Chapter 10
"How?" Illyana can only ask. "How did that happen?" she has to know because it is so...unlike the Clark she knows. He has no desire to rule anyone.
"Would you like an audio/visual summary of events, Mistress Illyana?" Kelex queries.
Illyana waves her hand about. "Go ahead," she permits.
The robots eyes light up and it projects images in front of Illyana as it narrates. "An appropriate place to begin is the abduction of Master Kal-El's wife by the outlawed terrorist human supremacist organisation; the Friends of Humanity."
Illyana blinks as an image of said wife appears. It's the Scarlet Witch...and there's even wedding photos in which both Wanda and Clark are glowing with happiness. She's not sure how she feels about that. If this is the future it means Clark and she broke up...but if he's married what did they just do? She bides her time and waits for Kelex to say more.
"Mistress Wanda was abducted when she was out in Bayville shopping."
"How were they able to capture her?" Illyana wonders.
"Mistress Wanda's powers had become erratic due to the impending birth of hers and Master Kal-El's offspring."
"She was pregnant?" Illyana asks nonplussed.
"Confirmed."
"Continue."
"Master Kal-El inevitably sought to rescue her. However it was a trap."
"With Wanda as the bait," Illyana gets.
"Confirmed. Upon entering the building, where Mistress Wanda was held, Master Kal-El was exposed to a kryptonite laced hallucinogenic gas. It led him to believe he was fighting the creature known as Doomsday."
Illyana stares at the image of the grey-skinned behemoth. There was something particularly dark about it...some aura of death she could sense even from just an image. "But he wasn't," she can surmise.
"No. He took what he believed was Doomsday into space. At that point the gas wore off and he discovered in his arms Mistress Wanda."
Being a robot it merely states this factually, without emotion but even Illyana can guess the utter horror Clark must have felt when he saw what he had done.
Kelex continues, "To compound the matter the Friends of Humanity had attached a detonator to Mistress Wanda's heart. When it registered that her heat had ceased function it triggered a thermonuclear device that had been hidden within the limits of Bayville. The device incinerated the city and its fallout spread to cover New York, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths."
Illyana just stares at the images of devastation. "The X-Men? The mansion? Clark's parents?"
"The Xavier Institute was destroyed and its students killed as well as Master Kal-El's human parents. The X-Men continued, operating out of the other schools."
"Other schools?"
"Additional schools were opened in England, Australia, Japan..."
"Ok, I get it," Illyana cuts the sophisticated automaton off. "Continue. What happened next?"
"Graydon Creed, Leader of the Friends of Humanity was taken into custody. However Master Kal-El's faith in such institutions had been shattered since Graydon Creed was suppose to have been incarcerated in the first place. Master Kal-El took matters into his own hand and executed Graydon Creed for his crimes."
Illyana blinks at the images in front of her. Clark had smashed his way into the prison and then literally put his hand through Creed's chest, ripping out the foul man's heart in the process. Quite effective and if she didn't know better she would think he got the idea from her. She frowns. She doesn't know better does she. She doesn't know anything at all about this world she is in. "I have the impression this act was not Clark's last response," she says.
"Correct," Kelex confirms. "Determined such a heinous crime would never happen again Master Kal-El decreed that all conflicts across the planet were to cease and if they didn't he would end them. There would be peace, no matter what and no-one else would have to endure the loss he had. Many joined Master Kal-El's cause, even those one might call villains realised the righteous of the cause."
"Magneto," Illyana can guess as one...though they are images of many super-powered heroes and villains, most of whom she has never met or seen.
"Magneto and Master Kal-El bonded over their mutual loss and Mr Lensherr was the amongst the first to declare he would join at Master Kal-El's side."
"I doubt the governments of this world would just give up their ability to wage war willingly," Illyana hypothesises.
"There was resistance at first. However all resistant governments have now been removed. They were replaced with the appropriate regimes loyal to Master Kal-El so they would secede authority to him."
And it's not just puppet governments that are loyal to Clark. From the images she is seeing he clearly has an entire world army to enforce his rule. However, what she notices is that the leaders of this army, of the puppet governments are all mutants or at least people with abilities. Humans seem to be down the pecking order. Magneto must be in heaven. It also explains why he's on Clark's side. Through Clark Magneto has basically gotten what he always wanted; Mutant Supremacy.
Kelex speaks on, "The only resistance remaining is the Insurgency."
"Insurgency?" she seeks clarification.
"A group who resist the peace Master Kal-El has brought, led by Captain America; Steven Rogers. Their aim is to overthrow Master Kal-El's rule and restore the corrupt regimes of the past."
Gee this thing sounds like a Propaganda in Chief. Illyana notes that the core of this Insurgency seem to be the Avengers she is familiar with today and of course others she doesn't know. It shows her how Captain America is waging a guerilla war against Clark. That leaves the question of her. Clearly she chose to join Clark and is someone of importance in his regime but if she was to just ask who she is that would raise suspicion.
"Yana?"
Busted.
Illyana turns round, remaining cool as Clark walks toward her in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. It only reminds her, from what she had discovered earlier, that age has only matured Clark's body to be even more impressive than it was already. "Clark," she acknowledges him.
"What are you doing?" Clark asks her, he first furrow of a puzzled frown appearing on his brow.
"I couldn't sleep," she explains. "So...I decided to review how we got here and see if I could gain a new insight into the Insurgency," she makes up on the hoof.
Clark cocks an eyebrow. "Learn anything?"
"Nothing...new," she decides to go with.
Clark sighs and he looks very weary. "I don't understand them. I've brought more peace to this world than it has ever known and yet all they want is to return to the chaos and death of the past."
He rubs his face and you can almost physically see the burden he carries. Illyana steps up to him and lays a supportive hand on his shoulder.
He smiles at her. "I wish I never had to do this. That you and I could just go away and live our lives in peace," he expresses his desire. "But I know I can't," he says sadly. "I know this has to be done so no-one has to go through what I have. That's why I'm always thankful I have you. I could never have done this without you."
"That so?" Illyana questions.
"Of course," Clark says like it is the most obvious thing in the world. "Since the moment I lost Wanda and our baby you've been there supporting me. You helped piece me back together from the shattered shell I was. When I was unsure whether I was doing the right thing it was your advice I sought. Your wisdom as a ruler. I could never have created this Regime without you Yana. After all who else was I going to listen to? Namor?" Clark says with a derisory snort.
It's odd. His humour was still there yet he spoke so unlike the Clark she knew because the Clark she knew how no interest in becoming the World's sole ruler. He would never find a reason to justify doing so.
Illyana finds herself engulfed in another hug.
"Kal! You here!?" a voice calls out, echoing around the Fortress. It's a woman's voice. Not one Illyana knows. "Kal-Sweet, Blessed Rao! My eyes! My eyes!" she suddenly cries out.
Clark lets Yana go and this gives her her first chance to see their guest, hovering in the air. It's a busty blond woman with blue eyes dressed in a red and blue body suit with the top like a coat with a long red tail that floats cape-like behind her. On her chest the same crest Clark wears. Illyana looks at Clark who is looking less than amused at first glance but at the second glance you can there is a sparkle of humour in his eyes.
"You are not remotely funny Kara," Clark tells her off.
"Au contraire couz."
'Couz?' Illyana thinks to herself. Was this woman...Clark's cousin?
"I am very funny," Kara finishes off her contradiction as she lands gently. "And I'll let you off mentally scarring me for life with your and Illyana's semi-nakedness if you tell me that I interrupted you and her finally getting around to making me an aunt."
Clark rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath.
Illyana is a little nonplussed at this talk. She's not certain she can even have children. She doesn't bleed in the monthly cycles like a normal human woman. And assuming for a moment that she can reproduce would she want to? Would she want to take the risk of possibly passing her demonic heritage onto her child?
"I would make a great aunt," Kara boasts. "After all I looked after you when you were a baby. Right up to and including changing your diapers."
"Do you have to tell that story to everyone?!" Clark protests.
"Why, yes. Yes I do," Kara confirms with a smirk.
"Is there a reason you're here beyond your usual tormenting of me?" Clark wonders.
"I heard about the kryptonite theft," Kara says, sounding decidedly more serious now.
"I'm more worried for you than I am about myself," Clark states.
"Kal..." Kara starts to protest but finds herself engulfed in a powerful hug.
"You're almost all I have left," Clark says, his voice heavy with emotion. He has so very little family left now is what the emotion conveys and couldn't bear the idea of losing his last flesh and blood relative.
Kara returns the hug. "Me too," she points out, her voice conveying the same emotional weight.
Illyana just gives the Last Children of Krypton their moment.
The two cousins pull apart with an understanding smile shared between them.
"Master Kal-El," Kelex interrupts.
"Yes, Kelex?" Clark acknowledges it.
"There is an incoming communication from Director Lensherr," the robot advises.
Clark sighs. "Duty calls," he says in a weary complaint. He makes a move to answer it when Kara stops him with a cough. "What?" he asks her.
"Clothes," Kara says, pointing up and down his form still clad in only underwear.
"Right," Clark says with a touch of embarrassment before he vanishes in a blur and reappears seconds later in his Superman outfit. He goes over to the control console and activates the communication systems. A holographic image of Magneto appears.
"High Chancellor," Magneto addresses him as.
"You can always tell when it's serious," Clark says to Kara. "That's the only time he ever uses my title."
Kara giggles at that.
"Very droll," Magneto remarks. "However, you are correct that this is indeed serious."
"Go on," Superman tells him.
"Flash and Cyborg were tracking the rebels who stole the kryptonite when they appeared to vanish."
Kara's nose wrinkles up. "That's what always happens," she complains. "They always vanish. They have a hidden base, cloaked from us somehow."
"This time we have a break. Through the Speed Force Flash was able to sense trans-dimensional vibrational distortions when they vanished."
"And he thinks if he can follow these vibrations he can find their hidden base," Superman surmises.
"He believes so," Magneto confirms.
"Finally!" Kara says, her eyes lit up in anticipation. "I'll mobilise the elite strike units," she proposes. "And then we'll crush this Insurgency once and for all!" she declares, punching one hand into the palm of the other.
"As much as I love your enthusiasm, Kara," Clark tries to reign his cousin back. She always enjoyed a fight a little too much for Clark's tastes. "We actually need that location first," he points out. "Why don't you go round up the rest of Gold Squad first," he proposes.
Kara gives him a cheeky salute...though the look in her eyes is one of deadly seriousness. "Can do," she agrees to do that before she lifts a few feet into the air and then zooms off.
"Some days I really question whether we're related," Clark grumbles in relation to his cousin.
Illyana can only look on rather bemused. For her all this is new. There must be something about her expression that has Clark cupping her face and gently kissing her.
"So Commander Rasputin...you have a plan for when Kara rounds up your team?" Clark asks her, a teasing smile pulling at his lips.
Ooh. She's in charge of this Gold Squad. Makes sense she supposes. Still how is she suppose to pull this subterfuge off, of pretending she belongs to this time period, when she doesn't know anything about herself or this team. All she can do is demur for the moment. "Well until we know what sort of defences this rebel base has it would premature to have any fixed plans," she says.
Clark nods. He seems to be buying her reasoning. "You know I'm still not certain Claire has forgiven you for not choosing her to be amongst my personal bodyguards," he comments.
Illyana shrugs. "If you had insisted in her being there I'm certain I would have accommodated you," she guesses.
"True...but when I gave you the command I was very clear that all final decisions in that regard were up to you."
"Then she'll just have to be upset. I had perfectly good reasons for my decision," Illyana states while avoiding the detail she can't give.
Clark nods along, a smile tugging at his lips as if he still finds her standoffish attitude as adorable as ever.
Later Illyana is back in that uniform she had on when she first arrived in this place. She still hasn't decided whether this is the future, a possible future, alternate timeline, parallel world or an illusion so sophisticated even she can't see through it. Too many options. Not enough facts.
She looks herself over in the mirror in Clark's bedroom in the Fortress. Although considering how much of, what she can guess are, her belongings that are up here it's more like their bedroom but back to her reflection.
Illyana studies herself. There really isn't much difference in her appearance. Not that she expected any. Demons are immortal creatures and she's not just any mere demon. She's a Hell Lord. The power of Limbo flows through her veins and definitely for as long as she rules that hellish domain she will not age. She realised that awhile ago now.
She turns a little to gauge how she looks in this uniform from the side. She's not much for having any sense of style. From a more practical standpoint this uniform is perfectly functional. Comfortable. Good flexibility. She's going to assume it's made of a material that offers some level of protection, probably like the costumes the X-Men wear.
Illyana then leans forward close to really look at herself. She wonders what she is going to do. Should she tell Clark the truth of who she really is or let this play out some more?
She still needs to find out what is going on and how she was brought here. Which choice would best accomplish this?
In a way the choice is taken out of her hands when Clark enters the room to tell her that Flash(whoever that is) has found a location.
Illyana summons her Soulsword, just to check really she still can. It appears with no extra effort in her hand.
Well then. Let her see what happens now.
What happens now is that Clark whisks her away across the great vastness of the North American Continent, held gently and securely in his arms as they transcend hundreds and thousands of miles in mere moments and Illyana can sense that Clark is hardly trying. She idly wonders how fast he is now.
They approach what is Salem in Massachusetts and as they approach a clearing Illyana can see a large gathering of troops and other people in costumes. She can also sense a strong mystical signature. The entire area stinks of magic. The magics of order and light. The exact opposite of the ones of darkness and chaos she was taught.
Of course that is the problem. The whole area stinks of magic. It makes it a good hiding place because how do you pinpoint a magically concealed base amongst all the ambient mystical energies.
Clark brings them into land and everyone snaps to attention at his presence. Illyana spots Kara, hovering just above the ground, giving a briefing to a group of people in identical uniforms to Illyana herself. That must be Gold Squad.
As soon as they land a figure appears in a flash of golden lightning, dressed in a hooded red costume with a lightning bolt motif on the chest.
"Flash," Superman greets the figure.
"Big guy," Flash returns the greeting with a cheeky salute which brings a small smile to Clark's face.
"Tell me what you sense?" Superman requests of the Scarlet Speedster.
Flash sweeps his hand over an area. "There. The Speed Force is distorted, vibrating out of sync. The same vibrations I sensed when the rebels vanished. I think that is where their hidden base is."
"I guess Captain Rogers and company overlooked that one," Superman remarks in relation to Flash's ability to sense it.
"Well it is hard to hide from a fundamental force of creation."
"Are you speaking about the Speed Force...or yourself?" the Man of Steel asks, giving the Scarlet Speedster a pointed look.
"I don't like to boast," Flash claims with false modesty.
Illyana finds Clark giving her a pleading look. All she can do is shrug.
Superman then rises up into the air and speaks loudly. "Captain Rogers!" his voice booms. "It's over! We know you're here! Surrender peacefully and I promise that neither you nor those that follow you will be harmed!"
Illyana somehow doubts that will work…
…
…
...and it clearly doesn't as Illyana suddenly finds herself witnessing a vast battle between two groups of individuals, both superpowered and not. She was just pulled out of time and then placed back in to it some time ahead.
Illyana quickly tries to take in her surroundings. Being dropped suddenly into the middle of a battle leaves her vulnerable. She hates that.
Her blue eyes don't see Clark but they do fix in on the streak of golden lightning, weaving in and out across the battlefield until suddenly Flash is struck by some sort of energy blast, sending him rolling across the ground.
Flash shakes his head and looks up to find a certain someone standing over him, weapon aimed at his form. "Iris," he says in annoyance...and hurt.
"Barry," the woman returns the greeting.
Flash gets to his feet slowly. "So this is where you went, huh? This is what you left me for?" he asks, the pain, hurt and anger clearly audible.
"You were the one who left me, Barry," Iris argues.
Flash laugh bitterly. "I'm not the one who called off our engagement and stormed out our apartment, Iris. That was all you," he reminds her.
"You know that is not what I meant. You were the one who changed. The Barry Allen I know would never have aided a dictator."
"The world changed!" Flash snaps. "Or did you miss the nuclear bomb?"
"Of course I didn't miss it, Barry but that's no excuse for you to give up. The man I love would never have given up. He would have kept fighting for what is right but that man left me. He gave up. Became someone else. That's why I couldn't stay. I couldn't stay and watch what you were becoming."
"What I was becoming?" Barry says with utter scorn. "I was just doing what needed to be done, Iris. To protect you, Joe, Cisco, Caitlin...so that what happened to Wanda would never happen to you. The fact you would join...them..." Flash shakes his head. "I'm starting to think I never knew you at all." He glares at his former fiancée. "You know the thing about those speedster weapons is that their effect is only temporary," he points out, golden lightning dancing in his eyes already as his powers return.
Iris charges the weapon up again. "Barry. I don't want to do this. Come back to me. The real you. Don't make do this," she pleads, hoping to reach the man she knew and loved, that he is still there, deep inside.
"But it's so much fun to do this!" a voice gleefully cackles.
Iris spins round only to find her weapon caught in an iron, or should that be icy, grip and herself staring into the crystal blue eyes of her former friend. "Caitlin."
Ice blue lips curve up on a pale white face. "I prefer...Killer Frost," she corrects as the weapon in her hand freezes and then shatters.
Iris hisses in pain and she grabs her near frozen hand. She finds her top yanked by the pale skinned, white haired woman(though she had restyled it since they last met so it was long on her right side and short on the left) and the cold penetrates right to her bones. Her former friend brings her lips to Iris' ear and whispers. "I really must thank you. After all you handed me Barry on a silver platter and if it's any consolation since you left I've been keeping his bed very warm. Ironic for me I know."
Iris' eyes narrow at the cold amusement dancing on Killer Frost's face. Her lips almost twitch up in disgust. Caitlin has one of the Regime's uniforms on. The fact they allow her friend, twisted into this mockery, a prominent role...just shows to Iris she was right to fight against it. "The fact they appoint you, Killer Frost, to a prominent role is all the proof I need that I'm on the right side," she says what she was thinking.
Killer Frost pouts. "But I'm a good girl now..." Her lips curl up in a lusty smirk. "Though Barry does prefer it when I'm baaadd."
Iris shudders at that imagery. "Want some advice, Caitlin?"
"And what would that be?" Killer Frost asks in an almost sensual tone.
"Always watch your surroundings," Iris advises.
Confusion flashes across Killer Frost's face...just before a distortion wave smashes into her, sending her flying.
"No!" Flash cries out as his speed returns and he zips and catches his current girlfriend. "Caitlin," he whispers as he brushes his thumb over her cold skin. Once he has checked out she is ok, he glares at who was responsible. A former friend. "Vibe," he spits out, furious, unable to bring himself to say the man's real name.
Vibe raises his special glasses from his eyes that aid his powers. His gaze is almost sad really at the situation the friends now find themselves in as enemies. "I would respond with 'Flash', except you don't deserve that name any longer," Vibe tells the Scarlet Speedster.
Flash carefully places Killer Frost on the ground before he stands up straight. "I think I deserve that name more than ever. After all, all those years stopping metahumans, the point was to stop them hurting people, to bring law and order to Central City and that is what I have done. Not just to the city but to the world...well we will after we crush this Insurgency today," he vows.
Vibe replaces his glasses over his eyes. "I'm really sorry it has come to this, Barry," he says with regret.
"Not as sorry as I...Cisco," Flash finally says his ex-friend's name and genuinely meaning it. After all who wants to fight their friends. Lightning dances over his form as the two former friends go at it.
Illyana turns away from that confrontation when her attention is caught by lightning flashing across the sky, joined by red flashes amongst the clouds. Is that…
Her question is answered when the duelling forms of Superman and Thor impact the ground, tearing out a crater. Illyana finds the two titans locked together in a battle of strength.
"Arrogant cur!" Thor curses. "To forsake all you believe in and attempt to justify it."
"I'm through justifying myself to the likes of you, Thunder God!" Superman retorts.
"Blaggard!" Thor snaps as he gets his hand free...the one with the mystical hammer and slams Superman in the jaw sending the alien powerhouse flying onto his back. He leaps into the air, aiming to smash his hammer down with all his might. "Now feel the might of a God!" he vows.
Illyana makes motion to move when she finds Superman catches the hammer in both hands.
"Odin's beard!" Thor exclaims.
"You're nothing but a small God from a small World with small ideas!" Superman sneers...as he draws his right hand back and smashes the golden haired Asgardian with all his strength, sending Thor tumbling backwards.
Thor draws himself to his feet and charges only to be met by a wall of fire emanating from Superman's eyes. Even the mystical armour covering Thor's body cannot withstand the inferno as it melts and shatters off in pieces.
It's so bright and intense Illyana has to look away for several moments. When she can look again she finds Superman standing over the now fallen God, his face harder than she can ever recall seeing it. For the 1st time since she arrived here she can really see that something inside Clark has fundamentally changed. As if something inside has broken and can't be fixed ever again. She knows that feeling.
SPRANG!
A blurred object hits Superman on the head and bounces off. Illyana follows it until it is caught to reveal it is a red, white and blue circular shield with a white star in the centre, now held in the hands of
"Captain America," Superman states, though with a slightly mocking tone.
"Stand down!" the veteran hero orders.
"I wondered what it would take to get you out of hiding," Superman poses. "Seems like it takes a teammate to fall...and people called you a hero," he snorts in disgust. "Coward is more like it," he lays the insult down. "This Insurgency is over!" he declares.
"Even if we fall today it will never be over, Superman," the Captain declares. "Freedom loving people everywhere will fight until your tyranny comes to an end."
"Tyranny? The only tyranny I see around here is the one you want to impose, Captain. To restore the corrupt governments who not only allowed genocidal madmen to walk free but supported their causes. How many times did the so called democracies of this world aid in the attempted genocide of mutant-kind, Captain? Let me count the ways. There was the Registration Acts, the Camps, the illegal, inhumane experiments...and lets not forget the Genosian Massacre….and I'm barely scratching the surface here...and you have the gall to defend them!" he snarls, his anger and grief over losing his wife and child threatening to come to the surface.
"It may have been imperfect but I still choose democracy!"
"The choice is no longer yours to make!"
"You've allowed your grief and anger to corrupt you, Clark," Captain America tries to make him see. "You've allowed Magneto and Magik to guide you down a dark path."
"I'm well aware of what Magneto wants, what he has always wanted," Superman dismisses that. "I focus his energies where they are most useful...but as for Illyana, you do not know what you are talking about," he warns the super-soldier off raising that topic.
Wait, wait, wait. Magik? Is that what she calls herself now? Illyana takes a moment...you know what it's not actually bad.
"She's a Hell Lord, Clark! Look around you. All this chaos, death and destruction, it's what beings like her thrive off!"
"There would have been peace by now apart from you!" Superman snaps, his temper now on edge. "You have brought this chaos, Captain but it ends today. I swear it!"
Illyana can't help but concede that Captain America's words have a sliver of truth. Hell Lords do thrive off chaos. Has she been subtly pushing Clark down a dark path for her own ends? She's certainly capable of it. Still she hasn't fathomed out the reason she was brought here.
Illyana can only watch on as Superman snaps a punch into that nearly indestructible shield, sending the super soldier sliding back across the ground.
"There's still a way to end this peacefully, Clark," Captain America says, peeking out from behind his shield.
"Oh I know how you plan to end it, Captain. Clearly you didn't steal kryptonite because you like the colour green. If you think killing me will change anything you truly are more delusional than I imagined. Millions have willingly followed me because they believed in the path I have undertaken. My death will not change that."
"It's not my intention to kill you," the Captain protests as he blocks a blast of heat vision.
"Lies," Superman hisses, blurring as he barges through the man, knocking him flat. He turns round, his eyes glowing dimly red. "You steal one of the few things that can kill me and my cousin and then claim that's not your intention?!" he exclaims in understandable disbelief. "I lost my family once, Captain. Never again," he swears. After all losing his wife and unborn child, his parents in the nuclear destruction of Bayville...making sure that never happened to anyone else; that is what has driven him to do all of this.
"I'm sorry for what you lost Clark but that can't justify this!" Captain America tells him as he barely manages to dodge a super-powered blow from the tall alien.
"You think this is what I wanted?! Any of this?!" Superman cries as a retaliatory hit from the shield manages to snap his head to this side. "Magic," he mutters in disgust at the cause of the fact he felt that. Someone has enhanced the shield with magic. "I never wanted this but it had to be done so no-one else would suffer. Stand down Captain and you and your followers will get a fair trial. I promise."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," the Captain refuses.
"Then I'm afraid I will have to put you down by whatever means necessary."
"Now that is something I know the old you would never say."
"And I'm tried of arguing with people who refuse to listen and to see the truth," Superman says, the weariness clear in his voice.
The two titular heroes prepare to clash again...only for a cry of pain to stop both in their tracks.
"Kara?" Superman breathes, his voice trembling slightly. His head snaps round to the right before he blurs off.
Illyana finds she can access her stepping disks(having never actually conjured one yet since she arrived here) and goes after him. She had only briefly seen what she thought was Kara, fighting in the sky another blond woman in a red, blue and gold costume with a gold star on the chest.
When she exits her disk she finds Kara on the ground, unmoving, an arrow through her heart and her skin distorted with sickly glowing green running through her veins. A kryptonite tipped arrow of some sort she can assume.
And dangling off the ground, Clark's steel grip around his neck, squeezing hard is what Illyana assumes is the archer responsible. Looks like Hawkeye...only it's a different guy in the costume she realises as she looks closer.
And that's when what Illyana thought she saw, when Clark battled Thor, comes gushing to the surface. That something, fundamental, inside him has broken because without another word he just snaps the guy's neck, no pity or mercy in his eyes. He then just tosses the corpse away, hard and far before bending down to his fallen cousin and cradling her in his arms.
Illyana can only watch on as Clark sobs openly into Kara's hair.
"No more," she can hear him whisper. "No more of this."
She wonders...her thought is cut off as her supernatural senses pick up something odd...from Clark. It's like...an energy build up...and then she notices his whole body begins to glow...brighter and brighter until he's as bright as the sun itself.
Then with a primal roar of pain and grief all that energy is unleashed in a brilliant solar flare…
…
…
Spots before her eyes again, blinding.
What happened?
Illyana's vision clears to find herself on the business end of a camera that is held in Clark's hands…as if it was a flash that blinded her.
Illyana frowns in confusion. It was Clark dressed fairly casual...and they...where were they? In a lounge?
Yep. That's where they were...and she finds herself chewing on something. Sweet and crumbly. Really good though.
"You know every time I take an image these days you're always eating one of my mom's cookies," Clark teases. "You're like a horde of locust. One is never enough," he says as he walks up to her, a loving look in his eye. He then pats her stomach. "I'm starting to wonder how much of this is cookie and how much is baby," he jests as he leans down and kisses her, that adorable lopsided grin on his face.
Illyana's eyes go slightly wide. Baby?
Her head turns to her left and finds a mirror hanging on the wall...which confirms it to be true. She's pregnant. Very much so to judge by the size of the bump.
By the Dark Lords where, in the name of Limbo, is she now?
Author's Note: If you're wondering why I chose Wanda as the one to marry Clark and then die it was more thinking I needed a reason Clark and Magneto would bond together. In this case over their mutual loss and allowing Clark, in some way, to basically agree with Magneto's view that humans just can't be left to run things. Saying that I'm not a huge fan of the way Supes is written in the Injustice comics. He just seems, to me, to embrace the role of dictator and tyrant too easily. For me it should be a weary reluctance that he does so, that he would sorely wish he could be doing anything else but feels like this is what he has to do now and it was what I was trying to get across here. And for those who watch the Flash tv show you may have noticed some familiar characters got a cameo. And the classic Superman vs Thor fight. Hey, look, Kara's in my story finally...and then I killed her. Ain't I a stinker. On an aside her costume is from the Smallville Season 11 comics. And the end was Superman's probably now short lived solar flare power which destroys everything within like a mile so I leave it up to you to decide whether I just killed a lot of people or not. Illyana pregnant...Hell Lord and hormones...I shudder to think. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Yanamas part 3 as Illyana finds herself in a different future. Will this one have a happier ending?
