Somewhere else…Doomsday is coming!

Unrelentingly…Doomsday is coming!

Unstoppably…Doomsday is coming!

Unbelievably…Doomsday is coming!

Somewhere on Earth…Doomsday is here!

*

She turned sluggishly around in her bed. It was warm and comfortable like a cocoon that seemed to say to her: stay, don't go. She moved around in circles, trying to find a comfortable position to lie down on, but the search seemed to be impossible. It would be so much easier if that racket wasn't going off, she thought to herself. She lay down on her stomach and opened one of her eyes. In the mid morning light of her room she stared at her electric clock with a grimace. The clock stared back with the bright light green numbers: 6:00 AM. Damn you she said silently. She pulled her hand away from the pillow and the inviting warmth and firmly pressed down on the snooze alarm. The clock stopped, but the loud sounds continued and did not stop. She opened her eyes fully and recognized the noise as her cell phone. She reached over and took hold of it. The movement of her arm opened a small hole in her blankets, allowing cold air to seep through small tunnels and into her cocoon. The cold sent quick shivers through her body and caused her to shake. She pulled her legs close to herself and slowly raised herself up into a sitting position. She pulled the blankets around her and continued to look at the clock: 6:05 am. Bastard, she spat at it. She finally opened the phone and looked at the caller id of the person trying to call her.

The name: LANA LANG; shined brightly on her phone, illuminating her face under the blankets. She sighed and closed the phone.

"Lana," she said out loud sleepily, "Stop calling me." She put the phone back on her end table and shifted through her bed until she found the remote to her TV and clicked it on. The light of the small box in her room lit up the corner of her bedroom. She didn't bother listening to it. It was only to help her get up. She liked reading about her news anyway. Besides, it was all about Superman and the Justice League anyway. It was the same old same old about how the world had been saved for the zillionth time.

She pushed the remainder of the blankets and sheets away and rose up from the bed onto the cold floor. She rushed to the bathroom and into the shower. She pulled her night clothes off along the way and jumped into the stall, turning on the water immediately. The hot water caused her skin to jump up with goose pimples and with shakes that woke her up under the water. This is what I get she said to herself for staying up so late at the office and making sure the print is exactly the way I want it. But, she couldn't help it. The ink, the paper, the stories and the investigations were all in her blood. Writing a story for a newspaper and starting it from beginning to end thrilled her. The whole process was her own little addiction that she knew had begun in high school and had only gotten worse as time wore on. It was all unnecessary she knew and those who worked around her knew it too. But, the extra work had made the Chicago Sentinel one of the best newspapers in the city. As she had hoped, it was in competition with some of the best newspapers out there. It was especially in competition with two of the nations best newspapers: The New York Times and The Daily Planet. To have the three newspapers in competition with one another throughout the country made her life.

She shut the water off and reached through the steam to open the shower door. She reached for her robe and quickly threw the heavy warm cloth over her exposed body. She pulled it around herself and tied it off at her waist. She left the bathroom and turned on the lights in her room. She went to her walk in closet and pulled out the shoes and clothes she would wear for the day. She laid them on her bed and then turned toward her bedroom door and walked out of the room, switching on lights that led her to her kitchen. She turned the lights on, opened the refrigerator and took out her orange juice. She placed it on the counter and then went about the task of putting in a new coffee filter in her coffee maker and pouring the brown dust into it. She couldn't wait to get to her favorite coffee house that she always stopped at on her way to work. But, this was needed to help get her system jumped started. She poured the water in and plugged it in. In a few minutes, she would hear the water percolating and pouring the coffee into the container. She again returned to the fridge and took out her cream and placed it on the counter next to her orange juice. She walked out of the kitchen and headed to the terrace. What to have this mourning she pondered. Ever since she had started smoking, food didn't taste as good as it used to. Some mornings she went without eating anything at all, she had even given up her sacred blue berry muffin! She opened the terrace door and walked out into the cool morning to look out upon the City of Chicago. She had gotten a pretty good deal on her apartment. Instead of a dingy little terrace on the side of an apartment building, she was able to score a pent house apartment with a walk out patio. Not bad for someone who came all the way from a very, very small town. It was definitely an improvement from her point of view. She looked out at the view of the city and could see the Sears Tower dominating the skyline. Yes, she thought, this was definitely her city.

She shook one of the white cylinders from the pack and brought it to her lips. She took out her lighter and positioned it to light the cigarette in her mouth.

"Chloe." Spoke a deep voice that startled her and caused her to drop the lighter, and the cigarette to fall from her mouth. She grabbed her chest and turned around to see who the voice belonged to. No one was there behind her or anywhere on the patio. The sudden calling of her name had startled her, but she knew who the voice belonged to. After quickly regaining her composure, she immediately followed the path of the voice and who it belonged to. She slowly raised her head up into the path of the rising sun. There, between the shimmering golden rays, floating down out of the sky she saw him. He wasn't falling nor was he floating. He was descending! She wanted to compare it to that of a piece of falling paper that had been dropped from the top of a building, but that comparison did not do him justice. No, this was graceful, controlled. The red boots came into her vision first, followed by the blue and gold of his uniform. Then, he was standing in front of her, the wind gently blowing the long red cape to his right. It was the familiar red and yellow of his crest that always drew her eye immediately. It was like the red and yellow crest were his own personal advertising board. As usual, her eyes moved from his chest to his face and then to his dark sky blue eyes that always met hers. Clark Kent- Superman - had decided to pay her a visit this morning.

"Chloe, we need to talk." She eyed him seriously and sternly. She crossed her arms across herself in a self embrace and took small steps toward him.

"Do we?" She asked with a slight uninterested inflection in her voice.

"Yes, Chloe, it's important. And you know it." Superman eyed the opened terrace door that led into her apartment. He also noticed the direction the wind was blowing his cape. He also noticed that Chloe not only crossed her arms, but she did so to keep herself warm.

"May I come in?"

"Come in then." She said motioning to the door. She walked in before him while he walked in a few steps behind her. She walked to her kitchen counter while he put his arms behind him and looked around her apartment. Even before he had entered, he could smell the coffee. It reminded him of her favorite "watering hole," The Talon back in Smallville. He sometimes wondered if coffee had replaced the water content of her blood. Superman looked over her apartment, which looked comfortable and welcoming. But, the one sight that caught his eye was her desk which was the only messy thing in the room. He saw that it was covered with papers, legal pads, books and files. Her laptop was on and empty coffee cups and mugs surrounded it like offerings to a god. On the wall, he saw framed newspapers. One frame contained her first and last headline from the Torch School Newspaper. He also saw framed articles and periodicals. The most prominent frame contained her first ever front page story from the Daily Planet. The headline read:

HEROES

The Justice League of America Saves Earth.

Next to it, was another frame that contained the first ever issue of the Chicago Sentinel. On one of her bookcases, he noticed standing proudly between bookstands were the first five books she wrote. He heard rumors that she was writing another one. When it came to books, she was beating him five to two.

Chloe went about busying herself around her kitchen; pretending that he wasn't even there.

"You've done very well for yourself." He finally said breaking the silence. Chloe slammed a cabinet door and placed a bowel on her counter.

"I try." She said as she put a box of cereal next to it. He's doing it isn't he? She stopped, turned and looked straight at him, crossing her arms across her chest. Of course he is she thought. The way he was standing, the way he had learned to deepen his voice. She could remember those looks. He would get them from time to time whenever he thought he was above something. That he understood a problem and knew the exact solution for it.

"Would you drop the 'super' act, Clark! I get why you're here – but what would you like me to say?

Clark was surprised by her statement and he changed the way he was standing. He immediately dropped his arms to his side and un-stiffened his back. He paused for a moment, considering what he would say.

"Chloe." he began to say in a lesser deep tone of voice. It was a voice that she would find more recognizable and genuine. "Chloe, you don't have to say anything. I know you are feeling hurt. And you have a right to be. There are no excuses here, and I offer none. Believe me I wasn't expecting to have feelings for Lois. But, I don't know how else to explain it. They just happened." He walked forward until he stood in the threshold of the kitchen entrance. He looked into her eyes and saw her anger and resentment. Clark wished he had the words to take her pain away. To say how badly he felt for hurting her feelings and driving her away. Chloe Sullivan had always been his best friend. They had always been there for each other. It was that very friendship which was the reason he was in Chicago now.

"What I really am here for is to see you. Chloe, the way things were left between us. It shouldn't be like that. We've been friends for too long to let such a rift between us stay open. I'm here basically to ask you to come back to Metropolis." Chloe rolled her eyes and turned away from Clark. It wasn't so much her anger at him, but it was everything that had happened at the Daily Planet that made her quit her job.

"At least consider coming back to Smallville. Ma, Pa and Lana are concerned about you." Near her glass of orange juice, he noticed an ash tray full of black ashes from old cigarettes. "I'm concerned about you." Clark added. Chloe immediately followed his line of vision and grabbed the ash tray, opened a draw and put it in it, slamming it shut. She looked back at him and let out an agitated breath.

"Clark - why should I come back to Metropolis? As you can see I'm all right! You, your mom, dad and Lana shouldn't worry about me.

"The answer is very simple: because your family and friends miss you." Chloe regarded the statement for a moment. She felt touched by it, but she wasn't about to let Clark win so easily. "Do you know what your disappearance act and relocation has done to us all? It surprised and threw everyone off. You even threw me off." Chloe perked up to this statement and raised one of her eye brows in fascination.

"Even Superman?" She asked with a wry smile.

"Especially Superman. How did you avoid me all these years anyway?"

"Practice, I guess?" She said with a shrug. Clark smiled and walked closer to her.

"Also, if it's any consolation, Perry has said on a number of occasions that the investigative column has not been the same since you left."

Chloe smirked and looked back up at Clark. "I suppose, but I'm sure Perry's holding up just fine somehow." She said.

Clark walked forward and reached out and took Chloe's hands in his own. She didn't back away or gave any indication that she would. She allowed him to get closer to her. "Chloe, it's not the same without you. I miss you. Please, come back. Or least say you will consider it." Chloe removed her right hand from the warm clasp of his hands and reached up and touched his cheek. She stopped, dropped her hand and placed it on her waist.

"Clark, it's not that simple." She began with light tears in her eyes. "You hurt me, Clark, more then you could ever imagine. Do you know how that feels? I have always been so protective of you. I've always been in a position where I just wanted something special between you and me. And then, you just decide to tell Lois, my cousin, your secret! The very same secret that took you so long to tell me, Pete and Lana!"

"I didn't have the courage then, Chloe. I was a teenager. I was afraid. I didn't know what to do."

"What about now, Clark?" she said with a tone of vindictiveness in her voice. "Why is it suddenly different? Is it because you're Superman now? Is that it? Because I really don't understand, Clark?"

"Because I've seen what lies and secrets can do to people. I feel I should be open with the people who are closest to me. Lois is one of those people. You will always be one of those people."

"So, is that what this is about? You're here to get your side kick back?"

"Stop trying to be difficult, Chloe! And, as I recall, you enjoyed the 'side kick' role. So much so that you helped me and you even helped Oliver create the financial basis for the founding of the Justice League."

Damn it! Chloe thought, he did have a point there. She knew it was stupid of her to even try that route, but she was mad at Clark and deep down in her, truth be told, she did not want to stay mad at him forever. There was so much that they had accomplished together. But by her reticence was she throwing that away? Not only the work that she and Clark did, and still could do, but also her work with the Justice League. Not to mention that she had turned away her other friends by her big secret move to Chicago. With all of her success, did she really want to throw that away? The Kents, Lana, Pete, even dare she say it Lois?

"I think I should go." Clark said upset. He turned to step out of the room and back into the air. Metropolis needed him and he had a very busy schedule today before he could get into the Planet today.

"Super… Clark. Wait." Chloe called as she ran out of her kitchen and was able to catch Clark by his arm, stopping him and turning him to face her.

"I'll visit Smallville. Not Metropolis, not yet. Just Smallville, all right?" A small weary smile appeared on her face. " And don't forget, you have an interview with Cat Grant later." A smile appeared on Clark's face, Chloe had basically reset the field, they were friends again. Clark moved his arm and took her hand lightly in his and gave it a small squeeze.

"Will you be watching?" Clark asked.

"When have I ever not watched? I gotta have something to fill in the column of page two." Chloe replied with a raise of her eyebrow and a slight smirk. Clark let go of her hand and walked to the door frame.

"See you soon?" He asked.

"Soon enough." Chloe replied. Clark crossed the threshold of the door, but then came back and looked at Chloe.

"Oh and one more thing." Chloe tilted her head waiting for whatever last thing Clark had on his mind. In his deep, 'super voice,' Clark said, "You really shouldn't smoke, Ms. Sullivan."

A giant grin appeared on Chloe's face and she raised an eyebrow. "Hazardous to my health?" Superman gave her one final smile, levitated off the floor and then out into air. Chloe quickly followed and watched as Superman flew away.

"Bye now." Superman said, waving his hand as he flew away. Chloe leaned against the frame and shook her head. It was Superman, but the part of him that Clark Kent also had just said goodbye. Chloe looked down at the ground and saw the lighter and cigarette where she had dropped them. She slowly turned her head back and forth. Perhaps he was right she thought. Chloe walked back into her apartment, it was time to get ready and leave for work. She knew that some time during the day she would have to call Lana back and make plans for a trip to Smallville, the one town in all of America that was the furthest from any known civilization she jokingly thought to herself.

**

In a peaceful area in America, untouched by development or the presence of humans, where people could go to feel at one with nature, something foreboding, evil, relentless, and unstoppable was just below the surface. Soulless, powerful, alien was trying to escape to break free. Small earthquakes shaking, devastating, powerful and awesome slowly resonated up, breaking rock, shaking and falling trees down onto the forest floor. Animals perked their heads up, some ran. But, more and more the ground shook, as if the Earth itself was trying to restrain and prevent what was deep inside from escaping. But what lay beneath refused to be contained, to be a prisoner no more. It would be free, it would no longer be caged. With each powerful shock, the being below came closer and closer. Then, in this peaceful, Eden like place, a hell like eruption exploded from the ground, debris, rocks, trees flew like volcanic ash, the Earth defeated and it's prisoner deep dark nostrils breathed free air in thoughtless anticipation of what it was prepared to do. Doomsday had come!

End of Part I