Tomorrow

Faster than a speeding bullet. Lois had written that about Superman
once. It wasn't fast enough. It hadn't been fast enough to save Chloe
and Clark had the sinking feeling it wouldn't be fast enough to save
Lois either. He raced around Metropolis, checking every building with
even the slightest association with LexCorp. He had her somewhere.

When Clark had returned from Chloe's grave the night before, he had
been emotionally drained. He had needed someone to talk to and had
decided that he had to tell Lois everything. He hadn't found her at
the Daily Planet or at her apartment. There was nothing to indicate
who had taken her or that she had been taken at all, but Clark
knew. Lex had made his move. Clark stopped suddenly on the roof of a
LexCorp warehouse. They weren't here. He was wasting his time in
Metropolis. There was only one place Lex would take Lois after last
night - where everything started. Smallville.

*****

Smallville Highschool, home of the Crows, had been rebuilt since Chloe,
Lana, Pete, and Clark had graced its halls. Lex knew this because
LexCorp had contributed the money and materials for its construction.
There had been only one catch, this room - the office of the Torch -
was to remain in the same location and replicated exactly. Lex glanced
at Lois. He had shackled her to a computer station - Chloe's computer
station - and the glow from the screen lent her skin a sickly greenish
cast.

"Relax, Lois. You should be comfortable in this environment and I'm
sure your hero will arrive soon." Lex surreptitiously checked his
watch and repressed a frown. Maybe he had overestimated Clark's
deductive abilities and should have left a clue as to where he had
taken Lois. Clark didn't have Chloe to figure things out for him so he
could arrive in the nick of time after all. Lois straightened in a
sudden burst of confidence and an unmistakable ray of hope shone from
her eyes. Clark had arrived to join the party. "Superman." Lex
turned with a smile of welcome that twitched at the sight of the man in
the doorway. It was still difficult to reconcile the memory of his
bashful former friend with the spandex and caped wonder of Metropolis.

"Let her go, Lex. This is between you and me." Clark didn't like the
look on Lex's face. He was too calm. There was no hint of the normal
maniacal energy he usually displayed while trying to take over the
world with some devious plan. There was something final in Lex's
attitude - something that gave Clark the idea that, as far as Lex was
concerned, this was the last time they would meet.

"It has never been between just you and I. We've always dragged others
into it. Your father, your mother, my father, Lana, Chloe...." Lex's
smile changed as he said her name, it became soft and wistful. Chloe.
Chloe. This was all for her. "The list goes on, doesn't it, Clark."

"Clark?" Lois stopped struggling with her bindings and looked around
for her puppy-like colleague. "Where's Clark?"

"Where he's always been - standing before you as Superman." Lex shook
his head with amusement at Lois Lane's shocked face. "I'm sorry I
didn't give you time to put it all together yourself, Lois. You're a
smart woman, you would have eventually - just like Chloe did." Lex
chuckled. "You should have heard her ranting and raving, Clark, about
how stupid she had been not to get it sooner. Finally, she laughed and
said she was distracted by your wholesome farm boy smile and big blue
eyes. You were probably distracted by the tights, Lois."

"Y...you're Clark." Lois stared at the man she thought she had known
so well. The man she was sure that she loved. "Why didn't you tell
me?"

"I'm sorry, Lois." Clark stepped forward. This wasn't how he had
wanted her to find out. If he was honest with himself, he would admit
that he had never really wanted her to find out. He wasn't sure that
he would have told Lois everything if he had found her at the Planet
even though it had been his original intention. Trusting his friends
had never been something he was good at.

"Did Clark every tell you about Chloe, Lois?" Lex reached out and
pulled the cloth that covered the bulletin board to reveal his
masterpiece. Where once there had been a Wall of Weird, there was now
a shrine to Chloe Sullivan Luthor. Photographs of a beautiful, smiling
Chloe were interspersed with articles she had written that she had
been particularly proud of - a few were exclusives on Lex Luthor that
she had written for the Torch back in highschool - and there were also
a few articles written about her engagement, her marriage, her death.
"I doubt that he's said anything to you about her."

"She was your first wife." Lois looked to Clark. "You knew Lex
Luthor's first wife."

"She was my best friend," Clark answered Lois absently. He stepped
further into the room. Chloe beamed at him from her wall. He
recognized the picture that had caught his attention. It had been
taken in the Torch office for the yearbook. Chloe had stood between
he and Pete, her arms around their waists. Pete worked for Lex now.
He hated Clark and blamed him for Chloe's death. Pete was still
smiling in the picture. Lex had cut Clark out.

"As was I." Lex flipped a switch on the desk beside him and the
computer stations behind Clark whirred to life. The screens lit up,
casting a green glow over passage to the door. It wasn't an ordinary
computer screen cast off, it was too intense, too green. Clark felt
a sickening wave of nausea grip him and he stumbled ahead, out of its
range. "Kryptonite," Lex confirmed for him. "I had the whole room
specifically rebuilt with the past in mind. Didn't I once tell you
that the past always influences the present, Clark?"

"Yes. You said you couldn't change that, all you could do was
understand it." Clark straightened up with effort. He could feel the
kryptonite leeching into his system. He had to save Lois and get the
hell out of there. "Killing Lois in front of me won't accomplish
anything, Lex. I understand the past. I was an ass. Chloe was happy
with you and I should have accepted that. If I had then she would
probably be alive today and we wouldn't be here, but I can't change
what happened."

"No, you can't." Lex was a bit taken aback by Clark's confession. It
had never really occurred to him that Clark would blame himself for
Chloe's death. Clark was the hero. Lex had always thought Clark had
blamed him, it was what he had always said. Of course, at this point
Clark would say anything to save Lois. "Too bad, Superman. I guess
there are some women in this world you can't save."

"Lex, please, this is insane. Chloe wouldn't want this...she wouldn't
want you to hurt someone in her name." Clark kept his eyes trained on
Lex and prayed. He wasn't praying to God - God couldn't stop Lex - he
was praying to Chloe. She was the only hope he had for getting all of
them out of this alive. As far apart as he and Lex were now, Clark
still didn't want to kill him.

"If anyone dies, it will be in your name, Clark." Lex turned to the
laptop beside him and casually tapped at the keys. "Or would you
rather hide behind Superman? It's become quite the habit lately."

"Don't you get tired of this, Lex?" Clark edged away from the
kryptonite beam. He could withstand its effects better than when he
was a teenager, but this stuff was intense. He had never felt this
weak, it was taking all his strength just to stay on his feet and keep
talking. "I know why you hate me and blame me for Chloe's death. It's
the same reason why I hated you and blamed you when I lost Lana. We
were jealous of the place the other held in the lives of the women we
loved. Lana respected you, she admired your business sense and Chloe
loved me as her best friend."

"I know all of this, Clark." Lex looked up. "It's nothing new. What
is new is the strain of kryptonite I'm using. I've done a lot of
research over the years on this wonderful little substance you so
thoughtfully brought to earth with you. I know how it mutates human
genes and I know exactly how it effects you. Perhaps you should sit
down, Clark."

"No. You're not listening to me, Lex. I've had enough, it's over."
Despite his refusal of Lex's suggestion, Clark sat on the edge of a
desk with a thump when his knees gave out on him. "Why can't you let
it go? You know it's what Chloe would want."

"I know, but it's gone too far - we've built this feud up to too grand
a scale to end it with a handshake and a ll forgiven." Lex smiled
sadly. He faced the bulletin board and studied each photograph
carefully. It would be the last time he looked at Chloe and wanted to
savor her. "This isn't just a disagreement between former friends,
it's been blown to comic book proportions - you're the superhero and
I am the supervillian - we've got to end this properly."

"So, this is the end then?" Clark glanced at Lois. She had returned
to working on loosening her bonds. Lex had tied her hands to the desk
and her feet to the chair using buckle restraints like hospitals used
on agitated patients. In the time Clark had occupied Lex's attention,
Lois had managed to almost get one of her hands loose.

Lex hit the 'Enter' key on his laptop. For a moment, nothing happened,
then the bulletin board started to move. It slid smoothly and
soundlessly out into the room and then flipped over on hinges before
disappearing into the wall. A hollowed out cavern about the size of
a safe in the concrete held a yellow sphere that spun lazily on an
axis. "I had an idea, what would you get when you mixed green
kryptonite with red kryptonite? This is the answer." The sphere
started to speed up until it was just a yellow blur. Glowing slivers
of yellow fire started at the base of the sphere and threaded their
way slowly up and down its surface, shooting short beams of kryptonite
throughout the room. "This particular strain of kryptonite is really
only effective under a concentrated dose. It will drain you of all
your superpowers and render you a mere mortal."

"I am mortal," Clark corrected, but Lex wasn't paying any attention to
him. While Lex remained fascinated by his kryptonite bomb, Clark
quickly crossed to Lois and risked the green glare of the computer
monitor in front of her. He struggled a bit, but with a burst of
strength, he ripped the restraints and pulled Lois away from the toxic
rays. He almost felt like he was regaining his powers when a blast
from the cracking sphere hit him and knocked him to his knees. "Lois,
get out." Clark brushed off Lois' attempts to help him.

"You should listen to him, Lois." Lex turned to them once again. He
glanced at his watch. "The sphere should break open in about twenty
seconds and while it will strip Clark of his superpowers, it has a very
different effect on us ordinary human beings. It's fatal."

"You don't have a handy escape planned, do you, Lex?" Clark pushed
Lois toward the door with a reassuring nod. Lois glanced between him,
Lex, and the steadily disintegrating sphere. She backed quickly out of
the room. Clark was glad to see her leave. In a way, he had known
from the minute he had walked in here what Lex was planning. He
wouldn't let it happen. "If you're staying, I'm staying."

Lex smirked in that familiar sardonic twist of his lips. "Friends to
the bitter end. Superman and Lex Luthor perish together in kryptonite
meltdown. It's a fabulous headline and it will happen. Once the
blast strips you of your powers, it will kill you." Lex took two
strides toward Clark and hauled him up. He dragged him toward the
door. "I guess it's my turn to save your life, Clark."

"Don't count on it," Clark grunted. He grasped the lapels of Lex's
suit jacket and heaved him in the direction of the doorway. "We either
both leave or we both stay." Pain like Clark had never felt before
sliced through him as the sphere started to crumble and the yellow
light intensified. Still he struggled to pull Lex out of the room with
him. At one time in his life he had admired this man - he had wanted
to be Lex Luthor - and then he had hated him for taking away the two
girls he had always wanted in his life. That was why he was going to
stop Lex's suicidal mission - for Lana and Chloe. He would not let
Lex die, even if it meant his own death.

Continued....