The two days that passed since Lex had dismissed Clark from the lab so that he could work on an antidote seemed like an eternity to Clark, especially with the stagnant state of things. Clark wanted something to happen, and the fact that the serum was being delayed because of him made his insides boil with anger.

Lex seemed frustrated as well, and Clark knew that if he still didn't have a plan after two days then he was at a complete loss as to what to do. He didn't say that he was frustrated, but the evidence was in the way Lex carried himself and even talked.

The status quo was holding, so Clark decided to get breakfast to break up the monotony of his frustration. Lex was in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee, and staring at the wall while deep in thought. At first Clark didn't think he'd heard him come in, but then Lex said clearly and firmly, "The only way is to get an alien to experiment on."

"I told you that two days ago," Clark replied dryly.

"I'm going out tonight." Lex still didn't look away from the wall, but kept staring at it as if it held the answers he needed.

"I'm going too, then," Clark responded, getting a cup of coffee for himself. It smelled wonderful, especially since he hadn't had much for the past five years.

"You're not," Lex snapped sharply, finally looking away from the wall. Clark really didn't like the determination he saw in Lex's face. That was the look he got when it would be impossible to sway him. "If they have meteor rock then you won't stand a chance."

"And you most likely won't either," Clark pointed out bluntly. And Lex had always accused him of having the hero complex...

"I've got a better chance than you."

Lex's jaw was firmly set, and Clark could see the fighting light in his eyes that let him know that chances were that Lex would get what he wanted.

"And if you fail?" Clark asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lex's face became even more determined, and Clark saw that his knuckles had turned white from the harsh grip he had on the coffee cup. "Failing isn't something I do," he replied as he got up from the table.

"Everyone fails, Lex!" Clark called after him as Lex reached the door.

Lex stopped in the door and moved his hands out to push against the doorframe in an emotion that Clark couldn't decipher. "I won't allow that to happen this time," he whispered so softly that Clark barely heard it as Lex left the room.

Clark was left standing with coffee in his hands and some rather important decisions floating around in his mind.

------------------------------

Clark and Chloe watched Lex slip up the stairs and outside later that night. Clark was on pins and needles, and even Chloe seemed to be rather nervous. With his x-ray vision, Clark followed Lex until he was out of even his eyesight.

The underground lab had a small portable black and white TV. It may have only gotten the basic channels, but that was all that Clark needed to see what was going on.

Chloe made them some more coffee and then they settled in together to keep watch on the TV. For quite a while there was nothing and Clark found himself hoping. The coffee was pleasantly warm in his hand, and it smelled heavenly. Chloe lying against his chest was even better, and in such a situation Clark had to believe that hope was possible.

Sometime after he'd finished his coffee he found that he'd dropped off to sleep. Clark didn't like to admit to things like that, because he prided himself on his vigilance. In this case, however, he'd certainly failed in that field.

What finally woke him was Chloe's terrified gasp. At first it didn't really register what was wrong, and he opened his eyes slowly. He was so warm and comfortable that it didn't seem like something could possibly be wrong.

Chloe's worried voice called through the haze that was encompassing him, and he slowly began to register that everything wasn't right. It began to all trickle back to him: Lex had gone after aliens, Lex wasn't in the lab, and Chloe was scared.

"What is it?" he asked as he returned to full awareness.

Her pretty eyes were about as wide as they could go. Not speaking, she nodded towards the TV.

Clark didn't know why he was surprised. After all, he really shouldn't have been. Hadn't he been the one that had only told Lex mere hours before that he'd fail?

"Oh my gosh," he whispered.

"Yeah," Chloe breathed in reply.

Lex was on TV, but it certainly wasn't in the way most people would want to be. No, this was in the form of a red strip running across the bottom of the screen reading like this: Lex Luthor captured around 11:00 PM last night. Luthor is noted for escape from prison and harboring a fugitive. He is now in the hands of republic. More within the hour.

There was a woman on the TV and she looked to be reporting on something, so Clark quickly grabbed the remote and blasted the volume. Her voice was pretty and young, but her message certainly wasn't.

"I'm here before the capitol building where noble-turned-criminal Lex Luthor is being held. We were told that his trial has just commenced. As you all know, Luthor is famous for being the first and only prisoner to escape from the capitol's prison. That's all we have for now. Back to you, Rick," she said with a cheery smile that was just so against Clark's mood.

"He'll loose," Clark said, completely devoid of any obvious emotion. And yet, his lack of visible emotion showed the deep level that it was really at. Clark had never really been an overly demonstrative person. But right now, inside, he was scared to death and feeling so guilty.

"I know," she replied.

And they did; they both knew. Lex would obviously loose the trial set up by the kangaroo court that he was being tried in.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, and Clark saw that out of the corner of her eyes she was watching him carefully. It was almost as if she were gauging his reaction.

Clark had known what he was going to do from the moment that he'd seen the announcement on the television. He knew Lex would be found guilty, and that meant Lex would be sentenced to death.

He wasn't going to let Lex die because of him.

Robotically, as if he were operating on autopilot, Clark got up and headed for the door. He heard Chloe stand up after him, but he didn't really register it until she was in front of him and blocking his way.

"Clark, no," she rebuked him vehemently. "Lex wouldn't want this. I don't want this."

"Enough people have suffered for my mistakes, Chloe," he replied coldly, though the coldness was not at all directed at her. Instead, it was self-disgust at the highest level, because he was sure that this was his fault.

"Clark!" she shouted, and it almost seemed like she was trying to get his attention. Was he really that out of it? Was it really that obvious? By the way she was grabbing his shoulders and trying to shake him, he thought that he probably was.

"I've got to do it, Chloe."

He gently picked her up by her shoulders and moved her aside before he strode out the door towards the lab. "No!" she shouted after him, and he could hear the muffled thud of her socked feet as they ran out the door after him. She was grabbing at him from behind, but it was equivalent to trying to move steel. She had no chance to stop him.

"Clark," she shrieked finally, "you've got to think about this!"

"It's all I've thought of for the past two days," he muttered, not at all deterred from his chosen course.

The lab door loomed before him, large and white. Wasn't it ironic that he might possibly die in a lab, even if it wasn't in the way he'd imagined? He pushed through it, and the lack of effort that it took to do so startled him. It was like in that moment that he was reminded of just how inhuman he was. Though he'd been raised by humans, he was not one of them. He was actually closer to the aliens, and that was a thought that scared him to no end.

It took him a moment or two of rummaging through the things in the lab before he found the serum. After a closer inspection he discovered it wasn't a serum, really, but more of a gas. It came from a serum, though, and there was a large tank of it.

Trust Lex to come up with a method like that. Clark smiled, though he wasn't sure if it was from nerves or not. He ran his fingers over the cool metal of the tank housing the serum, then up the pipe, to the part of the machine that converted the serum to a gas. Finally, his fingers rested on a switch.

It wasn't a good feeling to hold his own life in his hands. It didn't feel right that it was this easy, either. Just a switch, a little flip of a switch. His finger hovered over it.

"CLARK!" Chloe shouted from where she stood in the doorway, looking absolutely distraught. "Don't do it," she pleaded again.

Clark looked at her sadly. "I love you, Chloe."

"Clark, no, please, no," she whispered frantically, tears running down her beautiful cheeks. Her eyes looked larger than normal as they were outlined with her tears. Clark thought she looked breathtaking. If anything would have stopped him in that moment, it would have been her.

But he had to do it.

He had to fix what he was so sure was his fault in the first place.

"When I flip this switch I assume that the gas will defuse throughout the city. Just like the gas back in Smallville that made people live their worst fears! Remember that?" he asked. He was sure he was going to die and he wanted to cling to something familiar, because death was so very unknown.

"Clark," she sobbed. "Don't."

His face twisted in a grimace of unhappiness. "I love you," he said again.

Then he flipped the switch.

At first nothing at all happened, and Clark was so frightened as he thought that it hadn't worked. Then, slowly, like the answer to a prayer and a curse at the same time, a purplish gas began to float out of a tube.

"Clark," Chloe screamed, running forward and grabbing him. Her arms were tight against his waist as the gas began to fill the room. He couldn't help but reach his arms back around her and kiss her lovingly on the mouth. If he died, that was definitely the last thing he wanted to feel.

Dizziness was the first thing that Clark felt. He thought he might have begun to sway, and he supposed he had because Chloe's arms tightened around him. She was sobbing with abandon, and Clark felt bad. Then his thoughts began to scatter, and he could feel them drifting back to the days of Smallville.

By the time black dots began to encompass his vision he wasn't even aware he was in the room with Chloe anymore. Therefore, when he passed out, he wasn't aware of who caught him and collapsed to the floor with him, unable to hold his weight. He wasn't aware of who it was that was lying on him, sobbing against his chest.

He knew none of those things, just as he wasn't there to see the serum begin to creep under the door and towards a waiting and very vulnerable world.