From now on, LL is referred to as Lois.
In the aftermath, Kal-El could feel the rising fear from the group – all but Zara, who seemed to trust him completely.
“Should we plan our next step,” he asked Lois, looking to her as leader.
She nodded, her expression grim.
Immediately after the others had departed, Lois came in, refusing to hide in her office. Without Clark here, she felt desperately afraid and alone. She had no idea that he had come to mean safety to her – in a way that nobody had... possibly since she was a child in her mother’s presence. She already missed him with a ferocity she would have never expected.
The uneasiness seemed shared - but mostly they were all a little worried that Kal-El would suddenly show his true colors and become the tyrant that they were all used to. His question, directed at her, put her a bit at ease – but it was Zara’s lack of fear that gave her the most strength.
“Your people are bound to obey the true leader,” Lex asked.
“Yes.”
“So if they find out you are really Kal-El, they are bound to obey you.”
“Yes.”
“The ones who did this to you won’t listen to your orders. They have no reason to let you live."
“No. Yet I doubt they will bother trying to kill me. In the end, whether I am alive or dead, as long as there is proof of what they did – they have lost. I will make my order to evacuate immediately clear and precise. Those loyal to the lineage will know it must be obeyed.”
“Who would succeed you in your death?”
“I would,” Zara said. “No matter who they kill, there is a lineage. The ones who betrayed Kal-El will be stripped of their right of ascension in that lineage. Kal-El’s clone will have no right of lineage. The traitors will all be sentenced to the phantom zone.”
“An alternate prison dimension.”
“Yes.”
Lois shuddered. She had always feared being sent there when her time with Kal-El was up.
Kal-El saw her reaction and wanted to reassure her, yet what right did he have? He couldn’t protect her if it came down to it – so why even act like he could? He would be the first to fall if those who had betrayed him decided to fight.
“Then... let’s do this now,” Lois sighed. “If you feel up to it.”
“I will be glad to see the end of this,” he said resolutely. “My people have hurt yours long enough.”
She nodded, feeling a little bit better about the whole thing. Something in his tone and manner reminded her of Clark and she felt as if he was still here – protecting her – a ridiculous notion, as she had never felt safe around either Clark – she knew intellectually they wouldn’t hurt her – but she still felt visceral fear. Yet... after a time, Clark had come to be a friend, and she did feel empty at his loss. To see Kal-El capable of inadvertently reminding her of the other man was strange – even off-putting, but at the moment now – a relief. She would be glad to see him go. She didn’t need any reminders of any of the men he resembled.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Lois fought down terror at the sight of Kal-El dressed as the leader of Krypton, the invader of earth – her rapist, not to put too fine a point on it.
“You need to exude some amount of menace,” Zara told him softly, Her own fears had threatened to creep into her mind at how much he looked like his doppelgänger when wearing his clothes – yet, she had enough life training to keep her feelings in check.
The plan was for Kal-El to simply go to his doppelganger’s seat of power. To do so successfully, he would need to fool the people who saw him as he moved through the place.
“In order go gain the trust of those he has harmed, those of our people, I must not “ he told Zara, disagreeing with her words, but wanting to understand her reasons.
“You need to get as far as his presence, and that means fooling those you encounter before the fact.”
“I will not engage in cruelty, even as a mask – I cannot.”
“No, but you need to do better,” Lois told him, swallowing her fears and coming towards him. “I share my thoughts -”
“I would rather you did not,” he protested lightly, “Do you feel you must for me to succeed?”
“Try to exude a little more menace, and we will see,” she challenged him.
“With you in the room,” he expressed one of his worst fears. “I never want to frighten you.”
She nodded.
“I – appreciate it. But you still have to do what you have to do. Kal-El, nobody expects you to actually hurt people, okay? That’s a line we won’t ask you to cross -but you do need to convince people who you meet. Just until you gain the audience that you seek.”
“Perhaps if you were to leave the room.”
“You were raised to be a leader of your people, and you’re afraid to do this? No wonder they were able to defeat you, Kal-El.”
He felt shamed by her words. She was right. He was a terrible and ineffective leader. In the presence of one who led so bravely, he knew he could do no less than his best.
Lois waited, hating what she had said to him, but hoping to spur him to a little anger – to push him into exuding menace. She dreaded this, as much as she needed to know he could do it. This was about the Earth’s liberation, and no price was too high to pay.
Kal-El nodded. “I agree. I am not behaving as I must,” he exhaled. “I owe you better than this. I can never let what happened happen again.”
He closed his eyes, and imagined his clone, he remembered the things that had already been shared with him, and he let show his anger at what was done to to others as well as himself. He opened his eyes once more and let his feelings of anger manifest in the rigidity of his stance, and hard planes of his face. The sudden racing pulses of the others in the room were testament to how successsful he had been.
“That will do,” Lois told him, her tone cool, but her heart was beating so hard that Kal-El was afraid it might do her injury.
“Then we are ready,” he said. His tone authoritative and dismissive. He looked at her as if she were an insect – not worth his attention or respect. The fact that she halted her own startled urge to retreat filled him with admiration and warmth. He couldn't let those feelings show, they would upset her more than his current farce.
