XLIII
Gangrene Dream
Clark gave Lois a wink as she stood beside him, listening to General Mason go over the latest Geiger readings outside of Kahndaq. Her speech was bracing the world for his big reveal, the alien among them. When the time came, she would present him to the world. And then he heard something searing through the clouds two miles above… and it was falling towards them… fast.
"Lois, there's trouble above. I'm going to check it out." Before she could say 'wait' or 'stop', he was gone… He heard the quick intake of breath from fifty reporters as they witnessed a secret service agent fly straight up into the sky like a bolt into the blue. He suddenly wished that Lois had still been a reporter to cover the headlines this was going to generate instead of the president whose trust he had just broken.
He would deal with it after he knew she was safe. Nothing that size should have been falling straight at them.
Within milliseconds, Clark spotted and caught the man in the strange flight-suit as he fell through the clouds, a mere 30 seconds from impact. Even with the cooling mists of cloud banks, it was obvious the man had fallen a great distance from the re-entry heat of the flight-suit. A sudden stop would have killed the mysterious skydiver, so Clark reduced his momentum gently. He didn't look like a pilot.
As Clark flew the man towards the ground, he noticed eight secret service agents in flight suits lift off and scan the skies for other intruders. The stealth on this man's suit must have been incredible to avoid detection this far. Normally, the anti-aircraft missiles would have filled the sky by the time he hit the two-mile limit. How far had he dropped?
Squirming from the man he held confirmed he was conscious and alive. He was surprised when his captive suddenly fired the upward thrusters on his flight suit. Clark held him with one firm hand and removed the visor with the other.
"You're not going to get away." Clark tightened his grip, crushing alloys to emphasize his point. The face that stared back at him was that of an older, Caucasian man.
"No… I'm not. I've got one last shot to make though, Blue. Can't make it if I'm falling," The old man was smiling.
"You're not going to fall…"
Like a knife in the back, Clark felt the weakness. Much faster than before… and all too late… felt the hypodermic injector stab him between his shoulder blades. His grip slackened and he began to fall, leaving the assassin perched in mid air… his last image before the green poison overwhelmed him.
David Cain watched as Big Blue began his trip back to the earth as he nimbly retrieved 'old faithful' from its flight sheath. Even through the monkey suit, the 50-caliber felt like the embrace of love. Flight stabilizers held him suspended just over a mile above the ground. The president's flying goon squad were only seconds away, so this would have to a quick shot. Bullets were starting to whiz by him from a hundred army sharp shooters below… but he had gravity on his side.
He was aiming for predictability and got it. President Lane broke away from her entourage when she saw her lover fall, stepping towards his falling form as he plummeted. Through his scope, he watched her mouth scream the word 'Clark' as he pulled the prep trigger and then gently squeezed the second trigger before she had taken three steps.
The last shot he would ever take went through the president's shoulder. Twenty years ago he would have put it through the top of her head… but these days a shoulder shot was good enough. The massive round dropped her to the ground like a pile driver, rendering her left arm useless. He was an assassin, not a terrorist. The world must know that. Cain had to make the kill before it all went to Hell.
The era of steel jackets was finished. The nanotech round Cane fired used Karyorrhexis1 to power a nanite-bloom throughout the victim's blood stream. One scratch and death was assured. Nanites went after body's nuclei, tearing them to microbial shreds and then the tiny machines used the shreds built more nanites which went after the next cell and so on. The rate of spread increased exponentially until the victim was nothing more than a gray husk, usually within 2 minutes. David Cain suppressed a chuckle when he recalled the name the lab boys had given these rounds…
'Gangrene Dream'.
...And now he must join her.
David Cane felt the first armor-piercing round go through his thigh. It hurt. Another round went through his chest. That hurt more. Two more hit him like a sledgehammer, embedding in his suit. He was being lit up like a Christmas tree. If the rolling airframe missile batteries had not been sabotaged however, he would have been in tiny pieces by now. Count your blessings, Cain.
The assassin cut the power to his suit and let himself fall once more, still clutching his rifle. He had been allowed to take the last shot and made the kill, the greatest murderer of his era. The gods had fallen.
Farewell Cassandra. Be well, my darling girl.
1. Karyorrhexis is the destructive fragmentation of the nucleus of a dying cell whereby its chromatin is distributed irregularly throughout the cytoplasm. (From Wikipedia)
Author's Note:
REALLY?! LOIS TOO?!YOU COLD BASTARD!DO YOU HATE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS?!
It has been decreed that my next FanFic must be a romantic comedy... Just to balance the FanFic tragedy quotient of the Universe. Perhaps a rollicking love triangle between a young Lois Lane, Dick Grayson and Jimmy Olson. With special guest appearance by Mr. Myxlplyx! But in the meantime… hold on tight, readers. We're not done yet...