Part 21
Star City
Queen Residence
Training room
"Jaime?" Oliver continued to call out the young mans name over and over, but no answer ever came. Only dead silence. Then if that wasn't bad enough Jaimes signal faded away from the screen. Oliver's heart raced rapidly when he saw the red dot disappear from the map of Metropolis. "Come on kid..." Oliver begged hoping that it was all just a computer glitch and the young twenty-two year old would answer any second from now, but seconds soon turned into minutes and Jaime never responded and his trace signal remained unknown. What the hell had happened?
Oliver didn't want to accept it, especially given everything that has happened in the last few months with the friends and people they have already lost. He just wasn't ready to accept another loss, but deep down he knew something terrible had happened to Jaime. The kids last words repeated over and over in his mind. 'Oliver you're not-' Jaime had been scared out of his mind by whatever was happening. He could still hear the panic, the horror, the fear in the kids voice. Oliver feared the unthinkable had happened. How many more did they have to lose? Wasn't Lois, Metropolis, Jayna and Mia enough?
"Dammit!" he exclaimed angrily slamming his fist on top of the desk causing the computer equipment to shake.
Had he been wrong to send Jaime in to investigate the distress call and spy on the others? Why had he sent him in alone? Oliver sighed heavily knowing why Jaime had been sent in solo. ….Because he was the only one that could. There was no way he could have gone along with him, or Maddie, not even Zatanna. He supposed he could have asked Kara, but she was still on the fence about things and wasn't ready to fully commit to either side. And there was no way either AC or Mera would be safe in a radioactive Metropolis not that he trusted either one of those two. He still wasn't even sure why they had shown up to the secret meeting. Which only left Jaime who would be safe inside the Blue Beetle suit, but apparently not safe enough. Something or someone had gotten to him.
Zatanna could feel Oliver's fear rising, adding to her own fear of what may have happened to Jaime. All sorts of thoughts were going through her mind, thoughts she never imagined she would ever have, because the very idea of it terrified her. "You don't think that..."
"I don't know what to think anymore," Oliver answered abruptly knowing exactly where she was going with this. It didn't seem possible. It just couldn't be true. There was just no way it could be true, but things aren't what they used to be and if these last three months has taught him anything, nothing is for certain anymore. People he once could trust aren't the people he once knew. Could he really trust what he once knew?
There had only been three others who moments before had been in the same exact room where they had lost contact with Jaime. There had been no sign of anyone else in the near promiscuity. Who else could have gotten to Jaime and put so much fear into him that he could barely speak? Oliver didn't want to believe it. He didn't want it to be true, but it was looking like Clark, John or Andrea may have done something to Jaime. The whole idea terrified him that Clark would be so lost that he would attack one of their own, but then just months before Clark had gone after The City of Atlantis when AC had fallen out of line. Should it really surprise him that he would go after Jaime if he believed him to be a threat?
"Maybe we should call Kara to go check it out?" annouched Zatanna knowing Kara was the only person they could ask that would be able to venture out in Metropolis.
"We can't..." Oliver answered silently knowing how it sounded. It sounded like he didn't care what happened to Jaime. That he was all right with the idea of one of their former comrades doing something to the young man.
"Why the hell not!" exclaimed Zatanna angrily. "Jaime could be hurt and needs our help." She couldn't understand why Oliver wouldn't want to do everything within his power to make sure the kid was okay. Jaime was one of their own, a member of their team, he was family. There should be nothing they wouldn't do for him.
"Or he could already be dead!" exclaimed Oliver as he turned to face Zatanna.. She had every right to be angry with him, but like it or not he had to look at the bigger picture, even if that meant having to sacrifice Jaimes life. "How do you think Kara would react if we told her we thought that Clark may have done something to Jaime?" Oliver knew that Kara would not take it well and would not be willing to accept it. He didn't want to accept it either but understood the possibility, but he knew there would never be a way for Kara to accept that the cousin she loves with all her heart could do such a thing. "She's still on the fence on whether she is doing the right thing sticking with us. If we told her this-"
"Then maybe she'll come to see that Clark isn't the Clark we all knew..."
"Or we may lose her completely..." Oliver answered with a heavy sigh. Though him and Kara have never been close he knew her well enough to know that telling her this would crush her. It would destroyed her. And the last thing the world needed right now was to lose another super being to their own grief. "We can't lose Kara. We need her!" Oliver looked Zatanna hard in the eyes. "She could be our only hope."
"So let me get this straight, Kara, is more important than Jaimes life?"
"Yes!" Oliver exclaimed his voice breaking, because he knew how cruel it sounded. "I know how it sounds. And I wish to God it didn't have to be this way, but that's the way things are right now.." It broke his heart to have to damn Jaime like that, because it made him look like he didn't care what happened to the kid. But he did care, he cared more than anyone would ever know. He took a deep breath needing to calm himself as he looked back to Zatanna. "If we lose Kara we could lose Clark completely."
"...And what if Kara isn't enough," she didn't want to give up the hope of saving Clark, but with each day that passes her hope of ever seeing the Clark she had admired and loved gets smaller. "What if he's too far gone?"
"I can't think about that right now," Oliver answered, not ready to give up on his friend. "I can't..."
Zatanna sighed heavily knowing this was hard for Oliver, because it was just as hard for her. Clark had always been there for them. He had saved them time and time again and there was nothing he wouldn't do for them. Which is why it made this all of this all the more harder, because she knew that at some point they would have to make that hard call. Because the question remains just how far were they willing to go to save Clark? How far is too far? That was a question none of them were ready to answer, but knew sooner or later it would have to be answered.
Mogadishu
Andrea Rajas aka Angel of Vengeance overlooked a village in Mogadishu, as village whose people due to fighting and famine have been displaced. And now the rainy season had come, a season that will not be kind or show mercy to the tents made up of sticks and old cardboard boxes. There is no possible way the pouring rain and heavy winds would allow these homes to stand. They might as well tear them down now then put any effort into giving them more support.
And that is not the only problem these people face. Without clean water, mosquito net and food, the people will be defenseless to diseases that the floods will bring. Most of the victims will be woman and children, while the men who eat most of the food walk through the village carrying their guns as if they are kings. Not that you can blame them, it has been bread into them from generation to generation. They grew up with guns in their hands without any command or control. Instead of bring security and safety to the woman and children, they bring pain and death.
Night after night it's the same thing in over five hundred camps across Mogadishi. The men lurking into the woman's tents doing unspeakable things with so remorse or mercy. Their cries can be heard throughout the nights, but no one ever comes. Andrea can hear the cries of the woman crying out. She can here the fear in the voices beginning for it all to end.
'And so shall it!'
"Come out!" Andrea demanded as she stood in the center of the camps calling out the men and all it's soldiers. "All of you come out!"
"General?" cried one of the soldiers.
The general came rushing out of his tent to see what all the commotion was about. Andrea wasted no time in grabbing a hold of the general. "General!" she exclaimed. "You are charged with protecting these people and instead you murder and torture them!"
Soon Andrea found the woman coming out of their own tents to see what was going on. She smiled as he eyes met with the woman who had told the children to remain in their tents. "This man will never harm you again," she declared. "I will be taking him far away from here."
"And then, will you stay?" begged one of the woman with hopeful eyes. "Will you protect us?"
Andrea didn't answer. She remained silent, as more woman began to speak up/ "This will not stop, someone will replace him. His men will still come to our tents in the night," cried another woman. "Do not give us false hope. It is cruel!"
"You are right!" answered Andrea then without a second thought Andrea place one hand on each of the generals ears and began squeezing him harder and harder as blood began gushing out of his ears, nose, and eyes, until finally his eyes popped out and a loud CRACK was heard. She released her hands from the general and his body dropped to the ground.
"She-She killed him," gasped one of the solider as he pointed his gun into her face.
"Foolish boy?" Andrea hissed. "Do you have any idea what I'm capable of?"
Terrified the solider lowered his weapon and rejoined his comrades who were just as much in disbelief as he was. Their general was dead and now they were faced with a goddess. How ever would they stop her?
"Drop your guns!" she shouted to each and every one of them. Knowing they had no other choice every single one of the men dropped their guns and knifes to the ground. Andrea then looked too all the woman calling them forward. "Now my dear sisters pick up their weapons!"
The woman did not have to be told twice they all willing picked up the guns feeling powerful for the first time in all their lives. The men were stunned as now the guns were all pointed at them. Their hearts began racing and fear began to rise within them.
"I will return," Andrea announced. "You have my word you will not be abandoned."
"And what happens until then?" asked one of the woman who now held one of the guns.
"What happens now is up to you," Andrea answered with a smile then without another word she was gone, but the distance as she moved further and further away from the village she could hear the loud echoing of thunder raging throughout the village.
Outer Space
Watchtower
Clark room
It had only been a couple of days since they returned from Metropolis and discovered little trash of who had been behind the distress call. Victor had continued to run scans on the signal and tried to running everything voice recognition software he could find, but was finding the recording too distorted to get an exact reading on it. Clark had to come to terms and accept the fact that whomever placed out that distress call was likely already dead.
He stood by a window overlooking the earth. He was standing in his own personal room on Watchtower. Only him and Oliver being lead members of the League had their own rooms, while the other members shared quarters if they were going to be spending a long period of time stationed in Outer Space based Watchtower. In Clarks room was couch, bookcase full of book, a working desk and chair with his own personal computer and a stereo for playing music during downtime. There was also a king size bed, not that he's been sleeping in it. He's been too busy for sleep, but that wasn't the reason why he hasn't climbed under the covers.
He sighed heavily as he turned away from the window and sat down on the bed. He grabbed the pillow resting on the left side and breathed in it's scent. "Lois....." He could still smell her and he knew the moment he crawled under the cover he would never be able to leave them. He knows he should watch them or buy new ones, but he can't bring himself to do either one. A tear ran down his face as he remembered the last time they had been in this bed together.
Five Months earlier
"I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind for our vacation," Clark annouched as he wrapped his arm around Lois pulling her closer to his bare chest.
"It's all right Smallville, while I was looking forward to watching the sunset on our own private beach," she answered as she snuggled close to him. "The view up here is just as breath taking." Her eyes wondered to the window where right there in all it's glory was the earth. "I don't know too many girls whose man can give them an up and closer personal view of the earth. ….And on top of that..." She kissed lovingly, as she stroked his face. "get to make love in front of it."
"If I had know I would get this type of reaction out of you, I would have brought you up here more often," Clark answered as he took her hand in his and kissed it gently. "Maybe we should move here, it would be cheaper."
"Yeah, especially when Oliver is paying the bills," laughed Lois. "But I don't think that would be a good idea, with a view like that," she pointed to the earth and then turned back to him. "We would never get out of bed."
"Would that be such a bad thing?" Clark answered as he rolled on top of her and pressed his lip against her in a breath taking kiss, as Lois wrapped her arms around him. Clark continued to kiss her where ever his lips could go.
"Clark wait..." Lois said a little breathlessly.
"What is it..." Clark asked through the kisses he was giving her.
"Are you positive that no one can see us..." she nudge her head to the massive dome.
Clark chuckled. "You afraid E.T., is going to fly on by and get a show of a lifetime?" He kissed her heavily. "Don't worry, no E.T.'s can see what is happening in our room right now, well..." He kissed her again and then looked into her eyes with a grin on his face. "Except for this E.T.."
"Hmmm, good," Lois answered now able to give him a kiss of her own. She pulled him closer wrapping her arms and legs around him as tightly as she could. "Because I don't want to be giving away any of our secret moves."
"We have secret moves?"
"You better believe it, Kal-El..." Smallville
"Kal-El..."
"Huh..."
"Kal-El?"
"What?"
Clark napped out of his thoughts and found John Jones standing in front of him looking very concerned. "John, how long have you've been standing there?" he asked as he set the pillow aside and stood up.
"Are you all right Kal-El?" John asked concerned for the well being of his young friend.
"I'm fine," Clark answered forcing a smile. "No, need to worry about me."
John knew Clark well enough to know that he had been thinking about Lois again and about their recent trip to Metropolis where investigating the distress signal turned up empty. The Martian Man knew Clark was blaming himself for what happened to Lois and the recent event in Metropolis only added to that blame. "There is nothing you could have done," John told him with a faint smile. "For all we know that distress call could have been months old."
"You don't know that," Clark exclaimed. He hadn't meant to lash out, but with everything that's happened. He still felt like it hasn't been enough that he should have done more. "Maybe if I had done a few doaen fly by's throughout Metropolis after the explosion, more people would still be alive."
"You had just lost your wife, your child," John annouched. "No one can blame you for needing to grieve." John was not about to let Clark blame himself anymore than Clark already has. He had gone through the same thing with Jor-El who blamed himself for not being able to save Krypton, now a little more than three decades later his friends son was doing the same thing, blaming himself for not being able to save Metropolis and its people.
"Maybe that's been my problem all along?"Clark proclaimed.
"What do you mean?" John asked looking into Clark's eyes, the same eyes of one of the greatest men he had ever known.
"I spent so much time thinking that when I was Clark Kent, I could be human, that I could have a life, a future, a family with Lois..." It hurt him to say it, to admit it, but it was what he felt. He had thought it once before years ago before he feel in love with Lois. He had accepted no matter how much he wanted to he would never be human, but the more he grew closer to Lois and developed strong romantic feelings for her. Her loved and commitment to him made him feel human. It made him feel like he could have a piece of both worlds. ….But maybe he had only been fooling himself. "When I should have been out there full time as Superman keeping the earth safe like my father had asked me to!"
"Kal-El..." John tried to reach out to him, but Clark wouldn't have it.
"Jor-El told me to let her go, that she would only slow my training down..." He recalled back to when Lois had shown back up after missing for three weeks. He had thought she was lost to him forever, but then she returned having been in a corrupt future. "I knew I should have stayed away, that I should have let her go, but..." He couldn't stay away from her. It had took losing her, believing she had been killed by Doomsday that he realized just how much she meant to him.
"Are you saying you're regretting your relationship with her?"
"No, of course not. I will always love Lois and I don't regret a moment we spent together," Clark answered with a heavy heart his voice breaking as he spoke. "But I can't help but wonder if I had done what Jor-El asked,...maybe she'd still be alive." Maybe they all would still be alive...
John understood Clarks pain, he recalled a time when Jor-El felt the same way about a woman he had once loved with all his heart, a woman he had thought about giving everything up for. "Jor-El too once felt the same way as you do now. The first time he was on earth, he had fallen in love with a young woman." John smiled recalling the joy in Jor-El's voice when he spoke of this woman, a woman he rarely talk too about anyone. In fact John was sure that only he himself and Lara were the only ones that knew about this connection with this young woman and what really happened on his time on earth.
"I know all about her, I saw his memories when I touched the memory pendant," Clark answered. The very woman who his father had loved first, Louise McCullum turned out to be the great aunt of the woman he had first been in love with Lana Lang. He had seen their whole story play out from the time they met to when she died in his arms. "She died because of him."
"That is what your father for many years believed, that had he stayed away from her after he saved her from being mugged that she would have never been killed, but it was your mother that made him realize how much Louise had meant to him and made him into the man that she loves very much." That was just the type of person Lara was, she could see that losing Louise had effected Jor-El very much and that it caused him for a long time not to get involved with anyone. "It was for the first time in a long time that your father, no matter how tragic his and Louise story was, that he was grateful for the time they had together. Though his action may have cause her premature death, he had given her something she had long for." John looked Clark hard in the eyes hoping that his words could reach the young mans heart, as Lara's had once reached Jor-El. "Undying love."
Clark knew that to be true based on his father memories he saw a window into Louise life that she wasn't happy in her marriage that her father had forced upon her. She had never once felt love, not until she met his father. She had died feeling whole and loved in his father arms declaring her love for him. He knew his father had been broken up over it, so much that he hid away the memory pedant not wanting to share what happened with his family on Kyrpton. It had taken years for his father to recover over the young human girl he had fallen for. Then he meant his mother Lara, the two had gotten married and spent years trying to have a child, until they finally had him. But that too would turn to tragedy when his parents would have to give up their only son in order to save his life, so that he would died along with them and their home world.
"Maybe the house of El is cursed," Clark sighed heavily coming to realize the tragedies that fell upon the house of El. Jor-El had issues with his own father, Louise dying, being at odds with his brother Zor-El and Krypton's console. The falling out with Zod when his father refused to clone Zods son who died in the destruction of Kandor. Then finally having a child of his own and having to give him up mere weeks after he had been born. "Maybe were not meant to be happy or loved."
"I didn't tell you about your father own tragedies for you to come to that interruption," answered John. "I told you about them, so you would know you're not alone. We all feel pain, we all share loss. And we all have our regrets, but if we let our regrets dictate what could have been than we will miss what truly was" John gripped Clark shoulder and smiled. "Lois loved you with all her heart don't ever forget that, she wouldn't want you too."
"You're a good friend John," Clark answered with a faint smile.
"And you are a good friend too," John answered with a smile. "But in order to achieve your goal for world peace. You will need to rely on more people. And I think I may know how to get that for you."
Star City
Queen Residence
Training room
Oliver sat in front of his computer much like he has been doing for days other than when he's working out and getting a couple hours of sleep. The past couple of day even since Jaime disappear he had been trying to get access to Watchtowers mainframe. This was one of the times he wished he had Chloe or even Tess here. He had no idea what became of Tess and feared the worst for her. Thankfully he had Chloes notes.
"Okay that should do it!" exclaimed Oliver after he hit the enter button. Then watched as all of Watchtowers files and surveillance videos appeared on the screen in front of him.
"Do what?" yawned Zatanna as she got up from the couch she had been taking a nap on and walked over to see what Oliver is talking about. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yep, Watchtowers Database," answered Oliver with a smug smile happy that his long hours of work had finally paid off.
"Wont that figure out that someone other than them is on the mainframe?" asked Zatanna.
"Nope, that is the beauty of being the one who paid for everything. I had Chloe create a hidden back door that no one, not even Victor knew about," he turned to Zatanna. "Totally untraceable."
"You had a contingency plan implaced in Watchtower?" Zatanna couldn't believe it. First it was placing one in Victor, now Watchtower. She had to wonder what other secrets Oliver had been keeping from them. "Did you and Chloe think something like this would happen?"
"You mean did we think Clark would ever turn on us?" he questioned her.
"You said it not me?" she answered harshly crossing her arms against her chest not liking what he was insinuating.
"It was never that we thought Clark would go all Norman Bates or anything, but after Zod coming to earth and learning about what happened in the corrupt future. We thought it was best to take extra measure creating kryptonite weapons and add a backdoor to Watchtower that only the two of us knew about."
"So, the two of you didn't trust the rest of us to know about this backdoor of yours?" exclaimed Zatanna. "I thought we were all supposed to be a team?" It was beginning to come to no surprise to her that the League was at odds with each other and had been spit in two.
"This had nothing to do with trust!" exclaimed Oliver who was beginning to wonder if Zatanna was really on his side or was just here because she had no where else to go. "We were being cautious, we're not all the same."
"So, this was about us having powers?"
"Lois, Tess and Emil didn't even know about this," answered Oliver all too quickly.
"They're not on the front lines Oliver!" exclaimed Zatanna.
"All right fine!" shouted Oliver as he got up from his seat and into Zatanna's face. "You want me to say it was about you guys having powers and us not. Fine! I'll say it. It was about powers. We were afraid that one day something may have that would cause one of you to turn or someone would fine a way to control you." It had been one of the hardest calls that either he and Chloe ever had to make, but they needed Watchtowers database to be safe. They needed a way in incase something ever happened. "So we created a backdoor to Watchtower so that the information it holds wont fall into the wrong hands. If that makes me look like an ass, I'm sorry. But I will NOT apologize for what we did."
Though she was very angry with him and felt betrayed. She understood why he did it, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She was about to say something when Maddie came rushing over to them.
"Have you seen the news?" the young woman exclaimed.
"What are you talking about Maddie?" Oliver asked.
Maddie grabbed the remote from Olivers desk and turned on the TV. Both Oliver and Zatanna's ears became glued to the TV, as the reporter made the announcement how the woman in a large village in Mogadishu killed every single adult male, not a one left alive. The reporter also mentioned that this seemed to happen moments after the Angel of Vengeance left the village after having killed the army's general and disarming the rest of the men.
"What are we going to do?" cried Maddie she could feel her heart racing. She had never been more afraid then all her life, not even when faced with her father who had killed her own mother. "We have to get her away from Clark." Maddie feared the longer Clark spent time with Andrea, the harder it would be to bring him back.
"I-I don't know," Oliver was at a loss. He knew that Andrea was bad news, but he never thought her capable of something like this. He didn't think Chloe could have predicted. "But I have a bad feeling about all of this."
TO BE CONTINUED