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Chapter Text

Earth-167

Clark and Lois had just completed work after a long day at the Daily Planet and were headed home late that afternoon. Clark was wearing his signature beige overcoat and glasses while his jet black hair was slicked back and Lois was wearing her favorite business suit consisting of a dark blue skirt and jacket, pink dress shirt, and high heels while her dark brown hair was styled into a thick oval shaped bun.

As the couple walked along the sidewalk while the ongoing rush hour traffic passed on the street beside them, Lois suddenly found herself in the mood for something warm and delicious to drink and turned towards her fiancé.

“Hey Smallville, I don’t why don’t we go over to that coffee shop we like and purchase some cappuccino?” she suggested with a smile.

Clark’s eyebrows raised, intrigued, and then nodded in acquiescence liking the idea himself.

“Sure Lois why not? I could use a cappuccino myself and they serve the best ones,” Clark agreed while smiling back. They then linked arms and headed towards the coffee shop where they entered and placed their orders. As they waited, they suddenly heard some sort of commotion outside and turning their heads simultaneously saw, to their shock, what appeared to be another Superman who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and was flying across the city except this one was wreaking havoc and sending citizens fleeing.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Lois questioned with wide eyes as the other Superman alternated between flying and super speeding as he unleashed powerful straight beams of red heat vision indiscriminately, causing small to medium fiery explosions along the streets which sent dark grey smoke wafting into the air from the burning flames.

In addition he lifted other parked vehicles, limousines included, and either smashed them against buildings or tossed them into the air, and blew enormous gusts of wind which shattered the glass of windows of skyscrapers and smaller businesses while uprooting trees and sending not only them but other vehicles along with different objects flying around at top speeds.

Innocent civilians on their parts were desperately holding onto whatever they could during the near hurricane level wind gusts but were experiencing increasingly significant difficulty while the legs of some lifted off the ground and dangled in the air either horizontally or at a vertical angle, their respective grasps becoming tenuous.

Police vehicles with blaring sirens flashing red arrived upon the scene and from them emerged both regularly dressed police officers and heavily armored SWAT members with automatic rifles, both of whom fired their weapons upon the rogue Superman as he currently hovered in the air above and let the bullets bounce off of his body harmlessly and clatter to the ground.

One bullet in particular even managed to strike the pupil of his left eye but the impact crushed the aforementioned bullet and also sent it dropping to the ground.

In retaliation the rogue Superman soared back to the ground and joining his hands together in a fist, slammed it onto the ground before him which sent a massive shockwave which shattered the ground and sent the officers flying off it and barreling backwards and leaving them disoriented.

Following this he then rocketed upward and flying around, conducted multiple dive bomb type moves towards fleeing crowds and immediately dived back up, terrifying them and clearly taking pleasure from it while it pressured the citizens to run even faster in desperation from this seemingly now mad, as in insane, Kryptonian.

“Who the heck is this guy?” Lois questioned horrified as she watched the unfolding scene.

Clark shook his head.

“I don’t know, but whoever he is he needs to be stopped,” he stated grimly. “Listen Lois but I….”

“Of course Smallville. You just go over there and show that so called Superman that he can’t drag your name through the mud like this. And so up, up, up and away you go,” she finished for him with a reassuring smile. Clark in turn gave her a firm nod and then quickly hurried out of the shop while hearing his fiancé’s whispered, “Be careful Clark” by means of his powerful super hearing.

Ducking behind the coffee shop, he removed his glasses and ripped open his shirt and tie, the dark red ‘S’ symbol of his super suit being displayed, and quickly removing his remaining clothes was now in his own Superman uniform as he leapt into the sky and flew off to challenge the other Superman.

Unknown to him, Lois, or any of the Metropolis citizens, this Superman was from an alternate Earth designated as Earth-96, the powerful entities preceding over the multiverse also referring to it as Kingdom Come. For that world’s citizens, he was an extraordinary hero and significantly powerful while the women in particular swooned over him, his image and facial features reminding some of them of Earth-96’s most famous model Cress Reeves while other women thought he looked like one of that world’s A List actors by the name of Braden Routh.

This Superman however had been confronted by the power hungry corrupt businessman of his world known as Maxwell Lord, who was filling in the void of that world’s Lex who was currently imprisoned, and he’d exposed him to Red Kryptonite followed by Maxwell quickly opening a portal to Earth-167, being aware of the multiverse, and using a ray gun to send the now Red Kryptonite infected KC Superman through it and to this other Earth which culminated in the current situation.

Back to the present, the Earth-167 Superman, or Clark, had reached KC Superman just as the latter had decided to escalate his assault and was about to release a new blast of heat vision but this time directly onto the fleeing civilians and crashed into him, leading to the two Supermen to struggle fiercely in midair before they separated and moved across from each other, the citizens below now staring upwards in awe and confusion over there being two Supermen hovering in the skies above.

They did notice that the rogue Superman’s costume had some slight design differences while they easily recognized their own Superman, feeling relief it wasn’t him who’d unleashed this terrifying attack against them while desperately hoping he could save them from the dark Superman’s wrath.

“Who are you?!!” Clark demanded to know while leveling his opponent with a firm gaze.

KC Superman grinned evilly.

“I’m Superman you imposter and this city is mine. And now you can either join me in bringing these pathetic humans to their knees or you can surrender but know that attempting to challenge me would be a grave mistake,” he answered contemptuously and with a sneer.

Clark then looked closely at his counterpart and noticed that the latter’s veins along his neck were flashing red while his irises also had flickers of red in them. Clark suddenly realized the other version was not himself as he recognized the tell tale signs of Red Kryptonite infection. He took a deep breath and attempted to reason with his counterpart.

“You’re not well. I can see you’ve been infected with Red Kryptonite. I can help extinguish it from your body but you need to stand down,” he said to him, hoping the latter would see reason.

KC Superman let out a sneer.

“Actually I’m fine. I’m more than fine and you’re the one who needs to stand down. And if what you’re saying is true then clearly it’s freed me from my constraints and allowed me to truly embrace my full and unlimited potential while seeing these humans for what they truly are. That they are weak and pathetic and saving them is a waste of time. Instead I should rule over them with strength and therefore I won’t be doing anymore saving. Heck, maybe I’ll also try and find that blonde chick I once hooked up with a few years ago and have some more fun with her,” he replied with proud surety, arms now folded together, while reminiscing about the blonde woman he was thinking of.

Clark had no idea what he was talking about in regards to this unknown, to him, woman and frankly he didn’t care to know but instead of knew that subduing then curing his counterpart was far more important.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You need help and I’m going to provide it for you one way or another. But I can’t let you hurt or frighten anymore innocent people. And so we can do this the easy way or the hard way. What’s it going to be?” he stated with resolve, still hoping he could reason with the infected Superman but fully prepared to take him down if necessary in order to give him what he needed.

KC Superman leveled him with a dark glare, the Red Kryptonite flashing even brighter in his irises.

“Bring it hotshot,” he challenged and then flew towards him at top speed while Clark responded by meeting him head on and the battle between the two different Supermen commenced in earnest.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

The two Supermen fought with tremendous power and unleashed all they had against each other, battering each other with their enormous strength while blasting respective red and orange heat vision at each other. They slammed their fists together in complicated hand to hand combat moves and pounded each other’s shoulders and pummeled each other’s stomachs.

They flew across the city and slammed each other against buildings, skyscrapers, and vehicles while crashing to the ground multiple times and leaving craters ranging from small to medium in their wake.

KC Superman eventually extracted himself and flew throughout the city with Clark in hot pursuit. They flew around the golden colored globe on top of the Daily Planet and between tall buildings as the chase continued while the citizens below watched the two different supers battle above them, mesmerized.

While KC Superman was remarkably fast and was almost a blur as he flew, Clark was meeting him neck and neck and was far more of a blur than his counterpart, beating the former at speed level.

The former then changed course and flew directly towards Clark, arm outstretched and its hand closed into a fist in the typical Superman pose, while Clark imitated his movements and adopting the same pose and the two Supermen charged towards each other and crashed into each other midway and caused a shockwave whose ripples exploded outwards and rattled the skyscrapers around them.

KC Superman then latched ahold of Clark’s shoulders and pressed down on him, hoping to crush him with his own weight. Other than a slight groan from him however it didn’t even phase him and Clark, using a move taught to him by Tess and Oliver, grabbed ahold of one of his opponent’s arms and tugging at it hard, flipped the other Superman above and over himself and then slammed his hand into the KC version’s chest, sending the alternate Superman barreling backwards through the air.

Red-K Superman was quick to recover however and with the both of them still in the skies above, he pulled out a copy of the red ‘S’ from his suit and threw it at Clark, the ‘S’ enveloping the latter Superman and trapping him. Clark struggled for some time but using his tremendous power was able to extract himself from it and before KC Superman could blink, Clark rushed towards him and began zipping from side to side at tip top speed as he used his fists to pummel him with powerful blows.

He did that at least 8 times before head-butting KC Superman’s chest hard and then blowing a massive gust of super breath at his opponent which sent the latter to the ground. The other Superman found himself disoriented from the experience, marveling at Clark’s incredible power and moves. After shaking his head and reorienting himself, he leapt into the skies and flying fast, left the borders of Metropolis and flew across the world while Clark flew after him, the two of them flying fast and passing over multiple nations.

They flew over the Pyramids Of Giza, the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the South American Rainforests, the Alps, and many other places and structures worldwide.

Clark picked up speed and managed to overtake him quite quickly to which KC Superman responded by diverting his own course and, knowing he needed to amp up the playing field, moved until he hovered over the Pacific Ocean and then blowing into it, brought forth a few ripples which rapidly grew and expanded into an enormous wave which increased in height until it was towering over both Supermen, the latter intending to submerge the former deep into the ocean.

They both knew that a Kryptonian on Earth couldn’t drown but KC Superman hoped this tactic would help to slow down his counterpart significantly.

Clark however recognized what the other Superman was intending and making use of his heat vision, fired off a massive blast of his heat vision towards it, the beams of fiery energy meeting the wave and dissipating it, leaving a huge cloud of steam in its wake which wafted into the air.

They next flew to the Spanish capital city known as Madrid and chased each other once more by leaping from rooftop to rooftop before resuming their physical battle, smashing their fists upon each other and utilizing strong kicks and jabs, head butts, and wrestled with intensity while neither held back as they unleashed their powers against each other with full force.

While wrestling, KC Superman flew Clark through and out the other side of a tall building known as the Banco de Bilbao Tower, a resounding smash heard as their combined strength sent glass shattering and the sides around it exploding outwards while a sizeable chunk of concrete was ripped out and came speeding towards the ground. Clark noticed it however and removing himself from the fight, quickly soared downwards and after taking ahold of the concrete threw it at KC Superman which crashed into his midsection and sent him flipping backwards and onto the ground.

The latter growled furiously and getting back up, grabbed multiple vehicles and threw them at Clark, one after the other. Clark in response countered by firing rapid bursts of heat vision in succession upon the vehicle hurling towards him, each vehicle exploding in the air before they could make contact with him.

KC Superman next utilized his freeze breath and encased Clark in a block of ice. After which he hurled his frozen opponent even higher into the sky and then flew up after him and slammed his outstretched hand onto him, sending the ice block into the Torre Titania building far across from him, the ice shattering outwards and Clark now the one to feel a bit disoriented.

The Earth-167 Superman was thankfully none the worse for wear and after quickly regaining his bearings and not wanting any unintended collateral damage to happen anywhere, flew upwards while the still corrupted Earth-96 Superman pursued him. The two of them flew higher and higher until they exited the atmosphere and found themselves hovering over the blue and white circular expanse of the Earth below them while the stars shone across the pitch black of outer space above and around them.

They stared at each other intensely, red capes billowing behind them, the KC version looking at Clark with unadulterated hatred as the Red Kryptonite still flashed across his irises while the latter gave him a steely gaze.

“Time to finish this now interloper,” the corrupted Superman addressed Clark while breathing hard and clenching his teeth angrily.

“Let’s finish it then,” Clark agreed with a serious nod and they flew at and began battling it out once more, kicking each other with their legs and bashing their fists and heads into each other’s backs and sides respectively. At one point Clark clapped his hands together hard and caused a huge shockwave which blew KC Superman backwards and sent him hurtling across space. Clark then turned and looked around for him while still hovering above the Earth until he noticed the other Superman headed right towards him, clearly having recovered.

As they fought once more they noticed a cluster of asteroids ranging in various shapes and sizes. Flying into the aforementioned cluster they began hurling different sized space rocks against each other in earnest, some of which they destroyed with their respective heat vision and others making contact with them and hurtling them this way and that way.

KC Superman then emerged from behind Clark and holding a massive asteroid whose size was somewhere between that of Australia and Greenland but closer to Australia’s size.

“How about trying this one out for size?” the former grinned and then tossed it towards Clark with all of his strength, the asteroid pummeling the latter before he was hurled away until KC Superman could not see him anymore.

The latter at this point smiled in satisfaction, hovering in the air proudly while laughing to himself a bit at having finally vanquished the supposed imposter. All of a sudden he heard a whistle behind him and turning behind him, he saw his perceived enemy floating before him.

“Miss me?” he greeted with a big smile and KC Superman’s eyes widened in shock and astonishment at the asteroid he was holding. For this asteroid was not only enormous but was two thirds the size of Mars.

“How about you try this one out for size buddy?” Clark called out humorously and without preamble flung it towards the other Superman and it crashed into the latter so hard it knocked the wind out of him and caused him to let out an “umph” sound before having him pass out, the impact knocking him unconscious and floating downwards and towards the Earth, hands outstretched at his sides.

Clark on his part rushed downwards and quickly caught him, holding him in his arms gently and giving him a look of compassion, knowing that none of this was his fault. He then them both back to Earth and to the Fortress in order to provide him with the help he needed.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Earth-167: Fortress Of Solitude

A groan was heard as KC Superman began to awaken, bleary eyed and as he slowly opened his eyes he began to take in his surroundings which consisted of white, glittering, and icy looking landscape with crystallized structures surrounding him but with a few sky blue hues here and there. He also notice he’d been lying upon a solid white square structure. Opening his eyes completely and properly scanning the current environment he realized that he was within the Fortress Of Solitude except for some reason its design appeared somewhat different to he remembered.

“I see you’re awake now. That’s good,” he heard a voice coming from his side and turning towards it, saw that it was the other Superman he’d been fighting earlier as the memories of the preceding events rushed back into his mind.

“Whaaa…..what, um, happened to me?” the KC version questioned confused as to why he’d clearly gone crazy and betrayed all of his highest principles but instead succumbed to darkness and his most base desires.

Clark had a grim yet compassionate look upon his face while his arms were folded.

“It would seem that you somehow came in contact with some form of Red Kryptonite. I don’t know if you knew about that particular form of Kryptonite but when exposed it causes Kryptonians like us to be stripped of our morals and inhibitions and instead embrace our darkest impulses. Trust me I’d know. And apparently you’ve been taken for the ride as well,” he explained to him.

KC Superman was silent as he took in Clark’s words, not having heard of Red Kryptonite before but definitely accepting his counterpart’s explanation and especially since his earlier actions spoke for themselves. He did remember behaving this way before or at least somewhere close to it and that was when he’d been exposed to that peculiar synthetic version of Kryptonite except that it was also green.

Apparently there were other derivatives out there and he’d have to be extremely cautious in regards to them. Speaking of which he began to recollect as to what had transpired.

“I think I’m beginning to remember what happened. I had gone over to confront Maxwell Lord but when I did he’d produced some sort of glowing red rock, apparently the Red Kryptonite, after which things got slightly hazy and apparently I went nuts before ending up here inside of the Fortress,” he realized. “But considering I feel normal again how exactly did you manage to free me from its hold and come to think of it but why does the Fortress design seem slightly different and as a matter of fact but who are you exactly?”

Clark smiled gently in response to the other man’s confusion.

“As you can see but I transported you to the Fortress and had its version of our father cleanse out all of the Red Kryptonite radiation and any lingering essence from your system,” he explained and then continued. “And to answer your other questions, I’ve been thinking about it and there’s only one conclusion. You my friend are from another Earth.”

KC Superman frowned.

“Um, I’m sorry, what? Another Earth?” he questioned puzzled.

“Yeah. The fact I know the Earth we’re on is my Earth and that I have definitive proof of that, the differences in our respective suits, and apparently the differences in our versions of the Fortress combined with Maxwell being incarcerated here all shows that we’re from two different worlds. Two of billions or trillions of worlds in what’s known as the multiverse or a multitude of universes,” Clark further elaborated.

His counterpart was intrigued by this info, eyebrows raised in interest.

“Huh, well then but that is not one of the many really crazy things I’ve heard before,” KC Superman stated with a shrug. “Got any ideas on how to return since I’d really like to get back to my world? Oh, and what shall I call you?”

“Clark’s fine though we probably shouldn’t call each other that for simplicities sake and so what shall I call you other than Clark?”

“I think Kent should work just as well,” he answered Clark with a smile.

“Kent it is then,” Clark replied and returned his counterpart’s smile. “And to answer your question, I have a friend from another Earth, known as Earth Prime which is the central Earth within the multiverse, who’s a fellow hero like us and has the ability to vibe other worlds. He and the team he’s a part of are led by their own hero who can also beat us speed wise and they gave me a devise allowing me to transport myself to their world. I’ll use it to transport us both over there and they’ll help you get back home. Sound good?”

“Sure does, and thanks a lot,” Kent answered with a nod.

Clark then called Lois and apprised her of everything that had transpired, including who the other Superman was and what had happened to him, while listening to her frantic words making certain he was alright to which he reassured her that he was and that he’d currently be helping Kent return to his home and promising his fiancé that he’d see her soon. After which he took out his transponder and activating it, he and Kent stepped through the portal created in its wake and found themselves inside of the Star Labs facility in Earth Prime’s Central City.

Earth Prime

Upon arriving they found themselves standing before the team Clark had referenced, known as Team Flash, and their leader Barry Allen aka the Flash.

Clark greeted his friends and then introduced Kent to them and explained their predicament. Barry and his team were delighted as always to meet a fellow hero and regardless of which Earth said hero was from while both Cisco and fellow and new teammate Chester was fanboying like crazy over being in the company of not one but two versions of the Man Of Steel.

He eventually managed to control himself long enough to provide his assistance in the current matter and using his Vibe abilities rotated through different Earths until Kent easily managed to identity his based upon the scenery of that world’s Metropolis. He then shook hands and clasped shoulders with Clark and both men promised to visit each other often. Kent also bid Team Flash farewell and thanked them profusely for their assistance while they gave him his own transponder and showed him how to operate it in order to visit their world and also Clark’s world.

Kent then sped into the portal and it dissipated behind him after which Clark also thanked the team for their help and promised that he and Lois would visit them again soon before reactivating his own transponder and then returning to his world and back to Lois.

Earth-167

Clark entered the apartment he shared with Lois who was waiting for him.

“So everything’s been taken care of?” she enquired curiously.

“Yep everything’s fine now. I took Kent, the other Superman, to Earth Prime and Cisco was able to get him back home,” Clark answered with a smile as he reassured her.

“That’s good to hear and that’s terrible in regards to what he was put through. That Red Kryptonite is really nasty business,” she replied while grimacing at the thought of that particular radioactive asteroid from Clark’s home world.

“Indeed it is,” Clark sighed while recollecting on his own unpleasant memories over the different times he was exposed to that substance.

“You know what Smallville? I’m starving right now and so how about we order either some pepperoni and hamburger pizza or some Chinese takeout?” she suggested while her stomach rumbled at the thought of both.

“Sounds good to me and I choose pizza,” he agreed while making his selection between the two possibilities.

“You read my mind and pizza it is!” she beamed happily to which Clark grinned and chuckled. They then shared a quick kiss after which Lois went to place their orders. Clark in the meantime plopped down onto their sofa and reclined himself on it, relieved that the earlier situation was resolved and that Kent was now himself while vowing to remain hyper vigilant so as not to unintentionally expose himself to Red Kryptonite ever again, never wanting to be a danger towards those he was protecting.

The End