Chapter Fifty-Three

Lois felt like her head was pounding. She struggled to breathe; it was as if something was crushing her chest. Lois opened her eyes and saw the concerned faces of Uncle Gabe, Chloe, and Julian staring at her.

No, not Julian. Clark.

"Alex. Alex shot me." Her voice came out in a course whisper.

"No, Lois." Gabe took her hand. "You weren't shot. You were exposed to a synthetic inhalant compound. Most of it is out of your system, but it might take a few days for it to completely go away."

Lois whimpered as she watched the shadows on the walls grow and move towards her. She closed her eyes to shut out the images, but that only brought other visions. Visions of monsters with teeth and claws. At times it was as if she could feel them breathing on her; close enough for her to smell their foul breath and look down their throats into the stomachs where she would die a slow death of digestion. Lois screamed and waved her arms, trying to fight them off. Then she would feel a prick and be swallowed in darkness.

When Lois opened her eyes again, Alex was standing at the foot of the hospital bed, calm as ever.

"You shot me!" Lois spat.

Alex just raised an eyebrow. "Miss Lane, whatever are you talking about?"

Lois struggled with the hospital gown and felt her stomach, where she remembered being shot. All she felt was smooth skin; no scars or open wounds.

Memories of her adventure in the other Earth came back to her. Lois remembered the photo of Clark dressed in flannel smiling with his parents. Alex had probably taken it from her when she fell unconscious and destroyed it already. There was no way he would let evidence like that exist. A quick glance to her wrists showed the bracelet device had been taken off as well.

But Lois knew the truth now, and she stared at Alex across from her with a steely gaze of her own.

"So, what happens now?" Lois challenged.

"Lois, you're awake." Uncle Gabe came in, a vase of flowers in his hands. He placed them on a nearby shelf with other 'Get Well' cards, flowers, and a little teddy bear. Close behind him was Chloe and Clark, holding a fistful of double fudge chocolate bars. "Mr. Luthor. I didn't expect you to be here."

"I wanted to check in personally. Also, I wanted to assure you in person that I won't be pressing any trespassing, theft, or sabotage charges. I think she's suffered enough."

The sweetness in Alex's voice was sickening. Uncle Gabe was muttering his thanks, he looked so relieved. And Clark was looking at Alex full of admiration.

Lois lunged forward and grabbed Clark's shoulders. "You have to listen to me. You are Clark Kent. I was there. At the farm, with your parents. And Pete. And Lana. And the other Lex. Not that guy." Lois jerked her thumb to point to Alex. "I hate that guy. He's a very bad man."

"Lois." Uncle Gabe scolded her. "Mr. Luthor is being more than generous. You are in a lot of trouble, young lady for what you did. You almost got yourself killed."

Lois clutched harder onto Clark, willing for him to believe her. "You are Clark."

"Sure, Lois." Clark patted her shoulder. "Let's get you back into bed."

"No!" She pounded her fists against his chest, which somehow hurt. "You are Clark Kent! You're from another Earth. Alex kidnapped you after his Julian died. I know it sounds crazy, but I spoke with Lana. She's making better cappuccinos cause the other one blew up. I saw a photo of you with your parents and you were all standing in front of the porch. And Pete said he knows a secret. Wait, that's not it. He's keeping a secret for you. He didn't tell me what it was."

Lois could see Clark beginning to hope again. That he was Clark Kent and not Julian Luthor. She smiled, relieved.

"Your Mom's pregnant. You're going to be a big brother."

Clark's smile vanished and Lois knew her big mouth had gotten her into trouble again.

"Mrs. Kent can't have kids."

Lois felt herself being pulled from Clark by hospital orderlies and put back in the hospital bed. She fought them off, but one of them must have injected her with a sedative. Her arms began to feel heavy, and Lois watched helplessly as Clark was escorted out of the room by Alex. Uncle Gabe and Chloe were looking at her with concerned faces, they didn't see the triumphant grin Alex flashed her.

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"That must have been hard, hearing her say those things." Alex said as he walked Clark down the hallway, his arm over Clark's shoulder pulling him close.

"Lex, what happened to Lois?" Clark asked him.

"The basement at the fertilizer plant has been used as storage for some top-secret projects I wanted to keep a close eye on. With the place being empty, it seemed like a good storage unit with close proximity to the mansion. Now that it is going to be operational again, I had Dr. Hamilton take inventory and see what could be moved back to Cadmus. Lois must have snuck in and came across a project Cadmus is working on for the military. It's a compound that's supposed to make the inhalant experience high levels of fear. Another interrogation tactic since Eurydice didn't turn out. She must have dropped the vial, breaking it, and inhaled some."

It was more or less the truth. Lois had managed to sneak into the fertilizer plant when Dr. Hamilton had been on a smoke break. How she had managed to find out about the third level, Alex didn't know. But Lois had proven herself to be resourceful during her little investigation, so he wasn't too surprised.

What was surprising, was how Lois managed to pick out Project Eurydice, insert the Kryptonian disc which was supposed to be in his safe at the Cadmus office, and turn the device on. As Alex understood it, Hamilton had sounded off the alarm a minute before she had been sent to the other Earth.

The Earth where Clark Kent existed. Or, at least, used to.

Alex knew the Kill Clock was set for four hours. That was more than enough time for him to get a crew to move all projects to another location and thoroughly clean the place up. Then, all he had to do was wait for Lois to reappear. Hamilton had helped him enter coordinates into the device so someone had ever accidently gotten their hands on it, Alex would know exactly where they would show up. Alex shot her with a tranquilizer gun and exposed her to a prototype drug he had just described to Clark. From previous trials, Alex knew Lois would not suffer any real harm past the initial visions the drug caused. But this way, anything Lois claimed to have seen could easily be blamed on the drug. Lois, clever as she was, had taken a photo of Clark with his parents. He set it on fire before he called the ambulance.

Clark wasn't saying anything as they walked. Alex looked at him concerned. "Why don't I take you there?"

"Where?"

"To the third level at the plant. You can look around all you want."

"No." Clark came to halt. Alex turned and saw the boy looking like he was ready to cry. Alex hated seeing Clark like this. He wanted Clark happy and smiling. Alex stepped forward to hug and comfort him. Clark stepped back. He looked down at the ground, arms crossed in front of him. "There's no point. Either you're innocent and nothing's there, or you really did kidnap me from another dimension and you already hid the evidence."

"Do you hear yourself? Another dimension? I can't say I can disprove that theory. But other scientists have been trying to prove their existence for years." Alex was not unaware of what he was doing, and he felt some guilt. Still, he wasn't exactly lying, and it was necessary for Clark to accept he was a part of this world. There was no chance of Clark being happy if he didn't.

Alex tried again to get close to Clark. The boy took another step away from him. "I just…I think I need to be alone right now."

"If that's what you want." Alex allowed the hurt to show. "I'll head out to the penthouse. Give you some space."

"No. I'll go. I can be there in three seconds."

In the blink of an eye, Clark was gone leaving Alex alone in the hallway.