Chapter 12
The crowd scatters, the suited men pushed out of the room, leaving Lex, Lois, Clark and Lex's hired guns. Lex laughs as he backhands the stunned Lois Lane.
Screams are heard as the crowd exit's the formerly busy room. Lex's hired guns closing in to circle the fallen woman and her husband. Lex approaches Lois again, his look this time more menacing.
"Like my handiwork?" he questions sadistically as he indicates Clark behind him.
"Haven't you just been a busy little beaver." Lois spits at him and then runs to aid Clark.
"Oh no you don't." Lex says to her as he grabs her around the waist and swings her back in front of him. Effectively placing himself between her and Clark.
"What do you want?" Lois screams at him, the emotion in her voice so raw, it pierces the heart.
"The world." he states simply, as if it explains everything.
"Can't you do that without tearing my family apart?" her voice breaking with the emotion.
"Besides the fact that your husband has declined numerous times to align himself with me, I have a little score to settle."
"Then settle it with me." Lara pipes in as she flies full force into Lex. Taking the two of them twenty feet backwards to collide with a marble column. The force of the collision causing the column to crack with stress.
"Why won't any of you Kent's work with me?" Lex quips as he pushes Lara off him and then punches her in the face. Lara flies backwards from the force, skidding across the ground. She comes to a stop next to her mother.
Lois bends down to check on her daughter, shock, horror and then anger flow through Lois. "What are you doing here Lara?" Lois demands as she pulls Lara to her feet.
"Helping my parents. Go check on Dad, Mom and I'll keep cue ball busy."
"Lara." Lois pleads.
"I'm the one with the superpowers Mom, let me do what Dad trained me to do."
Lois quickly hugs her daughter and then turns to rush to Clark's side. Lara running straight back to Lex to exchange blows with the genetically modified man.
Lois is barely three feet away from the prone form of her husband when a lean man with an angular face floats down to block her from her fallen saviour.
"Will you people stop getting in my way!" Lois screams at Milton Fine.
He cocks his head to completely observe her, carefully choosing what to say to Lois, "Your family is persistent." he states simply.
"You better believe it." Jack calls out as he leaps from the fourth story balcony overlooking the show room. Fine turns to look at who dared interrupt him. Jack collides with Fine, knocking him to the ground with so much force that they create a crater.
"If I find out that Sam and Lo-lo are running around here I'm going to be pissed." Lois says to no one in particular as she rushes to her eldest son's side. "What were you thinking baby boy?" Lois calls out as she steps towards the unconscious alien and her son.
"Not even a thank you, where are your manners Mom?" Jack jokes. I look at him pointedly. "Okay, I get that that wasn't funny but you need to help Dad out while I help Lara take care of these two and their goons."
Lois caresses her son's cheek in a gentle motherly fashion, "I don't know what I'd do without you two. Thanks." she supplies and then sprints the short distance to Clark's side. Lois rolls him over onto his back and then gently takes him into her arms. Gasping in shock at the cuts and bruises marring his face and exposed body.
Jack turns his attention back to the man he knocked down mere moments earlier. "What the hell!" he curses when he finds the previously occupied space is now empty.
"Looking for me?" Fine questions smugly from behind Jack. Jack turns to look over his shoulder, his face meeting with Fine's fist. Jack stumbles back a few steps, pressing his fingers to his nose. Smirking when he finds blood.
"Dude, you are so going down." Jack blurts out as he charges at Fine in a football tackle. The two tumble to the ground, exchanging blows in a flurry of limbs.
Lara's attention is momentarily caught as she catches her brother being punched in the nose out of the corner of her eye. Lex takes advantage of her distraction and uppercuts her. The force of the blow lifts Lara up into the air, disappearing from view.
Lara lands with a loud crash and then super speeds back to the bald menace. "That wasn't very nice you know." Lara retorts as she responds with an uppercut of her own. Lex is sent flying up and through the roof. Lara smiles with satisfaction and rushes to her brothers side to aid him.
"Nice work sis." Jacks grunts out as he continues to exchange blows with the Kryptonian AI.
"I'll take over J and you deal with the cronies closing in on Mom and Dad."
"We work better as a team Lar. Take out this dude together and then the two of us can work on the henchmen together."
"Deal." I concede and place well timed blow to the lean man. "Just who are you dude?" I question the mysterious stranger.
"I've been wondering that myself." Jack pipes in.
"I am known as Milton Fine amongst most Earthlings but in reality I am an artificial intelligence system known as Brainiac." he replies.
"And what do you have to do with Lex?" Jack asks.
"Lex Luthor would be nothing but a putrid corpse six feet under if it weren't for me." Fine replies a little too smugly.
"And why would you do a stupid thing like that?" Lara retorts.
"Lex Luthor proved to have the knowledge that I needed in procuring certain elements for releasing the great General Zod."
"You are so full of it." Bruce Wayne joins in as he comes to a stop next to Jack and I. his bowtie hanging loosely around his neck and suit jacket discarded. "So what can I do to help?" he asks Lara.
"You can take out Lex's bozos if you'd like?"
Bruce looks over his shoulder at the men circling Lois and Clark. "Sure, they're not going to be a problem at all." he answers confidently and turns to attend to his business.
Fine smirks at the twins, he knows that the only way to defeat this family is to divide and conquer. He tenses the muscles in his legs and then launches into the air. Lara launches straight after him, leaving Jack to stare after the two of them from the middle of the show room.
He mutters something unintelligible and turns to aid his Uncle. His face is met with Lex Luthor's fist. Jack stumbles backwards, both hands flying to his face to check for injury. "Where the hell do you guys keep coming from?"
"You talk too much. Just like your mother and sister. I wonder how much your sister will have to say when I've killed your pathetic family and broken her spirit."
"You son of a bitch!" Jack yells at him and then unleashes a flurry of punches on Lex. His arms moving so fast that Lex doesn't have a chance to defend himself. Jack knocks Lex to the ground. He wastes no time in leaping on top of him and continuing to unload blow after blow to the artificial Kryptonian.
"This is for my Dad." he lands a vicious blow to Lex's chest. "This is for my Mom." Jack lands another blow to Lex's chest. "This is for my sister." his right fist collides with Lex's face. "And this is for the rest of my family." Jack grabs Lex by the lapels of his jacket and violently slams him into the ground. Lex's head leaving a dent in the ground.
Jack stands, rubbing his bloody pants on his jeans and stepping back from the unconscious form of the monster of a man before him.
"Jack, watch out." Bruce calls out to his young nephew as a bearded goon gets away from him and launches at Jack.
Jack tussles with the bearded man for a brief moment, making a quick job of taking him out. Jack secures his wrists with a plastic tie and then moves on to help his uncle to take care of the two remaining goons. Bruce and Jack deal with the last of cronies quickly and secure them as a precaution.
"Are you alright?" Bruce asks Jack, placing a reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I'll be fine once we get Dad some help and know what's going on with my sister and that Brainiac guy…thing." Bruce nods as the two stand up and start to cross the room, heading for Jack's parents.
"I have had enough of you interrupting my plans." Lex stands unsteadily in the middle of the room. A gun trained on Lois.
"You can't expect any of us to just sit back and let you have your way. You really are messed up if you expect otherwise." Lois speaks up.
"Sorry, wrong answer." Lex replies as he squeezes the trigger.
Jack is momentarily frozen to the spot at the sudden change of events. He sees Lex's finger tense and speeds to knock the barrel of the gun away from his Mom's position.
The crack of the gunshot echoes throughout the room as Jack is still a few feet away from Lex. Jack can't even open his mouth to scream 'No!'.
In the blink of an eye Lara appears in front of her mother, the bullet striking her chest.
"Good save Lara." Jack calls out, able to breathe easy again
Danny yelling from the stairwell entrance the only reply as Lara slumps to the ground.
