FIC: No One Noticed the Cat (6/7)
Title: No One Noticed the Cat
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG13
Warning: Violence
Includes: temporary mpreg, temporary character deaths
Summary: Clark gets Lex a pet cat… that's not quite a cat.
Author’s Notes:
1. Continuity Post S3 finale.
2. This is a
help_haiti fic for
tallihensia, who has been awfully patient to get this.
3. The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correlation to the phoenix, and is pictured as a heron. This relates to reinforce the Greek --> Egyptian name shift.
Thanks to
cheerful_earl and
herohunter for the betas. :D
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France
Part Six
“Are you all incredibly high?” Lex demanded. He looked around himself, once again on the home base of the Justice League that orbited the Earth (in this reality through the funding of Wayne Enterprises). Having convinced Bruce that he knew what he was talking about in regards to the space/time disturbances surrounding Metropolis, they had gone to the Watchtower to use the computers there. Lex had hoped that being so far away from that damn cat would make it easier to block the creature’s influence.
Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case.
“The cat,” Lex started again, “is the Key.”
The members of the Justice League looked between each other.
“Wait.” Green Arrow held up a hand and looked at him suspiciously.
Lex wished that he hadn’t given up his gun when he’d come onto the station.
“Are we saying that the Key might have taken another form?”
“I will kill you,” Lex said impatiently. “The cat is the Key. Focus!”
J’onn moved in front of them. “I believe... Yes. The Key has disguised itself as a cat.”
“Yes!” Lex threw his hands up and looked at Bruce, who had changed into his Batman costume. Bruce seemed to get it, or he had, but the moment they realized it...
“Oh! I’ve got it!” The Flash exclaimed. “I think there’s some kind of connection between that cat and the Key!”
“Naturally,” Green Lantern boomed. “Don’t be foolish. But what kind of connection?”
Lex ran a hand over his face, then turned to the view screen. “I’ve calibrated the sensors to pick up what I was looking for when I was out in the MechaSuit. I think that between the two of us, Batman and I can engineer a ray to restabilize the space/time continuum, which will necessarily be directed at the area with the most disturbance; essentially, we will reset our universe and make it impossible for the Key to make future changes.”
“Why are we trusting him?” Green Arrow demanded. “He’s a snake! He’s just using the situation to his advantage to-”
“To what? Frolic merrily among the spandex brigade? You really are a fool, Arrow. I liked the Justice League much better when I helped start it.” Lex shook his head and looked critically at the screen. “We have bigger problems than our petty differences. Such as, for example, the end of existence.”
“And how do we know that you didn’t start it?” Green Arrow challenged, walking up to Lex and getting close, in what he likely determined to be a threatening pose.
Lex slit his eyes and glanced back at the man impatiently. “I’ve told you numerous times who started this. If you weren’t such a complete lackwit, then you would know.”
“Hey, hey!” The Flash zipped up to their side. “Let’s not get rowdy here! We’re all on the same side-”
“We are not,” Green Arrow growled. “Luthor is on Luthor’s side, as always.”
“Then trust that Luthor’s side is very much pro-existence,” Lex shot back.
“This fighting isn’t going to get us anywhere.” Batman approached the console and moved his fingers across it. “We have the means to begin, and I think Luthor’s idea is valid. We’ll have to make our decision and work quickly. The readings that Luthor brought from Metropolis show a serious degradation of the space/time there. If we don’t make a move before the space wears too thin, well...”
“We all go swirling down the toilet?” The Flash suggested, cocking his head to side.
“Aptly, if simply, put,” Lex replied.
Green Lantern crossed his arms and frowned sternly at the view screen, as though he could scowl it into giving them a better solution. “If we could use the Key we have locked safely away here, perhaps it could-”
“The Key is not in the Watchtower,” Lex snapped.
Green Arrow swiftly grabbed Lex’s shirt and lifted him up. “What have you done with it?”
“Oh for the love of...” Lex grumbled, rolling his eyes.
“Everyone should just calm down,” Clark’s voice boomed.
Lex turned his head and blinked. Not Clark, of course. Superman, with Wonder Woman and Gold Heron (aka Chloe Sullivan dressed in black and gold) flanking him. Gold Heron left his side immediately, heading for the console and looking to Batman curiously. Wonder Woman remained next to Superman, and Lex’s heart burned with jealousy.
“You can let him down,” Superman suggested. When Green Arrow did so, and stalked away, Superman asked, “What is he doing here?”
“Batman told me in his message that Luthor was here to help us solve our little ‘impending dimensional collapse’ problem,” Gold Heron answered as she brought up several windows of data at once.
“A problem, Superman, that you should be aware only grows in difficulty because it is impossible for us to remember the source of it. The moment we become aware, we forget, and Luthor is the only one who has been capable of remembering,” Batman told him, looking to his friend with the utmost seriousness.
“I told you back on the ground. Surely you remember? Or how am I here?” Lex raised a brow.
Batman shook his head. “I remember that you know. I remember that we talked about what was causing this, and we had to sew you back together in the Batcave from wounds you earned trying to fight the after effects of this. I don’t, can’t rather, remember what you keep telling us is the root cause.”
“...That does not put me at ease here,” Lex murmured.
“His calculations are sound,” Gold Heron interrupted. “I think we should get to work on this immediately.”
“I wish to know what Luthor knows,” Wonder Woman said, a hint of impatience in her voice.
“You won’t remember what I tell you,” Lex warned.
Wonder Woman crossed her arms. “Try me.”
With a sigh and eyes looking skyward, Lex licked his lips slowly. “Once again, the cat is the Key. It’s changing the universe to its own liking, probably by drawing in alternate realities where the desired effect is true. Our world is then affected by the ripples of this change, until everything matches, and we all believe that this is the way things have always been.”
He eyed Superman coldly.
“Did you say a cat was behind this?” Superman asked.
“Not a cat. Your cat. Mau.”
Superman paused and scratched the back of his head. “I’m sorry, but... did you just meow?”
“No, I did not just meow! It’s the cat’s fucking name!” Lex exploded. “I swear, you lot are going to be the end of me.”
“Our cat’s name is Dite,” Wonder Woman replied in a tone that was at once stern and gentle.
“I can’t be expected to know what changes you’ve made in your little love nest. I assure you, whatever name you’ve given to the cat, it is the same cat, and it is the cause of our troubles.”
“He’s lost his mind,” Green Arrow interjected. “I’ve always told you that the man needed to be locked up in a straight jacket.”
“You know, I’ve tried that once, and if you think that’s an insult, then I would really look inward a bit, if I were you.” Lex turned to the Green Arrow. “I’m telling you: You don’t understand. You cannot understand. If you can’t understand or even remember what this thing is, then you must realize how incredibly powerful it is. If we don’t stop what it is doing, we will all cease to exist. That is how critical this matter is! Would I be here, helping you, in a reality in which we are not allies in any sense of the word, if this were perhaps not a matter of the highest import in the universe?”
“Oh, God,” Gold Heron said suddenly. She faced the group, leaving the keyboard ignored as she touched her head. “I had it. I had it, and I just lost it. It was... I knew and it just slipped away...”
Batman touched her shoulder. “I know the feeling.”
The Justice League took a moment to look between each other, and in that moment, Lex could feel the meager ground he’d gained being lost.
“As much as I respect you, Batman,” Green Lantern said, breaking the silence. “Luthor has obviously found a way to trick us and confuse our memories. He cannot be trusted, not when we can barely keep track of what is true and what is not.”
Green Arrow grabbed Lex’s arms from behind. “This is what I’ve been telling you from the start!”
“Let me go,” Lex ordered. “I came up here to help you fools!”
J’onn shook his head slowly. “We must have confirmation.” “I agree.” Diana nodded. “Too often we have faced a foe capable of disordering our senses.”
“I respect you both, but I don’t agree,” Batman argued as Green Lantern moved to help Green Arrow hold Lex in place.
“It is a possibility, though, isn’t it?” Superman asked. He stepped over to Batman and put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s unlike you trust anyone, let alone one of our longstanding enemies.” “Then I must have lost my faculties?” Batman demanded.
“Don’t be like that.”
“Be like what? Our minds are just as sound as yours,” Gold Heron pointed out.
“But you could be wrong,” Superman countered.
“So could you,” Batman growled, jerking his shoulder away from Superman.
“We cannot turn on one another.” Wonder Woman stepped between them, holding up both of her hands. “And if we are to work with Luthor, we must come to a consensus.”
“We don’t have the time for you to get your act together on this,” Lex argued. He was still for a moment in his captors’ arms, but he had moved himself as far from Green Arrow as possible.
“I don’t know what the right answer is, but I defer to the Bats on this. I don’t want to wait around for everything to go tits up!” The Flash put in, even though it was clear no one was listening to him.
“We can hold him in a cell comfortably until we can come to a decision,” J’onn stated. He moved over to the cluster of heroes in deep discussion.
The Flash tapped his boot impatiently against the floor and looked to Gold Heron. “Guys...”
Gold Heron rubbed her temples, then looked up at Lex helplessly. “I’ll go over the data a few times. See if there’s anything we missed that could indicate an ulterior motive. Would that help us get to an agreement sooner?”
“Until them we’ll scan the station to make sure Luthor isn’t messing with our heads,” Green Lantern added. He pulled Lex backward, and Green Arrow nodded and began leading him out of the room.
“You don’t have time for that-” Lex started. The station shook ominously, and the members of the League braced themselves as the alarms rang through the air.
“See?” Green Arrow spat. “He’s trying to destroy us. This is a plot.”
“I... God damn you all!” Lex shouted, his nerves frayed to the very edge from having to explain himself over and over, from seeing Wonder Woman standing so close to Superman. “Please...” He noted the change in his own voice, the weakness, the begging, but it was no matter. This was an act of desperation. “Please, Clark, please. Listen to me. You have to remember what was happening to us.”
Superman looked on Lex with alarm and disbelief as he held up his hand for a moment for his friends to stop dragging Lex away. “What?”
“Don’t you remember any of it? The kids with us visiting at the farm, the Metropolis Angel, our little apartment, or the time you hired me week after week, and told me your first name was Jerome?”
“He really has cracked,” Green Arrow muttered.
Lex ignored the goateed fool behind him and focused on Clark’s eyes. “What if this is what it was supposed to be all along? What if the very universe depends on you and me? Working this out and realizing... that there are so many ways for us to live our lives... that we don’t have to be hero and villain, right and wrong, black and white? What if you could make me more than I could ever have been on my own? What if I’ve made you out to be far more powerful than you actually are?”
“Luthor...” Clark stood there in his silly skintight outfit and took a step closer to Lex. He tilted his head to the side. “Lex...”
“I can’t fix this by myself,” Lex pleaded in a bare whisper that he knew that Clark could hear. Oh, God, how he hoped that Clark could hear it.
The weight of Clark’s shaking head came down like an iron hammer, and Lex felt his insides ripped out as Clark stepped away from him. “What are you talking about?”
Lex felt himself going limp, and he was dragged away from Clark, moments before he realized that there were tears unshed in his eyes, and his last resort for saving the world and himself should have been his first, even if it was a lost cause.
***
Chloe moved her black-clad fingers over the main console of the Watchtower. The truly awesome and powerful hardware came along as a hell of a perk for joining the ranks of the League. A major drawback was that one had to get used to working in a team-- one that didn’t necessarily always work well. Both she and Batman had been hesitant to join for that reason alone (not to mention a few less delicate criticisms that Batman had), despite the understanding that Clark probably improved the intentions of the group just by being involved. He had that effect on people. She opened up a secured communications channel and waited to see if someone would pick up.
“Jimmy’s Fresh Fried Tentacle Sammiches, Moniquita speaking!”
Chloe cracked a grin for the first time that day. “Hello, Dinah. Is Barbara around?”
“Hey there. You think I’d be on phone duty if she were?”
“I think she’d have taken the comm from you by now,” Chloe replied with amusement. “When she gets back, tell her I want her to synch up with what we’re doing up here. Timing is really critical, as is doing this right. No one beats Oracle when it comes to the computer stuff.”
“The connection and access stuff, yeah. But you’re not too shabby with it. It’s like you two speak this whole crazy language. What kind of case are you guys working on?”
“I’m hard pressed to remember, but I couldn’t tell you if I could.”
“You can’t remember?” Dinah asked in disbelief. “She who remembers what color earrings the woman sitting next to the senator was wearing?”
Chloe shook her head and pursed her lips. Dinah would never stop teasing her about that case. “Hush. It’s extradimensional, mindwhammy stuff.”
“Huh. I think I remember Babs mentioning something like that. I don’t really... remember the details. I don’t think that requires anything supernatural for me, though.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Let me ask you something, as someone outside of this mess right now.”
“Shoot.”
“What do you think of Lex Luthor-”
“Could use some weight training, but not entirely heinous-looking. I do prefer redheads as a rule, though. Some blonds,” Dinah mused.
“-as an ally.”
“... I’m sorry?”
“I’m asking if you think, should circumstances be dire enough, he would genuinely help us save the world.”
Dinah was quiet for a moment. “Well. He’s not like the Joker, you know. He’s not all about chaos just for the sake of upsetting people’s sense of normality, or for a laugh. I wouldn’t trust him otherwise, and I might suspect that he was behind the problem to begin with... but if I knew he wasn’t? I think he might. He’s part of the world. Unless it involves Superman, he’s a fairly rational villain. The problem is that most of us aren’t on his level, so seeing the logic is hard. It’s hard to trust what you just don’t get, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. And... I think most of the League is under the impression that he’s just a chaotic madman and his motives can be written off. But having worked with enough people that would be clinically categorized as ‘crazy’ at one point or another-”
“PTSD really comes with the territory in our line of work,” Dinah added pointedly. “And then there’s Batman’s problems...”
“Believe me, I know. And I was around when Lex had a mental break. His second, specifically. He wasn’t hallucinating entirely different realities; he was revisiting trauma.”
“So back to topic... Luthor approached the League?”
“He approached Bruce. As Bruce. And he gave us a lot of really important information that I can’t remember what it’s for anymore. We fought in the main computer room, several of us, with Batman and I wanting to work with him to solve our problems, and most of the League either wanting confirmation that Luthor wasn’t involved or just his head on a plate.”
“Sounds typical. How’d the Green Machine handle it?”
“Um, Lantern, Arrow, or Martian?”
Dinah chuckled. “The goateed wonder.”
“Practically started frothing the moment he saw Lex.”
“Good ol’ Ollie,” Dinah said dryly. “So Luthor’s up there?”
“Under lock and key. I’m thinking of going to the cells and talking with him again, so I can remember what I’m supposed to be doing with this information.”
“Sounds like a good idea. I’d want confirmation myself, but I’m not about to sit on my ass while the world burns just because I don’t have all the answers right away. You want me to send Huntress out to get Oracle?”
“That would help, yeah. Thanks for listening, Dinah.”
“No problem. You coming up to visit us any time soon?” The innuendo in her voice was unmistakable.
“Heh. Maybe, when I can get away from work.”
“It could be for work! I owe you a few more training sessions.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Only you would say being covered in bruises is fun.”
“Kicking ass and taking names isn’t really my forte. Outside of the virtual world,” Chloe amended.
“I suppose getting whumped in training isn’t as much of an issue when you can walk away from your safe house exploding.”
“I didn’t so much walk away as lay in a government facility for three months while I healed,” Chloe murmured. It wasn’t a good memory for her, considering that no normal person would have been able to survive that blast. And no normal person had.
“Walked away. Three months later. Comparatively, I assume our little phoenix finds broken ribs a minor nuisance.”
“Just don’t break my wrist again. I need that for my day job.” Chloe put her fingers over the comm. “Okay, back to work. Buzz me if you can find Oracle, and I’ll catch her up.”
“Good talking to you.”
Chloe smiled as she rose from the chair to go check on their captive.
***
“So much for the power of love,” Lex grumbled from inside his cell, sitting on a surprisingly comfortable prison cot. Trust the League to make sure their captives had a good night’s sleep. Then again, there was a good chance that each of them through the scientific phenomenon of the ‘whammy’ would be spending some time in here.
He looked out the window at the Earth below. So peaceful. So doomed. There was nothing he could do from here, and unless Clark tired of Wondy and moved on to someone else, sending out a ripple that would put him elsewhere, Lex thought with bitter amusement that he would probably have a balcony seat for the destruction of humankind.
And he’d had no part in causing it. Who would have thought?
Lex’s fingertips touched the glass, and he closed his eyes, remembering the sweet smell of their children, and the way Clark smiled at him in the mornings. Had it been so bad to know that it wasn’t real? He could have lived his last days ensconced in the love of the Kent family, and especially that of his husband and children. And that stupid cat. He even missed the affection the cat seemed to have to spare. He’d been bone-achingly lonesome since he’d broken away from the Key’s grip.
“Always making the wrong decisions,” he told himself. It was nothing new, of course. He’d just imagined his end to be a bit more... explosive.
“That’s damn right,” a voice growled as Lex felt a wickedly sharp blade pressed to his neck. He froze. The blade had already bitten into his flesh, and he didn’t want to give it any chance to slice any more deeply.
“Who are you?” Lex asked.
An arm wrapped around his chest and arms, keeping him from moving. Though he wasn’t inclined to try.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Aren’t all of you supposed to be heroes here?”
“You were always a coward, Luthor. Always hiding behind the line we refused to cross. But it’s better that you’re just not here. I’ll take the black mark on my soul, if it means that the world doesn’t have to suffer the cancer of your existence any more.”
Lex blinked and again looked over their flawed, tilted planet. “How is that your decision to make?”
“None of your tricks, Luthor.”
He couldn’t recognize the voice. He guessed, but he wasn’t sure. They all had voice scramblers here, a multitude of tricks and doodads to hide their secrets. His pounding heart told him what his mind hadn’t yet grasped. He was dead already.
“Clark-”
The blade made a strange, swift noise as it cut through his skin, his jugular. Lex could hear himself choking on his own blood for a moment, just before darkness quickly came, blotting out the Earth and all of space that stretched before them.
***
Clark and Diana touched down on their balcony simultaneously. His heart was heavy. From the way she carried her body, Diana could obviously tell.
“Kal, it is done. If Luthor’s plan holds water, we will know by morning. Gold Heron and Batman are very adept at their jobs.” Her hand touched the center of his back, and for once it did nothing to comfort him.
“I know that. I just...” Clark turned to look at Diana. Strong, stubborn, beautiful, and impatient... Diana. He cupped her cheek and pressed his lips to hers. “Something’s not...”
“What is it, Kal? You know that you can always tell me anything,” she insisted. Diana wrinkled her forehead, then reached up to smooth the lines out of his with her thumb.
“I know I can.” Clark shook his head, then turned away from her, pressing a hand to his stomach, where something felt wrong. “I’m not...” Just wrong and upsetting, and he couldn’t quite...
As he stepped into the dining room, he spotted the cat. Mewing eagerly at his return, looking up at him expectantly. The world trembled.
Clark dropped to his knees. “Happy. I’m not happy.”
What if the very universe depends on you and me?
The cat walked up to him and butted her head against his hands, begging for affection. Clark pet her almost absently, and when he turned his head, Diana was no longer there.
“What... what is this?”
Clark’s eyes widened as he saw the creature before him, really saw it, for the first time.
Not a cat. Not... not anything he had ever seen. It was suddenly so clear. So bright. Perhaps the brightest thing he’d ever seen, and the most beautiful. He hadn’t expected an answer, since it had never spoken to him before, but when it came, it was as though the words had directly burned themselves onto his brain. Even with his natural invulnerability, he could barely stand the force of it, and his hands went to the sides of his head.
Why aren’t you happy?
“What- what are you?” Clark whispered, fear cracking his voice.
You know the answer to that. Why aren’t you happy? What can I do to make you happy?
“You don’t have to do anything! Lex was right. You’re destroying our world, changing everything like this!”
You didn’t want to be alone.
“I didn’t ask for your help! Surely I’m not such a lost cause that I need a trans-dimensional matchmaker!”
You didn’t want to be alone. You came to help me, and so I helped you.
“But... why a cat?”
It was a familiar form for you to rescue.
An unsteady giggle came from Clark’s mouth. Cats in trees. Cats in burning buildings. Cats in the street with cars. Cats being thrown in the lake, tied up in a bag. Cats being tormented by cruel children or kicked by crueler adults. What an imperious but beleaguered little creature it had chosen to be.
“You don’t exactly need me to protect you. Not even from those monks.”
No. They are no threat to me.
“You have to change everything back to the way it was,” Clark pleaded.
You still do not want to be alone.
And capricious. A capricious little creature.
“No, I don’t. But you have to change things back. You have to set everything right again, before it’s too late. Our world can’t take all these changes.”
Then make up your mind.
Clark rested his hands on his knees and averted his eyes from the blinding brightness of the Key. “I’ve made up my mind. But it’s not right for you to force everything into place. I have to get it for myself.”
Clark closed his eyes slowly, then turned his head and opened them as he looked straight at the key. His nose was bleeding and his head was throbbing. Few beings could have destroyed him without a thought, and this one, this one, had been content to give him the world, for a few strokes of affection.
“I’m begging you to change things back the way they were.”
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.
comments posted there. Please comment there using OpenID or your DW account.
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG13
Warning: Violence
Includes: temporary mpreg, temporary character deaths
Summary: Clark gets Lex a pet cat… that's not quite a cat.
Author’s Notes:
1. Continuity Post S3 finale.
2. This is a
help_haiti fic for
tallihensia, who has been awfully patient to get this.
3. The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correlation to the phoenix, and is pictured as a heron. This relates to reinforce the Greek --> Egyptian name shift.
Thanks to
cheerful_earl and
herohunter for the betas. :D
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France
Part Six
“Are you all incredibly high?” Lex demanded. He looked around himself, once again on the home base of the Justice League that orbited the Earth (in this reality through the funding of Wayne Enterprises). Having convinced Bruce that he knew what he was talking about in regards to the space/time disturbances surrounding Metropolis, they had gone to the Watchtower to use the computers there. Lex had hoped that being so far away from that damn cat would make it easier to block the creature’s influence.
Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case.
“The cat,” Lex started again, “is the Key.”
The members of the Justice League looked between each other.
“Wait.” Green Arrow held up a hand and looked at him suspiciously.
Lex wished that he hadn’t given up his gun when he’d come onto the station.
“Are we saying that the Key might have taken another form?”
“I will kill you,” Lex said impatiently. “The cat is the Key. Focus!”
J’onn moved in front of them. “I believe... Yes. The Key has disguised itself as a cat.”
“Yes!” Lex threw his hands up and looked at Bruce, who had changed into his Batman costume. Bruce seemed to get it, or he had, but the moment they realized it...
“Oh! I’ve got it!” The Flash exclaimed. “I think there’s some kind of connection between that cat and the Key!”
“Naturally,” Green Lantern boomed. “Don’t be foolish. But what kind of connection?”
Lex ran a hand over his face, then turned to the view screen. “I’ve calibrated the sensors to pick up what I was looking for when I was out in the MechaSuit. I think that between the two of us, Batman and I can engineer a ray to restabilize the space/time continuum, which will necessarily be directed at the area with the most disturbance; essentially, we will reset our universe and make it impossible for the Key to make future changes.”
“Why are we trusting him?” Green Arrow demanded. “He’s a snake! He’s just using the situation to his advantage to-”
“To what? Frolic merrily among the spandex brigade? You really are a fool, Arrow. I liked the Justice League much better when I helped start it.” Lex shook his head and looked critically at the screen. “We have bigger problems than our petty differences. Such as, for example, the end of existence.”
“And how do we know that you didn’t start it?” Green Arrow challenged, walking up to Lex and getting close, in what he likely determined to be a threatening pose.
Lex slit his eyes and glanced back at the man impatiently. “I’ve told you numerous times who started this. If you weren’t such a complete lackwit, then you would know.”
“Hey, hey!” The Flash zipped up to their side. “Let’s not get rowdy here! We’re all on the same side-”
“We are not,” Green Arrow growled. “Luthor is on Luthor’s side, as always.”
“Then trust that Luthor’s side is very much pro-existence,” Lex shot back.
“This fighting isn’t going to get us anywhere.” Batman approached the console and moved his fingers across it. “We have the means to begin, and I think Luthor’s idea is valid. We’ll have to make our decision and work quickly. The readings that Luthor brought from Metropolis show a serious degradation of the space/time there. If we don’t make a move before the space wears too thin, well...”
“We all go swirling down the toilet?” The Flash suggested, cocking his head to side.
“Aptly, if simply, put,” Lex replied.
Green Lantern crossed his arms and frowned sternly at the view screen, as though he could scowl it into giving them a better solution. “If we could use the Key we have locked safely away here, perhaps it could-”
“The Key is not in the Watchtower,” Lex snapped.
Green Arrow swiftly grabbed Lex’s shirt and lifted him up. “What have you done with it?”
“Oh for the love of...” Lex grumbled, rolling his eyes.
“Everyone should just calm down,” Clark’s voice boomed.
Lex turned his head and blinked. Not Clark, of course. Superman, with Wonder Woman and Gold Heron (aka Chloe Sullivan dressed in black and gold) flanking him. Gold Heron left his side immediately, heading for the console and looking to Batman curiously. Wonder Woman remained next to Superman, and Lex’s heart burned with jealousy.
“You can let him down,” Superman suggested. When Green Arrow did so, and stalked away, Superman asked, “What is he doing here?”
“Batman told me in his message that Luthor was here to help us solve our little ‘impending dimensional collapse’ problem,” Gold Heron answered as she brought up several windows of data at once.
“A problem, Superman, that you should be aware only grows in difficulty because it is impossible for us to remember the source of it. The moment we become aware, we forget, and Luthor is the only one who has been capable of remembering,” Batman told him, looking to his friend with the utmost seriousness.
“I told you back on the ground. Surely you remember? Or how am I here?” Lex raised a brow.
Batman shook his head. “I remember that you know. I remember that we talked about what was causing this, and we had to sew you back together in the Batcave from wounds you earned trying to fight the after effects of this. I don’t, can’t rather, remember what you keep telling us is the root cause.”
“...That does not put me at ease here,” Lex murmured.
“His calculations are sound,” Gold Heron interrupted. “I think we should get to work on this immediately.”
“I wish to know what Luthor knows,” Wonder Woman said, a hint of impatience in her voice.
“You won’t remember what I tell you,” Lex warned.
Wonder Woman crossed her arms. “Try me.”
With a sigh and eyes looking skyward, Lex licked his lips slowly. “Once again, the cat is the Key. It’s changing the universe to its own liking, probably by drawing in alternate realities where the desired effect is true. Our world is then affected by the ripples of this change, until everything matches, and we all believe that this is the way things have always been.”
He eyed Superman coldly.
“Did you say a cat was behind this?” Superman asked.
“Not a cat. Your cat. Mau.”
Superman paused and scratched the back of his head. “I’m sorry, but... did you just meow?”
“No, I did not just meow! It’s the cat’s fucking name!” Lex exploded. “I swear, you lot are going to be the end of me.”
“Our cat’s name is Dite,” Wonder Woman replied in a tone that was at once stern and gentle.
“I can’t be expected to know what changes you’ve made in your little love nest. I assure you, whatever name you’ve given to the cat, it is the same cat, and it is the cause of our troubles.”
“He’s lost his mind,” Green Arrow interjected. “I’ve always told you that the man needed to be locked up in a straight jacket.”
“You know, I’ve tried that once, and if you think that’s an insult, then I would really look inward a bit, if I were you.” Lex turned to the Green Arrow. “I’m telling you: You don’t understand. You cannot understand. If you can’t understand or even remember what this thing is, then you must realize how incredibly powerful it is. If we don’t stop what it is doing, we will all cease to exist. That is how critical this matter is! Would I be here, helping you, in a reality in which we are not allies in any sense of the word, if this were perhaps not a matter of the highest import in the universe?”
“Oh, God,” Gold Heron said suddenly. She faced the group, leaving the keyboard ignored as she touched her head. “I had it. I had it, and I just lost it. It was... I knew and it just slipped away...”
Batman touched her shoulder. “I know the feeling.”
The Justice League took a moment to look between each other, and in that moment, Lex could feel the meager ground he’d gained being lost.
“As much as I respect you, Batman,” Green Lantern said, breaking the silence. “Luthor has obviously found a way to trick us and confuse our memories. He cannot be trusted, not when we can barely keep track of what is true and what is not.”
Green Arrow grabbed Lex’s arms from behind. “This is what I’ve been telling you from the start!”
“Let me go,” Lex ordered. “I came up here to help you fools!”
J’onn shook his head slowly. “We must have confirmation.” “I agree.” Diana nodded. “Too often we have faced a foe capable of disordering our senses.”
“I respect you both, but I don’t agree,” Batman argued as Green Lantern moved to help Green Arrow hold Lex in place.
“It is a possibility, though, isn’t it?” Superman asked. He stepped over to Batman and put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s unlike you trust anyone, let alone one of our longstanding enemies.” “Then I must have lost my faculties?” Batman demanded.
“Don’t be like that.”
“Be like what? Our minds are just as sound as yours,” Gold Heron pointed out.
“But you could be wrong,” Superman countered.
“So could you,” Batman growled, jerking his shoulder away from Superman.
“We cannot turn on one another.” Wonder Woman stepped between them, holding up both of her hands. “And if we are to work with Luthor, we must come to a consensus.”
“We don’t have the time for you to get your act together on this,” Lex argued. He was still for a moment in his captors’ arms, but he had moved himself as far from Green Arrow as possible.
“I don’t know what the right answer is, but I defer to the Bats on this. I don’t want to wait around for everything to go tits up!” The Flash put in, even though it was clear no one was listening to him.
“We can hold him in a cell comfortably until we can come to a decision,” J’onn stated. He moved over to the cluster of heroes in deep discussion.
The Flash tapped his boot impatiently against the floor and looked to Gold Heron. “Guys...”
Gold Heron rubbed her temples, then looked up at Lex helplessly. “I’ll go over the data a few times. See if there’s anything we missed that could indicate an ulterior motive. Would that help us get to an agreement sooner?”
“Until them we’ll scan the station to make sure Luthor isn’t messing with our heads,” Green Lantern added. He pulled Lex backward, and Green Arrow nodded and began leading him out of the room.
“You don’t have time for that-” Lex started. The station shook ominously, and the members of the League braced themselves as the alarms rang through the air.
“See?” Green Arrow spat. “He’s trying to destroy us. This is a plot.”
“I... God damn you all!” Lex shouted, his nerves frayed to the very edge from having to explain himself over and over, from seeing Wonder Woman standing so close to Superman. “Please...” He noted the change in his own voice, the weakness, the begging, but it was no matter. This was an act of desperation. “Please, Clark, please. Listen to me. You have to remember what was happening to us.”
Superman looked on Lex with alarm and disbelief as he held up his hand for a moment for his friends to stop dragging Lex away. “What?”
“Don’t you remember any of it? The kids with us visiting at the farm, the Metropolis Angel, our little apartment, or the time you hired me week after week, and told me your first name was Jerome?”
“He really has cracked,” Green Arrow muttered.
Lex ignored the goateed fool behind him and focused on Clark’s eyes. “What if this is what it was supposed to be all along? What if the very universe depends on you and me? Working this out and realizing... that there are so many ways for us to live our lives... that we don’t have to be hero and villain, right and wrong, black and white? What if you could make me more than I could ever have been on my own? What if I’ve made you out to be far more powerful than you actually are?”
“Luthor...” Clark stood there in his silly skintight outfit and took a step closer to Lex. He tilted his head to the side. “Lex...”
“I can’t fix this by myself,” Lex pleaded in a bare whisper that he knew that Clark could hear. Oh, God, how he hoped that Clark could hear it.
The weight of Clark’s shaking head came down like an iron hammer, and Lex felt his insides ripped out as Clark stepped away from him. “What are you talking about?”
Lex felt himself going limp, and he was dragged away from Clark, moments before he realized that there were tears unshed in his eyes, and his last resort for saving the world and himself should have been his first, even if it was a lost cause.
***
Chloe moved her black-clad fingers over the main console of the Watchtower. The truly awesome and powerful hardware came along as a hell of a perk for joining the ranks of the League. A major drawback was that one had to get used to working in a team-- one that didn’t necessarily always work well. Both she and Batman had been hesitant to join for that reason alone (not to mention a few less delicate criticisms that Batman had), despite the understanding that Clark probably improved the intentions of the group just by being involved. He had that effect on people. She opened up a secured communications channel and waited to see if someone would pick up.
“Jimmy’s Fresh Fried Tentacle Sammiches, Moniquita speaking!”
Chloe cracked a grin for the first time that day. “Hello, Dinah. Is Barbara around?”
“Hey there. You think I’d be on phone duty if she were?”
“I think she’d have taken the comm from you by now,” Chloe replied with amusement. “When she gets back, tell her I want her to synch up with what we’re doing up here. Timing is really critical, as is doing this right. No one beats Oracle when it comes to the computer stuff.”
“The connection and access stuff, yeah. But you’re not too shabby with it. It’s like you two speak this whole crazy language. What kind of case are you guys working on?”
“I’m hard pressed to remember, but I couldn’t tell you if I could.”
“You can’t remember?” Dinah asked in disbelief. “She who remembers what color earrings the woman sitting next to the senator was wearing?”
Chloe shook her head and pursed her lips. Dinah would never stop teasing her about that case. “Hush. It’s extradimensional, mindwhammy stuff.”
“Huh. I think I remember Babs mentioning something like that. I don’t really... remember the details. I don’t think that requires anything supernatural for me, though.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Let me ask you something, as someone outside of this mess right now.”
“Shoot.”
“What do you think of Lex Luthor-”
“Could use some weight training, but not entirely heinous-looking. I do prefer redheads as a rule, though. Some blonds,” Dinah mused.
“-as an ally.”
“... I’m sorry?”
“I’m asking if you think, should circumstances be dire enough, he would genuinely help us save the world.”
Dinah was quiet for a moment. “Well. He’s not like the Joker, you know. He’s not all about chaos just for the sake of upsetting people’s sense of normality, or for a laugh. I wouldn’t trust him otherwise, and I might suspect that he was behind the problem to begin with... but if I knew he wasn’t? I think he might. He’s part of the world. Unless it involves Superman, he’s a fairly rational villain. The problem is that most of us aren’t on his level, so seeing the logic is hard. It’s hard to trust what you just don’t get, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. And... I think most of the League is under the impression that he’s just a chaotic madman and his motives can be written off. But having worked with enough people that would be clinically categorized as ‘crazy’ at one point or another-”
“PTSD really comes with the territory in our line of work,” Dinah added pointedly. “And then there’s Batman’s problems...”
“Believe me, I know. And I was around when Lex had a mental break. His second, specifically. He wasn’t hallucinating entirely different realities; he was revisiting trauma.”
“So back to topic... Luthor approached the League?”
“He approached Bruce. As Bruce. And he gave us a lot of really important information that I can’t remember what it’s for anymore. We fought in the main computer room, several of us, with Batman and I wanting to work with him to solve our problems, and most of the League either wanting confirmation that Luthor wasn’t involved or just his head on a plate.”
“Sounds typical. How’d the Green Machine handle it?”
“Um, Lantern, Arrow, or Martian?”
Dinah chuckled. “The goateed wonder.”
“Practically started frothing the moment he saw Lex.”
“Good ol’ Ollie,” Dinah said dryly. “So Luthor’s up there?”
“Under lock and key. I’m thinking of going to the cells and talking with him again, so I can remember what I’m supposed to be doing with this information.”
“Sounds like a good idea. I’d want confirmation myself, but I’m not about to sit on my ass while the world burns just because I don’t have all the answers right away. You want me to send Huntress out to get Oracle?”
“That would help, yeah. Thanks for listening, Dinah.”
“No problem. You coming up to visit us any time soon?” The innuendo in her voice was unmistakable.
“Heh. Maybe, when I can get away from work.”
“It could be for work! I owe you a few more training sessions.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Only you would say being covered in bruises is fun.”
“Kicking ass and taking names isn’t really my forte. Outside of the virtual world,” Chloe amended.
“I suppose getting whumped in training isn’t as much of an issue when you can walk away from your safe house exploding.”
“I didn’t so much walk away as lay in a government facility for three months while I healed,” Chloe murmured. It wasn’t a good memory for her, considering that no normal person would have been able to survive that blast. And no normal person had.
“Walked away. Three months later. Comparatively, I assume our little phoenix finds broken ribs a minor nuisance.”
“Just don’t break my wrist again. I need that for my day job.” Chloe put her fingers over the comm. “Okay, back to work. Buzz me if you can find Oracle, and I’ll catch her up.”
“Good talking to you.”
Chloe smiled as she rose from the chair to go check on their captive.
***
“So much for the power of love,” Lex grumbled from inside his cell, sitting on a surprisingly comfortable prison cot. Trust the League to make sure their captives had a good night’s sleep. Then again, there was a good chance that each of them through the scientific phenomenon of the ‘whammy’ would be spending some time in here.
He looked out the window at the Earth below. So peaceful. So doomed. There was nothing he could do from here, and unless Clark tired of Wondy and moved on to someone else, sending out a ripple that would put him elsewhere, Lex thought with bitter amusement that he would probably have a balcony seat for the destruction of humankind.
And he’d had no part in causing it. Who would have thought?
Lex’s fingertips touched the glass, and he closed his eyes, remembering the sweet smell of their children, and the way Clark smiled at him in the mornings. Had it been so bad to know that it wasn’t real? He could have lived his last days ensconced in the love of the Kent family, and especially that of his husband and children. And that stupid cat. He even missed the affection the cat seemed to have to spare. He’d been bone-achingly lonesome since he’d broken away from the Key’s grip.
“Always making the wrong decisions,” he told himself. It was nothing new, of course. He’d just imagined his end to be a bit more... explosive.
“That’s damn right,” a voice growled as Lex felt a wickedly sharp blade pressed to his neck. He froze. The blade had already bitten into his flesh, and he didn’t want to give it any chance to slice any more deeply.
“Who are you?” Lex asked.
An arm wrapped around his chest and arms, keeping him from moving. Though he wasn’t inclined to try.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Aren’t all of you supposed to be heroes here?”
“You were always a coward, Luthor. Always hiding behind the line we refused to cross. But it’s better that you’re just not here. I’ll take the black mark on my soul, if it means that the world doesn’t have to suffer the cancer of your existence any more.”
Lex blinked and again looked over their flawed, tilted planet. “How is that your decision to make?”
“None of your tricks, Luthor.”
He couldn’t recognize the voice. He guessed, but he wasn’t sure. They all had voice scramblers here, a multitude of tricks and doodads to hide their secrets. His pounding heart told him what his mind hadn’t yet grasped. He was dead already.
“Clark-”
The blade made a strange, swift noise as it cut through his skin, his jugular. Lex could hear himself choking on his own blood for a moment, just before darkness quickly came, blotting out the Earth and all of space that stretched before them.
***
Clark and Diana touched down on their balcony simultaneously. His heart was heavy. From the way she carried her body, Diana could obviously tell.
“Kal, it is done. If Luthor’s plan holds water, we will know by morning. Gold Heron and Batman are very adept at their jobs.” Her hand touched the center of his back, and for once it did nothing to comfort him.
“I know that. I just...” Clark turned to look at Diana. Strong, stubborn, beautiful, and impatient... Diana. He cupped her cheek and pressed his lips to hers. “Something’s not...”
“What is it, Kal? You know that you can always tell me anything,” she insisted. Diana wrinkled her forehead, then reached up to smooth the lines out of his with her thumb.
“I know I can.” Clark shook his head, then turned away from her, pressing a hand to his stomach, where something felt wrong. “I’m not...” Just wrong and upsetting, and he couldn’t quite...
As he stepped into the dining room, he spotted the cat. Mewing eagerly at his return, looking up at him expectantly. The world trembled.
Clark dropped to his knees. “Happy. I’m not happy.”
What if the very universe depends on you and me?
The cat walked up to him and butted her head against his hands, begging for affection. Clark pet her almost absently, and when he turned his head, Diana was no longer there.
“What... what is this?”
Clark’s eyes widened as he saw the creature before him, really saw it, for the first time.
Not a cat. Not... not anything he had ever seen. It was suddenly so clear. So bright. Perhaps the brightest thing he’d ever seen, and the most beautiful. He hadn’t expected an answer, since it had never spoken to him before, but when it came, it was as though the words had directly burned themselves onto his brain. Even with his natural invulnerability, he could barely stand the force of it, and his hands went to the sides of his head.
Why aren’t you happy?
“What- what are you?” Clark whispered, fear cracking his voice.
You know the answer to that. Why aren’t you happy? What can I do to make you happy?
“You don’t have to do anything! Lex was right. You’re destroying our world, changing everything like this!”
You didn’t want to be alone.
“I didn’t ask for your help! Surely I’m not such a lost cause that I need a trans-dimensional matchmaker!”
You didn’t want to be alone. You came to help me, and so I helped you.
“But... why a cat?”
It was a familiar form for you to rescue.
An unsteady giggle came from Clark’s mouth. Cats in trees. Cats in burning buildings. Cats in the street with cars. Cats being thrown in the lake, tied up in a bag. Cats being tormented by cruel children or kicked by crueler adults. What an imperious but beleaguered little creature it had chosen to be.
“You don’t exactly need me to protect you. Not even from those monks.”
No. They are no threat to me.
“You have to change everything back to the way it was,” Clark pleaded.
You still do not want to be alone.
And capricious. A capricious little creature.
“No, I don’t. But you have to change things back. You have to set everything right again, before it’s too late. Our world can’t take all these changes.”
Then make up your mind.
Clark rested his hands on his knees and averted his eyes from the blinding brightness of the Key. “I’ve made up my mind. But it’s not right for you to force everything into place. I have to get it for myself.”
Clark closed his eyes slowly, then turned his head and opened them as he looked straight at the key. His nose was bleeding and his head was throbbing. Few beings could have destroyed him without a thought, and this one, this one, had been content to give him the world, for a few strokes of affection.
“I’m begging you to change things back the way they were.”
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