(Untitled)

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark's holding a box, though all that's visible inside is some kind of red fabric. He looks contemplative, which is nothing unusual. "How do you know if the time is right for you to do something really important?"

((crossposted to dreamwidth))

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[museicalmarty]

Marty peers at the box curiously. Now what's in there? "I don't know," he admits. "I guess you sort of -- feel it in your gut? That works for me, and I'm pretty sure that's how it works for Doc too."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Whatever's inside seems to be wrapped in the fabric, hiding it from sight. Clark looks happy to see Marty, anyway. It's been a while on his end. "Hard to tell what's nerves, what's fate, and what's wanting to get it over with sometimes," he says, not quite chuckling.

[museicalmarty]

"Yeah, I hear ya," Marty says. "But hell, maybe wanting to get it over with is a sign it's time too." He shrugs -- he's no great philosopher.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"If that's the case, I may have been getting signs for years." It's a bit of a joke, and Clark's learned to enjoy humor as a coping mechanism, even if he's not the wittiest of comedians.

[museicalmarty]

Marty laughs. "Yeah, okay, point. But still, gut feelings are the best I've got." He peers at the cloth again. "Whatcha got there?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Oh. A gift from my mom. Who has never read one of the comic books, and still made this." Clark draws back the fabric, revealing what is unmistakably the Superman suit.

[museicalmarty]

Marty's just gonna stare for a few minutes. Then, slowly, he says, "Clark? I think you've got the biggest sign you could ever want right here."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"That's what I thought too, at first. But then I died and Jor-El - uh, the one in the Fortress - kind of chewed me out and told me I wasn't ready."

[museicalmarty]

Pause. ". . .You died again? You're making a habit out of that, Clark." Marty shakes his head. "What happened this time?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Hey, he does have a point. This is death number four, by Clark's count. And that's if you don't include the alternate future that he saw in Lois's memories. "Zod stabbed me with a blue kryptonite knife and I deliberately fell off a roof. It's kind of a long story, and that was the easiest way to get it away from him." He assumes Marty would've heard about Zod and the Kandorians by now - April's been spending a fair amount of time networking with their Nexus friends over the last year. Though she likely missed one or two in there. Oops.

[museicalmarty]

"So -- wait." Marty's trying to remember what he knows about Clark's insane life. "Did you sort of -- deliberately kill yourself, then? Or was death kind of a side effect to what you were trying to do?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"...maybe I should start over."

[museicalmarty]

"I'm thinking so, because i get the feeling there's a lot I'm missing," Marty nods.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Long story short... a few dozen clones of Kryptonian soldiers ended up on Earth. Including Zod and my father. None of them had powers until recently, something Jor-El did deliberately because he knew Zod was too dangerous to let him run loose like that. I had to use an artifact called the Book of Rao to open a portal that would take all Kryptonians with powers and banish us to another planet." The fact that he uses the word 'us' instead of 'them' is rather telling. "Blue kryptonite blocked the signal somehow and I didn't have the chance to get the knife from Zod any other way."

[museicalmarty]

"Oookay," Marty says, frowning at that use of "us." "So you deliberately got yourself stabbed so the portal would work on Zod. And keep him from wrecking life on earth, I'm assuming." 'Cause that's what Zod does.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Well it was either that, or I'd have to get far enough away for the portal to take me too, and then he'd be on Earth with no one to stop him. He got so caught up with gloating that he didn't realize what I was doing until I stepped off the roof, and by then it was too late to get his 'protection' back." He's not glad that he had to put April through that again, but if he had to do it all over again, he'd make the same choice.