Chapter 64
The first time Clark inserted the key into the slot in the caves in Smallville it ended up downloading the entire Kryptonian language into his head. He has no words to describe what that felt like. Right now he just experienced it again only he has no idea what just got downloaded in his brain. It all shot by so fast it was just overwhelming...which may explain why he now finds himself lying on his back.
'Why does this keep happening to me?' Clark asks himself. It's not like he asks for his head to keep being screwed with. He wonders what the consequences will be this time.
The next thing Clark wonders is how much time has passed. He knows some must have because he can hear concerned voices calling his name...well calling Superman.
"5 more minutes Ma," he says and can hear a few giggles that response elicits.
Clark's eyes flutter open and the first thing he sees is Rogue kneeling down beside him, her face full of deep concern. His hand reaches up and cups her cheek and he strokes her skin with his thumb.
Rogue closes her eyes and enjoys the sensation. Due to their relationship difficulties Clark hasn't done this in a while. She opens her eyes and looks down, hoping he's alright. "How do ya feel?"
"Peachy," he croaks.
On Clark's other side is Beast. He asks Clark a few simple questions to ensure Clark's memory is intact. Clark answers them no problem. "I'm fine," he assures Mr McCoy.
Beast then helps Clark to his feet. Clark staggers over to the wall and leans against it and as Clark looks around the room something strange happens. Everyone present fades away. The statue fades away. The writing on the walls seems to unwrite itself backward. Clark's eyes follow it until he finds a person standing there, who looks very much like himself, carving the writing into the wall with heat vision with a degree of control and mastery Clark doesn't think he has. Tied around the man's neck is the pendant. It can only be one person. "Jor-El?" Clark queries, deeply puzzled. The figure continues carving as if Clark is not there.
Clark then feels a small tug on his arm. His head snaps round and the room shifts back to the way it was. He finds himself looking into Rogue's green eyes.
"Superman!" Rogue cries.
"What?" Clark asks.
"You drifted off," Kurt informs him.
"I did?"
"Like yeah. Totally," Kitty confirms.
"I'm sorry. I...I thought I saw something," Clark says, his head spinning. He raises a hand to it.
"You spoke your father's name," Scott says.
"I...um...I really need some air," Clark says, his head spinning worse than ever. He takes a few steps and stumbles.
Logan grabs him. "Easy, kid. Lets get you out of here."
They are all soon back up at ground level, standing outside the temple as Clark tries to clear his head with some deep steady breaths. He looks out down the street. Next to him is one of many plinths that line the street...like primitive street lighting with an oil covered mixture sitting in a bowl. He touches it to lean on it and the scene before him shifts in front of his eyes, just like what happened to him below.
The street is lined with people as a procession approaches. It is Selene, being carried by slaves on a platform where she sits, dressed...funnily enough her dress sense or lack of and lack of clothing hasn't seemed to have changed much. Clark is standing amongst the masses observing her and feels an odd curiosity about her...or to be more correct he feels what someone else felt at that moment.
The procession stops and Clark turns round to see a temple...a different temple to what stands there now. From the statues and writing he can see this temple is obviously dedicated to Selene herself.
Then something happens. One of the horses being ridden by the soldiers escorting Selene is startled by the crowd rushing forward to try and be near their Goddess. The horse bucks its rider off and starts galloping away. A small child has been pushed out by the crowd and now stands directly in the horse's path.
A woman screams and...and...Jor-El, it is Jor-El, blurs into motion and saves the child before effortlessly managing to reign the horse in.
Everyone stops. A deadly hush falls upon the crowd. Selene descends off her platform and strides directly up to Jor-El. Her normal coal black eyes are alight with interest at seeing...if Clark was to guess it would be curiosity at seeing something new, something different, something she never has seen before.
Selene kneels down to the child's eye level. A small girl holding Jor-El's hand. "Are you alright, child?" Selene asks, with what sounds like genuine concern.
The girl stammers a response, obviously nervous at being in Selene's presence. "Y-yes, my Goddess."
Selene smiles with kindness. "That's good." Selene straightens and raises her voice. "Captain!" she summons the captain of her guards.
The captain appears at her side. "Yes, my Goddess," he says with a bow and deep reverence.
"Find this girl's mother and return her and make sure she is kept safe," Selene commands.
"As you command."
The Captain takes care of the girl and Selene turns her full focus to the man in front of her. "Now who...or perhaps that should be what are you?"
"Superman. Superman! Superman!" loud yelling snaps Clark back to the present.
"Selene's temple use to stand here," he says in Latin, because he is wanting Amara's parents to confirm this.
Lucius and Pomona look surprised that Lord Kal-El knew that despite the fact he is a God. "Yes. That is so, Lord Kal-El," Lucius confirms. "It was razed to the ground during the Great Rebellion."
"How did you know that, Superman?" the Professor asks. He can't read Clark's mind but from his last trip here he speaks the basics of the language.
"It was like I was standing there, in the crowd. Selene was processing along the street." Clark raises the silver pendant that he still holds up to eye-level. "Memories," he murmurs.
"Memories?" Jean queries.
"The light that hit me...I saw all these images. They flashed by too fast for me to make sense of them...but I think they were Jor-El's memories and now they're playing out whenever I touch something. He was here, in the crowd. He used his powers to save a little girl from being run over by a horse in front of everyone...in front of Selene and she...she was curious about him...about who and what he was."
"What is it you need to do Superman?" the Professor asks because he can see that is what Clark is trying to figure out. What to do now and perhaps sharing it will help clarify it in Clark's mind.
"I need...I need to touch objects in places he might have gone. Where would Selene have taken him?"
Amara speaks up. "I know where we can go."
Amara leads them outside the city walls to a small hill upon which they find the ruins of what was a substantial building. Amara's parents refused to come, leaving her alone to do this.
"This is where Selene's palace stood," Amara explains. This was why her parents wouldn't come. They wouldn't stain themselves by setting foot on this accursed place. "It was torn down after she was exiled."
Beast looks back down at the city. "I can see why she chose to have her palace here," he comments.
"What do you mean?" Scott asks.
"We're above the city and that means everyone had to look up at her." It's a classic idea for those with narcissistic tendencies.
They stand at what is left of the gate house to the palace. Clark raises his hand and touches what remains of it and as before the scene shifts into the past. He sees Selene and Jor-El move through the gate engaged in an animated conversation, smiling, seemingly enjoying each other's company.
Clark has one word for that; creepy!
Without speaking Clark walks on following in the path of his father.
"Professor," Jean says with concern, her mental projecting meaning she is concerned about Clark and his behaviour. He was already acting odd. Now he has this extra strain of someone else's memories downloaded into his head.
"I know, Jean," the Professor says back, acknowledging the concern about Clark. "Lets just keep an eye on him for now...but these are answers he has long sought for," he points out so is willing to give Clark some leeway for now. During the last year of getting to know Clark, Charles knows of the deep interest he actually has for his lost home and for his long dead parents that he cannot really remember so the Professor can't deny Clark a chance to understand his father a little better.
Clark wanders through the ruins of the palace, his hand skimming over whatever remains of it. He can see Selene and Jor-El engaging with each other in some sort...well Clark would call it a courtship over many, many days...maybe weeks. It's hard to tell.
It's not just seeing it all through Jor-El's eyes. Clark can feel what Jor-El felt. Feel the real attraction his father felt for Selene...and Selene is not like the Selene he knows. She's different. Not cruel and vindictive. There's a warmth and joviality to her. A charm...a unique allure that Clark can't deny many men might find attractive. His father certainly seemed to be doing so.
Clark wanders on, hearing the whispers of his friends but too caught up in what he is doing to pay much attention. He lays his hand on a broken piece of table leg and a scene of Jor-El and Selene comes into view on them standing on a balcony, Jor-El directly behind Selene, his arms holding her close. On a table nearby stand half-drunken glasses of wine.
"Do you remember your father?" Jor-El asks Selene.
Selene's face screws up in thought as she tries to recall something from very long ago. "Nothing distinct. Why?"
"Mine...he sent me here, to this planet, as a punishment. Said I needed to learn about the consequences of my actions. I'm not the model son in his eyes. I didn't even want to come here. Then something happened...it was elsewhere on this planet and I did learn my lesson...or so I thought."
"What do you mean Jor?" Selene asks, clearly not understanding what he is talking about. She turns around in his arms.
Jor-El's face is pinched with emotion. He tightens his hold around Selene's waist and slowly rises with her into the sky and Selene's face takes on a look of almost childish delight as they hover.
Jor-El looks up at the stars. "What I mean is I was all ready to go home because I finally understood what my father meant about responsibility." He looks into Selene's eyes. "Then I met you and now I'm all confused again. The people of this world...you...you bring out feelings no-one on my world ever has before. I have never met anyone like you before."
Selene smiles delighted by this remark. "Your world...what is it like?" she asks. There is little left on this world she hasn't seen so the idea of a whole other world full of things she has never seen intrigues her.
Jor-El's gaze returns to the stars. "I'd have a hard time describing it. There are colours you have never seen, never even imagined. Moons that fill half the night sky and sunsets that last for hours."
Selene is enchanted by Jor-El's passion with which he speaks. The days since she met him had been a wonderful break in the monotony of her immortal life. A form of being the likes of which she has never met. And one from, from what he has told her, an advanced culture civilisation far beyond anything humans have created. An entire world of Gods.
And Jor-El...it has been so long since Selene has met an equal to herself. He is clever and charming and Selene finds she is more taken by him than she has been with anyone for a long time, even her current husband. Her hand moves to his cheek and she brings his face back to look at her. She tilts her head forward and her lips touch his.
Jor-El responds. He had never seen a being like her before. At first it was purely scientific curiosity of a being he had never seen the likes of before and the power...this magic she wields but it had grown as he got to know her. She helped ease the pain of another that he had lost.
They kiss with increasing passion as Jor-El floats them towards Selene's bedroom...
"EW! Icky! Icky! Icky!" Clark suddenly proclaims loudly, his whole body shuddering with revulsion.
"Superman? Are you alright?" Cyclops asks.
"Oh hell no!" Clark responds passionately.
"What did you see?" Storm queries.
"Nothing any child should! I think I'm going to throw up!"
"Uh, can you explain zhat?" Nightcrawler wonders.
"You know what Selene claimed about her and my father?"
"That they were, like, in a relationship?" Shadowcat queries.
"I just got to see the physical part in HD quality!"
"Oh," Scott says, suddenly understanding Clark's reaction. Yeah. That can't have been nice to see.
Clark shudders again. "Someone please pass me the brain bleach," he requests.
"Ew? Icky? What is he? 5?" Logan asks Storm in a critical tone.
"I heard that!" Clark shouts back. "Cut me a break Logan. It's more than I see it. I feel what Jor-El felt...even a little of what Selene felt." Clark shudders again.
"I know it may be unpleasant for you Clark," the Professor says sympathetically. "But please tell us what you have seen," he requests.
Clark is still shuddering but he summarises a little. "Selene was not like we know her. She was...nice, charming, alluring."
"I have little doubt that she could be if she chose to be. The worst people are often the best at presenting a front like that," the Professor says from experience.
"And Jor-El was not the pompous ass that resides in the cave. I think he was on the rebound actually."
"That never ends well," Hank recites from his own personal experience.
"I might have been wrong about why Jor-El was here," Clark says.
"Why do you say that?" the Professor asks.
"He told Selene his father had sent him here as a punishment...to learn a lesson about responsibility and actions having consequences. I think my father was a rebel," Clark says with complete befuddlement over that idea because of the way it contrasts with the strict disciplinarian that resides in the cave.
"Please. Tell us everything you have seen," the Professor keeps probing.
Clark describes what he saw. Selene and Jor-El getting to know each other, a mutual fascination for the other and how it progressed into a full blown and sexual relationship. Clark's going to be needing years of therapy now.
"I don't understand," a very confused Amara says as this seems to contradict the stories she was told. "If they were...lovers how did Jor-El end up being the one to exile her?" she asks.
"A very good question," the Professor concedes. "We can guess at some point Jor-El learned Selene's true nature but how and when remain a mystery for the moment."
Clark walks to the back of the ruined mansion where you can see at the far end of the island the large volcano that dominates. "When was the last time that erupted?" he asks, pointing at it.
"Not in living memory," Amara answers.
Clark touches a pile of bricks that has remained standing and he sees Jor-El flying off up to the volcano. "Jor-El went there."
"The stone?" Scott queries about why Jor-El would go there. Despite what Clark said about being wrong over the reasons Jor-El was on Earth there is still the question of why he was specifically on Nova Roma so why not that because the stone was here...and consequentially still is.
"Maybe," Clark is willing to consider it as possible. "I should go have a look just to be certain. It would easier by myself," Clark suggests because that part of the island is uninhabited and is just wilderness. He can just run through it and save everyone else the trek up the volcano.
"I would be uncomfortable letting you go alone," the Professor says. Clark's questionable mental state means he shouldn't be alone.
"Ah'll go," Rogue volunteers herself.
Clark's head snaps round and he gazes at her, wondering what is on her mind. She hasn't been wanting to spend any time with him lately.
"I will also go," Storm volunteers. "I can fly there," she points out. She can supervise Clark and Rogue.
"Very well," the Professor agrees.
Clark sighs a little but doesn't argue. He simply moves and sweeps Rogue up into his arms without a word. "Ready when you are Storm," he says.
Storm rises into the air on a gust of wind.
"You'll want to hold on," Clark tells Rogue and she wraps her hands around the back of his neck just before he bends his knees and pushes off into the air in a huge leap and lands a long way away from where he took off. Yeah, he still hasn't figured out how to control his flying ability. It's irritating but for some reason Clark just can't figure out the trick to mastering flying. He keeps flying off wildly and smashing into things.
It takes several such leaps before he reaches the rim of the crater at the top of the volcano. Looking down into it you can tell it has been quite some time since it last erupted. Although the dome of rock sitting in the middle of the crater is evidence of the pressure building up below. Sooner or later it will blow its top. There are vents spewing gases into the air. The air will probably be quite toxic down there.
Clark places Rogue down as Storm comes into land beside them. "I'll scan the crater from here," he says as his eyes flash electric blue as his x-ray vision activates.
"H-How are ya doin?" Rogue broaches the question.
"Depends on what you're asking," Clark replies.
"With tha memories ya saw," she clarifies. "Ah'm...worried about ya," she says and she is. It's why she chose to come along.
"Well I saw way more of my father and Selene than I ever wanted," he says with another shudder, "but mostly I'm just confused about how this can be the same man who talks to me through the caves."
"We are all shaped by the events of our life, Clark," Storm makes the point. "Remember what you saw was over 30 years before Jor-El made that AI version of himself that speaks to you," she argues and therefore there are 3 decades of events that shaped Jor-El they know nothing of.
"I guess," Clark concedes the argument. "Still I can't believe he was someone who got into trouble with his father."
"Many people are more rebellious when they're young before wisdom and experience tempers it," Storm gives the benefit of her wisdom and experience.
"Well Rogue is the poster child for that," he teases.
"Hey!" Rogue protests.
"Try and deny it," Clark dares her with a laugh.
Storm chuckles lightly.
Rogue folds her arms across her chest and scowls lightly...although she has missed his teasing of her.
Clark cocks his head slightly. He points down into the crater. "There. Carved into the rock. The symbol for water," he reports what he has found. "You two better stay here. The air will be poisonous."
"What about you, Clark?" Storm asks after his safety.
"Oh I'm immune to all poisons as far as Beast can tell. That and I can hold my breath for a really long time."
"How long?" Rogue wonders.
"About 20 minutes but similar to my other powers that's sure to get longer as I get older."
"We'll observe from here. Yell if you get into trouble," Storm decides.
"No problem," Clark says as his agreement as he leaps down into the crater.
"Are you alright Rogue?" Storm asks.
"Yeah, sure. Ah'm fine."
"Rogue, you can talk to me if you wish. I know you and Clark are having problems," Storm offers and since she is dating Rogue's father she feels a need to try and connect a little more to Rogue.
Rogue is never good at expressing her feelings but she could do with someone to talk to about them. "Ah'm just not sure how we resolve our differences this tahme."
"Do you want to?"
"Yes."
"Then there is still hope that you can. I believe you must try and be patience Rogue. Clark is obviously not quite himself after what transpired with the Hellfire Club."
"Ah get that but ah don't think that will resolve the fundamental problem. Ah can't agree with what he did."
"Has he explained it to you? What he did?"
"He tried."
"Did you try and understand? Or did you just lose your temper?"
Rogue shuffles a little indicating it was the 2nd one. She just lost her temper.
"You must give him a chance to explain his side of the story Rogue. Only then should you decide whether a chasm has been created you can no longer bridge."
"Ah guess you're right," Rogue accepts. "Thank ya."
"You're very welcome," Storm says with a smile at the fact she and Rogue have seemed to connect a little.
Down in the crater Clark had reached the symbol. While he has found it he can't see the stone...which doesn't mean it's not here. It could be hidden beyond even his sight. Clark reaches out and his fingers touch the symbol. Like previously the scene shifts to a memory of Jor-El. Clark can see that his father carved this symbol here. Clark can see Jor-El with the stone...modifying it...updating it.
Wait.
Jor-El had the stone before he came up here and is hiding it here but where did Jor-El find it to start with?
Maybe that was why Jor-El was down in the city during that memory Clark got. Clark speculated the Nova Romans brought the stone here as a figure of worship so that would make sense if Jor-El was there retrieving it.
Clark watches exactly what Jor-El does as he hides the black stone. It sort of melts into rock...or at least that is the best description Clark can come up with.
Clark blinks and comes back to the present. Now how does he get the stone back?
Perhaps it is like the others in the sense he can will it into his hand.
Clark places his hand over the symbol, closes his eyes and tries to do what he has done with the other 2 stones. He mentally reaches out and tries to connect with it.
Clark...feels it for lack of a better term. The rock...ripples as if made of liquid and the black stone rises into Clark's hand. He opens his eyes and there within his grasp lies the Crystal of Water. He's done it. The 3rd and final stone...which power it possesses he has no idea at all. He better be very careful with this.
Job done Clark leaps back up to where Storm and Rogue wait. "Got it," he tells them and shows them the stone.
"Wait for it," Rogue says.
Several moments go by.
"Wait for what, Rogue?" Storm asks.
"Every tahme before, when we get close ta a stone, we always get attacked. It's goin' ta beh anti-climatic if we're not."
"Well now, we can all see I'm not dating you for your sense of humour can't I?" Clark jests.
"Ya know what ah mean," Rogue tells him off with a light slap to his arm.
"Yeah. I do...and personally I'm a hair's breath from not giving a damn if they come or not. I'm fed up of all this."
"Perhaps fortune shall favour us this time," Storm hopes.
"Until we get this home and unite it with the other 2 I wouldn't lower your guard Storm," Clark advises.
"What actually happens when we unite them?"
"Well basically it's a giant data storage device but if you're asking what powers the united crystal has I don't know or what it will do...don't have a clue. In fact for everyone's sake it is best if we don't unite them until we get back to Smallville. That's what that little plinth in the caves is for; to hold the stones."
"We shall remain wary," Storm agrees because Clark's right. It isn't over until it's over and their enemies won't give up until it's impossible for them to gain possession of the stones.
"Alrighty then!" Clark proclaims in a sudden shift of his mood. He takes a step forward. "Let us..." he trails off and gets that far off stare again as he relives another memory.
Rogue and Storm can only wait until it passes. After a few minutes Clark blinks.
"What did you see Clark?" Storm is the one to ask. It is now apparent when Clark is having one of these memory flashes.
"We wondered when Jor-El found the truth out about Selene. It was right here," Clark says, pointing at the spot he is standing on. That's what triggered the memory flash.
"Please, elaborate."
"He had just hidden the stone and was thinking of her, happily after the night they spent...you know."
Yes. Storm did know the day after was usually filled with happy thoughts. "What happened?"
"She must not have realised he could see her from here."
Storm looks at the city on the other side of the island. She knew Clark possessed some telescopic properties to his vision but that was more than impressive to find one individual amongst a city of thousands.
"What did he see?" Rogue asks.
"Amara mentioned that her people had to sacrifice themselves to Selene. That to live she drained the life-force from people...and let me tell you from personal experience that that is a terrible sensation," Clark just has to mention. He wouldn't wish it upon anyone even if he was slightly inclined, which he's not, to have other people he doesn't like suffer.
Storm figures it out. "Jor-El saw her drain someone."
"Not just someone. The little girl he saved. Selene drained that poor girl to death," Clark says, his tone trying to get across the hideousness of what he witnessed.
Rogue takes Clark's hand into her own smaller one, just to try and soothe him a little.
Storm momentarily closes her eyes and utters a silent prayer.
Clark continues. "He was angry...furious. She had not told him about that part of herself."
"Was this when he led the rebellion against her?" Storm wonders.
"No. He was angry but not rash. He had learned his lesson about being rash and wasn't about to repeat his mistake. No. He would be smarter than before. He went back to the palace. I need to go back there," Clark says, needing to see how this played out next.
While they did now have the stone Storm saw no reason that they couldn't let Clark see this through. "Together," she insists upon.
Clark puts the stone in his pocket before he picks Rogue up and the 3 make their way back to the palace ruins.
The rest of the X-Men had basically just been sitting around and waiting for Clark, Rogue and Storm to return when they do. Clark returns to wandering through the palace ruins while Storm explains the success of their mission to the others and of what Clark saw of Jor-El's memories when they were atop the volcano.
"She lied," Clark's voice floats in as he tells tale of another memory he has seen. "Jor-El asked her about her day, trying to make it sound like casual interest and Selene lied."
"Oh, there's a shocker," Rogue mutters in scathing sarcasm.
"Jor-El determined to know the truth. He would use his powers to listen to the people around him and learn the full truth that Selene would not tell him. He would sit on the balcony that looked out to the city and just listen. This way he learned of those that plotted against Selene. He would seek them out for, while they could hide from Selene, they could not hide from a pure-blooded Kryptonian."
"Which is in no way scary at all," Evan mutters sarcastically. To him it is a little at least.
"So where next?" Scott asks Clark, since they are really following him now.
Clark turns his attention to Amara. "Those that plotted against Selene, they must have had secret meetings."
"You want to know where," Amara can deduce Clark's thinking.
"If it's possible to know...or if I could touch something that belonged to one of them?" he requests
Amara's face lights up. That second suggestion is actually not too difficult since the leader of the rebellion was her grandfather.
"His name was Julius Cornellius Aquilla," Amara says as she leads the X-Men through the royal palace. "He was Consul."
"Which is what?" Evan asks.
"It's the highest elected office in the kingdom, head of the Senate. When Selene was in charge she tended to appoint them but took very little interest in the day to day affairs of running the state. As long as her whims were met she was satisfied. When Selene appointed my grandfather he took the role for the very purpose of gaining a position of power from where he could begin to properly organise a resistance against Selene's despotic rule," Amara speaks with praise overflowing from her tone. It is clear that her grandfather is a hero of hers.
"Considering the power we know Selene wields that can't have been an easy task," Jean can see.
"It was not. For a long time my grandfather and the other leaders of the resistance movement sought some means through which to neutralise her power. Even if they found a way Selene is still immortal but as impossible a task as it might seem my grandfather was not to be deterred. It's possible they might never have succeeded but then Jor-El came. Someone capable of fighting Selene on her level."
"I don't see how Jor-El did it," Clark throws a fly in the ointment. "We can reasonably assume he was as vulnerable to magic as I am. As I keep trying to point out I'm really just pretty average for a Kryptonian."
"Hopefully we can find our answers amongst Amara's grandfather's personal effects," the Professor says as that was where Amara was taking them. Her grandfather's belongings had been preserved for posterity.
Amara leads them into the part of the palace that is essentially a shrine...not just to her grandfather but to all the martyrs who died in the rebellion against Selene.
"Something he commonly wore most days would work best," Clark proposes to Amara about what would be most helpful.
Amara takes a moment to think about it and as she does she thinks on her grandfather. She has only a few faint memories of him. He died when she was very young. She has an inspiration and moves over to the wall where a dagger is hung. She carefully lifts it off.
"A dagger?" Kurt queries, not sure what that says about the man or the society.
"As Consul he had many enemies," Amara explains. "From those who wished to usurp his position, from those who despised Selene and did not know he was on their side. He had to carry the means to defend himself at all times." She carries it over to Clark. "Please be careful with it," she pleads. "This is a national treasure."
Clark takes the dagger and gives her a reassuring smile. "Will you trust me? I have a very sure gr...whoops!" he says as it slips from his fingers.
Amara gasps and she thinks she may just be having a heart attack.
Clark easily catches it before it hits the ground. "Gotcha!" he says with a smug smirk indicating how he did that on purpose.
"Oh so not funny!" Amara huffs and punches him on the arm...which she immediately regrets. "You...you..." what follows is a string of Nova Roman obscenities aimed at Clark.
"What did she like just say?" Kitty wonders.
"That is best left untranslated," the Professor determines. He didn't know all those words but enough of them to get the general gist of what Amara was meaning. "Amara, you do remember what I taught you about differences in acceptable cultural norms?" he asks her. One thing he had had to teach her, before she attended the Institute, was that what she thinks is mild language would be considered deeply offensive in America.
Amara is still rubbing her hand after punching Clark. "I do, Professor," she assures him she does remember. "He was just being...being...well I won't say it but he is one. And a total, total one at that!" she glares at Clark harshly.
"Well glad you cleared that up," Clark mocks, in another flash of him not being himself. "By the way I have gotten a good grip of your language now. I think my mother would be very upset."
Amara flushes. She did insinuate a few things about Clark's parentage during her rant. She really didn't mean to insult Mrs Kent. "I'll apologise to her but not to you," she vows, still angry at Clark's so-called attempt at a joke.
"Yeah, well you're joining the queue there. I seem to tick off a lot of women," Clark mutters absently.
"Perhaps we could return to the dagger," Hank suggests. "Are you seeing anything?"
Clark does turn his focus to metal dagger but he isn't getting anything from it so far. He turns it so the point is aimed at his chest and that is when the world shifts.
Clark finds the point of the dagger aimed at Jor-El being held by another man, whose face is stern but masks deep fear.
"Julius Cornellius Aquilla," Jor-El calmly says the man's name. "Please lower your weapon. I am not here to harm you," he tries and placate the man's fears.
"I am to take the word of Selene's lover?" His scepticism is obvious.
Jor-El sighs and snatches the knife. At superspeed all Julius knows is that one moment he is holding his weapon. The next the man Selene has taken as her lover has it and is examining it closely.
"Interesting," Jor-El murmurs. "Fine workmanship." He takes a small crystal from his pocket and scans the blade. The device is a scanner. He examines the readout it returns. "The metal has an unusual energy. Similar to that which is present in Selene's blood. A...magical blade," he says and says the word magical with a little edge as if uncomfortable in using that term. Jor-El holds it out to hand it back. "It is insufficient to kill her. The energy it possesses cannot overwhelm the energy in her body that sustains her life."
Julius is confused by this man. "I don't understand," he says as he eyes the blade warily, unsure what to do.
"You seek to overthrow Selene's rule. This I know. You have managed to organise an impressive underground movement to this cause."
"How...I don't know to which you refer."
"You need not pretend otherwise. Selene shall not hear it from me."
"What do you want?"
"To help you."
"You? You are her lover," Julius says it as an insult and an accusation that he would not help.
Jor-El fixes Julius with a cold gaze. "And you are her husband," he fires back. "And your son, Lucius, is her son," he adds.
Julius pales. "That's...no-one knows that."
"Selene does. She was quite upfront about it before we shared intimacy. She was also less then upfront about other aspects of herself."
Julius can hear the anger in Jor-El's tone. "What aspects?"
"Her need to steal life from others."
"We have to sacrifice to her regularly," Julius says shamefully. Many times he has had to choose who is given to her. That haunts him nightly.
"After I witnessed it, which Selene does not know I did, I began to listen...to learn. I heard the whispers, the fears of the people. This way I learned she has committed heinous acts, the equal of any known within the 28 galaxies. I also learned of your movement, Julius. I learned you chose to marry her in an attempt to get close enough to her to learn the means of killing her. You will not succeed. She is too powerful."
"We may not succeed today but one day we shall," Julius says confidently.
"But it is not just her. However large your movement is there are still many who believe she is a God. She has an army that is still loyal to her."
"No dictator, no tyrant can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power than the wish to be free. Against that power governments, armies, even Goddesses, real or false, cannot stand. For 1500 years we have been enslaved to her whims and even if it takes another 1500 years we will be free," Julius pledges.
Jor-El feels great admiration for the man but must deliver a dose of reality. "You still can't kill her," he says, gesturing for Julius to take his dagger back that Jor-El still holds.
Julius takes the knife. "It could wound her," he asserts. "I wonder what it would do to you." He then slices at Jor-El who easily catches Julius' wrist.
"Please don't try that," Jor-El says in stern tones Clark is all too familiar with. "I'm here to help you, Julius. Selene...is not who I thought she was. Another mistake on my part."
"Another?"
"I have made many...much to my father's disapproval and lecturing," he says with a frown.
Julius' lips curve up slightly at the huffy tone. It is one he knows well having gone through it with his own father.
"I know you do not wish to trust me Julius but I know all about your movement and have told Selene nothing."
"How do you know? And can I get my wrist back?"
Jor-El releases him. "I have powers beyond what Selene can understand. As I said I simply listened. I can hear every voice, every footstep, every heartbeat upon this island."
"Are you a God?"
"No more so than Selene is."
"I saw you fly," Julius admits.
"I heard you play that musical instrument of yours. You're very good. My flying is merely a gift, the same as your musical skills."
A modest God. Who knew. "How can you help us?"
"By accomplishing what you are trying. You wished to get close to Selene to understand her power and learn her weakness. I can do that and once I do I can create the means through which to defeat her."
"Why would you help us?"
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. You have the right to live and to be free in the choice how you pursue that life. I once made a foolish choice and my actions denied someone that right. I will not repeat that mistake."
It could be a foolish choice to trust this man...this God but if he is a God and Julius has seen more than Jor-El's ability to fly which makes him believe that this is a God in front of him, then Julius would be foolish to turn down an ally capable of matching Selene. "So what do we do?"
"I will study Selene. Learn the secrets behind her power and create the means to neutralise them. However, defeating her alone is not enough...as you already know and have planned for."
"Those loyal to her must be removed also. I wish it did not have to be so. I consider some friends," Julius says with regret for the bloodshed that is inevitable in overthrowing Selene.
"I share your sentiments, for as physically fragile as humans are, you have a spirit that deserves a chance to flourish. Each and every one of you. You have a drive I wish my people had not lost."
"I don't understand."
"Live long enough, have your civilisation survive long enough you reach a point where you lose that drive that made you strive to move forward because you reach a point where you're happy with keeping things as they are instead of constantly striving for improvement. In the process of trying to maintain what your perceive to be the desired plateau you actually end up going backwards. This is the lesson I have learned from humanity. My father will not approve." Jor-El smiles. "I look forward to debating it with him," he says eagerly.
Strangely Julius can understand the sentiment. It was only after his own father died he realised how much he missed their debates. The strange part is to hear this from a God.
Jor-El offers out his hand. "Let us free your people. Let me assist you," he requests.
Only a fool would turn down the offer and Julius is not a fool. He can see this as a chance at success where before, deep down, he knew it to be slim at best. He takes Jor-El by the forearm as they cement their alliance against Selene and Julius just knows, somehow, that her day is coming and it will be soon.
The scene shifts and Clark is back in the present. Amara being the closest to him is the one holding him by his arm, waiting for him to come back. Clark looks at her and feels sorrow for what he has learned. "I'm sorry, Amara," he says.
"Sorry?" she asks confused. "Sorry for wha..." Somehow Amara knows what he is apologising for. "They lied to me didn't they," she guesses, referring to her parents. "I'm...she's..." Amara can't even say it. Her hands clench into fists and without another word she storms off to confront her dishonest parents.
"Vhoa. Vhat happened zhere?" Kurt asks at this scene.
"Her parents lied. Selene is her grandmother," Clark answers that.
"You saw this?" Storm asks him.
Clark nods. "Yeah. Life's a bitch then you discover so is your grandmother."
Everyone just looks at him, unable to believe he, of all people, said that.
Clark shrugs. "It was like I was saying. It's just one of those days."
Author's Note: I tried to hint at that Jor-El had been elsewhere on Earth before he ended up on Nova Roma so as to keep the original Relic storyline something that happened. That also helps justify a little his hooking up with Selene as in he was on the rebound after Lana's aunt Louise died. But as Clark said it's still icky! Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Amara confronts her parents while Clark and the X-Men uncover the last part of Jor-El's story on Nova Roma.