Chapter 7
After another sneeze, the nurse was adamant that Clark wore a breath mask. He had no choice but to oblige if he wanted to stay with Lois to visit her father in the hospital. Since the sun had turned red, his health had steadily declined. He was doing his best to hold back his sneezes and coughs as much as he could. If he couldn't get it under control soon, he had a feeling the nurse would return to kick him out of the hospital. The last thing the doctors want was someone with a disease contaminating the sanitation of the hospital.
General Lane was lying in his bed, doped up with morphine for the pain. He was out like a light. His burns had been treated and carefully wrapped in white gauze. As a standard procedure, they had oxygen being pumped into his lungs. Other than that, he was in stable condition.
Lois sat by her father's bad, having been there for most of the day. The past twenty-four hours had gone by like a whirlwind. Lois had been spending most of that time with him. The current rift between them was put on the backburner for awhile. Who knows, maybe this whole incident will mellow him out, a bit.
"I contacted Lucy, while you were out," Lois said, taking hold of Clark's hand as he offered it to her. "She wants to take time off of school and come and visit my father in the hospital."
Clark's voice was slightly muffled through the breath mask. "I think it would be safer for her if she avoided Metropolis, even if she could get into the city." Because of the meteor shower, the city was under a state of emergency. All transportation in and out of the city had come to a halt. Even now, they could hear the sirens from ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars, outside, from all directions. They could also smell the smoke from all the fires throughout the city. This was Metropolis' nine-eleven. The hospitals were all filling up to their maximum capacity, as every doctor and nurse in the city were being called in. Thousands of people had probably just died. In all this chaos, the chances of Lucy getting into the city were next to nothing.
However, that could be a good thing. It was becoming more evident that Metropolis was going to be ground zero for Darkseid's invasion. While there would be no safe place on planet earth, Metropolis would be by far the worst place to be right now.
Clark took his hand back from Lois, just in time, to cover his breath mask with both hands as he let out another sneeze. He probably didn't need to; his breath mask was probably more than enough, but the act of covering his nose and mouth was purely reflex. This time, Lois looked up at him with a growing concerned look on her face. "For as long as I've known you, I've never once seen you get sick."
"On the way here, I stopped off in Smallville to pick up a specially designed suit. It's not your typical red, blue and yellow suit, but its slowing down my body's degeneration, for now."
Lois didn't move her eyes from him. She had the look of someone who was debating whether to say something or not. It looked like something she had been pondering for a long time, but could not longer hold back. "Tell me the truth... is there any hope of stopping Darkseid."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "I will not allow him to have this world. I will do everything in my powers to stop him."
That didn't ease her concerns very much. She had a growing fear that he suspected he couldn't win, and was not telling her. Seeing that Darkseid was able to turn their sun red, she began to fear, herself, that Clark could be a little over his head. "Can you also promise that you'll survive this ordeal? I would feel much better if you had help from someone like Batman or Wonder Woman. On the other hand, forget Wonder Woman."
Clark managed a smirk behind his mask. Lois was not too fond of Diana. The Amazonian was considered drop-dead gorgeous by any sane man. Lois could not help but get jealous anytime the idea crossed her mind of him working together. She had never seen her in person, but everything she's heard about her was more than enough to spark that tinge of jealousness. "No, this is my problem to solve. I will not put anyone else in danger because of me."
Lois noticed that he was not answering her original question, and that unnerved her even further. She knew that he had once said that he would give his life to keep this planet safe, but deep down inside, she never really took that literately. Now, for some reason, she sensed that she had to take that line much more seriously.
Metropolis was hurting; the meteor storm was like a knife between the ribs. It had seen more than its share of horrific events the past two years; it was long due for a break from the chaos. Somehow, though, Dan Turpin didn't think a break was on the horizon.
Everything was chaos since the meteor shower. The city was still reeling over the devastation. Everyone in the MSCU, MPD, MFD, and the medical fields would be earning lots of overtime today and this week.
He never thought he would never see something like this with his own eyes. Never, could he imagine a catastrophe like this would ever hit home like this. Yes, he has seen them before, but through special reports on the news... never in his back yard, and especially not a meteor shower. He studied about the great Chicago fires of the late eighteen-hundreds. While the Chicago newspaper was distorting the facts, the truth was that it was a meteor shower, just like this one, caused the fire. What the media ignored, was that Chicago wasn't the only thing on fire at that very moment. Chicago, Wisconsin, and Michigan were all burning at the exact same time. Millions of acres of land were destroyed and two thousand people perished. Eye witnesses, minutes before these fires, claimed that they saw meteors in the sky. Scientists have found craters in these states to substantiate these claims.
So here it was, happening again, this time Metropolis had been the target. Unlike what happened back then, though, the sun never turned and stayed red like this. The panic in the streets of the Metropolis continued as the red the sun served as a constant reminder of what has happened, and what could be on the horizon. Stirring the pot were crazy, homeless people with cardboard signs that said: REPENT, FOR THE END IS NEAR...MATTHEW 24:29. Curiosity got the better of him, and the first chance he got, he looked up that verse.
"But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened , and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
It had to be a coincidence, but he could easily see how this Bible verse could be interpreted to the events that had happened today. Whether this was the fulfillment of that prophecy or not, he could not afford to allow these crazies to stir up more fear. He had a job to do, and he would do it until the end of the world.
Taking a minute for a breather, he found himself on the rooftop, staring up at the red sky and the blood-red sun. He had never seen anything like it in his life. This went against everything he knew about nature; he wished he could give a reasonable explanation for it. There was no lie that he could give people to try to calm their fears. Whatever this was, it was interfering with television and radio signals. He couldn't listen to the news to see if anyone was giving an explanation for this. This was just short of the same kind of devastation caused by an EMP; it only seemed to affect mobile devices, cell phones, and televisions. The question was... would all of these things return if everything returned to normal?
Flying in his line of sight, Superman was making his way towards him. As he got closer, Dan noticed something different about him... his costume had changed. Instead of a blue and red suit, he sported an all black suit with a silver insignia on his chest. The only thing that that remained the same was his red cape with the yellow insignia.
"Decided to show off a new costume?" he asked as the Kryptonian as he came in for a soft landing on the rooftop, with him.
"Without the yellow sun, my powers are starting to wane. This suit is slowing that down, hopefully long enough to figure out what's causing this."
Right off the bat, his one question for him was answered. He wished that those words hadn't come out of his mouth. "So, you don't know what's causing this. That was going to be my next question."
"I have a strong suspicion on who's behind it, but I don't know how. I've been too busy around Metropolis to even think about it." It was the truth; since the actual meteor shower, yesterday, there had been a long lingering aftermath which was threatening innocent people. Between his rescue missions and visiting Lois's father in the hospital, the last forty-eight hours have been sleepless ones.
"It's another alien thing, isn't it?" Dan grunted. Some pretty weird stuff has been happening in Metropolis lately. Each time, it's been escalating to a new degree of severity, and this event was the top of the cake. "Awhile ago, you mentioned something about an evil coming to this earth. Does this have anything to do with that?"
"I suspect so," he replied honestly and openly.
Dan started to put the puzzle together in his mind. At least, he had some answers to his questions, but nothing he could use to help calm the fears of the people down. "It sounds like this red sun is geared towards you... to soften you up a bit before the knockout punch."
Superman had come to the same conclusion. This was the precursor to an attack, but why did Darkseid feel he needed such an advantage? Their first encounter would have proven that he needed no advantage. Either he was leaving nothing to chance or he was playing games with him. "I believe you're right."
"Well, we can't have that. Mags and I will see if we can't help out and find out what's causing the change. If we find anything, you'll be the first to know."
Superman smiled. He was grateful for friends like Lieutenant Inspector Dan Turpin. He was not as omnipotent as people though. With all these powers, he couldn't be everywhere at once. He's heard the arguments the before: he should try to save himself so he can be around to save others. As 'noble' as that may have sounded, he could not overlook the suffering of the innocent. The people of Metropolis were suffering, and as long as they were, he could not afford the time to find out how Darkseid had managed to turn the sun red. If it wasn't for friends like Dan Turpin and Professor Hamilton, he would have his hands full trying to keep Metropolis safe. Unfortunately, the professor was no longer around to help him. "I appreciate it. If you don't mind, more people are crying out for my help."
The sight of the red sun was the most beautiful thing Granny Goodness had ever seen. The shadowy Omega symbol in the heart of the sun was of particular good taste. It was very subtle, but bold statement. Let the people of Metropolis panic; their doom was at hand. They could spend the last hours of their days fearing for their miserable lives. Fear would lead these people to do unimaginable evils, and her master fed off of that.
She continued to stare at her master's work of art from her undisclosed location. Beside her was the device responsible for turning the sun red. Kalibak was there with her to guard the device if or when Superman ever discovered its location. He was the son of her master, Lord Darkseid. The big brute was embarrassingly brainless. Her master was so embarrassed, that he could not stand being in his son's presence. Unfortunately, someone had to keep an eye on him; what he lacked in intelligence, he more than compensated in strength. Since her master usually banished Kalibak from his presence, she was usually the one who had to make sure he didn't get himself in trouble.
Now, she was stuck with him once again. Prancing back and forth, he was itching for a fight. His grumbling was already starting to get on her nerves. It was beginning to spoil her amazement of his father's power at work. It almost made her wish that Superman would find them; at least then Kalibak would then have the fight that he was itching for.
The device, beside her, let out a series of three chimes. Upon the first chime, Granny Goodness spun around to face the device. During the last two, she straightened herself up to make herself more presentable. After the third chime, the blue light in the heart of the mechanical box lit up, and a holographic image of Lord Darkseid appeared over the box. "Yes, my lord?"
"The time has come for my honor gaurd to make their move."
Kalibak snorted as he approached the image of his father. "Father, let me have Superman. Let me prove to you my worth."
Darkseid's face remained cold and emotionless. "You will prove your worth to me by obeying me and staying where you are."
Kalibak growled in frustration as he stormed off in a huff. Granny could not bring herself to pity the fool. He deserved every ounce of his father's contempt. He couldn't be trusted for anything. Yes, he had great strength, but no wisdom on how to use it properly. Barda had even given up training the imbecile. He was beyond hope, and deserved much more than he was getting. She could not explain why her master even put up with him. Did it have something to do with some promise he made with the other gods? One thing was certain about Lord Darkseid... if he made a promise or vow, he NEVER went back on it, for better or for worse. "You want my ladies to draw Superman in battle. Do you have any specific target in mind?"
A small grin appeared on his face. "We have already disposed one of his closest allies; it's time my honor guard introduced themselves to another."
