Rated: PG
Submitted: March 2016
Summary: It’s Election Day and the people have spoken. The fate of the world has been decided, and things may never be the same again…
Story Size: 1,392 words (8Kb as text)
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***
It was a cold day in November, and the polls were about to close. Having just voted, he walked away, hoping that his chosen candidate would win. He headed back towards his workplace, reflecting on the candidates and their respective campaigns. It seemed like such a long time ago now, but in truth it was just a few months. He remembered a day years ago when each party had announced their chosen candidate as if it were yesterday….
It was inescapable news. The Republican Candidate for President was the LexCorp owner Lex Luthor, and the Candidate for the Democrats was the Bruce Wayne funded Jonathan Kent. The Kansas farmer and the Metropolitan billionaire facing off for the right to lead the United States through the next four years. Doctor Klein had already decided he was going to vote for his best friend Clark Kent’s adoptive father. People thought he was unaware of things, but Bernard was no idiot. He had worked out long ago that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same. He just didn’t say anything, because in all honesty, it didn’t matter to him. In both guises, he had always treated Bernie as a respected friend, and that was what mattered to Doctor Klein. Even without taking the Campaigns into account, he knew that anyone who acted the selfless way Clark did was obviously raised by the very best of people, whereas Luthor seemed to be a good man, but for some reason Bernie didn’t trust him. He reminded the scientist of something from one of his favorite television shows as a child, Doctor Who. He made Bernie think of a Dalek in a toupee. Simply put, there was no way he’d vote for Lex Luthor. At least, not unless the moon turned purple with green polka dots. He wondered what others thought of the news….
***
Lucy Lane turned off her TV, and pulled her boyfriend Jimmy closer. She knew she would be voting for Lex. He was charming and intelligent, which was needed in a representative of the U.S. He was a good man, and she agreed with his ideas. It also didn’t hurt that he was hot. Okay, maybe best not to tell Jimmy about that last reason. Although she was sure that Jimmy would soon notice that every time she watched Luthor on TV, they made love afterwards, but hopefully he wouldn’t notice too soon…
***
Election Day arrived. Perry, Clark, Bernie and Lois had all voted for Jonathan Kent. Jimmy, Cat, Ralph and Lucy all voted for Lex Luthor. The nation, no the world, waited with bated breath to see who would win. Each Candidate had had several Celebrity Endorsements. Luthor was endorsed by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Donnie Wahlberg (although he was a boyband member so that actually hurt Lex’s image slightly), Tim Allen and Kelsey Grammer. Meanwhile Mr. Kent was endorsed by Will Smith, Michael Jordan and Tyra Banks. The country had been toured by both nominees, debates were had, speeches given, and now it was just a matter of waiting for the results.
Everyone sat around their respective televisions. It was a landslide victory for Lex. Jonathan Kent stood at the podium, making his final speech. Suddenly, several shots rang out, all of them hitting their target!! The man who had lost the election fell. He was dying. The world watched in amazement as Superman, covered in oil and ash, appeared out of nowhere, held the man as he died, and cried.
***
Ten years later, things were very much different in the world. Lex Luthor had used the Presidency as a mere stepping stone, somehow becoming Dictator of the United States. He was now called Emperor. His power had then spread. His empire now consisted of the former United States, Canada, Mexico, all of Europe, and Russia. All his commands were obeyed upon punishment of death. Superman had disappeared after the death of Jonathan Kent, no one had seen him since. Despite this fact, crime was lower than ever before due to fear of the Emperor’s Police. The #1 most wanted criminal in the world was The Batman, or as the public now knew him, Bruce Wayne. Bruce’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth, had been killed during torture for refusing to reveal the location of his former employer.
The lack of information angered Luthor, who had bombed a random town in Kansas, Smallville. Two people had died. Martha Kent, the wife of his former electoral opponent who had been shot by a random madman as Luthor claimed victory, and James Olsen, photographer for the no-longer-allowed to function Daily Planet, who had been visiting his former friend’s mother. Olsen’s fiancée Lucy Lane had made an assassination attempt in response, which had nearly succeeded.
Luthor had retaliated by taking her into isolated custody, and using her as his sex slave until Lucy developed Stockholm Syndrome. Luthor was basically as powerful, and as corrupt as it was possible to be. The world he ruled was like that of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. With rare exceptions, there was not a man, woman or child on the planet who did not fear the Emperor. In short, it was a nightmare from which it seemed there was no escape.
***
A time came when The Joker, Batman and Lois Lane were the last to fight against Luthor, who had killed Lois’ sister on live television. All others had either died naturally (like Bernie Klein and Perry White), given up (like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kelsey Grammer), or been eliminated by the Emperor’s men (like Wonder Woman and The Flash). The Joker was now missing an arm due to a failed attempt at killing the Emperor’s bodyguard, Bane. He was lucky to have escaped with his life. Batman had had his spine broken, and was now in a wheelchair for life, also thanks to Bane. Lois Lane, now in her early fifties, had taken to searching everywhere she could for Superman, hunting like a madwoman, any plausible lead followed.
In the end, what she found shocked her. It happened the same day that Bruce Wayne and The Joker were killed by Lex Luthor himself to an audience of billions. On the day that hope died for so many, Lois Lane found Superman’s somehow frozen form in a cave underneath the ruins of Wayne Manor. When Lois touched the body, something happened. A computer played a video of Bruce Wayne explaining that he had found Kal-El like this, two days after The Election, and could not reverse the process despite trying for years. Lois cried. She smashed things. She had a real temper tantrum. Then she accidentally found some notes Bruce had left about Superman’s condition, made a few leaps of logic as only she could, and was able to unfreeze him.
An hour later, he was back to his old self physically. He hadn’t even aged a day. He explained that he’d foiled a bank robbery by some random criminal only to be caught in a trap which had resulted in him being frozen for two decades. Lois then filled him in on the last twenty-three years. He lost control. Sixteen minutes later, Emperor Luthor was dead, Bane was in the same chair he’d put Bruce in, and Vice Emperor Otis was in prison. It was over. It was finally over.
***
Slowly, the world rebuilt itself, and democracy returned. There wasn’t a soul left undamaged by the reign of Emperor Luthor, however. It wasn’t until thousands of years had passed that Clark was able to look back and just see it all as one bad week, rather than the time he’d failed everyone. However, he had stood again as the ultimate symbol for hope when the world needed it the most, and now here he was, living his last in the Utopia he had helped to create. As he drew his last breath, he said one word, just one: “Lois”. He closed his eyes and knew no more of life on Earth as he danced with Lois in the stars.
THE END