End: Madness

"...I don't know what to tell you, Superman. The police found her on the street, only partially dressed, totally incoherent." The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose and stared at his clipboard. "She was violent, raving...we had her under sedation, but after we got the test results back and realized...well, we took her off the narcotics. I still hope the antipsychotics will take effect."

"It's alright doctor," the Man of Steel said coolly. "She can't hurt me."

"It's not you we're worried about."

The padded cell was barely eight feet on a side. A single, barred window high up in the wall gave sunlight. The straitjacket covered her torso, but her legs were bare. Hair disheveled, eyes wide, foam flecked at the mouth, she was curled up into a corner.

"Lois?" Superman said softly as he knelt down. "Can you hear me?"

Big violet eyes stared up at Superman, totally uncomprehending.

"Lavinia. I'm they're Lavina. She said she said N’gai, n’gha’ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y’hah; Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth..."

He brushed back her hair, the big eyes wide with fear. Dark bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, skin pale from lack of sunlight, thin and waxy.

"Please...please I don't want to do it. I don't. It talks to me. It wants to be born and I can't, I can't..."

"There were signs of sexual ****, when she was first examined," the doctor said. He coughed nervously. "We think that was the...inciting trauma. It must have been excessive. The surgeon in the E.R. thought they'd used a baseball bat. And the amount of semen...it must have been dozens. Metropolis Police Department ran a **** kit, but the results must have been contaminated; it didn't even come back as human."

Superman let his gaze shift down to Lois Lane's stomach. She wasn't showing yet. It was too soon. But he frowned, as his x-ray vision stared at the embryo. His vision sharpened, and his lips moved as he began to softly read out its DNA to himself.

"No, I don't imagine it would," he said at last. "I'd like to take Miss Lane to some...specialists."

"You'd need a medical power of attorney. I can't just let her out of here, even under the circumstances."

Superman stood up. "What about next of kin? She has a sister, a father."

"They'd still need to have the right paperwork. As it is, I'm afraid she's a ward of this institution. You'd need to get Director Blaze's permission..."

Lois Lane began to spasm. She howled. Superman gathered her in his arms, holding the helpless madwoman like a baby.

"Don't leave me with her. Please please please. I have to kill it. I have to kill my baby. It's the end of everything. The stars are right, the stars are right...Ygnaiih... ygnaiih...thflthkh’ngha...Yog-Sothoth..."

She broke down into sobs. Superman bowed his head.

"It's alright Lois," he said. "I'm here to help you."

Superman stayed with her until she had stopped crying. The doctor said something about it being time for her medication. Antipsychotics. Prenatal vitamins. Antibiotics. He stared at the bandages around her thighs.

"Is the straitjacket really necessary?" the Kryptonian said.

"One of the nurses tried to stop her, when she was...attempting to abort the child." The doctor said. "She lost an eye. I'm sorry Superman, but right now she's a danger toward herself and others."

Head bowed. Superman stepped back from the woman he loved.

"I'll be back, Lois. I promise. This isn't over."

Pills. Shots. Lois Lane lay there as the monstrous thing grew in her womb. Whispering things in a language she was beginning to understand, dreaming dreams that drew her in...and little by little, the Daily Planet's greatest reporter could feel her mind sinking into the cold, alien quagmire. So vast as to be beyond comprehension...

The stars were almost right. In nine months, they would be.