Chapter 14: Revealed
Clark waited until they left the JLA Brownstone to answer. "Yeah Lois?" He asked innocently, wincing as Lois's vocal volume went up substantially. Zatanna shook her head as they tried to walk casually towards Ollie's orange sports car.
"Uh Zee…this is a two-seater." Oliver pointed out. "No way! I am not letting that helmet out of my sight." Zatanna complained. "Console city, baby!" Chloe teased. "Um…no…how about this?" Zatanna's lips curled up. She snapped her fingers, and was immediately in the driver's seat. Oliver found himself in the passenger's seat, with Chloe in his lap.
"Wait…" Oliver begged. "Works for me!" Chloe shifted her weight and nuzzled next to Oliver. Zatanna peeled out, startling Clark and Carter. "Nice teamwork!" Hawkman criticized as he watched the sports car haul down the street.
Meanwhile, Lois was excitedly explaining all of the strange happenings reported around the world. Finally, she got around to 'Clark, where the hell are you? We have stories to cover! All hell is breaking loose.' Clark nodded, aware of how accurate Lois's statement really was.
Carter got disgusted and went back into the JLA Brownstone, grabbing his golden wings and helmet from its secured hiding place, and put them on. He flew out the attic window, leaving Clark at ground level. Again Clark wished that he could fly. It would save a lot of time.
"Smallville! Get over to Centro Park!" Lois directed as she jogged through the newsroom and into the Daily Planet lobby. "Meet me by the lion statues. It's like a renaissance fair nightmare! Knights and gladiators are fighting each other with swords and staffs, and they're not playing! Metropolis PD is already on the way! They've called for backup in riot gear!"
"When it rains, it pours!" Clark muttered. He quickly called Kara for his own backup. She would likely have to corral some, if not all of the magical creatures, given that she could at least fly. His hope was that Kara could drag the Quetzalcoatl and Questing Beast back to Nevada. Laura might be able to catch the Griffin, and bring that in as well, using her blinding speed.
Bart could aid them, too. He called Impulse on the new Queen Industries Com link. Maybe with his speed, they could hasten the knights and gladiators' return to Nevada. But, how to explain all of this? Clark wondered. He couldn't think of one lame explanation that he could use.
Clark still had a few minutes before Lois would make it to Centro Park. It might just be enough time for he and Bart to collect the knights and gladiators before MPD showed up. Back at the Planet, Lois hustled out of the lobby elevator and began to sprint for the revolving door.
"Excuse me, Miss Lane?" A sweet young female voice asked. Lois reluctantly skidded to a stop. "Hi! I'm in kind of a hurry…did we have a meeting?" She asked as the red-haired teen stood by patiently. "Barbara Gordon." She extended a hand. Lois hurriedly shook it.
"Yes, Miss Gordon." Lois watched as a slightly taller teen with lengthy black hair approached them. "Mr. White mentioned that you and your friend might be stopping by." The young man glanced at Lois approvingly. "Dick Grayson." He also shook her hand.
"Listen, I'm chasing a hot lead!" Lois began to shuffle away. "Can I take a rain check? Nice to meet you both!" She spun out the revolving door without waiting for an answer from the stunned teens. "You know we have to follow her, now!" Dick pointed out, but Barb was already halfway out the door. Lois flagged down a cab, but gave up on it after about a two-block ride.
She paid the driver and jogged the rest of the way into Centro Park. Two motorcycles roared up behind the cab. "There she goes!" Barb gestured. "Ready?" Dick nodded. "Bruce is not going to like this." Barb said as she turned her motorcycle into the park, Dick rolling at her heel.
The teens drove the cycles carefully but quickly through the main thoroughfare of the park. "Where did she…?" Barb began as Dick pointed towards an empty field. "Just follow the screams!" He shouted to her above the din of the Wayne Nippon motorcycles.
Dozens of people were running from a section of the park screaming and yelling into their cell phones. "It's a riot!" Barb overheard one park patron saying as she jogged across a nearby grassy hill. "Riot?" Dick echoed. "We better check it out!" He urged. "Did we pack the bat tear gas?" Barb inquired. "Never leave home without it." Dick quipped.
All of this activity alerted two unwelcome Metropolis visitors. "Grog! What's all that racket?" Granny croaked as she hid in the shadows beneath a large Oak tree. "I can barely hear the master." The dark skinned alien popped his elongated head over the grassy ridge.
"There's some type of fight going on near the other side of the park." Grog's gravelly voice responded. "Ooh! Sounds like fun! There may be hope for this wimpy world yet!" Granny commented. "Where there's trouble…there's that goody two shoes Kal El! Come on! Let's go!"
Granny waved a jeweled baton, and they were quickly whisked away to the fight scene. The whole melee was ludicrous, with jousting knights on horseback challenging each other, other knights waving around gleaming broadswords, and gladiators fighting each other with spears and shields. "Now this is more like it!" Granny applauded approvingly.
"Look! There's Kal El!" Grog growled as he spied Clark dodging a jousting knight and grabbing two more gladiators by their spears. Suddenly they were gone. Ten more knights disappeared next, and five jousters and horses next. "Kal El is fast!" Grog praised.
More knights, gladiators, and jousters seemed to evaporate into thin air. Clark stopped briefly to take a break, when Grog spotted him. "There's Kal El! I'm going to smash his face into the ground!" He growled. "No! You ninny noodnik!" Granny bellowed. "The master deemed that we observe Kal El, find his strengths and weaknesses!"
"Bah! You observe while I pound the Kryptonian's face into the mud!" Grog snarled, and leapt from their hiding space. "Grog! Don't! You'll be sorry!" Granny hollered, but it was too late. "Oh for…! It's so hard to find good evil minions nowadays!" She was on the Com link to Darkseid.
Grog blindsided Clark, punching him square in the cheekbone. He flew across the field and into an old maple tree, halving it into splinters. Clark was stunned that he'd actually felt the blow. His cheek immediately bruised, and began to change color. This was clearly no ordinary magical creature, he mused. Aware of how odd that sounded.
Clark straightened up, and zipped back to Grog, nailing him with a right cross uppercut to the jaw. The alien flew backwards across the park, landing harmlessly against a rocky backdrop. The decorative rocks scattered in every direction, raining down on that end of the park.
Clark sped over to catch a look. The creature was roughly seven feet tall, and resembled a cross between an ape and a lizard. Its huge eyes were black as coal. "Grrrr!" Grog was dazed, but coherent. "Clark!" Lois yelled from across the meadow. He risked a quick glance at her, and hesitated briefly. It was long enough for Grog to come to his senses.
Grog leapt up and decked Clark, sending him sprawling back to the original fight scene. Only a few more confused knights and gladiators milled about, occasionally striking out at each other with their crude weapons. "Oh my God!" Lois shrieked as she watched Clark sail through the air.
Grog laughed heartily as he began his jog back towards Clark. Fortunately, Grog had very little speed at all. Lois took off running after him, choosing a parallel course away from the monster. "It's a good thing that I changed to my jogging shoes!" She muttered, passing Grog easily.
Clark was partially knocked out by Grog's blow. His eyes closed briefly as he dazedly awaited the next impact. None came. Clark suddenly felt himself go vertical, but his speed slowed to a stop. Clark was floating about two feet above the grassy field!
Clark opened his eyes fully, and dropped to the ground without further injury.
Momentarily, he had defied gravity! "Are you okay, amigo?" Bart suddenly appeared beside him. "Yeah! That creature got the best of me, caught me by surprise. I'll be all right. Thanks Bart."
"Good! Because we still have to round up the rest of the knights and gladiators." Bart reminded him, but by now, Lois was nearing the scene of the melee. Clark gasped. How much had she seen? Grog rumbled towards them, and was correcting course to attack Lois.
"Damn it!" Clark said as he vaulted forward, sailing nearly thirty feet through the air, and landed in between Lois and Grog. Bart went back to gathering the lost beings from the magical realm. "Back off!" Clark barked at Grog, who subsequently took a swing at him. This time, Clark was ready for him, and dodged the creature's punch with some effort.
Lois was in shock, trying to process what she'd just seen. Instinct took over, and she grabbed a fallen tree branch and waved it menacingly at Grog, distracting him. "Lois! What the hell are you doing? You're going to get hurt!" Clark yelled as he dove low, avoiding another swing by Grog.
"I'm saving your ass, Smallville!" Lois said bravely, jabbing at Grog with the sharp edge of the branch. Grog laughed loudly, startling them. He reached out to grab at Lois's throat, but Clark was faster, deflecting the blow. He took a deep breath, knowing what the consequences of his next action would mean. Grog nailed Clark with a vicious left to the mouth.
The punch connected with Clark's upper lip, splitting it. Blood spattered all over Lois's outfit. Clark went down in a heap at Lois's feet. He was dazed and took a labored breath. Fortunately, Grog was still woozy from Clark's original uppercut. "Clark! What are you trying to prove…taking on this monster?" Lois was on the verge of crying.
She knelt down, brushing the blood from Clark's chin. "Sometimes I feel like I know everything about you, and sometimes I feel like I don't know you at all." Lois choked on the words. "It's like you're two…completely different people." She concluded, gasping, and standing up. Grog wavered a bit, but readied a balled fist to pound Clark's head into the ground with.
Clark grasped what passed for Grog's wrist, and literally flipped the monster over his shoulder, grazing Lois in the process. Grog landed with a thunderous crack that caused a shock wave, which vibrated the ground beneath them. Lois gaped at Clark while she steadied her stance.
"It's you!" She whipped the branch at Grog's fallen form and jumped into Clark's arms as he stood up, kissing him passionately. "You're the Blur!" She added, as the shock set in.
"I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, Lois." Clark sighed with relief, feeling that a gigantic weight was lifted off of his broad shoulders. "I wanted to tell you so many times." He continued, as she hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry that I lied to you." He added.
"I understand." Lois said tearfully. "You were just trying to protect me, when I should've been protecting you. It all makes sense. The unexplained disappearances, lame ass excuses, hanging out with Oliver, ditching me time and time again." She rambled playfully.
"I should've known that something was wrong." Lois laughed nervously. "I mean seriously, why would you keep trying to lose a hot babe like me?" Clark smiled brightly, hugging her. "No more secrets, no more lies, and now you know that I have an important job to do, as do you." Clark stated. "As you might expect, we're in the middle of saving the world, yet again."
"Oh my God! Chloe!" Lois exclaimed. "My younger cousin is up to her pretty little neck in this, isn't she? Along with Oliver, Lana, Kara, and the rest of the crew." Clark nodded. "Relax, Lois, this is a lot to take in all at once." She snickered. "I'm in! So little time, so many asses to kick!"
Clark laughed heartily. Grog lay motionless in the dirt, knocked completely out. Granny watched with interest from her hiding place beside a darkened knoll. "I may throw up!" She croaked, witnessing the romantic scene. Her Com link buzzed. "Master? I'm sorry. I couldn't control Grog. That pea brain of his…he confronted Kal El, and lost miserably."
"It is of little consequence, Granny." Darkseid's deep voice boomed through the link. "We may have to accelerate our plans some. Is Grog dead?" Granny double-checked on the fallen alien monster, craning her withered neck above the knoll's edge. "No, he's just out cold. Kal El won't kill him…that is his main weakness."
"That figures." Darkseid scoffed. "Jor El was the same way. Is Grog still wearing his reeducation belt?" Again, Granny risked a look at the huge, furry minion. "Yes, My Lord." Darkseid grinned thinly. "Perfect." He pressed a diamond-shaped button on his huge, ornate, throne.
Grog's body convulsed. A few wisps of smoke rose from the belt, and black, smoldering blood oozed from Grog's mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. The creature's heart stopped. Darkseid had killed him from another planet, to prevent the creature from answering any questions.
"Clark! Did you see that?" Lois was horrified as Clark examined Grog's lifeless body. "Dead." He shook his head in disgust, quickly glancing around.
A thunderous boom startled Clark. Lois fell into his arms, her stance disrupted by the shock wave. A glowing circle appeared, and three ugly, lizard-like creatures grabbed Grog's body, and just as quickly disappeared.
The glowing circle receded into a quarter-sized ball of light before evaporating completely. This all took a few seconds. Clark silently berated himself for not reacting more quickly, yet he still held Lois in his arms, finally pulling her in close to him.
"What the hell have we gotten into, here?" Lois asked as she turned to face Clark, simultaneously rubbing the bruised and bloodied side of his face. "I don't know, Lois, but I'm sure that we'll find out soon enough." He carefully searched the meadow and the surrounding area with his enhanced vision, but saw only the MPD officers running through the park towards them.
Bart had carried off the last of the knights, and gladiators. Their section of the park was now deserted. Lois held onto Clark tightly. "We'd better go, Lois. I don't want to answer any of the police department's questions." She nodded as he smirked.
"You don't get sick on carnival rides, do you, Lois?" Clark chuckled. "No…why?" She stared up into his eyes. "Hold on!" Clark shifted into hyper speed after picking her up. In seconds, they were in the alley behind the Daily Planet. "Wow! What a rush!" Lois said excitedly.
"I've always wanted to do that when you were conscious." Clark admitted. Lois grinned sheepishly. "You must save a fortune in cab fare!" She quipped.