"Incredible. Absolutely incredible."
Dr. Richards has been running tests on me for nearly three hours--spectrographic analyses, brainwave scans, all manner of tests for cosmic residue. Right now he's re-reading my DNA structure for the fifth time.
"I can't even tell you how many ideas your genome sequence gives me, how many diseases we could cure, how long we could expand the human lifespan. If Shakespeare was a geneticist, your DNA would be his Hamlet."
"It's one of the few gifts from my homeworld that I have left," I reply.
"Now, what about this rift you were talking about? You said it came right before I arrived on this world?"
"Oh yes, the most astonishing thing I've ever seen, and I've seen more than my fair share of astonishing things, mind you. I've seen wormholes open up between universes before, but never to such a degree as this one. I'd venture to say your entrance into this multiverse must have echoed through at least thirty other Earths!"
I'm not sure what's more unsettling: the fact that falling beyond the Source Wall could have such an impact on this other reality, or the fact that Dr. Richards is so used to this sort of thing happening. Granted, I've spent some time in parallel universes as well, but it's at least a little disorienting for a while.
"The rest of my colleagues are currently scouting out a handful of other parallel worlds, and so far they've been reporting back the same thing. Well, mostly the same. What's truly baffling is that even though the rift in this world has already closed, others appear to be opening, just as wide, some wider."
Other rifts? Another hole through the multiverses? That can only mean...
"Zod."
"Hmmm? Oh, that's right, yes, your counterpart who you claim fell through the--what was it? The Source Wall?--with you. If it really is him, he must be brought in as well."
I clench my fists, and steel my nerves for the fight. If Zod is on the loose throughout this multiverse, then I have to stop him before he does something terrible.
"You said you have the technology to travel between universes. Show me how it works, and I'll find Zod and stop him once and for all."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Superman."
Richards presses a button, and suddenly I'm surrounded by a web of red energy. Of course, a force-field.
"I realize the severity of the threat General Zod poses, but you must realize the severity of the threat you pose. We still don't know what kind of effects your arrival has had on the fabric of the space-time continuum, and further travel between realities could cause untold and irreparable damage. Until we know exactly what your coming here has done and will do, I simply can't allow you to leave here. Don't worry; we'll put a stop to your rival soon enough."
He calmly moves to the door, and I slam my fists ineffectively against the force-field.
"Doctor Richards, you've got to listen to me! Zod is a monster; he's every bit as powerful as I am, and absolutely insane! If you don't let me go, he'll kill you!"
Richards scoffs, and turns back to me with a grin.
"I've dealt with the likes of Galactus and Annihilus, and I've captured you easily enough. I think I can handle one more crazy alien."
He closes the door behind him, and I'm left alone. Richards and his team are going to get themselves killed, and if Zod finds his way to this universe, no one here is safe. Every second I'm stuck in this force-field is a second that billions of lives are in danger.
And God only knows what's going on back home.
MEANWHILE....
"He taught me to be brave, to stand up for what's right no matter what the consequences, and to always have faith in yourself and the ones you love. I wouldn't be the man I am today without him, and I'll always be lucky to call him my Pa."
Clark Kent stepped away from the podium, lifting up his glasses for just a second to wipe away imaginary tears. Only two people in the small crowd knew that the eulogy was just delivered by a robot. The rest, the handful of farmers and families who came to pay their respects, just thought it was a fitting goodbye from a son to his father.
Lois Lane had taken the last few days off of work to fly from Metropolis to Smallville for the funeral; the distance seemed so much longer when it wasn't flown at hypersonic speed. Over the last ten years she had been to the absolute strangest places in the universe, met some of the most incredible beings that ever existed, yet the small idyllic Kansas town always seemed like a whole different world to her. The change of pace in day-to-day living was so jarring, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't love it. Without the old man running the farm, however, the magic of the town seemed to dim.
Connor had flown in shortly after Lois. Although he wasn't raised by the Kents, he inherited the old man's name, and he'd like to think a few of his values as well. He tended to think of him as the grandfather he never had, and would always be thankful for the brief time they had together.
Martha Kent was surrounded by her few remaining friends, all trying in vain to console her. Her son may have been able to do amazing things that she could never tell her knitting circle about, but the man who really never ceased to amaze her was gone now. She held his hand and sat with him every minute of the way, until there was nothing left to do but say goodbye.
One by one, the old folks of Smallville paid their last respects to the late Jonathan Kent. The doctors said he went quietly, painlessly--just laid down in his bed, drifted off to sleep, and never woke up. There wasn't much that could have been done; over a lifetime of hard work and hardy living, his heart simply ran out of beats, slowing down and down until it finally stopped altogether.
The funeral was short, his mourners few but genuine. As the sun went down, he was buried underneath the big apple tree on the hill just towards the end of the family's property. As the crowds left and the family went inside for the night, the only company at the grave was a white dog in a red cape, who sat by the headstone and howled sadly.
As the rest of the world reeled from one crisis or another, Jonathan Kent was finally at peace.
ELSEWHERE...
"I know it's painful, but if I gave you anesthetic, you would be too sedated to generate the power I need. Think of it this way: you're suffering in the name of a far greater cause. Doesn't that sound much more noble?"
Strapped to a machine whose workings she couldn't possibly comprehend, Leslie Willis did everything she could not to break down and start crying again. Large slices in her body had been opened up to expose the nerve trunks and attach them to the device, a spray of coagulants and sanitizing fluids preventing the wounds from getting infected. Every time her assailant dialed in a new setting, the machine wracked her body with agony, pulling out the incredible amounts of bioelectricity she once wielded to terrorize Metropolis. Nearly a mile beneath the city in an impenetrable bunker, the villainess Livewire was completely helpless.
Helpless, but not powerless, was how the mad scientist put it. Her power was being put to use for something much, much bigger.
A nearly deafening scream erupted from a room somewhere else in the bunker, only to be muffled and silenced a second later. Livewire knew that Siobhan McDougal, the Silver Banshee, was going through something similar, as was John Corben, who had mysteriously disappeared some time after the battle with Nightwing and Flamebird.
"I'm going to try a few different power variances, just to get the three of you properly synchronized," said the man who had abducted three of the city's most feared criminals.
"Just a fair warning: this is really going to hurt."
A knob turned, and the underground bunker echoed with screams.
The weapon was nearly ready, the battle-plan already in motion.
While the city of Metropolis healed its wounds, Lex Luthor was preparing for war.
