See first post for disclaimer.
Once more a big thank you to everyone who responded...sorry about the wait.
Part 3
Speeding toward the other woman, Raya caught her before she hit the dusty barn floor. With no place to set Lois, she gathered her up in her arms and trekked back to the house in search of a comfortable place for the unconscious woman to lay.
Despite her sudden fall toward the ground, the crystal with the El family crest remained clutched possessively to Lois' chest. Raya didn't dare disturb the item after she deposited Lois on the couch in the Kent's living room. Pacing the floor of the kitchen, she was torn between waking Lois for her help and allowing her to rest. There was no telling what Kal-El was encountering with the escapees from the Phantom Zone. The planet had given her abilities she had never anticipated and if it had done the same for the criminals set free, everyone was in danger. Their best chance to stop them was Jor-El's wisdom and the knowledge of the computers hidden in the north but if her assumptions were correct, she would need Lois' help to resurrect the Fortress of Knowledge.
Pacing a circuit around the kitchen a handful of times, Raya paused and contemplated finding something to occupy herself with while she waited. Her eyes swept the room before landing on the refrigerator – wondering at the social etiquette of helping herself to something to drink from the appliance. The water that eventually filled a glass was all but forgotten at the sounds of Lois stirring in the next room.
Seating herself on the table in front of the sofa, Raya waited for the other woman to open her eyes and adjust to her surroundings. She witnessed the crystal being smothered in a tightened grip as Lois surfaced from sleep.
"What the hell happened?" Lois groaned as she rolled over and wiped her free hand over her eyes.
"You fainted."
Whipping her head around to the sound of an accompanying voice, Lois stared at the woman seated on the table, not quite sure what to make of her presences.
"I don't faint," Lois argued.
Raya nodded along as though in agreement. "Understandable. Pregnancy can be quite traumatizing on a body – the extreme hormonal fluctuations alone could cause you to faint when you otherwise wouldn't have. Carrying a child with such an exceptional genetic combination could cause symptoms with greater severity."
"Hold up there Scientific America…what are you talking about? Exceptional genetic whatever – and how the hell did you know I was pregnant in the first place?" Lois sat up, shifting away from the woman while simultaneously altering her posture to exude a more menacing pose.
"The crystal only willingly approaches those with the biological signature of the House of El. You're human so it was reasonable to deduce that you were carrying a descendant."
"Willingly approach? You're talking about this thing like it has a mind of its own." Lois frowned, following Raya's gaze to where she still held the crystal protectively against her body.
Tilting her head thoughtfully Raya responded, "Not a mind of its own but it has been programmed to recognize genetic sequences. Others can hold the crystal as I did earlier but those from the House of El can call the crystal to them – it's a measure of security to protect the power of the stone from falling into the hands of criminals."
"Oh, okay well now that you explained it all to me," Lois retorted dryly. She cautiously stood, testing her legs and was surprised when Raya stood with her, a hand out to catch her it she happened to fall once more. "What did you say your name was again?" Lois passed a thumb over the etching on the crystal.
"Raya." A soft smile pulled at her lips.
"And what did you say that you were? Cytonson?"
"Kryptonian. I worked for Kal-El's…Clark's father Jor-El before our planet was destroyed."
"So you're ah…not human then." Lois blinked a few times, trying to wrap her mind around the thought; wondering at the mental health of the woman and herself.
"No," Raya paused in thought, "hasn't Clark told you about our planet?"
Lois searched for a plausible answer in hopes of continuing to play along with the woman. "He doesn't like to talk about it. It's not something most people would be accepting of," she bluffed.
"No I suppose not. He has expressed mixed feelings about his biological parents before. But my planet no longer exists nor our people." Raya's eyes dropped to the floor.
"You're still here though. How did you survive?" Lois was waging a mental war within her rational brain. One part of her scoffed at the prospect of the conversation she was having while the other sent out reminders of the bizarre experiences of earlier in the barn and all the other strange occurrences in Smallville. Visitors from another planet actually seemed mundane in comparison.
"I was sent to another plain. Clark's father created a self-contained dimension that housed criminals from our part of the galaxy."
"So what were you doing there?"
"Jor-El sent me there to keep an eye on the prisoners," her voice grew softer, "and I believe that he wanted to spare my life. He had hopes that one day, when Clark was able, he would release me from the Phantom Zone. I didn't have such hopes. I thought it unlikely that Clark would even survive the journey to Earth and there was no telling that he would be received well. It was a long shot but it was all that Jor-El and Lara had at the time; no one wanted to tell them that their efforts to save their only child would likely be fruitless." She paused. "I'm happy to know that I was wrong." A knowing smile transformed her face. "Jor-El always said that he was sending Clark to people who would protect him and raise him right. At the time I thought it was simply a story he made up to tell Lara in hopes of soothing her. But from what Clark's told me, the Kents were everything Jor-El said they would be."
Lois chewed on the inside of her cheek, mulling over the abundance of information Raya was dropping at her feet unknowingly. "Wha – What do you know about my pregnancy?"
Frowning, Raya responded, "I was a scientist on Krypton but I don't know much about medicine. And even less about human physiology."
"But do you know how it happened?"
"I suppose I am a little surprised that you and Clark were compatible enough to procreate." Raya shrugged with a tiny smirk. "Beyond that I think the rest is between you can Clark."
"What does Clark have to do with me being pregnant?" Lois traced the engraving in the crystal with her fingers.
"I've only been here for a short while but I thought that you had sex here in order to have children."
Lois gaped at the bluntness of the other woman as she was used to being on the other side of the bold comments. "Me and Clark? Sex?" Lois chuckled under her breath. As the thought resonated with her Lois laughed harder; tears filling her eyes at the sheer absurdity of the last hour. "Now I know you're messing with me." Lois pointed at Raya in a light accusatory manner.
"But you are pregnant."
Lois hesitated, not yet comfortable with the all too real concept of pregnancy. "Ye – yes. And if you have any insights about how I came to be - would you mind letting me in on them."
Standing up from the couch, Lois moved into the kitchen. Raya followed behind her, anxiously keeping an eye on the other woman for any signs that she was unwell; she felt a sense of duty to Lois, a duty to the child she carried. But part of that duty was keeping them safe from the threat of escapees from the Phantom Zone and keeping Kal-El alive; neither of which was likely to be accomplished until the Fortress was brought back online.
"On Krypton, science had succeeded in aiding in fetal conception without intercourse as well as artificial gestation – but the process wasn't spontaneous. You have something similar here."
"Yeah but I would have remembered a procedure like that." Lois paced the interior of the kitchen.
Moving her wrist up and down, she tested the weight of the crystal in the palm of her hand while pondering the blonde woman. In the barn she had been wary – strange abilities didn't seem to take to people well in Smallville. After fainting the woman could have bound or killed her if that had been her purpose. Instead she had taken her into the house for comforts sake…and considering the lack of bruises and pain, Raya's speed had obviously kept her from hitting the barn floor.
So she didn't mean her any harm….
Lois caught the woman's eyes, strangely transfixed in the light pools of blue. There was something serene about her; a soulful peace that hugged the woman with gentle strength. Yet her hands twitched at her sides, intense and urgent as though she were being kept from a matter of great import. An odd dichotomy, Raya was. Lois knew that she liked the girl and could even foresee befriending her – glimpses of delusions aside.
Where was it she had said she came from….Krypton. Right.
She doubted even the Inquisitor would print a story so implausible.
And Clark – what was his role in the woman's head trip. She had said that he was from the same planet. That his parents had sent him away before it exploded….how convenient that any trace of the place blew up. Lois reasoned that the girl was possibly Clark's latest humanitarian project.
It was a nice tidy package to tuck all the outlandish things Raya had spewed into.
Unfortunately, none of it explained how the crystal she was holding flew into her hand or how Raya had known that she was pregnant.
"I think I know where we might be able to find some answers about your child," Raya said innocently.
Lois halted her pacing, stunned still at the idea that she wouldn't stay pregnant and that at some point in the near future a child would be coming…out of her body. It was absurd. It was ludicrous. It was going to happen and it was scary as hell.
With the acknowledgement of being scared the dam splintered apart allowing fear to rush through every inch of her body unhindered. It was debilitating; stealing her ability to move just as readily as it stole her breath. For the first time since learning of her pregnancy she let her mind languish on the 'how'. The blind stupor had broken along with the dam to reveal the darker truth. She had been violated. Someone had done this too her; someone had taken what was not theirs to take. Her body rebelled in that moment; fear and pain coiled with serpentine fortitude around her stomach forcing its contents up and out.
Raya watched with mounting concern as Lois' fingers began to shake. Without moving her body appeared to fold in on itself, face draining of colour as the crystal dropped from her trembling digits with a clank on the kitchen floor. In the moment that followed Lois was hunched over the sink, gripping the edge of the counter against brutal heaves.
A pull of concern drew Raya toward Lois' side; she reached out a supportive hand, surprised when Lois flinched away from the contact. The heaves disappeared to be replaced by uneven hitched inhalations as Lois battled on the edge of tears and hyperventilation. Unsure of what had set the other woman off, Raya nervously looked on while Lois' anxiety mounted and her breathing became laboured.
"Lois," she tried, "Lois?" She was becoming increasingly worried.
"I can't - " Lois wasn't able to catch the oxygen need to speak. "I can't - " her arm shook at her side in a futile attempt to help fill her lungs, "I can't breathe," she finally got out. Her face grew red, a drastic contrast to the pale visage of mere seconds before.
"You have to try and calm down Lois. You have to breathe." Raya risked reaching out once more, grasping her shoulders and forcing their eyes toward one another. Keeping a grip on Lois' shoulders was one way Raya hoped to avoid having the woman topple over should she faint again.
Keeping her eyes trained on Raya's, Lois felt a connectedness that slowed her breaths. The blue eyed woman matched her inhalations, coaching her to a calm and even pattern. Inside her chest, her heart continued to pound erratically – its heavy thrum vibrating beneath her ribs. Raya stayed with her, gaze unwavering until Lois had regained some semblance of control.
The act of the stranger's kindness was enough of a distraction from the horror and fear casting shadows on her consciousness. She hadn't known Raya an hour earlier yet the woman was standing by and holding her up as the weight of truths bared down upon her. She wasn't one to rely on the kindness of strangers – rather she was inclined to believe they were more liable to take from her than give in turn. But in front of her stood a woman who defied her conventional wisdom; in front of her was a woman who had cast out a rope into the murky undertow and pulled her up.
Lois berated herself for losing control in front of the woman….and she had thought the other girl was missing some important brain matter; she could only imagine what Raya thought of her. The only consolation was that she had managed to hold back shedding any tears.
"Well that was embarrassing." Lois drawled arms crossed protectively over her chest. "Sorry, I don't usually lose it like that." One hand popped free of its trappings against her chest to gesture absently.
Raya stared with an earnest expression, the edges of her mouth flirting with the makings of a smile. It would seem that Lois Lane was able to jump from one emotional extreme to the next – humans were definitely intriguing. "Are you going to be alright?" She dropped her hands from Lois' shoulders and stepped back.
"Yeah sure," she dismissed, "just a moment of insanity." She cursed her choice of word, chuckling uncomfortably. "Sorry you had to witness that." Something Raya had said floated through Lois' mind causing her eyes to sharpen with intent. "You said that you might know someone who could help me understand my uh….situation." She gestured to her abdomen.
Raya nodded, "It's possible. We have to go now though; Clark isn't prepared to face the criminals of the Phantom Zone without the help of the Fortress."
Lois weighed her options of whether to stay in the relative safety of the house or follow the possible quack to some fortress. "Alright, let's go." Lois clapped her hands together and headed for the door.
"Lois!" Raya called out. "We'll need this." She reached down to the floor and picked up the forgotten crystal. As soon as it was in her possession the emblem glowed angrily, wrenching from her grasp toward Lois' open palm once again.
"This thing is worse than that mangy dog," Lois muttered under her breath of the crystal's clingy tendencies.
"The dog has mange?" Raya worried for the animal.
"No, it's just a…" Lois paused and waved her hand dismissively, "never mind."
"We have to go. Clark could be in danger."
"Oh when is Smallville ever not finding danger of one kind or another?" Lois proceeded with Raya out the door.
"The town attracts danger?" Raya questioned.
Lois opened her mouth with nothing to say for a moment. "Well yeah," she sputtered, "but that's not what-" her eyes rolled, "Oh forget it. I'm just going to shut up right now." She stalked toward her car, halting only when she realized that Raya wasn't with her. "Alright, now what? I thought you were all gung-ho about helping Clark."
"Your way will take too long."
"You have a helicopter near by I'm not aware of?"
Raya approached Lois, unexpectedly hugging her close.
"Whoa there sista," Lois attempted to pull away but found Raya's grip too powerful, "you're cute but I don't swing that way."
Stunned, Lois felt Raya lift her from the ground and the landscape suddenly blur beyond recognition. The speed caused her eyes to slip shut in an effort to stave off the nauseas that the movement promoted. Just as soon as it started, the ride ended. Raya steadied Lois on the ground before pulling away and taking a few careful steps backward.
"What the hell was…" Lois trailed off when she saw that they were standing in the caves ten minutes from the Kent farm. Turning around in a circle, Lois checked the caves and then her own body for signs of injury. When she saw that she was entirely intact and that there were no strings attached to the trick, her wide eyes landed on Raya. "Seriously?"
Raya ignored the running commentary from her companion, walking with purpose through the opening to the raised circular platform in the center of the alcove. Brandishing the octagonal key, she paused while Lois caught up with her in the room – hesitantly approaching the stone centerpiece. Sighing, Raya noticed that Lois was not dressed for the chilling temperature of the Fortress.
"You're not impervious to temperature," she stated.
Lois pried her eyes from the stone to look at Raya. "That's the answer – am I supposed to respond in the form of a question?" Lois received only a blank look from the other woman. "What is a human?" She illuminated with little result once more. "Ooo-kay." She rolled up on the balls on her feet and back. "And I just keep firing blanks."
"I'm worried that the environment will be too cold for you."
"You do cryptic almost as well as Clark," Lois groaned.
"We'll have to act quickly before the cold affects you. You're going to have to do exactly what I tell you to do." Raya moved to drop the key into the slot but pulled her hand back suddenly. "Have the crystal ready." Lois heard her comment before the world as she knew it was jarred from its axes.
The cold was the first thing she registered upon getting her bearings. Raya hadn't been understating the chill that slipped through her down to the marrow of her bones. Her eyes stung at the cold air striking them as she struggled to hold the seeking orbs open, wanting to see every icy surface around her. Crystals much like the one she held in her stiff hand jutted from a pulpit in the cavernous structure. Rather than twinkling at points where streams of light touched them, they sat dull; the sight sent an irrational tremor of disappointment through her.
"Lois!" She heard an urgent voice call to her from a distance. "Lois!" She turned her head with more effort than she anticipated; blinking lazily, she attempted to respond to the familiar tone. Any sound she was hoping to emit froze amongst the saliva in her mouth. "Lois, place your hands on the control panel!"
Raya grabbed the other woman's hands, bringing them to the panel and helping her drop them into a carving on the consol – the crystal she was holding landed between her hands to rest on the surface.
In one moment everything went still; in the next, the structure vibrated and hummed with sudden life under-foot. The ice surrounding them seemed to glow from within and in the center of the consol the crystals outshone the rest. Simultaneously, the shelter warmed for the comfort of Lois' human physiology.
Feeling her shoulders relax as the cold left them, Lois turned to her right to gawk at Raya. Opening and closing her mouth in utter wonder, she was unable to garner the blonde's attention as her voice was trapped in her throat. Appearing more concerned with the working consol in front of them, Raya missed the waves of shock and slight trepidation wafting off her companion.
"The system is coming back on. We should be able to access Jor-El's program and the rest of the knowledge crystals." Raya spoke more to herself than Lois.
Breaking away from the occupied woman, Lois took a few tentative steps around the ice structure – gently running her fingers over some of the peripheral surfaces. She pulled her hand back in amazement when her fingers contacted the smooth warmth of the walls; they weren't ice as she had thought. She worked frantically to place the familiar surroundings, shuffling through the filing cabinet of her memory.
"I've been here before." Her awe filled whisper caught the attention of Raya.
"With Ka..Clark?" Raya paused in order to face Lois.
Shaking her head, she took a few steps back toward the consol. "No. I was…" taking a moment, she ordered her thoughts, "It was the day of the blackout." Her gaze greedily soaked up every inch of the Fortress. "Heaven," she whispered and reached out to touch the delicate looking pieces of crystal sticking up.
"Pull one out," Raya encouraged with a subtle grin.
Wary of breaking something, Lois dipped into the consol and removed one of the crystals. Despite the interior of the Fortress remaining the same, something imperceptible shifted.
"Welcome Lois Lane."
Lois nearly tossed the crystal into the air at the booming voice calling out to her. Looking around she found that Raya was the only other person in the room; the wide smile on the woman's face caused her to quirk an eyebrow.
"So you brought me here to listen to a loud voice on a speaker?" She joked as she grew increasingly uncomfortable. Raya appeared confused, giving Lois an added moment to ponder another question for the woman. "Where is here anyway?"
"The Northern Yukon Territory."
"Is an angry Eskimo about to come home and find us here?" She let loose a nervous chuckle of laughter. "How'd we get here from Smallville?"
"The caves act as a portal for transportation here," Raya informed her.
"I don't know about you but I'd rather not be beamed up anywhere – I like all my body parts where they are," Lois drawled.
"The technology was common on Krypton."
"Oh well then by all means – let's disassemble my particles again." She rolled her eyes. "What's with the voice though?" Lois smirked, "If I pull back the curtain will there be a little man on a stool?"
Missing the pop culture reference, Raya answered seriously. "The voice is Clark's father Jor-El. His being is portrayed through the crystals. They were left for Kal-El in order to complete his training and understand his purpose here on Earth."
"And this Kal-El is Clark right?" Lois played with the new crystal of different shape held in her hand.
"You must engage him in order to gain the wisdom he holds," Raya expounded.
"Isn't there some beep I can leave a message after?" Lois sighed at the frown on Raya's brow. "Why don't you speak to him – you're the one who knows him."
"You are the conduit for Jor-El now – until your child is born. Jor-El won't recognize my presence unless you alert him to it."
"Alright Lois, just make nice with the disembodied voice," she muttered to herself. "What the hell did you do to me last time I was here?" Lois swallowed in shock at her own outburst.
"I was not expecting you so soon," he answered back.
"And what…you didn't have time to think up a good enough excuse for assaulting me?" Her ire rose as she remembered the fear and sense of violation she had experienced earlier.
"I have no excuses to make for my actions. You are correct that it was unconscionable of me to use you without your permission; however, what's done is done."
"How convenient for you," Lois snarled. "How did you," she stopped herself, not sure that she wanted to know the answer, "why?" She settled on the less emotional of the two questions.
"Fate," Jor-El responded succinctly. "Martha Kent brought you here for protection from the cold. She asked that I send you back to Smallville in order to be treated for your injuries; I did as she asked. But with Kal-El lost to the Phantom Zone, I could not risk the possibility of the extinction of our race. The future exists within you now Lois Lane. A child who will lead Earth and change the landscape humans are destined for. Kal-El was to be the light of humanity but the child you share with him will bring greatness as his father was meant to."
"You sure as hell have high hopes for a kid who just barely has all its organs," Lois balked.
"I have no doubt that my grandchild will succeed. His parentage determined it." Jor-El's answer was stated with a margin on levity.
"Grandchild? Clark participated in this!"
"Kal-El is lost to us and was not aware of my methods to ensure the path of humanity. When your son becomes of age it is possible that he will be able to rescue his father. But I'm afraid that Clark did not complete his training and will not know how to escape the prison Zod has sent him to."
"What are you talking about? Clark's not in any prison. I saw him two days ago," Lois protested.
"He has escaped then." There was a moment of silence from Jor-El. "You must bring him to me. There are dangers regarding-"
"Yeah, yeah Clark's in danger. I know. It's why we're here. Raya mention something about escaped prisoners from the Phantom thingy. But there's a matter of a pregnancy lacking consent to deal with first."
"Raya," Jor-El announced.
"Yes Jor-El. I'm here with Lois. Your son released me from the Zone and I am well. Unfortunately Kal-El released others onto Earth as well."
"They must be stopped and returned to the Zone before Zod gets hold of them."
"Kal-El has defeated Zod Jor-El. But I fear that without the aid of the family crystal and your guidance, he will not be able to stop the threat of the prisoners on Earth," Raya spoke quickly.
"So let me get this straight," Lois held up her hands as though Jor-El could see them and know to stop talking, "Clark is from another planet and he's supposed to ring in a new era of leadership on Earth but because you," she gestured up and around, "thought he was gone, impregnated the first woman who passed along with your son's son." Lois disregarded Raya's worried look – it seemed the woman was just catching on to the fact that Lois had been ignorant to Clark's origins. "What gives you the right to-"
Lois's rant ceased abruptly as the first strains of her Maneater ring tone played in the Fortress. A blushed tinted her cheeks red and as she pulled the phone from her front pant pocket. On the screen of flashing blue was the name Chloe.
Raising her eyebrows at Raya, she shrugged. "I get service here," she stated as she eagerly opened the phone. "Chloe hey, listen I need-" her younger cousin cut her off in a rush.
"Lois have you seen Clark?"
Stunned that the conversation was so suddenly ripped out from beneath her, it took a moment before Lois could answer. "Recently?"
"Where are you right now?" Chloe asked.
Opening her mouth to respond, Lois paused. "At the Kent farm…I'm working from here today."
"Has Clark been there in the passed hour?"
"No. Actually I haven't seen him all day. But listen, I glad you called cause I really need to-"
"I have to go Lois but if you see him tell him to call me."
Before Lois could reply, Chloe ended the call. Staring at the cell phone, she felt an irrational need to cry. Locking down the tears, she turned instead to her fellow traveler of the day.
"We have to find Clark." Raya took the cylindrical crystal from Lois. "There must be a way we can track his biological readings from here. He is the only Kryptonian on the planet besides me and your son."
"And I'm just supposed to go along for the ride?" Lois stepped back. "I want explanations. I want to know why you thought you could use my body like some oven for a cake you want to bake."
"You must understand that-"
Raya cut Jor-El off. "You and Clark can come back for the answers but right now we have to get to him. The prisoner he's dealing with is more dangerous than anything he could imagine and until Clark returns to the Fortress, you are the only one who can use the crystal," Raya soothed. Venturing to appeal to Lois' maternal instinct she continued, "Your son's father needs your help Lois."
Balling her hands up in fists on either side, Lois let out a puff of air. "Fine." She snatched up the El crystal from the top of the consol and looked around the Fortress. "Jor-El! Don't go anywhere; you and I are going to have a little chat when I return." Shaking her head she muttered quietly to herself, "This is out of control. I'm talking to a guy who's dead but can still think. Just face it Lane, you've finally lost it. You've lost your mind."
Stepping down from the platform she glanced back at Raya, "Umm…how exactly are we supposed to get out of here?"
3/4
Please R&R if you get the chance.