Reality Crisis

Dinah had had just about enough of this world. It seemed everyone in it was set up to keep missing each other. She had the people who came from worlds where they either didn't know her or she didn't mean the same thing to them that she had in her world. And then there were the people who did know her or had a connection with the other version of her that just... wasn't the same for her.

She wasn't sure which was worse, but she knew that she felt bad that she wasn't able to be the friend/teammate to Chloe or the girlfriend to this new Dean that the two clearly had expected upon meeting her.

Which reminded her... she did need to at least talk to Chloe soon. She hadn't been avoiding the blonde, but she simply hadn't sought her out. She did want to get to know her, but it seemed like her attention had been split between so many things lately.

Dinah wasn't sure if now was the time, but she figured that it was better than sitting around her apartment musing over the idea of there being two of some of the people here. There were a whole host of implications there that she would need to think through later, but for now she settled for going for a walk and seeking out the petite blonde.

After her talk with Clark, Chloe couldn't help but think about everything that had happened between his time and her time. All of the people they had lost, all of the friend they had made, and all of the evil they had stopped. Not all in their lives was bad, she knew that, but they definitely had had their share of loss.

The most recent one of course, being Jimmy. And that was the one she blamed herself for the most. While Chloe knew she had no more control over Davis' alien side than she did over his human side, she still felt like maybe, if she had stopped him when he asked her to, if she had found another way to truly get rid of the monster when Davis was willing to co-operate, Jimmy and all of the others who had been murdered when he freed himself, would have been saved.

She knew thinking about this was useless, especially now that she was stuck in an entirely different reality, but as she took a walk around the town, she allowed herself to play the what ifs that she always did her best to avoid. Mostly because there was another apocalypse coming, in this place and their own, and she felt like it was incredibly important to learn from her mistakes. This one in particular.

And the lesson was simple, it was one she had been just speaking with Clark about: Not everyone can be saved.

Clark didn't like it when he didn't have an excuse to keep moving non stop. The rain of animals had kept him moving the whole time before and after for all the clean up. When you were moving like that you didn't have time to think too much and that was a good thing.

He was glad Chloe, Lois and Oliver were here. It was good to have friends and people who didn't know him as Superman but at the same time it made him think of home more. Clark missed his mother. If he was here and his dad was dead who was there to take care of the farm? And she worried about him. She always did even when he lived at home and came home every night. What would it be like for her now not knowing where he was?

Most of all he missed his father. A heart beats only so many times in a life. Your father used his more then anyone I know. Could he live up to the man his dad was?

And what was the deal with Lex back home? Clark hadn't missed the looks they all had on their faces when he'd brought up Lex.

Dead snakes and things were mostly cleaned up now and Clark had to stop and clean himself up and eat. He'd scrubbed his hands and arms almost raw...which was saying something for him...then changed his shirt. Since he didn't feel much like being around people he took his food and retreated to the top of the wall of the city again to stay out of the way.

After the meeting with Belia, Oliver and the rest found themselves politely escorted outside once more. He watched as the other man from the meeting--Owen, he thought his name was, headed away, leaving Ollie with Chloe and Lois. He glanced between the two women, feeling selfishly glad they were both there with him. "Well, that was...interesting," he muttered as he walked between them, farther away from the building and out of earshot from any guards who might be listening in.

He supposed they didn't have much choice but to start exploring this new world in hopes of finding something that could take them home. But in the mean time, they were going to have to do something about having a place to sleep and food to eat, both of which Belia had promised them during the meeting. She'd also given them directions toward the apartment complex where the so-called "Chosen" were staying. Not that they needed them, since he and Chloe had already been there to see Clark.

Startled, he glanced at Lois. "Have you seen Clark since you got here?"

The situation was getting more dire now. Belia could tell that the walls between realities were getting more strained. More 'chosen' were showing up than ever. The apartment building that had been cleared out to accommodate potential new arrivals to this world now held a lot more than simply the two that had been the first arrivals.

She wanted very badly to believe that they would be the saviors of her world, as many of her people believed. She was too cynical for that however. Instead, she believed that they had the potential to help and could just as likely bring an end to even this meager existence that her people had had to fight tooth and nail for.

Extending hospitality, attempting to keep the chosen in her city and under her thumb was the best way she could think of to maintain control of the situation. She would do what she could to make sure that they had motivation to help and to ensure that she had enough warning to do something to prevent any of them causing this world lasting harm.


It wasn't perfect nor was it guaranteed, but it was all she had.

Her guards had notified her of the small handful of new arrivals that had shown up recently and so she sent them back out to collect the new chosen that had come to die Festung for a greeting. They were instructed to extend the invitation politely and only to use force if lives were in danger.

She waited in the room that was now much more frequently used for greeting newcomers. A wide array of food was spread out on the table, simply waiting for the chosen to indulge themselves if they so chose.

With directions from Dinah, he and Chloe had separated from the other blonde woman and headed farther into the city, locating the apartments she had spoken about where Clark was staying. Unfortunately the younger man hadn't been there when they'd arrived so now the two of them were lingering outside the apartment complex, both quiet and lost in their own thoughts.

Oliver couldn't shake the feeling that there was a lot more going on than Dinah had told them about, and he also couldn't shake the feeling that it was more personal. But that was going to have to wait for the time being. At least until they'd reunited with Clark. Hopefully among the four of them, they could figure out some way to get back home. He sat on the steps, elbows resting on his knees as they waited. Beside him, Chloe sat mimicking his position, looking deeply troubled.

He certainly couldn't blame her for that. He started to say something when he heard footsteps and he looked up to see Clark approaching. Arching his eyebrows, he rose to his feet. "Hey," he greeted with a small smile. He had a feeling Clark was going to be a lot more freaked out about all of this than he was. Especially since Dinah hadn't mentioned Lois being there. "Gotta say, if we're trapped in a weird apocalyptic universe, I'm glad you're here with us."

One minute the two of them had been walking up the stairs on the way into Watchtower, and then he missed a step (which generally never happened to Oliver), and then he was falling, tumbling backwards, a startled shout escaping him. He hit the ground hard, wind knocked out of him. Groaning a little, he shut his eyes for a moment until he could breathe again, half-expecting to sit up and find Chloe staring down at him from her place on the stairs with an exasperated expression on her face.

Instead, he found himself staring up at trees. Huge, towering trees that he was certain had never been there before. Blinking, he pressed a hand to the ground to help him sit up. "What the hell..."

Watchtower was gone. How the hell did a building the size of Watchtower simply vanish? As his senses started to return to him, he asked himself a better question: when the hell had a forest sprung up in the middle of Metropolis, Kansas? He felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck the way it usually did right before a major lightening storm popped up while he was patrolling. He looked around slowly, both surprised and somewhat relieved to see that Chloe was there, too.

"I know this is cliche, but I've always wanted to say it anyway." He raised his eyebrows at her. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Dorothy."