A Summer in Love
Chapter Thirty-Six:
Lois sighed, inwardly, as she listened to her father inform everyone on what their next course of action against Lex was going to be.
It was the exact same thing she has heard for over one month now, and quite honestly, she was becoming extremely tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, especially since his little plan was getting them absolutely nowhere.
They still had no idea what Lex' true agenda was.
They still didn't know what he wanted with Murphy' file.
They still have no idea what he specifically wanted from her.
They still didn't know if Murphy had escaped from his hell hole in Greenland.
One month ago, when her father had revealed his brilliant plan to figure out what Lex was really planning she had actually believed that it was going to work—that they were actually going to get somewhere, but all they've been doing is discussing what they should be doing instead of acting on those thoughts, and it was doing nothing but frustrating the living hell out of her.
It wasn't all that surprising, she thought.
A part of her wished that she had never listened to him in the first place, especially since for the past month she had been planning—devising—coaxing her own course of action, which would be ten times more effective than what they were doing now.
It was time that she took matters into her own hands.
It was time that she figured out what the hell was really going on.
She quickly stood up, interrupting their current discussion, a discussion that was getting them absolutely nowhere, and forced everyone to look at her, questioningly. "So, you're telling me that in the past month, this little plan of yours has left us with more questions than we already have?"
Cassie quickly stood up. "Lo, we're all attempting to do what's best for not only you, but for everyone. This man, Lex Luthor, isn't the easiest person to get relevant information from. It's obvious that he is hiding something, and we're just trying to figure out the best way to get that information without him or anyone else finding out."
Of course, he was hiding something, she thought, that was the entire reason they were discussing him in the first place, but what they were doing was completely and utterly useless because it would take a hell of a lot more than watching him to figure out what he was really up to.
"I know that, Cass." She glared at her father. "For one month I have went along with you, but you haven't learned anything more than what we already know."
"I'm trying, Lo."
"You're trying?" She shook her head from side to side, and sighed, heavily at her father. "You don't know what Lex is really planning. You don't know what he wants from me. You don't know what he wanted that file for, and you don't know if Murphy has escaped. Mind telling me, what this little plan of yours has accomplished?"
He sighed, heavily. Of course, she was right about everything, but that didn't mean he was going to do or say something that could most likely put his daughter in danger. "Lo, I'm trying to be proactive about all of this. It's the only way I know how to protect you."
"Protect me? You mean, like how you protected me before?"
Wes quickly stood up, and stepped towards his best friend, wanting to put an end to this argument before it became even more volatile than it already was. "That was different."
"Really? How was that situation different from what's happening right now?"
She waited for someone—for anyone to contradict her, but was met with dead silence. "It's the same damn situation, except this time instead of it being Murphy it's Lex. None of you know this man like Chloe and I do. He isn't going to leave a trail of breadcrumbs like Murphy did before, and he definitely isn't going to show his hand before he wants us to know what he's really planning. What we're doing right now is exactly what he wants us to be doing."
Sam stared at her for a few seconds. "Then, what do you suggest we do, Lois?"
"Anything other than what we're doing because it's getting us nowhere, and we're no closer to any answers than we were one month ago."
"This is the only thing we can do. I will not allow anyone to hurt you the way Murphy did. This time were handing this situation strategically."
"Well, then you can figure this out all on your own because I don't have to time to just sit around, and do absolutely nothing about the obvious threat in front of us."
She started to walk away, but was stopped in her tracks by her father' loud and booming voice. "Lois Joanne Lane! Where the hell do you think you're going?"
She slowly turned back around towards him. "I'm leaving, if it wasn't obvious."
"You better not be thinking about doing something rash, young lady."
That wouldn't be the word she would have used. Effective was a better word choice for what she had in mind, but of course, she wouldn't be telling him or anyone else what she really planned on doing as soon as she left this room, especially since she knew that they would only attempt to stop her.
"Don't worry, General. I'm just going to Clark's house. He's probably wondering why I haven't called him or even stopped by the farm yet."
Chloe, who had been eerily silent during this entire exchange, stood up, and took several steps towards her cousin. "You haven't told him yet, have you?"
Not exactly, she thought to herself.
She had been meaning to tell him about what has been going on with Lex and about her past with Murphy, but she's been a little preoccupied with all of this, besides his mind has been elsewhere for several weeks now. It was quite obvious, at least to her, that whatever dreams he was experiencing were only getting worse, and he still refused to talk about them, but she had more important things to worry about…like dealing with Lex Luthor.
It was the only way to get her life back to normal.
"Not yet."
"Why haven't you told him? I thought we all agreed that it would be better if he knew everything. He needs to be prepared for whatever Lex Luthor has planned for you."
"That's none of your concern." She glared at her father, pointedly before quickly twirling back around, and walked out of the room.
Chloe watched her storm out of her uncle's office, her eyebrows scrunched together in thought, as a frown settled over her features. For a split second, she had noticed this expression of pure determination cross over her cousin' face, and she knew without a doubt that she had something planned—something she didn't want any of them knowing about.
She quickly chased after her, completely ignoring everyone' protests, and caught up to her before she could even get into her car to drive to wherever the hell she was planning on going. "You're not going to Clark's, are you?"
Lois turned around towards her, and smiled, reassuringly, hoping that was dissuade her from figuring out what she was really up to. "Of course, I'm going to Clark'. Where else would I be going?"
"You're lying, Lo."
"No, I'm not."
"You can't fool me, Lois, you forget that I practically know you almost better than anyone else. I know you're not planning on going to the farm, so how about you tell me what you really plan on doing."
She should have known better, she thought, this woman was really, really good at knowing what was exactly going through her mind. "Fine! Your right. I'm not going to the farm. I'm going to end this once and for all."
"You mean, you're going to confront Lex?"
"Not exactly."
She frowned at her. "Then what do you plan on doing?"
A smirk spread out across her features. "I'm going to break into his office at Luthorcorp."
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "You're what?"
"You heard me."
"Do you really think that's a good idea, Lo?"
She sighed. "No, but I need to figure out what the hell he is really planning."
"Lois—"
"Look, I know what you're going to say." She interrupted her. "You're going to tell me that it's stupid—that it's reckless—that it's bound to get me into a situation I couldn't possibly get myself out of, but I don't care about that anymore. I just want this to be done with already. I want my life back."
"I agree with you."
"And, I know—" she stopped mid-sentence, as her cousin' words registered in her mind. "Wait, did you just agree with me?"
She grinned at the perplexed expression that was plastered across her face. "Yes. I've been wondering when you were going to do something like this."
"Really?"
"Yeah. As much as your father wants this plan of his to work, it's getting us absolutely nowhere, and I've kind of been putting my own plan together."
That intrigued her. "And, what would that be?"
"Well, I've been thinking this over for some time now, and it makes perfect sense to break into his office at Luthorcorp since that would be the only place he would keep information about all of this, but in order for this to work, you need someone to be in constant contact with you—someone who would be with the man himself, while your attempting to get the information that we want."
She grinned from ear to ear. "And, I'm guessing that person would be you."
"Precisely. I'll be the distraction, while you hopefully can retrieve information that could lead us to what he is really planning." She frowned, slightly, as a thought occurred to her. "How do you expect to break into his office without being caught?"
"I have an idea."
"Of course, you do," she muttered. "What's this brilliant plan of yours?"
"I'll tell you on the way to the house."
They both got into her car, intending to figure out their best course of action for their plan, and were more than ready for this entire situation to be over with because they both just wanted their lives to go back to normal.
Darkness.
Clark twirled and swirled around in circles, over and over again, as he was once again trapped in a black constricting, and tantalizing cloud of darkness, but stopped his movements when he could hear the voices calling out to him.
"Help! You have to help us!"
A frown took over his features, as the voices that were pleading out to him sounded very, very familiar, and almost instantaneously, he realized who those particular voices belonged to.
It was his family.
It was his friends.
It was the woman he loved.
All of a sudden, a bright, white light cascaded throughout the entire room, clearing away the darkness, but also blinding him in the process until the light slowly faded away, revealing something he never, ever wanted to see—something that caused his heart to beat faster and faster, and caused hot, burning tears to well up in his eyes.
There were many, many motionless, unbreathing bodies surrounding him, but that's not what was disturbing him so profusely.
It was the bodies that he recognized that disturbed him.
His father and his mother were lying motionless on the floor, only a few feet away from him, and when he got closer to the two people who had raised him—who had turned him into the person he is today, he realized that they were gone—that they were dead.
He fell to his knees, staring down at their lifeless bodies, as his heart pounded, ferociously inside his chest, and tears began to fall down his cheeks.
This couldn't be happening.
This wasn't possible.
They couldn't be gone.
They couldn't be dead.
As he turned his head away from them, slightly, he noticed two more people who meant the world to him, and felt the tears cascade down his cheeks even faster.
It was Chloe and Pete, his best friends.
He very, very slowly stood up, and started walking towards them, knowing that they were gone too—knowing that they were dead as well, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a painful whimper echoing from directly behind him.
"Clark…"
He knew that voice.
It was Lois, the woman he loved with all of his heart.
He quickly turned around only to see the very last thing he ever wanted to see. She was lying on the ground, less than two feet away from him, as blood protruded out her abdomen at an alarmingly fast rate, and her eyes stared up at him, pleadingly.
Without even thinking about it, he rushed over to her, collapsed to his knees, and pulled her fragile body into his arms, crying harder than he's ever cried before. "Lois, baby. Lois, please. Please, don't leave me."
She slowly brought her hand up to his face, and caressed his cheek. "You have to save us. You have to help us."
"NOOO!" He screamed out, as her hand fell from his face, and her eyes fluttered shut.
She was gone.
She was dead.
He clutched her lifeless body into his chest, rocking her body back and forth, and couldn't stop the tears from pouring down his cheeks faster and faster. "No. No, baby. Lois. Lois, please, please, come back to me. Don't leave me."
Not even five seconds later, the love of his life—his parents—his friends—all of the other bodies completely disappeared, confusing him to no end, and another bright light consumed everything around him.
"It's time, Kal-El."
"LOIS!" Clark screamed out, as he shot out of bed, his body drenched in sweat, and his heart palpitating, wildly inside his chest.
He very slowly reached towards her side of the bed, wanting her touch—wanting her comfort right now, but felt nothing but the cold sheets, and quickly snapped his head towards the spot she was supposed to be, completely freaking out that it had all been real—that it wasn't just a nightmare, until he remembered that she hadn't stayed with him last night.
He collapsed back down onto his bed, sighing, heavily, and softly closed his eyes, as he replayed that particular nightmare over and over again in his mind.
For the past several weeks, the nightmare had always remained the same. He would be trapped in complete darkness, hearing voices he couldn't reach until a bright, white light cascaded over him, and he could hear his biological father, Jor-El, informing him that it was time.
But…
This time it was different.
This time he had realized that the voices calling out to him were the people he loved and cared about very deeply. His parents—Chloe—Pete were all dead, and the one person he couldn't imagine living without had literally died in his arms.
It was the most horrifying thing he has ever experienced in his entire life.
He groaned, loudly and quite miserably, as he stared up at the ceiling, his head beginning to hurt from the tirade of thoughts that were constantly running through his mind.
He was sick and tired of this!
Every night.
Every single night he had to deal with these dreams, this one being the worst one of them all, and he just wanted it to stop—he just wanted them to disappear, so he could go back to living his life normally, instead of worrying what these dreams meant.
There was one way to figure all of this out, he thought.
Jor-El.
It was the only explanation for what was exactly happening to him—why this was exactly happening to him, and he knew without a doubt that his biological father would have the answers that he so desperately wanted and needed.
At least, he hoped he would because there was no way in hell he could continue to live his life like this, quite honestly, he wasn't too sure if he could survive another nightmare, especially after the one he had just experienced.
He quickly super sped to the caves, knowing that this could possibly be a very, very bad idea, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. He pressed the symbols, opening up the cave wall, and walked up to the platform where one of the stones were safely placed, but before he could even utter one word he was encased in a bright, white light.
As he was being lifted off the ground, slightly, he could hear his father's voice ringing in his ears. "It's time, Kal-El."
"Time for what?"
"Your destiny, my son."
What did any of this have to do with his destiny or his fate for that matter?
"I'm not here about my destiny, Jor-El!"
Silence.
Figures, he thought.
"Jor-El, I'm having dreams about things I don't understand, and I want to know what they mean."
"They are messages, Kal-El."
Like that made any more sense, he thought to himself.
"What do they mean?"
"They are the key to everything. They will lead you to your destiny."
And, were back to the destiny thing. Didn't he understand that, that was the very last thing he wanted, especially at this particular part in his life. He had everything he has ever wanted, and there was no way in hell he would lose that, all because he wanted him to fulfil his destiny.
"How do I make them stop?"
"You don't."
"What?"
"The dreams are messages from your inner conscious, Kal-El. The only way to stop them is to begin your training."
"My training?"
"Yes. In order to stop the dreams your experiencing you must accept your destiny, my son."
"How do I do that?"
"You must retrieve the two remaining stones. They will give you the answers you are searching for."
Now, he was getting irritated.
Ever since he had returned from that abyss his father had encased him in for three months, he had informed him countless times that he needed to find the stones, and he had been vague about it than just like he was being vague about it now.
What the hell did the stones have to do with anything?
"The stones? They have nothing to do with me!"
"You are wrong, Kal-El. They are a part of your destiny. They will lead you to your destiny."
"What's my destiny, Jor-El?"
"I cannot tell you that. You must find the stones before sunset or an immense danger will be sent to earth."
"What danger?"
"Find the stones, my son."
This was getting him absolutely nowhere, he thought.
It was like talking to a freaking wall. He only gave him vague answers, and more than half of the time they didn't make any god damn sense. What did the stones have to do with his destiny? What was his destiny? What was this danger he offhandedly mentioned? What would happen if he defied his father like he did so many other times before?
As much as he'd like to ignore everything that has been happening in the past several weeks. He couldn't. Not when it was affecting his daily life, and especially not when a threat could possibly come down on everything and everyone he loved just because he refused to do what his biological father told him.
There was no choice in the matter.
He had to find the stones.
"How am I supposed to find them?"
"Look inside yourself."
He frowned, immensely. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look inside yourself, Kal-El."
In the blink of an eye, the bright, light completely disappeared, and he was lowered to the ground, feeling even more confused than he did before coming here. What did all this mean? Why was he having these dreams or messages? What did they have to do with his destiny? How could the stones lead him to his destiny? What the hell would this training consist of?
He didn't understand a single thing that was happening to him, but knew one thing for fact, the only way to stop the dreams was to find the stones, and then maybe, just maybe he could get his life back.
But…
He had a feeling that, that wouldn't be the case.
For some reason, he knew that this was only just the beginning, and that Jor-El had other things in mind for him, but right now, that didn't matter.
Finding these stones, and getting rid of these dreams were the only thing he cared about at this very moment.
After several minutes of endless contemplating, he super sped home, where he found both of his parents sitting in the living room, enjoying some coffee, and walked towards them, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
He really, really didn't want to tell them this, especially since they both have their reservations against Jor-El, and for good reason, but he didn't really have a choice in the matter.
Martha looked up, and smiled at her son, but that smile faded almost immediately once she noticed the forlorn expression that was plastered across his face. "What's wrong, Clark?"
He slowly sat down across from them, and sighed, heavily. "There's something I need to tell you…"
Jonathon frowned at his son' behavior. "What is it?"
He glanced towards his father, knowing that he was going to dislike this a hell of lot more than his mother. "I went to talk to Jor-El…"
"Why the hell would you do something like that?"
"Jonathon…" Martha warned, knowing that Clark wouldn't have done something like that unless he had a very good reason to do so. "What's going on?"
A soft sigh escaped past his lips before he told them everything. He explained the dreams he has been experiencing for the past several weeks, including the one he just recently had, and about the confusing conversation he had with him. After they shared their doubts, he explained what he needed to do to stop the dreams from continuing, but kept what Jor-El had vaguely mentioned about his destiny and training to himself. He didn't even understand what it all meant, even if he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be anything good for him or the ones he loves, especially Lois, but he really, really didn't want to upset them more than they already were.
Jonathon stared at his son for a few seconds, contemplating everything he had just learned. "I don't think this is a good idea, Clark. What if he attempts to take you away just like he did last summer?"
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, dad. I mean, it's not like I can just ignore his threat. I'm not going to allow any kind of danger hurt anything or anyone I care about. I don't really have a choice in the matter."
"Of course, you have a choice, son."
"Except that he doesn't, Jonathon." Martha intervened gently before glancing at her son. "Have you talked to Lois about this? She would probably give you some insight into all of this."
They weren't going to like this at all, especially since his mother and Lois were extremely close, almost like they had known each other for years. "Um…she doesn't know anything…"
She frowned at her son. "Are you telling me that you have been keeping this from her for weeks?"
He nodded.
"Clark…"
He glanced between his parents, feeling guilty for his actions, but he had very good reasons for why he didn't want her to know anything yet. "Look, I know that I should have told her, but I just couldn't do it. I need to figure out what all of this means before I tell her anything."
"I understand that, son, but don't you think she's going to be a little upset over the fact that you didn't tell her any of this."
"Yes, of course, she's probably going to be upset about all of this, but she'll understand. She always does."
"Are you sure this is what you want to do?"
"I don't have a choice." He quickly stood up, and smiled, reassuringly at his parents. "I'll be back after sunset, I promise."
He walked out of the house before they could say anything more, and stopped when he was more than ten feet away from the house. He softly closed his eyes, and replayed Jor-El' words in his mind over and over again, attempting to focus on the meaning behind them.
Look inside yourself. Look inside yourself. Look inside yourself.
A few seconds later, a loud screeching sound pierced his eardrums, causing him to collapse to the ground, and cover his ears with his hands. It was the exact same sound he heard the day he switched bodies with Lionel Luthor, and knew without a doubt that one of the stones were calling to him.
He disappeared in the blink of an eye, towards the sound that would inevitably help him with his current problems, and help him answer some impending questions about what his destiny was and what his training would consist of.
"Okay. I'm in," Lois whispered, as she walked into Lex' office at Luthorcorp, and softly closed the door behind her.
"Good. Attempt to find whatever you can, but Lois, remember you only have a window of about ten minutes before security patrols that section of the building."
Over the past several hours, they had spent most of their time sitting in her bedroom going over the plan very, very carefully, and luckily Chloe had a blueprint for the building. It was quite obvious that she had been planning this almost as long as she had, especially since she knew exactly when security was going to be checking the upper offices.
"Yeah. I got it. Chloe, be careful with Lex, okay?"
"Don't worry about me, cuz."
For the next five minutes, Lois searched through everything in his office that would seem to hold any kind of information about what he planned on doing—what he specifically wanted from her—what he wanted with Murphy' file, including every little crevasse that could possibly be hiding something, but of course, she wasn't able to find anything. It was quite obvious that he either didn't keep anything on record or everything was locked away on his computer, which she didn't really have to time to hack into, besides she wasn't the hacker in the family, her cousin was.
She slowly ran her fingers over his desk, her eyes quickly glancing across all the paperwork, and grew frustrated when she wasn't able to find anything she could use against him.
This was a waste of time, she thought, as she slammed her hands down on the table, and accidentally knocked over some papers onto the ground.
She groaned, silently, and squatted down to gather them all, but before she could even pick up one piece of paper she noticed a button underneath his desk from her peripheral vision. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
As soon as she pressed the button, she heard low sounding noises coming from directly behind her, and turned around towards the bookshelf, where a compartment slowly opened. She walked over to it, and searched through the many files that were inside until a particular one caught her attention.
It was the file that was stolen from her father.
Of course, it wasn't anything that she didn't already know, but if worse came to worse than they could possibly have something to use against him, especially if he attempted to do anything that brought harm to her or her family.
She was tempted to search some more, but knew she was limited on time, actually, she had less than two minutes to get out of here. She quickly folded up the file, tucking it away in her pocket, and closed the compartment, making it seem like nothing had been touched in his office before walking out of the door, completely unseen.
Unbeknownst to her, there was a hidden camera in the corner of the room, blinking and recording everything that she had just done.
A few minutes after Chloe had disconnected the call with her cousin, she had made her way up to the library, where Lex spent almost most of his time, and smiled, slightly when she saw him sitting at his desk. "Lex. I need your help with something."
Lex grinned at her, pretending to be surprised by her presence, but he knew for a fact that the only reason she was here was for a distraction—a distraction that was completely unnecessary since he had just watched her cousin break into his office, not even five minutes ago. "Chloe, what a surprise. What can I do for you?"
"It's about Jimmy…"
"Let me guess…your planning something romantic and quite expensive for the boyfriend, and you need a little help."
She nodded. "Yeah. This is what I was thinking…"
He listened to her pathetic attempt to cover the real reason she was here, and a part of him wanted to call her out on her bluff, but decided that he would wait until she was finished with her little show, besides it was quite entertaining.
A few minutes later, he was beginning to become very, very bored with her.
They might think that they were actually pulling one over on him, he thought to himself, but this was exactly what he had expected them to do, and quite honestly, he couldn't wait to see the expression of pure shock cross over her face once he revealed his hand to her.
Murphy.
Once she was finished, he leaned forward in his chair, and smiled, ingenuously up at her. "Is that all?"
"Yeah. What do you think?"
He smirked at her, an evil glint lingering in his pale blue eyes. "I think it's time you cut the crap, and tell me the real reason you're here."
His cutting words forced her to take a step back from him, and she shuffled from one foot to the other, quite uncomfortably before looking at him, feigning innocence. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, I think you do." He glanced down at his computer screen, where Lois was currently shuffling through papers on his desk, and tilted the screen towards her, awaiting her reaction.
Chloe' eyes nearly bugged out of her head, at was she was witnessing, and her heart started beating, like a jackhammer inside her chest, as she realized that their little plan had not only failed, but she had a feeling that he had been expecting this all along or he wouldn't have had a camera in his office in the first place.
"Now that we have all our cards on the table, maybe you would like to tell me what you and your cousin really want, you know, that little something you've been itching to say for weeks now."
She glared over at him, and felt pure anger—fury—hatred consume ever fiber within her being. "This is what you've wanted all along, isn't it Luthor?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I just happened to come across this only minutes before you walked through those doors. I am curious though, what is she looking for? And why would you need to distract me from it?"
"Don't play dumb, Luthor, you know exactly what we are searching for."
"Really? Do tell…"
"Stay the hell away from Lois, Lex! I don't know why you wanted that damn file on Murphy or what you exactly know, but I swear to god if you go within five feet of her I will be more than happy to kick your slimy, bald-headed ass!"
He chuckled, coldly. "Feisty. I like it, but you're a little late, I mean, I honestly can't believe that you haven't figured it out by now. I already know everything I need to know about what transpired five years ago, and very, very soon I will get what I personally want from Miss Lane."
"And what would that be?"
"Now, why would I tell you something like that?"
She felt even more infuriated that she did less than five minutes ago, but before she could make a snide comment towards the man she heard a familiar voice echoing from behind her—a voice that made her blood run cold.
"Well, it seems that you and that lovely cousin of yours are still up to no good." Murphy glanced at Lex, with a smirk plastered across his face. "You know, they did something very similar to this about five years ago, oh wait, you already know because I told you…everything."
It couldn't be.
He couldn't be standing right behind her.
But…
She knew without a doubt that, that voice belonged to the one person she hoped to never see again.
It was Murphy.
She very slowly turned around to face him, and glared, fiercely at the man. "You son of a bitch!"
He snickered at her. "Oh. Someone's grown a back bone over the past five years. I wonder what could have possibly changed…"
"I think you know the answer to that question."
A wide grin spread out across his features. "Gotta love my handy work, wouldn't you say Lex?"
Lex smiled, devilishly. "I would. It helps for what's to come."
"Now, Miss Sullivan, don't think just because five years has passed that I won't do it again, actually I have many, many plans for the woman who stabbed me in the back, of course, that's after Lex gets what he wants from her."
She stood her ground, determined to not allow this man to rattle her or bait her like he had done several times before. "Stay the hell away from her, Murphy! If you come near her or anyone I love I won't hesitate to put you back in that hell hole you belong in."
He smirked. "Oh. I'd like to see you try."
"You don't think I will?"
"No, and do you want to know why I know that?"
"I don't care!"
He carefully stalked towards her, forcing her to take several steps away from him until she was pressed up against the wall, and he placed both his hands on either side of her head, making it impossible for her to escape from him. "I know you won't because your terrified of me, just like you were all those years ago. I can see it in those beautiful green eyes of yours."
Of course, he was right, but there was no way in hell she would ever admit that, especially not to the man standing in front of her. "Screw you!"
He chuckled, loudly and menacingly, as not so innocent memories came rushing back to him. "I've already done that, remember?"
She glared at him. "That was the biggest mistake of both of our lives."
"I know why Lois would regret it, but you on the other hand…was it because you believed that I actually cared about you or was it because you enjoyed it more that you'd like to admit?"
"Go to hell, Murphy!"
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. No reason to get so testy, I'm just speaking the truth, but there is something I need you tell that feisty, determined, and opinionated cousin of yours."
"What makes you think I'll tell her anything you have to say."
"Because you want to protect her, just like you attempted doing before." He leaned closer to her, and whispered in her ear, his hot breath lingering on her neck, making her cringe, outwardly. "Tell that feisty cousin of yours that I'm coming for her, and this time she won't be escaping from me."
She quickly pushed him away from her, and glanced between the two people she hated more than anything she's ever despised before. "Don't think that you're going to get away with this." She rushed out of the mansion, with his message ringing loudly in her eardrums, and knew without a doubt that whatever Lex wanted from Lois, he was planning on using Murphy to get that information.
What the hell did he want from her?
It was quite obvious that Lex knew everything that happened five years ago, of course, he only knew Murphy's version of events, but he knew nonetheless, and that wasn't appealing information, actually, it was about the worst thing that could possibly happen.
This wasn't good.
She needed to tell Lois, and she needed to tell her now.
General Sam Lane slowly walked towards his niece' house, his mind elsewhere, as he thought about what he had witnessed less than two hours ago.
It had had been something he wasn't expecting, and something he has been fearing for over five years now.
Murphy Jonah Braxton.
He had been walking down the main streets of Smallville, having just left the Talon, where he had, had a lovely and enlightening conversation with Martha Kent, and that's when he saw him. He was walking down the streets like he had no worries—no doubts, the man even had the audacity to wave at him from across the street, and grin from ear to ear with an evil glint in his eyes before walking away.
It was like his worst nightmare come true.
He made his way into the house, only to realize that it was completely and utterly silent inside. It was quite obvious that his niece and daughter were out doing something, which really didn't surprise him, especially with the way they had left his office this morning.
As soon as he had found out about Murphy' return, one part of himself wanted to track down his daughter like he had down so many times before, but was trying to be a better father—he was trying to give her the space she so desperately wanted and needed, but this was something that she needed to know, and she needed to know before Lex or Murphy attempted to do anything to his daughter.
Lois, who had gone fifteen miles over the speed limit just to get back to Smallville faster than usual, walked into the house, in a hurried manner. "Chloe!"
Speaking of, he thought, as he heard his daughter' voice.
She walked into the living room, coming to a dead stop when she saw her father, and stared at him, questioningly. "Daddy, what are you doing here?"
"There's something I need to tell you…"
A sigh escaped past her lips, at the mere thought of whatever he wanted to tell her, she really, really didn't want to have another go around of what happened this morning. "Can it wait? I really need to talk to Chloe about something. Is she here?"
He shook his head from side to side. "No, she's not."
She fiddled with the piece of paper in her pocket, contemplating on whether she should give it to him or not, but figured that he would find out about what she had done sooner or later. "Well, since you're here, you'll probably be glad to have this back."
He took the folded piece of paper she handed him, and glanced over it, realizing that it was the file that was stolen from him, and frowned over at his daughter. "Do I even want to know how you retrieved this?"
"Um…I kind of broke into Lex' office at Luthorcorp."
"You did what?"
"Look, I know you didn't want me to do anything rash, but your way of accomplishing things were getting us absolutely nowhere, besides it's not like I walked in their blind. Chloe helped me."
A frown took over his features, as he stood up from his position on the couch. "Wait…if Chloe was with you then why don't you know where she is?"
"She wasn't with me exactly…"
"What are you talking about? You just said that she helped you."
She rolled her eyes, at his complete and utter idiocy. "This is the 21st century, daddy. It's called a cellphone. She was on the phone with me, and while I was breaking into his office she was distracting him here in Smallville."
His heart felt like it was going to explode inside his chest, especially if he got another piece of information that would most likely give him a damn heart attack. "She was at the mansion?"
She nodded.
"And now you don't know where she is?"
She nodded again.
"This is just great!"
"What's the big deal? She probably just had something else to do, you know, she does have a life, right?"
"Lois, the last place she was at was Lex Luthor', and now she's nowhere to be found doesn't that concern you?"
It was quite worrisome, especially since she hadn't heard from her, but it just wasn't possible. The man might be a major pain in her ass, and was currently getting involved into things that didn't concern him, but he wasn't stupid enough to kidnap her cousin, just to get her attention. "He wouldn't do anything to her."
"It's not him I'm worried about."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
He took a deep, deep breath. "Lois, honey, I think you should sit down."
She did very, very slowly, and stared at him, noticing the concern that was etched across his features almost immediately, and wondered what had happened to make him seem so nervous. "What's going on?"
"I saw Murphy today…"
All the color drained from her face.
Her heart pounded, relentlessly inside her chest.
Her hands trembled, uncontrollably.
"W-w-when was this?"
"A few hours ago."
"W-where did you see him?"
"Outside of the Talon."
And, just like that, she lost the ability to speak.
He was here.
The man she had hoped—prayed—wished that she would never, ever see again was here.
It was about the worst thing that could possibly happen, but deep inside, one part of her knew that something like this was going to happen.
Lex wasn't stupid.
He was resourceful, and he used that resourcefulness to bring him here, obviously to get whatever he wanted out of her, but what could he possibly want from her?
It just didn't make any damn sense.
Sam stared at his daughter, worry taking over his features at the expression that was plastered across her face, and gently placed his hands over her trembling ones. "Lois?"
Silence.
"Lois?"
Silence.
"Lo, everything's going to be okay. I promise."
She finally registered that he was actually speaking to her, and looked up at him, an uncertainty lingering in her eyes. "I know. I just need a minute, okay?"
Chloe, who had just spent the past several hours driving around Smallville contemplating how she was going to inform her cousin that her worst nightmare was in town, walked into the house, intending to tell her herself, but realized that he uncle had already done that for her, if the way she was sitting on the couch, desolately said anything.
She looked at her uncle. "How did you find out?"
Sam glanced over at her, feeling relief consume him, as his fears were settled. "Where the hell have you been? I thought something might have happened to you…"
"I'm fine. I just needed some time to think some things over. How did you find out that Murphy was back?"
He sighed, heavily. "A few hours ago, I saw him outside of the Talon. How did you find out?"
She made her way towards him, and sat directly next to her cousin, who was still staring out into space, completely lost in thought. "He was at Lex'. They've been working together this entire time. He's probably been here for a while now."
Lois quickly pushed all of her impending thoughts aside, as her cousin' words registered in her mind, and she looked over at her, questioningly. "What happened?"
"It's not important. We're going to figure this out, okay? I won't let anything happen to you."
"I don't care about that. I want to know what happened."
"I was talking to Lex, attempting to distract him like we planned when he just appeared out of nowhere. He was his normal cocky and self-assured self. He made me feel quite uneasy like he he's done so many times before, but um, he did give me a message…"
"What was the message?"
"He's coming after you, Lo, and this time you won't be escaping from him like last time…"
Sam clenched his fists together, and growled, softly. "Over my dead body!"
Chloe smiled at him, slightly. "I don't think he's just after Lois. I think he wants revenge on all of us."
Lois scoffed. "It wouldn't surprise me. He wants revenge on all the people that did this to him, even though he's the only reason all of this happened in the first place."
"We're going to figure this out, okay?"
She quickly stood up, and started pacing back and forth. "Would you stop saying that! It doesn't matter! It doesn't because one way or another he's going to come after all of us, and right now we need to figure out what we need to do to stop him from hurting anyone I care about."
"You're worried that he'll go after Clark, aren't you?"
She looked him straight in the eyes. "Yes, but it's not only him I'm worried about. It's you, Wes, Cassie, Chloe, Martha, Jonathon, Pete, and even Lana. These are all people that are connected to me somehow, and we know for a fact that he enjoys going after the people that mean the most to me."
Chloe smirked at her, attempting to lighten the mood, even if it was only for a split second. "Lana means something to you?"
"I might not like the girl, but that doesn't mean I want her to get caught up in all of this, or worse end up dead because of me."
"You're right."
Sam quickly stood up, not wanting to inform his daughter of what he had planned for her because he knew that she wasn't going to like it, but it was the only way he could protect her. "Lois, I think you should leave town, while we figure all of this out."
She glared at him. "What? Are you freaking serious? You want me to leave? What about you and everyone else I care about?"
"We'll be fine, Lo. I don't want you anywhere near Smallville when everything goes down."
"Are you going to send me away like you did five years ago?" She scoffed at the idea. "I'm not leaving."
Chloe quickly intervened. "Lois, I think your dad has a point."
She glared at her. "No! God dammit! I'm not leaving! I'm not going to run away from my problems. That's not who I am. I've never been like that, and I'm not going to start now. I was naïve and foolish all those years ago, but this time, I'll be ready for him."
"What do you plan on doing? Confronting the man?"
"No, of course not, I'm not completely stupid, you know."
"I never said you were."
Chloe quickly stepped in-between them, stopping the argument that was bound to happen. "What do you plan on doing then?"
"I don't know…"
"We need to figure something out."
Lois quickly tuned out her cousin and father' conversation, not wanting to listen to this right at this very moment.
No.
Right now she wanted to do anything but talk or think about what she had literally just learned.
It was nearly impossible, she thought, since he was here in town intending on wrecking the life she had built for herself, but there was no way in hell that she was allowing the likes of Lex Luthor and Murphy Braxton to scare her off.
She had a family here—a home here, and nothing was going to jeopardize that.
As much as she knew that she needed to be helping Chloe and her father devise a plan, she couldn't deal with this right now. There was only one thing she wanted at this moment in time, and that was her boyfriend.
She quickly grabbed her car keys, and started heading out of the living room, but was stopped by her cousin grabbing her arm, pulling her back towards them. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
"I'm leaving."
"We need to figure this out sooner rather than later, Lo, you do realize that he could be waiting for the opportune moment that you're alone, right?"
"I know that, Chlo. I know, but I can't think about this right now. There's only thing I want right now, and that's Clark. I just need him."
She released her grip on her arm, knowing that no matter what she told her she wasn't going to stay. "Are you going to tell him?"
"He really deserves to know, Lo," her father piped in.
"I don't know. I just need Clark right now, okay?"
She quickly walked away, leaving them both wondering what the hell they were supposed to do about this situation.
Clark walked into the caves, holding the two remaining stones in his hands, and made his way towards the platform inside the cave walls.
One of the stones had been in China, buried underneath the ground next to an important temple in the countryside, and that one had been the easiest one to find. The other one, on the other hand, was in Metropolis, actually, it had been in Lionel's safe inside his office at Luthorcorp, and of course, it had been surrounded by green Kryptonite, which had taken him quite a long time to get his hands on, luckily Lionel Luthor had been out of town on a business trip.
He carefully placed them into the chamber, directly next to the other once that was there, and watched as it formed into one large, light blue, crystal. It floated in front of him, but when he wrapped his hand around it he felt a searing pain that he had never felt before surge throughout his entire body, and was entrapped in this blinding, white light before he was transported to the middle of nowhere.
Literally.
All that surrounded him was snow and glaciers, mountains and mountains of snow, ice and glaciers.
He released the crystal, feeling completely frustrated at the thought that he had spent all day searching for those stones, and for what?
A damn trip to the Arctic.
An expression of pure surprise etched over his features, as the crystal pointed directly at a glacier several miles away from him, and without really thinking about it, he tossed it miles and miles away from him. It stopped in mid-air for a few seconds before shooting straight into the ground, and he watched in complete and utter astonishment, as an ice castle was formed from beneath the snow right in front of his eyes.
It was absolutely amazing, he thought.
As he made his way inside the ice fortress, he glanced around at everything surrounding him, and realized that it wasn't made out of ice. It was made out of crystals. He made his way towards the console in the center of the room, and noticed that it was filled with all kinds of different crystals, which seemed to have their own functions for this place.
All of a sudden, a loud and booming voice echoed all around him, seeming to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same exact time. "Welcome home, Kal-El."
He frowned, immensely, as he searched for where the voice of his biological father was coming from, and soon realized that it was coming from the fortress itself, not from anywhere in particular. "Jor-El?"
"Yes, my son."
"What is this place?"
"This is your fortress of solitude, Kal-El. This is where your destiny begins."
He stood a large step back away from the platform, at those words, and glanced around his surroundings, once more. "I've done what you asked, Jor-El. What does any of this have to do with my destiny?"
"Everything. This will become your home for the foreseeable future, my son."
And, what the hell was that supposed to mean?
"My home? My home is in Smallville. Not this place."
"Smallville used to be your home. Now it's time for you to accept your destiny. It's time for you to begin your training."
"My training?"
"Yes, my son, are you ready?"
He took several steps backwards, and shook his head from side to side, even though he knew he couldn't actually see him. "No, Jor-El, I'm not ready."
"Kal-El, you must immense your training. You must accept your destiny."
And that was the problem. He had absolutely no idea what this training consisted of, and more importantly, what his destiny really entailed. "I understand that, but I need to know one thing."
Silence.
"Am I destined to rule?"
A few minutes of unbearable silence passed before he responded. "No, my son, your destiny is to be the light to the humans of Earth. You will be their savior. Not their ruler."
That changed things…immensely.
For years, he had believed that he was destined to be a ruler over the humans, but now he knew that, that wasn't true, and it made things so much easier and so much more complicated at the same time.
It made his destiny and his training easier to accept, but it made things complicated because if he did this, it would mean that he would have to leave his family—his friends—the love of his life.
Lois.
The mere thought of leaving her brought an immense sadness to him.
It consumed every fiber of his being.
This would be the second time that he would be leaving her—that he would be forced to say goodbye to the woman he loved with all of his heart, and he hated that he had to do this to her again.
But…
Ever since he started getting those dreams, in the back of his mind and deep inside his heart, he knew that this was something that could possibly happen.
He knew without a doubt that this was going to be extremely difficult for both of them, but this was something he needed to do, besides she was always the one telling him that he was meant for greater things.
"Jor-El, I need to say goodbye to my family—to my friends—to my girlfriend."
"Lois Lane."
A million emotions consumed him, at the words he spoke, but the most prominent one was complete and utter confusion. "How do you know her name?"
"It wasn't a coincidence that you met her. You were destined to meet Lois Lane. She will be the one that helps you with your destiny. Without her, Kal-El, you couldn't be Earth's savior."
"My soulmate," he muttered underneath his breath.
From the moment he met her he knew that it wasn't just a coincidence that they met the way they had, but he had no idea that she would be the one person that helped him towards his destiny.
It was fate that they had met.
As much as he wanted to question him about that, he knew that he would either give him no answers or answer him vaguely. He was betting on the latter. "Jor-El, I need to say goodbye to the ones I love—to the ones I care about."
It was silent for several minutes, making him feel very, very nervous about what his answer would be. "You have until sunset tomorrow, my son."
"Thank you, Jor-El."
He super sped away, intending to break the news to his family and friends, and knew without a doubt that this was going to break Lois' heart, but he didn't have a choice in the matter.
He wasn't too sure how she would react, but he hoped—prayed—wished that this wouldn't break her completely.
There were supposed to be two more scenes included in this chapter, but it become way too long, and I had to cut it off, but it will be included in the next chapter. Lex and Murphy have showed their hands, well some of what their planning, and that can only mean bad things are upon everyone of Smallville.
I hope you enjoyed chapter thirty-six!