Kal-El floated silently in space. A single thought on his mind as he rested on the edge of the Earth's atmosphere: why?
Why oh, why did he fight them? That was so foolish. It was foolish and arrogant, and reckless and-,
Wait. What do you have to be sorry for? They attacked you remember?
Yes, they fired the first shot. Kal-El was just trying to protect himself.
And what about Lex? You were just trying to help out weren't you?
Clark didn't understand. He didn't know what Lex was capable of. The horrors he'd commit. He wasn't their enemy why couldn't they see that?
Because they don't want to. They just want to hunt you, to kill you. They're afraid of you. Why else would Oliver still have an arsenal of green kryptonite arrows when his so-called friend is the only Kryptonian left of the planet? Why else Clark, one the few survivors of a nearly extinct alien race, be so aggressive toward one of his own. If they want a fight, if they want something to fear…No.
Kal-El blinked rapidly as a dull throbbing began behind his eyes, his hand finding its way to the golden ring on his finger. He didn't come here for a fight; he came for a Christmas Miracle. She was counting on him. Lex may not have kept it on the main LexCorp servers, but he knew where he knew where the Luthors liked to hide their secrets.
"How many times are going to watch that?"
Lois kept her eyes glued on the computer screen as she watched Kal-El set the building ablaze with his heat vision. "Until I find what I'm looking for cuz."
"And what is that exactly?"
"I don't know Chloe," Lois huffed "Something that's going to make sense about this whole Commander Kal-El thing."
"What's there to figure out Lois?" Chloe didn't know what Lois was wracking her brain looking for. Kal-El was nuts.
"Like why he's here?" Lois offered "Chloe I can't explain it, but my gut says that something's not right about this."
"Doesn't matter," Oliver snapped as he and Clark returned to Watchtower. He was anxious to take another shot at the man after his wife. "Chloe, any trace of Kal-El?"
"I haven't been able to get a lock on the Blur phone but I was able to find out who else Kal-El called with it," she offered. "A registered French number in Paris, he left a voicemail."
"Who did he call?" Clark asked.
Chloe's voice faltered. "Lana Lang."
Clark winced as he thought of the woman he'd loved for most of his life. "Can you play the message?"
"Yeah, no problem," said Chloe.
"Lana? It's me." Kal-El's voice was nervous and weary."I didn't get to say goodbye the last time we saw each other," he reminded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to say it now.""Since I was a boy, you were the girl of my dreams. The only one that I could see spending the rest of my life with, the only woman I could ever imagine being in love with." Clark was surprised by how much Kal-El's thoughts matched his own. "You were my first love," he said "and I wanted you to be the one. Even though it didn't work out between us Lana, I just want you to know that if I had a chance to do it all over again, knowing how it would end between us," Kal-El's voice broke. He took a shaky breath. "I just want you to know that I'd do it all over again. I wouldn't change a thing. You will always be my first love, the one that taught me how to love, and what it feels like to be loved. You will always be in my heart," Kal-El promised "Because you're a part of me. I put some flowers on your parents' graves," he told her "I owned it to them. After all, they gave me you. I wish nothing but the best Merry Christmas Lana."
The audio track stopped, but Clark was still a mile away. His thoughts were lost to his time with Lana, and how things had ended between them, shocked by the sentiment in Kal-El's voice. He was brought back to reality by his wife's voice.
"You okay, Smallville?" Lois asked.
Clark cleared his throat. "I'm fine," he said, but he wasn't quite sure. "Chloe didn't Kal-El say something about the Smallville cemetery?"
"Yeah, he said he left flowers on the Lang graves."
"I'll be right back."
Clark super sped to the cemetery. He didn't know why, but he felt like Kal-El wouldn't just leave flowers for Lana's parents. Assuming he told Tess the truth when he said he was once Clark Kent. Sure enough there were flowers on the graves of Lewis and Laura Lang. The bright red roses stood out against the freshly fallen snow. Clark began to look around, searching for more clues. He followed a set of footprints to his father's grave.
So he was Clark Kent, he thought. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. He bent down to look at the hole the roses sat in. Clark's brow furrowed. Why were there two holes? He looked closer, and Clark balled his fist when he realized what Kal-El done.
"What do you mean you don't think he's dangerous?" Chloe couldn't believe what her cousin had just said.
"Exactly what I said."
"Lois this guy is dangerous," Oliver insisted "He's after Chloe, he brainwashed Tess, he wanted to use you as bait. He burned down a building! What more proof do you need?"
Lois huffed. They didn't see it, the hollow look in his eyes. "Oliver, I saw Kal-El, talked to him, and Commander or not, that man didn't look like he could hurt a fly."
Oliver scoffed. "Yeah that's because you lost in his big old-," He stopped when he saw her husband walk in.
"Clark where were you?" Lois asked.
He said nothing. Clark just sat down at Chloe's coffee table and locked fingers together. His face set in a deep scowl. "Where's Kal-El?"
"He went off the grid after he called Lana," Tess informed "But we'll know if he makes another call."
"Find him," Clark ordered. "We need to stop him before he does any more damage."
"Good to know not everyone's lost their minds," Oliver grunted "By the way you're wife's defending him."
Clark glared at her. "What?"
Lois calmed herself. Stress was not good for her right now. "All I'm saying Smallville is that this guy hasn't done anything, and you guys are already to send a super powered mob after him."
"Lois, Kal-El burned down a building," Clark was trying his level best not to yell at her. After what he'd just seen, Clark was ready to beat Kal-El to a pulp.
"Yeah, a building that had no people in it," she reminded "And guess what Clark, it was scheduled for demolition, just like Kal-El said. I checked on Chloe's computer after you left." Lois glanced at everyone in the room. "Guys, he picked that building on purpose; So that no innocent people would get up hurt."
"He drugged Tess. He's out there planning God knows what so he get his hands on Chloe, your cousin," He was yelling now. Clark couldn't help it. This was just too much to hear his wife defending a monster. "And he was going to use you to do it!"
"So why didn't he?" Lois shouted back. "Why didn't he just scoop me up and take me away when we were alone on the roof, instead of telling me he couldn't live without me and he didn't know who he was without me?" Her voice leveled. "Why did he call me an angel? You didn't see that look in his eyes Clark. It wasn't the look of some villain with a master plan. It was a look I've seen only on your face. At your father's funeral and when Alicia Backer died."
Clark winced in his heart when Lois said that name.
"Who's Alicia Baker?" Tess asked.
"Alicia was one of Clark's girlfriends from high school," Chloe informed. "She was murdered by a guy named Tim Westcott."
"I'm sorry. '
"He made her out to be obsessive killer. Then he hanged her and killed her." Clark slumped back down into his seat. "No one believed Alicia was innocent," his voice was a whisper. "Not even me." Clark looked up from the coffee table. "He left flowers for her."
"Who?" Lois asked.
"Kal-El. He left Alicia flowers when he visited the cemetery." Clark ground his teeth. "He even had the nerve to leave ones on my dad's too."
"Smallville, what are you talking about?"
"He took it Lois."
Clark wasn't making any sense. "Who took what?"
"Kal-El stole my father's watch." Clark rubbed his hands in frustration "I buried it with my dad a couple years ago, and Kal-El dug it out and left bunch roses. So maybe you're right Lois and he isn't as dangerous as we think. But Kal-El had no right to take that watch," he told her sharply "And I am going to get it back."
Lois placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, desperate for him to hear her through his pain. He didn't see the look in Kal-El's eyes. "He's not a monster Clark. Monsters don't hope for Christmas miracles."
Clark sighed. "Any sign of Kal-El yet Chloe?"
"Not yet, wait I got him."
"Finally," Oliver groaned "Some action."
"Where is he?" Clark asked.
"He's still in Europe. Martian Manhunter spotted him in Russia headed for a LexCorp facility in Zuric.
Clark flew to the Zuric facility as fast as he could, his heart sinking when he spotted what could only be the aftermath of a massive explosion. As he touched down on the center of the wreckage, Clark spotted Dinah and Zatanna leading the evacuation. "Glad you could make it," Zatanna greeted, her clothes and face covered in dirt and soot. "Your doppelganger sure knows how to make an exit."
"Is everyone alright?"
"No civilian casualties so far," Dinah revealed "but Martian Manhunter and Aquaman are still missing."
"Get the civilians out of here. I'll get the others." Clark quickly sprang into action, searching the wreckage for any signs of his missing friends. John and Arthur didn't do good with fire and Clark didn't like the look of these flames. Clark was just starting to get worried when he spotted a familiar flash of orange and green in the rubble. "AC!"
He groaned as Clark pulled him out of the rubble. "You're double's got a mean left hook," he groaned, his face disfigured by a large bruise under his eye.
"Where's John?"
"Last time I saw him Kal-El was him and Z around like a couple of ragdolls. I'll help you look for him."
Clark caught Arthur as he struggled to rise to his feet. "I'll find John. But first, I'm going to get you checked out." Clark carried Arthur to the evacuation site, circling back to search for his missing friend. Fire was a Martian's kryptonite, if he was too close when the blast went off…. "John!" Clark was amazed Martian Manhunter in one piece, walking through the wreckage without so much as a scratch on him. "You had us worried for a minute."
"The others?"
"All safe and accounted for," Clark looked around at the damage in disgust. "Kal-El did all this?"
"No not Kal-El."
45 minutes ago
John led the group of heroes through the battered halls of the LexCorp facility, the halls battle-damaged by fist marks with the destructive power of cannon blasts. "It appears that the doppelganger is no practitioner of restraint."
"Do we even know what he's after?" Zatanna asked.
"Watchtower understands that they are after something called a Christmas Miracle."
"What does that mean?"
"I do not know." John looked around at the damage "He seems to be targeting LexCorp facilities."
"You think that Lex might have something to do with his Christmas Miracle?"
"Perhaps."
"If Kal-El wants to stick it to Lex, I say we help him" Arthur glanced around at the intense wreckage "Anyone that can do this kind of damage to Lex can't be all bad."
"This guys also wants Chloe," Dinah reminded "helping him might not be the best idea."
"Yeah but what?" Zatanna repeated "What could this guy possibly be looking for that counts for a Christmas Miracle in another dimension?"
John paused. "You may be able to ask him yourself."
Kal-El stood over an computer in a battered room, the security and staff all out cold. "Nothing. There's nothing here!" In a fit of rage, Kal-El smashed the computer with his bare hands, turning it into rubble in a matter of seconds."
"You seem to be far more temper mental than your double."
Blinking, Kal-El turned around and stared at the Martian in astonishment. "John."
"You seemed surprised. Why?"
"Because the last I saw you was at your burial," Kal-El swallowed a growing lump in his throat. "One of the benefits of traveling dimensions, I suppose. You get to be reunited with the people you thought you'd never see again. I guessing my double sent you?"
"We were in the neighborhood," Zatanna replied casually "thought we'd drop by and spread a little Christmas spirit."
"I have done nothing to you people," Kal-El reminded sharply "why can't you just leave me alone?"
"You tried to put Lex in an alien prison," Dinah reminded "kind of goes against the hero code."
"Luthor is a monster" Kal-El growled "in every sense of the word. And if you don't open your eyes, he will turn your world into a nightmare that you can never escape. Do you even have any idea where you're standing?" he questioned "how many innocent men and women lost their lives her while Lex was trying to play-,?" Kal-El cut himself off as he blinked slowly, gently rubbing his temple "it appears… that Luthor doesn't have the key to my Christmas Mircale. I'll have to see Chloe after all."
"Not going to happen." Without hesitation, Dinah readied her Canary cry, only to have Kal-El speed over and clamp his hand over his throat, lifting her effortlessly off the ground.
"You have a lovely voice Laurel," Kal-El praised "however," with inhuman strength, Kal-El threw Dinah across the room with ease, sending her crashing into a row of computers "I'm afraid my ears can't take those high notes." John and Zatanna were the next to attack, Zatanna and preparing a spell while, her eyes turning a bluish indigo while John charged at super speed. They didn't stand a chance.
Kal-El grabbed John by the hem of his coat, spinning him around and hurling him straight into Zatanna, sending the two of them barreling into a wall. With a disapproving glare, Kal-El turned his attention to the king of the sea. "Is the part where go running off with your fin between your legs?"
"Nope." To prove his point, Arthur attacked, only to have Kal-El catch his fist with ease.
"The Aquaman of my world could learn a thing or two from you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Two years ago, my world broke out into all-out war. The government putting a target on anyone with powers or a mask," Kal-El growled as he went on, his grip on Arthur's fist tightening "and when the public learned of the Atlanteans, the Arthur Curry of my world ran straight for the bottom of the sea!" Enraged, Kal-El slammed his fist into Arthur's jaw, his ears ringing as he staggered back. Arthur swung blindly, his wild blow easily blocked "Think of all the live he could've saved," Kal-El countered, punching Arthur in the stomach, knocking the air leaving his body in a gust of wind. "all the dark days that could've had a different outcome," he hit Arthur in the face again, the Atlantean staggering back as his vision blurred "think of all the friends he could've kept out of the ground!" he hit Arthur harder than ever then, sending the king of the sea straight through a wall, knocking him out cold.
Kal-El stood over the now unconscious Arthur in a state of shock, a dull throbbing returning behind his eyes. He hadn't meant to hit AC that hard… Suddenly, the pain in his head intensified, magnifying until it felt like hot burning needles were poking at his brain. "I must admit, your mental barriers are some the finest I've seen," John praised, walking over as Kal-El keeled over in pain "my counterpart taught you well. But like the human tale of Jericho can testify, even the mightiest wall may fall."
Kal-El looked and glared at John in fury, sparks of heat vision dancing in his eyes. "Get out of my head."
Just then, a strange metal object flew past the two aliens, the light shimmering off its razor sharp edge. Kal-El recognized it immediately. It whizzed past them, slicing through the air as it headed for a lead lined wall. John paled as it ruptured a gas main, the life draining flames erupting in seconds. Then everything went black.
"How is everyone?"
Clark went down to meet Oliver as soon as he arrived, the two leaders of the League, surveying the scene "AC took the worst of it. But so far, no lives lost."
"Kal-El's going to pay for this."
"This wasn't him. Someone else was here." Clark's grip tightened on the metal object in his hand "Someone from Kal-El's world."
"Please tell me you don't think Lois might be right about this one."
"Wouldn't be the first time."
Oliver sighed. "Did John get anything when he looked in Kal-El's mind? Anything about what his Christmas Miracle might be?" Oliver's voice darkened "or why he's after my wife?"
Clark paused before answering "All he saw was pain."
"Oh well, that's reassuring," Oliver commented. "What about our mystery man?"
Clark shook his head. "He didn't even know he was there. Whoever did this was able to sneak up them without as much as a trace. Except this," Clark handed Oliver a small metal object "I found it at the center of the blast. John said it's what ruptured the gas main."
Oliver frowned as he studied it closely "The metal's used in throwing knives. Military. High-grade. But the shape... I've never seen anything like this."
"But Kal-El has. We find Kal-El, we find our mystery man. I'll meet you back at Watchtower."
Oliver nodded as Clark flew off, the object still on his mind as he entered the jet. What kind of nut would carve throwing knives in the shape of a bat?
