go by ch 15 pt 3

*

The first round of gun shots sent a terrible chill through her. Chloe stumbled from her pace, her barefoot sprint down the darkness becoming a never ending vacuum of percussion rounds.She stopped to hear Clark's voice, or anything for that matter.

But it was quiet now. And that shook her even more.



He's faster than a speeding bullet. She reminded herself, and started running again.


She made it to the gym doors, pushing through them and running past.

 She tripped over the first few feet, her hands flying forward to the ground as she fell. Her fingers felt around, stopping once they reached a deposit of warm fluid pooling at her knees. She couldn't see it, but she could smell it.






Blood.






She kept herself from screaming in horror, the bodies of several dark clothed soldiers laying around her. Their fallen arms laid against their fallen bodies. Lifeless and so many. Had they been sent to capture her? To kill her? And who had killed them?






From the shadows a glowing pair of eyes emerged, and advanced.






And then, another pair.






A hideous green...






This time, she did scream...




*
PART 3


*

Streaks of rain.

All washed against the windows that lined  Clark's back, their shadows casting strange, crawling tendrils across the pale blues of lockers that painted the halls of the old highschool.

It was there across from Clark that Brainiac stood.

Black, dead, lifeless eyes.

Kryptonian, Brainiac was born by Clark's biological father. But its form wasn't alive at all, it was a computer, a machine. And at Brainiac's feet were bodies of its product.

Dark pools of blood.

Flowing still.

Brainiac remained still. "It is nearly complete."

But Clark never heard the first syllable, his legs burning streaks across slowed time, superspeeding away towards her screams.

When he found them, they were quiet.

"Chloe!"

Laying across the floor, her once emerald colored dress now dark, and sheen with a dark stain.

He went to her, hands cradling her neck.

Clark clenched shut his eyes, an anger so overpowering he could not breathe.

"It is done." Said one of the soldiers, his hand held out proudly, inside of it, the last crystal of knowledge.

Blue, and pristine.

"I found it among this human. The last key to our home."

Clark's eyes opened.

Crimson.

The soldier's feet left the ground, Clark's fist around his neck.

A terrible sound from Clark's throat as his teeth ground together fiercly, just before a deafening cry shook the walls.

"Arrrrggghhhhhhhhh!"

Clark squeezed harder, never flinching while the soldier's thick hands covered his own throat, squeezing in helpless retaliation.

At his side, the female soldier watched with expectant, admiring eyes. "The prophecies are true. Kal-El's strength equals that of all mighty Zod."

"Careful, Aethyr." Brainiac crept behind the female soldier, his eyes unswayed from its blackness, "He is strong, but unbalanced."

The struggle between Clark's anger and mercy split shadows on his face. His conscious reminding him that his Kryptonian brothers had not shone mercy to humans, the ones he vowed to protect.

The still, bloodied air reminding him that they had not spared even her.

Heat spilled from his eyes, Clark's heart pounding erratically to fill the gaps of where Chloe's heartbeat were absent.

It was between those gaps where Clark contested the temptation to end the soldier's struggles.

Beat

Anger carried through to even the cadence of his chest, a beating drum that would not cease until Clark's pain was satisfied.

Beat


Beat


Beat


Beat


Beat

Blood coursed through his fists, delivering the strength to cease all Clark's deliberations with a silent motion.

But then he heard it.

And then again. A slow, steady sound that disrupted his preconceived punishment for what they had done.

Clark turned around, eyes breathing embers.

Beat

She was still alive.

His fists gave way, the soldier thrown away, his body colliding through the cinder block wall and into the rain outside.

A damp, dim light poured through newly created window to the outside, light drifting over Chloe's body.

"Don't you touch her." Clark snarled at the remaining kryptonians.

Brainiac's eyes met his cooly, and spoke this to the female soldier, "Strong, but unbalanced. You see, Kal-El's weight is shifted in two different directions."

She nodded. "He will fall before he learns to rise."

Brainiac nodded in return. "But first, he will learn to kneel."

They observed from a distance, watching as Clark lifted Chloe into his arms.

"Put her down!"

They all looked up, a voice from the shadows yelled, while a sharp, pointed tip of an arrow sliced through wet darkness.

Clark's eyes narrowed. "Oliver, get out of here!"

"I said, put her down!" His sights aimed at the veins protruding from Clark's neck.

"You don't understand-"

"I understand enough!" The whites of Oliver's teeth bit back, a feral growl in his voice. "I've seen what you've done."

From the side, Brainiac smoothly laughed.

Oliver swung around, arrow aimed, and poorly outnumbered.

He shot.

Three times.

All three arrows caught in mid air, the cold pair of black eyes gleaming back at the lone Green Archer.

He reached for his quiver again, but his hand was stopped, and twisted back.

The female soldier bent, and whispered in his ear, "You are weak."

She wrenched his arm back, and snapped his wrist. "And break easily."

Oliver screamed, dropping to his knees.

"Stop!" Clark yelled, Chloe still in his arms. "Leave this place!" Anger shook his lip, watching as one of his friends suffered at their feet.

Brainiac turned, "Our task is not yet complete."

Clark held Chloe closer to his chest, his heart beating against hers.

From the rain, the second kryptonian soldier shook the rain droplets from his smooth shaven head, blood trickling down the gashes inflicted only moments before.

They circled Clark, closing in.

"Leave us." Clark warned, ignoring the unsettling fear that raised the hairs on his neck.

Brainiac smiled, "I see now that you are not ready, Kal-El. You are not prepared to accept your new home. New Krypton."

Beat

Clark looked down to where her pale face laid against him. "This is my home."

Brainiac's gaze narrowed. "We will see."

Clark took a knee, gently lowering Chloe's body to the ground, removing the remains of his tattered shirt and placing it underneath her head.

"I see now that you are lost, Kal-El. Led astray for far too long. I wonder how long it will take until you are broken from your disillusions. Until you find your way back to the Kryptonian way." Brainiac circled. "Until you realize that Krypton, and only Krypton, has been your home."

Lightning, and then thunder.

Brainiac reached out with his hand, and caught the rain, weighing it for a moment before flicking it in Clark's face. "Maybe a few centuries away from 'your home' will bring you clarity."

Clark lunged at him, only to be held back by either soldier at his side.

But it wasn't enough, Clark grasping at the thread's of Brainiac's long black coat, pulling him close enough to see himself inthe dark pools of his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

Brainiac grabbed Clark's face in his palm and turned it, almost affectionately. "There is so much for you to learn, Kal-El. You have no choice."

A metallic, hollow disc appeared from Brainiac's other palm, revolving in silent, graceful turns.

Both soldiers looked at one another, approval exchanging between them.

Clark's head turned, watching the disc float past, and far away, gaining speed as it spiralled towards an unseen destination in the stormy night sky.

Immediately, Clark felt a force pulling him back.

He staggered.

Brainiac patted his face, "Goodbye."

Both soldier's released him, Clark's body sucked backwards into the rain.

Confusion, dischord.

Clark's mind battled through the uncertainty of what Brainiac had done, the infliction upon his body, and the destination that Brainiac had plotted for it. He felt his body caught on a hook, reeling backward, and unwillingly. His mind fighting for the last strength left, fighting to grab a hold of the last shreds of footing.

His legs thrusted forward, leaning against the invisible current that wrangled his body. He reached for the male, yanking him close.

"Leave it, Aethyr." Brainiac warned as the female moved towards them.

She hesitated, unsure when she asked, "But where is the crystal?"

Brainiac twitched, unsure himself.

Both Clark and the male soldier slid backward, Clark ahold of him, and the force ahold of Clark.

His feet left the ground, anchored to the soldier's shoulders.

And between Clark's hand, a blue glint of light reflecting the cinders of lightning.

Brainiac bolted. "Stop him!"

The female grabbed Clark's arm.

"Stop him now!"

Clark's body lifted higher, the male dropping from his grip and falling to the ground.

Brainiac leap into the air, colliding with Clark, prying his fingers back the cool blue surface, but failing.

The male launched himself, fist pulled back, pummelling Clark in the face over and over, while the female choked him from behind.

Clark's grip only tightened, the edges cutting into his palm. His face so suddenly bruised, and the skin cut above his eyes. As they ascended from the atmosphere of Earth, he took his last breath as if it would be his last, and turned to Brainiac and whispered, "You're coming with me."



*