Kara was still too weak by half.
They managed to get her out of the room with the kryptonite cage, but without sunlight, she was still mercilessly feeling the effects after such a long exposure. At least now she was able to walk.
“Where are we?” she asked, as they aimlessly wandered the long corridors, one after another, whose sterile halls looked like they could belong to any government facility on the planet. The power was still out, but their way was lit by emergency service lights at the turns and by emergency exits.
“We’re under the Pentagon,” Oliver said. “But Washington was hit directly by a missile. It’s chaos above us, and who knows where Luthor is.”
“A missile? Who attacked Washington?” Kara asked.
“The Russians… Lex really stirred up some past aggressions,” Oliver explained, clearly dismayed.
Cyborg glanced up at the cameras, even though with the electricity off, there wasn’t likely to be anyone watching them. “He may know we’re here, especially if someone saw us before the blast hit. It’s only a matter of time anyway. Unless we find a way out, we are probably sitting ducks.”
“Let’s hope Boy Scout gets his memories back… “ AC chimed in.
Oliver turned to Kara, with a skeptical glance. “Kara, if we find Lex, can you stop Brainiac with that—crystal of yours?” he asked, waggling his fingers in the direction of her necklace.
Kara nodded, “Yes, it will send him to the Phantom Zone. But I really need sunlight first to rejuvenate… and we have to find Brainiac.”
“Right. Then let’s keep moving.”
~\S/~
Lois debated driving into Metropolis. She knew that there was likely panic starting to set in across the country, but if she went into the city, she could at least have more resources at her disposal and actually do something instead of pace worriedly at the farmhouse…
She turned to the TV, seeing that the whole east coast was being evacuated inland.
Luthor was getting ready to speak and she knew they were preparing for war.
“…as Luthor makes his way to the podium… ‘My fellow Americans, this is a day we have all feared would come to pass, but there is nothing we can do, but to act against this aggression… As of this moment, our nuclear arms are being prepared to be launched at a moment’s notice…”
Lois put the TV on mute, horrified.
This was nuclear war. This was the end… there was no way back from this.
The world would never be the same again.
~\S/~
Clark landed at the farmhouse, anticipation rising up within him at the thought of seeing Lois again. He had practically abandoned her, and yet she had waited for him, even after all this time. She had learned of his secret and had tried to understand him, hadn’t run from who he was. He owed her so much, and he felt love for her swell up in his heart in gratitude.
As he stepped into the kitchen, he saw her on the sofa, her hand over her mouth as she stared at a silent TV. He came over to her, quietly, seeing that she was utterly distraught.
He saw Lex on the television screen, and read the news scroll across the bottom: “The US may respond to missile strike with nuclear force,” and he understood Lois’ unease.
His joy of a moment ago from having regained his memories evaporated under the reality of what Luthor had brought on the world.
Luthor would destroy them all. If Clark had remained on Earth, would any of this have happened? Could he have stopped Lex from becoming president, from Brainiac getting control of the highest office in the land? Clark always knew that Lex was a threat, but he never imagined he would take it this far… And yet Clark couldn't stop from asking himself whether the cause was Brainiac, or the evil that Clark had at times suspected lain within Lex.
He dragged his eyes away from the screen as he heard a whimpering cry coming from Lois. She had not yet seen him, too shocked by what she was watching on the television. But he could see tears on her cheeks.
“Lois,” he breathed out, sitting beside her on the sofa.
She turned to him, her eyes bright with tears, in shock. “Cl…aark?”
He took her instantly in his arms, comforting her. “I’m here, Lois… I’m back. I’m sorry…” he said into her hair as he pulled her closer. “Sorry for everything.”
She pulled out of his embrace to look at him. “Did… did it work?” she asked, still too overwhelmed to get out a coherent thought.
He nodded. “Yeah… but, I’m afraid it all might be too late,” he said sadly, glancing over his shoulder at the television. “I should never have left Earth.” He turned back to her, moving a lock of hair off her face. “I should never have left you,” he said, softer, with regret in his voice.
“Jor-El restored your memory,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his hand on her cheek, indulging in one moment in the comfort he offered. Then, she wiped her eyes and looked at him, steadily. “Clark. This isn’t the end. It can’t be the end. We have to do something, anything. We can’t give up,” she said, standing. “I’m going to Metropolis. I’ll go to the Planet and –“
“Lois? What good would that do? Stay here, where you’ll be safe,” he said, but as soon as the words left his lips, he knew that she wouldn’t stay put.
She couldn’t.
It was one of the things that infuriated him about her.
And one of the things he loved most about her.
“You have to go to Washington, Clark. People there need you. Kara is there… I know the team is trying to locate Luthor and Brainaic. Kara has the crystal. It’s the only way to stop Brainiac and try to rein in this madness…”
“All right,” he said. “But first things first.”
Suddenly, he pulled her into his embrace, his heart full of the time he had spent away from her, and imperatively he felt the need for her to understand that.
“I never forgot you, Lois,” he said, then stopped, shaking his head.”I mean before the memory loss.. I thought of you every day on New Krypton, and in the Phantom Zone… You’re what got me through,” he whispered, his lips near her cheek.
Her eyes were bright, though a tremulous smile played on her lips. “And you’re what got me through three years… without you… Smallville,” she said quietly.
He leaned in and kissed her, making a promise and asking for forgiveness at once. “We’ll find a way, Lois.”
She nodded, tears once more slipping down her cheeks. “I know,” she said. “Now go. The world needs you…”
His eyes took her in once more, imprinting the memory indelibly of how strong and wonderful she was. He couldn’t believe he had ever forgotten what she meant to him.
“I’ll find you,” he said, and then left in a sweep of wind.
~\S/~
Clark arrived in Washington within moments.
The city was in chaos, a complete disaster. The missile had struck somewhere between the National Mall and Capitol Hill, setting ablaze several square miles around the city. People were panicking, and trying to head to the suburbs – or at least head west, and away from the coast. A city which is notorious for bad rush hour traffic had back-ups for miles. No one seemed to be going anywhere. Perhaps it was illogical, but the threat had come from the east and people were growing desperate to escape whatever might follow, or to at least make the effort of escaping.
With his super breath, Clark cooled the worst of the fires, ducking in damaged buildings when he could hear cries for help. He assisted where he could, but he knew he had to find Kara and the others.
He left his family crest burned in a few places, wanting to try and give the people a bit of hope that the Blur was back. Though he worried about how much he could really do, especially in face of the threat of nuclear war. His biggest chance was to stop Lex, to use the crystal to send Brainaic away. But could he do all of that before it was too late?
Clark scanned Capitol Hill, wondering about his mother’s safety. But the underground bunker was made of lead. The building was empty, and he simply had to trust that she was safe… He made himself a promise to come back and look for her if he could.
He remembered before Chloe had left that she had mentioned the Pentagon. Could that be where Luthor had Kara?
Clark super sped across the city to the Pentagon.
When he reached the area, he could see a corner of the building had been struck by some debris from the original blast. The building didn’t seem to have any power.
He sped in, busting through a security door. The building was mostly dark, and all the government personnel appeared to have evacuated. He knew that Luthor wouldn’t have Kara in an easily found place – she must be hidden, on a lower level somewhere.
Quickly, Clark ran around the building, looking for an access point to below the main levels. At last, he came to the damaged corridor from the blast, and saw that a security elevator was blocked. Were there stairs somewhere? Clark began climbing over the debris, when he thought he heard a voice.
It was barely a whimper, but Clark turned and saw a man pinned under a large filing cabinet. He was dressed in a uniform, possibly a security officer.
The man seemed barely conscious, but Clark rushed over and easily lifted the cabinet off the man’s leg.
“Are you all right?” Clark asked, helping the man up.
The older man looked at Clark with a stunned expression for a moment, and then nodded, still unable to speak.
“You need to get that leg looked at,” Clark suggested. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”
The man shook his head, finding his voice at last. “No—I, uh—what are you doing here, son?”
“I’m looking for a friend… Do you know a way down to the lower secure levels?”
The man nodded. “Yeah. You’ll have to get through that debris, but it’s on the other side of the hallway.”
Clark turned to leave. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
The man smiled. “You just saved my life. I’ll be fine. Now go save whoever you’re looking for.”
Clark smiled back and then quickly set to work moving debris out of his way to get to the stairwell.
~\S/~
Lois somehow made it into Metropolis.
The city was evacuating, all heading towards Smallville, and only her press pass got her into the city. They were in Kansas, in the middle of the country. Were they really threatened way out here?
But it seemed that panic had set in, as local authorities suggested that all major cities be evacuated in case they became targets.
In the back of everyone’s mind was the fact that Luthor and the Russians were getting ready to play with nuclear weapons. It would be very difficult for anyone to outrun a nuclear bomb.
The Planet was mostly empty, though there were a few die-hard reporters still trying to cover the events. The TVs all carried coverage from CNN and Lois caught a few of the headlines before beginning to write her own piece.
The headlines were terrifying, as nuclear war loomed eminent. She didn’t want to regurgitate the fear in her piece, though. There would be enough reporters doing that.
She had to offer the world a little bit of hope. One short blurb on CNN had reported that the Blur’s symbols had been spotted in the nation’s capitol.
Lois knew she had her story.
She would let the world know that the Blur was back...
The office was quiet, though many were working, and no wonder. A world on the eve of destruction would put anyone on edge.
Lois sat down at her desk, surprised to see her hands shaking. She took out the picture of her and Clark, smoothed out its wrinkles and set it by her computer screen, taking a steadying breath.
Clark was back. Somehow, everything would work out. They’d get through this…
They had to.
She turned on her computer and started typing…
“The Return of the Blur.”
~\S/~
Under the Pentagon, the hallways were narrower and darker. They seemed like an endless labyrinth, and Clark was unsure if he was going in circles or making progress around the building.
He started to grow doubtful that he was at the right place. Perhaps he had misheard Chloe, or she hadn’t had the right information. These halls were all empty and there were people out on the street that needed his help…
Clark was about to turn to go, when his superhearing picked up voices.
He turned down another corridor, and saw his cousin, Oliver, Cyborg, and AC, heading in his direction.
He could see that Kara was weak, the way she was hunched over and leaning on Oliver for support. Even in this dim light, he could tell that she was ill.
“Kara!” he called down the echoing hallway, and she glanced up, a smile on her face.
“Kal-El!”
Clark rushed to her and gave her a hug. “What did Lex do to you?” he asked, feeling how weak she was in his arms.
“We found her in a cell made of kryptonite,” Oliver answered, a guarded look on his face.
Clark turned to him, and could see anger on Oliver’s features that he didn’t quite understand.
“Thank you for rescuing her,” Clark offered guardedly. “What’s your plan now?”
“Nice of you to show up, finally. Now that the world is about to fall down around our ears,” Oliver spat bitterly.
“Oliver… You know that I had no choice. But I’m back now—We’ll stop Lex.”
Oliver nodded, still angry. “Perhaps. But what about Russia? And the rest of the world who is angry at what Lex has done? You can’t save the whole world now, Clark! If you hadn’t left—“ he stopped himself.
Clark put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Oliver. I’m here now…. Let’s just work together and save the day, like we used to, okay?” he said with a tentative smile.
Oliver nodded stiffly and Clark let him go.
AC stepped forward and shook Clark’s hand. “Good to see you, Boy Scout. Any idea how to find Lex?”
“The building above is nearly empty. No doubt Lex is in a secret location somewhere. Let’s just get out of here so Kara can get some sunlight and we can see what’s going on above,” Clark said, leading the way.
Oliver hung back a second, shaking his head. “It’s not always possible to save the world, you know.”
The group stopped and turned to look at him.
“These events have been building up for a while… this may be it.”
Clark nodded, feeling a wave of guilt for having left in the first place, seeing the results of his absence. But he hadn't a choice -- he had had to stop Zod and the Kandorians... But now wasn’t the time to wallow in the past.
He was here, in the present.
And the world needed saving.
Clark looked Oliver in the eyes. “Then that means we don’t give up trying. Let’s go.”
~\S/~
Lois sent off her op-ed, publishing it on the Planet’s website, after receiving a memo that paper printing would go on hold until they got an all clear for civilians to return to the city.
Her message of hope was out there, at least.
It wasn’t a lot, but it was something.
She turned to the newsroom TVs as several reporters started gathering around.
“We have an unconfirmed launch of a nuclear weapon, heading to the northeastern United States, in retaliation of a nuclear bomb that the President has sent to Russia. I am on the line with a Russian translator who has worked at the American Embassy in Moscow. Erin Stryder, what can you tell us?”
“The Russian press have been told to keep a lid on the goings on, though there have been unconfirmed rumors coming out of the Kremlin that indeed, a nuclear weapon has been launched. The time frame is unclear, but it would reach the United States within the next eight hours.”
“Holy---this can’t be happening,” Lois said aloud, glancing at her fellow reporters who were watching the news just as anxiously. “First, there is no confirmation. So either they are going to panic the nation---“ she suddenly stopped, fear freezing her. “Did anyone catch the name of the translator?”
“Yeah, Erin Stryder. Why?” asked a junior reporter.
Lois went over to her computer and started digging in the archives and online. Anyone who works for the US government could be found in a database provided to the press. Questioning the TV reporter’s skills at vetting sources, Lois searched the database for an Erin Stryder.
No one by that name was found. She typed in a few variations of spelling, just to be sure, but nothing came up.
Could it be Brainiac? Saying the Russians were sending a nuclear bomb would give Luthor the go-ahead to launch a retaliatory strike against them.
Was this all a ploy to launch them into Armageddon?
Lois jumped out of her chair, grabbing her purse, to head off to Watchtower.
She needed a more sophisticated database.
~\S/~
“Wait,” Clark said, as they reached the main level. He blurred away and came back a few seconds later, carrying an injured man. “I couldn’t leave him. I’ll take him to a hospital and meet you outside.”
“Fine, go be a hero,” Oliver said dismissively.
Clark blurred away as the team began the task of working through the Pentagon’s labyrinth to find an exit.
“Why are you being so hard on him?” Cyborg asked.
“I guess… I just can’t forgive him for leaving us. And maybe…” Oliver sighed. “Maybe I feel guilty that we couldn’t stop this from happening without him.”
“It might have happened even if Clark had stayed on Earth,” Kara said. “You can’t look to the past, Oliver. We have to think about the future.”
“If we have a future,” he answered despondently.
They wandered a while, seemingly deep in the building, as it was even difficult to find a room with a window.
“Let’s just find our way out of here and take it one thing at a time, okay?” Cyborg suggested.
Oliver nodded, but the distraught worry never left his features.
Clark blurred back just as he team found an exit.
People were still panicking in the streets around them, and traffic was a nightmare as people were rushing to evacuate the city.
Kara stepped forward, ignoring the chaos around them for a moment as she closed her eyes and basked in the sunlight.
“OK, now what?” Oliver asked. “How are we going to track down Lex?”
“Is Chloe at Watchtower?” Clark asked.
“Yeah, I talked to her before we headed into the Pentagon. But she had no confirmation on a location as to where Lex would be.”
Clark chewed on that thought a moment. “He’d want to go somewhere secret, and secure… he’s not likely to head off to other presidential getaways… Do you think he went back to Smallville?”
Oliver shrugged. “Could be, but we’re losing time.”
“Kara and I can be to Smallville and back quicker than anyone. You stay here and help, and see if you hear anything about the president’s whereabouts. My mom is somewhere under Capitol Hill. Maybe head there. She might know something.”
Oliver looked doubtful, but nodded.
“Oliver, we’ll get through this. We’ll stop Lex and Brainiac.”
“Sure… See you guys later. Let’s get moving,” Oliver answered, without looking at Clark.
~\S/~
Lois was dodging cars and other pedestrians, making a beeline to Watchtower. Chloe might know more than she could find on the archives. The phone towers were jammed, and Lois couldn’t get a call out, though she kept trying.
Miraculously, Watchtower still had power and Lois was able to get inside without any difficulty.
“Lois! What are you doing here? I thought you’d still be in Smallville!” her cousin cried, greeting her with a hug.
“You know me. I can never stay put for long.”
“And what about Clark?”
“He’s back, Chloe. All of him," Lois answered with a smile. "Jor-El did it. I handed Clark the key to the caves and he – just disappeared. But he came back a while later, and remembered everything.”
Chloe sighed with dismay, surprising Lois after this good news. “Well, it may be too late, even for him. A nuclear bomb has been sent to Russia, to counter strike the one that is theoretically headed our way.”
“Theoretically? Then you didn’t trust the Russian source, either?”
Chloe shook her head, heading over to the computer console. “No… And I did some digging. In the ten years of files I’ve been able to look through, not one Erin Styider has shown up working for the Embassy. I think it’s Brainiac.”
“I thought so, too. It’s why I came by, to see what Watchtower could dig up… I just feel so – useless, you know? I wrote an op-ed telling the world the Blur is back in business, but what good will it do?”
“You know what it will do, Lois. It will give the world some hope.”
Lois smiled slightly. “Yeah, that was sort of the point. But now what? We sit around and wait for the end of the world?” Lois said despondently.
“Hardly. I’ve heard from Ollie. They found Kara, and the rest of the team is in Washington, searching for Lex. I’ve been trying to hack into top secret government cameras all across Washington to learn what happened. So far, I’ve only managed a few in the Pentagon and one on Capitol Hill,” she said, gesturing to a screen behind her. “I’m hoping to find Lex. Though Clark and Kara are headed to Smallville – they think Lex headed home.”
“Then maybe that’s where I should be headed, too,” Lois said, starting for the door.
“Lois, wait! It’s dangerous out there. Metropolis is a mad house. You may not even make it to Smallville.”
“I have to try, Chloe. I have to do something. I can’t just sit here and watch all this happen from a distance. Maybe I’ll get a story along the way, if we live through this. Or maybe, I can be there with Clark if it all does end,” she said quietly.
Chloe gave her a sad, small smile. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Lois ran over and gave her cousin a hug. “I hope it doesn’t either. But Chloe, love you.”
“Love you too, Lo. Stay safe out there.”
