The dichotomy of this chapter is striking. In the first half, I can almost feel Clark's anger and pain at Lois making decisions about his future (ironic, isn't it, Flyboy?), making decisions on which part of him is worth saving, and coming up lacking. How can there be a Superman without a Clark, who loves and trusts and has optimism for the future? He senses Lois's regret (even if she tries to hide it from him), but he doesn't even pity her after all the pain she has caused him. He's so far gone that he doesn't care about what Perry thinks about him or if Clark's disappearance will lose him his job at the Daily Planet.
In the second half has Clark in a battle of wills against Tempus. What brings Tempus back? Had he not thoroughly destroyed Clark enough that Utopia still exists? What makes him bring Doomsday in to finish the job that neither he nor Lois could? Using the Kyrponite cage to protect himself again is symbolic. A cage Luthor used (in other dimensions) to destroy Clark, here Tempus uses to save himself. [Annie L, I believe Tempus destroyed Luthor by having the investigation of him happen earlier.] When Tempus says that Doomsday knows where Lois is, it made me wonder if Tempus has done something to make Lois into Doomsday. The one creature who can destroy Clark. Again fraught with meaning.
So, we have a Clark at the beginning of the chapter that wants nothing more to do with Lois and by the end, he is having to fight for his life (and that of Metropolis's citizenry) in order to save her. He still loves her, even if it merely an echo of memory of the woman she once was.
