Pod Squad-Kryptonian (SV,XO,CC,Mature) Ch66, 9/22/09 [WIP]

[sdcheesehead]

Thanks Alien Friend, dreammaster and Timelord31 for your feedback Glad you enjoyed that last installment. I'm hoping to expand upon Chloe's newfound abilities and possibly adding to them in the future. I've got my next installment done, just waiting for my betas to get back to me after they dutifully mark it up, so you the reader can understand me...I humbly thank them, because I am no English major...actually I'm an accountant, so yeah, enough said. Hope to be posted in the next couple of days and I've found my muse, so I'll probably be posting weekly for awhile until it decides to leave me again, buts lets hope not.

[sdcheesehead]

Chapter 50 - Distractions

Max and Liz were chatting with Diane when the door burst open. Nancy came running in panic clearly showing on her face.

“Is everything okay?” she said running up to Max and Liz who had both risen from the couch to greet their other three parents. Jeff and Phil weren’t too far behind.

Max turned towards his mother and said, “You didn’t tell them?”

“I thought it was your place to tell them” Diane said sheepishly.

“You are evil mother, you know that” she grinned as he turned towards the other three and addressed them. “Everything is fine, we just had some good news to tell you for once” and Liz came forward with her hand resting on her stomach. “We’re going to have a baby.”

“Oh my God” exclaimed Nancy, “But how?” Max, Liz and Diane just looked at each other and laughed. “Well, why don’t you come in and we’ll tell you how.”

But before they could take a seat there was a knock at the door that put everyone on alert. Max and Liz went back into Max’s room as Phil answered the door.

“Jim, Amy, come on in. To what do we owe to this unexpected visit?” Phil asked ushering the two into the house.

“A little birdie told me that you have a couple of special guests,” Jim said.

“Max, Liz. It’s okay. It’s only Jim and Amy” Phil informed the two as they came walking down the hall.

“I’ll be damned” Jim said noticing Liz’s protruding belly. “I’d say your two for two there Max” as Amy punched him in the arm. “Ouch”

“Be nice” and then turning towards Liz she said, “Congratulations, do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“It’s a girl,” Liz said as Amy reached out and touched Liz’s belly. All of a sudden a bluish handprint was glowing through the sweatshirt Liz was wearing. “Well, that’s definitely unique.”

Everyone took their turn touching the baby’s handprint when the glow dissolved and Liz sat down on the loveseat.

“What did you mean a little birdie told you? Who?” asked Max.

“Well, I stopped into the CrashDown and they said you two had to leave unexpectedly. When do you two ever leave the CrashDown together? And then I called Phil’s office and your secretary said you had to go home unexpectedly as well. So, I went and picked up Amy and decided to pay you a visit on the chance that you had some extra visitors.”

“Well welcome” Phil said. So, they sat around as Max and Liz explained the situation and how they were going to have a girl and probably very soon. And then they explained their trip to Dione and each of their parents were amazed at just how much their children had grown. They spent the better part of the morning visiting and then Max announced that they really needed to get back to Smallville.

“Wow, I’m going to be a grandma,” Nancy said. Her little girl was growing up. “Will you notify us when you go into labor? I would really like to be there.”

“As would I” mimicked Diane, with nods from Jeff and Phil. “Is it possible for us to travel to Smallville through that granolith thing?” Jeff inquired.

“And if it’s not too much trouble, I wouldn’t mind coming too. I would really like to see Maria and Michael and I’m sure Jim would like to see Kyle as well. We could make a family trip out of it.” Amy said.

“I believe that could be arranged” Max said, “When Liz goes into labor I’ll send someone through to get you, just be ready because the big event could happen within the next couple of weeks.”

Everyone agreed and said their goodbyes. Jeff and Nancy went back to the Crash Down, as Jim drove Amy home and returned to work. Phil dropped the kids off at the edge of Frazier Woods. Max and Liz’s parents all had the same thought, they were going to be grandparents and for Phil and Diane, again. But this time, they were going to be included.

Luthor Mansion

Lex was still in his office when he heard Lana’s voice.

“Lex?” Lana spoke aloud.

“Lana, he’s in his office” Clark said nonchalantly.

“How do you know?” and then she remembered, “Never mind” They made their way to Lex’s study where they found that the back of the chair behind the executive desk was not facing them.

“Lex” Lana said, making herself known.

“Hello Lana, Clark and Chloe now that’s a surprise” Lex said turning the chair in order to face his guests. Chloe let out a gasp, backing into Clark who held her upright.

“Lex” Clark said.

“Why doesn’t it surprise me that the one person Lana would go to after finding out about my current situation was Clark Kent?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m the only one that holds the answers for you getting your body back” countered Clark.

“And why is that Clark, or do you prefer to be called your given name of Kal-El better?”

“Clark is fine” Clark didn’t give Lex the satisfaction of flinching at the reference of his Kryptonian name.

“Why all the lies Clark? Why all the secrets? I was your best friend and all those years you betrayed me and kept this secret to yourself even when I confronted you with my evidence, still you lied to me. Why?”

“Because everyone has their secrets, including you Lex. The lives of anybody let into the secret life of Clark Kent is in danger. It’s not every day you get to meet an alien, now is it Lex. I’ve never harmed anyone; in fact I use my special abilities to help those around me. But what would happen if the wrong people found out I was living among you, they would throw me into a padded room and do experiments on me and throw away the key. No thank you. So, I kept my secret to myself and my family.”

Lex looked over at Lana and Chloe and questioned, “So, how did they get the honor of being in your inner circle?” bitterness dripping from his mouth.

“Well, Chloe found out about a year ago on her own and Lana just recently learned when Fine took you away to the Phantom Zone.” A shiver went up Lex’s spine at the mention of that place.

“What the Hell kind of place is that?” Lex said.

“All I know is my father, my biological father Jor-El, created the Phantom Zone to house the criminals from 28 different galaxies. Once a prisoner enters the Phantom Zone, they are stripped of their bodies and given the sort of body you currently inhabit” explained Clark,

“Who the Hell is this General Zod and how does Fine fit into the picture?”

“General Zod was sent to the Phantom Zone by Jor-El for crimes he committed on Krypton and Fine is a brain interactive concept created on Krypton. Essentially, he’s a highly advanced robot. He has the same type of abilities I have but he’s immune to my weaknesses and a major pain in my ass. His main objective was trying to find a way to release Zod from the Zone, which it looks like he succeeded in doing.”

“And who is this Khivar character?”

“He must be one of the Zoners” Clark said, trying to satisfy Lex.

“No, no. You said that when a prisoner comes into the Phantom Zone their bodies are transformed into something like this” he said looking down at his body, “but this Khivar guy looked like a little greenish gray alien, like you see on tv.”

“I don’t know Lex. Maybe he got transported there by mistake.” Lex wasn’t buying it. Clark was still keeping things from him. Oh well, he’d find out the answers to his questions sooner or later.

Clark noticed that Lex wasn’t buying into his story, but he was going to hold his ground. It wasn’t his place to expose the rest of his friend’s true identity.

“Lex, listen to me. I don’t have all the answers. I’m still learning about myself. When I was a baby, my parents placed me in a spacecraft and sent me through the heavens while my home world blew up, killing them in the process. I was found by the Kents and raised as their son. I didn’t even learn of my alien heritage until I was in high school right after I saved you when you ran me off the bridge. Yes, you did hit me straight on and then I pulled you from the wreckage. I had no idea how or why I was able to do the things I did. I just did them and my parents said I was special and that we needed to keep my growing abilities a secret. They were trying to protect me. Once I learned how I was found in the cornfield and was shown my spaceship, which has since been destroyed, I started searching for some answers. There were the caves, the Kewatchee tribe, Dr Swan, and the crystals that gave me insight, but still I never truly had the answers to all those unknown questions building up inside of me. Can you imagine going through life not knowing who or what you are? Then I met Dr. Fine, another Kryptonian, so I thought. He told me stories of my home world of Krypton and about my father, but his interpretation was twisted and wrong. You asked why I didn’t trust you with my secrets, mainly because I don’t truly know myself.”

About that time, Lionel came walking through the double doors into the study. “Clark, Chloe, Lana” he addressed the three and then his attention turned towards the executive chair and all he could muster was “oh my.”

“Who invited my father to this little party?”

“I did” Clark said and then turning towards Lionel he asked, “Did you bring those pictures?”

“Yes. I’ve got them right here” he said opening up his briefcase, glancing over at the black creature that was his son. “Are you able to reverse the process?” he said in reference to his son. He pulled out a manila envelope and handed it to Clark.

Clark opened up the envelope while Lex and the rest of the group listened intensely. “I was getting to that part of my story when you came in” Clark said, scanning through the pictures and stopping at the one with the red blur. “Where were these taken?”

“On the Island of Corto Maltese” Lionel said.

“What the Hell is going on? My father is in your inner circle too!” Lex exclaimed, clearly pissed off.

“Well, it seems like another one of your plants has been infiltrated and destroyed son” Lionel said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice and clearly ignoring his second inquiry.

Lex got out of his seat, causing Lana and Chloe to back away, and move towards Clark and Lionel.

“What were you producing at this plant?” Clark asked.

“None of your damn business” piped in Lex.

“According to the books it’s a cocoa plant, but I’m assuming there’s more going on beneath the surface. Wouldn’t you agree Lex?” Lionel said raising an eyebrow at his son. “But it doesn’t matter anymore; it’s just another plant off the books. There is nothing to recover after the explosion. So, do you have any idea who’s responsible?”

Clark used his x-ray vision and stared intensely at the blurred photo and then a face popped out at him. Bart? He returned his gaze to normal and handed the photos back to Lionel. “Like I said before, it wasn’t me, but I have an idea of who is behind this but I haven’t seen him in a couple of years and I’m not quite sure how to track him down.”

“So, who is it? Another Kryptonian?” Lionel asked.

“Not quite.” Clark said, “I’d rather keep the individual’s identity to myself until I’m able to confirm it.”

“Brilliant. More secrets” Lex said.

“Were there any photos taken in regards to that disturbance you mentioned?” Clark asked.

“No, that happened just outside the facility” Lionel said.

“Would someone please tell me what is going on and when did my father of all people get to be let in on Clark Kent’s secret identity?” Lex said exasperated.

“Lex, calm down, sit down and we’ll explain.” Lionel said calmly.

“No, I won’t sit down! I want some answers and I want them now!” exclaimed Lex.

“Fine, have it your way” Clark said, taking a seat on one of the overstuffed couches, followed by Lana, Chloe and Lionel. Finally, Lex relented and sat in an overstuffed chair.

“And for the record, I never told Lionel about my circumstances” Clark said.

“What, more lies?” Lex quipped.

“No, it’s true son. When I handled that black transference stone, that incidentally was also used to exchange your body with General Zod, I tricked Clark here into switching bodies with me, which happened when you sent me to prison, son. Anyways, I learned the truth about Clark Kent then, but let’s just say I also had a change of heart too. Clark didn’t know I carried his secret, until one day he died. Jor-El, his biological father used my body as a vessel giving me the strength to break out of that mental ward you stuck me in and I stole Clark’s recently deceased body from the hospital and took it to the ‘Fortress’ where Jor-El brought him back to life. Since then, I have been Jor-El’s emissary.”

“This is all very touching” Lex stated, “but obviously you were able to switch back your body. What do I have to do to get mine back?”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to live in that body for awhile” Clark broke the news. “I’m the only one powerful enough to go up against Zod and if there is anything left of your body once I’m done you can exchange bodies then.”

“What do you mean you’re the only one powerful enough to go against him, How powerful are you, really?”

“Let’s just say I can hold my own,” Clark said.

“And I’m supposed to sit back and do nothing and take your word that you’re able to hold your own. This is ridiculous! I want my body back and now!” exclaimed Lex.

“Well fine. You go out and pick a fight with Zod and see how far you get. Maybe you’ll even tire him out a bit before he spits you out and I have to come in to save the day, yet again you unappreciative…” Clark was fuming as the red in his eye started to come to the surface.

Chloe reached over and laid her hand on his and gently soothed him. “Clark you need to calm down. Don’t let him get the best of you. You’re better than him.” She whispered in his ear.

“Now, we aren’t going to get anywhere by throwing accusations around” stated Lionel. “Yes son you are in quite the predicament, but one that can be rectified right Clark?”

Clark nodded. “As I said before, Zod has to be defeated first and once we have him in custody we can use the transference crystal that Lex brought back from the Zone to switch their bodies back. Afterwards, we can take care of the Phantom Zod. But this all remains dependent on Zod being defeated.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” Lex queried.

“Like you said, stay hidden. Staying here at the Mansion may not be the best place, since Zod is living in your body. He may try to live as you would, so we’d need another place to hide you. But the only way to trump Zod is to keep you out of sight, otherwise you might as well say goodbye to your former self. At least it’s better than spending the rest of your life in the Zone” explained Clark.

“Where will I go?” Lex resigned to the plan. He really didn’t have a choice.

Clark wasn’t really sure where to house Lex. The farm was too exposed that it was just a matter of time before Zod or Fine would be knocking on their doorstep and he really didn’t want him finding out about his friends down the road, but where to put him? He looked towards Lionel, “Do you have any suggestions?”

Lionel was having the same power struggle as Clark. There wasn’t anywhere that they could really take him and keep him under wraps. Lex was Lex. It wasn’t a matter of “if” but “when” Lex would leave the confines of his new accommodations and interfere with whatever plans they put in motion. And then a light bulb sparked in Lionel’s brain. “I have an idea and it’s a bit unorthodox and we’d have to get permission from a friend in common, but I think it would work and Lex wouldn’t feel so confined.”

Lana, Chloe and Lex were perplexed, but Clark caught on. “I don’t know Lionel, that’s very risky. Plus it’ll expose certain acquaintances and I don’t think Lex will agree to it.”

“I don’t think he has a say in it. He can’t be seen in the appearance he’s currently holding and maybe he could put that brain of his to work to help out a larger cause, since he’s always claiming to be helping out humanity. Plus he’s been really obsessive about you, the black ship and aliens in general this would be the perfect time to see if he truly has a heart.”

“Hello…phantom in your presence. Mind letting the rest of us into the private conversation which includes my life and what you plan on doing with it?” Lex interrupted.

“I’ll be right back. Let me go see what they think?” Clark said and then in a flash he was gone.

“Where did he go?” Lex said.

“Get used to it. He does that all the time. Plus, if I’m understanding this right, you may be getting all the answers you ever dreamed of first hand” Chloe said cryptically. She finally caught onto Lex’s idea. Yes, it was risky but also justified as well.

Evans’ Farm

Max and Liz had just returned from the Granolith and were lying back on their bed, trying to get a couple of hours of sleep when there was a knock on their door.

“What now?” Max said exasperated. Both he and Liz got up and answered the door. “Hey Clark, come on in.”

“Hey Max, Liz” Clark said coming into the house. He took a seat on one of the couches and then turned towards the two and said, “Lex is back. He came back in the form of a phantom. Actually, his body was exchanged for that of General Zod and Fine is back as well. Oh, I can’t forget your good buddy Khivar is living amongst us too as well as an unknown female named Raya.”

“When did this all happen? I thought they needed your blood?” inquired Liz.

“I guess Fine found some of my blood lying around and Lex returned sometime this morning” answered Clark. “I came over to warn you and to also ask your permission…”

“Great, it’s begun.” Max mumbled to himself. “Permission for what Clark? You know whatever is mine is yours and vice versa.”

“I know, but this involves an outsider, in particular Lex. He’s at his mansion right now, but like I said he’s in the body of a phantom and in order to get his body back…” and Clark explained about Lex’s trip to the phantom zone, the transference of bodies and his return. “So, as you can see we need to put him someplace where he’ll be out of the public’s eye as well as any temptations to find his way into the public’s eye.”

“So, what do you want out of me?” Max asked curiously.

“I was wondering if we could use the Granolith and transport him back to the Whirlwind Galaxy and place him under their supervision until we take care of the evil factors back here and then we can retrieve him once we’ve stabilized Zod and switch their bodies back.”

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that kind of request” Max said. “And does he know of this plan?”

“No. Actually, it was his father’s idea. He figured that since Lex’s obsession, namely me, the black space craft that landed here a couple year’s back and of course Fine sparked his interest that maybe immersing him into a society of such beings would be like a field trip to him and maybe he could put that brain to use and help us solve the riddle of saving the Whirlwind Galaxy.”

“I’ll have to say, the plan has merit. And if he pulls anything, I’m sure my people can control him. What do you think Liz?” Max said, turning towards his wife.

“Well, Lex doesn’t sound like an individual who can just stay cooped up and if this trip would prove fruitful for the greater cause and maybe impress upon him that it doesn’t matter which planet you’re from, we all feel and experience the same things such as love, hope and desperation. So yes, I will concur to send him, but where and who will take him?”

“I have the perfect candidate. Isabel. She can handle Lex and she hasn’t had the chance to visit our home world so I’d say let them use the Granolith and transfer them to Asterie where Isabel can meet our mother and Lex can hide out in the caves. I understand my mother has some of the most renowned scientists the Whirlwind Galaxy has to offer at her side. He could work with them to try and find an answer to our predicament.”

“So, we’re in agreement?” Clark asked. Both Liz and Max nodded. “Would you like to join me at the Luthor Mansion so we can break the news to Lex?”

“Sure” and then turning towards Liz, he kissed her forehead and said, “You go back and rest, I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t be too long” she said and left the room. She was after all very tired; the previous night had taken a lot out of her.

Turning towards Clark, Max asked, “We aren’t going to fly, are we?”

“It would be easier. Promise not to drop you” Clark smiled.

“Great. Let me grab a jacket.” Max grabbed a jacket and met Clark out on the porch. “Okay, I’m ready” and soon they were airborne.

It didn’t take long, before Clark descended and landed them on the grounds outside the mansion. “They’re in here” Clark said leading the way into the mansion.

Clark and Max entered the study, where everyone was still sitting around the exquisite coffee table in silence.

“Aren’t we a lively crew” Max said, breaking the silence and then Max saw Lex, but his appearance didn’t faze him. Maybe his time on Dione attending the summit helped alleviate any judgment he may have had concerning an individual’s outer appearance.

“Max, welcome to the party” Chloe said with a chirp in her voice.

“Hey Chloe, Lana, Lionel. And I assume you are Lex” Max said.

“And who the Hell are you?” Lex said a clear sour note in his voice. Then it came back to him. He recognized this person that Clark had brought from the night before.

“I forgot to mention he’s a little arrogant” informed Clark.

“No worries” Max said and then turning back towards Lex he said, “I’m Max Evans and Clark here said you needed a place to stay for awhile. A place where you can go about your business unnoticed, but won’t feel confined. I have such a place if you’re interested.”

“You’re an alien too, aren’t you?” Lex blurted out. “And don’t try and lie to me. I saw you last night, you and the other aliens.” Lex got out of his seat and moved closer to Max trying to look intimidating, but Max just smiled and raised his green energy shield and sending out a short blast he sent Lex flying against the opposite wall. Then releasing the energy shield he turned to Clark and said nonchalantly,

“Wow, I thought he was blunt, but stupid too? Especially for someone that is seeking my help.”

“Sorry Max, I didn’t know he knew anything” Clark whispered.

“It was bound to come out, if he agrees to this expedition.” And then turning towards Lex he stated.

“I’d be careful how you address me Lex. Yes, I’m an alien here on Earth, but I’m also the ruler over the Whirlwind Galaxy which includes five active planets and you don’t want to piss me off. I’ve already had a long night and I’m a little bit cranky.” Clark could hear Chloe snickering.

“I understand a few of our ‘friends’ have been freed from the Phantom Zone. I’m sure you’ve heard of General Zod, obviously,” Max said looking at Lex’s present state, “and Fine, but the other contender is Khivar, who isn’t very nice either. He’s just as dangerous as the other two and he’s after me and my family and unless you want to put yourself in the middle of a galactic war, I have an offer for you.”

“I’m listening” Lex surmised.

“I’ve learned, through Clark, that you’ve got this obsession with aliens” started Max, but he was interrupted by Lex.

“It’s his fault. He saved my life many years ago and has been lying to me since, causing me to seek out answers on my own” Lex tried to plead his case.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to give you an opportunity to visit another planet where you can use that head of yours to maybe come up with a solution to a major problem we have facing my galaxy. Maybe you can learn a little bit from my people, such as not being so judgmental and maybe it’ll answer some of those pending questions you’ve had about alien cultures and at the same time you will be able to roam freely, not confined to a domicile and once we’ve taken care of Zod, we’ll send for you and you can come back to retrieve your body. Does this suggestion agree with you?”

Lex pondered the arrangements, which were admittedly very intriguing. He really didn’t have a choice and he really knew nothing about this self-proclaimed alien king. He had effortlessly pinned him against the opposite wall, what else he could do he didn’t want to know. Maybe going on this research expedition could help him out with his current experiments in Level 33.1 too. “I’m game. When does the mother ship leave?”

Max had to laugh, “Well, I think as soon as Isabel gets back she can take you. Mind you, I’m sending you to my mother’s house, Queen Ankaa and if you give her any problems I will personally join you there to rectify the situation. Are we clear?”

“Perfectly” Lex said. “Where do I go?”

“Do you think I could join him?” Lana asked meekly. She really felt sorry for Lex and the predicament he was in and now he was going to traverse the universe to a distant planet where he would be on his own. Maybe if he had something familiar around him, it wouldn’t be so bad and maybe they could work on their relationship, which was slowly separating at the seams. Plus, she was having her own issues of seeing how happy Clark and Chloe were since she hadn’t fully accepted their union yet.

“Both of you meet me at the Kent’s farm at four. I need to talk to Mira and Serena to see if you will be able to survive in our atmosphere, plus I need to have time to talk to Isabel first.” Max said.

“Who’s Isabel?” inquired Lex.

“That would be my sister and you don’t want to get on her bad side,” warned Max.

“And who are these individuals you spoke about, Mira and Serena?” Lex inquired further.

Max just looked at Lex with contemplation and answered, “Friends of the family.” Lex was taken aback with the lack of answers he was getting but didn’t know what to do or say about it.

Max turned towards Clark and said, “I think we’re done here, can you take me home now?”

“Sure” Clark said, “I’ll be back momentarily” as he left the study.

Chloe then pulled Lana to the side and asked, “Lana are you sure you know what you’re doing? Do you really want this? You’re volunteering to go to another planet with that…” she pointed in Lex’s direction looking for the right words and settled on, “man”.

"Lex is all I've got now, plus I think he needs a friend right now. Look at him. Maybe you were right, maybe he'll get the answers he's been searching for and hopefully when he comes back he'll be a changed man."

“All I can do is pray that you’re right and wish you luck, because you’re going to need it” Chloe said and then retreated towards the bookshelves looking at the books that filled them, patiently waiting for Clark to get back.

Lex sat back as much as he could in his chair. This was all very overwhelming. “How is it you all know Max” he threw out the question to nobody in particular.

There was silence and then Chloe answered, “It’s not our place to say. You haven’t been officially inducted into our club.”

Clearly irritated, Lex got up and charged at Chloe, who took out her necklace, activated it and disappeared. Lex stopped instantly, hovering in the spot where Chloe was standing.

“It’ll take more than what you’ve got to intimidate me anymore Lex. I’d stop while you’re ahead.” Chloe’s voice rang out.

Lionel looked towards Lana for some answers, who kept quiet. She wanted to make sure Clark was back, before Lex turned his attention towards her or Lionel, who didn’t have any alien abilities to fend off Lex.

“I see Chloe picked up on the alien vibe too, or are you meteor challenged?” Lex quipped.

“I’d stop while you’re ahead Lex” Clark said, returning through the double doors and tuning into Chloe’s heartbeat and went to her side as she de-cloaked herself.

“Whatever” Lex said, settling himself back into his chair. “So, what do I take on this little excursion?”

“You might want to find yourself a better cloak, this one is all tattered” suggested Lana.

“Besides switching out your cloak, I don’t think you can take too much, I understand their food is odd, but good.” Clark explained. “And I do suggest that you be an exceptional guest, because I know what Max is capable of and you don’t want to be on his or his family’s bad side. I have morals, but some of them would act first and reflect later, if you know what I mean.”

“Well, I’m going back to the farm. Chloe, do want to take the Clark Expressway?” he smiled at her.

“Sure”

“I’ll see you at four Lex, until then…” and he and Chloe left as Lionel and Lana remained behind.

Once they were outside, Chloe asked, “Do you think Lex will harm them?”

“Nah, I think I’ve put the fear of Max on him. He’ll be good. He has no choice. Are you ready?” She nodded as he picked her up and they took off towards the skies.

Smallville

Emerging from the tub, Nicholas dried himself off and applied ample moisturizer to his husk. At least he wasn’t still in the deserts of Roswell. He exited the bathroom and was shocked. Standing before him were what could pass as Isabel and Michael.

“What’s going on?” he questioned of Lonnie and Rath.

“Well, when we were in Roswell, we took on the traits of our counterparts and tricked them into a fight, causing Max to join us at the summit which was being held in New York. I thought, why not go out looking like them, maybe we’ll be able to pick up on some information.”

“I’m impressed. But are you sure this will work?”

“Fool proof” Rath said, but unknown to them, Michael had let his hair grow out. It was much longer and wavier and Rath’s hair was much shorter and somewhat spiked up with gel. Isabel on the other hand had done a complete do over. She had dyed her hair to a darker brown and had shortened it as well into a cute hairdo, but Lonnie was sporting long blonde wavy hair with brown highlights. Granted they looked like their dupes from a couple of years ago, but not now.

“So, what’s the plan?” Nicholas asked.

“I figured we could go out on the town and scope out our friends and report back here with any information we find.”

“Did ya’ll acquire brains while I was bathing?” mumbled Nicholas. “Good” he spoke aloud, “We’ll meet back here around four.” They agreed and dispersed from the hotel.

Meanwhile, Isabel and Lois where walking along the road towards the Smallville Inn which was also near the Luthor Inn, where the dupes and Nicholas were staying.

“Now remember, I’m trying to get noticed, but we don’t want to get caught so stay vigilant” informed Isabel as they walked down the main sidewalk.

“So, what’s the story on Kyle?” Lois asked.

“Not much. He’s like my little brother. I know he’s always had a crush on me, but that’s as far as I would allow it to go. He did freak out at first when Max saved his life and he learned our true existence. He decided to go to a football camp for the summer where he found peace and Buddha.”

Lois laughed, “You’ve got to be kidding.” Isabel shook her head no.

“Honest to God. He had a Buddha statue and everything,” informed Isabel. “But in all fairness to Kyle, he’s a good guy. Did you know that he and Liz were an item for awhile, before Max came into her life?”

“Really, I never would’ve guessed” Lois said, as they continued down the road, meeting nobody in the process.

“Yeah, but once the soul gates were opened, there was no turning back for Liz and Max. They were attached at the hip.”

“And they still are” Lois inputted.

“You noticed. Isn’t it just sickening sometimes?” Isabel asked.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, especially since I will probably never find that same kind of devotion from a guy.” They both sighed and then Lois noticed a familiar face and the guy seemed to be following them.

“Don’t look now, but I think we’ve picked up someone,” Lois said turning Isabel’s attention to the individual that was following them. Isabel bent over and pretended to tie her shoe noticing the guy out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t recognize him,” Isabel said as the two resume their walk towards Smallville Inn.

“That’s the thing. I’ve seen his face somewhere, recently, but he’s not a local” Lois said. They didn’t hurry their pace, but they both wanted to get out of the situation fast, so they were each looking for an out, when Lois’ cell phone went off. They stop as she retrieved it from her purse.

“Hello”

‘Who is it’ mouthed Isabel.

“Hey Daddy, do you think you could possibly come and pick Isabel and I up? I think we’ve picked up an unexpected tail.” “Yes, we’re on the main street leading out of town, on our way to your hotel.” “Well, he’s located across the street from us. He’s not a local, possibly a drifter, but I’ve seen his face before just don’t know where.” “Thanks daddy. See you in a little bit” and then she hung up the phone.

“He’ll be here shortly. He said to continue walking in the hotel’s direction and act normal.”

“No problem. So, I told you about poor Kyle’s love life, how about you. What kind of man is Lois Lane interested in?”

“The heroic dangerous kind I guess” Lois said, “just the type to bring home to daddy, because if daddy doesn’t approve it’s a no go, because he’ll make their life a living hell.”

“So, would Kyle fit into your dad’s persona as a heroic dangerous kind of guy?”

“Well, he has that alien thing going for him and ya’ll have gone up against this elite force of the FBI and prevailed, so yeah, I think daddy would approve. He’s shown he’s a keeper, now only if he wants me.” Lois sighed.

“I’m sure he’s interested. I could dreamwalk him for you and find out, if you’d like?”

“What do you mean,” Lois asked, still checking to make sure their pursuer was still tracking them.

“That’s my gift. I can go into people’s mind, normally while they’re sleeping and take a walk in their dreams. Dreams tell a lot about a person.”

“Wouldn’t he know you’re there” questioned Lois.

“Probably, but like I said, we’re like siblings. I could get away with it” she said with a smile. Soon a military Humvee pulled up behind them and pulled to the side of the road. “Hi Daddy” Lois said making a public effort to kiss her father. Isabel also welcomed the General by placing a kiss on his cheek as well. Afterwards, they both got into the vehicle as the General drove off down the highway towards Fort Ryan Army Base. “I’d like to see him follow us on base” the girls heard the General mumble under his breath as they each laughed in turn.

On the side of the road, Khivar was truly agitated. What kind of game was Vilandra playing? He had been following the girls since they left the Talon. He was sure they hadn’t noticed him. How would they know it was him? But what really got him was when the military vehicle pulled up beside them. He was certain they were going to be apprehended before he had a chance at reuniting himself with Vilandra, but that was not to be. They both greeted the driver affectionately and got into the vehicle, voluntarily. Seething mad, Khivar continued walking towards his hotel. Soon, Vilandra, our paths will cross again.

[sdcheesehead]

Chapter 51 – Wrong Impressions

“Thanks, Mr…General…Lane” Isabel said, clearly not sure how to address the man before them.

“The name’s Sam,” the General stated. Isabel nodded.

“Daddy, what were you doing out and about in Smallville and why did you call me?” Lois asked.

“Oh” Sam said pulling out a file he had tucked inside his briefcase. “I was down at the local sheriff’s department. Have either of you read the Smallville Gazette lately?”

Isabel shook her head “no” as Lois stated, “I haven’t read it cover to cover, but I’ve glanced over it.” Isabel looked at her incredulously. “What?”

“I didn’t peg you as one to read the newspaper over coffee” Isabel stated.

“Well, the Talon gets its share of papers and I just grabbed it to occupy my time. Plus, I like the comics.” And then turning towards her father she asked, “Why?”

Laying the small town newspaper before them he said, “I found this story about a drifter that was found dead in the ditch just outside town, which isn’t very unusual for this town, which is also the reason it was placed on page six.” Sam opened the paper to page six where there was a picture of the deceased drifter.

“That’s him. That’s the creep that was following us!” Lois stated pointing at the picture. “Wait a minute, if this creep is dead, how was he walking about Smallville this morning?”

It remained quiet in the office as Isabel looked at the picture. She had an idea, but she wasn’t quite convinced.

“Daddy, why did this drifter catch your attention?”

“Because sweetheart, if you would’ve read the article, you would’ve notice it said a silver handprint was found on the body.”

“No way” Isabel said, taking a closer look at the picture of the drifter.

“What does this mean?” asked Lois.

“We’ve got company and trouble with a capital ‘T’” Isabel stated sitting back in the chair.

Lois was totally confused. “Again I ask, what does this mean?”

“Well, when I took over the Special Unit of the FBI, I was given your file and I guess this silver handprint has come up in your past.” Sam said looking at Isabel. “Kind of a trademark left by one of your kind that I assume isn’t very friendly.”

Now, it was Isabel’s turn to enlighten the two before her. “The documentation you’ve got was inflicted by our Royal Protector Nasedo. After the Crash in ’47, he was held captive for three years and let’s just say he didn’t have a high opinion of humans when he escaped. He kept an eye on our pods as we grew, but he lost track of Max, Michael and me once we exited the pods. We left Tess behind and when she was born, Nasedo was there to take her under his wing. Anyway, since his escape the Special Unit continually searched for their escaped prisoner and he did the only thing he knew to survive. He killed them by placing his hand on their chest. After killing these individuals, he could assume their bodies, because he was also a shapeshifter, another alien species from our galaxy.”

“So is this Nasedo still out there?” Sam asked.

“No, he was killed by a Skin, the same kind of species that Nicholas, our teenage terror is.”

“So, who do you think did this?”

“Well from what Max has said, Cal, our other royal protector, doesn’t want to have anything to do with us and prefers his life in Hollywood. So, if I had to guess, I would say Khivar has found his way out of the Phantom Zone or maybe we’ve got a new contender. Either way, this isn’t good.”

“I agree” Sam concurred. “So, why were you ladies coming to visit me?”

“Oh, I almost forgot” Lois said and then turned her attention towards Isabel, hoping she would be the one to break the news.

“Sam” Isabel said, “It’s about Chloe.”

“Is she okay?”Sam broke in.

“Well…yes…but there’s been some developments” Isabel said, trying to break this news to the General as easily as possible.

“Oh…what kind of developments?” Sam asked.

“Well…don’t freak out on me please. Just hear me out before you react,” requested Isabel. Sam just looked at her, clearly frightened at what news the young woman had to pass onto him about his niece, but he was used to holding his emotions back, so he nodded.

“Okay” Isabel said and then giving Lois a final glance she began her tale of the accident, how Chloe’s life was saved by both Zan and Max and what she heard happened during the night. The General had kept his word throughout her explanation. When she was done, he sat back, ran his hands through his balding hair and asked, “How is she now?”

“I don’t know. She stayed over at the Kent farm last night, but from what I understand she literally freaked out when she learned she was becoming more like...” Isabel trailed off searching for the right word.

“You” finished Sam.

“Yes, more like me. When Max and Zan saved her, we figured that she would develop some alien characteristics, but not overnight. We thought we’d have time to let her get use to the idea of becoming a little green around the gills, but fate decided differently.”

“I want to see her,” Sam said with determination in his voice.

“Of course” Isabel said. “We can stop by the Kent farm when you take me home.”

The three of them then finished up their conversation and left for the Kent farm.

Smallville

Maria was clearing off the tables and taking the dirty dishes back into the kitchen, where Ava was waiting for an order to come up, when the door chimed again. Ava glanced through the window and noticed it was Michael.

“I think you will want to take this one” Ava said.

“I’ve already got three tables Ava, can’t you take it?”

“Look” Ava said. Maria put down the bin of dishes and looked out the window.

“What the heck did he do to his hair? I thought we’d agree to let it grow out. It looks so much nicer long. What did he go and cut it for!” Maria said, clearly irritated.

She grabbed her ticket book and pen and went to Michael’s table.

“Hey babe” Rath said.

“Don’t babe me. What the heck did you do to your hair?”

“Don’t you like it?”

“Well… I thought we agreed to leave it long.”

Clearly caught off guard, Rath changed tactics and grabbed Maria and pulled her down and aggressively kissed her.

“Michael!” Maria said, pulling herself away. “I’m working. Do you want to get me fired?”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist myself” he said coyly.

“Well, try. Do you want anything to eat?”

“Surprise me, babe” She looked at him. There was something way off. Michael never called her babe. And as she turned to go back to the kitchen, Rath swatted her butt. When she got back to the back, she placed an order up for the cook and turned towards Ava.

“He’s acting so…weird. It’s almost like it’s not him at all,” she said, still fuming.

“Maybe it’s not,” Ava said.

“Oh my God! Do you think…” Maria said peeking out the window again.

“Yeah, I think. And if you don’t mind handling my tables, I’m going to hang out back here until he leaves.” Maria agreed, Even though she was disgusted with Rath’s attempt at impersonating Michael, she put on her game face. It was a half hour later when Rath finally left the establishment, leaving the bill behind for Maria to pay.

Elsewhere in Smallville, Lonnie was taking her walk around town. Kyle was underneath a vehicle working on the last bolt that would release the transmission from the engine. As he was bringing the ratchet down, it slipped causing his hand to get pinched. “Son of a…” he ranted as he pulled himself out from underneath the car. He was half tempted to raise his hand to the engine and just fix the problem, but he decided against this. He needed the money and he didn’t want to use his abilities for quick fixes, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t still tempted. He went over to his toolbox and cleaned off his hands, noting the swelling and bruise that was already forming. Then he saw Isabel, but was it Isabel? He remembered how Lois and her father had mentioned the dupes were back in town and this Isabel had changed her appearance back to what it was a couple of years ago. He was going to call out to her, but he wanted to see what she would do. If it was truly Isabel, she would come into the shop to visit him. He waited and watched her walk on by, completely oblivious to his presence.

“Hey Joe” he called out to his co-worker. “I’m going to go over to the clinic real quick. I think I might’ve hurt something in my hand” he said holding up his wrapped hand. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“All right” came Joe’s response.

Kyle followed the Isabel persona down the street as she met what looked like Michael’s look alike from a couple of years back and they turned to go back to their hotel. Kyle entered the café that Rath had just left and went to the counter.

Maria was clearly disgusted, having to pay for that reject’s meal and as she came out of the back, Kyle motioned her over.

“What is it Valenti? I’m not in the mood.”

“Understandable. I take it you had a visit from one of our friendly neighborhood dupes.”

“Yeah, and the idiot stiffed me with the bill. So, what are you doing here?”

“I think I broke my hand, so I was wondering if I could borrow the vehicle to go back to the farm and have Max take a look at it. Plus, I wanted to inform him that the dupes are out and about. I saw Lonnie dressed up like Isabel from a couple years back pass by the garage. I followed her up here where she met up with Michael’s reject and they took off towards their hotel. They are so dimwitted!”

“I agree” Maria said handing the keys over. “Well, take care of yourself. See ya after work.”

Kyle took the keys and left for the farm.

Chloe’s Apartment

“Thanks Clark for bringing me back here. Maybe I can clean up and get a little bit of work done at the ‘Planet’ before the day is out.”

“No problem. Do you want me to pick you up later on tonight or are you going to be bringing Mandy?”

“I think I’ll stop by the school and pick up Mandy. I think we need to keep training them, since the big bad evil is knocking on our doors.”

“Just don’t take off that medallion.”

“Trust me. It’s part of my skin now. Now get. I can’t get anything done with you around, you’re such a distraction” she smiled coyly at him.

He leaned down and kissed her and then he was off. He had a few things to do too.

Brainiac’s Ship

“I see Kal-El has been keeping himself very busy and he’s made the acquaintance of Khivar’s nemesis Max. This should prove interesting. And this child and the prophecy surrounding him, too bad you weren’t able to get more information on that turn of events, but I do know one thing; the son of Jor-El will kneel before me before all is said and done.” Zod said pacing back and forth on the spacecraft, contemplating his next move.

“Do you still have access to your hyper force ray machine?” questioned Zod.

A wide grin spread across Fine’s face. He had retrieved his machine from the vaults hidden deep within Krypton’s crystalline caverns before its demise.

“Yes, and I saved it for your return.”

“Perfect. I know just how to bring young Kal-El to his knees. Since you said he cares for these humans so much, we will attack them first.”

“So, you have a plan?” questioned Fine.

“I do. Let’s make our way to this city you call Metropolis.”

Metropolis Airport

“Hey dudes, glad to get my land feet back again, but I seriously need to get some water” A.C. said clearly feeling the effects of being out of water so long.

“If you can hold off just a little bit longer, we’ll be at my place here in Metropolis. I’ve called ahead and everything has been set up for us.” Oliver said.

“Fine, but let’s make this quick.” A.C. said as they entered the awaiting Limo.

“And then we’ll go and see Kal-El?” questioned Raya.

“Yes” Oliver said, as the rest of the group entered the Limo as well.

Also in the airport, Cal’s plane had just landed and he was waiting outside baggage claim to get his luggage. After retrieving his luggage, Cal got himself a rental car and a map and was on his way to Smallville.

Evans’ Farm

Max returned from the Luthor mansion and entered the house. Mira, Serena and Michael were in the living room watching TV and relaxing. Liz was still sleeping and Max wasn’t going to wake her. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a Snapple from the refrigerator and added some Tabasco sauce before joining the others in the living room.

“Well, it looks like it’s begun” he stated.

Michael turned off the television and turned to Max, “What happened now Maxwell?”

“Lex returned and it looks like Khivar, Zod and Fine have been released as well as a woman named Raya. Lex is in the body of a phantom. Clark came by and took me to the Luthor Mansion and I saw for myself. It was asked if we could send Lex to the Whirlwind Galaxy, since we can’t keep him around here in the body of this phantom, he’s also too much of a liability. Plus, having him out of our way is one less thing we would have to worry about.”

“So, where are you sending him? Dione?” questioned Michael.

“No, I was thinking Asterie. I could have Isabel escort him and at the same time she could meet our mother. Plus, the cave where she resides is in a remote part of Asterie, so the chances of him escaping are slim.”

“Sending Cueball to the Whirlwind Galaxy, now that’s funny!” Michael laughed.

“The thing I need to know is if Lana can accompany him on this trip. She has asked if she can go with him and I think it would be a good idea, because she could keep him in line, but I wasn’t sure if her body chemistry would survive on our planets.” Max said.

Serena answered his question. “There isn’t much difference between a human’s body chemistry and one of us, which was the reason we were able to combine each species DNA together, engineering the Royal Four. She should be able to travel with no trouble. The air may be a little bit thicker, similar to if she was in the mountains, but her body will adjust.”

“Mira, you’re one of my mother’s protectors. Do you think they’ll be able to control him? I don’t want to send him there if it puts my mother or her protector’s lives at risk.” Max asked.

“I’m not too sure about the body in which Lex is inhabiting, but to be a Royal Protector, we are put to the test, which can be very strenuous, to determine our abilities and if we don’t make it, we are pulled from the program. Only the elite end up as Royal Protectors and their abilities can almost match that of the Royal Four. I’m sure your mother will be fine,” explained Mira.

“Then it is settled. Lana can accompany Lex, now I need to talk to Isabel” Max said.

Then the door opened and in came Kyle. “Oh good, you’re back.” He said going over towards Max, still holding his hand gingerly.

“What happened?” Max asked.

“Me and a ratchet had a difference of opinions and it won. I think I may have broken my hand and I was wondering if you could heal it.” Max nodded as Kyle gave him his hand. Max laid his hand on it and soon his hand glowed and mended the bones in Kyle’s hand.

“Thanks” Kyle said rotating his hand and curling his fingers into a fist. “It feels like new. Oh, before I go back to work I wanted to let you know Lonnie and Rath are up to their old tricks. When I hurt my hand, I came out from underneath the car and saw what I thought was Isabel walking down the road, but she was sporting the same look she had a couple of years ago. I waited, thinking if it was Isabel she’d pay me a visit, but she went right past the garage. I followed her to the café where Maria and Ava work and I saw Rath, looking like Michael did a couple of years ago as well, leaving with her as they walked back to their hotel. Maria wasn’t impressed with getting a visit from Rath either. She was rather agitated when I showed up.”

“I bet she was. Maybe you could give me a ride to the café so I can calm her down a little bit and assure her I’m still me.” Michael said.

“Sure” And Kyle picked up his keys as he and Michael left.

Kent Farm

Clark returned to the farm and did some chores before coming in. Pete had left to visit with his father and Martha had to go to a Senate engagement, so Tara and Mirek were the only ones holding down the fort.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Clark asked as he entered the house, going to the refrigerator to get the pitcher of lemonade.

“Not bad, but I think we should go up to the ‘Fortress’ soon and learn what we can from the Father crystal” suggested Tara.

“I know. Plus I want to ask about this woman name Raya. If you’d like to join me tomorrow, that would be great.” Joining them at the table, Clark said. “I’m going to have to ask you all to go down to the Evans’ farm soon, because Lex and Lana are meeting Max and Isabel here around four. Lex knows about Max and me being from different worlds, but he doesn’t know how big our little club actually is and I want to leave it that way. Currently Lex is in the body of a phantom and Isabel is going to escort him and possibly Lana to Asterie, so we can make sure that he stays out of our way until we’re able to take care of our other problems.”

“Sure” Tara said and then turning towards Mirek she said, “Would you like to take a walk with me?” He agreed and they left Clark at the table as they went out the back door.

Clark went upstairs to clean up. Fifteen minutes later when he descended the stairs he noticed he had company.

“Hey there Smallville” Lois said, “Any idea where Chloe is?”

“I took her back to Metropolis. You could probably catch her at the ‘Planet’. Why?”

“I heard about her experience last night” interjected Sam, “and I wanted to check up on her and see how she was doing.”

“Have a seat,” offered Clark, “There’s been some developments.”

“What do you mean, there’s been some developments?” asked Isabel.

So Clark sat down and explained the morning’s events to the three, including the new developments involving Lex.

“I’m going home?” Isabel asked with disbelief in her voice.

“Well, that’s what Max was thinking, since you haven’t had an opportunity to visit your mother or world yet,” explained Clark.

“I’ve got to talk to Max. I’ll talk to you all later.” And Isabel got up and left the three.

“Are you serious, Chloe can go invisible?” Lois stated. Clark nodded.

“And how is she handling everything?” asked Sam.

“Much better now than she was earlier. She’s bringing Mandy by tonight to train, so if you’d like to come back and see her, I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you all about her day.”

“I’ll come back tonight then. Thanks Clark. Lois, did you need a ride back to town?” Sam asked. Lois nodded her head as she followed her father out the door.

Meanwhile, Isabel had made it back to her house. “Max?” She called out when she entered the room. He and Liz came out of his room. “Hey Isabel, what’s up?”

“I heard I was going home” she responded.

“That is if you want to. I was waiting for you to return to ask. I’ve agreed to send Lex to Asterie along with Lana and they need an escort and since you haven’t met our mother, I figured this would be a perfect opportunity for you to have a little one on one with her.” Isabel’s eye filled up with tears and she ran over to Max and hugged him.

“Thank you Max. I would love to go! What do I wear? What do I bring?”

“Just be yourself Isabel,” suggested Liz. Isabel nodded her head.

“What do I tell Jesse?”

“I’ll talk to him when he gets home” Max said. “I’d pack a small bag and we should make our way to Clark’s house soon and Liz, I have to ask for you to stay behind. I’m limiting Lex’s access to our world and I don’t want you on his radar.”

“I understand,” she said, going to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Isabel went to her room and grabbed her knapsack and filled it with a change of clothes and some mementoes of her life on Earth that she had saved and met Max in the living room.

“Serena, I need you to come with us, since you know how to operate the Granolith.”

“I am prepared” she said, bag in hand.

“I’m ready” Isabel said, coming back into the living room

Max went over to Liz and gave her a kiss. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay, and Isabel I hope you have a wonderful trip.”

“Thanks, and don’t have that baby while I’m gone!” Liz laughed and then she reached out and gave Isabel a hug. “Take care of yourself and don’t let that Cueball overpower you, send him to the other side of the planet if he pulls anything.”

“You know I will” she smirked.

“Ready when you are” Isabel said, excited to be meeting her mother, finally. As they were leaving they saw Mirek and Tara coming up the driveway.

“We were asked to disappear for awhile,” Tara said.

“I understand. The house is open, just make yourself at home” Max said, as they made their way up the road.

Soon, they reached the Kent farm and joined Clark in the kitchen when they heard a car entering the driveway. Both Lionel and Lana got out of the vehicle and entered the house. “Where’s Lex?” Clark asked.

“He’ll be here momentarily. He found it easier to glide here.” Lionel explained. Then there was a wisp of wind and Lex entered through the open door. Isabel gasped as he entered the room as she looked in Max’s direction.

“Isabel, this is Lex. Lex, this is my sister Isabel and yes, she’s an alien too and she’ll be the one escorting you to Asterie. And this is Serena, your…pilot.” Max said.

If Lex had a jaw, it would’ve dropped. These alien women were very attractive. He wondered if all their species took after them.

“Did you find out if I could come along?” asked Lana.

“Yes” Serena said. “Your body will be able to handle our atmosphere, but the air is much denser, so it may be hard to breathe at first, but your body will adapt.”

“Okay. I’ll grab my bag from the car,” she said as they left the farmhouse.

“Where are we catching this mother ship?” Lex asked.

“Roswell, New Mexico” Max said with a sheepish grin on his face. “Are you going to join us Clark, Lionel?”

“Sure” they both said. Lionel was actually surprised that he would be able to see Lex off to this unknown world.

Clark and Max led the group towards the Kewatchee Caves. Once they entered the caves, Lex spoke up. “I knew there was more to these caves!”

“Nothing gets past you, does it Lex?” Max interjected.

Soon, they were standing before the cave wall when Max looked to Clark. “I brought my key, but I’d rather you open the wall. You know, prying eyes and all” Clark whispered. Max nodded in agreement and lifted his hand and waved it over the wall where a silver handprint emerged. He placed his hand in the handprint and the wall opened up to the chamber. They entered the chamber and gathered around the table.

Clark spoke aloud for Lionel, Lana and Lex’s benefit. “You will need to place your hand on the table. Once it’s activated, you will feel a pulling sensation and then you will be teleported to the Granolith.” And then he pulled out his key and placed it in the slot and activated the portal device. Max placed his hand the center of the console and then a pulling sensation occurred, transporting them to the Granolith.

“That was amazing” Lionel said as they exited the vortex. “The technology, it’s boggling to the mind.”

“I have to admit, this is quite the rush,” Lana said.

Lex was quiet. Yes, everything was very intriguing. Hopefully, he could learn more of their technology. Just think how far he could take his 33.1 experiments. All these thoughts were flowing through his head. At this moment, Clark pulled Lana aside and said, “Lana, I understand you and Lex are very close, but we’re trusting you to keep our secrets, the ones that haven’t been exposed to Lex yet. Please, for the safety of all involved, don’t reveal any more of our secrets to Lex. I don’t want him to find out about the others, especially Zan. Do you understand?”

“Yes I do, and yes I’ll remain true to you. Your secrets are safe with me and I’ll watch after him. That is the reason you all are allowing me to go, isn’t it?” Clark nodded. “Then, I won’t let you down.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“Good luck Lana” Clark said. “Thanks” she responded, as she joined the rest of the group.

Serena was busy preparing the Granolith for the long distance trip. She opened up a compartment and said, “Okay now, if I can have everyone’s baggage.” She filled up the empty compartment and once it was filled she closed it and turned to Max. “All is ready, Your Highness.”

“Very well” and turning towards his sister, he gave her a hug, “Tell mother I said ‘Hi’.”

“I will” Isabel said.

Lionel said his goodbyes to his son and Lana and wished them well.

Serena stood before the console and waved her hand on the vortex when a silver handprint emerged. She placed her hand in its center activating the Granolith.

Turning to her passengers she said, “all you need to do is touch the vortex and you will be transferred there.” And then she turned towards Max, “I must change before we can leave.” He nodded his head.

“May the moons of the Whirlwind Galaxy watch over you” Max said.

“As with you, Your Highness.” And then she raised her hand and a bright light filled the room and where the beautiful woman had been standing, stood Serena’s true self, shooting down any of Lex’s ideas as he, Lana and Lionel all gasped at the alien’s appearance.

“You each need to enter the vortex” Max said. Isabel raised her hand first, followed by Lana and then Lex. Serena finished typing in the coordinates and then turned to Max.

“You will have to wait about an hour before you can travel again, but I’ve already reset the coordinates for Smallville.”

“Thank you” Max said as Serena entered the vortex.

Max turned to the others, “We need to leave the Granolith chamber” and turning towards the wall he raised his hand and placed his hand in the silver handprint opening the door to the dark cave. Bringing his palms together, he filled the room with a bluish glow as they left the cave.

“Where are we?” Lionel asked, as they exited the cave.

“Roswell, New Mexico” Max said.

“What are we going to do for an hour?” Clark asked.

“How about we give Lionel here the grand tour of the Alien Capital of the World?” Max suggested.

“Why not?” Clark said, as they made their way to the edge of the forest.

Inside the Granolith, the four were transported to Asterie.

[sdcheesehead]

Thank you dreammaster, Alien Friend and Timelord 31 for your feedback and comments Always happy to see what you'll think.

I haven't lost my muse, I was just out with the flu last week and I've been told by my betas to refrain from writing when I'm sick, because I don't make any sense, so I refrained, but I'm feeling much better and hope to have another chapter up to you by Tuesday. I'm putting the finishing touches on it and will be sending it off to my betas for reveiw. There will be alot going on and I'm even going to delve into the comic book world, so I hope you enjoy that part of it, for it plays a major part in my fic

Karin

[sdcheesehead]

Chapter 52 – The Disappearance of Metropolis Middle School

Ankaa was resting in her cave when she felt a disturbance in the Granolith. She rose from her bed and called for Lyra.

“Yes, my lady?”

“Take me to the Granolith” she instructed. Lyra bowed her head and led her Queen to the Granolith, but upon trying to enter it, they weren’t allowed access.

“It seems, my lady, that the Granolith is active."

Inside the Granolith chamber, the room glowed with a bright green light as a vortex began to materialize in its epicenter. Soon four beings began to take shape as they reached their final destination. Serena was the first to exit the Granolith as Isabel, Lana and Lex followed.

They landed in a room very similar to the one they had just left.

“Are we on Asterie?” questioned Isabel.

“Yes, my lady” Serena reverted back to formalities. Isabel looked at her curiously, but said nothing. She had noticed Serena had also referred to Max as ‘Your Highness’ and realized this was something they, the Royal Four, would have to get used too. Serena started working at the center console, when a compartment door opened up and she gave them their baggage.

“I think I should go get Her Majesty, since this was an unexpected trip, to inform her of our arrival. I will be right back,” Serena said as she raised her hand to the wall and placed her hand in the silver handprint that materialized, but when the door opened up she came face to face with Ankaa and Lyra.

“Your Majesty” Serena curtsied.

“Serena?” Ankaa said, panic clearly in her voice. “Is everything okay?” And then she noticed Lex, Lana and Isabel. “Who do we have here?”

“I apologize for our unexpected arrival. Let me introduce you to your daughter. This is Princess Vilandra, but she goes by Isabel.” Serena stepped aside as Isabel moved forward. “Mother?”

“Oh, by the moons of the Whirlwind Galaxy, my prayers have finally been answered” Ankaa said rushing forward and embracing her daughter.

Once they parted, Ankaa’s interest turned to Lana and Lex. “Why have you come daughter and who are these individuals?” she said pointing at Lana and Lex.

“This is Lana and this is Lex. Lex was transferred to the Phantom Zone by mistake. He had the unfortunate opportunity to meet up with some of our nemesis’ including Khivar and a Kryptonian General named Zod. Somehow, Lex’s body was switched with that of this phantom named Zod and then he, Khivar and a couple others escaped from the Phantom Zone. Max thought it would probably be safer for Lex to come here, until we are able to take care of the escapees. Once that has occurred, we’ll come back for him. Lana is a very close friend of Lex’s and came along to keep him company.” Isabel explained.

“Well welcome to Asterie” Ankaa said. “Lyra, please go and wake Sirius and meet us in my quarters.” Lyra curtsied and left the chamber room. “Now, if you will follow me” Ankaa said as she led them from the Granolith.

Roswell

Clark flew Lionel and Max to an alley behind the CrashDown café. Max was getting used to this mode of transportation, but both Max and Clark noted that Lionel wasn’t really impressed.

“No offense Clark, but I think I’ll stick to my helicopter” he said dusting himself off.

Clark just laughed and then asked Max, “You aren’t afraid of being seen?”

“I think we’ve got bigger problems in Smallville” Max said as they entered the CrashDown café through the back entrance.

“So, what’s on the grand tour?” Lionel asked.

Before Max could answer he heard his name. “Max?” exclaimed Jeff, who spotted the trio. “Is everything okay?” He questioned, shocked to be seeing Max twice in one day.

“Everything is fine. Isabel escorted a few people ‘home’ and we have to let their transportation cool down before we can go back to Smallville, so I thought I’d show them around.” Max explained. “You’ve already met Clark and this is Lionel Luthor. Lionel, this is Jeff Parker, my father-in-law.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you” Lionel said offering his hand. After they greeted each other Jeff asked, “Can I get you anything off the menu?”

“Maybe you could surprise us with something and we’ll pick it up on our way back. Oh, and if you like to make it a to-go bag, I’m sure some of the others wouldn’t mind a taste of home.” Jeff agreed as Lionel pulled out his billfold. “Your money isn’t any good here. Any friend of these two is a friend of mine.” Jeff said returning to the grill.

“Now, if you will follow me, I thought you’d like to take a tour of the UFO museum across the street. Clark didn’t really have an opportunity to check it out the last time we were here and it’s actually pretty interesting to see some of the things they’ve collected over the years. Granted, the individual displays are tainted, but you could probably take things from the different displays and get a truer picture. Plus, I thought it would be nice to meet up with Brody.” They agreed as they exited the café and made their way to the museum.

Smallville

“Thanks Kyle” Michael said as he exited the van.

“No problem. I’ve gotta get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.” Kyle drove off in the direction of the garage he worked at as Michael entered the café.

Maria was topping off the condiments when she saw Michael enter the café. She ran over to him and then stopped abruptly. “Michael?” She asked questionably.

“Yes Maria, it’s me. I came right over when I learned what the dupes were up to.” He tried to embrace her, but she was still uncertain if it was truly her Michael.

“Maria, it’s me” Michael exclaimed hurtfully.

“How do I know?” Maria asked, still keeping her distance from him.

Michael stepped back and then made a decision he had been contemplating for a long time. “Maria, you have always been there for me since that day I kidnapped you and stole your mom’s car. Yes, we’ve been through a lot, but like I told you that day I left Roswell on my bike. I wouldn’t change any of it for anything on this world or any other planet out there. I will always be your Spaceboy, if you’ll have me.” Then getting down on one knee he looked up into her eyes and said, “I know I’m not the most romantic boyfriend the world has to offer you and I know you probably deserve more than what I can offer you, but I love you Maria and if you’ll have me, I would like you to be my wife. Will you marry me Maria Deluca?”

Ava had come out of the back and her jaw dropped when she saw Michael down on bended knee. Maria’s eyes filled up with tears as she reached down and pulled Michael up and embraced him telling him softly in his ear, ”Yes Spaceboy, I’ll marry you.” This was her Michael. Her Spaceboy and nothing would come between them again.

They sat down at a nearby table as Ava came over and congratulated them. Michael Guerin was the happiest alien-human hybrid on Earth at that moment and nothing could bring him down.

Meanwhile Cal parked his vehicle outside the small café and grabbed his map and went inside. Give him the address to any place in a city and he could locate it, no problem. But all these roads leading out of Smallville looked the same. He went up to the counter and was amazed to come face to face with Ava.

“Tess?” he asked questionably.

Michael and Maria’s heads turned at the name. The man that had just entered the café was tall, bald and obviously had money by the looks of his attire. He definitely wasn’t from around here, maybe Metropolis. Maybe it was one of Lionel Luthor’s associates, but that didn’t make sense, because Lionel wouldn’t betray their trust. He had kept Clark’s secret to himself for over a year.

Ava, feeling slightly apprehensive, briefly glanced over at Michael and Maria and then turned her attention back towards the customer and pointed at her nametag, trying to put her happiest smile on and said, “Nope, the name’s Ava. Is there something I can get ya?” She held out her pen and pad waiting to take his order.

Cal noticed when she glanced around at the customers just behind him, but he didn’t want to turn around at that moment. He was certain she was Tess, but it was also reported that Tess had perished in the explosion back in Roswell when she had returned from Antar.

“I’ll have a large lemonade, with extra lemons please.” He said taking a seat in one of the booths.

“Coming right up” Ava said moving towards the back to retrieve his lemonade.

Then he laid out his map and briefly glanced over at the couple sitting opposite of him. It was his lucky day. There sitting in the booth was General Rath himself with his girlfriend. What was her name? And then it came to him…Maria. And then he looked back at the waitress that was bringing his lemonade and took another look at her name badge and decided to press on.

“Your name wouldn’t be Avanya, would it?” he questioned. Ava looked over at Michael, wanting him to intervene and assist her, because she didn’t know or recognize this individual in front of her.

Both Michael and Maria got up from their seats, looking around the establishment to make sure they were alone and joined Ava. “Is there a problem?” Michael asked.

Cal looked up at the General and then back at the waitress and pulled out a black stone.
“Do any of you recognize this imprint?” he said handing the stone over to Michael.

“Where did you get this?” Michael said grabbing the black stone that had the Whirlwind Galaxy imprinted on it.

“You know where I got it, General Rath. My name is Cal Langley”

“From Hollywood?” Michael asked. Cal nodded and handed over his business card.

“You know him?” Ava questioned.

Looking at the card, Michael nodded. “He’s our absentee royal protector. Why are you here?” Michael asked.

“I’ll only discuss that with Max. Can you take me to him or bring him to me?”

“All these Protectors are alike. Just like Nasedo, everything has to go through Maxwell.” Michael mumbled under his breath.

“Must be pretty important for you to drag your ass away from California.” Michael countered.

“Well, there’s been some recent developments” Cal said.

“No. Really. We had no clue,” Michael stated sarcastically. “We’ve been living our lives based on these ‘recent developments’.”

“What do you mean?” Cal asked. Clearly the Royal Four had matured significantly since he had last checked up on them.

Michael looked towards Maria and Ava and made his decision. This was not the place to be discussing the alien chaos that surrounded their lives. “Maria, I really hate to do this to you, especially after what Rath just pulled but I’m going to take him back to the farm.” He leaned down and kissed her, “but thank you for making me the happiest half alien on this Earth,” he whispered in her ear.

“Go Spaceboy. I’ll see you when I get home.” He smiled at her and turned towards Cal. “I suppose I’ll take you to the farm, if you’ll give me a ride there.”

Cal got up and left the café, followed closely by Michael. Once they were in the car and on their way to the Evans’ farm Cal asked, “So, who is Ava?”

“You don’t know?” Cal shook his head ‘no’.

“She hails from the second set of pods you all sent to New York. She’s one of the good guys though. Lonnie and Rath on the other hand are psychopaths and they are each in this nice little town too, as well as Nicholas. Their Zan didn’t make it. I guess Lonnie and Rath killed him.”

Cal assumptions were becoming a reality. How much had he missed separating himself from the Royal Four? All he wanted to do was to live on this planet, free of his obligations, which almost worked until Max showed up on his doorstep. He had done his part and kept an eye on his charges, but never really interfered. Max eventually learned about him and came to California to enlist his help. The last thing he wanted to do was to go back to Antar. He had a very comfortable life living among the humans. He was a very successful movie producer and had even won four Academy Awards, but once Max forced him to help him locate one of the ships to fly him back to Antar, things were never the same. He had to shapeshift, something he hadn’t done in some time and he was getting used to feeling things and actually tasting and smelling things around him. Now that was all gone. He was back to square one. There still was no love lost between him and the King of Antar, but they were his responsibility and he couldn’t shy away from that. Now, he learned the second set of pods had indeed survived and had made their way to Smallville. What more had his charges been up to? It was a quiet trip back to the farm. Once they entered the driveway, Cal looked at the farmhouse that they now called home and noticed it was actually a really nice investment. A person would have to know where they were going to find them and it had adequate room to house them all. They got out of the vehicle as Michael went up the steps followed closely by Cal.

“Max” he called out.

“Hey Michael. He’s not back yet.” Liz said and then she noticed Cal.

“Liz, this is Cal Langley our other royal protector. Cal, this is Liz Parker-Evans, our Queen.” Michael said emphasizing Liz’s royal title, which really threw Cal for a loop and the fact that she was carrying a child as well.

“Queen?” Cal said smugly, “Maybe in name because she married the mighty King, but I think you may be over exaggerating things a bit.”

Liz sat down on the couch and withdrew from the conversation momentarily and contacted Max.

Max had made contact with Brody and the four of them were walking through the museum as Brody showed them some of his new displays when Max felt a strong touch on his senses. ‘Liz, is everything all right?’

‘Well, we have a new visitor. Michael found Cal Langley in town and now he’s sitting in our living room. Michael informed him that I was the rightful Queen, but he doesn’t believe him. Oh, how did he put it…Ah yes, ‘Maybe in name because she married the mighty King, but I think you may be over exaggerating things a bit.’ You might want to set him straight. How quickly can you get here?’

‘I’ll have Clark bring me since we can’t use the Granolith for another half hour.’

‘I’ll be waiting for you.’ And then the connection was broken.

“What’s going on Max? Is everything okay back on the home front?” Clark asked recognizing that Max was probably communicating with Liz.

“I need to get back to the farm. Can you take me back Clark and then come back for Lionel and our food and bring them back through the Granolith.” Max asked and then he looked at Lionel as well for his approval.

“Go. I find these displays very intriguing.” Lionel said.

“Thank you. And Brody, I’m sorry for the quick visit.”

“Don’t worry about it Max. Go take care of whatever is transpiring back in Smallville. We’ll be okay.”

Max nodded his head. “Give Sydney a hug for me.” Brody nodded his head and then Clark and Max were on their way out of the museum.

Back on the Evans’ farm, Michael looked over at Liz and noticed she was communicating with Max. When she was done she looked up at Michael and said, “Max is on his way home now. He should be here momentarily.”

Cal gave her an incredulous look and asked, “What is going on?”

“I contacted my husband and let him know you’re here. He’ll be here momentarily and then I’ll talk to you, since you have no regard for my status.” Liz said.

Then the door opened up and in came Max and Clark. Max went to Liz’s side and placed his hand on her growing belly. “Are you all right?” totally oblivious to his new guest.

“I’m fine. I just thought you should be here.” Liz responded.

Then Clark surveyed the room and looked at the new guest. So, this was their other Protector. Such a strange character, he thought. “Max, do you have everything here under control?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. Tell Jeff thank you too.”

“I will” and then Clark was gone.

Max looked over at Michael and said, “Would you mind going down to the training fields and getting Mira?”

“On it” Michael said as he got up and left, giving their visitor one last glance over.

“Langley. To what do I owe this visit? The last time we met, you didn’t want to have anything to do with us and now you’re sitting in my living room. Explain yourself.” Max commanded, knowing the Protector wasn’t really forthcoming with information except if Max gave him a direct order.

Cal gave the King a disgusted look, for he knew why he worded his comment the way he did, but then he relaxed a little bit and answered.

“I’m doing my job. The one embedded into my genes. Fortunes smiled upon me when you and your friends showed back up in Roswell a couple of weeks ago and then your recent purchase of this house. Before that, you did a good job of covering your tracks, because I had a hard time locating you. I still kept my eye on your families back in Roswell, but you all were off the radar. After I realized you were living in this quaint little town, I began researching its history and kept up on the current events, until I came across a fatality involving a silver handprint. I haven’t seen anything like this since Nasedo’s time, but since he’s no longer among us, I thought we had a new contender among us and it’s my duty to forewarn and protect you, so I took the first flight out of Hollywood.”

“I see. And you thought you’d insult my wife the moment the two of you met. For your information, she has been tested by the Emissary on Dione and it was determined that she is indeed your Queen and a member of the Royal Four, so take heed the next time you plan on insulting my family.” Cal was flabbergasted. How and when did Max, and Liz for that matter, travel to the Whirlwind Galaxy?

Max continued, “So you thought you’d be able to help us fight the big bad evil, huh? Well, I think it’s you that needs to be brought up to date, because you’re sorely behind the times.” At that moment the back door opened and in came Michael and Mira.

“You called for me?” Mira said and then she noticed Cal. “Caelum?” she questioned.

Cal looked up at the beautiful human figure that stood before him calling him by his Antarian name. Then Max looked over at his Protector and said, “I take it you’ve met my mother’s Royal Protector. Cal, this is Mira. Mira, this is Cal.”

Max wasn’t expecting what happened next. Emotion filled every aspect of Cal’s human form and he got off the couch and ran into the waiting arms of Mira. Michael, Liz and Max all exchanged glances. What was going on? Once they parted, Mira looked toward Max and said, “I beg your pardon sire, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen my mate. I thought he had perished in the crash.”

“And I thought you had passed on when the Royal Four were murdered. I was told they never located your or Her Majesty’s bodies after that.” Cal stated.

“Your mate?” Max said astonished. It never crossed his mind that Cal even had a heart. But now he understood. He did have a heart, a broken heart. If he ever lost Liz, he didn’t know what kind of person he would turn into after 50 years.

“Yes. We met at the Academy and formed a relationship and were bonded. Later we both got placed in the same family and then when your mother learned a plot was set against the royal house for control, she created you all and sent Protectors with you to Earth. It was a very sad day, when we had to part, for we knew we would probably never see each other again. And then we learned the ship had crashed. All my hopes of ever being reunited with my mate soon vanished after that.” Mira explained.

Understanding crossed Max’s face and he noticed the change in demeanor of his Protector. He was no longer the cold, calculating person he met back in Hollywood.

“Please have a seat. There is much that has transpired.” Max offered the two Protectors chairs. Then they each brought Cal up to date on everything that had taken place, including what had happened to his mother and Mira that fateful night in the palace, the reunion with Max’s son, their trip back to Antar, Liz’s status, the Prophecy and their extended family. They also informed him of the return of Khivar, Zod, Fine, Nicholas and the dupes and how the dupes were trying to imitate them.

Cal took all this information in, not interrupting their interpretation of events that had passed. When they were done, the room fell silent.

“You have endured so much since we last met Max. I can honestly say I’m honored to call myself your Protector. I apologize for my insolence at our previous meeting. I was a bitter old man. Of course that is no excuse for my behavior. I am at your mercy” Cal bowed his head.

“Granted, I was concerned when Liz contacted me about your arrival, but I can understand you’re reasoning. I would literally be lost without Liz.” Max said.

“What do you mean when she contacted you?” questioned Cal.

Max explained the connection he and Liz shared, as well as her alien status. “It seems those that I bring back from the brink of death start developing green blood cells. So far, I’ve added nine more alien-human hybrids to the mix.”

“Nine? What ever happen to keeping a low profile?” questioned Cal.

“Well, we never had a manual to go by, so we’ve been living our lives by instincts and look how far we’ve come.” Max said.

“And we’ve got the big bad evil knocking on our door, so the more people and weapons we have in our arsenal, the better chance the outcome will be in our favor,” exclaimed Michael.

“Sire, isn’t your son due to arrive soon for training?” questioned Mira.

“Yes. Clark’s in Roswell, but I’m sure Zan will just fly here. He’s getting better at that.” Max said proudly. “And I believe Chloe will be bringing Mandy as well.”

“Your son can fly?” Cal asked.

“Yeah, it’s the Kryptonian in him.” Max said. They continued talking amongst themselves, waiting for the rest of their group to get home.

Outside Smallville

On the road between Metropolis and Smallville a long black limo was making its way to the Kent farm.

“Thanks for the quick stop at your place Ollie” A.C. stated. “I feel so much better.”

“You smell better too” offered in Victor. “Can’t keep a fish out of water too long.”

“Here we go with the fish jokes again” retorted A.C. “Were you able to lubricate all your ‘parts’ Tin Man?”

Victor just smiled and said, “Lubed up, recharged, updated and ready to go.”

“I just wish I was able to get out and run a little bit. I need to stretch my legs. Sitting in that airplane forever was too long.”

“Soon Bart, I just didn’t want you dropping in on your friend Clark Kent before we get there. I’m sure he’ll be full of questions when we pull into his driveway, just like I’m sure I’ll be just as intrigued,” Oliver stated.

“Understatement” Bart said, with nods from Victor and AC, who had each witnessed a different aspect of Clark’s ability. Plus, they had Raya, who claimed that if Clark Kent and Kal-El were one in the same, he was an alien. Currently she was staring out the window at the passing cornfields that had farm implements out in them harvesting the corn. Sighing, she turned and asked, “How much longer?”

“Not very much longer my dear” Oliver said, trying to comfort the young woman.

Daily Planet

Chloe was finishing up on an article when she noticed the time. Putting the final touches on her story she sent it up to Copy and closed down her computer. At least she was able to get something done today. She noticed she was still tingling from green electrical surges. She had already melted two nearby phones and a coffee maker. She quickly gathered her stuff and made her way to Metropolis Middle School.

On her way over, she called Mandy’s parents and informed them that she was picking Mandy up, with their permission of course, and she would bring her home when she was done.

Meanwhile, Zan and Mandy were finishing up their last classes. Meeting at their lockers, they continued their mental communication out loud. They had gotten very used to communicating throughout the day, as well as being able to still concentrate on their studies. Mandy still hated math, as Zan helped her throughout her class. She still couldn’t believe just how smart he was, for one so young.

“So, where are you off to?” Mandy asked.

“I’m going to my mom’s classroom to check in and then I’m off to the farm.” He kept their vocal conversation very low-key, so nobody would pick up on anything out of the ordinary.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there later. Chloe’s supposed to pick me up today. Do you want to wait until she gets here before you take off?” Zan smiled at her last comment.

‘You really are good at those puns aren’t you’ he communicated.

‘I try’ she smiled back at him.

“Sure” he said aloud as they walked down the hall to his mother’s classroom. As they entered the classroom Zan whispered, “Hey mom”

His mom still had a full classroom of students, preparing to leave for the day. “Hey Brett, Mandy” she said, then turning her attention back to one of her students.

Mandy and Zan sat in the back of the room communicating through their link waiting for Chloe to arrive. Soon, they saw her at the doorway, cautiously looking into the classroom. It had been a while since she had walked the halls of Metropolis Middle School and wasn’t quite sure where Brenda’s classroom was located.

“There you are” she exclaimed as she recognized the two in the corner. “Are you ready Mandy?” She nodded and got up. ‘I’ll see you later’ she communicated to Zan as they left the room. Zan went to the front to talk to his mother who was now free.

Outside the school, Fine and Zod stood arming the hyper-force ray, by adding a glowing radioactive material to it. “During my tenure here on Earth I’ve been going to all the different quadrants trying to locate enough Illium 349 and I was able to restock my inventory” informed Fine. The machine began to show some life as it began to hum. They had secured an open bottle to the back end of the machine as Fine pointed it at the school and pressed the Reducing button. Soon, bright green rays shot out of the gun, shrinking the school, its students and the surrounding school yard, including the buses and vehicles that hadn’t yet left the school grounds and transported the tiny school into the open bottle. Once they were safety inside, Zod corked the top, which had a rubberized hose feeding the bottle with the essential air the inhabitants needed to survive. He secured the bottle as they returned to Fine’s ship and then he placed it on a shelf and attached the hose to a machine, which provided the tiny school the essentials needed to keep the occupants alive.

Just outside the school, Mandy and Chloe were walking to the car, when they got caught within the green ray’s domain and began shrinking.

“What the heck is going on?” exclaimed Chloe as they shrank. “Mandy! Quickly! Try and get word to someone back in Smallville.”

Mandy concentrated on Max and Clark, hoping one of them would pick up on her message.

‘MAX! CLARK! HELP US! WE’RE SHRINKING! WE’RE STILL AT THE SCHOOL!’ Mandy communicated in a panic. She hoped she was strong enough to communicate their current situation and they were the most receptive to receive her communications.

Zan also picked up on her communication, but it was too late. He had just taken flight when the ray hit the school. Trying to get outside the shrinking ray’s range, he failed and shrank hitting an invisible barrier in the process.

Flying back down to the school, he made his way back inside the school, which was filling up with those of his fellow classmates and parents that had come by the school to pick up their children. Looking outside the glass bottle they were being held captive in, Zan recognized one of the individuals responsible for their captivity. Fine.

Smallville

Max was sitting in his living conversing with Cal, Liz, Mira and Michael when he got hit by Mandy’s communication.

“WHOA!” he shouted, holding onto his head.

Liz had joined him in his exclamations through their shared link.

“What’s going on Maxwell?’ Michael exclaimed

“I’m not sure. Mandy just sent us a very loud message, something about the school shrinking. What’s that all about?” he looked about the room.

Turning on the television, they tuned into the local news station and sure enough it was already being flashed across the screen.

Breaking News: Metropolis Middle School has Disappeared: News at 6

Clark and Lionel were just exiting the Kewatchee Caves when Clark was hit with Mandy’s message. Clark stopped abruptly and tried to pay attention to the young girl’s message.

“What’s wrong?” Lionel asked of Clark, who just stuck his hand up for a moment, so he could concentrate, but he didn’t need to concentrate too hard because Mandy’s message was coming through loud and clear.

“I need to get to the Evans’ farm. Mandy just sent out a distress message, something about being in a school and shrinking. Can you make it back okay?”

“I’ll head to your farm and wait and see what’s going on. Here, take this.” Lionel said handing over the take out bags they got from the CrashDown.

“Thanks” Clark said and then he was gone. Seconds later, he was knocking on the Evans’ door.

“Come in Clark” Max said as Clark opened the door and entered the house, closing the door behind him.

“I take it you got Mandy’s message?” Max asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Clark asked, sitting down on the couch.

“All the news is able to report is that Metropolis Middle School disappeared. According to Mandy, they were shrinking. I just don’t get it,” explained Max.

“Have you tried to contact her or Zan since she sent out that distress signal?” Clark asked.

“No, but let me see if I can reach them” Max said and then he closed his eyes and concentrated.

‘Mandy, Zan can you hear me. This is Max.’ He kept repeating this same message with no luck. Opening his eyes he said, “No, there was no response.”

“Then, I’m going to go there personally to see what I can find out.” Clark said turning to go out the door.

“Can you take me along?” Max asked, fully concerned for his son’s safety.

Clark nodded as Max followed him out the door. Cal joined the group at the door as Clark took to the skies with Max in tow. It still amazed him how this boy he had watched grow up over the years had turned into the man and king he was today with literally no guidance. Taking charge of the situation, along side of this individual named Clark Kent who was extraordinary himself. He wasn’t quite sure what he thought of this ‘club’ they had mentioned, but all evidence showed that they had found strength in numbers and this was possibly the way to get over these hurdles that kept on getting in the way.

Kent Farm

Lionel walked through the back door into the Kent’s kitchen to the smell of a beef pot roast cooking in the oven.

“Well hello Lionel” Martha said, greeting him as he came through the door. “What brings you to Smallville?”

“Lex and Lana took a little trip along with Isabel to the Whirlwind Galaxy and I went along to send them off.” Martha seemed surprised, since she had just recently got home from Wichita.

Lionel took a seat and explained the events that had transpired as she continued to cook the evening’s meal. Mirek and Tara came in the back door and joined the conversation. After leaving the Evans’ farm earlier they had decided to explore their surroundings a little bit more so Tara had flown them into Smallville so they could experience a little more of what Smallville had to offer them.

“So where’s Clark?” Martha asked.

“He got a mental message from Mandy. It seemed important enough for him to leave for the Evans’ farm. It had something to do with her needing help, her school and shrinking. I didn’t really understand. I told him I would hang out here until he was able to determine what was going on.” Lionel explained.

“Well, that’s an odd combination” Martha said as Tara turned on the television where they learned what had apparently happened.

“How can that be?” Martha asked, transfixed by the news reports. “Schools just don’t disappear.”

Then they heard a car pulling into the driveway. They didn’t think anything of it until there was a knock at the back door. Martha answered the door and standing before her was Bart.

“Bart?” Martha said.

“Hey Mrs. Kent, don’t mean to crash the party, but I was wondering if Clark was around?”

“No, he had to run an errand” and then she noticed the group behind him. “Please come in, I was just preparing some dinner. Clark should be home soon.”

“It smells delicious Mrs. K” Bart said entering the house followed by the others when they noticed Lionel Luthor and they each went on alert. Martha noticed their animosity towards Lionel and said, “Hello, I’m Martha Kent, Clark’s mother and it seems like you know Lionel here. And this is Tara and Mirek.” Then she turned towards Bart. “Mrs. Kent” he whispered, “do you know what kind of man Lionel Luthor is?”

“Yes Bart. I also know what kind of man Lionel used to be too. He’s on our side now and Clark trusts him, so I think you should have an open mind as well.”

Not holding her tongue any more, Raya spoke up. “Does Kal-El reside here?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Raya who was the last to come in. “Nothing like coming right to the point” Oliver said.

“And who are you all?” Martha asked cautiously.

“Victor Stone”

“Arthur Curry, but you can call me AC”

“Oliver Queen”

“Raya”

“Did you say Raya?” Tara asked.

“Yes” Raya stated again, “and I’m looking for Kal-El. Does he reside here?”

Looking around at the group that had just entered the room and throwing caution to the wind, Tara answered. “Yes, Kal-El lives here, but how do you know him?”

“I was his father’s assistant.”

“You’re Kryptonian?” Tara asked, surprised to meet another Kryptonian.

“Yes” came Raya’s short answer.

“As am I. I’m Lara’s sister. But how were you able to escape the fate that faced Krypton?” Tara asked.

“Jor-El sent me to the Phantom Zone with all his research prior to its destruction. He sent this information with Kal-El in his ship and he was supposed to release me so I could help the chosen one fulfill the Prophecy, but he never came.”

“Hello, is anyone else lost?” Bart asked raising his hand.

“I’m sorry. Where are my manners? Please come in and have a seat. I’ll put dinner on simmer and we can start from the beginning.” Martha said. Plus, she wanted to give Clark enough time to get home before his whole life was opened up to these strangers. Martha had only met Bart, and she recognized the names of Victor Stone and Arthur Curry, because these were acquaintances of Clark, but she had no clue who the other individual was and Tara and Raya were baring all their secrets to the room. Then she glanced over at the TV and noticed the headline. Using the remote she turned it up.

We are standing in the middle of what use to be Metropolis Middle School. At 3:30 this afternoon as students were boarding their buses to go home and as parents were picking up their children a phenomenon occurred. A strange green light could be seen from a distance and then the school vanished from sight. The Metropolis community is dumbfounded and parents are frantic. Where did Metropolis Middle School go?

“This sounds like Brainiac’s doing” Raya said.

“How do you know this?” questioned Martha.

“And who is this Brainiac?” Oliver asked.

“One thing at a time Mr. Queen” Martha said.

“Oliver”

“Yes, okay. Oliver. Let’s handle one crisis at a time and I’m sorry to say, but this story” Martha said pointing at the TV, “is more important right now. Pay attention and you might learn something.” And then she turned around and asked Raya, “How do you know Brainiac is involved?”

“He did the same thing on Krypton. He used his hyper-force ray to shrink our cities, such as Kandor and placed them in bottles. We were never able to locate the cities again, but his machine was confiscated and he was sentenced to the Phantom Zone, but he escaped before he was transferred.”

“That would explain Mandy’s transmission” Lionel stated. Martha concurred.

“We need to get this information to Clark.” Martha said picking up her phone and went into the other room, praying that Clark had it on him.

Clark and Max had made it to the site, but like the news was reporting, the school had simply vanished.

“Max, try to reach Mandy again” Clark suggested, hoping that maybe the proximity of where the school used to be may help in their reception, but there was no connection.

“Nothing”

“Have you tried Zan?” Clark suggested.

Max shook his head and closed his eyes again and concentration on Zan. Soon there was a really weak link. ‘Zan can you hear me’ communicated Max.

‘Dad?’ Zan responded.

‘Yes. How are you?’ Max asked.

‘We’re okay but we’re in some kind of bot…’ the connection broke off. Max opened he eyes and said, “I got in, but the connection was very, very weak and our link was broken. He said he was fine and that they were in some kind of…something. It almost sounded like he was going to say bottle. Why don’t you try Chloe’s cell phone,” suggested Max.

So Clark reached for his phone when it went off in his hand. “Hello”

“Clark, you need to come home. Some friends of yours showed up, including that mysterious woman you were trying to locate name Raya.”

“Raya’s there?”

“Yes, and she saw the news report and believes Fine is behind it.”

Clark related this message to Max and then asked his mother, “Who else is there mom?”

“Bart, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry and Oliver Queen.” Clark recognized each of their names, except the last one, but how did they find each other and why were they at his house? It sounded like they found Raya, but how did they know to bring her to his farm? Questions upon questions were whirling around inside of his mind.

“Mom, how much do they know?” he asked cautiously, while Max was looking at him curiously.

“Well, Raya was searching for Kal-El and Tara recognized her name as the one you were searching for, so she said that he did reside here. I’m sure they know who Kal-El is and the longer they stay the more knowledge they’ll learn of Krypton and its history, including Milton Fine.”

“I see. So, basically my secret is out. Got it. The only guy I’m unfamiliar with is Oliver Queen, but the others we can trust. They are familiar with some of my abilities, except the fact that I’m from another world. Just give me five minutes. There’s something we need to do first and then we’ll be there.”

“Thanks honey.” And then she hung up the phone and went into the living room

“Clark will be here shortly,” she announced as she sat down exasperated.

Back in Metropolis, Clark hung up the phone and related his conversation to Max, including who was waiting for them back in Smallville and then he dialed Chloe’s number.

It rang three times, before there was an answer. “Hello” came Chloe’s voice. The reception was poor, but at least he could hear her voice.

“Chloe, its Clark. Are you okay?”

“Yes. We’ve been miniaturized and stuck in a bottle. Fine’s behind it and I think we’re on his ship.” She spit out as quickly as she could, afraid they may lose the connection.

“Is Zan and Mandy with you?”

“Yes, we’re sticking together, as well as Brenda.”

“How are the others doing?”

“Freaking out”

“I don’t blame them. Just stay calm. We’ll figure something out.”

“I know you will.”

“Is Zan there, Max would like to speak to him.”

“Sure” she said, handing the phone over to Zan as Clark handed his phone to Max.

“Hey Dad”

“Hey. How are you doing?”

“We’re fine. It’s everyone else that is really freaking out.”

“Well, we’re going to get you out of there, but until then be careful and don’t use your powers openly. If Fine is behind this, we just want you to be like any other kid, got it?”

“Yes dad. I love you and tell Bob we miss him too, but we’re okay.”

“I will. Now I think we should save your batteries. Take care of yourself and stay strong, okay.”

“Okay. Bye Dad” Max said goodbye and hung up the phone.

“I guess we need to go induct some more people into the ‘club’” Max said.

Clark nodded his head as he took to the sky, taking him and Max back to Smallville.

[sdcheesehead]

Hey All
dreammaster: Glad you like it. I aim to please.
timelord31: I'm going to give Lex a little time to get settle in, before he starts raising a little havoc. But it'll happen, because we all know Lex just can't behave himself.
Alien Friend: Thanks for the bump I'm also glad you enjoyed that last chapter too. Yeah, I didn't really plan on putting Cal and Mira together until I started writing this chapter and then it just came to me, just like Zan and Mandy. That was never planned either, but it seems to be working out well (I think). Yeah, the shrinking school is classic Brainiac from the comic books. This also plays into the final part of the prophecy too (sorry, no more hints). And finally the JLA meet up with the club!

Karin

[sdcheesehead]

Chapter 53 – Induction of the JLA

Zan handed the cell phone over to Chloe and slumped down onto the gym floor. The principal was trying to bring a little control to the situation. He had coerced the students, teachers, parents and bystanders to gather in the gym. It was pandemonium for a while, as people adjusted to their situation. Students were crying. Parents were frantic. What was going on? Mutterings continued as people tried to grasp at what had just happened to them.

Brenda joined Zan on the floor and wrapped her arms around him saying, “Everything will be okay son.”

“I know. I’ve accepted the fact that this kind of ‘game’ is part of my life, but Fine crossed the line when he included…” and then he pointed at the occupants of the gym, “them, their families and the citizens of Metropolis. This is no longer our secret. He just brought our existence to the world’s attention, even if they don’t know it quite yet.”

“Very insightful Zan” Chloe said joining them on the floor, sitting across from Brenda and him. Mandy took her place on the other side of Zan, taking his hand in hers.

“So, what are we going to do about it?” Mandy asked.

“Dad said I needed to lie low and not to use my abilities.”

“What your dad doesn’t understand is that we’re in Fine’s ship, which is a very elusive place to be. Lex has been trying ever since the last meteor shower to locate this ship to no avail. How does your father expect to find us? I think Mandy is right in wondering what do we do?”

“As much as I don’t want to side with Mandy and Chloe” Brenda started, “I think they’re right.” She looked around at the gathering people who were still in a state of shock. “They have no clue what has happened to them. They have no idea of who you are and what you’re capable of. What they do know is that they’ve been ripped away from society and they’re scared. Did you think you’d be able to keep this a secret from the world once the battle began between you and the evil forces out there?”

Before anyone could answer, Melissa came over with a couple of her friends. After she noticed Mandy was among them, she ran over to her sister and embraced her and then looked her over, making sure she was all right. She had always been protective of her little sister. And then when they parted her friends joined her and they sat on the floor.

“I wonder what’s going on,” Melissa stated to no one in particular. “We were on the bus getting ready to go home and ZAP.”

“Maybe the aliens are attacking” Michelle spurted out as eyes unconsciously made their way in Zan’s direction.

“Get real Michelle!” Melissa said to her friend.

“I don’t know,” said her other friend named Ashley. “How else can you explain what just happened. What do you think is happening Mrs. Chambers?”

Brenda didn’t quite know what to say, when Chloe spoke up, “I don’t know, it’s all very strange, isn’t it? Hi, I’m Chloe Sullivan from the Daily Planet. I was just getting ready to take your sister to work with me when this happened.” Brenda sent her an appreciative gaze as the girls bombarded Chloe with questions of the Daily Planet.

‘So Zan, what are we going to do’ communicated Mandy.

‘I just don’t know’ Zan thought as he looked around the gym.

Evans’ Farm

Max had just left with Clark when Michael noticed a couple of bags on the table with the CrashDown logo on them.

“What’s this?” he said opening up the bag. “Jackpot!” he exclaimed pulling out individual Styrofoam containers. “Looks like your father went out of his way for us.” Liz came over and investigated the contents of the bag and pulled out a container and inside was a galaxy burger with some orbit rings. She joined Michael at the kitchen table when the front door opened. In came Kyle, Ava and Maria.

“Something smells familiar” Kyle said. “Awesome” he exclaimed, grabbing a container out of the sack, followed by Ava and Maria.

“So, did you tell them the news?” Maria asked Michael as she sat on his right.

“Didn’t have a chance, more drama presented itself. Plus, I thought you’d like to tell them.” Michael said between bites.

“Tell us what?” Liz inquired.

“Michael and I are engaged!!” exclaimed Maria.

“Oh my God Maria, I’m so excited for you!” Liz said reaching over the best she could and embraced her best friend and then she looked towards her hand and noticed no ring. Maria picked up on this and said, “He just asked me and I said yes. We’ll get the ring later, right Michael?”

“Yes Maria” Michael said with a full mouth.

“It was so sweet. He got down on one knee and everything,” Maria said, recounting the events that led up to the proposal.

“It’s true, I saw the whole thing,” Ava said. “It was actually quite romantic, for Michael anyway.”

Cal and Mira joined the group and partook in the festivities. “This seems like an occasion to celebrate and since I’ve just been reunited with my mate,” Mira looped her arm into Cal’s, “I’d say this is a good time for a drink.”

“Um, Mira. We can’t drink.” Michael said. “It really messes with our systems.”

“Alcohol, yes, but not Bayavin” Mira said retreating to her room and coming back with a glasslike container filled to the brim with the red nectar wine made from an Asterian native fruit.

Michael obtained some glasses as Mira filled them and passed them out. As she was handing a glass to Liz, she refrained because of her pregnancy.

“Our nectars won’t affect you or your baby’s health like that of your earthly alcohols. This is just a drink, similar to your Snapple that originates from our world,” explained Mira. Convinced, Liz took the glass.

“To Michael and Maria’s engagement, to Max and Liz’s pregnancy, to my reuniting with my mate and to Zan’s success at defeating our foes,” Mira said as they raised their glasses and drank down the nectar. It brought an extremely cooling effect to their throats and was very similar to strawberry in taste, but with a twist.

“This is very good” Michael said, “and you’ve been keeping this stock hidden in your room. Shame on you Mira. We need to make more trips to Asterie to get some more.”

I’m so happy it pleases you” Mira said, stopping the bottle and returning it to her room. When she returned Maria asked, “So what’s this drama you were talking about.”

Before he could answer, the door opened again as Jesse joined them. “Hey guys” and then noticing the food said, “Is that CrashDown food?”

“Yeah, there’s a container in the bag for you” Liz said pointing over to the bags she had placed on the kitchen counter. Jesse put down his briefcase and went over to get his box of food and joined the rest at the table. “Where’s Isabel?”

“Well” Michael started, “she took a trip to the Whirlwind Galaxy.”

“She did what?” exclaimed Jesse.

“It was sort of a last minute thing” and then Michael and the group brought Jesse up to date with the events of the day and then Michael filled the rest of the group in on the disappearance of Metropolis Middle School.

All of a sudden Liz withdrew from the conversation when she got a communication from Max. They were continually linked and knew essentially what was transpiring on the other’s end, so it didn’t surprise her when he requested the group meet him and Clark at the Kent farm. There were some more members to bring into the group.

“Max wants us to meet up at the Kent’s farm, there has been some more developments.” Liz said as she rose from her chair. Everyone followed suit, not even questioning the reason for the meeting and proceeded out the door. They decided to walk, since it was a nice fall evening.

Clark and Max landed on the farm, but instead of going into the house, Clark walked into the barn. “Where are you going?” Max said.

“I thought I’d call Lois and Sam and have them meet us here too. I think we’re going to need the General’s help. I’m also going to call Pete as well. He’s at his father’s house, but we should keep him in the loop too.” Max nodded and said, “I just told Liz to have our group come up from the farm.

Clark made his calls and then did some of the evening chores around the barn. When he was done he looked up at Max and asked, “Are you ready?”

“I’m never ready to expose myself or my family, but it seems to be par for the course.”

“Maybe we’ll end up with a hole in one, when we’re done?” They both laughed at their golf puns as they walked out of the barn.

“Have you ever played golf Clark?”

“Nah, I’d probably hit the ball half way across the world. You?”

“Just putt-putt and Liz kicked my butt” Clark laughed. Max tried to defend himself, “We weren’t allowed to use any powers and I guess she used to play at this place a lot, before we met.”

Clark nodded as he saw Max’s family coming up the driveway. Pete was close behind them. They waited until they joined them before entering the farmhouse.

Induction of the JLA

Inside the farmhouse, the group was gathered in the living room, listening to the news reports on the television about the disappearance of the middle school. Clark opened the back door as the group entered.

Looking at the TV, Clark commented “they have no idea what’s going on, but I’m sure it won’t take them long to take a wild stab in the dark hitting their target dead on.”

“Clark” Martha said, “Thank goodness you’re here.”

“Yeah, and I brought reinforcements,” he said as the group filed in behind him and found a place to sit. In the meantime, Lois and Sam had found their way to the Kent farm and had joined the group as well.

“Hey there Smallville” Lois greeted Clark and then she turned and saw A.C.

“A.C.?”

“Hey beautiful” AC said.

Some things never change, thought Lois. “What are you doing here?” she questioned, turning to Clark for some answers.

“It’ll all be explained later, but for now we have other issues,” Clark stated.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the school’s disappearance, because my unit at Fort Ryan has been dispatched as well as the Special Unit. You wouldn’t be able to shed some light on the situation, would you?” questioned Sam. Then he looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Chloe? I thought she’d be here.”

“Yes, I have an idea what’s happening and Chloe’s stuck right in the middle of it, as well as Zan, Mandy and Brenda, but we need to address our newcomers first before we jump into the real reason we’re together.” Clark stated. The General nodded and took a seat along with his daughter, next to Kyle who reached for her hand. Lois willingly took hold of Kyle’s hand much to A.C.’s displeasure.

“Seeing that we’re all here, I’ll call this meeting to order” Clark said.

“Hold on Slick” Bart interrupted, “What’s going on here? What meeting is being called to order?”

Clark just smiled over at Bart and said, “As you’ve probably learned, I’m not from around here. My Kryptonian name is Kal-El…” Clark wasn’t able to finish his sentence because Raya rose from her seat exclaiming, “Thank the rays of Rao, I’ve finally found you.”

“You must be Raya” Clark said.

“I am. Why didn’t you come for me? Your father imprinted all this information inside the Father Crystal he put on your ship. I’ve been waiting an eternity inside the ‘Zone’ for you to come.”

“I am so sorry Raya. I was just informed of the Father Crystal’s existence and have only recently acquired it, but haven’t had the chance to see what information my father imprinted on it. Also, I only recently learned of your existence. I believe you hold the key to the Prophecy?”

“I do” Raya said, pulling the journal from her pocket. “This is your father’s journal and it holds the key that you may be searching for.” She handed it over to Clark who took the Kryptonian journal and briefly leafed through the pages.

“We‘ll have to sit down later and go through this. There is so much I want to ask you about my family, Krypton and what exactly happened, but we’ve got some other pressing things going on at the moment.” She looked at him wishing to dispute his actions but conceded and sat back down. She had waited this long, what would an extra day matter. She had finally found him after all this time, fulfilling her promise to Jor-El.

“So dude, you’re really an alien” A.C. stated.

“Yeah, I am” Clark said and then he said to the group at large. “I’d like you’ll to meet Arthur Curry or as I know him A.C. He’s like a fish in water.”

“Um, Clark…why are you telling everyone about my…abilities?” questioned A.C in a whispered tone.

“If we are going to trust each other, we need to be open with each other. Everyone in this room has been entrusted with my secret as I’ve become entrusted with theirs. It’s the only way we will be able to confront our enemies.”

“But what about Lionel Luthor? You can’t seriously trust that man with anything!” exclaimed Victor. “You know what that man’s son did to me.”

“Yes, I do know what Lex did to you and A.C and even Bart but that was Lex. Granted, I haven’t always been a big fan of Lionel Luthor, but since my biological father, Jor-El, chose to use his body as his vessel to communicate with me and also since he kept my secret to himself for over a year I have learned to put my trust in him.”

The four weren’t convinced, but they conceded. Clark continued on with his introductions.

“This is Victor Stone. He used to play football for Met U, until an unfortunate accident took away his family and essentially his life as he knew it. Luthor Corp upgraded his body with the latest robotics available. With my help he was able to escape the grasps of Lex Luthor.

And this is Bart Allen, and when it comes to running let’s just say he’s much faster than I am…”

“But I bet he can’t fly” interjected Michael as Clark raised an eyebrow in Bart’s direction.

“You can fly?” Bart said in a zealous tone. Clark nodded. “Cool. I guess you’ve got me beat.”

Then Lionel spoke up, “Clark, would this be the individual I saw in the picture?” Clark paused for a second and then nodded his head in affirmation and then he looked at Oliver Queen.

“And I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting,” Clark said.

“Oliver Queen”

“Of Queen Industries?” questioned Lionel.

“Yes. My parents died when I was younger and left me a substantial inheritance. I don’t have any unnatural abilities, but I’m pretty good with a bow and arrow and usually hit my mark. I met each of your friends on my travels and throughout the last year we’ve bonded and have been going after Luthor Corp’s 33.1 facilities, dusting them off the planet one facility at a time.” Oliver said glaring over at Lionel.

“I know Lex has been up to some shady deals, like that factory down in Corto Maltese, but I’ve also noticed that you and your team are getting sloppy. I retrieved a very discriminating photo of your friend Bart here running from the scene. I thought it was Clark and confronted him. In the future, you might want to watch yourselves. I can only cover up for so much when it comes to my son’s extracurricular activities.” Lionel countered.

“Now, now. We’re not here to throw stones. We’re all on the same side. We need to get back to the order of business,” Martha said.

“And what kind of business is that. What kind of club is this?”

“It’s the ‘I Know an Alien’ club,” Kyle spurted out.

“How many aliens are we talking about?” question Oliver, who was looking around the room slightly uncomfortable. It took Clark a moment to count up the aliens present and said, “Well there are eleven here at the meeting” and then he looked over at Max for confirmation.

“Yep, that’s what I got?” They each saw the fear in the newcomer’s eyes.

“Relax, we’re not here to hurt you” Max said, trying to calm the three. “I’m Max, King over the Whirlwind Galaxy…” and so the introductions went.

“Max, what did you find out at the school?” asked Michael.

“I believe Raya was right. Fine is behind this charade. Zan, Chloe, Mandy and Brenda as well as everyone else in the vicinity of the school was shrunk down and stuffed into a bottle and are sitting upon some shelf on Fine’s ship.”

“How did you come to this conclusion, since it doesn’t seem like anyone on the television was able to get any information and who is this Fine character you’re talking about?” asked Victor.

“Milton Fine is a Kryptonian brain interactive also known as Brainiac. He makes Lex look like an angel and we can’t forget that Zod, a Kryptonian General who just recently escaped out of an intergalactic prison called the Phantom Zone, is probably at his side,” explained Clark.

“And I originally tried to connect with Mandy but there was no response, so I tried connecting with my son, Zan but our connection was so weak that it was broken up, so Clark tried his cell phone. It seemed to work, but the connection was very, very weak. We learned that for the most part everyone is freaking out, but okay,” explained Max.

“What’s this connection you’re talking about?” asked A.C.

“There are only four of us that are able to communicate by using our minds, myself, Liz, Mandy and my son Zan,” explained Max. “And then it seems like Clark is also very receptive to our communications, but he can’t send anything out to anyone. The rest of my family that are a little green around the gills have their own ways of connecting, either through touch or the dream plane.”

“Max, who are all these individuals you’re talking about?” Cal finally spoke up. This was all new to him. How was he supposed to protect the ‘Four’ when so many people knew about their existence? Max and Clark tried their best to explain who all the players involved were including the pod rejects, Nicholas, Fine, Zod and all the other additions to the ‘club’ that weren’t present at the meeting.

“And what about the media? It’s not going to take them long to figure out that this is an alien related incident, because there’s no other explanation. Schools just don’t up and disappear and who knows, maybe someone else was able to contact someone else inside the bottle using their cell phones. Zod and Fine were very smart bringing the innocent people of Metropolis into the scenario. Now you not only have to worry about those two, you have to deal with the repercussions this will have on everyone.”

“And,” continued General Lane, “the FBI already believes this is alien related incident. They told me to dispatch my guys to the school, which I can do since we won’t find anything anyways. But what are we going to do to get them back. I’m very worried about those stuck in bottle, including my niece and your son.”

“Well, I think we need to figure out how they got there to begin with” Liz said taking the analytical approach to things. Then turning to Raya she asked, “What do you know about this hyper whatever machine he’s got?”

“It’s a contraption of Brainiac’s own invention. It’s called the hyper-force ray and it can shrink and enlarge whatever is in its path. It runs off of Illium 349, a radioactive element found on Krypton, and obviously on Earth too, since I know his stock was destroyed when he was captured on Krypton.”

“So, we’re going to need to get a hold of some of this Illium 349, so we can return the occupants in the bottle back to their normal size” Liz said as Raya nodded her head.

“Max, do you remember ever coming across Illium 349 in our studies?” Max said ‘no’ “Me either. Raya, do you know what earthly atoms would make up this particular element?”

“I’m sure we can work on this, since Brainiac has found a way.”

“Okay, it looks like Raya and I will be working together to find or create some of this Illium 349, so all you need to do is find Fine’s ship.” Liz stated.

“Which isn’t going to be an easy task” Clark commented. “Every time someone gets close to the ship, it mysteriously disappears.”

“You did say you were able to contact someone inside the bottle when you were in Metropolis, so they had to be nearby for you to even get a signal, so they’re probably still in Metropolis” Oliver commented. “If you could lure these individuals out or have them expose this ship somehow, I’ve got an assortment of gadgets back in Metropolis that I may be able to use to tag the ship from a distance and then we could monitor where the ship is and where it disappears to if it vanishes.”

“You want to lo-jack Fine’s ship?” Michael cried out in laughter. “You really do have a pair, don’t you?”

Oliver gave him a skeptical look and then said, “Is there something about these guys we need to know about, because the four of us are entering into this group with blinders on and I like knowing what I’m up against. At least with Lex, I know what kind of scumbag he his, trying to develop an army of super freaks. Who are Milton Fine and Zod really and what kind of threat do they really pose?”

“Well, there isn’t much difference physically between General Zod and myself except that he’s been trapped in the Phantom Zone all these years and is set on revenge and world domination” Clark started, but was interrupted by Bart.

“Okay, we…or I should say I know you’re fast and you said you can fly, but what other secret abilities are you harboring Clark?”

“I know he can hold his breath a long time and can fight underwater” A.C. inputted.

“And he’s very strong and can withstand an impact to his body as well as able to jump off buildings without shattering anything in his body. And all he told me was ‘milk does a body good’.” Victor commented dryly.

“Well milk does do the body good, but for Kryptonians the sun is a much better energy source. If we were back on Krypton or even in the Whirlwind Galaxy, we wouldn’t have any of these gifts because we have a red sun, but the Earth’s yellow sun heightens our abilities. You’ve basically got the gist of what I’m capable of. As you know I’m very strong, I can fly, I have heat vision, and super hearing and I’m able to see through most anything as well as being impenetrable. Now, picture these abilities inside a psychopath like Zod and here is where the nightmare begins. We do share a weakness though. Meteor rocks from Krypton which we have named Kryptonite can alter our perspective on things, depending on its color, but the green kryptonite can kill us if we’re exposed to it too long. Now Fine is a different situation. He also possesses all these same abilities as well as a few unique characteristics of his own, like shapeshifting. The main problem is that he is immune to the Kryptonite.” Clark explained.

“Clark, I have the answer to this query,” Raya said standing up and pulling the tip off her staff as she continued. “The end of this staff sends out a high frequency noise that will disrupt the molecular structure of Brainiac’s body, causing him extreme pain. However, I don’t think my staff is strong enough to bring Brainiac down to his knees.”

“Maybe I could help you out” offered Michael. “What you don’t realize is disrupting the molecular structure of things is an Antarian specialty. And if anyone is good at destroying and disrupting things, it’s me. If we bring our staffs together, Fine will be toast.

“I sense a plan is formulating?” Max questioned. And so it was. The group met for the rest of the night formulating their plan to locate Fine’s ship, rescue the bottled school, and to bring down Fine and Zod in the process. In the meantime, Khivar, Nicholas and his friends could wait, for now.

[sdcheesehead]

Chapter 54 – Messengers from the Bottle

As they walked the corridors leading to Ankaa’s chambers, their surroundings weren’t much different than that of a cave system on Earth. It was damp and cool but there were amber colored deposits, very similar in consistency to that of the Royal Four’s healing stones, hanging from the ceiling. These deposits were a unique characteristic of this planet and were pulsating, filling the tunnels throughout the cave with light. When they reached her quarters, Ankaa waved her hand and then placed it in the silver imprint opening the door as they entered her chambers.

They were amazed at the spacious quarters that opened up to the outside alien world. It was still dark out as they gazed at the three moons that inhabited the night sky.

“This is simply amazing” commented Lex as he stared out of the opening. The red dunes that filled the desert landscape of Asterie were lying still in the night sky as the three moons shone their light on them.

Ankaa offered the four seats when there was a knock on the door.

“Enter”

The door opened and in stepped two alien creatures. “Ah, Sirius. Thank you Lyra for retrieving him.” The two aliens bowed and then took the offered seats. “It seems like we’ve got some unexpected guests.” And then trying to make her guests feel more at ease, she held her hand out, and bright light reflected off her hand as her appearance took a more human form. The same form Isabel had seen in the holograph a few years prior. The other aliens in the room followed suit and took their human base forms, so the only out of place individual was Lex.

“You didn’t have to do that mother” Isabel said.

“Well, I thought I’d make our other guests feel more comfortable.”

“Thank you” Lana said, and the tension that had been increasing with each step she took on this journey finally seemed to release from her body. She was reevaluating her decision to come along on this excursion keeping her feelings to herself, but Ankaa was able sense her anxiety and had decided to relieve it.

“Now daughter, what is this about Khivar and the others escaping from the Phantom Zone?”

“Did Max bring you up to date with everything that has been happening in our world?” questioned Isabel. Ankaa nodded.

“Well, Fine who’s one of Clark’s nemeses kidnapped Lex here and transported them both to the Phantom Zone. Once they were there he found Zod, who used some crystal that enabled him to exchange bodies with Lex. Before leaving, Khivar had joined them and Fine was able to activate the portal to bring them back to Earth. Unbeknownst to them Lex and another individual named Raya found their way through the portal before it closed behind them.”

“I thought the backdoor out of the portal required some of Kal-El’s blood.”

“So the story goes.” Isabel stated.

“He did have a vial of Clark’s blood,” interjected Lex. “He said Clark probably didn’t realize he had it. He ended up breaking it over some pedestal thing activating the portal again. That’s how I was able to escape.”

“Well, it looks like the Prophecy is coming to a head.” Ankaa said in a soft whisper that didn’t go unnoticed.

“That’s what Max and Clark are both thinking. We’re just hoping Zan is prepared enough to go up against them.” Isabel stated.

“Do you think he’s ready?” Ankaa asked.

“He’s a very powerful boy and I think when the time comes, he will be able to confront the evil forces we’ll ultimately face. I’ve been working with him lately and he’s been improving tremendously.” Serena inputted.

“Beg your pardon, your majesty,” Lex interrupted, “but who is this boy and what Prophecy are you talking about?”

Ankaa looked towards her advisors and then to Isabel who answered her staring gaze. “Max thought it was best to not bring Lex fully into our world. He has only been exposed to those here within your chambers, the Phantom Zone escapees and Clark.” Ankaa nodded with understanding. If Max didn’t want this individual brought into their world any further, then this conversation was over.

Lex just gave Isabel an incredulous look. They were still hiding things from him. Then he looked towards Lana. How much did she know? Isabel didn’t mention anything about sheltering her from any privileged information.

“Sirius, could you please escort Lex to one of our guest quarters?” Sirius nodded and rose to direct Lex towards the door, when Lex spoke up.

‘What will you have me do, while I’m here?” he said with some sarcasm in his voice.

“It’s late. I’ll send for you in the morning and we’ll determine then what your role will be during your visit here.” Ankaa said, with finality in her voice, but Lex spoke up again. “What about Lana?”

“I would like to speak with her privately” Ankaa said and nodded towards Sirius to direct Lex out of the room.

“But…”

“Enough! You’re here on my son’s invitation and I want this to be a pleasant visit for all involved. Now go, or I’ll be forced to remove you from my chambers.” Lex, not quite sure what these individuals were capable of succumbed to the threat and left the chambers with Sirius.

“Now daughter, where does Lana fit into the scheme of things?”

“As you can tell, Lex is a little bit domineering. He’s used to getting what he wants, when he wants it. Lana’s here to try to give him continuity and to keep him in line. She’s been fully inducted into our world and…”

“You can use me any way you like Your Majesty.” Lana finished Isabel’s explanation. “Your secrets are safe with me, but you do need to keep your eye on Lex. I’m learning more and more about the darker side of Lex.”

“And my son sent him here?” Ankaa said, mainly to herself. “Very well. Lyra, could you escort Lana to one of our other guest accommodations and Lana, we will send for you as well in the morning and figure out what you can do for us during your stay here.” And then turning to Serena she said, “And you can go back to the Granolith and ensure it’s been returned to normal status and I’ll meet with you in the morning. I would like some time alone with my daughter.”

After everyone had left it was just Ankaa and Isabel. “Mother, I’ve waited my whole life to meet you.”

“As I have too, Isabel, is it?” Ankaa replied.

“Yes” and then Isabel retrieved her bag and pulled out some trinkets and the photo album she had brought along and the two women talked until the early dawning hours of the next day.

Inside the Bottled School

“Mandy, are you okay? You and Brett seem to be in your own little world,” commented Melissa.

“What? Oh.” Mandy stated withdrawing from her internal communications with Zan. “I’m fine Missy. I’m just wigged out, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. I wonder what mom and dad are thinking?”

“I’m sure they’re worried about you two, just like I know I would be if I was in their position” Brenda inputted.

“So, what are we going to do?” questioned Ashley. “It’s like we’re in some kind of sci-fi movie. One moment we’re on the bus the next thing I remember is seeing this bright green light and then we’re here, wherever here is.”

All of a sudden Zan had an instantaneous headache. “Ouch” he said, raising his hands to his temples as he tried to alleviate the pain, but then something strange happened.

“Brett, are you all right?” Chloe asked, seeing his discomfort. Zan looked up and began freaking out. The people around him were stripped of their skin and all that was staring back at him were muscular body structures and then they changed into skeletons. Letting out a gasp and shutting his eyes tightly he slammed his hands into the gym floor, leaving a depression.

‘What’s going on Zan’ Mandy frantically communicated while Chloe and Brenda were voicing their concerns audibly. Meanwhile, Ashley, Michelle and Melissa were taking in the scene, their weird radar already hitting its peak.

“Zan…I mean Brett” Chloe said realized her mistake and then looked over at the teenage girls who were watching the scene open up before them, but she needed to figure out what was going on with Zan so she continued. “Look at me” she said, turning her attention back to Zan.

“No” Zan said, eyes still tightly closed.

“What going on son?” Zan said nothing. Then it dawned on Chloe. She moved closer to Zan and in a whisper she asked, “Did you see something…something out of the ordinary?”

Zan raised his head and opened his eyes slowly and looked up at Chloe. Everything was back to normal and feeling foolish he said, “It was nothing.” Then he looked down at the depressed holes in the gym floor and said, “Just great.” And without thinking he waved his hand over the depressed holes and filled them in.

“Oh my God, how did you do that?” Ashley exclaimed, bringing her hand to her mouth. Michelle was mimicking her as well.

“What’s really going on?” Melissa asked.

Brenda took control of the girls as Chloe turned her attention back towards Zan. “Brett, did you see something?”

Zan relented and said, “Yes. I saw through you. It was really weird. What’s happening to me?”

“The same thing that’s happening to me. We’re changing. I think some of Clark’s characteristics have just been inherited by you,” she said cryptically. Then she looked around and it was like a light bulb came on, but before she could bring to light her idea, Brenda interrupted.

“Uh-hmm. Guys, we’ve got a ‘little’ situation over here that I need your help with.” She said looking at the three confused girls.

“Oh” Chloe said, looking at the girls and then towards Zan. “It’s your call” Chloe said.

Zan stared at the girls and then asked Mandy ‘Can we trust them?’

‘I know we can trust Missy, since she’s kept my secret of being able to read minds. I don’t really know Ashley and Michelle very well except that they’re really good friends of Missy’s.’

‘Liz and Ava will probably wipe everyone’s memories anyways once we get out of here, so I don’t think it’ll hurt’ Zan communicated and then looked towards the girls and said, “I think you’ll need to take a seat and I need your word that this stays just between us.”

“Brett, you’re not going to tell them, are you?” Brenda said worriedly.

“Yes mother, I’m going to tell them, but if things go the way I think they will, Liz and Ava will take care of ‘things’ when we get rescued.” Brenda nodded understanding the cryptic message. “Very well” she said, sitting down along with the girls and Chloe.

“Wow, this is harder than I thought” Zan said, trying to find the right words when Mandy spoke up.

“Well, Michelle was very close to the truth.” Michelle looked up at her curious about what she was talking about. “You thought we were being attacked by aliens, well we have been.”

The girls laughed, thinking she was kidding. But nobody else was laughing. “What are you talking about Mandy?” Melissa asked.

“As you know Missy, I’m capable of reading minds.” Melissa gave her an incredulous look. Why was she outing their family secret, but Mandy continued. “While I was in the hospital in Phoenix, Brett’s biological father Max came and saved me and at the same time he gave me this special gift.”

“You can read minds?” both Ashley and Michelle said.

“Yes, among other things.” At this point Zan spoke up.

“You see Max isn’t from around here. He’s from a distant galaxy called the Whirlwind Galaxy.”

“So, he’s an alien?” they asked together.

“Yeah, he is. So is my mother.”

“So, that means you’re an alien too” Melissa stated.

“He’s actually a royal alien” Mandy stated. “On Antar, his home planet, he’s a Prince and his name is Zan.”

“So, are you the reason we’re stuck here?” Ashley asked feeling very leery about being this close to a real alien.

“You have each been placed in a very difficult position. It’s not Zan’s fault we’re stuck in a bottle.” Chloe stated but was interrupted.

“We’re stuck in a bottle?!” All three girls exclaimed.

“Keep your voices down” Mandy said looking around to see if anyone heard them, but everyone was too caught up in their own little worlds to take notice.

“Yeah, we are. A couple of evil aliens named Fine and Zod have placed innocent people in the middle of our little intergalactic differences. They have captured us and placed us in a bottle that I believe they have placed on Fine’s ship.” Zan explained.

“So, are you an alien too?” they questioned Chloe.

“Recently changed, but yes I’m an alien half-breed. I was in a car accident but Max and Zan saved my life and changed me in the process.”

“So, were you changed too Mandy?” Melissa said worried at the response she would get.

“Yes, I was changed as well” Mandy said.

“And you” Melissa asked of Brenda.

“No, I’m human just like you all, but I want you to understand my son and his friends and family are no threat to us. They’ve been living among us for many years and everything they’ve done has been to help out the human race. Unfortunately, there are some bad ones out there and as you can tell we are in quite the situation.” Brenda said and then turned her attention towards Zan. “Have you or Max come up with any ideas of getting us out of here?” He shook his head no. Then Chloe spoke up.

“How are you girls handling the whole ‘we come in peace’ speech?”

“I’ll keep your secret. This Max person saved my sister’s life and for that my family and I are eternally grateful. Now, it actually makes a little sense her ability to read minds. Mom and dad were really worried about this strange development.”

Both Ashley and Michelle mimicked their acceptance of their newfound information and agreed to keep it a secret.

“Good. I’ve got a plan and I’m going to need everyone’s help. First of all, how strong do you think you’re becoming Zan?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Do you think you could hold onto me while pushing out that cork up there?” Chloe said pointing to the sky.

“Yeah, I believe I can” understanding crossing his face. Looking up into the sky at the neck in the bottle where the cork stopper blocked their escape Melissa asked, “Even if you plan on uncorking this bottle, how do you plan on getting up there?”

“Well… I can make Zan and myself invisible to the world and then he can fly us up there and uncork this bottle which will allow us access to the outside world,” explained Chloe.

“You can fly. You’re the Invisible Woman?!” the girls said in almost a high pitched squeal.

“Keep your voices down, and yes I can fly.” Zan said and then turning his attention towards the sky he again pondered their escape. “Okay Chloe, let’s say we get out of this place, we’re still going to be miniaturized. What are we going to do?”

“I’d say we fly back to Smallville and visit with Clark and Max and let them know where we’re at and then we should return, so we aren’t missed.” Then Chloe turned to the group, “that’s where I need you all. I need you to cover for us and Mandy, we need you to hang back so we have a link back here, just in case something happens while we’re gone.”

They all agreed, even the three new inductees. “So are you ready?” Chloe asked pulling out the medallion she had hanging around her neck.

“Only if you are?” Zan said with a sheepish grin on his face. Then he turned towards Mandy. ‘Keep them safe. I’ll be back soon.’ Then he kissed her. Melissa’s jaw dropped

‘Of course and you come back to me.’ Mandy responded.

“When did you two become an item?” Melissa asked. Mandy just smiled back at her as Chloe activated the medallion and reached out for Zan, causing the two to disappear and then there was a whooshing sound and they were gone.

“Well, this has been a very weird day” Ashley said.

“Understatement” Michelle commented.

“Ladies and gentlemen, students and staff please take a seat” announced the principal, who was standing in the center of the gym. Everyone filtered into the stands, finding a place to sit. After everyone was seated, he continued.

“The first thing we need to do is to remain calm.” Voices started to erupt.

“Calm down please” the principle echoed his request. The voices calmed down, but there were still mumblings throughout the gym. “I know that we’re in the most precarious situation. What I suggest is that we send a team outside the school to determine our current situation and report back. Do I have any volunteers?” There weren’t very many volunteers, because nobody wanted to step out into the unknown.

“I’m going to volunteer” Brenda said. “We need to keep informed of our surroundings.”

“Be careful Mrs. Chambers” the girls said.

“I will”

Luthor Mansion

“So this is how the humans live.” Zod said investigating his surroundings.

“This is how one lives if they have high financial standing and power” Fine explained.

“This body I inhabit, who is Lex Luthor?” He said looking down at his human form.

Fine explained all he knew about the Luthor family as they took a seat on one of the plush couches. After his explanation, Fine found a remote and depressed a button, opening up the entertainment center and then depressing another button he turned on the television.

“This is Pam Troy of KMET reporting from the site where Metropolis Middle School used to stand…”

Kent Farm

“I don’t freakin believe it” exclaimed Maria turning up the volume on the television.

“What?” Michael said as Maria pointed at the TV. “What is that woman doing on TV?”

“Who?” Michael said clearly confused.

“I can’t believe it!” Liz said, finally taking notice of the woman reporting on the Metropolis Middle School disappearance. “Pam Troy?”

“Yeah” Maria said.

“She looks like a hottie” Bart said checking out the blonde on the TV.

“Figures” Maria said rolling her eyes at Bart’s comment, “She was like this in high school too. Always trying to be better than everyone else.”

“Now it looks like she’s found her way into our world again” Liz said.

“Clark”

“Chloe?” Clark said looking around, not able to locate her.

At the same time Max heard a faint whisper in his head. ‘Dad’

‘Zan?’ he communicated. Then he looked at Clark who he realized was calling out for Chloe.

“Clark, I believe Chloe and Zan have joined us.” Max said looking around to see if he could spot them.

“Chloe, where are you?” Clark asked as the group became curious and began to look around the room as well. Clark used his super hearing to zone in on Chloe’s soft whisper which was inaudible to the rest of the room.

“We’re over here on the kitchen counter” responded Chloe. Clark got up and walked over to the counter, followed closely by Max.

“Where, I can’t see you?” Clark asked.

“Now, don’t freak out” Chloe said and then she de-cloaked herself and Zan.

“Wow, I knew you had been miniaturized, but…” Clark said, pointing the two out to Max.

‘Hey dad’ Zan communicated. Max noticed his son as his fury for their enemies built up inside of him. How could they do this to innocent people? Kids? They would get theirs in the end, right now he had to concentrate on how to get his son, Chloe and the rest of inhabitants of the miniaturized world back among society.

[sdcheesehead]

Chapter 55 –Answering the Call

“I’m bored” Zod said. “All we’ve been doing is watching this box. These humans are clueless. Look at them speculating on what they think is happening,” he said pointing at the television.

“Why don’t we lure Kal-El out and educate these humans at the same time?” suggested Fine.

“And what do you suggest?” Zod said with a grin spreading across his face.

At the Luthor Inn

“Yo Lonnie, look what’s going down in Metropolis.” Rath exclaimed to Lonnie who was in the bathroom changing her appearance back to her normal self.

“What do ya mean?” she asked coming out of the bathroom, feeling more at ease.

“Look, someone made that school disappear”

“A whole freakin school?” exclaimed Lonnie as she turned up the volume. Nicholas, at this point, came walking through the door.

“Hey Nicky, boy. Look what’s been happening since you went on your little walkabout,” Rath antagonized as he pointed to the TV.

“And I don’t kill you, why?” Nicholas mumbled to himself, clearly irritated at Rath’s comment. “What’s going on?”

“Chill out dude. It’s all over the news. A school in Metropolis has up and disappeared.”

Nicholas joined the two by the TV and questioned, “Who’s responsible for this?”

“Was hoping you’d be able to tell us” Rath said. “There aren’t any more cousins from the hood that are taking things into their own hands, are there?”

Nicholas was actually pondering this question. Who else could’ve followed Khivar from the Phantom Zone? This couldn’t be his doing, could it? He would have to speak with him later, for now he would have to deal with these two.

“Did you find any of the ‘Four’ today?

“I stopped into this café and saw Michael’s human toy. I made myself known to her.” Rath said.

“I bet you did” Lonnie stated curtly. “I didn’t see anyone, and I walked all over this town.”

“Well, I spotted Isabel and this other woman walking down Main Street, but they were picked up by this military person. I’m sure I wasn’t noticed, but I still can’t figure out how they infiltrated the services of the military.” Nicholas stated, not telling the two that Khivar was also tracking Isabel. “Oh, and Lonnie it’s lucky you didn’t come across anyone because your disguise won’t work anymore. She’s gone and cut all her hair off and it’s brunette now” he pointed out to Isabel.

Disgusted, she changed the subject. “I think we need to get to Metropolis and link up with whoever is behind the school’s disappearance. If they can make a school disappear, can you imagine what we could do by putting our talents together?” suggested Lonnie.

Nicholas looked at her incredulously. Her idea actually had merit.

“Let me think on this. I need to take a walk, be back soon.” Nicholas stated bluntly and left the two behind in the room.

“He seems to be taking a lot of walks lately” commented Lonnie.

“So, do you wanna follow him and find out where he’s going?” Rath asked.

“Sure, what the heck” Lonnie said opening the door and the two ducked out, but kept to the shadows as Nicholas made his way to Khivar’s room.

Kent Farm

“Hey son” Max voiced aloud as Liz joined him at his side. The rest of the group gathered around the kitchen counter when Clark asked,

“What happened and how did you escape?” Chloe and Zan both told their story as Clark and Max related what they heard to the group.

Then Zan asked, “Has anyone talked to my dad?”

“I phoned him right after we learned of your predicament.” Martha stated. “He was quite distraught losing both you and Brenda in this incident. He was going to the school to stand vigil until the school reappeared. I offered our home to him, but he didn’t think he could do anything around here and wanted to be there when you both came back to him.”

“Has anyone contacted this Larek person to inform him what’s going on?” Chloe asked through Clark, “Maybe he knows something that could help us out in regards to this shrinking ray machine.”

Max felt so ashamed. He hadn’t even thought of contacting the Whirlwind Galaxy since his return and he should at least let Tess know what was going on too.

“Pete, I need to make another phone call, are you up to it?” Max asked.

“As long as you keep your medicine cabinet full of migraine killers.”

Max grabbed a couple of chairs and sat them facing each other. Pete took one as Max took the other.

“What’s going on?” Victor asked Clark in a whisper as Oliver, Bart, A.C. and Raya listened in.

“They’re making a long distance phone call to Larek, who lives back in Max’s galaxy.” Clark explained to the group of confused faces. “Just watch.”

Pete and Max joined hands as the connection was made. Soon Pete’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and then they focused again.

“Max, is everything all right?” Larek asked.

“No, everything isn’t all right.” Max said, and then in a hurried explanation, he explained their current situation.

“Oh dear, this isn’t good. I’m not familiar with this hyper force shrinking ray machine you mention, but I’ll make some inquiries and get back to you. Also, Lady Tess left with Cattivo for Antar, but I’ll try to relay this message to her as quickly as I can. Now we need to terminate this connection for your friend’s sake.”

“Very well, may the moons of the whirlwind galaxy watch over you” Max said and then the connection was terminated. Pete’s eye rolled into the back of his head and as they came back into focus Liz was holding out a glass of water and some pain killers. He took the glass, downed the meds and said thank you.

“That puts a whole new twist on the phrase ‘ET phone home’. So, what do we do now?” asked Oliver.

“Clark, who is that and when did A.C., Bart and Victor join the party?” Chloe asked.

Clark looked at their newest additions and said, “Chloe just realized we’ve got a few new faces among our ranks, so I should introduce you all to Chloe Sullivan and Brett ‘Zan’ Chambers, even if you can’t see them very well. Chloe and Zan this is…” and introductions were made. “They arrived here and brought Raya with them earlier this afternoon and I believe we’re going to have them handle infiltrating Fine’s ship.”

“Wish I could say you’re looking Chloelicious, but I can’t see you” Bart commented.

“That guy needs to find himself a girlfriend” Chloe said, as Clark said, “sorry Bart but Chloe’s taken this time too, by me.”

“You aren’t afraid of a little competition, are you Clark?” quipped Bart.

“Nah, but I know for a fact I’ll win this one.”

“Uh, guys. We’ve got some complications.” Martha stated staring at the TV.

“What now?” Max stated as the group moved closer to the TV.

“This is Pam Troy with KMET and we are seeing movement from the center of where the school used to be. Let us move in closer to see what’s going on.”

Pam Troy and her cameraman moved in closer to the epicenter of the where the school should be and out walks…

“Do my eyes deceive me or is that Lex Luthor. Yes it is and I don’t recognize the individual coming up behind him.”

“That would be Milton Fine” Clark said for those that weren’t familiar with the Kryptonian Brain Interactive.

“It looks like the military is moving in on them” Pam stated ducking behind a station’s van as her cameraman continued shooting the scene as it unfolded.

“What the devil is that guy doing? I told him to stand down until I gave him orders otherwise!” exclaimed General Lane. On the TV the army was encroaching on Zod and Fine when red laser beams began streaming from their eyes, exploding the tires on the surrounding vehicles and in some instances blowing the vehicles up. Soon artillery erupted from the military’s guns, but they just bounced off the two men. A whirlwind of other activities took place as well.

“I need to get there now!” exclaimed the General.

“I’ll take you,” Tara volunteered, “and I’ll meet you all there.” And then she and the General were airborne.

“Oliver, I think you need to get your crew to Metropolis as well” Clark suggested, “since we know where Fine and Zod are.”

“Team, gear up. We leave in five minutes.” Oliver said as his team left to get ready.

“Liz, I want you to look for this Illium 349. We’ll need it to return the captives in the bottle back to normal, once we rescue them” Max stated, as she nodded her acceptance and immediately went to work. “Maria, you, Lois, Jesse and Pete can help me.” They nodded in agreement to Liz as they moved off to another room to start their research.

“Sire, I need to stay back and protect the Queen” Mira said. “Cal will be at your side protecting you and the others.” Max nodded.

Then another scene unfolded on the television.

“Todd, are you getting this? It looks like some brave citizen is taking matters into his own hands. Oh, please be careful, please be careful,” she pleaded in fear.

Bob Chambers had had enough and broke through the police line and strolled up to the two men with no fear in his eyes and screamed out in fury. “You kidnapped my son and he fouled your plans and escaped! Then you had to go and take the whole damn school! What is your game Fine? Can’t you accept the fact that my son is going to kick your asses before all is said and done!! Why don’t you just give up while you still have your lives as you know it?”

“Who is this insolent human?” Zod asked Fine.

“That would be the boy’s adopted father.”

“Dad!” Zan screamed from his tiny perch on the coffee table, where he had flown himself and Chloe to be within proximity of the TV. “What are you doing?” Chloe was trying to comfort him the best that she could.

“Well human, I would like to invite your son to our little party and see this ass kicking I’m supposed to be getting” Zod antagonized with mirth filling every syllable he spoke. "And while he’s at it, he might as well bring Kal-El, for I will bring them both to their knees.”

Laughter erupted from Fine and Zod as fury continued to build up inside Bob. The next scene took everyone by shock. Bob charged the two, but with a flick of Zod’s hand, he was sent flying backwards through the air. He landed fifty feet away, right in front of Pam Troy’s cameraman.

“Nooooooo” Zan screamed out as Chloe tried to hold him down.

“Clark, help me. He’s too strong! He’s going to go after them!” Clark turned around at Chloe’s plea and reached out so quickly that nobody could follow his movements and gently picked up Zan, who was frantically struggling to free himself.

“Let me go!! I’ve gotta go!! I’ve gotta help him!!” Zan cried out.

“What’s going on Clark?” Max asked.

“Your son was thinking of going on a suicide mission” Clark said still holding onto the fighting Zan.

‘Son, you’ve gotta calm down. Your father will be okay. I’ll go there personally and heal him if I have to. Look’ Max communicated. ‘He’s still alive and moving.’

Zan looked towards the TV and noticed the camera was still focused on his father. His eyes were open and the ambulance crew was already there attending to him.

“Martha, do you want to join me. We’ll go to the hospital and check on him.” Lionel said.

“Let me grab a coat. And Zan, everything will be okay. We’ll watch after your father, okay.”

Zan finally relented and Clark set him back down on the coffee table. “Sorry for ‘man handling’ you but we can’t have you going after these guys on your own, especially in your current condition. But when we get you back to normal, I’ll be standing right beside you as we go after them. They will pay for every crime they’ve ever committed, I promise you that.”

“Kal-El, little boy, I’m waiting. Waiting for you to kneel before me, General Zod.” Zod taunted.

“He looks like Lex Luthor, but he calls himself General Zod. It’s almost, in this reporter’s opinion, like Lex Luthor has been taken over by some alien force. How else could he do the things he’s done.” Pam Troy reported.

A helicopter could be heard in the distance as the Justice League members entered the house.

“Oh my God” Maria said, checking out their costumes. “You guys look…”

“Hot!” Lois finished.

“Damn, why don’t ya’ll wear tight fitting, cool costumes like that?” questioned Maria.

“Yeah, I can just picture it now, running around in green costumes with big pear shape alien heads, with big huge black eyes and antennas sticking out of the top. That would be so attractive. We’re freakin aliens. Isn’t that cool enough!” Kyle quipped. “I think I’ll stay with this costume” he pointed down at his body. “I think it’s hot enough, don’t you Lois?”

Lois bit on her lip. The Justice League members did look very attractive to her, but she turned toward Kyle and said, “yeah, I like your costume too, and yes, I think it’s hot!” and then she kissed him.

“Well…” Oliver found his voice, “…my team and helicopter is ready. And if ya’ll want to join us for a ride to Metropolis we’re about to lift off.”

Max, Michael, Kyle, Ava, Mirek, and Cal joined the Justice League members and bounded onto the helicopter.

“We’ll meet you in Metropolis” Clark said as he took to the skies with Zan and Chloe following.

Luthor Inn
Inside Khivar’s room, Nicholas and Khivar were watching the scene unfold on the television as well. Lonnie and Rath were outside listening in from underneath the open window.

“I thought I told you not to seek me out Nicholas” Khivar sternly scolded Nicholas.

“I understand Sire, but that pod reject Rath actually brought up a good point. He was wondering if the ones responsible for the school’s disappearance were possibly related. I don’t believe they are related to us, but possibly acquaintances of yours from the Phantom Zone.”

Khivar raised an eyebrow as Nicholas continued. “And Lonnie suggested that maybe we should join forces with these two…” he pointed at the television. “We would become a stronger alliance if we pulled our talents together, but I wanted to get your opinion, Sire.”

“Who is this guy?” Rath whispered to Lonnie. “I’ve never seen Nicholas bow down to anyone, he’s usually an arrogant prat.”

“The only one I can think of is Khivar” Lonnie whispered back as horror crossed both the alien’s faces.

Khivar contemplated his next move and said, “Yes, I do know one of those individuals fairly well. General Zod was essentially the ruling phantom in the ‘zone’. Nobody messed with him. This other character, Brainiac I think, is the one that broke us out of there. Well actually he was there to break out Zod, but I was allowed to tag along. I think Lonnie is right, we can unite our forces and go against both of our enemies and afterwards, you can have your way with Lonnie and Rath like I promised you.” A wide grin spread across Nicholas’ face as reality crossed Lonnie and Rath’s. They got up from their spots underneath the window and retreated back to their hotel room.

“He’s going to wipe us off the face of this planet! We’ll never get back to our home world” Rath said.

“But, we’re not going to let that happen, are we?” Lonnie said. “We’re one step ahead of him this time. We survived the sewers of New York without anyone’s help and we’ll survive whatever he sends our way. Let’s just see how this pans out and then we’ll split if our chance of getting back home doesn’t present itself.”

Rath agreed as the two waited for Nicholas to return from his ‘walk’.

Metropolis

The helicopter landed on the rooftop of Oliver Queen’s penthouse apartment and they departed the helicopter and entered Oliver’s apartment.

“Dang, check out the digs!” Kyle said, looking around Oliver’s apartment.

“Yeah, Ollie here likes his toys” A.C. quipped.

“Clark, Zan and Chloe should be here soon.” Max stated as Clark flew onto the rooftop, followed closely by Zan and Chloe, who landed on Oliver’s desk.

“So, this is where we divide and conquer” Bart stated.

“Yes” Oliver said, “But first I want Chloe or Zan to help us locate on this map where Fine’s ship is.”

Zan concurred with Chloe and then took flight. He flew up to the map and pinpointed the location of Fine’s ship.

‘It’s here’ he communicated to Max and Clark who pointed out the location of the ship. Oliver and his crew examined the map further and developed their plan of action. The ship was located on a deserted island in the middle of Luthor Lake, a huge lake that bordered the city of Metropolis.

“I’m sure Fine has his ship monitored, we’ll need to bring down his security first and then we can infiltrate his ship.”

“How do you plan to do that? Lex had that ship in one of his facilities and ran many tests trying to break into the ship to no avail. The only reason we were able to get out is because of our size.” Chloe communicated, which was related to the rest of the group.

“What you need to do is have Zan fly you two back into the ship and look for a symbol that looks like this…” Raya stated, drawing the Kryptonian symbol on the drawing board. “Use any means you can to activate this button. This should release his defenses, allowing Michael and I the opportunity to disrupt the molecular structure of the ship, which is basically an extension of the Brian Interactive. Once that is done, you two fly back into the bottle and we’ll come on board to retrieve the bottle, any linking systems and the Hyper Force Ray. Once we have it in hand Bart and A.C. can move the bottle back here while Michael and I can put the ship back in order and Oliver can tag the ship so we’ll know where it goes from here.”

Everyone looked up a Raya, amazed at her ability to come up with a suitable plan. She just looked at them and smiled saying, “time in the Phantom Zone strengthens a girl’s resolve of getting out of sticky situations, especially when you have Phantom’s knocking on your door all the time.”

“And the rest of us will answer Zod’s call” Max said, looking over at Clark. “Are you ready Kal-El?”

“Let’s go” Clark responded.

[sdcheesehead]

Timelord 31, dreammaster and Alien Friend...thanks you so much for your feedback I like Raya and I think her time on the show was very limited, so I wanted her to show off a bit in front of the JLA. Don't want to give too much away about Bob, but I won't be addressing his situation in this chapter. This chapter is short and sweet and I hope you like it

Chapter 56 – The Bug is in the Wall

A.C. crept along the shoreline of the unnamed land mass in the middle of Luthor Lake. He was the first to arrive, as planned, so he could give the team the exact coordinates of Fine’s ship. After swimming halfway around the island, he found the object of their mission and radioed back,

“Aquaman to Watchtower, target has been located and I’m relaying the exact coordinates to you now.”

“Roger Aquaman. Stand by for further instructions.” Kyle stated over the microphone. “I’ve always wanted to say that,” he said with a boyish grin, as he forwarded the information to Oliver, or as he’s called in costume, the Green Arrow.

“Okay, we’ve got the exact coordinates, let’s move out,” Oliver commanded as he pushed the throttle forward on his Stealth 540 jet boat. In no time, they were across the lake as he pulled back on the throttle, bringing the boat to a stop. They coasted for a while until A.C. popped his head out of the water.

“What took you so long?” he stated with a grin across his face and then putting his game face back on he said, “It’s over here” and he dove into the water and directed the group to the shoreline, where Oliver docked his boat and they each disembarked. Just up the shoreline laid Fine’s ship.

“Wow, I never thought I’d see a real spaceship. It almost looks like one of our fighters” Victor stated in awe as he moved through the sand.

“I’ll have to give Fine his props. That’s quite the impressive machine.” Bart stated and then turning to the group he asked, “Do you think they’ve made it back on board?”

“Not yet, we’ll have to wait for the signal” Raya said cryptically, “Once that happens, you better be ready, because we won’t have much time to deactivate the ship’s defenses before Fine is alerted to our presence.” The group was clearly confused now, especially since nothing was mentioned about a signal being used to announce when Chloe and Zan’s task was completed and what did she mean about being ready? They were ready to go, but what kind of trouble were they getting themselves into? And what kind of button were Chloe and Zan going to be pressing? These were just a few questions running through the team member’s minds, but they quietly sat back and watched the ominous black ship, awaiting the mysterious signal.

Chloe and Zan had no problem getting back on board the ship. Zan flew them back through the same hole they had escaped out of. He landed them on the ship’s console, then Chloe took out a small slip of paper where she had inscribed the symbol Raya had shown them.

“What we’re looking for looks like this?” she instructed Zan as they both panned the console for the Kryptonian marking.

“I wonder what that symbol means,” Zan wondered.

“I’m not sure, my Kryptonian is a little rusty, but I don’t remember ever seeing this symbol in my growing dictionary” Chloe said, curious about the symbol’s meaning as well. “I’ll have to ask them later,”

“Chloe, there…” Zan said pointing to a big red button inscribed with the symbol. “Now, it’s a question of how to depress it.”

“Use your head Zan” Chloe suggested.

“I am, but I can’t see anything around here that we can use” Zan said, still searching the ship for a means.

“No Zan. You don’t understand. Use your head. If you’re as invincible as Clark you can’t be hurt. Take a flying leap and hit it straight on with your head.”

Zan acknowledged her idea and flew over to the opposite end of the room and began flying at full speed, tucking his head slightly in as he got closer. He hit the button head on, literally. All of a sudden there was a hiss and then a high pitched squeal, inaudible to humans, which began to fill the ship while flashing a blue light.

“Oh my God, I think we hit the wrong button” squealed Chloe in a panic. “What do we do now?”

Zan looked around. “We stay with the plan. I’ll fly you back into the bottle and we’ll wait.”

He had definitely matured in the short time she had known him. She nodded, still panicking over the sudden activities that were encompassing the spaceship. Zan picked her up as she activated her medallion, cloaking them in the process, and he flew them back into the bottle. In the process he re-corked the bottle and then he landed them just outside the school. They walked cloaked into the gym, until they found Mandy, her sister and her friends.

Chloe uncloaked Zan and herself, sticking the medallion back inside her shirt, and then asked, “Where’s Brenda?” The girls jumped at their unexpected appearance, but at least they didn’t squeal. Considering the headache she was getting from the high pitch noise vibrating off the ship she didn’t need any more high pitched noises to add to the mixture.

Outside Fine’s ship, the signal was well received by Raya and Michael.

“What the heck is that?” Michael exclaimed, his hands instinctively reaching up to cover his ears. The other members of the team looked around, confused as to what he was talking about.

“That would be the signal” Raya said, going on the alert. “Are you ready Michael, we need to disrupt the molecular structure of the ship.” Noting the discomfort Michael was feeling, she pulled him back to reality. Michael acknowledged her and pulled his hands down from his ears and lifted his right palm, as it glowed white and it illuminated a bright light which he aimed at the ship. Raya pulled her staff out and joined Michael and soon the structure of Fine’s ship began to break apart, enough for Victor, Oliver and Bart to go on board the ship to execute their assignment.

“Hit the Blue button on the wall” Raya called out. Bart heard her plea and rushed over to the ship’s wall and hit the blue button, which caused the alarm to shut off. “I hope we deactivated the alarm in time.” Raya mumbled mainly to herself. Michael overheard her, but chose to concentrate on messing with the molecular structure of the ship, while their team members were still on board.

Back in the bottle

“Here she comes” Michelle declared. “She went on a walk with the Principal.”

“Well, I wanted to speak to my mom and have her relay a message, but we don’t have time…” Zan said cryptically as he turned to walked towards his mother and the Principal. Turning back quickly he stated to his group, “find something to hold on to and keep close, we’re getting out of here, in a sense.” Then he walked up to his mother and said,

“Mom, I need the microphone.” She gave him an incredulous look. “Mom, it’s important.” She nodded and went over to the mike stand and handed it over to her son as the Principal looked towards Brenda with questioning eyes.

“Go on Zan” she encouraged her son.

He brought the mike to his mouth and said, “Testing, Testing”. At the sound of his voice, the gym became silent. “Hi” he said timidly, trying to gain his courage. “My name is Zan, or you may know me as Brett Chambers. It is very important that each of you remains calm, I need each of you to find something close by to secure yourself to. I’m part of a rescue mission…” At this declaration, the room erupted, but Zan took control. “You can sit back and not believe me, but momentarily it won’t matter. As we speak, friends of mine have broken into the place that is housing this prison we are currently stuck in and they are going to move us to a safe location. In the process of moving us to this new location we may get tossed about. If you’re not secured to something, then you may become hurt, so again you can trust me and secure yourselves or not. It’s your choice.” After finishing, he handed the mike over to the Principal, who was dumbfounded and couldn’t find his voice. Zan then grabbed his mother’s hand and directed her to their little group as they secured themselves to the bleacher rods with belts and jackets wrapped around their waists. As they looked around, they noticed that people were heeding Zan’s warning and began to secure themselves. The Principal kept on looking in Zan’s direction, after whatever was going to transpire took place, he was going to have words with Zan; they both knew the confrontation was coming. Then the room fell silent, in anticipation of the coming turmoil.

“Okay Impulse, you grab the bottle and life support system. Cyborg, I want you to tap into his computer system, get whatever you can and we’ll have our Kryptonian friends help us decipher it later. I’ll grab this Hyper Force Ray machine.” Oliver announced as they boarded the ship, walking through the walls that were currently being separated by Michael and Raya. It was like walking through raindrops. Cyborg went to work on initiating the on board computer system, as Bart found the bottled school and gently placed it in his pocket, grabbed it’s life support system and then got off the ship. Cyborg finished up retrieving the last of the files he could and was about to join Bart when he noticed a box full of some kind of strange element. “What’s this?” he questioned of Oliver.

Oliver came over briefly to investigate, and said, “I don’t know, but since were in the mood to irritate our alien friend we might as well take it, it may prove to be useful.” Victor nodded and collected the box as Oliver retrieved the Shrinking Device. Once off the ship, Michael and Raya returned it to normal and then turned towards the other four to see what they had retrieved.

“I’m going to load this machine onto my boat. Aquaman, I want you to take this box that Cyborg found with you.”

“What box?” questioned Raya. Victor opened up the box revealing the strange element they had found. “I can’t believe this” exclaimed Raya, “this is Illium 349. Granted, it’s in its rare form, but I’m sure we can extract what we need. Well done!”

Aquaman took the box from Cyborg, sealed it the best that he could and took off through the waters.

“And how about the bottled school? Did you find it?” questioned Michael. Bart gingerly retrieved it from his pocket and showed it to the group and then placed it back into his pocket. “Wow, and how are you getting back?”

“Running, of course.” Bart said.

“I didn’t know you could walk on water” Michael said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Nope, can’t walk on water, but I can do the next best thing. I run so fast, that I barely touch the top of the water. Almost like flying. Well, gotta go. Don’t wanna hang out here too long. Fine is going to be a little bit cranky when he discovers this is missing.” With that, Bart secured the bottle’s life support system in his hands and in a flash was gone.

“Well, I think Bart’s got a point, we need to get off this island before Fine realizes his ship has been compromised.” Raya said, boarding the boat, followed by the rest of them. Once on board, Oliver reached into his quiver and pulled out a bow and strung it with an arrow attached to a tagging device.

“Could one of you do your mojo thing so I can place this device within the walls of his ship?” Oliver asked looking towards Michael and Raya.

Michael raised his hand and disrupted the molecular structure again, leaving just enough solid material within the wall as Oliver aimed for his target and shot the arrow. Hitting his mark he pulled back on the string which was attached to the arrow releasing the arrow from the tracking device and pulled it back towards the boat. Michael returned the ship to its normal state, with of course the added tracking device within its walls. Fine would have a hard time seeking that one out. Smiling, the two boarded the boat as Oliver moved the throttle up taking across Luthor Lake, so they could meet up with the others at Oliver’s apartment.