PREVIOUSLY IN OOPS: THE DESTRUCTION OF UTOPIA...
Lois stumbled into the room, trying to get her legs beneath her after the unexpected release. She watched as Tempus shoved another man aside as he marched towards the window in which Lois could see Superman.
“No!” the man who had been pushed aside yelled. “If he touches the window, Superman is doomed!”
“Superman!” Lois yelled as Tempus placed his hand on the frame of the window.
“Lois!” Clark yelled as the window suddenly began to shatter.
She reached out her hand but it was already too late. “Clark,” she said in a strangled whisper. She spun around to face the stranger who had warned what would happen if Tempus touched the window. “Where’s Superman? What happened to him?” she demanded.
“He was caught in the time window when it exploded. I’m afraid he’s gone,” the stranger said as the world began to fade around her.
* * * * * * * * *
“No!” Lois was still yelling when she found herself standing in an unfamiliar shower stall..
AND NOW...PART NINE...
“Lois, honey, are you all right?” Clark asked, rushing into the room and throwing aside the shower curtain.
“You’re okay,” Lois said, ignoring both her current lack of attire and the fact that she had no idea when she was to throw her arms around Clark.
“I’m okay,” Clark said, holding her close. “Although, given the way you screamed, I almost had a heart attack.” He pulled back. “What happened?”
“Oh... ahh...” She glanced around at her environment. Clark was standing there, seeming not particularly uncomfortable with the fact that she was completely naked. So she must be in the future with future Clark. She ran her hand down his arms, which were still around her, and over his hand to where she could feel his wedding ring. Yep, definitely the future. After all, she and Clark hadn’t made it out of the apartment since their wedding - except for their excursion into the past with Wells. And there were certainly no grungy motel rooms there. And given the peeling paint and the cracked linoleum and the fact that none of their stuff seemed to be here - none of the stuff that normally cluttered up her bathroom - she could only conclude they were in some very cheap motel room.
She supposed this Clark could be married to someone other than her, but give the fact that he was still holding her, she couldn’t imagine it. No. That was impossible. She couldn’t believe that Clark would ever cheat on his wife - even with her. No, he was much too comfortable with her current lack of clothing to be anything but her husband.
He was looking at her funny and she suddenly realized she had not yet answered his question. Now... what was the question? Right. What had made her scream? “I saw a bug,” she finally said. Okay, so it was lame, but it was better than the truth which was...
Oh, god. Had she really seen Clark’s death? Her hands came up to his face, cupping it in her hands. There was no way for her to know. Suddenly, she felt so cold inside. “Make love to me, Clark,” she whispered. She was reasonably certain that the man before her was future Clark. Still, no matter what time frame she was in, he was her husband. And right now, what she needed was her husband. She needed him to drive the images she’d seen in the future from her mind. She needed him to make it all go away.
Clark’s face lit up in a slow smile as he pulled her from the shower, drying her with his heat vision before swinging her up in his arms and carrying her into an adjoining room, and over to a large bed. “You’re wish,” he said, planting a kiss on her nose, “is definitely my command.”
Her expression softened. She still didn’t know what she had witnessed in the future. But there was nothing she could do about that at the moment... except soak up every bit of comfort Clark had to offer. She reached for him, pulling him into her arms.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark blinked when he found himself standing in the newsroom, facing a very strangely dressed man who was floating a couple of feet off the floor. What was going on here? Was this a New Kryptonian he hadn’t met before? Was he back to that time?
A loud noise, like a book falling, sounded behind him in the too quiet newsroom causing him to look over his shoulder at Lois who was glaring at the floating man, a familiar fire in her eyes.
“You heard him, gnome! Blow!”
Gnome? Clark looked back at the floating man in shock. Surely Lois must mean that figuratively. “Lois...”
“How’d she do that?” the gnome asked. “You’re supposed to be frozen!”
“Yeah, well, I thawed out. And Clark’s not going anywhere, Mazeltov!”
“Mxyzptlk! Mister Mxyzptlk! Fine! Have it your way!”
Suddenly, the newsroom was again a fount of activity. Clark spun around, watching in horror as his father dropped to his knees in agony.
Ding.
Clark blinked when the elevator door opened and he and Lois stepped out into the newsroom. Where was he? Had he leapt? If so, why wasn’t he feeling dizzy this time?
A drunken Ralph threw himself at Clark. “Merry...” Ralph broke down in tears. “Oh, god,” he blubbered.
Lois peeled Ralph off Clark before grabbing Clark’s hand and leading him to the conference room.
“Lois?” Clark began once they were safely inside.
“I remember, Clark.”
“Remember?”
“The time loop.” She stepped up to the window. “War’s breaking out,” she said, pointing to the television. “Perry sprung for the Christmas tree himself. That’s Jimmy’s new girlfriend. Brenda. You’re parents took an earlier flight and then a cab from the airport. I remember, Clark. I remember everything.”
Clark stared at her for a long moment before finding his voice. “Then... maybe you better fill me in because I seem to have some blanks.”
* * * * * * * * *
Clark was taking too long. He was slowly exploring her body with his mouth and hands, but what Lois needed after witnessing... what she had witnessed during her last leap - she couldn’t even voice the thought to herself - was to merge herself with Clark as quickly and as completely as possible.
She squirmed out from under him, pushing him back onto the bed so that she could crawl on top of him.
“Lois?” Clark whispered, obviously sensing the desperation in her.
She ignored his whisper. After all, how could she possibly explain that she was from the past? Or that she had been even further in the future and had just witnessed his death? Instead, she silenced his protest by leaning over and kissing him, quickly pushing both of them to the point of no return so that she could be joined with him in a frantic, desperate attempt to banish the images, to assure herself that he was alive, that he wasn’t lost to her forever.
She closed her eyes and threw her head back when they finally came together. “God, you have no idea how much I needed this,” she whispered, finally releasing her fears, her horrors at watching that time window explode as she plunged into the abyss even as the world began to fade around her.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark took a deep breath. Lois had told him the whole story about this Mxyzptlk and the longer she’d spoken about his creation of a time loop, the more Clark had become convinced of two things. First, that he wasn’t in the past - he was in the future. And second, that Mxyzptlk must be responsible for their leaping around in time.
“But how is it that you don’t know any of this?” Lois asked.
He took her hands, leading her over to the conference table. Once they were seated, he kept hold of her hands as he began to speak. “Lois, do you remember just after we were first married how...” He let out a breath. “I’m not sure exactly how it was done, but... We were sent back in time - or, I guess, forward in time, too. We leapt into past and future incarnations of ourselves - not knowing why or how to stop it. Sometimes we leapt together, sometimes not.” Seeing her befuddled expression, he continued. “Does this mean anything to you?”
“Well... now that you mention it,” she began slowly. “I mean... not really... except... well, it sounds like a dream I had once, but... Clark, what are you saying?”
“I’m not your Clark. I mean, I am. I’m just... from the past. When all this craziness started for me, we were in the elevator, coming to work for the first day after our honeymoon. And... well, things were getting pretty... intense.”
She smiled. “Okay, now that I remember.”
“That’s when the leaping started. We’ve been trying to figure it out. We’ve been thinking it was Tempus, but now... after what you told me about Mxyzptlk, I’m beginning to think it may be him. Lois, I need your help to stop this. Do you know anything about Mxyzptlk that might be of use?”
“Uhh... yeah.” She was looking at him as if she was still not sure what to make of his comments, but had learned to trust him enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Okay, according to mythology, in order to send him back to his own dimension, you have to get him to say his name backwards.”
“I can barely say it forwards.”
“You don’t have to say it backwards. You have to get him to. But first... Clark, whether you’re the Clark from my time or not, I need your help here, too. You have to help me get rid of Mxyzptlk in my time. Then I’ll do whatever I can to help you get rid of him in yours. Deal?” She offered him her pinky finger.
“Deal,” he said, linking his pinky finger with hers even as the world began to fade around him.
* * * * * * * * *
H.G. Wells looked down at the carpet that had replaced the marble floors following the latest time quake. What was taking the council so long to summon him? After all, it was obvious that Tempus was, once again, playing with the past. He continued nervously to fiddle with his soul tracker as he looked in frustration at the large doors leading to the council chambers, silently wishing they would open up and allow him admission.
* * * * * * * * *
Damn!
Clark felt frustrated when he found himself standing in a back alley by himself. He had been so close. Mxyzptlk! He had to be behind this whole thing. And yet when Clark had been in a time where he might have been able to confront the imp, he’d failed to do so. And Lois... future Lois had been prepared to help him.
Damn!
He took a deep, steadying breath as he looked around him, trying to figure out when he was now. Suddenly, the backdoor of one of the buildings opened and he watched in stunned silence as Lois rushed outside and got into a car. He was just about to go to her when he saw Lex Luthor follow her out.
Lois and Luthor?
Had Luthor kidnapped Lois? Maybe but... she looked as if she was with him willingly, as if they were trying to escape from someone else. But when... He saw Luthor start the car and put the car in gear before Clark realized that he had to act or, perhaps, lose them. Spinning into his Superman suit, he rushed over and picked up the rear of the car so that the spinning tires didn’t touch the ground, keeping Luthor there until he could figure out what was going on.
Suddenly it hit him. It was after Luthor kidnapped Lois from her first almost marriage to Clark. After Lois had lost her memory. After Luthor had used him to find Lois and escape with her.
Great! He’d always wanted to change this moment in his life and now that he had the chance...
Damn! He couldn’t change this moment.
The tires stopped spinning and he set the car down. Changing back into Clark, he situated himself in front of the car, arms folded across his chest as he struggled between his need to change the past and his commitment to leaving the past the same. Why hadn’t he just grabbed Luthor and taken him to the police? After all, Luthor was an escaped felon. If Lois decided she didn’t want to come with him, he still wasn’t certain he could force her, but he could have neutralized Luthor’s effect on her. And he could have followed her, seen where she went so that he could get... someone to help her. Perry. His mother. Even her mother.
Instead, he’d simply let Lois drive off with Luthor.
Making his way to the driver’s door, he yanked it open and pulled Luthor out of the car.
“I should take you directly to the cops,” Clark hissed.
“I was only trying to protect her...” Luthor glanced over at Lois. “Clark.”
“Clark...” Lois said, jumping out of the passenger’s seat and hurrying over.
“Are you all right?” Clark asked, dumping Luthor unceremoniously on the ground to embrace Lois.
“Clark, we have to talk.”
“Let’s just get you safe,” Clark responded, hoping that this time she would take him up on his offer, even if it did change the past. How was he supposed to do this? How was he supposed to just stand by and let her drive off with Luthor a second time?
“I’m safe now... With Lex.”
Clark didn’t respond as his mind struggled with what to do.
“Clark, we’ve been saved from a horrible mistake. I had doubts. I was afraid to disappoint you... our parents... I couldn’t even face you. That’s why I hid out here... pretending to be Wanda. The truth is, I’m not made for marriage. I need to go away and sort things out.”
“Where?”
“Wherever Lex takes me. Seeing him again brought back all my old feelings. I love him.”
“Lois, you don’t mean this,” Clark said, knowing this time that he was speaking the truth. Had he really believed her last time? How could he have been so stupid not to realize that this was all a trick? Even without knowing that she’d lost her memory, he should have realized that Lois would never be saying these things. After all, she hadn’t even been able to say that she loved Luthor before her almost marriage to the man.
“I don’t love you,” Lois continued. “I’m leaving, Clark. And if you love me as much as you say you do, you’ll let me go.” Turning, she headed back to the passenger’s side of the car.
“Tough break, old man,” Luthor said, heading back to the driver’s side. “I hope you handle it with dignity.”
Clark grabbed Luthor’s arm before he could get back into the car.
“If you hurt her,” Clark said, unable to remember exactly what warning he’d given Luthor at the time, but fairly certain he must have at least given Luthor a warning, “you’ll answer to me.”
Luthor wrenched himself free.
“Why, that sounds like a threat, Clark. My woman doesn’t take kindly to threats.”
Smiling, Luthor got into the car and put it in gear. Clark stood watching as the car took off down the street.
God, had he really been this stupid? Letting Lois take off with an escaped felon? Even if she had been in her right mind, he should never have let that happen.
Still... surely this time he didn’t really have to stand there, feeling sorry for himself. Even if he couldn’t do anything to stop it, what would it hurt to at least see where they went? After all, it wouldn’t change anything for him to know - especially if he did nothing to change things.
Spinning into the Superman suit, he took to the air, following Luthor’s car as it took Lois away from him. As he did, he watched Lois slide across the seat to snuggle up next to Luthor and felt bile rise in his throat.
“My dear,” he heard Luthor say, “you were magnificent.”
“I tall ya,” Lois said with something of a New York accent, “I coulda been an actress. Who’s this Lois, anyway?”
Luthor smiled. “Someone better off forgotten.”
Clark’s hands clenched into fists as he heard Luthor’s final words. The desire to smash through the roof of the car and do that man great physical harm was almost overpowering.
Still, he maintained his distance, watching as the car pulled into an underground parking facility and Lois and Luthor got out. He followed them with his x-ray vision as they disappeared through a door and then down into a hiding place below the city.
* * * * * * * * *
The smell was remarkable, to say the least. Lois glanced down at her stocking-covered legs. Well, her stocking-and-mud-covered legs. What had ever possessed her all those years ago to wear a skirt on this particular venture?
For she knew instantly where she was. She was at the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility.
Lois groaned. Of all the paces to leap, why did it have to be here? Why couldn’t she have leapt into her first date with Clark? That would have been nice. She would enjoy reliving that.
Still, this trip had been important. No, she hadn’t found Superman. But what she had learned had been just as valuable. In the long run, maybe even more so. After all, she’d learned that Clark wasn’t the country hayseed she’d pegged him to be. She’d learned that she couldn’t simply push him around and not expect him to push back. It had been the beginning of her friendship with Clark.
Still, she’d already learned this lesson. So why, oh why, couldn’t she have leapt into a time when she and Clark had been cuddled up on his couch, necking while ignoring a video playing on his television?
She glanced around. Well, she might as well get on with it. Now... where exactly had she found that stupid Godzilla doll with the Superman symbol painted on its chest?
She took a step forward, cringing when she felt the slime squish in her shoes. Another step and she tripped, falling on one knee, her hand coming out to prevent a face first landing into the... whatever it was covering the ground.
She gagged, fighting against the bile that rose in her throat as she got an up-close smell of the ground. After taking a moment to collect herself, she forced herself again to her feet. She carefully wiped the slime from her arm with the edge of her jacket. If she recalled correctly, this had been the last time she had worn this suit. The dry cleaner had pronounced it beyond repair, telling her that nothing would ever get the smell out.
Still, since she was here, there was only one choice - to find that stupid Godzilla doll and get back to the Daily Planet.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark sat on the roof of a nearby building watching Lois sleep. He might not be able to help, but he didn’t seem able to leave her either. Besides, this shouldn’t change history. After all, all he had done the last time was to sit on the top of an old church and feel sorry for himself. At least here, he could watch over Lois.
Lois had always been a little foggy about her time as Wanda Detroit. And Clark’s greatest fear had always been that Luthor had... hurt her in some way. This time he could at least... what? Know if something had happened to her?
God, what if something had happened? Did happen? Could he really just sit here and let history run its course?
No! No, that was taking it one step too far. After all, Lois had interfered for the sake of Mayson Drake - he wondered how that had turned out. If Lois could do it for Mayson, he would do it for Lois.
His body tensed as he watched Luthor enter Lois’ room. Lois’ eyes suddenly snapped open with a startled gasp.
Was she remembering? Did she need his help? One word from her. One breath of his name on her lips and he would be there.
“Wanda, are you all right?” Luthor asked.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m... Jeez, what a crazy dream.”
Clark leaned forward. Had she been dreaming about him? Had she been dreaming about them?
“Tell me, my darling,” Luthor said.
“No. I hate when people tell me their dreams.” She hesitated, looking slightly confused. “Least I think I do. But... y’know, I can’t remember anybody who ever told me their dreams so how come I say I hate it?”
“You’re tired. We both are. These last few days have been a nightmare. Hunted, hiding like rats. But all that is about to end. I have a plan that will free us forever from Clark and his evil factotum, Superman.”
“Kent, why is this happening to us?”
“We’re simply too good for this world, Wanda.”
Clark rolled his eyes, following by a tensing of his entire being when Luthor leaned over and kissed Lois.
Suddenly, the world began to spin and fade as Clark felt himself, once again, being pulled away. Still, until the last possible moment, he kept his eyes on Lois, unable to let go of his need to protect her.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois limped into the Daily Planet, covered with mud and... things she’d prefer not to identify. In one hand she held the heal of her broken shoe and in the other, she held a garbage bag.
She glared at people as they stepped back in revulsion, cutting a wide path for her as she made her way to the elevator. Stepping inside, she hit the button to the newsroom. Suddenly, a hand reached out, stopping the elevator door before it could close and, as if of one mind, all the elevator’s occupants except her stepped off the car.
“Cowards,” she yelled after them even as the elevator doors closed.
Still, her eyes watered at the stench coming off her in waves as she endured being in the confined space on her way to the newsroom.
“Where’s the dirt?” she heard Cat say as she headed down the ramp into the bullpen.
“I think that’s coming in right now,” she heard Clark respond.
She glared at him as he, Cat and Jimmy all turned to look in her direction. That search hadn’t been any more fun this time than it had when she had originally gone through it. When she got back to Clark... or, well, her Clark, she was going to make him take her to some deluxe spa in France for forcing her to go through that again! Oh, yes, Clark Kent was certainly going to pay!
Okay, so maybe she had deserved his little trick. After all, she had stolen a story from him only days before - something which still made her blush in shame whenever she thought about it. But he’d already gotten his revenge. And they’d moved past it, so why, oh why, did she have to suffer through this humiliation again?
“Lois, what happened?” Jimmy asked.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Oh, you’re referring to my... appearance. Well, after hours of tramping through the mud and filth and frogs and... things... I think I have a perfect right to be a bit... disheveled.
“By the way,” she continued, waving the broken heel on her shoe in their direction, “did you know it’s possible to get completely lost at the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility? And did you know that there are billions of mosquitoes there? I do! I met them!”
She pulled down on the neck of her blouse to show them the angry welts. “Of course, my little trip to hell wasn’t a total failure. I did find this.”
She pulled a plastic Godzilla doll out of the garbage bag. Marching, with as much dignity as she could muster, over to Clark’s desk, she dumped the doll on top of it before pulling out the map he had sent her.
“You wouldn’t happen to know who sent me this, would you?”
He simply shrugged. It was then that she noticed the newspaper on his desk.
“You got the story?” she asked, although she knew full well he had gotten the story. After all, all he’d had to do was to sit down and interview himself.
She felt a flash of anger. In addition to that spa, he owed her a personal back massage! No, make that a full body massage!
“Yep.” He got up and lightly tapped her cheek. “Consider this a life lesson, Lois. No charge.”
“Uh, huh,” she said. And a bottle of wine. A really expensive bottle of wine. She’d decide later if she’d let him share it.
She turned, heading towards the locker rooms. If she recalled correctly, she’d taken a shower now. And if she hadn’t, well that was just too bad. She was going to have a shower. And that was just about the only thing good she could say about this leap so far. Clark just better appreciate what she was willing to do to keep their past from changing.
She dumped the ruined suit into the trash. She had a change of clothes in her locker, after all. If her past self felt the need to dig it out and take it to get it cleaned, fine! But she couldn’t see how that would change the past. Finally, and with a breath of relief, she stepped into the shower.
As she stood there, the mud of the night finally having been washed away, she felt the world begin to fade around her. Thank god. She couldn’t get out of this time fast enough.
* * * * * * * * *
“No!” William exclaimed. “No, this can’t happen!”
“What’s wrong?” Remi asked. “They both kept history pretty much the same.”
“Yes, except... that lesson... the one Lois was supposed to learn during her search of the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility... her only memory of that was that of a bad dream. She’d fallen asleep at home and dreamed about Clark setting her up. As a result, her opinion about Clark didn’t change for a few more months.”
“I don’t understand,” Remi said.
“When Lois and Clark leap out, the Lois and Clark they leave behind only have a vague memory of what had happened. As if they’ve been dreaming or drugged. Remember when we found the entry in Clark’s journal about how he had no clear recollection of telling Lois he was from the future... Or when Lois and Clark thought their interlude at the campsite when they were teenagers was just... an overly vivid daydream?”
“Yes.”
“Well, in those cases, the fact that they didn’t remember saved Utopia. In this case, in the case of the lesson Lois was supposed to learn from tramping around at the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility, was lost on her. It took her a lot more time to come to the realization that she couldn’t push Clark around without expecting him to push back.”
“But... that did change? She did learn that lesson eventually?” Remi asked.
“Yes. Eventually.”
“Then surely Utopia is still intact?”
“I hope so. But, still, that’s not nearly as bad as what Clark did.”
“He didn’t do anything different.”
“No? When he left his former self, he was x-raying the building where Lois and Luthor were hiding out. Superman busted in immediately, rescued Lois and took Luthor to jail. Luthor didn’t die in that collapsed building. A few years later, he escaped from prison and many more people died at his hands as he continued his criminal endeavors.”
“Oh god.”
“We have to brace for this quake. It’s going to be huge. By the time it’s over, some of us might not be here - especially if any of us have ancestors who Luthor killed when he continued his terror spree.”
“Where’s Andrus?” Laddy asked. “Has he figured out the problem yet? We’ve got to stop this before any more damage is done.”
“I’m right here,” Andrus said, rushing into the room, waving a piece of paper in his hands.
“So what do we know?” William asked.
“Well, it seems that the problem is originating here. In this time. I’ve got... Well, we’ve even got a theory.”
“Well, for god’s sake, man. Don’t just stand there. Tell us.”
Instead of speaking, Andrus handed out a printout to each of the council members as the ground beneath them began to shake as the time quake from the latest leap began.
“Get that man in here,” William hissed, sending Andrus scrambling to do as commanded.
* * * * * * * * *
When Clark realized he was lying on a bed kissing Lois, he put his full concentration into the task. After all, if something was worth doing, it was worth doing right. Deepening the kiss, he released the grip he had on her hands, allowing him to explore her body. He didn’t particularly care where or when he was just as long as he was allowed to keep kissing Lois.
“More towels. Yeah? Oops. Sorry.”
The woman’s unfamiliar voice intruded on the moment, followed by the closing of a door as the woman left the room.
What was it about that comment that sounded familiar? And did it really matter when he was kissing Lois?
* * * * * * * * *
to be continued...
ML
