Chapter 15:
"My own daughter…" – his tone voice was a small manifestation of his disappointment. As calm as possible, he got up and walked in her direction, finally stopping, right in front of her. – "I've told you to stay away from him."
"I must have an infection in both ears back then…" – the irony of her comment triggered the anger in her father as he slapped her.
"I don't tolerate insolence!" – He shouted.
She looked at him furiously with the will to fight back but as a sign of respect, she stepped back. – "And I don't tolerate my own father serving with someone so despicable as Lex Luthor. Tell me, how much is he paying you for you to be his hunt dog?" – The answer came in a form of another slap.
"I serve my country with pride. How dare you to insinuate I'm just for the money?" – He couldn't believe her daughter was putting his honor in doubt.
Lois cleaned the wound her dad made on her lip and looked at him, despising him. – "I guess you're on the wrong side. I hope you'll notice it before it's too late."
"And for you it's already too late." – She looked oddly at her father wondering what he could possibly mean by that.
Texas was always known for three things: oil, death penalty and tornados. Houston was familiarized with it but the city wasn't prepared to face a human tornado which was tearing apart its downtown, tossing cars like toys, angered, full of rage with one objective.
"KILL LUTHOR!" – Its screaming could be heard from several blocks away, causing panic and havoc and the police surrounding could barely do anything against the human tornado: shooting bullets was nothing more than irritating mosquito bites causing itchiness leaving it even angrier.
"KILL LUTHOR!" – It was his obsession and he didn't care about anything else and it was his reason for breathing, for living: everything else seemed pointless.
"KILL LUTHOR!" – The last shout was the loudest anyone could hear but he didn't notice someone approaching him from behind.
"You want to kill Luthor: Join the list." – He was punched by the same person who had approached him from behind, catching him by surprise, throwing him several meters away, clashing into a convenience store. – "Time for round two, Superman: You better ask your tailor to get you a new suit because this time, the only way you're going to get out of there is in a coffin."
His life, his heritage was lost: as time passed by, he was controlling everything in his life and all he had left was his family, his friends, his love. He didn't want, he couldn't leave them behind: still shaky, he concentrated and leaped as high as he could but he was still too weak. The jump had only achieved a few dozens meters but he insisted and as time passed, the leaps were higher and higher and he persisted because he had to go to his home, the Kent farm, in Smallville.
It took him a couple of hours for him to arrive to Smallville but fortunately by the time when he arrived, he had recovered sufficiently for him to fly: however it was the only good news since he arrived to the farm he saw no one.
"Dad? Mom?" – He ran as fast as he could but no one was present: after the quick tour around the Kent farm, he got suspicious since lights were on, the animals weren't treated, the tractor was still outside and their red truck was still parked right in front of the house. He entered the house once again and turned his attention to the TV.
"…We go live to Houston, Texas where we had confirmation that Superman and an unidentified man are fighting each other, creating a huge chaos in the city's downtown. As you can see the live footage, the police are unable to stop the two men from destroying the city but its expected military forces to enter the city and…"
He turned off the TV: he didn't have to listen it anymore. Everything was falling apart but he had the hope to see his parents again but unfortunately his hope had been crushed. He focused his earning to pick up his parents' heartbeat but he couldn't find them: the same for Lois.
She was inside of a van, held prisoner by her own father, a man who was on the other side of a war which was tearing families apart, destroying homes, ruining people's lives. Her family was tear apart, the Kent was his home most likely vandalized and must of her friends had their lives ruined.
The trip to whatever she was going to be taken was long: it was silent, uncomfortable, with always brief, suspicious, mistrustful eye exchange between her and her father. She had no idea to where she was being taken to but she had the gut feeling she was going to meet Jimmy and possibly Jonathan and Martha.
Finally, they arrived at the location and as they were to step outside, General Lane put a roller blind in Lois to avoid Lois to find where they had arrived. With the roller blind, Lois was conducted by her father to an elevator from where they made their descent several floors below.
At last, the elevator stopped and the General removed her daughter's roller blind as the elevator's door opened: in front of them, a large room was revealed, a sort of a communication center with several people working constantly in their computers, watching, monitoring. She walked, escorted by her father, looking around and two things caught her attention: one was a monitor displaying a huge fight between what appeared to be Superman and Corben and the other was seeing her friends and family: Jimmy, a bad shaped Pete and Chloe along with Jonathan and Martha Kent. She ran to them and hugged Chloe.
She looked closely at her cousin and noticed Chloe had been shot in her knee. – "What have they done to you?"
"Lex shot Chloe: he threatened to kill her if I didn't tell where Clark was." – Pete answered Lois's question. Anger took over her and she turned to her father.
"How could you let his happen?"
"Your cousin and Pete Ross knew the truth about Clark Kent's secret. They have helped an enemy of United States of America and justice will act accordingly to their crimes and so you will." – His emotionless statement shocked Lois: she could almost feel a sense of shame and despise coming from her own father as he talked to her. She was speechless.
"He does have a point Lois Lane." – Lex spoke while he entered the room with his assistant Mercy Graves.
"…what are you hearing right now, only you and dogs can hear: I'm sure you have survived the explosion and that's the reason why Lois Lane is alive. She's here with me although she isn't very communicative today... I wonder…Nevertheless, she's not alone: joining her are Jonathan and Martha Kent, Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan. They all have someone in common: you and Clark Kent and guess what I've learned from your buddy Pete Ross... Clark Kent is Superman! Unbelievable!...Clark Kent, Charles King, Superman, Kal-El, Naman…I was wondering if you have some sort of personality disorder…A doubt you can answer personally in thirty minutes if you don't want something unfortunate to happen to your friends and family. You have thirty minutes…"
The transmission stopped but it was clear for him who was talking: Lex and apparently he held hostage, his friends and family. There was no reason to doubt him: his parents had disappeared from the farm without any warning and the daily chores weren't done. He knew Lex was telling the truth. He was given a deadline
"With all due respect, Mr. President, that sounded a threat." – Sam Lane's concern was genuine: it mattered those people had helped an alien who was an enemy, a threat to the country but he didn't want Lex to become judge, jury and executioner.
Lex walked towards him and put his arms on Lane's shoulders. – "I can assure you it won't come to that: he will be here before the deadline is over."
"You're wishing he misses the deadline to put a hole in our heads, aren't you?" – Lex turned around and walked towards Lois.
"I have no desire to commit such villainous act but we are at war and when we are at war, sometimes you do things which some may consider them to be despicable."
Lex's response left Lois even more ashamed of her father working for a man she considered to be more dreadful by the moment. She got up and took a few steps forward but stopped when the soldiers pointed their guns to her. – "You love all this don't Lex? Making decisions, feel the power, it's all about power isn't it, Mr. Almightily?"
"That's enough Lois!" – The General shouted to Lois but Lex waved at the general, signaling for patience.
"Power…" – Lex spoke but made a small pause, choosing wisely the words. – "…Power is just a mean to achieve a purpose, a gold. With Power, you can get anything from to catch an enemy... Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."
"Ever tried Viagra? I've heard it makes miracles…" – It was impossible to anyone to at least smile at Lois's remark.
"Mr. President!" – Mercy shouted to Lex as his attention was onto Lois.
"What is it?" – Lex was annoyed with an urge to beat the crap out of Lois right in front of her father but the urgency in Mercy's voice became too important for him to ignore.
"It's Superman…" – Mercy was almost speechless and decided to elevate the TV's sound.
"…it appears to exist two Supermen in the spot, fighting other individual who our sources confirm to be John Corben, a mercenary who allegedly died with a heart attack, almost two years…"
"What the hell is he doing there? He's supposed to be here." – Lex punched the table furiously as he saw Superman defeating Metallo.
"Actually not until a few minutes." – Lois declared, smiling confidently. Lex turned around but continued quiet, waiting for Lois to explain. – "By appearing on national television, showing there are two Supermen, a dead mercenary who somehow managed to resuscitate, people will start asking questions and both I and Chloe have the proof to bring you down and there's still time for Superman to get here and grabbed that ass of yours and toss it to jail. It's a strike of genius: that's why I love him. I even know what will be the headline: "Lexgate" – Luthor's personal Watergate.""
"What's the meaning of all this, Mr. President?" – The situation was getting out of control and Sam Lane was facing some unexpected details about two Supermen, his niece Chloe shot in her knee.
"Finally you're asking the right questions!..." – Lois replied to her father, angered at him.
Lex ignored the general's question and focused on the screen from where he could see Superman wining the battle and then he looked at the soldier who was working at the console. – "Access the Metallo program and execute the 1211-Omega."
Mercy realized the order and panicked. –"Lex! That's the self-destruction order! Metallo has a reserve power which is a nuclear battery…I have family there!"
The word nuclear caused commotion among Chloe, Pete, Jonathan and Martha and Lois got up, desperately. – "Metallo is a human nuclear bomb? You're going to blow up an entire city, just to prove a point?" – Lois turned to her father looking desperately at him. – "Dad?"
Sam Lane picked up his gun and pointed to Luthor. –"Mr. President?"
Lex turned around and faced the General. - "Who do you believe General? The traitors or your President?"
"SHOOT HIM! DAD!" – Lois shouted to her father, frantically.
"You're not him!" – Metallo shouted with anger realizing it wasn't Superman who he was fighting: it was in fact too easy for him. Two, three punches catching his opponent off guard and he opened his chest, showing his kryptonite heart. Immediately, his adversary was in his knees but he realized his foe wasn't the person he was looking for: he wanted Superman, the genuine article not some cheap imitation.
"What are you?"
"Me…Superman…" – Corben didn't let the creature finish its sentence as Corben began punching, repeating the gesture indefinitely but quickly he was interrupted: without realizing he suffered an impact, throwing him several dozens meters away, passing through cars, buildings ending up inside of a car at the ending of the avenue. He experienced several malfunctions due to the huge impact but slowly the system began repairing itself. He got up and quickly reached his previous location before being hit and then Metallo saw him: Superman, holding a steel column like a baseball bat and he had become the ball.
"Well, finally you decided to show up! It's about time!" – Immediately he leaped as high as he could to reach Superman but holding the steel column like a baseball he hit successfully Metallo once again, hitting him down, creating literally a hole right in the middle of street, bearing Metallo several feet under.
The damage in Metallo was higher but that didn't stop Metallo from recovering and reaching the surface again but when he reached the surface Superman was nowhere to be found. – "Playing hide and seek, aren't we? C'mon Superman, we haven't been exactly buddies but I'm ready to change: I'm willing to open my heart to you…my kryptonite heart…"
Suddenly Superman appeared right in front of Metallo and charged against him: holding in his arm, Superman had a shield which he pressed against Metallo's chest while he punched him with his other arm. As they were buried inside a concrete wall, still pressing his shield against Metallo's chest, Superman used his heat-vision to bond the shield with Metallo itself.
"Why aren't you affected by the kryptonite?" – asked a stunned Metallo wondering how Superman wasn't affected.
"Led…the shield is made of led." – Metallo punched Superman, tossing around far enough for him to try rip his new chest.
As he tried to rip off his led chest, his system notified him of an immediate danger: his legs were over-heating. Then he looked at his legs and saw Superman using his heat-vision at its maximum power: his legs started melting losing his motor skills.
"Damn you!" – Metallo shouted cursing Superman who was indifferent to his shouting rage. Finally Superman stopped using his heat-vision when he realized Metallo couldn't longer walk. – "I need you well and functioning to serve as both witness and proof that Lex Luthor is lying. Since you won't be going anywhere, I'll have to leave you: my presence is needed elsewhere. There are people who need my help." - He was about to fly away to meet Lex but stopped when Metallo spoke.
"Lex, you're son of a bitch!" – His shout of anger was impressive.
"What is it?" – Such anger made Superman not only curious but also concerned.
"1211-Omega! Lex has just activated the self-destruction sequence: I'm going to blow up in 15 seconds and it won't be pretty to stick around."
It was bad news and he knew in his heart: Lex was playing dirty as always but this time it was going to overcome any limits there were. Rapidly he looked carefully at Metallo and noticed the shield was slightly opened, the sufficient to leak some portion of the kryptonite radiation: he had to take out of there. He decided he had to approach Metallo and throw him as far high as possibly.
The countdown was reaching its end and immediately he flew at super-speed and grabbed Metallo, ready to throw him into space but surprisingly Metallo hugged Superman as tightly as he could: Metallo, the machine or John Corben , the human, looked at Superman right in his eyes and declared, spiteful. - "If I'm going to die, I might as well take you with me."
The action caught him off guard but there's was no time: seconds were counting and he leaped with Metallo knowing he hadn't the time to say goodbye to his closest ones.
"See you in hell." – Metallo declared with a sarcastic smile.
Lex remembered the words he once wrote to a friend who became an enemy.
"We are nothing more than small actors playing a part in a tragedy far greater than us. A tragedy called life: For you, today the curtain closes and the play ends."
He saw the final moments of the bright and deadly mushroom before the camera went out due to the shock value: he didn't have to see anymore. He had won the war.
"Situation contained." – Lex declared with a sly smile.
To be continued…