-1A/N: Sorry this took so long to write. It didn't want to come out. It's done now though, Yay! I hope everyone had a happy holiday!
Multiverse
7: Chloe
As Chloe reached the top of the loft stairway, she wasn't surprised to see the boy looking near passed out on the couch. After all, he had escaped from the hospital and managed to get all the way out to Kent Farm, which was not a brief walk by a long shot. She was, however, surprised to see him and Clark wearing near identical looks of worried confusion. Maybe there was something to Lois "separated at birth" theory.
Clark stood immediately and moved over to Chloe. He turned to face the kid and paused a moment, thinking, "Uhm… Stay here. I'm going to explain things to Chloe. Stay. Here."
"As if I could get up…" the boy said in an tone far more acidic than Clark would ever be able to muster.
Chloe let Clark lead her out of earshot of the kid before she let loose the barrage of questions she had written down on the little reporter's notepad in her head. "So, who is he? Is he from the Phantom Zone?"
"Er… I don't know and no." Clark said sheepishly, keeping his tone low. "He says he's from the future and related to me in some way, but he refused to give me any more detail than that. He said he didn't want to mess with time."
Chloe frowned in a reproachful way and raised an eyebrow at Clark. "And you believe him?" Sure, she was always the one to believe the unbelievable, especially in Smallville, but she thought she'd taught Clark a bit more skepticism than that.
"He told me stuff about me that I didn't even know about… about my birth parents. And he knows all about the Kents and how they found me." Clark was shooting cautious looks up to the loft, most likely afraid the kid was going to try to make a run for it again.
Chloe frowned. There were so many ways he could have found that out. He could have known about Clark's Kryptonian parents because they were the ones that put the boy in the Phantom Zone in the first place. He could have been spying on them for weeks. He could have mental powers that allowed him to read their minds. "Clark, just because someone knows some things they shouldn't doesn't mean they're completely altruistic. I mean, you'd never met Raya before and she knew about Jor-El."
This made Clark frown, and Chloe suddenly felt a little bad for picking at what was obviously still a fresh wound. "Raya was a good woman, Chloe…"
"I know… I just mean that the people in the Phantom Zone were put there by Jor-El, of course they are going to know more about you than you do. It's far more likely that he's a Zoner who knows about Krypton from having lived there once and knows about the Kents because he's been spying on you than being from the future." She couldn't keep a slight ring of sarcasm out of that last word.
A voice sounded from the loft, "I can hear you, you know. One of the benefits of super-hearing."
Clark blushed some in embarrassment, but Chloe was above such a petty feeling. Instead, her resolve was set firmly. Way to firmly for facing off against a being of unknown superpowers, but firmly none the less. Since there was no point in holding this conversation in private, she marched back up the stairs to the loft. Clark shuffled up behind her.
"Alright, then." Chloe said, looking down at the boy on the couch, "We're supposed to believe that you're from the future just because you know a few details about Clark? You aren't exactly the first person to make trouble for us who knew Clark's Kryptonian name."
"I know more than just his name," the boy looked annoyed, "But I can't tell you without screwing with the future. My future. And I kind of like my time how it is and would rather not have it changed."
"How very convenient for you." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "A perfect, ready made excuse for not telling us who you are. You don't want to mess up 'the future'. Oh no, one wants that." That was probably a little more bitchy than Chloe meant to come off, but having to deal with Lois all morning had shortened her fuse a bit.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?" The boy was angry now, glaring hard at Chloe like he was trying to see through her. "I've met all of Clark's old friends from Smallville and he never mentioned a pushy blond named Cleo."
Chloe opened her mouth to retaliate (the nerve of some people!) but she felt Clark's hand firmly on her shoulder. "Chloe has been a friend for years."
"I've met Lana Lang and Pete Ross, but never a 'Chloe', ok? I'm just telling you what I know."
The boy was matching Chloe's glare with expert skill, but Chloe felt her own expression faltering.
The boy knew about Pete. Chloe had kept in email contact with Pete for a while, but had stopped writing after she found out how Pete knew about Clark's powers and didn't trust her enough to tell her. Of course, she'd forgiven him for that a while ago, but with all the chaos of 'dying' and starting college, work at the planet and Dark Tuesday, she'd never resumed writing. As far as she knew, he was still studying politics at KSU. She didn't think Clark had been in contact with him for a long while. The fact the kid knew about Pete made it less likely that he was a Zoner. Unless he had mental telepathy powers, an escaped Phantom Zone convict who'd been spying on Clark wouldn't have been able to find out about Pete.
Maybe the kid was telling the truth. If he was indeed from the future, it i would /i be a bad idea to tell anyone about what the future was like. And he did look an awful lot like Clark… almost like a son. Which would be very trippy, Clark getting a visit from his future child. And if the boy was Clark's kid, it was probably very exasperating to see his father looking not much older than he. Chloe sighed and pursed her lips together for a moment, "Ok… Assuming we do believe you, how did you get here?"
The boy raked his hands through his short hair and sighed, "I don't know. I was fighting this evil version of Clark who was trying to destroy the world and I thought I was a gonner then suddenly, BAM, I'm in a cornfield then getting run over by Lois." He sighed ruefully, "This kind of crap has never had an immediate explanation. Last time I got sucked through time, I ended up in the 31st
Century fighting along side the Legion of Superheroes. Then I got stuck 10 years into my future, which royally sucked and messed up a lot of how I saw the world… that's why I don't want to mess stuff up for you. If you do something different now, I may not exist or the world might end or something. Which would be bad."
Chloe blinked as the boy rambled. Super heroes? The kid was a Superhero? Chloe knew Clark did some really heroic things, but the way the boy was talking, he meant more along the lines of capes and costumes. And people like that didn't really exist, save for Green Arrow, who was more than a little crazy. And didn't wear a cape or a mask.
"Look…" the kid said in a resigned way, "I don't blame you for thinking I'm crazy. Hell, If I was listening to someone from my future telling me the same kind of crap I'd think he was lying too…but you've got to believe me."
Chloe sighed and exchanged a glance with Clark, "Ok, for the time being we'll believe you… but you have to tell us some stuff or we cant help you. We have to know what to call you and what to tell Lois about you. It wont end time if you tell us your first name, will it?"
"It might." The kid said darkly, but then he sighed, "My name is Kon-El."
"As in Kal-El?" Chloe asked. Same last name, very interesting.
"As in Kon of the house of El, yeah…" the boy said nervously.
"You're from Krypton?" Clark asked.
"No." the boy answered matter of fact-ly, "I was… born… long after Krypton bit the big one. I just prefer my Kryptonian name. It was my first name."
"Well, we can't tell Lois your name is 'Kon-El'." Chloe said, "It's not exactly a normal name."
Kon-El sighed, "My English name is Conner, but I am refusing now to go by it."
"Why?" Clark asked. He was full of questions again. Maybe Chloe had trained a good reporter after all.
"I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to be 'Conner' any more. Conner was a frustrated little emo kid who had no friends. He wasn't me." Kon's look was resolute.
"Ok, then." Chloe said, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Kon-El it is. Now we just need a background for you. And we better hurry it up, Oliver wont keep Lois occupied for long."
Clark sat against the desk and looked in the direction of the house. Chloe knew he was confirming her suspicion, "We have a few minutes. Where did you live before, Kon-E?"
Kon-El gave Clark a bemused look, "Just Kon, for short. Saying the whole thing would be like me calling you Clarkkent." He smiled slightly. "I lived here. Before that I lived in Metropolis and before that on the big island in Hawaii, outside Honolulu."
"Really?: Chloe asked, the gears in her head turning. "Kon-El does sound a little Hawaiian. Lois really knows the islands, though. The General had them living there for a year when she was younger."
"I lived there for two years. I've flown all over those islands. They're my favorite place in the world." Kon said in a way that made Chloe know he meant it.
"Ok, then," Chloe sad. "Now, Lois already has this scheme in her head that the two of you are brothers who were separated. Since, you know, you two defiantly look alike." Chloe smiled as Kon rubbed his face in the same way she always did when people told her she looked like her Aunt. Defiantly Clark's Kid.
"Sure," Kon said, rubbing his chin. "I can say that I found out I had a brother and went looking for him." Kon frowned a moment, "But I have no records. If Lois is anything now like she is in my time, she'll run a background check and try to dig up everything there is on me."
"Leave that to me." Chloe said, "I can throw her off. She's still not as good as me at finding information and the planet has much better resources then the Inquisitor."
Kon snorted, "Lois Lane works for the Inquisitor!! HA! Man, I'm never going to let her live that down when I get back." He paused, "If I get back…" He said quietly, turning to look out the loft window into the setting sun.
"We'll do all we can to help you, Kon" Clark said in that sure, reaffirming tone he managed from time to time. The one that made you feel everything in the world was going to be A-OK.
Kon gave him a strange look. Chloe thought he must have recognized the tone, but then he got a far away look "Lois and Aunt Martha re coming."
"How do you know?" Chloe asked.
You ok to stand?" Clark asked, stepping over to the couch
"Yeah, I'm good. I need a day or so in the sun before I'm back to full power, but I'm good for now." Kon pushed himself off the couch and swayed a moment before gaining his equilibrium.
As if on cue, Lois came marching p the loft stair, followed by an apologetic Martha Kent.
"There you guys are. Oliver wouldn't stop asking if I was alright." Chloe wondered if Lois had ever heard of patience.
Martha was much more gentle in her tone. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, mom. We got things sorted out. Mom, Lois this is Kon-El. Kon, this is my mom, Martha Kent, and my friend Lois Lane," Clark made the introductions well, considering he didn't like lying.
Chloe smirked, "Lois is the one who tried to make you road kill." Lois' haughty look withered to Chloe's satisfaction.
Kon played his part perfectly. Chloe thought he was much smoother than Clark would be in the same situation, "I'm sorry about before. I needed clothes and I think I was still a little concussed" He smile charmingly and shook hands with Mrs. Kent and Lois.
"What kind of name is Conel?" Lois asked.
Without missing a beat, Kon responded, "Kon-El. It's Hawaiian. My parents were hippies. My adopted parents, I mean. When they died, I decided to leave the islands and try to find my brother."
Chloe saw Martha exchanging looks with Clark. They would need to explain things to her as soon as possible
"So, Lark is your brother?" Lois asked shrewdly
"I believe so." kin said, lying very convincingly.
A sound rather like an engine stalling cut Lois off. Kon grinned sheepishly and so much like Clark it almost hurt. He rubbed his stomach, "Sorry… I haven't eaten in… well in a while."
"Oh my! " Martha said, stepping forward, all confusion replaced by her need to mother thins. It was one of Chloe's favorite things about Martha Kent. "why don't we all go into the house. I have a meat loaf ready and Kon can tell us more about himself."
"Meat loaf sounds great, Mrs. Kent." Kon said, only stumbling some as he was ushered down the loft stairs by Mrs. Kent. Chloe wanted to hang back with Clark and ask him what he ought about what just happened, but Lois was making that impossible.
As they walked back, Chloe thought over the conversation in the loft. Kon seemed genuine. Very much so. And very friendly, too, once the got past everyone's fears and apprehensions. If he was from the Phantom Zone, Chloe had a hard time imagining what he would have been imprisoned for.
That meant he must be telling the truth. He was from the future. Clark's son from the future. That meant Clark must eventually get married or at least have a kid out of wedlock. Good for him, Chloe thought. Sure, she still loved him and all, but she was to the point in crushing that as long as he Clark was happy with someone, she was ok.
But something was eating at her conscious as she walked into the house. Kon didn't recognize her. That meant she wasn't in the future. I What is going to happen to me? /I