Thanks, as always, to Beth, Carol, and Mark who made significant improvements to this.

From Chapter 21

Superman sat in the living room. It was weird being here this time around. He had always wondered what Metropolis was like when he was not around. Did crime increase? How many people got hurt that would not have if he had not left? At least this time, it was less than he would have thought. Superman duties were not keeping him as busy as he would have liked. He had way too much free time.

Time in which to think about Clark and what was going on in Smallville right now. What if Herb was wrong and something happened to Clark or Martha and Jonathan? It was not even like Herb had promised that they would be okay. He claimed he had no way of knowing. This time/dimension hopping thing was annoying. It seemed like Herb was playing randomly with things, not really knowing for sure what the impact was.

Superman looked at the clock. It had been at least eight hours since he had been floating above the Daily Planet, desperate to see someone familiar even if he could not talk to them, and had heard Perry send Jimmy to Smallville. Jimmy had probably been in Smallville an hour or so by now.

If that was the case, right about now, Trask had the Kents in custody. Superman sat up startled. This was it. This was the moment he could help. Herb had said he could not take Clark’s place, but this would not be taking his place. It would just be helping out. He would have the element of surprise and he would be less affected by the kryptonite than Clark would be. He could just float over the farm and wait for the right time.


Chapter 22

Clark pulled on the shackles holding him to the van, but he still had no powers. He was just an ordinary man – that was all he had ever wanted to be, but at that moment… They were at his parents’ farm and he had no powers. It’s always greener on the other side of the fence, he thought, but he knew it was not true. He would be happy, thrilled even, when his powers came back as long as his parents were still all right.

And Clark, I’m sorry. Really, I am. That is what Superman had said before Clark had left for Smallville. What was he sorry for? At the time, Clark brushed it off. It was just part of all the weird things Superman said about not liking to fly and getting sick. Now, though, it was different. As it turned out, Clark had not liked to fly and he had gotten sick while here. So, now he had to wonder - what was it Superman was sorry for? Was something going to happen to his parents?

The door to the van opened and Trask looked inside. “Your situation grows more desperate, Mr. Kent. I have your parents. I want Superman, but I’m a fair man. I’m willing to trade.”

Clark blinked his eyes to rid himself of the tears that had gathered there. Not this time. This time his parents would not be used as pawns. “If you promise to let them go, I’ll tell you what you want,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm.

“I do. I absolutely give you my word,” Trask said.

Clark took a deep breath. He was dealing with a man who might possibly be crazy, but he had no choice. “I’m Superman,” he said.

Trask looked at him with a smile. “Right,” he said, picking up his gun and aiming at Clark.

“No!” Clark cried.

With his smile even broader now, Trask put down the gun. “That was real fear, Kent. Nice try, but I want the real thing.”

Clark sighed. He could not do it. His parents would be so disappointed in him if he gave Trask Superman for them. Superman had come here for him. He deserved better than this.

He pictured his parents’ faces and sighed. What could he do?

Trask looked at him with contempt. “Play it the hard way, Kent,” he said as he slammed the door closed.

“Wait!” Clark cried. “I’ll tell you,” but Trask did not hear him.

***********************

“Let’s go,” Alice McCurty said to Lois as she untied her.

“That’s it?” Lois asked, having fully expected to have to convince the woman to let her go.

“Trask is a madman. And without our help, he’s going to kill the Kents. And Superman if he can,” she said.

“Can he?” Lois asked.

Alice shrugged. “He has some rock that he thinks will do it. I don’t want to wait around and see if it works. Do you?”

Lois followed her out the back side of the tent.

***********************

Clark tried to pull himself together. There had to be something he could do – some way to save his parents and Wayne. He was at a loss of ideas, though. In frustration, he tugged on his arms again. The bar he was attached to creaked.

Clark looked at it quizzically, pulling on the shackles harder this time. They broke away. “I’m back!” Clark said in excitement, feeling a fondness for his powers that he had never felt before.

Exiting the van, Clark took in the scene in front of him quickly. There was a small flame on the ground at the head of a trail of gasoline leading directly to his parents and Wayne. Without wasting a second, Clark inhaled the flames and then blew them out skyward. Then with super speed, he raced into the farmhouse to untie his parents.

Martha noticed Trask coming closer with a look of amazement in his eyes. “Clark!” she said urgently, and Clark followed her eyes to Trask. Abandoning the ropes around his parents and Wayne for the moment, he moved toward the man, trying to rein in his anger.

“This is it, Trask,” he said.

“A secret identity,” Trask mused, taking no notice of what Clark had said. “Very clever.”

Clark continued to walk towards Trask, but got only a foot closer before he felt it – Trask had the rock. Clark tried to stop himself from crumpling over, but the pain was too great. He fell to the ground with a thud.

For a second, the world went black, but then his vision cleared. Trask was coming toward him with a predatory gleam.

A whooshing noise came from behind Trask and Clark looked up to see Superman standing there.

***********************

Superman flew over the Kent farm, his stomach in knots. He had looked down below and everything looked the way he remembered. The Kents were tied up with Wayne Irig, and Clark was locked in the van. He took deep breaths, feeling inordinately nervous. On the surface, the idea of exposing himself to kryptonite seemed ludicrous. He knew the effect it had on him.

On the other hand, he could not just stand by and let Clark get hurt. He had no idea what was going to happen to Clark. Herb made it sound like it was likely to be the same thing that had happened to him, but he could not be sure. It was just not a chance Superman felt comfortable taking. He had come too close to dying when he had gone through this himself.

He knew he was messing with the timeline again, but it was getting harder and harder not to. He had been in this universe for a couple of months now. He cared about these people. He could not watch them in dangerous situations and sit on the sidelines. He sighed. He knew Lois knew that, she had said as much to him before he had come here, but did Herb? Did Herb really get that? If he was able to sit on the sidelines while others were in trouble, there would be no Superman.

With another sigh, he looked below him again. Clark was out of the van and had obviously approached Trask as he was now falling to the ground. With a whoosh, Superman was behind him.

“You looking for me, Trask?” he asked, his voice stern.

Trask turned around and seeing the man in the blue spandex, looked back at Clark. For a moment, he looked utterly confused, his head turning back and forth between Superman and Clark, who was still on the ground looking sick, but conscious at least.

“It’s started,” Trask finally said softly.

“What?” Clark asked, his voice impossibly weak.

“The invasion,” Trask said, his voice full of awe. “It’s started. There’s more than one of you.”

Trask looked terrified for a moment, but then he smiled. “It’s started, but I can stop it. I will save the human race.”

He took a small step towards Superman. Superman tried to stand his ground, but he was already realizing what an egregious mistake he had made. His stomach was roiling and his head was woozy. The reaction was much stronger than he had expected.

Trask saw him flinch. The movement gave him confidence and he took another step.

Superman was starting to sway on his feet. He had always thought the first kryptonite exposure was the hardest to deal with simply because it was the first. Maybe that was true. However, this piece of kryptonite was also much larger than most of the others he had encountered and he was finding it more and more difficult to remain standing the closer Trask got.

“Not another step, Trask,” Superman said, but his voice was less firm than he had hoped and Trask smirked.

“You think you’re better than us, don’t you?” he asked the man in spandex. “You think you can dominate us?” he asked, his voice raising.

Superman could not take it any longer and fell over, clutching his side in pain. This had been a really bad idea. Superman tried to stop the tears that filled his eyes. What if all he had done was succeed in getting himself and Clark into more trouble? What if they both ended up dead? The Kents and Wayne, too?

He took a deep breath. The effects of the kryptonite always made him feel so sick that he was a bit more likely to get emotional. However, he needed to stay clear headed here. He had managed to beat Trask last time and this time he had Clark to help. If he could keep in control of his emotions, they would be fine.

Trask came over and kicked him in the side. Superman grunted, but took another deep breath to calm himself. The kryptonite was so much larger than he had remembered. Was it bigger than it had been in his universe? No, he did not think so, he had just forgotten how large it was. “This is the end, Superman,” Trask said. Giving Superman another kick for good measure, he moved back over to Clark.

He stood over Clark, looking at him with contempt. “This is for all the people you intended to hurt,” he said, before leaning in to spit in Clark’s face.

Clark leaned up on his elbows. “You have no idea what you are talking about,” he said, his voice stronger now than before. “You have no idea what we’ve already done to help people here. You are a madman, Trask.”

The accusation seemed to cause Trask to go into a rage. “You think I’m a madman? Really?” he asked Clark, his eyes wide. “You are an alien!” he cried. “And now there are two of you. I think I may be the only person on this planet who was not foolish enough to fall for your oh-so-helpful act. You fly around, thinking you are so much better than the rest of us. Well, who’s better now?” he asked.

He placed the piece of kryptonite close to Clark’s head, but just out of reach. He moved over to Superman and tried to pull him closer to the glowing, green rock as well, but Superman was heavier than he had expected. With a few grunts, he moved Superman an inch or so. At that moment, the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance and Trask looked up in alarm. He took a deep breath and moved Superman another couple of inches, before he stepped back, giving up on moving Superman, and moved the kryptonite closer to the middle of the two men. Then with another look over the scene, he took off for his van.

For a second, there was silence except for the sound of Trask’s feet as he jogged towards the van, but then simultaneously, Clark and Superman reached for the rock. Clark reached it first and gasping in pain, he threw it as hard as he could to the pond on his parents’ lot.

The piece of rock whizzed past Trask’ head and for a moment everyone was still as they watched it arc across the sky. Then it smashed with a bang into the boulder in the middle of the pond. The rock broke into millions of pieces and for a moment the sky was a bright green with their luminescence. Then the green color seemed to just dissipate as the miniscule pieces fell into the water.

Trask stared at Clark and Superman, both of whom were struggling to their feet. “That was very brave and very foolish,” he said as he took his gun from his holster. “So,” he started, waving his gun around. “Who should go first? The alien in the cape or the alien trying to pass himself off as human by wearing our clothes? Or maybe, it should be the humans who sheltered an alien all these years?”

With a grunt, Clark charged at him, knocking Trask to the ground. An instant later, Superman had joined him. Trask kept a tight hold on his gun while Clark and Superman tried to get the weapon away from him. The three tumbled into the pond. A moment later, Clark and Superman seemed to have the better of Trask, with the man pressed up against the same boulder the kryptonite had been smashed against and the gun no longer in his grip.

“Go ahead,” Trask said to them. “I would have killed you.”

“We don’t work that way,” Superman said.

“As I told you, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Clark said.

Together Superman and Clark backed away, but knowing how this had gone in his universe, Superman kept a close eye on Trask, not moving more than a foot away.

“They’re here,” Clark said as he faced the road. “Rachel and… Jimmy? And Lois and Mrs. McCurty with Detective Hank.”

Detective Hank walked towards them. “I have it,” he said to Superman, as he moved into the water.

Superman moved away to make room for the Detective and in a flash Trask bent down and removed a small gun from his boot. For a second he wavered between Clark and Superman, before he aimed his gun squarely at the back of Clark’s head.

Just before he pulled the trigger, though, another shot rang out.

***********************

Lois got out of the car, feeling her entire body tense. What if they were too late? What if something happened to the Kents? They were so kind. Or what if something happened to Clark?

She looked around and noticed with despair that the Kents were tied up in the barn and there was another man with them. Clark stood in the pond dripping wet and next to him was… Superman? What was he doing here?

Behind Clark and Superman was Trask and Detective… she could not remember his name, but he was approaching Trask.

Lois could not quite hear what was going on from here and took a step closer watching Superman. As she did, though, there was the sound of splashing from Trask and as she looked up at him, she saw him wielding a small pistol. He moved it back and forth between Clark and Superman for a second seeming to be trying to decide who to shoot. He could not really be thinking of trying to shoot Superman, though, could he? Superman was impervious to bullets.

Trask seemed to remember this as he finally settled on Clark. Lois felt her stomach turn over. He was going to shoot Clark. Clark would be dead. She felt the bile rising up in her throat, and then the horrifying sound of a shot.

For a moment, Lois tried desperately to stay upright. She watched Clark, waited to see him fall into the pond. Why hadn’t Superman moved to catch the bullet? Then, she realized, Clark had not fallen over. Trask, though, was slipping into the pond.

Lois looked behind her to see that Rachel had been the one to shoot, the young woman now staring at her gun in awe. Then deciding that details like that were unimportant, Lois screamed, “Clark!” and ran towards him, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

“I was so worried about you,” she cried into his wet shirt.

Clark held her tightly in return. “I’m okay, Lois.”

Lois nodded against him, before realization dawned. Superman was here. She moved away from Clark immediately to launch herself into Superman’s arms. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she told the man in spandex.

Superman looked guiltily at Clark, but to his surprise the younger man was smiling. Whistling under his breath, Clark moved out of the water to untie his parents.

Martha smiled at him thinly waiting for her chance to wrap her arms around him.

“You seem awfully happy for someone who was just almost killed,” Jonathan said.

“Very! I wasn’t killed, Dad,” he said, still surprised. “And she came to me first. Superman was here and Lois came to me first.”

His grin was so broad that Martha had to laugh. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, her grip tight.

Wayne Irig stood on the sidelines taking it all in. Once his parents had finished squeezing Clark as hard as they could, he walked up to him. “Are you all right, son?” he asked, placing a hand on Clark’s shoulder.

“Yes, sir,” Clark said. “I’m sorry about your hand,” he said, motioning to the broken fingers on Irig’s right hand.

Wayne shrugged. “No big deal. It was the least I could do. I don’t know what you’re relation to Superman is and I don’t know what that green rock did to you, but you were always a fine boy. I owed you for all the summers you helped me on the farm,” he smiled at Clark and Clark grinned back, knowing that he had never done nearly enough for Wayne Irig to deserve that kind of loyalty.

***********************

Superman had flown back to Metropolis a few moments later. Or at least that was the story he had told them, not wanting anyone who did not already know to find out he had lost his powers. In reality, he was walking around the Kent’s fields waiting for his powers to return. Or at least for Lois to head upstairs so he could go inside.

He did not think Clark would be urging her there, though. Through the window of the farmhouse, he could see the two sitting close together on the couch in the family room and every few seconds, Lois would reach out to touch Clark, presumably to reassure herself that he was okay. Really, things had worked out about as well as he could have expected here. Even if he was less immune to the kryptonite than he had expected, they had overpowered Trask and Lois seemed more than a little happy to find out Clark was okay.

***********************

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Lois said for the fourth or fifth time.

“Me, too,” Clark teased, smiling at her. “Come on. This can’t be the first time a friend has nearly gotten themselves killed. You’re a journalist.”

“No,” Lois said, placing a hand on his arm as she stared out the window for a moment, thinking. She had lost more than one friend in this business, and Clark was right, this was not the first time someone she cared about had come close to dying, though some were too painful to think about now. Dealing with what had almost happened to Clark today was enough. Still, without effort one of the memories, a tamer one, luckily, and one that was unrelated to her job, came through.

“Good morning!” Chad said as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.

“Hi,” Lois said shyly, still unused to having a boy visit her at her locker before first period… or ever, actually. “You seem pretty happy considering it’s a Monday.”

“I had the most amazing experience this weekend,” Chad said as he leaned over to grab her books out of her hand.

“What are you doing?” she asked him, eyeing her books.

“I’m walking you to class. I have to tell you what happened during my trip,” Chad said. “Unless… do you not want me to walk you to class?”

Lois smiled. “No, I’d like you to.”

“Good,” Chad said, leaning down to take her hand.

“So…” Lois said slowly, looking down at where their hands were joined. “What happened?”

“Remember how I told you my dad hired someone to show us how to rock climb?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the guy he hired got the stomach flu or something and had to cancel. But he didn’t manage to get in touch with my dad until after we got to Boston. We talked about just staying in town, but Dad really wanted to try rock climbing,” Chad said.

“So what did you do?” Lois asked.

“We drove down to Quincy Quarry anyway and walked around until we found some guys that looked pretty friendly and asked if they’d teach us some basic stuff.”

“And that worked?” Lois asked.

“Yeah,” Chad shrugged. “My dad had read that before. It’s not that uncommon that someone will offer to climb with you. This was a bit trickier since we didn’t really know what we were doing, but the guys we found only had a little bit of experience so it wasn’t like we were holding them back very much, and they seemed eager to try some of the new gear my Dad brought.”

“Is that a good idea?” Lois asked. “To go rock climbing with someone who doesn’t know much?”

Chad grinned, “As it happens, no, it’s a terrible idea.”

Lois stopped in the middle of the hallway, heedless of the students behind them. “Chad! What happened?”

Chad sighed. Lois was getting more upset about this than he had expected and he had not even gotten to the part where something had happened yet. “So, I told you that rock climbing is pretty safe, right?”

“Yes,” Lois said, still looking at him warily. “You use ropes and find ways to attach them to the rock or something, right?”

“Something like that,” Chad said. “So, I was up on a climb – it was an easy one, really, but it was really long, so I was way off the ground.”

“So who decided it was easy?”

“The guys we were with had a book that rated the climbs. But they said the grade is usually more related to the difficulty of the hardest move than like how tall it is or other stuff. Anyway, I placed a Friend – that’s a piece of equipment that you put in a crack. The idea is - if you fall, you can only fall as far below the Friend as the distance you climbed above it before the rope catches you.”

“Okay,” Lois said wishing he would get to the crux of the story.

“Anyway, I went a few feet up and I just couldn’t hold on anymore. I must have been tired, but I didn’t feel it. My hand just let go. I had no idea rock climbing would be that hard.”

“What happened, Chad?” Lois said sounding slightly impatient.

“I popped right off. And I guess I didn’t attach the Friend very well as it popped out, too.”

“What does that mean?” Lois asked.

“That I should have hung from the piece of equipment I placed before that. But that one popped off, too.”

“Oh my…”

“I know,” Chad said, holding her hand tightly. “You know how they say your life passes before your eyes when you almost die?”

Lois nodded, not sure she had the voice to say anything.

“Well, that didn’t happen to me. But everything got all slowed down. I could hear my dad screaming and one of the guys we were climbing with cursing.”

“No one was trying to catch you?” Lois asked.

“I don’t know, it was all so fast I don’t think there was enough time for that,” Chad said. “But then this other guy, not one of the ones we were climbing with, pushed my dad aside and caught me.”

“Someone caught you?” Lois asked amazed.

“Yup. Just before I hit the ground, too. Only it wasn’t the ground I almost hit. There was a huge rock right there and I nearly smashed my head against it!”

“Chad!” Lois exclaimed, starting to feel queasy.

“I’m fine, Lois. I told you. That guy caught me.”

“Did you hurt him?”

Chad shrugged. “He seemed okay.”

“Who was he?”

Chad shrugged again. “No idea. Just some guy about our age. He said he was climbing with some friends and was on the climb next to ours. It was very close to the next climb – they even overlapped in a few spots, but I don’t remember anyone else being on that climb.”

“But he said he was?” Lois asked. “I guess it doesn’t really matter where he came from, does it?”

Chad shook his head. “Nope. Just that he was there and damn strong.”

“So, he caught you and then what?” Lois asked.

“Dad kept saying that I was lucky I wasn’t killed. And the other guys we climbed with just kept apologizing. I thanked the dude who caught me and Dad even offered him money, but he said he didn’t need anything and was just glad I was okay and walked away.”

“Wow!” Lois said, amazed.

“I know,” Chad said. “Pretty amazing, huh?”

Just then the bell rang. Chad handed Lois her books and gave her another kiss on the cheek before heading to his own class.

“Chad?” Lois called.

“Yeah?”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, Lois. I’m fine.”

“Wow,” Lois said again. “Chad?” she called again as he turned to head towards his class. He turned towards her, walking backwards. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she said.

He laughed and winked at her before turning around and running to his class.

Bringing herself back to the present, Lois took Clark’s hand in hers. “I’m still glad you’re okay,” she said softly, before leaning over to lay her head on his shoulder.