The Brain Interactive Construct had decided on the thing following the failed restoration of Zod in the body of Lex Luthor. The second attempt would only end in failure if the son of Jor-El was not neutralized permanently. Zod had ensured that its core matrix included a programming restriction that prevented the taking of Kryptonian life. Zod had not done this out of any altruistic desire to force any operating system into making such a decision but rather to ensure that his creation did not turn on him.
Thus simply eliminating Kal-El was not an option.
However, neither was letting him be.
As proved when Zod had ruled briefly on Earth, too much of Jor-El was in the boy and though he had no real connection to the planet of his birth, his father had chosen his carers well. The same disdainful tolerance of lower species existed in Kal-El making him prone to the manipulations of barely civilized hominids. It was not possible to use Kal-El as a vessel for Zod and despite the convenience of Lex Luthor; it would not be easy to approach the man as he had done before. Luthor was gullible once but the Brainiac construct suspected that he would not be so easily tricked again.
No, a new stratagem was required.
Following the defeat of Zod, it had watched the progress of Kal-El in his life. The Brainiac Construct watched Luthor’s somewhat rapid descent into depths that made it question if Zod’s influence had truly been vanquished or some residue of the General’s spine been left in a previously flawed would be dictator. Luthor had great dreams but he had been conflicted. Whatever impetus has tipped the balance, its hold was almost entirely complete now.
Luthor was fast becoming Zod without even being aware of it.
Mildly impressed, the Brainiac construct offered no interference in Luthor’s descent, though it was curious as to what had been the fulcrum of change. In the final analysis, it mattered little to the sentient program, it only served notice that Luthor would not make a suitable host. If nothing else, he might even be useful when Zod returned. The General was always quick to recognize natural talent.
The new face that appeared in Kal-El’s life however, was another thing entirely.
He was in a position of power, he as affluent as Luthor and equally influential. One thing he surpassed Luthor was his physical excellence. While Luthor had been a prime example of human development, the construct new source of interest was even more perfect. Every muscle, every sinew and every thought had been honed to discipline. Furthermore, the specimen was considered a trusted ally of Kal-El, someone he would follow without question.
Someone, he would not suspect until it was absolutely too late.
***********
Goddamn Ollie, it’s only been a couple of months since Lois and you’re hung up over a blonde in fishnets.
Oliver Queen or rather the Green Arrow frowned as he continued his stake out over the Star City docks, waiting for the shipment of drugs he knew would be transported off a Russian freighter sometime this evening. The ship had made an unscheduled stop in Santa Marta, Columbia just before entering the Panama Canal from Europe. It had taken several weeks of careful surveillance, bribes and information from contacts in the cocaine capital of the world for the Green Arrow to be in this place.
Once the ship was offloaded, the Green Arrow would follow the load back to its distributor in Star City and hopefully, when the money exchanged hands, he would be there as well to see where the trail ended. He wasn’t interested in the small time operators, the dealers and the middle men, no the Green Arrow wanted whomever was in charge and the first rule of the game was – follow the money.
Of course it was easy to be distracted as he remained hidden on the roof, trying not to freeze his ass off despite how well insulated leather could be. It had been little over two months since he left Metropolis and even longer since a certain dark haired, Inquisitor reporter with a tendency to say the absolute wrong thing all time, had walked out of his life. He thought getting over her would be hard and had even insinuated a bit of brooding melancholy to his act. However, that whacko in Gotham had that act down and no one was going to say that the Green Arrow was a copycat.
However, that was before the blond in the fishnets.
She had come out of nowhere, collared the mugger he had about to take down. A flounce of golden hair and a smile that could make you forget your name and she was gone. Talk about POW right between the eyes, Oliver still couldn’t stop thinking about her. Unfortunately, she was extremely elusive and his efforts to find her had come to nothing. Oliver, who prided himself in being able to find anyone, was unable to find the woman the newspaper was calling the Black Canary.
Cute.
So he was left to languish, hoping he’d catch a glimpse of her when he was out on patrol, behaving like some love struck schoolboy and completely forgetting that he was supposed to be heartbroken over …
Lois. Her name was Lois, Oliver.
Yeah her.
So far, nothing had happened at the docks and Oliver was starting to question whether or not he had his facts wrong. Maybe his contacts had been misled; maybe the freighter was exactly what it was. He considered maybe going on board, checking it out for himself just to assure his own piece of mind. He had gotten into places a good deal more secure than this. After some of the high-security fortresses he had broken into since the beginning of his career, it would be pretty sad state of affairs if the Green Arrow couldn’t check out one Russian ship.
“Want some company?” a voice suddenly said behind him.
Spinning around on his heels, with crossbow unslung and ready to fire in a blink of an eye, Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow, found himself looking up at the greatest pair of legs in fishnets he had ever seen. She wore knee high black boots, a black backless number and bolero jacket, looking at him with that smile that was capable of rendering him senseless. As it was, she was unknowingly the party to some pretty intense dreams.
“This is a good way to get yourself shot,” he retorted, looking at her. His heart beating just a little faster. God, she was beautiful.
“No way,” she said cockily, dropping to her knees next to him in his hiding place. “You’re too good to have an itchy finger.”
“You’re just trying to be nice to me so I’ll let you stay for this bust,” Ollie maintained his cool persona and not because of his Green Arrow persona either. “This is my stakeout. Go find your corner of Star City to be a superhero,” he teased.
“Am I that transparent?” She batted those gorgeous eyelashes at him.
“Well just in the legs,” he smirked.
She uttered a soft laugh and Ollie sighed at that, great laugh too. Damn.
“Well can my legs buy me a spot next to the Green Arrow?” She asked. “My sources say that its not just drugs that ship is carrying.”
He turned to her sharply, all business now. “What do you mean?”
“There’s been a rash of child kidnappings in Bogota,” she said smoothly, watching the ship closely. “Girls and boys between the ages of four and ten, ripe ages if you know what market we’re talking about.”
His jaw clenched. Yes he did know and the possibility of that was more than enough for him to forget about the drugs and storm the ship right now. “If that’s the case, we’re not waiting.”
“I thought you might say that,” she said with a smile. “I haven’t done anything this big before, I thought a partner would be nice.”
“I didn’t say we’re partners,” he returned. “You follow my lead and try not to get in trouble.”
“Are you always this charming or is this something you’re saving just for me?” The Canary asked, giving him a look.
“Must be the hair,” he grinned.
“Well can we at least shake on it?”
“What are we in the schoolyard?” Oliver stared at her but extended his hand anyway. She was cute and had great legs; he could afford to cut her some slack.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him close, until their lips were almost touching. “We don’t do this in the schoolyard,” she whispered, drawing him close.
Blond. Fishnets. Oliver should have known better but he moved into kiss her anyway.
Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw her hand move, lightning fast. For a fleeting instant, he thought Kent fast. The hypodermic or at least he thought it was a hypodermic slammed into his bicep with enough force to penetrate the leather and impale skin in one strike. Ollie let out a groan of pain and looked up at the Canary in shock.
Except it wasn’t the Canary. Right before his eyes, the girl vanished.
Instead, he was staring at a man with cheekbones so sharp they could draw blood. He opened his mouth to speak as the dark haze began to fall over Oliver’s consciousness and said with a smile.
“You’ll do.”
You really shouldn’t have,” Clark Kent said looking at the plate in front of him. “I mean with your job at the Inquisitor and working for my mom, we could have just ordered pizza.”
Not to be fooled by the wince he was trying to hide as he stared at the dinner she cooked, Lois Lane stared at Clark Kent with a look of sarcasm. “Smallville are you impugning my ability to cook?” One brow arched in accusation.
“Uh…no,” he said as he looked at the meatloaf she made. At least he thought it was meatloaf. “No I’m impugning my ability to eat it,” he threw her a little smirk. Great thing about Lois, he could say whatever was on his mind and she took it pretty well most times, except when she didn’t and then things were thrown, words were exchanged, the sofa was used and make out was had.
The pattern still hadn’t gotten old for him yet.
Staring at the meal which she knew she had burned before he arrived at her apartment for Saturday night movies, Lois Lane had to concede defeat. Even she was having trouble trying to maintain a credible defense for her meatloaf. With a sigh, she had come to the decision that a lifetime of being fed by Martha Kent was something Lois would never be able to compete with.
“Oh just shut up and order the pizza,” she tossed a napkin at him.
Clark grinned and scooted over to her side in an instant, wrapping strong arms around her waist as he pulled her close. “It was a nice thought.” He flashed her that farm boy smile, the one she said she couldn’t stay mad at before meeting her mouth in a kiss.
It was also the best way to shut her up too, he found.
“Yeah, yeah, use that charm to soothe my wounded feelings,” she teased back as she more than happily received his apology.
The tingle that she felt all the way to her toes hadn’t ceased even now. Whenever he kissed her, Lois had trouble remembering where she was. All she knew was that his kisses had power, at least over her. Losing herself in the taste of him, Lois parted her lips and allowed Clark fresh plunder, still somewhat amazed that being with him could feel this good.
It was a feeling to which Clark could concur had he presence of mind enough to think. Right now, he just wanted to kiss her. Like the first time, Clark still marveled at how good it felt to kiss Lois, how her lips seemed made for him and every exploration, every sensual duel of tongues, heightened all the senses he had in his body. Clark couldn’t remember wanting Lana this much and want Lois he did, a lot.
They would have continued like that until one of them made a move towards the sofa, forgetting all about the meatloaf, pizza or for that matter, the movies they were going to watch if not for the knock on the door.
“Chloe,” Clark muttered, x-ray vision seeing the familiar blond behind the front door, “…and Jimmy. And Jimmy?” He pulled away and stared at her. “Jimmy’s here too?”
Regaining her composure after that abrupt ending kiss, Lois blinked a couple of times to remind herself she was on planet Earth again (not Krypton), before responding, “don’t start with me Smallville. Chloe likes him a lot and anything that makes Chloe a little happier about you and I dating, is something you’re going to put up with, kapishe?”
“Got it,” Clark agreed, just about willing to do anything to not make this awkward for Chloe.
“Besides,” Lois said walking towards the door, “she really wants you to like him. I know Jimmy’s a little bit of dweeb but he means well, he makes her happy and he’s a lot less high strung knowing that you’re not after his girl.”
“I was never after his girl…” Clark rolled his eyes.
“A fact that Chloe is painfully aware of now ‘Mr. Equipped with all Kinds of Senses except the Obvious’,” she threw him a wink.
“Why am I dating you again?” Clark grumbled good naturedly as he listened to her ramble on.
“Because I French kiss like a demon and am known to give great blow….”
“OKAY,” he stopped her there. “I’ll go order the pizza.”
“Now you’re talking,” she laughed, delighting in that wonderful shade of red across his face.
***********
For the first time in God only knew how long, Clark Kent was happy.
If anything had convinced him that he had made the right choice with Lois, it was the last month since they started dating. Being with someone to whom he didn’t have to lie to, who knew his secret without being bombarded by accusations of dishonesty was a weight off his shoulders. Although the talk about how he acquired his powers was a bridge coming they would soon have to cross, not talking about it hadn’t hurt his relationship with Lois at all. As they agreed from the first, right now was about getting to know each other as a couple.
The rest of could wait.
Besides, she knew about the parts that kept him from lying to her on a daily basis, especially when he had to disappear to go track down a lead on a meteor freak or a Zoner. If anything, like Chloe, Lois was learning to cover for him when he had to make these quick exits. There were times when Clark wondered if Lana would have been able to manage as well as Lois was now but that was a question, he kept asking himself less and less the more his relationship with the intrepid Miss Lane deepened.
To his surprise, neither Martha nor Chloe had been terribly surprised by the change in status quo in their relationship. Martha just wore that smile, the one that told Clark she was basking in some secret victory she was not about to explain to him. Clark had the oddest feeling that Martha had seen this coming for some time now. It was Chloe’s reaction however, that concerned both he and Lois the most.
He and Chloe had history.
Clark couldn’t deny the mistakes he had made there, the opportunities lost. However, his consciousness had been so filled with Lana these last six years; he hadn’t really been able to think of much else. He supposed if there had been a window of opportunity for him and Chloe, it had passed long ago. Sometimes Clark regretted it because he knew she loved him and other times, he didn’t because any romantic aspirations towards Chloe was little more than curiosity.
Chloe deserved better than that. Clark may not have loved her romantically but he did love her in his own way. She was his best friend and confidante. The one friend who knew the truth and had stood by him through the worst of times. And whoever took her heart had better make her happy. In this Clark wouldn’t abide anything else for her.
Even if it was Jimmy.
Chloe had taken it in as easily as Martha and though she didn’t say it out loud, Clark got the feeling she too had sensed something and once again, he had to wonder what everyone saw that had escaped him and Lois for so long. In any case, Chloe seemed happy that he wasn’t pining over Lana and was even more thrilled that Lois knew his secret since that meant she didn’t have to deceive her favorite cousin either. That did leave a sour taste in his mouth however, knowing that in keeping his secret, he made others lie for him too.
At least with Lois knowing, that was one less person in the world who needed to be lied to.
***********
By the end of the evening, after three boxes of pizza, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen did find some common ground. They both knew that women should never be allowed to go video stores on their own. After being subjected to Failure to Launch and The Break Up in one sitting, Clark decided that it was the closest to hell he had been in a long time.
And he had been in the Phantom Zone.
“We are so picking the movie next time,” Jimmy declared. “I suddenly need to watch Die Hard again.” He threw Chloe a smile.
“And here I thought you were a sensitive guy,” Chloe nudged him in the ribs as they lounged on sofa.
”I am sensitive but I also like gratuitous make believe violence,” he grinned and kissed her button nose.
“Well hang around in Smallville long enough and you’ll get to see the real stuff,” Lois remarked, throwing Clark a smirk. “You’ve come to the Town of Weird.”
“Yeah ask Chloe,” Clark threw his best friend a wink, “she made a career of it on the Torch.”
“The Torch…” Chloe mused. “Oh my god, that almost feels like a lifetime ago.”
Clark had to agree, remembering those days when the most he had to worry about was how to run into Lana in the school halls without tripping over his size 12 feet and trying to convince his dad to let him play football. There were times when he yearned for those day and others like today, when it wasn’t so bad to be him, that he wouldn’t trade what had now for anything. Instinctively, he leaned over and planted a soft kiss behind Lois’ ear.
“So CK, when are you going back to college?”
CK, Clark grit him teeth slightly. “Uh not for awhile yet,” he answered. Clark had no intention of enrolling in anything until the last of the Zoners were locked away. College could wait. “The farm still needs work.”
“Can’t stay out there forever,” Jimmy barreled on. “You don’t seem like the type to get stuck playing Farmer John for the rest of your life.”
Chloe winced at the comment knowing just what association Clark would make as he shot Jimmy a look. Telling himself not to get annoyed, Clark tried not to equate the Farmer John comment with Jonathan Kent.
“Jimmy,” Chloe stood up, “I think it’s about time we got going.” She said grabbing him by the hand. “We got an early start the next morning.”
“Yeah good call,” Lois retorted, wondering if she was this tactless. Hopefully Chloe would clue Jimmy in on what he said later. “I’m going to Topeka with Mrs. Kent in the morning.” She made no move to leave Clark’s embrace however.
“Sure,” Jimmy replied, oblivious to any wrong doing. “We should do this again CK. Next time we pick the movies. How do you girls feel about Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” he grinned.
Great, Clark thought with a sigh, more blood and gore. Like he didn’t live this already.
***********
“You were good tonight,” Lois smiled at Clark stood at the door some time later, preparing to head back to the farm. “I know Jimmy can be a bit of a pain but you see how happy Chloe is.”
“Hmmm…” Clark grumbled. “She can do better.”
“Don’t be a pill Smallville,” she eyed him critically. “Not everyone can be as lucky as you to get me.” She smirked.
“Yeah I’m a fortunate guy,” Clark snorted and got hit for his trouble.
Lois was at her most exciting when she was irritated. Picking fights with her was worth the fun just to make up. Even though their sexual relationship was still at the make out stage, Clark didn’t see any need to push and Lois seemed comfortable with the pace. They were getting to know each other and with his powers, he rather let things develop naturally although the urge to stay over one night was becoming harder and harder to resist.
“I’ll make breakfast if you show up early enough tomorrow,” Clark said pressing into her as they stood at the doorway, his lips not quite making contact with hers.
“That sounds like a plan,” Lois smiled and claimed his mouth for a goodnight kiss. She couldn’t get enough of those generous lips.
Clark let her take the lead for the moment, never realizing how exciting having an aggressive partner could be. Lois knew what she wanted and wasted no time in telling him. It took a lot of the guess work out of the equation and gave him the freedom to surprise her now and then. Five minutes of lusty kissing by her door and Clark had to pull away or else he was not going home at all. He watched her lick her swollen lips when they pulled apart and felt his own head swimming.
“Night Smallville,” Lois said finally, breathless.
“Night Lois,” he grinned, getting out of there while he was still capable of making that decision.
***********
It wasn’t that late when Clark arrived home some five minutes later but he was surprised see a light emanating from his loft. Speeding into the barn and up the stairs, Clark was rather surprised to see a familiar face sitting at his study desk apparently waiting for him.
“Oliver!” Clark said with a smile of genuine pleasure. “What are you doing here?”
“I was in Metropolis and I thought I’d drop by and say hi,” Oliver stood up from the desk and met Clark in a handshake. “Since you weren’t around, I thought I’d wait a bit before I head back.”
“Oh,” Clark suddenly realized that he and Oliver had some talking to do, about Lois. Clark wouldn’t feel it right to conceal from Oliver that he and Lois were an item. While not something he was eager to do, Clark wasn’t about to lie about that either. “I was at uh…..”
“Its okay Clark,” Oliver gave him a look. “I know about you and Lois.”
Blue eyes fixed on Oliver’s green. “Oliver…”
“Clark,” Oliver shrugged. “Why Lois and I broke up had nothing to do with you and I appreciate that you waited until after I left to make a move on her. A lesser man would have taken advantage long before that. I’m okay about it and I wish you both the best.”
Clark felt a sliver of guilt because Oliver’s break up with Lois had a great deal to do with him. It didn’t help that Oliver was being so gracious about it either. Still, Clark couldn’t deny that he was glad that Oliver didn’t hold any grudges. The man’s friendship meant a lot to Clark.
“It just kind of happened…” he felt the need to explain.
“It can be like that,” Oliver agreed. “Especially with Lois.”
“She gets under you skin before you know what’s happened,” Clark mused, turning his back to Oliver, “and then she’s…”
The pain came so sharply against his flesh that Clark who had not much tolerance owing to his rare encounters with it, cried out and was driven to his knees when he felt something sharp penetrate the nape of his neck. Spinning around, he saw Oliver Queen standing with a faint smile, holding the same Kryptonian device that Milton Fine had used to extract the silver kryptonite from his body a year ago.
“Hello Kal-El.” Oliver greeted dispassionately just before his features melted like wax and he was no longer Oliver Queen but Milton Fine.
“What have you done…?” Clark started to say when the world turned red and the Brainiac Construct watched as Clark Kent disappear with a flash of crimson eyes.
Lois arrived at the Kent Farm early the next morning expecting breakfast but only found Martha looking at her with a bemused expression when she walked into the kitchen through the backdoor. The lady was already dressed in classic business suit sipping coffee at the kitchen counter was Lois breezed in expecting to be greeted by Clark and was mildly disappointed when she saw no sign of him.
“Hello Mrs. Kent,” Lois greeted in her usual cheerful manner.
“Good morning Lois,” Martha smiled, surmising that the reason Clark’s bed had not been slept in was the reason Lois was here bright and cheery. Unlike a few years ago when she had caught them both in the bathroom, Martha was more at ease with Clark’s sexual activities in recent times. The boy was 20 after all and what Martha deemed to be a consenting adult. Furthermore, he had shown respect enough to conduct his dalliances outside the home so Martha’s ability to deal was vastly improved.
And there was also the fact that the lady was delighted that Clark was finally over Lana and not pining for her in his loft like he had done since the young woman had taken up with Lex Luthor. It grieved her to see Clark so wounded but it also concerned her that Lana had chosen to bestow her affections on Lex. When even Lionel was afraid of his son’s ambition, there was good cause to be concerned. Unfortunately, Lana’s situation with Lex was out of everyone’s hands now and Martha was simply grateful that Clark had chosen to move on.
That he had opted to do so with Lois made her doubly pleased.
The girl was irascible, short tempered and downright abrasive at times but she was also strong, determined and capable of weathering quite a bit as was proved by how well she was handling her relationship with Clark and the secret they had spent years protecting. Furthermore, Martha didn’t think she had seen Clark so happy in a long time and the surest way to win a mother’s approval, at least as far as Martha was concerned, was to achieve that almost Olympian feat.
“Good night?” Martha asked coyly.
“Yeah,” Lois answered, going to grab a coffee. She had been in the Kent home long enough to know that Martha had a ‘help yourself’ policy to frequent visitors like her. “It was fun though I think we might have scared the guys with too romantic comedies in one night.”
“Well something must have left an impression if Clark’s still there,” the older woman smirked.
“Still where?” Lois looked at her blankly.
Martha lowered her cup. “At your apartment.”
Lois stiffened. “Mrs. Kent, Clark left my place before twelve last night. He was supposed to make me breakfast this morning before we left. Isn’t he here?”
“No,” Martha stood up, “his bed hasn’t been slept in and he isn’t in the loft.”
“Well I don’t know where he could be,” Lois said growing a bit alarmed. The Eagle Scout wasn’t one to stay out all night and worry his mom, at least without even calling and last that Lois knew, he was on his way home.
Even though Martha said he wasn’t in the loft, Lois felt compelled to look anyway and when she reached the top of the stairs that emptied into his favourite hideaway, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was as it should be but something made Lois uneasy. Reaching into the folds of her own suit, Lois drew out her cell.
“Chloe,” she spoke as soon as she heard her cousin’s voice on the other end of the line at the Daily Planet. “Have you heard from Clark today at all?”
“From Clark? Not since last night, why?”
“He didn’t come home last night,” Lois said tautly, “Mrs Kent says he didn’t sleep in his bed last night and since he wasn’t in mine…”
“Lois!” Chloe exclaimed, half shocked, half amused.
”Well if he was in neither of those places, where the hell is he?”
***********
“Let’s get this over and done already!” Kal grumbled with a decidedly bored expression on his face when he came to a stop on the crystal floor of the fortress, a blizzard of snow behind him and Fine. “I got places to be, Lois to do. You said if I do this I wouldn’t have to hide who I was and get everything I wanted.” Kal glared at the being who still wore the guise of Milton Fine.
The Brainiac construct was rather impressed by the remarkable change in personality that had come over Kal-El once he had injected a concentrated mix of red kryptonite particles in the boy’s blood stream. He had anticipated a more malleable personality, not this radical aberration that seemed to surface the boy’s baser instincts and increased Kal-El’s arrogance and confidence for that matter a thousand fold. Like an animal at the top of the food chain, the boy was recognising how insignificant the human on this world were to him.
It was most encouraging.
“Have patience Kal-El, your primitive mating rituals can wait,” Fine remarked going towards the console. By the looks of it, it had been repaired since Zod’s last resurrection and the sentient program made a note not to destroy this time around. Despite its links to Jor-El, the fortress was still best repository of information left of Krypton and Zod would need access to the technologies of that dead world if he were to rule this very live one.
“Easy for you to say, you're not the one who hasn’t been laid in a year and since I’m the only one who can do this, I say move your ass and do this thing already. I got better things to do with my time.” Kal grumbled brushing the snow from the shoulder of the leather jacket he had liberated on the way here, as he joined Fine at the control panel. He did not like being in the Fortress. Every time he came into contact with anything remotely to do with Jor-El or Krypton, it usually ended badly.
“Clark…” a voice suddenly spoke up, reacting to all the noises around him.
Kal lifted a brow at the Construct and walked around the control panel to see Oliver Queen lying against the icy floor. Still clad in his Green Arrow leathers, the human was shuddering but was not quite dead, even thought here was thin layer of ice against his skin. Listening closely, Oliver’s heart was still beating strongly. “This is who you picked?” Kal broke into a grin and started laughing. “Good choice.”
“He’s your friend, you liked him.” The Construct pointed out indifferently as he stood by the crystal matrix and let his fingers melt into thick rivulets of black oil that seeped onto a flat bit of surface near the protruding crystal shards. Instead of flowing like liquid, the oil held its form and began to harden, taking on a shape not unlike one of the shards in the matrix.
“He’s alright,” Kal shrugged, recalling a little of the camaraderie he felt for Oliver even if it was a fleeting sensation. “Bit self-righteous ass though. Actually,” he sniggered. “The irony is kind of sweet.”
“Clark,” Oliver tried to sit up, speaking through chattering teeth. “What’s going on? Where are we?” Green eyes darted around the strange structure in a mixture of puzzlement and worry.
“You’re at my place Oliver,” Kal said zooming next to Oliver and dropping to his haunches to look at the man. “Man, you look like hell.”
“It’s below freezing,” Oliver spat, sensing he was in danger because the eyes he was looking into belonged to a stranger. “What the hell’s going on?”
“I’m about to give you what you want Oliver,” Kal grinned. “You said I had powers you could only dream of right? Well Ollie, this is your lucky day,” he slapped Oliver on the back laughing. “After this, we’re going to change the world, not necessarily the way you wanted but it’s gonna be a hell of a ride.”
“Kal-El,” the Brainiac construct beckoned. “It’s time.”
Oliver knew he had to get up. Clark’s manner was not only unnerving, it was seriously starting to frighten him. However, as fast as he tried to move, he couldn’t compete with the Smallville farm boy was standing next to the collection of glowing white crystals in a blink of an eye. If it was just Clark standing there, Oliver would not have been as concerned because as peculiar as his behaviour was, Oliver still saw Clark. His friend.
However, from the day he had met Clark Kent, the secret of his origins and his powers had been an anchor around they boy’s neck that tainted his relationship with almost every person in his life. Clark held onto that secret because his very existence depended on it and to see him now, revealing all to a stranger than Oliver did not recognise, reeked of catastrophe.
“Oliver you’re about to take centre stage,” Kal grinned and nodded at the Construct. “Do it.”
The cold that he should have been feeling had vanished as Oliver Queen’s heart rate began to pound. Whether by design or sheer anxiety at what was taking place, he did not know. What he did know was that he stood on the edge of darkness and his friend, was pushing him over. As the stranger picked up the black crystal shard that had finally reached completion, he placed the thing Clark’s outstretched palm.
Oliver wasn’t certain what was about to happen but he knew that he played a part in it he neither understood nor by the sounds of it would like. Gaining strength by the second, Oliver abandoned the idea of reaching Clark because he didn’t know if it was at all possible and he far too vulnerable like this. A strategic withdrawal was necessary until he had more facts. However, no sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, Clark’s companion raced across the uneven crystal floor and grabbed Oliver before he even had a chance to blink.
“Come along Mr. Queen,” the man spoke and lifted Oliver like he was weightless, hauling him to what looked uncomfortably like a sacrificial altar in white.
“CLARK!” Oliver shouted, realising that whatever Clark was, his friend was too and if such was the case, Oliver wasn’t going anywhere. “WHAT”S HAPPENED TO YOU?”
“Relax Ollie,” Kal called out as he held the dark crystal poised over the slot on the crystal matrix panel. “When we’re finished, you’ll never have to worry about anything. You can finally get over the fact that it was me Lois dumped you for.” Kal smirked, unable to let that tasty morsel pass when Oliver was still himself to appreciate it. “All it took was one kiss Ollie, just one kiss. You mustn’t have been getting the job done but then Lois is like that isn’t she? More than you can handle. When I’m done here, I’m gonna show her what’s she missing.”
Jesus Christ, Oliver’s frantic mind thought as he was slammed against the altar. He’s insane.
“Clark!” Oliver tried one last time to reach his friend, “don’t do this!”
Whatever this was.
The grip of the stranger who held him down was powerful and Oliver felt like he was held down by a tonne of bricks. He had never felt so helpless in his life.
”See you on the flipside Oliver,” Kal called out. “Trust me, it's gonna be fun!”
With that, he slammed the black shard into its slot and ignited the matrix panel with angry red glow. A burst of blood red energy escaped the panel, column like in its width, streaking into the sky like a new born comet. The fortress glowed with red and the last thing that Oliver saw before he was bathed in crimson, was the exploding brilliance of what looked like a diamond floating in space.
Kal stepped back and watched everything that was Oliver Queen vanish with the arrival of Zod.
***********
“Well I’m done,” Kal announced to the Construct who was standing over the form though not necessarily the spirit of Oliver Queen. Slipping on a pair of aviator style Ray-Bans over his face, Kal stepped off the platform where the matrix stood and added. “Tell Zod to stay out of Metropolis and Smallville and we’ll get along just fine, if not we’re going to have a problem.”
“Tell me yourself,” Zod stood up wearing Oliver Queen’s face. The General ran his hands over his face and observed his hands before pausing to look at his reflection in a shiny piece of crystal. Definitely an improvement on the last version.
“This is an interesting turn of events, Kal-El.” The General turned to Jor-El’s son, poised to attack the upstart who had banished him to the Phantom Zone, again.
“The name is Kal,” Kal warned, his jaw clenching with just a hint of menace. “Are we going to have a problem here Zod? You might be a little more grateful since I’m the one who kind of let you out.”
Zod glanced at the Construct, clearly taken by surprise at that revelation . “Is this true?”
“Yes General,” the Construct nodded. “I could not have released you without the boy’s help.”
“Hey screw you,” Kal retorted offended. “I’m not a boy.”
“Indeed,” Zod studied the young man with bemusement. He was ready to tear Jor-El’s brat apart but Zod was never one to waste resources and there was something in his manner that made the General pause. “And how is it that you came to free me, Kal?”
“Your guy here said that if I free you, I get what I want.” Kal admitted readily, watching Zod carefully behind his dark shades. Kal had memory enough of the past to know how dangerous Zod was but fortunately, these days so was he.
“Interesting,” Zod’s eyes shifted to the Construct and back to Kal again. “What is it do you want?”
“To not have to hide anymore,” Kal declared firmly. “I’m sick of hiding what I am. I’m sick of pretending to be like everyone else when clearly I’m not. I’m a hell of a lot better than they’ll ever be and its about time they knew it. I want to take what’s mine and teach anyone who stands in my way, why it’s a bad idea to mess with me.”
Zod laughed out loud aware that he would require some converse with the Brainiac Construct on how this miracle of personality had come about but for the moment, the opportunity to put a yoke around the son of Jor-El was too good to pass. It was almost poetic in its beauty.
“I’m going to take this planet Kal, I’m going to own everything and everyone on it. You can join me and be the Kryptonian that you are, not the weakling human you’ve been pretending to be and in return for your loyalty, you’ll have everything that you’ve ever desired. Stand in my way again and the Zone will seem like a paradise in comparison to what I will do to you.”
Kal stared at Zod and then laughed with similar amusement. “I’d like to see you try,” the younger man said cockily as he swept his gaze over the fortress. “However, it does sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. You see I don’t care if you want to rule world Zod, I really don’t. I just want my piece of it. You give me that and I’ll swear allegiance to any damn thing you want.”
WARNING: ADULT SCENE AHEAD
Despite her fears for Clark, Lois managed to convince Martha to keep the appointment in Topeka, citing that while her staff could afford to be absent, the Senator herself could not. Promising Martha she’d do everything possible to locate Clark, Lois began the tedious job of telephone tag, calling everyone she could possibly think of for some clue to finding out what had happened to Clark after he left her place that night.
Meanwhile Chloe was using the resources at the Daily Planet to learn if perhaps Clark had taken off unexpectedly to deal with a Zoner. Lois wasn’t entirely filled in on the whole Zoner issue and how it related to Clark but according to Chloe, it was the only thing that might explain why he would leave so abruptly without giving any leave about his departure. As the morning slipped into afternoon, Lois had started to get desperate, having left a message for Ollie at Star City, just in case. He and Clark had been friends when Ollie lived in Metropolis so it was possible that Clark might have turned to him if there was a crisis.
However, Oliver’s private number did not pick up and Lois assumed he was probably jetting across the world somewhere on a business trip.
Lois was actually considering calling Lana when she heard the back door open from the living room of the Kent house.
Hanging up the phone and looking over the top of the comfortable sofa, Lois let out a sigh of relief when she saw Clark step through the door.
“Smallville!” Lois exclaimed as she met him in the kitchen, throwing her arms around him in relief that no harm had come to him. “Thank God, you’re okay. Where have you been? Your mom said you didn’t come home last night…”
“Hey,” Kal said wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her hips firmly against his, “its okay, I had things to do.”
“Things?” Lois stared at him. “What things?” She demanded, unable to believe he could be so blasé about it. “You’ve been gone all night!”
“You don’t have to worry Lois,” Kal said eyeing her down, taking in how good she looked in the suit she was wearing. “You know nothing can hurt me,” he smiled lifting her chin up as he kissed her.
“Clark…” Lois tried to speak but opening her mouth only invited him to kiss her harder, until he was driving his tongue past her lips and walking her to the edge of the kitchen table, all the while his large hands ensuring she didn’t get the chance to put any distance between them.
“Shh…” he said puling away long enough to meet her gaze with flecks of gold glistening with mischief in his blue eyes. “I’m here now Lois,” he said huskily. “And we’ve got the house to ourselves.”
“Are you crazy?” Lois balked, trying to pull away from him but it was a futile gesture, “you disappear all night, no explanation and now you come home and want to do it? What happened to waiting and getting to know each other?” She was trying to make sense of his behavior when she noticed what he was wearing.
Gone was the plaid. Every stitch of clothing on him was not only designer label but expensive, far more than she knew he could afford, Martha being a Senator not withstanding. Furthermore, Clark was never one for labels or for that matter, fashion. He was at heart a farm boy and she rather liked him that way. Although he looked utterly devastating in these new clothes, the leather jacket, expensive sun glasses in the pocket of his silk shirt was just not him. What was going on?
”Waiting is for losers,” he gave her a look of impatience and promptly lifted her up and sat her on the edge of table. His hands were already unbuttoning the front of her jacket. “I don’t want to wait any more Lois.” He parted her legs and placed himself between them before claiming her mouth again. He plied her with hard, demanding kisses, sucking and nibbling her bottom lip before sliding his tongue past her teeth, exploring the sweet cavern of her mouth and drawing her unwittingly into this dance of dark lust.
Trying hard to maintain her composure, a difficult thing to do when he was kissing her with like this, Lois struggled to keep her thoughts from fragmenting with tantalizing whisper of black desire in her ears. Clark was grinding into her, until she could feel him through the fabric of her clothes, hard and absolute. He had touched her before but never like this. There was an edge to it, sharp like a knife, drawing blood which each surge of pleasure she felt.
It was like she was drowning in it.
“Smallville…” she spoke, trying once more to grab hold of something tangible, to keep her anchored to the shore of reason. This wasn’t right and somewhere, beneath the need for him, beneath the unbelievable sexuality he was pressing down on her like a great weight, Lois knew something was wrong.
“God I want to fuck you Lois,” his answer was a growl down her throat. “I want to fuck the smug right out of you. I want the only thing to come out of your mouth is you screaming my name when you’re coming around me.”
Oh Christ, she thought feeling the ropes that kept her to shore snap with those raunchy words. She couldn’t ever remember ever hearing anything so sexy in her life despite how brutal it sounded, despite how not Clark it was.
Buttons came apart with his impatience and Lois felt the warm air of the afternoon brush over her shoulders like a lover’s whisper before his hands were caressing the soft skin of her arms. There was still a bit of fight left in her because she was Lois Lane and no matter what she felt about Clark, there was an inherent need for her to never quite say die unless she could avoid it. In storm of moths that was in her head, Lois felt the need to resist.
Kal could feel her resistance beginning to wane. He wasn’t surprised by this at all. Despite her protests, her claims of independence, he knew she wanted to relinquish control especially when it came to sex. Fiercely aggressive, the need to make her surrender completely to him was almost as powerful as his need to own her flesh. Unlike Lana, Lois did not need flowery words or weak displays of honesty. Stripped down bare, Lois was the very essence of primeval female instinct, driven to mate with the strongest of the pack.
“Clark…” she tried once more, really she did even though his mouth had left her lips and was sliding down her neck. She didn’t have her jacket anymore and a less than a second later, she heard the rip of a t-shirt and the bra beneath, give way to Kryptonian strength. Turned on and hating herself for it, Lois saw him grinning at her before his head dipped and she was running her fingers through his dark hair when that beautiful mouth enclosed the tight bud of a rosebud colored nipple.
“Oh God,” she whimpered, feeling him bite and tease. The tip of his tongue washed the hardened skin after each sharp bite, alternating between sharp pain and soothing pleasure. Her nails dug into his shoulder, suddenly gripped by the need to feel skin. Somewhere she heard her shoe drop to the floor from her bent foot. She heard the slow shift of leather as he freed himself of his jacket and then his shirt, not even bothering with buttons. As soon as she saw his flesh bare, Lois was dragging her nails down his bare back, trying to hurt him with the same mixture of pleasure and pain.
Continuing to bite and lick, Kal played a devastating game of foreplay on the fiery Miss Lane who was coming apart at the seams now that the right amount of pressure was applied. Enhanced senses drank in the scent of her arousal, the moist heat that was wafting in the air, escaping through the dampening patch between her legs. He was fully erect and digging into the core of her through thin layers of cloth, pushing and driving deeper between her legs.
Near senseless now, Lois abandoned the battle she had been trying so hard to win but what he was doing to her was beyond description, beyond the ability of any sane person to withstand. Oh she had wanted Clark so much before this; respecting his desire to take it slow but Lois found it hard to be slow about anything so physical, especially when he was so beautiful. The word Adonis had been made for Clark Kent but until now, she never really understood how much it suited him. His large hand was squeezing the breast not in his mouth with hard, unrepentant caresses, Lois closed her eyes and simply wallowed in the mire of her lust, no longer able to do anything but cry out his name.
“Oh God Clark…” she hissed as he bit down again.
Suddenly, he stiffened if only of a fraction of a second. His entire being seemed to pause and Lois was about to ask what was wrong when he withdrew both hand and mouth. Her eyes flew open to question this but she didn’t have the chance to say the word as he flipped her onto her stomach like he was turning a read page of a book. Her chin bumped on the wooden surface when she heard more tearing and knew that her suit was completely ruined now.
Naked at Martha Kent’s kitchen table, Lois couldn’t even begin to imagine how forbidden this was.
She looked over her shoulder, through the tangle of dark hair in question when she saw his eyes. For a moment, he looked almost like he hated her. Lois wanted to ask what she had done but the question died on her lips when she was roughly penetrated by a finger that buried itself inside her all the way to the knuckle. Throwing her head back with a languid moan, she was held steady by the hip as he pumped one finger and then two, steadily into her body, using the damp he had so carefully cultivated to slide as deeply into her as he could.
That shut her up, he thought with a smirk and continued to finger her, giving her clit just enough attention so that she was pushing back into his hand, riding his digits for every ounce of pleasure they could make her feel. Her back was starting to glisten with moisture and her scent, oh hell, that heady mixture of sweat, perfume and feminine juices sent a jolt straight through his body and right up his cock.
This is what he had been craving for God only knows how long. Why on Earth hadn’t he taken Lois this way long before now? Or for that matter, Lana? This stupid foolish fear he felt about hurting them when in truth, they wanted to be hurt.
“Say my name Lois,” he breathed into her ear as he leaned over her, his fingers still continuing its sensuous assault. “Say my name.”
“Cl….” She started to say and Kal shoved even harder, breaking the word in her throat.
“Not Clark,” he growled with a hint of menace. “Kal.”
“What….” She stammered, trying to regain some control despite the pleasure he was making her experience, the one that was pushing so closer to the edge.
“Say my name,” he repeated. “Kal.”
”I don’t understand…” she breathed, confused now.
His anger mounted and his fingers deftly undid the zipper of his pants. Heavy and erect, his freed cock slapped lightly against the smooth skin of her ass. However, gentle was not in the cards.
“My name Lois,” he ordered. “Say Kal.”
“Your name isn’t Kal,” she nearly sobbed from the cessation of his hand. “Its…!”
His response was to drive himself all the way to the balls between the wet of her legs, giving no warning. Lois let out a sharp cry of pain and pleasure as he wrapped his hands around her hip and began pumping into her relentlessly. Her muscles were clenching in protest, surprised by the sudden intrusion but the raw sexuality of his penetration went a long way to feeding her arousal. She could feel the bruises beginning to form across her skin and knew that she would be wearing welts everywhere but Lois didn’t care, she just didn’t want him to stop.
And she was willing to say anything.
“Say my name,” he said hoarsely, eyes clouding over in how good she felt, especially when she had been so unprepared at first. “Say my name and I’ll do this to you all night…”
The pleasure of it. Oh God, the pleasure of it, she couldn’t refuse him, not when he was fucking her like this. Lois was pushing back into him, meeting his thrusts, until they were slamming into each other. She was biting down on a knuckle from the force of him but she couldn’t say it. Something inside her wouldn’t just yet. Lois wasn’t quite there yet.
“SAY IT!” He demanded and rode her even harder.
Grabbing her hair, he pulled her back against his sweat slicked chest and captured her mouth in a deep, open mouthed kiss. A hand wrapped around her breast as he continued to thrust, feeling the climax he had not been able to share with anyone for almost a year building up to its conclusion. But not yet, not before he heard his name on her lips. From her breast, his hand slid down the contours of her fine, made for fucking sinful body, before finding her clit through the mass of short, damp curls between her legs.
“Are you close baby?” he whispered in her ear, his voice was wet with lust.
“Yes,” she almost sobbed. “God yes..”
“Then say my name and I’ll take you the rest of the way,” his voice became husky, tender even. “Tell me what I want to hear and I’ll make you come all night.”
“Oh God yes,” Lois finally broke, unable to withstand the barrage of mouth, fingers and cock upon her senses. “Yes, oh please….oh please make me come…please…..”
“Please what, ” he teased, sensing triumph in her surrender.
“Kal! Make me come Kal!” She gasped, crying as he increased his thrust, pistoning in an out of her until she knew nothing else, couldn’t take any more and splintered into a thousand fragments of broken will.
Kal smiled and pulled out then, turning her around and extracting another sob of disappointment as he blew everything off the table in one puff of breath. Plates, table cloth and cutlery landed noisily on the floor as Kal attacked her mouth again, lifting Lois up easily and returning her to the table top. This time, he joined her, hovering over, wanting to see her eyes when she finally surrendered to him.
Lois was disorientated, not just from the sex but also from what was going on. This was Clark and it wasn’t Clark. Who the fuck was Kal? She wanted to ask him that but the question was driven away by his cock slamming into her body again. Arching over the table as he buried himself all the way in, tender was obviously not in his vocabulary. He pulled almost all the way out and dove in again, repeating this torturous exercise until Lois’ muscles were clenching at him hard like a lover’s desperate embrace, trying to keep him inside her.
In perfect control, Kal fucked Lois on the kitchen table, watching her face as she gave in to the pleasure he was making her feel. He used the cruder terminology because no other word would fit. This wasn’t love making, this was him possessing the woman that belonged to him, to give her something else that would ensure she go to no one else without always wanting him and this. Not like Lana, who could discard him so easily and go with Lex. No, he would do to Lois what he should have done with dear sweet, fragile Lana.
Lois he would not lose, ever.
“Come for me Lois,” he said in commanding tone because this was a woman who knew how to obey orders despite her mouth.
Hating herself for it because she was so very close, that husky demand sliced away the last bit of dignity she had left and Lois felt herself tipping over the edge into a blackness she couldn’t even begin to concede.
“KALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!” She screamed his name and as Lois Lane felt him explode inside her, spilling his seed into the core of her, somewhere even more remote was the horrible, horrible realization that she had made the worst mistake of her life.
This was Kal.
Clark was never in the room.
Things were progressing well for Lex Luthor.
Despite the some minor set backs, his Section 33.1 project was back on track again and would be past the development stage in six months. He’d be ready for these ‘Kryptonians’ if they came back. Not if, Lex told himself, when. Too many of these aliens with unbelievable powers were appearing in his life lately and the last one had driven home the lesson that he needed to be ready for them. Dark Thursday still loomed in his mind like an ever present nightmare ready to happen again.
Watching the fire cackle in the fireplace, he took a moment to enjoy the present as he sat on the leather sofa, Lana Lang resting comfortably in the crook of his shoulder, watching the flames. If Milton Fine had wanted to know what fulcrum had turned Lex into the man he was now, the Construct needed to look no further than the young woman who had become the jewel of Lex’s life. Every step that Lex had taken to his point was driven by the need to be with this girl who had brought down his principles like Helen of had brought down the walls of Troy.
He regretted some things, the dissolution of his friendship with Clark, the understanding that his father’s teachings had been relevant to the man he wanted to be but these were minor and could not stand up to the weight of having her. She was carrying his child and poised to becoming his wife. There was even the added bonus of her tolerance to what he was doing, even if she didn’t understand the full scope of it. Lex knew what he had sacrificed to have Lana Lang.
He just didn’t know that the world would weep as well.
For now however, dark thought and evil futures were far away and he was with the woman he loved, holding her as they watched the fire burn, consumed in thoughts that neither would ever reveal to each other, living with the illusion of honesty. It was as close to perfection that Lex could expect.
Suddenly klaxons started screaming throughout the house. No sooner than Lex had reacted to the sound, doors burst open and his security team entered, brandishing guns as the lights around them died.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Lana demanded, clinging to his arm even though they had both stood up.
“Mr. Luthor, we have a breach,” Hawkins, the leader of the black, commando team explained. “We need to get you to the safe room now.”
“What’s the code?” Luthor demanded, wondering which one of his charges had escaped now.
“No code Sir,” the man replied and Lex saw something that chilled his blood as gunfire broke out not far away. “He’s not one…”
His sentence was cut short by a scream.
“Mr. Luthor, we need to go now!” Hawkins exclaimed reaching for Lex’s arm while this partner, did the same for Lana.
The gunfire grew louder as the screams continued, one after the other. And it was getting closer.
”We have to move,” Hawkins cast an apprehensive look behind him as other sounds began to rumble throughout the mansion along with gunfire and screaming. Glass shattering, what felt and sounded like collapsing mortar, a groan of steel. It created a cacophony of sound that could only mean destruction. “Now.”
Lex took Lana’s hand even as he was being herded towards the door, towards the safe room he was starting to have serious doubts would be able to protect them at all. They almost left the large parlor where Lex did most of his entertaining when the entire wall crumbled following a deafening roar. As brick and mortar continued to crumble, a body was flung through the opening, bloody and broken.
Lana let out of a scream of fright as two men stepped through the opening.
“Oliver?” Lex exclaimed with shock as he saw the tall, blond CEO of Queen Industries stepped through the ruptured wall, dusting off the collar of his dark suit with indifference and barely casting a glance at the man who was lying dead on the ground. However, Lex’s question stopped short when he saw who else was with him.
“Fine…”
Fine did not speak but Oliver took a step towards Lex.
“STOP WHERE YOU ARE!” Hawkins shouted, bringing a weapon to bear at the blond man.
Oliver did not stop and Hawkins opened fire with the automatic machine gun. The first bullet impacted against Oliver’s cheek before promptly flattening to a lead lump before falling on the carpet harmlessly. The others followed suit and when the barrage was over; Oliver turned to his assailant and incinerated him with one concentrated burst of heat vision. Hawkins scream was short and final.
When the dust cleared, there was barely ash.
“Oh my god…” Lana started to shake even harder. “Oh my god,” she muttered. “Zod.”
Lex turned sharply to Oliver, trying to catch up with the leap that Lana had made and realized this was why Fine was present. “You used Oliver?” Lex accused him angrily, recalling how he had been tricked into creating a vaccine when in truth, he was creating his own doom.
Zod took another step towards Lex and the second security guard raised his weapon to fire. Before he could pull the trigger, Fine’s hand shifted into a spike and he was impaled to the wall like a fly on piece of corkboard. Blood escaped his mouth as he sputtered into death with a violent spasm.
Alone now, Lex clutched Lana’s hand, facing his own death in Oliver’s cool green eyes.
“You seem smaller from out here,” Zod remarked with a little smile.
“What do you want?” Lex hissed.
“What belongs to me,” Zod replied, not mincing words. “You are in possession of my property. I would like it back.”
Lex didn’t understand, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said with genuine puzzlement.
Zod nodded and Fine raised his hand, fingers tapering into a sharp spike that stopped inches from Lana’s belly.
“Consider your next words carefully,” Zod warned. “Where is it?”
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!” Lex burst out desperately, taking a step towards Lana and was stopped when the spike extended even further, pressing into Lana’s flesh without actually breaking skin.
“Lex, they mean the device!” Lana blurted out terrified, her lovely face contorted with terror as she tried not to look at what was ready to impale her.
Lex shot Zod a look. “It was destroyed!” He explained desperately. “One of you people came here and took all its power. There’s nothing left!”
“And being a product of a slightly evolved simian species gives you the acumen to make that determination?” Fine snorted. “Drained of its power, the device reverts to its base components until it is re-energized.”
“There were only particles left, dust!” Lex glared at Oliver. No, not Oliver, Zod.
“Bring it to me,” Zod said coldly.
“It’s at the lab in Metropolis,” Lex answered, eyes darting between Lana and Fine. “I can show you where.”
“That you will,” the General nodded in agreement. “I promised Kal-El that I would leave you for him but I made no such agreement about her,” Zod’s eyes fixed on Lana. “If you do not return my property, I will make you watch while I take her apart, one limb at a time.”
“I got it,” Lex nodded understanding perfectly but wondered how it was that he kept hearing the name Kal-El during these encounters.
Who was Kal-El and what grudge did he have against Lex?
***********
Sprawled across plain cotton sheets, Lois Lane lifted her head and groaned when her body ached in protest at what she had been endured the past few hours. Through the miasma of pleasure and pain, of Kal making good on his promise to make scream his name over and over again, Lois’ belief that something terrible had taken place had no doubt now.
Unfortunately, there was no way to stop Kal when he decided he wanted her because he was relentless in his desire. Over and over again, Lois felt herself taken and was ashamed because she couldn’t even call it rape. It was being consumed alive by the god of dark lust who just so happened to be wearing the face of the man she loved, using his voice, his hands to touch her like no one had ever done. And no matter how much she tried, Lois knew that Kal was Clark too, a dark reflection of suppressed wants and desire.
To some degree, she was almost flattered by the passion Clark felt for her, the passion that Kal had no restraint to deny and was happy to exploit to its fullest. Still it was Clark that Lois wanted back and somehow, she had to play this charade to understand what it was that had happened to him. The sheets of his bed smelled of sweat and sex, the product of hours of repeated couplings. He was insatiable and when she pushed herself off the bed, keeping a sheet around herself as she moved past the bureau, Lois swallowed seeing the bruises in the mirror.
“Talk about rough sex,” she muttered before searching around for something to wear since her suit was nothing but tattered remains on the kitchen floor.
Like most young men his age with a mother too busy these days to keep up her house keeping duties, most of his clothes were in the hamper and she reached in for one of his plaid shirts. Lifting the flannel fabric to her nose, she took a deep breath and felt a surge of sorrow because she could smell his scent on it. Not Kal’s scent but Clark’s. She held it to her cheek for a moment, struggling to compose herself because Lois Lane did not believe in weeping or doing nothing.
For all the times he had come through for her, for all the times he saved her, Chloe and everyone else in his life who came into harm’s way, Lois made a vow she would not abandon Clark now. Whatever it took, whatever she had to endure with Kal, she’d do it without flinching because she loved him. Wherever he was, trapped in his mind possibly, Lois was going to find him. This silent oath gave her some measure of calm, some resolve and like all hurdles, Lois applied her determination to some tangible form of action.
She needed to talk to Chloe.
He wasn’t downstairs either when she finally made her way to the kitchen and noted with some surprise that everything was tidied. There was no sign of their tryst and for a moment, Lois would have believed she had dreamed it if not for the aches in her muscles and her body. Noticing the phone was off the hook; she put the handset back in place and was immediately treated to a shrill ring.
“Hello?”
“LOIS!” Chloe Sullivan burst out as she drove down the highway towards Smallville. “Where the hell have you been? I have been trying to call you for hours!”
“Chloe, Chloe,” Lois interrupted quickly, grateful to hear her cousin’s voice for more reasons than one. “Listen! Clark’s back but he’s different.”
“Different?” Chloe’s insides froze at the implication.
“His calling himself Kal.” Lois continued, oblivious to this.
“Oh my god,” Chloe gasped, beginning to understand. “Lois, this is important, does he have any red meter rocks on him?”
“What” Lois exclaimed. “What’s red meteor rock gotta to do with it? For that matter, since when is there red meteor rock? I thought it was all green.”
“Lois, listen to me,” Chloe said firmly, “when Clark gets near red meteor rocks, it changes his personality. He loses all his inhibitions, it’s like he’s riding on nothing but the fumes of pure impulse, nothing else matters.”
Lois listened and as incredulous as it sounded, her description seemed to fit. If Chloe was right then Clark’s desire for her had been unrestrained and Kal was doing everything he was normally too afraid to do himself. Even before Chloe had told her why, Lois had made that leap but that still didn’t explain how a meteor rock could affect him so adversely. With the meteor freaks it was due to some form of exposure and even then it wasn’t turned on and off just like that.
Suddenly, she heard the familiar rushing of wind that she had gotten used to whenever he came over. “I gotta call you back.”’
No sooner than she had hung up the phone and turned around, Clark or rather Kal, was standing in front of her. Still clad in his expensive clothes, she had to admit, the guy looked real good in those leather pants. Seeing him like this was like staring into Mirror Universe Clark… it was just unnerving.
“Hey,” he smiled happily pulling her to him again in another passionate kiss that made Lois’ head swim. However, she prayed he didn’t want to have sex again. She was sore enough as it was. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah,” Lois smiled putting her arms around his neck, playing the part. “Where have you been?”
“Well since I wore you out,” he smirked proudly at that, “I thought I’d go to Metropolis for a minute. I wanted to get you something.” Kal grinned like a little boy with a secret as he ran his large hands up and down her back.
“Ooh I love surprises,” Lois returned and looked over his shoulder to see a bag from her favorite eatery in Metropolis. It was just around the corner from the Inquisitor and recalled trying to convince Clark to try it. The man of steel apparently wasn’t that much of a fan of spicy food. Go figure. “You went and got me Thai food?”
“Among other things,” Kal laughed, taking her hand as he led her to the kitchen counter where the bag was sitting. “Look inside.” He instructed with a playful smile. Even now, he was on a high and if he wasn’t painfully aware of how human she was, he’d be mounting her again. Flashes of memory filled his mind at how wonderful she felt, how great it was to hear her voice screaming his name.
“You’re awful smug Smallville,” she teased, trying to sound like herself instead of the girlfriend going crazy with worry about what had turned the Eagle Scout into Sex God Supreme.
“Kal,” he stated firmly, his eyes darkening for a moment before he broke into that smile again, like the sun breaking through the storm cloud. “Open it.”
Lois reached into the bag and while there containers of food, there was also something else. Knotting her brows in puzzlement, her fingers grasped the object and pulled it past the brown paper. Dangling from her fingertips was a bracelet that glimmered with sapphires big enough to be M&M’s set in gold. She had been around Oliver and expensive jewelry enough to know that this thing alone could pay off the Kent mortgage in the trade in value.
“Oh my god Kal,” Lois gasped openly, glancing at him momentarily before returning to stare at it with awe. “Its beautiful.”
“Do you like it?” he delighted in her reaction. “You deserve nice things Lois. From now no, that’s all you’re ever going to get.” He wanted to lavish her with everything he had never been able to afford, all those times when he had to check just how much money he had to buy a gift or take a girl out. No more. He was finally going to treat the women in his life the way they should be treated.
“Come on, let me put it on you,” Kal said affectionately, not thinking on how he had put three store clerks and one customer in the hospital when he smashed his way into the place to retrieve this bauble. He had moved so fast, he doubted they even know what had happened until it was over.
Unable to think of a thing to say in protest, Lois let him take her hand and wrapped the expensive bracelet around her wrist. “Where did you get this?”
Stupid question, she told herself almost immediately. With his powers, he could walk into any jewelry store in Metropolis, snatch this thing and be back in Smallville before they even knew there was a robbery.
“Doesn’t matter,” he ignored the question and continue to fasten it to her wrist before pulling her to him and claiming her mouth in another brutal kiss, hard and demanding. “This is how its going to be from now on Lois. You and me. We’re going to own the world. Now you rest up cos when I get back, we’re flying to Paris. You always said you wanted to go.”
“You’re going to find the Concord?” She teased.
“Something like that,” Kal laughed before turning to leave.
“Wait!” She called out to him and noted his expression at the sharpness of her cry. Recovering quickly Lois went to him. “Where are you going?” She put a slightly seductive lilt to her voice. “I thought we could…” Lois smiled at him.
“You’re insatiable,” he grinned and kissed her again. “But I got to go do a few things right now. When I come back, you can show me what you got in mind.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she smiled half heartedly back at him and watched him leave after another quick kiss. Like a streak of blue, he vanished into the distance and Lois waited for a good ten minutes before she picked up the phone again.
“Chloe, where are you?” Lois asked.
“I’m an hour out from Smallville,” Chloe’s replied. “Is Clark still there?”
“No,” she shook her head. “He’s gone but he’s going to be back. You and me need to do some talking. I’ll be waiting at the Talon.”
“Not safe,” Chloe’s answer was short and to the point, “you know where the Kawatchi caves are?”
“I’ll find it,” she said firmly, recalling something about a reserve that was under Luthor Corp’s administration until recently.
“Good I’ll meet you there as soon as I can and Lois?” Chloe added. “If you find any green meteor rocks, pick it up.”
It felt almost surreal.
In the background, the soft clink of ivory keys brought to life on Lex’s expensive grand piano, haunting music played by Milton Fine Lana Lang sat in silence, listening to the perfection of each note, watching the man, who was not a man, continue to play while acting as her jailor. It had been an hour since Lex had left the mansion with Zod and each second that passed, Lana grew more and more frightened. She had first hand knowledge of how brutal Zod could be and was gripped with fear at what Zod might do if Lex could not give him what he wanted.
For no other reason than to stop her mind from conjuring up horrors that were almost as potent as the reality she now faced, Lana asked Fine, “what are you Kryptonians?”
Fine who had been playing Mozart’s Magic Flute, paused in his piano concerto and regarded the female. “I believe the term is alien.”
Encouraged by his willingness to respond, Lana licked her lips, thinking about of a question to which she did not know the answer. She had suspected extra terrestrial of some sort when she had first seen the black space ship but hearing it confirmed, did not ease her fears.
“What do you want with Earth?” Lana asked instead.
“I want nothing with it. It is the General wishes a new home.” Fine answered, continuing to play, his eyes closed as he savored Mozart’s finest.
“Why can’t he just go back to Krypton?” she inquired, watching him, hoping that he didn’t think her questions impudent and attempt to harm her.
“It was destroyed.” Fine explained, seeing no harm in telling the girl data that was ultimately harmless. Krypton’s destruction was no secret after all, it was history and the girl would not live long enough to make use of what he was telling her.
“Destroyed? How?” How does one destroy an entire planet? Destroyed by whatever Zod’s trying to do to Earth?”
Fine uttered a short laugh. “No. Krypton was destroyed when its sun went supernova. The green meteor rocks are all that’s left of it.”
The enormity of what he said made Lana fall silent for an instant. All those years she had been wearing that necklace around her neck as a symbol of losing her parents when instead, she’d been wearing the destruction of someone’s home world like a trophy. She felt sick with horror. “And everybody died?”
“More or less,” Fine said with a smirk, his expression enigmatic. “A few survived in a place called the Phantom Zone, like Zod.”
Lana was about to ask something else when suddenly she heard footsteps and felt her heart beat a little faster, knowing that it was most likely Zod and Lex coming back. Eyes darting to the door, she did not know what to expect although Fine made no mood to stop playing. Instead of Lex however, Lana saw a more familiar face step through the ruined wall where a door used to be.
“Clark!” She almost leapt up from the leather seat with relief.
“Lana,” he said giving her an odd look she wasn’t quite able to read before his blue green eyes shifted to Fine. “Where’s Lex?”
“Zod’s taken him to Metropolis,” Fine replied, his fingers still as the music fell silent.
“You should have gone with him,” Kal looked at the Construct reproachfully. “You know how tricky Lex can be and he may have some of those Section 33.1 freaks working for him. They could interfere with his majesty’s plans.” Clark wore a smirk of mischief.
Lana listened to Clark with nothing less than astonished horror.
“Clark, what are you doing?” She demanded. “Do you know what Zod is? Do you know what he’ll do to Lex or the rest of the planet?” Lana stared at him with aghast. She knew things ended badly with Clark and supposed she could have done better than to go to his best friend for comfort after their break up. However, she had also heard Clark was dating Lois in recent times. She had been happy for him because no matter how angry she had been, Lana still cared about Clark Kent and if he couldn’t be happy with her, she didn’t begrudge him being happy with someone else. Surely that meant he had put aside any enmity he might have had towards Lex and her?
Kal exchanged a bemused expression with Fine and then approached her on the seat. Hands on the side of her arms, he coaxed her into standing. Lana followed suit, thinking he had some secret to impart upon her, that this was his way to convey to her that his behavior was an act, some ruse to gain the enemy’s confidence. He had been the one who had tried to stop Zod the last time and thanks to her foolishness, she had not given him the benefit of the doubt or trusted him enough to know what he was doing. Her actions had almost doomed the human race.
“Clark,” Lana tried desperately to reach him. “You have to help us. You’re the only one who can.”
She didn’t know why this was so but it was a truth as incontrovertible as night and day.
She was so beautiful, Kal thought as he looked into those brown eyes that could melt even a heart made out stone. So beautiful and different from Lois, there was something about Lana that was ageless. She personified the perfection of first love. Lana was the ideal image that Clark Kent would always hold in his heart even when it was Lois that meant everything to him.
Kal-El on the other hand, could only remember who she belonged to and as he listened to the soft sound of a second heartbeat emanating from her belly.
He leaned over to her hear and whispered softly, “Sorry Lana, I’ve got better things to do and you’re not one of them. Besides,” he pulled back with a cruel smile. “I’m not looking to have a taste of Lex’s sloppy seconds.”
Lana’s eyes widened and lashed out, striking him across the cheek.
Kal barely felt anything but smiled at hitting so close to home. “Now if you had done a bit more of than that just whining like a sick dog, I might not have dumped you but hey, you did well for yourself anyway. You’re living every small town girl’s big dream. Get knocked up by the local billionaire. I bet the rock he laid on you is worth all the time on your back.”
“Shut your mouth,” Lana hissed, bleeding from a thousand wounds at his cutting words.
Kal laughed, delighting in the look of pain in her eyes. See how she liked it for a change. “I’m going to Metropolis to find Zod. Watch her. I don’t want her to miss anything when I get my hands on Lex.”
“Of course Kal-El,” the Construct obeyed.
“Kal-El?” Lana gasped. “You’re Kal-El.”
“That’s right Lana,” Kal said not caring if she knew. “I am Kal-El. I tried to be Clark but being Clark meant having to run off and try and help people all the time. All those absences, all those times Clark couldn’t be there for you. He was trying to save everybody and you know what? All he got for his trouble was his girl treating him like he crap and whining how he couldn’t be honest. All those times, he tried to convince you that there was a good reason for him being gone and you couldn’t even give him the benefit of the doubt. You hurt him worse than anyone was able to hurt him so now he’s gone and I’m here,” he stared at her with flinty eyes. “And both you and Lex are going to hurt just as bad…for awhile anyway.”
Leaving her with that thought, Kal walked out of the parlor, his super-hearing making him smile when he heard her start to sob.
***********
Lois had never been inside the Kawatchi Caves but as she moved through the darkness, she wasn’t all that eager to change that either. The place felt downright eerie.
It was like walking through a haunted house, where the wooden floorboards reeked with a sinister past and tragedy clung to the walls like the dusty cobwebs. Lois felt something creeping up her spine the further into it she went. The flash light only illuminated a small space in front of her and didn’t provide nearly enough light to put her at ease. Why couldn’t she have one of those huge xenon things like Mulder and Scully?
At this rate, fluke man was sure as hell going to get her.
“Chloe?” Lois called out. “Chloe you had better be in here.”
“I’m here Lois,” Chloe Sullivan called from the far end of the cave. Fortunately, the place was still in the middle of the limbo where Luthor Corp had been forced to relinquish control while the federal government had yet to take it. All excavation work had ceased and for now at least, they could talk uninterrupted. Chloe made her way into the alcove of rock that Clark had used to reach his fortress. She had no expectations that it would work for her. Whether or not Clark had given any thought to the matter, Chloe suspected that the technology that carried out the transportation was specific to Kryptonian DNA.
Lois followed the beacon of light offered by Chloe’s torch and entered the grotto. In the centre of it sat what appeared to be a stone altar, with strange symbols and carvings on the flat face of it. Looking around the place with a mixture of wonder and concern, Lois’ eyes met Chloe’s.
“And this is better than the Talon how?”
“Trust me Lois,” Chloe said sweeping her gaze around their surroundings. “Kal won’t come here. Not unless he really has to. He wouldn’t look for you here either.”
“You mean Clark,” Lois retorted but inside, she knew Chloe meant Kal.
“I mean Kal,” Chloe repeated. “Lois, how much has Clark told you about himself? About his powers?”
Lois cleared her throat, the subject making her feel slightly uncomfortable. Things had been so perfect between her and Clark that Lois had been a little afraid of opening that can of worms. Getting used to the fact that he had all these powers was not as hard as one would think. Who didn’t love a boyfriend who could make it to the city to get takeaway and be back in half an hour? Or who could open every jar even if it was welded with titanium rivets, to say nothing about his ability to start a fire when it got cold? The truth was his powers didn’t frighten Lois as much as how he might have gotten them because even she could tell that there was more to it than he was saying.
“Not very much,” Lois gave Chloe a look of guilt. “I didn’t want to press him and I guess apart of me was a little afraid to find out.”
“I don’t know whether I should tell you,” Chloe sighed, undecided now that she was faced with how much truth she would be letting Lois on. This was Clark’s right to do but they were faced with a situation that could not be masked beneath any façade. Lois knew this much, she needed to know the truth to help Clark and bring him back to them. It had taken nothing short of Jor-El and Jonathan Kent to bring Clark back the last time, Chloe didn’t know if she and Lois could manage the same.
“You have to tell me,” Lois said meeting her gaze with more emotion than Lois would like to show. She could be a hard ass over just about anything but Clark was becoming that exception to the rule she would not deny. “I want him back Chloe. I want Clark back, not that son of a bitch that’s walking around in his body. Clark.”
“Alright,” Chloe nodded and started talking.
***********
Lois did not know how much time had passed before Chloe finished speaking but it must have been a long time.
She suddenly felt insignificant and terribly important all at once. It was a puzzling feeling. She felt insignificant because the universe had suddenly opened up to her, like an oyster revealing a pearl. This was pearl shattered the foundation of everything she knew, of every science she had ever thought she understood. There was awe in her knowing that there was life out there, in space. Not just life but a universe of possibility. All those questions about whether humanity was alone on this pale blue dot had been answered.
And she felt terribly important because here was a secret that only a select few knew and really, it made sense when she thought about it. Even more so than him being a meteor freak. Since she met him there was this sense of something inside him, something alone, wanting and needing understanding but held in check by fear. She thought of all those odd conversations with Jonathan and Martha Kent, why there were times when an awkward silence would fall over them when she walked into a room.
Lois’ respect for Martha and Jonathan reached a new level of admiration. How many people in this world would have taken in a child from the stars, to raise him with unconditional love and be prepared to sacrifice everything for him? Not many and Lois suddenly felt like she needed to find Martha Kent and hug her for the kindness that was all too rare in this world. And Clark, all alone, never being understood by anyone because of this secret. She remembered how he looked when he had lost Alicia, the terrible pain because for a moment, the loneliness was gone. Even when he had walked into the room after he had saved her from Wallace Echols, Lois had seen his fear and could not understand why he was so afraid.
Now she knew.
“Lois?” Chloe spoke, almost afraid that she had frightened Lois away from Clark for good. She prayed that was not the case. “Lois, are you okay?”
Lois didn’t speak for a minute as her mind tried to take in enough to respond appropriately.
“You’ve known all this time?” She asked finally, looking at Chloe.
“No,” Chloe quickly explained. “I found out not that long ago. Remember I asked you once what would do if you knew a secret about some you cared about?”
Lois blinked, the conversation playing in her head and now in context, understood why Chloe had wrestled with the decision. “I said that I’d go out of the way to make sure that they could become comfortable enough to tell me. You were talking about Clark.”
“Yes,” Chloe nodded watching her cousin whose look was beyond even her ability to read. “I was talking about Clark.”
There was so much to process, so much she wanted to ask about but they had a problem right now and Lois if nothing else, knew how to prioritize. “Okay,” she let out a deep breath, “I’ll deal with this stuff later. Right now, we have to get Clark back.”
“Right,” Chloe said blinking away the emotions she was feeling. She was never prouder of Lois than at this moment for not only standing by her best friend but for being able to focus on what was important.
“So you’re saying that this red meteor rock is what’s causing this Bad Boy Clark episode?” Lois replied starting to pace.
“Yeah,” she nodded in the affirmative. “It’s happened twice before and both times, it hasn’t been pretty.”
“Fill me in later,” Lois said abruptly. “I didn’t see any rock on him Chloe.”
“He has to have it,” Chloe insisted. “It can’t be anything else.”
“Chloe, I didn’t see it anywhere on him.” Lois returned just as determined.
“Are you sure?”
Lois’s cheeks reddened and she said with a half smile. “Pretty sure. Our boy was very, very uhm…frisky, he was quick to get rid of his dry spell if you get my meaning?”
“Okay, okay, you convinced me,” Chloe said wincing before remarking, “contrary to popular belief, Sex in the City is not the bible of every twenty something year old in America. Well I can’t explain it then. It has to be the Red K unless…”
“Unless what…?” Lois stared at her.
“When Clark was exposed to silver kryptonite…”
“Silver Kryptonite?” Lois rolled her eyes. “What is this, the Baskin Robbins of a meteor rocks?”
“Lois!” Chloe gave her a impatient stare. “The point is, the stuff was injected into his skin. Milton Fine had to get it out using some Kryptonian doohickey.”
“We’ll we’re screwed,” Lois retorted thinking that this was no help at all. “First, we don’t have any clue of where to find something like that. Secondly, we couldn’t get close enough to use it without him seeing it.”
“We could go to the fortress,” Chloe suggested, glancing at the passageway that Clark took, the one that was now dark and seemingly inert. “We’d have to fly there since Clark’s the only one who can take the short cut.”
“That’s going to take too long,” Lois said as she went towards the cleft in the rock. “This is how Clark gets there?” She asked more out of curiosity than anything.
“Yeah but it only works on Kryptonian DNA I’m sure,” Chloe answered. “Lois be careful, the thing doesn’t react well to humans messing around with it.” She warned, remembering Lionel Luthor and the archaeologist who had been brain fried after his encounter.
Lois hadn’t meant to get any closer but suddenly, the cleft filled with a brilliant white light. Something ran over her body, warm and intense, it started from her head, moving down her shoulders and resting momentarily on her belly, creating a surge of heat she couldn’t explain before moving down to her toes. The light became brilliant and Lois wondered if perhaps by some miracle, it sensed who she was to Clark.
Then a more logical conclusion came to mind although it made her blush with embarrassment. God only knew how she was going to explain this to Chloe. An ordeal for another time.
“Chloe, come on!”
“Oh crap,” Chloe grumbled, remembering this part and not enjoying it. Hurrying to her cousin, the two women stepped through the portal and vanished it a final flash of light.
“Okay how did you do that?” Chloe Sullivan asked as she pulled her coat closer to her skin and knew that no matter how much she pulled, she was not going to get remotely warm.
“You don’t want to know,” Lois said as they trudged across the frozen tundra towards the crystal structure in the distance. If anything had driven home what being in love with a Kryptonian meant, it was her arrival in the middle of a snow plain after instantaneous travel from the semi-warmth of Kansas. Deciding that she was almost certainly Alice after stepping through a certain rabbit hole, Lois was accepting the rest of Clark’s heritage as it came.
“I want to know,” Chloe demanded as she saw her breath turn to vapor as she followed Lois. Thank God she was wearing boots and not her heels as she had planned this morning. She’d get frostbite even before they got half way there.
Lois didn’t answer, staring instead at Clark’s fortress.
Was this what passed for architecture in Krypton? It was pretty, there was no doubt about it. The architectural design alone was light years ahead of anything seen on Earth. Still, Lois thought as she approached it, it felt cold, unyielding. There was no warmth about it, even if it was surrounded by snow. She wondered what Clark must have thought, being told that this was his people were like, after living in the home of Jonathan and Martha Kent. For the first time, Lois began to understand how overwhelming it was for him.
Every teenager felt alienated. That was nature of being young but Clark, Clark had gone through a whole new definition of isolation. He didn’t just feel alienated, he was one. How hard must it have been for him to be around his friends, constantly hiding everything he was? Is this why he and Lana never got it together? Because he couldn’t tell her?
“Lois,” Chloe persisted. “That cave only reacts to Kryptonian DNA and as you and I are not super anything, there’s no reason for it to have worked.”
“Will you give it up Chloe?” Lois rolled her eyes. “Its going to come under too much information and gross you out. You remember how you were when you wanted to know why Petey Parker never got hungry even though his mom only fed him celery sticks for lunch?”
“This is different then some kindergartener eating worms Lois.”
“Alright,” Lois paused and looked at her with a raised brow. “You said the ‘whatever it is’ only recognizes Kryptonians right?”
“Yes?” Chloe looked at her suspiciously.
“Well that means DNA, does it not?” Lois Lane looked at her innocently.
“Of course.” Chloe retorted.
“And do you think that when Kal showed up this morning, all hot and bothered that he was particularly concerned about birth control or for that matter protection….?”
Chloe eyes widened. “EWGH!”
Lois smirked, “told ya.”
***********
Arriving at the fortress, Lois hated being here with Chloe.
It was nothing personal against her cousin but Lois wished that it was Clark who was showing her this place, not her arriving as an unwanted guest. Not for the first time today, Lois wished it was Clark who was telling her the truth about himself, not her hearing it from Chloe. Even though Lois was eternally grateful that Chloe had all the information she needed, a part of Lois felt guilty that she hadn’t asked Clark to reveal the truth he needed to tell her. In retrospect, Lois knew she was a bit afraid about learning the truth of his origins. Perhaps she had always known that he wasn’t just another meteor freak.
Things had just been working so well between them, Lois hadn’t wanted anything like an inconvenient truth to spoil things. Even if she had never said it to him, Lois Lane knew she was in love with Clark Kent. She knew it with a certainty she never thought possible. Ironically, the Jonathan Kent of her life had turned out to be Clark and Lois knew as she reached the steps of this crystal fortress, that there was nothing she wouldn’t do for him.
Arriving at the fortress, Lois couldn’t deny how beautiful it was as they entered the place, surrounded by the tall crystal spires that gleamed in the evening sun. Even if her earlier impressions did not produce a favorable view of Kryptonians, she had to admit, they knew how to design buildings that took one’s breath away. Miracle of miracles, a place that left Lois Lane at a loss for words. With a laugh, she wished she could have shared that with Clark since he would have gotten a big kick out of it but of course, he was in a place she could no longer reach.
“So what now?” Chloe asked, almost as out of her depth here as Lois.
“I don’t know,” Lois shook her head. “The answer to helping Clark is here but I don’t know where to start looking.”
Moving across the irregular surface of the fortress’ floor, Lois wondered if this place was a mixture of crystal and ice or one of each? So many questions filled her head but Lois didn’t know which one to ask.
“Something is wrong,” Chloe said as they approached what she recognized from her previous visit as the central hub of the fortress. She had helped Clark fight Milton Fine here and she didn’t recall it being bathed in an angry red glow.
“What?” Lois turned to her cousin.
“This panel,” Chloe looked at the collection of clear crystals bathed in red. “It shouldn’t look like this.”
Lois stared. “What should it look like?”
Chloe didn’t know what she was looking for. “Lois, look.” She sighted the dark crystal that was imbedded in the panel. “This is the same crystal that Milton Fine tried to trick Clark into using to free Zod.”
“Who?” Lois felt she was five steps behind.
“I’ll explain later,” she reached for it. “We got to pull this thing out of there.”
“Chloe you don’t know what that might do,” Lois declared, halting her hand. “Let me. I’m the one with…”
“Don’t say it,” Chloe winced. “I’m already grossed out. Just pull the thing out.”
Lois frowned and reached for the point of the dark crystal. Among the clear crystal shards, it almost looked profane, like a malignancy that had no business being where it was. Lois put both hands around it and pulled. It wouldn’t come free easily but Lois was not about to give up, putting her strength into it, she grunted and yanked it with all the force she could muster. The dark crystal flew out of her hands and shattered against the floor.
“Oops?” Lois gave Chloe an apologetic look.
The effect upon the other crystals was immediate. Immediately, the red vanished and she saw nothing but clear, shards, gleaming under the sunlight. Whatever taint the dark crystal had caused was gone for now.
LOIS LANE, a voice boomed around her.
Lois exchanged a look with Chloe. “What the hell?”
“Shhhh Lois,” Chloe nudged, suspecting the voice belonged to the true master of this fortress and it wasn’t Clark.
LOIS LANE.
“Who the hell is that?” Lois hissed at Chloe.
MARTHA KENT BROUGHT YOU HERE WHEN YOU WERE INJURED.
“What….” Lois started to say and then remembered the dream she had following the plane crash months ago. She had dreamed she was in heaven and told Clark as much but it was no dream was it, she was here. In this place. “That was here? This was the place I thought was heaven?”
“Heaven?” Chloe looked at her.
Lois shook off the question and addressed the voice who had called her by name. “Clark is in trouble, we need to help him!”
KAL-EL HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY RED KRYPTONITE.
“We know already!” Lois shouted back. God for a cryptic omnipresent being, this guy liked stating the obvious. “Tell us how to help him.”
MILTON FINE HAS INJECTED REFINED RED KRYPTONITE INTO HIS BLOODSTREAM. IT MUST BE EXTRACTED IF KAL-EL IS TO RETURN TO HIMSELF.
“Oh my god,” Chloe exclaimed understanding now why Lois had seen nothing on Clark’s person. “Ask him about the thing… the one Fine used to get rid of the silver kryptonite.”
“You ask him,” she gave Chloe a look.
“Lois, I’m not the one who might be his daughter-in-law…”
“That’s not funny,” Lois snapped promptly but then paused, because Chloe was right. “There was a device that Fine used to extract silver kryptonite from Clark, if I have any shot of saving him, I’ll need that.”
Suddenly, from one of the white, angled walls, a slot seemed to appear through the ice before extending outward to reveal the curious device that looked part ray gun and part super soaker. She took the device in her hand and marveled at how light it was.
”This will do it?” Lois asked the voice.
IT WILL REMOVE THE KRYPTONITE PARTICLES FROM KAL-EL.
Lois really hated hearing Clark being called that, especially after her close encounters with Kal.
YES, the voice of Jor-El answered. HOWEVER, MATTERS HAVE BECOME MUCH MORE SERIOUS THAN KAL-EL’S SITUATION.
Chloe who had drawn away from the panel to look around, sighted something that made her hurry across the irregular surface. Dropping to her knees, she picked up the object and studied it with an expression of worry on her face.
“LOIS!”
The intensity of Chloe’s call made the brunette start running. “What is it?”
“Look,” Chloe lifted up her find for her to see.
Lois who had spent months after the trail of the Green Arrow Bandit, recognized immediately what Chloe had in her hand. “I don’t understand,” she directed the question more at Jor-El than Chloe. “I’ve seen this before. This belongs to the Green Arrow. What is it doing here?”
FINE NEEDED A VESSEL, Jor-EL responded promptly. AS IT COULD NOT RETAKE THE BODY OF ITS PREVIOUS HOST, FINE SELECTED THE ONE YOU KNOW AS THE GREEN ARROW TO BE THE VESSEL HE NEEDED.”
“Oh God,” Chloe exclaimed, understanding far swifter than Lois because she had been present for this act before. “Oh no, Clark didn’t….”
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE RED KRYPTONITE, FINE WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE KAL-EL TO OPEN THE PHANTOM ZONE AND RELEASE ZOD. HE NOW INHABITS THE BODY OF THE GREEN ARROW.
“What is it Chloe?” Lois demanded, suddenly realizing that thing had escalated beyond the simple task of saving Clark.
“Zod, Zod is loose!” Chloe said quickly. “We have to get back to Smallville. We’ve got to get Clark back or none of us is going to survive!”
Chloe remembered all too well what had happened the last time Zod was unleashed. Clark had barely managed to escape the Phantom Zone and defeat the General. How were she and Lois going to manage the same while trying to free Clark from the effects of the Red Kryptonite?
“Who is this Zod?” Lois demanded, wanting answers.
GENERAL ZOD IS A CRIMINAL FROM KRYPTON. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET. HE WAS TRAPPED IN THE PHANTOM ZONE WITHOUT A BODY UNTIL THE BRAIN INTERACTIVE CONSTRUCT YOU KNOW AS MILTON FINE, TRICKED KAL-EL INTO RELEASING HIM.
Zod. A bad guy with all of Clark’s powers and none of the moral inhibitors, the thought was terrifying. Chloe was freaking out and with good reason. Looking at the device in her hand, Lois considered what had to be done. She had to get close enough to Clark to use this thing first and then deal with Zod. She couldn’t get close enough to Clark with this device or a meteor rock without his X-ray vision seeing it.
A plan formed in her head. It was risky but it was the only shot they had.
“Chloe,” Lois looked at her cousin. “You said Lionel Luthor knows about Clark.”
“Yes,” Chloe nodded shaking from the cold a little. “He’s known for about a year now.”
“Okay,” Lois could work with that. “When we get back, you need to go find him. You need to tell him what’s happened and ask him cook something up for you.”
“Cook something up?” Chloe stared blankly at her cousin. “What?”
Lois told her.
Chloe’s jaw dropped open. “Lois, are you crazy? Do you know what could happen if you’re wrong?”
“He’ll kill me,” Lois said simply, perfectly aware of the game of Russian roulette she was playing. “If we don’t get him back, we’re dead anyway. If this guy Zod’s as bad as everyone says then he’s not going to keep Clark around for long. Megalomaniacs have low tolerance with competition.”
Chloe could agree with that.
“Alright,” Chloe nodded. “Let’s do this thing.”
Well this was different.
Over the years, he had come to Metropolis in a variety of ways. Plane, helicopter, behind the steering wheel of a fast car, on one drunken expedition where he had awoke not knowing where he was; by bus and finally following a sensual weekender with a stewardess name Brandie, by train in a private berth.
This was the first time he had ever flown with neither plane or chopper.
Lex had known that Kryptonians were powerful. From the encounters he had with the duo that preceded Zod, not to mention Fine himself, Lex had estimated that there wasn’t much this race couldn’t do. However, he hadn’t known they could fly. Shortly after leaving Lana at the mansion, Zod had taken to the skies, flying at speeds he was lucky to survive, only to reach the Metropolis skyline in record time.
Zod had said little during the trip and Lex felt more than a little uneasy seeing him wear Oliver’s face. Oliver who was into charities and helping his fellow man, whose principles were so diametrically opposed to Lex’s that knowing he was going to the instrument of such chaos felt almost poetic. It was the only thing about this whole situation that Lex could draw comfort from. If he survived that is. Still in his mind however, was who Kal-El was. Clearly, this was a Kryptonian, who had no liking for him.
An absurd thought made him think that it was Clark but Lex dismissed it almost immediately. Whatever dislike Clark felt towards him, the Boy Scout would never allow Lana to be harmed, of that Lex could be certain.
Zod dropped him roughly onto the roof top of the Luther Corp building Lex thanks to a brief dalliance with skydiving, Lex rolled across the floor to keep himself from being hurt before coming to a rest on his hands and knees. Taking a moment to compose himself because he could end up puking his guts out at any minute, the CEO shot a glare at the General who regarded his condition with dispassion.
“Where is the device?:” Zod said impatiently.
“Just a minute….” Lex snarled angrily, gathering himself to stand. He was almost tempted to puke on Zod but had no desire for his last act on Earth to be regurgitation.
Not even his PR people would be able to spin that one, he thought absurdly.
“Now,” Zod took a step forward.
“Alright!” Lex grumbled and stood up on his feet, a little shakily but nonetheless. “I’ll take you to it.”
As he led Zod through the door into the Luther Corp building, he was already thinking on how he could get away from this Kryptonian and get back to Smallville before Fine could harm Lana. Hating the fact that he was so helpless in the face of such overwhelming power, Lex was weighing his course of action carefully, perfectly aware that any miscalculation would be fatal. Descending into the stairwell that led into the building proper, Lex tried to reason with Zod and wondered if such a thing was possible.
From what Lana had told him, the General was impassive, disdainful of human life and singularly brutal.
"I can be of use to you," Lex stated as they reached the top floor of the building where the senior management offices were located.
"Really?" Zod retorted skeptically. "Do explain how."
Lex thought quickly. "I have resources you can utilize, access to anything you want on this planet…"
"I already have all these things without you," Zod returned. "When I'm done with this planet, what opposition there is will be eliminated. I do not require humanity to rule."
Lex's stomach hollowed at the thought. "It's going to be a lonely kingdom."
"On the contrary," Zod said with confidence. "It will be full of my subjects from the Zone. From here, we will begin Krypton again and under the power of this star, we will be unstoppable."
Jeez and I thought I was full of it, Lex thought but said nothing further. At present, he had nothing to offer Zod and everything to lose.
“Good morning Mr. Luthor, Mr. Queen,” they were greeted as they arrived at his office and was met by his secretary, Alison. She didn’t question why he was here after he had told her this morning he was working from the mansion. Good secretaries didn’t ask such things; they merely accepted the change in plans and moved on accordingly. Alison was no different.
“Alison,” Lex said trying to sound as casual as possible and not give Zod any reason to harm her. “I’ll be taking a private meeting in my office with Mr. Queen. I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“Of course,” she said promptly from behind her desk, offering Oliver Queen a polite smile.
Zod studied the young woman with mild interest but allowed Lex to take the lead momentarily. The human’s female associate took her orders without question as he walked past her into the room. Zod was already scanning the inside of it, searching for the device when suddenly; he came across a null space where his vision could not penetrate. Momentarily startled by the sudden blindness, Zod wasted no time in brushing past Lex once they were out of sight of the female.
“What is this?” Zod demanded as he approached the vault.
“What is what?” Lex looked at him puzzled but unsurprised that Zod would head for the vault.
Zod didn’t answer, heading straight towards the huge metallic door embedded in the wall. Under normal circumstances, it would require a dozen of identification protocols for Lex to open it but as he stood behind Zod, could only feel his heart tighten in his chest as the Kryptonian sank his fingers into the titanium-lead door and rip it from its hinges like he was removing a fly screen from a window. The metal tore like paper, creating a screech of sound that was deafening.
Lex cursed. Clearly, subtle was not in these people’s vocabulary.
As security klaxons started to scream throughout the building, Zod stepped into the walk in safe containing all of Lex Luthor’s most precious possessions. Once the door had been removed, Zod’s enhanced vision was returned to him but he could not see beyond the walls of the vault. Running his hands against the smooth surface, he could see through the titanium but the other component in the alloy was impervious to his vision.
Interesting.
“MR LUTHOR!” Alison cried out hurrying into the room upon hearing the commotion of the torn door. “Is everything alright….”
Zod swung around and turned his gaze upon her. A blast of fiery heat escaped his eyes and incinerated the woman where she stood. Lex watched in horror as her body turned to flame and then cinder in little more than a second. Her scream was as short as her demise.
“You son of a bitch!” Lex shouted as he watched her die before she was even aware of what was happening to her. Forgetting himself, he rushed at Zod only to be swatted aside like an insect. Lex flew across the room and slammed into a wall, groaning in pain as he slid to the floor like a lump of nothing, feeling his teeth loosen.
“Do not forget your place,” Zod warned and continued deeper into the vault, searching.
The Construct had been correct. The device had broken down to its base components upon the draining of its power. However, it was still functional and Zod had already determined how to repair it. The fragments had been kept in a hermetically sealed canister and as Zod scanned its inside, had all the confirmation he needed of its contents. With a smile, he tucked the canister back into the folds of his dark suit, preparing to return to the Construct in order to begin the next phase of their plans.
Stepping out of the vault, he started towards Lex when all off a sudden a phalanx of armed men entered the room, preparing to fire.
“Mr. Luthor!” One of them called out.
“Get away from here!” Lex attempted to warn them though grits of broken teeth. “RUN!”
The warning came too late as Zod unleashed more heat vision and as some burned, others opened fire. Lex kept his head down as bullets whizzed through the room amidst the rat-tat of machine guns. Scrambling beneath the down pour of fragmenting gyprock and glass as bullets tore through the office walls, Lex saw Zod taking fire with barely a scratch. Only his clothes suffered the ravages of gunfire nothing else did. The security guards terrified and unprepared for what they were dealing with, answered Zod’s dispassion with more firepower.
A deep breath and a loud exhale and those who did not burn, were flung against walls as if a tornado had formed inside the room. Zod saw the humans vanquished with a smile, thrilling in the almost ecstatic sensation of absolute power. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed himself like this.
In the life before his body had been destroyed in the Phantom Zone, he had been a general, the greatest soldier of Krypton. In its name he had vanquished all enemies and in turn, Krypton had treated him as little more than a servant, extolling the achievements of his life as just another duty to be performed. In a world of sheep, he had been the lion.
And they sent him to the Zone for it.
Not here. He was the god he had always deserved to be.
“This has gone far enough!” Lex came up behind Zod. “See how this feels!”
Taking one of the specimens of green rock he had stored in the vault, he smashed the shard against the back of the Kryptonian’s skull, expecting Zod’s death. Instead, the meteorite fragmented into a thousand pieces and crumbled to the ground as if he had shattered it against solid concrete. Lex stared at broken pieces on his hand and on the floor with astonishment as Zod turned slowly around.
The General actually laughed.
Dusting the fragments of his shoulder almost bemused, Zod stared at Lex the way a parent might stare at an errant child.
“You amuse me Luthor,” Zod retorted. “Your use to me might be as court jester if nothing else. You steal our technology; presume in your arrogance to think you understand concepts that are a thousand years ahead of your best minds, with no idea about anything really. This body was born and acquired here,” the general said smugly. “These fragments of my home world, of Krypton, are only a danger to any life form that was born on Krypton. This body that the Construct acquired for was birthed on this primitive planet. It was a good try but like everything else attached to you, ultimately a failure. I promised Kal-El I would keep you alive but Zod answers to no one.”
With that, Zod grabbed Lex by the jacket and promptly through him through the glass window of his office. The human’s weight shattered the clear partition and his body began the lengthy plunge downward.
There was blinding pain as he impacted against the barrier, feeling it shatter against him and the rush of air from forty stories up, drove fragments into his skin. Lex let out a scream as he felt the nothingness beneath him and as he fell, thinking about Lana, thinking about his life and the child that might die not long after him, his scream was not of fear but rage and despair. It couldn’t end like this! Yet as he fell, Lex saw no way to avoid the appointment with death he had missed six years ago.
His screams still in his ears, Lex closed his eyes, heart pounding so fast that it almost eclipsed the roaring of wind in his ears. He knew that fear of the end had encompassed all other thoughts and in his terror, he begged. He begged for his from a god who had never really answered any prayer except one and even so, was cruel enough to let him have what he wanted only to take it away so soon after.
Suddenly, he had come to a sudden stop and death didn’t come with him. Someone had caught him.
“Hello Lex,” Kal smirked as he held Lex Luthor in his arms after the man’s rapid descent from forty stories up. He had arrived just in time to see the billionaire fly out the window and was not about to let Lex die that quickly. “I figured you were gonna piss off the General and have him break his promise to keep you alive until I got my hands on you.”
“C..C…Clark?” Lex stammered through the violent trembling of his body as Clark Kent set him down on the pavement.
”Kal,” the younger man corrected. “I’m Kal and you don’t get to die just yet.”
Oh God, Lex realized. Fine had gotten to Clark too, turned him into a vessel for this...this…Kal-El. “Clark listen to me,” Lex tried to reach the friend who had to be in there somewhere. Zod was a monster but he couldn’t believe that Clark would ever murder anyone. “You have the strongest will of any man I have ever met, fight it! This isn’t you!”
Kal looked at Lex and said with a serious expression on his face. “Lex,” he said with an exaggerated air. “You are so right, I can’t turn against you. Turn against the guy who stole my girlfriend, who got her knocked up, who’d taken my friendship and had me investigated like I was some side show freak? How could I? Of course you’re the one who is going to turn me away from the dark side. Help me Obi-Wan.”
With that, he burst out laughing.
“You slay me Luthor, you really do. Now I’m gonna take you back to Lana because when I take you apart, she gets to watch.”
***********
From the lobby of the Luthor Corp building, Lionel Luthor watched as Clark Kent saved his son. However, there was no look of gratitude on Lex’s face as Clark revealed his powers by whisking them both off the street and disappearing in a streak of blue. When the security alarms had been activated throughout the building, he had been ushered into the control room to assess the nature of the threat. Inside Lex’s office, Lionel saw the full measure of the danger his son was facing. Oliver Queen had somehow acquired Kryptonian powers and Lionel couldn’t even begin to imagine how this was possible.
When he saw Lex flung out the window, he had rushed to the lobby of sheer desperation, filled with a father’s vain hope that perhaps he could save his child even if it was an impossible hope. However, the miracle that was Clark Kent had saved Lex’s life but as Lionel watched, nothing he saw put him at ease. Something was terribly wrong. Deciding that he would not find answers here, Lionel left the building. He did not know if the Kryptonian upstairs had any inkling of his existence but if Lionel was to help in stopping him, the senior Luthor had better make himself scarce.
Leaving the building, Lionel got into his limousine and had himself immediately driven to the Luther Corp airstrip where his private jet awaited.
He had to get to Smallville and find out what was happening.
“Are you alright?” Chloe asked Lois as they walked towards their respective vehicles parked just beyond the fence perimeter of the Kawatchi Caves once Jor-El had sent them back to Kansas. Lois had said nothing during the walk out of the darkened passages and Chloe had fought the urge to ask until they were out in the sunlight again, how she was doing. At least Lois would feel as if they had sort of emerged from the rabbit hole.
Lois looked at her cousin, “I’m fine,” she offered the younger woman a smile.
Thoughts were running through her head about what she had seen and now they were out in the daylight again, Lois wondered if any of it had been real. In the space of an hour, she had been transported from Kansas to an ice palace in the frozen north and then back to Kansas again. She had learned that Clark was an alien with a destiny bigger than anyone could possibly imagine and there was a monster running loose in the world, wearing Oliver Queen’s face.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Chloe pointed out.
“No kidding,” Lois gave her a look and then paused in mid step. “Am I freaking out? Yes, a little. You gotta give me that right? I mean I just found out that my boyfriend’s an alien, his father is a disembodied voice who lives in an ice castle, his greatest enemy is now running around intending to destroy the world and yours truly is the only one who can get close enough to Clark to be able to do something about it. So I think I’m allowed to be a little freaked out.” She prattled away in typical Lois mode.
“Sorry I asked,” Chloe smirked a little, knowing this tirade was usually the build up to a more profound statement. Lois was like that, Chloe thought. It was Lois’ way to eject a whole lot of hyperbole before getting to the heart of the matter.
“I think you’re allowed too, for the record.” Chloe added with a look of encouragement.
“Good,” Lois resumed walking after that, expecting more from Chloe but grateful nonetheless for what was said.
“You know what else I’ve found out through all this mess? I…” she paused again, catching her breath. “I still love Clark.”
The admission was made with an expression laced with concern and fear for him.
“I thought you might,” Chloe smiled, nudging her cousin with an arm, showing Lois how proud she was of her cousin for being able to take so much in. Lois had been given so little time to adjust to what was rather momentous knowledge and to reach that conclusion with such finality.
Lois smiled faintly at Chloe, musing at how admitting what she felt about Clark out loud, seemed to solidify her resolve to help him. When Clark was himself again, they would need to have a long talk about things but for right now, Lois could deal with what she had learned from Jor-El and what she had seen. Lois loved Clark, possibly even more now knowing what he had tried to shield her from.
How terrifying this must be for him, raised on Earth as a simple farm boy only to learn of this great destiny? For the past two years Lois had done nothing but tease him about his brooding, never realizing what he must have gone through to endure all this alone, unable to tell Lana truth because inside he must have known deep down, she couldn’t have handled it. As much as Lois respected Lana (until she started dating Luthor that is), Lois didn’t’ think Lana could have dealt with all this without some serious angst, which would have been the last thing Clark needed because he had enough of his own.
“Okay,” she looked up at Chloe, shoving all those thoughts aside when they reached the cars. Now was not the time to deal to ruminate over ancient history. Like Lois’ own General was so fond of saying, now it was the time to deal with the problem. “You get a hold of Lionel Luthor and I’ll get back to the….
The air was suddenly filled with Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Want to have Fun’ and Lois winced knowing the source of this so called music was Chloe’s ring tone for her cell.
“You’re killing me with that tone, you know that right?” Lois grumbled as Chloe shot her a dark look and fumbled through her hand bag to find her phone.
“Chloe Sullivan,” the Daily Planet reporter ignored her cousin and held the phone to her ear.
“Miss Sullivan?” Lionel Luthor’s voice answered almost immediately. “Thank God I’ve got found you. Miss Sullivan, what’s happened to Clark?”
***********
Ten minutes later, Chloe ended the call.
“What’s happened?” Lois demanded, having only heard snippets of the conversation and the rising alarm on Chloe’s face told her the situation had escalated somewhat.
“I’m not sure,” Chloe said trying to piece together what Lionel had told her. “It seems that Oliver Queen turned up at Lex’s office and took out a whole bunch of guards with super strength and heat vision.”
“Ollie?” Lois exclaimed. “Wait didn’t Joe say…”
“Joe?” Chloe’s brows shot up.
”Joe – Jor-El’s a bit of a mouthful,” Lois snorted. “Didn’t he say that Zod took over the Green Arrow?”
“Yeah but its Oliver that showed up at the Luthor Corp with the Kryptonian mojo… Lois do you realize what this means?” Chloe stared at her cousin.
Lois was already there, five steps ahead. “It means that I have a super power too.” Her expression unreadable.
“Excuse me?” Chloe stared at her.
“The ability to attract guys who have BIG FREAKING SECRETS!” Lois barked sarcastically. “Oh I am so going to kill that guy when we get rid of Zod.” Fuming, Lois turned back to Chloe to return to the subject at hand, “What happened after ‘Zod’ showed up at Luther Corp?”
“Right,” Chloe shook off the detour, “Apparently he raided Lex’s safe and then threw Lex out of the window from forty stories up only to have Clark catch him. However, Lionel didn’t think Lex looked all that happy to see him despite the fact that Clark had saved his life.”
“Not surprising,” Lois shrugged, “I mean seriously if you were an out of control Clark Kent, who is the person you’d like to put the most hurt on?”
“Ouch,” Chloe agreed wholeheartedly with that once since she knew how Clark felt about Lex from first hand knowledge. “Not just him but Lana too.”
“Okay,” Lois said quickly, “you take this.” She handed Chloe the extraction device that Jor-El had provided them. “After you meet up with Lionel and get what you need from him, go to the loft, put everything in place like we talked about. After that, head for Topeka and find Mrs. Kent, make sure she doesn’t come home. With Zod in the picture, we’re going to clear board so he doesn’t have any more leverage on Clark than he already has. That means you too…”
“Lois!” Chloe protested.
“Chloe,” Lois said firmly. “I don’t have time to fight with you on this. You know that the best way to get to Clark is through the people he loves. I don’t know this Zod but I’ve been a general’s daughter long enough to know how they think. If we get Clark back and he goes after Zod, you can bet who Zod’s first targets will be. Now you need to tell Mrs. Kent what is happening. We can’t call because the minute she hears something is wrong with Clark, she’s going to head straight back to Smallville.”
Chloe couldn’t disagree with that. They both knew Mrs. Kent too well. “Okay, okay, I’m going,” she nodded as she climbed into her car. “What about you?” She turned to Lois who was making her way to her own vehicle.
“I’m going to the mansion,” Lois replied. “Before Kal does something Clark regrets.”
***********
”Where’s Lex?” Lana asked, her voice shaking when she saw Zod return without Lex.
The being wearing Oliver Queen’s face ignored her question as he entered the parlor where Lana Lang had been sequestered with Milton Fine since their arrival at the mansion earlier today. The Kryptonian had flown back to Smallville, vaguely aware that Kal-El was on route to the same destination. Having no desire to deal with Jor-El’s son just yet and content to let the young man occupy himself with his own agenda involving Luthor, Zod left Kal-El to his devices while he carried out his plans to reshape the face of the planet. In truth, Zod wasn’t entirely trusting of this personality change that Kal-El had undergone despite the Construct’s assurances.
However, if the red kryptonite kept Kal-El out of the equation for now, all the better. When the Earth was molded into its new configuration, the general would then turn his attention to the permanence of Kal-El’s transformation and decide what was to be done with the boy. For now however, Zod had bigger concerns on his mind.
“I have it,” he announced to Fine upon entering the room.
“Where’s Lex?” Lana demanded again, determined to have an answer.
The Construct left the piano and approached Zod who revealed the container sitting on his upturned palm. Already artificial sentience was examining the contents, determining whether or not the base compounds were still mutable for its purpose. As Zod presented the receptacle, the Construct reached for it, its fingers becoming the slick, dark ooze of its true self, before absorbing the container an its contents into the whole again. Disappearing into the Construct’s form, the container vanished as if it had never been that.
“It is done,” the Construct announced triumphantly.
“Good,” Zod said with approval. “Our last attempt significantly reduced the power output capable. We will need to restore it if this to proceed.”
“I have already considered it,” the Construct answered automatically. “Their nuclear reactors may be inefficient but are capable of producing the power requirements we require. I will be able to siphon and refine the energy flow to reignite the device’s core matrix.”
“Then we shall proceed,” Zod answered, walking towards the door, barely giving Lana a second glance.
Lana listened to the conversation, feeling helpless and frustrated. It was bad enough that she barely registered enough to engender a response from the duo but she had suffered a front row seat the last time Zod had tried to destroy the Earth and watching it unfold again was a nightmare she hoped to never endure. Realizing that neither would address her, Lana held back her questions and prayed that they would leave and forget about her. At least then she could try and get help.
“What about her?” the Construct dashed Lana’s hopes of being forgotten with that one question.
“Kal-El will be here shortly,” Zod continuing his departure. “Leave her and Lex to him. It will entertain the boy while we take care of the task at home.”
Lana latched onto that piece of information with hope. Lex was still alive.
No sooner than Zod and the Construct had left, Lana was scrambling for the nearest telephone. She debated with who to call at first and finally decided on the Kent home, praying that Mrs. Kent might be able to reason with Clark but received no answer. As it was, it was a minor miracle that she was able to get through at all considering the state of ruin Zod and Fine had left the mansion in. She was about Chloe when suddenly, the line went dead.
“Who you calling Lana?” She heard a familiar voice behind her. The phone line was smoldering.
Turning around, Lana dropped the phone on the floor when she saw Clark with Lex. Lex’s face was covered in cuts and bruises; the collar of his shirt was wet with blood. Her jaw dropped open as she saw Clark holding him by the throat as he dragged Lex across the floor into the room.
“OH MY GOD LEX!” She cried out and hurried towards them both.
“Lana get away from here!” Lex tried to halt her progress with little success. He didn’t care what happened to him but he wouldn’t let her risk her life or that of their child’s. “Get help!”
“Yeah Lana,” Kal laughed. “I’ll give you a head start while I snap his neck.” His fingers tightened around Lex’s throat, crushing his windpipe against his spine with ease as he stood by the door.
“Clark please!” Lana begged, “don’t hurt him!” Her face contorted with despair as Clark kept his iron grip around Lex’s throat, despite the billionaire’s best efforts to pry off his fingers.
“Don’t hurt him?” Kal looked at her incredulously. “Are you kidding Lana? If anyone has it coming, it’s Lex and it’s about time too, he’s earned this payback.”
“Because of me Clark?” Lana demanded, tears running down her cheeks in desperation. “You hate him this much because I went to him, because I’m carrying his baby?” She spat.
“Do you ever get tired of thinking its all about you Lana?” Kal laughed and threw Lex against the long leather seat. Lex hit the back of the sofa with such force of impact that he tipped it over himself while Kal made a show of dusting his palms.
“LEX!” Lana ran to his side.
“Its’ nothing personal Lana,” Kal watched her crouching over Lex like the simpering cow she was. How could he have ever cared for someone so weak? “I just don’t like anyone touching my stuff and you were my stuff.” He said rounding the upended leather sofa and seeing Lex trying to crawl from under it. Grabbing Lex by the shoulder, he dragged the man from under the heavy furniture and threw him against the far wall before Lex could shake off his disorientation.
“CLARK STOP IT!” Lana shouted in fury. “You were the one who broke it off!”
Kal was across the floor and at her side in a second. A hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet where she was still crouched from her failed attempt to help Lex.
“That’s doesn’t does it Lex?” He glared at Lex as he clenched a handful of Lana’s hair. She was crying out in pain. “Guys don’t screw around with their friend’s girl!”
“LEAVE HER ALONE CLARK!” Lex shouted enraged. Lana’s cry of pain had snapped out of his dazed state. “It’s me you hate! I’m the one who betrayed our friendship by my feelings for Lana! Not her! ME!”
Kale’s expression darkened as his eyes turned red and Lex was blasted against the wall with a burst of heat that made him scream. Not enough to incinerate but just enough to slowly cook his flesh in a prolonged and agonizing death.
“CLARK, PLEASE STOP!!!” Lana begged as she saw Lex writhing in pain. She could see his skin turning red and blisters appearing his bald skull. “I’m begging you Clark! PLEASE!!!” Lana was sobbing desperately as she watched her lover’s agony.
“So this is what you’re doing instead of coming home to me?” Lois Lane asked as she walked into the room, having worked her way through the debris covered hallways. It hadn’t been hard to find Clark.
All she had to do was follow the screaming.
Pretending to look nonplussed by what was happening. Lois surveyed the room and thanked the heavens that she had arrived just in time even though she was certain that both Lex or Lana would have a different interpretation of her timing.
“Lois?” Kal stared at her with surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Well I heard my boyfriend went running after his old flame and that kind of pissed me off Kal.” She looked at him with an expression that bordered on jealousy and bemusement. Lois hoped she was pulling it off for Lana and Lex’s sake. “I thought it was you and me forever? What are you doing here with her?”
Kal smirked. “Lois, I’m just taking care of some business.”
“Really?” Lois approached Kal, giving Lana a brief glance as she shoved the other woman roughly out of Kal’s grip. Kal started to turn to Lana as he lost his hold on her but Lois grabbed his jaw and made him look her in the eye. “I don’t like to share you Kal.”
“I’m all yours baby, you know that,” Kal grinned, liking her rougher side. He had seen it all morning and it was quite the turn on.
Lois pulled him to her mouth roughly, biting his lower lip as she engaged him in a lusty kiss. This had to be surreal for Lex and Lana but Lois could think of no other way to get him away from them. Right now, his inhibitions were lowered and the only thing his brain was responding to was violence and sex. Violence was out of her league, sex was not.
Pulling away from him, Lois whispered in his ear, “come on Kal, let’s go have some fun. You can come back to this later. I’ll even let you tie me up if you like?” Lois’ eyes glimmered with mischief.
The want for her was too much for his splayed open desires to resist and with a grin; Kal pulled Lois to him, sweeping her off her feet in a blink of an eye. Determined to keep his attention fixed on more sexual pursuit, she kissed him again, her tongue sliding past this teeth as her arms wrapped around his neck and her nails raked through his hair.
Lana said nothing to any of this, suspecting Lois’ intent and taking the chance the woman had given her and Lex without question. She tried not to look at Lois and Clark making out in front of them and knew that Lois was doing her best to distract Clark from hurting Lex any further.
“I like it when you’re rough Lois,” Kal laughed, feeling the same urgency in his body that had caused him to spend most of the morning making love to Lois. Lana and Lex were distant thoughts now.
“Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Lois teased, devouring his neck passionately. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
Without hesitation, Kal was soon spiriting them back to the Kent farm, leaving the mansion behind in a burst of speed.
Thank God, Lana thought as she saw them both leave. Without missing a beat, Lana was hurrying towards Lex’s side.
“LEX!” She called out reaching her lover. “Lex, speak to me!”
Lex was trembling in pain. His skin was bright red as if he had been scalded and Lana knew she had to get him to a hospital for help. However, right now, the most important thing to do was to put as much distance between them and the mansion.
“Lana,” Lex opened his eyes and looked at her. “Are you alright?” He asked weakly.
“I’m fine Lex,” Lana answered. “Lex, you have to get up. We need to get away from here while we still can.”
Ignoring the pain, Lex nodded weakly and forced himself upright. Lana was right. Their only chance right now was to get as far away from Smallville and disappear if necessary to escape Kal-El, the thing that had taken over Clark Kent’s body.
WARNING: ADULT SCENE
One thing Lois Lane had decided in all this; Kal was murder on her wardrobe.
She should have expected it and was more or less prepared but Lois Lane had thought that they would make it up the stairs at least. No sooner than they had entered the house, Lois found herself locked in another series of passionate kisses. Despite the ache in her limbs from their love making session earlier in the day, it was to Lois’ chagrin how quickly she reacted to his demanding mouth. Even though her mind told her that this wasn’t Clark, her body couldn’t tell the difference and reacted to his sensual plunder.
“Kal,” Lois said trying to draw him upstairs at least. As titillating as it was to make love on the kitchen table again, Lois had too much respect for Martha Kent’s home for a repeat performance of their earlier coupling. “Let’s take this upstairs.” She pulled away from his mouth, breathing hard.
“Come on Lois,” he grinned with that smirk that would crumble a lesser woman’s resolve. “Mom’s not going to be home until tomorrow,” he reached for her leg at superspeed and pulled.
Losing her footing, she tumbled against the staircase and turned around, “Kal!” She growled. “You could have hurt me.”
“You like it rough Lois,” he was on her in seconds.
“Not that rough,” she grumbled, forgetting that she needed to occupy his attention because Lois’ natural attrition demanded a response at the manhandling. Pushing him off had little or no affect and seemed to arouse Kal even more.
“Bullshit,” he snorted and pried her legs apart, nestling comfortably between them with ease. “You didn’t complain earlier.” His mouth latched onto hers again forcefully.
“Well maybe I don’t like being thought of as a sure thing,” Lois retorted before his tongue silenced her and he was using his strength to pin her down.
“Only for me Lois,” he rumbled in a low voice, his fingers sliding up her thigh and disappearing beneath the hem of skirt she was wearing.
Christ, she felt his touch and fought to remember that this wasn’t Clark, this was Kal. Kal who was Clark unleashed, her scattered mind reminded as she felt his fingers hooking around the silk of her underwear. His strength was such that only a tug was needed before she felt herself exposed. Although her mind was swirling with thoughts of Krypton, of Red K and Kal-El, all it took for her to forget everything, was a powerful thrust of his growing erection against her moist, bare flesh.
Almost unconsciously, Lois was pulling at his shirt, sliding her hands under the fabric to rake her nails across his back. He groaned at the contact, sending delicious sensations against the tender flesh of her neck as he devoured her with renewed intensity. Kal couldn’t have enough of her and it wasn’t just the sex that made him want Lois so much. It was the acceptance. She knew what he was, knew all about his powers and didn’t care. She just wanted him and finally he was the man she deserved, one who could allow her to relinquish the control she liked to wield so much.
Oh God, how could she think when Kal was doing this to her? With fleeting shame, Lois realized that this was part of the plan, to keep Kal distracted but it was so easy to become lost in the part when she felt his fingers exploring the heat between her legs, teasing wet folds apart to torture her with his wonderfully tactile touch. Against her will, she was calling out his name, not Clark’s name and she so wished it was Clark, but Kal’s. He had pushed her down completely and was savaging her body with bites and kisses, alternating between her mouth and neck, giving her neither time to breathe or to protest, only surrender.
“God Lois,” he whispered in her ear, “you’re so fucking wet. I gotta taste you.”
Her breath caught as he moved down her body so fast Lois didn’t even have time to respond. All she knew was that in a blink of an eye, his breath was warming her thighs and then she couldn’t think at all because….oh god….oh god…oh god…he was tasting her. The first flick of his tongue and Lois was whimpering with sensations so raw and incredible she didn’t think was possible to feel this good.
It didn’t help that his performance came with a raunchy commentary.
“Hmmm Lois,” Kal smiled triumphantly when the tongue he darted deep inside her and the folds he caressed with his lips, produced another pleasured cry. “I could eat you all day. You taste so good.”
Eyes shut; Lois hated the smugness in his voice but could do little else in the face of such aching pleasure. He worked her good, teasing and tasting. Alternating between lips and tongue, until Lois couldn’t remember her name much less the plan she and Chloe had concocted. She knew this was about power, about domination and Lois hated it that he was so forceful but she hated herself more for responding to it.
“Kal,” she begged as he pushed her nearer and nearer to the brink, until she could think of nothing but his lips and what they were doing to her. “Oh God Kal….please don’t stop.”
“Never happen,” Kal smiled but pulled away from her nonetheless. Relishing the sob of disappointment that escaped her at being denied so close to orgasm, Kal claimed her mouth as he unbuttoned his pants and freed himself. “Taste yourself,” he muttered into her throat as his tongue slid into her mouth the same time as his cock penetrated her. She was so wet he slid all the way in without pause, not that he was giving her much opportunity to get accustomed to the intrusion. She could take him, he knew from their earlier encounters.
Lois gave in to the juggernaut pace he set inside of her as if there had ever been any question that she wouldn’t. Too much of him looked like Clark for her to be able to resist although his raunchy sexuality made her wish for the man she loved even if the sex was incredible. There was something missing. Heart perhaps and even as she surrendered to the pleasure he made her feel, she knew she could never love Kal. Not like she loved Clark.
“You’re such a sweet thing to fuck Lois,” Kal grunted in her ear as he continued to thrust hard, each stroke driving her deeper into the uneven stairs. She would have bruises for sure but Kal liked that idea as well, being able to mark her. Holding her ankle firmly against his shoulder, he heard her whimpers and began to tease.
“You want me to stop Lois?” His eyes burned red with menace.
“God no,” she pleaded, feeling herself near the edge. She was so close…
Letting her leg slide off to his side, Kal didn’t halt in his rhythm as he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered. “Then don’t ever interfere in my business with Lex again.”
***********
It took a few hours for Lionel to fill Lois’ order but eventually Chloe was able to sneak into the loft and place the package where Lois had instructed. Of course, she also had some additional insurance in her hand bag having experienced Clark in Red K mode before. Unfortunately, Chloe sensed that if Clark or rather Kal found her here, he would be expecting a trick. After all, she had used kryptonite to subdue him before and if what she had heard from Lana was any indication about his disposition, Kal had a mean streak a mile wide for anyone who had ever crossed him.
Every time Clark came under the influence of red kryptonite, it drove home to Chloe just how fortunate that they all were that Clark Kent was the man he was. With his powers, he could have easily been so much worse (case in point; Zod) and times like this, when they were face to face with his alter ego, Chloe wished she had told Clark more how much he was appreciated. Tucking the device beneath the sofa where Lois had instructed, Chloe prepared to make her departure from the Kent farm, hoping that Lois could do what was necessary before it was too late for them all.
So far, there was no word from Zod or Fine but this only meant that they were in the eye of the storm. Whatever Zod was planning would happen soon. Chloe required no clairvoyance to know that. They needed to get Clark back before it was too late. Fortunately, when Lionel had told them about Kal and Lex, Lois had suspected that Kal might be looking for a little bit of payback in regards to the bald billionaire. After all, Lex had stolen away Lana and while Clark might have resolved his feelings about Lana, his anger at Lex was almost as difficult to dispel.
Lois had arrived just in time to save them both, so Chloe heard from Lana who was at this moment flying away from Smallville with Lex in a Luthor Corp Jet. They were trying to outrun the Kryptonian, unaware that the danger Zod posed would ensure there was no place on the planet that anyone could hide for long. Lionel had driven to Topeka to intercept Martha and tell her what was going on. No matter what she thought of the man, Chloe knew that Lionel’s feelings for Martha were genuine. She would be safe with him.
Thank God, Jimmy was visiting his folks out of town.
***********
Leaving Lois upstairs, Kal had come down to the kitchen to raid the fridge after yet another marathon session of love making. God, Lois was a goddamn hellion in the sack. Kal had always suspected as much and was certain that even Clark, knew it on some level too. In any case, Kal figured he had Lois pretty much under control now. She was still trying to manipulate him but it was really he who was pulling the strings.
Really quite easy to do when they loved you, he snorted.
Look at Chloe and Lana, how many hoops had he made them jump before they got tired of it? Even then Kal knew it would be easy to get Lana back if he wanted, just as it would be easy to get Chloe on side if she gave him trouble. Just give Blondie the slightest hint of hope that he might give her the time of day and she’d be on her knees begging. If he ever got tired of Lois, he might consider it.
Never, he thought confidently, draining a carton of juice as he stood in front of the fridge.
Looking at the ceiling of kitchen, he could see Lois lying on his bed upstairs, no doubt recovering, he thought with a smug smile. Suddenly, his hearing picked up something else and Kal’s enhanced vision began searching for the source. He heard movement but discerned quickly that it wasn’t in the house but it was close thought….
Chloe.
And she was sneaking around.
***********
Lois heard the slamming of the door and immediately sat up in bed.
“Kal?” She called out and heard the barn door opening and closing with similar speed.
Forcing her aching limbs to move, Lois jumped out of bed and winced. If it wasn’t for the fact that her father was a general who believed no daughter of his wouldn’t be able to make a ten mile hike, Lois would hardly be able to move. Grabbing a shirt, she slipped it over her shoulders and hurried out of the room, hoping Chloe had the sense to get out before Kal had noticed her.
***********
“Hey Chloe,” Kal greeted her as he came to a stop at the top of the stairs leading into his loft. Judging by he expression of surprise on her face, it was clear that he had caught her doing something she shouldn’t. “What are you doing here?” He asked with a disarming smile.
“Hey Kal, well I dropped by to see you and I thought I’d try here first,” Chloe smiled brightly, wishing she could have come up with a better excuse than that.
”Really?” He stared her down with a little smile and raised brow. “What about?”
“To see if you wanted to go that midnight showing of Star Wars in Metropolis next week but now that I’m here, I can also critique those cute boxers.” She laughed nervously and knew inwardly, he wasn’t fooled.
“Its not like you mind right Chloe?” Kal teased and let him high powered gaze run a perfunctory examination over her. He found what he was looking for almost immediately and took a cautionary step back without giving away himself way.
“What?” Chloe’s hazel eyes caught his blue with a indignation.
He knew that would make her bite.
“Next time you sneak up on me with the meteor rock, don’t call me Kal.”
Eyes flashing crimson, a blast of heat enveloped the bag hanging off Chloe’s shoulder. The intense heat ignited the leather and Chloe let out a soft cry of fright as she yanked it from her shoulder and onto the floor. Once it had hit the floor boards, Kal intensified the beam of heat and incinerated the bag and all its contents in a small burst of fire. The tiny explosion left behind nothing but ash and smoke which cleared away soon enough.
“Clark…” Chloe stammered, trying to get past him in a futile effort. “You’re not yourself.”
“I’m just fine,” he grabbed her wrist and squeezed.
“Clark!” She squealed in pain at the vise like grip. “You’re hurting me!”
“God!” Kal rolled his eyes, “did it ever occur to you that the reason I’m with Lois and not with you and Lana is because of the whining? I’m sick of listening to both of you whine about everything. I don’t need the grief!”
It isn’t Clark, Chloe told herself as the words stung against her skin like barbed wire. Its Kal and the Red K. “Let me go!” She tried to wrench her hand free and suddenly, she was falling backwards.
“CHLOE!” Lois screamed as she entered the barn and saw Chloe stumbled against the railing on the stairs before going over it a split second later. “KAL, grab her!” She shouted, hoping that there was still enough of Clark left in Kal to do something.
Out of reflex more than anything else, Kal raced down the stairs and was there to catch Chloe before she hit the ground.
Lois didn’t waste the opportunity, knowing that she had a very narrow window of opportunity to act. She had hoped to come up here later in the night but Chloe’s discovery had thrown that plan out of whack. Reaching the loft as Kal was trying to figure out what she was doing. Lois prayed that Chloe had left everything where she had instructed. Reaching behind the sofa, her hand wrapped around it, just as she felt her hair swaying with a gust of wind.
“What’s going on Lois?” Kal demanded.
Lois turned around with the gun in her hand and faced him.
“What’s going on Kal is that you’re no yourself.” She said firmly.
“And you think a gun is going to stop me?” He almost laughed.
Lois took aim. “Don’t make me find out if you’re faster than a bullet.”
“You’re gonna shoot me?” He took a step forward, challenging her.
“I want Clark back,” Lois said icily. “Do you hear me. CLARK.”
“Didn’t sound like it a short time ago,” his expression hardened. “In fact, Clark was the furthest thing from your mind. It was me that made you come Lois, not Clark. Me” He sneered crudely. “Clark would never make you feel that way.”
“Don’t mistake sex for love Kal. You’re good in the sack I’ll give you that but I don’t love you and I never will. I want Clark back.”
His eyes narrowed and Lois could see the rage overcoming him. The same fury that he had unleashed upon Lana was about to be visited on her. Not giving him the chance to overpower her because even with the weapon, he could manage it quite easily, Lois pulled the trigger and prayed that all those lessons the general had given her was not a waste. The berretta dispensed its payload with a powerful bang and Lois closed her eyes as Kal made no attempt to avoid the shot.
The bullet slammed into his shoulder, meteor rock being no substitute for lead, shattered the instant it hit bone. Fragments spread throughout his left shoulder, forcing Kal to let out a cry of pain as he hit the floor. Lois saw the blood splattering across his skin and felt her stomach hollow in anguish at having been forced to do this.
There was no choice. Jor-El had revealed that it required Kryptonian strength to activate the device enough to penetrate Clark’s skin. Neither she nor Chloe could have managed it. Kryptonite would weaken his skin enough for them to activate the device. Furthermore, two many people had tried to use pieces of green meteor rock to weaken him. Kal would expect an attack to come at him that way. Threatening him with a gun would only provoke Kal’s supreme arrogance.
“You bitch!” Kal screamed at her in pain, clutching his bleeding shoulder. She saw the green tinge of his skin and knew that they hadn’t much time.
“Chloe!” Lois called as she ran back to the couch and retrieved the Kryptonian device.
Chloe was recovering from her near grievous fall when she saw Lois make her play and remained in the background until it was over. Chloe didn’t know if Kal was smart enough to take a hostage but she certainly had not want to find out. Fortunately, as expected, Kal’s arrogance had rushed him into point blank range of the kryptonite bullet that Lionel had made for the gun in Lois’ hand.
Hearing Kal’s indignant scream, Chloe was on the move. Clutching her aching wrist, she arrived on the floor of the loft to see Kal on the floor, blood pooling under him.
“Oh my God…”
“I hit him in the shoulder,” Lois cut her off as she leaned over Kal.
“Get away from me!” Kal spat at her. Green veins were crisscrossing his body and Lois ignored that this was happening to Clark as well as the arrogant alter ego in current possession of his body.
“Shut up Kal,” Lois snapped and pinned down one of his arms with her knee. “Chloe, hold him down.”
“What are you doing to me you bitch!” Kal demanded.
Lois ignored him, perfectly aware that if this failed, he would kill them both. Chloe gave Lois a look of admiration, wondering how she could stand seeing Clark like this, even if it was Kal’s words. Chloe had never been able to stand it. Trying not to look down at him, Chloe held Kal down by the shoulders and turned away.
“Ready?” Lois asked quickly, bracing herself.
“Do it,” Chloe nodded, strengthening her grip, ignoring the pain in her wrist.
“LET ME GO!” Kal struggled one last time to break free but the kryptonite (the green version) was doing its job well. His struggle was weak at best.
“For the last time,” Lois said moving the device over the bleeding wound where skin was already broken, “SHUT UP!”
Lois brought down the suction cap on the open wound and depressed the trigger. A low whine filled the barn at the same time Kal started crying out in pain. It took all the strength Lois and Chloe had to keep the Kryptonian pinned to the ground as she struggled. Her eyes fixed on his, Lois saw nothing in Kal’s eyes but betrayal and knew that she never ever wanted to see that look in his eyes again, from Kal or Clark.
Suddenly, something popped and Lois saw the bulb like end of the device filled with blood. At first she could see only the bullet but then other sediments began to appear in the thick liquid. Fragments so small, they almost look like dust. She saw them cling to the side of the glass and realized that this was the Red K.
“Oh God Chloe,” Lois stared at it amidst Kal’s howling. “I think its working!”
Suddenly, with a final cry of pain the whining stop and Kal no longer struggled. Lois withdrew the device, tossing it away. The green veins on Kal’s skin had vanished and his color was back to normal.
“Did it work?” Chloe asked.
“I don’t know,” Lois shook her head, watching in amazement as skin began to repair itself. If this hadn’t worked, she and Chloe were in a lot of trouble and there would be nowhere to run.
“Clark?” Lois brushed the strands of wet hair out of his face as he lay on the ground, eyes closed, seemingly exhausted. “Come on Smallville,” she prompted, using the usual flippant tone he was familiar with. “Give me a sign here.”
Clark Kent opened his eyes and felt the nightmare he had been suffering fall away from him like the bad dream he knew it wasn’t. Lois was staring at him and Clark managed a soft prayer of thanks as he looked at her without the red fog over his mind. He couldn’t even begin to process the rest of what he knew had happened but at least, Lois was here and knowing that, helped him to deal.
“Figures,” he snorted, too weak to move but basking in Lois’ face above him. “You always have to be on top.”