Chapter Fourteen - Identity Crisis

The Phantom Stranger led Chloe, Lana, Jimmy and Rose into a dimly-lit room. There, sitting at a table, was a striking raven-haired woman shuffling some Tarot cards. Suddenly she stopped and turned her attention towards them.

"Greetings," she said. "I am Madame Xanadu. Now if you'll please just take a seat I'll tell you your future."

"Already seen it," said Chloe flippantly, although, still tired, she eagerly took a seat. The others quickly followed suit.

"I suppose you want us to cross your palms with silver," said a suspicious Rose Tyler.

"No, child I only want to help," said Madame Xanadu. "Your quest is perilous and it's only fair that you know what you're facing."

"And if we know what's going to happen, then we can change it?" asked Lana.

Madame Xanadu smiled, and threw a Tarot card onto the table. "No, child. Only one person would attempt to change destiny."

Lana looked at the card.

The Fool


Clark's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by The Doctor calling him, and, just as The Doctor had finished calling him, Clark was standing there in front of him.

"Doctor, I've got a favor to ask."

"Sure, go ahead, anything," replied The Doctor, a smile on his face.

"Well…" hesitated Clark. "It's just that I want to go back into the past and see my father."

"You want to go back to Krypton before it exploded?" asked The Doctor incredulously.

"No, back to 1961. He was here, back then."

"So, why would you want to go back?" asked The Doctor, suddenly angry. "So you could warn him about Krypton exploding?"

Clark couldn't lie. "Yes, of course I'd warn him. I've got the chance to save billions of lives. What else can I do?"

"You'll do nothing, Clark," replied The Doctor, suddenly calm again, his mind a reality away. "That's what you'll do."

"Well, can I just go and see my father?" asked a desperate Clark. "I need to know that he's my real father. Need to know why my father's got two voices."

The Doctor turned away from Clark to open the Tardis door. "I'll think about it. In the meantime if you really want to see your father you could …"

"Could what?" asked Clark.

"Nothing," replied The Doctor. He could see the state Clark was in, and telling him to look in a mirror probably wouldn't help matters.


Madame Xanadu looked around the table. She put out her hand towards Lana Lang, and, cautiously, Lana Lang took it.

"Lana Lang," said Madame Xanadu. "But not the Lana Lang of this reality. Such sorrow you possess."

Letting go of Lana Lang's hand, she then offered her hand to Jimmy Olsen, who readily accepted it.

"Jimmy Olsen," she said. "Also, not of this reality, and only partly of his own."

"Neat trick, Yoda," said a skeptical Chloe as Madame Xanadu's hand reached out to her. "So what do you make of me?"

Madame Xanadu touched Chloe's hand, and then drew it away quickly. "You don't belong here." Visibly shaken, she then offered her hand to Rose Tyler.

Rose Tyler took her hand.

Madame Xanadu looked bemused. "Rose Tyler, a time traveler, like the Tylers of this reality … the Hourmen … but you're not of this reality, are you?"

Rose shook her head.

"Anyway, back to the future. Whereas I can see things clearly here - Luthor losing his presidency, the coming of a Supergirl - the fact that you're from different realities may make this difficult," said Madame Xanadu, closing her eyes. Chloe and Lana, stifling their yawns, were tempted to follow her lead.

And then she opened her eyes again. "I see a crisis looming. A crisis of identity. It all starts, as much as anything can be said to start, with the death of a housewife. I see an accident, somebody starting a fire. Lois Lane's involved in it somewhere."

Rose was unimpressed. It sounded like this fortune cookie was predicting Desperate Housewives, but she thought she'd better hold her tongue, as Madame Xanadu poured out more stream-of-consciousness predictions.

"Batman's involved, his memories of the past erased. I see a magician, pulling a habit out of a rat. Man Drake dies. Heroes running around to no avail. Finally it all leads to …"

And then Madame Xanadu was silent.

"Where does it lead to?" asked Lana, who, even though she didn't have a clue what Madame Xanadu was talking about, had kind of got caught up in the excitement of it all.

"I don't know," replied Madame Xanadu wearily. "Only you hold the answers." And with that she bent down to the floor and picked up a green bag. "Here, child," she said, offering the bag to Lana, "use the spell runes to find out where things will lead."

With a slight trepidation Lana placed her hand in the bag and pulled out some flat squares with letters inscribed on them.

She placed the letters on the table - J, L, O and R.

"Well, that doesn't make any sense," said Chloe who, with her Scrabble prowess, couldn't be argued with.

"Do you need more letters?" asked Madame Xanadu.

Lana nodded, placing her hand back in the green bag. "Wait, there are no more."

Madame Xanadu shrugged. "That's the future. Never fully spelled out."

Rose suddenly saw what the letters meant and leant forward over the table, rearranging them.

JOR L