Sorry it took a little longer! I'll be gone for the rest of the week but I wanted to get this chapter out before I left!

I'm very happy to ahve received such great reviews! Thanks a lot!

Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 21

The screeching noise ended abruptly, but another sound took its place. Lois' hackles rose. She couldn't see much for she was tightly pressed against the chest of Clark Luthor, but it sounded like something heavy had just broken through the ceiling.

Her suspicion was confirmed when, only a split second later, big pieces of concrete hit the floor right next to her with deafening thuds. Lois tensed and pressed herself more tightly against Clark as she prepared herself for the impact that she was sure would follow.

I don't want to die! Not like this! Lois squeezed her eyes shut, praying that she could somehow survive this and meanwhile cursing whomever had signed her up for this kind of fate.

Then... silence. The arm that had been firmly wrapped around her upper body loosened and Lois nearly stumbled backwards as soon as the support it had given her vanished. Her eyes surveyed the ground for a second, but her mind was unable to comprehend what had just happened. Or more precisely: how it was possible that she was still alive...

Then her gaze wandered upward... and she saw something that was the exact opposite of common sense. There stood Clark Luthor, his shirt partly torn as it had been cut by the sharp edges of the chunks of the ceiling that had crashed down to the floor. His hands were now both extended above his head and... it looked like he was holding up something big and metallic... something that looked suspiciously like the elevator of 'The Daily Planet'.

Lois stumbled back a step as her eyes met his. Clark Luthor's face was perfectly calm and composed as his gaze wandered over her figure once and then settled on her face.

"Are you injured?" he asked her, as he looked back and forth between her and the elevator above his head. There was no strain in his voice, absolutely no indication that the weight he was holding up was bothering him at all. Lois shook her head, but she didn't know whether she did it because of the absurdity of the scene before her or as an answer to his question.

Lois couldn't do anything but stare in shock as Clark Luthor slowly drew back one of his arms so that he was supporting the elevator's weight with only one hand. He then steadied the big metallic cage by putting his other hand on the side of it... and then he started to slowly lower the heavy contraption.

He sighed when he put it down on the ground and slowly released the frame. Then he straightened up and looked upward to where the elevator had come through. As Lois followed his gaze she could do nothing but blankly stare at the gigantic dark hole that had been left behind.

Not real... this is not real. It can't be!

Her stomach clenched as she looked back at Clark Luthor. Only a few seconds ago she had almost been certain that she could trust him. Now she wasn't so sure anymore. Then again... however he had done it, however what she had just seen could possibly be reality, he had saved her, hadn't he?

Clark watched in fascination how a wide range of emotions flashed across Lois Lane's face in a matter of seconds. He could make out perplexity, curiosity, fear and finally... wonder. Noone had ever looked at him like that before and it resulted in a weird feeling in his stomach.

But at that moment another feeling was far more dominant. Anger. It pulsed through his veins like some kind of venom that made his hands clench and his muscles tense. This had been another attempt for Lois Lane's life. Another of Lionel's little henchmen had most likely seen Lois enter this building and had thought of it as the perfect opportunity to bury her in her own workplace's basement.

Of course Clark's movements had been too fast for the hitman to see when he had entered the building and therefore he had thought that Lois was alone. Not that a mere human could have done anything to prevent the woman's death...

It surprised and angered Clark with how much ferocity Lionel was trying to get rid of the reporter. Not even a whole day had passed since his last attempt at silencing the woman forever. But Clark wasn't going to have that. Lois Lane would not die, not if he could help it.

However, there was just this little problem of him revealing his powers right before her eyes...

"We have to go, Lois," Clark said, trying to get her back into the real world. He knew that she was in shock. Any normal person would be...

"I don't know if any parts of the building were damaged. It's not safe in here! The whole thing could come crashing down on us," he added, giving her at least one of the reasons for which it was unwise to stay where they were. It wasn't the most important one, though. If the building were indeed in danger of collapsing then he would hear the tremors long before the two of them would be buried by heaps of concrete. It would give him enough time to speed them out of there.

There was a possibility of other dangers however and Clark didn't feel like taking a risk. Besides, the shattered ceiling that was now scattered over the floor of 'The Daily Planet''s basement just reminded him of how close Lois had come to being killed. It was a cowardly way to kill someone and the thought of Lois buried beneath that big elevator got Clark's blood boiling. And it was never good when Clark got mad... because then it became dangerous. For a lot of people.

"Go?" Lois asked, her brows drawn as she looked at the pieces of concrete that blocked the staircase. "How are we going to get out of here?"

She walked over to the staircase, her steps careful as she side-stepped the rubble on the floor. Clark's eyebrows rose and he had to suppress a laugh – however ridiculous that was in a situation like this – as Lois tried to move one of the heavy objects out of the way. Her head started turning red with the effort of it, but the giant rock didn't do so much as move.

"Impossible!" she gasped, giving up and catching the breath she had obviously been holding.

"For you, maybe," Clark Luthor said as he strode forward until he was standing right next to Lois. She looked up at him, unsure of what to think. She was still unable to process what she had seen earlier and some part of her mind was trying to forget about it altogether. It just seemed too unreal.

Then again, she preferred him having unnatural strength to her being a pile of blood and broken bones beneath her workplace's elevator, so...

Clark Luthor picked up one of the rocks without difficulty as if it weighed no more than a paperweight. Like that it took him only a minute to completely clear their path as Lois watched with amazement. Now there was no denying it. Something was definitely unusual about Clark Luthor.

"How?" she just breathed as he turned to her again. He looked at her darkly for a second.

"It's a long story...," he paused, flashing a glance up the staircase. "But I'll tell you." He extended one of his hands to her and Lois stared at it with perplexity for a moment. "However, right now you've gotta trust me."

"Trust you?" Lois asked, shaking off her astonishment as her brows drew together. "What for?" Frustration was plainly visible in his features as he looked down at her.

"Are you mentally challenged? This clearly was no accident," Clark replied angrily and for a second Lois was frightened by the pure rage that seemed to be twisting his features. Her throat went dry even as her heartbeat increased its pace. In a flash the look on his face disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.

"It's not safe here for you," he then said, his face completely rid of any emotion. "So I'll get you out of here." Lois cocked her head to the side, unsure of what he was trying to tell her.

"So what?" she said, looking at his still extended hand. "I can walk by myself!" Clark sighed in exasperation, clearly not used to having to explain himself to anyone. "You know what? Never mind!"

Instead of taking her hand he took a quick step behind her and before Lois knew it her legs gave out. She felt something hard press against her back and she saw how Clark caught her at the hollows of her knees as she fell. He then lifted her up so that she couldn't do anything but roll against his chest.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're...?" Lois was cut off as she felt a sudden rush of wind that threatened to crush her and made her squeeze her eyes shut. But the frightening pressure disappeared as quickly as it had started and before she could even open her eyes, Lois was dropped. She let out a small scream as she collided with something rather soft and her eyes flew open.

"Where...?" Lois' question remained unfinished as she looked around herself in amazement, her anger forgotten. The place she was now in was nothing like the basement of 'The Daily Planet'.

"My apartment in Metropolis," Clark Luthor explained simply as he loosened the tie around his neck and sank back into a comfortable and expensive looking armchair.

"Now we can talk."

I hope this isn't too much of a cliffhanger! I'll try to update as soon as possible but I don't know if the next update will be on this story or my other story called 'Little Runaway'!