Clark groaned. He opened his eyes and looked around. The Phantom Zone. He clearly did not miss it.
He was still tied to a chair that had fallen back on the rocky ground, so he lay there looking at the cloudy sky with the three suns. He groaned again, he did not think he and the chair would come here together. Something was moving out of the corner of his eye, and he looked away afraid to see zoners there. What he saw twenty feet away from him was much worse. Lois Queen lay there. Damn that woman! He told her to stay away! what did she do? He looked in every direction he could and did not see Bruce Wayne or anyone else in the area. He started fighting with handcuffs but was unable to break free.
"Lois! Lois!"
She barely moves. Clark gritted his teeth. Even from a distance he could tell it was not an easy landing. He had no idea what the Phantom Zone would do to her. Maybe Jor El would release him sooner because of her, he thought for a moment and then shook the thought off his head. No, Jor El will blame him for that, he had no doubt about it.
"Lois!" She woke up slowly, her whole body heavy and sore. "I'm sure it was a hard awakening for you but if you do not get up now you will die." She heard Luther from a distance. She set herself on her feet. It took her a moment to settle down. She looked around with her eyes open in fear. "What the hell are you doing here? Why can't you obey one simple instruction?" She turned towards the voice and saw Luther tied to the chair still.
"I'm not getting instructions from you!" She gasped. "Where are we anyway?"
"What does it matter?" She approached him, furious.
"You promised to answer all my questions!" He cursed quietly.
"Okay. This is the Phantom Zone. A krypton prison dimension full of sadistic and heartless mass murderers."
"Like you."
"Like my." An animal scream was heard in the distance. "Oh, great. They'll be here soon."
"Who will?"
"Did you notice I said it's a prison full of murderers?" She raised an eyebrow at his tone, "so some have no body. They are like particularly aggressive ghosts and very hungry. We are both the main course."
"You've been here before."
"Sure! This is a great place to relax!" He said cynically. Lois kicked him hard. "What do you want from me?"
"Behave like a human being!"
"But I do not, remember?"
"He succeeded." Luther sighed.
"St. Clark Kent."
"Is it so hard for you to act like a man? I thought you were trying to atone for your actions. That was not the reason for your little visit?" Clark closed his eyes and took a breath. He hated the smell of this place.
"I knew I would get here. Jor El does not really understand human society. He gave me the information and gave me a chance to decide what to do but he keeps me on short leash."
"It's hard to blame him."
"And I did not plan to bring uninvited guests with me. I can take care of myself here."
"And I'm not?"
"No." The screams came back, louder than before and more. Lois shivered. "Jor El will not let me die here. He may leave me here for a few months, but he will not let me die and I know the place. Roughly. I cannot say the same about you! Therefore, you must release me!"
"Because the killer will protect me from the other monsters? Do not think so." She looked into the distance. "What is?" Clark tilted his head in that direction.
"Zoners." There was fear and despair in that word. "Lois, please, if you are not willing to release me, stay away. You will find a cave and hide in it until they leave."
"What about you?"
"What do you care about me? You said you wanted to give me a slow death in agony, no? That's exactly what's going to happen. Now, run! Get out of here!"
"But..."
"Run!"
Lois run. The approaching screams add strength to her. She escaped up the nearby hill. Under a pile of rocks, she found shelter. Sheltered under the rocks she could see the entire plain at the foot of the hill, the plain in the center of which Clark Luther lay still resting on a chair. The black creatures flew at him like birds of prey. She heard his screams of pain and saw the creatures struggling with each other to reach him. After a few minutes she could not bear it anymore. She closed her eyes and tried to close her ears to his screams. There was so much pain and fear and despair in his screams. His indifferent face came to mind. But he was not indifferent, he accepted the verdict. He lost hope long before he showed up in her bedroom. He knew it was coming, he did not even try to prevent it and he did not expect anyone to help him and for Lois it was the worst thing of all.
After what felt like an hour he stopped screaming and Lois dared to open her eyes. The creatures were still around him completely covering him and then a bright blue light hit them from above and the glow from it expelled all the creatures. He did not move. She wiped the tears from her face.
Lois waited until all the creatures were gone and then waited a little longer for safety before stepping out of her alcove. She ran to him. He could barely breathe. His face was bleeding from scratches and cuts and the white clothes he was wearing were soaked in blood. She removed the scarf from her neck. With tears in her eyes and trembling hands, she cleared the blood of him. He opened his eyes weakly.
"What do you do?"
"Cleaning you, what do you think?"
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? What are you looking at?"
"Pity your scarf. It will probably happen again in a few hours." He sounds better.
"Why is he not killing you and end it all? Why this torture?"
"Can you release me now?"
"The key is not on me." She picked up a stone and started working on his left hand. "Answer the question."
"I am his only son, and he has not given up yet. The man does not give up easily."
"But you gave up." The chain broke and Lois moved to the other side.
"There is no way to atone for everything I have done. I can die ten times for every death I have caused and yet it will not be enough. Kent sent me to correct my mistakes and help the world, to be like him, but it is too late for me." The second chain was broken. The handcuffs were hung by him like bracelets. He held out his hand to Lois and she handed him the stone. "And naive." He started working on the handcuffs on his legs.
"Why don't you take off the ring?"
"It won't matter." She helped him up, noticing that some of the deeper cuts had begun to close.
"Your powers are back. You lied to me about the ring!"
"No. Even without the ring I have no powers here. He heals me after all ... I do not know what to call it. What is the point of leaving me here if I die immediately?" He sounded bitter.
"How many times?" She held his arm.
"This is my fifth visit."
"And how long does he leave you here?"
"It changes. I think the first time was the longest and the worst even though this time ..." he looked down at her.
"Why would it be different this time?"
"Because you're here."
He looked at the chair. It was a metal chair but maybe he would be able to disassemble it and use it as a weapon.
"It was not your fault. It was my choice!" He snored.
"It does not matter."
"He cannot punish you for something I did!" He looked at her in amazement and then looked around.
"He pretty much clearly disagrees with you."
The chair was made of tempered steel. He will never be able to dismantle it. He chose a direction and started walking. Lois hurried after him.
"Hey!" He turned to her.
"If we want to get you out of here whole and healthy, we must not stand still. We must find shelter."
"Are you helping me just so he can release you?"
"If that's what will make you move then yes, exactly, that's the reason." She kicked his leg and began to move in the direction he had chosen before. He hurried after her.
They walked for hours, saying nothing. Lois tried to have a conversation with him when her anger calmed down, but he responded with a grunt, and she finally gave up. He dictated a fast pace, and she did not have enough air to speak. He was always there to stabilize her when she stumbled but usually Lois was left with only her thoughts.
She hated him for so many years, she had no shortage of reasons, but she never stopped to think about him, about what made him this man who kills without remorse, without a second thought. Even after she met the other Clark she never tried to figure out where the differences came from. He was a heartless killer, everything else was excuses. After he murdered Oliver, she wanted to see him suffer torture, died in agony. For the past five years, all she has thought about is killing him. She was sure he was in heaven on earth not wasting a moment thinking about the suffering he caused, the people he killed. Instead for the past five years he has lived a life of torture and torment. His father sends him to a krypton prison to be killed again and again. She should feel satisfied, feel satisfied but all she felt was emptiness.
She stumbled suddenly and he did not have time to catch her. She rolled down the steep slope. A moment after she was arrested, he appeared, helping her to get up.
"Are you OK?"
"My whole body hurts but I'm fine. I need to rest."
"It's not a good idea."
"We've been walking for hours without a break. I have to rest."
"This is not a good place. We're exposed." She looked around; they were in the creek.
"Then let's go upstairs."
"The zoners are there."
"The Zoners?" Her voice trembled. He swallowed.
"They started approaching us. We may have an hour and there is no chance we will be able to get up."
"So, what are we going to do?"
"We will continue in the creek until we find shelter. The place looks a bit familiar and if I am right there should be a large cave in that direction." Lois looked at creek again.
"It feels like a trap."
"When they appear, I want you to run further down the creek towards the cave. Do not stop, do not turn around, do not wait for me."
"I'm not leaving you behind!"
"This is not the time or place to be noble. Jor El will not let me die. You saw what happened."
"And what if he changes his mind, eh?" He looked at her and she knew in that moment that this thought had frightened him and aroused hope in him, that this was probably the only reason he was continuing. "Clark ..."
"No. Do not feel sorry for me. I do not deserve it. When they appear, you will flee to the cave? Promise?" She nodded. "Let's hurry." He held out his hand to her and she grabbed it. He started running along the creek.
After a few minutes he began to slow down. Lois who could barely breathe could only thanked God for that. She looked around. They were still inside the creek, but large, monolithic stone pillars surrounded them. The place looked like a Stonehenge that a child had rearranged his stones.
"What...?"
"Shhh!"
"Do not silence me!" He looked at her reprimandingly. Still holding her hand, he advanced between the stones.
"Not all phantom zone dwellers are Zonars." He whispered and she struggled to hear him over the strong wind that suddenly blew. "Some are flesh and blood." She shivered.
"From Krypton?"
"Yes, and worse." They have reached what appears to be a center. "And this place has never looked like this."
"The stones?"
"No, footprints in the sand." Lois looked at the ground.
There were her footprints and Clark's footprints which were quite large and smaller footprints that did not belong to any of them but what made her swallow saliva in fear were footprints that were larger than Clark's.
Suddenly three people came out of the shadows and pulled Lois out of Clark's grip. He turned to them quickly. Lois struggled with them to free herself, but Clark's facial expression frightened her and made her pale. She did not really believe he was an alien until now. He was full of rage and disgust and his face became as cold and soulless as she had ever seen him. The people holding her pulled her back away from him and as he tried to approach one of them pulled out a knife and placed it around her neck. Clark grumbled like an animal.
"Kryptonian." Said a rough, low voice behind him. He turned.
In front of him stood a man taller than him with a bald head. He was huge. On his upper body were tattoos in a language Lois did not understand. He was only wearing pants and the cold in the Phantom Zone did not seem to affect him. On his forearms were wide leather bracelets.
"Titan." Clark hissed from clenched teeth.
Clark sent a look at Lois and when he looked back at Titan it was straight into Titan's right fist. Clark flew, his mouth bleeding, on one of the monoliths and collapsed on the floor. Lois shifted her gaze from him to Titan and defiantly lifted her chin. Titan approached her, momentarily forgetting Clark. Lois withdrew her hands from her captors, and they released her. Titan put his hand under her chin and lifted it, moving her face from side to side, examining her.
"Do not touch me, Psychopath!" She kicked him between his legs.
He grinned and slapped her with the back of his hand. Lois flew and landed in front of Clark in the stone circle. She struggled not to lose consciousness. Titan approached her and she struggled to retreat back into the soft dirt until her back encountered the monolith.
"Leave her alone!" Clark roared. Titan turned to him slowly. Lois looked in astonishment at Clark standing, ready for battle.
"Human beings are not important to me." Titan approached him and the two began to move in front of each other in circles. "You're the battle that's eluded me for five years."
"Once was not enough for you?"
"What better way than to kill Jor El's son over and over again?" Titan bared his teeth with a horrible smile.
For Clark, the talk was enough. Titan was no longer standing next to Lois and that was all that mattered to him. He pounced on Titan hugging his chest with a steel grip and pushing him back with all his might. The monolith they collided with broke in two and fell on them. The other three prisoners were frightened and fled. Clark and Titan fought each other throughout the stone garden. Titan's hand was on top for most of the fight. Lois looked at the two, startled and frightened. Clark bled from his mouth and many cuts on his body. The white scrabss he wore that were already soaked in blood were given another dose. Titan tossed Clark back to the center of the stone garden with another right punch. He advanced towards him amid the ruins of the monoliths ignoring Lois.
Clark tried to get up when Titan grabbed the back of his shirt and put him on his feet. Then, without releasing his grip on Clark, he pushed him toward another monolith. Clark groaned in pain as the stone was crushed into it. Titan kicked him with his knee and then hit him repeatedly with his left fist. Titan held Clark in his left hand and punched him in the right only that Clark bent down, completely avoiding the fist that smashed a hole inside the monolith where Clark's head was a moment ago. Clark took advantage of the fact that Titan's hand was stuck inside the monolith and released his grip. He stood behind Titan and with his right fist started hitting Titan on the back where his kidneys were supposed to be. Titan hit him back with an elbow in the face and then turned around and grabbed Clark with both hands.
He lifted him in the air almost above his head and then threw him to the ground a few feet away. Clark did not move. Titan advanced slowly toward Clark. By the time Titan reached Clark, Clark had managed to get up to a kneeling position. His face was covered in blood.
"Time to die, Kryptonian!"
Titan took a swing with his right hand and turned it toward Clark who, to Lois' surprise and delight, held his hand in its place. He fought Titan until he managed to fold Titan's hand up and away from him and then with one punch he tossed Titan away from him. Titan rolled back on the ground, the blow clearly shocking him. Clark stood up.
"My turn!" He said quietly, his voice full of rage and determination.
He jumped on Titan with his right fist, hitting the giant who was standing on all fours back to the ground. Then with the help of his left fist he tossed Titan on his back. Titan tried to get up again and Clark kicked him in the ribs, causing him to roll on the ground. Clark moved away from him toward Lois. He gasped heavily, not taking his eyes off Titan. Titan stood unsteadily, his hand dripping blood. He advanced slowly and stubbornly towards Clark.
"I do not want to kill you, Titan. Leave." Clark said slowly and painfully.
Titan did not respond to his remarks and kept moving forward, gaining speed. He tried to hit Clark with his right hand, Clark stopped the blow easily and then struck with his other hand on Titan's outstretched arm. He hit Titan in the head. The giant barely responded, only groaning in pain. Clark gave him another right punch and Titan flew back from him but remained standing. Titan in a sudden burst of energy tried again to hit Clark with his right hand, Clark effortlessly bent down under it, turned around and hit with a straight right fist to the Titan's jaw tossing him in the air. Titan turned in the air from the force of the blow and landed on his stomach on the ground.
Clark backed away from him panting. He felt strange the whole battle, as if his forces were back. Titan got up after a moment. He stood to his full height and then turned slowly towards Clark. He smiled, his mouth full of blood. Clark and Lois both looked at the long stone sticking out of the giant's chest.
"Good fight." Said Titan still smiling.
He stepped back and collapsed to the ground, dead.
Clark stepped back as well and sat down in shock next to Lois. She turned to him, trying in vain to clear the blood from his face.
"Are you okay?"
"He died. I killed him. He died." There was real pain in his voice, such deep remorse.
"It was an accident." He shook his head, refusing to accept her words. "And if it were not? He would have killed you! He would have killed us both!"
"So, I killed him first?" She was silent. "There is no difference between us."
"Clark," he looked at her for the first time, "you warned him, you told him to stay away, you gave him a chance. He would not do the same for you or for me or for anyone else." She realized she had changed direction, suddenly she was defending him. "He would murder us without further thought and enjoy every moment! And you sit here and beat yourself up."
He examined her face and then stood on shaky legs. He held out his hand to her and she stood up.
"We have to keep going before the zoners get here."
Lois saw the cave opening when the first screams were heard. Clark increased speed, for a moment not releasing her hand and they managed to enter the cave. Clark hurried and pushed a rock to block the opening and Lois hurried to help him. Together they managed to close the opening completely only for Lois to notice the phantom hovering above them. He managed to slip inside before the rock sealed the opening. She held her breath in fear and Clark turned and noticed the Phantom himself.
Clark stepped forward toward him, deliberately standing between Lois and the Phantom. The creature attacked him only this time Clark was free and there was only one phantom. All his rage, pain, fear and despair he invested in the battle with the Phantom. He managed to kill him in the end but was badly injured. The Phantom dissipated and Clark collapsed to the ground. Lois waited for the blue light to appear, but nothing happened. She approached him and helped him reach a small stage in the middle of the cave. In the middle of the stage was a pillar cut diagonally with a strange symbol on it. Lois looked at it, it looked almost like a S.
"It's the symbol of the House of El." Clark whispered, leaning against another pillar.
"House of El?" She thought for a moment, "Like Jor El."
"Yes."
"So, what's your name?" She used a scarf to wear it.
"Kal El but no one calls me that."
"You mean, Jor El doesn't call you that." He grinned.
"I'm the black sheep in the family, not worthy of a name." She noticed a scar on his right hand.
"What is?" He pulled his hand away from her and turned his gaze. She grabbed his face and pointed them at her. "Answer me."
"Symbol of the House of Luther." His voice was full of self-loathing.
"I thought ... I thought you were recovering from everything. How ...?"
"Gold kryptonite takes from away my powers forever."
"Did you do it to yourself?" He did not look at her.
"Lionel ..."
"Why?" He weakened, began to lose consciousness.
"The last time I ran away, I was ten. Tess wanted to see Metropolis ..."
"Clark?"
"I did not run away after that anymore. There was nowhere to go." He lost consciousness.
It was an hour before he woke up and straightened up at once. He looked around. He was wrapped in blankets and two feet away a small fire was burning. Someone hung a pot over the fire and the smell of food came out of it. Clark felt his mouth fill with saliva and then he fled to the corner and vomited.
"What happened?"
"Is there meat in this pot?" She looked at him in surprise.
"Yes, there is a serious stockpile of food in the corner. I thought it would not hurt us to eat something hot."
"I cannot eat meat."
"Why?" He looked at her without saying anything. "All kinds of meat?"
"Fish too."
"I may not know much about you, but I know you always enjoy steakhouses. It was a joke in the paper ... Jor El again." He nodded. "Okay. I'll take out the meat."
"It does not matter. I will make myself something." He walked towards the corner where the food was. He came back with something that absolutely did not seem appetizing.
"I want to understand the scar." He started eating, looking at her.
"Still want to play this game."
"It's not a game, not for me."
"Okay, it's refreshing to just tell the truth." She poured herself some soup.
"Why did Lionel do this to you?" he moaned.
"He wanted me not to forget who my family was. He wanted to leave his mark in a clear and irreversible way."
"That's why you were looking for the mirror box, to escape from him."
"Yeah, but it would not have worked. Sooner or later, what happened to me here would have happened there because the problem was not in Lionel, or in the world, but in me."
"I think we have unequivocal proof that this is inaccurate."
"Kent was naive."
"He was not a bad person. There were no flaws in him, at least not like the ones you attribute to yourself."
"How do you know? You talked for maybe five minutes in a row."
"It's not the quantity. It's the quality." He laughed. "He had a lot of love. He was full of hope and believed in something other than himself. He believed in me, he believed in Oliver and humanity."
"He told Oliver to kill me."
"He...?" Clark looked at her and knew he could not do that to her.
"Well, not exactly. Just activate his mousetrap. Oliver was not a killer. In the end, he was unable to do it."
"But you had no problem with that."
"Exactly. Do not look for good things in me. There are none." He got up and went to the stage, standing in front of the pillar. Lois stood up and stood beside him. "If Kent had been here." He said quietly, "all he had to do was smear his blood on the emblem and the gate would open."
"And with you it will not work?" He shook his head.
"I told you, I'm not worthy. I guess as long as that scar is on me I will never be worthy." He shrugged and returned to the blankets. He lay down and turned his back on her. She sat down on the other side of the fire.
"What made you who you are? Who you were when you murdered Oliver?" He did not answer, and she began to think he was tired of answering questions.
"Lex."
"Lex?"
"Lionel kept confronting us with each other. He was afraid we would join forces against him. I was 15, Lex came back from Yale. I got up in the morning without forces, it turns out Lex put blue kryptonite in my coffee for a week and then he dragged me to the observatory in Smallville He was much better than me, I always relied on my strength. I killed him in self-defense. Lionel ignored me for months later. Ignored my wild behavior and then as a birthday present, he gave me Lex's Porsche. The next murder was his idea. "he invented excuses why to do it and I did not care. I did not care about anything. At the time of the first exchange, I already enjoyed it. It gave me a sense of power, of control. In the rest of my life, I felt so helpless, trapped." The place sank into a heavy silence.
"Would you do it again?" He turned to her.
"If I had not killed Lex, he would have killed me."
"Kent gave you a chance to change but you could choose not to take advantage of it, you could choose not to change and that's a pretty big change. From an arrogant and heartless asshole, you became someone who seemed to care about someone else. How did that happen?"
"The fortress has a lot of capabilities. I lived the event from all possible perspectives. Without the ability to influence the events just experience the feelings of those involved."
"You were inside Lex."
"Countless times, I felt him dead. Every murder, every horror."
"Oliver, too?" She whispered.
"Yes."
"Why did you agree?"
"You assume I have some control over the process."
"Is he still doing it?"
"He does not need." He did not explain, she realized that he lived it every moment of his life, awake or asleep. It was in his eyes, in his face, in his whole body.
"Surely there is something you can do!" He looked at her, surprised by the outburst. "Why do you give up so easily?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Leave the fortress!"
"And where will I go?"
The silence this time was longer. He already thought she was asleep.
"So why did you decide to help me?"
"I saw a possible future." She looked at him not understanding. "It's not all that bad. Jor El sometimes shows me what's going on in the parallel world, I learn things about Krypton. Kent and Lois of that world together. They've been engaged for five years. The wedding is constantly postponed because of crises and unforeseen events. Lionel is dead, Tess is dead but not before she found a way to protect Kent. He's a great hero there. A month ago, Lois Lane won the Pulitzer, so I wanted to see what you're doing, what you'll do in the future. He show me possible futures."
"And you decided to change them."
"I wanted to try."
"This is the first time you've actively done something to help someone else, initiated something. Maybe that's what Jor El is waiting for?"
"So why am I here?"
"Because you think you deserve to be here."
"Until two days ago, if someone asked you ..."
"I would say you deserve to be here but then I did not know ..."
"That Lionel abused me, that I was a poor boy worthy of pity?"
"I did not know what it meant to be here." She was silent, she thought. "Jor El will not let you remain imprisoned in a human prison, even with the ring. He will not let us execute you, will he?"
"I do not know, maybe."
"He will bring you back here if we execute you and this time, he will not let you out of the fortress."
"Probably. He was a pacifist when he was alive, but he also built the Phantom Zone. He does not forgive easily. Sometimes I think he would be happy to erase all my memories and start over. I do not know, maybe he has already tried to do it and failed."
"I want to help you." He laughed without humor, evoking in Lois the thought of when he ever really laughed wholeheartedly, when was he happy.
"Live your life, forget about me. You probably won't see me again."
"I think Kent was right." Clark lay on his back, looking at the ceiling of the cave. "I do not think you ..."
"I have no remedy, Mrs. Queen. I am a lost cause." He closed his eyes, letting the phantoms in his mind do with him as they pleased.
Lois woke up after a few hours. She looked at Clark sleeping even though she had a hard time calling it sleep. He moved restlessly inside the blankets; his jaw tightly closed. He did not get a rest in his sleep either. She should be pleased, Jor El punishes him more than any other punishment she could have dreamed of. But Bruce Wayne was right, he's not the same person, not anymore. Those five years were like five hundred for him. He suddenly woke up and looked at her.
"What? What happened?"
"You are still here." She shrugged.
"When we get back, I want to talk to Jor El."
"For what?"
"You're entitled to have someone speak for you ..."
"No."
"I'm not asking you; I'm telling you!"
"It may be hell but it's my home. The only home I have."
"It does not have to be hell!"
"Everything has a price and for years I avoided paying. I accumulated quite a debt."
"Clark ..." A bright purple light illuminated her from behind. She turned and saw a whirlpool of light enveloping her. She turned to him. He smiled a small smile.
"Good bye, Lois Lane."
Then she appeared again in the interrogation room and people rushed to her.