The silence in the kitchen was deafening. Donna sat on the stool, nervously sipping a cup of black coffee and eating a slice of burnt toast lathered with jam. Her hair was carefully tied back in a bun and she was dressed in an NFL Kansas City Chiefs T-Shirt and an old pair of worn blue jeans. She was barefoot and calmly swung her legs.

Clark stood a few ft. away wearing a sweater and sipping on some orange juice. He was looking downwards holding the glass down at his waistline, not saying a word. His long, lean legs were crossed in this standing position.

Bart sat at the head of the table. His head was resting against his fist and he was leaning on his elbow, chewing on his finger nails. He gazed out of the window, once in a while licking his dry lips.

Lois sat across from Donna, leaning forward intently with her arms crossed. There was a nearly full glass of water in front of her and a plate of abandoned fried rice and shrimp. She was obviously the most nervous of the four.

"So, you're Phillip Rafferty's wife?" She asked again.

"No, actually, we're divorced."

"Not hard to figure out why." Bart said sarcastically.

"Phillip was a good man."

"Then what would make him do this?" Clark asked, setting his glass down.

"You know him."

"What are you talking about?" Lois asked.

"Mr. Lionel Luthor." Donna drawled with her southern accent.

"I knew he had something to do with this." Clark said.

"Why did Lionel come to him?" Bart asked.

"Before he met Lionel, Phillip was going places."

"He was going to be successful." Lois said.

"Successful?" Donna said sarcastically, "That's an understatement. Phillip was going to blow up, big. He had offers from all over the world."

"What exactly did he do?" Clark asked.

"He studied alien DNA."

Clark cleared his throat. "Ummm, alien?"

Donna waved it away, smiling sadly, "Oh, not that kind of alien. Mutant. You know, the meteorite frea…..No. Politically correctively, the meteorite affected people."

"And how exactly did he know about this?" Bart asked.

"Tina Greer," Donna said, "He studied her. I believe you met her?" She said, pointing to Clark.

Clark nodded remembering, "Yes. I remember Tina."
"And also, ummm, Alicia…"

"Baker?" Clark asked coldly.

"Yes, that's it…Baker. How exactly did you know about her?"

"I just did." Clark shrugged.

Donna knows not to push the subject. "O.k."

"So…what did he do with them?" Bart asked.

"Oh, just studied their DNA. To see how the rock had affected them."

"Did he find anything?" Clark asked.

"I don't know. If he had, he wouldn't have told me."

"Why not?" Lois asked.

"It was really top-secret stuff," Donna said, "I believe it was involved with the military."
"The military?" Bart whistled.

"Wow." Lois said.

Clark shook his head confused. "What would the military have to do with Phillip Rafferty?"
"I don't know." Donna replied.

"He must have slipped somehow," Lois said, "How long were you married?"

"About 10 years." Donna said.

Bart whistled again.

"He must have let something slip," Clark said, "Please, try to remember. We need all the help we can get, Ms. Rafferty."

"You can just call me Donna," she said.

"Donna," Clark said, "Please, he has one of our friends."
"My cousin." Lois said.

"My girl…" Bart saw the look on Lois's face, "My friend."

Donna sighed. "Well…I think I remember something…but it's not coming to memory right now."
"Wait," Lois said, "I'm confused."

"About what?" Donna asked.

"Why were you at Eddie's place?"

"Eddie?" Donna asked confused.

"Big Eddie?" Lois said, waving her hands around.

"Oh, Eduardo?" Donna asked sadly, "He was one of my leads."
"Leads?" Clark asked.

"Yes," she said, "leads."

"What do you need leads for?" Lois asked.

"I've been investigating my husband."

"You've been what!" Clark asked, shocked.

"You heard me. I've been investigating my husband."

"But why?" Lois asked puzzled.

"You're not the only one trying to stop him, Lois." She said.

"What? What were you trying to stop him from doing?" Bart asked.

"I thought he was doing something illegal." She said.

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Well…he got home late, really late. The earliest he ever got home was 3:00 in the morning, and that was only on one or two occasions. And he got a private line. We'd never had a private line. His motto was: Anything I can know, my wife can know. But that all changed about five years after the marriage. He started going out, a lot, and he had this little private study built. He got a security system built in. I never even saw the interior. He was always so private. Locked himself in that damned room for 16 hours a day."

"That is a little suspicious," Lois admitted, "But it doesn't prove anything."

"Not only that," Donna said, "But whenever he went out at night, he changed his license plate, in to some fake one. I asked once about it and he moved out for 2 weeks. Never asked a question about his work again. And strange men used to visit, in the evening, and he'd take them in to his study and they wouldn't come out for hours. He didn't even allow the help inside."

"Why didn't you ever go to the police?" Bart asked.

"I don't know. It's not something I'm proud about."

"What about the men, did you know anything about them?"

"Uhh, uh." She shook her head.

"Why not?" Clark asked.

"These weren't your average Joes. Big guys, tall, bad-looking suckers. I wouldn't touch them with a 10 ft. pole. Phillip, I was so afraid for him, so afraid that they'd hurt him, injure him permanently. I was always afraid, I couldn't sleep, I always watched the news, afraid that they'd find a body on the news."
"It must have been nerve-wracking." Lois said.

"It was." Donna replied, nodding.

"So, why are you here?" Bart asked.

"I'm trying to get away."

"From whom?" Clark said.

"Lionel Luthor." Donna said.

Clark almost dropped his glass. "Lionel Luthor?"

"Yes."

"But why?" Bart asked.

"I don't know." Donna admitted.

"You don't know?" Lois asked, "that's one I've never heard."

Clark made a disapproving face at her and turned back to Donna. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, I kind of walked in to a meeting between Lionel Luthor and my husband."

"You don't kind of walk in to Lionel Luthor's meetings." Bart said.

"I snuck in."

"How did you sneak in. Lionel Luthor has some of the best security people in the country." Clark said.

"I knew some of the people." She said.

Lois nodded. "That could have been a big mistake on their part."

"It is," Donna said, "they're dead."

"Dead? How did Lionel know?" Bart asked.

"Surveillance cameras," Donna observed, "I should have known."

Clark shook his head. "You can't blame yourself."

"I try not to." Donna said.

"How did Lionel find out you were there?" Lois asked.

"Surveillance cameras again." Donna said.

"Wait a minute," Bart said, "You said only Lionel is after you. What about your husband? Isn't he after you?"

"No." Donna said, shaking her head. "After I headed away to Florida; we lived in L.A. at the time; I called him. Told him what I saw and heard. He said he loved me, no matter what, and I should just disappear. That was 2 years ago. He wouldn't hurt me."

"So you've been running away from Lionel for 2 years."

"It's been hectic." Donna said.

"I can only imagine," Clark said, "I've had some pretty bad experiences with Lionel Luthor myself."

Lois snorted. "From what I've heard, so has everybody."

"Where have you been?" Bart asked.

"All over the world. Asia, Europe, Africa."

"So hectic was just an understatement." Clark said.

"Yes it has," Donna sighed, exhausted.

"So, what did you hear at the meeting?" Lois asked.

"All I know was they were going to Smallville a lot. It had something to do with the meteorite…umm…people. I think they were taking them away from Smallville."

"Oh we know that." Bart said.

"How?" Donna asked.

Clark grabbed Bart's arm a little harder than he wanted to.

"Oh!" Bart groaned out in pain, rubbing his arm.

"You can't tell her we have powers." Clark whispered.

Bart shook his head. "You didn't have to grab me that hard."

"What were you saying?" Donna asked.

"Oh, nothing." Bart said, still rubbing his arm.

"So, the subjects just magically disappeared!" Lionel shouted. He rarely lost his cool, but when he did, he exploded with a fiery rage.

"Yes." Phillip said coolly. His sipped calmly at his glass of scotch.

"Look, Phillip," Lionel said, trying to regain his calm, "We've known each other for a long time."

"Yes," Phillip said, "12 years."
"And it has been a long, fruitful friendship, hasn't it?" Lionel asked.

"Friendship? No, more like a partnership."

Lionel chuckled. "Ahh, very well, a partnership if you will. Should all that time really be put to waste by some….trick?"

"This isn't a trick, Lionel, I don't know where the prisoners are."

"My patience is drawing to an end. You're forcing me to make some very hard decisions, Phillip. Decisions I really don't want to make. Decisions both of us wouldn't want me to make."

"Is that a threat?" Phillip asked, sitting up in the swivel chair. They were sitting in his office. Two of Lionel's bodyguard stood behind The older Luthor.

Lionel smiled, "Take it as whatever you want." He stared out of the window at the night moon.

"I really do not appreciate threats." Phillip said sternly.

"I really don't like giving them." Lionel replied, even more sternly.

"Then don't."
"Phillip, make this easy on yourself. Don't make me do anything I'll regret."

Phillip stood up and pointed to the door. "You know your way out."

Lionel nodded. "Very well." He stood up and made his way out. His bodyguards followed him and closed the door behind him. They both turned around and glared at Phillip.

"Big, big mistake." One said. He was white, 6ft. 5 inches and 220 pounds. His frame was lean and very muscular. His hair was short and black with long curly strands. His eyes were cold and black and his face was a dark complexion with big lips.

"Now you have to deal with us." The other one was black. He was 6 ft. 6 inches and 260 pounds. He was bald and his face was long and lean with frightening hazel eyes. His beard was long with tiny strands of gray and his moustache was long and bushy reaching in to his nostrils.

"I welcome the challenge." Phillip said, sitting down calmly.

Tommy, the white one, and Sid, the black one walked up to the desk.

"Sass all you want now," Tommy said, "You're definitely going to regret it, isn't he Sid?" He put an arm around Sid.

"Damn straight." Sid said, cracking his knuckles.

Tommy took his arm off Sid's shoulders. He grabbed Phillip's desk and hefted it up. He tossed it aside and it smashed in to the wall, making a hole through it and easily breaking the table in half.

"That was a very expensive table there." Phillip said.

"The table is the least of your worries." Sid said.

"Oh, it is?"

Sid snarled, "You just keep on talking. That'll make it all the more satisfying."

"Do something." Phillip said.

"Oh, we will." Tommy shouted, jumping at Phillip.

Phillip easily dodged the blow, jumping out of the chair. Tommy stumbled and almost fell. He turned to Phillip angrily.

Phillip smiled, "Oh, did you miss?"
Tommy hollered angrily and swung at Phillip.

Phillip ducked and this time hammered Tommy in the stomach. Tommy flew back in to the wall, making a hole through it. Phillip sped up towards him and carried him out of the wall. He flung it in to a nearby book case. Tommy smacked in to it and it broke in half.

"Ahhh!" Tommy hollered in pain, clutching his broken ribs.

"Son of a bitch!" Sid shouted. He swung at Phillip.

Phillip caught the fist and broke it.

Sid hollered. Phillip carried him up and flung him in to the wall that the desk had been thrown in to. He bounced off the desk's edge and on to back in to the room, bouncing on the floor. His mouth slammed in to the ground so that some of his teeth broke and flew out of his bleeding mouth.

Tommy was beginning to stand up. "You're fucking dead!" He screamed at Phillip. He drew a Magnum from his pocket and pointed it at Phillip. Before he squeezed the trigger, Phillip zipped up behind him and punched him in the back. Tommy flew forward, (the gun was gone) and out of the glass. The glass broke easily, Tommy through it, and he dropped towards the ground, bouncing off the fire escape and landing in a roof of a car. The car's roof was crushed with his weight and debris flew around the street. He was obviously dead.

Sid groaned. Phillip zipped up to him and grabbed him in a headlock. With one quick squeeze, he easily crushed Sid's neck and spine bones. Sid's eyes rolled back and he gagged, spittle flying out of his mouth. He was dead in less than 2 seconds.

Phillip dropped the body and wiped his hands on his pant legs. "All done." He said.

Lionel walked in to the office. "Not bad." He said simply. He walked to Sid's body and bent. He reached in to the man's coat pocket and removed a bug.

"How did you know Lex had contacted him?" Phillip asked.

"I keep surveillance on all of my men." Lionel said simply.

"What about the other one."

Lionel shrugged. "He's expandable. My men will be here in 20 minutes to get the bodies."

"What do we do about Lex?"

Lionel's eyes turned cold. "He's not quite as expandable."
Phillip was quite for a moment, then he nodded. "I took care of Eduardo."

"Of course you did." Lionel said, "I knew you would. Now about the subjects?"

"We've retrieved the scientists from jail. We'll be ready in 3 days."

"Keep my name out of this." Lionel said.

"It's already out of this."

"Good."

"Now," Phillip said, "What to do about Clark Kent?"

"We need to dissuade him in some way."

"I'm sure you have a plan."

"I do." Lionel said.

"So, what do you suggest we do?"

"Warn him off."

"But how? He could be very damaging to our operations."

"We strike him where it hurts the most."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"His parents."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Why don't people review? This is so damned frustrating.