They ran for about an hour, slogging through the ditch and then into the cover of the tall corn fields around town. They’d heard a few helicopters roar over their heads, but with Clark’s vision giving them ample warning, they’d stayed out of sight so far. Clark was exhausted from the fight, and the constant fear of being discovered. Chloe looked even worse off, stumbling and gasping for breath with every step. She didn’t complain though, and he was forced to revise his opinion of her. She was clearly a lot tougher than he’d thought, a lot like the Chloe he knew from his home.

She saw him looking and gave him a weak smile. That was another problem, he thought. It was too easy to forget that he didn’t know this girl, no matter how she resembled his Chloe. But they were so alike, he argued with himself. Maybe the differences weren’t that deep in people after all. Maybe even in this world, Chloe was Chloe.

“I think we can rest here,” he said finally when they came into a small clearing. He glanced upwards, scanning the treetops. “We can’t stay long, but we should probably wait until dark before we go out again. There’s enough cover so that they won’t be able to spot us unless they stop right overhead.”

“Thank God,” she sighed, sinking to her knees. Groaning, she rubbed her calves and winced. “I haven’t run that hard since, well, I’d say gym class, but I didn’t even do it then.”

“You kept up pretty good,” he told her, leaning against a tree.

“Thanks.” She stared at him speculatively. “Especially for someone without superpowers,” she remarked.

“They’re not all they’re cracked up to be,” he told her seriously. He sat down on the ground and stared upwards, thinking.

She laughed. “Right, I’m sure. The whole part about being stronger and faster than everyone else must be real drag.” She smiled at him knowingly. “Can you tell me you don’t get off on all that?”

“Sure, that part’s fun,” he admitted, “but there’s a lot more that goes with it. I’m not just stronger than everyone else, I’m a lot stronger. Like what happens if I get mad, or get in a fight with someone? Heck, I don’t even have to be mad to really hurt someone; I could just not be paying attention and shake their hand too hard.” He looked at her sadly. “I couldn’t even play sports as a kid because I might wind up crippling someone by accident.”

“That does kind of suck,” she nodded, “but what about everything else? I mean, can you imagine what I would do if I those powers?”

She looked so excited, he thought. Shaking his head, he laughed a little. “No, what would you do?” he asked, playing along.

Chloe floundered for a moment and then sat up, excited. “Well for starters I’ve got a few ex-boyfriends I wouldn’t mind visiting. Then some teachers, and this old social worker of mine, who was just so annoying with her little BMW that was like, her pride and joy. I think I’d take it apart piece by piece and leave it out on her lawn so it’d be the first thing she saw when she went outside.” She smiled, clearly picturing it. Then she shrugged and leaned back again.

“Then? I don’t know,” she remarked. “I’d probably show my uncle what for. Show him I’m not worthless, you know?”

“Does he think that?” Clark asked.

“He’s always down on me,” she replied. “Always expects me to be so much better, huh? Like his daughter, as if he’d know. He didn’t even bring his family to live with him here; he sees them like twice a year. The rest of the time he’s stuck with me.” She sighed loudly and lay down on the ground, staring up at the sky. Then she sat up suddenly and pulled a lump of paper out of her jacket. Peeling a soggy bill off of the stack of bills, she sighed. “Easy come, easy go,” she muttered, tossing the ruined lump of money away. Then she lay back again and was silent. Clark chose not to comment about it.

“You know,” she said after a minute, “this has got to be the strangest day of my life. Not just ‘so far’, but probably ‘it’, the strangest day ever.”

“Oh?” he asked, looking up at the sky as well.

“Well, I’m sitting here with a guy who’s an alien, and if that wasn’t enough, he’s from a parallel world or something, and together we just got away from a bunch of hyped up commandos by slogging through practically all the industrial waste in town,” she said in a rush. She paused and considered it. “That last part wasn’t so fun though. I could’ve done without that.”

“I’ll say. I’m the one with the super senses, remember?” he told her dryly.

Chloe laughed wearily and was silent for a while. Clark though she’d fallen asleep, when she murmured suddenly, “I can’t do it.”

“What?” he asked her.

“Sleep. I just can’t do it. It’s like, what if this is just some weird dream I’m having. What if I go to sleep and I wake up in my own bed?”

“I can pinch you,” he offered.

“I don’t think I want the guy who can punch through concrete to pinch me,” she shook her head. Clark smiled and then looked away. He got up and slowly walked around the clearing, staring about aimlessly. She noticed the worried look on his face. “Clark, what is it?”

“Just thinking about what you said. About this being a dream. How do you think I feel?” he asked her, turning around. “I went to school this morning with a Chloe Sullivan whose hair was about a foot shorter and spent all her time worrying about laying out the next issue of the school paper. And then suddenly I’m here, standing in front of the same girl who’s now only interested in grand theft auto.”

“Thanks,” she muttered.

“Sorry,” he said, realizing what he’d said. “It’s just… this would all be easier for me if it was a dream. As strange as it’s been for you, at least you’re home. You’ve always known things to be this way.” He reached into his jacket and brought out the meteor rock he’d picked up earlier. Holding it up, he stared at it intently. It lay dully in his hand, not affecting him in the slightest. “For me,” he told her, “nothing’s the same here.”

Clark sighed and then looked up at her. Tossing the rock up and catching it, he asked her, “Do you know what this is?”

“Sure, it’s a meteor rock,” she shrugged. “They’re everywhere.”

“Have you ever heard of them doing things to anyone? Changing them?” he explained.

Chloe frowned and held out her hand. He tossed her the stone and she caught it smoothly. Turning it over, she shrugged, thinking back. “I’m not sure, maybe. I think I might’ve heard something once, but that was a while ago. I never really paid attention to that kind of stuff though. I know what everyone else knows. The rocks came down in the meteor shower and that’s it. Luthorcorp said they were going to collect them all for some reason, but I guess they scrapped that ‘cause there’s still so many of them lying around. Other than that, they’re dull, not too pretty, and you can’t sell them for anything. If there’s anything special about them, you’d have to ask somebody else, sci-fi stuff was never that interesting to me.”

He laughed briefly and backed up, looking at the sky. The sun was just starting to sink across the horizon. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“You… or the you that I know, loves that stuff,” he told her. “She did a report once in front of the class about how the X-Files was actually a documentary and that the government was passing information about alien abductions through the commercials that went with it.”

Chloe stared at him and then wrinkled up her face, thinking intently. “Well that’s weird. I don’t know whether to laugh or feel ashamed about that,” she remarked. “Anyway, I bet you’re like her ideal guy; tall, dark, and not from this planet.” Then she hesitated, “Not that that’s my ideal guy, you know…, just hers. Even though I guess she’s me… I’m not explaining this right,” she commented.

“She doesn’t actually know,” he admitted.

Chloe turned around and gave him a strange look. “You haven’t told her? But you told me, and we just met today.”

“I haven’t had to reveal my powers in front of her yet,” he said. “As long as she doesn’t have to know…”

“Right, you’d probably want to keep the whole E.T. vibe to yourself. I get it.” She jumped off her rock and started to pace around. “How much longer do we have to wait?” she asked impatiently.

“Another hour and it should be dark enough to sneak out.”

Her face fell and she went back to her rock. Leaning against it, she waited, sighing. “So… Tell me more about myself,” she said brightly. “Boyfriend? Car? What?”

He winced. “I don’t know if I should. Don’t they say it’s not wise to know too much about things like that?”

“That’s knowing about your future, Clark,” she remarked dryly. “It doesn’t apply for parallel worlds.”

“It’s the same concept,” he argued.

“Fine, we won’t talk about me.” She shrugged and then smiled wickedly. “We can just go back to talking about you then.” She leaned across her rock, staring at him intently. “So tell me,” she said, tilting her head, “any other differences I should know about?”

“Uh?” he stuttered, confused.

“I mean, from what I can see you look normal enough, but are you like that all over?” she asked smiling.

“So what do you want to know about yourself again?” he asked quickly. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“The usual, family, friends, cute boyfriend, job, cute boyfriend, life in general. So tell me all about myself.”

***

Why is my life like this, Lana wondered. She’d thought that so many times over so many years that she’d stopped even registering the question. It was just a refrain in her head, like a bit of a song that looped in the background. It had gone on for so long that she’d stopped even trying to find an answer.

She stalked through the halls of the lab, inwardly fuming. How dare he! The alien was her assignment, how dare he just swoop in and take it! Lex, that waste of flesh and blood that Lionel doted on. How could he take all this away from her? How?

Maybe she could still convince Lionel to change his mind. There was still time. She checked her watch quickly and realized where he’d be at this hour. Backtracking, she walked quickly through the halls. Members of the security team saluted as she passed them, but she barely noticed, she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Maybe she had overreacted a little, she allowed, when she saw the alien. She’d opened fire in a crowd, but that had been necessary. It had all been necessary. The alien had brought nothing but pain and death into everyone’s life and when she’d seen the second one, standing there, the spitting image of the first, something had snapped in her. But people had died, she reminded herself. She’d given the order and people had died, and they had nothing to show for it. It had been necessary, she repeated. Everything was always necessary.

Suddenly she felt so tired. It came over her like a wave, sweeping away her her anger and frustration and leaving behind only an empty ache. “Just tired,” she muttered to herself. She should have rested more after the battle. Three cracked ribs wasn’t something you could just shake off. Digging into her side pockets, she pulled out a tiny vial and shook three pills out of it. She stared at them for a moment, and then popped them in her mouth and dry swallowed them. It was so hard sometimes, the training, the fighting, the wear of the responsibility and duty, so much.

“Still things to do,” she told herself, clenching her eyes shut. “Still things to do.”

“Lang,” a strident voice called out. She opened her eyes wearily and turned around. A robust looking, middle-aged man in a crisp, army uniform was approaching her. Behind him, six armed soldiers marched behind him.

“Can’t go anywhere without a parade, can he?” she muttered under her breath.

“Lang, what’s this I’ve been hearing all morning?” he demanded angrily as he came closer. She couldn’t help but notice how his uniform was freshly starched and his boots gleamed, while her own Luthorcorp uniform was still badly stained and sticky from the morning’s battle. She hadn’t even had time to change out of it yet. “Lionel’s been shutting me out and I can’t get a straight word out of anyone here,” he rasped at her.

“General Lane,” she sighed, “thank you for your concern, but we’re perfectly capable of handling things on our own.”

“Are you really going to hand me that corporate bullshit?” he asked her, leaning in close. She closed her eyes again briefly as he went on. “Where the hell is Lionel hiding himself? You people have been stonewalling me all day.”

“Mr. Luthor has been in meetings all day and-“ she said, starting to walk away, but he kept up with her.

“People being shot in the street? Gutting a theater? A full, goddamn search in progress through most of town? Any of these pop up in the meetings?”

“We’re handling this, General,” she stated again.

“How about a goddamn head’s up next time?” he yelled at her.

“That wasn’t my call,” she replied as calmly as she could. “Besides, it wasn’t your troops that were involved, and it was a very tense time for everyone here. If you were kept out of the loop, I’m sure it was an… oversight.”

“I’m sure it was. Look, I know the government gives you and your boss a lot of leeway with your contracts and running your own private security force,” he remarked, glancing at her. “We stay out of a lot of what goes on here, but in case you’ve forgotten we’re still in charge here. You, and your boss, you both answer to us in the end.”

“Is that the official government stance, General?” Lex spoke up from behind them. They all turned suddenly to find him standing there, watching them quietly.

“Lex,” General Lane said, glaring at him. “At least there’s one Luthor who isn’t afraid to show his face.”

“I’d be careful what you say about my employer,” Lana warned him swiftly.

“I wouldn’t be too worried about that, Lana,” Lex smiled at her. “My father’s been called a lot of things in his life, most of them by me, and he’s still here. As long as no one goes carrying tales, I’m sure the General won’t need to apologize for it.” Lana stared at him quietly. What was Lex up to now? He didn’t stand anything to gain by helping her.

“Like hell I will,” Lane swore. “If anyone owes someone an apology it’s Lionel. What the hell has been going on here today, Lex? A shoot out in town, a search, what’s happening and why wasn’t I informed?”

“You and your men aren’t here to investigate Luthorcorp,” he remarked.

“My men are here as a show of good faith from the United States Military,” the general raged. “They are here to help guard your facilities.”

“Your men are here to essentially guard their own bunks,” Lex smiled. “We protect our own here.” He nodded at Lana, surprising her for a moment. “We’re grateful for the assistance of course, but it’s by no means required.”

General Lane bristled as the skin on his neck turned red. “For the last time, where is Lionel?” he rasped at Lex.

“I was just on my way to see him now,” Lana spoke up. “But I’m afraid he’s in a restricted area. I can carry him a message if you want.”

He stared at her for a moment, silently fuming. She waited patiently as Lex stood there smiling casually at her side. Finally, the General shook his head roughly. “No,” he said in a thick voice, “I can wait to see him later. Tell him I need to speak with him though.” She nodded and he turned quickly, marching through his escorts.

“Oh, General,” Lex spoke up suddenly. “I was wondering how your niece was doing.” Lana glanced at him strangely as the General turned around to give an almost identical look.

“Fine,” he said, put off. “She’s just fine.”

Lex smiled and nodded genially. “That’s good to hear.” General Lane stared at him for a moment and then continued back down the hall. His escort turned and accompanied him.

Lana waited until the last of his escort had turned the corner before she turned to Lex. “That was unlike you,” she told him.

He shrugged. “There’re enough people muddying the water right now, we don’t need any outside interference. We don’t have time to baby-sit the General anymore.”

“What was that bit about his niece? I didn’t even know he had family.”

“He had a brother who used to work for Luthorcorp; died in an accident a few years ago, leaving behind a daughter. While he’s stationed in Smallville, the General’s been looking after her, while his own family is still back east.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You know how we were looking to identify the girl in the attack earlier?” he asked her, smiling.

She stared at him. “You’re joking! His niece?”

He smiled and nodded. “Doesn’t that make things more interesting?” he muttered. “I’m not sure he even knows she’s gone missing yet.”

“What’ll we do when he does find out?” she asked him. “He’s going to be impossible to deal with then.”

“Let my father deal with that. Lane is right about one thing, he does represent the U.S. army in this, he’ll have to be handled carefully.” He glanced at her quickly and dropped his voice even lower. “Speaking of my father, you wouldn’t happen to know where he’s disappeared to now, would you?”

She smiled, glad to be privy to at least one thing Lex wasn’t. “Just like I told the General,” she smiled. “He’s in a restricted area.” She waved her arm down a long stretch of hallway that ended in another set of security doors. The words, ‘Lab 2’, were stenciled on them in bold letters. Lex frowned as he stared at the entrance, making her smile.

“I didn’t know you had access,” he said quietly. “I thought only my father and Hamilton were allowed-“

“Didn’t you hear?” she asked, enjoying throwing it back in his teeth. “Since you took over the search, your father’s promoted me to guarding her.”

“Did he?” he gritted through this teeth.

“Were you planning on snapping that up too?” she smiled at him. “He’ll never trust you with her. He knows what you’d do with her power.”

“But he trusts you.” He smirked and shook his head.

Lana glared at him angrily. “What’s that mean?”

“I don’t know which one of you is more misguided about the other. My father ordered you to bring the creature in alive today, didn’t he? But you were shooting to kill. Was that part of his plan?” She looked away quickly, gritting her teeth. “And you think my father really values you,” he went on. “I hate to disappoint you, but to him, everyone’s just a tool, a weapon to be used. You, me, the General, the alien, and even what’s inside those doors,” he nodded towards the lab. “We’re all just little pawns in his eyes, Lana.”

“Let me give you a little bit of advice, Lana. Be careful of how far you go. If he has to sacrifice you to keep the alien, he will. And for her,” he nodded towards the lab, “he’d probably throw us both to the lions. Just something to think about.”

He turned and strolled down the hallway, his hands stuck in his pockets. She stared after him, her thoughts tumbling over each other in confusion. Finally, she tore her gaze away from him and glanced at the lab doors nervously. How much would Lionel sacrifice for what was inside, she asked herself nervously.

“He trusts me with this,” she told herself quietly. “He trusts me.” Somehow, it didn’t seem to make her feel any easier.