Hopeful Idiot

Chapter 32: Bombs

Started: 03.08.24

AN: Multiple time skips present.

There are all sorts of bombs. Physical bombs, emotional bombs, truth bombs, etc…

+++++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++++

Bruce watched the screen. None of his fear showed on his face.

The Senate hearing for Superman's actions in Africa was supposed to meet that day.

Superman showed as requested.

Not five minutes later, the Senate building exploded in a rain of fire and stone.

The cameras caught Superman floating above it all. Looking down on the chaos and destruction expressionlessly. Only his cape moving in the breeze. When he began to descend, new screams filled the air. Those gathered terrified of what the alien would do to them next. Would he kill the witnesses? How would he erase the film evidence?

Yet, instead of either, Superman stopped. Simply looking at all of the scrambling humans, anxious to escape him. He looked at the nearest camera. Opened his mouth as if to say something, before closing it again and flew off.

Bruce backed up the recording and froze the screen on the Kryptonian's expression. Or rather, his lack of expression. His chest clenched at the implications. "Alfred? Has Hope come back yet?" He knew the answer, but was hoping himself that he was wrong. Perhaps his butler had seen…?

"No, Master Bruce. Ms. Kramer has not yet returned to her apartment nor workplace."

Bruce bowed his head, sending a silent apology to the woman he had failed to save. Batman stood and moved to the area of the cave designated for construction. "We have no choice but to assume the worst." A sickly green glowing spear was already completed and waiting in its place on the wall. "We'll have to work quickly to finish the armor before he does anything else in retaliation."

+++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++

Lex Luthor – first clone of the original Lex Luthor – screamed in rage, throwing a desk upside and scattering its contents everywhere. "That plane is the proof that Hope Kramer is who we need and you're telling me you can't find her?!"

"No, sir. We've had all places she frequents staked out and she hasn't returned to any of them." Jim Anderson, soldier-for-hire, stood at attention, not daring to even breathe against orders around this obviously insane and obsessed man. The fact that the man was his employer made him seriously wish he had turned down the money and worked at his family's copy store when he had the chance.

Luthor bared his teeth in what no one would mistake for a smile. He paced menacingly as he thought of how to change his plans and still get what he truly wanted: Superman's death. "Fine, go to Plan B. Coordinate with Knyazev and get me Lois Lane and Martha Kent instead."

+++H+I+++

"Plain Lo in the morning. Lola in slacks." Luthor's tone was full of happiness as he stared at his first hostage, Lois Lane, who had been dropped off via helicopter on top of the LexCorp building. He gave a short sigh, a small smirk creeping across his face. "Lois Lane. You're a bit late, but I'll forgive you this time."

"Come see the view!" He walked over, threw an arm around her shoulders and forcibly drew her closer to the edge. "The secret to the height of any building are the materials. Light metals sway a bit in the wind. Can you feel it?" He made a small humming sound as he closed his eyes and shifted back and forth to something only he could sense.

Lois shivered as she watched him. "You're psychotic."

The head of a multi-billion-dollar corporation looked up and away as he waved his hand around her head. "That is a three syllable word for any thought too big for little minds."

"I've proven what you've done. The article will be printed in tomorrow's edition, no matter what you do to me."

"You're feisty! Brava!" He clapped happily. "Good for you! Unfortunately, that will blow away. Like sand in the desert." He had too much money for anything he did to ever pin to him or his major company. Too much money and too many lawyers, whom he paid handsomely. He walked around her as his words grew in volume. "Round and round and round they go to find what they can prove in court. Ha! Next category, triangles." He paused once again in front of Lois, grinning all the while. "Euclid's inequality; the shortest distance between any two points is a straight path." Another circle around her. "Proven time and again since Greece! And I believe the straightest path to what I want more than anything is a pretty little redhead named Hope."

Lois sucked in a sharp breath. The whole point of the two of them making their deal was to point people to her. So that the world saw Hope dated Clark Kent and Lois dated Superman. Lois wanted to say so many things right then, but knew that none of them would change this man's insanity.

As if agreeing with her, Luthor stopped again, this time behind her. "Since I can't find her, I guess I'll have to settle for second-best." He grabbed her vest, turned her around and shoved her back-first off the roof. She hadn't had time to do more than flail. "But you're used to that, aren't you?" he said conversationally as he watched her fall.

+++H+I+++

Lois screamed. She couldn't help it. It was the body's natural response to falling dozens of stories. But between one second and the next, there was Superman in front of her with that small concerned quirk of his eyebrows. Gently cradling her, he flew them over to a nearby empty parking lot and set her down. She swallowed at the close call. "You came back."

"Had to honor our deal, didn't I?"

"Where's Hope? I haven't seen her in days."

"She's safe."

Lois paused, but knew it had to be said. "He knows about her." Superman's expression went deadpane and she felt a chill down her spine. "Luthor knows about Hope."

He didn't wait to hear more, simply turning and flew just half Mach 1 to the top of LexCorp. Hovering as he took in the scene: Lex Luthor's not-son sitting cross-legged on the roof, smiling giddily. "Boy do we have problems up here!" He twisted a standard kitchen timer twice all the way around, then got to his feet. "The problem of evil in the world. The problem of absolute virtue." He gestured to Superman as if showcasing the virtue.

The Kryptonian looked at this possible clone of his childhood friend and growled, "I'll take you in without breaking you. Which is more than you deserve." This one had tried to kill Lois more than once and was now a threat to his mate. He wouldn't be allowed to stay free. But he'd give the clone a chance at living, even if it was in a cage. His Hope would want that; would want him to give Luthor a chance.

Luthor took several steps backward as his voice became high pitched. "The problem of you on top of everything else. You above all." Superman gradually floated down, not wanting to spook the other as he kept speaking, ignoring his chance. "Because that's what God is. Horus. Zeus. Jehovah… Kal-El." He paused as the alien touched down within arm's reach. Luthor's head tilted a bit, his tone smug, "Clark…Jonathan…Kent."

Superman stopped.

Luthor's smile widened. "I'll admit that I don't remember everything. Those idiots at Cadmus didn't have everything ready to go when you killed the original Lex Luthor, but I do remember some. Your real name for example. That we were friends and you repeatedly lied to me! And now its time for all the rest of the world to see you for who you truly are." His smile was gone, tone dark with anger. "They think you're God but we both know the truth. God takes sides. No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy from Daddy's manipulations or your betrayal." His face was ugly as he waved his hands in grand gestures, pointing at himself and Superman at intervals of his monologue. "I figured out way back if God is all-powerful, then he cannot be all-good. If God is all-good, then he cannot be all-powerful. And neither are you. Those stupid people need to see the fraud you are! See with their own eyes the blood on your hands!"

Superman was starting to realize that this copy of his friend was neither rational nor sane. While he wasn't inclined to punish the insane for their actions, he still needed to know, "What have you done?"

Lex giggled and practically skipped closer. "Hmm-mm! And tonight they will. Yes! Because you, my old friend, have a date! Mmm! Across the bay!" He gestured to the spotlight shining into the clouds several miles away, in Gotham. "Two years growing, his hate. Wasn't even sure I managed it before this week. But ripe fruit always falls eventually!" He gave a little skip-step in place, giggling. "And now you will fly to him and you will battle." His smile fell off his face as if it had never been. Staring at Superman with determination. "To your death." Pause. "Fight night! Greatest gladiator match in the world. God versus man. Day versus night. Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham."

"You think I'll fight him for you?" Oh yes, Luthor was insane.

"Mmm…yes I do. I think you will fight-fight-fight for that special lady in your life." Back came the wide mad grin.

"She's safe on the ground."

"Oh, not that one."

"She's out of your reach." He raised one eyebrow. "How about you?"

"Not that one either. Not talking about Lois or Hope. No." He backed up several steps as Superman came forward. Reaching into his inner coat pocket, Luthor pulled out a handful of poloroids. "Every boy's special lady is…" he fanned them and twisted to show his rival, "…his mother." He gasped mockingly, then giggled deep in his throat. "Now the mother of a demon must be a witch. What is the punishment for a witch? Oh yes, that's right. Death by fire." He didn't try to hold onto the photographs that the alien snatched.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Kal-El screamed, eyes burning bright crimson with barely controlled fire. The only reason Luthor wasn't dead already was he needed information.

"I don't know!" He laughed. "I wouldn't let them tell me." He gestured to the spotlight in the distance as the Kryptonian took a decided step forward, "Uh-uh-uh! If you kill me, Martha dies. If you fly way, Martha also dies. Mmm. But if you kill the Bat…" his smile full of teeth, "…Martha lives." The red glow died and Luthor petted the other's arm. "There we go. There we go. Hmm." He leaned forward, that same smile so bright and happy it would scare anyone who saw it. "And now God bends to MY will."

The same helicopter that had delivered Lois Lane was back on approach. "Now cameras are ready and waiting. For the world to see the holes in the holy! To capture every sordid detail of both Gods duking it out. Yes, the Almighty comes clean about how dirty he is when it counts. Winner take all! For you to save Martha and for him to save the rest of us. Either way, I win because they will all finally see." The helicopter landed behind him and he skipped backwards as he held up the same kitchen timer from before. "Mother of God, would you look at the time?" He laughed at his pun. "You started with an hour. Now? Well, now you have less."

+++H+I+++

"Lois."

She turned from the taxi and felt a pit of dread knot. "Clark?" she breathed.

"I'm going to Gotham to ask him to help me," his face was so grim.

"Hope?"

A slight relaxing of his shoulders. "She's safe."

"Where? I haven't seen her since that day."

"The Fortress." He gave a small huff of laughter. "She's probably still sleeping." Then his face went back to being grim-grim-grim. "If I can't convince him, then…I'll have to fight him." He looked at her and Lois couldn't interpret the emotion. Resignation? Determination? Fear? Hope? "You'll help her. Won't you? If… If the worse should happen, you'll help her?"

"Of course I will, but Clark—"

He shook his head. "No one stays good forever. Sometimes the choice is bad or worse. All anyone can do…is choose what you can live with."

+++H+I+++

He landed a good twenty feet in front of Batman, who had on some sort of armor. Armor very different from the last time they'd spoken. He walked forward as he spoke, the rain already soaking his hair. "Bruce, I don't know what he's told you, but—" He stepped on some sort of trigger, causing two poles he had dismissed to emit a sonic scream. He groaned as he went down on one knee. By lucky chance, there was a manhole cover directly under his foot and he ripped it in two, hurling the pieces to each pole to destroy them.

With the debilitating noise stopped, he kept going, his teeth aching from how he was grinding them against the lingering pain. "You don't understand."

Batman met him in the middle and his stereotypical harsh growl came, "I understand!" Clark pushed him just enough that the armor slid backwards, but not hard enough to put Batman through the far wall. Enough for room to talk, explain. As he opened his mouth to do so, four battlements popped out of two industrial garbage bins. "There's no time for this!" He yelled to be heard over the gunfire as his heat vision swept over and demolished the turrets. Then he took them both to the top of a nearby building. "Please listen. I don't want to fight you, Bruce."

"I know," the Dark Knight growled, but this time there was resignation and pain in his voice. He yanked a grenade from under his cloak, pulled the pin, and tossed it at Superman's feet. He darted away and fired the real weapon from the cover of his literal smokescreen. The alien caught the rocket grenade easily, as the Bat knew he would. This time the gas was a horrible glowing green that quickly enveloped the Kryptonian. Even the pouring rain making both gases dissipate almost immediately wasn't fast enough before a draining amount of airborne kryptonite was delivered. "Breathe it in." Superman already on his knees, coughing weakly.

Kryptonite. The one thing that could kill him. Whatever Lex had told Bruce, it was enough for other to truly want him dead. The Bat wasn't playing. Wasn't doing this for show or exposition. Which meant that Superman would have to fight as well. Really fight for his mother and his life. He had no choice.

The next minute was a brutal exchange of fists and feet. Each went through at least two walls. The kryptonite gas had them on even footing…but only for the first two minutes. He quickly regained the upper hand by throwing the armor through yet another wall, this time into a bathroom. "Stay down! I don't want to do this. Just listen!" He tried again to reason with the man.

It didn't work. Another rocket propelled grenade expended its entire load center of his chest. And this time, there was no rain to clear it. All of the gas made its way into his lungs as he writhed on the tiles. He had no awareness of his surroundings until suddenly there was a crash as Batman put all his armor's strength to bring down something ceramic—porcelain?—on his head. His world went dark.

When Clark came back to consciousness, he was sore and aching as he was dragged by something wrapped around his ankle. Then he was flying through the air, crashing through every support pillar in a large circle around his opponent. He groaned in pain. He knew he was bleeding at this point. He had to be. The gas still in his system made him vulnerable from the inside-out.

"You bleed." Batman sighed. Ever the strategist, he pulled out a perfectly positioned short spear whose tip had been buried under the rubble. Revealing the glowing sickly green tip of pure kryptonite, he advanced one step at a time. "I'm sorry it came to this." He didn't hurry. He knew he didn't have to. Superman was down. It was only the final blow left.

Clark looked at his semi-friend and couldn't find the strength to even lift his head. He knew this was the end. The worst scenario. He was going to be leaving Hope behind. But he could still… "Save Martha." He didn't have strength for many words, but he could intone those.

The spear stopped its downward trajectory. "What?" Bafflement.

"Find him. Save Martha."

Absolute confusion. "What?"

"Stop!" A new voice echoed as Lois Lane ran to the side of the incapacitated man. "Stop! Please! Stop!" She collapsed on top of her friend and protector, pushing the spear tip forcibly away as she threw herself between the fighters.

"Who's Martha? Who is 'him'?"

"Martha is his mother's name. Lex Luthor kidnapped her. There were pictures. Please. I don't know what Luthor told you, but it's all a lie. Please." She begged him.

Batman looked at the woman who had thrown herself between a friend and death. Saw her sincerity. "Where is she?" She opened her mouth, but before she answered he asked again. "Where is Hope?"

"Safe," Clark groaned. "Safe."

Batman threw away the weapon with a growled cry.

"Oh thank God," Lois collapsed in relief.

+++H+I+++

Superman got to his feet roughly. "Lex said your life for hers. She's running out of time."

"That's not all," Lois said. "The scout ship is drawing in a ton of power. Both Gotham and Metropolis are in a blackout. Lex has to be doing something. I talked to a scientist at Cadmus labs where they made the clone. He said that the mental imprint was faulty and over time caused paranoid obsession. Lex will stop at nothing to get what he wants. This was Plan A, but I bet whatever the ship is doing is Plan B."

Batman helped to steady the other. "You need to get to that ship." A Kryptonian ship would have to be handled by a Kryptonian. "I'll get your mother."

Superman nodded. He looked at them both sadly. Dying at the hands of whatever Kryptonian thing Luthor came up with was even more likely than dying at the hands of Batman. "You'll help her?"

"Of course we will. All three of us will." Lois kissed his cheek before he flew off. Probably heading for his end.

+++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++

Knowing that Hope would die if he didn't do something, Kal-El pulled away.

"No," Lois pleaded, trying desperately to keep holding him.

It was effortless for him to keep going. Less than effortless. It barely registered to him the woman's words or her actions. He'd barely felt her touch anyway. His mind was completely focused on what he needed to do. He didn't really have a choice. Either he did this, or Hope died.

No, there was no choice.

So, he pulled away from the crying human female whose hair was the wrong color, already flying barely inches off the ground. Speeding toward the kryptonite-tipped lance that had oh so recently been piercing his own side.

The female new-comer heroine had wrapped the abomination in some sort of glowing rope. She cried out in exertion, using all her strength to hold the creature in place to the best of her ability, yanking on the other end. Yet, her feet still slid. The strength of twenty men, perhaps more, he'd estimated from his brief contact, and still she had to yield ground.

He saw Batman out of the corner of his eye, lining up a weapon. Being human, whatever the man had built was already as much as he could contribute to this fight. He wouldn't last more than a second or two if he directly confronted the beast.

So, once again, Clark was forced to conclude that he was all that stood between this man-made abomination and Hope. His grip on the lance tightened and he pushed aside his nausea. The increasing pain wasn't important right now.

A part of his mind acknowledged that pain wasn't going to be important at all after this.

He sped up as much as he was able over the short distance, attempting to use physics in his favor. Inertial force. Angling himself to put as small a target facing the beast as possible, thus decreasing the surface area that would make impact, and consequently the lance tip would penetrate even deeper.

As soon as he hit, the monster catching all his momentum with barely a single step backward, he twisted the lance with a sharp turn of his wrist. Doing as much damage as possible in the millisecond collision.

He barely felt the lightning that instantly exploded out of the titan upon impact. It wasn't important. He didn't notice when the heroine lost her footing entirely. The cause of releasing the monster's arms was the effect of a sharp bone lance piercing his own chest. He screamed in agony, but he didn't lose his grip on the kryptonite lance.

It was Hope's face that he saw as he reached forward to take hold of a protruding spike. Her golden-red hair brushed against his face as he nuzzled her neck.

He yanked himself forward, drilling the bone even farther, widening his own wound dangerously. Hope's hazel eyes crinkled in laughter. Laughing at him as he tickled the juncture between her hip and mons.

His arm pushed the kryptonite lance forward even as he pulled himself up. But he didn't see the beast. No. He saw her eyes darkening to sapphire blue in arousal as his lips found their mating mark. His teeth grazed lightly again and again, drawing such sounds from her. Sounds he craved to hear again.

He didn't feel the column of intense heat exploding out of the abomination, out of the wound site, directly toward his form. Didn't feel as the monster's grip reflexively tightened around him in its last dying moments. No. He only felt a distant echo of its continuing presence. Barely registered the odd new sensation of what must be broken bones, followed immediately by punctured organs.

Instead, he felt her soft skin beneath his fingertips. Tasted her flesh as he used his tongue to gently kiss each mole. Felt satisfaction as he successfully redirected her self-consciousness into pleading passion. Heard her moans of pleasure rise and fall with each stroke of his fingers.

Then… an endless sea of nothingness…

She wasn't here with him. He knew that. He also knew that it was alright. Her absence, at least in this case, was just fine. He didn't mind.

This wouldn't be the first time she had made him wait…

+++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++

She didn't feel the tears fall.

She didn't hear her breaths come quick and harsh.

All she could do was watch in absolute horror as the crystal-projected video showed in vivid detail as Clark, her Idiot, willingly flew towards the abomination. A spear glowing a familiar sickly green in his hand. He didn't let go. A crash of lightning. Both went down.

They didn't get back up.

The A.I.'s voice solemnly kept the video playing, but muted it. "You must calm yourself, mate of my son. Breathe evenly." He demonstrated dramatically.

She ignored him, her eyes still glued to the projection. Willing her Idiot to get back up. To appear over the destruction. He'd just been here! Where was he? Why wasn't he flying up above it all like the dramatic idiot he was? Where was he?! He couldn't be dead. He couldn't!

"You must calm your breathing," the A.I. said more firmly. "I cannot perform the calming technique as I have no physical form and I do not have a tranquilizer suitable for a pregnant hybrid. You must calm yourself."

It took a several seconds for the meaning to register in her mind...

…upon which, her world went black.

+++++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++++

Posted: 04.02.24 Word Count: 4292

AN: This is the END of Batman vs Superman movie! FINALLY! As this chapter is mostly canon to the movie, many sections of dialogue were taken and edited to fit the plotline of my story.

Let me know what you think but please be kind. I haven't written in 18 months. I know it's not perfect.