The Ultimate Gambit – pt. 2 Amethyst / Scorched
Lionel Luthor took a quick breath and stared into Clark's eyes. It was his usual form of intimidation. "About one hundred to one hundred and fifty years from now, give or take a decade, a powerful alien dark force will attack Earth and destroy it." Clark took a pause for dramatic effect.
"I will be unable to defeat it." He admitted. "The Earth and all of its inhabitants will be lost, either killed or enslaved. I will have failed to complete my mission, the mission that Jor El assigned to me, first of all, survive, and secondly, protect Earth from suffering the fate of Krypton."
Lionel calmly folded his hands on the desk before him. "Really?" The business mogul sounded skeptical. "This Jor El is your true father, then?" He inquired. "Yes." Clark confirmed. "If you're not Clark Kent, then exactly who are you?" Lionel interrogated. "I'm called Kal El. This is my family crest, the House of El." He pointed to the S like symbol emblazoned on his shirt. "As I stated earlier, my biological parents sent me here, assuming that Earth would give me my best chance at survival." Clark informed him.
"Lionel, if we don't do this, then humanity will be eliminated. Earth will be decimated. The entire human species would become extinct, just like my Kryptonian race. Do you really want that on your conscience, knowing that you could have stopped the annihilation of the human race?" Clark pressed.
Lionel glared at him coolly. "If I'm dead, Clark, or Kal El, what difference would it make? There would be little benefit to me after all. Besides, what exactly do you think that I can do about it?" He asked gruffly, still unsure of what to make of the young alien's bizarre story.
Clark sighed heavily, knowing how unreasonable and stubborn Lionel always was. "Lionel, what I'm about to tell you won't be easy for you to hear." Superman menaced. "A few years from now, your constant fighting with Lex will come to a head. Lex will kill you."
Lionel was shocked. "Lex? Kill me? He doesn't have the stones for that." He denied. "Yes he does, Lionel. Lex will become obsessed with me, and the whole Veritas debacle. He will also have Patricia Swann killed, and possibly Genevieve and Jason Teague as well." Clark predicted.
"So what are you saying, Clark? That I should have my only son killed before he kills me?" Lionel was incredulous. "First of all, Lex is not your only son, and you know as well as I that you have a stepdaughter hidden as well." Clark narrowed his eyes. Now Lionel's jaw dropped. "I've told no one about either of them, at least no one that matters." He continued. "Exactly." Superman confirmed.
"You should immediately make your peace with Lex, and invite him to become a full partner in LuthorCorp." Clark directed. "What? Lex is irresponsible, irrational, and generally ignorant of business practices." Lionel argued, again failing to see the bigger picture.
"Yes, Lex is all that." Clark added. "I can keep him in line for the most part, but to make this work, you'll have to take him under your wing. I can't run your business for you." Lionel glanced at Clark thoughtfully. "You know how ridiculous this sounds, Clark?" He asked rhetorically. "Yes. This is not at all how I'd pictured saving the world Lionel. Nevertheless it is what I must do."
"You can prove all of this, I assume." Lionel challenged. "No." Clark frowned. He surely didn't want Lionel to know about the Eye of Rao, and its amazing power to allow its possessor to travel through time. Lionel gawked at him in disbelief. "Really, Clark? How do I even know that you are this traveler at all?" Clark searched about the room looking for something to innocuously display his powers.
"Lionel do you see that candle across the room on your fireplace mantle?" Superman pointed towards it. "Sure Clark. Why?" Lionel followed his gaze. "Can you see that it remains unlit?" Clark questioned. "Yes." Lionel sighed. "Observe." Superman focused his sight on the tip of the candle wick.
He let loose with a pinpoint blast of laser vision that lit the candle, its flame now reflecting against the stained glass windows, as it cast shadows of objects nearby. Lionel removed his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes, giving the candle a second look.
"Okay, that could have been some type of a trick." He stubbornly remarked. "Lionel, after all of the meteor freaks in and around Smallville, and all of Luthor Corps questionable experiments ranging from genetic mutation to miracle cure drugs, are you still an unbeliever?" Clark baited him.
"Listen Clark, I can certainly say that something is not quite right about you, about all this." Lionel began. "That doesn't translate into Lex and I saving the world." Superman was growing frustrated. He was tempted to take the Eye of Rao and drag Lionel to the exact time of his death by Lex's hand. That would tip off Lionel to this immense power, and he'd assuredly find a way to coopt it for his own selfish needs.
"You'll require more proof, then, Lionel?" Superman asked as his eyes narrowed. "Of course." The elder Luthor responded. "Then you'll have it." Clark menaced. "You aren't afraid of heights, are you?" He scowled as Lionel cast him a puzzled glance. "No, I should say not." He replied. "Good." Clark growled.
In a fraction of a second, Clark wrestled Lionel off his chair and dashed out the study window that he'd left unlocked, carrying the elder Luthor over his back like a sack of livestock feed. "Clark!" Lionel yelled as Superman zipped off the rooftop and soared straight upward over the immense grounds of Luthor Manor. Without fail, Clark flew past the lengthy roadways that led to and from the property.
"Clark! You put me down this instant!" Lionel bellowed above the rushing wind. "You'd better think about that, Lionel, look down!" Superman uncharacteristically toyed with him. Clark glided ever higher, until the acres of golden Kansas crops below them appeared as one great brown and green patch. The few tractors that dotted the local highways were no larger than ants to the naked eye.
Superman slowed his speed and hovered. He could hear Lionel 's heart race, and feared that the middle-aged man would have a heart attack. On the one hand Clark thought that would be justice, seeing as how his Earth father, Jonathan Kent had died in much the same way. But Darkseid's Army of Darkness, the threat that hung over all of mankind, was a bigger issue than the two of them.
Once again, Clark swallowed his pride. "Now do you believe me?" He questioned the heavily breathing elder Luthor. "Fine, Clark! You have convinced me that you're not of this world. That still doesn't tell me how Lex and I can make a difference. May we go home now?" Clark nodded.
Superman briefly turned away, choosing to gaze at the elegantly lit, sparkling Metropolis skyline. He'd forgotten how much beauty remained in his adopted home. "I'll take you back to the manor, provided we can talk civilly about this entire crisis, and what you must do." Clark slowly accelerated lower and soon the blurred lines of the divided farm fields became clear, and the edge of the Luthorcorp property was set firmly in his sight. Superman flew in over the outermost iron gated entrance.
He landed softly just inside the gate, startling a security guard placed there. "Mr. Luthor! I didn't see you come in." He remarked, his voice filled with panic. Lionel stood erect, and straightened out his gray sweater. Clark followed a short distance behind him, appearing to come off of a nearby path.
"That's right, Malcom! You most assuredly did not see us approach!" Lionel spat angrily. "I should fire you on the spot, but since I'm in a good mood, I'll let you go with a warning!" The security card shifted uneasily. "Thank you, Mr. Luthor, it won't happen again." He apologized. "See that it doesn't." Lionel snapped and began the long walk back to the rear entrance to the manor.
"You couldn't have dropped me off closer?" Lionel complained loudly to Clark once they were out of the guard's earshot. "It would attract too much unwarranted attention, and this will give us a chance to talk." Clark said calmly, as he stepped over a small rock formation and began walking next to Lionel.
Clark filled Lionel in on his plan to unite WorthingtonCo, WayneCo, Queen Industries, and Luthorcorp in a number of defense ventures, including building the Watchtower Space Station. The talk of high finance held Lionel's interest, as Clark knew that it would.
Oliver, Bruce Wayne, and Marcus Worthington, would be much easier to convince going forward, though admittedly, the time travel issue would garner everyone's suspicions. Superman felt that this was the right approach, though it would be painstakingly slow. Fortunately, he had all the time in the world, or so he'd hoped.
Scorched part 2
Clark held the Eye of Rao before him, placing the large gemstone into the sunlight above his head. The light that had shone through the multiple front windowpanes, refracted through the gems, first causing a beautiful prismatic effect, and then suddenly, paragraph after paragraph of wording emerged.
The display spread itself throughout the large square farmhouse living room. The wording formed patterns, spinning along the beige and white walls. It was a Kryptonian message! Clark was shocked. He'd been using the Eye of Rao incorrectly!
"Now I find the instruction manual!" Superman complained aloud. He quickly read through the paragraphs upon paragraphs of information. Apparently, the ancient artifact had been more highly advanced than he or Kara knew. The time travel application was triggered by specific alpha waves within a Kryptonian's brain. In short, the Eye of Rao was keyed to Kryptonian DNA, only pure Kryptonian.
This would have the effect of "locking out" any alien being or machine from its use. Even the Kryptonian built supercomputer, BRAINIAC, would be unable to access its functions. "That's helpful." He mused.
As Clark filtered through the information, he came across its operation specifics. The center gem within the gold colored facet was transparent, and it was the control mechanism, the colored gems were actually a type of recording array, for the user to catalogue his or her travels. He'd been pressing the multicolored facets in random order, which was the exact wrong thing to do!
Superman scowled in dismay. He'd literally wasted so much time skipping from alternative reality to alternative reality. He formed a new plan. The basic idea would still work, though he'd have to retrace his steps. One timeline stood out in his memory as something that should be destroyed.
Clark pressed the center translucent gem, and concentrated on a specific time period and location. "Smallville High School dance, April 17th, 2001, 6:45 PM." He announced the directive aloud for his own sanity more than anything else. Immediately, the familiar spinning vortex appeared. Clark entered it.
It spit him out mere seconds before was supposed to pick up Lana Lang for the dance. Superman zipped upstairs to his room, spun into his suit for the dance, and grabbed the keys to his father's pickup truck. He would pick up Lana, knowing that she possessed Jeremy Creek's meteor rock power to control and direct electricity. Therefore, he could prevent her from killing the abusive teens.
About halfway to Lana's house, which was technically across the farm field from his adopted parents' home, Clark hit upon another idea. What if he abducted Lana with her electrical power ability, and took her into the future to face Darkseid? If he failed to defeat the Dark Force, Lana and all of the rest of the humans would either be killed or enslaved, including Lana's descendants anyway.
In this timeline, both he and Lana would have appeared to disappear. In any event, what difference would this timeline make in the overall plan? He mused, and finalized his decision. He pulled up in front of Lana's house and quickly ran through meeting her parents, taking the obligatory pictures, and got her back into the pickup.
"Lana do you trust me?" He asked. "Well, yeah, I guess so." The teen beauty answered warily. "Good. That's all I needed to know." Clark said as he pushed the center gem, and they were gone. The deserted pickup truck remained in Lana's parents' home driveway.