I have here, in my very hands, a MERRY CHRISTMAS UPDATE!!!
...well, at least it's christmas for the people who celebrate the 24th, like me
Say goodbye to 2056 people...cuz we ain't going back.
ENJOY!!!!
Chapter 25: Aftermath
5 seconds…
4 seconds…
3 seconds…
2 seconds…
1 second….
Lulu definitely did not exaggerate about the second siren.
Right on cue, the deathly alarm went off, at such an unnatural and agonizing pitch that anyone unlucky enough to hear it perished immediately.
The force with which Clark took off flying shattered the "impervious" ceiling of the time-portal containment chamber, not to mention ripped a giant hole through the entire palace, exposing every worker in the building to the fatal noise. Everyone from the elite heads-of-state to the unfortunate janitors, whether on the first floor or the hundred twenty first floor, died before they knew what hit them.
And then, silence.
Needless to say, it caused quite a stir.
The entire city jerked awake in the middle of the night, ears splitting from the high-pitched hum. Reporters and camera crews raced to the scene, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening. The people were beside themselves: The once pristine palace of the all-powerful emperor Kal-El now wore incarnadine walls, stained and dripping with the blood and flesh of the pulverized victims. Windows shattered and debris flew for miles, touching down as far as the outskirts of the city and frightening unsuspecting night owls suddenly being showered with razor sharp fragments of glass as they strolled the Metropolis streets. Inhabitants of nearby apartment complexes did not hear the siren at all—anybody within two blocks of the Palace suffered from complete hearing loss.
In about an hour, troops would arrive at the former Kent Farm in search of their emperor, after scouring half of North America for Kal. They were initially worried that he was in the palace, hurt or dead. Nobody was exactly sure of how invincible the emperor was, so they couldn't be sure he was strong enough to withstand the explosion. However, after recovering a message detailing the Emperor's alleged kidnapping from earlier in the evening, new hope that the emperor would be found in one piece swelled in the hearts of his supporters—like the emperor could be 'kidnapped' by anybody. He'd kill them, everyone knew that.
Of course, this hope eventually died, when a group newly recruited soldiers, fresh out of military training, were ordered by their superiors to look around Smallville while more experienced soldiers searched 'hot spots' where Kal-El was more likely to be. One particular rookie had the foresight to look in the barn at the Kent farm.
It took him a minute to find the emperor, two to comprehend what he saw, and five for him to stop throwing up. The reactions of most of Kal's supporters were somewhat similar.
The government (or rather, what was left of it) tried desperately to conceal Kal-El's death. They hastily removed the corpse and burned the farm where it was found (with Lucy's body still in it.) Media propaganda reported that the Palace had burned in a freak electrical fire, and that Kal was currently aiding in the recovery effort and sending large amounts of money to the families of the deceased.
But there was only so much the propagandists could do before the world inevitably discovered the truth…which actually came out much sooner than expected. Evidently, the soldiers who had discovered Kal-El's body were talkers, and started a chain reaction of gossip that exploded into a full-fledged revolution. The military attempted to halt the rebellion, but when a world of people, sensing an opportunity for freedom that they had never known before, turn against their weakened oppressors, there is only so much that can be done. Even the military was significantly weaker—without a clear, omnipotent leader calling the shots, there was no one to order them around, telling them what to do and when to do it. For the first time, the Generals had to think for themselves…and most of them were pretty bad at it.
The regime was falling apart at the seams, and the people realized it. Soon enough, the last of the government officials would either be assassinated by bitter underlings or seek safe haven in other solar systems from the mobs that had formed in the cities. The planet would lay in shambles for years, plagued by civil war between those who wished to return to the pre-Kal-El systems of government and those who wanted otherwise. The day Kal-El died was not the last time blood was shed because of him. The world would not return to a peaceful utopia, free from oppression and newly united under common interests, just because its dictator died. The damage would linger for generations until, after much hard work and strife, some sort of order was established.
The planet Earth would stay alive only by the grace of God in this new era.
That is, unless Clark Kent and Lois Lane had something to do with it…
5 seconds…
4 seconds…
3 seconds…
2 seconds…
1 second….
Clark didn't think, or talk, or breathe….he simply flew. There was no time left—Lois (and possibly himself) would die if he didn't get out of that deathtrap immediately.
Clark ripped through the ceiling of the palace, shielding Lois from the metal with his body, not completely realizing what was happening. His mind was a mess—if you had asked him his own name at that moment, he would have needed time to think about it. He was even less cognizant of the fact that he was (finally) flying.
Once he reached a height about twice that of the building, Clark finally let his mind settle, and allowed himself to become aware of his surroundings. And basically only one thing registered…
Oh my God…I'm actually flying…
Clark tried desperately to gain control of where he was going. He was flying rather erratically, spinning around in circles and zigzagging between the clouds in a futile attempt to steady himself. It would be rather funny if he wasn't so high up…
Clark eventually was able to propel himself steadily in one direction, not daring to move a muscle on the off chance that he would go spiraling again or lose his momentum.
Remember, if I fall, Lois falls with me…
Then it dawned on Clark. Lois was still in his arms. He couldn't believe he'd almost forgotten about her.
Then again, it's not everyday one suddenly finds oneself soaring hundreds of feet in the air.
Clark looked down at Lois. Her eyes were clamped shut as she softly repeated the 'Hail Mary.' Her body was stiff as a board, as though she was bracing herself for the worst.
"Lois…" Clark whispered.
Lois bit her lip, and opened her eyes cautiously. Upon seeing Clark smiling at her, his brown curls framed by the soft moonlight and midnight blue sky, eyes sparkling like stars, she couldn't help but smile.
"Well, at least I made it to heaven…" Lois sighed.
Clark smiled. "Lois, you're alive. Several hundred feet off the ground, yes, but alive."
"Oh, that's good." Lois blushed. "Wait. Did you say hundred?"
Clark nodded, beaming. He couldn't be prouder of himself.
Lois wasn't nearly as pleased. She sprang up and grabbed Clark around the neck, startling him and sending him into more spirals.
"CLARK! STOP THAT!!" Lois shrieked. Clark, trying to return to a stable route, picked a star on the horizon and attempted to will himself toward it. To his surprise, it worked. Shortly, he was traveling straight ahead again.
"Ha, So that's how it works…" Clark laughed. Lois glared at him.
"You have no clue what you're doing, do you?"
"None whatsoever…"
"Oh, that's good. Except for one tiny detail."
"What?"
"HOW ARE WE GONNA GET DOWN?!"
Clark stammered. "Uh….umm….I don't know how."
"What do you mean you don't know how to get down?" Lois asked, worried. She looked down, and saw Metropolis speed under her much faster than she was comfortable with. "LEARN! LEARN!!"
Clark picked a spot on the top of a skyscraper in the distance, and tried to will himself towards it. He descended slowly and carefully, making sure not to startle his skittish passenger.
Lois put a weary hand to her head as the ground drew closer. "If I die, I'll kick your alien ass into oblivion."
"But technically wouldn't you be—"
"JUST LAND ALREADY!!"
Clark landed on the roof of the skyscraper with a bit of a bump, but considering it was his first time actually landing on his feet, it was pretty impressive. Clark was extremely pleased with his new ability.
How the heck was I ever afraid of heights? That was really fun …
Lois was a bit less enthusiastic. "Don't you ever, EVER take me up there again!"
"What happened to 'Oh Clark, you have got to take me flying someday?" Clark mocked in a shrill girly voice, recalling the time he told Lois about his powers, and her reaction to his flying ability.
"That was before I knew you were the most idiotic, spastic, inconsiderate, insane—"
As Lois droned on, Clark set up the briefcase with the time portals (you forgot about that, didn't you) on the ledge and opened it cautiously. He didn't want it blowing up in his face again.
"—moronic, thick-headed, erratic—"
Clark picked up a time portal and felt the now-familiar cold sensation it emitted.
Hopefully this time it'll work.
"— negligent, senseless, oblivious—"
He analyzed every inch of the container, searching for any hint of how the time machines worked.
I must have missed something…something has to tell me how this works.
Clark did everything he could think of, trying to consider every trick Kal could use to safeguard the time machine.
"—self-absorbed creep on the planet!" Lois finished, gasping for air after her minute-long rant.
"Are you done?" Clark asked, annoyed.
"I guess so…" Lois conceded. "I never knew I had such a colorful vocabulary."
"Neither did I…But could you keep your verbal dictionary shut for a minute? I'm trying to concentrate."
"Oh yeah, the time machine thing. Whoops. I'll keep it down." Lois said sheepishly. "Ignoramus."
"What?"
"Sorry. I had one more synonym in me. And you never get to use a word like that in real life."
Clark smiled, and returned to work. He X-Rayed the container on a whim, and focused as hard as he could. He was surprised to see a tiny metallic bead suspended in the container, spinning and bouncing in every direction. Moving into super-speed, he continued to focus on the bead, hoping to see something—anything—that would give him a clue how it worked. The world started moving slower and slower around Clark, and the bead appeared to lose some speed. Finally, something became visible to Clark that peaked his interest.
The bead was covered in miniscule numbers.
Clark moved faster still, until the bead stopped spinning entirely. He got a good look at it, and found that it was not a solid metal ball, but rather divided into two sections, with eight numbered dials on each half. The top half was currently set to 04-29-2056, while the bottom was blank.
That's today's date… Kal must have designed these so only he could move fast enough to use them…
Clark shattered the container, and grabbed hold of the bead. Instinctively, he turned the bottom dials until they read 03-21-2008, they day they had been transported to the future. He let go of the bead, which remained floating in the air. Clark ran over to the opposite end of the roof, where Lois was, just incase it blew up again. He returned to normal speed and waited for something to happen
The bead hurtled toward the ground, and again sent out shockwaves. Clark shielded Lois from the blast. But this time, the bead left a portal in its wake. It was barely visible to the naked eye, looking something like a heat wave that only slightly distorted its surroundings.
"OK, what the hell just happened?" Lois said, completely ignorant as to what had happened in the last .00165 seconds.
"I think I got it." Clark said, disbelieving.
"You mean—you mean you figured it out?"
Clark nodded.
"We can go home?"
Clark took a cautious step toward the portal, Lois following close behind. As they drew nearer, the grasped each other's hands. Neither of them could believe how close they were to safety—just a few steps away. After the past month, all the pain and suffering they had endured, the revelations (good and bad) and a newly discovered love, Lois and Clark were both weary and homesick. They were almost waiting for something to go horribly wrong that would keep them stuck in the future. It was too good to be true.
"I almost can't believe we're going home, Lois. Home…" Clark trailed off. Lois squeezed his hand tighter.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
They both took a deep breath, and stepped through the time machine, never looking back.