Clark & Lois – When Worlds and Universes Collide - Matchmaker Chronicles V 8 24/36
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.Rena was fighting mad at this point. “Fina, that was an empty threat! You should have told someone.”
“I was only ten at the time and he was so much older. He convinced me that what he said was true. I worried about mom and dad. I didn’t want them to go away and I was afraid that if I went to them that was what would happen.”
“What about when you were older?”
“By then we were on the ship and when we woke up we found out that mom and dad hadn’t made it. Nor told me that he had arranged it and since he was now the head of the family I had to do what he told me to do.”
“And that meant that you had to go to his bed when he summoned you?”
With her head hanging down she almost whispered, “Yes.”
Rena spat, “That despicable …”
Fina said, “Rena, don’t be too mad at him. It didn’t hurt, at least not all of the time and he hasn’t bothered me too much recently.”
“Fina, he shouldn’t have been bothering you at all. Did he ever tell you why he was doing it?”
“He said that I would need to know how to respond when he arranged for my bonding.”
Rena placed her hands on Fina’s shoulders and forced her to look at her as she said, “Fina, Nor will never lay a hand on you again, I promise you that on the graves of our mother and father. Fina, do you believe that Nor is worthy to sit in the chair of the High Lord?”
Rena could feel Fina shiver as she contemplated this. Finally she found her voice and said, “No, I do not. When I was captured, even though Nor had committed that unforgivable breach in protocol, Kal-El had his wife release me. When I compare the honor displayed by their family and the dishonor displayed by ours, I can see why they were chosen by Gee-Ra as his successors. Even as a prisoner, I was treated with honor and respect which is more than I could say for anyone that Nor captures. They would be lucky to escape with their life. I almost wish I was of family El.”
Rena replied, “As do I sister. We have both seen their family and how they interact. They are a most honorable family. The relationships displayed between the parents and children and between the children are examples of what family relationships should be.”
“I too have seen that and I weep for what should have been, but I am weak and fearful.”
Rena said, “You no longer need to fear Nor. I will not allow him to bother you again. Personally, I will no longer follow him. As far as I am concerned he has lost the right to lead our family.”
Fina looked down and said, “I wish I had your strength, but I don’t. I know that if Nor summons me, I will go. It has been that way for too many years for me to deny the summons so easily.”
“Fina, I am going to confront Nor and tell him that he is to leave you alone and also that I will no longer follow his banner. I wish that I were in a life bond so that I could claim loyalty to my bond mate’s family. I am going to actively seek a bond mate, assuming we survive this combat and the repercussions of Nor’s actions.”
With a parting admonition to Fina to remain aboard the ship Rena took off for the planet’s surface to find Nor.
When she found him, he was with a number of his followers who had created a situation which Hazel and Quicksilver had responded to.
There were ten New Kryptonians counting Nor surrounding the colorfully clad superheroes. Nor’s minions were attempting to use their heat vision to destroy them.
As she approached she saw another pair of the local heroes arrive. They both wore red tops and blue bottoms and the El family crest was prominently displayed on their chests. As they came in they each tackled one of Nor’s supporters.
Seconds later a pair wearing black and white themed suits arrived and tackled another pair.
They were quickly followed by a woman in white and a man dressed up to look like a thunder cloud.
Finally a pair arrived wearing the same colors as Kal-El and all but one of the women, however they were younger. They wore blue tops with red shorts. These attacked Nor and his last supporter.
Rena heard, /”This is Nor. We need help!”/
Rena sent, /”Do not respond to this summons.”/
/”Who sent that?”/
/”It was I, Rena”/
/”How dare you! My commands are to be obeyed!”/
/”Do not expect me to obey any more of your commands. From now on you can fight your own battles.”/
Nor could see his followers, one by one breaking away from their opponents and flying away. He flew to Rena and tried to intimidate her with a look.
Rena looked at him with disgust, “You can save those glares for your followers. You haven’t been able to intimidate me that way for a while now. I haven’t liked what you have been doing for a long time and now that I know what you have been doing to Fina I can say that you disgust me.”
Nor lashed out and backhanded Rena across the face. He growled, “Do not cross me or try to thwart my designs or you will regret you even thought to.”
Rena looked daggers at him as she rubbed her cheek where he had struck her and felt her teeth with her tongue and finding a couple loose then she lashed out and raked her nails across his cheek, drawing blood.
He was too startled to respond. He brought his hand up to his cheek and brought it away bloody and he was shocked. He stuttered, “Bu .. but … but, we are invulnerable. How could this happen?”
Rena smirked, “Think about what happened to Ran-Na when he fought Lady Lois. We are equally super powered therefore I can affect you. Just as you loosened my teeth I can tear at you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I could go to the council; however I will spare you that. I will no longer support you in this, but that is as far as I will go at this time. Know this, ‘brother’, if you once more lay a finger of Fina, I will not be responsible for what I do and you had better hope that you die quickly, because right now I want you to live a long time and suffer. You may be our brother, but she is my sister and I will protect her from you and I will do whatever I need to do in order to do so. Beware brother.”
Nor stared after her as Rena took off and flew back to the ship. He thought, <My sister has outlived her usefulness. She will have to be dealt with, permanently. Fina may still afford some pleasure so she will be spared, for now.>
And now -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 24 – Lori Has a Plan
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Alt2
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The Superwomen, Ultra Women, both Lois and Lori along with Zara were gathered at the Hyperion Ave. house. They had all been casting about for a definite method of disabling Nor and his family and no one had come up with an answer.
2013 Lois and Lori were talking. 2013 Lois said, “You and I seem to have a lot of common memories. Maybe we can come up with an answer if we put our heads together. What do you remember?”
Lori replied, “I remember Clark and Nor slugging it out in the middle of Metropolis. They wrecked buildings and vehicles. The Drei was mostly ineffective against their invulnerable bodies although it was what was used in the knocking around part.”
2013 Lois snapped her fingers and said, “Then the American military stepped in. They got the Kryptonite from STAR Labs and used the Kryptonite to create a poison gas. When they used it Clark almost died.”
Lori said, “That’s right! Well, the military isn’t involved at this point, but we could use that same solution.”
2013 Lois said, “Kryptonite gas could be a problem. It almost killed Clark along with Nor. We have to have something that we can control better than that, besides we have a lot more combatants in this. But first off we need a source of Kryptonite.”
Local Lois who had been an interested listener said, “I just may have a source of Kryptonite. We recently bagged Luthor and along with him his stash of Kryptonite. Bill Henderson has it under lock and key. Bill knows who we are and he’s our source inside the police department. He was keeping it for us until we had time to dispose of it all. I’m not sure how much there is, but we can call and find out.” Local Lois picked up the phone and dialed.
“Twelfth Precinct, Sgt. Tartaglia. How may I be of assistance?”
‘Hi, Gino, Lois Lane.”
“Ms. Lane! You know I was speaking with Mrs. Tartaglia just this morning about you. I had told her how much you liked her canoli and she asked if she should maybe make some and send them to you at the Planet.”
“Gino, that is so sweet of your wife to offer to do that. Please tell her thank you for me and I would love some.”
“Your wish is my command. I will relay that message to Mrs. Tartaglia tonight.”
“Thanks Gino. Is Bill Henderson around? I need to speak with him.”
“Coming right up!”
“Thanks Gino.”
After a few clicks she heard, “Henderson.”
“Bill, Lois Lane.”
“Hi Lois. What can you tell me about all of these superpowered villains that have been terrorizing the world?”
“That’s what I’m calling about, Bill. You know that stash of Kryptonite you found in Luthor’s lair?”
“What about it. I’ve got it sealed up in a lead box, locked in a safe deep in the bowels of the evidence room.”
“I need it. Just how much was there?”
“I’d guess there was about four pounds. Some of it was crystals and some was more rocklike.”
“Can I come over and pick it up?”
“I think it would be better if you sent Superwoman, you know, why would Lois Lane need Kryptonite, now Superwoman, there would be no question.”
“Right, Bill, I understand. I’ll see if I can get hold of her and send her in.” She turned to 1993 Lois Superwoman and putting her hand over the phone pick-up said, “Why don’t you go get it?”
1993 Lois, who's uniform most closely resembled local Lois's, nodded her head and took off at superspeed.
Local Lois pulled her hand away from the phone and said, “I think that Superwoman should be there shortly.”
Suddenly she heard a gasp from Henderson and she started to snicker. She asked, “Is she there yet?”
“Lois, that is you still on the line, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Bill, I’m still here.”
“If you’re there and I’m speaking with you, who is this, here in my office?”
“Why, Bill, that’s Superwoman. Don’t you recognize her?”
“Well, she seems to have changed her uniform, slightly, but yeah, it has to be her. She just flew in at superspeed.”
“Can you give her the Kryptonite?”
“Right away. You’re going to have to tell me how you’re doing this later.”
Lois was laughing and he could hear it as he hung up the phone. He turned to the Superwoman that was standing in front of him and said, “Right this way, ‘Superwoman’.”
He was even more startled when she spoke and it was definitely Lois Lane’s voice, “Thanks, Bill. We really appreciate this.”
Bill just shook his head and led her to the evidence room. When they got there he signed out the box and handed it to Superwoman.
She said, “Pleasure doing business with you, Bill. We owe you one.”
Bill led her out of the evidence locker and into a dark corner. When he was sure that there was no one around he said, “You are obviously Superwoman, but are you the Superwoman that I know? You know, Lois?”
“Why yes, Bill.” She shifted to a whisper, “I’m Lois.”
“But, how? Two places at the same time? I had you on the phone and … “
“Yes, you did. You were speaking to Lois.”
“And you?”
“I’m Lois … another Lois.”
He had a mystified tone in his voice as he said, “Another Lois, from another universe, Like Clark?”
“Exactly.”
“Whew, I thought for a minute, I was losing it.”
"No, Bill, you're doing just fine. It even confuses us at times. Right now there are four of each of us here fighting this war against a very evil man named Nor and his followers. The bad guys are all from Clark's home planet and custom required that the combat be limited to family, but the bad guys, being bad guys, cheated. We needed a way to end this war," she held up the box, "and this is it."
"Well, good luck. Just be careful and by all means - win the war."
"Thanks, Bill. We sure intend to try." Lois took off to return to the Hyperion Ave house.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Naga, sister of Noga, bond mate of Ran-Na, and her husband, Col-As, were hovering over Metropolis hoping to spot one of their adversaries alone and when they saw a superwoman leave the MPD precinct they thought that fortune had smiled on them. Together they dove on her, taking her unawares.
Unexpectedly, as she was on the way 1993 Lois was intercepted by two of Nor's minions who tackled her as she was flying. They became a swirl of colors. 1993 Lois sent out a cry for help, /"Ultra Woman! Help!"/ She sent this specifically to Lori and 2013 Lois because she knew that if the box opened, they would not be affected.
Receiving the call for help Lori and 2013 Lois took off and headed toward the twelfth precinct assuming that they would find 1993 Lois somewhere in route.
When they found her, she and her two assailants were on the ground. The lead box had come open either accidentally or deliberately and some of the Kryptonite lay on the ground. Her two assailants were both unconscious and 1993 Lois was rolling on the ground clutching her abdomen, weeping with the incapacitating pain.
Super speedily the two Ultra Women picked up the offending crystals and put them back in the box. When the lid was finally closed 1993 Lois released a relieved sigh and relaxed into unconsciousness from her ordeal. Lori – Ultra Woman picked her up while 2013 Lois - Ultra Woman picked up the box.
Lori said, “I hope the baby will be okay. Local Lois should have sent me instead.”
2013 Lois said, “Her uniform more closely resembles local Lois’ uniform. Everyone would have seen the differences in your uniforms.”
Lori asked, “Do you really think anyone would have paid that close attention to the details of the uniform when I flew in? I don’t.”
"What should we do with them?" 2013 Lois asked, indicating the unconscious New Kryptonians.
Lori said, “We can’t let them get back to Nor. Zara didn’t know anything about green Kryptonite so most likely neither did they. If we let them recover and go back to report we could lose our ace in the hole.” She thought for a few seconds, before she continued, “I’ve got an idea,” and sent a summons, /"Jon and Jen, we need you! Ultra Woman and I are downtown."/
Seconds later Kam-El and Jewel appeared and Lori said, "These two need to be secured. Jon, I’d like you stay here and watch them. They should be out for a while. Jen, please come with us. I’ll give you a small piece of green K in a lead pouch. Let’s use the barn in Smallville as a holding facility. Once you take them there you can use the green K to keep them subdued. Since the green K won't affect the spouses, you could take turns being their guard. Jon will have to stay clear.” She smiled at an afterthought, “It’ll give each of you a chance to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Kent while you are there."
Nodding, Jewel said, "I understand. Good plan. Oh, I just remembered! Jimmy’s wife, Peg, Megawoman, can’t stand guard."
“Why?”
“She may be pregnant. They just announced it at the party.”
“Okay, if there’s any possibility, she needs to stay clear. Anyone else?”
“Not right now. I just had a baby a few months ago, but I don’t think anyone else is expecting right now.” Turning back to Jon she said, "Be right back, honey."
With a smile, Jon said, "Don't take too long. I'll miss you."
Matching his smile with one of her own Jewel said, "Wild horses couldn't keep me away a second longer than necessary. Back in a flash. Oh, wait, that's someone else." She snickered at her own joke.
The three women, with Lori carrying 1993 Lois took off for the Hyperion Ave. house.
Once back at the house, Lori quickly transferred a chunk of green K to a lead lined film pouch, making sure that lead shielding was between the green K and the others in the house the entire time.
As she finished handing the pouch to Jewel, Lori checked over the rest of the contents of the box and said, “I’m not sure this will be enough for what I have in mind. We’ll need to find more.”
Since most of the kids and their spouses were scattered around the globe dealing with emergencies being created by Nor’s minions, Lori asked 2013 Lois and Carrie to accompany her, “Since none of us are vulnerable to Kryptonite, we have a job to do. Let’s all fly to Smallville. She sent, /”Jon, when you finish helping Jen, why don’t you go to STAR Labs. You know how they do things. See if they have any Kryptonite. Get all that they have.”/
He replied, /”No problem! It’ll be a pleasure to see Bernie again.”/
1993 Lois was coming around and Lori asked, “What happened, Lois?”
1993 Lois replied, “I was on my way back with the Kryptonite when I was attacked. I immediately called you. There was more than one and as they grabbed me they forced me to the ground. I had a hard time defending myself since I was encumbered with the box. They started hitting me and I felt that I might lose consciousness so I opened the box. As soon as I did, the beating stopped, but I was in a lot of pain and I dropped the box. That’s the last I know until just now when I woke up. You were right. Green K exposure when you’re pregnant is no fun. What happened? What did you do with them?”
Lori put her hand on 1993 Lois’ arm and stroked it in a comforting gesture as she said, “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I hope the baby wasn’t harmed. Even with that I think you did the best thing. You knocked both of them out. We have sent them to Smallville with one of the spouses to guard them.”
With a look of concern, 1993 Lois said, “When they recover they will attack her and capture her.”
Lori snickered and said, “Highly unlikely. She has some green K to keep them out. We couldn’t let them get back to report that we had the means to knock them out. That’s two less for us to worry about.”
Lori said, “I checked over the supply in the box and I think that we will need more in order for this plan to work because of the numbers against us. I think we need to go to Smallville to get more.” She turned to local Lois and asked, “Have you had to deal with Tempus?”
“No, who’s Tempus.”
“Tell you later. Right now we need to see if we can find more Kryptonite at the landing sight.”
2013 Lois turned to local Lois and asked, “Can we take Carrie with us?”
Local Lois looked at Carrie with a questioning look and got a smile in return with the statement, “I’d like to help, Mom and Kryptonite can’t hurt me.”
Local Lois said, “Well I guess so, just be careful, okay?”
Carrie smiled broadly and said, “Nothing to worry about, Mom. Besides, I’ll be with two more of you. I couldn’t be any safer.”
Nodding, 2013 Lois said, “We’ll take care of her. You can count on us. We’re with you Lori. Let’s go.”
They took to the air and headed for Smallville. Since Protector’s flight ability was provided by her telekinetic power it was not as fast as the superheroes so 2013 Lois took her hand and while she projected a field around herself, 2013 Lois pulled her along. Landing in the vicinity of Schuster’s field they started looking around.
Once on the ground 2013 Lois said, “Over this way.” She headed off in the direction of a copse of trees. Once there they saw the gouge left by Kal-El’s small ship when it landed there over twenty years previously. She said, “There were plenty of small chunks around that last time I saw this place. They could be buried by this time though.” She turned to Carrie and continued, “When I was here before, it was in the past, when his ship had just landed and before he was found by the Kents. Tempus tried to use the Kryptonite to kill Kal-El as a baby.”
Carrie was looking around and asked, “This is where my dad landed? When he was a baby?”
Lori said, “Yep, he was only about four months old when the Kents found him.”
Carrie just said, “Wow. Just think, how brave Grammy and Gramps were to check it out.”
2013 Lois said, “In our reality, they thought that they had seen a meteor.” Smiling at the memory she continued, “What they actually saw was Superman streaking across the sky pretending to be a meteor so that he could attract their attention. He did that right after we beat Tempus and saved baby Clark from the Kryptonite. You see, the ship had landed some time earlier and Tempus had forced Herb to take him to the time right after he landed so that he could try to kill him. Now, let’s see, the last time I was here, it was before the Kents showed up.” Looking around she pointed and said, “I was hiding over there when they arrived.”
Lori said, “Yeah, I’m remembering. That was after we stopped Tempus. Beat him in a fair fight.”
Snickering, 2013 Lois said, “Yeah, he hit like a girl.”
Lori smiled at the memory and said, “Yeah, I remember now. Without his gun he was pathetic. Okay, let’s start looking.” She looked around and it was apparent that she was searching her memory. She stepped over to where she remembered the ship had been and knelt. She looked off at an angle and said, “When I pulled the Kryptonite away from the baby I threw it in that direction. Let’s start there and then work our way around..”
They started using their supervision to examine the ground. They started at that gouge in the earth and fanned out from there in the direction Lori had indicated.
In this particular job, Carrie’s abilities didn’t help a whole lot so she simply stood by and when one of the super spouses found a piece of Kryptonite she grabbed it and used her telekinesis to move it into the lead box that had been brought for that purpose.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
While some of the super spouses were thus occupied, Nor’s minions were keeping the rest occupied.
All across the globe, reports would come in of not so natural disasters. The collapse of a previously structurally stable bridge, an unexplained structural fire, a landslide in an area not known for slides or an earthquake in a non-earthquake prone zone were really keeping the superheroes busy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dan-El and Red Thistle were dealing with an emergency. The historic Edinburgh Castle on the heights overlooking Edinburgh, Scotland was threatening to collapse. A pair of Nor’s adherents were hovering in the air using their heat vision to blast away the hillside. Part of the south defensive wall had already fallen and the wall around the castle proper would be next to go.
Dan-El and Red Thistle flew in and placed themselves between them and the hillside.
Red Thistle shouted, “Wot do ye think ye’re doin’?”
Van-Ga and his wife Giwa shifted the focus of their heat beams so that the new targets were Dan-El and Red Thistle.
Dan-El and Red Thistle activated their heat vision and used it to counteract the ones attacking them. Slowly the point of intersection became more visible as a coruscation of energy in mid-air between them. That point of intersection slowly moved toward Van-Ga and Giwa. Even though Van-Ga and Giwa were fully Kryptonian they didn’t have the years of practice and experience in the use of their powers that Dan-El and Red Thistle had and that gave them an advantage.
Red Thistle mocked them, “Ye think I’ll let ye destroy sech a beautiful landmark and get away wi’ it? Well, I’ll no let I’ happen. Begone wi’ ye. Ye get away from me homeland.”
At that point, Van-Ga and Giwa realized that they had come up against a foe with a vested interest in what was happening and they realized that there was no more fierce defender than a mom defending her child or a person defending their homeland.
They were both shocked at this, these were both super powered adversaries. How could it be that this spouse claimed this as her homeland? Weren’t all super powered people from Krypton? They would have to report this finding back to Nor. First they needed to break off this particular conflict and remain free to do so. Somehow these members of the El family had managed to make Earthlings super. If that was possible then they potentially could turn the entire population super and there would be no chance of their success. Nor had to be notified of this finding.
Van-Ga sent, /”Giwa – we must retreat. Break away now!”/
At his command Giwa shut down her heat vision abruptly and flew off at superspeed along side Van-Ga.
After Van-Ga and Giwa left, Red Thistle turned to view the damage and said, “Ach, would ye look a tha’. The outer wall I’ gone. It’ll never be the same.”
Dan-El drifted over and put his arms around Red Thistle and said, “Look at it this way, honey, we stopped them before any more damage was done.”
“Aye, there’s that.”
“Let’s do a patrol around the isles and make sure there aren’t any more mischief makers.”
“Why couldn’t they ha’ burned down Windsor or the blasted Tower or even Big Ben. Why did they pick on Edinburgh Castle?”
“Perhaps because it represented a position of strength and indomitable will.”
“I’ would only ha’ been worse if they had attacked Culloden.”
“But, there's no castle at Culloden.”
“Ach, I noo, it’s just the thought a tha’. Come on, let’s do tha’ patrol.”
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