Chapter 34 - Time Trials

Chapter Summary

Previously, Vash prematurely ran out after surgery during the Plant chamber break-in. Knowing firsthand that acting alone isn't always the best way, he offers to help Clark fly into space to confront the invading world ship.

Now, Clark is asked two questions, but does he have the answer for either of them? Brad leads Vash, Clark, and Jimmy to check out their options for flying into space. But one, simple test doesn't go as expected.

Clark gasped, being shocked out of unconscious darkness. A deep ache engulfed him. It felt like his bones were being crushed, and his blood was boiling.

He struggled to push himself up where he lay prone on a hard surface. It was as if gravity had increased tenfold.

Even tilting his head seemed impossible, instead he glanced around with his eyes. Wherever Clark was, it was incredibly dark save for an indigo glow emanating from his right.

A large glass wall spanned the length of the room — from within came the source of the light. Inside floated numerous shapes resembling flower blossoms. A huge, layered cocoon shape, cast in a violet hue, rested in the middle.

"Wha? W-Where am I?" Clark asked, barely getting the words out.

"Oops, it looks like we overdid it," an amused, echoey voice announced another's presence.

The surprise gave Clark a spike of adrenalin, and his head snapped up, eyes searching.

Spinning around on a rolling chair, sat Zazie the Beast. (Though from Clark's vantage point, the Worm envoy appeared upside down.) They laughed, clearly amusing themselves.

"W-What did you do? H-how did I get here?" Clark asked.

With as much effort as he could muster, Clark rolled onto his side and gradually pushed himself to hands and knees.

Zazie's creepy neon green eyes swiveled around on the surface of their mask. Though not quite looking directly at Clark, he somehow knew Zazie watched him just fine.

"I'll answer your questions if you answer mine first!" Zazie chuckled.

Clark hesitated — not entirely trusting this hivemind avatar, but also unable to sense deceit or not. "W-what do y-you want to know?"

"We want to know why you led these pillagers to our planet. We heard their demands. They want to steal our resources," Zazie's voice was on the cusp of seriousness but intoned a hint of innocent curiosity as well.

"I d-didn't. T-they must've c-come through the breach. I don't k-know anything about them. But they're after the P-plants, right?"

"That's so. However... The humans may still be ignorant of my planet's bounty, but what about the invaders? What happens when they are done collecting the Plants?"

"I won't let them take any more Plants. Or anything else," Clark responded.

"Oh? Just like you stopped them from taking the Plant in the human city of December? Or the ones from the human ship hidden in the storm? What of the others strewn across the human settlements?"

Clark bowed his head, the strength needed to stay upright still taxing. He didn't know what to say to that. Zazie was right. He had failed twice now.

"I have help now," Clark said, remembering Vash's offer.

"That's right! You've finally met one of the twins. Not what you expected, was he?"

Clark shook his head. "I wasn't sure what to expect. Very few people seem to know the real Vash. Beyond his outlaw reputation."

A sudden discordant note rang in Clark's ears, making him wince, and his forehead came to rest on the floor. Then, an overwhelming pressure, an atmosphere of malice, bombarded him. It was almost heavier than the lingering weakness of whatever Zazie had done.

"Oh! It looks like Big Brother is finally up from his nap!" Zazie said with a giggle.

"W-who?" Clark gasped.

—T&J—

2 hours earlier…

"I'm telling ya," Brad began with a shake of his head. "The Javelin is in no shape to be launching into space."

Vash followed Brad into the dimly lit hangar. Clark and Jimmy had tagged along and brought up the rear. Over his shoulder, Vash saw the Earthlings glance around in curiosity despite most of the equipment being shrouded with shiny, silver aerospace tarps.

Jim meandered over to one of the covered shapes and snuck a peek under the fabric. Brad took notice and quickly bellowed, "Look, don't touch, kid!" Jim yelped and jumped back to Clark's side. Vash smiled, recalling all the times in his youth Brad would bellow at him for sneaking around and touching things he wasn't supposed to.

The engineer scoffed yet turned and approached a huge lump near the rear hatch. Brad yanked the tarp off, revealing a sleek, moon-gray space shuttle. Vash knew the vessel was designed for near-planetary space travel and had been put to good use over the years after the Big Fall: making supply runs, taken out on search and rescue, and installing satellites.

However, Brad was right. In its current state of disrepair, Vash bet the ship couldn't even get a single feel off the ground.

"Man, your spaceship looks like it's seen better days," Jim said, taking the words right out of Vash's mouth.

A salvaged, shorn-off wing sat despondently on the ground tucked under the shuttle. Large cracks zig-zagged across the specially tempered glass pane of the ship's viewport. And a gaping gash had been ripped open on the starboard side. Vash could only guess at the damage not immediately visible.

"Took way too much of a beating during re-entry after Kaiser sent that last satellite into orbit," Brad explained.

"Wasn't that launch like thirty years ago?" Vash whined. "You really haven't gotten around to fixing it yet? What if the satellites need maintenance?"

"Yeah, well. Been a bit busy, you know. Got a whole ship to keep in good shape, but everyone's always breaking something. Try keeping a ship running with only a skeleton crew that needs three techs just to change a damn lightbulb!"

"Nifty answer. Sorry, I asked," Vash sighed.

He and Brad began to walk around, inspecting the shuttle more closely. Clark and Jim followed, chatting quietly to each other. Well, Jim wasn't so quiet as he gushed over how cool, albeit broken, he thought the space shuttle was.

"So, is fixing it completely outta the question?" Vash wondered.

"No. But time and resources are a d-dime a dozen. It'd take months. And that's only if we can get all the necessary nuts and bolts."

Vash thought over their options as he watched Brad pull back from examining some damage to tap away at his datapad. The engineer mumbled under his breath, listing off materials and components and so forth. Maybe Vash could—

"Is there anything we can do to help? I'm a pretty fast worker," Clark chimed in.

Brad glanced up and smirked. "Hah! I'd say. Pretty fast is an understatement. What's your top flight speed, Blue?"

Clark paused, looking clueless. "Uh, not sure. I never really thought to clock myself."

"Oh! I know!" Jim butted in.

"Y-you do?"

"Well, no, but I know how we can time you," Jim turned to Brad. "You know the circumference of Ear — I mean, No Man's Land, right?"

"Huh? I mean. I could look it up on our database…" Brad replied with a raised brow. He lowered his eyes back to his tablet.

"First things first, Mr. Brad. Do you mind opening the bay door?" Jimmy waved a hand at said door.

"You better not be messing around, brat. I got a busy schedule. No time for any funny business," Brad grumbled.

"This won't take long, sir. Trust me," Jim reassured.

Brad's eyes caught Vash's, silently asking if the kid was full of it. Vash just shrugged. "I'm curious. Let's humor them. I kinda want to know Jim's plan."

"Alright, just this once then," Brad huffed.

Jim spun on his heel, circling Clark. The boy pushed his taller friend toward the bay door as it folded down. Sandy gusts of wind blew into the hangar. "Let's go, Clark! Time trial time!"

"W-What, now?" Clark turned to look at them over his shoulder, his eyes going wide.

"Yup! Get ready to fly around the planet seven times!"

"Right now?"

"Mr. Brad. Set a timer!"

"Uh, sure, okay."

"And, on the count of three…."

Clark scrambled into a ready-for-flight pose. "O-okay!"

"One… Twoooo….. THREE! GOOO!"

—T&J—

30 minutes later…

Jimmy glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time. "Clark… Where are you?" he mumbled under his breath. He was really starting to worry. Even if it took Clark a few minutes, Jimmy just knew it shouldn't haven't taken his pal this long to return.

"Alright kid. Time's up. I gotta get back to work," Brad stepped down the ladder propped against the decommissioned space shuttle.

"No, wait! I'm sure he'll be back any second now!" Jimmy pleaded.

"Vash, mind showing our guest back to the dorms? I don't get paid to babysit all day."

"Since when did the crew get paid to work?" Vash asked innocently.

"Shut it, smart aleck. Some of us earn our keep at least," Brad bit back, swiping back the wrench that Vash had been spinning with his prosthetic fingers.

Vash gave an exaggerated pout. He propped himself up from his loose-limbed slouch, spread across a workbench.

Jimmy wasn't sure if his expression was genuine or not. The two men had been bantering pretty much the whole time. But for some reason, Brad's comment seemed to hit Vash differently this time.

Before Jimmy could come to a conclusion, Brad sauntered out of the hangar without them. Vash's pout shifted into a more subtle, neutral expression.

When he caught Jimmy watching him, his smile returned. Vash swung his legs off the bench and sprung up to stand.

"Welp, I'm sure your friend will be back sooner or later. The planet is, uh, really big after all," Vash said, the corner of his lip rising. "I'm famished. Are you famished? Let's round up the others and get some grub!" Vash strolled to the doorway. "Ooh! I hope they still have the Vash Special pizza! It's been ages since I've had some!"

Despite noticing Vash's quick shift in mood, Jimmy smirked. He jogged across the hangar to catch up with Vash.

"Really? You got a pizza named after you?"

—T&J—

29 minutes earlier…

"…Twoooo….. THREE! GOOO!"

Clark zoomed out of Ship Three's hangar. Something like a spontaneous time trial wasn't new to him. In the days after Lois found out and Jimmy revealed he'd known all along, all of Clark's cards had been laid on the table.

Clark was actually relieved he could humor his friend doing all sorts of tests of his powers.

As a kid and a teen, he'd always dreaded that any kind of "tests" of his powers would be more like the frog dissections they'd done in science class. However, he feared it'd be real scientists dissecting him.

As soon as he'd started using his powers more openly, he noticed new ones emerging at an alarming rate. The vision, the hearing, the random bursts of extra speed and strength. It helped having a friend to talk to instead of keeping himself hidden.

And something about being on this desert planet was definitely messing with his powers. The world went by in a blurry tunnel of color and light. Or rather, Superman went by it as a blur of red, blue, and yellow.

As much as he enjoyed sharing these kinds of experiences by describing them to Lois and Jimmy, he still wished there was someone who could experience the world as he did. He wasn't lonely per se, but in many ways he felt so alone.

Clark was on his third revolution when something caught his eye. Despite the distorted view during a superspeed flight, he could still make out sights if he slowed a fraction. He must've veered off from the first two laps, or maybe just missed it before.

He slowed and glanced down to the ground. A miles wide dark blemish marred the surface of the planet.

Easily distracted from the time trial, Clark came to a dead stop in the sky. His red cloak whooshing with momentum before draping down towards his boots.

It took a moment for his brain to compute what he was looking at. His jaw dropped in realization that the blemish was a Metropolis-sized crater. The massive hole caved in so deep he couldn't even see the bottom without enhancing his vision.

Was this… was this the crater of JuLai?

The air left Clark's lungs as if he'd been punched in the gut. He began to descend.

He touched down at the lip of the crater. A chain link fence wound its way around the cliff as far as the eye could see.

Along the fence rested countless little memorials: gifts, photos, handwritten letters, melted down wax candles. Not a single sign of flowers. No floral symbol of love and remembrance to be found from a people who knew nothing of such foreign traditions.

Clark sank down to his knees, reaching out to gently grasp a weather-worn stuffed toy; it looked like one of those turquoise birds, but the fuzzy fabric was sun bleached and coated in sand.

A folded piece of cardstock was tucked into a red bandanna wrapped around its neck. With trembling fingers, Clark tugged the card and opened it.

My darling Maisey, ride free in paradise. You are my pride and joy. Your legacy lives on in our hearts and memories. —Love, Papa, Max and Suzie

Clark's hand rose to cover his mouth. How many countless victims were mourned here?

He took another moment of silence, registering the severe tragedy of Lost July. His thoughts whirling at what he'd learned from Meryl, trying to connect what she'd divulged against what he was seeing with his own two eyes.

Kneeling in the sand, Clark felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. A ringing filled his ears. He closed his eyes, trying to shut out all his senses.

And before he knew what was happening, the world went black.

—T&J—

Chapter 35 is still in the works. Thanks for sticking around!