Chapter Text
Metropolis. Earth-W
Dr. Hamilton stared in horror at the upper screens. The older man dressed in clothes from the early 20th century standing next to her checked his pocket watch. Behind them in the lab stood sooty machine remains. Red lights were flashing. Hamilton went to the computers and began programming new instructions, sending occasionally worried looks to the screens.
"Are you sure it will work?" saying.
"She's our last chance, his." Said the man standing next to her.
"And what if he finds out?"
"It's a price I have to pay. It's a price I'm willing to pay." Hamilton sighed.
"Bring this watch here."
Lois Lane's apartment, Metropolis. Earth-D
Lois sat by the island in her kitchen looking out through the large living room windows. Her coffee had cooled down an hour ago. Her fingers kept playing with the engagement ring on her left hand. She had long since stopped trying to stop the tears. She could not go on like this. Every place in this damn city reminded her of him and now this. She straightened up in the chair, remembering what Perry had informed her this morning. Lex Luthor Jr. bought the Daily Planet from Franklin Stern. Perry could not look her in the eye when he said that. The Daily Planet was the only thing left for her besides her sister Lucy and the Kents. The newspaper was her home more than her apartment; it was Clark's home. What will she do now?
She got up and put on her coat and left the apartment.
Suddenly a wind began to blow in the alley. The nearby power pole was covered in electric sparks. In the air a tear was created that grew to the size of a door as if some child had drawn in colored pencil on reality. In the doorway passed an elderly man, dressed in clothes from the beginning of the twentieth century. He looked around and looked at a gold pocket watch he had put back in his pocket. He turned toward the doorway, looking at it as it closed. With a determined step he exited the alley into the streets of Metropolis. He saw the golden planet of the Daily Planet in the distance and advanced toward it. He passed a newsstand and bought an issue of the Daily Planet. One of the articles on the main page was a description of the events of a few days earlier and how the Joker killed several policemen in Gotham. The reporter was Lois Lane. The man moved on and reached New Troy where he found the address he was looking for
It did not take him long to find the apartment building. He saw her coming out of the building. She passed him and he noticed her tears wet face. He followed her to Centennial Park and stood stunned in front of a huge statue, a few feet tall, of a smiling man dressed in a cape with the letter S on his chest, his hand outstretched and an American eagle standing on it, spreading its wings. The woman advanced to the base of the statue, the monument, realized the man, and disappeared into an opening in the side. Hesitantly he advanced after her. He stood in the doorway looking inside. A glass coffin was placed on a concrete block inside the alcove. Inside the coffin lay the man who inspired the statue. Lois stood by the coffin, placing her hand on the glass coffin. She talked to the man in the coffin and the older man felt like he was invading her privacy but was unable to bring himself to get away.
"Hey, Clark. Every time I come here, I hope it's just a nightmare and that you will not be in the coffin, that you will suddenly appear smiling, that you will sweep me into the sky again and say it was all a mistake Doomsday did not show up and ruin our whole lives." She stopped wiping her eyes, sniffed, and continued, "I have bad news, more bad news. Lex bought the Planet." She walked away from the closet, hugging herself. "I have to get out of this city, Clark." She sat down on the floor, her back to the concrete cube and her head between her hands.
"Ms. Lane." Said the man quietly. Lois looked up sharply and looked at him. "I ..." she got up quickly. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I have come a long way to talk to you. You're our only hope."
"And this is your way of asking, eavesdropping on private conversations?"
"It's about him." She froze in place. "Sort of."
"What do you mean?"
"My name is H. G. Wells."
"The science fiction writer? The one who died in 1946?"
"Yeah. I know that does not make sense but it's the truth, Ms. Lane."
"Okay, I'm willing to let you enjoy the doubt. I have no strength to try to make sense now."
"I come from a parallel world." Lois started laughing but Wells continued, "Our Lois Lane disappeared years ago." Lois stopped laughing and looked at him, "and he never left the farm."
"He didn't leave the farm?" She looked at the closet.
"The Clark Kent of my world is different from yours."
"What did he do? Married Lana Lang?"
"No. Lana Lang is married to Lex Luthor, they have three children. They will celebrate ten years of marriage at the end of the year."
"Three kids..."
"Yes."
"Why did he stay on the farm?"
"I don’t know. I'm not sure he can speak now."
"What?"
"You see, Ms. Lane. About two years ago a man named Milton Fine appeared in Metropolis. In collaboration with Lex Luthor, he exercises terrorist rule over Metropolis and the United States. Several attempts were made to kill him and none of them succeeded. He searched for Kal El." Wells looked at the man in the closet, "Kal El turned himself in after months of terror. He hasn’t seen since. Two months ago, my friend Dr. Emilia Hamilton found him unconscious in an alley near her lab. He is a broken man. We haven’t yet figured out how he escaped, and he refuses to speak." Lois turned pale.
"Lex knows he's Clark Kent?"
"Lex has never lived in Smallville. He's never met him before."
"What about the Justice League?"
"Who??"
"Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash ..." she stopped at the sight of the misunderstanding on Wells' face. "The other heroes, Mr. Wells."
"We have no heroes, Miss Lane."
"So how?"
"How do we know about you?" She nodded, "A woman named Chloe Sullivan has turned to us for help. For the past six months she has been dreaming very vivid dreams, and she could not stop them. She tried to stop sleeping and the dreams started appearing when she was awake. She said it was like watching two movies on each other at the same time. The people on the street and other people on the same street but different. With her consent we put her in a trance and then it became clear that what she sees is a different world, a few other worlds.” There was silence in the concrete burial cave.
"Chloe Sullivan was my cousin. She died when she was six."
"We know about the family connection. Ms. Sullivan told us about the connection between you and Kal El." The place sank into silence again.
"The only one who can kill Milton Fine is Clark. Milton Fine is a machine; he isn’t human in any sense of the word." She looked at the man in the coffin and then came back to Wells, "So what do you need from me?"
"Chloe Sullivan claims you're the only one who can help him, help us."
"What happened to your Lois Lane? Why don't you turn to her?"
"We can't find her. That's how Dr. Hamilton contacted me. I travel in time, and she managed to get my attention. She was not specifically looking for me, just someone who understands time travel. She hoped to go back in time and find her before she was gone. After she found me and convinced me to help, I searched for her and did not find her. She just disappeared, as if someone had deleted her."
"So, you came here."
"Yes. I'm here to beg you to help us, Ms. Lane. You're our only hope." He looked at her and his voice softened, "What happened to him?"
"He fought Doomsday, an ancient Krypton monster, six months ago."
"Did he lose?"
"No. He won. The monster died. But he died a few minutes later. The world became darker afterwards, more violent, more desperate." Wells hesitated.
"Chloe Sullivan saw him alive. She saw him fight the monster, died, and resurrected a few weeks later. She still has nightmares from the battle."
"Clark stays dead."
"Ms. Lane ..."
"I will come with you but there are some things I need to take with me. I need to say goodbye to some people."
"We will bring you back when it's all over, no one will feel you left." Lois smiled an ironic smile.
"Assuming we succeed, assuming nothing goes wrong." Mr. Wells looked embarrassed. "Don't worry, Mr. Wells. We should go. The lunatics will come at any moment."
"Lunatics?"
"Cult members. They refer to him as a god."