Roads Not Taken
Part One: Lex Luthor and his "assistant" Darla step into a lab at Shuster University. As they move in Luthor sees something startling. "He did it." he says. "Lex, what is it?" the somewhat stupid Darla says. Lex explains that "it" is an interdimensional portal as he steps up to it. Staring at it with awe and wonder, he steps inside and begins to spin as he is enveloped by a cloudy mist of energies. He screams as he disappears into the unknown. "LEX!!" Darla screams as she realizes he is gone.
At the Bureau for Extra-normal Matters, Clark walks out with a man carrying a pile of bones. "They're not from an alien sir. They're from a cow." he says as he escorts the man out. "They don't have cows on other planets?" the man says. Clark replies, "None I've ever been to." As the man leaves, a boy runs up past him. He gives Clark a telegram with a red hair on the envelope. Clark, using x-ray vision, reads the telegram and runs out of the hallway. Moments later, he appears in the lab of Dr. Winger at Shuster University. He presents the note to Dr. Winger. Winger reads the note. "If anyone wants to see Lana Lang again, send Superboy to Dr. Winger's lab at Shuster University." Winger says he doesn't know anything about the note. Just then Darla steps out saying she sent the note in order to lure Superboy there. She explains how Lex fell into the portal and tells Superboy that Lana will die if he doesn't rescue Lex.
Dr. Winger then speaks up. "If he fell into the portal there's no telling where he could be." Winger explains that the portal leads to an infinite number of alternate earths where different choices or decisions were made by different people. "History could be totally different." He explains. Superboy then decides that he has no choice but to try and save Lex. He steps into the portal and is instantly whisked into a place between dimensions. Suddenly, with a loud bang, he appears high above a dark alleyway in Capitol City.
Superboy surveys the area. As he walks down the alleyway he sees homeless people along each side. They begin to curse him saying "Die Superboy! Die Superboy!" Superboy walks up past one more homeless person. "Spare any change?" Superboy immediately recognizes Lana's voice. Lana begins to talk about something Superboy did. "We all hated him, but he didn't deserve what you did to him." she says. "Lana, whatever it is I didn't do it." "Yes you did. I saw you. I saw you......Go to Eastlake Cemetary. Section 6. Row D. Then tell me you didn't do it."
Superboy walks through the cemetary which has nothing but small crosses marking each grave. He come up to a large stone marker reading:
Here lies Lex Luthor, Killed by Superboy
Meanwhile, somewhere else, a crowd shouts out Luthors name as the Lex Luthor from our world steps up on stage. He explains that Superboy killed only an imposter, not the real Luthor. However, he knows that he is really from another world. The people cheer as Lex finishes his speech. "Lex! Lex! Lex!" In the back of the crowd one lone figure dressed in a long black overcoat walks by and watches Luthor.
Luthor retires to an office inside after his speech. He turns to see Superboy, wearing a long black overcoat, staring him in the face. Luthor cringes in fear thinking that this Superboy will kill him. "I'm only here to take you home Lex. Where you came from." Superboy says. Lex realizes this is the Superboy he knows. He pulls out a lead box and opens it revealing chunks of kryptonite. "Do you think I'd venture out in a world where my killer is still at large? Not without insurance!" he yells. He forces Superboy to enter the crowd outside. They see the "S" shield beneath his coat. " It's Superboy! Kill him!" They begin to beat him and kick him. He sheds his overcoat and quickly flies away from the angry crowd as Luthor smiles.
Superboy arrives at the Bureau. He finds the inside torn apart and completely empty. He then sees a man lying at the foot of the stairs. "Matt?" Matt Ritter stands to his feet. "No! leave me alone! Nobody cares about this stuff anymore! Nobody!" he shouts as he runs out the door. As soon as Ritter is gone the skylight breaks away and another Superboy, wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses flies down. "I saw you flying here. Who are you?" "I'm a version of you from another world. It's in a different dimension." "Tell me something. Would you believe that?" "And would you believe that I know we're both Clark Kent?"
The two Superboys stand and talk about what happened on this world. The evil Superboy explains that he killed Luthor in a fit of rage by cutting him in two with his heat vision. He tells the good Superboy that the same potential to kill, the same rage, is inside him too. As the evil Superboy walks off, the good Superboy asks, "Is that why you don't wear the suit anymore? Are you ashamed?" "its all hopeless." The evil Superboy replies. The good Superboy flies through the skylight leavind Superboy #2 behind.
Superboy arrives at a very different version of Dr. Winger's lab. He comes in asking Winger if he can use the portal. Suddenly, Luthor comes out of nowhere holding two pieces of kryptonite. He tosses one to Winger and the two make Superboy collapse on the steps in front of the portal.
End Part One
Part Two: Superboy uses what strength he has left to run into the portal, his only means of escape. Instantly, he is transported to a new world. He looks up and on the side of a building he sees a painting depicting yet another version of himself. It shows a Superboy holding up his fist and words above the picture read: Our Sovereign. As Superboy walks into the street, a crowd of people wearing "S" shield arm bands gathers around him. Each person crosses his or her arms and bows to Superboy. One child asks Superboy for an autograph and calls him "Sovereign". "I'm not who you think I am." Superboy explains. A jeep pulls up behind the crowd. Three soldiers get out and two of them are pulling along another version of Lana Lang. One soldier explains that she is a traitor to Superboy. Lana spits on Superboy as she walks by. "Shall we execute her? Or would you like to?" the soldier asks. Superboy takes Lana and flies into the air as two men watch from hiding.
Superboy lands on a fire escape with Lana and explains to her who he is. He tells her he isn't the Sovereign that she thinks he is and that he doesn't want to hurt her. She argues with him and eventually he lets her go knowing he can't reason with this stubborn version of Lana.
Back on the previous world, Luthor and Dr. Winger are talking. Luthor wants to make sure that Superboy can't come back. He wants the portal destroyed immediately. Dr. Winger agrees to destroy the portal even though it took him 12 years to build it. "At least I still have the remote." he says. Luthor asks him what the remote is. Dr. Winger explains that it is like the portal except it is hand-held. Luthor asks to see it and prepares to smash it against a table in the lab. Before he can do anything, he is stopped by another Superboy. "I thought I got rid of you." says Luthor. "Wrong one." replies Superboy. "Well, which one are you?" "The one who killed you."
Elsewhere, the real Sovereign is talking to his advisors in his headquarters. "They hate me!" he says. He goes on talking about a rebellion that is trying to get him out of power. One advisor speaks. "They are a handful of lunatics, sire." "If so few, why are they so difficult to get rid of?!" The advisors say they are not worthy to work for him. The Sovereign responds by saying that he likes their dedication. He orders them to get rid of the rebellion. As they leave, a messenger arrives. He tells the Sovereign that another man is impersonating him and that this other man actualy flew. He leaves. As the two advisors begin to walk out of the room, the Sovereign takes out his anger on one of them. He screams as the other turns away horrified.
The original Superboy arrives at Dr. Winger's lab in the Soverign's world. He asks to use the portal. Dr. Winger goes next door to adjust the power supply. Or so he says. Minutes later he returns, removes his "S" arm-band, and introduces Superboy to another Lex Luthor who holds out a piece of kryptonite. Superboy is slowly being killed by the kryptonite. He tries to convice this Luthor, who is a member of the rebellion, that he isn't the Sovereign and that he came here through another interdimensional portal. Lana, Luthor's lover in this world, finally convinces Lex that this man isn't the Sovereign. The kryptonite is put away in its lead box. Superboy agrees to help Lex and Lana fight against the Sovereign.
Lex tells Superboy the story of the Sovereign. "He was sent to Earth in a rocket." he says. "It landed on the Kent farm." says Superboy. "No. Just across the road from there. It landed in one of the Ellman grainery complexes. Old man Ellman carefully groomed him to become master of the Earth." "Ellman was crippled. he saw the Soverign's power and with it the potential for total political domination." says Lana. "Based entirely on Ellman's philosophy of fear and intimidation." Just as Lex finishes his sentence, a group of the Sovereign's soldiers break in firing wildly into the base. Lana runs away as Superboy blocks their bullets and stops them. When his job is done, Superboy and Lana find lex lying on the floor. A bullet hit him before Superboy could stop the soldiers. Lex makes Superboy promise to stop the Sovereign just before he dies.
Later, the Sovereign makes an announcement regarding the rebellion. As he finishes speaking, Superboy appears in the doorway of the room. The Sovereign steps over to him. "The resemblance is remarkable. But who are you really?" he asks. "I'm you, I'm ashamed to say." "Oh really? You may look like me, but I don't think you have my character. Let's see what you're made of." The Sovereign fires his heat vision toward Superboy. Superboy dodges and blows Sovereign into the wall with super-breath. The two grab each other's arms and lock together. "You're as strong as I am!" the Sovereign exclaims. "I was meant to rule! It's my destiny! Look what I've done! I've given the people discipline! Order!" Suddenly, Lana appears. "But not the freedom to choose the way we want to live!" "Lana, get out of here!" Superboy yells. "No. I'm ready for him." she replies. She pulls of a lead sheet on her revealing a kryptonite bomb attached to her chest. Both Superboy and the Sovereign fall in pain. Lana forces the Sovereign into a long hallway with a dead end. "You're making a mistake!" he yells. "You killed Lex. You were always jealous of him when we were growing up." "You cannot do this!"yells the Sovereign. "Oh yes I can! You wanted me......" Lana backs the Sovereign into the wall and grabs his neck. "....now you've got me!" Superboy enters the hallway in time to see Lana with the bomb trigger in her hand. "Lana! No!" Lana detonates the bomb killing herself and the Sovereign. A ball of kryptonite fire rolls back toward Superboy as he backs against the wall. There's a flash of light as the Superboy from the last world appears holding the remote transporter. "Time to go." he says. In another flash of light he and Superboy are gone.
Back on the previous world, the two figures appear in the portal. Both Superboy's step out. "Change of heart?" says the Superboy of our world. "No. same heart that was there all along." says the other Superboy. "Maybe you will turn things around." Superboy #2 unties Luthor and hands him over to Superboy #1. But Dr. Winger realizes the explosion has followed the two through the portal. The glowing green fireball is quickly approaching. Superboy #2 tosses the remote transporter to the other Superboy. Luthor and superboy diappear adn the portal explodes with a fiery green glow.
Luthor and Superboy appear back at the portal on earth-prime, our world. Darla and Lana are in front of the portal waiting for the two to step out. Superboy pushes Lana, Darla, and Lex back and destroys the portal to ensure the explosion can't follow him here too. Lana then rushes to his side. "I thought I'd never see you again." she says. "I thought I'd never see this you again either." Superboy replies. Darla looks at Lex. Lex is repeating the phrase "There's no place like home" over and over again. "What did you do to him he's crazy!" yells Darla. "What was he before? Sane?" says Lana. Luthor continues repeating this phrase: "There's no place like home. There's no place like home....."
The End
Roads Not Taken Screen Captures
This page created and maintained by Dmwc
This page hosted by Geocities.
Get your own free homepage!