Clark & Lois – When Worlds and Universes Collide - Matchmaker Chronicles V 8 20/36
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
This version is rated PG-13
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 – Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 – Alternate Prime - Lori and Clark
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Alt 1, Alt Clark and Kryptonian Lois – (Alt 1 )
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Alt 2 Kryptonian Lois' home universe.
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 040 – Alt 1 alternate (Alt 3) Alt Lois and Alt Clark
Previously
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Alt 2%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
A/N – Alt 2 is Kryptonian Lois’ home universe.Turning to Lord Jen-Mai, Clark said, “Okay, there you go, our children, their spouses, a nephew and his wife. All family, every last one which is more than you can say for those that attacked us.”
Jon spoke up, “Please allow me to add that we have all been married by Earth law, but we also have all been committed to a life bond by the laws and customs of New Krypton. We all participated in the ceremony so that we could honor the traditions of New Krypton. It was important to us that we do so. It is our heritage and it was our privilege to do so.”
Zara shouted, “Lord Jen-Mai, I must protest. I claim that Nor has violated the customs and therefore has forfeited the combat. In view of this testimony you cannot deny that these are all members of the family ‘El’ and honorably joined in life bonds with their bond mates as decreed by Kryptonian law and custom. You must declare Lord Kal-El and his family victors. Nor must be banished!”
Lord Jen-Mai held up his hands and said, “How has he violated the rules of combat?”
“By bringing in non-family members to help!”
“Non-family? I don’t see anyone.” He said as he looked around laughing and then flew off.
Zara was fit to be tied, she shouted, “Jen-Mai has to be on Nor’s side in this. I didn't want to believe it, but you were correct, we can’t trust him.”
Since he was not a family member, Ching had remained on the outside of the conflict even though, seeing Nor's supporters attack he felt more than a little frustrated in doing so. He moved closer and said, “I haven’t trusted him for a while.”
2013 Lois said, “It was the same when they attacked us in our universe. Jen-Mai was a traitor. Nor had promised to make him chief elder and he couldn’t throw over Zara and Kal-El fast enough.”
Everyone gathered around the newcomers to be introduced.
Local Lois asked, “Carrie, how do you have super powers?”
Carrie said, “I don’t … really. At least not like yours and sisters.” She floated up a few feet and looked around. Spotting her dad holding a Drei, she held out her hand toward him and the Drei was ripped from his grasp and flew through the air into her hand.
Lois said, in awe, “Telekenisis?”
Suddenly the Drei disappeared from her hand and reappeared in Clark’s.
Carrie replied, “And a few other things, telepathy, empathy and teleportation to name a few.” Suddenly a transparent bubble shimmered into existence around her and Lois ‘heard’ /”Try to touch me Mom.”/
Lois reached out and her hand touched the bubble, but could proceed no farther. It was transparent, but it was like touching a very solid wall. She pushed on it and saw that it moved an inch or so and that the earth beneath Carrie’s feet was enclosed in the globe and moved a fraction with the bubble.
Just as suddenly as it had come into existence the bubble vanished and Carrie floated back to the ground. She said, “If I had expanded the field to enclose some bedrock or even set an anchor in Earth’s core you couldn’t have moved me, without moving the entire planet that is.” As she finished speaking Carrie suddenly disappeared.
Lois shouted, “Carrie?”
Apparently from the thin air in front of her Lois heard, “Right here, Mom,” and Carrie popped back into view.
Lois was amazed, “How did you do that?”
Carrie laughed and said, “I started reading some old comic books. There was this hero called ‘The Shadow’. He had the ability to make himself invisible by ‘clouding the mind’ of those he was fighting so that they couldn’t see him. That sounded like a neat trick so I tried it. Works, huh?”
“I’ll say. I thought you had teleported away.”
Turning to Supergirl, Lois asked, “You’re eleven and you’re super powered?”
“Yes, mom, I’ve been super powered from birth. We figure that because both you and Pop are fully super powered my powers were charged in the womb.”
“Wow, something for me to look forward to.”
Carrie spoke up, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be there to help although sometimes it took all of our combined powers to make her behave.”
Penelope Ann Kent, for that was her name said, “Aww Sis, I wasn’t that bad!”
“Nah Squirt, you really weren’t. I just couldn’t help teasing you a little. Really, Mom, you don’t have anything to worry about. She's a really good kid.”
And now -
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Chapter 20 – Nor
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Alt2
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When Nor, his family and his followers left the field of the conflict he was placing all of his hopes on Lord Jen-Mai. If Jen-Mai could go to the council and convince them that the El family had broken the rules of the conflict they could be declared losers and banished either to the Phantom Zone or wherever else it had been that they had come from.
He had been somewhat shaken when he had arrived and found not just Zara, the woman with Kal-El’s essence and the imposter, but six other individuals. All of the men looked alike as did the women. The question was, where had they originated? As it was, with this showing the numbers would have been equal, supposedly. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken any chances. There was no telling how things would go, even with three to one odds so he had taken steps to improve even those odds.
Because of that, Nor had been confident of winning. Jen-Mai would back up his claim that he and his family, and his family alone had won the combat. He would ignore the presence of his followers and simply report the win, but then a number of other costumed figures had arrived. They were all super powered and they all wore the El family crest in one form or another displaying their familial association. Where had they all come from?
Nor left his brother in command and flew back to the throne ship. He went immediately to an information terminal and did a search for a listing of the members of the El family. The screen went blank briefly as the search was conducted. The archives were searched and then the sensor array was activated and patched into the information matrix. The bioelectromagnetic signatures of those on the planet were compared to those recorded of Kal-El and other members of the El family. After a thorough analysis the display indicated Zara by name and sixteen other signatures that were within the zone of statistical probability for deviations within a family group. That included the woman that carried the essence of Kal-El. All together he had counted 31 individuals; that meant that fourteen were in all probability spouses and therefore entitled to participate. That would not be the way to go. If he could do such a search against his opponents the same could be done against those fighting on his side and those results would be counterproductive for his cause. Better to leave that sleeping calot lie.
Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to discredit his opponents on that basis he would need to simply add to his forces so that he had a sufficient numerical advantage. The problem with that was that he had called in almost all of the people he could count on. Even with all of his followers, numerically the sides were essentially equal.
Shutting down the data terminal he retired to his audience chamber and spent the next hours reviewing his options, the names of individuals not committed to the El family and those whom he believed he could bribe, cajole or threaten into supporting his cause.
While he was going over his options several of those who had followed him had returned to the ship and informed him that they no longer wished to defy custom and were withdrawing from having an active part in the conflict. If he didn’t take steps, and soon, his side would be too weakened to successfully prosecute the combat.
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Some hours had passed and fortunately the number of followers leaving his banner had been low.
Lord Jen-Mai interrupted his musings by entering his audience chamber. “Lord Nor, I have attempted to present a most favorable case to the council, but since neither side has been subdued they refused to make a ruling on the outcome of the conflict. They require that the losers be presented, bound to the council. They will then determine the validity of the combat and render their decision. They will not simply accept my word on this even though they will on almost everything else.”
Nor railed at him, “If you had made the pronouncement when you were supposed to we could have avoided this situation.”
“It is obvious that you were not listening. It was *not* my failure to declare a winner that created this situation. It is your family’s failure to secure a clear victory, even with the aid of your auxiliaries that has created this impasse. It is up to you, however you can manage it, to overcome your adversaries and keep them confined long enough for the council to render their decision. I am doing as much as I can to live up to my side of the bargain, but I can only do so much. The rest is up to you. I was able to cover your use of non-family auxiliaries, but I don’t know how long I will be able to do so. You need to bring a rapid end to this conflict.”
As Jen-Mai finished speaking he turned on his heel and slunk out of the room. He was fearful that he had pushed Nor too far. He knew that Nor could be a dangerous adversary. He had many people loyal to him and some of them didn’t care what they would be called on to do for him. He was starting to wonder if he had been correct in climbing into bed with this particular devil. The problem was that he was now in too deep to back out easily.
After Jen-Mai left, Nor sat thinking over the situation. Since that first encounter, when his plot to use his followers to capture Kal-El and his allies had failed, Nor had been struggling to keep his followers in line. If only they had carried the day in that first assault! If Jen-Mai had been quicker to declare the victor! It had been hard enough to convince his followers to go against custom and enter into a conflict that was supposed to be limited to family groups as it was. Now that they had been handed so sound a defeat a number of them had lost their desire to assist him. ‘It was easy to follow a leader when he had all of the advantages, but ‘When the going starts to get tough, only the tough will continue to follow.’ – old Kryptonian proverb.
He had been calling his remaining supporters and those he thought he could recruit to him a few at a time and using all of his powers of persuasion, cajoling and even at times using threats to keep them in line and bring new ones into the conflict.
Mostly it was the greedy ones that he had the easiest time with. Like Jen-Mai, those that wanted position and he could promise just such a boon as they desired, he could feel assured of their loyalty, or so he thought.
Ran-Na was proving to be an able lieutenant. He was keeping his followers busy so that most of them didn’t think of exactly what they were doing or why. When Nor had told him that he was returning to the ship to use its technology to find out just who they were dealing with he had directed him to think of things to occupy their followers.
When he finished his research he had tuned in on the live broadcasts from the surface. He was pleased with how inventive his brother was proving to be. There were reports coming in from around the globe of his followers creating emergencies, burning buildings, starting landslides and the like which were keeping the El family auxiliaries busy, very busy indeed.
If it weren’t for the fact that the numbers were equal, he might have considered taking his family members against the El family directly.
After a time his brother Ran-Na entered the room. The room he entered bears some description. This was one of the largest rooms on the throne ship which had been used as the conveyance to Earth’s space. The bare utilitarian walls of a space vessel had been overhung with rich tapestries, some of which appeared to be newly acquired and of Earth origin. Opposite the door was a very ornate chair which had been gilt with gold and placed on a dais which elevated it a good eighteen inches off the floor. From the door to the dais was a cleared aisle with a red runner reaching from the door to the dais.
On the dais, one on one side and two on the other of Nor’s pseudo throne were three chairs. Ran-Na, after passing through the door crossed to the dais and climbed into the chair that sat alone on one side. The chairs on the other side were reserved for Rena and Fina, the two sisters of Nor.
Once seated and after assuring himself that they were indeed alone, Ran-Na addressed Nor. “Brother, I’m not sure that we should put as much trust in Jen-Mai’s loyalty as you seem to think we can.”
Nor leaned on the arm of the chair on that side, physically closing the distance between himself and his only brother before he asked, “What makes you say that, brother?”
“It has been my experience that anyone that can be bought for a price will sell out if someone offers more.”
“What more could Jen-Mai be offered? We have offered to make him the head elder in the new Council of Elders. What other position could he aspire to?”
“High Lord.”
Nor was shocked. He hadn’t considered that Jen-Mai might have higher aspirations. He asked, “Have you heard anything to substantiate this contention?”
“Nothing overt, just rumors. Rumors that he might not be satisfied with the position you have offered.”
The door slid open and Rena and Fina entered and took their places on the dais.
Nor acknowledged them and leaned in their direction. Nodding in Ran-Na’s direction he said, “Our brother has put forth a disturbing proposition. He thinks that Jen-Mai may have aspirations of being High Lord in my place.”
Looking around before speaking, Rena said, “I have never trusted Lord Jen-Mai. If he can be bought for a price, who’s to say he won’t sell out the one that has bought him in favor of another who will offer more.”
Fina said, “I agree. One should not reside a lot of trust in one who is motivated by greed alone whereas one who is motivated by idealism can be thoroughly trusted. They will continue to fight for their ideals where a mercenary will falter.”
Nor sat back in his makeshift throne and mused for a time. Finally he spoke, “I think we need to take steps to ensure Lord Jen-Mai’s fidelity. Does he not have family on board?”
Ran-Na spoke, “I believe that he has a granddaughter on board.”
“Perhaps, to ensure that Lord Jen-Mai remains loyal to our cause, a threat could be made against his granddaughter.”
“That could be self-defeating.” Fina said, “A threat is no good if you are not willing to carry it out and if you did carry it out it would turn an ally into a strong adversary. If you threaten to kill his granddaughter, you have to be willing and able to carry through on your threat. If he complies, then all is well and good. If he doesn’t comply and you don’t have the ability or the will to carry through on the threat, he will know that it was a bluff, an empty threat and he will have no further reason to comply. If you do follow through, then you have damaged his family, will have eliminated the only leverage you had in the first place and he will turn on you. He could use his influence with the Council to turn them against you. That would be an end to any possibility of you becoming High Lord.”
Nor was looking at his sister in disbelief, “You present an impossible conundrum. If we cannot use loyalty to one’s family to force his compliance, what can we use?”
Rena had been listening, attentively as Fina had been speaking and finally spoke, “Perhaps, if you can’t threaten his granddaughter, you could threaten him, himself. He aspires to be the head of the Council of Elders, but that will only happen if he is alive. If he tries to turn against you, you kill him. If he tries to depose you and become High Lord, you kill him, through an intermediary, of course. It wouldn’t do for the High Lord to be accused of assassination, now would it?”
Nor turned to Ran-Na and said, “Brother, I’m depending on you to keep our followers in line. Keep them so busy that they don’t have time to think about what they are really doing.”
Turning to Rena and Fina he said, “Please help Ran-Na keep them busy. If you can, capture some of our opponents.”
All three stood and Rena said, “As you wish brother, but I am not sanguine as to our success in this matter.”
“While you are on the surface dealing with them I will be attempting to garner more support.”
His siblings exited and the door closed behind them.
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While Nor was trying to drum up additional support the El family had problems of its own. They were spread out around the globe fighting disasters and rescuing people from danger. The problem was that there were not enough of them to really go around.
The determination had been made to keep couples together, thus each of the children and their spouses were patrolling together. Carrie and Penny stayed with local Lois and Clark, even when Lois had to go to the farm to feed baby Penny. Local Clark, Penny and Carrie would in essence stand guard while she went in to breast feed.
When they landed in the yard Martha came out and addressed Lois and Clark, “Well, who do we have here?”
Before either had a chance to answer, out through the door bounded Scrappy. Seeing strangers he moved over and sniffed Carrie. Immediately he sat and his tail started to wag energetically.
Carrie knelt and put her arms around the dog’s neck and hugged him as tears streamed down her face. She said, “You know me, don’t you boy?”
He wagged his tail just that much harder in reply.
Protector stood then she and Supergirl both ran to Martha and put their arms around her shouting, “Grammy!”
Scrappy started leaping into the air exhibiting his joy until Carrie gave the hand signal to sit.
Martha returned the hugs and with a mystified tone in her voice asked, “Carrie?”
The older girl said, “Yep, that’s me. It’s good to see you.”
Martha put both hands on the shoulders of Supergirl and asked, “If you’re Carrie, then who is this?”
“I’m Penny, Grammy.”
Even though she was shocked at this revelation she still managed to pull both girls into a hug as she started weeping. Finally she said, “My grandchildren. You’re my granddaughters. My special girls.”
Lois said, “I need to go feed Penny. Uh, the other Penny. The younger Penny.”
Supergirl laughed and said, “We understand, Mom. Go ahead. We’ll be okay out here.”
Martha looked around taking in Protector, Supergirl and Superman. She asked, “Anyone want some iced tea?”
Protector and Supergirl chorused, “We do!” Clark nodded.
Martha said, “I’ll be right out.” She returned to the kitchen; put the pitcher and glasses on a tray before bringing them outside. She sat on the glider with a granddaughter on each side as they talked and sipped their tea.
At this point they were observed and their presence was reported back to Nor.
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Nor was puzzling this information, out loud, “Why would they be visiting a residence in the middle of nowhere?”
Rena answered his question, “It must have something to do with the child. If she just gave birth then she must need to feed the child. We can place a watcher there and if she is there at regular intervals, then that has to be the answer.”
Nor replied, “See to it. If we can identify the location of the child we can eliminate that problem. That would only leave the current vessel of Kal-El’s essence. She could have additional children and they would in turn be a threat to my rule.”
“Why would that be? I am not sanguine about killing the child and I really don’t know why it has to be so, but if you are to kill the child, you will be able to force Zara into a life bond. Why could you not force Zara into a life bond without killing the child? If you did, wouldn’t that end the threat? She is the one in direct line of succession.”
“It is because of Gee-Ra’s directives. Unless Lord Jen-Mai can convince the council that such should be the case they could hold out for future offspring. If this is a male heir then it would only be a matter of time before Zara could complete a life bond with that child. If it is female then there is the possibility of future male offspring.”
“No, we must destroy this child and defeat the El family in this combat and kill them or have them banished. That is the only way we can be sure that I will be the undisputed ruler of New Krypton. As ruler of New Krypton we can then conquer this miserable planet and enslave all of the inhabitants. You, Fina, Ran-Na, Gam-Re and Col-Re will each have a kingdom here. We can use these super powers to completely subject the entire population and submit them to our will.”
Rena was somewhat pragmatic as she replied, “Before we start building castles in the air, we need to end this conflict and be the winners. If we fail, we are the ones that will be banished to the Phantom Zone. If it becomes known that we violated custom and used non-family members in the ritual combat it will go doubly hard on us. In fact, they could decide that banishment to the Phantom Zone is not sufficient punishment. We could have our atoms scattered across the galaxy. I for one do not want that to happen to me.”
“All the more reason to do what needs to be done to successfully prosecute this combat.”
Rena stood up to leave and as she did, she turned to her brother and said, “If we fail, rest assured, I will do what is necessary to avoid having my atoms spread across the galaxy. I will gladly accept banishment to that alternative. I would venture to say that any of your followers, if they even think that is a possibility will turn on you in a heartbeat. You could very likely find yourself all alone at the end and I would not shed a tear over what happens to you because you are the author of your own fate. I will not allow you to drag me down with you.”
Rena left and when she did, Nor sat for a time thinking. He realized that in order for him to even survive he needed every one of his followers to do their best and in fact needed more in order to be sure of a victory. There could be no half measures. He would kill the child and he would kill the woman that had the essence of Kal-El and had given it birth.
Nor had managed to ‘stop the bleeding’ after he had lost only three supporters. He had started off with 25 non-family supporters. The loss of three made the numbers exactly equal on both sides. Somehow he needed to increase his numbers if he was to assure a win. His options were very limited. Indeed he had more followers, however they were back on New Krypton and even if he were able to summon them it would take a month for the ship to get there to pick them up and another month for them to arrive. There was no way that this conflict could be drawn out for two full months. He was cursing his fate and how things had turned out.
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Nor called Jen-Mai to himself.
When Jen-Mai entered Nor’s ‘throne room’ he moved to the foot of the Dais and placed his closed fist over his heart while giving a small bow. “You called me, Lord Nor.”
“Yes, my lord, Jen-Mai. What are you doing to move the council in the direction of awarding the combat victory to me and my family?”
“Lord Nor, it is very difficult to do that in view of the fact that the members of the El family are in fact not subdued. You and I both know that they are in fact family, but I have successfully kept that information from the Council of Elders and will continue to so for as long as I can. Now, of course, your family has not lost in that you are in fact free also. I don’t know what more I can do on your behalf. You need to subdue them in order to win.”
“If you had been somewhat quicker in declaring a victor at the time that we had them all subdued it would have been finished then.”
“It all happened so quickly! Before I had a clear view of all of them restrained, one of them was free and by the rules of the combat a victor could not be declared.”
“Lord Jen-Mai, if you wish to be the head of the Council of Elders, you will have to do better than that. Perhaps they could be discredited. You could make them out to be criminals unworthy of the rule of New Krypton.” Nor thought for a second before continuing, “Yes, that’s it. We must paint the house of El as a house corrupt and seeking world domination at all costs even going to the extent of violating custom to do so. See to it.”
“I will do as you say. It will be difficult, but I will endeavor to remain the only liaison between the council and the planet.”
“Good, that should forward our ends nicely. You may go.”
Jen-Mai backed out of the audience chamber.
Nor chuckled to himself and thought, <Gullible fool. He thinks that once he is head of the council that he will depose me and assume the rule himself. Who does he think he is? The right to rule rests with me and me alone. I will brook no interference in that. I will use him to win this conflict and then I will dispose of him before he becomes troublesome.>
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As Jen-Mai was retreating down the hallway he was thinking, <Arrogant fool! Just who does he think he is? Just because his aunt was the wife of Gee-Ra that does not put him in the royal line. He would be a usurper at best. We would be better off with someone not related to either the house of Na or Ra. Time will tell.>
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