on the side of bloody vengeance. No, instead I would play it smart and make sure that Superman would think thrice before even considering attacking me in the future, no matter what.
Getting over her surprise within a couple of seconds, Mrs. Kent invited us in with doubt still wretched on her face. She looked like she was still debating with herself on whether to believe she was in a dream or if I was lying or if her son had truly befriended the richest kid in the world.
"You know you don't have to treat me or any one of us any different than you treat anyone else that visits your home," I said as we all sat around the kitchen table.
Their sofa was apparently 'not comfortable enough', so we had to sit around the table. None of us cared about it but it did help me realize that these guys were really not making enough money, period. Clark was the exact opposite of what Bruce was. He had op powers with a poor family compared to the original Bruce who had no powers but an extremely huge inheritance.
"I am not. I am just treating you like how I would have treated a normal guest. Also, this is the first time any of Clark's friends actually came home with him. So, I would have to at least make sure that you get the minimum respect so that you can continue to be friends with him." She explained.
"Mom, come on. You are embarrassing me." Clark muttered with a red face.
"Am I? Oh well, I guess you are at the stage where anything your mother says embarrasses you doesn't it?" Martha Kent said with a teasing smile.
"You don't have to worry, we will continue to be friends with Clark no matter how you treat us," Vicki said, probably feeling bad at how she treated him before.
"Although that delicious smell of the steak will help a lot," Selina said focusing on food like always.
Sometimes I wonder, was Selina Kyle always this much of a foodie because it's practically impossible to maintain that slim body with how much food she eats every day unless of course comic book logic.
"Yeah, the steak is almost done. Good thing I cooked a little extra today. Jonathan will be back any minute too. I am sure that he will be as glad as me to meet his son's friends for the first time." Martha said as she went to the oven to perfect her 'art'.
"So, you like live here all alone, just the three of you? Because I don't think I saw another living human about half a mile near your home." Vicki asked, not being able to control her curious nature.
"Well, we did use to have neighbors but their homes were really far away. Also, Lex's father has been buying their lands for high prices. He offered to buy ours as well but Dad said some very... indecent words to him when he made the offer to him." Clark explained with a wry smile.
"Oh, interesting," I said as my mind worked at full speed trying to guess the reason why Luthor senior was trying to buy up this estate. Was it simply greed for more real estate, or was it because he found out that this land might have some natural resources hidden under it? The most likely reason is probably the presence of the countess meteor fragments that fell on the surrounding land a couple of years ago, particularly the piece of advanced technology in the form of the alien super baby pod that Clark came in.
As the five of us continued to talk on various topics and I steadily collected information from them about everything I needed to know about Smallville, I understood a few things.
This version of the city was something like a combination of the different iterations of the city ever shown primarily in the movies and the comics with some elements of the TV show mixed in there as well.
Even though none of the big-name DC villains have ever attacked the Kent family, a lot of small-time gangs have, and from Clark's stories as well as how he avoided talking about them, it seemed like he had taken care of them secretly in his own peaceful manner.
Martha even mentioned how Clark had a 'bad boy' phase last month where he suddenly tried to act like he was a gang member or something. So unless Clark had a bipolar disorder somehow in this universe, that was definitely some red kryptonite dust working its magic on him. But the question for me was if the red alien crack is a natural element in this universe or if someone artificially made it. Also, whoever made it, does he have more of it or even the green kryptonite that would undoubtedly be required to make it?
As thoughts like these were going through my head with me trying to decide whether to send some drones to search for Clark's baby pod and invade some Luthor laboratories or not since those labs would most probably be the ones behind any sort of research that would include kryptonite and Kryptonian genes, Papa Kent finally came home as the patriarch of the family gently knocked on the door.
"Oh, honey you are here. You would not believe who came to visit us... It's Clark's first group of friends." Mrs. Kent tried to interest her husband in us and make him seem friendlier despite his tired face that screamed 'I just wanna eat and go to sleep' making Clark even more embarrassed in front of us. She introduced all of us one by one but unlike her, Jonathan Kent didn't react to my name much except just raise his brows for a single second after losing interest.
"Hello, little ones. I didn't know that my son could actually make good-looking fellas like you his friends. I guess he exceeded my expectations." Jonathan said as he ruffled his son's hair with a smile despite his tiredness. He looked happy at his son making some friends but there was also a small light of fear and doubt hidden expertly behind his smiling eyes.
"You don't look good Mr. Kent. Are you sure that you should be working that hard in the field?" Selina could not help but ask. It might sound insulting to someone else listening to her but she probably feels really bad looking at the tired body of the man who looked much older than he was due to how much work he did every day.
"It's okay. These old bones are tougher than they look. Plus I have Hank to look after me." He said with a small smile as he sat down at the table.
"You mean Krypto," Clark muttered in a low voice as a dog barked on queue and came running from the outside through the small pet flap on the door I hadn't noticed before, reminding me how absolutely shit my detective skills are as well as the importance of the NZT pills that I was so close to perfecting.
Also, why does this dog exist here? I mean isn't it some kind of funny animated character designed to entertain children? I mean I watched the Super Pets movie, one of the very few DC movies that was actually likable and that's where I saw the character first. I thought it was only an animal comic character made for kids that don't exist in canon of any kind. By the way, I want a dog now or maybe a cat... even though I have Selina.
"I wonder why I feel somebody just insulted me," Selina murmured as she looked around trying to figure out the cause for her feelings. But of course, I didn't give her a chance to test her developing womanly instincts and just diverted the conversation.
"Are you going to keep working here like this? I mean, shouldn't you try out some other ways to make money like leasing the land or doing some real estate trading, or maybe even doing some smart farming like growing more cash crops or getting into the meat and dairy industry? That would probably make a lot of money until some vegetable munching protesters with too much time in their hand try to shut the industry down in the name of nature in the future." I tried to advise the man who continued to smile looking at me.
"I definitely could but real estate is a business of the sharks. I neither have the capital, the connections nor the sharp personality required to make a few bucks in the business. They would eat me alive if I ever tried it. And, I would gladly switch to cash crops or animal farming but the maintenance and setup costs are huge which any bank would never lend a farmer like me even on their best of days. As for leasing the land, I am a farmer from birth little man, I cannot move away from my roots." He said with a sad sigh as he focused his attention on the piece of steak his wife was bringing to the table.
"But what about the senate position that you wanted to pursue when you were still young? I thought that it was your dream to become a senator for the state of Kansas one day." Martha said as she looked at her husband with supporting eyes.
"That was all in my youth Martha. I was stupid enough to dream a lot of stupid things back then. You were one of the very few ones that came true among them. Also, I have a family now. I don't have time to run after stupid dreams. I would much prefer to be with you guys than old men insulting and arguing with each other in expensive suits. Plus we have something to protect now." He said with a small laugh as he took a look at Clark who kept petting the alien dog that had taken its place on his lap.
I realized something after hearing Mr. Kent's words. Yes, he might be a retard as I had determined before but the man was the nicest retard I had ever met in my life. He was probably as nice as Ben Parker, only more talented and I would absolutely hate seeing a good person like this meeting the same fate as the original Bruc... my own parents. I was never able to save them but I might try to save him and earn some good karma for myself. Plus I would need it to balance the bad karma I would be steadily accumulating by killing irredeemable psychos.
"Plus, a senator needs sponsors, donors, and people with connections. Who would be investing in an old farmer like me?" He said as he gave a hearty laugh and picked up his piece of meat with a fork.
"I'll do it," I said as I bit into my food like it was no big deal. Well, it truthfully wasn't. The Waynes had spent huge amounts of money on political lobbying in the past, Thomas Wayne's campaign in Gotham when he was running for mayor cost a lot. So financing another person wasn't a big deal for me. Also, he also could give me a lot of things in return if he won. So, he was more of an investment than a charity.
"Wait, what?" Every member of the Kent family said in unison while even Krypto looked like it was confused about why Clark suddenly stopped rubbing its stomach.
Selina and Vicki just concentrated on their dinners rather than adding to the conversation. They knew too much about my attitude to doubt my words or question my reasons. They knew that I could even burn a billion dollars for no reason at all if I felt that would profit me somehow in the future.
"Why would you even consider..." Jonathan could not complete his words as the Kent family landline rang up. The man didn't have any choice but to pause the conversation to go and pick up the phone.
It seems like they were not so poor that they could not afford a home phone.
"Hello... Oh, Ross, it's you. What? How? Are you sure? It might just be some stupid rumor or something... Ok sure... You too and thanks for the information, Arthur." Jonathan kept the phone down with a grim expression on his face. He looked like he had aged a few months from that call alone.
"Was that Peter Ross' father on the phone? What did he say?" Martha looked worried as she approached the senior Kent and placed her hand on his shoulder to show her support.
"Yeah, that was Arthur. H-he said that a weird woman had been seen walking through the town of Smallville. She has supposedly even killed a few people and is now a wanted criminal on the charge of homicide..." He said as he took a quick look at Clark, not wanting to say anything else.
"Was that it? I don't understand why you are so worried about it. I am sure they will catch her. We will stay safe inside the house. I am sure that we can make enough room for Bruce, Selina, and Vicki in our house today as well so that they can stay the night. I'll call the school and..." Martha started to say but was soon interrupted by her husband again.
"Some witnesses say that the woman is capable of melting things with fire gushing from her eyes, wrecking entire cars with a single punch and even bullets don't have any effect on her. She calls herself Aethyr and is going through the entire town searching for something... or someone."
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