It's been some time since there was a T&W Challenge on these boards, and I noticed someone the other day saying some very complimentary things about our little fic duels. So I thought maybe it was time to come up with another one. Unbetaed, and I'm sure it won't cause Tank too much heartache, but for what it's worth here it is.
Oh, and if anyone thinks they recognise the general premise which I adapted for this, you're probably right 
The Walls That Divide Us
part one by Wendy“What was *that*?” Lois stopped dead, staring in disbelief at the... *thing* that had just flown overhead.
Clark’s hand around hers tightened, and she recognised that grip. It meant he was worried. That there was something going on that he knew was dangerous, that he was going to have to sort out, and that it meant leaving her alone, unprotected.
Even after two years of marriage and three years of her knowing exactly who Clark Kent was, he still thought she needed looking after. In a way it was sweet, but mostly it was just a little irritating. She was working on him, though. It was just a slow process.
“I have no idea.” He expelled a slow breath. “But I’m gonna have to go and find out. Lois -”
“Clark!” Something else had just flown overhead. Something man-shaped, in a tight blue suit with a yellow belt, and with a red cape flapping in the wind around him.
“What...!” As she looked at her husband, she saw his jaw drop.
“Well, either you’ve got a clone again, or that’s the Clark from the other universe back again,” she pointed out matter-of-factly.
“Yeah.” He dropped her hand, glanced around - they were alone, in a very quiet side-street. - and spun. “Better find out, honey. I’ll see you at -”
“Oh, no, you don’t, buster!” She poked him on his S. “I’m coming with you.”
“Lois...”
“No arguments.” She looped an arm around his neck. “I’m coming.”
“I’m not gonna be able to talk you out of it, am I?”
“No, you’re not.” She gave him a sweetly triumphant smile.
“It’s only cause I know if I don’t take you you won’t go home. You’ll just try to follow me,” he pointed out, lifting her into his arms and floating upwards.
“You know me so well.” She leaned in and kissed him.
“Lois! Not while I’m flying!”
***
The other Superman wasn’t difficult to find. Nor was the thing he’d been chasing.
It was something like a cross between a dinosaur and a giant bat. And the way it was snapping at his double told Clark this was no friendly puppy-like creature.
“Want some help?” he enquired, hovering in the clouds a few yards away.
His double looked across at him. “Think I’ve got it covered.” He quickly looked back at the gigantic bat, dodging another attempted bite. Looking up again, he added, “Hey, Lois. Good to see you.”
“Hi, Clark,” she responded. Seemed like she had no doubt about who this was. It was funny; the telepathic connection he’d had with the New Kryptonians hadn’t worked with the Clark from the other universe. He hadn’t figured out why, but it was probably just as well; given he knew the other him had a massive crush on Lois - and no surprise there - he didn’t really want to know what was in his counterpart’s head.
“What is that?” he asked.
“They’re called Rachivores. They’re predatory and very dangerous - they’ll swallow a human in one bite. We’re too fast for them, but you want to keep Lois well away.” He dodged once more as the Rachivore lunged yet again.
“But where do they come from?” Lois shouted as he backed away, keeping a firm grip on her.
“My universe,” the other Clark shouted back.
Suddenly, the Rachivore darted around and flew off, shooting downwards. With a muttered exclamation, the other Superman put on a burst of speed and went after it.
“What are we waiting for?” Lois demanded as he didn’t instantly move.
“You heard him! You think I’m taking you anywhere near that thing?”
“You can protect me. If you think I’m going home now, Clark Kent... This is a *huge* story! I want to know how that thing got here, what it is, what it does, what it eats for breakfast -”
“You heard him. People.”
She poked him again. “Get moving.”
***
He had to have as many questions as she did, if not more. And she knew there was no way he was going to walk away from this, even if the other Clark was here and on top of things. Clark’s sense of responsibility wouldn’t let him.
In seconds, they’d caught up with the other Clark again. He’d managed to block the Rachivore’s path, preventing it from getting down to ground level. But, without anything to catch it with, all he could do was chase it, a little bit like a matador with a bull.
“How about I get a length of chain?” Clark shouted. “Would that help?”
“Not really,” his counterpart shouted back. “Problem is, this universe is making them stronger. You don’t have -” He broke off again as the creature evaded him and made its escape.
Clark was about to fly off after him a third time when she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. “Clark! Is that another one?”
It was. More than one. They were flying together, scanning the ground, obviously looking for prey.
Clark seemed torn. “What is it?” she asked.
“Just chasing them’s not gonna help. I need to know what to do about them,” he said, a grim note in his voice. “Problem is, by the time I’ve caught up with Clark and got him to tell me all he knows, those things could have killed people.”
“Yeah, but finding out what to do about them will stop them killing more,” she pointed out. He was right: the most preferable course of action was to stop them killing anyone, but judging by what she’d seen so far there wasn’t a lot even Superman could do. The other Clark was acting like a guard dog, trying to control the Rachivore, but there were three of them now and only two Supermen.
“Right,” Clark agreed, with obvious reluctance. He held her closer to him again, protecting her against wind resistance, and took off after the other Clark.
***
Rachivores - he’d never heard of them before. From the other universe, Clark had said, but how had they got here? And, if they couldn’t be killed - which was what he seemed to be hinting at - what could they do about them?
“Not much, here,” Clark said when they caught up with him and he and Lois had persuaded his counterpart that sharing information was a better idea than what he’d been doing so far. “Like I said, they’re from my universe. They come from a forest in Eastern Europe. Originally, they were just big, carnivorous reptile-like creatures. The locals learned over the centuries just to avoid the place. They survived by feeding on other wildlife. But then, about a year ago, they mutated.”
“Mutated? How?” That was Mad Dog Lane, completely in pursuit of her story.
The other Clark sighed. “Couple of years back, a couple of professors set up a research lab near the edge of the forest. They were doing genetic research related to sentient life-forms. They were pretty secretive about it - from what I heard, seems they might have been experimenting with cloning and if there’d been any proof the lab would’ve been shut down. Cloning can only be done under licence, and the process is pretty strict.”
Clark nodded. “Makes sense. So, what? They produced some kind of formula, and these creatures got hold of it?”
“Must have been something like that. No-one knows whether the Rachivores invaded the lab, or whether the professors were idiot enough to try to experiment on them. From what locals say about them, that’s possible.”
Lois shook her head. “People never learn.”
“Nope,” the other Clark agreed. “Anyway, the Rachivores mutated - suddenly, there were these bats flying around and swallowing people whole. I got asked to help, though there wasn’t a lot I could do at first. Soon found out they were pretty strong, so I couldn’t fly in and break their necks. Dragging them off wasn’t a great idea either - I didn’t want to find out if they could eat me as easily as a normal person.”
“So what happened? You said they’re stronger in this universe,” Lois pointed out.
“Yeah. Basically, some other scientists managed to find a weakness in their DNA. They produced a serum that interacts with the Earth’s atmosphere and slows them down, makes them weak and unable to fly. It’s also harmless to humans. So I dumped the serum into the water supply in the forest and anywhere else Rachivores had been seen, and for months I carried a canister of it on my belt in case I saw one of them.”
He glanced down at his counterpart’s belt. No canister.
“Probably wouldn’t work here anyway,” Clark said. “Told you, it interacts with the atmosphere in my universe. The atmosphere here’s different. I noticed it when I came over to take your place that time. Anyway, I don’t have any of the serum so that’s neither here nor there.”
“Yeah, so what are we gonna do?” An impatient note crept into Lois’s voice. “While we’re chit-chatting up here, those things are down there killing people!”
“Believe me, I know,” his counterpart said. “I’ve got a plan. It’s just not going to be easy.”
“Since when is anything easy?” Clark muttered. “So, what’s the plan?”
“I need to get them back to my universe. And I need to close the walls between the universes so they can’t ever get back.”
“How’d they get here in the first place?” Lois asked.
The other Clark blew out a breath. “I think that might be our fault. People like us who’ve travelled between the universes. We’ve hopped back and forth a few times now, and the walls between universes aren’t meant to be treated like revolving doors. They’re there for a reason - to maintain the integrity of the universe’s fabric. Too much barging through them weakens them - it’s like a net that you force large objects through. Eventually it gets full of holes. And those holes get bigger and bigger, until finally the universes implode. That’s why it’s dangerous.”
“Tell that to HG Wells!” Lois retorted.
“I did, last time I saw him.” The other Clark sighed. “He dropped in for a visit a couple of months back. He had nothing better to do so he just decided to check up on me. Not that I’d mind, except he always wants to do the same thing and I’ve told him, I’ve had enough. I just don’t want to do it any more.” He looked away, a sad expression crossing his face.
“Do what?” Lois leaned across and laid her hand on the other Clark’s arm.
For a few moments, it looked as if he wasn’t going to reply. Then he said, “Look for my Lois. She’s dead, I’m sure of it. Mr Wells isn’t, but he doesn’t *know*. And he won’t take me back to a time when we know she was alive, because he says that would damage the flow of time and cause a paradox. I’d rather just accept she’s dead and move on, but he insists that we have to keep looking.”
He’d want to keep looking too. Or would he? Three years on from first meeting a Lois Lane and falling in love with her, and then finding out that she wasn’t the Lois of his universe, would he still want to keep hoping and being disappointed at every turn? Wouldn’t it be better just to accept that she was dead and try to grieve and move on?
“Oh, Clark.” Lois leaned closer and brushed a kiss against his cheek.
“Thanks.” The other Superman squeezed her hand. “Right. Like I said, I need to round these things up and get them back to my universe, where they’re harmless. And then I need to seal the walls up so they can never get back here.” He met Clark’s gaze squarely. “That means none of us can ever travel between universes again either. So once we’ve done this we won’t meet again.”
He nodded. “Understood. If it’s what has to be done, we’ll do it.”
***
Seal up the walls between the universes? How?
But the other Clark obviously knew how to do it. He and her Clark started to talk very quickly, switching to flight as they did, and while the conversation itself went over her head it was obvious that they were strategising and explaining.
So. They had to round up the Rachivores - the three they’d seen so far, and check for any others - and then bring them to where the gap the other Clark knew about was. They had to trick them through the gap. The other Clark would follow, and then he and her Clark between them would seal the gap. Permanently.
Okay. Easy enough... maybe.
Rounding up the Rachivores wasn’t easy. Preventing them from killing people wasn’t, either. They managed to save two people’s lives, just, but they were two late for another two. The terrified screams would haunt all three of them for a long time to come.
In the end, she insisted that they needed a bit more than two Supermen, no matter how fast or strong or clever they were. The other Clark agreed to ‘borrow’ a large metal cage they saw as they flew over the docks.
It worked; using the alternate Clark as decoy, her Clark managed to trick one of the Rachivores into the cage. Another followed twenty minutes later, once they finally managed to catch up with it and get it in.
The third was more elusive, but half an hour later her Clark’s head shot up. “Screams,” was all he said, his tone dark.
They followed the direction of the screams, only to find the Rachivore on the ground, licking its lips.
“Too late,” the other Clark said, his tone bleak.
“Yeah.” The look on her husband’s face told her he was going to blame himself for this.
“It’s not your fault, Clark!” she muttered, burying her face in his neck. “You’re doing all you can. We all are.”
“Clark, I need you!” the other Clark snapped. Instantly, her Clark set her down and shot off to help his counterpart round up the final Rachivore. This time, the two of them were obviously angry, and they abandoned their earlier approach to rush straight in, grab the Rachivore and bodily shove it into the cage, blocking the door so that the two already in there couldn’t escape.
“Right.” The other Clark took a deep breath. “Time to get them back.
***
The gap they’d come through came out over Hobb’s Bay. As they got closer, he could see an unusual pattern on the horizon, a kind of shimmering, almost like a mirage.
“That’s the gap,” his counterpart agreed. “There’s more of them, too. I’ve found at least four.”
“But you can close them all?” Lois asked.
“Oh, yeah.” There was absolute confidence in the other Clark’s voice.
“How?”
“With these.” With his free hand - he was holding the cage in his other - from his belt the other Clark produced a device that looked like a miniature remote-control. “Bernie Klein made it. Took him a couple of months to figure it out, once I told him I was getting worried about the gaps.”
“Bernie did? Not that I don’t trust him, but you’re sure it’ll work?” Lois was sounding dubious.
“Well, we haven’t tested it beyond laboratory conditions, of course.” Now the other Clark was getting testy. “But we’re as sure as we can be that it’ll work. The gaps will be closed. Permanently. No more travel between universes. No more unexpected visits from Mr Wells.”
And no more encounters with a Lois Lane who was someone else’s wife for a Clark from a universe without a Lois. No wonder he was looking relieved.
“So, how does it work?” he asked, as much to distract the conversation as anything else.
“I go through the gap with our friends here,” Clark explained, “and the second I’m through I click this button -” He demonstrated on the device. “The gaps will close automatically. The device is programmed to self-destruct once activation’s complete.”
“Okay.” He nodded to show he understood.
“This is it, then,” Clark said, looking from one to the other of them. “This is goodbye.”
“Right.” He immediately held out his hand. It was taken in a strong, firm grip.
“It’s been great to know you, Clark,” his counterpart said. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot from you.”
“Been good to know you, too. Take care, y’hear?”
The other Clark nodded before turning to Lois. All he said was a quiet, heartfelt, “Thank you.”
She nudged him in the ribs; after a moment, he realised what she wanted and he flew her closer. She leaned across, wrapped her arms around the other Clark and hugged him. With only one hand, he couldn’t hug her back properly, but it seemed to be enough.
He released Lois and clicked a button on his device. Immediately, a ferocious wind came out of nowhere.
“You wanna be careful -”
The rest of his words were lost to the sound of the wind. “What did you say?” Clark shouted back.
But his counterpart was already flying through the gap, which Clark realised was a lot closer than he’d imagined. In moving near his counterpart so Lois could hug him, he’d taken the two of them right up close to the gap.
The other Clark was through and already out of sight. And Lois was screaming, and somehow she was pulling away from him, or being pulled...
“Clark...!” He grabbed at her, or tried to, but he was being sucked towards the gap too and she was slipping from his arms and the force was way, way too powerful...
He made one last lunge, reaching out for her hand. But just as his fingers were about to close around hers there was a brilliant, blinding flash.
When he was able to see again, the shimmering that had been all around him was gone. And so was Lois.
***
end of part 1
