2020.01.25 - Cutscene: Black Winter? Nah.
Metropolis: The Kent Apartment. 6:00 AM.
Sometimes, when one has lived somewhere for long enough, the home seems to manifest *that* closet--the one full of objects that never seem to be used, the place where unused sporting equipment or never-worn coats seem to vanish forever. In the apartment where Clark Kent lives, that closet is filled with the usual odds and ends: a tennis racquet with a hole in the center, three snow skis (none of which match), an edgy 90s-style overcoat once received as a Christmas gift from Cat Grant, a box of old sports trophies, and so on. What's unusual about this particular walk-in closet is that, after the first couple of feet, the seeming accumulation of "stuff" is just that: a seeming, an illusion--in fact, a holo-particulate projection that hides a sophisticated piece of Justice League teleporter technology.
Hey, times have changed. Gone are the days when just sneaking in the window at super speed was a sure way to avoid being spotted.
The teleporter activates, silhouetting the form of Superman against its flash-and-hum of light and energy. As the glow fades, the Man of Steel carefully slips past the stacks of actual bric-à-brac and into the apartment. He removes his cape and moves, silently enough to satisfy Batman (well, probably), to the spare bedroom that serves as a home office, hoping to avoid disturbing the sleeping figure in the master bedroom. Clark changes out of his costume, which in the low light is revealed to be blackened and singed a bit, the cape a little the worse for wear. It will, he reflects as he looks it over, need to be repaired on the "super-loom" later. For now, he just puts on some casual wear, rolls up his sleeves, and heads out to the kitchen.
When Jimmy appears, Clark already has the coffee brewed and the eggs scrambled, and he greets the redhead with an affectionate kiss. "Morning," he says cheerfully, handing Jimmy a cup of coffee, and then his phone beeps with an alert. "Oh, that must be Lois," Clark says with a slightly sheepish grin. "Probably outraged that she didn't get to live tweet that little incident this morning."
At Jimmy's questioning look, Clark explains, "Well, far be it from Lois Lane to let a little thing like a decent night's sleep keep her from her never-ending battle for the latest headline! There was some business with some kind of cosmic menace invading reality. Skyboy detected it while I was on my way home from a quick stop overseas to check on a possible Godzilla sighting--fortunately, a false alarm. Apparently it's known as a 'Dark Winter,' or possibly a 'Black Snow'?"* He holds up both hands and says, "I know, I know. These names are always so dramatic! At least it wasn't a 'Crimson Skies of Death' situation again. Even Lois thinks that one's played out! But apparently this one had something to do with something that looked like charred snow, and if left unchecked it could have posed a real threat." He pauses to scoop the eggs onto a plate next to the toast, then goes to serve it up to Jimmy and offers an apologetic smile.
"I know, I should have called you, but honestly, it wasn't even much of an event! Skyboy and I collaborated on a modification to the Phantom Zone projector schematics and his Hypertime technology, and we created a--" He pauses to laugh in a self-conscious sort of way, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "Well, call it a 'Superdimensional Hypertime Reality Uncertainty Generator'? It's not a very good name, but it's at least less rude than the one Superboy--er, that's Superboy from Skyboy's reality--thought up."**
Pouring himself a cup of coffee and snagging a plate of breakfast for himself, Clark sits down across from Jimmy and grins a bit crookedly. "It looked like it could have been really bad if we'd just ignored it and let it build up into something nasty. But, anyway, the Winter--or whatever it was--existed in a state of what Skyboy called 'hyper-quantum fragility.' It just didn't have enough substance to it to be a real threat, at least not if we took action. So, we used the device to generate a hypertemporal Morrison-Waid effect--well, I suppose the more modern term would be a Paradox Localized Over Trans-Hypertime Objective Limitations Effect?"
At Jimmy's skeptical look, he gives another helpless shrug and says, "Sorry, I learned the science in Kryptonian. It doesn't always translate very well! Anyway, the hostile incursion of Black Snow was too weak to survive the event horizon of the Hypertime effect, and it just kind of... fizzled out. And we even got home in time for breakfast!" Hearing stirrings from the direction of Chris Kent's room, Clark grins again. "Hey, you know what? I think I'll make pancakes!"
* Any possible resemblance to recent events in comics is, we're quite confident, entirely coincidental. Totally.
** Superboy's suggested name involved a rude gesture and several words that Clark would be embarrassed to use.