Candyland?

[themanoftomorrow]

Heavy footfalls resounded through the halls of the Fortress of Solitude, the cavernous halls of the building magnifying the sound. They sped up as Superman felt something was just a bit off, and when he entered the main hall he stopped and stared. The gigantic memorial of Krypton, supported by statues of Jor-El and Lara, his long dead parents, had been replaced…

By a gigantic jawbreaker being held aloft by peanut brittle likenesses of his parents.

“What,” he all but shouted, looking around the room for intruders. And it was then that it hit him. It wasn’t just the memorial, it was the entire fortress. The ice caverns had mysteriously changed into translucent rock candy, the chairs were constructed entirely out of solid peppermint, and there were boxes upon boxes of sweets of all shapes and sizes all over the floor, stacked neatly into every open space.

“…What’s going on here?”

He had to be dreaming. There really couldn’t be any other explanation, but then again maybe Mr. Mxyzptlk was up to his old tricks…

Comments

[waterfell]

"A coincidence," she answered truthfully - though she had once been responsible for an outbreak of candy hair in Econtra. That had been accomplished by convincing a bored magician that it would be amusing, though, not by her own doing. And this time, she hadn't even done that much.

She also couldn't help a mild curiosity now. "What should be here normally?"

[themanoftomorrow]

He eyed her dubiously, but said nothing further for the moment. However, he'd asked a lot of questions, so it only seemed fair. He gestured at the walls and the statues.

"Ice, and a hologram statue of my parents, and my home planet."

[waterfell]

Ice? Her lips curved upward, and Mercury looked towards the wall. As if in response, there was an audible crackling - and a wave of ice began to replace the rock candy it had become, changing back to normal.

She glanced back to Superman, clearly pleased with herself, as the ice made its rapid way around the cavern. almost in an instant.

[themanoftomorrow]

He eyed it, and eyed her and shrugged. It didn't solve the peanut brittle and jawbreaker problem, but clearly he was just having a very, very strange dream. Nevermind that he could have fixed the ice himself.

"Well thank you. Now, where are you from? I'll be happy to take you home."

[waterfell]

"I can return on my own." Mercury said, before she even answered the first question, as if asserting that independence was the more important point.

"I live in Japan," she added belatedly. This was as specific as she intended to become, with no mention of her city, or district, or the points with easiest access to the former Dark Kingdom dimension.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Alright. Then if you didn't bring all this candy, why'd you want to come here at all? It could've been dangerous, if Krypto had been loose. I wouldn't recommend doing it again."

[waterfell]

Speaking of points with easy access to the Dark Kingdom dimension... Maybe it was being here, close to that place already, but something made her want to see if traces of it remained.

"I'm interested in somewhere near here," she told Superman, "even closer to the North Pole." What interest an apparently twenty year old girl had in the North Pole went unexplained.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Oh? And what might that be, Mercury?" Superman asked mildly. He's curious but he's also suspicious of anyone who might be interested in poking around the Fortress of Solitude. And who had some sort of magic ice powers. He didn't like magic.

[waterfell]

"Somewhere I used to live." There would be no more specific answer than that. She regained some of the airy confidence of earlier as she remarked, "If I've come all this way, I'd like to see it."

When she was ready to leave. For the time being, this place was interesting itself.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Somewhere you used to live, all the way up here?"

He can't think of any other structures in the area, and he's scoured it for threats and enemies with some regularity...

[waterfell]

"Somewhere I used to live all the way up here," she said. "You may have built this fortress; however, you aren't the first to believe this region is suitable for something like that."

A place away from everything else, where operations could be carried out in secret. In her time, the Dark Kingdom had been strongly connected to Tokyo, but D Point still held an attraction and a power of its own.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Oh? And who else was here before me?" he asked, an eyebrow arched.

[waterfell]

"I was." It was the obvious answer, of course, and she took a quick, sly pleasure in giving it. "Along with my comrades."

It's been tens of thousands of years since she was the curious guardian of the moon princess who liked to watch the lush and vibrant planet almost as much as Serenity had. But in the Dark Kingdom, they still watched the human world.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Obviously, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking what organization you work for."

He's completely nonplussed. The Man of Steel has heard all this before, cryptic phrases from strangers and talk of ancient times. If she was trying to goad him, or tease him, she'd have to step up her game.

[waterfell]

"I'm an ally of the Golden Council." Anyone in her world would have known that immediately, and probably recognized her, as the world government leaders and the strange girl often seen with them. That Superman doesn't only confirms the different worlds.

"And I don't answer to you," she points out briefly. She is not here for an interrogation, no matter if this is his home and not hers.

[themanoftomorrow]

It wasn't a familiar word, no, but given her posture and flippant tone it certainly spoke volumes about how easily it could be compared to the Justice League. He crossed his arms and replied evenly, though a hint of annoyance flickered through his words.

"You don't answer to me, no. But you've entered my home without my permission, and let's be honest. You've been a pretty rude houseguest."

[waterfell]

"Coming here was by chance," Mercury points out. "However, if you're insistent, I'll go my own way."

Being a dream of the Fortress of Solitude, it's unlikely she'll leave it without waking up.

[themanoftomorrow]

"That's up to you. I'm still wondering how the place turned into candy, and where it all came from."

[waterfell]

Mercury paused at that, and glanced back at Superman. The amusement and her antics of earlier aside... she's curious, too.

"I'm also interested in that; so, I'll help you to find out, if you want."

[themanoftomorrow]

"I won't say no to help. I'm not terribly good when it comes to magic."

But for all he knows, it could be something else entirely. He starts walking around the room, inspecting the boxes for labels, and turning to the peanut brittle.

"Definitely a new one on me. If I didn't know better I'd say it was Mxyzptlk"

[waterfell]

A logical guess is a good place to start. "Why did you decide it isn't?" Mercury asks, and this time the question is serious. There should be a reason before eliminating a possibility.

[themanoftomorrow]

"Because," Superman replied evenly and without turning around, "he's dead."

[waterfell]

She offers no sympathy. Instead, she moves ahead with her thoughts.

"Something like this candy," she muses, and there is little trace of the teasing of earlier as she turns her mind to the questions at hand, "don't you think it's ridiculous?"

"This is probably only a diversion."

So, what are they supposed to be looking away from?

[themanoftomorrow]

Superman turns and gives her a sour look and shakes his head.

"It's possible, but I somehow doubt it. But, to be on the safe side..."

He reaches to his belt and presses a button, and the sounds of barking and scrabbling on metal echo down the hall towards them.

"Could it be one of your people?"

[waterfell]

The fact that she has to think about it for a moment suggests that 'her people' are at least capable of the plan and feat of locating the fortress and diverting attention before implementing some plan of their own.

But she shakes her head as the answer to whether they have. "Not with candy," she says simply.