North Pole
December 31st, 10:36 (UTC -8)

New Year's Eve, 2009
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The North Pole. One of the most inhospitable environments on Planet Earth. With temperatures that can reach 40° below Zero (be it Fahrenheit or Celsius). Still, a plethora of animals can call this frozen dessert floating over miles of still liquid water, home. And a young man is also about to about to call this place home.

The young man is about 19 years of age, black hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a red T-Shirt with a large yellow 'S' on the chest area, with the words 'Smallville High School' sown around the 'S'. Over the shirt he has a blue vest with a hoodie, and over the vest he has a brown long-sleeved jacket. He's also wearing blue jeans and black shoes.

The young man's legal name is Clark Joseph Kent. 'Legal name' because that's not the name his parents gave him at birth. His birth name is Kal-El, the sole survivor of the doomed planet of Krypton. But you know the story... He was sent to Earth in a spacecraft, only to land in a corn-field and be adopted by two farmers. This story is well known.

Or is it?

For you see, dear reader, this is when you're story and my story begin to diverge. Answers will come in time, but for now, let's join Clark as he also searches for the same answers you are. Clark is now standing on top of a large chunk of ice. But something under the surface of the ice is glowing a faint fluorescent-like blue.

Clark takes a deep breath and quickly exhales, causing a huge blast of air to flow out of his mouth and into the thin layer of snow covering the ice, blowing all of the snow away and revealing a shape on the ground. It was a shield-like pentagon with an 'S' like shape inside of it.

Clark walked into the center of the large shape, where some sort of platform began to form and bring him under the surface of the ice. The more he descended, the darker it got, until he managed to see a large hall filled with what can only be described as "Alien Artifacts". Almost like a museum.

After the platform reached the floor of the hall, Clark walked down to a crystalline structure, that had a pentagon-shaped hole in the middle. Clark reached out for his belt buckle and pulled out a pentagonal-shaped object with a red outline and a yellow filling. Clark placed the object into the hole and the structure began to glow blue.

Kelex AI activated.

A mechanical voice said, emanating from the structure.

DNA Scanning Complete. Welcome home: Kal-El.

"Uh... Thanks..." Clark replied, his voice a bit shaken. "I would like to talk to my parents..." He spoke again.

Command acknowledged. Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Status: Deceased.

"Scan the Phantom Zone..." Clark said with a commanding tone. The voice was quiet for a few moments, until it spoke once again.

Scan complete. Specimens found. Commencing Holographic Communication.

The crystalline structure's glow intensified, causing Clark to take a step or two back. After a few seconds of this, the glow dimmed down, revealing the cyan-colored holograms of Jor-El and Lara.

Their faces lit up with joy as they saw Clark standing there. "Clark..." Lara said, her voice shaking and a tear of joy streaming down her face. Clark gave a small smirk. "Mom... Dad..." He said. Jor-El smiled. "You've grown to be such a fine young man..." He said, his eyes shining with pride. Clark took a few steps forward and reached out for them. They reached back, only for their hands to pass through Clark. They're still in hologram mode.

"Listen, I don't want to cut the family reunion or anything, but I really need some answers..." Clark said. "Where are we from? How did you get stuck in the Phantom Zone?! What even is the Phantom Zone?! Why didn't anyone tell me anything...?" He asked, all the words escaping his mouth quickly. Jor-El and Lara shared a quick glance, before starting to explain the whole story;

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As it turns out, Kal-El wasn't sent to Earth in a spacecraft, but was teleported to Earth with his parents using a broken Teleporter. The Teleporter was broken due to an old adversary of Jor-El's, General Dru-Zod, invading his home and attacking him for trying to escape. They managed to trap Zod and his followers in the Phantom Zone and teleport away, just as the planet exploded.

Clark's parents, were welcomed into the home of the farmers who nursed them back to health, after crashing into the Smallville cornfield (due to the teleporter being broken). Kal was raised by his parents as a normal boy until they disappeared when he was 3, leaving the Kents (Jonathan and Martha), to raise him as their own, teaching him about the values of human life and honesty.

Jor-El and Lara disappeared when, somehow, Zod managed to escape from the Phantom Zone and destroy a huge chunk of the Kent's farm. Because of the powers he acquired by absorbing the Phantom Zone's energy, he was only able to be locked in there again if Jor-El and Lara went with him, so they did.

Kal (or Clark), eventually discovered the truth, that he is from another planet. And that's not all...

When Clark was still a baby, he was dipped in one of the "Pools of Eternal Energy", that were found on Krypton. These were pools of liquid energy. It's tradition for all Kryptonians to bathe in these pools 3 times, once when they're born (to get energy to live), one more time in their maturity (to get more energy because their lives now really begin) and one more time in death (to return the energy to the pools and hope that the next generation gets the energy).

Because of Earth's Yellow Sun, the liquid energy inside Clark's body began to change, giving him a unique set of Super-Human powers. Ranging from Superhuman Strength to the ability to fly, Clark's powers are unique to him, sense his Genetic Code is unique.

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After the explanation Clark sat down, needing some time to digest all of the information he just recieved. "Clark... There's something else you must know..." Lara said. "We fear that there's a threat coming..." Jor-El continued. "A threat far too great for Earth to survive on its own..." "And what am I supposed to do?" Clark asked. Jor-El and Lara looked at each other, a bit surprised at Clark's odd question.

"We believe that you already know the answer..." Jor-El said. Clark shook his head. "They won't accept me..." He said. "On the contrary, my son..." Lara spoke softly. "There are others like you. Men and women with special abilities... The world is ready for you to reveal yourself..." She continued.

Jor-El then walked over to the crystalline structure that was projecting his hologram, becking Clark to follow him. "When we were transported to Earth, we couldn't bring a lot of our stuff..." Jor-El said as he stood in front of the structure. "Mainly a few Kryptonian crystals in order to create all of this..." He then touched the pentagon belt-buckle that Clark put in the structure in order to activate the Kelex AI, causing some of the crystals to drop.

"But we also brought this..." Jor-El said once again as the contents of the structure were revealed to Clark. "It's traditional Kryptonian wedding garm..." Lara said. "Bearing the crest of the House of El..." She continued. Clark stared in awe at the suit in front of him, as the insignia was reflected in his eyes.

"This is your birthright, Kal..." Jor-El said. "Step up. Be the hero that humanity needs... Or don't... The choice is yours..." He finished as his and Lara's holograms were shut off. Clark stared at the uniform for a few more seconds, carefully pondering about his next decision.

Metropolis
December 31st, 18:42 UTC
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Air-Force One. The... Not-so private jet of the president of the United States of America, is now departing from its platform in the Metropolis airport. "Not-so private" because it also carries the president's staff, and today it also carries the General of the US Army, General Samuel Lane, as well as another, unexpected, passenger.

The passenger is female, around 18 years of age, with dark-brown hair and unusual violet eyes. She was wearing a wine-colored shirt, black sweatpants and brown boots.

The unexpected passenger is the General's daughter, Lois Lane, a hot-headed College Junior with great ambitions to become a reporter, with even greater skills to achieve said ambitions. "Why do you keep insisting that I come with you on these business trips?" Lois asked. "Because you're my daughter and I'm not willing to leave you alone without supervision!" General Lane replied. "Especially with the rise of all these Metas in the last few years..."

"Dad, I'm 18. I'm a legal adult, you can't keep treating me like a child who might put electrical cables in her mouth!" Lois snapped at her father. "One of these days you'll need to pull out your gun at me to get me into one of these planes again..." "If you keep whining, I won't get you that exclusive interview with the president for that paper of yours..." General Lane said.

Lois sighed. Her dad knew just what buttons to push to keep her from being too independent. She leaned out of the plane window, watching the ground move further and further away, until it vanished from sight because of the clouds. 'Why do you have to be so paranoid, dad?' Lois thought. 'I mean it's not like one of these Metas is gonna blow up the plane's engines or something...'

Unaware of the irony of her thought, Lois laid back on her chair, trying to fall asleep. That is until an annoying light shone in her eye. She opened her eyes and looked out the window again. The light seemed to be from a light reflecting source and not a light producing source, like a crystal. Low and behold, that's exactly what it was. Crystals were embedded in the plane's wing.

Lois had little time to process the information before the turbulence began. The plane shook violently and the seat-belt sign turned on. She was about to put her seat belt on, when she noticed more crystals. Only this time coming through the plane's door. Like nails being fired out of a nail-gun, the crystals slammed into the door one by one, until the door was torn from its hinges and blown away, causing a massive pressure difference that seemed to suck everything out of the plane.

Lois wasn't able to put her seat-belt in time, and being closest to the door she was sucked out as well. "LOIS!" Her father cried out, but to no avail. It was too late. They've already reached a height of around 2500 feet, and Lois knew that with no parachute, the landing would be fatal. Despite not being a particularly religious person, she prayed. She prayed so hard, but she knew that only a miracle could save her now. She closed her eyes as the wind rushed through her face, and she braced for impact.

After what felt like forever, Lois hit something. But it wasn't the ground beneath her. She was still alive, but had no idea how. She slowly opened her eyes, only to be met with a bizarre sight. She was staring face to face with a man, not too older than her. He was wearing a blue uniform with a red and yellow belt, a red cape and red boots. He also had a mysterious 'S' insignia on his chest.

"Relax miss... I got you..." The man said. "Wha...?! You got ME?! Who's got YOU?!" Lois asked, desperately looking around for an explanation. Only now she decided to look down, and only now she noticed that the man was... FLYING! The man chuckled, as if she had told a joke, and he put her down in a nearby roof-top.

"You'll be safe here..." He said before looking up and noticing the plane beginning to descend. "Call 911, they're going to need medical help..." He said before starting to walk to the edge of the roof. "Wait! Who are you?" Lois questioned. The man looked back to her and smiled. "Just a friend... Here to help..." He said before flying off. Lois couldn't help but look up at him as he flew. Something about him seemed... Familiar...

The man flew into the skies with incredible speed, allowing him to reach the falling plane in no-time. Thinking fast he flew over to the tail of the plane and got a strong grip on it. He pulled on it hard, trying to at least slow down the plane's descend, but that stunt blew up in his face as the tail was ripped clean off of the plane.

"Nice work, Clark..." He cursed under his breath before flying after the plane, this time preferring to stop it from falling by pushing on the plane's nose. Clark however noticed that he had a short time window, as the plane already reached the height of the city's skyscrapers. Thinking quickly, Clark used his strength to stir the plane over or in between buildings, trying to minimize as much collateral damage as possible.

The people walking on the streets finally noticed the plane falling down above their heads. Panic began to fill the streets as hundreds of pedestrians were running for their lives. Running out of time, Clark uses all of his might to push the plane up, avoiding it crashing in the middle of the street just at the nick of time. With no other options, he slows down the plane's descend and navigates it over to Metropolis National Park, trying to get to a more remote area with less people to land the plane.

Clark manages to get the plane over to the park, but the plane was already low enough that it was grazing the tree-tops, causing branch after branch to hit Clark in the face. He ignored it though, and kept pushing. After exiting the forest, Clark and the plane hit a lake. The fall in the lake broke the impact force the plane would suffer if it hit the ground, but it was still in motion, leaving the lakeside and continuing to move forward.

Clark forcefully shoved hit feet into the ground, trying to create enough friction in order to get the plane to stop, but it kept going. "Say cheese!" Said a young photographer to a family standing in front of the Zoo as he snapped a few photos. The boy had ginger hair and green eyes and was wearing a red v-neck shirt with white stripes streaming down the right part of it. He also had brown pants, black shoes and, of course, a big camera.

This young man is James "Jimmy" Olsen. An amateur photographer and a close friend to Clark. The family Jimmy was taking pictures of suddenly took off screaming. "Hey wait!" He exclaimed, waving their photo in his hand. "Wonder what got into them..." He murmured, before turning around and seeing the plane closing in on him. He was paralyzed with fear.

The plane then stopped moving mere feet from Jimmy's face, causing him to accidentally snap a few photos, including a very blurry photo of the man who saved the plane, who was panting and sweating a lot.

A few seconds later, ambulances showed up with their sirens and lights blaring. Clark smiled as he saw them, but he was quickly swarmed by a bunch of curious bystanders who wanted to know exactly what happened. One young lady managed to push her way through the crowd and get in close to him with her phone's camera rolling.

"Excuse me, sir..." Lois said. "The world is curious to know; Who are you? Where did you come from? What do you want? And why the clown suit...?" She asked in rapid succession. "Alright alright alright, I know you all have a lot of questions..." Clark said, trying not to get overwhelmed. "But all you need to know is that I'm here to help..." He said with a smile.

"And what do you call yourself?" A person asked from the crowd. "And what's with the 'S'?" Someone else asked. Clark began to worry. He never thought about a code-name to hide his identity. And he knew that he couldn't just use his real name. Luckily, Lois was there to rescue him this time. "Now now, let's not crowd him too much, he just saved the president's plane!" She said. "I must say sir, that was quite..." She paused as she looked at Clark's insignia.

"Super..." She spoke again. "That's pretty much what you are... A Super-Man..." She finished. "I must say... I like the sound of that..." Clark, or should I say "Superman", said. Before anyone could do anything else, something in the plane's damaged window began to shake. The crystals began to move on their own as they came together, creating a creature made of pure crystal.

"Run!" Superman exclaimed, and the crowd listened as it began to disperse. After the crowd of people was gone, Superman turned to the strange creature. "What are you? Why did you take down the plane?" He demanded to know. "To test your world's strength..." The creature said. Well... Not "said", as it had no mouth. More accurately it spoke telepathically.

"So far I am disappointed..." The creature spoke again. "I was hoping for a bigger challenge, to earn my place at the throne, but I guess you'll have to do... Prepare to face the wrath of the CRYSTAL CREATURE!" It exclaimed before charging at Superman. Superman charged back as they both drew their fists. Superman uppercutted the Crystal Creature before scoring a left-handed punch. However, the creature didn't break and slammed Superman into the ground.

The Creature lifted both of its arms. It was about to bring them down on Superman and finish him off, but it got hit by a bunch of energy blasts. This caused the Creature to look up at the source of the interference. It appeared to be a black fighter jet.

"This battle was too easy anyway..." The Crystal Creature excused itself before taking off to locations still unknown. The fighter jet landed next to Superman, who began to wake up. "Need a hand?" A voice spoke to him, causing him to instinctively look up. The voice belonged to a man, who appeared to be in his early 30s, wearing a gray and black bat costume with a yellowish-brown belt with a silver buckle, black gloves and cape, and a bat insignia on his chest.

The man was offering Superman a hand. "You... You're the Batman! From Gotham!" Superman exclaimed. Batman remained silent and stood up, since Superman took too long to take his hand. "You just fought one of these creatures..." He said with his usual low, growly, Kevin Conroy like voice. "And there are more of them not far behind... If you want to stand a chance against them, you better come with me!"

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Hey guys! Infinityalbi10 here! I hope you liked this appetizer before the actual story begins. I mean, this is part of the actual story but it doesn't really focus on the Justice League as a whole, just on Superman and him revealing himself for the first time. I hope you noticed some of the Easter Eggs I put in the story. If ya didn't... I gotta get out of the house more...

Anyways, you might be wondering why this is a "Chapter 0". Well, when Comic companies want to advertise an upcoming big crossover event, they would usually release a 0th Issue to that story on Free Comic-Book Day. It was mostly for advertising, so you didn't need to read it if you just wanted to read the story. Since this Chapter focused mostly on Superman, I thought why not make it my own version of a 0th Issue?

Be sure to tell me what you thought of the Chapter. And as always...

Thanks for reading! ❤