Ch. 15
After he shut the door he waited until he heard the lock click into place before he left. He ran off as fast as he could. He was back to normal now and he felt like kicking a little butt before he left. He had a picture of the guard that had brought Chloe and Lana to his room foremost in his mind. He remembered the bruise that Chloe had received from him and hoped for his sake that he wasn't stationed in one of the defense stations or Clark was going to take a few extra seconds to show him exactly how he should and should not treat a lady.
Clark reached the first defense station and then knocked out everyone stationed there in under a second. He then took another second to trash every piece of equipment he could see including the turret gun that just happened to be facing towards Earth at the moment, before he moved onto the next station. The only thing he left intact was the cloaking generator.
Clark repeated this in all of the forty seven defense stations in less than five minutes. Only one station had been able to sound an alarm, and that was only because he'd been careless and hadn't seen one of the men before he hit the alarm button. Fortunately, that was the second from the last station. He was back in the hanger before anyone could arrive at the station.
On the way, Clark spotted the engine room and decided to make a small detour. He never wanted these people to come back to Earth so he destroyed the main reactor that powered the engines. This would set the ship adrift in orbit around the Earth. It wouldn't be able to be repaired and would have to be abandoned. Later, when everyone was off of it, Clark planned on coming back and flying it into the sun or something similar.
Entering the hanger he slowed down for a second to try and find the best way to get the girls out without being noticed. This was a mistake.
Kronus, whom The Owner had stationed in the hanger bay in case the Kryptonian tried to board his ship, had been looking the other way when Clark had left the hanger bay on his way to trash the defense stations. This time, he was in the middle of blinking. However, since Clark slowed down, he was able to see Clark this time.
Kronus leapt forward and rammed into Clark's back as hard as he could. Clark was sent careening into on of the ships that had landed in the hanger and put a huge dent in its fuselage when he crashed into it. Clark looked up just in time to see Kronus plunging down towards him. Clark dodged out of the way just in time and landed on the ground. Again he turned around just in time to get out of the way. Kronus slammed down into the ground, leaving a large dent where he landed. Clark knew he was in for a real fight.
Chloe was worried. She and Lana had helped each other into their space suits and were now waiting for Clark to reappear. Suddenly, Chloe heard a loud crash that she knew must have originated from the hanger. It was soon followed by another and another. Chloe knew that it must be Clark fighting someone and her worry for him blended with her natural curiosity to get the better of her. She got up from where she had been sitting and opened the door. Looking around, she found that her view of whatever was happening was blocked by the large crates just outside the door. She was about to move over to them to get a better view when Lana grabbed her arm.
"Clark said to stay here. I think we should shut the door and then wait until he comes back." Lana whispered.
"Lana, the man that I love is probably out there fighting for his life and I won't just sit here and wonder what's happening to him. Now let go of my arm."
With that, Chloe pulled her arm free and walked over to the group of crates. She peeked around the crates and witnessed one of the most incredible things she would ever witness.
The hanger had been deserted by this time except for a few stragglers who were running as fast as they could for the doors. In the middle of the hanger were two figures, one was her Clark and the other was the fighter known as Kronus. They were slugging it out, moving from one side of the hanger to another in their own battle royal. The strange thing was Chloe could see every move. It was as if both fighters had mutually agreed not to use their speed powers. Chloe watched in wonder as the battle unfolded.
Clark threw a punch with his right hand that hit Kronus in the solar plexus. Chloe could feel the shockwaves coming off of each punch, even from this distance. Kronus returned the favor, sending Clark back a few feet before he regained his balance and reentered the fight. Clark ran forward and hit Kronus in the middle of his face as hard as he could. Kronus reeled back under the blow. Clark followed up with a left hook to the jaw and another right to the solar plexus. The last blow sent Kronus tumbling back quite a ways. Kronus regained his footing and ran back into the fight, head butting Clark and then delivering his own right to the solar plexus.
The two continued to slug it out, neither of them making any real effort to block or dodge their opponent's blows. The fight seemed to never end. The moment one of them seemed to gain the upper hand the other opponent would do something that would put them back onto an even playing field. They both ended up positioning themselves to where they were almost leaning on each other as they traded blows.
The shock waves continued to grow until they hurt Chloe's ears every time they hit one another. She ended up putting on her helmet so that she could continue to watch the fight. While she grabbed her helmet and secured it she noticed Lana doing the same thing not far behind her. Apparently Lana's curiosity had gotten the better of her too and she was going to watch as well.
Even with the suits completely assembled both girls continued to feel the shock waves. They seemed to grow worse with every blow. It was as if both fighters were holding back at the beginning and were slowly raising the bar until one of them couldn't keep up.
One of the few dodged punches of the fight happened when Kronus dodged an especially powerful blow from Clark. Instead of hitting Kronus, Clark hit a ship that Kronus had backed up against. The ship, about as big as a decent sized house, flew across the hanger and ended up smashing into one of the walls, leaving the ship somewhat flattened and with a gaping hole in its side and the wall with a dent almost two acres wide.
Chloe felt the ground shake, first as the ship hit the wall and then as the ship fell back to the ground. She had known Clark was strong when he caught Alicia's car but never, not even in her wildest dreams, had she ever imagined anything near this kind of sheer power. Not even the other fights had prepared her for this. It was absolutely inconceivable. She couldn't even estimate the kind of forces he must be producing to do such incredible damage. The numbers were simply too big for her to calculate, even if the metals that the ship and wall were constructed of weren't any stronger than steel, which Chloe was sure that they were.
She sat down, awed not only by the power that he was showing right now, but by the gentleness he had shown her just a few minutes ago. How was a being that was so powerful able to be so gentle? It seemed absolutly impossible and yet Chloe knew it to be fact. Turning back around she watched the fight continue to grow and unfold.
Finally, after several minutes that seemed more like hours, both of them seemed to shuck the last ounces of restraint and they both gave the fight their all. They both speeded up and entered a realm few will ever go, a realm where only the fastest and strongest could reach or even comprehend.
In the end, Clark would never remember exactly what happened there, he would only remember a few seconds here, and a vague impression there. He would never be able to explain those impressions to anyone except Bart because he simply didn't have the words to make them understand. Only Bart would ever understand, and only then because he would make a similar leap forward and live to tell about it. As far as Superman would ever know, he was the only other person accomplish it.
In the end, all Chloe and Lana would ever see is a large and brilliant white flash, lasting only a few moments. It was so bright that had they not been wearing the helmets to their suits they would have been blinded for the rest of their lives. As it was, both of them would be blinking away sun spots resulting from this moment for the next several hours.
When the white flash was gone, both fighters were laying on the ground motionless. Chloe ran over to Clark as fast as she could, unable to stay hidden any longer because of the need that filled her heart to make sure that he was all right.
Nearing Clark's motionless body she slowed down and came to a stop above him. She dropped to her knees as she took off one of her gloves and reached her hand out and touched his cheek in much the same manner as he had done to her earlier.
TBC
