slayers_desire | the kind of future you don't want to have ((future!verse))

"Damn," one of the other volunteers mutters. "She don't play around."

Chloe casts a critical eye over the creatures. "You're providing transportation, I see." Even she has to approve.

"Best way to provide defense to all volunteers." She motions for the other elementals to offer a hand to those who wish to ride too.

It's a very efficient way of travel, and provides defense if they're attacked on the way. Every person in the six-man team chooses to mount up, leaving half of the elementals free to provide an even stronger defense if necessary.

"Once we get to Luthor mansion, we split the team," Chloe says as they make their way towards the Kandorian HQ. "Agent Green, you take Dark Oak and Mouse. You'll be coming through the stained glass windows. I'll take Heron and Blaze through the secret passage, if it hasn't been blocked off."

"We should separate the teams shortly before we arrive, so the secret passage team has an easier time getting in undetected, as we will be providing lots of distraction."

"Fair enough."

The mansion is heavily guarded, but most of the patrols are overconfident in their ability to deal with any humans that get in the way. And why wouldn't they be? So they're not as vigilant as they should be, allowing them to sneak past.

"We'll split here. Good luck."

Dark Oak directs for the Earth elementals to crash a rock through the stained glass, allowing their team to enter. She immediately opens her mind, and looks around for Lois.

And maybe Clark too.

The noise, and presence of kryptonite, does not go unnoticed. Zod has his sword raised and ready to bring down on Clark's neck when the rocks come crashing through on the other side of the room.

"Intruders!" one of the lookouts bellows, a bit too late. Oliver silences him with a kryptonite arrow in the throat.

The second team erupts from the secret passage in the wine cellar, sweeping through the mansion and eliminating every single Kandorian that they meet.

Zod looks down at Clark, ready to kill him anyway, before his right-hand woman pulls him away. "There's too much kryptonite. We need to go."

Clark! Dark Oak sees him immediately. She is so glad to see him alive. And that their plan worked to save him.

The Earth elementals do excellent work of protecting their team too. And ensuring that the Kandorian's meet their end. Zod is able to get away, but at least they saved one more person.

Clark's surprised to see them, and even more surprised that they got there just in time to stop him from being decapitated. The moment Zod and his crony flee, he immediately grabs April in a hug. "God, I'm so glad to see you."

Lois just looks confused, as the guards holding her back are all dead with kryptonite-tipped arrows in their bodies. And on the other side of the room, Tess lies, mortally wounded, with an arrow in her side.

For the first time in the last year, the Dark Oak mask is gone. And it is April hugging her husband tight to her. "I am so glad that we got here in time."

Looking around the room, April notes Lois' confusion. "Were you hurt?"

"I have to admit, I'm pretty glad too." He's been better, and so has she, but right now this is the best moment he's had since Zod came to power. It doesn't mean the shame of his failure is gone, but he can see her, touch her.

Lois shakes her head, and her expression clears a little when she notices Oliver with her rescuers. "Oliver!"

"Heya, Legs," he answers, smiling despite himself. "Long time no see."

"Am I ever glad to see you and your band of merry men!"

April closes her eyes for a moment. Of course Lois would assume that Oliver was leading the team of heroes.

"They are not all men. Your cousin is here too."

And she is just going to stay in Clark's arms. Confident that with her Earth elementals outside protecting them, they are safe for the moment.

Chloe and her strike team emerge from the halls, with a pair of the elementals escorting them. "The mansion's clear," she says, and she doesn't exactly smile when she sees Lois, but the hardness in her eyes softens a bit.

Lois gives her cousin a hug. "Man, those crazy space invaders almost killed us. You've got great timing, 'cos."

Oliver, meanwhile, has been distracted at the sight of Tess dying. Once his lover, now a long time enemy, he still can't help but feel concern for her.

Clark can't bring himself to watch, focusing on his wife in his arms. "Nice elemental spell. Your idea?"

"One that got approved." She still didn't quite take lead. But he is safe... who cares.

"I saw that they were coming for you." She touches his hair, leaning close to touch her forehead to his.

Clark doesn't say why he didn't try to contact her, that he didn't want her to see him die, or worse, be killed herself. It's a threat they've lived under since Zod took over. "I owe you my life, again."

She has seen him die before. It is definitely something that she would not want to experience again. Even through the bond.

"I can't believe I am in your arms again."

He may look slightly different than the last time she saw him this close. Small scars on his hands, on his face, from where the Kandorian guards sometimes hit him. A fresh cut in his hairline from when he tried to stop them from taking Lois today. A razor thin line on the back of his neck, where Zod rested his sword before raising it to strike. But he's still Clark, at the core.

"It's really good to hear your voice outside of my head again."

She is tempted to kiss each one of those small scars. And while the others in the room seem to disappear, April knows that right now is not an appropriate time for personal displays of affection.

"I am not letting you out of my sight this time."

"If that's your plan, we need to get going," Chloe says, getting down to business. "Zod won't just sit by and let us get the run of the mansion."

"I want to bury Tess," Oliver says, meeting her eyes.

"We don't have time-"

"I'll make time."

"Lois... do you still have the Legion ring?" If Chloe wants to get down to business, April can do professional mode.

"No. The one-named wonder, Zod, took it. What's so important about that ring?"

"It lets you travel through time," Clark explains. "We need to get it back. Then you can return to the past and stop Zod's solar tower from being built. Stop all this from happening."

"I guess we need to get the ring from Zod then."

"That's not going to be easy," Chloe says, ignoring Oliver as he picks up Tess and carries her outside to be buried. "None of us have been able to get close to him. Not after Clark went after him on his own."

"I did what I thought was best," Clark says, though it's a weak defense and he knows it.

Lois doesn't know what's going on, but she doesn't like this tension she's seeing and hearing. "Okay, then, look. Why Clark decided to take on our enemy E.T.s by himself is beyond me, and maybe you think he abandoned the cause or something. But come on, aren't we all in this together?"

April can understand Chloe's resentment too. Clark left her behind to face Zod too.

"Lois is right. We are in this together. And together we can fix this." She concentrates, focusing on her voices to see if they will tell her anymore clues.

Her voices will offer up the image of the solar tower, that constant beam of red energy disappearing, bringing back the yellow sun.

Clark, obviously, can't see her visions. but his thoughts are already along similar lines. This is the first time since the takeover that he's felt like he might be able to do something. "You guys shut down that tower and bring back the yellow sun, you know I'm your best chance of getting back that ring." And he doesn't care if Lois hears. He's not going to say that he's the Blur, but finding out he has a secret identity is small potatoes compared to what they're facing.

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