Serra – The Matter of Time

Gotham

The ride back to the mansion was quiet, very quiet, uncomfortably quiet. Dick knew once they got back to the mansion the silence wasn't going to continue. Under normal circumstances he was perfectly willing to go toe to toe with Bruce and stand up to him. Unfortunately these weren't normal circumstances. Dick was at a decided disadvantage. Knowing Bruce as well as he did, Dick already had a pretty good idea how this would play out.

They arrived at the mansion and Dick followed Bruce inside. Alfred greeted them and Dick was actually happy to see the old man. He may have intentionally lingered just a bit longer than necessary catching up with him, but Bruce didn't let it go on too long.

They were in the study. Dick took one of the high backed chairs and Bruce couldn't seem to sit. That was a bad sign, it meant he was so pissed he needed to pace. As if on cue he started to pace.

"Bruce, I can explain,' Dick started.

Bruce stopped pacing for a moment and held up his hand.

"No. I talk, then you get to talk."

Yeah, he's really pissed, Dick thought. While Dick considered himself an adult and being an adult he didn't have to stand for this. He was no longer Bruce's ward and sidekick Robin. He was a man and he had his own life to live. He had stopped being Robin long ago, he was Nightwing now. Under any other circumstances he would have stood up and walked out.

The problem with was Bruce was in the right this time. Dick had used Wayne Enterprises name and influence to get into New Gammora. He'd also used their private jet to get there and back. There was also the matter of a sizable donation (Bribe) that facilitated his getting out of New Gammora. He might be a man, but Dick knew he didn't have a leg to stand on.

So he sat and listened and listened and listened. During the course of all that listening Bruce basically demolished any possible excuse Dick could come up with. Oh, he'd been trying the whole flight back to come up with them but now he saw even the best ones he'd thought of crumbled under Bruce's rather straightforward logic. It was hard to argue with it. It basically boiled down to Mine, not Yours and you didn't Ask, you Took. The part that hurt the worse was three simple words, 'I trusted you'. The thought of betraying that trust felt worse than if Bruce had slapped him across the face. Dick knew better than anyone, Bruce didn't give his trust easily, you had to earn it. Once he did though, you never had a better friend in your life.

Bruce finally slowed down his pacing and seemed to have worked out all his anger. He stopped and leaned back against his desk and gestured to Dick.

"Now you can talk."

Dick ran through several lines of justifications, but dismissed them all. As he looked at Bruce he knew the truth was the only real option.

"I apologize."

Both of them were quiet for some time.

"Thank you." Bruce finally replied. "So tell me what happened in New Gammora."

Dick relayed everything that had occurred, from why he originally went to what transpired at the apartment building to his escape back to his room.

"Thank you for the 'donation', by the way,' Dick offered.

I've bribed government officials before,' Bruce said, waving it off. "They were actually rather cheap."

"Still it got me out of there and I appreciate it."

"Well, I wasn't just going to leave you there no matter how pissed I was,' Bruce replied. "So Kori was working Lynch?"

"Yes. I didn't know that going in,' Dick admitted.

"I hadn't heard that either,' Bruce offered. "It was a set up to capture the other one, Kent, you said she called him?"

"I realized that once I was in but I think Lynch and Kori underestimated the guy,' Dick said. "He took her best shot like it was nothing, Bruce. Add to that he could fly and shoot some sort of beams from his eyes. He took out the drones I was dodging even as he was dealing with Kori and then he just disappeared. Fast, I mean like Flash fast."

"He took the time to help you, that is rather odd,' Bruce mused. "You said Kori seemed to know what he was if not actually him, right?"

"Yes."

"So this Kent is an alien, a rather powerful alien at that,' Bruce said. "I can see why Lynch would be interested in him."

"The odd thing was he seemed to already know it was as trap before he appeared,' Dick offered. "Yes, he was wearing a mask, but if he already knew, why show himself?"

"Maybe he was pissed,' Bruce countered. "If I went to help someone and it turned out they were playing me, I certainly would be."

"Is that a little dig at me, Bruce?" Dick asked.

"Just a little one,' Bruce said, flashing a hint of a smile.

"I guess I deserve that,' Dick admitted, smiling a bit too. "In my defense, I was kind of occupied with getting the hell out of there at the time."

"It is odd that Lynch is interested in this Kent fellow. Usually it's Amanda Waller that likes to capture aliens,' Bruce mused. "Kent, Kent, why does that name familiar to me?"

"If you saw what he was able to do, Bruce, I think you'd understand why Lynch would want him,' Dick replied. "If Lynch knows about him, I'd bet Waller does too."

"So we have a powerful alien hiding in the shadows,' Bruce said. "I don't believe I care for that. I think it's time I did a little digging into this Kent fellow and find out who he really is."

"I'll help in any way I can," Dick offered.

"Thanks,' Bruce replied, shaking his hand. "Oh, and next time, ask and save us both the trouble of having another 'discussion', please?"

"Of course." Dick said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm going to change the pass code for who gets to use the jet first thing tomorrow."

Metropolis – The Daily Planet

Lois and Cat were basking in the praise and congratulations of their colleagues. Their story was front page news and was being picked up by papers all over the country as well as the major networks and cable news channels. It had also appeared first on their own fledgling web site and the traffic numbers on it were through the roof. Dreams of Pulitzer's and appearances on all the morning talk shows and news programs danced in their head. The sun was shining and seemed to hold the promise of a glorious day for both of them.

Then the Feds showed up.

A dizzying array of badges were flashed in front of their faces and while Perry and others at the paper protested, Lois and Cat were whisked away in unmarked vehicles before any lawyer could be reached. As they sat together in the back watching the streets flashed by they both were thinking the same thing. It was Lois that first put it into words.

"I think we're fucked here, Cat."

"What was your first clue?"

"We have to stay strong, though, so don't worry, we're reporters remember?" Lois said, ignoring Cat's snarky comment. "We have the first amendment on our side."

"Yeah, but they've all got guns,' Cat pointed out. "I know the pen is mightier than the sword and all that, but no one every mentions guns in that equation."

"They're not going to shoot us, get real,' Lois snapped. "They're going to pump us for information about the source of our article. They're just trying to scare us with all this stuff."

"They're succeeding," Cat replied. "I don't think I'd do well in jail, Lois. I've seen Orange is the New Black and that looks really unpleasant."

"That's a TV show, Cat, besides, you don't know anything, remember?" Lois pointed out. "Neither of us do as far as the source of the story. We just stick to the truth and we'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say, you're old man's a General,' Cat said. "My dad sells and repairs copy machines in the valley. Unless toner suddenly becomes a national treasure I'm screwed!"

"Just don't panic, will you please, Cat,' Lois replied. "I'm sure Perry already has the Planet's lawyers working on our release as we speak."

"Hey, that's right, we work for Morgan Edge," Cat added. "He must have a congressman or Senator in his back pocket that can help us."

"Do you really think suggesting our boss has bribed government officials while we riding in a government vehicle is a wise idea, Cat?"

"I don't handle stress that well,' Cat offered.

They suddenly made a sharp turn and raced into an underground parking structure. The vehicle stopped and four agents moved swiftly to get them out and into the elevator. A few moments later they the doors opened and they were lead down the hallway to a conference room. The agents told them to sit and then left the room. They waited and then the door opened again and Jimmy Olsen was brought in and told to sit down. He sat next to Cat and the door closed again.

"I want to turn in my resignation from The LoCat Report effective immediately,' he said.

"So you don't want to get paid?' Lois asked.

"Okay, I still want to resign, just not yet."

The door opened and three men in black suits walked in and sat opposite Lois, Cat and Jimmy.

"I'm agent Carr, this is agent Banks and that's agent Washington,' the first man said. "You three are in some serious trouble. It's in your best interests to cooperate with us or you'll face the full weight of the US government."

He let this sink in for a moment. Next he held up the front page of the Daily Planet.

"We want to know everything about this story,' he said. "No one is leaving until we do."

Langley, Virginia

It was dark outside by the time John Lynch got home. It had been a long, horrible day. His phone had been ringing off the hook since he got up. That damn story seemed to be everywhere and important people wanted answers. Lynch didn't know how he found it out, but he knew who was responsible, Kent. He couldn't exactly say an alien he tried to blackmail and trap had turned it around and screwed with him, so Lynch stuck to something simple. He just said it was all a lie.

That wouldn't hold up forever, as there were just too many specific details in the story. Names, dates, places, it was all there for anyone to go back and check out. Lynch was fighting for his life on this one, both professionally and personally. He'd been in the game long enough to know when something like this happens those in power start looking for a fall guy. Lynch had been looking for a fall guy too. He hadn't gotten to where he was with out thinking ahead. While it was his operation that had been exposed, he hadn't signed any of the actual paperwork. Now there was just a matter of eliminating the man who had signed it and then turning all those pointing fingers towards him. Dead men tell no tales the saying goes, and Lynch certainly believed it.

He parked his car in his driveway and pulled out his cell phone. He had Slade Wilson's private number and dialed it. It rang five times before he picked it up.

"What?"

"Got a job for you, Wilson,' Lynch said. "A man in my organization needs to be eliminated with extreme haste and prejudice."

"You're going to blame the story on him, aren't you, Lynch?" Wilson said with a chuckle. "You're a cold bastard."

"It pays double our usual."

"Send his name and address, I'll take care of it."

"Good."

Lynch texted the information and the closed his phone and got out of his car. Using the remote on his key chain, Lynch turned on the lights in his entrance way. He noticed something was wrong immediately. Beams of light pierced through the walls and spilled out into the darkness. Reaching for his gun, Lynch turned on the rest of the lights in his house remotely. Now he got the full picture. Small holes had been made through the entire house. As he slowly approached the house, gun in hand, Lynch bent down and took a closer look at one of the holes. It was straight through, all the way to the other side. He checked another and another, they were all the same.

Kent!

The son of a bitch had burned holes through his house with those eyes of his. With the lights on the place looked like it was made of Swiss cheese. First he screws him with that story, now he sends another message by fucking with his house. Lynch could see some of the neighbors starting to come outside to see what had happened. He quickly turned off most of the lights in his house and then entered the pass code on the security pad. He didn't feel like answering any more questions, so he got inside as quickly as he could and kept the lights off.

This was Kent's work, but Lynch suspected someone was helping him with the information for that story. Only someone high up even had access to those files. Given that the reporter that broke the story was Lois Lane, it seemed obvious that General Lane was the one helping Kent. Two things made that hard to believe for Lynch. One was that Lane hated aliens with a passion. Two he wasn't stupid enough to give the story to his own daughter, because he'd have to know everyone would think he was the source.

If Lynch was a betting man he'd put his money on Amanda Waller. She had her little zoo for aliens tucked away and was always looking to add to it. He could just imagine her smiling as she read the story from Lois Lane about her other rival, Lynch. That's the sort of sneaky shit she loved, but Amanda seemed to forget that Lynch had been her boss once. He knew how she operated, as it had been the reason he hired her in the first place for Team Seven.

There was one other possibility that Lynch wasn't discounting, Steve Trevor. He was head of A.R.G.U.S. so he probably had high enough clearance. He had always been opposed to the others plans for Kent, so it was certainly within the realm of possibility that he might want to help the kid. Maybe Trevor's girlfriend was having too much influence over him or something, because he was certainly trying to play the boy scout a little too much for Lynch's tastes. Trevor wasn't some rookie, he knew how things worked.

There were certainly others in defense and the national security branches that wouldn't mind seeing Lynch take a fall either. Who ever it was that was feeding Kent his information, Lynch would find out and make them pay. Then there was Kent. As Lynch looked around his house, noticing how the faint moonlight came through some of the higher holes in the walls he cursed Kent. What exactly he was going to do about him, Lynch didn't have an answer right now. The boy had proven already he wasn't to be played with and Lynch was going to have to adjust his thinking of he was going to turn this around. He just needed the right bait to reel Kent in.

The South Pacific

Kori had just finished her afternoon swim when she saw him hovering over her ship. She stopped in her tracks and was about to fire a starbolt at him when he spoke.

"I didn't come here to fight you, Princess." Clark said."Besides, your power is solar based so it's not going to do anything to me."

"Why are you here than, Kryptonian?" She asked.

"Just to talk."

"About what?"

"You seem to know about my people and obviously have a bad impression of them,' Clark said. "Is that the only reason you were willing to work with Lynch? What did he tell you about me?"

"Why should I tell you?' She countered.

"Because I know he was trying to play me and I suspect it was doing the same thing to you," Clark replied. "Please, what did he tell you about me?"

"He said you were dangerous, 'Kori finally said. "You killed several of his agents in cold blood and threatened his life in his own home. He said you were arrogant, dangerous and threatened the safety of this planet. Adding that to what I know of Kryptonians, I agreed to help him."

"I should have guess."

Clark slowly floated down and landed on the sand. He still had the mask on, but now took it off. It was a gamble showing her his face, but she was an alien like he was and knew about where he came from. The risk seemed worth it.

"Lynch lied to you, Princess."

"So you say,' she fired back.

Clark was having a bit of a problem focusing, as Kori had on the least amount of clothing possible and she was a beautiful young woman. Clark had many amazing gifts, but he was reacting to her as any other young man would. He turned to look at her ship and try and not dwell on how amazing she looked. It was then he saw them, bugs, electronic bugs. He turned back to her.

"Has Lynch or any of his team been here?" he asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"I think they bugged your ship to keep tabs on you,' he explained. "if you don't believe me, check behind that console and that one over there."

He pointed to the spots where the bugs were and Kori was suspicious of him, but curiosity won out. She went over and looked where he was indicating and found the bugs. Anger flashed over her features as she crushed them in her hand. She turned towards Clark again.

"how do I know you didn't plant these to cast suspicion on Lynch?" She demanded.

"You said you know about my people, the Kryptonians, does that sound like something a arrogant race that thinks they're better than you would do?" He asked, turning her remarks back on her.

"No." She reluctantly admitted.

"I'm not your enemy, Princess Koriand'r,' Clark said softly.

"That's easy to say, what about killing Lynch's men? Do you deny that too?" She fired back.

"No, no I don't. I regret it, but I did it,' Clark said. "I think the circumstances might explain it a little better though. I arrived on this world as an infant, princess. This is the only home I've ever known. The humans that took me in were hounded by Lynch and others like him because of it. We had to move and hide all the time. When I was 15, at my human father's grave, Lynch's men shot and killed my human mother right in front of my eyes. Can you imagine what that's like? So I killed them all, right there, right then for what they'd done."

Kori was both shocked and appalled by the story. She had certainly suffered in her life so she could understand the anger he must have felt.

"I'm sorry for your loss,' she managed to say.

"Thank you,' Clark replied. "I killed those men for what they did. I'm not the threat Lynch said I am. I've been running and hiding this whole time. If I was a threat to Earth, why would I do that? As I said this is the only home I've ever known. I just want what everyone else does, to live in peace and not be hounded for the rest of my life."

"Then why were you working for Lynch in New Gammora?" She asked.

"I made a deal with him, hoping I could get them to leave me alone,' Clark explained. "Lynch said you were being held hostage on the island. If I rescued you we could make some sort of agreement. I thought he was probably lying but in the slim chance he wasn't, I couldn't just do nothing if you were being held prisoner, could I?"

Kori suddenly thought of her own life and history.

"Others had." She softly said.

"I couldn't,' Clark replied. "I'm an alien on this world, but this is my home. You're the first alien I've ever really met, Princess. I admit, I was pissed when it turned out you were part of Lynch's plan to trap me. I felt like bringing that whole tower down around you for that, but I didn't."

"So why are you here, Kryptonian?" She asked.

"Because of that,' Clark said. "You know what I am and where I'm from. I don't. I didn't want to come here, but the chance of finding out was too tempting. Surely you can understand, can you? You're an exile here too, aren't you? Why else would a princess voluntarily leave her home world and come to this one? I'm just asking you to share what you know about my people. I know you have some strong opinions about them, but I never lived there, I don't know anything about them. Please, Koriand'r, tell me about where I'm from."

Kori looked at him. While she still disliked Kryptonians, she had to admit he was handsome. He seemed to be telling the truth and she had always suspected Lynch wasn't telling the whole story. She didn't like that he'd bugged her ship either, so she made a decision, she would help this Kryptonian, even if it was only to get back at Lynch.

"All right, Kryptonian, I will show you what my ship's computers have on your people,' she said.

"Thank you,' he replied. "I'm Clark by the way, Clark Kent."

"That isn't a Kryptonian name."

"No, it's the name my adopted parents gave me."

"Seems rather ordinary, unlike any Kryptonian I've heard of," Kori replied. "Clark."

The Watchtower

Bruce transported up and moved towards the main computer room. He'd been going over everything Dick had told him about his adventure in New Gammora and specifically about the alien named Kent. For some reason that name seemed to ring a bell with Bruce and after a lot of searching he found what he was looking for. He almost kicked himself for not remembering sooner. It had been several years ago, but the story had made something of a splash with the media. The middle age, modern day Bonnie and Clyde, Martha and Jonathan Kent, fugitives on the run from the government. They had finally been caught and both had died. That was the end of the story in the mainstream media, but Bruce had done some digging and found what really happened.

He read the preacher's statement about what had happened that day at the graveyard. The boy's mother being gunned down before his eyes had an all too familiar ring to it for Bruce. He could imagine what when through the boy's mind at that moment. If Bruce had those sorts of abilities, he would have done the same thing in that alley all those years ago.

The preacher's description of the beams of red coming from the boy's eyes were similar to what Dick had described seeing in New Gammora. The time frame would be about right, so the boy would now be a young man. Once he made the connection another one popped into Bruce's head. The battle in Metropolis where Death had appeared. Red beams like lasers had shot out of his eyes too. Could they all be one and the same? The coincidence seemed to perfect, so he wanted to check with Victor to see if he could find anything else that linked the events.

As Bruce walked into the room, he found Victor, Diana and Billy leaning over the center table plotting out locations on some sort of graph. He was just about to speak, when Diana looked up at Billy. She did not seem happy.

"Billy, if you're looking down my top again, I'm going to beat you. Do you understand?"

"Sorry, Diana," Billy said, blushing at being caught, again.

"Great, puberty has kicked in with him,' Bruce growled, making himself known. The others turned to look at him, but he moved up the table looked at what they were charting.

"It's possible incidents where the person that was called Death might have been involved,' Victor explained.

"I may have two more that tell us who exactly he is,' Bruce replied.

Nevada

General Lane was in a foul mood. He'd been fielding calls about his daughter, Lois all day. He'd repeatedly denied leaking classified information to her and finally just stopped answering his phone. If Lynch screwed up and Lois found out about it, that was Lynch's problem, not his. If they really thought he had any control over his daughter, then they'd never met Lois.

He was here at a secret military installation he had created hoping for some good news. As he entered the underground complex, he saw Doctor Hamilton moving towards him.

"General Lane, so good to see you again,' Hamilton said with a smile.

"I'll be the judge of that,' Lane snapped. "Have you made any progress with the creature?"

"Yes, finally,' Hamilton proudly said.

"About damn time,' Lane growled."It's been over twenty years and nothing so far."

It's been complicated by the dog's DNA, General, it's immensely complicated, much more than human DNA. Just unraveling that took years."

"It's not a dog, Doctor, it's an alien, a very dangerous alien,' Lane shouted. "Besides, it looks more like a wolf than a dog. The way it riped those soldier's arms off the first time we woke it up wasn't like any dog I've ever seen."

"Well, it looks like a dog, and it's easier than calling it unknown lifeform S2,' Hamilton weakly offered.

"Okay,' Lane impatiently said. "So have you been able to complete the merger of the 'Dog's' DNA and with our volunteers? Have any of them survived?"

"Yes, we've finally had a breakthrough, that's why I contacted you,' Hamilton excitedly said. We've been able to combine them into something in between. We've created a pack of super soldiers for you, General, now we just have to train them and you'll have what you've been wanting all this time."

"And the 'dog'?" Lane asked.

"Sedated,' Hamilton replied. "Since we found it in the ship and woke it up that first time, we've kept it sedated ever since. It's too dangerous when it's awake."

"So do you think the boy will eventually transform it something like it?" Lane asked.

"No way to tell until we can cut him open,' Hamilton replied. "I assure you, these new dog solders will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen before."

"A human-alien 'dog' hybrid, good work, Doctor, now let's see how their training is going." General Lane said with a laugh. "Let the others have their aliens and super heroes, I've got my wolf pack!"