Author's note: This entire story start to finish takes place somewhere after the end of the second season of Smallville and before the end of the third season. I know there were a few references made in the first chapter or two to which it seemed as though this takes place during or after the fourth season. That was mainly because I myself was unsure as to when I wanted this story to take place. I know this may have confused some of my readers and I apologize for that. However, I also want to thank all of you who have submitted reviews and read my Smallville fan fiction.
Chapter Nine
Lines Are Drawn
"Chloe for the last time," Kara stated while ending a spin she had started in one of the several computer chairs in the Torch to face the other blonde teen. "I do not remember anything I talked about with Bruce Wayne, other than just exchanging our names." She gave her friend a semi-stern expression while crossing her arms over her chest.
Chloe looked out from behind the computer she was working on and gave her the beginnings of a puppy dog pout, to which Kara just shook her head at and continued the stern facial expression. "Oh alright, fine! Subject dropped." Chloe announced while pulling back behind the computer.
Kara rolled herself over to the side of the desk and came to a stop just there by using her hand as a brake against the desktop. "For good or for the moment?" she asked while giving Chloe a look and raised brow. Chloe gave her a rather guilty look to this question. "You know Chloe, all good reporters know when it's better to stop a dead end chase of one story and start up on a new one. You know like for example, leave me and the whole Bruce Wayne thing alone and start bugging Lex about that semi that nearly turned you into a tire ornament last week." Kara suggested with a small grin appearing on her face at the end.
This caused Chloe to start laughing a bit while she tried to focus on the work she was doing with her computer. "Lex is more or less pulling a you right now as well. The last few interviews I've done, he's said the same thing in statement." She explained while clicking on a document and dragging it over to drop within another.
"Really?" Kara asked in a sarcastic manner while at the same time badly acting surprised. "How strange." She commented absent mindedly while placing her left index finger against her chin. "Now what will ace reporter Chloe Sullivan do for a story?" she teased as Chloe shot her a look that was all but amused. "Oh come on, you know I'm just playing with you." Kara laughed while swinging herself and the chair around so that way she was sitting beside Chloe and staring at the computer screen as well. The image on it and the document that Chloe had dropped in alongside it had Kara giving an amused nod to it. "Wow, you work fast on recovering from having story deprived matters." Kara stated while glancing over at her friend.
Chloe looked over at her with a grin. "Well I figured for now I can put all my energy into finding out more about our mysterious caped wonder here in Smallville until either you or Lex finally cracks." She replied while receiving a playful shove from Kara in response. "Actually, I haven't been able to find a single picture of Supergirl yet, so I figured I'd have one of the art students draw up that symbol she wears on her chest and cape."
"The S-shield?" Kara mused in question while studying the drawing on the computer screen. It was pretty good and almost completely accurate in detail. The red S at the center of a yellow field background; it was almost as if she were looking at the page of the Daily Planet from back home when they ran articles about Superman and later on her as well. After all, when you're introduced to the world as the cousin to the Man of Steel, a large amount of press is run about you. And especially when your cousin's wife happens to be a reporter for the Daily Planet as well.
"Is that what it's called?" Chloe asked as she gave her friend a curious glance. "How do you know that Kara?"
The blonde froze a moment and then looked over at Chloe with a blank face that showed she was at a loss for words at that moment. "Well, it's an S." she started out in explanation slowly. "And it's in the frame of what looks to be a shield, so I just figured that…that's what it could be referred to as." Kara stated quickly with a nod. "Yeah. I mean, it makes sense…doesn't it?" she asked while giving Chloe a somewhat nervous grin.
For a moment Chloe studied her with an unsure look on her face that Kara couldn't read at the moment. A smile cracked across Chloe's face suddenly as she nodded in agreement with what Kara had just explained. "That sounds like a great idea. The S-shield. That sounds perfect for it." Chloe stated while quickly going in and changing the heading of the article from – The Caped Crusader of Smallville, to a more suitable heading of – The S-shield of Smallville.
This had Kara giving a sigh of relief in her mind. The last thing she needed to do right no was steal a nickname from Batman unintentionally. Chloe finished proof reading the article quickly and then saved it to the computer before printing it out for arrangement in the next edition of the Torch. Getting up from her computer chair, Chloe headed over to the printer while Kara leaned over to read some of the article Chloe had written up on Supergirl. Whether it was bad press or good press, Kara was always interested to seeing what people had to say about her and the things she did. After the printer spat out the needed copy of the document, Chloe snatched it out of the tray and turned around to see Kara reading the computer screen contents.
"Ah! Kara! You can't read it yet." Chloe stated while hurrying over to close the document, only to find that Kara had grabbed the mouse to keep her from doing so.
"No, wait I just want to finish reading it." Kara protested as Chloe tried to wrestle the mouse out of her hand as she still continued to read.
Chloe finally managed to get the mouse back and then clicked the document closed quickly. "Geez, you got about a strong a grip as Clark does." Chloe commented while sitting down in her chair. "The last time I had to wrestle a mouse out of someone's hand it went a lot faster than that." She stated while raising a brow at the look that was appearing on Kara's face. "What's wrong?"
Kara looked over at Chloe with a knit brow and confused look on her face. "You think Supergirl is someone just affected by meteor rocks turned vigilante?" she asked with a sting of hurt building up within her.
"Well after everything that's happened in Smallville after the meteor shower, I can't help but think that. Either that or I can only assume she's an alien or something." Chloe explained herself while fingering the paper in her hand. "I mean seriously Kara, no human being can stand in front of an out of control semi truck and just hold it back with their bare hands until it stops completely. Or catch bullets in their hand and not even be scratched by them. That and the girl acts like the laws of gravity don't even exist at all." She pointed out in further explanation on her part. "I mean just ask Pete or Lana, and they might just say the same thing. When something like this comes up in Smallville it usually has something to do with the meteor rocks."
Kara sighed in defeat and then gave her a hopeful look. "So do you think she's a superhero?" she asked hesitantly in hopes that maybe she wouldn't look to odd to Chloe after all this.
"Are you kidding me? Who else but a superhero would put themselves in danger just to protect people like me from getting run over by a truck or shot at by bank robbers." Chloe stated in a rather excited tone of voice. "I mean she's just awesome. The fact she's also blonde like us makes me have high hopes that all those blonde jokes will end now." She laughed while getting up from her chair and turned the computer off as well. "Come on, I told Clark I'd have you returned by four at the Talon."
"Oh, right." Kara said as she remembered that they were supposed to meet her cousin. Getting up, Kara started to help Chloe turn off the other computers in the Torch.
Chloe headed over to a computer on the other side of the room to turn it off. As she waited for the main menu to come up, Chloe debated with herself whether or not she should bring up a question she had been pondering over for a while now. Shaking her head as Chloe made up her mind. "Hey Kara, do you mind if I ask you a question?" she asked while looking over her shoulder to the blonde who was turning off a computer screen. The look on the girl's face had Chloe grinning a bit before she dove into further explanation. "It has nothing to do with Bruce Wayne." She assured her while looking back to computer as the computer shut down command popped up. "But it does have something to do with another certain billionaire play boy."
This had Kara glancing up from another computer she had moved herself over to. "Who?" she asked as of course this statement had momentarily thrown her off track for the moment.
"Well unless you know another billionaire that I haven't heard of yet, I'm referring to Lex Luthor. You know, your cousin's best friend." Chloe stated while walking across the room to grab her bag off the table at the center. When Kara gave a nod of understanding to this along with a sheepish grin to what she had said, Chloe only grinned again. "I've been wondering about something since we were at the hospital last week." Chloe started. "Do you like Lex?" she asked finally while slinging her bag over her shoulder.
Kara wrinkled her brow a bit at this as she was a bit unsure of what Chloe meant by it. "What, you mean as a friend? Yeah I guess." She answered while grabbing her jean jacket from the coat rack near the door as she had finished turning off the last computer.
Chloe shook her head to this. "No, I meant do you like Lex, as in I'm pretty sure I saw you flirting with him at the hospital that day." Chloe explained so that way Kara now understood where she was coming from.
"What! No, I wasn't flirting with Lex." Kara protested as the idea sounded rather ludicrous to her upon hearing it.
A suspicious brow was lifted on Chloe's face to this accompanied with a speculative look. "Okay, don't bite my head off." She stated while grabbing her own jacket off the coat rack near the door so they could leave. "Look Kara, I wasn't saying that you were outright flirting with Lex. I'm just saying that maybe you should be careful when you're around him, because it looks like you're unintentionally flirting with him." Chloe stated while stopping at the door of the Torch. She gave her friend a concerned look that was meant for all the best intentions.
Sighing a bit, Kara just gave Chloe a small smile while passing out the door. "Thanks Chloe, I'll try and remember that." She said while her smile became a broader grin. "Because if I don't, then I might end up back on your most wanted list as having some sort of relationship with a billionaire play boy just because I accidentally have conversations with them." Kara said before snaking her head out of the doorway in a comedic gesture that had Chloe laughing out loud while shutting the lights off and closing the Torch door.
The two girls headed out of the school towards the student parking lot where Chloe's VW Bug was parked. Chloe tossed her bag into the car first and then pulled her suede jacket on before getting in. After both buckled up, Chloe started up the car and pulled out of the parking space to leave the school grounds. "Oh, Kara, I need to make a stop real quick before we head to the Talon." Chloe announced while fishing a manila file folder from the side panel of her car door. Pulling it out, Chloe handed the folder over to her friend while pulling up to a stop sign and made a right hand turn.
Kara took the file. "I don't mind." She stated while holding the file up as she spoke. "Can I have a look, or is it like totally top secret?" she asked in a tease with a grin crossing her face. When Chloe shook her head in response to the fact that she didn't mind, Kara flipped the file open and found some rather obscure and unusually photos inside. "What are these?" Kara asked while glancing over at Chloe, and also took note of where they were headed. Chloe was taking them out away from the downtown area of Smallville.
"Those would be photos people have submitted to me of what they claimed to be images of Supergirl flying through the skies over Smallville." Chloe explained while keeping her eyes on the road. "But I doubt it, because even though they're obscured and blurry, they don't show any real recognition to what they claim to be. So I'm headed over to a friend's house who does work with enhancing and scratching photos to see if he can do something with these or not." Chloe took her eyes off the road for a moment to look over at Kara.
That small moment was all it took as Kara looked forward in time to see a silver bullet of a car came racing down the road ahead of them and driving in their lane. "Chloe watch out!" Kara cried while pointing ahead through the window shield.
The blonde driver looked forward and gave a short cry as she yanked the wheel to the far right in order to avoid a head on collision with the on coming vehicle that showed no regard for the red bug it was coming down on. The sudden jerk to the wheel sent the red bug screeching off to the shoulder where the front tire hit a deep divot in the road and sent the car into a sideways flip. The violent motion slammed Chloe forward against her seatbelt but it didn't keep her from smacking her forehead against the steering wheel. The blow knocked her unconscious immediately, while Kara was thrown forward against her seatbelt as the car continued with its flip then hit the ground to only bounce off and start another flip right for a telephone pole. Time seemed to suddenly slow down around Kara as she kicked her super speed into high gear. As she moved faster than the actual event going on around her, Kara unbuckled her seatbelt and then leaned over as the car was on its side in the air going into its second flip. Reaching over across Chloe she got her seatbelt unbuckled and then grabbed her in a hug before kicking the window shield out with her foot, smashing the glass into a million little pieces. In a push off the floor of the car, Kara flew out of the broken window and streaked off to the side. As she came to a stop just at the shoulder of the road, the fast pace she was moving at ended and the red bug flipped the second time to then wrap itself around the telephone pole with the roof hitting first.
Kara set Chloe down on the ground and then huddled over her in a shield with her back towards the telephone pole's direction as the car exploded on impact. A flying piece of twisted metal came slicing through the air straight for Kara's back. The piece hit the blonde Kryptonian dead on, only instead of killing her like it would any other normal person, the piece bent against her back before bouncing off and shooting back to where it came from only to land a few feet from the blazing inferno that had flared up at the telephone lines. Kara looked back over her shoulder to see the mess that had been a car just few short seconds ago before it was run off the road. The fires that the explosion caused were now hitting the electrical box attached to the pole, causing it to spark and pop. Without warning the pole cracked where the car had hit and started to topple over with the lines snapping as it went down. Seeing this, Kara streaked over to the area and held her hands up over her head as the pole came down and caught it at an angle. The wires danced with live electricity and proved to be a new danger. Thinking quickly, Kara started to walk forward under the pole pushing it back up into its rightful place. Stepping into the blazing fire that surrounded the base, Kara was unaffected by the intense heat as she held the pole in place with one hand and reached out with her other to grab a piece of metal off the burning hull of the car. Snapping the piece free that made up the frame, Kara held it against the break in the telephone pole and then with a deep in take of breath, she exhaled a gale force like wind that put the blaze out as if it had been a match flame.
With no more flames in the way of things, Kara focused on the metal beam in her hand and activated her heat vision. The two beams of intense red heat started to weld the metal to the wood of the pole so that it was securely fastened. That done, Kara easily pushed the metal beam around the rest of the pole and then brought the end to touch where it had started and welded it together with her heat vision to secure it safely until the electrical company came out to replace it. The dancing wires were another problem and Kara knew this as one of the sparking bare ends snapped up and struck her against the face. She flinched a little at the fact that something came up to hit her, but nothing happened when it touched. Looking up at the electrical box, Kara used her x-ray vision to see inside of it for the main power breaker to cut the power to the lines. Locating the small piece inside the white box in the negative vision she was using, Kara held her x-ray vision as her heat vision shot from her eyes and burrowed through the metal shell and pierced the piece that needed to die. Immediately the lines stopped sparking and dancing around dangerously, but this also meant that a small portion of Smallville would be affected with a power outage. They can deal with it. Kara stated to herself while then zipping back over to the still unconscious Chloe who was lying on the ground. Looking her over quickly to make sure nothing was broken or dislocated, Kara looked away from her hurt friend and stared down the road that they had come from and that the car had gone in. Focusing hard, Kara was able to see not one but two cars some now fifteen miles or more away with her super vision. Something told her that this whole thing wasn't just some accident as neither car had come back to check on them.
Kara placed a hand on Chloe's forehead to move aside some stray bangs that were hiding a cut underneath them. It didn't look terribly bad, but the fact that Chloe was out cold worried her. Reaching into Chloe's jacket pocket, Kara fished out her cell phone and started to punch in the numbers for 9-1-1 to call them out to the scene of the accident, but just as the last one was hit the cell phone died on her. "Dammit!" Kara spat while looking down at her friend and then down the road. Supergirl was needed for both these situations and there wasn't another JLA member to take one of the two problems.
Without a single thought of hesitation, Kara grabbed Chloe in her arms and held her in a bridal style position. There wasn't time to make sure that no one was around to see Kara use her abilities outside her Supergirl identity and Kara knew this as she launched herself into the air quickly and flew off towards the Smallville Medical Center. Her traveling speed was only as fast as she knew Chloe could handle unconscious. She didn't want something else happening to her on the way there because of what she was doing to get her help.
In only a minute flat, Supergirl was touching down before the front doors of the hospital and surprising everyone coming and going out, as well as those driving by in their cars. Walking straight in with Chloe still unconscious in her arms, Supergirl was met by several nurses who saw her enter with the girl.
"What happened?" One asked while another went to grab the nearest stretcher.
"There was a car accident out on Avenue 9. I got her out of the car but she's unconscious." Supergirl quickly explained as a stretcher was brought over. Laying Chloe down on it, Supergirl stepped back as a nurse stepped in to quickly check her over before the rushed her off to emergency just to make sure, as they took all car accident related cases very seriously and especially when a patient was knocked out. Before the last nurse could leave, Supergirl caught him by the arm to get his attention. "Call the sheriff and tell her abut the accident on Avenue 9 and there was no one else hurt." She nearly ordered in a serious tone of voice.
The male nurse nodded. "Where are you going?" he asked as he could tell that the blonde hero was ready to take off.
"To chase after the person who caused the accident." Supergirl replied before releasing his arm and disappearing in a fleeting blur of red out the hospital doors.
Back in the air, Supergirl rocketed back to Avenue 9 and continued on following after the two cars. She didn't know what was going on, but Supergirl knew they needed to be stopped before someone else got hurt like Chloe. In just a matter of seconds Supergirl had caught up to the racing cars and fell in sync with the back car's speed. This car was black, more than likely a Lexus model from the shape, and just only feet from the rear end of an all too familiar Porsche that Supergirl knew. The back license plate that read LEX 1 was a dead give away. Someone was chasing after Lex and he had been the one who forced Chloe off the road. Supergirl continued to follow over the black car as the sped down the back roads of Smallville at an excess of nearly ninety miles an hour. In the next moment the black car gained on the silver Porsche and bumped the back fender. Whoa! These guys aren't playing nice at all. Supergirl focused in on the car's roof and saw through the metal, peering in on two men seated at the front with a gun in hand. Ending the negative like vision, Supergirl knew this had to be stopped before something really bad happened, even out here in a more isolated area of farmland. Pulling off to the right of the car, Supergirl lowered herself down to window level and looked in on the two men. They were both middle-aged, of Asian decent, and looked mean to say the least. Reaching out her hand, she tapped on the window, catching the passenger's attention.
Looking over, he just stared with rather wide eyes at the blonde girl flying parallel with the car and traveling at the same speed. Supergirl gave him a scowl before rising up over the car again and then shot forward faster than both cars. The passenger looked over at the driver who was oblivious to what just happened. "We have a serious problem." He stated flatly while the pale expression of shock still remained on his face.
Supergirl passed up both cars at a speed faster then what they were traveling at so that she was a good twenty miles ahead of them when she did an aerial back flip and spun around to fly straight back towards the two cars that were coming at her at the same high speed they had been traveling at. Supergirl came flying low, at roof height to the cars, only being seen as a quickly passing figure that just skimmed the top of Lex's car and caught his attention as he leaned forward to try and see what it was he had seen flying at him and then pass on. Time slowed again around Supergirl as she came down at angle just as she reached the back end of Lex's car, a fist clenched and pulled back before she threw it forward at the second car. Her white-gloved hand came down just at the center of the car hood, also at an angle, and punched right through the metal cover. Her hand dug deep right into the engine block where fist unclenched and her fingers bit into the solid titanium. In real time, the two men in the black car only saw a blur coming at them over the top of the silver Porsche before a sudden and heavy impact struck down upon the car hood and sent the car flipping forward from the force. As the car flipped over Supergirl, her arm extending up and following, her hand retracted from under the car hood pulling out with it the entire engine. In Supergirl's super time speed, the car continued on with its upside down fall to earth while she used her free hand to reach backwards and catch the bumper. The two men inside the car had been screaming since the car was flipped and had their hands up over their faces as if that would shield them from the horrible death they were about to receive.
However, it didn't come, as the car never hit the ground. Supergirl had it lifted off the ground with only one hand, as it had been ready to slam down on all four tires. The metal that made up the car creaked and groaned while it just hung there for a moment Supergirl finally set the vehicle down; it was still facing the same direction it had been driving in. The car set down with a rocky jolt but nothing horrible for the most part. The two Chinese men inside dropped their arms and started looking around for an explanation as to what had just happened, only to watch with wide-eyed expressions as Supergirl came floating down out of the sky to land just in front of their car which had a huge gaping hole in the hood as if something had been pulled out. After a moment of silence, well not complete silence as the radiator hissed and stem was rising out from around the hood and through the hole, the two men suddenly whipped their guns up and pointed them at Supergirl with every intention of pulling the trigger.
"You really want to do that?" she asked while lifting up the engine block she still had clamped in her hand as if it were just pillow or empty cardboard box, and then tossed it on to the hood where it sunk back through the hole and dropped out the bottom in one large crash. Both men dropped their guns. Supergirl only twitched an amused eyebrow up for a brief moment.
Lex had slammed on the brakes when he saw the black car flip forward. The screech of his tires didn't go unnoticed by Supergirl, but she was busy at the moment with ripping the car engine out of the car itself. Once his Porsche had stopped, Lex yanked the emergency brake on as he turned around in his seat to see the black car just hang suspended in the air some four feet off the ground before it was set down and Supergirl came flying over the top of it in a gentle manner while turning about so that when she touched ground she had her back to Lex. His own blue eyes became rather wide as he noticed the large piece of metal that was on her right hand and then became dislodged as she threw it forward at the car. A more than impressive display of inhuman strength, to which it had brought Lex out of his car and just standing there some thirty feet from where Supergirl had put a stop to the whole car chase. He couldn't help but smile at this. She was an amazing woman, with a name that suited her very well, as she was super in the very aspect of the word's use.
Supergirl only shook her head at the two men in the car before the sound of an approaching vehicle at a fast speed caught her attention. Looking over her shoulder, she first noticed Lex standing outside of his car staring at her with a smile, but her blue-eyed gaze fell elsewhere. Another black car was flying up on them and it soon came to screeching halt only to have the passenger come out the rolled down window part way with an RPG mounted on his shoulder and aimed at Lex's car. "No." was all she breathed before turning around and running at Lex who was just now looking back behind himself at the newly arrived car. In a flash Supergirl was over by him just as the RPG was fired, and once again she started moving at super speed in order to save Lex from certain death. The propelled grenade came whistling through the air with a trial of sparks flying out behind it as Supergirl grabbed Lex around the upper chest with her right arm and then pushed off the ground. Right as the RPG hit Lex's car the two were already high up in the air as pieces of the vehicle came spinning up.
Everything had happened so fast that by the time Lex realized that he was up some good twenty-feet in the air and climbing, a piece of his car came slicing up at him, only to be caught by Supergirl's free hand like it was a Frisbee of some kind. Lex's head snapped up to stare at the rather angry blonde who was holding him rather close to her while her left arm was pulled back and then thrown forward sending the piece of metal she had caught back down to earth and right for the back end of the other black car. The piece stabbed through like a knife and pinned the car so that it was now stuck to the road and there was no escape for the guys who had just fired the RPG. Needless to say they thought their task had been accomplished until they heard the slicing of metal and the sudden jerk of their car's back end brought their attention around to see the end of a metal pike sticking out through the trunk. Their gaze turned up into the sky where they spotted a sight that they had never seen before. A blonde haired woman was just hovering there in the sky above them with Lex being held by one arm at her side. The sight scared them beyond belief and the three people who had been in that car took off running as the other two men had long since done after the explosion of the Porsche. Supergirl watched them a moment as they ran off into a nearby cornfield and disappeared.
Lex watched them only momentarily before he realized that he wasn't on the ground and that he was a long way from it. At first it was only Supergirl's arm that held him there, but when he noticed his new position high above the ground far below, Lex freaked and grabbed on to Supergirl with both his arms embracing her like a hug. Supergirl looked over at him and gave him a quizzical look. Lex looked at her with an expression of pure shock, terror, ad something like relief to the fact that it was her holding him up in the sky. "You saved my life." He stated the obvious in an exhale of breath.
"I can see that." Supergirl returned while her face changed expressions to a more passive and blank one. "I'll take you home. It's not safe out here, even with those guys running away through the cornfields." She stated while turning to face the direction in which the mansion lay in.
"Wait, we're flying there?" Lex asked as his grip on Supergirl seemed to tighten at this assumption.
Supergirl looked at him again with a slight furrow in her brow. "Well I'm not going to run and carry you there." She answered and ended the discussion as she then took off towards the mansion at a fast speed, but was careful in just how fast she flew since she was carrying someone else who more than likely wouldn't be able to handle the extreme velocity that she could fly at.
During the whole flight to the Luthor Mansion, Supergirl remained quiet for the most part while just staring ahead. Lex on the other hand was of course holding to the superhero in a near death grip that didn't seem to bother her in the least, but his gaze was focused down below on the ground that was quickly passing by. If he had to guess, Lex figured that they were at least a good mile off the ground now as they were passing over the tops of tall trees. Every once in a while, Lex glanced over at the blonde who held a rather fixated look of thought on her face as she stared ahead. Supergirl was in fact deep in thought, and it all revolved around what the heck was going on with Lex and those guys who tried to annihilate him with a rocket propelled grenade. Within a few minutes the two were coming down to set foot before the doors of the mansion. Supergirl immediately released Lex and he the same. "I doubt there's any way I can thank you for what you did back there." Lex stated while turning so he faced the blonde.
She only inclined her head a bit in response to this while crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't have to try. Superheroes don't pick and choose they're supposed to save." Supergirl stated. "Even if that person was the cause of another car related incident." She said in hint to the fact that the whole chase had run Chloe's car off the road. The mention of this had Lex's face falling in the realization of the guilt hitting him. Before he could say anything, Supergirl held up a hand to stop him. "It's fine, I took care of them." She assured him. "I took Chloe to the hospital before catching up to you."
"That was Chloe I ran off the road?" Lex asked, his face becoming pained with concern as he stepped closer to Supergirl. "How is she? Is she okay?" he asked quickly, wanting to get answers before he headed off to the hospital to check on her.
"She's was unconscious when I arrived and dropped her off at the hospital. The other passenger in the vehicle is fine and conscious." Supergirl answered him in a calm manner in an attempt to keep Lex from panicking any further. Lex only gave her a nod of the head before throwing open the doors of his home and walking in at a brisk pace. If I don't ask now I won't be able to prevent this from all happening again. "Why were those men after you Lex?"
Lex paused a moment after having only entered his home half way. As if contemplating whether or not he should answer that question, Lex then slowly turned around and walked back towards the doors were Supergirl still stood. He stopped just before her, a calm but determined look on his face. "You saved three lives today, and I am grateful for that. I really am. But you don't need to get involved with this matter any further." He replied while going to close the doors. "Good day Supergirl." As he closed both doors, Lex found that neither one was moving any further than they already had and this left the house still open. With only his eyes, Lex looked left and then right to see either white-gloved hand holding the doors open by just pressing against them with open palms.
"I became involved the minute you started that little Fast and Furious venture of yours and nearly killed a high school student as a result of that." Supergirl retorted with a very cold tone in her voice as her blue eyes almost narrowed on Lex. "And I won't be told to leave this matter alone because you say to do so. You've only seen part of what I'm capable of Lex. If anyone else gets hurt because of some sick twisted game you're playing against someone else, an RPG hitting your car will be the least of your worries." She stated while keeping her gaze fixated right on Lex with every irritated fiber in her.
"You should know that I don't respond well to threats." Lex stated, his tone of voice not exactly angry in anyway but it was hinting towards a sense of irritation.
Supergirl pulled her hands off either door and stepped up to face Lex, on the second step she was off the ground and towering over Lex by a few inches but was still near close to being in his face. "I don't threaten people Mr. Luthor, I only give warnings. So I suggest you take to heart the one I just gave you." She retorted with an even voice before backing off to the point where she was hovering just near the first step of the front patio. Without another word she started to turn away from Lex while at the same time she shot off into the sky and disappeared into the blue abyss.
Lex watched after her in a state wonder to the fact she was gone in only a few shot seconds. Just like everyone else in Smallville, he couldn't understand how she was able to perform the feats that she had displayed so many times over in just a few weeks since arriving with several other men. She was an enigma to Lex Luthor, and one he wanted to understand as he did have a degree of respect for her and the abilities she held. A sense of guilt was resting on him now after hearing that he had run Chloe off the road and placed her in the hospital. Shaking his head in an inner argument with himself, Lex closed the doors to his home and headed towards the garage.
It was somewhere around five-thirty in the evening when Chloe finally woke up in the hospital to find that she had a visitor sitting off to the side of her bed in a small cushioned chair by the door. A small smile crossed her face as she noticed who it was, and also because her visitor was apparently asleep. Shifting in her hospital bed for a more comfortable position now, Chloe managed to awake her visitor from the little nap they were taking in the chair. "I didn't mean to wake you up Kara." Chloe stated while giving her friend a small but tired grin.
The blonde shook her head before getting up out of her chair and came to sit down at Chloe's side. "No, it's fine. I was just resting my eyes." She returned while also giving Chloe a smile as well. "How are you feeling?" she asked, her brow was now wrinkling a bit with some worry that hadn't all quite left yet.
"Fine. My head hurts a little, but I think I can manage with a headache." Chloe answered while getting a small laugh out of Kara afterwards. "How about you? I take it you came out better than I did from the accident." She pointed out, as she observed nothing wrong with her friend.
Kara was caught off-guard momentarily by this question, but managed to recover. "Yeah, well you did hit your head on the steering wheel. I just remember blacking out for a moment and then waking up to see Supergirl." Kara explained slowly while keeping her gaze on Chloe the whole time. "From what I heard the doctors and the sheriff saying, she saved us from a really bad car accident."
Chloe made a face to this as something seemed to be confusing her a bit now. "How bad was the accident anyways?" she asked, as something in the pit of her stomach told her that it was pretty bad and more than likely her car died.
"It was pretty bad. Apparently your bug flipped a few times and then wrapped itself around a telephone pole before…exploding on impact." Kara trailed off while wincing slightly at the details she had received from the sheriff early, and knew for a fact first hand. "Chloe I'm sorry."
"Why? It's not your fault Kara. You weren't the maniac driver flying down the wrong lane towards us." Chloe stated while reaching out and patting the side of Kara's arm. "It's so weird how you and Clark are almost the same in the personality department." She grinned while readjusting herself so that way she was now sitting up in bed rather than just laying there. "So, have you heard anything else on the accident?" Chloe asked.
Kara shook her head. "No. All I know is what I've told you." She replied while sighing as a tired smile remained on her face. "But the sheriff seemed pretty steamed when I saw her a few minutes ago." A bit of laugh played on the tip of her words as she spoke, which in turn got Chloe into a more brighter mood than before.
Outside the hospital room, unseen by the two blonde teens inside, Lex stared in at them through the blinds from off to the side with a passive look on his face. Something told him that it wasn't just Chloe who had been in the car when it was run off the road. After all, Supergirl had said that there was another person in the car with Chloe, and for some strange reason Lex was coming to the conclusion that maybe Kara Kent had been with Chloe in the car. As he continued to watch the two girls inside the hospital room, Lex was unaware of the person walking up behind him until a hand was laid upon his shoulder causing him to jump a bit and turn around quickly.
"Whoa, Lex, calm down. It's just me." Clark stated in assurance to his skittish friend. The weak smile that Lex then offered Clark at this had the young man raising a bit of an eyebrow as he could already tell something was up. "You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." Lex replied while turning his gaze back into the hospital room where the two girls seemed to be laughing about something. There was still a large amount of guilt weighing upon him with the knowledge of having run these two teens off the road because of something he had gotten himself into by just helping out his own kin. The words of Supergirl still echoed somewhere at the back of his mind. She was mad from the tone of voice she had taken upon speaking with him, and Lex really couldn't blame her for that. "Clark," Lex looked over at his friend, who happened to also be looking in at his cousin and best friend, a look that stated there was something rather important to be said was written across his face.
Clark's brow furrowed a bit as he was slightly confused by the look on his friend's face. "Lex, what's wrong?" he asked.
"I was the one who ran Chloe's car off the road today." Lex stated while the look on his face became dower and near without any real expression aside from faint guilt still lingering in his eyes. "Clark, I didn't do it intentionally." He started in explanation.
Clark gave his friend a skeptical look while shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Look, Lex, I know you wouldn't run someone off the road like that, but what happened?" he asked while raising an eyebrow as he knew there was going to an explanation he wasn't really going to like on way or another.
Inside the small hospital room, Chloe and Kara had been joking about something when the super hearing of the alien teen picked up the sounds of two male voices outside the room door. However, Kara kept up her conversation with Chloe while listening in on the conversation between her cousin and his friend. She already knew Lex had been the one to run them off the road, but the reason why intrigued her, intrigued Supergirl.
"Clark you remember my half-brother Lucas, right?"
"Yeah, I remember him. Why?"
"When I found Lucas in Edge City, he was running from Chinese Mafia members he had cheated in a poker game. Even after all that mess passed between us and our father, those men have yet to forget what happened that night and are out for blood against me for helping my brother get away."
"So then, you were being chased by hit men when you ran Chloe off the road?"
"And if it wasn't for a certain blonde heroine in a red cape, then things would ended rather badly for everyone. Clark, these guys are not going to stop until they've gotten revenge for the embarrassment that a Luthor has placed on them."
That was all Kara needed to hear as she returned the other half of her attention back to Chloe who was asking her a question at that moment concerning the photos they had with them in the car. "So, do you think there is any chance those pictures might have survived?" Chloe asked while biting her bottom lip while somewhat hopeful look glimmered a moment on her face.
Kara only gave her friend an apologetic look. "I doubt it." She replied while then looking over at the door of the room as it was now opening. Both Lex and Clark appeared within its frame, the looks on their faces asked if it was okay for them to come in at that point.
"Clark, Lex." Chloe greeted them with a smile on her face as soon as they had opened the door.
"Hey Chloe." Clark returned while giving a grin. "How're you feeling?" he asked while holding a look of care for his friend's health.
Chloe smiled again at Clark. "I'm good. A little dizzy from waking up and being in a major car accident, but I think I'll pull through." She answered while allowing her gaze to drift over to Lex now. Kara's gaze had also come to rest upon Lex's presence there in the room.
Lex didn't have to come around to take notice that the two girls were wondering what he was doing there as he gave Chloe a small smile and then looked to Clark beside him. "Clark, can you and Kara…"
"Sure." Clark nodded while looking over at his blonde cousin.
Kara looked back to Chloe and patted the top of her forearm gently with a smile on her face. "I'll see you later Chloe."
Chloe grinned at her with a nod and then watched as Kara got up off the bedside. Kara walked over to Clark only gave Lex a bit of smile before heading out the door with her cousin in tow. As soon as both Kent teens were outside the room with the door shut, Kara stopped and turned about to look at her dark haired cousin while her arms crossed casually over her chest. "I take it Lex is going to explain to Chloe what happened today." She mused while peering in through the blinds of the window.
Clark gave the blonde Kryptonian teen an amused look. "I don't think it took super hearing for you to guess that." He stated while placing his hands within the pockets of his denim jacket.
"Nope." Kara returned as she watched Lex and Chloe for a moment longer before looking over at her cousin. "Clark, I heard what you and Lex were talking about before you came in." She explained while a serious look started to cross over her face. "If something isn't done now, these guys are going to come back and continue after Lex while putting others like Chloe in danger." Kara stated while stepping closer to Clark to keep their conversation more private from those few passing by in the halls.
"Lex said the guys after him are apart of a Chinese Mafia in Edge City." Clark recited mainly to himself since he knew that Kara had more than likely heard the conversation for herself when it took place. "What happened out on the road after you got Chloe to the hospital?" he asked, that part had yet to be told to him by anyone.
Kara glanced back into Chloe's room before sighing quietly to herself and looked back at Clark. "I caught up to the car chase and put an end to it, but as soon that was done another car pulled up and then there was a rocket, an explosion, and then everyone ran into a cornfield." Kara gave Clark the story in a nutshell quickly before looking over to her left as a nurse passed by. As soon as the nurse was out of earshot, Kara continued on with their conversation. "If I go to Edge City and do something to stop these guys, there might be the misconception that I'm helping the Luthor family out. But if I don't go and do something, then they'll be back in Smallville putting more people like Chloe in danger." The toe of her voice showed the sort of distress Kara was starting to come into.
Out of the corner of his eye, Clark noticed through the window of the hospital room that Lex was getting ready to leave. Setting a hand upon the side of his cousin's arm, Clark guided her away from the room a bit quickly to avoid Lex walking into their conversation. As soon as the cousins were around a corner that led down another hall towards a few more hospital rooms, Clark stopped and then looked through the wall with his x-ray vision to see what Lex was doing. With the negative picture-like sight, Clark watched as Lex came out of the room and then looked about as it was odd to have the Kents missing but then headed off after his phone rang. Clark looked back to his cousin and gave her a small smile. Kara raised a brow for a moment while she knew the reason to their sudden change of location.
"So what are you going to do?" Clark asked now that it was safe to do so.
"I'm not sure Clark. There are times when superheroes shouldn't get involved in certain things, and just let them work out in their own time. But when people on the sidelines get involved when they shouldn't be, then my responsibility to protect those people brings me into all this." Kara explained while allowing her gaze to drift off to the side for a moment before it returned to Clark. Something about the look on his own face had Kara picking up on something she knew needed to be addressed before it was too late. "Look, Clark, I don't think it would be –"
"Kara, I'm not gonna just stand by on the side while you try to figure this out and people get hurt. I'm coming with you to Edge City, Supergirl or not." Clark cut his cousin off before she could say anything against his involvement with this whole situation, a look of determination coming across his face as he was not going to back down on this.
Kara's brow furrowed for a moment before a small smile started to grow on her lips. "I was just going to say that I don't think that it would be a good idea for me to go into this as Supergirl, and alone." She retorted while placing her hands on her hips and grinning at him with a bit of attitude going along with it.
Clark looked a bit dumbfounded a moment before a smile on his own face cracked and a laugh soon followed afterwards as he shook his head a bit. "Well okay then. As long as we got that settled." He stated while clapping his cousin on the shoulder before they headed back around the corner to say good-bye to Chloe and then head out for Edge City.
A dark night had fallen upon Edge City by the time two distinctive blurs of blue came to a running halt just outside the city limits and off to the side in a more darker area to go unnoticed. Clark and Kara stared at the city all alight with its neon and artificial lights to give aid to those still out and about on the streets. Tall buildings loomed against the dark night sky like giant pillars of onyx. The cousins had left Smallville a little after seven o'clock after telling both Martha and Jonathan what they were up to. All though they were against Clark's involvement in this whole issue, the two teens had argued on their part that with two of them there things would end better and not for the worse. Eventually they won the argument and that was when both Clark and Kara left for Edge City.
"Well, let's see if we can't find these Chinese Mafia men in this place." Kara stated aloud and then looked over at Clark. "Let's split up and look for them, you go left and I'll go right, and then we'll meet back here." She explained while pointing out the directions for the obvious. Once Clark agreed, both teens took off into their opposite directions in a flash, disappearing into the large industrial city as two blurs of blue once again.
It around about three seconds for Kara to cover up to the middle of the city and then continue on to finish out the rest of her search as Clark did the same. A minute passed and both teens returned to where they had started out from. "Anything?" Kara asked while approaching her darker haired cousin as he came to meet her halfway. Through her search of a part of the city, Kara hadn't really found anything that would point to mafia conduct or hideout.
"I think I found something about midway in through my search." Clark replied while looking towards the city. "The thing is though, I think I saw Lex." He winced a bit while saying this.
Kara groaned while smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Great." She moaned while dragging her hand down her face and then looked over at her cousin with a half-hearted grin. "Well, see, this was a good idea after all to go Kara Kent and not Supergirl." She tried to joke but it was a weak attempt that she just shook off and then looked to the city. "Lead the way."
Inside the city, Clark led his cousin in the direction he had gone during the search for mafia activity and brought about to what appeared to be a rather rundown area. It was one of those places where all the buildings were made out of brick bodies and steel frames, dirty, litter covered the ground in every alleyway, steam rose out from under the manhole covers, and everything seemed to have just been rained upon while rodents skittered across the ground quickly. A sudden rush of wind, herald the arrival of the two Kent cousins as they arrived just within the back alley of what appeared to be a rundown warehouse of sorts. There were lights on, as it could be seen through the cracks of boarded up windows on the back wall.
"Well, let's see what we can see." Kara stated quietly under her breath and focused her vision on the wall before her. The brick layers literally faded away like a movie scene wipe, and the inside of the warehouse was viewed as if she were standing inside as well. Everything looked old and worn out at this position, which had Kara's brow furrowing a bit. "Clark, I don't see anything." She stated while ending her one form of x-ray vision and then switched over to the next which did look more like she was staring at an x-ray.
Clark focused the use of his x-ray vision as well and helped scan the building alongside her. Walking down a ways, something caught his attention as he noticed that there were several people in this area with one being seated on a chair and surrounded. Ending his use of x-ray vision, Clark looked down at his cousin on the other end. "Kara."
In only the blink of an eye, Kara went from being far from Clark's side to right at it. "What?"
"I found them." Clark stated while pointing with his index finger. "They're inside at around this area." He gestured in a circle wave of his hand and then looked over at Kara who had studied the situation with her x-ray vision now as well. "What do we do now?" he asked, as he was a bit unsure of how this going to work.
Kara crossed her arms over her chest as thought about this all. If they did anything to rash or not completely thought out, Lex could get hurt if that was in fact who was tied to the chair inside. Tapping a finger on the side of her arm, Kara got a small portion of an idea and grabbed Clark by the arm. Without a word she lifted into the air and brought both her and her cousin up to the top of the roof, Clark clinging to her arm as soon as their feet had left the ground. Touching down upon the weather beaten roof, Clark released Kara's arm and took in a deep breath to calm his racing heart.
"A little more warning next time would be appreciated." He said in a quiet tone of voice while looking after the blonde as she had gone to the sky light in the middle of the roof. Following after her, Clark came to stand at her side and follow her gaze down through the grimy glass surface.
They were right over the spot they had been looking at from below. Kara watched what was going on down on the ground and turned her head a bit to listen in on the conversation if there was any at all.
"Your brother cheated us out of a good deal of cash when he played our gambling clubs. And now, since we cannot find the youngest Luthor, we will be collecting our debt from you."
"Fine, tell me how much my brother Lucas owes and I'll have you paid in full."
"Tsk, you Luthors think that you can fix anything with money. But in a situation like this, money will get you nowhere. You see, it isn't the money we're interested in, no, it's something far more valuable than money. The pride of the Chinese Mafia has been scared because of your brother's cheating ways. And now, to repay this debt, we will have to scar the pride of the Luthor family through your death Lex."
Kara looked over at Clark quickly with a rather urgent look on her face. "You mind being a distraction?" she asked in a rather quick manner, to which Clark shook his head in reply to the fact that he didn't mind. "Good." Looking back down, Kara's eye focused immediately on the barrel of the gun being held by the man who had been talking to Lex. A red light circulated once around Lara's eyes before two beams of focused intense heat shot out and pierced through the glass, burrowing holes through it and melting the substance at the same time without having it shatter. The heat vision struck the middle of the barrel just as the trigger had been pulled, and then burrowed through the metal and hit the bullet melting it inside. "Alright, let's go."
Clark followed Kara over to the small access door on the roof, which was ripped off its hinges and tossed aside. The two cousins darted inside and ran down four flights of stairs in only under ten seconds before coming out into the bottom floor that Lex was on. When the bullet had melted inside the barrel of the gun this caused some serious problems for the man holding it. Smoke wafted off the barrel where the two holes could be clearly seen drilled in from above and copper metal was now cooling inside the gun barrel and blocking it up. As the man tried to figure out what had just happened, a gust of wind broke into the room and started to swirl all about them, kicking up litter of various kinds like a tornado. As the Chinese men were distracted by this and near blinded from the force of the wind, they failed to notice that each one of their guns were bent over on themselves at the barrel and the cuffs keeping Lex to the chair had been snapped completely apart freeing him.
The tornado died down almost as fast as it arrived, and a sense of panic came over the mafia men as they looked around to see what could have caused such a thing. A few mumbled in their native Mandarin tongue about spirits and such, but that idea was quickly shot down by the guy who had been ready to shoot Lex as he barked angrily at them and waved his hand in gesture to such a stupid idea. That is, until they all noticed that their guns and been bent about like a piece of clay. All fifteen grown men went near pale as they dropped their guns to the floor at the same time. A loud clatter of metal rang out into the warehouse followed by cries in a foreign tongue as all of them were clearly freaked out to no end. Lex had been watching all of this from the seat they had "provided" for him and then noticed for himself that the cuffs had been snapped at the middle of the chain.
Bringing his hands up to look at them, Lex marveled a bit at how he had been set free for the moment. However, something told him that it was no 'evil spirit' or anything else that these guys were rambling about as they were growing more and more fearful by the minute and then they ran. Lex was left basically alone with fifteen guns strewn about him all bent out and near folded at primarily the barrel. Getting up off the chair, Lex had to steady himself since the beating he had received earlier when arriving at the warehouse, to end this thing with the Chinese Mafia of Edge City, left him a bit dizzy and lightheaded. He had a cut lip, a cut on his cheek, a slowly appearing black eye, and more than likely a few cracked ribs but he was alive. Bending down slowly, he picked up a gun and examined the bent barrel. He had seen something like this before when the Smallville Savings and Loan had been robbed and…Supergirl showed up.
Atop the roof and staring down through the skylight again, Clark and his cousin Kara only grinned as they watched all the grown men run out screaming in their native tongue. Clark laughed lightly while looking over at his blonde cousin. "I didn't think this whole superhero thing could be somewhat fun." He stated, while knowing it wasn't all fun and games at all really.
"At times, but that's rare and few in between all the near destruction of cities and even the world sometimes." Kara replied while glancing over at him and then grinned a bit more. "But yeah, you get those rare occasions when all you can do is laugh at how people react. Or say about you." She added in while turning away from the skylight and started walking over to the edge of the roof.
"What do you mean?" Clark asked while turning and following after her. The last statement had him a bit confused there.
Kara stopped at the edge of the roof and looked over at Clark who had come up beside her. "Well when people say things like you're faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound; it does become rather entertaining Especially when they try and figure out who it is defying the laws of gravity up in the air." She explained while then exhaling dramatically and folding her arms across her chest. "So, how shall we head home? By air or by land?" she asked while raising a brow.
Clark's face took on a somewhat nervous look while he tried to hide it with a smile. "Uh, well, I don't really mind if you want to go by air." He stated as he knew that Kara was more than likely accustomed to flying from place to place rather than running like The Flash did.
"Oh my dear sweet Clark." Kara started while placing a hand on his shoulder and clapping it. "We really need to get you over this whole fear of heights and flying thing."
