Title: Penance 17/?

Author:Cking1575

Fandom: Smileeface

Pairings: Chloe/Oliver, Clark/Lois

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville/DC or the characters. I am just playing with them.

Summary: Penance: an act of self-abasement, mortification, or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin. I am really not like Chloe's story arc so I've decided to change it a little to suit my own needs. That's what fan fiction is right? LOL

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As Clark and Oliver walked out of Oliver's room, Bart immediately noticed that Chloe wasn't with them.

"Where's Chloelicious?" He asked them as he peered around the taller men looking for his little blond beauty.

"She said she'd be right out. She wanted to wash up a bit. She wanted me to show you guys the video I took of Doomsday. She didn't really want to see it, not that I could blame her. Oh and speaking of Mr. Beastie, Clark I thought that you were going to stay here incase I needed some back up? Where'd ya go, man? What was so important that you had to leave?"

"I had to get this." He held up the Phantom Zone crystal. "It's a vital component of our plan. But when I was getting it, I had an unexpected visitor."

"Really?" Oliver asked raising an eyebrow, "Who visited? Do tell."

Clark had just finished putting the worn dirty tarp over the loose boards that hid the Phantom Zone crystal. Something in his gut told him to get to the barn and check on it. This crystal was his only hope of ridding the world of the monster known as Doomsday. He just hoped that this guy Bruce could do what Chloe thought he could do, that he could get the black Kryptonite away from Tess, with out her suspecting. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Tess until she had almost reached him.

"The new contemplative Clark Kent. I like it." She said. Slowly and suspiciously he turned around. His guarded stance didn't go unnoticed by Tess.


"Tess?" He addressed her as he turned around acting surprised at her arrival. "What can I do for you?"


"I've come to talk to you, Clark. I've come to once again offer my help in finding your friend Chloe and that man Davis Bloome. I didn't like how we left it the other night. I want to help. And if you believe that Chloe is being held against her will then I want to help you. That's what friends do, Clark. And I want to be your friend, not just your boss." She tried to come across as sincere; she failed miserably in Clark's eyes.

"Well, I'm kind of busy at the moment." He said dismissively as he picked up the bridal to one of the horses on the farm.

"With what?" She took a step closer to him, drawing his attention back to her. "Farm chores? I'd let you off if you were saving a busload of children, but cleaning the feeding bin? What I have to talk to you about is important. I have some information about Davis Bloome that I think you may find interesting."

"Well let me tell you what I already know, Tess." He turned to look at her directly putting down the bridal he was holding onto the tool box near him. "I know you've been checking into Davis Bloome and his past. I know that you know a lot more about the man than you've let on. I know that the reason you have put all that stuff about him into the paper is because you want something from him, not that you want to help me find Chloe or even that you want a serial killer off the streets of Metropolis. I know that you want him captured for your own person reasons. The question I have is why? Why is Davis Bloome so important to Lex Luthor's protégée?"

She looked impressed. She was not one to underestimate someone's intelligence all that often, yet she always managed to do that with Clark. He was constantly surprising her with his wit and his mind. "I'm afraid there's not a short version of that story." She said coyly a sinister smile gracing her almost perfect face.

"I think I missed something. Why don't you explain it to me?" Clark said his brows furrowed.

"Don't play dumb, Clark it doesn't suit you." She took a step closer to him, invading his personal space just a bit. "You've been at the center of it the whole time." She reached out and played with an invisible speck of dirt on his shirt for a moment then dropped her hand. "You see, I know more than you or anyone else gives me credit for." She smiled at him, a forced tight smile. "Recently, I came into possession of a journal of Lionel Luthor's. The journal talks about an old Native American myth about boy who fell from the stars on the day of a meteor shower. Lionel's obsession with this 'traveler,' as the boy was referred to was the only reason that he was in Smallville that day. He wanted to possess the traveler for himself."

"Tess, can you please just get to the point. Why are you telling me all this?" Clark asked as he looked at her. A mixer of fear and disbelief etched onto his face.

"I'm telling you this because I know that Lionel and then Lex got the moral of the story wrong. According to the Kawatche Indians, this boy is part of a two-headed creature -- good and evil. The Luthors were too busy feuding over which one of them was worthy enough to be your adversary that they couldn't see the truth."


"And what's the truth, Tess?" Clark asked trying to seem skeptical, he didn't miss that she had referred to him as this boy.

She took a step closer, closing the distance between them; she leaned in closer to his ear and whispered, "There was another boy who came to earth with you, Clark, Davis Bloome."

Clark took a step backwards putting a bit of distance between them and chuckled, "So, let me get this straight, you think that Davis Bloome and I are from another planet?"

She got indignant. She didn't like it when someone laughed at her. "Lionel found Davis on the day of the meteor shower. He thought he was the traveler, but then the boy's tests seemed normal. So, Lionel held Davis but only for five days. And then he threw the boy out onto the street because he got a phone call from Martha Kent.

Clark chuckled again and walked away from Tess and headed for the entrance of the barn. "Tess, you are reaching." He said as he turned to look at her.

"Am I?" She walked over to him and blocked his path. She was not done talking to him yet. "It's Lionel's own words, and I quote – 'I have the wrong boy, but I believe that I have found the true traveler.' Why else would Lionel Luthor arrange an adoption for a boy who seemed to come out of nowhere? It looks like you're the reason that Davis was abandoned in the first place." She smiled triumphantly at him.

"Look, I'm really sorry that you bought into this strange obsession that the Luthors had for me, but…" Clark shook his head.

"I don't think of it as buying in. I think of it as believing." She interrupted him.

"If you choose to spend your Saturday nights reading the journal of a madman, sounds to me like you have a few holes in your personal life." He grabbed the rag from his back pocket and began to rub the grease from his hands. He needed to keep his hands busy, she was too close to his secret and he just didn't want to jeopardize anything by fidgeting.

"We all look to idols -- religion, the rich and the famous -- because we have holes in our lives. But it doesn't mean that these things aren't real." She said to him, her smile vanishing as she became more serious with each word. She wanted him to trust her. She already knew his secret and she wanted him to tell her in his own words. To confirm what she already knew.

"What you've made me out to be is not real. I'll never be that man." Clark denied the truth to her.

"Not until Judas is at your back. I have this feeling that you'll never fulfill your great destiny until you meet your greatest challenge." She closed her eyes to get her anger under control, how many times was he going to lie to her face about who he really was?

"You don't know anything about my life. And again you compare me to Jesus. I think that if you are having a crisis of faith then you should go speak to someone more qualified than I am to right your skewed version of the truth."

"If this is the way that you lied to Lex, then I can see how it pushed him over the edge." She said to him menacingly her anger clearly visible in her stance.

"Lex was racing toward that drop-off way before he met me." Clark defended himself. His friendship with Lex was still a very open wound. Yet another friend that he couldn't save…except the monster with Lex was the demon within himself.

"Yeah, but betrayal...you know, the more you love someone, the harder it is." She looked self righteously at Clark. "Look, Clark, the difference between Lex and me is that he turned his back on you and I still believe. I understand that if more people were like you the world would be a better place, but that's out of your hands now, Clark. You can't avoid you fate."

"Are you threatening me, Tess?" Clark cocked his head to the side as his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You know Tess, Lex did teach me one thing. That the word 'fate' is used by people who have lost sight of who they are."

Tess chuckled, "I'm not threatening you. I'm not that naïve, Clark."

"Well, I am not some problem to be solved." Clark warned her to back off. He wanted her to stop looking into his life. Now, he fully understood why his parents strived so hard to keep his secret quiet. Once people realized that he was hiding something, they never stopped. They never left him alone.

"I get it." She placed her hand on his arm, in a comforting gesture that he just shook off. "It's too early. Just know that I'll wait for you, Clark. I'll wait for you to come to me. And you will come to me." She said as she turned and walked out of the barn.

"It's gonna be a long wait." He said to her darkly as he watched her walk to her car and drive away. Once he made sure that she was gone he headed back to the hidden spot where the Phantom Zone crystal laid, he uncovered the boards and grab the crystal. He wasn't going to leave it here. He didn't want to take a chance that Tess had seen him with it. He was going to bring it over to Oliver's apartment and have him put it in his safe. He gave Tess a few more minutes before he ran to Oliver's place. He hoped that the guys and Chloe would understand what took him so long. He was only supposed to be gone a few minutes instead he was gone for almost an hour.

As he made his way into Oliver's apartment he hoped that Chloe had worked everything out with Oliver. She was going to need him once everything had calmed down and she had time to process what had happened to her. She was going to need someone strong to support and catch her when she fell. Of course, he was going to be there for her, there was no question in his mind about that, but it is Oliver that Chloe needs to be by her side through all of this. He only hoped that she hadn't pushed him away. He waited patiently for the lift doors to open and for someone to buzz him into the apartment. As the lift doors opened Clark was met with deathly silence. Gone was the boisterous banter. He knew something was wrong.

"So here we are, you all know the rest; how about you put this into your safe, Ollie? We're going to need this soon." He handed over the crystal to Oliver and watched as he walked into his Green Arrow room. Using his x-ray vision, Clark watched Oliver put the crystal into his secret safe. Clark then watched him walk back to the living room. "Now, how about we watch this video of yours and we get a look at this beast." Clark said as Oliver walked back into the room.

Oliver walked over to his desk and took out his Green Arrow glasses. He then proceeded to hook the glasses into the computer to download the data. The other guys in the room gathered around the desk and waited patiently for the video to load. Not a sound could be heard in the room as they all watched in silence, studying the movements of the monster on the screen. They watched as Oliver's arrows bounced off his skin and Oliver's quick thinking getting him out of the office.

"Dude! That thing is just hideous." AC said.

"I know." Oliver replied quietly. All he could think about was Chloe and all that she suffered because of this thing, because of Davis Bloome. He could once again feel the anger rise inside of him at what Davis had done to her. He took a deep calming breath and focused on the task at hand.

"Ok, so how are we going to fight this thing?" Bruce asked.

"Well, we already know that my arrows don't even scratch that thing. I shot him in the shoulder out of pure instinct, and in the solar plexus to get his attention. Then I shot him in the trachea to see if he'd even feel it. And then I shot him in the face…just to piss him off as I escaped through the window. Honestly, I don't know what this thing's weakness is. We know that unlike Clark, he can survive being around the green meteor rock. He's also extremely strong and deadly to anyone who gets in his way."

"Now, one question, why do you keep comparing this thing to Clark?" Bruce asked.

"Well, it seems that Clark and this Beastie are of the same ilk, so to speak." Victor said.

"Let's just say that Clark and this thing are from the same place and leave it at that." Oliver said to Bruce, who quickly got the hint to let it drop.

"Dudes, is it just me, or has Chloe been in the bathroom for awhile? Shouldn't someone go and check on her?" AC said as he looked at Oliver.

"I'll go." And before anyone could protest Bart was gone.

"I guess, he'll check on her." Oliver said as he watched the door to his room swing for a moment.

"He's been really worried about her." AC said to the other guys, Oliver in particular. "He really does care for her, Ollie."

"I know, he and I have already had a talk about Chloe earlier today. I know exactly how he feels." Oliver said. "This is good. They have a special bond between them; maybe he can help her where Clark and I can't."

"Well, in the meantime, while Bart's in there with Chloe, how about we go over this ingenious plan of yours?" Oliver said to Clark.

"Well, Chloe and I figured that in order to destroy the beast, we are going to have to separate the man from the beast."

"Is that even possible?" Victor asked.

"Well, we realized that Davis may not be as invincible as we thought. There is something that might work, but I can't do it alone. Actually, I can't do it at all. I can not get within 50 feet of this. Ok, so for you all to understand I am going to have to give you all a brief history about me." He looked at the men in the room; the only one who didn't know about Clark's origins was Bruce, "One, I am not from around here, all of you but Bruce here knows that I am adopted and I'm not human…"

"What? Wait a second? What do you mean by 'not human'?" Bruce interrupted Clark.

"Well, to make a long story short; I'm from a planet called Krypton. It was destroyed a very long time ago. My biological parents sent me to Earth, to Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, along with me came a meteor show, remnants of my home planet Krypton, which is deadly to me should I be near it for too long. But there are many forms of meteor rock, which we refer to as Kryptonite. First there is Green Kryptonite that will kill me. Then there's Red Kryptonite that will take away all my inhibitions and my conscience, I act almost drunk or high on that stuff, not a pretty sight. And then there's Black Kryptonite. It's what my parents used when my Kryptonian side of my personality took over. It splits the Kryptonian from the human. It's very painful, but it was successful in my case. Now, we are not sure if it will work on Davis, but we want to try."

"Hold on a second here, let me wrap my brain around what you're telling me. Are you trying to say that you and that thing are aliens?" Bruce said, completely in shock.

"Yes, Bruce, that is exactly what I am telling you. And trust me, it's not easy sharing my secret with you, a complete stranger, but this is not the time to debate about it. So, yes, I am an alien, however, I was raised here on Earth. I have human parents. I love the same way as humans do, and I feel the same way as humans feel."

"You want to use Black Kryptonite to separate Davis Bloome and Doomsday. But where can we get any Black Kryptonite? And who's going to do the actual separation? From what I've gathered from your story, you can't touch the stuff, right?" Bruce looked from Clark to Oliver.

"Yes, that's right. I am going to need someone to get the Black Kryptonite as well as use it against Davis. I will not be able to get near the Kryptonite. However, once the separation occurs, I will take Doomsday somewhere where he can not hurt anyone and send him to the Phantom Zone."

"The Phantom Zone?" Bruce asked.

Clark looked at Bruce; he deserved to have all the information he had especially if he was going to be the one to pull off this mission. "The Phantom Zone is an other dimension. It's basically the Kryptonian prison dimension. The Phantom Zone was discovered by my biological father and used on the planet Krypton as a method of imprisoning the criminals. The inmates of the Phantom Zone reside in a featureless state of existence from which they can observe, but cannot interact with, the regular universe. Inmates do not age or require sustenance in the Phantom Zone and most importantly, now that it has been destroyed from the inside, there is no escape from the Phantom Zone. So, once someone is sent there, there is no coming back.

"So, to get back to the plan that Chloe and I formulated, I found out Tess inherited all of Lionel and Lex's Kryptonian research. I am sure that Lionel had a piece of Black Kryptonite among all the other pieces of Kryptonite in Lex's vault. But I can't get them. I can't go into that vault so I need to have someone skilled enough to break in and get that Kryptonite without tipping Tess off. That means that you can't do it, Ollie." Clark looked at Oliver and Oliver only raised his eyebrow in question, "She already suspects there's something going on. If you just suddenly appear then you will tip her off. And that's just not something we can afford to do at the moment. It'll have to be Bruce; he can use a business merger or something, maybe a buy out of all of Lex's shares in some company. Tess would never work with you on a business deal, Ollie.

"Then once we have the Black Kryptonite, we will have to find Davis Bloome and bring him to a secure place where no one could get hurt. Someone will have to place the Black Kryptonite onto Davis. This is when he'll be split from the beast. I'll come in after the Kryptonite has been put somewhere safe preferably somewhere shielded by lead. I'll take the beast to the fortress and send him on a one way journey into the phantom zone where he can never hurt anyone again. Davis will be free of the beast and the world will be safe again."

Bruce looked at Clark. "And what if that doesn't work? What if you end up unleashing a monster that's unstoppable, that doesn't have a conscience? What is your contingency plan, Clark?"

Clark eyed Bruce trying to figure out what he was saying, "This is the only option."

"Clark, what if that doesn't work. Are you prepared to destroy this thing? I need to know just far you are willing to go, in order to satisfy your own moral code. How many lives are you willing to sacrifice if your plan fails? You have a responsibility to look at this situation from both sides, Clark."

"What are you saying, Bruce? Are you suggesting that I consider killing this man? That I murder him to prevent the beast from escaping? I'm not even sure that Davis can be killed until we remove the beast from him and even if he could, I just won't do that. That is not justice that is murder."

"You can't tell me that it hasn't crossed your mind, Clark. After what he did to Chloe? After all the people he murdered? Do you really think that this man deserves to live after all the evil he has committed? You have a responsibility to the people of this world, to your home; this monster…this beast is from your past. What are you going to do if your plan fails, Clark? I think I deserve to know the answer before I agree to anything that you are suggesting." Unbeknownst to Clark, Bruce was testing the young man as well as his ethical principles. "Will you do what may need to be done, Clark?"

"Bruce, my responsibility is to do what is right! Like it or not we all stand for something. We set an example for others to follow and if we don't follow the example that we set, then we are no better than the people we fight against. No one here has the right to choose who lives or who dies. We are not judge, jury and executioner. I will send Doomsday into the Phantom Zone, if it's the last thing I do. I will not let that monster hurt another living being on this Earth. However, Davis Bloome will be a man, a human man. He will be delivered to the authorities where he will stand trial for his crimes. Chloe will get her justice and the world will be safe again."

Bruce smiled. He was very impressed with Clark. He held out his hand to shake Clark's hand, "Good answer. I am glad that we got this out of the way. I'm sorry, Clark. But I have only one rule and that is to do my best to not take a life. As you said, it is not up to us to decide whether someone lives or someone dies, our job is just to bring the bad guys to justice. I'm in." Clark smiled at Bruce, glad to hear that he really didn't believe in taking a life and also glad to have another ally.

TBC...

A/N: Constructive feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading! :)