Chapter Two
Earth Thirty-Six
He was ready. The fact that he was still alive was a miracle. He knew that he should have been killed by…
By what?
When he had first awakened after what had sent him here, he had a perfect knowledge of what had happened. There had been some kind of an accident and he had lost his body. His molecules had been dispersed across an infinite number of alternate versions of his world. He had been in all of them at the same time. But as time when by and he slowly began the daunting task of piecing himself back together, he had slowly lost most of his memory.
He knew that his first name was Lucas. He was almost as sure that his last name was Luthor. He was not sure which of the universes that had lay out before him was the one that he had called home. But he knew that whichever one it was would not miss him very much. He was pretty sure that he had been one of the bad guys in that world. He had memories from that life, but dwelling on them was like watching a movie. It did not feel like his life. That was not who he was now. That person had intentionally hurt people. He felt a burning rage inside him, but he knew that it could not be aimed at the innocent, even though these memories contradicted that.
What had made him so angry? It was something that his father had done to him, but he did not know what it could be. Whatever it had been, it had caused him to go on a rampage that left at least two dead from what he could remember. One of them was an out right murder. The last thing that he remembered was watching his double from another world slowly die in the beam of a machine that was powered by meteor rocks. The rocks had always made him sick and being that close to the raw energy coming from the machine was hurting him as well. Their minds had merged, and for a few seconds they had almost been the same person. Lucas remembered thinking that he had to do something to help the other man. After that, he had found himself in a void without a body. He had been nothing more that his own thoughts.
Did I save him? he was thinking. Did I push him out of the way and get blasted by the projector? He could almost feel the burning sensation that had spread through his arms and legs as the poisonous energy filled his body. He cursed inwardly. Why can't I remember?
It did not make any sense to him. He could remember everything when he had gotten here. And now that he was almost completely back together he had lost most of his memory. How could that be?
But he did have an idea of what could have happened. When he had started pulling his molecules together he had found the work pretty easy. He found that it was like his consciousness had spread out along with the rest of him. He could see into every world that one of his cells had landed in. Those cells were collecting information about the other worlds even as he was calling them to him. Now he knew what to find on billions of different worlds. But some of his cells and molecules had been so corrupted with kryptonite that he had been forced to discard them. He replaced them with atoms that were floating around in the void that had come from some other world. In a sense, he was made up of pieces of an infinite number of worlds throughout the multiverse. But he lost whatever memories were encoded in the discarded bits.
Now, he was a cloud of vapor that contained all of his molecules. He was ready to put it all together and become human again, but at the same time he found that he was afraid to do so. He remembered that he had extraordinary abilities back where he had come from. He thought that it was because he had been born on another planet or something like that. But he was afraid that he would discover that he no longer had the superior strength and speed that he had once enjoyed. But he knew deep down that he had to have some kind of special powers. How else could he have been able to survive without a body?
He did not have any ears to hear with, but his being could still sense that there was a woman screaming in the streets below. He lowered himself closer to the ground level and found where the sound was coming from. There was a woman running through a deserted alleyway with two large men running right behind her. One of them reached out and grabbed the back of her coat and threw her on the ground. The other one pulled a pistol from his belt and aimed it at her. They were probably trying to get her money. Then they would most likely rape her or kill her. They would probably do both.
The fog that was Lucas touched the ground and two human bare feet stepped out of it. To anyone watching it would appear that a fit young naked man was merely emerging from a cloud of fog. They would not suspect that the man had actually been the fog a moment before.
It had been over a week since Lucas had walked, but he found that he had very little trouble remembering how to do it. His legs did not feel weak in the least. He casually strode over to where the two men were preparing to do whatever their twisted minds had come up with to the young woman. He was glad to hear that his voice did not crack when he spoke.
"Are you guys looking for a fight?" he said. The two men turned around quickly and looked at him. "Because I could really use the exercise."
"What the…?" one of them said. "Y'know you was naked?"
Lucas looked down at his bare body. "No. I didn't. Why don't you give me your clothes?"
"This guy's nuts," the other man said. He turned to the man with the gun. "Shoot 'em, Donny."
Donny raised the pistol and fired. Lucas watched the bullet leave the chamber and easily slapped it out of the air like a pesky bug. Donny's eyes widened. The other man had turned back to the girl and missed Lucas' stunt. Donny tapped him on the shoulder.
"Larry," he said. "I can't."
"What do you mean?" Larry replied. He turned to find Lucas still standing there. "Hey! I know that guy! That's the guy from the news couple'a years back! The alien guy!"
"I thought they had him locked up at LexCorp," Donny said.
"I'll bet there's a hell'a reward for bringin' 'em back!" Larry said. He pulled a knife from his pocket and began to advance on him. Lucas held up a hand and a burst of white energy shot out of it. White fingers of electricity covered Larry's body and he fell to the ground. He lay there, convulsing as the energy surged through him. When it subsided, he did not get up. Lucas listened carefully and picked up the faint sound of the man's pulse. He would be alright.
Lucas looked at his hand. How did he do that? He had never been able to do that before. He saw Donny leveling the gun at him again. He pointed a finger at him and shot out one long strand of current. He hit the gun and Donny screamed, throwing the weapon away. He turned and ran but Lucas reached out to him with even more white energy and snatched him up from the ground. He hurled him into the air and let him come crashing down. He walked to the man's side and stood over him. He pointed a finger at his unconscious face.
"Don't," a voice called out. He turned and saw the young woman getting up from the ground. "Don't kill them."
Had he been about to kill them? He had not even thought about doing it. Was murder so engrained in his subconscious that he could not even stop a simple robbery without taking a life. And with these new powers it would have been so simple.
Then the woman stepped out into the light. He saw her big blue eyes and the soft, blonde hair that he had known before. He felt a small smile play at his lips.
"Chloe?" he asked.
"Do I know you?" she replied.
He stared at her for a few seconds. It was her. It was Chloe. But the last time he saw her he was staring into her horror stricken face as he allowed the car that she was in to slam into his body. A few minutes later the car exploded with her still inside.
But that was back in the world that he had come from. This was another place. This was another Chloe.
"No," Lucas said. "Are you alright?"
"I think so," she replied. She quickly looked down and then back up again. "I really appreciate you rescuing me and everything…but is there some reason why you're wondering around Metropolis in the nude?"
Lucas looked down at his body. He blushed and walked over to the two thugs that lay out cold on the pavement. He quickly figured out which of them would likely be closer to his size. It was Donny. The version of Chloe that was watching only saw a blur as he stripped the man's clothes off and put them on at the speed of sound. When he turned back to her he was wearing a pair of torn jeans, a black leather jacket, and a t-shirt with a Metropolis Sharks logo on it.
"I'm sorry about that," he said. "I'm not crazy. It's really a long story."
"You escaped from LexCorp," Chloe said. "Am I right?"
Why did everyone keep talking about LexCorp? Were they talking about LuthorCorp? He did not know anyone named Lex.
"I'm sorry?" Lucas asked.
"That guy said that he thought you were the alien that the government caught a couple of years ago. Supposedly, he's in a cage at LexCorp and they're doing experiments on him. You do sort of look like him."
"If you're alright, I need to go," he said.
"Okay," Chloe replied. "Thank you."
Lucas nodded. Then he disappeared around the corner and there was a loud sonic boom and he sped off into the night.
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Lucas found a place to rest in another alley in a less lit part of town. He sat on the back steps of a butcher shop and closed his eyes. He was tired. He never remembered getting tired before. But then again, he had not been in this solid form in a while. It had only been a few days, but he felt like it had been years since his feet had touched the solid ground. He had almost fallen asleep when his sensitive ears picked up the subtle sound of high heeled boots tapping their way toward him. He jumped up and held up his hand, feeling his new electrical energy crackle around his fingertips.
"Who's there?" he called.
"Why didn't you tell her who you were?" a small voice called back. A woman about Lucas' age stepped into what little light there was. She was at least a foot shorter than he was and she was wearing black leather jacket that looked like it was made to be worn by a man, much like the one that he was wearing. That was the only normal thing about her. The clothes that she wore under the jacket looked a lot like a spandex material. It was a one piece suit but Lucas could not really make out the color in this light. It looked like a dark blue. Her boots were red and they came all the way up to her knees. Her black hair was very short, exposing tiny points on the tips of her ears.
"Are you a Vulcan?" he asked as he put his hands down.
"I'm a human," she replied. "My name is Anya. Why didn't you tell Ms. Sullivan who you were? She believes you to be the Clark Kent of this world. And he's being held captive by Lex Luthor."
"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked. "I didn't tell her who I was because it's not important."
"She's a reporter for the Daily Star," Anya said. "She'll probably publish an article tomorrow telling how the alien escaped and rescued her from being raped or murdered. When it comes out that Clark is still at LexCorp, she'll look foolish."
"Why are you telling me this?" Lucas asked as he sat back down on the steps and cradled his head in his hands.
"I'm telling you because you have to be more careful about who you interact with when you cross over," she replied.
"How did you know that I was from another world?" Lucas asked.
"It's just something that I picked up along the way," she replied. "Just be a little more careful. Okay?"
Lucas nodded. He watched in silence as the woman turned and slowly strolled back into the darkness. He did not bother going after her. He did not know who she was and he could not see why he needed to. He propped his head against the door of the butcher shop and dozed off.
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The sun peeked over the edge of the building and shone directly down onto the place where Lucas lay sleeping with his face on the asphalt. He woke up with the feeling of the sun's rays penetrating every pore of his body. He could feel raw energy that had been penned up inside of him being released. The weakness and fatigue that had plagued him since he had taken back his solid form left him immediately. He felt better than he had in years. He almost felt like he could…
He looked down and realized that his feet were at least six feet from the ground. He was floating in mid-air.
"That's a new one," he said to himself. He could fly. Or, at least he could hover. What had happened to him? How could his powers have changed so radically just by taking in a few cosmic molecules? He heard the lock of the door behind him click. He looked up and reached out for the roof of the building. It was not that far away from him. He easily glided upward and scrambled onto the surface. Yes, he could fly.
"Who's out here?" a gruff voice called from below. Lucas peered over the edge of the building and saw a large black man wearing a white apron covered in blood looking around the alley. He stayed quiet until the man gave up and went back inside. He decided that it was time to go. He leaped off of the roof, expecting to drop to the ground. He found that he was still hanging in the air. He stuck out a foot and pointed it to the ground and he slowly glided downward until he touched the hard surface.
He made his way out of the alley and stepped out into the streets of Metropolis. It was still early. Most of the people had not started making their way to work yet. There were a few cars passing by. There were several yellow cabs parked along the side of the street waiting for someone to climb in. He saw a small market across the street and made his way over. His stomach was growling and he knew that he was ready for breakfast.
The little store did not offer much in the way of breakfast fare. He could not find any pastries but there were a few hot dogs rolling up and down on a cooker. From the looks of them they had been there since the day before. He got one anyway and put in a bun, covering it with mustard. If he could get shot and have bullets bounce off of him, surely he would survive a tainted hot dog.
As he stood at the counter, chomping on the rubbery meat and stale bread, he happened to realize that he did not have any money. He frantically searched the jeans that he had taken from the thug the night before. He sighed in relief when he found a five dollar bill crumpled into one of the pockets. He lay the money down and collected his change. As he turned to leave he happened a glance at the rack of newspapers behind the counter. The headline caught his eye.
"DID LEXCORP'S ALIEN SAVE DAMZEL IN DISTRESS?" it read. He grunted through the mouthful of food and pointed at the paper. The clerk reached over and picked one up and gave it to him. Lucas gave him some change and left.
He shoved the last piece of the hot dog into his mouth and opened up the paper. The article had been written by the Chloe Sullivan from this world. That Anya girl had been right about her. She was a star reporter in this universe. The article was more than what the headline led the reader to believe. It started out telling her story about how she had been attacked the night before and that a naked man that looked exactly like the captive alien from LexCorp. The man had displayed special powers. He had been able to deflect a bullet, throw lightening from his hands, and had left the scene at supersonic speed. But then she went on to say that a call to Lex Luthor had confirmed that the alien was still in their possession. Then the article began to question who the strange visitor was and even speculated that the Earth was being inhabited by a race of alien beings.
"She's a tabloid journalist?" he asked to no one in particular.
"The Daily Star is not a tabloid," a voice called from around the corner. "But it's no Daily Planet. This world doesn't have one of those."
Lucas turned and saw Anya standing a few feet behind him. He held up the newspaper.
"How did you know that this was going to happen?" he asked.
"Relax, Clark," she said.
"I'm not Clark," he replied. "My name is Lucas."
"I'm sorry," Anya said. "I've met you several times. In most other worlds your name is either Clark or Kal. I took a chance."
"You didn't answer my question," Lucas said.
She nodded. "I'm not a psychic or anything. But I've been doing this long enough that I've developed a knack for knowing how it all works out. Are you new?"
"New?" Lucas asked in confusion.
"You cross over," she said. "Right? You're like me."
"You can go to other worlds?" Lucas asked. "You have a projector?"
Anya smiled. "Let's start over. Are you from a parallel dimension?"
"Yes," Lucas said. "But I don't know which one. There's so many of them."
"How did you get here?"
"I was in an accident," he said. "I don't remember much about it. But I was scattered all over the multiverse and I had to pull myself back together. I've got a lot of holes in my memory now."
Anya nodded. "Your molecules were scattered and you survived. That's amazing. Are you from Krypton like your counterparts that I've met?"
"I don't know," Lucas said. "I have memories of being told that I'm from another world. But I can't really remember if it really happened or not. I have powers."
"I know," she said. "I've been watching you since you entered this universe."
"How would you have known that I was here?" Lucas asked. "I wasn't even in a solid form when I got here."
"Where I come from you have to be watching for visitors from other universes," she replied.
"And where is that?" Lucas said, taking another look at the points on her ears. "What world has humans with pointy ears?"
"I'm from Earth Twelve," she said. "But I'm from the year 2527."
"You're from the future?"
She nodded. "About five hundred twenty years from now. What Earth are you from?"
"I don't know," Lucas replied. "I didn't get to study the charts before I got blasted out of my body."
Anya reached down to the belt around her waist and opened a small compartment in the large yellow buckle. A small device came out. "Hold still," she said. A thin blue ray of light came out of it and ran from his head down to his feet. The light went away and the device went back into her belt.
"You're from Earth Ninety-Seven," she said. "I've never been there."
"I don't remember a whole lot about it," Lucas said. "I know that I wasn't a good person when I was there."
"Really?" Anya said, her eyebrows going up in surprise. "Wow! I've met many versions of you and none of them have been the villain. They've always been the hero."
"I can't really claim to be either," Lucas said. "I know that I did some bad things before my accident. But what happened to me has changed me. I don't know if it's permanent or not. I may get my memory back and go on a killing spree."
"After that rescue last night I'd say it's a safe bet that you've made hero status," Anya said. There was a small beeping noise and she looked down at her belt buckle. A tiny screen revealed itself on its surface. "Oh no!"
"What is it?" Lucas asked.
"I thought that I'd gotten away from it for a while," Anya said. "Gods! I just wanted to rest!"
"Anya!" Lucas said. "What are you talking about?"
"The field that separates the dimensions is fluctuating," Anya said. "That's how I knew when you were coming in."
"So someone is crossing over from another world?" Lucas asked.
"Judging from the size of the disturbance I would guess that it's not just someone," she said. "This is the Anti-monitor."
"The anti-what?" he asked.
"I don't have time to explain," Anya said. "He's too close! It's too late to stop him! I've got to get out of here!"
"Anya!" Lucas screamed. He took in a breath to speak again when a huge explosion tore through the air. He looked up and saw beams of red light being emitted by the sky itself and ripping through the cityscape of Metropolis. Entire buildings were bursting into flames and quickly being reduced to ash.
"Get out of here, Lucas!" Anya yelled. "I don't want to have to watch you die again!"
Lucas did not think about the next thing that he did. He reached out and grabbed Anya by the waist and leapt into the air. He continued to climb higher and higher into the sky as the beams came down and found the place where they had just been standing. Lucas looked around him and saw that the place where Metropolis had been only a few seconds before was now occupied by nothing but a huge crater that was growing rapidly. It would only be a few minutes before the entire state of Kansas was wiped off the face of this Earth.
"We have to do something!" Lucas said, dodging the red beams as they tried to do to him and Anya what they had done to the city.
"It's too late, Lucas," Anya said. "If we're going to survive we have to get out of this universe!"
Then he saw it. The clouds parted and Lucas could see a huge monster of a creature standing in the sky. He was covered in some kind of red armor that Lucas could not pierce with his x-ray vision. He tried blasting it with some heat, but the thing did not even look at him.
"Is that it?" Lucas asked.
"Yes!" Anya answered. "That's the Anti-Monitor. He's the devourer of worlds."
Just as she said it a plate on the monster's chest slid away and revealed what looked like a black hole. Lucas could already feel himself being pulled toward it and looked on in amazement and horror as entire trees and buildings were pulled up from the ground and sucked into it.
Lucas reached for the sky and he and Anya sailed into space. Anya pressed a button on her belt and surrounded them with a force field. Lucas did not figure that he needed it for protection, but she probably needed it to be able to breathe in the vacuum. They turned and watched as the entire planet slowly melted away as it was pulled bit by bit into the monster's chest. Then he could feel it tugging at him again as other planets and stars were being helplessly pulled away from the path that they had been on since the beginning of time. This thing was reducing the entire universe and consuming it.
"Cross over, Lucas!" she said. "I can go without you, but I won't leave you behind!"
"I don't know how!" Lucas said.
"The same way you got here," she replied. "Just think about it and go!"
Lucas closed his eyes and concentrated. He leaned forward and shot out into open space. The fabric of the universe opened and allowed him and Anya to exit just as all of that world's existence imploded around them.
End of chapter two