-1 hour, 17 minutes
Clark set off the alarm as he sped into the building. He hoped the other team members had managed to shut down the control panel. The building was now dark, which was perfect to give him cover.
He found the archive room where his mom was being held with the other Congress members. Clark supersped in and took all the weapons from the armed guard, leaving a door open and calling out “This way” to help lead the hostages to safety.
Clark took some rope to tie up Teague’s men, though he didn’t intend to leave them down here.
People started panicking in the dark, and were tripping over each other to head towards the exit. A few started using their cell phones as impromptu flashlights, and they soon organized a line to find the way out. Clark scanned the crowd, looking for his mother, and keeping an eye out for Ryan Teague.
He saw Martha come through the door, and he pulled her aside, startling her. She jumped, but then breathed a sigh of relief as Clark whispered, “It’s me.”
She hugged him tightly. “Clark! Oh, Clark, I know we’ll make it, now that you’re here.”
“Mom, I need to find Ryan Teague. It’s Brainiac. I have to use the crystal to stop him, and send him to the Phantom Zone.”
She shook her head. “He left us a while ago. He must be somewhere in the building.”
“Mom, go with the others. Get to safety. I’ll find him.”
“Wait, Clark!” she called to him.
“What is it?”
“Th—there’s a nuclear bomb. Heading to the east coast. Teague told us about it almost an hour ago.”
Clark stepped towards her, laying his hand on her shoulder. “How much time do we have?”
“About an hour,” she answered in an urgent, low voice.
The muscle in Clark’s jaw ticked in dismay. “I’ll stop it… somehow.”
“Clark – be careful,” she said fearfully, then turned in the dark, to follow the group as they made their way out of the building.
-1 hour, 6 minutes
As soon as everyone was out of the building, Clark looked for Oliver and the others. He found them standing outside the building with Kara, nearby where they had started the mission.
“Did you learn anything about where Teague may be hiding?” Clark asked.
Oliver nodded grimly. “Yeah, the White House.“
Clark sighed. “We may have an even bigger problem.”
“What’s that?” AC asked.
“The bomb. It’s closer than we thought. We have about an hour to stop it.”
“How the hell are we going to do that, Clark” Oliver asked.
“I don’t know… but we can’t sit around here discussing it. We need to stop Brainiac first.”
~\S/~
-54 minutes
Josie and her five-year old brother Kevin were hungry.
Mom hadn’t come back from the store, and they were alone in the house when they heard the crash outside.
“What was that?” Kevin asked.
Josie ran to the window. “It looks like a car accident.”
“Can I see?”
Josie lifted her little brother to the window. “I still can’t see,” he complained, getting down. He ran over to the front door.
“Kevin! You know Mom said to wait inside.”
Kevin looked guilty a moment, clutching his favorite worn teddy bear under his chin, but opened the door anyways.
He glanced at his older sister, and then darted out the door.
“Kevin! Come back!” Josie cried. She was only two years older than her brother, but she felt responsible for him.
“She hurt!” Kevin cried from where the car had stopped in front of their house.
Josie ran over to see what he saw. Inside the car was a woman, with a huge gash on her head. Her eyes were closed, and Josie was afraid she was dead.
Kevin climbed up into the woman’s lap. “She has a big ouchy,” he said, leaning on the woman’s chest.
Josie could see the chest moving, which she hoped meant the woman as alive. She knew they had to help her.
“Kevin, come with me,” she said, forcefully, dragging him out of the car.
“But she hurt!” he cried, pointing back at the woman.
“Yes, I know. We’ll call 911. Remember how Grannie taught us?”
Kevin nodded, his eyes wide with understanding.
They went back into the house, and Josie dialed 911.
The operator came on and Josie tried to tell the lady that someone was hurt outside her house. But the operator told her that there were no more emergency vehicles available to bring people to the hospital. She asked if her mom or dad was around and if they could help the woman.
“No. We’re all alone. Me and my brother,” Josie said, getting scared.
She saw Kevin pull down some toilet paper and began wrapping his bear’s head in a place similar to where the woman was hurt.
“I’m sorry, kid,” the operator said. “Good luck.”
Josie hung up and came over to her little brother. “I’m going to get Mom’s First Aid kit. We’ll help her, if no one else will.”
~\S/~
-43 minutes
Clark and Kara sped over to the White House, knowing they’d have a better chance of getting in than the rest of the team.
Oliver stayed behind, trying to reestablish contact with Watchtower to locate Impulse and to see if Chloe knew where Lois was.
Knowing they were running out of time and that there were no hostages in the White House, they wasted no time getting inside.
Alarms were immediately set off, but Clark and Kara had found their target. Teague was in the Oval Office – and so was Lex.
“You never give up, do you?” Lex said, clearly amused.
“It’s not in my nature,” Clark answered, before speeding over to Teague where he lifted the Crystal towards him. A look of horror crossed the man’s features, and a grayish, ghost like figure of Brainiac lifted out of the man and was sent away in an instant by the Crystal’s power.
Ryan Teague himself slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Clark turned back to Lex. “Stop the bomb. Now,” he demanded.
Lex gave him a lazy smile in answer. “Wow, as impressive as that little display was, I can’t, Clark… You will have to find another way to save us all,” he said, an unhinged, deprecating tone in his voice.
Clark glanced at Kara. “You can’t fly yet,Clark…,” she whispered. “I can try to divert it but---I“
“No, it’s too dangerous…”
Lex interrupted. “You know, it’s really cute, you two, trying to save the world. Give up, Clark. You missed your opportunity to stop me.” Lex walked over to Clark, standing almost toe to toe with him. “You can’t save the world, and you couldn’t save me,” Lex whispered. “You see—the bomb heading to the eastern seaboard isn’t the only one… there are three. One is heading to central Europe and another is heading to Australia. So what will it be, Clark? Who you gonna save now?”
Clark looked at Lex in horror, but quickly turned to his cousin. “You bring me the bomb heading to the States—“
“But the others?”
Clark shook his head. “I don’t know… but we’ve got to try.”
~\S/~
-31 minutes
Oliver finally reached Chloe after almost thirty minutes of trying. The cell towers were jammed up all around the country as people tried to reach their loved ones.
"How are things on your end?"
“Metropolis is panicking, Oliver. The streets are jammed up with people wanting to leave the city. There’s conflicting information on the news. I think some people believe a bomb may be headed here—“
“All I know is there’s one heading to the east coast. Just stay there, Chloe.”
“I intend to.”
“Do you know where Lois is?”
“No. I lost cell communication with her over an hour ago. She said she was headed to Smallville. She’s probably stuck in traffic.”
“Can you locate her with GPS?”
Oliver could almost hear the smile in her voice. “Thanks to helpful technology of Queen Industries, I can… Just give me a sec.”
Oliver heard some fast keyboard typing and waited.
“Oh no, Ollie… She’s in Edge City. And it looks like she’s been there a while.”
“OK. I’ll tell Clark as soon as we see him. You stay put, okay? We may need Watchtower again and I—well, I just feel better knowing you’re there.”
“Don’t worry, Ollie. I’ll be here.”
“OK.”
Chloe hesitated. “Love you.”
Oliver smiled, then breathed a slight sigh of relief. “Love you, too.”
~\S/~
-26 minutes
Clark stood on the shoreline of South Carolina, the choppy water below him and a dark sky above him, waiting for Kara. A storm was coming into the area, though it seemed more of an omen of what awaited them in the near future.
He couldn’t help but feel guilty. He had left Earth, thinking he was saving it, but in reality, his absence had caused all of this. Even getting rid of this bomb, with three other bombs out there—the world would be changed forever.
If he had stayed on Earth, could he have stopped this all from coming to pass?
He saw Kara approaching the shoreline, the huge bomb making her look like a red and blue bird flying under it. With their combined strength, they could toss it far enough into space so that it wouldn’t hurt anyone.
“Ready, Kal-El?” she called, some several hundred feet away.
She couldn’t stop its speed, but the momentum of the bomb’s speed combined with their strength would actually be to their advantage.
Clark crouched down, getting ready to do a super jump as Kara came nearer.
“Now!” she called, and he released, propelling himself into the air. He grabbed on to the bomb, and could feel its directional pull towards its target.
“Let’s do this,” Clark called over the wind to his cousin.
“Ready?” she shouted, and he nodded in answer.
“Three, two—“ and they pushed the bomb up and away from the earth’s shore, up into space in a matter of seconds.
Clark floated for a few seconds, but his human inclination to believe that flight was impossible soon kicked in, and he tumbled to the ground, hitting the Earth with a large thud.
Kara floated smoothly above him. “You’ll get the hang of it someday, Kal-El.”
“Someday will be too late,” he said despondently, getting to his feet and brushing off the dirt.
“How can I save the others? We’re running out of time… I’m going back to the team to see what they’ve learned…”
Clark sped off, feeling the weight of time and guilt on his shoulders. He saved the United States, but the rest of the world was still in danger.
Clark landed by Oliver, who was checking something on his phone. They had set up a mini-base in one of the abandoned buildings near the White House. Cyborg was working on a small laptop computer.
“There are three more bombs,” Cyborg announced, glancing up from his keyboard. “They’ll land any minute now…”
“I know… I… I’ve failed,” Clark said.
Oliver laid a hand on his shoulder. “You didn’t fail. You saved the US. That was no small feat, Clark. But Clark—there’s something you should know.”
“What?”
“Lois—she’s missing. Well, sort of. Chloe found her car though it hasn’t moved in over an hour.”
“Is she in traffic?” Clark asked, afraid to think something had happened to her.
Oliver shook his head. “She’s in the middle of a neighborhood in Edge City.”
“Tell me what street.”
~\S/~
-19 minutes
Clark sped to Edge City in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t think about the bombs about to explode around the world in a matter of minutes. He couldn’t think about how he had failed to protect Earth from its worst foes. He couldn’t think about how everything would change, would be different forever—all because he had thought that leaving the Earth was the best way to save it.
All he could think though, at this moment, was finding Lois.
Without her, there would be no future for him anyway.
He spotted her car and sped over. She was lying, unconscious against the window, her head oddly bandaged in what looked like an ace bandage.
He carefully opened the door, and x-rayed her, looking for damage. Her spine seemed okay, though she had a huge concussion on the left side of her head.
Carefully, he reached to cup her face. “Lois? I’m sorry…”
“Sorry for what, mister?” said a sleepy voice from behind the driver’s seat.
Clark noticed for the first time, two little kids, cuddled up in Lois’ backseat, a First Aid kit propped up between them.
The boy reached around and patted Lois’ shoulder. “Sissy fixed her,” he said proudly.
“Sissy” was curled up asleep.
“Do you know what happened?” Clark asked, thinking quickly about how long Lois had been knocked out. He needed to get her to a hospital…
“There was a crash. The lady got hurt. But sissy fixed her.”
A woman’s voice was suddenly calling from across the street.
“Kevin! Josie! Where are you?” she called, panic beginning to rise in her voice.
“Are you Kevin?” Clark asked.
The boy nodded.
Clark waved to the woman. “I think they’re over here.”
The woman came running over, tears running down her cheeks. “Kids, what are you doing out here? I told you I would be right back—“ she stopped when she saw Lois. “What happened?”
Clark started pulling Lois from the car, rethinking his plan to go to the hospital. “A car accident. But your kids tried to help.”
The woman smiled, as her son crawled out of the car and clung to her leg. “Shh… Sissy is still sleeping.”
“Thank you for finding them. I hope your—friend will be okay. If you need to use my phone—“
Clark shook his head. “No… I don’t think there’s time.”
He suddenly took off in a blur.
Kevin looked up at his mom, his eyes as big as saucers. “Did you see that, Momma?”
She nodded. “Yes… yes I did. I don’t believe it… but I saw it.”
~\S/~
-10 minutes
Clark had thought about taking Lois to the hospital, but he couldn’t wait around for them to work a miracle. He’d need to be around the world, in a matter of minutes, to try and help after the disasters of the bombs. He blamed himself for what was about to happen… and he couldn’t see how he could ever absolve himself from this disaster. He had intended on saving the world… how could he know that his absence would lead to its destruction?
No, he needed answers, and a solution. Clark sped off to the Fortress.
“Jor-El!” he called, Lois cradled close in his arms.
“Disaster will be upon the Earth, my son, in a matter of minutes,” Jor-El’s voice rumbled in answer.
“I cannot save them all… I ask… is there a way? Can you help Lois? Is there a way to stop the Earth from being destroyed?”
“You left the Earth, leaving the humans to their own devices. You left Lois, alone, despite her being your true match. You tried to stop Zod, but by abandoning the humans, you left them to this fate.”
“There has to be a way! There has to be something I can do!” Clark cried. “I cannot as yet fly, but even if I could – three bombs are set to go off around the world in a matter of minutes. It’s not self-doubt that I face you with now, it’s reality and uncertainty about the way forward.”
“If you never had left the Earth, Kal-El, you could have prevented this.”
“Why do you keep saying that? I can’t go back—“ he froze, realization and a cold fear hitting him. “Wait. Are you telling me I should go back in time? I could use the Legion ring…” he said, half to himself.
“If you use the ring, know that another sacrifice will be made. Fate may ask something of you that you are not prepared for.”
“I lost my father when I played with time before… and yet-- what awaits the earth now… I cannot abandon the humans to this fate.”
“Choose wisely, my son. Remember that I will be with you, no matter the journey.”
-7 minutes
Clark made it back to the farm in record time. Lois didn’t look well, and had barely stirred since he had found her in her car.
He set her down on the sofa in the loft, to look for the ring. Lois had returned it to the box.
When he found it, he opened it, suddenly hesitant. He held the ring, contemplating what Jor-El could have meant. Clark knew what changing time could do. The last time, it had cost him his father.
What would a change in time ask for this time?
He sat by Lois’ side, taking her hand. What if time took Lois away from him? Could he sacrifice her? Clark couldn’t bear the thought… yet time was ticking down for the whole planet. He thought about the months before he had left, and how he had deceived her, for her own protection. Yet he knew that his secrets had broken her heart, especially after his absence.
He wouldn’t leave her again. Whatever the sacrifice, do not let it be her…
He would ask the ring to take him back to the time before he had left with Zod and the Kandorians. He would find another way, or fate would. There had to be a way for him to remain on the earth while Zod was sent away from it…
He leaned down and kissed Lois’ forehead, still holding her hand. He prepared to slip on the ring. “Take me back. Take me back to the moment I lost her, the moment I had said good-bye…”
