Author's note: This is a revised Part 12 because I felt I had rushed the end of it before. There are no major changes, just a little bit of an expansion at the very end.

Part 12

Nothing is what it seems

They entered the small apartment struggling to drag the unconscious body of Clark Kent behind them. Chloe gestured with her head toward the bedroom and after she managed to slam the door shut with her foot, they slowly made their way toward it. They dropped him on the bed and breathing heavily, Chloe threw herself in an armchair. She hadn't really counted on them actually getting away with it. She had been sure Lex would instantly send someone after them, but instead they had been left free to walk off the Luthorcorp property and climb into her rental car.

"Do you think he's okay?" Lana asked on a worried tone brushing Clark's wet hair behind his ears as she sat perched up on the bed next to him.

"Well, he doesn't have any open wounds…he doesn't look sick…," Chloe pointed out eyeing the unconscious body for a few moments to make sure. "He was probably just sedated. He should snap out of it soon enough if that's the case."

"You really think that's all there is to it?" she asked a little skeptical.

"It's more than enough if he's been sedated and tested on for the last two years," she reminded her.

"I hope you're right," Lana said turning back toward him. She leaned down to look at his face. He looked like he was sleeping. Suddenly, Chloe's cellphone started ringing loudly, breaking the frail silence that had laid itself over the room. Startled, Chloe fumbled around until she found it and answered it in a breath:

"Chloe Sullivan."

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Perry's voice boomed in her ears making Lana turn toward Chloe and address her a questioning gaze. Chloe mouthed the word boss and made her way out of the room.

"Perry! I was just about to call you," she said once she was in the living room.

"Four days, Sullivan! Count them! Four freaking days and no story from you! The Enquirer got the exclusive on Lana Luthor's return and you've evaporated to god knows where!" he yelled hard enough for Chloe to be forced to hold the phone a few inches away from her ear.

"Come on, I'm working on something really big here…," she said half-heartedly.

"By all the time this story's taking you to research, I don't care if you were kidnapped by goddamn aliens!" he went on. "I need stories and I need them yesterday. Now get your ass back at the Planet or it'll land in an unemployment line tomorrow morning!"

"Perry, come on, just give me another day," she begged him. "It'll be worth your while," she lied while her mind raced to find a possible subject that would interest him. Maybe she could talk Lana into doing something outrageous so she'd come clean with the boss.

"I don't want to hear it, Sullivan. Back at the office. NOW!" he said one last time before hanging up.

"Perry, Perry…," she said helplessly, but he was already off the line. "Damn it!" she let out stomping the floor annoyed. Just when things were getting interesting…but she couldn't risk losing her job. It meant the world to her. She walked back into the bedroom where she found Lana in the same position she had left her in. "I have to go," she said sighing.

"Now?" Lana asked looking back at her distressed.

"Yeah, my boss' is having a hissy fit," she nodded. "I have to talk to him face to face, but I'll be back in a flash, okay?"

"Okay," she reluctantly agreed.

"If anything happens, I'm a phonecall away," she promised before grabbing her purse and making her way out of the apartment.

In his office at Luthorcorp, Lex was pacing in front of his desk, trying not to get too excited by the news he had just gotten. Gerard Bouvier was sitting down in a chair watching him nervously. A big old looking book was opened in front of him. After what had happened at Luthorcorp, he had lost all hope of finding a door left open in Isobel's plans, but now, the professor had offered him a solution he hadn't even dared dream of.

"And this will make it permanent?" he asked still not being able to believe it.

"Yes," he answered hesitantly. "It can be done on your request. If it's not too late."

"I see," he said pensively. The truth was he still had great doubts about going through with this plan, but he had no other choice. It was the only way to beat Isobel at her own game. "Make the preparations then."

"Y-yes, sir," he muttered and stood up dropping the book on the floor. He quickly picked it up and made his way out of the office. Alone, Lex took a deep breath and running his hands over his scalp, looked out the windows. It was a gamble. He was playing everything on one card and risked losing the entire deck. He knew that. And wondered what would happen if his gamble didn't pay off. Unconsciously, he started counting the floors down from his office and wondered how it would feel to fall from that height.

In Chloe's apartment, Lana had given up on waiting for Chloe to show up again. She was half-asleep, with her head leaned on the pillow, next to his, when Clark stirred awake. His eyes opened and he stared up at the ceiling, wondering where he was. The last thing he could remember was…he tried hard, but there was just a massive blank there somewhere. He half-stood up and only then noticed the slumbering Lana sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"Lana…," he whispered and he was sure there was something about her he should be remembering. She looked up at him sleepily and the reality of him being awake quickly sank in and all her tiredness seemed to disappear as she said with a bright smile:

"Clark!" and jumped in his arms where she knew she would be safe. Oddly enough, all she felt was a knot tightening in her stomach.

"What-what happened?" he asked as he instinctually wrapped his arms around her while his mind drifted away. Smallville. A second meteor shower. The North Pole. Lana in a coma. And then? What happened then? His mind was in a fog.

"Uhm, well…I-I…," she said pulling away from him. She didn't know how to say it, how to explain it all. "You…you were away…for a while…"

"Where was I gone?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't know whether she could answer. What if it was something related to his origin? The cave? Had he really been to the North Pole? Everything was wrong inside his mind.

"I don't know," she smiled weakly. "The truth is we've both been gone to strange far away places," she caressed his cheek lightly. "And I've been waiting forever to see you again," she leaned toward him and kissed him.

A little voice inside her mind was wondering what she was doing. Why had she lied to him? Why was she kissing him? Pushing him down on the bed? Because he wouldn't ask questions anymore? Because he would never want her again after he would find out what Isobel had done with her body? Maybe she just wanted to forget for a while everything that had happened. And another little voice wondered whether she shouldn't have let Lex help her forget? When he had come to her drunk. When he had showed up angry in her rundown apartment. When he had come home from work.

As Clark pulled her closer, unbuttoned her shirt with hesitant unskilled fingers and she urged him on as if he was a little child, she wondered if people that made love had time for that many thoughts.

"Are you sure about this?" he whispered in her ear, breathing heavily. "Maybe we shouldn't…," he was trying to back out of it. Too late, she said to herself as she placed a particularly enticing kiss on his muscular abdomen. She realized as he rolled on top of her that he probably still thought of her as the virginal small town queen. At least someone still thought of her that way.

An hour later she was pretending to be asleep in his arms. Their naked bodies were covered only in bundled up sheets and his hand was resting protectively against her right thigh. He had kissed her lightly on the forehead before closing his eyes. He was sleeping now and there was still that air of naïve innocence about him. That too-good-to-be-true glow. But she was no longer too-good-to-be-true. She had probably been something worth dreaming about a while ago, but now – no matter how much it hurt to admit it - there was nothing left of that person. She stood up from the bed feeling rather nauseous and pulled her clothes back on, then made her way to the bathroom, trying to make as little sound as possible as to not wake Clark up.

Once inside, she closed the door behind her and let her body slide to the floor. Tears formed in her eyes and she covered her face with her hands. What had she done? Why had she done it? Since when did she use sex to fix her problems? Since when did sex mean so little to her? That she had done it just to shut somebody up? And that somebody had been Clark! The person she knew she had been in love with…And it had been awkward, like a first time. She knew what to do, how to do it, her body knew how…but he…she held back a sob and stood up from the floor. It shouldn't have mattered because it was Clark. Who was the greatest person she had ever met. And she had done it without thinking it over twice, not even taking into consideration the fact they had been in Chloe's bed! God! What kind of person had she become? She looked at herself in the mirror and wiped away the tears that had fallen down her face.

Then something odd happened…Her reflection smiled although she most certainly did not.

"You total slut," her reflection said with a smirk. At first, she thought she was imagining it, then her mirror self spoke again: "I have to hand it to you though, I really thought it would take you longer. You being the goody-goody two-shoes you were. But I guess I got under your skin pretty badly, huh?"

"Isobel?" Lana asked incredulously.

"In the fine mirror crystals, babe," her reflection said smiling triumphantly. "Kinda weird that we're meeting like this, isn't it? But I thought we should have a little heart to heart before I send you back to your cage."

"I'm not going anywhere," she said firmly.

"Oh, I think you are," her reflection smiled. "Actually, you'll be the one letting me back in charge."

"Dream on," she said and a tone of obvious hate and disgust made its way into her voice.

"Come now, Lana, you've served your purpose, it's time you walk proudly back into the beyond and let me handle the rest," she said with an air of superiority.

"What purpose?" she asked confused.

"You didn't think you came back on your own, did you?" she chuckled when she saw Lana actually seemed to have believed that. "That's rich! You're back because I let you get out of your little black box! Because I needed you. Clark stole something from me. I captured him and gave him to Lex, hoping he'd figure it out or well, kill him, and that certain something would come back to me of its own free will. But time just went on and on and nothing happened. I knew Clark would never give me what I wanted back, but he would give you anything…"

"I'll never ask him for anything for you!" Lana protested.

"Now see, the problem is you already got it back," Isobel said smiling devilishly. "My magical powers. During that little sports session back there," she paused for a moment then added: "He would've never slept with me. He would've known it wasn't you. The solution was obvious. I had to give him you. Of course, I had to make sure you'd find him first. Which I did…now, how about letting me back in control?"

"Never," she said feeling used and hating Isobel for playing her the way she had.

"Honestly, Lana…," the reflection sighed. "What exactly do you have to go back to? To fix? Your parents are dead. Everyone you've ever known hates you or would sell you to the media for a couple of hundred dollars. You're killing thousands of people with contaminated pharmaceuticals daily. And now you're sitting in the bathroom crying and wondering why you don't even feel at ease with the man you think you love. And you know why that is, Lana? Because you're in love with Lex Luthor. I made sure you'd be if you ever regained control. I mean, look at you, you've just made love to the one man you think you love and your entire body is recalling nothing but Lex Luthor's touch," she laughed. "Face it, I've ruined you and not all the king's horses or all the king's men are going to put you back together."

Lana didn't know what to reply. She knew her words were true. And just like that, Lana Lang gave up. What else could she do? Fight to prove her wrong? Fight what? Who? What? How? As she slowly slipped into the backseat of her own body she thought of Clark and Lex and Chloe and wondered what would happen from then on. What would Isobel do with Clark now that she had what she wanted back? What would she do to Chloe now that she had access to everything the reporter had confessed to Lana? And Lex…Lex… She had no strength to answer herself because there was no part of her left untainted, untouched inside, there was nothing there that belonged only to her. Isobel had turned every bit of her upside down, making sure there was nothing left for her to rescue. Calling Lana Lang…, a voice – her own? – muttered weakly and the fading consciousness answered it: I'm sorry, Lana Lang doesn't live here anymore.

Lana Luthor looked at herself in the mirror, blinked and reaching into her pocket, took out her cellphone and dialed a number. It rang three times before a male voice answered her and she said:

"This is Lana Luthor and if you hang up, I'll have you eviscerated faster than you can say it wasn't me," the person on the other end of the line didn't hang up. She smiled.

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Luthor?" he sounded hesitant, maybe even a little frightened. He had been assured there would be no repercussions for doing the job on the Lang Pharmaceuticals factory.

"I want to send a message to my husband. For future reference. I want a factory blown up. Any Luthorcorp factory will do. And I want it done today," she emphasized in the end.

"Should I wait for nightfall?" he asked not bothering to ask for a reason. He knew questioning the actions of the Luthors, especially when directed at each other, was useless. And unfortunately, he happened to be on both their payrolls which made it even more difficult.

"Why in heaven's name would I want you to do that?" she asked confused.

"The security staff is the only one usually there during the night," he pointed out. "A few hundred people work there during the day."

"Oh, yes, the body count. Do it in daylight anyway, it'll make a bigger impression," she dismissed his concerns. "I'll be able to wear black in court and pretend I'm in mourning," she mused to herself and added after a moment: "Oh and if my husband finds out anything about this before he should, consider yourself terminated," she hung up and satisfied with herself, dialed another number. "Hello, this is Lana Luthor, send a car to pick me up. I'm in this tacky little apartment on the east side…," she said and catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror she waved a hand over her face instantly applying a layer of make-up to it. "Better," she muttered and smiled.

End Part 12