[color=gray][INDENT][COLOR=SILVER][SUB][SUP][H3][b]EARTH[/b][/H3][/SUP][/SUB][SUB]Sol System - Milky Way Galaxy[/SUB]
[SUP][i]Earlier[/i][/SUP][/color][INDENT][color=#ffffff]“And here you are, hun, anything else I can get for you?”[/color]

The man looked up at the waitress and smiled while shaking his head.

[color=#d1ffd1]“No, I am afraid that this cup of organically sourced, ethically traded black coffee is all the sustenance I will be requiring at this time of you.”[/color] He paused, his eyes darting to her name tag.

[color=#d1ffd1]“Sarah O’Connor of 344 Clinton Street, Apartment 3D, City of Metropolis, State of Delaware, a part of the United States of America.”[/color] The man rhymed off innocently.  

[color=#ffffff]“Ooookay then,”[/color] She politely smiled before making a hasty retreat from the cafe table. The man continued to smile, looking around New Troy’s Planet Square, surveying the looming towers that were Luthorcorp, the Daily Planet and the nearby luxury apartments and hotels that made up the bulk of the city’s iconic skyline.

The spinning golden globe of the newspaper’s building was the standout of the Big Apricot’s skyline, visible from anywhere in the city and outshining even Luthorcorp’s twin towers. His eyes were directed to a pair arguing just beyond the doors to the Daily Planet. Glancing at a watch, the man smiled before speaking to himself.

[color=#d1ffd1]“Right on time,”[/color] His thumb fidgeted with a gold signet ring on his hand, his eyes wandering away from the woman and older man as he scanned the sky for what was about to happen next. Counting under his breath, as the man reached one, a sonic boom rocked the sky above Metropolis. 

Standing from his chair, the man reached out a hand without looking, taking a hold of the waitress, and pulling her out of the way as a shower of glass and debris fell where she had stood a moment ago.

[color=#d1ffd1]“Come with me if you want to live,” [/color]The man announced, motioning for those sitting outside to follow.

[color=#ffffff]“How, what?”[/color] The waitress protested. But the man was already in motion, easily picking the woman up and carrying her inside the cafe and out of the scene unfolding outside as Luthor’s Paladins continued to engage the alien bounty hunter. 

[color=#d1ffd1]“Stay inside, and keep everyone away from the leftmost front window. It will be shattered in exactly five minutes, thirty-eight seconds and counting.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]“Who are you?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“A friend of Superman’s.”[/color] The man replied, leaving the waitress even more confused than before as he walked back out the cafe’s door. 

Turning exactly eighty-three degrees to the right, he made a beeline for where the woman he had been watching from earlier was hiding.  Chaos and havoc continued to unfold all around the lone figure while he remained the very picture of calm. Side-stepping falling debris and weapons fire like a minor inconvenience as one would while avoiding puddles along a walking path.
From where she sheltered herself, out of the corner of her eye, Lois Lane saw the man coming towards. Taking her eyes off the spectacle unfolding in front of her, she began to move backward at the rapidly approaching man. The assertion at which he was moving gave her every indication he was looking for a fight. 

And she was going to give it to him. 

[color=#c27ba0]“Now where’s Jimmy to get a photo of this,”[/color] Lois muttered to herself, rotating her body before lifting a leg and striking with all her might. Her torso muscles delivered the high kick just like her father had taught her to.

Except, the man caught it.

Taking a hold of her leg, the man caught the blow like it was nothing before suddenly pulling Lois towards himself. As he did, a loud crash echoed from behind where she had just been. Turning her head, Lois saw the remnant of a car now occupying the spot she had been previously.

[color=#d1ffd1]“You are safe now, Lois Lane.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“Get your hands off of me.”[/color] Lois snapped, the man releasing her leg, as she spun back around on two feet. [color=#c27ba0]“Are you nuts! What the hell are you doing?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“Rescuing you, Lois Lane. Had I not, you would have been critically injured.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“I don’t understand, what are you talking about?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“I have viewed this exact moment five thousand three hundred and twenty seven times.”[/color] The man replied, before he placed his hands on Lois's shoulders, [color=#d1ffd1]“If you could just step to the left.” [/color]

The stranger prompted, the pair stepping aside mere seconds before another piece of debris landed beside them.

[color=#d1ffd1]“But it is imperative I contact you today before events proceed further than they already have.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“You mean with Dog the Bounty Hunter up there?”[/color] Lois asked as the stranger shook his head.

[color=#d1ffd1]“No, I mean with you and the man you love.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Lois Lane is as single as a pringle and ready to mingle.”[/color] Lois scoffed before the man suddenly moved her again. 

[color=#c27ba0]“How the hell are you doing that?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“Time travel is predictable,[/color]” The stranger said,[color=#d1ffd1] “It is when you create splintering timelines and multiverse occurrences that it becomes erratic and impossible.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“Seriously, time travel? I’m talking to a lunatic. Is that spelled with one ‘o’ or two?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“Yes, I am from the future. The year 3001 to be precise.”[/color] The strange man replied, [color=#d1ffd1]“And it is spelled with a ‘u’.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“You’re pulling my leg,”[/color] Lois smirked, before the man moved her once again.[color=#c27ba0] “Can we not talk somewhere else?”[/color] 

[color=#d1ffd1]“You are perfectly safe with me, and it really is spelled with a ‘u’,”[/color] the stranger replied.

[color=#c27ba0]“Ugh” [/color]Lois shrieked in frustration, [color=#c27ba0]“So the year 3001, really? Why does someone from the year 3001 know who I am?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“I can’t give away too much about your present, let alone your future, Lois Lane. But you should know, you are a legend of tomorrow.”[/color] The stranger explained,[color=#d1ffd1] “You have an important role to play, he needs you. He doesn't know it yet, but he will. And then he will need others like him. He already saw what happened at Almerac and he can't let his burden of responsibility blind him. Together, he, and the Iron Man, will change the world.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“The Iron Man?”[/color] Lois asked in disbelief, [color=#c27ba0]“The old Stark Industries silly little mascot?”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“I fear if I say anymore I may alter the flow of time. The Legion has worked very hard to maintain this stable time loop.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“What if I don’t want this future?”[/color] Lois argued, suddenly being picked up and moved again. [color=#c27ba0]“Stop that!”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“The alternative is far worse. It would end with the destruction of life as you understand it. You will not have an easy journey, but his heart will remember you even if it currently doesn’t belong to you.”[/color]

[color=#c27ba0]“Y’know, I’m actually kind of married to my-”[/color]

[color=#d1ffd1]“Work, yes I know.”[/color] The stranger interrupted, catching a falling Paladin and placing them aside while he continued to talk[color=#d1ffd1]. “Take this to Martha Kent in Smallville, you’re aware of Martha Kent are you not?”[/color]

Lois awkwardly held out her hands as the man handed her a black crystal-like object.

[color=#c27ba0]“Yes, my cousin has been close with the Kents for years, but Smallville is over a twenty hour drive away-” [/color]Lois blinked as a flash of light surrounded her before suddenly finding herself alone. Gone were the familiar buildings of New Troy, in their place instead were towering stalks of cream corn. The smell of the city was replaced by the lingering smell of manure for nearby farms. The hustle of Metropolis completely vanished, no alien overhead fighting with a superhero instead a flock of birds heading south for the winter.

Lois looked down at the mud on her heels and the obsidian coloured crystal before looking up at the sky again.

[color=#c27ba0]“What the actual [b]f-[/b]”[/color][/INDENT][/INDENT][/COLOR]