Sorry about the not needed gap between updates. :) But I finally updated. So, Yay!
Chloe gaped at Clark or what should have been Clark.
Oh no! No no no no no no no no no no! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to collect herself but the panic that cut through her sprung them wide open again.
"Clark?! What the hell?!" Chloe could hear the worry in Lois' voice and she tried to open her mouth to explain but no words came out.
"I am Kal-El." Kal-El repeated, staring Lois down with a glare so cold she flinched beneath it.
"No! You're Clark Kent, damnit!" Lois screamed back, regaining any composure she had lost. She moved for his arm but he swung it away, flinging her down in the process.
Kal-El hardly flinched as Lois proceeded to hit him in the face with a rock she had picked off the ground.
Chloe couldn't stand anymore. Whatever she had done to Clark had left her a shell, her whole body was ringing with exhaustion and the idea of dealing with Kal-El made her slip farther back into warm darkness that was creeping. It pained her to do it but she had no choice. If Clark ever remembered, Chloe was sure he would understand.
"Lana..." She whispered and in a second she was there.
"Are you sure?" Her voice was nothing but a whisper as she stared at Chloe. Chloe nodded her head and Lana turned slowly to Kal-El, who's eyes were still drawn to Lois. He didn't see Lana until it was too late and her hand was already on his shoulder.
"Lana! NO!" Lois cried as she sprung to Clark but Oliver was there, holding her back.
"Lois! You don't understand. That isn't Clark!"
Heavy tears slid down her face as she watched Clark struggle to the ground, his body suddenly a sickening green.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" She screamed at Lana as she struggled in Oliver's arms.
Oliver turned her around to him, pulling her into his arms. "No! He's going to be fine. He's going to be fine, Lois." He whispered softly into her ear, her heavy sobs vibrating in his chest.
"Oliver...Nothing is fine about this." She breathed into his ears. She squeezed her eyes shut as Clark's screams filled her ears, crashing into her very being until her body shook with every tremor that spilled forth from his mouth.
Chloe stared sadly at Lois, who's sadden aura pulsed with every scream until Clark fell into the ground. The night was was silent except for Lana's slight sobs and Lois' hissing breath as she tried to hold back the tears.
With force, she pulled herself away from Oliver and walked back to Clark.
Lois stared at him before lifting her eyes to Lana, who watched Lois with sadness that made Lois want to punch her in the face. Instead she walked over to her and slapped her hard.
"Lois!" Chloe called out, staggering to her cousin.
"No, it's okay, Chloe." Lana held up a hand at Chloe as to reassure her. She turned her green eyes back to Lois, who stood before her, hair hanging in strands and her clothes rumpled with dirt. But even in her disheveled state, Lana could see the love Lois had for Clark and maybe that was enough to forgive her.
"I'm sorry, Lois. If there was any other way..."
A soft cough interjected the moment, and all eyes slowly turned to Bruce, who stood with eyebrows raised.
"Could someone please tell me what's going on?"
Bruce and Oliver struggled with Clark's body as they placed him on one of the many couches Bruce had in his foyer. Chloe walked Lois in, who seemed to be keeping an eye on Oliver and Bruce. Chloe glanced back to Lana, who walked in awkwardly behind them.
"You're bleeding." Chloe pointed out. Lana rubbed her cheek, smearing the line of blood that trickled from the already disappeared cut.
"Oh, yeah." She murmured absentmindedly, staring at her blood stained fingers for a moment before rubbing them on her jeans.
"I thought the suit made you invincible." Chloe asked.
Lana pushed a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail back behind her ear. Chloe noticed her hair had gotten longer.
"I am. Well, it seems to wear off at some points." Her eyes flickered around a bit. "Unless I absorb some Kryptonite, I start to lose my abilities."
Chloe turned her head to Oliver, who had been listening in the background.
"Maybe that's why Lex is suddenly so interested in these suits. Prometheus obviously isn't what he had in mind if it wears off after a while."
"Makes sense." Bruce chimed in. "He finds out the previous suit, I assume, isn't working out as he plans so he settles on another."
Chloe shook her head. "But that doesn't explain all this!" She pointed back to Clark. "Who was that guy out there?"
Bruce's face grew solemn, "And old enemy." He closed himself off after that and said no more on the matter even when Oliver gave him a questioning look.
Lois turned to her cousin, her face contorted in a mix of confusion, worry and anger. "Chloe, what is going on?"
"Lois..." She started but Lois grabbed her arm, an almost pleading expression on her face.
"Don't make up an excuse. I'm tired of excuses. Just tell me what's going on."
Chloe nodded her head. Lois was right. She was much a part of this as Chloe was and she had no right to drag her along unaware of what she was in. Chloe would just have to side step anything to do with Clark until she could find a way to bring him back.
"We think Lex is alive."
Lois leaned back in surprise, "I didn't even know Lex was dead."
"He went missing awhile back and we just assumed he was dead but recent events have surfaced that would lead otherwise." Chloe explained. Lois glanced back at Clark, a lone tear rolling softly down her cheek.
"Chloe," She breathed to her cousin. "Clark's The Blur, isn't he?" Her voice shook softly as she uttered the last two words.
The room seemed sucked of noise. Nothing was left but the utter silence as the question left Lois' lips. Chloe could feel all eyes on her and like many smaller times before, she hated the secrets she carried. The positions they left her. As hard as it was to believe, there were times Chloe wished to be as ignorant to the true inner workings of the world as any stranger on the street was.
"Yeah. He is."
Lois bent her head, nodding as she did. "You know...I'm not surprised. Upset. A little resentful. Bordering on hysterical, maybe but surprised is nowhere near what I feel." She said, looking back up with a tired smile.
"He'll have to tell you now." Oliver said from behind her.
"No." She stated simply. "That's not what I wanted. Even though I know...I still want Clark to tell me...on his terms not mine. So until then, I'm as ignorant to his secret as I was before." She shrugged her shoulders, pulling her arms in closer. She turned to look back at him. "Until he's ready to tell me."
"Lois, that's really...not like you at all." Chloe said, looking at her cousin in a mixture of awe and happiness.
"Yeah, well I'm too tired to argue with a unconscious Clark...or Kal-El."
"Who's Kal-El?" Bruce asked.
Chloe turned back to Lois, who shrugged her shoulders. "I assume this is in the category of "Only Clark Can Tell Me. No, it's fine. You guys go talk somewhere else. Leave him here with me."
"Are you sure, Lois?" Chloe asked wearily. "If he wakes up...you might not be able to control him. Not with his powers."
"Here." Lana interjected. She pulled a necklace from beneath her shirt. "It's something I made...to remind me of home, among other things." She added.
Lois pulled the necklace from her hands, glancing down at it with a skepticism. "It's a necklace."
"It's made out of meteor rock. It's Clark's only weakness."
"Not exactly." Bruce gazed at Lois. "Something tells me Lois Lane can handle Kal-El."
The room suddenly got very quite at Bruce's reasoning and Chloe almost chuckled as of all the moments, Lois decided to turned a brilliant shade of pink.
"Yeah, way to make things awkward, Batman." Oliver clamped a hand on Bruce's shoulder, leading him away much to Bruce's dismay.
Lois watched them walk away, her face going from confusion to shock to excitement. "Who doesn't dress up in this room? YOU OWE ME AN INTERVIEW!" She called to him.
Chloe walked up to her cousin, placing an arm softly on hers. "You going to be okay?"
Chloe could feel Lois' nervousness but wasn't surprised to see Lois brush it off with some confidence. "Please, I can handle Clark in whatever form he comes at me with."
"I know this is a lot to handle but it's going to be okay."
Lois nodded her head. "I'm sure it will."
Chloe walked out of the room throwing one look back before stepping into the room.
Lois pulled a chair over and placed it in front of Clark. Her gazed trailed up his body till her eyes fell on his sleeping face. It looked so familiar, the same face she had come to love. The hard images of his face contorted in rage flickered in and she closed her eyes to rid the memory but they came back stronger so she opened her eyes.
"I am so kicking your ass."
Kal-El slowly opened his eyes to sound of a rapid tapping sound that disturbed his thoughts. Turning away he came face to face with the human girl who had the audacity to throw a rock at him.
"Hello sleepyhead. Did you have a nice nap?" Lois sat, tapping her foot hard against the ground, cross armed in a chair right next to the couch Clark or Kal-El laid on. He stared at her through Clark's blue eyes but Lois knew where ever Clark was, he wasn't behind them.
"Who are you?"
"Lois. Lois Lane."
She couldn't help but smirk as she remembered their first meeting where they shared a similar dialogue, except she had crashed into a field of corn and he had been without clothes.
Kal-El started to get up, "I have to go." He was sitting up just as a wave a nauseousness hit him and he fell back, gasping in pain.
"Oh, yeah. See, you're not going anywhere, bud." Lois smirked.
Kal-El glared at her, anger flushing inside of him. How could one human cause him to react...like a human.
Lois pulled a necklace out from beneath her jacket. Kal-El squinted in pain as he took in the flash of green.
"Interesting thing. Did you know that this little rock could cause the strongest man on this planet so much pain." She shifted the chair closer to him. "Kind of makes you look really pathetic."
"Why are you doing this?"
Lois stared him dead in the eye, all sarcasm washed off her face to be replaced with a face of steel.
"Because I want Clark Kent back."
"He's gone."
Her smile was flat. "No, see I think he's very much alive and if you what's good for you, you'll bring him back. I don't care what super powers you got juiced with from the meteor rocks.
Kal-El sat in mild confusion, her anger unfamiliar to him. He had yet to see such strength from a human and it unnerved him that someone so beneath him would think to command him so. Still, he couldn't stop the slight tingle of admiration for her.
"My abilities do not come from the radioactive pieces of my planet." He said simply. He watched her smile falter as she took in his statement.
"Your planet?."
"Krypton."
She looked away, sickened. "I thought that was a country." Her eyes flickered around. "I really hoped it was a country.
"No, Krypton is...was...my home planet.
She sat back in her seat, the necklace dangling from her fingers. Kal-El eyed it, watched as it dangled back and forth. Lois was having some trouble breathing. Actually, she felt has if she wasn't breathing at all.
"You're telling me you are an alien." It was supposed to be a question but Lois realized that somewhere deep down inside, somewhere where every question and curiosity that centered around Clark Kent, was a small inkling that he had to be something special. No one was that nice and came from the planet Earth. And wasn't some super powered alien special enough? Did Lois really know all along and was actually deceived by a flannel wearing, tractor driving, Kansas home boy who liked to watch football and drink whole milk?
"Yes." He stated simply.
Lois suddenly threw herself up from the chair, surprising Kal-El. She paced before him. His eyes followed her rapid footsteps and the sudden thought occurred to him that he could easily disable her, the meteor effects only a disturbance for so long before he could over take her. It would a small price to pay to get away from her questions but for some odd reason, he couldn't bring himself to lay a hand on her.
And that sickened him.
"You mean to tell me that Clark Kent, the plaid loving journalist who would rather spend a day tinkering away on his farm, is not only the freaking Red Blue Blur but an alien from some far distant planet called Krypton?!"
"Yes."
She pivoted to face him. "So, who the hell are you?!"
Kal-El clenched his jaw in annoyance. "Kal-El."
"So, Clark's a schizo too?" She asked.
"Kal-El is my true name given to me by my parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van."
She stood before in a stupor, hankered by the information she had just received. She slumped back in her seat.
"What are doing here?" She asked slowly.
"I was asleep but have now been awaken to fulfill my destiny."
Lois was afraid to ask but her curiosity sparked at his statement. "And that would be...?"
Kal-El looked at her through unfamiliar blue eyes, "To rule Earth."
"Chloe, what the hell happened with Clark?" Oliver asked the moment the door was shut.
Chloe sat down, wrapping the black blanket she had picked up off one of the chairs in the dining room they now occupied.
She took a deep breath, thinking back to what happened. "I don't know. I was trying to hide the pain behind..." At this point she glanced around uneasily. How was she supposed to explain that she had been trying to masked Clark's pain by submerging it in the love between Lois and Clark. "...behind some good feelings when out of nowhere comes...Kal-El. I think somewhere deep down inside of Clark laid his Kryptonian alter-ego and I just gave him a boost up."
Oliver looked at Chloe with what she could only identify with as fear. It didn't help that his aura pulsated a hard gray.
"Chloe, I'm a little worried at how rapidly your powers are growing. I can understand the ability to read emotions but to mask them or replace them is a bit much especially in the short amount of time you've had your powers. Not too mention that your ability seems to have progressed to the point where you are controlling the emotions around you."
"Chloe, you have powers?" Lana asked.
Chloe shrugged sheepishly, "It was quite a surprise." She looked back to Oliver. "It's not like I'm doing these things on purpose, they're just coming up from inside me. I mean I understand the worry" She glanced down at her hands, her throat constricting as the pressure leaned heavy against her, "I worry too."
Oliver stood in frustration. What was he supposed to do? The fact that he couldn't help Chloe festered inside him.
"Oliver, the fact that you care is more then enough for me. I don't Green Arrow...I want Oliver Queen." Chloe assured him, lifting her face to him.
"You stop that." He warned sternly but with a playful tinge.
Chloe smiled. "I'll try to contain myself."
Bruce stood out in the shadows. "So...what does this mean for us? You say Lex wants my suits but you're not telling me why?"
"Lex and Clark had this big massive showdown at Clark's Fortress of Solitude," She shook her head at his confused look, "Don't ask. It was destroyed...kind of but in the whole shebang, Lex was injured, badly."
"We actually thought he was dead." Lana added.
"But it was later confirmed that he was very much alive but barely." Oliver followed. "Prometheus was his way but Lana got it first."
"And now it's not working?" Bruce turned to Lana, who nodded her head.
"I need Kryptonite to keep my powers or else they start to fade."
Chloe sat in thought. "So how does Lex know all this?"
"Come on, Chloe. It's Lex." Oliver spoke with hard distaste, "So, know he wants those suits and plans to add some green touch to it."
"Making it difficult for Clark to get anywhere near him." Lana sat down beside Chloe, "Can you bring Clark back?"
Chloe thought about for a second. "Maybe after a nice nap and some food."
"Well, that's going to have to wait," Lois said as she busted into the room. Her hair was tousled more then it had been before and as she rushed in she was attempting, and much to Oliver and Bruce's mild excitement, failing to keep her t-shirt from falling off where it had somehow been ripped in half.
Chloe stood up as she saw her cousins flushed face. "What happened?!"
Lois glanced around uneasily, her eyes shooting everywhere except to her cousins face. "Umm...Cla-I mean Kal-El kind of left..."
Oliver chocked back a laugh. "Now how did that happen?"
"Don't ask." Lois pleaded with a slight wince. "Please, just know that he's off gallivanting around the globe AND that's more important then wondering how he escaped."
Chloe glared at her cousin, who was shrouded in embarrassment tinged with some mild lust. "Lois...What happened in there?!"
Lois bit her lip, more in memory then in shame. "Well, he was talking and I was yelling then some more talking and yelling followed by some in-depth conversation-"
"LOIS! Just get to the point!" Chloe shouted between her teeth.
"Okay! Ummm...Do you remember that song by Olivia Newton-John?" She asked.
"Hopelessly Devoted To You?" Lana answered.
Lois shook her head.
"I Honestly Love You?"
Lois glanced uneasily at Oliver's answer. "No..."
Bruce answered next, "Magic?"
Chloe placed her now throbbing head in her hand, "You didn't happen to get Physical in there, did you?"
"Ah-Ha! There you go...and yeah..." Lois fumbled with her shirt.
"Lois..." Chloe drew out her name.
"I'm sorry, okay! It kind of just sprung up on me." She stopped, "Okay bad chose of words but can we just get back to the fact that he's out there!" She pointed to one of the massive windows lining the outer wall.
"She's right." Lana said, her voice serious and hard, "And with Lex searching for his new war suit it won't be long before he catches wind of Clark."
Chloe fell back a bit, Oliver catching her in an instant as she moaned slightly.
"Chloe." He whispered softly into her ear, shaking her in his arms.
She slowly opened her eyes to his, "It might be too late for that." She said in a shaky whisper.
"Mr. X, it seems that you were right about the farm kid."
"Of course."
"And Miss. Sullivan is doing her part accordingly."
"You better make sure it stays that way. I will have no more insolence from your friends."
"Yes, well my friend is back at Arkham, where he can play his stupid card tricks."
"And The Batman?"
"Leave the flying rat to me. What's your next move?"
"I think I'll take a lesson from my late father. Among the many things he taught me, one great lesson was to truly take down a warrior you must attack neither his body or mind. Always go for the heart."
"The blondie?"
"Partly but I need Clark Kent destroyed. No..."
"The mouthy reporter?"
"Had you done your job, WE WOULD HAVE HER!"
"I'm sorry but you got what you wanted, didn't you?"
"Yes. I got Kal-El but Clark Kent will be back and when he does come back I want surprise him with a gift. You get me that girl.
"Dead or alive?"
"Alive. Very much alive."
"And the suits?"
"Are underway. Soon I will have my army and Miss. Sullivan will be primed and ready to lead it with the meteor powers I gave her."
"What makes you think she'll do it? I mean, we're talking about thousands of lives being killed. You into power and the world under complete control. She wouldn't do it...would she?"
"Yes. Yes she would...She just needs the proper push."