Chapter Text
He's pretty sure he's never been so afraid before. Even with the cameras in his room and all the doctors coming in every day, he's never had his heart pounding this much in the dead of night. It's all he can hear in the lead-lined skyscraper, aside from the occasional creak of the broken walls and the only other heartbeat in this place. The one he has to avoid.
Lex is gone. He wasn't there when it happened, but there's always a news feed playing in his room, focused specifically on telling him the truth about Superman. He's dangerous, cunning, manipulative, nothing like Lex was. But it was only yesterday that he'd been sitting on his bed, practicing to freeze the contents of a plastic water bottle a few feet away when the news came that Lex was a traitor to the nation. Some sort of issue between places called Jarhanpur and Boravia that he was involved with.
A few hours ago, he'd been wandering the halls, looking out at the building split in two, a massive slice stretching throughout all of Metropolis. A window was broken, and the noise was too much to bear. He covered his ears, wishing that he could just go find Lex, but he wasn't good enough at flying yet. Eventually, somehow, he could hear miles away, wherever Lex was.
"They've already started their investigations, no doubt," Lex's eye roll was audible.
"Yes, sir. The building will be closed down for the foreseeable future. Not even employees are allowed inside."
"You're aware of my experiments with genetic duplication, right?"
"I was on Ultraman's security team before you put him in public."
"Good. I need you to do me a favor. Get into the building, and terminate all other projects pertaining to the clones. Files, DNA samples, everything."
"Sir," The security guard said. "What about Subject 13? He's shown extreme progress, and you said yourself if it weren't for his age he would have been Ultraman."
"Did I stutter? I want you to go there and kill the brat!"
13 stepped away from the window with a gasp, then covered his mouth in case anyone heard. They wouldn't. He was always alone once the sun set.
He ran back to his room and froze, trying to decide what he needed first. A plastic bag was left over from when one of the employees brought in thick, bulky tapes with some old show recorded on them. He grabbed it and dumped them on the table, running for the wardrobe.
He had some of Superman's looks, he knew the man was somehow connected with his birth, but he also had Lex's mind, and thus, his stubbornness. He was not going to lay down and let someone kill him just because his very existence was deemed wrong.
All the clothes in the wardrobe were the same, he didn't bother looking at them, just got what he hoped would be enough until he could figure something out. The clothes were really the only things that technically belonged to him in the bare room. None of the objects used to test his powers were ones he really wanted to bring with him, but being so empty handed felt wrong. In all the shows he watched, when kids ran away from home, they always knew what they were taking with them. Lex had never given him anything that wasn't some sort of test.
Wait, surely that's what this was! He knew about 13's super-hearing, so he would know that this would cause him to panic. He just had to fight that guard when he got upstairs, and then somehow he'd pass the test. Though why Lex still cared to test him from prison and half a country away, 13 couldn't guess.
Now, he could just wait around for the fight to come to him, but the Luthorcorp building had been reduced to near rubble at this point, and nobody—aside from the guard—would be coming by except for military or police, and they'd have a lot of questions for 13. Lex always told him never to tell anyone where he came from. He could wait until they shouted at him, demanding to know how he got in, or he could run downstairs, set foot into the city for once.
Lex tested his fighting skills often, wanting him to be just as good as Superman—no, he wanted 13 to be better. Maybe this test was instead meant for his quick-thinking and problem-solving.
The guard stepped out of the stairwell, heaving breaths. The elevators to the tenth floor had been shut off, and his exhaustion would give 13 a chance to run. He stepped into the hallway, glancing in the direction of the guard's heartbeat, and ran quietly the other way. Each step felt too loud, it forced him to move slower until he reached one of the other stairwells. One more glance behind, and he darted down to the next landing.
He was invulnerable to getting hurt—one of the first things Lex had tested, with countless devices—and it would be a lot faster getting down if he just took the shortest route. He climbed onto the railing, holding tight enough to bend the metal beneath his grip as he stared down. The late night made it hard to see the bottom, but so many things were going through his head. The adrenaline from being told he was to be terminated, the unknown of the world outside of Luthorcorp, but most of all… he was excited. When would he get another chance to really hit his limits?
With one deep breath, he let go of the railing and leaned forward, air rushing past as he fell. He let out a breath of a laugh before slamming his chest into the ground, feeling tile crack and dust block his eyes. He laughed again. It didn't even hurt.
"You hear that?" Someone asked. Probably one of the military officers stationed nearby.
13 sat up slowly, watching as a flashlight started to scan the lobby outside the door. He hadn't thought this far.
"Impossible not to have heard that. Probably just the ceiling collapsing somewhere."
"Right, right."
The light shut off, and 13 braced himself to push the door open. Three suppressed gunshots hit his ears from upstairs, and he froze, looking up. He wasn't the only clone, he knew that. Lex had never let him see the others aside from Ultraman, but he knew they existed. Lex always called them failures, not to be bothered with.
"Damn it," The guard sent to kill him and his brothers hissed. "Where did that brat go?"
He was talking about 13. His heart started pounding and 13 took another deep breath, pushing the door open. Well, it was supposed to open, it instead flew off its hinges and sent another cloud of dust up into the air. At least the military officers didn't think twice about it and shine another flashlight into the room.
The lobby had been sliced down the middle, then reattached like poorly done stitches. Dark blue tiles were cracked and dirty, portions of walls had collapsed or broken. Couches, desks, tables, and potted plants shattered and fallen throughout the space. 13 walked over broken glass walls and through dirt and leaves, splinters, until he found a room lined with tall, silver lockers.
He'd never seen a room like this before. Despite everything, he walked in, looking around at what the Rift had done to this corner of Metropolis. Some of the containers had fallen on the floor, an entire wall was missing, the edge of the sealed Rift opening the locker room into a room with a table and refrigerator. Most lockers still had locks on them, but others hung open, belongings forgotten.
There were files, but there were also drawings and keychains, purses, jewelry, makeup bags, and jackets. 13 examined all of them. One keychain had a lightning bolt on it. He picked it up and stuffed it into his thin pockets. One purse had large gold hoop earrings, shaped like twisted ropes, and he pocketed them as well. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, but he kept collecting anything he even remotely liked until his pockets weighed him down and rattled.
A black wool coat hung in one of the lockers, with bigger pockets and neat stitches. He pulled it down and over his arms, gasping at how soft the fur lining was. It warmed his skin against the constant soft breeze. He buttoned it up and tied the cloth belt around his waist. It bunched around his shoulders and the sleeves were too long, but it'd been left behind, so 13 took it now.
The coat muffled the rattling in his pockets as he moved down the hallway towards the back of the building. One more door, and he'd truly be in Metropolis. Even now, he could barely stand the car horns honking and the arguments in apartments, the songs in clubs and movies in theaters. It was so much, he covered his ears and pushed the door open with his elbow.
Luthorcorp windows were tinted, and looking up at the other ruined skyscrapers that still had half-functional electricity was blinding. The sounds got so much louder, and he pressed his hands down harder, but couldn't bring himself to look away from all the lights tonight or block the sound out entirely.
His feet carried him across the rough concrete, eyes catching on every passing emergency vehicle. Police cars and ambulances, fire trucks, all moving fast, only slowing to cross over the Rift before picking up again. Hardly anyone was on the streets, all holed up in the only apartments left in the city.
"Hey!" a car pulled to a stop beside him, the window rolled down. "You lost, kid?"
13 could hear perfectly despite covering his ears. An elderly man was leaning across the front seat of the car. "Are you talking to me old-timer?"
The man smiled. "There's a place not too far for the survivors, and no offense—you look like you could use a place to stay for the night."
"Like a hotel?" 13 shifted his hands to hear a bit more. "I don't have money for one of those."
"You don't need money for the shelter. It's just down the street, you shouldn't be able to miss it."
The old guy drove off and 13 started back down the street, focusing his power until he heard a younger voice welcoming people into a building, offering them a warm meal and company. It brought a smile to his face and he slowly dropped his hands, keeping his power focused in that direction. He looked back at Luthorcorp, then took another step away.
"Clark!" Lois shouted from a cross the bullpen. "You won't believe what we got this morning!"
That was a sentence that could mean a whole lot, and knowing Lois, any of those meanings were equally likely. For a woman who had jumped off the roof of the Planet to test a theory, raided the Luthorcorp campsite with Mister Terrific, climbed into a pocket universe, and written an entire article while flying over Metropolis as it fell apart, he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd broken into some top facility for a story. However, seeing that she was smiling and slapping Jimmy's shoulders and hi-fiving Cat and not getting a lecture in Perry's office was probably a sign that she hadn't done that.
He stopped at his desk long enough to set his bag down, then rolled his chair over to Lois' desk, resting his head in his palm, leaning over to watch her drop in her chair and open a blank document.
"What's up?"
"This morning one of my sources dropped by, with a whole packet of top-secret files," She smirked. "From Luthorcorp's ruins."
He sat up a bit straighter, leaning further to look at the papers scattered across her desk. "I thought the whole block was locked down."
"One of the old security guards snuck in, burned a bunch of stuff before the patrol caught him. This was all that my sources could get from evidence."
"It's a lot. How much is in here?"
"Enough that I'm going to be up to my eyeballs until I can pull the story out of here."
"Well, if you need a hand, I'll be right over there."
Lois gave him a stare before shaking her head and smiling. They both knew she didn't need his help. He went back over to his desk and got to work.
The morning sun warmed the back of his head, and despite the city still pulling itself back together, he found he could get just a few hours of peace knowing that petty crimes hadn't been happening in the days since. Every lunch break, Clark would go out, find people who needed his help, and do what he could, then go back after work and help more. An hour or so for dinner, then a bit more of doing what he could to rebuild the ruins. City officials wanted to tear out a lot of the unsalvageable buildings, which left Clark going in and retrieving sentimental objects for the people who had been displaced.
Sleep was rare now, and he only remembered to slow down and take care of himself when Lois sent him a text around one in the morning. Metropolis still needed him, but it was getting back onto its own legs. These people were resilient, it was what Clark loved about them.
Not everyone had made their way back to the Daily Planet yet, and a lot of workplaces were still closed. It was only due to a whole lot of stubbornness and crazy work ethic from half a dozen reporters—Lois included, of course—that had gotten the Planet building opened again so soon.
Clark's lunch break rolled around, and he started for the back hall that lead to the rooftop access door. His suit was always within arms reach, and he was tempted to start timing how fast it took him to change.
"Smallville!"
He turned to see Lois running up to him, a stack of paper in her hand. She leaned on the wall and smiled up at him for a moment.
"I'll pick up the coffee you like," Clark glanced around, then leaned in close to her face. She poked her finger against the tip of his nose and pushed him back gently. "Do you not want the coffee?"
"Meet me tonight. I think I've found something you'd want to know, but we can not talk about it here."
Her smile had faded, eyes wide and unblinking as she stared up at him. It was Superman business, and urgent at that, but she was right. They couldn't talk about it at work.
"I'll be there. Should I worry about it?"
Lois looked down at the paper, rereading it a few times. "Not yet. You have people to help out there."
With only an hour before Clark had to be seen at work again, he moved fast. First responders who were cut off by part of the Rift collapsing received a lift to their destinations. Buildings that had taken their time to collapse and started to bend got their supports welded back together. When he came across someone who hadn't had the chance to evacuate and gotten trapped under rubble for days, Superman rushed them to the nearest working medical facility.
His lunch hour ended, and he got back to the Daily Planet, working more on his next piece. Everyone was suffering, struggling, and all anyone could talk about was what Lex had done, not what was being done to rebuild. Clark focused on writing about how people were still missing, who they were, how families had lost loved ones due to most of the city collapsing.
Clark's apartment had survived, Lois's too, but that block of the city was closed down to the public. She'd almost gone to a hotel in Bakerline before hitting a traffic jam and turning around to deal with nearly empty roads. Her asking Clark to meet him almost made him laugh, since he'd be going back to his apartment—where she was staying now.
He floated softly through the window, watching fondly as Lois chewed on a pen, looking between more of those papers and highlighting whatever interested her before going to the laptop beside her and typing it down.
"There's leftovers in the fridge," Clark landed, turning the TV on and watching the quiet news report. A helicopter was flying over the city, a massive dark slice where power was still out cutting through the island. Everyone kept talking like this was something they wouldn't be coming back from. "Lois?"
She set everything to the side and stood, picking up the papers and holding them at arm's length between her and Clark. "There's another clone."
"Clone? Like Ultraman again?"
"Maybe. There were about fourteen of them, according to this."
He still had bruises from his last fight with Ultraman, and his face as he plummeted into that black hole was burned in the back of Clark's eyes. To know that there were thirteen others like him somewhere in the Luthorcorp building started to give him a headache. With it being destroyed though, they could have escaped. No wonder Lois had seemed worried earlier.
"An old security guard was found on the premises last night. He was burning a lot, this was all salvaged and then collected by my source. The guard was interrogated for hours. Apparently, Lex sent him to terminate everything pertaining to clones."
"So any other experiments… the other clones…" He left the question silent.
Lois sighed and flipped a few papers to the back of the stack. "Most failed early on, as far back as two years ago. they either liquefied or destroyed themselves with their powers or just never formed. Only a few were somewhat successful. Subjects 10 through 14. Three bodies were found in the building last night, labeled with 10, 11, and 12 on tags in their ears. Only 13 and 14 are left."
Clark took the paper she held out, looking over it slowly, forcing deep breaths despite the fact that being cloned once was terrifying. Being cloned fourteen times was almost sickening. He knew Lex was desperate, but this…
Subject 14 had lots of yellow highlights on the paper, easier to read with the black ink. That clone had been the most like him physically, with the first case of pure Kryptonian DNA performing stably. He had all of Superman's known powers, but struggled to keep up with conversations and problem solving. Old writing in pen at the bottom of the page simply said 'Boravia Project Candidate'. Ultraman.
Clark took another deep breath and sat on the couch. Lois pat his shoulder before disappearing into the kitchen.
The other clone, the only one that was truly still alive, was Subject 13. His records were almost the same as Ultraman's, except for the fact that he was intelligent enough for Lex to have noted it. Two things stood out, though. First, Lex's notes described him as too young for the Ultraman project, and the paragraph where Lex had theorized that 13 was only smart due to the fact that he was half human. An anonymous donor had given their DNA to attempt to stabilize the powers of Kryptonians.
"So," Clark called into the kitchen. "You're worried about Subject 13?"
"The security guard said he didn't get a chance to kill him, and nobody else was on the premises."
"He escaped."
One of 13's listed abilities was enhanced senses, specifically hearing. Combined with enough intellect for solving complex problems, he could have figured out the best way to escape and stay hidden from the security guard.
Clark set the paper down back on Lois' stack and stood. She was at the threshold between the kitchen and living room, two bowls of pasta in her hands.
"I have to find that clone."
"You need to take a break," She held one of the bowls out. "Look, I'm all for following this story, but you're already pushing yourself, Clark. You're up early, you're getting home late, and I know you aren't eating anything when you're on break."
Clark chuckled and took the bowl, wrapping one arm around Lois and kissing her cheek. She laughed and looked up at him.
"Why the mood shift?"
"You called this apartment home."
"Well we moved in together, it's correct."
"Still," Clark felt the pull of how big his smile was. "It's nice to hear it."