Ch. 25 Leap before you look…
Minutes later, Luthor Mansion
Kal blazed across the Smallville skyline at incredible speed, landing soundlessly before the Luthor Mansion. His knuckles protested as he fisted his hands over and over again. Fear, anger, and loathing battled for control as Kal ground his molars. HowcouldLuthorbesostupid?Doeshetrulythinkhecancontrolthatmonster?Focusing his hearing, he located Lex inside the monolithic structure. It appeared he was not alone.
A purr of feminine satisfaction permeated the air as Talia wrapped her body closer to Lex as they basked in the afterglow of their sex. She had no dreams of deluded herself by claiming they'd made love. It was sex, pure and simple.Mind-blowing,body-numbing,amazingsex. Her ruminations of when they would start up round three were cut short as the massive windows of Lex's budoir bowed outwards for mere seconds before shattering into millions of tiny shards. She watched in awe as the midday light danced of the tiny crystalline pieces and the shards were seemingly sucked into some unseen vortex. Beside her, she saw Lex acknowledge the phenomenon with mild disinterest.
"Right on time." He murmured as he stood from the bed, wrapping himself in a silk robe.
Talia was confused by the total look of nonchalance as Lex waited for their visitor to make an appearance. Just as she would ask him who he could have offended in such a way, she saw Superman descend into the bedroom, wearing a look she had never seen adorn the usually angelic face of the Man of Steel. Gripping the bed sheet tight, she made a concentrated effort to disappear in the pillows beneath her. Her efforts were for naught as Superman was focused on one and only one person—Lex.
"You don't know the game you're playing, Lex." His voice was lethal.
"Oh, Superman, you offend me. I assure you, I have no intention to play any games." Lex answered coolly.
Superman took another step into Lex's private sanctum, his anger burning away to the new sensation of excruciating pain. His next step faltered as his eyes scanned the room. He found nothing. Impossible.TheremustbeKryptonitenearby. Superman could feel his vision wavering as he fell to one knee.Thevents!Thekryptonitemustbecomingthroughthevents.Every breath he drew only served to weaken him more. His chest felt as if it were burning from the inside out, her nasal passages singed from the offending material. Superman tried to stand and was only successful in taking a few staggering steps back.
A slow smirk danced across Lex's lips, "Ah, I was beginning to think you didn't breath, Superman." Lex crouched so that he was eye level with the hero, mockingly breathing in deep gulps of air. "Go ahead, take another deep, satisfying breath."
Luthor smiled wide as he took in the scene before him. He imagined the fury that would consume this…alienwhen he realized a mere human had simply walked into his guarded fortress and taken anything he pleased. He fantasized about the look of shock that would register across his face as he realized he'd been outsmarted by a human. Who else would have thought to filter kryptonite particles through the ventilation system of their home? LexLuthor,that'swho!Lex was getting so wrapped up in his gloating that he almost missed the telltale thud of his guest hitting the floor. Superman was completely incapacitated from only a few intakes of the contaminated air, he lay gasping on the floor before him.
"Lex, what are you going to do with him?" Talia asked as she took in the scene, her eyes dancing with delight.
Lex stood, preening as he paced back and forth in the room, putting an exaggerated effort into appearing to be in deep thought. "I don't know. I had actually expected him to withstand the kryptonite-laced air for a bit longer. I guess my calculations were a bit off when I measured out the amount to introduce into the atmosphere." He turned his head to the side to watch Superman struggle to maintain consciousness.
"Y-y-y-you d-don't know what y-y-you're dealing wi…" He couldn't finish the sentence as he tried to conserve his breaths.
Lex studied the hero at his feet, planning to mock him until he drew his last breath. "More's the pity, really. I had planned to at least have a little fun with you before you died. You know, test out my newfound strength." He turned to face Talia on the bed, a glint of evil in his eyes. "Then again, who says I can't?" He spun around raising his foot above the head of Superman. Just as the heel of his foot would come crushing down, a sudden gust of wind blew in and Superman was gone. Instead, Lex's foot crashed through the floor, sending shards of wood flying. Gone?Lex ran to the paneless window, intent to at least see the coward running away. Instead, he could feel his blood begin to boil as he took in his once pristine, manicured lawn. Smoke wafted up from the areas of burned grass. Once the smoke settled, the scorched message was loud and clear: "Screw you, Luthor!"
Watchtower Satellite
"What the hell were you thinking? " Bruce raked a hand through his hair as he chided Clark.
Clark covered his eyes with his forearm as he lay beneath the healing rays of the artificial light in the infirmary, "Not now, Bruce."
Bruce gave no indication he heard the plea as he continued on. "You're never this careless."
"Bruce." He warned.
"I mean, really, Clark?" He paced the floor.
"Bruce!" Clark growled as he shot up on the bed.
Bruce was unaffected by his display of bravado. Instead, he stopped his pacing and gave Clark a look that spoke of, Really,dude?
"Oh? You want me to stop, Clark? Really? Well, I wanted you to use your brain today but you didn't do that, did you?" He shot back.
Clark sighed. "Look, I know I should have thought things through a bit more-" Clark began.
"A bit? How about you should have thought, period. Clearly, you put zero thought into confronting Luthor. If the man could breach the security of the fortress, did it not at least cross your mind that he may be playing on a whole new level, Clark? I mean, if J'onn hadn't tracked your location and Wally hadn't gotten there when he did…." He trailed off. "…and when Diana finds out-"
Clark's head shot up at that last comment. "Say nothing to Diana. I mean it, Bruce." It was more a command than anything else. "I was wrong, okay? I don't know what happened. It's like, once I realized the Phantom Zone device was gone, my only goal was to get it back."
"That, I understand, Clark. What I'm having trouble with is that you thought you'd walk in and demand it back and Luthor would give it to you." The chiding continued. He waited a moment for Clark's retort and when he heard none, he turned to find his comrade sitting quietly on the examination table. Clark was unusually quiet as he stared straight ahead. Bruce exhaled and sat next to his friend.
"I almost died, Bruce. I almost died." Clark's voice was quiet as he spoke.
Bruce nodded slowly as the words sank in and waited until Clark was ready to continue.
"I fought him with everything I had it was barely enough." Clark's voice seemed to get smaller with each word. He had only spoken of his fears with Diana and even then, he did not go into much detail about the event.
Bruce placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "But it was enough, Clark. You and Diana held Doomsday off long enough for us to evacuate the city, saving hundreds of lives."
Clark winced as he recalled the bits and pieces of the battle.
"Get them out of here, Batman! Kal and I will keep the beast at bay!" Diana yelled over the fray.
Batman nodded quickly and barked out the orders to the other members of the League. Superman battered the beast with thunderous blows, the reverberating force shaking the very ground beneath them. He continued to beat the beast back as he saw his colleagues successfully evacuating the area. He could hear change in the wind as Diana flew in hot. At the last moment he staggered the beast with a blow to the jaw before ducking out of the way as Diana leveled the beast with a double fisted blow, driving him into the earth below. Dust mushroomed at the impact. Diana floated to Kal, inspecting his many bruises. He was amazed at how hands that could fell a god could be so gentle.
"Diana, I'm fine. Let's finish this."
Before they could formulate a plan on exactly how to finish the beast off, the ground erupted beneath them as a massive hand captured Diana by her leg and tossed her over a hundred feet away. Diana's body made a sickening thud as her flight of path was violently ended when she struck the side of an apartment building. The impact of her body shook the very foundation of the building, causing it collapse atop her body. Although Kal wanted nothing more than to get her away from the beast, he knew stopping the beast would be the only way. He and the beast squared off again, trading blows that rocked them both to the core. Kal could feel his body protesting the battle, feeling the warm trickle of blood as it trailed from his temple down his chin. He feared his body would give out on him and fought with the last of his strength. He and Doomsday were suddenly clouded in dust and shrouded in darkness. They both looked up to the sky and Kal was surprised to see remnants of the building that once covered Diana come barreling down atop Doomsday. Kal marveled at how she continued to battle on when it was evident she was severely injured. As she hovered nearby, the sun gave the illusion of a halo—even covered in grime, chunks of debris in her hair and a trickle of blood running from her nose, she had never looked more beautiful to him. Suddenly, large bits of debris and brick exploded all around them as Doomsday resurfaced. Kal didn't miss the small wince as Diana squared off to again fight the beast, gingerly placing a hand to her undoubtedly broken ribs. She and Kal made eye contact once more.
"Let's do this, Kal."
They may have been successful that day, but he always blamed himself for the serious damage Diana incurred that day.
"Clark, we beat him before and we'll do it again." Bruce clamped his hand on the shoulders of his friend.
Clark exhaled once more before meeting the assuring gaze of his trusted friend and nodding slowly. He honestly didn't trust himself to speak the words Bruce wanted to hear. Truthfully, he had hoped to never hear the name Doomsday again, let alone face another potential battle. It was not for fear of dying, no, it was the fear that others would die for him that shook him to the core. He recalled how fiercely Diana fought beside him, oblivious to the damage she was taking. At that moment, the infirmary doors burst inward and he was greeted by the smiling faces of Wally and Michael.
"Yo, Blue! Good to see you up, man." Michael offered, lightly clapping Clark across the shoulder.
"Good to be up. Wally…thanks."
Wally beamed, not used to receiving such gratitude from Superman. Usually, Superman had to pull him away from danger. "Anytime, Big Blue, anytime."
Bruce, on the other hand, did not appear as pleased with Wally. "Wally, I asked you to do a simple recovery and you decide to destroy the man's landscaping?"
Clark looked between the two, clearly confused. Michael stifled a laugh, clearly in on the joke.
"What are you talking about, Bruce." Clark asked.
"Seems our friend, The Flash, left a message blazing across Luthor's front lawn as he zipped in to save you." Bruce glared at Wally.
Michael guffawed as he couldn't contain himself any longer. "Yeah, and it was awe..some!"
Clark pinched the bridge of his nose. "What'd you do?"
"What? I just left him a token of my affection in the form of "Screw You, Lex". It isn't my fault his lawn was so dry and happened to catch fire as I sped across. The guy is a bajillionaire—you'd think he could afford proper irrigation for his lawn." Wally answered, nonplussed. "Anyway, we just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. I was just about to spend a little time with my lady love." And just like that, he moved on to another subject.
Michael scrunched his face up in mock disgust while Clark and Bruce wrinkled their brows in confusion. "But isn't Donna still on Themyscira, Wally?"
"Ah, yes, but it's an amazing thing, this technology we have. With HD video chatting, it's basically like being in the same place. As a matter of fact, my lady should be logging on in a few minutes and she will be greeted by the musical stylings of Barry White and my candle lit room. Gotta set the mood, ya know?" Wally bobbed his eyebrows suggestively.
Realization smacked Clark and Bruce simultaneously. They both put up their hands in mock surrender, signaling for him to stop.
Wally shrugged his shoulders. "Whatev, dudes. Don't hate cuz I'm bought to get my mack on—even though I'm a thousand miles away from my lady." He simulated brushing his shoulders off and exited the room, leaving his brethren staring behind him.