A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. Thank you to all my reviewers, particularly cathy03, janeybird, thekiller00, and twilightluva786. You guys are my consistent reviewers, and you have no idea how much I appreciate it. Your reviews inspire me and keep me going. Keep it up! No worries, everything turns out for our hero. I also want to remind everyone that I do not own any of these characters, but God I wish I owned a piece of Tom Welling. Preferably the arms.

Lois was disappointed. The warehouse in Nell Porter's name had been a bust. It was full of antiques. It was just a storage unit. She sat in the back of Oliver's Escalade. The door opened and Chloe slid in beside her and grabbed her hand.

"Lois?" She squeezed her hand, and Lois turned to look at her. Suddenly, she couldn't hold it in anymore. Sobbing, she placed her head on her cousin's shoulder.

Chloe wrapped her arm around her, and held her for what felt like a good fifteen minutes.

"Lois, we'll find him. I promise."

"What if we don't?" Lois pulled away and looked into Chloe's face. "What if he's gone for good? I don't think I can handle that, Chloe."

"Lois, you can't think like that. We still have tonight."

"I know." She took a deep breath and sighed.

"Come on. Let's eat something and then we'll get ready." Chloe ran her hand through Lois's hair.

She nodded and Chloe leaned forward to give directions to the driver.

Lana watched as Clark rocked back and forth on the filthy mattress. It was matted with his blood and come. His knees were pulled up to his chin. His eyes were closed but his eyes were moving underneath the lids. He was obviously dreaming. She placed a hand on his forehead, and in his sleep he leaned into her touch. She smiled. Maybe she wouldn't have to do what was planned after all.

Clark smiled in his sleep. "Lois." His voice was hoarse, but he said it clearly.

Lana stiffened, and stepped back, hefting the specially made bat in her hand. "I'm sorry, Clark." She said sadly. "But if I can't have you, no one can."

Lois hadn't been able to eat at all. She sat in Watchtower and picked at the plate of food that Chloe had placed in front of her. She was nervous. They had to find him tonight. They had to.

She stood, looking out at Metropolis. The Daily Planet was emblazoned with the headline "Where is Superman?" She couldn't imagine the world without Superman. More importantly, she couldn't imagine her life without Clark Kent.

"Lois. Are you ready?" Oliver approached her in full costume and didn't touch her. For that, she was grateful. People had been trying to comfort her ever since Clark had gone missing.

She sighed. "I'm ready. Let's go." She turned and walked smartly out of Watchtower, Oliver trailing behind her.

Lois was nervous. Batman and Cyborg were going ahead, the Bat in the Batmobile and Cyborg was running. Chloe and she, obviously the most vulnerable, were parked around the counter. Bruce would let them know if the coast was clear. They'd been waiting for fifteen minutes.

"Should it be taking this long?" Lois felt foot jiggling anxiously.

"Lois, calm down. They're probably just doing a sweep to make sure that everyone's neutralized before they call us in." Chloe said, looking at Lois out of the corner of her eye.

"Watchtower. Come in, Watchtower." The radio in front of them crackled with Bart's voice.

"This is Watchtower." Chloe pressed the microphone on her lapel.

"We're clear. You and Girl Scout can come in."

"Girl Scout?" Lois said indignantly.

Chloe smiled at her. "Well, you are Boy Scout's counterpoint aren't you?"

The grin slid off of Lois's face. "As long as there's still a Boy Scout to be a counterpoint to."

"There will be. Let's go." Together, they opened their doors and slid out of the Escalade.

They both pulled out their guns, and it felt cold in her hand. She was glad that she had decided to wear tennis shoes. They were both virtually silent as they entered the building. It was completely empty and dark.

A figure slid down in front of them, and Lois jumped a foot in the air before her eyes focused and realized it was Oliver.

"The place is empty." He said, disappointed.

"Are you sure?" Lois said, anxiously.

He nodded. "Fairly sure. Unless there's a hidden door somewhere."

Lois walked around the empty first floor. He had to be here. He had to.

"Guys!" Cyborg's voice sounded from somewhere off to her left, and the entire team ran to his voice.

Victor's arm was sunk into a wall up to his elbow. "There's something behind here. I was tapping on the wall and it sounded hollow." He pulled his arm out and grasped the edge of the hole, ripping the wall down. There was a hallway that appeared to lead outside at one end, and a service elevator at the other end. The entire team ran toward the elevator.

As they climbed into the elevator, the whole thing felt incredibly absurd. Lois half expected tacky musak playing over a speaker. Her heart was pounding.

The elevator stopped and they all piled out. They stood in another hallway with a door at the end. Impulse dashed towards the door, opened it and slid in, closely followed by Green Arrow and Batman. Lois ran as fast as she could and entered the room behind them.

They stood in a small room that held just a steel table. There was a steel door, like the kind you'd see on a ship next to a window. The room behind the window was flooded with green light. Lois stepped up to the window and screamed, before running to the door and trying to wrench it open.

"Victor! Open this door!" She turned to scream at the heroes who were just standing there.

"Stand back." Cyborg gently pushed her out of the way, and pulled as hard as he could. The lock broke and the door flew open.

Lois scanned the room. In one corner there was an open shower and a freestanding toilet. A mattress lay in the other corner, and the body of her fiancée lay next to it.

She screamed again and ran to him. What she saw almost made her vomit. The mattress was covered in blood and what looked like semen. Bloody ropes lay above him. Chunks of kryptonite were imbedded in him, and it looked like he had been shot. A blue kryptonite bracelet lay far enough away that he was unaffected by it.

"Oh, God." She crouched down and pulled his head into her lap. "Chloe!" She screamed, and looked towards the door. Half of the Justice League was with her, and yet they all stood in the doorway, looking shell-shocked.

"Move out of the way." Chloe edged her way to the front of the group and knelt on the other side of him. "Sweet Jesus."

"What do we do?" Lois asked her, tears running down her face.

"We have to get him out of here."

"Oh God. Hold on, baby." Lois placed her hands on his face. "Hold on."

"Victor, Ollie, Bruce, get in here!" Chloe turned to the heroes that were still standing in the doorway. She reached for the filthy blanket and threw it over his lower half. She was struck by how thin he was. His hip and cheek bones protruded, and his skin looked like it was sticking right to his ribs.

Victor bent down to scoop him up, and looked shocked. "He's so light." He murmured.

"Call Emil, have him meet us at Watchtower." Victor carried Clark gently out of the room, and Lois stood to follow.

Emil arrived at Watchtower, to find absolutely no one there. He let himself in and moved to sit on one of Oliver's green couches. He wasn't exactly sure why he was there. Oliver had called him and told him to head to Watchtower immediately, and here he was.

He stood and was just about to pour himself a glass of Oliver's scotch, when Bart Allen appeared out of nowhere.

Emil was shocked by how pale he looked. Bart didn't scare easily, so to see him standing in front of him, pale and shaking, set Emil's teeth on edge.

"Bart. What is it?" He stepped forward to feel the boy's forehead, but he shied away from him.

"The team is bringing Boy Scout in any minute." Bart's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed heavily. "He's pretty bad, doc. Oliver said to prep for surgery."

Emil took a step backwards. "Clark? But I thought only kryptonite could hurt him…"

Bart nodded. "There's a lot of it. You're going to have to remove it so he can heal."

Emil nodded, and headed toward a room that Oliver had had set up especially for him in Watchtower. It was designed as a "just in case" room. It had everything needed in order to perform any kind of surgery. He had already used it to stitch Oliver up on multiple occasions, and once fix Victor's arm, but it hadn't been used for serious surgery yet.

"Bart. I'm going to need an assistant…" He looked at the boy, who shook his head.

"Chloe will help."

Emil nodded. As much as Bart said he didn't need anyone, he knew that the boy looked up to Clark. It must have been hard for him to see his idol so badly damaged.

"They're not far away. They should be here soon." Bart said almost absently.

Emil quickly prepped the room as best as he could, and was putting a gown, cap and mask on when Victor Stone entered, cradling the long frame of Superman.

Cyborg placed Clark gently on the operating table, and Lois and Chloe rushed in. Emil was automatically taking stock of Clark's wounds; several lacerations to the chest, a bullet hole through the right shoulder, and a head wound that was still bleeding profusely.

"Chloe help me turn him, I need to see what his back looks like." Chloe grabbed one of his shoulders and moved him on his side. He carefully examined the back. More lacerations dotted his back, and there was no sign of an exit wound for the bullet. Blood was running down his legs, and Emil spread his cheeks just a little, enough to know that he was bleeding from his rectum.

Emil sighed, and had Chloe roll him back on his back. No breathing or heartbeat, but his body was still pliable. Rigor mortis hadn't set in yet. If they could remove the kryptonite, he very well might be able to recover.

Lois was looking between him and her fiancée anxiously. "Well, can you help him?" She choked out.

"I think so." He nodded. "Chloe, get prepped. We're going to be here awhile." Chloe bobbed her head in agreement, and began to wash up.

Lois brushed Clark's damp hair out of his face and kissed his lips. His skin was still warm. "Clark, come back to me." She stared at his face, and then glanced up at Emil.

Oliver stepped up and grabbed her elbow. She shot him a nasty look, but he didn't even notice her. His eyes were fixed on his injured friend.

"Lois." Emil had pulled up his mask so his voice was muffled. "Trust me, you do not want to see this. We're going to have to cut him open. I promise I will come get you as soon as we're done."

She paled at the thought of them slicing him open. "I'd really like to stay with him…" She said uncertainly.

"Lois, go." Emil nodded at Oliver, and he tugged on Lois's elbow. She allowed Ollie to lead her away from her fiancée, and she sat down on one of the couches. Bruce had changed out of his costume, and was sitting as well. His hand was covering his eyes, but when he heard movement, he looked up at them.

"Lois." Bruce leaned forward and put a hand on her knee. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"Tell me again, Bruce." She said, looking at him.

He swallowed, and removed his hand. He couldn't look at her. Instead, he was staring at the floor between his feet.

"She showed up in Gotham a few years ago. I didn't know her name was Lana Lang. She told all of us that her name was Selina Kyle. She was an accomplished cat burglar, so much so that the Gotham Gazette started calling her Catwoman. She once stole the Hope Diamond for a week and returned it, just because she could." He said this last part with a sense of awe, and Lois shot him a look.

Bruce looked at her sheepishly. "She must've overheard me talking to Clark one day. He dropped off all of the kryptonite he had and asked me to take it to Star Labs so they could keep it safe. It was a week later that I heard that Star Labs had been broken into. I told Clark about it, and that all the kryptonite and the research that had been done on it had been stolen, and he said that he'd look into it."

Lois sighed and leaned back into the couch, closing her eyes and putting her hand over her face.

"Lois, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that Selina Kyle was really Lana Lang." He squeezed her shoulder.

"It's ok, Bruce." She said wearily. "I need to lay down."

Lois stretched out on the couch, and she felt Oliver drape a blanket on her. She was exhausted, but she didn't think she could sleep. It felt like she stared out of the clock window that made up an entire wall of Watchtower for days. She watched the sun rise and move higher and higher into the sky.

After what seemed like ages, Chloe was standing in front of her. She sat up, and her cousin sat down next to her. It hadn't felt like she had fallen asleep, but she guessed she must have, because the sun was setting through the window. Chloe looked ragged, but she still reached out and grabbed Lois's hand. She pressed her thumb into the meat of her palm, and Lois felt like she was going to cry.

Chloe had a bloodstain on the gown that she hadn't bothered to take off, and she still wore the cap to hold back her hair. Emil walked from behind the couch, and crouched down in front of Lois.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure I got all of the kryptonite out, and I've stitched up his wounds. I think the only thing left to do is put him in the sun as soon as it comes up in the morning and pray for the best."

"Can I see him?" She said, her voice breaking on the last word.

Emil nodded and Lois stood to follow him. She entered the room and she noticed that they had moved him off of the operating table and into a full sized bed in a different room. Bright lights shined on him and a blanket covered his lower half. He had stitches going across his pectorals and down the middle of his chest and stomach. Another set of stitches ran across his right eyebrow.

His chest didn't rise and fall.

Lois looked at Emil. "He still hasn't started breathing yet, but he's still warm. I think there's a chance."

She walked over to the bed and slid in next to him, picking his arm up to wrap around her. She placed her hand on his face and turned his head so she could place a kiss on his lips. Even when he appeared to be dead he was beautiful.

"Clark, if you're in there. Come back to me. Please." Tears began to run down her cheeks. "I love you."

He was so still-too still. "Clark, I can't live without you. You know that, right?" She snuggled under his arm and was soon asleep.