Ray Palmer: Hello?
Overseer: Go ahead.
Ray Palmer: I've managed to run some tests, and you're right, the emitters react to noble gas oxides.
Ray Palmer: Xenon oxide is the most straightforward, it seems that it disables the emitter for up to half an hour.
Ray Palmer: Krypton oxide makes it self destruct.
Ray Palmer: Radon oxide doesn't seem to do anything at all as far as I can see.
Overseer: Self-destruct?
Ray Palmer: I suppose I can't be 100% sure, but there's a flash of light and then some residue left over. I don't have any other explanation.
Overseer: Do you know the maximum detection distance?
Ray Palmer: I haven't thought of testing that, but it should be quite easy. I'll should be able to let you know within a couple of days.
Overseer: Thanks. You could also continue to see if you can work out the effect of radon oxide, if you get the opportunity.
Ray Palmer: OK I'll do that after.
Ray Palmer: Bye.
(Ray Palmer logged off)
Krypton oxide could destroy the nanobots.
And, by extension, Clark.
On the face of it, this wasn't a particularly useful, or dangerous, piece of information, since krypton oxide couldn't survive outside the laboratory. If you wanted to use it to kill Clark, you'd need to come up with a delivery mechanism. Even if you could fashion a bullet out of it, and fire it from a super-cooled gun, the bullet would likely vaporize upon contact with the air, and there would be nothing remaining in a lattice structure by the time the constituent atoms reached Clark.
Still, krypton oxide could kill Clark.
Bruce didn't know what to do with the information, except wonder – did Luthor know it too?
A few days later, on a Saturday afternoon, Bruce was in the cave, looking through LexCorp personnel files. He had finally managed to obtain a full copy, after several weeks of being sent around in circles to various departments. He was trying to locate possible locations where Luthor could hide his secret operations. He had previously requested the publicly filed accounts of each of the shell companies that were under the LexCorp umbrella, and had analyzed their real estate rentals and purchases, narrowing down the potential lab sites to several dozen candidates. Now he was looking for any patterns of staff moves and promotions that indicated shifts in scientific resources.
He had gone about ten percent of the way through the list, when a repetitive beeping noise indicated that the cave's intruder alert system had been triggered. Bruce frowned. It shouldn't have been possible for someone to trip the cave's alert without first setting off the proximity alerts in the grounds outside. He got up and rushed over to his fighting suit storage lockers – there wasn't time to put any of the outfits or armor on, but he could grab a belt with its combat attachments, and sling it around his waist.
He had just fastened it and was on his way back to his desk when Superman flew in and landed in front of him. Except – something was off. Superman's skin was slightly too gray, his eyes were a dark reddish color, and his Super-suit looked more like stretchy pajamas than the sleek form-fitting version that Clark normally wore.
"Hello Bruce!"
"Hello." Bruce didn't know what was going on, so decided to play along. "What's your name?"
"Funny! Me am Clark!"
"Clark. Of course, how are you doing?"
"Something wrong. Need Bruce help. Bruce always smart."
"Sure, I'll help. What is it that's wrong?"
"Don't know! Me am try help people, but them shout and wave and run. What am happen me?"
Two possibilities flashed through Bruce's mind. Firstly, this was Clark, and something in his nanobot emulation had gone wrong. Secondly, it was an imperfect copy of Clark. Either way, if he had all the same powers, it was imperative to avoid upsetting him. Even if Bruce had somehow managed to defy chemistry and store a handy pellet of krypton oxide in one of his belt pouches, it wouldn't be much help if someone with super-speed decided to attack him.
"I'll take a look at you, and let's see if we can work it out. Take a seat, while I get my medical kit."
The strange gray version of Clark sat down, while Bruce went and rummaged around in a storage area. "It's in here somewhere!" he shouted, while quickly typing out a message.
Overseer: Come to cave. Normal clothes. Don't reply.
He pressed send, and saw that it was delivered to Clark's communicator, but there was no reaction from his seated visitor.
Bruce emerged from the storage area with a first-aid box. "Found it!" he announced. "Now, let's take your temperature." Bruce held out a digital thermometer towards his visitor's mouth. "Be very careful with this, it's easy to break." The patient nodded enthusiastically, and slowly closed his mouth around the device.
"While we wait, I'm going to take your pulse." As Bruce took hold of not-quite-Clark's hand and put a finger on the wrist, he realized that he didn't know what normal-Clark's pulse felt like, or even whether he had one. But it didn't matter, since the purpose of the whole charade was to give him time to think.
If this was a malfunctioning Clark, then why would he be wearing an amateurish version of the Super-suit, and not have his communicator? On the other hand, if this was a copy, or clone of Clark, then why wasn't he identical? Digital data could be duplicated perfectly. Perhaps the nanobots didn't operate on digital logic but used fuzzy quantum storage of some kind. Though that seemed like an aspect that Barbara would definitely have mentioned. Bruce went back and forth a few times, but none of the possibilities seemed to make sense. More information was needed.
Bruce took back the thermometer, studied it carefully, then slowly nodded. "You have the flu."
The patient looked confused, "Me am never sick."
"This isn't normal flu, it's space-flu. That's why people run away from you – they don't want to catch it too."
"Oh no!"
"Don't worry, space-flu only lasts for a few days."
"Me am stay here until better!"
"Yes, that seems like a good ide-"
THUWP
Clark appeared in the cave. The imperfect clone hypothesis appeared to be correct. The real Clark looked reassuringly normal in his checked shirt and jeans.
"Hi Steve!" said Bruce, putting on a big smile. "I'd like you to meet Clark."
"Hello Steve!" said the clone of Clark.
"Uh... " The real Clark looked to Bruce, then back at the clone. "Hi... Clark?" He stepped forward and offered his hand to shake.
"No touch!" said the clone. "Me am gotten space-flu!"
"Oh, okay then," said Clark, stepping back. "Thanks for the heads up."
The clone leaned towards Bruce and whispered loudly. "Why let Steve in secret cave?"
"Steve is a good friend of mine," said Bruce, talking normally. "You don't need to whisper."
"Bruce not have friend, only team."
Bruce glanced at Clark, who was holding back a smirk. "I let Steve in here because he might join the team."
"What can him do?" The clone stood up and stared at Clark. "And why him look like me? Him not strong like me."
"I didn't say he was."
"Me am top of team!" the clone was getting angry. "Him not have secret suit." The clone strode forward, grabbed Clark's shirt, and tore it open, revealing part of the blue Super-suit underneath with its characteristic red and yellow logo. The clone stood back, aghast.
"No! ME am Super-Clark!" He jumped forward and swung a fist at Clark, connecting with his jaw. There was a loud crack, and Clark stumbled backwards.
"See!" shouted the clone. "Him weak! Me am strong!" He turned and pointed a finger at Bruce, while slowing rising into the air. "Bad friend! Always sneaky. Me am not stay here. Luthor smart too. Him fix space-flu!"
The clone turned and flew towards the cave exit, bumping into the wall and dislodging a small chunk of rock. A cry of "Dumb secret cave!" was heard as the clone disappeared through the exit.
Bruce ran over to Clark and helped him up. "Are you okay?"
"I haven't been hit like that since I was a kid." Clark rubbed his jaw. "I'd forgotten what it was like."
"I did wonder why you just stood there. He telegraphed it well in advance."
"Geez, thanks for the help." Clark grinned and rolled his eyes. "So who, or what, is he?"
"I don't know. But I planted a tracker on him while I was pretending to take his pulse. Let's see where he goes."
Bruce pulled up a map on his computer, and they watched a dot move erratically as Clark's clone veered about in the air, heading in the direction of Metropolis. The dot stopped about 50 miles out from the city, then moved around for a few minutes in haphazard circles, before briefly speeding up and abruptly disappearing.
"He probably went underground," said Bruce. A theory began to form. He zoomed in on the map where the tracking dot was last seen. The area looked like a rundown industrial park with a few rusty metal rooftops. "Do you recognize this place?"
"No," said Clark.
Bruce searched online and found some photos taken from street level. "Are you sure?"
"I really don't think I've ever been there."
Bruce sighed. That was all he needed to confirm the theory. He turned to Clark.
"We just met Luthor's plan B."
Bruce stood on a hilltop near the clone's last known location, and held up Ray Palmer's scanner. A cluster of dots moved around on his laptop screen, mirroring Clark's position as he flew around the area. Clark was dressed as Superman, and Bruce was in his reconnaissance outfit.
"These buildings are all empty." Clark's voice sounded in Bruce's earpiece.
"No surprise," replied Bruce. "As far as I can tell, LexCorp is the first tenant in years. Before that it was abandoned."
"These are all empty though," said Clark. "No sign of the clone, or Luthor, or anyone else."
"Try looking for hidden basements."
Bruce switched his laptop to show the view from a tiny camera on Clark's earpiece. The picture abruptly changed every time Clark moved at super-speed. Bruce felt a little uneasy about what they were doing. It was a spur of the moment decision to investigate the area where the clone – or the spaceship – might be, but Luthor currently had the initiative, and Bruce was playing catch up. If he delayed while coming up with a more coherent plan, and Luthor had tracked the clone's recent movements to the cave and then back to this area, then Luthor might realize that his location was compromised and relocate the entire operation. Then they would be back to square one.
"Strange," said Clark. "There's an area under this one that I can't see into."
"I expect it's that one then. Luthor would have taken precautions. Perhaps it's lined with lead."
Clark landed outside the building. "Do you think I should knock on the door?"
"Couldn't hurt."
Clark knocked.
"Who there?" the clone's voice emanated faintly from within.
"It's um… Steve." said Clark, loudly. There was a brief commotion, then the door opened.
"Go away, Steve." said the clone.
Clark slowly took a few steps back from the door. "I'm sorry to bother you. I'm looking for Lex Luthor. Is he there?"
The clone shook his head. "No, him got important meeting."
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
"No, him just tell me wait."
"I see." Clark rubbed his chin. "Do you always do what Luthor says?"
The clone's frowned. "Not true. Steve tell lies!"
Clark gently put his hands up towards the clone. "Take it easy, I didn't mean it like that."
"Me am do own thing all the time. Me am not stay if not want. And me am not take it easy if not want!"
"Careful," said Bruce, into his comm. The clone was clearly getting combative. "Maybe try to get him talking about Metropolis, or Kansas."
But before Clark could implement Bruce's suggestion, the clone strode forward and pointed angrily at Clark's earpiece. "Who there?!" he shouted. "Is sneaky Brucey voice!"
"Uh…" Clark wasn't sure how to respond. "You've got good hearing."
"Me am Super-Clark, can do anything. You weak copy."
"If you say so."
"Yeah, me am say so! You give back secret suit now." The clone grabbed at Clark's waist and tried to pull the Super-suit off him, but he failed to get a grip on the sheer material. Clark reflexively brushed the clone's hands away.
Watching, via the camera, Bruce could see the clone winding up for a punch. Remembering how Clark had been caught off guard last time, he quickly said "Incoming" into his comm, and even then he still had enough time to see the clone's fist get closer and closer. Without super-speed, the clone's movements were similar to those of a normal slightly clumsy human, and Bruce's years of combat training made them seem painfully slow.
Just as the punch was about to connect, there was a faint THWUP as Clark shifted several feet sideways. The clone stumbled forward, unbalanced by the unexpected lack of impact, then he swiveled around to face Clark.
"Cheat!" he shouted. "You have Bruce help!" The clone dived at Clark, only to meet another THWUP and some empty air. The clone's dive became forward flight, which then curved upwards for several seconds, until he stopped, hovering in the air, and turned once more to face Clark. The clone pointed down towards him. "Stay still!"
"Please stop attacking me," Clark shouted up at the clone. "I don't want to fight you."
"Of course, 'cuz you weak!" shouted the clone triumphantly, then he angled downwards and flew at Clark, fists outstretched. Clark sighed, and his next THWUP took him some distance away. The clone crashed into the ground where Clark had been standing, and then got up and roared in frustration. He flew over to a nearby building and punched it, demolishing an entire wall in one blow.
"This is futile," said Bruce. "He's not going to calm down. We should leave."
Clark sighed again, then flew over to within earshot of the clone. "I'm sorry you don't like me. Perhaps we can talk again another time."
"No!" replied the clone. "Me am fight you!"
"Okay then," said Clark. "Bye for now."
THWUP
Clark appeared beside Bruce, and they both watched from afar as the clone destroyed another building while shouting vague insults at "Steve". Then a second THWUP took them both back to Bruce's cave.
"That was a waste of time," said Clark, sitting down dejectedly at the table.
"Not completely," said Bruce. "We've confirmed that Luthor is responsible for the clone, or at least is heavily involved somehow, and we know where the clone is currently based. We also now know that the clone has your hearing abilities too, but doesn't have your speed. Or at least he doesn't know how to use it if he does. Lastly, according to Palmer's scanner, the clone's nanobots have the same energy signatures as yours."
"Does any of that help, though?"
"Perhaps. I'll have to consider what to do next."
Clark picked up his normal clothes, and in the blink of an eye was wearing them. "I'll head off then." He was just about to leave, when his phone pinged. He glanced at it, then did a double take. "That's not good."
"What's up?" said Bruce.
"I just got a news alert." Clark turned his phone around, to show Bruce the message.
Superman destroys fighter jet
Bruce stared at it for a moment, then brought up a live news feed on his computer screen.
... moments ago, not far from Metropolis. Eyewitnesses on the ground say they saw Superman fly underneath the jet and punch it multiple times, before flying away. The plane disintegrated but the pilot managed to eject and has been taken to hospital. An Air Force spokesperson has refused to comment ...
The report was accompanied by shaky camera-phone footage which appeared to corroborate the story.
"The clone must still be angry," said Bruce.
"We have to stop him."
"Agreed."
"But how?"
"Actually, I may have found a way, but it will require some coordination."
"We have a problem," Bruce announced to the hastily assembled team.
"No kidding," said Victor. "How can there be another Superman?"
"Clark doesn't have an organic body. He's a computer-generated projection. So you can make a duplicate of him by copying the program."
"Whoa!" said Barry.
"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Diana.
"Please, everyone." Bruce held up his hands. "There's quite a lot of base facts to get through. I'll lay it all out and then we can discuss after that."
Diana folded her arms. "Fine."
"So," Bruce began. "Clark arrived in a spaceship from another planet as a baby, except he wasn't a baby as such. He comes from an alien society that lived as virtual simulations of their old biological forms, but something went wrong and his father sent him here, with a collection of nanobots to project his form as a human into our real world so that he could interact with us. We're not really too clear on why."
"Oh yeah, that message…" said Victor. Then caught Bruce frowning at him, and mimicked zipping his mouth shut.
"At some point when Clark was growing up, the nanobots started giving him super-powers. We're not sure why that happened either, but it led to him becoming the man that we all know. Then, probably around a year ago, Luthor discovered the nanobots, and worked out Clark's true nature, and decided he wanted nanobots of his own. But he can't alter them. So he went after the next best thing, which is Clark's spaceship, in the hope that it can help him modify, or at least understand, the nanobots. However, he can't operate the spaceship without Clark, who refuses to help."
Bruce pulled up the picture of the nanobot on his computer screen.
"It turns out that are two levels to the nanobot code. The operating system level is immutable, that's what governs all the bot's own features such as flying and super-speed. Then there's a data level which contains… well, it contains Clark, and that layer can be changed, presumably because the data changes as Clark grows and learns. Luthor has evidently found a way to isolate some nanobots and edit their version of that layer, and he has tried to create a version of Clark that will operate the spaceship for him. However, he clearly doesn't have fine-grained control, because the version that he created has some problems. In fact, it's confused, angry, and prone to violence."
Bruce played a short snippet of footage recorded from Clark's earpiece camera, during his last conversation with the clone, for the team to see the clone's behavior. Then he switched back to the photo of the nanobot.
"We believe there is a way to destroy the nanobots. There appears to be some self-destruct code baked into the operating system. When this sensor here sees a chemical compound called krypton oxide, it triggers the self-destruct. We can potentially use it to destroy Luthor's clone of Clark, by destroying his nanobots. However, there are some issues to address. Firstly, krypton oxide is very unstable so it would be challenging to get some into the vicinity of the clone, only a speedster could do it reliably. Secondly, the two speedsters we have both depend on the nanobots for their own speed, so they'd have to move out of range before the compound was released. Thirdly, depending on how you look at it, the clone is a being in its own right, and is as alive as Clark. In fact, it thinks it is Clark. So destroying it, or killing him, could be considered unethical."
Bruce leaned back against his desk. "I have my own views on what we should do, but what do you all think?"
"I think it sounds like nonsense," said Diana. "Clark is obviously not just a computer program. You must have got that part wrong."
"No, Diana," said Clark, softly. "He doesn't have it wrong."
"But look," Diana prodded Clark on the shoulder. "There you are, real as can be."
"We shouldn't get bogged down in metaphysics," said Bruce. "Let's just assume that, for whatever reason, the clone of Clark exists, and is dangerous, and we have the ability to stop him."
"Are you sure about the krypton oxide thing?" said Barry. "Because it's basically impossible to make, isn't it?"
"Not impossible," said Bruce. "I have a source available, though it would require some prep time."
"Yeah man," said Victor. "Of course Batman can make krypton oxide. What were you thinking?"
Barry laughed.
"There is still the question of the delivery method." said Bruce. "However, we should first decide whether we're actually going to use it. Normally I'm against killing, but the clone has Clark's super-strength, so containing him would be difficult. In theory some kind of steel-reinforced lead chamber might be able to hold him for a while, but he would eventually break out, and be angrier than ever. Not to mention that trapping him indefinitely in solitary confinement is arguably worse than death. So our only realistic options are to let the clone continue, or stop him, permanently."
"We should stop him," said Diana. "If this imposter is daring to copy Clark, he has no honor and should face the consequences."
"Can't we reason with him?" said Barry.
"We tried that twice," said Bruce. "Both times he attacked Clark. The second time he smashed several buildings and a plane. The pilot of the plane was lucky, but the next one might not be. I don't think talking to the clone a third time will go any better. Luthor has probably been feeding him lies ever since he created him."
"How do you know that Luthor created him?" said Barry.
"The clone has at least some of Clark's knowledge and memories up to the point in time when he was cloned, because he already knew me, and how to get here. Whereas anything that the clone knows that Clark doesn't know must be something that he learned after he diverged from Clark. When he flew away from us the first time, he mentioned Luthor, and then went straight to a location that Clark didn't recognize, but which LexCorp recently rented. So the most logical explanation is that Luthor created the clone, probably in that same place, by editing a group of nanobots."
"If that is true," said Diana. "Then we destroy those nanny-bots. Problem solved."
"Did you see that video?" said Victor. "Mentally he's like a child. We can't just turn him off."
"He's not a child, he's a computer program that looks like Clark, it's the same as turning off a computer. There's nothing wrong with that."
"What if it was a robot that looked like Clark?" said Victor.
"Same thing," said Diana.
"Oh yeah? And what if it was half robot, half man. Would you turn him off then?" Victor's bionic eye flashed angrily, while his other eye stared at Diana.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, we're not talking about you, we're talking about a copy of Clark. And if Luthor had made a copy of you using tiny computers I'd be saying the same thing."
"Yeah, but he couldn't do that because I'm not a computer program in the first place."
"This is not a productive debate," said Bruce, raising his voice. "Diana, I think you've established your position clearly enough. Victor, I am sympathetic to your viewpoint, but bear in mind that it's not enough just to say that killing the clone is wrong. You need to suggest an alternative course of action that we could take instead."
"I wanna talk to him," said Victor.
"We tried that."
"Yeah, but you guys don't know what it's like to wake up one morning feeling different and alone. I do. I might be able to get through to him."
Bruce raised an eyebrow. He couldn't remember a day when he hadn't woken up feeling different and alone, but he knew that from Victor's perspective he had lived a life of privilege and luxury, and so Victor was unlikely to react well to an expression of emotional honesty at this precise moment. Clark no doubt also had some things to say on the subject of feeling different and alone, but again, not from the angle that Victor meant it. In any case, none of that was relevant to the matter at hand.
"You have a point," said Bruce. "The clone sees Clark as a threat to his identity, and me as untrustworthy, but he has no reason not to treat you as a friend."
"Okay then," said Victor. "I'll talk to him."
"I'd still like to establish a backup plan. We'll try it your way first, but if that doesn't work, we'll turn off the clone's nanobots. It will require some delicate timing though. The krypton oxide compound is manufactured at laser-cooled cryogenic temperatures, and even liquid nitrogen can only keep it stable for a few minutes. Once it's made we'll have a short window during which we can deploy it."
"What do we do with it then? Just chuck it at the clone?" said Barry.
"Essentially, yes. Our experiments show that the nanobots can detect the compound up to a meter away, as long as they have a clear line of sight. Fortunately it appears that the clone doesn't have super-speed, since he's never used it, even when trying to fight Clark. Ideally we would use a timed release or proximity trigger, but we don't have time to create such a mechanism. Instead we can take a more low-tech route and put the compound inside an opaque glass vial, then either you or Clark engage the clone in conversation, while the other throws the vial at him. When it's just about to hit, you both move to a safe distance so that your nanobots don't see the krypton oxide when the vial breaks open on contact."
"Couldn't you or Diana throw it?" said Barry.
"The vial has to be thrown so that it hits the clone's skin with enough momentum that the nanobots' force field hardens in response and shatters the glass. So we have to aim for the clone's face or hands, since his hair or clothing might cushion the impact too much. If Diana or I miss, we can't try again, whereas if you or Clark throw it, and see that it's gone past him, or is about to hit him in the wrong place, you can go and grab the vial out of the air and try again."
"I wouldn't miss," said Diana.
"There's no telling what would happen in the heat of the moment. The clone might move just at the point when you're throwing."
"I can hit a rabbit with a stone from 50 yards away," said Diana. "I wouldn't miss."
"I daresay that's true," said Bruce. "Nonetheless, the ideal plan is for Barry or Clark to throw it."
"Uh… the ideal plan is for me to make friends with the clone," said Victor.
"Yes, of course."
Bruce outlined the remaining logistical details, and the team agreed to reconvene the following morning. As they were leaving, Victor turned to Clark.
"What's your favorite kind of ice cream?"
"Pistachio. Why, are you buying?"
"Yeah, I guess I am."
