Okay, this is probably going to be the longest chapter that I've written so far. But I hope that you'll find it to be the most interesting so far. There are a couple of things that happen in this chapter that I really had to think twice about. Once you read it, you will know what it is that I am talking about. I hope that you are satisfied with my decisions.

Anyway…on with the show.

Chapter Seven

It was mid morning before Lois finally shook Chloe awake. She sat up on the cot and rubbed her eyes.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"A little after ten," Lois replied.

"What?" Chloe asked as she reached for her watch on the coffee table. "Why did you let me sleep so late?"

"You looked like you need the rest," Lois said. "I'm sure it takes a lot out of a person to travel across the universe."

"We should be in Metropolis by now," Chloe said. "We've got to find Hamilton!"

"We will, Chlo," Lois said. "Calm down. Eat some breakfast."

Chloe got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. There was a pan full of old oatmeal on the stove and a plate of burnt toast on the table.

"Do you have any coffee?" she asked.

"Sure do," Lois said. "Swiped it from the Talon myself."

Chloe poured her a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.

"How are the love birds," Chloe asked.

They must have collapsed," Lois replied. "I haven't heard a peep from them all morning."

"Really?" Chloe asked. "I would think that a fortune five hundred business man like Lucas would need to be up earlier than this."

"You're probably right," Lois said. "I'd better wake them." She walked over to the alternate Chloe's bedroom door and knocked. There was no answer. "Chloe. Wake up." She waited for a second or two. "Lucas? Chloe?"

"Maybe you should open the door," Chloe said.

Lois nodded and turned the doorknob. It was not locked. She pushed and it slowly opened. When she finally went inside Chloe heard her gasp. She ran in behind her to find her counterpart sitting up in the bed with a sheet wrapped around her. Her left eye was swollen almost completely shut.

"What happened?" Lois asked. But she did not look like she was going to say anything.

"Did Lucas do that to you?" Chloe asked her.

The other Chloe turned to her, tears running down her face.

"I don't know what you said to him last night," she told her. "But whatever it was really set him off. He made me tell him about you. He started hurting me and he wouldn't stop until I told him who you were."

"You told him that I'm…" Chloe started.

"I told him everything," she replied. "He said that you knew something about him. He said that he couldn't let you tell anyone."

"What do you know?" Lois asked her. "How could you have a secret about Lucas? You didn't even know him until yesterday."

"I don't know anything about Lucas," Chloe said. "But I know some things about Clark. I guess this guy is way more Luthor than Kent."

"You shouldn't have said anything, Chloe," Lois said. "This is not your world. Whether or not people here look like your friends, they're not. They're completely different people."

"Lionel and Lucas are very powerful people here," the other Chloe said. "They'll do anything to keep their power."

"We need to get you out of here," Lois said. "Lucas is usually a pretty good guy. But when he gets angry people tend to get hurt."

"I can't just leave," Chloe said. "Look what he did to her."

"It isn't anything that he hasn't done before," Lois said. "I'm going to carry your things to the car. Get dressed and meet me there."

Lois left the room and the alternate Chloe got up from the bed, evidently forgetting that she was still naked, and walked slowly to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her.

Chloe went into the other room to get her things together. She did not hear the door open behind her and she did not notice Lucas until she finally turned around. She screamed.

"Chloe!" It was her counterpart. Apparently Lucas had locked her in the bathroom before coming in here.

"Tell her that you are okay," Lucas said as he reached out and grabbed her by her throat.

"I'm okay, Chloe," she called. "Just relax."

"Now, we're going to have a little chat," Lucas said. "You're going to tell me what you know about me."

"I don't know anything about you," Chloe said. Lucas only tightened his grasp a fraction, but it felt like a vise to her.

"Tell me about your friend," Lucas said. "Is he some kind of freak?"

"No!" Chloe said. "I can't explain it. He's an alien! The Kents found a space pod with him inside when he was four or five years old!"

"I'm from another planet?" Lucas asked. "Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes," Chloe said.

"And why do I get sick all of the time?" Lucas said.

"I don't know," Chloe replied. "You could be getting exposure to meteor rocks."

"What meteor rocks?" Lucas asked.

"Big chunks of your planet that followed you here," she said.

Lucas dropped her to the floor and disappeared like a bolt of lightening. The door was flung open and Lois, who had been trying to get it unlocked, was shoved into the wall.

Chloe ran back into the bedroom and let her double out of the bathroom. The other girl slumped onto her and began to sob.

"It's alright," Chloe said. "He's gone."

"He'll be back," the other Chloe replied.

"We'll be ready for him," Lois said.

"No," Chloe said. "You can't fight him. He'll win every time. You guys need to get out of here."

"We don't have anywhere to go, Chlo," Lois said. "But we can get you out of here. You're in more danger than either one of us. Now get to the car."

Chloe turned to her counterpart. "You're coming with us."

"I'm naked," the girl said.

"Get dressed," Chloe responded. "Fast."

"What happened?"

Professor Hamilton was now standing beside Lionel Luthor on the first floor of the mansion. They were both looking down at the giant hole that Clark had created in the floor that led to the cellar.

"Obviously he wasn't as weak as we thought, sir," Hamilton replied.

"Did you get a large enough sample?" Luthor asked.

"Not quite, sir," Hamilton said. "I have enough Kryptonian blood to animate the clones that we already have. But if I'm going to begin mass production I'll have to have another four or five pints."

"I really don't know what I pay you for," Luthor said. "I thought that you only needed a few cells to make a clone."

"Well, yes," Hamilton said. "But that boy has been corrupted in some way. Perhaps the meteor rock that was involved in my experiment deteriated his abilities. I really need pure Kryptonian DNA to create a viable clone. Lucas would be ideal."

"We've been taking samples from Lucas since the day that I found him," Luthor said. "If we keep taking from him, he'll become aware of what we're doing. Then he won't trust me."

"I already don't trust you, Father."

The two men turned and found that Lucas Luthor had been standing behind them. Neither of them knew for how long.

"Hello, Son," Lionel said.

"Professor," Lucas said, not taking his eyes from his father. "Would you excuse us, please?"

"Mr. Luthor," Hamilton started. "I really should tell…"

"I said go!" Lucas screamed. Lionel nodded to the professor and he scurried around them and out the door.

"What do you mean you don't trust me?" Lionel asked. "What's the matter?"

"You've been lying to me my whole life," Lucas said. "You told me that I developed my abilities because I had been exposed to radiation during the meteor storm."

"You were," Lionel said. "I was here in Smallville looking at land for my company and there was a huge meteor shower. Most of the town was destroyed."

"I know about the shower, Father," Lucas said. "Why didn't you ever tell me the truth about that day?"

"What truth would that be?" Lionel asked, feigning innocence.

"That you found me in some kind of pod!" Lucas screamed. "That I'm an alien from another planet! That the meteors were chunks of my own planet!"

"I didn't know that about the meteors, Son," Lionel said. "But, yes. You are from another world. My scientists believe that you came from a planet very far from here that exploded five years before your pod arrived. You're biological parents must have sent you to save you from their fate. The pod crashed in a field that I was having surveyed. It nearly killed a farmer and his wife. I got to you while they were unconscious and took you home with me."

"So you saved me?" Lucas asked.

"That's right, Lucas," Lionel said. "I brought you home and raised you as my own son."

"But you don't think of me as your own son," Lucas said. "Do you, Father?"

"What do you mean?" Lionel replied. "Of course I do.'

"You know what my abilities are," Lucas said. "I was able to hear you and Hamilton a long time before I got here. You've been extracting my DNA for years to create duplicates of me. You're trying to build an army of supermen."

"Lucas," his father said. "What use would I have with an army of supermen?"

"Profit," Lucas said. "That's what it's always been about with you. Profit. Money. And you raised me to think the same way. Everything is always about what I can get out of it."

"I'm glad that I instilled that in you," Lionel said. "It will leave you with less of a chance of getting hurt."

"I know something else that you instilled in me," Lucas said. He grabbed his father by the throat and lifted him from the ground. "You taught me to get to the top no matter what stands in my way. I've lived my whole life afraid to let anyone see what I can do. I'm not living that way anymore. With my powers I could tower over anything and anyone…including you."

"Son." Lionel's voice was a choked whisper. "Don't."

"I'm not living in your shadow anymore, Father," Lucas said. "You've lied to me since I was a child about who I am. You planned to exploit me. You probably would have sold me to the highest bidder."

The two men looked at one another in the eyes. For the first time in years they finally saw each other for who they truly were. Lionel saw the small child that he had pulled from the wreckage and taken to safety so many years ago. And Lucas saw the man that he had trusted that was no more than a selfish salesman.

"Lucas," Lionel croaked. "I'm sorry."

"So am I, Father," Lucas said. He let go of Lionel's throat and the man plunged through the hole in the floor. He landed in a heap of broken bones on the floor of the cellar. "So am I."

Lionel shed a tear as he watched his son vanish in a rage. He did not know if he would survive. But he knew that his son must be stopped before he did any more damage. And there was only one man in this world that could stop him.

"Clark," he choked.

They had all decided that the alternate Chloe's car would be a much faster ride than Lois'. She had a brand new mustang that Lucas had given her as a Christmas gift a few months earlier. It would probably get them out of Smallville at speeds that would tear the old pickup to pieces.

"The idea is to get out of Dodge without tall, dark, and controlling seeing us," Lois said. "Don't you think a car that he bought himself will sort of stick out?"

"Do you have any idea how many cars Lucas owns?" the alternate Chloe said. "He won't notice us once we get out on the road."

"What about before we get out on the road?" Chloe asked. Lois and the dark haired Chloe looked at her. She was staring off down the street. They followed her gaze. Lucas was about a half of a block away, leaning against a mail box with his arms crossed. He was watching them and smiling.

"Oh, my god," the other Chloe said. "He found us."

"He didn't find us," Lois said. "We haven't left yet."

"Look at his eyes, Lois," Chloe said. "He's lost it. He looks different."

"Yeah," Lois replied. "He looks really pissed."

"He looks like an angry Luthor," Chloe added.

Lucas casually walked down the street as they finished putting their things in the trunk of the car. He stopped a few feet away and cocked his head. He was still smiling.

"Are you ladies going somewhere?" he asked.

"Lucas," the other Chloe started. "Please. Just leave us alone."

"I was only asking if you were going somewhere," Lucas said.

"Just go away!" she screamed.

"Shut up!" Lucas returned. "Just keep your mouth shut or I'll do more than dot your eye!"

"You're a piece of work," Chloe said. "Do you know that?"

"Chlo," Lois said. Chloe put up her hand to stop her from saying anything else.

"Excuse me?" Lucas asked.

"I know who you are, Lucas," Chloe said. "I know things about you that you don't even know. I know that your real name is Kal-El. I know that your home was called Krypton. And I know that hurting Chloe was easier for you than it would be for me to step on an ant."

Lucas jumped forward. Chloe knew that he was going to hit her and that if he used all of his strength he would probably kill her. But he did not. He stopped only inches from her and stared into her eyes. She saw the burning rage in his eyes.

"You don't know anything," Lucas said. "I'm not Clark Kent!"

"You sure aren't," she replied.

"You think that you can come over here and change our world so that it matches your's," Lucas said. "But you can't. Things didn't play out over here like it did where you came from. We all got dealt a different hand."

Chloe knew that he was right. Things were a lot different here. Lois was not as fearless. Her own duplicate had undoubtedly seen enough rotten human behavior in her short life that it made her dark and jaded. And Clark…his was the most extreme difference of them all. But she had always known that she would not be able to change their differences. Had she not? Or was Lucas right about that, too? Had she had some fantasy in her mind of fixing everything that was wrong in this universe?

"You're nosey," Lucas said. "I don't like nosey people."

"You're a bully," Chloe replied. "I don't like bullies." She turned to Lois and the other Chloe and nodded. They all got into the car with Lois in the driver's seat and Chloe's double sitting next to her. Chloe sat in the back, looking out the window at Lucas as they drove away.

"I can't believe that he just let us go," Chloe's duplicate said.

"He didn't," Chloe replied. "Luthors don't know how to let anything go."

Lucas fumed. His blood was boiling with anger. That little witch had tried to make a fool of him. And to so blatantly gloat over the fact that she knew more about his secret than even he himself knew. Obviously, whoever had sent his double to this planet in her world cared more about him than they did here. They had thought to send him information about himself and his history.

Or it could be that they had sent him that information and his father had kept it hidden from him all these years. That made him even angrier. He thought of Lionel Luthor, lying broken on the floor of the mansion's cellar. He thought about going back and finishing the job. But he decided to wait. If the old man was still alive when all of this was over, he would get the information that he wanted from him. Then he would finish him off.

Right now he had to take care of this meddling little girl from another world.

Lucas vanished from sight as he sped off faster than a bullet for the bridge that led out of Smallville. He would do what was needed there.

"Is that the Kent farm?" Chloe asked as they passed the only field that she had seen in this version of Smallville that still appeared to be farmland.

"Yeah," Lois said. "It's the only one left in town. Lionel and Lucas have been trying to get them to sell it for years. I think it's only a matter of time before they force them out."

"Hey, guys," the other Chloe said, her eyes widening in amazement. "What is that?"

They all looked out of the front windshield at a dark blur that was racing past their car to the other end of the bridge that they were approaching. It stopped on the other side and they saw that it was Lucas. He was standing with his legs braced and his shoulder out, as if he were ready for impact.

"Lois!" Chloe screamed. "Hit the brakes!"

She did, but they went into a skid, still racing forward directly for the man in the center of the road.

"It's too late!" Lois screamed. "Bail out!"

The driver's door and the back door opened. Lois and Chloe threw themselves from the car and hit the ground hard. Chloe felt her arm pop and knew that she had broken yet another bone in it. Her breath left her as she rolled uncontrollably to the side of the road. Then, she looked up in time to see the Mustang slam into Lucas at forty or fifty miles per hour. He did not even move a muscle. It was as if the vehicle had hit a steel pole.

"No!" Lois screamed. She was ten feet away from her, and she had blood running down her face.

"Lois!" Chloe called back. "Are you okay?"

"It's Chloe!" Lois yelled. "She didn't get out!"

Chloe looked on in horror as Lucas tore himself from the wreckage. He was not even scratched. His clothes, however, were hanging on him in ribbons. He stood up straight and turned toward them.

"Run, Lois!" Chloe screamed.

"We can't just leave her," Lois replied. Almost as if in answer to her statement, the car exploded in a huge fireball that rose quickly to the sky, leaving a pillar of fire in its place. The bridge rocked and Chloe thought that it would give way beneath them. Lucas was engulfed in the explosion and pieces of the car began to rain down all around them.

"Go!" Chloe screamed. "Now!"

Quickly, they scurried off of the bridge and covered themselves in the cornfield next to the highway.

The only sounds that could be heard were the crackling fire and Lois' sobs.

End of Chapter Seven

I really struggled with the decision to kill Chloe's duplicate. I wanted to show just how ruthless Lucas really is. There was no reason for him to kill anyone. He was only angry with Chloe because he thought that she was nosey. But I wanted to show that even that was a capital offense in his book.

Lucas changed rather quickly. I know this. But, you know that on the show Lex was portrayed as a good guy for quite a while. It took them a couple of years to show how evil he could be. I don't have that much time. Once Lucas found out that he had been lied to all of these years, he just snapped. He doesn't want to pretend anymore.

You guys have been really kind with your reviews. I really enjoy reading them. Every time that I check my e-mail and see that someone has read my latest chapter and reviewed it, it's like opening a present at Christmas. Please, keep them coming. You make me want to continue to write this story and to develop more when I'm done.

Some of you have asked about alternate Lex. Yes, he is alive. He will make his first appearance in chapter eight. Thanks again for reading my story.

Kal-El2k7