Chapter 10

Harmony stared at the buzz around her. All morning, police had crawled through the manor, combing every inch of the massive house for clues regarding the disappearance of its younger master. Reporter swarmed the lawns. Crowds filled arched driveway, and cars lined the streets for as far as Harmony could see. Lana and Chloe hadn't left her side all day, a comfort for which she was very grateful.

"Let's get away from all those people," Lana suggested.

Harmony nodded. She walked slowly to Lex's office, where Lex normally would be busy arguing with heads of LexCorp departments or dealing with attorney squabbles. "There's got to be something we can do," she whispered, staring at his empty desk.

Clark walked up behind them, his friend Pete close by. "Harm, how are you doing?"

She threw herself at her large cousin, as she had ever time she'd seen him this horrible day. Sobs began anew, and Clark held her close, realizing all over again how much his best friend and cousin had come to mean to each other. "We're all here for you," he whispered softly, holding her tightly.

Pete cleared his throat. "Here come your parents, Clark."

Jonathan and Martha hurried over. "Harmony, how are you, dear?" Martha hugged Harmony.

"Freaking out," Harmony tried to joke, but the panic was slowly bubbling. Something deep inside was trying to rise to the surface, something that she knew, but couldn't quite reach.

Suddenly, Harmony stopped. She stepped away from the small group of people gathered to comfort her and offer their support. She stared at each of their faces as she puzzled out what was rolling through her mind.

"What's wrong?" Martha asked.

"The nightmare that caused all this," Harmony answered, mind beginning to whirl, "was about being chased by a faceless enemy. I was crying for Clark, but he couldn't hear me. Finally, when I thought for sure I was gonna die, I called out for Lex. That's when I woke up. But I remember the feeling that under the panic and the fear of dying, something was trying to get through in my head. A knowledge, something that I know and haven't used in a very long time. I'll need to think on it for a while."

Chloe and Lana looked at each other, puzzled, but they followed Harmony to Lex's desk. She sat silently in his plain oversized chair, leaning back as she'd seen him do so many times. Tears began to form in her eyes. She began to fear that he'd never sit in this chair again.

Again, the nagging feeling that there was something she knew tugged at the corners of her mind.

"Clark," she spoke clearly for the first time that day, solidly, but she stared hard at the desk before her. She was fighting the internal battle between the knowledge that eluded her and the panic that sought to gain control.

"Mom, Dad, could you guys give us a little while?" Clark whispered to his parents.

His mom nodded. "Sure, honey. Take your time." She began to herd Clark and Harmony's friends out the door.

"Find out what she doesn't fully realize she knows," Jonathan murmured, eyeing his niece. He could sense her struggle, but knew he couldn't help her this time.

Harmony didn't see as her friends and family left the room, leaving her alone with Clark. She sensed it, though. "Every time I begin to get afraid, I feel like there's something that I'm missing," she stated.

"Missing?" Clark sat down in a chair on the other side of the desk.

Harmony leaned forward, propping her arms on the desk. "Like there's something that I know, but can't remember. Something that could save Lex, but every time I calm down, that feeling is gone."

"It's only there when you begin to panic," Clark's mind began to spin. Something about panic.

"Exactly," Harmony propped her head in her hands, not sure where to lead her thoughts.

Just then, the chief of police opened the office door. "We found something I think you'll be interested in," she stated, handing Harmony a CD. "Hope you don't mind that we took the liberty of viewing it first."

"That's fine," she mumbled, inserting it into Lex's computer. She began the trace program installed on the computer at the same time.

The video opened with a view of Lex tied to a chair, awake, gagged, and obviously furious. Muffled voices could be heard, but the kidnappers took care never to allow their faces to be seen. "We want the Kent girl," one voice demanded. "Dead or alive, or the next time anyone sees Mr. Luthor, he'll be as dead as her father."

Lex began to thrash, howling behind his gag. From out of range of the camera, the butt of a rifle appeared and slammed into Lex's temple. With a groan, Lex toppled over, bouncing his head off the floor. The thud was sickening, turning Harmony's stomach. She screamed, sobbing and shaking. "Lex!" This time, the panic won. Harmony couldn't gain her control back. She was tearing at her hair in her horror.

"There will be a press conference this afternoon, Ms. Kent," the voice on the video continued, but Harmony didn't hear over her own shrieks. "By 3pm. Otherwise, you live, he dies, and we come after you anyway. This time, we won't fail." The video ended with a horrific scene of feet kicking Lex's face and ribs until he was lying in a pool of his own blood. Snaps and cracks of bones could be heard even over the amateur quality of the video. The screen stopped, frozen on the scene of Lex, looking dead.

Harmony was in a state of horror. She clawed at Clark, clinging to him frantically. They fell to the floor, and Clark held on to her, hoping to reach her through her terror. "Turn in off!" he roared. "MOM!"

Before the police chief could turn off the image on the computer screen, Jonathan and Martha Kent burst into the office. They both saw the picture, but hurried to Harmony. Jonathan scooped his thrashing niece into his arms and they rushed her out of the office.

Behind them, Lana, Chloe and Pete also saw it. They froze, staring at the screen. "Is that Lex?" Lana whispered, shocked. Pete put his arm around his friend. Together with Chloe, he gently steered the stunned Lana toward Lex's couch by the fireplace.

"What did the video say?" Pete asked the chief of police after she'd removed the disk and sat down with them.

"We believe it was from the same people that originally attacked Harmony," she answered. "They want a press conference, probably announcing that the Luthor dynasty will do anything and everything to get its prince back, Harmony will give herself over to them, all that nonsense."

"What's really going to happen?" Chloe asked.

"I don't play with ransom, or with kidnappers," the small, fiery head of Smallville's finest stood up, straightening her coat. "Now, I don't want you kids getting involved. Stay here and take care of your friend. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," they all mumbled, not entirely sure what other choice they had.

In a bunker underground, outside of town, Lionel was furious.

"I didn't say anything about kidnapping my son!" he whipped his hand out, thrashing the face nearest him.

"We figured it was the fastest way to get the girl," one man spoke up. "You did tell us to do whatever it took to get her, sir."

"Oh, Clay, is that right?" Lionel stared at the man. "You kidnap my son, beat him nearly to death, send a video of your thugs doing it to his girlfriend, whom you were hired to kill, which has nothing to do with Lex in the first place, and now you want to play semantics!"

"But sir, she saw the video," Clay protested. "She'll hold the press conference. She'll come for Lex."

"What makes you so sure?" Lionel asked sarcastically. "His own father wouldn't give in to a ransom demand. Why would his girlfriend?"

"Because she's a girl," Clay smirked. "Girls are prone to panic. They'll do anything to protect the ones they love. Or save them."

"Not this one."

Both heads turned. Lionel froze. How much had Lex heard? Did Lex know he was involved? Clay stepped forward. Lex's eyes were swollen shut from the beating he'd received, but apparently he could still talk.

"What did you say?" he asked, indicating to two men to sit Lex back up.

"You don't know Harmony if you think she's gonna give in to your demands," Lex coughed, spitting blood. "She'll do anything to save me, but not the way you're planning."

"She will if she loves you," Clay grinned. "Not that it matters. She'll be dead anyway."

"And me?"

"You'll go home," Clay grumbled. "No choice in that matter. If it were up to me, I'd just send you both straight to hell."

"So who is it up to, then?"

Behind Clay, Lionel straightened. This meant that Lex didn't know. He shook his head at Clay. "Nice try, Mr. Luthor," Clay chuckled. "You're good. But I'm not telling you a thing."

"He's got you that scared, huh?" Lex turned his battered face toward Clay, but Clay refused to take the bait.

Looking up at the clock, he realized it was nearly 3:00. "Well, Lex, it's almost time. Guess we'll find out just how much you really mean to your dear girlfriend."

"You've got it all wrong, you know," Lex replied. He was already hurting for the words he hadn't even spoken, but he had to try anything to give Harmony a chance, or at least more time.

"Wrong about what?" Clay asked, puzzled.

"She's not my girlfriend," Lex felt like a knife had been jammed into his heart, and he prayed that the beating would start up again. "I felt sorry for her after you guys messed her up."

Bewildered, Clay turned away from Lex, staring up at the television in the corner but not really seeing the screen. In the shadows, Lionel was equally puzzled. Not his girlfriend? Surely he was bluffing. Lionel turned away, climbing the stairs to the outside world. If he didn't make an appearance at the manor soon, people would become suspicious.

Clark and his parents finally got Harmony calmed down. "Are you gonna do the press conference?" Clark asked gently.

They'd taken her up to the room that Lex had had prepared for her. She'd never stayed in it, but as she looked around, she realized that Lex knew her better than she realized. It was almost entirely as if she'd decorated it herself. She stood up from the bed and stared out the massive windows overlooking Lex's stables. Even the view was the one she would have chosen. As she watched the horses busily living their lives, she suddenly realized what it was that she had tried to remember. She whirled, yanking her hair out of its stumpy, disheveled ponytail as she headed for her bathroom. Lex had told her one of the doors in her room was her own private bathroom, and the other was a large walk-in closet.

"I'm going to the press conference," she called over her shoulder. She pulled open the first door she came to. It happened to be the closet, so she started shuffling through the clothes that Lex had bought for her. After choosing something that suited her new state of mind, she hurried to the other door, which turned out to be the rumored bathroom.

"I figured it out," she spoke through the door as she dressed.

"What was bugging you?" Clark asked.

"Yeah."

"That's good, right?"

"When I was younger, my father met a man who taught me to think like a crime boss so I could beat them at their own game," Harmony threw the clothes she'd been wearing out of the bathroom, where they landed in a pile on the floor. Martha picked them up and set them neatly on the desk chair. "He taught me to face my fears, overcome them, and then use them against those who prey on the fearful."

"That's cool," Clark grinned. "Like I had to do with my powers."

"Kinda," Harmony came out of the bathroom wearing tight fitting black jeans, a black sleeveless belly shirt, and she was pulling her short, multi-colored hair into a ponytail. She stopped at the desk to check the construction of her hair work before returning to the closet. "So, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I don't have Kryptonian powers, Little Cuz, but I do have a few special Edge City powers that certain Luthor thugs don't know about."

"Such as?" Jonathan wasn't sure how he felt about this harder edge of his niece that he wasn't familiar with, especially so suddenly after the mental snap that he'd just witnessed.

"Such as," Harmony began pulling on a pair of high ankle boots. "A technological mind that's gonna find Lex, and a deathly fear of losing the ones I love the most."

She stood up, then paused. "Technology," she murmured to herself. "Wait a minute. Clark, I'm gonna need your help in Lex's room."

They hurried to Lex's bedroom, a place Harmony had never been. She paused at the door, feeling a little bit saddened by the fact that her first time in his room was without him. Shaking the feeling off, she pointed to the bed, hurrying around to the side. Clark lifted the bed with ease as his dad stood guard at the door. He set it down a few feet from the wall. "Good?" he asked.

"Yeah," Harmony nodded. She began clawing at the wall, trying to pull the panels off. "Clark, scan the walls. We're looking for anything that's not supposed to be there."

Clark stared at the wall. In a minute, his X-ray vision revealed a small rectangular object behind one of the panels. "Watch out."

Harmony stepped back. Concentrating, Clark shot red beams of laser from his eyes, cutting a circle around the object he'd seen in the wall. He took care to cut a large enough circle that he wouldn't risk hitting whatever the wall was hiding. Soon, the wall started to groan, then gave way as the wood began to fall. Harmony jumped when she saw that the edge was going to land on her, glaring at her cousin's clumsiness.

"I told you to watch out," Clark chided.

Harmony reached into the wall, yanking out a rectangular object that was taped to the insulation. "This is a tracker," she explained to Clark as she turned it on. "Since I'd been attacked, Lex has been wearing something in his shirt collars. It's kinda like a pill." She stepped over to Lex's closet. Pulling one of his shirt's out, she lifted the collar and pointed to a spot in the seam, barely noticeable. Clark saw a tiny chip sewn into the stitches. "When he bites down on this, as long as he breaks the shell, it'll activate, sending a signal to the tracker. No matter where he is, he can be tracked."

Clark nodded, but before he could respond, Jonathan stuck his head in the room. "Harmony, it's almost time."

They strode from the room, hurrying downstairs to where everything had been set up for the press conference. People filled the lobby, and reporters from every major magazine in the country crowded around the podium. Harmony took a deep breath, shook herself, then strode confidently down the stairs.

"Good afternoon," she spoke clearly into the microphones. "You have been gathered here today because, as I'm sure you are all aware, Lex Luthor has been kidnapped."

She paused as a gasp swept through the crowd.

"I have been instructed to offer to do whatever I have to get him back," Harmony continued. "I'm supposed to agree to any terms and do anything his captors demand. However, I think that I have something else in mind."

In the underground bunker where Lex was being held, Clay and his men stared intently at the TV. As she descended the stairs and began speaking, Clay nodded in satisfaction. But when she paused in her speech, he started. "Something else?"

"I told you," Lex chuckled.

"These men think they can bully me," Harmony continued on the TV. "But they have another thing coming. They attacked me and failed. They have frightened me, tormented me, and threatened my family. They killed my father, and now they threaten to kill friends of my family. I will not fold!" Harmony's voice began to rise. "I will not give in to threats."

As the new anchor came back on the screen, Clay turned on Lex. "Does she think that we won't kill you?" he snarled.

"Why should you?" Lex asked, trying to keep calm. "She doesn't love me. You heard her. I'm just a friend of the family. She's coming after you because you keep threatening her."

Instead of replying, Clay stormed up the stairs. Lex listened to him leave, then thought about what Harmony had said. Does she love me? He couldn't help but think. Or is she playing the same game I am? She can't come after me. She doesn't know how. He felt his heart hurt for the lack of sympathy in her voice. Please, Harmony, be careful. Please know how I really feel, he prayed.