The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Bruce and Ceri

Bruce hadn't really expected an answer to that question.

Not really.

It was something of an impossible question. But he had asked it anyway, because it was foremost on his mind.

Thus, he was slightly disappointed when Edmund offered him only a modicum of complimentary wisdom rather than a concrete reply, but only slightly.

Edmund withdrew, evidently needing to regain some of his formidable strength.

Bruce sat there for a moment more, continuing to examine the knife, and was about to put it away when he felt a presence beside him. Instantly, he looked up, and Rose's mother stood there.

She gazed at him intently.

"Yes," she murmured, "a man can study without becoming. A man, or a woman. A man can be attuned to darkness without being swallowed thereby."

She reached out, and she gently but firmly grasped the wrist of his knife hand, and she tilted the blade so that it was vertical rather than horizontal, the sharp edge of the weapon pointed towards the ceiling.

"But this is the most difficult road you can walk," she pointed out. "In fact, it's not unlike--" and at this, she tip-toed her fingers along that upturned sharpness, pantomiming a tightrope-walker "--trying to navigate a sword's edge without bleeding."

She raised her fingers, and she showed him that they were intact, not a single nick nor drop of blood.

"It can be done," she murmured. "Just be prepared. Yeh'll be scathed before you're finished, oh-so-very scathed."

"I've been scathed," Bruce replied quietly and grimly, "in my day."

Ceri nodded easily, as though impressed. "So yeh have."

And then she returned to her seat.

Bruce put the knife away.

And they were alone with their thoughts.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith and Bekka

I bristled a little at Lex's comment about Bekka, but she and I had weathered worse. Hell, her fight to reclaim Gen-Tech was legendary among some circles.

Besides, Bekka could handle herself. I was here to add ambiance.


"My that is interesting Lex. not a single sick day. Lionel must be proud to have such a diligent son."

Bekka then pulled out what looked like a I-phone and glanced at it, then frowned slightly and placed it back in the pocket of her chair.

"So Lex, what fascinating tales can you share with me on our jaunt back to the states? Why, I am positively glued to my seat waiting to hear what you have to say."

Yeah, my sister can handle herself!

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Teenagers

Kara might have done some studying and reading on her own accord, but the information that Rose possessed sort of frightened the young Kryptonian. But Kara was a quick learner, and anything she discovered, either by own her devices or through alternative sources, would be retained in the weird memory bank that was her brain.

"Right..." Kara said after Rose blurted out the little bit on Shinjuku Gyoen.

"Caves, while a little creepy, I'll admit, sounds like a good place to start."

"Uh, Kara?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't you have to go to school at some point this week?"

Kara looked almost rigid for a moment, as if she had been hit by one of Hermoine Granger's Petrificus Totalus spells. She had completely forgotten about classes.

School was, in all shapes and forms, the last thing on her mind.

"School? Isn't it like Saturday?"

Martha gave her a somewhat stern look. She had given her daughter a little bit of a break with the punishment, but intentionally skipping school to go cave-hopping was no excuse.

"Try more like Friday," Jonathan said.

Kara sighed and frowned at first, but then her teenage mind went into overdrive as she grabbed (delicately) Rose by the wrist.

"Tell them I'm sick," she said as she raced out the front door, dragging Rose with her.

Once out of sight, Kara stopped running, hoping that Rose hadn't been bludgeoned by the sudden burst of speed.

"Okay, so where are these caves? Miller's Bend you said, right?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Rose was tough enough. Not, like, Kara tough. But a little bit of whiplash was par for the course, and she was laughing and grinning.

"I am never going to get used to that," she decided, one hand over her heart. "Superspeeding. And I'm not sure I ever ever want to."

She took a deep breath, and she shook her head.

And her face clenched a little bit, and she looked worried and she looked sad because while half-truth was oft-times necessary for survival? Sometimes picking up the pieces was a thing of guilt and agony.

"Kara," she nodded, "yeah, Miller's Bend. But hang on. There's. There's something you need to know first."

She went a little paler, and her red red hair stood out a little darker in stark contrast 'round her face. "We couldn't. Finish off Zod. Not without you. We need The Crystal I gave you, and-and-and it needs to be a person of your House. We need you to send Zod to The Phantom Zone."

Rose gestured helplessly. "Once you do that, it'll be over. But not until."

She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the barn, confident that Var-Sen could perceive her, despite being so far off. "Did I get that right, Professor?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

As the elevator doors opened several stories underground, the ragtag mix was confronted by a site that would have most anyone humbled. On one wall was a bank of computer terminals. Six in total. Top of the line models. Models that didn't officially exist.

The opposing side of the room was a state of the art gym. Several pieces of equipment, sparring gear, and a weapons case. Also there were several cots laid out, a smallish living area and a kitchen. In the kitchen there was a buffet of nearly ever type of food one could imagine.

Dale walked through the room and sat heavily on a couch. His mannerisms almost a mirror of Edmund's on a plane somewhere over the pacific.

Marcy, for her part, was taken aback, but after this last 24 hours nothing could truly shock her. She walked dutifully to the buffet and started to load plates.

"Come on. We all eat, then we can sleep, play whatever. But food first. Chloe, sweetheart, you need to eat something here, Mr. Sullivan, please everyone lets eat and then rest." Marcy busied herself pouring milk and juice and trying to figure out an espresso machine as everyone entered.

"Dude, we live in a little ranch, and Gramps has a set up like this? Daaaammmnnn...." Merick walked over to the weapons case and looked into it. Rather than a cabinet, it was actually a closet. Easily ten feet by ten feet and every bit wall to wall with everything from axes to wire garrotes and everything between. "Ah. Right. Big time assassin. It has it's fringe benefits."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

Lex arched an eyebrow, and took a moment to salute Greystone with his Scotch glass. "I wonder if your fencing is as tightly honed as your verbal sparring. Your parry is as lethal as your counterstrike."

Another sip from the Scotch, and then he set the glass down into his seat's cupholder.

He unbuckled his safety belt and he rose to his feet, and he brushed back his left eyebrow with the knuckles of his left hand.

"But I could tell you things that could make even your steady hand go slack on the hilt of your epee," he mused, turning in a slow circle, nodding in the direction of one of the windows. "Just today I rode shotgun with a villainess that could give even your pet Wraith a run for his money."

His back turned upon them both, his head half-bowed, he smiled a tiny little smile.

"What would you like to hear, Bekka?" he laughed softly. "I could sing you a song of Fertilizer Plant Number Three, if you want. Or tell you the tale of Randal Graves, the man who was and who wasn't and who is again. I could speak to you of a man with a metal arm, of a watchman turned to ash at a glance, of a father who speaks in tongues."

He turned, swift and sharp, to face them, and his eyes were cool and tight.

"He called himself a general," Lex suggested, and smiled his tiny little smile. "But I think? I think he was just a foot soldier. I think this was just the opening act, an overture, a harbinger. The real threat is still coming. And I'm going to be ready for them, whomever they may be."

 

[AmenRa]

Rose was tough enough. Not, like, Kara tough. But a little bit of whiplash was par for the course, and she was laughing and grinning.

"I am never going to get used to that," she decided, one hand over her heart. "Superspeeding. And I'm not sure I ever ever want to."

She took a deep breath, and she shook her head.

And her face clenched a little bit, and she looked worried and she looked sad because while half-truth was oft-times necessary for survival? Sometimes picking up the pieces was a thing of guilt and agony.

"Kara," she nodded, "yeah, Miller's Bend. But hang on. There's. There's something you need to know first."

She went a little paler, and her red red hair stood out a little darker in stark contrast 'round her face. "We couldn't. Finish off Zod. Not without you. We need The Crystal I gave you, and-and-and it needs to be a person of your House. We need you to send Zod to The Phantom Zone."

Rose gestured helplessly. "Once you do that, it'll be over. But not until."

She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the barn, confident that Var-Sen could perceive her, despite being so far off. "Did I get that right, Professor?"

There was a blurry movement of person-shape, and Var-Sen was suddenly walking beside Rose and Kara.

"Yes," he answered her, "precisely right."

He turned his attention to the blonde-haired Daughter of Krypton.

"Zod is being held by the Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onzz, within the cave," he told her, "but there is no prison here on Earth that can hold Zod for long. Your father constructed the Phantom Zone to hold criminals like Zod. It is fitting that you, Zor-El's daughter, send Zod there as Zor-El himself did so long ago."

"Also, we must make contact with Chloe Sullivan. She has resources available to find Raya. Raya is lost here, on Earth, because she doesn't know where to go. And although J'onn could touch her mind, I'm not so sure he can find her specific location."

Var-Sen had reached out and touched Chloe, and he had felt something return from her, but that's all there was. His telepathy was limited to the minimum, and only sometimes, within short distances, could he communicate whole thoughts or feelings.

He then rose into the air, darting ahead of them both just a few yards. "The cave," he said pointing towards the horizon with a smile, "is this way."

And then Var-Sen became a blur of motion.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Alfred, The Cat, Gabe, Pete, and Jamie

Chloe managed to operate at half-autopilot.

She was listening out for John Smith and managing to navigate the real world at the same time. As a result, she didn't get half the chance she would have liked to memorise the series of buttons Dale pressed on that alarm box, to memorise the pock-marked patterns of Terry's face, to register the disdain in McNichol's eyes.

Alfred quietly tended Gabriel the Cat, cradling him in strong arms and scritching the base of his tail, but his eyes were alert also. He'd lived in splendour too long to be overmuch impressed by the palacial buildings with which Edmund Tennylson had surrounded himself. Instead he wondered that reports of the calibre and number of men guarding the place had not been exaggerated: what kind of paranoiac was this man?

This... "Eddie."

This wasn't so much a mansion as it was a nicely-appointed stockade, and here they were, climbing aboard the lift in order to descend deeply into the stockade's inescapable reaches.

"Underground caves," Alfred mumbled. "Having our fill of them today, aren't we, Gabriel?"

The cat mewed in reply, a little panicked squeak, at the same time that Gabe Sullivan nodded his head and said, "yeah."

He blinked, and then looked at the cat, and sighed. "Oh. Right."

"Gonna start calling y'all Thing One an' Thing Two in a minute," Pete grinned.

As Jamie boarded the lift car, he gave the diminutive McNichol a sidelong gaze and a faint little smirk, but his smirk deepened and his gaze darkened when McNichol called him by name.

"Fireplace Man. Don't you dare muck with anything. I swear. I have no patience for your puckish shit today."

Jamie grinned his grin from ear to ear. "'Puckish?' Me?" he dismissed. "Edgar, Edgar, Edgar, if either of us here resembles Robin Goodfellow, mate, it's you. Nasty little hobgoblin. And don't worry, mate, I shan't lay a digit on your precious toys. Not unless you've bleached them first, sort of unsanitary jamming those things into people. Good seeing you again, though."

The door slid closed and they descended and Jamie shook his head, his grin suddenly and conspicuously absent. "'"I am that merry wanderer of the night?"'" he muttered, voice full of revulsion. "'I am that giggling - dangerous - totally - bloody - psychotic - menace - to - life-and-limb, more like it.'"

Pete blinked. "I take it you knew that guy?"

"Reputation, mostly," Jamie nodded. "Trust me, ignorance is bliss. Keep your pretty friend away from him; I hear tell he's a bit of a misogynist."

"Oh," Pete blinked again. "Shit. Nice place you got here, 'Launchpad.'"

And then the door opened, and they found a palace beneath a palace.

"'King Solomon's Mines,'" Jamie whistled, "'Exit 75. I'm still alive.'"

"Tori Amos," Chloe mumbled, in her own little world.

"Was it?" Jamie murmured, traipsing off of the lift and wandering over to that bank of super-bleeding-edge computers. "More my daughter's thing than mine, m'afraid. Funny what you pick up in passing."

"Come on. We all eat, then we can sleep, play whatever. But food first. Chloe, sweetheart, you need to eat something here, Mr. Sullivan, please everyone lets eat and then rest." Marcy busied herself pouring milk and juice and trying to figure out an espresso machine as everyone entered.

Chloe and Pete made their way to couches, Chloe sitting with her head in her hands and Pete gazing at her worriedly. Meanwhile, Gabe and Alfred moved to help Marcy.

Alfred set down the cat, who scampered off to wrap himself 'round Merick's legs as he gazed at the weapons cabinets, miaowing plaintively.

"If I may, Madam Tennylson?" Alfred offered, finding a manual for the espresso machine in one of the nearby drawers. "Masta' Wayne once donated a similar model to Gotham General Hospital, I think I can wring a half-decent cup out of it."

Gabe, meanwhile, scraped a little bit of chicken salad onto a plate and brought it to the cat by Merick's feet. He straightened, and followed Merick's gaze at the fiendish weapons of death.

"Is it weird that seeing those things makes me feel safer?" he wondered. "Better conventional weapons of chopping and slicing than nuclear bombs, right?"

"He's gone quiet," Chloe murmured, as Pete squeezed her shoulder. "Maybe he's gone after all. Maybe he was just saying 'goodbye.' Doctor Hamilton told me I was his last word..."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara clenched her fist at the first mention of Zod, and she longed for the chance at revenge. Just the mere thought of his name boiled her blood, and she had to try real hard not to use the next tree as a missile, aiming it at some unexpected innocent.

"Zod..." Kara scowled, her eyes turning slowly towards the ground beneath her feet.

"Wait..."

Kara lifted her eyes up again and stared at Rose.

"Professor?" Kara questioned, and immediately she thought about Var-Sen. She remembered him being at the portal when it was activated, but she wasn't sure whether he had made it out alive.

And now he was here.

She wasn't alone anymore.

She wasn't alone.

But as much as she wanted to throw a party and don a cap, Kara also knew that there was a lot of work to do. She had the Crystal in her pocket, and as Var-Sen began making his way towards the cave, Kara took it out and held it in her open palm.

"I guess it's time to end thiis. Once and for all," Kara said as she closed her fingers around the Crystal of the House of El.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Rose nodded firmly, even as goosebumps rushed up and down the back of her neck.

There was something... final about the way Kara said "once and for all."

And, yeah, finality was intrinsic to the whole "once and for all" concept, but it meant so much more with the raw powerful honesty of Kara Kent. It meant so much more because Kara meant what she said and she was saying it.

She held out her hand to Kara, both out of solidarity and out of request -- she couldn't keep up, not with Kryptonians. Not with superspeeding. But she wouldn't miss this for the world nor for any other.

This was Kara's destiny, that was oh so very certain.

But Rose would bear witness, like an angel circling high over a battlefield.

This was Kara's destiny. Rose just wanted to be there to see it.

"Let's roll," she agreed.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick looked long at the weapons. So much death and destruction. So many atrocities. Had he chosen wisely? Time would tell.

Then he noticed Gabriel at his feet.

"Hey buddy. Glad you made it in one piece. Alfred, thank you for looking out for him." Merick dropped to his knees and wrestled playfully with Gabriel the Cat for a few minutes, before kissing him gently on the head and walking to Chloe.

"So... seems you have quite the story here. Never thought I would miss being the invisible kid. But between everything that's happened... well, I guess no secret stay that way for ever." Merick sits down and closes his eyes. "Look, I don't know what crazy twist is next, but whatever happens thank you guys. For having my back. For believing in me when I didn't. Ma, I think I am gonna skip breakfast and just hit the sack. Chloe... um... nevermind." Merick stands and moves away an odd expression on his face.

"Thank you Alfred. I can do a fair few things, but these damn fancy coffee pots are just beyond me." Marcy delivers a plate of food to Pete and Chloe as she bustles about. "Ok hon. Just get a nap in if you can. Anyone want anything else?"

Dale meanwhile approaches Jamie...

"Fireplace Man huh? I am guessing you have almost as many secrets in your closet as I do. Listen, I want you to know... this is not the life I chose. And well, I don't want you or Ceri to look at Merick or Marcy poorly cause of the messes my ol' man an I have caused. And as for old McNichol there, I assure you he comes anywhere near the girls I am gonna punt his tiny ass into the next county." Dale glances over to Marcy as she is handing Chloe a plate. "I don't know what kinda mess I have made. But I hope I can fix it. Marcy and Merick are my world. I don't want them to see me the way I see my father."

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Black Hood walked quietly and once he got to the door, he looked at the David and the Goliath standing by the door. He said not a word as he prepared to enter the underground room as it were. but mentally he said to himself, "Yet another cave."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred, Pete, Gabe, Jamie, and Chloe

Alfred nodded easily to Marcy.

"The first rule of Gentlemanship," Alfred declared, "as taught to me by my mentor Humphries, is to be attentive, and to be adaptive. I should have this put to rights in but a moment. Now, I've a fair guess as to what the young lady would like to drink, but can I take requests from anyone else in attendance?"

"Yeah, uh, cappucino," Pete shot him a thumbs-up. "Thanks, 'Fred."

"Half-caf," Gabe requested, "uh, cream and sugar? Thanks?"

Alfred rubbed his hands, and turned to Jamie with a wry expression.

"And you sa'?" he wondered, with no small irony. "Considering your predilection for coffee beans in the raw, I imagine you'll be quite--"

"Erm, large," Jamie requested, without looking up from the computers. (He hadn't touched them yet, but he was itching to do so, this much was obvious.)

Alfred blinked. "'Large?'"

"Espresso," Jamie nodded, utterly distracted, nudging a mousepad with one finger. "Y'know. Just... big. And, erm, caffeinated. (Uh, please.)"

"'Large,'" Alfred nodded, and chuckled, shaking his head.

"Actually," Jamie said, suddenly, glancing up at Alfred, face kind of scrunched up with the effort of thinking, "do they have bigger than a large?"

Alfred sniffed slightly, pensively, and glanced down at the manual, flipping through pages. "Yes. Yes, they do."

"Right," Jamie nodded, briskly. "I'll have that, then. (Fair play to you.)"

Alfred rolled his eyes, and mumbled: "'Attentive and adaptive,' my giddy aunt."

...and then set to work, figuring any other orders would come in due course.

After playing with Gabriel the Cat for a few moments, Merick sat with Pete and Chloe and bared his soul for a moment.

Chloe could only smile at him, smile a sad little understanding smile.

Why was it she only gravitated to boys who never finished such important sentences? Bruce, Merick... they both sort of... trailed off. Right when it counted.

Pete, on the other hand, clapped Merick on the upper arm and nodded firmly.

"Smallville High Freshmen are like family," he reminded Merick.

And it was true, so far as Pete Ross was concerned.

Dale approached Jamie, who had crouched down and was sticking his head back behind the computer towers, examining their cabling. He still hadn't touched anything, not really.

"Fireplace Man huh?" Dale wondered.

...at this, Jamie extricated himself from the table of computers, and rose to grin lopsidedly at his fellow doctor. "'A chimney-sweep's life is as grand as can be.'"

"I am guessing you have almost as many secrets in your closet as I do," Dale chuckled wryly.

"Oh, that's a safe bet," Jamie nodded in agreement, "me having secrets. Sometimes I get the feeling I don't even know them all."

"Listen, I want you to know... this is not the life I chose. And well, I don't want you or Ceri to look at Merick or Marcy poorly cause of the messes my ol' man an I have caused. And as for old McNichol there, I assure you he comes anywhere near the girls I am gonna punt his tiny ass into the next county." Dale glances over to Marcy as she is handing Chloe a plate. "I don't know what kinda mess I have made. But I hope I can fix it. Marcy and Merick are my world. I don't want them to see me the way I see my father."

Jamie seemed to digest this for a moment. He seemed... frightened, almost. He could tell he was being called upon to say something profound and comforting and he felt like he was a pilot fish who'd suddenly been abandoned by his shark.

He put his head down for a moment and his hands in his pockets and his coat flared around him not entirely unlike Damian's cape.

"The best kind of immortality," Jamie mused quietly, "is a proper legacy. I can't honestly say what lays beyond this world, that's not inside my paradigm. But I think it doesn't matter what lays beyond this world if you make this world a better place before you leave it."

He glanced up at Chloe, who was politely accepting that plate from Marcy. ("Thank you, ma'am.")

His eyes flickered then to Marcy herself, and then to Merick.

"I'd say, Dale," he mused, glancing back at the veterinarian, "that you're already well on your way to making this world a better place. You've protected Marcy, who is a fine woman, and you've raised a fine lad in your teleporting son. To say nothing of Tommy, who is apparently some sorcerous Messiah or what-have-you."

Jamie scrunched up his face again, his mind racing and yet standing still.

Trying to be human, for once. Trying to be... sane.

"I'm awfully fond," he began again, "(perhaps even overly fond) of a writer named Gilbert. And he once wrote: 'Human nature simply cannot subsist without a hope and aim of some kind; as the sanity of the Old Testament truly said, where there is no vision the people perisheth.'"

His eyes locked firmly onto Dale's: "Hope, aim, vision. Hope much, Dale Tennylson, aim high, and keep your vision clear. That's the best you can do for yourself or for anyone, full stop."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick sat on the edge of a cot. After having had the most restful sleep imaginable just a short while earlier, he was in no need of sleep. And the idea of eating was unimaginable. He stood once more and wandered back to Pete and Chloe.

"Pete, thank you." Merick patted Pete on the arm as he continued past and into the work out area. He playfully started to punch the speed bag. Chuckling as it quickly outpaced him. "So, is it over? I mean, what happens now? We beat Zod, and we got the crystal things right? Do we all go back to school on Monday and pretend it never happened? Pretend there aren't things that go bump in the night?"

Marcy looked at her son. She recognized the confusion, the insecurity. She had once felt that. Felt that the world would never be the same. That every choice was futile. Then she had met Dale. Then eventually they had had the boys. And she saw life from a different perspective.

"Merick, I can't tell you what the future holds. But I can tell you that you will do as you have tonight. You will make a difference. Each and every one of you has shown more heart, more conviction, and more compassion, than you have any right having at your age. What ever is next, I am sure you will all be ready. And if not, you will do what you did before... improvise." Marcy said nothing more as she sat and started to eat.

Dale smiled at Jamie. And he patted him on the back. "Thank you." Dale wanders to Marcy and sits beside her, wrapping a strong arm around his wife.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith and Bekka

"Don't get yourself too worked up Lex. I doubt anything you could say would do more than cast a pale shadow on what I lived through. I know you went through some pretty bad stuff back there, but try and keep a open mind. Not everything on this earth and beyond can be explained in black and white."

Bekka took another sip of her wine, watching the agitated young Billionaire with a hawks gaze.

I Listened to Lex. Something had truly terrified him, and he was a Luthor. They didn't scare easy, and they did not back down.

"I have faced that which gos bump in the night Luthor, and I am standing here, they are not." I said in the voice of the grave.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

"'There are more things in Heaven and Earth,' Bekka," Lex chuckled faintly, "'than are dreamt of in your philosophy?'"

He waved his hand. "Don't you see, it cuts both ways? You tell me that the evil I see is not wholly evil. But whatever good you see, if it's not black and white, if it's all shades of grey? That good is sullied also, and is not to be trusted."

Lex shrugged his shoulders and rolled his head back towards the ceiling, closing his eyes. "That which you see as a Saviour, I see as just as much of a Serpent. They're one and the same. They are not to be trusted."

And then he leveled his gaze at Wraith, tossing out a pointing, jabbing finger.

"You'll have to forgive me," he seethed, "if I don't take the word of a creature such as yourself at face value. You look and sound for all the world like something that's crawled out of mankind's Collective Unconscious, and I don't mean the good parts."

He chuckled faintly, and examined his ruined, once-beautiful designer shoes.

When he again lifted his eyes, there was a little bit of agony there, and there was a whole lot of anticipation.

"Then again," he murmured, with just a hint of the purpose that filled him, "maybe it is up to the 'bad guy' to save the world."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

A Different Perspective

Everything's Magic

I saw Rose extend her hand towards me, and my eyes lingered for a moment on the soft color of her skin. The sun was shining up above, even if it hadn't yet reached its Zenith. Very slowly I reached my own hand out, and my fingers gently wrapped themselves around hers, forming a sort of bond that could never be broken.

Destiny had a funny way of bringing together people from all walks of life... and we were no exception.

It was Destiny that brought us together.

And it was Destiny that was pushing us forward.

"Hold on," I said with a caring smile.

With my other hand I held tightly the Crystal of the House of El, a powerful device and reminder of my heritage. Of what my biological father had done for me...

In the back of my mind I wondered what sort of future he had in store for me.

I had so many questions...

But now was not the time to be asking them.

I gently squeezed Rose's hand to let her know that we were about to move. Var-Sen already had a considerable lead, but I was able to keep up a little, navigating through the winding streets and dirt roads of Smallville to Miller's Bend, and ultimately to the Kawatche Caves themselves.

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter was waiting quietly in the console room of the cave when Var-Sen, Kara Zor-El, and Rose arrived.

Zod was suspended well above the floor by an energy coil that held him motionless. Zod could only move his mouth to speak, even though the Kryptonite binding his hands had been neutralized by the Kryptonian machine.

He was just suspended there, watching the events unfold around him with unblinking eyes.

And as soon as Kara appeared in the main cavern, speak he did.

"It would figure that I would once again be handed over to the House of El by you, Martian," Zod said to J'onn, "but this time your pathetic attempt at victory finds me given to Zor-El's bitch instead of his ghost!"

J'onn went to move, but Var-Sen of Krypton had already literally beaten him to the punch. Despite the energy field, the Kryptonian scientist had moved across the room and slapped Zod sharply across the mouth. The General's head rocked with the blow, and when he faced them again, his mouth was dripping blood. Var-Sen raised his hand again, this time in a fist, but J'onn's green-skinned right hand clasped around his wrist like a vise. Var-Sen looked at the Martian, then stepped back towards Kara and Rose.

"Don't go away mad, Zod," Var-Sen smirked as he joined the Daughter of Zor-El, "just go away."

He then turned to Kara. "It is righteous once again that he is bound and at the mercy of justice, and again sentenced to the Phantom Zone for his crimes. It is also a great honor that I now stand beside you, Kara Zor-El, as you enact that sentence upon him."

The Martian Manhunter moved from his position against the wall to stand behind Kara, his arms folded across his mighty chest, a reminder of the same vigil he stood so long ago with Kara's father.

"The honor is mine as well," he said in his coarse voice. "Let it be done."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Rose staggered a bit when Kara released her, and she bent over for a moment holding her knees, unconsciously mimicking her mother when Ceri'd first been teleported by Merick, and unconsciously mimicking Pete when she'd flown him halfway across town to this very location earlier in the day.

She shivered and shuddered for a moment, and then she grinned a giddy grin.

Superspeed. You'd think, getting piggybacked across like four states and then getting flown around the world, I'd get used to it.

But never. Never will.

Nor should I.

Everything's Magic.

She straightened, and she recovered, and she put a hand on her lower back and swept her scarlet locks of hair out of her deep sky blue eyes.

Things got a little more serious after that.

Zod pottymouthed his soon-to-be jailer, and Var-Sen cracked Zod across the face with righteous indignation. It might have progressed from there into furious brutality, but The Martian was there to remind The Kryptonian of his humanity.

Rose watched quietly, eyes flickering from the restrained General to Kara herself.

She worried about this. About asking a woman so young as her friend Kara to imprison a man for the rest of all existence.

But then again...

Rose remembered the sound of Aethyr screaming.

The look on Aethyr's face when she vanished into flame and turned into white white whispery ashen dust. Left powerless and vulnerable by Kryptonite, vulnerable to Rose's great red plasmic pulse of fire, Aethyr had been scorched from The Earth almost before she could scream. Almost.

Rose scrunched her eyes shut and held back a tear.

Yeah. This was better.

Better to imprison The General than to kill him. Better that than Kara having to have blood on her hands.

Rose crossed her arms over her stomach, and glared quietly at Zod.

And she whispered, a goodbye and a benediction to the man who'd have slain Earth:

"'You might be a big fish
In a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
'Cause along may come
A bigger one

And you'll be lost.'"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara Zor-El

Var-Sen arrived at the cave before Kara and Rose, though they weren't lagging far behind. Kara had no time to take in the awe inspiring sights of the drawings on the walls, or that that she had moved into a chamber set apart by her father long ago.

"Sorry if the ride was a little bumpy," Kara said softly to Rose.

Zod, it seemed, would not wait idly before adding in a few final insults. Despite being Kryptonian, Kara saw in him no signs of a proud and noble race. He was tainted...

But still, Kara winced slightly at his comment, having never before been referred to in such a manner. It was vulgar and cross, showing just how deeply a loathing Zod held for her and for the house of El.

Kara, however, knew better than to sink to his level.

She had been raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, after all. Not only did Kara belong to the house of El, but she was a Kent through and through.

So instead of cursing at him, all the young Kryptonian did was stare at the Crystal in her hands. She saw the crest emblazoned on its surface, and it glowed ever so radiantly in her open palm.

"You were wrong before, Zod," Kara said, turning her eyes up to look at him.

"I'm far stronger than you'll ever be."

She ignored whatever 'choice' words he might have for her, as she once again looked at the Crystal in her hands.

And shepherds we shall be

"My father sends his regards."

Just as she had done earlier in the Phantom Zone, Kara held up the Crystal of the House of El towards Zod, and its radiant light quickly poured out over his body. She could hear him crying out in agony and defeat, and she could hear him struggling against the Unstoppable Force.

Judgment had been cast, and the Crystal ceased to shine its brilliant light.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith and Bekka

"Lex Lex Lex, you should do theater. All the world is shades of grey when you are like we are. We make decisions, or at least you will once Lionel passes you the mantle of leadership, and we affect thousands. Your smart business decision, which is the right one to make, leaves twenty families on unemployment, causes three divorces , and a suicide. It's all grey."

Bekka took another sip of her wine, then pulled the device out of the pocket again, and placed it back in it's place after frowning slightly. A few seconds later Min came back into the room and whispered in Bekka's ear.

"Lex, I need to go check on the rest of my guests, and Wraith," she said, looking at me, "Your coming too. I will send you up some dinner, as I am sure your famished. Min will keep you company. Help yourself to the wet bar, and be a good boy or she will glue you to your chair." She said with another smile.

I followed Bekka out into the main passenger compartment, giving Lex one last look before the door closed behind us.

 

[AmenRa]

The Cave

Zod was gone.

No more in this dimension, he now existed only in that harsh realm of shadow and jagged peaks called the Phantom Zone.

J'onn J'onzz retrieved from his pocket the last remaining piece of the Crystal of Knowledge. He held it up so Kara and Var-Sen could see it, then he reached out to the Last Daughter of Krypton, handing to her the final fragment in the beginning of her journey to her destiny.

"Once you reunite it with the other pieces," Var-Sen explained to her, "it will become whole again, and your destiny will begin."

The other pieces waited in the indentation on the console. Kryptonian symbols surrounded them, each telling the element's story.

"And so will each of ours," The Martian Manhunter added.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

Lex pursed his lips coolly as Bekka Greystone lectured him on the moral ambiguity of the business world.

She almost sounded... cut-throat.

Maybe she had potential after all. Perhaps after Lex convinced his father to engineer a buy-out of Gen-Tech, he'd offer Bekka Greystone a position on the LuthorCorp board to compensate her for her trouble.

And when the formidable-looking Wraith and his indubitable empress took their leave of him, Lex stood in silence, staring at the shaded windows.

He only glanced at Wraith to return his look.

And Lex's eyes spoke volumes. Unwritten tomes.

'As far as I'm concerned,' his eyes seemed to say, 'you're guilty until proven innocent. As far as I'm concerned, you're still one of them. We'll dance this jig again.'

They were gone, and Lex stood alone there with Min not far away.

He sat himself down once more, and buckled up, and took a swig from that glass of Scotch, draining it save for the clinking cubes.

Eyes half-lidded, he calmly regarded the lovely Asian woman.

"So, tell me," he mused. "'Min.' Is that an... abbreviation?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Pete, Gabe, Alfred, and Jamie

Chloe smiled faintly, nibbling at a forkful of egg salad and nodding thankfully to Alfred when he brought her yet another almond mocha with extra whip.

"Welcome to my world, Launchpad," she murmured. "Your mom's right. But for me, this is going back to normal, mostly. I've always known there were strange things afoot in the world. Always always. And to find them, I would wait, and I would watch. Observe and record, and sometimes interfere."

Pete nodded softly. "I guess there is no going back. Not entirely. Like 'The Matrix,' man. Once you see the world for what it is, there's no plugging back in to the lie. We'll always know the truth."

Chloe set her fork down and hugged herself tightly, staring to nowhere. "That's us. We'll never be normal again. Never be able to entirely forget that skirting the shadows of our mundane existence resides the fantastic and fearsome. We'll never be one of the mindless masses ever again. We'll always be something else. We'll always be--"

"Outsiders," Gabe Sullivan murmured.

"Yeah," Chloe nodded quietly. "Outsiders. But I'm used to that."

"I suppose, eventually," Alfred suggested, almost hopefully, "all of this will become old hat."

"Oh, no," Jamie tutted, powering up one of the terminals and listening to the hum of it, thenceforth ignoring "Edgar" and his instruction to not touch anything. "Never does. Never ever does. But then, would you really want it to?"

The boot-up screens scrolled by on the monitor, and Jamie Hamilton turned to gaze at them. "Consider yourselves fortunate. The Truth may not actually set you free, like the proverbial prisoner seeing proverbial shadows move on the wall of that proverbial Cave, or that one dog who, unlike his doggy brethren, can see colours, can see a rainbow. But it gets you a bit closer, dunnit? Would you really give up that sense of Wonder? That ability to take a step back when faced with something amazing and say, 'oh, you're beautiful?' That'd be like carving out your own soul, that would."

He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head, tilting his head down as he squinted to nowhere. "Maybe you're done. Maybe this is all you get. Maybe this was your one chance to embrace the fantastic. But that's more than most lads and lasses ever see. And I think, if nothing miraculous occurred ever again to you, you would miss it terribly when it was gone. I know I would. But you can't have the miraculous without the--"

He paused. "What's the opposite of 'miraculous?'"

Chloe smiled faintly. "'Normal.'"

Jamie blinked. "Ah. Touché. But I meant, erm, more... opposite end of the spectrum, you know, on past 'normal' and down to--"

Chloe grasped for a moment, frowning hard: "'Chthonic?' 'Plutonian?'"

"Mm," Jamie murmured. "Part and parcel, ennit? But it's worth it. Oh, so very worth it. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Parallel or otherwise."

The computer bleeped at him, and Jamie turned, and takked a series of keys, scrutinising the machine and its capabilities.

"Power's up," he murmured, "which means we might have access to those delightful webby tubes."

He hunched down in front of the computer, fingers blurring over the keys. ("Lovely. Talk-to-text.")

"We need us a sitrep," he explained over his shoulder, "and there's someone out there I'm a little worried about."

Then he cleared his throat, and activated a voice-command programme linked with the talk-to-text software.

"According to Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1," he spoke clearly and firmly. "I'm initiating The Cole Protocol, Article 2. Ragnarok: can you hear me?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Celestial Light and Magic.

The Crystal poured forth glory and scrubbed away the stain that was Zod.

And Rose let out a breath, a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

She smiled a wobbly smile, and closed her eyes as she leaned against The Console Room wall.

Thank You, God.

Thank God he's gone. Thank God that's over.

Now we can put our collective phones on vibrate for a week and sleep 'till the proverbial cows come home.

But then a whole next stage showed up, and Rose's eyes snapped open wide.

There was more.

The jigsaw puzzle of the scattered elements-- no Earth and no Spirit, but Fire, Water, Air --was about to start resembling the picture on the box. They'd done the edge pieces and worked inward and here they were, plonking that last bit into the middle.

Her eyes widened, and she started laughing helplessly, hating herself for ruining the reverence of the moment. She leaned against the wall and slid down it, covering her face half with one hand.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, sounding a little bit broken, "I think I just hit my limit. See my injuries hurt pretty bad and I think I might be suffering exhaustion or sleep deprivation or something and I might be going a little bit crazier than usual. Now I wish I'd taken Kyle's people up on getting fixed up a little, a bit of healing would do me good right now."

She shook her head and smiled woozily into nowhere. "Though I guess Destiny never did wait for you to have a good night's sleep first."