Once Again Thank You Everyone :)


"Clark...Clark!" Lois's voice was growing to an almost crescendo pitch, as she shook her colleague harder and harder.

Finally Kent responded with a groan, and dared to open his eyes to the world. His head felt like he had one huge hangover, even though he didn't drink. "I'm ok...I just blacked out..."

"What the hell happened, you never just black out? I almost called for an ambulance as well as back up, you had me so scared." Carefully she helped him sit up, and noticed with dread that he was trembling slightly. This can't be good...

"The guy was ready for me, he hit me with some sort of spray. With all my abilities you'd think I'd still have the sense to be cautious huh?" Shaking off what had happened, at least for Lois benefit, Kent climbed to his feet and brushed loose dirt from his black jacket. "The worrying part is that our bad guy knew about me, and had something that can affect me. It gives me the idea this was more than some mugging that went too far, this was a hit on our dead guy, and only one name comes to mind for the man behind it..."

Lois didn't need to ask whom her partner meant. On their first case together Clark had almost been killed by one of Lucas Luthor's henchmen. If anyone had come up with something to affect Clark, it was probably him. "You think Luthor is back to his old tricks? I thought the Luthorcorp shares fiasco was still keeping him busy?"

Clark acknowledged her with a slight grunt that proved he wasn't exactly back to full form, then made his way to Tanner's corpse. As he kneeled, two police cruisers arrived as their backup. "I never doubted Lucas would rise from that, it was just a temporary setback to him. The question is why did he want this guy out of the way?"

Slipping on gloves, Kent pulled Tanner's jacket loosely open and felt inside till he retrieved a wallet, and a small P.D.A. Flicking through both he discovered nothing save the man's name, and a set of inconsequential addresses on the mini pc.

"Shouldn't we leave that to the crime scene team?" Lois raised a brow, but knew Clark had no intention of waiting should he find a lead. "Find anything interesting?" She peered over his shoulder, giving into his unconventional methods. Then another vehicle approached and she stood back, knowing the owner from past cases. "Uh oh, Molly is going to be really pleased you messed up her evidence..."

Clark had to grin at the thought of his long time friend Molly Stevenson. She was the best M.E. he knew, probably the best in Metropolis, and maybe even Kansas. She also had a very short fuse when someone messed up her crime scene, and right now he expected to be grilled over it.

"Kent! What are you doing tampering with my cadaver?" Molly scowled, then gestured for two patrolmen to move out of her way as she approached the already taped off area. "What have you got for me, shooting, stabbing?"

Clark shook his head, about to tell her he had no clue how Tanner had died, but then something felt very wrong. He blinked as the world around him began to swim in and out of focus, and a wave of dizziness and nausea engulfed him. The detective's mind reeled momentarily, and the next thing he knew Lois was grabbing him and guiding him to a nearby wall, where she summarily sat him down.

"I'm fine..." The half-hearted untruth wasn't fooling anyone, but Kent still tried to sound convincing. If he had told them his real thoughts, and how every breath caused intense pain, he had no doubt he would be frog marched to Metropolis Memorial, and that he couldn't afford. I've got to get a grip; at least in front of these two...but what if this thing is based on kryptonite, like the bullets he had me shot with before? They can't dig out something I've absorbed into my system...

"Sonny, you don't look fine to me!" Molly had tagged along at the first sign that things weren't well. She had a motherly soft spot for Kent, although she would never admit it. "Are you hurt? Maybe you should get looked over..."

Shaking his head Clark made a conscious effort to appear nothing more than fatigued, Molly after all had no clue that normally he couldn't get sick. "I think its time I took some leave is all Molly. I've had a pretty big caseload and maybe it's getting to me. I'll go home and get some sleep, I promise..."

The coroner's eyes narrowed, proving she didn't believe a word, but she was here to work after all, and finally succumbed to examining the body rather than Kent.

Relieved, Clark turned back to Lois and inhaled laboriously. He looked pale, and his eyes were almost glazed, their normal sparkle reduced to a dull hue. At the sight Lane couldn't shake her concern. "Clark, you need to look in a mirror. Till we get the labs workup, and Molly's report, there's not much we can do here. Why don't we go get Klein to check you out? Or while Chloe's away at least come back to my place and I'll cook you something?"

"We could check out those leads in the P.D.A.?"

Lois yanked on his arm in temper. "And you could black out again in the middle of a fight!" Why is he always so stubborn? If it were anyone else I'd have dragged them down to the hospital by now...

"It's my place for a meal, and I can keep an eye on you, or I get Molly back over here and tell her about the mystery spray..." For once Lane meant every word. The hidden feelings she had for Clark were welling up inside, and there was nothing she could do to repress them. If she couldn't have him to love, she could at least make sure he stayed alive and well for her cousin's return.

Not suspecting her true thoughts, but knowing she meant business, Kent finally capitulated. "I give in to your superior intellect and verbal maneuvering..." He smiled again, "you know, sometimes when you do that, you remind me of Lex and his frequent mind games."

Lois frowned and tugged open the Ford's door. He knows I still don't fully trust Lex, and he compares me to him! She shot Kent an acerbic look then beamed, attempting to come up with a suitably funny retaliatory remark on the drive back to her home...


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Lucas Luthor's Second Office
Level Three...

Lucas Luthor hated telephone conversations; he much preferred to look people in the eye when he spoke to them, Lionel had taught him that trick. Sometimes, like now though, they were necessary. Since the true nature of his dealings had been brought to light by Clark Kent, he had to be very careful who he was seen in public with, and just which of his actions he let become common knowledge. Right now, it was a good job his operative wasn't standing before him.

"Just why the hell wasn't all the evidence leading back to us removed from Tanner's body?" Lucas slammed a fist into his desktop as anger began to swell in him. "You were supposed to make this look like Kazuku's doing!" He had planned everything so carefully, and yet already things were not going as he wished. To Luthor it was a totally unacceptable state of affairs.

The voice at the other end ignored his bitter temperament. "Kent turned up, I was forced to alter the game plan..."

"You should have used the spray dammit! He was next on the list anyway. I thought you were supposed to be the best." The phone began to shake as Lucas exerted more pressure on it, without even knowing how much his anger he was venting. "I think I need to review your pay scheme..."

"I did use the spray, Kent collapsed for a time, but he was up again before I even left the scene. The fault isn't mine Luthor, it's yours...tell your people to design better germs." This time the killer's voice oozed sarcasm, and a certain amount of annoyance. "What do you want me to do now?"

Lucas paused just a second to think, letting his rage come under control, at least with this subordinate. "I'll be back in touch within the hour..." Without further word he hung up and jumped from his seat. Failure was not something he liked. Someone's going to pay for this...

Striding through the level three section like some deranged madman, Luthor headed straight to his head researcher's post. She had strung him along for months making the virus for Kent, and now it didn't even work. "Doctor, your little concoction for Kent didn't do a damn thing, and frankly I want to know why?" The words came out in a flurry, as he rushed into the room, pushing past a centrifuge so fast and hard it clattered to the floor. He disregarded the broken test tubes, and stared at the woman scientist with a glare so intense as to instill fear into God himself. "I wanted him dead instantly!"

Her dark eyes looked back submissively, all the fight having been drained from her long ago. "I told you the strain I made for the cop was different. Kent's physiology is so unlike ours, at least on a cellular level. There are just too many variables for me to be precise in my calculations. The variant I made will work though; I guarantee it. He will die soon, and nothing can stop it..."

Lucas huffed, and for a moment he seemed placated, then his face screwed into some demon-like mask, as he was again overwhelmed with a wrath he couldn't control. For one brief second the doctor expected him to hit her, but instead he turned to the nearby workbench and scooped its contents onto the floor in a crazed frenzy. A Bunsen burner sputtered as its gas supply was cut off, and several vials of some unknown liquid gushed onto the tiled floor, leaving an evil green stain as they spread outward. Finally satisfied with his outburst, he turned back fleetingly to the woman.

"You better be right, because what Edge and my father did to you all those years ago? Well it will be nothing compared to what I can arrange." He smirked, and briefly Lionel's long dead sardonic grin came to life in his equally evil son...


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Lois Lane's Apartment

Clark sat quietly at Lois' dining table, not really knowing what to say or do. This was the first time he had ever been in her home, and had he been his normal healthy self, he might have noticed just how perfect the place was laid out. As it was, he tugged his jacket ever closer to his body, as an evil chill began to permeate through his very being.

"I sure hope you can stomach my cooking, I'm not exactly in practice at this..." Lois appeared with a plate in each hand, gently placing one before him. "Just something I rustled up pretty fast..." She took her own platter, and dropped into her seat the other side the table, noting yet again Kent's pallor, but not knowing just what to do about it.

Kent smiled feebly back. The food looked fine, in fact it looked worthy of his mother's cooking even, but his normally huge appetite had drained away with his color, and nothing was going to bring it back. I haven't felt this ill since that time mom got sick too...

Not wanting to appear ungracious, or indeed ill, he picked up a fork and toyed with his meal whilst he talked. "Maybe we should take a closer look at the P.D.A. we found on our corpse?"

Lois sipped a glass of water, then retrieved the evidence bag from her purse and flicked on the handheld. "Mostly it's just addresses in here. There are a couple of e-mails too..." Her nose wrinkled slightly as she squinted at the messages in such tiny typeface. "Listen to this one. It's from some Eastern Shipping Conglomerate. 'We are pleased to hear the level's processing capabilities are now maxed out, and that our order will now be delivered on time, therefore avoiding any unnecessary penalties we would have been forced to impose' It's signed, but its in Chinese or Japanese..."

Kent squirmed, and this time not just from the wooziness he was feeling. The word 'level' had triggered an old memory, and it wasn't a good one. "This still sounds typical Lucas Luthor. The plant in Smallville once had a secret facility on level three, what if he reopened it? And our killer looked almost Oriental in size and movements..."

Lois was way ahead now, and the thrill of the chase showed clearly on her face. "Luthor has always had connections in the underworld, especially the Japanese side of things! We might finally be getting close to nailing him, if we can find out what this order is for..."

Clark thought so too, but what price had he already paid? The queasy sensation was getting stronger, and he had no clue how to quell it. His throat felt like sandpaper, and with each sentence it became coarser, and harder to talk. I have to hold it together while I'm here...

Not wanting to alarm his hostess further, he tugged his tremulous body up to get a glass of water, but even that proved too much for his failing system. Knees buckling, he at last yielded to the inevitable, and let his weary eyes and body give in to a blissful respite. Only one thing played through his consciousness now as he impacted with the floor, and it was the one thing he would try to live for. Chloe...Chloe...