Chapter 34

The sun shone down on the hill, its warmth cascading upon the snow as it peaked between impediment and cumulous clouds of billowing white fury. Even in the light of early morning the heat of the day was at its peak. No wind was present, only the sound of the odd bird and intrepid deer breaking the silence

The trolling army descending mountain made no noise, the snow silencing their footfalls as it spread out from tree line to tree line. No one was in the lead, the front line perfectly straight and fluid. On the top of the hill stood one being, the asinine computer program known as Brainiac. From there it controlled the marching army, its mind sending thousands of lines of code a second, instructing its insubordinates to carry out their pre-programmed instructions. And the instructions were simple. Destroy anything in their path.

Clark could feel the silence begin to build, the unsettling calm of death seeping into his bones and the fear for those he loved building in his stomach. Then suddenly everything became tangible again. The unnerving calmness of the air and the impending army driving away all his worries as he finally focused solely on the task at hand. He squinted his eyes slightly as they neared the approaching army.

"I can't see through them," Clark stated as they continued walk.

"Figures," J'onn replied as he actually hovered above the snow instead of walking in it. "Now, in about three seconds things are going to get messy, but a preemptive strike would more than likely give us a fighting chance. So on the count of three, release your heat vision and take out as many as you can.

Clark gulped and nodded. He closed his eyes and tried to reassure himself that he was going to live, but once J'onn had gotten to three, all heretics and beliefs were thrown out the window and he released everything he had. There was no need to muster it; it had already been teeming on the inside from the subsequent adrenaline. His vision became blurry as he exerted it all, releasing all the pain and anger at the possible outcome and allowing it to drive him, to allow him to exert his full potential.

Out the corner of his eye he could see a bright line of red and orange. J'onn had forgotten to mention that particular power, and unlike his invisible heat, the Martian's vision was bright and solid. Together each of their powers slammed into the first line of the army, scattering them left and right, burning holes through many and searing them apart at the waist.

J'onn's vision worked more precisely, cutting intricately into the invaders as Clark's took on a broad scope, the plume of heat widening in girth as he pushed harder and harder. There was nothing to stop him, no limit he could feel he could reach before hitting the wall. Deep down Clark mustered more and more power, allowing it to consume him and fuel his anger.

In previous times he could feel the limit to his powers, the exertion that would take place before he was drained, but as he pushed by that barrier that should have presented itself he watched as his vision became clearer, the heat focusing more acutely like J'onn's. He didn't know exactly how he was doing it, but in the recesses of his mind he was pulling out everything he knew, allowing himself to let go from the reality of his surroundings and focusing only on what was needed to be done.

It was strange, for one who was pained by the suffering and killing of any being, deep down he reveled in his destruction. Maybe it was the fact that those he fought were nothing but computers, but it released all his worries and calmed him beyond belief. He had read historical textbooks and many a novels explain how thrown into battle some men excel while others fail. He had always fantasized that he was one of the prior; a man if ever thrown into the heart of battle could keep those who needed him safe. With confidence abound, he pushed himself further towards the enemy.

With their combined vision, it had the desired effect as each tore through dozens of clones.

Clark let his heat vision die off as he stared in wonder. Through the entire army they had blasted, shredding nearly half of it as the other half was out of their spectrum. But as both he and J'onn had stopped their destruction, the remaining enemy had circled them. In the heat of destroying as much as they could, neither of them had taken the time to see what the others had been doing. Now they were surrounded, not only by a standing army, but a flying one.

"Are you going to join them up there?" Clark asked as he took labored breaths, his lungs filling up with air as he tried to regain his strength. He hadn't hit his limit, but such a strong outburst of heat had made him incredibly exhausted.

"Not funny," J'onn replied as he sent our more light from his eyes in-between heavy breaths.

Clark was about to say that he didn't mean it as a joke, but before he could do so he was struck from the side with what could only be described as a blur of black. The being knocked him over, pushing him into one of the large crevices created by falling rock and snow. Shaking his head and looking around as he lay strewn in a rut about ten feet deep, he blinked repeatedly to remove the snow from his eyes. Noticing that his left leg of his army fatigues were burned and missing, he realized he hadn't actually been hit. He had been attacked with the very same power he had exerted only seconds ago. He would have thought it ironic if he wasn't so worried about staying alive. As he tried to regain his breath and, he could see J'onn poke his head over the hole.

"Need a hand?"

About to say yes, Clark's eyes went wide as he saw two clones swoop down and pick up J'onn. He wanted to fly into the air to help him, but he couldn't do it, his body not responding to his need. He knew that flight was something he should possess, but as hard as he wished to, it wouldn't come. Much like the tingling in his fingers when he touched Lois, a barrier presented itself.

He didn't get any more time to analyze the barrier as numerous clones began to descend into the crevice, reaching him and driving their fists repeatedly into his body. One fist crashed into his face, the enemies hand shattering on his cheekbone, but not without causing considerable pain. He closed his eyes and winced as he wiggled and tried to fight off the onslaught. But as he opened his eyes, he was presented with little light. Nothing but black filled his vision. He thought maybe he had gone blind, but a sudden flicker of light told him that the sun was being swallowed up by the increasingly large pile of clones raining down upon him. And without the sun on his side, the pain would only become more and more gruesome, his ability to fight back would almost be at nothing. Not only did they swallow up the light, the oxygen around him was becoming incredibly scarce too.

Realizing he might be done in, he did the only thing he could think of. He sucked in a lungful of air and hoped he'd get enough.

-

Lois had watched in terror as the army had come down the mountain, but it hadn't prepared her for what had came next as both and Clark and John had wiped out almost half of them in no more than ten seconds. Even her father had whistled in amazement, but as things continued on, it was obvious that the tides had turned quickly.

They couldn't see things very well, the number of the black enemy almost impeding their sight into what was happening. Her father had a pair of binoculars in his hand, but wasn't using them so that he could see the actual size of the battle raging before their eyes. Even though their sight was hindered, she could easily make Clark out in his fatigues, and when he had been blasted into a deep crevice and then covered with the enemy, she felt her heart break.

John was still around too, but he was being attacked in the sky. His body was being tossed about in a large circle in the air.

"He's limp," Sam said sadly as the figures in the air continued to beat upon the seemingly lifeless body of the Martian. For such an impending figure of size and smarts, the numbers did their job.

"Who, Clark? Can you see him?" Lois asked loudly as she couldn't take her eyes off of the black mound piling into the crevice.

"No, it's J'onn. He's been beaten."

The word 'beaten' ripped her attention from Clark. Her father spoke the truth. J'onn was being tossed around like a rag doll. Even from such a distance she could tell he was motionless. "Are they going to come after us?" she asked with a frightened voice. She wasn't overly concerned about her own well being, but knew the inherent danger to them and everyone else should Clark and John actually fail. She refused to believe they had been defeated, even the sight before her didn't break her resolve. She knew her father was prepared for such an outcome, but deep down she knew if something drastic didn't happen in next few minutes, it would all become real and she would have lost the man she loved.

Gripping the wall with her bare hands, snowing popping up between her fingers, she whispered to herself, "Please Clark, please do something." But as the seconds ticked away and nothing happened, fright began to creep into her mind and sadness into her heart.

"No matter how much we may believe in them, and how much they believe in themselves, the reality is that they were outnumbered," said Sam.

"That doesn't mean we've lost!" Lois almost screamed.

"Of course not," he replied with a sorrowful sigh.

"But it happened so quickly," she let out with tears running down her cheeks. It all felt surreal. It all came crashing into her even harder as she watched J'onn's limp body fall to the snow and slide down the hill. "We have to help them." She went to go to the stairs, but her father grabbed her arm and held her put.

"No!"

"What?" she screamed at him.

Instead of answering, he removed the communication device from his belt and spoke into it. "Do it," he said softly.

Lois could hear the answer on the other end and she wiggled her way out of her father's grip. "What are you doing?"

"Clark and John have failed. It's now up to the army to fight this battle."

She looked at her father, thinking that maybe he was resentful for having to use the military might at his disposal, but like usual his face was stoic and placid. "Can't you give them some more time?" she asked softly, looking back out to the carnage on the hill.

"No," Sam answered as he removed the binoculars from the ledge and peered into them. "A figure is walking back down the hill. It must mean both Clark and John have been neutralized. That's the same person they had spoken to before the fight began.

"How can you be sure?" she asked as she once again gripped the edge with her fingers. She wanted it not to be true, for if Brainiac was descending upon them it meant her father was right.

The general handed his binoculars over to his daughter with a saddened face. "Here, look for yourself." He sighed heavily, knowing what she was about to see. It would break her heart.

Almost hesitantly, she gripped the binoculars and peered into them. Her throat tightened up and tears blurred her eyes as she watched the pile of black split apart and Clark emerge. Instead of under his own power, he was being dragged by a couple of men who held him up on his knees as the figure from the top of the mountain walked closer to him.

"No," she sobbed, the binoculars falling from her hands and down over the edge as she sunk to her knees. "This can't be happening," she said through tears as her father put a hand on her shoulder.

Sam didn't know what to do about his daughter, but he was a military man and he knew how to fight, and he was determined that no matter what the consequences of his daughters wrath may be, he had to protect his country first and foremost. Slowly but quietly he could hear the large whistle that was to be expected. Lois picked up on it too.

Turning her head and looking up at her father, she frowned and asked, "What is that?"

"I'm sorry, Lo," Sam said apologetically, his face hard as stone.

"Sorry about what?" she asked, her tear stained cheeks glistening in the sunlight.

-

Clark tried as hard as he could to drive air out of his lungs to blow away the pile on top of him, but his mouth had been covered over and he had been forced to swallow. The lump of air burned in his lungs and wheezed out his throat as the hand disappeared. Suddenly everything exploded inside his head, a blinding pain ripping through his entire body, signaling the presence of kryptonite. In his present and bloody state, it was much more painful that he had ever thought possible. He tried to scream in agony, but his throat wouldn't let him.

Thinking he was about to be killed, he let himself drift off somewhere else, a place where nothing but he and Lois existed. For a moment it felt as if he had bent time and stuck them in an endless void of love and affection. If he was about to die, he wanted to go out with the unconditional love of the one person he knew he would never see again. "I'm so sorry," he managed to whisper as he felt his body begin to rise. 'This is it' he thought to himself as his body ascended heavenwards. He knew his father would be there to welcome him, but that still didn't curb the pain of losing everyone else.

A bright light suddenly appeared in his vision, causing his body to warm and his pain to increase tenfold. A primitive scream echoed in through the mountainside as the ascent stopped.

Realizing that his eyes were actually closed, he opened them to find a piece of kryptonite touching the end of his nose.

"Ah, that must hurt," Fine said as he crouched down in front of the bloody mess that was Kal-El. Two of his clones held the last son of Krypton up on his knees while he dangled a piece of kryptonite in front of him. As soon as the young man finished screaming in agony, he smiled and continued to crouch.

"I'm disappointed Kal-El. I would have thought you and the Martian would have proved a more worthy challenge."

Clark, through all the pain and agony managed to speak. "J'onn, what have you done to him?" It came out in a hoarse whisper, but Fine heard him clearly as a smile split the alien's lips.

"Right there," Fine motioned as J'onn was being dragged up beside Kal-El.

"J'onn?" Clark asked, trying to get the Martian's attention as the clones dropped his limp figure to the ground. There was no sound, not even a single twitch to show if he was alive.

Clark fell to the ground as the two droids holding him let go from under his arms. Ending up face first in the snow, he didn't know if he had the strength to turn over so that he wouldn't suffocate in the white powder. He tried though, but ultimately failed.

Fine rolled his eyes and kicked Clark over with his boot. "I can't have you die yet, Kal-El."

"Why not?" he managed to ask hoarsely as blood fogged his vision and the kryptonite in Fine's hand drained him of everything he had. Not even the sun was enough to repel the destructive nature of the green rock.

Staring down into the eyes of the young man below him, and once again crouching down, Fine said, "Why not you ask? I want you to witness the destruction of those you love."

"You are a computer," Clark managed to half shout, "that's not part of your program."

Stretching down a little, Fine got right up to Clark's ear and whispered, "I'm more human than you think?"

His eyes having closed in pain, Clark felt them snap open at the words that had been whispered in his ear. "You're not human!" he said loudly with all he could muster.

Fine shrugged and dropped the rock of kryptonite on the young man's chest, bringing about another scream. When it subsided, Kal-El effectively drained of his ability to move from the pain, he crouched on one knee. "True, I'm not what you would call a human, but computers evolve too. What your forefathers forgot is that even with the creation of artificial intelligence, no matter how primitive, it evolves much like you or any of your friends would. People like to believe that computers can be controlled and that a program can only run certain parameters, but they are wrong."

As Clark continued to groan in pain, his Martian friend's lifeless body lying face first beside him, Fine patted the kryptonite on the Kryptonian's chest. "Don't you see Kal-El? I have been conquering worlds for years, accumulating wealth and knowledge beyond your wildest dreams. You humans tend to have limitations to what your conscious can fathom. Did any of you ever think that out there I could conquer a world so far advanced that there is no difference between humans and computers?" When Clark didn't respond, instead gurgling on his own blood, he pushed the young man's head to the side to let the blood drain out.

Clark coughed as the blood built up in his throat in lungs. As Fine forced his head aside, he let it drip out and onto the snow. He knew Brainiac wanted an answer, and he was just a little bit curious as to what he was talking about. "I guess I never thought about it," he managed to get out as he had finally coughed out most of the blood from his throat.

"Of course you didn't, but that's only because actually being a living organism limits you. I found a way to make myself human." When he thought he heard a laugh coming from the young man, he clamped his hand over Clark's mouth and said, "You may find it ironic, but this means I feel everything a human does, except for compassion and remorse of course."

Fine removed his hand from his mouth and Clark coughed out more blood. "That's what being human means," he said with a gasp.

"Feeling remorse?" Fine asked with a sly grin. When the young man nodded, he did the same. "I know that, and that's why I don't pretend to call myself human here on earth."

"What?" Clark wheezed as he looked to the sky, his eyes squinting at the brightness of the sun through blurry tears. He had internal injuries and he knew it, but with the kryptonite on his chest he was unable to heal. Brainiac knew it and was making sure he suffered.

"Confused Kal-El?" Fine asked with a sly grin. Clark nodded and he continued. "You see, here on earth, to be human means exactly what you say, but elsewhere in the universe it doesn't. Human doesn't exist anywhere else in the universe. Sure, there is a multitude of alien words that mean the same thing, but he word human is only spoken here. By your logic you are human, but in the terms of the universe you aren't. You are an alien, same as I am a computer. The laws of the universe dictate there is no such thing as impossibilities, so anyone can be human if they want to. I could have programmed myself to have remorse, essentially making me human, but that would only hinder my main program. And that I cannot remove."

Clark actually managed to laugh, earning a kick and more blood in his throat. After spitting and coughing it out, he looked back up to Fine. "You speak as if nothing is impossible, yet you can't remove your main program."

"Yet, Kal-El. The word you're looking to finish that sentence is yet. In due time I may find a way to do that, and even if I find the means to I will still take considerable time to equate whether or not I want to. Every action has a ripple effect. Should I remove my main program, I may shut down."

"Let's hope so," Clark said through more coughing. It earned him another kick in the head, his eyes going blurry. He could clearly see stars and white spots when he closed his eyelids. "As much as I would love to spend time talking about the intricacies of the universe and your philosophy, I would rather we get this over with." His breathing was becoming more labored as he struggled for every single word. The end was near.

"Oh no, Kal-El, you don't get off that easy. You will watch the ones you love die. This is the ripple effect from your foolhardy actions."

Clark, with his lungs almost full of blood and most assuredly one of them collapsed, spit out and laughed. Fine frowned down at him like an idiot, but instead of kicking him again, he bent down and whispered.

"Do you find watching the death of your loved ones funny?"

"No," Clark said, coughing again as the kryptonite on his chest caused his ribs to tighten and his airway close. "I'm laughing because you seem to have forgotten that the ripples you speak of are not just one directional." He coughed again as his vision once again became blurry. "Like throwing a stone into a pound, the ripple goes out in all directions."

"I know that!" Fine said heatedly as he kicked Clark again.

With his last breath, Clark coughed out the blood in his mouth and managed to wheeze, "Listen," before his lungs ceased moving.

Fine watched as Kal-El's eyes closed and his chest stopped moving. "Listen?" he pondered out loud. "Listen to what?" Did he have more to say before he died? Kicking the kryptonite off the dead Kryptonian in anger, he sat down on Clark's chest and wondered aloud. "What did he mean?"

The minutes dragged by, and he was about to put it aside and continue his program directive when his ears caught something. It was a whistle; something low and faint, but as the seconds drew on it became louder. With the circle of his clones still surrounding him, he stood up and looked to the sky. His eyes widened as he saw it. Even though he wasn't technically human, he could still appreciate the irony of Kal-El's words. "Listen," he whispered to himself with an idiotic smile. "Never one directional…"

-

Lois watched in horror as the missile closed in on the hill and exploded with a blinding light. Her father managed to grab her arm and drag her down below the edge as the heat and fire came towards them.