Chapter 4: Hope
Smallville, 2005
Luthor Mansion
"Mr. Luthor, the package you've been waiting for has arrived."
"Bring it in." Lex Luthor says and drinks what's left of his expensive whiskey in his glass.
When the metal box arrived, he asked for it to be put in his desk and for the doors to be locked after his employees left. They did as they were told, leaving Lex alone in his office.
He opened the metal box and carefully picked up the content. It was truly beautiful and he couldn't wait to see what Mr. Future was dying to whisper in his ear.
With that thought, he put on the golden helmet.
Smallville, 2010
Kent Farm
"What do you mean she's alive?" Chloe asked to no one specifically, but to all of them at the same time. "If this is some kind of sick joke, I swear-"
"It's not a joke, Chloe. I promise." Avery interrupted her. "And yes, I'm really from the future, Jonathan" Avery tried convincing Clark's dad with one of her charming, adorable smiles, Clark noted.
"How can we be sure she's actually alive? I don't...I don't want to get my hopes up only for them to be crushed. I can't take something like that happening." Chloe explained, looking at all of them again, speaking volumes with her eyes.
"I know, Chloe. But I guess we have to give Avery a chance to prove her point, even if get us nowhere, at least we tried." His mother smiled weakly and he knew she was right, but the thought of going through that again? Having her, at least in thoughts, in hopes, and then losing her because some girl tricked him. Like Chloe said, he wouldn't be able to go through something like that.
But he had to try. He owned it to Lois, to Chloe and to everyone that he took Lois away from when he traveled through time with a selfish mind.
"Ok, then. Avery, tell us what you've got." Chloe said in a determined voice that reminded him way too much of Lois.
"Alrighty, here's the deal..."Avery started and Clark, again, realized how Avery's cheerful smile also reminded him of Lois. What was happening to him? It was like he was seeing her everywhere, hauting him in every little quirk she had, that she shared with someone else in the world. But nothing compares to the real thing, and now a six year old girl was giving them hope that he could maybe set everyone's lives right. "Clark's version from the future, from where I'm from, warned me that you might not believe me at first sight, which honestly I thought it was something really stupid considering my charming nature..." Avery smirked, making everyone around her smile. There was just something about this girl... "Anyways, he said you guys were a bit on the suspicious side, so the thing is, it all apparently started with Lex Luthor, as always..." Avery rolled her eyes, annoyed.
"Lex? What does he have to do with Lois? Or the future?" Clark asked confused, reflecting everyone else's mood.
"Lexie is always involved when there are dirty things going on." Avery paused and breathed in deeply. "The night Lois died, she actually did die." Clark felt his heart dropping..."But she was ressurected." ...And then he could breathe again. "By Lex Luthor."
"What? Why? What could Lex possibly want with my cousin?" Chloe asked as soon as Avery said her words.
"That's what I asked the future Clark. He said Lois was the key to whatever Lex was planning. Future Clark said this was the biggest, greatest most annoyingly evil plan Lex Luthor had ever thought of." Avery said with wide eyes.
"I said that?" Clark asked confused for a second. That didn't sound quite like something he would say.
"Well, not in those exact words, but you get the drill." Avery winked at him. "Anyways, future Clark didn't tell me about the evil plan, he just said that Lex had evil reasons to bring Lois back."
"Typical." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"That's what I said." Avery rolled her eyes like Chloe and Clark watched both of them with interest.
"And how can we find Lois, supposing that all of this you're saying is true?" His dad asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, future Clark told me that when Lex ressurected Lois, he put a tracker under her skin so he could watch her every move. The thing is..." Avery started. "He sold the tracker watcher to some other guy who bought it for like millions. Future Clark said that Lex only put that tracker on as a bonus, but he didn't actually needed it, so he happily sold to the guy that gave him millions in exchange." Avery explained.
"So, technically, if we find the guy who bought the tracker from Lex, we find Lois." Clark said, putting two and two together.
"Well, yeah, technically...but you see, there's a problem" Avery grimaced making them sigh. "Future Lois...she told me that she found the tracker around August, 2009."
"Wait, future Lois told you that?" Chloe asked, hope shining in her eyes as it was on his own, Clark guessed. "Did you actually see her in the future?"
"Well, duh." Avery rolled her eyes. "Obviously I've seen her, I told you she's...a friend of the family." She explained.
"How did she look like then?" His dad asked, apparently he didn't trust the girl yet and was trying to catch her in some kind of lie.
"You know how she looks like." Avery didn't even look at his dad to answer that, she actually looked him deep in the eye. He wondered what it meant. "Taller than Chloe, shorter than Clark, hazel eyes, brunnette, bossy, sassy, kind of rude but won't admit it and extremely sarcastic." As soon as she finished, Chloe chuckled and Clark was sure he had a huge grin on his face. He tried controlling himself and getting back to business, but that girl was getting more and more convincing at every passing minute.
"What did you mean when you said Lois found the tracker in August, 2009?" His mother asked the girl, breaking the little moment they all shared.
"Well, according to future Lois, she saw a little part of her skin glowing red and knew it was something like a tracker. She just wasn't sure how it got there."
"And what did she do? Did she try disconnect it with a computer?" Chloe asked, clearly worried as if it was happening right now.
"Well, not exactly." Avery grimaced once again. "Future Lois said that she couldn't use any kind of electronic device because they could track it down to her. She also couldn't do any kind of procedure in any hospitals because she couldn't stay at the same place for too much time and couldn't trust anyone." Avery gulped. "Using her words, when I asked Lois herself what she had done, she said: 'Ripped it out of me, Ave'"
Everybody looked horrified with the new knowlodge, but continued with the questions.
"Why couldn't she trust anyone? Why was she running from everyone for all these years?" Clark asked, why in the world would she need to run away?
"Well, they didn't tell me that much because they said there were dirty details that I didn't want to know, but obviously I do want to know."Avery rolled her eyes. Again.
"And can you tell us how we can find her?" Chloe asked Avery.
Avery nodded and took a piece of paper from her pocket. "They gave me this date and this place, I guess it's where they found Lois when they were you, but I can't be sure." Clark took the handwritten paper gently out of Avery's hand.
January 17th, 2010
19th Police Department, New York City
"It's tomorrow. In New York." Clark announced to the others. "Do you think she'll be there?" Clark asked to no one in particular while he looked at the paper with huge interest until he figured something out. "It's Lois' handwriting!" He said, showing it to Chloe who smiled in agreement.
Things were finally setting themselves right. Thanks to Avery.
