Chapter Three: Tsunami
The Watchtower. A great spaceship orbiting Earth. Headquarters of the Justice League. For Hal and Clark, this wasn't weird at all: they never minded being in space. But for Aquaman, it always felt a bit weird. Like he was out of place. Being on land is one thing, but space was a quite different. Batman, as with everything else, was not phased by it. Or if he was, he never betrayed a sign that that was the case.
The Justice League was assembled: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, Green Lantern, the Flash and Shazam. All standing in the conference room. It was a simple grey room like most of the others. Except this one was larger. It was circular and connected to the bridge which was through a set of automatic doors. It also connected, through a short corridor, to the kitchen. A third door led to the elevators which would transfer a person to the rest of the rooms.
In the centre of the room was a small platform. On the platform was a grey table. It was round and metallic. Upon it was a holographic projector. Surrounding it were high backed chairs made of simplistic metal. The tops of the chairs were shaped into a point. All chairs were the same. All members were equal. Though somehow, even though they had all created the team together, the Trinity seemed to be in charge. Superman. Wonder Woman. Batman. Those three seemed to quarrel at times, but they were still always the leaders. Even though there were no real leaders.
Hal was last to join the table. He'd had to call back and tell the Guardians that he may be a bit late.
Some floors beneath them was a man. But not a man. A Superman. An exact likeness of our Superman. Of Clark. The test results were coming in. Though they were minimal at best, only what Batman could attain using subterfuge. This person came with no ill intention, so far, thought Batman.
"This meeting has started," they were all seated, looking solely at Batman. "Obviously we destroyed the alien forces. Though we don't know why they attacked or if we will have to be prepared for another attack. Cyborg, do you have any Intel on how they got past our security?"
"Actually, yes. They used a cloaking device. I managed to connect to parts of their mainframe before it was destroyed, and the tech that Hal collected was useful in making a full analysis. They were using a scrambling device to hide their frequency and a cloaking device to boot. This tech is more advanced than anything I've seen on Apokolips. The worrying thing is that they also moved fast. Very fast. By my readings and their data, the earliest we would've received data of their approach is ten to fifteen minutes before their attack, depending on what ship was the target for our scans."
"We need to find a way to be ready," said Wonder Woman, "Victor, is there anything we can do to give us more time?"
"Actually, yes. I've reconfigured the relays and sent a couple of satellites further ahead, we should be able to know of an attack an hour in advance."
"Who attacked us?" asked Flash, he was sitting in his chair but he was so energised that he was almost vibrating. He was always a little hyper when he put on the flash suit.
"Daemonites," said Superman.
"Clark, are you sure?" asked Wonder Woman.
"He's right. My ring said the same. But why now?" asked Green Lantern.
"Last time we met, Helspont said that he wants us to save the Earth, because that way the human gene pool stays as large as possible. He may have changed his mind. Or maybe it's something else," said Superman. He was leaning his elbows on the table, and his right hand was engulfing his left fist about a centimetre from his face. He was worried, maybe even scared. They all noticed. And a shiver passed around them. Even Batman knew how bad it must be.
"He's not the only one with power. There were two other Daemonite leaders. That much the Guardians know," said Green Lantern, "and they all have their sights on Earth."
"Then we should be ready for another invasion. This cannot be the only wave of attack."
"There is only one Lord of the Daemonites. Helspont. The rest are dead. I know this for certain," said a voice. It was Superman's, but Clark hadn't spoken. Just before the voice spoke, the alarm went off. They all got up and turned around. It was the other one. Hovering with his arms folded in front of him.
"Please turn off the alarm, I am not going to hurt you. I would not have just stood here if I was."
Batman turned the alarm off, no one removed their eyes from this other Superman. And both Superman and Wonder Woman were already on their feet. The Flash was on the intruder's flank, and yet the intruder seemed nonchalant. Hovering with his hands folded, looking at the table filled with the heroes without so much as a glance towards the Flash.
"I heard you and I thought I'd shed some light. The two other Daemonite leaders are dead. I know this because they were warring with each other over my planet. Helspont was not present. One destroyed the other. I don't know which was which, but when the victor tried to conquer us, they were destroyed."
"Who are you?"
"I am what I am."
"And what is that?" asked Batman, he was in no mood for riddles.
"What you see before you."
"What's your name?"
"My name is Emmet, that was the name my adoptive parents gave me. When they found me inside a ship. My biological father named me something else. He called me Kal-El."
They all stared, not sure what to say.
Superman stood there, analysing his duplicate's body. DNA. Everything. It was all identical. He knew. With super speed and microscopic vision, it was obvious. They were the same. At least physically.
"What are you doing here?" asked Aquaman, hand on his trident. The tension seemed to be festering. Like a gas leak, which is detectable only by a smell, not seen, yet felt. Known. Ready for something, anything, to set it off.
"I'm here, simply, to see my clone. Or my original. Tough to say," said Emmet.
"How? Who duplicated me? Brainiac? Darkseid?" asked Superman, cautious. Cautious not to let his voice betray the confusion in his head. He was trying to recount every cloning attempt made by Luthor, his captured time with Brainiac, his battles on Apokolips. Any time he may have been unable to stop samples of himself being taken.
"That I will tell you in private. For one of us, it was birth. You have a lot of questions. I have no secrets."
"How do we know you're not a threat?" asked Batman. So quick to ask the question. So desperate to find an answer to it.
"The same way your world knows you are not a threat: trust."
"How did you find me?" asked Superman.
"I would rather discuss this with you in private," said Emmet. There was no malice in his voice. Nothing to betray him in any way.
The alert came on.
"Tsunami in the Philippians," said Batman, reading it off the holographic projector on the table, "GL, escort him to the guest rooms. Join us when you finish doing that."
"Which guest room?" asked Lantern.
"Thirty-four. I'll stay and coordinate from here. You guys get going."
They all left reluctantly. All feeling very ill at ease with the notion of a stranger with such great power residing at the home. They had no doubt that Batman could handle himself. If anyone could, it was him. They all probably knew why he was staying behind. He'd never miss an opportunity to help, and it seemed obvious even to Emmet.
The fliers flew there. Cyborg teleported the Flash and Aquaman to the island. Lantern left escorting their guest.
It wasn't anything that was out of the ordinary. A tsunami of this magnitude wasn't a huge deal compared to invading aliens. Superman dove down to the core while the others went to the island. Aquaman swam over to Superman to help. They had to try and remove some of the water from there, without causing a tsunami someplace else, or a monsoon. So a combination of freeze breath and heat vision was the way to go, while Aquaman cleared the sea.
The island wasn't really an island; rather it was a peninsula. The village was resting at the foot of a volcano, with a few more villages behind it and on another side of the volcano. The beach was a beautiful, impeccably clean and golden sand stretched for miles, as if no man had ever stepped there. There was some greenery and fields of crops. It seemed like all manner of vegetation grew in those fields. Something didn't add up, thought Batman, seeing the fields from Cyborg's relay camera. He pushed the thought to the side for the moment.
Shazam and the Flash were there and went about the first mission: saving the villagers that hadn't moved far enough. Going from building to building at super speed, removing all the people from harm's way. For Shazam, there was nothing more fulfilling than saving people from things that could not be controlled. Things people can't defeat, but that aren't malevolent in their core: just a natural event. The Flash was slightly struggling as the earthquakes were shifting him around.
"Guys, I'm getting worried about this seismic activity," said Flash.
"Cyborg, can you get a reading on these volcanoes?" asked Wonder Woman, as she dropped another rock into the sea to try and make a sea wall, "I don't want to have to deal with something like that as well without knowing so in advance."
Boom!
"You still want that reading?" asked Cyborg. The volcano emitted its great ashen cloud and was shooting debris everywhere.
"What do we do?" asked Shazam, "I may be able to turn some of the lava into sto-Uff!"
He got hit by a great rock from the debris coming off of the island's volcano. The earthquakes were continuing, which meant that more waves will be formed. The village could not handle it. They needed Superman both there and here with the volcano.
"We need to place a barrier to stop the lava," said the Flash.
"Seems like I came at the right time," said Green Lantern, shining a bright green light upon the scene. Superman could hear all this, even though he was zipping through the world, dispersing water around it as soon as a tsunami wave began to form.
"Arthur," said Batman, "get to the island and help there."
Ever present, the Bat of Gotham wouldn't be missing from action if he could help it. Ever.
"SHAZAM!"
A lightning bolt shot from the sky, turning a segment of lava to stone.
"How is that even possible?" asked Flash, who allowed himself a hundredth of a second, which for him was more than a moment, to look at the feat.
"Magic, Flash, magic. SHAZAM!"
He kept firing magic at the lava, while the others built a wall facing the erupting volcano using the rocks around the volcano. The Flash's super speed allowed him to move big stones, but it was Aquaman that moved the larger ones. In front of this wall, Green Lantern was building a ditch using a very large tractor created by his Green Lantern ring. Wonder Woman was doing her best to help bring great rocks from the mountains and volcano to help build the wall. Every now and then Superman would come with a large glacier created with his freeze breath and throw it on the volcano.
"We have to get rid of the ash," said Green Lantern, I can do that, but where should I dump it?"
"Disperse it over the fields in small quantities, that would be alright. The rest we can have Firestorm take care of. I'm sure we could find good use for it," said Flash.
"Alright, on it," said Green Lantern, and flew up to the sky, he had a small green shield to protect him from the flying debris. Having let his tractor construction evaporate, he created a great vacuum cleaner and sucked up the great forming ash cloud.
"I think this is probably the first time I've used a vacuum cleaner," said Green Lantern.
"No time like the present," was the Flash's answer.
"Focus GL," said Batman in a slightly crispier voice.
"Relax Batman, I'm just cleaning hou-" an exploding boulder stopped him mid-sentence, he didn't notice it but behind the rubble of the stone stood Shazam, grinning.
"Ok, maybe a bit more focus is called for."
Shazam gave a slight salute and rushed off, feeling slightly smug. An explosion brought him out of it.
"Thanks," said Shazam, as Wonder Woman was the one that destroyed the rock heading towards him from behind. She didn't even salute, just flew off to continue her work.
Boys, so cocky, she thought as she tossed another rock for Aquaman to load upon the wall.
"Cyborg, how's the wall coming along?" asked Batman, as he saw the events unfold before his eyes, wanting to be on the ground, but knowing he was truly needed where he was.
"It's going alright," said Cyborg, as he melted the rocks a little and refroze them as a substitute for mallet. The wall was already four meters high, and the length of the village. The ditch was also done; the village was secure.
"GL, I'm sending you the co-ordinates of the fields. Spread the ash there. The rest can go in an abandoned warehouse I know of, it's the perfect place for Firestorm to practice his abilities," said Cyborg.
"Got it," said Green Lantern and sped off. He met Superman on the way, and they exchanged a smile. Superman was carrying a glacier, again. The smile lasted just one second. But that was enough. Superman's smile made things feel alright, like everything will be alright. Not that GL ever gave way to doubt on that front. He always thought he'd make it home alive. He never feared.
He didn't allow himself to feel fear, not without overcoming it in a second.
It was his job.
The tsunami has been taken care of, thought Superman. He was at the time in the Atlantic Ocean dumping a bit of ice near a glacier, hoping he wasn't making a mistake placing the water there. He rushed back towards the island, it wasn't more than a few seconds, but he felt like he was already too late. He made it just in time to stop a piece of flying lava from hitting Aquaman in the face. A nod was his 'thank you'.
It was enough, they had a job to do. With Superman's added super speed and super strength the wall was constructed fully with an added density. It took only a few minutes. Shazam and Superman, along with Aquaman and Wonder Woman, helped deepen and broaden the ditch in front of the wall, while the Flash and Cyborg had another look to ensure that the perimeter was clear. It was. they so rarely missed people in the first round nowadays.
"Justice League, well done." came Steve Trevor's voice over the comms. He shared a link with the League, "The area is clear and it seems that you have managed to save the village."
"Always here to help," said Wonder Woman.
"That should be your motto," said Steve Trevor.
"No way, that's sucks!" said Shazam. A little smile passed across the faces of Wonder Woman and Superman. And if Batman had had the capacity to smile, he might've done so as well.
"We're not getting into this again," said the Flash, stopping any ongoing debate that might've been coming. As there always was.
"Why? You haven't heard my latest one!" said Shazam.
"Shazam, it can't be any good with your batting average," said Green Lantern. "Now I, for example, have a great batting average when it comes to things of that sort."
"Sorry GL, but I can't agree with you there," said Flash.
"Justice League, back to the Watchtower. Now." came Batman's voice. None had forgotten, but no one wanted to be reminded about their guest. Superman was already on his way there, but was taking his time. He'd always thought he was the last son of Krypton. Lara's arrival, as well as Zod and his army, had changed that. He could live with that. But what if he wasn't the original Superman, the real Kal-El? What if his father, wasn't actually his father? This was the way he'd felt when he'd first learned of his adoption. Better to face the truth than shy away from it, thought Superman, and picked up the pace to get to the Watchtower.
As he entered through the air lock, the rest of the team was teleported back. He beat them by about three seconds.
They moved through the hallways, chatting idly, but that was a front. On their minds were all the same questions, but each one took it differently. The majority of them were worried. They knew what a bad Kryptonian could do, who knew what this one could do? Did he gain different powers due to different surroundings? They could only hope for the best.
Hope, that was Superman's thing. His ideology, his way of life. They followed suit, in their own way.
The reconvened at the table once again.
"Well done. I have a mission for you when we're done, Cyborg."
"Alright," said Cyborg. If Batman didn't say what it was, it was because he had more pressing issues to attend to. They trusted him. Not always the best idea, but they did. It was usually rewarded by good results. Superman never quite agreed with Batman's methods, but that's why the Justice League was so important: they restrained each other.
"I've completed scans and some tests on our guest," said Batman. A few years ago there would have been surprise that he'd done that, especially when it came to how. Now there was little surprise, only respect and appreciation for this man's craftiness and ability.
"Am I right in assuming he's a clone?" asked Superman, hoping and also fearing the answer.
"He is completely identical to you in physiology. As I'm sure you inspected as well, his DNA matches yours perfectly. There is no sign of degenerating tissue or of anything of the sort. He is a perfect copy of you. As to his story, I can't say. His appearance here just as we're being attacked is proof enough that he has an agenda. Or that he was waiting to make an entrance. He speaks fluent English and with no detectable accent of any kind but American. He could have been raised here for all we know."
"What's the likelihood of that?" asked Aquaman.
"Not likely, my facial recognition software hasn't found any trace of him on the planet. I'm expanding the search, but I seriously doubt I'll find anything," said Cyborg. Batman nodded, but in his heart he felt a pang of sympathy: Vic didn't sleep. Didn't eat. And he was always connected to the networks around the world. He never got to rest. Never got to be a complete human.
"I doubt he came from Earth, Bruce," said Green Lantern. "When he came in to help us, he came from a trajectory that would've been from Jupiter. The scans my ring made revealed his energy signature coming from far away. Unless he left Earth a whole ago, he didn't emerge from there when we met him."
"What about his suit?" asked Shazam. "Anything special there?"
"His suit is similar to Superman's, for all but one thing: it's tougher. I can't even start analysing any of the data unless I get to hold the suit, and that technology is beyond Earth's for sure," replied Batman, hesitating for a moment. They all knew: he would really want a suit that's tough like that.
"Is he stronger than me?" asked Superman. Deep silence fell on the group, Superman had asked the question on everyone's mind, and they all dreaded the answer.
"His cells are stronger than yours. It seems he has either been exposed to more sunlight than you, or he has become more efficient at utilising it. That's quite evident by the fact that he is slightly more tanned than you. My guess is that his suit helps with solar light absorption as well. But from the tests I ran on his cells, they absorb the same amount as you do. He is stronger, but not in a way that you can't be. Theoretically," said Batman, with great hesitation. Superman was powerful enough as it is. Should he really be doing this? Helping Superman get stronger? He trusted Clark, and he would probably keep trusting him. But this, this could be dangerous.
"Does Kryptonite work on him as it does on Clark?" asked Wonder Woman.
"All the data points to that conclusion. But I won't know until I try it on him. The few cells I found with the help of GL weren't enough to give me an accurate conclusion," said Batman. But what it really meant was that he may be without weakness. But he's still beatable, there's always a way, thought Batman.
"Where is he now?" asked Flash, still vibrating to a small extent. Green Lantern always joked that the Flash got so anxious sometimes he'd end up at the centre of the Earth. It was funnier before the discovery of Subterranea.
"He's in his room. I don't think he will talk to us, but I'm sure he will talk to you, Clark." Batman, as well as the others, looked at him. Batman had brought them together, Wonder Woman gave them the passion, but in many ways it was Superman who led them. The big gun. The guy who would never do the wrong thing. It was all his choice now, and they all wanted in. He sat there, chin on his fist. The weight of the world resting on his shoulders. They all felt that way sometimes. Batman learned to see it as his calling, and to think himself the only one able to do so. Superman, he was a bit closer to humanity. He tried not to think about it.
"I'll go talk to him," said Superman, knowing full well that the League had his back. They always had, always will.
"Alright. Comms up. Flash, Shazam, I want you guys close by, something funny happens and you get in there. Wonder Woman and Aquaman, you're on back up. GL. I want you outside securing the Watchtower if anything should happen. Cyborg and I will take control from here," said Batman. Always issuing orders, always the master tactician. Always one step ahead.
They all dispersed, all but Superman and Batman.
"You're worried," said Batman.
"Shouldn't I be? If what he said is right, I may just be a clone... That throws your life into perspective."
"Maybe, but focus, Clark. And besides, even if you are a clone, I'm already sure you're better than the original."
That raised a smile on Clark's face.
"Thanks Bruce."
"We've got your back."
It was a call to duty, but it was also a friendly remark. Every now and then, Bruce had a way to lift your spirits.