Author's Note: This story is a sequel to Condemned Memories; as such, it would be beneficial to you to have read that story before this one. Well, beneficial to understanding what on Earth's going on here. It probably won't improve your quality of living or anything. I've provided a re-cap covering where we are to help refresh people's memories though.
Recap: Clark and Chloe investigate when a serial killer is found to be targeting meteor freaks, including Clark's old friend Cyrus. Before they can locate the killer, Clark is abducted by an alien from a race known as The Empireth, by the name of Lenaria. The Empireth have telepathic cells in their bodies that allow them to absorb other people's abilities; however Clark's will proves too powerful for her to overcome. The process also has an unfortunate side effect that causes Lenaria to absorb memories; this leads to a good deal of confusion for her. During her confused state, she seals Clark's memories inside a necklace, which she gives to Lana. Once Lana puts it on she regains the memories of the day Clark proposed to her and she died (from the episode 'Reckoning').
As Clark and Lana try to come to terms with this new development, Lenaria sends Edward, the serial killer, to Clark's barn. It seems Edward kills the meteor freaks after Lenaria absorbs their powers. In the barn, Lana is apparently killed, though this is later revealed to have been an illusion created by Lenaria. With Clark's spirit broken by her 'death', Lenaria successfully steals his powers and sends Clark to Warworld, fulfilling a deal she made with the ruler Mongul, who she has worked for for some time.
While this is going on, Milton Fine, aka Brainiac, is executing his own plan to take care of Lenaria, who he understands is a potential danger to Zod. He gives Lex Luthor a suit of armour that has been specifically designed to neutralise her powers, and also shows Lex the bottle city of Kandor. Kandor used to be Krypton's capital and was used to house different species, including The Empireth. Brainiac, presumably under Zod's orders, removed the city from it's dimensional base and placed it inside a glass bottle. Lex is awed by the tiny city, and ultimately steals it for Lana, who has been instructed by Jor-El to obtain it.
Clark escapes Warworld, becoming the new ruler after killing Mongul in the heat of battle. After proposing to Lana, he meets up with Brainiac who, realising Lenaria is now too powerful for Lex to handle, gives another suit of armour to Clark. Clark is then forced to hurry to Gotham City, which Lenaria is targeting after Batman interfered with her plans. Thanks to the armour, Clark defeats her easily, only for Brainiac to appear and trap them both inside Kandor.
Clark and Lenaria are quickly imprisoned, where they meet Chloe and Lionel, who Brainiac sent there when they crossed paths. In Clark's absence, Jor-El has downloaded much information about Krypton into his vessel, Lionel Luthor. Clark soon realises that due to Kandor's heavy gravity and red sun, he has no powers there, which forces a reluctant alliance with Lenaria.
Thanks to Lionel's information, Clark's powers are able to be temporarily restored. To escape the bottle city, Lionel realises he must teach Clark how to fly, and tries to help him come to terms with his Kryptonian destiny. As one of the only Kryptonian's in the city, Sergeant Preus, chases them in a spaceship, all four flee and manage to escape. Once free, Lenaria uses Kryptonite to weaken Clark and attempts unsuccessfully to destroy Kandor. Jor-El forces her to run away.
Lex, with the help of Brainiac, launches an assault on her base. Although Lenaria is not there at the time, Lex and Level 33.1 encounter several mutants created by her. They are a combination of humans and animals, though Lex is unaware of this. The assault is successful, and Lex is able to acquire much of the alien technology Lenaria has been using.
Lenaria's latest plan then is to kidnap Lana, trade her for the armour that steals her powers, and then take control of Clark's mind. Once she has done so, she will use him to release Zod from The Phantom Zone, and then use Zod to destroy Brainiac. Clark, with the help of Batman and several Warworlders, is able to capture her. Lionel, Clark and Jor-El place her on trial inside the Fortress of Solitude, quickly finding her guilty for her crimes. However, Lenaria is able to seize control of Lionel, using him to release Zod. Zod's spirit enters the first suitable vessel, which happens to be Preus, who is inside the Fortress awaiting trial himself.
When Zod proves too powerful for her to control, Lenaria sides with Clark to drive The General back into The Phantom Zone. She then turns on Clark again, but he manages to turn the tables and imprison her. Finally, he is reunited with Lana who properly accepts his proposal.
As the story ended, Clark took her to Kandor to show her what remains of his home planet. Brainiac, meanwhile, has replaced Kandor with a new shrunken city known as Metropolis…
Glass Hearts
Chapter 1: Red Dawn
Clark awoke with Lana under a red sun. He knew it was artificial, of course, created by The Kandorians after they had become isolated from the rest of the universe. Yet it was no less a magnificent sight, and all the better for being seen with the girl he'd watched the regular yellow sunrise with many times in his barn. Their naked bodies lay entangled under the bed they'd spent the night in; the only thing Lana was wearing was the engagement ring Clark had recently bought for her. The building they were housed in had once belonged to a friend of Jor-El's - his old college roommate, in fact. It had originally been used as a laboratory, but was now being put to use only for Lana and Clark's own 'experiments'. Thanks to Kandor's red sun and heavy gravity (which Lana was protected from by an anti-gravity device designed by Brainiac) he didn't even have to worry about hurting her. In this place, he was no different than she was.
The red sun was far from the only marvel on Kandor though, and he'd been enjoying showing her around. Once they managed to force themselves out of bed, they sat down to a hearty breakfast. The Kandorians, it turned out, were born farmers, although they typically used machines to carry out the chores. His late father, who couldn't even part with an antique tractor, would probably have not much cared for the robots and other very advanced technology that was put to work.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do?" asked Lana, looking at a complex series of equations that the former resident had scribbled in a notebook.
"Well, I figured today we'd swing by the zoo," said Clark, finishing his breakfast. "Lionel and I were there before, but we didn't have time to look around properly. There are weird variations of animals from Earth, and also some that I've never heard of before."
"That sounds great," said Lana, smiling. "But it's not exactly what I meant. I mean, what are you going to do with the people here? This is your home, Clark. Aren't you going to introduce yourself to them properly? It's not like you have to hide here."
Clark nodded his understanding. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about it.
"I did tell Preus when I was here before. Soon after that about half the city was hunting me down because he thought I was an impostor."
"Preus is gone though. And this time, I don't know, you could get Jor-El to give you some kind of proof or something. You can tell them they're not completely cut off anymore; you're working to try and restore the city."
Clark smiled weakly at her. Her belief in him was touching, but even Jor-El didn't know how to help The Kandorians. The city looked like it had simply been shrunken, but Brainiac had actually removed it from it's dimensional base. Jor-El was able to transport people to and from the city, but any native Kandorian could survive outside only for a few hours. Although Clark was determined to find a way no matter what, he thought it could well take years.
"I also need to tell them about Krypton," he said. "Nobody here really knows what happened to it. I don't think Kandor interacted much with the rest of the planet…"
"Irony noted."
"But some of them probably still had family and friends outside the city. I think there are a few Kryptonians still around too."
"What about Empireth?"
She was thinking about the trouble Lenaria had caused, Clark knew. The problem with The Empireth was that they were a race of apparently limitless potential, able to absorb other people's abilities. Any one of them was a potential threat on a planetary level, and to that end much of their race had been wiped out in a pre-emptive strike. Except of course if it hadn't been for that, Lenaria might never have felt the need to become all-powerful.
"Jor-El thinks Preus wiped them all out. It was one of the crimes he was taken to The Fortress for."
"Oh God, Clark," Lana whispered, laying her head against his shoulder. "I don't know how you deal with all this."
Kissing the top of her head, Clark held her in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture.
"It's not easy, but I get my strength from more than the sun," he said. "Let's not worry about any of that today, okay? Everything's been so crazy lately, and things between us have changed so much… I just want us to spend some time together. I'm not always running around trying to save somebody. Sometimes I'm just regular old Clark Kent, same guy you went to High School with. And today I want to hit the uh, alien zoo."
"Oh yeah, just like we did back in High School," said Lana, laughing prettily. "They don't have super-intelligent apes or anything, do they?"
"What, like Planet of the Apes? I think you've been watching too many movies," grinned Clark.
"Hey, that movie scared me when I was little," said Lana, taking Clark's hand.
"Don't worry – I'll protect you."
888
"I'm not sure about this, Pendar. It looks dangerous. And if the C.P.C catches us…"
""The Citizens Patrol Corps is finished now Preus is gone. They've hardly done any rounds at all since he disappeared. C'mon, Faye, you'll be safe with me."
Despite her protests, she had to admit the thought of flying was pretty exciting. Ever since she'd been a little girl she'd seen motorcycles like this one going by overhead, thanks to the anti-gravity device installed in them. She figured it would have to give you a great sense of freedom. The problem was that this wasn't theirs to take. It belonged to her father, who had only recently won and repaired it, and she was unwilling to take it behind his back. Not to mention the fact that neither Pendar nor herself were old enough to drive it. She was just old enough to be into guys – hence she wasn't protesting Pendar's foolishness as much as she otherwise might – but she wasn't considered an adult quite yet.
"Please, just forget it. You know what my father will do if he catches us. Besides, I can't take any risks with the C.P.C. Let's just go to the forest or something…"
"No, Faye, no! I'm sick of doing the same things everyday. I'm sick of this whole worthless city. There are other worlds out there, and I'm going to see them."
"We've been over this. There's no way outside the bottle," said Faye, placing a hand on his shoulder. The pair had been friends for sometime, yet she found herself blushing at her action and withdrawing it quickly.
"There is no bottle!" Pendar shouted, startling her. "It's all just a story to keep us here. One day I'll take you out there and show you."
She closed her eyes. There was no point arguing with him when he got like this. Faye had never won, and there was no reason to suggest she could either. But she wasn't about to get on that motorcycle. If the C.P.C caught her, she would be in trouble for a lot more than not having a licence or even theft.
Her real name was Lyla. Faye was the identity she had assumed, and so far no-one suspected the truth. Given her abilities, that perhaps wasn't surprising. The truth was she didn't belong to the same race as Pendar or her father. On Kandor such a thing wasn't uncommon, though her race, The Empireth, were outcasts even among outcasts. Free of the constraints of The Kryptonian Council, Preus had used his position to launch a crusade against her people, killing as many as he could. For the protection of the city, he had said, and no-one had dared call it murder. Her real parents had died before the scattered remnants of The Empireth had found refuge on Kandor, and Preus had killed her guardians. He had some kind of armour that protected him from their powers.
She alone had managed to escape, so far as she knew. She still held some hope that another of her race might still be hiding somewhere in the city. Yet it seemed unlikely. Lyla had only managed to survive after finding Faye… the real Faye. The girl had tried taking her to a hiding place, but as the C.P.C and The Empireth had battled across the city, Faye had been struck down in the crossfire. There had been nothing Lyla could do to save her. So instead, she had broken one of the most important laws of her race. She'd absorbed Faye's memories, seen her whole life. And then, using her built-in Empireth talents, she'd disguised herself as Faye. She was no shape-shifter, but she could cast illusions easily enough even as a child. Finding Faye's father, she'd found someone who could potentially keep her safe. She'd never meant to hurt anyone… but now she found herself in too deep. She loved her father, she had feelings for Faye's childhood friend Pendar… but it wasn't her life. It killed her to deceive them… but the alternative was too much for her to bear.
She broke off her recollection as Pendar jumped onto the back of the motorcycle.
"Look," he said. "I'm going. Come if you're coming."
And, going against every instinct and every bit of sense, she climbed on behind him.
888
How could you lose an entire city? That was the question Batman, along with everyone else, was currently asking. One minute the city of Metropolis had been there, everyone carrying out their routines as normal, and the next there was nothing. All that had been seen was a beam of light striking the centre. After that, the city was gone. The press were doing their best not to get carried away with the alien abduction angle… but it had been one of the first explanations put forward.
It was an angle Batman could hardly afford to ignore. Until very recently, aliens had been of little concern to him, and then he'd ended up running in to two of them. One a simple farm-boy named Clark Kent and the other a power hungry female intent on bringing the world under her control. Clark had told him that Lenaria was gone for good, but Batman knew Lenaria had a way of making people see what she wanted them to see. It was the inconsistencies created by her illusions that put him on her trail in the first place. However, while certainly not ruling her out, he wasn't sure this was her work. There was an efficiency to it all that Lenaria had lacked. While remarkably powerful, her work was sloppy; when attacking Gotham, she'd essentially tried simply blasting her way through a bunch of buildings.
Flying overhead in a specially designed helicopter, he noticed the wreckage of some of those very places. It was just as well Clark had shown up to stop her rampage. Every last bit of damage done was down to his own failings. There was little Batman could do now, but Bruce Wayne could make sure the victims – or relatives of victims – were looked out for. So if not Lenaria, who else? Another alien he didn't know about? Or maybe something closer to home? During the whole Lenaria situation, Lex Luthor had launched an attack of his own on her base, a space station she'd hidden on Earth. In the end, Lex been able to gather some powerful alien technology that he wouldn't have a clue how to use properly. Had the city's disappearance been somehow connected?
Following a queue of traffic which wasn't moving at all, he realised he had problems closer to home. Traffic jams were not something Batman concerned himself with, but at the front of the line was something that was undeniably his problem. He landed the helicopter on a nearby roof, moving at a run once he got out. The people below were understandably panicking, and it wouldn't be long before things escalated badly. For the moment though, most were too numb to move. At the end of the street, the city just… stopped. People stood gaping, families huddled together. Batman shoved people aside to get to the front. When he did, he saw a ghost.
A beat later, he realised it was his own reflection. Reaching out slowly, his hand struck a hard surface.
"Glass," he said aloud.
It looked like he knew what had happened to Metropolis.
