Chapter 27: Brainiac Strikes Again
The earth woman's plan surprisingly worked well. Kal-El had left to rescue a pathetic human, allowing him to acquire the power he needed to rule this planet. She had orchestrated things to where the earthlings would have to shoot yellow-sun energy to save themselves, but they didn't realize that it would only hasten their demise.
The second he flew into the yellow beam, his skin began to tingle. The burning Kryptonite dust, up above him, did not concern him, not when he could feel his strength increase. He could feel his muscles expanding. His body was expanding in height and mass. A fire of energy flowed through his veins at a much greater capacity he ever thought possible. Soon, the entire planet will kneel before his new found power.
There was one minute remaining of her life; it was hardly time enough to get anything settled or make peace with herself. She wasn't ready to have her life end so quickly; there was so much she wanted to do with her life, but now, will never get to. Her life would go incomplete. Life was cruel.
As the timer was now counting down the seconds, she could do nothing but fall to her knees in surrender to the cold, hard reality. Like a frightened, abandoned child, she wept. There would be no family grieving for her; the only family she had died nearly half a year ago. They were here, visiting Metropolis, when they were killed in the chaos with Metallo. She wished she knew where that monstrosity came from, or who in their right mind would make something so evil.
As the final seconds were counting down, she stopped looking at the timer all together. She waited for the darkness to hit her with vengeance. She had exhausted all options, and searched the entire office. There was no escaping this prison; Lex made sure of that.
Through her frantic sobs, she heard a loud crash in one of the floors above her. At first, she thought it was the building collapsing upon itself, which she thought would have been overkill for the likes of Lex Luthor. With twenty seconds left on the clock, she was certain that wasn't what was happening. The crashing continued to grow louder, as something was going through all the levels towards her office. The ceiling tiles fell to the ground and Superman came crashing through the ceiling.
She jumped to her feet before the thought to do so even entered her mind. He did hear her cries for help after all. This was her first time seeing Superman's warm and caring face up close, and all her suspicions were correct; Clark Kent was Superman. Having known him since high school, she knew him well enough that no changes in his posture or his looks could hide his identity from her.
There was no time to dwell it; the timer was down to ten seconds. Of all the things she could have said , she could only think of three words to say. "You heard me!"
She ran into his arms, more than ready to leave this forsaken office. Gently holding her to him, he shot up through the hole he had just made on the way in. Just as he took off, the office erupted in flames. Lana pressed her face into his chest, afraid to look in either direction. Below them, the flames were racing to catch up to them. Add that to the nerves she felt from flying without any form of protection, other than Clark's arms, and she was a nervous wreck.
They flew up the hole, through several levels of the tower, racing against the flames. Flying as fast as he dared, Superman finally zipped out of the rooftop of Lexcorp tower as the flames briefly puffed out of the hole.
Gaining the courage to open her eyes, she took a quick look at their surroundings. She could see the rooftops of dozens Metropolis' medium sized buildings. They were flying level to the taller skyscrapers. Farther down, the cars, driving down the streets, looked like ants marching in formation. It was a surreal, but terrifying, view of the mega city. She squealed, pressing her face into his chest again, and holding on to him as tightly as she could.
"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe."
His familiar voice broke her from her fear as she managed to peer up and look into his face. He had a warm smile that she had always loved back in high school. Looking at his face, she could not help feel remorseful of everything that had happened that had led up to this moment. The Kryptonite dust was the biggest regret weighing down on her heart. "I don't suppose you would find it in your heart to forgive me for this mess, Clark."
Hearing her call him Clark took him by surprised; there was no way he could hide the surprise. "I—I— "
"I know it's you; I was once employed at Luthorcorp, you know?"
"Once?"
Looking into his eyes was too much for her to bare; the guilt was becoming overwhelming. "I should've listened to you about Lex. I knew the man was shady, but to use me to try to get to you, and then try to dispose of me... It's downright creepy. He tried to blow me up, Clark!"
Superman didn't know whether he should confirm his identity to her or not. This could be her way of fishing for the truth, but then again, she had almost been blown up inside of Lexcorp. It was more likely that she was right, and Lex Luthor had arranged all of this before his death to strike back at him. That meant, he could have allowed her to discover the truth as part of this whole mess. Of course, Lex could have never imagined that perfect timing of this plan, with Metallo and Zod on the loose... or could he? Was it possible that Lex knew that they were coming to earth? If so, there was more to Lex than he even knew. Chances were, this would not be the last time his presence would be felt.
"Clark, it's okay. I won't tell anyone your secret." She knew him so well, that she could see the conflict in his eyes.
He knew Lana a long time now, and he knew that she was not the type to deceive him. She had to be telling him the truth; she had to know his identity. There was no point trying to lie at this point. "I know."
Lana ventured to look down one more time, to see if she was adjusting to this terrifying experience. As soon as her eyes gazed downward, they bounced back up. She had never really enjoyed flying in the first place, and this was a hundred times worse.
Seeing how frightened she was, he made sure to descend slowly, flying around in circles in the process. He was hoping this would at least make it easier for her to handle. It took awhile to reach the ground, in comparison to the way he normally would land, but it DID seem to be easier on her nerves. When their feet touched the ground, he could sense the tension in her body evaporate.
When he released her, she stepped back and looked up into his handsome face. The time they spent together flashed across her mind. The two of them were madly in love back in high school. She remembered how devastated she felt when he broke up with her with a hand-written note. As much as it was wrong for him to have not told her in person, she could forgive him for disappearing. All of this made her realize that they were never meant to be together.
Lana looked around to see if anyone was in ear shot of their voices. "Do you yourself a favor, will you? Don't keep Lois at arm's length forever."
She had again surprised him with her comment. His jaw dropped, surprised that she would promote Lois over herself. Being a part of something as special as they had during high school, he had thought that, now that she knew the full truth, she would want to try to pick up the pieces. Instead, she had come to a different revelation altogether.
"I know why you did what you did back in high school, and I forgive you. We were never meant to be, but I think it's clear, to both of us, that you and Lois are a perfect fit. Don't wait too long to tell her."
Superman smiled, now reminded why Lana was so special to him. He wished things could have ended differently between them. "I won't."
Their conversation came to an abrupt end as two white beams threw Superman into the back of a parallel parked car. Lana squealed, narrowly avoiding death yet again. Brainiac stood there in the center of the one-way street, preventing the oncoming traffic from coming through. The people who were gathered outside started to run, knowing what was about to take place.
Lana was frozen in place, despite being in the middle of the soon-to-come chaos. It took the hand of someone grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her to get her to move out of the danger zone. It took the face of Lois Lane looking into hers to break her out of the trance. "What, are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"L—Lois?"
Lana glanced back to see Superman already brushing himself off as the alien android approached. "Today, is the day this planet looses their savior."
"Why, Brainiac?" Superman asked coldly. "Why did you kill my people... OUR people?"
The android was unable to display emotions on his solid, metallic face, but his voice processor was more than adequate in displaying a very calculating, maniacal characteristic. "The Kryptonians were fools for opposing the forces of Lord Darkseid. The stalemate between the two armies were taking more lives than saving. It was only logical that one side had to be destroyed. Seeing that Darkseid is immortal, Krypton was the only solution to the dilemma."
"So, in the 'dilemma' of an invincible wall versus an unmovable object, your solution is to manipulate the unmovable object until it self-destructs?"
"Precisely," Brainiac replied. "Less lives are lost in the long run. It is better to be a slave than be dead, is that not logical?"
"You have a lot to learn about organic life forms," Superman replied, disgusted by the logic that he was hearing. "And how did you get General Zod to go along with your act of treason."
"His ambitious nature made it very easy to manipulate. He believes it was all to be done to save his people from a politically corrupt government. Of course, I made sure that any attempts he made to save his people, failed. However, I miscalculated Jor-El's commitment in saving your life."
"So, if you deal with me, Earth will be spared?" He had a gut feeling that he knew the answer to that question, and even if Brainiac answered differently, Superman doubted that he could trust him.
"From Darkseid's wrath? Earth is his next target, either way. What happens to the people of Earth depends on you. If you prove too—challenging—for his likings, he will merely destroy this inferior planet."
So that was how it was going to be? If he surrendered himself, then Darkseid would only enslave all of humanity. It was not a good ultimatum to be faced with. It was definitely one that he wasn't going to subject himself to. "Well, I am afraid that Darkseid is going to have to learn to be disappointed, because if he comes anywhere near this planet, he is going to regret it."
"You are mistaken, son of Jor-El. You will not live to see the coming of Apokolips." With that, discussion on the matter came to an end. He fired his eye beams again towards Superman, since they were able to slow Superman down.
Sensing the attack was coming, he dodged the beams with speed faster than lightning. In the same move, he zipped towards Brainiac and landed a punch in the chest. The impact did not have as much as an impact as it should have; the android's feet dug into the asphalt as he was pushed back only a few feet. It was like he was deeply entrenched into the ground.
Before Brainiac could try to take back the momentum, Superman decided to try it one more time. He was not able to get him into the air last time, so he decided to try something different; if hitting him up did not work, then it was time to try hitting him down. Clasping his hands together, he leaped up and brought them down upon his head. The android caught his wrists just over his head, but the impact still caused the ground beneath him to collapse into a large crater.
Brainiac looked up at him. He could not tell what the android was thinking, which proved to be a bigger disadvantage than he would have anticipated; there was no telling what the android was going to do before it was too late. This time... it was no different. The android use his hands to pass a high voltage stream of electricity into Superman.
The pain was excruciating, and it only got worse the more he fought against it. It became harder and harder to keep his muscles from relaxing, and in the split second that they did, Brainiac took advantage of it. The android threw him into the tower to his right. He flew, back first, through the second story window. Everyone in that office space ran for their lives as he crashed through several of the desks before going through a wall.
Lois and Lana ran away from that very building, trying to escape the shower of window fragments. Despite the continuous near death experiences she's found herself in, she could not ignore the feel of animosity emanating from Lois. She needed to clear the air between them, and now was as good as a time as any, in case one of them did not make it through this crisis. "We need to talk."
"Now? As if you didn't know, Metropolis is kinda experiencing a catastrophe at the moment."
Despite her unwillingness to hear her out, she was going to force her to hear this. "Lois, you've nothing to worry about from me, in regards to Clark. His heart belongs to you... always has. I've no intentions of interfering between you two, cause even I can see that you two are meant for each other."
Lois' face was shrouded in confusion. She didn't know how to respond to her. She was more than willing to go on disliking her for the rest of her life; she hadn't expected her to try to form a truce with her. "I don't know what to say. Things are more complicated than you may imagine."
Lana could see something in Lois' eyes. She was trying to hide something from her, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. "Wait, you already know the truth about Clark?"
Superman came shooting out of the tower like a bullet, ramming into Brainiac. The impact finally sent the android flying into the office building on the opposite end of the street, but it also sent a small shockwave which nearly knocked Lana, Lois, and everyone near them off their feet. Superman followed after the android into the building where the trading of punches sounded like the crashing of thunder.
"You know?" Lois continued the conversation as the battle raged on around them.
"I've known Clark since High School. No disguise can hide the truth from me. When did Clark tell you?"
"H—He doesn't know that I know," Lois said looking down at her feet.
Lana smiled as she placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Be patient, he'll tell you when he's ready. Believe me, he loves you more than anything; you complete him. Destiny had different plans for Clark and me; I see that now. You're what he needs, cause super or not, he cannot fulfill his destiny without you."
Superman and Brainiac were wrestling in mid air before crashing into the middle of the street. Having landed on top, Superman planted another minor dent into the droid's face plate before standing up on top of him. With his eyes glowing red, Superman was about to unleash a powerful heat beam to try to end this fight, when another pair of red beams struck him and threw him into the side of a parked car.
The blast was very powerful; he had to take a second to gather his wits before he stood up to see what hit him. General Zod hovered to the ground, standing side-by-side with Brainiac who had just finished picking himself up from the ground. "Now, son of Jor-El, you WILL kneel before Zod!"