from Chapter Fourteen:
On his third trip back with the acutely injured, Lois was finally pulling into the employee parking lot of Met General. Spinning into his EMT clothes in mid-air, he landed adjacent to his wife's car just as she was emerging from the vehicle.
"Hey! I figured you'd get called in," Clark said, kissing his wife hello. "I already brought 5-6 victims in. It's a mess at the scene."
Lois, looking over at her husband's attire, said, "Are you going to work, or headed to LFSR?"
"I need to find Lex; I think I'm going to have to blow off the L&C calls for now," he replied.
"That's not very good for business, you know, Clark," Lois remarked, as all the while they were jogging towards the entrance to the ER. "But I understand. It sounds like this 'Lord Nor' guy could cause all of us some real problems."
"I just hope that Lex believes me. Where did they go, anyway?"
"Her companion – that Lieutenant guy – took out a gadget and they went – poof! – right in front of my eyes," Lois stated. "Cool device. I want one."
"Your birthday's coming up, Lois," Clark said, smiling broadly, as they arrived at the main door. "I'll get one for you! See you at home later?"
"Hope so, Smallville. This may take all night."
A kiss good-bye later, and Clark, in his official Superman garb once again, was flying determinedly towards LFSR.
Chapter Fifteen
Jason Trask entered Gate 12 at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, having just flown several hours from Metropolis. He was determined to have it out with his former neighbors, the Kents, once and for all. After all, if he couldn't blackmail Luthor, perhaps he could get to him through the parents of his best friend and apparently resident alien, Clark "Superman" Kent. He waited for the shuttle bus to arrive to take him to the nearest rental car company, mulling over his plan of attack.
An hour later, he was driving north on Interstate 335, heading towards Smallville. The traffic was sparse and it was nearing dusk. Suddenly Trask was shocked to see several figures standing on the highway blocking his way. Trying to swerve to avoid them to no avail, he finally pulled over to the side of the road to see what the lunatics wanted. A man dressed in a light-colored jumpsuit approached him, while his companions waited some distance away.
"Jason Trask? I am Lord Nor of New Krypton. My surveillance of you has indicated that you are someone I should speak to. You are the man that has been seeking out intelligent life across the galaxy?"
"Who the hell are you?" Trask bellowed. Next thing he knew, Nor had jacked him up in the air. He looked down and both their feet were dangling several inches off the ground. He gulped. "You and your men must be the rest of Superman's invasion force! I told everyone you would be coming!"
"No one speaks to me that way, earthling! If you value your life, you'll listen to what I have to say without interruption," Nor instructed. "This Superman you speak of is from the House of El, and we are sworn enemies."
That brought a smile to Jason Trask's face. "Excellent. I'm listening. Please, do continue."
~~~~~
Clark arrived at the LFSR facility and spotting Lex in his office/lab, flew directly in his window. "Lex! There's been a development!"
Lex spun around in his chair, looking extremely relieved to see his old friend's face. "Clark! Thank God you're here. Trask has disappeared and he knows you're Superman."
"How did *that* happen?" Clark asked, a queasy feeling overcoming him.
"I overheard him telling someone to get the stash of Kryptonite out of storage. When I confronted him about it, and starting defending you, he just looked at me – and guessed. I suppose that my facial expression and passion for the good name of Superman betrayed me," Lex admitted quietly. "I am so sorry, Clark. Trask was all worked up because apparently there are UFOs on the radar and –"
"I know, Lex. The visitors are from a place called 'New Krypton' – two of them already came to visit me. The majority of them are good people but unfortunately one of their rogue leaders wants to take over earth and I’m sure he's going to seek out Trask for assistance, since they intercepted some of the signals he's been sending out, in his search for alien life."
Lex's eyes widened. "And they have your powers?"
"They will soon, as soon as their bodies have absorbed enough solar radiation. This is a nightmare, Lex. There are more of them than me. I won't be able to control them. For the first time in my life, I'm *really* scared – I'm worried about Mom and Dad and Lois."
Lex nodded his head in total agreement. "Trask will spin this his own perverted way – he's always said that you were the front man for an alien invasion force. It won't take much to scare the bejesuses out of the general public as well."
"I've spent all these years building up my reputation as someone who's just here to help, and now it could be all torn down by the likes of Jason Trask," Clark said, sighing. "When did he disappear, Lex?"
"Well, after our argument, he stormed out. No one's seen him for hours. I sent someone to check his apartment, and there was no answer."
"I'm going to fly to Smallville to check on Mom and Dad. Maybe they'll be willing to come back to Metropolis with me. I want to keep everyone together. Do you want me to check on your Aunt Lena also?" Clark asked.
Lex's face brightened. "Better yet, Clark, why don't I go with you? I haven't been back to Smallville to visit her in a while."
"Sure. Grab your coat. When I carry a passenger I do fly more slowly than usual, but it gets cold in the upper atmosphere – at least that's what Lois tells me," Clark explained, with a grin.
Within moments, the two men disappeared into the night sky.
~~~~
"So I must eliminate Kal-El so I will be the rightful ruler of New Krypton," Lord Nor finished explaining to Trask. "Lady Zara will be my bride, and the merger of our families will give me great power."
"Well there's only one thing that can kill him – but unfortunately, it will probably affect you as well. Kryptonite – a little souvenir from the old home planet," Trask sneered. "I have a huge supply of it at my disposal, by the way."
"This 'Kryptonite' doesn't affect earthlings in any way?"
"Nope. I've been around it a lot – no effect at all," Trask replied. "Superman – your 'Kal-El' – has several other weaknesses besides Kryptonite. They're called his wife, his dear friends, and his parents. He'd do anything to protect them from harm."
"Come with me, Jason Trask – we need to plan. The sun has set, I will absorb no more solar radiation today. We shall return to my quarters and strategize," Nor advised. He walked towards several other men, similarly dressed, who had been waiting for him patiently. As soon as Trask joined them, they were enveloped in a ray of light, and disappeared, soon reappearing in a New Kryptonian space ship in orbit around earth's moon.
~~~~~
Clark dropped Lex off at his Aunt's home and continued onwards to the Kent farm. His folks were 'early to bed, early to rise' type of people, but he hoped they would still be up. He was in luck. It turned out that his mother had gotten hooked on a nighttime soap drama called "The Ivory Tower". Jonathan had attempted to keep Martha company but was doing the 'head bob', dozing off on the couch. Clark entered the house through the underground tunnel he had long ago constructed, and the vibration in the basement caused by their flying son's arrival woke Jonathan out of his stupor.
"Clark? Is that you, son?" he called out.
Within seconds, Clark was standing in the living room with them, dressed in his farm civvies – plaid shirt, jeans, and work boots. "Yeah, Dad, it's me. Hi Mom – oops -sorry, I can see you're really into this show, huh? Lois watches it too, when she's not working, which is pretty rare these days."
"Oh, it's a rerun honey," Martha replied, taking the remote and shutting off the TV. "What brings you here? It must be important to come this time of night."
"Yeah, it really is," Clark admitted. "It looks like Jason Trask finally got what he always wanted. Apparently there were some survivors of the planet Krypton, and two of them paid me a visit. They were friendly and relatively harmless, but apparently there's another faction that wants to take over the earth. Mom… Dad… they soon will be have the same abilities I have, after they have absorbed sufficient solar radiation. They'll be unstoppable. I'm worried, and so is Lex," Clark disclosed, looking down at his feet. "I don't think you're safe here. Trask knows I'm Superman."
Jonathan, who had always despised Jason Trask, exploded. "How did he found out, Clark? Who told him? How the hell did this happen? Other than us, only Lois, Lana, Pete, Lex and Hank know about your secret!"
"Unfortunately… Lex himself kind of gave it away. Apparently he caught Trask on the phone arranging to have a stash of Kryptonite delivered to him. He was ranting on and on about how I was the front man for an alien invasion force and that UFOs were circling the earth. Lex felt compelled to defend me, and from the passion in his eyes, Trask guessed that Lex's best friend – me – is Superman. Lex never was a good liar."
Martha and Jonathan grew silent. "We always knew that the more people that were aware of your dual identity, the greater the chance that it would someday be compromised. I never thought that it would your very best friend, though," Jonathan said in a somber tone of voice. "Where's that bastard Trask now?"
"Not sure. He disappeared after his run-in with Lex. I'm afraid that he is heading for Smallville. After all, the best way to get to me, besides using the Kryptonite on me, is to hurt my loved ones, now that he knows who I really am."
Martha's eyes were welling up with tears. "Honey, we don't want to leave our home."
Jonathan walked over to his wife and draped his arm over her shoulder. "Neither do I, Martha. But if Clark thinks we'd be safer elsewhere, we should listen to him."
~~~~~
TBC
