1

Clark woke up and he felt like he'd been beaten up by Tina Greer, Jeremiah, and possibly a monster truck all at once. The last thing he remembered was the cave and being sucked inside by Jor-El. Bolting up as quickly as he could, Clark eyed his surroundings. He expected to find himself on the floor of the Kawatchee caves. Instead, he realized he was lying in the middle of a large and exceptionally comfy bed, one covered in dark silk sheets.

"What the Hell?"

"Clark, um, hey." Chloe said, stepping out from the shadows of a gleaming and ultra modern kitchen. "I think the best thing to do in this situation is to not panic."

"Not panic? Chlo, where are we? Where's my dad? Is he alright?"

She nodded. "He's fine, Clark. He's perfectly healthy."

"So, then, why am I here? Where is here?" Thinking better on everything, Clark lifted up his sheet and double-checked. "And why am I naked?"

Chloe sighed. "Well, I guess you didn't exactly pop back in with clothes, you know?"

"Pop back in? Where have I been? The last thing I remember..." Clark trailed off then. He wasn't about to reveal everything that had happened with him and his biological father to Chloe. He liked her, but he was done telling people his secret. He'd tried that with Pete and it had ended in disaster.

"You remember being pulled into the wall of the Kawatchee caves. You remember the beginning of our rebirth."

Clark gasped as, for lack of a better word, he appeared in the middle of the apartment, clutching a pair of worn jeans and a blue t-shirt to his chest. "What the Hell is going on?"

The other him sighed and tossed him his clothes. Clark noticed he had not included boxers, and that made him even more leery about the doppleganger in front of him. "Did I not tell you that he was tiresome, Sull-I-Van?"

Chloe shook her head and laughed. "Kal-El, you don't have to so defensive."

Clark stilled at the mention of his birth name. "I don't understand what's going on."

"Would you understand it better in clothes?" Chloe asked.

He blushed and started to pull his shirt on in superspeed, except he couldn't. He was moving quick for a human, but he wasn't anywhere close to what he could do. It occurred to Clark then that Kal-El had apparated in front of him, that he hadn't been able to follow movements so quick. "What happened?"

"I have not missed you. That much is obvious," "Kal-El" replied, yawning. "Sull-I-Van, at least turn your head for his modesty. It is nothing you have not seen many times before."

"Can't blame me for trying," Chloe huffed, turning around.

Clark shoved his jeans on and zipped them up, still beyond confused at Kal-El and Chloe. "Okay, you can turn around and someone can answer my twenty questions."

Kal-El glared back at him and crossed his arms over his chest. "Seriously, Sull-I-Van, do his whines not exhaust you as well?"

Chloe turned around and sat on the foot of the bed. "He's kind of an idiot, but he's my idiot, so I have to love him."

Kal-El's eyes flared red and Clark shuddered. He'd never realized how scary heat vision could be when you were on the other end of it. "Excuse me?"

"Like a friend, yeesh, it's not healthy to be this jealous," Chloe replied, taking Kal-El's hand. "I won't defect to the farmboy version now."

Kal-El's tone was snippy when he answered. "Of course you would not. He is merely ordinary."

"Okay, that hurt a little," Clark snapped and, for some reason, so did seeing Chloe's hand enveloped in Kal-El's. "Can someone please just explain this? I didn't die or anything, did I?"

"No, that term cannot be applied accurately to what has befallen you. However, you have been 'buried' for many months," Kal-El replied. "It is March of 2005."

Clark blinked and felt his heart speed up. "No, it's still May and it's definitely not next year."

"Really delicate there, Kal-El," Chloe replied, sighing. "Clark, you went to the caves and Jor-El did something. Even Kal-El's not sure of the exact procedure but he found a way to separate you from the Kryptonian part of your personality."

"Krypton-i-what?"

Kal-El shook his head. "You cannot prevaricate even now. Sull-I-Van is my intended. She has known everything about us for almost a year's time."

Clark gulped and shifted under Chloe's scrutiny. He didn't have his powers right then, maybe he'd never have them back if Kal-El were here as well, but he felt more exposed than he had since that day in Summerholt under the Kryptonite bath. "You know?"

Chloe smiled, although it was that same kind of forced one she wore when assuring Principal Reynolds she'd be more agreeable with her headlines. Reaching out with her other arm, she took his hand. Kal-El's eyes glimmered just the faintest hint of russet. Huh, he was jealous of himself.

Weird.

"Clark, it's okay. I don't care."

"She finds me endlessly entertaining," Kal-El beamed. "And useful in a variety of ways."

Oh God, was Kal-El leering? Kryptonians leered? All Clark had ever really been able to glean from the AI was that it was a soulless, sadistic bastard. Surely all Kryptonians were like that too.

"I completed my training?"

"No, I was indoctrinated with some of my father's beliefs and educated in our planet's history. I have declined to train until I have at least completed a high school education and seen the world which Jor-El intends for me to lead."

"Chlo! He's going to take over the world."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Oh please, it's really unfair of you to be all accusing of the guy who has the same powers you used to. Look, it's been 10 months. Do you see everyone bowing down to Kal-El? Nope. He's done nothing but earn a state science fair title and pick up the sports beat at school."

"I would not say that is all I have done, although my other actions have remained low profile for I have opted for discretion."

"Huh?"

"Kal-El has been patrolling Metropolis and some other large cities, but he's kept everything quiet. No one knows he exists or that there are aliens on Earth."

Clark's eyes grew wide. "As in plural?"

"There is a Martian in New York. I have declined in associating with him at this time," Kal-El replied.

Clark frowned. "What's with the speech?"

"I do not understand."

"He thinks you speak funny," Chloe replied.

Kal-El glowered. "I speak with the proper diction of your language. Sull-I-Van has never complained about it."

"Why do you do that?"

"Are you going to question me incessantly. That habit and position has been assumed by Sull-I-Van already."

"Fine," Clark replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why don't you just call Chloe by her name?"

"Sull-I-Van is her name. Besides, I prefer it for it seems more Kryptonian."

"And you allow that?"

Chloe glared at him, herself. "It's what he calls me and I don't mind and I'm not allowing anything. That's so sexist!"

"Okay, I seem to be just pissing everyone off right now."

"You have certainly not charmed me," Kal-El replied.

"I...this is so fucked up. So Jor-El split us in two?"

"No, that is not accurate. He brought me forth. The Kryptonian personality has always been a part of you. Jor-El did not feel that you had embraced your destiny enough, so he set me free."

"And you still go to Smallville High?"

Kal-El's eyes narrowed. "It is not proper for the last son of a noble race to have merely an eighth grade education. I am hampered already by having one from Earth."

"Yeah, Earth sucks so much."

Kal-El quirked his head at him and the movement was jerky, like a bird of prey. How did anyone in school not notice the difference between him and the a...Kryptonian? "I love Earth very much and am seeking to protect it. It is an unfortunate fact, however, that its science and math education is beyond lacking."

Clark couldn't really complain there. He'd breezed his way through Calculus back in fifth grade. "I know that. So, Jor-El what? Did he just shove me aside?"

"In a crude manner of speaking. He merely switched the original dynamic. In the beginning, I was aware but you felt me no more than a series of instincts which you could not fully comprehend. For the last year, I have been awake and you have been hidden."

"So I wasn't dead?"

Chloe bit her lip and squeezed his hand harder, much to Kal-El's disapproval. "No, you were just...I guess, sleeping. We were observing this experiment at LuthorCorp and it involved black kryptonite."

"No such color."

"I assure you that there is," Kal-El responded.

"Anyway, the experiment went wrong and it ended up physically splitting you and Kal-El. Based on the lack of speed and that nasty bump on your head, I'm guessing that you're completely human and no more powerful than your average guy."

"So I'm human?" Clark asked, and he couldn't stop the dopey grin spreading across his face.

"That is not something of which to be overwhelmingly proud," Kal-El sneered.

Clark hated him already.

"It's what I've always wanted. I don't...never mind, maybe I do get how something Jor-El created doesn't understand humans."

Kal-El stilled and his shoulders slumped just a hint. Chloe dropped her hand instantly from his. "That was rude."

"What? He stole my body! How is it I'm the bad guy here?"

"I did not steal anything and I am not a construct, Clark. I was here before you. If one were keeping track, you have always been the interloper." He shook his head and looked down at Chloe. "You still have your car, do you not?"

"Yeah."

"It is not overwhelmingly comfortable, but I have no interest in speeding you and him to Smallville."

"Where are we now?" Clark asked.

"Metropolis. We keep a penthouse here. Virgil helped with that. I do not milk anything anymore," Kal-El replied defensively. "If you will follow us, we shall take you home."

"Yeah, I know that your parents will be dying to see you," Chloe added.

"Good, I'd love to see them too," he said, standing up and already regretting it. He was sore. Something actually hurt and he missed his powers for just a second. But Kal-El could keep them. He was human. He was just like everybody else, like that time Eric had stolen his powers. The a...Kryptonian before him could stand out now. Clark was going to have everything he'd ever wanted.

So why did it make him tense up to see Kal-El take Chloe's hand and lead her to the elevator?

"Clark," Kal-El said and, now that Clark thought about it, they really didn't sound alike. Kal-El's voice was deeper and far more commanding.

"Yes?"

"You are wrong. I understand a great many things about human nature, although it is not technically my own."

"And?"

"Martha and Jonathan Kent will be more than overjoyed to have their son back," he replied, turning his gaze to the elevator buttons. "Now, let us go."