An explosion rocked the home of the House of El, crystal spires fell from the roof and walls as Lara Lor-Van raced through the corridors. "Jor! Jor! They're coming!"
Servants and slaves ran in a panic, nearly knocking the insectoid woman over. She found her to the roof, where the stone man form of her husband, Jor-El, was carefully attaching the Birthing Matrix into a pod. "Jor… what have you done?" Under the force shield was a canon, the Gravity Arm that Krypton had used to gain footholds in other galaxies in the sector.
The very weapon that brought the combined might of Thanagar, Rann, and Gordania on their doorsteps.
"It is the only way Lara. The Empire is dead. I will use what has killed us to save our child." Jor-El softly brushed a hand on the pod. In the window, the body of their child reached out to touch him.
Lara joined Jor-El. "To guarantee his escape… we'll have to alter the shield. We won't survive."
"Nothing of Krypton will." Jor-El said, steadying his wife as their home was rocked by another blast from a Thanagarian tank. "Zod drew the Empire into a conflict we would never be ready for."
He pressed his hands against the shield controls but they shook. "I… I…" Lara covered her hands with his, guiding them. "Thank you, my love." The shield was redirected, forming a cone around the Gravity Arm. "Good luck my son. May a better Krypton be reborn through you."
Weapons fire impacted the crystal spires, bringing them down on Jor-El and Lara as their Gravity Arm activated, flinging the precious cargo and Krypton's last son to safety.
On a wintery road in Kansas, a couple were returning home from a failed meeting at a fertility clinic. "Jonathan…"
"Don't cry now Martha. We'll think of something. I promise- WHAT IN SAM HIMM!?"
Jonathan Kent swerved on the icy road to avoid a flaming ball striking the road where they had been. The truck spun in circles three times before coming to rest in a ditch attached to a neighbor's farm.
"Jonathan… look!" Martha Kent pointed out the windshield and where the couple expected a burning hunk of rock, was instead a sphere of crystal. "It's a satellite I think." She got out and approached the machine.
"Martha.. Martha we don't know what that is!" Jonathan followed his wife who had stopped in front of a window in the sphere. Inside was a baby boy with a smattering of black hair. "Who'd send a baby into space? Can't be us. Russians?"
The sphere opened up and the baby boy tumbled out into the snow. Martha reached down and picked him up. "Jonathan…"
"Oh no Martha. Military's got to be looking for him. We'll get in trouble!"
"And you want to leave a baby they put into space with them?" Martha's eyes narrowed at her husband.
Jonathan looked from his wife to the baby, then the spaceship he came in, before sighing. "We'll need to keep this quiet. Hopefully Ross won't go talking about what he's helping me with."
+++
You, the Monitor, look over the timeline and see that the Superman has found stability. Perhaps more work will be needed in the future, but for now the path is set and reliable. Hope has come to this World and the universe is all the better for it.
But now you turn your attention to the North Eastern coast of the United States a few years after the Kryptonian arrives. A city that draws darkness to it and requires a light to shine from that darkness. Gotham City, home of what should be the Dark Knight.
Who is this child that will grow to be a Knight?
[ ] 8 Year old Boy
[ ] 8 year old girl
[ ] 8 Year old Fraternal Twins (Boy and Girl)
[ ] 8 Year old Identical Twins (Boys)
[ ] 8 year old identical twins (Girls)
You see a couple walking their excited child(ren) away from a film. It has an influence on the Knight, whether conscious or not. What did this family see that so excited the child? (Will determine heroic style)
[ ] A swashbuckling adventure (Adam West style)
[ ] A film noir detective (Neil Adams style)
[ ] A slasher horror (Frank Miller style)
[ ] A shonen adventure (action manga style)
[ ] A combination of film genres (Pick two)
The child(ren) lead the parents through an alley, excitedly dancing around and talking about the film they all just saw. A man steps out from the shadows. He has a gun. He orders them to hand over their valuables.
The fracture is pronounced here. What happens?
[ ] The gunman takes the valuables and shoots the parents without looking (it's a hit)
[ ] The husband attempts to take the gun away and is shot, in a panic so is the wife (it was a robbery)
[ ] The child(ren) draws attention and tries to hide, but the gunman fires and hits them (Flashpoint)
[ ] The wife tries to distract the gunman and is knocked out, but the gun goes off (Martha survives alone)
[ ] Police sirens distract the gunman and allow the family to escape (no deaths)
[ ] A combination of these events? (Pick two)
No matter what, that night in the alley affects the Knight. They grow and train their whole lives to prevent crime in the future, but an attempt leaves them wounded and needing a symbol. Something to draw the eye away from the human. It comes to them one night.
[ ] A bat flies through the window (Batman)
[ ] Moonlight shines through the window and a flutter of curtains look like a ghost (The Phantasm)
[ ] While camping, a huge scorpion stings a snake to death (Scorpion)
[ ] While diving, a large manta ray surprises the divers (Sting Ray)
[ ] A shooting star catches the eye (Shooting Star)
[ ] The hoot of an owl draws the ear and a large horned owl is in the trees above (Owlman)
[ ] Perhaps something in the Manor (Write in art piece as inspiration)
Soon you will stabilize the Knight…
