Chapter 72 - Eve of Battle

---Later That Night, Universe 15---

Getting call that the orphans were having trouble sleeping, I came back to see them. Not wanting to use magic to force them to sleep, they had brought me in to comfort them as they asked for me by name. Coming into the room where they were sleeping, several of them came over to me with tears in there eyes.

"Did you guys have nightmares?", I asked softly.

"Mhmm, the scary man was chasing us.", they whimpered.

"I understand, the scary man won't bother you with me here.", I chuckled, "I will beat him up if he shows up here."

"Really?", they asked me.

"Of course.", I promised taking a seat near their beds, "Go ahead and lay down. I will stay here tonight to make sure he doesn't come back."

Laying down again, the kids checked a few times to make sure I didn't slip out. When they drifted of again, I manipulated their minds to give them pleasant dreams. Reading a book while I sat there several of the kids started talking in their sleep. Some were asking for food, some asked for toys, and others wanted to play video games. A little girl next to me grabbed my cap, and pleaded in her sleep for her father not to go away. Patting her softly on head to calm her down I stayed with them till dawn. When the first few children woke up, I said that I had to go but that I would be back later to take them to their permanent residence in my universe.

---Fortress of Solitude---

"So you spent the whole night there?", Raven asked helping me make breakfast.

"Yeah, the kids are mentally scarred after watching their parents be ripped apart by the Black Lanterns. I saw it in their minds...it's burned into their memories and it isn't something that will go away anytime soon.", I said.

"That's a lot to handle for a child. Are they going to be okay?", Starfire asked mixing up pancake batter.

"I will get them the therapy they will need.", I replied before telling her to slow down her mixing, "You're going to break the bowl if you aren't careful."

"Yeah please be careful...I want to have pancakes today.", Blackfire stated making the bacon.

"Good morning all!", Harley shouted coming out of the room.

"Morning!!", Mina laughed.

"Yes, this morning is very good!", Starfire giggled, "We are having the bacon, the eggs, and the fluffy pancakes!"

"You can just say bacon, eggs, and pancakes.", Ochaco and Nejire teased.

Helping me cook, for the first time in a while, I was suspicious that something was going on. Looking at all of them they were getting along as well as could be expected so I decided to probe for answers. Lightly bumping into Nemuri I asked her what was going on that had everyone in such a good mood.

"Word came in last night that the DC women are going to have special permission to act as Heroes as long as you are present.", she replied, "Also, Nezu said some sort of changes are coming down the pipe for U.A."

"Oh really, like what?", I asked.

"The government wants us to more focus on humanitarian efforts now. With crime plummeting they want Heroes to focus more on helping the public directly instead of only fighting criminals.", she stated.

"Yeah...they are going around asking Heroes if they were willing to retire for lump sum payments based on number of years in the business.", Rumi complained, "The jackass that came to my agency tried to convince me that I was getting old, and needed to think about retiring!!"

"Seriously!?", I gasped.

"I asked him how old he thought I was, and he said he thought I looked like I was thirty-five!! The nerve of that pencil pushing prick!!", Rumi shouted slamming her fist into the counter, "I threw him out of my agency, and told him to fuck himself on a pike!"

"Haha!!", Nemuri laughed almost falling over.

"He seriously thought you were thirty-five?", Maxima and Selena asked, "That man must have been a dick."

"None of us look a day over twenty-five.", Kara said.

"Now that would have been a respectful answer.", Ivy added, "Thirty-five was just asking to be punched."

"See getting your age that bad?", Eri inquired.

"When you are older you will want people to say you younger than you really are.", Melissa answered.

"But why, age is just a number isn't it?", she pressed.

"It isn't fun getting older after twenty-one.", Harley, Ivy, and Selena said in unison, "All that awaits you is getting older, cramping up, and be exhausted all the time."

"Hey that only applies when your in your fifties!!", Nemuri snapped.

"That applies to the people that don't stay fit.", Raven stated, "If keep in shape that won't happen nearly as quickly."

"Amen to that sister!", Rumi said flexing her muscles.

"Oh...okay.", Eri sighed.

"What they mean to say Eri is that when your age you want people to think your younger. It makes you feel good, and happy inside.", Mera said walking into the other Heroes.

Saying good morning to them I asked them how things were progressing towards our surprise attack. Stating that they had successfully managed to get everyone on board with the plan, Lex from Universe 3 was working on modifying tech to be more effective on Black Lanterns. He was working a potential way to put them into stasis so they could be changed back after Nekron, and Prime were taken care of.

Asking me about my preparations, I said that I would be ready in time. Informing my girlfriends that they would be running support for this, there main objective was to secure the portals on the Earth 1 side so when I launched the final push against Nekron the teams could fall back safely. Accepting the task they said they would hold the line no matter what. Asking if I would have special gear for them, I said I was working to imbue the Life Force into their equipment to give them a boost against the Lanterns.

"You adding it to ours too?", Mera asked me with a smile.

"I can do that.", I chuckled.

"Same here please.", Wonder Woman said.

"Okay.", I replied.

Sitting down to eat our meal together the girls and I got ready for school.

---U.A High School---

Dropping Eri off at school, she made sure to remind me to be at school for lunch as it was the day meet her classmates along with our parents. When I brought it to their attention my parents blocked out the whole day so they could be there for Eri with no disruptions. Due to the many connections I had made through my business dealings we could take days like this as needed without incurring any losses to profits.

"You won't be here for lunch then...", Dorothy sighed.

"It's Eri's big day.", I chuckled, "I have to be the good big brother, and show up for my little sister."

"Just don't threaten any of the little boys.", Nejire and Melissa snickered.

"Yeah, we don't want to see you get arrested.", Itsuka added.

"I won't go that far.", I swore, "They are children...but I will put the fear of god in any punk that tries to hurt her."

"...you are way to protective of her...", they sighed.

"What are you guys talking about?", Asui asked.

"Clark will be at Eri's school for lunch today.", Ochaco said.

"Phew...I almost brought something for him to eat...I burnt it so I didn't bring it.", Jiro sighed with relief.

Walking them to class, I told them that I would be back to pick them up at the end of the day. Nodding their heads, they hugged me before running into class. Watching them do so Bakugo knew what had happened.

'Great...he's dating every girl in our class now...', he sighed, 'Well at least my old lady can stop riding me to take one on a date..."

---Bakugo's House---

"Achoo!", Mitsuki sneezed, "Is that little shit talking shit about me again!? I am going throttle his ass!!"

---U.A High School---

Heading to my classroom per usual Nezu said that he needed to talk to me about something. Stepping inside the conference room he closed the door behind with a heavy sigh.

"Clark...is it true that Nemuri is pregnant?", he asked with a serious face.

"She is.", I said knowing that there was no reason to lie as he had overheard previously.

"I see you don't practice safe sex...", he groaned, "Okay well that makes this easier I guess. The Prime Minister approved Nejire and Melissa graduating early based on their extremely high scores on tests and performance in class...they have also asked us to accelerate the others."

"I thought that wasn't possible in Japan.", I stated.

"It usually isn't, in fact this is the first time I am hearing of this being done. The government has been monitoring their performance in all their courses, and they have outshined everyone peer by an extremely high margin. Their Hero Class Scores put them in the top 20 Heroes, if they were Pros. The test scores they have...they are taking tests meant for graduate college students, and are passing with perfect marks.", Nezu said, "They have said that given the situation in the other worlds that the circumstances are extreme enough to allow them to accelerate to graduation within half a year."

"There is a catch isn't there...", I said.

"Yes, the agreement is that your Agency will open up within six months of their graduation. The UN wants you to run point for inter-universal relations given your connections to other worlds.", Nezu stated.

"They want to keep up relations with them?", I asked.

"Not really...the reports that we gave to the UN, well lets say several members fainted. The UN is petrified that a rogue group may try to come here to attack our world. It was abundantly clear that our world wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against them...", he said with serious look, "Clark, the UN is investigating your origins. I know that your parents say that you were born here, but the UN, frankly most governments around the globe, are starting to think you aren't from our world. Between your inventions, knowledge, powers, and knowledge of their worlds...they think you are from one of them."

"I can assure you I am not.", I laughed, "Hopefully the UN isn't thinking that I am a-"

"No, the no one thinks you are a threat at this point. Several countries swore that they knew you were a good person, including the English Princess you know personally. They are more worried about if you are from our world...that means we could see more children like you showing up.", he said wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Haha!", I chuckled almost falling out of my seat, "I can assure that only my kids will be like that, and I will make sure they are raised properly."

"You don't seem worried about this.", he said.

"It is a bit of a nuisance, but I understand their concerns.", I stated deliberating whether or not to tell him the truth.

Out of all my secrets that was the biggest one I had left, and we were reaching the point where it was going to need to come out. My biggest fear was that my family wouldn't react the best to this, but it was too late to worry about it now.

"Kid, honesty is the best policy in situations like these. I think your worries about your harem are unfounded really. At this point I am fairly certain that they know you are a reincarnated person, and the higher beings are already aware you are reincarnated as you know.", Spectre told me mentally, "As corny as it fucking sounds, they know you really love them. If you are honest with them, they will understand."

Sighing I looked at Nezu with a resolute look.

"Nezu, I want to be honest with you about something. Do you have some time to talk?", I asked.

"Sure.", he said.

Using magic to show him my previous life, I told him how I met God and was reincarnated here. Telling him about what my goal was, and where I wanted to be Nezu nodded his head. Explaining where the tech came from, how I knew about it, and why I was so picky about what I sold publicly he completely understood my reasoning now.

"Now things make more sense.", Nezu stated, "I...I can't imagine living a life like that. Your world was far more advanced than the one we have here or the one I saw during the rescue operation."

"I know, it's hard to believe that a society so advanced was no more advanced socially than any other world.", I told him, "My family spent our lives trying to improve the lives of others, and our world kill my family. I kept following their footsteps up till the end...still I couldn't change how they acted. In the end we couldn't change anything because we didn't have the power too. That's why I use my power to help those that would otherwise go overlooked."

"Clark...our world truly appreciates that dedication.", Nezu said, "If the UN knew that was your background I don't think they would be concerned, but I assume you don't want this to be public knowledge."

"Right, I want to limit the number of people that know my former past for now.", I chuckled, "For now I am content with people know the me I am now."

Nodding his head Nezu gave me a grin as he told me the next bit of news. To accommodate the accelerated graduation schedule the girls would be moved into my class, and Nemuri would be the teacher. He had decided on her as it would limit those who would see her to staff and us only.

"I assume you have something planned coming up base on how they have been acting.", Nezu said.

"Correct, we are going to put this situation to rest on the other side.", I stated, "We are coordinating now to ambush them, and take them out."

"Understood.", Nezu said, "Well then I will let you get to patrolling. By the way, the US has asked that you be on standby today. There is a hurricane that is supposed to make landfall in a few hours so they may need your assistance."

Nodding me head, I flew out the wind to head over to assist them.

'Now that everything makes sense, I can relax.', Nezu sighed as he returned to his office, 'The only thing to worry about is Nemuri taking maturity leave...we will have to bring in a substitute till she recovers. Maybe I can get Gran Torino to cover for a while.'

---Caribbean---

Shooting over to the Caribbean I set out to get all the boats to a port to weather out the storm. Telepathically reaching out to people on the ocean, I started with the most desperate people. Finding fishing boats being tossed and turned in the ocean, the men on the decks called out for assistance as they were in danger of rolling the ship. Carrying their boats to their ports of call I got to moving private yachts and smaller recreational craft to safety. Lifting out cargo and cruise ships last the people on board cheered and waved to me as we flew into port.

"Superman!!", the people shouted out as I set down the last ship into port, "Thank you!!"

Saluting them before flying off, I headed to the areas that would hit the heaviest by the hurricane. As expected the highways were clogged with people flee the coast for the impending storm. Flying down to the police that were trying to move traffic as quickly as possible, I asked how I could help. Asking me to move the overturned semi that was blocking a good portion of the highway moving in with a flick of my wrist I asked what else I could do.

"If you can start moving cars further inland that would help us out a lot. Even with all lanes open now, it's going to take time to get everyone out of here.", they said.

"Alright.", I said.

Speaking with people before I moved their cars I got several hundred into the air using a mixture of magnetism and telekinesis. Lifting them out of the area I couldn't help, but smile watching the children in the cars watching the scenery fly by. Waving at me excitedly they enjoyed their brief flights before I set them down in large parking lots. Making several trips to evacuate everyone the police thanked me before they also evacuated themselves from the area.

Heroes and others also fell back as well with most civilians evacuated. With Heroes and police out of the way looters tried to break into buildings, but were immediately apprehended by me. Taking them to police stations open further inland I reported what they did along with footage of them committing crimes. Booking the criminals in they thanked me for my service, and got them checked in. Doing one last sweep of the coastal areas for anyone that needed evacuated, I then built a series of buffer islands out of sand to absorb the brunt of the potential tidal waves to mitigate the amount of damage they cities would face. Once that was done, I shot off to Eri's school event.

---Eri's Elementary School---

Touching down right as my parents arrived, they were dressed up for this event. Mom brought her camera to snap all the pictures she could to preserve the memories. Opening the door for them the three of us walked to Eri's classroom where she was patiently waiting for us. Seeing us Eri bolted from her seat, and jumped into my arms with a smile on her face.

"Oh come on Eri, how about a hug for your father?", Dad asked with a laughed.

"Okay!", she laughed hugging both of our parents before pulling us to her desk.

Showing us the activities they had for us, Eri wanted us to make something out of popsicle sticks, glue, and tape. Asking her what she wanted to make, Eri said she wanted to make a boat. Asking me to do the fine bending for the hull our parents worked with Eri to assemble the parts as I finished bending them. Working together we got the boat built, and tested it out on the water after I hardened the glue with a small amount of heat vision.

"It floats!!", Eri shouted proudly, "We made a boat that floats!!"

Moving it around the kiddy pool with telekinesis Eri watched with a beaming smile as the boat moved around. Almost falling in when she tried to grab it Dad caught her while Mom snapped a picture. Praising Eri while patting her head, I noticed that not all the students had family members present. A few kids had parents that were unable to get away from work, or didn't care enough to show up. Watching them look at the other kids with sadness I walked over to them, and offered to build boats with them. Having someone want to build something with them they all readily agreed.

Telling me how they wanted the boats to look, I did my best to help them make them look how they wanted. Obviously I couldn't make them spew flames, have machine guns, or put ponies on them but I managed to make them look good either way. Using my head vision I engraved the boats for them so they at least had some decoration. Running over to Eri with their boats, the kids challenged her to a race in the pool.

Accepting their challenge, the kids tried using paper fans to move the boats. When that didn't work they looked to me for help. Rigging up several slingshots for the boats, the kids launched them across the pool seeing who could get the farthest. None of them won twice in a row after several attempts. Other children joined them testing their hand at racing. Before letting them put the boats in though I hardened the glue so it wouldn't dissolve in the water.

Just as I thought things were progressing smoothly, one of the father's started shouting at his daughter. The girl was trying to make a boat, but was too impatient to let the glue setup any. Frustration built up with her Dad till he blew a gasket. Telling her to stop messing around, and build the damn thing he said he regretted taking time off to come. Hearing that she curled up into the fetal position.

"Why the hell can't you make a freaking boat!?", he spat, "You could easily make a freaking raft, but you want to make a boat like some of the other kids. We can't make anything that ornate, and you know!! I am sorry your dear old father wasn't born with some amazing Quirk!!"

"I didn't-"

"Shut up you stupid brat!! God why did I let your mother talk me into coming to this shit!", he huffed, "She's off working, and I had to come to sit here to watch you fucking suck at making a boat. Your singing voice is shit so I don't know why you even volunteered to sing in the play today!!"

Tearing up hearing her Dad berate her, the young girl started to cry. Rushing over to her Eri was concerned about her, and stared at the girls father.

"That's not very nice to say to your daughter!", Eri told him, "A daddy isn't supposed to say that!! Daddies are supposed to be nice, and comfort their kids when they are sad!!"

"This is none of your business you little shit!!", he spat.

The moment he called Eri that I walked over towards him seething with anger.

"Clark, don't kill him!", my parents said.

"Be nice to her!! She is doing her bestest!", Eri shouted.

"Why you-", he said winding up to slap her.

"Excuse me sir...I hope you aren't about to hit her.", I stated.

Back handing me, he was about to lecture me on staying out of his business when he froze up. Realizing who he hit the man's anger went out, and fear came over him.

"I...I am sorry.", he said meekly.

"The little girl next to your daughter is my little sister.", I said grabbing him by the collar, "It is my business when you try to lay a finger on her. Your attitude is unacceptable for a father, and you should be ashamed to call yourself one. Did your father raise you to treat people like that?"

"No sir...", he replied.

"I hope you don't think that because your her father that you can berate her without any repurcussions.", I stated narrowing my eyes, "What you were saying and almost just did could be considered child abuse. Think very carefully about what you do...if you lay a finger on any children because your angry..."

"I swear I won't!", he pleaded pissing himself.

"Since you don't want to be here, get out. Your daughter is Eri's best friend, if she tells me you do anything to her for this I will come knocking and drag you downtown myself. I hear the Commissioner just loves dealing with people that like to abuse children.", I told him.

Letting him go he bolted out of the room, and floored it out of the parking lot. Kneeling down to the young girl, I offered to help her build her boat. Nodding her head she accepted the offer, and helped me build it. Racing boats with the other kids once her boat was ready, I took a spot next to my parents.

"That was very good of you Clark.", my Dad said, "A man like that has no business having or raising a child."

"Agreed, I can't believe he had the audacity to say those things to his daughter.", my mother said shifting in her seat, "The nerve some parents have tearing down their children."

Similarly other parents thanked me as well for removing him. With him gone the atmosphere was much happier and the children were having a blast. Sitting through the musical that was after the boat making, my mother filmed the whole thing in 8k and was already calling people to get it professionally edited. If my father hadn't reasoned with her we'd have had a full production crew to film this. His quick thinking of saying it wouldn't look good if she didn't shoot it worked wonders with convincing her.

---Fortress of Solitude---

After the musical was over my parents went home, and Eri and I went to the Fortress. Meeting up with the women as they were preparing their equipment for the upcoming fight, all of them looked serious as they prepared. Double and triple checking each other's equipment I knew now was as good as any to tell them. Asking them to take a seat around the dinner table all of them, including Asui and Jiro looked at me nervously.

"You aren't about to tell us to stay behind, are you?", Selena asked me.

"This conversation is completely unrelated to the fight or any anything else I have spoken to you about.", I stated.

"Do you have a secret lover we don't know about?", Yu teased.

"He better not...", Harley and Toga said staring me down.

"No, I don't have a secret lover.", I sighed, "I want to talk to you about something serious, it's something important about me that I want you all to know. I have hidden this secret for a very long time and the only person outside this group that knows is Nezu."

"Oh...", they said quieting down.

With a snap of my fingers the room morphed into what my original homeworld looked like. If I were to put it into terms of time, my world was at least two thousand years ahead technologically. For those who could afford it they could go their entire lives without getting sick once. The ultra wealthy could download their consciousness into artificial human robots, and continue living for centuries. We were traveling in space, were exploring the Milky Way when I was born and when I died we had reached other galaxies...but that all came on the backs of the masses.

My world was divided into two groups, the wealthy and the poor. Those who were poor were treated as replaceable tools, never once having been concerned human by the wealthy. It was a lot like New Genesis where the powerful lived in luxury while the poor lived in the dirt. Split 25/75 respectively none of the benefits our society had achieved was shared with them, and there was no way for them to ever move up in the world. People like my family and others tried to bridge the gap to help the poor, but the leadership of our world didn't like that. Using back channels that could be erased in moments, they killed my parents and others to sever those connections because they didn't want to lose their cheap labor.

"Clark...where is this?", Kara asked looking around.

"Where is this world!", Maxima gasped, "This is a very advanced civilization!"

"This...this was my home.", I said, "In a previous life..."

Looking at me to see if I was serious I nodded my head.

"I am a reincarnated person.", I admitted.

"You mean...this is the world you were born on before our world?!", Nejire and Melissa gasped, "This was the world you came from!?"

"Yes.", I stated.

"How?", Raven asked.

"My family was among the wealthiest people in our world, and my parents and I fought against our system by trying to help the poor that were left to root beneath our feet.", I answered, "My parents and I spent our lives working hard to make their lives better. It was so bad that there was no medical equipment for people, if you go sick there were no doctors. Missing a day of work was effectively saying your family wouldn't eat for the day...if you consider eating stale bread and beef broth eating."

"That...that is horrible...", Starfire said.

"Our world government treated them like expendable labor...paying them living wage, then taxing them to the point where they would always stay poor.", I told them looking at my hands, "People like me were treated like God's Chosen people...just because we were wealthy. I didn't feel any different from the people I helped, we all were human. My family and I used the technology we made to try and help people out of poverty. It wasn't easy, but we felt like we were making change in our world. I can still remember their smiling faces when we would bring food, clean water, and clothing to them. The World Government didn't take our work lightly...they saw us as trying to rob them of their source of income."

"Clark...", they said.

"One day while my parents were using our family jet...they were killed by the World Government to send a message. I was devastated at their loss, and never truly recovered from their loss. Keeping up with the work we were doing I kept it up till I eventually dropped dead from overworking myself.", I informed them, "That was when I met The Presence, and he offered me the chance to reincarnate. He blessed me with these powers and sent me here at my request. I came here wanting to make a positive impact here, to continue helping people like I had in my last life."

"That...that is so sad!!", Toru and Ochaco said starting to cry, "I am so sorry you lost your parents."

"Yeah...", Rumi and Nemuri added sniffling softly.

"I kept this from all of you because I didn't want you to assume that I had played you this whole time. That is how I know the timelines, the different worlds, and about all of you...it's because I read your stories in my former life.", I stated hanging my head.

Waiting for someone to say something I sat their in silence. After a few moments I felt Sonico hug me tightly as she kissed my cheek.

"It's okay, all of us had suspected that was the case for a long time too.", she said.

"You did?", I asked.

"Admittedly...it was very strange that you knew all about us like you had known us for years.", Ivy snickered, "We didn't say anything because we were waiting on you to tell us yourself. It was annoying though when you kept making assumptions about us based on your knowledge."

"Yes.", they all said.

"Haha, I guess that is true.", I laughed.

"It's not like you are still with us because we are good looking, right?", Rumi and Blackfire asked.

"Of course not, I love each and everyone of you. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to protect you, you are all the most important people in my life.", I stated.

"Then there is no problem.", Maxima chuckled, "As long you love us for who we are, and not the people you know us in books there is nothing wrong with that."

"Agreed.", Starfire and Mina said giving me thumbs up.

Thanking them all for their understanding, they quickly changed topics on me.

"So...were there really good physical training equipment in your world?", Rumi asked.

"Oh boy...", I sighed rubbing my forehead, "Let's get the questions out of the way now."

So for the next few hours I sat there answering questions they had about my previous life.