Chapter 21: A Choice is Made
" How are you feeling?" Chloe stepped into the guest room of clock tower apartment she shared with Ollie.
Lois looked up from her computer and smiled slightly, " I'm doing fine cuz, how about you?"
" I'm better now that you're back." She made her way over to the bed and sat down beside Lois.
" So I'm betting you're here to find out what Clark meant when he said he'd have my answer soon." Lois smirked at the wide-eyed look on her cousin's face.
Chloe finally recovered and shrugged her shoulders, " Well I can't say that it isn't on my mind, but come on its not exactly small news."
Lois sighed, " Do we really have to go over this now. Can't I at least wait until I have his answer? After all the original plan was to tell you then."
" Well if you're planning on telling me soon anyway why not just tell me what's going on now so that I don't drive me and everyone else crazy." They smiled at each other before Lois rolled her eyes. Both had to admit that it was good to be back in their own lives.
As she spoke she instantly became serious, " Fine but don't freak out because I did what I thought was best, and at the moment I don't think I could handle it."
Chloe nodded her head as she became serious, " I promise, now what exactly is going on?"
Lois turned her computer around and showed Chloe the article she had written titled, King From Beyond The Grave, it didn't take Chloe very long to figure out what that was about.
" This is the article I'm going to print if Clark doesn't turn himself in. I told him that he had two choices; the first is that he turns himself in and I visit him every Sunday until he gets out and then we'd take it from there. Or he could choose not to turn himself in at which point I would print this article before finding a way to put him behind bars myself."
Chloe stared at her in shock for a moment, " Wow."
Lois stood and started pacing, " Look Chloe I know I it may not have been the best decision, but it was the only one that felt right to me so you can say whatever you want but I'm not going to feel bad."
" Actually I was going to say that I was impressed. I don't know what I would have done in you situation especially considering the…connection between you and Clark."
Lois plopped onto the bed and gave Chloe a hug before falling onto the bed and running a hand down her face. " What does it say about me when I have a connection with the quite possibly the most powerful criminal in history."
" Lois I'm not saying it's a great thing but we both know it's much more complicated than that. I mean the connection was there back in Smallville it only makes sense that it would still be there today…" She paused and sighed, " I just with it would have been Clark here today instead of Kal."
Lois sat up and gave her a pointed look, " You do realize they're the same person right."
Chloe rolled her eyes back at Lois, " Of course I know that it's just… they may have the same body but and they may have a lot of similarities but Clark Kent will always be the guy who was my best friend and own personal super hero. Kal is just his evil twin."
A heavy silence fell over them as Lois thought about her cousins words, she didn't agree but was happy that Chloe had found a way to accept everything. While Chloe looked at them as two different men Lois just couldn't do it. Yes she saw Kal, but there had been a handful of moments that she had seen the farmboy from Smallville and couldn't help but hope he would show up again and turn himself in.
Kal landed on the balcony of the clock tower and paused. He knew that Lois had been here for the past couple of nights and probably wouldn't leave until a few to come. It seemed that lately he had been having a lot of these life-altering moments. He ran a hand through his head but and was about to make his way inside but was surprised when the balcony door opened and Ollie stepped out.
Kal immediately x-rayed him and was surprised that he had neither meteor rock or lead on himself or anywhere in the vicinity.
Ollie saw the squinting and shook his head, " Don't worry Clark, there's no meteor rock here. It's still in the vault, I figure since it didn't do me any good the last time it wasn't worth trying again any time soon."
Kal nodded but attuned his senses to make sure that no one else would surprise him, " I came to talk to Lois not to cause trouble. So if you could get her I would appreciate it."
" You know what you're doing to her isn't fair. You're putting her life in danger by simply spending time with her." Ollie stood to face him making sure to stay calm.
Kal quirked an eyebrow, " What, and you think Chloe's any safer with you. Or that Lois was any safer with Bruce. Please, you're deceiving yourself."
" That would probably be true if it weren't for one thing, we have secret identities and you don't." Ollie crossed his arms over his chest as he stared into Kal's eyes.
" Maybe so, but if you really want to push this theory perhaps I should spread those identities to the rest of my organization." Kal smirked.
Ollie simply shrugged his shoulders, " You could, but you won't you proved the other night that you were willing to risk it all to save Lois. You wouldn't put her in jeopardy by doing that."
He nodded his head, and then shook himself out of this moment they seemed to be having, " Look we can play verbal back and forth all night, but we both know it's not going to lead anywhere. When this is all said and done, no matter what happens. We're still enemies."
Ollie nodded his head, it was an odd feeling. He had to admit it was oddly nice to be talking to Clark again after him being absent for so long but he knew that once the league had a plan of attack he would have to take Clark down. " I wish we were fighting side by side instead of against each other. You would have been a hell of an addition to the league."
" Well you know I was never much into the teamwork thing. Now days I prefer being on top. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go talk to Lois." This time Kal went into the apartment himself, not bothering to wait for Ollie's permission.
He made his way towards Lois's heartbeat until he came across a closed door. He knocked twice before opening it and was met with the surprised stares of both Lois and Chloe. He decided against another conversation like the one he had just had with Ollie and directed his attention solely at Lois. " Can we talk…in private?"
Lois took a deep breath and stood up stopping Chloe from following with a hand on her shoulder. " Sure." She followed silently and was a little surprised when he led her to the roof.
" You seem to have an affinity for the outdoors." She smirked as the door to the roof closed behind them and she made her way to the ledge and got a view of the Metropolis skyline.
" Well when you can fly roofs tend to be an annoyance." She turned around to find him with a smile on his face. The cold air caused her to shiver; she wished she had remembered a coat.
She shook her head when she looked up to see Clark with an arm extended towards her and his full-length coat in his hand. She took it and smiled, " What's that old saying, you can take the boy out of the farm, but not the farm out of the boy."
" They also say old habits die hard. Kind of like you giving me a hard time." The smiled at each other as he came to stand by her as they both looked out onto the city.
"On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies." He didn't look at her as he spoke and she had to admit she had no idea what she was talking about.
" Okay, is that supposed to mean something?" She knew it had to do with his decision she just didn't know what it meant.
" It's the first thing my birth father ever said to me, well he didn't really say it to me but it was the message he left with me before he gave me up. I spent a lot of time contemplating his words when I was younger." He shook his head and out of instinct she placed a hand on his arm.
" Rule them with strength, that thought haunted my thoughts longer than I thought possible. I didn't know if the power scared me, or if it was the thought of what I would have to do to fulfill the destiny that had been laid before me but I knew I didn't like it, and that I wanted nothing to do with it." He turned his head and she urged him to continue with her eyes. She was drawn into the speech and couldn't have moved if she tried.
" In the next message I received from him he warned me that because of who I was, of who I was going to be that I would be a danger to everyone I cared about. From that moment on it was my greatest fear, that I wouldn't be strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, to keep everything and everyone I cared about safe. Yet I couldn't leave them, I couldn't do what needed to be done for and I paid for it again and again."
He sighed, " And then came that day in the mine, suddenly the answer was simple. Run away and never look back. Build a new life and allow everyone to move on. It was a good plan, it worked well enough after all I was happy enough, everyone else was safe what was to regret."
His hand came up to cup her cheek as tears stung both of their eyes. Lois knew where this was going but still held on to hope, " Then you came to my club, and for whatever reason I didn't turn you away. Within a year your life was already being used against me and I almost lost you."
" It wasn't your fault, that was one lunatic with a massive inferiority complex. You don't have to do what I know you're thinking about doing. Ollie said the league would help, maybe in exchange for helping the government they'll give you leniency, you might even get to serve your time helping the F.B…."
Lois's rambling was cut off by a searing kiss from Kal, it was filled with every bit of passion, loving, caring emotion Kal and Lois returned it with equal fervor hoping to keep him there as long as she could. Her tongue slid past his lips and she heard a slight moan from him. She could feel the tears slide down her cheeks, knowing that they would land on Kal and not caring in the least. After what seemed like hours he started to pull back with a few lighter kisses.
He placed her face in both of his hands when he spoke again, " Whether I'm here, or I'm in prison I'm still me. You will always be in danger if I am in your life in any fashion, your Sunday visits would just bring about another Black Mask. As of right now no one knows that you are in fact Lois Lane and not just another dancer. By leaving now I know your safe, therefore it's my only option."
He slowly lifted into the air never breaking eye contact, " Goodbye Lois,"
With that he disappeared before her eyes, she closed them and let the tears fall freely. When she was composed enough to speak she looked to the place that he had last been, " Goodbye Smallville."
TBC…