Chapter Thirty-Eight: Let's Play a Game Part One
Thea Queen leaned back in a chair, her hand almost slipping off of her chin. She thought these board meetings should be called "bored" meetings because it was mind-numbing and boring to be sitting here, listening to a bunch of stuffed suits droning on about facts, figures, and projections. They could make a report on bloody carnage seem dull and lifeless, honestly.
'Well, it looks like we're doing good this quarter. A bit better than the last one. Not as good as the one before it. Way better than the one before that. But, if you could get to the point that would be great.'
She really wanted to get out of there. Thea's eyes glazed over. It was like being back in school, only somehow worse, and also somehow, more mind-numbingly boring. Thea leaned back, cupping a hand underneath her chin, and trying not to fall asleep. It had been easy.
The loud droning voice dropped a lot of facts and figures on her constantly.
Thea looked alert when the members of the Board looked towards her. Tess sat at the edge of the table and gave Thea a sympathetic smile as if to say it would all be over soon enough.
'Just grin it and bear it, Queen. It will be over before you know it.'
"While last month's quarter has had a significant upkeep from the month before, we still are well beneath projections," one of the men droned in his obviously monotone voice. "We should consider cutting further costs by releasing at least a quarter of our workforce…"
"I told you, we aren't doing that," Thea said.
It was their solution to everything. Cut people from the workforce. They were cutting productivity out. Thea knew if they stayed the course, they would increase their profitability in a year or so.
Unfortunately, these people looked at what the books would look like a quarter from now.
"Ms. Queen, you need to understand, sacrifices have to be made. Your parents would have done the same thing."
"Yes, they would have, but I'm taking Queen Industries in a new direction, and it doesn't involve cutting people just so we can make projections," Thea said. "We don't need to cut people, to make money. We need to encourage the people we have to be more productive and come up with new fresh ideas. Our partnership with LuthorCorp will help us, as you see by Ms. Mercer's presence at today's board meeting."
The members of the board made themselves fully aware of Tess's presence there, and they didn't like how she came in and pretty much told them how things were going to work from here all out. The woman had been very savvy in telling them the facts of the matter.
"I think Ms. Queen has a point," Tess said. "Those who cut a large amount of their workforce are just putting a band-aid over an amputated arm. You aren't addressing the problems in this company. Everyone in this company has a vital part to play, a large role within this company."
They all nodded in response as the Queen heiress picked up where the head of LuthorCorp left off.
"And you did say profits were slightly up last month," Thea said. "If we keep with the current course, then they can be up even higher this month. We just need to keep moving forward in the right direction."
Thea might as well have been speaking Greek to the members of the Board. They looked at her like she grew a second head. Thea might not have had their fancy business degrees, but she learned a thing or two about human nature.
She honestly hoped her words drilled into the skulls of these people, even though Thea suspected they would be very stubborn, to be honest. Tess explained about her own challenges of the LuthorCorp Board of Directions, and how Tess had to dig up incriminating information them to put them in line. Thea wouldn't want to go as far as Tess did, but there was something which needed to be done.
"So, let's put it to a vote…should we start cutting people?"
"Well, if you want to start cutting costs," Thea said. "Let's start by cutting the salaries of some of the highest paid people in this company."
The wind had been taken out of the sails of the Board, given some of the people with the highest salaries sat around the table. None of them wanted to give up their fancy salaries for even a minute. Some of them looked nervous at what Thea said. All Thea could do was flash a little smile. Their discomfort improved her mood.
'Checkmate,' Thea thought to herself, gleefully.
The members of the Board anxiously shifted around the table, waiting to see where they would go next.
"Perhaps we should table the motion until next month, and see how this company grows before we do anything so irrational," one of the Board Members said. "And I think we can draw this meeting to a conclusion. Until the same time, the third Friday of the month."
"I can hardly wait," Thea dryly responded.
She would be dreading every single second before going into the Board Meeting with these people. Regardless, at least it was done, and Thea could finally sit back and relax, at least she hoped so.
Tess waited until all of the Board Members left before turning towards her young protégé with a smile.
"Well, you really made them nervous."
Thea just smiled at Tess. They were not really someone she liked to deal with. Therefore making them nervous was a victory. They clung to the old ways and saw her as nothing but another heiress who did not understand how business worked. Thea understood perfectly more than most thought of how to play the game.
"It was a gambit, and I wasn't sure it would work," Thea said. "They really are eating too much money, for what they bring to the company, which isn't at all."
When her parents and brother had died, and Thea was in a bad place, the members of the Board decided to sink the company in the ground, by giving themselves raises, laying off half of the workforce, and eliminating several projects which could actually have promise, if they had been given half of the chance.
"They're being their usual stubborn selves, I'm afraid," Thea said.
"Yes," Tess said. "It's one of the common hazards of dealing with the Board of Directors in any company."
A knock on the door caused Thea to look up. She was about ready to leave because she had a very important date with a handsome young man. And she did not want to be late.
"Come on," Thea said.
A delivery man entered the room with a package in hand. He marched the package over to the table and set it down in front of Thea. Thea frowned when looking at the package.
"Who is it from?" Thea asked.
"He didn't say, only he's an admirer," the delivery man said.
A dark grimace flowed over Thea's face. She clutched onto the edge of the table and let out a very uncomfortable sigh.
'Great,' Thea thought. 'My stalker strikes again.'
The delivery man departed from the room. Thea didn't even bother to open the package. She instead put it down on the desk and was about ready to drop it in the trash. Only two red lights appeared on the package. She turned to Tess, who moved up to her feet.
The package burned into cinders and released a three-foot tall model of a toy soldier. The soldier's eyes glowed and slowly turned to Thea in a creepy and very obsessed way.
"Hello, Thea, it's time to play a game."
Thea turned around and saw outside of the window, several drones hovering around. The drones blocked all of the exits of the building.
One of the board members rushed inside of the room. He threw his arms about like a madman, and the other Board members had been backed off, by another drone which entered the room.
"Did you see it, someone has blocked all of the exits of the building?" one of the board members asked.
The urge to roll her eyes had to be squashed down by Thea.
"Wow, you don't say?" Thea asked.
One of the Board Members tried to jump out of the window despite it being about seven stories up. He received a stun laser blast between the shoulder blades, being dropped to his knees in the process. The man's body rode with agony when dropping to the ground.
Thea looked over her shoulder, and put two and two together.
"Schott."
The younger version of Kara looked around the Fortress in thinly disguised awe. She looked from one side to the other, and looked around. The changes Lara made impressed Kara, and she wished she had an extra set of eyes to really soak in all of the Fortress had to offer.
Clark chuckled at the look of wonderment on the face of the younger girl. She had been pretty impressed, to say the least. Clark leaned over, putting a hand on Kara's shoulder which caused her to look up.
"So, what do you think of the place?" Clark asked. "You like what we've done."
"Like it, it's amazing," Kara said. "If I didn't know any better, it was like I was back on Krypton!"
Clark smiled when looking at her. He allowed her to look around. Kara took a step forward to see a device on the table. She approached the device, arms swinging before leaning down. The younger girl's mouth hung open in thinly veiled awe.
"You have it?" Kara asked. "Mother's device, you have it…her AI?"
"Yes, we do," Clark responded. "We haven't been able to get it working though."
"Yes, I can see how that might be a problem," Kara answered, leaning down and looking over the object. She was giddy with excitement, to be honest. "I'm sure someday we'll get it working!"
Clark hoped as well, from what Karen and Lara told him, it was way too damaged after the crash on Earth. The same energy which put Karen's ship in stasis, for that many years until the second meteor shower jarred her loose.
"So, my cousin…she traveled through time," Kara said. "And she ended up in her past body."
And now, Kara reminded him of the convoluted nature of how Karen showed up. Clark gave his cousin a pained smile and wondered how he was going to explain this.
"Well, we're ninety-five percent sure that happened, but we're not completely sure," Clark said. "I don't know the first thing about time travel."
Kara nodded in understanding; it was a taboo for the people on Krypton to mess with time. There were many laws and traditions which Kara didn't understand. Their engineered births always made Kara ask way too many questions, to the point where Alura had to take her to the side and explain how certain questions should not be asked. Kara had been born naturally, as had her cousins, and a couple others, and they would always be considered outsiders beyond your average Kryptonian.
"Most people don't know a lot about time-travel," Kara said. "I guess, it wasn't meant to be understood, and really, you have to be a twelfth level intellect to even get the basics."
Clark thought it seemed right. He enjoyed how much the Fortress had been put together. Being in bed with the current CEO of LuthorCorp also got him a few more resources which would help monitor for trouble, and Patricia's continued help was a benefit to them.
"I think you're impressed."
Speaking of cousins, Kara almost jumped halfway up in the air when seeing Karen walk around the corner. Kara's eyes locked onto Karen's chest, she couldn't really help it. They had some kind of magnetic pull which kept dragging Karen in.
"I know you're distracted," Karen said, almost teasingly. "My eyes are up here, though."
Kara sputtered, looking kind of flushed, kind of flustered, and very frustrated; actually, she long since passed the point of frustration.
"I don't necessarily mind," Karen said. "So, to answer your question, the lead on Kandor was a bust."
Clark reached over and put a hand on Karen's shoulder. She relaxed underneath his comforting grip.
"I thought it was a good lead," Clark said.
"Oh, believe me, so did I," Karen said. "I'm not sure what state Kandor will be in when we find it, if we could find it, that is."
"Oh, I don't know….maybe you should ask Astra, she could have a few ideas."
"She had ideas, but Kandor was taken after she had been sent to the Phantom Zone," Karen said.
Karen's relationship with her mother had been rather cool. The older Kara didn't understand half of the things Astra did and half of the decisions she made.
"So, how are you doing in school?" Karen asked.
"Oh, school is great, sometimes the teachers….well they can be a bit boring," Kara said. "Overall, I'm doing fine."
"Fine, that's good."
Kara nodded in response. She had some trouble fitting in at first.
"If you're having any trouble, I can always tutor you privately," Karen said. "I want to spend a bit more time with you….to get to know you better, or to get to know you again."
Kara smiled, it had been a very long time for Karen since she saw her. It had been long time for Kara as well, but not as long with the time travel, which made Karen's temples throb with a very obvious headache.
"I just want to make sure you are comfortable," Karen said. "And I'll do anything for you, you just need to ask….don't be shy."
Kara was almost certain her cousin flirted with her, which caused her to become flustered because both of her cousins were hot. Kara had many dreams which resulted in a quick change of the sheets. She might have been a bit too young for them, at least at least another year, or two.
Still, it wouldn't hurt to dream, and boy did Kara ever dream about what her cousins could potentially do to her. She tried to hide the extremely devious smile appearing on her face.
Karen caught her cousin off in la-la land, and no doubt her request for help spawned many devious little ideas. She was a bit too young, but it didn't hurt to plant the seeds for later.
A signal cut through the Fortress and Clark turned around. He recognized it as a sound only he and other Kryptonians could hear.
"Tess," Clark said. "There's trouble."
Karen nodded and soon enough, Clark moved off into the other direction. He would get in touch with her when he had the opportunity. Karen turned her attention towards Kara.
"Let me show you the sleeping quarters next. I think you'll find the beds are to your liking."
Winslow Schott had been fired from Queen Industries years ago for an attitude problem, and also because his inventions had been considered to be too dangerous. He now had the Queen Board of Directors, one heiress in there, and also the owner of LuthorCorp, which would make a very nice and high profile hostage.
"Queen Industries has spent the last few years denying the excellence of some of their greatest resources, "Schott said. "And I'm no exception."
Thea tried to access the security network. She wasn't a world class hacker, so she couldn't override what Schott used to override the security in the building. Unfortunately, her best hacker was currently unavailable, and Thea couldn't contact her outside of the building.
'Guess, I'm going to have to improvise,' Thea thought. 'Well, at least him ranting and raving is going to give me plenty of time to think.'
Granted, Thea wondered if she could think over the headache she received.
"I suppose you don't know what you truly have until it's gone," Schott said. "But, let's face it, you never understood what you had, ever. You always thought of me as a misfit, not worthy of your time. My genius could have brought Queen Industries to the next level."
"Your genius brought Queen Industries to a new level, but that level was at the bottom!" one of the members of the Board said.
The toy soldier cocked his gun and shot a miniature tranquilizer dart at the Board member. He fell over, thumping to the ground, the wind having been completely driven to him.
"I wouldn't expect politeness out of someone of your level," Schott said. "You've always been rude, and condescending to me. I'm just a humble inventor, and you considered me to be a dangerous, obsessed freak playing with his toys!"
Thea thought the words coming from Schott really did underline the opinion most, herself included, had the man. She tried to once again access the network. Tess looked over towards her, tapped on the watch she wore, and nodded in response.
Help had been on the way, and Thea really wished she could he reassured it could be there. Tess leaned back and listened to him. Listened to whatever madness would spew out of his depraved mouth.
"I now have a captive audience, and now I can get a king's ransom, or a Queen's rather….." Schott said. He chuckled at his own joke even though no one else involved find his antics funny. "One million dollars per head in the board room seems fair."
"You're trying to extort us!" the man yelled.
"Yeah, yeah, sure I'll give you the million, just let me go….."
"No, you don't understand," Schott said. "It's all or nothing…and it's paid at the expense of the lovely Ms. Thea Queen herself. Hello, Ms. Queen, I trust you enjoyed my gifts."
Disgust spread over Thea's face. She almost reached for the trash can off to the side to throw up in.
"There's nothing about you I enjoy," Thea said. "You're a depraved lunatic, nothing but a psychopath. Why don't you tell them the real reason why you've been fired by this company? Your constant harassment, your stalking, you spent ten years in prison. You make me sick."
"It's a shame you feel this way because your words hurt me the most of all," Schott said.
Thea's revulsion increased at his simpering tone. What she wouldn't give to put an arrow through his head right now. But, unfortunately, mild-mannered businesswoman Thea Queen couldn't be seen suiting up as a vigilante here, it would raise too many questions.
The girl came to one conclusion, which she was sure any hero would agree. There were some days where having a secret identity quite frankly sucked.
"The people running this company threw me out, despite profiting off of my genius for years," Schott said. "And they turn around and sold my designs to the government to make weapons. Did I see one penny of it? NO!"
Thea looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a spider drone appearing outside. The drone caused a red grid appear around the entrance of the building.
"Well, Ms. Queen, either you're going to play, or you're going to pay?" Schott asked. "You either give me the money I want, or you will have to play my game, and solve my puzzle."
Thea's fierce determination burned through. She took one long look at Schott, never backing down from her stance.
"You know as well as I do, Queen Industries has a strict policy which we never negotiate with terrorists," Thea coldly stated. "Or whackjobs."
"Oh, so you're going to play," Schott said. "Very well, look to the side at my little present to you."
The soldier opened up and showed a keypad with several red lines.
"You'll notice the keypad corresponds with sensors on the drone," Schott responded. "I'll make you a deal, Ms. Queen. If you're able to solve my puzzle, then you'll save everyone in this building. Fail, and the drones outside go critical."
The board members looked at Thea, wishing she had caved into Schott's demands and just paid him whatever money he wanted to do.
"The clock is ticking, thirty minutes."
Clark flew from the Fortress, only to bounce headlong into a force field between two security drones which hovered over the building. The impact caused him to get sent back a couple of inches, and land down on the ground. Clark moved back a few feet and then tried to fly against the force-field. The force-field erupted around him and knocked Clark back a few inches.
"I'm going to say getting into Queen Industries a conventional way is a no go, isn't it?" Chloe asked.
"No, and there are toy soldiers on the roof, patrolling, and there's some kind of spider drone on the building, it's created a web," Clark said.
"I'm picking up some energy signatures which could be explosive," Lara said. "I think he plans to blow up the building…..Tess managed to relay a signal to the Fortress with her watch. I think it's the only way she can communicate out."
Clark had been busy rebounding his head off of a force-field wall to notice Tess's attempts to get in touch with him. He pushed his hair back, closed his eyes, and opened his ears to listen.
He saw the toy soldiers. The moment the police got close enough, the toy soldiers started to fire miniature rockets at the police, thus forcing them to back off.
Clark listened intently to Tess's message, which she started to beep through using Morse code with the signal watch.
"The man's name is Winslow Schott, he's locked into the security network...Thea has thirty minutes to solve his puzzle, or we're all screwed."
"Schott, wasn't he arrested for threatening for blowing up a Queen Industries's facility years ago?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, among other things, he's a certifiable lunatic," Chloe said. "And he's just one finger away from the trigger…and it looks like he has some powerful friends which hooked him up with some new toys….that's what they called him in the papers. They called him the Toyman."
Before Clark had a chance to react, one of the drones came in and locked onto him. Clark waited for the drone to fire, but it didn't fire. Instead, the head of a man who looked middle-aged with spectacles appeared and stared him down.
"So, you're him, aren't you?" Schott asked. "The do-gooder who has been interfering in the business of my new playmates?"
Clark had been thrown completely off guard by this statement. Surely…wait, Schott was working with HIVE?
"You know, I can't have you interfere with the game I'm playing with Ms. Queen," Schott said. "I'm sure she's my equal and will solve the puzzle, but I want a fair and just game…and you know something….I've always liked playing with trains."
A bad feeling slipped into the pit of Clark's stomach, which got only worse.
"Yes, I loved playing with trains, but you know what the most joyous part about playing with trains is?" Schott asked. "When I crashed them together!"
Schott looked wistful, those memories of childhood nostalgia hitting her in an instant.
"And two real life trains are about to collide," Schott said. "And now, much like I gave Thea a choice, I'm going to give you a choice. You can either save the lives of hundreds of innocents, or you can save the lives of a few people inside that building…wait, did I say hundreds? Judging by the trajectory these trains are colliding, they could kill countless innocent civilians in Metropolis as well."
Schott pointed to his watch.
"Chloe, see if you can get inside of the security network," Clark said. "I have a couple of trains to catch."
Clark moved off, he didn't know when the trains were about to collide, but he did know every second counted.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Let's Go Play a Game Part Two.
Thea placed her fingers underneath her chin, digging them into mull over the situation in her mind, and the situation no matter how many ways she could mull it over was not a good one. They had been trapped in the middle of the board room by some obsessed madman. Said obsessed madman put a bomb on the building and gave her a choice. Either she solved his puzzle, disable the bomb. Or she pay up an extraordinary amount of money per head. Or they would all lose their heads.
These options were not the best in the world. They were the options which Thea had to work with.
Queen Industries had a long-standing policy not to negotiate with terrorists of any time. This policy left Thea biting down on her lip in frustration. She also had a pretty good set of principles not to play the sick game. There was no hint even if she did solve this sadistic puzzle, the madman would relinquish control of the building. Just like there was no hint if she paid, he would relinquish control of the building.
'Of all of the weeks for my best hacker to be out of the country, it would have to be now,' Thea thought. 'Okay, kid, let's see what we have now.'
Thea didn't make a misstep in solving the puzzle so far. At least she had some small level of problem-solving skills buried in her brain. Good, at least she thought as much. Thea chewed down on her lip and kept typing away at it.
"You better not mess up, it will be the end of us all."
"I understand, my life is in danger as well, "Thea said.
Thea was fully aware the Board members, many of them trembling, didn't think too much about her ability to solve certain problems. Thea shut out their negative thoughts and just typed in several commands. Her heart skipped a heavy beat.
'Almost there,' Thea thought to herself, frowning in frustration.
Thea took a half of a step back and suddenly, the map began to blink. Whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing the map blinked, Thea would learn just as much in a matter of seconds. Her nerves were this close to slipping over the edge though, just like her hand gripped the table.
"Okay, kid, you got to focus," Thea muttered underneath her breath. "One wrong move, and it could be the end of everything."
Tess leaned closer towards Thea, who had been hammering away at the keyboard. Thea really showed something when she was typing away, although she didn't really know how good it was. The side of her watch began to blow and began to beep lightly.
She had been able to get out a signal with the watch and now, the watch started to return fire, sending a signal back to her. Tess leaned back in the chair, the watch blipping and giving off more weird signals. She pulled out a sketch pad and wrote down the information.
Now, she jotted down the information, it was from Chloe. Chloe said Clark would have been on his way, but he got trapped. Schott managed to appeal to Clark's heroics by setting up a train collision on the other side of town. Tess suspected just as much.
Thea wondered how much time she had left. Her heart beat even more firmly. The map glowed one more time as she moved the dot into the center of the map. She slipped now, and it would be all of their lives. Schott no doubt relished how much she sweated, and how everyone was no in the palm of her head.
'No pressure or anything,' Thea thought.
"What are you doing? Hurry up."
The board members got very anxious. They complained about how Thea was doing her job. Yet, none of the lifted a finger to help her in any way whatsoever.
"Why don't you stand back and just let the woman do her job?" Tess asked. "I don't see any of you rushing to help her solve Schott's puzzle."
"We shouldn't be solving his puzzle," one of the board members said. "We should have been giving him whatever money he wanted. We shouldn't play these games with a terrorist."
"Oh, but it's fun, and some of you should get out a little bit more, it might brighten up your lives," the voice said. "And look, Ms. Queen is almost there….she's as brilliant as I remembered."
"Flattery won't help when I'm through with you," Thea said through gritted teeth.
Thea fully intended to put an arrow through Schott and put him out of everyone's misery. He was sick, twisted, and someone who was a danger to others, including himself. Right now though, Thea's number one concern was to find a way to hack out of the building.
'Almost there, don't slip now, kid.'
Thea sighed, and she watched, the map glowed bright and then shimmered out of existence. Dare she blink? Thea didn't even know anymore what to do.
"Congratulations, Ms. Queen, you've solved the first of seven puzzles."
"Seven?" Thea asked.
"Oh, did I not mention there were seven puzzles?" Schott asked in mock remorse. "The clock's ticking on Queen Industries, you better hurry."
Thea realized they were in a no-win situation. The other members of the board grew very restless and had she been in their positions, Thea would have been right next to them. Her breathing increased when leaned over onto the table and she went for the second puzzle.
This was going to be harder than Thea thought. And she had to be up for it.
'Just because the situation seems hopeless, it doesn't mean I'm just going to lie down and give up.'
Two trains were about on a collision course, and this looked like a job for Clark Kent. He flew at a speed of light and made his way to the train station. He dropped down onto the ground, and he saw the man controlling the tracks looking very flummoxed.
"The trains are going to collide with each other unless we find a way to stop them," the man said. His heart started to race quickly.
"Let me have a shot."
The man looked up, and suddenly, Clark put a hand on his shoulder. The man drifted off into a deep sleep by the merest touch.
"Astra's been teaching you tricks, hasn't she?" Chloe asked.
"Well, it works in a pinch, and it's harmless," Clark said. "It just simulates a sudden need to sleep, for at least the next two hours, and by then, I should be able to figure it out."
Clark moved over to the controls, glad Chloe was able to get in because he could not make heads or tails out of the madness which was in front of him.
"So, are you ready?"
"Patch me in."
Clark patched Chloe in and waited for her to work her hacker magic. There was pretty much nothing he could do, other than wait, listen, and hope Chloe had it under control. Chloe always found a way to keep it under control, for better or for worse.
Only this time, there had been a groan coming from Chloe's very being. Clark understood something was very much wrong, he didn't have to be a mind-reader to do so.
"The trains are already on a collision course with each other," Chloe said. "They passed the crossing point, and they're going to hit."
Clark tried to keep it all together, they just couldn't get this done the elegant, clean way. So he would have to do this the other way.
"I'm going to have to redirect the trains on the track manually," Clark said. "And I'm going to have to do it within about a minute, thirteen seconds, by my latest calculations."
"Well, I'll shut up, so you can get to work."
Clark flew at the speed of light towards the train tracks. He saw one of the trains about ready to hit. It was the smaller train. The other train was carrying military supplies, of the very explosive kind. Clark knew if that particular train hit, there were going to be all sorts of issues.
He would not allow the trains to hit with each other, not if he could help in. The Man of Steel flew towards the smaller, passenger train, and moved underneath it. He grabbed the train by the front and redirected it. Those on the train might feel a slight bumping sound, but it was far and away more preferred to having run off the tracks or getting crashed onto the train.
Seconds before the two trains would have collided with each other, Clark moved the smaller train back of course, and he moved it back towards the tracks leading away from him. Clark's heart beat heavily when he pulled back. Maybe he was out of the woods.
Sure enough, the large train passed while the smaller train was moving towards its destination without any problems. Clark flew through at the speed of light, creating a miniature sonic boom. He stopped only short.
Lois Lane almost dropped her coffee on the train when she saw Clark flying right next to her. She figured something was up when the train headed a bit off course.
'Okay, do I really want to know?' Lois asked. 'Why do I think I was just a couple of inches away from a near death experience?'
Clark hoped he didn't have any more problems, but knowing this Schott, the Toyman, there would be more problems along the way. Clark flew the unfriendly skies.
"Hello, Kal-El," Indigo said, breaking into his communication length.
"Indigo, how did you get into my system?" Clark asked.
"I am a sufficiently advanced computer program created by Alura In-Ze," Indigo responded. "Therefore, there is nothing out of my reach, well there are few things out of my reach. But your communication system is not out of my reach. I do have some news to share with you, which you might find both interesting and illuminating."
Clark stopped, only to see the drones being guided safely to the ground. With the exception of the large spider drone which had been latched onto the Queen Industries building.
"I managed to hack into the drone technology," Indigo said.
"Hey, I was about ready to," Chloe said, almost hurt.
"My apologies, but my methods are more sophisticated, and I think you can agree of their success," Indigo said. "Plus, as the humans say, time was in fact of the essence, and we only had an extremely small statistical margin of error."
Clark moved towards the drone.
"I do have more bad news though," Indigo said. "Even if Thea Queen does solve the puzzles in time, Schott will still vaporize the building. It's the end of his game, the rules indicate there is no success, only revenge in mind for Schott. He wanted to give them hope before crushing it."
Clark groaned at how depraved Schott seemed. He flew closer towards the edge of the building and saw the drone.
"See, every one minute and eighteen seconds, there is a moment where the drone detaches, where you can safely extract it from the building," Indigo said. "It will occur right about now."
Clark shot through the air like a cork, and grabbed the drone, pulling it off of the edge of the building. His entire body lit up in fire when he pulled the drone off of the building.
"And now, you have twenty seconds to get rid of it before it explodes."
Clark never flew this high, this fast, but there was a first time for everything. He shot like a roman candle up into the skies of Metropolis, heart hammering against his chest.
A small explosion rocked Clark and caused him to hurl to the ground. Clark closed his eyes for a second, and he saw something fly at him, catching him before he dropped down onto the ground.
"Kara?" Clark asked.
"No, not quite."
Clark had been brought down onto firm Earth by the person who caught him. He dropped down to the ground and saw the woman. She dressed in a red uniform which had a cut out to show her firm stomach. Her nice legs were on display, and the outfit empathized the best parts of her. It took Clark a couple of moments to realize who he was talking to.
"Carol?"
"Yes," Carol said. "Although, you may call me Captain Marvel, long story there. And I just happened to be in the neighborhood."
"Lucky thing," Clark said.
"Lucky thing indeed," Carol said. "My sisters would murder me if I let you splatter against the pavement….and besides, I would hate to see something happen to you anyway."
Clark ensured Queen Industries had been secured, with all of the people having been saved. He had a mission, to track down the sick, depraved individual. One of his drones issued a clue.
"Would I be cliché to say...IT'S A TRAP!" Chloe yelled.
"Yes, a little bit," Clark said.
Clark had a pretty good idea it was a trap, but he wasn't going into the trap alone. At least, if it was a trap, he wasn't going into it blindly. He took a half of a second to take a deep breath.
"There is a high statistical probability it is a trap," Indigo commented. "But it is also a small statistical probability you will find out further information about what Schott is up to."
He stepped through the doors which were unlocked. Clark thought this was a red flag. He saw a man sitting in the computer chair, never once blinking. Clark stepped a half of a step closer towards where he needed to go.
"Okay, Schott, the game's over."
The chair turned around on its own accord and revealed a large smiling doll which resembled the pictures of Schott. The doll wore a huge shit eating grin on its face, along with wide eyes which flashed with pure and complete malice.
"Playtime's over," Schott's voice droned. "But, I hope you will come around and play again someday…providing of course, you survive the little surprise I've left for me, my good friend."
The front chest plate of the doll opened up and revealed a bomb. The bomb started to blink and Clark could have breathed in heavily. He reached towards the bomb and started to deactivate it. It was a tricky little device.
"You need to disengage the red wire, and then the blue wire, within five seconds of each other," Indigo said.
"Yes, thank you," Clark said.
"He's using a bomb partially made of alien technology," Indigo said. "It's very curious how he got his hands on such technology."
Clark found it very curious as well, but he didn't have much time , other than to start disconnecting bits and pieces of the bomb in front of him. He closed his eyes and started to disengage from this particular position. The wire held underneath his hand when he moved then around.
The bomb had been disabled just seconds before the door opened. Carol stepped into the room first, followed by Daisy and also by Alex. The two girls looked around the room.
"No sign of Schott," Carol said.
"No, no sign of him," Clark responded. "He left before I had a chance to grab him, and it looks like we're back at square one."
Clark couldn't even begin to explain the frustrations he's received. His fingers clutched together, a second later. Daisy moved over to take a look around.
"HIVE," Daisy said. "They aren't the first criminals they backed either."
"Hive?" Clark asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, we're positive," Alex responded. "And there are some parts of HIVE's technology which certainly isn't of this Earth. So, I think you can figure out, it makes it a DEO manner."
So Clark gathered, so Clark gathered. He didn't really know where to go from here, other than the fact they were just going around in circles without any thought of where they would go next. He looked towards Alex who bent over, frowning when looking at several of the pieces of equipment.
"We're going to have to call this one in," Alex said. "Good job, we really appreciated the help…and I'm sure we'll get the bottom of whatever happened."
Clark had a very bad feeling this particular situation was going to get worse. He already encountered the manipulations of HIVE twitch, with Blockbuster and also now with Toyman. He wondered how many more criminals there would be before they decided to take a more direct stance with him.
Thea returned back to the Boardroom after having a discussing with Maggie Sawyer of the Metropolis Police Department. Schott disappeared into the night, and Thea looked, several hours later, her date had been shot.
"Well, I don't think this is the night you envisioned."
Tess popped around the corner to go and look towards Thea. Thea shook her head for a moment. She made her way to her office, underneath her desk. She had given up most of her vices to try and turn her life around.
"I wouldn't be a bad person if I had a drink right now, would I?" Thea asked.
"After the night you had?" Tess asked. "I think people would be confused if you didn't need a drink."
Thea took a half of a second to consider her options, all of them. She bent down and poured both herself and Tess and drink. Tess took it half of a moment away.
"He's gone," Tess said.
"Yes, but like a cockroach, he'll come back."
"Yes, especially with his new friends."
Clark turned up at the door. Thea turned towards him and invited him to sit down.
"I'd offer you a drink, but you don't seem like the type," Thea said.
"Thanks, but no thanks."
Clark wasn't even certain he could get drunk with his abilities, not he bothered to even make an attempt. He looked at Thea, who looked both extremely frustrated, and very stressed out about the night which was. He decided to give her the bad news.
"I tracked Schott to his base and…"
"He disappeared," Thea said. "He left you a little present, didn't he? Of course, he did, because he's always one step ahead. He should have been locked up the first time, or put in a deep dark pit."
"Ah, that's the problem with the justice system, it protects both the innocent, and sometimes it enables the guilty," Tess said.
Boy did she ever know the truth. Tess tilted back on her chair and took a long drink to survey the situation. She could tell Clark had to tell them more.
"The DEO is investigating things, Schott's technology was made from pieces of an alien weapon," Clark said. "And Schott's benefactors just happened to be HIVE."
Thea downed the rest of her drink and kicked back in the chair.
"Great, both of my hated enemies joining up," Thea said. "Could this day get any worse…and I was all geared for a date as well."
Thea had a couple of drinks in her and strongly considered her lot in life. As long as Schott was out there, she could not rest, and it meant any time she had a date, that nutcase could be right around the corner, threatening her life, stalking her, doing any number of nasty things to her.
"Well, it's….."
"Not tonight, unfortunately," Thea responded. "And Schott's still out there, and I will not be happy until he's back in prison, or worse."
"You're not going to track him down in costume, are you?" Tess asked.
"Well, kind of hard to track him down when he's not around," Thea said.
Thea sighed, the past became back to taunt her. She stood up and paced around. Clark stood up and put his hands on her shoulders gently. There was a moment where Thea paused and looked in his eyes. Clark cupped Thea's face and turned him towards her.
"We're just going to have to take this, step by step," Clark responded.
"Right," Thea said. "And believe me, I really feel bad about the date being ruined….especially when you saved my life again."
"Well, you're here, and he is," Tess said. "You should thank him."
Thea thought it was a pretty good idea to give Clark thanks, especially after a couple of drinks in her. She leaned forward and kissed Clark. Clark put his hand gently on the back of her head and very slightly deepened the kiss. He leaned back and delved his tongue inside of her mouth.
Clark smiled when the passionate kiss happened. He felt a pair of hands start to work off his pants and another set of lips kissing the back of his neck.
"She isn't the only one who wants to show her appreciation," Tess said.
Thea unbuttoned Clark's shirt and started to kiss down his chest. She moved down to the promising point. Tess already had Clark's cock out of his pants.
"Thanks, I'm too horny to worry about that," Thea said. "I need his cock now."
"Yes, I figured as much," Tess responded.
Thea dropped down onto her knees before Clark and prepared to worship her god. She licked the length of his cock with her wet tongue, while Tess pressed her breasts against Clark's back, kissing the back of his neck.
Clark had been pinned between two beautiful women, and he didn't think it was the worst arrangement to be in, to be perfectly honest. Thea sucked the tip of his head.
"Go, ahead, take your time though."
The young man gently guided the back of Thea's head and her mouth around his cock. Her warm lips wrapped around his cock, taking about as much of his manhood in her mouth. Thea reached between Clark's legs and gave his balls a firm squeeze which caused him to jump and swell a couple of inches.
Clark closed his eyes for a second. Thea's wet mouth ensnared and released his manhood, sucking him.
"Why let you two have all of the fun?"
Tess seductively crawled on the ground and reached Clark's balls to squeeze them. She leaned further and kissed the balls. She sucked Clark's right ball and then switched to the left ball. The sultry redhead kissed and sucked his balls. Tess stroked his balls and sucked them.
Clark had been in heaven. Thea slurped his manhood while Tess sucked on his balls. The warm and wet sensations on his crotch made him want to cum. His balls throbbed when both of the women went to town on them. Tess squeezed them.
"Go ahead, cum in her mouth, she wants it," Tess said.
Clark groaned a few seconds later. His balls throbbed and Tess guided Clark's manhood deep inside of her mouth. A few seconds passed with Clark slamming deep into Thea's open wide mouth. He unleashed some cum into Thea's mouth and spilled into her.
He closed his eyes and splashed the seed into Thea's mouth. Thea wrapped her lips tighter around him to suck the warm liquids when it spilled out of him. She grabbed Clark's balls and stroked it. The manhood slammed into the back of her throat. Thea leaned back a few seconds and sucked his manhood completely dry.
"Yummy."
Thea released his cock and gave it a party kiss. She climbed to her feet, just in time to turn to Tess. Tess grabbed the back of Thea's head and kissed her hard. Their tongues pushed hard against each other, with both of them kissing each other hungrily.
Clark's cock hardened. He grabbed Tess and Thea around the heads and pulled them back. They smiled, their lips and tongues dripped with salvia.
"On the desk, and remove your panties."
Tess and Thea turned around and slid their panties down. Clark got a look at their dripping wet pussies. His fingers started to vibrate, slowly, which caused both women to shiver.
For the first time, Thea received the fingers deep inside of her dripping hot cunt. And it felt really good. Clark palmed her pussy, squeezing it. She breathed in and breathed out heavily with Clark shoving his fingers into her gushing warm depths. Clark pushed his fingers in and out of her dripping hot pussy.
Tess smiled, and her body got hot because of Thea's moaning along with the delving of Clark's pussy. Tess clamped her pussy around him and released it. Clark pushed deeper into her womanhood and shoved into her.
Clark fingered both of them. Tess and Thea squeezed his fingers and sent their juices after her. Clark smiled and pulled his fingers out of them after bringing them to a mind numbing orgasm.
He shifted his fingers, feeding Tess's juices to Thea, and Thea's to Tess. Both of them sucked the juices from Clark's fingers, moaning. Thea gripped Clark's manhood and squeezed it, jerking him off while she sucked his fingers.
"I need your cock," Thea breathed. "I need it badly."
Clark took a seat on the desk, with Tess moving over. She smiled and wrapped her arms around Clark to the side, kissing the side of his neck. Thea pushed herself onto Clark's body. Tess reached over and fingered Thea for a couple of moments, working her pussy open.
"It's going to be a tight fit," Tess said, licking Clark's ear. "But it's going to do."
Thea worked her hips around Clark's throbbing hard cock. Clark reached Thea's hips and she pushed down onto him. Thea pushed her womanhood up and slid down on Clark's throbbing hard cock. The wet pussy gripped Clark and squeezed him.
Clark grabbed Thea's breasts and squeezed them when she wrapped her curvy hips around Clark's manhood. Clark turned to the side and licked Tess's pussy while Thea rode his cock.
"Oh, this is a nice ride!" Thea yelled. "You have such a nice, big cock, and I bet it feels good to have my tight pussy wrapped around your cock, doesn't it?"
Clark wasn't going to argue with her words. He grabbed her ass with his free hand, not once breaking free from eating Tess out.
His oral efforts made Tess moist. Clark gripped the sides of her legs and ran his fingers down them. He buried his face between Tess's thighs and sucked her womanhood. Clark hungrily ate her out, and Tess encouraged him. The horny redhead lifted her thighs and encouraged Clark.
Her Superman ate her out, and Tess's pleasure centers exploded. Every time he shoved his tongue inside of her, she grew intense.
Thea picked up the pace and impaled herself all the way to pleasure town. Clark rose up against her and picked up the pace. Her tight pussy wrapped around his throbbing hard cock. Thea gripped him tightly. Her toned body wrapping against his own again and again.
Clark buried his tongue in Tess and his cock in Thea. The throbbing coming through his balls were intense. He balanced Thea on top of him. Thea bounced onto his manhood, taking Clark as deep into her as possible. Thea squeezed and released him.
"Right, right, oh it feels good," Thea moaned at the top of her lungs. "Buried, your cock in my body, it feels so good, give it to me, Clark!"
Thea brought her hips down onto Clark's throbbing manhood and pushed him inside of her. She gripped and released him. Her climaxes hit one after another.
Clark groaned with Thea gripping him, milking him. Thea breathed heavily, feeling the base of his cock slamming into her. Clark buried his manhood inside of her, gripping her.
"Stay with us, kid," Tess said, barely able to get out her words because of a very sensual moan.
The Queen Heiress didn't intend to go anywhere, to be honest. She held onto Clark, holding onto his throbbing manhood. She pushed his rod into her wet pussy, and then released it. She gripped, released, gripped, and released him in successive motion. Thea leaned down and bounced onto him harder.
"Baby, you feel so good, please….ooooh, that's so good!"
Clark allowed Tess to collapse and looked up at Thea. He reached up to play with Thea's perky breasts. Thea closed her eyes and moaned. The moisture of her pussy slid down onto his manhood.
"Fuck," Clark breathed. "You feel so good, I don't think I can hold back much longer."
"Oh, please, cum!" Thea yelled.
Thea screamed in more pleasurable ways. She ensnared Clark inside of her warm sheath with Thea rising up and down onto him, bouncing higher by every single second. Clark reached up to hold onto her hips. Thea drove her womanhood down onto him with a couple of bouncing drops. Thea's wet pussy clamped down onto him and released him.
The balls clenched and released to send Clark's seed spewing into Thea. Thea clenched him, going through another couple of orgasms.
Thea just barely managed to avoid rolling off of the desk. She rolled over onto her back, legs spread, and now Tess slowly crawled over towards Thea. Her dripping pussy, overflowing with cum was open. Tess climbed on top of Thea, rubbing her cunt against Thea's which made her moan. She kissed the younger girl on the side of the neck a couple of times, before kissing down.
The LuthorCorp owner buried her face between Thea's beautiful thighs and started to suck on her womanhood. Her own thighs spread.
Clark's long rod extended because of Tess's wet, tight pussy being presented to him. He grabbed her around the waist and buried inside of her body. Clark shoved his manhood deep inside of her body.
It was so hot, and Tess moaned appreciatively, feeling Clark's manhood shoving into her smoldering hot depths. Clark held her hips, pushing up and then pushing back. Clark rocked inside of her womanhood. Her pussy gripped and released him a couple of times.
Clark reached up and grabbed Tess by one of her breasts, bringing his throbbing rod inside of her moist womanhood. He picked up the pace with a couple of long, steady thrusts. Clark shoved his manhood deep inside of Tess's warm body. Tess held onto Thea's breasts.
"Both of you are so hot," Clark said. "I like the way you thanked me."
Tess liked the way she was thanking him as well. His manhood clamped around him and released. Clark pushed his rod inside of Tess's gripping womanhood. She squeezed him and released him a couple of times, burying himself deep inside of her.
"Fuck, it feels so good," Tess breathed heavily. "So, good, I like your cock…"
"Don't neglect my pussy," Thea responded. "You better not neglect me."
Tess kissed Thea's nether lips and released them, bringing her tongue deep inside of the mouth. She moaned deeply at Tess's working over Thea's womanhood. Thea reached the back of Tess's head and buried her face inside of her womanhood.
Clark buried his cock deeper inside of Tess. Every time, her pussy grabbed him and released him. Clark brought his cock almost all the way out and then slammed into her. Her pussy gripped Clark harder the more he worked into her. He did a few slow thrusts, working the orgasm.
The well-lubricated prick reached Tess's center. Clark grabbed Tess's round breasts and squeezed her nipples. He picked up the pace, shoving his manhood inside of her wet center. Her core squeezed him and released him. The balls slapped against her.
"I'm ready, but are you?"
More orgasms hit Tess, three small ones, and then one big one. She clutched around Clark's hard manhood when he rammed deep inside of her. Clark held onto her hips, and pumped his rod inside of her, harder and faster from behind. His thick balls struck her womanhood, getting closer.
Close enough to push his way into Tess. Her gripping hips squeezed him, and Clark spilled his seed inside of the woman. Tess held onto Thea, moaning hungrily when Clark emptied his balls inside of her.
Clark pulled out of Tess, with her body fluttering down to the ground. The cum oozed, and stained Thea's desk.
Speaking of which, Thea looked up with a grin on her face, and she pushed Tess away from her. She crawled towards Clark for round two.
"So, Schott served as a diversion very nicely."
"Yes, even though the DEO now knows we have the alien technology."
"Let them suspect what they want to."
Several of the HIVE drones carried in a large case and put it down on the table. The contents of the case would be revealed in a moment. One of the HIVE leaders stepped forward.
"Lionel Luthor took great lengths to conceal the item in the case," he said. "And once we figure out how to utilize it….."
"We will turn the Traveler into one of HIVE's greatest agents."
The case cracked open to reveal a blinding silver orb. It was beautiful, and it was deadly.