[Chapter 12: Contact]'This is where you die, Kal-El. I have decided,' Ta'peel declared, lifting him from his neck as Ta'peel siphoned more and more power from his core.
Kal pulled at his aura to try one last assault, but there was nothing left. And then he felt himself yanked out his body and absorbed into Ta'peel, providing the monster with all that remained of his abilities.
'I'm going to enjoy this,' Ta'peel hissed gleefully.
The black shadows whirled around Kal as new fragments from the deceased rammed into him, bringing in fresh despair and pain from the outside world as he was given snapshots of the evil feast.
.
.
And then he was on the floor of the freezing factory once more. Confusion surged but was instantly secondary to the apprehension within him as he heard Rimma and Ta'peel approach.
He was still weak from their last feeding, but they didn't care. Their hands seized him, and he cried out as he was bashed with darkness once more.
.
.
Men, women, and children ran as the militaries of the world failed to stop Ta’peel as he progressed. City to city, country to country.
Kal wished he couldn’t see as he somehow continued to witness glimpses of Ta'peel's onslaught on the people of earth through his eyes.
'I told you this world would see my wrath!' Ta'peel gloated.
Rage consumed Kal, and he tried to rally within Ta’peel, but he knew it was useless. All was already lost.
The world twisted once again.
.
.
He was drowning. He couldn't breathe.
Nothing made sense. Where was he?
He heard people shouting, and despair filled him. Would their lives be consumed by Ta’peel soon?
He heard his mom, his dad. Lois. But he couldn’t understand them. They were too far away.
He had to get to them. He had to save them, before Ta’peel. . . .
And then he felt a hand on his shoulder, through the fabric.
It wasn’t human.
Thanks to his aura, he could feel the power just beneath the skin, sense the high density of the flesh that could only be of himself or those who had absorbed his life force.
He would end this now.
He somehow had his strength and he wasn’t going to let Ta’peel take it from him again.
Within a second, he gathered all the rage deep within himself, shoving his fear aside as he focused on the knowledge that, soon, the threat would be gone, one way or another.O o O
Clark was off the couch in an instant, but he had no idea what to do as he felt Kal’s aura rippling forth erratically in rage, pain, and fear. In the darkness, he saw Kal’s form trembling on the flimsy cot.
“Clark?” his mom called as the light came on above the stairs.
"What's going on?" Jonathan asked.
Kal’s aura continued to quaver.
“What’s wrong?” Lois asked, coming down the steps behind his parents.
“I don’t know!” Clark said, just as Kal let out a cry of distress and his aura around them suddenly condensed. "I think he's having a nightmare!"
“Kal! Wake up! You’re having a nightmare!” Lois tried.
He didn’t seem to respond so Clark went forward.
“Kal, wake up!” Clark said, bending down and placing his hand on his shoulder.
The moment he touched him, Clark knew he shouldn’t have, but it was too late.
Fear pulsed out, feeling as dense as physical water, but then a massive, concussive blast of rage roared against his entire frame like an eruption of lava.
And then there was movement.
Clark had never been moved by someone else so fast before.
He was twisted about and mercilessly forced down. His face landed hard on the floor. Had he been human his nose and cheekbone would have broken. As it was, the floorboard cracked.
But his ears didn't register it. Instead, all he heard was a sickening
'pop' at his shoulder as a flood of violent pain rushed down his arm and across his back. With a breathless yelp, he managed to turn, finding Kal's eyes ablaze with unparalleled fury glaring down right at him.
His right eye was red hot, while his left, which was normally covered by the patch, was searing white.
"Clark!"His mother's terrified cry pierced the air, and that, utterly, finally, was what reached Kal.
Kal released him as his eyes widened in shock and their glow of power instantly receded. The aura of rage instantly twisted into turbulent waves of horror a blink later.
"I'm sorry!" Kal gasped, immediately reaching forward again.
Before Clark could protest, Kal yanked his arm, expertly jolting his shoulder back into joint before he felt Kal's aura gush into him.
Clark gasped in shock, feeling the rejuvenating power melt away the remaining ache before it pulled back, apology and self-loathing thick within.
Kal then immediately clamored away, his breath labored and uneven. "I'm sorry! I thought I was–," he rasped. "I'm so sorry!"
Clark felt his mom and Lois rush to his side, but his eyes remained on Kal.
He couldn’t feel Kal’s aura anymore.
Kal was shaking, hugging himself, and Clark suspected it was from a mix of adrenaline and shock.
"Clark, are you okay?" Lois asked, carefully running her hands over him.
"I'm fine," he said.
"But your shoulder!" his mom protested. "I heard it."
"It's fine now, he healed it," he explained, not quite comprehending it all himself yet as Jonathan moved past him.
Cautiously, Jonathan approached Kal and crouched down an arm's reach away.
"Kal?" Jonathan asked gently, looking him in, for the first time, both eyes.
They all couldn’t help but stare at the strange, borderless iris of red and white surrounding a curved, diamond-shaped pupil.
Kal took a deep breath and tried to collect himself by straightening up, but his attempt failed miserably. His trembling worsened and his breathing refused to calm. He looked close to hyperventilating.
Jonathan tentatively reached out his hand and firmly grasped Kal’s shoulder as he got closer.
“Relax, son,” he said softly. “Your aura. Relax it.”
Kal startled at the command and stared at him in question.
“Relax,” Jonathan reiterated more firmly.
This time, Kal complied.
Clark froze at the sensations that passed over and through him.
Disorientation and shock was at the forefront, with lingering pain and anger humming in the background as apology and fear swam in and out.
No wonder Kal couldn't stop shaking!
And then Jonathan moved, pulling Kal to himself. Kal didn't resist, sagging into the embrace as his aura followed suit, shuddering slightly before surrendering.
Subtly, but unequivocally, Clark's father motioned them to leave the room.
At first, Clark was afraid Lois would protest, but then he realized she was helping his mom pull him up to his feet so they could leave the room faster. Shaking himself from the apparent daze he was in, he joined Lois and his mom as they walked out of the room.
With a glance back, he saw his dad patting Kal on the back and heard him muttering things he didn't let himself make out – especially as he could feel the skittish relief and heavy confusion seeping from Kal’s aura, teetering in and out of range like the heat from a flickering flame.
His dad had the situation well in hand, and he knew his mom and Lois wanted to make sure he was okay.
They went upstairs.
O o O o O
Lois took a deep breath and looked at the clock on Clark’s old desk.
8:23 am.
She could smell bacon cooking downstairs as she stretched.
She wasn’t quite sure what Jonathan and Kal had discussed or even done while she and Martha had taken Clark upstairs, but she trusted all was now well. She doubted Martha would have allowed them to go back to bed if it hadn’t been.
Admittedly, she was surprised she had managed to get back to sleep at all, let alone get the few hours she had obtained.
She got ready, trying not to think about the previous night’s . . . disruption because she didn’t know how to feel about it.
It had been scary, certainly.
In all of her life, she had never felt such intense emotion before – not just in power, but in breadth.
And his eyes. . . .
She had never seen Clark (as Superman, or as Clark for that matter) truly angry before, and had never imagined what it would be like.
But now she knew, his fury was terrifying.
And the fact Kal had hurt Clark, who was
Superman . . . it was beyond comprehension.
However, the thing that quelled her fear now was having witnessed what had followed after Martha's cry.
Kal had immediately stopped and set to correct what he had done, even as his emotions thrashed within himself.
She suspected that had required an insane amount of will to accomplish. She doubted she would have been able to do what he had. Even on her best days, her emotions got the better of her. Thinking about others while managing her feelings was just not possible.
With that last realization, Lois left the room and went downstairs, finding Kal and Clark sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hey," Clark said with a smile, standing up and moving around the table to her. "Ready for breakfast? Mom's almost done with the potatoes."
Martha turned and smiled, before returning to the pan.
"Yeah, that sounds good," she said, before glancing at Kal as they sat down.
He gave her a nervous, tentative smile. "Hi."
She felt his aura brush against her, and it was heavy with apology.
He really was like Clark, she realized. Of course he would feel super bad about the previous night. He had clearly been beating himself up over it.
"Hi," she said. "Are you . . . feeling better?"
She inwardly cringed at the awkwardness.
"Uh, yeah. Thanks," he said. "Sorry about last night."
"It wasn't your fault. Nightmares happen," she said. "And no real harm done."
Kal winced and she wanted to kick herself as she nervously glanced at Clark.
"Kal, really, I'm fine. And actually, it gave me a preview of what I might be able to one day do with my aura. As well as an understanding of the other side of things in general," he said honestly and consolingly.
Kal blinked, bemused. "So you're happy I dislocated your shoulder?"
"Well, maybe not
happy, but I think some good came from it."
Lois shook her head good-naturedly. "Only you. Well, I can see you saying something like that too," she added, looking at Kal.
Clark laughed. "Yeah, he would."
Lois looked back at Kal, her mind recalling how he had looked without his eyepatch.
Huddled on the floor.
What kind of nightmare can bring someone like Kal to the point he would lash out and be unable to differentiate between friend from foe?
They knew about the Parasites and that they were responsible for the damage to his eye, but he hadn't gone into detail of what exactly had transpired. Now she was wondering about the details, in large part so she could help prevent them from happening to Clark.
"You have questions?" Kal asked after a moment. It was barely a question though.
"How did you know?" Lois asked, surprised.
"You have that look. The determined, I'm-going-to-find-out-and-nothing-will-stop-me look," Kal explained.
"Oh, I thought you had felt something through your aura," Lois said.
"That helped a bit too, but I have more experience with your looks," Kal said with a sad smile, clearly missing his wife. "So . . . what do you want to know?"
And so Lois asked and he answered, summarizing his captivity with the Parasites, the subsequent worldwide efforts to rescue him, and Ta'peel's demise.
The Kents were appalled by what he had endured, but while the painful story had been hard to listen to, Lois could tell they were all taking mental notes. She could also tell, as difficult as it was for Kal to retell, it was therapeutic. His past suffering could help prevent future suffering. He was making it serve a purpose. With each detail he gave, she could feel tension leaving him and, what she could only conclude, peace filling him.
"How often do you have nightmares?" Martha gently asked after he had finished.
"Not as much as before, but last night was the worst. I've never . . . lashed out before, but, well. . . ." Kal glanced at Clark. "The Parasites had begun to take on my physical attributes, so when I felt Clark’s hand. . . ."
"You thought he was one of the Parasites?" Lois asked with dawning understanding.
Kal nodded. "Admittedly, if someone else had touched me, I doubt I would have responded the way I had."
Lois nodded. It certainly made sense.
The conversation then shifted, this time to the Foundation and the future. Lois smiled. Clark would be taking Kal up on his offer of watching over Earth so he could take a week off. He had decided to activate the crystal his mother had left him.
Lois quietly sighed as she looked at Clark.
How different would have things been if Kal had not appeared when he had? Would the world have discovered he was Superman when he failed to be hurt by Dillinger’s bullets?
Or would she be mourning Clark, believing him to be dead if he somehow managed to fake it?
Would he have faked it? Would he have been able to fake it?
What would he have done next? Would anyone else have been killed by Capone and his gang?
There were so many questions, and Lois was once again grateful. This time grateful she would never know the answers to those questions because they didn't matter.
She and Clark were together, and they were preparing for the future with the help of someone who had the advantage of having lived through at least a similar enough version of it.
Lois looked at Kal, pleased his aura seemed to have truly relaxed around them.
She truly hoped he would return to his home one day soon, though part of her selfishly hoped it would be after she and Clark had learned as much as they could from him.
Considering what had happened in his universe, they would need all the help they could get.
O o O o O
Clark smiled as he entered the Daily Planet. It was now approaching mid-December, and the last two weeks had been particularly busy – perhaps even more hectic than the weeks of investigating Luthor. However, they were far, far more enjoyable.
Two days ago, he had recovered from absorbing the knowledge stored in the crystal his birth mother had left him. At first, he had been a little nervous about it all, but now that it was done, he was so glad he had trusted Kal. He now knew Krypton’s history and had viewed a few memories of himself with his parents. A day’s long headache was a small price to pay for that.
The Treaty of El had been approved, and the signing ceremony would take place the following month. The world had been buzzing with the news, and talk of honoring Kal for everything he had done since his arrival had been at the forefront.
Kal took it all in stride, although admittedly that was the only thing he could really do. Doing anything else wouldn’t help anyone. Still, Clark couldn’t help but be impressed, even as he privately grew more and more concerned.
What if Kal never found a way home?
“Perry wants that article on the relocation of the homeless shelter by three,” Lois said as Clark came to her desk with her coffee.
“That’s fine. I got us an appointment with the shelter’s organizer at ten, so we’ll have time to get what we need and write the story,” he said.
“Oh good! I couldn’t get through when I had called earlier,” she said, pleased.
He beamed, but before he could add anything further, he heard Kal.
/Clark, there’s just been a huge earthquake in California. It was at least a 7.5. It’s . . . it’s bad./
/I’ll be there as soon as I can,/ Clark replied, though he suspected Kal only got the intent of his response and not the complete thought.
“What is it?” Lois asked, mindful of their surroundings.
Fortunately, no one was paying them any attention, so Clark could reply frankly.
“I’ve got to go. Bad earthquake in California. He just told me,” he stated.
Lois’ eyes widened. “Go. I got things covered here,” she immediately directed.
He nodded his thanks and quickly headed out.
O o O o O
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