Chapter Seven - A Walk In The Park
Clark looked at the man who had rescued him. A man he'd only seen before in movies.
"How can you be real?"
"You'd be amazed at what's real, Clark," replied Dr. Emmett Brown as the train's whistle blew while they traveled at 88 miles per hour through the realities.
"And you're taking me back to my own time?"
"No, my friend The Doctor needs your help first."
"But I've got to get back," protested Clark, "and fix the future."
"Don't worry Clark, you've got plenty of time," Doc Brown reassured him.
"But I've got to know everything's okay," whined Clark, and then he remembered something. "Wait a minute, that photograph, I put it back in my pocket just as Batman attacked."
Dr. Emmett Brown looked at Clark with concern as he fished a battered photograph out of his pocket.
"It's changing," said Clark as he looked at the picture. "The wedding dress is turning white and -"
At which point Doc Brown snatched the photograph out of Clark's hands and ripped it into little pieces. "You're not supposed to know the future, Clark. Even knowing your destiny can stop it from happening."
"I don't care about my destiny," admitted Clark. "It's Smallville's destiny I was worried about."
"You should care about your destiny, Clark. There are those who'd try to destroy it, destroy your past even."
"Who'd do that?"
"Well, there's Tempus for one, although strictly speaking it's the other Superman he's trying to destroy."
"The other Superman!" exclaimed Clark.
"Sit down, Clark. It's time for a chat about realities."
Meanwhile, in a different time and reality, The Doctor and Jimmy Olsen had just finished bringing the rest of the passengers up to speed with their plans.
"So, let me see if I've got this straight," said Chloe, "after all, I've got to write all this down at the end of the day. First of all, Doc Brown's took the last train to Clarks-ville to bring back our friend who'll be joining us at our next stop."
The Doctor nodded, while Chloe continued.
"Meanwhile in some other reality there's some superhero with the imaginative name of Superman who trapped his enemy Tempus in the past. With time on his hands, Tempus set about making handheld time/reality transportation devices and creating some descendants to destroy Superman in the future, i.e. Jimmy's present, which being in the '90s is actually mine and Lana's past."
Jimmy Olsen nodded, while Chloe continued.
"Anyway there were two descendants of Tempus who worked at the Daily Planet, and were to use Tempus' devices, his diaries, and the knowledge contained therein, to bring down Superman. Jimmy Olsen was one of those descendants, but he knew that the destiny planned for him was wrong and fought against it. The other was Cat Grant who, afraid Jimmy would spoil her destiny as well, tried to kill Jimmy, but, in the tussle that followed, he managed to escape with a damaged teleportation device. Since then he's been trying to get back to his own reality, before Cat Grant, rather than that reality's Lois Lane (who doesn't even have the sense to have me as a cousin), ends up taking Superman's powers and becoming Ultra Woman and thereafter goes on a rampage through all realities killing all the incarnations of Superman."
"Kind of simple when you put it like that," interrupted Lana.
"So, we're following his path back through the realities, so that we can hopefully save Superman. Meanwhile," continued Chloe, gesturing towards the three new arrivals, "Curly, Larry and Moe here have turned up, claiming to be nice guys, while Rose accuses them of being psychopathic Phantom Zone villains thanks to the concrete evidence that she saw it in a movie once."
Rose Tyler stared daggers at Chloe Sullivan, while General Zod, Non and Ursa stood in the corner looking like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.
"That's about it," said The Doctor as the Tardis stopped at its next port of call. "Now if everybody can get out I'll try and make some repairs to the Tardis."
"So, what's this reality like?" Rose asked Jimmy.
"Nice tropical forest. Totally deserted, although there's a few buildings here and there. I didn't have any trouble here, although my camera went missing."
As Chloe stepped out of the Tardis she immediately spotted a building. "Let's go there," she cried, although all of the others just wanted to walk around. Still it didn't matter, she'd go there alone. It was a matter of life and death for Chloe for, despite the Tardis' massive interior, she'd yet to find a coffee dispenser anywhere within it. As she finally reached the building, and then found a kitchen, and then found some coffee supplies it looked like this lone expedition had been a particularly brilliant idea.
As she later sat by the window, looking out, the coffee fumes from her cup bringing her olfactory happiness, she spotted Non outside staring intently at a log. Turning her attention back to her beloved coffee cup, which sat there on the table, she suddenly noticed some ripples on the coffee's surface just like in a film she'd once seen.
Suddenly she looked outside and saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex stomping towards Non. Non just stood there in shock as the Tyrannosaurus Rex reached him and then, lowering its head, picked Non up in its mouth.
Chloe forgot all about her coffee as she saw the T Rex raise its head and swallow Non, and then bowed its head back down and looked straight through the window at her. It looked like Non was just an appetizer and her brilliant idea hadn't been so brilliant after all.
"Talk about a Non starter," she said to herself, as clutching her cup of coffee tightly, she backed away from the window.
High in a tree, in a nest containing several young pterodactyls and a camera the older pterodactyl had picked up somewhere, one of the pterodactyls suddenly noticed a train appearing in the sky.
Doc Brown shouted to Clark. "Look down there! I can see the Tardis."
But Clark's eyes weren't on the Tardis, they were using their X-ray capabilities to try and locate where he could hear Chloe Sullivan's screams coming from. Suddenly he saw her, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex that was roaring at her.
"Bye, Doc, I can take it from here," said Clark as he leapt from the train.
"Bye, Clark," replied Doc Brown (too late for Clark, whose hearing was still focused on Chloe, to hear him) and then increased the speed of the train back up to 88 miles per hour and departed that reality to head for home.
Clark landed half a mile away from the T Rex, but with his super-speed that was largely irrelevant. Suddenly the T Rex saw the figure of Clark Kent standing between him and the building that held a shaking Chloe Sullivan within. Quickly its mouth zoomed towards the plaid snack, while Clark drew his fist back.
Clark normally had to pull his punches, but this time he pulled it a lot less than usual, as his fist connected with the T Rex's jaw. The T Rex's head was flung back and then the rest of its body followed suit as it fell unconscious to the ground.
Ten minutes later a shaken Chloe Sullivan, along with Clark Kent, his shirt still blood-stained from his encounter with Batman, returned to the others, who'd all stayed in the vicinity of the Tardis.
"Clark, Chloe, what happened to you?" asked Lana Lang.
"A dinosaur ate Non, it would have eaten me too but …" began Chloe.
"… it had a heart attack," concluded Clark.
Chloe looked at Clark in disbelief. What sort of idiot would swallow that dumb story?
"Oh, that poor dinosaur," sighed Lana, tears coming to her eyes. Of all the creatures who didn't roam the Earth, dinosaurs were probably Lana's favorites, mainly because they reminded Lana of her parents who, like the dinosaurs, had been made extinct by a meteor.
Zod held Ursa close to him, pretending to commiserate with her over Non, and whispered in her ear. "You realize who this Clark is, don't you, Ursa?"
"Yes," she whispered back, "the son of Jor-El."
"I'll make him kneel before me," whispered Zod, tears of joy coming to his eyes.
Ursa looked over at Clark, standing there in his torn shirt, and licked her lips. "My thoughts exactly."
Minutes later, the Tardis disappeared from the forest landscape.
"So, Clark, sorry for stranding you wherever," said Jimmy, within the Tardis.
"That's okay," said Clark, not eager to talk about what he'd seen in the future Smallville. "So where exactly are we going next?"
"A wedding in Metropolis. I'd show you a photograph but I lost it."
"Great, I love weddings," interrupted Lana.
"Don't bet on it," replied Jimmy apprehensively.
