Chapter Fifty-Three - Imitation Of Life
In a dimension that wasn't her own, Chloe Sullivan, trapped in Lex Luthor's body, watched in desperation as the Tardis pulsated in front of her, threatening to disappear at any moment and leave her stranded there forever.
There was only one thing to do - she took a deep breath and ran at the Tardis. At best, she'd pass through the Tardis' temporarily intangible walls, into the Tardis' console room and the Tardis would then materialize fully around her and take her on its journey. At worst, she'd pass through the walls and enter the space where the Tardis stood, a space into which the Tardis managed to cram a near-infinite number of rooms into, and then those near-infinite rooms would materialize into the same space as her body, their walls slicing her body into a near-infinite number of pieces.
What actually transpired was neither of these as Chloe found herself passing through one of the Tardis' walls and then immediately straight out of the wall on the other side with no sign of the Tardis in-between. Normally Chloe would have rationalized this away, coming up with some theory that the Tardis must have some kind of platform nine and three-quarters circuit to prevent obstacles getting caught up with it in transit, but Chloe wasn't in the mood for rationalization right now as tears came to her eyes.
There was nothing she could do. She'd never see Clark again, never even see herself again. It was the end of her world as she knew it and she definitely didn't feel fine.
But then, as she listened to the sound of the Tardis, Chloe suddenly realized that there was still a way to stop it - for Lex to stop it.
Clark Kent stood in the Tardis' console room, looking at Lana, wanting to tell her the truth, but knowing he couldn't. Instead he said nothing, just listening to the sound of the Tardis starting its journey, and then he realized he could also hear something else - Lex's voice saying the same thing, over and over.
Clark Kent, this is your old friend, Lex. Take me with you or Lana will die.
"Stop the Tardis!" yelled Clark.
"What is it?" asked The Doctor, rushing to the console and following Clark's orders.
"It's Lex. He's outside," explained Zod. "He wants to come with us."
Clark looked at Zod, glad that his father wasn't alarming Lana by revealing everything Lex was saying.
"But we can't take him," argued Jimmy. "Not after what he did to Chloe."
"What did he do to Chloe?" asked Lana, who realized she'd obviously missed a lot while she'd been dreaming.
"I don't want to go into it," said Chloe. "I still can't get him out of my head."
At which point, there was a knock on the Tardis' door.
"Don't let him in, Clark," said Chloe. "I'm begging you."
"I'm sorry, Chloe," replied Clark. "But we have to take him. Trust me on this."
"I trust you, but I don't trust him," said Chloe. "Lex Luthor is more dangerous than you can ever imagine."
"Sorry, Chloe," said Clark, "but I think I know him a lot better than you do."
"Fine, go ahead, let him in," replied Chloe angrily. "But don't say I didn't try to warn you."
Chloe Sullivan, trapped in Lex Luthor's body, was now, in addition to being a shiny person, a happy person, as the door to the Tardis opened and she saw Clark standing there.
"You can come along," he said, looking at her (well, in fact, Lex) suspiciously, "but I don't want you going anywhere near Chloe."
She wanted to tell him the truth at that moment, but he'd never believe her, and so it looked like she'd just have to wait until the transference stone's power gave way and she got her body back. In the meantime she'd just have to be patient and have some fun pretending to be Lex.
"Don't worry, Clark, old friend. I'll acquiesce to your demands," she said, striding into the Tardis, and then she caught sight of Lana - alive and well. Chloe had wrongly assumed that Lana would still be brain-dead - indeed it had been her bargaining chip - but she was overjoyed to see her friend standing before her "Ah, Miss Lang. You've no idea how pleased I am to see you up and about. I'm so glad you survived your encounter with that bullet back in 1961."
"That was just a dream," said Jimmy Olsen.
"Just a dream?" she asked, confused by Jimmy's remark.
"Just a dream," confirmed Lana, suddenly worried that she must have been talking in her sleep and hoping that she hadn't gone into too much detail about her encounter with the drifter on that stack of hay.
"Time for our next destination," said The Doctor, activating the Tardis' console. "Maybe we'll get there this time."
"I think I better get cleaned up," said Chloe, a weary look on her Lex-face, and started to make her way out of the console room.
"You're not going anywhere, Lex," said Clark, as he walked over and grabbed her arm.
"Don't worry, Clark, I'll keep an eye on him," said Ursa, and grabbed hold of Chloe's other arm and started to lead her away.
"So where's the next destination, Jimmy?" asked the other Chloe, who was really Lex.
"Just a big city," replied Jimmy, as the Tardis suddenly came to a halt.
"Great," replied the other Chloe. "Maybe we'll be able to lose Lex there."
"Don't worry about him," said Clark, trying to reassure her. "I'll make sure that no harm befalls you."
"But Clark, you can't protect her all the time," pointed out Lana. "After all, you're only human."
"We'll all help," said Zod, stepping forward.
"That's right," added Jimmy.
"You see, Chloe," said Clark. "With all of us together, it'll be as if Warrior Angel himself was protecting you."
The other Chloe smiled. "You just wouldn't believe how reassuring that sounds."
"So, are we going out?" asked The Doctor.
"Can't we just skip it?" asked Rose. "All these worlds are getting a bit boring to be honest. Can't we just move on to the next one."
"I have to admit, she has a point," agreed Clark. "Can't we just stop these excursions and get on with finding Ultra Woman."
"Actually, after spending all that time dreaming," said Lana, "I could do with stretching my legs. Plus I'm feeling really hungry."
"Yeah, maybe we should give this world a chance," said Clark, completely changing his mind to accommodate Lana.
"Great," said The Doctor, flinging the door open on the new world.
"Wait a minute, I can't go out dressed like this," said Lana, looking down at her clothes. "They look like something you'd wear in a hospital."
"Okay, Clark," said The Doctor, "You and Chloe go with Lana and find her something to wear. Zod, you can wait for Ursa and Lex. Jimmy…"
"Actually there's some research I've been wanting to do," said Jimmy.
"Fair enough," replied The Doctor. "That leaves me and Rose to explore this wonderful new world."
"Thrilling," said Rose, following The Doctor out of the door.
Chloe (who looked like Lex) had cleaned herself up, applied various bandages and was now trying to find an outfit suitably black to wear.
"Do you have to watch?" she asked Ursa.
"I said I'd keep an eye on you," replied Ursa. "Don't worry, Lex, there's nothing there that I haven't seen before."
Wish I could say the same, thought Chloe, as she tried to ignore Ursa and looked through the clothes. "Hmmm, a purple shirt - that'll do."
At the same time that Lex was putting together his ensemble, Ursa was looking into a laundry basket. "Mmmm, Kal-El's blood-stained shirt. They must have changed here before they went to visit you. Yes, here's Chloe's torn clothes."
"Torn clothes?"
"Yes, she must have torn them herself after she'd tried to kill you. Obviously a set-up - there wasn't even any bruising on her body. Such an amateur job, but Jimmy and Clark were stupid enough to believe her. Speaking of killing…"
Chloe stopped buttoning up her new shirt and turned to Ursa. "What about killing?"
"Remember that list?"
"List?" asked a confused Chloe.
"Don't play dumb, Lex. You know the list I mean. That list of people for you to kill. Now that you're back I think I'll reinstate it."
"I don't think so," said Chloe, as she found a suitable pair of black trousers. "You don't control Lex Luthor anymore. Not without your device."
Ursa laughed. "I don't need a button to control you, Lex. In fact it will be far more fun without it. Do you need a demonstration?"
Chloe looked at Ursa and the insane gleam in her eye and decided it might be easier just to play along. "So, who do you want me to kill?"
"No demo?" said Ursa sadly, raising an eyebrow. "Very well then. Let's see. Who to kill first? There's Lana, but I don't want to put up with Clark's mourning again so she can wait. Zod's been less than honest with me recently so he's a possibility. Here, catch!"
Chloe caught the box that Ursa tossed to her. "Kryptonite?"
"I believe that's what you call it. Although be warned, Zod will be ready for an attack now. Maybe you can do it while he sleeps, although you'll have to be quick because he'll be sleeping at super-speed."
"Sleeping at super-speed?"
"It's easy to spot," said Ursa, "you'll see him blink. Then again, that might be asking a bit too much of you and I might be needing Zod to help me steal this Ultra Woman's powers. No, I know who you can kill first. You really shouldn't because you could destroy the time stream, but I think it's only fair you get a chance at revenge."
"You don't mean…" said Chloe, as she finished getting dressed.
"That's right, Lex. I want you to kill Chloe. Isn't that just perfect?"
"You've got to admit that this place is pretty boring," said Rose as she walked with The Doctor through the city.
"Actually I was thinking the exact opposite," said The Doctor. "It's not boring... just repetitive."
"Is there a difference?"
"Yes, repetitive has patterns, order not chaos," enthused The Doctor. "It's not like real life at all."
"This isn't real?" asked Rose, looking around her.
"Undoubtedly computer-generated," explained The Doctor.
"Then how can we be here?"
"Interesting question. Not sure whether you'd like the possible answers. Then again," said The Doctor, suddenly stopping, "maybe we shouldn't be here."
Rose looked at The Doctor and then followed his gaze to a mother walking a toddler who suddenly started to morph into a black-suited dark-haired man with sunglasses. As the newly-appeared man started to walk up to them, various other bystanders also started to transform.
"We'd like to ask you some questions, Doctor…" began the first man.
Feeling Rose's hand slip into his, The Doctor turned his head to look at her.
"Don't worry, Rose. It's only anti-virus software."
