Fallout - 2016 - Matchmaker Chronicles Vol 1 CG3
Previously
Lois had been blind-sided by this accusation and hadn't known what to do. Instead of being there simply to testify as to what Bud had done, she had been the one placed on the defensive. She continued to sit in the witness stand as she watched Bud, his family and lawyer leave. She knew she was innocent, but had no way, other than possibly the pictures taken by those patrolmen to prove it. She decided that she needed to talk to Clark.
Lois walked out of the courtroom, down the hall and out the door so the she wouldn't disturb anyone any more than necessary. Once outside however she moved faster than the eye could follow and within a split second she was on the roof of the Daily Planet building. As she passed through the roof access door she spun back into her beige business suit before descending the stairs at super-speed. Exiting the stairwell, she crossed to Clark's desk and said, "We need to talk. Conference room."
Clark could see that she was upset, but had no idea as to the cause so he stood and walked with her to the conference room, his hand at the small of her back. He could feel the tension in her body which added to his concern. As soon as they were inside he closed the door and the blinds then he turned to her. He could see that she was having difficulty restraining tears. In a comforting tone, he asked, "All right, what happened?"
Stepping to him and throwing her arms around his neck, she sobbed, "Oh, Clark, they accused me of child abuse."
"What? How could they?"
"Remember the night that Bud brought over the replacement pumpkin? I told you about the bruises. He is claiming that Ultra Woman did that to him."
Clark stuttered out, "But you didn't. You wouldn't have. There's just no way."
"I know, but he had pictures and is claiming that I did that to him."
"There's always someone looking to turn us into a big payday. Don't they have surveillance on the cells? What about the desk sergeant?"
"They already thought of that. The camera was on the fritz and the desk sergeant is away on his honeymoon."
"There has to be someone. What about the patrolman that put them in the cells?"
"Fortunately I thought of them and some of them were taking pictures of me which may have the kids in the frame. For once I am very happy about the skin tight suit. If not for that, they might not have been taking pictures."
Pulling her in tighter, he said, "I love you in that suit. Frankly, though, I love you better ... out of it."
Smiling, she tilted her head up and kissed him, then she sighed and said, "You always say the sweetest things."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
While this was going on, the lawyer was talking to the Kyle family, "You said this would be a sure thing."
Bud replied, "It should have been. I noticed the out of order sign on the camera. I knew it would take Pop a while to get there. In that time they were sure to have a shift change so the same guy wouldn't be on the desk. I threatened Mike until he hit me a few times, hard enough to make bruises. I forgot about those cops takin' pictures of Ultra Woman."
"All right then, the only thing to do is say it was all a mistake."
Bud's father stopped him and said, "Nothin' doin'. I hired you to keep my kid out of juvie and to keep me from havin' to pay that fine and make some money in the deal. You're gonna go in there and convince that judge that she done it. Then we all get a big payday."
"That is going to be impossible if those pictures show him unblemished."
"Maybe they won't. We're just gonna have to wait and see."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When the hour had elapsed they had all returned to the courtroom. The judge addressed Ultra Woman, "Please resume your place in the witness box."
After she had resumed her seat, he said, "I just received the pictures." He pulled them up on his laptop and said, "It is hard to tell. The pictures are rather small."
Ultra Woman zoomed in with her microscopic vision and in her anxiety went too far, seeing a field of dots spaced wide apart without seeing a picture. She backed off on the magnification and scanned the pictures. Pointing to two of them, she said, "If you have these two enlarged and printed, I believe it will show that Bud was unblemished at the time the pictures were taken. From the angles I would say that these were taken by two different individuals."
The judge checked the original emails and saw that her supposition was correct. He looked at the lawyer with a stern expression, "Well, councilor, what do you have to say?"
The layer was in a panic and chose to throw his clients under the bus, "I didn't know anything about that, your honor. They came to me with the pictures and told me that Ultra Woman had done it. That's all I know."
Bud’s father responded with a loud snort.
Hearing that, the judge replied, "Councilor, if there was any way I could prove that you willingly participated in this attempted fraud, I'd have you disbarred. As it is, all I can say is - get out of my courtroom and thank your lucky stars that I can't prove it."
The lawyer hastily grabbed his bag and left. As the door closed behind him, the judge muttered, "I hate ambulance chasers," then turned his attention back to Ultra Woman, "I want to apologize for doubting you and taking your time this way. You are excused."
"Thank you, your honor, but might I ask what is to be done here?"
"I have to say, I don't like what has happened here. First, there was the incident that brought this young man in, in the first place, but complicating that is what they tried to do to you. I don't know if I should blame the child or the parents. I think it is apparent that the parents had some level of involvement."
"May I speak on their behalf?"
"You want to speak for them, after what they tried to do to you?"
"Yes, your honor. The attempt has failed. They paid for a lawyer unless he was working on commission. I think there is a fine for littering. Let that be the end of it, unless you feel that family counseling would help."
“I am inclined to agree with you.” He turned so that he was facing the Kyles and said, “The fine for the littering will be fifty dollars and I agree with Ultra Woman, I think that family counseling is needed and it is so ordered.” He brought his gavel down with a loud thwack. “Pay the bailiff. Court dismissed.”
As Ultra Woman was leaving, she could hear Bud’s father grumbling and muttering indistinctly. She couldn’t make out the words, but the tone was a threatening one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As soon as Lois was back at the Planet, she sat on the corner of Clark’s desk and looked at what was on his computer screen. It was a write-up of a recent Superman rescue.
He asked, “How did it go?”
“I’ll never complain about my uniform being too tight again.”
“The pictures showed that he was uninjured.”
“Sure did. Their lawyer threw them under the bus, claiming he had nothing to do with the attempted fraud, but I think the judge knew better.”
“All’s well that ends well.”
“Yes, all’s well that ends well and this ended well. They’ve been ordered into family counseling.”
“It just might do some good.”
“To borrow a phrase from Herb, ‘Only time will tell.’”
They didn’t hear anything further from the court system which was not unusual in cases like this the records are normally sealed.
Jon did report to them that after the winter holiday, Bud did not return to school immediately. There was a period of close to two months that he was absent from school. Speculation was that his family had moved, but suddenly, in March, he reappeared.
After he returned, Jon noticed that he gave him a wide burth.
And now
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 04 -
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120
Local designation - Canon Universe also called Prime
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It had been several months since the events of Christmastime. Sam and Ellen Lane had taken up their residence again in Metropolis and once again assumed leadership of the practice that they had founded.
They had since become an integral part of the Kent family, spending a lot of time getting to know their grandchildren.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The spring semester of the school year had passed without any further problems from Bud Kyle. In point of fact, Bud was out of school for a while immediately after the Christmas / New Year’s holiday season. There had been some speculation that he had been transferred to another school, but after a month he returned. When he did, he was much subdued, but there was an air of repressed hostility that was unmistakable.
For all of that, Bud apparently had decided that he needed to clean up his act and he didn’t cause any trouble the rest of the year. He didn’t make the honor roll, but he did make passing grades for the rest of the year.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The summer of 2016 had been a quiet period in the lives of the super family, but it did have its interesting moments. Superman was handling most of the rescues, but there were occasions, especially in mass casualty events that Ultra Woman helped out.
There had also been a couple of occasions, like the Thanksgiving earthquake in 2014, where both Kam-El and Ultra Woman 2 helped out, but these were unusual circumstances. The very rarity of their appearances fueled a lot of speculation as to their origin and location.
Now there were two more new superheroes in the wings just waiting for their turn.
Sean and Celeste had both celebrated their twelfth birthdays. They were both strong and fast and their super-hearing had also kicked in. As soon as they had turned ten their powers had started to manifest and they had been brought in on the family secret and over the previous summer, on one of the many visits that the family made to Smallville, they had each had time with Grandma Kent designing and making their Suits.
In the case of Sean, he hadn’t been sure what colors he liked so he had decided to put off his decision and opted for a simple all blue uniform. He was planning to follow Jon’s lead and simply use his Kryptonian name, Dan-El, as his super persona.
Celeste had decided to use her Kryptonian name also, Noel (No of the house of El), and decided to capitalize on the obvious pronunciation and its association with the holidays and go with that as her color scheme. She finally settled on a green suit, like a Speedo swimsuit with a short red pleated skirt, red cape that came to her waist and red calf high boots. Her mask was in the same green as the suit. The El family crest, in red and green, in a diminutive form was on her chest. The boots, like Lara’s, had low heels.
The low heels were Martha’s idea. There were a couple of good reasons, first- low heels would emphasize her petite stature and help to differentiate her super persona from her civilian self wearing heels. The second reason was even better - high heels were vulnerable to breakage. How would it look for a super heroine to have a broken heel?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
One of the incidents that made the summer of 2016 interesting happened over the Fourth of July weekend. It was an incident that required more than two pairs of hands.
Even though neither Jon nor Lara could fly as yet, they were both strong and fast, their super-hearing and invulnerability had kicked in and in Jon’s case so had his vision powers.
They had been spending time in Smallville so Jon had a pretty good handle on his vision powers at this point.
On Monday, July 4th the Kent family was having a cookout. Sam and Ellen Lane were visiting as were Jonathan and Martha Kent. They were all outside when they heard a news flash over the radio in the house next door. There was an excursion vessel in trouble. It was a harbor fireworks cruise which was to last until after the fireworks display which would start at dusk.
Jon and Lara, Sean and Celeste all heard it at the same time as their parents and looked at them imploringly. They all wanted to get in on the act. Lois and Clark both nodded to Jon and Lara, but shook their heads at Sean and Celeste. Since none of them were wearing their uniforms the four of them moved into the house. They quickly put on their uniforms and spun back into their regular clothes. Leaving the house again they moved out of sight to the secluded area behind the shed and spun back into their uniforms. Clark put an arm around Jon as Lois did for Lara and they took off too quickly to be seen clearly.
Approaching the scene they could see that the cruise ship was listing to the starboard. Passengers were struggling to remain on board, clinging to the railings, some on the high or port side, a large number against or on the starboard side while a number were actually in the water.
They stayed near each other as they descended and when they were near the scene, still several hundred feet above the water, Clark and Lois released their holds on Jon and Lara as he said, “While Mom and I work on righting the boat; you two rescue the people in the water. Diving from this height it will look like you are flying on your own.”
Lara released a delighted “Wheeeee!” as she started her dive.
Jon shouted, “Right, Pop.”
Rolling into tight balls they spun around so that they could each grab the sides of their capes, then straightening out again they stretched their arms out at their sides and used the capes like parasails to control their direction and speed of descent.
When Lois and Clark released them with looks of joy, both Jon and Lara dove for the water. Jon and Lara ‘flew’ side by side heading for the people in the water. This was the closest either had come to flying on their own and they both loved it. They were both excellent swimmers and divers and it was evident when both cleaved the water cleanly in perfect dives.
Leaving Kam-El and Ultra Woman 2 to their assigned task, Superman and Ultra Woman veered away and also dove for the surface. Ultra Woman dove below the surface on the port side of the ship and curved her course under it, and then she stabilized the ship, preventing it from slipping any farther to the side.
While she did this, Superman started looking for the cause of the disaster. What he found was an underwater mound, a remnant from when he had dug the trench to defeat the tsunami that had threatened Metropolis when Thaddeus Roark had caused Luthor’s Shockwave device to overreact. He thought he had returned all of the rubble to the trench, but he obviously had missed some. He knocked the mound down so that it wouldn’t continue to be a hazard. While he was doing this the surface of the bay was roiling like a boiling pot.
While Superman was doing this, Kam-El and Ultra Woman 2 were busy. They started by rescuing those most distant from the ship and worked their way closer. Assuming a lifeguard like hold on those they were rescuing they were able to kick at super-speed and moved like torpedoes through the water. Once they reached the ship, since the starboard deck was still near the surface of the bay they lifted their passenger aboard at that point. As soon as they discharged one passenger they were off to get another.
While Kam-El and Ultra Woman 2 were swimming at super-speed and using their powers to pull those in the water back to the ship Superman and Ultra Woman monitored their progress.
Superman had finished his self-appointed chore and joined Ultra Woman under the ship and when the final passenger had been returned to the ship and Kam-El and Ultra Woman 2 had joined them, Superman and Ultra Woman started to raise the ship and right it. While they were doing this, Kam-El used his heat vision to dry his sister’s uniform and his own cape. As he was doing so he was thinking, <It’s a shame that Lara doesn’t have her heat vision yet.>
Passengers that hadn’t fallen into the water and had some presence of mind had their cell phones out and were taking pictures of the new superheroes. Some had even taken videos of the rescue efforts.
The group of passengers that they had rescued had all gathered around them to proffer their thanks until Superman and Ultra Woman started to right the ship and the ship started to move under them and then they were all grabbing something for support because the ship shifted under them.
One of the people that they had rescued, who was standing on the fringes of the crowd, was knocked off balance as the ship went airborne. With a scream of fear she tumbled to the side and was in danger of toppling over the rail again and back into the water. The ship was gaining altitude and a fall from the height it had attained could have been fatal for anyone other than one of the superheroes. Hearing the scream, Kam-El spun around and spotted her. Putting on a burst of super-speed and running to her he placed himself between her and the railing and prevented her from falling overboard, instead she fell into his arms. When he grabbed her, in reflex, her arms went around his neck and she held onto him like a lifeline in a storm. Possibly in relief at being saved a second time, she buried her head in his chest. When she ship stopped shaking and was steadier she finally looked up at him and he got a good look at her. She was a teen about his age. A very attractive girl with expressive features, large brown doe-like eyes and medium length brown hair naturally streaked with blond. She was dressed in shorts that weren’t too short, a tank top and sneakers. Jon noted that she wasn’t dressed in such a way as to excite the libido, but he also noted that she had a very good figure for a girl her age. She was a little timid as she looked up at him, but remembering what she had seen in the tabloids, she became bolder, said, “I want to thank you for rescuing me,” pushing up on tip-toe and tightening her arms around his neck, she kissed him, soundly.
Flashes were going off as people continued to take pictures and Kam-El was shocked into immobility, but he could hear his sister snickering.
The girl, whose name was Cynthia, didn’t release him until the ship was at the dock and the adult superheroes joined them on the deck. Reluctantly, she removed her arms from his neck and as she did, in an embarrassed tone she said, “Oh, my. I shouldn’t have done that. That’s not like me … to do something like that … I mean … It’s just that … I’m so thankful that you rescued me.” She paused for a second, thinking, then said, “I just moved to Metropolis and I don’t know anybody, yet, so if you are looking for a girlfriend, I’m available. Oh, why did I say that? I’m not usually that forward. I’m babbling, aren’t I? Yes, I am. I’m babbling. I only do that when I’m nervous.”
Kam-El stood back, with his hands on her upper arms, and said, “I’m sorry, miss …”
“Cynthia, but my friends call me Morgana.”
“I’m happy that I was able to save you, but, well, I’m sorry, Cynthia, I don’t date.”
In a dreamy tone, she replied, “That’s a shame.”
Having landed, unnoticed, next to Kam-El, Superman asked, “Am I interrupting something?”
Shifting his attention to Superman, Kam-El replied, “Uh, no. No you aren’t.”
Looking back and forth between Kam-El and Cynthia, Superman said, “Then I think it’s time to go.”
Nodding in relief, Jon dropped his hands to his sides and replied, “Right.”
To the accompaniment of more flashes, Superman put an arm around Kam-El and Ultra Woman did the same for UW2 and they took off, slowly at first.
Looking down as they did, Kam-El could see Cynthia with a smile on her lips, shielding her eyes with one hand and waving to him with the other.
In reflex, Kam-El returned the wave.
Seeing that Cynthia started smiling that much more.
There was a good reason why Jon would remember this incident later, fondly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The rest of the summer of 2016 passed as an unremarkable one for the Kent family. Jon celebrated his sixteenth birthday. With each passing day, Jon became more and more impatient for his eighteenth birthday, because he knew that it would be around that time that he would be able to fly and he desperately wanted that power above all of the others. The times he had flown with his father had been marvelous.
Lara too was looking forward to when she would be able to fly herself. She was almost a year and a half younger than Jon and she just knew that the first time she saw her brother fly under his own power; she would just die from envy. There was some question about when Lara would be able to fly. Early on, Jon had demonstrated a slight ability to float. His parents had noticed this, but not remarked on it. It was becoming apparent that the powers were, to a certain extent, tied to puberty. The onset of puberty was slightly earlier for Lara than Jon and Lois suspected that she might just not have to wait to the age of eighteen. In fact, she would be surprised if they didn’t both start to fly at about the same time.
The incident over the Fourth of July holiday had only whetted both of their appetites that much more. Diving from that height had been so much like flying …
Jon and Lara were as close as any brother and sister could be and there wasn’t a situation where she wanted him to fail, but the she dearly wished that she could join him. She would be happy for him when he was able to loose the bonds of gravity and soar into the sky under his own power. It was something that she looked forward to with both joy and trepidation. Joy for her brother and trepidation about her response. She didn’t want to rain on his parade. It was just going to be hard.
Ever since they had started getting their powers, they had used them together. It had all started in 2014 when Grandma Kent had made their uniforms at Halloween. They had acted together to save Maisie from the robber that had been threatening her life. That had been their unofficial debut and they had helped out a few times since when more than a couple pair of hands had been needed.
Lara still chuckled when she thought about the time that she and Jon had helped out in the California earthquake. That had been, more or less, their ‘official’ debut. It was Thanksgiving and they had all been in Smallville. Mom and Dad had decided to take them along to help out. When things were winding down she and Mom had been looking for Jon and Dad. When they had found them they were each being kissed. Dad was being kissed by the TV and movie actress Teri Hatcher and Jon was being kissed by her daughter, Emerson. It was a result of that encounter that Mom and Dad decided that they needed to announce to the world that Superman and Ultra Woman were in fact married, not just super-work partners.
In the announcement that Superman and Ultra Woman were married, they had said nothing about the new heroes so they were considered ‘fair game’ by everyone. That was the main reason that on the occasions that Lara and Jon helped out, frequently, Kam-El was on the receiving end of female appreciation. It had happened the previous Thanksgiving season, when they had helped a neighbor family. Their neighbor’s teenage daughter had managed to ambush Kam-El and kiss him. Most recently, over the fourth, a girl named Cynthia had kissed him. Lara was happy that she hadn’t been subjected to the same, although she did realize that her time would be coming … all too soon. Fortunately, for her, young males tended to be somewhat intimidated by women that were stronger than them and she most definitely was, while most young women were attracted to a strong man.
The identities of Jon and Lara were kept ambiguous. As a result speculation was rampant as to their origin. The one time that the press had been around to ask questions after a rescue, Ultra Woman 2 had been asked why she had chosen that particular name. The reporter was obviously attempting to get her to admit that she was Ultra Woman’s daughter, but her reply had been simply, “Ultra Woman is my role model. It is a sign of my respect for her that I have chosen to name myself after her. She would be a positive role model for any young woman on whom to model her behavior.”
Since Ultra Woman had been absent for about seventeen years, only returning about six years previously, in 2010, the predominant theory was that the new superheroes were additional visitors from New Krypton which Lois and Clark didn’t discourage.
The fact that Ultra Woman had been absent, presumably having returned to New Krypton since her first, brief, appearance, the apparent age of the new superheroes couldn’t correspond to her return, but now that it had been announced that Superman and Ultra Woman were in fact married, there was rampant speculation about a Superman Junior at some time. Once the announcement had been made papers like the Star started running contests trying to guess when Ultra Woman would actually become pregnant. The odds makers in Las Vegas were even taking bets on the sex of the child and when it would be born.
They were to be sorely disappointed because if a pregnant Ultra Woman were to appear at the same time as a pregnant Lois Lane it might threaten the family secret.
The one saving grace was that Lois and Clark had started using makeup to appear to age somewhat while Superman and Ultra Woman hadn’t appeared to age in the 29 years since he first appeared and Ultra Woman looked the same age as when she had first appeared about 27 years earlier. Along with that they had decided to finish raising this current generation before starting the next. The nice thing was that with Lois’s physiology having started off as Earth human, birth control pills still worked on her. If anything happened and Lois became pregnant, Ultra Woman would simply be called back to New Krypton for a time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To facilitate Sean and Celeste’s preparation for their roles in the family business, as well as continuing to refine the use of Jon and Lara’s powers, the family spent a lot of time at the farm in Smallville so that they could practice. They were joined for part of the summer by Mike Lee, Wayne Irig’s grand-nephew when he came to help out on the farm. Lara and Jon spent most of their evenings with him. It had become an open secret that Mike liked Lara and that she reciprocated.
They were already making plans to go to school together. Mike was using a program for early admission available to students that carried high academic averages with AP class and Lara was doing the same. Both were carrying 4.0 averages and the deal was that as long as they maintained it they would be accepted at the school of their choice, with academic scholarships. They had both applied to Stanford, pre-law and had been accepted. Lara was taking extra classes in summer school so that she could finish a year early and she and Mike could start the same year. As it stood, she, Mike and Jon would all be graduating after the next school year.
On vacations and also on some weekends the family went to Smallville. On some weekends they went to Smallville Lake for the day and the figures that fourteen year old Lara and twelve year old Celeste were developing were on display because they copied their mom’s beach attire which was a skimpy string bikini. Nine year old Jessie wore a more modest two piece and four year old Lucy continued to wear a one piece suit. Lois made sure that Lucy and Sam were safe allowing Lara the time to be with Mike.
Lois and Lara had had a number of talks and Lois had explained about the Kryptonian love at first sight trait and Lara managed to convince Lois that what she felt for Mike was undeniable. She had been drawn to him the minute that she had stepped out of the van that first day of 4-H Summer Camp three years previously. Lois and Clark had spoken with Wayne and as a result had a good feeling about the match.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As the summer had progressed, Sean and Celeste turned twelve and after Martha had made them their uniforms they joined Jon and Lara in practicing their powers. They were twins, but as Lois had surmised, Celeste’s powers started manifesting slightly earlier than Sean’s. They both had their super-hearing, were strong and fast.
Sean was showing a musculature that would be the envy of a weight-lifter and Celeste was filling out and showing the promise of an attractive womanly figure, perhaps slightly on the voluptuous side.
In school, Sean and Celeste hung out with a select group of friends that shared some common academic interests, but neither of them had any interest in dating. As was common with the rest of the family, they were both involved in karate training. There were certain shows on TV that interested them above any others and they all dealt with hospitals. Lois could see their interest and was looking forward to both of them becoming doctors.
Lois smiled a self-satisfied smile in the knowledge that her family was on the way to be the leaders they were destined to be on the road to utopia.
TBC
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