The Man From Planet X [Superman!]

[Danii "LadyLiberty" Washington]

[style=font-family: times; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: lowercase; color: #989898; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;]568 WORDS FOR SUPERMAN well I hope this is a good start yeah? You're such a strange girl I think you come from another world [/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #6d6d6d;] [style=padding: 10px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; height: 475px; overflow: auto; color: #1e1e1e;]Her footsteps where quiet as she strode down the hall, years upon years of practicing had made it so that her footsteps were light enough to not be heard, especially with the constant dull hum of things going on in the ship masking any other conceivable sound she could have made. Not that there was any other sound being made, the skin tight SHIELD suit she wore never even made a sound, not the wisp of cloth against cloth, nothing. Danii didn't have to be so quiet on the Helicarrier, there was nothing she had to look out for there, it was simply habit now. Never make a sound, never call attention, stick to any shadows that played on the walls. Not that there were any dark spots what so ever on the upper decks, the halls were all polished to an almost inhuman gleam and if light wasn't already totally blinding to her eyes then the bright florescents employed overhead that caused everything to freaking glow, if memory served correctly, would have had her eyes bleeding. She was probably utterly conspicuous dressed all in black and wearing a pair of plain black goggles against the polished metal and white background, but in this line of work, no one batted an eye, instead saluting or nodding a quick hello as she passed by. There wasn't any particular place that the blond needed to be at that moment, and so instead she filled her time while waiting to be sent off god only knows where to do who knows what, with strolling around the ship, deep in thought. The world had changed drastically recently, and she was sure that her next mission would take her either into the cities of Gotham or Metropolis, as they had literally appeared on the map overnight. She hadn't been to either of the cities yet, it just seemed too bizarre, even for her and instead she had been forced into recon on the effects the sudden addition of another world worth of people was having on the preexisting world. Mindlessly she seemed to have taken to walking towards the bay area, but when she turned the corner she nearly walked into someone that wasn't from her world. Or was she just not from his? Either way Danii had been briefed on the general players of what was apparently known as the "Justice League" and since the man was wearing spandex and wasn't one of hers, he must have been one of them, "S'cuse me, anythin' I can help you with?" The woman knew he was supposed to be meeting with Fury at some point today, but didn't know if they had gone through the meeting already and he was just loitering around now or what, "Ah we're are my manners? I'm Lady Liberty," She stuck her hand out for a shake. Fury said he had a good feeling about the bunch, and that was good enough for her as her boss had yet to steer her wrong. [/style]

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Whenever something bad went down, all of the heroes looked to Superman. Okay, perhaps that should be rephrased. After all, something bad was ALWAYS happening. Rather, when something unbelievably bad - such as their entire Earth merging with a different universe - THAT was when the hero community looked to Superman. He was seen as their leader, the first hero, the greatest of them all.

It was a role that he was greatly uncomfortable with.

Throughout his entire life, Clark had been the outcast. He was constantly second-guessing himself, watching what he said or what he did, always preventing himself from getting close to anybody. Among other children, he was the nerd that was bullied, even though he could easily knock his attacker to the Moon - literally. He was always afraid of how people would view him if they knew what he could do or where he was from.

Now he knew exactly how they'd view him. They expected him to have all of the answers. The Man of Steel had been placed on so high of a pedestal that he was seen as almost Christ-like. He always did the right thing, he never went wrong, and he'd always know the answers, especially when all of the heroes were now in a strange new world.

But the reality of the situation couldn't be any farther from the truth. Even now, as he sat before the one-eyed colonel, Clark was nervous. Very nervous. He had been put forward to speak on behalf of his Earth's superhero community - all of them. Out of hundreds, if not thousands, of costumed do-gooders, they singled him out to speak. Him, the nerd who was bullied. Him, the boy who had been afraid of how people would fear him if they saw what he could do.

But throughout the interview with Colonel Fury, Superman kept his cool. Not once did the director of SHIELD think that the Last Son of Krypton was worried or upset. Superman explained the basics of their Earth, the major heroes, and the key battles they had fought against their enemies. Confident yet soft-spoken in his explanation, it showed exactly why the Man of Steel was chosen to represent all of those heroes. He charmed the hardened soldier in a way that somebody like Batman or Wonder Woman couldn't with nothing more than honesty and humbleness.

With a handshake and a smile, the conversation was concluded. As a show of good faith, the two had traded their respective communicators in order to keep the lines of peace open: Nick had been given a Justice League communicator, while Superman took with him an Avengers identicard. Even if there was still a well-meaning hesitance on both sides, the path to an alliance was now being paved.

As he walked through the halls of the Helicarrier, Superman stared down at the card in his hand, a pleasant smile on his lips. He'd get back to the Watchtower and make sure that the card was placed in the monitor womb, allowing all of the Leaguers to keep in contact with the Avengers.

Thank goodness for those Kryptonian senses, though, since right as he rounded a corner, he was about to collide with somebody else. He stopped on a dime, with the large red "S" on his chest just barely avoiding smacking into the woman's face. It seemed that just like in his own universe, all of the heroines were unbelievably attractive, and this girl was no exception.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He got his bearings together and swiftly apologized, looking down at the woman with a smile. "I was in my own little world there. There's just a lot on my mind, that's all." Thankfully, the blonde took the initiative and progressed the conversation to introductions.

"It's a pleasure, Lady Liberty. Folks call me Superman." With that ever-present smile, he took her hand in his own and shook it firmly, making sure not to apply too much strength and accidentally end up breaking her hand! "Any relation to your Captain America? I'm doing my best to learn all of the heroes from your world."

[Danii "LadyLiberty" Washington]

ight: 475px; overflow: auto; color: #1e1e1e;]He was literally all of about half an inch away from her nose, and she had to reprimand herself for not paying more attention to her surroundings. Though it was generally a safe environment on the Helicarrier unless a hostel was brought on board, letting her guard down that much was just bad practice, that and his chest seemed more then well enough muscled that bouncing her face off it probably would have really hurt, or just broken her nose entirely. Neither of which would have been particularly fun today, and after a moment to gather her wits about her she took a step back from the well-toned man in what she believed was spandex, out of his personal bubble as she was probably way too close for comfort.

"It's quite alright, I should know better then to not pay attention to my surroundings by now, good thing for those reflexes though," Danii gave him her signature quirk of a smile even as she reprimanded herself again, "Considering the unbelievable events of the past few weeks, I don't think I can fault you really, we've all got a lot on our plates right now," More then just a lot, in fact something like having so much on their plates you couldn't even tell it was under there any more, and things just kept on piling up on top. It wasn't just heroes from another world, it was everyone including villains, civilians, and more run of the mill criminals then she could imagine.

Briskly shaking his hand back Danii couldn't help but smile wider, a soft chuckle lacing her tone, "I'm guessin' that's what the big 'S' I was all up close and personal with a moment ago stands for?" She couldn't tell what the color was exactly, the goggles kept everything shaded dark and distorted color, which reminded her that she really needed to get a better pair, "No, it's a long story that basically ends with Fury havin' a hell of a sense of humor," The blond had to laugh, "Yeah, the old man actually has one, its just a tad on the sardonic side, which I'm sure you can believe,"

Looking around the hall simply out of habit of making sure she knew where everything around her was, she clasped her hands behind her back, immediately falling into the posture of standing at attention, a habit from so many years in the military that she would probably never break, "How about we go for a walk then Superman, we might be able to help each other out with that, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours so to speak," Danii was smiling again, easy going even if her stance was ridged as she started walking again, only stopping to spare the admittedly handome fellow a glance to see if he would follow, "Most of my life has been spent around SHIELD, and I'm sort of a recruiter myself, so I can definitely shed some light on the subject," [/div][/style][/td][/tr][/table]

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Something about the woman instantly put Kal-El at ease. It seemed that so many of the people that he had met from the other universe had been deathly serious - with an emphasis on death, since they also seemed to be angry and borderline violent. From what he understood, though, their universe was also a lot harsher than his own was. After all, just seeing the hatred that the public had for mutantkind...it was heartbreaking. What was the difference between a mutant and every other superhuman?

As he saw her smirk, the Man of Steel let his own smile widen. She had a down-home, all-American quality about her. The same people often said the same about him as well. Perhaps it was that level of purity that instantly created a bond between the two.

"Actually, it's the symbol of my people." Standing a little taller now, as if proud by his revelation, he continued. "It's the symbol of the House of El, my family - my biological...family. I'm from a planet called Krypton. The whole planet was destroyed, and my parents along with it. I was only a baby when I was sent here, and so I wear our crest to remind myself that even though I was raised on Earth, I'll always be a man of two worlds, and I should respect both." It was almost funny, in a way. He had opened up completely to a random stranger with no influence and absolutely no hesitation. It was complete and utter honesty, with Superman showing right off the bat that he was transparent in terms of honesty. It was just how he was.

"So you're not involved with Captain America at all?" After taking a few steps along side of Miss Liberty, Superman realized how his wording could be interpreted. "Er, I mean...you're not associated with him." Just a slight hint of redness came to his cheeks, showing his embarrassment. "Not that it matters either way." Deciding to give up on the current line of conversation, he just grinned, shook his head, and moved on to something more serious. "Tell me about SHIELD. How involved is SHIELD with your Earth's heroes? Have they always been there to support them?"

( Sorry about the delay. I had the post in my head, but work is blah. )

[Danii "LadyLiberty" Washington]

nt-size: 10px; height: 475px; overflow: auto; color: #1e1e1e;]"Really now?" She was automatically intrigued, utterly fascinated with the man she was talking to at the moment, mainly because even though he was from a totally different universe, she didn't feel like he was any sort of threat at the moment. In fact, Danii felt rather at ease, it was the reason she kept smiling as they talked, hands clasped loosely behind her back as they walked, "That's pretty.....wow, I never stop being surprised when I hear about different planets, let alone different planets in different universes," Just when she thought she had finally seen it all, something new came up and had her feeling like a small child looking up into the sky with wonder again.

Danii had this look on her face, not so much sympathy as most men didn't care to see such a thing, but a general sadness to hear that something like that had happened. The blonde really couldn't imagine what walking around with knowledge like that must feel like, terrible, simply put, she was looking at the man beside her with a certain measure of new found respect at that, "Alright, I know I dont know you very well, if at all actually, but those shoulders of yours gotta be stronger then people give'em credit for to be holdin' up something like that," He seemed like a good guy....alien? A good man either way, a strong sense of honor and duty for family and heritage was always something that she could respect.

She turned to give him a glance, a quiet chuckle leaving her and Danii couldn't help but shake her head slightly at the question, the lightest hint of pink on her cheeks, "Ah, nooo, we're just really good friends," Would she mind if there was anything else there, of course not, what woman would? "I'm the one trying to help him acclimate to the new century basically," Seeing the man come across a new piece of technology was always really funny, she couldn't lie about that. Clearing her throat Danii squared her shoulders at the question, "Well, the agency tries to maintain a good solid relationship with the heroes of the world, many of the Avengers also work for SHIELD and vice-versa, in fact I'm part of the reserve as well,"

"History wise, it started some time after World War Two, from my understanding the relationship started being built from there as the point of the agency is to protect the people of all nations on Earth from threats," She rubbed the bridge of her nose, careful not to disturb her goggles, "Sometimes things get a little strained of course, can't always see eye to eye in a relationship right? But the helping hand has always extended both ways," Or at least that's what she had always been lead to believe, but like every sort of secret organization, they were very good at keeping quiet about certain things, "So, tell me about the Justice League, how did that start up? Oh and what's up with the Satellite? Some of our lab boys spotted it and nearly sent everyone into a panic thinkin' it was some Russian spy satellite, came very close to trying to shoot it down,"[/div][/style][/td][/tr][/table]

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The Kryptonian noticed how Lady Liberty carried herself as they walked. She was clearly trained as a soldier, since even though she had her hands held behind her back, her muscles were tensed in such a way that she was ready for any situation at a moment's notice. SHIELD took itself very seriously from the look of things. Rather than reply verbally to her astonished reaction to his origin, he merely looked down and smiled that confident smile, letting her know that he agreed completely with what she said. He did, however, break his silence over her next observation.

"You'd be surprised." Finally, the two came to stop next to a large viewing port, allowing them to look out to the sky around them. 30,000 feet below, the city of New York could just barely be made out, along with its intricate island-pocked coastline. "In my own universe, I'm held in a regard not all that different from how you see Captain America. I'm put on this..." His hand raised up in front of him, palm turned upward, fingers bent just a bit. "Impossible pedestal. It's because I was the first, because of my powers, because of how I carry myself. A lot of people think that I'm an alien who came out of nowhere to save mankind, but the truth is that I was raised as a human. I get just as scared and as unsure as they do." He sighed, as if defeated, but a small smile suddenly came to his lips. "But for some reason, when everybody else is just as nervous as I am, it suddenly makes me serenely calm. My mind clears and I know what has to be done. I wonder if your Captain feels the same way." Now Kal-El stood a bit taller, arms crossing before him as he gazed out of the window.

"In my own world, we don't really have an organization like SHIELD. There was an agency called Checkmate, but it was decidedly more...sinister than SHIELD appears to be." The less said about that one, the better. "I guess where I'm from, heroes are just sort of there. They're embraced and looked upon to help. We didn't really need something like SHIELD. But in your universe, the way the public treats all of you, not to mention how they see mutants..." For the first time in their conversation, a frown broke his upturned lips, accompanied with a shake of his head. "It's not right. That's part of why I'm trying my best to cooperate with SHIELD. From what I've seen, all of you deserve to be welcomed, not shunned, and each and every hero from my world is going to help you out as best as we can. After all, we're all we've got in this new universe." Superman smiled and gave a single firm nod, as if he decided that that's how it would be. Everybody would be equal.

"The Justice League first came together to fight an alien invasion that no single hero could fight on their own. We decided to unite whenever Earth needed us. First we were in a cave in Rhode Island, then we upgraded to a tower, and now we're up in the Watchtower. That's what we call it." He grinned, looking up toward Earth's orbit, which they were so close to. "We had a base on the Moon for awhile, but that went kind of haywire. The Watchtower does what we need it to. It uses a combination of Earth, Kryptonian, Martian, and even Apokoliptian techhology so that we not only stay informed about incoming threats, but that we get there right away as well." It was obvious that he was proud of their amazing base of operations. It was a true sign of unity: the best of Earth's technology from both Wayne Enterprises and Queen Industries, along with the surviving technology of long-dead civilizations such as Mars and his own beloved Krypton. It represented everything that he hoped humanity would one day accomplish: pushing aside petty boundaries and creating something wonderful to help each other.

"Thank goodness you didn't fire, though. The Watchtower's orbital ion cannon is a little...trigger happy." The cheeky grin showed that he was only joking. They'd never unleash such a destructive force on Earth.

Unless absolutely necessary - something Superman never believed would happen.

[Danii "LadyLiberty" Washington]

She listened closely to that, he had such a blatant point that it was easy to miss. Every now and then the blonde seemed to forgot that the Star Spangled Man was just that, a man, a man with one hell of a legacy and legend to live up to, but still a man none the less. She had watched him get into a fight with a blender and even then, he was still that idol her grandfather used to tell her war stories about, still the man she looked up to and never questioned when it came to orders issued in the heat of a battle.

"I never really gave that thought, but ya bring up a hell of a point," Danii had the slightest of frowns on her face as she looked down on her beloved city, so far below them, "It's kinda like a cycle though I suppose, it's that calm poise under fire that keeps people lookin' in your direction when everything starts fallin' to pieces," The more she talked, the thicker the old New York accent in her voice shone, "Everyone needs someone to lean on right? The person that shows themselves to be the rock in the situation, whether they originally intended to or not, gets elevated to that status," Danii gave him a sidelong glance, "Being called Superman probably doesn't help your plight either though," She had the slightest hint of a wry smile on her face at that.

Danii chewed on her lip in thought at that, "Checkmate huh? That sounds like something that'd be a little seedy, won't lie. Then again, I'm used to all the acronyms they seem to favor here," Favor was definitely the understatement of the month when it came to how Fury named different branches of the organization, "We're just a mildly secretive bunch here, wouldn't want certain things getting into the wrong hands and all that," Or so she was always told, and as such, what Danii always kept faith in. There was something quite close to shame on her face when he brought up the situation with the mutants, even though she wasn't a person who disliked mutants, having a certain level of mutation herself, it was still shameful to think that people in her beloved USA acted that way to what she saw were other legitimate American citizens. They were people, not animals.

"It's terrible," Danii was quiet as she said so, brows furrowed, "I try not to blame the public, after all they just fear what they don't understand, and things have a tendency to snowball out of control quickly with all those abilities running around," She sighed, it was just an excuse really, no one deserved to be treated the way that the mutants were, "It's appreciated, it really is, thank you," Danii turned and gave him an actual smile, "Anything that SHIELD can help with, don't hesitate to say so, it works both ways of course,"

Danii raised a brow and couldn't help but follow his line of sight, "Again, just when I think I've heard it all," She mulled over the information, "We had a bit of an issue with aliens ourselves, have you had a chance to meet our resident demi-god? His name is Thor and he has no indoor voice," She actually wanted to see the pair in a room together, a superman and a demi-god together, "Being able to see things from way up there has to make life so much easier, I've always wanted to see the Earth from outer space, must be one hell of a sight," The last part was more the woman thinking out loud more then anything else, "Ion canon? That thing's packin' huh?" She couldn't help but smile back, "What's this Apokoliptian technology? If ya don't mind me askin,"[/div][/style][/td][/tr][/table]

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As she made a remark about his name, Superman matched her smirk with one of his own. "I didn't come up with the name. You can thank the Daily Planet for that one." Before he came along on his Earth, there was no such thing as "superheroes," so when he put on the Kryptonian clothing before his first flight out, Kal-El hadn't even thought about a codename. As far as he was concerned, he was just a man out there helping people. It wasn't until Lois came up with the name "Superman" and the name stuck that he had to accept it, because by then, every media outlet had decided to run with it.

"You can see so much from up so high, you're right. But you also begin to lose sight of it all." Even now, he felt the same way up on the Helicarrier. From outside the window, the world below was so small, the people barely visible as the tiniest of specks. "We're heroes to help people. To help people. You get so caught up, sitting in an ivory tower, fighting major alien threats, that you forget why you became a hero in the first place. It's not about costumes or grand battles or big speeches. It's about saving people and helping them so that they can just live." It reminded him of the whole Cadmus affair, and when the League had become large enough to be seen as an army. Clark hated it, and he didn't want such events to happen again, especially in this new universe.

"Apokolips is a planet in our universe - a terrible, awful place. The whole world is a mass of fiery pits of plasma and broken homes and broken dreams. It's ruled with an iron fist by a being called Darkseid. People throughout the universe call him 'The Ultimate Evil', and for good reason." The caped wonder shook a bit, as if he had just been overcome by a wave of cold. "I hope that we never have to face him here. The things that he's capable of doing, not just to his own people, but to every soul in the cosmos..." He trailed off, a grim look over his features, showing just how bad it could be.

"But I think I've had enough somber tales for one day." Clark tried to make the best of it, forcing a smile as always. "Are you always up here, looking down on the world, or do you do things for fun?"

[Danii "LadyLiberty" Washington]

[style=font-family: times; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: lowercase; color: #989898; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;]484 WORDS FOR SUPERMAN 8) You're such a strange girl I think you come from another world [/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #6d6d6d;] [style=padding: 10px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; height: 475px; overflow: auto; color: #1e1e1e;]"Ah got the name from the reporters then, sometimes they're not so imaginative, but I'm guessing they hit the nail on the head with you," Just from what she had read in a file, on top of what she had learned from speaking with him, it sounded like it fit just fine. He was a superman, not a god, and probably too modest to allow himself to be called that, but like Steve, he was indeed a super man. Not just with the powers either, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy from what she had gathered from their light conversation, the type of guy that people really could depend on. Raising her brow, she gave him a sidelong glance, "It has a way of making someone lose focus, doesn't it?" Looking down at everything, not being able to see everyone, and if you can they just look like little ants, specks of dust wandering around the face of the planet, "Just gotta remember that every time you put yourself in harms way, it's all for them," It was her job, and it was her job because she felt so strongly about it because if she didn't then she would definitely have to find a different line of work, "I know, it's hard to keep focus every now and then, I think it's that way with every large organization, even SHIELD. You have to find a way to remind everyone why they're here in the first place," It made a very unpleasant shiver run down her spine, the description of this place, "That.......I really hope that we never have to deal with that," She couldn't even find the words to describe how much she hoped that had been left out of the universe, "It sounds like hell," Her voice was a little tight, the idea that something else like that existed, that there was more then just Thanos out there made her edgy and she tucked away the knowledge to hand over in a report to Fury later, "We have our own, Thanos, but maybe that should be a conversation for another day," She wanted to change the subject just as badly. Danii managed to smile back, even if the gooseflesh hadn't died down on her skin just yet, "Not always, I tend to get sent out on recon and recruitment missions most of the time, fun, let's so if I can remember what that is," The blonde joked, laughing as she said so because she was know for having workaholic tendencies, "I really love watchin' movies and cooking for people, goin' for long drives and just listening to music, oh and hangin' out at the beach," Those really were her favorite past time, "And how about you, what does a superman do for fun, if you don't mind me askin?" [/style]

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