Orokid: Heh heh… Yeah… I had a bit of fun with this one, considering how I mixed and matched Smallville in here somewhere, and added yet another main character into the mix of it all… ((Grins)) Yeah, I had FUN! Lol. Anyway, I think you guys (and gals) will like it, but please do review and tell me if anything is off- or if it's absolutely fantastic. Lol.

PS- Good mood. Can you tell? Hehe. ((Grins))

Disclaimer: I do not own Superman or any of the characters mentioned in this fanfiction. In reality, it belongs to two Jewish guys, and I really don't know what I am, so that is definitely not me. Lol. Anyway, if there is any character that is or could be mentioned in this fanfiction, they will most likely be mine, so don't worry about that one. I don't want to be sued for using my own characters, 'kay?

A World Without Clark Kent

Chapter Four

Lois sat at her desk in the Daily Planet for the first time in what seemed like months, thinking hard about why Jason had said to ask Clark about Superman, and about how she might get her memories back from that day that seemed to escape her every time she even got close to holding it in her hands. But every time she seemed to be close to an answer about how they might be related in some way or another, she always gets to a roadblock, and there was just no way around it, no matter how much she wanted to swerve around the curve. Her investigative instincts were holding her back now, when all that had once done was help her in the past.

It just didn't make sense now, when the chips were down, but… what if she did figure him out? What if finding out his deepest darkest secret forced her out from his life entirely? The last thing she'd ever want was to do was to risk her son and his father their time to be together, just because she was interested about what had once occurred. Then again, it wasn't as though she could walk up to him after he saved someone and ask him "hey, do you mind telling me how I got pregnant with your baby? Because I don't seem to remember any of it." Yeah, that would go over well… He'd be flying out of there faster than a bird hearing a gunshot that had been aimed straight at them.

So, how would Clark have any idea of how she might find a vaccine for her issues with memory? There wasn't any way that Gingko biloba could ever help in this situation.

First of all, he hated flying, so it had indeed been quite a surprise when she had found his name on the "Missing and/or Dead" list from the plane he had been flying on. But that could've been covered immediately, due to the complete (and almost strange) devotion that he gave his dear, sweet mother. Second of all, he couldn't swim all too well- something she knew very well that Superman could do with ease.

But why, all of a sudden, did she seem to flash back to Niagara Falls? What did one of the seven great wonders of the world have to do with Clark Kent OR Superman? She chuckled to herself at the thought that maybe Clark had fallen in, and the "Man of Steel" might've had to swoop in out of nowhere and save him. She knew that it hadn't happened, but the thought made her laugh.

Sighing, she tapped her BIC pen against the notepad she had supposed to have been writing on for hours now, looking at the blank page before her. The mere thought of Clark falling to his near death seemed only to remind her that Superman, no matter what, had not been there to save him that final time.

'Back to work', she told herself firmly, doing her best not to lose herself in her depression all over again, like she had earlier that week. She couldn't think about Clark's death now, and that was only because she had work to do- for her son and for herself. She was in deep need to find out just why she couldn't remember, and to tell her son just what might've happened that day she had conceived him with the man she knew she truly loved.

She reached over to the photo on her desk, her fingertips sliding over the face of her little boy, the one she had given life to what seemed so long ago now. He had that goofy smile on his face, something she knew she had seen before (although she couldn't place just where she had), and he was holding onto his mother's hand with that accomplished look in his eyes. It was like he had just pulled her from danger…

It was the look his father had given her many times when ever he had pulled her into his arms and whisked her off into safety. It was the look she still dreamed about, in the deep stretches of night- even when Richard was holding her tight in his embrace, unknowing of just about anything that was likely to happen.

But, as she had tried to place the photo back onto the edge of her desk, the picture she had received by mail- from his dear mother, no less, the letter saying that Lois most likely needed the picture more than she did, having been so "close to him" and everything- of the man she knew was dead caught her eyes, and she almost had to do a double take before picking up both photos into her hands. There was that smile, on the lips of her son in one picture, being reflected upon the glossy surface of the one she was holding in her other grip.

Slumping back into her chair, she held the two pictures tightly against her, not wanting anyone else to see the similarities- not wanting to believe what she had just seen either.

Her son was definitely the son of Kal-El- Superman- but… Clark… He was just Clark, right? There was just no way that the bumbling fool who watched her with those soft blue eyes… The blue eyes… Oh, Lord, she had been such a fool!

Sighing once more, although this time more determined, Lois picked up her coat and purse and raced for the elevator, knowing that on the rooftops was the best place to attract the "Man of Steel". Besides, it was there that he could give her one Hell of an interview without the snooping eyes of anyone there to see.

And, today, she would get her interview, her answers- for everything.

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Light flittered through the crystal walls, shining light into a cavern that had once been so warm and welcoming to someone like him. Now, a moment after the brief apocalypse, it seemed cold and lonely, without the life that used to thrive through every cell of his secret place. It was as though his home away from home had gotten taken away from him by the bank, and all of his electricity was turned off before the repot man was to appear to take the rest.

So, in other words, it just didn't seem like home to him anymore, no matter how he could say it. His body couldn't feel the homeliness, just like he had before. Back then, when he had first walked into his new Fortress of Solitude so long ago, he had been an eighteen year old looking for a place to belong. Now, he was in his early thirties, looking for the same thing.

Over a decade later, he was still looking, unable to find an embrace- let alone a home- to find home in.

He thought about Lex Luthor, the man who had taken almost everything away from him in about one week, and felt hatred burn through his veins at the very idea of him. It would seem strange that, once upon a time- long, long ago- they had been the best of friends, willing to give their lives for one another. It seemed almost laughable to him as he thought about how the man still couldn't be found by any means- even his own- and how he still despised every being of the man.

"When are you going to go back home, Clark?" a voice stated behind him, and he only smirked at the sound, knowing exactly just who was speaking. There was no need to think when was speaking- it had been ingrained into his mind when he had been in high school.

Slowly, the man dressed in red and blue turned around, just looking at the young woman with a glimmer in his eyes, laughter showing where there used to be sadness, only moments before then. His eyes looked at her, noticing the parka and snowboarding pants on her slim figure, and then looked into her hazel orbs with a larger grin upon his face. "Well, Chloe, I should ask you the same thing. Weren't you the one who staged her own death?"

She stepped down the crystal stairway, folding her arms in front of her in a way to show her displeasure with him. "Last time I checked, Clark Kent didn't have a Luthor trying to murder him."

"Not everyone can be as lucky as you were." The Man of Steel smiled at her with that crooked smile, simply walking towards her with laughter in his eyes and a gentle chuckle on his lips.

The woman only glared at him, obviously annoyed by now with his shenanigans by then. "Why did I ever do you that favor, Clark, by hacking into the airlines?" She lowered her head exhaustedly, only to pull the thick jacket towards her more, hoping to warm up. "Jeez, you get an air conditioner or something?" She only grinned cheekily as he looked at her with those same annoyed eyes that she had given him. "Yeah, I know- it was on the news, remember? You can still get radio signals in igloos, no matter what science it should deny." Sighing, she sat down on a crystal step, looking up at him in his red and blue spendor. "So… What're you running away from your mother for this time?"

The man she had known as her closest, most trust-worthy friend ever since she had found refuge in the small, icicle-like town nearby looked at her as though he had been caught, as she laughed as he gave a nervous smirk. He wasn't sure what else to do now, to tell the truth, and she could see that in his eyes. Especially when he had taken a careful seat next to her, never once leaving her hazel orbs.

"Well… where should I start?"

Chloe smiled at him, watching him with a reporter's eyes, knowing that this story was going to give her something to tease him about for the rest of her life. "The beginning would be nice."

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Lex Luthor stepped off the deck of the boat Night's Haven and onto the boardwalk of a Floridian Beach, his pressed suit looking new and recently washed by detergent and the such.

Immediately, at the sight of the bay, he wanted to grimace, watching as the future commoners in his future world gallivant throughout the streets as though there was nothing to worry about. And he knew exactly why they didn't worry, and he hated knowing such a reason- especially after hearing that the son of reporter Lois Lane, as well as herself, had survived from his attempt to murder them with the remains of his 'dear' wife's, whose age he couldn't even remember at the moment, ship.

Behind him, Kitty- who wanted to be called 'Katherine' now, for some reason he just didn't care about- stepped off behind him, dressed in the rags that she had been found adrift in. She seemed steamed, as usual, and wished that she had the power to strangle the man that had an IQ that most college Masters students- all together- couldn't come close to. "Can I get something suitable to wear NOW, Lex? You promised." She shot a worried glance back to the sailors, who seemed more than willing to do things she'd rather not think of any longer. "Besides, they keep staring at me. It's… insensitive, and… well, plain scary, Lex."

The bald male rolled his eyes as he slowly- very slowly- turned to look at the woman who had walked up to him, limping on a long ago broken heel. "Well, Katherine…" he stretched her name, glaring at her almost as she held onto that dog she just had to have from the Vanderworth mansion. He rose a hand behind her, and she looked at him, frightened, as if knowing what he had planned- and the hand behind her beckoned for a few sailors. "I do believe that you and that… revolting mongrel you call a dog… belong to these men now to do whatever they please- for MY safe passage, and MY get out of jail free card."

"Wha?" Two of the sailors took hold of her arms as he turned away to put on his sunglasses, pulling her back to the ship with ease, despite the fact that she was fighting with all that she had to get away. Even her beloved dog, whom had grown very attached over the months that had followed the death of Gertrude Vanderworth to Katherine, jumped from her arms, biting the hem of Lex's suit pants, doing it's best to make him stop hurting it's mistress by using other people.

Shaking his head, he looked at the woman's pet, onto to pull his leg back and swing the canine into sea with just his leg. Turning back around, he waved cutely to the woman, only to have his face turn serious soon after. "Let me know where they throw you off board in a few months." He turned again, a smirk on his face as he whispered his next words. "IF it's land, that is…"

He laughed, and then moved on, ignoring the screams of the woman behind him…

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Orokid: Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted a chapter to this story, and I know you all have been waiting patiently for it- but I've been very busy! ((Cries)) Too much to do… ((Sighs)) Anyway, I hope you guys liked this- I don't know if I portrayed Lex very well- it's my first time at trying to get into the head of the bad guy, you know? Yeah…

But don't forget to review and tell me how much you guys liked it!