(Author's Note: Hope everyone had a good Christmas, and that Dracula was good to you all!)
Still residing in the mind of the C.P.C officer, Lyla waited as long as she dared before fully taking control of his mind. He never even knew to struggle. Unlike when she had possessed Lana, this time she made sure the officer had no knowledge of what was happening. She wanted to help J'onn, but she didn't want to compromise her identity in doing so. No Kandor resident knew she was really an Empireth, and she couldn't afford to have anyone find out.
J'onn was still waiting outside the entrance to the C.P.C building with two guards standing in front of him. Lyla didn't know the full extent of J'onn's powers, but was willing to bet he could have gotten past them with ease. It looked like he was taking a rather more diplomatic approach.
"If you'd like to come with me," she said, trying to put the correct amount of authority into her voice. She might sound exactly like the officer, but if she began acting suspiciously she might find herself in trouble. She had to be as convincing as possible. To her horror it looked like one of the other guards wanted to come with them. "Kimda wants the two of you to remain out here. I'll take our guest directly to him."
"Kimda?" asked one of the guards.
"I mean Sergeant Kimda," said Lyla, correcting her mistake. J'onn strode past the guards, joining her and moving alongside her. When she'd seen him on Earth J'onn had adopted an appearance like that of the inhabitants, but here he seemed content to appear in his Martian form.
"You certainly seem to get around," said J'onn, keeping his voice low as they moved along the hallway. "You should be careful. Entering other people's minds is not something you should do so lightly. Most Empireth knew better."
"You know it's me?"
"Of course. You must know I possess telepathic abilities as well?"
"Sure, you used them to protect everybody from Lenaria back on Earth. But you don't have to worry about me. I know what I'm doing."
"Oh? Leaving aside the moral aspect of simply using your power to control another, there are dangers you seem to understand little of. If you entered the mind of an insane person for example, you might find yourself trapped in their forever, lost for eternity in their delusion…"
Lyla shuddered. She'd never really considered anything like that. Although she'd received some basic training on using her powers as a child (essential, for their abilities began to develop early, and they needed to learn control quickly) for most of her life she'd been alone. She'd had to experiment sometimes with using her powers, and there had been times when she'd come close to making a mistake she couldn't come back from.
"I'm only doing this because I have to," she stressed. Lana had been another matter though. Lyla had just wanted to see Clark when she possessed her. To make sure he was okay, yes, but also just because she felt an attraction to him she'd never felt to anyone else. True, she'd had a crush on Pendar, but what she felt for Clark was on another level. It was silly, really; she barely even knew him. Yet she felt a connection to him anyway, even if only on an empathic level. The two of them were outsiders, and that was something she knew Lana could never understand. Clark knew who she was and what she was capable of… and he wasn't afraid of her. He didn't judge her like others would. It also didn't hurt that Clark was heart-breakingly gorgeous. "Something really strange is going on with Kimda. We both know he's locked Raya away somewhere and when he heard you were here he asked this guard I'm controlling to delay you while he fetched something called The Eradicator."
She caught the flicker of recognition on J'onn's face, watching as his body tensed.
"That could be a problem," said the Martian gravely.
"It's stronger than you?"
"It's not me I'm worried about. An encounter between Eradicator and myself could easily destroy most of the city. We need to find Raya now. What could Kimda be thinking?"
Pausing only for a moment, J'onn quickly headed off to the left, descending a flight of stairs. Lyla hurried to keep up with him, blinking as he suddenly disappeared from view. At first she thought he had used his speed to get ahead, before she heard his voice in her mind, startling her.
(I've become invisible to avoid detection. I appreciate the warning, but you should return to your own body now. Leave the rest up to me.)
(Wait a minute! You're going back to help Clark, right? You're going to help him stop Lenaria?)
(That is my intention. I tried to befriend Lenaria once, but I soon realised that was a mistake.)
(What happened?)
(The Empireth and I shared a common bond in our telepathic abilities. Most Kandorian's feared or despised them, but I tried to reach out to them. Lenaria invited me to play a game with her, one with pieces that were created from our minds; it could be people we cared about, things we feared, anything. The purpose of the game was to try and judge the value of each piece, relying on empathy or instinct to work out it's significance. The greater the feeling behind the piece, the greater it's strength. In our game, two pieces determined the outcome.)
Lyla listened to J'onn's story, fascinated. She knew the game he referred to; it had been very popular among her people, but she'd still been too young to play when other Empireth had still been around.
(What were they?)
(On Lenaria's side, a lick of flame. On my side, a crown. That was how Lenaria determined fire was my weakness; she saw the power the flame piece had and understood my fear of it. Some time later, once the Kryptonian Council realised she was a criminal I was sent to bring her in for questioning, since the council knew I would be immune to her telepathic powers. Lenaria was sly enough that she managed to expose me to fire, and she fled. Eventually I tracked her down anyway, but she killed a lot of people in desperation in the meantime.)
(What about the crown? What was the significance of that?)
(With the crown, I won the game. But I never worked that one out until much later; it was something that symbolised a creature known as Mongul, one of the most feared and powerful tyrants I've ever heard of. Lenaria fled The Empireth homeworld when she was around your age, to escape the war. She told us under interrogation that the power died on her ship, and she and her companions were 'rescued' and taken to Warworld. There they became slaves. Lenaria was the only one who managed to keep herself alive, and eventually Mongul learned that The Empireth were being welcomed on Krypton. He'd always wanted to enter Kryptonians into the battles that were held there, so Lenaria was sent there as his agent. Her fear of him was so powerful it cost her the game. She was furious.)
Lyla almost jumped again as J'onn sent her a vision of Lenaria after losing the game. He hadn't been kidding. She had knocked over the table they had been playing on, and her eyes looked haunted.
(CHEATER! YOU DIRTY CHEATER! YOU NEVER BEAT ME!)
(Now, I really have to go, Lyla. I… know it can't be easy having to hide who you really are. I hope you can find happiness.)
(Wait… Can you tell Clark… tell him I'm sorry we couldn't be friends. I would have liked to… no, it doesn't matter. I just… wish I could see him again, that's all.)
(I think you might be seeing more of Kal-El than you yet realise.)
(What do you mean by that?)
She waited, but no answer came. J'onn was gone.
Lana was shaken, terrified even, but her first instinct wasn't to run away. It was to run over to where the explosion had occurred and find her friends. She'd been talking to them only a moment before, and it was impossible that they had simply been taken like that. Except, as she knew from the death of her parents, it was very much possible.
Lex grabbed her before she could move more than two steps.
"Let go of me!" she protested, struggling as Lex's arms locked around her waist. "Chloe and Pete were in there!"
"They're dead, Lana," said Lex quietly. There was more compassion in his voice then than Lana had ever heard in it before. For the first time the reality began to hit her. There was no Clark, no hope of a last minute miracle rescue. And underneath the grief that was now consuming her was a mad gibbering, a voice screaming at her that Lex knew, Lex knew everything, and that Clark's secret had again been exposed because of her connection to Lex. He'd just had to look at her and he'd known. Clark should never have trusted her, not for one moment.
And the two friends who Clark could depend on the most were now dead. Lex was no longer trying to restrain her, instead now only holding her gently, cradling her head in his arms. When the second explosion went off right behind them, Lex twisted as he fell, stopping himself from falling on top of her before rolling across her body protectively. After they both realised they weren't yet dead, Lex hauled her to her feet, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him.
"We have to get out of here!" he yelled above the noise of a third explosion on the other side of the camp. Lana had no idea what was happening. Neither did the soldiers, who appeared to be running around the camp with no clear destinations in mind. Lana screamed as flesh rained down from the sky. Everything had descended into madness.
Clark was just as confused as everyone else when he arrived back at the camp, but even though he was still hurt he kicked into action immediately. Speeding through the camp, he searched for signs of explosives that might have been planted. His search didn't turn up anything. He did, however, find plenty of people dead or injured. Most of the dead were not in one piece. As for the injured, his instinct was to help, but until he eliminated the root of the problem, he couldn't afford to do anything for them. Much as it pained him, all he could do for the moment was ignore them.
Until he found Pete and Chloe. He didn't need any enhanced senses to know that Pete was dead; his friend's body was burned to a crisp, and barely recognisable. Clark's body trembled as he looked at the remains of his friend. Only the sound of Chloe's heartbeat brought him back to the situation at hand. As far as he could tell, the pair had both noticed something was wrong. Chloe had ran from the danger, while Pete had ran towards it. Chloe had still been caught in the explosion, but Pete might just have saved her life. Might have. Clark could see she was hurt; she was unconscious, and badly burned. She also seemed to have hit her head badly as she fell. Clark moved over to pick her up, and it was then that he realised there was a third body. This one, however, was in so many pieces he hadn't noticed it right away.
Where was Lana?
Chloe's eyes fluttered open, and Clark immediately knelt down beside her.
"Don't try to move, Chloe. I'm going to get you out of here."
"C…Clark, Lana wasn't here. She wasn't here when the explosion went off."
"I'll find her, don't worry. Save your strength."
""Listen to me… the soldier… I don't know if he had some kind of bomb strapped to him or what…"
"It's okay," said Clark, shuddering as he worked out at least a part of what was going on. He was about to take a quick search around the area when he noticed Chloe's eyes close. Immediately he grabbed hold of her and shook her. "Wake up Chloe, you have to stay awake. WAKE UP!"
"Clark, it's alright," said Chloe, managing a weak smile. "You have Lana now. She knows your secret… I'm…glad you're not alone… you're going to be fine."
"Stop talking like this is the end!" wailed Clark, eyes filling with tears as Chloe's eyes closed once more.
"This IS the end, Clark," came a voice from behind him, filled with venom, as he held Chloe in his arms, willing his strength into her. "It's just too bad for your friends that it ended as it did."
"It's too bad for YOU," said Clark, lifting Chloe and facing down his opponent. The person in front of him was Lois, but it was Lenaria he was talking to. She was wearing Lois' body just as Lyla had worn Lana's. Of course she was; Lenaria would have wanted to see his reaction, but she wouldn't have wanted to be here in person. Oh, no. "Too bad that despite every ability you've taken, you've stolen, you haven't got a SINGLE one that is going to stop me from hunting you down and making you pay. Every time I hurt you, you whimper and beg for me to stop. Well I have news for you, Lenaria: if you don't want to be hurt, you don't KILL MY FRIENDS!"
Both of them stared each other down, and there was no fear in Lenaria now. Not when her real body was safely away from him. Now there was only hatred. Clark was shaking with anger, a single tear falling from his eyes and striking Chloe's cheek. He thought Lenaria might have been trying to distract him, and it might have worked if Lana hadn't been in danger. He was using his hearing ability to try and find her even as Lenaria spoke. And Chloe's heart was still beating. That's it, Chloe: keep fighting.
"Big words, Clark. But what's to stop me from simply taking your mind right here and now? What's to stop me from using you to burn what's left of these people into ash, and making you COMPLETELY aware of what you're doing?"
The same thing that always stops you, Clark thought but didn't say. Fear. The Kandorian armour that was concealed beneath his shirt had indeed been damaged in the battle with Brainiac, so it couldn't protect him. But Lenaria's fear could be as crippling for her as Kryptonite was to him. Yet he could tell she was contemplating it, and if she went for it now he wouldn't be able to stop her controlling him. He didn't know how Zod had shrugged off her power so casually. Had Zod's will been so strong, and his so weak? Regardless, he had to manipulate Lenaria's fear or he was in a lot of trouble.
"Go ahead," said Clark. "But I think controlling my mind takes a lot more effort than controlling a human's. I think that if you do, J'onn will be able to find you like he did before. And I think that if he does, you are going to be very, very sorry."
Lois actually snarled at him. He'd have to hope Lenaria only wanted to use Lois to taunt him, and that she wouldn't do anything that might harm her.
"I left him a bubbling pool of shit the last time I encountered him," hissed Lenaria. "So I suggest he should think twice before coming after me again. And as for you, boy: hear me well. I survived Mongul. I survived Zod. I survived The Phantom Zone. And I shall survive you."