Smallville: "Clark?" asked Hal lowering his lantern. The farmboy was nowhere to be seen.
"Great, now where did he get off to?" the pilot said annoyed. Down the street a red and blue blur shot down the street leaving a wake behind it blowing things everywhere as Clark ran down the street at full speed. Just as he reached The Talon however, instead or rushing into the café proper and potentially destroying it in his wake, he summoned up his energy and took off into the sky with a massive leap to land on the roof of the café. He promptly picked up Chloe and moved her out of the way before the beam just barely passed both of them.
"Clark?" asked Chloe confused, wondering if she was still alive or not. Clark grinned briefly at her before his expression turned solemn and he looked at Tempus angrily.
"Oh come off of it, that trick may work on your enemies of this timeframe, but it doesn't scare me teen titan because I know you better than you know yourself," said Tempus smugly. Clark said nothing but just accelerated to super speed and headed straight for the temporal fugitive. However just as he was about to hit him with a massive punch, Tempus miraculously managed to evade it and even seemed to be moving at the same speed as Clark.
Street: Hal was already walking back to the center of town to look for Clark again when he saw the beam of energy come stabbing out from the roof of The Talon. Growling the pilot tore off down the street past the throng of townspeople who began running for their lives as move laser blasts shot out from the roof.
Roof: Clark came to a halt as a laser blast flew directly past him singing his shirt before whirling around to face Tempus.
"Impressed Kal-El?" asked Tempus with an evil grin. Clark scowled but refused to be baited by how Tempus knew his name. After the incident with Professor Fine trying to kill him back at the Fortress of Solitude, he refused to believe or ask anything from anyone who was trying to kill him.
"Well I probably shouldn't tell you, but I can't help it, it must be the evil genius creed or something to reveal my plans," said Tempus before producing his time travel device. "This little beauty allows me to slow time down and speed it up when need be, it kind of helps when dealing with someone who can run faster than a speeding bullet. I guess you'd call me the evil version of Viewtiful Joe. Henshin a go go, baby."
If Clark hadn't been convinced Tempus was insane before this finally drove the final nail into the coffin. But before the conversation could get any weirder, a green blur flew from out of nowhere and smacked into Tempus's head causing him to fall down in pain.
"Aahhhh!" the criminal shouted in pain clutching the back of his head. He turned around to look blearily up at Hal Jordan who was standing directly above him holding the slightly dented green lantern.
"By order of the United States Air Force you are under arrest," Hal said darkly as he stared at the man through his sunglasses.
"Screw you Green Lantern," Tempus spat at him.
"Save it for the judge," said Hal reaching down to drag him up.
"Save it for eternity!" Tempus shot back as he drew out his time device and fired it at Hal who instantly froze in place.
"Try and solve this one Superman!" Tempus shouted gleefully before he activated his time device and shot off from the roof and away from the building. Clark was about to go after him when Chloe stopped him.
"What're we going to do about him?" she asked. Clark looked at Hal before looking down at the fleeing Tempus.
"I should really be chasing him down before he causes anymore damage," he responded.
"Yeah but Clark sometimes being a hero means having to make tough choices. Yeah I would like to make sure Tempus is taken down too, but I couldn't live with that decision knowing that someone, who went out of his way to try and save me, died as a result. But it's your decision Clark I can't make it for you," said Chloe stepping back. Clark sighed and watched Tempus vanish from sight before turning his attention to Hal.
"What do you think Tempus did to him?" asked Clark walking over to the pilot.
"Best guess? Slowed him down," said Chloe feeling the pilot's pulse.
"How?" Clark asked confused as he used his x-ray vision to see Hal's internal organs.
"He has some sort of device that can allow him to manipulate time, even to the point of passing through it," said Chloe perplexed. "Or so he says, but I've seen little reason to doubt it."
"How'd he find you?" asked Clark trying to figure out how to snap Hal out of his current state.
"I went looking for him and I found him," said Chloe simply. "Then he brought me here by some other weird teleportation device and tried to kill me."
"Did he say why?" asked Clark. Chloe shook her head while an idea formed in Clark's head.
"You said he's slowed down right? So what if I speed him up, would that snap him out of it?" asked Clark.
"Sorry Clark, temporal mechanics was only offered second semester," Chloe offered dryly. Clark shook his head before grabbing a hold of Hal's wrist.
"Here goes nothing," he said unsure. Clark instantly snapped up to super speed for a split second and brought Hal along for the ride before coming to a halt across the roof. Hal instantly collapsed in pain as he held his wrist.
"What the hell just happened?" asked Hal confused. "And how did you two move so fast?"
"Apparently Tempus has some sort of device that can manipulate time and he froze you until the effect wore off," Chloe lied.
"A time device?" asked Hal disbelieving her. "That's not possible."
"Welcome to Smallville, where the weird is possible," Chloe snorted. Hal flicked his wrist a couple times before turning around to look for Tempus.
"Where'd he go?" he asked.
"Escaped," said Clark simply.
"Well we'll get him next time," said Hal brushing himself off as the sun slowly set in the distance. "In the meantime I think we'd all be better off getting some sleep, if this guy can manipulate time we'll need to have all our wits about us."
With that Hal left from the roof leaving Chloe and Clark alone.
"So what'd you manage to dig up on him?" asked Clark curious.
"Not much since I haven't been to Metropolis to pour over the Planet's records, but I have been able to find out that he is a test pilot for the military," said Chloe.
"So at least he wasn't lying about something and if that's true then your theory might not hold any weight," Clark pointed out as the two headed downstairs.
"I still think he's lying to us," said Chloe. "About what, I don't know but I will find out."
"Chloe, even with my encounter with Professor Fine at the Fortress, I still would like to think that all humans have a spark of good in them. I haven't seen Hal try anything so far and I don't think he will. He's a good person Chloe and I have seen nothing to disprove that," said Clark.
"We'll see, we'll see," said Chloe still unsure. Clark sighed but left it at that as together the two walked through the deserted Talon before closing up and leaving into the nighttime air.
Lex Luthor's Mansion: Lex sat at his desk contemplating the latest news report from Smallville about this madman with advanced weaponry. At times Lex wondered if this 'Tempus' person had stolen them from one of his facilities but he knew that if there had been a theft he would've known about it but if it the thief was from his own company… Before Lex could theorize any further, a bright flash filled the room causing Lex to shield his eyes before the light vanished revealing Tempus inside the room. Lex quickly snapped up the gun he kept so handy by his side and aimed it at Tempus who laughed.
"Please Mr. Luthor if you think that'll affect me you're more crazy than I thought. Besides, if I believed you were to use that on me I would deprive you of it before you even had the chance," said Tempus cackling. "But you can feel free to try and shoot me if you wish."
Lex trained the gun on Tempus for a few more seconds before laying it on his desk and steepling his hand in front of his face.
"What do you want, Mr. Tempus is it, I'm a busy man," said Lex annoyed.
"I know, I know," Tempus agreed a little intimidated by the man. "I just wanted to meet the legend before he became the legend."
"You'll forgive me if I don't get up and bow," said Lex. "Now
tell me what you want or get out."
"Yes of course," said Tempus. "I need your help."
"And I should help you why?" asked Lex beginning to contemplate calling security.
"Because I know of your lust for information and I know things that nobody could possibly know," said Tempus. Lex looked at his watch.
"If your name Tempus is derived somehow from time than you should know when your sixty seconds are up," said Lex.
"Would you mind putting your watch on the table?" Tempus asked. Lex was about to challenge him before deciding it wasn't worth the effort so he placed it on the table.
"Forty seconds," said Lex leaning back in his chair.
"More time than you could possibly imagine," said Tempus with a grin. He yanked out his portable time device and aimed it at Lex as a beam shot out and encompassed them both.
"What did you do?" demanded Lex after making sure he was okay.
"Check your watch," said Tempus crossing his arms. Lex looked down at his watch to see that the second hand was frozen.
"If you killed me watch, I'll kill…," began Lex.
"Wait for it," said Tempus ignoring his rant. As Lex watched astonished, his watch second hand moved slowly from one second to the next.
"What did you do?" asked Lex partially amazed.
"Slowed time down," said Tempus. "And I can share this technology with you if you help me kill Clark Kent and Hal Jordan. Well that's about it, guess I'd better finish the other sixty seconds then."
Tempus adjusted a switch on his device and the watch on Lex's desk shot forward at an insane speed before ending sixty seconds later than when they'd started and the time bubble vanished.
"How do I know you didn't rig this?" asked Lex putting on his watch.
"It's your watch," Tempus offered. "You can have it checked out if you like though you won't find anything of note…at least not from me at any rate."
"Still, Clark is, was, my friend and Hal Jordan is the one who is going to accept delivery of my new plane, why should I turn against them?" Lex asked, curious for Tempus's answer.
"Let's just say Clark Kent will become more of a thorn in your side in the coming years than you can possibly imagine. As for Hal Jordan, well, I'm sure you've contemplated the potential of secretly selling your plane to those fools in Kaznia and then developing a better one for the US military, I say go for it," said Tempus.
"I'm not going to respond to that," said Lex. "But even so, with all the gadgets you have what could you possibly need from me?"
"Simple, kryptonite," stated Tempus.
"Kryptonite?" asked Lex confused. "What's that?"
"My apologies, I meant the meteor rocks that you have so much vested interest in. In my time we call them kryptonite," Tempus explained. Lex chose to ignore the 'time' comment and focus on the matter at hand.
"And how many meteor rocks would you need?" he asked.
"Just one," responded Tempus. "Any size will do though the larger the rock the better."
"Why?" asked Lex.
"It isn't important," said Tempus. "But I will answer another question of your choosing if that's alright."
"I'll ask as many as I feel is sufficient," Lex responded. Tempus tipped his head towards him and waited patiently for his response.
"If I don't give you the rocks, what will you do?" asked Lex.
"Find some on my own though that'll take awhile," responded Tempus.
"Why not take them from me?" Lex asked.
"Because Mr. Luthor, I know what has become of those who have suffered your wrath and I have no intention of becoming one of them. Very few have managed to double cross you and live and I know I won't be among those lucky few even with advanced technology at my disposal," said Tempus.
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Lex smirked.
"It's not flattery it's the truth," said Tempus grimly. Lex eyed him curiously.
"You fear me don't you?" Lex asked. Tempus shrugged.
"I somewhat fear you right now, but I definitely do fear who you'll become," the time traveler responded. Lex wanted to press for more but chose to wait until a later date, best not to gorge on information all at once and become drunk on it. Lex reached into his desk and retrieved a meteor rock and tossed it to Tempus who caught it and regarded it carefully before putting it into his pocket.
"I trust whatever you do will not be tied to me," said Lex. Tempus shook his head.
"I have no intention of compromising you Mr. Luthor because if I fail you will be the primary thorn in my target's side over the next few years and if I can't kill him I intend to see him suffer yet again," said Tempus, his eyes glazed over before spinning around and leaving. Lex watched go, a little disturbed by the meeting and still unsure what to make of it, when his chief scientist entered into the room.
"Progress?" asked Lex.
"The prototype is nearly complete and should be finished sometime tomorrow. Then it's just a matter of the military coming and picking it up," said the scientist. Lex nodded distantly, considering what Tempus had said as the scientist laid the specs down on his desk and excused herself out. Lex briefly eyed them over before laying the manual on his desk before turning around and looking out the nighttime window deep in thought. Finally he reached over and turned on his speaker phone.
"Prepare my jet for an immediate trip to New York and tell the Kaznian Ambassador that I have a proposition to discuss with him," said Lex.
"Yes sir," came the response. Lex smiled to himself before getting up and leaving his room behind.