2

                                    

                                          
"I wish I didn't have to record this message, but I have every reason to believe that what has gone down on this earth is going to also happen on yours," Nicole's dad's voice rang through the kitchen as Clark watched the holographic video play before him. It was him, a different version of him. It was a version that had lost his wife and a son, countless of innocent human lives and was staring at the end of his world. It was written all over his scarred face. "Our timelines are nearly identical in events and speed of time. That's why I sent my children to you, so that they could warn you and help you stop what's coming: war. It's a war between worlds, and this race of people, the Aroni, are coming to you quickly. You may only have days or weeks by the time you get this message. This is urgent. I just hope that I'm not too late."
The image froze as the video came to an end, leaving a multitude of questions on Clarks mind. The first one he asked was, "He said he sent his children, but you came alone. Who else was supposed to come with you?"
Nicole turned the device off and put it back in her pocket, swallowing the thick lump in her throat. "My brother, Jordan. But we got ambushed and so he told me to go without him. When I didn't, he activated this thing and let go."
Clark frowned. Kids have no place fighting in a war as far as he was concerned. The fact was, however, he knew that Nicole and any other person--young or old--didn't really have an option but to fight for their survival. And, from the sound of it, she and her Jordan were on their own.
"I don't actually know how I'm supposed to help you," she continued. "Dad never did clarify that."
Clark nodded, still trying to wrap his mind around the warning not-him sent to him. Of course, he would go to the DOD and warn General Sam Lane (who took back the position after Anderson went AWOL and then died on the inverse earth), but then he would also have to figure out where exactly the Aroni people were coming from, if they were coming at all. 
Sam had changed a lot in the past couple of years with everything that happened with Morgan Edge/Tao-Roh trying to take over the earth, and then Ally Allston trying to merge two timelines together so people could become their "full selves." Truth be told, with everything that went down with General Anderson, the retired general didn't have enough faith in anyone else to be working closely with his son-in-law.
"I'll take this to the DOD" he told her, standing up. "Why don't you get some rest? The best way to face an enemy is with a rejuvenated mind."
Nicole nodded and watched as he left the house in a blur. It wasn't too long before Lois came back in. All she could currently offer was the couch as they only had one room with a spare bed but it was cluttered with storage, as were the other two spare rooms they had. Lois brought her an extra pillow and blanket, and she was offered a change of clothes and the bathroom upstairs for her to clean off. As luck would have it, she was just a little smaller than the Lois of this earth in size. That undoubtedly was because of lack of nutrition and the constant running.
Nicole almost didn't know what to do when she turned on the shower. There had been no opportunity to take a proper bath or shower since the apocalypse had started, and she and Jordan had been on the run for months, with their alien uncle and his allies giving chase and trying to hunt them down. They were the only two left who could really foil any plans for total human annihilation, and it was clear that that fact made him nervous.
She squeezed her eyes shut at the flash of the memory of what her uncle had done to his own brother, her father; of the attack he had ordered that took her mom and other older brother--her Jonathan--away. She forced those memories back down deep, undressed, and stepped into the steaming hot shower. It, strangely enough, made her shiver. It was December, which made Kansas cold, and there was no working heat on her earth. With only so much wood to burn without being noticed, it left her and her older brother cold most nights. But this warmth from the faucet above her head made her take a deep breath in the humid bathroom. She took the hand rag that Lois had given her, dampened it, squeezed some of the soap on to it, and began to clean herself off. She watched the stream of brown and red go down the drain, unsurprised at the reopened scratches on her torso and legs. It was bound to happen.
Once she was done she dried herself off, changed her clothes and headed back downstairs to the kitchen where Lois was. She held up the dirty laundry and asked, "What should I do with this?"
Lois put down the glass she had been drying off and took the clothes and towel from her. "I'll take care of that."
Nicole watched as Lois took the laundry down to the basement where their laundry room was, and she sucked in a breath.
She was just like her.
But she's not her.
This wasn't her earth. This wasn't her family. This wasn't her life, and she needed to keep on reminding herself of that. She was here on a mission and once that mission was complete, she would get back to her brother. She had to get back to her brother.