Clark couldn't believe what was happening. He and Lois had shared the most mind-blowing kiss he had ever experienced, only to have that moment ripped away when someone had decided to take advantage of Clark's lost concentration. If only he hadn't been drugged up on the smell of her hair! It was like Clark's personal version of the ultimate cocaine, one sniff and he was completely high. And if the fact that he got high on hair wasn't weird enough, he hadn't been thinking straight due to the lack of blood in the upper half of his body. But that was all irrelevant now, Lois was tumbling off of the top of a building. Already, people below were beginning to gasp and scream as the woman accelerated towards the concrete pavement.

He didn't think about how high up he was, or how his fairly irrational fear of heights should be screaming at him to keep away from the edge, he just hurtled himself over the edge of the building after her. Air rushed past him as he fell, and there were yet more screams from the crowd below, but Clark didn't care about that. He didn't even register the loud bangs that were bullets being released in an attempt to kill him. All he saw was her, all he felt was her, all he heard was her.

As the distance towards the ground depleted, Clark focused with all of his might and willed himself to reach her in time. He wished as hard as he could to just speed up enough to catch her, to catch her before it was too late. "Come on! Go faster!" It was as if time had decided to obey him and the whole world to slowed around him. He seemed to speed, closing the gap between him and the woman of his dreams. He reached out as far as he could, all of his limbs extended to their full, and soon enough his fingertips brushed the edge of her waist. When she was safely in his arms he rotated his body, in an attempt to land safely on his feet. However, things took a very different turn.

"What the?" Clark found himself hovering in the air, half-way between the roof and pavement. He was flying. Gasps from the crowd below made Clark look down at them, all shielding their eyes from the sun and squinting, trying to get a better look at the mysterious hero who was standing mid-air. Focusing as hard as he could, he willed himself upwards and flew over the gazing crowd and onto a nearby roof.

Lois bleeding unconscious in his arms, Clark staggered after his first attempt of a landing. Oliver, Dinah and AC stood in costume, half a douzen guards bound and knocked out behind them. "Clark, you've been holding out on us." Oliver said with a surprised smile.

Clark ignored the comment and continued to a more pressing matter. "Oliver, can you all handle things here while I take Lois?" Lois was pale, the bullet still lost in her body.

"We'll be fine, just take Lois to a ho..." Oliver didn't get to finish his sentence before Clark left. "Hospital." He sighed, worried about Lois but glad that she was at least alive. He looked over at the Daily Planet roof, seeing Wright gawking at the spot in which Clark had been, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly, while Michael Megahey seemed to have fainted. Oliver pulled his bow out of its quiver and shot an arrow next to Harry Wright. At impact a cloud of milky vapor was released and breathed in by Wright; he fainted seconds later. "Come on, Bart and Victor have deactivated the bombs in the hospital, all we need to do is send these guys to the nearest police station."

Clark wasn't confident enough to fly Lois away. Until he got the hang of it, it would be much faster to run. The air rushed past him as he ran as fast as he possibly could, only, he wasn't headed to a hospital. The only chance Lois had of definite safety was a complete heal at the fortress. Something that hopefully his father would grant him if he did what he asked.

Feeling her heartbeat gradually fade, Clark pushed faster, so fast that he was becoming tired after a few miles. Only seconds must have passed when Clark finally arrived in the cave and, crystal in hand, he was transported into the arctic somewhere. He sped to the fortress again, hoping that the cold wasn't going to be too much for Lois' body.

He placed her gently on the crystal table, his jacked safely wrapped around her. Instantly hoping for some kind of success he called out to the ghost of his Kryptonian heritage.

"Father! Father, I need you!" Desperation rang through him as his eyes never left Lois' body and his ears never left her heart.

"Kal-El, my son. What is it that you need?" The voice boomed around him.

"My friend, she is hurt. I need you to make it so that she was never hurt!"

"Kal-El, you cannot alter the destiny you have been set. You have already used the crystal that can turn back time, in order to save the life of Lana Lang."

"But father, I can't let her die! I need her to stay alive or I will never be able to cope with my destiny." It was true. Clark had realized that without Lois, he couldn't keep going. She was the fuel to his engine, the lead around his kryptonite. He needed her.

"Kal-El, you know that altering destiny will always come at a price."

"I'll do it! I'll do anything to keep her alive!"

"My son, the price is not for you to pay. Lois Lane must pay the price for this deed." There was a brief pause from the echo before it continued. "She cannot be healed as she has been by this fortress before. The only thing I can offer is an exchange."

"An exchange of what?" Clark didn't like the sound of this, Kryptonian favors always lead to a catch.

"She must exchange her human life for the life of a Kryptonian. She will have no powers and will still be able to be mortally wounded, but Her body will not deteriorate with age as other humans will. She will naturally outlive all around her. All except you my son."

Clark wasn't sure of this. It kept her alive, sure, but for her to be faced with growing older in the same way he did. Having to watch everyone she loved die, only to be left with Clark in the end. Would she be able to cope with that? Clark looked down at her again.

She would have to.

As selfish as it was, he couldn't let her die. Not after everything that had happened with them.

"Will she still have her memories? Will she still be the same Lois Lane, other than the fact that she won't age as others will?"

"Yes my son, she will have the same mind and the same thoughts."

"Then do it. Bring her back father."

"As you wish my son."

A blinding white light burst from the ceiling and traveled directly into Lois' body. She let out an ear-splitting scream and Clark rushed over to her, only to be thrown back into the nearest crystal pillar. Several seconds passed before the light beam vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Lois' eyes fluttered open, before she was once again plunged into darkness.