Bab 8: Meeting Dr. Virgil Swann
I exited the caves and shot back into the sky traveling west as fast as he was able, several pops of sound followed behind him each time he broke the sound barrier.
He quickly reached China. Now he just had to find his way to the temple where one of the Elements was hidden.
I just need to hear the sound of the Element. Maybe this will be a good time to work on my super hearing.
I hovered in the air and held my breath, focusing on opening my senses, closing my eyes. I started to hear sounds from everywhere. At first it was too loud, but I imagined a radio dial and adjusted the noise until I could focus on specific sounds.
I spoke to the key in my hand, "I need the element nearby here in Shanghai to make a sound so I can locate the temple and keep the artifact out of human hands."
After several seconds I heard a grinding, annoying noise in the distance. I shot off toward the noise.
I landed softly on the deserted temple grounds in front of a tree. I used my x-ray vision to look at the ground and saw a horse statue. I punched hard into the ground grasping the horse statue and tearing it from the ground.
I crushed the horse with one hand leaving the Element floating in the air in front of me. I took the element, putting it under my shirt and zipping up my jacket tightly. The hum of the other Elements calling to me filled my ears.
'This is going to be so much easier than I thought," I said to myself.
I turned west once again and was soaring through the clouds moving several time faster than the speed of sound.
The desert was expansive in all directions as I flew over it. The golden browns and reds were beautiful and worth admiring. As I neared the location of the next Element when suddenly I angled downward and burrowed deep into the sands and inside a long buried temple. I punched through a wall and gripped the base of another statue pulling it out of the wall and much like the horse statue I crushed it in my hand without another thought. And again like the first Element this one just hovered in the air in front of him.
I grabbed it from the air only to have the humming of the third and final Element get painfully louder calling to me.
I burst out of the desert sands leaving a shock wave behind that destroyed whatever remained of the buried temple creating a sinkhole in his wake, this time flying northwest pushing myself to fly faster and faster. The sooner I got to the final Element the better because the hum was quite painful.
I touched down in an alley near the New York Observatory. I walked swiftly towards the entrance, the humming finally faded to a low buzz as if sensing his approach or the approach of its fellow Elements.
I entered the building, excited to see Christopher Reeve in the flesh.
I found the man in his wheelchair studying various star charts, one of which he easily recognized.
"It's an honor to meet you, sir," I said.
Dr. Swann turned towards me and said, "If you're here to rob me, I'm afraid you won't find anything of value here. You wouldn't know what to do with any of this stuff."
"Rob you? No, I think you'll happily give it to me," I said before pausing with realization. "Oh that's right!" - I ripped off my mask.
"You're just a kid. What are you doing here?" Dr. Swann asked.
"Oh, I'm much more than meets the eye," I responded. "I believe you know me as The Traveler."
Dr. Swann's eyes widened before he frowned, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."
I walked around the desk to the star charts. "You were looking at the collapse of the star Rao," he pointed to dark space where fourteen years earlier a star existed. "Taking the planet Krypton with it."
"How do you know this?" Dr. Swann asked bewilderedly.
"I told you. I'm what your organization Veritas refers to as The Traveler. My name is Kal-El. I was sent here as a baby in order to survive the destruction of my home world, Krypton. As I just said before, you won't find the planet that sent those past messages." I explained.
"How do I know what you're saying is true?" Dr. Swann asked.
I took a marker and drew the symbol for hope on a nearby eraser board causing Virgil's breath to hitch again if only for a moment.
"And what do you know about this symbol?" Dr. Swann asked.
"Hope," I said. "This is my family crest. It represents the House of El. It will be my symbol when I reveal myself to the world. I can assure you, I won't be wearing any masks when I do so. I just need a few things from you in order to complete my business here."
I unzipped my jacket and took the two elements and showed them to Dr. Swann.
I explained, "These artifacts are extremely dangerous in human hands. As an example, one of the protective measures placed on them is if non-Kryptonian blood (such as human blood) gets on one of these artifacts, a meteor shower will strike the Earth similar to what happened in 1989. I'm not sure how it's possible for meteors to hang around waiting to strike down punishment or how the signal is sent, but I assure the threat is very real. In addition, it will send a signal to enemy Kryptonian forces and they will attack the Earth. There is at least one spaceship out there awaiting any signs of life from Krypton. I'm not sure if these Kryptonians are waiting in statis or if they're actively scanning planet by planet, system by system. But I can tell you, if a signal goes out, they'll come here and bring an even bigger threat called the Brain Interactive Construct, the Kryptonian AI responsible for Krypton's destruction. And how does an AI pose a threat? Easily when it is a 12th level intellect and has a body composition similar to those liquid metal terminators from the James Cameron movies. If Brainiac comes here, he will engineer diseases to kill off humanity and attempt to download all information of humanity before terraforming the planet and preparing the way for General Zod, an evil Kryptonian who will conquer the planet."
"How do you know all this if you arrived here as a child?" Dr. Swann asked.
"The ship I was sent here in has my father Jor-El's consciousness uploaded into its memory banks. He has all my father's knowledge and then some." I answered.
Dr. Swann opens a safe and gestures for me to take it.
I held out my hand and the element flew to my hand. I secured all the elements under my shirt and zipped up my jacket again.
"Thank you for guarding this for me. I appreciate you protecting it for so long." I state.
"It was my honor, Kal-El," said Dr. Swann.
"I need a couple more things." I said.
"You only ever need to ask," said Virgil, twitching a finger his display changed to the message that followed his ship.
"I've seen this before but thank you," I said, "I'm glad it was you that deciphered it and not one of the other Veritas members."
"How do you know so much about Veritas? Your father couldn't have known about it," Dr. Swann said.
"I was granted visions of the future from Dr. Fate. He was in the Justice Society of America. When wearing his golden helmet, he becomes possessed by the entity known as Nabu, a Lord of Order with immense mystical powers and one of his powers is to see the future. He revealed to me my destiny as Earth's protector. My name will be Superman, and I will be known across the cosmos. In the future, Lionel Luthor kills the rest of Veritas. Lex Luthor then kills his father to get his key. Lex Luthor finally kills your daughter to obtain her key (she inherited it after your death). As crazy as it sounds, I think Lionel Luthor can probably be redeemed. In a possible future, it was revealed that he killed the other members of Veritas to protect me from being 'controlled', then he left me a message after his death to warn me about Lex. I think he cared about me in some twisted fashion. But that being said, Lex Luthor is irredeemable. He killed his own father and your daughter. Then, he went on to abduct US servicemembers and experimented on them with alien DNA. He killed countless people in his experiments and inadvertently became a vessel for General Zod, who took over his body to attempt to wipe out humanity. Lex Luthor is one of the greatest threats I will face. The irony is that in the future, I saved his life many times. One of which is going to happen this fall. He will drive off a bridge due to running over construction materials and spinning out of control. The dilemma I now have is: do I save him knowing the evil he will commit in the future, or do I let him die for the so-called greater good? The truth is I don't know what I will do. I'm frightened if I don't do something, it will send me down a dark path." I ranted.
Dr. Swann takes a minute to think and responds, "The fact that you're thinking it over means you're a good person. Sometimes, the hard thing to do is to let someone die to prevent greater evil. As long as you aren't committing the murder, how can you be held responsible for his death? If you choose to let him die, don't lose sleep over it. If it's true that you saved him many times in the future, that means you've intervened in his fate numerous times. Maybe he's fated to die. A person can only put out so much evil into the world before karma takes its toll."
I contemplated what he said and responded, "Thank you for listening to my dilemma. Do you have the evidence on the murder of the Queens?"
Virgil sighed. "I never thought the day would come where I'd be forced to use such a thing. We were such idealists then. How could my friends become so twisted?"
"I don't know what to tell you but I'll also need the key," I said calmly.
Virgil said, "Very well. Based on our conversation, I don't think the keys are needed anymore." His finger nudged a button on his chair. "Open vault Nemesis."
I heard a faint click as another wall panel opened smoothly. I walked to it and scanned through the files before taking the Queen file. "Thank you for this. Their son deserves justice."
Virgil smiled as it seemed to put his fears to rest. It was not for personal gain but to help another seek justice that was well deserved. "I am glad that my belief in you was well deserved."
"I'm far from perfect. Oh, by the way, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I believe in your character. The keys don't lead to anything that can control me. The device you're guarding in that safety deposit box in Zurich is a device that will supposedly remove my powers and destroy my Fortress of Solitude, a database containing information from across 28 galaxies," I explain.
Dr. Swann gasped and thought for a minute, "So its method of control is to weaken you. That's certainly an interesting method of control."
I agree with him, "Yes, it is. It can be circumvented by supercharging my cells with solar energy by getting me close to the sun though. But putting the fortress back together is still possible. It's just a pain in the ass. I think anything beyond taking my powers and removing the fortress was all my father was willing to risk considering I'm his son. He wouldn't want to take away my free will or have me killed."
Dr. Swann responds, "Please take the key. It's around my neck under my shirt. I know it's in good hands."
I carefully take the key from Dr. Swann and say thank you.
"Is there a way to contact you in the future?" Dr. Swann asked.
"Of course, look up the Kent farm in Smallville, Kansas. I'm usually there. But please don't reveal my identity to anyone else. Lionel found out in a possible future timeline and he manipulated me," I said. "Now, I've got to deliver this evidence."
Dr. Swann smiled and responded, "Don't worry. Your secrets are safe with me. Before you leave, have you heard the messages from Krypton?"
"Yes. And please continue to record any alien messages like that. In one possible timeline, my cousin Kara was trapped on Krypton with Brainiac - Brainiac used a wormhole to travel back in time in order to attempt to kill me as a baby before my ship left Krypton. She sent messages from Krypton, knowing you would record them and I would end up inheriting your personal notebook that has your writings and the codes of the messages from Krypton. I used that message to figure out I had to travel to the past to stop myself from being killed as a baby." I paused. "Wow. Saying all that out loud makes me sound batshit."
Dr. Swann laughed, "Yes, if someone were listening to this conversation, they would think we're both crazy."
I said, "Dr. Swann, I enjoyed your company. In the future visions, Patricia had a very kind heart. Send her my best. If she's ever in danger, please contact me immediately and I will offer my protection."
Dr. Swann smiled and said, "Thank you, Kal-El. I will do that. Good luck on your journey...Superman, was it?"
I smile and rise into the air, hovering for a few moments before vanishing.
Dr. Swann gasps in shock then said, "He wasn't kidding about the Superman thing."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone