Chapter Thirty Seven


"Where is he?" Lana stumbled back a few steps as he slowly entered the room.

"Clark, what's happened?" She asked in shock. He looked terrible, his eyes were all red and puffy, and he looked as if he were in pain.

"Where…is…he?" He asked again in a low voice as he stalked up to her. She backed away from him, scared of the frightening look in his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Lois had been killed. But Clark would never hurt her…would he?

"I…I don't know Clark." Lana stammered as he got closer. She was backed against a wall with no way of escape.

"Don't lie to me!" He yelled in her face. She closed her eyes and cowered. "You created him, you must know where he is!"

"What happened to you?" She whispered and for a moment he stopped, looking at a point on the wall beside her face.

"She's gone. Because of you…" He flashed his angry eyes to hers. "Because of you…Lois is…dead."

Clark didn't even feel his hand rising, he didn't feel it go around her throat. He only saw fear in her eyes and even though he hated it, he couldn't stop. She had to pay for her part in Lois' death.

"You wanted her dead didn't you?" He asked quietly as he squeezed lightly.

"No, I promise I didn't Clark." Lana choked out.

"You wanted her out of the way. It was your sick, twisted scheme, hoping that I would come back to you once she was gone. Did you honestly think I could love someone like you?"

"I'm sorry Clark, it was never supposed to go this far. He was going to kill me." Lana cried.

"Well now I guess I'll save him a job won't I?" Clark said menacingly.

"You wouldn't." She gasped.

"Wouldn't I? You've taken the only thing that mattered to me Lana. I have nothing left to lose." He brought his other hand up and wrapped it around her neck. But all of a sudden he started feeling weak and the pain seared through his body.

"Oh I beg to differ Superman." Clark dropped Lana and turned to see Michael standing behind him.

He fell to the floor, clutching his stomach as the familiar effects of Kryptonite hit him. But he couldn't see a meteor rock anywhere. Where was it coming from?

The pain intensified as Michael stepped closer and Clark suddenly realised that it was coming from him. His skin had somehow absorbed the Kryptonite and now he was a walking meteor rock.

"Nice to meet you Clark, I'm Michael." Michael said with an evil grin and the next thing Clark saw was Michael's fist heading towards his face…

Chloe stood up and backed away from Lois, grabbing Bruce's hand for support. They watched in shocked silence as the light from the bracelet grew brighter and brighter until eventually, it had completely enveloped Lois.

Chloe had to hold a hand up to shield her eyes from the light as it became blinding. She could feel a warmth in the air, like the power of the sun at its strongest.

"Bruce what's happening?" She asked.

"I have no idea Chloe." He replied, fixing his gaze on Chloe as the light began to fade.

"Ohhh…" Both heads snapped back to the figure on the sofa who was moaning softly. Chloe almost fainted; Bruce had to hold her up.

"Lois?" Bruce said more to himself than anyone else.

"Bruce?" Lois answered as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"LOIS!" Chloe cried out and launched herself as fast as she could at her cousin. Lois sat up slowly and let Chloe embrace her.

"Oh my God Lo we thought you were dead. Don't ever do that to us again." Chloe said.

"I was dead Chlo." Lois replied, holding a hand to her spinning head.

"What? Then how…?" Chloe's mouth opened and closed.

"I can't explain right now, there's no time. We have to find Clark before he does something he'll never be able to come back from." Lois stood up carefully; she was still a little woozy. Bruce offered her a hand to support herself on until she got her bearings.

"Do you know where he is?" Bruce asked.

"I have an idea of where he'll go to find this guy. Where's Ellie?" Lois looked up at him.

"She's safe. She's with Martha and the police." he replied.

Lois nodded. "We need to get to Clark now."

"Okay let's go. Chloe are you okay? Do you want to stay here?"

"Hell no, let's go help Clark."

"Chlo…I don't want you anywhere near this guy." Bruce said with a worried look.

"Bruce, I'm going okay?" Chloe said defiantly. She knew that he was just being protective, but this was her best friend and she wanted to help in anyway she could. Bruce simply nodded and put an arm around her waist as the three of them left the apartment and headed back to Bruce's jet. There was no time to wonder how Lois had come back to life, but Chloe had never felt more relieved in her entire life. She'd almost lost her cousin and it left a jarring realisation in the pit of her stomach.

Clark slowly opened his eyes and groaned out loud. His head wavered from side to side; it felt too heavy for him to hold up. He went to raise a hand to his head but found that he was tied to a chair.

He struggled against his restraints but couldn't free himself. He was still too weak. The pain he was feeling was not as bad as before but it was still there, Michael obviously wasn't in the room but there must still be something in there with him.

He looked around and found himself in a darkly lit, empty room. The walls were bare and there was no furniture in it except for the chair he was currently tied to. He tried again to break free but to no avail.

"I really wouldn't bother Clark. He has you tied up pretty good." Lana's voice reached him and he squinted to try and see where she was. She stepped out of the shadows, a small chunk of meteor rock hung around her neck much like the necklace she'd had years ago.

"Lana what are you doing?" Clark asked, his voice so low because he just didn't have the energy to speak up.

"I have to do this Clark I'm sorry. I never wanted you to get hurt but he will kill me if I don't do what he says." She did look sorry but Clark knew that looks could be deceiving. She was very good at playing the damsel in distress when really; she was the cause of the problem.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"We're in Smallville. At the mansion. You were out for quite a while." She said, offering a sympathetic smile.

"How could you…?" He said, his breathing becoming ragged as she stepped closer.

"Why Lois?" He asked. He had to know.

"I didn't want Lois to die Clark, that was never my wish. But I thought that maybe once you realised she was no longer going to be part of your life, maybe in time you would let me back in. We used to be so good together Clark." Lana knelt down in front of him and stared up into his eyes.

"Lana…"

"Would you have killed me earlier Clark? If he hadn't interrupted you?"

"No." Clark said without thinking. "I would never have killed you Lana." She smiled. "It's too easy a punishment for what you and that psycho have done. She was innocent, she didn't deserve to die." He spat angrily and Lana frowned and stood back up again.

"Neither did my wife." Michael said from the doorway. He entered the room and Clark cried out in pain as he got closer.

"Daddy!" Clark's eyes shot open and focussed on the frightened little girl in Michael's arms.

"Ellie? You son of a…" Clark struggled even harder to free himself but couldn't. The Kryptonite radiating from Michael was overpowering and Clark had never felt so useless in his life. "Let her go!"

"Okay." Michael shrugged and dropped the little girl to the floor. She quickly got up and ran over to her father.

"Daddy," She sobbed.

"Ellie, look at me baby, are you hurt? Are you okay?" Clark said, momentarily forgetting his own pain to focus fully on his child.

She was all he had left of Lois now. He would not lose her too.

"My tummy hurts." She said.

Clark noticed that her complexion was a little grey and she looked as if she was going to be sick. Obviously his daughter wasn't completely immune to Kryptonite either. Though she didn't seem to be suffering to the degree that he was. That was something at least.

"It's okay baby, I'm gonna get us out of here." He said but he had no idea how he would. "Where's grandma?"

"He hurt her. He hurt everyone." Ellie cried into his shoulder. He bowed his head and leaned it against hers.

"Oh come on Ellie, I didn't kill your grandma did I? She'll be fine in a little while I promise." Michael said, crouching down in front of her. Ellie tried to bury herself further into her father's body.

"Get the hell away from her!" Clark shouted angrily. Michael shrugged, stood up, and placed himself directly in front of Clark.

"Daddy, where's mommy?" He heard Ellie whisper quietly in his ear and a pain unlike anything he'd felt before, seared through his heart.

"She's safe baby." He lied. He had to, there was no way he was going to tell her here. Not now.

"Lana, take her out of here. She doesn't need to see this." Michael said, interrupting them.

Lana scurried over and grabbed the little girl. She put up a fight but with the Kryptonite hanging around Lana's neck, she was too weak to do anything.

Clark watched in agony as his daughter was ripped away from him and taken out of the room. He wasn't given too long to focus on it though as the blows came raining down on him.

One after the other, Michael pounded at him with his fists and pretty soon Clark could feel the blood trickling down the side of his face, from his nose and mouth.

"Why?" Clark asked when Michael finally stopped. "Why did you kill her?"

"Why? Hmm good question. Why did you let my wife die when you could've prevented it?" Michael replied.

He took a few steps back and watched Clark with angry eyes.

"I didn't…" Clark spat some of the blood out of his mouth, he wasn't used to bleeding or feeling this much pain. But he had to get out of here and get Ellie to safety. She was his main concern.

"Her car crashed into a barrier on the highway, you arrived seconds too late. You were obviously too wrapped up in your little family to notice her screaming for her life." Michael said, pain evident in his voice.

"I'm sorry…I tried…" Clark breathed heavily. He was so weak.

"I know, I know you can't save everyone right?" Michael sneered. "She was my life Clark. Just as Lois was yours. I took away what you loved because I wanted you to feel how I feel. Hurts doesn't it?" Clark didn't answer, he wasn't sure he could.

His whole body was throbbing and aching and he was so tired. He pushed it all down and tried to focus on a way of getting out of here. He felt ashamed of himself that his weakness, this Kryptonite, was preventing him from protecting his only child.

Michael walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains, releasing a stream of sunlight into the room. It landed directly on Clark and he immediately felt its healing rays all over his body. But it wasn't enough, with Michael still in the room.

Clark didn't have the energy to fight him and he was truly scared that he was going to die in here. He wasn't afraid of dying, he was afraid of leaving Ellie without a mother or a father. Michael turned to face him and crossed his arms.

"You know what a rush it is to have the world's most powerful hero tied up and held captive? It's…"

A loud crash sounded in the room as the window seemed to explode and before Clark could register what was going on, Michael was lying on the floor on the other side of the room but was already slowly getting to his feet. Something large and black flew into the room on some sort of wire.

"Clark!" He heard Bruce's voice. Clark shook his head, fighting a wave of dizziness and looked up into the face of Batman.

Lois sat tapping her feet impatiently inside the limo that was parked outside the mansion. Bruce had had it there ready and waiting for their arrival off the plane. He had told Lois and Chloe to meet him at the mansion before he'd gone off to do what Bruce did so well.

"Lo please, that's driving me insane." Chloe said in exasperation.

"I'm going in there." She said making a move for the door but Chloe stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"No Lois, it's dangerous in there. He's already killed you once, I won't give him a chance to do it again." Lois melted a little at the fear and pain in Chloe's eyes.

"I can't just sit here Chlo…Clark needs me. I'm going in there."

"Fine, I'm coming with you."

"Oh no you're not!" Lois yelled in surprise.

"You really wanna argue on this one Lois? My husband is in there too you know."

Chloe gave her the look and Lois knew she wasn't going to win this round.

"Okay but you have to promise that you will stay behind me and out of trouble, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you or the baby."

She leaned over and gave Chloe a hug and then they got out of the car and headed up the steps to the mansion. Lois was surprised at how easy it was to just walk in, security was shockingly lax, and that was never a good sign.

She made her way up the steps with Chloe following closely behind her. She could hear sounds of a struggle coming from one of the rooms but as she made her way there, she was stopped in her tracks by a little voice screaming for her daddy.

"Ellie." Lois whispered and ran full pelt into the library catching sight of Ellie struggling to get out of Lana's arms. Lana yelped and looked up and Lois saw the look of complete shock flash in her eyes.

"Lois? But you're…you're…"

"Dead?" Lois finished for her. Lana was so taken back by the turn of events that her hold on Ellie had been released and the little girl ran over to Lois, crying profusely.

"Mommy, daddy's hurt." She said.

Lois took Ellie's face in her hands and kissed her, never letting her eyes off Lana for a second. "It's okay sweetie, I'm here. I want you to be a big girl and help aunt Chloe get back to the car outside you understand?"

Ellie nodded and kissed her mother back. She then took Chloe's hand and said. "Come on aunt Chlo…I'll help you." Lois smiled briefly, proud of her daughter that in light of the fact that she must be terrified, she was being strong. So like her father.

Chloe sent Lois a pleading look.

"I know." Lois replied and watched as Chloe led her daughter to safety. She turned back to see Lana standing there still looking shocked but with her hands behind her back.

"You and I need to have a little chat." Lois said.