A/N: thanks for the comments. I really do appreciate them. This is a little bit longer chapter for me. Hope you like it. I think I will be sticking to the chapter everyday for the next couple days. My internet has been weird at home, so if I don't post that my internet must have gone down again. Again no Beta so let me know if the grammar is too much to take.

Chapter 2

Lois had remained in Jimmy's room all morning and into the early part of the afternoon and could not take the silence any longer. Finding her phone she dialed a familiar number and placed the phone to the side of her head.

"Lois please don't tell me they kicked you out of the hospital again," Oliver's voice was light and sarcastic.

"No! funny man. In fact the nursing staff and I seem to be getting along just fine now," Lois retorted indignantly.

"They are probably just afraid of bodily harm if they make you angry again," he snorted.

"Hey, Helga had it coming. My cousin in-law is lying in the hospital nearly cut in half and she wants to give me crap about visiting hours," Lois' temper was beginning to build more so out of the need to vent her frustrations than at the long forgotten argument with the nurse.

Oliver, sensing that Lois was about to go into a tirade of epic proportions, cut her off, "Lois how is Jimmy?"

"What? Oh...Ah, Jimmy is doing better. He is still out like a light, but, like I told Clark, that is probably a good thing for right now," Lois steadily calmed as she looked back at Jimmy.

"You spoke to Clark?" Oliver asked with a hint of urgency in his voice.

"Yeah, earlier this morning," Lois answered confused by the sudden change in topic. "He said he knew of someone that might be able to help us find Chloe. He was on his way there when he called."

"Did he say where this person was?" Oliver asked trying unsuccessfully to hide the growing tension in his voice.

"No he just said that he was going to be out of cell service for a while. What is going on Ollie? Is Clark in danger or something?" Lois had the beginnings of panic in her voice.

"I am sure that Clark is fine," Oliver tried to cover. "I have just been trying to reach him all morning and his phone kept going straight to voicemail."

"Well what was so important that you nearly had a coronary when he didn't call you back? No wait! Don't tell me... I am not the only one who has a soft spot for the farm boy's charms," Lois chuckled though not really relaxing the tension in her tone.

"Um..." Oliver tried to quickly think of a cover for his concern, "Lana!"

"No actually it is Lois. Why is it so hard for you men to keep that straight?" Lois growled through gritted teeth, not even attempting to hide her displeasure.

"No, I was saying that I wanted to let Clark know that I helped Lana get set up in Coast City."

"Wait! What?" Lois stopped as close to speechless as she had been in quite a while.

Oliver chuckled as he imagined the expression on Lois' face. "I said, I helped Lana find a place to stay in Coast City. You know the city of the stars out west…the city where Lana has moved."

"Moved? As in her new place of permanent residence?" hope shown through in Lois' question causing Oliver to laugh even harder. Lois rolled her eyes and tried to play innocent. "Good to hear that she is getting out there. You know, chasing the dream," a hint of sarcasm showing through in her comment. She then waited for Oliver to calm down before pressing for an answer to the question she had been dying to ask, but refused to talk to Clark about. "Wow, she and Clark are going to try the long distance thing," she finished as if she were making idle conversation.

The fit of laughter that Oliver had just gotten over returned, "No Lois, they are not."

"What is so funny? Wait Clark isn't planning on playing house out west is he? If he is moving and he hasn't told me..." Lois' voice had raised an octave as she worked herself up again.

Normally Lois would have been at least a little more covert in hiding her feelings or the intentions of her questions. However, her current lack of sleep, frustration at the world, and what was feeling more and more like claustrophobia from the "damn hospital room" had been enough to push her well past all of that.

"Lois...you are too much," Oliver forced out as he tried to catch his breath.

"Alright enough with the laughing at Lois' expense. You know what I want to know so spill Robin Hood." If Oliver didn't know Lois so well he may have been frightened by the venom in her tone.

"First of all relax, Clark isn't moving anywhere." Lois sighed in relief even though she knew that that had been a ridiculous conclusion to jump to. "Lana is moving to get a fresh start. She and Clark, more so Clark from what Lana told me, decided that they were not meant to be. It seems like she isn't the girl for him anymore." Oliver swore he could see the gleam coming from Lois' smile through the phone. "Careful Lois a smile that loud may even wake up Jimmy."

After not getting a response for a few seconds Oliver decided it was time to go, "I've probably already said too much. It is not my place to get involved. Yuo should ask Clark about it. I am sure he can explain everything much better than I can anyway."

"Huh, Did you just say something Ollie?" Lois asked as she came out of her thoughts.

"I said bye Lois. I'll talk to you soon," Oliver laughed.

"Yeah, see ya," Lois said as she zoned out again and hung up her phone with a smile on her face.

After Oliver hung up the phone he allowed his smile to linger for just a moment before returning to the worried grimace he had been wearing all morning. It had been nice to just laugh with a friend. It hadn't happened much since Chloe's wedding. He had successfully convinced Lois that there was no need to worry about Clark. Unfortunately, now he was even more certain that there was a very good reason to fear for both Chloe and Clark's safety. He looked down at the open laptop on his desk. On it was a map marking a series of small seismic events moving progressively north. Hang on Clark we're coming.

---

Chloe opened her eyes only to find that she and Clark were lying in knee deep snow next to a single lane snow covered road. The sky was slightly brighter than it had been at the fortress, but was still not much brighter than twilight. Chloe slid herself over to where Clark was laying. He was still bleeding and did not respond to her when she touched his arm. Apparently Jor-El had not been able to transport them all the way back to Smallville, Chloe deduced. Immediately a knot of desperation built inside her chest. She needed to get help, but she didn't even know where they were. She knew that they had to be further South than the Fortress based on the slight increase in sunlight, but that was hardly enough to heal Clark before it was too late. Her nervous shaking was only made worse by the frigid temperatures and wet snow against her bare legs. Although in the back of her mind she knew she would not be able to live in these cold temperatures for long, her own safety and well-being became secondary to helping Clark. After a few seconds of thought Chloe climbed her way onto the road to see if any vehicles were within sight. While standing there she heard a faint beeping sound coming from where Clark was laying. As quickly as she could, Chloe ran back into the snow tripping and falling, landing next to Clark. After regaining her balance, she started to dig through Clark pockets, her numb fingers being very uncooperative. Finally she found Clark's phone. Pulling it out of his pocket she realized that the phone had been seriously damaged in the battle with Doomsday. She only hoped that it would still work. The caller id read Oliver Queen. Gently, Chloe folded the phone open, "Oliver you have to hurry Clark is hurt!" When she did not hear a response she looked down at the phone. The display was blank, the phone was dead. She quietly sobbed as she sat there hoping that her message had somehow gotten through.

---

Oliver was sitting in his jet with Victor, A.C., and Dinah. Everyone had been quiet the entire trip. Even Dinah who would never miss an opportunity to harass Oliver or his plans, blindly agreed to come along even though none of them had any idea where they were going or even if they were heading in the right direction. Oliver reached for the jets satellite phone, just as he had every 15 minutes prior. He dialed Clark's number expecting it to go to voicemail just as all the other calls had. He nearly fell out of his seat when a woman answered the phone. "Oli...Clar...Hurt," is all he heard.

The others on board noticed his startled expression. "What is it?" Dinah asked sliding to the edge of her seat.

"Was that Clark?" Victor chimed in.

"No...I think it was...Chloe," Oliver said more to himself than anyone else. The rest of the group sat stunned into silence. Oliver broke the silence seconds later by turning to Victor, "Trace that call. See where they are and hurry. She said something about Clark being hurt." Next Oliver picked up his phone again and after a few seconds spoke, "Bart, head north." Oliver looked expectantly at Victor who had plugged his arm into a laptop.

"Somewhere north of -------------, I would say no more than 10 miles outside of town since they had cell signal. That is all the further I can narrow it down," Victor shook his head in disappointment.

Oliver nodded and barked into the phone, "You heard that right. Chloe and Clark may be injured. Find them fast. We will be touching down in 20 minutes." He then called the pilot using the intercom and instructed him to land them at whatever airport was closest to --------------. "And if they don't give you clearance to land there then land on the nearest interstate for all I care, but get this plane on the ground!"

The rest of the group began preparing their gear as Oliver made one final call.

"Ollie you better be calling for more than just a few more laughs at my expense..." Lois' light tone was interrupted by an all business Oliver.

"Lois I need you to do something without asking questions. I know this is going to be hard but I swear it is important."

"What are you talking a..."

"Lois, just please trust me!" although Oliver's tone remained serious it now had a hint of pleading mixed in as well. "This could be life or death, and I need your help."

Lois' felt as if someone was reaching into her chest and squeezing her heart with all their strength, but just nodded her head in response, "Okay, just tell me what to do." Her voice sounded scared and much weaker than she would have ever thought possible.

"Find the doctor that worked on Jimmy. Tell him to grab anything he can carry and get to the airport immediately. He is someone I trust so if you tell him I need him and that it is an emergency, he will understand. There will be a plane waiting there for him."

"Alright," suddenly a wave of fear struck Lois as she remembered Oliver's reaction to her mention of Clark's name earlier in the day. Nearly overcome with nausea she was unable to repress her question, "Ollie..."

"Lois we don't have time," Oliver interrupted her.

"JUST TELL ME IF IT IS CLARK!" she cried into the phone.

"Lois, I...I can't really explain," his lack of denial confirmed her worst fears and all words escaped her. "Lois I promise we are doing the best we can for everyone involved, but you have to find that doctor NOW!"

Lois nodded to herself again as if Oliver could see her doing so. She did not say another word as she hung up her phone and ran from Jimmy's room.

---

Chloe held Clark's head in her lap and softly stroked his hair with her shaking hands. She had never felt this cold before. She had tried to pull Clark to the road but his large frame was too much for her to move. Instead she tried to find her healing powers somewhere deep within her, but unfortunately they were forever gone. Finally she tried to fix Clark's phone and again was unsuccessful. Realizing there was nothing she could do but hope for help from Oliver or the League; she placed Clark's head in her lap and held her friend close. Slowly the cold began to overwhelm her, her eyes being drawn closed as if she were falling asleep. Just before giving into the darkness she thought she felt one last gust of cold wind causing the snow around them to blow in all directions.

---

Bart nearly missed the two people lying in the snow, and actually had to turn around and come back to them after running past them the first time. He saw Chloe slumped over holding Clark protectively. Both were eerily still. He darted through the snow towards them causing the snow to whip around the three of them. He immediately dropped a homing beacon in the snow next to them, and then checked Chloe for a pulse. Her skin was cold and her lips were blue, but he could feel a faint pulse. He then looked down at Clark, and saw his torn and battered body. The thought of what it would have taken to do such things to the man he thought was indestructible was much more chilling than anything the Canadian weather could throw at him. He tried to feel for a pulse in Clark's neck. Nothing could be felt, but he was not sure if he would ever have been able to feel a pulse in Clark's neck. Making a snap decision Bart picked up Chloe and ran her back to the town. He knew that the cold was going to kill her if he didn't get her to some warmth fast, besides he wasn't certain that the doctors at the hospital could do anything for Clark anyway.

He was able to get Chloe to the small hospital in town in mere seconds. Two nurses came running out to meet him as he came running, at a non-superhuman pace, through the front doors. The two nurses placed Chloe on a gurney and began to wheel her into to be evaluated. As soon as he was certain Chloe was being taken care of, Bart ran as fast as he could back to where Clark was still lying in the snow. Once he was standing at Clark's side Bart pulled out his phone and dialed Oliver's number. "I got Chloe to the hospital. She is going to have some kind of hypothermia or whatever but the doctors thought she would be okay. I just got back to Clark, and man...he doesn't look so good," Bart swallowed hard as he looked down at his broken friend. "I didn't know if I should take him to the hospital or not. I doubt they are up on their Kryptonian anatomy."

"I don't think we have much of a choice. We are on the ground now and can be at the hospital in 15 minutes. How long will it take you to get him to the hospital?" Oliver's voice came over the line.

"He is pretty big so twenty maybe thirty seconds," no jokes about being the fastest man alive followed. The serious and focused tone of voice Bart was using worried Oliver.

"Give me one minute then get him there. I am calling the hospital now to arrange everything we will need." Oliver didn't wait for Bart to agree before hanging up.

Bart bent over and tried to heft Clark onto his shoulders, "Good God man, you need to lay off your mom's cooking once in a while." With all the strength he could muster Bart lifted Clark into a fireman's carry. Clark's arms and legs hung low over Bart's shoulders due to the difference in height. Bart looked at his watch, "Yeah, I am not going to stand here and hold you up any longer than I need to," and with that he was gone in a flash to the hospital.

Twenty-one seconds later Bart arrived at the same hospital that now housed Chloe. Again two nurses wheeled a gurney out to meet him. Although he was more than happy to have Clark taken from his shoulders, he stood in front of the gurney not allowing them to pass. "I don't know how to explain this but we need to take him to a private room immediately."

"Sir we need to take him to the trauma center so we can assess his injuries," one of the nurses countered, her voice sounding aggravated and stern as she tried to quickly push the bed around Bart.

"Trust me that is not going to work," he smirked at her effort as he easily dashed in front of the bed again.

"Sir move!" the nurse insisted.

"No, Go talk to your boss. He is probably on the phone right now getting all the intel that you guys need." The nurse looked at him incredulously, but was astonished when the chief resident came running down the hall a split second later holding a phone to his ear.

"Nurse, get this man into a private sweet right away, no questions asked," the Doctor ordered. The nurse didn't look happy but did as she was told, leaving a smiling Bart to follow behind her.

---

It had not taken Lois long to track down Jimmy's doctor. He had actually stopped in Jimmy's room only a few minutes before Oliver's call, so she knew he was near by. She found the man continuing his rounds in another patient's room just down the hall from Jimmy's. Without hesitation Lois burst into the room and interrupted what the doctor had been saying to the other patient.

"Come on Doc, we need to go," Lois spoke matter of factly.

"I'm sorry?" the doctor responded in pure confusion, "There isn't an emergency with Mr. Olsen is there... Ms. Lane is it?"

"It is just Lois, and no there is no problem with Mr...I mean Jimmy," Lois looked at the patient lying quietly in the bed just staring at her and the doctor. "Mr. Queen needs your expertise on a matter. He says that it is very URGENT." Lois looked at the patient then back at the doctor, her expression showing that there was more to the message than she had voiced.

The doctor turned an apologetic smile to the other patient, "I am sorry, but I really must take this. I will be sure to stop in or have my associate stop in later tonight to continue to explain your test results." With that the doctor followed Lois out of the room.

Lois continued down the hall to an empty patient room and when the doctor followed her in, shut the door behind them. "I just spoke to Oliver on the phone and he said that he needs you to go to the airport immediately. There will be a plane waiting to take you..us to where-ever it is you.. I mean we are needed."

"But I have patients here and..."

"There are other doctors here that can cover for you," Lois said sternly. "Oliver said this is life or death. That means you are going to get on that plane even if I need to drag you." The serious expression on Lois' face conveyed her sincerity.

The doctor had years of experience dealing with worried families. And although none of them had been quite as intimidating as the tall women that stood before him now, he did not feel threatened. It was more the result of knowing that Oliver would never summon him like this without the situation absolutely requiring it. "Let me grab my things and we can get out of here." Lois merely nodded in response before following the doctor out of the room.

---

Bart could hear the bickering group coming down the hallway long before they came through the door to Clark's room. However, all their comments ceased when they saw Clark lying beaten on the hospital bed. There was a heart rate monitor, beeping steadily, providing the only noise in the room. Clark's bruised and swollen face was partially obstructed by an oxygen mask. The four newcomers stood silently looking down at Clark. Bart returned his gaze to the subtle rise and fall of Clark's chest, and spoke, "I told them no IV's since I don't think their needles could get through his skin anyway. It took quite a while to even find a heartbeat. I am not sure if it was just hard to hear on him or if his heart had actually stopped for a minute. The doctors are pretty furious that I wouldn't let them try to help him anymore than that."

"They'll get over it," Oliver said firmly then turned to look at Bart. "You did good." Upon looking at Bart Oliver realized that the younger man didn't look very well. "You alright? You look like hell."

"Well we can't all be the pretty boy billionaire type," Bart smirked, but there was no energy behind his verbal jab.

Dinah turned her attention to Bart and joined the conversation, "When was the last time you ate something?"

"I don't know, this morning sometime," Bart shrugged.

This more than Bart's appearance convinced the others in the room that he was not himself. Bart hardly ever went an hour without eating. "How many miles do you think you covered today?" Victor asked

"Well...How many miles of roadway are there in Canada west of Lake Ontario?" again Bart tried to smile but it did not reach his eyes.

"Dude you should have eaten something, you are always saying it takes a lot of food to fuel the fastest man on the planet," A.C. smiled.

Bart looked over at Clark, "I didn't want to leave him alone. He wouldn't have left any of us." No one responded as they all looked back at Clark's unconscious form. Bart, who had always looked at Clark as somewhat of a big brother, may be taking it the hardest, but they were all unsettled by seeing the strongest man any of them had ever known lying there, looking so weak.

"Well maybe I can go and get us all something to eat," Dinah said looking around the room. "Oliver maybe you can try to calm the doctors down, and you two can hang out here so Bart can get some rest," she finished looking at Victor and A.C. Everybody nodded in agreement.

---

Lois looked at man sitting next to her in the cab that had been waiting for them at the airport. She was amazed at how quiet they both had remained throughout their entire flight, but the closer they got to the hospital the more nervous Lois felt. Lois didn't do well with silence, everyone knew that, but it was even worse when she was nervous. "I am going to kill Oliver for having that jet land in some rinky dink airport barely fit for a crop duster," she smiled as she turned to the doctor. "Thanks to that trip I may never fly again."

"Although I agree with you that the landing was a little rough, I am not sure what other options we had in the booming town of Mid Nowheresville, Canada," the doctor joked in response.

Lois smiled and then continued the conversation now that the ice had been broken, "So how long have you KNOWN Ollie?" Lois asked drawing out the KNOWN for emphasis.

"I have known Oliver most of his life. We have been friends since childhood, but I have KNOWN about Oliver for about a year now. It seems as if his other line of work can put him in harms way quite often," the doc chuckled. "At first he would come to see me and tell me that he fell rock climbing or hurt himself sky diving. But when he showed up with gunshot and stab wounds he eventually had to let me in on things."

Lois nodded in understanding. "And now you are team doc for him and his merry band of miscreants," she smirked.

"Something like that," the doc grinned.

"So have you ever worked on Clark then?" Lois could not suppress her investigative instincts.

"Clark? I can't say that I have ever met a Clark," the doctor furrowed his brow.

Lois was relieved by the doctor's answer for two reasons. First of all, if he had never met Clark then there was a chance that she had been wrong when speaking to Oliver and Clark's life was not in danger. Secondly, she knew that Clark was keeping a secret from her and she didn't want to push for answers until he was ready to tell her. It would have felt wrong if she had gotten any kind of insight into what that secret was from the doctor just because she couldn't stop herself from asking too many questions.

The conversation with the doctor was effectively ended when the cab pulled up to the hospital. The doctor wasted no time, climbing quickly out of the cab and jogging through the main doors. Lois had to move quickly to keep up with him. By the time she got through the doors she saw a nurse pointing towards a door marked restricted entrance as she spoke to the doctor. Lois followed as the man quickly made his way through the doors.

As soon as they had cleared the doors Lois saw an odd assortment of people from her past standing outside of one of the rooms. She was just about to ask what Dinah and A.C. were doing there when she saw Oliver exit the patient room. All questions faded from her mind when her eyes met his. In that instance she knew that her fears were real. The sorrow and sympathy that she saw in Oliver's eyes told her who was in the room as clearly as any words ever could. Lois did not say a word as she pushed past the small group outside the room and swung the patient room door open.

---

Two piercing eyes flashed open momentarily blinded by the bright white surroundings. The man glanced down tying to assess the extent of his injuries. He was naked, much of his body was covered in blood, and there was a large chunk of crystal protruding from his chest. Davis did not feel any pain as he looked at the gruesome injury. Instead he felt rage, for the first time he remembered what had happened while he had been Doomsday. He remembered the look on Chloe's face as she screamed in horror upon his approach. He remembered the way she looked at Clark with care and compassion. He remembered the power he felt when fighting the last son of Krypton, and he remembered how it felt to let the creature have control. He could feel the anger and hurt inside him causing the beast to begin to crawl its way out from the deepest recesses of his body. This time he did not fight it, and as the bony monster took form the last piece of humanity left in Davis was lost for good. Doomsday was all that remained.

---

P.S. I really hate the name Doomsday my way. I am open to suggestions and will be changing it soon.

Please review!!