Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(79)

Clark shook his head. “I definitely don’t think we’ve seen the last of Project Dawn. Lex and his dad are smarter, too. Which makes it even more dangerous.”

They both went quiet for a few seconds, Clark realizing there would always be another evil to contend with.

“But I don’t want to dwell on that right now,” Lana said. “What matters is that the soldiers all lived. Thanks to Bryan and Superman.” Lana shook her head. “Not that the Planet disclosed exactly how. They kept that part weirdly vague.”

“So that’s what everyone’s calling him, then?” Clark asked. “Superman?”

“I guess so,” Lana said, clearly irritated. “I would have come up with something much better.”

“I just wish they’d highlighted Bryan more,” Clark said. “He was the real hero that day.”

Lana squeezed his wrist. “Losing Bryan was hard.”

Clark nodded, looking at the floor. It killed him that he couldn’t scream from a mountaintop about the tremendous sacrifice Bryan had made for Smallville. But, of course, Clark wasn’t supposed to have been there, witnessing Bryan’s death. Unable to save his friend. “I keep expecting him to text me,” Clark said, meeting eyes with Lana. “You know, to go get food at All-American or something.”

Lana nodded and squeezed Clark’s hand again as a bunch of other Smallville High students moved past them, toward the parking lot.

“We’d better go, Clark.” Lana pointed to her watch. “We don’t want to miss the march of the scumbags.”

They continued to her car and drove downtown, where they were just in time for the march. From the back seat Clark grabbed the poster he and Lana had made the night before in the library. When they arrived at the courthouse steps, there was a swarm of people out front. A handful of reporters fought their way to the front of the anti-Mankins protesters. This time there were as many white people protesting as Mexicans. Everyone in Smallville had seemingly come together to denounce the Mankins Corporation.

Cameras flashed as Montgomery Mankins was led out of the building in handcuffs. Reporters shouted questions, but he ignored them all. He held his head high, trying to hold on to his air of authority and dignity even in the face of defeat. But it was impossible. The man would never see another day outside jail. And that, Clark reasoned, was justice.

As Montgomery neared, Clark and Lana unfolded the poster and held it up over their heads. The man slowed to read the message as he walked past Clark and Lana. FOR BRYAN. Montgomery paled as he made eye contact with them before being pushed along by Deputy Rogers.

Lana turned to Clark as he folded their poster. “It’s pretty satisfying to see the once-mighty fall.”

Clark stared up into the clouds. “If only it could bring Bryan back somehow.”

Lana nodded. The two of them turned to watch Montgomery be loaded into a police van, then started back to Lana’s car.



* * *



—

They made it back to school just in time for their final class with Mrs. Sovak. Clark shifted uncomfortably in his creaky wooden seat, trying to focus on her lecture. Instead of a final this semester, she simply wanted to talk about current events. But unlike all Clark’s other teachers, who wanted to talk about Superman and the Mankins Corporation, Mrs. Sovak wanted to discuss immigration. “As you know, several community members and I have been pounding the pavement, collecting signatures to try and kill the stop-and-search issue before it even goes to a vote. Well, I’m thrilled to announce we ended up with more than twice as many signatures as we needed. It has officially been dismissed as of two o’clock this afternoon.”

Clark cheered wildly with the rest of his classmates. He knew racism was a much deeper problem than this one battle. But it made him happy that Smallville had landed on the right side of history in this case.

As the clapping slowed, Clark’s focus drifted to the sounds all around school. Now it was easier for him to direct his attention. Ever since Clark had begun wearing the suit under his clothes, he could control his powers better than ever. He’d decided to put it on every morning, beneath his regular clothes.

Just in case.

A girl near the back of class was whispering to a friend: “I just wish I knew who it was. I mean, how can he fly like that?”

Out in the hallway, a student walked by, retelling the story of what he’d seen that weekend to a buddy on the phone. He made swooshing and swooping noises to mimic Superman’s flying.

All the way across campus, Clark heard Moira DeMeyer, Lana’s ex-friend, claiming that Lana was actually dating Superman. There was one particular sound that he kept coming back to, though. In a distant room on campus, a girl was laughing.

He’d recognize the sound of Gloria Alvarez’s laugh anywhere.

As soon as class was over, he hurried out of the room and found her sitting next to Counselor Julius on the steps of the school’s back entrance. Gloria was looking up at him, her face filled with joy.

When she spotted Clark, she called him over.

“What is it?” he asked. “What’s so funny?”

She handed him a letter.

It was a college scholarship offer. Metropolis University had offered her a Dreamer spot beginning next fall. One of the top schools in the Midwest, if not the whole country.

Gloria stood and gave Clark a kiss on the cheek. “I’m actually going to college,” she told him. “Can you believe it?”