They returned to Smallville, to the DoD's new makeshift base. Her father was doing everything in his power to get a location on Superman, and she was doing her best to reassure her sons when she didn't feel that reassured herself.

They were all startled when Captain Luthor showed up. She couldn't believe the audacity he had to waltz right in there. She hadn't expected to see him so soon, at least not in broad daylight, but there he was as if he hadn't taken her against her will only hours ago.

The boys both stepped in front of her to defend her. It was really sweet. Unnecessary though as her father already had his gun on him, ready to shoot. "Jordan, Jonathan, wait for me outside," she instructed.

They followed her orders, glaring at Captain Luthor all the while. She was half afraid Jordan would use his heat vision.

Luthor held his hands up to show they were empty of weapons. "I come in peace. I'm here to help."

"You have a funny way of showing it, kidnapping my daughter."

"We were allies, Sam. Family. I wouldn't lie to you. I was only trying to protect her from this. From Superman going evil and destroying the world. I watched him kill you and our brothers and sisters in arms. Then I watched him kill Lois. So can you blame me if I maybe took things too far when no one believed this would happen?"

"I can," Lois said. "And this alternate version of my father, did he try to assess the situation, did he even give Superman a chance, or did he go in there with guns blazing and just attempt to end his life?"

"You don't understand," Luthor began.

"Oh, I understand," Lois said. "It was shoot first, ask questions later. That's how the military generally operates, isn't it? It doesn't matter how many times he proves himself, how many lives he saves; people are essentially afraid of him."

"And they have a right to be," Luthor argued, "a right to defend themselves, whatever the reason he goes on the side of wrong. I have the equipment to do it."

"You're not off the hook," her father said. "When this is over, you're still answering for your crime, but I am interested in seeing your arsenal."

Lois had to leave. She was too livid. She didn't trust herself in her father's presence, but he followed her out.

"I don't like this any better than you, Lois," Sam began.

"You are working with my kidnapper," she hissed, "with the man who tried to murder my husband more than once. He only sees him as his wife's killer, an alien invader. He can't get to the real perpetrator, so my husband is a decent substitute."

"Maybe that was true, but he's trying to stop the end of this world now, so they don't play out the same way."

"If he was truly trying to help us stop events from repeating the way they did in his world, why wouldn't he be focused on Edge? The true root of all this. Why focus on a good man who in another world wasn't able to escape a terrible trap, and instead, I don't know maybe warn Clark? He only wants revenge."

"Maybe but Luthor is right about one thing. Whatever the reason, we have a rogue Superman, and he has the weapons to bring him down. Desperate times call for desperate measures," her father said, sympathetic but unbending. "Luthor will answer for what he did, I promise you that, but for now, there's a bigger problem at stake."

"If you do this, if you work with him to kill my husband, I won't be able to forgive that."

"I'm sorry. I have to do what I would do if the country was under enemy threat as it is. I can't let personal feelings enter into my decisions."

The father and general were again at war with each other. This time, the soldier in him won out.

"But I will try to bring him in without hurting him. You know that."

Did she? Sam of Luthor's Earth had asked very little before turning on the best asset he had, seeing him as an alien enemy first and foremost. Was her dad any different because he called Superman his son-in-law?

She turned away from him. One of the soldiers had brought the truck to the base. The boys waited by the truck, pretending they hadn't heard the argument, which was ridiculous in Jordan's case. "Get in. We're going to help your dad. We just need to grab a few things from the house."

Lois didn't think she could receive any more shocks in one day, but she did. There walking on the side of the road toward the farmhouse was a ghost from her past, a ghost in general really. She had to rub her eyes to make sure he was really there. She braked the truck. "Jimmy?"