The Beginning in the End
Chapter 4
"Lex stabbed me."
What surprised Tess the most as the words tumbled out of her mouth was not the shocked expressions of Oliver and Lois… but the lack of expression from Clark. He was standing toward the door a little with his arms over his chest and not even a flicker of expression spread across his strong features at the news.
It dawned on Tess that perhaps the news, to Clark, was not a surprise.
And before the two others had time to register the news and react to it, Tess had her eyes focused on Clark and nodded toward him with an eyebrow raised. "Did you see him?"
Lois and Oliver whipped their heads toward him and both were still trying to process the information that they had just received. Neither could say anything yet so Clark and Tess continued without them.
"I saw him at the Mansion. I went there to look for you and… I found him instead." Clark said.
Tess nodded. "What did he say to you?"
Clark just shrugged. "He basically talked about our destinies. His is the villain of the story and mine is the hero and then he urged me to save the world from the darkness. In a very weird way… he was actually supportive."
Lois flew her arms around in the air and her brunette hair shook around her shoulders. "Okay here! The two of you need to switch gears from totally calm to completely freaking out. You cannot… I repeat that you cannot just calmly talk about a man coming back from the dead while Oliver and I freak out… which in case you two were wondering is the appropriate response to such news, thank you very much."
Clark smirked. "I'm sorry, honey. Where would you like us to start from?"
Oliver finally chimed in. "The beginning seems to be a pretty good place."
Clark nodded his head to Tess. "If she's up to it then I think Tess should tell us her story… from the time she went missing to the moment she was found by Oliver. What do you say?"
Tess looked up between her thick eyelashes and even in her distressed state replied, "As long as the morphine keeps flowing… then I don't have a problem."
Oliver suddenly became concerned again with her wellbeing and walked closer to her bedside. "Are you in pain?"
Tess wiggled her eyebrows at him and shook her head. "No… it was just a joke. Perhaps you should take a stroll pass the nurses' station and see if they can give you a valium. I think you could use one and perhaps if that does not work… next time, try decaf."
Oliver smirked at her. "You know if you weren't recovering from life threatening injuries I would tell you how unfunny you are but I don't want to hurt your feelings when you are in such a delicate condition."
Tess was just about to open her mouth to speak but Lois apparently had enough. "Okay… we get it. You two can bicker like cats and dogs under any circumstances imaginable. It's cute and touching, really but you have to stop now because we have to get back to story time. Tess… you can begin."
So Tess told her story of how she had discovered that Apokolips was heading toward Earth and that she was on her way to the wedding in Smallville to warn everyone when she was cut off by two large vehicles and kidnapped.
"They threw me in one of the cars, blindfolded me, cuffed me, and sped off." Tess said. Each one of her listeners had a distressed look on their faces at her ordeal but she failed to notice the fear and anger that flashed over Oliver's face as he listened intently.
She went on to explain that they injected her with something that must have made her lose consciousness because the next thing she remembers is being drug inside a room wearing a hospital gown. Tess described how they strapped her to a table, and how horrifying the sound of the electric saw was.
Lois quietly asked. "What—what were they going to do?"
Tess was beginning to shake with the enormity of the memories and what she was about to describe.
All of her life she had wanted to belong somewhere. She had always been searching for people that would accept her and as the tears began to well up into her eyes she had remember that she had found it in these three people before her. It was strange but in these three people she had found what she had always wanted her entire life… a family.
And if she had any lingering doubts that she belonged with them… when Lois came to her side, sat down in the chair next to the bed, and held onto her hand… those lingering doubts vanished once and for all.
She glanced at Lois and offered a weak smile. All Tess found in return was a slightly tearful gaze and a shining smile that gave her nothing but support and acceptance.
"They… were going to remove my heart… to give to Lex. Lionel was going to give my heart to Lex because it was the only part that he was missing to complete a perfect clone of Lex that was compiled out of all the best parts of other Lex Luthor clones."
"Gross." Lois quipped and everyone in the room relaxed just a bit.
"What happened next?" Oliver pressed gently.
Tess smirked. "What do you think? I masterfully maneuvered out of the straps they had me in, overpowered all of the doctors in the room, knocked out the security guards, stole one of their guns, and shot Lionel in the chest before getting the hell out of there."
Lois laughed out loud at Tess' cheerfully delivering of the account, Clark shook his head with an amused expression, and Oliver just smirked as he said, "That's my Mercy."
Tess was stuck between beaming proudly at hearing her nickname, something that she always secretly loved but would never say that to him, and blushing. She found herself stuck in the middle of those two but quickly pressed onto her story.
She told them how she returned to Watchtower, changed clothes, and then decided to try to find Lex.
"Why?"
It was Clark who asked this question and he repeated it before Tess could answer. "Tess, why would you go after Lex on your own?"
Tess stared at him. "I knew you would figure out a way to save us, Clark. I didn't know you had seen Lex but I knew he would come after you eventually. As a Luthor, I inherited all of the knowledge Lex had about you… and I am sure he kept even more hidden for only him to know about, and I could not have him be a threat to you. He knew too much, Clark. I had to do something and the only time I would be able to do something without you or anyone getting on me about the morality of it or about the dangers of the slippery slope… I had to act."
Clark advanced toward the edge of the bed and stood towering over her. Tess knew that he would be upset her with. She also knew that he would never harm her… or at least, he never would now but still, he was intimidating.
"What did you do?"
Tess stared at Clark. He may be intimidating but there was no going back and she knew that in the grand scheme of things… she had done the right thing. And it was the only thing that would save Clark and everyone dear to him. "There was a neurotoxin. Lex started its development and I finished it. When this neurotoxin makes contact with someone's skin… it paralyzes all cognitive recognition."
"Or to put it into English, you just erased Lex's memories." Oliver said.
Tess nodded.
"Why?" Clark asked. "You had no right to erase his memories… even if he was a clone of the real Lex. It doesn't make it right."
But before Tess had a chance to answer his question, Oliver threw a question at her that left her much more frazzled than any morality questions from Clark ever could.
"You knew he would try to kill you, didn't you? Before going to see him, you knew how dangerous it would be to try this!" Oliver snapped.
Tess looked down at her blanket. "It was certainly a possibility but I had a small window of opportunity and I knew you guys would never let me do this if you knew about it before hand—"
"Of course I wouldn't let you confront Lex Luthor! The fact that you almost died after one brief encounter is all the proof I need!"
Oliver huffed. "Don't you realize how close I was…I mean how close we were to losing you? If I had gotten there even a few seconds later then all I would have found is your body, how could you think that was a chance worth taking?"
Tess looked up and stared at him. The electricity between them filled the room and all she could do was try not to get lost in his intense eyes as they poured long forgotten emotions all over her.
"Saving Clark or anyone of you is chance I will always think is worth taking. You're my family. And whether Clark agrees with the morality of it or not is hardly the point. Lex Luthor no longer remembers anything of his life before the last couple of days and that makes everyone in this room ten times safer than we would be if he still had those memories. I took the risk for us all and I knew it could end badly for me but I was willing to sacrifice my life."
Oliver shook his head. "No."
"Excuse me?" Tess asked.
Oliver looked her in the eye and her heart stopped at the raw expression on his. He was wearing his heart on his sleeve and she felt like he was letting her see into his soul with that one single expression of terror, anxiety, and heartbreak.
"No, you don't get to make that sacrifice. As long as I am still breathing… you will never get to make that sacrifice."
He turned on his heel and walked out the door. The sound it made as it shut behind him echoed in her ears and her heart.
It was only then did she realize that she had forgotten Clark and Lois were still in the room with her.
She felt Lois squeeze her hand in reassurance. "I am sure he will cool down, Tess."
Clark nodded. "I am sure he will… it's just that you have no idea how afraid he was that we would lose you. And hearing you knew the dangers going into it… he's just freaked out that is. How about you rest and I will go see how he's doing?"
Tess nodded. Clark walked out the door after his friend and Lois leaned back in her chair. She grabbed the television remote from the bedside table and turned on the television that hung on the wall across from the bed.
"A little Jerry Springer and we girls will be as right as rain." Lois said with a shaky voice that did not hide the fact that she was almost as shaken by the entire conversation as was the redhead.
Tess nodded her head but was not paying any more attention to her friend or the television. She had no idea what to make of what had just happened between she and Oliver. His reaction was stronger than she had anticipated and the last thing she needed was for the implications of what that could mean messing with her already cloudy mind.
So she decided it was best to leave those matters of the heart for a time when she did not have a plastic hospital identification bracelet wrapped around her wrist.
End of Chapter 4.
Please Review.
