Reality Crisis

Sam didn't really get much of a 'honeymoon' with Fred. It was hard to rest when people needed help outside their little apartment. His days were spent helping with repairs around the city and his evenings were spent patrolling the outside of the wall for a bit before turning in. Maybe if he was lucky, he would catch some time while he and Fred were both awake and unharmed some nights. Not enough nights, but he was trying to carve out a little time for the two of them as he could.

When his nightly patrol ran into a group of Netvors, Sam had a moment where he wondered how much time, if any, there would be after patrol tonight. Maybe it was stupid to go out on his own, but Dean was busy with his own things and there was a part of Sam that felt the need to do this sort of penance for all the mistakes he'd made in the past, for all of the steps he'd taken toward the apocalypse back home.

Fortunately, he had a machete and it was currently in full swing as he lopped at heads of the closest Netvors.

Dinah hadn't seen much of anyone lately, besides Bruce. Even Bruce... well, he was Bruce. There were days when they occupied the same space and yet felt worlds apart. She was starting to get used to that and she accepted that it was part of who he was. Maybe with time, it would change. Or maybe not.

There were days when she needed the space as much as he did. She was still trying to make sense of the vision of a future that she still didn't understand or want. Trying to figure out ways to avoid it. And she couldn't help reflecting on what this world had already changed about her.

Not that it was all bad. It certainly wasn't. There were good things about this world. Good things about the Bruce that had landed in this world.

But for today, she needed to get out and reconnect with some of the others. Clark especially. If anyone could keep an eye out and keep her from stepping too far over the line that shouldn't be crossed, it was Clark.

She had some idea about his usual routes thanks to Bruce's need to keep tabs on everyone. But mostly, she just started to head in the direction of die Festung in the hopes that she would run into a certain Kryptonian.

For now, things were quiet and tranquil. If she had any clue as to what was to come, perhaps she would have stayed closer to the cave or perhaps she still would have headed toward the nearest settlement to help as she could.

Clark was actually kind of used to things like weird visions. What did it say about him that he took all of it in stride? He was beginning to think he'd reached some sort of threshold where nothing could make an impact anymore. And that was probably dangerous for him to be so blase about all of this.

He'd been in his room for once when it happened. Clark didn't spend a lot of time inside much less in his room but he did have to do laundry and sometimes he stopped to take a little time to read and do something that didn't involve running everywhere and checking on everyone.

This time he was stitching up his jeans to repair a ripped out seam when things had turned inside out and he found himself far above the earth. It was one of those clear days where the blue seemed to go on forever without a cloud. Those were the days Clark liked best to fly. The sky never ended and unless you looked carefully (like he could) you couldn't see the damage down below.

He floated on the air currents like he was moving through water letting the icy air slip over his skin. This high up there wasn't a lot of oxygen so there also wasn't a lot of sound. It made the whole world feel distant and remote.

Until he faintly heard someone calling his name. They needed help. Clark turned in midair to zero in on the sound and suddenly found himself sitting on the floor of his apartment trying to stab himself in the finger with a needle. All it did was bend the needle and leave him blinking as he tried to readjust mentally.

After that he needed to clear his head.

Clark ended up on the wall of the city again looking down at the land and forest outside. If he stepped off the wall would he fly? Or would he fall? Did he really want to find out?

Sylar knew what Peter's wizard friends looked like. They had long been a source of both curiosity and anger for him. He knew full well that the wizards and given Peter a way to shut down his own powers and Sylar could only guess that Peter was working with them to find a way to shut down Sylar's powers.

Sylar was determined not to let that happen. He was also intensely curious about magic. Was it genetic? If so, could he read that ability like he had with so many other wonderful, special abilities?

He had changed faces so many times lately in an effort stay hidden. He knew that Peter and his new superpowered friends would be looking for him. He knew that the confrontation would come soon. He just wanted it on his terms.

Today, he was outside the wall. The zombies seemed to be gone and life was starting to return to normal. Sylar wasn't sure where Peter might be hiding out and he'd given his word to Bane that he wouldn't storm the walls of Sanctuary looking for his foe. So instead, he was waiting out here while he contemplated his next move.

When one of the wizards walked by, Sylar grinned. He wouldn't have to go in after Peter. He knew exactly how to flush the other man out.

Carlos wouldn't even see Sylar coming. He didn't stop to take on a familiar face. He didn't stop to play games. He simply made sure that they were out of sight of any of the guards and raised his finger to point. His telekinesis sliced through the delicate skin on the wizard's forehead. As soon as the limp body fell to the ground, Sylar was there, looking. Searching.

A slow grin spread across his face as he realized that magic was, in fact, genetic. It might take some time to learn how to use the abilities properly, but the base skill could be obtained simply enough with a little bit of study of the brain. This world was a whole new candyshop for him. Where he'd thought that he'd obtained every ability that could be of use to him back in his world, now he realized that the possibilities were endless in this new world.

Natasha's short time in this world had not impressed her. She had thought that Russia was cold and inhospitable, but this world was so much more than that. The little pockets of hope she found were in the survivors that huddled together in the small city that she'd been brought to upon her arrival. They survived in spite of it all. Politics was still a force in this world, but it wasn't the same as back in her world. Though she got the feeling that the leader of die Festung was a little bit less dangerous to her people merely because she appreciated how short the supply of citizens was in this world. Perhaps.

Of course, the stronger differences were the sparse populations and the ruins that stretched as far as the eye could see. Natasha had heard about other little villages and had decided to check one of them out. Perhaps she should have asked Tony to go along or even Dean, but she didn't know Dean well enough to trust him and Tony was always a loose cannon. She thought that it would be better to stay subtle with this recon mission, and Tony didn't do subtle.

She managed to get just a ways past the point where the wall for die Festung was out of sight when something made it very clear that she should have brought more back-up.

The creature-whatever it was-was about fifteen feet tall and slimy. As far as she could tell, it came from the forest. Not that it mattered where it came from. What mattered was that the bullets she'd sprayed at it seemed about as bothersome as a mosquito. It advanced on her with a leer that made her curse under he breath in Russian and turn to run. She just hoped that as big as he was, he was at least slow. Though those long legs seemed to be able to take strides that were worth about ten of hers.

Dinah and Bruce had found Clark first. It was a good thing they had because a wizard named Carlos had found them, claiming to be sent by Peter. Both the Bat and the Canary had been hesitant to trust his story, but Clark was the human-or Kryptonian, at any rate-lie detector. Clark had been able to reassure them that Carlos was telling the truth, and that Kitty was actually Kitty when they'd run across her on their way into Sanctuary, Magneto's village.

Dinah felt a fresh wave of guilt as she realized that Kitty had been attacked, most likely by the same shapeshifter that had attacked her. She'd given Kitty and Piotr's names to the fake Oliver. She would apologize to Kitty later, not that she thought that would cover it. For now, however, they needed to band together and find a way to stop the shapeshifter.

The guards must have known they were coming. Or at least, they'd expected Carlos to bring back people, because the small group had been escorted straight to a building that looked large enough to be used as some sort of meeting hall, yet was on the outskirts of town and seemed to be well-guarded to prevent eavesdroppers she supposed.

Dinah was curious at the prospect of meeting the enigmatic leader of this little outpost. She'd certainly heard her share of rumors about Erik Lensherr, and she was unsure of his motives or of his character. But if he was to work with them on this, then she supposed she would get the chance to see more of who he was and whether or not he could be trusted.

Dinah was somber as they were let into the building. She knew that they were in for the fight of their lives and so she didn't have time for the guilt over her misplaced trust and the fact that she'd risked live because of it.

Dinah had done a bit of poking around the city, enough to confirm that the people she'd been hoping hadn't disappeared were gone. And enough that she was realizing she didn't feel like she had a place here. Not anymore. Her distrust of Belia ran deeply, but it was more than that. She'd lost most of the people that she cared about here. It was hard to be in the town without being reminded of that. She still wasn't sure if the cave was where she belonged either, but it had been simpler there over the last few days. It was even a nice rhythm she'd found with Bruce. He seemed to tolerate her presence and there were times when she was almost sure that he liked having her there. It was hard to tell with him, but every so often she did get that feeling.

One of the conclusions she'd come to while looking around the city was that she needed to bring Bruce back. He didn't trust anyone, but he would never even get the chance to trust them if he didn't meet them. If they were going to move forward with the team, then people needed to start interacting. She needed to get a feel for how they would work as team.

So Dinah packed what few items were hers in her apartment and set out to look for Clark. He was her way back, after all. She supposed if she'd thought things through better, she might have taken her ATV to avoid putting Clark in the position of transport back and forth.

Her first few days in the cave, Dinah had been unconscious more often than not. She had woken to eat, take more medicine, check bandages, and had promptly gone back to sleep. She didn't honestly know how long she'd been there, but she knew that she was starting to feel better which meant that she was starting to get antsy. Bruce had mentioned sparring and while she still had to take it easy, she was ready to dive back into that.

She knew that he'd be pulling his punches and as much as she wished he didn't have to, she was okay with that for her first attempt at sparring since her run-in with the Joker. Her scream wasn't back, but she could feel her throat healing and there was still that tiny glimmer of hope.

For now, she would just settle for getting back into shape. She fell into the rhythm of the fight easily enough. It was just like riding a bike, even if she knew that he was going very easy on her. She did her best to push back, though she didn't give it her all. Not just yet. She needed to ease back into things.

All the same, punches and kicks were traded as they both fell into the art of sparring. She couldn't help but admire his techniques. For the most part, it was very similar to the Batman she knew, but some things were different. Of course, it made sense that they would be. He had perhaps studied different methods or under a different sensei. There were a lot of reasons that his style might be slightly different.

As they fought, they were both drawn in for tighter grappling. It was easier to telegraph what was coming next when fighting from a distance. But when there were only inches away, it was easier to conceal, even if reaction times needed to be even quicker. She didn't mind the challenge, and she attempted to sweep his legs out from under him with one of her legs, hoping to put an end to the fight by bringing her opponent to the floor.

Clark, Mouse and Bob had pretty much settled into a routine. Of course the routine involved feeding and walking Mouse, trying not to get drawn into weird discussions with Bob and laughing where the skull couldn't see when he'd whip himself into a frenzy of frustration for not being able to swear.

It wasn't much of a routine really and Clark was getting restless with all this sticking around this close to the city and waiting. Somehow packing up the skull and going on his normal trips seemed like a bad idea but so did leaving him alone in an apartment since that was how Constantine got him in the first place.

Today the routine was disrupted by Mouse clawing and barking at the door like a mad thing until Clark finally opened it. When he did the huge dog took off like a shot and didn't look back. "Okay, obviously a dog on a mission. Guess we can skip the walk this morning."

Clark didn't usually spend this much time in one place since he got to this world but right now he didn't feel right wandering with the talking skull named Bob living with him. So, he'd retrieved Harry's stolen property and was hanging out with his dog but he was starting to feel way out of his depth.

The thing talked.

And it didn't just talk, it tended to talk a lot. Clark was isolating himself in the apartment they had assigned to him to keep an eye on the skull since someone had already stolen it once. He'd really rather that didn't happen again. Not that he was exactly sure what the skull could do for someone but it didn't seem like a good idea to let John Constantine have anything he wasn't supposed to. The guy was a nicotine stained rat.

Harry hadn't come back yet and Clark was starting to feel uneasy about all of this. What if he didn't come back at all? Then what was he supposed to do with Bob?

"You hungry Mouse?" When in doubt take care of something. It always helped keep his mind from running amok with worries.

Things had definitely been weird lately. First it seemed like there were extra people, which considering how people showed up here that might not have been weird except Clark had heard there were people that might be duplicates, and now people were missing.

He'd checked in with Bruce when he couldn't find Dinah and he didn't know where she was either. Apparently the man had been spending time outside of town and Dinah had just seemed to be gone without a trace. Oliver was gone too.

Clark didn't like that but he wasn't sure what to do about it. He'd made a quick trip around to check all the places he usually checked in on then came back to the city to try to figure out what to do next.

In the wake of the tremors, Carlos had heard about people going missing. There were the people from the other world who had shown up here all at once after the first tremor, but also some of the chosen from this world. A stop by Harry and Murphy's apartments did nothing to ease his worries since the wizard and the (former?) police detective were nowhere to be found.

It was possible they were out looking into the disappearances too. There were a lot of possibilities, but that didn't stop him from worrying. Which turned his attention to the other person that he'd miss like hell if suddenly she wasn't here anymore.

Carlos set out for the fairy forest and the sanctuary within the forest.

The trip was fairly uneventful, which was good. The mood he was in, Carlos might have vaporized any ROUSes that tried to get into the way. When he finally made it to the camp and to the hut for the woman in question, he knocked on the door and tried not to hold his breath as he waited.

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.

Harry had found out from Carlos why Molly is the way she is. It wasn't pleasant knowledge because it was all his fault. That wasn't surprising. A lot of things were Harry's fault, but the guilt was pretty overwhelming. He had to do something about it. There was no doubt about that. He even had an idea of what, but it was drumming up the courage to face her again now that he knew what he did that Harry was stumbling over. He'd pretty much come home from talking to Carlos and curled up around Murphy (with their size difference that was almost literally) verbally puking everything he'd learned on her. Since then he'd been walking around lost in his thoughts and muttering to himself. Bob said this was no different than Harry's normal level of intellectual conversational skills.

As if all that and trying to figure out why they were here wasn't bad enough it had to go all Old Testament on them outside. Harry was in a basement apartment so he hadn't known what was going on until he'd taken Mouse out for a walk. Neither of them were thrilled with the rain of gross. It had been the fastest Mouse had ever seen to his business. There were more than a few natural cases of frogs, birds or even fish falling from the sky, but to have an entire tossed salad of creatures was indicative of something more.

He was lost in pondering that while Murph was out to check on the neighborhood. Some of those snakes and spiders were poisonous. They both wanted to make sure no one got bit and took it in turns to see if anyone needed help. A knock on his door made him frown in confusion. No one came here except for Carlos and that wasn't his knock. He gave Bob a warning glare then went to see who was there. Opening the door his brows bounced back up to find Baby Superman standing there. "Hi."

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?"

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."

There were questions about what was going on in New Troy. Clark and Dinah had decided to go together to check it out. They wanted to make sure with the changes going on there that it wasn't just being set up to be an even worse place than before.

Clark had his own reasons to check in after the fairy gave him his mission but safety was the primary concern here.

Clark's footsteps faltered when they got to their destination. There was a misshapen form hanging on the gate and he recognized the smell immediately. Something dead. His sight had flicked to X-ray and back to regular. He caught Dinah by the elbow to speak quietly. "That's...that was a person."

Once Clark was done talking to the fairy in the woods (there was a sentence he didn't want to say out loud) he didn't use his speed to take him back out again. He'd agreed to her terms to keep the others safe but it didn't seem like it would be real until he was out of the woods. Like the responsibility wouldn't be there until he was walking under the sky again.

He paused right at the edge of the woods and felt silly as he took a deep breath and stepped out.

And will you take responsibility for them? For helping to save them from themselves?

There was something in his expression that those who knew him as older would know. Determination and a goal.

"I will."

He started back toward the city.

The fairy's illusion had led Clark all over the forest and he was stuck in a strange sort of time anomaly at the moment, so it might have only felt as though he’d been following her for half an hour or so. Or perhaps it felt like longer. The fairy didn’t care all that much. Time didn't move normally in the forest. It bent to the fairy's will, just like everything else.

She didn't have much use for mortal time anyway. It was a pesky thing and really, what was the use in it?

The young man (though every man was young compared to the fairy, save for that Jack Harkness) was something of a curiosity. While there were things that he had yet to learn, he didn't seem deserving of a curse. The fairy had searched his aura for whatever she could learn about him and nothing yet presented itself.

This man was someone that the rest of them might be able to learn from, if they weren't so busy being wrapped up in their own troubles. How silly the mortals were, truly.

But this man was more than simply a mortal. More than simply a man, in fact.

So when she'd tired of the others in her forest, the fairy sought out the Kryptonian. She stepped out of the shadows and made herself known. She was quite lovely, with her dark hair and mischievous eyes. She wore a simple white dress that made her stand out against the dark trees.

“Hello,” she greeted the Kryptonian.

The illusion of Dinah flickered and then winked out of existence.

( Bibbidy bobbity, boo! )

Dinah was stuck in her quarters. Stuck.

She still wasn't happy with Dean about ordering her to stay put until someone came to get her. In fact, the longer she waited inside, the angrier she got.

Who the hell was he to decide whether or not she could protect herself? It wasn't as though she were stupid enough to go parading down the city streets.

No, as soon as she got out of here she would be returning to the forest to try to find some way to lift the curse. She had racked her brains for any sort of lesson she might learn from being cursed to do whatever she was told to do and she couldn't come up with anything.

Now she just needed to find a way out of there. She'd dressed again, her clothes again morphing into that now-hated ballgown and glass slippers. And then she tried to go out the door. She tried to go out the windows. Nothing worked. Every time she got too close to crossing a threshold, her nose started to bleed and her entire body seized up.

No, she wasn't happy with Dean in the least bit.

After the last attempt, she leaned against the window, pressing her forehead to the cool glass and sighing in frustration.

It was then that she saw Clark walking by outside.

She didn't want to open the window and shout to call attention to herself, but she had a good chance of drawing his attention without getting too loud.

"Clark," she said in a voice that was loud but not shouting. "Help me. Come get me."

Yes, she was cheating. Just a little bit. But if he officially 'came to get her' then she'd be released from Dean's order.

She wasn't thinking about just how difficult that might be to explain. That didn't matter right now. She swiped at the trickle of blood under her nose as a result of the last failed attempt, but if Clark heard her she wouldn't have time to do anything else to clean up and her face would still look ashen.