A/N: Many thanks to my Betas for their unending support, and their great grammatical stamina. I had hoped to have this to you all by Christmas, but alas, it did not happen. Thank you all who have reviewed, you help keep me going!
Linda swept Jason up into her arms as she rushed out of the building and down a less traveled side-street, putting him down as soon as they were a good distance from the court building.
"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned that the child had been frightened. Jason nodded shyly, his blue eyes glimmering with a hint of tears.
"You're safe now, they can't get to you. I won't let them get you, Son of Kal El."
"Why do you call me that?"
"Because that is who you are."
"But my name is Jason," he replied petulantly. Linda smiled at the child as he assumed one of his mother's trademarked poses. His mannerisms may be those of his mother, but his appearance was clearly that of the House of El.
"Well, Jason Son of Kal El, do you have your crystal?"
Jason's eyes got big at the thought of his secret. "I kept it safe, just like you told me to on Gramma's farm." He pulled it out of his jacket pocket.
"Good Boy." Linda carefully took in their surroundings. The street they were on was vacant, the pavement broken. Storefront windows were boarded up, facades crumbled. This part of Metropolis – the City of Tomorrow – looked more like a war-zone than the gleaming image of modernity that it had been before Luthor's attempt to recreate Krypton on Earth.
"The crystal is very special, and it will always keep you safe. Things are about to happen that you are too young to understand. I want you to take your crystal and think 'safe.' It will take you to a safe place."
"The bright light!" Jason shouted excitedly, his eyes lighting up with anticipation. He remembered being transported before, and was looking forward to being transported again.
"Yes, the bright light. The crystal will take you to safety."
"Are Mommy and Father going to be there, and Gramma? Are we going to the big igloo?"
Linda smiled at the child's innocence. He was the beginning of a new line, the hope of things to come, the future. "Your parents will join us."
Jason closed his eyes as he reached into his pocket, whispering the word "safe."
The rain pelted against the smoked glass of the hospital room. A TV droned in the background, masking the incessant beeping of the monitors and the IV attached to the frail body that occupied to hospital bed. Ben slumbered restlessly in a lounge chair that had been moved close to Martha's bed, evidence that Clark had at one point popped in. Lois looked up at the TV screen, hoping that there would be some hint of just where Superman had taken off to; instead, a corny 80's comedy was showing.
Lois stood up, the blankets that Clark must have covered her with fell into a puddle at her feet. Stooping down to pick them up she heard the creak of the spring loaded door opening. Without even looking up Lois snarked, "Finally decided to make an appearance, Clark?"
"Excuse me?" The doctor asked.
"Oh," Lois gasped, embarrassed, "I thought that you were Clark. Don't you hospital people usually knock?"
"Usually." The doctor shrugged and nonchalantly strode up to Martha's bed, taking a brief glance at the notes in her chart. "I just wanted to check-in on Mrs. Kent. We'll be taking her downstairs for some more tests in a little while. It really is amazing how quickly she has recovered. Her brain function is almost normal, as if Superman did something to restore it."
" I don't think he did anything out of the ordinary," Clark interrupted. No one had noticed that he had entered the room.
"Maybe not out of the ordinary for him, but perhaps for us it is. I mean look at how fast he heals. If we could just get a little of that amazing healing ability, people would live longer, we wouldn't have to perform amputations, surgeons would be out of a job, and the elderly and infirm would have so much better quality of life. If he would share the knowledge that he has locked up in that ice castle of his, we could become a much better world."
Lois lifted her eyebrow. "That worked so well with Luthor, didn't it? If Superman hadn't intervened – and almost die, I might add, we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation." She looked over at Clark, who was fidgeting with his tie, a small smile of gratitude graced his face.
The doctor was quiet, "I can see your point. But, let me say one last thing: when Mrs. Kent came in yesterday, the damage to her brain was similar to that of several mysterious deaths of people who had dealings with Superman. Don't you think that they might be related?"
"You're a doctor, are you trying to play reporter now?" Lois deflected; she was getting annoyed with the physician. As it was, she hated hospitals, and here she had spent the night in one and she wasn't even a patient.
"Uh, Superman thinks there is," Clark interjected. "He told me that General Zod is able to use telepathy to assassinate those he has no longer has use for, or those who stand up against him. It was a method used millennia ago by rogue factions in Kryptonian society, and was forbidden by Kryptonian law. Superman thinks he's sending him a message," Clark nervously pulled at his tie.
The doctor opened Martha's eyes and shined his light into them. The doctor scowled up at Clark. "So, Zod isn't the benevolent being he purports himself to be? He seems so sincere."
"He's a politician. They all seem sincere," Lois quipped.
Clark looked over at the doctor, a puzzled look on his face. "You seem familiar, Doctor, but I just can't place you."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kent. I'm Dr. Hamilton. You can call me Emil. I don't like to stand on formality. I'm not really on staff here. They call me in when there is some extraordinary circumstance. I was the one they called in when Superman fell. Removed some kryptonite slivers from his back. I do hope that the stab wound has healed completely. I'd love to see if there is any scaring, and to know if there is any residual pain." Dr. Hamilton pointed in the general location of Superman's recent injury.
Everyone's attention turned to the TV as a breaking news message scrolled across the set.
"Metropolis police have announced that a body found on a remote beach was indeed that of notorious criminal mastermind, Lex Luthor. Luthor's remains seem to have been washed ashore after a squall blew up the coast. According to the coroner's report Mr. Luthor died of natural causes. No other information is being released at this time."
Lois slumped back down on the window seat. A weight she hadn't realized that she was carrying was suddenly gone. Her relief was brief though, for no sooner had the commercial break had ended then a velvety voice that she would never forget filled the airwaves. Zod was getting his fifteen minutes of fame. It was his contention that Lex was behind his reckless behavior, so of course the media, would bring him to front.
"Lex Luthor's death was not natural, nor was it accidental. His death has all the signs of a Kryptonian assassination, a form that has been used for centuries among the various houses of nobility, including the House of El, from which your Superman hales. It isn't surprising, really."
"General Zod, are you implying that Superman had a hand in the death of Lex Luthor?"
"I am just stating the facts, Mr. Harper. Lex Luthor has been fighting against Superman for years. Superman, who has spent several years building up the trust of the people of this planet, just to disappear for several more years; leaving Kryptonian technology unsecured. It was a ploy, clear and simple, to trick someone of Lex Luthor's cunning into stealing it, giving Kal El the clear mandate for eliminating said thief, and begin his true objective."
"And that would be?" The news anchor asked. Lois recognized him as a reporter that had major issues with her 'special' relationship with Superman in the past.
"What the House of El always intends, the subjugation on humanity. Kal El claimed that he went back to Krypton, to see if it really was destroyed. What he really left to do was to find the mythic city of Kandor, a city of Kryptonian warriors sworn to serve the house of El. If he has found that city, then with the secrets hidden away in his so called Fortress of Solitude, he truly will be unstoppable."
The anchor paused for effect; just long enough for the masses to absorb what was said.
He carefully considered what he would say next.
"According to my sources, you've petitioned to get custody of Lois Lane's son. Why?"
"For his safety. Ms. Lane wrote a scathing article against Superman, something that would have led to a very unpleasant demise on Krypton. You don't speak out against the House of El without punishment, they were in effect, in control of what government there was on Krypton. By speaking out against Kal El, she put her, and her family's life in danger. After the sudden and unexplained death of her fiancé, I felt that it was in the child's best interest if I were to have him placed someplace safe. I don't even know where he is at this time, only my assistant knows."
Lois had enough of Zod's silky voice, she clicked the TV off.
"Tell that Zod character that he's all wet," a weak voice cracked from the bed. All eyes turned to watch as Martha struggled to sit up without overly exposing her backside. "I hate these wretched gowns."
Martha turned to look at Ben, "Ben, dear, could you please go a rustle up a couple cups of coffee for us?" she looked over at Doctor Hamilton, and winked, "That is, if the good doctor says it's okay for me to have a cup."
Doctor Hamilton looked down at Martha's chart, the nodded slightly. "You can have one cup, as long as it's decaf. We don't want your blood pressure spiking. It is a miracle that you came out of this as quickly as you did. We wouldn't want to undo all your healing."
The doctor turned to Ben and said, "There's a small coffee cart in the lobby on the main floor. They have some of the best coffee in Metropolis. If you want just a good plain cup of black coffee, I recommend you get an Americano."
"Is this one of those fru-fru coffee carts?" Ben asked.
"You don't have to get a fru-fru coffee, and you don't want to drink the muck that they make on the floor. I used to use it to weather cars on my train layout, then it started eating through the plastic," Doctor Hamilton joked.
Ben grimaced at the thought of what that might do to poor Martha's already weakened system, "I guess I'll wander down to the lobby and rustle us up a couple cups of Joe, Martha," and headed out the door.
Clark walked over to his mother's bed, and sat down next to her, taking her small, frail hand into his large, strong ones. He gently stroked the loose skin on the back of her hand with his thumb. Those hands that had provided comfort to him in his childhood, and nursed him back to health after his foolish journey into the darkness of space, to the graveyard that was once his home.
Doctor Hamilton's voice pulled Clark out of his reverie. "Zod is not what he appears to be. He is not a powerless, elderly gentleman, or a helpless refugee from a destroyed world."
"What do you mean?" Lois asked.
Emil pulled one of the chairs closer and motioned for Lois to sit. He paced restlessly as if he were trying to put the words together to fashion a story. "I work for Star Labs; I've worked there for several years, now. My specialty is genetics, but I putter around in other fields. Usually those that need the most, shall we say, discrete handling."
"That's why you're so familiar." Clark mentally slapped himself.
Emil nodded. "I did the DNA tests for your son, Mr. Kent. Amazing child, I'm looking forward to watching him grow up."
Lois looked confused. Dr. Hamilton finally sat down on the exam stool. "When the three Kryptonians were first incarcerated they fell violently ill, their immune systems unable to cope with the various microorganisms that share our planet.
"The prison doctors did what they could, but they didn't know the first thing about Kryptonian physiology. When Ursa lost the child she was carrying, I was called in."
Lois and Clark were both stunned, "Ursa was expecting?" Clark stammered.
Dr. Hamilton gave a slight nod, his lips pursed. "As I studied them I found that their DNA is basically the same as ours. That's why Kryptonians look like us. The difference isn't in the DNA, but in the Mitochondria – the powerhouse for the cell. Mitochondria is passed on through the mother, it is basically the same in all humans, that is why it is believed we have a common ancestry, we are all descended from the same female."
"Could humans and Kryptonians share a common ancestor?" Martha asked, looking over at Clark.
Clark shrugged, "It's possible, I suppose."
"But what does Mitochondria have to do with Zod not being what he says he is?" Lois asked.
"Everything," Emil answered. "There was something different about Ursa and Non. Their Mitochondria looked like it had been altered, changed. Zod's not so much. It was like there was a genetic switch that had been turned off, but Zod didn't have that switch. And from what I saw when I looked at your cellular sample, Mr. Kent, you don't either."
"I d-don't know what you mean, Doctor," Clark stammered, surprised at the boldness of the man standing before him.
"I ran the paternity test for you and your son. While I was examining the results I noticed a slight defect in Jason's Mitochondria, I thought that it might be an explanation for some of the physical ailments he suffers from. Then I remembered that I had seen similar Mitochondrial DNA in the past, those of the three Kryptonian criminals, and also in the sample I had from Kryptonite I removed from Superman. I had to run another sample to compare it. Imagine my surprise when I found that you and Superman had the same DNA."
Clark acquiesced. "Kryptonians were genetically modified. Most were incubated in a birthing matrix. General Zod and I were not, allowing for us to live outside the confines of Rao, Krypton's sun. General Zod wasn't lying when he stated that Kryptonians could not exist on other planets; that practice was stopped generations ago, but many families chose not to have their genes repaired, opting instead to remain on Krypton no matter what."
Doctor Hamilton nodded, his hair flopping lazily into his face. "I did notice that there was a slight alteration in your cells. Yours and Zod's cells are beginning to break down. You both are aging, granted more slowly than a normal human, but you are aging. And from what I am noticing of General Zod, his aging is beginning to speed up. He now appears to be in his early 70s. It has taken five years for his body to adjust, but I do believe that he is aging normally, and the case is the same for you Mr. Kent."
"You will become one of them, you will become mortal." Lois covered her mouth as she remembered what Jor El and Lara had said when Kal El first entered the molecule chamber. Is that what they meant? Not that his powers would be gone, but that he would be subject to the same life expectancy as a human? Lois turned to Clark, "Clark, is it possible? Could that be what they did?"
Clark was thoughtful. "It makes sense, Lois. My parents sent me here to have a chance at life. But what kind of life would I have if I outlived everyone I ever loved? They didn't want me to make a rash decision, but once I did decide to spend my life with you, they had to make changes that would once and for all allow for that, changes that would give me a normal lifespan, and with it all the frailties that come with it." The room grew quiet as the occupants pondered the meaning of their discoveries.
"Clark!" Lois suddenly shouted, "Zod said that his assistant has Jason. That maniac has our son!"
"Calm down, Lois. Jason is safe, I promise you. Zod doesn't have him, your father does."
"But he said his assistant took him." Lois's eyes were wide with fright.
"She did." Clark winked conspiratorially, "She's my cousin, Kara Zor-El." Lois, overcome by all the emotional turmoil, fainted.
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