Note: the name Christina is in honor of Christopher Reeve:

"He made us believe a man could fly."

1866 Smallville, Kansas

Tempus had been in the nuthouse for a few months now, and he had started to formulate a plan. He didn't want to kill superman anymore; he wanted to torture him. But how do you torture an invincible man, you go after those he cares about. But he would need help in this diabolical plot. Yes, Tempus thought, I need Lex Luthor. Lex Luthor was the only man to ever successfully trap superman, even though he escaped in the end, they would learn from their mistakes. For Tempus and Lex had both failed to defeat superman, but together… they couldn't loose.

2015 Metropolis 7:30 am

"Hurry up; we're going to be late!" Lois Lane yelled up the stairs of their Townhouse that had been their home for almost 19 years. She was replied with two streaks coming down the stairs that had to be her two older children, James and Christina. She sighed shaking her head; they needed to spend more time on the farm with their grandparents where they could use their 'superpowers' to good use.

Well, life was never boring in the Kent household. That was because her husband of 19 years was Superman. While his secret was still a secret from the world, he didn't need to rush off to save the day as much as he used to. Thanks to 'Superman' and their investigative journalism at the Daily Planet, the city had become a much safer and calmer city than it was more than 20 years ago when he first became Superman, and they first were paired up as investigative partners.

She looked up the stairs to find her youngest son, Jonathan, sulking down the stairs. He had had a hard time with having two 'super' siblings, and no powers of his own. It wasn't that he didn't have powers of his own. Her 12-year-old son was starting High School today because he had skipped the 4th and 6th grades. And he was a computer genius, she could see it now, he was a smart as her father with such things. Her father, Sam Lane, was a retired Army Colonel, and a renegade scientist. He had worked in fields from robotics to 'boobs in a bottle.'

It was the first day of school for his kids; he couldn't believe that Jonathan was going to be in High School. How time flies. He looked across the kitchen to see his wife, trying to make them lunch for the first day of school. She didn't know this, but she was a terrible cook, and he gave their kids money for lunch everyday that she make them lunch, which was only once a year, thankfully.

When James and Christina came down the stairs and into the kitchen at superspeed, he knew that he needed to talk to them about using their powers. It wasn't just about exposure, but also the fact that Jonathan had not developed any powers yet, besides being slightly stronger than normal, but not so much that he could bench press a tractor or anything. He just had to look in Jonathan's eyes to see that sometimes he feels inadequate to have so less of powers than his older brother and sister.

James, Christina, and Jonathan left for school that morning and did what they did after leaving for the first day of school every year; they threw out the lunch. Their mother COULD NOT COOK! It was a fact. But Dad made them pretend that they liked their mothers cooking, so as not to hurt her feelings.

They arrived on school in plenty of time, even without any 'super' aid. James went to senior hall, Christina went to the Journalism department headquarters, and Jonathan was left alone to find his way to his homeroom in freshman hall. It wasn't that hard, he had been there the week before for freshman orientation.

The day went by like any other first day of school. The teachers all made their speech about their expectations about the course, and what they expected from the students, and what materials that they needed for the class. Christina's day was hectic as usual. They were trying to organize the newspaper staff to be out by the end of the week. It didn't look like that was going to happen. All but one of the computers were not hooked up to the school network, half of her writers graduated or quit last year (something about her being too intense), and to top it all off, the new principle demanded that he view the newspaper before it went out to print and that HE was the editor and chief, not her, who had worked since freshman year to build the newspaper from a biyearly to a weekly newspaper. THE NERVE!

Anyway it was a typical first day of school. They arrived home in good spirits; none of them had gotten any homework, if you don't count the million things that had to be done to get the newspaper off the ground this year. When she arrived in the office, she came to find that all but one of the computers was not hooked up to the new network that the school used this year, and she had a meeting with the new principal. He thought that the paper was much too controversial and that she needed to 'tone it down a bit.' Also, he reminded her that as the principal he had the last word on what was in HIS paper. She was in a mind to remind him that while he just got here, she has been working for over 2 years to build the paper from a biyearly, to a weekly paper. She was the one with the experience working at the daily planet during the summer and working on the Weekly Lion during the school year. But she had learned that she was better off keeping her mouth shut now, and writing an editorial later which let not just him know her opinion, but all of her loyal readers.

The day sucked. Period. But she left for home about 5:30, to find her younger brother alone in the house. This wasn't unusual. James was probably on his way home from football practice now and their parents where always at work late, they probably had some lead on a big story to pursue. She envied them. She couldn't wait until she was beyond high school, college, and graduate school. Then she would have her own position at the daily planet, not just some intern during the summer who brought them coffee, and everybody thought that she got it because her parents are the star reporters of the Daily Planet.

"Hey Jonathan, what have you been up to? Have you been home all alone since school got out at two O'clock?"

"No, I got home an hour ago, I spent some time over at the Planet, they have new computers and Uncle Jimmy let me give his a test run."

"Oh, that's cool; did you talk to Mom and Dad? When are they going to be home?"

"I didn't see them; they must be doing something secret and undercover, because Uncle Jimmy said that he hadn't seen them."

Christina's 'reporters instincts' rang loudly, but Christina shrugged it off, her father was superman, and they had gotten rid of all of the known kryptonite, it was probably nothing. At that her brother walked in the room, carrying his bag of disgusting football gear. He always did it himself, unlike other guys who had mommies home to clean it. James, Christina, and Jonathan had all learned from an early age, with parents saving the world on a daily basis; they had to take care of each other.

"Hey, what's for dinner, is it my turn or yours to heat something up?" James said with an amused look in his eye. When he said 'heat something up' he meant with their heat vision. It was much faster and better on the environment than using any type of stove, microwave, or toaster.

At that there was a knock at the door. As James looked like he should jump into a lake instead of just a shower, Christina went to the door. Christina opened the door to find a short man who looked to be about his mid to late thirties in a suite that she had seen in a movie based on Woman Suffrage during World War I. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," the strange man replied, "My name is Herbert George Wells; I am an old friend of your parents."

"They're not home yet," Christina replied and then the name rang some bells, "Herbert George… you mean H.G. Wells? As in the science fiction writer?"

"Yes, I have some matter of great importance to you; it's about your parents and a past enemy. It involves your father," Then H.G. Wells leaned in and whispered, "Superman."

After listening for almost an hour to this strange man named Tempus in their livingroom tell them about their parents adventures with a fugitive from a future Utopian Society created by Superman's descendents. And this man hated the 'boring society' so much that he wanted to destroy it by killing their parents.

"Mr. Wells, this is a great history lessen," Christina said, she's definitely in 'reporter' mode, "but why are you coming here tonight to tell us all this?"

"Well, Ms. Kent, I am hear, because Tempus has recruited Lex Luthor, and together they have kidnapped your parents. They are held somewhere in the 23rd Century, the Utopian Society."

"That is a little hard to believe that someone could hold my father. There are holes in your story. One, Lex Luthor has been dead for 20 years, and for another the kryptonite on this planet has all been destroyed."

"I am sorry, but Tempus has a time machine and can get Lex Luthor and kryptonite from any time period that they exist."

"Why take them now, why did they go so far in the future since they last encountered each other?"

Tempus sighed, "I don't know, all I know is that I was instructed by the Justice League to take the three of you to the 23rd Century for your own protection until they can apprehend these two dangerous criminals. You have to understand that in the 23rd Century, there are many full and partial blooded Kryptonians live in that time, and so there are many people, not just one family where kryptonite is deadly to."

"Well, do we have time to pack?" Christina asked. She finally understood the gravity of the situation. If she was going to find her parents, she had to the 'when' her parents were in.

H.G. Wells nodded smiling, "of course, I will give you an hour, but I have a feeling that you won't need that long."

"I will need longer," Jonathan said, not having spoke for a long time, "I don't have any powers yet."

H. G. Wells nodded again. In an hour, they were packed with the essentials, which included Jonathan's laptop. His computer had all the bells and whistles available, and he refused to go anywhere with ought it. Wells lead them to the street where his time machine was parked. This time machine looked like Santa's sleigh sans the raindeer. The four of them plus their luggage barely fit in the time machine. They looked ridiculous, but within seconds they were no longer on the street where they had lived their whole lives, and they found themselves in a different place altogether. They were inside what looked like a warehouse surrounded by five individuals in, to Christina, extremely tacky clothing worse than 80s fashions.

"Welcome to the Justice League Headquarters," said a white man in his 50s with gray hair which looked like it was beginning to whiten, "I am Janus Tombson, we are all very honored to be in the presence of such greatness."

"Okay," said Christina, she had never been looked at like this before, it was weird, it was like she was a piece of art or something, "so what are we going to do about my parents, we are going to find them, right?"

"Well, you are to stay here, safe. We can't have you die, that would mean that our great society would perish. You are our past." This was all a little too heavy for them, then James stepped forward; he had learned a few intimidating techniques from his father.

"I am sure that you are very capable in the field of finding things, but we want to help, please." James wasn't the most intelligent of people, but he was a good foot taller than Janus, which worked better than any words, she had seen her father at it. It worked on everyone but her mother they were equals in everything, besides the whole flying thing, and even that she had heard stories of the time that Dad's powers had been accidentally transferred to Mom.

Christina stepped in, her arm around Jonathan's shoulders, "They are our parents, and you have to let us at least be in on the search. Can we at least hear what you know so far, do you have any leads?"

"In fact we do, this way please." Janus led them out of the huge room down a hall. The hall had pictures, statues, and paintings of her parents all over the place. She even spotted their family portrait that they had done just yesterday and hadn't gotten back yet; she did look great in that shirt. Christina brushed off the thought; she needed to think like a reporter. That's what her parents always did while in a crisis. "Welcome to our control room, here we have track on all of our superheroes. So that none of them get in trouble without getting backup. Meet Shrinkazoid. He is on watch duty right now."

Christina looked to where Janus pointed. She saw a man who couldn't be more than 6 inches tall sitting on a pillow beside the console. "Hello, um, so you can shrink yourself, can you be larger than that?" she asked, not really sure what to say.

"Of course," The next thing she, a 5'4" woman was looking up at 6 feet of muscle, what a babe! She thought shut up! Her inner reporter demanded we are not here to flirt, we are here to save our parents, remember! "My name is Apollo, that's what I am known outside of the press. It is an honor to meet the daughter of such legends, not to say that you are not a legend yourself," he babbled, "I wasn't supposed to say that."

"Its OK, maybe you could tell me what you have so far on the location of my parents," Christina said, switching from flirt mode to reporter mode. Apollo explained that they were able to track Tempus's time travel ripples. Whenever someone travels through time they create ripples like traveling through a body of water. They have deducted that he traveled to the time just after the meteor shower in Smallville, Kansas. He must have wanted to get some kryptonite, since it doesn't exist on earth during neither their time nor during the utopian society.

Than they tracked him to when Lex Luthor was first put in jail. "Oh God, can you imagine the damage those two could do! They want vengeance, this much is clear" Apollo finished, "we don't see any more ripples just yet this much is clear. We will just have to wait."

Lex Luthor was onto his 5th book in a week. Life in prison really was boring. He couldn't even convince anyone to let him bring in any of his good clothes; he had to wear these clothes that had been worn by another person! The horror! "I will get you Superman, you and those reporters too. I swear someday I will!"

Tempus then appeared out of thin air, "How about right now, If what I read about you is true, you are truly my equal when it comes to putting revenge on, what were they called, oh yeah, 'Clutz Kent, Nosy Lane, and Supperdupper.' So what'll it be, want out?"

"Who are you, how'd you get in here?

"I'm Tempus, what a cliché, one villain can never defeat Mr. Superdupper pants, but maybe two heads are better than one, especially evil ones. Oh and I have always known, I grew up over three centuries after you were born. So I grew up surrounded by Lane Cereals, the Kent Farm Museum 'find out how the world's greatest hero learned his morals which our great society is based' it just makes me sick thinking about my live. No violence, nothing on TV, I would have shot my brain out long before I found my 'loop hole' if you will, but there were no guns left. Get in, next stop, Metropolis 2015; let's give them 20 years to wait, than we can hit them where they will never expect it…"

Christina, Jonathan, and James were with Apollo who watching the security camera's video of Tempus coming in and breaking Lex Luther out of jail. They knew that he had broken out of jail before their time, but they thought that he was dead. "This is why you were brought to you, we knew that those two were headed to your time, and we had to protect the future of the world. Your parents are now in their hands, it is now our move." As Apollo was giving this speech, Christina's patience had just about worn thin with this, while being the most gorgeous man outside of television; he was also starting to annoy her.

"Yeah, well, do you know where they are keeping my parents, James and I can handle those two, they will never know what hit them," she then looked over at her brother, who was looking more and more like his father every minute. He nodded, stepping behind her. He was the silent type who was there when it counted.

"I'm sorry we can't let you go anywhere," the voice of Janus perpetrated the room from the back; he walked over to the children.

James stepped up to him, the old man only reached his chin, and did a thing that his father had done a lot growing up: He crossed his arm and gave a, "move or else" look to the only thing in their way. "Why not, sir, we can handle ourselves, I have all my powers, and even Christina could handle those two,"

"Hey," Christina but in, "thanks a lot, I can do just as well as you, only sometimes I prefer to use my brain. Maybe you should try it sometime, give your brain a work out."

"Ha Ha" James said dryly. "Now, where are our parents?"

Apollo stepped forward to face the son of Superman, "Honestly, we don't know. All we know that Tempus and Lex Luther went to the year 2015, kidnapped your parents with Kryptonite, and then the time ripples indicate that when they came to this time they came in metropolis but we have no way of locating them in the city.

Then Jonathan stepped forward and spoke for the first time since this whole confrontation began. "I have an idea, what about the old mansion in Smallville, that Luther owns, he used to spend a lot of time there, or so I have read about him." The three Kent children looked at Janus who looked like he was thinking, "Why hadn't I thought of that."

"Well," Christina concluded, "lets go, by car if you don't mind, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves," she winked at her little brother, who smiled back in thanks, "maybe when we save mom and dad we could take a look at the Kent Farm Museum that I have heard so much about!"

"Any good ideas, darling" Clark turned to his wife who was struggling to get out of the handcuffs around her wrists behind her back, she could tell that Clark was hiding how weak that he actually felt from being exposed to the Kryptonite.

"Do you realize that as long as I've known you, we have been getting into jams like this, like when we first met?"

"Oh, you mean finding me in a cornfield in the nude?"

"No, after that, when my father had sent helicopters after us to keep me from poking through the remains of Chloe's house."

"Oh, that, you do realize that you had nothing to do with them crashing, it was because of my heat vision?"

"Sure, you are always so high and mighty," she said right before she kissed him, "Ah hah," she screamed.

"Did my kisses always have such an effect on you, or is it just since we have finally got time alone, and we had to get kidnapped to do it."

"No, I got lose of my handcuffs, ya gotta love hair pins," Lois jumped up, "I'll get you out in two seconds." She leaned over to try to get Clark's cuffs off.

"Lois, I hear someone coming!" at the whispered warning, Lois sat down and put her hands behind her back to appear to be still restrained. Just when she sat down, Lex and Tempus strolled into the room.

"So how are our lovebirds doing?" Tempus asked to no one in particular.

Lex looked over to them, "What do you think of the Mansion, Clark. I know what you're thinking, someone did a pis poor job of keeping it up these many years, but what can you do, complain to management. Kind of hard when you own the place. I'll just have to find a better steward." Lex had leaned close to the two when Lois kicked his jaw, was up and fightin'. Right fist, round house, then a jumping front kick to finish Lex off, then faced Tempus.

"I thought I already taught you a lesson not to mess with my man, and yet," She chuckled, and glanced at Clark, who was grinning, "you never learn." At that she punched Tempus perfectly and heard the nose break, and with the blood poring from his nose, it was a cue to give him the one two with her jumping front kick. They never learn.

With that, Christina and James burst into the room. With one look around, they realized that they had missed the action. James said with a grin, "High mom, pops, we've come to rescue you guys."

"I think that your mother handled those two without breaking a sweat," He said with a chuckle, "however, I am still in handcuffs, and my powers still haven't regenerated from the kryptonite. So if someone would be so kind…" He finished, hinting at his hands. At the hinting Christina leaned over and tore the hand cuffs apart like paper. "Thanks..." He stopped when he heard a chuckle that sounded a lot like Tempus.

"Ah, a big happy family, I hope that you enjoyed the amusement party, I know that we did; now I hope that you will enjoy the next attraction." With that a green gas started seeping from the ventilation system. "Now I hope you enjoyed what we have concocted for you, this gas was developed to be lethal, but being the nice guys that we are, it will only knock you out. It is laced with kryptonite, so even your lovely children won't be able to resist."

It just occurred to them just as it was going dark that this whole thing was a trap, and those two that Lois had K. O. ed were just clones. They had fallen for the traps hook, line and sinker, and who know what those two villains had planned.