“Shots,” the very drunk birthday celebrant demanded the approaching group. She was drunk enough not to react to Kal-El's approach fearfully. Lois noted that Kal-El on his part was emitting body language that marked him nonthreatening.
“Why not,” Martha laughed, grabbing one for herself. Bernie shook his head. “Whiskey makes me sick.”
“Easy on those, Martha. Will we have to call Jonathan to come get you,” laughed another reveler.
“I can handle myself just fine,” Martha said calmly. “Home is walking distance after all, Thanks to Lex's generosity in giving us all homes, after the world's rebirth.”
"Not to worry. My drivers will take everyone home,” Lex said. “We can't risk the loss of our most brilliant minds to drunken accidents.”
“Shot, Lex,” Lois handed him one, taking one herself.
“Really?” His expression showed his old hauteur at the idea.
“Did you ever do shots?”
“No. Constant control was my mantra,” he admitted. “The better to win everything.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “Funny how life ends up taking in such different paths than the ones we envisioned. Your games of manipulation are no longer of import.”
“I no longer value living at the top of the world,” he said. “Losing the world… it – altered me, speaking of altered societies," he shot Kal-El a look as he said it, referring to the earlier talk on Kryptonian society.
“Slainte,” she toasted, gently tapping her shot glass of whiskey against his, and she tipped it down her throat. Her gaze was a challenge for him to join the masses. She didn't offer one to Kal-El, because the idea felt too intrusive.
“You wound me,” he answered, following her action. “This is hardly single malt.” Throwing it back, he made a face that provoked an answering half grin.
“It does the trick.”
“Which is….”
"A momentary lapse of ... pain."
Martha patted her gently on the arm.
“I know. Sometimes… you can convince yourself that we are still living in the not too distant past – before our world was overrun.”
“Except of course we have a Kryptonian here,” laughed one of the drunk partiers - “Ah – no offense, of course. You obviously aren't an invader.”
Kal-El listened to the conversations and tried not to act in any way that would be perceived as threatening. This last statement didn't offend him – merely increased the feeling his being here was not really a good idea - yet, ignoring the invitation would have alarmed them all. So here he was.
“Hey! None of that. It's my birthday and I want everyone to get along. “
“Just how old are you today?” Another shouted.
“You aren't supposed to ask me that -tell him Martha.”
Martha laughed and refused to be drawn in.
“Don't you think they will be too drunk to work tomorrow,” Bernie asked feeling nervous about how rowdy his peers were becoming.
“I doubt it,” Martha soothed him. “We need this. We need it more than… “ she broke off. “We are a broken people… so … we need to find our way back to being healed. If this kind of thing gives people a momentary cessation of the constant struggle and misery we face on a daily basis, It can only be a good thing.”
“Martha, you mentioned someone named Jonathan,” Kal-El awkwardly broke the silence that followed her statement. “You are married to him?”
It was a bold question, but after hearing his name mentioned, Kal-El couldn't help but be curious about the man who in other worlds was his father. So far, Martha hadn't treated him with fear, so he hoped his question wouldn't trigger her negatively.
She nodded, her expression growing bleak. Kal-El regretted his curiosity.
“And he knows about my work here. He knows about your presence. He won't tell anyone,” she growled at Lex who shook his head disapprovingly.
“On your head be it, if he does,” Lex grumbled.
“On my planet, “ she laughed. “I know the stakes.”
“You will die, if others know I'm here,” Kal-El said, horrified. Lex sounded as if he was already passing down a death sentence.
“What Lex said… was … hyperbole, but there are factions who might ...consider us collaborators.”
“We know this, and we aren't afraid,” one of the drunk scientists chimed in.
“Some of us are,” said another.
“Okay but – i'd rather be thought a collaborator than endure an asteroid impact that could wipe us out with a dust cloud.”
“I'd rather not die from the asteroid, nor be taken prisoner by crazed zealots.”
“We do what we must,” Lois chimed in, grabbing another shot. “But we are all smart enough to know how to keep our secrets.”
“You've had plenty of experience keeping under the radar,” one of the revelers praised her thoughtlessly “We all thought you were dead. The leader of the invasion thought you were dead. You hid from a telepathic super-powered being for years.”
“This is different,” she said shortly, forcing herself to control her tremors his words provoked. “In those days, I stayed in a lead-lined underground bunker. Now, I go out in the world freely. It requires a different kind of rigor to keep the zealots from becoming suspicious.”
“Let's...discuss that later,” said Martha, seeing Lois's reaction. “Jonathan is my husband, and he can be trusted. But… he was injured badly for defiance. He… doesn't go out much .”
“Burns,” said Lois softly. “His arm and leg were burned as punishment for his verbal defiances.”
Kal-El winced at her words.
“He stood up to Nor,” said Martha proudly, remembering that horrific day. “They still... took.. the women he was protecting … but Jonathan… he never stopped trying to get them back - despite his injuries.”
“You know, you just have to say the word, and prosthetics of the finest order will be fashioned for him,” Lex told her seriously.
She nodded. “He knows. Maybe after the asteroid is taken care of. We can all move on.”
She looked at Kal-El ruefully.
“I guess you wish you hadn't asked.”
He looked pale and stricken.
“I… am honored to hear of of your heroic husband,” he told her solemnly, thinking how his doppelgängers would have felt knowing what happened to their father's alternate.
Last edited by L; 10/09/19 02:26 AM.
