[Third Person POV]
Clark soared across the endless white sky, the Arctic winds howling. The world below was a canvas of glittering ice and jagged glaciers. In his arms, Seiko rested in a secure princess carry, her elegant coat fluttering wildly as the frigid air nipped at her cheeks.
Trailing behind them was a spectacle of its own. Momo clung tightly to Clark's leg, secured by a glowing tether of spiritual energy. Lala latched onto Momo's waist, her pink hair streaming behind her as the two of them swung like ornaments on a pendulum. Beside them, Krypto the Superdog glided through the air with effortless grace, his white fur gleaming against the frozen sky as he barked cheerfully at the wind.
"This better be worth it…" Seiko muttered, her teeth chattering despite her attempt to sound dignified. She tugged her thick coat closer, her breath fogging in the air.
Clark looked down at her with a teasing grin, the cold not bothering him in the slightest. "Come on, surely a little chill isn't too much for a grand priestess such as yourself?" he teased, deliberately letting the wind whip a little harder around them. "Shouldn't your spiritual energy be more than enough to keep you warm?"
Seiko tilted her head upward, glaring at him through narrowed, frost-bitten eyes. "Clark… we're in the middle of the Arctic. You tell me how warm spiritual energy is supposed to be when it's minus forty degrees."
Clark chuckled, clearly enjoying her discomfort. "I know you can handle it. Honestly, I think you're just being dramatic."
Her glare sharpened into a dagger. "Don't act like you aren't slowing down on purpose just to torment me. I know you can fly faster. Stop playing games and hurry it up, you bad grandson!" She put on a pitiful pout, her voice rising theatrically. "Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I've been nothing but kind to you!"
Clark's grin faded into a dry stare. "You beat me with a bat when I was five years old."
Seiko gave an indifferent shrug. "Don't act like you didn't deserve it. You definitely had it coming."
"I was still just five years old…" Clark repeated, his lips twitching with a mixture of disbelief and amusement at her unapologetic tone.
"It builds character," Seiko said matter-of-factly, chin tilted upward as though presenting an unassailable argument. "And look at you now—handsome, strong, heroic. I'd say I did a pretty good job."
"The only thing it built was resentment, you crazy old hag," Clark shot back, his voice tinged with mock irritation as he slowed his pace.
He came to a hover above a wide stretch of untouched snow, levitating in place. Momo and Lala swung beneath him like a chained wrecking ball, the spiritual tether swaying with their weight as they lowered themselves to the ground.
"If that's really how you talk to your elders, maybe we need to revisit those manners," Seiko huffed, crossing her arms.
Clark finally descended, landing softly on the powdery snow. He set Seiko down gently—only to suddenly snap his hand to the side, snatching a snowball out of midair with lightning reflexes. Without missing a beat, he whipped it back with a flick of his wrist.
The snowball shot forward like a guided missile and struck Momo square in the forehead with a thwap.
"Ahhh!!" Momo yelped, lifting one leg dramatically as if she'd been mortally wounded before collapsing into the snow. She clutched the red spot on her forehead with a gasp. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Lala, still clinging to Momo's back, burst into uncontrollable laughter, doubling over as her body shook. "Pffft—ohhh that was perfect!"
"Me next!" Lala declared gleefully, already gathering a snowball of her own.
Before she could even launch it, another perfectly packed sphere smacked into her face with surgical precision, courtesy of Clark's lightning-fast throw.
"Haha!" Clark laughed triumphantly as Lala blinked in stunned silence, her face now a mask of icy powder.
A blur of white streaked past him—another snowball, this one moving at the speed of a bullet. Clark jerked his head aside at the last possible second, the icy missile grazing past his ear.
"Oh, it's on!" Lala shouted, her eyes blazing with competitive fire. With a sharp inhale, she unleashed a rapid-fire volley of snowballs, her arms moving so fast they blurred.
Clark's grin widened as he stepped into the fray, his movements becoming a blur of red and white. He sidestepped with super speed, his own arsenal of snowballs materializing in his hands faster than the eye could follow.
Soon the air was alive with flying projectiles. Snowballs zipped back and forth in a dizzying crossfire, leaving streaks of white vapor as they cut through the freezing air. Each impact exploded into tiny glittering clouds of powder. Momo and Krypto turned their heads back and forth like spectators at a tennis match, their eyes struggling to keep up with the furious pace.
Krypto barked excitedly, bounding from side to side as if itching to join the game. His tail wagged so hard it kicked up its own little snowstorm.
Through it all, Seiko stood quietly off to the side, her eyes following Clark's every movement. For a brief, rare moment, Clark looked completely at peace—laughing, smiling, his eyes bright with joy as he matched Lala's speed and enthusiasm.
Seiko's stern expression softened.
'…Maybe what he needed was someone who could match him all along,' she thought, her heart warming despite the Arctic chill. 'I wonder how lonely it must have been, being the strongest all by himself.'
"Can we see the Fortress now?!" Momo finally whined, hugging herself tightly as she hopped in place for warmth. Her breath came out in frantic puffs as she rubbed her gloved hands together. "Some of us don't have alien resistance to freezing to death!"
"Hm?" Clark turned his head toward her, his face lit with playful confusion.
A perfectly aimed snowball smacked him squarely in the temple before he could finish the thought, exploding in a burst of icy powder.
"Hahaha!! Finally, I got a hit in!!" Lala cheered with both fists raised in triumph. Her delighted laugh echoed across the frozen plains like a victorious bell.
But before she could finish celebrating, the light around her dimmed. A sudden shadow loomed overhead. "Huh…?" she murmured, blinking as the sky above her seemed to disappear behind a massive shape.
Her eyes widened. A boulder of snow—easily the size of a small car—was plummeting straight toward her. For a full, stunned heartbeat she simply stood there, mouth falling open in disbelief, unable to process what she was seeing.
WHUMP!
The giant snowball crashed down, swallowing her whole and sending a blast of white powder exploding in every direction. When the haze cleared, only two twitching feet and a pair of wings stuck out from the newly formed hill.
Clark and Momo doubled over in instant, uncontrollable laughter. Momo gasped, pointing with both hands as tears welled in her eyes. Clark held his stomach, his deep laugh rolling across the icy field.
The snow mound suddenly erupted with a muffled boom. Lala shot upward like a startled rocket, wings flaring wide as she burst out of her snowy prison. She hovered midair, hair dusted white, her entire body coated in clumps of frost.
"That wasn't fair!" she cried, cheeks puffing as she jabbed an accusatory finger at Clark. "Nobody said we could use big snowballs!"
Clark, still chuckling, simply brushed off his hands as though the matter was settled. "Never said we couldn't either… Anyways" he said casually, turning his back on her tantrum. "Shall we go check the Fortress now?"
Lala froze mid-hover, her glare sharpening into a narrow-eyed pout. "Now that's just playing dirty," she grumbled, frantically brushing snow off her hair and wings.
She darted forward in a pink-and-white blur, landing behind Clark in a single graceful swoop. With a mischievous grin she wrapped her arms over his shoulders and locked her legs snugly around his waist in a warm back hug. "What are you doing?" Clark asked, one brow arched as he glanced over his shoulder.
"I'm cold and you're warm," Lala said matter-of-factly, snuggling against the back of his neck. "You owe me for burying me in a mountain of snow, mister!"
Clark rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. "…Whatever," he muttered, making no effort to push her away as he began to walk.
The group followed his lead across the blinding white field. Then, without warning, the ground beneath their feet gave a deep, resonant rumble. Crystalline shapes began to spear upward through the snow with a sharp, glasslike crack.
One by one, enormous pillars of shimmering crystal burst from the frozen earth, rising higher and higher until they pierced the sky itself. The sound was like an orchestra of breaking ice and ringing bells. Jagged spires arched and curved, interlocking to form towering walls of radiant crystal that glittered beneath the pale Arctic sun.
Momo and Seiko both stopped dead in their tracks. Their eyes widened, jaws slack, as the magnificent structure unfolded around them like a living thing. Light refracted off every surface, painting their faces with shifting shades of blue and silver.
Even Lala, peeking over Clark's shoulder, let out a low, impressed whistle. "Oooh, how pretty."
At the very center of the newly formed entrance, a massive crystal door emerged. Etched into its gleaming surface was the unmistakable crest of the House of El, carved in perfect, glowing lines. The symbol pulsed with soft white light, then split cleanly down the middle as the door activated and slowly slid apart, revealing the interior beyond.
"Welcome," Clark said, spreading his arms theatrically as the brilliant light spilled outward. "To the Fortress of Solitude."
Krypto bounded forward with an excited bark, tail wagging like a metronome as he trotted happily into the shimmering halls.
Momo's astonishment quickly shifted into mock outrage. She stomped over to Clark and began smacking his arm repeatedly with her gloved hand, each word punctuated by a playful slap. "And. You. Waited. This. Long. To. Show. Us?!"
Inside, the vast entrance chamber opened into a cathedral of light and crystal. Towering columns of translucent blue rose like frozen trees, each one humming faintly with energy. Rows of sleek, humanoid robots stood at attention near the central walkway, their polished silver-and-blue bodies gleaming under the crystalline glow.
As the group stepped inside, the robots turned in perfect unison. Their eyes lit with soft blue light as their voices chimed in perfect harmony. "Good afternoon, Kal-El," they greeted, bowing their heads in synchronized respect. Each robot bore the sigil of the House of El across its chest, along with a unique number etched just below the emblem.
Momo's mouth fell open. "You… you have robot servants and you let me do chores by myself back home?!" she exclaimed, whirling on Clark with an accusatory glare. "Shame on you!"
Clark only smirked, clearly enjoying her indignation.
Seiko stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as she studied the craftsmanship. "Did you build them yourself?" she asked, her voice equal parts admiration and disbelief.
"Yup," Clark replied proudly, hands slipping into his pockets. "I was bored one week and wanted to see if I could do it."
Lala floated lazily around the vast chamber, her eyes scanning every glittering corner. "Huh… seems kinda small," she said offhandedly.
Clark's head snapped toward her, his expression a mix of mock offense and genuine confusion. "Excuse me?"
Lala raised her hands quickly, her smile turning sheepish. "I just mean it doesn't look like you used any dimensional tech to expand the interior. With all this alien tech, I expected something… bigger on the inside, that's all."
Clark's frown softened into an intrigued smile. "Actually, that's one of the reasons I invited you here," he admitted as he began walking deeper into the crystalline corridors. "You've got way more experience with advanced dimensional tech—teleportation, spatial manipulation, that room you built back at the shrine. I wanted a second opinion on a few upgrades."
Lala's grin returned in full force. She tightened her arms around his neck, her tail swinging with excitement. "Just show me what you need help with, and I'll have this place expanded in no time!"
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