Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Civil Disobedience: Tales of Dystopia (1/3?)

A/N: This is the prelude of sorts to my work in progress "Tales of Dystopia" series. Last year, I wrote a one shot here that simply introduced a character, Nathaniel "Kent" to Lois and Clark. The series mostly revolves around him, but this prologue goes back a generation, to explain how things lapsed into Dystopia in the first place. Setting the scene.

I will however give a WHAM! Warning for:


I'd rate it T/PG-13 for some language and violence. But honestly, it's no worse than MoS was.

Without further ado, here's chapter one of Book the Prequel. Enjoy!

**********LnC**********

Year 2434

Her heels clicked against the cool marble floors, echoing as she crossed the main hall in a rush. She loved the sound-- one of the few things she actually liked about living in this place. Otherwise, she'd have just flown across the room. Or simply flown away from this horrible, horrible place. Unfortunately, the noise would likely draw attention to herself, and that was the last thing she needed. It wouldn't do to be caught sneaking in at this time of night-- and if they did? Johanna shuddered.

"Johanna?" a voice called out her name.

Damn. Johanna felt her shoulders tense up predictably and she forced herself to relax, take a deep breath. A gust of wind rushed past her and in a moment her brother's tall figure settled across from her. He squared his stance before her, exuding hostility, but she simply folded her arms across her chest as she spoke. She was not going to let herself be intimidated by him. "Jason. Is there something the matter?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, unconsciously mimicking her pose. "Where have you been all day?"

"I wasn't aware I had to file a flight plan with you."

Jason narrowed his eyes at her. "You know Dad was wanting your help today. He wants to see you now."

"Well, I had some errands to run," she retorted stubbornly, not giving him an inch. Inside though, her heart was pounding erratically. She knew he could hear it, that her own body was giving away her lies. But she held her ground, daring him to call her out on it.

Jason clenched his jaw, staring down his sister for a few moments, before finally breaking the silence himself. "You were with them, weren't you?"

"Who?" Johanna feigned ignorance, trying to move past him and finding her path blocked as he stepped in front of her once again. With an exasperated eyeroll, she looked up into Jason's eyes and waited for him to get his words out.

"The Revolutionaries."

Johanna blinked rapidly up at him, staying silent a moment too long for her brother's liking. He swore and ran his hand over his face. "Jesus, Johanna."

"I've done nothing wrong," she spoke meekly, trying not to incur any more of his wrath. She shifted on her feet, kept her deep blue gaze down on the floor, low and roaming. It didn't seem to be working.

"Do you have any idea what they've been saying? What they're threatening to do to us?"

"Not us, Jason. Not all of us."

His eyes burned into her-- luckily not in a literal sense. "God dammit, Jo! I've already got one idiot brother that thinks running off and sticking his head in the sand is a better idea than trying to help out his family."

"He's staying out of it. I'm not sure that Jerome's not the smartest one of us all."

"Don't! Don't you even mention his name to me!"

"It's Dad's name, too, you know," she retorted with another eyeroll.

"Oh, trust me, I know." The jealous hatred dripped off his words as he spat them at her. She should have known better than to bring that up to Jason. It had always been a sore spot-- that Jerome had gotten their father's name, that he was the one that got most of the attention from their father, even though it wasn't always positive attention. In fact, nine times out of ten, it was over something negative. But that didn't matter to Jason. All that mattered was that he was left out, overlooked and unloved. Johanna always felt a little bad for him because of that. Jason worked as hard as he could to earn the love and respect he thought he deserved, but nothing ever came of it.

Still, she couldn't let her oldest brother go defenseless when he wasn't even here to defend himself. "He's still our brother!" she rebuked him.

"He's a traitor! And so are you!"

"You know what, you're right Jason. Jerome is gone now, and Jada's no help-- it's just you and me here now. We've got to stick together. We're never going to get anywhere if you're going to fight against me. You and me against the world, remember?"

"That's not what this is about, and you know it, Jo!"

Johanna felt a little bad for trying to guilt him into that one, and she looked to her shoes briefly.

Jason cursed and ran a hand through his hair. How could he make her see how dangerous this was? She was the stubbornest person on the planet, practically. "What are you even thinking, Jo? Don't you know what they're going to do to you once this is all over? They've just about stopped negotiations-- we're on the brink of all out war-- and you want to go play with that fire? They're terrorists, Johanna!"

"You're just spouting off the propaganda you've heard from Dad. They're not that bad. It's not like I'm hanging around any Extremists or anything--"

"It's not like-- ? What?! Do you even hear yourself? Listen to what you're saying. They're not that bad?!"

Johanna glared at him, heat and anger pouring forth from her clear blue eyes. "You're taking his side, Jason. I think you're worse off than I am."

"You think this is all some stupid game, Johanna? That you can bounce back and forth across enemy lines, play spy, and just watch what happens? They're trying to bring down Utopia--"

"There is no Utopia! All that's left is an outdated system with a corrupt dictator who refuses to loosen the reins because heaven forbid if he loses one ounce of power."

Jason's voice lowered suddenly, realizing he wasn't getting through to her with shouting and screaming. He brushed his dark bangs out of his matching blue eyes carefully, thinking. Mindful of his words, he tried again. He genuinely did care for his sister, after all. He didn't want to see her get hurt. "You're gonna go and get yourself killed. You're gonna get us all killed."

Johanna ground her teeth in anger and stepped in closer to him, no longer concerned with stepping on his toes. "You know what? Quit bossing me around like you're the one in charge or something! I'm twenty-two years old and you're not the boss of me!"

"I am your older brother--"

"By minutes," she scoffed. "And besides, it doesn't matter what you think or say. They're right about Dad and you know it."

Jason's face turned dark as he towered over his twin sister. "He's our father. It doesn't matter what he has or hasn't done, we should stick by him. That's what family means."

"He's a monster!"

"Enough!"

The voice boomed across the hall, echoing throughout the entirety of the hall. Johanna flinched visibly at the sound of his voice. Great. This was going exactly where she'd hoped it wouldn't. Just perfect. She turned around slowly, bracing herself for what was to come.

Jerome Kent Senior, strode firmly across the hall, a carefully controlled fury burning in his eyes and his square jaw firmly set. Johanna felt fear coursing through her, but she would stand her ground, come hell or high water.

“Johanna.”

His voice was hard steel, grinding out the syllables of her name with a sharp edge as he spoke. It sent a shiver up her spine. There was no undercurrent of love or affection in his tone, not that there usually was, and she’d never felt so cold and distanced from him in her life. Intellectually, she knew he was a bad man, but he’d never said her name like that before. It only cemented the conclusion she’d already arrived at in her head. She knew her stance.

Still, it was a frightening stand to make. She swallowed thickly. “What?”

“We need to have a discussion. In my office, please.”

Johanna felt her throat go dry. She didn’t go in his office. Not with him. Not ever, really. “We can talk right here, right now.”

He shook his head ever so slightly, making Johanna even more uneasy. “No. This is a conversation we are going to have in private. No negotiations.”

"Sir--" Jason cut in, trying to protect her, in spite of his earlier words.

"Jason, go check on your sister."

"But Dad, I want to be apart of this--"

"Go check on Jada!" he roared at him, fury burning in his eyes.

Jason squared his jaw. He knew better than to call him 'Dad' to his face. Jerome Sr. always demanded to be called Sir. They'd call him Dad when he wasn't in the room, but when addressed he was always Sir. The only exception being his oldest daughter, Jada. She could do whatever she wanted. But Jason supposed there was a reason for that.

"Fine," he retorted sharply. Jason spun on his heel and stormed out of the room. If they wanted to hash things out without him, they could.

Johanna watched her brother storm off almost with a pang of regret. As much as she hated her father, Jason loved him. It was a shame that he couldn't at least be loved in return.

"Johanna."

Her father's voice captured her attention once more. She set her jaw firmly and strode past her father on her way directly to his office. “Fine. Let’s talk.”

Jerome sealed the door behind her as they both entered. He gestured for her to take a seat, but Johanna simply folded her arms across her chest and stared him down. Fine. Two can play at that game. Jerome squared his stance across from his daughter, and waited.

Exasperated, Johanna finally broke the silence. “What exactly are you wanting to talk about?”

“You know what.”

“Enlighten me,” she sniped right back at him.

“You’re not to get involved with the Revolutionaries.”

Silence followed his words. Johanna felt the blood draining from her face and she shifted nervously. So they were finally going to do this. The gloves were off and this was it. Johanna crossed her arms in defiance, stubbornly refuting his command. "I'm an adult. I can do whatever I please."

"Not so long as you're under my roof, you can't."

His words spoke of a threat. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Maybe I don't have to stay here, then."

"You don't get it, do you, Johanna? I am your father--"

"Oh, are you now? Are you my father? I couldn't tell. I thought you were just this evil dictator who wanted to run the world and ruin everybody's lives."

"And what does this make you? Some crusading little bitch who wants to have her cake and eat it too?"

Johanna's eyes flashed with anger. Suddenly, she slapped him hard across the cheek, leaving an actual red mark in her wake. She'd hardly expected it herself, but Jerome really wasn't expecting it. Faster than she could even react, he grabbed her wrist in a firm grasp and held her there. Johanna gasped in surprise and pain, looking up at her father incredulously. His eyes burned with rage and hatred, a slight red glow emanating from them. She pulled against his hold on her, but he refused to release his iron grip.

"Let go of my wrist," she demanded.

He enunciated his words slowly, so as not to be misheard. "You do not ever try to hurt me or speak to me that way again. Understand? Trust me, it'll be the last thing you do," he growled out his warning.

Her nostrils flared. "I'm a grown woman. I can speak however I choose, with whomever I choose, and do whatever I like. And that includes being with the Revolutionaries. Now let me go!" She yanked again, but again found he wasn't budging.

"You will NOT be having anything else to do with this revolution thing. Or else. Are we clear?"

"Why? Because you're afraid they're right?"

"Johanna," he growled menacingly.

"You're a monster, you know. Everyone knows it. You're a dictator, a tyrant--"

Jerome's rage flared again and he pulled her into him by his grip on her wrist, causing her to yelp. "I'm no monster! I do what I have to do to keep Utopia in check. That's my job. They're the monsters! Trying to overthrow me-- trying to kill me! Trying to kill us all! And you know what they did to your sister!"

"Oh, please. That was as much your fault as it was anyone else's!"

"Yeah. My fault they tried to kill her when she was a baby and messed her up for life. Just like it's my fault they're wanting to attack us now. You know they can't win, and you're just going to split your family in two even more. Back out, Johanna."

"You have no excuse for how you run things--"

"I have EVERY excuse!" He roared at her, grip tightening impossibly more. "I don't need anyone's approval of what I do! And I don't need my own daughter selling me out like this! Understand?!"

Johanna cried out in pain as he wrenched her arm around tightly. "Let GO of me!"

"DO you understand?!" he hissed at her.

Johanna closed her eyes tightly against the pain and the swirling emotions inside of her. Her pulse was racing and her eyes were watering and she couldn't escape him. He was so much stronger than her... a wave of panic washed over her, and started to take over. With an almost manic cry of effort, Johanna pulled with all of her strength and ducked as her father was flung over her head.

For a few seconds, there was complete stillness.

Then he crashed to the ground behind her.

At least he had finally released her wrist as he landed with a grunt. Johanna's eyes widened at the implications of what she'd just done. Fearfully, she looked on her father's form.

Jerome was livid. He snarled at her as he leapt to his feet and crowded her into the corner. "What the hell did I just tell you?!"

"I-I didn't mean -- you wouldn't let me--"

He grabbed her arm fiercely and immediately twisted it behind her. Johanna shouted out, feeling his fingers dig into her flesh. She could practically feel the process of bruises forming. "How dare you!"

"Please! I didn't mean to--" she was cut off with a cry, by even more intense pressure on her arm.

"I do," he hissed into her ear viciously, "what I want. End of discussion."

Johanna's eyes started to brim with tears she was having trouble blinking away. She had to fight back. She had to fight back.

She stomped heavily on his toes then turned to elbow him in the gut. Knocking the wind out of him was her best bet to secure her release and finally flee.

It worked, momentarily.

Jerome recovered in just enough time to catch the ends of her hair and pull. Johanna gasped sharply as she was yanked back, tears immediately flooding from her eyes at the pain. Jerome's arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind, trying to keep her still as she flailed and squirmed to get away.

Her eyes went wide. She pushed back with all the speed and strength she could muster, slamming him hard into the wall across the room. He grunted in pain, loosening his grip so Johanna was able to break free of his arms and really start fighting back. A brief feeling of victory rushed along her spine as she looked at her father's laboured breathing, but it was quickly followed by guilt and remorse. She relaxed her stance slightly, brushing a long strand of jet black hair behind her ear to compose herself. "Dad, stop. Please. I don't want to hurt you."

He couldn't hear her over his own rage. Instead he charged at her, knocking her back into the desk extreme force.

Johanna choked back her sob, black locks of hair tangling in her face. "Dad--"

"Shut up, Johanna!"

His arms came up around her neck this time, and she choked in his arms. Scrambling frantically, she did everything she could to try to escape. She kicked, flailed, tried to pry his arms away. "Dad," she rasped out, hoping to have some sort of effect.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut UP!"

His grip tightened. Johanna dug her nails into his flesh as hard as she could, coming close to drawing blood. Her vision was blurring. She could hold her breath for a long time, but it was the pressure that she couldn't withstand. He was so strong...

That's when the panic began sinking in.