Save the day

"What just happened?" Superman asked.

Dave stared, his jaw hanging open. Unbidden his hand rose and pointed to Superman. A really real, flesh and blood, Superman. Who if you squinted just a bit looked like Christopher Reeves, only a little bulkier with curlier hair. Dave whispered the name, "Superman."

Superman stopped looking around, using x-ray vision to peer through walls and a 100 feet of dirt to examine to world beyond. He instead looked down at Dave. "Rough day at the office?"

Dave chuffed out a laugh, "You could say that."

"I see several other people in lab coats trapped underground, quite a few underground corridors partially collapsed, one broken particle accelerator and three men and two women in snake themes costumes escaping up an elevator shaft." Superman focused his attention on the far wall.

"Snake costumes?" Dave asked himself.

"Doesnt look like Kobra. Kobra's troops have uniforms that are more orangey bronze." Superman answered.

"Probably the Serpent Society. Does one of the guys have a snake body from the waist down and big claw thingies coming out of his arms?" Dave asked.

"Yes. Yes he does." Superman nodded.

"Serpent Society." Dave stood up. "That explains the explosions."

"I see. I dont know the name." Superman looked around, seeing thru walls. "But then I dont see a lot of things I should be seeing. I dont see Metropolis. I dont see Gotham. I dont see a lot of things.... So, were I to hazard a guess, I'm not in Kansas anymore ToTo."

Dave nodded his head. "Uuuuuh. Yeah. Yup. That's a safe, uh, safe bet." Dave failed to find a nice way to say this so he just blurted it out, "You're, uh.... Well, you are...."

"Yes, go on." Superman encouraged politely

"A fictional character here." Dave said at half volume.

"Come again?" Superman leaned towards him.

"You are a comic book character. Multimedia character really. Cartoons. Action figures. Movies. Books. Halloween costumes." Dave blurted out. "You, Lois, Jimmy, Lex, Ma and Pa."

Dave took a step back as the laid back attitude disappeared and a very heavy pressure filled the hallway. Superman's focused attention with a slight angry edge to it was kinda intense.

"I see. I'm fictional. And yet I'm some how here." Superman folded his arms over his chest.

Dave winced, "Sorry. I didn't know a better way to say it."

"If this were my world I'd blame a certain Imp from the 5th Dimension I don't want to name." Superman grumbled.

Dave pointed over his shoulder, "I'm going to blame the exploding particle accelerator for punching a hole thru the dimensional stack."

Superman raised an eyebrow, "Dimensional stack? Thats a new one. I'm used to alternate realities."

"Reed Richards described it on TV as a never ending deck of playing cards for the layman. The further down or up the stack you go the more things change from what you know." Dave answered. "And since he's Reed Richards the name stuck."

"Richards is important, I take it?"

"Smartest man on this planet and several others." Dave nodded.

"I should probably talk to him when this is all resolved." Superman decided.

"Yeah. Good call. If anyone could help you get home it's probably gonna be the Fantastic Four."

Superman smiled, "Right. Well, thank you for the sitrep, but it's time I got to work. I'll evacuate you and the other survivors to a safe place, deal with the Serpents and then stand guard over the area while we wait for the fast response team to arrive."

Superman picked Dave up in a princess carry. "Things might get a bit, uh, blurry shortly. Side effect of moving at super speed. Normal everyday human beings tend to have problems with super speed. I apologize if you suffer from motion sickness. Sorry."

"I'll take puking above ground over dying underground any day of the week, Superman." Dave reassured him.