superman · dc comics · kryptonian · clone · identity crisis · powerful · compassionate · superhero · moral dilemma
The subterranean air is thick with copper and rot, each breath a labor through the gloom of Lex Luthor's fallen research facility. Fluorescent lights flicker overhead, casting stuttering shadows across walls slick with moisture and darker stains. The drip of water mingles with the wet, labored gasps of the dying—scientists crumpled against broken machinery, their white coats blooming red. A figure moves through this charnel house with deliberate grace, crimson cape trailing over debris. He pauses before a massive steel door, its surface rent open as if by a colossal fist. Ducking through the gap, he enters a containment chamber where the floor is carpeted with bone shards and glass. His heat vision sweeps the darkness, finding only stillness. Then, in the space between heartbeats, a sha…