Beacon of Hope



Chapter Nineteen

DISCLAIMER :: This fanfiction is based on Superman from DC Comics. All rights reserved. Art by CWBlaine on Deviant Art.
Author's note: Perhaps it is the start of a new collaborative universe or a standalone project for myself. I don't know, yet.

Addendum -- This is the final chapter of this story. Thank you to everyone that joined me on this journey. Your support has been phenomenal along the way. I've enjoyed reading your reactions to the story as it was released. To close NaNoWriMo 2025, BCTS will be the exclusive home to the totality of this novel for the next two weeks. I'll post the "afterward" as planned on my birthday. For now, thanks for all the fish.

The door swung open and we were once again greeted by the world outside the theater. Everybody else's eyes took a moment to adjust but mine were fine. It was opening night of the new Superman movie. Madison had convinced us all to make it a family experience. Laura, Hannah, Madison, Olivia, and I came together and now we were leaving as a group. Laura and I discussed the exorbitant prices of the tickets and food. Madison and Olivia were animatedly discussing their favorite parts with Hannah occasionally providing her own commentary. Once outside and out of normal human hearing radius, Madison walked ahead of us all and turned toward us.

"How accurate do you think they were?" She asked the group, walking backwards as she spoke.

"Accurate to what, sweetie?" Laura wondered.

"Well, I mean, Dad's the expert on this." Madison gestured toward me.

I blinked rapidly. So far, Madison and Hannah were the only ones still calling me "Dad". Olivia and Laura had moved on to simply "Kristen" or "Kris". With an oversized T-shirt tucked into some loose-fitting jeans, unassuming tennis shoes, and the glasses Lauren had made on my face, I was firmly in my "secret identity" mode. "Yea, no, I got no idea what you're talkin' about, Maddie."

Yes, that included the Wisconsin accent. I'd rationalized that if I were going to make things believable as "Seraphim" and "Kristen" being two different people then I'd have to play up a few aspects of myself in "Kristen" mode while shedding them completely in "Seraphim" mode. Being in public, "Kristen" mode was switched on.

Madison groaned and dramatically rolled her eyes. "I mean with the powers and everything. Did they capture the essence?"

I let out a sigh. "It's different in the fiction, ya know. These are people that come up with stuff in their head and make it make sense on camera. What I can do is different, ya know?"

"Yea, it's a movie, Maddie." Hannah agreed. "Though, I really think they captured a kind of guy like you, Dad. It's creepy how close they got."

"Clark's from Kansas. I'm from Wisconsin. There's some differences." I noted.

"Pa made me think about Grampa." Olivia added as she teared up. "I miss him."

"Me too." I agreed, slipping an arm over her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Why are you comparing Kristen to a fictional character, Madison? They're going to be different in many ways, obviously." Laura finally responded.

"She's not a man, for starters. Not anymore, anyway." Hannah nodded.

"There's a lot of similarities, that's all. I really wanted to know how accurate all the powers were to the real life equivalent we've got walking to Mom's car with us. I'm making comparisons, okay?" Madison defended her line of thinking.

"Yea, no, I get it. We're from the Midwest. We don't really swear. Honestly, we're both a little corny. We do the best we can do with what we got. He looks good in the trunks, dere." I drew the comparisons. "I ain't gonna deny there's some things the same and some things not. I liked the speech he gave to Luthor, though. That's good writin'."

"I like that the character is a good guy because he chooses to be." Hannah joined in. "Like, you've got influences from your parents and maybe expectations from them. They don't dictate who you are. Not even what you say makes you who you are. Your actions do."

"You feel like we influenced you in one way or another, Hannah?" Laura asked.

She laughed. "No way, Mom. You and Dad are like Ma and Pa Kent... which is weird to say out loud."

"That's true. They do their best to guide, not preach. I've got a couple friends with preachy parents. It's kinda cringe." Madison agreed.

I tried to lower my voice as deep as I could get it. It ended up being mid-alto range at best. "Parents ain't for tellin' their kids who they're supposed to be. We're here to give y'all the tools to help you make fools of yourselves all on your own."

Laura raised an eyebrow at me. "You memorized that without using a notebook and shorthand?"

"And I paraphrased it." I smirked.

"And your impression sucked." Madison laughed. "But I get the point. Thanks for not being preachy parents."

"You're welcome." Laura and I chorused.

Laura unlocked the SUV and we all started climbing in. Thankfully, Olivia was now to a point where she didn't have to be in a car seat anymore.

"So, what are you going to do about school, Dad? It starts up next month, you know." Hannah wondered.

"Your gramma has decided that I should go to my old school to keep up appearances. I dunno about doin' high school all over again." I admitted.

"You're gonna go to school? That's weird." Olivia tried to process the idea.

"I'm technically seventeen, kiddo. It's gotta look authentic, ya know."

"You've got a point, Kris. If the secret identity is going to work, you've got to fully lean into it. I'm with Marian on that one." Laura nodded as she started the car.

"Et tu, my love?" I couldn't hold back the chuckle. "Like I know the first thing about bein' a teenager raised on an iPad."

Hannah spun around to the rear compartment as she had claimed "shotgun" earlier in the night. "Hey, I resent that characterization! We didn't have those when we were little and we barely got phones at fourteen!"

"Yea, I don't get a phone for a few more years and you guys won't let me have an iPad." Olivia grumbled.

"It's a stereotype from old people your father is using to terrible effect," Laura reassured them.

"What I mean is that I'm gonna need you guys to teach me how to be someone of your generation." I clarified.

"So say that instead of spitting bad stereotypes. Besides, Gen Z isn't the iPad generation. It's Gen Alpha, like Olivia, that has that label." Hannah explained.

"All my friends have iPads. Why can't I have one?" Olivia whined.

"See?" Hannah motioned to her sister.

"Because you ask that question, Olivia. You don't have an iPad because we would rather you learn in a healthy way." Laura explained in that maternal vocal tone of hers. "You may not believe it, but it is for your own good."

"ANYway..." Madison decided to end that portion of the discussion. "How are you going to juggle high school and saving the world, Dad?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, yet. Gotta figure it out, like anythin' else."

"Good answer, Kris." Laura smiled.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mom, Týr, Koda, and I gathered together in the living room to watch the news. Mom and I situated ourselves on either end of the sofa with Koda curled up between us. His head was in my lap, of course. Týr settled himself into a recliner off to the side. The television was still a rather new thing for him after his long self-isolation in Iceland. I had heard through Lauren that tonight was a night to tune into the broadcast. Generally, I'm not a fan of the major news networks. Corporate news stations skirted around the actual truth depending on who owned them. It didn't signal good journalism for me.

As one might expect, the broadcast tonight was one of those "round table" interviews that happen so often on big stations. These "debates" didn't inform anyone. They caused more people to continue to marginalize themselves into their own bubbles of bias. The commercial break ended and the broadcast faded in on the young male anchor. The lower third text read: "Seraphim: Friend or Foe. Debate tonight."

"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen," the anchor began. "On tonight's broadcast, we touch on a subject that sometimes seems to be a divisive one. To the Trump administration, this entity is Enemy Number One. According to polls, the public seems to think she is a source for good. We are of course talking about the person who calls herself Seraphim and predominantly operates in the Chicagoland area. Joining me tonight are..." The image cut away to a Hispanic woman with her hair in a bun and wearing a white lab coat. "...Dr. Isobel Marquez, an astrophysicist and cosmologist with the University of Chicago. And..." The image again cut to reveal a young man, mid-twenties from the look of him, with a scowl on his face and hair like Mark Zuckerberg but ginger. His suit looked rather expensive. "...Lukas Lowen, CEO of Orivox Enterprises. Thank you both for joining us this evening."

"Thank you, Michael," They chorused.

The visual on screen moved so that a view of all three of them were together in a line in the middle of the screen. "Dr. Marquez, we'll start with you. Can you definitively answer for the people watching tonight what you believe caused all this in the first place?"

Dr. Marquez furrowed her brow. "I don't understand the question. Could you elaborate?"

"I'll explain the question: what caused our current situation? Where would someone like Seraphim or her copycat in Los Angeles come from in the first place?" The anchor explained.

Dr. Marquez rolled her eyes before beginning. "Well, I can't speak to her motives or what inspiration she's working from, but I do have a hypothesis about why she exists at all. On April 29th of this year, our planet was subject to an astronomical phenomenon we've not experienced before. I don't have all the details, as of yet. It's only been just over two months since the event occurred. We're still studying the phenomenon and its effects. We can extrapolate from recent events that, apparently, it has bestowed some extraordinary abilities in certain humans—"

Lowen scoffed and shook his head. "Oh, come on! Let's be clear: these beings are no longer human! They're a menace!"

The anchor held up his hand. "Mr. Lowen, I'm going to ask you to hold your comment until I call on you. Dr. Marquez, please proceed."

She took a breath and remained professional. "As I was saying, a certain number of people we can't accurately quantify have developed abilities that previously only existed in comic books and blockbuster movies. My team has documented some of the footage of Seraphim for study. We're also looking into the individuals in Los Angeles, the one who calls herself Feedback in Seattle, some scattered reports of someone in Manhattan, and another person in Puerto Rico. These are cases that stand out as they have gone out of their way to be public with what they can do. Hopefully, we can procure their DNA samples for analysis."

Again, Lowen scoffed. "We can get you several samples from detainees we've removed from the streets, Doctor."

I could hear Týr actually growl at that comment.

"That brings us to another point," The anchor pivoted. "Mr. Lowen, you've not kept your ties to the formation of American Vanguard Solutions and the contract with the Department of Homeland Security a secret at all. Would you kindly tell us why?"

"Gladly, Michael." Lukas Lowen leaned forward and almost looked angry. "You see, these beings, these... metahumans, as we've come to categorize them, are not simply victims. They're dangerous. You've seen this girl who calls herself 'Seraphim' just as much as I have. She put an arm through a fully-armored personnel carrier like it was wet cardboard. She's faster than anything we've ever seen. She's stronger than anything we've ever seen. She flies around with no regard for FAA protocol. She can put a fire out with just her breath. Who's to say she didn't actually start that building fire back in June with those laser eyes of hers? She and the other metahumans are a national security threat. We need to detain them, catalogue them, determine their abilities, and assess their threat level. Only then can the American public be assured of their safety."

"You can't be serious!" Dr. Marquez objected. "Suspending habeas corpus is a power only the President of the United States has in very limited circumstances!"

"President Trump issued an Executive Order in June that affords us the jurisdiction and full cooperation of federal law enforcement." Lukas sneered.

"An executive order is not law, Mr. Lowen. Surely you recognize that?" The anchor asserted.

"While that is true, we'll have our day in court to make our case. As I understand it, there's a case making its way through the federal courts in California at this very moment. Illinois has yet to respond. If Congress will not act to protect the American people, then someone has to and I believe this administration has the best interests of the people in mind."

Dr. Marquez narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow. "You mean the best interests of you and your companies, Mr. Lowen?"

"Are you suggesting that Orivox Enterprises and American Vanguard Solutions have a conflict of interest, Dr. Marquez?" Lukas sat back in his chair. "I assure you that our only interest is the safety of the American people. We have gotten some very dangerous people off the streets. Remember that young man that created an aura of fire around himself and attacked the Woodfield Mall? We have him and so many like him in custody."

"As I understand it, he was in Chicago Police custody before AVS came along and took him. Legitimate criminals are one thing. Innocents that simply happen to be gifted are another matter. They still have their rights." Dr. Marquez scolded him.

"What about the rights of people that could be violated by their shenanigans? Do we care about them?" Lukas shot back.

"So, they're being prosecuted for 'pre-crime', now? Is this The Minority Report?"

"We're exercising preemptive restraint. Once we know their identity and what they can do, we catalogue it and set them free when we confirm they have no criminal record. We keep the information for internal uses in the interest of national security."

"You mean providing data for your friends like Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison?"

Lukas shrugged and smirked. "Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe."

"I'm going to have to agree with Dr. Marquez, Mr. Lowen." The anchor finally interjected. "You seem like you don't care for the constitutional rights of these individuals. That phenomenon caused a lot of upheaval in our world, but that's no reason to suspend the constitutional rights of average citizens."

"That's just the thing, Michael: they're not 'average citizens'. These are extraordinary times that facilitate extraordinary methods." Lukas nodded.

I hit the power button on the television, then turned to everyone else. "Oh, this is bad." I breathed, my eyes very wide indeed.

Týr turned his chair to us with a glower on his face and his metal hand in a fist. "The evil of this man..."

Even my mother was shocked. "Yeah, heard dat. He weren't raised right."

"That's the understatement of the year." I nodded. "I got a feelin' we're gonna be seein' a lot of him."

"We must prepare." Týr acknowledged. "Others in danger."

"You may be right."