Chapter 44: Maxima Part Two.
The moment Lois Lane got empowered, she could scarcely believe her luck, this was something beyond her wildest dreams, and the possibilities of what she could do with this power had danced in her head. Lois was like a kid on Christmas morning, as her imagination had run wild with any number of ideas what her powers could do, but that was not important. There was only one thing Lois could do now, and she focused herself, intent to move forward to complete the task at hand.
The main objective was to lay the smackdown on some smug alien princess, and that was what Lois intended to do, speeding past the offices of the Daily Planet, and exiting the window, ready to engage this queen in battle. Lois dropped down, making sure to remain carefully out of the wandering eyes of any busy bodies that might have been around, and scoped out the scene, looking for Lana and Maxima.
It struck Lois who the Blur was, it had to be Clark, or maybe it was Lana, but perhaps it was both, hard to tell sometimes really. The sounds of combat had cut Lois out of her musings, and she moved around, to see Lana and Maxima go at it. The fight was about what one would expect between two super-powered women who were fighting over a super powered man with lots of hair punching, punching, scratching, and kicking.
Not to mention the mud throwing, Lois could not forget about the mud throwing, the mud throwing was something that was important to detail here. Lois noticed that Lana was holding her own, but at the same time, Maxima was just skilled. If Lois had to hazard a guess, Maxima was the type who had been in fights since she was a small child, but guess what, Lois was the same way.
"Hey, hands off!" Lois yelled, before she sped over, hand extended, and her palm struck Maxima straight in the face. Maxima flew backwards from the impact, going through the air, and landing on the ground, but the only thing that was injured was her pride. That was the worst type of injury for a queen of her race, and Maxima rose to her feet, eyes narrowed and face seething.
"You dare strike the Queen of Almerac!"
"Yes, I dare, given what you've done today you're getting off light," Lois responded, and she focused herself, before she realized that she had super breath. Lois amused herself, remembering all of the people who thought she was just full of hot air, and now she had a chance to put that to a more universal use. Lois blew Maxima off balance, and she staggered immediately at that time, her legs buckling from Lois breathing her. Maxima fought back, trying to super speed for, and she grabbed Lois.
Lana shook her head, and tried to get back to her feet, the entire situation just assimilated in her mind. It struck her that she was in a battle that she might have been a bit in over her head. It was not because of her own lack of ability, but rather the fact that the woman that attacked her, was far more skilled, and had been training for far more years. Lana's musings had been broken up by Lois nailing the woman in the face.
"I must have my king, and I will not let either of you stand in my way!" Maxima yelled, and she grabbed Lois by the throat, trying to strangle her, but Lois knocked Maxima off, sending her flying back. Maxima crashed hard into a gate, as people surrounded around. With how their powers were modified, a slight shield was surrounded around their faces, blocking anyone from seeing their true faces.
Lois surrounded Maxima, and Lana joined her, ready to get back into the fight. Lana nailed Maxima with a huge kick to the side of the head, whilst she was distracted in her battle with Lois. The kick cracked Maxima hard in the chest, and the woman staggered back, with Lois spearing Maxima with her shoulder, sending her flying back into the side of a building, cracking it.
"You might want to be a little less rough, not to cause an Earthquake," Lana advised to her, and Lois just shrugged. Lana had no idea how Lois got super powers, at this point, she was just rolling with it, but the help was appreciated for Clark.
"No, my planet…it will die, I need an heir, I need someone strong enough," Maxima answered, taking a deep breath, and she grabbed both Lana and Lois by the throats, pushing them back hard. "He is my soul mate, and I will not allow either of you to stop me. He sent for me."
"Maybe it was a wrong number," Lois managed, rasping at that moment, but her eyes lit up, and she sent out a burst of heat vision, and Lana did the same. The two rays of heat burned Maxima, causing her to stagger back, and Lana and Lois smashed Maxima back hard.
The queen had flown back, and for this moment, she enjoyed the thrill of combat. Nothing had given her more pleasure, and she was impressed by these two, for their desire to fight for the Kryptonian. Maxima debated the merits of keeping these two as pets, once she had defeated them, for they could tend to both her and her mate's needs.
Lois and Lana looked at each other, and both nodded at each other, before they tried to fire off an attack. Maxima had been knocked to the ground, and before the vibrations could level half of Metropolis, Lana kept them at bay with a telekinetic field, until they could be rode out. Lana was breathing heavily, and Lois looked at her, with a raised eyebrow, not quite realizing what she did.
"I don't think I have that ability," Lois remarked in an off handed voice, but Maxima was up, staggered, blood dripping down from her mouth. "Don't look now, but her royal pain in the ass still wants to dance."
Lana grabbed Maxima, and flew her up into the sky, with Lois following behind her. The two empowered women were up in the air, with the queen struggling to get out of Lana's grip, but Lana hurled Maxima into the waiting grip of Lois.
Lois caught Maxima, and she flew into the air, before a punch impacted the alien queen in the face. Maxima spiraled to the ground, going head over heels, and Lana caught her before she crashed to the ground to cause a sadistic impact.
Maxima had no idea what was happening, but it was a fight to the death, a fight that she would not be denied. Lana suddenly had Maxima rolled over onto her stomach, and a knee buried into the back, hands on the side of her head. The alien queen refused to go down at this point, but then she slumped at that moment.
"Careful, she might be playing possum," Lois said, as she dropped down to her feet, and kept her eyes firmly on the alien queen. Sure enough, Maxima was luring them into a false sense of security, nailing both of them with a hard double palm strike, and both women had flew backwards with a sinister impact.
Lois and Lana soured backwards, and Maxima grabbed Lana, before wrenching her arm, with cracking her elbow behind her back, the queen taking Lana down. Lois grabbed Maxima, wrapping her arm around her throat, trying to choke her out with a rear naked choke, but
Maxima flipped her over, before causing both women to land on the ground. Lana and Lois staggered back to their feet, and Maxima flew at them with a primal rage.
The two women knew what they had to do, and it was an elementary tactic, but an extremely useful one. The rage of Maxima should be used against her, to make her lose by her own merits, before between the two of them; they could just barely keep up with this alien queen, and her warrior spirit.
"Hey, you've already lost, you just don't already know it," Lois heckled Maxima, and Maxima turned around.
"Yeah, you can't even defeat, what did you call me, the practice girl of your so called soul mate," Lana taunted Maxima, and Maxima turned around, to go after Lana, but Lois was not done mocking the queen as of yet. In fact, one could say that she was just getting warmed up, with Lois deciding to go for the gut rather early on.
"You can't even win a man with your charming personality, so you have to resort to ensnaring him with that kiss of yours," Lois answered at that moment, and Maxima suddenly blinked, gritting her teeth in rage, she wanted to kill this obnoxious woman slowly, painfully, until the point where she begged for mercy. "That really says something about your self-esteem, or lack thereof."
Maxima was in a rage, and she gave a primal howl, before she went after Lois, but this left her own for an attack from Lana. Lana slammed the fullest force she could muster into the spine of Maxima, with the woman's legs crumpling underneath her.
Maxima screamed from the agony, and Lois caught her with a huge thunderous punch to the face, with a loud sonic boom echoing, that Lana had to contain to prevent it from leveling all of Metropolis.
X-X-X
Harry and Kara popped up at the Daily Planet, and they had arrived just in time to see the chaos, and also see Karen just sitting on Clark's desks, legs crossed, and casually drinking a cup of coffee. Harry turned around, and his eyes focused on Karen's face, but there was a moment before she spoke.
"I must commend you on being the only man to be able to look at my face."
"What did you do?" Harry asked, looking at her, and dropping any sense of pleasantries, and Karen just responded for a moment by humming, until her younger counterpart looked at her.
"Well, I'm trying to fix the mess that we caused, so I gave Lois super powers, so Maxima doesn't try and kill Lana," Karen answered, and Kara and Harry stepped off, but Karen put up a field to stop them. "Remember, it's now trial by combat, for the hand of Kal-El, and they have to beat her, and it may be to the death. You can't interfere, either of you."
Harry looked at Kara for confirmation, and the blonde Kryptonian nodded her head, looking defeated, but she responded with a few words. "Yeah, it's true, Lana and Lois have to win or…"
Kara's voice trailed off at what she was going to say, and there was really no need for her to continue, Harry had gotten the message loud and clear. An arm was thrown over Kara's shoulders, and the two watched a bit of the battle from the windows. To most other observers, the battle would be just be a bunch of super powered blurs, going back and forth without any rhyme or reason.
Thanks to their super powers, both Kara and Harry were able to watch the battle, it going back and forth several times, and both of them watched, absolutely impressed.
At that moment, Chloe showed up, looking around. She watched, mouth wide open, and eyes blinking, just trying to reconcile the entire situation that was going on around her, before speaking after a moment of silence.
"Would either of you…explain what is going on here?"
It was Harry who chimed in at that point, without missing a beat. "Our friend the third Herald here found the Crystal of Knowledge, and my mother tampered with it, sending a beacon that summoned an alien queen who is extremely horny, and in desperate need of a mate. She used a kiss to ensnare Clark with her powers, and is now fighting Lana and Lois in ritual combat for Clark's hand, oh and Lois has now been given super powers."
Chloe's eyes widened in abject horror. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN LOIS HAS BEEN GIVEN SUPER POWERS?"
Kara could not resist teasing her mate at that one. "Really, out of all of that information, that's the thing you find the most objectionable."
Chloe's mouth open, Chloe's mouth shut, she resembled a fish out of water at this point, before she shook her head, and regained the necessary amount of focus to properly think in a rational manner. "Okay, just calm yourself, perhaps this isn't going to be the cataclysm that you think it is. Perhaps Lois will be responsible with them and….oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. And she was sent out into the thick of things, without training, oh boy. And…"
Chloe sank herself down onto the chair, breathing in and breathing out, regaining her bearings and the loud sounds of combat could be heard. Karen sat on the desk, watching a bit of it out of the corner of her eyes, this was going better than expected.
She half expected Lois and Lana to get creamed in about ten minutes flat, and Maxima throw Clark over her shoulder, before taking him back as the spoils of war. Granted, that's not what she wanted to happen, but that was just likely something was going to happen, that being the most probable outcome given what she heard about the people of Almerac.
Chloe cut in with a question that had been burning in her mind. "So…um where's Clark in all of this?"
Karen chimed in happily with an answer, her blue eyes fixed on Chloe, and a slight smirk on her face, getting some kind of perverse amusement out of the situation. "He's in the elevator, in la-la land, after the Queen kissed him. He's still ensnared under his power, but at least he's not singing really bad show tunes."
Chloe half paid attention to what was said, and she only sped over to the elevator, where she spotted Clark, slumped and in a daze, his shirt torn off from Maxima's earlier efforts.
The lights seemed to be on, but no one was really home, and Chloe tried to snap her fingers to wake Clark up. She snapped them over and over again, but she was not getting anywhere.
"Clark, wake up, snap out of it!" Chloe yelled at Clark, shaking him with her super strength, but this did her no good. The woman put her hands on her head, and shook it, before a sudden and wicked burst of inspiration had struck her. "Clark, you've forced me to take drastic action."
Chloe sped off from the elevator, leaving Clark in his stupor, and returned a moment later, toting a huge jug of ice water that she had liberated from the office water cooler. Chloe closed her eyes, and whilst throwing all caution to the wind, the water jug was dumped on Clark, the ice water poured all it all over it. Half of it was dumped over his head and the other half was dumped down Clark's pants.
Needless to say, this had snapped Clark out of his daze, and back to reality, with him looking around. Clark stood in the elevator, shirtless, and dripping wet, and his eyes snapped towards Chloe's amused face with an incredulous expression on his face.
"CHLOE!"
"Well that worked," Chloe remarked, barely able to keep a straight face with the amused situation that had happened.
"Why did you do that for?" Clark asked, shaking his head, and he resembled a drowned rat with his hair soaking wet.
"What would you have had be do, Clark?" Chloe asked, looking at her friend, and glad to see he was back to his usual self, not in a daze, well not more so than usual anyway. "I figured, that always worked wonders in getting Lois up out of bed, so why not do the same to you?"
Clark found it hard to fault this logic, but he did not remember anything, past the point where he had gotten into the elevator. He had a feeling that something rather important happened, although the Kryptonian found himself struggling to remember past a certain point.
Those thoughts were cut off by a huge crash through the windows that sent flying glass and debris everywhere. Clark winced, but found out that the Daily Planet office had mostly been cleared out by this time, which he found that he was thankful for.
The last thing that he needed was a few shell-shocked interns to find the scene, but really it was Clark who was the most shell-shocked of them all, his mouth widened. Lana and Lois had some redhead pinned to the floor, and she was struggling, fighting.
"She has a lot of fight, doesn't she?" Lana grunted, trying to hold Maxima down to the ground, pinning her down.
"Oh, hey, Smallville," Lois responded in a nonchalant voice, whilst she pinned Maxima to the ground, but Karen stepped over at this point, looking down at Maxima.
"I believe you've lost, princess," Karen taunted her, a smug and self-assured expression etched on the face of the blonde Kryptonian once she had looked down at the defeated alien queen.
Maxima's face contorted into a snarl, and she could sense that this girl had masterminded her utter humiliation by giving that other woman super powers. Her pride had been demanded, and the only thing that could soothe it was blood. Maxima bounced up to her feet, once Lana and Lois got up, and while they braced themselves to fight, Maxima attacked Karen instead.
Harry dove in at that moment, and sent Maxima flying back against the wall. Maxima's eyes widened at his strength, and his power, and she wondered if he could be an ideal mate, but Kara had already noticed the signs. Kara flew in, grabbing Maxima around the wrist, and managing to find the bracelet on her, recognizing the technology at once.
"I won't forget this humiliation!" Maxima yelled, trying to save face by not breaking down in her defeat.
"Yeah, you will," Karen answered, in a bored voice, holding up her crystal, and wiping Maxima's memories of her little trip on Earth, before Kara had sent her back to where she came.
Suddenly, a sonic boom echoed throughout the Daily Planet offices, and Kara, Harry, Clark, Lana, Lois, and Chloe all landed on the ground with a thud, knocked out.
Karen was about to wipe Lois's minds and her powers but Harry had blocked her from doing so completely. That was his last act before Harry blacked out from the pain.
Karen had teleported out of the way, and Clark was the first one to get to his feet, using his chair to pull himself to his feet.
Clark shook his head, and spotted that this other blonde Kryptonian had left something behind.
It was the crystal, with the note attached to it. Clark read the note, it was in Kryptonian writing, and he understood the message immediately. He was actually surprised that Karen had left it behind.
Keep it safe this time, for there may not be a next time.
Lois stirred back to consciousness, and she was sitting at her desk at the Daily Planet, with a splitting headache. To be honest, Lois could not remember all of what had happened, and honestly speaking she had blacked out some time ago, perhaps working on a story.
That seemed to be the most logically explanation of her mind, and the brunette reporter tried to get her head back together, when footsteps echoed towards her. They sounded like thunder in her current condition, and she spun around, to see Chloe standing there, with a casual expression.
"Lois, are you okay?" Chloe asked to Lois in a calm voice, and Lois blinked at that moment, with Chloe's voice sounding like thunder in her ears. It was almost like someone had turned up the volume of her hearing up, for it to be super sensitive.
"Okay, yeah, I'm fine, really I'm fine," Lois responded, and she reached over to grab her cup of coffee, but it was empty. That was strange, because Lois did not remember taking one drink of it whatsoever before she blanked out.
Lois felt a spasm in her back, and shook her head, it was not for the first time where she suspected that something extraordinary happened, and she had been down for the count, missing every single moment of it. "Boy, I feel like I've been through hell and back."
Chloe noticed that Lois seemed to have no idea what happened, and wondered if the powers had been a temporary thing, even though the pain had not left her. "So…how are you feeling?"
"Like I was a stunt double for Wile E. Coyote," Lois responded with a grimace, and she got up to her feet, wincing when she stood on her feet. "Ow…ow…what happened?"
"There was something that went through here involving the Blur," Chloe said, barely keeping a straight face at the moniker that Clark had been dubbed, but she managed to keep her cool, and look at Lois, looking at her. "The person after him knocked you into a wall, but you managed to get up, I guess and blacked out. I was about to call the ambulance, but then you woke up, are you sure you're okay?"
"Give me a couple of pain killers, and call me in the morning," Lois responded with a grimace, trying to shake her head at that point, and really get back to life. "Just got to get back to work, the news business waits for no one, so why should I be any different. Up and back at it, are you sure I didn't miss anything important?"
Chloe had no idea what to say, and she blinked for a moment, before turning towards Lois, and taking a deep breath.
"I think you would have remembered it if was important," Chloe answered in an honest voice, and she saw Clark standing nervously in the background, out of the corner of her eye. Chloe took a step back. "If you need anything, I'll be right around the corner."
"Yeah, I think I'll just take about five," Lois answered, grimacing at the slightest movement, and she slumped back down on her chair, wincing at the stabbing pain going through her body. "Yeah, about five years, maybe five decades, but after that, I should be back on my feet within no time."
Chloe just turned around, and walked forward with a purpose, quickening her strides, pushing through the door, to face Clark, a nervous expression etched on his face. The two had not spoken to each other ever since their little tiff, unless one counted Chloe dousing Clark with the ice water in the elevator and snapping him out of his Maxima induced trance moments ago.
Chloe shifted on her feet, watching Clark, just taking moments to study him, and Clark responded by opening his mouth, but then he promptly shut it, taking a deep breath.
"So, I guess we have to talk," Clark responded at that moment, taking a deep breath, and looking at Chloe.
That was the most direct, and sincere way to get straight to the point, which Chloe appreciated about Clark at this point, direct honesty, was something that they needed to get through this entire situation. Clark cleared his throat, and his eyes snapped onto Chloe's, both staring at each other, before the Kryptonian spoke in his most honest voice possible.
"Chloe look I'm…you know I still don't like this, but…I respect your right to be in any kind of relationship that you want to, even if it's kind of…well you know, and I'm sorry."
"Yeah, thanks, Clark, I appreciate you finally pulling your head out of your ass," Chloe answered in a nonchalant voice, and Clark just looked at Chloe, with a raised eyebrow.
"It does seem to spend a lot of time wedged up there," Clark answered, folding his hands over his chest, and he watched Chloe, who responded. "After all that's happened…"
"And a lot has happened," Chloe said, cutting off Clark, and she stepped forward. "I'm glad to have a friend like you Clark, even with all of your faults, and there are many, we could list them all day."
Clark just nodded, and he would have to agree.
"But at the same time, your imperfections make you who you are, and give you something to work past," Chloe answered, looking at Clark. "And you know, you might find yourself in a situation like mine, where you are in a relationship with multiple people. Lois and Lana technically won that duel with Maxima, therefore, they won the rights to you."
"So, wait, I'm some prize to be won in a contest now?" Clark asked, getting a bit defensive now.
"Not saying that at all, but just saying, perhaps you might want to open your mind, you never know what you like until you try it," Chloe answered in an even voice, and Clark just nodded. "And you can't look me in the eye, and tell me that you haven't had forbidden thoughts about multiple women at the same time."
"Yes, but on the Red Kryponite," Clark said, and Chloe just put a hand up to stop Clark, before he said anything else, a smile appearing on her face.
"And what does the Red Kryptonite do? It removes your inhibitions, but it doesn't put new thoughts there. You always did have a wild side in you."
"So, I guess I was just projecting my insecurities about my own forbidden desires onto Harry, and blaming him, I know he wouldn't force you or Kara into anything, unless you were willing," Clark said, but he was happy that he did not confront Harry about the situation. Most likely because it would end badly for him, and then once Kara found out he tried to attack Harry, it would really end badly for him.
"Just learn from your mistakes," Chloe responded, and she looked at Clark before saying something. "You got the crystal, don't you?"
"Yes," Clark responded, and he reached into his pocket, to make sure it was still there. "She's a weird one to figure out…"
"She did help us today, and send Maxima away," Chloe responded to Clark, eyes snapped up, and focusing him, before nodding her head. "I don't know, there's a chance that…well you know what there's a chance for."
"I don't need to visualize anything that goes on behind closed doors," Clark said, holding his hand up, and Chloe got the message.
Chloe smiled at that moment, before taking a deep breath, and directing the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"Kara and Harry want to take a look at that distress that you and Lana heard from the Artic the other day, and they want you two to meet them, tonight, after dinner," Chloe responded, and Clark nodded, feeling that was agreeable to what he wanted to do. The truth was there was a morbid amount of curiosity "Don't be late or anything."
"I won't be," Clark said, thinking that Lana would be agreeable to what happened, and to be honest, he was curious about what was going on, and wanted to solve that mystery.
Chloe's eyes looked at Clark, a grin crossing her face, and to be honest, after what happened, she could not resist. The blonde looked at Clark, and remarked in an oh so casual voice. "Hey, Clark, you looked a little bit parched, how about a drink of ice-water?"
Clark's eyes snapped towards Chloe, who had broken out in hysterical laughter. "That's not funny, Chloe."
"I thought it was," Chloe responded in mirth, before the two walked back to Clark's desk. Clark sat back down to work, and Lois had brave walking off to get another cup of coffee. Chloe was gone, and Clark had his papers in order, trying to get back into work.
Suddenly, Chloe zoomed in back in at super speed, and sent Clark's papers flying in every which direction, causing him to scramble to pick them up.
"Sorry, always wanted to do that," Chloe said, before turning around, and walking off, whistling like she had not just sent all of the paper contents of Clark's desk flying.
Clark grumbled, picking up everything, his entire desk area looked like a hurricane had come in.
'I suppose I had this coming,' Clark thought to himself, scooping the papers up, and putting them back into the desk, jumping at every noise, for fear that it was Chloe making her return, to disrupt all of his work.
Meanwhile Lois grumbled when she had crushed the cup in her hand. They sure did not make these things like they used to.
With another motion she walked over to her desk and tried to pull open the drawer. The drawer went off of the rollers at that motion.
'I guess I don't know my own strength,' Lois thought to herself tensely.
Cold biting winds blew through the Artic, and it was at one of the coldest points that it had been at any time, but that did not bother the five figures who had stood at the Artic, one of them clutching a crystal in his hand. Clark stood, hesitate to what he needed to do, and Kara and Harry both sensed these hesitations from Clark, so Kara turned to him, and took a deep breath.
"Clark, hand us the crystal, and we'll be able to scan it, to make sure that Lily did not leave any other nasty surprises," Harry remarked, and Clark, without hesitation, had handed Harry the crystal. It was pure power personified, and Harry made sure that no traces of his mother lingered inside the crystal. It was just like her to face some kind of failsafe.
It did strike Harry at that moment that the orb had gone missing as well, and the tracking charm had been disabled, so it could have been anywhere.
"So what's the damage?" Chloe asked, to break the silence.
Kara put up a hand, and Chloe clapped her hands over her mouth, adopting the "speak no evil" pose, nodding the head. There was a time where she stood swaying, and Harry and Kara continued to scan the crystal, before both of them nodded.
"It's completely clean," Harry summarized, and everyone had let out the breaths they had been holding in, for a very long time. The fact of the matter was that the crystal could have been their demise, or their doom, but it was not anything like that. Harry held out the crystal, for Clark to take. "I believe this is yours."
Clark held the crystal in his hand, holding it over, and just watching it, it was in his hand, like fire. The fact of the matter was that Clark had no idea what he truly wanted to do, but Lana stood by his side, waiting and watching him.
Immediately, Clark hurled the crystal back into the snow, where the Fortress once stood. A blinding light had erupted, and the Fortress came back to life once again, in all of his majestic glory, blinding the five figures standing in the Artic with its brilliance.
The five figures stepped forward, and Clark was allowed to lead the way, since it was his Fortress. Clark stepped inside, with Lana following, and then Chloe, Kara, and Harry brought up the rear, all of them hovering above the ground.
The Fortress had been put back onto line, just the way it was, with one notable exception, Jor-El had been missing in action. It seemed like the Jor-El programming had been banished elsewhere, and the AI was not present, yet someone else was, her voice, beautiful sounding and sophisticated, had spoken to them throughout the Artic.
"I am pleased to have met you face to face at least, my son."
Kara stood rigid, and absolutely shocked, with Harry putting an arm around her waist, waiting and watching, for Kara had recognized that voice. The blonde Kryptonian stood, mouth wide open, and the Herald of Death watched, mouth wide open, trying to articulate her words, before speaking.
"Aunt Lara?"
This statement had caused the entire group to be caught for a loop, and Clark suddenly took a step forward, absolutely shocked by what was going on, his mother was alive and well in the Fortress.
"Yes, Kara, it is me, upon Jor-El's departure from this area, my programming was activated," Lara responded in a crisp voice.
Harry stood, suspicious immediately, just on sheer principle, and if experience had taught him anything, it was to suspect everything, and everyone. This could have been another one of his mother's tricks, but for now, he was going to keep an open mind. Kara seemed rather convinced or perhaps just blindly optimistic at this point. Chloe seemed to be thinking among the same lines as Harry, and her brow contorted in suspicion, before she spoke.
"So, if you were here all of this time, how is it that you never had any input on Clark's life?" Chloe asked, and Lana's eyes snapped towards Chloe, but then she nodded, thinking that her friend had made a good point.
"Believe me, I wished I could have been here for my son, but Jor-El's programming was going to be the overriding force, no matter what I had tried to do," Lara answered, her voice sounding apologetic and regretful. Clark noticed that Lara had more emotion in her tone than Jor-El ever did when he spoke to Clark. "I installed this failsafe program in the event where your father's AI had been corrupted, deleted, or otherwise impaired, so you would not go without guidance. I was always here, but never active. Yet, I have been well informed of everything that transpired, and am rather displeased at your father right at the moment."
Kara just smiled at that, holding back a laugh.
"Somebody's busted,' Chloe said out of the corner of her mouth, and Kara would have to agree.
"My father has always been so cold, and so distant to me, he's….he keeps talking about my destiny," Clark said, wanting to trust this woman who claimed to be his birth mother, but she was just a voice.
"Your father did have great hopes for you once you were born, the greatest, perhaps greater than any pair of shoulders could even hope to burden," Lara stated, before taking a moment to speak. "Jor-El was a man of many talents, as I had found out constantly."
Clark suddenly took a step back, eyes widened in trauma, and Chloe and Lana were both in hysterics, but the truth was that Clark did not need to learn that about his birth parents. Kara even pulled a face at that one, thinking that was way more information than she needed to know, with Harry throwing an arm around her, and barely hiding his own amusement at Clark's mental scarring.
"The point is that your father tends to have a grand vision, and he often finds himself pressured with what he must do, putting great pressure upon himself," Lara answered, and there was a point where her attention was fully focused on her son. "He has a multitude of faults, and once he programmed this AI, he thought that his emotions would cloud the directive he felt you would be given. It is a costly mistake, and one that has bred a negative impression of your father in your mind."
"That's putting it mildly," Clark responded, thinking about Jor-El, and all of the times where his father had been critical of him, about his destiny.
"For he would have had emotions, he would have understood that you would have been just as stubborn as he was," Lara added at that point, taking a moment to speak. "But there are other matters that we must discuss regarding what has happened, before we find a way to recall his programming. As able as I am to help you on certain matters, there was information that left with Jor-El that would help direct you in a certain way."
"I have a lot of the information, up here," Lana remarked, tapping on the top of her head, and the truth was she understood most of it.
"I understand that, and you will do well with assisting Kal-El on his journey," Lara responded briskly, and she paused. "Humanity is at a crossroads in many ways, and there is a chance that they always will be. As a wise man once told me, they are a great people, they wish to be."
"Wise words to live by," Clark responded, pleased that someone had sense.
"They were the words of your father," Lara informed him, and Clark just stood back, aghast, but perhaps Jor-El was much more than this AI had made him out to be. Raya had told him that much, but Clark, in his rage against his father, had refused to listen. Yet, there might have been a reason for Jor-El presenting himself through this AI in such a matter.
Lara was far from finished speaking, and her attention was on Clark. "There is much we need to discuss, and there will be plenty of time to do it later. There is the matter of an element that Jor-El would have neglected, and the matter of your mates."
Clark's eyebrows rose at that moment, and Chloe and Kara just looked amused, the irony of it all, and Lana was just trying to figure out what her opinion was on this entire situation. Harry stood in the backward, just watching their reactions.
"I…I…I don't know about this," Clark remarked, completely flummoxed, and Chloe was now in hysterics at the look of Clark's face, making sure to burn it into her mind, because that would give her enough amusement to last a lifetime.
"Yes, I do understand about Earth taboos, but it is something that you must resolve to keep an open mind for your own sake," Lara responded, without another word, and there was a moment where everyone inside the Fortress was silent.
Kara broke the silence, she was happy beyond all words, and took a deep breath, focusing her attention on her aunt. "It's really good to hear your voice, again Aunt Lara."
"It is good to hear yours as well, Kara," Lara responded, and suddenly she paused. "And you're all grown up, with a mate of your own, and a handsome and a strong one as well, one that will be with you until the end of time."
"Yes, we will," Harry responded, with Kara grabbing one of his hands, and Chloe grabbing the other hand, as they stood in the Fortress.
"Both of your mates will be a treasure to cherish Kara, and it is just the beginning for you," Lara responded to her niece, and there was a time where everything went silence. "Now, Kal-El, if there is anything you wish to ask of me, or about me and your father, do not be afraid to ask."
Clark would keep that in mind for the future, but as of right now he was overwhelmed, and everything happened so fast; to the point where he had a thousand thoughts swimming around on the inside of his head. They would also have to recover the Jor-El programming wherever Lily had sent it, but that was another matter for later, right now the first steps towards the rest of his life would be taken.
Bonus Smut/Lemon/Roleplay Scene Begins.
-PROFILE
Smut/Lemon/Roleplay concludes.
To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "Moments in Time."
