Part 13

Back in town

She was standing next to the bed, back in her perfect Armani business suit, with high heels that would make any woman scream in pain and a necklace more expensive than the entire building she was in. Her hair, back to its shampoo commercial perfection, her earrings, exquisite, her make-up flawless. She was from head to toe, from hair tip to spotless black heel, Lana Lang-Luthor, Metropolis ruthless business woman, fashion goddess, tabloid dream queen. And of recent, real life witch.

She looked at the naked body still sleeping in the bed and grimaced. She kicked the bed lightly with her foot, hoping it would jolt him awake. He didn't even stir. Deciding she didn't want to ruin her shoes by kicking the mattress until he woke up, she reached out and shook him.

"Clark, honey, it's time to wake up," she said on a forcefully sweet tone.

"Lana…," his eyes half-opened, he smiled lazily at her and reached out to her, but she pulled away before he had a chance to drag her down in his arms.

"We have to get out of here," she told him throwing him some clothes she had asked the driver to bring with him when he came.

"But…why? What happened?" he asked standing up and looking at her confused.

"It's Lex," she instantly said. "He's sent people after you. To put you back in the tank."

"Are you sure?" he asked, but started getting dressed nonetheless.

"Yes…," she paused for a moment wondering what she could say to convince him: "Chloe called and said so."

"Where are we going?" he asked once he was dressed.

"My place," she said with a smile.

At the Luthorcorp offices, Lex was waiting impatiently for Bouvier and another older man he had brought with him to finish what they were doing. He felt as if he was expecting results from a wee gee board. Candles were spread on the floor, incantations were spoken, strange smelling things were burnt, symbols were drawn and all he could think of is that it was all too far fetched and hoped the media wouldn't find out anything about it. Occultism was the last thing he needed on his already widely inflourished resume.

"It's not working," Bouvier suddenly said, opening his eyes and turning toward Lex.

"You said this was a sure thing," he reminded him.

"It is, I don't understand how…," he turned back toward the book opened on the floor next to him. A knock on the door distracted Lex's attention and he preferred to slip out of the office instead of letting anyone see what was happening inside.

"What is it?" he asked his baffled secretary once he closed the door shut behind him and was now standing in his office's reception room where she had her desk. She looked horrified by something. Lex frowned. Had she been able to sneak a peak at what was going on in his office? "Is everything all right?" he asked, already calculating a proper sum in exchange for her silence.

"I-I think you should see this, Mr. Luthor," she said and her voice was shaky as she gestured toward the flat TV screen on the opposite wall that was showing a breaking news report.

"…less than an hour before. The number of casualties has risen to a staggering 159 and over 100 wounded. The firemen are still struggling to put out the flames and the number of victims of this tragic incident is sure to rise once they will be able to search through the rubble. Authorities believe the explosion to be connected to the destruction of the Lang Pharmaceuticals factory that took place only yesterday. A possible connection between the two incidents would strengthen the hypothesis of industrial terrorism…," the reporter announced and Lex stared at the screen incredulous. But that could mean only one thing…

"Mr. Luthor? Are you okay?" the secretary asked hesitantly.

"I'm fine," he muttered and still in shock headed back to his office. Bouvier and the old man were standing at his desk now, reviewing every word in the book, making sure they had gotten it right.

"Mr. Luthor," Bouvier jumped when he saw him reentering the office. "I don't know what went wrong…It should've worked. The spell was perfect!" he paused for a moment, giving the writing in the book another once over to make sure - for the millionth time - the spell was the right one. "I took every precaution. Every ingredient was carefully chosen. The words pronounced…"

"What if she wasn't in the right…disposition?" Lex asked looking at him with an unflinching gaze.

"You mean…if she…if Mrs. Luthor…oh, my," Bouvier let out. "Are you certain?"

"Let's just say she left me a pretty clear message," he replied dryly.

On the east side, Chloe was returning home to an empty apartment. Perry had kept her at the Daily Planet all day. She had been sent to press conferences and requested to write half a dozen articles she had neglected while helping Lana out. And there had been nothing she could have said or done to change his mind. She had somehow passed way beyond his bullshit toleration limit. And since Lana hadn't called at all, although she had kept her cellphone open all day precisely for that, she took it as a sign that everything was all right.

"I'm back!" she yelled from the living room as she threw her jacket on a chair. "Sorry it took so long, but my boss was not in the best of moods," she added as she headed for the bedroom. "So how are you guys…," she stopped mid-sentence when she saw the bedroom was empty. "Lana?" she rushed through the entire apartment. "Clark?" Nothing. They were nowhere in sight. Returning to the bedroom she started frantically searching for some sort of note. Although if they had left of their own free will they would've called, wouldn't they have? Nothing. She started having that bad feeling in her gut that had become her sixth sense since her early days at the Torch. Something bad had happened.

At Lana Luthor's penthouse apartment, Clark looked around the spacious – obviously very expensive surroundings – feeling out of place. Just like Clark Kent to feel awkward in a few million dollars worth apartment, Isobel mused to herself as she gestured for him to sit down.

"Is this really yours?" Clark asked as he sat down on the couch hesitantly, fearing to touch anything and ruining it.

"Yes. What, you don't think I could ever provide for myself like this?" she asked with a smirk.

"N-no!" he instantly denied it. "It's just…it doesn't look like you."

"Pretty expensive things don't fit me?" she twisted his words around.

"No…," he shook his head and sighed frustrated, but before he could rephrase his words again, she interfered:

"You're probably tired. I didn't let you sleep at all. How thoughtless of me," she said with a sheepish smile.

"No, it's all right, really. I feel like I've slept enough," he assured her, but her smile instantly faded and she added on a more forced tone:

"Oh, I think you should sleep," and her eyes glowed purple as they stared into his. Clark blinked and felt his eyelids were heavy.

"On second thought…maybe I am a little tired," he admitted rubbing his eyes.

"Of course you are," the smile was back and she helped him off the couch. "The spare bedroom is the second door on the right," she gestured toward a corridor and pressing her lips lightly to his let him make the rest of the journey by himself. She watched him go for a moment and then turned on her heels and went back into the living room.

At Luthorcorp, Lex was in the middle of a meeting with his executive board in his office concerning the factory that had been destroyed that day. Suddenly, the door was slammed open and Chloe Sullivan marched into the office with his secretary on her heels.

"Ms. Sullivan!" the secretary called out to her exasperated. "Mr. Luthor, I'm sorry, I tried to stop her, but…"

"It's all right," Lex assured her with his eyes on a terribly angry looking Chloe. "Would you excuse us for a few moments, gentlemen?" he gestured for his business partners to exit the office. The men, although a little unsatisfied, stood up and left the room. Once they were alone, Chloe exploded:

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!"

"Do to who?" he asked frowning.

"You know who I'm talking about!" she snapped at him. "I know it was you!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he denied any involvement in the disappearance of Clark and Lana.

"What you did to Clark is bad enough, but I won't let you…," she was about to make a threat, but he stopped her:

"Chloe, I'm not being evasive here. I didn't send anyone to find Lana or bring Clark back," he assured her. "I have bigger problems on my hands or haven't you bothered to turn on a TV today?"

"The factory," she suddenly recalled. She had completely forgotten about it. Perry had kept her off any Luthor related story all day. "But…you were the one that blew up the Lang Pharmaceuticals factory…there would've been no reason to…" and the truth of what had happened suddenly seemed to dawn on her.

"I had nothing to do with it," he denied it with a thin smile that proved he knew what direction her mind was racing in.

"But…it was her! I know it was her! She couldn't have faked it that long!" Chloe said incredulous.

"It was her," he nodded. "But I'm afraid she's gone now."

"Shit," Chloe closed her eyes. Her mind quickly went over everything she had told Lana and realized horrified how much she had let her guard down around her. "Damn it, damn it, damn it,' she muttered, angry with herself for never taking into consideration the possibility of this ever happening.

"No use crying over spilled milk," Lex told her calmly. "You have to leave Metropolis for the time being."

"I'm not going anywhere without Clark. If you think for one moment that I'm going to leave him at your mercy or that of your twisted jackal of a wife, you got another thing coming," she said and stormed out of the office. Left alone, Lex sighed. How easily things fell back into place, he thought to himself as his partners came back in the office.

Back at Lana's apartment, Clark was just waking up. He felt woozy. Like he had been sedated or worse. Standing up from the bed, he tried to shake off that feeling. He hadn't even taken off his shoes. He hadn't realized he had been that tired. His mind was still in a blur. Everything after the second meteor shower was confusing. He knew some time had passed since then. He had seen new buildings he had never seen before in downtown Metropolis, including the one he was in right then. But Lana and Chloe looked almost unchanged. Which meant it wasn't a too long period of time. A year? Two? Not more than three. And there was something off about Lana. The way she dressed. The way she talked. That apartment. There was something she wasn't telling him. Maybe she had become a model and won a lot of money…she was beautiful enough…maybe… He stood up from the bed and sighed. And what had happened earlier…he had flashes of her beautiful naked body beneath his…it had all happened so fast his mind had barely registered it. He wondered whether it had happened at all by the way Lana had behaved after he had woken up. Maybe he had dreamt it all, but the memory of her lips, her warmth denied that possibility.

He left the room and seeing that the living room was empty, he started wandering around the massive apartment searching for her.

"Lana?" he called out to her as he opened the door to one of the guest rooms only to find it was empty. Hearing sounds coming from one of the bedrooms at the end of the corridor, he made his way to it and with a smile, slowly pushed the door open. "Lana?" he asked but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw she was truly there, naked, on top of some stranger he had never seen before in his life.

"Clark! You're already up?" she asked looking back at him and the man beneath her half-stood up to see who she was talking to. Clark felt like his world was crumbling, like his heart had been smashed into pieces and thrown out with the garbage. So he did the only thing he could: he ran out of the bedroom, out of the apartment, out of Metropolis, at superspeed, toward the only place that could offer him some sort of comfort: Smallville.

"Who was that?" Quentin Terrane asked with a frown, not paying much attention to the speed at which the stranger had disappeared at.

"Oh, no one," she assured him turning back toward him with a smile. "So, did you bring it?" she asked getting off of him and walking over to where his clothes laid scattered on the floor.

"Yeah, it's in the left pocket of my pants," he told her letting his head back down on the pillow. "But I have to get it back today. If my old man sees it's missing he's going to freak."

"Oh, don't worry, you'll take it back," she assured him picking up his pants and fishing out a small strangely shaped artifact - that looked at least a few hundred years old - from his pocket.

"I don't get why you wanted to see it so badly," he said leaning on his elbow.

"You wouldn't, would you now?" she said staring at the stone. Then turning toward him raised her right arm. Quentin suddenly floated a few inches above the bed.

"Wow, what the hell's happening?" he asked trying to get down.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep this," she said holding up the artifact.

"But, you can't!" Quentin yelled. "My father would kill me…"

"You really shouldn't be afraid of your father at this point, Quentin," she said with a smirk and he suddenly flew across the room, hitting the wall hard. Before he had a chance to come to, she threw him in the opposite wall and snapping her fingers she broke his neck like a twig. "There, I think your father won't be able to kill you anymore," she said with a smile kneeling down next to him and placing a kiss on his lips.

Then standing up, she smiled looking at the stone in her hand. Walking over to the nightstand, she picked up her cellphone and dialed a number. When the person on the other end of the line picked up, she said:

"I need a clean up crew at my apartment. There's been an accident."

At the Luthorcorp offices, Lex was finally alone. He had had an incredibly busy day. Assessing the loses, giving statements, speaking to the insurance companies, deciding the compensations for the families that had lost someone in the explosion. Now, he was standing at his desk, alone, with a glass of much deserved scotch in front of him. Most of his employees had gone home and his secretary, who had stuck by him bravely all day, had left only moments ago. There was a light knock on the door.

"Come in," he answered, thinking that perhaps his secretary had forgotten something. He stared into his glass tiredly and when he looked up to see who had entered his office, he wasn't surprised of who he found. Lana Luthor stood in the doorway, in one of her perfect outfits, with her perfect smile and perfect make-up. She closed the door behind her, and putting her hand over the lock closed it with a puff of violet energy that wasn't lost on him.

"Hello, Mr. Luthor," she said with a smirk as she neared him. She stopped only when she was in front of the desk. "Well, here we are again. Just the two of us," she said leaning toward him over the desk, making sure he would get a good view down her cleavage. "I hope you're not terribly upset with me," she said on a mocking tone, but he didn't react, simply staring at her instead. Her smile faded and she stood up. Crossing her arms over her chest, she faked annoyance: "Is that how it's going to be then? A few days with the small town princess and I'm suddenly not good enough for you anymore?" she smiled seductively as she walked around the desk toward him. "But she didn't know what you needed, Alexander, did she now?" she turned his chair toward her and leaned down toward him and whispered in his ear: "I know she didn't," as her hand settled on his thigh, slowly working its way up.

Only then did Lex react. He stood up abruptly, grabbed her by the arms and kissed her. Fiercely, passionately, with all the need that had been buried inside him and suppressed the last few days. He cleared the desk with one hand and then pushed her down on it. Isobel didn't lift a finger to stop him, only smiled victoriously over his shoulder while he was kissing his way down her neck.

End Part 13