Kara Zor-El took over the questioning of a few specified prisoners, while Kal-El was away. She knew how important it was for cousin to find the mother of his unborn child, as soon as possible. Especially if she had suffered memory loss.
Now that Lois had been found, Kara did not figure there was any point in questioning Sam and Ella Lane. But the threat of Darkseid, that mirror and Zod's disappearance, made it imperative that Moira and Chloe Sullivan be interrogated. Gabe Sullivan had already signed a loyalty pledge, swearing an oath to Kryptonian rule. So he was not imprisoned anywhere.
Moira moved to sit down on the floor next to her daughter, who was already down there, with her legs pulled up against her chest. Chloe looked depressed, which was a natural way to feel, given their predicament. But Moira sensed that her daughter's moodiness had more to do with Kal-El.
"Honey," Moira began, "I know that you feel as if Kal-El has betrayed you..."
Chloe looked over at her.
"Are you going to tell me he hasn't? I don't see Lois around here."
"Lois ran off. And she has amnesia."
"You know what, Mom? I think I'm really here because of YOU!" Chloe snapped. Moira slowly stood up again.
"How can you blame me for this?"
Chloe stood up as well.
"We're here because of what happened to Zod! Jeez, Mom! Where's my 'brother'? He could get us out of here with no problem! And it makes me think that we are here because of that gray guy, the mirror, Zod and my precious brother Davis...or Lor-Zod or whatever the hell he calls himself! Otherwise I could be out there trying to reason with Kal-El!"
"Or trying to get him to love you?" Moira asked knowingly.
"Shut up! What would you know about love? You had a great husband that you threw away because you were hot for some evil alien! That's what your catatonia was about, wasn't it?"
Moira cleared her throat. She and Chloe had not really talked at length about the how and why of their lost years. Not really.
"Chloe, what happened between Zod and myself never had anything to do with your father and myself. And as for Kal-El and you, I just don't want to see you make the same mistakes I did! Kal-El doesn't love you anymore than Zod did me. Not really. Anymore than Jor-El loved Ella."
Chloe gave her mother a bitter smile.
"But Kal-El loves Lois, doesn't he? He's willing to marry her to keep this child that she's carrying! All he has to do, is was Zod did to you. He could take that baby from her and there would be nothing Lois could do about it. But he isn't going to do that, is he?"
Moira was spared from having to answer that, when the door opened and Kara stepped in. She raised a brow.
"It looks like I interrupted something?" Kara asked, closing the door behind her. Neither Moira nor Chloe spoke. Kara set down two folders on a table and began.
" I am Kara Zor-El, Kal-El's cousin. Chloe, Kal-El is going to be lenient with you. He knows you know nothing about what happened to Zod. All you have to do is sign the pledge I have here, and you can go."
Chloe folded her arms.
"Kal-El has decided that I can go after a week? Nice!" she snapped. Kara eyed her. Kal-El thought she was stupid, but she was not. She was very well aware of the fact that her cousin had toyed with the affections of Chloe Sullivan. But there was nothing to be done about it. Just as there was nothing to be done about what Jor-El had done to Ella Lane.
"I'm sure it was just an oversight. The length of your stay here, that is." Kara said. "As I said before, sign the loyalty pledge to us, and you can leave. Today."
"And my mother?" Chloe asked in a daring tone. Kara's eyes moved from her to Moira.
"Your mother will continue to be our guest." Kara said calmly.
"Why?" Chloe asked just as calmly.
"Come now, Miss Sullivan. You two have been in here for a week and you've never discussed Darkseid?"
Chloe looked from Kara to Moira.
"Mom? Is that the gray guy from the mirror?"
Moira turned and walked away a bit. Chloe followed after her!
"I am not leaving you here! Now you tell these people what they want to know!"
Moira turned back to her daughter.
"Chloe, it's complicated. You will find out soon enough what is going on."
"What does that mean?" Kara snapped. She decided that maybe outright torture would be the trick with this one! She was not about to let this earthling drop an ominous hint like that and get away with it!
Moira tossed her dark, glossy hair and stared back at Kara defiantly.
"What that means, 'Kryptonian', is that your rule here will not last. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't cut short by the end of this week."
Kara kept her cool and picked up Moira Sullivan's file. She knew what was in it already, but she opened it and pretended to glance down into it, before setting it back on to the table.
"So you have a connection with Darkseid then, correct? I mean if you know that he's coming to this realm to overthrow us, then the two of you must be close, right?"
Chloe looked from Kara over at her mother. What was Kara implying? Close? In what way? Hopefully not a gross way...
"It says in your file," Kara continued slyly, "that you claimed that Darkseid came to you while you were catatonic. Is that when you became close? How exactly did he bring you back to the world of lucidity again?"
Moira still did not answer. Kara then walked up to her.
"Answer me this: why do you think he picked YOU to help him get a foothold into this world?"
Moira shrugged.
"I have no idea."
Kara folded arms.
"I do. See, Zod has told a different story about Lor-Zod, the son you two share that turns into a monster and now looks like Kal-El. Zod said that Lor-Zod has spent alot of time on Apokolips and that it was through your son, that you met Darkseid."
"Okay!" Chloe interrupted. "What the hell are you talking about? Where is Apokolips?"
"As of this moment, in a mirror we have at the White House!" Kara snapped. "And let me tell you something else, Moira Sullivan: I'm beginning to wonder if all of this 'closeness' between Darkseid and Lor-Zod is by happenstance."
"What are you talking about?" Moira asked, her tone brimming with annoyance.
"What I mean, EARTH WHORE, is that I think that Darkseid is Lor-Zod's true father! For all we know you've been planning some kind of take over for years with him while feigning your catatonia!" Kara yelled. She then stopped abruptly and turned to open the prison door. A Kryptonian guard came in with an electric shaver. He handed it to Kara, then closed the door.
Kara smiled.
"I will shave you BALD, Moira Sullivan, if you do not tell me what I want to know! And somehow I don't think Darkseid will think you are so cute without that bouncy looking hair of yours!"
"MOM!" Chloe cried out. "Leave her alone! Look, shave my head instead..."
Kara looked her up and down.
"I think you probably well know that the loss of YOUR hair, would probably be an improvement."
"Alright!" Moira snapped. "Enough of this! Let my daughter go and I will show you how to summon Darkseid from the mirror."
Lois took a long, hot shower, before changing clothes. She decided that a long, flannel shirt that must have belonged to the late, Jonathan Kent, would suffice. It was long enough to pass for a dress, sort of.
She padded down the stairs to find the rooms dark. 'Orl' had dimmed all of the lights and moved the kitchen table near the fireplace in the living room. There were two candles on the table. Lois eyed Orl as he moved back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. This was odd. The whole ambiance of this dinner had an funny vibe to it. He was Orin's brother and yet it was clear he wanted their dinner to be special in some way. Why?
Kal-El had actually learned to cook earth foods while he had been dating Chloe. He tried to push the pixie headed blonde from his mind. Part of having a peaceful future with Lois, was to find some way to make up to Chloe what he had done to her. He noticed Lois, who was standing on the stairs wearing some sort of farm dress. He smiled as she descended the rest of the stairs, and that was when he noticed that she wasn't wearing a dress. She was wearing a long shirt. Unfortunately, he could also see that she was wearing underwear, thanks to his special abilities. That saddened him, but of course, he did not comment on that.
"What's all this?" Lois asked, peering at the plates. Orl had put fancy, stainless steel covers over them. Probably to add an element of surprise.
"You're just in time. Dinner is served." Kal-El said, pulling out a chair. Lois smiled at him and sat in it. Kal-El moved to the chair across from her and sat in it. Lois glanced past him and saw that it was snowing. Not heavily though.
Lois dragged her eyes from the window and noticed she had a glass of milk, while Orl had wine! She refrained from saying anything as she lifted the cover and...
The main dish was some kind of meat. Lois could only describe it that way because it looked unfamiliar to her. She picked up her candle and used it for light to peer at it. Kal-El put his napkin in his lap.
"What is it?" Kal-El asked.
"Errr, yes, WHAT is it? Are these pork chops?"
"No. It's goat meat. But I sautéed it."
Lois gaped at him before forming words!
"Goat meat? Why?"
"Lois, you are with child. It's good for the baby. Those little tiny potatoes, the beets and the roll..."
"No, I see all of those as well. Uh, yeah, well this is nice." Lois said politely. Kal-El smiled at her and Lois watched him eat that crappy goat...crap...like it was as good as a hamburger or something!
She then watched him sip his wine. After awhile, Kal-El noticed she wasn't really eating. Lois had eaten her potatoes and the roll.
"Lois? Is there something the matter?"
"Uh, no. Tell me how Orin and you are related again?" Lois asked. There is no frickin' way Orin would've knowingly left her with a relative that would feed her goat meat! What the hell?
"We have the same mother." Kal-El answered simply. He suspected Lois hated the meal. Well, that was too bad! He had crushed the Kryptonian vitamins into the goat meat so she damned well was going to eat it! He took his fork and reached over on her plate to cut into her goat meat. He then raised it to her lips.
"What are you doing?" Lois asked hoarsely. The smell of that stuff was making her nauseous!
"I think you should just take a little bite."
"How about you let me have some of that wine you're having, and I'll think about trying the meat here." Lois countered. Kal-El pulled his fork back.
"Lois, I was trying to make sure that your child and yourself, had a healthy meal. My brother told me you had been missing for a week. I did not know if you would be malnourished when we found you..."
"Orin would have brought me a hamburger!" Lois yelled, jumping up. "Look, I don't mean to be rude. I really don't. But how close are you and Orin? Because you're overstepping here."
Kal-El set down his napkin and slowly stood up.
"In what way am I 'overstepping', Lois? You are a woman my brother cares for. I am just trying to look after you. I assumed you'd want to eat right for the sake of your unborn child."
"I don't like your tone, mister! Not at all! As if I'm trying to make my baby unhealthy on purpose! Until a week ago I didn't know I was pregnant or remember it! And I'll have you know that the father of this baby is some alien rapist! So I'm dealing with a lot! You know what? When Orin comes back I'm going to tell him that you're going to have to stay someplace else! You have a bad attitude!"
Keep calm, Kal-El. She was like this when she actually was sixteen. You know how to deal with her now.
He also realized that lying was not the way to handle this problem.
"Lois, I am sorry I offended you with my cooking."
Lois rolled her eyes! When he put it like that, it sounded like she was ungrateful!
"Look, I know you were trying to look out for me, Orl. I do. And I know I couldn't just lay low here eating junk food. Let's call a truce, okay? I think I'll just go up to bed now."
"You still haven't eaten anything. And I was thinking we could talk."
Lois tilted her head.
"Okay. About?"
"About who I really am." Kal-El answered. Lois began to feel uncomfortable.
"You're Orin's brother." Lois said. Surely this guy wasn't about to reveal that he wasn't Orin's brother, was he?"
"Orin and I are not related." Kal-El told her. Lois's mouth dropped open! What the fu...
"You're not related to Orin? Orin told me you were his half brother. YOU told me you were Orin's half brother."
"Orin was in no position to say anything else. He is, or was, my prisoner." Kal-El told her calmly.
"Your prisoner? You're with the police?" Lois asked, confused.
"I am the 'alien rapist' that you have been told to despise. Lois, I am Kal-El. And before you get upset you should know two things: one, you were not raped and secondly, we are both very much in love with each other-though we have not admitted it to one another."
Before Lois could think of a response to his words, the front door opened and Kal-El and Lois turned, expecting to see Orin Curry.
But Chloe Sullivan slammed the door behind her and slowly began to take off her winter, leather gloves.
"Wow. This looks really cozy. I see a fire and wine glasses...it looks like something you would do for me, Kal-El." Chloe said coldly.
Kara flew Moira to Washington, through snow, personally, so that they could get this mirror/Darkseid business, cleared up.
Meanwhile, in a lower level of the White House, Davis Bloom and Jor-El had been reunited. He was lying on a table while Jor-El conducted experiments using beakers. Lara walked into the room that was now being used as a laboratory. It was off putting to see Lor-Zod looking like Kal-El during certain moments, and something hellacious other times.
Jor-El glanced over at his wife as she appeared in his peripheral vision. Things were not good between them. And there had been no time to sit down and explain his life here with Ella Lane.
"How are the prisoners faring?" Jor-El asked.
"The one that calls herself 'The First Lady' has not stopped crying. The man that is the father of the cowardly president, has been quiet, except to tell me that I am beautiful." Lara answered.
"Well you are." Jor-El said, smiling at her.
"And apparently so is Ella Lane." Lara replied, looking away from her husband. She walked over to Lor-Zod and reached for his hand.
"How are you, Lor-Zod?" she asked softly.
"I feel like a freak!" Davis cried out. "My wife and unborn child wanted nothing to do with me when I turned into a savage! Now look at me!"
"Lor-Zod," Jor-El soothed, joining them, "I have found a way to reverse our earlier experiment. You will not look like a version of Kal-El."
"But?" Davis asked. Lara touched his arm.
"You will have to become the beast again. Sorry."
"Jor-El! My God, is that the only hope you can offer?" Lara asked. Jor-El pulled her away from Davis and spoke in a hushed tone.
"Zod and Faora were never competent scientists. I need to know, from Zod, what chemical components he used on Lor-Zod, to surpress his earthling side. Zod has lied about all of this before when asked, but there is no more time for it. I cannot cure his son if I don't know exactly how he came to be this way." Jor-El said with awful finality.
Meanwhile, Kara held Moira tightly by the arm, as she marched her into the Oval Office and slammed the door. The tell tale mirror was in the middle of the room. Kara let go of Moira and gave her a small push towards it!
"Go on! Tell us how to get into Apokolips. Summon Darkseid!" Kara ordered. Moira looked her up and down.
"You are insane! What is your plan once he gets here? He will just pull you into his world like he did Zod."
"He's outnumbered here. Summon him!" Kara ordered her again.
Moira said nothing else but turned to the mirror and closed her eyes and hummed. Kara moved closer to her, and while Moira's eyes closed, five other Kryptonians entered the office, ready to stop Darkseid in his tracks.
The mirror turned foggy and some sort of steam was coming out of it. Kara licked her lips as she prepared to deliver the first blow upon the Apokolips leader. He did emerge-but not before tossing a naked Zod, out of the mirror first! He flew by Moira and crashed into the five other Kryptonians next to Kara.
When Darkseid revealed himself, he nodded to Moira.
"You know what to do, my dear."
Moira opened her eyes, turned and leaped at Kara, grabbing on to her wrist! Kara felt her strength leave her, until she was left catatonic-much like Zod on the floor there. Darkseid quickly revealed something within his fist, that looked like a red ball and threw it up towards the ceiling. It crashed through it and out of the White House entirely until it seemingly disappeared into the sky.
Then the world appeared to darken. The Kryptonians in that room realized that that 'ball' thrown into the sky, had traveled to space and became a red sun-like the one from their lost planet of Krypton. But that meant...
"All of you Kryptonians have lost your powers, except for Moira, who took Kara Zor-El's, before I put this world right. " Darkseid thundered. "Kneel before me before you are killed-QUICKLY!"
Moira looked down at Kara and Zod. They were staring into space, much like she had for most of her children's lives. That was over now. She looked at the mirror behind Darkseid. Many of his people were entering this universe via the mirror. Moira, Darkseid, his people and one other special person, would be the only ones with powers here now.
Moira walked over to one of the Kryptonians and motioned for his phone. She needed to call Chloe.
This was going to be bad, Lois thought, as she stared at her cousin. There was an anger in her eyes she had never seen before. Her mother had told her about how Kal-El here, had had relationships with Lucy and Chloe, but Chloe here, was clearly in no mood to forgive anything!
"Chloe, you escaped! Did my parents get away too?" Lois asked.
Chloe dragged her eyes off of Kal-El to glare at Lois.
"Do you even care? By the way, do you actually have amnesia or is this another game of yours? Like the other one. The one where you pretended not to like Kal-El here!"
Kal-El stepped in front of Lois.
"Chloe, I understand that things have not been settled between us. Nor did they end well."
"No they didn't. You actually had me snatched up by two thugs and taken prisoner! ME! But I see Lois here was spared."
Lois moved around Kal-El. He didn't need to protect her from Chloe! They were family! It wasn't like she would ever hurt her or anyone else.
"Chloe, I don't remember any of this. Kal-El and Orin found me here. I needed to be alone to deal with what I had learned."
"And yet I see no sign of Orin. Just Kal-El and this cozy little dinner." Chloe said tartly. Lois began to feel antsy and irritated!
"What is it that you want me to say? I don't remember betraying you! I don't remember Kal-El here! I'm sorry if I hurt you but maybe the two of you can hook back up?"
Kal-El turned to look at her. He shook his head and mouthed the word 'no'. Chloe rolled her eyes at him just as her phone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and answered.
"Mom? What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"Chloe, honey, listen to me: I need you to grab Lois! That baby she is carrying is the only Kryptonian left with strength. The sun is red now. Kal-El can do nothing to harm you..."
Chloe turned and ran to the window! There was no moon and the sun was red! Kal-El hurried over to the window as well and ascertained what was going on. No...
Chloe turned and leaped onto a surprised Lois, who stumbled back! But when Chloe grabbed onto her arm, a lightening bolt shot through her and flung her from Lois! Lois screamed and when Kal-El hurried over to check on Chloe, he saw she was catatonic!
"Oh my God! Oh My God!" Lois began screaming. "What did I just do? What happened?"
Kal-El rested Chloe's head down on the floor and picked up her phone. Moira was asking her if she had 'done it yet'? She also said that 'Darkseid' wanted to know. Mother of Krypton...
Kal-El hung up the phone, put it in Chloe's purse and walked back over to Lois. Their baby sleeping inside of her, had been protected from Darkseid's treachery. He or she still had powers and was showing them through Lois.
"Lois," he said in a calm voice as to not frighten her, "we need to leave here."
"Why? What about Chloe? We have to get her some help!"
"That was her mother on the phone she was talking to. She will come for her soon. We cannot be here when she arrives. Let's get out of here."
Lois began to shake her head wildly!
"No! Mom said that Aunt Moira was okay again! I'll stay here and let her know what happened..."
"Lois, our baby protected you from Chloe! She attacked you! We have to leave here, NOW! I can't explain all of this at the moment, but all I can say is that people more powerful than Kryptonians will want our child! Come with me so I can protect you and our baby!"
Lois's eyes teared up but she nodded her assent. Kal-El got her coat and she put it on. Kal-El put on his jacket, glad that he had worn something, since without powers, he felt the cold, but only briefly. The red sun was melting it.
They would take the car Lois had brought here to the farm. Where they would go, he would figure out when they were on the road and away from here.
Kal-El turned off the lights and pulled on Lois's hand as they left the farm house. Lois glanced back at the prone figure of her cousin, lying on the floor with her eyes staring out at something only she could see. After what had happened tonight, Lois wasn't sure she wanted her memory back.
