Chapter Sixty-Four: The Visitors
Chloe parked in front of a computer and started to look into several very important things at the files in Cadmus. There was not anything tangible. The fact they were studying meteor mutants was not a big surprise to Chloe, but the extent and scope of which they were studying them.
They drew some very interesting conclusions about how some people became meteor mutants, while other people just had been destroyed by the meteors. Chloe had been given a lot to think about. There were some hints they were tracking down more people with the meta-gene, going through countless medical reports. The means of which they acquired these medical reports were very illegal, but Chloe doubted very much it mattered as far as Cadmus was concerned.
'These people aren't above breaking the law,' Chloe remarked when flipping through the files. 'Tampering, genetic manipulation, grave robbing, I'd imagine there's some blackmail. All sorts of fun and games'
Several of the files had been blocked off, or otherwise deleted. Chloe worked her magic to pull up that particular information, and try and fill in the blanks as best as possible. The brainy blonde ran into several obvious dead ends, unfortunately. She enjoyed a challenge, but there were times where frustration could build through the greatest challenge. And Chloe kept plugging away at the computer, in an attempt to dig up the information.
'Well, this is interesting.'
Chloe resolved to dig somewhat deeper before she started to jump to all kinds of conclusions. It was not really a shock to be honest. The name Luthor was only inevitable. Several documents with the initials LL had been signed, and she most certainly saw the address of at least one known LuthorCorp facility, which had been banned.
'Very interesting,' Chloe thought. 'Not too shocking but very….hello.'
Chloe would have spat out a drink if she would have seen in. The date on the document which had been signed, was dated about six months ago. There should have been no way either Lex or Lionel could have signed up the matter. They were both indisposed, weren't they?
It was time for Chloe to double check and make sure the Luthors were still snug and secure in their cell. The blonde bit down on her lip and started to dial on the phone. Chloe waited for a minute until it picked up.
"You've reached the office of Tess Mercer," Indy's voice said on the other end of the phone.
"Hello, Indy, it's me, Chloe," Chloe said.
"Hello, Chloe, is there something I can help you with?" Indy asked.
"I need to speak with Tess, is she available.?"
"Just one moment please."
Chloe waited for a few seconds, to the sweet and soothing sounds of elevator music. She tapped on the table lightly to wait to see what kind of answer Tess would give. Chloe didn't really know what to expect on the other end of the phone. Her guess was to expect anything.
"So, what can I do for you?" Tess asked.
"Well," Chloe said, letting out her breath. "I've been looking into some of the operations Cadmus had been up to, and there's something interesting. I have to ask you one question. Are Lex and Lionel still secure in their cells?"
"I'll check, but last time I looked they were."
A long pause followed and Chloe could hear the sound of clicking in the background. The blonde lightly drummed her fingers up against the desk and waited for Tess to come back to the phone. It was only a couple of minutes, and Chloe waited for the potential bomb, whether good or bad to drop.
"Well, they're still in their cells, still being sedated," Tess aid. "There has to be a reason why you asked me whether or not they're in their cells, though?"
"Yes," Chloe answered and took in a deep breath. "As you know, I've been going through some of the records we've pulled up from Cadmus. I've been trying to fill in the blanks."
"Did you find anything?" Tess asked.
"I'm not going to shock you when I tell you that LuthorCorp is involved in Cadmus, am I?" Chloe asked.
The long and pressing sigh on the other end of the phone showed Chloe that there was one thing that Tess did not feel and that was shock. Another moment's pause followed before Tess confirmed what Chloe was thinking, pretty much straight away.
"You're not going to surprise me," Tess said responded a moment later. "They were funding Cadmus Labs over in Metropolis, which I guess is where Cadmus in their current form is derived from….why did you ask me if Lex and Lionel were both snug in their cells?"
"There's someone using resources to fund Cadmus," Chloe said. "Have you noticed any irregularities in the books?"
"No, but there were several shell corporations that weren't tied to LuthorCorp for tax purposes," Tess said. "I haven't been able to wrangle in all of the information I needed, or anything like that."
One could hear the frustration bubbling in Tess's voices. Taking control of the company was not precisely the easiest thing in the world, if Tess would be perfectly blunt and honest, and honestly speaking, she was always perfectly blunt and honest.
"There are documents which are initialed with the letters, LL," Chloe said. "And unless Lana or Lois or Lucy have secrets they're not telling us about, I figured it could only pertain to one or two gentlemen."
Tess responded with a sigh. "Maybe, I'll see what I can find…..I have a pretty good idea though where we might be able to find some more answers."
"Meaning?" Chloe asked.
"Meaning, the Cadmus facility we have been searching for, could have been underneath our noses this entire time," Tess said. "We've been focusing on the facilities elsewhere….what better place to hide a facility which studies aliens in one of the places where you least expected."
Lucy Lane took a deep breath and just enjoyed the surroundings. The serene and beautiful nature of Smallville did the girl a whole lot of good.
"I should have stayed here more often, it might have done me so good," Lucy said. "It's really a nice place to live, isn't it?"
"It's alright," Lois responded a moment later, shrugging in response.
"Can't you smell that fresh country air?" Lucy asked.
"Actually, that's manure," Lois responded in her usual deadpan tone of voice. "But, yeah, I guess you have a point, and you…..Smallville can be a pretty nice place to live."
And there were many reasons for being in Smallville, as Lois recalled to be honest. She and Lucy could agree on one thing to be particular. Lois decided to soak in the air, the sounds of childhood at play, the sounds of birds chirping, the sounds of the truck going down the road. The sounds of an engine failing in an explosion several feet above her head…wait, what?
Lois Lane looked high into the air and saw what appeared to be plane and it hurled right down to the ground. She grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her all the way across the field.
Both Lane sisters watched in eye as a miniature plane, or at least an aircraft of some sort went supernova about three feet above their heads. Then, without another world, the plane crashed down onto Earth, being ripped into flaming wreckage.
"Oh my God!" Lucy yelled. "I think there's someone moving around in there."
Lois would not have believed it, unless she laid sight on it with her own two eyes. If Lois Lane would have said there was no way anyone could have survived a vicious crash like that, she would have been made a fool. The two Lane sisters took a step forward.
"Maybe it's some kind of government experiment, or something," Lucy suggested. "Maybe, we should call Dad….."
Lois raised up a hand and got a closer look. She had a feeling it might be a government experiment alright, but maybe not from any government on Earth. The flaming debris melted and contorted the closer Lois moved. The immense heat almost doubled over Lois.
"Hello, can you hear me?"
The brunette felt very stupid for even trying, but to be honest, it was the right thing to do, on the off chance there were survives. As insane as it might have seemed, Lois had to walk closer to the edge of the wreckage and check for anyone, to see if they survived. Smoke watered the eyes of Lois Lane when she moved closer.
"Anyone in there?"
Lois blinked and gasped in surprised when someone, something, moved. The man looked badly burned to be honest, was he a man? He looked very alien, dressed in a green uniform. The man's breathing became very ragged.
"Just hang on, we'll get you the help."
"Beyond help!" the alien gasped in response. "Earth….needs…warning…they're coming!"
Lucy stepped closer, and Lois spun to her sister to try and get her to back off. The curiosity of the younger Lane sister could have been matched only be the reckless nature of the girl. Both of the sisters had this much in common at the very least.
"Who is coming?" Lucy asked.
"The Thangarians are coming," the man breathed, almost shuddering. "Earth doomed…warn…need warning."
The man's body shook and Lois already dialed on Chloe, using her phone to show an image of the man who had been glowing brightly. The bright green light almost blinded Lois when holding the phone.
"Chloe, you're not going to believe this, you're….."
The green light got even brighter and a glowing green ring slipped off of the finger of the alien guest. The ring shot forward and out of sheer instinct, Lois held out her hand. The ring slipped onto her finger, morphing to fit it.
Lois screamed when it felt like her entire body was being turned inside out. A bright light engulfed her and Lucy screamed, as Lois's cell phone dropped down to the ground.
"OH, MY GOD, LOIS!"
Lucy often wished her sister would just disappear when they were both little, but never in the younger Lane sisters wildest dreams did she expect this to happen. Lois disappeared in a flash of light, and Lucy dropped to her knees, almost shaking with terror.
Angrily, Lucy snapped around to try and get some answers from the alien. Only to realize the alien in question juts vanished without a trace as well, leaving Lucy standing along amongst the wreckage.
"Hello, Lois?"
Lucy shakily picked up the cell phone. "Chloe…oh, my god, Chloe, you're not going…you're not going to believe what just happened!"
"Well, this place is the shits."
Alex turned to Daisy with one of those looks. Kara just hid her head, laughing, and Carol looked very amused as well. Daisy just offered a casually apologetic shrug and a nod. "I know, I know, but it had to be said."
They made their way outside of the old LuthorCorp Fertilizer plant, or the shithouse as several former workers charmingly referred to it as. The three Danvers sisters made their way inside, joined by Daisy, and they waited for the other three people.
"Still smells like you'd expect it to," Carol said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Kara said.
Having super powered senses really sucked a lot of time, and this was one of the times where it really did suck. Kara looked around and waited, perhaps impatiently. There seemed to be an overwhelming stench coming through. Perhaps Kara was being paranoid for no good reason, but it was almost like someone was trying to cover up something else, with the stench of…well, everyone knew what the stench was. Kara closed her eyes and tried to block the overpowering stench before it became a problem.
Two more figures joined them, in the form of Clark and Karen. The two of them looked around and joined the other four.
"So, anything?" Clark asked. "Because we encountered no resistance outside, there isn't even a security drone or two outside."
"That's very suspicious," Carol answered for a second. The other members of the group were in agreement with each other, it seemed very suspicious for numerous reasons, far too many to answer. "Cadmus is either trying to double-bluff us, or they've already moved everything out of this place."
"It's very odd," Daisy said in response. "They're hiding something though…we might as well head knee deep in shit and figure out what they're hiding."
Everyone just decided to take a deep breath, but not too deep, given the place they just slipped inside. Everything caused their heads to spin in the worst possible way. Karen leaned in and listened for something, anything. Every now and then, she heard a small scratching sound underneath the wall. Not exactly mice, but it sounded enough to cause her some concern.
"Right, you're now inside," Chloe said. "I have something to take care of, and I'll switch things over to Tess…who will explain what we need to do now."
Clark frowned, he heard a small amount of shakiness in Chloe's tone of voice. He knew now was not the time or the place to ask her whether or not something was wrong. He would find out sooner rather than later if Chloe had something wrong.
"Right, can you hear me now?" Tess asked.
"Loud and clear," Clark said.
"Excellent," Tess said. She briefly shuffled through some papers. "The last floor plan of the Fertilizer Plant is from about five years ago, when it was officially taken off of the LuthorCorp books. Well, officially, but you know how it goes. It's officially off, but unofficially, not so much."
Tess drew in a deep breath.
"Now, there aren't too many places where a secret lab could be held," Tess said. "Especially not without taking down the entire plant and rebuilding it from the surface."
"I hear a scratching underneath the ground," Karen said. "Do either of you two hear that?"
Kara frowned and listened very closely. She heard the scratching and it grew in greater prominence underneath the ground. It was a very subtle sound, but once you heard it, it was not like a person could unhear it. Kara nodded in response, and Clark did the same thing.
"A scratching sound?" Tess asked. "Is it coming from the Northwest Wing of the Facility?"
Karen tried to lock onto the sound of scratching to pinpoint a more general spot of where it was coming in. The scratching stopped a moment or so later, but Karen still had the general point of where it was coming from.
"Yes, it's on the Northwest Wing, right to the side of the wall," Karen said. "The paneling looks like it's been redone, and there's a small lead lining…"
"We'll head in to check first," Daisy said. "So, is there a secret entrance, or something?"
"Yes, there should be a switch behind one of the grates in the wall," Tess said. "You might have to slip into a the vent a little bit to find it, but it's there. You might want to get out as soon as you can without activating it."
Daisy smiled, slipping though grates, that was just one of the best parts of being a super-secret government agent type person. Well, in a sense at the very least. She brimmed with excitement and moved over towards the grate. The closer Daisy moved, the more she heard the scratching behind the wall. She lifted a hand and slowly vibrated the vent off of the wall, to allow her entry into the grate.
"I should really tell Clark about this," Chloe said taking a deep breath. "He would want to know, but….I think the Cadmus mission is very important…and I wouldn't want to distract him from that important thing."
Lara leaned back in the chair of the Fortress. Withholding information from her son, no matter how temporary it was, did not suit as a very ideal situation for Lara. Still, she reconciled with the fact Kal would have to be told soon, maybe as soon as he managed to maneuver towards the facility.
"I didn't want to worry him when he was knee deep in shit….literally and figuratively," Chloe responded with a sigh. "So, anyway, I figure if anyone could track down Lois, it would be the Fortress, right?"
"So, explain to me everything, and we can figure," Lara said.
"Well, Lucy and Lois were talking, civil for once," Chloe answered a moment or so later. "And there was a plane crash and a man, dressed in green. Lucy claimed he didn't look human….but he talked a lot of nonsense, about the Thangarians coming to Earth."
Lara's blood ran cold at the very thought of the Thangarians showing up and invading Earth. The woman's deep breath came in and came out before turning to Raya. Raya already tried to monitor the field where the alien ship crashed. Already, the military crowded around.
"Lucy must have called her father," Chloe said a moment later, after the images had been sent to her. "Just what we need, General Sam Lane on the war path."
"Understandable, he would be upset," Lara said. "But, unfortunately, the matter is out of our hands…you said he had a green uniform…is there anything else Lucy told you?"
"Well, yeah," Chloe continued a few seconds later. She picked up about as much steam as possible, drawing in a depe breath and bringing it out. "The guy had a glowing green ring which slipped off of his hand and onto Lois. She screamed and disappeared. The moment Lucy turned around to question the guy, he vaporized."
Lara tracked the energy coming through the field. The Fortress followed the energy trail to a certain point of the solar system, which was obvious.
"Oa, of course," Lara said.
"The Green Lantern Corps?" Raya asked.
Lara noticed a certain amount of disapproval from Raya's voice, although she figured the disapproval did not come from the Green Lantern Corps members, but rather their bosses, the Guardians of Oa, who had been notorious about only acting when the danger had passed.
Most of the help people got from Green Lanterns came from the Green Lanterns breaking protocol.
"The Green Lantern Corps?" Chloe asked. "The intergalactic space force of green ring power…oh of course, Chloe, you're such an idiot."
"No, you were just worried," Lara said. "Again, it's understandable. Lois has been snagged by the Green Lantern Corps, and she's been sent to Oa. It's a shock…it will be even more of a shock when they realize one of the rings have chosen an Earth woman."
"What's wrong with that?" Chloe asked.
"Well, the Guardians have a very low opinion on humans," Lara said. "Some of it is well earned, and some of it is unfair. All I'm going to say is Lois is going to have a tough time proving themselves."
"Maybe they'll just strip her of the ring, and return her home?" Chloe asked.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, as much as they would like to," Lara said. "The ring leaves a Lantern when he or she is unworthy, or upon death, or upon agreement to mutually be released from the ring. It feeds off of will power, which I think we can both agree, makes Lois the perfect candidate to hold the Green Lantern ring."
"Yeah, she's a stubborn bitch," Chloe said. "Sorry, it's….."
"It's an accurate assessment," Lara said. "I'm going to try and get in contact with the Guardians. You back up my son and the moment he's out of there, tell him, but also warn him there's nothing he could really do."
"Right, thank you, thank for confirming this for me," Chloe said, taking in a deep breath.
"It's not a problem," Lara said. "And I'll get in touch with the Guardians. I need to speak about what they know about the Thangarian situation regardless."
The communication to the Fortress had been cut completely off. Lara thought when it rained it poured. It was one of the many expressions she picked up on Earth, and it was an unfortunate description of all of the drama they were going to have to deal with in the not so distant future.
"So, should I tell Astra?"
Raya's question had hung in the air. A long moment passed and Lara's frown deepened when considering what to do next. A second later, Lara responded with a nod.
"She won't be too happy about what's going on, but at the same time, she has to know," Lara said. "The Thangarians are coming."
Raya thought Lara meant Astra might not have been happy with the potential of having to deal with the Guardians of Oa again. To be perfectly honest, Raya would have sooner dealt with the Kryptonian Council than deal with the Guardians of Oa.
"Let's see if I can get in touch with those glorified Space Smurfs," Lara said. "Those were Indigo's words, not mine."
"I don't know why, but for some reason, it just seems like a fitting statement," Raya said.
Both women would have to agree, even though they did not quite know the meaning behind why Indigo called the Guardians of Oa glorified Space Smurfs. Regardless though, Lara tracked Lois to the further reaches. They had to deal with a General who was on the war path, and trying to explain to General Lane that his daughter was drafted into the intergalactic Corp was not going to be fun at all.
Clark realized the moment they stepped into the lab, why the bags and bags of fertilizer were here. It was cover up a stench, a different stench. And the manure was not the only thing Clark smelled when stepping into the factory. The very obvious and unfortunately prominent stench of decay filled the nostrils of Clark Kent when walking further into the picture. His stomach turned something fierce when looking around.
"Ugh," Kara said.
Kara was a second away from asking what died, but stopped completely short of doing that. That might not have been the best possible question to ask in this current situation.
A piercing scream came through the air. Another piercing scream caught Clark off guard and made his blood run completely cold.
It was essentially a child and each one of those screams were jarring. Daisy, Alex, Carol, Karen, and Kara looked all jarred as well. Clark moved in closer towards the edge of the lab and saw one of the pods. A steaming, decaying pile of goop looked almost splattered against the pod walls. Clark turned around to another pod and saw a child, screaming in distress.
"Help me!" the child yelled.
Clark watched when the child in the pod vaporized before his very eyes. No matter if Clark could have ripped the pod open or not, there was no way to save the child. The images haunted him, along with the scream.
"This is….what the hell are these bastard doing?" Alex asked.
'They are trying to create the perfect solider,' the scarab said. 'They have such a disregard for human life, or any life for that matter, I would suggest terminating the people behind this with extreme prejudice.'
For a brief moment, Alex would have to agree to be honest. Clark walked forward hands shaking. Whoever was behind his, Clark would find them, and make them pay. Some of the pods were empty, but others, others were occupied. One of the child clones looked at Clark, with a pleading eye, face half melted.
Clark Kent tried to think the best of people and tried not to give into his base instincts, but these Cadmus people really tried his patience.
The metal doors on the other side slammed shut. Clark realized a second later, he had been separated from the rest of the group. A revolving metal eye in the wall showed Clark that he was being watched, but by who.
"Hold tight!" Alex yelled through the communicator. "We'll be through there as soon as possible….find another way on through the lab."
Another one of the pods ripped open, and a blur caught Clark in the chest, knocking him onto his back. A feral looking teenager moved back, eyes glowing in the darkness with animalistic fury.
Chapter Sixty-Five: Project KR2
While Hugo Strange did not intend to break out the champagne just yet, he had been more than pleased with the latest creation. For months, Cadmus tasked him to recreate the DNA of the Traveler, but there had been his fair share of missed opportunities. Strange enjoyed a challenge, and enjoyed the other tasks which Cadmus gave him opportunities to do. He would reshape the minds of everyone involved, and bringing life back to death.
"Well, you should be pretty pleased with yourself."
Strange turned around to see the smiling face of Miles Warren. Warren surveyed the monitor leading to the room, looking like a hungry jackal. He had been very pleased with the result as well, even though the smile Warren wore leaned to the more reserved side than the smile going across the face of one Hugo Strange.
"We should both be pleased with our accomplishments," Strange said a short moment later. "We could not have accomplished this without working together. It was your ideas to stabilize the clone. Creating a male replication was the wrong thing as well, as the clones degenerated too fast."
"Yes, that was a problem," Warren agreed. "Now, we are going to put them out to see how the handle the stress test in the open. One way or another, we're going to achieve our goals. I can hardly wait, can you?"
Strange shook his head in negative and smiled. It was amazing how all it took was the right combination of human and alien DNA to create the perfect weapon. The benefactors were going to be very happy to be honest, but they would need to run a few more tests.
"The perfect man to test the capabilities of our newest creation has just walked in through the front door," Strange said a moment later. "We will see how long lasting and durable my new creation is. How much she can stand to fight him? And maybe, she can beat him."
"And replace him," Warren said. "She will be the perfect weapon to discourage further alien invasion. All of his abilities, and none of his inhibitions…all under my control…..or rather, the control of Cadmus."
A few seconds passed, and Strange just smiled. He understood how excited Warren got in a situation like this. Strange would have been lying if he would not have gotten excited as well.
'It's like a wolf corning a confused sheep," Strange said. "He doesn't know what to do. And he won't do what is necessary to defeat her."
"You really think so?" Warren asked.
Strange looked on with a smile. "Professor Warren, it's just elementary. I've talked with many of the meteor mutants, both living and dead, and studied their files. Clark would never kill, unless it was an accident. And there will be no accidents. He will want to help her."
"What if he does?"
"We'll correct the flaws in the next prototype," Strange said. "We cannot accomplish much without experimentation. Failure teaches us much, and we need to learn a whole lot to accomplish our goals. Just watch, watch the battle as it happens."
No sooner did Strange finish talking, the phone line started to go off. Strange wore an even more prominent smile on his face. His benefactors would be calling soon, and there was no doubt in Strange's mind they would have been pleased with the role they played in creating this new clone.
'The perfect combination,' Strange thought.
Strange pushed a button and caused a blinking light to appear. The distorted face of one of the benefactors of Cadmus appeared.
"The Traveler is here, and he's fighting KR2," Strange said. "Or as you call her, Supergirl-Prime."
"You need to leave the facility now," the woman on the other end of the line said. "The facility is hot."
Strange resembled a child who looked like he had been told after dinner sweets were not a good idea. He recovered quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly.
"I'm afraid you don't understand…"
"I understand everything perfectly," the benefactor said a long moment later. "And I'm telling you, the facility is getting hot. You need to leave right now….you, Warren, and take as much research. You should be able to replicate a new copy of the clone, or recall her. You have implanted a recall switch in her?"
"Yes," Warren said. "Along with a self destruct switch…do you want me to press it?"
Strange noticed Warren showed a bit too much glee in pressing a button which would cause the head of what was pretty much a teenager to explode. A bit much, even for Strange, but regardless he said nothing. The professor new how to pick his battles, and picking a battle in this particular instance was not wise.
"No," the Benefactor said. "Leave it in tact, only destroy if absolutely necessary. Get out of the facility, and move to the transport truck out back. You'll be able to carefully monitor the situation from the mobile lab from there."
"At once."
Strange would have liked to be present should the creation defeat the Traveler, but he understood the concerns of the benefactor, and had no choice other than to comply. It was time to pack up and find a way out of there, for better or for worse. And Strange understood they would need to get out of here before it was too late.
Clark peered up. One second, the figure zipped back from around him, and the other second, the figure came back around. Clark's eyes followed the progress of the mysterious attack, not liking the looks of the feral person.
"I don't want to hurt you."
A blast of white hot heat came out of nowhere and forced Clark to step back. The Kryptonian Survivor landed to one knee, the breath being knocked out from the impact of the attack. Clark's breathing continued to increase when looking up to face the person in question.
'I don't want to hurt you,' Clark mentally repeated. 'But, you don't seem to have the same problem, do you?'
The Kryptonian hero in training looked around and noticed a figure rushing at the speed of light. A blocked attack only served to deter the figure for a few seconds. Clark took a second to rock the figure's arm back and keep punching away at the figure.
Only, Clark found himself smacking away at the air. The figure kept moving around, dodging from the left, to the right, and then coming back around. A jab to the side of the neck knocked Clark on his knees.
"ARGH!"
That hideous primal scream came out, and Clark blocked the hand of the figure. The two struggled for positioning with Clark flipping the figure back a few feet. The figure bounced off of the wall and came at Clark .Clark caught the figure in mid-air for a few seconds and dropped the figure down onto the ground.
Dropped down to one knee, the figure looked at Clark, and Clark could see the figure's face, her face properly in life. The wild black hair, the wild blue eyes, and the torn clothes. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years of age, resembling a young Clark Kent in many ways. Facially, she looked a bit like Tess to be honest, and Clark wondered what the hell was going on.
"ARGH!"
The primal scream came out one more time, and the mysterious duplicate tried to impale Clark at the end of a cable. Clark blocked the attack and nailed the figure to the side of the neck. Clark forced the figure down onto the ground.
"You're just a victim, you don't have to attack me, "Clark said, trying to forcefully restrain the young girl. The girl struggled against Clark's grip. "Listen, you're just a pawn, a pawn for Cadmus. Whatever control they have on you, I know you can fight it."
The duplicate fought alright, she fought out of Clark's grasp. The figure came this close to knocking the wind out of Clark with a punch. A second punch rocked Clark and lifted him high up off of the ground. The Kryptonian Survivor flipped head over heels and landed down onto the ground.
The figure jumped up and drove the foot inches away from Clark's skull. Clark avoided having his head stomped something fierce. He blocked the foot and pushed the woman out of the way. The woman flipped up into the air and stuck a landing. Heat vision rippled through the air and came close to connecting with Clark. Clark breathed heavily the second the heat vision came out.
Two beams met in mid-air, and both had a heat vision battle. Clark shoved himself forward, gaining more control. The duplicate dropped to one knee and screamed, grabbing the side of her head. Burn marks appeared on the side of the face of the figure. They slowly healed up, causing agony to spread through the woman.
The crazed clone ripped one of the tanks out of the wall and hoisted it up. Clark avoided the tank from smashing down onto his head. It almost, but not quite, knocked the wind out of Clark. Clark fell back onto the ground, when his doppleganger jumped up and almost put her fist through Clark's chest.
The doors opened up and Daisy stepped into the air. Daisy lifted her hand and took the clone down to the ground with one of her attacks. Alex and Karen stepped in, as Daisy brought the clone to her knees.
"Yeah, I got this….."
The clone ripped one of the operating tables off of the floor and flung it at Daisy. Daisy just avoided the attack from the table being smashed down onto the ground above her head. Several pieces of broken glass flung towards Daisy. Daisy had to turn and smash the glass with the Quake attack one at a time.
"She has telekinesis?"
Daisy had been completely shocked. Alex turned to Karen, and looked about as shocked.
"Kryptonians…they're not supposed to have telekinesis, are they?"
Karen just responded with a shrug, but sighed. "No, not normally."
The clone, the crazed, and scared girl turned around and zipped out of the other direction. The good news was, she could not have gone far.
"No matter what, we can't let her escape the lab," Clark said. "Imagine how much damage she would cause in the world."
Daisy did not have to image. The wreckage in the lab pretty much showed the type of chaos the clone could cause. The superheroine took a sigh, and resolved to deal with the situation, and the very long and frustrating night she was sure was going to follow. It was going to be one of those days, Daisy could just feel it deep in her very being. Frustration, but also excitement, that was a deadly combination to be certain.
Tess continued to burn away at the research. There was a papertrail left behind to follow, even though the person involved did an admirable job of keeping the papertrail from being too obvious. Tess knew there were always traces to something.
'All it is…all I need, is one smoking gun to blow this entire thing out.'
Tess took a moment to look it over. She kept going back to the paper, the letters "LL" signed up the paper.
"Search for handwriting record match," Tess said.
The dates on the paper caused Tess to frown. They had been long after Lex and Lionel had both been taken to their cells. Tess looked back at the cells, and both of the male Luthors were snug in their cells, no doubt dreams of dominating their enemies dancing in their heads.
Lionel's brain patterns had been erratic, and she just had Lex on more drugs to sedate an entire army of rock stars at this point to be honest. After the last time Lex broke out, it was much better.
'Maybe there's another Luthor who is pulling the strings?' Tess asked. 'Lionel has been known to…he's had a few bastard spawn. At least, I assume, I'm not the only one. But why, why would they target aliens….unless they want to destroy Lionel's plans, by taking the Traveler away from him.'
Tess was beginning to see one potential person with the motivation to do so. She waited for the handwriting analysis to be confirmed before those suspicions could be confirmed. If, Tess was correct, and she thought there was a pretty good chance of it, well there would be even more questions raised, than answers. Tess took in a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief.
Another problem presented itself, although it had been one that has been less obvious at the first time. Tess pressed in the ear piece, making sure briefly it was not malfunctioning because it would just be her luck right about now that there were some problems.
"Hello?" Tess asked. "Clark?" Alex? Daisy? Karen? Anyone…anyone, report in?"
Tess waited a couple of minutes for the answer, and she would only get concerned, if the answers had been given. She took a deep breath.
"Chloe, I've got a serious problem."
"Is it the fact that someone has disabled the communications coming out of the LuthorCorp Fertilizer Plant?" Chloe asked. "Because, I'm getting the same problems. I can't reach Clark or anyone else…and I'm starting to get worried. Do you think I should send in for backup?"
"Give it about five more minutes," Tess said. "Indy's currently running a handwriting sample test, to see who the LL is. Either we're going to have some light shed on the situation, or we're going to be completely baffled. And I have no idea what one is more likely."
"Oh, well…there's that happening," Chloe responded a moment or so later, drawing in a breath and sighing in response. "I'm going to try and find another way in."
Tess wondered if someone cloned either Lex or Lionel, and the clone had been working at Cadmus. That opened up an entirely different can of worms as far as Tess could be concerned. She drew in a deep breath and waited for Indy to finish.
"Handwrite sample located," Indy said. "There is a ninety nine point nine chance probability that the hand writing matches to Lillian Luthor….formally Lillian Edwards."
'Son of a bitch,' Tess thought.
"Lillian Luthor?" Tess asked. "She died, years ago."
"Yes, and when has that stopped anyone from coming back to life in the field of work we're in?" Indigo asked. "There could have been other explanations to be granted. There is still a point one percent chance this is a false positive. A forgery would have been detected. She could have been cloned…"
"Or she could have faked her own death, and laid low," Tess said. "She blames Lionel….she never shared his interest or his obsession with the Traveler….I never met her, but I figured about as much. And she must have faked her own death and lied low for all of this time. But why now?"
"Perhaps she needed to amass the proper amount of resources to launch a full scale strike," Indy suggested.
"Chloe, you're not going to believe this."
"I've lived in Smallville for almost ten years," Chloe said. "There's a pretty high threshold on what I'm going to believe."
"Well, Lillian Luthor is the brains behind Cadmus."
"You're fucking kidding me, right?" Chloe asked. "She's….."
"Dead, I know," Tess said. "At least we think there is….but people come back to life all of the time."
"Yeah, that's true," Chloe said. "So, we can't really hold anyone by the same standards, of life and death that's out there anyway…it's just very confusing."
"I just have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better," Tess responded a moment or so later. "I have a feeling Lillian is just scratching the surface."
She could not explain why she felt this, only Tess had a sinking feeling something was going down, and they were not going to like it.
Months of hard work could not be undermined by just one minute of carelessness. Alura looked over tank where the Phantom Zone duplicate who took both Clark and Kara's DNA had been placed. She had been twisted into something which had been beautiful or eerie.
"Not my ideal first grandchild," Astra said. "Especially since I'm much too young to have an adult grandchild….is that going to be done soon?"
"You can't rush these things, my dear sister," Alura said with a sigh. "She'll be ready, when she's ready, and not a second before."
Alura needed to prepare the tank just in case it was needed for something else. She ran several tests, to make sure every single last vital sign was on point. She could not afford to have any mix ups. Months of hard work, working with Raya, working with Lara, and to an extent Astra, to get the duplicate perfect and stable. Alura was not going to say this was her greatest creation.
"The last message we received before it went dead was that there's a younger clone of Kal-El," Astra said. "Female as well….that raises some very interesting points, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it does," Alura said in an absent minded voice. "If she can get here, without decomposing, we should be able to stabilize her in the process."
There had been a second where Alura just breathed in and out. It was now or never, and Alura could only begin to guess the consequences of one wrong move.
"Raya?" Alura asked.
"Yes, Alura," Raya said.
"Prepare to operate the neural interface reconstruction," Alura said.
Raya moved over and adjusted one of the crystals. A bright orange light bombarded the tank, and was giving the figure in the tank life. Slowly, Alura moved over and began to drain the stasis fluid from around the tank. The trick was not to wake her up too soon, because she would suffer an unfortunate shock. Regardless, she needed to be brought back into the picture.
"I'm still wondering if this is the best idea," Raya said.
"Are you doubting my sister and her calculations?" Astra asked.
Lara stepped in. Worried about Kal as she was, they needed to focus on the task at hand, and task was getting one of the most powerful weapons they could against the upcoming Thangarian invasion. Lara hated thinking of a sentient person as a weapon, but she was unfortunately created for that person.
"No one doubts, Alura, but that doesn't mean we should not be careful," Lara said.
"Right," Alura said. "I'm seeing some brain patterns…she's slowly coming back to life. We're just going to have to make sure….."
Neural processes jumped back to eighty-five percent, and they needed to be back to one hundred percent before Alura even thought about dragging the person out of the tank.
"Vitals are stable," Raya reported.
"Good, and the brain activity is jumping up."
The tank slowly began to open. A dark haired figure slowly opened blue eyes. Astra looked over the curvy woman in the tank, who was not wearing a stitch of clothes. As much as Astra enjoyed the show, they had to be practical. Thankfully, Faora and Astra prepared a battle suit.
The combined version of Karen and Clark stepped out of the tank, and dripped with green water. The wet, sensual body moved forward towards the tank and looked very confused by her surroundings. The woman opened her eyes.
"Relax, you're among friends."
The former Phantom remembered the process and the confusion, the memories twisting her mind, battling with the instincts to destroy. Yet, a stronger instinct of wanting to help burned in her mind. The woman did not really know what to do.
Everything grew clear as day. The woman's breath escalated when looking at the figures watching her. Smiles moved across the face of everyone involved. The woman responded with a smile of her own.
"Thank you."
For the first time, ever, the woman's mind cleared up.
"So, how does she look?" Raya asked.
"Divine," Alura said a moment later. "Absolutely, divine."
Clark found himself moving around in circles throughout the facility. The good news was, he was pretty sure the clone could not have gotten far. But, she could have been elsewhere in the facility. They made their way towards the next room.
"Let me open that open," Daisy said. "You never know what might be in there."
Daisy raised a hand and slowly rocked the locks of the door open. The door swung open to allow the group access to a room. And it was not just any room, it was a room of different colors of Kryptonite. Half of the planet of Krypton was stored inside of this room, with green Kryptonite being the most prominent, but also some Red Kryptonite, some Blue Kryptonite, Black Kryptonite, and a couple of pieces of White, Purple, and Orange Kryptonite, which Clark had no idea what they did, but knew enough not to try and find out.
Despite the fact Clark had been shielded by the harmful effects of Kryptonite radiation, it was still bad. Alex and Daisy joined Clark, while Karen, Kara, and Carol looked elsewhere in the facility for the duplicate.
"Well, we found the missing LuthorCorp stock," Alex said. "Always thought it was more when the DEO confiscated that lab."
Tess cooperated with them, but someone already moved a good amount of Kryptonite. It was almost like they were preparing for war against an army of Kryptonians. And there was technically an army of Kryptonians, training, but for a good cause. The Kandorians were elsewhere.
"Can you hear me?" Tess asked.
"You're a little fuzzy," Clark said. "But, yeah, I can hear you."
"Indy found a way to bypass the communication jammer Cadmus is using, but I'm not sure how much time I've got before the work around stops working," Tess said. "I found out who is involved, and yes, it is a Luthor."
"Oh, of course," Alex said. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Yeah, well, it's Lillian Luthor."
"Lillian Luthor?" Clark asked. "You mean Lex's mother? I thought she was dead."
"Well," Tess said. "Haven't quite had the time to exhume her casket to DNA test yet, but Indigo matched the handwriting sample. If it's her, and there's a ninety nine point nine percent chance probability it is, years of being married to Lionel have caused her to pick up some of his worst tendencies."
"Are you sure?" Clark asked. "Would you put it past Lionel to clone his own wife?"
"You know, I thought about it, and it's possible," Tess said. "Or Lex to create a clone of his mother, because he is Oedipial enough to do such a thing. But Lillian would have the motivation."
"She got tired of Lionel's obsessions…..and he could get very obsessed," Clark said a moment or so later.
"Mmm hmm," Tess said. "Never talked to the woman in either time line, because she was long dead. I'm wondering though if my temporal manipulations could have changed it. Time travel has some strange ripple effects."
Tess took in a deep breath in response.
"And there are a lot of LuthorCorp resources which mysteriously went missing. Lillian would know where a lot of that is, or knew enough to know someone who could get her what she needed. This was taken before I took control of the company, so she's playing the long term plan."
Daisy stopped suddenly. Perhaps she was losing it, but there was something coming around the corner. Daisy took a deep breath and something thumped Daisy across the back of the head.
Alex withdrew a weapon and pointed it. The clone was there, she was there, and Alex did not know what to do.
"She might have already gotten Karen, Kara, and Carol," Alex said.
Daisy groaned, when trying to pull herself up. Clark stepped around and could hear the frantic heart beating coming from elsewhere.
"I don't want to hurt you," Clark said. "But if you hurt my friends, you'll leave me no choice."
Chapter Sixty-Six: Divine Intervention
Agent Daisy Johnson of the DEO wanted to know the number of the truck which struck her. She suffered some very rough hits back in the day, but there had been not a hit much rougher than the one she experienced. The crazed attacker knocked her down and caused Daisy to see stars.
Normally, Daisy would have been more than thrilled to see three of Alex in front of her. Something told Daisy it was not the good thing she painted it as for this very moment. The girl's head rattled about when trying to take a deep breath. Daisy's heart skipped a couple of beats when holding herself up off of the ground.
"Daisy, are you still there?"
Clark and Karen looked towards Alex, the very second the clone disappeared down the tunnel. It was very weird, there was something eractic about the dopplegangers movements, and at the same time, it was a very calculating at the same time. This strange combination resulted in more questions than answers as far as both of the Kryptonians had been concerned.
"I'm…oh my head hurts like hell."
Daisy fell back against the wall, taking a deep breath. Alex leaned in to try and help Daisy out. Medical attention might have been needed for Daisy, at least sooner rather than later.
"We'll get you out of here," Alex said.
"I….I'm fine, really, I am."
Daisy's legs slumped out from underneath her. Alex did not really have the time or the energy to argue to be honest, because Daisy was the type who would argue with her in the middle of a mission because of the matter of well-being. Alex retracted the arm cannon out and looked around a few seconds later. So far, there had been nothing of value coming around the corner, but that seldom meant anything. It did put Alex on the edge of nervousness, however.
"You're not fine," Alex muttered to Daisy.
Daisy did not really have it within herself to argue for too long. There was a second where time passed and the cool air coming down the hallway indicated someone had broken a window in a fit of rage. Clark stepped over and carefully examined the broken glass. There were no hints of blood on it, which meant someone with super strength busted the glass, at least as far as Clark could determine.
'We're getting close,' Clark thought to himself.
Exactly how close were they, well that was a pretty good question as far as Clark was concerned. The Young Kryptonian peered around the edge of the area around him, turning his head around three hundred and sixty degrees to take a very good look at everything around.
"She's close," Karen said.
"I don't see anything on my end," Carol said.
"Come out," Clark said. "You have to face us sooner or later. I get that you're scared. You don't know what your purpose is in life. And you have memories are conflicting. I know it's hard to imagine, but I really feel your pain. So, come out and face me."
The sound of something crashing in the distance echoed, and a blur shot out of the shadows. Clark lifted a hand to block the punch before it nailed him in the face. Clark flipped the attacker over onto her back and she landed down onto the ground.
The Feral Clone rose up to a standing position and grabbed Clark around the neck. Both of them struggled with each other on the ground. Clark turned the attack around the best he could, flipping the attacker up and over onto the ground, causing her to crash down onto the ground.
The attacker's scream of rage followed, and the clone rushed towards Clark one more time. The punch had been dodged by Clark. Another punch had been dodged, and the attack closed her eyes, to cause a large chunk of metal to fly off of the wall.
The confused emotions made the attackers efforts even more prominent. Clark adopted a defensive approach. The attacker was not too interested in fighting defense and the heat vision had been unleashed. Clark and the doppleganger met in the center with immense heat vision blasts. Sweat started to roll down the face of the doppleganger when her breathing continued.
"NO!"
These were the first words, coherent or otherwise, Clark had heard from the doppleganger. Said doppleganger kept pushing through the attacks as swiftly as possible. Sweat rolled down the face of the doppleganger when pushing Clark back.
The doppleganger dropped to one knee for a brief moment. The feelings of despair and the conflicts of what to do, reared their ugly head in a blink of an eye. Clark, Karen, and Carol all took tentative steps towards the clone. The confused and stressed out teenager looked up.
Carol had teenage sisters, and they could get very moody in a hurry. "Look, it's going to be okay."
For some reason, telling a crazed clone everything was going to be okay was the wrong thing to say at this moment in time. Said crazed clone lashed out and knocked Carol back a tiny amount, sending her flying onto her back with a very obvious and prominent thud. The wind knocked out of Carol the second she dropped down onto the ground. The clone pulled herself up, rage burning through her eyes when peering down at Carol.
"NO!" the clone howled at the top of her lungs. "NO!"
It was like a child learning their first word, and the destructive temper tantrum to go along with. Several chunks of debris shot around the lab, and a cyclone appeared around the clone. The clone nailed Clark in the ribs as fast as possible, and grabbed a chunk of Kryptonite. Smoke started to come through the clone's hands, forcing her to drop it down onto the ground.
A figure dropped down from the ceiling and caught the clone down on the back of the head. The clone flipped head over heels and landed down on the ground, slowly turning her attention. A tall dark-haired girl dressed in black Kryptonian battle armor dropped down to the ground. She resembled a mixture of both Karen and Clark.
The Phantom wraith had been fixed, and looked towards the clone.
"You need a time out," Divine said.
The clone disagreed with the former Phantom Wraith and blasted a beam of heat vision. The beam of heat vision had been countered with a blast of cold blue light which shot out of Divine's eyes. Heat and cold connected with each other, when the two pushed themselves back and forth.
"I don't want to hurt you either," Divine said. "But, you're making it very hard to keep that vow."
The confusion of what exactly was going on underneath the former LuthorCorp fertilizer plant caused Tess the need to do something, anything. And therefore, she decided to continue to dig up further information on the person who ran Cadmus.
"Well, of course," Tess said. "She had been cremated, and had her ashes scattered on the countryside. So, it would be very hard for anyone to verify whether she's dead. Very clever, Lillian."
Tess wondered if Lillian was like this all of the time, and just better at hiding it then Lionel, or perhaps years of being married to Lionel caused her to be twisted in such a way. There were a few little interesting side projects, including more work with the meteor mutants. The resurrection was only the tip of the iceberg.
They also had been attempting to develop Kryptonian strength and powers, into a cybernetic suit, without the obvious drawbacks, the Kryptonite was obvious. The red solar radiation was another problem they were trying their best to mitigate. Tess just had some questions, and not many answers.
'Just another day in my life really.'
Something really galled Tess a fair amount as well. She umwittingly played a role in Lillian's scheme, due to the fact that Lex and Lionel had been locked up. Something told Tess that Lillian might not have enacted this particular scheme, had her husband and son been out in the open.
Tess checked in and she could hear the static. The temporary fix Indigo had made to override Cadmus's override of the security network did not really work for as long as she thought. The businesswoman took in her breath and remained as calm as possible. There was no sense of her to lose her cool, especially in a high place situation like this.
'Trust, Clark, because he can find a way out of anything,' Tess said. 'He can find a way out of anything, even the things which he should not be able to find a way out of.'
Still, the fact she had been blind and deaf to what was going on in the LuthorCorp fertilizer plant put Tess on edge. She moved over and pushed a button.
"They found a way around my override?" Indigo asked.
"How did you ever guess?" Tess asked.
"Despite my capabilities, it was the most statistical probability possible," Indigo said. "I'm working on a more permanent fix, just please stand by, and hope this works. Not sure if we can give them much support, but it's essential to get Kal-El's distaff counterpart out of there."
Tess did not argue with that fact, not at all. She chewed on her lower lip, a really bad habit Tess unfortunately developed.
"So, you got locked out again, too?" Tess asked.
"Yeah, I did," Chloe chimed in. "Did you find out anything more about Lillian? As in, whether or not she's dead."
"Well she wanted to get cremated," Tess said. "I know, that really doesn't tell you much of anything. But still, the body which got burned might not have been hers. The ashes she had, they had been spread across the countryside, per her wishes, and as far as I can tell, Lionel actually did follow those wishes."
'Mostly because he felt guilty for the trouble and trauma he caused her.'
A few seconds passed, and Tess waited for Indy to get things together. It was taking an unfortunate amount longer than Tess would have liked. All they could do right now is wait, watch, and hope things would turn out for the better.
Once again, the back of the clone's head rang out. There was something in her memories which was causing problems. Memories of two different young men, living lives which she personally had no emotional attraction to, but they kept going through the back of the clone's head. These memories, the despair of everything they went through, coupled with her own despair caused her to grow manic.
Also, time in a lab caused her to scream. Several of her brothers and sisters melted before the eyes of the Kryptonian/Human hybrid home. It caused her to want to lash out, and make the pain stop. The breathing continued, when she rose up and down. The two men who stood over her did their best to work into her mind. They conditioned the clone, shaped her mind into something else.
"NO!"
That was the only word the clone could speak other than feral growls. Those screams continued when the clone had a strong desire to rip her nails into her own face and rake out her eyeballs. The breathing continued to increase with frequency the more than the clone tilted her head back.
"Stand still!"
The clone's throbbing head made it very hard to listen to reason.
"Stay….back!"
The clone choked out these words, forcing them through her very raw throat. It was very hard to speak in this particular way. Each ragged breath made the clone suffer when she tried to hold her down. The older dark-haired girl stepped in front of her. The energy coming from the woman sedated the clone just a small bit.
"Protect."
"Yes, you can protect," Clark said. "You just need to let us help you."
"NO!"
Karen and Carol grabbed the clone and wrestled her down to the ground. Divine stood over the clone and put a hand on the top of the clone's head which siphoned some of the yellow solar radiation empowering her away from her. The clone's breathing increased a few seconds later. The former Phantom Wraith pulled away from the clone and left her a shivering, twitching wreck on the ground.
"I didn't know you could do that."
"It hurts like hell to do it," Divine told Karen. "But, yeah, I can do it."
One clone down on the ground, shaking like mad. She was terrified out of her mind with what was happening, and for very good reason. The clone should have been terrified for everything she went through. The images flashing through Divine's mind after she transmitted the yellow solar radiation out of the girl caused the Phantom Wraith to shudder in response.
"It's not good," Divine said. "They've sacrificed many clones to get the perfect one, and even this one, they'll sacrifice her. They cut open her skull with a Kryptonite drill to rework her mind."
Karen thought she was going to get sick because of the vivid imagery Divine put in her mind. It only took Karen a few seconds to come to the conclusion that Divine, through the mild-melding process, had to see that up close and personal.
"There's an implant buried in her brain," Divine said.
Those eyes opened up and flashed with malice. This time, they did not flash with heat vision, because of the fact that Divine drained her of the powers. The Phantom Wraith peered down at the girl as she shook.
"She was able to restore herself very quickly," Divine said. "That's equal parts impressive, and frightening. I don't even know what to say here."
Divine stood over the top of the clone who took a breath and looked at Divine. Anger burned through those eyes, but another emotion could have been seen, and that was a growing sense of hopelessness, helplessness, and everything which went along with those unfortunately, frustrating emotions. The clone's body shivered when she had been pushed down onto the ground.
"We're going to need to fix her."
Karen and Clark switched spots, with now Carol and Clark holding the doppleganger down onto the ground. The clone's eyes flashed when Karen looked at the forehead, and took the palm scanner. She scanned and sure enough found the obstruction on the girl's brain.
'Brain surgery,' Karen thought. 'Okay, that's a new one, but I'm going to have to do it.'
'You can pull this off," Lara said. "You're just going to have to have a steady hand and plenty of patience to do so. But, I know you can do it."
"Right, I'm glad you have faith in me," Karen said.
"You're going to have to temporarily short out her brain so you can get in there," Lara said. "You have approximately ten minutes to work with, before she becomes brain dead."
Given the alternatives, Karen really did not have any choice. She pulled out a disc, and super charged the electrical pulse with heat vision when put at the base of the girl's neck. She shook in response when dropping down onto the ground.
Karen reached into the head, and picked up the piece of Kryptonite on the ground. She bust it, and took a sliver of it. Despite her shielding, the Kryptonite still felt like fire. The green Kryptonite lightly pierced into the head of the clone.
She pushed inside the cut up forehead. Blood dripped to the ground, and Karen took extra care.
"You need a precise shot with your heat vision to release the implant," Alura said. "One wrong move….."
Alura did not need to elaborate what would happen if Karen misfired the heat vision blast on someone's brain. This was still her cousin, in part, and thus it felt very weird. The hybrid's life rested in Karen's hands, and on her ability to perform very delicate brain surgery.
Karen steadily held the unconscious girl's skull and closed her eyes. The Kryptonian survivor used heat vision to slowly burn the implant. The implant fell down onto the ground, and Karen took a deep breath.
Karen slowly rolled the girl over and took a solar powered grenade out of her hand. It had been developed just in case they had been trapped on an alien planet which had an alien sun. It was a prototype and burned out very easily. It only had one good burst of solar radiation, and only about ten seconds worth.
Ten seconds was more than enough to jumpstart the brain of the downed girl and caused the healing process to be accelerated. Karen released the solar radiation.
The hybrid's forehead healed over and her body completely shook in response. A content smile passed on her face. Karen scanned all of the vitals, and they were normal.
"Now, you have to get her back to the Fortress," Lara said. "While the implant is out of her head, she's not out of the woods yet."
Karen nodded in response. She had saved the day, and not for the first time. Clark smiled and put a hand on his cousin's shoulder, and she returned the smile.
"You did well."
Miles Warren looked like a small child who watched his puppy dog get run over. And then, watched the car which ran over his puppy dog back up and run over it again, and it was just way too much. The sour look on Warren's face increased with each possible second.
"My greatest creation," Warren said. He took in a deep, sad breath, unable to believe things had been turned around for the worst this soon.
"It can be very difficult to come to terms with loss," Strange responded a moment later. "But, we must move on and more importantly, move beyond."
Warren did not have it within him to argue with Strange on a situation like this. Still, he was excited, finally, Warren created a clone which would actually be able to sustain for more than a couple of days. The combination of alien and human DNA, Warren should have figured that one out from the beginning.
"It's poetic irony," Strange said. "The implant KR2's head was the only thing they can be used to trace us back, but it would have resulted in us terminating the project."
Strange smiled, he could have been very pleased with himself. They were both in the back of a mobile lab, waiting to see where Cadmus's next operations were going to lead them. Strange in particular had been very pleased, very pleased indeed, by the results to come.
"The next time, the conditioning will be stronger, and she will be more ruthless," Strange said. "You learn more from a hundred failures, then you do one success."
Warren decided that perhaps he did understand where Strange was coming from. Warren detested failure though, each time he failed, it was an insult. And each time, Warren failed, it caused him to be feel insulted. No one would get the better of him, not if Warren had anything to say about it.
"You were very fortunate to get out of there when you did," the supervisor said. "You lost the clone, but you would have lost a lot more. And it would have been a shame to lose assets like yourself."
The not so subtle implication that the supervisor saw Warren and Strange as easily replaceable came on through the communication network. Strange took this matter in greater stride. He had been used to working for people who threatened him.
"Lutessa gets closer to finding out what we're up to, and she's already been able to deduce the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," the supervisor continued, speaking in her very crisp voice. "She might just be Lionel's bastard child, but she's still savvy. She's received the worst cards that life has given, and came out ahead. That to me, it's very respectable."
"Yes, it is," Strange said. "And I suppose the DEO is storming the base and confiscating anything we left behind. Not that much of value has been left behind."
"Other than the clone, which is in the hands of the Traveler now," the supervisor responded. "I warned the two of you why it was essential for you to get out of there when you did. Perhaps in the future, you would find it very prudent to listen to me."
The not so subtle jab of their intelligence caught them flush.
"What do we do now?" Warren asked.
"Cadmus does what it always does," the supervisor said. "We are going to prepare for war. Let the self-appointed protectors do the heavy lifting when the Thangarians come."
Warren and Strange had been surprised.
"Thangarians?" Strange asked.
"That's on a need to know basis," the supervisor said. "You will be brought to another facility. Don't get too comfortable at this one."
"We're playing a shell game with Kal-El, Lutessa, and the DEO," Strange said. "Eventually, we're going to get caught."
"You haven't got caught yet, and you won't, unless you blunder," the supervisor said. "And I know both of you, your egos will not allow yourself to blunder. Do they?"
The clone had been dropped back to the Fortress. Divine also remained behind to make sure she turned out just find after the encounter. Tess signaled for Clark to stop by the Luthor Mansion. Clark dropped on the front yard, and the guard at the front gate stepped aside, allowing Clark to step inside.
"Ms. Mercy is waiting for you, Superman."
That name still caught Clark off guard. There was a part of him who thought the name was a bit much, but Tess assured him that it fit him, in more ways than one. Regardless, Clark stepped into the living room. Tess waited for him, dressed in an elegant silk blouse, and a nice black skirt, along with stocks, and high heels which she balanced on very gracefully.
"So, I'm going to have to tell you the bad news," Tess said.
"What?" Clark asked.
He had been more than used to bad news, unfortunately.
"Lois has been snagged."
"What?" Clark demanded. "Lois, what, who took her….."
"We know who took her, and we know where she is," Tess said. "She's been chosen by the Green Lantern Corps, and if I had to guess, she's being trained by the Guardians of Oa."
Clark took a deep breath and calmed down. He remembered the Green Lantern Corps during the incident involving Lobo and Mongul. They were powered by will, and there were very few people that Clark knew, who had more will-power than Lois Lane. Something told Clark se would flourish.
And if half of the things Astra said about the Guardians were true, Lois would be giving them some headaches because of headstrong attitude.
"Lara is trying to establish contact with the Guardians," Tess said. "I'm sure Lois is fine though. She can handle herself. More than most of us."
Of course, the fact that Lois could handle herself ended up causing her to get into an unfortunate amount of trouble. Tess decided not to bring up that very evident point. She flashed Clark a smile when motioning him to close just a little bit closer towards her.
"We have a lot of other things on our plate, unfortunately," Tess responded a few seconds later. "Cadmus is one of the big ones, and there's also, Lillian."
Clark could hardly believe that Lex's mother was alive and running a secret government organization, at least as far as Tess suspected, and Tess would not just throw down accusations without having some very solid proof to back them up.
"It's always the ones you least suspected," Tess said, lightly shrugging in response. "And I don't know about her motives, and I can only begin to speculate about them. And I don't like to speculate."
"Don't I know it."
Tess lightly pulled open one of the buttons on her blouse, an impish smile delivered at Clark.
"With all that's going on, you seem to be tense," Tess said. "And I know I'm tense as well. Why don't you say we relieve the tension?"
Tess finished unbuttoning her blouse to reveal two amazing breasts in an elegant and very expensive green bra which drew Clark's attention to Tess's toned body. Tess allowed her blouse to drop to the ground and descended around the soft carpet, while undoing Clark's pants.
It did not take too long for Tess to fish Clark's throbbing hard cock out of his pants. The length stood out tall and Tess wrapped a hand around the base of the cock and slowly began to stroke it. Starting at the head, Tess licked all the way to the base of the cock, and then went between Clark's legs, to lick his balls.
"Tess, that feels so good."
Tess worshipped Clark's length for a moment with a series of passionate kisses. Her moist lips wrapped around Clark and took him deep into her mouth. Clark grabbed onto Tess's beautiful red hair which brushed around the part of the length which did not slip into her mouth.
The businesswoman took Clark's cock and sucked it. Those balls throbbed, and Tess realized that could contain enough cum which could drown someone. Tess enjoyed the feeling of Clark's balls just resting in the palm of her hand. She wanted more though, and squeezed them. The very visible reaction of pleasure from the most powerful man on the planet got Tess's motor running and caused her to want to suck Clark even harder. Her lips eased down further on Clark's manhood, sucking him deep inside, as deep as humanly possible.
"Tess, oh yes, that's really good!" Clark groaned, when feeling Tess's warm lips encase and release him like there was no tomorrow.
Tess didn't even bat an eyelash. She wanted to make Clark feel better than great, because making Clark feel great made Tess feel great, and that very essential cycle of pleasure should continue for as long as humanly possible. And speaking of long, Clark's cock was long and pushing into the back of Tess's throat, stretching it out. Tess grabbed Clark's back and pushed his manhood deep inside of her mouth. The hunger following increased, the deeper and more passionately Tess sucked Clark's long manhood between her legs.
"TESS!"
Clark screaming her name when Tess blew him caused the redhead to become rather wet between her thighs. Tess kept up the action by taking Clark's length as deep in throat as possible. The part of the length Tess could not grab, her hands twisted.
The feeling of Tess worshipping Clark caused the Last Son of Krypton more pleasure than possible. Clark's balls slapped deep against of Tess's chin and pushed deep inside of Tess's throat. He was this close to exploding, and Tess knew it. Tess made a series of lewd sounds around Clark's manhood and dragged it deep inside the back of her throat.
Seconds passed, and Clark fired cum deep inside of Tess's waiting through. Clark pushed into Tess's mouth and filled her up with so much cum.
Tess smiled and slowly, seductively, rose to her feet. A smile passed, with Tess sucking the cum into her mouth. A smile passed a few seconds later, and Clark reached in to grab Tess and speed her into the next room.
They were in Lex's study. Tess enjoyed the poetic irony of Superman fucking the sister of his greatest enemy in said enemy's own study. It was symbolic of something.
Not that Tess had much time to worry about symbolism, when Clark toyed with her clit, and caused the redhead to breath. The bra came off and Tess's amazing breasts came out. Clark touched Tess between her legs, reaching out and cupping her pussy, working a finger inside of it, and then a second done.
Clark could not feel every inch of Tess's sultry body fast enough. The redhead's eyes closed, and a pleasurable moan came out of the woman. Clark rolled his finger deep between Tess's waiting thighs, and she pushed the pussy up into Clark's grip. Clark edged deeper inside of Tess.
"Eat me."
"Good thing I'm hungry."
Tess almost melted underneath the presence of that tongue. Clark's tongue lapped up every last amount of Tess's juices, like it was some god giving, divine right. Tess knew one thing, her pussy was going to be plenty weight enough for the main event.
Clark worked at the businesswoman, making her succumb to several passionate strokes with the tongue. Lara and Raya's lessons, with visual demonstrations about the best way to eat a pussy, paid off. Tess squirmed and creamed all over Clark's face. Clark tasted the evidence of Tess's arousal.
The man shifted focus to Tess's gorgeous legs which rested upon his shoulders. The nylon stockings she wore made them feel so much more amazing. Clark rolled his fingers over the legs, and could not wait to feel those stocking clad legs wrapped around him when he fucked Tess.
Tess almost exploded in pleasure the second Clark finished tongue-fucking the bastard child of Lionel Luthor. The redhead's breathing increased for a few seconds, and Clark rose up to his feet.
The feeling of Clark just drinking in every inch of her body made Tess's excitement only grow. Her legs spread as far as possible, knowing there was only one thing which could fill the void presently existing between her thighs.
"Do it," Tess begged Clark. "DO IT!"
Clark edged closer, the hunger overwhelming him. His throbbing cock guided the way between the heavenly gates between the thighs of the redhead.
Tess wrapped her arms around Clark's neck, and her legs around his waist. She felt Clark push into her, stretching out her pussy with everything he could give her. The woman's canal clamped down on Clark's throbbing rod the further he pushed inside of her.
"YES!" Tess mewled in Clark's ear. "YES!"
Tess screamed out these words of passion when Clark pushed inside of her. The redhead pushed deep against Clark and buried the man's large cock deeper inside of her waiting loins. Tess grabbed onto Clark's shoulder, and felt the pleasure with Clark burying deep inside of her.
Those passionate screams spurred Clark to go faster. Tess's center grabbed around Clark when pushing her nails onto him. The passionate exchange of bodily fluids was about to go on either further. Tess wrapped her legs around Clark's waist to make sure he did not stray too far from the pussy he had to fuck. And Clark did not plan to stray too far from Tess's gorgeous core as well. Clark's manhood spiked Tess, going deeper into her. Tess held onto the back of Clark's neck, and breathed passionately.
The feeling of her breasts pressing against Clark's muscular chest caused Tess to be driven wild. The passionate woman's hips bucked, her nails breaking in Clark's super powerful back. Tess wasn't afraid of a couple of broken nails, she had been driven too mad in lust to care about such little details.
"HARDER!"
Clark reached in and cupped Tess's succulent orbs. His super powerful mouth and hands worshipped Tess like she should be. Tess's passionate screams could be heard on the grounds of the mansion. It was almost like she wanted the entire world to see who fucked Tess Mercer.
The feeling of Tess clamping down on his raging rod only caused Clark to push himself harder, into Tess's warm and willing body. Her loins clamping down on Clark made things even hotter, and heavier. Clark rolled his fingers on the underside of Tess's stockings, and felt them up.
"I'm wear them for you every time," Tess breathed. "And not much else. I know how much they drive you wild."
Clark did not slow down with thrusting deep inside of Tess's wet pussy. Tess grabbed onto Clark and took the full length. Every second moment pasted, and Tess's body shook with more content. The dripping of moisture from her pussy made Tess quiver in excitement.
Those hands really did work their magic on her, every single direction. Tess closed her eyes, and threw her hips back into Clark's thrusting manhood. Clark buried further into Tess, and Tess responded by taking more of him.
Clark marveled at the fact Tess did not wear out.
"You live for this?" Clark asked.
"It's so exciting to be fucked, hard, by a man that can break you," Tess said, lightly nibbling on Clark's neck.
He wouldn't really feel it that much, but it was the thought that counted. Tess trained her pussy muscles to make sure Clark would feel it where it counted. Juices trickling out lubricated Clark's amazing length and pushed him further into the center. Tess pumped Clark inside of her, moaning and thrashing the deeper Clark pushed into her. Tess did not hold back at all.
"Getting closer, aren't we?" Tess teased him.
"Oh, not as close as you want."
Tess's excitement increased. She felt good, and so did her breasts being played with by Clark. Every touch caused a miniature orgasm to rock through Tess, in preparation for the big one. Tess rolled herself up against Clark.
Clark managed to move around to every surface on the study, and fuck Tess vigorously against every potential surface. The walls, the tables, the bookshelves, and even the couch in the back of the study. He had Tess bent over the coffee table, doggy style, when ramming his cock into her.
"This is where Lex used to have his morning coffee," Tess said. "Where he thought about….tried to figure out you. Little did he know you'd be fucking me over that table. Oh, yes, fuck me hard!"
Tess had been drilled hard and one of the most powerful orgasms she ever experienced just spiked all the way through her body. Clark pulled out of Tess almost all the way and pushed back into her. His balls slapped Tess's thighs the further Clark buried inside of her.
"You're getting fucked harder than you ever know," Clark breathed. "And you're going to cum for me, aren't you? Aren't you, you kinky little slut?"
"YES!" Tess shrieked.
Tess came for Clark, the dirty language coming from the mouth of the boy scout exciting Tess. Truly, some of the girls had been a bad influence on him, at least in the bedroom.
Clark grabbed onto Tess, and now had her on the couch. Every time Clark pumped down into Tess when she laid firmly on her back, he caught a nice look at Tess's beautiful face. Clark pumped himself deeper inside of Tess's body. Her loins clamped down onto Clark, milking him for everything that he was worth.
"Fuck!" Tess breathed hungrily. "That's the spot, right fucking there!"
Clark just responded with a smile, pushing his rod deeper inside of Tess's body. Tess grabbed onto Clark's hard cock and released him. Each solid pump inside of Tess brought Clark further into her body.
Tess came, and Clark followed, burying his seed into Tess's waiting pussy. Tess's warm loins squeezed Clark, and pushed his stored load inside of her.
The two matched each other, both of them seeing stars, and cumming for each other. Tess made sure to never let her legs leave Clark's waist, and his hands never left her legs. Clark pushed deep into Tess, releasing all of that unfortunately built up tension into a gushing flood between Tess's thighs.
There was a lot of tension released between the two of them were done for the day.