Ugh - so sorry about the delay guys. DS - age 2- spilled milk on my laptop :p . Thought it was just the keyboard [using an external keyboard now] but it's acting up - sluggish, etc. so am thinking I'll need to replace teh whole thing which means... NEW LAPTOP!
Anyway - that was Monday and it completely sidetracked me and I forgot all about this in the frustration.
Thanks for the FDK and here we go
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Last time
They watched as Ching began spinning his drei in a figure eight. He stared at Superman as he approached cautiously, his cape in tatters.
The Drei and the symbol on Ching's chest both began to glow. Lois blanched. "No doubts, no fears, no heart, no mercy," she whispered as a yellow flash left Ching's Drei and hit Superman square in the chest.
Superman flew backwards, a good thirty feet before hitting the building across the street from the Planet.
Ching walked towards him, Drei pointed at Superman's chest as he stood over the fallen hero. They could hear the war yell from the newsroom.
But before Ching could strike the final blow, something shocked them all.
A crack reverberated through the cement canyons and then his head exploded.
*~*28*~*The small group of Kryptonians on the street were instantly on alert.
Ching had stood over Clark with nothing to stop him from killing the fallen superhero.
And then came the crack.
And the small red dot in the middle of Ching's forehead.
And the cloud of red mist where the back of his head had been
Nor rushed towards Clark as the others took to the sky.
"There!"
Nor looked to see Trey and Zod headed towards a building half a block away.
There was a light reflecting towards them and he zoomed in with his vision.
On the rooftop was a man with a rifle.
Aiming at Superman.
Another crack reverberated around them.
"NO!" Nor yelled as he threw his body in front of Clark's, pain ripping through him as the bullet hit his abdomen.
He landed heavily on Clark who felt the rest of the air get knocked out of him.
"Nor!" Clark grunted. He struggled to push the other man off of him and pulled what was left of his cape off of his shoulders, struggling to wrap it around Nor's torso in an effort to stop the bleeding.
Trey and Zor landed with another man in tow.
Zod tapped the communicator on his shoulder and Nor disappeared from sight.
"He's been taken to the infirmary," Zod told Clark as he slumped against a light pole.
"What about Lois? She's here, isn't she? Zara – the others at the Planet?" Clark asked, trying to catch his breath.
Zod looked around. "They have retaken the Planet building. Lady Lois had Trey take her to get something from her parents' home and told us to stay away."
"Kryptonite," Clark said, wincing at the memory. "Staying away is probably a good plan."
"Milord, this is the man who killed Lt. Ching and tried to kill you," Trey said, leading his prisoner towards Clark.
Clark looked up and his eyes widened as he took in the man standing there. "Trask," he whispered. "You're dead."
Trask glared at him, but didn't say anything.
"He had this." Trey held out a high-powered rifle. "There's also a box of ammunition that needs to be retrieved from the roof, but when I neared, I became dizzy. Perhaps we could send Lois to get it."
Clark nodded as police began to swarm around them. "Inspector Henderson," he said with as much authority as he could muster. "You need to send men to the top of the Carlin Building. This man," he nodded at Trask then Ching, "killed this man and wounded another. He also tried to kill both Clark Lane and Lois Kent in Smallville, Kansas a few weeks ago. He went over a cliff into a lake and was presumed dead but a body, obviously, was never found. Lois, Perry and a number of other members of the Daily Planet staff were held hostage but have overtaken their captors and tied them up."
Henderson started barking orders sending men running in different directions before turning back to Clark. "How are you, Superman?"
"I'm okay. I've never fought another Kryptonian before and it took a lot more out of me than your average bad guy. I didn't know other Kryptonians even still *existed* until a few days ago."
He leaned his head back against the lamp post and closed his eyes, thankful that it all seemed to be over.
"Lord Kal-El?"
Clark looked up at General Zod. "Yes?"
"Milord, I believe it would be best if we were to transport Lady Zara and her men to the ship rather than have your people take custody. They are currently incapacitated, however, we have no way of knowing how long that will last and I fear for the lives of your officers should they regain their abilities."
Clark looked at Henderson. "What do you think, Inspector?"
Henderson nodded slowly. "Well, they should be brought up on a number of charges, including kidnapping and murder."
"I assure you, Inspector," Zod told him with a slight bow. "They will be dealt with appropriately."
Henderson regarded the other man for a long moment. He was the senior officer on the scene but what would his bosses say later? He wasn't sure how the other Kryptonians had been incapacitated and wasn't sure he had the luxury of time. And if he tossed the decision up the chain of command, it would get bogged down in red tape. He sighed. He'd deal with the consequences later. "In that case, we would appreciate it if you would take custody, ah, General Zod?"
Zod nodded and tapped the communicator on his shoulder and spoke a few words they didn't understand. "They have been transported directly to the brig."
"Thank you, General." Henderson turned back to Clark. "Are you okay, Superman?"
Clark nodded. "I will be."
"Inspector, tell us what you need us to do. My men are yours to command." General Zod bowed slightly to Henderson. "We will do whatever we can to help repair this area of your city."
Henderson sighed and looked at Superman. "I don't suppose there's much point in taking photographs or collecting evidence, is there?"
Clark shook his head. "I am sorry, Henderson. Believe me, we tried to find a way around this nonsense and then I tried to get him to go elsewhere but..." Clark shrugged. "I will have the Superman Foundation make sure that any vehicles are either repaired or replaced and I believe that General Zod and his men could repair much of the rest of the damage in short order."
"Inspector!"
Henderson and the others turned to see one of his officers with a prisoner in tow. "Yeah, Zymack?"
"This man was attempting to remove these from the top of the Carlin Building." He held out a lead box enclosed in a plastic bag.
Henderson took it from him and started to open it.
"Please don't," Clark said suddenly. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to take that somewhere for safe keeping. I'll see to it you have access to it for evidentiary purposes if necessary but what's in there needs a special kind of security."
Henderson hesitated then called for one of his other men. "Let us get the prints off the outside then I'll turn it over to you. You know the rules of evidence. Contact Abby in forensics as soon as you can?"
"Yes, sir. I'll see to it that it's properly stored and that Abby has access to it before end of business today at the latest." Clark pushed himself up off the ground. "I have some other matters to attend to, Inspector. General Zod will coordinate anything you need, right General?"
General Zod snapped his heels together and bowed slightly towards Clark. "Yes, milord."
Clark took the evidence bag with the box of rifle ammunition from Henderson, summoned his remaining energy and took to the sky.
*****
TBC
