Lois walked for what seemed like an hour, dragged by Zod’s goons. She was parched with thirst, and her lips felt dry and were peeling from the heat. She was dizzy and would have killed for a maple doughnut… or even a glass of water.
The suns seemed to beat down stronger the longer they walked. At last, they came to a structure carved out of the stone hills. There were people, unkempt and cruel-looking, milling about. “Where are we?” Lois managed to ask. “I—need water…”
“First we are taking you to see General Zod,” said one of the guards harshly, tugging her harder than necessary into the cave opening.
They came to a large room, half surrounded by the cave walls, yet also exposed to enough sunlight that the room was fairly bright. Zod, Lois could see, was seated on a sort of throne, made up of bones. It made her shudder to wonder where those bones had come from…
“General Zod, we found a human wandering out in the deserts.”
Zod stood from his throne, a lazy smile of wicked delight on his face. “Well, well. If it isn’t Lois Lane,” he mused. “How ever did you get here?”
Suddenly, a wonderfully familiar voice echoed from across the room, “Lois!”
Lois turned, her heart in her throat at that voice, her eyes desperately searching for the face to match the voice that she hadn’t heard for three years, that she feared she’d never hear again.
Time stopped for just a moment, with Zod looking on, and her arms gaining bruises from the rough handling by the guardsman, as her eyes finally saw him, across the room standing in a cell.
“Cll---aark?” she whispered, her throat suddenly clogged with hope and tears.
“Ah, what a touching reunion,” said Zod derisively, gesturing to the cage on his left. “Have a look, Lois. Look at what’s become of your Clark Kent!”
Lois tugged her arms out of those of the guards, and they let her go as Zod gestured for them to release her. Despite her ankle, she made her way over to the cell, desperate to see him.
She fell to her knees by the cell, overwhelmed. Clark kneeled in front of her, his kind and beautiful blue eyes staring back at her.
“Clark! I never thought I’d see you again!” she said, not noticing or caring that tears were streaming down her face.
Clark’s hand came through the bars and cupped her cheek, still as strong and reassuring as she remembered it. “Lois, what are you doing here?” he asked, agonized.
“I—I have so much to tell you,” she said honestly, her eyes drinking in his features.
“That’s enough,” came Zod’s voice from over her shoulder. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up to a standing position.
“Let her go, Zod!” Clark cried, as Lois was pulled away from where Clark was imprisoned to stand in the center of the chamber.
“What are you going to do with me, Zod?” she asked, feeling a little stronger knowing Clark was there.
“I haven’t decided… though things have gotten infinitely more interesting with you here…” he said, circling around her like a predator.
Lois’ eyes kept going to Clark’s, a mere ten feet away, yet so far. “Why is Clark locked up in a cage? What have you done to him?” she demanded.
Zod stopped his circling in front of her, crowding her personal space as he stood practically toe to toe with her. “He dared to usurp my rule, my birthright.”
“Leave her out of this, Zod!” Clark shouted. “She knows nothing about you and me!”
Lois held her tongue, knowing it would make things worse to blurt out that she knew the truth about Clark. Zod would find a way to use it against her.
“Why make me your prisoner? Why not let me go? It’s not like I can get back to Earth, you might as well let me wander the desert,” she taunted, despite feeling dizzy and having trouble catching her breath. Her ankle was throbbing with pain, and she was dehydrated. But Clark was here. That’s all that mattered. His presence gave her the courage to defy Zod.
“Seeing you squirm is far better entertainment,” Zod hissed in her ear. He looked over at Clark’s cage, “Especially knowing that he can’t do anything about it.”
Zod gestured to his guardsmen, and suddenly Lois was taken to another cell, on the opposite side of the room from where Clark was. They would be separated, but at least they were close enough to see and talk to each other.
“Leave her the water, but don’t give her anything else. I’ll decide her fate later,” Zod said to his guard. “Watch them carefully. I’ll make my decision when I return.”
Lois was thrust into the tiny cell. There was nothing inside except a pitcher of water. It looked clear and she prayed it was clean as she tentatively took a sip. Thankfully, it was cool and refreshing.
“Don’t drink it all at once, Lois,” she heard Clark say. “If you’re dehydrated—“
“I know, Smallville. Don’t you think the General taught me survival skills?” She said between large gulps.
“Smallville,” he echoed, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “I never thought I’d hear you call me that again.”
Lois took another sip, and then began the painful task of unwrapping her ankle.
“Lois, you’re hurt!”
She glanced up, warmed by his concerned expression. God, how she had missed him. “I’ll be fine… How did you end up here?” she asked as she carefully took the cleaner part of the bandage to wipe away the blood with the water.
“I—made a lot of mistakes… Zod has only held me here for a few days, though,” he began, and she could hear him sigh wearily. “How about you? How did you—“
Lois looked up from her ministrations, her eyes meeting Clark’s despite the distance and the cell bars. “The Legion ring,” she said without preamble, knowing the questions that statement would provoke.
He leaned forward intently, as if he wasn’t sure he heard her right. “The Legion ring? How do you know about---“
She stared at him a long moment, bittersweet memories coming back to her about how he had lied, even if it had been to protect her. “Clark --- I know,” she said, taking in a steady breath.
“Know what, Lois?” he asked softly, and she could see worry, the desire to run and hide all over his face. She almost wanted to laugh, if their circumstance wasn’t so dire. Did he really expect her not to figure it out, especially now?
She finished tying the bandage and moved her hair out of her face. “I know you were – are the Blur,” she said simply.
She heard him sigh, and he nodded in resignation as he looked down at his feet. His striking eyes met hers though as he spoke, “I suppose there is no point in hiding it from you now, is there?”
“I figured it out the night you—disappeared. The night you kissed me as the Blur,” she confessed quietly. Lois felt tears well up in her eyes, remembering all those lonely days without him, trying to forget him, trying to understand him. “I know you were doing what you thought was right. Your mom and Chloe explained a lot to me… I – guess I have just struggled with understanding why you didn’t tell me… “ Lois pulled another strip from her t-shirt, leaving her with little more than a halter top, and began rewrapping her ankle. “I know you wanted to protect me, Clark… but to not even say good-bye…”
“I did, Lois…” he said in a voice strangled with emotion. “In the only way I could, by showing you with that kiss how I feel about you.”
She was quiet for a moment, thinking. “I thought you were gone forever… yet, for three years I’ve held on to a little bit of hope that somehow---“
“Three years?” he interrupted, incredulous.
She wiped the tears from her eyes to look at him. “Yeah, why?”
“I – I’ve been gone about eight months, to my estimate at least. Lois, I’m sorry,” he said simply, his hand reaching through the bars, as if he could touch her. “But we’ll find a way back, I promise,” he whispered lower, conscious of the guards’ ears nearby.
She nodded in understanding.
Clark glanced again at the guards. “Lois, do you still have the ring?” he half whispered, half mimed.
She shook her head regretfully. “One of the guards has it,” she nodded in the direction of the guard she referred to. “Clark? Are we stuck here?”
He shook his head. “The crystal that Zod wears around his neck,” he whispered. “It will take us back.”
“But how will we get out of here?”
“We’ll find a way, Lois. No one is going to mess with Lois and Clark, right?” he said, a smile on his lips, and she nodded, remembering that long ago time when they had been trapped in the Phantom Zone before.
“Right. They better not.” And she gamely smiled back at him.
~\S/~
Chloe tried Lois’ cell phone for the third time. Where was she? She was supposed to be back at Watchtower to keep her company as they monitored the progress of the heroes. Chloe sighed with worry, hoping that Lois hadn’t gotten herself into trouble.
A few moments earlier, she had received a message from Oliver that they were approaching the Arctic. No one knew what they would find, or even if they could communicate with Jor-El when they got there.
Chloe started surfing the internet to check the news, nervous about what President Luthor was getting the country into. The heroes had worked hard to try to inform the public about the danger of electing him, but somehow, their nightmare had come to pass anyway.
“Clark, the world needs you,” she sighed, missing her best friend now more than ever.
Her scan of the internet stopped when she caught a news story on one of the major networks. It wasn’t a headline, but a side story, and it sent a thrill of fear through her.
“Linda Danvers, agent for the Department of Domestic Security, has been arrested, charged with conspiring against the President.”
“Kara!” she cried out involuntarily. “ I can’t believe this…” She clicked on the article, though it didn’t offer anything concrete. Just vague presumptions about Ms. Danvers wanting to take down President Luthor and that she was being detained at a government facility.
Chloe reached for her cell and dialed Oliver. They had to move quickly. Who knows what Lex would do to Kara nor what he was planning to do with all of the nukes suddenly in his possession.
Chloe hoped that Jor-El wouldn’t let them down… Without Clark, he might be their only hope of stopping Brainiac.
~\S/~
Oliver spotted the Fortress across the ice desert. He had always been wary of getting too involved with anything Kryptonian, and he couldn’t shake the fear that rippled through him now. He almost wished he had paid a little more attention when Clark would go off on a tangent about his origins or Jor-El. As it were, Oliver just knew that this alien fortress somehow housed a replica of Clark’s Kryptonian father. The Kryptonians they had dealt with in the past had always been difficult, he expected no less from Jor-El in this sortie.
“Wow, that’s pretty impressive,” said Cyborg, letting out a low whistle, watching how the sunlight played on the crystalline structure.
“Yeah, well, let’s just hope Jor-El sees us as friends and not the enemy,” Oliver said, as they landed a few yards away from the Fortress.
The team climbed out of the helicopter, each seemingly a little wary of the foreign territory they were about to enter.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Oliver said, and headed inside through the crystalline archway.
The crystals inside seemed to give off their own light. Though they seemed low and muted, they also hummed with a sort of energy that was a bit unnerving.
“Anybody home?” Oliver called. “Jor-El!”
The room hummed to a low rumble, as the caves lit up brighter and Jor-El spoke. “I await Kal-El’s return.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t know if that’s going to happen,” AC chimed in.
Oliver stepped forward. “Look, we are Kal-El’s friends. With him gone, we came to ask for your help. Can you tell us anything about Brainiac?”
The Fortress seemed quiet for a long moment, and the heroes thought Jor-El wouldn’t answer.
Just as Oliver turned to leave, Jor-El spoke again. “There is an incarnation of Brainiac again on the Earth, Brainiac 3. It’s much more destructive than its predecessor. Kal-El must stop it before it destroys the Earth.”
“Only one problem there – Kal-El is no longer on the Earth. He’s been gone for three years, trying to help your people,” Oliver spat bitterly.
Cyborg put his hand on Oliver to calm him. “Jor-El, is there anything we can do to stop Brainiac, even if Kal-El doesn’t return?”
“Kara could use the Crystal of El to banish Brainiac 3 to the Phantom Zone. That is your only hope.”
Oliver shook his head. “And what if Kara doesn’t have this crystal?”
“She’ll have it,” Cyborg insisted. “We have to believe she does.”
“If she has it, why hasn’t she used it yet then on Brainiac?” Oliver asked.
“That’s a legit question… Maybe she doesn’t know what it does? But even if she doesn’t have it, perhaps it’s in Clark’s possessions,” suggested AC.
“One way or another, we know what we have to do,” Oliver said, nodding at the other team members. He glanced up into the cavernous crystal walls and nodded, “Thanks for your help.”
~\S/~
On the way back to Metropolis, somewhere over Canada, the team was able to pick up radio signals again.
Oliver heard a text come through his phone and handed the helicopter controls over to Cyborg to check his messages.
“Luthor has Kara under arrest. Any answers from Jor-El?? Love, Chloe.”
Oliver turned to his team, so full of hope and purpose as they had left the Fortress, and now he had to crush that hope. “Guys, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Chloe just texted that Luthor has locked up Kara.”
“Find out where. That’s where we should head next,” Cyborg suggested.
Oliver nodded and quickly texted Chloe back to get their next destination.
~\S/~
Lois had somehow fallen asleep in the cramped cell. She awoke to Zod returning to the chamber. The sunlight still shined in brightly and she had no way of gauging just how long she had been sleeping.
She expected Zod to come to her cell, but instead he sauntered over to where Clark was. Clark’s eyes met Zod’s, and even from across the room, Lois could see the challenge in them.
“Let her go, Zod. Lois is of no use to you here!” Clark said, his anger held barely in check. “Look at her! She’s starving and injured. She’ll die out here! She isn’t like you and me!”
Lois wanted to cry out that he was wrong, that she was stronger than what he was describing. But she could feel how dizzy she was from lack of food, and her ankle was throbbing with pain, clearly in need of medical attention.
“I’ll be all right, Clark,” she said, wishing she sounded stronger than the strange whisper that emerged from her parched throat.
“No, she isn’t like us, Kal-El,” Zod said menacingly. “That is precisely the point. She was the one that divided us on Earth. You cared for her more than your own people.”
“You’re wrong! I sacrificed myself and my life on Earth so that my people might live! Our people!”
“Ah, but Clark, your heart was never in it,” Zod clucked regretfully. He glanced over at Lois, a sinister smile on his lips that sent a chill of fear through her. He turned back to Clark, his hands clasped behind his back as he paced in front of his cell. “But there is one way you can prove yourself, one way to be redeemed in my eyes and in the eyes of our people. Prove once and for all that you put them above the humans – kill Lois Lane.”
Clark’s jaw ticked in restrained anger. He glanced across at Lois and she tried a weak smile, trying to convey that they’d somehow get through this.
Clark spoke slowly, deliberately, seemingly hoping to break the haze of hubris that Zod had wrapped himself in. “Zod, the Phantom Zone has made you delusional. You’ve become drunk with power. You know that I could never hurt Lois... Jor-El would be ashamed of what you have become.”
“You drove me to become this!” Zod said in answer, slamming his palm angrily against Clark’s cage. “You were always convinced that you were better than me, and drove our people away from me, away from my birthright to rule! On Earth you talked of brotherhood, but all you really wanted was power!”
“That’s a lie! I never wanted anything but to help the Kandorians… Please, just let Lois go!”
Zod laughed and pulled out a gold ring on a chain around his neck. “I have her only means of returning to Earth right here, Kal-El. She’ll die here and by your hand... Or I’ll kill you both, and be done with you, once and for all.” Zod turned on his heels and nodded to nearby guards.
“Give them weapons. They’ll battle to the death.”
Lois stood up in the cell, shaking. But she wouldn’t show fear. Clark would find a way out of this, she knew he would. He was her hero, and she wasn’t about to stop believing in him now.
“No one messes with Lois and Clark. No one messes with us,” she mumbled, over and over, like a mantra. She glanced up at Clark, who tried to make eye contact with her while the guards gave him a shield and sword.
“No one,” he mouthed back, his brow wrinkled in concern.
Her own cell suddenly opened and she was tossed a sword and shield like Clark’s. She looked at them fearfully. With a gun in her hand, she would have had more confidence, but these medieval weapons were so foreign and so menacing that she wasn’t sure how to even hold them.
She glanced at Clark, and he gave her an encouraging smile, showing her how to hold the sword and shield from across the room.
Lois got them comfortably in her grip, and then they were both led to the center of the chamber, the gallery filling in with Kandorians to watch the spectacle.
“Begin!” cried Zod, to the raucous cheers of the men around them.
Clark and Lois circled each other, each unsure how they should proceed. Lois threw a test swing of the sword at his shield, the jarring sensation going through her arm. “Clark, I can’t do this,” she whispered fervently.
Calm as always, Clark nodded. “You can. I have an idea. Injure me – I’ll take the fall. I’m hoping Zod will want to jump in and I will try to get the crystal from him.”
“That’s some crazy plan, Clark! What if it doesn’t work?” she whispered, as they continued to circle each other. The jeering crowd was getting restless, they were waiting for action and both knew they couldn’t keep up this pretense for long.
“It will work. Trust me… now fight, Lois!” he said louder, coming at her but carefully managing to avoid hitting her.
“Coward!” shouted Zod. “Go after her with purpose! Or I’ll do the job myself!”
Lois met Clark’s eyes and they faced off beginning to swing blows at each other, though mostly aiming for each other’s shields.
“Lois, now!” Clark whispered, sidestepping a blow. “I’ll be all right. It’s the only way to end this!”
Lois was shaking, sweating with the effort at simply staying alive. She felt lightheaded and sick to her stomach. But she wanted to get back to Smallville. That was her hope, and this her only chance – she had to hurt Clark!
She lifted the sword and swung it like a golf club, slicing into Clark’s side. “Clark!” she cried out involuntarily, and the sword and shield clattered out of her hands. “I’m sorry! Clark! Look at me, are you all right?” she asked, hysterical, as he fell to his knees in front of her.
“I can see that neither of you are suited to finish this job,” Zod said snidely, silencing the crowd with a gesture. He came over to where the two were on the ground, Lois hovering over Clark, shaking and in tears. Clark didn’t seem responsive, and she worried that she had done more than just injure him.
She glanced behind her and saw Zod, lifting a scimitar-like knife high over his head, aiming at Clark. The gold Legion ring and the crystal were within reach, dangling around his neck, and she grabbed them, just as Clark stood up to slash Zod’s leg with his sword.
Lois tossed Clark the crystal, and before either of them could stop it, Clark’s blood touched the crystal’s surface, sending him away – back to Earth, but leaving Lois on her knees, watching in horror as she was left behind.
For a moment, she couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Zod was on the ground, writhing in pain, and his foot soldiers seemed to be waiting for a signal from him. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but she realized she was still clutching the Legion ring and she quickly put it on, hoping against hope that it would take her back to Smallville, and back to Clark.
