Chapter 10

"Chloe, I want answers. This is getting ludicrous," Lois sighed. They were in Chloe's little VW Bug convertible, cruising down the highway towards the Smallville military base where Sam Lane was stationed currently. The radio was playing some chick rock. Chloe was tapping along to the beat with her thumbs on the steering wheel. She was also wishing that Lois would just take the hint. Clark wanted to protect her from everything that was going to hit Metropolis in a few hours. Chloe didn't know the details; she had a distinct feeling that she wouldn't want to know until after everything was settled down and good. She did know that Clark was sure that whatever was going on was targeting him. Given the set-up with necro-storm and the kryptonite weapons, Chloe tended to agree with him. Since he was the target, he moved his friends away from himself, and he put them in a place where they would be protected; out in the daylight, surrounded by guys with lots of different weapons.

It also implied that Clark might not be able to protect them. That really scared Chloe, more than anything else. In all honesty, Chloe's bowels had long passed the liquid state, and were turning in plasma... not a pleasant experience.

"Chloe! What the hell is going on?" Lois yelled, turning off the radio.

"Lois, did you listen at all? Something is attacking Metropolis and they want us to get the military involved," Chloe said, technically keeping to the truth.

"Yeah, right. Then why doesn't anyone answer me? I feel like a broken record," Lois sneered, "So seriously, what is going on? Why doesn't anyone trust me?"

Because no-one wants to used as a weapon, Lois, Chloe thought. Even if her cousin could keep the secret, if there was a single slip up, any one of her friends could have their lives snatched away. Uncle Lane may be a nice guy underneath his bulldog persona, but he would do whatever it took to protect his country. She'd done a little bit of research and knew exactly what her uncle was capable of. Chloe didn't doubt for a second that he would force her super-powered friends to become a living arsenal for America. She also knew that Lois wouldn't want that.

Clark had explained this all to Chloe once.

"Chloe, are you even listening to me?" Lois glared at Chloe.

"Lois... Look. There are a lot of things that you don't know about your friends. Things that could get you and them killed. Or worse," Chloe let that sink in for a moment, "They're trying desperately to protect you from it."

"Whatever. You realize that I don't need protecting, right?" Lois gave her cousin a look that oozed disdain, "So you could tell me, but since you aren't... You agree with them."

Chloe could hear the betrayal in Lois' voice. Lois was never good at hiding her emotions.

"Lois, get a grip!"

"I have a grip! I can handle myself! Why can't people see that?"

"Lois, do you think bringing in the Army is a bad idea?" Chloe sighed.

"No..."

"Let's do the mission, alright? Worry about the answers later?"

"Fine..."

--

Riley Finn was at the head of about a hundred Turok Han. He absolutely hated it. There was some sort of magic shortening the distance from LA to Metropolis in these caves, but it was still a hour's march with bloodthirsty proto-bloodsuckers. He'd made a ton of mistakes in his life, but this had to take the cake.

The First's plan was as solid as any he'd heard. Honestly, he doubted even a superhuman could survive the four hundred or so normal vampires carrying sub-machine guns with this thing's weakness fashioned into bullets. This superhuman would be worn out by the new and improved Caleb, assuming that it didn't kill the superhuman by itself. Riley couldn't see how the superhuman would even be able to hurt Caleb. The First had invested in some major mojo to protect it's high priest.

In fact, if he understood properly, the superhuman could touch Caleb. Literally.

Everything was just going wrong. He needed to escape, find the Watchers, help them. Now that Riley thought about it, they were likely to be in Metropolis. If they were anything like the old council, they'd have a battle group there trying to secure some peace for the normals.

The beginnings of a plan formed in Riley Finn's brain.

--

"Wait... you're telling me that you know that we're going to be betrayed and you aren't going to do a thing about it?" Lex nearly had a fit. In reality, he'd already told all of his least loyal employees about his new business partner in hopes that there might be a leak. But still, being immortal was no excuse for being stupid.

"You don't get it Lex," His mother's face turned vicious, "I want my enemies to know I'm coming. I want them to feel the despair. They can't stop me from killing the superhuman. Nothing can."

Lex sneered at that. The only truth in Lex's mind was that everything could be stopped. There wasn't anything on this earth that was unstoppable. There was always a way.

"Who is this 'superhuman' anyway?" The real Luthor tried to pump the First Evil for information.

"Wouldn't you like to know? You were destined to be his ultimate rival, and all that jazz. But you should be thanking me; now you wont have to try to kill him. He'll be out of the way and you can be a minor duke in the new Order of things," The First laughed in a horrible, triumphant crow.

Running a hand over his bald head, he gritted his teeth. A Luthor would never settle for a minor duke.

"While a minor dukedome is... Well, actually it's a little insulting. I'm sure you will do better, after all, I am helping you a lot."

The First looked at him. Then it shook his mother's head and laughed. It loved insolence. It loved greed. Hell, it loved all the big sins and all the little ones. After all, human evil was it's most recent child, besides Caleb.

"No, I won't. Now go play with your stoolies."

Lex's day just kept getting worse.

--

Caleb loved the smell of eviscerations in... well... He thought it was the afternoon, but it was kind of hard to tell with the storm. Not that he particularly cared. He looked around. The city was silent. A quick count of his troops revealed that he was down a hundred Turok Han. He didn't even care.

He had enough troops to take over a small country; a hundred or so wouldn't make a difference.