A/N: I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reviewed this fiction up to this point. I truly appreciate all the positive feedback that I have received and I intend to use all suggestions in some way. I created some terms and added explanatory footnotes.
Acknowledgments:
To JamesTKent, thank you for helping me with spelling. There is a huge difference between scions (a lineal descendant such as a son or daughter) and scones (bakery products).
To Saavikam69, I rewrote this chapter so that Brad gets his comeuppance. Also, in a future chapter, Lois will teach Clark where is the best area to change a baby in an SUV.
To LexLives, I promise to keep this story suspenseful; I will not disappoint you. At some point in the story, I will use all of your suggestions.
To Seirei Nightlord5, Clark will get an earful from Bruce in this chapter. He's going to get chewed out.
To tweets, Richard and Lois will continue to help Clark. Jason will also continue to be a big help to his father and siblings.
To JessieDog, as one nurse to another, Clark is going to rely on a certain nurse midwife/nurse practitioner, whose role will be pivotal to the fiction. And thank you for your kind condolences upon the passing of my sister.
To Daisygirl and phoenix, please continue enjoying this fiction. I promise to keep it exciting as our hero faces the challenges of fitting in with humanity, raising a family and doubling as a superhero.
Disclaimers:
I don't receive any payment for this fiction and I don't want to infringe on any copyrights. I just like to write fiction and this is a milieu that I really enjoy. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Now on with the story.
Chapter 3
Clark, Lois, Richard and Jimmy travelled silently in the elevator back to the Daily Planet's bullpen. Their thoughts focused on one topic, the twins. Jimmy tried to figure out some way to toughen Clark so that he would be able to teach his children how to defend themselves against bullies like Brad. Lois wondered if the twins would demonstrate any signs that they were anything other than human. Richard worried that Lois would be so attached to Clark's twins that she would put them ahead of him and Joanne. Clark just smiled inwardly and extended his telepathic powers out to his children. Jason enjoyed his gym class but needed a reminder to refrain from using his special gifts, accidently. Jason smiled and reassured his father mentally that he would be careful. Clark turned mentally to the twins and hummed a lullaby to them. They both responded positively.
It was Lois who broke the silence. "Come on guys, we're already late. Move it Kent. You've got to get back into the routine."
Clark just responded by pushing his glasses up on his nose. "R…Right, I'm right behind you." He was the last to exit the elevator. His back throbbed and the wounds oozed through his dress shirt. He decided to keep his jacket on because it was cool enough in the office to justify that rationale.
"Lois, Richard, Kent and Olsen, we're glad you deigned to attend the meeting this morning," growled Perry sarcastically. "Everyone else has their assignments except you four. Richard, there's something going on at the U.N. concerning Superman. Take Olsen and anyone else you need from your department, I want a detailed report on what's going on by the end of the day. Lois, check out MPD. My contact there said something about some bodies located in an area used by those renegade Kryptonians, Zod and his minions. Now get out of here." Lois, Richard and Jimmy glanced at each other and filed silently out the conference room as Clark sadly watched them. He made an effort to quietly follow them out the door. "Not you, Kent. We need to talk. Close the door."
Clark prepared himself to apologize for causing the ruckus in the bullpen. "I'm sorry Perry. I…I really didn't think I would disrupt the bullpen…"
"What are you apologizing for? I wanted to see the little tykes myself." said Perry, wrinkling his forehead. "I understand that Brad slapped you across your back and you collapsed across Jimmy's desk. I wanted to find out if you were alright. Mr. Wayne wants me to terminate Brad immediately for assaulting you."
"Oh, no," groaned Clark. "Brad is really a good sports writer. He was just congratulating me for having a family. You know how Brad is where I'm concerned."
"I know that Brad is a bully who I should have terminated a long time ago. Mr. Wayne will finally do what I should have done."
"Please Perry, not on my account. I'm okay. Really, just wait. I'm sure that he will give you a better reason for termination than a slap on the back."
"You know Clark; you don't look that good to me. You're very pale. How is that back doing?" Perry stood up and Clark dropped his head mumbling that he was fine.
"Take off the jacket son." Clark reluctantly complied revealing a dress shirt heavily stained with fresh blood.
"Clark, you can't work like this. You need care and now."
"Please Perry, it's no big deal. I heal quickly and it's better than what it was yesterday." He put his jacket back on. "I just need to resume as normal a life as I can."
"No normal human being can walk around like this. Work through the day if you want to but you're going back out on sick leave until you're totally healed. I'm assigning you to obituaries. That will keep you indoors here where I can keep an eye on you. By the way, Mr. Wayne wants to see you in his office right now. I have not shared any sensitive information about your life or condition but he wants my input on your ability to work."
"What did you plan to tell him?" asked Clark looking at his feet.
"Look at me Clark! You're not Superman, at least not at the moment. I commend your dedication to your job but you still need time to heal. Go home; care for the kids. I'll never be this generous again."
"Okay Perry. I'll see you later." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shuffled to the elevator bank. He thought miserably that he was sending out bad vibes to the children so he better get his act together. Entering the elevator, he closed his eyes and took a few cleansing breathes, calming his racing heart. By time he reached the Administration floor, he felt sufficiently calm enough to face Bruce.
He knocked at a non-pretentious looking door and entered into a spacious secretarial office. Sandra Curry, Bruce's secretary at the Planet smiled at him as he crossed the carpeted floor. "Good morning Mr. Kent, Mr. Wayne has been waiting for you. Just wait here please."
Clark nodded affirmatively. Bruce came directly to the door. "Good morning Mr. Kent. I've been looking forward to seeing you. Sandra, please hold all calls and meetings. Please come in Mr. Kent."
"Yes sir Mr. Wayne."
Clark eased past Bruce as Bruce closed the door behind him.
"Sit down please Clark,' said Bruce pointing toward one of two easy chairs facing his desk. Bruce took a small device from an inner jacket pocket. He motioned to Clark to remain silent until the device was activated. Once the device glowed steadily he settled into the other chair and began the conversation.
"Welcome back Boy Scout. How are you doing?"
"You mean you haven't heard from Perry yet?" Clark glowered.
"I didn't ask Perry; I asked you! Shall we start again?" replied Bruce flatly.
"I'm sorry Bruce; the day isn't going as well as I thought it would. I guess I should follow Perry's suggestion and take a few more weeks.
"What do you want to do?" said Bruce intently.
"I want my old life back but that's not about to happen. Don't get me wrong, my children are wonderful but I'm having trouble with this fatherhood/motherhood thing."
"Oh, you'll get the hang of it soon enough but I'm concerned about your physical health. How's your back?"
"Perry just looked at it and he says that it's not too good. I haven't been able to tell. Everything still hurts."
"Let me take a look." Clark complied by removing his jacket and his dress shirt. "Clark, I'm no doctor but this is bad, really bad. Brad definitely didn't do this. You must have some kind of death wish coming back to work in this condition." Clark hung his head unable to look Bruce in the eye as he put his clothes back on. "That brings me to my next point. I heard from Emily Flowers, you know from Flowers Enterprises? She had nothing but praise for the young widower who tackled a thief who pinched her purse yesterday. Man, are you out of your mind?" Clark remained silent and closed his eyes waiting for the explosion. "Alright, you're an adult and you can decide how to spend your time but I am chief Raodetri (1) to your children. Therefore, the League and I agree on this next critical move in our roles as raodetrid and raomutrod. I invoke the Kyren (2) to assure the continuance of the House of El, the last of Krypton's great houses."
Clark's eyes opened wide and he was completely speechless. He smiled while responding to Bruce's invocation of the ancient Kryptonian law. "You can't do that Bruce. I'm the titular Chancellor of Krypton and can negate the Kyren at the behest of the head of the great House."
"I knew that would be your response so I researched Kryptonian history. The head of the Kryptonian archive, your mother, told me about how one of your ancient ancestors, Ban-El was removed by his younger brother Wir-El when Ban-El was injured during a hunting accident in the rainbow forest. Ban-El was Chancellor at that time."
"Looks like you've done your homework Darth. I knew I shouldn't have given you an access terminal to the Lara AI," Clark sighed.
"I'm glad that you did," replied Bruce. "You look like sh**. Any regular human looking that bad would be in a hospital. I'm just sending you home on paid personal leave for as much time as you need to completely recover."
"I guess I should thank you. I'll go home with the children in a few minutes." Clark eased up out of his chair and advanced toward the door.
"By the way Boy Scout, this is an intervention orchestrated by the entire Raohim3. We're taking turns sitting with you and the children. You're to stop fighting off the healing sleep process that you know your body needs to heal. The League is setting up a temporary med bay in the basement at your house where you can get the best possible medical treatment outside of Star Labs. While you're sleeping, a certain nurse-midwife/nurse practitioner will make sure that you remain hydrated and receive hyperalimentation. Your milk will be pumped to feed the babies. We worked as hard as we could to anticipate everything that you would need to heal while keeping the children safe. Beside, all of the patrol schedules have been adjusted so that your needs are met. I'm taking the first shift by driving you and the children home. By the way, you need to make sure that Alfred or I can pick up the children if you're out on a story."
Clark again was speechless. So many people, humans, were willing to make sacrifices for the survival of his species. "Thanks Bruce, I don't know what to say. I chose the Raohim (3) well. So Ceci (4) is joining this undertaking? She's got this thing about indwelling urinary catheters, you know?" he said with a shiver.
Bruce smirked, "you can take that point up with her but she's a formidable woman. Don't forget she's only looking after your best interest so I'm not getting into the middle of that discussion. I'll let Perry know that you're going straight home after you pick up the babies from day care. So, I'll meet you in the parking lot. After all, I've got to keep up my tough boss image; can't be seen fraternizing with the workers."
Clark retreated through the secretary's office returning to the bullpen. Stopping at Perry's office, he explained that Bruce extended his sick leave for an unlimited period so he would return home to further recuperate. "Okay Clark, good luck to you. Do you need anything from me before you leave?
Clark sighed, "No, it seems there is a conspiracy to make sure that I follow up on my health. The group is already waiting at my house. I'll just go home now. Will you make some excuse for my disappearance? I really don't want to concoct another alibi for them." He cocked his head toward the bullpen.
"Don't worry son, I'll cover your back. Good luck. Give me a call when you awaken from you healing sleep.
"I will." Clark's shoulders slumped as he again shuffled out of Perry's office to cross the bullpen. He stopped long enough at his desk to pick up his briefcase.
"Hey Kent, what's up with you man? You're not upset over the back slap?" This time, Brad crept up behind Clark and caught him around his waist lifting him off the floor.
Just then, Perry opened the blinds on his office window. Brad Huntley had just grabbed Clark around his waist. He cursed under his breath as he ran out of his office. "That's it Huntley. Your days of bullying staff are over," exclaimed Perry. "You're out of here. Get your stuff. Security will escort you out."
Both Brad and Clark looked shocked at Perry's actions. "You can't terminate me. I'm the best sportswriter you have," smirked Brad while putting Clark down.
"We'll simply muddle on without you. Security, escort Mr. Huntley off the premises. Clark, you go on with what you need to do." Security escorted Brad to his desk to collect his property while Clark proceeded to the day care center.
Upon arrival, Mrs. Rosemont had the twins dressed and ready to leave. "Hello Mr. Kent. I received a call from Mr. White's secretary that you would be leaving early today. I hope everything is alright. After all, they've only been here for two hours."
Clark smiled faintly while the twins babbled and gurgled at the sound of his voice. "Everything is going to be alright Mrs. Rosemont. We'll be back in a few days. I hope they weren't a problem to you?"
"They were very good Mr. Kent, like two precious little gems; no trouble at all."
Clark thought to himself that Mrs. Rosemont didn't know just how precious and miraculous all his children were. "Come on guys, let's go home." He picked up Karala first and cradled her in the crook of his arm. She immediately tried to root to his breast through his suit jacket.
"My, my, she has a strong rooting reflex for a bottle fed baby. After all, males don't nurse babies," said Mrs. Rosemont laughingly. She picked up Jordan who was napping lightly.
If only she knew, thought Clark as he placed his squirming daughter into the carrier. He looked up at Mrs. Rosemont and smiled. "Don't worry; I'll feed her as soon as we get home." He took his sleeping son and secured him into his carrier. Within minutes, he entered the elevator and arrived in the subterranean garage. As he approached his SUV, Bruce emerged from the shadows.
"It took you long enough Boy Scout." Bruce cooed to Karala with a gruff voice. He carefully lifted her carrier out of the stroller frame.
"I had another run-in with Brad when I returned to the bullpen," was Clark's answer as he struggled to remove Jordan's carrier from the stroller frame.
"I've told Perry to terminate him. He's a bully and negatively impacts staff morale. I may need to terminate him myself," as he eased Clark out of the way to smoothly remove Jordan's carrier from the stroller. "You're having problems with your strength aren't you," said Bruce only loud enough for Clark to hear.
Clark avoided Bruce's question. "Don't worry about Brad. Perry finally terminated him as I was leaving."
"What finally convinced Perry to do it? By the way, I'll drive."
Clark frowned, "Brad tackled and lifted me off the floor while I was on my way to the elevator. If Perry had not walked into the bullpen when he did, I'm sure Brad would have body slammed me to the floor. I just never heard him behind me."
"Well, that just confirms what we all thought. Get yourself mentally prepared to sleep for a few days Boy Scout. Your friends will take care of everything else."
Clark lay back gingerly in the front passenger's seat and closed his eyes while Karala wailed to be fed. "This is going to be a very long day." Bruce just mumbled as he drove Clark's SUV out of the garage.
Meanwhile, in New York City, in a sub-basement conference room of the United Nations building.
Agent Peter Thornton looked over the oval conference table with its fifteen plush chairs. Each member of the UN Security Council sent a representative. Two assistants distributed bound folders to each place with the word CONFIDENTIAL, prominently displayed diagonally across each cover. He knew that his presentation would be a bombshell to the Security Council members but his information was incontrovertible. The conference participants filed quickly and noisily into the room. The current President of the Security, the Ambassador from Russia called the meeting to order. He leaned forward and spoke into his microphone while putting on his translation headphones.
"Good morning fellow members. Thank you for responding quickly to this meeting. We have a presentation from the author of this confidential report, Agent Thornton of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. I present to you Agent Thornton."
He took a deep breath and walked confidently to the front of the conference room. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending this meeting. Needless to say, everything you will see and hear today must be kept completely confidential from the press until announced by the Secretary General and the respective leaders of each country. I was charged to investigate a number of missing persons from the time that the renegade Kryptonians, General Zod, Ursa and Non, attempted to take over this planet. The investigation took me to six sites where large numbers of mostly female bodies were unearthed. The first sites were in Great Britain, near London, in Paris, France and Beijing, China. There was a new site near Lagos, Nigeria and the largest site was in Metropolis, United States. There were well over 300 female bodies as of this report and 34 male bodies. We estimated that the ages of this group was between 18 years and 26 years of age. All of the females were brutally raped and impregnated with alien DNA. The female bodies all harbored an alien embryo in various stages of development. So far autopsies on the remains indicate that the cause of death was crushing pressure to the pelvic organs causing massive hemorrhage, a slow pain death. We found the remnants of a substance they were fed. It's believed that the substance accelerated the growth and development of the embryos. Necropsies performed on the embryos confirm that the DNA was from two different males. Kryptonian males."
The room erupted into loud yells with each participant demanding to have his or her question answered. "Agent Thornton," asked the representative from Great Britain, "what about the male bodies? How did they die?"
He cast his eyes downward. "As far we can tell, they were all castrated then their throats and skulls were crushed."
The representative from the United States then stood up to ask her question. "Agent Thornton, where are the Kryptonians now?
"They died about three years ago. It seems that the low grade Kryptonite exposure which we used to keep them under control weakened them sufficiently to cause them to contract a terrestrial disease to which they had no immunity, namely influenza. We collected tissue specimens from the three dead Kryptonians and confirmed the DNA of the males. We were able to isolate the female Kryptonian's DNA on all of the dead males. When I started this investigation, prior to the death of the Kryptonians, I questioned Zod concerning the disappearances. He admitted their involvement and even told me about the sites in Nigeria and China. So I asked him, why? He looked at me with cold eyes and said that Kryptonians are as far beyond humans as humans are beyond apes. We were expendable lab animals needed only to incubate a new army for them. He said and I quote, 'Just consider us to be the next step in human evolution. We planned to harvest the embryos and accelerate their growth using advanced Kryptonian technology in Kal-El's fortress.'"
I asked him how many human-Kryptonian hybrids did they attempt. He just laughed a cold and sinister laugh. He didn't know. He said that he stopped to capture Kal-El because his was the best of all Kryptonian DNA. If he could get Kal-El to swear fealty to Zod, this planet would be theirs. As Zod was taken back to his cell, I could hear him yell, this is not yet over.
Again, the room erupted into a roar of questions. The representative of China stated, "You said that the renegade Kryptonians are dead so it is over is it not?"
"With all due respect, sir, it is not over. We don't know how many human-Kryptonian hybrids survived and walk this planet. By now, they would be between seven and eight years old. Then, there is Superman. He should have delivered his child by now. So far, he has not resurfaced with his child. That would mean that there are at least two Kryptonians on our planet. That means there are two Kryptonians too many for our world.
The Security Council president pounded his gavel to get the attention of the group members. "Agent Thornton, what are your recommendations?"
"Sir, I believe that the alien threat to this planet is too great. We've seen that with the renegade Kryptonians and most recently by the abuse of advanced Kryptonian technology. I suggest that we eliminate the threat to our species by capturing Superman and his offspring for sterilization at best or termination at worst."
The meeting went completely silent. Agent Thornton dropped his bomb. It was now time for the Security Council to decide on a plan of action. The Russian Ambassador thanked him for the presentation and adjourned the meeting for private discussions. A decision would be made by the end of the day. Agent Thornton only hoped that the Council would make what he considered to be the right decision for the sake of this planet.
Meanwhile, Clark dozed fitfully while Bruce drove him and the twins home, Karala's wailing and Bruce's muttering peppered the air around him. Little did he know what transpired at the United Nations concerning his future.
To be continued… Please, please review.
1 Raodetri (raodetrid, pl.) is the Kryptonian name roughly translated godfather while raomutro (raomutrod, pl.) is translated to be godmother.
2 The Kyren is the process of removing the incapacitated head of a great House to preserve and protect the heirs and assets of that House. The Kyren can only be invoked by a majority of the acknowledged Raohim.
3 The Raohim are the collective raodetrid and raomutrod for a Kryptonian child. There is a chief Raodetri and chief Raomutro for a child. When the Kyren is declared, they have complete responsibility for the offspring of the great House even overruling the child's blood relatives. This is to minimize the risk of family members eliminating any competition to becoming the next head of the great house.
4 Cecilia (Ceci) Woods was introduced in "What Sacrifices…" She is the nurse-midwife now nurse practitioner who provided care to Clark during his pregnancy.
