Chapter Five: Revelations

It felt almost surreal.

In the background, the soft clink of ivory keys brought to life on Lex’s expensive grand piano, haunting music played by Milton Fine Lana Lang sat in silence, listening to the perfection of each note, watching the man, who was not a man, continue to play while acting as her jailor. It had been an hour since Lex had left the mansion with Zod and each second that passed, Lana grew more and more frightened. She had first hand knowledge of how brutal Zod could be and was gripped with fear at what Zod might do if Lex could not give him what he wanted.

For no other reason than to stop her mind from conjuring up horrors that were almost as potent as the reality she now faced, Lana asked Fine, “what are you Kryptonians?”

Fine who had been playing Mozart’s Magic Flute, paused in his piano concerto and regarded the female. “I believe the term is alien.”

Encouraged by his willingness to respond, Lana licked her lips, thinking about of a question to which she did not know the answer. She had suspected extra terrestrial of some sort when she had first seen the black space ship but hearing it confirmed, did not ease her fears.

“What do you want with Earth?” Lana asked instead.

“I want nothing with it. It is the General wishes a new home.” Fine answered, continuing to play, his eyes closed as he savored Mozart’s finest.

“Why can’t he just go back to Krypton?” she inquired, watching him, hoping that he didn’t think her questions impudent and attempt to harm her.

“It was destroyed.” Fine explained, seeing no harm in telling the girl data that was ultimately harmless. Krypton’s destruction was no secret after all, it was history and the girl would not live long enough to make use of what he was telling her.

“Destroyed? How?” How does one destroy an entire planet? Destroyed by whatever Zod’s trying to do to Earth?”

Fine uttered a short laugh. “No. Krypton was destroyed when its sun went supernova. The green meteor rocks are all that’s left of it.”

The enormity of what he said made Lana fall silent for an instant. All those years she had been wearing that necklace around her neck as a symbol of losing her parents when instead, she’d been wearing the destruction of someone’s home world like a trophy. She felt sick with horror. “And everybody died?”

“More or less,” Fine said with a smirk, his expression enigmatic. “A few survived in a place called the Phantom Zone, like Zod.”

Lana was about to ask something else when suddenly she heard footsteps and felt her heart beat a little faster, knowing that it was most likely Zod and Lex coming back. Eyes darting to the door, she did not know what to expect although Fine made no mood to stop playing. Instead of Lex however, Lana saw a more familiar face step through the ruined wall where a door used to be.

“Clark!” She almost leapt up from the leather seat with relief.

“Lana,” he said giving her an odd look she wasn’t quite able to read before his blue green eyes shifted to Fine. “Where’s Lex?”

“Zod’s taken him to Metropolis,” Fine replied, his fingers still as the music fell silent.

“You should have gone with him,” Kal looked at the Construct reproachfully. “You know how tricky Lex can be and he may have some of those Section 33.1 freaks working for him. They could interfere with his majesty’s plans.” Clark wore a smirk of mischief.

Lana listened to Clark with nothing less than astonished horror.

“Clark, what are you doing?” She demanded. “Do you know what Zod is? Do you know what he’ll do to Lex or the rest of the planet?” Lana stared at him with aghast. She knew things ended badly with Clark and supposed she could have done better than to go to his best friend for comfort after their break up. However, she had also heard Clark was dating Lois in recent times. She had been happy for him because no matter how angry she had been, Lana still cared about Clark Kent and if he couldn’t be happy with her, she didn’t begrudge him being happy with someone else. Surely that meant he had put aside any enmity he might have had towards Lex and her?

Kal exchanged a bemused expression with Fine and then approached her on the seat. Hands on the side of her arms, he coaxed her into standing. Lana followed suit, thinking he had some secret to impart upon her, that this was his way to convey to her that his behavior was an act, some ruse to gain the enemy’s confidence. He had been the one who had tried to stop Zod the last time and thanks to her foolishness, she had not given him the benefit of the doubt or trusted him enough to know what he was doing. Her actions had almost doomed the human race.

“Clark,” Lana tried desperately to reach him. “You have to help us. You’re the only one who can.”

She didn’t know why this was so but it was a truth as incontrovertible as night and day.

She was so beautiful, Kal thought as he looked into those brown eyes that could melt even a heart made out stone. So beautiful and different from Lois, there was something about Lana that was ageless. She personified the perfection of first love. Lana was the ideal image that Clark Kent would always hold in his heart even when it was Lois that meant everything to him.

Kal-El on the other hand, could only remember who she belonged to and as he listened to the soft sound of a second heartbeat emanating from her belly.

He leaned over to her hear and whispered softly, “Sorry Lana, I’ve got better things to do and you’re not one of them. Besides,” he pulled back with a cruel smile. “I’m not looking to have a taste of Lex’s sloppy seconds.”

Lana’s eyes widened and lashed out, striking him across the cheek.

Kal barely felt anything but smiled at hitting so close to home. “Now if you had done a bit more of than that just whining like a sick dog, I might not have dumped you but hey, you did well for yourself anyway. You’re living every small town girl’s big dream. Get knocked up by the local billionaire. I bet the rock he laid on you is worth all the time on your back.”

“Shut your mouth,” Lana hissed, bleeding from a thousand wounds at his cutting words.

Kal laughed, delighting in the look of pain in her eyes. See how she liked it for a change. “I’m going to Metropolis to find Zod. Watch her. I don’t want her to miss anything when I get my hands on Lex.”

“Of course Kal-El,” the Construct obeyed.

“Kal-El?” Lana gasped. “You’re Kal-El.”

“That’s right Lana,” Kal said not caring if she knew. “I am Kal-El. I tried to be Clark but being Clark meant having to run off and try and help people all the time. All those absences, all those times Clark couldn’t be there for you. He was trying to save everybody and you know what? All he got for his trouble was his girl treating him like he crap and whining how he couldn’t be honest. All those times, he tried to convince you that there was a good reason for him being gone and you couldn’t even give him the benefit of the doubt. You hurt him worse than anyone was able to hurt him so now he’s gone and I’m here,” he stared at her with flinty eyes. “And both you and Lex are going to hurt just as bad…for awhile anyway.”

Leaving her with that thought, Kal walked out of the parlor, his super-hearing making him smile when he heard her start to sob.

****************

Lois had never been inside the Kawatchi Caves but as she moved through the darkness, she wasn’t all that eager to change that either. The place felt downright eerie.

It was like walking through a haunted house, where the wooden floorboards reeked with a sinister past and tragedy clung to the walls like the dusty cobwebs. Lois felt something creeping up her spine the further into it she went. The flash light only illuminated a small space in front of her and didn’t provide nearly enough light to put her at ease. Why couldn’t she have one of those huge xenon things like Mulder and Scully?

At this rate, fluke man was sure as hell going to get her.

“Chloe?” Lois called out. “Chloe you had better be in here.”

“I’m here Lois,” Chloe Sullivan called from the far end of the cave. Fortunately, the place was still in the middle of the limbo where Luthor Corp had been forced to relinquish control while the federal government had yet to take it. All excavation work had ceased and for now at least, they could talk uninterrupted. Chloe made her way into the alcove of rock that Clark had used to reach his fortress. She had no expectations that it would work for her. Whether or not Clark had given any thought to the matter, Chloe suspected that the technology that carried out the transportation was specific to Kryptonian DNA.

Lois followed the beacon of light offered by Chloe’s torch and entered the grotto. In the centre of it sat what appeared to be a stone altar, with strange symbols and carvings on the flat face of it. Looking around the place with a mixture of wonder and concern, Lois’ eyes met Chloe’s.

“And this is better than the Talon how?”

“Trust me Lois,” Chloe said sweeping her gaze around their surroundings. “Kal won’t come here. Not unless he really has to. He wouldn’t look for you here either.”

“You mean Clark,” Lois retorted but inside, she knew Chloe meant Kal.

“I mean Kal,” Chloe repeated. “Lois, how much has Clark told you about himself? About his powers?”

Lois cleared her throat, the subject making her feel slightly uncomfortable. Things had been so perfect between her and Clark that Lois had been a little afraid of opening that can of worms. Getting used to the fact that he had all these powers was not as hard as one would think. Who didn’t love a boyfriend who could make it to the city to get takeaway and be back in half an hour? Or who could open every jar even if it was welded with titanium rivets, to say nothing about his ability to start a fire when it got cold? The truth was his powers didn’t frighten Lois as much as how he might have gotten them because even she could tell that there was more to it than he was saying.

“Not very much,” Lois gave Chloe a look of guilt. “I didn’t want to press him and I guess apart of me was a little afraid to find out.”

“I don’t know whether I should tell you,” Chloe sighed, undecided now that she was faced with how much truth she would be letting Lois on. This was Clark’s right to do but they were faced with a situation that could not be masked beneath any façade. Lois knew this much, she needed to know the truth to help Clark and bring him back to them. It had taken nothing short of Jor-El and Jonathan Kent to bring Clark back the last time, Chloe didn’t know if she and Lois could manage the same.

“You have to tell me,” Lois said meeting her gaze with more emotion than Lois would like to show. She could be a hard ass over just about anything but Clark was becoming that exception to the rule she would not deny. “I want him back Chloe. I want Clark back, not that son of a bitch that’s walking around in his body. Clark.”

“Alright,” Chloe nodded and started talking.

*************

Lois did not know how much time had passed before Chloe finished speaking but it must have been a long time.

She suddenly felt insignificant and terribly important all at once. It was a puzzling feeling. She felt insignificant because the universe had suddenly opened up to her, like an oyster revealing a pearl. This was pearl shattered the foundation of everything she knew, of every science she had ever thought she understood. There was awe in her knowing that there was life out there, in space. Not just life but a universe of possibility. All those questions about whether humanity was alone on this pale blue dot had been answered.

And she felt terribly important because here was a secret that only a select few knew and really, it made sense when she thought about it. Even more so than him being a meteor freak. Since she met him there was this sense of something inside him, something alone, wanting and needing understanding but held in check by fear. She thought of all those odd conversations with Jonathan and Martha Kent, why there were times when an awkward silence would fall over them when she walked into a room.

Lois’ respect for Martha and Jonathan reached a new level of admiration. How many people in this world would have taken in a child from the stars, to raise him with unconditional love and be prepared to sacrifice everything for him? Not many and Lois suddenly felt like she needed to find Martha Kent and hug her for the kindness that was all too rare in this world. And Clark, all alone, never being understood by anyone because of this secret. She remembered how he looked when he had lost Alicia, the terrible pain because for a moment, the loneliness was gone. Even when he had walked into the room after he had saved her from Wallace Echols, Lois had seen his fear and could not understand why he was so afraid.

Now she knew.

“Lois?” Chloe spoke, almost afraid that she had frightened Lois away from Clark for good. She prayed that was not the case. “Lois, are you okay?”

Lois didn’t speak for a minute as her mind tried to take in enough to respond appropriately.

“You’ve known all this time?” She asked finally, looking at Chloe.

“No,” Chloe quickly explained. “I found out not that long ago. Remember I asked you once what would do if you knew a secret about some you cared about?”

Lois blinked, the conversation playing in her head and now in context, understood why Chloe had wrestled with the decision. “I said that I’d go out of the way to make sure that they could become comfortable enough to tell me. You were talking about Clark.”

“Yes,” Chloe nodded watching her cousin whose look was beyond even her ability to read. “I was talking about Clark.”

There was so much to process, so much she wanted to ask about but they had a problem right now and Lois if nothing else, knew how to prioritize. “Okay,” she let out a deep breath, “I’ll deal with this stuff later. Right now, we have to get Clark back.”

“Right,” Chloe said blinking away the emotions she was feeling. She was never prouder of Lois than at this moment for not only standing by her best friend but for being able to focus on what was important.

“So you’re saying that this red meteor rock is what’s causing this Bad Boy Clark episode?” Lois replied starting to pace.

“Yeah,” she nodded in the affirmative. “It’s happened twice before and both times, it hasn’t been pretty.”

“Fill me in later,” Lois said abruptly. “I didn’t see any rock on him Chloe.”

“He has to have it,” Chloe insisted. “It can’t be anything else.”

“Chloe, I didn’t see it anywhere on him.” Lois returned just as determined.

“Are you sure?”

Lois’ cheeks reddened and she said with a half smile. “Pretty sure. Our boy was very, very uhm…frisky, he was quick to get rid of his dry spell if you get my meaning?”

“Okay, okay, you convinced me,” Chloe said wincing before remarking, “contrary to popular belief, Sex in the City is not the bible of every twenty something year old in America. Well I can’t explain it then. It has to be the Red K unless…”

“Unless what…?” Lois stared at her.

“When Clark was exposed to silver kryptonite…”

“Silver Kryptonite?” Lois rolled her eyes. “What is this, the Baskin Robbins of a meteor rocks?”

“Lois!” Chloe gave her a impatient stare. “The point is, the stuff was injected into his skin. Milton Fine had to get it out using some Kryptonian doohickey.”

“We’ll we’re screwed,” Lois retorted thinking that this was no help at all. “First, we don’t have any clue of where to find something like that. Secondly, we couldn’t get close enough to use it without him seeing it.”

“We could go to the fortress,” Chloe suggested, glancing at the passageway that Clark took, the one that was now dark and seemingly inert. “We’d have to fly there since Clark’s the only one who can take the short cut.”

“That’s going to take too long,” Lois said as she went towards the cleft in the rock. “This is how Clark gets there?” She asked more out of curiosity than anything.

“Yeah but it only works on Kryptonian DNA I’m sure,” Chloe answered. “Lois be careful, the thing doesn’t react well to humans messing around with it.” She warned, remembering Lionel Luthor and the archaeologist who had been brain fried after his encounter.

Lois hadn’t meant to get any closer but suddenly, the cleft filled with a brilliant white light. Something ran over her body, warm and intense, it started from her head, moving down her shoulders and resting momentarily on her belly, creating a surge of heat she couldn’t explain before moving down to her toes. The light became brilliant and Lois wondered if perhaps by some miracle, it sensed who she was to Clark.

Then a more logical conclusion came to mind although it made her blush with embarrassment. God only knew how she was going to explain this to Chloe. An ordeal for another time.

“Chloe, come on!”

“Oh crap,” Chloe grumbled, remembering this part and not enjoying it. Hurrying to her cousin, the two women stepped through the portal and vanished it a final flash of light.

PART SIX