Lois saw the barn door open. Clark wouldn't have come home without saying anything.

"It probably works like your hearing. Close your eyes and think about what you actually want to see. I need to check something outside. I'll be right back."

Lois wasn't stupid. She took a knife from the kitchen with her for self-defense, but if it was who she thought it was, it was going to be useless against him anyway. She halfway wished she'd held on the kryptonite used to take a possessed Kyle down, but with Clark and Jordan around, she would have made the same decision to give it back to her father again.

She crept into the barn, trying to catch the intruder by surprise, but again, if it really was Clark's recently discovered brother that too was useless. It was Captain Luthor.

"Oh, it's you," she said with a sigh of relief. "I was afraid you were Morgan Edge."

She hadn't seen him since she and Clark and her father had decided he wasn't a threat. They'd hoped he would join them in the fight against Edge, but he hadn't been able to put aside his differences with Superman. He was still in a world of pain from the tragic way he'd lost his wife and daughter, so she couldn't really blame him though it had disappointed her. It turned out, however, they hadn't needed his help after all. Clark had defeated the Kryptonian body-snatchers though he'd spent all his energy doing it.

"How could you?" he asked, voiced ragged with pain.

"How could I what?" Now she was confused. What could she have done to make him look as if she'd stuck the knife she was holding into his back.

"Marry that-that alien being. And him hiding behind a human name, Clark Kent, taking on the persona of a harmless nerd; he's certainly more cowardly then the Kal-El I knew."

She could lie, but he seemed certain of it, and she still felt a measure of pity, knowing he was feeling betrayed by his late wife as illogical as this all was. "As I've told you, this world is different. Our Superman is different. Here, he is a force of good, who also happens to be the love of my life. And he's not hiding behind anything by the way. Clark is who he is."

"It's sick is what it is. He isn't even the same species."

She chose to ignore that prejudice-ridden comment. "You can trust him. No one knows him better than I do, and I know he would never purposely kill someone in cold blood, least of all me. He would give his life for mine."

"I know you think that."

"Because it's true! He would do anything for his family. Our alternate selves are like looking in a mirror. They may be reflections of us, other paths we could have taken, but they are not us."

"For your sake, I wish it were the case, but too much is similar. I can read the signs, and I know what's coming. I can't let you stay where he can find you."

"I'm telling you I'm not in any danger," But that wasn't true she realized as Luthor pulled out a tranquilizer gun.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this," he apologized as he shot her.

sss

"Captain Luthor's here," Jordan said in a panicked tone. "He's got, Mom."

Jonathan ran outside at once, intent on stopping him and Jordan followed the best he could with short-range vision.

"Stay back," Captain Luthor said. "I don't enjoy hurting kids, not even ones who are partly Kryptonian, but I will if I must to keep her safe."

"I can't see," Jordan said. "Point me at him, and I'll shoot him."

"You can't. Mom's unconscious in his arms. What if you accidentally hit her instead? He won't harm her. Dad can rescue her as soon as he gets back."

"Smart boys, but tell your father when you see him not to even try to follow us. I know his tricks, and I have my own. He won't kill her twice as long as there is breath in my body."