Fic: Chiaroscuro (The Deconstruction of a Superman remix) [Smallville, Superman, Lois Lane, R]

[kanye-westley.livejournal.com]

Title: Chiaroscuro (the Deconstruction of a Superman remix)
Author: medie
Summary: He finds the first child in Hobb's Bay
Fandom: Smallville
Characters: Superman, Lois Lane
Rating: R for violent themes and imagery.
Disclaimer: Miller & Gough, not me
Original story: Stand by You by treeshy


Chiaroscuro (The Deconstruction of a Superman remix)

When it's over, he thinks that he should feel something. Be it guilt, remorse, or even satisfaction and he searches himself for their presence but finds none. It's a hollow emptiness that sits in his chest when the lifeless body slips from his fingers to fall to the concrete with a wet thud.

Superman doesn't spare it even a glance, stepping over it to fly away.

*

Frustrated rage surges through him as he grabs the Shade by the throat and slams him into the wall so hard it shakes. "Where is she?" He grits out, the image of a bloodied Kara crumpled at Metallo's feet taunting him every time he closes his eyes. "Tell me where he took her or I'll --”

"You'll what?" Shade mocks, smirking. "Give me a time out?" He doesn't say it; he doesn't need to.

Superman scowls. It would be so easy, a slight change in his grip, a shift of strength so minute no one would notice. It would be so simple as to be effortless and he lets himself savor the idea of killing Shade for a moment.

He can see the taunt waiting for him in the Shade's eyes. Superman's a boy scout; Superman doesn't hurt people; Superman's a good little hero.

He thinks of his cousin in their hands and --

He wants to.

Batman's gloved hand grips his shoulder. "If you kill him," he says pragmatically, "he can't tell you where she is."

For a second, Superman doesn't care. He lets Batman finish the interrogation.

*

He finds the first child in Hobb's Bay.

A tiny girl of no more than six, her body lies at the water's edge in a crumpled heap. The rising tide sends water spilling over her ruined tights but it's not yet high enough to wash away the fluids that desecrate her lifeless flesh. Stumbling away from the horrific tableau, Superman retches and clenches his fists tight enough to turn coal into diamond.

She's just the first, he knows that. The killer's got the taste for it now, he'll do it again. So many innocent little lives shattered by men more monstrous than a thousand Solomon Grundys.

He calls the police and, when he can, he leaves.

There's nothing that can be done here, she's already lost.

*

"I couldn't save her," he tells Lois on the Planet's rooftop and she listens, watching him with helplessly. "I can't save any of them." He turns away, a bitter laugh bubbling out of him in mockery of his usual good cheer.

He hears her take a hesitant step, feels her hand land on his shoulder. It's a gesture meant to comfort and he wishes it could.

"Don't blame yourself," she pleas. "You're not responsible for this; you're not responsible for any of it." This is something he's heard from Lois before. She's never been shy about sharing her opinion. "You take it on yourself, and we let you, but it's not your blame to carry. It's ours."

She stands at his side, her hand covering his. "Someone could have helped her," she sighs as they stare out at the horizon. "They didn't."

*

Perry runs her article as a full-page spread with the little girl's school picture front and center for all to see.

It's the best selling edition of the year and Lois wins the Kirk award.

*

When the next victim is found, she's in the alley behind the Planet and it's Clark that does the finding.

*

Oliver comes to see him that night, dressed for patrol, and Clark's voice is as dead as he feels when he says, "They look like Kara."

He doesn't add she was still wearing a Supergirl nightgown but he'll never forget it.

"They're not Kara," Ollie says, standing with him. "Don't go there, Clark. She's safe."

"So were they," Clark looks at him. "They were safe, Oliver, they were safe in their homes, and he had them and they weren't safe anymore. They were brutalized and I couldn't do anything to stop it." He looks out at the night. "I'm Superman - I'm supposed to stop it."

"You're only -- "

Clark smiles faintly. "I'm only human? God, I wish I was. It might make this easier." He takes off his glasses and holds them up. "Remember when your biggest complaint was I wouldn't do something?"

Ollie clears his throat and closes his eyes. "Clark, I don't -- I never meant -- "

"No, you didn't." Clark walks away. "It doesn't matter anyway; not now."

*

The Inquisitor runs an article, letters flood into the Planet, everyone wondering when Superman will do something.

Clark wishes he knew.

*

Maggie Sawyer is assigned the case, the public panic leading the commissioner to drastic measures. Child murders aren't exactly the SCU's beat.

Superman says as much the next time he sees her, but he doesn't hide the relief he feels either as they walk into an abandoned warehouse swarming with officers.

Maggie smiles soberly. "All hands on deck with this one," she brushes a hand against his. "Couldn't leave this one to you, it wouldn't be right."

He doesn't argue. "I'm useless here," he admits. "What good are my powers against this?" Superpowers are great for catching crashing planes and fighting killer robots; monsters of flesh and blood are as invulnerable as phantoms until he can find them.

"You'll get your chance," she promises, eyes hard. "Just as soon as I find the son of a bitch, you put him in orbit."

"I'd rather put him in the ground."

Maggie smiles.

The crowd parts silently to let them pass unhindered and when he sees it, Superman wishes they hadn't.

"We think she was the first," Maggie gestures sadly at the mostly decomposed little body lying at their feet. "The forensics guys say the maggots will help us pin down a timeline but she's been here a while."

"We find out who she is," Superman realizes, "we stand a chance."

"Yes," she nods. "We do."

*

Superman finds him first, a little body in his hands and a sickening look in his eyes. It's a look of satisfaction and his blood runs cold, turning to ice as the tiny body drops limply onto the floor.

"Shit," the man breathes, backing up a step. "You."

Superman takes one step forward. "I've been waiting for this," he says, quiet as the grave. He's been waiting for his chance and now he's got it. It seems shockingly simple. "I'm not supposed to, I promised my father you know." He smiles. "I promised I'd never use my powers in anger, I promised I'd never take a human life."

The flesh-covered bones snap so easily in his hands. "But you're not exactly human, are you?"

*

"It's over," he tells Lois.

She looks confused. "What? The -- did you find him?"

Superman nods. "He won't do it again." He hears her sigh in relief and knows it will be short-lived. "I killed him." He meets her gaze in time to see the blood drain from her face, shock setting in almost instantly. "Snapped his neck."

"You what?!" Lois asks hoarsely, sinking onto the couch as if her legs will no longer hold her. "You -- "

"I'm not sorry," he says blandly, not seeing the point in being anything but honest. Not about this. "I'm not. If there's a hell, I want him in it, Lois. I want him to burn. No lawyers, no second chances. Just their faces to keep him company for the rest of eternity." He can't think of anything he'd like more.

"You can't be serious," she stammers out, staring at him as if he were a stranger. He supposes, with this admission, he probably is. This is not the act of the man she’s known for so long. "You killed him?!"

"You didn't see them, Lois," he sits before her, reaching for her hands. She yanks them away and he just nods, thinking he wouldn't want to touch him either if he were her. "Their little bodies, the blood, the maggots -- he didn't deserve to live." He pauses, trying to think of a way to explain. "He murdered children, Lois; he murdered innocent children for his own pleasure. It wasn't for power or money, it was because he liked it."

"And how are you any different?" She asks. "You murdered a man, a man who didn't stand a chance of fighting back." He can't stop the flinch that her words evoke. "You killed him and you enjoyed it so how does that make you any different?"

Lois stands and turns away. "Maybe he deserved to die," she agrees with the faintest of quivers in her voice. "I can't say part of me doesn't agree with you, because it does, but if he deserved to die -- what about you?"

He looks at her back. "I deserve to die too."

*

Kara comes to see him, her features wan and pinched. "What did you do?"

He looks at her, sees those little girls. "The right thing."

*

They're all at the Watchtower when he walks in, waiting for him. Most are stone-faced, angry, but Kara turns her head. He hears her shuddering breath and the reassurances that the Green Arrow whispers into her ear when he wraps an arm around her shoulder.

It hurts to see her nod and swipe at a stray tear; he's the one who's supposed to take care of her.

Batman steps in front of them, breaking the scene. "You know why you're here, don't you?"

He nods and squares his shoulders. "What have you decided?"

"You're not well, Kal-El," J'onn says, stepping up. "What you've done -- "

"Was the right thing," he insists again but the words sound as hollow to him as he suspects they do to the League.

"Is it?" Wonder Woman asks. "We are not their judges, Superman, and we cannot be their executioners." She looks as agonized as Kara. "You know that as well as I do.” She pauses uncertainly, "Or, you did know."

Superman smiles tightly and turns back to Batman, resolute. "Let's hear it."

Batman nods. "All right -- effective immediately, your membership is terminated and will remain so until -- "

"Until you smarten the fuck up!" Impulse snaps.

"What he said," the Green Arrow agrees. "Get out, Clark and don't come back."

Clark goes, he can't say he disagrees.

*

"The League was right," he tells Lois, watching the sun set over Metropolis and taking her silence for the agreement that it is. "I've become the thing I hate."

She curls a hand around his, a tangible reminder of the people that he's failed. "I can't tell you that you did the right thing," her voice wraps around him like a warm blanket and he closes his eyes. "It will get better."

He isn't sure that he wants it to get better but, for now, her promise is enough.

fin

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

Oh, very nice. Because too many people take it for granted that just because someone is a hero, they aren't affected by all that crap. You managed to go there realistically without losing sight of the fact that this is Superman.

[medie]

Thank you! And yeah, the whole idea of being in the middle of that...There's no way for him to be unaffected and it's just a heartbreaker, picturing Superman trying to deal with it. It definitely wasn't an easy one to write so, thank you for your response!

[oxoniensis.livejournal.com]

This hurts because it's so very believable - Superman's sense of helplessness in a situation like this, building up to the almost inevitable conclusion. Nicely done.

[medie]

Thank you! And yeah, of all the things I think of that could potentially really break him...this kind of scenario would be just the one to do it.

[lastscorpion.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done! I wish the SV people had put half that much thought into Combat. :-(

[medie]

Oh thank you!!! *SNUGGLES* Let us not think of Combat. *shudder*

[liminalliz.livejournal.com]

*FLAIL!!!* Loved it!

[medie]

eee fanks!