Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: On the Long Way Down - Act One (1-21)

CK Enterprises.. I think I know who that is. Boy oh boy, this is getting so good. Looking forward to more. I can't believe he is the one trying to buy out the Planet. I should have known. Great job.

Absolutely priceless, classic irony. “CK Enterprises” with THE eyeglasses corporate logo. I am NOT necessarily convinced that Clark is the bad guy. Just saying....

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying. It took me awhile to land on CK Enterprises.


Thanks! Thought it'd be funny, plus adds to the whole hiding-in-plain-sight deal.

Now Clark... Clark is complicated.

Thanks guys! New chap will go up Monday.

Chapter 5 is up! Happy Monday

Very interesting part, delighted to see Trask and hints on the events that have warped Clark's development and thus his life.

Toasters, hmm, OK this makes it clear to me that in this 'Verse Lex is STILL a bad guy.

Thank you. More on Trask and Clark's past will be shown throughout. As for the second thing... *shrugs* Maybe. Maybe not.

Chapter 6 going up now!

Man oh man, CK gives Nigel chills?? (me too, so far). What's real, what's a fakeout, where does Lex know Clark's name from, who's a reliable narrator and who's not?

I'll try not to die from suspense poisoning between now and Monday, but I make no promises.

Yup. Nigel knows what's up... mostly. As for your questions... all I can say is you're a perceptive reader. More on Lex coming soon, but not this chapter soon. (Or maybe everything's a fakeout... maybe I'm not a reliable narrator...)

As for suspense poisoning... Never fear! Chapter 7 is up now! Happy Monday!

Chapter 8 is up! Short and... sweet isn't the word. But it's a short one for sure. So short that I could be persuaded to post chapter 9 early....

As always, all comments are welcome.

After a short hiatus, I finally caught up on the story. I like the confrontation in Perry's office between Lois and Clark. I also enjoyed how Lois did not back down. Looking forward to more.

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying still. More confrontations to come (although not directly in the next chapter... we're getting Lex-centric in this one).

Chapter 9 going up in the morning!

Happy Monday! Chapter 9 is up! All comments are welcome. What are your thoughts on Lex's adapted backstory?

(You may notice a formatting change-- no more chapter titles. I'll be going through the earlier postings to do much the same later.)

Chapter 10 is here.

Bonus Chapter 11 is here.

All right, I'm a day late on this guy, so to make amends, I'm posting double-duty on the chapters. But to be fair, I had a pretty perfect reason...

On Wednesday afternoon we said hello to my new baby nephew! He's happy and healthy and adorable, and has a shocking head of hair. He's very sleepy and has a super polite giggle-cry, except when he was strapped in his carseat. I'm so in love with him already, as is the whole fam, and I'm going to make sure he's a good little nerd, my little Mouseketeer. Lots of fun times ahead, and you may just get something WAFFy or Fluffy out of me because of him.

(Not this story, sorry. Never this story, lol.)

Congrats on your new nephew! Yes you must pass on the tradition of loving all the nerdiness to him. My kids are already following in my footsteps. haha Taught my daughter to make a fan video this past weekend.

Looks like things are getting interesting here but I'm waiting till the end of this act to comment because I know things. **zips mouth closed and covers with duct tape**

Thanks! I'm sure he's going to love it all haha (we've already talked Star Wars to him a little). And yay on the video skills! Maybe we'll get double the videos out of you and the mini-you now, huh? Please?


Don't worry. Halfway there now. Won't be long.

Chapter 12 will be up in the morning! Or more accurately, by the morning... technically, 1 am makes it Monday, right?

Banner here

I'm just going to leave this here and bump up your fic for you Mouse. You know, since you forgot to add Chapter 13 on the thread. Yes, it's up and I'm behaving and keeping my mouth zipped till the end of this act.

I've been following this, waiting for a good reason to like your main characters, and I must say that I have found only one person who appeals to me in any real way.

• Clark: He's bitter and mean and he uses people. To me, that's worse than him using his powers to enrich himself instead of helping. His morals are practically non-existent, and besides an almost worshipful attitude toward his father, people don't seem to be important to him. His only redeeming characteristic may be that he's not a criminal mastermind - not much of a character reference. No.
• Lois: She's selfish, self-centered, and self-indulgent. Despite her intelligence and understanding of how things work, she's self-destructive (drinks to excess and smokes almost incessantly), manipulative and I have grave doubts about her basic honesty. No.
• Nigel: He's his usual slimy, treacherous self. No.
• Jonathan: We don't know that much about him except that he was extremely protective of his family. But he lost control when he emptied a high-capacity magazine into Trask. No.
• Martha: She has limits to her love. When her husband killed Trask so violently, she withdrew her support and understanding. Instead of helping Jonathan to recover from this self-inflicted tragedy, she rejected him. The result of both Jonathan's and Martha's actions has helped to produce the quite disagreeable Clark Kent. No.
• Perry: This Perry seems hesitant and almost cowardly. He doesn't project the air of competence and confidence Perry usually does. And he asks one of his employees to use her sex appeal to prop up the Planet's coffers. No.
• Lex: I don't know for certain what kind of man this Lex is, but he's the only one who hasn't been unethical and/or dishonest. Maybe he just hasn't had the chance to show his true colors, but he's the only honest character so far, even if he is intense and a little bit stupid about the people in his life. Qualified yes.

Please understand that it is the characters who don't appeal to me, and I'm not complaining. (After all, you made it a point to warn us.) The story itself is fascinating, and I'm waiting for the next chapter to see what happens. This is a tale well-told, and one which - while it seems to turn nearly everything and everyone in it upside down - I plan to follow to its convoluted conclusion. Write on, Mouse!

P.S. I've done some character inversion myself on these boards, and I advise you to prepare for some negative reactions to both your premise and your execution of the story. I assure you, I will send none of it your way. The story is well-written, self-consistent, and even its name (Anti-Universe) is a tip-off. Please take this feedback as encouragement and applause. I always look for the new chapter to this tale when I check the boards.

So is the next chapter up yet?

Thank you! For the chapter insert, and the banner and the icon (you're the best!). Last week was kind of a bear IRL so I forgot to bump this thread.

Will definitely be updating my icon soon, and wow! This story's cooking along faster than I anticipated. Chapter 14 is up! Happy Monday!

Hi, Terry! Thank you so much for your comments, I really love to hear your reactions and the in depth feedback.

Thank you again. This was done very strategically. You are on the right track. One of the original (read: very, very early) concepts for how to restructure these characters was to model each of them after one of the seven deadly sins. ("Seven Deadly Sinners" was a working title for a time.) They developed more over time so they weren't quite so two-dimensional, but it was a good marker for how to twist each character, and in different ways. You've definitely cut to the core of each of them here, and honestly, it makes me happier to see that their character traits came through so well, more so than that they are well liked. Very high compliment, especially coming from a writer of your caliber.

Yes. I will admit, he's going to get worse before he gets better. Round and round and round he goes, where he lands... only I know. And Val.

Good! Lois was probably the trickiest character for me to pin down in all this, so again I'm glad that her selfish tendencies come across well.

True. But this is one you might want to keep an eye on. No spoilers.

Little more to come on the Kents, although I'm afraid it's probably nothing to improve your opinions on them. Necessary evils to create this version of Clark.

You're scary accurate on these. Perry isn't explored extensively, but you'll see more from him which may or may not lift your opinion of him.

Yes. Lex was another complicated character to write. This Lex is an optimist, and he is an honest character, but he's desperate to hold onto his happiness.

I definitely understand that! Like I mentioned, I wrote it with the intent of turning everything in our Lois and Clark universe on it's head. I am always happy to hear (even negative) viewpoints on what I've written, although I don't take what you've written as a negative (you actually made me grin and laugh with your analysis). I'm happy to have hooked you-- it's a long spiral down, and I hope you continue to be enthralled, even if you have to read through your fingers.

I am definitely prepared for some backlash lol. This is not a happy story, nor a standard one, but it was a challenge and it's a story that I desperately wanted to tell. Like I said, I welcome any and all feedback, even if it's disagreeing. I'm mostly happy to just have the story completed for myself, and if a few of you enjoy it too, that's just an added bonus. Thank you again for the compliments, and do let me know if it ever loses consistency.

Posted 14 already! More to come Wednesday!

It's Wednesday! Which means exactly what you think it means... Chapter 15 is up! Happy Reading!