A.N.: There may be typos. And I'm inspired to write so hopefully there will be an update soon.

CHAPTER FOUR

He was shorter than he imagined. Although he was slicker than he would have liked in his designer suit, tie and sunglasses. As the helicopter flew away Bruce didn't at all shield himself or sway as it flew away. He just stood there with his sunglasses on and his hands in his pockets. Smiling, somewhat smugly in Clark's opinion. If he didn't have x-ray vision he wouldn't have noticed Bruce's eyes had been directed at Lois the entire time since he arrived. Lois, without having x-ray vision, knew that Bruce was looking at her and consequently she was trying to stare him down.

Chloe moved to Clark's side, watching the staring contest between Bruce and Lois.

"Uh, Clark, what's going on?" she asked.

"I don't exactly know Chloe."

Bruce shot a smile at Lois, flashing his pearly white teeth at her. To which, Lois just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go," she said as she made a start to the car she had rented as a result of her car being taken by the mystery girl from the future.

"What not even a hello?" came Bruce's deep, rich voice.

Despite the fact that Lois' had his back to all of them they all knew that she was rolling her eyes at that.

Lois hopped into the driver's seat of the car and Chloe hopped into the back. Bruce and Clark seemed to be lagging, neither one willing to be the first to introduce themselves and neither one trying to walk faster or slower than the other.

As they reached the car, Clark automatically went for the front passenger seat door. And so did Bruce. Their hands momentarily touching and then their hands jerking away at the proximity. Chloe had already taken a seat in the back of the car, watching in amusement as Clark and Bruce were vying for the front seat.

"Sorry, just an old habit," Bruce said to Clark, as he retracted his hand from the door.

"Me too."

Both Clark and Bruce had turned to Lois in the driver's seat, wanting her to make the decision for them. She had a tiny little grin on her face as she just turned on the radio, indicating that she didn't want to be involved.

Clark forced himself to look at Bruce, who still had his sunglasses on. He sighed and decided that he was going to be the bigger person.

"Well, you are the guest so I suppose …"

No sooner had Clark said this Bruce opened the door and made himself comfortable. Bruce rolled down the window, took his sunglasses off and gave Clark a smug grin.

"Thanks."

"Let me get this straight. You want me to reveal classified Wayne Industries information in order for you to track down a time traveller from the future?" Bruce said, from his seat in the front.

Throughout the car ride, Lois had kept silent, maintaining her focus on the road. Suffice to say, Clark was made uneasy by this silence. There was something about Bruce Wayne that affected Lois differently than anyone else.

"We think she might be headed to Gotham to use your time machine to get back to her time," Clark said, with added emphasis.

"Well, if she's headed to Gotham why are we in Smallville? Shouldn't we be heading to Gotham too?" Chloe piped up.

Clark drew a blank. It was Bruce's idea to come to Smallville, to discuss the matter in person. But suddenly, after seeing Lois and Bruce's interaction, or lack thereof, he now thought that there was ulterior motive behind his appearance in Smallville.

"I wanted to discuss this matter in person. When Ms Sullivan told me of the circumstances regarded the girl I thought it was too important of a matter to be handled over the phone. Don't you think so, Lois?"

But Lois wasn't listening. The car was slowly veering off the road as her eyes were focused on an object in the rear view mirror.

"What the hell …"

"Lois!" Clark yelled, as her focus had been completely distracted.

Bruce grabbed the steering wheel and brought the car back onto the road and continued to steer as Lois turned in her seat to look back. Her eyes in a trance like state.

"Lois, what do you think you're doing?"

But Lois was still focused on looking behind her. Clark turned and saw nothing but the stretch of road that they had already passed.

"I thought I saw someone …" she shook her head out of her trance. "Someone running behind us. Silly, I know."

"Uh, Lois, you think you might wanna drive now?" Chloe asked, slightly perplexed at her cousin's behaviour. First the lack of speaking and then being completely distracted from driving, whilst not unusual, was usually not this severe.

Lois noticed Bruce's hands on hers, as he was steering the car. She made a quick flick of the wrist and Bruce released his hands from hers, while Lois' face remained impassive.

It had been a close call. He had been trailing Bruce and Chloe since they left Metropolis for Smallville. He had been flying most of the time and he thought that he had escaped all prying eyes. But when the helicopter landed in Smallville and when he saw them … he couldn't think properly. He lost his focus and decided to chase after them, hoping that they wouldn't see him. But she did and when he saw her, her eyes, he took off. Because he knew that she had seen him. And he worried that she would figure out who he was. Everyone always said he had his mother's eyes.

Lois slid into a booth at The Talon and Clark slid in next to her, whilst Bruce stood there, slightly annoyed and slightly impressed. Bruce now sat opposite Lois while Chloe slid in next to him.

"So what do you propose we do about this situation?" Bruce asked as his eyes bore into Lois'. She only rolled her eyes in response.

Chloe had never heard Lois ever mention Bruce's name in any conversation, which made Chloe very suspicious of this relationship. Lois told Chloe everything and the things that Lois didn't share meant that they were extremely personal and private for Lois.

"If she is heading to Gotham by car with no money then I say there is a great chance to catch her before she gets there," Lois said, deliberately looking Bruce in the eye, showing him that she was not afraid of him.

"We need to get to her before she does something stupid that's liable to get her in trouble with the authorities. Otherwise she's out of our hands and she'll probably never get home. They'll take her to a psych ward or something, thinking that she's insane with all this talk of time travelling."

"How do you know she's not?" Bruce asked. "She could just be some wayward teen, desperate for attention because her parents give her none."

"I believe her," Lois said.

"And should we all be trusting your judgement? From what I've heard, you're sometimes too trusting of the wrong people and too untrusting of the right ones."

Lois smiled. "So, you've been keeping tabs on me. Isn't that hard to do, from God-knows-where?"

Bruce grinned and Lois did the same back. "Are you ready to say hello to me now, Lois?"

"It's Ms Lane to you," she corrected. "And yes. Hello Bruce."

He had followed them to The Talon. He could see the four of them through the window sitting together. He didn't know why he followed Bruce and Chloe. He knew that Bruce's company had been developing time travelling technology, moreover he knew that she would be going to Gotham anyway. He needed to get to her before they did. He needed to know what they were planning so that he could be one step ahead of them. The Professor had given him the tools for them to go home. The less they interacted with the people of this time the better. Lest they give anything away.
Lois spun her head around. "Did you hear that?"

She turned in time to see the door to The Talon open and shut, with no one visibly coming through it.

"Hear what?" Clark asked. He was the one with the super hearing after all.

"Like a whoosh kinda sound," she said.

"Like the wind?" Chloe asked.

"No," Lois replied, trying to think of the right words to describe what she heard. "Like a person."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Lois, maybe you need some coffee."

"I know what I heard," she said tersely.

She sat up in her seat and promptly scanned The Talon. Until her eyes fell onto a familiar looking person.

"That's him!" she said, as Clark pulled her back down. "That's the guy who was running behind the car."

Clark turned at the look at the person that Lois was pointing at. He had his head down, looking deliberately at the menu, as if he could sense someone looking at him.

"Why would he be following us?" Clark asked. "He's just a kid."

"Did you see him waltz in here? I didn't and we're sitting right near the door. He must be some special kid if he can sneak past unnoticed," she said.

"Lois, I think you're just a bit jumpy," Chloe said.

Clark, meanwhile, was still looking at the person trying to remain unnoticed in the corner of The Talon.

"I think we should focus," Bruce said, placing his hand on Lois' arm to gain her attention. "I'll call Wayne Industries and have them keep a look out for …. What's her name?"

"She didn't exactly tell us," Clark said.

"How about a description then?" Bruce asked, as he pulled a tiny notepad from his suit pocket.

Clark looked to Lois to answer but she was sitting, lost in her thoughts. Trying to figure out why the stranger in The Talon looked familiar.

"Well, she has black hair, about the same length as Lois. She's just a bit shorter than Lois too. She's wearing a black top and jeans," Clark described. He could feel Lois fidget next to him, frustrated that she couldn't work out why he was familiar.

"Well, in the meantime, what should we be doing?" Chloe asked.

"I'll be putting out an APB about your car and hopefully someone would have spotted her," he said. "In the meantime, maybe we should stay put. We shouldn't all be going out to Gotham to find her."

Lois continued to fidget. Finally she hopped over Clark's lap and walked straight over to the stranger in the corner. Before he knew what was happening she pulled down the menu.

"Okay, kid … who the hell …" she faltered as she made contact with eyes the same as her own.

She was lost. Completely lost and Lois apparently didn't keep maps in her car. She had made it out of Smallville and she could vaguely make out the Metropolis skyline in the distance. She hadn't really thought it all out. For a start she needed money to get onto a plane to get to Gotham. Gotham didn't have the luxury of being a 3 hour drive from Smallville. She needed to sell something. She ran her hands over the steering wheel of the car. Right, sell a practically stolen car. Right, that wouldn't draw attention to herself. As she continued to drive she hoped that when she made it to Metropolis that the situation would fix itself. Hopefully.
His designer shoe hit the ground of the wet pavement of Gotham City. He didn't cover himself from the rain. He let it spill over him. She had ruined his plans. That had bumped her up in his list. She was ranking somewhere down the bottom of the list, double digits. But her attempt at heroism had moved her up. Not position number one, no that was saved for the most troublesome person. But she was easily the easiest to take out. After he watched the Professor send the boy into the past he promptly made use of the machine himself. He wanted to know where she would be. Taking her out would make him feel better. The Professor had mumbled something about going where her instincts would take her. Hence his appearance in Gotham City. Now all he had to do was find her and kill her. She would be the first of many.