CHAPTER 13: Going after the Devil (Part II )

Meanwhile, Bruce was sitting in the interior of his armoured Batmobile making a digital scan of the premises and cursing the elder Luthor for his cunning mind. The building was impenetrable from every angle. According to the blueprints, the most vulnerable point was the entrance to the tunnels, but it was too far away even for the capecrusader´s custom-made state-of-the-art vehicle to reach in time. The quickest way was the south entrance, which was immediately in front of them, but they didn´t have the equipment to blow it. Their combined fortunes were enough to buy several times the kilotons they needed to break an entry, but Smallville and three-quarters of Kansas would have felt the effects of nuclear radiation for years to come.

¨Mc Gann, ¨said Bruce on the radio. ¨We´ve got a problem. ¨

¨Yes, sir, Mr Luthor´s already informed me. What shall we do? Should we call everything off? ¨responded the veteran.

¨What has he told you? ¨

¨He said to wait for new instructions. ¨

Lex was fuming under his cool composure. In order not to give out their presence, they had had to let the inmates enter the premises alone, killing the possibility to sneak in before the south entrance could be sealed.

¨Lex, it´s Bruce. What do you say we do? ¨came Wayne´s voice on Lex´s radio.

¨Where are you? ¨snapped Luthor Jr.

¨A hundred metres away from the south entrance. ¨

¨We´ll have to wait and pray they use it to come out. It´s the only chance we have to get in. ¨

¨We may not be able to stop what´s in progress there. ¨

¨We´ll deal with it when the time comes, Bruce. For the time being... ¨

¨Wait! ¨Bruce cut him off.

¨What´s wrong? ¨

¨An alarm´s gone off. ¨

¨What? How can you hear it? The premises are sealed and are soundproof. ¨

¨I´m using a Wayne Enterprises satellite to get a thermal scan. ¨

¨Isn´t it supposed to be impenetrable? ¨

¨This building´s from the fifties, Lex. My technology isn´t that old-fashioned. ¨

¨I want one of those. ¨

¨We can build you one for a good price. ¨

¨What can you see? ¨

¨There´s a commotion down there. ¨

¨Boss! ¨came McGann´s voice on the radio. ¨The door´s opening. ¨

¨We´re going in! I repeat we´re going in, ¨ordered Lex to both teams.

Clark made one desperate attempt before the exposure to the meteor rocks which were being used in the project drained him. He charred the controls of the entrance door with his heat vision and prayed Lex and his friends could get in and save the day. He had done his best to live up to the promise he´d made to Chloe, but his body was failing him.

He had supersped into the premises alongside the inmates and had entered the toughened-glass case where the female body lay on a slate awaiting its awakening. The farm boy didn´t know what he had expected, but the woman´s identity had come as a shock.

¨Talk to me, ¨snapped Wayne on his mobile phone.

¨Bruce, I´m sorry. I´ve failed you, my friend, ¨came the anguished voice on the other side.

¨You´ve lost her, ¨he said matter-of-factly. ¨How did she get away? ¨

¨She didn´t. They knocked me out with a tranquiliser dart and took her away. ¨

¨And Lisbeth? ¨

¨She´s all right. Although, she´s blaming herself for the girl´s disappearance. ¨

¨Stay there. We´ll talk when I´m back. ¨

¨Bruce? ¨

¨I can´t talk right now, Indri, ¨he finished, hanging up the phone.

Wayne took a deep breath preparing himself to communicate the news to Lex on the radio. He hoped his friend wouldn´t go ballistic, but there was a chance Chloe would be driven to the lab. Although Bruce was used to altering strategies at the last minute when fighting crime in the streets of Gotham, he had never been in a situation in which things had gone so completely out-of-control in such a short time.

Lex had entered the underground lab surrounded by his team with Bruce´s in the rear. He shot a glance at the charred electronic pad next to the entrance and frowned. Something out of the ordinary had taken place. Lionel Luthor would have never jeopardised an operation such as this to save a few dollars on security measures. Lex was convinced the door hadn´t opened thanks to a miraculous short-circuit in the nick of time.

¨Lex, ¨boomed Bruce´s baritone voice in the young billionaire´s earphone, ¨he´s got her. ¨

¨How did this happen? ¨asked Lex through clenched teeth, feeling a sudden shortness of breath which reminded him of his childhood asthma attacks.

¨They shot my man a tranquiliser, ¨answered Bruce gravely. ¨It was the only way they could take him down. I think they´ve brought her to the lab, Lex. ¨

¨I´ll kill him, ¨stated Lex venomously, cutting off the radio signal.

¨Lex!¨exclaimed Gotham´s billionaire to no one. ¨Damn it! ¨

¨Now, Miss Sullivan, you´ll show us what you can do, ¨said Lionel Luthor with a wolfish grin.

¨I don´t know what you´re talking about, ¨responded Chloe, squirming uncomfortably as two of Luthor´s bodyguards tried to restrain her movements.

¨Come, come, Miss Sullivan. Enough of games. We both know what you´re capable of doing with those tears of yours. You´ve saved that sorry excuse of a reporter who happens to be your cousin. Now you´ll use them to give me back what should have never been taken away from, ¨he said, looking into the glass case with a lost look on his face and a hint of... was it love? No, it couldn´t be, thought Chloe. Lionel Luthor was incapable of any such feeling. ¨Come over here, Miss Sullivan, ¨he ordered, gesturing his men to bring her closer to the window overlooking the body which was lying peacefully on a gurney. ¨I want you to have a close look at her. Isn´t she beautiful? ¨

Chloe swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes fell on the patrician brunette, and the ghastly truth dawned on her. The blonde felt tears well up in her green orbs because of what this could mean to Lex.

¨Save them for her, Miss Sullivan, ¨snapped LuthorCorp´s CEO, grabbing her ruthlessly by her arm.

¨Chl... Chloe... ¨gasped Clark, lying on the floor in excruciating pain.

¨Release her!¨ demanded Lex icily as he aimed the Glock at his father, ¨or I swear to God I´ll put a bullet in your head, ¨he added, cocking the pistol.

¨Here´s your other knight in shining armour, ¨laughed Lionel, tightening his grip on the scalpel he had put against Chloe´s neck. ¨Well, son, it´s time for you to choose. ¨

¨I´ve already chosen, dad, ¨he responded, moving slightly to the right to get a better angle.

¨L... Lex, ¨called out Clark faintly.

¨Clark? ¨asked a stunned billionaire. ¨What are you doing here? ¨

¨What do you think he is doing, Lex? What he always does: poking his nose in stuff that doesn´t concern him. ¨

¨What have you done to him? ¨asked Lex to his father with an accusing tone.

¨Nothing, ¨he shrugged his shoulders.

¨If you´ve done nothing to him, why is he in such a poor condition?¨

¨Help him, Lex, ¨whined Chloe as her eyes grew mistier.

¨Yes, Miss Sullivan. Tell my son what he´s always wanted to know about his old friend. ¨

¨Shut up! You won´t get away with this, ¨Lex tightened the hold on the Glock. ¨Bruce? ¨he asked on the radio, ¨come here. My men have already apprehended everyone. There´s a young man in urgent need of medical attention. ¨

¨Don´t you want to know the secret he´s been keeping from you all these years, son? ¨prodded Lionel.

¨You haven´t listened to me, dad. I want you to let Chloe go, ¨insisted Lex.

¨She means a lot to you, doesn´t she, Lex? I can certainly understand the feeling, ¨he smiled wistfully, shooting a sidelong glance at the glass case.

¨What... ¨started Lex with a strangled voice. ¨What have you... done? ¨he finished, feeling the tears prick his eyelids.

¨The only thing that could make us a family again. ¨

¨A family? ¨he echoed in disbelief.

¨Don´t tell me you wouldn´t have done the same if you had had the chance to bring your own son back, Lex. Oh, I know the secret you´ve been trying to hide from me for four years. But you seem to have forgotten it was me who taught you all the tricks, and you haven´t surpassed the master yet, ¨he grinned. ¨So what does it feel like to know LuthorCorp´s now got the technology that could also bring him back to life with a few tears of the woman who helped you betray your own flesh and blood? ¨

¨You´re sick. ¨

¨She´s lied to you, Lex. She´s known Clark´s secret for years. ¨

¨Stop trying to manipulate me, you sick bastard. ¨

¨Order her to cry and you can have it all, Lex. Your mother, ¨he started his enumeration, looking at Lillian´s clone on the other side of the glass, ¨a family, power... the power to provide grieving parents, husbands and wives with the possibility to have their lost ones back. ¨

¨I already have a family and you´re delusional. ¨

¨Delusional? Unlike you, I don´t use empty justifications for my undercover projects. I´ve never played the card of patriotism to cover up my questionable moral choices.¨

¨Why? Why did you do it? ¨asked Lex with a catch in his voice.

¨You of all people should know what a man´s capable of out of desperation, Lex. I´m lost without her, ´answered Lionel, feeling the hand he had against Chloe´s neck tremble.

¨Mum´s dead, dad. You can´t bring her back. ¨

¨I can and I have, ¨snapped Lionel, boring his eyes into his son.

¨What do you mean you have? ¨responded Lex with a raspy voice.

¨The first clone died twenty-four hours after the procedure. That´s why we had to work on altering the genetic mapping with meteor-mutated genomes. The DNA helix had to be fortified to correct the imbalance. Her organs had shut down and the aging process had sped up out of control. But now... that´s been corrected. ¨

¨What do you need Chloe for? You didn´t use her the first time.¨

¨She and Moira Sullivan are the most powerful meteor-freaks in Smallville and you know it, Lex. She´s the only chance for Lillian to live. Now... what will your choice be, son? If you pull that trigger, Miss Sullivan dies, and you lose both your mother and the woman you love all over again. If you let Dr Dismore finish the procedure, you regain your mother´s unconditional love and Miss Sullivan lives in her forever. ¨

Chloe felt the blade of the scalpel starting to cut her flesh and the arms of the unquestionably deranged Lionel Luthor trapping her like a vice. A fleeting glance at Clark told her no help would come from him this time and that left Lex and his marksmanship- he was very good, but the probability of his being able to kill Lionel with one shot before the scalpel cut the blonde´s carotid was very slim. Moreover, Chloe didn´t want to make a patricide of Lex- a family stigma he had carried for years thanks to his dad.

Lex locked his steel blue-grey eyes with Chloe´s and saw every moment they had spent together play in his mind. He was aware there was only one shot and that if he failed, he would lose the chance of ever being happy. He would have given the world to have Lillian back in his life again but not like this; never like this.

¨No! ¨cried Chloe when she read the look in Lex´s eyes and heard the bullet leaving the chamber.

Everything happened in slow motion then. As the Glock was fired and the projectile travelled the distance from the barrel to Lex´s target, a metallic bat-shaped boomerang cut the air at incredible speed, knocking the scalpel off Lionel´s hand. Only Clark had been able to see the shape of the object or where it had come from- the man´s ability to throw boomerangs was extraordinary but, unfortunately, the strategy had placed Chloe directly in the path of Lex´s bullet. Clark cursed his Kryptonian weakness and- drawing strength from a supply he didn´t know he had- he pushed a mobile instrument table with his foot, praying the force would be enough to put Chloe out of harm´s way. It seemed God had chosen to spare Lex a new heartbreak because the second the table hit the blonde reporter from behind, she toppled over and fell face flat on the floor.

As soon as Lionel was disarmed and Chloe was safe, Bruce stormed into the room with some operatives.

¨Lex, my friend, everything´s under control now, ¨said Wayne, helping Clark stand up and walk to the door.

¨Take him away, ¨responded Smallville´s billionaire, looking at his father with a mixture of disgust and pain in his eyes. ¨Are you OK, Clark? ¨he asked, addressing his former friend with a speculative look.

¨I´ll be fine, Lex, ¨he said, leaning slightly on Wayne to keep up appearances.

¨What were you doing here, anyway? ¨ came Lex´s question as he let his eyes rest on Clark´s face, which was no longer ashen.

¨Helping my friends, ¨he responded, crossing looks with Chloe.

¨I´ll take him to the hospital, ¨ cut in Bruce.

¨Take care, Clark, ¨Lex told the farm boy. ¨Clark? ¨he called out as Bruce was leaving with the Kryptonian.

¨Yes? ¨asked the young Kent, turning around.

¨Thanks, ¨finished the bald CEO with the ghost of a smile.

A deadly silence had fallen on the lab and only a few distant sirens were heard. Chloe had her arms wrapped protectively around her body, trying to control the shaking which had suddenly 

seized her as the stress of the situation ended up being too much for her nerves. A stifled sob escaped her mouth and brought Lex out of his trance. His arms opened wide and Chloe rushed to them, clinging to him like the rock he had been all those years ago when her teenage infatuation with Clark had almost got her killed.

Lex felt her petite frame convulse in racking sobs and he thanked God for granting him a miracle in spite of his Luthor heritage. As his hands caressed Chloe´s back in a soothing motion, his eyes fell on the lifeless form of the woman still lying in the glass case. She looked so much like the mother he had loved and worshipped as a child that he could hardly breathe. He closed his eyes, smelled Chloe´s lemon-scented tresses and held her tighter, too afraid to let her go.

¨Lex, ¨Chloe said shakily, and Lex buried his nose in her hair, pressing a kiss on her temple, ¨are you OK?¨

The young billionaire couldn´t find the voice to reply. The conflicting emotions raging inside him were simply too much for him to verbalise. Chloe felt the tension coiled up in his body and raised her head to look at his tormented face.

¨He had no right, ¨murmured Lex in a strangled voice,¨no fckng right to bring her back again. Wasn´t it enough to put her through hell once? Why couldn´t he let her be happy for once? ¨he went on as the tears welled up in his eyes.

¨I´m sorry, Lex. I´m so sorry, ¨said Chloe, cupping his face in both hands, and saw Lex crumble before her eyes for the first time in her life.