momkat@dandello.net<\/a>
\n
Rated: PG-13<\/i>
\n<\/p>\nDescription:
\nA Superman Returns\/Lois & Clark Xover. When Superman and Lois are thrown
\ninto a world where Clark Kent is EnC of the Daily Planet and married for ten
\nyears to Lois Lane, things get more than a little strange for both sets of Lois
\nand Clark.<\/p>\n
The
\nusual disclaimers apply, as always. I don’t own any of them, but I do borrow
\nfreely and I don’t always put them back where they belong.<\/p>\n
——————————–<\/p>\n
–Earth
\nI–<\/p>\n
Superman
\nwas patrolling the city only few days after leaving the hospital where he’d
\nended up after an uncontrolled fall from high orbit to Earth. New Krypton, the abomination of a landmass
\nLex Luthor had created, was in a stable orbit beyond Mars.<\/p>\n
Metropolis
\nwas quiet, too exhausted from the past few days to muster a crime wave. The
\nfact that the National Guard had been called out to patrol the streets also
\nhelped.<\/p>\n
He’d
\nonly been back to Earth for month, a week back as Superman, after having been
\ngone for six years, searching for something, some meaning. Looking for his home
\nin the depths of space. That was when all hell had broken loose, thanks to Lex
\nLuther.<\/p>\n
There
\nwas no sign of Luthor and his cronies. Luthor had managed to escape the
\nlandmass he’d created using stolen Kryptonian technology before Superman flung
\nit into the asteroid belt. Luthor was somewhere, planning something that boded
\nill for both him and humanity. It was only a matter of time.<\/p>\n
He heard
\nLois Lane calling him from the rooftop of the Daily Planet: "We have to
\ntalk, Superman!"<\/p>\n
He came
\ndown beside her. "Yes, Lois?"<\/p>\n
"I
\nneed to talk to you about Jason, my son," she said.<\/p>\n
"What
\nabout Jason?"<\/p>\n
"Do
\nyou remember what I said to you in the hospital?"<\/p>\n
"Yes,
\nI think so," Superman said. "I remember you telling me that Jason was
\nvery strong, and that he was my son."<\/p>\n
"So,
\nwhat do we do?"<\/p>\n
"Lois,
\nI promise I’ll be there for him when, if, his powers manifest. But that’s all I
\ncan promise."<\/p>\n
"And
\nwhat about us?"<\/p>\n
"You
\nhave Richard, Lois. You don’t need me," he said, referring to Lois’s
\nfianc\u00e9 of five years. Richard White was the nephew of Perry White, and
\nassistant editor of the Daily Planet newspaper.
\nHe was a good man and Superman actually liked him as a person, rather
\nClark Kent liked him. Richard was a very likable guy.<\/p>\n
Lois had
\nmoved on in the six years he’d been gone, trying to find his roots, trying to
\nfind Krypton. She’d had a son, gotten engaged, won a Pulitzer. He loved her
\nstill, but he knew without any doubt that they had no possibility of a future
\ntogether. It was too dangerous for her. Besides, she only loved the man in the
\n‘suit’, not the man he was raised to be: Clark Joseph Kent from Smallville,
\nKansas, adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. She didn’t see Kent even
\nthough he worked beside her every day. Kent was a bumbling fool, not worth a
\nsecond glance.<\/p>\n
"Why
\ndon’t I remember being with you? Why don’t I remember the night Jason was
\nconceived? Was I so disappointing that you shut me out, denied me those
\nmemories of us?"<\/p>\n
"It
\nwasn’t you, Lois," he said sadly. "It was me. I thought we had a
\nchance together. I was wrong and I hurt you. I’m sorry. I should never have
\ndone what I did."<\/p>\n
"Sorry?
\nYou’re sorry?"<\/p>\n
He took
\na step backwards, away from the venom of her voice. She had every right to be
\nangry with him, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. "Lois, I don’t know
\nhow to return your memories of that time. I don’t know if it’s possible. But if
\nyou’re game, we can try."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"Come
\nwith me to the Fortress of Solitude, my ‘ice palace’," he said. "I
\nneed to do some work there anyway. It might jog your memory."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Now’s
\nas good a time as any," he said. "You might want to let your boss
\nknow you’re going to be out for at least the rest of the day."<\/p>\n
He watched as she pulled her cell phone from her purse
\nand pulled up Perry White’s personal number.<\/p>\n
"Perry? Lois. I’m going to be out for the rest of
\nthe day, maybe longer," she said. "Could you have Richard pick Jason
\nup at school?" She listened for a moment as Perry replied. "No, I
\ndon’t want to say anything about what I’m working on yet, in case it doesn’t
\npan out."<\/p>\n
"Tell him Clark’s going with you," Superman
\nsaid softly, almost mouthing the sentence.<\/p>\n
She raised one eyebrow at him but said into the phone,
\n"Oh, and Clark’s coming with me, so I hope you haven’t given him anything
\nthat can’t wait a day or so."<\/p>\n
"Kent lit out of here like the devil was after him
\nabout ten minutes ago," Perry said over the phone. Superman’s acute
\nhearing picked up the conversation from Perry’s office as well. "You two’d
\nbetter have something good for me when you get back," Perry warned before
\nhanging up his phone.<\/p>\n
Lois put her phone back in her purse. "So Clark’s
\ncoming with us?"<\/p>\n
Superman shrugged. "I’d rather he didn’t get into
\nmore trouble than he’s already going to be, if this works."<\/p>\n
"Why would Clark get into trouble? Where is
\nhe?"<\/p>\n
Superman smiled. "Just trust me on this one, Lois.
\nPlease?"<\/p>\n
****<\/p>\n
In his office on the 60th floor of the Daily Planet
\nbuilding, Perry White looked over at his nephew, Richard. He was Lois Lane’s
\nfianc\u00e9, as well as the newsroom’s assistant editor, a job the young man earned
\nby being one of the best in the business. It hadn’t hurt him, though, to be the
\nboss’s nephew.<\/p>\n
"Richard, what *is* Clark working on?" Perry
\nasked.<\/p>\n
"Something Norm Parker was working on before he
\ndied. The trouble Americans with foreign dependants have getting through all
\nthe bull Homeland Security throws at them," Richard told him. "From
\nwhat Clark’s told me, he’s got enough material for a whole series on it."<\/p>\n
"Isn’t he supposed to be working on the building
\ncollapses?"<\/p>\n
"Yeah, and he’s already turned in the first two
\narticles."<\/p>\n
"Good. So, what’s up with Lois?"<\/p>\n
Richard looked uncomfortable. "She hasn’t been
\nherself since Superman came back. She told me she was over him, but . . ." He shook his head. "She said
\nshe was over Superman, but I didn’t think to ask her how she felt about Jason’s
\nfather showing up again. People have been asking why I haven’t left her, now
\nthat Clark’s back. Although," he added, "with the way she’s been
\ntreating the poor bastard, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t ask for a transfer
\nto Tokyo soon. Why did you even hire him back?"<\/p>\n
"Because he’s one of the best writers in the
\nbusiness," Perry said. "And I owe him a second chance after what I
\ndid to the two of them."<\/p>\n
"And what was that?" Richard asked, knowing
\nwhat the answer was.<\/p>\n
"I let Cat Grant talk me into sending Mad Dog and
\nthe Boy Scout on an undercover assignment as newlyweds, knowing full well what
\nthe gossip mongers would do to them. Knowing what Lois would do to *him*
\nafterwards when she caught wind she was being set up. I’m surprised he bothered
\nto come back at all, considering how he left. He came in one morning and told
\nme he was leaving. I tried to talk him out of it. Even offered him a raise and
\nthe assistant editor’s post that was open, but he wouldn’t budge. He just
\nfinished that day’s assignments and walked out."<\/p>\n
–Earth II–<\/p>\n
"The next time, you’re the one carrying the baby to
\nterm," Lois Lane-Kent complained as she sat on the side of the bed,
\nrubbing the small of her aching back.<\/p>\n
"That’s what you said when you were carrying CJ, and
\nLara, and Jordan," Clark Jerome Kent, her husband of ten years, reminded
\nher with a smile, taking over massaging her back.<\/p>\n
"I look like a blimp! I feel like a blimp. How can
\nyou love a blimp?"<\/p>\n
He nuzzled her neck. "You do not look like a blimp.
\nYou never look like a blimp. You look like a well-loved woman who’s having a
\nbaby any day now."<\/p>\n
"I’m a week over due!"<\/p>\n
"Lois, they’ve *all*
\nbeen a week overdue," Clark said with an even broader smile. She
\nturned in his arms to gaze into his warm, dark chocolate eyes. She kissed him,
\nhard.<\/p>\n
"Uh, honey, you keep this up and we’re going to be
\nlate for work. Again." He said it lightly, pulling away from her only far
\nenough so he could talk. "Besides, I have to get CJ and Lara to school,
\nand I have a meeting at nine with the board of directors."<\/p>\n
"We are going to continue this discussion later, you
\nknow," Lois warned him with a grin as he headed to the master bathroom to
\nget dressed for work.<\/p>\n
"I’m looking forward to it," he called back as
\nhe shut the door.<\/p>\n
–Earth I–<\/p>\n
Lois Lane inspected her surroundings, the white crystals
\nthat made up the Kryptonian designed structure, the control console with shafts
\nof sunlight glistening across its crystal clear surface.<\/p>\n
"I remember this was burnt up, destroyed," she
\nmurmured, touching the console with one tentative finger.<\/p>\n
"The father crystal wasn’t in the console," he
\ntold her. "I’m not sure how it happened, but it wasn’t with the others. It
\nwasn’t destroyed. I was able to regenerate the console and the other crystals with
\nit. Those were the ones Luthor stole from me."<\/p>\n
"So, what are you doing?"<\/p>\n
"I’m regenerating the rest of the crystals and
\nmaking a copy of the father crystal for safekeeping."<\/p>\n
"I thought Luthor stole the father crystal,"
\nLois said.<\/p>\n
There was amusement in his unearthly blue eyes. "I
\ngot it back," he said. "I found the father crystal in the wreck of
\nLuthor’s helicopter. I don’t know why Luthor didn’t find it."<\/p>\n
"What about the others?"<\/p>\n
"I don’t know where they are," he admitted.
\n"I just hope Luthor doesn’t have them. Even without the father crystal, he
\ncould do a lot more damage than he’s already done."<\/p>\n
He placed the father crystal into its place in the
\nconsole, twisting it just so. "This is going to take a while," he
\nsaid. "What would you like for lunch?"<\/p>\n
"We had dinner here before, didn’t we?"<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
"You gave up your powers so we could be
\ntogether."<\/p>\n
"Yes. I was told that if I wanted a human woman, I
\nhad to be human. I couldn’t just live like one, I had to *be *one."<\/p>\n
"We spent the night together."<\/p>\n
He nodded. *Was she remembering, or just logically
\nlinking the facts together?* He was afraid to ask. He was the most powerful
\nbeing on the planet and he was afraid to ask her if she remembered his other
\nname.<\/p>\n
"I remember watching your face while we watched TV,
\nwatched the disasters across the world. I watched you suffer because you
\ncouldn’t do a damn thing for them," she said softly. "I told you to
\ncome back here, see if there was a way to undo the damage."<\/p>\n
"There was a way," he said. "But the price
\nwas the ability to be with you. To share your life. I watched you suffer at
\nwork, trying to deal with the fact that we’d lost any chance to be together. I
\nthought I was doing you a favor."<\/p>\n
"You watched me at work?" she wondered aloud.
\nHe just looked at her. *How could she not see it? She was a top investigative
\nreporter. How could she miss all the clues he’d given her over time? How could
\nshe not see him? *<\/p>\n
"What would you like for lunch?" he repeated.<\/p>\n
"Chinese?" she said. "Clark knows a little
\nplace somewhere with funny fortune cookies in Chinese. They have the best *mu
\ngu gai pan. *"<\/p>\n
"I know the place," he said with a smile. He
\ngave her a tiny bow and flew off faster than she could see.<\/p>\n
–Earth II–<\/p>\n
"Richard, Penny!" Clark yelled from his office
\ndoor. "When can I see something on the Goldman murders?"<\/p>\n
"Waiting for one more confirmation, Chief,"
\nRichard White answered, glancing over to his partner, Penny ‘Lane’. She nodded
\nher head.<\/p>\n
Clark stepped back into his office, the editor-in-chief’s
\noffice. From his desk Clark could watch the entire newsroom. He loved the
\nenergy of the bullpen. From his office, he could watch it all happen, see the
\npaper come together as he directed, just as Perry had done before him.<\/p>\n
It was the best job in the world, next to being an
\ninvestigative reporter. And one of the beauties of being the boss was that no
\none asked questions when he disappeared in the middle of the day to handle a
\njob as Superman. At least, no one asked them very loudly.<\/p>\n
Richard White, Perry White’s nephew, had joined the Daily
\nPlanet five years before. He had been an award winning reporter at the Planet’s
\nLondon bureau and had covered the Middle East. So when an opening appeared in
\nMetropolis for someone with his skills, Perry offered it to his nephew. Richard
\nhad jumped on it and hadn’t looked back.<\/p>\n
Perry assigned the young man to work with Penelope
\nLandris, an up and coming city beat reporter who had taken the pen name of
\n‘Penny Lane’. The Landrises were old
\nmoney in Metropolis, and hadn’t taken kindly to one of their own becoming an
\ninvestigative reporter. But it was a match made in heaven, much as Perry’s
\nmatch up of Lane and Kent, nine years earlier. White and Landris would be
\ncelebrating their second wedding anniversary next month.<\/p>\n
Clark checked his watch. Lois was meeting him for lunch
\nover at a new bistro she’d found not too far from Centennial Park.<\/p>\n
–Earth I–<\/p>\n
"That was fantastic," Lois commented, finishing
\nthe last egg roll. "So, where is this place with this great food and funny
\nfortune cookies?"<\/p>\n
"Shanghai," Superman answered with a crooked
\ngrin.<\/p>\n
She gave him a puzzled look as if she couldn’t get her
\nmind around the obvious. He watched her and realized, with a sinking feeling,
\nthat there was something seriously wrong if she couldn’t put the facts together
\neven when they’d been practically thrown in her face.<\/p>\n
"Do you remember any more?" he asked gently.<\/p>\n
"I remember making love to you, here. I remember
\nseeing a beautiful blonde woman dressed in white. She was very sad when she
\ntalked to you."<\/p>\n
"That was a hologram of my mother, Lara," he
\nexplained. "It, she, is part of the Artificial Intelligence that is part
\nof this place, part of the crystals." A musical chime rang out from the
\ncrystal console. He got up from his seat beside Lois and stepped over to the
\nconsole.<\/p>\n
"The backup father crystal is complete," he
\nsaid. "We can head back to Metropolis now, unless you want to stay and
\ntalk some more."<\/p>\n
She shook her head. "I remember most of it, I think.
\nLike waking up from a dream. But there’s still something I’m not catching.
\nSomething that’s just out of reach. I remember being at Niagara Falls with
\nClark and you coming to save a little boy who’d fallen. Then we were here."
\nShe looked up at him. "We didn’t just abandon Clark there, did we?"<\/p>\n
"No, we didn’t abandon him there," he said with
\na smile. At least she was concerned for his alter ego. Maybe things were
\nstarting to come together, finally.<\/p>\n
–Earth II–<\/p>\n
"You’re not
\neating," Clark observed. The bistro was as good as promised, but Lois was
\npicking at her food.<\/p>\n
"I’ve been thinking," she said. "Have you
\nheard from Zara and Ching recently?"<\/p>\n
"The last I heard from them was that they were
\nplanning on visiting soon after the baby’s born. They still want to foster one
\nof their kids on Earth and would really like to foster one of ours."<\/p>\n
"Not going to happen, Clark," she warned.
\n"I am not sending one of my babies off to that hell-hole. I nearly lost
\nyou when you went there and I know you still have nightmares about what
\nhappened to you the year you were gone. I am not going through that
\nagain."<\/p>\n
"I’ve already told them that," Clark assured
\nher. "I suggested that maybe when CJ’s old enough for high school . . .
\nhe’ll be old enough to make his own choice, and he is an heir to the ruling
\nhouse . . ."<\/p>\n
He expected an explosion from her, but she simply sighed
\nand rubbed her belly. "Well, at least I have five years to get used to the
\nidea," she said finally. "Let’s go take a walk."<\/p>\n
–Earth I–<\/p>\n
They were flying back to Metropolis and were fast
\napproaching the city.<\/p>\n
"Superman, what’s that?" Lois asked, looking
\nback over his shoulder. He paused in midair to turn and look behind. A quarter
\nof a mile back, the blue sky was gone, replaced by a curtain of roiling black
\nclouds lit up by phosphorescent green lightning. Wind began to whisper around
\nthem. The afternoon sun had vanished behind the black clouds.<\/p>\n
"I don’t know," Superman admitted. Lois was
\nsurprised to see worry in his face. The wind grew louder and stronger and
\nSuperman dropped to the ground, hunkering down to protect Lois from the brunt
\nof the wind.<\/p>\n
The storm was on them. Gale force winds shoved at them
\nand even Superman’s strength wasn’t quite enough to stand against them, which
\nsurprised him. There was a piercing wail as if the universe itself was crying
\nout in agony. The sound drove through their skulls. They covered their ears,
\nbut the keening wail was too knife-sharp, driving itself into their brains. It
\nwas louder even than the thunder that rolled all around them. Lois screamed.<\/p>\n
Then, the world
\nfell *up *.<\/p>\n
The knife sharp scream stopped. The thunder stopped. The
\nlightning stopped. The slashing rain stopped.<\/p>\n
They stood and looked around. The afternoon sun was
\nshining through a cloudless blue sky.<\/p>\n
"What was that?" Lois asked. Superman’s face
\nwas pale and his eyes were dark with worry.<\/p>\n
"I don’t know. I’ve never seen or felt anything like
\nit."<\/p>\n
"Maybe we’d better get back to Metropolis," she
\nsuggested. He nodded agreement, picked her up in his arms and took off again,
\ntoward the city.<\/p>\n
–Earth II–<\/p>\n
They walked through Centennial Park, taking time to sit
\nbeside the fountain where he’d first proposed to her, and where, later, she
\nproposed to him.<\/p>\n
"Are you okay?" Clark asked. Lois had been
\nunusually quiet.<\/p>\n
"I’m fine," she said, brushing a dark strand of
\nhair away from her face. "Have you told Richard and Penny yet, about Zara
\nand Ching, I mean?"<\/p>\n
"I’ve told them they’re expected sometime this
\nweek," Clark said. "But I haven’t filled them in on the details. I
\ndidn’t want them to get their hopes up."<\/p>\n
"It’s a pity they can’t have kids," Lois said.
\n"Richard’s so much like you it’s scary sometimes. He’ll make a great dad, and
\nPenny will make a pretty good mom."<\/p>\n
"Well, you certainly shaped up, Mrs. Kent,"
\nClark said with a grin, nuzzling her neck.<\/p>\n
She slapped his chest then grabbed her belly, wincing in
\nannoyance more than pain. "I think this one’s just about ready to make an
\nappearance."<\/p>\n
"Do you want me to get the car, or do you want . .
\n." He made a sideways waving motion with his hand, their sign for
\nSuperman.<\/p>\n
She repeated the sign back to him. "My water hasn’t
\nbroken yet, but this kid is on its way."<\/p>\n
"Stay right here, and I’ll be right back," he
\npromised.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
If the first sign that something was amiss was the
\nunnatural storm, the second sign had to be that the Wannamaker building was
\nstill standing.<\/p>\n
The city below them was undamaged. Superman looked closer
\nand realized there were other differences from the city they’d left only hours
\nbefore. Buildings had been subtly shifted. The Daily Planet building was the
\nmost changed. It was the same height and similar in appearance, but there was
\nno mistaking the building was not the same as the one he and Lois had left that
\nmorning.<\/p>\n
"Lois, I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more,"
\nSuperman muttered.<\/p>\n
Lois’s eyes followed his gaze to look over at the Daily
\nPlanet building. Her eyes widened as she realized what he meant.<\/p>\n
"Where are we?" she asked, heart pounding.<\/p>\n
"I have no idea," he admitted with a frown. He
\ncould hear Lois’s heartbeat next to him, but Jason’s was missing from the city.
\nAnd, more oddly, there was another heartbeat below him, in Centennial Park that
\nalmost matched Lois’s. This one belonged to a pregnant woman who was in labor
\nand appeared annoyed. She had dark hair pulled back into a loose French braid.<\/p>\n
"Superman!" she was calling quietly, as if she
\ndidn’t want to be overheard by bystanders.<\/p>\n
He landed softly near the fountain, setting Lois on her
\nfeet before approaching the dark-haired pregnant woman.<\/p>\n
"You called, ma’am?" he asked. The woman turned
\nand her eyes widened in an odd mixture of shock and disbelief.<\/p>\n
"Who the devil are you?" she demanded before
\ndoubling over with a hard contraction as her water broke.<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
Lois Lane-Kent took a deep breath as she straightened up
\nto look more closely at the tall man wearing the Superman suit. The suit design
\nwas different, a little darker, and definitely more alien, almost New
\nKryptonian. He was tall, at least two, maybe three inches taller than her
\nhusband with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.<\/p>\n
"I’m Superman," the tall man said, scooping her
\nup easily. He turned to the business-suited woman standing a little way from
\nthe fountain. "Stay here, I’ll be right back."<\/p>\n
He took off for Metropolis General Hospital.<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Lois Lane watched as Superman scooped up the pregnant
\nwoman and sped off into the sky. She was alone in a city that looked only
\nvaguely like the one she was supposed to be in and she was annoyed. Who was he
\nto tell her to stay, as if she were a dog, or someone he could simply order
\nabout? She was Lois Lane, Pulitzer winning writer and top reporter for the
\nDaily Planet.<\/p>\n
"Uh, miss?" A man said, clearing his throat.<\/p>\n
She turned to see a man wearing a Superman suit standing
\nnext to her. Her eyes widened in confusion.<\/p>\n
"There was a pregnant woman here," he
\ncontinued. "Where is she?"<\/p>\n
"Superman took her to the hospital," she
\nsaid. She watched as astonishment,
\nconfusion, and something else, flickered across his face. She noted that his
\neyes were a warm brown. He was shorter than the Superman she knew. A little
\nover six-foot, maybe, and built like a quarterback. But the strong presence was
\nthere, the ineffable aura of ‘good’ that she was familiar with.<\/p>\n
She put out her hand. "I’m Lois Lane, Daily
\nPlanet."<\/p>\n
To her astonishment, he took a step back and looked up
\ninto the sky, hands out in supplication. "Come on! Give me a break here,
\nwill you!" After a moment, he
\nseemed to come to a decision and held out his hand to her. "Okay, Miss
\nLane, let’s find out where your Superman took my Mrs. Kent."<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Kent?" Lois repeated as Superman scooped
\nher up and let go of gravity.<\/p>\n
A moment later, they touched down in front of the
\nemergency room entrance of Metropolis General Hospital. He set her on her feet
\nand strode into the building, keeping hold of her hand so she had to hurry to
\nkeep up with him.<\/p>\n
Superman, her Superman, was standing to one side of the
\nroom, trying to keep out of the way. The brown-eyed one let go of her hand and
\nwalked over to the admissions desk.<\/p>\n
"Has Lois Lane-Kent been checked in?" he asked.<\/p>\n
"Yes, sir, Superman," the admissions clerk
\nsaid. "She’s on her way up to the birthing suites. *He *brought her
\nin." She nodded her head in the direction of the other Superman.
\n"Relative of yours?"<\/p>\n
"Not sure, yet," the brown-eyed one said.
\n"At least he’s not a clone. I’m not all that fond of clones, you
\nknow."<\/p>\n
The clerk chuckled. "I assume Mister Kent is on his
\nway."<\/p>\n
"He should be here in a minute," the brown-eyed
\none said. "In the meantime, is there a place I can put them until he gets
\nhere?" He indicated Lois and the blue-eyed Superman.<\/p>\n
"There’s a little waiting room around the
\ncorner," the clerk said. "They should be okay there."<\/p>\n
The brown-eyed Superman beckoned for her and her Superman
\nto follow him to the waiting room. He stopped the taller one. "Kal-El, I
\npresume," he said. Her Superman
\nnodded. There was a worried look in his eyes.<\/p>\n
"I assume you have some civvies?"<\/p>\n
Again, he nodded.<\/p>\n
"You might want to change," the brown-eyed one
\nsuggested. "You’ll be less conspicuous. And try to stay out of
\ntrouble." He looked straight at Lois. "If that’s at all
\npossible."<\/p>\n
He left the room, closing the door behind him.<\/p>\n
Lois turned to her companion. "Superman, what is
\ngoing on here?" she hissed.<\/p>\n
"We’re in an alternate dimension. A different
\nuniverse. I don’t know how, except maybe that storm we went through. It wasn’t
\na normal storm, I know that."<\/p>\n
"So, what do we do?"<\/p>\n
He gave her a crooked grin. "Try to get on *his *
\ngood side. I haven’t done such a good job of it, so far. Mrs. Kent was waiting
\nfor *him *to show up. She was seriously annoyed with me."<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Kent?" It suddenly dawned on her.
\n"Lois Lane-Kent?"<\/p>\n
He nodded. "Clark Kent’s wife. He’s married. To Lois
\nLane."<\/p>\n
He had the most peculiar look on his face, almost as if
\nhe couldn’t quite believe what he’d just said.<\/p>\n
"He’s right, though. I’d better make myself less
\nconspicuous."<\/p>\n
"You have a change of clothes?"<\/p>\n
Again, that impossibly familiar grin. "I’ll be right
\nback."<\/p>\n
–Clark II–<\/p>\n
Clark had gone to the side of the building and changed
\ninto his business suit and tie at superspeed. He hurried to the birthing suite
\non the fifth floor, where he knew Lois was already harassing the birthing room
\nnurses.<\/p>\n
"There you are!" his wife called as soon as she
\ncaught sight of him. "Who was that other fellow?"<\/p>\n
"Superman, I guess," Clark said.
\n"Remember, this *is *Metropolis, land of the weird and home of the
\ncrazed."<\/p>\n
Lois grimaced at another contraction and he held out his
\nhand for her to squeeze. One of the perks of being Superman, she couldn’t break
\nhis hand with her vise-like grip.<\/p>\n
He took a moment to look around the room. This was the
\nthird delivery they’d had in this very room. CJ had been born at STAR Labs,
\nbefore Doctors Klein and Anderson determined that half-Kryptonian newborns were
\nindistinguishable in any way from normal newborns. The room itself looked like a regular
\nbedroom. Only the medical equipment in the side-room indicated it was more
\nspecialized.<\/p>\n
The attendant came in and checked under the sheet to see
\nhow his wife was progressing. After three previous deliveries, Clark was still
\nembarrassed to be present while a stranger examined Lois’s cervix. He watched Lois’s face instead as she relaxed
\nbetween contractions.<\/p>\n
"I figure another hour or so," the attendant
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"Lois, I need to take a minute and check on our
\n‘friends’ downstairs." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I’ll be right back."<\/p>\n
"You’d better be," she warned. He feigned a
\nshudder and she giggled.<\/p>\n
He hurried down to the waiting room where the other
\nSuperman and Lois were supposed to be waiting.<\/p>\n
To his surprise, they were still there. They’d gotten cups of coffee and another
\ncouple had joined them in the waiting room. The other, younger, couple looked
\ngrief stricken. Clark noted that Kal-El and his Lois were talking to them,
\nreassuring them, offering condolences.<\/p>\n
Clark wondered if this Kal-El and Lois had children. He’d
\nnoted an engagement ring on her hand, but no wedding band and wondered what
\nthat meant. His journalist instincts were kicking in and he knew he would be
\ngoing after answers. He was also going to have to introduce Kal-El to a tailor.
\nThe gray suit his counterpart was wearing was simply too out of date to be
\nbelieved, not to mention it didn’t fit as well as it could. Oddly, he wasn’t
\nwearing glasses.<\/p>\n
All the Clark Kents he’d met during various
\ninter-dimensional treks wore glasses as part of their persona.<\/p>\n
Clark cleared his throat to catch their attention and
\nboth couples looked up at him standing in the doorway. He nodded to Kal-El and
\nLois. "Superman told me you were here. I’m Clark Kent."<\/p>\n
Kal-El stood and shook his hand. "I’m . . . Charlie
\nKing and this is . . ." He looked back at Lois.<\/p>\n
"Wanda," she announced. "Wanda
\nDetroit." She looked disconcerted when Clark began to chuckle.<\/p>\n
"Well, Ms. Detroit," he said, fighting back
\nlaughter. "I’m sure the Stardust Lounge will be pleased to know you’re
\nback in town."<\/p>\n
He searched his pockets a moment, found his business card
\ncase and handed ‘Charlie’ one of his cards. "I think it might be best if
\nyou two went down to the Planet and waited there for me. I’ll call my assistant
\nto let her know you’re on your way."<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
He looked down at the business card in his hand. The
\nDaily Planet logo was embossed in one corner. *Clark Kent, editor-in-chief, the
\naddress and office phone number, fax, email. *Editor-in-Chief? He looked at the
\nother man in surprise and increased respect. This Clark Kent couldn’t be more
\nthan five, possibly ten, years older than himself. He was editor-in-chief of
\nthe largest newspaper on the east coast?<\/p>\n
He handed the card to Lois and saw the same confusion in
\nher eyes.<\/p>\n
"Thank you, Mister Kent," Kal-El said.
\n"We’ll do that."<\/p>\n
"I’ll see you there in a couple hours, then,"
\nClark Kent said. He nodded a good-bye to the other couple and left the waiting
\nroom.<\/p>\n
"Clark Kent is the editor of the Planet?" Lois
\nmuttered. "But he’s . . ."<\/p>\n
"A hack from Nowheresville?" Kal-El asked,
\nusing X-ray vision to follow his counterpart to the stairwell beside the
\nelevators. "I don’t think so, ‘Wanda’. He may be wearing a Marvin the
\nMartian tie, but that’s not a cheap suit. He is definitely not the Clark Kent
\nyou know." He looked back at Lois. "We’d better get over to the
\nPlanet. He’ll be expecting to find us there."<\/p>\n
"And being on *Mister Kent’s *good side will help us
\nhow?"<\/p>\n
"Don’t be difficult, please," Kal-El said.
\n"We’re going to need all the help we can get."<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
They were able to catch a cab in front to the hospital
\nand ‘Charlie’ directed the driver to the Daily Planet. Lois watched her
\ncompanion out of the corner of her eye. Dressed in a gray three-piece suit,
\neven if it was a little out of date, made him look ‘human’, approachable, and
\ndisconcertingly familiar. Annoyingly familiar.<\/p>\n
"So, Charlie, is that your real name?" she
\nasked.<\/p>\n
He grinned at her. "No."<\/p>\n
"So, what is it?"<\/p>\n
"Right now I don’t think you’d believe me if I told
\nyou," Kal-El stated.<\/p>\n
She could hear an oddly sad bitterness in his tone and
\nagain she felt that odd sensation that she was missing something. Like she was
\nlooking all around whatever it was but couldn’t focus on it. Her companion was
\nSuperman, Kal-El of Krypton, Metropolis’s favorite son, savior of the city –
\njust not this city. They had their own Superman. But Kal-El had another name,
\nof this she was positive. And somehow, she knew she once knew his other name.<\/p>\n
The cab stopped in front of the Daily Planet building and
\nKal-El pulled cash from a worn leather wallet to pay the driver. She forced
\nherself to overcome the urge to grab the wallet from him to see what his
\nidentification said.<\/p>\n
"Coming?" he asked, getting out of the cab.<\/p>\n
Wanda climbed out after him, then stopped to gaze,
\nopen-mouthed, at the larger-than-life poster set in a display case on the side
\nof the building. Richard White, looking charming and debonair, with a handsome
\nwoman standing beside him. The photographed pair smiled out at passersby. The
\ncaption read *Lane and White, hottest team on the Planet. * Lois didn’t recognize the woman.<\/p>\n
"I see Richard has a counterpart here," Kal-El
\ncommented. "And that’s Penny Landris, if I’m not mistaken. She’s a new
\nhire at our version the Planet."<\/p>\n
"How do you know?" she wondered.<\/p>\n
"I know," he assured her with a crooked smile,
\nleading the way in to the building.<\/p>\n
The lobby held a coffee kiosk and newsstand. The cashier
\ngazed at them incuriously as they made their way to the elevator banks, past
\nframed front-pages of famous events covered by the Daily Planet – the Hindenberg,
\nthe first Moon landing, the first appearance of Superman.<\/p>\n
"This is dated fourteen years ago," Kal-El
\npointed out, scanning the articles. "He showed up here five years before I
\ndid."<\/p>\n
The doors to one of the elevators opened and they
\nentered. Wanda hit the button for the editorial floor. "And Clark Kent is
\nthe E-in-C," she said. After a few minutes, the elevator slowed and
\nstopped, the doors opening into the Daily Planet bullpen.<\/p>\n
Again, the room was familiar and unfamiliar at the same
\ntime. The crowded desks, the flat-screen monitors hanging off the support
\ncolumns, the offices and conference room on the outside walls were familiar
\ncomponents, but the colors were different, warmer. Half the desks were
\ncurrently unoccupied. Wanda\/Lois knew from experience that these reporters were
\nout on the street and would be returning in a few hours to complete their
\nassignments for the next edition.<\/p>\n
A petite oriental woman in a blue business suit caught
\nsight of them and strode over to where Wanda and Kal-El were standing in the
\nelevator lobby outside the bullpen. "You must be Charlie and Wanda,"
\nshe said with a wide smile. "I’m Margot Tanaka, Mister Kent’s assistant.
\nHe called and said you were on your way." She held out her hand and Kal-El
\nshook it.<\/p>\n
"You’re free to look around, and we have a computer
\nin the conference room if you want to check email or do some research,"
\nshe continued. "Or you can wait in Mister Kent’s office. Just stay out of
\nthe way, but I suppose you know that."<\/p>\n
Kal-El and Wanda nodded. "We’re familiar with
\nnewsrooms." Kal-El said. He took Wanda’s elbow and guided her to the
\nconference room. "We can use that computer to check out this place,"
\nhe murmured to his companion.<\/p>\n
"I wonder what happened to Perry?" she murmured
\nback.<\/p>\n
"Let’s find out," he said, closing the
\nconference room door behind them.<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
Lois’s contractions were close. She had hold of his hand
\nas he coached her in breathing, panting along with her. "Another big
\npush," he told her. One part of her mind, the reporter, noted his glance
\nat the midwife stationed between her legs. The midwife nodded.<\/p>\n
"Come on, push Lois, push," Clark told her. She
\ngrabbed his arm through the surgical gown he was wearing and squeezed. She was
\nthankful he was invulnerable to most things. She’d be leaving bruises
\notherwise. It wasn’t good to leave bruises on her husband, even if he did
\ndeserve them, sometimes.<\/p>\n
"The baby’s crowning," the midwife announced.
\n"Give us another good one, Lois."<\/p>\n
Lois was sweating and her hair was damp, pointing in all
\ndirections as the latest contraction rolled through her body. She looked a
\nmess, she knew it, and it annoyed her, even though she also knew that Clark
\ndidn’t care how she looked right now.<\/p>\n
She grimaced as she put all her energy into the muscles
\nof her belly, aiding the contraction, pushing the baby out of her body. Another
\nmoment’s rest and another push. After three previous births, it still wasn’t
\nany easier. Why had they decided on having one more? Oh, yes, Clark, an only
\nchild and adopted at that, wanted a big family. Well, *he *was having the next
\none.<\/p>\n
She groaned as yet another contraction hit and she bore
\ndown.<\/p>\n
"Come on, just a little more," Clark said. The
\nmidwife moved even closer and there was a sudden wail from a new life arriving
\non the scene.<\/p>\n
"You have a daughter," the midwife announced,
\nplacing the bloody, slimy, new arrival on her mother’s belly.<\/p>\n
"She’s beautiful," Clark marveled as Lois
\ncaressed the baby’s body. He bent closer to his wife and kissed her. "Just
\nlike her mother."<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
"Perry’s obituary," Kal-El pointed out the
\narticle on the computer screen in front of him. "He died of ALS two years
\nago. Survived by his wife and sons. Kent was the assistant editor and was
\npromoted to E-in-C on Perry’s death. He was thirty-eight at the time, which
\nmade him the youngest E-in-C in the Planet’s history."<\/p>\n
"He showed up here about the same time their
\nSuperman first appeared," Wanda observed. "Why are you so interested
\nin Kent?"<\/p>\n
He chose not to answer her question. *She doesn’t get it,
\n* he thought to himself. *Why can’t she
\nsee it? What did I do to her six years ago that she can’t make such an obvious
\nconnection? *<\/p>\n
His thoughts were interrupted by a commotion outside
\nconference room. Wanda opened the door to listen. A man with reddish-brown hair
\nwas standing at the railing to the elevator lobby holding his hands up for
\nquiet. The room had more occupied desks now as the reporters trickled in to
\nwrite their stories for tomorrow’s paper.<\/p>\n
"I have an announcement to make, everybody,"
\nthe man said. He looked to be about thirty-five. "Martha Michaela Kent
\narrived at 1:44 PM today. Seven pounds, ten ounces. Mother and child are doing
\nfine. Dad is a basket case, as usual." There was a round of applause at
\nthe announcement.<\/p>\n
Kal-El heard a cry for help somewhere uptown, made a lame
\nexcuse to Wanda and headed for the stairwell to escape the building. The local
\nSuperman was busy with family matters and whether or not this was his universe,
\nhe was needed.<\/p>\n
–Clark II–<\/p>\n
The midwife took the baby to be cleaned up and checked
\nout, leaving Clark alone with Lois.<\/p>\n
"Ya done good, partner," he said. Even sweaty
\nand exhausted, she was beautiful and once again, as he did almost every moment
\nof every day, he marveled at how lucky he was to have her.<\/p>\n
"I know," Lois said with a tired grin.
\n"When can we go home?"<\/p>\n
"In a couple hours," Clark said. "You need
\nto rest a little, let them check you out. You know the drill."<\/p>\n
*’Kal-El?’* Zara’s voice intruded inside his head.
\n*’Ching and I will be landing in four hours. Can you have everything ready?’*<\/p>\n
*’Yes,’* Clark replied mentally.<\/p>\n
"Clark, what’s wrong?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
He had realized many, many years ago that he couldn’t
\nhide anything from her. Not since she figured out that Superman was Clark
\nKent’s alter ego. "Zara and Ching are on their way. They’ll be here a
\nlittle after six."<\/p>\n
"So soon?"<\/p>\n
"I have the impression they’re in a hurry," he
\ntold her. "And she did say they’d come after the baby was born."<\/p>\n
"I figured they meant a few days, not a few
\nhours," Lois commented. "You’d better get things ready for
\nthem."<\/p>\n
He kissed her, a long, lingering kiss, tasting the sweat
\nthat was still on her face. "I’ll be back to get you as soon as I
\ncan," he promised.<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
That odd feeling of missing something was even stronger.
\nKal-El’s excuse for leaving was as bad as one of Clark’s. And Superman certainly didn’t need an excuse
\nto go handle an emergency.<\/p>\n
He came back less than twenty minutes later, smelling of
\nburnt rubber and gasoline. "There was a multi-car smashup on the West
\nChannel Bridge," he explained. "No serious injuries, thank
\ngoodness."<\/p>\n
"Good job. Thanks," Clark Kent said with a grin
\nas he walked into the conference room. He had a small dark haired boy on one
\nhip. The boy had large, brown,
\nalmond-shaped eyes that watched her solemnly. "Oh, this is Jordan. Jordan,
\nsay hello to Wanda and Charlie."<\/p>\n
Jordan hid his face in his father’s chest.<\/p>\n
"He’s a little shy," his father explained with
\nan embarrassed smile. He looked over at Kal-El. "Who handles the Superman
\nexclusives where you come from?"<\/p>\n
"Lois, or Clark. Our Clark," Kal-El said.<\/p>\n
Clark checked his watch. "Well, you have forty-five
\nminutes to give me something. We’ve got a great shot of the visiting Superman
\nfor the front page."<\/p>\n
"And Superman sells papers," Wanda said. It was
\nsomething she’d heard often enough over the past week from Perry White. Her
\nPerry White.<\/p>\n
"Almost as good as tragedy and sex," Clark
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"Almost?" Wanda asked.<\/p>\n
Clark shrugged. "Well, Superman’s been in Metropolis
\nnearly fourteen years. He’s not exactly old news, but it has to be a pretty big
\nproblem to make the front page anymore. Now, a different Superman visiting,
\nthat’s news."<\/p>\n
Kal-El had already started typing on the computer
\nkeyboard, fingers moving faster than any normal human’s. Wanda noticed that
\nClark didn’t seem surprised at Kal-El’s typing speed. *What does he know? *<\/p>\n
Clark turned and headed back into the newsroom. Wanda
\nwatched as he approached two of his reporters. Richard White and his partner
\nhad come in and were settling in at their desks.<\/p>\n
"Richard?" Wanda murmured. He looked so much
\nlike her fianc\u00e9 it was unbelievable. But she saw that he only had eyes for his
\npartner, Penny.<\/p>\n
"He’s not the Richard you know," Kal-El said
\nsoftly, not looking up from the computer screen.<\/p>\n
"I know," Wanda said. She watched the Daily
\nPlanet’s E-in-C as he spoke quietly with his two stars. Whatever he was saying
\nhad surprised and pleased Richard and Penny. Wanda couldn’t remember the last
\ntime *her *Richard had looked so happy. Before Superman came back into her
\nworld. Maybe even before that.<\/p>\n
Clark disappeared into his office and Wanda went over to
\nwhere Kal-El was writing. She peered over his shoulder at the screen, forearm
\nresting on his shoulder, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
\n"You don’t say anything about how we got here. For that matter, you left
\nme out altogether."<\/p>\n
Kal-El shrugged and patted her hand. "There are some
\nthings better left a mystery. This needs to about the new Superman arriving on
\nthe scene in this Metropolis. I think Mister Kent will be relatively pleased
\nwith it."<\/p>\n
"Good quotes. You do good work. Most people can’t
\nwrite about themselves, especially in third person."<\/p>\n
"Thank you, ma’am." Again, the crooked smile
\nthat was so annoyingly familiar as he sent the document over to Clark. Kal-El
\ntipped his head to one side, listening, watching something she couldn’t see.
\n"He’s finished writing the sidebar, welcoming the new Superman to
\nMetropolis."<\/p>\n
A few moments later, Clark walked back into the
\nconference room, Jordan once again on his hip. "Good piece," he said
\nto Kal-El. "I have to get the other kids from school, and since you’re
\nobviously staying at my house, tonight at least, we’d better get going."<\/p>\n
"What about putting the paper to bed?" Wanda
\nasked. Perry would never leave before the next edition was locked down and
\nready to go to press.<\/p>\n
"Unless somebody blows up the Lexcorp Tower in the
\nnext couple hours, we’re ready roll," Clark said. "Besides, my
\nassistants all have my cell number. And I do usually answer it." He
\nbeckoned them to follow him out.<\/p>\n
He lead the way to the elevators, down to the lobby and
\nout to the parking garage, to a champagne-colored Windstar van. He chirped the
\ndoors unlocked and belted Jordan into the car-seat in the middle row of seats.
\nWanda noted a booster seat in the back row and wondered how many children the
\nKents of this world had.<\/p>\n
"Who’s sitting up front?" he asked.<\/p>\n
"I’ll sit back here," Kal-El volunteered,
\nallowing Wanda the front passenger seat. She gave him a grateful smile. She
\ndidn’t like being a passenger and being in the back seat only made it worse.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, Clark was a reasonably good driver, if
\na little cautious for her taste. But then, she realized, she had gotten more
\ncautious after Jason was born. She was startled when she recognized the route
\nhe was taking to pick up the ‘other kids’. The same route either she or Richard
\ntook nearly every weekday to pick Jason up from school.<\/p>\n
"Something wrong?" Clark asked. Wanda hadn’t
\nrealized she’d actually jumped.<\/p>\n
"No," she said. "I just recognize the
\nneighborhood. My son goes to school here."<\/p>\n
He raised a dark eyebrow at her. "How old is
\nhe?"<\/p>\n
"Five years, four months," Wanda said.<\/p>\n
"Same age as Lara," he commented. "How
\nlong have you been married?"<\/p>\n
"I’m not," she said. He gave her a look she
\ncouldn’t decipher. Surprise, puzzlement, consternation? She glanced back at Kal-El.
\nHis expression had gone bleak and more than a little guilty. "My son’s
\nfather disappeared without a word or a trace six years ago. I moved on. I had
\nto," she explained. "My fianc\u00e9 is a very good man. He’s stood by me,
\nhelping raise my son when his biological father was nowhere to be found."<\/p>\n
"I see," Clark said, very quietly. She was sure
\nhe didn’t understand. How could he understand something when she didn’t
\nunderstand it herself.<\/p>\n
Clark pulled the van into a parking space in front of the
\nschool. Two children, a boy about eight or so, and a younger girl came running
\nacross the driveway to the van. The girl had the same dark hair and eyes as her
\nfather. The boy’s coloring was a little lighter, with hazel eyes. Kal-El got
\nout and let them climb into the van before settling back into his seat beside
\nJordan.<\/p>\n
"CJ, Lara, this is Wanda and Charlie," Clark
\nintroduced them. "They’ll be staying with us a few days," he added.
\nThe older boy gave Wanda an appraising look, as if trying to decide who and what
\nshe really was.<\/p>\n
"Has the baby come, yet?" Lara asked. The girl
\nreminded Wanda of Jason. Same fine features, knowing gaze. She was going to be
\na knock-out when she was older.<\/p>\n
"Yup," Clark answered, starting the van and
\npulling into the street. "A little before two. You have a baby
\nsister."<\/p>\n
"When can we see her?" Lara demanded.<\/p>\n
"Well, I was planning on dropping you guys off at
\nhome with Grandma, then going to pick Mommy and baby Martha up and bring them
\nhome, too. I want all three of you monsters on your best behavior. Mommy’s
\ngoing to be really tired and it’s going to be a long day," Clark told
\nthem. "CJ, you remember Lady Zara and Ching, don’t you?"<\/p>\n
The boy nodded. "Mommy doesn’t like them much,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
"I know, but they’re on their way and Richard and
\nPenny are coming to talk to them tonight."<\/p>\n
The van headed north over the City Center Bridge to the
\nLafayette neighborhood, one of the suburbs that had undergone a rebirth in the
\npast ten years, becoming a magnet for middle and upper managers who wanted to
\nlive close, but not too close, to the city.<\/p>\n
Clark turned the van down an impossibly familiar street,
\npulling into the driveway at three-twelve Riverside Drive. Wanda recognized the two-story house
\nsurrounded by a white picket fence. It was the house she had awoken in that
\nmorning, before that impossible storm and the even more impossible situation
\nshe found herself. Herself and Superman.<\/p>\n
One of the garage doors opened by remote control and
\nClark parked the van beside an older model Jeep Cherokee.<\/p>\n
Kal-El let himself and the three kids out of the van and
\nthe youngsters ran into the house yelling "Grandma! Mommy had the
\nbaby!"<\/p>\n
Wanda followed them into the house, Kal-El close on her
\nheels. The layout was the same, the furniture different, naturally. Educational
\ntoys, children’s books, and stuffed toys were strewn across the family room.
\nThese were well-loved kids.<\/p>\n
An older, gray haired woman came into the family room
\nfrom the kitchen and gave the kids hugs. She gave Wanda and Kal-El a curious
\nlook over the heads of the children.<\/p>\n
"I’m Wanda Detroit and this is Charlie King,"
\nWanda introduced herself.<\/p>\n
The older woman gave her a disbelieving look and began to
\nlaugh. "Clark, what gives?" she asked as she caught sight of Clark.<\/p>\n
"Martha Kent, Mom, I’d like to introduce you to Lois
\nLane and Kal-El. They’re visiting from another time-line, another
\ndimension," Clark explained.<\/p>\n
Wanda felt her jaw drop. How did he know? Had Superman
\ntold him? Why hadn’t he said anything earlier? Her astonishment started to turn
\nto anger. He’d been laughing at her, at them! But, wait – he knew they were
\nfrom another dimension? And Martha seemed to take that announcement in stride
\nlike they’d just come in from out of town.<\/p>\n
"Lois, honey," Martha said with a grin.
\n"Anyone who knows Clark’s wife knows she uses Wanda Detroit as a pen name,
\namong other things. I’ve seen her sing at the Stardust, too."<\/p>\n
"Mom, I have to get Lois and the baby, plus, Zara
\nand Ching are on their way," Clark explained.<\/p>\n
"Zara and Ching?" Martha repeated. Wanda could
\ntell the older woman was not happy. "Clark Jerome Kent, you’re not
\nplanning on letting those two take one of these babies, are you?" There
\nwas a definite threat in her voice.<\/p>\n
"Hardly," Clark assured her. "It’d be
\nworth my life to even suggest it. It’s Richard and Penny they’ll be talking to.
\nBut I admit, there’s something a little odd going on, too. I wasn’t expecting
\nthem to show up so soon."<\/p>\n
He grabbed a newborn’s car-seat and started to head back
\nto the van. "I’ll be back in a little bit with Lois and the baby." He
\nturned to ‘Wanda’ and Kal-El. "Please try to stay out of trouble."<\/p>\n
As soon as Clark left, Martha took charge of her
\ngrandchildren, ushering them into the kitchen for snacks. She beckoned for
\nWanda and Kal-El to join them.<\/p>\n
"Would you like some coffee or tea?" Martha
\nasked.<\/p>\n
Wanda nodded. "Coffee would be nice."<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Kent, who are Lady Zara and Ching?"
\nKal-El asked. "And what are you afraid they want?"<\/p>\n
Wanda watched conflicting emotions cross the woman’s
\nface, worry, relief.<\/p>\n
"Zara is the First Lady of New Krypton, acting head
\nof the ruling house, which happens to be the house of El. Ching is her consort.
\nClark tried to explain it all to me but I still don’t understand it. It’s just
\ntoo foreign," Martha said. "Under Kryptonian law, Kal-El, our Kal-El,
\nand Zara are in a binding contracted marriage between the House of El and the
\nHouse of Ra, but are legally separated since he refuses to live on New Krypton.
\nShe has control of his lands and estates until his heir goes to New Krypton to
\naccept the titles and responsibilities as head of the House of El."<\/p>\n
"And you’re afraid they’re coming to take one of the
\nchildren to become his heir on this other planet?" Kal-El asked.<\/p>\n
Martha nodded.<\/p>\n
"How barbaric," Wanda found herself saying.<\/p>\n
"It’s a barbaric place," Martha said. "He
\nalmost didn’t come back went he went there eleven years ago to help stop a
\ncivil war."<\/p>\n
"Wait a minute," Kal-El said. Wanda watched as
\nastonishment and disbelief washed over Kal-El’s face. "There were
\nsurvivors of Krypton?"<\/p>\n
Martha nodded. "A whole colony. Believe me, it was a
\nsurprise to us, too. I guess nobody on your Krypton believed Jor-El when he
\nwarned them the planet was doomed."<\/p>\n
"I guess not," Kal-El said. "What keeps
\nthem from coming here and trying to take over? I mean they’d be
\nsuper-powered."<\/p>\n
"There’s only a couple ships that can make the trip,
\nfor one. And two, a couple of Lord Nor’s followers tried it, and our military
\ntook them out pretty handily. There’s not a lot of kryptonite around, but we
\nknow how to use it," Martha said. "I’m also told that Zara and Ching
\nhave emphasized to their people how barbaric and dangerous –Earth I–s and how
\ncourageous and self-sacrificing Kal-El is to stay here and ‘lead us to
\ncivilization.’"<\/p>\n
Martha turned her attention back to her three
\ngrandchildren. "It’s homework time, CJ. Lara, piano practice. Your
\nrecital’s next week."<\/p>\n
Lara made a face but headed off to the living room. Wanda
\nfollowed her, leaving Kal-El talking with Martha over a second cup of coffee
\nand a plate of doughnuts. Wanda’s head was spinning. She was a reporter, but
\nshe wasn’t making a lot of sense of what Martha had told them.<\/p>\n
The little girl sat down at an electric piano, turned on
\nthe power and began practicing scales. Wanda sat down beside her. "My son
\nplays piano, too. And he’s your age."<\/p>\n
Lara didn’t stop playing. "He is? What’s his
\nname?"<\/p>\n
"Jason Peregrine White."<\/p>\n
"I’m Lara Ellen Kent," the little girl announced.
\n"After two of my grandmas. Daddy was adopted, you know. So I have three
\ngrandmas, but one of them is dead."<\/p>\n
Lara continued her practice, switching to ‘Heart and
\nSoul’, the piece Jason had been working on for weeks. Wanda’s heart began to ache for her son. Lara
\nreminded her of him so much it was frightening. She wondered if she would ever
\nsee him again. If she and Kal-El, ‘Charlie’, would be trapped here forever, in
\nthis version of Metropolis where Clark Kent was Superman, was married to Lois Lane,
\nand had four kids – not to mention a wife on the different planet.<\/p>\n
*Clark Kent was Superman. * It sounded right, like
\nsomething she’d known before. But for some reason, she still couldn’t get her
\nhead around it. *What the hell had he done to her? Did he even know what he’d
\ndone? *There was no way that Kal-El
\ncould possibly be the Clark Kent she knew. That Clark was a geek, a nerd, a
\nhack, a brilliant, idiotic, clumsy, dweeb, who tripped over his own feet and could
\nbarely talk coherently. *No way! It was impossible! But still . . .*<\/p>\n
She left the piano bench and walked back to the kitchen.
\nMartha was cleaning up and Wanda could hear Kal-El talking to one of the boys
\nin the family room. She walked in to see Jordan sitting on Kal-El’s lap as they
\nboth sat next to CJ at a computer. Kal-El seemed so natural, so easy, with
\nClark’s kids. *He’d make a fantastic father. What am I thinking? Jason has a
\nfather, and not one who ran out before he was even born! *<\/p>\n
She stepped closer to him. "You’re good with kids,"
\nshe said. "You’ll make a great father, someday."<\/p>\n
"I am a father, remember?" The hurt was
\npalpable in his face, his voice. "I just don’t know how I fit in to his
\nlife, or yours."<\/p>\n
"I don’t honestly know, yet. I’ve got memories
\nfloating around in my head. I know some of them are real, but some of them, too
\nmany of them, I still can’t grab hold of, still don’t make sense. What really
\nhappened?" Wanda asked. She suddenly felt her pent up anger starting to
\nboil over. *"Why did you leave me like that? What aren’t you telling me?
\nWhat did you do to me?" *<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
Lois waited for Clark to help her out of the van. Baby
\nMartha has asleep in her carrier wearing a yellow jumper that was far too big
\nfor her. But like all the previous Kent kids, she’d grow into it in no time.<\/p>\n
Clark had explained to her that Wanda and Kal-El would be
\nstaying overnight, and possibly longer, if a way to send them back to where
\nthey belonged couldn’t be found. Wanda would have to share a room with Lara, or
\nstay with Martha at her apartment.<\/p>\n
"They’re not together?" she asked.<\/p>\n
Clark shook his head. "She has a son Lara’s age, and
\na fianc\u00e9, but it’s not *him.*" Clark grabbed the baby and followed Lois
\ninto the house. "She said her son’s father disappeared six years ago and
\nshe moved on. I’m pretty sure Kal-El’s the father. He looked awfully guilty
\nwhen she was talking about it."<\/p>\n
*Why did you leave me like that? What aren’t you telling
\nme? What did you do to me?"* Wanda was practically yelling at Kal-El when
\nLois and Clark walked in.<\/p>\n
CJ’s eyes were wide in surprise as were Jordan’s.
\nKal-El’s eyes were narrowed in that peculiarly Kryptonian fashion Lois was
\nfamiliar with, the one that said ‘back off now’. Lois also noted that Wanda didn’t seem to be
\ngetting the hint.<\/p>\n
"I’ve got her," Lois murmured to her husband,
\ntaking the baby from the carrier.<\/p>\n
"I’m on him," he murmured back.<\/p>\n
"Wanda, come with me, please," Lois ordered
\nfirmly. She saw Wanda’s eyes widen in surprise and was pleased when the younger
\nwoman’s mouth snapped shut. *"Now."*<\/p>\n
Lois started toward the living room, then stopped as she
\nrealized Wanda wasn’t following. She turned back and grabbed the younger
\nwoman’s arm and led her away. "I
\nwill thank you not to yell at your boyfriend, or whatever, in front of my
\nkids," she hissed.<\/p>\n
"He’s not my boyfriend," Wanda grated.<\/p>\n
"Whatever. Absentee father of your child?
\nIrresponsible lout that got you knocked up?"<\/p>\n
"You don’t understand," Wanda said.<\/p>\n
"Then explain it to me," Lois said, settling onto
\nthe leather sofa and cuddling her newborn. She kept her voice low and
\ncontrolled.<\/p>\n
Wanda sat down on other end of the sofa, turning to face
\nLois. "Kal-El and I had a relationship six years ago. Hell, relationship
\nisn’t the right word. One night stand. Then he decided it wouldn’t work, and he
\ndid something to my memories, erased them, shut me out of his life, shut me out
\nof his world," Wanda explained. "A month later he left without saying
\ngoodbye, disappeared without saying a word to anyone. He was gone for six
\nyears. *Six years*. I didn’t know if he was dead, if he’d just gotten tired of
\nrescuing people who wouldn’t take care of their own problems, if I’d done
\nsomething to drive him away. We, I, didn’t know I’d gotten pregnant. I had a baby and I didn’t even know how it
\nhappened. I did what I had to."<\/p>\n
"And then he came back?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
Wanda nodded. "I won a Pulitzer for an editorial on
\nwhy the world doesn’t need Superman. And then he comes waltzing back into my
\nlife as if he hadn’t been gone all that time, as if he could make it all up to
\nme, to my son, wave his magic cape and it’ll all be better. I have a man who
\nwants to marry me, I have a good life." Tears were running down Wanda’s
\nface.<\/p>\n
"Wanda, if your Superman was so horrible to you, why
\nwere you with him when whatever it was happened that brought you here?"
\nLois asked.<\/p>\n
"We were trying to recover my lost memories,"
\nWanda explained. "Even though he doesn’t want a relationship with me. He
\ncan’t have a relationship with me."<\/p>\n
"I assume you mean Superman can’t have a
\nrelationship with you?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
Wanda nodded.<\/p>\n
"You do realize that Superman can’t have a
\nrelationship with a real person, because he isn’t a real person? He’s a
\ncharacter in an improv play with the world as a stage who wears a blue body
\nsuit and red cape. He’s not real." Baby Martha had started to protest and
\nLois put her to her breast.<\/p>\n
"Of course he’s a real person," Wanda
\nprotested. "You’re married to your Superman. You should know."<\/p>\n
"No, I’m married to Clark Jerome Kent who happens to
\nhave a second job that doesn’t pay at all well, that involves dressing up in a
\nblue body suit and red cape so he can go flying around rescuing people, and
\nhaving bad guys shoot at him," Lois said. "Clark Kent is the one who said
\n‘I do’, takes the kids to school, helps pay the bills, holds my hand, sleeps in
\nmy bed, and was my birthing coach for four babies. Superman didn’t do any of
\nthose things. He can’t. He’s not a person, he’s a job. You need to be looking
\nfor the man *doing* the job."<\/p>\n
It was a vast over-simplification, Lois knew, but Wanda
\njust seemed so oblivious. She hoped Clark was having better luck with his
\ncounterpart.<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
*"Why did you leave me like that? What aren’t you
\ntelling me? What did you do to me?" *Wanda’s words kept reverberating in
\nKal-El’s ears, despite Clark’s glower in his direction.<\/p>\n
"You’re with me," Clark repeated. Kal-El set
\nJordan on his feet and unfolded himself from the chair.<\/p>\n
"You are in so much trouble," CJ muttered, shaking
\nhis head. "Nice meeting you."<\/p>\n
"CJ . . ." Clark warned. He beckoned Kal-El to
\nfollow him downstairs.<\/p>\n
Kal-El didn’t remember Wanda’s house having a basement.
\nHe followed Clark down carpeted steps, to a large office lined with books and
\nnative art. The rest of the basement was finished as well, and appeared to be
\nan art studio.<\/p>\n
"You have some explaining to do, mister," Clark
\nbegan.<\/p>\n
"You sound like my father," Kal-El commented.<\/p>\n
"I’ll take that as a complement."<\/p>\n
"I’ve already had the ‘responsibility’ lecture from
\nmy mother," Kal-El said, taking a seat in the chair by the door. Clark was
\nleaning against the desk, arms folded across his chest. His expression was one
\nthat Kal-El recognized from himself – annoyed Superman. It was more than a little
\ndisconcerting to be on the receiving end of that cool gaze.<\/p>\n
"I didn’t know she was pregnant when I left,"
\nhe started to explain. "I would never have left if I had known. I don’t
\nknow what I would have done, but I wouldn’t have left."<\/p>\n
"So, where did you go?"<\/p>\n
"Krypton. There were reports, supposedly verified
\nreports, that Krypton had been found, and there were signs of life,"
\nKal-El said. "I had to see for myself. It was like a compulsion, I had to
\ngo and see it. The reports were wrong. In fact, the reports were completely
\nfalse, planted by a psychopath who wanted Superman out of the way."<\/p>\n
He looked up. Clark’s expression hadn’t changed.<\/p>\n
"Krypton was more than just dead. It was poison. I
\nalmost didn’t make it back. When I did get back, I discovered Lex Luthor was
\nusing Kryptonian technology to recreate Krypton on Earth. He damn near
\nsucceeded in destroying the planet." He noted a flicker of interest in
\nClark’s eyes at the mention of Luthor and Kryptonian technology.<\/p>\n
"The Luthor here died about twelve years ago,"
\nClark said. "And so far, he hasn’t come back again, yet. And the only
\nKryptonian technology I know about on –Earth I–s the spaceship I was sent to
\n–Earth I–n and the programming in the navigation module. And I didn’t get access
\nto those until I’d been in Metropolis for six months or so."<\/p>\n
"You don’t have access to Jor-El’s AI?"<\/p>\n
Clark shook his head.<\/p>\n
"Lucky you," Kal-El commented. At least Clark
\nhad stopped glowering at him. "That damned AI is one of the things that got
\nme in trouble with Lois six years ago. I was told that in order to have a
\nrelationship with a human woman, I had to *become* human. Give up the powers,
\neverything. So I did. The worst mistake I ever made up until that time.
\nEverything else afterward came from that one decision."<\/p>\n
"Go on," Clark said. The stern father was still
\nin the older man’s voice, but ‘annoyed Superman’ was gone, at least.<\/p>\n
"I couldn’t stand to not have the powers, to lose
\nthat part of myself, to not be able to help. I convinced the AI to let me have
\nmy powers back. The price was having a relationship with Lois, with any human
\nwoman. She didn’t take it very well. So I went ahead and did another incredibly
\nstupid thing, I erased her memory of what we had. I don’t know exactly how I
\ndid it, but I did. And now she would cheerfully finish what Luthor started with
\nhis kryptonite dagger in my back."<\/p>\n
"Do you blame her? You took away her freedom of
\nchoice. For all intents and purposes, you raped her. You abused your powers to
\ntake away her right to choose," Clark said harshly. He was sounding more
\nand more like Jonathan Kent, or at least how Kal-El thought his father would
\nhave reacted. "Right now, I would
\nlike nothing better than to tan your hide like cheap leather," Clark
\nadded.<\/p>\n
"You are not my father."<\/p>\n
"No, but I figure I’ve got about twelve years on you
\nin the Suit. So that makes me the voice of experience. And the voice of
\nexperience says you, buster, are acting like a spoiled brat. ‘Lois couldn’t
\nhandle being dumped by Superman so I went and hit the reset button.’?"<\/p>\n
"That wasn’t it. I told her the truth, who I really
\nam."<\/p>\n
"And who are you?"<\/p>\n
Kal-El gave him a puzzled look. "I’m not sure I
\nunderstand."<\/p>\n
"When you look in the mirror in the morning, who
\nlooks back at you? Clark Joseph Kent, son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, or Kal,
\nson of Jor and Lara of the house of El? When they find your dead body, who do
\nyou want them to identify you as?"<\/p>\n
Kal-El slumped back in the chair. Clark was annoyingly
\nperceptive and he wondered if it was due to the man’s having more life
\nexperience – twelve years seemed about right – or if he was simply brighter and
\nmore competent. Kal-El couldn’t see himself ever handling Perry White’s job and
\nthis Clark seemed to be taking it in stride. He found that he was actually
\njealous of the older man.<\/p>\n
"Clark Kent, I suppose," Kal-El said finally.
\n"That’s who I’ve been for as long as I can remember. I only found out
\nabout Kal-El when I was seventeen, when my powers came in, right after my dad
\ndied. The AI wanted me to stay in the Fortress for years to learn to become
\nKryptonian. I wasn’t exactly cooperative. I didn’t stay. I went out to see the
\nworld instead, went to college."<\/p>\n
"Did it ever occur to you that the AI was being less
\nthan truthful?" Clark asked. He’d left the ‘stern father’ mode and had
\nswitched to what Kal-El mentally labeled ‘reporter’ mode. "The AI wanted
\nyou to be Kal-El and Kal-El can’t have a relationship with a human woman, it’s
\ntoo dangerous for everyone involved. But what’s keeping Clark Kent from being
\nwith someone?"<\/p>\n
"Lois Lane never gave Clark Kent the time of
\nday."<\/p>\n
"And whose fault is that?"<\/p>\n
Kal-El didn’t answer the question. "I don’t know how
\nto undo the damage I did," he admitted instead. "I was trying to jog
\nher memory, help her get things sorted out when we ended up here. I don’t know
\nhow I even managed to do what I did."<\/p>\n
"Kryptonians are telepathic, at least with people
\nthey’re close to," Clark said. "A few of them are a lot stronger than
\nthat. I’m betting that’s how you did it, even if you didn’t realize it."<\/p>\n
"So, how do I undo it?"<\/p>\n
"The same way you did it?"<\/p>\n
"I doubt she’ll let me get that close," Kal-El
\nsaid with a grimace.<\/p>\n
"You can but try."<\/p>\n
–Clark II–<\/p>\n
Clark was not proud of losing his temper. As Superman he
\ncouldn’t afford to ever loose control that way.
\nAnd it simply wasn’t Clark Kent’s way. Doctor Friskin was going to have
\na field day at their next session. But Kal-El had been so blasted obtuse. In
\nfact, of all the varied versions of Clark Kent he’d met from various alternate
\ntime-lines, this one had to be one of the densest. Erasing someone’s memories?
\n*Give me a break.*<\/p>\n
He checked his watch. Half an hour till every one showed
\nup. It was going to be a long night.<\/p>\n
"Why don’t you go talk to her now?" Clark
\nsuggested. Kal-El’s expression was bleak, defeated. He sighed as he stood and
\nheaded up the stairs to the main floor.<\/p>\n
After a few moments, Clark followed him up the stairs.<\/p>\n
Clark went up to the master bedroom and changed out of
\nhis suit into black trousers and a black turtleneck shirt. He refused to wear
\nthe black Kryptonian body suit that still hung in the back of the hidden closet
\nwith his other ‘suits’. His one concession tonight to signify his Kryptonian
\nobligations was a blue enameled pendant with the sigil of the House of El.<\/p>\n
Coming back downstairs, he noticed Kal-El and his Lois
\nhad gone out to the back deck to talk.<\/p>\n
"How did it go?" he asked his wife.<\/p>\n
"Was I that galactically dense?" she wondered
\naloud.<\/p>\n
"No," he replied, busying himself with setting
\nout snacks on the dining room table for their soon-to-be-arriving guests.
\n"Wasn’t it Herb who said you were simply blinded by love?"<\/p>\n
"He only said that to make me feel better about it
\ntaking so long to figure you out," Lois said with a grin. "I mean,
\nwho’d a thunk it? The Man of Steel was just a disguise for the hack from
\nNowheresville Perry was trying to set me up with?" She came over to the
\ntable. "No chocolate?"<\/p>\n
"You know Lara and Jordan are allergic and you can’t
\nhave any until the baby’s weaned. Sleep good, baby wired on chocolate bad,
\nremember? Have some carob kisses instead." He popped one in to her mouth.<\/p>\n
"It’s just not the same," she complained.<\/p>\n
There was the sound of a car driving up and stopping in
\nthe driveway. A moment later, the doorbell rang.<\/p>\n
"I got it," CJ yelled, running to the door and
\nopening it. Standing on the front porch were Richard and Penny and just behind
\nthem was the Kent family lawyer, Constance Hunter.<\/p>\n
"Come on in," Clark said, waving them into the
\nhouse. "Zara and Ching aren’t here yet, but should be any time now. Oh,
\nConstance, this is Penny and Richard White."<\/p>\n
The attorney gave the couple a nod in greeting. "Constance will be the one handling the
\nnecessary paperwork, assuming everything comes together," Clark added as
\nexplanation.<\/p>\n
Richard gave Penny a hug. Clark knew they had high hopes
\nfor tonight’s meeting. Like he and Lois before them, they’d been turned down by
\nadoption agency social workers. Even the foster care system thought the risk of
\nplacing a child with a pair of Daily Planet investigative reporters was too
\ngreat.<\/p>\n
"I assume the natural parents are aware of the
\ndocumentation they need to have?" Constance asked.<\/p>\n
"The message
\nwas passed to them, so I assume they’ll have proper documents with them,"
\nClark said. "We may have to translate them, however."<\/p>\n
Constance nodded.<\/p>\n
Clark had told her early on it was to be a privately
\narranged fostering involving foreign nationals. He hadn’t added any details
\naside from the fact that fostering was a normal part of the culture among the
\nhigh ranking families of that nation. He assumed Constance had done her
\nhomework and realized that no current Earth culture was doing that sort of
\nthing these days.<\/p>\n
Clark glanced out the French doors to the back deck.
\nKal-El and Wanda were still talking. Then, he leaned over and kissed her, a
\nlong tender kiss. He pulled away and Clark saw Wanda’s eyes widen. Then she
\nslapped Kal-El. Hard.<\/p>\n
"That had to have hurt," Richard commented.<\/p>\n
"They have some serious issues to work out,"
\nLois said.<\/p>\n
–Earth I–<\/p>\n
"Uncle Perry, have you heard from Lois, yet?"
\nRichard asked. He had five-year-old Jason Peregrine White on one hip as he
\nwalked into his uncle’s office.<\/p>\n
Perry shook his head. "Neither she or Kent have
\ncalled in and I haven’t been able to reach them on their cells. You know, Lois
\nhasn’t run off like this in ages. She usually gives me some sort of run down on
\nwhat she’s working on before she takes off."<\/p>\n
"Ralph asked me a little while ago if the two of
\nthem had run off to Niagara Falls again," Richard said. "He’s lucky I
\ndidn’t punch him." He set Jason on his feet. "Jason, why don’t you go
\nto my office and draw? I need to talk to Perry."<\/p>\n
"Okay, Daddy." Jason headed off to the adjacent
\noffice.<\/p>\n
"Okay, son, what gives?" Perry asked.<\/p>\n
Richard looked solemn. "I’m worried about them. The
\ntwo of them going missing is just going to make the rumors that much
\nworse. It’s bad enough the whole
\nnewsroom knows Clark’s Jason’s father, and now they’re going to think Lois is
\ntwo-timing me with him."<\/p>\n
"Do you think she is?"<\/p>\n
"No," Richard said, "But, Uncle Perry, the
\nopposite of love is indifference, not hate. And since he’s come back, she’s
\nbeen treating him like he’s her ex. I know she still has feelings for him, even
\nif she won’t admit it. I admit I’ve been hoping all this time that she’d come
\naround, that she’d feel for me what she felt for him before whatever it was
\nhappened that made him leave. I just hope she can get through her anger at him
\nleaving when he did, so she can forgive him."<\/p>\n
"Do you want her to forgive him?" Perry asked.<\/p>\n
"I want what’s best for Jason," Richard said.
\n"Whatever Lois decides, she needs to do it quickly, for Jason’s
\nsake."<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Wanda had never seen Kal-El looking so glum as when he
\ncame into the living room where she and Lois were sitting. Or maybe she had and
\njust couldn’t remember.<\/p>\n
"We have to talk," he said, head bowed, hands
\nin his pants pockets. His posture was so familiar, so Clark-like. She almost
\nhad it . . . and it was gone again.<\/p>\n
Lois gave Wanda a little nod. Wanda stood up and followed
\nKal-El out to the back deck.<\/p>\n
It was about an hour before sunset and the western sky
\nwas beginning to glow pink and red.<\/p>\n
"They’re happy," Wanda said, looking at the
\nclouds. "Married ten years, four kids, two cars, a mortgage. They’re in
\nlove and they’re happy." She glanced at Kal-El. His head was still down,
\nlooking at his feet, not at her.<\/p>\n
"She was trying to convince me that Superman was
\nnothing more than a character, a job. Somehow I can’t quite get my head around
\nthat either."<\/p>\n
"I think Mister Kent was channeling my father,"
\nKal-El said. "I know my dad would have been terribly disappointed in me
\nfor what I did to you. And he asked me some questions I’m not sure I have good
\nanswers for."<\/p>\n
"And what were the questions?"<\/p>\n
"Just one really. Who am I, really? And I don’t have
\nan answer. I’ve spent seventeen years trying to be the person my birth father’s
\nAI thought I should be. And in that time, the person I ought to be, the person
\nI really am, has turned into someone I don’t even like. He’s a clumsy, cowardly
\nfool and I’m not even sure how it happened."<\/p>\n
"Do you always refer to yourself in the third
\nperson?"<\/p>\n
That brought a touch of a smile. "It helps me keep
\ntrack. I don’t really have disassociated personality syndrome. It just looks
\nlike that sometimes."<\/p>\n
There was a long silence as she tried to put more pieces
\ntogether. "I know, intellectually, that you’re also Clark. But I still
\ncan’t quite believe it."<\/p>\n
"He told me that Kryptonians are telepathic. He
\nsuspects I may have used that talent on you without intending to."<\/p>\n
"Can you undo it?"<\/p>\n
To answer, he stepped closer, tipped her head up with his
\nhand and kissed her. She remembered the sweetness of his mouth, the soft lips,
\nthe fervent promise of more.<\/p>\n
He pulled back and the memories of that night, the night
\nJason was conceived, the night in the Fortress of Solitude came flooding back,
\noverwhelming her senses. There was more than just that night – all the things
\nshe hadn’t put together afterwards, all the sly comments at work when it was
\ndiscovered she was pregnant and Clark Kent, her partner, had disappeared to
\nparts unknown, the understanding looks from Perry, the orders from Perry to go
\nwith Clark to do a story at Niagara Falls. Clark’s unconvincing arguments
\nagainst it. It all came into focus and she was furious.<\/p>\n
She slapped him as hard as she could.<\/p>\n
He took a step back and she could see the confused pain
\nin his impossibly blue eyes.<\/p>\n
"I’m sorry," he murmured.<\/p>\n
"Was it your idea to do that story at Niagara?"
\nshe demanded.<\/p>\n
"Is that what you remember?" he asked,
\nconfusion obvious in his voice.<\/p>\n
"Was it?"<\/p>\n
"Hardly. It was an idiotic fluff piece and you know
\nit. Jimmie could have written it," he answered. "Perry went and gave
\nthe story I was working on to Mike. You have no idea how furious I was."
\nHe paused, watching her warily.<\/p>\n
That was something. The Man of Steel was afraid of her.
\nShe felt the beginnings of a hysterical laugh and ruthlessly quashed it.<\/p>\n
"What else do you remember?" he asked.<\/p>\n
"I remember Niagara Falls. And things I didn’t put
\ntogether then, that didn’t make sense at the time," she said. "We
\nwere set up. Somebody had a great laugh sending Mad Dog off on a honeymoon with
\nher dweeby partner. Even if nothing had happened, they would have said it had.
\nOnly something did happen, and then you took off and they blamed me for it. Oh,
\nnobody actually said it, and Perry was so understanding, and you hadn’t placed
\nany blame on anybody for you needing to leave. And then when Jason was born and
\nhe looked just like you, only you didn’t come back . . ."<\/p>\n
"Lois," he said quietly. "You’re
\nbabbling."<\/p>\n
She stopped. To her horror, she was crying. She stepped
\ntoward him, recognizing through her tears that oh-so-familiar
\ndeer-in-the-headlights ready to bolt look. "I’m sorry," she said.
\n"It just came at me too fast." He seemed to relax just a bit, enough
\nfor her to put her arms around him. "I missed you. I missed my
\nfriend."<\/p>\n
"I missed you, too. I should never have left,"
\nhe said, resting his cheek on the top of her head.<\/p>\n
"If I had stopped you, you would have ended up
\nresenting it, resenting me," she said. "We both know that."<\/p>\n
"So where do we go from here?"<\/p>\n
"I have no idea," she admitted. "But it’s
\na moot point if we can’t get back home."<\/p>\n
"You know, you’re not nearly as mad at me as I
\nthought you’d be," he said. "How’s your hand?"<\/p>\n
She flexed it experimentally. "Nothing broken. And I haven’t decided
\nhow mad I am. When I do, you’ll be the first to know. We have some serious
\ntrust issues to deal with. Not to mention how the devil I’m going to explain
\nall this to Jason, and Richard, and Perry. This isn’t over yet." She looked
\nover at the house, into the room beyond the French doors. "We seem to be
\nthe floor show."<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
The couple on the deck seemed to have come to some
\nagreement. Lois saw them glance back at the house, then start for the
\ndoors. As they came into the living room
\nthe doorbell rang and once again, CJ ran to get it.<\/p>\n
"CJ, wait," Lois yelled. The eight-year-old
\nopened the door instead. Three figures, a man, woman and small child, all
\ndressed in form-fitting black, stood on the porch. The man was holding a metal
\ncase about a foot high and wide and two-feet long.<\/p>\n
"Kindred in the bonds, I greet thee thrice,"
\nClark greeted the newcomers with the slightest of bows, hands held out in the
\nKryptonian fashion. "Lady Zara, welcome to my home."<\/p>\n
Zara smiled, moved forward and gave Clark a hug. The
\nKryptonian woman was un-customarily friendly, given how formal Clark had been.
\nLois knew that Kryptonians were not given to public displays of affection. It
\nwas one of the problems Clark had during his year on New Krypton – he was a
\nvery physical person and having to deny that part of himself, his need for
\nphysical contact, had hurt him very badly.<\/p>\n
"Clark, it’s so good to see you," Zara said.
\n"But we need to talk privately when this is done." Lois saw the strain
\nin Zara’s face and wondered at how things were faring on New Krypton.<\/p>\n
Ching had followed Zara into the living room, ushering
\nthe child before him. Clark crouched
\ndown in front of small boy. "And who is this little guy?"<\/p>\n
"This is Jos-Ra, heir to the House of Ra. My son by
\nmy consort Ching."<\/p>\n
The boy looked to be Lara’s age with medium brown hair
\nand hazel eyes like CJ. His long hair
\nwas secured by a blue headband.<\/p>\n
Zara looked around the room, stopping at Richard and
\nPenny. "Mister and Missus White?"<\/p>\n
Richard nodded. "Yes, Lady Zara?"<\/p>\n
"It is our custom to foster our male offspring to
\nallied Houses," Zara explained. "However, one of the Great Houses,
\nthe House of El, does not currently have a presence on New Krypton and is not
\nreadily available for this type of alliance."<\/p>\n
Richard looked to Clark for guidance, or at least an
\nexplanation.<\/p>\n
Clark gave him a crooked grin. "Among other things,
\nI happen to be the equivalent of the Consul General for New Krypton,"
\nClark said. "I have been asked to facilitate such fosterage on Earth on
\nbehalf of the House of El. I wasn’t going to go into details until they got
\nhere. I didn’t want to get your hopes up."<\/p>\n
"Oh, wow," Richard muttered. "When you
\nsaid foreign, you really meant it. The House of El is Superman’s family, isn’t
\nit?"<\/p>\n
"Yes, it is," Clark answered.<\/p>\n
"Does he, I mean will he, have Superman’s
\npowers?" Penny asked. "He’s so small."<\/p>\n
"Superman has said his powers didn’t fully manifest
\nuntil he was nearly eighteen years old," Clark explained "So it’s
\nunlikely Jos-Ra will show any powers or anything to mark him as being anything
\nother than human until he’s an adult,"<\/p>\n
"Unless he’s under great stress," Kal-El added.
\n"Strength shows up first and it is possible for that to manifest at an
\nearly age *if* he is under life-threatening stress."<\/p>\n
"How do you know that?" Richard asked.<\/p>\n
"I know," Kal-El said with a sigh. "It’s
\ncomplicated."<\/p>\n
Zara gave Kal-El a curious look. The tall man pulled to
\nhis full height and gave the Kryptonian woman a polite nod.<\/p>\n
"Lady Zara, may I present Charles King and Wanda
\nDetroit," Clark said. "They’re new here."<\/p>\n
Ching had moved closer to Lois and now leaned over to
\nspeak with her. "Lady Lois, which house is he with?" Ching asked
\nsoftly.<\/p>\n
"The House of El from an alternate time-line,"
\nLois said. "Like he said, it’s complicated."<\/p>\n
Ching stared at her in obvious disbelief.<\/p>\n
"Clark and I have had some experience in this sort
\nof thing," she explained. Ching didn’t look convinced. "How did you
\nknow he’s Kryptonian?"<\/p>\n
"His life aura is as strong as Kal-El’s," Ching
\nsaid quietly. "Earth humans don’t radiate quite as strongly."<\/p>\n
Lois’s attention was drawn to Zara crouching down beside
\nher son. "Jos, this is Richard and Penny. Lord Protector Kal-El, Superman,
\nhas arranged for you to stay with them."<\/p>\n
The child looked at his mother with wide worried eyes.
\n"But I want to stay with you and father and Suren. Why can’t you stay with
\nme?"<\/p>\n
"We’ve talked about this. Your sister has to stay
\nhome with your father and me. You will be under Lord Kal-El’s protection and
\nyou will learn many things here, many things you can bring back to us when it’s
\ntime," Zara explained patiently. "Mister and Missus White will take
\ncare of you just as though you were their child and Clark and Lois will be here
\nfor you too."<\/p>\n
Lois wasn’t sure how she would act if their positions
\nwere reversed. Her heart broke at the thought of leaving one of her children
\nwith strangers, giving them up for treaty obligations, even if it did make
\npolitical sense. Children shouldn’t be pawns in political games, and if that
\nwas the price of being royalty, she wanted no part of it. They were never
\ngetting one of her babies.<\/p>\n
Constance cleared her throat. "It’s getting late and
\nwe need to get these documents squared away."<\/p>\n
"Yes, of course," Ching agreed.<\/p>\n
The document signing only took fifteen minutes or so.
\nConstance had everything ready and the signature lines were highlighted for
\nthem. Legally it was simply an open adoption. In the documents, the child’s
\nname was now ‘Jason Ryan White’.<\/p>\n
As soon as the papers were signed, Clark hurried Richard,
\nPenny, Jason, and Constance out the door.<\/p>\n
"File the rest of the Goldman murder story tomorrow
\nfrom home, then take the next couple days off. Family leave," Clark
\nordered with a smile.<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
Aside from meeting Superman\/Clark Kent earlier today,
\nKal-El had never met another Kryptonian. Had never dreamed that such was
\npossible. But now, two Kryptonians who had evaded the holocaust that had
\nbrought Krypton low, that had blasted the planet into poisonous shards, were
\nhere, on Earth.<\/p>\n
They were both a little shorter than he had expected,
\ndressed in black Kryptonian bodysuits with their house sigil emblazoned across
\ntheir chests. The woman’s outfit was completed by a cape-like coat of a
\nslightly heavier material than the body suit, with a high collar. He wondered a little that Clark had chosen
\nnot to dress as a Kryptonian at this meeting, but then Richard, Penny, and
\nConstance obviously didn’t know that Clark was also their world’s Superman.<\/p>\n
He recalled from his father’s lectures on Krypton’s
\nsocial structure. El, Ar and Us were the oldest, most honored of the twelve
\nhouses. Those three had been founded first by the three representatives whose
\nefforts had finally brought peace to the warring nations of Krypton. Ra, Et,
\nand Ah were close in time, and the others evolved from other powerful families.
\nMartha had said something about a civil war. Had the checks and balances that
\nSor-El, Pol-Us, and Kol-Ar created somehow failed in the new colony?<\/p>\n
"Okay, Zara," Clark said as soon as Richard and
\nPenny had ‘Jason’ well away from the house. "Why are you fostering Jos
\nhere on Earth? You know how dangerous it’ll be if the other Houses discover
\n–Earth I–sn’t the hellhole you’ve been telling them it is. You also know how
\nhard it’s going to be to re-assimilate him back into New Kryptonian
\nsociety."<\/p>\n
Zara looked over at Ching, worry written across both
\ntheir faces. "We didn’t see that we had a choice, Clark," Zara said.
\n"For the past year or so, the House of Et has been attempting to
\nreestablish itself and destabilize the other houses. Nor’s nephew, Xon, has
\nbeen making noises about bringing the House of Et back to its former glory. Trey
\nis dead and several heirs to the other houses have been assassinated, forcing
\nthose houses to reconsider their birth marriage contracts and their fostering
\noptions. Xon has demanded Suren’s hand in contract."<\/p>\n
"We have no intention of acceding to his demands, of
\ncourse," Ching added. "But we need to have Jos safe from Xon’s
\nagents. And as to Earth’s danger – I admit it may be a risk, but we have been
\nsuccessful in getting our people convinced that not only is Earth a barbaric
\nand dangerous place, but the planet is the property and domain of the House of
\nEl. Hence your title of Lord Protector. They also know what you tried to do for
\nour people, and how you killed Nor to save us from his madness."<\/p>\n
"That’s just wonderful," Clark commented.
\nKal-El wasn’t sure if Zara and Ching heard the sarcasm in his voice. "And
\nhow soon before Xon starts gunning for me to avenge his uncle’s death?"<\/p>\n
"It’s unlikely he’ll come to Earth, Clark,"
\nZara said. "He is more cunning than that. And that is what we need to talk
\nto you privately about."<\/p>\n
Clark sighed. "Come down to my office," he
\nsaid. "We can talk there." He led them down the stairs to his
\nbasement office.<\/p>\n
Kal-El took a moment to inspect the bookshelves that
\nlined the living room. At home, he owned nearly every one of the books here,
\nwith the exception of the romance novels – they obviously were Lois Lane-Kent’s
\nchoice of reading material.<\/p>\n
One volume caught his attention: A Year on New Krypton by
\nClark Kent. He skimmed the book, stopping to read certain passages more
\nclosely.<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Kent, how much of this book is fiction?"
\nhe asked.<\/p>\n
"The part were Clark Kent *isn’t* Kal-El," Lois
\nreplied. "Why?"<\/p>\n
"Krypton was an advanced, peaceful society.
\nAccording to this, the colony of New Krypton was a barbarous war zone. How did
\nit happen?"<\/p>\n
"I don’t know," Lois said. "I don’t know
\nif they know what happened or why, except to blame Nor." Lois’s expression
\nbecame distant. "Except for what he wrote there, and a handful of things
\nhe was actually proud of, Clark won’t really talk about what happened to him
\nwhile he was gone. It still gives him nightmares, and it took nearly six months
\nbefore he was willing to put on the suit, to come back to his other job. I’ve
\nread what he wrote and I know he left a lot out." She hugged herself as if
\nsuddenly cold. "I remember the scars he came back with. Some of them were
\nso awful, we thought he’d never heal."<\/p>\n
"You don’t like them much, do you?" Wanda
\nobserved. Lois shook her head.<\/p>\n
"I know Zara and Ching try to understand Earth
\nsociety, mores," Lois said. "They try, and I know the multitude of
\ncultures here confuses them, but they don’t understand that life has to be more
\nthan pragmatic analysis of needs. There has to be joy and love and hope. There
\nhas to be art that has no purpose other than to be pretty or sentimental,
\npoetry and music that aren’t dirges or military marches. And I don’t like the
\nway they assume they have priority in my husband’s life."<\/p>\n
Kal-El canted his head to one side, listening. Zara was
\ntalking about Nor’s grand-daughter and her child. A child who, if Zara could be
\nbelieved, was biologically Clark’s daughter. It was Zara’s solution to the
\npolitical problem such a child presented to the stability of New Krypton that
\nappalled him.<\/p>\n
Downstairs, Clark was shouting at them. "You’re the
\nbrilliant military strategist, Ching. You come up with a different solution,
\ncause I’m not buying into the one you’ve got. Superman does not kill! And I
\nwill not sanction the death of a child in any case!"<\/p>\n
"I don’t see that you have a choice, Kal-El,"
\nChing said.<\/p>\n
"There is always a choice," Clark insisted.
\n"And I have made mine."<\/p>\n
Kal-El heard a whoosh and a moment later a sonic boom.<\/p>\n
"They must have him gotten pretty upset," Lois
\nsaid softly. "He doesn’t normally take off that fast from the house."<\/p>\n
"They asked him to do something completely
\nreprehensible," Kal-El. "They asked him to kill."<\/p>\n
–Clark II–<\/p>\n
Ching had grabbed the metal case he’d brought with him
\nand carried it downstairs with him. Clark noted the case was sealed and he
\ndidn’t see an obvious way to open it. It was lead-lined so he couldn’t see into
\nit. That worried him.<\/p>\n
"Clark," Zara began as soon as all three of
\nthem were behind the closed door of Clark’s office. "We have a crisis on
\nour hands. Not only has Xon been trying to destabilize the Great Houses, but
\nhe’s specifically targeted the Houses of Ra and El. A few weeks ago our people
\ncaught Nor’s daughter Conza. She was pregnant, close to term."<\/p>\n
"I remember Conza, I think. She was only about five
\nyears old when I killed Nor. She was there that day," Clark said.
\n"She was with her mother, watching."<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes against the unbidden memories.
\nMemories of that last duel with Nor, when he was forced to use every trick he’d
\nlearned from Ching in drei combat. Nor was taller, more experienced, and simply
\nmeaner than Clark. But luck, desperation, and a few moves from martial arts
\nmovies, and classes Lois had made him take, had been on Clark’s side. Somehow, he had brought Nor to his knees and
\nthe Kryptonian quarterstaff down on the back of Nor’s neck. The photon
\nemissions had burned through skin and bone.
\n*No doubts, no mercy. Only the kill.*<\/p>\n
"The mother swore vengeance against the House of
\nEl," Ching said, continuing Zara’s explanation. "She was one of the
\nleaders taken out in the final raids against Nor’s strongholds before you left
\nfor Earth. The daughter disappeared, and we had assumed she had died as
\nwell."<\/p>\n
"We don’t know who had her, who raised her, but when
\nshe was found, she had become what you would term a ‘terrorist’. We believe she
\nwas responsible for the assassinations of the heirs," Zara went on.
\n"When she was caught and discovered she was in the hands of the Houses of
\nEl and Ra, she tried to kill herself and the unborn child with her. We managed
\nto prevent it only to discover when the child was born that she carried the
\ngenetic markings of the House of El. We assume they got your genetic material
\nwhen you were held by Nor."<\/p>\n
"That’s probably a safe assumption, considering I
\ndon’t remember most of what happened while Nor’s people had me," Clark
\nsaid. What little he did remember was best described as a drugged out
\nnightmare. Not that he’d had any experience with drugs prior to that. On Earth,
\nunder the yellow sun, they didn’t affect him at all. But it wasn’t an
\nexperience he ever wanted to repeat.<\/p>\n
"What happened to her, to Conza?" Clark asked.<\/p>\n
"After the child was delivered, she managed to end
\nher life," Ching said. "I swear we had nothing to do with it. We
\nwanted her alive to stand trail for her crimes."<\/p>\n
"So, what’s the crisis?" Clark asked. He
\ntrusted Ching, trusted his judgment.<\/p>\n
Zara sighed and shook her head. "Clark,
\nbiologically, the child is yours. A female member of the House of El out of Et,
\nas such she is a valuable pawn in whatever Xon has planned."<\/p>\n
"So, give her back to him," Clark said. "I
\nhaven’t been on New Krypton in ten years, so obviously I didn’t consent to any
\nunion with the child’s mother."<\/p>\n
"Clark, you’re being dense," Ching said.
\n"The child is a pawn. She was bred to take down the House of El. Whether
\nyou claim her as a member of the House or not, Xon can make the claim that the
\nchild’s mother was your bound concubine as right of victor, and the child has
\nthe right of inheritance in preference over your natural, half-breed, heirs.
\nYou’re only choice is to repudiate any claim the child might have on you, and
\ntake steps to ensure Xon has no chance of using her against you."<\/p>\n
"But you just said he’ll use her whether or not I
\nclaimed her."<\/p>\n
Zara and Ching just looked at him. He saw pity in their
\neyes and he finally realized what they were referring to.<\/p>\n
"No!" Clark found himself shouting at them.
\n"You’re the brilliant military strategist, Ching. You come up with a
\ndifferent solution, cause I’m not buying into the one you’ve got. Superman does
\nnot kill! And I will not sanction the death of a child in any case!"<\/p>\n
"I don’t see that you have a choice, Kal-El,"
\nChing said.<\/p>\n
"There is always a choice," Clark insisted.
\n"And I have made mine."<\/p>\n
"Clark, just sign the repudiation documents,"
\nZara insisted. "Your hands will be clean. Ching and I can handle the
\nrest."<\/p>\n
"No!" He found he had his fists clenched and he
\nwas shaking with fury. He stalked out of the office and blurred his way through
\nthe underground passage that led from the house to the river’s edge. Then he
\ntook off, into the sky, as fast as he could, without bothering to change into
\nthe blue and red suit. The night was a good enough disguise.<\/p>\n
He headed north, to the glacier he frequently used as a
\nrefuge when he was close to losing control. The glacier had taken a beating
\nover the years. This time, instead of taking his anger out on the ice, he
\nsimply sat, head on his hands.<\/p>\n
He didn’t understand Zara and Ching. Even on New Krypton
\nlife was precious. They’d started out with only fifty thousand colonists and
\nthe number had dropped to half that between the harshness of the planet they
\nwere on and Nor’s war. But now they wanted him to authorize the death of a
\nchild whose only crime was to be born.<\/p>\n
He heard the swoosh of a Kryptonian coming to ground and
\nlooked up to see Kal-El standing a few yards away, wearing the familiar blue
\nand red.<\/p>\n
"I don’t think I like the Kryptonians in this
\nuniverse," Kal-El said conversationally, sitting down on the ice facing
\nClark. The aurora borealis streamed above them in the darkness, coloring the
\nlandscape.<\/p>\n
"I *know* I don’t like them," Clark replied.
\n"And I don’t understand enough of Kryptonian law to argue against them.
\nAssuming they’re not making things up as they go along. I know Nor was. By the
\nway, how did you find me?"<\/p>\n
"There are only four full-blooded adult Kryptonians
\non the planet. It wasn’t that hard."<\/p>\n
"I’m not used to having other Kryptonians
\naround," Clark admitted. "And I admit that I have a bad habit of
\navoiding emotional confrontation by taking off." He sighed. Ten years of
\ntherapy hadn’t broken him of the avoidance habit. "I should be working on
\na way to get you and your Lois back to where you both belong. But the usual
\nsuspects haven’t shown their faces yet either to apologize or to gloat,
\ndepending which one, so I don’t have a lot to go on."<\/p>\n
"There are ‘usual suspects’?"<\/p>\n
Clark nodded. "Oh yeah. There’s H.G. Wells and his
\ntime machine. When he shows up it’s usually to apologize for messing us up
\nagain. Then there’s Tempus, he’s a psychopath from the future who will do just
\nabout anything to keep Lois and me from doing whatever it is he thinks we’re
\ngoing to do. He almost got himself elected president ten years ago. And then there’s
\nMix’m. He’s a demon or imp from another dimension and he just loves making my
\nlife miserable. It’s his idea of fun."<\/p>\n
"H.G. Wells, the writer?" Kal-El asked.
\n"Isn’t he dead?"<\/p>\n
"Sometimes," Clark said with a bemused smile.
\n"And then, sometimes just he shows up out of the blue and Lois and I end
\nup plane hopping, or time hopping, or both. It gets a little weird, sometimes.
\nI’ve lost count of how many alternates I’ve met, or heard about."<\/p>\n
"Maybe I should be glad I don’t know him,"
\nKal-El said. "I don’t recall seeing any humans, or imps, when that storm
\nhit us. And I’ve never seen, or felt, a storm like it. It was like it had
\nintelligence, like it was following us. And it was moving fast, faster that
\nanything natural. When it hit us, it was like the world turned inside out. If I
\nwere back in my own time-line, I could ask the AI in the Fortress of
\nSolitude."<\/p>\n
"I don’t have one of those, at least not since I
\noutgrew the tree house in the back yard," Clark said. "And there was
\nno AI there. Dad wouldn’t even let me bring in power."<\/p>\n
"I wonder . . ." Kal-El murmured. He reached
\nbehind him, to a hidden pocket in his cape and pulled out the copy of the
\nfather crystal he’d made just before he and Lois had ended up here. "There
\nwas no memory crystal, or memory block with your ship?"<\/p>\n
"There was a navigation module with recorded
\nmessages, but nothing that looked like that," Clark said. "But then,
\nthe ship that brought me here was stolen not long after I arrived. I got it
\nback a little before I went to New Krypton. It’s possible there were more
\nmodules, but I doubt it." He held out his hand and concentrated. The small
\nblue and green globe of the Earth that normally rested on a shelf in Clark’s
\noffice appeared in his hand. It shifted into its red Kryptonian view.<\/p>\n
"That’s a neat trick," Kal-El commented.<\/p>\n
"It’s tuned to me," Clark explained. "But
\nI still haven’t figured out all the things it can do."<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the globe in his hand began to glow bright
\nwhite as it levitated away from him. Clark saw that the crystal in Kal-El’s
\nhand had also started glowing. Kal-El opened his hand and the crystal floated
\nup to a spot only inches from Clark’s navigation module. After a long moment
\nthe light became even brighter and Clark found himself shielding his eyes
\nagainst it. Then, there was a musical chime and the crystal went dark, dropping
\nto the ice. The sphere’s glow dimmed to a more tolerable level as it sped away
\nfrom the two men.<\/p>\n
"Hey, get back here," Clark muttered as he
\nstood and watched the sphere disappear over an ice ridge.<\/p>\n
Kal-El held out a hand. "Wait."<\/p>\n
The glacier quaked and steam billowed from the far side
\nof the ice ridge. Soon, even the ridge was enveloped in the steam. There was a
\nsound like crackling ice cubes, only a thousand times louder and Clark saw huge
\nshafts of crystal thrusting upwards out of the ice, coming together at odd
\nangles, creating something resembling a structure. The crystals glowed from
\nsome light shining within the structure.<\/p>\n
Finally the quaking ended, the lights dimmed, and the
\nonly sound that remained was the icy arctic wind.<\/p>\n
Clark saw a puzzled frown on Kal-El’s face. "That’s
\nodd," Kal-El murmured. "It’s not the same."<\/p>\n
"It’s different than the one you have?"<\/p>\n
"Yes. It’s simpler, somehow. Like from an earlier
\nage," Kal-El said. "Shall we go in and look?"<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Kal-El handed Wanda the book he’d been skimming through.
\nA Year on New Krypton by Clark Kent. She opened it and glanced through it. It
\nread like something her Clark, Kal-El, would write, except, as far as she knew,
\nhe’d never been a war correspondent and this was about a war as vicious as any
\nshe’d heard about. The writing was as clear, as understandable, as
\nunderstanding, as anything she’d ever read. So much like her Clark. But there was
\nso much death, so much pain, so little hope. *This world’s Clark went through
\nall this and came out okay? Jimmy spent three months in Chechnya and almost
\ndidn’t make it back at all. He still drank too heavily.*<\/p>\n
She put the book back on the shelf where it belonged and
\nlooked more closely at the other books in the case. Several had Wanda Detroit listed at the
\nauthor. *Wanda Detroit? No wonder Mister Kent had laughed.* The titles
\nindicated they were probably romance novels.<\/p>\n
She pulled one out and looked at it. It was almost
\nidentical to the unfinished novel Wanda had on her computer at home. This Lois
\nhad not only finished it, but had gotten published as well. Wanda was struck by
\na pang of jealousy as she put the book back in its place.<\/p>\n
She heard the sonic boom that indicated something – or
\nsomeone – had broken the sound barrier fairly close by.<\/p>\n
"They must have him gotten pretty upset," Lois
\nsaid softly. "He doesn’t normally take off that fast from the house."<\/p>\n
"They asked him to do something completely
\nreprehensible," Kal-El. "They asked him to kill."<\/p>\n
"They what?" Wanda said in disbelief.
\n"Who?"<\/p>\n
"They were talking about a threat to the House of
\nEl, a child," Kal-El said. "Nor-Et’s granddaughter."<\/p>\n
"Clark would never agree to something like that.
\nNever," Lois said.<\/p>\n
"I know," Kal-El said. "I’m sure that’s
\nwhy he took off."<\/p>\n
Wanda gave him a curious look.<\/p>\n
"He needs to get his head together, before he does
\nsomething rash," Kal-El said. "At least, that’s what I would do. I’d
\nhead north, to the Fortress of Solitude."<\/p>\n
"Clark doesn’t have anything like that," Lois
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"I’ll be back shortly," Kal-El promised. He
\nblurred into his suit and went out onto the back deck. He looked back at the
\ntwo women standing in the living room. "They do say that two heads are
\nbetter than one. We’ll come up with something. I hope."<\/p>\n
With that, he disappeared into the night sky. A second
\nsonic boom echoed over the river.<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
Lois heard footsteps coming up from the basement, from
\nClark’s office.<\/p>\n
"What the hell do you think you’re playing at,
\nasking Clark to kill a child?" Lois hissed at them.<\/p>\n
"Considering the gravity of the situation, we didn’t
\nsee another solution," Ching said. At least he had the courtesy to look
\nuncomfortable in the face of her fury.<\/p>\n
"We had hoped that when Kal-El killed Nor ten years
\nago, that the threat he posed was over, that no one else would make the attempt
\nto overthrow the legitimate government Kal-El and I represent," Zara said.
\n"Kal-El and I were bred to lead. I was raised to rule. Kal-El, for reasons
\nI still do not fathom, was sent to –Earth I–nstead of New Krypton. He does
\nnot understand the needs of our ruling system."<\/p>\n
"I think you’re wrong," Lois said. "I
\nthink he understands too well. What you don’t understand is that this planet
\nhas invented and discarded more political systems than most people can imagine.
\nClark spent some time researching that when he came back. And believe it or
\nnot, he found precedents in Earth history. I mean, calling you ‘La Princessa’,
\nwasn’t exactly a complement."<\/p>\n
"I was aware of that," Zara said.
\n"Although I admit I was not aware of the full connotation at the time and
\nI know it annoyed him when I refused to be insulted by the title. If he’d been
\nraised on new Krypton, or just accepted his duties to his home world, we
\nwouldn’t be having this discussion."<\/p>\n
"Zara, I’ve met a Kal-El that was raised on New
\nKrypton. The one I met had his Zara and Ching murdered for betraying him. He
\nwas a monster, worse than Nor. His greed and ambition nearly destroyed New
\nKrypton *and* Earth," Lois told her. "Remember, in Earth mythology,
\nSatan, the lord of evil, was born an angel."<\/p>\n
"We have reason to believe that the priests may
\nsupport Xon’s claim that your children, being half-breeds, are not valid heirs
\nto the House of El," Ching said softly. "We’re not sure where the
\nguilds stand. I know that when Kal-El was on New Krypton, he made allies of
\nmany of the guild masters. I admit, that was something I had not considered to
\nbe of strategic value, but it was one of the things that helped us, then."<\/p>\n
"And the elders?" Lois asked. When Clark came
\nback, she’d spent many hours trying to understand the political realities of
\nNew Krypton. She knew the council of elders was the real ruling power, as it
\nhad been on Krypton before its destruction. Each of the twelve major houses was
\nrepresented on the council. Each had one vote and how the votes went on an
\nissue was usually determined by backroom deals, marriage contracts, ‘gifts’ and
\njust plain schmoozing. Ethics, even in theory, were not part of the process.<\/p>\n
"At this time we are fairly certain we have the
\nsupport of a majority of the elders in the council, but with Trey’s death our
\nposition is becoming difficult," Zara said. "We need for Clark to at
\nleast give the appearance of having concern for our position in the council and
\nthe threat Xon poses, not just to our Houses, but to the council as a
\nwhole."<\/p>\n
"And killing a child will do this?" Wanda
\nwondered.<\/p>\n
"This child is a time bomb in our midst," Ching
\nsaid. "We don’t know what else to do."<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
The Fortress was smaller than the one his father crystal
\nhad made, simpler, less like a cathedral than a simple temple to some god that
\nhad no name on this planet. A temple to Rao perhaps. But then, did Rao still
\nhave dominion on Kryptonians who considered themselves more human than not? He
\nhad his doubts. It was something, Kal-El decided, he should discuss with Father
\nDaniel, his spiritual advisor of many years, when, and if, he got back to his
\nown time-line.<\/p>\n
One thing that was at least similar to his of fortress.
\nThere was a raised central console, only this console held the spherical
\nnavigation module as its centerpiece instead of the father crystal. The module
\nglowed with a comfortable yellow light that was more than sufficient to light
\nthe interior of the crystal construction. Surrounding the spherical module were
\na set of metallic blocks. *Memory modules?*<\/p>\n
"It’s beautiful," Clark said, looking around.
\n"Is this what Krypton looked like?"<\/p>\n
"Well, the Krypton I was born on did, sort of,"
\nKal-El said. "They grew their buildings, re-engineered their planet. They
\nwere too proud to recognize they didn’t control everything. They couldn’t
\nbelieve their own sun could betray them."<\/p>\n
"Except for Jor-El," Clark said. "And
\nhere, somebody must have listened to him, because New Krypton is still
\naround."<\/p>\n
Clark stepped up to the console and placed one hand on
\nthe navigation module. A holographic
\nimage of a tall, slender man wearing a white tunic bearing the sigil of the
\nHouse of El appeared in the space in front of the console.<\/p>\n
"Kal-El, I know you do not remember me. I am Jor-El.
\nI am your father," the hologram announced.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t the same white haired man Kal-El had seen in
\nhis own Fortress. This man was younger, thinner than his own father. But he
\nstill had a distinguished look about him, with a shock of white hair that was
\nheld back from his face by a silver headband. His almond shaped eyes were a
\nwarm brown.<\/p>\n
"On the console beside the module that guided your
\nship to Earth, are memory modules covering the scientific and cultural facts of
\nthe twenty-eight galaxies known to our scientists," the hologram
\ncontinued. "Here you may ask questions so that we may explore the answers
\ntogether."<\/p>\n
"Tell me about the colony of New Krypton,"
\nClark asked. The hologram smiled.<\/p>\n
–Clark II–<\/p>\n
"I assume you are referring to the industrial colony
\noriginally designated Halos I, financed by the House of El, in alliance with
\nthe trading and industrial guilds. It was also an experiment in self-determined
\ngovernance. The colony was considered a success for over three generations, and
\npaid back its debt to the both the parent guilds as well as to the House of El
\nwithin two generations. The House of El maintained close financial and personal
\nties with the colony."<\/p>\n
"It was an experiment in self-determined
\ngovernance?" Clark repeated. "Could you explain that?"<\/p>\n
The hologram’s pleasant expression didn’t change.
\n"The governance of Krypton has traditionally been based on a balance of
\npower between the noble houses, the industrial and trading guilds and the
\npriesthood. Halos I was granted the right to use a more representational form
\nof government much like ones my great-grandfather had observed on other
\nplanets, including Earth. The experiment was surprisingly successful and
\nsuggestions were made to allow this form of government to be permitted in
\nfuture colonies.<\/p>\n
"Unfortunately, no other colonies were founded prior
\nto my discovery of inherent instabilities in Krypton’s orbit due to the
\nimmanent death of its sun."<\/p>\n
"So, what happened to the colony?" Clark asked.
\n"If it had a representational government, why is it now ruled by the great
\nhouses, why was there almost a civil war?"<\/p>\n
"Some members of the Council of Elders took my
\nwarning seriously enough to evacuate themselves to Halos I and apparently made
\nthe attempt to recreate the political structure of Krypton in that new
\nenvironment," the hologram said. "I must assume their attempt was
\nonly partially successful."<\/p>\n
"The general population didn’t want to give up their
\nrights," Kal-El surmised. "The guilds sided with the Houses of Ra and
\nEl, didn’t they?"<\/p>\n
"Yes, I’m pretty sure they did," Clark
\nadmitted. "Ching was surprised I even bothered to contact the guilds when
\nmore of the houses started to side with Nor, demanding the heir of the House of
\nEl, namely *me*, take his rightful place as ruler beside Zara or allow Nor to
\ndo it. Zara wasn’t about to marry Nor and I wasn’t about to become king. I
\nrefused to betray Lois’s trust. "<\/p>\n
"But Krypton hadn’t had a monarchy in millennia, not
\nsince Pol-Us, Sor-El and Kol-Ar crafted the government that brought peace to
\nKrypton," Kal-El said. "I’m assuming that’s true of the Krypton in
\nthis time-line."<\/p>\n
The hologram appeared to blink its eyes as the AI
\nrecognized Kal-El’s presence. "Correct. The government created by Pol-Us,
\nSor-El and Kol-Ar brought about the Great Peace, allowing Krypton to become the
\nmost evolved and enlightened society in the known twenty-eight galaxies."<\/p>\n
"Modest, too," commented Clark. The AI had
\ngiven him a little background on the political situation on New Krypton, but
\nnothing he thought he could use, yet. It certainly didn’t explain Zara and
\nChing’s demand that Nor’s granddaughter be killed, unless . . . "Explain
\nproperty inheritance among the noble houses."<\/p>\n
"Within the Great Houses, the eldest legitimate male
\nheir inherits both his father’s property and title. In the event there is no
\nlegitimate male heir, the property and title will devolve onto the eldest
\nlegitimate female heir, then to the eldest male heir born to a noble concubine,
\nthen to the eldest female heir born to a noble concubine. Any offspring, male
\nor female, born to non-nobility are not eligible to inherit either property or
\ntitle without special dispensation of the Council of Elders."<\/p>\n
"Bingo," Clark murmured to himself.
\n"According to the original charter of the Halos I colony, who owns the
\nland, the property, the colony is on?"<\/p>\n
"The House of El. Specifically, the High Lord of the
\nHouse of El" the hologram replied. "You."<\/p>\n
"That’s Xon’s plan," Clark said to Kal-El.
\n"Disenfranchise my kids since Lois isn’t Kryptonian nobility, and then
\nannounce the granddaughter is my heir by a noble concubine, whether or not I
\never slept with her. Whether or not I was even on the planet. The granddaughter
\ninherits the lands and titles, which happens to include the whole blasted
\ncolony. It’s property, not politics."
\nHe turned back to the hologram. "Is there a legal mechanism to sell
\nor otherwise dispose of this type of property, say deed it over to the Council
\nof Elders or to a consortium of the guilds?"<\/p>\n
"Negative. Only *individuals* of noble birth may own
\nproperty. Also, a property transaction of this magnitude to another House must
\nhave the unanimous support of the Council of Elders."<\/p>\n
"Damn," Clark muttered to himself.<\/p>\n
"So, what do you plan to do about it?" Kal-El
\nasked.<\/p>\n
"I still don’t know," Clark admitted. "I’m
\nnot sure there is a viable solution. I can’t claim her, that’d be feeding into
\nXon’s lie. If I repudiate her, she can still be used against me. I can’t foster
\nher out on Earth cause he may find out and attack Earth. I could try to find
\nHerb and send her off to another time-line, but there’s still a chance she
\ncould be used against the Kal-El of that world."<\/p>\n
"Assuming you could find this sometimes dead time
\ntraveler?"<\/p>\n
Clark nodded. "And assuming he was willing to help.
\nHe hasn’t shown up yet. I don’t know what that means, except that Utopia isn’t
\nthreatened."<\/p>\n
"Utopia?"<\/p>\n
Clark nodded. "According to Wells, my descendants,
\nLois’s and mine, will found a Utopian society centered in Metropolis. No
\npoverty, no crime, the whole nine yards. Wells intervenes, or tries to, when he
\nsees that future in jeopardy. He’s very invested in that future."<\/p>\n
"And since nothing has happened yet to endanger your
\nchildren, there is no threat to the future Wells is protecting," Kal-El
\nreasoned. "Obviously a second Superman and Lois doesn’t have an
\neffect."<\/p>\n
"Or something will get you out of here before you do
\neffect it," Clark said. Again he turned back to the hologram. "What
\nis known concerning inter-dimensional travel or inter-dimensional rifts?"<\/p>\n
"Please insert the eighth memory module into the
\nreader."<\/p>\n
Clark looked through the blocks on the console until he
\nfound one with the proper Kryptonian number engraved on it. He placed the
\nmodule into the square hole beside the navigation globe. The hologram appeared to change, it’s
\nexpression growing more solemn.<\/p>\n
"Kryptonian law forbids research into that
\narea," the hologram began. "Kryptonian theory is that transferring
\nmatter from one dimension to another would alter the static state of each
\nuniverse affected, potentially destroying both universes. Another theory has
\nthat a transfer of an individual would initiate a chain-reaction throughout all
\nrelated realities, shifting each counterpart into an adjacent reality. The
\nenergy requirements of this shift also has the potential of destroying one or
\nmore realities."<\/p>\n
"I know from experimental evidence and personal
\nexperience that both of these theories are incorrect," Clark said.
\n"It is possible to transfer one or more individuals from one time-line to
\nanother without transferring out their counterparts. Given that fact, there is
\nno evidence to support the theory of a chain-reaction throughout all related
\nrealities and maintaining the static balance between realities appears to
\nsimply require that the mass be balanced, not the individuals."<\/p>\n
Clark continued: "Is there any evidence to support a
\nnatural phenomenon being able to create a dimensional transfer or dimensional
\nrift?"<\/p>\n
"There is a phenomenon known to the Dakaari as the
\nNexus. They believe it to be a primordial super-string. Should the Nexus
\nphenomenon in one reality intersect the Nexus in another, it would be
\ntheoretically possible to use the phenomenon to transfer from one time-line to
\nanother, or to travel backwards in time within a time-line. However, the
\ngravitational anomalies created by the approach of the Nexus can and has
\ndestroyed entire star systems, including the Dakaari home world."<\/p>\n
"Any other possibilities?" Clark asked.<\/p>\n
"There is also a phenomenon known as a ‘tempocane’,
\na highly localized magnetic storm that is theorized to be able to create a
\nconduit between dimensions or different points on a single time-line. According
\nto the scientists of Aldierra, a tempocane nearly always returns to it’s
\ninitial site of manifestation within seventy-two hours and creates a reverse
\neffect, returning objects transferred back to it’s original space, if not
\ntime."<\/p>\n
"Can you describe the physical manifestation of a
\ntempocane?" Kal-El asked.<\/p>\n
"It is reported that a tempocane within an
\natmosphere appears as a severe cyclonic atmospheric disturbance that is frequently
\nmistaken for a severe thunderstorm, except for the magnetic disturbances within
\nthe storm’s epicenter. It is also reported that the static discharges appear to
\nbe shifted to the blue end of the spectrum. Green is the most commonly reported
\ncolor," the hologram reported.<\/p>\n
"A severe storm with green lightning," Kal-El
\nmurmured. "That’s what it was. That’s what brought Lois and me here. And
\nit may reappear sometime in the next sixty-six hours or so, so we can go back
\nhome." Kal-El suddenly looked worried. "What if it’s already come and
\ngone? I’m on a different part of the planet altogether from where it dumped us.
\nAnd so is Lois."<\/p>\n
"According to Aldierran science, a tempocane
\nmagnetically marks the matter that was initially transported and is attracted
\nto that marked matter upon its reappearance," the hologram explained.
\n"However, it is postulated that the two ends of the tempocane can shift,
\ncausing the transported matter to be left in a different reality than it
\noriginally came from, unless a ‘homing beacon’ is established to guide that
\nmatter into its home time-line."<\/p>\n
"Translation," Clark said. "It’s going to
\ncome after you, but there’s no guarantee it’ll take you back to where you
\nbelong."<\/p>\n
Something else crossed Clark’s mind, something he’d
\nwondered about for the past eleven years, ever since he’d found out about the
\nexistence of New Krypton. "Father, why was I sent to –Earth I–nstead of
\nNew Krypton?"<\/p>\n
The hologram’s expression turned sad. "It was to
\nsave your life. I became High Lord of the House of El following the
\nassassination of my elder brother, his wife and two sons. It was not my choice
\nto become High Lord. I much preferred my scientific studies. The assassins were
\nnever found and it was assumed by the Council that the conviction of General
\nZod and his accomplices had put an end to the threat. However I had reason to
\nbelieve that my son and heir, you, was still in danger from Zod’s followers,
\nspecifically members of the House of Et. There were attempts made against both
\nyou and your mother. Lara, Zor, my younger brother, Sen-Ra, Zara’s father, and
\nI decided it was better to send you to a safe haven known only to myself, Lara,
\nSen-Ra and Trey, our seneschal on Halos I. I programmed the navigation module
\nto land in an area known as Kansas, in the proximity of individuals whose
\npsychological makeup was such that they would accept and protect you."<\/p>\n
"Thank you," Clark said. "I’d always
\nwondered how I managed to land so close to the two people most likely to take
\nme in." He turned to Kal-El. "I think we should be getting back
\nbefore Lois has a fit. She hates it when I take off and it’s not an
\nemergency."<\/p>\n
"You want to find a safe place for the memory
\nmodules and the master module," Kal-El reminded him. "You don’t want
\nanyone else to get hold of them."<\/p>\n
"The voice of experience?" Clark wondered.
\nThere was something in the other man’s tone that told him it was more than a
\nsimple suggestion. That Kal-El had experience in this.<\/p>\n
"Let’s just say I’ve had to put better locks on the
\ndoors."<\/p>\n
Clark looked around the crystal structure. "There
\naren’t any doors."<\/p>\n
"Yeah, I know."<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Wanda looked up at the sound of two swooshes at the back
\nof the house. After a few moments the French doors opened and Kal-El and Clark
\nwalked into the living room. Kal-El was back in his gray suit.<\/p>\n
"Figure out something?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
"Something, maybe," Clark said, sitting down on
\nthe sofa next to his wife. He was looking over at Zara with a familiar,
\nspeculative look in his eyes. "I
\nfound another function in the navigation module. Cultural and historical data
\non the Halos I colony, also known as New Krypton. I also looked up property
\nownership and property transfers."<\/p>\n
Zara looked puzzled. "I don’t understand."<\/p>\n
"Zara, Xon isn’t trying to take out the House of El,
\nhe’s trying to usurp control of the entire colony away from the Council of
\nElders even. He’s smarter than Nor. Nor only thought in terms of a military
\ncoup when he couldn’t marry you and rule at your side. Xon is planning on making
\nNor’s granddaughter the heir to the House of El since Lois isn’t a member of
\nKryptonian nobility."<\/p>\n
"I still don’t understand, Clark," Zara said.
\n"I know Xon can use the child against you, to undermine, even take over
\nthe House, but how can he use that to take control of the colony without the
\nsupport of the council?"<\/p>\n
"Lady Zara, according to the colony charter, who
\nowns the real estate the colony is on?" Kal-El asked.<\/p>\n
Zara thought for a long moment, looking at Ching in
\npuzzlement. "I honestly don’t know. I had assumed the Council owned the
\nproperty. Assuming anyone does."<\/p>\n
"But my information says that under Kryptonian law
\nonly noble *individuals* can own real property. Therefore the Council cannot
\nown the colony," Clark said. "And the transfer of properties as large
\nas that requires the approval of the entire council."<\/p>\n
"That would be to prevent a House with a lord in
\nfinancial difficulties from cashing out the House property to the detriment of
\nthe House’s standing. It would also prevent a single lord from suddenly
\naccumulating large amounts of cash, for whatever reason," Ching explained.
\n"What are you getting at, Clark?"<\/p>\n
"Assuming my information is correct, and the council
\nhasn’t made changes to the charter, *I*, as High Lord of El, own the colony on
\nbehalf of the House of El," Clark said. "Xon doesn’t need the
\ncouncil’s approval to take over if he can convince the council beforehand that
\nConza’s baby is mine, however it happened. He bides his time, sends an assassin
\nto finish me off, she inherits with him as regent. Then he can legally take out
\nthe council and the guilds, not to mention the other Houses because he will be
\nthe only real estate owner in the colony. They own *nothing.*"<\/p>\n
"So not only do you need to repudiate the
\nchild," Ching said slowly. "But we need to legitimize your
\nheirs."<\/p>\n
Wanda’s head was beginning to ache. She’d never liked
\npolitical discussions and legal matters, aside from libel and copyright law,
\nleft her cold as well. Libel and copyright weren’t exactly warm and fuzzy
\neither, but they did impact her job so she tried to keep on top of them.<\/p>\n
She looked over at Kal-El. He seemed to be listening
\nintently to the discussion between Clark and the other two Kryptonians. A faint
\nfrown occasionally crossed his face.<\/p>\n
He looked over at her watching him and came to sit beside
\nher. "I am so glad I’m not him," he murmured softly. "Earth
\npolitics is bad enough, but this is straight out of the middle ages."<\/p>\n
"Great Kryptonian political writers: Sun Tzu and
\nMachiavelli," Clark said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
"We both forgot about superhearing," Wanda
\nmuttered back to Kal-El.<\/p>\n
"I am not familiar with those writers, and those are
\nnot Kryptonian names," Zara said.<\/p>\n
Ching was trying to suppress a grin. Obviously Ching
\nrecognized who Clark was talking about. Clark went to one of the bookcases,
\npulled out two slim volumes and handed them to Zara. Wanda didn’t need to see
\nthe titles to know what they were: The Art of War and The Prince.<\/p>\n
"I admit I haven’t come up with a good solution for
\nthe problem of Conza’s daughter, but unless there’s a rule against noble
\nadoption of females, there is a mechanism for solving the legitimacy problem.
\nRemember, I adopted Ching as my brother, raising him to the nobility so you and
\nhe could be together and your children by him could be in line of succession in
\nthe House of Ra," Clark reminded her. "And if I understand correctly,
\nChing was my heir until CJ was born."<\/p>\n
"But Lois is an Earth human," Zara said.
\n"We’re not even the same species. Your children by her are
\nhalf-breeds."<\/p>\n
Wanda glanced at Lois. Her face had gone white. Clark’s
\nexpression was unreadable. Kal-El just looked puzzled. *Something is seriously
\nawry here.*<\/p>\n
"Wait a minute," Wanda interrupted. "I
\nassume we’re using the same definition of species here, right? Genetic
\npopulations that can successfully interbreed in nature are the same
\nspecies?"<\/p>\n
Ching nodded his head. "That is the working
\ndefinition of a species."<\/p>\n
"So, since they have four kids, and I have one by a
\ndifferent Kryptonian," Wanda stated. "And since all the necessary
\nparts are there and working appropriate to their age, we are talking about one
\nspecies here. Different races maybe, but one species."<\/p>\n
"Logically, that is impossible," Zara stated.
\n"We evolved on two different planets."<\/p>\n
"Logic be damned, Zara, look at the evidence,"
\nWanda stated. "Besides, isn’t there a theory that all life started in a
\nsingle place and spread out from there?"<\/p>\n
"You’re thinking *panspermia,*" Kal-El said.
\n"But there is the fact that in *our* reality, Earthers and Kryptonians do
\ncome from the same stock. Kryptonians did not evolve on Krypton, could not have
\nevolved on Krypton. We either emigrated there or were planted there by someone
\nelse. Given that our genetic structure was obviously manipulated so that we
\ncould survive such a harsh environment would indicate the later. I don’t think
\nwhoever did it realized exactly what they’d done, how powerful those minor
\nchanges were. They certainly didn’t expect any of us to come back to Earth."<\/p>\n
"Minor changes?" Zara challenged.<\/p>\n
"The genetic differences between Earthers and
\nKryptonians is so minor that a standard DNA analysis won’t even detect it
\nunless it’s being specifically looked for," Kal-El said. "I know this
\nfor a fact. The key differences are in the mitochondria, and in a special type
\nof cell in the skin that acts as a solar collector and battery. The other
\ndifferences are actually normal genetic variations some of which have been
\nfound in the Earth’s population. We just have more of them together. We don’t
\nhave third molars, we don’t have appendixes, we do create our own vitamin C.
\nBut there are Earthers who have the same variations."<\/p>\n
Zara looked back to Clark. "The council won’t accept
\nit," she protested.<\/p>\n
"They will if you will," Clark pointed out.
\n"Or is the whole ‘Krypton was the most evolved and enlightened society in
\nthe known twenty-eight galaxies’ a bunch of crap, cause what I see here, and
\nwhat I experienced on New Krypton, tells me that Krypton was and is ruled by a
\nbunch of racial and religious bigots. Quite frankly, right now I’m ashamed to
\nadmit I’m even one of you."<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
*This is getting out of hand*, Lois thought to
\nherself. *It’s sounding like
\nThanksgiving with my parents.* "Ching, what happens if we don’t do
\nanything? If Clark doesn’t repudiate the child and we let you and Zara raise
\nher?"<\/p>\n
Clark stared at her, tirade short-circuited. She knew he
\nwas scrambling for an answer and couldn’t find one, but fighting with Zara and
\nChing wasn’t going to solve anything. She looked over at Ching.<\/p>\n
"I doubt we would be allowed to. Xon claims Conza
\nwas Clark’s concubine by right of victor. However, as Conza’s nearest male
\nblood relative on New Krypton he can ask, and would no doubt be granted, the
\nright to act as her child’s guardian, granting him much authority within the
\nHouse of El, since Clark chooses not to live on New Krypton," Ching
\nexplained. "Xon could also theoretically have authority over Earth, since
\nCouncil of Elders officially declared Earth to be territory of the House of El,
\nat Xon’s insistence."<\/p>\n
"They what?" Lois nearly screeched. "Those pompous, asinine, self-centered,
\nidiotic, full-of-themselves jerks! How *dare* they!"<\/p>\n
"They dare because Clark insists on living on Earth
\nand by definition, anywhere the High Lord of a House has permanent residence is
\na part of that House’s territory. Clark annexed Earth by coming back
\nhere," Zara explained. "Besides, we had already established that
\nEarth was being protected by Kal-El and therefore the House of El. The council
\nsimply played into Xon’s hands by making it official."<\/p>\n
"Just annexing the house where we live wasn’t good
\nenough?" Clark asked. Lois could hear the annoyance Clark was trying hard
\nnot to show. *He was trying not to be
\nupset.*<\/p>\n
"They felt they were being magnanimous. Giving you
\nwhat they thought you wanted, dominion of Earth. They don’t understand how you
\ncan choose to be a servant to . . . . They can’t understand why you choose not
\nto rule," Ching said. "Clark, if you don’t like us, don’t like
\nKryptonians, why have you been helping us? You arranged the fostering for Jos.
\nI don’t understand."<\/p>\n
"It’s the same reason Lois and I invite her family
\nover for the holidays every year," Clark said. "We know they probably
\nwon’t show, and if they do, we’ll have a major row about something, and Lois
\nwill end up crying, the kids will be unhappy, and I’ll be praying for a volcano
\nor tornado or earthquake somewhere, anywhere, so I can get away from them for a
\nwhile. We do it because they’re family and we were both raised in a culture
\nthat values family. Like or not, you are family. New Krypton is family and it’s
\nas dysfunctional as they come. Instead of alcoholism, and psychological abuse,
\nmy birth family tends to murder, and megalomania."<\/p>\n
Clark paused to watch Zara and Ching. Lois saw that they
\nlooked confused. *They’re confused?*<\/p>\n
"It’s about family, about kinship," Clark
\ncontinued. "You can love them, you can hate them, be ashamed of them,
\ndespise them, but it still comes down to ties of kinship. When family calls,
\nyou help. Despite the wrongs they’ve done, you care."<\/p>\n
Lois watched Ching’s face as he struggled with the
\nconcept Clark was trying to express. It had been something she’d fought with
\nfor years. *You can love them, hate them, be ashamed of them, despise them, but
\nit still comes down to blood ties. When family calls, you help. Despite
\neverything they’ve done, you care.*<\/p>\n
"The council does not need to approve an adoption,
\nyou know," Ching said. "It’s common practice. It’s simply a mechanism
\nfor bringing new blood into the Houses and ensuring succession when
\ncircumstances warrant, like now."<\/p>\n
"But Lois is from Earth," Zara protested.<\/p>\n
"What does that matter?" Lois demanded. *Like
\nhell Zara is going to get away with this.
\nI thought she was smarter, better than those know-nothing oafs on the
\ncouncil, the ones who demanded Clark’s help and then sent him back to her
\nwithout so much as a by-your-leave when he tried to make changes for the good
\nof his people. Sent him back wounded, physically and psychologically.* "I
\nwould think that if there was anything wrong with my kids, Doctor Klein or
\nsomebody would have mentioned it before now. My children are *not* mules! And I
\nhave it on good authority I will have grandchildren."<\/p>\n
"Zara, please be reasonable," Ching said.
\n"You know how much this means to my brother."<\/p>\n
*Ching understand*s. Lois’s anger abated a little as she
\nwatched Clark’s anger and confusion fade into wonderment. *How long has it been
\nsince Ching and Clark referred to one another as brothers? Too long, I think.*
\nThat he had adopted Ching and brought him into the nobility for Zara’s sake as
\none of his first acts on New Krypton was one of the few things Clark had
\nwillingly shared with her when he first came back. It was something he’d been
\nproud of, keeping his vows to her and helping Zara and Ching get together,
\ndespite what the council had wanted.<\/p>\n
"Besides," Ching continued with a smile.
\n"With the four children in line of succession before me, I am a much
\nlesser target."<\/p>\n
Zara looked at her consort. "We have spent much too
\nmuch time on this sloppy planet. We’re getting soft," she said, glaring at
\nChing. After a moment she sighed. "We will need to make a public
\nannouncement, and of course, there is the paperwork. And there will be the
\nmatter of making the announcement to the Council of Elders, and letting Xon
\nknow that any attempts made against the High Lord and his consort, or their
\nchildren will be met with the full wrath of the Houses of El *and* Ra . . ."
\nShe smiled. "He won’t be allowed to think he can get away with threatening
\nmy consort’s brother, or my sister."<\/p>\n
"Besides, it’ll be fun, annoying the council some
\nmore. We have to maintain the House of El’s well-deserved reputation of being
\ntroublemakers and rabble-rousers" Ching added. "The entertainment
\nguild is still putting out their daily news service on the colony info-net, you
\nknow. The council can’t figure out where they’re uploading from." Ching
\nwas grinning. "Of course, they do have some help."<\/p>\n
"I wasn’t sure the idea would take," Clark
\nadmitted. "It was a tough concept to put across. The people’s right to
\nknow isn’t always well accepted even here. How do you want to make the public
\nannouncement?"<\/p>\n
"I believe your newspaper is involved with an equivalent
\nof out info-net?" Ching asked.<\/p>\n
"We call it the Internet, and yes, the Planet has a
\npresence there," Clark said. "I can place an announcement on the
\nwebsite, in the personals, maybe."<\/p>\n
"We can circumvent any action of the council by
\nstating the actual adoption took place when we were here before CJ was born. I
\ndistinctly recall calling Lois my sister during that visit," Zara said.
\nShe glanced at Ching. "We have definitely been around Earthers too
\nlong."<\/p>\n
"I wouldn’t dream of accusing you of being sloppy
\nand emotional, my lady," Clark said.<\/p>\n
"Is everything okay down here?" Martha asked,
\ncoming down the stairs from the second floor and entering the living room.
\n"It got kind of quiet."<\/p>\n
"It’s okay, Mom," Clark assured her. "I
\nassume you got the kids to bed?"<\/p>\n
"Yes, of course," Martha smiled at him.
\n"And they’ll probably stay asleep so long as you don’t start yelling at
\nZara and Ching again. By the way, Lara thinks Jason is cute."<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
Kal-El stood and walked out to the kitchen. He was
\ngetting restless and needed to move. He couldn’t say exactly why he was
\nrestless, but maybe uncomfortable was a better description. He was
\nuncomfortable with his realization that the Superman of this world really was
\nClark Kent, a human with Kryptonian powers who had a family, and family
\nproblems. Kal-El had spent most of his adult life believing, as a Kryptonian
\nliving on Earth, that he was, for that fact alone, superior. He made life and
\ndeath decisions all the time. So he had decided that Lois hadn’t needed to
\nremember their all-too-short time together, he had decided to leave for six
\nyears without thinking of the consequences to those he’d left behind.<\/p>\n
The coffee carafe was empty, so he quickly looked through
\nthe cabinets for the coffee and started another pot.<\/p>\n
"Are you okay?" Wanda asked. He hadn’t noticed
\nher approach. *I’m getting careless.*`He didn’t bother to look at her, staring
\nout the kitchen window at the river instead.<\/p>\n
"Yeah," Kal-El said. "It’s funny, though.
\nI’ve known all about Krypton since just after high school, but I knew nothing
\nabout Kryptonians except that I was the last one. I’d idealized them, a proud,
\nnoble, doomed people. He’s known about Kryptonians for nearly that long, but
\nknew nothing of the planet they’re from. He thinks I’m a self-centered, selfish
\nfool. And he’s right."<\/p>\n
"Clark? Or would you prefer Charlie or Kal-El?"<\/p>\n
"I not sure. Kal-El is my birth name. Clark isn’t
\nexactly someone I’d like to know. He’s a clumsy, unreliable fool. And the other
\none, Superman, is a fiction," Kal-El admitted. "The real problem is,
\nI really don’t know how to change. Part of me, a big part, says I shouldn’t
\nhave to. Superman shouldn’t care for just one person, shouldn’t be bound by
\nfamily, shouldn’t be bothered by mundane matters."<\/p>\n
"Sounds lonely," Wanda observed.<\/p>\n
"Yeah." He turned to look at her, finally.
\n"Just out of curiosity, are your holidays better than theirs?"<\/p>\n
Wanda shook her head, keeping her voice low. "You’ve
\nmet the General. I’m lucky I don’t commit murder over the holidays, although,
\nhe has been behaving a little better since Jason was born."<\/p>\n
Kal-El did remember Wanda’s parents. Her father, General
\nSam Lane, was an equal opportunity hater. He’d hated anyone he thought
\nLois\/Wanda, or her sister, was interested in. It didn’t matter whether or not
\nthey actually had an interest, the fact *he* thought they did was all that
\nmattered.. He loathed Clark Kent, for various other reasons, not the least of
\nwhich was that Clark disagreed with the General’s politics. He could hardly
\nimagine the General’s reaction to finding out that *he* was Wanda’s son’s
\nnatural father. Wanda’s mother, Elinor, was an alcoholic and had been in and
\nout of treatment centers most of Wanda’s life.<\/p>\n
"I’m sorry," Kal-El said, softly.<\/p>\n
"For what?" Wanda asked. "For my family
\nbeing as screwed up as hers? Comes with the territory. As much as I hate it, I
\nwouldn’t be who I am without them."<\/p>\n
"Your dad’s going to flip when he finds out about
\nJason, about us," Kal-El said. "Assuming you tell him."<\/p>\n
"He already knows you’re Jason’s father," Wanda
\nsaid. "Everybody at the Planet knew the first time they saw him. Perry
\nfigured it was just a matter of time before you showed up again and took
\nresponsibility for your actions. We just didn’t think it would take six
\nyears."<\/p>\n
"I’m sorry."<\/p>\n
"You keep saying that. I know you’re sorry. But
\nsorry isn’t the same as being there when your child takes his first step, or
\nsays his first word, or scrapes his knee, or cries all night because of an
\nearache. Sorry doesn’t mean a lot when you’re simply not there, when you’re not
\nwilling to take the steps to be there for the people who need you."<\/p>\n
"Even when the world needs me more?"<\/p>\n
"Don’t be so full of yourself. The world got along
\nfine for six years without you," Wanda reminded him.<\/p>\n
Clark II<\/p>\n
"We still have one problem left," Clark said to
\nZara. "Conza’s baby. Logically, I know you and Ching are right. But I just
\ncan’t do it. I mean, I’ll go ahead and sign the repudiation documents, but I
\ncan’t let you kill her. She’s probably the only innocent in this whole
\nmess."<\/p>\n
"But we can’t take her back to New Krypton and we
\ncan’t leave her here," Zara reminded him. "I don’t see that there’s
\nanother solution."<\/p>\n
"I do," Wanda announced, coming back from the kitchen.
\n"I can take the baby. Charlie and I are from an alternate time-line. I
\ndoubt Xon, or whatever his name is, will be able to find her. And you can go
\nahead and announce the child died or was fostered somewhere away from Earth. I
\nassume there are other inhabited planets around?"<\/p>\n
"Yes," Ching said. "Humanoids are spread
\nthroughout the galaxy. Many of them seem to be fully human. We try not to have
\nmuch contact with them. We’re not great explorers. We never were and life on
\nNew Krypton is hard enough without letting everyone know where we are and how
\npoor we are."<\/p>\n
"Or how the mighty have fallen?" Clark
\nobserved.<\/p>\n
"That too," Zara said.<\/p>\n
"Wanda, do you know what you’re doing?" Kal-El
\nasked. "She’ll be fully Kryptonian."<\/p>\n
"Do you think I don’t know that?" Wanda
\ndemanded. "My son threw a grand piano across a room and killed a man. My
\nfive-year-old son. Besides, I think it’s a pretty good solution, assuming we
\never get back to where we belong. It’s not like I’m planning to do this alone."<\/p>\n
"According to the memory modules, the storm that
\nbrought you here should return within two-and-a-half days at the outside and
\ntake you out of here. Hopefully back to where you came from," Clark said.
\n"Assuming you two can find some sort of beacon to guide you back to
\nexactly where you came from. There aren’t any guarantees."<\/p>\n
He thought back over the many alternate time-lines he and
\nLois had visited, heard of. He knew there were thousands, millions, of
\npossibilities. "You could wind up almost anywhere. You could end up in a
\ntime-line where humans don’t exist, where Superman doesn’t or can’t exist or he
\ndid exist and things went bad, either he turned to the darkness, or he died or
\nworse. There are worse things than dying, you know."<\/p>\n
"I know," Wanda said. "But I have a son
\nwho needs his mother."<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Wanda couldn’t say what possessed her to make the offer
\nto take the child, except it felt exactly right. She wasn’t surprised that
\nKal-El had objections. Some part of her recognized that for all his power, he
\nwas afraid of commitment. Afraid of being tied down, of having
\nresponsibilities. Not that being the savior of the planet wasn’t a
\nresponsibility, but that didn’t entail the day-in and day-out grind of being
\ntruly committed to a relationship, of being responsible to and for another
\nperson.<\/p>\n
In many ways he was like she had been the day they had
\nmet. Mad Dog Lane had interviews instead of dates and had been unable to tell
\nthe difference. She was a workaholic and smoked too much. She had fallen for Superman
\nbecause he was unobtainable. He belonged to the world. And when she was finally
\nready for a relationship he wasn’t, either as Superman or as Clark Kent.<\/p>\n
Instead, she’d found she was pregnant, without knowing
\nhow, without knowing who.<\/p>\n
"Here is the child," Ching said, handing her
\nthe metal case and a metal card with Kryptonian glyphs inscribed on it.
\n"She is in stasis. When the case is opened with the key, the unit will
\nrevive her."<\/p>\n
"How old is she?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
"Only a few hours," Zara answered. "She is
\nhealthy and is the offspring of Lord Kal-El and the Lady Conza Nor-Et. Our
\nmedics found no unusual genetic predispositions."<\/p>\n
"Wanda, you don’t have to do this," Kal-El
\nreminded her.<\/p>\n
"Yes, we do," Wanda stated firmly. "I’m a
\nmother. I won’t let a child die if I can help it. And you’re Superman, you
\nrescue people. Are you willing to turn your back on an innocent? Do you want to
\nhave Zara and Ching handle it, lie about it, destroy what trust they’ve built
\nup with Clark and his family?"<\/p>\n
He had a grace to look ashamed. "Of course not. But
\nhow do we explain coming back from an investigation that didn’t pan out with a
\nnewborn?"<\/p>\n
Wanda smiled. "I’ll think of something." She
\nturned to Clark. "What do you think she’ll look like?"<\/p>\n
"Based on what I remember of her mother and her
\ngrandparents, she’ll look something like Lara, brown eyes, dark hair, a little
\nexotic, maybe. Why?"<\/p>\n
"Just curious," Wanda said. "Plus, I have
\nan idea."<\/p>\n
"I’m not going to like it, am I?" Kal-El asked.
\nHe was eyeing her warily.<\/p>\n
"If I know my Lois Lanes," Clark said,
\n"you’ll be lucky to live."<\/p>\n
Wanda saw the familiar deer-in-the-headlights look she’d
\nso often seen in Clark’s eyes. It was so odd to see it in the face she now
\nrecognized as Superman’s. "Would it help if I promise not to kill you, and
\nI promise not to tell the world that Superman is a disguise for Clark
\nKent?"<\/p>\n
"Maybe," Kal El admitted. "But I’d still
\nlike to know what you’re planning."<\/p>\n
"Clark," Zara said. "Ching and I have to
\nget back to the ship and we still need to sign the documents."<\/p>\n
"We can do that downstairs. We can also place that
\nad in the Planet," Clark said, leading them back to the basement office.
\nHe beckoned Lois to come with them, leaving Wanda and Kal-El alone in the
\nliving room.<\/p>\n
"I’m in love with you, you know," Wanda began.
\n"At first, I admit, I had a crush on Superman. He was perfect,
\nunobtainable, safe. No strings, no commitments, no next morning recriminations
\nbecause he was too good, too upstanding to do anything that was less than
\nperfectly gentlemanly.<\/p>\n
"Then, I discovered the partner Perry had foisted on
\nme. A tall, good-looking fellow with thick glasses, who so exemplified Midwest
\nvalues as to be unbelievable. He was honest, brilliant, and so terminally shy
\nwe all wondered how he could possibly get any leads or do any interviews
\nbecause he was afraid to even talk for fear of stammering. But he was one of
\nthe few men I’d ever met who could stand up me, not to mention to my father. He
\nwas my friend. Only he disappeared without a word. He never even said
\ngoodbye."<\/p>\n
"I did try, Lois," Kal-El said. "That last
\nday at the Planet. I tried to say goodbye, but you were too preoccupied with
\nthe story you were working on. You never even looked up."<\/p>\n
"I’m sorry," she said, not looking at him.
\n"I was so used to having you around, it never even occurred to me you
\nmight not be there the next day. I was furious as Perry for not stopping you,
\nfor not telling me what you were planning. Everybody in the newsroom thought we’d
\nhad a lover’s spat. That you’d come back in a few days, all puppy dog eyes, and
\nthings would be back to normal. Only you didn’t come back. And that hurt."<\/p>\n
"I didn’t meant to hurt you," he said. "I
\nswear I didn’t."<\/p>\n
"What about us?" she asked. "Is there even
\na chance?"<\/p>\n
"This morning I would have sworn we didn’t," he
\nadmitted. "That the problems we would face were too big, too many. I
\nbelieved my own PR. Superman can’t have any relationships like that."<\/p>\n
"And now?"<\/p>\n
"Lois, I fell
\nin love the you the first time I saw you," he said. "You were
\nbeautiful, intelligent, strong, stubborn, opinionated, brilliant, with an
\nuncanny ability to attract danger. You needed me. And I was too stupid to see
\nthat I needed you even more. Do you think we have a chance?"<\/p>\n
"We won’t know unless we try," Wanda said. She
\nreached up and pulled his head down to her level, kissing him gently.<\/p>\n
"What about Richard?"<\/p>\n
"Richard knows," she told him. "He’s just
\nwaiting for me to decide."<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
Lois watched as Clark double-checked the documents he and
\nshe were to sign. Zara and Ching had managed to transfer the electronic copies
\nof the documents from the transport to Clark’s office computer. *How many
\npeople on Earth have Kryptonese as a printer font? How many people need to
\nactually print anything using it, much less legal documents*<\/p>\n
"You don’t trust us?" Zara asked.<\/p>\n
Clark chuckled, not stopping his reading to look up.
\n"I trust you just fine, milady. But I am a journalist by trade. ‘Trust but
\nverify’." Finally satisfied, he handed both the English and Kryptonian
\nadoption documents to Lois for her to sign.<\/p>\n
Lois scanned the English version. The date on the
\ndocument set it at eleven years before – the day Zara and Ching took Clark away
\nfrom her. She gave Zara a questioning look.<\/p>\n
"For an adoption to take place, we both need to be
\npresent. That was one of the few times we were together in front of
\nwitnesses," Zara explained. "I distinctly recall calling you my
\nsister in front of the people who were attending Superman’s goodbye
\nconference."<\/p>\n
"Lois Sen-Ra?" Lois wondered aloud.<\/p>\n
"Well, Lois isn’t exactly a Kryptonian name, but I
\nhave a feeling it’s going to be. We already have a number of ‘Clark’s and even
\n‘Jerome’s," Ching said with a smile. He turned to Clark, expression more
\nsolemn. "I know that year with us was extraordinarily hard on you, but you
\nhave no idea how many people you affected, how much your presence was felt,
\neven after your return to Earth. And if you should ever consider just visiting,
\nplease know that you, and Lois, would be welcomed with open arms."<\/p>\n
"Thanks, Ching," Clark said. "It’s nice to
\nknow I did some good."<\/p>\n
Lois signed both copies of the adoption papers and handed
\nthem to Zara. Zara signed them with a flourish.<\/p>\n
"Welcome to the House of Ra, sister," Zara said
\nformally then pulled Lois into a hug. "I always wanted a sister."<\/p>\n
Clark took both documents and folded them neatly. He
\npulled out a signet stamp that Lois recalled seeing occasionally, although she
\nknew he usually kept it in the wall safe. It was engraved with the sigil of the
\nHouse of El with an additional glyph Lois remembered meant ‘child’, the meaning
\nof the Kryptonian name ‘Kal’. His name meant child of the stars, or child of
\nhope, depending on the translation.<\/p>\n
She watched as Clark wrapped white silk ribbon around
\neach document, then used his heat vision to soften a stick of old-fashioned red
\nsealing wax. He sealed both papers with the sealing wax, imprinting the stamp
\ninto the warm wax. "I’ll take our copies to Constance for
\nsafe-keeping," Clark said when he was done.<\/p>\n
The second set of documents only required Clark’s
\nsignature to repudiate, to deny, Conza Nor-Et’s daughter as a member of the
\nHouse of El. Again, Clark sealed the documents, handing the Kryptonian copy to
\nZara. These documents she and Ching signed on the outside, above the seal, as
\nwitnesses.<\/p>\n
"One last document," Ching announced, placing
\ntwo more sheets in front of Clark. "I know the two of you are legally
\nmarried on Earth. But also you know that under New Krypton law that wasn’t a
\nlegal joining. This will take care of that."<\/p>\n
"A marriage license?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
"Not quite," Zara said. "It’s the same
\narrangement Ching and I have. Kal-El and I are bound by law in a birth contract
\nmarriage. We cannot break that contract. However, our law does allow for
\nsecondary ‘marriages’ if the contract partners are unwilling or unable to
\nfulfill the more intimate requirements of the contract marriage."<\/p>\n
"You make it sound so clinical," Lois
\ncommented.<\/p>\n
"Just realistic," Zara corrected. "Clark
\nand I are not the first birth marriage partners who discovered we had other
\nwishes, other desires, and we won’t be the last. This document legitimizes your
\nrelationship with Clark, even though, legally it does make you a bound
\nconcubine rather than a wife. It also ensures that your children are properly
\nlegitimized so they are in line of succession to the House of El."<\/p>\n
"Don’t feel bad, Lois. Legally, I’m a bound
\nconcubine as well," Ching said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
Clark once again checked both documents, signed at the
\nappropriate places and handed them to Lois. Lois signed her new Kryptonian name
\nin the proper places, and again Clark sealed the documents. Zara and Ching
\nsigned the outside as witnesses on both documents.<\/p>\n
"Hopefully the council won’t have any problems with
\nthese," Clark said.<\/p>\n
"Zara can be very persuasive when she needs to be,
\nas you well know, brother," Ching reminded him. "We need to get back
\nto the ship. Even with the new star drive it takes several days to get
\nback."<\/p>\n
Lois led the way back to the main floor. She noticed
\nKal-El and Wanda seated on the sofa, and based on how quickly Kal-El moved away
\nfrom Wanda, she suspected they’d been necking.<\/p>\n
"I gather you’ve managed to resolve some of your
\nissues?" Lois asked with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
"We’re working on it." Wanda grinned. "Are
\nall Kryptonian men such great kissers?"<\/p>\n
"Mine is." Lois laughed. "Why do you think
\nI married him?"<\/p>\n
Clark grinned at his wife, then turned to Zara and Ching.
\n"Safe journey, brother, milady." This time it was Clark who pulled
\nZara into a hug. "We’ll keep you posted on how Jason is doing. And keep me
\nposted on what’s happening with Xon, okay?"<\/p>\n
"Of course, Clark," Zara promised. With that,
\nthey were gone.<\/p>\n
Lois looked over at the dining table with its now nearly
\nempty plates of snacks. "Tomorrow, I’ll clean it up tomorrow," she
\npromised.<\/p>\n
"I’ll take care of it later," Clark promised.
\n"It’s time you went to bed. I’ll be back in a little while."<\/p>\n
She smiled and gave him a kiss. "Go do your patrol.
\nI’m pretty sure your mom’s up in the guest room, so I guess these two will be
\nsacked out in the living room tonight."<\/p>\n
"Actually, I wouldn’t mind going on patrol,"
\nKal-El said. "It would seem *normal* after everything that’s happened
\ntoday."<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
The sky was clear, the stars bright hard diamond points
\nabove the city. Clark had assigned Kal-El the north portion of the city so he
\ncould stay close to the house in the event the tempocane returned sooner than
\nexpected. Clark covered the warehouse district and downtown. It was a
\nsurprisingly quiet night. A couple car alarms going off for no apparent reason,
\ntwo convenience store robberies, a couple fender-benders.<\/p>\n
After a another circuit of New Troy Island, Clark came to
\nrest on the top of the Daily Planet building, his usual roost. After a few
\nmoments, Kal-El joined him.<\/p>\n
"Your city’s only a little different from
\nmine," Kal-El said. "I love
\nMetropolis. Ever since I got off the bus from Smallville, I’ve loved the busyness,
\nthe people, the energy."<\/p>\n
"Having Lois there doesn’t hurt," Clark
\ncommented with a grin.<\/p>\n
Kal-El’s expression became more serious. "What
\nhappens if we can’t get back?"<\/p>\n
"Well, I guess we’ll have a second Superman on this
\nEarth," Clark said. "I’m sure I can get the two of you new
\nidentities. It helps to have friends in low places."<\/p>\n
"I meant, the AI mentioned needing a beacon to find
\nthe proper plane," Kal-El said. "But I have no idea what it
\nmeant."<\/p>\n
"I would guess that a telepathic link with people
\nyou know who belong to your home plane would work," Clark said.<\/p>\n
"But I’m not telepathic," Kal-El protested.<\/p>\n
*’Really?’* Clark thought at him. He watched Kal-El’s
\neyes widen in surprise. *’I can show you.’*<\/p>\n
"Okay," Kal-El said aloud.<\/p>\n
Clark touched his face, placing fingers on his temples.
\n*’Here.’* Clark pointed out mental pathways, neural nodes that weren’t normally
\nused.<\/p>\n
*’I see.’*<\/p>\n
*’Clark, we’ve just gotten word that one of Xon’s men may
\nbe on Earth with an assassin,’ * Zara’s mental voice rang out in Kal-El’s mind
\nas well.<\/p>\n
Clark swore to himself.<\/p>\n
"That was Zara, wasn’t it?" Kal-El asked. Clark nodded. "Who or what is this
\nassassin?"<\/p>\n
"A nightmare," Clark replied. "We need to
\nget back to the house."<\/p>\n
–Clark II–<\/p>\n
A year on New Krypton had strengthened Clark’s natural
\ntelepathic abilities, although his strongest link was still to his wife. That
\nlink had existed even before discovering Kryptonians were telepathic. He gently
\ntouched Kal-El’s face near his left temple. Lois had once commented the gesture
\nlooked like a Vulcan mind-meld. But then, she had also expressed the opinion
\nthat Gene Roddenberry probably knew some Kryptonians.<\/p>\n
Finding the telepathic links and strengthening them was
\neasier than he’d thought it was going to be.<\/p>\n
Then: *’Clark, we’ve just gotten word that one of Xon’s
\nmen may be on Earth with an Andelon assassin,’* Zara’s mental voice sounded.<\/p>\n
Clark swore to himself. He certainly hadn’t expected Xon
\nto move so quickly.<\/p>\n
"That was Zara, wasn’t it?" Kal-El asked. Clark nodded. They’d been linked when Zara
\nmade contact. "Who or what is a Tez assassin?"<\/p>\n
"A nightmare," Clark replied. "We need to
\nget back to the house." Xon’s man would be after the kids, and maybe Lois.
\nHe hoped she remembered there were kryptonite bullets in the office safe, and a
\npolice revolver locked in his desk. He launched himself into the air and was
\nhalfway across the city before Kal-El responded.<\/p>\n
"You don’t sound too surprised," Kal-El
\nobserved, catching up with him.<\/p>\n
"Annoyed, maybe, but not surprised," Clark
\nsaid. "I had a hunch Xon was already on the move. I’ve fought an Andelon
\nbefore. They’re tough. I was very lucky to survive."<\/p>\n
"But, you’re Superman."<\/p>\n
"Your point?" Clark landed softly on the.
\n"An Andelon assassin doesn’t need super powers. It uses your own powers
\nagainst you. It adapts unbelievably fast. It can also disguise itself as
\nanyone. And I do mean *anyone.*"<\/p>\n
"So, how do you tell the difference?" Kal-El
\nasked.<\/p>\n
"Smell, and mind feel," Clark said.<\/p>\n
"And Xon’s man?"<\/p>\n
"I’m sure he’ll identify himself."<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Wanda woke with a start, finding herself on the sofa, an
\nafghan wrapped around her. She looked around to see what had woken her. Kal-El
\nhadn’t returned yet, or if he had, he wasn’t where she could see him.<\/p>\n
A dark figure separated itself from the shadows. It
\nwasn’t human. "Where is Kal-El?" the figure whispered.<\/p>\n
"I don’t know," Wanda said. He was scaring her.
\nHis eyes glowed in the darkness.<\/p>\n
"His death was promised to me," the figure said
\nwith a hissing voice. "But do not be concerned. You will survive to mourn
\nhim. There must be mourners. A death is not complete without those who
\nmourn."<\/p>\n
A motion outside the house caught her attention and the
\nfigure turned its head to see what she was looking at.<\/p>\n
Clark and Kal-El were back, both still in their blue and
\nred suits. Kal-El took a step toward the French doors, but Clark laid a hand on
\nhis arm to stop him.<\/p>\n
"What do you want here?" Clark demanded,
\nlooking at the creature standing in *his* living room.<\/p>\n
"The death of Kal-El, of course," the creature
\nsaid. He looked at both men standing on the patio and Wanda could tell the
\ncreature was confused.<\/p>\n
"I’d rather you didn’t," Clark responded.
\n"In fact, I’d rather you just leave and go tell your master to bugger
\noff."<\/p>\n
"Such a charming way with words," another voice
\nsaid from the darkness. "Lord Kal-El, always playing with words like a
\nguildsman." The last word was spoken with venom. "But then, the House
\nof El always favored the guilds, the under-classes, never their own kind."<\/p>\n
"It’s nice to know I’m in good company," said
\nClark. "Are you here to watch the assassin take me out, or are you going
\nto do the honors yourself?"<\/p>\n
"I would not sully my hands with your blood,"
\nthe voice said.<\/p>\n
"But you would sully them with the blood of women
\nand children?" There was a hardness in Clark’s expression and tone that
\nWanda wondered at. Her Kal-El had never sounded so cold, even when talking
\nabout Lex Luthor and his crimes. She saw Kal-El watching Clark, as if waiting
\nfor a cue.<\/p>\n
She saw Clark nod every so slightly and Kal-El
\ndisappeared. Literally. She speculated that he was simply moving faster than
\nthe human eye could see. She hoped the man still hiding in the shadows wasn’t
\nKryptonian. She hoped he hadn’t seen Kal-El moving.<\/p>\n
There was a whisper in her mind. ‘Keep him distracted.’
\nShe didn’t have to ask who was being referred to.<\/p>\n
"When Lord Xon told me of your arrogance, I didn’t
\nbelieve it," the voice said. "And now I find you’ve recruited another
\nfool to your cause."<\/p>\n
"I wasn’t aware that Xon had been made Lord of the
\nHouse of Et," Wanda said. She moved slowly to the lamp on the table beside
\nthe sofa she’d been sleeping on.<\/p>\n
"You must be the concubine," the voice said.
\n"You are younger than I had been told. But that will make my taking you
\naway from him so much better."<\/p>\n
"Don’t bet on it, buster," Wanda muttered to
\nherself.<\/p>\n
The assassin headed outside. He left the doors open – the
\nSeptember chill in the air didn’t seen to affect him.<\/p>\n
He launched himself at Clark.<\/p>\n
It was now hard for her to think of him as just Superman.
\nHe was Clark Kent, editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, Lois Lane’s husband.
\nSuperman was just another job. She tried to stay calm as she watched the fight
\noutside.<\/p>\n
Clark side-stepped, allowing the alien to land on the
\npatio deck. The alien came at him again, this time with a drawn dagger. The
\nblade glowed green in the darkness.<\/p>\n
Again, Clark slipped away from the assassin’s grasp, but
\nthe dagger caught his sleeve, slashing open the fabric. It was hard to see in
\nthe darkness, but she thought she saw Clark grimace in pain as he danced away
\nfrom the assassin.<\/p>\n
"I’m told you are a wizard," the assassin
\ngrated, coming after Clark once again. This time Clark blocked the attack with
\none arm, wrenching the dagger from the assassin’s hand and throwing it into the
\nriver beyond. The assassin slashed at him with his claws, tearing more of the
\nsuit.<\/p>\n
Three shots rang out, one on the deck and two in the
\nhouse.<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
Lois had sensed, rather than heard her husband’s warning
\nthat there was an Andalon assassin on the loose. She quietly got up from the
\nbed and slipped on her robe.<\/p>\n
There were voices downstairs. One was a sibilant hissing
\nthat she recognized from eleven years before – Tez, only Tez was dead so this
\nhad to be another assassin from the same planet. Why couldn’t they just leave
\nher family alone?<\/p>\n
"His death was promised to me," the hissing
\nvoice said. "But do not be concerned. You will survive to mourn him. There
\nmust be mourners. A death is not complete without those who mourn."<\/p>\n
He had to be talking to Wanda. Did they think she was
\nClark’s wife, or was it Kal-El who was going to do battle this night?<\/p>\n
The answer to that question came as Kal-El’s voice
\nsounded in her mind. ‘Is there a safe place for the children?’<\/p>\n
She covered her surprise and thought back at him, giving
\ndirections to Richard and Penny’s house. He was gone from her mind.<\/p>\n
She made her way downstairs, taking care to not step on
\nthe squeaky tread. Turned the corner for the basement. She kept tight rein on
\nher thoughts. When she and Clark had discovered, after he came back from New
\nKrypton, that Kryptonian telepathy extended to Earth humans as well, they had
\npracticed shielding their thoughts. The link between them was a strong one and
\nthey had found they were prone to distracting one another with the strength of
\ntheir link. Although it did take love-making to a whole new level.<\/p>\n
The basement. She knew about the gun in Clark’s desk and
\nthe kryptonite ammunition in the safe. As much as Clark hated guns, it was one
\nof the concessions he’d made for their safety. They had both taken gun safety
\ntraining from the MPD police trainer, and as soon as CJ was old enough, he
\nwould go through training as well. Black powder rifles in scouts just wasn’t
\nthe same. Clark had proven to be a competent shooter. Lois had a standing offer
\nfrom the MPD to come in as a SWAT team marksman. She assumed it was a joke.<\/p>\n
She found the gun and loaded it with the glowing green
\nbullets they kept in a lead lined box. If she was lucky, she could get at least
\none shot off before the other man, the one she assumed was Xon’s agent, knew
\nshe was there. She hoped he hadn’t been on Earth long enough for his powers to
\ncome in.<\/p>\n
She climbed the stairs back to the main floor and peeked
\naround the corner. The assassin was on the patio with Clark. So far, Clark was
\nholding his own, but she knew the Andalon was learning, making itself stronger,
\nmore in tune with Clark’s fighting style. She didn’t dare give into the despair
\nshe felt at seeing the assassin ripping into Clark’s suit.<\/p>\n
Lois spotted the man standing in the shadows. He was
\nwearing a Kryptonian-style black body suit. He started moving toward Wanda at a
\nmeasured pace. Wanda stepped back, reaching over and turning on the lamp beside
\nthe sofa. He had his back to her, but she waited for a clearer shot. He turned
\nas if hearing something and she fired just as she had been taught by MPD arms instructor.
\n*Shoot to stop. Shoot to kill. No doubts, no mercy.*<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
Lois’s directions to Richard and Penny’s house were clear
\nand precise. *She’s seen the house from the air*, he realized. He hoped the
\ncouple was still awake. He didn’t want to have to waste time rousing them.<\/p>\n
He had picked the two boys up first, not from any
\nchauvinism, but because their room had an open window. He flew them to the
\nWhite’s house, hovering outside the master bedroom window as he tapped on it.
\nRichard, at least, was still awake and unlocked the window.<\/p>\n
"Superman, what’s going on?" the reporter asked
\nas Kal-El handed him the two boys.<\/p>\n
"It’s complicated," Kal-El said. He had no idea
\nhow he was going to explain what was going on at the Kent house. "One of
\nthe New Kryptonian factions sent an assassin after your Superman. And he’s over
\nat he Kent’s. I’ll be right back with the other two kids."<\/p>\n
He didn’t wait for a reply, speeding back to the Kent’s
\nfor the two girls. Martha Michaela was sleeping in her carrier. Lara was awake
\nand waiting for him with a solemn expression one her face.<\/p>\n
"The bad man wants to hurt Daddy," she said
\nquietly.<\/p>\n
"Well, I’m going to make sure the bad man doesn’t
\nhurt you, or your brothers, or the baby, then I’ll be back to help your Daddy,
\nokay?"<\/p>\n
She seemed to accept his statement, cuddling against him
\nas they flew to the White’s house.<\/p>\n
Richard was waiting at the window to take the children,
\nhanding them over to Penny.<\/p>\n
"Does Clark need help?" Richard asked. He’d
\npulled a pair of jeans on over his sleep shorts and was pulling a t-shirt over
\nhis head.<\/p>\n
"Do you have a gun and Kryptonite bullets?"<\/p>\n
"As a matter of fact, I do. Right here,"
\nRichard said, picking up a lead-lined bag large enough to hold a handgun.
\n"And before you ask, I have a permit. The chief has a certain paranoid
\nstreak where it comes to Kryptonians."<\/p>\n
"Not Superman," Kal-El protested.<\/p>\n
"No, all the rest of them," Richard said.
\n"So I suggest you stay on his good side."<\/p>\n
It took only a few seconds to get back to the Kent house
\nwith Richard. They set down under cover of the trees near the fence.<\/p>\n
Superman’s suit had rips across the chest and Kal-El saw
\nblood seeping from a gash on Clark’s arm. The assassin kept coming at him,
\nhands clawed, and Clark kept evading him, using as little of his powers as
\npossible.<\/p>\n
"How good a shot are you?" Kal-El murmured to
\nRichard.<\/p>\n
"Not as good as Lois," Richard admitted.
\n"But good enough, I hope."<\/p>\n
Kal-El backed away as Richard pulled his gun out of the
\nlead-lined bag. Richard aimed and pulled off a single shot. Two other shots
\nrang out from inside the house.<\/p>\n
The assassin faltered for just a moment, and Superman
\ntook advantage of the assassin’s distraction to throw the alien into the river.
\nA simple martial arts throw, but an effective move. The assassin sank like a
\nrock.<\/p>\n
Clark II<\/p>\n
The gash in his arm hurt like hell. But he paid little
\nattention to the pain, concentrating on keeping the assassin occupied, using as
\nfew of his powers as possible to keep the assassin from learning from him. The
\ndagger was poisoned and he was getting tired.<\/p>\n
He noted the arrival of Kal-El and Richard White then
\nturned his attention back to the assassin front of him. On New Krypton, he’d
\ndone some research on the Andelon assassins. Zara had called them animals, but
\nthey weren’t, really. Andelon was a harsh, desert planet. Death was all they
\nknew, all they were trained for. But one thing he had discovered about them –
\nAndelons had dense bones. They could not swim in fresh water.<\/p>\n
He heard the shot, saw the Andelon stagger. It took all
\nhis remaining strength to grab the assassin and throw him into the river.<\/p>\n
The fight was over, with a little help from friends. He
\nwas so tired. He staggered but was kept from falling by a supporting arm –
\nRichard.<\/p>\n
"Let’s get you into the house," Richard said
\nquietly. "Penny’s watching the kids, and I expect she’s called the
\npolice."<\/p>\n
Clark allowed Richard to help him into the living room.
\n"Lois is going to kill me if I bleed on the carpet," he muttered. He
\nlooked over to the black clad body on the floor and blood that was already
\nsoaking into the Berber carpeting. "Then again, hardwood floors might not
\nbe a bad idea. The carpet is definitely getting replaced."<\/p>\n
He heard Richard as if from a far distance. "Lois, I
\nthink he’s delirious."<\/p>\n
"The Andelon had a dagger," Clark murmured.
\n"It’s in the river. It was poisoned."<\/p>\n
He felt hands helping him to the sofa, then the world
\nwent black.<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
The assassin was dead in the river. The unidentified
\nKryptonian was dead on the living room carpet of the Kent house, the police
\nwere at the door and Superman was unconscious on the sofa. That pretty well
\nsummed up the evening for Wanda. It’d be a great story, if anyone would believe
\nit.<\/p>\n
Kal-El had already retrieved the dagger the assassin had
\nused. The edge still glowed green and Kal-El hurriedly handed the dagger to
\nRichard for safe-keeping in the lead-lined bag. Kal-El went to stand beside the
\nFrench doors, arms crossed over his chest in his typical stance, expression
\ncalm and watchful.<\/p>\n
Wanda let the police into the house, standing aside as
\nuniformed officers came in, followed by Inspector Bill Henderson.<\/p>\n
"What happened?" Henderson asked, after
\ninstructing one of his people to call for an aid car. Lois was tending to
\nSuperman.<\/p>\n
Martha had come down stairs and had bandaged the gash on
\nhis arm. Lois was placing a cold compress on his forehead. He was still
\nunconscious.<\/p>\n
Lois looked over at the officers. "We had word from
\nNew Krypton that one of the rebel factions had sent assassins to take out
\nSuperman. The assassins came here looking for him," Lois explained.
\n"One of them hurt Superman, kryptonite and some sort of poison on a dagger
\nlooks like. Then we found *him* in the house." She nodded to the body on
\nthe floor.<\/p>\n
"He’s New Kryptonian?" the female officer
\nasked. Her name tag identified her as V. Adams.<\/p>\n
Lois nodded. "He was threatening me and the kids. I
\nshot him. I do have a permit."<\/p>\n
"You shot and killed a New Kryptonian," Officer
\nAdams observed. "I thought they were invulnerable."<\/p>\n
"Not to Kryptonite," Lois explained. "My
\nhusband represents Superman as the consul general of New Krypton. We have taken
\ncertain precautions against the arrival of ‘unfriendlies’ from there."<\/p>\n
Adams looked to Henderson for guidance. The older man
\nlooked to Lois. "Lois, since this house is technically part of New
\nKrypton, it really isn’t in our jurisdiction. What do you and Clark want us to
\ndo?" Henderson asked.<\/p>\n
"Could you get the body out of here?" Lois
\nasked. "I’m sure the medical examiner would love to have another crack at
\na New Kryptonian corpse." She said it lightly, but Wanda could see the
\nstrain in her face.<\/p>\n
"Where is Mister Kent, by the way?" Officer
\nAdams asked.<\/p>\n
Henderson answered. "Oh, he’ll show up. Don’t
\nworry."<\/p>\n
Lois gave him a grateful smile.<\/p>\n
*Henderson knows,* Wanda thought to herself. *Does our
\nversion know? Does Kal-El know if he does?*<\/p>\n
The aid car finally arrived. Wanda ushered the two
\nemergency medical technicians into the living room, to where Superman was
\nlying, unmoving on the sofa. She noted how carefully they moved him from the
\nsofa to the gurney, as if they were afraid of hurting the Man of Steel. Despite
\ntheir efforts, he gasped in pain. "Sorry, Superman," one of the
\ntechnicians murmured as he secured the safety straps on the gurney.<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
It wasn’t the first time Lois had ridden in an aid car
\nwhile they took Superman to Metropolis General. And she hated the feeling even
\nmore now than she had the first time. The feeling of helplessness, when all
\nthere was left was hope and prayers. It had been a long time since he’d been
\nexposed to kryptonite and even then he hadn’t fallen unconscious.<\/p>\n
He was so pale and his hands were cold when they put the
\nstretcher into the van. She had to sit in front, with the driver. There wasn’t
\nroom in the back for her. It wouldn’t look right, in any case. Publicly, she
\nwas married to Clark Kent, not Superman. Superman was married to the Lady Zara
\nof New Krypton. *Oh, if they only knew how complicated it really was.*<\/p>\n
Doctor Klein would be waiting for them. She had called
\nhim before the aid car left the house, rousing him from bed.<\/p>\n
Clark was starting to gasp for breath, never a good sign.
\nThe technician tending to him placed an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
\n*Superman on oxygen. He hates that. He hates that feeling of helplessness. Dear
\nGod let him be all right.*<\/p>\n
Bernie Klein was waiting in the emergency room when the
\naid car rolled in. He trotted beside the gurney as they wheeled their patient
\ninto the waiting examination room. "What happened?" he asked Lois.<\/p>\n
"An assassin had a poisoned knife. Kryptonite and
\nsomething else," she explained.<\/p>\n
"He started having trouble breathing about ten
\nminutes ago," the EMT said.<\/p>\n
Clark’s breathing had gone from bad to worse even as the
\nemergency room team transferred him from the gurney to the examining table. One
\nof the technicians pushed a thick black hose-like tube down his throat and set
\nup the respirator. The rest of the team was already starting their protocols.
\nDetermine current condition, check for other injuries, start IVs, take samples.
\nThe suit was cut off his body, put in a bag for later examination.<\/p>\n
The lighting had already been shifted to a redder light
\nspectrum. After fourteen years of having Superman in Metropolis, the largest,
\nmost modern hospital in the region was actually prepared to treat an injured
\nKryptonian.<\/p>\n
Klein, a medical researcher at Star Labs, had hospital
\nprivileges for only a handful of patients: Superman, and the Kent family. Lois
\nknew that Klein had told the hospital administrators that Clark’s year on New
\nKrypton with Superman had altered his physiology to closer to Kryptonian than
\nexpected. He’d also dropped hints that Kryptonians had visited Earth before and
\nleft offspring who’d bred into the population. According to this theory, there
\nwas the possibility of humans with minor Kryptonian traits, like fast healing
\nand an ‘allergy’ to kryptonite, being part of the general population. It was a
\nbrilliant ruse.<\/p>\n
"Okay," Klein said. "We’re under the Red
\nSun protocol. No one is allowed in here unless expressly allowed by myself, or
\nMrs. Kent here. There will be a security guard outside this door at all
\ntimes." He turned to the EMT still standing there. "Oh, and thank
\nyou, you can go. But, please keep this confidential. We don’t want bad guys to
\nfind out what’s happening."<\/p>\n
"Is he going to be okay?" the technician asked.<\/p>\n
"I don’t know yet," Klein admitted. "First
\nwe have to figure out what’s wrong with him."<\/p>\n
Lois stood in the corner, watching, waiting. The medical
\npersonnel had put her out of their minds. *How many times had she stood like
\nthis? Not that many, really. Most wives would never experience this even once.
\nBut then, she wasn’t most wives.* Clark was Kryptonian, immune to Earth
\ndiseases, except when depowered by kryptonite, or under the effects of a red
\nsun like Krypton’s had been.<\/p>\n
"Heart rate 55, BP dropping, 80 over 60," one
\nof the nurses announced. She turned Clark’s head to one side and Lois could see
\nbright red blood pouring from his nose. The fresh bandage on his arm had turned
\ncrimson.<\/p>\n
He was bleeding to death before her eyes. *Dear God, help him.*<\/p>\n
Klein barked out instructions and activity in the room
\nbecame frenetic. She watched as Kenyon started more I.V.s, pouring fluid into
\nClark’s veins. An orderly brought in bags of blood, and more tubes went into
\nClark’s body. Klein had talked Clark into keeping a supply of his blood in
\nstorage at the hospital some years ago. Lois wasn’t sure how much blood they’d
\nset aside, but there was so much blood on the floor now.<\/p>\n
The phone rang and one of the nurses answered. After a
\nmoment: "The lab says the main toxin looks like a Warfarin derivative, but
\nthere are other things they haven’t IDed yet."<\/p>\n
"That gives us something to work with," Klein
\nsaid. "Mephyton, 50 milligrams, slow I.V., 1 milligram per minute, no
\nmore, so keep an eye on it." He
\nturned to Lois. "It may take a while. Maybe you want get some coffee or
\nsomething."<\/p>\n
Lois managed a smile at the scientist\/physician. He
\ndidn’t have any other patients and his bedside manner frequently left something
\nto be desired, but Klein’s social skills had improved somewhat over the past
\nfourteen years. "Thanks, but I’ll stay," she said, hugging her coat
\naround herself.<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
Calling this a long day and night was putting it mildly.<\/p>\n
Martha and Wanda were trying to get the blood off the
\nleather sofa. Kal-El flew Richard back to his home, back to Penny who was
\nwatching the Kent children.<\/p>\n
"What happened?" Penny asked, obviously seeing
\nthe stricken look on her husband’s face.<\/p>\n
"An alien assassin attacked Superman. He’s in the
\nhospital," Richard explained. "We don’t know how bad it is."<\/p>\n
Penny covered her mouth with her hand. "How’s
\nLois?"<\/p>\n
"As well as can be expected, considering,"
\nKal-El said. "She went to the hospital with him. I was going to take the
\nkids back to their house. Their grandmother and Wanda can take care of
\nthem."<\/p>\n
"We can watch them," Penny offered. "No
\nneed to wake them. But the baby should be with her mother."<\/p>\n
"I’ll see to it," Kal-El promised.<\/p>\n
Within a few moments he was heading to Metropolis General
\nwith a baby in a carrier, looking for the child’s mother.<\/p>\n
X-ray vision revealed Lois was seated inside the door of
\nan examination room. A guard stood outside the room and a medical team was hard
\nat work over a dark haired man. Kal-El realized with a start that they were
\nworking on Clark. He wasn’t invulnerable. *Kryptonite, or was it the poison?*<\/p>\n
He landed outside the emergency room doors and walked
\ninside. As late as it was, the emergency room was busy.<\/p>\n
An attendant spotted him and the baby. "Superman,
\ncan I help you? What’s wrong with the baby?"<\/p>\n
Kal-El wondered a moment how he was going to explain.
\n"Nothing’s wrong. Her mother came in a while ago, with your
\nSuperman."<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Kent," the attendant said. "They’re
\nin treatment room five, right over here." She led him to the room with the
\nguard at the door.<\/p>\n
The guard opened the door slightly and spoke to Lois.
\n"The other Superman is here, with a baby."<\/p>\n
Lois came out into the hallway. She looked exhausted,
\ndark circles under her eyes.<\/p>\n
"Richard and Penny offered to watch the children but
\nsuggested baby Martha should be with you," Kal-El explained, handing the
\ncarrier over. "I found the assassin’s body in the river and disposed of
\nit. I didn’t think you’d want any surprises on that front."<\/p>\n
"How?" she asked.<\/p>\n
He tapped the side of his face next to one eye and
\nsmiled. The smile faltered as he looked beyond her, into the treatment room.
\n"How is he?"<\/p>\n
She shook her head. "They’ve mostly stopped the
\nbleeding, but they’ve gone through all the blood he had put away here. Doctor
\nKlein is wondering if they can use fresh human blood instead. But we just don’t
\nknow. They can’t get his blood pressure up, even with the anti-shock garment.
\nHe’s never lost this much blood before. They have him hooked up to monitors I
\nnever knew existed."<\/p>\n
"I’m not sure if human blood would be a good match.
\nI mean, Kryptonians are human, but there are differences," Kal-El said.
\n"Maybe . . . I don’t know how close
\na match I am, but we can check, assuming we can even get a sample from
\nme."<\/p>\n
"They should be able to," Lois said. "Depending
\non how you react to red sunlight."<\/p>\n
"Is that how they’re keeping him vulnerable?"<\/p>\n
Lois nodded and led him into the treatment room.
\n"Kryptonite exposure turns off his powers, but it’s too dangerous to use,
\nand it takes a long time for him to recover. Red sun spectrum is safer."
\nShe stepped over to Klein and beckoned him over to Kal-El.<\/p>\n
"Bernie, this is Kal-El. He’s Superman’s counterpart
\nfrom an alternate time-line," Lois explained. "He’s offered to donate
\nblood, assuming it’s a match."<\/p>\n
The doctor looked both surprised and relieved, shaking
\nKal-El’s hand as he looked over his shoulder at one of the nurses. "Manda,
\ncan we get a type and cross-match here? He’s volunteered to donate."<\/p>\n
– – –<\/p>\n
The needle actually stung as the nurse found a vein to
\ntake a blood sample to test.<\/p>\n
"You’ve never had blood drawn, have you?" the
\nnurse asked, seeing the surprised expression on his face as he watched the
\nneedle enter his skin.<\/p>\n
Kal-El shook his head. "I’ve been invulnerable since
\nI was about five or six, except when I’ve gotten exposed to kryptonite. And
\neven then, I recover pretty quickly.<\/p>\n
Manda took the sample and methodically cross-checked it
\nagainst Superman’s blood. "Perfect match," she announced. "We’ll
\nhave to draw the blood in here, though, so we can keep you vulnerable under the
\nred spectrum. It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes"<\/p>\n
She pulled out the chair that sat beside the storage
\ncabinet and moved it closer to the door. Manda set up the equipment next to the
\nchair and motioned for Kal-El to sit down. "We’re just going to do this as
\nif you were fully Earth normal. I’m going to draw one pint and then we’ll see
\nhow you feel. Let me know if you feet faint."<\/p>\n
"I can probably give as much as you need, so long as
\nI can get some unfiltered sunlight in between the donations," Kal-El told
\nher.<\/p>\n
She smiled and patted his hand. "Let’s just follow
\nthe protocols to begin with. Then we’ll see how it goes."<\/p>\n
Lois moved her chair closer to him, holding baby Martha
\nclose to her chest. "Thank you," she said.<\/p>\n
"You’re welcome," Kal-El responded. He watched
\nthe blood in fascination as it went down the plastic tube attached to his arm.<\/p>\n
"You’ve never seen your own blood before?"<\/p>\n
"Not like this," Kal-El admitted. "I never
\ndreamed I’d ever see this." He gave her a puzzled look. "They all
\ntreat him, and me, like we’re pretty much fully human. Like being Kryptonian
\nisn’t much different than being black or Irish. And they don’t think it’s odd
\nthat Clark Kent’s wife is hanging around Superman while he’s in the
\nhospital."<\/p>\n
Lois chuckled. "I was hanging around Superman, in
\nthe hospital and out, long before I got married to Clark. I’ve been his chief
\npress contact since almost the beginning. I named him, remember?"<\/p>\n
"Nobody wonders about it?" He pitched his voice
\nlow, quiet.<\/p>\n
"I’ve been accused of betraying my husband with him,
\nyes," Lois admitted. "But that was when Clark and I were first
\nmarried, and we were able to prove the photos were faked. Since then, people
\npretty much understand that I’m a relative, sort of. I’m Superman’s
\nsister-in-law. Clark went to New Krypton with him. He’s his brother, like Ching
\nis. Superman doesn’t have any blood relatives on Earth, so we’re his family.
\nThe hospital accepts my authority as next-of-kin since Clark isn’t here and
\nthere’s no one else they can call. I admit, it’s a little odd, but we are
\ntalking about Superman, after all."<\/p>\n
"And it works?" Kal-El asked. It seemed too
\nsimple, too obvious.<\/p>\n
Lois considered his question. "Superman appeared in
\nMetropolis as an adult from Krypton, fourteen years ago," Lois said.
\n"No family, no contacts, no connections. He comes here and makes friends,
\nme for one, and Clark for another. He helps people and disappears, probably to
\nanother emergency somewhere else in the world. It’s a big planet."<\/p>\n
Manda came over to check on him. "How are you
\nfeeling?"<\/p>\n
"Okay, so far," Kal-El told her. "I was
\ntelling Mrs. Kent how strange it feels, you and your team treating him, and me,
\nas if we were ‘normal’."<\/p>\n
"Right now, you are," the nurse reminded him.
\n"And since treating humans is all I know, I’ll assume you’re human until
\nthat assumption stops working." She smiled and began undoing the tubing
\nfrom his arm. She put a piece of gauze over the wound and flexed his arm to told
\nthe gauze in place.<\/p>\n
She took the newly filled bag and placed it on the IV
\nstand with a second bag of clear fluid. The man on the treatment table didn’t
\nmove.<\/p>\n
"Let’s keep our fingers crossed," Klein
\nannounced as they began the next blood transfusion.<\/p>\n
–Lois I–<\/p>\n
Wanda and Martha got most of Clark’s blood off the sofa.<\/p>\n
"The carpet’s a lost cause," the older woman
\nmuttered, mostly to herself. "I guess they really should have gone
\nhardwood, like Clark wanted in the first place. A nice light oak, I think. At least
\nwe’d be able to mop it down."<\/p>\n
Wanda found herself smiling, wondering if her Clark’s
\nmother was like this woman. *Probably. The two Supermen were similar enough
\neven though they were completely different.*<\/p>\n
Martha stopped, wiping her eyes and adjusting her
\nglasses. "I just wish I could be there for him. It’s so hard."<\/p>\n
"At least Lois is there," Wanda reminded her.<\/p>\n
"But she’s there as a friend, not as his wife,"
\nMartha said. "Superman doesn’t have a wife or a family. Certainly not a
\nmother who’s worried about him."<\/p>\n
"Lois will call when she has news," Wanda
\npromised.<\/p>\n
"I know she will, honey," Martha said, hugging
\nherself. "I just wish I could be there with her, be there for my
\nbaby."<\/p>\n
"What was he like, as a baby?" Wanda asked.<\/p>\n
"He was the sweetest little thing, fit into my arms
\nlike he was my own. Big brown eyes, always looking at everything. Jonathan and
\nI were so afraid someone would come for him, someone would find out we’d found
\nhim in a spaceship. He was so happy and sweet, hardly ever cried and he loved
\neverybody. When he was about three or so, talking pretty good, he would invite
\nthe grocery clerks home for dinner. He would tell them what I was planning to
\ncook and he’d just invite them over."<\/p>\n
"Did anybody ever take him up on it?"<\/p>\n
Martha laughed. "Heavens no. They all knew he was
\njust being friendly and helpful, even the ones who looked down on Jonathan and
\nme for adopting somebody else’s illegitimate baby, especially one that looked a
\nlittle ‘foreign’."<\/p>\n
Wanda was horrified. "That was horrible. How could
\nthey think that?"<\/p>\n
"It was easy," Martha told her. "When we
\nfound him, we had to come up with an excuse for having a baby, since we
\ncouldn’t have one of our own. We told everybody he was my cousin’s baby, and
\nthat she’d died. We never mentioned a father. So people assumed the worst. I
\nknow people said things and Clark heard, but he never mentioned it. But
\nJonathan and I always made sure he knew how much we loved him and how proud of
\nhim we were. I just wish I could be there for him."<\/p>\n
–Lois II–<\/p>\n
"How are you feeling?" Lois asked Kal-El when
\nhe came back from a flight to the upper atmosphere to regenerate in sunlight.
\nHe’d started to look a little pale before leaving the treatment room after
\ngiving blood.<\/p>\n
"Better," Kal-El responded. "How’s he
\ndoing?"<\/p>\n
"Better," Lois told him. "The bleeding’s
\nstopped, finally."<\/p>\n
Doctor Klein spotted Kal-El and Lois and came over to
\nthem. "I think he’s out of the woods. His blood pressure is coming up and
\nwe’re getting ready to move him into the isolation ICU. As soon as we’re sure
\nthe poison is out of his body, we’ll go to the yellow sun radiation so he can
\nbegin to regenerate."<\/p>\n
"And when will that be?" Kal-El asked.<\/p>\n
"Tomorrow, most likely," Klein told him then
\nturned to Lois. "I’d like to keep him here a couple days at least, to make
\nsure he doesn’t have a relapse."<\/p>\n
"Well, you already know how hard that’ll be, once he
\nstarts feeling better," Lois reminded him. "Since things are looking
\nbetter, I’ll have Kal-El take me home. I’ll come back later, after I’ve gotten
\nsome sleep."<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
"I’ll give you a call if there’re any changes,"
\nKlein promised. "We’ll be keeping him sedated, so you won’t have to worry
\nabout him escaping, at least till later tomorrow."<\/p>\n
"Thanks Bernie," Lois said, giving him a quick
\nkiss on the cheek. He blushed.<\/p>\n
Outside the hospital, Kal-El picked Lois up while Lois
\nheld onto the carrier with baby Martha. It was a quick flight to the Kent
\nhouse, but Lois noticed he was distracted.<\/p>\n
"What do you see?"<\/p>\n
"I’m not sure," he admitted with a frown. He
\nlanded on the deck, setting Lois on her feet. It was nearly dawn.<\/p>\n
Lois opened the deck doors and walked into the living
\nroom. She heard voices in the kitchen and followed the sound. Wanda and Martha
\nwere sitting at the breakfast table having coffee.<\/p>\n
"How is he?" Martha asked.<\/p>\n
"The blade *was* poisoned. They were able to stop
\nthe bleeding, finally," Lois said, making herself a cup of herbal tea. She
\nwanted coffee, but caffeine and Kent babies didn’t mix. It was going to be a
\nlong year until this one was weaned. "They got him stabilized and Doctor
\nKlein was having him transferred to the isolation ICU when we left."<\/p>\n
Lois sat down with the other two women. "I’ve never
\nfelt so helpless, watching them work on him. They were working on Superman, for
\nGod’s sake." The day’s events finally caught up with her and she began to
\ncry.<\/p>\n
Wanda put her arm around the other woman. "Believe
\nit or not, I really do understand. Kal-El, my Superman, fell out of the sky less
\nthan a week ago. There wasn’t anything our doctors could do for him except
\nwait."<\/p>\n
"I’m not sure how long I was unconscious,"
\nKal-El said. He was standing in the kitchen doorway. "I don’t remember
\nfalling."<\/p>\n
"They managed to keep you in the hospital for all of
\nabout twenty-four hours," Wanda told him. "You know, there might be a
\nstory in who is paying for your hospital stay and the equipment they wrecked
\ntrying to work on you."<\/p>\n
Kal-El chuckled. "They should know by now if they
\ncan’t stick a needle in me, they shouldn’t expect anything else to work
\nright."<\/p>\n
His head came up, eyes focused on the outside as he
\nlistened to something in the distance. "I think the storm’s back."<\/p>\n
–Clark I–<\/p>\n
Kal-El saw the sudden worry in Wanda’s face.<\/p>\n
"We need to leave," he said.<\/p>\n
Wanda stood up, giving Martha and Lois hugs. "Thank
\nyou for everything," she said.<\/p>\n
"Good luck," Lois said. "Remember, be
\ngentle with each other."<\/p>\n
Kal-El went to the living room and grabbed the case with
\nthe Kryptonian baby. Wanda opened the
\ndoors to the deck, then allowed Kal-El to take her in his arms. They floated
\nup, away from the house, then headed for the storm.<\/p>\n
‘Lois?’ Kal-El thought at her.<\/p>\n
‘Clark?’ she responded. ‘This telepathy thing is going to
\ntake some getting used to.’<\/p>\n
‘The AI in the new Fortress of Solitude said we needed a
\nbeacon from our home time-frame to guide us back.’<\/p>\n
‘How are we supposed to do that?’<\/p>\n
‘If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to find our Jason,
\nRichard, and Perry. I’m hoping we can identify a time-frame with the proper
\nones, then we can home in on them.’ He knew he didn’t have to tell her how
\nunlikely it would be for them to find exactly the right combination.
\n"Praying might help, too," he added aloud.<\/p>\n
They could see the black clouds in the distance, coming
\nat them. Again, the gale winds whipped at them. Again, the piercing wail, the
\nsound driving through their skulls.<\/p>\n
‘Think about Jason, Lois, think! Find Jason! Find
\nRichard!’ Kal-El thought at he above the storm.<\/p>\n
He cast his mind out into the vastness of universes,
\nsearching for a mental signature he recognized, a mind that knew him and Lois.
\nHe saw Jason and Richard through Lois’s mind as well. A Jason and Richard who
\nwere worried that their Lois hadn’t come home last night. He had a path through
\nthe storm and dove for the center, following the traces of mental energy that
\nwould lead them home. They had their beacon.<\/p>\n
–Earth I–<\/p>\n
The storm vanished as suddenly as it had before. Lois
\nLane and Superman found themselves in Metropolis, in Centennial Park, beside
\nthe crater Superman had created when he fell to Earth only days before. The sun
\nwas already high in the sky.<\/p>\n
"Are we back?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
Superman looked around. "Looks like it. We should
\ncheck in with Perry. He’s probably worried."<\/p>\n
She put out a hand, placing it on his chest. "We’re
\ngoing to have to come up with some excuse for showing up with a newborn.
\nSomething convincing."<\/p>\n
"I know," he admitted. "But I’m all out of
\nideas right now. And I’m not sure why you agreed to take this on."<\/p>\n
"Do you trust me?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
Superman considered the question for a long moment.
\n"Do I have a choice?"<\/p>\n
She didn’t answer his question. "I’m going to the
\nPlanet, give Perry some sort of excuse for you and me being gone. We need to
\nfind a village in South America that was destroyed or evacuated in the past
\nweek or so. Considering the drug wars happening down there, you should be able
\nto find someplace like that."<\/p>\n
"Why South America?"<\/p>\n
"Because that’s where Clark was for the past five
\nyears, isn’t it? Give me about an hour. Then, assuming the baby’s okay, bring
\nher in, as Superman. Then follow my lead."<\/p>\n
"I’m not going to like this, am I?"<\/p>\n
"Probably not. But I can’t think of any thing else,
\ncan you? By the way, what’s your blood type?"<\/p>\n
–Earth II–<\/p>\n
Lois Lane-Kent walked through the front doors of
\nMetropolis General Hospital. She’d managed a few hours sleep.<\/p>\n
She made her way to the tenth floor, to the ICU, to the
\nisolation room where Superman was. Bernie wasn’t there, but one of the ICU
\nnurses recognized her and instructed her on what she needed to do before
\nentering the hospital room. Thorough hand washing, a surgeon’s cap for her
\nhair, a long-sleeved gown over her clothes.<\/p>\n
Clark looked like he was asleep, but Lois suspected he
\nwas still unconscious, whether from his ordeal or from the sedation she knew
\nKlein had ordered she wasn’t sure. She took one limp hand into her own, taking
\ncare not to dislodge any of the myriad tubes and wires that were attached to his
\nbody. He was off the respirator and Lois assumed that was a good sign.<\/p>\n
"Clark, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I miss
\nyou, and I want you back." She kissed him on the forehead. He was warm, a
\nlittle too warm, maybe. His body temperature was normally a little higher than
\nEarth normal, but kryptonite exposure gave him a fever.<\/p>\n
‘Lois,’ Zara’s mental voice sounded in her brain. ‘I
\ncan’t find Clark, is he all right?’<\/p>\n
‘He was injured by the assassin, but we’re hoping he’ll
\nbe okay,’ Lois responded. ‘You might want to let Xon know that his assassin and
\nhis spy lasted about ten minutes on Earth.’ She sent a brief mental image of
\nClark’s battle with the assassin, and Richard’s help in defeating him, then her
\nown actions in taking out the New Kryptonian invader.<\/p>\n
Lois felt a stab of astonishment from Zara. ‘That was Xon
\nhimself. He must have wanted to watch Clark die, to make sure the job was done
\nright. Lois, with Xon dead at the hands of Kal-El’s consort, an Earther no
\nless, I doubt we’ll have any more problems with his people. And I can almost
\nguarantee no other New Kryptonian will ever visit Earth without the express
\npermission of you and Clark.<\/p>\n
‘You did very well, sister,’ Zara thought at her. Lois
\ncould feel the pride in Zara’s thoughts.<\/p>\n
"Lois?" Lois heard Clark’s voice. He sounded
\nweak and hoarse, but she’d never heard anything more beautiful. "What did
\nZara want?"<\/p>\n
"She wanted to be sure you were okay," Lois
\ntold him. "Now, you just relax and let us take care of you. I love you,
\nyou know."<\/p>\n
"Love you," Clark replied with a faint smile.
\n"When can we go home?"<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
–Earth I–<\/p>\n
Lois considered her plan. First, a quick stop at an
\nengraving shop, then to the Planet.<\/p>\n
"And where have you been?" Perry demanded,
\ncatching sight of her as she walked into the bullpen. "And where’s
\nKent?"<\/p>\n
"I left him at the INS office," Lois told him.
\n"But I have a feeling it’s not going to pan out. They’re just not
\nbudging."<\/p>\n
"Budging on what?" Richard asked, stepping over
\nto her. He gave her a quick hug, then stepped back as she stiffened in his
\narms. *It’s over. It’s really over.*<\/p>\n
"I promised Clark not to say anything until we knew
\nfor sure how they were going to jump," Lois said.<\/p>\n
"How who were going to jump?" Perry asked. He
\nguided her to his office, Richard following them.<\/p>\n
"The INS and Homeland Security," she said.
\n"You know that story Clark was working on, about immigration problems.
\nWell, it’s personal, too. And before you say anything Perry, that’s why we
\nstarted working on it together. It was too personal for him."<\/p>\n
There was a commotion outside the office and Lois looked
\nout to see Superman walking through the newsroom carrying a tiny bundle wrapped
\nin a blanket. He looked like he was ready to bolt and was forcing himself to
\nstay firmly on the floor. She hurried out of the office, knowing Perry was on
\nher heels. As she went, she pulled a dirty med-alert necklace from her pocket,
\npalming it. The dirt came from a flowerpot outside the engravers.<\/p>\n
"Did you find the village?" she asked him.<\/p>\n
Superman took a deep breath. "They were all dead.
\nLess than twenty-four hours." He swallowed hard. "I don’t understand
\nhow . . ."<\/p>\n
"There’s nothing you could have done. You can’t be
\nin more than one place at a time," she told him. His expression cleared a
\nlittle, but the wariness remained. She reached out and took the bundle from his
\narms, uncovering it. It was the baby girl. The baby fussed a little, hands
\nflailing, looking for her mother. "And is this . . .?" Lois asked.<\/p>\n
"Yes," Superman answered.<\/p>\n
Lois opened her hand to reveal the necklace, making it
\nlook as though she’d found it in the blanket. She dropped it into Perry’s hand.
\nHis eyes widened as he read the engraving. Lois knew what it read: Clark J.
\nKent, blood type O negative, allergic to penicillin. *Jason’s allergic. It
\nstands to reason his father is too.*<\/p>\n
"Superman, who are this child’s parents?" Perry
\nasked.<\/p>\n
Lois held her breath as she waited for his answer.<\/p>\n
Superman considered his answer for a long moment, as if
\nreluctant to admit the truth. Finally: "Conza Nor-Et and Clark Kent."<\/p>\n
"That’s what you and Clark were working on?"
\nRichard asked Lois.<\/p>\n
Lois nodded. "He got married while he was down
\nthere. But then he found out he couldn’t get her into the U.S. That’s one of
\nthe reasons it took him so long to come back to the States. I asked Superman to
\nhelp. I figured maybe if she was already here, it might help, only . . ."<\/p>\n
"Only she’s dead?" Perry completed for her.<\/p>\n
Lois nodded. *They’re buying it.*<\/p>\n
"Does Clark know?" Parry asked, looking to
\nSuperman.<\/p>\n
"I haven’t seen him," Superman said. "I
\nhave to go."<\/p>\n
"Superman, thank you," Lois said as he headed
\nfor the nearest window. He looked back at her and nodded once before
\ndisappearing.<\/p>\n
"He’s scared to death of you," Perry observed.<\/p>\n
"He’s just a little off kilter," Lois
\nexplained. "This whole thing with Clark and the INS has been hard on him,
\ntoo. They’ve always been pretty close, you know."<\/p>\n
The elevator doors opened and Clark Kent stepped into the
\nelevator lobby, crossing the floor to the newsroom. He noted the sympathetic
\nlooks he was getting, especially from Perry and Richard.<\/p>\n
"No luck?" Lois asked as he came closer.<\/p>\n
Clark shrugged and shook his head.<\/p>\n
"I’m so sorry, Clark, but Conza’s dead," Lois
\ncontinued. "I asked Superman to go down to find her for you, but everyone
\nwas dead, except . . ." She handed him the bundle. "Conza’s
\nbaby." The baby started to fuss a little more. No doubt she was finally
\nhungry.<\/p>\n
Polly stepped forward. "How about I run downstairs
\nand get some formula and stuff?"<\/p>\n
Clark tried to shift the baby onto one arm so he could
\nget out his wallet. Polly shook her head. "Don’t worry about it,
\nClark," she said, taking off toward the elevators.<\/p>\n
"Let’s go to the conference room," Lois
\nsuggested, taking Clark’s elbow. He allowed himself to be led away.
\n"What’s her name?"<\/p>\n
Clark paused, thinking. "Esperanza Ester," he
\nfinally said. "Esperanza Ester Kent."<\/p>\n
Richard watched them go. "She’s decided," he
\ntold his uncle. "Is that post in Paris still open?"<\/p>\n
Perry nodded.<\/p>\n
"I can choose my own assistant, right?"<\/p>\n
"Of course."<\/p>\n
"I’m thinking of asking Penny Landis. I think she’d
\ndo a good job for me and she speaks French better than I do. Plus, we’ve hit it
\noff the last couple days."<\/p>\n
"If that’s what you want, son."<\/p>\n
"I think that’s what’s best, right now,"
\nRichard said, watching Lois and Clark through the windows of the conference
\nroom. Lois was hovering over Clark like a mother hen. "We’ll work
\nsomething out concerning Jason. I know they’ll both be fair about it."<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
"What have I gotten myself into?" Clark asked
\naloud as he sat down on one of the chairs in the conference room. The baby
\nstarted to wail and he held her to his shoulder. "What have I done?"<\/p>\n
"What you always do," Lois answered, noting how
\nnatural he seemed with a baby in his arms. "What you’re best at. Rescuing
\npeople. And I can’t think of anyone who needed rescuing more than this little
\none."<\/p>\n
"I can’t do this by myself," he protested. It
\nfinally sank in as to what was happening. What Lois had planned for him.<\/p>\n
"You won’t have to," she assured him.
\n"We’ll all be here to help."<\/p>\n
"I don’t know if I can do this."<\/p>\n
"Nobody ever said being a parent was easy. But,
\nwelcome to the human race, Clark Kent. This is what being human is all about.
\nFrom today on, every action you take, every decision you make, will take into
\naccount the needs of another person. She will never be far from your
\nthoughts," Lois looked out at the newsroom, to the audience outside the conference
\nroom. "Besides, your marriage-ability quotient just went up about a
\nthousand fold. A widower with a baby."<\/p>\n
"And what about *him*? What about . . .?" He
\nmade the slightest upward motion with one hand.<\/p>\n
"Clark, I promise you, we’ll make this work, after
\nall, they did. And besides, despite the fact that I would like nothing more
\nthan to knock your block off for lying to me, erasing my memory, *and* running
\noff for six years, I’m in love with you. *All of you.*"<\/p>\n
"And I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you.
\nWill it help if I promise never to do those things again?"<\/p>\n
"It won’t hurt."<\/p>\n
–Earth II–<\/p>\n
"It’s so nice to be home," Clark Kent told his
\nwife of ten years.<\/p>\n
"It’s good to have you home," Lois Lane-Kent
\ntold him, giving him a kiss.<\/p>\n
He looked around the house. "Have *they* gone
\nhome?"<\/p>\n
Lois nodded. "Not long after he donated the blood
\nthat probably saved your life."<\/p>\n
"I didn’t get a chance to thank him," Clark
\nsaid. "Do you they’ll make it?"<\/p>\n
Lois nodded. "I think they have a chance, once he
\ngets over the shock of becoming a daddy. Once they figure out that with love,
\nanything is possible."<\/p>\n
"Even the impossible?" he asked with a grin.<\/p>\n
"Especially the impossible."<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Plane Storm Author: Dandello Email: momkat@dandello.net Rated: PG-13 Description: A Superman Returns\/Lois & Clark Xover. When Superman and Lois are thrown into a world where Clark Kent is EnC of the Daily Planet and married for ten years to Lois Lane, things get more than a little strange for both sets of Lois and Clark. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,1],"tags":[824,76],"class_list":["post-184","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-dandello","category-pgfanfic","tag-dandello","tag-plane-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1726,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/184\/revisions\/1726"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfanfic.com\/lnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}