They had traced Senator Coleman to his magnificent mansion, where he went inside and changed into more inconspicuous clothing. After doing that, he got into his car (rather than his limo) and drove to a small café.

Fortunately for Lois and Clark, he slid into a booth right by the front window next to a sleazy-looking girl wearing a skimpy red dress and a lot of makeup.

Lois took her camera out of her bag, zoomed in on Senator Coleman and the girl, and started snapping shots of both of them. The two had wasted no time and were presently kissing like love-struck teenagers.

Clark tried to push his emotions concerning his first real flashback to the back of his mind as he got out the small videocamera Lois had borrowed from someone at the Daily Planet.

He zoomed in on the pair with a sigh after figuring out how to do so. He wasn't used to cameras.

It was amazing what lengths he and Lois would go to in order to put a criminal behind bars...But Luthor deserved it.

Clark frowned. There was a little more tongue in there than he cared to see...But at least it would be nice and graphic for Senator Coleman's wife.

That is, if Coleman decided he would rather keep quiet than keep the tape away from his wife's eyes...Which wasn't likely, seeing how quickly the two were getting into it.

After more disgusting videotaping and picture-taking, Lois was finally satisfied that they could approach the now-eating senator.

Clark checked quickly with his special vision to make sure that Coleman didn't have any bodyguards hidden away somewhere. Seeing none, he quickly caught up with Lois, and they were soon by Coleman's side. Lois pointed to her camera with a Cheshire Cat grin. "See this? It has some interesting pictures of you and Miss Red Dress doing the Tongue Tango. See that?" She tapped the videocamera Clark was holding. "That has an interesting video that I'm sure your wife would be interested in."

Bulging gray eyes met Lois's brown ones.

Clark took pity on the man, deciding he shouldn't suffer any more. "Unless you give us some information."

Lois glared at him, feeling cheated out of her moment of glory. "We need information on Luthor. And if you would be willing to testify on his 'forcing' you to modify that bill, then all the better."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Senator sputtered.

"Then I'm sure your wife will love to see this," Lois started to leave.

"Wait!"

Lois turned, an innocently inquisitive expression on her face. Clark suppressed a grin. She was good.

"I can't testify against him if I want to keep my life, but...What do you want to know?"

"At last, we finally have an idea of what to look for," Lois sighed as she leaned back in her chair. She looked up at Clark, who was standing beside her desk.

A smooth and cultured voice carried easily across the room. "Why, thank you, Perry. I always wanted to take a tour of the Daily Planet, but I never had the opportunity to do so until now."

Clark froze, a deer-in-the-headlights look etched onto his face.

He knew that voice very well...

Too well, in fact.

So well that he didn't even notice that he had completely crushed the pencil that he had been fooling with mere minutes before.

Away.

He had to get away!

Fear.

No...

Not the fear...Not his own fear.

Grasping his head in pain, he slowly shrank to his knees, gaining the wide-eyed gaze of Lois Lane, who knelt down beside him.

"Charles," she said, referring to him by his agreed-upon false name, likely in an effort to remind him to remember his cover. "Get under the desk, and if he sees and asks about you, tell him you were looking for that pencil you...were holding," the Daily Planet's top reporter frowned at the sight of the splintered pencil remains.

But he could barely understand her words. He was sliding into a world of his own.

Images and feelings bombarded his senses, showing him no mercy.

A glowing green meteorite, being brought slowly closer with agonizing purpose.

Sharp pain jolting throughout his whole body, wreaking havoc on his senses and making him wish for death.

He begged for his master to stop, moaning and groaning in pain.

But the extra-terrestrial rock was brought closer and closer, its wielder paying no attention to his pleas.

Unable to stand the hurt, the throbbing, the feeling of his skin being pulled in all directions, he howled in pain, letting loose an animal howl that would have chilled the blood of anyone with even a shred of decency in his body.

But Lex Luthor had no decency and cared nothing of what the harmful substance was doing to Clark, instead inching it closer to Clark with agonizing slowness and a malicious and knowledgeable grin. He sought to punish Clark for his disobedience.

Tormented, Clark writhed on the floor, wanting to escape the pain and the encompassing scent of fear that tore at him relentlessly.

Desperate to escape the clutches of pain and fear, he lashed out at his master weakly, but Luthor was quick and dodged the hampered attack.

"Tsk, tsk," the voice sounded warped and distanced, as if being uttered from far away. A face edged towards Clark's barely focused eyes.

It was Lex Luthor's face, but suddenly it became black, with glowing red eyes that pierced into his soul, hurting him even more than the painful Element X. "You didn't expect me to stand still and let a foul creature such as yourself mutilate my human form, now did you?"

Grimacing, Clark tried swiping at the elusive sable face, but he missed again. The demonic face moved close to him, this time growing glistening white fangs that nearly blinded him...

He felt himself floating away from the pain and the scene playing in his mind as unconsciousness started to seep into his system, accompanied closely by what felt like Death, dark and blood-thirsty.

But a force more powerful than his will pulled him back to face the fear, and the black head with the ruby eyes was again hovering in front of his blurring eyes.

A deep voice spoke. "Wake up, Charles. Wake up. He's gone now. You missed him." The voice gradually became more feminine. "He's gone. He can't hurt you."

Clark strained with all his might, and he was finally able to open his eyes.

Concerned chocolate eyes stared at him as Lois Lane shook him lightly. "It's okay, he's gone," she reiterated.

He breathed in what he had thought would be the sweet smell of air, but the scent of fear spoiled it, and his stomach threatened to rebel.

Lois felt terrible for Clark. What all had Lex done to him?

She patted his back, and he whimpered in a child-like voice, "He may not be here, but he's not gone. He's never gone. He haunts my dreams and calls me names."

"We'll get rid of him," Lois promised, hesitantly placing her arms around him and embracing him tightly, ignoring the few curious glances that were given to her by skeptical co-workers, whose thoughts could be summed up as: Since when does Lois Lane hug anyone

Biting her lip, Lois whispered, "Somehow, we'll get rid of him."

From his look-out perch near his office door, Perry White's solemn eyes remained upon Lois and Clark.

He had no clue what Lex Luthor had done to the poor kid, but it appeared to be something so terrible that it was almost unspeakable.

He had originally been leery of the idea of Lois's trying to tackle the large task of bringing Luthor down, thinking she had only been in it for the chance to get a Pulitzer.

But now, seeing her let down her barriers and give up her tough-girl image to comfort a tortured soul, helping the unfortunate victim of circumstance finally find peace, he had to admit that he had underestimated her.

Ever since the incident with Claude, her emotional walls had been sky-high, and she rarely let anyone inside her heart.

Perry had been lucky enough to be one of the few, but he had known her before Claude had figuratively ripped her apart, and the years had strengthened her confidence in his trustworthiness.

But it had not taken long for the female reporter to let in Clark, who had had no place to go yet had somehow found her.

The boy didn't even know how fortunate he was, the Chief Editor mused. Then his thoughts darkened.

Fortunate was not the proper word to be used when speaking of the boy...

He didn't like muddling in his reporters' stories, but for Clark he would make an exception.

It was time to pull out the big guns. Big guns were necessary when one was to bring down a conceited and powerful man like Lex Luthor.