Alien

Lois scoffed at the blonde woman's proclamation; the girl was either an idiot or she was fooling herself. She opened her mouth to say something snide, but her tone was softened slightly when she reminded herself that it hadn't been that long since she had felt similarly about the man in front of her. "He's nobody's friend," she said harshly, her voice strained as she tried to push away the thoughts of her own stupidity. In bald statement of fact, she continued, "Kal-El has no friends. He doesn't need anyone, certainly not a mere human."

How many times had she heard those words thrown back in her face when she tried to reach out to the man who, she had once felt, could have meant so much to her? More than she could possibly imagine. So why was he looking so surprised to hear them now?

She was still staring at the man in front of her, trying to deny the traitorous part of her that was whispering that there was something different about him. Something she couldn't put her finger on, but something that made him seem different than the man – or, rather, the alien – she had known. Pushing the thought aside, she tried to think of the best way to get away; this sudden reappearance and request for help had to be a trick. It had to be. But she wasn't going to take any part in it. Not again.

As Lois tried to find the words to tell the man in front of her that he could take whatever he was plotting and shove it, the woman behind her said softly, "He's mine…and he was yours."

For the first time, Lois turned her head to stare at the woman next to her, though she took a step back as she did so in order to keep Clark within her line of sight. God, she was the spitting image of the cousin she had loved, only this woman was all grown up and Chloe had never had the chance to do so. It was unnerving, uncanny, and deeply unsettling. Cursing her mind for playing tricks on her, Lois stared at the petite blonde woman for a long moment, and then she demanded softly, "Who are you?"

"It's me, Lois…Chloe," the woman in question offered with a tremulous smile. "Don't you recognize me?"

Lois let all emotion drain from her face as she took a step away from the woman at her side. "No, you're not," she said coldly. "I don't know who you are…I don't know what you think you're going to gain with all of this, but I'm going to tell you now that it's not going to work. You have a hell of a lot of nerve, pretending to be…I don't' know what your deal is, either of you. But if you're with him…" she jerked her chin in Kal-El's direction, "then I don't want to have anything to do with you." When the blonde looked stunned and somewhat hurt and started to take a step forward, Lois hissed, "Get the hell away from me!"

She was about to make a break for it when Kal-El spoke; she'd never heard that note of desperation in his voice before. For a second, she almost wavered, but then she remembered how easily he'd played her the last time. And what price she had paid. "Lois, please…" he said, and she stiffened when the voice that had grown so familiar spoke a word that was so alien to the man. Since when did he say please? Clearly unaware of her current turmoil, he continued, "You have to listen to me! I'm not sure…I don't know why you're…why you feel the way you do about Kal-El, but…I'm not that man. This is going to be hard for you to believe. Maybe impossible, I know. Believe me, I know how hard this is going to be for you to accept. But…this really is Chloe, and I'm…I'm not the person you know. And we need your help."

Lois scoffed, unable to keep the bitterness and anger out of her voice as she said, "The Great and Powerful Kal-El, going to a lowly human for help? Don't make me laugh. I've fallen for that before, remember? And a whole hell of a lot of good it did me. So what is it you want me to do for you? You want me to write another article on your behalf? Make everyone believe that you can be trusted just so you can betray us all again? Sorry, Kal-El, but that won't work this time. You've picked the wrong girl. Even if I wanted to help you – and it'll be a cold day in hell before that ever happens again – there's nothing I can do for you, remember? Or did you not even bother to find out the price I paid for believing in you the last time?"

He looked like he was going to plead with her again, but Lois wasn't having any of it. Whirling on her heel, she strode angrily through the wrought iron gates, figuring he wouldn't bother to come after her. She had only gone a few steps, however, when she heard him call out to her again.

"Lois, wait! I'm not who you think I am! I don't know why you hate me…him…me…but I…"

It was too much. How dare he pretend like he didn't know why she hated him? How dare he stand there and try to play the victim? After everything that had happened…after so many lives had been lost…

"You don't know?" she cried as she whirled back to face him. By her sides, she felt her hands clench into fists and the muscles in her neck corded with rage as she tried to fight to remain calm. "How dare you put on this act, Kal-El! You know exactly what you've done, and you don't care! You've never cared!

"You used me, you son of a bitch! You knew I believed in you! You knew how very much I wanted to believe that you were capable of…that you could be the hero this world needed! And you used me because you could! How many people trusted you after those articles I wrote, Kal-El? How many? And how many did you kill?" Stalking towards him, she tried to remember to stop before she got too close, but in her anger, she almost closed the distance between them. Stopping before it was too late, she rocked back and forth as the muscles in her legs fought to cover those last few feet, to finish what she'd started.

"I…I've never…" The muscles in his jaw clenched, and she watched as he swallowed heavily before looking at her with wide and, if she didn't know better, shocked eyes. "I've never killed anyone, Lois. I don't under-"

"No, you just let them die because you knew best!" she spat. "And now I don't know where the hell you get the nerve to come to me again, begging for help. You think I'll write another article for you, beg the world to give you their trust again? Even if I could, I wouldn't, but I can't do that anymore even if I wanted to, could I? Hell, I couldn't get a letter to the editor published in a newspaper anymore, not after everything that's happened! I lost my job, and you don't even care, do you? You got what you needed from me, so why should the problems of a mere human be any concern of yours?

"I'm not falling for it again, Kal-El! Do you understand me? Get someone else to buy your pack of lies, because I don't want anything to do with you." Sweeping her gaze from his shocked face to his companions, she added in a growl, "And I never want to see you again. I don't know if he told you to impersonate Chloe in an attempt to get me to trust him, but I don't ever want to see your face again. Understand?"

As she stood there, her body trembling from the force of her emotions, panting slightly as she tried to catch her breath, she heard the sound of a car pull up to the side of the road behind her. She wanted to turn to see if the car had come for her, but experience had taught her that it was dangerous to take her eyes off Kal-El, even for a second.

A car door opened and slammed, and then a familiar voice called out to her, "Lois? Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, Bruce!" she called back, taking a slow step backwards as she kept her eyes locked on Kal-El's wide blue eyes. For a second, she felt a twinge of doubt. He was selling it all just a little too well; for a man who knew no compassion and never showed an ounce of fear, he was certainly selling both emotions at present. She never would have figured him to be so good of an actor. "I'm coming!"

But the man who had come to take her back to Gotham had apparently caught sight of her companions, because when she took the next step backwards, she bumped against the solid wall of his chest. She hadn't even heard him approach, a habit he had perfected that caused her no end of aggravation. Reaching up to place his hands protectively on her shoulders, he said in a voice that could freeze concrete, "Kal-El. I never expected to see you again."

"You know him? K-Kal-El?" Kal-El asked, sounding bewildered. Bewildered and scared, and just a little bit…she had no idea what that emotion was that she heard in his voice. It had never been there before.

"We've met," Bruce bit off sharply, and Lois could hear her outrage mirrored in his tone. Bruce, like her, was incensed that Kal-El was trying to pretend ignorance.

Lois took another step back, towards the car, towards freedom. Her heart was still racing, her breath coming quickly. She hated that she wanted to give into her fear and flee, but to remain in this place for one more minute might be more than she could bear. "Let's go, Bruce," she said as she scooted past him, and she grabbed his sleeve and gave it a sharp tug, trying to get his attention.

"Lois, wait! I just…you have to let me explain! I'm not the same man; I'm from another wo-aah!" Kal-El had tried once again to reach out to her, to get her to listen to him, but this time he went too far. Or, rather, he came too close. Crying out in pain, Lois saw as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground as sweat beaded on his face. Curling up from the agony, he looked up at her, and once again she could swear that it almost looked like a different man was revealed behind his eyes. "W-why…?" he managed to gasp, and she knew what he was asking, even if he couldn't form the words.

Why was there Kryptonite in the necklace she wore? How could he even ask? For a second, she wavered, almost wanting to believe that this was a different man than she had come to know. She lifted a foot, ready to rush towards him, to try to help him to his feet. But then she reminded herself that she knew better. It was an act. It had to be. That's all it had ever been between them – her, wanting so desperately to have faith in the man who had fallen to Earth from the stars. Wanting to believe in heroes, in destiny. Wanting to believe that perhaps the time Kal-El spent among humans would give him a touch of humanity. And him, never promising anything in return, and yet betraying her all the same.

Though a part of her thought that he was getting no less than he deserved, Lois took a couple of steps away until his breathing became more even. "Let's go, Bruce," she said again as she watched with cold eyes as Kal-El slowly rose to his feet. Surely he understood now. She had made her point; there was no reason to remain.

Without waiting to see if Bruce was following her, she turned and walked to the car, where Alfred was waiting with the door opened. He offered her a sympathetic smile as she climbed into the back seat. As he closed the door behind her, however, she heard Kal-El ask again in a weak voice that trembled slightly with each word, "Why?"

She didn't know for sure anymore what he was asking. Why was she wearing Kryptonite? Why didn't she trust him? Why was he no longer able to fool her as easily as he once had?

She didn't have the strength to give him the answers, but she didn't have to. Bruce, her oldest and dearest friend, the one man who had always been there for her, shouldered this burden for her as he had so many other times since her fall from grace. "She never takes it off, Kal-El. But, then again, after the last time the two of you met, when you almost killed her…How could you even pretend to be surprised?"