Chapter 12

"Thank you for getting back to me so quickly" Clark stepped out of the shuttle that had brought him to the Metropolis. After leaving the fortress, he made his way to a nearby transfer station to catch a ride back to the Daily Planet. On his way back a realtor had called about a potential apartment on the city ship.

"The place sounds great; I'll try to stop by your office as soon as I can. Thanks again." Clark tapped his earpiece, disconnecting the call and started making his way to the iconic news building. Stepping through the crowd, apologizing to those who bumped into him, he could not help but notice a few odd things. There weren't as many sky cars in the air as there normally were. News screens and other holovids occasionally glitched and then returned to normal.

Something was definitely wrong, because the moment he walked into the bullpen Lois didn't start berating him. He looked around and saw that everyone was hustling through the office. After a quick glance, he didn't see Lois anywhere.

Clark made it to his desk and saw post note-

"Smallville,

Big lead on what's happening on the Citadel, left without you. Catch ya later. –L"

"Okay" Clark said to himself as he looked around.

"Kent! Get in here!" Perry shouted from his doorway. Clark whipped his head around and started towards the chief's office.

"Yes Chief?" Clark asked peeking his head through the doorway.

"Get in here" barked the Chief, motioning the reporter inside. The doorway closed behind Clark as he shuffled inside.

"Kent I don't know where you been, but things have started going haywire here."

"I was covering the mercenary armada that got attacked-"

"Quiet Kent. Nearly every network on the Citadel as well as numerous planet systems are experiencing technical issues" Perry cut off Clark and sat in front of his desk.

"And no one knows the cause?" Clark asked adjusting his glasses.

"Nobody knows, C-Sec is on high alert because of the amount of hacking involved."

Clark listened as a thought came to mind, the virtual intelligence Dr. Solus spoke of. If that scientist continued his work and targeted Citadel space; the first sequence of any attack would be to disrupt daily activities and acquire defensive information.

"Kent, find Lois. She left here in a hurry with some big lead from a contact of hers, a Quarian I think. Find her, because if I know Lois, she's involved in something way over her head. Now go!"

Clark nodded and walked out the office to Lois' desk. He scanned through the illegible scribble of notes on her desk looking for anything that would indicate where she was. Before he went further, he tried calling her on his omni-tool, but she did not answer. Knowing Lois, Clark agreed with Perry and figured she was at the epicenter of the situation.

He sat down in her chair and booted up her holo-screen. A box opened requiring a password for access. Clark thought to himself for a second and then on a whim typed 'Superman'. To his surprise, the screen opened with full access.

Clark rolled his eyes with a smile and then looked at the most recent actions. Perry was right; Lois had been contacting a Quarian who had information concerning a Geth armada that had been acting strangely. From the few messages she and her contact had sent, it seemed the armada had started gathering huge amounts of element zero and delivering it to an area they control in the Dholen system.

Clark figured Lois left as soon as she could to meet this contact near Haestrom. He turned off her screen and stood with a sudden realization; this could be so much worse than everyone thought.

With the Geth and a super virtual intelligence commanded by a vindictive scientist involved, things could get bad quick. Clark immediately started for an exit, thinking of all the possible ways this could end. When he was clear of people on the roof area of the Daily Planet, Clark blurred into the artificial skyline.

Now dressed as Superman, he streaked right through a cargo port and directly into the emptiness of space. Using every bit of the remaining blue solar energy in his suit, Superman blasted his way into a Mass Relay and towards Haestom.

Stars whipped past him as he began to think to himself. Years ago he had intercepted files about the Reapers in the fortress. He looked into them for Shepard's sake; a way to honor his sacrifice. Superman knew of the Geth involvement with the Reaper Sovereign and what they wanted to do with the Citadel.

Superman dove out of the first relay and raced to reach the next one. Clark had learned a lot from the Fortress's teachings, things most in the galaxy did not know. Jor-el did not have much time to study element zero, but in the time he had, came across some interesting theories.

Combined with all that Clark had learned on his own, he thought he had a good idea of what was happening. He figured the Geth were attempting to create a massive temporary relay by introducing large amounts of eezo directly into a star. The combination of energies with some expert calculations could potentially create a rift in space, allowing an army to pass through.

Superman became wide eyed at this thought and willed himself to go even faster. He hoped he was wrong and this was just a mad scientist's revenge by controlling the Geth. That would be a much better situation than what he was theorizing.

Superman rocketed out of the last relay, leaving a trail of blue energy behind him. Slowing down, he tried to get a hold of Lois again. This time the call connected, but only for a moment before it went dead. He came to a complete stop and looked at his crystal omni-tool trying to trace where she was. The signal was only connected for a second, but the advanced tech of the crystal was able to pin point her location.

Superman memorized the spot and then peered through space and spotted the Geth ship she was on. The ship was surrounded by the Geth armada that hovered around the giant red star. He checked his readings and noticed that he was depleted of the rich blue solar energy. He still had plenty of regular yellow power and so focused himself on what lied ahead.

He propelled himself forward, never taking his eyes off the ship Lois was on. Just as he was getting closer, a massive blast struck him, followed by several more, sending him twisting back. The armada was now fully focused on the Man of Steel.

Superman shrugged off a blast against his head as he saw Lois's ship divert away. He was about to catch up to the ship when he was hit again in the face so hard he spun out of control. His head spun; he had never been hit so hard in his life and he was pretty sure it wasn't from a Geth weapon. Superman shook his rattled head and focused on the figure ahead of him and though he was still shaken from the attack, the figure was humanoid and staring directly at him.

Lois fidgeted in her restraints as she heard blasts coming from outside. She looked at the Quarian across from her, also in restraints, was wriggling in his seat as well. Lois raised an eyebrow as she saw the Quarian rise out of his metallic seat.

"Don't look so surprised Ms. Lane, I've been dealing with the Geth my whole life." The armored alien approached Lois and activated a small omni-tool on his wrist, unlocking her restraints. She got up, stretched while looking to her contact and wondered how she had found herself in this situation.

They were traveling in through the local relay and had only just entered the system before the shuttle started to lose power. All the systems went wild as the shuttle veered towards the Geth armada surrounding the local star. Rokane, her Quarian contact that she had met a few years back running an illegal gambling ring, tried everything he could to stop the shuttle.

Lois sat wondering what she could do to help, when her omni-tool started to flash. She looked down and saw the name 'Smallville' displayed. Her heart skipped a beat, because she didn't know it, but she somehow knew he could help. She quickly tapped the button, but as soon as she did, the power completely shut off. Moments later their shuttle was put aboard a Geth ship and they were put in restraints.

"Okay, what next?" she asked, snapping back to the present.

"We need to get out of here and it seems like something has caught their attention out there"

"Or someone" Lois whispered to herself as she looked towards the sound of the blasts beyond the metal walls.