Part 4

Chloe wanted to scream. She wanted to yell. She wanted to run. She watched in horror as the thing that attacked them clawed at Davis. It looked like a dark black bobcat. When it looked directly at her, Chloe could see intelligence in its eyes. It was thinking. And it didn't think she was a threat. Which is why it went after Davis first.

Davis was the threat. His instinct was to fight. To kill. The Beast wanted out. It was angry. Davis felt the Beast push its way past the paper thin defenses he had tried to build. Davis tried to think of Chloe to keep the Beast at bay. He could fight the monster that attacked them alone, but the beast wanted out.

The Beast wanted out.

And the Beast always won in the end.

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Clark had gone back to the fortress in the hope that he could find something to prove that Chloe had never gone there. Or maybe that she had been there and left. He wasn't sure anymore. He just wanted to find her.

This all felt wrong to him. When had things gone so terribly wrong? This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Chloe should have married Jimmy. They should both be living a normal life away from the weirdness that seemed to follow him. Davis Bloome should never have been an issue. It was all Davis Bloome's fault for seducing his best friend.

Clark continued to search the fortress with his x-ray vision. It took him a few minutes but he found something that made him worry. Lying just a few feet away from where the portal to the Phantom Zone had opened was Chloe's purse and near that was what appeared to be black Kryptonite.

"Chloe?" Clark whispered to himself or maybe the wind, "What were you up to?"

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"Davis are you alright?" Chloe rushed to Davis who was lying on the ground gasping for air.

Davis didn't answer her at first. It always took him a moment to get his bearing after he changed back from the Beast. It always took him a moment to feel human again. He smiled at Chloe when he felt her near him and felt the calmness wash over him. The Beast was satisfied. At least for now.

"I'm fine." Davis said as he stood up, "What about you? Are you injured?"

"No." Chloe paused, "It went after you, I think it was hunting you." She paused again, "It makes sense you are the bigger threat."

Davis chuckled, "It's never seen you angry,"

Chloe smiled. Davis could still joke. After everything he had been through there was still a goodness about him. She still couldn't figure out how a man as good as he was could be as….bad as he was. It just wasn't fair. The irony. The cruel joke. Life played a cruel joke on Davis Bloome it made him both a healer and a killer.

"What about that thing? What is it?"

"Whatever it is, the beast enjoyed killing it. More then it enjoyed killing...." Davis paused sadly. And tried to clear his mind of all the people the Beast had killed. All the people the Beast had made him kill. There were just so many and those were the ones he remembered. How many were there that he still didn't remember? How many had he forced himself to forget?

"Davis?" Chloe asked worried.

"I deserve this place Chloe. You don't. I am so sorry."

"Davis, don't." Chloe paused, "I made my choice. I chose to be with you."

Davis wanted to cry. He wanted to grab Chloe and hug her until all his pain went away. He wanted to make love to her. He wanted to scream at her to run away as fast as she could. He wanted to run himself just to save her the pain. Davis Bloome wanted so many things. Most of all he wanted Chloe Sullivan and he wanted to be the man she deserved.

"Davis, you're bleeding." Chloe said worried.

"It's probably not mine." Davis checked himself anyway. It wasn't the first time he got blood on him from one of the Beast's kills. That's when he saw it. A small cut on his abdomen. He could barely see it but it was bleeding, "It's just a cut."

"But Davis, this is the first time I've ever seen you bleed."

She was right. Ever since the thing claiming to be his mother inside Lois Lane's body had run him through with the bar from one of the hospital beds he hadn't bled. He had tried to stab himself with a knife but nothing. It was like his body was made of stone.

"What about you Chloe?"

"I told you I'm fine." Chloe said worried about Davis.

"That's not what I meant. Your abilities; do you still have them?"

That's when Chloe understood what Davis was asking her. She put her hand on the cut on Davis's stomach but nothing happened. She tried again and still nothing.

"I think it's this place. The Beast, Chloe it's been calmer. I thought it was you at first, but what if it's the Phantom Zone?"

Chloe laughed under her breath, "No abilities. No food. No water. I don't think I could have thought up a better prison planet if I tried." Chloe paused, "This is not going to end well is it, Davis?"

Davis pulled Chloe into a hug. He didn't care about himself but he would do whatever it took to make sure Chloe got out of this alive. There had to be a way to escape this place. There was no prison that was completely escape proof; his "mother" had done it so maybe he could find a way to get Chloe out.

He would make sure Chloe was safe.

He might deserve the Phantom Zone.

Chloe deserved everything but.