Biological Families
Author: duane at duaneaakre dot com
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing. Well I own a house, two cars, a pair of jetskis, and a lot of other junk, but none of these characters.
Story Rating: R The story may drift into the HBO range rather than stay in the WB range, so to be on the safe side, I am rating this R.
Chapter 13
Lana felt the van grind to a halt. The motor was shut off and she sensed a slight movement through the floor, confirming the driver and the other man up front had just climbed down from the cab. It looked like they had reached their destination at last. Which meant she had procrastinated until the last possible moment again, just the way she had with telling Whitney about Lex. God, why couldn't she be more assertive when these awkward situations arose in her personal life? She had stood toe-to-toe with the Germans when it was necessary to save Whitney's life, so why was it so difficult to have this conversation with Laura?
The 'day' they had spent in Jaguar City had started out so much fun, well, except for the nudity taboo of Marion's. However once she had given Marion some more conservative clothes she seemed to have accepted, or at least decided to tolerate things. Oh, Lana had still seen the expression in her eyes that said she would have been a lot happier if everyone had been dressed like her, but she hadn't complained out loud.
Lana knew she would have felt more comfortable in a sarong like Marion's herself, but for some reason she couldn't explain, she had felt compelled to wear what Laura had selected for her. So she had spent the 'day' parading around Jaguar City in an outfit that was probably more erotic than actually just walking around naked. If only Lex had been along to share in the tour, then the little show they had been putting on would have been a lot more exciting.
Of course, things did get more exciting when 'evening' rolled around in the ancient Andean city they were visiting. Laura insisted it was the perfect time for Lana to learn the 'Dance of the Nine Veils' they had discussed the afternoon they had arrived in Rome, but which they had never gotten around to during their few hectic days in the Roman capitol. Lana had intended to explain it was never about becoming proficient at the dance, but sharing the experience with the guys which mattered. But somehow she had been unable to get the words out once the music started and its pulsating beat seemed to sync with the beating of her heart. Before she even knew how it happened, she and Laura were dancing together clad only in several layers of sheer material.
The dance had quickly become sensual as Laura alternated between removing one of her own veils and then one of Lana's. And as each new area of skin was exposed on Lana's body, Laura had spent more and more moments caressing her. Lana had previously exchanged a few small kisses with Laura, but it had only seemed like a harmless game. However this dance was moving beyond a simple game and into something else. Something Lana didn't think she wanted, but which her body seemed unable to resist. Faster and closer their two bodies moved, as Lana helplessly watched her own fingers start to play over Laura's naked form. She was sure she didn't want this, but as the music reached the crescendo her lips sought out Laura's. As their bodies began to intertwine, she couldn't understand why it suddenly felt so overwhelming right.
As the music wound down, Lana noticed the floating sensation like during the dance in the clouds over the Sphinx with the virtual-Lex. Briefly opening her eyes, Lana had looked past Laura's glistening body to the floor at least ten feet below. Floating in air was so nice, even better than floating in Lex's pool back home. Languidly she had just started to close her eyes, to lose herself to Laura's irresistible touch when a loud, sharp voice had broken the spell.
"What the hell are you girls doing?"
Lana's eyes had shot open to find Marion glaring up at them, her hands on her hips in a very agitated manner.
Suddenly Lana wondered what she was doing in Laura's embrace; it was Lex she loved. How had she let things get so out of control? Why was her body responding so strongly to Laura?
Abruptly Lana had ended the simulation of Jaguar City, severed the mind-link to Marion's body, and thrown up a mental wall between herself and Laura to give herself time to think.
As she returned to the real world, Lana wondered if Biberach or the guards heard or understood the sharp gasp Marion had released when she had been restored to her body. Or Lana's own racing heart and sharp intake of breathe.
For awhile Lana just sat, thankful for the near darkness of the van, as she waited for her heart to calm. And also waited as the lingering temptation to rejoin Laura slowly receded. What had just happened to her?
Finally, after nearly thirty more minutes of being jostled about in the back of the van, Lana felt somewhat calmer and noticed the rocking motion appeared to have led Biberach to nod off. Reaching over, she squeezed Marion's hand and whispered, "I'm sorry about that. I don't understand how things got so out of control."
Marion didn't respond except to pull her hand free from Lana's.
Lana slumped back against the wall of the van and spent the next hour pondering the whole situation. If they were to get out of this mess, she and Marion were going to have to work as a team. But Marion appeared to be seriously pissed off with her. And she couldn't really blame her. Marion was here in Europe on her honeymoon with Indy, obviously very much in love, and Laura picks that moment to live out some lesbian fantasy. What was going through Laura's head? Okay, mind, since strictly speaking she didn't have her own head.
After two hours the van ride finally came to an end. As they stepped out of the back of the van, Lana could see they were no longer in Berlin, but some quaint small village of medieval stone construction. Although, however picturesque the village looked on the outside, the small jail Biberach and his men had usurped for the night was more than adequate to confine two unarmed women.
The jailhouse was divided into two areas: a back room with two simple cells and a front room for the constable's use. When they arrived, the cells were unoccupied. Since each cell contained only one narrow cot, Lana had expected they would each have their own. But the Germans had unceremoniously shoved them both into the first cell and then retreated back to the front room. After a couple of minutes, she heard the front door open and close several times and she assumed Biberach and several of the others had left for more comfortable accommodations.
With a sigh, Lana sank down at one end of the cot. The cell was barely eight by ten feet and after subtracting out space for the cot, toilet, and sink, it barely left room for one person to move. And it was obvious Marion was still so agitated, she needed to move.
"I'm sorry about what happened back there," repeated Lana again, a little more loudly than she had dared back in the van.
At her words, Marion turned back towards her. Her face was a little flushed as she asked, "What was that all about?"
Lana ran the fingers of her right hand along the cool metal surface of the bed frame. "It is sort of complicated."
"Well, we seem to have plenty of time," said Marion as she leaned back against the wall of bars in the opposite corner of cell; as though she was uncomfortable at the thought of even the slightest touch of Lana's body.
Where to begin? wondered Lana. There was so much to tell and who knew what tidbit would make Marion feel more at ease.
"I am really only sixteen years old," began Lana hoping for a maternal reaction from Marion. "I never knew anything about 'living forever' or magically healing abilities or time machines until a little over three weeks ago. All of the claims I made to the Germans was just smoke to stall them in hopes Clark would get there in time to rescue us."
Marion looked at Lana and was reminded of how young the girl looked. And her friends, too.
"Why are you here? I mean it must be something important, so why not send someone with more experience?"
Lana shook her head and followed with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Because there is no one with more experience. Oh, thousands, maybe millions of people around the world will have small parts in developing the time machine, but only one person knew all of the details and pulled it all together. One of my friends, who until three weeks ago, I never knew was a seventeen thousand year old woman masquerading as a simple high school student. Her name is Chloe and Laura is sort of a ghost of her mind trapped in my head. And I didn't even know Laura was in my head until in the middle of the fight to maintain contact with Whitney's body."
"You certainly didn't act like you had only discovered her presence ten minutes before we went to . . . that place."
"Well, as you noticed, time passes much more swiftly in those virtual places than it does here in the real world. In the middle of the fight, when I first discovered Laura was in my head, we went to a virtual coffee shop and had a nice chat. Then during the lull at the end of the fight, Laura, Whitney, a virtual copy of my boyfriend Lex, and I all went dancing for a couple of hours. If you have never danced on a cloud like Fred Astaire, you just haven't lived."
Marion noticed the dreamy expression that appeared on Lana's face as she talked about dancing on a cloud. And after all the other things she had seen in the 'virtual world' as Lana called it, dancing on a cloud didn't sound impossible.
And the dreamy expression also convinced Marion Lana had been telling the truth about being sixteen; only a teenage girl could have the rapid mood swings the girl had been exhibiting.
"Lana, from the way Whitney was always looking at you and what you said during the fight, I thought he was your boyfriend."
Lana couldn't stop the blush that crept across her cheeks. Before she responded, she decided she needed to find some time to learn how to use the 'bots to better control the involuntary responses of her body.
"He was my boyfriend for a long time, almost three years. We didn't break up until shortly before we arrived back here in Germany. Well, if I am going to be honest, the break up was entirely my fault; I fell for Lex during the week we spent together in ancient Rome. We only returned home from Rome a week before we came here. And during that week, I manage to procrastinate the entire time from telling Whitney the truth."
"So why is Whitney here with you and not this Lex?"
Slowly Lana pulled her legs up from the floor until the heels of her bare feet were resting on the edge of the cot and her knees were drawn up under her chin. She wrapped her arms about her legs before saying at barely above a whisper. "There was an accident back home. Chloe, the mastermind behind the time machine, and Lex are both hurt, maybe even dying. We discovered an object exists back here which might save them. With our special gifts and experience with our earlier trip to ancient Rome, it was obvious Clark and I were the ones to come here. An extra set of eyes and hands seemed like a good idea and Whitney was the only one within reach in the two minutes we had before we had to leave."
Lana looked up at Marion and Marion could see the tears in the girl's eyes. "We have to be at the opening ceremonies to retrieve the device we need. What if we don't make it in time because of these Nazis? What if we then can't save Lex?" Lana dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "I have only been together with Lex for two weeks, but already I don't know how I could survive without him."
Marion couldn't stop herself from going over to the cot and sitting down beside the girl. After the outrageous things she had been forced to witness during the visit to Jaguar City, she had vowed to herself she wouldn't let the girl touch her again, if at all possible. But now, she couldn't resist pulling Lana into her arms.
"There, there, Lana. Just let it out. You'll feel better. And when you're finished, maybe you can tell me a little more about your Lex and your time together." Marion still didn't understand what had been going on between the two girls back in virtual place, but she suddenly realized it had been fairly one sided. Lana hadn't greatly resisted the other girl's advances, but it had been the other girl, Laura, who seemed to initiate all of the contact. Perhaps Lana's subconscious was trying to cope with her fears by seeking comfort from whatever source was offered.
Lana wrapped her arms around the older woman and then rested her head against her shoulder. Ever since Clark had told her about Lex and Chloe, they had been so focused on the 'mission'; she had been forced to keep everything bottled up. She could hardly cry on Whitney's shoulder about Lex's condition. And she couldn't do it on Clark's shoulder either. No, if the stories Lex and Chloe had related about Clark's actions at the arena when he thought Chloe was dead were true, she couldn't allow them both to lose control at the same time. If Clark lost it, he could destroy half of Berlin.
But now with Marion's arms wrapped around her, she was finally able to shed the tears she had been unknowingly holding back for all of these days.
They had talked late into the night until Lana had finally dozed off in the comforting maternal embrace of Marion's arms. It was something she hadn't experienced in almost ten years, when the nightmares of her parents' deaths had finally receded and Nell had stopped rocking her to sleep every night.
Lana awoke surprisingly refreshed the next day. Not that her body didn't feel one hundred percent every morning when she rose since her return from Rome and the discovery of her gift. But this morning her mood felt a lot lighter, even though they were still being held prisoner by the Nazis.
She had expected the Nazis to awaken them early to move them, since a small jail in a tiny village hardly seemed like the ultimate destination for a group of Nazis who were into big, ostentatious displays like the black cathedral Clark had described. No, a small jail couldn't be right.
But no one came at first light. Or even second light. By Lana's internal 'bot clock, it was a little after nine thirty when someone finally stuck his head through the doorway separating the front room from the cells behind. After a few seconds the head was pulled back. It was almost another ten minutes before the door opened again, this time accompanied by the rattle of dishes and cutlery. Apparently, they weren't leaving just yet.
They had lunch and an early supper before they were finally escorted from the cell and back into the van. They spent two more hours riding in silence before they reached what some sixth sense told Lana was their ultimate destination.
Now, with the rear door of the van about to open and whatever destiny they had spent the last eighteen hours approaching almost upon them, Lana knew she couldn't put off talking to Laura a moment longer. Although after she had rebuffed all four times Laura had tried to initiate a conversation during the course of the day, she wasn't certain what her response would be.
'Laura?' she thought.
Instantly she was no longer seated in the back of the van, but instead found herself standing in front of the window in her bedroom back at Nell's house. For a moment she just stood there gazing out the window at the Kent homestead off in the distance. If she walked over there, would she find them at home?
Slowly she turned and looked over at the bed. As she more or less expected, she found Laura there. This time Laura had chosen to look exactly like Lana. And she was even wearing Lana's favorite bone-colored satin pajamas. Oh, she had a couple of more erotic negligees stashed away that Nell didn't know about which she had ordered online using her Talon corporate visa card, but these satin pjs were still somehow her favorites. She just loved the feel of the material against her skin, particularly the way it slid across her butt. Looking down, she wasn't surprised she was wearing the same outfit.
Laura raised a hand and crooked a finger at her. "Come, join me."
Lana had allowed herself to be drawn into the virtual world for the sole purpose of telling Laura she needed to back off on the whole lesbian thing, but once she was there her body again seemed to betray her. As she approached the bed, it was like looking at herself in a mirror. And who hasn't fantasized about having an identical twin and doing a little experimenting?
Seeming to have a will of their own, Lana felt her hands slide up her body and caress her own breasts. Immediately, she was breathing hard and fast, almost hyperventilating, as her body kicked into sexual overdrive. What was happening to her? It was like the dance of veils all over again.
"Laura . . ." she started to say, to ask what was going on. But she hardly got the word out before Laura raised a finger to her lips to silence her. And the touch of it felt so wonderful, she just had to slip her tongue out and wet the tip of it.
As she watched Laura lean in for a kiss, she knew if that kiss began she would be gone, lost in Laura's rapturous game. For it was clear, somehow Laura was using her own body as a weapon against her. Whether she was playing with her hormones or stimulating the pleasure centers of her brain or doing something else entirely, the end result was the same. Laura was somehow cheating.
Laura's lips were only inches from hers when Lana managed, just for an instant, to pull her attention together. And an instant was all she needed. However she couldn't just switch off this virtual encounter, or she might never be able to risk one with Laura again. No, she had to find a safer environment for them to have a real talk.
Concentrating hard, Lana made her bedroom shimmer and disappear. When the room reformed around them a fraction of a second later, Laura paused and pulled back in surprise. They were now sitting on the couch in the Kent's living room, fully clothed and Laura's appearance had been altered back to the 'safer' Chloe.
Lana sat back and let out a small sigh as the passion she had been feeling eased down a notch. At least until Laura started speaking.
"Cool, Lana. This is so much better than what I had planned. You really want to play with Clark and me?"
Before Lana could respond, Laura heard someone moving around in the kitchen. With a big grin on her face, Laura quickly stood, grabbed Lana's hand, and started pulling her towards the kitchen door.
As she pushed open the swinging door, Laura was expecting a half naked Clark to be lounging around, waiting for their arrival. But Laura froze for a moment when she discovered it wasn't Clark, but rather Martha Kent who was in the kitchen.
Mrs. Kent was busy slicing a blueberry pie when she looked up and saw the girls. "Ah, right on time. The pie just came out of the oven, so it is fresh and hot. Have a seat while I get you some milk."
Laura looked from Martha to Lana and back again. She couldn't understand why Lana had interrupted their fun to bring her here.
"Martha," began Laura before she was quieted by a sharp look from the older woman.
"Ah, I think it better be Mrs. Kent, Laura," stated Martha, as she returned to the table with two glasses. "I think you have to earn the privilege to call me Martha. And lately, your behavior towards Lana has been completely inappropriate. Only a child would try to force someone to do things against their will. And if you are going to behave like a spoiled child, then a child is how you are going to be treated."
Laura looked at Lana for a second before turning back to Martha. Obviously, Martha was not real and since she was not putting the words into Martha's mouth, it had to be Lana.
"Okay, Mrs. Kent," answered Laura with just a hint of a smug, superior tone in her voice.
Laura actually jumped in her seat as Martha slapped her hand down hard onto the top of the table. "Chloe Sullivan, I know you are in there. It has only been three weeks since the events back in the arena. Have you really changed that much?"
Suddenly being addressed as Chloe by Martha Kent seemed to jolt Laura's self confidence; the condescending expression on her face slipped a little.
"Yeah, I'm still Chloe."
Martha gave a small nod of acknowledgement at this concession. "I thought so. Now, how about explaining why you are treating your best friend the way you have been."
Laura ran her tongue along her suddenly dry lips before reaching for her glass of milk and taking a large drink.
As Laura started to speak, her gaze shifted from Martha to Lana. "I love her, ah, you. I think I have always had feelings for you. But it wasn't until I was you, or at least had use of your body for the last two weeks we were in ancient Rome, that it finally became obvious to me."
Laura reached out and clasped Lana's hand. This time there was no overpowering feelings of lust associated with the action just warmth and caring. "Why do you think I sacrificed myself when we returned from Rome so you could have your body back? I did it because I loved you and wanted you to live."
Laura was watching Lana's eyes intently as she spoke, but unexpectedly, it was Martha who responded.
"If you really love her, why have you been pushing so hard? Why have you been playing with the responses of her body?"
Laura pulled her hand out of Lana's, stood, and walked over to the kitchen window. Lana watched her stare out the window for over a minute before she finally spoke.
"I'm sorry, it's just the waiting between the times you come to visit me here has been so hard. I mean I have been cut off from all human contacts for years a few other times before, mostly when I have been held captive in some deep, dark dungeon. But for some reason it never seemed as lonely as this. Perhaps it is knowing you are always so close, yet out of my reach."
"What do you mean years? It hasn't been over eighteen hours since we were in Jaguar City," asked Lana, the Martha intermediary momentarily forgotten.
Laura turned away from the window and Lana could see the tears in the other girl's eyes.
"And how much time passed in the 'real' world while we spent most of the day together there? A handful of seconds? Well, except when I was controlling your body during the fight, I seemed to be trapped in that same accelerated reality. Maybe for you it has only been eighteen hours since the time in Jaguar City, but for me it has been over three years. Three years of waiting, hoping you would consent to talk with me."
Lana could do nothing for a moment but stare at Laura. As Laura's true situation began to sink in, Lana's eyes widened in horror. Time ran a thousand, maybe two thousand times as fast for Laura since her mind existed completely within the 'bot network. Every minute Lana ignored her would seem like over a day. Lana tried to imagine what it would be like to go years with no one to talk to. Slowly some of the craziness of Laura's behavior was making a little sense. Would she develop a 'crush' on a person, if they were the only one she could talk to? Wasn't that almost how things had started between Lex and her?
Now it was Lana's turn to feel apologetic. Without hesitation she rose from the table, walked over, and pulled Laura into a hug. Quietly she whispered into her ear. "I am so sorry. I didn't understand. Will you forgive me? I promise not to avoid you so long in the future."
As Laura hugged her tightly back, Lana could feel the sexual tension start to rise again. Before the situation got out of control, Lana pulled her head back.
"Laura, I am not ready to take things in the direction you want to go, at least not yet. You have to back off and give me some space."
Lana watched the hurt expression roll across Laura's face before she slowly nodded and tried to project a resolute image to indicate she would abide by Lana's wishes. But she couldn't stop the one large tear that escaped her left eye and slowly rolled down her cheek.
The awkward silence that stretched between the two girls was finally broken by Martha, but this time it was Laura who was using her as a surrogate to say things she couldn't quite say for herself.
"Lana, I think Laura is ready to try and keep herself under better control. There are maybe some things you could do to help her cope."
Lana lifted her right hand and wiped the tear from Laura's face. Then she ran her hand through the other girl's short blonde hair until it came to rest across the back of her neck.
"What do you want Laura?"
Laura worried her lower lip for a moment in a manner that was so typical of Chloe before she finally, hesitantly spoke.
"Ah, I know you hate to give up control, but can I drive once and awhile? Only when I have use of your body do I feel truly alive. And only then does my mind seem to function at 'normal' speed."
Lana felt some of the tension leave her body. She had been a little afraid of what Laura was going to request, but this was something she could do.
"Of course, you can 'drive' sometimes. How about right now? I don't know where we are, but I just have this feeling it is the destination we have been heading for ever since we left the chateau."
Laura grinned and Lana was happy to read the sudden excitement in her face.
"I don't know exactly where we are, but can't you smell the water?"
Lana turned her attention back to the 'real' world and realized the door in the back of the van was just starting to open. And there was a definite hint of the waterfront in the air. Plus, it was now well after dark, but the light flowing in through the gap with the door was much brighter than could be explained by a simple streetlamp. Wherever they were, it was starting to look more interesting.
With a smile, Lana looked back at Laura. "I think I will make some popcorn, it looks like the main feature is about to begin. Do you want plain or buttered?"
Laura got a big grin. "Buttered, but you better get me a diet Coke to go with it. Have to keep things in balance, you know. Anyway, when it's ready, join me in the driver's seat." Then Laura shimmered and was gone from the Kent kitchen.
With part of her attention focused on the activity which was finally starting up in the 'real' world, Lana walked over to the cupboard where she knew the Kent's kept the popcorn, pulled out a bag and tossed it into the microwave. Then as she waited for it to pop, she decided to experiment a bit and shifted her location from the Kent kitchen to the backroom at The Talon. As soon as the popcorn was finished, she pulled the bag from the microwave and dumped the contents into a large bowl. She walked through the deserted coffee shop and then back into the old theater she had been slowly restoring ever since they had opened The Talon. It would still be a few more months before she would have sufficient time and surplus funds to finish the job, but it was far enough along for her current needs. Selecting her favorite spot, the center seat in the fourth row from the front, she slouched comfortably down just as the curtain was retracted to expose the screen.
The house lights went down and the opening credits began to play. Instantly she recognized the theme music from Star Wars and then, just like in the beginning of that movie, text began to scroll up the screen
The Perils of Lana Lang
Episode Seven - The Revenge of Biberach
When we last saw the intrepid Miss Lang, she was
being hauled away by the nefarious Nazi officer,
Major Biberach, for destinations unknown. Will she
survive his diabolical plans? Will she ever discover
how his henchmen achieve their great strength?
Will Clark and Whitney come riding to her rescue?
Stay tuned for this week's exciting new episode.
Lana couldn't help but laugh; she hadn't planned anything so elaborate. These opening credits had to be a gift from Laura. Settling back and feeling more relaxed than she had thought would be possible before the conversation with Laura; Lana grabbed a big handful of popcorn and watched as the view from her 'real' eyes was displayed up on the large silver screen.
Without even waiting for the order from Major Biberach, Laura bounced to her feet as the door in the back of the van swung fully open. It felt so good to back in the 'real' world after all of the time she had been trapped in the virtual one, she almost dashed out of the van before Biberach or his two favorite henchmen had even risen to their feet. If it wasn't for Marion's presence and the need to keep her safe, she might have done it just to see their reaction. She was feeling so energized she was almost certain she could take all three of the men and get Marion and herself clear before Marion would receive any permanently fatal injury.
But then she got a good look out the back of the van and realized why the light coming in through the door was so bright. The van was inside a giant building. And the interior of the building was crawling with people. If she did manage to get the two of them clear of the van, it looked very unlikely they would get away unnoticed or unhindered. No, they were going to have to find a better opportunity to make their escape.
As Laura paused for a moment after rising to gaze out into the cavernous interior of the building in which they now found themselves, Hein abruptly grabbed her with his good right hand and shoved her brusquely out through the open door. When he had first appeared in the morning his left arm had been in a sling, but by now the sling had been disposed of and the arm's full function was mostly restored from the effects of her attack during their battle back at the chateau. Not so with his other injuries though, his ruined eye was covered by thick white gauze held in place by two strips of cloth tied around his head and his ruined ear was covered with another wide bandage.
Laura was about ready to toss a biting comment back at the injured German when the true contents of this giant building came into view and she could do nothing but stop and stare in wonder. This was so not good.
As Marion was forced from the van to a position beside Laura, the women found themselves standing near the center of an absolutely huge building brightly lit by giant banks of sodium lights arranged all along the ceiling. Laura's 'bot system quickly estimated the dimensions of the large interior space to be eleven hundred twenty five feet long by three hundred seventy five feet wide with an arched ceiling that reached just over two hundred twenty feet high in the center.
The half of the building to their left seemed mostly empty, at least in comparison to the space to their right, a space filled with the largest, most beautiful, yet deadly-looking warship Laura had ever seen. The gargantuan ship was painted in such a light shade of gray as to appear virtually white under the artificial lights. It mounted eight mammoth guns split into pairs in each of two turrets fore and aft. And it absolutely bristled with smaller guns from stem to stern.
The ship and the adjacent section of dock were a virtual beehive of activity, most of the men present were sailors, but a fair number appeared to be civilian dockworkers. Over the din of the workers, Laura could clearly hear loud creaking and grinding noises from the far end of the building. Looking down to that end, she saw a large set of telescoping doors being slowly forced open. Once they were fully open, the way would be clear for the ship to exit its slip. Shit, thought Laura, the giant battleship was making ready to put out to sea. And they wouldn't have brought us here, now, unless they intended for us to be on it.
Laura and Marion couldn't have been standing there staring at the giant ship for more than ten seconds when they were shoved from behind in the general direction of the ship. Then they were addressed at almost a growl. "Get moving, we don't have all night."
As they started moving in the direction of the great ship, a platoon of Kriegsmarines marched up and surrounded them. Their officer, a young looking lieutenant in a blue dress uniform, saluted Major Biberach and then gestured in the direction of the waiting gangway. With a curt nod, Biberach fell in step with the younger man. Immediately, the officer's men took up positions around Biberach's two henchmen and the two women and set a brisk pace after the officers.
They quickly covered the hundred feet from where the van had parked to the entrance to the gangway. The closer they approached, the more the battleship seemed to loom over them. Just as they reached the foot of the gangway and the officers paused for the traditional ceremonies performed before boarding a military ship, they felt as much as heard the deep rumbling as the first of three massive turbine engines was brought to life. A small plume of dark smoke rose from the single exhaust stack which extended almost eighty five feet above the main deck.
With the rituals required by etiquette complete, the party moved up the gangway. At the top, the group split into two. Two of the marines continued forward with the officers and the women while Biberach's men and the remainder of the marines headed aft. The smaller party quickly ascended several ladders and Laura knew their destination had to be the bridge.
The fourth ladder they climbed let out onto the passage leading directly to the wide, conning tower-spanning bridge. At least twenty officers and men were fully occupied with the process of preparing the great ship to get under way. But it wasn't the hustling men that absorbed Laura's and Marion's attention when they first stepped onto the bridge. No, it was the giant, life-size portrait of Adolf Hitler hanging on the rear bulkhead and the even more revealing, the adjacent large brass plaque with a stylized side view of the ship inscribed in gold with the name, S.S. Hitler.
As Laura continued to stare at the plaque with its ominous lettering, the ship's captain in a black jacket covered in ribbons and medals walked up to their small group. After a formal 'Sieg Heil' salute, he warmly stretched out his hand to Biberach. Speaking in crisp German with the distinctive old-school Prussian accent, he said. "Welcome aboard the Hitler, major. I assume this is your first visit?"
As soon as she heard the words, 'the Hitler', Laura experienced a dreadful sinking feeling in her gut. When Biberach had told his men back at the chateau to prepare to take the women to 'the Hitler', he had not been referring to Adolf Hitler, but rather this ship. This was so not good.
After returning the captain's greeting, Major Biberach turned to the women. "Captain Koenig, may I present Mrs. Jones and Miss Lang. They will be accompanying us on this little excursion."
Koenig gave the women a quick once over. The older woman, Mrs. Jones, was conservatively dressed in a dark brown skirt, jacket, and white blouse. The expression on her face seemed to be a combination of wariness, fear, and just a hint of panic. The younger woman, Miss Lang, was in a much more disheveled state. Her shoes were missing, her gray skirt was torn up the side almost to her waist, and she seemed to be covered in traces of blood from her feet up to her blouse. Looking at her face, Koenig saw a completely different expression than what hade been on the older woman's face. The girl's eyes were almost feverishly bright as they darted around the bridge. It looked like she was trying to memorize the function and position of every control in the room. Beyond that, there was no hint of fear or wariness in her face, just the calm expression he had seen many times back in the Great War before men went into battle: a readiness to do what ever it would take to win and survive. Koenig felt something he couldn't explain as he stared at the girl for an extra few seconds. Something about this young girl didn't quite ring true.
Finally, Captain Koenig gave a minimal nod of his head in the women's direction before turning his attention back to the Major to vent a little of his annoyance for the situation into which he had unexpectedly been thrust. "Major, I am not happy having women on board. It is extremely bad luck, particularly on a warship's maiden voyage."
"Captain, you know your orders in this matter come straight from the tribunal. Besides, surely superstitions like you mentioned went out of style at least a couple of centuries ago. This is the new third Reich and we live in the twentieth century, not the seventeenth."
The captain frowned. "Perhaps it is a 'silly' superstition, but I have been around ships my entire life and I know 'luck' is frequently real and important."
As the Captain was speaking, Laura felt the vibrations in the floor increase to the next higher magnitude as the second turbine engine was brought to life.
Biberach merely shook his head slightly at the Koenig's old fashioned attitude. Then he slowly led the group to the expansive windows looking out towards the prow of the ship. The large door which had been blocking the exit from the slip was almost completely retracted, exposing the countless lights of the surrounding city. "Captain, how long until we get underway?"
Koenig looked out over the forward portion of his mighty ship with pride. Even though he had been onboard for almost three months supervising the final details of the ship's construction and provisioning, he still experienced moments like this where it seemed almost impossible to believe he had been selected over so many others for the great honor of captaining the fatherland's latest, and by far its greatest, warship ever.
"Fifteen minutes, if you let me get back to my job."
Laura decided it was time for her to jump into the conversation if she hoped to get any additional information from these two.
"Beautiful ship, Captain. It is too bad though that Biberach decided to bring us along for your little shakedown cruise. Because I think your comments about having us women on board bringing bad luck is going to turn out to be one hundred percent true."
Koenig turned to look at the young girl beside him and then glanced over at Biberach and merely raised one eyebrow to silently ask the Major what the girl was talking about.
But before Biberach had a chance to speak, Laura continued. "Didn't anyone tell you about what happened back at the chateau and why the Major showed up here with his tail between his legs?" Laura didn't have any real information on what had happened back at the chateau after they had departed, but she remembered Clark's reaction back in Rome after she and Lana had been kidnapped. And nothing she had seen in the chateau looked anymore likely to stop Clark once he got on the warpath than what the Romans had been able to throw up against him. And the sudden look of fear in Biberach's eyes confirmed her suspicions; Clark must have fucked the place up pretty bad before he was convinced they were no longer there.
"Chateau?" asked Koenig, as though the word had no particular significance. Then his eyes widened slightly as he remembered the news. "You mean the one in Berlin which was destroyed last night when the cliff gave way and it collapsed into the Spree?"
Bingo, thought Laura. That sounded like her boy, Clark. Damn, she almost forgot for a moment that it wasn't her boy Clark anymore. No, he belonged to the other Chloe. But maybe, until they got back home, she could at least still pretend he was hers.
"Captain, my friends are extremely pissed at the Major. When they find him, no one standing close to him is going to be safe. And don't think for a minute this little toy boat is going to survive any longer against them than the chateau did."
"Toy boat?" echoed Koenig in an offended tone. "The Hitler is the most powerful battleship afloat. It can fire one thousand kilogram projectiles over twenty-two kilometers with pinpoint accuracy. Its armor belt is so thick it can withstand all known torpedoes. And it is just the first of a whole line of battleships which will return Germany to its lost glory. Look over there," and he pointed to the other side of the cavernous building. "Already the construction of the next great battleship, the Bismarck, is well underway."
"Whatever," Laura shrugged and then turned towards Biberach. "I tried to tell you to let us go last night, but did you listen? No. And look what it got you. Your chateau has been destroyed. You are on the run. Hell, your 'special' men are hardly a match for little old me, let alone my friends. Don't think this ship is going to protect you, it won't. It is still not too late. Just let us go and you might still survive."
Biberach looked at the girl and couldn't help feeling a little respect and a little fear. He had held her incommunicado since they had left the chateau, yet she had still managed to guess what had happened back there. And even he didn't full understand what had happened. How exactly had the chateau been destroyed? The whole cliff had collapse, but none of the survivors had reported hearing any explosions.
And then there was the girl herself. It was still a mystery how she had been able to hold her own against Hein and Frenkel during the fight back in the ballroom. And now she just stood there, on board this great ship surrounded by thousands of loyal sailors who would gladly give their lives for the fatherland, and continued to make threats like she had nothing to fear. She must be crazy.
But Biberach could see how everyone within earshot had paused in their work to listen in on the conversation. It wouldn't do to have the entire bridge crew, and via the grapevine the entire crew, wondering about the girl's comments, whether those comments turned out to be true or not. No, the crew needed to stay focused on their tasks, if they were to reach their destination on schedule.
Motioning the Kriegsmarine lieutenant forward, Biberach quickly commanded. "Lieutenant, please escort these women to their quarters."
The lieutenant looked at the women and then gestured in the direction of the exit. Without pausing, he led the way with his two subordinates bringing up the rear. As they walked, Laura kept swiveling her head from side to side, providing as much visual data for the 'bot network to chew on as she could. Hopefully, with enough data she would be able to come up with some kind of a plan, because the situation was much more desperate than she had let on to her captors.
After what seemed like at least a ten minute walk through numerous levels and past almost countless watertight bulkheads, they finally reached their destination. The room they were shown into wasn't actually in the brig, but it could just as well have been after the heavy watertight door was closed behind them and Laura heard the dogs being engaged on the other side. No way were they getting through the door by brute force. Clark doubtlessly could, but not her or Marion. And even if they could force the door open, there would be at least two of the marines stationed on the other side.
Laura didn't see any immediate solution to their situation, but she owed it to Lana and Marion to tell them the true predicament they were in. They had a right to know and maybe one of them would have some brilliant idea. A meeting of minds was definitely in order.
Marion's hand brushed past Lana's as she stepped into 'their' cabin. She had definitely had worst accommodations during her many travels, but on the other hand this cabin wasn't anywhere near the quality of the cabin she and Hank had enjoyed on the Normandie during their Atlantic crossing only weeks ago. And even that cabin on the Normandie had been only in second class.
Marion quickly scanned the room with its two bunks, two desks, small writing table, and, through an open doorway, their own private head. From the arrangement of the furniture, it seemed like they were somewhere in the lower end of officer's country, as no enlisted quarters would be equipped with two separate work desks. Actually, on second glance this room was a lot more spacious than the cabin they had during crossing. But it was the exposed pipes and painted rather than wood paneled surfaces which made this space feel so inferior to the liner's counterpart.
Marion walked over to the further bunk and was just turning to sit when she realized there were two other women in the room not just one. The second woman, who was leaning back against the door through which they had just entered, was a blonde she didn't immediately recognize. The young woman was dressed in some strange mockery or parody of Biberach's Gestapo uniform. The primary difference was the girl's uniform was a very pale green rather than black. And on further inspection the uniform had a strange shimmering texture and was so closely tailored to the girl's body as to look almost painted on. Before the girl even spoke, Marion suspected who she was, but how could she be in the cabin with them? Lana had said she only existed inside her head.
"Ah, ladies," began Laura as she looked over to where Lana and Marion stood almost on the far side of the cabin. "We have some things we need to discuss."
The voice confirmed Marion's suspicions; this girl was the Laura from Jaguar City. Although the girl could have walked past her on the street and she never would have suspected. Without a face covered in painted stripes and without the brilliantly dyed red hair, she looked completely different, but there was no mistaking the voice.
"How can you be here with us?" asked Marion. Then she turned her attention towards Lana. "I thought you said she only exists in your head. How can she be here with us now?"
Lana smiled at Marion and then walked over to the small table, pulled out one of the chairs and turned it to face both Laura and Marion before sitting down. "She is not really here."
Marion looked from Lana to Laura and then back to Lana. "She is standing right over there."
"Sorry, Marion," began Laura. "I thought you would be more comfortable if we chatted here in this cabin rather than somewhere exotic like Jaguar City. From the moment you brushed by Lana when you stepped into this room, everything you experienced has been in a virtual version of this room rather than the real version. At this moment in the 'real' world, you are both sitting and touching hands on the other bunk. I am not sure if the Nazis have bugged this room so it seemed best to talk where we couldn't be overheard."
Marion's head almost seemed to spin as she tried to keep track of what was going on. Were they really in a virtual copy of the exact room they had just entered? What was real and what was not real anymore? She was starting to regret ever having met these kids from the future.
Lana could read the unhappy expression on Marion's face without even having to bother with reading her thoughts through the mind-link. They were throwing things at her too fast for someone who didn't grow up in the twenty-first century with constant exposure to life-like video games or movies like 'The Matrix' or 'Star Trek' or even the ancient 'Tron'. No, if they weren't going to overwhelm her, they needed to get the conversation back to things in the real world. And doubtlessly, there must be an important reason Laura felt it was necessary to include Marion in this conversation.
Lana turned her attention to Laura, who still stood over by the door dressed in her little spandex uniform. It was kind of cute on her, but a conservative skirt might have been a more tactful choice.
"Laura, what is it you wanted to talk about?" asked Lana.
As Lana watched, Laura seemed to pause to take a deep breathe. "Which would you prefer first, the bad news or the really bad news?"
No good news and bad news, just all bad news, thought Lana. Fuck.
"Let's start with the bad news," suggested Lana.
"Okay, the bad news is that the guys are not coming to save us because I sent them to the wrong place."
Both Marion and Lana frowned, but it was Marion who spoke up first. "How could you have sent them to the wrong place? How could you have even talked to them, if you only exist in Lana's head?"
Laura pulled out a chair from the desk nearest her and sat down. "If you think things have been difficult to follow so far, it is about to get worst.
"As Lana mentioned back in Jaguar City, I am thousands and thousands of years old. The events which split me from my 'real' self and trapped me in Lana's body won't happen until the year 2002. However since I am very old means that I was alive back here in 1936, too. Of course, the version of me living now has no knowledge of events that will occur almost seventy years in my future.
"Anyway, in case of an emergency like this, where Lana has been separated from the guys, she left them directions how to reach me since I happened to be living Dresden, only a hundred miles away from Berlin."
"So the guys really did contact you?" asked Lana.
"Yeah, actually, they were down in Dresden this afternoon talking to me. Now that it is in the past, I think it is safe to tell you."
Marion's eyes looked a little glazed over as she tried to understand. "You're living in Dresden?"
Laura looked over to Marion and patiently tried once more to explain. "I was born before the last ice age. I lived through the times of ancient Egypt. I lived through the ancient American civilization you saw in Jaguar City. I lived through the Roman Empire. I lived through the Black Death and the dark times of the middle ages. I lived through the Italian Renaissance. I lived through the French revolution. I lived through the American civil war. I lived through the Great War here in Europe. Today, in 1936, I am living in Dresden where I own a camera factory. And I am married with two children. My husband just happens to be the head of the Gestapo for the Saxony region, which gives me access to a lot of classified information."
"Laura, you are married here?" asked Lana. "Chloe never included that in the information she passed on to me."
Laura shrugged. "She, ah I, was not trying to keep secrets from you, but it seemed like some of the details of my life should be private. At least until times like this where they have a direct bearing on the current situation."
"Okay," agreed Lana. "But what did you mean the guys aren't coming and that you sent them to the wrong place?"
"Clark and Whitney came to my home and were able to convince me they were from the future and that they needed my help to find you. All they were able to give me to go on was Major Biberach's name and the fact that you and Marion disappeared from the chateau over the Spree River which had been destroyed the night before.
"I was able to access the records at the local Gestapo office through my connections to my husband. But I couldn't find any information on where Biberach had gone after leaving the chateau. The best I could do was pass along information on where the headquarters of his branch of the Gestapo was located and hope you had been taken there."
"Which is where?" asked Lana.
"Over a hundred and fifty miles east of here."
"You mean you know where we are?" asked Marion and Lana almost simultaneously.
"I suspected as soon as we exited the van and saw the ships, but I only knew for certain when the captain named the other ship under construction to be the Bismarck. We are in the Blohm and Voss shipyards in Hamburg."
"And where exactly did you send the guys?" asked Lana.
"Peenemunde."
Peenemunde. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Lana, but that was all. Quickly, she fired off a query into her 'bot database and instantly the information was clear in her head as though she had just finished watching a two hour special on the Discovery Channel.
First, she saw a desolate sandy beach along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Then the view slide a little further along to the coast to a massive industrial complex. And then a series of movie clips of V-1 buzz bombs being launched and V-2 rockets taking off. Finally a photo of Werner van Braun leading a bunch of ranking German Army officers on a tour.
Peenemunde, the research facility where all of the futuristic German weapons were designed, developed, and tested.
"Shit," was all Lana could say when she understood what the single word Peenemunde meant. Laura had unknowingly sent Clark, Whitney, and Indy on a wild goose chase to the most secret, secure facility in all of Nazi Germany.
"Yeah, shit is right," concurred Laura.
Marion looked from one girl to the other having no idea what the significance was of this place called Peenemunde. However, before she had a chance to ask, Lana asked a question which took the conversation into a new direction.
"Laura, what about this ship? I never heard of a battleship called the Hitler and I don't find any information about it in the 'bot database."
"Well, that brings up the very bad news I mentioned earlier."
Laura paused for a moment and then waved her hand through the air for a moment like a magician and as if by magic, glasses of wine appeared on desk or table tops near each of the three women. Laura raised her glass to her lips and took a small sip.
"Whitney and Clark never mentioned any connection with the name Hitler when they came to see me. It was only later, after the last time I talked to them, that I heard about this ship. And then it was only referred to as a secret prototype Battleship, but never by the name of the Hitler. Of course, if I had been in the shoes of the leaders of the German Navy, I probably wouldn't have ever associated the name Hitler with this ship again either."
Laura took another sip of her wine before continuing.
"I never made the connection between this ship and events involving Clark and Whitney when I was back in 1936. So when Biberach mentioned 'the Hitler' back at the chateau, I thought just like you that he was referring to Adolf Hitler. But now that I know he was referring to this ship, things are clearer."
"Laura," interrupted Lana. "Just spit it out. What is the really bad news?"
Laura looked Lana in the eyes. "I don't know any of the details, only that this ship is lost at sea sometime during its maiden voyage. If you somehow lost a ship named after your glorious leader on its very first mission, you can understand why the whole situation was hushed up and never mentioned in any of the history books. The Nazis had illegally and secretly built a battleship which violated the Versailles Treaty and then it was somehow destroyed before they ever publicly admitted it even existed."
Lana and Marion sat there staring at Laura in stunned silence for almost a minute.
"Fuck," said Lana, finally.
"Yeah," responded Laura. "We are stuck on a death ship and the guys are not coming to rescue us. If we are going to get out of this alive, we are going to have to do it on our own."
As Laura finished speaking, both she and Lana realized that in the 'real' world, the mighty propellers had just started to turn and the ship was moving, taking them out to sea.
End of Chapter 13
Author's Notes:
Well, it has been a while since I ended a chapter with a big cliffie. So I decided, what the hell, let's see how much danger I could create.
Kaya Jade –
I hope this answers your question about what happened to Lana and Marion. I got so wrapped up in Clark's side of the story, I almost forgot it has been several chapters since we have seen much of the girls.
Raven –
Thanks for the history comments, but at the moment the story is taking place in the last week of August 1936, so the events in the Rhineland had taken place 4-5 months earlier. Plus, until an actual shooting war breaks out in Poland in 1939, Aubrey could freely come and go from Germany to any other country. If would be different if she was a Jew or of Romany descent, but in this story she is not. Being a business owner and married to a German military officer meant there was very little personal risk to her staying in Germany during the turbulent late 1930's years.
HemisH –
Thanks for the kind comments. Certainly, something unique is what I am striving for. Between the comics, the movies, and the tv shows, there are a lot of different, conflicting versions of the Clark Kent/Superman story, so why not add my own vision? Besides, there are plenty of people out there telling the TV episodes over and over, so who needs one more? This story will eventually get back to Smallville but the more I think about it, the less likely it seems that I will use anything from future episodes of the show unless it really adds something valuable to my story. I hope the readers like that when you get a new chapter from me, you will have no idea what I am going to do.
I have also read a bunch of the other Smallville stories on this site. One of the big differences I have noticed is that a lot of people writing Smallville seem to like dreary, angst-driven stories. Personally, my tastes run towards fun, upbeat stories which is what I try to write. Angst like all other emotions has its place, but it is best kept to small doses.
Ghostdraconi –
Since Chloe and Clark seem all powerful, I guess I am going to have to bump up the caliber of the challenge another notch. Hmmm, the girls trapped on a German battleship and the guys heading to Peenemunde, it looks like it is already happening. One of my favorite movies from last year was 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'. I think we might see a little tribute to the style and flavor of that movie in the upcoming chapters.
To everyone else who sent a review, a big THANK YOU, they are always appreciated.
Until next time,
Duane