I love the idea. A darker story would make the time device a gift to Clark after Lex got merged with Tempus... Lexpus? Lempus? Tempex? Tex?
I was about to make this post when I read yours...
Tempus has been frolicking about making Utopia-free universes. Wells, the eternal meddler, realizes that one of the universes is so far gone that there is no way to restore either Lois or Clark. In desperation, he grabs Clois and Cclark to fill in, with maybe a little memory modification to boot. (Assuming Groobie's TOVOM premise that Lex lied about their lifespans.)
Cclark: I'm grew up on a farm in Smallville, Kansas.
Clois: (pointing to a map) Clark, there is no Smallville, Kansas.
Cclark: Sure there is, it's right.... (sits down, stunned)
Clois: See?
By the way, my brain just degenerated into: "Tempus, I've come to bargain."
