Fic: Zodpreg, Part Twelve
I'm going to try to shuffle this one into my WiP rotation so I can get it finished. Someone tell Zod to be kind to me so that I can get to the end?
Title: You Have Your Father’s Eyes
Summary: Zod has set you up the bomb. Make your time. Only... the body he has been given to be revived on the plane of existance is PREGNANT, dammit. What’s an evil warlord to do?
Pairing: Zod/Jor-El/Lara, a dash of Zodana, Clex, Brex, Lexiac, plus Vessel/others
Rating: NC-17 because I’m a perv
Warning: MPREG. Twice! For this chapter BIRTH, although I don't crawl up in there, it's the main focus.
Spoilers: Smallville through Season Five "Vessel", Superman II, basic wikiable Batman and Superman comic canon.
Parts One and Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Part Eleven
Part Twelve
Earth
Present
Zod’s Tower
Clark felt like the most horrible person who had ever lived. It was worse than being stuck in the Phantom Zone. His last living parent was right there, crawling up into the elevator, dragging him along with his telekinesis. He had collapsed onto the floor and not looked over since, even when the elevator came to a stop at the top floor and the doors opened. Instead, he curled up around his belly and began to shiver, shake, and sweat.
Zod was right there, needing help, and Clark could do nothing. His eyes widened as the windows shattered and random objects began to shoot around the room. Then he felt as though he were somewhere else.
He was curled up in someone’s strong arms, gasping in pain, and something warm and wet was flowing between his legs.
“Hang on, Dru.”
“Jor, you… k-know. You know why… all the stories…” The arms tightened around him as his body began to shudder.
”I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Lara and I have.”
“Don’t. Please don’t.”
“The ima always d-dies in stories. You remember… every fucking… tragedy… the ima is dead or dying. S’why…” His body was suddenly out of his control, jackknifing up and down. The man was holding him still and kissing his cheek and telling him it was going to be okay. That their story wouldn’t end that way.
Clark opened his eyes in surprise. Zod had stopped shaking and lay still on the floor.
“ZOD!” Even speaking was hard under the pressure of Zod’s telekinetic hold. “Let me help you!”
“You’ve done enough.” Zod drawled sarcastically a strained gravelly voice, although he didn’t stir. Clark was afraid he would begin that horrible jerking from… whatever he’d just seen. “I can really… only give you one chance to kill your brother and sister.”
“I’m really sorry. I had to try. I…”
He stood before a group of men and women in robes. Before a man who looked a lot like himself and was glaring at him with a look of pure hatred.
“We must be unanimous in this,” a woman said. “We cannot have any doubt.”
“Forever. We’ve never…”
“Jor-El!” he cried out. Something inside him hurt, badly. Made it difficult for him to stand firm like he knew he must. “Jor-El, you have been known to disagree with the Council. You know that this is wrong.”
“I don’t know anything anymore… Zod.”
He felt his back straighten and stiffen. He felt foolish for having trusted his Jor to his own devices.
“The things that you have done are wrong-“
“They have been necessary. You know this. You know that you still need me. We must continue our plans or die out!”
Jor-El was silent and looked to the Council, who were unmoved.
“This is our chance. A way to start over and to make things better on a planet not doomed by our ancestors’ mistakes. We will start anew. We will progress as a people, but you must not do this!” he spoke firmly and without a sense of pleading. This may have sealed his fate, but he realized he would never know.
He looked out through the glass at those watching. He could see Lara sadly holding his child. The child they had spirited away with months ago. He knew, as the hands rose damning him, that he would never touch his child again. He could feel part of himself detaching from this reality.
His eyes flitted to Jor-El anxiously. The man raised his hand while looking Zod directly in the eye. He felt a sudden rage well up inside him. All those years. All their planning. Their love and their child together. Come to this moment of cold betrayal.
“You will bow down before me, Jor-El. Both you, and then one day, your heirs!" He felt himself screaming uncontrollably. “You. Will. KNEEL!”
Then nothing. Nothinglessness. The Phantom Zone. Watching Jor-El fall into Lara’s arms. Hold his child. Try to silence his cries. He could no longer help his Kally. He could no longer soothe or teach his son. And soon he would watch Jor-El and the others fumble, unable to continue their exodus of the planet. They would all die. His Jor, his Lara, his Kally. Gone.
Again. Like Kandor.
He was in hell. There was no doubt.
Clark fell to the floor, uncertain for a moment what was happening. Had Zod recovered? Was he ready for another fight? Clark steadied himself and stood. Zod was still on the floor. He was shaking again.
“What is it?” Clark felt a chill of his own at the perfect silence. He moved over to the pregnant dictator and gently touched his shoulder. Again there was no response. Slowly his put his hand to Zod’s cheek. It was burning. Clark focused his hearing on Zod’s heartbeat, no… the three heartbeats. Zod’s was throbbing unsteadily. The other two were moving very fast.
Clark couldn’t think about playing the angles or defeating his enemy. He crawled over to his ima, took Zod’s twitching, nearly translucent body in his arms, and tried to figure out what he would have to do to keep him alive.
***
Smallville
Bruce followed Chloe and Neveah picking up the meteor rocks wherever they could be found. It was surprising to realize that the solution to their problems was so abundant and not too far away. Although, it became more alarming the more Chloe explained what this stuff did to the human population. Why hadn’t the state of Kansas done something about this environmental hazard? No wonder Lex was starting to take matters into his own hands.
“So does basically everyone from Smallville have powers?” Bruce asked, limping along behind the girls.
Chloe creased her brows and smiled. “No, not everyone. I don’t. Lana doesn’t. Martha doesn’t. Lionel, Pete, Clark’s dad before he died…”
“But you said that we could find these in the lake,” Bruce pointed out. “And in the river. That should be contaminating the water supply.”
Chloe shrugged. “Then we’ll all get cancer and die.”
“That’s not funny, Chloe,” Neveah said softly.
“How did you get yours? If you don’t mind my asking,” Bruce inquired seriously, collecting as much information as he could. It was a toss up as to whether Lex would divulge what he was doing with the meta-humans. He was hoping to be able to sit down with Lex and really talk with him about where he’d been, not to mention some of the weird things that had been going on in Gotham lately.
“I don’t know. Born that way, I guess. I’m not even from around here.” She hefted the bin of meteor rocks she was holding. “How many of these do we need?”
“As many as we can get,” Bruce answered.
“We basically just need to make two bullets from these,” Chloe mused. “One for Zod and one for Ursa.”
“Is Clark going to let you do that?” Bruce asked.
“I don’t know, but do you think they’d ever be interested in making a truce?” Chloe returned. She dropped some more rocks into Bruce’s bin. He sighed. He was loath to end this by simply killing the enemy. He’d never gone so far… but if it came to murder or the survival of his species, he supposed the choice was already made. Not that it made him like it any more.
His mind was still churning on alternative methods of solving their problems, and having spoken to Chloe already, he knew hers was as well.
***
Zod coughed. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he began to dream. He froze, and he burned. He could do nothing but bow to the whims of the pain running up and down his body. Then through the haze of his fever he heard a soft, feminine voice speaking. She was pressing a cool cloth along his body.
“Lara.”
“No,” she replied, gently, concern lacing her voice. He drifted away again.
He knelt beside a small washbasin with Lara at his side. Kally kept slipping away from them, giggling and splashing in the water.
“Are you splashing your ima?” Lara laughed. “Do you want him to get in the tub with you?”
“He won’t be, but he might as well. I would get less wet,” Zod said, feeling a smile come easily. How could his people have given this up? He leaned back into her arms tiredly. Lara looked at him sorrowfully.
“Don’t,” he said then gave her a kiss on the forehead before returning to washing Kal’s feet. The baby sensed the shift in his mood and started to pout a little bit. “No no, Kally. Ima isn’t sad. I promise you, your ima is happier than he’s ever had reason to be.”
Lara said nothing, but watched her boys together, cherishing the moments. Zod knew she prayed her calculations were wrong, but she was too good for that to be the case. He might not live out the year. In the time being, he would spend every moment possible with his Kal in hopes he would remember him, and every moment possible ensuring his son had a future.
“I remember that,” Clark said softly.
“What?”
“I’m getting flashes of his memories, and… I kinda remember what he just remembered.”
“How is that possible?” The feminine voice sounded curious. Her hand brushed over his head. “I think he’s starting to grow some hair.”
“He’s psychic or something.” He couldn’t place the voice. “His hair’s white. That’s weird. Does he look different to you?”
“Well, another planet. He looks differently from Lex now, if that’s what you mean.”
”Show me!” Jor-El cried excitedly. He was practically jumping up and down. Zod took the younger boy in his arms, drew back a long lock of white hair, and pulled his love into his lap.
“We can go together,” he said softly, opening the box for Jor-El.
“What is it?” The boy’s critical eye looked over the stone.
“It’s something I’ve been making. You can help, too. It’s a stone that contains the information our society has accumulated over the centuries. This one, well, I don’t know about the others. I haven’t finish, you see. But this one can move one person’s essence to another place.”
Jor-El turned with excitement. “So when I go to Earth!”
“We can go together. We can both go in the robot body.”
“What would that do to us?”
“I’m not sure. I would say, it would make us all the closer.”
Jor-El grabbed him and wrapped him up in a kiss and hug. It might be years yet before he had to go to Earth, but Zod could practically feel Jor’s relief that he wouldn’t be going alone.
“Another memory?” the female voice asked.
“He’s going to come out of this, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know, honey. The babies will come pretty soon, I think.”
Zod felt an arm around his chest tighten. Someone’s face pressed against his head. It felt so much cooler than he was. He wanted to curl into this person and tried to do so. The body stiffened. The person felt alarmed. Felt frightened and terribly guilty. He opened his eyes but everything was too blurry. He reached up, searching for the face. He saw a pair of eyes.
“Jor…”
“Uh, no… Clark.”
He tried to focus harder and looked down at his body, heaving from labored breathing and covered in sweat. Suddenly he understood. He was in his bed, lying against his son, who held him firmly with one arm. Zod tried to break away from him.
“Wait! You can’t move. Not right now!” Clark protested, trying to pin his body against his own.
“And I should lay still as you try to kill me?” he demanded, pushing against his legs, which were bent awkwardly. It was then he noticed the human woman, with a tentative hand on his leg. He breathed deeply, giving it a firm glare. Its brows rose upward, but in concern. It was not afraid. As it might not be, watching his loins quivering in labor pains. He spoke to it coldly. “Mrs. Kent.”
“Clark came to me for help,” it explained calmly.
He looked to his son in disbelief. “You left to get this human. And you came back? Willingly?”
Clark looked embarrassed and unsure of what to do. “I don’t want you to die.”
Zod could feel it. It was true. He leaned back and tried to relax before the next set of contractions came. “I’m not psychic. I have telekinesis. It is not the same.”
“But I can see your memories.”
“Bearers have a mental connection to their children.”
“I never felt it before now.”
Zod placed his hand on his belly and tried to inch up so that he wasn’t laying so flat on his back. “You can’t sense anything in the Phantom Zone. And… unn…” Clark widened his eyes and tried to help him move. “I have been rather preoccupied with the thoughts of these children. Explains why I didn’t realize you were back.”
“You might want to brace yourself,” Martha warned.
“I can feel it coming.” He couldn’t believe he was allowing a human to midwife for him, but he had little choice at the moment, and it seemed to have a gentle touch. Perhaps it knew what it was doing. Though cows were hardly the same as Kryptonians. Nor were humans.
Zod could feel Clark’s displeasure at his thoughts, but didn’t have the energy to dampen them. He had to focus on keeping the babies calm as they exited his body. He could also feel how terrified Clark was at the prospect of him dying.
Clark cried out in fear as the contraction began, and the boy could barely hold his body still. Zod took Kal’s hand and tried to send waves similar to the soothing ones, which were aimed at the twins.
It was at least ten minutes before the pains died down again, and Zod could feel that the hurt inside him caused when Kal had shot him down remained and became aggravated during his labor. Martha’s hands inspected him carefully.
“I’m not a baby. You don’t have to coddle me like one,” Clark said irritably. Zod looked at him critically.
“You are not handling this well,” he said flatly, without accusation. “I am attempting to help.”
“Did you do that with my father?”
“His fear wasn’t screaming inside my head.” He writhed a little on the bed, trying to become slightly less uncomfortable.
“Sorry.” Clark pumped Zod’s hand.
“I imagine that seeing this ensures our line will not be continued through you.”
“I don’t know.” Clark smirked suddenly. “You decided to do it twice.”
“Not precisely a decision I was there to make.” He wanted to get up and move, but his injury was making all of this very difficult. It was perhaps too much to ask, not to be suffering from assault during the latter stages of his pregnancies.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, and stop feeling guilty. You did it, and it is done. I appreciate your help, but we are still enemies,” Zod said sharply.
“We… don’t have to be. I should have... I mean, I know you know, but I don’t know that you know I wouldn’t normally-“
Zod rolled his eyes. ”Oh, hush, child.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not a good liar, but…”
He was covering for someone. Zod smirked, realizing what must have happened. “That boy of yours got you to trick me. I’d be impressed under different circumstances. Considering what a position he’s managed to put me in, almost by himself.” He felt the children make a hard shift. “Ohh.”
Clark’s large hand cupped over the spot Zod was clutching on his belly, and he looked at him with worried, questioning eyes.
“They are moving… into position,” he answered through clenched teeth. Martha looked up at them.
“I don’t know what the best birthing position for your people is, but when the seizures stop… will they stop?”
“Not really. They’ll become less severe.”
“Oh. Hm.” It rubbed his bare leg absentmindedly, thinking of what they should do.
“Last time, Jor had me up a bit higher, using gravity to assist,” he told it. It nodded in confirmation.
“We do that sometimes, too.”
“Well, I’m strong enough to do that,” Clark said eagerly.
“I don’t know that I am just now,” Zod returned heatedly. Clark started to heft him up in his arms regardless.
“You won’t have to support your weight. I’ve got you.”
Zod resisted the urge to snort at the irony of helpfulness from the boy who had caused his troubles. However, he could feel the fever in him rising and couldn’t formulate some kind of reply. Clark saw Zod’s hips rising again and held him tight. Zod clutched his belly and tried to push along with his muscles spasms. He remembered that making things go along faster when he’d had Kal.
“You’re right,” Martha said. “I think they are dying down a little.”
“Hn.” Zod clenched his jaw and tried to keep his breathing calm. He could feel blood coming up the back of his throat. He coughed a little and tried to remain calm for Kal’s sake, whether he liked it or not. “We don’t normally do this…the mother usually names the child.”
Martha nodded and came up by the side of the bed to sit. “Oh?”
“Because there is never a guarantee that the bearer will live.”
“Don’t say that!” Clark wailed. Zod sighed.
“I am giving you information about your people. You’d should learn… and use a fucking condom,” Zod snapped.
“He’d better. I hope I taught him that much.” Martha said, sharing a smile with Zod.
“That custom developed before we began using birthing matrixes, in lieu of natural childbirth. It is a tradition we will have to break in this case. Lal and Same. Sa-may. Girl and boy, respectively. The mother gives the names, but since there isn’t one I will. And the bearer’s house name goes to the child out of respect for the sacrifice of life.”
“But I’m Kal-El-“
“Because your father is an asshole. You were to be Kal Zod-El.”
Clark certainly wasn’t going to debate that point. Instead he pressed his face against the crown of Zod’s head and steadied him for another set of contractions. It seemed like they were coming really close together. “Why was his name included then?”
“I wanted you to have the honor of his house. They have quite the history in sciences.”
“And your house doesn’t have a history?”
“Not really.” He paused and gritted his teeth. “They… send unwanted offspring down Below to perform work for the better bred. We aren’t given names, but we often name ourselves.”
Clark was stunned. “That’s awful.”
“I was never a fan of the system.” He was reaching the point of no longer being able to talk. He focused on his son’s arms around him until they began to subside.
“Where did Lal and Same come from?”
Zod realized that this set was getting weaker, but he knew they weren’t going to stop completely. He sunk into Kal’s arms and watched his hips buck involuntarily. “You mean the names, I assume, or do you need me to explain the act?” he asked with a bit of sarcasm.
“I would really really rather you not explain that.”
“Hrr hr. Lal is Ursa’s given name. It is from a clever bird in folk legend. A trickster sort known for outwitting and eviscerating her enemies. It rather… fits Ursa, I think.”
“Nice. And Same?”
“A repair drone I knew in Kandor. We… weren’t close, but he was… very kind to all he met.” Zod took in a deep breath, trying to ride the pain building inside him. He could feel Kal smiling behind him. Zod was genuinely surprised that he wasn’t hemorrhaging by now. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of it. The pain in his side had been constant, and there was blood in his throat. “I believe Lara chose your name from her last ancestor to travel off planet before the Eradicators made it impossible to leave.”
“You were trapped there when the planet was about to blow up?” Clark asked incredulously. Zod nodded and closed his eyes as his belly tightened and pain seized his back. He blew out some air and tried to breath in again. Martha was keeping out of the conversation, he was sure, trying to allow Clark to bond with his birthparent, but it climbed onto the bed and examined him critically as she would a cow.
“Oh, you’re getting close.”
Zod nodded again. She motioned with her hand, encouraging him to push.
“Come on, come on,” Clark urged unconsciously. Zod bore down and began to cough again, hard. Clark’s eyes bulged as blood trickled from his lips.
“Be strong, Kally,” he said hoarsely, mustering his energy for another push. “For us…”
“Ahh… we have a head of hair!” Martha reported with surprise. “White hair!”
Zod was pleased at that revelation. He curled into Kal’s embrace and continued to push as hard as he could.
“It’s Lal!” Martha held the little girl up for Zod to see. He felt relief as she opened an eye irritably and sent forth waves of confusion and crankiness. Martha wiped off the girl with a blanket and set her on the bed.
“She’s…” Zod couldn’t finish the thought. He had to get her brother out before he could rest. Try as he might to hold it back, the scream in the back of his throat broke forth. Something inside him was tearing. Lal wiggled fitfully in her blanket and started to wail.
Martha was quiet as it slid its hands inside him.
“Mom?”
“Hold on, sweetie.” It pressed its lips together. “He’s in backwards, and something’s wrong.”
Lal flipped on her stomach and began scooting towards Zod and Kal. Zod offered her a hand and kept an eye on her as she made her way forward.
“She… Lal…” The baby reached his hand and began to suckle on his finger.
“Wow.” Clark looked at his little sister in sheer amazement.
“Okay, I’ve got my hands on him, Zod. Can you push?”
He looked down at the human Martha, then he nodded to it and tried to bear down once again.
“Almost. Almost there. Okay… oh!” It cooed as Same slipped out. She cuddled the slimey, slightly blue baby in her arms. “Oh here you are! Aren’t you troublesome!”
Zod leaned his head back and muttered several profanities in Kryptonian. “Is he breathing?”
“He’s having trouble. It’s his heart,” Clark said in alarm. “It sounds…”
“Off. I can hear it. Kal-?” Zod whispered. Clark laid him on the bed and rushed to his mother’s side. Zod tried to sit up to look at the baby, but found that he couldn’t move at all. Blood was rushing between his legs, and he was coughing again. Lal scooted closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around the child and tried to focus. Tried to stay awake. He reached out with his mind for the boy child and felt reassuring waves coming back.
It was Kal.
“Son…?” he managed before losing consciousness.
***
Zod woke groggily, at first uncertain where he was. The bed was hard, and there were ungodly aches throughout his body. He touched a hand to his stomach, winced, then felt with his mind for his children. They were hungry and frightened.
He rolled out of the bed, only to fall on the floor, feeling a strong wave of nausea hit him, and shards of pain shooting through his limbs. What was this? He looked around himself in disbelief.
There seemed to be a line of green rocks around the edge of the room. He could feel the poison they maliciously emanated. The deadly radiation of the Green Plague.
He lifted his eyes to the doorway, where Kal-El was standing at a distance, his expression unhappy and resigned. Zod’s lips twisted into a bitter sneer at the familiar taste of betrayal.
“You’re just like your fucking father.”
Title: You Have Your Father’s Eyes
Summary: Zod has set you up the bomb. Make your time. Only... the body he has been given to be revived on the plane of existance is PREGNANT, dammit. What’s an evil warlord to do?
Pairing: Zod/Jor-El/Lara, a dash of Zodana, Clex, Brex, Lexiac, plus Vessel/others
Rating: NC-17 because I’m a perv
Warning: MPREG. Twice! For this chapter BIRTH, although I don't crawl up in there, it's the main focus.
Spoilers: Smallville through Season Five "Vessel", Superman II, basic wikiable Batman and Superman comic canon.
Parts One and Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Part Eleven
Part Twelve
Earth
Present
Zod’s Tower
Clark felt like the most horrible person who had ever lived. It was worse than being stuck in the Phantom Zone. His last living parent was right there, crawling up into the elevator, dragging him along with his telekinesis. He had collapsed onto the floor and not looked over since, even when the elevator came to a stop at the top floor and the doors opened. Instead, he curled up around his belly and began to shiver, shake, and sweat.
Zod was right there, needing help, and Clark could do nothing. His eyes widened as the windows shattered and random objects began to shoot around the room. Then he felt as though he were somewhere else.
He was curled up in someone’s strong arms, gasping in pain, and something warm and wet was flowing between his legs.
“Hang on, Dru.”
“Jor, you… k-know. You know why… all the stories…” The arms tightened around him as his body began to shudder.
”I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Lara and I have.”
“Don’t. Please don’t.”
“The ima always d-dies in stories. You remember… every fucking… tragedy… the ima is dead or dying. S’why…” His body was suddenly out of his control, jackknifing up and down. The man was holding him still and kissing his cheek and telling him it was going to be okay. That their story wouldn’t end that way.
Clark opened his eyes in surprise. Zod had stopped shaking and lay still on the floor.
“ZOD!” Even speaking was hard under the pressure of Zod’s telekinetic hold. “Let me help you!”
“You’ve done enough.” Zod drawled sarcastically a strained gravelly voice, although he didn’t stir. Clark was afraid he would begin that horrible jerking from… whatever he’d just seen. “I can really… only give you one chance to kill your brother and sister.”
“I’m really sorry. I had to try. I…”
He stood before a group of men and women in robes. Before a man who looked a lot like himself and was glaring at him with a look of pure hatred.
“We must be unanimous in this,” a woman said. “We cannot have any doubt.”
“Forever. We’ve never…”
“Jor-El!” he cried out. Something inside him hurt, badly. Made it difficult for him to stand firm like he knew he must. “Jor-El, you have been known to disagree with the Council. You know that this is wrong.”
“I don’t know anything anymore… Zod.”
He felt his back straighten and stiffen. He felt foolish for having trusted his Jor to his own devices.
“The things that you have done are wrong-“
“They have been necessary. You know this. You know that you still need me. We must continue our plans or die out!”
Jor-El was silent and looked to the Council, who were unmoved.
“This is our chance. A way to start over and to make things better on a planet not doomed by our ancestors’ mistakes. We will start anew. We will progress as a people, but you must not do this!” he spoke firmly and without a sense of pleading. This may have sealed his fate, but he realized he would never know.
He looked out through the glass at those watching. He could see Lara sadly holding his child. The child they had spirited away with months ago. He knew, as the hands rose damning him, that he would never touch his child again. He could feel part of himself detaching from this reality.
His eyes flitted to Jor-El anxiously. The man raised his hand while looking Zod directly in the eye. He felt a sudden rage well up inside him. All those years. All their planning. Their love and their child together. Come to this moment of cold betrayal.
“You will bow down before me, Jor-El. Both you, and then one day, your heirs!" He felt himself screaming uncontrollably. “You. Will. KNEEL!”
Then nothing. Nothinglessness. The Phantom Zone. Watching Jor-El fall into Lara’s arms. Hold his child. Try to silence his cries. He could no longer help his Kally. He could no longer soothe or teach his son. And soon he would watch Jor-El and the others fumble, unable to continue their exodus of the planet. They would all die. His Jor, his Lara, his Kally. Gone.
Again. Like Kandor.
He was in hell. There was no doubt.
Clark fell to the floor, uncertain for a moment what was happening. Had Zod recovered? Was he ready for another fight? Clark steadied himself and stood. Zod was still on the floor. He was shaking again.
“What is it?” Clark felt a chill of his own at the perfect silence. He moved over to the pregnant dictator and gently touched his shoulder. Again there was no response. Slowly his put his hand to Zod’s cheek. It was burning. Clark focused his hearing on Zod’s heartbeat, no… the three heartbeats. Zod’s was throbbing unsteadily. The other two were moving very fast.
Clark couldn’t think about playing the angles or defeating his enemy. He crawled over to his ima, took Zod’s twitching, nearly translucent body in his arms, and tried to figure out what he would have to do to keep him alive.
***
Smallville
Bruce followed Chloe and Neveah picking up the meteor rocks wherever they could be found. It was surprising to realize that the solution to their problems was so abundant and not too far away. Although, it became more alarming the more Chloe explained what this stuff did to the human population. Why hadn’t the state of Kansas done something about this environmental hazard? No wonder Lex was starting to take matters into his own hands.
“So does basically everyone from Smallville have powers?” Bruce asked, limping along behind the girls.
Chloe creased her brows and smiled. “No, not everyone. I don’t. Lana doesn’t. Martha doesn’t. Lionel, Pete, Clark’s dad before he died…”
“But you said that we could find these in the lake,” Bruce pointed out. “And in the river. That should be contaminating the water supply.”
Chloe shrugged. “Then we’ll all get cancer and die.”
“That’s not funny, Chloe,” Neveah said softly.
“How did you get yours? If you don’t mind my asking,” Bruce inquired seriously, collecting as much information as he could. It was a toss up as to whether Lex would divulge what he was doing with the meta-humans. He was hoping to be able to sit down with Lex and really talk with him about where he’d been, not to mention some of the weird things that had been going on in Gotham lately.
“I don’t know. Born that way, I guess. I’m not even from around here.” She hefted the bin of meteor rocks she was holding. “How many of these do we need?”
“As many as we can get,” Bruce answered.
“We basically just need to make two bullets from these,” Chloe mused. “One for Zod and one for Ursa.”
“Is Clark going to let you do that?” Bruce asked.
“I don’t know, but do you think they’d ever be interested in making a truce?” Chloe returned. She dropped some more rocks into Bruce’s bin. He sighed. He was loath to end this by simply killing the enemy. He’d never gone so far… but if it came to murder or the survival of his species, he supposed the choice was already made. Not that it made him like it any more.
His mind was still churning on alternative methods of solving their problems, and having spoken to Chloe already, he knew hers was as well.
***
Zod coughed. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he began to dream. He froze, and he burned. He could do nothing but bow to the whims of the pain running up and down his body. Then through the haze of his fever he heard a soft, feminine voice speaking. She was pressing a cool cloth along his body.
“Lara.”
“No,” she replied, gently, concern lacing her voice. He drifted away again.
He knelt beside a small washbasin with Lara at his side. Kally kept slipping away from them, giggling and splashing in the water.
“Are you splashing your ima?” Lara laughed. “Do you want him to get in the tub with you?”
“He won’t be, but he might as well. I would get less wet,” Zod said, feeling a smile come easily. How could his people have given this up? He leaned back into her arms tiredly. Lara looked at him sorrowfully.
“Don’t,” he said then gave her a kiss on the forehead before returning to washing Kal’s feet. The baby sensed the shift in his mood and started to pout a little bit. “No no, Kally. Ima isn’t sad. I promise you, your ima is happier than he’s ever had reason to be.”
Lara said nothing, but watched her boys together, cherishing the moments. Zod knew she prayed her calculations were wrong, but she was too good for that to be the case. He might not live out the year. In the time being, he would spend every moment possible with his Kal in hopes he would remember him, and every moment possible ensuring his son had a future.
“I remember that,” Clark said softly.
“What?”
“I’m getting flashes of his memories, and… I kinda remember what he just remembered.”
“How is that possible?” The feminine voice sounded curious. Her hand brushed over his head. “I think he’s starting to grow some hair.”
“He’s psychic or something.” He couldn’t place the voice. “His hair’s white. That’s weird. Does he look different to you?”
“Well, another planet. He looks differently from Lex now, if that’s what you mean.”
”Show me!” Jor-El cried excitedly. He was practically jumping up and down. Zod took the younger boy in his arms, drew back a long lock of white hair, and pulled his love into his lap.
“We can go together,” he said softly, opening the box for Jor-El.
“What is it?” The boy’s critical eye looked over the stone.
“It’s something I’ve been making. You can help, too. It’s a stone that contains the information our society has accumulated over the centuries. This one, well, I don’t know about the others. I haven’t finish, you see. But this one can move one person’s essence to another place.”
Jor-El turned with excitement. “So when I go to Earth!”
“We can go together. We can both go in the robot body.”
“What would that do to us?”
“I’m not sure. I would say, it would make us all the closer.”
Jor-El grabbed him and wrapped him up in a kiss and hug. It might be years yet before he had to go to Earth, but Zod could practically feel Jor’s relief that he wouldn’t be going alone.
“Another memory?” the female voice asked.
“He’s going to come out of this, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know, honey. The babies will come pretty soon, I think.”
Zod felt an arm around his chest tighten. Someone’s face pressed against his head. It felt so much cooler than he was. He wanted to curl into this person and tried to do so. The body stiffened. The person felt alarmed. Felt frightened and terribly guilty. He opened his eyes but everything was too blurry. He reached up, searching for the face. He saw a pair of eyes.
“Jor…”
“Uh, no… Clark.”
He tried to focus harder and looked down at his body, heaving from labored breathing and covered in sweat. Suddenly he understood. He was in his bed, lying against his son, who held him firmly with one arm. Zod tried to break away from him.
“Wait! You can’t move. Not right now!” Clark protested, trying to pin his body against his own.
“And I should lay still as you try to kill me?” he demanded, pushing against his legs, which were bent awkwardly. It was then he noticed the human woman, with a tentative hand on his leg. He breathed deeply, giving it a firm glare. Its brows rose upward, but in concern. It was not afraid. As it might not be, watching his loins quivering in labor pains. He spoke to it coldly. “Mrs. Kent.”
“Clark came to me for help,” it explained calmly.
He looked to his son in disbelief. “You left to get this human. And you came back? Willingly?”
Clark looked embarrassed and unsure of what to do. “I don’t want you to die.”
Zod could feel it. It was true. He leaned back and tried to relax before the next set of contractions came. “I’m not psychic. I have telekinesis. It is not the same.”
“But I can see your memories.”
“Bearers have a mental connection to their children.”
“I never felt it before now.”
Zod placed his hand on his belly and tried to inch up so that he wasn’t laying so flat on his back. “You can’t sense anything in the Phantom Zone. And… unn…” Clark widened his eyes and tried to help him move. “I have been rather preoccupied with the thoughts of these children. Explains why I didn’t realize you were back.”
“You might want to brace yourself,” Martha warned.
“I can feel it coming.” He couldn’t believe he was allowing a human to midwife for him, but he had little choice at the moment, and it seemed to have a gentle touch. Perhaps it knew what it was doing. Though cows were hardly the same as Kryptonians. Nor were humans.
Zod could feel Clark’s displeasure at his thoughts, but didn’t have the energy to dampen them. He had to focus on keeping the babies calm as they exited his body. He could also feel how terrified Clark was at the prospect of him dying.
Clark cried out in fear as the contraction began, and the boy could barely hold his body still. Zod took Kal’s hand and tried to send waves similar to the soothing ones, which were aimed at the twins.
It was at least ten minutes before the pains died down again, and Zod could feel that the hurt inside him caused when Kal had shot him down remained and became aggravated during his labor. Martha’s hands inspected him carefully.
“I’m not a baby. You don’t have to coddle me like one,” Clark said irritably. Zod looked at him critically.
“You are not handling this well,” he said flatly, without accusation. “I am attempting to help.”
“Did you do that with my father?”
“His fear wasn’t screaming inside my head.” He writhed a little on the bed, trying to become slightly less uncomfortable.
“Sorry.” Clark pumped Zod’s hand.
“I imagine that seeing this ensures our line will not be continued through you.”
“I don’t know.” Clark smirked suddenly. “You decided to do it twice.”
“Not precisely a decision I was there to make.” He wanted to get up and move, but his injury was making all of this very difficult. It was perhaps too much to ask, not to be suffering from assault during the latter stages of his pregnancies.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, and stop feeling guilty. You did it, and it is done. I appreciate your help, but we are still enemies,” Zod said sharply.
“We… don’t have to be. I should have... I mean, I know you know, but I don’t know that you know I wouldn’t normally-“
Zod rolled his eyes. ”Oh, hush, child.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not a good liar, but…”
He was covering for someone. Zod smirked, realizing what must have happened. “That boy of yours got you to trick me. I’d be impressed under different circumstances. Considering what a position he’s managed to put me in, almost by himself.” He felt the children make a hard shift. “Ohh.”
Clark’s large hand cupped over the spot Zod was clutching on his belly, and he looked at him with worried, questioning eyes.
“They are moving… into position,” he answered through clenched teeth. Martha looked up at them.
“I don’t know what the best birthing position for your people is, but when the seizures stop… will they stop?”
“Not really. They’ll become less severe.”
“Oh. Hm.” It rubbed his bare leg absentmindedly, thinking of what they should do.
“Last time, Jor had me up a bit higher, using gravity to assist,” he told it. It nodded in confirmation.
“We do that sometimes, too.”
“Well, I’m strong enough to do that,” Clark said eagerly.
“I don’t know that I am just now,” Zod returned heatedly. Clark started to heft him up in his arms regardless.
“You won’t have to support your weight. I’ve got you.”
Zod resisted the urge to snort at the irony of helpfulness from the boy who had caused his troubles. However, he could feel the fever in him rising and couldn’t formulate some kind of reply. Clark saw Zod’s hips rising again and held him tight. Zod clutched his belly and tried to push along with his muscles spasms. He remembered that making things go along faster when he’d had Kal.
“You’re right,” Martha said. “I think they are dying down a little.”
“Hn.” Zod clenched his jaw and tried to keep his breathing calm. He could feel blood coming up the back of his throat. He coughed a little and tried to remain calm for Kal’s sake, whether he liked it or not. “We don’t normally do this…the mother usually names the child.”
Martha nodded and came up by the side of the bed to sit. “Oh?”
“Because there is never a guarantee that the bearer will live.”
“Don’t say that!” Clark wailed. Zod sighed.
“I am giving you information about your people. You’d should learn… and use a fucking condom,” Zod snapped.
“He’d better. I hope I taught him that much.” Martha said, sharing a smile with Zod.
“That custom developed before we began using birthing matrixes, in lieu of natural childbirth. It is a tradition we will have to break in this case. Lal and Same. Sa-may. Girl and boy, respectively. The mother gives the names, but since there isn’t one I will. And the bearer’s house name goes to the child out of respect for the sacrifice of life.”
“But I’m Kal-El-“
“Because your father is an asshole. You were to be Kal Zod-El.”
Clark certainly wasn’t going to debate that point. Instead he pressed his face against the crown of Zod’s head and steadied him for another set of contractions. It seemed like they were coming really close together. “Why was his name included then?”
“I wanted you to have the honor of his house. They have quite the history in sciences.”
“And your house doesn’t have a history?”
“Not really.” He paused and gritted his teeth. “They… send unwanted offspring down Below to perform work for the better bred. We aren’t given names, but we often name ourselves.”
Clark was stunned. “That’s awful.”
“I was never a fan of the system.” He was reaching the point of no longer being able to talk. He focused on his son’s arms around him until they began to subside.
“Where did Lal and Same come from?”
Zod realized that this set was getting weaker, but he knew they weren’t going to stop completely. He sunk into Kal’s arms and watched his hips buck involuntarily. “You mean the names, I assume, or do you need me to explain the act?” he asked with a bit of sarcasm.
“I would really really rather you not explain that.”
“Hrr hr. Lal is Ursa’s given name. It is from a clever bird in folk legend. A trickster sort known for outwitting and eviscerating her enemies. It rather… fits Ursa, I think.”
“Nice. And Same?”
“A repair drone I knew in Kandor. We… weren’t close, but he was… very kind to all he met.” Zod took in a deep breath, trying to ride the pain building inside him. He could feel Kal smiling behind him. Zod was genuinely surprised that he wasn’t hemorrhaging by now. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of it. The pain in his side had been constant, and there was blood in his throat. “I believe Lara chose your name from her last ancestor to travel off planet before the Eradicators made it impossible to leave.”
“You were trapped there when the planet was about to blow up?” Clark asked incredulously. Zod nodded and closed his eyes as his belly tightened and pain seized his back. He blew out some air and tried to breath in again. Martha was keeping out of the conversation, he was sure, trying to allow Clark to bond with his birthparent, but it climbed onto the bed and examined him critically as she would a cow.
“Oh, you’re getting close.”
Zod nodded again. She motioned with her hand, encouraging him to push.
“Come on, come on,” Clark urged unconsciously. Zod bore down and began to cough again, hard. Clark’s eyes bulged as blood trickled from his lips.
“Be strong, Kally,” he said hoarsely, mustering his energy for another push. “For us…”
“Ahh… we have a head of hair!” Martha reported with surprise. “White hair!”
Zod was pleased at that revelation. He curled into Kal’s embrace and continued to push as hard as he could.
“It’s Lal!” Martha held the little girl up for Zod to see. He felt relief as she opened an eye irritably and sent forth waves of confusion and crankiness. Martha wiped off the girl with a blanket and set her on the bed.
“She’s…” Zod couldn’t finish the thought. He had to get her brother out before he could rest. Try as he might to hold it back, the scream in the back of his throat broke forth. Something inside him was tearing. Lal wiggled fitfully in her blanket and started to wail.
Martha was quiet as it slid its hands inside him.
“Mom?”
“Hold on, sweetie.” It pressed its lips together. “He’s in backwards, and something’s wrong.”
Lal flipped on her stomach and began scooting towards Zod and Kal. Zod offered her a hand and kept an eye on her as she made her way forward.
“She… Lal…” The baby reached his hand and began to suckle on his finger.
“Wow.” Clark looked at his little sister in sheer amazement.
“Okay, I’ve got my hands on him, Zod. Can you push?”
He looked down at the human Martha, then he nodded to it and tried to bear down once again.
“Almost. Almost there. Okay… oh!” It cooed as Same slipped out. She cuddled the slimey, slightly blue baby in her arms. “Oh here you are! Aren’t you troublesome!”
Zod leaned his head back and muttered several profanities in Kryptonian. “Is he breathing?”
“He’s having trouble. It’s his heart,” Clark said in alarm. “It sounds…”
“Off. I can hear it. Kal-?” Zod whispered. Clark laid him on the bed and rushed to his mother’s side. Zod tried to sit up to look at the baby, but found that he couldn’t move at all. Blood was rushing between his legs, and he was coughing again. Lal scooted closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around the child and tried to focus. Tried to stay awake. He reached out with his mind for the boy child and felt reassuring waves coming back.
It was Kal.
“Son…?” he managed before losing consciousness.
***
Zod woke groggily, at first uncertain where he was. The bed was hard, and there were ungodly aches throughout his body. He touched a hand to his stomach, winced, then felt with his mind for his children. They were hungry and frightened.
He rolled out of the bed, only to fall on the floor, feeling a strong wave of nausea hit him, and shards of pain shooting through his limbs. What was this? He looked around himself in disbelief.
There seemed to be a line of green rocks around the edge of the room. He could feel the poison they maliciously emanated. The deadly radiation of the Green Plague.
He lifted his eyes to the doorway, where Kal-El was standing at a distance, his expression unhappy and resigned. Zod’s lips twisted into a bitter sneer at the familiar taste of betrayal.
“You’re just like your fucking father.”