God, could she get any more pathetic? running away from him like that? And what did he do? After God knows how many miserable years, after more than a year of torture, two months spent in the laboratory as a freak he finally had a moment of happiness and all she could do was run away from him as if he were a leper. And when the tears just burst out of her and refused to stop, she got into the shower and let the water just flow. She only came out when the skin on her fingers was so wrinkled that she looked like she was eight hundred years old. she got dressed She purposely did not take any article of his clothing except the one. The thought of his double wearing something of his scared her to no end when she was in the apartment, and she didn't know if she was happy or sorry about it now. She reached into her jacket and pulled the PDA out of her pocket. There was a hesitant knock on the door. She knew it could only be one person. She went over and opened the door.
He changed clothes. In blue jeans and a blue t-shirt, he looks like the boy next door. Lois decided at that moment to think of him as the farm boy. Her Clark was Smallville, this Clark will be a farm boy.
"I'm glad to see you've ditched the asylum patient outfit." she said with a smile. He looked at himself embarrassed, "Come in." He entered after her.
"What is this?" He pointed to the small computer in her hand.
"Hmmm...sit down, I'll show you." He looked around. There was no chair in the small room, and he sat on the bed. She sat down next to him. She clicked on a few dots on the screen and a video clip appeared. "It's Smallville thinking he's surprising me for my birthday."
In the video Clark saw a version of himself enter a bedroom probably in the morning with a small cake with a candle stuck in it, he moved towards the bed, the camera was placed on the dresser so you could see that someone was lying there, and Clark assumed it was Lois. The other Clark crept over to the bed and placed the cake next to the camera. He probably didn't notice that it was working. He leaned towards the sleeping figure and Lois suddenly grabbed him and pulled him to her. They land on the floor as Clark somehow manages to get Lois to land on him, both giggling. Lois stopped the video and looked at him. He looked at her with a smile.
"Thanks." said.
"For what?"
"For sharing it with me, for being here. It mustn't be easy."
"At home I feel like I'm swimming in quicksand or trying to build a fire under water. I've been here for maybe two hours and you're healthy, free, and smiling. That's a reward in itself. I'm sorry for earlier."
"You don't need to apologize. I flew because of you, there's no way I can repay you for that. Even if Dr. Hamilton imprisons me again, it's something I'll never forget."
"You must practice your landings." She smiled at him. He smiled back.
"Dr. Hamilton wants to move the lab into the pocket universe, she asked me to help."
"Did she ask?" Lois raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, she asked." He smiled, "I think she's still in shock."
"Still afraid of you?"
"No, well, maybe just a little. I think scared would be the right word."
"Are you going to help her?"
"It was my idea, after all. And it will help me polish my skills." She looked at him questioningly. "My father died when I started studying at collage, a heart attack. I thought then, what's the point of all my abilities if I couldn't save him? I stopped using them, all of them. It was hard at first but little by little I stopped thinking about it and just lived every day anew. I got into a routine; I barely left the farm. That's why it took me so long to turn myself in. It took a while for the news that I was being sought to reach me and then the decision was quite simple really."
"Didn't you know that Lex is not the wonderful philanthropist that everyone knows?"
"I didn't know who he was at all but considering that people suffered because of him I had no illusions about him. I just didn't expect Brainiac. I asked the neighbor to take care of the farm, took the bus to Metropolis and stopped at Lexcorp."
"And the terrorism stopped?"
"People stopped dying if that's what you mean."
"Are you going to do something stupid like that again?" He was silent.
"If it's the only way to save people, yes." He looked at her for a moment, "You said we'd find more people to help."
"Yes. There is one I'm thinking of it won't be easy. Assuming he's here too, assuming he'll agree to listen."
"Lots of discounts."
"Yes, but he is one of the smartest people in my world and he is very close to Smallville, almost like a brother."
"Okay. When do you want us to go find him?"
"When you learn to land. Better to have a few less people involved."
"You don't trust Hamilton?" She stared ahead for a moment.
"There's Hamilton in my world too. Only he's an older man. Smallville trusts him to a certain extent." She looked at him, "He knows him as Superman. He knew he was an alien. It doesn't seem to bother him in any way. I don't think it matters to him. He's quite the absent-minded professor. He tried to revive him when…"
"And this Dr. Hamilton is afraid of me."
"She worked with Lex maybe that's why. I'm not saying she can't be trusted. I just wouldn't trust her right away."
"Ok."
"And Lex shouldn't know about me. Hmm... To anyone outside of the four of you, maybe I should go by a different name."
"I like your name." She smiled shyly, "What's your name?" She thought for a moment.
"Joanna, Joanna Clark." He smiled.
Dr. Hamilton and Clark rebuilt the entire laboratory in the pocket universe, including a vegetable garden and seating in the courtyard. Dr. Hamilton moved the entrance to the pocket world to the main upper laboratory and Lois, Clark, Chloe, and Mr. Wells moved in there. To Clark it felt almost like going back to live on a farm. When he wasn't building the lab, he was training his powers, mainly aviation. Dr. Hamilton was working on a means of communication between the pocket world and the main lab and was perfectly happy to immerse herself in the project, forget about Lex and the outside world.
After two weeks, when the construction of the laboratory was finished and Clark's landings had improved enough to inspire confidence in Lois' heart, Clark approached Hamilton and timidly asked permission to go outside.
"It's dangerous, Mr. Kent. Are you sure?"
"I intend to take every precaution I can but there are things I must do that I can't do from here." She looked at him in silence for a while.
When she found him and brought him here, she did it for almost the same reason the Golden Globe found its way to her. But he wasn't an object, he was a living being and she couldn't completely shake off Lex Luthor's doctrine he instilled in her an immense fear. In a very uncharacteristic way, she didn't even try to get to know him. But from the moment Lois Lane dared to enter the cell and even touch him, things changed. Mr. Wells reminded her why she left Lexcorp and the horrible scars on Clark Kent's face that day were etched in her memory. She decided to take a chance and give him the benefit of the doubt. In the past two weeks she had realized what Lois Lane knew instinctively. It doesn't matter where you were born or to whom, it matters who you are, what is important to you, what are the values you have built your life on. And Clark built his life on hard work, respect for others, helping the weak, a sense of justice and fairness and Dr. Hamilton found herself drawn to his intellect, his sense of humor and his desire to learn anything she would teach. She locked him in a cell with poison. For two months and he offered her his hand in friendship. She suddenly found that she didn't want him to get hurt, she wanted to leave him in the pocket universe, in the sun, safe and smiling. He was smiling at her now.
"You can't protect me forever."
"I…" she took control of her thoughts, "You are a free and mature man, Mr. Kent. You do not need my permission."
"But I need your help. I need documents for me and Lois, clothes, money."
"Where are you planning to go?"
"Lois wants to look for a number of people in the world, people she thinks will help us. And she doesn't want to do it under our real names."
"I think I can arrange something."
Lois, mug of coffee in hand, looked smiling at the stressed Clark trying to pick out clothes. He looked at her.
"It was always easy to get dressed, I don't understand..."
"I assume that at the farm you wore jeans and a flannel shirt, the ones your mother picked out for you or inherited from your father." He blushed. "Clark, it's okay, you don't need to be a model. Stick to simple. Work suits, jeans and t-shirts."
"I'm supposed to be a lab technician. I..."
"Then a business suit will do, with a tie." He looked at her embarrassed and she tried to keep the smile from turning into a smirk, "It's fine, I'll show you how to tie a tie. Go ahead, get dressed. I'm dying to see what your world looks like, come on."
He took the blue suit that was lying on the bed and the light blue shirt that Lois had left with it and went into the bathroom to get dressed. He came back after a minute and Lois looked him up and down.
"Well, I don't know if it's something they mixed on Krypton or the air in Smallville but you look good." He smiled shyly. Lois held up a blue tie with red diagonal stripes in her hand, "Let's put it on you." She started tying his tie and noticed the looks he was giving her. "Clark. The tie, not me."
"Oh, sorry." She untied the tie.
"Now, your turn."
He started fiddling with the tie as she gave him instructions. He managed to tie reasonably only on the third try and stood proud of himself, looking at her. Lois smiled and straightened his tie.
"Did he tie his own ties?"
"During the day yes but I usually did it in the mornings." She removed her hands from his tie and Clark regretted the question. He tried to change the subject and looked at the objects on the small table.
"I think I should wear the glasses but I'm giving up the pocket protector." She smiled, "What? What?"
"Hmm…" She took the PDA out of her handbag, flipped through the pictures, and showed him, "That's how Clark goes, has been going to work for years." Clark in the picture was wearing a suit very similar to what Clark was wearing now, a hat on his head and wearing glasses, "They helped to hide the color of his eyes, and no one would imagine that he was flying around the city with a cape saving people."
"Are you serious? Were these glasses enough?"
"Don't get me started." She smiled at the memory and as he continued to look at her in confusion, "It wasn't just the glasses. He built an entire persona to mask who he was and the suit he wore as Superman had special properties."
"Special features?"
"I'll explain later. Do you have everything? Are you ready?" He took the black jacket from the back of the chair and put his wallet in the inside pocket of the jacket.
"Let's go."
They landed in the dark forest on the outskirts of Gotham.
"I can't believe you want to meet him."
"Clark, you really have nothing to be jealous of." Lois whispered, struggling to hide the amusement in her voice.
"I'm not jealous!"
"Right, he's a billionaire, tall, handsome, intelligent, looks amazing in a tux..." Clark growled, "But I'm already taken. My guy may not be in the area anymore, but I'm still taken. Even before me and Smallville started dating. Bruce Wayne is just too gloomy for me and there is something very important that he is unable to do." He still looked sullen, and she decided to give him a break.
"And what is that? Feeding farm animals?" He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh, I think Bruce would manage on a farm, he's got a lot of talents." She put her hand on his arm, "He can't fly, Clark." He relaxed significantly, "You have to stop this jealousy."
"I'm not jealous! I'm just..."
"Marking your territory?" He growled in reply. "It's fine, I understand. But if he's even a little bit like the guy I know, he knows how to flirt like no one else I know, and he'll pick up straight away what's going on between us. And with the strong personalities you both have, conflict is inevitable."
"Nothing happens between us!"
"Clark, really." he moaned. She took a breath, but he spoke before her.
"I know I'm not him but… I can't help it, I tried."
"You have to. You can do it."
"Did it work between you right away?"
"No way! Are you crazy? It took years before I looked at him as more than a farm boy out of nowhere. And when he started working at the Planet, he stole the Superman story from me and it took me over a year and a half to forgive him for that and then he made me think that he and Superman had 'given' me the stories I worked so hard on. I think it was a year before I spoke to him, any of them, again for more than two seconds. And he, for his part, decided he didn't want to put anyone at risk and refused to get into a romantic relationship for years. And even after we started dating we had big fights and I'm sure we would have continued to have them even if we got married." She took a breath and looked at him, "I understand how you feel about me, I really do but I'm not your Lois."
"No, my Lois has been deleted."
"And it's going to stop you?" He looked at her sharply, "Somewhere in the world I'm in danger and you're just going to stand with your hands in your pockets and give up?"
"How do you know she's in danger?" he said quietly, worriedly. Lois smiled.
"She's Lois Lane, of course she's in danger." She patted his arm. "Let's find the billionaire and end this before they arrest us because we are breaking the curfew."
They were standing in front of the elaborate, ornate, ancient iron gate of the Wayne Manor. Clark shifted uncomfortably beside her.
"You have to stop it." She filtered out of the corner of her mouth as the guard began to approach them.
"I'm not doing anything." he hissed back.
"You radiate insecurity. It doesn't help when you try to enter the mansions of the rich and powerful without an invitation."
"I'm not an investigative journalist who sticks his nose into matters that don't belong to him!" Lois ignores him with a smile on her face.
"What are you doing here?" asked the guard.
"Hi, I'm Joanna Clark and this is my assistant, Joe Freeman. I was hoping to speak with Mr. Bruce Wayne."
"Mr. Wayne is not in the country!" The guard turned away from her only that he answered too quickly, and Lois wasn't buying it.
"When is he coming back?" She looked straight at the security camera, "because I'm really going to have a hard time explaining my situation to my husband without his help."
"Your situation?" said the guard suspiciously.
"Yes, the kind that lasts nine months."
"Mrs. Clark's husband is not the understanding type," Clark said suddenly, "more the type to shoot and then ask questions."
"Don't exaggerate, Joe, he's more of the type to squash people in vises and scatter their organs all over town and only then maybe if he's in a good mood, ask questions."
"And what about Mr. Wayne?"
"I'm not saying he's the father, although he certainly could be, but with all the security he has here and considering the vulnerable state of everyone else, I'm definitely considering saying his name. A girl has to do everything she can to survive." She shrugged. The guard hesitated. Lois sighed and turned to Clark. "We'll have to find someone else to help, we might be able to convince Mr. Luthor even though he's much less approachable..." The guard put a hand over his ear.
"Mrs. Clark, wait!" Lois narrowed her triumphant smile to her eyes and slowly turned around as if reluctantly walking back to the guard and raising her eyebrow. "Mr. Wayne will see you now." The words really hurt him.
Lois smiled. The gate slowly opened, and a golf cart appeared. Lois and Clark got on it and the driver led them slowly towards the mansion.
The servant led them to a room where everything said old money. Clark felt really uncomfortable, he was afraid to move for fear that he would hit something and break it. Lois sat listlessly on one of the sofas upholstered in crimson velvet. When she noticed Clark's behavior, she rolled her eyes and patted the couch next to her but Clark chose to stand behind the couch she was sitting on and look around. When Bruce Wayne walked into the room after five minutes with a charming smile on his face, Clark crossed his arms over his chest. Lois stifled a giggle. Despite their conversation on the way here he still acted like a peacock defending his territory.
Before Bruce could address them, he took a phone out of his pocket and started talking. Lois hissed very quietly at Clark.
"Instead of puffing out your chest like a turkey, maybe check the room in depth?" Clark blushed slightly and turned to do as she said.
"Mrs. Clark," Bruce Wayne finally turned to his lovely guest. He took her hand and kissed her, "I don't think I had the pleasure of meeting you."
"And you still chose to let me in."
"Blame the sentimental side of me. I couldn't see a damsel in distress without at least listening to her." He sat down across from Lois and Clark gave him a hostile look.
"A sentimental side? In Bruce Wayne? I find it hard to believe."
"And why not?"
"You are too practical for such things."
Lois touched the Egyptian beetle on her jacket again and Clark immediately noticed a sharp drop in background noise. Bruce must have noticed this too because he touched his ear as if testing something. Lois with a charming smile looked at Clark and he nodded. Clark used heat rays to disable all the cameras in the room.
"What did you do now?" Bruce stood up, the charming host's mask gone, "How did you do that?"
"I don't like being recorded or my partner." Bruce eyed them suspiciously. His whole body tensed as Lois stood up. "We didn't come to rob you, if that's what you're afraid of."
"I think you'll have a hard time getting out of this mansion."
"Oh, we'll get out of here. It might take some destruction of ancient property, but we'll get out of here."
"What interests us is behind this ancient clock and under the mansion." Clark said quietly.
"Behind the clock there is a wall and under the mansion there are cellars."
"Through them you get people out of Luthor's reach." Lois said.
"The clock is just one of the enters."
"I'm not into any of that." Lois looked at Clark.
"He's lying. His heart skipped a few times, but he manages to hide it impressively." Bruce exchanged glances between the two of them and then stopped at Lois.
"Is your partner a Meta-Human? Is that the point?"
"You could say."
"What do you want? I know you don't want me to run you out of here because your entrance was too conspicuous."
"We want to use the rest of your skills." Lois said. "We want to take Lex down."
"My skills?" He laughed humorlessly.
Suddenly and without any warning Lois attacked Bruce with a speed that surprised even Clark. She was good, even very good but Bruce was better than her by several counts and soon he was holding her so that she could not move in an uncomfortable and even painful position. As Clark took half a step in their direction, Bruce tightened his grip.
"If you don't want her blood on your head don't move." Clark looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"You will not kill her."
"You think?"
"No, I know."
"Because you can hear my heart beating without a stethoscope?"
"No. Because she's pointing a knife at your groin." Bruce froze. He looked down and saw that Clark was telling the truth, but he only changed his position and the knife fell.
"Still think I won't kill her?" Ask. Clark smiled, appeared for a moment next to Bruce and lightly smacked his head.
"Yes." Bruce collapsed unconscious.
When Bruce woke up after five minutes, he was surprised to find that he was in the same room, sitting in the same place, untied and his two uninvited guests being in the same place he found them when he first entered the room.
"What the hell was that?" Damn, his head hurt.
The girl looked at the man standing above her and said to him
"It's up to you." The man looked at him hesitantly then nodded and held out his hand to her. The girl gave him a device. The man sat down on the chair that stood at right angles to the two couches. He showed Bruce the device. It was a PDA, and the man wouldn't let it go. Bruce looked at the image that appeared on the screen and paled.
"How...?" The man returned the device to the woman.
"I'm ready to explain everything to you, but I'm not ready for you to record us in any way. No sign that we were here, no proof that we exist." Bruce was silent for a while. He looked between the two. "Especially no proof she exists. Let's just say, she's the secret weapon." said the man.
Bruce had always considered himself an excellent judge of character but these two were a mystery to him. He didn't like to trust people, but they knew too much about him, way too much. But they didn't ask for his trust, he realized, they offered him an explanation for the mystery they put before him and in return only asked for anonymity. But they also offered hope and it was much more dangerous.
"I promise nothing except that there will be no proof that you exist." They nodded and he picked up the phone and whispered the password and all the information from the room went to the supercomputer in the cave. "Start by explaining the picture."
"Mr. Wayne. I don't want to hurt you even temporarily but don't try to trick me, please." said the man in the chair.
"I said there would be no evidence."
"You're still recording us." Bruce looked at the woman. He thought she was running things, when did the balance of power change? She smiled at him.
"I've always wanted to see you squirm; this is even better than I thought it would be. You transferred all the information to your cave, yes?" Bruce didn't answer.
"I called her a 'secret weapon' for a reason, Mr. Wayne. And there's also a reason I don't want proof of our existence. Even in your secret files."
"The only way to stop the recording completely is physically and I have no intention of letting you destroy my house."
"Then we'll go now." The man stood up and the woman right after him. Bruce had a feeling she was not happy with this development but chose to support the man's decision. Bruce stood; legs wobbly but stood.
"You have serious trust issues."
"I have good reason to be paranoid, Mr. Wayne."
"You came to me."
"Yes. But I am not willing to risk the lives of innocent people because you are incapable of showing one gesture of goodwill."
"Hmmm." said the woman. The man looked at her sharply.
"You trust him?!"
"I didn't say that. But what's stopping you from destroying his computer before we go?" The man looked at him carefully.
Bruce began to calculate what he knew about him. He is fast, able to hear heartbeats, picks up electromagnetic frequencies, somehow managed to neutralize the cameras and is probably a little smarter than average. They were about the same height and the man looked healthy and fit but he didn't move like a martial artist. Bruce was willing to bet he could stop him from going near the computer. The man seemed to follow his thoughts because he smiled.
"You think you can stop me." It wasn't a question.
"Why is it so important to you that there be no evidence? My computer is exceptionally well protected."
"Because of Milton Paine." said the girl.
"Luther's chief of staff?"
"He's not human." said the man.
"Don't tell me you buy Luthor's alien invasion nonsense either."
"When I said not human, I didn't just mean his origin. I meant his nature. Milton Paine is a machine." Bruce laughed. The girl looked at the man apologetically.
"I thought he would at least agree to listen. I was wrong. Let's go." They advanced towards the door.
"Wait." Bruce stopped laughing. He turned towards them thinking.
What if in the craziest case they are right? That would explain a lot. What if the girl really treasures a lot of knowledge, dangerous knowledge? After five years of failed attempts to undermine Luthor's position, a war of attrition between Lexcorp and Wayne Enterprises that Bruce was no longer so sure he would win, and hundreds of thousands of victims, could he afford to let this couple slip away? And if they are the only chance to get rid of Lex Luthor? The girl must have guessed his thoughts because she said softly
"I can't promise to get rid of Lex Luthor and Milton Payne completely and forever. These two are like cockroaches, always manage to survive but I can try as much as I can to bring back some balance to this world, help bring back some hope. That's what I'm here for. But maybe I'm too late. We'll go now, Mr. Wayne. Good luck."
"I said wait." He looked at them for another moment and then went over to the antique piano in the room and played some keys. The ancient clock moved to the side and a door opened with a twist in the wall. "Come with me."
They followed him down at least two flights of stairs. In the beginning these were normal stone steps and they gradually deteriorated into rock-hewn steps. The stairs led to a huge, dark cave on the ceiling of which bats gathered in huge flocks. As Bruce stepped onto the last step a soft unfocused light marked a path that led to a complex set of computers with several keyboards, microphones, speakers and six screens of various sizes around a large central screen. There was only one chair.
"Do you have an isolated computer? One that you check for viruses and other problems?" asked the woman. Bruce looked at her and nodded. "Excellent. I don't know if this is compatible with your technology but connect it to it." She handed him a flash drive. On the blue USB was a familiar symbol in white. Bruce looked at her.
"The Daily Planet?! Are you a journalist?"
"Right now, I'm a freelancer." Bruce looked at the disc hesitantly. "What's inside could be corrupted that's why the isolated computer."
"Corrupted by what?"
"Brainiac. Milton Payne." He looked at her sharply. "Mr. Wayne, I have a lot to tell, things he doesn't know either," she instructed with her head to the man standing next to her. "This USB will provide a starting point. I guess the fact that we are here means that you agree not to let the information get out of here, but you need to understand what exactly we are up against and why we are both so worried about my identity being revealed."
Bruce approached the computer system with the disc and took out a laptop which he placed on an empty table with a light on above it. He connected the computer to electricity and connected the disk to the computer. The computer had a problem reading the flash drive.
"It will take time." Bruce said surprised looking at the woman. "How can it be?"
"Maybe you should start by introducing yourself. And him." said the guy.
"Him?"
"My name, my real name, is Lois Lane. I'm a parallel universe." Bruce looked at her with narrowed eyes. "In my universe I'm engaged to Clark Kent. At least I was until six months ago. This is," she pointed to the man with her, "Clark Kent. He's from this universe. My Clark Kent died six months ago while fighting a monster called Doomsday." She took a newspaper clipping out of her pocket and handed it to Bruce.
The headline said, 'Man of Steel Protects the City'. There was a picture of a man with a pentagram on his chest centered on an S. Bruce looked sharply at the man standing next to Lois with his arms crossed over his chest.
"The Last Son of Krypton."
"Yes, his Kryptonian name, Kal El." Lois said softly. Bruce froze at the name. "And as long as Milton Payne doesn't get his hands on him," she pointed at Clark, who Bruce couldn't take his eyes off, "he'll be the last Kryptonian. You really don't want to meet the rest."
"And you agreed to marry an alien."
"I didn't know he was an alien when I agreed, but even after he told me I didn't change my mind. He's not an alien to me."
"No. In your eyes he is Superman." Bruce's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"I chose the name." She shrugged, "And I don't think the name 'Batman' is much better." Bruce looked at her and managed to look embarrassed. She smiled, "That's what the guy in the picture calls himself."
"I think it actually suits him." Clark said with a smile.
The computer chirped and Bruce turned to look at it. The computer was able to create a bridge and decipher the information on the disk. The disk was full of pictures and documents that looked like scans of newspapers and some video clips that the computer was still struggling to decode. Bruce started going through the files. He recognized Milton Payne and read the papers. He played one of the video files that the computer was able to decode. The video was a recording of what was happening on someone's computer and contained several video clips that were timestamped a few seconds apart. The people in the video described their meeting with Milton Paine in different parts of the world. They reported to their boss, Mr. Luther.
"And just so there's no doubt," Lois said, "it's Lex."
Before Bruce could answer her, the computer screen turned black and three green circles appeared on it connected in the shape of the letter V with electric currents. Clark quickly went over, closed the computer, and unplugged it. He unplugged the disc and handed it back to Lois.
"Well, that answers the question of whether the disk is corrupt. I would destroy this computer. Formatting simply won't help; he resides in the hardware components."
"He?"
"Brainiac. Milton Payne." Lois said.
"He's a Kryptonian computer for the most part. His current goal right now is to free General Zod from the Phantom Zone."
"Sorry?" Bruce felt overwhelmed.
"The Phantom Zone is an intergalactic prison that my biological father created." Clark explained, "He's in a separate dimension. Some of the prisoners don't have a body, General Zod is one of them. He's the Kryptonian responsible for destroying Krypton. There was a civil war, he was going to lose, and he knew it so he freed Brainiac."
"Who destroyed the planet." Bruce said.
"Yeah, and then he came here to free Zod so he could create New Krypton, in his image."
"But if this Zod doesn't have a body..." Bruce looked at Clark and swallowed. Clark guessed his thoughts.
"Yes. They were going to use my body."
"Hence the terror campaign two years ago to get you to turn yourself in. But we're not drowning in megalomaniac Kryptonians right now so..."
"They need something else besides my body, they need an opening to the Phantom Zone, and I don't have and had no intention of giving them access to one."
"Is there one on Earth?"
"I didn't tell them after over a year of torture why do you think I would tell you?" Clark said with a smile.
"Clark." Lois said scoldingly.
"There is one. At the North Pole. But only I can open it."
"And what about Lex? How is he involved in this?"
"Lex thinks Milton Payne will give him access to a doomsday weapon, one that will stop the alien invasion and make him ruler of Earth."
"So, Milton Payne is taking advantage of him. Are you sure about that?" Clark smiled humorlessly.
"Lex tried to convince me to cooperate against Milton Payne. He was the 'good cop.' I didn't buy it."
Bruce was silent for a while, trying to digest all the information that fell upon him.
"Lex uses Brainiac's vast knowledge to destroy Wayne Enterprises." Lois said. "I'm not Brainiac but I can help. But if Brainiac finds out I exist or me and Clark are working together, he'll kill us both. He'll destroy any trace of me ever existing and that includes the Lois Lane of this universe." Clark looked at her sharply in shock. "What? It's a logical conclusion that he found a way to prevent you from meeting. Just because he appeared in public two years ago doesn't mean he wasn't here before." Clark turned away from them and walked away into the darkness.
"I have to get out of here. I..." She looked at Bruce quietly.
"Do you have a place for him to destroy? He needs a place like this, and this is not the time for us to split up." Bruce looked at her and nodded.
"Hey! Man of Steel! Come with me."