The Icarus Files - Part 2
The Icarus Files - Part 2The Icarus Files - Part 2 By superninja All
characters belong to Warner Bros./DC Comics. ___ Clarity had not helped to
repair the void. The pre-recorded message in the Fortress of Solitude had
produced the startling revelation that he was the son of Superman. The
holographic image had a warm, fatherly smile that would've looked positively
alien on Bruce Wayne. "Father." The word reverberated in his head. Bruce
Wayne was the only father he had ever known. And now a bunch of bouncing
electrons arranged in the image of Superman was dropping one hell of a bomb
on him. Icarus knotted his eyebrows angrily. "How thoughtless of him," he
said aloud. "I guess it's too much to expect a personal appearance." But
he had answers now. And a nagging tug at his heart that told him it was time
to seek out his real father and set himself free from the darkness of Wayne
Manor. __ He hadn't needed sleep, but he was weary. When he woke
for a fleeting moment he wondered if it was all a dream, his body tangled in
the lush sheets of his father's stately home. But it wasn't, evidenced by
him rising from the bed, hovering in the air with a mere thought. Less than
a thought, even: pure instinct. Another night of fitful sleep, and a day
ahead that would be harder still. He had an old man's heart to
break. Stepping into the shower, he let the hot water clear the clutter in
his mind, and a flashback of the hologram Superman returned. He had
explained his past in plain, linear fashion with very little
detail. __ Batman supposed it had gone something like this. The pair of
comets were headed dangerously close to the Earth's orbit, and the Manhunter
first went through the proper channels, and then summoned the two beings
most capable of intercepting and deflecting the objects. Clark had to duck
out of breakfast with Lois again, apologizing for the hundredth time and
kissing his wife on the cheek as he disappeared in a blur or red and
blue. Diana was in the middle of her morning training session. Practical use
was preferable to the Wonderdome's automated defenses anyway so she headed
off to meet Superman. There were in far space in a half-hour, receiving
transmissions of the trajectory from Manhunter on the moonbase, while Clark
bemoaned missing his eggs and toast for the hundredth time. Then
something caught Clark's eye. Wonder Woman thought nothing of him floating
away until a sharp cry came over her intercom and she shot off in his
direction. Unconscious, Superman was hovering in the vacuum of space,
seemingly immune to Wonder Woman's attempts at revival. She informed the
Manhunter of the situation, and he immediately dispatched Green Lantern for
assistance. Wonder Woman looked at the strange object that was in his grasp,
and tried to pry his fingers open. But the Man of Steel wouldn't budge.
His eyes opened in a flash, and Wonder Woman breathed a sigh of
relief. They say the eyes are the window to the soul...and although it was
Superman's blue eyes looking at her, it wasn't him at all. Innocently, he
handed her the artifact, prodding her with questions about its possible
origins. Diana hefted the object in her hand, and then...Diana was gone
too In the end, it took the combined efforts of the JLA and their younger
counterparts to stop them. Batman had finally figured it out, wrestling
the artifact from Wonder Woman and analyzing it. Like a bell jar, it both
conducted and contained energy. When Superman had opened it, he had unleashed
an unknown - a pair of beings, bond-mates that had stored their telepathic
energies in the artifact and set it afloat in space, to ambush the
unsuspecting traveler. The creatures the last of a race from a planet long
dead, with ambitions of repeating the same fall from grace on Earth. Soon
it was all over, with Superman and Wonder Woman clueless as to the past
events of that week. Their minds had been wiped clean when the beings had be
exorcised by a combination of magic and sheer physical force, and their
container taken along with them to be held in the Fortress of
Solitude. Diana had come to Batman days later, pleading for his guidance.
Bruce could barely call Diana a friend, but she was an ally, and to see a
woman so strong so humbled troubled him. She told him of her dreams, the
same one repeating every night. Nightmares were not new to her, but the fact
that Diana had a strong sixth sense struck a chord. And there was only one
other being on the planet she could trust with this
secret. "Batman...Bruce...I-I think I'm pregnant..." So he told her
everything that had happened over those past few weeks. He convinced her
Superman should never know. It could destroy his marriage to Lois. And Lois
was all he had left now that his parents had passed on. Lois was important
to Clark - she helped him retain his humanity. Diana was shocked by Bruce's
paranoia towards their old friend, but it was too late - he knew her secret,
and he could use it against her if necessary. Batman was manipulative if not
anything else, able to justify it with the events of the past, which had
almost cost them and millions their lives. Bruce told her they should pass it
off as their child, and no one would know the wiser. Diana feared that
his powers would betray their secret, but Bruce assured her that was
unnecessary - that he would make sure the boy was reigned in. And he
was. But Diana's spirit was unstoppable and rather than live a lie, she fled,
leaving with the hope that one day the veil would be lifted, whether Kal
forgave her transgressions or not. She left her young son behind to be
raised by his bitter father, a man whose obsession with controlling her
one-time best friend had caused him to fall hard on his son. And a Man of
Steel was forged in darkness. To be continued...
