Chapter Twenty-Six: Sleeping With the Enemy.

Toyman watched the scene around him. He could see some of his robotic soldiers being taken down in a blur of light and civilians being escorted out of there. His frown deepened when he looked over everything.

His playtime was getting interrupted, and that was one thing that the Toyman could not stand. He peered forward and took a long look at all of the enemies that was around him. The bald man known as Lex Luthor was a dangerous person. He might not be his father, but the sins of the father must be paid for by the son and he would pay, in full interest.

Toyman's fingers curled together and he clicked his tongue. His father was a brilliant inventor, who managed to bedazzle people with his inventions. He made toys that brought joy and excitement into the lives of many children.

That joy and excitement was dashed when Lionel Luthor put him out on the street. He had framed him for a crime that he didn't commit. Young Winslow was forced on the street, he had all of his toys taken away from him.

He had inherited his father's creativity and he bounced back and bounced back hard. He snapped his fingers with glee when he brought in a large soldier.

"You see the enemy, he is here, take him out!" Toyman yelled.

Clark managed to get most of the people out of here. He still had to deal with these overgrown toy soldiers who marched towards him. He felt the toy soldier charge him as fast as it could, trying to run him through.

Clark avoided the swift attack and jumped on the back of the toy soldier. He took it down.

Several of the goons rushed forward. They tried to take out Helena. She dodged their punches and flipped one of them on the ground. A rocket buster of an uppercut knocked one of the goons onto their back.

"Heads up!" Clark yelled.

Helena turned around and drilled her enemy in the jaw with a very stiff back handed punch. He fell to the ground, a busted up mouth given for his troubles.

"You can't stop our playtime!" one of the soldiers yelled. Helena stepped back and fired an arrow at his wrist. It caused him to double over in pain.

She swung her leg towards him and took him down with a huge cracking kick to the face. She stepped back. She felt Clark take out another one. Kara turned up, at least that's what she could see out of the corner of her eye.

The goon fell down onto the ground and Helena turned around.

Toyman looked down at the downed form of Lex. While revenge might be sweet, self-preservation might even be even sweeter.

He saw the young man, who Lex was so interested in, charge out in front of him. "The game's over."

"Oh, then we're going to play a new game," Toyman said. He lifted up a pair of symbols and crashed them together.

Clark found himself rocked. His head was ringing when he was knocked backwards. He landed on his knees, his breath rocked out of his body. He tried as he might to lift his head up, but he found that was more difficult than he thought it was.

"I'm not sure if you like that game," Toyman said. He smiled when he kicked him in the chest.

Clark blocked his hand and lifted him up. "Oh, I hate it when you play rough."

Toyman was lifted high onto the ground and hurled off of the stage. He rolled over with an oof. It was obvious that this young man didn't hurl him as hard as he could. Otherwise every single one of his ribs would have been shattered when he hit the ground.

"We've got a problem," Kara said.

Clark saw the doors burst open and the soldiers made their way inside. It was obvious that Toyman had an entire army of them.

Now he had pretty much all of people out of there, he could focus on the situation at hand.

Lex's bodyguards rushed over and lifted him off of the ground. "We have to get you out of here, Mr. Luthor."

"Yes, you do," Lex said. He felt his legs dangle against the ground. He could barely pick himself up off of the ground.

He wished that he could see his adversary in action, but it was getting to be too dangerous.

Toyman frowned when he saw Lex leave. He whistled and saw a helicopter parked outside. He pulled his way inside it.

"You broke my toys!" Toyman yelled. He activated a switch on the console. "I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE BREAK MY TOYS!"

He activated a section of the helicopter and he aimed for his enemy. He started to fire a set of rockets at him.

Clark dodged the rockets. He could have cursed. The civilians might have been put in danger.

"What a psychopathic manchild," Helena murmured. She figured that he had an adult intelligence, but his maturity and emotional development was much lower than that.

She flipped a little disc device out of her hand. It latched against the edge of the helicopter when it flew out.

"A tracking device," Helena said.

"Well, you're always one step ahead, aren't you?" Clark asked her. Helena turned towards her and gave a smile in response. He offered her his hand. It really was the safest way to travel, honestly speaking.

Toyman returned to his hideout in an extremely towering temper. He was going to throw a tantrum. His revenge, it was stopped.

The hideout resembled a child's room. It had a lot of childish artifacts on it and it looked to be in a great amount of disarray. He frowned when he looked over everything. Toyman reared his head back.

He saw the bust he created of Lex Luthor. He created several of them and he used them all as target practice. He picked up an energy cannon and locked it on the bust. He fired at it, causing it to blow to smithereens. Dust and debris flew when Toyman stepped back and looked on it, frowning in response.

"The Toyman is not happy, that his game was interrupted," Toyman said. "Why doesn't that mean boy fly away, fly all of the way? He's nothing, but a bully, always breaking my toys. Just like they took all my toys away from me."

Toyman made his way over to a workbench where he was working on another toy. This toy could bring most of Gotham City down. All he had to do was just activate it.

"Lexy, Lexy, you've been a bad little Lexy," Toyman commented. He shook his head and he looked up at the newspaper in response. It had Lex's picture. "You think that you're so great, well you're not great, you're not great, you're nothing…but a bastard!"

He clapped his hand over his mouth, unable to believe that he said such a cruel word.

He could hear something. One of his alarms had been triggered. Toyman reached over and switched on the camera feed. His eyes widened and his fists curled up. He threw his head back and breathed in and out heavily.

"They always have to intrude, they call themselves heroes, but they're bullies," Toyman answered. He rocked himself back and forth in response.

Clark showed up at the edge of the entrance, with Helena and Kara joining him. The trio stepped forward and Toyman looked at him.

"It's over," Clark informed him.

"You all keep telling me that, as if you have any right to intrude on my play time!" Toyman said. "I think that you need a time out!"

Toyman threw a switch and an energy field appeared around them. Clark rushed towards them and he bounced back. The energy field knocked him backward and knocked the wind out of him.

"Oh, that's impulsive, isn't it?" Kara asked him.

Clark frowned and Kara reached behind her. She assisted Clark in getting up to his feet. He rose towards his feet.

"I could use that energy dome to crush you all," Toyman said. He sounded rather sinister, and had gone far away from the childish innocence. "If you would have had let me execute Luthor, none of this would have happened."

"Honestly, you could have had the chance to do so, but you chose not to," Clark replied. That caused Toyman's mouth to open up, becoming wide.

"I see," Toyman said.

"You're not a killer," Clark said.

"You're nothing but a scared child, just crying out for your Daddy," Helena said.

Toyman placed his hands on the side of his face. He started breathing in and out to the point where he was hyper ventilating. "No, you're wrong, no you're wrong, you are wrong, really wrong, no you're wrong."

His breathing escalated when he looked at them both.

"You're wrong," Toyman responded. His teeth gritted when he looked at them. "YOU ARE WRONG!"

"No, you're the one that's wrong," Helena said. She was waiting for this right moment. "Oracle, are you in there?"

"Yes, full control of his little playhouse is now at your gauntlet," Barbara said. She looked to be a little bit triumphant. Her arms folded and her grin widened. "I think that it's time to take away his toys, because he's been a bad boy."

"I'm ahead of you," Helena answered. She activated the device of her gauntlet.

Toyman jumped back and he felt something nail him right in the face. That being Kara's fist. He was knocked down onto the ground. He felt himself go to the ground with a thud and the wind had been taken out of him.

"Well, that's the end of him," Kara said. "All we got to do is put his butt into….."

"I'm not sure if prison is the next place that he's going," Clark said. He turned around and looked at Kara, a frown going on his face. He could hear something humming and the humming got even louder.

Clark bent down and he adjusted the back of his neck. There was a chip and it was signing. The chip looked to be busted. Toyman, as it turned out, was merely just a toy himself.

"The real deal must be out there somewhere," Helena said.

"Maybe," Clark admitted. He wasn't sure about this. There was something rather staged about this entire attack, now that he thought about it. There was just a lot of convenience about this entire attack.

"Yes, you're learning if you're thinking what I think that you're thinking," Helena said. Clark pursed his lips and nodded. "And you are, you are thinking what I think that you're thinking."

"I think that you're right," Clark said. They made sure to look around. There was a pretty good chance that the real Toyman was here.

The robot's eyes glowed red before it finally died down. It was the victim of an extremely faulty AI that was taken out, pretty much just like that. Clark smelled a rat and the rat was named Lex Luthor.

Lana Lang frowned deeply. She thought about all that what happened. She never thought that things would go this direction, but she was pretty much glad that she did. She could feel Clark's hands on her waist and he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"So, nice night," Lana said. She felt Clark's face press against the back of her redhead. "Especially for Gotham City."

"I'd have to agree," Clark answered. He pulled away from her and turned her around. Clark leaned towards her and pulled her into a sensational kiss. Lana's lips pressed against his when the two of them exchanged a passionate kiss.

"Yes, I think that we get home, the two of us…..are going to have to make up for some lost time," Lana said. She smiled. "Just because I'm sharing you, doesn't mean that I get cut out of the one on one time."

"No, there's no reason at all," Clark said. "But, we might have to wait until we get back home."

"Which….will be tomorrow," Lana said. She frowned and was struck with another thought. "Providing of course nothing really bad happens."

"That's really causing you to get screwed over," Chloe said. She joined the two of them on the edge of the balcony. "That's the thing about Murphy. He will screw you over at the worst possible time so it's wise not to say anything bad."

"You just had to rain on parade," Lana said. Chloe smiled when she looked back at Lana. "Oh, and that's kind of your job, I know."

"Yes, I know," Chloe said. She wrapped her arm around Lana and smiled. Clark wrapped his arm around her as well.

"Hey, Clark, I need to talk to you for a minute!" Lois called from the other room. Clark could sense from Lois's tone that it was pretty urgent, so he made his over way to talk to her.

Lois was looking at him when he entered. Clark smiled when he approached her. "Yes, Lois, what is it?"

"Well, I was looking around, to see if I could find out anything that Luthor was up to," Clark said.

Clark's eyebrow raised when he looked towards Lois. "You didn't, did you?"

"Yes, I did," Lois fired back. Clark looked at her. "It might not have been the smartest idea in the world, but, that's just what I do, and I really don't regret doing it."

"If you risked your life, did you find anything?" Clark asked her.

Lois hung her head and looked a little remorse. "Absolutely…not, sadly, I really wished that I did, but I honestly didn't. But, I did find someone. Tess Mercer….she got a small taste of you, and I think that she wants the entire package."

Clark found himself intrigued and he was suspicious at the same time. It was a real paradox of the mind and he couldn't figure out what he thought.

"So, are you thinking trap?" Lois asked. She blinked. "Yeah, I'm supposed to give you this."

Lois extended her hand and handed Clark the note that Tess gave her. He opened the note and caused it to fall out into his hands.

"I'll be right back," Clark said.

He spend off quicker than a speeding bullet. He could reach where Tess told him. It had been about a day since Tess handed Lois the note, so he honestly hoped that she was still there. He would find out whether or not she was still there in a moment.

Tess looked up from the desk in her bedroom. She was writing a note about something. She looked up and saw him standing there.

"So, you got my note?" Tess asked.

"Yes, I did," Clark said.

"I know what you're thinking," Tess answered. Clark gave her a side long look and she smiled. "You're thinking that I'm playing some game….well I'm not. I want you to take a look at this."

She pulled out a flashdrive and plugged it into the port of the computer on her desk. It flashed to light and it was security footage. It was of Owlman and it was from a woman who looked like she could be Clark's sister. She had dark hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a pair of tight pants that looked like they could be rather eye catching.

"Just like you, only with a few obvious differences, isn't she?" Tess asked. "How open are you to the possibilities of there being alternate dimensions?"

Clark smiled when he looked at Tess. "You'd be surprised how much I'd believe in the possibility. Given all that I've seen, it has to be possible."

"Lex might have what he needs to bring it online," Tess answered. She smiled. "The only problem is that I'm not sure where it's being held."

"Where what's being held?" Clark asked her.

Tess smiled. "There's some kind of portal device Lex has created. He said that it has the ability to tap into over worlds, both of this universe and universes beyond. But, there's just one problem regarding it."

"And what's that problem?" Clark asked.

"Without the proper power source, it looks like an oversized laser light show," Tess said. "It's extremely pretty, but what does it do?"

Tess made her way closer towards Clark. She touched her hand onto his chest and smiled.

"You know, before we were rudely interrupted, we were about to get to know each other better than before," Tess answered. She fiddled with the button on his shirt and adjusted it. Her lips curled into a nice grin.

"I thought that you were working with Lex," Clark said.

"Oh, that, means to an end, really," Tess said. "I heard…heard about you, and….well I know that you're the future. I've always been progressive thinking, I've wanted to be on the ground floor."

Tess leaned towards him and she kissed him heatedly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her and his hands found her ass, squeezing it through her tight leather pants.

"Take me," Tess said. A couple of buttons on her blouse unbuttoned, to reveal her cleavage. "Show me, what kind of man you are."

"You don't want to wait, do you?" Clark asked.

"Not for you, baby," Tess commented, smiling deeply. She pulled off his belt, grinding against him all of the way. "And I don't even have to ask if that's for me. You can reward me like a good girl, or punish me like your bad girl. It's your choice really."

Clark smiled, he had a clear idea what choice he wanted to take.

Lex reclined back in his chair. The newspaper discussing what occurred today was right in front of his face. He hated to say that he was having a good night, but the good press made up for the embarrassment that he experimented.

"Good press for a change?"

Lex turned his head a slight angle to the side. He saw Owlman turn up and approach him.

"And now, your business deal is going to go through without a hitch and you're going to be riding a new wave of sympathy," Owlman said. He paused and added a crisp response. "You're welcome for that, by the way."

"I'm afraid I don't…follow you," Lex said. He trailed off suddenly. "You crafty bastard."

Owlman frowned and nodded. "I figured that you would have a good idea what was going on, well done."

"Yes," Lex said. "It's ready, by the way."

Owlman relaxed and he pointed his hand towards the door. "Lead the way, then, Mr. Luthor."

He thought that this partnership was really getting off of the ground. It would be a shame when it was brought to an end. He stepped forward and made his way down the hallway, following Lex.

There was no one here, except for a pair of inattentive security guards. The two of them nodded at Lex when he passed them.

Lex used his key card and swiped on the lock. It opened up a second lock where Lex put his thumb down. It registered his thumb print and flashed forward. Lex smiled when he used it to scan his retina.

"You can never be too secure," Lex said, not taking his eye off of the room.

Owlman nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

The two of them stepped inside the room. It looked to be pretty high tech. It was one of the greatest projects that LuthorCorp ever undertook. There had been a lot of working parts put into this, but it was Owlman's contributions that really got it going.

"So, tell me, do you believe that this will work?" Lex asked.

"Belief in your own projects, is the only way to move forward, Mr. Luthor," Owlman said. He tapped his finger on the edge of one of the boards. A flash of light emitted from it. "Without the final component, it's just a large array of lights. It looks good, but it does absolutely nothing."

Owlman reached into his belt and pulled out a silver cylinder. He snapped it open and a large purple crystal slid out into his hand. It rested firmly on the palm of his hand. He felt like he had the entire world resting in his hand.

"An entire universe waits for us, Lex," Owlman said. "It's a brand new world, just….embrace it."

"I have already embraced it," Lex said. He allowed Owlman to slip the purple crystal into the power source.

He saw the lights flash to life. It was a spectacular light show, but Lex found himself grossly underwhelmed by what was happening. He expected results that were far more tangible then this. All he was, was bedazzled and Lex wasn't distracted that long.

"Wait for it," Owlman commented to him.

Lex waited for it and he saw a flash of bright light.

Owlman looked forward and his hands placed on the side of the console. He smiled when he saw the rest of them go through. Two of them had been sent along as a scouting force. The rest of them arrived right now.

"Seeing is believing," Owlman said.

"Yes, seeing is believing," Lex answered. He wondered how this would change the game.

He had a contingency plan in place, because that's how Lex Luthor went. He always had to be prepared. It was like some demented version of a boy scout.

To Be Continued.