Clark hadn't set out with the idea of kissing her again, but it had seemed the best way of shutting her up, and it'd worked. She had yet to speak after he'd pulled away.

"Look, you ask why you should believe me? You shouldn't. I haven't given you reason to. I'm a liar, I've used women like yesterday's trash, and I've had more regard for my personal desires than I do for human life."

"Is this your idea of convincing me?" she asked, finding her voice. "Because I must say that you're doing a lousy job."

"But despite all of that, you can trust me, because I've learned something about myself. Even with all of my selfishness, I'm still capable of feeling something. I have feelings for you." It was a hard confession. It made him feel vulnerable to admit it out loud, and he hated feeling vulnerable.

It wasn't impressing Lois, however. She folded her arms. "Forgive me if I'm skeptical in the saving power of love."

"If love can't save a person, what can?"

"I don't know. Maybe nothing."

"Maybe, but I am going to your father right now, and I will tell him about the tower that can change the sun."

"Well, you won't mind then if I come along. It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't trust you."

He would have been more surprised if she hadn't insisted on coming along.

"You're back early," Sam commented when they arrived at the apartment. "I take it this means good news."

"Define good," Lois said sarcastically.

Clark spoke up before she made the situation worst. "It turns out they're not Kryptonians in the traditional sense. They're clones, who are at the moment, powerless."

"That's great news!" Sam exclaimed.

"Wait, it gets better," Lois said.

"They won't be powerless under a red sun, and they have the technology to change the sun from yellow to red."

"Well, what are we waiting on? They need to be taken into custody immediately." He picked up the phone and started dialing, but he didn't finish. His mouth dropped as he stared out the window instead.

"What are you waiting on?" Clark demanded.

"We're too late," the general said matter-of-factly.

He and Lois turned to look as well, and they all watched in horror through the window as the sun changed from its golden color to a vivid shade of red.

"It's not too late. You can still have the military bomb the tower."

Lois pointed out the obvious. "Problem is it's going to be guarded by the clones, and bombs will just seem like children's toys to them. Could be that someone waited too long to say something."

"Could be," he retorted. Sometimes he hated that woman with her smug self-righteousness, but it was that same confidence that could make her so alluring. No one else ever deigned to talk to him that way.

"If only there was someone from Krypton, not trying to take over the world, who you could go to for advice on how their technology works," she said, not expecting a response.

"There is. Sort of. My biological father sent a crystal with an AI of himself. It was sent to guide me or some kind of nonsense like that and obviously teach me about my heritage, but I've never wanted anything to do with it. My father warned me that he only wanted to control me."

"So let me get this straight. Your monstrous adopted father, who did want to control you, decided you shouldn't talk to your birth father, and you accepted that. Anything Lionel Luthor says is wrong must be right. If nothing else, where's your sense of rebellion? Did you do everything Daddy Dearest told you to do?"

"I suppose you have a point there. I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what he knows."

The military provided him with the plane that took him to the Arctic where he'd thrown the crystal, hoping to never have dealings with it again.

His stomach felt twisted as he he walked into the cold, dark crystal palace with what, shame? Maybe it was fear that this invisible being with a voice would judge him and find him wanting. His experience with family hadn't been stellar up to this point.

"I am Clark Luthor. I am coming to you because I need help."'

It awakened. "I am Jor-El. You are Kal-El, my son."

He grew impatient. He knew that much. "I'm not here for a family history lesson. Earth is in trouble."

"You were sent to be Earth's savior."

It sounded like an accusation to his ears. He was tired of the expectations. Is that what all fathers did? Set insanely high goals that you couldn't possibly fulfill? "I'm sorry that didn't work out for you."

"It still can."

He laughed. "Even if I wanted to be, which I don't, you really think Earth is going to crown me their hero? They despise me for my alienness and my past deeds."

"You do have much to atone for. You have done countless evil. Yet, you are here. That tells me that you seek to make amends."

"I suppose you could look at it that way."

"Your heart has been pregnant with evil, and it has conceived the trouble you now face and given birth to the disillusionment that is present in your features."

That was certainly an interesting way of putting it. "How do I overcome it?"

"With good. From your heart comes murder, sexual immorality, and many other sins. Only when it is instilled with virtue in its stead will you find love and be able to love."

He was so patronizing with his moral drivel. "I'm talking about the clones. I assume you know about them? How do I defeat them?"

"That is easier done. You must take down the tower. I saw fit to include Kryptonian technology on your ship, so that all Krypton had accomplished would not be lost. In this fortress, you will find a rifle. It emits blasts of blue energy capable of killing any living thing under a red sun. It seems it will be of use to you now."

"Most definitely," he said as a light shone on this Kryptonian rifle that was recognizable as a gun and just odd enough to also be recognized as alien. He snatched it up and prepared to leave.

"But remember what you need most only you can change, your heart."