Chapter Text
He returned wearily from the intense rescue mission, desperately in need of someone to talk to. The hardest part of this life was that it took so much out of him emotionally, yet he had no place to find solace. He felt the familiar, lonely pull of depression dragging him into its depths. He knew it wasn’t a clinical disorder, but rather the stark realization that he really was alone in this world.
Knowing what his counterpart had only made it harder. It was one thing to be lonely and alone while holding onto some vague hope of meeting the right person someday. There was no such hope for him. The one woman who would make him complete was nowhere to be found. He had searched for her extensively in vain and had finally begun to admit the truth: Lois Lane was dead. For all his super-strength and fantastic powers, the knowledge that she was *nowhere* made him feel vulnerable and raw.
His sense of isolation was exacerbated by the fact that he was the last of his kind. It was an ironic lot. People adored Superman; they admired him deeply and clustered around him whenever he appeared. But for all his admirers, there were others who feared and mistrusted him. Often, he came smack up against those feelings, and the experiences left him completely unnerved.
One thing was true: nowhere in the conflicting miasma of emotional responses did he ever find a feeling that he could even remotely call “home.” He’d only felt that once, but it had been a skewed reflection of a love that belonged to someone else.
Awash in self-pity, he found himself thinking angrily of the events that had led him to this point. On the one hand, it had been an astounding experience—heady and exhilarating in many ways. On the other, it left him with a massive void. Knowing that his own counterpart had everything he had ever yearned for made him feel empty and, at times, resentful.
‘Wells!’ he thought bitterly. ‘If only Wells had just stayed out of my life.’
As if his very thoughts had summoned the man, a time machine suddenly appeared in his living room. A very flustered and winded H.G. Wells stepped out of the machine. Clark instantly pushed his self-pity aside; Wells would only have come if there were a grave reason.
“Is everything okay? Is Lois in danger… is Clark? Do you need my help?”
Herbert looked at him for a long moment, as if trying to decide what to say next. “Actually… I… I have… something… that is… someone… with me…”
Brimming with agitation, Wells fiddled with the controls on his machine and lifted the passenger hood. Time stood completely still as Clark saw who that someone was.
Lois Lane.
She was unconscious and badly bruised, wearing an outfit that, even under the most generous of descriptions, could only be called skimpy. Clark moved in closer. Was she dead? His fine senses detected a heartbeat and he felt a surge of relief. Not dead. But badly harmed. His hands curled into fists as he struggled to control his growing rage.
“Who did this to her?” His voice was deceptively calm. ‘If Clark did this, I’ll kill him.’
“I’ll tell you, but you need to know that this isn’t the Lois Lane that you know,” Wells said hastily.
“She’s from yet another universe?”
“Well… in a matter of speaking,” Wells said. “This Lois Lane is the one from *your* universe.”
“What? But… but that’s impossible. I looked everywhere for her. Everywhere! There is no possible way that she could have escaped my notice. Where did you find her? What happened to her?”
“You have to promise to stay calm,” Wells said nervously.
“Calm? You’ve just conjured—out of thin air, I might add—the one person who can make my life complete! I thought she was dead! I scoured the entire planet looking for her. I used every super-sense at my disposal—even doing some really unpleasant graveyard checks—and nothing! Then you show up with her, unconscious and badly beaten, and you expect me to remain calm?”
“I hesitate to continue until you get yourself under control,” Wells replied gingerly. “This situation will require careful handling.”
“But—”
“Clark. Please. I’m sorry. I know this is hard for you. It’s hard for me too. Her condition—her disappearance—both are completely my fault. I was trying to make sure Utopia happened, and in doing so, managed to consign this woman into a living hell. I—”
“Okay. Look. I promise. I’ll stay calm. But tell me now. What happened to her? Where was she?”
Wells looked away and, with a heavy sigh, sat down on the edge of the sofa. He motioned for the younger man to sit as well. Clark obliged in hopes that his compliance would bring about a quicker conclusion to this mystery.
Wells heaved another heavy sigh. “Tempus took Lois out of this universe three years ago and brought her into an alternate one. He left her there with absolutely no means to get home. This particular alternate universe was… unpleasant, to say the least.”
“Unpleasant how?”
“Kryptonians had overtaken the Earth. In that other universe, your counterpart never came to Earth. He was sent to a world called New Krypton and raised with his own kind. He has become a cruel and heartless tyrant. He is the ruler of his people, and he engineered the takeover of Earth. He is rumored to have killed the Lois Lane in his world—she was a resistance fighter who caught his eye. I’m guessing I don’t need to tell you how he dealt with her before killing her.”
Clark grew horrified. How could that even be? He wasn’t capable of this kind of brutality. How could any variant of him be like this? What’s more—how could any variant of him kill a variant of *her*? “That’s… that’s horrifying…”
“Well—it gets worse,” continued Wells grimly. “Lois… this Lois… caught his eye. He had been obsessed with the other one and regretted his hasty decision to kill her. Perhaps, in some sick way, it was the lure of their soul connection. Not all soul connections are benevolent, by the way. Her arrival into his world gave him a second chance… as it were. It wasn’t really all that hard for him to capture her. I mean, if you think about it—if you put your mind to it—nobody could really stop you from doing anything… anything at all.”
Wells trailed off, eyeing Clark with vague uneasiness. After witnessing first-hand the doppelganger’s actions, he was inclined to deal with Clark with a little more caution.
“But—no! That isn’t true! What about Kryptonite? Why didn’t they just—”
“They don’t know about it,” Wells interrupted bleakly. He held up a pre-emptive hand. “And I’m not allowed to interfere at that grand scale. Once I found out about what Tempus had done, of course, I immediately went and got her. However, she has been in that universe for a long time. Three years in hell is an eternity. Three years of being at that madman’s mercy. And mercy is not exactly what he offered her.”
“All those bruises on her face… are his doing?” Clark asked, his heart sinking. The answer was obvious.
“Yes. He knew how much force to exert to hurt her without permanently damaging her. He’s a very sick and twisted man. He enjoys hurting people. Does it for kicks.” Wells paused uneasily. “I suspect it isn’t just her face with the bruises. Perhaps if you did an x-ray on her, you would find a… historical report of the abuses she has suffered.”
Clark was shaking his head agitatedly. He got up and started pacing the apartment. “I—I… *have* to go put an end to this. Take me to his world! Please—I’m begging you—let me put it right. I have to put this right!”
“My boy, there are many Kryptonians in that world and only one of you. Even if you could persuade me to do this… you would need the other Clark’s help.”
“Then let’s do it! Why are you shaking your head?”
“I’m supposed to abide by certain rules. I brought her here because she belongs in this world. But this kind of interference is forbidden—”
“You’ve interfered before! What difference can one more time make?”
“Call it a… well, a Prime Directive, of sorts,” Wells replied cautiously. “You see, Tempus and I are not the only time travelers in the multiverse. In fact, there exists a group of individuals dedicated to protecting the integrity of the time stream. Their ultimate goal is to use time travel for observation only. Interference is vastly frowned upon.”
“Okay… but as I just said, you *have* interfered. Why hasn’t anyone stopped you or Tempus?”
“Tempus is a very crafty fellow. The Time Corps, if you will, have actually tried to subdue his efforts, but have only managed to make things worse. I think it suits them to have me chase around after him and concentrate my efforts on repairing his damage. Since his obsession is with you and Miss Lane, and since I also have made you two a priority, it makes sense in a twisted kind of way. I think the Time Corps thinks I’m as much a nuisance as Tempus.”
“Forgive me for saying this… but if that were the case, why don't they just incarcerate you?”
“Believe me, my boy, that thought has often crossed my mind. The only thing I can think of is that somehow our interference efforts are regarded as part of the ‘normal flow of things.’ I don’t profess to really understand the paradoxical nature of time travel. I just act in a way that feels right. I have to believe that by following my instincts, I am somehow causing the correct ‘course of things’ to take effect. I realize this is irrational, but it feels right to foil Tempus’s attempts—and by the same token, it doesn’t feel right for me to do what you have asked.” He concluded wearily, knowing full well that his explanation was far from satisfying.
“I don’t agree with you, Herb, and this isn’t the last you’ve heard from me on the subject,” Clark replied firmly. “However, we have more pressing concerns right now. Like… where do we go from here?”
“Ah. Well yes. That will require some careful consideration. I… uh… drugged her by slipping a strong sedative into her food. She will continue to be unconscious for a few hours yet. You see, Lois wasn’t likely to trust me, nor was she likely to go quietly. I don’t need to tell you how formidable an opponent she can be. With her fighting skills, I’d probably be dead if I had tried to do this with her conscious.”
“I’m glad to hear she’s still a fighter,” Clark said softly. ‘After all he did to her.’
“Kal-El did not succeed in breaking her spirit completely. Oh, she learned the tricks that enabled her to survive. Kal-El is a brutal man and often struck out at her unpredictably—but there were certain predictable events which made things even worse… making eye contact, venomous comments… she learned to play a certain role with him, and she learned to internalize much of what she felt. Honestly Clark, I have to say that I doubt you two will even be able to forge even a casual friendship in this lifetime, let alone anything… else.”
Clark looked compassionately at the woman lying in the time machine.
“All that matters is that she’s back home, safe. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable… much as it pains me to even think it… I’ll just have to keep my distance.”
“Well, for now, I agree with you,” Wells said briskly. “In fact… she shouldn’t be here in your apartment when she regains consciousness.”