"Will you two be gone for long?" Ma asked worriedly.
"I am not sure. It depends entirely on how long it takes for Kal to reach the location," Lara said, glancing at me.
"So… Mother, do I really have to fly to the North?" I asked with a wry smile. "Like I said, I only figured out how to fly a few hours ago. I'm not confident I can keep myself in the air for that long."
I wanted to call her "Lara," but I settled on "Mother." And it clearly made her happy.
"Hm, that's true," she admitted with a smile. "But don't worry. I can give you a boost if you get tired and we can also take breaks." She ruffled my hair affectionately, smiling like she had been waiting a lifetime to do that.
"Alright… but what about things like government radars? Satellites? Won't they catch me flying across the world? And there might be other metahumans who can track me too," I said, my voice tightening.
This had been one of my biggest anxieties. I had done everything I could to stay off the radar, but flying that far, that fast, would almost certainly show up somewhere. And this was a world where metahumans already existed—of course there would be special agencies monitoring anomalies. They wouldn't just shrug it off as a freak incident.
I was even considering talking to my godmother, maybe getting her to arrange transport. It would take longer, sure, but—
My thoughts were cut off by Lara chuckling.
"Hehe. It's adorable how worried you are about these things. Very smart of you," she said with a fond smile. "But you don't have to worry. Your mother is here. This planet's primitive technology will never be able to detect you."
"Huh?" I blinked in surprise. "How? And is their technology really that primitive?" I asked, unable to relate a term like primitive with things like satellites and global surveillance networks.
"Yes, my child," she said gently. "They have barely scratched the surface of harnessing their own solar energy. They rely on primitive electric grids, and their radio signals are equally backward." She smiled lightly. "Let me put it simply: every signal your world broadcasts—radio, digital, military, civilian—I can rewrite all of them before they reach their intended destination."
"For real?" I stared at her, completely gobsmacked.
"Yes, my dear." She reached out and brushed my cheek with her thumb. "The synthetic synapse webs within my matrix allow me to interface with any form of electromagnetic energy. I can see through Earth's satellites, overwrite their feeds, bend their sensors, erase your image, distort your thermal imprint… even replace you entirely with falsified visuals."
She smiled confidently.
"If you flew past a hundred cameras at once, every one of them would record nothing but empty sky. Earth's machines cannot see you unless I allow them to."
This… this sounded like pure sci-fi nonsense. But maybe that was the point—I genuinely hadn't grasped how far ahead Kryptonian technology was. Not just compared to Earth's systems, but compared to my own understanding of what "advanced" even meant.
"That is so cool… I really don't have to worry about cameras or satellites then," I said, letting out a breath I had been holding for years. "Thank you so much, Mother."
"Don't thank me," she said softly, her voice growing emotional "You are my child. It is my purpose to protect you. This was one of my primary functions anyway. As we had feared that the people of this planet might lock you away and study you if they discovered what you were. I am grateful that, even without me, our worst fears never came to pass."
"Yeah… that wouldn't be ideal," I said with a wry smile, thinking of all those stories where Superman ended up trapped in some underground lab, starved of sunlight, experimented on since infancy.
"And about these metahumans… I'll map out a route that avoids major population centers, so we can minimize that risk as well," she added with a reassuring smile.
"Awesome… Will I be able to learn how this Kryptonian tech works?" I asked, unable to suppress my curiosity about this ridiculously advanced future-tech.
"Of course," Lara said warmly. "Now we should really leave. It is a long journey. Martha, I will inform you through your landline if he will be late for dinner."
"Oh—alright, that's fine," Ma said, blinking. She had gotten completely lost somewhere in the conversation. This happened a lot whenever science, math, or technology came up.
"Yeah, I'll just have a quick trip to the North Pole before dinner, hehe," I joked, chuckling at how absurd that sounded.
"North Pole? Shouldn't you two change into something warmer? It'll be freezing there," Ma said, already worried. "Wait a moment, let me get your winter clothes from storage—"
"It's fine, Martha. I have an easier way," Lara said.
Her form dissolved into shimmering red dust, and right before my eyes the particles streamed into the faint S symbol on my chest. The glow brightened—then the red spread like liquid across my entire body.
"Woah…" I breathed as the liquid instantly solidified into a skintight suit.
"Oh Lord… you look just like those cape-wearing superheroes," Ma gasped.
"Really?" I asked, shocked, glancing down at the blue suit and the red cape flowing behind me.
"This is traditional Kryptonian attire," Lara's voice said softly—so close it felt like she was standing right behind me. "The younger generation prefers bright colors like blue, yellow, and red. The older ones—usually after marriage—favor white."
"Let me see for myself," I said as I headed back into the house and stood in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom.
A blue skintight suit. Red boots. A red cape.
I could still feel my regular clothes underneath, but not a single outline showed through.
"Yeah… it looks pretty cool. And thank God there's no underwear on the outside. Perfect." I said grinning.
"Underwear on the outside? If you want, I can add that," Lara offered, sounding genuinely confused.
"No, no—please don't," I said quickly. "This is perfect as it is. Even this S looks amazing." I traced the red S across my chest.
"Good. And although it resembles an S, it is actually the symbol of our House—El," she whispered near my ear. "On Krypton, it symbolizes 'Hope.'"
"Hope… I like that," I said, running my fingers over it with a small smile.
"I found the camera the Waynes gifted you this Christmas," Ma said as she walked in with a digital camera. "Let me take a picture of you—you look so handsome."
"That he does," Lara said proudly—loud enough for Ma to hear.
I posed a few times while Ma took pictures. Lara had already deactivated the signal interference so the photos wouldn't glitch out.
Ma still looked a little uneasy, knowing Lara was basically wrapped around my body as my clothes, but she didn't mention it.
For me, honestly? It wasn't that weird. As I had seen this exact thing happen in many comics—most recently the SOL suit from Absolute Superman, which was also made from Sunstone. So, yeah I came to accept it quite quickly.
"This suit will regulate your thermal temperature," Lara continued as I stepped outside. "It can extend to cover your face when needed, and it doubles as armor. This is the densest form Sunstones can take. Not even this planet's missiles could harm it—though you likely won't need the protection, considering the strength of your body."
"That's… reassuring," Ma said, giving me a complicated smile.
"Wait for me, Ma. I'll be back soon," I said, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
Then I rose slowly off the ground, red cape fluttering behind me.
I waved goodbye and shot away from the city as fast as I could, making sure no one accidentally spotted me. Once I cleared the city and rose above the clouds, I stopped.
"So… where to now, Mother?" I asked, glancing around—though I already knew which direction was north from the sun's position.
"Here. This should help."
Fine red dust particles drifted from the S on my chest and floated toward my eyes.
"Huh?" I blinked rapidly, rubbing at them on instinct. But when I opened my eyes, a glowing blue arrow was pointing upward into the sky, 5200 miles written beneath it.
"Am I seeing things?"
"The Sunstone is projecting a temporary overlay through your optic nerves. Do not worry—it will not harm your eyes," she said gently.
"Oh… so basically AR glasses, but made of dust. Cool. So I just follow the arrow?" I said, half amused. Apparently my mother was now my personal Google Maps.
"Yes. I have mapped the most optimal route. Follow it and you will reach the destination," she said calmly.
With her confirmation, I started flying. At first, I kept to a moderate speed, and—as I had requested—Lara displayed my current velocity beneath the remaining distance like a floating HUD.
Honestly, I still had no idea how I was flying. I wasn't generating thrust or manipulating gravity or anything scientific. I simply looked at the number, focused on wanting to go faster… and I did.
I tore through the sky, weaving between clouds and streaks of sunlight. My eyes absorbed everything around me in blurs and snapshots, and even as my speed climbed, the wind brushing my face stayed as gentle as ever—almost like my body refused to acknowledge the increasing force.
Very quickly, I broke Mach 1.
Then Mach 2.
Then, pushing harder, Mach 3.
For the first time in my life, I felt strain—actual strain—rippling through every inch of my body. My lungs burned, my head pounded like someone was hammering on the inside of my skull… but I didn't slow down.
Now that I knew Lara could mask me from all detection, I wanted—no, needed—to push myself. To know where my limits were.
And then to break them.
And I did.
As by the end, my speed hovered between Mach 4 and Mach 5.
Five times the speed of sound at sea level.
Somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 km/h—almost 3,500 mph.
I doubted even the most classified government aircraft could reach this speed.
As the distance counter neared zero, I gradually slowed down and finally stopped. My lungs felt like they were on fire, my muscles ached, and the pounding in my skull was relentless. For the first time in my entire life, I had actually felt… pain. Real, overwhelming pain.
"There was no need to push yourself this much, Kal," Lara said, her tone laced with worry.
"It's fine… I enjoyed that a lot," I said with a strained grin, forcing myself through the ache as my breath fogged in the freezing air. "Is this the North Pole? I made it in under an hour, right?"
"Forty-three minutes, to be exact," she replied.
"A record I'm going to beat soon," I said with a weak laugh.
I descended toward the glass-like icy ground. Nothing but white, endless, untouched wilderness stretched in every direction.
A frozen desert at the edge of the world.
Surprisingly, I wasn't feeling cold. Even my exhaustion was fading quickly—probably thanks to the sun gleaming sharply in the clear sky.
"Have we really reached the destination?" I asked, scanning the horizon.
"Yes… now give me a moment to activate it," Lara said.
The S symbol on my chest began pulsing—slow, steady flashes that quickened with each second.
"Activate what?" I asked—
And then the world shifted.
The ice ahead of me trembled. A deep rumble vibrated through the ground, and before my stunned eyes, enormous white crystalline spires erupted from beneath the surface—shards of radiant, translucent crystal growing at impossible speed.
They rose like living structures, branching and fusing, expanding outward and upward. The sunlight refracted through them, scattering prismatic colors across the snow.
Within seconds a colossal structure of glowing white crystal stood before me.
"Wow…" The word escaped my lips without thought. My mind couldn't process anything else.
I could only stare, utterly mesmerized.
Because standing right in front of me—towering, gleaming, magnificent—was the one place I had dreamed of since the moment I realized who I was:
The Fortress of Solitude.