Chapter Twenty-Nine: Shadows of Discontent Part One
Kara barely could keep a wide grin off of her face when Clark flew out next to her. His latest adventure was very interesting, but the aftermath was what interested her the most. She turned towards Clark, smiling very wildly when locking eyes onto him. The two of them made their journey to the Danvers Household because they had been invited to meet the younger Kara and her sisters. They just took a long way around so they could have an opportunity to talk to each other on their way out.
Clark had been beyond amused by that particular look on Kara's face. She looked very giddy in response.
"She finally did it," Kara said in surprise. "She finally actually gave into her biological instincts, and finally allowed herself to be taken by you."
One look at Kara's face made Clark almost chuckle in response.
"You don't seem surprised it happened," Clark said. "And I understand you were the one who got in touch with Lucy and arranged for her to come by for a visit."
Kara couldn't keep the wicked little smile off of her face when Clark answered the question. It was true, she played not so much of a little part in this entire scheme, but honestly who could blame her? She just wanted to get the ball rolling on a couple of important things. What the people did with said ball when it flew out into the field, Kara could not even begin to guess.
"Well, I wouldn't have been surprised if she would have taken a piece of you as well," Kara said. "I'm sure there's going to be a few girls lining up now that…word have spread."
Clark looked at Kara. She folded her arms underneath her chest in mid-air and gave him one of those smiles in response.
"Kara?" Clark asked.
Kara kept a very obvious straight face, directed towards Clark. The straight face only made her look slightly less guilty, especially when Clark saw the look of mirth dancing through her eyes. Clark put a pair of hands on his hips, but Kara just looked back in obvious amusement.
"Not that I've been spreading the word, but you know, people are going to talk, and they're going to say things," Kara responded to him. "They're going to talk about what you are able to do, and how many women you'll able to have. And you know Tess may be taking a look at some people if she gets her way."
Clark could hardly believe what Kara implied, but at the same time, he could really believe what she implied.
"And here are three young women who would also want to meet you," Kara said, almost as an afterthought. "The point is, I'm sure Lucy is going to have another chance. And she might be a handful, but you're one of the people who might be able to put her in line….and maybe you can force some kind of peace between her and Lois."
Clark raised an eyebrow and drew in a deep breath.
"Do you think I'm some kind of a miracle worker?" Clark asked her.
Kara leaned in and kissed Clark on the cheek before pulling back from him. "No, I don't think you're some kind of miracle worker. I do think you're pretty good, though. Very good in fact. You'll inspire, and that's the most important thing."
The two of them dropped down in front of the Danvers Residence. It was a nice house, nothing too out of the ordinary, very quaint. The type of house you wanted someone to live up in if you wanted them to have a pretty good life. To say the younger Kara lived here made the older one feel rather well. She grew up well, and Kara could not help, but be pleased about that fact.
"So, Kal, do you want to do the honors?" Kara said.
Clark leaned forward and knocked on the door. He could hear someone rushing to get the door and the door swung open.
A tall girl of about fifteen or so years of age looked up at Clark. She had dirty blonde hair, which she tied back, and wore a pair of glasses. Her lips pursed into a surprised expression when looking at him. She dressed in a white blouse, and a pair of jeans. Her mouth hung open when she saw the young man in the seat.
"Kal-El?" she asked. "Is that really you?"
Clark smiled. "Yes, Kara, it's really me….."
Kara the younger rushed to him and threw herself into him with a nice and solid hug. She blushed very slightly when feeling herself brushing up against his muscular body. With good grace, Kara pulled away from him, with a smile.
"It's really nice to meet you, finally, at last," Kara said. "Well, I met you when you were born…but you know what I mean."
Kara turned around and saw the other blonde. Her eyes widened in response.
"Karen, that's…you're here too?" Kara asked.
"Wait, you remember me?" Karen asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
The older version of Kara looked at the younger version of Kara, with a smile on her face. The younger version threw herself at the older version with a hug, and the younger girl's face inadvertently buried into the chest of the older version of Kara.
Karen smiled, when Kara pulled away from her, going slightly red around the cheeks when she pulled away. The two of them looked at each other.
"I guess the three of us got separated," Kara said. "But, we've found our way to Earth….where did you land anyway?"
"About a thousand years in the future," Karen said. "But, I had to come back….for reasons I'm not still clear on….my memories are kind of messed up."
Kara answered with a nod.
"So, how did you end up here?" Karen asked.
"I landed in a garden….pretty close to a wooded area right around this house….thankfully my oldest sister found me."
The younger girl smiled. She decided to neglect the fact of the time her pod spent in the Phantom Zone, before getting jarred out. Thankfully she was in stasis, so nothing in the Phantom Zone really did hurt her, even though it was very jarring when she realized where she spent a good ten years of her life.
"Karen, Clark, it's good to see both of you," Eliza said. "Kara, why don't you let the two of them inside, so they can sit down. I'm sure they had a long journey to get here."
The younger girl stepped aside. Karen walked inside, closing her eyes. She felt a bit dizzy going in, and the flashes of some great battle on Infinite Earths happening, leading to them merging together flashed through their head.
"Are you alright?"
Eliza placed a hand on Karen's shoulder and got her to turn back around. Karen spent a moment trying to clear her thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just….I've been working on helping Raya and Lara and study these dimensional anomalies," Karen said.
"We've been working on studying them around the clock at STAR Labs," Eliza said. "I think we should get together, and put our heads together….see what we can find out."
The door opens, and Clark turned around in time to see an older blonde, in about her mid-twenties, enter the room. She stopped short, almost bumping into Clark. The older blonde, who had an amazing figure Clark noted, looked at Clark for a few seconds.
"Hi," she responded. "You're...Kara's cousin, aren't you, Clark?"
"Yeah, that's right," Clark said.
"Carol Danvers," she answered with a smile.
"You're the one who found Kara when her pod crashed?" Clark responded.
"Yes," Carol answered. "And it's a good thing I found her otherwise….well some other people might have found her, and I don't even know what happened."
Clark didn't really want to know what happened. He was just glad his younger cousin found a place in a very stable household.
"Carol, have you hear from your sister?" Eliza asked.
"Alex?" Carol asked. "I'm pretty sure she'll get off of work when she can…..I think she mentioned she'll be running a bit late."
Eliza frowned but said nothing. It was just her second oldest daughter promised she would be here soon, and she wasn't here. Eliza didn't want to worry her guests.
"I'm sorry about my daughter being late," Eliza said.
No sooner did she say this, the phone rang. Eliza went into the next room to pick up the phone. She frowned when answering it.
"Alex?" Eliza asked. "Something came up…..okay, come home as soon as you can."
Eliza tried not to look really worried, but as a mother, she could not help herself.
Alex Danvers hated to do this to her mother and sisters, and she also hated to miss out on a chance to meet Kara's cousin. Especially given the organization she worked for studied him for some time, and Alex found herself studying the images they had on file, quite intently. Each and every one of them showed something nasty, the worst of which aliens were capable of, and it scared Alex.
Something really dangerous came up. Months ago, some breaches opened, and it led to Lex Luthor being possessed by the Phantom Wraith of the Kryptonian outlaw known as General Zod. Lex had been defeated, by Smallville's protector, or rather Zod happened. The entire mess was a fiasco, and with Zod being sent back to the Phantom Zone, and Lex being taken to a secure location, it wasn't like they were going to find any crystal clear answers anytime soon, at least none to the best of abilities.
Now, there was most certainly someone else who came out of the Phantom Zone and was on Earth. Alex and her partner tracked the person and their movements. The most baffling thing ended up as being the lack of aggression. The dark haired DEO agent frowned when she looked off into the distance, studying the map with all of the locations marked.
There had also been the alien bounty hunter which had been picking up meteor mutants.
'And Clark sends him off,' Alex thought. 'Before we had a chance to figure out what his game was…..oh well, at least he's out of the way.'
"You're not going to believe this."
Already, Alex hated this particular statement. She had been capable of believing a whole lot in her time. She turned around to face the young woman who walked up next to her. The woman wore a skin tight uniform, as custom for many government agents. She did wear it pretty well, Alex wasn't going to deny this particular fact if she was perfectly honest. Her fit figure poured into the body suit, in particular, her ass which caught the eye of many DEO agents. She was beautiful, owing up to her mixed heritage of Chinese and Caucasian.
"I've been working in this job for a year, I believe a lot," Alex said. "What is it this time?"
"Another miniature breach is opening," she said. "The third one in twenty-four hours."
Alex frowned when looking on. She thought the breaches would stop. Why would so many of them open?
"Agent Johnson, Agent Danvers, report to Director Henshaw's office," a man said walking up.
"So, I wonder what we did this time."
Alex smiled. "Daisy, why do you think we did something?"
"That last mission could have gone better, and had a lot less property damage," Daisy said. "Most of it was on the account of the alien…and we brought him in, in one piece."
Alex blinked and looked at Daisy who shifted her lips back into a smile.
"Well, mostly one piece."
The two agents made the long walk into the office, and Alex was getting flashbacks to all of those times where she had been called to the Principal's office in high school. Most of the time, Alex had a very good reason of being sent there.
The tall, dark skinned director of the DEO stared over the desk. Daisy appreciated the neutral look on his face, and she was sure Alex did as well.
"Agent Danvers, Agent Johnson, thank you for coming."
Daisy smiled, did they really have a choice when their boss said jump?
"We have a person of interest who is trying to open up a breach, and we have reason to believe that person of interest is not an alien," Henshaw said. "That person of interest is Lex Luthor."
"Luthor, sir?" Alex asked. "I thought he had been locked up well…"
"In the Loony Bin," Daisy said.
Not exactly the term Alex would have used, but she would be willing to let it slide, at least for right now. She could see the eyes of the Director maneuvered onto them, not once backing off.
"As you know, a couple of months ago, a breach opened in Smallville and resulted in Lex's possession, but it was resolved before the DEO had a chance to maneuver," Henshaw said. "There may be lingering traces of Zod inside Lex."
Daisy snickered at what Henshaw said, which earned her a stern look.
"Not remotely what I meant, Agent Johnson," Henshaw said. "Regardless, he may have had his orders, and we need to track down where he is."
"What if he causes trouble when we try and take him down?" Alex asked.
"Then, you should take any measure necessary to make sure the trouble ends," Henshaw said.
There was no question about what the DEO Director said. Lethal force might have been required. They hated to do it, but there were a few circumstances where it had to be done.
The agents took it as their cue to leave. Both of them walked from the room, keeping up a pretty good pace.
"Well, it looks like I'm going to be a little late for dinner," Alex said.
"Just a little bit?" Daisy asked.
"I better call my mother, she won't be pleased," Alex said. "Kara was looking forward to meeting her cousins….and I really did too, to be honest."
"Hey, duty calls," Daisy said. "Are you ever going to tell your mother what you're doing?"
Alex shuddered for a moment. The longer she waited, the more difficult it would be to cross that mind field. The less her mother knew what she was doing, the better off they were going to be.
The DEO Agent moved over to make a quick phone call and then they would be off, to track down Lex. Given the information at hand, there was one place where he might have gone straight away.
Lex pulled up the car he stole from Hugo Strange to the edge of the parking lot. His hands shook in excitement which could barely restrained. The young man stepped out of the car. He walked, something leading him there. His eyes still glazed over in a trance when walking forward. The man's heart skipped a couple of beats when walking with a swift step of excitement.
"I was so close, I was so close!" Lex yelled, almost chanting in an insane way. "Oh, I was so close, but now…"
Lex made his way to the front door of the lab once belonging to Milton Fine. This door had been shut, and Lex tried to push it open. The door would not budge.
"No, no, not today."
He picked up a huge rock and hurled it through the window. The glass shattered and allowed him to climb in through the window. Lex dropped down onto the ground and looked towards the main lab. It had been cleared out, everything had been confiscated.
Not everything, though, as Lex picked up a large piece of glass and raked it across his wrist. The blood splashed through the ground and resulted in the lab illuminating around them. A flash of energy surrounded the young man when he stepped over. Lex dropped to his knees with arms extended out in a crucifix pose.
The ground shifted down and made a modified elevator. Lex made his way into a secondary lab deep underneath the ground. The dust surrounded the young man. He took a half of a step inside and looked for everything around him.
"It has to be here," Lex muttered. "It just has to be here."
Lex grabbed the top of his head. Had there been one strand of hair, he would have ripped it out. Lex murmured underneath his breath.
"It has to be here!"
Lex's shouts increased in frequency and frustration hit in response. He overturned a table on the lab and walked over. The boxes were containing nothing other than notes. He pounded on the wall and caused it to crack.
"Ah, ha, I knew you hadn't been holding out on me."
The young man's groping of the wall allowed him to locate a switch which gave him access to a secret room. Another one, and at the back of the wall, there was a table. Lying on the table were several crystals.
"It had to be here, and I was right, you are here!" Lex cried.
Lex bent over and picked up a black box on the floor. He could hear it.
"And you're here too…everything I need to unlock the secrets of the universe, it's all here," Lex said. "And it's all mind."
Lex clutched the black box tightly and picked up one of the crystals. He slid the crystal inside, shrugging off the blood dripping from his arm. He entered a zone and would not be pulled out of it by any means.
"Yes, mine," Lex said.
The sounds of footsteps coming from above did not deter the crazed gentleman. He just fashioned the portal focus together, he was nearly ready. The time for reckoning was at hand. Lex breathed in and just took in everything around him.
"Almost there….."
Two figures dropped down to the ground in front of them. The government agents both trained their guns on Lex who turned around to face them.
"Freeze, you're under arrest!" Alex yelled.
The women trained their guns on Lex. Lex didn't really acknowledge them. He just simply fired a smile towards them, looking about as calm and tranquil as humanly possible. Alex held her gun on point, and hesitated, close to fire, but she didn't really pull the trigger.
"I knew you were coming," Lex said. "And I'm glad you are here. You're here in time to see something beautiful."
Daisy caught sight of the crystal array in Lex's hand. She wasn't sure what he had. All she could do was fire at him.
The bullets had been caught up in an energy field before being sucked into it. Whatever was happening, the Vortex opened up. It rattled in Lex when he dropped to his knees.
"I have changed the world!" Lex yelled.
"You're going to rip us apart if you don't stop this thing!" Alex yelled.
Lex looked completely beyond all comprehension. He drank in the power, the power to change the world. The same power he had when Zod entered him nearly came forward. He reared back and continued the chanting, breathing in, breathing out, shaking his hands.
"You're just in time to see something beautiful," he repeated.
Alex and Daisy took a step back, in time to see some skeletal hands and a flowing black robe. A pair of soulless glowing eyes flashed in front of them. It was the unmistakable look of a Phantom Zone wraith, growling and hissing when it dove towards them.
The wraith hovered over them, with the crystals shorting out. Lex dropped to the ground, and Alex blasted Lex, catching him in the shoulder before he could cause any problems.
"Maybe it's trapped between dimensions," Daisy said.
This particular hope had become dashed when the Phantom Wraith charged towards them. Alex and Daisy stepped off to the side and prepared to fight.
The wraith flew up, out of the lab, and out in the wild.
"I'll secure him, and then I'll be right behind you," Alex said.
Daisy nodded, she had powers, and thus a better chance to deal with whatever this thing was than Alex did. She moved as quickly as possible out the door, and after the wraith when it escaped out somewhere into Kansas.
Dinner at the Danvers Household went on pretty good, and then there was dessert which went on well as well. After dinner, Kara and Karen were talking. Clark tried to help Eliza with the dishes, but she shooed him off.
"It would be rude of me to ask you to do any chores when you're here, you are my guest," Eliza said.
"But, wouldn't it be just as rude of me to not help out, after the wonderful meal you've cooked?" Clark asked.
"Your satisfaction is its own reward," Eliza said.
Kara and Karen spoke, with Carol just hanging out off to the room, just soaking in on the conversation.
"So, you're a test pilot at Ferris Aircraft?" Clark asked her.
"Among other things," Carol replied with a smile. "I've kept myself busy, but I'm used to keeping busy, I have two younger sisters, and….they can be challenging sometimes."
Clark understood perfectly.
"I just wish I would have remembered more sooner," Karen said. "Then again, there's the potential there are conflicting timelines here, so that could be the problem."
"That's why time travel is outlawed on Krypton," Kara said. "Speaking of which did you ever….."
"Did I ever think about going back all the way to Krypton, and trying to save it?" Karen asked. "Oh, I thought about it, but the consequences outweighed the benefits. I won't say much, but Krypton's destruction was a pivotal point in history, and there were far more deaths if it survived then there was."
Kara privately wondered if Karen went back, and tried made an attempt to save Krypton, but made a really bad future, so she had to stop herself from correcting the mistake. Time travel made Kara feel really loopy, so she didn't really spend all that much time.
"At least some of it's coming back to you," Kara said. "After all of those family get-togethers, all of the Festival of Rao celebrations, it would be a shame if you forgot about it."
"Yeah, it would," Karen said.
Eliza moved over to answer a phone call, while they all continued to talk in the background.
"So, you really do have multiple girlfriends, right now?" Carol asked.
"Yes, you….." Clark said. "I admit it's weird...I find it weird sometimes as well, but that's just the nature of my biology."
"No, not weird, just interesting," Carol said. "I have to say, you're a pretty brave man."
Carol would be lying if she wasn't intrigued. Granted, she and her friend, Jessica, they scratched each other's itches quite nicely. Both of them joked about potentially finding someone to spice things up, though, but while there was no shortage of men who would go along with it, there was a shortage of men who might be able to keep up the pace they liked.
"I…think I'll be able to graduate high school this year," Kara said. "I had to relearn everything from the ground up, Earth education is far different from Kryptonian."
"What are you going to do when you go to college?" Clark asked.
"Oh, I'm interested in journalism," Kara said.
"I should introduce you to Chloe, the two of you might get along pretty well," Clark said. "She might be able to give you a few pointers."
Speaking of which, Clark's cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered it. "Yeah, Chloe, what is it?"
"There's some Dementor Like Thing which is terrorizing Smallville," Chloe said.
Eliza just got off the phone. She could tell by the look on Clark's face that he got the same message.
"Phantom Zone Wraith," the older Kara said.
"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Clark said.
It was time for them to get to work.
Chapter Thirty: Shadows of Discontent Part Two
The moment Tess heard about Lex's breakout, she was right on her way to the facility. She put an ear to the cell phone when marching into the building. Everything caused Tess's heart rate to increase, and she feared the very worst.
"He's been detained?" she asked. "Good, of course, keep him detained, but I want to know why he had broken out in the first place."
Only one man had the capability to give Tess the answers she wanted and that was the one and only Professor Hugo Strange. Tess had a few reservations about the man and putting Lex underneath his care had been a very calculated and very sketchy risk. One thing could not be denied and Tess would be a fool trying to justify it.
Strange had the best abilities to get the information out of Lex. Tess ensured the man was paid to follow her plans. He could be sleazy and sketchy, but the man knew what he was doing, and Tess appreciated it. However, someone else from higher up also may have been slipping Strange money in an attempt to further their own agenda. Or something along those lines, Tess honestly didn't know, to be frank.
'That's one of the bits of information I'm going to have to get out of him.'
Tess stormed into the building. She made it about three steps down the hallway before a trio of rough-faced security guards stood in front of her. All of them gave Tess a sidelong view, and none of them looked too friendly. Tess crossed her arms when approaching them.
"Let me through," Tess demanded of them. "It's about Lex Luthor."
The guards looked very anxious, almost as if they had orders. Tess frowned, she would have to throw her weight and power around to get through.
"There's nothing to worry about."
This statement from one of the guards only served to raise Tess's ire. Her eyes closed shut. Many times she considered finding a way to have Lex die and make it look like an accident. She learned, unfortunately, death might not have been a final deal for some people as she thought it would be. Tess moved forward and one of the guards walked in front of her.
"There's nothing to worry…"
Tess cut him off by raising her right hand up. The man stepped back, mouth hanging open in the process with how brazen this woman had been in her actions.
"I heard you the first time," Tess replied. "It doesn't mean I accept your works either time. Now, I'm going to tell you one more time, let me through. Or you will be on the unemployment line by Monday morning."
The security guard shifted in a very uncomfortable way. Tess got the inkling of a poor man who was doing nothing else other than doing his job. She shouldn't rip into him too much, but at the same time, it was hard to give someone like this the benefit of the doubt, at least most of the time.
"He's been detained, there's nothing to worry about…"
"He may have been detained, no thanks to you," Tess said. "I need to see Strange, I need to talk about him about his inability to keep people secure."
Tess took every amount of self-control needed not to light into these men. It would be pretty poor form and would make her look like a raging lunatic. Tess's eyes closed shut and the woman counted to ten in response. The woman looked both of them.
"I need to speak with Strange," Tess said. "LuthorCorp funds this facility. If the payments stop, you three may find yourself out of a job. And you will be responsible for not being able to feed your families."
The threat she gave them made the guards step back and allow Tess to move forward. The redhead woman walked into Strange's office with a fierce purpose. The door was halfway open, so Tess didn't see any reason not to enter the office and walk up towards him to face the man in question.
She came eye to eye with Hugo Strange, who held a cold pack on the back of his head. The man rose to his feet.
"Miss Mercer, I've been expecting you," Strange said.
So he had. Tess's savage expression locked on him. The good doctor remained calm as if he mentally prepared himself to get it from both ends from Tess.
"I head to hear about Lex breaking out from a third party," Tess said. "Did I not tell you to keep me up to date on all of what happened with him? Was that not the conversation we had?"
The Professor placed one hand on the desk and the other hand on the cold pack on the back of his head. The man nodded in response.
"Yes, that was our understanding, but you have to understand there are circumstances which occur that change the plan," Strange said. "There was a session between the two of us, which had gotten out of hand. He grabbed a gun I keep in my desk for security purposes, and escaped with me, using me as a hostage to escape the building."
Tess could tell Strange wanted her to believe this was unexpected. Deep down, though, she figured the man knew all about the bullshit he spewed.
"You're a smart man, why didn't you think something like this would occur?"
Strange answered in the most tactful manner possible, still keeping his injuries in mind. "There's always the unexpected….especially here in Smallville as you know."
Tess studied Strange while doing her best impression of a lioness who attempted to determine how much to take down her prey. The man in question didn't back down or blink from her.
"He may be detained now," Tess said. "But you allowed him to escape, and I'd imagine you allowed him to escape because you wanted to see what would happen when he did."
Strange looked surprised or at least conveyed the illusion of being surprised. Tess didn't buy his façade for one single moment.
"Come now, the entire notion is…"
Tess shook her head and stopped him. "Consider your duties relieved. By the time I come back tomorrow, I expect you to be halfway back to Gotham City. If I ever see you step one foot in Smallville or Metropolis, then certain matters will come to light to the proper authorities."
She shouldered some of the blame for trusting a wild card like Strange. Tess decided now was not the time to assign blame, rather to determine what the next course of action. The redhead walked out, leaving Strange in his office. Tess already dialed up a number on the phone when exiting the room.
"Clark?" Tess asked.
"Yes, I've heard about it, and I'm about to return to Smallville," Clark said.
Tess did feel bad about pulling Clark away from meeting his cousin, well his other cousin. Still, she shifted the blame where it was needed, and that was at Hugo Strange and his damn curiosity.
"You should know, Lex opened up the doorway," Tess said. "He's already been detained….meet me outside of the facility, and I'll tell you everything I know. There are a couple of other people who want to talk to you as well."
Tess turned around the corner and saw two women about to step into the DEO. She smiled knowingly, figuring they would show up. And she should have known something, given what the DEO had been up to as of late.
"So, I figured the DEO would be keeping an eye on Lex, giving the Luthors' interest in the stars are causing a few problems for security," Tess said. "Both with your company, and the world in general...Agent Johnson, and Agent Danvers, correct?"
Both of the women seemed equally unsurprised Tess knew who they were. As long as they were on the same way.
Dinner and the family reunion had been cut short, but there were a lot of problems on the way. Karen and Clark flew at the speed of light towards Smallville, to deal with the ramifications of what Lex did.
Clark thought Lex had been put away, and so did Tess apparently.
"There's a wraith in Smallville, and he could be anywhere," the older Kryptonian said. "Or she, I supposed….but…they could be very dangerous."
Tess waited for them down on the ground. The two Kryptonian survivors dropped down to the ground, right in front of the two DEO agents. Karen recognized one of them from the picture on Eliza's desk. Both of them stood on the ground to face them.
'It looks like we're going to meet the third Danvers sister today after all.'
"It's a pleasure to meet you, I just wish it was under better circumstances," one of the agents said. "My name is Agent Alex Danvers, and this is Agent Daisy Johnson, my partner in the DEO."
Daisy's eyes lingered on Clark for a moment, at least until the moment her partner cleared her throat. The DEO member stood up straighter and tried to return to a mostly professional demeanor, despite the fact she was in the presence of a man among men.
Needless to say, the pictures didn't do him justice. It took Daisy nearly half of a minute, and Alex nudging her roughly in the side, to snap her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah, wish I could meet you….um when Smallville's not being torn apart by some demonic wraith from the Phantom Zone."
Alex picked off where her partner left off. "We were there when Lex opened the portal. It was brief, and the crystals burned out, but not before something flew out. It flew right past us."
"You should be very lucky it flew past you," Karen said. "The wraiths are very dangerous, and build to sustain some of the worst conditions."
"I don't think we were lucky," Daisy said. "I think the wraith, whatever it was, it was after something other than us. And it was pretty dangerous when it went after that something."
The two of them turned around. Lara returned, dressed in a battle suit of some sort. The suit just wasn't to make a statement, though, it was to absorb a great deal of solar radiation.
"This is…?" Alex asked.
"My mother, Lara," Clark said. "She….well it's a very long story."
Lara had a feeling there would be questions about her resurrection.
"One, we'll have the time for later," Lara said. "Right now, I have some good news and I have some bad news."
Daisy and Alex exchanged one of those looks with each other. Both good news and bad news, the absolute best situation, why could there not be good news and no bad news? They wondered if the good news was bad but still better than what Lara judged to be bad news. Judging by the look on Lara's face, they were going to guess it wasn't.
"Um, I think the fact the Phantom is rampaging around unchecked would qualify as bad news?"
Lara raised a hand and looked Daisy in the eyes. Daisy shifted, a tad bit nervous in response. This woman showed a great deal of power, and it intimated her just a little bit.
'Okay, just imagine her in her underwear,' Daisy thought. 'She's hot, not helping. Stupid sexy MILF.'
"I think I better give you the good news to brace things first," Lara said. "It's beyond just a wraith being let out into the wild from the Phantom Zone. We should be thankful Lex was only able to hold the breach open for a few seconds."
Tess spoke up after being surprisingly silent for the last few minutes. "Only a few seconds is enough."
Lara confirmed what she said with a solemn nod. "Yes, only a few seconds is enough, it's more than enough in fact. And it's more than enough for something really dangerous to have slipped out and started to cause havoc."
Alex could hear something in her ear. The woman responded with a frown when something, garbled, but still somehow audible, popped in the back of her ear.
"They're…oh….I….we're on it…the wraith was last seen going East….let me know if the path changes, it's on our way….which works out well."
The woman let out her breath in a long sigh and turned to her partner and the other people with her.
"Several people have been found, drained by the Phantom," Alex said.
Lara's worst fears had been confirmed. This experiment, could not be destroyed. Their attempts to create a super soldier beyond anything else failed. The scientist involved had been discredited when his creation killed countless. Both the scientist and the abomination had been exiled to the Phantom Zone.
"It's trying to find a host," Lara said. "Most of the people involved, they'll survive only a matter of minutes, an hour or two if they're lucky."
"But, will the Phantom die if it doesn't have a host?" Alex asked.
Karen jumped in to answer the question. "It may fade, but on a place as populated as Earth, there will always be elements to drain, to sustain the creature for as long as they can be out there."
Alex swallowed. Daisy put a hand on her partner's shoulder and nodded.
"We have to get the DEO base…there's one here in Smallville so….."
Clark and Karen knew they had to work quick. Lara grabbed Tess, Clark grabbed Alex, and Karen took a hold of Daisy.
"Just let us know where we need to take you, and we'll get you there."
Alex and Daisy could agree on one point. The Kryptonians helping them ensured the would have a lot easier time tracking down the Phantom Zone wraith, at least in their opinion. Their anxiety at this situation, though, unsettled both of the DEO agents something great.
The secondary DEO base in Smallville wasn't as big as the main one, and the staff was only a skeleton crew of people. Alex thought it quite strange at times; they didn't have their main base in Smallville, given how it was the hub of strange activity.
She pressed against Clark during the flight, feeling how firm he was against her. Alex struggled to remain professional, despite the circumstances. They dropped outside of the doors.
"I'll do it," Daisy said.
She walked forward, key card in place. The key card swiped through the lock and released a pad. Daisy pressed a fingerprint on the pad. A retinal scan fired up and performed the mandatory search. Seconds further passed before the doors could be opened, and the group could make their way inside.
"And I thought LuthorCorp's security was immense," Tess said.
Daisy smiled and accessed the next layer of the security network.
"Well, when you are safeguarding dangerous secrets, you don't want to be too careful," Daisy said.
Tess understood the importance of what they were doing, even though she did not trust things half of the time. The DEO had to operate a bit differently than most organizations. Dealing with conventional human threats, it made sense to follow conventional human laws, at least for the most part. Dealing with people who thought differently, acted differently, and even had extraordinary powers, they would have to work a little bit outside of the box. Actually, they had to work more outside the box them most.
She didn't blame them, Tess wasn't the type of person to work in a conventional manner either, not if she could help it.
"There's a base for an organization which deals with aliens in the middle of Smallville," Clark said. "I should have known."
"Yeah, you should have known," Alex agreed.
"Well, to be fair, with the meteor showers, all of them, it's only prudent for us to set up shop right here," Daisy said. "It's been a while since we've used this base….."
Daisy decided to stop while she was ahead. Given what was known about Clark and his friends, they could find the DEO base, but no reason to make it too easy on them.
'Now we have the Kryptonians on our side, though, this should be much better.'
Lara looked around for a few seconds. She thought some of this technology looked beyond what Earth was capable of. They took some inspiration, perhaps borrowed, from the various alien races the DEO encountered. For being such a young planet, Earth was a very fertile battleground for the alien races who wanted.
Clark's training would give them the protection, although people like the DEO would also give some necessary teeth.
"I'm guessing you approve, Daisy said.
"Very well put together, and I can see you've used the most you could from the various alien races you've encountered," Lara said. "I would have to say, you did a pretty good job."
Daisy appreciated the compliment and leaned in with a smile crossing over her face. "Well, you know what they say. When you steal from one person, it's plagiarism. When you steal from a lot of people, its research."
Alex turned around to fire up the scanners. They booted up and interfaced with the main DEO network. Alex pressed her hands on either side of the screen and waited for the information.
While she waited for another to come off, she turned around to face Clark.
"I've been meaning to get in touch with you for a long time," Alex said.
"Well, I would have appreciated it if you did," Clark said. "We might have found Kara sooner…."
"Yes, and there would have been a lot of awkward questions from my mother, with precisely what I was doing with my Doctorate," Alex said. "I haven't told her I was part of the DEO, because, you know how parents are, she would flip out if she found out how I put my life in danger fighting aliens."
Clark reached in and touched the top of her head. She had been pretty surprised with how forward he had been. Even more surprising, Alex didn't pull away.
"Secrets, never do anyone any good," Clark said. "All they do is hurt the people you care about."
Clark had been down this particular road, and he almost damaged some relationship. He attempted, best he could, to right the ship, and return back. Over time, trust could be rebuilt. Everyone made mistakes. It was only human, even though Clark wasn't. But, it was something which was possible the universe over.
Kryptonians incurred many mistakes. Sadly, all of those mistakes lead to their unfortunate end.
"Yeah, I know," Alex said. "But, I've observed you from far for about a year now…..well, I don't want this to come off as saying I've stalked you because I would never stalk someone. I respect personal boundaries and all that, you know what I mean."
Clark smiled. He didn't really want to have her dig a hole, to be honest.
"The point is, the DEO is very interested in you," Alex said. "We're….the people who try and help clean up Smallville where we can. There are a lot of people in the government who don't want to acknowledge there's a problem in the heartland of America."
Clark remembered something his father said. It was a lot easier to pretend there wasn't a problem and hope it would go away. Clark didn't agree with this, it often times made the problem worse.
"Then there are those extremists who do know there's a problem, and would like to blow it off of the face of the map," Alex said.
"Yes, but that's not happening," Tess said. "Not as long as I'm around…and have the contacts to put a stop to it."
The look on Tess's face showed them all how serious they were. Clark wondered how someone could go to such extremes. Most of the people were innocent in Smallville, just trying to live their lives.
"Raya, what is it?" Lara asked.
"There's something starting to breach the Fortress," Raya said.
Lara frowned. It couldn't be the Phantom Wraith, at least she was positive it was not the wraith. There was no way such a creature could have gotten inside. The last known movements were moving away from the Fortress, and not towards it.
The Kryptonian scientist made a split second decision of what needed to be done. She turned towards Karen and Clark, offering.
"Go, and see what you can find," Lara said. "I'll work with the others to see if we can track down the Phantom Wraith and wrangle it back into the Phantom Zone."
Karen and Clark made their way to the Fortress, while Lara proceeded to join Alex, Tess, and Daisy in an attempt to track down.
Raya knew of the breach and was trying to see if she could assist Lara on this end. The Phantom managed to avoid detection. It was almost as if the Phantom, whatever it was evolved. Raya closed her eyes, thinking of the experiments which could cause it.
Kryptonian scientists, especially during ancient times, created weapons, super soldiers, engineered, even beyond the usual Kryptonian methods of Birth. These methods were borderline barbaric, pretty sadistic as well. A chill spread over Raya's spine when giving them consideration. Horror would not even describe how this felt.
What if one of these experiments broke free?
The breach in the Phantom Zone only paled to the fact someone was trying to get into the Phantom Zone. Raya put up the defense shields and assessed the situation, after sending word towards Lara. Now she needed to see what she could do.
"Testing shields," Raya said.
The shields didn't really work as well. Raya didn't really sweat just yet. She helped, partially, design the Fortress, or at least read enough of Jor-El's notes to know of a couple of failsafe in the Fortress. Triggering the ultimate failsafe of self-destruction would be extreme, and she couldn't access that without Kal's full consent.
Regardless, there were a couple of other methods to activate. Raya pressed in a crystal and a red energy grid flashed around the external base of the Fortress. A few ticks of the clock passed and Raya thought it worked. She leaned back a few seconds later.
Something flashed through and disabled the grid. Raya stood up and had been knocked back to the ground.
Whoever the attacker was, they were pretty crafty, to the point where they were able to maneuver around Raya's failsafe defenses.
Raya watched the person rush towards her. The assistant put her hands in the air in response. The figure grabbed Raya around the shoulder and shoved her back down onto the ground. The woman landed on her back.
The assistant understood her purpose, it was not to fight, but rather it was to help, assist, the House of El. She rose up to a standing position. Despite some basic self-defense skills along the way.
Raya made an attempt to stop the woman from accessing the Fortress. If she could bypass the failsafe, Raya figured she could access the Fortress. Unfortunately, the woman was on a mission and didn't care who knew it. Raya had been smacked down to one side, being wiped out with a backhand attack.
Another blur came inside the Fortress and knocked the woman back away from the ground. The intruder somersaulted in mid-air and dropped down on the ground.
Karen and Clark stood in the door and stared down the woman. They recognized the woman's movements and most importantly her attire. It was the same woman who they encountered in the Phantom Zone and escaped.
"You're not taking this Fortress."
"I had no idea it was occupied," she said. "I just assumed it was a Kryptonian outpost….Kara?"
The woman's hood came down, and the face of Astra In-Ze had been revealed for the first time. She still wore somewhat of a wild look in those eyes after being trapped in the Phantom Zone for some time.
Karen looked in her mother's eyes for the first time in a very long time. More memories flooded back, causing sadness, loss, and anger to all flood into her at the same time.
Chapter Thirty-One: Shadows of Discontent Part Three
Karen stared across the Fortress with a burning gaze directed towards Astra. Her breathing increased every single moment. It took pretty much every bit of self-control she built up not to jump across the Fortress and take out Astra. The fight would have wrecked the entire Fortress, and if Karen pushed things, Astra might have taken her out. They needed to play this one both carefully and calmly.
'After being in the Phantom Zone, she might not be the same,' Karen thought.
Clark held his hand on Karen's sleeve and made sure she didn't do anything reckless. He looked across from the cave towards the woman who stared them down.
"I'm certain you're mad at me," Astra said. "And you don't fully understand the things I have to do."
Karen looked at Astra. She did not know the full story about what happened, but she knew that Astra might have skewed the details a certain angle. She had never been quite stable after the Argo valley incident, which took place two years before Astra's exile to the Phantom Zone.
"Yes, I don't understand because you didn't bother to explain anything, and you got yourself thrown into the Phantom Zone for trying to overthrow the Council, and then there was the disappearance of Kandor…"
Astra held up one hand. The Kandor thing had been pinned on her, even though she swore that particular event had nothing to do with her. Astra would happily accept pretty much every other charge the Council threw down at her, the Kandor thing, on the other hand, she had nothing to do with it, nothing at all. Her heart skipped a couple of beats, racing intensely.
"If you allow me to explain, I can tell you what I was thinking," Astra said.
Karen looked for a moment towards her. Astra hoped to appeal to her better judgment. Kara, both of them, could be headstrong and they could be a fair bit upset when push came to shove. Astra stared her down and Kara stared back.
Things could get every awkward in a real hurry.
Clark could feel a chill coming behind the Arctic Winds in the Fortress. There was just something happening which made him nervous beyond all belief. A second ticked away at the clock when looking from Astra to Kara and then back to her.
"Maybe we should hear her out," Clark said.
Everything stopped, and Clark received the looks of both women. He felt more like a third party than someone who actually contributed to this particular conversation, at least in his mind.
Raya moved over to join the group. Her eyes narrowed at the woman across from the Fortress. Jor-El did have many favorable things to say about her tactical brilliance, as did Lara. Raya wasn't going to deny the woman's intelligence. However, the sanity may have been lost. Raya just barely held it together herself after her stay in the Phantom Zone and it was in a controlled argument.
'I shudder to think what may have happened if it wasn't.'
Astra spent a moment to look at him. Raya's presence there clued in the former Kryptonian General on one simple fact. Her lips twitched into a smile when looking up towards the man in front of her.
"You are the son of Jor-El and Lara," Astra said. "It's been a long time...I never agreed with your father on much, I'm afraid, although he was willing to entertain any theory I had, especially if it pertained the future of Krypton."
Astra drew in a deep breath and let it out. She continued the discussion, at least the best she could. Time away in Phantom Zone had never been good for anyone's mental stability.
"Jor-El and I agreed on one fact," Astra said. "We agreed Krypton's core, which had been slowly burning out for years, had become unstable. To do what needed to be done to fix it, the approval of the Council was needed. And for them to approve attempts to stabilize the core, they would have to admit there was a problem. And they also had been doing mining, which had been temporarily compromised. My sister's husband, who allowed his greed to get the better of him, had been in the center of this."
Karen had the sense Astra never really approved of Zor-El, and she had to admit, he had been a bit off. His obsession with Lara was something Karen noticed a long time ago. The confusion of both being sent to Earth and time traveling caused problems in her mind.
"The Council didn't agree with the fact our planet was dying, despite the fact there was constant evidence slapping them in the face," Astra said. "Jor-El thought he could appease them. I decided there had to be another way….therefore, I tried to overthrow them through a coup. It was the only way I could think of to save Krypton with the limited time. If the Council was out of the way, then the path could be opened to help fix the core before it went critical."
Astra's eyes shut and the woman went down a deep trip into memory lane. She let out a breath.
"It was all for nothing," Astra said. "Some of the people I allied with, they mentioned the coup to the wrong people, and we barely made our way into the Capitol before….they seized us. I was tried and convicted to be sent into the Phantom Zone. Alura, my sister, had been forced to sign the order to dismiss me under duress."
The General turned away to avoid allowing them to show any emotion.
"We also lost Kandor."
"Yes, it was destroyed, vaporized off of the face of the planet."
"Not necessarily," Astra said.
Karen frowned, she wanted an explanation to that, if she was perfectly honest. The explanation would have to wait, the lights on the Fortress were blinking.
"Looks like the Phantom Wraith is on the move," Clark commented.
Astra's eyebrows shot up and her face grew surprisingly pale. "Wait, there's….one of them….here on Earth…a wraith to the Phantom Zone?"
The normally stoic General looked very disturbed, and potentially for a very good reason.
"Yes, we were helping some friends of ours track it," Karen said.
Astra raised her hand to stop any further conversation. "Whatever you think of me, you need to trust one thing. We must get the wraith back inside the Phantom Zone, or it will destroy this planet to get what it wants."
The woman read the information compiled on the screen in a split second. The Phantom Zone eroded the intelligence and sanity of everyone. The only thing which kept Astra of sound mind was the thought her daughter and niece made it safely off of the planet.
"And what does it want?" Clark asked.
"The blood of every single last Kryptonian."
Those grim words came down to a single point. Blood, it would be something a phantom wraith would want.
Tess stepped into the back room of the lab, with Alex and Daisy. Lara had been busy tracking the movements and keeping them posted. Tess called LuthorCorp for Indy to meet her there. The situation grew rather frustration and she thought it would only get worse.
'Things have escalated badly in a hurry,' Tess thought.
"I'm not sure how much help your personal assistant will be," Alex said. "I mean no offense but…"
"Trust me when I say I don't take offense," Tess said. "And also, she'll be very useful."
A woman with red hair dressed in a business suit stepped in. Alex and Daisy had been caught off guard by her exotic, violet eyes. Her face looked quite familiar, although they couldn't want to place it.
"You must be Agent Danvers and Agent Johnson of the Department of Extra-Ordinary Affairs," the woman said. "My name is Indigo, but you should call be Indy, for it is fewer syllables and conserves oxygen."
Both of the DEO agents looked at her for a long moment and just nodded.
"Um, right, Indy," Alex said. "We're just trying to…"
"A wraith escaped from the Phantom Zone thanks to Lex," Indy said. "He escaped the custody of Hugo Strange, thanks to an oversight. And now he made his way to Milton Fine's area and managed to scrape together enough Kryptonian crystals to open the portal. The portal did not hold open for long, just a few seconds, but it was long enough for something to escape from the Phantom Zone."
Alex and Daisy blinked. They were there, so the recap wasn't really needed. Still, they appreciated the efficiency Indy came out with and how she pretty much nailed the situation with picture-perfect precision.
"I think that about covers it," Daisy said.
"Yeah, it does," Alex concluded.
"I understand you have a containment unit which can hold alien prisoners in the DEO," Tess responded.
"Um, I don't know….why you know that," Alex said.
Tess just casually dropped top-secret DEO secrets which made both agents very nervous about a possible breach.
"Ask me no questions, and I won't be forced to lie to you lovely ladies," Tess said, cracking into a smile.
"Right, that's fair enough," Daisy said. "We do have a containment unit which should trap the wraith, at least in theory. It's been able to hold some dangerous prisoners until we were able to put it out."
Tess looked towards Daisy who answered with a very obvious shrug and popped off into a smile.
"At least that's the theory," Daisy said. "It's been a while since we used it, but hey, with a few modifications, we can use it to hold the Phantom Wraith."
The lights kicked up, and they made their way into the room. The containment unit stood about eight feet tall, and given the Phantom was about five and a half feet tall, give her take, it was the perfect containment unit for the wraith, at least in theory.
Perfect in theory and perfect in execution ended up being two different things. Tess stepped forward and could see the containment unit.
"Mind if I take a look at that?"
They all turned around and noticed Lara stepping into the room. They all gave a path. For about ten seconds, Lara and Indy locked eyes, but nothing had been said.
Alex shrugged and motioned for Lara to walk over. "Be my guest."
Lara stepped over and bent in front of the device. She looked it over with a very critical eye. The configuration was pretty good, to be honest, but there was a small problem.
"A device like this will only hold the Phantom Zone Wraith for about ten seconds," Lara said.
"Actually, you made a small miscalculation," Indy said. "A device like this may only hold a Phantom Zone wraith for approximately fifteen seconds."
Lara double checked her math and decided to turn back towards Indy. "My mistake, fifteen seconds, but still, that's not an ideal time to hold something so dangerous."
The two DEO agents stared towards each other moments later, and their communication appeared to have been frantic, and for obvious reasons as well. They only had so much time, and every second the wraith was out there, the danger for the people of this planet increased.
"Is there any way to…?" Alex asked. "I don't know, is there any way to increase the lifespan of the generator, so we can hold it for more than a few minutes."
Lara stopped for a minute, considering Alex's suggestion. It sounded feasible in theory.
"There are ways, but we need time," Lara said. "And that's not a luxury we have….we're going to have to time this correctly and without any slip-ups. The moment we deploy the containment unit, the wraith is going to have to be sent into the Phantom Zone."
Daisy found a slight flaw in this plan, maybe it was just her, though.
"You know, to do that, you're going to have to be about twice as fast as a speeding bullet."
Lara answered with a nod. "Exactly."
She had a couple of ideas where they needed to go next. Before they could hash together a plan, Clark and Karen returned to join them. Judging by the looks on their faces, it was obvious they had gone through some real insanity to get back here.
"The wraith is not just a wraith, but a weapon," Clark said. "It's was created to hunt down and destroy all Kryptonians who broke the law on Krypton."
Karen drew in a breath and picked up where Clark had left off.
"Unfortunately, an error resulted in it wanting to hunt down and destroy all Kryptonians," Karen said. "Whether or not they broke the law or not. And thus, it had been sent to the Phantom Zone, but now it's out."
"How did you find this out?" Lara asked.
Both Karen and Clark look at each other. Clark gave Karen the opening to speak.
"Astra told me," Karen said.
Lara closed her eyes. They met Astra, after months of Lara trying to overturn every single rock, they met Astra. Lara tried not to be too impressed at the fact Astra managed to elude her for this long. She found herself both amused and very annoyed as well.
"She's just outside, she figured stepping into the DEO right now would cause a scene," Karen said. "I put a tracer on her."
Lara answered with a nod. Astra only paled in comparison to some homicidal, blood-thirsty Phantom Zone wraith who intended to rip apart anything and everything in its path, until the hunger had been satisfied. Lara couldn't think of an awful thing, although she was certain with time, there would be something worse than this particular wraith.
"Providing, of course, she's not lying."
"Something like this, she wouldn't lie."
Karen turned around and looked towards Indy. She had been taken aback, it was like looking in some kind of demented funhouse mirror.
Lara's scanner went off and she moved her way towards the room. Clark and Karen followed close behind her, followed by Indy, Tess, Daisy, and Alex. The Kryptonian Survivor leaned forward and could see the blinking on the other end.
"The wraith is moving and…."
Clark saw the map and his eyes widened. He knew where it was heading, and he knew he had to hurry. Time ran short.
Chloe sat at the window, looking outside in Smallville. She currently was at Lana's house. Clark encouraged her to keep her head down and stay out of trouble. Despite Chloe's budding abilities, they weren't trained up as much and would be useless in a fight against a monster from the Phantom Zone.
'Keep my head down, stay out of trouble, easier said than done,' she thought.
"Hell of a storm brewing out there, isn't it?"
Lana stepped inside, wearing a black robe, and carrying a cup of coffee. The racket outside made it very hard to sleep. She checked the usual sources for anything, and yet, nothing happened. That left Lana vexed and confused.
"There isn't a tornado warning, or even a tornado watch out there," Lana said, sitting down next to Chloe. "So, why is there a storm brewing out there?"
Chloe sighed and had a sinking suspicion something would happen.
"I don't know, I don't like it," Chloe said. "That thing which has been sighted in Smallville, it's pretty much bad news."
Lana sighed in response when sitting down next to Chloe. She hoped Martha was doing fine across the way. Going outside right now would be suicide. Lana reached over to dial the phone, but she was getting a heavy amount of static. She tried both the cell phone and the landline, and neither really worked.
"The storm's interfering with the reception," Lana said. "We can't call out for help if we wanted to….why does this look like something out of a horror movie?"
"It could be worse," Chloe said. "At least we have electricity."
No sooner did Chloe say these words, the lights hissed before the room they sat in went completely black. Lana slowly turned her attention towards Chloe who just shrugged in response.
"You had to say it," Lana said.
"Yeah, I guess I did," Chloe said.
"There should be candles in here somewhere, and I always keep a flashlight in the….."
The gusts of wind continued to escalate outside of the house. Chloe closed her eyes and flexed her fingers trying to breathe in and out. The wind hit the house.
Lana jumped up when the fence outside of the house started to get ripped off. Several chunks of the ground went flying.
"Basement!" Lana yelled.
Chloe didn't have to be told twice. This was far nastier than any tornado which ever hit Smallville. The two of them made their way towards the basement, only to see a sinister black mist which surrounded the basement doors. Chloe took a step back.
The entire house started to crack and get ripped apart. A distorted face with red eyes could be seen on the other side of the wall. Lana, rooted on the spot, took a half of a step back, mouth wide open. Time slowed down to a crawl for both of the girls as the Potter house had been torn to shreds by a force of nature the likes of which no one had seen.
"It's the wraith," Lana muttered.
"Yeah, no shit!" Chloe yelled.
The wraith seemed intention on ripping them apart and it stocked the girls. Lana and Chloe felt weak, they could barely move from the wraith ensnaring them.
"You reek of Kryptonian!" the wraith howled in a voice which creeped both of the girls all out if they were perfectly honest.
A blur of light shot through the broken windows and grabbed both Chloe and Lana underneath his arms before pulling them out of harm's way. The Potter House had been lifted off of the ground, with pieces of debris flying everywhere.
Lana and Chloe shuddered when Clark held them tight down at the end of a very long road. The black clouds lifted up, and Lana realized her house was being ripped to shreds by him. Her heart raced a million miles a minute thanks to this particular encounter, and Chloe, she wasn't too much better to be perfectly honest. She clutched onto Clark when hanging onto him, with all of her might.
"It's after me, it's after all Kryptonians."
The Phantom Zone Wraith tour down the road like a bat out of hell and moved. Lana lifted her hand in defense. It started to glow and shoot a bolt of magical energy out of it. The magic caught the wraith and caught it in a field which it could not break through.
Lana looked up at her tingling hand, which just blasted magic energy out of it. Clark grabbed Lana and Chloe and jumped high into the sky. The Phantom wouldn't be held for long, but it might be held for long enough for them to get out of here.
"I did magic, I did magic…..oh sweet….oooh god," Lana breathed in.
The last times Lana had the ability to do magic, one of her ancestors possessed her. Lana really hoped to never head down that particular road again. Her fingers tingled from what just happened.
Clark knew the wraith had a hint of him now, which was good. He could lead him down the road, and hopefully far away from Lana and Chloe as possible.
"So, I've got to find you a safe place," Clark said.
Chloe finally caught her breath long enough to say the very obvious thing.
"I'm not sure if there are any safe places left in Smallville."
Despite wanting to argue with Chloe's cynical statement, Clark could not bring himself to do so.
Clark returned to a wide open field outside in the middle of Smallville. He looked towards Karen, who set her jaw with the most determined look possible. She leaned off to one side and captured Clark's hand, squeezing it together.
Kara In-Ze, alias Karen Starr, understood the reason why she had been sent here, to protect Kal-El and Kara Zor-El. She vowed to do this until her very last breath. With a dangerous Phantom Zone wraith on the loose, it would be more obvious than ever before with what that truly and completely meant.
"So, are we ready?" Karen asked.
Everyone around sighed. One wrong move could mean their doom.
"We have the trap, and we have the bait," Alex said.
"And we have the crystal which should transport the wraith into the Phantom Zone," Lara said. "We have ten seconds when the Wraith is in the tank, we're going to have to work quickly. There's no practice run. No room for error."
Daisy had the job of guarding Lana and Chloe. Both of the girls looked utterly shaken. It just showed, no matter how many things you saw in your time at Smallville, there would always be something.
The air grew chilly and the black clouds came. The wraith had not been moving away from them, but rather moving towards them. Clark stood up straighter to observe the wraith's journey to this particular location
"Everyone, get in position!" Clark yelled.
The wraith's travels made it very obvious. Karen stepped in front of him, but Clark shook his head.
"Trust me, it's going to work," Clark said. "Hey, I'm over here, you want me, I'm here!"
The wraith turned around. It looked more dangerous, uncanny than ever before. Its hands extended outward. Clark stepped back to avoid the attempt of the wraith to grab his neck. The outstretched hands just barely missed grabbing Clark around the throat.
Clark performed a very careful game of ducking and dodging. The wraith moved closer towards the position. Clark stood in a central point, looked over his shoulder towards Tess, and waited for the Phantom Zone wraith to dive. The moment the wraith flew towards him, Clark dove out of the way.
Tess punched up the containment field and it rose up to capture the Phantom Zone Wraith. It screamed in agony, and Clark withdrew the crystal, ready to sent it back to where it came from.
A loud crack followed with the Phantom Zone wraith escaping through the containment field and diving towards Clark like a demented bat out of hell.
"TAKE WHAT'S MINE!"
Karen rushed over and grabbed Clark. The wraith moved very quickly, and the Zone wraith passed through both of them. Screams had been heard when a dark mist surrounded both Clark and Karen.
The two of them dropped down to the ground, the breath taken out of both of them. More surprisingly, though, despite the Phantom Zone Wraith passing through them, they were still alive and they were still in one piece.
Daisy looked up, the moment of frustration passed, but it had resulted in something else entirely. She couldn't even begin to articulate what just happened. The rest of them turned around.
They stood, and they came face to face with a figure in the shadows, who looked like Karen's twin. She had glowing red eyes and dark hair, but other than that, she was identical.
"The wraith combined our DNA," Karen managed. "It took on traits from both of us and turned…"
"I didn't know it could do that."
The wraith stood as if trying to piece together a fragmented part of memories. Those eyes opened wider, and they were still a bit red, but also very lifeless as well.
"I'm much better now," she said. "I'm much more fuller, much stronger now, I feel very divine. I am what I was meant to be now….there's a fugitive from the Phantom Zone here. I will rip them apart when I find them."
The situation looked to have gone from very bad, to pretty much worse.