A Kryptonian guard dragged Lois through the double doors of Lex Luthor's former study. She threw Lois down on the floor and she landed hard on her knees. Pain shot up her legs. She swore violently and glared over her shoulder at her.
"Hey Glamazon, watch it."
The woman stepped forward looking coldly down at her and Lois inwardly gulped, though her face held the same bravado that it usually did. Oh well. If she was going to die, she'd die fighting.
"Lois Lane," came a smooth accented voice out of nowhere.
She snapped her head forward and did a double take. A very handsome man dressed all in black sat on a large throne-like chair where Lex's desk used to be. His black hair fell in careless waves to the side. His whole personage was impressive (to some people at least, she thought with a sniff), but, it was his eyes that stood out against his pale face. They were black and unfeeling and … familiar.
She looked incredulously at him. "Agent Zod? Is that you?"
He looked impassively at her, but his eyes were burning with curiosity. "It's General Zod, actually. 'Agent' was just my alias while I was stuck living life as a pathetic human."
Her curiosity immediately turned to irritation and anger. Pathetic human? Who the hell did he think he was? Why was he being such a jerk to her?
Zod ignored her mounting anger and stood up slowly, never breaking eye contact. He paced in front of her kneeling form. "Lois Lane," he murmured again, as if in great thought, "What have you been up to all this time? Everyone thought you were dead."
What was she supposed to say? Lois looked down at the floor with uneasiness. All she had to go on was what Clark had told her and it wasn't much. All she knew was that she had arrived here three weeks ago exactly a year from when she had wrestled with Tess at he Daily Planet and everything had flashed brilliant white. She was in the future somehow. A crappy future.
As if that wasn't hard enough to swallow, Clark had then told her that eventually the monstrosity of what was now their sun was going to suck the planet in and then blow up. Fortunately, he'd told her they only had a couple decades at best before the planet froze over and wiped out all human life. At least they wouldn't be around for the sun-sucking event.
On the down side? Until the planet froze over, she was stuck in a post-apocalyptic future Earth ruled by psychopathic 'roid ragers. Great.
"Ow!" A sharp pain in her back caused her look up at Zod who was waiting expectantly for her answer. She glared at him. "What?"
"Where have you been?"
"That's none of your business," she snapped, eyeing him up and down with contempt. "Where's Clark?"
He smiled at her coldly and held up a hand to stop Raina from striking her. "Stand up," he ordered and Raina jerked Lois to her feet.
"Listen Commando, I don't know what's going on here, but this whole intimidation thing," she gestured at the space between them, "it isn't going to work. My dad was a general. He taught me all the tricks."
He stopped moving and looked at her fully. "Lois, I haven't even begun to intimidate you. You'll know when I do," he said, dropping his voice and leaning closer. "Now, where have you been the past year? Earth is entirely under my control now and I would've noticed if Kal-El's girlfriend had been hiding somewhere."
She was confused. "Kal-El?"
He looked at her with distaste. He obviously didn't like Clark. "Yes, Kal-EL. The last son of Krypton," he said sarcastically, enjoying her look of confusion. "Though you probably know him as Clark Kent."
"Who's Krypton? What the hell are you talking about?"
Krypton. He missed it so badly. "It's not a 'who'. It's a planet. Was a planet," he corrected, looking out the window at the alien landscape. The pain in his voice was evident. "A planet that is no more." He turned back after a moment. "And Clark is from it, as we all are."
Everything he'd just told her slammed around in her head at a dizzying pace. It didn't make sense.
"I don't know what you're on, buddy, but Clark? An alien? He wears flannel," she protested. "He's the King of the Corn. His favorite pastime is counting the cows."
But, all the times he had disappeared without explanation. Or appeared just when she needed him the most. Or just his general, all-around weirdness. Don't get her wrong. She thought Clark was totally hot and lately all she could think about was ripping his clothes off. In fact when she'd been captured they had just been finishing up a three week long flesh-fest.
But, being an alien would explain everything that was wrong with him. That was something to think about.
"I assure you that despite his flaws in entertainment and fashion, he most certainly is an alien to your planet."
"What happened to him?" she asked abruptly, "When we were captured your drones dragged him off somewhere. I want to know where." She didn't know how much her 'no nonsense' tone amused him.
"Ah yes, you two have become quite close I hear." He gave her a wicked smile. "Very, very close."
Raina snickered behind her and Lois' face flamed with angry embarrassment. She'd waited a long time to be with Clark and no one was going to cheapen it with callous words meant to demean her.
"Clark is twice the man you'll ever be," she retorted. Her jaw clenched stubbornly, pursing her lips. No one was going to insult Clark. Except maybe her.
Zod couldn't help but glance down at her lips. They were soft and perfect. For a human, Lois was beautiful. Heartbreakingly so. He remembered when she'd tried to save him after one of their human experiments went psychotic and tried to kill them all. Everyone the man kidnapped had been murdered except Faora's sister. Clark had shown up just in time, while Zod had been powerless to help, thanks to Jor-El.
But, Lois had shown real skill and courage in the face of danger. She'd tried to keep him alive as he lay bleeding out on the dirty floor. He'd not ever forgotten the terror in her eyes. It had been for him. In that second, he'd been stunned that a human could care about someone they barely even knew and it had changed him. Slightly.
Thankfully, just as he had once risked his life to save Faora from enemy hands, so had Clark arrived in time to save Lois. And in the process him too. That also had stunned him. Clark should have let him die. He unwittingly had given him the power to conquer the world and he knew that given the chance, Clark would not repeat his mistake.
"Clark Kent is nothing. You've been with him, seen how he chooses to live. He could have been one of us, but instead he chose humans over his own people. Without the yellow sun, he's powerless against me." He stepped closer to her not yet finished with his rant. "I only keep him alive to make absolutely sure that he knows his place… and who put him there. I suggest," he said forcefully, "that you cooperate unless you want to share the rest of your species fate."
Lois stared him right in the eye. "Never," she hissed venomously.
He was in front of her quicker than she could blink, taking her off guard. Raina held her in place with an iron grip as he got within inches of her face. His eyes flicked over it quickly, noting the fear she was trying to mask. She was uncomfortable with him being this close to her.
But, she was hiding something from him and he wanted to know what it was. She froze as his hand went to her waist . She swallowed.
"What are you doing?" she asked quickly.
Fingertips traveled lightly down past the waistband of her jeans and to… she sucked in a breath. Her front pocket. He knew about the ring.
He locked eyes with her arrogantly and roughly forced his way into her pocket. Their bodies were so close they almost touched. She was humiliated by his blatant disregard for her body or personal space, but refused to give him the satisfaction of looking away. She felt his fingers slide over the ring and exhaled quickly.
He sneered at her fear, knowing exactly what he was doing to her. He withdrew his hand, clutching the black ring that she'd been wearing on her hand when she was brought in.
He peered closely at it. The symbols were unmistakable. It was a Kryptonian ring. And powerful. He could feel it.
"Raina," he said, not looking up again, "take Miss Lane to the prisoner's quarters. And be sure and show her a little Kryptonian hospitality."