Beyond Smallville: Fan Fiction

Beyond Smallville: Nexus (PG-13)

Nexus - (noun) a connection or crossroads, a group of connections or intersections

Sunday afternoon Clark and Lois stop by the Talon apartment to pick up the rest of her things. Lois had quite enough of Chloe and Jimmy’s cohabitation. Besides the apartment was too small, and she really needed some open space.

"Are you sure about this, Lois? I mean we’d be working and living together." Clark asked warily as he gathered her suitcases. "No problem Smallville, as long as you remember not to leave the seat up." Lois joked as Clark rolled his eyes.

"If we continue to lead this double life, hard working young journalists by day, crime fighting super heroes by night, we probably won’t see each other that much." She reasoned, sounding a little disappointed by that revelation.

Lois hated to admit it, but powers or no powers, Clark was a part of her life now, and she intended to keep it that way. Looking at it objectively, she had very few friends, and was tired of people running in and out of her life all the time.

Lois was out of options. Chloe and Jimmy tying the knot was the icing on a foul tasting cake. They would spend less of their time with her. Sure she’d see her never do well cousin and errant photojournalist husband frequently, but everything would change.

The words that she’d admitted to Clark one night, when he’d held her in his arms, ‘I can’t deal with being left behind again.’ rang through her splintered mind. She’d admitted the truth to him under pressure by the psycho couples guy that had nearly electrocuted them both.

She’d said that she loved Clark, and then promptly turned around and lied to his face, saying that she’d rigged the lie detector test. Now they had something in common...super powers, meteor abilities, whatever they chose to call it. Their worlds had crashed together.

"Lois? Is this all of it?" Clark asked as he balanced the two suitcases on one hand, taking a drink of cold water with the other. "Just about." Lois snapped back to reality.

"It will be okay, Smallville, just as long as you give me some private space. You know that I don’t play well with others." Clark could relate to that. "No problem, we have the whole farm to ourselves." He was still working on a plan to rid Lois of her extraordinary abilities.

It was for her own good, he rationalized. Clark had seen the meteor powers go to human’s heads time and time again. The freaks, Lex, Lana, Alicia, and on and on. He admitted that it would be nice to have a super powered girlfriend for obvious reasons.

Clark would only be fooling himself. Eventually someone would piss Lois off, and she’d use her abilities the wrong way, probably without even trying to hurt anyone. He and Chloe would try to get their heads around Lois’s new issues and come up with something.

"By the way, where is Chloe?" Clark realized that the young couple’s bed was still made, and a pot of cold stale coffee lay on the kitchenette counter top. "I don’t know, Smallville." Lois said as she pressed the ‘recall’ button on their apartment’s answering machine.

The last call received was from Oliver asking Chloe if she made it back to Smallville all right. It was dated yesterday evening, and listed as unanswered. "Now what?" Lois grumbled. "Here Lois, check this out." Clark had popped open Chloe’s laptop to check her e mails.

"It sounds like they’re okay." He read it aloud. "Congrats on your big story, Lo’" She began. "Jimmy and I are out looking at rings. He’s still jealous that you took Clark along instead of him for photo ops. I told him to get over it. Later, Chlo’" Lois snickered.

"Boy, have I got a story for her." Her eyes twinkled. "Too bad the story of the century will never see the light of day." Clark nodded, and checked the e mail time. It had been sent this morning.

A ring? Now there’s an idea, Clark thought. Lois would never expect that, and I may be able to limit her powers, and therefore limit her meteor rock inflicted damage. Other Kryptonite laced people managed to live reasonably normal lives, like Maddie, the glass shard girl, and Chloe.

"Ready to hit it, Smallville?" Lois urged. "We can call the lovebirds later and check in." She locked up the apartment and followed Clark downstairs through the coffee house, and out into the street, which was typically busy at this time of day on a Sunday. Lois gazed across the scene.

Normal people drove back and forth to church, or to the stores, or were just out for a nice pleasant walk. Smallville was nothing like the cesspool that was Metropolis. Normal? Lois considered, realizing what that truly meant. With the meteor rock powers, she would never be normal again.

I’ll adapt...I always do, She thought. "Clark, I really appreciate this." Lois began as he placed her luggage in the back of the pick up. "It’s only temporary until I get some decent Daily Planet paychecks built up." She said as she placed another bag in the back seat of her car.

"It doesn’t have to be that way, Lois." Clark said sincerely. He just threw it out there to see how she’d react. "What?" Lois dropped the bag on the car floor. Her eyes lit up, literally. The bright yellow rings surrounded her pupils. She turned to face him, with a confused expression on her face.

"Smallville, did you just toss a pass at me, Mr. Ex quarterback?" She asked hopefully. "I don’t know what to call it." Clark admitted. "Now that we’re more...together?" Lois still wasn’t sure of his angle. "Maybe I just fumbled the play." He confessed. "We both have these...abilities."

"They make us unique, and, I don’t know, bonded." Lois wasn’t quite sure how to take that. "Okay, I’ll bite." Lois closed in on Clark. I hope not, he joked silently. "What is spinning around in that meteor rock enhanced brain of yours?" Lois questioned.

"We can talk more at the farm." Clark punted the discussion down field for a later recovery. "Fair enough. Let’s roll!" Lois encouraged, glad to be out of the uncomfortable conversation. She got in her car and followed Clark back out to the farm. They arrived roughly an hour later, settling for more conventional transportation. Clark unloaded the luggage and opened the front door.

"Kara?" He called into the silent farm house. They were greeted by a cheerful woof. Krypto / Shelby padded towards them from the front room. "Kara built the additional bedroom for herself upstairs." Clark offered, not wanting to push Lois on the subject too far.

"She built it?" Lois echoed. "Yes. Kara read a do it yourself book and followed the instructions. It took her all of ten minutes to create, paint, and install the electricity." Clark purposely divulged Kara’s secret. Lois would find out eventually anyway. Lois placed her bag on the living room table.

"So, young Kara is of the meteor infection persuasion as well?" Lois fished. "Okay, now this is where you get pissed off at me." Clark prepared Lois for the blow. He’d decided that it was time. The lies had to stop sometime. He’d already lost Lana on trust issues, and didn’t care to repeat that debacle.

"Because...?" Lois crossed her arms expectantly. Clark zipped Lois’s luggage upstairs and was back in the blink of an eye. "Whoa!" Lois put her hands on her shapely hips. "That’s fast." Clark leaned on the kitchen counter, facing away from her. "Lois, I am not a meteor freak, and neither is Kara."

Lois absently petted Krypto / Shelby, noting that she was no longer allergic to the family pet. Clark took a breath and steeled his resolve. It was time to stop playing games. "Didn’t see that coming." Lois responded. She gave the dog some fresh water. "If you’re not a meteor freak, Smallville, then what the hell are you?" Lois went up to him and got in his face. "Look at me."

"If you’re not meteor rock challenged, then what?" Lois prepared for the worst. Clark took a deep breath. "I am a space alien, though I prefer traveling refugee." He spat out, gazing into Lois’s eyes, possibly for the last time. She laughed in his face. "Yeah, I can see that. You’ve always been a bit odd, Smallville." Clark’s expression didn’t change. "Oh crap!" Lois choked on her chuckle.

"You’re serious." Lois hesitated and Clark nodded. "And Kara?" Lois sat down hard on the kitchen chair. "Now Lois, relax...I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner..." He stammered, grabbing some cold water from the refrigerator and opening the bottle for her, placing it on the table.

"Space aliens? You and Kara?" Lois repeated as she attempted to get over the initial shock. "Kara is in fact my cousin, though obviously not from Minnesota." Clark watched with concern as Lois gawked. "But you look...so real...I mean, can you...uh?" She stammered. "It’s complicated."

He admitted, continuing. "For the most part, Kara and I are as normal as you...well as you were. We just have some advanced, enhanced abilities." Lois was starting to get her head around the issue. "Um...welcome to Earth." She quipped. "Thank you." Clark forced a thin grin.

"You’re, you know, anatomically correct?" Lois continued to embarrass him. "Well, duh." Clark frowned. "Of course you are...I mean I saw...oh whatever!" Lois muttered. "Lois, you’re rambling." He sighed patiently. Clark silenced, letting the scenario sink in, choosing to feed Krypto/Shelby. He opened the cans of dog food with his fingers, startling Lois.

"Thankfully, Kara didn’t let the dog starve." He commented as Lois sipped her water. "You don’t have anything stronger...say vodka?" Lois asked half jokingly. "Now Lois, I want you to hear the whole story before you freak out, and no you may not feature Kara and I on the front page of the Planet."

"You know, Smallville, I’m not as shocked as I might have been." Lois considered. "I mean Chloe always said that this town was weird. I’ve already seen the damn spaceships. They weren’t yours were they?" Clark rubbed his chin. "Actually the one you found was Kara’s."

"I blew mine up." Clark grimaced at the memory. "Blew it up? That wasn’t very smart." Lois criticized. "Yeah, I got that part, Lois." He retorted. "Uh, well, I’m okay with this." She convinced herself. "That’s good to hear." Clark said as he walked over to her and held her hand.

She didn’t flinch or resist. To her credit, Lois’s heartbeat remained steady. "How many of you are there?" Lois questioned. Finally, Clark had expected that one. "Kara and I are the last of our kind. Though the jury’s still out on that." He qualified. "To be honest, every Kryptonian I’ve encountered so far has turned out to be evil." Lois stopped sipping the water. "Kryptonian?" She echoed.

Clark went into the story of how he and Kara had been saved by their birth parents, though for different reasons. That struck a chord of sympathy with her. "That makes sense."She agreed. Lois was gradually starting to accept the truth. "How many other people know?"

Clark had been awaiting that inquiry. "Let’s see. We’d all been trying to keep our presence a secret, yet we’ve done a really poor job of it. Chloe was the best." Lois tapped her fingers on the table. "Tap dancing, Smallville. Out with it." Clark took a breath. "How many?" She probed.

He ticked off the people on his fingers. "My Earth parents, Alicia, Pete Ross, Lana, Oliver, Bart, AC, Victor, Dinah Lance..." Now Lois was growing irritated. "What does that make me, tenth?" She complained. "Eleventh...after Marcus Worthington." Lois fumed. "Twelfth actually...Lex knows."

"Lex?" Lois yelled, startling Krypto / Shelby, who barked incessantly. Lois gasped. "The bald wonder knows your secret? Are you insane?" She snapped. "Lex was relentless. He was obsessed with me, and my life." Clark replied solemnly. "We kept him in the dark for years. Finally, he put it all together. In the end, we couldn’t stop him."

Lois swallowed hard, putting her head in her hands. "Are you okay?" He asked warily. "No, I’m not." Lois countered. "Why didn’t you tell me sooner?" She growled. "Because I knew that you’d take it so well." Clark’s voice dripped with sarcasm. The full magnitude of the issue finally hit home with her. "Any questions?" Clark asked lamely. "Questions? Oh, only about a million." She sniped.

"Why are you here?" Lois began somewhat calmly. "I don’t really know, other than my parents wanted to save me." Clark replied warily. "No, I’m not buying it." Lois took a slug of her water. "You have a purpose, Clark. You were saved for a reason." Clark shrugged. "So was Kara."

"Destiny! That’s what I’m talking about." Lois said excitedly. Clark quickly x-rayed Lois. There was the meteor rock infection, plain as it could be, hidden within her arms, and legs. They didn’t have much time. Soon the infection would spread to her heart and brain...then it could be too late.

"I’m more worried about you." Clark dropped the tone of his voice. "Huh? Why?" She had all but forgotten her exposure and special abilities. "Lois, all meteor infected humans do not react the same way. Some died, some were driven insane, some became permanent vegetables. Very few survived."

next up : Edge of Darkness