Chapter 8:
He turned off the TV: his worst fears had been confirmed by the man he hated the most. Shock, perplexity, it was a mixture of feelings ready to erupt. Not in a lifetime he could imagine such atrocities spoken about him: he, as an evil alien sent to the planet Earth to conquer it, to become an absolute ruler, a dictator.
Anxiety took over his spirit: he was still processing the situation. An ultimatum was made by Lex but he knew it meant nothing: Lex wanted his personal war and if Lex had the power, Lex would choke him until his last breath.
Since from the beginning, people told him he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders: in that moment, it became almost unbearable to carry. He was living a terrible dilemma: in one way he couldn't surrender because he knew he was innocent and the evidence which Lex revealed to the public was just a misinterpretation of true facts. On the other side, someone like him tried to kill Lex and Lex was ready for war and a war would always have its victims, innocent victims.
His parents were at his side: like him, they were silent. They knew his son was walking at the edge of a knife and the slightest mistake would risk everything.
"I need to clear my mind." – Clark declared and abruptly he got up from the couch and exited the house. Both Kents looked at each other: they knew what each other was thinking and immediately they got up went after Clark but once they exited the house, they saw their son flying away.
"CLARK! CLARK!" – Jonathan shouted but it was useless: Clark was too much disturbed to hear anything.
Four was the number of agents to detain Lois: she punched two of them, leaving one with a broken nose until they finally controlled her. They grabbed her and drag her out of the room too kick her out of the building but when they reached the building's main entrance, someone stepped forward in Lois's defense.
"Gentlemen…I'll take it from here." – Immediately the men let her go.
Lois looked upon the man she was facing, intrepid. – "I don't need your overshadowing protection, General." – She declared, angry: she never understood her father's warning about Superman until she heard Lex's deadline minutes earlier.
"You're wrong…more than ever…you're a friend of an alien who's an enemy to this nation." – He stated.
"And you believe in a virtual reality only Lex Luthor could create." – Lois counter argued.
"Why can't you see what's right in front of you?"- He stepped forward, slightly concerned, unable to understand Lois's point of view.
"Because the president of the United States is Lex Luthor…" – her voice grew, focusing her anger and frustration but her father replied, interrupting her.
"…Elected democratically by the American people…" – the tone of the discussion rise.
"…who were deceived by him, promising he would resolve this country's problems like he had Aladdin's magic lamp." – By the end, they were shouting at each other, creating sufficient turmoil at the hall that it got everyone's attention.
Noticing their discussion had grabbed everybody's attention, they became silent, diverting looks, embarrassed: they waited until everything was restored to normality and people around them continued their lives.
She looked at her father, right in his eyes. –"I won't rest until this stupid witch hunt ends and the truth comes out. Remember General, it's not the military who start the war, it's the politicians." – She walked away wrathfully leaving her father.
Soon he arrived at his house in Alaska: he sat on his couch and put his hands on his face, almost despaired. He had to forge a new identity, living a new life, alone at the end of civilization without a possibility to contact his old friends and friend. He could, using his alter-ego, Superman but even that was too risky. His situation was far from ideal: Clark Kent was dead to the world and Superman was considered as a murderer and an alien with world conquer intentions and far worse, the woman he loved was having doubts about him.
He had lived some crisis in his past but it seemed this time, it was the worst. He continued to look for a path, a course of action to take but the sound of the front door opening distracted him from his problem.
He got up. – "Hello?" – Suddenly a man came into his living room and the sight left him, perplexed.
"Corben?" - He couldn't possibly believe what he was seeing: he saw Corben dying months ago from a massive heart attack from abusing of Dragon Eye's power.
"Target acquired: Charles Joseph King is identified as Clark Jerome Kent." – A coldness voice came out of Corben.
With a blink of an eye, Corben approached Clark and grabbed him by his throat, catching Clark completely off guard. The cold hand tried to snap his neck but Clark reacted, punching Corben's face but the hit didn't quite produce the results he intended.
He was feeling weak by the moment and knew only thing could make him feel weaker: kryptonite.
Corben, who was standing in front of him, grabbed him once again and tossed across the living room, smashing the kitchen wall and falling in the kitchen's floor. He shook his head and he recovered, seeing Corben on the other side of the house.
"Who sent you?" – Clark asked, trying to buy some time: he knew if Corben came too near of him and too long, it was a matter of time. He x-rayed Corben and he became even more shocked: it seemed Corben was no longer human but instead, he was a machine, similar to a man he encountered once and helped him, Victor Stone but it had a bigger problem: it had sufficient lead to cover himself and so he couldn't see what Corben was really made of. He had one sure: Corben was no longer human and somehow he had kryptonite with him.
"Irrelevant." – Corben stated, unemotionally: again he invested against Clark but then Clark wasn't caught off guard and managed to divert his attack and punched him, tossing him several meters away, smashing one of the house's exterior walls but immediately Corben recovered.
"Who sent you Corben?" – Clark insisted but he had a suspicion: Lex Luthor. He just wanted to confirm his suspicions.
"Your question is irrelevant. The name is METALLO v 1.01." – Metallo tried once more an attack and Clark was able to block the attack but he sensed his strength fading away and so he punched again Metallo without boundaries and Metallo was thrown several meters away.
Slightly disorientated, Clark walked outside and ran erratically right into the middle of the road where a car stopped right in front of him. A familiar face came out of the car. – " C.K?" - Lori: he couldn't determine if it was good luck to him or if it was bad luck for her but he was sure of one thing: they couldn't stay there any longer.
"Are you okay? You look like hell." – She stated, badly impressed by Clark.
"We need to get out of here now." – said Clark: somehow, Lori knew he was too serious to joke and immediately complied.
"Get in the car." – Both got inside the car and Lori stepped on the accelerator, leaving rapidly Clark's house behind. As they distanced from the house, Clark looked behind, worried: each time Metallo was close to him, it left him weaker.
Suddenly Metallo was at the middle of the road and surely identified him because he began running in their direction and it was coming fast.
"Faster!" - Clark exclaimed to Lori.
"Any faster than this and the car will disintegrate" – she replied: again Clark looked behind but Metallo wasn't there anymore.
"Great Atlantis!" –Lori shouted: instead Metallo had jumped right to their fronts, forcing Lori to divert at the last moment, driving almost outside of the road and they passed so close to Metallo that by extending his arm, he ripped off the ceiling of the car.
It took a few more seconds for Lori to drive her car back to the road but Metallo chased them and jumped, landing on the car in motion: immediately his attention focused on Clark and grabbed him. Clark struggled but he was forced to jump with Metallo who as soon they were in the middle of the road, Metallo tossed Clark causing Clark to hit a tree, causing its fall.
He fell: he shook his head dizzy and he looked behind where he saw Metallo approaching, coming from the road but fortunately for him, Metallo didn't see a car coming in Metallo's direction and Metallo was hit by the car.
"Run C.K!" – Lori shouted from the middle of the road: Although he knew it was killing him for leaving Lori behind, he recognized the best action to take was to run away from Lori and Metallo hoping Metallo would chase him and ignore Lori, allowing her to live.
He waved to her, saying goodbye and turned around and ran away as fast as he could: he never stopped running knowing nothing would stop that machine but once he saw the harbor, he gained a new hope and headed there. As he approached the harbor, he looked behind and saw Metallo on his trail but still far but it wasn't sufficiently far to lose his track.
Stopping at the docks, he saw a ship already at sea, leaving the harbor: he took balance and leaped in a single bound to get into the ship: he barely make it.
Metallo wasn't far behind and observed Clark's jump into the ship and without delays he too, jumped and with success, Metallo reached the ship for Clark's surprise.
The ship wasn't very large but it was prepared to hunt whales with the two canons, one in each side but right there in that ship, a prey and a hunter were fighting against each other.
Clark on one side and Metallo on the opposite side while the crew was static in fear: Metallo jumped to attack Clark but Clark managed to divert its attack but became weaker and by the moment, Metallo's attacks were more effective with its cold hand steel punching Clark's face.
Then Metallo grabbed Clark by his throat and began choking him, pressing him against the canon harpoon. His powers were failing and his strength was abandoning him but looking at very own canon, it created a window opportunity.
Clark managed to turn the canon to direct it against Metallo: Clark punched Metallo frantically until it gave in a little, allowing Clark to shoot the canon with harpoon right in Metallo's chest, projecting it several feet but it wasn't sufficient. Metallo fell on the opposite side of the ship but for the first time it took for Metallo to recover giving Clark a second chance to recover.
As slowly as Metallo got up, Clark got up too and Metallo made another attack but Clark escaped and with the second canon, he shot Metallo tossing it outside the ship and in spite of efforts, Metallo sank into deeps of the ocean while Clark lay down, almost breathless.
"Your hunt license has just been revoked." – Clark stated.
"How's the deadline?"
"18 hours to end, Mr. President." – His secretary replied.
"Fine, you can leave. Call Dr. Alistair Krieg: I wish to speak with him."
"Yes, sir." – The secretary left the room, leaving Lex alone in his office. He was beginning to count every hour, every minute, and every second: the 48 hour deadline was then too big for him, at least he thought.
He wished the deadline was over but it was necessary: He didn't want anybody to think it was a personal vendetta and so he couldn't let emotion cloud his own judgment.
The knock in the door pulled him back to reality. –"Come in."
"Mr. President, Dr. Alistair Krieg." – The doctor came in and the secretary closed the door, leaving those two alone.
"Any report on the trial status?" – Lex asked, distrustfully: Charles King or Clark Kent wasn't too hard to find and he heard no news about that situation.
"Our tracking device displays Metallo is still in Alaska, slightly erratic." – Dr. Krieg gulped at his last word, under pressure.
"What do you mean?" – Lex asked, with eyes wild opened, concluding something was definitely wrong.
"It could be a power failure or a mechanical problem or the object of pursuit was able to defeat it…"
"RIDICULOUS!" – Lex shouted, punching the table heatedly. –"It's not a bumbling reporter who's going to take down a 200 million dollar project designed to take out Superman." – Lex paused for a moment but then he pointed to the doctor. – "You're going to Alaska personally, to retrieve Metallo immediately. Fix it."
"But Mr. President…"
"I'm giving you a direct order, an order from the President of United States of America. I expected nothing less than blind obedience…" – Lex looked at him in the eyes, ferociously and doctor became static in fear, looking at those eyes full with rage.
"What are you waiting for?"
Her memory was still fuzzy when it came to remember Superman's attempt to kill Lex but the tape that one of the TV. Journalists had borrowed to her offered her the possibility to analyze better the whole situation.
For hours, she pressed the rewind and the forward button innumerous types to see all details in that tape, to figure out anything of the ordinary: eyes fixed on the screen trying to decipher his behavior since his posture to his speech, his cape and tights to his eyes.
She grabbed another slice of the pizza which was on the table and began eating it without ever looking the other way: then it was playing the moment he grabbed her by the arm and ripped of her watch. She touched her bruised arm, a painful memory, almost an act of betrayal and the final moments of the tape showed her once again her being thrown and fainted while he turned away and kept looking for Luthor. He continued his search for a few moments but then he flew away. The camera tried to follow him but it was too late and afterwards, the camera picked up images worthy of any war: cars destroyed, people laying down, dead. Suddenly the camera picked again Superman next to her, grabbing her carefully and immediately flew away with her.
She stopped the tape after eating the last piece of the pizza's slice: the footage was somehow blowing her mind off. The logic dictated Superman was there to kill Lex no matter how badly were the consequences even if it meant hurting her but the heart told her it couldn't be possible: Clark Kent/Superman would never heart her unless…
"Red Kryptonite!" – She shouted: Martha had told her once all about red Kryptonite and Clark's behavior when he was under that sort of spell: Clark and Alicia's marriage in Vegas or his exile in Metropolis when he was sixteen.
"If that was the case I'd still under its influence and I'd remember it but I didn't even do it." – He stated from the open window, floating outside her apartment.
"May I?"
"Yeah Sure…" – he entered in her apartment and landed. He walked towards Lois and grabbed the remote control and pressed the rewind button and played again the tape.
Silently they watched until the moment Superman picked her and left the scene carrying her in his arms.
"See? That's me over there carrying you…" – he stated. He looked at her, his hand touched her cheek. – "I would never hurt you." – He assured her.
"I know." – She confessed: she rested her head in his chest while his arms embraced her.
"Thank you for believing in me." – He whispered.
"I would never hurt you."
"I would never hurt you."
"I would never hurt you."
The phrase assaulted her mind. - "Wait…" – she went to see the papers all spread out and frantically she searched until she picked the one she wanted. – "Thaddeus Killgrave, Dabney Donovan, geneticists, Cadmus Lab, LuthorCorp, a being like you with the same powers…it's a clone! No Duh!"
He remained silent: it was the best plausible explanation for someone he could see and wasn't a mere mirror's reflection. Then he put all the pieces together and knew what was coming.
"Lex's fraying me." – He concluded. – "He wants a war and he found a way to create it." – The sudden reality shocked him: he knew Lex Luthor was able to do nasty things but to chase him based on a forged reality Lex had created and willing to go to war was definitely something he didn't expect.
She saw him momentarily stumped and walked to him and held his face with her cheeks. – "We're going to prove you're innocent." – She assured him.
He saw her so strong, so determined and that courage, that strength inspired him and he smiled at her.
"No…" – She raised an eyebrow, confused with his affirmation but he continued. – "You're going to prove I'm innocent. All we got is still circumstantial. You need to get evidence."
"What? What are you saying? What are you going to do?" – She looked at him, still confused, searching for an answer.
"Whatever you do, be careful. I'm counting on you."- He kissed her passionately like if it was the last time he would ever kiss her again.
After the kiss, he turned around and headed to the window.
She out ran him and stay right in front of him. – "Where are you going?"
"To stop a war." – He declared and passed at her side and flew away.
From time to time, he looked at the watch: nervousness, anxiety but also the excitement of beginning what he wanted for so long. A crusade against a god who didn't want to share his power with the common man.
"How much time is left?" – asked Lex.
"Less than 2 hours…" – Mercy stated. Suddenly a knock was heard.
"Come in."
The secretary got in, nervously. – "Mr. President, I've got news for you sir."
The secretary remained silent, nervously.
"Well woman, what do you have to say?" – He asked impatiently.
"Superman has turned himself onto the authorities."
To be continued…