Chapter 4: Conspiracy

Clark stayed in his loft for the rest of the night. He called Chloe in the morning to see what she had uncovered. "Hey Chlo, what did you find?"

"I found that the truck was rented by Luthor Corp." At the mention of Luthor Corp. Clark remembered that Lionel had also given him the stone of water, and a recording of who murdered him in addition to the key. He looked at the floorboard that he had hidden them under. "Clark, are you there." Chloe's Voice intruded on his thoughts.

"Yah. What I need to know was if the truck contained Kryptonite."

"Huh?"

"Oh, the meteors are really Kryptonite."

"Oh, yah it did. How did you know?" Clark informed her of the previous night's meeting. "You mean that there's an evil part of you out there that cares about nothing but himself?"

"Yep. So was there red Kryptonite on the truck?"

"Hold on a sec." Clark could hear Chloe typing. "Yah. It had all three types of met- I mean Kryptonite."

"Wait a minute, there are THREE types of Kryptonite!"

"Yah they discovered a new type a couple days ago. It's yellow."

"Oh great, first the green makes me sick, the red makes me crazy, what does the yellow do? Kill me?"

Bruce woke up before dawn, after a good night's rest. He hadn't had a good night's rest for a while. 'Being a super hero has its bad points.' It was when he was drinking his coffee that he remembered that Lois had asked him out to dinner the night before. He had some investigating to do. Lois had told him earlier that she was in love with Clark.

What had Clark done in the short hours since Bruce had left her to make Lois want to forget about him? The thought of him hurting Lois made Bruce's blood boil. It wasn't just the fact that Bruce had romantic feelings for Lois. He felt like her big brother.

He decided it was time to confront Clark about Lois. He began to dress in his usual suit but remembered that today he had no meetings. Bruce picked out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Bruce was at the Kent farm when he saw Klarc. "Clark we need talk."

Klarc turned and narrowed his eyes. "Well if isn't Bruce. Come to take my girl?"

"Whoa. Last time I talked to Lois she was pretty upset. I wanted to find out why."

Klarc walked over to Bruce. In a whisper he asked. "And what is Batman going to do if I don't talk to him?"

Lois stopped crying at the sunrise. She knew that she was only going out with Bruce to make Clark angry. 'Maybe it wasn't what it looked like.' She mentally kicked herself. 'No it was exactly what it looked like. This is why you shouldn't trust people with your heart.'

Lois sighed. She was done crying. Although she felt a little better she knew it wouldn't help her with her problems. 'How could Clark do that to me?' she felt the tears threatening to arise. 'Because he didn't know how I felt about him.' A little voice inside Lois told her that she should talk to Clark. There was a chance that it wasn't what it looked like. Think of the way he held you two nights ago.

She finally agreed with the voice. 'I should at least talk to him.'

Clark finished his conversation with Chloe and hung up. They both agreed that Clark shouldn't try to get close to the yellow Kryptonite. It was too dangerous. When they found another piece of it Bart would steal it and dip it in lead. Then they could recreate the explosion so that Klarc and Clark could recombine. It was too dangerous to have an evil person with all of those powers up and about

Clark decided that he had to talk to Lois. He had to explain what had happened. So he exited the barn to see Bruce being held up by Klarc. "Let him go!"

Bruce was surprised that Klarc had figured him out. "How did you figure out that I was Batman?"

Klarc grabbed Bruce by the collar and lifted him up. "It isn't that hard. And the way you looked at me I knew. The look said: 'I can't believe you get the girl and you don't have to save people'."

"How did you know that was the look said?" Bruce was even more surprised at Klarc's strength than the fact that he had figured out his secret.

"Let him go!" Bruce turned to see Clark. He looked back at Klarc. Klarc glared at him and put him down.

Klarc turned to Clark. "Like I said this isn't over. Can you protect all those that you care about? What if I went after Lana, Pete, Chloe, your parents? Who are you willing to sacrifice to keep her safe?"

"Leave everyone else out of this. The battle is between you and me!"

"But Clark, that wouldn't be fun. I like to play with these pitiful creatures. They're so amusing. But you're right. When the time comes and we battle you and I shall be the only ones involved. Until then though I think I'll mettle in their affairs."

"Why must you ruin their lives. Let us fight and get it over with."

"No. The time is not right. You have more powers than I. I believe in fighting fair. Don't you?" When he was replied with a grunt, Klarc continued. "As I said, this isn't over. And she will be mine. The question is what will you sacrifice for her safety?" With an evil laugh he supersped away.

Bruce was amazed. He turned to Clark. "What just happened?"

"Maybe I should explain the whole story. Come on." He led Bruce to his loft.

Before Clark could begin, Bruce interrupted. "As much as I want to hear your story I need to ask a couple questions. First what did the other you mean when he said 'and the way you looked at me I knew. The look said: 'I can't believe you get the girl and you don't have to save people''?"

"Well I knew that look because it was the same one I gave you yesterday."

"Oh." They burst out laughing. "I guess we're more alike then we first thought, huh?"

"Yah. Until I read his mind I didn't know you were Batman. But it makes sense."

"Wait you can read his mind?"

"Uh, maybe I should explain the whole story." So Clark began. "It all started with the meteor shower of 89'………."

Lois got out of the shower. She decided to talk to Clark after breakfast. So she went down to find Martha and Jonathon already eating. "Where's Clark?"

Martha looked up. "Probably doing his chores. Sweetheart, what happened last night?"

Lois sighed. She needed to go over it again, anyway. "I walked into the barn. I saw Clark and Lana talking. I decided to wait until she left. I was going to tell Clark how I felt about him." Tears were welling up in her eyes. She forced them back down. She had done enough crying last night. "Then they kissed. It's as simple as that."

Martha knew that Lois had heard what had been said. As much as it pained her Martha knew that if Lois could remember that Clark had been protesting, she would realize that Lana had been kissing Clark. Not the other way around.

"Sweetie, do remember anything else? Maybe it wasn't what it looked like."

Lois stopped to think. She would go over the conversation again later. "No, but I need to see Chloe. When Clark comes back in can you ell him to meet me at the Talon? I need to talk to him."

Martha nodded and Lois left, still trying to contain the tears that threatened to fall.

"Wow." Bruce had heard all about Clark's powers and his heritage. He looked at his watch it was already 2 in the afternoon. "Clark, do you mind if we get lunch?"

"No. Actually I'm hungry myself."

Bruce doubted that, with all Clark had told him, he would need to eat but let it go. "Oh, before we go in to eat, what happened to Lois last night?"

"Well you know how I told you about Lana?"

"Yah."

"Well last night I was waiting for Lois and she came up. She professed her undying love for me and kissed me. I broke the kiss and told her that I didn't love her and he went home."

"Where does Lois fit in?"

"She walked in as Lana kissed me."

"Oh."

"How about some lunch?"

"Sounds good."

Pete saw Lana as he walked into the Talon. He went over to her. They had kissed at the end of their date. Neither of them knew what was going to happen. Pete knew that Lana still had feelings for Clark.

"Hey Lana." She turned and saw him.

"Oh, hey Pete."

There was an awkward silence between them. "So uh, Lana. About last night….."

"I don't know Pete. I still have feelings for Clark. But I'm starting to have feelings for you."

"Well would you like to see another movie tonight?"

"Sure. I'd like that." She noticed someone had entered.

"Hey Pete. Hey, Lana."

"Oh, hey Clark."

Lois was at her cousin's house. She had told Lana, who would be there all day, to tell Clark that she was here. She was having a trivial conversation with Chloe. Suddenly out of the blue she asked, "Chloe how did you deal with it when Clark broke your heart?"

Chloe was a little drawn back. A moment ago they had been talking about cruelty to animals. "Well it depends. When we were dating at the end of our freshman year I broke it off. But otherwise he had no real idea that I was still in love with him."

"Yah but how did you deal with the pain?"

"Lois, it's different for you. You don't let people into your heart easily. The only people that I that have done that are myself, Clark, Bruce, and the Kents. Bruce was the first friend you ever made, The Kents are the Parents you never had, and Clark is the one that you love. You need to talk to him. Tell him how you feel."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I don't count I'm family."

"Like my father?"

"Point taken."

"You're the only one I can talk to about girly stuff."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Good to know that you only love me so that you can get fashion advice." They both began to laugh.

Martha and Jonathon had noticed that the chores were done before Lois had left. When Clark came in followed by Bruce they were surprised. "Clark, son, where have you been? Lois is looking for you."

Clark looked at his father. "Oh crap!" Clark turned to Bruce. "What if he goes after her? Or someone else?"

"Can you move fast enough not to attract attention?" Martha and Jonathon looked at each other worried.

"Clark, does he mean what I think he means?" Jonathon asked slowly.

"Not now dad. Bruce stay here. Only open the door if I say the password."

"What's the password?"

"Conspiracy." Clark used his superspeed to run out of the house.

Bruce looked to see Clark's parent's confused. "Oh he told me his secret after the evil him tried to kill me." When they looked even more wide-eyed, he muttered under his breath. "Great, leave me with the hard part. I'll get you man of steel."

Clark stopped in an alleyway. Then he ran at normal speed into the Talon. He immediately spotted Pete and Lana. "Guys. Thank god!"

Pete turned. He walked up to Clark and punched him. As an afterthought he realized that it would hurt him more than Clark. "Pete? What the Hell!"

Lana walked up to him. "How can you show your face here after what you said?"

"What are you- oh shit! Where did I go when I left?"

"What! All you can think of is where you were headed. You asshole!"

Clark looked at Lana. "Now is not the time. All things in a nutshell the explosion a couple of days ago created an evil clone of me. I need to know where he was headed. If actually makes good on his threat he could kill Chloe! Or one of you two."

Lana was stunned but Pete realized what the danger was. "We'll go to your house."

"Bro, get going. You need to round up Chloe and Lois."

"Alright. Remember don't believe me unless I say conspiracy." Clark ran out of the Talon and when no one was looking he used his superspeed to get to Chloe's house.

Martha was in shock after what she had just heard. Jonathon was not so trusting. "How do we know that you'll keep Clark's secret?"

Bruce sighed. He hated to do this but it was the only way that they would trust him. "I'll keep his secret because he'll keep mine. Mr. Kent you're son and I are a lot more alike than you think. I'm also a superhero."

"How do we know that you aren't lying?"

"Jonathon!" Martha was shocked. She knew that he was protective of their son but really!

"No, Mrs. Kent I can understand your husband's distrust. Out of the four Billionaires that your son knows two of them know his secret and the other two are desperate to find it out. Or now only one is trying to find out the secret. Lex is a monster. He murdered his father. Didn't hire someone to do it he pulled the trigger himself. Quite literally."

"How do you know it was Lex that pulled the trigger?"

"When he was telling me about Lionel's death he and I listened to the tape from the recorder that Lionel had on him."

"Alright but we still don't know if you're lying."

"Oh, sorry got sidetracked. I'm Batman. I have the costume in my motel if you would like to see it."

"No, we trust you, because Clark trusts you. Don't we, Jonathon."

"Fine. You seem to be a good young man. And although I don't approve of your methods, the crime rat in Gotham has dropped considerably."

Bruce smiled at his new friend's parents. Suddenly they heard A knock on the door. Bruce walked over and asked. "Who is it?"

" Its Lana and Pete. Clark sent us."

Bruce opened the door. Lana and Pete walked in. Martha went to Pete. She looked at his and gasped. "Pete what happened."

"Well evil Clark came in and he told Lana that because of her Lois was miserable. Then he said that it would have been better if she had died along with her parents in the meteor shower. He called her some pretty harsh names then left for Chloe's house."

Lois got into her car and drove to the Kent farm. It was almost 5. She needed to talk to Bruce. He was one of her few true friends. She couldn't string him along. She also needed to talk to Clark. She sighed. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to.

She got to the house and walked inside. There she found everyone except Chloe and Clark. She shot Lana a venomous look and walked up to her room. No, it was Clark's room. She sighed.

Lana was confused. "What did I do? She's the one who gets Clark." Martha and Bruce looked at each other.

"I'll take Lois." Bruce told her.

"I'll explain what happened to Lana." Martha replied.

Clark supersped to Chloe's house. He x-rayed the place to find Chloe talking to Klarc. He broke down the door. "Get away from her!"

Chloe looked up in surprise. She had been talking to Clark about Lois when her door was burst open. She saw Clark enter and backed away from both of them. "Alright. Until I figure out who is who neither of you come toward me."

"Chloe it's obvious. By breaking in he's trying to confuse you so he can kill you."

"What! That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"Both of you wait right where you are." She went into her room and got what she needed. "What does this mean to you?" She held up a duck. Clark and her had discussed a plan over the phone earlier in case this happened.

"It won't work Chloe. I forgot to tell you that we can read each other's minds."

"Chlo, don't listen to him!"

She turned to the one who had called her Chlo and said. "Get out imposter."

Clark turned and walked out of the room. Then he came back at superspeed and grabbed Chloe. He ran out before Klarc could realize what was happening. "geez, Clark I thought you were never going to come back. I mean I was there for like five whole seconds. For a guy with superspeed you're really slow." Clark just laughed and they were back at the Kent farm in seconds.

Lex was still trying to find the person with the recording. He was in no mood for games. So he wasn't happy when Klarc walked into his office. "Clark I don't have time for this. Please leave." His voice was cold and demanding.

"Make time Lex. We have some things to talk about."