Luthor's New World Order

Chapter 7: Prophetic Dream

It had been several weeks since Lena Luthor and her three friends arrived at Midvale, coming in with mixed reactions from the other residents. Aliens started going underground again and it was a rare day when someone could say that they met with an alien face to face. There were thousands living in secret, and some had gone under cover the way Kara had, masquerading as foster children with foggy pasts. But as well kept as the secrets were, there was someone out there desperate to uncover every last one of them: Lex Luthor.

About 24 years ago, when Lex was only 11 years old, he began having all sorts of nightmares and hallucinations about aliens coming in to destroy Earth and either devour or enslave humanity. For years, these nightmares plagued his dreams, and they began to affect his waking life as well. Even though they were only bad dreams, they happened so often and they were so vivid that Lex became convinced that he was having a prophetic dream every time one happened, and it quickly became his biggest goal in life to do everything he could to stop the oncoming hoard. It was why he had run for president with such anti-alien politics. He ran as Earth's champion, defender and protector, convincing a large swath of humanity that they needed salvation and protecting from an ever-growing threat of a classic alien invasion.

It was absolute madness, but madness often spread fast and well, especially when mixed with hysteria and paranoia. Because of that, enough Americans believed Lex's crazy fever dreams and they too accepted them as prophecy and they all began to double down on anti-alien rhetorics and politics. And Lex knew about the secret alien adoption centers and other places that helped smuggle aliens into the country. He knew about all the undercover agencies that helped protect and hide outsiders, and he was determined to shut every single little last one of them down, no matter what it took.

"They will all burn!" Lex muttered coldly as he sent his agents out to raid another alien bar. They were, on the side, working on shutting down a local alien adoption center (and Lex knew for a fact it was an alien adoption center and not a human adoption center because DNA tests showed that not a single baby or child within the agency was human) but that wasn't quite as swift and brutal as the bar raids.

"But no matter!" the Luthor declared. "No matter how long it takes, no matter how much time and effort and resources it takes, we will purge this sinful Earth and make it pure and clean once again, as it used to be, and as it should be, and as it always shall be!" and his new world order continued unhindered.

ooo

"Kara? Kara?! KARA!" Kara felt groggy and she slowly turned her head, then her eyes shot wide open.

"Kal?" and sure enough, there he was. Although he looked about 10 years old instead of only a few months, Kara was sure that she was looking into the eyes of her little cousin. She had never been more certain of anything in her entire existence. She somehow just knew that it was Kal, well and truly.

"Kal!" she cried out with joy, feeling tears filling up her eyes. She reached out to him with ready and open arms, which he ran into. For a moment, she could only snuggle him close, hugging him tightly and kissing his soft curly brown hair as she continued to sob his name.

"Kal! Oh, Kal! You're ok! You're alright! You're alive! You made it! You made it to Earth! And now you'll be with me always, and I will never let anything happen to you again! Oh! You'll love it here, Kal, I promise!"

Then Kara pulled away from Kal in order to study his face again, happy tears still burning her eyes. But her face contorted in horror when she saw Kal's own terrified expression.

"Kara! Kara! Kara!" he continued to wail, eyes unseeing as he stared up at her.

"Kal? What is it? What's wrong?!" Kara asked with growing alarm, feeling her heartbeat pick up in fear.

"They're coming, Kara!" They're coming!" Kal gasped and whined, looking almost possessed.

"Who? Who's coming?" Kara demanded, then suddenly, light illuminated her world. It was almost blinding, but she could make out moving shapes on the horizon of her vision.

"Them! Them! They're coming, Kara, they're coming!" Kal began to wiggle, struggling to escape her hold.

"Wait! Kal! No, wait!" she pleaded as he finally tore free of her and took off running. She sprinted after him, but he was suddenly gone out of sight, and the figures behind her were suddenly surrounding her from all sides.

Suddenly, everything was totally still and silent, except Kara found herself feeling unnaturally cold. Or at least, the back half of her was. Her neck, back and rear end were all cold, but the front half of her felt fine.

"Alright, if he's ready, bring him in," a voice above her muttered.

"Hello?!" she cried out, but she was quick to find out that she couldn't speak! Or move. Or even breathe! She had been totally and completely paralyzed! To call it panic would be putting it mildly, had Kara been able to move, she would've been thrashing hard enough to shake the entire Earth. But because she was paralyzed, she could do nothing except wait and watch...

Suddenly, then, the sharpest pain she'd ever felt sank into her stomach. She tried to shriek out in agony, but still no sound came out of her. Instead, she could only lie there exposed and belly up as the pain went deeper and deeper, getting sharper and sharper the longer and longer it carried on. It suddenly occurred to her, then, that she was completely naked, and strapped down onto a metal table. That was why her entire back half had felt so cold, it was pressed up against a hard metal table.

And above her? Humans. Billions and billions and billions and billions of humans. All of them, staring down at her, watching, watching. Watching as the torturous pain continued to pierce her stomach and chest before ripping them wide open and peeling the skin back to expose all of her soft, tender insides, which were soon pierced and dissected just the same way her skin had been. Knives and scalpels, sharper and sharper, deeper and deeper. Cutting, slicing, smooth cuts. Peeling away, skinning off layer after layer. And all she could do was lie there and scream and scream and scream, but still no sound came out of her...

Kara shot awake to the sound of her alarm clock, which she had mistaken for her own endless cries of pain. She was shaking and sweaty, but from the fact that Alex was just starting to wake up, Kara realized that she had not made one single sound that night. Just like in her dream, she had been totally powerless to cry out for help. Alex hadn't even realized she'd been suffering... The thought alone gave Kara the chills, and she could still feel the burning sting of the precise cuts that had once lined her torso. She did not believe in visions or prophecies, but just for that one night, just for that one dream, she couldn't help but feel as if she had seen the glimpse of the future. She couldn't help but feel as if she had had a prophetic dream...

ooo

Kara was so deeply disturbed and distracted by her prophetic dream that she was hardly aware of anything that morning. She didn't remember putting her clothing on, she didn't remember brushing her teeth or hair, her breakfast cereal had been like sawdust, her milk had tasted like nothingness, and she didn't remember hearing the TV play her favorite morning show and she didn't remember hearing Alex whine about homework and she didn't remember Jeremiah wishing her and Alex a good day at school and she didn't remember feeling Eliza kiss her cheek. She didn't remember anything except that awful dream and the even more awful pain she had felt during it. It was the only thing she could focus on or think about or feel anymore.

But perhaps it was a good thing she'd been so unaware of everything else, because if Kara had been even a little bit alert, she would've noticed how scared and stressed Eliza and Jeremiah had looked. And if she had been a little more alert, she would've realized why. The answer was on the headline of the newspaper: US President Lex Luthor Proposes Executive Order Legalizing the Dissection of Aliens for Educational / Academic Purposes.