Lizzie had no idea what had happened to her. She felt as though she had been hit by a bus. She felt as though she had been given a new life. She didn't truly know how she felt. Her eyes burned and her head pounded, but she knew that she couldn't sit on top of a building and cry. She had to do something to help Clark. She only hoped she hadn't left it too late.
She pushed herself to stand up and glance over the side, all sorts of noises invading her senses as she looked for Clark. How did he manage to control his senses so easily? She had no idea, but she had to try and be quick about it.
Clark had left her on the rooftop, knowing that she couldn't be involved in the fight against Lex. She wasn't strong enough yet, and Clark refused to see her get hurt. He hovered in the air, high above the people on the ground who watched him. Lex Luthor stood in the middle of them, a large circle gathering around him as he bent down to the ground in an attempt to learn how to hover like Clark.
He pushed himself from the ground, moving further into the sky than Clark had anticipated. He watched him go up before falling back down, doing his best to keep level and controlled. Clark knew that it wasn't easy. His first time flying had sent him as high as a passing plane.
"You can't win, Lex," Clark assured the man. "There is nothing that you can do to control what you are feeling."
"Do you think so?" Lex taunted him. "I'm not your precious Lizzie. I have more stamina than she does. I can win, and I will win. I promise you that."
"You've caused a scene," Clark warned him, his cape billowing behind him. He took a moment to look past Lex's shoulder to the building where he had deposited Lizzie. He saw no sign of her in the distance and his brow furrowed.
"And what does that matter?" Lex shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you think they will leave you alone?" Clark asked him. "Do you think they leave me alone? People will watch you. They will talk about you."
"Do you keep forgetting the one thing I told you?" Lex asked from Clark. "I am the one who is in charge here, Kent. I am the one who owns Metropolis."
"No," Clark shook his head. "Not for much longer. How many injections do you have?"
"You don't think I am foolish enough to have the injection in mass, do you?" Lex laughed once, almost falling as he did so. "No. I have one injection left...one to destroy the Kryptonian blood cells. Do you know who I intend to use that on?" he asked from Clark.
Clark's brow arched as he balled his hands by his sides, ready to attack Lex if it came to that.
"Me." Clark said. "And what about Lizzie? She's been injected with it too."
"I'll make another one for your beloved." Lex promised. "I doubt she will be a handful if she's in such a state. Besides, what is she without you? She's nothing. You've always been her knight...well...in a red cape."
"I won't let you do this," Clark promised Lex. "You cannot make everyone in this city fear you. That is not what I do...it is not what anyone does. It is dangerous."
"It is the only way to get rid of you," Lex scornfully snarled. "So be it."
Lex moved with haste, hitting Clark with his fist. The crowds from below bellowed loudly, wondering what was happening. Clark dodged the next hit, catching Lex's wrist in his hand and pushing it away. Clark hated to admit that he was strong. He was stronger than he had initially thought.
"Does it hurt you, Kent?" Lex snapped. "Does it pain you to know that you're not as powerful as you think?"
"No," Clark assured him. "But that will hurt you."
Clark moved with haste, dodging another hit which Lex aimed at him. He ducked down and began to fly through the streets, knowing that he had to get back to the basement of LexCorp. He needed the syringe to stop Lex. But Lex had another idea. He moved faster and grabbed Clark around the waist, flinging him through the window of a skyscraper. Clark struggled in his grasp, listening as people shrieked as they destroyed everything in their path.
They came out the other end of the building, glass shattering around them as they went. Clark kicked Lex in the jaw, fighting his way out of his hold. Clark hovered above Lex as the elder man watched him with interest.
"You can't win," Lex promised Clark. "There is no way to win this."
"There's always a way," Clark said and began to tussle with Lex again.
It was only then when Clark noticed a woman from the skyscraper they had destroyed. She dangled from the windowsill, her fingers the only thing keeping her from falling down. She screamed loudly as Lex followed the sight he was seeing. A smirk played on his face as Clark's cheeks turned red and he did his upmost to break away from Lex's strength.
"You can't save her," Lex said. "It's me or her, Kent. If you go after her then I'll go and find your dear Liz."
"No," Clark roared loudly, his anger consuming him before he looked over Lex's shoulder and into the distance. The sight which greeted him was one which Clark never thought he would see. He could make out the outline moving through the sky before she grew larger. She swept underneath Lex and Clark, noticing the woman on the brink of death.
"Impossible," Lex hissed. "Her dose was weaker than mine...she was pitiful..."
"She's stronger than you give her credit for." Clark said, taking his opportune moment to strike. Lex's grip faltered as he wondered if he really had just seen Lizzie. Clark pushed him further through the air whilst Lizzie pulled the woman to safety in the building.
Her gaze caught Clark's for a moment as he looked at her with worry. He moved down to her as Lex watched the two of them, his head repeatedly shaking back and forth as he did so.
"You're not supposed to be here!" Lex snapped at her as Clark kept her by his side. She said nothing for a moment, a nonchalant shrug coming from her as she did so.
"Sorry to rain on the parade," Lizzie called back. "I just didn't want to sit and watch you hurt anyone."
Clark looked at her for a moment, a sense of pride and sorrow filling him. He didn't want her to be like him. He didn't want her to be cast out like he was. But he saw her flying there...looking so strong...he didn't know what to think.
"So you think that it will be two against one?" Lex wondered from her. "Do you honestly think that is what will happen here?"
"I don't see why not," Lizzie said, looking out of the corner of her eye to Clark. He nodded in agreement with her.
"You can't win, Lex," he told the man. "What you're doing isn't right. You know that as well as we do. I never wanted to be this...this icon...taking away your power...I just wanted to help."
"Don't lie," Lex snapped.
"He's not," Lizzie replied. "I told you that."
"Of course you would defend him." Lex replied with a roll of his eyes.
"I'm not." Lizzie assured Lex. "Just stop this now. You don't need to be this way...you have everything already, don't you?"
"I know," Lex said, "but sometimes everything is not enough."
"Prove it," Lizzie demanded. "Take the syringe in the basement and stop this."
"I have plans for that, and I doubt you will be able to stop me."
Lex began to move away as Lizzie followed him, Clark close on her tail.
"We need to stop him," Clark implored her. "He's only got one syringe."
"I know," Lizzie said, turning to look at him as they rounded the corner. She said nothing for a second as Clark looked at her, wondering what was going through her mind. She took a second to give him a brief smile before he reached out and took her hand as she began to drop height. His hand held hers tightly as she moved by his side.
"He will make another solution when we change him back," Clark promised her. "You don't need to stay like this."
"I think the main issue is stopping him, Clark," Lizzie promised, "and avoiding having my face plastered over news channels. I don't want my mother to die from a heart attack at the sight of me."
"Got it," Clark promised as he pulled at her hand and turned the corner of a skyscraper, Lex still in their sights as they went.
Lizzie followed Clark as he moved back into LexCorp, the familiar sight of the basement suddenly engulfing them as they went. Lizzie lowered herself to her feet as Clark looked around for any sign of Lex. Liz set about trying to find the syringe which had sat on the metal table.
"It's gone!" Lizzie called out to Clark, tossing everything to one side which sat in her path. The immensity of strength she had scared her slightly. She never thought that she would be so powerful in her life. She looked back to Clark before noticing a shadow on the floor. She looked upwards and saw him hovering on the ceiling, the syringe in his hand as he did so.
His gaze caught Lizzie's as she flew forwards, bumping into him instantly as he tried to fly at Clark. The impact echoed in Clark's ears as Lizzie pushed him through the nearest wall, the rubble crumbling to the floor from the remains of the concrete.
"You won't hurt him," Lizzie snapped at Lex. "I won't let you do this."
"Do you think that you get a say?" Lex wondered, casting her aside with one shove. She landed in the wall, her body making an indentation in it as she did so. A moment of haziness came over her as her eyes changed everything which she saw. She did her best to gain normal vision in time to see Lex struggling with Clark.
Lizzie rushed forwards, snatching the syringe from Lex's hand before she knocked him out of the way. Clark kept hold of Clark's arm, refusing to let him out of his grasp. He did his best to take hold of his other arm, wanting to do nothing more than restrain him from the madness which he was inflicting.
"You won't win!" Lex hollered, using his free arm to swipe Clark from him.
His gaze turned to Lizzie after a moment and she kept the syringe held tightly in her grasp. He began to move, but he wasn't fast enough. Clark moved quicker, grabbing hold of Lex again and pushing him to the floor. Clark's gaze found Lizzie's and she knew what she had to do.
"If you use that on me then I swear to God that I won't tell you how I made it. You'll stay a freak forever, Elizabeth. You'll stay a freak like him!"
"Liz," Clark whispered her name, the sound turning her attention to him.
She had no choice. She had to be like Clark. She couldn't let Lex win.
"I'll tell everyone of you two...you won't stay a secret..."
"Who will believe you?" Clark snapped. "No one will listen, especially when you gain concussion."
"Lizzie," Lex snapped at her. "You know what I can do to you. You know-"
"-Shut up," Lizzie snapped as she stepped closer, the needle in her hand as she dared to aim it at his neck. Her face remained inches from his as he looked at her with wide eyes. "You'll be locked up in a prison cell for a while for all of this. You can't do anything to hurt me now."
She pushed the needle into his neck, the liquid flowing into his blood veins as Clark kept his firm grip on Lex.
"And," Lizzie drawled as she tossed the needle aside, "I quit."
Lex started to say something but didn't gain a chance to. Lizzie picked his weak body from the ground and threw him against the wall, successfully knocking him out. She sunk down to her knees, gasping for breath as a headache came back to her.
Clark looked down at her, his blue orbs filled with sadness and remorse. He moved to stand in front of her, bending down to his knees as he lifted her chin up with one finger. She gazed back at him, a small smile on her face as Clark smiled back and kissed her with haste.
He said nothing to her, not sure what he felt as he held her in his arms and she kept quiet. She just longed for the day to end and for it all to have been a dream.
...
A/N: Thank you so very much to everyone who has read and to those who have reviewed. I'd love it if you could leave your opinion once more!
