SEVENTEEN
The boots of Superman and Wonder Woman tap down on the vertical pathway's bottom. Diana looks around the low-lit area knowing that Clark is scanning everywhere within and outside of the tunnel shaft.
"I'm only seeing walls," she says. "Are you able to make anything out?"
"Yeah," Clark observes. "This one opens up into a large space."
"A space joke," Diana groans. "Really?"
"But of course," Clark responds moving towards a wall. "It seems pretty smooth. Don't see any control mechanism making it a door."
"Light 'em up," Diana suggests.
"At your command," Clark says as his eyes glow a pale red, brightening the floor and enclosed walls. "But first, may I use Athena?"
Without hesitation, Diana hands over her sword. Clark arcs back the weapon and thrusts it into the wall. The sword's tip punctures and drills a few inches deep, hanging there.
"And that was for?" Diana asks.
"You'll see," Clark says. "Or rather not hear."
"You're doing an analytical thing again, aren't you?" Diana asks.
Clark smiles as concentrated beams of heat from his eyes slice through the wall. His head moving in precision and intensity like a blowtorch. As he reaches the completion of cutting an oval large enough for him and Diana to get through, he takes a hold of Athena's hilt.
"See," Clark suggests holding the sword. "The circle is complete and a little wiggle, and boom with a whisper."
Clark, using the sword like a fork, pulls the cut wall into the shaft where they are standing as light from the other side streams in.
"That was for stealth?" Diana asks. "It's a big ship. I doubt by the time we reach Braniac, he will be unaware of our presence."
"You're doing the wife thing again," Clark says.
"Oh, not applauding your every self-congratulatory accomplishment?" she queries.
"Yeah, pretty much," Clark says.
"You're the best Superman in the whole galaxy. What would I do without you?" Diana cutes up her voice. "Better?"
"Much," Clark responds pulling Athena out of the wall piece on the floor and handing it back to Diana.
They step through the opening into what appears to be a cargo room. Metallic storage units, from shiny new to scorched and dirty, are piled in rows upon rows.
"You smell that?" Diana asks.
"I think it's coming from some of these containers," Clark replies.
"Please tell me we can bypass them?" Diana pleads.
"There's a door past those units," Clark says pointing ahead.
Diana tilts her head and blows a kiss to Clark. And off she goes. He so loves when Diana takes point. Not only does it mean she is locked in, but it also makes him feel wholly special. She will always be his first line of offense and defense.
The room's door opens as Diana nears it. She and Clark enter an empty hallway that stretches in both ways to distant bending curves.
"Level of creepiness?" Clark asks.
"High," Diana says. "Which way?"
Clark's x-ray vision takes a look around. "I'm only getting through the next floors above and below. No bodies yet. There may be something this way. The doorway is wider."
Diana starts in the direction Clark pointed.
"Definitely no smell in here. It feels sterile," Diana observes. "Unmarked walls. Floor. Ceiling. And not like that room we were in, not a speck of dirt."
The wide door opens automatically at Diana's presence.
"Well?" she looks to Clark.
"In for a penny," he starts.
"In for a pound," Diana finishes.
They walk into what appears to be an elevator. The door closes in smooth silent fashion and the transport begins to move upward automatically.
"Okay," Clark speculates. "Is this by default or someone's control?"
Diana shrugs her shoulders while shifting her stance slightly as the lift slows, stops momentarily and begins to move horizontally.
"Wasn't expecting that," she says comfort-touching Athena on her back. "I see no buttons, controls. Maybe it is pre-programmed."
"And now we're moving up again," Clark says.
"Anything?" Diana asks leaning into Clark's side, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"Once the door closed," Clark says. "I couldn't see through the walls."
"That's comforting," Diana remarks. "So, if that's the case, these walls could be a new element for the periodic chart?"
"I love when you talk science-y," Clark says. "It looks familiar. Would love to get it in the Fortress. We're slowing down."
The lift comes to a stop. Its door opens.
"I got moving bodies," Clark says. "But they're not converging on us."
"Could it be possible Braniac doesn't know we're here?" Diana asks.
"As you said earlier, moot point," Clark deems. "We're in perpetual motion now. No stopping. We need to get information."
"Leave that to me," Diana says peering out of the lift before completely stepping out. "Which way?"
"With the exception of more entrance ways, it looks just like the hallway we left," Clark observes while nodding to Diane's right. "Two through this door up ahead."
Diana walks to the door expecting it to open at her proximity. It does not. She looks toward Clark.
"Husband?" she requests while unsheathing Athena.
Clark, slightly squinting his eyes, walks over to the door. "Interesting."
"What?" Diana asks.
"We're dealing with robots," Clark says. "I'm seeing no bio internals in either one of them."
"Let's hope they, it talks," Diana says. "The door."
And Clark knocks.
"Really?" Diana loud whispers. "You're not going to Superman it?"
The door begins to open leaving Clark to throw not a punch but a wink. He gives a matador gesture to Diana as the door fully opens. That is all she needs as she blazes into the room. Clark is but a step into, what looks like a laboratory work room, when Diana has already used Athena to dispatch one of the humanoid structured robots. She advances upon the other identical looking male automaton.
"Who are you?" it asks.
"Well, the translators are working," Diana observes.
Clark moves to Diana's side having scanned the room.
"Interesting to note that similarities, regardless of no physical connection," Clark begins as he moves closer scanning the robot. "Exist throughout the universe. Think about it, what causes biological innate drive to manifests itself in similar manner from here to Earth? Krypton? And beyond? Regardless of this being all machinery, it was based off someone that looks like us. We are indeed a universe of one. Made up of multi-species and such, but…"
"Kal," Diana interrupts. "Now is not the time."
"Of course," Clark agrees looking at their prisoner. "What are you?"
"I have been given form to advance research on behalf of Braniac," the robot responds.
"Which would be what, exactly?" Clark asks.
The robot does indeed look like an Earth male human, down to its hairstyle and facial features.
"All that he commands," it responds.
"And what are you doing for him now?" Clark asks.
"I am one of two hundred and thirty-three aboard this ship," the humanoid robot says. "Braniac has tasked us with monitoring and studying X26."
"What is the X26?" Diana asks.
"X26 is a biological organism found in sector twenty-six of the mapped universe," the robot informs. "On a planet charted as Tylus. There were over two billion sentient life forms on the planet."
"Were?" Clark asks.
"X26, it has not been discovered how, but it was on the planet," the robot says. "It wiped out the entire populace. Braniac had planned clearance on Tylus' capitol city, but there was no one else alive there but the creature. The city's structures, destroyed completely."
"Where is this X26 now?" Clark asks.
"On level thirty-one of the ship," the robot responds.
"This ship?" Diana asks move-threatening towards the robot.
"You have it under control," Clark suggests.
"Yes," the robot responds. "Typical weapons did not work on X26. Braniac attempted to use the shrinking ray. It did not work in the manner on X26, but it did place it in a hibernation. Braniac believes an understanding of its physiology has maintained its hibernation."
"Famous last words," Clark says. "A lot to unpack here. What level are we on now?"
"Twenty-nine," the robot responds.
"Of how many levels?" Clark asks.
"Thirty-five," it responds.
"Where is Braniac?" Diana asks.
"He does not travel off of level thirty-one," the robot answers. "He is able to walk the rest of the ship through our bodies and eyes."
"Damn," Clark breathes. "Is he monitoring through you now?"
The robot pauses. "Not during the clearance," it says.
"You mentioned that earlier. What is clearance?" Clark asks.
"Braniac will shrink a city with its inhabitants placing it and them under a glass-field enclosure," the robot responded. "He will neutralize as many as needed to obtain such objective."
"That's not possible," Clark shakes his head. "I noted as ridiculous you mentioning a shrinking ray for this X26, but you're claiming Braniac does this to cities, populated cities with thousands, millions of people?"
"Yes," the robot says.
"How small?" Clark asks.
"It varies. The largest city is contained within a covering field measuring fifty inches in height and thirty inches in width."
"For what purpose is this done?" Diana asks.
"Unknown," the robot responds. "I do not have access."
"Great," Clark says. "This just keeps getting more and more absurd. These shrunken cities, are they on level thirty-one?"
"Yes," it responds.
"Can they be enlarged back to their original state?" Clark asks.
"Unknown," it says. "Extractions from the cities have not all survived the enlargement process."
Clark looks to Diana. "Is your mind swimming in slow motion right now?"
"If yours is, then mine is definitely quicksand," she responds. "We stay with what's in front of us, right? One at a time."
Clark slowly, affirmatively nods.
"You know, J'onn could have been forced to undergo this shrinking process," Clark says.
A bit of despair furrows Diana's brow as she looks from Clark to the robot. "Are there prisoners aboard, separate from this shrinking ray?"
"Unknown," the robot answers. "Level thirty-one would be my best estimation."
"How do we get there?" Clark asks.
"How did we get here?" Clark quietly blew to himself.
The irony failed to escape his thoughts as he stared and listened at multiple monitors inside the Fortress. He swore that after his missing in action during World War One, he would never let something comparable go unchecked by him. And yet, there he stood, listening to reports all across the planet seemingly fixated on one thing – World War Two.
He felt steady hands land upon his shoulders.
"You haven't moved from in here for nearly a day," Martha Kent said to her son.
"You would think processing fourteen years lost would be the big lift," Clark said. "But the world has gone to Hell. Sorry, Ma."
"You're back now, Clark," she assured. "Is this something you can end?"
"How can I not try?" Clark asked. "What I've read, heard. Germany, Nazis, they need to be stopped. I wish there was more reel footage of what's been going on. I don't want to make a bad call."
Martha turns her son around. "You save and protect those you can," she said. "And you stop those who do otherwise."
"It's that black and white?" Clark asked. "Could what I do make things worse?"
"The time for that self-introspection is not now," Martha said. "The free world needs Superman. Now. Clear and decisive."
"I love you, ma," Clark said wrapping her into his arms.
"I know. I love you. Does anyone else know you're back?" she asked.
"No," Clark said. "But they will know soon enough."
"Germany?" his mother asked.
"No," Clark said. "Not yet."
Several days before Clark stirred from his fourteen-year sleep, Diana awakened well before dawn on Themyscira to a rare thunderstorm. Her naked body slid out of the comfortable, large ornate bed as the open areas of her home pushed cool currents of air from the growing storm. She walked over to one of the bedroom windows. Its sheer white drapes danced in the breeze as she looked upon the Aegean Sea. Lightning crackled in the distance followed by booming thunderclaps. Such moments were priceless for Diana. She secretly harbored a love for such weather events. No one needed the sun all the time she would tell herself.
Diana's residence was an adjunct to her mother's home. Situated on the highest point on Themyscira, Diana felt it only natural to leap out into the drenching rain. She flew straight up gaining a murky, bird's eye view of the island. Her discovered ability to fly more than two decades ago was beyond joyful. Water dripped in her smiling mouth as she descended and landed upon one of the island's beach areas. Her feet and toes, with each step, wiggled themselves down into the wet, compacted sand.
She would stand looking outward seemingly past the sea to the world of humans.
The ten-year penance she swore to her mother came and went as Diana did not leave Themyscira. She very much enjoyed just being the daughter of Hippolyta and sister to all of her fellow Amazonians. There was no strong thread pulling her back to the patriarchal, outside world. Yet, the last few months, Diana had been in an unease state. An unease she could not determine its root cause.
She gently lifted off and glided back to her home.
An unresolved emotion, deep in her thoughts led her body to a beautiful, gold container box on a slab in her bedroom. She opened up the decorative top and pulled out the old newspaper. The slightly faded picture of Superman stared back at her. She had read the profile story many times wondering who was Superman beyond the article. Diana thought her dreams of this man would stop soon after the discussion she had with her mother and sisters. They did not. A partial reason she did not go back out beyond Themyscira was because of him. Her thoughts, romantic thoughts, made her feel a guilt that she was betraying the memory of Steve Trevor.
She chided herself relentlessly for the absurdity of it all. She had never met this Superman.
"Kal, I will call him," she thought. "Much preferable to Clark, and no way I'm calling him Superman. By the goddesses, I'm doing it again."
Self-satisfaction with that internal realization continued to be countered, within a matter of seconds in Diana's head, by more passionate interludes with Kal. The sound of footsteps moving in her direction interrupted Diana's continuing self-reflection.
She grabbed her white, long tunic pulling it over her wet hair and body. She neatly placed the newspaper back in the box.
"Yes," she said sitting down on the edge of her bed. "Enter."
Hippolyta walked through the open doorway a few seconds later with a transparent, glazed expression.
"Mother?" Diana said. "Is everything okay?"
She smiled wanly at her daughter. "I was coming to see you when I saw you out over the water."
"You know how much I love the rain," Diana gleefully admitted.
"I do," Hippolyta said. "I had a visit tonight. During my sleep."
"Who?" Diana asked standing up walking to her mother.
"Goddess Tyche," Hippolyta said. "She claims the world is at the precipice of potential ruin."
"Ruin?" Diana wondered. "What does that mean? Is Ares back?"
"I do not know, daughter," Hippolyta said looking at Diana with guilty eyes.
"You want me to go," Diana observed.
"No," Hippolyta said. "I so enjoy you here, but man's world. Their actions, may affect us."
Diana walked over to the window as the storm continued its beautiful course.
"I haven't asked you in centuries, mother," Diana said. "Has your opinion on fate changed?"
"No," Hippolyta responded. "The presence of Gods and Goddesses still exist, but their direct influence upon us is minimal."
"Am I minimal?" Diana asks.
Hippolyta walked over putting her hand on Diana's shoulder.
"You know me better than that," she responded. "Zeus may be your father, but other than that moment. And Ares. They do not interfere in a manner of subjugating your own self-will. Your decision to go or not to go, is solely yours."
"And if I were to decline?" Diana asked.
"Once again, Diana," Hippolyta said placing her hand upon her daughter's cheek. "You know me better than that. Or rather, I know you better than that."
"I will go," Diana stated. "It has been awhile since I've flown as far as I will need to."
"Can you?" Hippolyta asked.
"Failure is never my option, mother," Diana said linking hands with her.
On January 1, 1942, Superman breached upward the Earth's thermosphere in a ballistic moving trajectory towards Europe. His first stop was the home of Sweden's Prime Minister. After the initial shock of seeing Superman, the Prime Minister acquiesced to Clark's secret request. Secret for the moment, but Clark knew it would not be for long.
Seconds after the meeting, Clark was back up high above the Baltic Sea. A minute later, he had located his target. As he flew downward, most of Eastern Europe was cloudless that cold morning, just past dawn. From five miles above an area north of Warsaw, Poland, he looked below seeing several smoke plumes. Two miles up, the malodorous smell caused him pause in realization that what he had read, heard, was in fact true.
Superman landed in the middle of the concentration camp with a powerful thud sending dirt and once fallen snow upwards to rain down upon everything and everyone within the prison's radius. He levitated out of the hole he had caused. His stark red and blue attire contrasted against the washed-out colors of the camp. There were no Jewish detainees out. Just him and Nazis. Their bullets bounced off of him ricocheting in all directions with some striking them down instead of the man of steel.
Clark was at a crossroads in his mind. The temptation to kill them all raged in his heart as he scanned the entire camp. And raged quickly turned into grief and sadness. There were dead bodies, bones everywhere he turned. In makeshift mass graves, buried over. Several bodies out in the open, just there. Frozen in empty stares, semi-covered with snow that had no warm temperature to melt off. Left there without respect. Without ceremony because sadistic evil believed those lives to be unworthy.
Clark walked over to a building while the Nazi soldiers continued shooting. Several dogs were released and rushed at Clark. A heat vision flare-up in his eyes sent the dogs scampering away. Clark reached the building. The smell of gas was overwhelming. He opened the door. And walked in. It was empty, but he could see human detritus of waste, fingernails, hair and blood. Tattered clothes. Nail scratches on the rusted walls.
He heard the door slammed and sealed behind him, but he little cared.
He heard the hiss of incoming gas, but he little cared.
Superman walked over to the door and flexed his right-hand fingers against it. The door rocketed off of its hinges. Two German soldiers were struck as the solid, metal door bounced off of their heads sending teeth and blood flying.
Superman little cared.
Clark heard the German Panzer tank coming through the camp's now open gates. Its seventy-five-millimeter turret locked on him and fired. Or attempted to fire. Clark saw the spark ignition and made it to the turret before the shell had left the turret's shaft. The shell exploded sending deadly fire into the tank's compartment cabin. One soldier managed to escape the inside only to fall several meters away as fire danced over his body.
Superman little cared.
In two minutes, Clark had every German soldier including the camp's commander weaponless and bound by rope and barb-wire. He could hear their German cries of the sharp wire digging into their flesh.
Superman little cared.
From around a building's corner, there were several Jewish prisoners, who were hiding, not knowing what to make of Clark. They glanced at him, then quickly away, over and over again with such sunken eyes. Striped clothes wore on their skeletal bodies. Tattered coats did little to warm their shivering arms and faces. Heavy breathing sent clouds of exhaled air around their nearly shaven, lice riddled heads.
Clark spoke in several languages telling them not to be afraid. He pulled thick coats off several Nazis and placed them over the prisoners.
He then turned his attention to a row of large quarters. His eyes scanned through the wooden walls. He could see worn, scared eyes looking back at him through open slats. He ripped the door off of the first quarters, then the second, and several more.
The smell is what shook him, the sight of them is what nearly toppled him. He clenched his mouth repeatedly, grinded his teeth to keep himself from crying as they slowly walked out into the light. Withered bodies moved in fear and exhaustion. Clark realized at that moment; humanity would never triumph completely. It fractured so long ago feeding the beast of power over civility. Power became a goal obtained at all costs. Earth civilization was built for its fractured community state. Race. Religion. Class structures. Yet, this did not dissuade Clark from his beliefs to help. If anything, it fueled him. Humanity had not blown itself up yet after six million years. Now would not be that time.
They surrounded Clark. Touched him. Spoke in multiple languages. And then machine gunfire rang out in the camp.
"How could I have been so stupid?" Clark thought even before he turned to the gunfire's origin.
Several prisoners had picked up the weapons Clark had thrown in a pile. Clark was unable to react in time as the Nazis' lives were ended in a barrage of bullets. Clark calmly floated upward from the crowd around him. Their attention divided between this super-powered man and their keepers being dead. Their tormentors' bodies hung on the barb wire. Clark gently took the weapons from them without incident.
All eyes turned back to Clark and they began chanting, "Superman." Over and over again.
"They remember me," Clark thought. "After all this time."
Clark beseeched them to stop. He finally gave up. They earned anything they wanted to do. How, why should he stop them? A railroad track was just outside the camp. Clark led them to three long railways cars, which probably served as the transport for some of them to the concentration camp. Clark had them file into all three. With people inside one of the cars, Clark lifted it squarely onto the top of another car. He used his heat vision to meld the driving wheels and other undercarriage steel to the top of the car it rested on top of. Clark then placed the third car on top of the now middle car in this tower. He melded again.
It took some convincing on Clark's end when he informed them the railway car doors would need to be closed. They did acquiesce and Clark used his heat vision at a low level to warm up the metal found in the cars, hoping it would provide them some heat. Clark lifted and flew over two hundred tons of weight for a nearly four hundred mile journey across northern Poland and the Baltic Sea to the city of Trelleborg located in southern Sweden. A bit of faith found its way back to him, in that there were no enemy interactions on the journey and his mathematics on the ability to do what he did with the railcars worked to perfection.
As Clark landed the cars in Sweden, a gaggle of Swedish officials and hospital workers were there to meet him and the survivors. As Clark suspected would happen, news cameras filmed every second of his arrival.
Soon the world would know of his return.
Over the next twenty-four hours, Clark made twenty more rescue and capture missions into Poland and Germany. He would use his makeshift, triple-tier railcars transport as his way of extracting the Jewish prisoners. Before each trip, he had Swedish workers fill the train cars with coats and hats. And correspondingly, he used anything at his disposal to drop the Nazi trash off at Ally prisoners of war centers.
Things did, however, get troublesome on his last concentration camp venture.
Although it was Winter, the cool temperature did not bother Diana. Her skin was impervious to just about any swing of temperature found on the planet.
The air currents she glided upon were strong as she made her way to Greece. The first indication of something being amiss were the multiple planes flying in the airspace around the Peloponnese peninsula. The planes were moving much faster than the ones she remembered during World War One. Diana darted around, under and above them to avoid detection.
She made her way to an island situated in the Gulf of Corinth a couple hundred meters from the peninsula. A forested area below served as a perfect place to land, which Diana performed in an uncharacteristically inelegant manner. Her body felt a little stiff after making the flight from Themyscira to Greece. She mentally chastised herself, and ordered self-plans to make flying a more focused, constructed practice to better her endurance.
A mile or so away from her position was a town she had spotted from above.
After assuring she was in an isolated spot, Diana opened up her satchel and changed her clothing to what she wore during her time in South America. The wool tweed, light grey sports skirt suit and a white blouse were a bit wrinkled, but Diana was amused at her enjoyment in putting the clothes back on. She kept her bracelets on, covered by the jacket's sleeves and was able to secure her lasso under the jacket, on her back. The remainder of her Wonder Woman attire and equipment were placed in the satchel. Once it was buried, along with the Sword of Athena and her shield, Diana made her way through the forest.
She spied a beautiful clock tower situated on the highest point in the town, which overlooked the gulf. A postcard worthy snapshot of homes and assorted short buildings nestled between the forest and the coast. The hard, compacted dirt road into the town had well-worn grooves of both vehicle tires and horse-drawn transports. From her vantage point, behind a wagon near the forest's edge, she saw and heard little signs of life in the town. Only a dog barking. She started walking the main road when a boy of no more than ten came into her view from around a building's edge. He was running. Not an unusual activity for a child that age, but the look on his face stopped Diana. It was outright fear as his little arms tried to pump faster convincing his legs to do likewise.
Then Diana heard them.
Three soldiers chasing after the boy with their weapons out. The eye lines of Diana and the boy connected as he made his way straight towards her position. She bent down scooping him up in her arms as he jumped upward wrapping his thin arms around Diana's neck. The soldiers raised their weapons up as they too reached Diana.
One of the soldiers, holding a pistol, yelled in German, "What are you doing out here!? All women are to be in the courtyard."
Diana responded with her own question, "Why are you chasing this boy?"
The soldier raised an eyebrow, looking back at the other two soldiers. Both of whom, started to laugh.
The lead soldier went up very close to Diana. She could smell his foul breath and odor. He began to walk slowly around Diana and the boy. The tip of his pistol never more than a few inches from her head.
"Where have you been hiding, yourself?" he asked. "Such a beauty, in such strange clothes. Maybe, my men and I should, interrogate you further."
Diana brought the boy's face up close to hers so that she could whisper something in his ear, hoping that he understood the Greek she spoke.
"Secrets, now," the soldier observed reaching for the boy's hands clinging around Diana's neck.
"Now," Diana calmly said in Greek.
She dropped the boy who went running into an alley between two homes. Diana grabbed the momentarily distracted soldier's pistol hand. With a quick twist, she snapped his wrist into a broken state as his weapon fell to the dirt. His anguished cries of pain did nothing to stop Diana from grabbing his coat by the collar and tossing him against the side of a house. His body bounced off the brick and went down for the count. It then contorted several ways trying to recompose itself, but the Nazi's body and mind kept losing the battle as it settled into unconsciousness on the ground.
The other two looked at Diana and then each other, which gave Diana too much time. She hopped-skipped in front of them. Their weapons began to rise again. Her right foot planted itself in the dirt. Her arms arced back, chest protruding outward. The follow through had her arms swinging outward, hands flat making contact with either soldier's chest. Their bodies went flying as gravity eventually brought them down to the ground further down the road.
The boy had not run completely away. He stood just inside the alley watching Wonder Woman.
Diana beckoned him over.
"What is your name?" Diana asked holding the boy's hands.
"Yiannis," he said.
Diana smiled feeling his dirty face and curly, black hair.
"Yiannis, why were they chasing you?" Diana asked.
"They have my family," Yiannis said. "My pa told me to run when the soldiers weren't looking. How are you able to do those things?"
"I have been granted special powers," Diana said. "I would like to help your parents, Yiannis. Can you tell me where they are?"
The boy's little finger pointed towards the clock tower.
Clark knew he was on borrowed time as soon as he landed in Sweden with his first railcars of Jewish prisoners. The world would soon react to not only Superman's reappearance, but also his entrance into World War Two.
What Clark did not know was that high-ranking Nazis, inclusive of Hitler, had always been both, in awe of and terrified of Superman. Their ideal of German Aryan superiority was symbolized by Superman. Yet, Superman's ideals did not align with their race superiority of world domination. They required a plan should Superman interfere. The Nazis, while not in full governmental power during the mid-1920s, were able to secretly round up dozens of scientists. And their research would have only one criterion – stopping Superman.
They dabbled in eugenics hoping to create an army of superior Nazi soldiers. They drew up and developed plans for weapons and machines that could hurt, maybe even kill Superman. They commenced studies into creating a fission device where one bomb could release the destructive energy comparable to seventeen thousand pounds of TNT.
And then, Superman disappeared in 1928.
The Nazis however, never truly believed he was gone. They continued their plans. By 1933, they were the power in Germany. Six years later, they would begin their physical assault and evil upon the world. Poland would fall. More European countries would follow. Then Russia. By the time Clark found his way back to Earth, there were no continents, few countries left untouched by the Nazis' quest to globally rule. Despite Superman's absence, the Nazi programs to stop him never ended. For if they were never to be used on Superman, they would definitely be unleashed upon the world.
An outcome Clark realized when he landed at the last concentration camp on his mental list.
As he has scanned before while landing, Clark saw numerous prisoners were in similar looking quarters towards the back side of the camp. This time, however, there were no Nazi soldiers firing at him. In fact, Clark only came across a few inside the prison camp. They were a lone row of six individuals standing at attention, under him, in the camp's central area.
A Nazi commanding officer, dressed in black, stood in front of them with gleaming teeth looking up at Superman.
Clark landed fairly close to them in order to create a decent dispersal of dirt when he dropped down to the ground. The mist of snow and wet soil left several coughing. The soldiers standing behind the officer wore metal armament on their appendages and torsos. A couple of them even had it on their heads as semi-helmets. Much of it looked well-worn. Clark detected traces of dried blood all over them. A deeper look inside the armament displayed some advance mechanical engineering that intrigued Clark.
"Are you the welcoming committee?" Clark asked.
The officer's genuinely disturbing smile refused to leave his wrinkled, puffy face while he removed a black visor cap. His right hand dabbled around his gun holster. "Your German is impeccable, Mr. Kent."
"And your evil is all-consuming," Clark responded. "I'm getting them."
The SS officer walked up closer to Superman. His previously shiny, black boots now covered in mud.
"You know," he said. "You could be a God on this planet. We always knew you would return."
"And your men here," Clark observed. "Are to stop me?"
"We shall see," he responded. "The Fuhrer very much wants to meet you."
"Clark smiled with a glare. "He will."
The officer returned Clark's smile with one of his own. "The bravado, Mr. Kent. This outfit of yours is more spectacular than I envisioned. I do think the cape is missing, though."
"And I think you wearing an icon known for true spirituality and good fortune is vile," Clark responded.
"I am a spiritual man," the officer said feeling his arm band with the swastika on it. "And my fortune is quite good, wouldn't you say?"
"You're wasting my time," Clark said moving past the Nazi.
"Very well," the officer said looking at Clark's back.
Clark did not see the officer raising his hand to signal the soldiers.
The first one to move was much faster than Clark had any reason to believe. His feet created their own mini-dirt storm when he started running a circle around Clark's position. While Clark tracked the speedster's movement, he missed the punch from another soldier that landed square on his jaw. It stunned Clark more than it caused pain. He had never been hit that hard. As Clark went to strike back against the large, muscular assailant, another speedster distracted him by throwing multiple punches at his head. Clark dodged them, but the unit's initial teamwork was effective.
A fourth soldier joined the party by grabbing Clark from behind, around the neck. Clark floated upwards while reaching behind his head to grab the Nazi's back collar. He flipped him up and over to Clark's vantage point. Clark let go of him at least four stories up from the ground. The remaining soldiers below watched Superman rotate looking for their positions.
Clark only saw four. The fifth had been catapulted in the air towards him. Clark caught the soldier in a vice grip around his neck. The Nazi's feet dangled hoping to not meet the same fate as his comrade.
"And what are you supposed to be?" Clark asked.
"A distraction," the wiry man gasped.
Clark heard a distinct noise and was able to turn fast enough to see the projectile fired from the strange-looking gun. He dropped the soldier with one hand while turning to catch and enclose the walnut-size projectile in his fist. He felt a strange sensation against his palm. Then irritation. It wanted to escape his grasp. He could not contain it. His fingers started to shake. As slivers of light entered his grip, a contained explosion of unknown energy blew Clark a quarter-mile away. His body crashed through multiple trees, finally stopping and falling to the ground.
"Ouch," Clark strained grabbing his forearm as wet snow fell off branches down upon his head. "Super Nazis. Can't be that many. They would have taken over the planet by now. And, you're talking to yourself."
"Is he dead?" one of the soldiers asked as they stood looking at the fallen trees Superman crashed through.
They probably should have looked behind them because there Clark stood.
"Looking for me?" Clark asked.
He had analyzed the soldiers' armament, which served as power unit exoskeletons providing speed and strength enhancements. Before they could react, a prepared Superman stripped two soldiers of the weapon that fired whatever it was that hit him hard. Each weapon's barrel became twisted in Clark's hands. Clark bounced their armament heads against one another sending them collapsing to the ground.
The muscle head Nazis tried to make a move towards Clark, but armament that was once hard steel became melted, dead weight slag around their legs and feet. The soldiers looked up to the true Superman. His eyes cooling down.
The two speedsters went at Clark from opposite directions. Clark calmly stood his ground and then just as calmy, but ever so quickly, stepped back causing the two Nazis to smash into each other. Clark broke off their armament leaving them powerless. Their bravado was gone replaced by cowering fear. They were hog-tied with some nearby rope.
Which left only the officer standing.
"Well done, Mr. Kent," he said. "As impressive as I feared."
"This is done," Clark said moving towards the officer.
"No, no, no," he said holding up a device in one hand, a walkie-talkie in the other.
"And that does what?" Clark exasperatedly asked.
"It sets off explosives killing your precious Jews," he said. "We are, if anything, good planners. I know you're fast, Mr. Kent. Super- fast. That's why I have contingencies should you decide to do something foolish."
"What do you want?" Clark asked scanning the prison quarters. He saw explosive devices throughout, quickly doing the math – twelve quarters, roughly twenty-five people in each; several explosives in each quarter. Nazis behind a hill just outside the concentration camp.
"Your neutrality," the officer said. "You've rescued many Jews, but there are more under our watch. I am a lynchpin, Mr. Kent. Your, overseer, if you will."
"I've been out of touch for a while," Clark said. "But two things are crystal clear, Nazis are a stain on this planet, and you can never trust a Nazi."
"Is that your final declaration?" the officer asked toying with the device.
"What I've learned, General," Clark said measuring the general's heartbeat, the growing sweat on his brow. "That's what you are, right? The badge and stripes."
The General admiringly nodded.
"Life has no guarantees," Clark continued. "You and your scum have perpetrated atrocities that cannot be bargained against. I won't do it. I will not stand aside. My heart will break for every death sacrificed to stop you and any that stands against you."
"Such nobility. You possess a German toughness," the General proclaimed. "Don't be a fool. You can rule all."
Clark closed his eyes asking himself if was prepared to live with some potentially horrific consequences. His eyes opened to emit a near invisible wave of heat burning through the wiring found in the General's detonator and communication devices.
"I've made my choice," Clark said walking towards the General. "And let me be clear. I will not stop. Were I to walk away, you would still end their lives. Murder them."
"So be it, Superman," he said pressing the button.
The General's astonishment is the last expression he had before Clark finger flicked him into sleepy time. Clark desperately looked in all directions for the Nazi spotter. There had to be one monitoring the General. Clark finally spied him in the distance.
Things went into slow motion for Clark.
He saw the spotter slowly raising his hand holding a walkie-talkie. His mouth already forming words. There was no way Clark could get to him in time. Nevertheless, heat vision poured out of Clark's eyes, but the distance was too great for any precision to a small moving target. Too much time wasted. Clark moved towards the quarters. Compelling his body to perform at a control level it rarely had to, speed would become both, an enemy and a necessity. Navigating through crowded prisoner quarters would slow Clark down by fractions of seconds. Fractions he could little afford. Weaving around prisoners. Any contact with them at his rate of speed would have instantly killed them.
Clark dismantled the explosives in the first building, the second, third and onward. He just finished the tenth building. Thirteen seconds had passed. Clark knew he was moving on borrowed time. He approached the second to last when he saw the first bloom of the explosives detonating from within the quarters. He slowed his body down enough to grab as many of the prisoners he could. He could not save them all as the explosions boomed through the last two structures.
One hour later, Superman landed the railway cars in Sweden. He could not speak to anyone. Could not look into the eyes of the two hundred ninety-three he did save. Clark handed the General and his men over to Ally forces. Bad thoughts rumbled around in his head. He was soon on his way.
Next stop would be the Bavarian Alps.
Diana heard the commotion as she approached the clock tower. She had left Yiannis in a nearby house telling him to stay quiet and away from windows. In the house, she found magazines and periodicals. She took several minutes discovering the world was truly at war again.
The clock tower had an open courtyard area with a working fountain. Diana could not help but note a statue of Poseidon being the centerpiece of the fountain. Water splashed and dripped off of a Nazi's helmeted head as he stood near, his weapon drawn on a group of women and children. There were a large group of men being shepherded into the courtyard by soldiers. Diana heard the soldiers speaking in Greek, German and Italian.
Sixteen soldiers she counted.
She listened at what appeared to be an officer speaking to an underling. He wanted to know where the three soldiers were that went after the boy. Diana needed a distraction to get those aimed weapons off the people. She found a military transport truck and tossed it high over the courtyard. It landed on a cobblestone pathway in a spectacular crash of glass and crunching metal.
The German officer shrieked demanding to know what was happening. He ordered most of his soldiers towards the destroyed truck. That gave Diana all the time she needed to disarm and knock out the few soldiers who were left watching over the townsfolk. Diana quickly ushered the scared women, children and men out of the courtyard. Some of the men picked up the Nazis' guns to stay and fight.
The German officer noticed the clamor and glanced back to see his men on the ground in a body pile.
"Around! Turn around!" he yelled at his soldiers investigating the smoking truck.
The officer pulled his gun and began firing at Diana and the men behind her. Diana slid quickly to the left to bounce the first bullet off one of her bracelets. She advanced on the officer as his soldiers began firing.
"Get to cover!" she yelled to the men behind her.
The several men ran quickly behind the fountain pool and a raised concrete, divider wall bordering the courtyard.
Diana found herself in a hail of bullets. She became a blinding star to the Nazis as their bullets sparked off of her bracelets in rapid and numerous formations. She reached the officer and threw him at his firing soldiers. She pounced upon them all and it was soon over.
She felt a minor sting on her upper left arm where a bullet made contact. A tiny bruise that had already begun to disappear. While not completely invulnerable, Diana's skin was nearly impossible to pierce or puncture. She turned around to the courtyard to see the townspeople slowly, cautiously coming towards her.
"Who are you?" a young woman asked.
"Diana," she said. "Is anyone hurt?"
Diana saw a sea of people nodding and murmuring they were okay. A woman, of maybe forty, made her way to Diana.
"Are you okay?" Diana asked of the blank stare woman.
"It is you," the woman said. "I was in Veld. Belgium. You saved us. And then they killed us. My parents. Brother. Sister."
Diana's heart sank remembering that day. "I'm, I'm so sorry," she said seeing the tears in the woman's eyes. "What is your name?"
"Ella," she said.
Diana found her arms embracing Ella. "I'm so sorry for that day, Ella."
"War repeats itself," Ella said holding onto Diana. "And you saved me again."
Diana gently released her. "You made it to Greece," Diana remarked.
"Yes, my husband is from here," Ella replied. "He's looking for our son, Yiannis. He ran off when the Nazis arrived, and I'm trying not to worry. He is fast and smart."
Diana found a reason to smile. "I've met your boy, she said. "He's safe. Let me take you to him."
After retrieving Yiannis, and then her own items, Diana prepared for her departure.
"You are in your Wonder Woman clothing," Ella observed.
"No more hiding," Diana said.
"I think the men here have fallen in love with you," Ella said.
"Oh, really," Diana smiled. "I admit, I'm worried for you. What will you do with the soldiers?"
"I don't know," Ella said. "But we will decide as a town. I see the worry in your eyes, Diana. Don't. You can't win this war on your own. You will need people like us."
"You're right," Diana agreed. "But, I leave, and come back. I don't want history to repeat itself here."
"We will fight, Diana," she said. "They took us by surprise this time. That won't happen again. You gave me that, on that day. No matter what, we must always fight."
"There is a strength in you," Diana said. "In this town. Stay together. Fight together."
"We will," she said. "Where will you go now?"
"Germany," Diana answered. "From what you've told me. From what I've seen. I need to cut off the head of the snake."
"And then?" asked Ella. "Will you go away again? Disappear like Superman."
Diana's eyes blinked several times trying to comprehend what she had just heard. "Disappeared?" she finally asked. "What do you mean?"
"He's been gone for a long time," Ella said. "Over ten years. No one knows why. Where. I've always wondered if there was a connection between you and him going away."
Diana gathered herself. "No, I've never met him," she responded. "I should be going."
"Be safe, Diana," Ella said hugging the Amazon standing a good foot taller than she.
"I can't promise that, but I'll try my best," she said. "Stay well."
Diana glided upward, waving good-bye to the townspeople. Her thoughts flitted between the state of the world and the disappearance of Superman as she made her fourteen hundred miles flight to Germany. She decided to stay over water as much as possible, flying above the Adriatic Sea until she reached northern Italy. She dropped down into a secluded spot in the Austrian Alps for a temporary rest, removing her sword and shield secured on her back. Ella had given her some delicious spanakopita for the trip. Munching down on the spinach and cheese pastries, Diana lost count after twenty military planes flew overhead. She gave herself a quick neck massage and stretch before continuing her journey.
She was flying low, fast approaching the Austrian and Germany border.
She removed her headband placing it in the satchel while pulling out a gold emblazoned helmet that she placed on her head. The helmet's front protection dropped over her forehead stopping just above her eyes while the middle front of the helmet continued a bit further down to the bridge of her nose. Side protection extended, ending in arrow point shapes over her cheeks.
The surprise strike came from above, hitting her in the thigh. She went barreling down, landing hard on a snowy, grass hill.
Clark noticed the machines when he crossed into Germany from the northeast. They resembled tanks with multiple turrets with one additional difference. They looked to be roughly ten times the size of a standard-size Panzer tank. The three he saw below, nestled under a cliff hang, appeared to be inactive. What was active were flying machines shaped like flat triangles that had the ability to move, unlike a plane, in all directions. They seemed to be flying in a surveillance mode. Clark scanned, detecting a three-person crew in each one.
He decided to forego any interaction at that time. Instead, he flew higher to avoid those triangle ships and any other planes. Peaking at around five miles up, Clark came roaring back down over the Bavarian Alps where senior Nazis, including Hitler, were rumored to be holed up. Clark proceeded to fly over the expansive seventy mile stretch of the Alps while scanning chalets and other potential hideouts.
He became distracted when his hearing picked up explosions in the distance towards the Austrian border.
Diana was back in the air taking down the flying machine that attacked her with a light beam weapon. Several more of the machines set chase as she flew and swooped into Germany airspace. Below, she saw anti-plane artillery tracking her, preparing to fire. And fire they did with loud noise and smoke warfare. A mixture of regular artillery shells and light beams was coming up at her fast. Diana pulled her shield from her back and deflected one of the light streams back down to the artillery. A chain reaction of several explosions rocked the hillside from where they were positioned. Snow and dirt ratcheted upwards into the air.
Diana landed on the ground and quickly pivoted while pulling out Athena. She deflected the incoming fire from the machines that were chasing her. She was in the thick of it, and the warrior inside her was enjoying every second. At least until another Nazi sharpshooter fired from long distance. The round bullet struck her in the back and attached itself rather than attempted to pierce. A burning bright, white light expanded up to her neck and down to her waist. And then Diana seemingly exploded as her body became awash in a brilliant flash glow.
She screamed as her body sailed upward not under her control. Peripheral vision caught her helmet flying off into a different direction. Athena and the shield nowhere to be seen. She struggled to maintain her bearings as gravity brought her back down. Her back slammed first into the hill. Snow that had risen with her came plopping down all over Diana. Blurred vision showed incoherent images. Red and blue flashes as her head rested on a pillow of snow and grass. Crashing noises all around her. And then they stopped.
The sudden quiet startled her upright. Her vision cleared. A man had gathered her helmet, shield and Athena. His massive frame silhouetted against the descending sun. Not just any man.
Clark stood over the woman who fell from the sky.
"Could this be her?" Clark wondered.
"It's him, it's him," Diana's mind would not stop announcing.
"Are you okay?" Clark asked of Diana. He held his hand down out towards her.
A slight moment of hesitation, Diana took Clark's hand. A pleasurable sensation ran through her body as his fingers squeezed down upon hers. The power she felt in his grasp, coupled with the gentle ease he pulled her up.
"Thank you," Diana managed while standing.
Clark's emotions had been under fire the last twenty-four hours. Coping with fourteen years lost, not even close to being reconciled. Humanity's ugliness being relentless. His decisions being impossible. The consequences never to be forgotten. And now, in that maelstrom of surrealism and horror was she. Regardless of her grime, sweat and dirt; hair in all directions. Snow sprinkled over. Before him was the most attractive woman he had ever laid eyes upon. Clark found it impossible to let go of her hand.
And she was not letting go either.
"Wonder Woman," Clark said matter of fact, feeling a power in her touch.
"Please," Diana demurred. "Diana. My name is Diana."
"Hello, Diana," Clark said. "I'm…"
"Kal," Diana blurted from a dream while staring at Clark's beautiful, hypnotic blue eyes. "I'm sorry. Superman."
"No," Clark said. "Kal, is perfectly fine."
What should have been an awkward silence was not. Their fingers dabbled with interlacing, but did not quite. The fading sunlight lit Diana's face in shadows and a lovely intensity that Clark became entranced. And then their hands parted with a promise written on their faces that it would not be the last.
"I believe these belong to you," Clark stuttered slightly, holding Diana's things.
"Yeah. Yes. Thank you, Kal," she said taking the helmet and putting it under her arm. "I was hit with something that actually hurt."
"I think we may have experienced the same weapon," Clark said handing over Athena and the shield. "Technology has progressed further than I thought, while I was gone."
"I heard you disappeared," Diana said.
"Fourteen years," Clark responded. "But, that's a story for another time. I was actually looking for you before, my being gone."
Diana smiled. Her brown eyes so open and bright. "I too, have not been around for a while."
"You've aged well," Clark said.
Diana laughed trying her best not to stare at the man she had dreamed about on and off for the last twenty years.
"I'm an Amazon," Diana said divulging a truth she wanted him to know.
"I'm not sure how to read that," Clark said nervously. "Literally? Like, mythological Amazons?"
"Not so much a myth," Diana corrected observing Clark's facial reaction. "I see you're speechless."
"I grew up believing Greek mythology was just that, myths," Clark stated. "Are they all true?"
"You believe me?" Diana asked incredulously.
"Why wouldn't I?" Clark replied. "I was born of a race from another planet."
He absently touched Diana's hair putting some strands back in place. She did not flinch away. And Clark then quickly caught himself.
"I'm. I'm sorry," Clark apologized. "I…don't know why I did that."
"It's okay," Diana smiled. "I must look a mess?"
"No, Diana," Clark said. "You don't."
The intensity of heat she felt across her body staggered her usual clear thoughts.
"So, you're really from another planet?" Diana asked wanting to, but not really wanting to change the subject while tugging gently at her lasso of truth.
"I am," Clark said looking straight, non-blinking into her eyes.
"I hear your truth," Diana said letting go of the lasso.
"I have plenty of questions for you," Clark said allowing reality to slowly seep back into his thoughts. "But I don't think now is the appropriate time. Today. Has been a bad day."
"You lost people," Diana assumed.
Clark looked slightly beyond Diana to the glistening Alps as dusk beckoned.
"Yeah," Clark breathed. "I made life-or-death calls. People died. Thirty-eight."
"And how many did you save, Kal?" Diana asked.
Clark turned slightly sideways feeling wrong to look Diana in her eyes, but hearing her say his name just felt so good. So right. "I know, I know," he said.
Feeling an innate closeness to Clark despite having just met him, Diana placed her hand on his shoulder.
"It's war," Diana said. "We do our best. And we live with it."
Clark smiled turning to Diana. "Ordinarily, that's something I would say. Well, maybe not the war part."
"Good," Diana said. "Then believe it."
"I will. I will," Clark repeated. "I needed you at this moment. Your, um, perspective I meant. You believe in fate, Diana?"
"That is an everchanging principle in my life outlook, Kal," Diana said. "Right now, I don't know. I met a woman today, who I met during the first war. Circumstances were oddly. Scarily the same. Is that fate? I don't know. Do you?"
"On the fence, myself," Clark said. "Whatever it was, it brought us together. We can help end this war, Diana. What do you say?"
Clark extended his hand outward. Diana took Clark's hand once again feeling the pleasure it brought.
"On one condition," she said.
"Just one?" Clark's eyebrow raised. "Okay, what would that be?"
"When this war is over, and it will be. You put the cape on for me," Diana smiled.
Clark's laughter brought joy to Diana's ears as she casually swiped her hand down his muscular arm.
"It would be my pleasure," Clark said.
I think we'll make a good partnership," Diana responded.
"Wonder Woman and Superman," Clark said. "That has a nice ring to it.