Aurora Borealis – The Complete Story
By Ken Janney
This story is rated PG-13.
Comments are always welcomed at ken.janney@kjanney.com
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
This story originated with a single scene that I had written as a suggested plot device for another author. It was rejected in favor of another one. I still liked the idea so I wrote a story around it. This is only loosely related to my Matchmaker series.
I wish to thank Artemis and Morgana for the beta on this.
< > denotes thoughts
* * denotes emphasis
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Chapter 1
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The place is Centennial Park in Metropolis and the time is the mid 2400’s.
There is an individual sitting on a park bench as numerous people some of them couples are passing by. On his face is a sour expression as the couples holding hands, obviously very much in love, walk by and children on skates, hoverboards or simply running and playing nearby, shout with glee.
Looking over in the direction of the quad there were even families picnicking on blankets on the grass. As he watched he saw a child scream in delight as she found a four leaf clover and plucked it to show to her less fortunate siblings. Then to his surprise the child’s siblings, all five of them, found four leaf clovers of their own in the same patch. In a disgusted tone he muttered to himself, “I bet there aren’t even any ants.” It was an annoyingly pleasant scene.
There was the occasional Peacekeeper, but usually all they did was stroll around, smiling and greeting those they passed. In this society there was little need of the Peacekeepers, what used to be called police, because in this society war and crimes of all kinds had virtually ceased to exist; the super family had seen to that.
It was an idyllic scene. The park was perfectly maintained and the grass almost looked manicured it was so perfect. There wasn’t even a single piece of litter on the ground. A few minutes ago he had seen a child miss the litter basket with a candy wrapper, but before he had even had time to smile the child had realized what he had done and turned to pick it up and properly place it in the receptacle. All of this … this … utopian existence … grated on the sensibilities of the person on the bench.
Wearing glasses partly as a disguise even though they had really not only gone out of style, but with advanced surgical techniques to correct faulty vision, had been rendered worse than useless, Tempus fumed over the current state of the world. He had recently managed, through the use of a simulacrum to escape from his prison, a hospital for the criminally insane, and ‘acquired’ a time window device.
While sitting on the bench he was racking his brain for a new plan to prevent Utopia.
Whatever he came up with, it just had to have an element of irony. God how he loved irony! The more ironic it was the better as far as he was concerned.
As he was pondering he wondered, just what was the *key* event in the creation of Utopia? Suddenly it hit him, almost like a physical blow, of course, the *product* of the union of Lois Lane and Clark Kent! He had to disrupt that union. In the past he had tried to kill Clark Kent as a baby and had been foiled by Lois Lane and his old nemesis, Herb. He had tried trapping Superman in time. Again he had been rescued by Lois Lane and … Herb. He had had a modicum of revenge, albeit short lived when he had abducted Lois from Prime, as Herb had dubbed it, and used her to create Superman in that alternate universe so that he could expose Clark Kent for the alien that he is. That time not only had Lois and Herb interfered but his idiot underlings had let him down.
This time whatever he did, he needed to remove any possibility of Lois Lane interfering. That meant that she had to be totally removed, but in order for Herb not to be alerted to the problem she had to still remain in that universe. Ah, but when? That was the question. What if she was there, but …
That led to the thought, what if he allowed the union, but prevented the consummation of that union. That would eliminate the possibility of offspring and therefore Utopia. How ironic it would be if …
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It had been a lovely and intimate ceremony. Their closest friends and their families had been there and Mike had officiated. After the ceremony they had returned to Metropolis and now they were back home, well, they were now in what used to be Clark’s apartment. Just as they were finishing their preparations for their honeymoon, they had been interrupted by Herb. Of all things, there had been a curse put on them and if they consummated their union Lois would die from a mysterious illness.
Herb had taken them on a tour of their previous lives and they had succeeded in defeating the curse and returning the timeline to where it needed to be.
Now, they were back in Clark’s, no their, apartment and it was time to follow through on what they had waited so long to do, consummate their marriage.
Lois was still in her orange dress laying on the bed kissing with her new husband, who was still in his Superman Suit. They were making out when she made up her mind. It really hadn’t taken too much thought for her to make this decision. Her juices were flowing and she could feel his growing excitement as he lay with her, so she decided that there was no way she was going to wait until they were in Hawaii. It was abundantly obvious that he wanted her, that she wanted him and she wanted him *NOW*.
She extricated herself from his arms and said in an alluring tone, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” After standing she scurried into the living room, picked up the small bag that had her black teddy in it and then she scampered back through the bedroom, bag in hand, and headed for the bathroom. It was time to set the mood, she just hoped that she would have the self-control she would need to actually get dressed and not just run out of the bathroom naked, rip the Suit off of him and jump his bones.
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Entering the bathroom she closed the door. As she kicked her shoes off and set the bag down, unnoticed, a time window opened behind her. She was only able to release a brief yelp of surprise as Tempus grabbed her from behind and pulled her through the window. She didn’t know it, but the window was closed before Clark could respond.
Not knowing just what had happened and only knowing that she had been grabbed, immediately she started struggling with her assailant and shouting for Clark, “Clark! Help! Clark!” Forgetting that she had kicked off her shoes she tried stomping down on his instep, to no avail. She tried to turn in his grasp so that she could get in a proper blow, but the way he was holding her prevented her from doing that. Undaunted she continued her struggles, calling out for Clark all the while. <Where is he?> She couldn’t understand why he didn’t respond and rescue her.
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Clark was enjoying the fact that he was able to kiss his new bride without concern as to how far things might go. All the stops had been removed. Now they could be one, emotionally and physically.
He had been lying atop Lois and his body had been responding to the intimate contact as they had been kissing. He thought to himself, <If we keep this up I may not want to wait until we get to Hawaii. I wonder if she feels the same way. There really is no reason to wait; after all, it’s just another room in another state where we would be doing the same thing. It is what we do in the room that matters, not where the room is located.>
As he had finished thinking this Lois had broken their kiss and wiggled out from under him. He was disappointed, but let her go just the same.
She stood next to the bed and he heard her say, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
He watched as she scampered into the living room and then back through the bedroom to the bathroom. He thought, <Oh well, if you gotta go, you gotta go. Wait a minute, didn’t she take a bag in with her?> He was tempted to use his x-ray vision to see just what she was doing, but decided that he didn’t need to start their married life by breaching her privacy, so he resisted the temptation. Undoubtedly she hadn’t chosen this minute to take a cold shower, after all getting all hot and bothered and then satisfying those urges together was what a honeymoon was all about. He would just wait patiently and see what happened. He lay back on the bed to relax while he waited.
Suddenly he heard her yelp of surprise and then there was nothing but silence. Her heartbeat had disappeared.
At superspeed he crossed the floor to the bathroom and when he opened the door all that was there was her bag. He shouted, “Lois!” and the profound anguish in his voice was plain. He collapsed to the floor on his knees, overcome by his grief and loss.
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It took several minutes for Clark to get himself together and start thinking coherently.
The first question that needed to be answered was why had Lois been kidnapped? The disturbing part of the answer to that question had to be that whoever it was knew his secret identity. That might narrow the field somewhat. Who knew his secret? That should be a rather short list.
Mom and Dad, rule them out.
Jason Mazik – he wouldn’t have the means.
The New Kryptonians, they would possibly have the means but what would be their motive?
Herb, he had the means. That new device moved them through time and it didn’t require his time sled to do it. He had always tried to help them and bring them together. Rule him out.
Thinking about Herb brought to mind – Tempus. Tempus had the motivation and if he had a device similar to the new one that Herb had used he might just have the means. Okay, so far the only one with motive and possibly the means that knew his secret was Tempus. That made him candidate number one.
What had actually happened? First, Lois had gone into the bathroom, presumably to change clothes for their trip. He stopped right there and thought some more. No, wait, wasn’t that the bag with … Another wave of anguish washed over him at the thought of what she had been planning to put on. When he could think again he resumed his list. Second, no sooner had she closed the door than with his superhearing he had heard her surprised exclamation. Third, her heartbeat had disappeared.
There was only one possible explanation for losing her heartbeat. Somehow, she had been transported far enough away that he couldn’t hear it any longer. How could that have happened and how could it have happened so quickly?
The New Kryptonians had a rudimentary teleportation system like they had on Star Trek, but did it work that quickly? Why would the New Kryptonians kidnap Lois? Did they want him to go to New Krypton again? That seemed unlikely. They wouldn’t need to kidnap Lois. All they would need to do was make the request. He would have insisted that Lois accompany them anyhow, so that basically ruled out the New Kryptonians, that is, unless another faction similar to Nor’s group wanted to actually prevent his interference. This seemed a highly unlikely scenario.
Let’s rule that out for the time being. What else was there? What clues were there? How had it actually been done?
Had this enemy of theirs been in the bathroom waiting for her?
No, that was illogical. First, they would have had to have had no heartbeat of their own because he would have heard it. That could mean a robot of some sort. He concentrated on his memory of the moment. He played it back in his eidetic memory like a videotape in slowmo mode. He had heard the door close and then there was the sound of her bag hitting the floor. Then her surprised yelp. No, wait a second. Go back. There was the sound of her bag hitting the floor and then suddenly there *was* a second heartbeat. It was rapid but he only heard a total of four beats. Two before Lois’ yelp, two after and then silence. Someone materialized in the bathroom with Lois and took her away. She wasn’t just snatched away by some sort of transporter beam. There had been human intervention. Someone or some ones had physically grabbed her and pulled her into, something and took her somewhere. No, not some ones, someone. There had only been one other heartbeat.
That ruled out a robot.
Then the full reality hit him like a crushing blow. If it *was* Tempus it could be anywhere *and* any *when*! With the ability to travel through time he could have taken her anytime from the prehistoric past where she could be eaten by a dinosaur to the far distant future of a dead world devoid of humanity.
What other possibilities were there? None.
It all came back to … Tempus?!?!?!?!?! But, how could it be him? Wasn’t he incarcerated? They had left him in jail in the distant past. Didn’t he have that bulky time sled that he had to use? That would seem to rule out Tempus. But, if he had acquired a device similar to the new one Herb had used it could be possible.
Okay, if not Tempus, then who?
Lacking any logical candidates from the past it could be some new enemy. If he didn’t hear something, if no new enemy showed up that only left one possibility …Tempus.
First thing to do would be to scour the city; a daunting task in itself, but the logical starting point. He would have to use all of his powers, sight, hearing, smell to try to locate her. Realizing just how big a job this was going to be he now knew that he was going to need help and a lot of it. There was no time to lose.
TBC in Chapter 2
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