Aloha everyone! I'm a little late, but here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 9
All the heroes had arrived at the Watchtower within the hour they were called. They were all gathered around each other; Watchtower was debriefing them on the situation.
"Do you think the Zoners got out again?" Green Arrow asks. Watchtower nods.
"Yes, I believe it is. Actually I'm quite sure it is. Kara also arrived back on Earth; she was in the Phantom Zone. I believe this man," she points at a picture of Brainiac jumping into the sky, "Also came out of the Phantom Zone. We need to get Superman here immediately." The heroes nod in agreement.
"Why don't we ask for Batman's help?" Impulse asks. Everyone becomes tense and fidgety.
"I don't know, I mean we don't even know who this guy really is." Zatana adds.
"Superman is the only one that knows who he is. We'll ask for his opinion." Watchtower says, resolving the issue for the moment.
People lurk the streets, causing problems. There's a cool breeze that brush by the robbers; they ignore it. Another swoop, louder this time. There are three men, the last man hears this noise. He turns around, worry etched on his face; he had heard of the vigilante Batman, he's scared.
"Man, let's get out of here." He says, pushing past his friends. His friends scowl at him and call him a wuss.
A large feature lands soundlessly in front of them. They stop in their tracks, frozen by fear. Without saying a word the Batman hits the man in front of him in the chest and then grabs the other two and hits their heads together. They're out cold. Blue and red lights bounce off the walls and as soon as the Batman had arrived at the scene, he is soundlessly gone.
"Did you find anything?" Superman asks Super girl. She shakes her head sadly.
"Nothing; there is absolutely nothing here. That bastard Luthor stole what was rightfully ours. Those were the last things left of our civilization; of my home!" Super girl cries out.
Superman hears a swoop and then a loud crash outside of the Fortress. Kara's eyes narrow and they both fly off to the source of the noise. What they see surprises them, though for different reasons. Marty was lying on Jay's back and Jay's face was buried in the snow. They both get up slowly, groaning in pain.
"Nice face plant." Marty mutters.
"I told you I couldn't fly all the way here with you on my back." He yells out at her.
"Uh oh." Marty says. This puzzles Jay until he turns around to see his father and his aunt staring at them bewildered.
"Uh...hi." He says. Kara super speeds over to them and grabs them both by the neck.
"Who are you?" She says tightening her grip on their throats.
"Aunt Kara." Jay tries to protest. "Let go."
"Who are you?" She yells out more forcefully.
"Kara." Clark says firmly. "Uh... I don't really know how to explain this, but these are my children. Well, not yet. They're from the future." Kara lets go of Marty and Jay's throats and they fall to the ground.
"How did they get here?" She asks crossing her arms. Clark tells her everything that has hapenned until her arrival.
"That's another reason why we need the crystals; to get them back home." Kara looks suspiciously at the children as they all go back into the Fortress.
"Dad found a way to recreate the crystals, but I have no clue how he did it, he never told me and I never asked." Jay says. Kara looks as though she is thinking. Marty struggles to keep up with the rest of her family.
"Once, about six years ago, Lois had left a crystal, the green one, the one that created the Fortress, in the snow. When the control panels were destroyed and I thought everything was lost, I found that crystal and recreated the Fortress." He explains to Kara. She looks suspiciously at him.
"How did it get destroyed?" She asks. He looks over at Jay.
"Long story."
"Do you know if Luthor took the green crystal?" He shakes his head.
"I don't know, but I didn't see it."
"That's good, right?" Marty questions as she trips over a mound of snow. Jay speeds over to catch her. They both end up tumbling down the snowy hill.
"Get off me." Jay exclaims as he pushes his sister off of him for the second time that day. Marty gets off of him and sticks her tongue out at him. Then her face is serious. She jumps up and down in excitement; words couldn't come out of her mouth so she pointed excitedly behind her brother. He turns around and looks at the ground. Between a crack in the ice was the missing glowing green crystal.
Lois arrived at Clark's apartment, but when she had knocked on his door there was no answer. She looked under the door mat to find a key. He should've known better then to put his key under the mat. He lived in the city now, not the country. But of course he was Clark, he trusted everyone. Jason waited impatiently at her side. She unlocked the door and opened it to find his apartment dark and empty. She flicked on the lights to find the room a total disaster. Papers were strewn all over the ground, probably due to the open patio door. Lois went to it and closed it.
"Sorry munchkin, but it looks like dad isn't home. We'll come back tomorrow, okay?" Jason hangs his head in defeat. He had been so excited to see his father and new friends again. Lois and Jason walked out of the apartment; Lois locked the door behind her. Instead of putting the key back under the mat she puts it on her key chain. Jason gives her a look.
"What?" she asks, in mock annoyance. "I might need it for the future." He shrugs his shoulders.
Before they leave Lois tries Clark's cell phone, to her surprise he answers. Before she can say anything he exclaims: "We found it Lois."
"Found what Clark?" She asks confused.
"The crystal to regenerate the others, Jay and Marty found it." Lois smiles excitedly.
"That's great Clark." Then she remembers why she called him in the first place. "Why didn't you bring me with you? You told me you would." Clark pauses.
"Well, uh, we were in a hurry and I knew you needed to pick Jason up from school."
"Lame excuse, but you're off the hook for now." She hears him sigh.
"I'm going to tell him tonight, Clark." Clark's pause is longer this time.
"Good luck. I'll call you if anything new comes up." Lois nods, even though she knew he couldn't see her.
"Okay, bye. Say hi to the family for me." She hears him chuckle as he ends the call.
When Lois arrived back to her house Jason was already asleep in the back seat. She picked him up and brought him up to his room. She changed into her pyjamas and went down to Richard's study. He was asleep on his laptop with the lamp light shining on his face. She shakes him awake. He groans and looks up into her eyes.
"Lois?" He asks, "What's wrong?" Lois hands shake and she feels as if her knees are about to buckle. She sits herself down onto the couch across the room. He follows her and sits next to her.
"What's bothering you Lois? You're shaking." He grabs her hands to steady them.
"Oh, Richard, I don't deserve you. I've kept something from you, and, and telling you the truth is going to hurt you." She sobs into his shoulder.
"Lois whatever it is you can tell me." She looks up into his eyes and kisses him. The kiss lasts for awhile. He looks at her sadly.
"Why did that feel like a good-bye kiss?" She shakes her head.
"Because, after I tell you the truth you'll never want to kiss me again." He shakes his head.
"No Lois, that could never happen." She takes in a shaky breath. She was about to break the heart of the man who loved her.
"It's about Jason." She says in a hurried jumble. It takes him awhile to process her words.
"Oh, that's all?" He asks relieved.
He has no clue, she thinks with dread. He trusted her so much that he didn't even suspect it.
"Okay." Lois starts off, she fiddles with the bottom of her shirt. She knew now after several years that she could not love this man the way he deserved it. She takes another deep breath and then says in a rush: "Jason wasn't born premature." At first he didn't understand what she said and then he understood.
"That's all?" Lois begs him with her eyes to understand; he doesn't.
"Richard, we hadn't even met each other nine months before Jason was born." Richard understood at that moment. He felt dizzy; like the world was slipping beneath him. He heard Lois call his name a couple of times but it didn't register in his mind. She went up to him and called his name again.
"Oh" was all he could say. Lois had tears running down her face.
"I'm so sorry Richard. I never meant to hurt you. I've wanted to tell you so many times, but I couldn't." she says, struggling to explain how she felt. He looks at her with a steely look in his eyes.
"How could you lie to me?" he spits out. "I was beating myself up all day with what I had said to you and, and you do this." He gestures to her, his face red with anger. He gets up and stumbles away from her. He didn't want to ask her, but he needed to know: "Who's his father?" Lois pleads to him with her eyes.
"Please Richard, if you don't want to know don't ask." She gets up off the couch to be at his eye level. He looks upwards infuriated.
"Just tell me!" he spits out. Lois looks afraid of him. She knows he'll find out at some point, but she knew that if she told him now he would go to confront Clark.
"Maybe when you calm down I'll tell you." She says softly; this makes Richard angrier.
"Damn it Lois, just tell me!" He was running out of energy and his knees became shaky. He collapses on the floor with a heart breaking sob. Lois runs over to him, tears rushing down her cheeks. She couldn't bear seeing him so broken. She goes down on her knees and hugs him. He feebly tries to push her away but she hugs him even tighter. He gives up and cries softly in her arms.
"I'm sorry" she murmurs again. After several minutes of this heart breaking scene, Richard gets up on shaky legs.
"I… I can't be near you right now. I need to leave." He tries looking at her. His eyes are full of raw pain and tears.
"God, I can't even look at you." He says infuriated as he grabs his jacket and brief case and slams the door behind him. Lois walks shakily to the couch and cries into the pillow. She cries herself to sleep nearly an hour after Richard's departure.
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