CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A RECOVERY ROOM ABOARD THE HELICARRIER.

Superman sat on a cot in a recovery room in the med bay, his cape draped around him like a blanket, sipping on a cup of hot coffee. The caffeine didn't have any effect on his Kryptonian physiology of course, but he'd gotten so used to drinking it every day as Clark Kent in an effort to fit in with the other reporters at the Daily Planet that it had become a comfort to him.

The door to the recovery room opened and Spider-Man walked in.

"How you holding up, bud?" Spider-Man asked.

Superman took a long, slow sip of his coffee.

"I'm not sure," he said eventually. "Being out there in space like that… it took a toll on me. Mentally and physically. It's been hard to shrug off. Even for me."

"I'm sorry it took us so long to get you," Spider-Man said. "Thank God for the JLA arm bands. Tony was able to track your distress signal and send a Javelin with the armored suit to your coordinates on auto-pilot, but even that took days. Ra's sent you to an uncharted area of space. There's not even any Nova Corps or Lantern presence out there."

Superman looked up at the mention of the Lanterns. "Hal…" he said suddenly. "Has anyone heard from Hal? I sent him to check on the Watchtower…"

"I haven't, but, we've been a little distracted lately. I'll see if we can get ahold of him," Spider-Man replied.

"I need an update on what's happened since I've been gone," Superman said. "Where's Ra's? Have we found any of the other infinity gems?"

"We'll get you up to speed in a little bit," Spider-Man replied. "But before that, you have a visitor."

Superman looked quizzically at his old friend. "A visitor? Here?"

"Yup," Spider-Man nodded. He walked back toward the door. "It was a little tricky getting her clearance. Tony had to pull some strings with SHIELD. Normally they wouldn't allow a member of the press to come aboard the Helicarrier, but, we got them to make a one-time exception…"

He knew who Spider-Man was talking about a split second before he caught the scent of her perfume and heard the sound of her heartbeat.

The door opened, and Lois walked in. She smiled ear-to-ear at him, then began tearing up at the sight of the love of her life. He stood up so fast he dropped the coffee, which spilled all over the floor.

"Come on, Smallville!" she said. Her voice cracked, undercutting her mock-reproachful tone. "You have super-speed and you can't even catch a cup of-"

She didn't get to finish her remark. He sped over to her in an instant, grabbed her around the waist, and planted a firm, passionate kiss on her mouth. She closed her eyes and slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck, her fingers entangling themselves in his hair.

She was always afraid of losing him. Every single day. She knew that some of the most powerful monsters in the universe wanted a crack at her man. And one of these days, someone with magic powers or a chunk of kryptonite was going to get lucky and take him from her. Take him from the world. There were days when every moment that they had together felt like stolen time. And these past few days, not knowing where he was or if he was coming back, were sheer torture. They breathed each other in, tasted each other, held each other, and tried to make every second last forever.

She recharged him more than the yellow sun.

Spider-Man slowly backed out of the room and closed the door, giving the couple some privacy.

.

THE CONFERENCE ROOM. LATER.

Superman, Spider-Man, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, and Lex Luthor sat around a circular table in a conference room aboard the Helicarrier.

"So no one has seen Ra's since he grabbed the gem?" Superman asked, as the others tried to bring him up to date. "Has anyone tried to contact Batman? He knows a lot more about Ra's than we do."

"Tried. Can't get ahold of him," Spider-Man replied. "There's a crazy blackout going on in Gotham right now. Something about a war between the Riddler and the Joker. Batman's unreachable at the moment."

"There's something else," Tony Stark chimed in. "We were contacted by the Blue Beetle the day after Ra's grabbed the time stone."

"Jaime Reyes?" Superman asked. "Is he all right?"

"He was a bit shaken up," Stark said, reaching into the inside pocket of his sport coat. "He watched Booster Gold disappear right in front of him. Vanished without a trace. Only thing Booster left behind… was this." Stark produced a gold ring from inside his jacket, set it on the table and slid it across to Superman.

Superman picked up the ring carefully between his thumb and index finger.

"Booster's Legion ring," Superman said, holding it at eye level. It glistened.

"Booster Gold traveled to this era from the 25th century, did he not?" Doctor Strange asked.

"He did," Superman confirmed.

Doctor Strange put his fingers to his lips thoughtfully. "So Doctor Fate's ability to see the future became limited shortly before Ra's Al Ghul absconded with the time stone, and our friend from the future disappeared right after. I think it's quite obvious what's happening here, gentlemen. Ra's has thrown the timeline into a state of flux. It's possible he may be doing irreparable damage to it."

"What I still don't understand is why did Ra's step in when there were still two stones left to be found?" Spider-Man asked. "If he was playing the long game, why tip his hand for four of the gems, when he'd need all six to complete the gauntlet?"

"That part is simple," Lex said. "He can use the time gem to jump to a point in time where the other two gems have already been found."

Stark, Strange, and Spider-Man looked at Lex in surprise. They exchanged glances with each other, then looked back at him again.

Lex shrugged. "What?" he said simply. "It's what I would do."

"I'm afraid in his own demented way, our folically-challenged friend may have a point," Stark admitted. "Now that Ra's can jump through time, he can just skip ahead to the easiest time to snag the other stones."

"And we have no way to follow him," Doctor Strange sighed.

"That… is not necessarily true," Superman said slowly. He hadn't taken his eyes off of the Legion ring, which he was still holding carefully aloft. He was turning it carefully back and forth, watching the light play off of it. "The Legion ring allows its wearer to travel through time. It's how Booster came here."

"How would we know where Ra's went?" Stark asked.

"We wouldn't," Superman said, shaking his head.

"Jumping through time randomly hoping to catch him would be worse odds than the proverbial needle in the haystack," Lex said.

"Right," Superman said. "But we could make a jump to the future. One trip. See how this all plays out. Find out what Ra's does with the gauntlet and how he changes the future. Then, once we understand what we're up against, come right back here to this moment."

No one said a word for several long moments.

"Superman, if the timeline is in flux, a trip to the future may be unhelpful at best and dangerous at worst," Strange spoke up.

"Do you have a better suggestion?" Superman asked.

Doctor Strange did not.

Again, another prolonged silence.

"Which one of us goes?" Stark asked.

"I don't suppose you guys would let me do it?" Lex asked.

"NO!" everyone else said in unison.

Lex slouched down in his chair.

"I'll go," Superman said. "I've used a Legion ring before. I understand how it works." He started to slide the ring onto his finger. Spider-Man grabbed his wrist.

"Don't," Spider-Man said firmly. "I'll do it, Clark."

"What?" Superman said, surprised. "Pete, you don't have to-"

Spider-Man stood up, his hand still on Superman's wrist. "Strange just said this could be dangerous. You're in no condition to go. You told me yourself that you're feeling messed up, mentally and physically, after that stint in space. You're not up for this, man. You have to see that."

Superman opened his mouth to object, but, after trying and failing to start a sentence a few times, he closed it.

"Plus," Spider-Man said. "She just got you back, man. You can't do that to her again."

Superman looked up at Spider-Man. "I would be coming right back to this exact moment. She would never know I was even gone."

"That's if nothing goes wrong," Spider-Man said.

They stared at each other.

Finally, with a sigh, Superman placed the ring into Spider-Man's palm.

"All right," Spider-Man said. He held the ring up close to his face, studying it. "So, how do I set this thing? Is there a little dial on it or something?"

"It doesn't work like that," Superman said, shaking his head. "It's more of a mental thing. It's a force of will. You just concentrate, and focus on where you want to travel to."

"Okay…" Spider-Man said, his voice sounding a bit unsure and hesitant. He slowly slipped the ring onto the middle finger of his right hand.

"Remember," Superman said. "You just need to go far enough into the future to see how this all plays out, and figure out when Ra's grabs the other gems. Then come right back to this moment."

Spider-Man nodded his head. "Got it. This will be fun. Maybe I'll even grab a Sports Almanac while I'm there."

Superman looked confused.

"Back to the Future?" Spider-Man said. "Man, what did you even watch growing up? After this is all over, we're having a movie night."

Superman smiled. "I can't wait."

Spider-Man put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Me either, pal."

Then, Spider-Man carefully placed the index and middle fingers of his left hand onto the ring, and began to concentrate. A warm yellow-orange glow began to emanate from the ring. It grew brighter and brighter, overtaking Spider-Man's whole body.

"Hey… this feels kind of-"

The light flashed bright like lightning, and before he could finish his sentence, Spider-Man was gone.

Superman, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, and Lex Luthor stared at the spot where Spider-Man had been. No one moved a muscle. They scarcely dared to breathe.

A minute went by. They were all on the edge of their seats, waiting with bated breath for Spider-Man to re-appear.

Two minutes went by.

Then three.

Then four.

Ten minutes went by.

Then twenty.

"I thought he was supposed to come right back," Lex finally broke the silence.

"Shut up!" Stark snapped.

"Did something go wrong?" Lex asked, directly to Superman.

"I don't know," Superman said, his voice a deliberately even monotone. He still hadn't taken his eyes off of the spot where Spider-Man had stood.

"What do we do?" Doctor Strange asked.

"We keep waiting," Superman replied, voice still even.

So they waited.

Half an hour turned into an hour.

An hour turned into two.

After six long hours had passed, Superman stood up. He was stone-faced, and his fists were clenched. He began to silently walk toward the door of the conference room.

"Call everyone in," Superman said over his shoulder as he approached the door.

"Superman, wait," Stark called after him. "When you say 'everyone'…?"

Superman stopped at the door. He turned back to Stark.

"I mean everyone, Tony. The whole team. We've been playing this too quiet and too careful so far. I want every member of the Justice League Avengers called in, active and reserve. Get J'onn and Carol back from space. Get Thor back from Asgard. Call the X-Men. Call the Teen Titans. Find Batman. I want everyone who has ever put on a costume and fought for truth and justice. This is a code red, high alert, all-hands-on-deck situation."

He walked out the door.

"And where are you going?" Stark called after him.

.

AN APARTMENT IN MANHATTAN.

Clark Kent was dressed in a black suit and tie and wearing his glasses. This was not a message to be delivered in red and blue tights and a cape, but rather as a mild-mannered friend. As a human being, not a superhero.

As he approached the door of the apartment, his heart was heavy with grief. The first thing Peter had done for him when he got back was make sure he and Lois were reunited right away. And, when he, Clark, had been about to put on the Legion ring, Peter's immediate reaction had been that he could not let his friend and the woman he loved be separated again. Even if it meant taking on all of the risk himself. And he, Clark, uncharacteristically, had let him do it.

Peter was not going to let Clark take that risk when he had someone special waiting for him to come home every night. The unspoken second part of that message had been that he, Peter, did not have someone special waiting for him.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson had broken up a little over a year ago. The same day that Lex Luthor had tried to drop a bomb on Latveria, as a matter of fact. The strain that Peter's double-life as Spider-Man had taken on their relationship had bent it past the point of no return. The fact that Peter had kept things from MJ, like the feelings he'd had for Chloe Sullivan and how much her death had broken him up inside, had eaten away at their ability to communicate with each other as well. And, although Peter and MJ had both tried to reach out and reconnect as friends on a few occasions since then, it hadn't been enough to bring their relationship back to what it had been before.

Still... she would want to know. Peter would want her to know.

Clark knocked on the door.

He could hear footsteps. Heard her pause at the door and look through the peephole. Heard the gasp, and the frantic fumbling to unlock the chain on the door.

The door opened wide, and Mary Jane Watson's hands flew to her mouth. She shook her head. She could tell that Clark Kent was not at her door with good news. And there was only one thing it could be.

"No," she said, before Clark could even speak. "Please. No."

"Mary Jane," Clark said. He sighed. "I… I'm so sorry."

She burst into tears so suddenly that she almost fell over. Clark caught her, and pulled her in close. He held her in his arms as she sobbed into his chest.