Trying to ignore Lois' questions, Clark took a quick scan of Chloe's room with his x-ray vision, hoping to find some other clue. There was something in one of her drawers. Without thinking, he pulled it open.
"Clark? What the hell are you doing?"
"Just, uh, looking for clues," he said.
"And the underwear drawer was the first thing you thought of?"
"Got to start somewhere," said Clark, quickly grabbing the note and concealing it from Lois. "How about you check in here while I look in the other rooms."
Once he was out of the way he opened up the note. He recognised instantly that it wasn't written in Chloe's handwriting.
'Howdy Clark! You're probably wondering where your good friend Chloe is right about now. Come to the nightclub, Atlantis. You used to drop by there when you were in Metropolis, didn't you? Or maybe I'm thinking of someone else! Either way, I think you know where it is. We have a lot to talk about, you and I.'
Clark's eyes narrowed as he read it. Not many people would have known about his trips to Atlantis as Kal-El. Worse, the note implied someone knew about his other identity.
The reason I broke my promise, the reason I didn't tell you everything when we talked… it wasn't the reason you think it is, he thought, remembering Chloe's message. It was then he realised: Chloe was trying to protect him.
He wondered what the hell was going on.
Lionel was dreaming. He was on a train, destination unknown, a large bag sitting on the floor in front of him. The seat beside was empty but sitting across from him was a little girl, probably around eight years old. She was looking out of the window with a look of excitement on her face. Lionel turned to see what was so interesting. He problem was that the outside appeared to consist of nothing at all. They were speeding through some large, unending emptiness. Turning away from this, he saw the ticket collector was heading down towards them. The steps he was taking were unnaturally large; he was actually striding, almost leaping forwards. For some reason he didn't seem to be checking anyone's ticket.
"He's coming for you," the girl told him casually. "You've made him so angry." She didn't take her eyes from the nothing.
Lionel suddenly wanted to be somewhere else. He stood up quickly. He had no idea where he was going to go on a moving train that was in the middle of a very literal nowhere, but couldn't stay where he was. Not looking back he began to run down towards the back of the carriage. The door to the next one lay just ahead, he reached out to pull it open –
A hand touched his shoulder.
"Not so fast, little one! In a rush to use the toilet, are ya? Toilets for paying customers only, you might say. Gonna need to see your ticket!"
Lionel was certain of two things; he wouldn't have a ticket, and he didn't want to turn around. He did not want to see The Memento's face.
"Hurry it up please. I've got a whole lot of tickets to see. Of course, if you don't have a ticket…"
Lionel reached into his left coat pocket, finding it empty. His left contained his wallet, but no ticket.
The ticket collector spun him round. The Memento was now wearing a uniform and cap, looking just as absurd as when Lionel had met him last. His hair looked a lot wilder though, and he now possessed the longest nose hairs Lionel had ever seen. Some kind of insect was hanging off the end of one.
"Can I buy a ticket?" Lionel heard himself ask. That got the grin off The Memento's face, if not the insect from the nose hair. Lionel watched him suck the cheeks into his face before they popped back out again.
"Never think it. We don't buy tickets around these parts, my friend. We have to earn them, don't we Mike?"
The collector was talking to a man sitting to the right of them. He was staring blankly in front of him. His hands were trembling slightly.
"Earn them," said Mike.
The collector patted Leland on the back, looking cheerful once more.
"Mike's been here longer than it would take to grow these nose hairs. Much, much longer in fact," he whispered. "I don't think he'll ever earn his soul – or his ticket, if you prefer. But you'll do fine, I'm certain of it. Wait one moment, please."
Lionel watched as The Memento walked back to where he had sat opposite the girl and picked up the bag that was left there. From the corner of his vision he saw Mike turn and look at him through dead eyes. A small brown insect, perhaps the cousin of the one on the old nose hair, crawled out of Mike's mouth.
"People like us always lose our tickets," said Mike in a voice so small it could almost have been the insect talking. "We're careless like that. You better make sure you get yours back. He won't throw you off, you know. On this ride, if you don't have a ticket, you never leave."
"I see," said Lionel, though he wasn't sure he did.
Mike turned away. The Memento was back, unzipping the bag. Lionel expected a whole army of insects to burst out, flying all over his face. Instead he saw a pistol which was pressed firmly into Lionel's hand.
"Where is Chloe Sullivan, Lionel?" asked The Memento softly. "Why is she still alive?"
Lionel wanted nothing more than to raise the gun and blow that grin away; yet it wasn't happening.
"She never showed. I went back to her apartment, but she seems to have disappeared."
"I hope that isn't true. Because you too can disappear, you know. Worse than that, I would have to consider something like that a deal breaker. And you know what that means, of course?"
Lionel fought to contain his rage.
"It was a wonderful moment for me, meeting your son Lex for the first time. I sensed his potential immediately. It seemed so wasteful somehow, for him to throw his whole life away at such a young age. Just because his brother had died."
"It wasn't him," said Lionel slowly. "You tricked me."
"Oh, I knew Lex never killed Julian. That was a mistake you made all on your own… I merely failed to inform you otherwise. Yet I was summoned there to remind him of the death nonetheless. I couldn't simply spare him without getting something in return though. That's where you and I did business. And believe me, the deal still stands. I spared Lex from madness in return for you one day doing me a favour. The funny part is, you then induced madness in him yourself."
"I don't know where she is."
"Find her, Lionel. And quickly. If only I'd been there to remind Lex all those years ago, he never would have forgotten that it was his mother, and not him, who killed that poor baby. It's not too late for me to make sure he doesn't forget again."
Lionel blinked and The Memento was gone, nothing more than a memory himself. The insect remained, hanging motionless in the air for a moment before flying over to the window beside the girl. She turned to look at it before squashing it with the palm of her hand. That's when Lionel woke up. The gun was still in his hand, apparently having become real somehow.
He chuckled to himself under his breath. So The Memento wasn't all-knowing after all. And, ironically, despite his name, he'd managed to forget something he never should have. He'd forgotten exactly what a Luthor was capable of.