'What just happened?' was one of the many questions going through Clark's mind. It was unbelievable to think that he and Lois had nearly... He couldn't even think the word. The fact that there was any romance between him and Lois was laughable, bordering on ridiculous. But if that was true, why had they almost-kissed? It was infuriating! Just the thought that there could be something between him and the girl he barely liked on a good day... Why did these things always seem so complicated? It was just... irritating.

Clark wished that he could make sense of everything that had just happened, he wished that he could have seen through that moment, without interruption, and seen whether kissing her would live up to the expectations his mind had set for it. But that hadn't happened. Wright just had to talk to them right at that moment, he had to make Clark leave Lois confused and embarrassed. The way she couldn't even look at him... it made him feel... he didn't even know. He was just so confused!

He battled with himself, making no further progress on what had happened or what he was going to do now. All the while, he followed the bodyguard who reminded Clark of an over-sized silver-back gorilla.

"Mr Kent. Take a seat."

Clark snapped out of his daze, realizing that he had entered a cozy room in which Wright occupied an armchair beside the fireplace. He took the seat that Lois had sat in mere hours earlier.

"I hasten to add that I feel I may have disturbed an intimate moment between you and Miss Lane. I hope that this doesn't affect our relationship, I'd hate for an accidental interruption to cause friction between us." Clark hated the sly smile on Wrights face as he said this, it was obvious that he had picked the most inconvenient time possible.

"Why did you call me here?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, Mr Kent, I believe that you and Miss Lane have some information that I need."

"Information?"

"Yes, information concerning the Red-Blue Blur." he paused, as if he was letting his words sink in. "I know that you know more than you're letting on Mr Kent. I need to know what you know. Or there will be consequences."

"I only know what the article has already told you. Lois has already said that any information about the Red-Blue Blur is an immediate front page headline and a pay-rise, hiding anything we know isn't helping us." Clark was beginning to wonder what it was that drew a guy this powerful, with this many people under his command, to an unestablished super-hero.

Wright suddenly looked stern, "Well I'm sorry that you feel that way. It seems that you may need some more persuasion before you can give me what I want." Clark gave him a confused look, but then an electrical buzz caught his attention.

A screen was extending out from the fireplace, and as an image flickered into view. Clark's eyes widened as Lois came into view.

"Now Mr Kent, before I am forced to do anything rash, will you tell me everything you know about the Red-Blue Blur?"

"I already told you, I don't know anything." Clark replied without taking his eyes off of the brunette beauty in front of him.

"Well, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to take drastic action. Karl, terminate Miss Lane." Wright said this so calmly, that it took Clark a moment to process it.

Five guards and Karl appeared on the screen and with guns raised, took Lois out of the camera's view.

"What?! No! No, don't hurt her! Please, I'll do anything just don't hurt her!" he pleaded desperately, hoping that Wright would spare the one person who he had managed to keep safe from the consequences attached to his secret. "She doesn't know anything! Killing her won't help anyone!" He wouldn't be able to handle it if Lois was killed because of him, not after they had shared an almost-kiss.

Silence.

After what must have been the longest minutes of Clark's life, Wright spoke to one of the guards at the door. "Please inform Karl to return Miss Lane to her cell." He turned to Clark. "So Mr Kent, am I to understand that you may know more than you're letting on about the Red-Blue Blur?"

"Yes." He looked at the screen where Lois had been moments ago. "I can do better than tell you about him. I can take you to him."

Lois watched as Clark left, him in the same position that she was only hours ago. She couldn't believe that she'd let this happen. She'd let her feelings run away with her, and had listened to her heart instead of her head. She'd let down those mile-thick barriers and Clark had somehow snuck past them in a flurry of million dollar smiles and courteous gentlemanly manners. But just as she predicted, the minute she was caught off-guard something catastrophic happened, just as she finally let someone close enough she did something that screwed everything up. She had finally found someone who she could consider a friend, and she'd lost him in one stupid moment.

She sighed and sat on the bed, knowing that she couldn't handle being close to a person she'd let see her so vulnerable. She'd let Clark Kent see too much of the true Lois Lane and now she would never be able to let him near to her again. She would have to slowly cut him out of her life, until he became one of the many nameless faces that sunk into the background of Lois' life, never to be mentioned again.

Staring straight ahead, she let a single tear drop down to her cheek, before it was swiftly wiped away. It would break her, doing what she was about to do, but she couldn't live with the knowledge that Clark had seen her at her weakest.

The door to the cell opened, and six men entered.

"Where's Clark?" her voice carried easily across the silent room so she spoke barely above a whisper, afraid of her answer.

"Your friend is busy with Mr Wright." A smile taunted Karl's thin lips. "Which reminds me, you need to come with me."

"Why do I get the feeling that this is more than a daily health check?"

"Miss Lane, you need to come with me. Now."

"I don't think so." Lois could tell that she'd only aggravated them and, when she was surrounded after a sharp nod from Karl, she shouldn't have been surprised when she was forced forward by men four times her own body weight.

They took her from the spacious room and out into the corridor, where she was shoved and pushed in different directions before arriving in a room that was nowhere near as homy as the last place Karl had taken her to. This room was cold, and only contained a metal table. She was forced face-down onto this hard piece of furnature where she heard the familiar click of a gun being loaded.

Then she knew what was about to happen. There was no way she would be able to get out of this situation, not with four men holding her down and one guarding the door. She was going to die. At last, the notorious Lois Lane had gotten in too far over her head but this time there was nobody who could help her out of it. No mysterious hero watching over her a second from bursting in and rescuing her.

But then, another ape-resembling guard came into view. "Karl! Mr Wright says for you to put the girl back in her cell!" His voice was rough like sandpaper.

Karl turned to him, lowering his gun slightly. "Why didn't he come down here himself?"

"Why don't you ask the boss?" The rough-voiced guard asked cockily. "But the boss has left the building anyway. That guy Kent is taking him to the Red-Blue Blur. Before he finishes him off that is..."

"What?!" Lois' voice stood out, obvious against the deep male sounds around her.

"Well I...umm..." The guard seemed to have forgotten about Lois being in the room, and was flustered.

"What my friend has so kindly pointed out to you is that Mr Kent is showing his use to us. However, when it seems that he is nothing more than extra baggage, he will be dealt with." Karl said this with a snide smile, enjoying the look of horror upon Lois' face.

"What do you mean 'dealt with'?"

"I think you understand Miss Lane." He chuckled and drew an imaginary line over his neck with his finger. "Take her away."

Lois was dragged back to her cell, she struggled as the implication hit her. Harry Wright was going to kill Clark Kent.