Chapter 40: Comics Can Be Educational
After breakfast, Clark insisted on doing the dishes, leaving Mrs. Tong somewhat nonplussed. Kevin and Megan were used to being waved off to school by their mother, but it felt strange having Lois Lane and Superman waving too.
Clark felt the rays of the rising sun on him as he stood in the doorway, but it still felt kind of… dead. It was a little warm, but that was it. Was this what the sun felt like to normal humans?
Lois read his expression. “Still nothing?”
Clark nodded. “Nothing. It took Kara a week, so I guess we’ll just have to be patient.”
Lois hated waiting — they both did — but there wasn’t much they could do. Unless they could determine where Kara was, there was no way to contact her without going through the government. She tended to agree with Detective Spalding’s take on that.
They helped Mrs. Tong around the house, and did their own laundry. They spent the rest of their time trying to learn more about the world they were in. They spent hours on the Internet, reading the sites of the major national and international news organizations, among others. They came to two conclusions.
The first was that this world was in an even bigger mess than their own. Political institutions, slow-moving back home, were downright dysfunctional here. Critical problems festered for lack of attention while enormous energy was spent arguing over manufactured controversies. Moneyed voices spread disinformation, practically unchallenged.
As cynical as Lois was, the extent of corruption among politicians here astounded her.
The news media seemed to have abandoned their role of helping the public cut through the spin and learn the truth, opting instead to cover politics as a blood sport. Lois found herself itching to write some editorials.
The second conclusion was that their daughter was at the center of a hurricane of raw political power that would have given Machiavelli pause, and they needed to extract her without delay.
Unfortunately, the day dragged on with no change in Clark’s condition. He went outside and sunbathed a bit, but his powers showed no sign of returning.
• • •
Kevin consulted his checklist. “Spiderman?”
“Fictional.”
“The Hulk?”
“Likewise.”
“Thor?”
“The same.”
Lois and Clark weren’t particularly into comics, but since they were playing a waiting game they didn’t have much else to do. Given the generous hospitality of the Tong family, they couldn’t begrudge Kevin the opportunity to satisfy his enthusiastic curiosity.
“Lex Luthor?”
Lois and Clark looked at each other. Lois lowered her eyes.
Clark replied, “He died about seventeen years ago. Well, the first time.”
“The
first time?”
“Somehow, one of his cronies managed to resurrect him. He died for good three years after that.” He paused. “At least, we haven’t seen him since. He was the third richest man in the world, businessman, philanthropist… and the biggest crime boss Metropolis has ever seen.” He looked to Lois, who shook her head, her cheeks flushed; he nodded slightly in understanding.
“He bought the Daily Planet and shut it down, but we managed to collect enough evidence to indict him, and the paper got back on its feet.”
Kevin was typing furiously on his laptop. “Batman?”
“Oh, him,” said Lois. “The elusive masked vigilante of Gotham City.”
“So he’s real? Cool!”
“He’s real enough, but you’d never know it by how often he shows himself.”
“It sounds like you don’t like him,” said Kevin.
“It’s more that I don’t trust him. He sometimes takes the law into his own hands, though he seems to be on the right side. He and the Gotham PD aren’t on great terms, but these days they tolerate him. He doesn’t give interviews, and I think he’s hiding something.”
Clark smiled. “Superman is hiding something too, honey.”
“I don’t mean just his other identity.” She folded her arms. “Like I said, I don’t trust him.”
Clark shrugged. “I have to admit, I don’t always approve of the way he goes about things, but he does seem to be trying to help, and I think he has. I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Lois smiled. “That’s your job, not mine.”
“He doesn’t have superpowers, right?” asked Kevin.
“That’s what he says, but I wonder sometimes. He must be in his forties by now, like Lois and me. I don’t see how he can keep up at the physical level he does if he’s a normal human.”
“Robin?”
“He worked with Batman for a while, but hasn’t been heard from in years.”
“Maybe Batman is a vampire after all, and Robin wound up being a ‘donor,’” suggested Lois, tongue in cheek.
“Bruce Wayne?”
“The orphaned multibillionaire? Majority owner of Wayne Enterprises. Since Luthor died, Wayne is now the third richest man in the world. He does a lot of humanitarian work, and even fosters disadvantaged kids. Lois and I have interviewed him, both before and after he got into politics.”
Kevin paused. “Politics?”
“Yes, when he was younger, he was very private and didn’t seem to take much interest in anything outside his charities and society circles. Then he had a terrible riding accident, which put him in a wheelchair temporarily. It took him a year of physical therapy to recover.
“After that, he developed an interest in making Gotham a better place to live for the less fortunate, and became a campaigner against corruption. A few years later he entered politics as an independent, running on a reform platform. He’s currently serving his third term as mayor. I have to say I think he’s doing a pretty good job.”
Kevin seemed to agonize over something. “If I show you something, do you promise not to, umm, tell any secrets?”
Lois perked up. “OK, now you’ve got my attention.”
“As long as keeping the secret won’t hurt anyone else,” promised Clark. He looked to Lois, who nodded reluctantly.
Kevin got up and went to his comic collection, rummaging through it. He pulled out an issue of
Detective Comics and handed it to Clark.
Clark flipped through it slowly, not saying a word until he was finished.
“Huh,” he said. He handed the comic to his wife. “So maybe the riding accident…”
“…wasn’t a riding accident?” finished Kevin.
“Oh, isn’t
this interesting,” said Lois, flipping the pages. “Robin did disappear about the same time as Bruce Wayne’s accident — but Batman didn’t.”
Clark nodded. “So I guess he took over the family business, so to speak…”
“…just like the Dread Pirate Roberts,” finished Lois. “Very clever. That explains the mystery.”
“You promised, right?” said Kevin. “You won’t expose him?”
“We promised,” agreed Clark. He looked to Lois, who was biting her lip. “Lo-is…”
“All right, all right,” she conceded.
“I don’t think we’d be doing Gotham or Mayor Wayne any favors by exposing him anyway.” Clark paused. “But maybe Superman should have a chat with him.”
“Do you always talk about Superman like he’s a different person?” asked Kevin.
“Tell me about it,” said Lois.
“It helps those of us who know keep the secret, because we’re less likely to say the wrong thing.”
Kevin nodded and went back to his list. “Justice League?”
“Sounds interesting, but I’ve never heard of it.”
“Legion of Superheroes?”
“Not that, either.”
“Mr. Mxyzptlk?”
“Don’t say his name!” said Lois and Clark simultaneously. They looked around warily.
“Umm, I guess you’ve met him,” said Kevin. “Are you really that worried? He’s been in Superman stories here for like forever, but he’s never shown up here for real.”
“I wouldn’t put anything past that little…” Lois abruptly censored herself.
“We haven’t seen him since the nineties, honey,” said Clark. “Maybe he got tired of us. If there are as many realities as Mr. Wells says, he’s got plenty of other worlds to go be a pest in.”
“OK, I already know about Supergirl…” Kevin paused. “Hey wait… your cat is named Streaky?”
Clark nodded. “That’s right.”
“Does he have superpowers? Does he fly?”
Lois rolled her eyes. “The only time that cat flies is when he hears the can opener in the kitchen.”
“He’s just an ordinary cat, I’m afraid,” said Clark.
“Oh,” said Kevin, disappointed. “How about…” Just then there was a knock on the door.
Alice stuck her head in. “Kevin, it’s a school night…”
“But Mom…”
“…and I think you’ve interrogated our guests enough for tonight.”
“We didn’t mind, Alice,” said Lois. “It was… educational.”
Kevin looked around at the adults. “I guess we can do this some more tomorrow night,” he sighed. He saved his document and shut the lid on his laptop.
• • •
When the first ray of sunlight hit Clark the next morning he knew immediately, and smiled.
“What?” asked Lois, excited.
“The sun.”
Lois grinned too. “Time to go out back and recharge, Flyboy.”
“Yep. Give me a few hours, and Superman should be back in business. Looks like we won’t have to wait a week.”
The Tongs had a pool, which was covered for the winter. Clark found a chaise lounge; he laid back and tried to soak up some sunshine. It was still fairly cold with the sun so low, so he had to wear his jacket and couldn’t expose much skin. He fell asleep.
He’d promised Alice that he’d make lunch, so Lois woke him around eleven-thirty. He checked his hand; the cut still wasn’t healed.
He searched through the refrigerator to see what ingredients were available and decided to make a vegetable frittata, which they all enjoyed. After cleaning up he went back to lounging in the sun, this time reading the news on Kevin’s laptop. It was warm enough now for him to roll up his sleeves.
He was just finishing an article about the upcoming custody hearing for Caitlin Jordan when he felt the cut on the back of his hand start to itch. He closed the laptop and watched the injury rapidly knit itself together, disappearing in seconds.
He barely had time to process that when his ears were assaulted by a furious burst of sound. He clutched at them in agony, but the sensation had already passed and he heard the familiar noises of the world rush back in. He tried levitating a little and was pleased to see he was fully back. He stood up from the chaise and headed inside.
Lois was inside in the family room, talking to Alice. She took one look at Clark’s face and smiled. “Is Superman back?”
Clark grinned, lifting off the floor to answer. Alice, who’d never seen a demonstration from Kara in person, shrieked a little.
Clark dropped quickly back to the floor. “Sorry about that, Alice.”
“It’s… it’s OK,” she assured him. “It’s one thing to see it on TV and another to see it in person, that’s all.”
Clark turned to his wife. “Honey, their backyard is pretty secluded. I think I’m going to head up into space and get the sun full on. It should only take about five minutes.”
Lois nodded. “Are you going to change?”
“Might as well. It’s in the bottom of my pack.”
“Change into what?” asked Alice, but her question was answered as Clark blurred upstairs, to reappear a second later as Superman.
“Oh, my,” she breathed.
“Have a nice time in outer space, honey,” said Lois cheekily, waving him off.
Clark just smiled and shook his head. He slid the glass door to the backyard open, then shut it behind him. He looked around carefully, then vanished, a swirl of leaves left behind.
“Is it like this all the time?” asked Alice.
“Pretty much.”
• • •
About twenty miles up, out of curiosity Clark looked back down at the land below him. Instead of Metropolis he saw the small city of Milford, surrounded by rural countryside.
He focused on the area where Metropolis should be and saw that it was mostly low wetlands. He looked west, and noticed that the larger rivers draining the hills all flowed west to Chesapeake Bay; back home, one flowed eastward. Due to those differences in topography, there was no New Troy Island, no harbor suitable for shipping. No wonder no city had been founded on the site.
He shook his head. It was hard to imagine a Delaware or United States without Metropolis. To him, it seemed as if the state had a gaping wound in the middle of it.
He looked across the bay to New Jersey and found a similar situation: low wetlands where Gotham City should be, rather than the rocky archipelago that had led to the founding of a port, later to grow into a city. He wondered if there’d been some kind of ancient event that had flattened the land in this way, or if it had just been a natural variation in the geological development of the region.
As he rose higher and higher the unfiltered sunlight shone brightly, and Clark felt power flooding into him. So much power that he was surprised. He felt far stronger than he ever had before; control of his powers felt much easier.
Clark knew that though he broke the laws of physics as current human science understood them, there must be
some natural laws that governed how his powers worked. It seemed as though those principles were different in this reality.
Was that why Kara had gotten all her powers at once, and mastered them with relative ease? What would happen when they took her home? Or when he went home, for that matter?
In far less time than he would have thought Clark felt fully charged. He dove back down towards the ground, then stopped abruptly fifteen miles up as a thought occurred to him. He traced back the route they’d taken two days earlier, zooming in with his vision. He found the gated road, the clearing, and worked his way back to where they’d come from.
His vision peeled back the tree canopy, and there it was: the time machine, still camouflaged, the three-axis device still in place. He let go the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He hesitated, then decided to talk to Lois first.
On a hunch, he glanced into the Tong’s garage. It was full of junk, so much junk that there wasn’t enough room for the cars, which were parked in the driveway. But there was enough room for something else.
• • •
Lois and Alice looked up as Superman slid the glass door open and stepped inside, closing it behind him. He spun in a tornado of colors, which resolved into Clark Kent.
“Wow,” whispered Alice.
“Did you bring me a souvenir?” asked Lois, grinning.
“Sorry honey,” said Clark comically. “I forgot.”
He turned to their hostess in a more serious tone. “Alice, I noticed you park your cars outside. Do you ever put them in the garage?”
She shook her head. “No, the garage is too full of… um, stuff.”
He turned to Lois. “Honey, I’m thinking that if Alice is OK with it, it would be better to keep the time machine here than in the middle of the woods. I’d still cover it up in case anyone looks in there. What do you think?”
Lois considered that. “It’s probably safer here, as long as no one thinks to search their garage. And if we need to leave in a hurry, it’s a lot easier to get to.”
Clark turned back to Alice. “Is that OK with you, Alice? If we put our time machine in your garage?”
Alice blinked. “Umm… feel free?”
• • •
Alice had wondered how Clark could possibly get something as large as the time machine into her garage without someone noticing, but Clark had pointed out that it could travel in space as well as time. They wouldn’t even have to open the garage door.
Working at super-speed, Clark had spent about two minutes clearing an area of the right size to fit the machine, tidying up the Tong’s garage a bit in the process. He’d then fetched their beacon and put it at one corner of the space. Mr. Wells had assured them the time machine had safeguards against materializing inside a solid object, but Clark wanted to be sure.
Then Clark had slipped out to the backyard. Now, Alice and Lois were waiting for him to return.
Alice goggled as she watched a point of light appear in her garage, rapidly expanding to a glow. When the glow faded the time machine was there, with Clark in the driver’s seat. He turned the machine off, got out, and pocketed the electronic key.
He grinned. “It gets great mileage, too.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “Did you get that corn from Kansas, Farmboy?”
“Of course,” replied Clark, beaming. “Nothing but the finest.”
• • •
“So you think she’ll be at this custody hearing in Wilmington?”
Clark nodded. “They should be there now, if the article was right. I’ll try there first. If she’s not there I’ll just start doing rescues and she’ll see me on the news.”
Lois was practically giddy with anticipation. “And you’ll bring her straight back here?”
“Or I’ll come get you and take you to wherever she is.” He smiled. “I’m sure we’ll see her today, honey. And then we can start getting ready to go home.”
They embraced and kissed; Alice averted her eyes, smiling. Then Clark stepped back, spun, and was Superman again. He waved, slipped out the sliding door to the backyard, and was gone.
• • •
