"LUCY!"
Lois ran into the kitchen as fast as she possibly could. Although it wasn't a very long trip, by the time she stopped in front of Lucy, who was cracking eggs into a bowl on the counter, her heart was beating a mile a minute. She stopped on a dime and didn't even take a moment to catch her breath.
"What's the matter?" Lucy asked, concerned.
"Clark...taken...knocked out..." Lois said, barely able to speak.
"Slow down, Lois." Lucy said calmly, as Lois struggled to control her racing heart. "That's it...breathe...now tell me what happened?"
"It's Clark...These guys in masks...they knocked him out...took him away."
"Guys in masks?" Lucy said, skeptical. Lois could not speak any more, so she grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her to the door, which was wide open now, revealing a fire that the kidnappers had started only a few feet away from the barn, threatening to ignite it at any moment. A slimy, green liquid dripped off the doormat and was slowly being soaked into the earth, but this shred of evidence eluded the women's gazes, as they quickly ran to contain the fire that was an obvious sign of foul play.
Lois ran to the garden, as Lucy pounded the flames with her shoes. Lois returned with ahose, which she used to douse the fire. Once it was succesfully put out, a more shocking piece of evidence came into plain view.
The fire had left a scar on the earth in the shape of a diamond, inside of which was a small, silver envelope. Lucy gasped and stepped back, while Lois took the opposite route and reached to pick up the envelope. Tapping it with her fingers, she determined that it was not too hot, and carefully lifted it off the ground. To her suprise, it was actually quite cold. Her hands trembling, Lois showed the envelope to Lucy. "Do you know what this is?"
Lucy's closed her eyes momentarily. "Y-yes."
"Well what is it?"
"Just open it..."
Lois followed her directions and delicately pulled off the flap that held the contents of the envelope. She reached inside, and was suprised to pull out a square piece of metal, no bigger than her palm. It was perfectly flat and smooth, with no words or markings on it. Lois eyed it strangely, turning it over in her hand a few times to make sure that she wasn't missing something. "Why would they leave us a piece of scrap metal?"
Without warning, Lucy grabbed the metal from Lois and slammed it on the floor, cracking it in half. Lois looked at her in shock. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"Wait for it..." was Lucy's reply.
A second or two later, the metal glowed a bright white, and a stream of light emanated from the midpoint of the metal. Lois was even more confused now, seeing that the light coming from it was just a thin ray, bearing no information and seeming to be absolutely useless, aside from being a good reading light. Lucy noticed her expression, and pulled her over 90 degrees from where they were standing, where the thin stream of light was revealed to be a flat hologram, apparently visible from only one side.
If they thought that the day could not possiblly get any weirder, the contents of the glowing message scrolling up before them confirmed that their fun had only just begun.
To whom it may concern:
By decree of Kal-El, Emperor of the planet Earth and it's surrounding satellites, Mr. Clark Kent, who was found to be residing at 100-07 Sunset Road, Smallville, Kansas, was taken into custody on March 21st, 2056 at 7:07 AM for the immenent threat he posed to the Empire, the details of which are confidential and will not be disclosed until a future time. He is being held at the Imperial Palace and is scheduled to be released on Date Unknown.
Sincerely,
The Office for the Ensurement of the Security of the People.
Arthur A. Fox, Chairman
This message will now end transmission.
And the hologram faded away. Lucy picked up the metal hologram projector, which was now charred and black, and sliiped it into her back pocket. "We won't be needing this anymore."
"Lucy! We have to go help Clark!"
"Are you crazy? Let the government take care of him...it's not our problem anymore."
"Yes it is! Clark's still my friend, and I doubt that the government would capture him like a prisoner if he were really as evil as you say he is! Clark, at least Imy/I Clark, is still the same goofy farmboy we all know and love, and I'm not gonna let him get hurt!"
"You're crazy, you know that?" Lucy said.
"Which would mean that technically you are, too. Where's the car?"
"In the garage, but--"
Lucy couldn't finish her statement, because Lois was already running over to the garage to get the hovercar. "It's not gonna help!" Lucy shouted. "Even if you manage to find him, you'll never be able to break him out!"
"Maybe, but I have to try," Lois whispered to herself. She was now strapping herself in the front seat. But one look at the many buttons and dials glowing on the dashboard and she found herself scratching her head, trying to remember how Lucy did it yesterday. On a whim, she picked a promising looking red button, and pressed it. The car sprang to life, but began speeding backwards, until it crashed through the garage and stopped when it sensed the collision. Lois was fine, aside from being a bit shaken up, but the garage was in much worse shape. Lucy ran over.
"You idiot!" Lucy yelled.
"Yes, Lucy, I'm fine. Thank you for asking." Lois said sarcastically, massaging her neck
"I didn't want to come with you, but you're obviously not gonna back down, and I can't exactly let you kill yourself in this thing. I can't let you go out in those clothes either...Get in the house and change. And II'm/I driving."
I'Hello Clark. It's been a long time...'
This isn't happening. This can't possibily be happenning. There is no where in hell that this is happening. I gotta pinch myself and wake up...nope still here. Crap. Super crap. Crap with a cherry on top.../I
"Clark?"
Clark snapped out of it. He had been staring straight at his future self, not realizing that it had been about a minute since Kal-El had addressed him initially. Clark came extremely close to punching him in the face, but his body was still too weak to make any sort of damage. So he simply tried as hard as he could not to faint.
"Sit down. You must be tired." Clark followed his orders, figureing that now would be a bad time to rock the boat. The seat was rather uncomfortable, as if to send a message that nobody was really 'welcome' in this office. Kal-El reached under his desk, and Clark tensed up, ready to bolt. But he pulled out not kryptonite, not even a gun, but a bowl filled with colorfully wrapped chocolate kisses. "Have some candy...you look like you could use it..."
Clark eyed him strangely, thinking that this kind gesture seemed out of character for the dictator. He took a chocolate out of courtesy, but did not eat it, since his suspicions were still high. Kal-El seemed to read his mind, shrugged, and popped a candy into his mouth.
"Why am I here?" Clark asked. It wasn't the foremost question on his mind, but asking 'How the hell did you manage to knock me out and carry me here and why the heck do you keep choclate kisses under your desk and what the hell is wrong with you anyway!' seemed too heavy for a first request.
Kal-El laughed. He seemed amused by Clark's cluelessness, as though he remembered the time when he was a young, stupid, major-league boy scout.
"Well that's quite a complicated question. If you want to know why you're in this time period, I brought you here. If you want to know why you're in my office, it's because I wanted to see you...me...again. What's wrong with that?"
"And why is Lois here? She has nothing to do with any of this!" Clark was getting angry now.
"It's not my fault you two went for a joyride at the exact moment that I sent out the time machine. At least you have company." Kal-El smiled. He did have an ulterior motive for sending Lois to the future. She was gorgeous, and he still loved her to death. He figured that having Lois' younger, less Iangry/I version around the palace would be nice on those lonely Metropolis nights. Hey, dictators need love, too.
Kal-El snapped out of his reverie as he overheard Clark mutter "Asshole," under his breath, and remembered why exactly he had brought Clark here.
"You're so young, full of energy, trying to do what's best for the world. Don't you think I feel the same way? People need guidance, Clark, and that's exactly what I'm doing here with this government. Guiding the humans to a greater good. That's all I ever wanted to do, isn't that what you want, too?"
"Not if it means Imurdering/I innocent people whose 'crime' was getting in your way! You killed your friends and family, do you have ANY remorse?" Clark shot back. He didn't buy Kal-El's speech for a second.
"A few must be sacrificed for the good of the many."
"What kind of crackpot philosophy is that! You're a tyrant! You rule by fear and intimidation! What kind of empire is that?"
"It is better to be feared than loved. Machievelli said that."
"I goddamn know who said it! I took high school history! And I know enough about it to say that no dictatorship lasts forever! Sure, it may work for a while, but eventually you'll get cocky, and you'll get overthrown! It's not gonna last forever...IKal/I.
Kal-El seemed unfazed. "IAu contrare/I, my naive friend. Such limitations only hold to humans. One human is no different than another, they're all on level ground, so to speak. It's easy for one human to overthrow another. But you and I both know that we are much more than human. We're above these mud-dwellers, and we can control them forever."
"IWe/I? I'll never be like you..."
"I beg to differ. I'm still sitting here aren't I?" Kal-El answered, his voice aloof and apathetic. His very tone made Clark simmer even more.
"How did this happen to me?" Clark said, addressing himself more than Kal-El, but still expecting some sort of explanation as to how he had changed so much.
"What would be the fun in telling you that? Then you could just go and stop it! I won't tell you, at least not yet. You're too corrupted by the humans right now."
"You heartless bastard! You're sitting here on your high horse, spitting out proverbs like you were a damn fortune cookie, and you're so stuck up that you can't even see the amount of lives you've ruined! The amount of people you've stepped on and used to get to where you are now! Do you have any guilt at all?"
"Emotions are for the weak. I realize that I'm much better off without them."
"What the heck are you talking about? You can't get rid of emotions? Or are you too blinded by power to even Ifeel/I anymore?" Clark shouted. He was enraged.
Kal-El simply stared in silence, which infuriated Clark more. "ANSWER ME!" He shouted. Kal-El seemed unfazed. Clark was steaming by now. Kal-El looked at his watch, and then spoke to Clark.
"5...4...3...2..1.."
Almost on cue, Clark began convulsing. He fell on the floor, writhing in pain, but unable to scream. His insides were on fire, and his body moved involuntarily, but he sensed every motion with an enhanced sense of his own body, serving to increase the pain even further.
"Timed kryptonite injection," Kal-El said indifferently. "Delayed so that every hour or so, you'll be pumped with a fresh dose of our little green friend. Not quite strong enough to kill you, but it hurts like hell, and one injection can last for weeks. I Ido/I have an antidote, if you'll agree to stay with me and train under my leadership, so that when I send you back home you'll be fit and ready to rule. Everybody wins! Deal?"
The pain was intensifying with every moment. Before he fell unconcious, Clark mustered all his remaining energy and said, quite simply, "Screw you."
Lucy and Lois, who now both wore the national uniform sped over the fields of Kansas. Lucy drove with a recklessness that stemmed out of her urgency to get to Clark. Well, more like Lois' urgency, as she was constantly pestering Lucy to go faster and shouting at her periodically. Lucy was beginning to feel remorseful about sending Clark away. She knew that Clark had no idea of what he was destined to be; His reactions when she told him the news were genuine.
"Can't you go any faster?" Lois asked. Her hands clung to the seat, and she tapped her feet in impatience.
"There is something called the speed of sound, Lois. I don't think it's wise to go faster than it."
"Who needs sound anyway? I just need to get to Clark as soon as possible."
"You really care for him, don't you?"
Lois thought about it for a moment. As annoying as he was, she cared for him a lot. But she was too worried to focus on her emotions at the moment, so she pushed them to the back of her mind and focused on one thing.
Getting to Clark.
They were coming in over Metropolis now. Dodging buildings, pedestrians, and other vehicles, Lucy clung to the wheel and floored the gas, propelling them through the city at incredible speeds. Lois was too frightened of crashing to even move.
They stopped on a dime in front of a building in the center of the city, causing Lois and Lucy to jerk fowards from the inertia. Once they recovered, the sized up the structure that lay before them. The building stood alone amidst a quarter mile of freshly cut grass and bright gardens. The building was a stark contrast to its warm surroundings, as it was completely black and extended even higher (if that was even possible) than the rest of the skyscrapers in the city. It was quite a spectacle, attracting droves of camera-toting tourists, who 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' at it's presence. Lois thought it looked like a horrible giant box marring an otherwise pretty landscape.
"We're here," Lucy announced.
"Where exactly Iare/I we?"
"The Imperial Palace. This is where Clark is."
"IThis/I is the Imperial Palace? It looks like a warehouse." Lois replied.
"I know. I hate it too. Can't say much for Kal-El's taste in architecture."
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you." Lois began. "Why does Clark call himself Kal-El in the future?"
Lucy sighed. "It's a long story. Come on, we have to get inside."
Lois and Lucy left the hovercar in an empty parking space, and walked towards the palace. Lois was scared, and her mannerisms betrayed her hidden fear, as she looked around nervously and crossed her arms to her chest, as though she was trying to protect herself. Lucy, on the other hand, held her head up high as she strolled galantly to the door, where she confronted a guard at the door. Although the guard was a tall, burly man, at least a foot taller than the women and holding a gun, Lucy seemed confident as she stood in front of him.
"And who might you be ma'am?" the guard asked, almost trying to intimidate Lucy. "This sector's off limits to the general public."
Lucy was not alarmed, and very calmly pulled a slip out of her pocket, and flashed it at the guard. He scanned it with a strange machine hanging from his belt, and stepped aside, letting the two women pass through, without so much as an escort. When they were safely out of view of the guard, they slipped into a corner and sprinted down the hallway
"What just happened?" Lois asked Lucy, still running.
"Perks of being married to the Emperor, even if we are separated right now." Lucy said. She was running right along with Lois, keeping up the pace. She was in terrific shape for a woman her age, and Lois was thoroughly impressed.
They stopped when they reached an elevator, and casually stepped inside. The guard inside the elevator looked at them suspiciously. "Which floor?" he asked, as standard procedure.
"114th Central"
"May I see your permit?"
Lucy took out her wallet and reached inside, removing a small white card. She handed it over to the guard, who scanned it over, and pressed a button on the elevator. It traveled upwards and, to Lois' suprise, sideways as well. Her stomach tumbled at the unusual sensation, and she was relieved when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Once they left the elevator, Lucy took Lois' hand and pulled her closer to her. Whispering in Lois' ear, she said "Don't speak at all. Don't even breathe. Just follow me. And if you see Clark, just tap me on the shoulder. But let me do Iall/I the talking.
114th Central was located in the center of the building, and was absolutely off limits to visitors, not to mention most personnel. It was the containment ward for all political prisoners. Their quarters were dark and musty, with crude steel bars locking the men and women inside like animals. Most of the prisoners here were very well to do individuals, often educated and extremely intelligent. It was for this reason that they were viewed as a threat to the Empire, and were incarcerated. Some had managed to escape from their cells, but none made it past the first elevator, where they were shot and killed. The Empire had destroyed more great minds than was probably wise, and cynics secretly called it "The Dimwit Empire," seeing as the government had managed to place most of the intelligent citizens in jail. Kal-El did not care--in his opinion, he was smart enough to do all the thinking for the world.
Lois and Lucy came across yet another guard who asked them for papers. "Which cell are you looking for?" he asked.
"The cell that holds Mr. Clark Kent." Lois said. Lucy glared at her, but the damage was already done, and Lucy attempted to recover.
"He's of no personal interest to us, really. Kal-El just asked me to check up on him. I'm Kal-El's wife."
The guard looked at her papers again to check, and, seeing who she really was, backed off. "He's down the hallway, the cell all the way back there." He pointed to two silver doors at the end of the hallway. The women thanked the guard, and walked over to the giant doors. Lois tugged fiercely at the handle, but the door wouldn't budge. Lucy interrupted, "It has a password." She pointed to the keypad next to the door. Lois gave up and sighed. "Now how are we supposed to get in there? His password could be anything!"
Lucy smiled, and pressed in a 4-digit combination. The door let out a giant hiss, signaling that it was now unlocked. "How did you know the password?" Lois asked.
"Somethings never change. Just so you know, the password's 5-4-6-7. L-O-I-S." Lucy said. Lois was Imore/I than creeped out, seeing that Clark, or at least his future self, was obsessed with her. A shiver ran down her spine.
Remembering why they were there, Lois came back to reality, and opened the door.
