Clark. Yes, it was Clark, Martha Kent concluded. He had fallen. He was dropping at a startling distance. They had taken Jonathon. He had been unconscious. The Gunfire. The…..everything. Such a haze of emotions. The hospital was being evacuated. Martha breathed deeply. He was fallen. He had fallen. Martha had heard Lana scream his name and she had instinctively run back in to the room. Oh, god, please don't let me be too late.
She'd rushed out to the balcony. The familiar red flannel shirt and carefully pressed jeans. There was no one else it could be. Without another thought, she pushed the retractable stairs out. There was no other way. She only hoped it would be long enough. Please. Please. Clark plummeted, unconscious.
Martha held on to the retractable stairs and closed her eyes tightly. Please. Please. And he fell. He bounced in to the stairs, his motionless body barely landing away from the edge. The position of the unconscious boy looked like he would tip over the edge. He could not move. Martha pressed down with all her weight, knowing it might be too little. Clark was much heavier than her. With her last surge of strenght, Martha pushed.
Clark's body rolled once, then twice, and then….yes! It tipped over, right on to her. Martha stumbled back, almost bashing her head against the bedside. She groggily managed to stand up and could have shouted for joy. He was safe! Her baby was o.k. She rushed to the unconscious form and put his head on her lap.
"Clark," She whispered, stroking his long, curly hair. "Wake up, baby. Wake up."
She noticed something. His veins were turning green. She gasped with recognition. She desperately felt around his body, trying to get the kryptonite. His body started shaking in spasms. "Oh, no, please wake up!" She almost sobbed. She grabbed the shirt and pulled. He was too heavy to hold up. She put her knees on his ribs and jerked at the shirt despite his moans.
"Please, please!" She desperately tore off the buttons. He started to groan some more, his lips quivering.
"Somebody help!" He groaned out in spasms.
"I'm here." She said.
With that, she tore off his shirt. His head rolled off her lap and on to the hard, cold ground. His breath rate increased rapidly.
"Oh, baby!" Martha cried again as she gathered him in her arms.
Clark began to cough and gain consciousness. "Mom?" He asked woozily.
Martha nodded emotionally, "Yes, baby, it's me."
Clark groaned and wrapped his arms around her. "Mom."
"It's me." She whispered soothingly.
"Lana's up there." Clark realized, standing up. He grabbed his shirt, "I gotta go save her, mom."
Martha was concerned, "Are you sure Clark?"
"Yes, I've got to go save Lana. I'll be back in an instant." Clark turned around, preparing to speed off. He turned right in to the face of Sheriff Addams. "Oh, ummm, Sheriff Addams, it's you." He cleared his throat.
"Yes, Kent. It's me. And I smell something funny."
"Oh, there's ummm, nothing funny going on, ma'am."
"Don't ma'am me, Kent. You could have gotten your mother killed!" She rushed over to Martha's side and lifted her up gingerly. "You o.k., Martha?"
Martha nodded, "Yes, thank you."
"Why weren't you evacuated?" Addams asked.
"I ummm, had to….get something."
"How'd he get in here?" She asked, pointing at Clark, "He wasn't in here when everybody was being evacuated."
"I kinda…..snuck in."
"On a school day?"
"I…..ummm……I guess so."
"Been skippin' school, Kent?"
Clark swallowed.
"I asked you a question. Back in my day, you'd have gotten a whippin' for bein' so rude. The youngstas' of these days. You can be sure your principal will know about this."
"Yes ma'am." Clark muttered.
"C'mon, Martha," Addams said, putting her arms around Martha's shoulders, "Let's go. And you too, Kent."
"Is the gunfight still going on?" Clark asked.
They heard the distant sound of bullets.
"What do you think, Kent?" Addams asked sarcastically.
"What about the people up there?" Clark asked, concerned.
"They're getting down."
"And Lana?"
Addams crossed her arms. "How'd you know Lana was up there?"
Clark cleared his throat, "I…ahhh…"
"He's gone to visit her." Martha said.
Addams nodded slowly, "O.k. Well, your little girlfriend's o.k. They found her on the fire escape. Smart girl, that one. If she hadn't thought fast, she'd probably be dead right now."
"And Jason?" Martha asked.
"He's fine." Addams answered, "They found her unconscious. The boy was holding her. Couldn't really move either. Those 2, they're meant for each other."
Martha couldn't bear to look at the sorrowful expression Clark would undoubtedly be wearing on his face.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps. They all looked at each other worriedly. They were pleasantly surprised when it was only a bunch of armed policemen. "Is everyone here o.k.?" The leader asked.
"Yeah, fine." Addams nodded.
"Have you evacuated the building, sherif?" The leader asked.
"I think so. 89 at the very least."
"That's good. We're going in."
"Be careful."
The leader turned to one of his men. "Take them downstairs."
The man nodded and turned to Addams. "Let's go, ma'am."
"Thank you." She said.
They made their way off the floor and down through an elevator. There was smoke around everywhere. When they got to the ground floor, Addams fixed a glare on Clark, "Listen, Kent, you take care of your mom and try not to get in to any trouble. Because if you do, I'll find you, got it?"
Clark swallowed and nodded, "Yes."
"Yes? Back in my day you'd a gotten a whippin' for just saying yes."
Clark bit his lip, "Yes, ma'am."
"Don't ma'am me. Just take care o' your mom."
With that, Addams stormed off.
Clark grunted and turned to Martha, "Are you o.k., mom?"
"Yeah," She said softly, "I'm still kind of shaken. I thought you would die up there, Clark?" Her whole body was shaking.
Clark was touched. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, "I'm o.k., mom."
"I know," She sniffed, "It's just. It was so hard to watch you. I….I didn't know what to do."
A nurse scurried towards them, "Martha," she said, "Jonathon is being taken towards a private ward. Would you like to go with the van? He's conscious."
Martha nodded, "Yes, sure, I'll be right there." She turned to Clark as the nurse walked away, "We got a call from your school."
Clark swallowed, "You ummm…did?"
"They said you beat up a boy, broke his fist. Clark, what did we tell you about fighting? Someone could have been killed!"
"I didn't do anything, Mom."
"Then why are a boy's parents trying to sue us?"
"Sue?" Clark asked, shocked. "But he hit me!"
Martha raised an eyebrow, "He hit you?"
"Yes. That's how he broke his fist."
Martha sighed. "I know it's hard, honey."
"He was talking about Lana, mom. I wanted so badly to hit him."
"I know it's hard, honey."
"Hard? That's an understatement, mom."
Martha sighed, noting the hurt in his eyes. "I'm proud of you for restraining yourself."
He smiled, appreciatively. "Thanks, mom."
Martha kissed his cheek. "I've got to go, honey. I'll write a note to your school."
He nodded as she walked away. "Figures," He murmured. Suddenly, a fist hit his shoulder. Clark turned around hurriedly. It was Lois, standing with her arms crossed in an angry expression.
"Smallville." She said through clenched teeth.
"Hey, Lois," He said, forcing a smile.
"Don't 'Hey, Lois' me, Clark Kent, why tha hell did you leave me?"
"They were shooting at us!" He said incredulously, "There's a shootout going on in the hospital."
"So…you just decided I'd slow you down. Just left me?"
Clark sighed. "I'm sorry, Lois. I was trying to save you."
"This whole hero complex thing. It's got to stop."
He nodded.
She took pity on him. It had been thoughtful of him to think of keeping her safe. "What exactly knocked me out?"
"Ummm," He started, "I….don't know. I just turned around and there you were, head against the steering wheel." She seemed to believe it.
"Alright. How're your parents doing?"
"My dad got wheeled off to a different hospital."
"Oh, and your mom?"
"She went with him."
"What about that Lana girl?"
"She's o.k. They found her unconscious."
"Her boyfriend was with her?"
"Yeah, his name is Jason."
"Whatever. Any bodies?"
"Not so far, no."
"If Chloe was here, she'd already have a scoop for the torch."
Clark nodded, smiling.
"So…..where do we go from here?" She asked.
"I'd like to go home right now," Clark smiled.
"Need a ride?" She asked, pointing to her car.
"Yeah." He said, smiling.
They headed towards her car. There was some scraping on the side, obviously from the earlier event. Lois held her hand out, stopping Clark. "And do me a favor, Smallville," She smiled sweetly, "The next time you see something that you recognize, you can run after it yourself.
It was him. The Allen boy.
"It can't be him," Eduardo argued.
"Shut your goddamn mouth," His friend, Sancho replied.
"C'mon, Sancho, man, how tha hell would he make it to New York without us knowing about it. There's no fucking way."
"Shut your mouth or I'll put a bullet through your skull," Sancho said.
They made their way out of the airport and carried their luggages to the car port. They waited patiently until a taxi stopped in front of them. Then, they got in.
The driver turned around, "Good to meet you."
Sancho ignored the greeting, "Show us what you've got."
The driver pulled out of the airport and they drove in silence until they reached a secluded area. He then reached in to his dashboard. Sancho raised his pistol and pointed it at the man's head.
"Aye, man, what's going on here?" The driver raised his hands.
"Don't try anything funny." Eduardo said.
"Jesus Christ, man, I'm trying to show you something."
"Try anything funny," Sancho said, "And I'll blow your head away, got it?"
The driver nodded. "Yeah, man, whatever." With that, moving slowly, he got out an envelope.
"You better have everything, man." Eduardo said.
"Yeah, man. I don't fuck with the Luthors for nothing."
"You better not."
Eduardo grabbed the envelope and tore it open. Inside were photos of Bart and Chloe at the hot dog stand, calmly sipping their drinks and talking. "That's him," He said, turning to Sancho.
"You think I'm stupid? Of course it's him."
"Good," Eduardo said, "Let's get going."
"Wait!" The driver said holding out his hands.
"What do you want?" Sancho grunted out.
"C'mon, man." The driver whined.
"What tha hell do you want?" Eduardo yelled.
"We had a deal, man."
"What deal?" Sancho asked, crossing his arms.
The driver squirmed in his seat. "Don't play innocent man."
"What goddamned deal!" Eduardo hollered.
"Listen, man," The driver said, "You pay me my money or else-''
"Or else what?" Sancho asked calmly.
The driver thought over his odds of beating the 2 men up. They were both atleast 5 inches taller and 35 pounds bigger than him, and one had a gun. "C'mon, man," He said relenting, "Just pay me back my money or I'm going to the cops.
"To tell them what?" Sancho snorted.
"That you bastards cheated me!" The man said.
"You think the cops are going to take pity on a little shit like you?" Eduardo asked calmly.
"What are you talking about?"
"You little bitch. You think you're exempt from this? This is aiding and abetting. You're delivering a bunch of kids to us."
The driver realized his mistake.
Sancho smiled. He reached in to his office and pulled out a police badge. On there was a photo of himself. Eduardo pulled out a similar badge. The driver knew from countless brushes with the law that these weren't fakes.
"Please, man." He forced out, "Just give me my money. My kids and I have got to eat, man."
Eduardo reached in to his pocket. "Not anymore" He muttered. In a quick second, he drew out a pocket knife and stabbed it in to the man's neck. The blade tore through the veins and entered his spine, severing some bones. In a matter of seconds, the man was dead. Eduardo withdrew the blade and calmly threw it on the floor. "Let's go." He said.
The 2 friends got out of the car, studying the pictures. Eduardo started walking. Sancho reached out and grabbed Eduardo's shoulder. "Hey, man," Sancho said.
"What's up?" Eduardo said, turning around.
"You know about old sayings, man?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Fables, Indian stories, stuff like that?"
"Have you been smoking crack, man?" Eduardo asked, smiling.
"C'mon, man, have you?" Sancho asked seriously.
Eduardo nodded weirdly. "Yeah, I guess so. So what's your point."
"I think you've heard this one."
Eduardo waited for a moment, then asked, "Which one?"
Sancho smiled evilly, "What comes around, goes around."
"What are you talking about?"
"This." With that, Sancho grabbed the knife out of Eduardo's hand. He twisted Eduardo's wrist, instantly breaking it. Eduardo screamed. Sancho plunged the knife in to Eduardo's neck, making the smaller man fall to his knees. He groaned, blood spilling out of his mouth.
"Uhhh," He groaned before he died.
Sancho watched for a moment, smiling. Then, he made his way back to the car. He looked at the dead driver for a moment, then he withdrew a vial from his coat. He entered the car and plunged the dial in to the man's neck. The fluid raced through the veins healing all the body parts. In a matter of seconds, the dead driver was alive. He coughed.
Sancho laughed and clapped his back, "You o.k., Miguel?"
Miguel chuckled and coughed, "Yeah. Wasn't sure that would work."
"If it hadn't, we wouldn't be talking, now would we?"
"I'd have been meeting my maker."
"Good to have you back, brother." Sancho said.
"Good to be back." Miguel replied.
HE wasn't it Smallville. He wasn't even in Kansas. If he had been, I would already have found him, Lex thought as he leaned back in his chair. He was bare-chested, in his private chambers. The only thing he was wearing was a robe. He looked at his laptop. No reports. He stood up in his humongous bedroom and made his way to the bed.
Kristena lay on his bed, hair sprawled around her, naked.
Lex sipped calmly on his vodka and walked over to her. He took off his robe and set it aside. He lay down beside her, "Hey, baby." He whispered.
She moaned and turned over, "Is it morning already?" She asked.
"It's almost noon," He replied.
She reached out and stroked his chest, "You know, you're sexy in the morning."
"Is that so?" He asked.
"Yeah," she purred.
The rolled over to him and kissed him deeply. He returned the passionate kiss. She wrapped her arms around his bare back. He stuck his tongue in to her lips and she moaned around his mouth. Suddenly, the phone rang.
"I'll have to interrupt this little meeting." Lex said.
"Oh." She said disappointed.
Lex smiled and walked over to the phone. He picked it up, "You have anything?" He asked.
"No, sir."
"I guess it was a fake."
"Yes, sir." Miguel said.
"Goodbye."
MIGUEL HUNG UP. He then dialed another number. The man picked up. "Hello?"
"Mr. Rafferty," Miguel said, "We have something."