Chapter Six – Destiny
A full-sized Insect Queen, alias Lana Lang, stood outside the upstairs apartment admiring the ring that she'd found earlier, now permanently ensconced on her finger. It even had the letter L on it - how appropriate. Suddenly she heard Zatanna's voice from inside the room.
"Okay, I heard you the first time," she shouted back and, with the aid of the ring, started to fly downstairs. Apparently the mighty sorceress was too important to handcuff the freaks (whoever they were - Lana's hour of non-existence meant that she'd never made their acquaintance, although she was pretty certain that they'd entered The Talon for the sole purpose of getting revenge on Insect Queen for all of her freak-capturing activities).
Once downstairs she surveyed The Talon and its collection of unconscious bodies. However, one of the bodies wasn't unconscious. A blonde-haired girl who Lana didn't know (and she knew everybody in Smallville) was standing there, also looking around. She saw Insect Queen and, taking off her sunglasses, walked over to her.
"There's no need to handcuff me, Lana Lang," said the blonde girl, "I come in peace."
"I think you're mistaken," replied Lana, thinking fast. "I'm not Lana Lang, but Insect Queen, Empress of the Entymological, friend of the -"
"Don't waste your breath," interrupted the girl, "I can read minds."
"So who are you and your friends and why are you here?" asked Lana.
"Well, unbelievable as this may sound, we're a bunch of teenage heroes from the thirty-first century. We came here today to audition a new member for our Legion of Super-Heroes. The name's Imra, also known as Saturn Girl."
"And my name's Rokk, but you can call me Cosmic Boy," added her black-haired friend who'd fortunately recovered consciousness just in time to join in the conversation, as had the red-haired boy who started "My name's Garth, otherwise known as Li-"
"So what do you call this legion of super-heroes?" interrupted Lana, before the boy could finish revealing his super-heroic sobriquet.
"Well, erm , The Legion Of Super-Heroes," replied a blushing Saturn Girl.
"And how many are there in this so-called legion?" asked a non-plussed Lana.
"Well, there's just the three of us at the moment but -" started Saturn Girl.
"And you've travelled backwards in time?" interrupted Lana, not believing their story for a second but playing for time while her insect army, following her mental commands, took up positions. "Just think of the damage you may have caused."
"Well actually, Miss, I think we know what we're doing," claimed the boy who'd introduced himself earlier as Li-.
And suddenly Lana remembered the ring she was wearing, with its letter L ... L for Legion. It looked like they might be telling the truth. They'd come back one thousand years, risking historical upheavals, just to get her to join their silly little group. She could understand that - presumably she was the best that this millennium had to offer.
"Did one of you drop this?" she asked, showing the, for want of a better term, "flight ring" to the teenagers.
"Oh, keep that," replied Saturn Girl. "Garth really shouldn't have had that - it's from our future. We visited there earlier in our Time Bubble just to see if this Legion thing was worth carrying on with."
"Actually, we're still using these clunky flight belts," added Cosmic Boy, pointing to his clunky flight belt.
"Well, it's been nice meeting you, and I'm flattered that you want me for your little group, but I'm just too busy protecting Smallville," explained Lana. "Now you'd better go, while I clear up this mess you've left."
"Okay," said Saturn Girl, and telepathically told her team-mates not to hurt Lana's feelings by mentioning that it was Clark they'd actually come for.
As the Legionnaires left, Insect Queen slipped into a nearby broom closet to change back into Lana Lang.
Zatanna sat on the edge of the upstairs apartment's bed, smoking a cigarette. She looked across at Clark - he could have been killed because of her. They all could have. It was her fault those freaks were in The Talon and also her fault that the only person who could have stopped them, Insect Queen, wasn't around to save them.
She remembered her vision of what could have been, with JC exploding before her eyes. Poor JC. Before she'd come into his life, he was leading a quiet life, with a potentially rewarding future in flipping burgers. Now he was being plagued by demons. She couldn't have the same thing happen to Clark.
A quick spell later, and a couple of other quick spells to transport JC and Zatara to limbo so she could deal with them later, and Zatanna was ready to say goodbye to Clark, who she'd left sleeping.
"Bye, Clark," she said, kissing him on the forehead. "Promise you'll never remember me."
"I'll never forget you," she added, as she made her way downstairs.
Garth searched for the Time Bubble, waiting for it to uncloak itself when it detected his DNA.
"I'm sure we parked it somewhere round here," he grumbled.
"That's the problem with cloaking devices," observed Saturn Girl unhelpfully. "I wonder if Wonder Woman had the same problem with her invisible plane."
"What a waste of time it was coming here," moaned Cosmic Boy. "We attack all Clark's friends and he just sits there. Hard to believe he'll grow into Superman."
"Yeah, I know," replied Saturn Girl. "But I kept reading his mind and he kept thinking how he was powerless to do anything no matter how he tried. Guess it explains why he never wore a snazzy costume in Smallville."
"Still, we really need someone from Earth on our team," observed Cosmic Boy, "purely from a PR standpoint."
"Lana Lang?" asked Garth, much to the other two's amusement.
"You've got to be kidding," replied Cosmic Boy. "Have you seen what the History Cubes say about her? And what about that dopey insect outfit?"
"It could have been worse," laughed Saturn Girl. "Going by the History Cubes I'd have expected her to fight crime in a pink bikini. I'm just glad we left before she figured out it was me who used my powers to get rid of her customers and turn her decorator away."
"Okay, Lana Lang's out," reasoned Garth, "I guess we'll have to give that bouncing kid another chance."
"If we ever get home," Cosmic Boy said, sitting down on the sidewalk. "If we stay much longer we might end up wrecking the timeline just like Lana said."
"I think we're a bit too smart for that," said Saturn Girl smugly. "Although, if we don't find the Time Bubble soon maybe we could go back and get Zatanna to change Luthor's personality - I'm sure Clark would really thank us for it in the long run."
"Ah, here it is," shouted Garth as the Time Bubble uncloaked before him.
By the time Lana Lang returned to the unconscious bodies, Zatanna was already there, mumbling her incantations over them.
"What are you doing to them?" asked Lana, concerned for her friends.
"Making them forget these days, just like I did with Clark," replied Zatanna, who seemed quieter than usual.
"I guess you'll be doing the same with me," said Lana.
"No, Lana. I figure I owe you."
Zatanna took Lana's hand in hers and looked at the ring on it. " gnir evig anaL tcesni srewop ."
"So, what have you done?" asked Lana.
"This ring will now give you insect powers," explained Zatanna. "Now you're truly an Insect Queen."
"Thanks," said Lana as she hugged Zatanna. Actually she thought it was the stupidest idea she'd ever heard of but was still wary of getting on Zatanna's bad side.
Hours had passed and Zatara's tour bus was leaving Smallville. John stared at Zatanna, sat facing him, her head drooped down, looking at the only remaining copy of the latest Torch, refusing to make eye contact. She still wasn't talking to him, her mascara was smudged from the tears she was trying to hide, and he just didn't know what to do. He couldn't handle this Zatanna - he was more used to the fast-talking, glib, fun-loving version.
"So much for showmanship," he muttered.
"What?" she asked. At least they were talking.
"I've been dumped, punched, got paint all over my jacket, but at least I put on my usual show of uncaring apathy. Whereas you, you just sit there wallowing in your self-pity when you should be putting on a show for the crowd. Didn't your father teach you anything?"
"Yeah, he taught me two things," she said, putting down The Torch.
"Number one?" asked John, curious and grateful that the old Zatanna seemed to be back.
"You've seen my Dad do his magic act, and how he says the words backwards and the magic gets done. Did I ever tell you how he does the tricks?"
"You don't need to. I know he uses real magic. He fools the audience. So what?"
"Well, actually it was you he was fooling, JC. He doesn't use magic to perform his tricks - that would be, as he always insists on telling me, cheating."
"But he says the magic words?" asked John, now confused.
"But he doesn't mean them. That's one of the things my father taught me. You can say words and not mean them."
"Number two?" asked John.
"Actually, I'm still not finished with number one yet.You want to know why I dumped you? It wasn't Clark. It wasn't you. It was me. I didn't believe you when you told me you loved me."
"Why not?" asked John, worried that Zatanna had somehow found out about ... but, no, he was being paranoid.
"Because I never had to cast a spell on you, JC. All my life, travelling round the world with my father's show, using spells to make friends of people I'd never have the time to make friends with. I'm used to having people as my puppets, doing what I say."
"Hey, you shouldn't feel guilty," started John.
"Of course I don't feel guilty." Zatanna was horrified at the very thought. "Magic's as much a part of me as my looks and my personality so why shouldn't I use it to get what I want."
"Okay, so you don't believe I love you? Why not just use magic to find out?"
"I don't need to use magic. Not anymore. Not after dumping you caused you so much despair that a KannNn demon managed to twist that love into hatred. Liked the dynamite by the way - was that meant to be a Heathers reference?"
John nodded.
She looked at John. He might not be the best-looking guy or greatest magician in the world, and whenever he called her Zed her mind always conjured up an image of that guy called Zod that she kept trying to forget, but that didn't matter for now.
She got up off her chair and started taking John's leather jacket off. "I know what you need, JC."
"Yeah, and what's that?" he asked, getting excited as she started to take off her trenchcoat.
"Here, you can have this," she said, throwing her trenchcoat in his lap. "Like you said, your jacket's covered in paint."
"Don't you want it? You've worn it for as long as I've know you."
"It's time I grew up," she said. A few backwards words later, she was wearing a copy of her father's stage outfit.
"Very dapper," observed John.
"No, it's missing something, ah, I know ... stenhsif raeppa ."
"Big improvement," said John, taking her in his arms. "You did that just for me?"
"Of course I did," replied Zatanna, remembering the first thing her father had taught her.
"So, Zee, what's the second thing he taught you?"
"Doesn't matter, not since you've started calling me Zee anyway," replied Zatanna.
Elsewhere in the tour bus, Zatara wondered whether they should really be leaving Smallville. They still had a few shows left to perform but Zatanna had really been persuasive. Still, if there was one thing he'd taught her it was to always leave the audience wanting more.
Lana had been there when Chloe had woken up. She'd disappeared quickly when she realized that she couldn't remember producing The Torch that week. Lana Lang had no doubt that a late edition would appear tomorrow, full of the inventory items that Chloe had been storing up for such an occasion.
The next who had woken up was Pete who remembered all about Zatanna. It looked like she'd forgotten about Pete when dealing out her amnesia spells. Fortunately for Lana he'd been unconscious when Insect Queen was present so there was no need to call Zatanna back.
Finally there was Lex who still lay there unconscious. Lana still wasn't happy with Lex because he'd refused to pay anything towards decorating the upstairs apartment. Where was that decorator anyway?
Lex woke up with a blinding headache, smelling of whiskey, covered in vomit and with a large expanse of his recent memory missing. He looked up at Lana Lang glaring down at him.
"Hey, Lana," he said, squinting up at her, "I'm sorry. I thought I'd learnt to hold my drink these days. Please accept my apologies for my behavior."
"Decorate the upstairs apartment and we'll say no more about it," replied a smiling Lana.
"Deal," replied a relieved Lex.
As Lex left The Talon, Clark entered the room, tears in his eyes.
"Lana, she's gone," he said.
"Don't worry, Clark, I'm still here," she replied, confused. Shouldn't he have completely forgotten Zatanna and their time together? Well, at least he still remembered her. "I know it's a bit early, Clark, but one day maybe I'll be able to take her place."
"No, Lana. There'll never be another Buttercup."