One update before the Christmas holidays. Enjoy the cheesiness. :)
Three years ago Lionel Luthor had been re-diagnosed with the same liver disease that he had recovered from after the transference experience with Clark. There had been some progress in the medical field, but his condition was still terminal. Lionel had not been prepared to give up easily. He started doing research into cloning, cybernetics, and all other fields of medicine/technology that might prolong or save his life.
Lionel had discovered a doctor making amazing breakthroughs in the field of cybernetics. He had arranged for this doctor to have a very public ousting from his position, and then in the nick of time, Lionel had come in, and for all appearances, was the savior of the situation. He then recruited Mason Hines to do personal work in cybernetics for himself.
Lionel's plan wasn't completely selfish. He did want to profit from the research, so he developed a side program, I.O.N.A., and hired another team to be in charge of that. This was when he met Lila Lotz.
Lionel had been taken with Lila from the moment he'd interviewed her. She was smart, a little sassy, and most importantly she'd made Lionel feel more alive than anyone had in years. Lionel had kicked Katherine Trumpet, his body warmer, to the curb and Lila had assumed her position at all the social functions Lionel attended. If Lionel had had the chance to change anything, it would have been this one thing. He would have just gotten rid of Katherine completely. But that wasn't the case, and Katherine had developed an alternate plan of her own.
Lionel had Mason and Katherine, along with a team of employees who were unaware about the real goal, working on integrating life-sustaining machinery into the human body. Lionel had been told his liver wouldn't last beyond five years. This put extreme pressure on the situation and the project Lionel was depending on to save his life.
Finally, six months ago, Mason informed Lionel that all test runs on the unknowing volunteers had indicated the technology was ready. They could proceed at any moment. Lionel had arranged for his "death", switching his dental records with a John Doe obtained from the Metropolis Morgue. In case things didn't proceed as planned, he could be legally dead, and there would be a body and no problems for the company.
When Lionel entered the lab for the procedure, Mason and Katherine were there along with a very talented surgeon who had been paid very well to monitor and assist. Lionel had no idea, but Katherine and Mason had spoken and made some plans of their own.
Apparently Katherine had discovered the true events around Mason's sudden career change. When Lionel had stopped calling, Katherine waited for the right time to tell Mason the truth. Right before the procedure was to begin on Lionel, Katherine gave him the whole story, embellishing a bit to ensure he'd go along with her plan to rid the world of Lila Lotz, and to use Lionel for their purposes.
Mason had been furious when he'd found out the truth, and he'd played right into Katherines hands. Mason took his work seriously, and Lionel had screwed with him for the last time. Now it would be Lionel who would end up doing the bidding of Mason Hines.
Prior to the procedure, they had injected Lionel with a truth serum, and over the course of several hours they'd gleaned more than enough useful information from him, personal and otherwise; including information about a boy from Smallville with special abilities (apparently Lionel remembered more than he let on after the transference). They hadn't been able to get a name, but now Mason knew. And having this remarkable being in his grasp was enough to make Mason rethink the initial plan. They no longer needed Lila, or any of the others. They were expendable.
Clark Kent was the prize.
Mason stood in front of the window proudly, watching Lionel Luthor as he walked his small room, a book in hand.
"Meet Lionel, or most of him anyway," Mason laughed as he admired his creation.
"This is the goal I have been striving for in all my works over the past decade. A living, breathing cybernetic organism," he watched the reactions on the faces of the four of them and laughed. "Almost human," he added dreamily.
"You're sick," Clark stammered, his body writhing and knotting in horrible pain. He could feel his life-force draining. He couldn't handle much more exposure to the kryptonite fluid.
"I'm sick? That's rich! Do your friends here know about you?" Mason said his eyebrows up in question.
Clark just stared at the man, not saying a word.
Mason moved his eyes from Clark to Lana. He smiled when he saw the look of want on Lana's face. She wanted to know. He could see it. He moved towards them and started pacing in front of the foursome.
"Yes, Clark, I know all about you. I had a great tutor in the abilities and talents of Clark Kent. Lionel didn't leave anything out. He never named you outright, but from what I've seen, it is you he talked about." Mason grinned.
"I know that you have incredible strength; that you can move faster than a speeding bullet, and that you are bulletproof; you have impenetrable skin; where do you think the idea for this I.O.N.A. project came from? It was you. I know you can start fires with your eyes, and that you have x-ray abilities with your vision as well, and let us not forget your ability to hear things," Mason stepped forward a few steps, and leaning over he lowered his voice, his face was inches from Clark's.
"Did I miss anything?"
Chloe wanted to yell at this man, to make him, and Lana and Lila, understand about Clark. But she couldn't speak for him. She clenched her jaw, wishing this nightmare were over. Where are you, Lois, she wondered.
Lana was at a loss. She'd always suspected Clark was somehow affected by the meteor shower-but she had no idea it was to this extent. Once they left Smallville for college, their lives were relatively normal. There were no meteor freaks trying to kill them all, it was a normal college experience. But hearing about all the things Clark could do only helped Lana make more sense of her years in Smallville. She was somewhat comforted knowing how protected she had been with Clark, and how he'd always been there to save her. But it didn't make sense why Clark was so sick suddenly. Lana glanced sideways at Clark, trying to connect the last few dots.
Clark sat there. His suffering had reduced him to a quivering, moaning, weakling. None of his abilities were present now.
Lila stared at Clark also. She found this all very hard to believe. There was no way a human could have such power.
"Do something if you have all these abilities!" Lila exclaimed, breaking the silence.
"I can't," Clark breathed. The ropes cutting into his skin as he leaned forward, pain still shooting through every limb of his body.
Lila and Lana stared at him incredulously.
"That's right, he can't. For all his strengths, there is, apparently, a weakness. I had always wondered why Lionel had installed these pipes," he said indicating the structure above them.
"Now I know, the meteor rocks," he raised his voice to normal levels again. "You must have triggered the fluid when you entered the room."
He stood up and backed away from the four of them.
"But why would you be affected by these meteor rocks in such a way?" Mason was putting on a great show of mocking them all.
Chloe had had enough.
"Stop!" she yelled. Lana, Lila, and Mason turned to her, shocked at her sudden outburst.
"Clark needs to get out of here, or he'll die," she said, pleading in her voice for him to let them all go.
"Sorry," he replied shortly, no hint of true sorrow in his voice. "No one is leaving. I have plans for all of you; especially Clark."
"You are insane," Chloe said, on the verge of tears. How in the hell are we going to get out of this one, she thought.
The bomb reached the 5 minute mark.
Lex and Lois moved quickly to the bank of elevators, and they rode them down to the labs. Neither of them spoke. Lois was annoyed with Lex, and Lex was trying to figure out what might be going on, right under his nose.
The elevators let them off, and Lois followed Lex down to the Technologies Lab. The two of them went through the decontamination process, and opened the door to the lab to find Katherine Trumpet and two large men standing in the room.
"What is going on down here?" Lex demanded to know from Katherine, walking confidently forward towards the three of them. Lois followed a few steps behind, taking in the sights around her, looking for clues to Chloe's whereabouts.
Her eye caught something. Lois stopped walking and picked up the bag that belonged to Chloe Sullivan.
"Mr. Luthor," Katherine was taken aback by Lex's sudden appearance. Could anything else possibly go wrong, she thought.
"There was a phone call made from these offices, and aside from you, there is no one else here. Where is Chloe Sullivan?" Lex demanded, more than asked.
Katherine attempted to look innocent.
"I haven't seen anyone else but you and these two men," she lied, hoping she was convincing.
Lex bored his eyes into hers, certain she was hiding something.
"She's lying," Lois said from behind Lex, "Chloe was here, she left her bag. And she wouldn't do that unless-" Lois couldn't bear to finish her thought as she held the black bag monogrammed with Chloe's initials aloft for all to see.
Lex, who had turned when Lois spoke, turned back to face Katherine and was greeted with a much different sight then when he'd turned away. Her face was dark with anger, and this time her eyes were boring into Lex's.
"You know, sometimes you are just too smart for your own good," she remarked. She gave a signal with her hand, and one of the hired men whipped Lex across the face with the butt of the handgun he had been palming.
Lois was still holding Chloe's bag up in the air, and she watched this happen in slow motion. She dropped Chloe's bag, and started to move towards Lex, when the other man was suddenly upon her, restraining her hands and putting her in a choke hold. Lois struggled all she could, twisting and writhing, trying to get any grip with her hands, trying to tear at his skin with her nails. Slowly her vision became tunneled and her breathing difficult. Lois slipped into a void of unconsciousness moments later and the man let go, letting Lois fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Katherine was through with this. She turned to move back downstairs, and told one man to stay with the unconscious Lex and Lois.
The bomb in the vault was reaching the 2:00 mark. Once past two minutes, the bomb could not be deactivated or turned off. But no one knew of the bomb, and across the room Mason was still playing his twisted game with Clark and the others.
"The great thing about Lionel now, is that he is completely under my control. Yes, Lionel initially wanted to live forever, to finally beat the liver disease. But when I learned the truth of how Lionel had played God with my fate, I decided I would return the favor. Lionel Luthor as you may have known him is gone. In his place is the Lionel I created; the one who will do my bidding; the one who will become so powerful through my control that soon, with me to guide him, he will rule not only this country, but the world. No one can stop me; especially seeing as I have the only one who might be able too, trapped, and dying in my lab!" Mason laughed as he spoke. He was giddy with power. He was beyond insane.
Chloe was more scared than anyone else in the room. If Clark couldn't get his abilities back to get them out, her last hope was Lois, and that was only if she could find the secret passageway. But with Katherine out of the room, and the two other men guarding the stairwell, her hopes were fading fast.
"Would you all like to meet the new and improved Lionel Luthor?" Mason didn't wait for a response. Mason turned on the two way intercom system.
"Say hello to our guests, Lionel," Mason ordered. Lionel stopped what he was doing, and walked awkwardly towards the viewing window.
"Hello," he said stiffly, almost forcefully and with some hesitation.
"He still doesn't like to do what I tell him, but he has no choice, if I order him to sing "I'm A Little Teapot", he has to obey," Mason looked to the four captives for some acknowledgement of his genius.
Lila sat in stunned silence. She felt she had entered some alternate reality, or some science fiction movie. This wasn't her life. She was a scientist, she couldn't believe that Clark was bulletproof, or that Lionel was now a cyborg meant for world domination.
"What did you want with me?" Lila asked the man she had worked with for two years, on the verge of hysterical laughter at this ridiculous situation.
"Well, really, in the beginning you were expendable," Mason said with a pitying look. "Originally, Lionel wanted you as his life-long companion."
"But when you stole Lionel from under Katherine, you created in her a monster. Katherine's idea was to still turn you into a cyborg, only you would be programmed to murder. You would remove all offending parties to the rise of power for Lionel here," Mason looked admiringly at the cyborg again.
Lila couldn't stop herself, she laughed.
Mason snapped out of his reverie, and looked with a hurt expression at Lila.
"You never did appreciate my work," he said, his tone menacing. Lila stopped laughing as she realized Chloe was absolutely right. Mason truly was insane.
"Just let them go, and you can keep me here," Clark struggled to say. He was in so much pain he had become numb to it. He could feel pounding pressure building in his head and his brain felt like it was going to explode. He'd never been exposed to so much Kryptonite for this long before. He hoped he could recover, because he knew he couldn't last much longer.
Mason shook his head as he walked across the room towards Clark.
"Such chivalry," he said. "Sadly, as I said before, release is not an option here."
Suddenly there was a blinding pain in Clark's head. He cried out almost involuntarily.
Lila thought she would die from the sound of Clark's cry. The pain that was evident in his voice threatened to invade Lila's heart. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for him.
Lana had been watching him struggle and felt such helplessness. She was beyond caring that Clark hadn't trusted her with the truth about his abilities. She was worried about this man who'd loved her enough to protect her from what could have been a devastating secret.
Chloe watched Clark, her heart breaking for the millionth time. With each labored breath and every spasm of pain, Chloe labored to breathe herself and felt the same pain. When Clark cried out, Chloe almost lost all control. When Clark's nose starting bleeding, Chloe did lose control. She couldn't hold back anymore, she let her emotions out the only way she felt she could, she screamed at the top of her lungs.