slayers_desire | recovering from an ordeal

"Yeah. She's... harder. Meaner. She actually wanted to hurt people and said she had before. And... she cleaned up after Luthor's victims. She didn't even seem to think that was anything out of the ordinary." It's so different from the Victor they know, the one who couldn't hurt someone unless they did something really awful, and then she'd only want to hurt their feelings.

He looks a little helpless as to explain. "I don't know. Maybe she was illegitimate, and that's why Lionel gave her up to the orphanage. Granny Goodness did say her parents were powerful people..."

"An alternate of Victor with an alternate of you." April breathes again. The bond is still open, so he will sense a little jealously... confused jealously. And will also hear her inner questioning... they still haven't ever seen an alternate of her. And what does this mean?

Or should it even mean anything...

"Maybe this is the secret Tess is keeping."

Clark isn't sure either. Maybe it means that she's unique, that only one of her could be so lucky. Or maybe they just haven't met any yet...

"I don't think she knew, before we went to St. Louise's. But why wouldn't she be afraid to tell us? Lex was... a terrible person. Lionel too, before he changed, and I was never entirely sure after." Sure, he was Jor-El's vessel, and more often than not extremely helpful, but he also once locked Clark in a kryptonite cage 'for his own protection.' "In the other world, I didn't get the feeling Lionel had kicked her out. Victor hated her though. The, uh, other me apparently sleeps with her too."

"He must get around. I sensed that our farm life was not his ideal." April states.

"It could possible she doesn't know. Tess could be missing this key too."

"Yeah, I got that feeling too. Lionel called me - him - a hedonist." And how very Luthor of him to encourage that.

"If she is, she deserves to know."

"He didn't try anything with me." And she is relieved at that. The only man she wants touching her, is her Clark.

"We will tell her. Carefully."

Clark is quite relieved by that. And at least she can easily tell the difference... things could have gone horribly wrong otherwise.

"There is one other thing... does the name Ultraman mean anything to you?"

"He was in the comics. An corrupted alternate-universe counterpart of Superman." April replied.

"I kind of figured it was something like that... that's the name he chose for himself."

"Oh..."

"Ultraman and Superman sort of fought. A couple times. You should prepare for that."

That's not good news, though not unsurprising either. "How can I fight someone who has the same abilities that I do?" It isn't like facing Zod or any of the other Kandorians, whose powers might be different. The Clark from the other world is exactly the same.

"You don't use those abilities. You think outside of the box. I see you... you are much more creative than he is."

"What else did you get from him?" Clark only saw the world he was raised in, the people he had to interact with, darker reflections of the versions he knows. A world where Lionel is still alive, Victor is a violent and bitter person, and Clark himself is a serial killer. It's not a place he ever wants to visit again.

April thinks back. She never gave her abilities a chance to work with the alternate in the house... but now, in the safety of her husbands arms, she can truly call upon her greatest gift.

((so she is looking for information, feel free to give her anything or nothing))

It may be hard to get a read on someone in another reality... but it is there. Clark Luthor, billionaire playboy and coldblooded killer. He's firmly set in the Luthor ways, much darker than the Luthor family that they know, but hates his father dearly. His father, who abuses and tortures him to keep him under control, and find his weaknesses. And that Clark wants to kill him, but has decided that getting away and finding a new world to dominate would be better.

He's not all bad. There's a spark of kindness still in him, buried under the manipulation and the lies, and that rage that drives him to kill. His brother Lex is dead because of him, though only after he was provoked. It's hard to say if he would've killed him otherwise, or just hated him with a passion.

((let's go all-out, lol))

To give Clark the answers he needs, April allows him to see her vision with her. The voices start off as a whisper, that soft whisper that is always in her head. Then they get louder. Until they start giving her images. Ideas. The truth behind Clark Luthor.

"He is so abused. So tortured." She actually feels bad for him. A weakness of hers at times. "Lionel has done some horrible things to him. But it made him a warrior too."

"There is kindness there. A small spark. So buried..."

Clark pities him a little, but most of it is horror at the things he's done. "He's still a monster."

"Father was a monster once. But he redeemed himself. I lived that kind of life once... but my spark was nourished. Given life." April touches her husband's face. "I get the sense we will deal with him again. I am not saying we trust him... but we have to figure out a plan."

"I could've been him." That's the part that's bothering him the most. "If my parents hadn't been driving home during the meteor shower, if Lionel had found me first, that could've really been me. He kills people and enjoys it. He killed Lex."

"You are not him. You are you." April caresses her fingers through his hair. She doesn't know how different their lives would have been if he had been found by Lionel. And doesn't want to think about it.

And that stray thought of losing him... makes her tear up.

"There's only one little thing that made us different, and now we're nothing alike." He's met plenty of alternates, but that's all they were. Different Clarks, different paths. Still the same basic good guy. Clark Luthor... it's different. Maybe because Clark walked in his shoes. Maybe because he can so easily see where the split happened.

((bedtime))

"Correction. There are two things that make you different. You have me." April leaned up to softly kiss him.

"Yeah. I guess there is that." He's actually kind of glad that Luthor doesn't have his own April, because if Victor was that bad, he's not sure he could bear seeing such a darker version of his wife.

April leans up against him, closing her eyes for a moment. "I can't wait to go home. This bed feels lumpy."

"Do you think you're ready?" After all, the last time she was home, she was practically trapped with a serial killer that had his face.

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