*Chapter Twelve*

POV: Clark Kent

I looked around the impressive marble lobby. Lana sighed and ran a hand through her hair; a habit I know realized she had when she was nervous. Miss Lang and one guest please." She said to the gum snapping secretary behind the counter.

The woman looked on the computer before holding out a small pad. "Finger prints?" She asked. Lana rests her thumb on the pad and a white light scanned it before blinking green. "Clear." The secretary said. "Your friend has to do it too." She looked at me.

I awkwardly held out my thumb and the lady scanned it. "Mr. Clark Kent, am I correct?" She asked. I nodded. The woman handed Lana a pass and me a visitors pass. "Thank you." She said before turning and focusing back on her computer screen. Lana led me into an elevator and let the doors slid shut. Before I could push a button, Lana slid her pass into a small, almost invisible slot. The machine beeped and a laser shot out and read Lana's eyes. "Lana Lang." She spoke plainly into the 1st floor button. It lit up and suddenly the elevator speed increased. The numbers on the screen ticked down, past one and eventually stopping on level -50.

I gave a low whistle. "You really have to have -50 levels? That seems like a bit of overkill." Lana nodded. "You're not supposed to be here Clark. Just stick close to me and don't mess with anything." I nodded. The doors slid open and Lana clicked into the hallway. The dim fluorescent lighting washed out the white tiling, giving everything the look of a hospital or mental asylum. The click of Lana's heels was the only sound beside the whispers of hush and slight hum of the lights.

The Hallway seemed to stretch on forever, but after a few minutes Lana stopped at a white, blank door. "Here we are." She announced as she punched some letters in a keypad. "How do you know about this?" I asked her. She shot me a look. "I mean, did Lex just hand this information over?"

I whispered. "I'm nineteen, and Lex may be twenty, but he is still very much a boy." Images flashed in my head, images that I wished that I had never had to think about. While I restrained from barfing, Lana went through all of the searches and codes to unlock the door. Finally, the door clicked open and Lana and I pushed through.

The 'room' turned out to be more of a large aircraft hangar than a room and in the middle was the airplane. I examined the mass of metal. While intact, it was dented, scratched and pummeled beyond recognition. "You did a number on this one." Lana laughed. I ignored her and carefully rubbed the sharp edge instead. Not that it could hurt me though. The image of Lois bundled up on the floor was enough to make me wince though. "Why does Lex have this?" I asked through gritted teeth. Lana sighed. "He certainly paid a hefty price."

I frowned and jerked my hand away from the plane. I didn't want anything to do with Luthor. Lana sensed my feeling and cleared her throat. "So, if you would just come right over to this table." She led me to a long metal table. "The ropes that Lois had been tied up with made a great example for me to experiment on." She said while she slipped on plastic gloves and gave me a pair. I fumbled to get my large hands into the gloves. Lois took a piece of paper and a tube of red liquid. "

Turn around Clark." She instructed. I turned and heard a gentle slosh of liquid. "Okay, you can look." I turned to look at the table. There was a tray on the table and Lana was holding a wet paintbrush, but that was the only visible change was the lack of paper. "What did you do?" I asked.

Lana smiled. "Where's the paper Clark?" She asked. I had senses far beyond any human, but when I searched for the paper I only saw the hangar. "I can't see it anywhere." I admitted. Lana grinned and set down the tube and paintbrush on the tray. She then gently pantomimed picking something off the tray with tongs. "We're playing Charades?" I asked.

Lana glared. "Shut up until I explain everything." She pulled a jar of clear liquid out and dunked the empty tongs in. Suddenly, the tongs weren't empty anymore but instead holding a piece of paper. My face paled. "The red kryptonite…." Lana nodded.

"It just has to affect you in another way doesn't it? This strand of red kryptonite is completely excluded from your senses; it's basically not even here to you." I thought about all the different possibilities. "If a criminal got their hands on it, they could basically do whatever they want without you catching them." Lana said, voicing my thoughts and fears. "So what will we do?" My question hung in the air for a moment.

Lana opened her mouth to open when the door slid open and a woman slid in. At first she didn't seem to see us, and then her face morphed into anger. Lana's eyes widened into flat discs and her breath caught. The woman was dressed in a tight fitting chauffeur's jacket with a tight and rather short black skirt. Her black heeled boots snapped like dogs as she clomped over to us. The woman's driver hat was perfectly place on her chestnut hair and when she looked at us her brown eyes showed only hatred.

Her narrow red lips pursed. "What are you doing Miss Lang?" She growled. Lana struggled for breath. "Who are you?" I asked. The woman raised a thin and perfectly plucked brow.

"My name's Mercy Graves." She snapped. "I'm the personal assistant and bodyguard to Lex Luthor."