Second Chance

Well one of you guys wanted an update really, really badly, so I did my best to oblige. I hope that the long wait was worth it. In this chapter Smallville is meeting BATB directly. It will only be the very first encounter, thus it will not be very spectacular, but it will be important for the rest of the story.

Chapter 4 – Pain

[New York City]

Clark came to a sudden stop at a dark corner of the cemetery. After rushing out of the Watchtower he hurried to Chloe. He hadn't had to say anything. She saw the pain in his eyes. She knew what he needed. He wanted her to say that she was alive, but she couldn't do so. So she offered him the next best thing. Without him even asking she told him were Lana's body was. As soon as she formed the sentence he disappeared. From the way he acted she knew that Lois needed her right now.

Now Clark was scanning the cemetery for Lana's grave, hoping not to find it. Soon enough, though, he stood in front of it. He caught his breath. There was her name, her picture, her birthday engraved on the marble. In an attempt to prove it all wrong he x-rayed the ground. He hoped to find nothing. He hoped that Lana faked her death one more time. That she was safe and sound even if she was far, far away. But his hopes were in vain. A body was lying underneath the marble stone. Despite his immense powers Clark couldn't support his own weight. He fell onto his knees trying to breath.

She is gone. She won't come back. That is all he could think at this moment. He rested his hands on the marble like he wished he was just imagining it. That it would disappear under his touch. But it didn't. It was real, it was there. Tears escaped his eyes. They were pouring down his face without him being able to control it. A muffled sob escaped his mouth followed by a hiss. The sound of his emotional meltdown took him by surprise. He hadn't cried for Lana since he was with Lois. He had decided that she didn't deserve a man who cried over his former girlfriend. But now it didn't matter, did it? Lois had betrayed him. She didn't trust him anyway, so why should he feel guilty for expressing his feelings. Lana was gone and he had every right to mourn over her. The next sob wasn't hushed. It developed to convulsive sobbing. His whole body was shaking. His torso lowered under the force of the wave of emotions which shot through his system. The Man of Steel was lying there huddled and cried uncontrollably. Hours passed and eventually his Kryptonian body decided that the stress was too much to bear. He fell asleep hugging Lana's last residence.

A tall figure slowly appeared in the shadows, stopping in his tracks when he spotted Clark lying in the cemetery. Vincent was taken by surprise. He didn't expect to find anyone. It had been one week since Catherine brought him here. She told him that Lana had no relatives in New York City. That she only had an aunt far away, but Catherine didn't know how to contact her. Vincent had decided to investigate. He was a living lie detector so he probably would have figured out if Catherine was lying. For the first time since he became a beast though, he wasn't sure. He couldn't tell if she was lying. Either this woman was an extraordinary skilled liar or he was just starting to become paranoid. He couldn't sense any of the signals. No higher heart beat frequency, no sweat, no avoidance of eye contact. Still, something felt off. This story was plain strange. Why pretend to be someone just because of some photos? That is why he decided to come here. He figured that he might pick something up and follow the lead. The visitor was something he didn't expect. For a minute he debated whether he should go or stay. He didn't want to risk more people knowing. But considering that he had been a beast for ten years and had gained a respectable amount of control, was the risk really so high? He could just talk to him. He couldn't think of a reason to get a rush of adrenaline. The man didn't look hostile. In fact he had fallen asleep by her grave. He was probably mourning. He could be a relative. He possibly knew more about this Lana and could help him figure things out. And if Catherine was telling the truth about caring for her deceased friend, she should be thrilled if he actually discovered someone from her past. For a moment he listed the pros and cons. His curiosity won eventually. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong and somehow he really wanted to find out. The risk was worth it.

Slowly he approached the stranger. He reached out to touch him on the shoulder but he didn't come this far. The dark haired man jumped on his feet, a startled expression on his face.

'Hey there, easy! I didn't mean to scare you,' Vincent assured him.

The man looked confused and suspicious. 'Who are you?' His voice was confident and powerful, almost superior.

'Well, I was about to ask you the same question. You do realize that it is weird to sleep next to a grave, right?'

'I…I travelled from far away as soon as I heard. It was a long journey and I haven't slept since I departed. This person was very close to me, so seeing her grave added to my exhaustion,' Clark answered. This part of the story was actually plausible, so why not make use of it.

Vincent observed him from head to toe. He was tall, taller than he was. He had dark brown hair and light eyes. He was well built and had a remarkably kind face. He spoke the truth, though Vincent had a feeling that there was a hidden double meaning behind his words. He chose to ignore it for now. The man wasn't directly lying, so why bother exposing himself to find out the details.

'You knew Miss Lang?' he asked instead.

'Better than anyone,' the stranger answered. His eyes travelled to her picture. There was love in his eyes, as well as longing, pain and desperation. He was telling the truth, they were very close.

'Your girlfriend?' Vincent assumed.

'No, at last not in the last three years. Why are you asking these questions instead of visiting your beloved one,' the stranger suddenly demanded. It seemed as he started to leave his trance. Like he realized that he shouldn't give this kind of information to a stranger. He stiffened, which caused him to seem even taller. Vincent felt intimidated. This feeling confused him. No matter how impressive this man's physique was, he was just human; no match for him? Why did he feel threatened? He shook the feeling of. It was probably because he normally avoided contact with other people.

Vincent could feel the guard that suddenly surrounded his colloquist. He obviously intended to be more careful from now on, so Vincent had to find a way to keep him talking.

'I actually came here for her.' He caught the suspicious and at the same time surprised and hurt expression written all over Clark's face.

'It is not like that,' he quickly assured him,' we had a common friend. She brought me here the other day, because Miss Lang…helped her out. She wanted to pay her respects and tell a friend what an amazing woman she was. I was in the neighborhood and thought of her. That is why I came by.'

The troubled man seemed reluctant but nodded eventually. 'Yeah, that was Lana. Always helping people. She dedicated the last three years of her life helping people in Africa. She was…amazing.'

The word Africa caught Vincent's attention. So this part of Catherine's story was true then.

'So how come you weren't at her funeral if you were this close?' Vincent tried to gather information.

'She had been in Africa for the past three years as I said. We only found out recently.'

Vincent noticed how the man seemed to drift in his own world again. He had to act quickly.

'What is your name? Maybe I can give you information about her last years if my friend knows you,' he hopefully asked. He needed his name to investigate. The other however was reluctant once again.

'Where are my manners? Vincent Keller,' he surprised himself. He had just revealed his name without a second thought. He wanted to go to the bottom of this so badly, that he just did the first thing that came into his mind. He carefully tried to compose his face. The stranger didn't need to know, that he was mentally panicking. He only hoped that this stupid move would at least gain him the name he wanted.

His counterpart seemed to struggle with his thoughts. Eventually he decided that there was no harm in revealing his identity.

'Clark Kent. Nice to meet you, Vincent. I doubt that your friend knows me, though. What is her name?'

'I would rather contact her first,' Vincent tried not to make a big deal out of it.

Suspicion nestled in Clark's eyes, though. 'Well if that is the case, you should let me know.'

'How can I contact you?'

'Just tell me a time and I will be here,' Clark answered.

'I thought you were from far away,' it was Vincent's turn to be suspicious.

'When it comes to Lana, no distance is too great,' Clark simply said.

Once again Vincent noticed the sorrow in this man's eyes. 'Next week same time. I am really, sorry for your loss,' he sincerely said.

Clark simple nodded and turned around to leave.

Vincent stayed behind. He was determined to use this week for some investigation. He would find out anything he could about Clark Kent and Lana Lang. And he would find a way to make Catherine tell him what she was hiding. He didn't know why he had this feeling, but there was something unusual about this whole story. He just had to know. Every time he closed his eyes he saw a pair of hazel ones looking in back at him; wide open, dead. He wanted to know more about those eyes.

Yeah, the action in this one was kind of "meh", but I wanted those two to meet. I tried to find something about Kryptonians that would alert Vincent's sharpened senses, but couldn't. I just figured that Vincent has animal instincts. He is used to be stronger than anyone, so he has something like a bad feeling about Clark, because he is so much stronger than himself. If you have something more specific, let me know and I will edit this chapter. In the next chapter there will be more Catherine again. There will be a lot of investigation in this story. Everyone is digging for their own reasons. Clark, Lois, Chloe, Catherine, Vincent. Where will their research lead them? What is it that makes Vincent so anxious?