“Let me get this straight,” Barry Barstow said, standing in Perry’s office an hour later. “You need to video Superman getting married to . . . his wife?”
“That’s right,” Perry told him. Even close up the man looked like Superman, or more to the point, he looked a lot like Clark Kent without the glasses. Jimmy just hoped the man was a good enough actor to pull off this ‘little job’.
“And why isn’t the real Superman taking care of his little lady here?”
“No one’s seen him in over a week,” Perry explained. “Not since his sentence ran out.”
“Oh.” The actor gave Zara an appraising look. “You won’t need me for anything else, will you?” He gave her an ingratiating grin. Ching glared at him and he wiped the grin off his face.
“Just joking,” Barry said with a shrug. “So, let’s get started.”
Perry nodded. “Get into the costume they brought for you, and meet Zara and Ching on the roof. Make sure nobody sees you. Jimmy and I will meet you at the Lexor Hotel in half an hour. They’re expecting us.”
“I will brief you on your part in the ceremony,” Ching added. “It isn’t complex.”
“But, whatever you do, do not lose composure,” Zara warned. “Do not ‘go out of character’. You are Lord Kal-El of Krypton, a leader of great and noble House.”
“I understand milady,” Barry told her. Ching handed him the costume he was to wear, a black bodysuit of some unknown fabric, black leather boots with blue trim, an ornate brocade coat that had an oddly oriental look to it. Barry wrapped the costume in the coat, making sure the lining was facing out. “I’ll meet you on the roof.”
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The lobby of the Lexor was a media circus. The major networks were present with cameras, the mayor was there. It was amazing what could be pulled off in only an hour’s time, Jimmy mused.
Zara and Ching floated down to earth with ‘Kal-El’ between them, his arm around Zara’s waist and her arm around his. It really did look like he was flying with them.
Ching stepped away from them as Barry and Zara stepped up to the makeshift podium. Barry pulled out his notes then set them aside. “I had a speech prepared,” he said with a small smile which turned solemn. “As I’m sure Mister White has told all of you, my betrothed, Lady Zara of New Krypton and her chief of staff, Ching, have come to Earth to take me home to my people. And as much as I love this world and its people, as much as I find my gifts useful here, I have duties and obligations elsewhere, to my own people. It is a responsibility I cannot turn my back on. Shortly, I will be leaving, but I leave this world in the hands of its own heroes, each one of you. For you are all heroes, all capable of making this world a better place together. And I have faith that together, you will all prove to be the heroes I know you are. Thank you.”
Barry and Zara stepped off the podium to a torrent of shouted questions that they both ignored. They walked over to Perry and Jimmy, who led the way to the elevators.
Once inside, Barry leaned back against the elevator wall and sighed. “My best performance and nobody knows it.” He looked over at Perry. “You know something about all this you haven’t told me.”
“Yes,” Perry admitted.
“Superman’s already gone, isn’t he? That’s why you can’t get in touch with him.”
Perry nodded.
The elevator doors opened into the penthouse lobby. Here, only a few camera teams had been allowed in to record the union ceremony. Ching looked despondent, but Jimmy noted that he carefully schooled his expression into neutrality when he saw Jimmy watching him.
“You love her, don’t you?” Jimmy commented quietly.
“It is not my place,” Ching stated. “He was her birth mate. A lord of a great house. I am merely a soldier.”
Perry opened the doors to the penthouse suite. And stepped inside, followed by Barry and Zara, Ching and Jimmy. The camera crews followed at a discrete distance.
Perry took his place in front of the wide windows and unrolled the scroll Ching had given him, placing the heavy gold cord that had bound it over his arm. “Kal El and Zara, married since birth . . . In accordance with the laws of your forefathers . . . Having come into your majority under the laws of your people . . . It is now time for you to accept the responsibilities of your positions and the obligations of adulthood.”
Perry took the cord and bound Barry and Zara’s right hands together as Ching had shown him earlier. “Kal-El and Zara, as this cord binds your hands, may this joining bind your hearts as your souls have been bound from birth.”
Ching had an ornate ceremonial cup in his hands and offered it to the couple. They each took a drink.
“By the power vested in me under the laws of New Troy State, I declare this union complete, its consummation sanctioned by the laws of New Krypton and New Troy!” Perry announced. He stepped over to the double doors that led to the bedroom beyond. “The bridal chamber.”
Barry put his free arm around Zara’s waist and led her into the next room. Perry closed the doors behind them.
“That’s it?” one of the cameramen asked.
“We are a very pragmatic people,” Ching explained simply.
“Jimmy, I know you and the lieutenant here have other duties to perform,” Perry reminded them both. Ching nodded and went to the balcony doors, opening them. He took Jimmy by the waist and launched into the air, heading west, to Smallville.
Martha and Jonathan Kent were waiting for them beside the grave of their adopted son. They’d buried him in the family plot, a short distance from Jonathan’s parents. A grave marker had already been erected. Three names were already engraved in the polished granite under the name ‘Kent’. Jonathan Joseph, Clark Jerome, and Martha Mary Clark. Beneath Clark’s name was also engraved ‘beloved son’, his birth date and death date.
At the Planet, there had been times Jimmy had thought he’d felt Clark’s presence, had thought he could just look up and see the reporter walk out of the elevator to come to work. There had been times the past week felt like a bad dream he could just wake up from and find his friend alive. The grave marker felt so final.
“Perry told us you need to exhume Clark’s body,” Jonathan began. He and Martha looked like they’d aged ten years in the past week. They’d walked into Clark’s apartment last Monday to talk to him, find out what was wrong, only to find his body being wheeled out in a body bag by the medical examiner’s office. Their baby was dead.
Jimmy couldn’t even begin to imagine how that felt.
“Mister and Missus Kent, this is Lieutenant Ching from New Krypton. He needs cell samples from Clark’s body,” Jimmy explained.
“Does he know how Clark died?” Martha asked.
“I was told he found a poison that was effective against Kryptonians,” Ching told them. “Hopefully, I will still find viable cells for our purpose.” He turned to Jimmy. “We need to hurry.”
Jimmy nodded and Ching uncovered the coffin in seconds. He undid the lid to reveal to body inside. Jimmy wasn’t sure what to expect. After a week, even with modern preservation, there would be smells and decay. He heard Martha gasp and looked to see Clark’s body untouched, undamaged, glasses still in place, looking as though he could sit up and climb out. Then Jimmy noticed the makeup that had been used to cover the marks that had been on his face, coloring on his lips to make him look lifelike.
“You probably don’t want to watch this,” Ching warned. Jimmy took Martha and Jonathan aside, away from the open grave while Ching worked. After a few moments, Ching floated out of the grave. “It’s done.”
“Did you get what you need?” Jonathan asked.
“I hope so,” Ching said. “For the sake of my people, I hope so.”
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