Superman has a day job. It was just a joke, the kind of thing that the brain coughs up when it’s trying to match a pattern. Kant said that humor was expectation strained until it suddenly dissolved into nothingness. Lex had been making maps and doing complex math for weeks on end, and if that […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 5
Lois Lane had been walking down 15th Avenue looking for a place to eat breakfast when she’d heard the bang from the next block over. She’d started running towards it seconds after she’d heard it, while everyone else on the street was looking around like they’d missed something. If they’d read the paper, they’d know […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 4
Harry Kramer loved explosives. He loved the danger of working with them and the thrill of watching them go off. A properly made bomb was an amazing piece of engineering, a compact device of wires, springs, and explosives all set up in a very precisely and ordered way. When the bomb went off, all that […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 3
Lex Luthor wasn’t the only one gathering information. As the days passed, people began to make their observations, and a few things began to become known. Superman would show up at misdemeanors in downtown Metropolis, felonies in the greater metropolitan area, and large disasters in the continental United States. Those who had done the math […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 2
Lois Lane was undeniably at the top of her game. There had been grumbling from some of the other reporters that it had been dumb luck, but obviously Superman had chosen her for a reason, and obviously that reason had been her reporting. That’s what she kept telling herself, anyway. Lois worked twice as hard […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 1
Author’s Note: This story is rated M for adult language and themes, including discussion of sexual violence. Lex Luthor had been lounging in the Skylight Club when he’d first heard of Superman. “He’s a fellow that flies through the sky!” declared one of the patrons, whose name Lex couldn’t recall, a good sign that the […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 17
“What happened?” asked Sunny. She stared down the scope of her sniper rifle, as did most of the other members of the sniper team. They’d seen the colossus thaw itself out and spring up on top of the building in one smooth motion. They’d taken shots at it, but it ripped the roof up to […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 16
Derek drove, with Able sitting in the seat next to him. In the back rode Sunny, Bison, Oscar, Reed, and two of the terminators. It churned his stomach to see them. These were early models, without the nuanced appearance of the later ones that Skynet used to infiltrate the resistance. They looked like the faded […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 15
“Okay,” said Sarah. “So what are we going to do with this machine? It’s accurate to within fifty meters, it doesn’t have the restrictions on flesh, and we can use it multiple times in a row.” She glanced at the clock again. In the backyard, electric blue lightning began to play out from a point […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 14
“What happened?” Sarah called out. “Terminator,” Kyle said at nearly the same moment, and it must have only been for her benefit, as the rest of the family were smoothly pulling out their guns and pointing them at the trio. “They’re friendly,” said the girl, who held up her hands. The two large men behind […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 13
In the end, they never got the go/no go signal from the future. Camp Barstow was the most obvious trap in the world, and their small team of people was going to march in there all the same. Aside from the worryingly vague number of terminators on the premises, there were hundreds of soldiers engaged […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 12
Derek sat on a stool next to the counter, sipping from a glass of orange juice. There was a bottle of fifty-year-old scotch sitting among other delicacies that was sorely tempting, but he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his role as a soldier if he were drunk, and besides that, orange juice was delicacy enough. […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 11
Kyle was woken up by a commotion downstairs, and his gun was in his hand before his eyes were even open. He woke up like that most days, back in the future, and it took a moment to realize that he’d slept in a comfortable bed with a down comforter instead of curled up in […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 10
Derek came downstairs to see Sarah sitting at the kitchen table, with papers arranged around her. She had her pen in her mouth, and glanced up only briefly to look at him. Aside from the papers, which were filled with her handwriting, a stack of disorganized clothing sat piled up at the far end of […]
Branches on the Tree of Time, Chapter 9
Hours of talking passed, and Sarah felt her throat getting sore. “So you’re saying,” said Kyle, “That the reason we never saw any evidence of Skynet getting better was that it wasn’t in the best interests of Skynet to appear to be getting better?” “Right,” said Derek. “The whole future history was set up by […]