A/N: Hey Guys! Be prepared for the next chapter! I don't know if the length will be improved but it will be action packed from here on out! So hang on to your seatbelts. And lets ride!

Chapter 19

Dangerous Games

"Hello?" Lex asked as he picked up the phone. Since he and his father had joined sides they had been waiting on a call from Trask about an update on his investigation of the ship and his progress on finding someone to shadow Clark Kent.

"This is Trask," the man on the other end replied. We have a bit of a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Lex asked.

"This ship is a Pandora's Box, it impregnable, tight as a drum. There's no explanation for what happened the other night either."

"I'm taking that's not all?" Lex asked.

"We're also having trouble finding someone to shadow your farm boy."

"Why?" Lex asked.

"I'm pretty sure you remember last year when you hired on officer to investigate your father and he started to work for him too?"

"I seem to recall that." Lex replied.

"After he was through with your investigation he and your father keep ties; and he continued your father's engagement of trailing Kent. That was the last anyone ever heard of him. He just vanished. And let me tell you something Luthor, I've had a look at his records myself and there's something there but there're too many ghosts in this boys past. Phalen, Nixson, they all ended up dead. We can't risk anyone else. I'm sorry but I think we're going to have to break our partnership.

"Not even if we can make it your while?" Lionel asked. He had just entered the room while Trask had been speaking.

"Sorry not this time Luthor's we can't continue this partnership any further." Trask replied then he hung up. (Trask had gotten what he wanted though, the money. And that decision, unknown to him, would haunt him for the rest of his life.)

"Well," Lex said as he looked at his father, "seems like we'll have to take a different approach."

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The next night Chloe was alone at the Talon. Since she was starting collage soon she had moved out of the apartment she shared with her dad and was now rooming with Lana. She had helped close up and now was alone in the building. Clark and Lana were off on a date, Pete was spending some time with his dad, and even Lois was busy. She had just entered the apartment when her 6th sense spiked. When she turned around she was faced with Lex. Even though she was startled she quickly gained her composure.

"How did you get in here?" she asked.

Lex made his reply by smugly displaying a set of keys in his hand.

"I had a copy of the keys made when I sold the Talon to the Kent's. I thought they might come in handy someday." Lex said.

"What do you want?" Chloe asked holding her ground.

"Answers." Lex replied. "You see, first Clark disappears on the day of the meteor shower along with an artifact from my vault. I find you snooping my mansion, then I take you to the caves, where we saw the brightest light I'm sure either of us has ever seen, and you know what? I could have sworn that I saw Cark standing right in its epicenter. Afterward no one sees him foe two months. Then he comes back and you pick up right where you left off, no questions asked. So excuse me if that doesn't tell me something. I know you think you're protecting him, by lying for him, but you playing a very dangerous game."

"Sorta like covering up a spaceship, Lana said crashed in Lander's field during the meteor shower?" Chloe asked.

"Lana was hysterical. She didn't see what she thought she did."

"Well maybe you didn't either Lex, remember you've been prone to hallucinations yourself. So stop asking me questions, or I will start asking my own." Chloe said walking around him trying to leave.

"I don't think that that will be necessary." Lex replied.

Before Chloe could reply she felt a sharp pain in the neck. She turned just in time to see a sniper running on the roof across the street. All she heard was "Sweet dreams." Before everything went black.