[Chapter 9: Floundering]The first two days after the statement were insanely busy for Kal and Clark, thanks to the UN. After reading the article by Lois and Clark, world leaders were extremely curious about the Treaty of El and requested their presence to discuss possibly formulating their own version.
Admittedly, Clark was intrigued as well, so Kal agreed to provide them a copy (written from memory, which wasn’t a problem). Kal was glad that he had forced his world to keep it to ten pages though. He strongly advised Clark to do the same.
On the fourth day, Kal bowed out, stating the treaty was between themselves and their Superman, which they all seemed to appreciate, including Clark (granted to a smaller extent).
This gave Kal the opportunity to sketch every inch he could recall of the reality jumping machine. Not that that really helped. It just made him feel even more confused. How could a clock on a large magic carpet, accompanied with old-timey contraptions, cross the barriers of space and time?
"Whoa. So this is what brought you here?" Clark asked, stepping in from the balcony and looking at the sheets of paper all over his kitchen table.
Kal looked up. "Yeah. But unfortunately nothing I remember helps me understand how it works," he said with a sigh.
"I'm not sure if it would help, but I could bring these to S.T.A.R. Labs. Maybe they'd be able to make some sense of it," Clark proposed.
"Sure. Maybe if they take a record of it, someone in the future will see it and send someone to help me," Kal said, willing to try anything.
"Okay. I'll take it tomorrow on my way to the UN," Clark assured.
"So that's moving along?" Kal asked.
"Yes. I can't believe nobody proposed doing this sooner, so thanks. This will certainly make being Superman easier. Having clear rules in how I fit within the laws of nations. . . ."
Kal smiled. "No problem."
"I just wish things with Lois were going as well as things are with the UN," Clark sighed.
Kal frowned. "What's wrong?"
"She's upset I got assigned to go to Europe to cover the UN meetings, while she's stuck here in Metropolis. Perry wanted her here in case anything happened with you or whatever," Clark explained.
"Ah. So you still haven't told her," Kal said.
"How did you tell . . . your Lois?" Clark asked.
"My relationship with my Lois early on was different. My Lois knew me as Kal before she knew me as Clark, and I told her not too long after she got to know both sides of me. Also, I told her because I was afraid of how mad she'd be if I kept it from her for too long. That, and I knew how hard it'd be for me to keep the two separate around her," he said.
Clark moaned and put his face in his hands. "What am I going to do?"
"Whatever future you want to have with her, as a friend or something more, I'd tell her soon. Be honest. Don't make excuses but include the reasons for why you were hesitant and apologize for waiting so long as thoroughly as possible," Kal said after thinking for a moment.
"And be ready to grovel," Clark muttered.
"That might not hurt, but you'll probably be better off bringing her food. Like real Chinese take out," Kal advised. "Oh! And my Lois loves Thai, so you could try that too."
Clark sighed. "I'll think on it. Things are pretty hectic right now, so maybe once the treaty is finalized."
"Just don't wait for the perfect time, because that will never come," Kal warned.
"So things are pretty good between yourself and your Lois?" Clark asked curiously.
"I'd say so. We're married," Kal said, smiling.
"And she . . . she's okay with it all?" Clark asked, growing hesitant.
"If she wasn't, we wouldn't be married. Things have been a little rough, due to this," he said, motioning to his covered eye, "But it's been improving and our relationship is still solid. I don't know what'd I'd do if it wasn't." He suddenly exhaled. "I can't wait to get home."
Clark looked at him apologetically. Kal shook himself.
"Well, why don't we work on your telepathy?" Kal asked, wanting to distract himself before he emotionally spiraled down.
"Okay," Clark said, before closing his eyes and concentrating.
/How's–s?//Better! I heard you that time, but just a snippet. You've got to inject a bit more power into it./
An hour later, Clark could say he had made progress.
O o O o O
Lois sighed as she made her way down the busy street after work. Clark was still in Europe and she was stuck in Metropolis.
Why couldn’t Perry have selected her to cover the creation of the treaty instead of Clark? Or better yet, why couldn’t they
both have gone?
Sure, she had been able to write the articles on Kal-El’s rescues in Metropolis, as well as the impromptu shopping trip he had made (which had certainly been something), but. . . .
Her thoughts returned to what almost had happened in that illegal gambling club, with Al Capone and his gang. If it hadn’t been for Kal-El, she would have . . . Clark would be gone.
And now he was on the other side of the world. She hadn’t gotten the chance to really talk to him. Of course, it had taken a few days for it to sink in, especially with everything going on, but she was really kicking herself for not pulling herself together faster, before he had left, so she could have told him how much . . . how grateful she was that he was okay.
She kicked some litter that lay on the sidewalk but it did little to alleviate her frustration, especially since she almost slipped on a bit of ice hidden beneath it. Fortunately she didn’t fall, but it did force her to stop.
She glanced across the street toward the park, immediately doing a double take when she spotted him.
Kal-El.
He was seated on a park bench, wearing what had initially surprised the world. He was in . . . normal clothes.
Well, perhaps normal wasn’t the right description due to the weather. He was wearing jeans, a skin-tight, vibrant blue t-shirt with his crest on the front, and flimsy tennis shoes -
in the dead of winter. Of course, the freezing temperatures didn’t seem to bother him, but it was something to see whenever he used his heat vision to dry off his shoes after snow he had just walked through began to melt. He didn’t like soggy socks. He had said as much when someone had asked him what he was doing.
Lois straightened and hurried across the street, hoping he wouldn’t get up and fly away.
She needn’t have worried.
O o O
He had been on this Earth for a week.
Days upon days of hoping,
praying, that there would be some indication of someone coming to take him home.
But so far . . . nothing.
So, other than helping Clark with telepathy and becoming aware of his aura, he distracted himself with rescues (with and without his counterpart), as well as wandering around in what he termed a ‘super’ stroll.
It helped a bit, but, in the end, he could no longer deny . . . he was seriously homesick.
It didn’t help that he couldn’t go around as Clark, since that would just complicate matters, and while he could create another identity (which he had plenty of experience with in his P.I. work), he felt it would be counter productive.
Which was partly why he hadn't gone to Smallville again.
He needed to get attention without potentially endangering Clark’s identity. He needed to create as many instances of his presence being written down in history to increase whatever chance there was for other universe jumpers to take notice and hopefully help him out, especially since he was being quite vocal with wanting to get back home.
Which was why he had gone into a store on the fifth day and purchased his usual ‘I’m recovering’ or ‘not working’ attire: tennis shoes, jeans and a t-shirt with a Superman emblem. His counterpart had been kind enough to give him some money. He did have some cash from his Earth, but Clark had said it'd probably be best to keep them separate.
He sighed as he sat down on the park bench, waving at those who stared at him curiously before they hurried on. He supposed it would be weird to see Superman in somewhat normal clothes after only ever seeing their Superman in uniform.
He took a breath, keeping his aura close. The few times he had begun to relax his aura, he had felt how uneasy the people of this world felt around him and he didn’t want to push his luck. Considering everything, they had been extremely accommodating and had welcomed him well enough - no doubt in part to how much they trusted their own Superman - but he was still a stranger and he couldn’t fault their hesitancy and caution. He didn't want to jeopardize the tentatively positive relationship by adding another rather alien aspect to it all. Especially when their Superman had never displayed such an ability.
Hopefully he wouldn’t be present long enough for them to truly get used to him.
He clasped his hands together, wondering if he should go up into the atmosphere to take some time to stretch his aura. What made him hesitate was that if he let go of his aura and heard a serious cry for help before enough time had passed for his aura to adequately relax, pulling it back was quite uncomfortable. However, he also knew he needed to find more time to truly rest, though not necessarily sleep. Five intermittent hours a day, if he was lucky, was clearly not sufficient.
How long would he be in this world?
“Hey, Kal.”
He looked up and saw Lois.
But not his Lois.
“Hey, Lois,” he said, giving her a sad smile.
She frowned. “Are you okay?”
He shrugged.
“Would you like to be alone?” she asked uncertainly.
He swallowed. “Actually, no. Please sit.”
She sat down, doing nothing to hide the fact she was watching him closely.
"So, I take it from your shrug you’re . . . not okay?" she asked tentatively.
"I'm homesick," he admitted.
"Oh. Well. I would be too if I was in your position. Do you . . . want to talk about it?" she asked.
"I suppose that's better than what I have been doing," he said with a tired laugh.
"What have you been doing? Trying not to think about home?" she asked.
"Partly.” He glanced at her, taking in her shivering form. “Let’s take this conversation elsewhere. I can see how cold you are.”
He stood up and offered his hand.
She gratefully took it.
“Clark gave me the keys to his place, if that’s alright?” he offered.
She nodded and he immediately flew them.
He gently set her down in Clark’s kitchen a moment later.
“Wow. I didn’t know you could fly that fast with a passenger,” she said, stepping away from him.
“I’ve learned how,” he said simply, going to the living room.
“Will you teach our Superman that?" she asked.
"I've already started. I don't know how much he'll be able to do, since he's never injured his aura before, but I think he should eventually be able to do what I just did," he said as he sat down in the lounge chair.
Lois took the couch.
“You mentioned hurting your aura in our first conversation. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s an aura? Is it unique to Kryptonians?” she asked.
“Well, I’m not sure if it’s unique to only Kryptonians, but it’s an energy field, or biofield, we project. Your Superman naturally projects an aura a few millimeters from his skin all the time, and that’s why when he walks through fire or is struck with bullets, his uniform remains undamaged,” Kal explained. “His invulnerability is imparted into whatever is within his aura.”
“And for you?” she asked curiously.
“I can consciously extend and manipulate my aura. I’ve learned that I can share my invulnerability or even lifeforce with others. Of course, that took time and practice to learn, and it was initially very dangerous for me.”
“Dangerous?” she asked, concerned and confused.
“Before I learned control, anything within my aura was automatically treated as an extension of myself," he said. "So my energy would immediately be diverted to heal new or old injuries of any living being near me, even to my detriment."
Lois' eyes widened. "So does that mean, now that you can control it, you can . . . heal people?"
"Yes,” he said, not sure if he should elaborate or not before quickly noticing how her eyes had focused on his eyepatch in confusion. He decided there was no harm in answering her unasked question. “This damage is permanent, and it was much worse before. Really, I’m lucky I still have an eye, it just no longer works.”
“What happened?” she asked tentatively.
“A leader of a faction who wanted to become New Krypton’s leader sent assassins to kill me. The first was handled without much issue, but the second was a father and son team with the ability to absorb life energy. Suffice it to say, I would not have made it if the people of Earth had not helped,” Kal said, before looking down at his hands.
“So that’s why you told me and Clark to make sure our Superman has allies and those weapons,” Lois said in realization.
“Yes. Anyway,” Kal said, deciding to change the topic. "I take it you've been working solo this week?"
"Yeah, but now that the UN is finishing up things with the Treaty, that should be over soon," Lois said, trying to hide her earlier frustrations. "Clark should be heading back within a few days."
Kal nodded before looking down at his hands again.
"So other than the year, Treaty, and Foundation, how different are things here compared to there?" she asked, growing nervous in the silence. "I mean, if you want to talk about it."
"No, it's fine," he said, taking a moment to think. "Things are . . . very different, but the similarities are equally striking. Like, I was surprised that LNN hadn't changed their name."
Lois' eyes widened. "Oh? So . . . Luthor was . . . not so good in your universe either?"
Kal laughed. "No, definitely not good. He sabotaged the rocket I had been transporting to destroy Nightfall and almost killed me. And then he tried to blow me and the Foundation up when I had been recovering."
"He what?!" Lois gasped.
"Yeah. He was ultimately found guilty of conspiring to commit mass murder, among many, many other serious crimes, and was summarily executed for those crimes by the International Court," Kal explained.
"Dang. He committed suicide here," Lois said, shaking her head. "So, there's the striking similarity. Luthor is dead in both of our universes, ultimately because of his choices."
Kal nodded before asking a question of his own. "Did Nightfall happen here too, then?"
"Yeah, but Superman flew up and struck it himself directly. He had to do it twice, but as you can see, it worked."
"Hm, interesting."
"Yeah, probably not the best approach," Lois admitted with a nervous chuckle. "Looking back, I'm not sure what leadership had been thinking. Anyway, from our previous discussion, I take it you know Clark well in your world?"
Kal blinked. "Uh, yeah."
"So is Clark the same?" she asked curiously.
"Um, sort of. He works as a P.I. in my world, so doesn’t work at the Daily Planet, but he has worked with my Lois on some cases. They, uh, actually helped bring down Luthor together." He smiled at the fact.
Lois' eyes widened. "Oh."
Kal frowned. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. I just . . . well, I wish that's how it had happened here."
Kal tilted his head, confused.
"I, uh, I didn't see who Luthor really was until . . . after," she admitted softly.
"Ah. He was a very good liar in my world too," Kal said understandingly.
"I still can’t believe I didn’t see it, though," Lois said with self-reproach clear in her voice. "Anyway, your Clark is a private investigator and has worked with . . . my counterpart a few times?"
"Yeah. Things like business corruption and missing persons," he said.
"Are they . . . close?" Lois asked.
Kal shifted uncomfortably. "I'm, uh, not sure if I should say."
"Why? Do they hate each other or something?"
Kal shook his head, then exhaled heavily before giving in and answering. "No. They're actually . . . married. They had their first year anniversary recently actually," Kal said, tightly clasping his hands together.
"They're . . . married?" Lois breathed, taking it in before pausing and staring at Kal in growing concern. "Kal?"
He pinched the bridge of his nose before rubbing his eyes, disturbing the eyepatch slightly before he righted it.
"I miss my wife," he whispered, a warble in his voice.
"Your . . . ?" Lois was astonished. "You're married?"
Kal nodded.
"Do you . . . have kids?" she asked.
"No. Don't know if that's possible yet," he said, exhaling heavily and wiping away the tears threatening to escape before lowering his hand.
"She must be wonderful," she whispered as he collected himself.
He cleared his throat. "She is. I really hope she's okay. I can only imagine what they're thinking right now."
"They?" she asked, unable to stop herself.
"My family, friends . . . the world," he clarified. "I just disappeared. I don't even know if anyone saw me, though I think there must have been security cameras at the lab," he said with a frown.
"I'm sorry," she said. “I wish I could do something to help.”
"Thanks," Kal said softly, appreciating her sincerity.
"I know! Why don't you join me for Thanksgiving? It'll be fun, besides, it's the least I could do to thank you for . . . saving Clark," she said, growing quiet at the end. "I . . . I'm sorry you're missing your family but I'm . . . I'm really glad you came when you did. I guess it's sort of sad, but it took me almost losing Clark to–" She took a deep breath to calm herself. She swallowed. "Well. You already saw in your world how I feel."
She risked a glance up, finding Kal smiling tenderly at her.
"Yes. He's a lucky man. In both worlds."
Lois blushed.
“And sure. I’ll join you for Thanksgiving,” he said after a moment. “Thank you, Lois.”
O o O o O
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