Edward's hands trembled as he watched Lana fall to the floor, blood pouring from her chest. He hadn't meant for that to happen. He hadn't expected the girl to be with Kent at all. Perhaps he should have postponed the mission, waited until she had left. But then again, catching Clark off guard was always going to be difficult. He'd been given details on all of the Kryptonian's abilities, and if Clark had even heard so much as his heartbeat he might have been in trouble, kryptonite or not.

"Shit, stupid kid. You shouldn't have…"

He let the words trail off, shaking his head. It was no less than he would have done for someone he loved. He had, in fact, found several years ago that there was very little he wouldn't do for such a person.

Something blurred across the barn on the edge of his vision. For a worrying moment he thought it was Clark, but the youth was still sprawled on the floor, hands around his dead girlfriend in a protective gesture. He found himself absurdly touched.

Raising his weapon, he ran his eyes over the rafters. Something was up there, all right, but he couldn't see it. He took several steps backwards until he hit the wall, preventing his adversary dropping down behind him. He tensed, waiting for movement, and was caught off guard as, instead of a person leaping down, something was thrown at him. He had only a moment to take in the strange metallic boomerang heading right for him before it caught the gun he was holding and sent it flying across the barn.

Instinctively dropping the kryptonite next to Clark, he dived for the weapon. He had just got a hand to it when a man dressed in the strangest costume Edward had ever seen dropped to the floor. He took in a mask with bat-like ears, a black cape and a bat emblem on the chest. Edward raised the gun with alarming speed, but the stranger caught his wrist, turning it up to the roof and forcing Edward to squeeze the trigger. The weapon jumped in his hand as it fired six shots upwards. Although Edward was rather distracted, his mind was sharp, and he noticed the anomaly immediately. The gun only held six bullets in it's chamber, and one of those was presently residing in Lana Lang's chest.

With the gun empty, his opponent caught him across the face with a left hook, following it up with a kick to the stomach that knocked the wind right out of him. Desperately breaking his grip, Edward leapt backwards, sensing he was going to get slaughtered at close range.

"Who exactly would you be?" he asked, bouncing on his heels and grinning.

"I'm Batman," said his opponent, switching his stance. Edward moved in, hoping quickly to the left and aiming low with a kick to his opponent's feet. Instantly Batman took to the air, left foot snaking out to catch Edward's head as he rose. Edward stepped back at the last moment, avoiding near-decapitation. He threw a flurry of punches as Batman landed, but the costumed-freak raised his arms and Edward failed to find a way through the guard. Aware his opponent was reading his moves, Edward switched tactics, twirling his body like a dancer, launching an awkward assault consisting of both high and low kicks. Batman was quick, but a kick to the chest sent him backwards. Seizing the opening, Edward spun on his heel and leapt into the air, landing a vicious fly kick that slammed Batman against the wall. His opponent recovered well though, and Edward realised his suit gave him a measure of protection. The yellow mark on the chest made it an inviting target, but he'd need to attack the head area, which was less protected.

A right jab missed as Batman's head jerked to the side and his fist slammed painfully into the wall of the barn. Batman gave him no time to recover, landing a powerful shot to Edward's throat that took him to his knees, struggling to breathe. A shot to the face broke Edward's nose and blurred his vision. Realising it was over, he decided it was time for the last resort. He'd just have to hope it was too late for Clark to be saved. Pulling a device from his pocket, he pressed a button just as Batman grabbed his shoulders and hauled him to his feet. In the next moment, both were engulfed in light as the teleportation device was activated.

888

Clark was only very dimly aware of the battle taking place around him. The kryptonite had almost reduced him to unconsciousness, and grief was overpowering him even more than the poisonous rock. The first time Lana had learned his secret, she had died within a day. History had repeated itself. And this time, there was no way for him to rewrite it. Lana was gone forever. His body shook not only with pain from the meteor, but also with sadness. His only consolation was, that in mere moments, he would be joining her.

"Not yet, Clark. You're not going to die today," whispered a voice in his ear, as if his thoughts had been read. He realised that they probably had; it took him a moment, but he recognised the voice as that of the woman he'd met in the store. The Empireth that Jor-El had warned him about. "Give into me now, and everything will be just fine."

A new agony seized him as the woman cradled his head in her arms. He began screaming as a pain he'd never known before ran through every part of him. He could feel the woman soaking up his memories like a sponge. Realising she was going to try to steal his abilities, he tried to fight back. The woman's eyes widened with terror as she realised he wouldn't give in. With Lana dead, she must have expected his will to be completely broken.

"No… NO! You mustn't fight it Kal-El… the process is too far gone this time… if it's interrupted, you'll kill us both!" she shrieked, tightening her hold on him and trying to increase her efforts. In desperation Clark actually bit down on her fingers. She squealed with pain but clung onto him for dear life. He knew he was losing; he could actually feel her getting stronger. It was his own strength she was now using against him. She began laughing as his struggles became weaker. She let go of him and his head thumped painfully against the floor. The last thing he saw clearly was Lana's body becoming surrounded by light, making her appear almost divine, and then all of that was swallowed in darkness.

888

Lana turned to see Clark vanish into thin air. She jerked to a sitting position, hand instinctively moving to her wound…. Only to find there was nothing there. She could clearly remember being shot… but she wasn't hurt at all.

"Clark?" she called out apprehensively. He'd looked to be in incredible pain, and then he'd been taken somewhere. There was no response.

What was she supposed to do now?

888

"Stupid piece of shit! Edward, bring the boy here now. There's no power to the teleporter. Everything in this place is falling apart."

Clark had no idea how much time had went by since he'd passed out. He awoke to the sound of the woman's voice. He was strapped to a steel slab, which was cold against his back.

"Clark, you're awake," said Edward as he passed. "I have good news – your girlfriend is still alive. I remember killing her quite clearly, but apparently Lenaria was altering our minds at that time. I'm… glad I didn't kill her, Clark. She seems nice."

"Hurry up!" snarled Lenaria. Clark could see she was huddled over a set of controls. He tried to break the bonds that were holding him to the slab, but found his powers were a fraction of what they were. The process Lenaria had put him through had weakened him, but he was relieved she had only copied his powers; she hadn't been able to remove them from him.

He was more relieved to learn that Lana was alive. He didn't think he was ever going to see her again, but as long as she was alive he had a reason to keep fighting. More than one – he had to stop that woman. Nothing good could come of her having his abilities. His strength coupled with her telepathic abilities made her a threat to the entire planet.

"Lenaria?" he asked, in a weak voice. Better to pretend to be weaker than he really was in the hope that he could catch her off guard. "You're the one Jor-El told me about. You were selling Kryptonian's into slavery."

"I hate to break it to you, Clark," said Lenaria with a cruel laugh. "But I still do that. Mongul has been very unhappy with the creatures I've been sending him of late. However, a Kryptonian will please him greatly. Hopefully once he has you, he'll leave me in peace until I'm ready to deal with him."

"I have the boy," said Edward. From the corner of his sight Clark could see a young boy of around eight years old, shuffling on his feet nervously.

"Thank you, Edward. Now report to the medical bay to deal with your injuries. Is our other guest comfortable?"

"I put him with the girl for now," said Edward. "Figured she'd like some company. And I'm fine, really."

"That may be, but I may wish to make love to you later, and I'd prefer your nose not to be squashed to the left like that while I do. I'd heal it myself, but I haven't had time to fully master Cyrus's abilities yet."

Clark flinched, but only the boy noticed it. Clark realised with horror that his abilities weren't the only ones Lenaria had stolen. How many meteor freaks had she been in contact with? Not only that, but she was clearly immune to kryptonite. If she hadn't been, the rock in the barn would have affected her too. And if you considered she might have absorbed some of the kryptonite running through the meteor freaks, absorbing his abilities would have killed her instantly.

How powerful was she?

"Now, son," said Lenaria, placing and arm around the boy's shoulder. The poor kid looked terrified.

"Leave him alone!" said Clark, struggling to try and escape. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he did though; he wasn't strong enough to handle The Empireth right now.

"I need you to use your abilities to power the teleportation system. My friend Clark here is going on a very long distance journey, and unfortunately for him it's going to be one way. You'll need to concentrate; we don't want it cutting out mid-way and scattering his particles across space, as amusing as that might be."

The boy put his hands to his head, clutching it as though in pain. He looked apologetically at Clark, who managed a small smile to let him know it was all right. Clark narrowed his eyes as another bright light appeared above him. He had by now seen enough of these to consider living in perpetual darkness a good thing. It looked like he had failed Jor-El's mission. His last thoughts as he vanished were of Lana. He hoped she would be alright. He couldn't protect her anymore…

As the light faded, he found he was no longer shackled to anything. He was lying on a carpeted floor, looking up at a fearsome sight. Sitting on something resembling a throne was an immense figure who's presence overwhelmed him. The figure looked down at him, amused by his predicament.

"Another Kryptonian… after all this time. Forgive my rudeness, Kal-El. I am Mongul. Allow me to welcome you… to Warworld."