Chapter 10 –

Metropolis –

It was worth the effort she put in. Lois pulled from Lex's grip and charged up the stairs in the underground prison but couldn't tread the ladder rungs fast enough. Lex grabbed her leg with one hand and quickly inserted a syringe into her leg with another.

Shaking her leg, the toxin seemed to move faster than she had expected and she completely lost her footing. Gripping the rungs, she now felt the weight of his hands pulling on her until she fell back into the abyss.

She looked up and saw Lex shaking his head in dismay. "My lovely Lois, what a pity I had to do that. I was so hoping that we wouldn't have to come to such measures." Smirking, Lex wandered back into the underground depth. Lois watched as she continued to beat on her legs with her hands hoping for some response.

She heard movement in the now dark tunnel and saw her bags appear in front of her. "Of course, you have made it much more difficult for us to emerge from this cavern and carry on with our journey." He breathed a heavy sigh and waved at a man that appeared to be twice the size of Clark.

"Put me down!" Lois screamed just as Lex bounded her mouth as the giant simply held her arms still. Still struggling to pull loose, the giant carefully walked up the ladder with her on his shoulder and dropped her in the car in the alley.

Looking up, Chloe could see the sun. Moving her teeth around she hoped to work one side of the gag down in order to get out some response, even if it was to scream Lex's name. She hoped the right Lex would respond. Seeing the door close to the limo and hearing the engine start she knew nothing of the sort would occur when the demon Lex of this twisted dimension sat down next to her in the back seat. "Now my dear, we have a few errands to run."

Smallville –

Lex opened the building that Lana had insisted on seeing. Clark thought to himself that he had been glad that his Lana had been simply clear on no funny supernatural superhero stuff. She wanted nothing to do with aliens or other worlds. She had put her foot down. This dimension proved to be different. He almost wanted to drag Clark in to simply have him tell Lana the truth to get it out. If she didn't buy it, fine, but it would be over. But that, he had a feeling was not part of their plan.

"There," he said as he flipped on the lights. Following her over to the ship, he grimaced at the object, knowing that in some fashion he was there to rid the dimension of the object and its contents. "So you saw the men from the ship."

Lana ran her hand over the ship and smiled to herself, finally thinking she wasn't crazy. She turned and then turned her nose up at Lex. "Yes, I saw them. You were there, telling me I was out of my mind, that there had been nothing there. You had me thinking that maybe I was crazy, had been hit by something in the meteor shower."

Lex touched her shoulder. "I told you it was for your own protection, but you want to be involved. Who else have you told?"

"No one, maybe I tried, but no one, not even you would pay any attention. There's no proof they said." Lana looked doe eyed up at Lex for any response. Lex nodded silently as she continued to rub her hand along the side.

"I want you in on this case then. I want you to help me decipher the markings on it, help me get into it. Your protection stops here because I have no guarantees for anyone that has come in contact with this vessel. People have died for a lot less."

Lex watched as Lana took in the basic terms of their agreement. Biting her lip, she cocked her head, "Interesting that a few minutes ago you were hell bent on letting me get close for my own protection. Now you are saying that I have free will as long as I can pay the consequences. What changed just now?" She stood and waited for a response from her silent partner. Huffing, she nodded. "Perhaps because I'm the only one who's seen it open."

Clark stood stock still and took in her last statement. He hadn't seen enough of the research notes to know if she had told Lex that before. Looking at the craft and then back at her, "Perhaps. Or the fact that this might be the end of what you have thought up to now is reality, Clark, Chloe. It's not something you can speak of lightly. Is it a risk your willing to take?"

Lana stared at her counterpart, breathing as he moved nearer to her, hand outstretched as to create a pact. Looking up at the man that she neither let go of or trusted on a daily basis, she gulped and slid her hand into his as to shake on their agreement.

"It'll do. She's never been one to stay focused on anything too long, but this may be just the thing," Lionel commented as he came down from the dark walkway that overlooked the ship.

Clark nodded. "She is a piece; I'm not sure what this dimension sees in her."

Lionel ran his hand along the ship once more as the two walked toward the exit. "Lana Lang has a part to play in this world, and I see her part growing but she will not end up being who everyone pictured her to be. Like your dimension, I have a feeling her bit will meet an end of some kind. Now, to see what we can really decipher from this black diamond."

Clark watched as Lionel circled the ship once more and closed his eyes as he felt the patterns of the words. Shaking, Clark moved in as Lionel seemed to develop an almost epileptic episode before falling to ground on his back. Coming to scoop up the elder Luthor, he grabbed him.

"Thank you. This mechanism has an energy that presses back against the vessel in me. I can't see what it represents. I just see the same symbols as the walls of my cell." Clark glanced at the symbols in the liquid metal that glowed a faint green and then disappeared as Lionel moved from the ship.

"How about just having Clark do something with it?"

Lionel turned and looked at the image of his son and shook his head. "It is stronger now than Clark is. I've watched, I've seen him; he's no match, not right now. We have to find another avenue, but the professor is our key."

Metropolis –

Chloe looked out the darkened windows as she sat bounded by her feet. Having been the supposed gentleman, Lex had finally removed her gag but showed her yet another toxin that would eliminate her vocal ability. "Aren't you a little afraid of what mixing toxins would do?"

Lex smiled in her direction as the car slowed. "Dear, I am a chemist by trade. I would never create such a mixture as to permanently harm you. Now, a little stop at the bank."

Chloe looked over at the bank and trust and glared. "I have some mad money stored away, and ah here she is." He lowered the window and smiled at his most successful creation.

Lois leaned over into the window and smiled at Chloe. Chloe wanted to giggle at the Lanaesque pink that the clone was wearing, knowing that Lois would never be caught dead in pink in any dimension. "So," the clone started, "I've rethought this. I'm totally and completely bored with your controlling me. I mean, you get to go to Europe and ski with…her and I get, well I want…"

"You are no position to…"

"I want to be totally left alone with Clark. I have found that he's grown on me and he's," Lois pauses and smiles in Chloe's direction. "Supercool, if you know what I mean." Smiling again, the clone waved in Chloe's direction and started away.

"Look, if this is some kind of game you are playing, you come back here and," Lex started raising his voice and jumped out of the car after the clone as she started into the bank.

Chloe watched in heightened awareness of the little meltdown that the clone was having about Clark. Wanting to giggle at Lex's obvious frustration, she listened as the argument escalated.

"Here's the deal. I'm not going to spy for you anymore, I don't want to be bothered, I want the secret to my existence, and all the cable channels." The clone smiled and continued swinging her purse.

"I don't make deals with clones." Lex warned as he took her arm and started toward the bank.

"Ahh, I don't think you would want to make a scene here, would you?" she asked as Lex let go of her hand, knowing being caught now would foil his whole plan.

Heading back to the car, he looked in the backseat and then in the driver's seat and cursed to himself.

Smallville -

Lois watched as Clark sat in the car and tried to concentrate on what she was telling him. He had to keep telling himself that Lex was himself from another dimension. The reaction to the new kryptonite was causing him even more problems focusing.

"I have to talk to Lana." He stopped and opened the door as he felt Chloe's hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think that is the best idea. Look, she's your poison right now. She's the only one who has seen anyone connected to this Zod, who's seen them, and you're falling right into their trap. Go in your house, talk to your parents, tell them about your visions." Clark continued to pull out of the car, but Lois wouldn't let go. "Seriously, Clark, trust me – I know more about you than you know right now."

Clark stopped and turned looking at her leaning all the way across the car, still holding his arm. Nodding, he agreed. "Ok, I'll call you if anything else happens tonight." She watched Clark as he closed the door and walked up the driveway to his house. She pulled away as he disappeared into the house with his father behind him.

A little while later she pulled into the driveway at the mansion and walked into the library to see Lionel and Lex sitting with a drink in hand. "So, is this what you and your son usually do in the evening?"

Lionel turned and looked in the direction of the new Chloe incarnate. "Ideally, but most of the time we don't quite see eye to eye. In fact, sitting and talking to your Clark here is much like what I wish I could have with Lex."

Chloe sat down next to Lex and smiled as the two grabbed each other's hands. "Maybe something will come out of this that we're not expecting. I guess we haven't really had enough time to sit and wonder what is going on. I wonder if they got married."

At that exact moment, Chloe swallowed and realized what she had just done to the balance of the dimension. Covering her mouth, she looked at Lex and then at Lionel. "I…"

Lionel set his drink down on the table and leaned back into the deep chair, staring carefully at the girl with blond hair that was much deeper than he realized. "And the story gets just a little deeper." Lionel looked at his now empty drink and covered his mouth in an all out laugh. He couldn't remember when he had truly laughed. Rising from his seat, he glanced again at the two. His son looked quite embarrassed, but now started to laugh as well. "A good place for me to step out. And not a word to our Clark. I shall enjoy seeing his new love bloom in its own way."

Clark waited for the lights downstairs to go off and then crept out of the house. He had been having more visions that he couldn't explain. His parents talking to Chloe about ways that they could kill him while he was upstairs. They stated with that rock and he knew who had it last. She also hid more than she should have from him and was now going to answer.

Waiting until he was outside, he listened as the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Lana, where's the rock?"

Lana yawned from what Clark could tell. Sitting up in the bed, she noticed that Chloe was still out well past her normal dirt digging hours. "At Lex's. He's working on finding a cure for you. Clark are you alright? You seemed to leave pretty quickly and I haven't seen you all day."

Clark leaned against the side of the barn furthest from his parent's window. He continued to sweat and rub his face as he saw more visions in the fields that seemed more like premonitions than visions. "I need that meteor. Meet me at Lex's."

Lana heard the phone click and sat, staring at the empty space in the room. She had talked to Chloe about his infection and understood that he was in a dangerous place at the moment. Dialing again, she hoped that she would pick up.

"Lana?"

"Chloe, I don't know where you are but Clark is acting really strange and called. He told me to meet him at Lex's. He's looking for that meteor rock."

"Why? Did he say?"

"No, but Lex might be in trouble. I'm on my way." Chloe heard a click before she could respond. Keeping Lana out of the loop made it worse; she thought Lex was now Clark's sole enemy and was purposefully trying to hurt him. Damn, she thought as she picked up the phone and dialed her future husband.

"Lex, Clark's on his way over and he's hot. Hide that rock. And if you have any ideas, now would be a great time to come up with them."

Metropolis –

Lex looked around the rest of the intersection for Lois and cursed again. Getting back in the car, he ordered the driver to make a circle of the block. He had lost both Lois and the clone in one moment.

Chloe watched as the car pulled away. She looked at the scrape up the side of the leg, but could feel some tingling returning. Perfect timing. "Help! Sup…"

"Yeah, I'm totally not digging that idea," the clone dropped as she lowered the pipe that she had taken to the back side of Chloe's head.

"Ow," Chloe held her head as she took the pipe and swept it under the clone's feet. Watching her fall to the ground even with her, Chloe looked straight at her and took another swipe to the clone's face, knowing that it would heal, but give her time to get away.

Pulling herself up to her feet, Chloe straightened out her clothes and grabbed a hold of a truck. "I need a ride." The man in the truck smiled as he helped her in.

"Do you have a name? A place you want to go?"

Chloe thought for a moment, looking back at the clone still on the ground. "Nellie. And wherever you are going." Chloe smiled as she still rubbed the bump on her head.