Chapter 11
"Terror in Ottawa"
For the next few months since the attack in Belgium, the only time that ISIS made the headlines was when they executed their latest foreign captives. In any case, our government struggled to come to terms with what ISIS was and what their ambitions were in creating their own world with them at the helm.
Nevertheless, the next time ISIS struck was in October, which would take place in the seat of Canada's power and authority.
"Lane!" I heard Perry scream from his office on the afternoon of October 20th. "Get in here!"
"What is it, chief?" I asked Perry as I walked into his office.
"There's been a shooting at Parliament hill in Ottawa," he barked. "Apparently, it's a young man in his 20's."
"Muslim?"
"Not sure, but you'd better start making arrangements to get over there."
Leaving Perry's office, I put aside what I was doing and began to make arrangements to fly out to Ottawa. As I made my usual last minute reservations, I couldn't help but wonder if Lex had something to do with this.
"What's Perry up to?" Clark asked as he walked by my desk.
"Been a shooting in Ottawa, on Parliament Hill."
Before I could turn away from the computer screen, I saw that Clark had already taken off. Then again, it wasn't out of the ordinary. But, no sooner did Clark leave did Superman already make his move, racing over to Ottawa and towards Parliament Hill, which was already being evacuated. Superman could see the members of Canada's highest authority already racing out of the building, terror filled on their faces. He then saw the man in question firing rounds into the building.
"GUN! GUN! GUN!" shouted a constable trying to subdue the suspect as Superman went to confront the individual. The constable was shot in the foot as the suspect tried to escape, only to be confronted by Superman. Snarling like a wild animal, he fired at Superman's chest attempting to kill him.
"Perhaps you've never heard of me," Superman said.
But, the suspect wouldn't back down and was just about to fire several more rounds when a group of security personnel came into the room, firing several rounds at him. The suspect wasn't going to back down that easily and shot back at the personnel, determined to get away from his own mess. However, he was eventually wounded, letting out a loud scream of pain.
"You won't catch me!" he screamed. "Allah Akbar!"
But Superman had other ideas as he tackled the suspect, trying to subdue him.
"Get off of me infidel!"
"Stop this now!" grunted Superman as the man of steel took on the suspect, only to be met with a punch to this face, which he quickly rebounded from as the suspect took to his feet and fled with Superman hot on his tail. Chasing him to the Library of Parliament, he confronted the suspect again. "Surrender and you won't be hurt!"
"Never!" the suspect shouted grabbing a heavy metal object and hurling it at Superman, which quickly bounced off of him. In a blind rage, he took his gun and opened fire on Superman, trying to aim for his head. No sooner did he open fire on Superman again, did several security personnel stormed the Library and fired several rounds, hitting the suspect in the chest. With his eyes locked on Superman, he was thrusted back against the wall and died before he could hit the ground.
"He was too far gone," Superman thought to himself as the security personnel surrounded him, then he saw the weapon lying next to him. He went over and picked up the weapon and inspected it. "Luthor."
…
Back in Turkey, Lex and his high ranking executives were in a room watching the events in Ottawa unfold on a television screen.
"It appears that Michael has succeeded in carrying out his mission," remarked a board member. "What do you think, Mr. Luthor?"
"I would say that he did and it appears that Superman was also there," he said, a look of disappointment on his face. "But, rather than kill him, he let himself be killed. Let me reassure you all that I won't consider our mission a success unless Superman and Lois Lane are dead. Even if Lexcorp's new weapon is a success, Superman remains alive."
"Is there any weak spot on Superman's body, Mr. Luthor?" asked another board member.
"Not quite, unless if there is a weapon that contains Superman's ultimate weakness."
He then looked towards a glass container that held a shimmering green glowing rock right at the center of the table.
"Ah yes, my dear Kryptonite," he chuckled. "Pretty soon, you will get your chance of destroying Superman once and for all."
At that moment, Lex knew that he needed to get the Kryptonite involved somehow. Kryptonite always fascinated Lex and this was no exception to the rule.
"Gentlemen," he said to his Turkish executives. "Send a message to our associates in Syria and Iraq, telling them that our next attack will be involving Kryptonite. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mr. Luthor."
…
The next day, I arrived at Boston's Logan Airport and flew Air Canada Express flight 8045 to Ottawa, leaving at 8:30am and arriving at 9:45am. Once I cleared immigration and customs, I was on my way to Parliament Hill which was under heavy guard. No sooner did I arrive at Parliament Hill, did I notice something else at the National War Memorial.
"Lois," I heard Clark say as he walked towards me. "They say that a guard was killed here in the attacks."
"I trust you got here as soon as you learned of what was happening?" I asked in sarcastic tone. "And I assume you covered Superman confronting the individual?"
"I did and it appeared that some security personnel have said that Superman was the target, which meant that Lex Luthor is somewhat responsible for this."
"Of course he is responsible, Smallville. Why else would Superman be lured here?"
As I spoke, I couldn't help but wonder just exactly what was going to be at stake here. This attack clearly was meant to draw Superman here and kill him.
"For that matter, is ISIS responsible?"
"Yes, they confirmed that this morning, Lois. It appears that ISIS is bringing their actions to North America. If they can attack Canada, then it will only be a matter of time before they attack somewhere in the United States."
And I knew that Clark was right, ISIS was going to attack the United States eventually and I had a feeling that Lex was going to make sure I was killed on American soil.
But, the next question remained, where was ISIS going to strike next?