Chapter Six: Raging Waters Part 3: Escape

A few feet outside of the palace, Jonathan, Martha, Lois, and Conner waited patiently in Viking gear as a long line of soldiers marched past them.
"We could be here for hours." Lois groaned.
"I hate the thought of Oliver held prisoner by that madman, Luthor." Martha sighed.
"Why's Mr. Luthor mad at Oliver, Jonathan?" Conner asked. As far as he knew, Ollie hadn't done anything to Lionel.
"Well, he's not that kind of mad, Conner." Jonathan said calmly.
"What kind of mad is he?" Conner asked.
"Well, he's like that man Jesus met in Garassa." Jonathan explained.
"Who was he?" Lois asked.
"Well you see," Jonathan began. "One day, Jesus and his disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee to a place called Garassa where there lived a wild man. He slept in a cave, and the local villagers were terrified of him. Shortly after Jesus and the disciples arrived, the wild man appeared before him.
"'What do you want with me, Jesus?' The wild man asked. 'Son of the most high god!'
"'Come out of this man, evil spirit!' Jesus called out.
"'For god's sake, don't torment me!' The wild man called out.
"'What is your name?' Jesus asked.
"'I am Legion!' The wild man called out. 'We are as numerous as the Roman Army!'
"Legion begged Jesus not to send him away, asking, 'Send us among the pigs. Let us go into them!'
"As loving to his enemies as his friends, Jesus did as Legion asked and sent him into a group of nearby pigs as they oinked angrily and rushed away. When the villagers came to see what had happened, they came to see for themselves. They were astonished to see the wild man now fully clothed and in his right mind. They became frightened and begged Jesus to leave the area. As Jesus and the others were about to sail away, the man appeared and begged Jesus to let him go with them.
"However, Jesus said, 'Go home to your friends and family. Tell them what God has done for you.'
"Jesus sailed away, and the man did as he was asked.
"I like the Legion Story, Jonathan." Conner said with a happy smile. He liked how Jesus was even nice to the bad people. "Is that the end?"
"That's the end." Jonathan said with a smile.
"Yeah?" Lois asked. "Well this legion goes on forever."
"I don't know about that." Jonathan said with a smile as one of the soldiers tripped and stopped the line, allowing the gang to head off.
"Look, we can cross." Lois said in awe.
"Alright everybody." Jonathan said as he pushed a cart full of food they'd all made forward.
"We made it!" Conner called out excitedly. "We made it!"
"I think it's a little early for a celebration." Jonathan said plainly as he put on a Viking's helmet and a fake mustache. "Get your disguises on everybody. The tough part of our mission is just beginning."
Conner, along with everyone else, hoped this plan would work.

At the palace, Lionel was sitting there with Dominic gathering reports from his guards and senators when he heard something.
"Hail Luthor!" A man with brown hair, a mustache, and an odd Viking outfit said with a thick French accent. He was also joined by a woman and a young girl and boy in similar outfits. "I am Pierre, a famous baker from Gall, and this is my family. We have brought pastries for the Emperor."
"Pastries, you say?" Lionel asked. He had always had a sweet tooth.
"Oui." Pierre said. "In honor of... Uh... The twenty-first birthday of Luthor's uncle's third cousin on his mother's side, twice removed. We have prepared a selection of our finest culinary treats."
"Third cousin on my mother's side...?" Lionel wondered. He'd never bothered studying his family aside from Lex, so some of his family tree was harder to recall.
"Oui." Pierre said. "Now if your majesty pleases, I will describe for him the pastries. These are our fruit filled pastries."
Lionel smiled as he held up one and tasted it. The pastry was excellent.

Clark poked his head out of a hollow statue of a Kryptonian holding an urn of water. The statue was connected to the sewers.
"Bruce, Jonathan's here." Clark said as Bruce poked out his head to see.
"Look at that outfit!" Bruce laughed, and Clark had to admit Bruce was right in Jonathan's odd Viking get-up. Just then, the statue began wobbling.
"Hey, this thing's lose!" Clark called out in a whisper. That could be useful for later.

In his cell, Oliver drew the sign of the fish on the ground before he heard a door creek open and quickly rubbed it away. The door opened as Lex stood there.
"What do you want?" Oliver asked. "I guess you're here to torture me. Well go ahead! I'm not afraid of you!"
Oliver noticed a jar in Lex's hand.
"What's that?" Oliver asked. "Poison?"
"It's water." Lex said plainly. "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't bother with poison,"
"I see your point." Oliver said as he took the water and drank. Something about Lex was beginning to grow on Oliver. Maybe because he was nicer than most of Luthor's other guards.

"And these are our famous cream filled pastries." Pierre went on as Lionel tried one and smiled.
"Mmm..." Lionel said. "Delicious."
"And lastly, the crème de la crème." Pierre said as he held up a pastry. "I'd advise against eating this pastry. It is special. It is my world famous Secret Poison Torture Pastry. One bite and..."
Pierre made a slitting motion with his throat.
"How delightful." Lionel said as he smirked even wider. "I must have a demonstration."
"It's a pity you don't have any of those loathsome Christians around." Pierre said with a sigh. "They make especially good Torture Pastry victims."
"You don't say?" Lionel said as he thought of the Christian they'd just captured. "Guard, fetch me the Christian prisoner at once!"
The men did so.

In Oliver's cell, Lex and Oliver continued to talk.
"You know, you don't have to die." Lex said helpfully. "I've seen my father pardon people like you before."
"Sure." Oliver said with a scoff. He'd heard about those traitors. "If they deny Jesus."
"You don't have to deny a thing." Lex insisted sympathetically. "You just have to accept that Lionel Luthor is also a god."
"Then I guess I have to die." Oliver said with conviction. He'd never abandon his believes just to save his own skin.
"Who is this Jesus that inspires such crazy loyalty in his followers?" Lex asked. "I would have liked to have met such a man."
"You still can." Oliver encouraged Lex.
"That's impossible." Lex said. "He's dead. How can I-"
"Shh!" Oliver said quickly as he heard two approaching soldiers.
"Luthor demands to see the prisoner at once." The guard said as he opened the door.
At that, Oliver was dragged into the throne room again as Lionel stood there.
"Welcome back Christian." Lionel said plainly. "I didn't want to send you to the lions on an empty stomach, and my baker friend here has a pastry that's to die for."
Oliver quickly observed Lionel's smirk and knew something was up. The baker then walked up to Oliver, and he quickly recognized him as Jonathan.
"Jonathan?" Oliver asked in a whisper. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't worry." Jonathan whispered back. "Everything's under control. Just follow my lead." Jonathan's voice then shifted into a French accent. "And now Christian Wretch, eat this Poison Torture Pastry, so we can all watch you go into convulsions and collapse dead on the floor!"
"No, I won't!" Oliver said. The guards then held Oliver's arms up as Jonathan shoved the pastry into his mouth. He could tell that the pastry was made bad on purpose to help the act.
"Everything's getting dark..." Oliver gasped after swallowing the pastry. "I'm so cold! Good-bye, cruel world!"
Oliver then let himself drop to the floor, coughing and sputtering. After his performance, Oliver hardly daring to breathe.
"Did you see his tortured expression?!" Lionel asked with dark glee. "Did you hear his agonized gasps? It was wonderful. I'll take six dozen of those pastries for the next Governor's ball."
"Of course, Luthor." Jonathan said. "And now for no extra charge, we will remove the body from your imperial sight."
"Thank you." Lionel said. "It's quite refreshing for someone to take the rubbish out without being asked."
As Oliver felt his body be put onto the wagon, he could smell the pastries, and the smoke tickled his nose, and Oliver ended up sneezing.
"Gazuntite." Cobblepot said as if nothing had happened.
"Thank you." Oliver said since the guards had already blocked off the exit.
"I suspected a trick." Lionel said as his smirk widened. "Arrest them. Poison Torture Pastries indeed? "Did you really think you could fool Lionel Luthor? Throw them to the lions at once!"

As the guards pursued the gang, who were zigzagging everywhere, Clark and Bruce remained where they were.
"We've gotta help them!" Clark said quickly.
"How?" Bruce asked.
"Help me topple this statue over." Clark said as they both shook around inside the hollow statue.
"This is crazy!" Bruce called out.
"Stop complaining and start shaking!" Clark countered.

As the guards cornered the group, Oliver and Jonathan each took a shield and knocked the guards down as they tossed the shields at them, knocking enough guards out to clear a path.
Lois, Conner, and Martha assisted them by tossing the left over pastries at all of them. Unfortunately, they still ended up cornered in the end near a large marble statue of a woman holding a pot of water.
"Bravo." Lionel said darkly as he walked through the crowd. "Bravos. Bravisimo. I can only hope you'll perform as well in the lion pits."
Just then, the statue began to tip over.
"Look out!" A soldier called as the statue collapsed onto the ground while everyone else fled the area.
"My statue!" Lionel called out in alarm. "My beautiful statue."
"Jonathan!" Clark whispered from where the statue had fallen, and the gang turned to see Clark and Bruce inside a small square hole. "Over here!"
The smoke provided an excellent cover as the gang went in one person at a time with Oliver going last when Lex approached Oliver with the scroll. After a moment, Lex handed Oliver the scroll.
"Here." Lex said. "Now hurry, before I change my mind."
Oliver smiled. Maybe there was some hope for people like Lex Luthor after all.
"They're getting away!" Lionel called out, obviously noticing their shadowy shapes in the smoke. "AFTER THEM!"
They made it to the river where a barrel waited for them just as several guards followed.
"Jonathan, catch!" Oliver called out as he tossed the scroll to Jonathan before diving in himself.
"Alright, let's get out of here!" Jonathan called out.
They rushed down the aqueduct on their barrel as Oliver held a chain up to stop one set of guards from following them on a barrel before catching up with the others.
When a second group of soldiers grabbed onto a cape Jonathan had worn for his disguise, Conner caused him to lose their grip on him by tossing his helmet at them, which also shocked them into smashing into the side of the aqueduct, ruining their chance to pursue.
As the last group of soldiers closed in on the gang, they were saved by pure luck. While they passed by the aqueduct inspector, the inspector's aid put in a new filter, completely missing the gang, and the guards were caught in the filter.
"I do say." The inspector said. "I should have thought you chaps would know better."

In the Metropolis end of an aqueduct, two Christians, Wally West and his girlfriend Linda Park, nervously waited by the aqueduct.
"Oliver Queen was supposed to be here hours ago." Wally pointed out with a groan. "We better go tell the others."
"But what are we going to tell them?" Linda asked. "Those people risked their lives to be here tonight."
"I know that." Wally said. "But what can we do? We don't have a story."
"I... I guess you're right." Linda said with a sigh before she stopped. "Wait, look up there."

The gang passed by the rendezvous point.
"There they are!" Oliver called out as they stopped the barrel. "Jonathan, get ready to hand off the scroll."
"No problem, I've got it right here." Jonathan said when he opened up his cape to find the pocket in it empty. "Uh... Uh-oh."
"Looking for this?" Martha asked with a smirk as she handed the scroll to Clark.
"What would I do without you?" Jonathan asked with a smile as he kissed Lois' cheek.
"Jonathan!" Oliver groaned impatiently.
"Sorry." Jonathan said with a smirk as he tossed down the scroll as Wally caught it.
"Thank you!" Wally called out. "Thank you all!"
"Don't mention it!" Jonathan called out as he turned to the children. "Because of your faith and bravery, hundreds of Christians will hear a new story tonight."
"What story will they hear, Clark?" Conner asked.
"Well," Conner said. "It's the story of how Jesus and his disciples got caught in a terrible storm over the Sea of Galilee."

At the Metropolis Story Meeting, the substitute Story-Teller, John Stewart, unfurled the scroll and began reading.
"That evening, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, 'Come, let's cross over to the other side.'"

Oh, that one took awhile. Sorry guys.