AN: I'm sorry if the story flows a little strangely; FFnet won't let me put in paragraph breaks. grr...

Chapter 8

Lois' eyes barely focused on the road ahead of her, she knew she should stop driving and take a moment to let it all sink in but she couldn't unlock her foot from it's position on the accelerator; she had to put some distance between her and the... man? Alien? Freak? What the hell was he to her?

As she drove back towards Chloe's house her thoughts were a complete muddle; the man she could feel herself developing feelings towards was an alien. A super-powered alien. The shock she felt was expected, the lack of revulsion not so. Why wasn't she weirded out? She should be running screaming shouldn't she? She was doing neither, in fact she was more concerned about the fact that her heart was still slamming it's way through her sternum because of the way he watched her not because of what she now knew.

She blinked and forced the road to come back into focus as her foot began to slacken off the gas slightly.

The next thing she knew, the car was rolling through a field and she saw her life flash before her eyes an instant before everything went dark.

Chloe watched her old friend as he paced restlessly as he had done since Lois had left an hour ago, his hands repeatedly pulling his hair off his forehead. The newly discovered calm, collected confidence had vanished the second Lois had closed the front door behind her, a slightly bewildered glaze to her eyes.

"She thinks I'm a freak."

Chloe's heart went out to him, she knew that if no-one else could accept him for what he was he wouldn't care, but Lois had to, she just had to.

"She doesn't think you're a freak, Clark."

He wrung his hands together, picked up a picture of himself with his parents, put it back down and resumed his pacing.

"What am I going to do?"

"Give her a little time to absorb it all. We dumped a lot on her, Clark, despite what she'd have us all believe she's still human; she just needs a little space to get to grips with it.

"What if she- what if she's scared? God, Chloe," he stopped and faced her, his eyes wide with panic, "What if she's afraid of me?" He sank down onto the sofa, his knees unable to hold him as the horrific thought dragged his heart down into his boots. "I would never- I could never hurt her, I could never hurt anyone." He trailed off and looked wildly around the room, searching for something, anything to reassure himself that he was in fact dreaming and this wasn't happening, that the possible love of his had just run screaming from him.

Chloe went to him, took his hands in hers and forced him to look her in the eye, "Clark, she knows. Have faith, she'll come back to you."

He took a deep, calming breath and began to speak, but his face suddenly fell slack as his gaze fixed on nothing.

"Clark?" Chloe shook his shoulder, and after a long moment, he locked wide eyes on her, cold, terrified panic all over his face, his voice hoarse with fear.

"Lois!"

Pag Or dumped his burden unceremoniously on the ground and stretched his tight muscles, it was great to be free! His freedom from the Phantom Zone had been an abrupt and unexpected pleasure, and as soon as he had wreaked his revenge he would explore this new world where he had the power of a god.

His arrival had dropped him in the middle of a stretch of road where a vehicle was barreling towards him; a swipe of his hand and the car flew from the road to spin in the air and come to rest in a nearby field. Looking down at his hands in astonishment, he had approached the vehicle sensing that the occupant was still alive. And then his second treat of the day had occurred: his telepathy had picked up whispers of Kal El on the woman's wavering thoughts just before she completely lost consciousness. He had grinned as he plucked her from the destroyed vehicle, what better way to exact his revenge than on the son of the bastard who had sent him to the Phantom Zone?

A quick probe of her mind before she went blank caused another grin to jump onto his face; this just got better and better, this female was the lover of Kal El!

Choosing a destination to stage his confrontation with the son of Jor El, Pag Or felt a strange resonance off to the East. Cocking his head, he let it fill him for a second and a slow smirk split his face, what better place to kill Kal El than the chambers meant for him? Pag Or cackled and sped off towards the Kowache caves deep below Smallville.

Making sure the female was still alive and that his weapon was ready, Pag Or sent out a telepathic message to Kal El, demanding his presence - the death of his lover being the consequence of disobeyance.

A gust of wind caused Pag Or to turn - the son of Jor El was powerful indeed, that was faster than he himself! - and he looked into the enraged eyes of the one being capable of sating Pag Or's thirst for vengeance. The younger man's gaze flicked to the unconscious woman and Pag Or could have sworn that his eyes glowed for a second.

"I don't know who you are, but you're going to pay for hurting her." Kal El's voice was hard, furious, uncompromising, and Pag Or smirked, this was going to be a good death.

"You are welcome to try, son of Jor El, but I have waited a very long time for this. the son will pay for the actions of the father."

Clark took a step towards the Zoner and abruptly stopped as something tickled at the edges of his mind. He fixed the older man with a withering look,

"What are you doing?"

Pag Or's smirk faltered slightly, this mental attack had floored countless Kryptonians - it was the reason he'd been sent to the Zone in the first place - so why was this one unaffected? Had Jor El given the boy some sort of spell to ward him off? He pushed harder and saw the boy stumble slightly, but he was still coming towards him, murderous intent shining in his unnaturally green eyes.

Clark felt the presence in his mind and pushed back, he would not be stopped, he had to get to Lois, get her to safety. He saw the Zoner go for something in his pocket and when he withdrew his hand, Clark cried out as a jolt of pain suddenly lanced through him and the Zoner penetrated his mind fully.

Pag Or blinked as the boy fell to his knees, large hands grasping futilely at his head. He looked down at the small item in his hand and smirked, realising what had happened. Somehow the rock he had picked up in the same field he retrieved the woman from was affecting Kal El, lowering his defenses and thus allowing Pag Or full access to his mind. Pag Or pushed the dark slivers of thought into Kal El's young, unprotected mind and the child cried out again hoarsely, falling onto his side in the dirt and curling into a tight ball as his mind was torn apart from the inside out.

Chloe sped down the road as fast as Clark's truck would go. Clark had sped out of the house in such a hurry, his blind panic driving him, that he hadn't seen her race out after him, grabbing his keys en route. Something was pulling her inexorably towards the Kowache caves, and she had a sneaking suspicion it had everything to do with her temporary possession by Lara Jor El.

Clark was in world of pain, he'd never felt anything like this before as every time he tried to focus his thoughts to mount some sort of defense, the Zoner would drive acid into his mind. He was starting to fit, his body reacting to the intrusion the only way it knew how, and he vaguely heard through the pain the Zoner's satisfied cackle as well as his booming mental projection that rang in his ears that he was going to die and then his lover would follow.

As he thrashed on the ground, his mind beginning to splinter, Clark focused his last remaining piece of sanity on Lois and how sorry he was that his alien nature had brought this upon her.

Chloe crept unseen into the caves, her 'Reporter's Sneak' serving her well. Making her way over to her cousin, she held her hand out towards a painted wall; a small crystal materialised and sped towards her outstretched palm. Not questioning what Lara was doing, Chloe grabbed it and moved it over Lois' prone form, healing and reviving her. As lois began to wake up, Chloe kept her gaze fixed on the Zoner, he was so preoccupied with torturing Clark that he had no awareness of what was going on behind him.

Pag Or was having the time of his life, who knew revenge could be so sweet? As the boy writhed at his feet, Pag Or pulled back his heavily booted foot and slammed it into Kal El's side; the son of Jor El went flying into the opposite wall with a loud crunch - no doubt breaking lots of bones, excellent! - before slumping to the floor, still fitting. A cackle bubbling merrily from his throat, Pag Or advanced on the boy, fully intending to finish him off by physical means when a bright light suddenly flooded the cavern. Pag Or looked around, trying to see where it was coming from, and in the split second that he relented in his attack on the boy, the connection was severed and a wall slammed into place around his mind. Pag Or whirled back on Kal El when he realised that he could no longer feel him to find him struggling to his feet, a strange glow in his eyes and to his absolute horror, the crest of the house of El appeared on the boy's chest and he fixed the weird, green gaze on the ex-Zoner.

"Game over, Pag Or." The voice that emerged from his lips was a harmonious blend of the child's and the one voice he fervently hoped he'd never hear again: the voice of Jor El, "This time you're staying in the Zone."

Pag Or refused to belive that he had lost, "You may be protected by the pitiful spirit of your father, Boy, but what about her?!" He whirled and pointed to where Lois had been. He jerked back in surprise when he saw that she was gone; sending out a mental probe he blinked, "Where is she? Why can't I sense her?"

"Like I said." Kal El advanced, and Pag Or began to feel fear. He backed away. "Game over." In a flash, Kal El was upon him, his strength far superior than Pag Or's and as he slapped a crystal - where had that come from? - against the Zoner's chest, Pag Or howled in impotent fury as the Zone quickly reclaimed him, leaving Kal El standing alone in the middle of the cave.

Clark closed his eyes and swayed as he felt the power leave him as abruptly as it had come. A murmur of, "Thank you, Father." and he passed out, falling bonelessly to the ground.