- - - - -

Clark awoke, surprised to find he had passed out. He strained to lift his head, trying to read the clock at the front of the car, but only glimpsed the neon blue glow before his head fell back. He realized then what had woken him up. Oliver was dialing on his cell phone, the beeps ringing obscenely shrill over the sound of the rumbling engine.

After a pause, he spoke quietly to the person on the other end. "Hey it's me…yeah, I- I'm sorry, the jammer fritzed my signal, I had to pass a new tower till it started working." Another brief pause. "I've got him. It worked…Yeah, he's in the back, blacked out about a half-hour ago…I had to remove it…Yeah…He's in pretty bad shape." He took a deep breath and nodded. "I know. Look, I cruised around the west side for a while, trying to lose a traffic patrol, but I'm on my way. Maybe ten minutes out. You there yet?…uh-huh. Well I'll see you in a bit. You too. Bye."

Clark heard the phone snap shut, and waited for a beat before finding his voice, speaking barely over a whisper. "Who was that?"

Oliver jerked around, momentarily splitting his attention between Clark and the road. "Clark, you should lay still, kay? Don't try to move around too much."

"I can't feel my feet," Clark said sluggishly, lifting his head a little.

"Yeah some numbness is expected. Between the high adrenaline and the epinephrine, your system's still trying to catch up. Just hang in there, alright, we're almost there."

Minutes ticked by as Clark tried to stay still and ignore the numbness spreading up his legs. Finally, the muttering of asphalt turned into the popping and bucking of a gravel drive and moments later, they slowed to a stop and Oliver parked. Clark heard him get out and slam the door behind him. Then the door by Clark's head opened, accompanied by a stiff breeze that ruffled his sweaty hair.

Oliver grabbed him under the arms, tugging him out of the car slowly. "Easy, easy…" he kept saying. Clark's heels slid off the seat and hit the gravel below. He tried to stand, but Oliver wrapped his arm around his neck, bracing Clark against his shoulders instead.

It was then that Clark lifted his head, looking around for the first time as the cold air cleared a few of the cobwebs from his head. It was pitch black, but he could see the vaguest outline of trees surrounding them and a small cabin up ahead. Light suddenly erupted from the porch, flooding them in a golden glow, and the front door smacked opened.

"Clark!" Clark turned his gaze on the door and saw the silhouette of someone running towards them. He squinted in the bright light. "Clark, oh my-" it was then that he realized he knew her voice.

"Chloe?"

Chloe flung herself at them and Oliver braced his feet to keep Clark from falling. She wrapped her arms around Clark's middle, squeezing him gently but solidly. Clark managed to put his hands against her back, returning the embrace. "Chloe?" he repeated, as though he could not believe it. "How-"

Chloe made a sound like 'uht-tut-tut', putting two fingers to his mouth. "Let's get you inside first." She cast an apologetic glance at Oliver. "Let me help you."

With Oliver to hold him up and Chloe to keep them balanced, they made it up the porch steps and into the cabin. Without bothering to shut the door behind them, they guided him to a couch, letting him collapse onto it. He rolled stiffly onto his back, trying to adjust his position, but his arms felt heavy and uncooperative.

"Sorry," he mumbled as Chloe collected his limbs up, swinging him the rest of the way onto the couch.

"Don't be," she insisted, running a hasty hand across her eyes.

His eyes flicked to her face suddenly, a look of surprise and concern shadowing his face. "Chloe?" She stiffened a little, ducking her head so a length of blonde hair covered half her face. "Hey, hey-" he insisted, leaning over so he could see her face past the blonde curtain.

She looked up, tears running down her cheeks, and rolled her eyes. "We just saved you from Dr. Frankenstein's lab and I'm falling to pieces." He just smiled in an 'it's okay' sort of way, and she returned it appreciatively. "It's just- I was really, really scared I wasn't going to see you again," she said softly, her voice trailing off as the tears overtook her. "When I saw all the horrible things Lex had done to you, I knew…I was sure you'd never live through it." She blinked and two more tears slipped to the edge of her chin. She flicked them away with the back of her hand, still apologetic.

"Chloe," Clark whispered, smiling tiredly. "If there was one person who could get me out of that place…it'd be you." Chloe pursed her lips in a sad smile.

Oliver reappeared from the kitchen to their left, an air of urgency accompanying him. "Chloe I ran frequencies."

"And?"

"They sent one about an hour ago, north side."

Chloe glanced at Clark. "You said you pulled the capsule."

"There's something else in there, something I didn't know about." Chloe, alarmed, stepped back as Oliver knelt beside the couch, holding a small transmitter aloft. "It's not in his head; he would have heard it…"

"Another capsule?" Clark asked.

"Could be," Oliver responded distractedly, running the device slowly over Clark's body. Finally, he reached Clark's legs and it began to bleep steadily louder and louder. Oliver shut it off, tapping Clark's knee hard with an open hand. He glanced at him. "You feel that?"

"No." Oliver jabbed Clark's thigh instead. "Yeah, I felt that."

"Strong?"

"Not really."

Oliver nodded at Chloe. "Lex put in an anesthesia capsule."

"So-" Chloe shook her head. "He did it to slow us down. We just wait for it to wear off, right?"

"No, I read about these, Lex tested them on some dogs awhile back. That anesthesia makes it to Clark's brain, it shuts down till Lex's antidote wakes it up."

"So what do we do?"

"Remove it." Oliver looked at Clark. "Good news is you won't feel it this time." Clark smiled wryly, mostly for Chloe's benefit, and nodded. "Alright then." Oliver retrieved his scalpel and went to work.

It only took a few minutes to find it, and soon Oliver had removed it as well. They watched as Clark's knee began to heal itself and Oliver scurried from the room to analyze the capsule, just in case there were any collateral effects. Chloe watched him go, and taking a deep breath, knelt beside the couch once more.

"I think we may actually be in the clear now, Clark," she said, glancing at him. "Clark?"

His strength utterly drained, Clark apparently didn't have the energy for staying conscious anymore. Chloe checked his pulse, which was dull but present. She pulled her hand back slowly, watching him sleep. She would never adjust to seeing him like this.

Quietly, she draped a red, wool blanket over him and tiptoed off to the kitchen to speak with Oliver.

- - - - -

Lex's face was so livid, his eyes could have burned a hole right through the icy window out of which he stared. The vastness of Metropolis taunted him. Reminding him the world was big enough to hide anyone. Even an alien.

The door opened and Trently, who had evidently drawn the short straw, entered nervously. "Progress report, Mr. Luthor."

Lex kept the back of his leather office chair to Trently, eyes still on the Metropolis skyline. "Have you located his signal?"

"Uh no. No, sir."

"Any word on the perpetrator or his vehicle?"

"It's a green Jeep Pat-"

"I know what it is, has anyone spotted it yet?"

"No sir."

"And the decoy?"

"No word yet, sir. We can't seem to…locate him."

Lex's chair swiveled around and Trently almost flinched at the smile he wore. "Really."

"Uh- yes. Sir." Trently took an involuntary step back. "Do you want me to speak with Surveillance again-?"

"Why are you the one telling me this? Aren't you Care Unit?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Luthor, but the Care Unit secured Clark in the Blue Room."

"Oh, that's right. You were the ones who set him up for his interview. Which means- oh…" he sat up straight as though something had just dawned on him. "You were the ones in charge when he escaped."

Trently swallowed the lump in his throat. "With all due respect, sir, Security is responsible for him escaping the building-"

"He wasn't meant to leave the Blue Room!" Lex shouted suddenly, slamming his open hand on the desk. "Where is Lieutenant Geiger?"

Trently jumped. "At the tower, looking at the security tapes."

"Send him down," Lex snapped and Trently fled from the room.

Lex spent the next several moments taking out his frustration on an email to his press agent. There was no way they were going to keep this quiet now they had the Metropolis Police involved, but it would be good to tweak the story as much as possible. Clark could not be painted as a tortured young man on the run from an evil corporation. He needed to be a dangerous alien who "required help" from Luthor Corps' researchers.

He'd no sooner sent the notification, then Lt. Geiger strode calmly into the room. "Mr. Luthor."

"Lieutenant," Lex replied in the same cool tone. "I hope you have more than an 'I'm sorry sir' for me."

"We caught the decoy on camera, and slowed the stills."

"The decoy is officially Jay Garrick," Lex completed impatiently. Geiger carried on as though he had not heard him.

"When Clark and the decoy left the Blue Room, a surge of electricity went through both of them. Clark recovered almost immediately, but Garrick did not."

"So…it's possible Jay's one weakness is electricity," Lex drawled, rising from his chair. "Still doesn't explain to me how you let another meteor rock mutant in to see our science project."

Geiger blinked at Lex's candor, but answered smoothly, "Sir there were absolutely no traces of meteor rock in that boy's system. He's something else."

Lex paced to his window, calming a bit. "Someone susceptible to electricity."

"So it would seem." Geiger watched the back of Lex's head, waiting for him to make a decision. When Lex turned, his eyes were lit with new determination.

"Clark is excellent at disappearing, but he does have a weakness."

"Meteor rocks."

Lex shook his head, easing back into his chair. "More than that. He cares too much. Tell me, Lieutenant, you know about the electric transmitter imbedded in the Blue Room's sofa, correct?"

"As head of the Security Unit, I oversee all such installments."

"And was it standard, or Bluetooth?"

Geiger watched him. "You said a tracking signal wouldn't work on Clark's body."

"It won't. But Jay Garrick isn't Clark."

"We'd still have to track him down and activate it."

Lex just gazed pompously back. "So get to it."

- - - - -

The first thing Clark noticed when he awoke was the bizarre absence of a headache. He sat up slowly, feeling the warm wool blanket slip off his shoulders, and blinked blearily around him. Judging by the lighting, it was late morning. Golden rays spilled through the cabin's windows, decorating the wood floor and casting short, dark shadows.

Clark threw his feet over the side of the couch, and stood just as Chloe came around the corner, a mug of coffee steaming in her hand. "Hey, you!" she said brightly.

Clark felt a sudden surge of energy shoot up his back and his knees buckled. "Woah, woah-" Chloe hastily set her mug down on a small table and ran to him, catching him before the floor did. "Easy, you've got a little bit of rehab ahead of you, Mr. Kent."

"Sorry," he said distractedly, glancing down at his hands. "Chloe…?" She followed his gaze and nodded as he rubbed his wrists.

"Yeah, we removed the bracelets last night, while you were out." She cringed, checking his hands. "Believe me you didn't want to be conscious for that. Lex constructed some serious, tough alloy for those things, a la adamanthium. Had to melt through it with boiled red meteor rock." He stared at her. "Yeah, I know, it's whacked, but that's why you were better off unconscious for it, I don't even want to know what it might have done to you. Looks like you've healed over nicely, though." She pressed her cool fingertips to his wrist, then rose and went to retrieve her coffee.

"You should know what red K does to me."

"Yeah, but not boiled, absorbed in your-" she paused, the lip of her mug inches away from her mouth. "What's red K?"

He blinked at her. "Kryptonite, Chloe."

"Uh…okay." She sat down beside him. "I'm all ears."

He shook his head, running tired hands through his hair and staring out the window. "So what else has everyone forgotten?"

"Clark?" She touched his shoulder but he did not turn.

"I haven't told everything about what happened in Luthor Corp." He glanced at her and she was watching him apprehensively. "About my memory."

Chloe nodded suddenly. "Your dad called me the other day. Said during his visit you exhibited some amnesia. He didn't expound, seemed a little zoned out."

"Yeah, the whole thing was pretty tough on him and my mom."

"So…what all can't you remember? Think of me as your Webster's, ask me anything."

He tried to smile at her enthusiasm. "I think that would prove to be more tedious than you think."

"What's tedious?" Clark and Chloe both looked up to see Oliver standing in the doorway. His hair was a mess, but from stress, not sleep. He crunched the Cola can he was holding and made a swift toss to the trash bin.

"Clark's memory," Chloe explained.

"Oh right. I was hoping that might reverse itself when we removed the meteor rocks."

"Afraid not," Clark said.

"What'd you lose? Are we talking like, the last couple weeks or a whole year?"

Clark sat back on the couch, leaning against the arm. "Like…I have a whole separate set of memories that are mostly inconsistent with this reality."

"Phantom memories?" Chloe glanced at Oliver. "Like what?"

How was he supposed to recap his whole life to Chloe as though it never actually happened? Clark decided to skip the specifics. "In the memories I have, my abilities, my origins, they're a secret." He nodded at Chloe and Oliver. "You two know, my parents of course, but mostly, everyone thinks I'm a normal guy who helps with the family farm and went to Smallville High."

"And you think this…parallel memories are the product of trauma, or-" Chloe cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Do you think they're real?"

"Honestly? I really don't know what I'm supposed to think."

Chloe nodded, trying to be understanding, though the statement clearly bothered her. "I'll admit there are times when life can feel it's not supposed to be like this, like there was an alternate reality we were meant to have, but…it's not true, Clark."

"Don't, Chloe. I've had more than enough psychoanalyses for one lifetime." Clark got off the couch suddenly and paced to the window.

Oliver leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms. "What do you think caused this?"

"Lex thinks it was some radiation treatment he gave me a few nights ago," Clark responded distantly.

Chloe set her mug on the table with a smack. "I told him!" she said furiously to Oliver. "I told Lex that treatment was too dangerous, that it'd result in consequences he didn't realize." Oliver just nodded at her.

"No offense, Chloe, but why would a person like Lex Luthor listen to you?" Clark asked.

Oliver responded before Chloe could. "Chloe's sort of unofficial CEO of the 'Free Clark Kent' campaign. She's been try to dig dirt up on The Destination Project for over a year."

"Unfortunately when you fly mostly solo, you do the digging with a trowel instead of a backhoe," Chloe muttered into her palms.

The corner of Oliver's mouth twitched as he continued, "One of her supposed 'in-depth status reports' got her into Luthor Corp where she tried to stop Lex the first time he did the radiation treatment. Broke into the clean room and everything. She got caught in the beams, but at least it made the news."

Clark turned around for the first time, suddenly alarmed. "You got caught in the beams?"

Chloe glanced distractedly up at him and shrugged. "Meteor rock is your Achilles' heal, Clark, not mine. No harm, no fowl. Unfortunately, it appears my stunt didn't keep Lex from going ahead with the treatment."

"No," Clark granted, and came to stand closer to the couch. "But thank you."

She smiled, and he thought he saw a few tears glistening in her eyes, but before he was certain, she blinked, and the shimmer was gone. "So the question is, how do we-"

Chloe was cut off as a sudden gust of wind whipped through the living room. The wool blanket went flying over the back of the couch and Chloe's mug tipped off the table and went streaking towards the floor. Instead of hearing a crash, however, they saw a young man in a red jacket and sweats suddenly appear by the table, holding the coffee mug in one hand and the strap of his backpack in the other.

"Thanks, Bart," Chloe said dryly as he handed her the mug.

Clark smiled. "Glad to see you in one piece."

"Back atcha, dude. Nice to see you on your feet again."

"Thanks to you."

Bart shrugged, vanished, and reappeared, eating a piece of toast. Mouth still full, he said, "Don't mention it. Hey uh- who's Kashi bar did I just eat?" He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Oliver was giving him raised eyebrows. "Sorry man, I'll get you a new one, swear. Oh! Speaking of new…" he slid his backpack off and unzipped the largest compartment. "I dropped by your house this morning, Clark."

"Bart," Oliver said sternly. "We agreed. We don't want to lead Lex's goons to the Kents. The less they know the better."

"Though I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Kent are glad to know their son's okay," Chloe added, seeing the poorly hidden gratitude on Clark's face.

Oliver looked at her, then Clark, and sighed. "Yeah okay. So what's in the bag, man?"

"Hang on a sec, zipper's stuck…" Bart gave it a mighty jerk and heard fabric tearing. He winced.

"You can replace it when you go to get me a new Kashi bar," Oliver told him.

Bart muttered something along the lines of 'yeah, you know whatever', and opened the backpack. He pulled from it a pile of clothes and gave them to Clark. Clark unfolded a pair of jeans, a blue t-shirt and his red jacket. Bart also handed him a pair of socks and some old, brown work shoes Clark recognized as his as well.

"Thought you'd like to get out of those scrubs into some real clothes," Bart told him. "Plus, no offense stretch, but the white on white? Makes you look like a dentist or something."

Clark laughed and nodded. "Thanks, Bart. You're the man."

Bart snapped his fingers and pointed at Oliver. "Hear that, Queeny? Huh?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay-" Oliver said, and then in mock-importance, "And it's Oliver or Mr. Queen when you're in my place, Impulse."

Bart crossed his arms. "Man no way this is a 'place'. It's barely even a 'house'."

Smiling brightly, Chloe stood from the couch, and tapped Clark on the elbow, pointing down the hallway. "Bathroom's to the left."

Clark grinned and set off down the hall, the sound of Chloe trying to break up Bart and Oliver's tiff following him. He went into the bathroom, set the clothes and shoes neatly on the counter, and examined his reflection in the dusty mirror.

He looked how he remembered looking. A little more tired, a slightly more haunted look about his eyes, but he assumed that would go away once the Kryptonite did. True, the bracelets were gone, but after being exposed for so long, it seemed like the meteor rocks didn't want to let go of him. He could sense them like a bad taste in his mouth.

Part of him found the familiarity of his face comforting. He was still the same person. On the other hand, it meant that this alternate reality was becoming more and more likely. He was beginning to realize that he had no proof what he thought was real even existed. Yet memories of what the phantom had done in his head clung to him, insisting he couldn't accept this new reality.

Clark got undressed, pulled on his jeans, the watch he found in his jeans' pocket, and his socks. Then he grabbed his shirt and tugged it over his head. Instantly the smell of lemon detergent filled him, and he felt like he was at home, as a boy, resting his elbows on the stepstool and watching Martha put pillowcases on the clothing line. And he saw the small, cheerful face of Lara too. "Calark! You home!"

He laced up his shoes, as the part of him that wanted to believe grew just a little bit bigger.

- - - - -