Trask lives

In "The Green, Green Glow of Home" Trask is shot by Rachel Harris. I am often bothered by the way many movies and tv shows portray members of the Military as Megalomaniacs.

Suppose Trask wasn't like that.

Perhaps the scene would play out differently,

How Lois reacts to all this could be fun, it would also change somethings in "All Shook Up" and very much change things in the New Kryptonians arc.

I've never seen Trask as someone who is power hungry, more that he's paranoid and fearful of what would become of his world should an army of all-powerful aliens (such as Nor's group of NK's) were to invade. In a way, Trask's fears are realized when Nor and his group of terrorists attack Smallville and Metropolis. Had Kal-El been working for Nor and been the forerunner that Trask supposes, such an invasion would have destroyed Earth and enslaved what was left of the human race.

Trask's main problems are that he's closed-minded and racist (alienist?). Before even talking to, in a peaceful manner, or trying to find out from Superman his motivations for coming to Earth, Trask has pre-judged him, and all Kryptonians, and lumped them into the enemy category. So much so, that Trask is willing to torture (Irig) and kill any human (Thompson from Strange Visitor, Irig and the Kents from GGGoH) willing to go up against him.

If you wanted to make Trask into a "friend" of Superman, you would have to do so before he commits these crimes. Afterwards, it's like Superman agreeing to a peace deal with a terrorist. Trask "hoping for the best" at this point isn't to be trusted or believed.

Now, if we were to shift your adaption to THIS, I would find it more believable: By this point, Trask is irredeemable, but the others in B39 are not. It doesn't make them Superman's friend or a group to be fully trusted, but with a new leader Superman too is able to have some hope for the future.

Hmm, a redeemable Trask…

I agree with Virginia, the change would have to occur probably back in Strange Visitor (I think that's the right episode!). I see Trask's biggest problem not being his distrust of Superman, but his ABSOLUTE BELIEF that he is right and that everyone is expendable in his search for his goals. After all, he certainly didn't see the humans as being any more worthy of protection than Superman. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been willing to throw a couple of reporters out the plane on a really flimsy hunch.

Without the paranoid angle, Trask would still be a dangerous man because he argues that the ends justify the means. It's probably why he embedded himself so deeply into a world of secrecy anyway. Bureau 39 takes him beyond the reach of accountability, and he is essentially his own master.

But trying to get back to your point of what if Trask had lived (i.e. he didn't have another gun to pull on Clark and thereby commit suicide-by-cop), whether Clark's decision to spare him could have made an impact. In the best case scenario…. maybe. Though I don't know if it would have been fast enough to keep the secret that Superman is really Clark Kent.

Then again, even if he was pulled from the pond ranting about Clark really being Superman, who's going to believe him with Clark all beaten up and without his powers because of the Kryptonite? More likely he'd end up in some military psych ward, or some other deep dark hole the government likes to drop people into.

Hey, maybe he and Diana Stride could trade notes eventually!

Colleen, if you want a really scary thought: Maybe Trask and Tempus (post "Lois and Clarks") could meet in a psychiatric institution. Could you imagine if those two teamed up?

Joy,
Lynn

Even scarier - Trask living means he has a bigger place in the history books, so Tempus decides to jump back and help Trask early Season 1…

Or maybe even pre-season 1. Maybe Trask was so paranoid and xenophobic because Tempus used his mind-control device on him before Clark ever even became Superman...


Or is this too wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey?

Joy,
Lynn

Or maybe you should read Deadly Chakram's Specimen S which leads with the premise of Trask and Tempus joining forces. Just bring along a nice box of tissues with you.

I gotta step back a bit from Scandal for a while. I just read the "B39" line Virginia wrote and was like "what the heck?! Since when is B6-13 in Lois and Clark? CROSSOVER TIME!!!"

Then I realized.

I love the idea of Trask (or at least someone in the military or government) being in on Clark's secret. I don't know how Trask would work out as a good guy-- he's in too deep. Maybe if Superman had saved him or something before he went on the Kryptonite witch-hunt... but otherwise he's just too far gone to go from fighting Clark in the pond to being buddy-buddy with him. Unless he's genuinely unstable, and just swings back and forth between "RAWRG! Kill all the aliens!" and "It's okay, we're there for you," which I would totally buy, by the way. :p

A Bipolar (I'd assume that's the medical equivalent) Trask? I'd buy that.

IIRC, it was the fear of needing those tissues that kept me from reading it in the first place. With very rare exception (such as Anti-Kryptonite's current story "Man or Monster?"), I tend to avoid the tear-jerkers. I've enough depressing stuff to deal with in RL (It isn't easy being a divorced working Mom with a child who is severely affected by autism and has other special needs, as well, and being without any respite provider); I want my leisure reading to put me in a better frame of mind, not drag me down further. Just a personal preference.

Joy,
Lynn

Thanks for the plug, Virginia!

Lynn, despite her moniker, Deadly Chakram is usually very good about putting her toys back and making them live happily ever after by the end of her stories. The tissue reference was mostly for the first half of the story. But it is a bit violent, which is why I added the disclaimer, because I knew you usually avoid those type of stories and wanted to warn you, just in case.

DC, you're welcome.

Lynn, despite her moniker, Deadly Chakram is usually very good about putting her toys back and making them live happily ever after by the end of her stories. The tissue reference was mostly for the first half of the story. But it is a bit violent, which is why I added the disclaimer, because I knew you usually avoid those type of stories and wanted to warn you, just in case.

DC, you're welcome. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Much thanks again, Virginia. I do put my toys back into the box (more or less), at the end of my stories.

I suspect though, that Lynn night avoid the couple of stories that have been percolating in my head...

I forgot Specimen S was a Trask related story. That one was really good. And now that I think about it, there are a couple of other stories floating around with Trask involved in Clark's life much earlier, and though I can't remember them off the top of my head, at least one is due to Tempus's interference.

Now I'm trying to remember if I've ever stumbled across anything with Trask, Tempus, AND Lex all working together… at least, working together without double-crossing and/or killing each other. Which might be impossible with those personalities!

Kaethel has a good one with Smallville 39 , where Trask convinces Lois to work with him for a while.

Wendy Richards' Faux Pas also has Trask appearing at a different time (because certain other circumstances have changed first.)

And of course, in Master of Disguise , Lex works with Trask to get kryptonite. Of course, things don't go well and the two villains fall out. But we kind of expected that to happen.