Authors Note: Uhm… don't have much to say here. Clark is cute. Also, if the words Teen of Teak mean anything to you, you might want to get a paper bag or something to muffle the fan girl squee. I've been told this chapter causes hyperventilation.

Multiverse

2: Clark

Clark was with Chloe in the basement of the Daily Planet building going over satellite images from Dark Tuesday when he got the call from his mother that Lois was in the hospital following an accident in her car. His first instinct was to run at top speed back to Smallville, but his mom insisted it was nothing serious, just a bump on the head, and that she was on her way to the medical center from the house. If Clark and Chloe wanted to come, they could take their time.

"Which means," Chloe said, grabbing her car keys, "That we drive very fast instead of taking the Clark-Kent-Sub-Mach-2 Express."

On the way Clark tried to call Oliver Queen. The billionaire did not answer his cell, and Clark had a sneaking suspicion that Ollie was busting heads as the Green Arrow at the moment. Clark and Chloe spent the rest of the drive discussing The Zoners - their nickname for the escaped prisoners of the Phantom Zone. A debate over whether a crater in Afghanistan was a Zoner impart or a scar from the War on Terror lasted them all the way to Smallville Medical Center.

As they pulled up to the Center, Chloe spotted Lois and Martha coming out of the entrance. She quickly parked and together, Clark and Chloe met up with their respective family members.

"I'm fine! Just a bump to the noggin'." Lois said as soon as she saw the look on Chloe's face. "And it wasn't even from the accident. I've had worse…" she paused some and smirked in that annoying way she always smirked, "I've had worse this month, even."

"What happened?" Chloe, ever the reporter, asked.

"Something darted in front of me and I thought I'd hit it…" Clark could tell she wasn't telling the whole truth there. Her voice always took on a slightly whiney tone (Well, more whiney than normal) when she was stretching the truth. "I pulled off into the bar ditch and went to see what it was…"

Lois' tone shift again, "It was a boy… A teenager. I called 9-1-1 and took care of him until the ambulance arrived." She sounded scared, which was odd, because Clark very rarely heard Lois truly scared. She must have hit the boy. He found himself looking up at the hospital before them, scanning with his X-Ray vision where he knew the ICU was to see if the boy was there.

Chloe asked if the boy was OK, and it was Martha that answered, "He's inside, the Doctor said it looks like he lost a pretty bad fist fight, and that there's no evidence Lois hit him, thank heavens. We'll have to wait until he wakes up before we will know anything else." She paused and took on her most motherly tone, "Now, it's late and Lois needs to rest. Chloe, could you please take Lois home? We can go pick up her car in the morning."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Kent." Chloe took Lois by the arm and guided her back to the car. Clark turned to watch the two of them leave, to check Lois over himself and make sure she was alright because even if she was an annoying, stuck up, brat, she was a friend.

He felt something tug at his elbow and turned to see his mother giving him a very serious look. "What's up, Mom?"

"Clark," her voice was dropped in a whisper, "Do you happen to have that crystal of Jor-El's on you?"

Clark nodded and pulled the Seal of the House of El out of his jeans pocket. He'd taken to carrying it everywhere in case he ran up against a Zoner. His mother took the crest out of his hand and ran her fingers over it gently. "I was afraid of this…" she said softly, "The boy up there was wearing a black tee-shirt with this insignia on it in red. This exact insignia."

Clark furrowed his brow, "That's my Kryptonian family crest… the only people who've ever seen it are you, me, Chloe, Lionel…" He trailed off and it was Martha that finished the thought.

"And the beings who would have come out of the Phantom Zone." She put her hands on his arms, "Clark, I want you to be careful… Lois says she swears she thought she hit him, but he doesn't show any sign of being hit. If he is from the Phantom Zone we don't know what powers he might have or if he has a vendetta against your father. The last time you went against one of those… those monsters, Raya was killed and it could have just as easily been you. If I lost you…"

He sighed and pulled her into a hug, "I'll be careful, Mom. I'll check in on him when he's unconscious and I won't pick a fight." He smiled the particular smile that had calmed her nerves so much when he was younger. It still worked. "I'll see you in a few at the house and if anything… comes up… I'll call."

Clark kissed her forehead and started into the hospital. According to the nurses' station log, the boy his mom had mentioned was up stairs in a private room. Given how late it was, he was pretty sure they'd tell him that visiting hours were over. However, things like visiting hours don't really matter when you can move faster than anyone can see. Clark felt slightly guilty as he heard papers rustle to the floor and orderlies grumble to go pick them up in his wake.

He had open and shut the door to the boy's room before anyone even realized he was in the building. After listening hard for a moment to make sure no one heard the door, Clark turned to look at the boy. His face was pretty battered, but it was half healed, like the beating happened a few days ago. He only had a few cracked ribs and knuckles, and the cartilage on his nose had been reset, but no major broken bones. The monitors read a steady heart beat and he was breathing on his own. Only serious thing Clark could tell was that the boy hadn't regained consciousness.

Clark saw where someone, probably his own mother, had laid the boy's tee-shirt across the back of the visitors chair. There it was, blood red against black, Jor-El's symbol. Clark frowned. The shirt almost looked like a silk-screened band tee. He touched the logo, feeling that it was professionally done, not hand panted on. Other than that, all the boy had been wearing was a pair of blue jeans, a plain leather belt, and leather work boots that looked very much like Clark's own shoes.

"Wh-- Where….Where am I?" Clark turned to look at where the voice had come from. The boy was trying to sit up. "Cassie? Nightwing?"

"You're in Smallville Medical Center," Clark answered, staying where he was, not moving closer to the boy incase he wasn't friendly, "One of my friends found you on the side of the road and brought you here…"

"Smallville? Crap-- Of all the places for me to wind back up at…" He had his hands over his face, like he was feeling if it was still there or not. Suddenly, the machines attached to the kid went haywire. He made a huffy noise and pulled the leads from his chest, "Stupid monitors… Don't they know I have a head ache?"

The boy rubbed his face again and hissed. Clark could see him open his eyes a few times and try to blink through his swollen eyes. "How long have I been here? More importantly, how did I get here… Even more important that that, where is the place that I came from?"

Clark frowned. Was he amnesic, or just playing? "Lois found you a few hours ago on the side of the road between here and Metropolis. The ambulance brought you in and… You don't know where you're from?"

The kid snorted, "I know where I'm from, I just wanted to know if it was still there is all. You know- global world ending crisis? I was in the middle of it when…" The kid had looked up at Clark for the first time. Clark was surprised to see the boy's eyes were the same color as his own. That was, until they went red and let of a burst of.. Heat vision?! "You! God-damned Prime! What, come to try to finish me off again? Cause you know I'll smack you down like the punk you are! You seriously need a hobby if all you can think of to do is hunt me down!"

Clark brushed at his singed shirt and stepped back. The boy, if he even was that, was hovering near the ceiling, fist clenched, glaring at Clark like he was ready to blast him again if he even moved. Clark raised his hands defensively, "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Yeah, well sure as hell did back there with the tower and all that crap!" How was the kid flying? And he also didn't seem to be very worried about the fact that his heat blast hadn't phased Clark more than a burned flannel shirt.

"I don't know about a tower or anything like that… I just want to know where you got the tee-shirt…" Clark began to take a step forward.

It was the wrong thing to do. The boy began to move, so fast that Clark was sure a normal person would have only seen a blur. He thought for a moment that the kid was going to attack him, but instead he went through the window behind Clark, shattering the glass and zooming off into the night. Clark stuck his head out the window and frowned, watching the boy fly off as far as his telescopic vision would let him.

Flying boy with heat vision. This certainly was not good.