UFC: The Wrong Path
Summary: History has been altered and Clark Kent has fallen down the wrong path. Now a criminal is he destined to forever be the perennial bad guy or can he yet find his way back to his true calling?
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Note: The 2nd of my Unfinished Chronicles. A story based off the idea of what if Clark was a criminal? What if he was a member of, say, the Injustice League? How does he live in a world where the Justice League's duty is to take him down? It was suppose to be set in a rough equivalent of the JLU-verse.
The past...
It was such a simple, rustic, unimposing, unimportant looking structure yet inside was one of the most important beings who has ever lived...or will be one day.
That is why he had to die.
He had to die before he became the legend. Before his legacy infected the entire space-time continuum.
The calculations had been precisely worked out. A massive amount of time and processing power had been dedicated to this endeavour so that there was no error.
That is why hovering outside the Kent farmhouse in Smallville Kansas upon a machine that resembles a floating chair essentially is a robotic humanoid entity a green head and upon the forehead 3 circles joined in a triangle configuration.
A bolt of lightning shoots at the figure and impacts off an energy shield.
"Brainiac!"
Brainiac turns its head and focusses its visual sensors that resemble humanoid eyes upon its attacker as he hovers above it, a young man with ginger hair dressed in a mostly blue costume with patches of yellow down each side in the form of lightning bolts. "Lightning Lad," it acknowledges. "Your attempts to stop me are as futile as they are predictable."
Lightning Lad is joined in the air by two others. Another young man with dark hair dressed in a purple and black costume with 4 silver circles across the check in an arc. Next to him is a young woman with blond hair in a white and pink costume with the image of a ringed planet on the chest.
Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl. Along with Lightning Lad 3 members of the Legion of Superheroes from the 31st century.
"You know we can't let you do this Brainiac," Cosmic Boy says.
"I know it is your duty to attempt to stop me but you shall fail. I have calculated every possibility. My victory is certain and so is the erasure of Superman from the space-time continuum," Brainiac informs them in his cold mechanical voice.
"You can't know the consequences of such an action. You could erase yourself in the process," Saturn Girl points out a flaw.
"I am 99% certain my existence shall continue in the new timeline. Yours however shall not. The Legion only exists because of Superman's legacy. When I kill Kal-El here and now as a child he shall never become Superman. There will be no legacy and the Legion will never come into existence."
"You really think we're going to let you kill Kal? Your programming must be defective!" Lightning Lad shouts angrily.
"As I said I have already calculated and made adjustments for your interference. You cannot stop me."
Lightning Lad raises his right hand and lightning crackles between his fingers. "You'll forgive us for trying!" he says with a grunt of effort as he sends another lightning attack at Brainiac with as much power behind it as he can muster.
The shield buckles slightly but holds. "I have no need to forgive even if I was capable of such a sentiment. You are organic creatures and as such flawed. You will attempt to stop me even when it is futile."
Brainiac raises its arm and an energy blasts emerges from its hand aimed at the Legion members who twist in the air and dodge.
Cosmic Boy uses his Magnetic powers to deflect one of Brainiac's attacks back at him. It penetrates the shield and hits the robot in the chest damaging it. In response Brainiac raises its other arm and doubles the rate of its fire.
This had all started at an archaeological dig in Metropolis circa 3012. What no-one had anticipated was that amongst the ruins was one tiny little sliver of the original Brainiac, ancestor of their fellow Legion member Brainiac 5.
Brainy was the black sheep of the family as in he was the good one while the others were all rotten to the core.
Anyway from that tiny sliver Brainiac managed to infiltrate computer systems, rebuild itself a new body and then, upon seeing the world it had woken up in, decided to travel back in time to Smallville when Kal was a young boy and kill him then before he became Superman...or that is what Brainy managed to get out of his ancestor before Brainiac badly injured him.
Cosmic Boy wasn't sure if Brainy would live or not but they didn't have time to stand around and worry about their friend no matter how much they wanted to. They had to follow Brainiac back before the whole timeline was threatened. In the end only 3 of them managed to jump into the portal Brainiac created before it closed so it was down to them and no matter the odds they had to win. The past, present and futures of billions rested upon it.
"Saturn Girl. Get to the house. Protect Kal. We'll keep Brainiac busy," Cosmic Boy orders as he uses his magnetic powers on Brainiac's chair which was easier than trying to use them on the robot itself as it seemed able to block his magnetic effect.
The chair jerks through the air as Saturn Girl flies straight toward the house.
Brainiac fires off a shot and manages to hit her in the back. She cries out in pain and she tumbles down into the dust.
"Im!" Lightning Lad cries out in worry as he sees her fall. Eyes full of anger focus in on Brainiac. "That's it. To use the slang of this century; you're going down!"
He charges his fist up with lightning and brings it slamming down atop of Brainiac's shield. He grits his teeth in pain and keeps pushing his fist forward pushing through the energy shield.
There is sudden flash and an explosion. Cosmic Boy covers his eyes but it is too late to stop seeing the spots. By the time they clear he spots Lightning Lad on the ground clearly missing his right arm. Brainiac too is down on the ground, damaged.
Brainiac takes a moment to reroute circuits to bypass damaged system. It sits up and spots Lightning Lad. Injured but alive. Brainiac decides it is most logical to eliminate the threat once and for all. It raises an arm only to have it ripped away by a magnetic field.
Brainiac's magnetic shielding is offline rendering it vulnerable to Cosmic Boy's power. The other arm is ripped away followed swiftly by the legs before Cosmic Boy comes into land.
"It's over Brainiac," Cosmic Boy declares.
"You are correct. It is," Brainiac states.
Cosmic Boy frowns. There is something wrong about the way Brainiac is saying that. It sounds...triumphant?
Suddenly the farmhouse explodes in a ball of strangely green tinged fire knocking Cosmic Boy off his feet, the heat of the blast burning his exposed skin.
Several minutes past. Cosmic Boy tries to ignore the immense pain he now feels and crawls over to what remains of Brainiac. He uses his power to wrench the torso and head into the air. "What did you do?" he demands to know.
Brainiac remains emotionless and calm. "As I said. I calculated your interference in my plans and adjusted them accordingly. While we were battling a small drone was burrowing its way underneath the property. The drone contained a primitive explosive that you would not think to scan for. The explosive yield was significantly enhanced by the addition of kryptonite."
Cosmic Boy's eyes widen in horror as the realisation sinks in. "No," he whispers in disbelief.
"Yes," Brainiac confirms. "And what you are imagining is correct. At Kal-El's current age of 10 years old he is not physically able to survive any exposure to even minimal amounts of kryptonite. His death is certain."
Cosmic Boy's damaged face twists in anger and he uses his powers to begin to crush Brainiac into a ball...only for them to suddenly vanish as his hand starts to fade away.
"It has begun," Brainiac states as it drops to the ground. "The time stream is realigning itself to cope with the alteration. This temporal version of you and your colleagues is being erased."
Cosmic Boy looks over at Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl who are fading away like he is. He turns back to Brainiac who too is fading from existence. He looks to the burning house with flames still tinged with green. "Kal. I'm sorry," his apologies echo into the night sky as he fades completely out of existence.
The present...
Metropolis. The City of Tomorrow. It's Second National Bank. Brand new building. Shiny. Modern. Queues of people just trying to go about their daily business because despite all the modern technology and digital banking sometimes you just need to go into a bank and physically talk to someone.
"I swear I'm going to have someone's head for this," a brunette woman in a red shirt, black skirt and cream jacket mutters as she stands in line.
"Why am I here again?" a young man with red hair asks.
"You're here to stop me killing someone Olsen. Keep up."
Jimmy Olsen looks at his companion with a confused frown. "Lois. I'm sure it's just a technical error," he tries to assuage her anger.
"That's no excuse to dump this overdraft charge on me. Have you seen the size of it? It's highway robbery!" Lois Lane proclaims.
Jimmy sighs. He still doesn't know why he is here. He gazes around the space he is in and spots a tall man with curly black hair and blue eyes join the queue a few places behind him and Lois near the door beside the security guard.
There's something off about the guy. The way he keeps his head down. Now Jimmy knows this. He's a photographer for a major newspaper after all. That is what people do who plan to rob banks.
Jimmy finds his eyes roaming around and spots other men have managed to get to stand near the other security guards. They all check their watches simultaneously.
Jimmy only gets to the 'Lo' bit of Lois' name when they act. They disable the guards and pull on balaclavas over their heads.
"Everybody freeze!" one man holding a pair of guns, one in each hand, as he points them out, shouts.
The other 4 men...no 3 men pull out guns. The 4th one. The one at the back of the queue doesn't.
The man who spoke, Jimmy is going to assume he's the leader, speaks again. "Now lets not do anything foolish. None of you want to be heroes. You know how this works. We get our money. No-one gets hurt."
"You have got to be freakin kidding!" Lois exclaims, unable to believe this. How can her day get any worse.
"Lois," Jimmy hisses. He knows her. He knows her big mouth will get them into trouble.
Lois doesn't listen. "Hey! Jackass! Don't you have something better to do than rob banks?! That's so 20th century. Get with the times!"
The leader's eyes fall upon her. "Oh look. A big mouth! Kal! Shut her up please!"
The big, tall guy Jimmy notices strides forward and grabs Lois by the arm tightly.
"Hey! Watch it ya big lug!" Lois complains. She tries to wrench her arm free but can't break his steel like grip. Lois goes for the killer blow and tries to kick him between the legs.
"Ow!" Lois yells in pain as she hops around comically.
Kal forces her to the ground. "Sit down. Shut up. You'll live longer," he tells her in a stern authoritarian tone.
Lois glares at him. "Look Kal," she says in unfriendly tones. "And I'm assuming that's not your real name unless you're really dumb. You broke my foot!"
"Cry me a river sweetheart," he says unsympathetically.
Lois draws her hand back ans slaps him.
"OW!" she shouts as she cradles her hand. "What the hell are you made of?"
"Something you can't handle," he says in smug tones. "Now are you going to behave or do I knock you out. Problem with that is if you're unconscious you'll never know what is happening to you and as a reporter I thought you would like to bear witness for your next story...Ms Lane."
Lois' eye widen in surprise. "You know me?"
"I watch tv," he explains how he knows her. She's pretty famous and he has a good eye and memory. "Now be good...or else," he warns.
The leader whistles. "Kal! The safe!"
"Yeah, yeah," Kal mutters as he stands up and walks towards the tellers. He keeps walking, smashing right through the desks as if they aren't there to the back of the bank where a huge circular safe door is. He eyes it up, grabs hold and pulls.
The sound of metal ripping apart can be heard throughout the bank as Kal lifts the door away and tosses it aside like a toy. He steps inside accompanied by two other members of the gang. They start grabbing cash. Kal's eyes are focused on the safety deposit boxes. His eyes seem to flash electric blue as they scan the room.
Finally he stops on one, walks forward and puts his fist through the metal and grabs what is inside. He pulls his hand out and looks at it. Some kind of mauve coloured crystal. The bank robbery was cover. They had been hired to steal this. Kal smashes open several other boxes randomly and takes the contents so no-one figures they were after this particular object.
"Kal! Cops!"
Kal strides out of the safe as the sound of sirens fills the air. "Well damn. They've got a better response time than the cops in Detroit. You've got to give them that," he quips.
The leader comes up to Kal. "Did you get the item?" he asks.
Kal hands over the odd crystal.
"Good. Well done," he congratulates Kal. "Now take care of them," the leader orders, pointing outside, meaning the cops.
"Keep your pants on Fred," Kal tells him off with a roll of his eyes using his false name. "Honestly why I hang around you guys I'll never know. You'd be lost without me," he expresses an honest opinion as he strides across the bank floor to the door and smashes his way out to find police cars lined up in an arc surrounding him and about a dozen cops aiming guns at him.
"Put your hands above you head!" Kal is ordered by them.
In response he bursts into guffaws and holds his sides. "Good one!" he compliments the joke as he wipes a mock tear from his eye.
"Surrender now!"
"How about I go with not a chance you trumped up civil servant!" Kal retorts insultingly.
"I will not repeat myself!"
"Neither will I! You may want to start running now!" Kal advises. Next thing anyone knows is 2 red beams shoot from Kal's eyes hitting one police car causing it to explode and tumble into the air. Kal does the same to the one next to it and the one next to that and again.
"Take him down!" someone shouts and the police, done from scattering for cover, open fire.
Kal rolls his eyes and walks...calmly walks through the fire as the bullets impact harmlessly off his body. He reaches the first police officer and tosses him through the air like a rag-doll. He does the same to every single one of them before he picks up one of the cars he totalled and tosses it aside with ease. He picks up the other 3 and does the same all with deliberate intent and purpose as they completely barricade the street. That'll slow down any reinforcements...and don't worry about their escape. That was planned in advance.
The sound of rotor blades whirling above catches Kal's attention. Police helicopter.
Kal inhales deeply and blows. Winds buffer the helicopter but more than that ice starts to form on its surface and the blades which freeze up and stop.
Kal smirks a little. It's always fun to humiliate the law.
The helicopter starts to fall out of the sky. Kal sighs to himself and supposes he really should catch it before it hits the ground. Say what you wish about him but he isn't a murderer. He zips forward, moving as a blur...only to almost stumble to a halt when the helicopter is caught by someone else. A woman with long, curly ebony hair, dressed in a red armoured vest with silver edging, black star spangled shorts and black boots with a white stripe down the middle.
Kal frowns. Wonder Woman. What is she doing here?
Green chains anchored with weights at the end appear and wrap around Kal. He turns his head to see the Green Lantern float out of the sky.
'Something is very wrong here,' Kal thinks to himself. The cops arrival he dismissed as good response time but two members of the Justice League here as well?
No way. Not unless someone tipped them off which would mean they had been set-up. Must have been by the guy who hired them to steal the crystal. Can't be his fellow gang members. Kal's known them for years and why would they set themselves up? No. The only thing that makes sense is that it was the guy who hired them because he has plausible deniability. He was never anywhere near here. Kal doesn't know the reasons why but he'll get them and then he'll make the guy wish he was never born. Kal is not a man who takes this kind of betrayal lightly.
"Do you feel the chains of conscience weighing you down?" Green Lantern asks as he lands on the ground.
One corner of Kal's lips curl up, unseen, behind his mask. "Was that a joke? It was hard to tell," he says.
"And you're going to be doing hard time," Green Lantern insists.
"They don't hire you for your sense of humour that's obvious. In fact I don't know why they hire you and frankly I don't care. Now if you'll excuse me I have better places to be."
Green Lantern laughs. "Yeah? And how are you planning..." He stops when the guy he is trying to catch suddenly breaks free of his chains. "You broke my construct?" he queries in complete bafflement. "How did...?"
Again Green Lantern doesn't get to finish the thought as the guy blurs at him. He barely raises shield in time as a punch smashes into it. The shield breaks but absorbs enough of the energy so that when the punch connects with his face Hal gets to keep his head attached to his shoulders.
The blow is still enough to send him bouncing along the street. He comes to a stop near where Wonder Woman is placing the helicopter down. Once done with that she helps Green Lantern up. "You alright Hal?" she asks.
Hal Jordan shakes his head. "I'm fine but how did he do that?" he still wants to know.
"You're too easily distracted and your constructs require concentration," she criticises Hal's major flaw. "That's why I always beat you and I break your constructs too."
"Yeah but it's easy to be distracted around you. In fact once we deal with this guy how about we go be distracted together...and I'm touching your lasso again aren't I?" Hal says, embarrassment slipping into his tone a little because this is not the first time that lasso of hers has made him say something like this.
Diana smiles a little. "Yes," she confirms for the golden rope is brushing against Hal. "And no. We shall be doing nothing together," she assures him but she is certain it won't stop Hal trying as he has been for the last 3 years since the Justice League was formed.
Diana now turns her attention to the man who just punched Hal. This whole situation had been a little strange. Batman had gotten a tip that this bank was going to be robbed and in its safe was something of great power and danger. The details were vague but Batman said he trusted the informant so it was decided she and Hal would deal with the situation. What neither had expected was this man who just easily beat Hal. He must be powerful. Diana will have to be more on her guard.
Kal would like nothing better than to get as far away from these 2 as possible. He had always done his best to avoid drawing the attention of the Justice League. He tended to avoid cities where they were based. He did mostly low level crime that wouldn't draw their attention but now he had no choice. If he left, his friends...and they were his friends, would get caught easily. They were just normal humans. No powers like him.
That means he has to provide enough of a distraction for them to escape.
'Great,' he mutters inside his own head. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Surrender now and no-one need be hurt," Wonder Woman commands.
"I've got 3 words for ya princess! The first is 'Go' and the 3rd is 'Yourself'!" Kal shouts at her.
Hal laughs and then quickly covers it by coughing as Diana glares at him with eyes darkened by anger.
Kal doesn't need to fight them he realises. He needs them to pointlessly chase him around. He's confident enough to believe they can't catch him. He interlocks his fingers and cracks his knuckles. "So who wants a concussion first?" he asks, boasting about what he is about to do to get them angry and focussed on him.
"Ooh," Hal mock shivers in fear. "He's faking at being a tough guy to try and scare us."
"Unlike the women you've been with I don't have to fake anything."
A snort of laughter comes from Hal's right and he looks at Diana in complete surprise. "You find that funny?"
Diana sniggers. She can't help it. She knows she shouldn't. A few years ago she would never have even gotten the joke but now she can and it is just...funny!
Kal smirks. Well fun time over he guesses. He accelerates forward in a blur right at the two heroes. Diana and Hal brace themselves...only for Kal to push off and leap over them high and far. He's gambling that they'll follow him and he can them the run around the city.
Kal soars through the air, almost as if he is flying and then he feels the tug. He looks down and sees a golden rope looped around his ankle. "Oh F $%!" he swears as he is yanked and he plummets down to the ground, cratering the road surface.
"Good throw," Hal compliments Diana at the huge cloud of dust that has been kicked up.
"Thank you. I-eeeeeee," her reply is cut off as she is yanked forward hard with incredible strength she had not anticipated. She flies right at the figure she can see standing amongst the dissipating dust. Diana catches the movement of a fist being drawn back. When it comes she's ready and places her hands forward catching the fist and then using it as leverage to push herself up and somersault over the man's head.
She comes down only to be met by a powerful kick to her stomach knocking the wind out of her. She goes careening down the street before she skids to a halt, holding her stomach.
Hera! He could certainly make an impact. That actually hurt. Diana is pretty certain that'll even bruise. Her eyes narrow in renewed focus. This man was not to be taken lightly any more.
Kal unloops the lasso from around his ankle. It is suddenly grabbed from him by a large green hand.
"I'll take that!" Hal says as he snatches Diana's lasso away. That's far too dangerous to be left in some criminal's hands.
Kal's eyes narrow as Wonder Woman and Green Lantern stand either side of him. This was not going to plan. That damn crystal better be worth it. In fact Kal is definitely going to be asking for a raise for all this aggro.
"Wish to reconsider surrendering?" Diana asks him, one last time, before she puts an end to this.
"Only in your dreams princess!"
There is something about the way he says 'princess' that really sticks in Diana's craw. Time for her mercy is over. Time to show this man what an Amazon warrior can do.
That is when the shadow looms over her and next thing Diana knows is a fist, bigger then her, slamming her down into the road. A fist belonging to the colossal redhead known as Giganta, dressed in a way too short pink dress that thankfully alters size with her.
"Diana!" Hal shouts making a move only for a pink energy beam to strike him down.
Hal looks up and sees a figure in a pink and black costume with a pink star on her chest. "Carol," he says in a pain-filled croak.
"Hello lover," Star Sapphire greets him with a sadistic smile.
It's not the Carol he knows. It's a corruption of her but it is still one time love of his life Carol Ferris and Hal always, always hates what comes next.
Back with Giganta she is smashing Wonder Wonder a few more times just for good measure...and payback for all the times the times the annoying stuck-up princess has sent her to jail.
"Gigi!" a voice suddenly yells at her.
Giganta stops. There is only one person who ever called her that. She turns her head and strides over to the mask figure in the road. She shrinks down until she is his height and looks into the eyes. Oh she knows those blue eyes well. Her lips curl up into a smile. "Kal? That you?"
"No. It's the freakin Easter Bunny," he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Giganta smiles brighter than before. "It is you!" she says in pure delight and then wraps her arms around him.
Kal rolls his eyes. "Ok so you do remember we broke up?" he asks her.
"Oh so we had one little fight," Giganta dismisses that.
"6 months ago!" he points out and easily extracts himself from her grip.
Loud coughing interrupts as Star Sapphire looks at Giganta for an explanation as to what is going on.
"We use to date," Giganta explains.
"He does know you use to be a giant gorilla right?" Star Sapphire asks because she always found that a little...odd.
"It never bothered him," Giganta says with a carefree shrug.
"You know I'm standing right here!" Kal complains at being talked about.
"Yes you are," Giganta says giving him a heated look over. She has really missed him.
Kal clamps his hand over his eyes. This day just keeps getting more and more out of hand. "Why are you here Gigi?"
"Orders."
"Orders?" Kal queries that. This set-up he already figured he is going through just got more complicated. "Orders from whom? Grodd?"
"No!" Giganta rejects that vehemently. "That poopy-head almost fried my brain so I don't work for him no more."
"He had to fry your brain before you realised he was no good when I told you that 6 months ago!" Kal yells in frustration. Take a guess what broke them up. Giganta and her loyalty to that crazy gorilla.
"Oh poo to you too!" Giganta says with an angry pout and stamp of her foot
"Do you two need a room?" Star Sapphire says with a smirk.
"Do you need a concussion?" Kal fires back. "I did promise to give someone one."
"Oh you leave her out of this!" Giganta tells him.
"She was the one who put herself in it! And seriously I'm done arguing with you Gi. You chose to stop listening to me!"
"Gee what is this? Lovers' quarrel day," someone quips.
Kal's eyes turn to find a man in a red and gold costume. The Flash. Great. This day just keeps getting better and better. It continues as Martian Manhunter appears and aids Wonder Woman back to her feet. The sounds of wings flapping signals the arrival of Hawkgirl to join the fray. Kal's sharp eyes spot the flash of a black cape down a nearby alley. That would be Batman he's guessing...and to complete the package Kal reckons Aquaman will appear right about...
"Nobody move!" the King of the Seas commands from a rooftop above.
...now!
Aquaman leaps down to the street.
"You are outnumbered and outmatched. Surrender," Wonder Woman orders.
"But Wonder Woman, darling, where's the fun in that?" a voice with an animal like purr asks.
"Cheetah!" It comes out as an angry hiss from Diana's lips due to her hatred of perhaps her most bitter enemy.
The cat-lady that is Cheetah is perched atop a street-light with a sinister grin. "As for being outnumbered you may want to recount," Cheetah adds with a mysterious air.
Suddenly there is a loud grunt and Batman comes flying out the alley followed by one of his foes, Killer Croc. A series of mini harpoons impact around Aquaman as one of his major foes Black Manta steps out from another alley. Behind him stands the huge grey zombie Solomon Grundy, basically the hired muscle.
"Great," Flash mutters. "Now all we need is Captain Cold and this day is complete!" he jests.
"Should be careful what you wish for," the mentioned Captain Cold counters as he appears behind Flash.
"One of these days I will learn to shut my mouth," Flash mumbles to himself.
"Now Wonder Woman," Cheetah address her adversary in a condescending manner. "Who's outnumbered and outmatched now? Why don't you surrender and I'll make your end short and painless," she offers.
"That is not happening!" Aquaman declares. "Justice League. Take them down!"
"Legion of Doom. Attack!" Cheetah commands.
Kal puts a hand to his head and groans as the two opposing forces begun to clash and he mutters to himself, "It's going to be one of those days."
Author's Note: Of course later in the story it would be explained how Clark survived the explosion and how the aftermath of it sent him tumbling down the wrong path into first off being a petty criminal and through this story joining the Injustice League or Legion of Doom or whatever and whether that was now his fate or could he still find a way back to being Superman. Thanks to everyone who has written reviews.