I'm really excited about this chapter because it introduces something that's gonna play a big part in Kal's journey of self discovery and also reveal a few new things about his father that he never knew about. The hint is in the chapter title ;)

Chapter Eleven- Secrets

When Lois walked through her apartment the next morning she was bombarded with questions about her date with Kal by her enthusiastic sister, "Lucy!" she exclaims silencing the young woman after repeated queries, "If you must know we ate a hotdog in the park and just talked about whatever came to mind."

A look of disappointment crossed Lucy's face and she slumped in her chair, "Well that sounds boring." She takes a sip of her coffee and turning back to watching the Style Network, "Did you at least get to kiss him?"

Lois just plops down right beside her sister and grabs the remote turning it back to the news, "Hey I was watching that!" Lucy exclaims trying to get the remote back only to have Lois pull away holding it high above her head, "Your no fun Lo" Lucy pouts rising from the couch and walking towards the kitchen.

"My house. My rules." She replies with a smug smirk on her face that soon faded when she turned her attention back to the news which was showing a rundown part of Metropolis and the ensuing frenzy as the coroner wheeled a black body bag towards the dark van.

"The body of Wesley Dodds was discovered shortly after the body of Sylvester Pemberton was found in an alleyway located in the heart of the city. Police Commissioner Henderson stated that the special crimes unit or SPU is hard at work to determine if the murders are connected. Many may remember Dodds and Pemberton as members of a rebel organization that targeted key members of parliament and sought to overthrow Lionel Luthor from the throne. Many have speculated that these rebels were responsible in the death of Queen Lillian and the death of Krypton's-"

Lois hits the mute button and let the remote sliding across the coffee table just as Lucy appeared at her side, "What's up sis?" She just shakes her head unresponsive to the inquiry and rise from her seat, "Your kind of starting to freak me out." Lucy says concerned about the sudden change in behavior.

"I'm fine just got a lot on my mind." She looks up at the time and suddenly begins to rush around the house, "I'm late for work!" she comes out of her bedroom dressed in her work attire and grabs her coat just as Lucy appeared in front of her holding her bag, "Thanks."

Suicide Slums

The raggedy man rolled down his sleeve after Dr. Hamilton was done drawing blood from his unbranded arm, "Quinn's worried about you." The doctor states looking towards the concerned teenager before turning back to the man, "You can't keep this up Milton. What you're doing is killing you." The man known as Milton just shook his head and rose up from the chair, "Is all this worth it?"

Milton looked over towards his daughter, "If I don't finish this then she'll be stuck in this gutter for the rest of her life when I'm the one that put us here. With Prince Caleb in town it's even more dangerous for her to be around me." He starts walking back towards his self built laboratory, "I'm so close to finishing the project that I can almost taste it and when I finally prove that it works then we'll finally be able to go back home."

Dr. Hamilton just shook his head following close behind, "You may not have that long." The statement causes Milton to turn around to face his physician with a confused look, "The device in your arm is causing major nerve damage and it's affecting your brain to the point you may slip into a coma in the next year or so."

"More than enough time to get everything done."

"Damn it Fine! This is not some game where you can play god…think about Quinn."

"Why do you think I'm doing this!" he exclaims loudly causing Quinn to look over towards them confused and he quickly lowers his voice, "Once I show the world what the Brain Interactive Construct can do then they'll no longer call me the terror of Kandor. Krypton needs this…I need this."

Dr. Emil Hamilton has no choice and just shakes his head negatively while he reaches into his coat pocket to pull out a bottle of pills, "These should stop the tremors for a little while. Take one as soon as you feel another attack coming on and they should do the trick." He turns and walks away unwilling to listen to the man's gratitude as he makes his way to the main entrance only to be stopped by Quinn, "He should be fine." He reassures her with a false smile and pats her lightly on the arm before leaving father and daughter alone once more.


A woman in a wheelchair stares at the numerous monitors with her main focus on the news report of Wesley Dodds and Sylvester Pemberton's death, "We have to warn the others." She says to the shadowy figure standing behind her, "If Luthor is hunting down old members then they have a right to know that their lives are in danger."

"No" a rough voice belonging to the figure responds, "Luthor's not dumb enough to do something like this. We're dealing with someone else…someone that knows who we really are."

The woman wheels her chair to face him, "Our primary focus should be on warning the others before anything else." The man doesn't respond which causes her to look at him with disbelief in her eyes, "Your not suggest that we just leave them out there as bait. What about their families?"

He doesn't answer just turns around to walk away leaving the woman to call out his name, "Carter!" she calls out to him again but grows silent when the main door slams shut leaving her to roll her chair back around to stare at the bright monitors.

"Damn it." She mutters before slipping on her glasses and going to work on locating the old members despite what their fearless leader thought.


Numerous files were littered over her desk needing her signature for approval, "Working hard?" a smile appeared on her face when she turned to see her old childhood friend Lana Lang, they embraced in a hug before Lois pulled away to see that her friend had shorter hair and a small diamond ring on her left ring finger, "You go away for two years and come back a married woman…what happened to the Lana Lang that wanted to branch out and become an artist?"

The raven haired beauty just laughed, "I traveled around the dominion doing every odd job available until I found myself in that little town outside the barrier called Smallville."

"That still doesn't explain the ring…it's huge."

Lana stares down at the piece of jewelry with a small smile, "Pete's trying his hand at politics. I tried to tell him that I was fine with a small diamond but he insisted on getting me something worth hanging onto."

Lois looked surprised and just shook her head in disbelief, "Wait until Chloe hears about this, she's not gonna believe it."

The two friends finished the rest of the day talking and catching up on old times when Lana shifted the conversation to the state of her foundation, "When I asked you to look over this place I didn't think you'd be running it."

"Well you know me. I can never sit still long enough besides we built this place together its only fair that I look after it."

"What if I just gave it to you?" Lois looked at Lana like she had suddenly sprouted a second head but it wasn't until she dropped another bombshell that she really left Lois speechless, "Pete and I are having a baby. He wants to raise it in Smallville until its old enough to move back to Metropolis." Lana reaches over to grab her hand gripping it tightly, "I can't run Isis anymore now that my life is finally starting to turn around and I know that you love this place just as much as I did. You're the only person besides Chloe that I would trust to run this place and Metropolis needs it more then ever."

"I don't know what to say."

"Say that you'll accept my offer."

Lois looks conflicted and weighs the pros and cons of running this foundation on her own, "If it means that much to you then I suppose that I don't have any choice. This place would go under if I ever left."

Lana responds by wrapping her in a tight hug, "You have no idea how much this means to me and Pete. Thank you for doing this."

Although she didn't show it…Lois was terrified.

TBC

Were you surprised or did you already figure out the identity of the raggedy man? The idea for this version of Milton Fine was kind of inspired by James Marster's look in Caprica and also for those you don't know but Brainiac 5's name is Querl Dox so I just thought I'd throw that out there and let you think of it what you will.

Also the introduction of the JSA is connected to Kal's storyline because later on in the story I plan for him to meet them face to face *spoiler* and the introduction of Lana Lang or Lana Ross was not only to have something to do with Lois but like the title says she's keeping a secret but don't worry that wont interfere with your clois.

The next chapter will have Clois/Kalois date # 2 which may or may not involve a happy ending ;) I'm trying to not have so much Kal and Lois because I want the relationship to seem natural as it evolves through the story but eventually things will pick up I promise.

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