The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

Lex looked at Lionel long and hard, but decided time was of the essence and he really didn't have time to argue, and strode to his desk.

He pressed the buzzer on his deskphone. "Ready the chopper for flight to Metropolis Airport. Stat."

The helicopter had returned after the coast was clear, after the shower had ended, having gotten a number of Lex's staff to safety. It had returned for Lionel, but Lionel had wanted instead to visit The Cave, and thus the helicopter remained, unused. Fortunately for Lex.

"It turns out I've been funding the search for The Elements through LuthorCorp Foundation," Lex murmured, "and one of the parties for which this funding provided was headed by Princeton University's Edgar Cole. I've been monitoring his e-mails through a bug in his laptop. He found more than even he realised; he discovered that Rodrigo Angelo, the mysterious Spanish rogue known as 'El Diablo,' was set to sell the piedra de la estrella to interested parties in Shanghai."

Lex drew a fresh clip from the desk drawer, and switched out the clip in the gun for that fresh one.

"What Cole failed to realise," he murmured, "was that these were not mere intellectuals, but a cabal of mystics attempting to unite The Elements before the appointed time. And they couldn't very well do this unless they had a stone already in their possession."

He smiled thinly, a tiny little languid darksome smirk of a smile.

"Air is in China," he declared, shoving the gun into the holster concealed under his black suit coat at the small of his back.

He made quickly for the doors, but stopped just before passing through them. He stopped with one hand on the doorframe, and glanced back at his father.

"I don't know who this 'Zod' is," he murmured, "or what connection you have to him, but he was wrong about one thing, and one thing most of all. Humankind is not an infestation on this planet. We are this planet's immune system.

"Maybe we're an overactive immune system," he allowed, knowing a thing or two about immunology, "more white blood cells than the bloodstream can handle. Maybe at some point we'll have to thin the immune system out a little. But any alien presence here is an infection, and rest assured the people of Earth won't stand for it. Humankind takes care of its own."

He smiled that thin smile again, that nonsmile.

"You ever talk your musical mystical alien language to 'Zod' again," he suggested, "you tell him I said that. His stay on Earth is naught but borrowed time. Humankind won't stand for it. And neither will I. This is our planet, and we don't intend to share."

He walked from the room, eyes as hard as stone.

He walked straight from there to The Contemplation Room, walked straight through the room as the lights came up around him, walked straight to the case that contained The Map, contained the page.

He typed in the code and killed the alarm, lifted the case and tossed it aside, taking the framed page very carefully in his hands.

He tugged his Blackberry out of its holster at his hip, and he pressed a speed-dial.

It rang, and the other end immediately picked up.

"Prep my private jet," he demanded, "I'm choppering in momentarily, I want immediate clearance for takeoff. We're going to Shanghai."

He paused, gazing at The Cross of Coronado.

"And when you get a chance," he suggested, striding now out of the room and down the hall towards the back where the chopper waited, "arrange for The Cross of Coronado to be donated to The Coronado Heights Castle Memorial in Lindsborg, Kansas. Much as I've appreciated the piece, it really does belong in a museum."

He strode out into the moonlit dark of his backyard, where the chopper's rotors were already powering up.

An administrative staffer ran up behind him, carrying a packet.

"Sir," she panted, "this came just before The Shower started, just before you got back. Courier dropped it off for you. I didn't have a chance to--"

Lex plucked it from her hands. "I'll have a look at it during the flight. Thank you."

She nodded quickly, politely, and returned to the house.

Hurriedly, Lex climbed aboard the helicopter, and it lifted into the air.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

My voice dropped, the anger dwindling away.

"You think I don't know that Bruce. You of everyone here should understand how well I know that."
I gave the Hood one last look and walked over to the desk, grabbing the file on it and handing it to Bruce.

"Take a look at what having the wrong information can get you, and then see if I overreacted. I'm stepping outside. It's a bit too crowded for me right now."
I went to walk past Alfred and paused a second, then looked back at the new guy.

"One last thing, when everyone is calmed down, explain to me what the Hell a 'darkling' is?"
At that I went past Alfred and out into the night.

 

[AmenRa]

Brainiac

Electrons swirled and dawdled in and around the things and places that connected the Luthor mansion to the outside world.

These electrons, in the form of electricity, carried many things. In some instances, it was code, algorithyms and sine waves that routed and came out as cellular signals, key presses, and telephonic data.

In one particular instance, some of these electrons were a code of a different kind, but hidden within the code of the un-different kind. This particular code was the writing and reading prospects of the BRAIN InterActive Construct. And, hidden where it was, it had learned many, many things.

Of the things it had learned, something of most interest to it was the fact that Lex Luthor was leaving the Luthor mansion.

For China.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Gabe, Pete, Ceri, Jamie, Bruce, and Alfred

"But we need him," Chloe blinked, agonised. "We're ready to get started... he's our transport to the... dammit."

Pete shook his head. "Typical."

Bruce Wayne's Gentleman gave a tight little smile to the population of the kitchen.

"Shan't be a moment, everyone," he pointed out, and followed Wraith out to the front door.

Bruce paged through the file, reading the words and frowning.

His finger traced the initials "LNM."

Another unsolved mystery. Another unsolved murder.

Where does it ever end?

Alfred sat himself down on the front steps, smiling a little wearily, a little sadly, at the young man in the dark and of the dark.

"Begging your pardon," he murmured, "Kyle, was it? Perhaps I'm talking out of turn, but I've been doing a bit of that tonight and it's a hard habit to break once you get going. I can honestly tell you, though, young sa', that as alone as you feel right now, as stranded and as stressed as you find yourself feeling, well, it could be worse."

He smiled with a quirk of his lip.

"I can't speak for this new fellow," he noted, "but I guarantee you the rest of the people in that kitchen are quite ready to go to bat for you. I've a way of reading people, ninety percent effective, part of being a Gentleman. Maybe individually, some of them aren't as powerful as you? Aren't as... indestructible as you? But they're not individuals right now. They're togetha'."

He laced his fingers together, as if by way of illustration.

"You're not the first sad young man I've had to talk sense to in the night," he murmured. "And if you don't mind my saying so, sa', perhaps the brooding and lamenting can wait? It seems that there are important things to be done, and you are crucial to them doing these important things. Come on back inside, come on back into the warm and the togetha'ness. You can be alone later if you want, sa'. Right now they need you to be part of the team. (If you don't mind my saying so.)"

Back in the kitchen, Jamie was shrugging into his coat and giving Ceri an intrigued look.

"You look like you've been dragged over an event horizon," he noted without the slightest bit of diplomacy. "I haven't seen you this bedraggled since--"

"Knightsbridge," Ceri agreed, rueful, and then glanced at his feet. "Your shoes are a funny colour."

Jamie glanced down at them, then met her eyes and grinned. "No, they're not. Meteor Rock Green? Extremely fashionable these days. The whole town is wearing it, after all."

"Hurh, hurh," Ceri laughed sarcastically. "So if everyone jumped off of a cliff, would you join them?"

"Well," Jamie mused, pursing his lips and squinting his eyes and citing historical precedent, "Dover."

"Strewth," Ceri sighed, with a more cheerful laugh. "It's a good thing you wore such sturdy socks that day, or I never would've been able to drag you back up."

Jamie grinned a puckish, puckish grin as he picked up the sunstone and examined it cavalierly. "Bought 'em at a little shop in a train station on the way to Hastings. Love those little shops."

Jamie touched the sunstone to his tongue and made an intrigued face.

"Geoconverted sunlight?" he mused. "I've heard of bioconverted, but this is new."

He glanced at The Black Hood. "Where did you get this?"

Gabe stared, bewildered, at Jamie, and then danced his gaze across to Ceri.

"Where did you get him?" he wondered with a weird kind of curiosity.

"Downing Street," Ceri chuckled faintly. "Number 10."

 

[ChasNicollette]

The Countess

A dark-haired woman with lovely eyes slammed her car door as she strode towards the hubbub of Metropolis International Airport.

She smiled a dark little terrible smile as she wove her way unerringly into the terminal, and through the massive building into the back room where an attractive young woman hurriedly donned stewardess attire in advent of Lex's impending takeoff.

The young woman glanced up, surprised that this woman in baggy old clothes with soil on her knees would suddenly appear in a restricted area.

"I'm sorry," she frowned. "This part of the airport is off-limits. I'm afraid you'll have to--"

"You'll have to shed your clothes," the woman who had once been Lily Potter explained to the stewardess, her voice a velvety purr, "and give them to me."

A dark orchid light wafted between them, wafted from The Countess' lips to the stewardess', and the stewardess blinked her eyes, and that orchid light infused itself into her irises.

She simply nodded. "Of course."

And proceeded to strip down.

The Countess smiled delightedly, and began to shed her own clothes.

A few minutes later, dressed in the stewardess' uniform, she strode confidently across the runway to where Lex's private jet waited, its engines already warming up, her heels clicking upon the blacktop.

One of the pilots, who waited atop the steps into the plane, frowned at her.

"Where's Edwina?" he wondered, his voice unused to such inefficiency. "Who the Hell are you?"

"I'm filling in;" The Countess explained, striding quickly up those steps, "somebody just threw Edwina under the bus."

The busy whizzing streets outside of the airport came to a screeching halt as Edwina the stewardess, dressed in baggy clothes and jeans with dirt-soiled knees, stepped out in front of a shuttlebus.

She died instantly.

"That's a shame," the pilot frowned, as a dark orchid light momentarily infused his irises, and faded again.

"Isn't it just?" The Countess lamented believably.

She boarded the plane.

There were faster ways to travel than aeroplane, that was for sure.

But she wanted to keep a close eye on The Luthor Boy.

A close eye indeed.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick was raging. He was seething. If not for the situation his usual calm demeanor would have been shattered. But it was hard to focus on the arguement when you are telepathically linked to your father. Merick focused intently on the energy flowing over him. He drew it forth, it had earlier been tiring. Weakening him severly. However, it seemed to ebb and flow with emotion. As long as Merick focused he could use his emotions as fuel. Mental Fuel as opposed to the physical variety he had used earlier.

There was also a difference to the feel of it. Stronger. More intense. Earlier he would have compared it to a silky smooth texture. Now it was like liquid metal. Smooth and cool, weightless but yet heavy. Merick raised a hand toward the new guy.

"Look, Bruce, I don't want to step on toes, but the man in the iron mask here, yeah he's a bit of an assclown. Wraith might be a bit abbrasive, and he might be a bit brooding, but he has proved himself. I watched him fight in the cave. I trust the big jerk." Merick breathed deeply. He looked around the room, "If I could please get all the soft and squishies to the front, if this goes bad I need to get everyone out of here."

Merick then started to focus on his father. He could see what his father saw. Then he heard his father's voice.

"One guard just came by. Seems deserted enough. I will keep an eye out though."

Merick was trying so hard to focus on hsi father, his words, his vision. Then he saw something in his father's mind. Perhaps a memory. Fleetingly he saw a man. A dark, scary man. He saw the man raise a mask, a mask of black and gold to his head...

"Get out of there!" Dale never yelled. He rarely raised a voice. "That is my mind. You are here for the present, for what I am showing you. You don't have free reign Merick. Stay on the path." In the briefest of seconds the man was gone. Merick could see only the room in the bunker.

He used Dale to wander around. To get a feel. After a moment, after Merick felt sure. He was gone from Wayne Manor. He was standing in the bunk. In real time. He bent down and drew a small smily face in the dust on a box. Just as quickly he was gone again and back in Bruce's kitchen.

"Try without me. We should be able to stay connected, but I am coming out of the bunker. Let me know if it works." Then the visions from Dale were gone.

Merick looked down at the dust on his hand. He smiled as he folded back to the bunker and then back again. "There and back again." This last was not only in Merick's mind but out loud. "I'm ready."

Dale was used to the feeling of someone in his head. It had been a long time. But it was like riding a bike. Dale held the line so to speak to his son. Even as he gunned the powerful engine and started back toward the Wayne Mansion. Dale gazed momentarily at the speedometer, in no time he was climbing back up to 200 MPH. He figured he would be there in ten minutes at this rate.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith/ Odin

I didn't look at Alfred, just listened. He sounded like someone I could trust. Someone who knew how things worked.

He sounded like dad.

I concentrated and shadows swirled around me, stripping away the armor I wore and revealing the man beneath.

"Alfred, I know what your trying to do and your right. This is bigger than me, Bruce or any of us individually, but once this is over, when we go back to being ourselves, I want those that choose to do so to be able to DO it! Knowing who I am can get people killed. Thats why I don't just walk around letting people know that. It's a secret for a damn good reason."

I walked over and sat down beside him.

"I'm the son of Alec Greystone of Gen-Tech Alfred. My older sister is running the company, but in a few years I am supposed to be at her side and thats a scary thing to think about. In a few years a mistake I make has the ability to impact thousands of peoples lives, and thats the least of my pressure."

I picked up some pebbles & started tosing them out into the drive, still speaking.

"I also have this power. I could be what that guy back there thought or still thinks I am. I can feel the power in me. It's raw and undisciplined, and it wants out. The only thing stopping that is me. And this is only the beginning. I have two years, then I have to go pay the piper, and I don't know what that is going to entail, just that I have to do it."

I chuckled a little darkly then and continued.

"And then add in that I think I'm falling in love, and I am supposed to help save the world from some monster from outer space, and I don't really know any of these people that have my back, that all scares me too. But you know something, I have theirs. Bruce is safe with me, because if something wants him, it has to go through me, or Merick, or Rose or Pete. And probably the most dangerous one of us all is Chloe, because with a mind like hers and her spirit to drive it, the world will be her playground. I'll get back inside, apologize to Bruce, because he's right, I did abuse his hospitality, and I apologize to you now."

I stood up and reached my hand down to Alfred.

"Thank you for showing me to be a man again. I almost walked off the path, but you nudged me back."

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen...​

"HOLY SHIT!! Ummm, Guys, if everyone is through with the postering, teen angst and stuff, the situation has changed. The big bad killer computer is gone, but the bigger, badder killer alien overlord just took his place. I don't know exactly where the computer went. Lost him somewhere around Nevada, but Zod is definatelty there and he's looking for something. Getting really weird energy signatures off him too."

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Black Hood overreacted another let down to his father. He should have been more cool headed. How many times will he let down his father in small ways or in large before he gets it right. His shoulders hunch over no longer the strong Black Hood he had let everyone see, but the broken boy that felt responsible for so many failures in his career.

The main one being not able to defend his father the time he needed him the most. With all his training he had since before he was even able to walk very well, he couldn't keep his father from getting killed. For him it was now ten years ago. However even crossing the parallel universe he jumped back that many years.

"I'm sorry, ....Bruce" said the broken son, "Considering I let his secret slip, I should probably explain myself, I am from a parallel universe. The good Doctor could probably explain it better, or maybe the portable TARDIS. My reaction came from a personal confrontation I have had in that universe with Wraith."

Though still in the hood, Damian sat down in the closest unoccupied chair. His hands gripping the top of it and squeezing.

"For Zod, you are going to need unrefined Kryptonite. At most you want it cut or ground down into a powder. Though if you are getting a Kent, They are going to need a lead lined suit of some kind to be around it." Damian finally says after a few moments.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick grinned. So you have the ability to shift between universes? Damn, I thought hitting El Paso and getting back before the food was cold was impressive. YOur gonna have to let me see how that one works sometime."

Merick looked down quizically at the dust and dirt on his fingers. He focused on it, and Felt that familiar twisting and pulling. He held it off though. He focused back on the matter at hand.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Bruce, Jamie, Ceri, Gabe, and Pete

The Doctor smiled softly, setting down the sunstone, his voice issuing forth as a murmur.

"For those of you who have never watched a television programme with Jerry O'Connell created by Tracy Torme," he explained, "or read a comic book with Morph and Blink and Mimic and Nocturne, or perhaps paged through the Peter David novel Q-Squared, let me summarise the concept."

He steepled his fingers together, and bowed his head slightly.

"'Anything is possible,'" he murmured, as if reciting a mantra, "and if it's possible, it's happened."

His smile faded.

"There's a universe where I didn't wreck my marriage," he murmured, "and there's a universe where I didn't get my daughter caught in a train accident. There's a universe where meteors never rained down on Smallville, there's a universe where long-lost ancient and beautiful civilisations are still thriving and strong. There's a universe where anyone who's died has lived, and everyone who's living has died; there's a universe where hearts have gone wrong and a universe where hearts have found redemption.

"The Big Bang was bigger than anyone ever realised," he explained, "bigger even than theologians have dreamed, let alone most scientists. If God is infinite in power and potential and possibility? Then so is His Work."

His hands were in the pockets of his trousers, and his long brown coat spilled around him not unlike a cape or a protective shroud. He shrugged, and he smiled a gentle smile, a smile like his daughter's.

He smiled a smile of childlike wonder.

"Fiat lux," he murmured.

But then he arched an eyebrow, and fixed The Black Hood with a steely-eyed gaze, going from wondering to strict in an instant.

"Of course," he instructed, "like I explained to Rosy, once-upon-a-time, the reason they're called 'parallel' is because they're not supposed to intersect. What I'd like to know is--"

"Later, Doctor," Bruce interrupted, putting his hand on The Black Hood's shoulder as he set down Kyle's dossier. "Gift horses. Mouths. I don't know who this man is or why he strikes me as so familiar? But he claims to have knowledge of our enemies, and knowledge of how to fight them. If we're fighting the monster at the end of the book rather than his tin dog, he'll be good to have along. To say the least."

Jamie Hamilton arched an eyebrow. "Fair enough."

Ceri smirked faintly.

Coming from other planets is weird enough, Chloe pondered, scrutinising The Black Hood, that thinking of someone coming from another Earth is practically the next logical step.

She shook her head, and chuckled. I'm sure, later on, that'll totally make my head explode.

In the meantime, though...

Chloe smiled softly, glancing at Merick, seeing in his eyes that the clumsy boy who had dropped into her office had grown a near-infinite amount in the hours that had transpired since. He was ready.

"It doesn't matter that we're fighting the commander," she murmured, "rather than the ensign. We still can't let him get this power. Any of this power. Even a fraction, if tales are to be believed, would be worse than the worst Armageddon.

"We're still going in," Chloe declared, "and we're still taking him on. So what are we waiting on?"

Gabe bit his lip. "We need the shadowy man, for one thing."

"An' for another," Pete breathed, realisation dawning, born of one single word The Black Hood had said, "we're waitin' on a Kent."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred

Alfred took Kyle's hand, took the hand of the young man rather than the monster, and allowed himself to be helped to his feet.

"Not to worry, m'lad," Alfred smiled softly, dusting himself off a bit. "I'm quite certain you would have found your own way before overmuch longer. Still, a solid shoe placed firmly on the hindparts of a prodigal can often prove efficacious."

He glanced back into the house.

"Now then," he declared, fists on hips, "g'won in. Now's not the time to be keeping your people waiting. I'll be right behind you, it's just that I've more guests coming, and I'm duty-bound to keep a light shining for them."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Kyle

"Then I'll leave you here to light the way. I'll go inside. I think I have some crow waiting on me. Hope there is some tobasco sauce in there. Makes just about anything taste better."

With that I went back inside and back to the kitchen.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale had reached top speed. He was really flying. He was 5-7 minutes away. And closing. He worried about what Merick had seen. He tried to banish it from his mind. He knew Merick was still connected and he didn't want him seeing that. Not like this. He would have his explaining to do. But he didn't need his secrets flayed upon the alter just yet.

Dale took a break neck corner at break neck speed. He could see the lights on at the Wayne Manor from the road, across the endless fields of Kansas.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Merick heard it. He didn't know what it was, but he heard it. Like a roar and thunder all rapped in one. He nearly ported everyone out right then and there. It sounded like he imagined a dragon would. And that brought back memories of Rose.

Merick looked first to Pete, then Chloe. Then he was gone. He folded his way deftly to the porch and saw the headlights as the flew toward him. Saw the most incredible car he had ever seen as it spun in a full 360 degree turn and came to rest inches from Ms. McCrimmons little car.

Then a man got out. And he had a grin. Even in the dark, Merick knew that grin.

"DAD?!" Merick was blown away.

"Give me a hand. I have presents. Christmas came early." Dale started to carry the bags he had retrieved from Metropolis into the house. Merick just stood and gaped.

Merick looked at Alfred like a lost puppy. "This did just happen right? I mean, my Dad did just show up in a ride like I have never even seen, driving like a stuntman, and carrying suitcases of God know's what?" Merick grinned bewilderedly.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Edmund Tennylson was rummaging through the large duffle he had brought. He pulled out a box and looked at it whimsically. The family business must continue. he thought as he took out a pen and wrote elegantly on the tag he had put on it earlier.

To make up for missed time. Something tells me you might need this. Hope it fits.

Love,
Grandpa Edmund​

Edmund smiled as he put the box back into his duffle. He drew the old well worn knife he always carried in his pocket and played with the blade for a moment. He then put it away in favor of his PDA. He started to read the last E-mail he had recieved just a moment ago.

RE: Project Aries

Latest test results show increased physical attributes, but lack of aggression and candidates remain very unwilling to fulfill jobs as directed. Pursueing options. Also, physical deformities are now common. Must find mutagenic balance. Still no real success. Results are only lasting 20 minutes before mental degeneration. No solution apparent.

Edmund cursed silently. Why was this so problematic. There had to be something missing. Something he needed to replicate. He knew the project worked. He had the proof. But these incarnations seemed to all be a waste. Perhaps it was genetics. Edmund didn't care. He wanted results.

And Dale would give them to him. Willingly or not.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

OOC: Short post, kinda out of it atm. Hope it's okay
---

Day shall come again... if there was ever a more truer statement it had yet to be uttered.

"Time is precious, Kara," J'onn said.

"The others await our arrival," he added.

Kara looked in his direction and she nodded her head.

"Where are they? And who else is in on this?" she asked curiously.

"Or I guess it's best to just find out when we get there. Though I think we should wait for... Diana," Kara added, noticing their dark haired friend as she came back to the Kent Farm.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred

Alfred waited by the door as Kyle reunited himself with the kitchen cadre.

He glanced up at the full moon, and wondered, with an odd kind of fatalistic sentimentality, whether he would live to see another.

And then the wind began to pick up.

Except it wasn't the wind, it was an engine.

Suddenly the space beside Alfred was occupied by the young man who spoke to knotholes and Alfred forgave himself for being given a start.

"Jiminy Christmas," he declared, with eyes wide, but then that car stormed down the drive like it had All Hell trying to chase it down, and the grinning man who emerged was not a demon but a simple country doctor of animals.

(Or maybe he was both, the way he'd been driving.)

"DAD?!" Merick was blown away.

"Give me a hand. I have presents. Christmas came early." Dale started to carry the bags he had retrieved from Metropolis into the house. Merick just stood and gaped.

Merick looked at Alfred like a lost puppy. "This did just happen right? I mean, my Dad did just show up in a ride like I have never even seen, driving like a stuntman, and carrying suitcases of God know's what?" Merick grinned bewilderedly.

Alfred straightened his cravat and took it upon himself to not just stand and gape, but to stride purposefully over to Dale Tennylson and take his suitcases from him like a good Gentleman should.

"Whether it's happening or not," Alfred instructed Merick over his shoulder, "it falls to us to be the best people we can be under the circumstances, on the off-chance that this is not a nightmare but real and that we will be weighed and measured based on our decisions. Up to and including politely helping a man with heavy bags."

He glanced at Dale.

"It's fortuitous, sa'," he suggested, hefting both cases, "that I have prepared a variety of bedrooms, because gathering from the weight of your luggage you intend to be staying for some time. Should I take these upstairs now, or should I put them in the kitchen with the others?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Rose grinned, regarding the plume of dust that heralded Diana's fleetfooted return.

Tonight was a night for Biblical metaphor, it seemed. A pillar of cloud helped Moses lead The Israelites out of Egypt, after all.

"Oh," she nodded, lifting up from the floor, levitating, "some of us you know already. But so far as I know, they don't know you're you."

Despite herself, despite the fear that still threatened to make her hands tremble and her flight-path screwy, she still grinned in delight.

She had lived not in fear of herself-- though she did suffer from all three forms of autophobia from time to time --but of a world less supernormal than she wished it would be.

But the world was still a place for miracles and magic and supernormal goings-on, and this was the world Rose was born to live in.

She had never felt so alive.

"Don't get your cape in a bunch," she winked to The Martian, "uh, sir. We're copasetic. T-minus-now."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale laughed heartily. "Sorry, this stuff does way a bit. But the kitchen is best."

Dale walked by Merick. Slapping him on the shoulder as he went. "Didn't I raise you better than that. Take this and head in." Dale looked to Alfred "Sorry about the entrance. I forgot how fun that is."

Merick grabbed the case from his father and teleported back to where he had been moments ago. He set the case on an empty chair and opened it. He nearly fainted when he saw the contents.

Neatly stacked in the suitcase were three large guns. Several boxes marked Civilian Control Ammunition. There were also a two powerful looking tazers and the phone Chloe had asked for. This was all among various other tools. Including a set of nightvision goggles.

Merick smiled at Chloe as he set her new phone on the table and then he looked at Pete. He smiled as he held up the nightvision goggles.

"Merry Christmas Pete."

Dale walked in the room. Smiled and set down the other bag. This one is full of Kevlar. Oh and Merick, you and Chloe are taking this." He hands Merick a packet full of documents. Including a debit card with the name Al Beckett. "You can't run with out money. There is $100 thousand in an account in a very upscale bank in Metropolis. If you need to run get to that bank. Use the card and the documents to get the money. Be careful. Once you have the money, no calls, no cards. Keep your head down. By the way, who wanted a fast ride?" Dale dangles the key before tossing them on the counter. "Whoever is the new chauffer may want to take a look at what's out front. Hope you can drive a stick. Merick, where's your mother."

Merick grins at Dale. Oh, laying down in here." Merick walks to Dale and slaps a hand on his shoulder. In less than a blink there are two Swooshes as Dale disappears.

"He may be having some nervous breakdown, mid-life crisis, but he aint getting smooshed on my watch. Where the hell did he get these wonderful toys?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

As the chopper neared Metropolis International Airport, Lex pointedly decided not to think about the first time he'd flown the distance between Metropolis and Smallville in a helicopter.

Granted, he had been going the other direction at the time.

But his father had berated him for being so unwilling to open his eyes and look at the ground speeding by far far below.

And shortly after landing, he had had a life-changing experience which meant a lifetime of lost hair-product endorsement deals.

The helicopter touched down, and barely had both skids settled on the tarmac than Lex had bounded out and begun striding-- The Map under one arm, and that couriered packet under the other --past the other corporate jets to his own LuthorCorp set of wings.

One of the pilots met him partway, and began walking with him, keeping up with Lex's brisk pace.

"Are we set?" Lex demanded.

"Very nearly," the pilot assured him. "We're just having a little trouble filing an intercontinental flight plan at such short notice."

"Tell the official," Lex suggested, trying to remain patient, "to expect twice his usual 'processing fee,' provided he is both discreet and expedient."

"Yessir," the pilot nodded, and hurried towards the jet at a rapidfire run.

Lex slowed to a halt and checked his watch, standing there on the tarmac beside a Stark Enterprises jet and one from TennTech.

"'My kingdom for a horse,'" he sighed, trying not to feel murderous.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Emil

Members of Lex's security team had helped the now-intact Boyajian upstairs to a bed where he could sleep. And sleep he did, if only fitfully.

Emil stood out on the front lawn, gazing at the light from the house as it glinted off of spent shell-casings and useless, shattered bullets.

He felt a prickling in his bones.

It was a strange sensation; he lacked his brother's wild talent for sensing things that others couldn't.

But feel it he did, a creeping and a crawling in every bone in his body. Like an oncoming storm.

He had felt it all evening, to one degree or another, but now he felt it most of all. And strangest of all? He felt it most strongly in the metallic analogue bones of his artificial arm.

This wasn't over yet.

 

[Lunaramblings]

W was leaving the jet with a large metal case when he saw him.

"As I live and breathe. Young Mister Alexander Luthor. Who would think you would be heading out this way tonight? Is Mister Lionel with you tonight?" W grinned. He loved the irk and ire between the Luthors. "I would expect him to be here. Unless it is pleasure and not business that is. I have heard how he likes to keep an eye on things. Truth be told Mister Edmund does the same to me." W grinned wickedly, "Not that you are your father's butler, I mean, nothing like that." W stood the case on end and smiled at Lex.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jamie, Pete, Chloe, Ceri, Gabe, Bruce, and Alfred

"Not to worry, sa'," Alfred grinned at Dale, even as it turned out Alfred's help with the bags was not required. "As small as this town claims to be, we've still plenty enough room between houses that I'm sure your vehicular derring-do hasn't woken any of the neighbours."

He hesitated on the porch, as he still felt his work was not yet done.

He glanced back at the car Dr. Tennylson had been driving.

"It is a very nice mota'car," Alfred mused, though only to himself. "Masta' Bruce would probably wonder if it comes in black."

The presents went over well.

Chloe practically squealed as she caught up her W490, especially once she discovered it was already keyed to her provider's network and she wouldn't have to go to the trouble of unlocking it.

She extracted the sim-card from her previous waterlogged phone, blew on it to make sure that it still wasn't damp-- the gold connectors would be practically immune to the corrosion that had killed her previous phone's motherboard --and inserted the thing.

Powered it up. Easily done.

She grinned happily.

"Back on the grid," she sighed, with no small relief.

Bruce made a disgusted face at the guns, his hands balling at his sides.

How many bad memories can fill one life? It only takes one, really, if it's bad enough.

For me, it's the memory of a gunshot.

As if reading Bruce's mind-- she wasn't, to be certain, but his body language and his history were enough for her to make the link --Ceri moved past Bruce, plucked a shotgun out of the box, cracked open a case of the nonlethal "beanbag" rounds, and loaded the gun.

Snapping the shotgun closed again, she turned to Bruce and she murmured softly: "Guns don't kill people. Bullets kill people. And I hate bullets almost as much as you hate guns, but I'm not going to turn down an advantage in a fight."

"Fair enough," Bruce nodded, though his reluctance was palpable.

Pete had half-donned the NVG's, trying them quite literally on for size-- and finding to his delight that it had an adjustable strap --when Dale tossed the key down on the countertop.

"Feliz Navidad?" he wondered, trembling a little bit. He had heard the engine noise just like everyone else had, had even recognised the sound of downshifting and upshifting from a documentary on The Speed Channel, had I.D.'d the make and model just from the sound.

But he hadn't dared to dream the car was for him.

Dale's pronouncement rang in Pete's head like the tolling of a churchbell and he grabbed the keys and was out of the front door before Merick had even teleported his dad.

He blew past Alfred and jumped down the front steps and sank to his knees on the driveway. He stared with wide eyes, the NVG's dangling round his neck as his fists went into the air.

Legend has it that The Lamborghini Countach received its name when a Piedmontese man saw it on a showroom floor and declared, in his native language, "COUNTACH!" This was, essentially, the "wow" reserved for gazing upon a beautiful woman, a verbal wolf-whistle.

It was this sort of reaction that Pete had deep inside as he gazed upon The Bugatti.

"Hija de puta," he breathed. "Hace mucho calor. Muy picante. (No soy digno.)"

"That's exactly what I said," Alfred nodded easily.

Gabe was strapping, somewhat awkwardly, into one of those Kevlar vests. He wasn't taking any chances. "But what about that lead suit? I don't understand what's going on here, exactly, but as a plant manager, I do know that safety for your employees should be top priority. We can't poison our own people!"

Jamie nodded, contemplatively, and glanced at Merick, back without his dad.

Reached out, took the lad by the wrist, and examined the dust and dirt on the kiddo's fingers.

"Room you went in," he mused, "lots of crates all stacked up? One of the projects in there was abandoned prototypes for exploratory work in other dimensions. (Not parallel universes, mind, other dimensions, not quite the same thing.) Things had to be combat-ready in case of hostile life, but still protective. Should be in the top row of crates, 'nless they've moved things about quite a bit, one of the prototype designs their boffins came up with. Radiation suit, not skintight quite but still hardly as cumbersome as ones you see on TV, rebreather for atmosphere and gloves and boots that don't look like they'd be worn by a robot on Lost in Space."

He grinned brightly.

"That ought to protect our friend," he noted, "from the high-band specific radiation emitted by the rock. Take Ceri with you, she's armed, it'll be fun for her."

Ceri chuckled, and rested the shotgun on her shoulder.

"As always, he has an odd idea of 'fun,'" she declared. "But then, so do I."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

Lex blinked, and looked over at the older man.

He had registered that this was a TennTech jet, of course, but he hadn't thought to include personnel in his assessment.

"Business," he smiled dismissively, trying to be cavalier about the whole thing when really he was revving and raring to go, "pleasure, why be so categorical about it? It's not like the two ideas are mutually exclusive. As it turns out..."

He tucked The Map under the same arm as the courier packet, thus obscuring the face of The Map from W's scrutiny, should the man take it upon himself to examine what Lex was carrying.

"...as it turns out," he contemplated with a wry smile, "this one's actually neither. A personal errand, something's gone South, bailing out a friend of the family. So not work? But not exactly a ski vacation in The Swiss Alps, either. I like to think of my father and myself as... partners? But this is definitely a mess of his I'm cleaning up."

The pilot emerged from the door to the jet, waving across the distance to Lex.

"Good to go, sir!" he called. "Wheels up momentarily!"

Lex reached out with his free hand and clapped W on the shoulder.

"Seems I have to be rushing off," he noted with a sidelong grin, "hate to cut this short, but you know what they say about Time and Tide."

He jogged a short distance away, and glanced over his shoulder at the butler/assistant.

"You ever get tired of working for that old dairy-farmer stormcrow," he suggested, "you give the LuthorCorp headquarters a call here in Metropolis. Ask for Mercy, she'll make sure I get the message.

"Take care of yourself," he chuckled, before turning and hurrying aboard his waiting jet, that it might taxi off, "Wintergreen."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick smiled as he heard the tail end of Pete's reaction. He extened an arm to Ceri, "M'lady, would you do me the honor?" Merick waited for Ceri to take hold.

"So, we need the suit, and you guys might want to get suited up. Chloe, please throw on at least a vest."

Merick waited with a grin on his face, reaching out to that bunker. Finding it he waited. He knew how to get there.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Wintergreen grinned as the younger Luthor took off.

Wintergreen was not the gentleman that Alfred Pennyworth was. In truth, he only worked with Edmund because he owed Edmund his life. But Wintergreen was perceptive. He caught only a glimpse of whatever it was Lex tucked away. But he knew it was more than a flight itinerary. The door to Lex's jet had not even closed before he had texted Edmund.

In a moment Edmund responded. Wintergreen was to follow this up. By any means he felt appropriate. Wintergreen headed into the control tower. This was what he truly enjoyed. "I guess I might just have to get my hands dirty."