A Summer in Love
Chapter Fifty-One:
Lex was sitting down in his office at the mansion, waiting for two very important people to come back here with good news about their plans for this lovely day, with a smug expression plastered across his face, his fingers slowly gliding across the small, cool metal device, which played a crucial part in his plans, as thoughts of what was inevitably going to happen in a few short hours consumed his mind.
Today they would finally get what they've wanted for a very long time.
He would personally dispose of Clark, Kara and Kaleb.
Murphy would get the revenge he wanted against Chloe and Lois.
Steve would eliminate Lana.
But, more importantly, he would get the power he's been searching for by the end of the day, and then he could destroy everything and anything that stood in the way of him taking over this little planet.
This was supposed to happen the night Clark and Lois returned, but that all changed when he had learned of their plans for them.
Two days ago, he had been alerted when they had made their way back to Kansas from their four day extravaganza, and had learned something very, very interesting…they were engaged, except neither of them would be making it to their wedding, but that wasn't what had stopped him from enacting his revenge that very day.
It was the plans they had in store for every single one of them.
As soon as he had realized that they were back he had Steve watch and listen to their every movement—their every word, which had given him the information he had been waiting for…their plan of attack.
It would have been a good plan, but now that he knew every single step they were intending on taking against them he was more prepared than ever before, and there was no way in hell he was going to fail this time around.
For over eight years he's been attempting and failing to get what he desperately wanted, but all of that would change today.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the two very men he was waiting for walk into the room, and glanced up at them with a neutral expression, as he slowly stood up. "Is everything in order?"
Steve nodded. "The warehouse is stocked and ready."
"And what about our targets?"
Murphy grinned, evilly. "The lovely Miss Lane is still complaining about not being able to help with this fool proof plan of theirs, but within the hour they all should be at the Kent farmhouse."
"Good. That's exactly where we need them to be. Clark and his little friends think that they will be safe there, but in reality, that is the most dangerous place for them to be."
Over the next several minutes they discussed every aspect of their plan, making sure that there was no room for error, and he ordered them to leave the room for the time being, every single one of them feeling more than a little excited that this would finally be happening.
As soon as they had disappeared from his sights, Lex slowly walked back towards his desk, and sat down, as he patiently waited for his guests of honor to literally arrive on his doorstep.
This was going to get interesting…
All the way across town, Kaleb was pouting and sulking, as he sat down at the kitchen table, deliberately picking at his breakfast that his daddy had prepared for him before disappearing back down the hallway, where his mommy was having an extremely hard time accepting this situation.
Two nights ago, the day they had came back home from their little vacation, they had explained to him that the scrawny man was back, which had terrified him a little more than when he had found out that the bald man was back, but after having an in depth conversation with them about it he managed to calm down the fears that have attacked him from the moment his mommy almost left him.
His daddy would protect them.
But…
That was the problem.
His mommy didn't agree with this plan that they had created.
She wanted to help protect them and everyone they cared about, but his daddy wouldn't allow her to help for two reasons. The first being that she was pregnant with his little brother or little sister, and the second being that she needed to be here to protect him just in case things went wrong.
It made perfect sense to him, but if he was being completely honest with himself he wanted to help too. Every since he could remember these men have attacked his family, killing his Aunt Alicia in the process, and he wanted this to be over just as much as his entire family did, but he knew that they would never, ever allow him to help since he was just a child.
A scowl appeared on his face. He absolutely hated that term. He wasn't a child anymore. He was old enough to understand what was happening around him, unlike a few years ago, and he was old enough to help this time around, but he knew that they wouldn't allow him to go anywhere near those three men.
He pulled out of his thoughts before tuning in his super hearing to their closed bedroom door, his curiosity getting the better of him, and listened, as they bickered back and forth down the hall…
Clark and Lois were standing on complete opposite sides of their bedroom, glaring, heatedly at each other, as they argued about the same exact thing they have been bickering about for the past two days. Their plan for Lex, Murphy and Steve, and the fact that she wouldn't have a single part in it.
It was beginning to become very tiresome, he thought to himself, as he completely ignored what she was currently spewing to him at this moment in time. He needed to be at Watchtower right now, instead he was standing here arguing about something that wasn't going to change. He would be leaving without her, and she would be going to the farmhouse with their son.
There was no question about that.
"That's enough!" He yelled at her, growing completely and utterly fed up with her arguments before taking a few steps towards her, as his posture showed pure confidence, his voice was stern, and his facial expression revealed that he wasn't changing his mind about this. "Dammit Lois! I don't have time for this! You will be staying with our son at the farmhouse. No matter what. I don't care how bad you want to help. I'm not going to allow you to put yourself in danger."
She glared ever harder than before, at his words, and took several steps towards him until she was standing mere inches away from him. "You're not going to allow it? Are you being serious right now? You can't keep me there! I want to help, and I don't care if I have to go through you to do just that."
"You won't be able to."
Her eyes narrowed at him, dangerously. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly what I said. You wont be going anywhere except the farmhouse. Is that understood?"
"Are you telling me what I will or will not be doing?"
"Yes. You need to listen to me, Lois, for once just listen to me. You have to protect our son, our unborn child, and yourself if this all falls apart."
Admittedly, she understood that she needed to be there to protect her son, but that didn't mean she agreed with this plan of theirs whatsoever, actually, she despised it, and she definitely didn't care for the attitude he was giving her at this moment in time. "Are you forgetting that I dealt with this on two different occasions?"
He sighed, softly. "No, I'm not forgetting, but I'm here now, and I'm not letting you risk yourself just to protect the people we all care about."
She whispered, under her breath, "I did just fine without your help…"
A sharp pain spread out through his heart from her words, but he knew deep inside that she was just pissed off right now, and he wouldn't allow her harsh words to affect him anymore than they already were. "Your right, but tell me, Lois, how will did that work out for you?"
As soon as the words had escaped from him he regretted them not only because of the hurt—pain that crossed over her features, but also because he didn't mean them, honestly, they were both worked up, and were saying things that neither of them meant. "Lois…"
She took several steps back away from him, as his words caused a sharp pain to wreck her entire body like nothing ever has before. "Did you just say that to me? Do you think I wanted to be kidnapped? Do you think I wanted to almost die? Do you think I wanted our son to be in danger? Do you think I wanted to be beaten by Murphy?"
"Lois, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I know you had no control of any of that happening, but you're being completely unreasonable right now. Just pl—"
"Leave."
He frowned at her. "What?"
Her anger-filled hazel eyes glared, heatedly at him. "Leave. I don't want you here right now. I don't want to talk to you right now. I cant even look at you right now. Just leave."
A soft sigh escaped past his lips from her even harsher words, and took a few more steps towards her, but her heated gaze made him stop dead in his tracks. "I'm sorry, Lois, I didn't meant that."
"Leave."
"Lois, please, just promise me you won't do anything reckless."
That was definitely not the right thing to say. "Dammit Clark! Just leave!"
He sighed, heavily before walking out of the room, knowing that their argument had been more heated than the others, and hoped that this was finished sooner rather than later, so they both could make up for the harsh words they had spoken to each other.
As he walked into the kitchen, he realized that his son hadn't eaten a single thing. "Kaleb? Why aren't you eating." When he simply shrugged his shoulders, despondently he narrowed his eyes at him, immediately realizing what was bothering him since it was practically written all over his face. "You heard."
He nodded. "You upset mommy."
"We both upset each other, but it'll be alright, Kal, I promise." He softly kissed the top of his head. "I love you, buddy.
"I love you too, daddy." He watched him fly up into the sky before disappearing from his sights, and slowly made his way towards his mommy, as thoughts of everything he had just overheard rampaged through his mind.
His daddy just wanted to make sure that they were going to be safe, but he also knew that his mommy wanted to help keep everyone safe, and that was the problem they were having. Honestly, he wanted her to stay with him, instead of out there with the rest of his family not only because of what had happened a few years ago, but also because he was terrified that if she left she wouldn't be coming back to him.
That was the last thing he wanted.
As soon as he walked into their bedroom he found his mommy pacing back and forth, muttering nonsense about his daddy going to get a piece of her mind when he returned.
That wasn't good, he thought to himself.
"Mommy?"
She immediately stopped pacing when she heard his soft voice, and slowly walked over to him with a fake smile gracing her lips. "Are you ready to go? Did you finish your breakfast?"
He shook his head from side to side. "I'm not hungry."
That was surprising, she thought to herself, before she noticed that something was seriously bothering her little boy, and slowly kneeled down in front of him. "What's wrong, Kal?"
"You and daddy are mad at each other."
A soft sigh escaped past her lips. "You heard all of that?"
He nodded. "I know that he said some really mean things, and so did you, but don't stay mad at him. He just wants to protect us."
"I want to protect both of you too."
"And you will, but don't leave me." He stared at her, inquisitively. "Do you remember when you promised me that you would never leave me again."
She nodded. "Yes, baby, but this is different."
"No, it's not. If you leave you might not come back, and I'm not sure I could handle that. Please, mommy, don't leave me."
Just like that everything changed in the blink of an eye.
It had never occurred to her how this entire situation was affecting her son, and now she knew that it had been upsetting him more than she had realized.
He was terrified.
Her little boy was terrified of losing her, and so was Clark, but she was too stubborn to realize that they needed her just as much as she needed them.
She quickly pulled him into her arms, loving how he practically crawled into her lap, and hugged him, fiercely, as her hands rubbed up and down his back over and over again. "I'm not going anywhere."
He pulled away from her, slightly. "Do you promise?"
"I promise, baby."
"And, I'm here to make sure of that."
They both turned towards the door when they heard her voice, and Kaleb grinned from ear to ear before running full force towards her. "Auntie Chloe!"
She quickly wrapped her arms around his small body, while his own wrapped around her legs. "Are you ready to go? Your cousins are waiting for you."
Lois watched her son walk out of the room before slowly standing up, and took a few steps towards her cousin. "What are you doing here? I thought we were all meeting at the farmhouse?"
"That was the plan, but after I Put Lizzie down for her morning nap Clark stopped by the farmhouse. He wanted me to come by and check on you."
"You mean, he wanted you to make sure that I made it to the farm." She shook her head from side to side. "What did he think I was going to do? Walk our son into the line of fire?"
"He's just worried about you, Lo, you can't blame him for that."
A loud groan escaped past her lips. "No, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to give him a piece of mind when he does come back."
"I figured you might."
They both quickly got Kaleb settled in the car before heading towards the farmhouse, where they would all be safe until Clark, Kara and The Justice League ended this for good, hopefully this would all be over before the day was over.
Clark rushed into the main conference room at Watchtower, where Kara, Bruce, Oliver, Dinah, Arthur, Victor and J'onn J'onzz was waiting for him, feeling a little worked up after his argument with Lois, and was regretting more than half the words they had spoken to each other, but he refused to worry about that right now.
Once this was over, he would make it up to her.
As soon as Kara noticed him she walked towards him with a worried expression plastered across her face. "Where have you been?"
He sighed, heavily. "Arguing with Lois…"
Oliver made a face. "She still doesn't agree with the plan, does she?"
"Oh, she agrees with the plan, but she doesn't agree with the fact that she won't be helping us." He took a deep breath. "And, I might have made the situation worse than it already was."
Bruce frowned at him. "What happened?"
"It doesn't matter." He quickly took several steps towards every single one of them. "Are we ready. Where is Lex?"
Dinah nodded her head towards the several computers. "At the mansion. All three of them are there."
J'onn J'onzz stepped closer to him. "You two take care of Lex, and as soon as he has been sent to the Phantom Zone I'll take care of Murphy."
Victor nodded. "And we have everything we need to send Steve away for life."
Clark smiled, softly at all of them. "Good. Let's get this over with."
Kara quickly walked over to Bruce, and kissed him, softly, which surprised him, slightly. "I'll be back soon."
He kissed her again. "Be careful."
"I will be. I love you."
"I love you too."
Clark and Kara quickly shot up into the sky, as soon as they had made it outside of the building, and flew to the mansion in a matter of minutes, where they found Lex sitting at his desk, twisting a small metal device in his hands, but before either of them could utter a single word he glanced up at them with a devilish expression plastered across his face. "About damn time you two showed up."
Kara frowned at him. "You were expecting us?"
"That, my dear, is for me to know, and for you to find out." He slowly rose from his chair, and made his way towards them. "You two think you're so clever, don't you?"
Clark reached into his back pocket, grasping the crystal in his hand, and kept it hidden behind his back, attempting to not make it seem obvious. "Your reign is over Lex."
His brows rose at that. "Is that what you think?"
"It's what we know."
He glanced down, noticing that Clark was hiding something behind his back, and smirked over at him, knowing exactly what was going through that head of his. "Do you really think that crystal of yours is going to work?"
He frowned, slightly before revealing the large, light blue crystal. "I guess we'll find out."
"No, we won't." He pressed the button on the little metal device in his hand, and watched in utter amusement, as the panel on the wall opposite of them slowly opened, revealing a room stock full of green Kryptonite, which caused both of them to groan, loudly in pain before collapsing to the ground. "It's more satisfactory when you realize what is actually happening." He quickly grabbed the crystal off the floor, and stared down at it for a few seconds before tossing it into the room. "We won't be needing that."
Clark slowly rolled onto his back, hoping to move further away from the Kryptonite room, but scrunched up his entire face in complete and utter agony, as the effects of the meteor rock traveled throughout every inch of his body. "H-h-how did you-you know?"
A wide grin spread out across his face, as he knelt down directly beside him, and roamed his eyes over his entire body, enjoying the fact that he was feeling immense pain before his eyes met his. "I'm glad you asked that, Clark, you see, I've been doing a little thinking since I came back. Last time I didn't have to deal with you, and when I realized that your son had abilities just like you I had to figure out something that could weaken you."
Kara attempted moving closer to her cousin, but every single time she moved an inch the pain became worse and more intense. "W-w-we removed it all…"
His eyes roamed over to her. "That you did, but you didn't dispose of all of it. It took me a few weeks to figure out these green rocks were harmful to you, but when I did finally get my hands on one of them I just had to test my theory."
Clark' eyes widened, as soon as the words had came out of his mouth, instantly remembering the feeling of pain he had gotten at the bar the night Lex baited him. "You were test-testing me?"
"Yes, Clark, I was testing your weakness, and honestly, I don't know why I never figured it out beforehand, I mean you always used to get sick around this stuff, but that was back when I didn't pay attention to such details."
He slowly stood up, and walked over to his desk, pressing a little black button before turning back around towards them, enjoying the fact that they were writhing in pain on the floor. "Now that you know I've known about your weakness for weeks, you're both probably wondering how I could have possibly expected your arrival here today. It's really simple. I've been tracking and listening to every single thing since the moment I was released from prison. To say I was surprised when I heard your plans for me is an understatement, but alas I learned everything I wanted to know, and it only made my plan of attack that much easier."
Kara glared at him. "You won't get away with this. Our friends will find us."
A loud cynical chuckle escaped past his throat before he stepped even closer to her. "I'll have what I want before they can even find you." He locked eyes with Clark before taking a few steps towards him. "Within the hour I'll have that feisty fiancé of yours, your best friend, and your son in my grasp. You really shouldn't have left them at the farmhouse all by themselves."
His eyes widened.
This is exactly what he had wanted. He knew that he would was planning on leaving them at the farm, all by themselves, and now they had the perfect opportunity to take them.
It was all his fault.
"No…"
"Yes, Clark, but don't worry you'll get to see them one last time before I end all of your pathetic lives."
Before either of them could utter a single word, Murphy and Steve walked into the room, and shot them both with Kryptonite laced darts, rendering them both unconscious.
"I think I got my point across." Lex grinned at the two of them. "Get them into the truck, and then go take what is ours."
Two down, he thought to himself, as he watched them being dragged out of his office.
This was only the first part to his brilliant plan, and as soon as Murphy and Steve retrieved his other targets he would be more than ready to finish what he started over eight years ago.
Lois, Chloe and Kaleb slowly made their way into their farmhouse, all of them feeling a little dejected for completely different reasons, where they found Martha, Jonathon, Lana and Pete sitting at the dining room together enjoying a nice conversation, but all stopped speaking when they noticed them.
Martha glanced at every single one of them, knowing that they weren't happy for their own separate reasons, but when her eyes landed on her daughter she immediately noticed how irritated she seemed to be, and knew that something more serious was going on with her.
It was written all over her face, she thought to herself.
"Lois? Honey? Are you alright?"
"Oh, I'm just peachy."
Lana quickly realized that something was seriously bothering her best friend—something that had nothing to do with what all of their family and friends were doing right at this moment. She quickly called her children, Jacob and Jessica, into the room before grabbing Kaleb' hand, and took them all outside, knowing that none of the children needed to hear this conversation.
Chloe frowned at her, as she left the house before locking eyes with Martha. "Can you watch Lizzie for me?"
"Of course, sweetheart."
She quickly walked out of the house, wanting to keep her nephew in her sights at all times, and also because she had a feeling that her cousin needed to spend some time alone with the two people she saw as her parents.
Hopefully, they would be able to get through to her in ways that she couldn't, she thought to herself.
As soon as they had left, Pete glanced at the three of them, instantly realizing that they needed to be alone right now, and quickly excused himself before making his way upstairs, where his little niece was sleeping, soundlessly.
Jonathon frowned at his daughter. "What's wrong, Lois?"
She sighed, heavily. "I'm just frustrated with this entire situation. I want to help Clark, but I know that my son needs me more than anything right now."
Martha smiled, softly at her, knowing that she has been having a hard time with this since the moment they found out Murphy had returned, but she also knew that something else was going on. "There's something else, isn't there?"
"You know me too well." She slowly took a seat with them at the table, and leaned back in her chair, attempting to keep her emotions in check. "Clark and I had a fight before he left."
Jonathon moved a little closer to her. "What did you fight about?"
"The same thing we've been arguing about the past two days, but this time was different. We were really pissed off at each other, and we might have told each other some things that we didn't really mean."
Martha reached across the table, and grasped her hands in her own, squeezing them, softly. "What happened?"
"I might have told him that I had dealt with this just fine before, which I regretted saying the moment I did, but then he practically threw it in my face that those situations didn't really end that well, like he was blaming me for everything that had happened."
"He didn't meant that, you know that, right?"
She nodded at her. "I've had plenty off time to cool off, but our argument isn't what is bothering me."
Jonathon frowned at her. "What is?"
"I didn't tell him I love him before he left, and neither did he. It's something we always do no matter if were only going to be away from each other for a few minutes or for a few hours. I can't help thinking that we could have at least put our argument aside to do that."
Martha squeezed her hands a little tighter. "You both know that you love each other. A simple argument isn't going to change that."
"I know that, but I just want him to know that I forgive him for what he said to me, and I want him to know that I'm sorry for everything that I said to him."
Jonathon smiled at her, reassuringly. "He knows, Lois, you'll be able to talk about that when he comes home."
"I hope so." She groaned, loudly, and dropped her head onto the table. "I wish I knew what was going on. I wish I knew that he was alright. I wish I could be there with him."
"Well, you can't."
They all turned towards the foyer when the heard the familiar voice of her father before she slowly stood up, and walked over to him with narrowed eyes. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay home."
As soon as they had created this plan to take down Lex, Murphy and Steve she had called her father, knowing that he would want to know about this, and explained everything to him, which they had all agreed that he would be safer if he stayed home since he was just as much of a target as they rest of them were.
"Did you really think that I would leave you here unprotected?"
"I'm not unprotected, besides nothing is going to happen."
"Clark and Kara might believe that, but I was raised to believe that things aren't as easy as they seem to be, and this just seems too easy."
As he spoke to her she had actually believed him for a split second, but then she had noticed this flicker of dishonestly in his eyes, and in that moment knew the real reason he was standing here. "Clark sent you, didn't he?"
A sigh escaped past his lips. "He's just worried about you, Lo."
"He isn't worried about me, he's worried that I'll do something reckless." She started pacing back and forth, unable to believe that he had actually done this to her. "I can't believe him! First, he refuses to let me help him, then he has my cousin come to my damn doorstep, and now he has sent you to babysit me!"
"Not babysit, Lois, I'm only here to make sure you don't leave."
She glared at him. "That is the definition of babysitting!"
Martha quickly walked over to her, hoping to calm her down. "I'm sure that he just wants to make sure you're going to stay safe."
"That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm staying safe by being here with my son instead of out there with him."
Jonathon stepped closer towards her. "Lois, honey, you do realize that he probably made this decision before he had a chance to calm down from your argument, right?"
That had never occurred to her before, and it made complete sense, but that didn't mean she liked what he had done, actually, she planned on telling him just that as soon as she saw him. "Your probably right."
Sam smiled, softly, feeling more than a little thankful that she didn't seem to pissed off about his presence here. "Well, what are we going to do to pass the time?"
Lois rolled her eyes at him. "You can do whatever you want. I think I need some fresh air."
She quickly walked away from all of them, not able to believe that the man she loved had actually involved her father in this, and even though she had a feeling that this was one of those things he regretted doing she was still pissed off about it.
Chloe and Lana were a few miles away from the farmhouse, standing near a beautiful field, which was covered with breathtaking flowers and was shrouded by many trees, watching Jacob and Jessica run around like nothing was wrong in this world, while Kaleb was sitting on the ground, picking the flowers before he threw them away from him.
It was quite obvious that he was sulking.
They had hoped that keeping him away from the house would help cheer him up—would help keep his mind off things, especially since he was just as worried about this situation as they all were, but obviously nothing was going to stop their little nephew from worrying.
Lana whispered, "Is he doing alright?"
She shook her head from side to side before whispering back, "I overheard him telling Lois that he didn't want her to leave him. I think that this is affecting him more than any of us thought."
"Poor kid. He's been through so much over the years, hopefully Clark, Kara and The Justice League can end this sooner rather than later."
"I'm sure everything is going to be fine." She slowly walked over to her sullen nephew before sitting directly next to him, and bumped her shoulder against his, gently, attempting to get some kind of reaction out of him. "Hey there, sport, why are you sitting over here all by yourself?"
He just shrugged his shoulders.
"Kaleb." Once he looked at her she stared deeply into his emotion filled baby blues. "Talk to me, Kal, I remember a time when you enjoyed talking to me more than your mommy."
That made him smile, but it quickly fell. "I'm scared."
"Why? Your daddy and Aunt are going to take care of this, besides this is nothing you need to be worrying about."
"Yes, I do. Mommy and daddy were upset with each other before he left, and I'm terrified that something is going to happen to them."
She gripped his face into her hands, forcing him to look at her. "Your daddy is perfectly fine, Kal, your mommy isn't even a few miles away from you. Nothing is going to happen to them."
"But what if the bad men get to daddy and Aunt Kara? What if they come for me like they did before? What if they hurt mommy again?"
A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. His fears were very sincere and very real, but she honestly believed that everything was going to work out the way they all hoped it would. "That isn't going to happen, so instead of sitting here thinking about things that you can't control you go play with your cousins."
"I don't want to."
This was going to be harder than she thought. "Do you want to go back to the house? Spend some time with your mommy?"
He nodded.
They both quickly stood up, and started walking away, but stopped dead in their tracks when they heard a familiar voice—a voice they knew all too well lingering from directly behind them. "Aww. That's adorable. Too bad none of you are going anywhere."
Lana gasped, slightly at the sight of him. "Jacob! Jessica! Get over here right now!"
They quickly rushed over to her, feeling completely confused, as they stared at the stranger, who was standing directly in front of them, and he didn't look very nice. "Who is that, mommy?"
"A bad man."
Chloe slowly turned around towards the man she never expected to see today or any other day, and rested his hand on her nephews shoulder, slowly pushing him behind her, slightly. "Murphy. What the hell are you doing here?"
He stalked towards her with a smirk plastered across his face. "I'm here to take what is ours."
Kaleb glared, heatedly at the man, who had hurt his mommy on more than one occasion. "We aren't yours! You cant take us! My daddy will stop you!"
A loud, cynical chuckle escaped from the back of his throat, as he moved closer to them. "You've gotten mouthier since the last time I saw you. I guess you get that from your mommy, but your daddy isn't coming to your rescue." He glanced up at Chloe. "I suggest that you both leave with me right now."
"That isn't happening."
"Why do you and your cousin always have to make this so difficult?"
She smirked at him. "You wouldn't have enjoyed us so much if we were easy targets."
He glared at her. "You know, I think I'll just eliminate you right here and right now."
Kaleb growled at him, his eyes staring straight into his soul. "You won't touch her!"
"Oh yeah? What are you going to do to stop me?"
Before he could utter another word or make a move towards this man, Chloe quickly pushed him behind her, forcefully. "He isn't going to do anything, but I am."
"Is that right?"
"If you want to take us them it'll have to be with force because we aren't leaving with you willingly."
"I thought you might say that." He slowly brought his fingers up to his lips before whistling, loudly, confusing every single one of them, but their confusion died almost instantaneously when they heard Lana gasp, loudly, and turned around towards her to find that Steve was holding a knife against her throat, as his other arm secured her against his body. "I brought reinforcements."
As soon as all three children were standing directly behind her she glared over at him. "Let her go!"
"That's not going to happen, so you might as well give up already, and come with me right now."
Kaleb growled low in his throat at this man, feeling nothing but complete and utter anger towards him. He was sick and tired of this. He was absolutely done with these bad men coming after the people he loved and cared about.
"Let her go!" He started charging towards him, faster than humanly possible, before this man had time to utter a single word, hoping that his abilities would stop him from hurting his Aunt or taking them, but was completely shocked when he revealed a strange looking green rock, and instantly knew what it was when he felt an unimaginable pain surge throughout his entire body before he collapsed to the ground.
His entire family, especially his mommy and daddy had warned him about these rocks, but he had never, ever imagined that it would be this painful, and he really, really wished that the pain would just go away.
"KALEB!"
Chloe rushed over to his side, sliding down onto the ground directly beside him, and pulled him into her arms, immediately noticing how sweaty and pale he already looked, as she brushed her fingertips across his forehead. "Kaleb? Are you alright?"
His pain filled aquamarine eyes met her concerned emerald ones, as he panted, breathlessly. "I-I-It hurts."
"I know, baby, it's going to be alright." She glared up at Murphy. "What the hell is wrong with you! He's just a child! Get that the hell away from him!"
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You know that I can't do that, Chloe, this child could easily take both of us down with his abilities. I won't allow him to ruin our plans."
Lana wanted to scream, kick, and fight back, but there wasn't a single thing she could do while this man was holding a knife to her throat, and she didn't want to scare her children anymore than they already were. "Just let us go, Murphy, you know that Lex is going to kill you and Steve as soon as he gets what he wants. You are both just pawns in his little game."
He stalked a little closer to her. "You were once one of those little pawns, Miss Lang, but you turned your back on us, and you will pay for that."
She glared at him. "You can go straight to hell, Murphy!"
"Been there. Done that. Never going to happen again."
Lana noticed that Chloe was starting edge towards him, intending to attack him from behind, and attempted keeping his attention on her, but he quickly spun around right before she could attack him before slapping her across the face, hard, causing her to collapse to the ground.
"Aunt Chloe!" She quickly shook off the pain she was feeling right now, knowing that she needed to stay strong for her nephew, and crawled back over to him, pulling him back into her lap.
Murphy moved closer to them, enjoying the way Kaleb started writhing in even more pain. "Nice try, but you won't be getting the drop on me." He knelt down directly in front of her, and grabbed her arm, squeezing, as hard as he possibly could when she attempted backing away from him before he pressed the Kryptonite against his cheek.
Kaleb attempted twisting away from him—away from the green meteor rock, but it was too painful to move, and being this close to it only made his body weaker and weaker by the second. "P-p-please stop."
"Never going to happen, kid." He pressed the rock harder against his skin before locking eyes with one of the women he hated more than anything, who had tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain her nephew was currently experiencing. "Now, you have two choices…leave with us right this second, and I won't kill your friend or refuse, and I kill her before I forcefully take both of you."
There was a part of herself that wanted to refuse, but the other part of herself was too worried about her nephew, who was getting weaker, and her friend, who's life was literally in danger. There was only one choice to make. "Fine! Just please get that away from him!"
"Good choice." He slowly stood up, and took several steps away from them before turning towards Steve with a smirk plastered across his face. "Do it."
He grinned from ear to ear, feeling more than a little excitement before he plunged the knife directly into her stomach. "AHHH!"
"MOMMY!" Jacob and Jessica screamed out, as they rushed over to her side with tears rolling down their cheeks faster and faster.
Chloe glared at him. "I told you we would come with you! Why the hell did you do that?"
He turned back around towards her. "She had to pay for what she did to us all those years ago, and this was the only way her story ended. Come on, Chloe, you know better than anyone that my word means absolutely nothing."
"You got that right."
"Come with me right now. I believe you have a few friends waiting for you…"
She glared, heatedly at him. "What friends? You only want us there so Lex can run his experiments on my nephew!"
"I never said that Lex was the friend waiting for you."
A frown etched over her features before realization dawned on her. "Clark and Kara."
"Ding! Ding! Ding! They were so easy to capture, I mean they literally walked or rather flew right into the lions den."
Kaleb' eyes widened to the size of saucers before whispering, "Daddy…Aunt Kara…"
They had taken his daddy, his aunt, and now they were going to take them, but even though the pain he was feeling was making him lose hope in being saved—in getting out of this he knew that they didn't have his mommy, and she would save them.
She had to.
Murphy stepped closer to them. "We're leaving now, or the children are next."
There was no choice in the matter, she thought to herself, before quickly lifting her nephew into her arms, who clung onto her for dear life, as she stood up, and could instantly tell that he wasn't doing so good. His skin was pale, sticky and he looked like he was about to pass out. She glanced over at him. "We'll go with you, but please, please just put that away. You're killing him."
"That's the plan."
He nodded at Steve, who slowly turned around towards the two hysterical children. "Do you understand what happened here?" At their nods he continued, "Good. Now, go tell your Aunt Lois what has happened."
They glanced down at their mommy, who was starting to look very pale and sickly before they rushed towards the farmhouse, hoping that their Aunt could help their mommy and save their family from those two very, very bad men.
Murphy quickly pushed them forward, and watched them with a careful eye, making sure that she didn't do anything reckless, but doubted that she would since she was too worried about the little boy in her arms—the little boy that would be dead very soon.
As they were walking Kaleb stared deeply into her eyes, and whispered, "W-wh-what are we-we going to do?"
She pulled him tighter against her chest, hugging him, fiercely, and whispered back to him, "It's going to be alright, Kaleb, I'll get us out of this, but I need you to hang on for me. No matter what they do to you. Keep fighting."
He nodded at her, believing that someone would save all of them before anything bad happened.
It was quite obvious that things had majorly turned for the worst, she thought to herself, which was something none of them had believed would happen since they had planned this out perfectly, but obviously they were wrong, and the only thing that mattered in this moment was protecting her nephew, even if that meant dying to save his life.
Clark couldn't help.
Kara couldn't help.
Oliver and Bruce couldn't help.
The Justice League probably had no idea what was going on.
Lois was about to find out what was going on, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be much help either. Not because she wouldn't come to their rescue, but because she would, and that was the problem. As soon as Lex realized that she was pregnant—realized that she had abilities she would become just as vulnerable as the rest of them.
No matter what happened she would protect the people she loved and cared about.
Her nephew needed her to be strong for every single one of them, and that was exactly what she was going to do.
Stay strong.
Lois was standing in the loft with her hands gripping the wooden beams a little harder than humanly possible, as she glanced out the window, her mind repeating the event that have happened from the moment Clark left to the moment she realized her had sent her father to keep an eye on her over and over again.
It was completely and utterly ridiculous.
She knew that he was currently out there somewhere stopping Lex, Murphy and Steve from causing any more people pain, but she couldn't help feeling like he didn't trust her enough to keep their son safe—to keep their baby safe—to keep herself safe—to not do anything reckless, even though she knew that they both had spoken a lot of words that neither of them meant.
"Aunt Lois! Aunt Lois! Aunt Lois!" Her thoughts were interrupted by the panicked and shrilling screams coming from her niece and nephew, and when she glanced out across the cornfields she noticed that they were running full force towards the barn.
In that moment she knew that something was terribly wrong not only because they were hysterically screaming out her name over and over again, but also because her cousin, best friend and son weren't with them.
Something had definitely happened, she thought to herself, before she rushed down the stairs and around the barn until she was standing directly in front of them. "Jacob, Jessica, what's wrong? What happened?" They started speaking at the same exact time in a hurried and terrified voice, which made it nearly impossible to understand them. "Shh. Shh. It's alright. Just tell me what happened. One at a time."
"Our mommy. She's hurt."
"A man stabbed her."
Her eyes went as wide as saucers from their words. "What? Where did this happen?"
"In Kaleb' favorite field. They took them. They took Kaleb and Aunt Chloe."
"They wanted you to know that they took them," Jessica added.
When she had first saw them running towards her she had figured that something bad had happened, but she had never, ever imagined that it would be this since she had been absolutely positive that Clark, Kara and the rest of The Justice League would have taken care of them by now.
Obviously, something had really gone wrong, she thought to herself, the mere thought of something happening not only to the man she loved, but to her cousin and son cause emotion after emotion to consume her entire being.
"Go inside right now." As soon as they disappeared from her sights she quickly super sped to the exact same spot they had just been in, immediately realizing that one of the closest people in her life was laying on the ground, bleeding out from her stomach, and it brought back so many memories, but she quickly pushed those thoughts away before she dropped down to her knees directly next to her best friend. "Lana…"
She was so still.
She was so pale.
She was so sickly looking.
Her head dropped, as the tears cascaded down her cheeks like a waterfall. "I'm so sorry, Lana, I should have been here to protect you like you've been there for me so many times in the past. You have been one of the best people in my life. I'm sorry that they did this to you, but I promise you I won't let them get away with this."
Lana slowly blinked her eyes open, the sharp pains in her stomach feeling more like a freight train had crashed right into her instead of a knife, and heard her friend speaking, softly to her before she managed to place her shaky hand on top of hers. "Lois…"
Her head snapped towards her, her eyes roaming over her face, realizing that she was awake—that she was alive, and felt a multitude of emotions surge through her, but the most prominent one was complete and utter relief. "Oh god! Lana! I thought you were dead. You're going to be just fine. The ambulance should be here soon."
She shook her head from side to side. "No. You have to help them—you have to save them."
"Shh. Don't worry about that. We'll get Chloe and Kaleb back."
"N-n-no you don't under-understand…they have Clark and Kara…"
Her words caused her heart to beat like a jackhammer inside of her chest, and her body started trembling, slightly at the mere thought of what was going to happen to them, but all thoughts of them escaped her when Lana smiled, softly at her before her eyes closed, her body going limp.
"Lana! Lana! Lana!" When she didn't respond to her she gripped her arms in her hands, and started shaking her, as hard as she could. "Lana! Come on, you need to wake up! Please! You can't die on me! I've already lost one of my friends I can't lose another! Please! Your husband needs you! Your children need you! I need you! Please!"
She slowly dropped her head onto her chest, the tears pouring down her cheeks faster and faster, as she felt like she had just lost one of the most important people in her life, and that broke her heart into a million pieces, but she quickly lifted her head when her phone started ringing and vibrating from her back pocket.
As soon as she answered the phone without checking the called ID she heard his arrogant, cocky voice ringing in her ears. "Hello, Lois."
"Lex."
"I'm guessing at this point in time you have realized that I have your fiancé and friend. I'm also sure your aware of the fact that your son and cousin are on their way here as we speak."
She slowly stood up, determination and confidence consuming every single part of her body, as an expression of pure hatred crossed over her features. "I'm going to kill you."
"Ooo! Feisty! I like it! I can tell that you become ruthless when the people you care about are in danger."
"You think that you're going to get away with this, but I'm going to kill every single one of you."
"You know, your cousin made that same threat a few nights ago to the very man that took your son, but he's still standing, and from what I heard she didn't put up much of a fight. It must have been that green Kryptonite affecting your son that stopped her from making a move against him."
Her heart literally stopped beating for several seconds before it started pounding, relentlessly inside of her chest. He knew about their weakness. He had the one thing that could kill her family. He had used it on her son. He was probably using it on Clark and Kara as they spoke. "Y-y-you didn't…is he…" She trailed off unable to say the words that were causing her heart to break inside of her chest.
"Don't worry, Lois, your family is still alive, but they won't remain that way." It was silent for a few seconds. "This is what is going to happen…you're going to come to the address I've just texted you, and I'd hurry if I were you."
Before the line ended she heard her fiancé screaming out, "Don't come Lois!"
As much as she wanted to listen to his words, she couldn't, everyone she loved was in danger, and she wasn't going to allow anything to happen to them, even if that meant putting herself in the mix of danger they were all in.
This was a trap.
This exactly what they had been waiting for.
The moment they all felt confident in their own plan was the exact same time they had decided to attack.
It wasn't a coincidence.
She glanced down at her friend. "I'll make them pay. I promise."
She quickly super sped away after getting the address Lex had sent her, hoping that she could save her family before they managed to do anything to them.
Her fiancé was in danger.
Her cousin was in danger.
The woman she saw as her sister was in danger.
Her son was in danger.
There was no way in hell she was losing the people she cared about and loved with all of her heart.
This was such an emotional chapter to write, and the next chapter is going to be ten times worse. I don't know why I chose to write such a sad, emotional and heart breaking story, but when the ideas come you just have to write them. Four chapters left to this story, and the next two are doozies for sure.
Hope you enjoyed chapter fifty one!
