Chapter Two

From their secure location among the rooftops, the three members of the Legion watched as the red and blue blur raced his way across Metropolis.

"You know... I always wonder," Garth reflected, "at times like this, when he really needs to find someone... why doesn't he just use his Super-Voice?"

Imra shrugged. "Maybe it's another power he hasn't figured out yet."

"Maybe it's apocryphal," Rokk conjectured.

Garth screwed up his face in frustration. "Wait... you mean not only can't he fly, but he doesn't have a Super-Voice that will echo perfectly backwards, forwards, and sideways through time and space? Then how does he sing into the Miracle Machine in his final battle with Darkseid?"

"Garth..." Rokk sighed.

"I'm just saying..." Garth raised up with hands in surrender. "Clark's a nice guy, but he's kind of a disappointment."

"Focus on the Chronovore," Rokk instructed. "We have to stay between it and Kal-El no matter what."

"He taught us not to kill," Garth argued.

"Then we die," Imra replied. "Kal-El's future is what really matters."

Rokk nodded and Garth got very quiet.

Suddenly, he didn't have much to say.

---

Clark burst into the hospital waiting room, a eyes darting around for somewhere to place the wounded boy.

"I'm afraid there's not much room left," Dr. Cross told him, gesturing across the overcrowded room. "Little enough we can do for them now, anyway. "

The blind doctor held his arms out anyway and Clark handed him the boy. "I'm sorry," Clark said reflexively.

Dr. Cross smiled. "The two of you never need to apologize for saving lives."

"Two?" Clark turned his head and came face to face with Impulse.

"Hey, Clark," Bart waved sadly.

---

After a long night trying to prove her own existence, Chloe was beginning to have her own doubts.

She could still touch objects she wasn't trapped in a single room, but since no one seemed could see her and she was finding absolutely no trace that she had so much as been born, all that meant was there was little hope of Jimmy finding her on his radio this time. If he even knew to look.

Jimmy.

He hadn't been at the Planet and his cellphone went to voicemail, but at least she had found enough to know that he still existed and, if he wasn't out covering this disaster, she knew he still lived at his old apartment. She didn't know what she'd find, but she had to see him.

With purpose Chloe made her way through the Daily Planet parking lot, and there, parked across two handicapped spaces was Lois's car, one of the few she could take without feeling like she was outright stealing and, more importantly, possibly the only vehicle in Metropolis whose owner would actually be careless enough to leaving the keys locked in the ignition.

"Lois," Chloe smiled in recognition.

...Then instantly let it drop.

Chloe reached a thin arm through the slightly open window and grabbed the latch.

---

"You know, Ollie told us to shut you down," Bart told him casually. "He said that you were making some bad decisions and... we needed to stop you from doing something really stupid."

"You believe him?" Clark asked brusquely.

Bart shrugged. "Ollie's the leader for a reason," he said, uncharacteristically serious.

Clark nodded. "He's more experienced."

"You wouldn't step up," Bart corrected.

Clark took a second to process this.

"So, are you going to try to stop me?" he asked finally.

Bart shook his head. "Too many people to save right now."

Clark nodded solemnly. "I've been running back and forth from the hospital, too."

Bart lowered his head. "Sounds about right... you were always the one telling me about responsibility and sacrifice."

Clark lowered his head shamefully.

"I think you taught all of us that, really," Garth continued. "Ollie, Arthur, Vic... there's not one of us that isn't in this because of you. So..."

"So..." Clark repeated

"...So, maybe you should just trust us to pick up the slack for once," Bart finished, cracking a smile.

And suddenly Clark felt himself smiling back at him. "Thanks, Bart."

"Hey, I'm giving you some time," Bart replied, "use it while you can."

And Clark was off, so fast even Bart could barely follow him.

"Yeah," Bart mumbled.

----

For the first time since the day began, Clark was starting to feel positive.

He had worried about having to fight against the League, he had worried more about shirking his duty to the World to save Chloe... but now he realized he should have more faith in his friends. He was always forgetting that there were people out there that wanted to help him and would understand his need to put himself first just this one time. There were people who really cared about him and trusted him.

Those were his exact thoughts up to the moment he doubled over in Kryptonite-induced agony.

"Sorry, Clark," AC said, looming over him. "But orders are orders."