Metropolis - Convergence (part 4A)
Chapter FOUR: CONVERGENCE
“Lois!!!” Clark screamed out as he struggled with all his strength to stand and get to her. He kept hoping to see the golden flare of light from her bracelet offering her some defense against the monster but it did not come. Why wouldn’t it come?
Then the sickly green flames died away and Lois hung limply in Brainiac’s hand as the monster turned to face him.
“Do not concern yourself Son of Krypton,” Brainiac said with its cold voice. “I have given you a gift.”
“A gift!?!” Clark cried out in anguish and rage. The burning pain of the kryptonite was nothing compared to the icy pain of loss impaling his heart and the fiery rage in his soul.
“I did not harm her Kal-El,” Brainiac continued. “I have made her your perfect mate.” He lowered Lois to the ground and as he did so she seemed to come to life, but as she looked upon him her eyes were not those of the young woman he loved, but were instead cold and harsh. “I give you L-El.”
“I see it all so clearly now,” the woman who had been Lois Lane said in Kryptonian. “This world is damaged and broken, Kal-El. We must allow Brainiac to cleanse it.”
“Put her back!” Clark demanded through the pain.
“You would take the flawed and broken child over the perfect woman I have given you?”
“In a heartbeat,” Clark replied as he fell again in his effort to stand. Another few feet more and he’d be able to reach the lead lined box and again seal away the kryptonite.
“Then allow me to show you what I showed her,” Brainiac said retrieving the lead box and closing it as it plucked Clark from the ground with its other hand. “Then we will see if you still disagree.”
A wave blue-green fire washed over Clark burning into his every cell as his consciousness was bombarded with images. Images of all man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, every petty act ever displayed was made clear to him, and every step of the way he saw images of Krypton, pure and ordered and ideal Krypton where such things were not tolerated or permitted. He was the heir to all that was good and great and it was his duty to bring that order and goodness to this twisted and evil world.
Then Kal-El of Krypton felt himself plummet to the cold floor beneath him.
“Are you alright, My Lord?” Brainiac asked.
“I am fine,” Kal-El said as he stood and gazed around. “Thank you. At last I see and understand.” His gaze fell upon L-El. “You have indeed given me a great gift.”
“But the first of many, My Lord,” Brainiac replied. “Every Lord must have his Lady.”
Brainiac floated towards the column of light at the center of the tower. Kal-El and L-El followed. “Yet, first a Lord must have his domain and so I give you this; your Fortress,” Brainiac continued as it floated into the apparently empty shaft from which the lights arose.
As Kal-El and L-El stepped over the edge they found their weight supported by an invisible force which started to lower them into the shaft. As they descended they entered a chamber that was, if it were possible, even larger than the first. Waiting for them in seemingly endless columns were formations of steely humanoids; each bearing the crest of the house of El upon its breast. As one the robotic constructs turned and gave Kal-El a Kryptonian salute.
“Every Lord must have his army and so I give you these; your Eradicators,” Brainiac explained. “And every Lord must have a kingdom. They will deliver Metropolis to you and once your capitol is secured they will bring you the rest of this world. Rejoice Son of Krypton for today the Dominion is reborn.”
“And my subjects?” Kal-El asked. “Every Lord must have subjects,” he insisted.
“The people of your city will not be harmed, My Lord,” Brainiac responded. “The Eradicators will see to it that they are well clear of the transmutation process.”
Kal-El seemed to calm slightly with that pronouncement.
“This is your servant Kelex,” Brainiac continued as it gestured to a small legless robot that was hovering into view. The machine’s goggle-like head swiveled to regard them atop its golden-hued body. “It will do whatever you ask of it and be your liaison and guide to the rest of the fortress.”
“Greetings Master and Mistress. How may I be of service?” Kelex said in a slightly tinny voice. Though clearly mechanical and utterly expressionless, Kelex still seemed far warmer and more inviting than the visage of Brainiac. Clearly a construct meant for servile work and not the needs of war.
“You have done well Brainiac,” Kal-El said. “Proceed.” He then turned to L-El and his servant Kelex. “I would very much like to see the rest of my domain. Show me my fortress.”
“As you wish Master,” Kelex replied as it led Kal-El and L-El again to the column of light which the three of them were lifted up and out of sight.
When they were gone Brainiac turned to the Eradicators. “Gather up the humans,” it said. “Destroy any who resist.”
As Jim looked out of the convenience store window he could see that night was falling in the city of Metropolis. Yet with the glow from the energy wall the city remained in an eerie twilight. Power had been cut to the city at some point; though whether that was the doing of the military or of Superman’s forces Jim didn’t know. The streets beyond the window were derelict of life. Anyone with half a brain was doing what Jim was and holing up wherever they could find.
At the moment that meant a convenience store that had been broken into earlier in the day. He and about a half dozen other people had taken refuge here from the crazed gangs that had been roaming the streets earlier; though it appeared even they had gone to ground with nightfall. All things considered the place he and the others he’d ran into had chosen to whole up could have been a lot worse. The front window was busted out and the register and cigarettes looted, but there was plenty of food and drinks left, albeit mostly of the chips and pop variety.
“You want anything?” Jim asked a pretty young woman named Vicky as he offered her a bag of chips and some beef jerky. Vicky just shook her head, her curly brown ponytail wagging behind her. Her brown eyes were as wide as soup plates from fear. Across from her another woman named Amy held her five year old son Nathan close, doing her best to quiet the small child’s fearful crying.
Jim slid down onto the floor next to Vicky. “I’m sure everything will be fine,” he said without much conviction. Vicky just nodded and turned back to watching the front window.
The truth of the matter was that, with the exception of the energy wall, his fellow men had done far more damage to the city of Metropolis than Superman or his servant Brainiac had. What was it about humanity that tended towards self-destruction?
Yet, for every idiot out breaking things, there were probably a dozen more just like Vicky and himself just trying to stay out of harm’s way and help those that they could. It was just that the idiots were so loud that all you noticed was them and not all the good going on in the background. There was a lesson about journalism in that thought somewhere, Jim decided.
Jim again flipped out his camera phone and turned it on. The signal strength was about half, but that he was getting any signal at all Jim considered amazing. If only he had someone to call or, more accurately, something to report in. So instead he flipped the mode over to camera, turned it around to face him and Vicky and snapped a picture for no reason other than to do something other than just sit and wait. He then snapped a picture of Amy and Nathan.
Jim loved photography even more than he did writing. While it wasn’t entirely true that a picture was always worth a thousand words when it came to conveying the news, a good picture often made the difference between an average story and the front page. It could set the mood for an entire piece, which was why, despite the article itself now having obviously been discredited, the picture he had supplied to Lois and Clark’s first article on Superman was still one of his favorites.
He was just sitting there ruminating when the dull hum intruded on his consciousness. Looking up at the window it seemed as if the very air was shuddering in anticipation. Getting up, Jim ran to the window for a better look. Moments later the sky in the distance tore open with a brilliant light as what looked to be another wall of energy hundreds of feet tall and equally as wide erupted into the sky.
Then dark shapes began to appear on the surface of the light; shapes that were racing outwards into the twilight like rockets. In the distance Jim could hear a steady noise like the steady beat of a drum. It took him only a moment to place it, it was the sound of marching feet; a lot of them.
Jim fell back and lost his balance as a metallic form dropped out of the sky in front of the convenience store. It was not lost on Jim that the only distinctive marking on the robotic creature before him was a crest that looked very much like Superman’s, only with a figure eight in place of the ‘S.’
“You will come,” the construct intoned with a booming metallic monotone. In response one of the other occupants Jim had been holed up with, a burly man that he’d gathered was named Ed, charged the construct with a metal pipe. He never reached it. The construct’s eyes flared and Ed burst into flames so intense that in moments there was nothing left but char covered bones. Jim could hear Vicky, Amy and Nathan cry out in panic while one of the other men in back cursed.
“You will come,” the construct repeated in the same flat monotone.
“Right then,” Jim said as he picked himself up off the ground. “We’ll come.”
As he moved towards entrance and beckoned the others to follow he again pulled out his camera phone and wondered if the creature would allow him to use it or if he would share Ed’s fate. The creature made no move though as he punched the key for Perry’s cell phone on his speed dial.
“Perry, this is Jim,” he said as calmly as he was able. “Did you make it out of the city? Good, because I’m still on the inside and I’ve got a story for you.”