Smallville Virtual Season Episode 9- Leviathan

"Days there are, nonetheless, when he lies

Like an angel, although a lost angel

On the wastes unease, no eye of man moving,

Bird hovering, fish flashing, creature whatever

Who after him came to herit earth's emptiness.

Froth at flanks seething soothes to stillness,

Waits; with one eye he watches

Dark of night sinking last, with one eye dayrise…"

Leviathan – W.S. Merwin

'He says he loves me…after everything we've been through, it's still like the Lex I loved is gone somehow.."

Callista fell back against the wall of her tank with a deep gasp. Never before had she been able to witness anything in someone's mind from so great a distance. It was only glimpse, but she had seen into the mind of Lex's little human girlfriend, Lana. It was encouraging. She'd only been in the tank a short while, but whatever chemical was being pumped through the water had amped up her psychic abilities. She could read Dr. Starke from here, and had been having fun playing with the minds of two or three of the others. It was a good test, and one Callista needed to make sure she could pull off flawlessly if she was going to try to escape.

Swimming to the surface, Callista startled Dr. Starke as he was recording the latest set of readings from the monitors that recorded her heart rate, water temperature, etc.

"Oh, Callista." He stammered, taking off his glasses to wipe away the water on them. "How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm okay." Callista replied sweetly. "How are my friends?"

"The twins have come out of the tranquilizer and they seem just fine. Right now they're in a tank with other fish…" Dr. Starke put his glasses back on in time to see Callista's disgusted expression. "Sorry, you are all mammals, I know…"

"Hmm" She replied, sinking under the surface again. She looked across at the tank that was now meant for Lori. Odd that theirs were separated from the others by so much. Callista came to the surface again. Dr. Starke was still there, fidgeting with dials and controls, as well as occasionally writing notes on his clipboard.

"Why can't I see the others? Gisela is so young. I'm sure she's quite scared." Callista said, again startling the doctor. He turned, nearly slipping on the wet floor around the tank. She could see that he was afraid to get too close, and Callista could appreciate that. It was a mark of his intelligence, really. Who would want to get close to an angry shark? They'd have to be insane. Even a 4 year old mer-child knew that, especially the ones like Callista, the reef and cold water dwellers.

"I can't let you near her." Dr. Starke shook his head sadly. "She's sick. Won't eat. Just keeps singing, over and over. We can't identify the language, but one of my IT people is from Ireland and he says it sounds like Gaelic."

"Really?" Callista raised an eyebrow. Of course it sounded like Gaelic, she laughed inwardly. People from Atlantis fled to every corner of the globe. Every seaport town in the world had several descendants of Atlantean refugees as part of their populations and didn't even know it. Humans were tremendously blind to the world around them. "I know I could help her if I could only speak to her."

Dr. Starke felt himself waver. "You're trying to manipulate me." He said blankly and Callista waved a webbed hand.

"Nonsense. If I wanted to manipulate you, Doctor, you'd never know it. I'm just asking nicely." She swam to the side of the tank he was standing on and hoisted herself up a little. Dr. Starke jumped onto the steps and Callista laughed. "I won't hurt you, either, Doctor. After all, it's bad manners to bite the hand that feeds you."

"I suppose we could get you a way to communicate with Gisela, since she's so badly off and so isolated. We're afraid to put any other marine life in her tank, in case she's contagious."

"Heartbreak isn't contagious, Doctor. She's young, alone and with no hope of seeing her home again." Callista scoffed, and then she shook her head. "We're just like you. We have families and lives. You're kidnapping us. I hope you can live with yourself."

"I'm starting to wonder." Dr. Starke agreed, taking a long hard look at the mermaid before him. "My daughter…."

"I know." Callista shrugged and then she said, before diving under again. "You could have saved her, you know. Without selling your soul to Lex Luthor. And look where it's gotten you, for all of your trouble."

"I guess so." Dr. Starke nodded solemnly, turning the dial on a control panel, releasing more of the green meteor rock radiation into Callista's tank. "But now my soul is his, and my ex-wife is moving my daughter across country."

Clark and Oliver returned to the hotel suite, Chloe and Lori tagging along. Oliver had called housekeeping and hotel security as soon as Lori and Clark had gotten to Smallville, instructed them to leave the room as it was. All the same, Oliver thought, it was odd that hotel security had not been alerted before his phone call, because the suite was trashed. Some cranky neighbor in the next suite had to have heard something, but, not one complaint. It was odd, and Oliver was stumped. Clark was carefully x-raying the room, for any clue at all, and Chloe had gone to talk to the staff. Lori was scanning the room herself, desperate for any sign of her sister, Gisela. Oliver saw Lori kneel next to a blotch of dried blood on the carpet. She placed her fingers to it, and shook her head.

"Human." She said, simply, no longer caring who heard or who knew. Rising, Lori cocked her head, and threw the suite door open. Persephone was there, locked in a deep embrace with a tall, wild looking man Lori recognized as the lead singer of the band they had been touring with. Breaking the kiss, Persephone grinned at Lori wickedly. The man, obviously completely enchanted, panted after her eagerly, but Persephone just patted his cheek absently.

"Hi, coz, have a good night?" The self satisfied smirk vanished as Persephone looked over Lori's shoulder. "What happened? Where is everyone?"

"Good question." Oliver said, taking Persephone by the hand and pulling her into the room. The other man began to protest, but Oliver eyed him coldly. "Jake, get gone. Now. You guys have a studio date today."

"Um, right, Mr. Queen." Jake said, shaking his head, blinking. He waved at Persephone. "Call you later, Perse…"

"Okay, baby." She grinned, blowing Jake a rather prolonged kiss. "Bye…"

Lori slammed the door and turned, all the color leeching from her face, and her eyes widening. They glittered dangerously blue, and Persephone waved a hand dismissively at her cousin, undaunted. Oliver groaned. This was not going to be pretty, and Clark came to the living room, silently observing.

"Oh come on...you and your cattle farmer…" Persephone began gesturing to Clark, and then, as Lori seemed to grow bigger and more fierce, began to speak in rapid Atlantean, defending herself and her actions. Oliver could not follow the conversation, and it was just as well. Persephone was pleading now, that much was clear, but Lori, no, LORELAI was not softening.

"It does not matter what you THINK." Lori spat, her speech wild and vowels flavored with an accent Oliver could only assume was Atlantean. "You were supposed to be here, with them. You were supposed to sound an alarm. Callista could not hold off the human attackers alone, she needed you. It is clear you were NOT thinking, Persephone. They're gone. All of them." Lorelai wailed, her hands going to her face. "I should have been here…it was wrong to leave." Suddenly, Lori was herself again. Persephone reached out and Lori allowed her cousin to embrace her, both girls sobbing.

"I found some…" Chloe entered the room, and stopped, nonplussed at the sight of the mermaids weeping in the center of the room, as well as the sight of the two men awkwardly balanced on either side of the room, helpless. "Did I miss something? How did Persephone get away?"

"Long story." Oliver said, clearing his throat. "What did you find, Chloe?"

"Well, we know security has no record of any kind of complaints, but a guard was on duty up here earlier." Chloe began, looking over her notes. The duty log was recorded for the patrol of this floor, and it was two hours before Lori and Clark were back here at the Grand."

"So, it had to have happened after the patrol." Clark nodded. "If the guard had seen the mess, or stumbled across the kidnappers…"

"They would have either stopped it or set off an alarm or something. " Oliver finished. "Okay, so we're working with a two hour window." He looked over at Lori.

"Have you had any sign of any of them?"

"I can't feel them, no." She shuddered. "It's like they've just evaporated." She looked at her cousin. "Can you, Persephone?"

"No." The other mermaid shook her head, frowning. "They're being blocked. That's what it is. Electrical interference. Someone knows." Persephone looked at Oliver. "And they've figured out how to keep us from communicating with each other."

Dr. Starke stopped at Gisela's tank and looked in. The girl had not eaten anything, apples and vegetables floated on the surface like colorful buoys. She, however, sat at the bottom of her tank, her long green hair floating in the water like kelp. He rested his head against the glass, sighing. Gisela saw him, and drifted upwards until she was eye level with Dr. Starke. More so than the others, Dr. Starke felt his heart break seeing Gisela. Even in human form, the girl was more innocent and sweet than the others, more like the mermaid dolls his daughter had played with as a little girl. Her eyes, huge, green and melancholy, tore at him, and she placed one long, white hand on the glass, just on the other side of where his own rested.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I am." Dr. Starke said, and Gisela nodded sadly. "Your friends are all worried about you, you know. Callista almost had me convinced to let you come to be with her." Gisela seemed to brighten, and then her shoulders heaved. "You know I can't do that. I'd let you go be with the twins first, but their tank isn't big enough." Gisela nodded in reply to this. "But if you eat, I can lower the resonance field for a little while, let you all talk to each other."

:Nod and don't let him know you can hear me..: Gisela heard Callista say in her mind, her voice soft and urgent. :Do it, and I can get help. Once he lowers the field, I can let Lori and Oliver know where we are. And eat, angelfish. We're going to need all of our strength..: Gisela nodded to Dr. Starke and then swam up to snatch a green apple from the surface. She gestured toward him with it, and took a large bite, smiling.

"Good girl." Dr. Starke smiled back, and took out his radio. "Shut off the resonance field."

"Are you sure, Doctor?" the reply came back quickly. "We don't know what they can do to the glass. What if they can…"

"Just do it." Starke snapped, looking at Gisela, who'd stopped eating her apple to watch him. "Bring it back up if you notice frequency levels rise in the tanks or they start to sing."

"So, I think we need to talk to the security guard who patrolled this floor." Chloe said, looking at Oliver. "Otis."

"Otis?" Persephone gasped. "The chubby little man who gave Morgaine the key to the salt water pool?"

"Oh, great." Oliver turned to glare at Persephone. "What happened to 'we will be normal, Ollie.'? What did you girls do?"

"We were." Persephone smiled sadly. "Mermaid normal." She shrugged. "Morgaine said it was better to charm the keys from him than to break another set of cameras."

"Morgaine said?" Lori folded her arms across her chest. "Morgaine, the one that races in the East Australian Current every season? Morgaine, the one that dives the wrecks and is always, always in trouble? That one?"

"I don't like your tone, Lorelai." Persephone retorted. "No one hurt him."

"Well, you gave him reason to hurt you." Clark interjected. "Chloe, can you find out about Otis?"

Chloe laughed, setting her laptop on the table "Already on it. " She opened it, and both mermaids gravitated toward the computer. "I'll just pull up his employee record and go from there…" After a few minutes, Chloe looked up, her face a swirl of emotions. "You'll never guess where Otis worked BEFORE the Metropolis Grand."

"The Gotham Grand." Oliver said, half joking, and Chloe shook her head.

"No, that would be simple. Otis is a former LuthorCorp employee." She looked at Clark. "I don't think I'm the only one that finds that even slightly suspicious." Oliver and Clark looked at each other as awareness dawned on them.

"Lex." Clark said, looking at Chloe. "But why?"

Oliver cleared his throat. "Lex did offer to buy my label, and the band's contracts. At first, Callista and I thought it was because of his interest in her, but there's more to it." He nodded to Lori. " You were right, Lori."

Clark and Chloe looked over at Lori, who sighed. "In our songs, we've been able to weave subliminal messages using our mental powers. It's never anything bad." She smiled at Clark. "Just encouraging women to be independent and not let themselves be victims, humans to care for the environment and each other, and so on."

"It's why I signed them in the first place." Oliver grinned. "Might as well agree with the agenda. My share of the sales go to my charities anyway. Callista had been working on keeping Lex off balance, but it seems like he figured it out somehow and now wants their power for himself. "

"Well, we can't let that happen." Clark said, putting his arm around Lori. "We have to go talk to Lex."

"Clark." Chloe frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea. If he has the girls, then he's not going to let you know about it. And we still don't know how much he remembers…"

:Lorelai..we're in a lab, someplace in Metropolis.: Lori heard Callista in her mind, as clear as a bell. :.Tell Ollie, and hurry. It's called Cadmus….: Lori looked up at Clark, and shook her head. "Callista just spoke to me. They're in a laboratory someplace in Metropolis, called Cadmus."

"Cadmus? But they've been out of commission for quite awhile." Clark said, looking over Chloe's shoulder with Oliver as she began searching for any information on the lab.

"Not as out of commission as we thought, apparently." Chloe shook her head. "I can only see that there's power going to the building, but I can't hack into their system." She sighed in frustration, and both Clark and Oliver smiled. "I'm glad you guys think this is funny."

"Finally, a firewall that stops Chloe Sullivan." Clark teased, and Chloe rolled her eyes, even as Oliver bent down to kiss her hair. "Okay, so we all go to Cadmus."

"No, WE go to Cadmus." Oliver said, pointing to himself and then Clark. "Chloe, I want you to do me a big, big favor." Chloe nodded. "I need you to stay here with Lori and Persephone and keep them out of trouble. Call my friend Hal. Tell him I need him to fly us to the Keys and he needs to get here now. Then call this number." Oliver pulled out his cell phone. "It's for the harbormaster in Key West. He's got my boat out there. We're going to need it. Ask him about the submersible that that movie crew sold him, too."

"You got it, Oliver." Chloe took Oliver's phone and copied the numbers down. "I'll start calling now." Oliver nodded and caressed Chloe's cheek gently before turning to study Lori and Clark. His eyes were sad, and Lori didn't need to read his mind to know what Oliver was thinking.

"Oliver.." Lori looked up at him helplessly. "No.." She clutched at Clark, who closed his arm around her, frowning slightly at Oliver, who was resolute.

"Lori, yes." Oliver shook his head. "You have to go home. All of you. I can't keep you safe anymore. Come on, Clark. We have to go."

"Right." Clark nodded. He turned to Lori. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Don't worry about what's coming next, Lori. One thing at a time, okay?" Lori nodded, and Clark smiled. "We'll figure it all out. I promise."

"Okay." Lori smiled in reply and reached up to kiss him. "Be careful, please."

"I will. You too. Don't answer the door. Follow Chloe's lead. She's usually right." Clark instructed. "Okay?"

"Okay." She smiled, standing on tip toe to kiss him again, rejoicing as he kissed her back. "I'll be careful."

"Goldilocks, if Lex Luthor comes sniffing around…" Oliver began, but Chloe frowned at him dismissing his concern.

'I can handle Lex." Chloe reassured him, but she looked over at Clark, lowering her voice before she spoke again. "Listen, just a tip from the care and feeding of aliens file, Oliver. Clark is badly affected by green kryptonite. It can kill him."

"I remember something about that, back when we all first met. Gotcha." Oliver nodded. "Okay, now." He kissed her deeply. "No more taking care of Clark tips. He's a big boy. And worry about me a little, will ya? I'm not bulletproof." Oliver said, resting his forehead against hers.

"I am officially worried about you very much." Chloe laughed, and Oliver kissed her again, until she stopped giggling and wrapped her arms around him. "I wish I could go with you."

"Me too. You're the prettiest hacker I know and I'm probably going to wish you were there when I'm slicing through millions of dollars of someone else's tech, but I need someone I can trust that's not male with these two. If they get irritable, put on headphones and ignore them. Trust me." Oliver squeezed Chloe tightly.

"I trust you." Chloe said, meaning more than just the advice about the headphones.

"Good, because I trust you, too." Oliver said, also meaning more than leaving her with the mermaids. And they both knew it.

Lana had been awake for hours. Nightmares of mermaids and kidnapping had kept her from really sleeping, as well as the late night realization that her quick jump to being involved with Lex had been a tremendous mistake. The nagging insecurity had bloomed in Lana's mind since her days as Zod's hostage - the thought that Lex was only with her because of his interest in Clark. It wasn't something she could talk about with anyone. Lana looked around, and realized she'd wandered into a part of the mansion she'd never seen before. It was almost antiseptic in design, cold and impersonal. The end of this corridor held a single set of double doors. Lana frowned and walked to the doors, testing the handle to see if it was unlocked. The handle gave way, and Lana walked into the room. The lights came on automatically as she entered, their dull hum the only sound in the room.

"Oh my God." Lana whispered, walking down the steps slowly, unable to process everything she was seeing. Every where she turned, images of Clark, bits of evidence from some of Clark's more dangerous misadventures appeared, and in the center of all of this, a twisted rectangle of metal that had once been a car. Hunks of meteor rock sat on museum displays, in fact the whole room had a macabre museum feel to it, and Lana felt compelled to examine everything. All of her worst insecurities were laid bare, stripped and exposed as she turned to looked at a professionally lighted wall, covered in photographs. One whole section was devoted to candid pictures taken of Lana with Clark, going as far back as freshman year of high school. Moments where Lana would have sworn she and Clark had been completely alone were captured on film forever. She also saw other pictures, Clark with Chloe, Clark with Alicia and that Kiwatchee girl he had been interested in so long ago, and then, at the end of the display, three pictures, alone. Lana walked to them and stared, her eyes wide. Clark sitting at Crater Lake with the lead singer of that band Lois liked. Whatever this room was, Lex was still adding to it. Lana could feel her stomach turn, revolted.

"They make a handsome couple, don't they?" Lex's voice was cold and Lana jumped, turning quickly to face him. He stood on the steps, looking down at her, his expression inscrutable. Lex laughed a little and walked down the steps, opening his arms. "Chloe had the wall of weird when she was at the Torch, this is my attempt at making sense of it all. It's been a work in progress for a long time, but now, I'm just adding to it here and there." He said it casually, easily, as if this room were just another of his trophy rooms, or his wine cellar. And Lana realized that's exactly what it was, a trophy room, with the prize still being unattainable. Everything that had happened came into sharp focus and Lana saw Lex clearly. And hated him.

"Do what you want with this room, Lex. I'm done. I've had enough, been through enough with you these last few weeks." Lana snapped, walking up to him. "You've been using me the whole time. To get closer to him, to…" Her eyes widened in realization and then narrowed in rage. With all of her might, Lana raised her hand and slapped Lex across the face. "You're disgusting."

Lex raised a hand to his cheek, and nodded. "You would see it that way."

"There is no other way to see it, Lex. And no, I'm not interested in hearing your very smooth explanation this time." Lana walked past him, up the stairs. "I'll be gone before breakfast."

"Lana." Lex replied, without turning around. "My feelings for you…

"Are a crock of shit, Lex." Lana laughed at him bitterly. "I've spent enough time in the Luthor circle enough to see that now." She went back down the stairs. "All I wanted was truth from you. I could have withstood anything as long as I knew you weren't lying to me. Instead, it's been lie after lie. And I thought Clark lied!" She laughed again. "The thing is, I learned why he lied, and I can't hate him for that. You, on the other hand…" She met his cold stare with a vicious glare of her own that made Lex almost proud of her. "You aren't fit to breathe the same air as Clark." Lana shook her head and walked away, up the stairs and Lex allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He'd find a way to deal with Lana later after she'd calmed down. After all, Lex thought looking around the room quickly before he headed back up the stairs, it's important to keep the collection together.

"This isn't very encouraging." Oliver said, looking out his window at the abandoned looking warehouse. "I mean, I know you said Cadmus is a 'secret' lab, but this looks like it's being kept a secret from its employees too."

Clark nodded. "Lex likes to keep things under the radar."

Oliver laughed. "Most creeps like being under the radar, Clark." He shook his head. "Let me get my gear and we'll do this." He got out and opened his trunk, and Clark laughed to himself, thinking of Chloe's arsenal in her VW bug. Oliver's trunk wasn't too far off, as Clark watched him load a heavy looking quiver with arrows that were fitted with all sorts of interesting devices.

"You think you're going to need all of that?" Clark asked, as Oliver slung the full quiver over his shoulders and then tightened the bowstring on the large and powerful looking bow he had. Oliver shrugged, concentrating on the bow. When he was done he looked over at Clark and laughed, noting the younger man's empty hands.

"Listen, Clark, when I can shoot lasers from my eyes and fly, then I'll leave the bow home. Meanwhile, I do what I can." Oliver said, grinning as he closed the trunk. He gestured with the bow. "Let's move."

Hal Jordan wasn't much of a cell phone person. Having one was a prerequisite for being friends with Oliver Queen though, Hal laughed to himself, draining his coffee mug. The ring, programmed by Oliver as a joke, now was an instant notification of who was calling. The William Tell Overture. A metallic clunk and a sharp "ow!" made Hal look up from the parts he had been working on for his plane. Tom Kalmaku, the mechanic was scowling at Hal, his dark face darker with pain and annoyance.

"Hey, get that, would you?" Tom called, looking around the hood of the engine he was working on. "You really need to put that on silent or something. Ollie and his jokes." Tom rubbed the back of his dark head and disappeared back under the hood of Hal's plane.

"Okay, okay." Hal found the phone and answered. "Ollie, I…"

"I'm sorry." A confused woman's voice replied. "Oh! He's got my phone now." She laughed. "I'm Chloe Sullivan. Oliver asked me to call you."

"Chloe Sullivan." Hal repeated. "Right, the girl Oliver met in Metropolis. Swapping phones? That's about as going steady as Ollie can handle." Hal blurted. When the girl on the other end didn't laugh, Hal apologized. "Sorry, Ms. Sullivan."

"Oh, no problem." Chloe felt her cheeks burst into flames of embarrassment, and she cleared her throat to start over. "Oliver asked me to have you fly here as soon as you can. He said he needs you to get us all to the Keys in a hurry."

"Damn him." Hal spat, tossing the rag he'd wiped his hands with on a worktable. "I needed him back here and he wants a party trip to the Keys? I swear…"

"Look," Chloe interrupted. "I know you had some important business with him back in Seattle, but he needs you here now. It's life and death. His friend Lori is in danger."

"Lori?" Hal switched the phone to the other ear. "Now you have my attention, Chloe. What's going on?"

As Chloe told Hal about the situation, he began pulling maps out of the floor to ceiling cubbies Carol had installed to store them. Finding one he wanted, Hal slid the rubber band off and opened it on the table near the shelves. He looked at his watch and then at his plane.

'Look, Chloe, my plane is being worked on, very slowly, I might add, and I have to get my hands on another. It'll take me a couple of hours for that at least. If you hear from Oliver, tell him I'm on my way. And get whoever is with you organized to go. If what you have just told me is true, we're not going to have a whole lot of time to play with."

Callista listened as Dr. Starke ordered the resonance fields returned to normal levels. It absolutely figured. Concentrating, Callista pictured the resonance field in her mind, and tried to send one last message out to whoever could hear it. Mentally, she reached out to her friends first, quietly told them her plan and said goodbye, ignoring their pleas and protests. She couldn't wait for a rescue party to come, even though she was sure Oliver and Clark were on their way. But whatever radiation they were pouring into her tank was burning her skin, making the sandpapery hide of her tail peel, and Callista was pretty sure it was killing her anyway. However, it had bequeathed her several gifts along the way, and Callista planned to use each and every one before she moved on. Closing her eyes, Callista began to send messages into the vast and great ocean of the world, the seas of the skies, where birds flew as gracefully as mantas glided across the ocean floor. She allowed herself to sink to the bottom of the tank, beyond caring who was watching as her transformation into something terrible and strange began. The message, repeated over and over, was the same, and eventually, all sea life halted, listening for something they could barely sense. Her words tickled at them, prodded until the merfolk around the world were listening, all turned toward her, seeing her in their minds. A great cry escaped the lips of all who dwelled under the sea. The protector of Atlantis, dormant for almost 300 years had begun to stir, his sleep disturbed by the distress of one of those who had been sworn to his service from the beginning of all history. Deep in the icy Atantic Ocean, a fissure formed, air escaping with a bubbling hiss. One great yellow eye peered out from the crack, half lidded with sleep and centuries of barnacles. Leviathan shifted, preparing to shake the accumulation of ages from his black body, the deep rumbling of his movements causing the oceans surface to billow.

:Save the others. I know what I have to do. Our secret has to be preserved. What becomes of me alone is irrelevant, but they cannot discover Atlantis..:

Clark and Oliver broke through the first door to the lab, the nondescript steel door, ignoring the cardkey swiper. When they got to the second door, Clark punched through the glass hand panel and with his heat vision, lasered the wires to open the heavy door. Oliver waited, an arrow in his bow, and when the door opened, the security guard behind it was knocked unconscious by the arrow before he even heard the twang of the bowstring. They turned and looked at each other, both suddenly feeling cold, and both imagining the weight of water crashing in over them. Time was running out. Moving quickly, they disappeared into the depths of Cadmus, looking for any sign of Gisela, Morgaine, Rowan and Callista.

Lori and Persephone wept, clinging to each other in despair, as Chloe dialed the Key West harbormaster again. Chloe kept one eye on the Weather Channel as the overly chipper announcer pointed to the swollen tropical storm that was barrelling toward the Keys and the nor'easter that was threatening the north Atlantic coast. Groaning, Chloe pressed the redial button on the phone, praying that someone would answer soon.

Arthur Curry stopped waxing his surfboard, looking out at the poisonous black clouds that cluttered the southern sky. The whispered warning made him turn west, where the sky still held the dregs of the night, bruised and purple against the pre storm crystalline blue of the east. It had been just over a year since he'd been there, but A.C. had no doubt that he needed to be in Metropolis, now.

Hal Jordan felt the landing gear kick back inside the plane, and turned it against the wind, accelerating faster than was wise for these conditions and climate, but the urgency was too great to let any more time slip by.

Lana Lang wept, sitting alone on the small dock at Crater Lake, hugging her knees to her chest as the dawn peeked over the tall trees. Her life had fallen apart, and nothing she'd ever been through had prepared her for this stunning realization. This was all her own fault. And only she could make it right. Lana stood, wiping the tears from her cheeks resolutely and stared down into the depths of the lake, seeking answers. They would come to her, she knew. But now, all she could do was cry. A sorrow much greater than any she had ever felt had gripped her, and it had nothing to do with Lex. Salt tears fell into the sweet water of the lake, and the school of fish that had comforted the mermaid just the night before, wept in the dawn with the human girl, mingling their non-saline tears with the fresh water.

Lex Luthor came back into his study and found the very new and expensive tank of tropical fish empty. When he looked down on the floor, it was littered with gem-like, desperately struggling for air, fish, all ready to die. Ignoring them, he flipped on the news, and found himself greeted with the strangest report of the morning. Several great white sharks and Wright whales had simultaneously beached themselves on the shores of several major Eastern coastal cities, and a similar phenomenon had happened in Alaska, where an entire pod of killer whales had been beached on the snowy shores of the Alaskan coast. But the oddest part of all, was that every single beached mammal and fish pointed toward Metropolis. Grabbing his jacket, Lex stalked out the door, jumping to his car to drive to the city as fast as he could. Starke had screwed up for the last time.

Coming: Episode 10 - Beacon