Chapter Nineteen: 24
Clark stared up at the suit in front of him, jaw clenched, as he slowly rose to his feet. He was only slightly aware of the others behind him as his eyes scanned over the uniform, taking it all in.
In a sudden gust of wind, Clark disappeared, along with the suit, before reappearing in the suit a few seconds later, facing the onlookers. He remained motionless, staring at the ground as his muscles visibly flexed themselves, reshaping the suit.
Glancing up, he acknowledged the small group with only a lingering look, before striding past them and back out of the room.
Turning left, he walked the way the group had just come from. As his body was on full alert, and ready for a fight, his hearing picked up the sound of the group's cautious footsteps behind him.
They walked in silence. Sheppard, Teyla and Ford walking in the middle, with Sam comforting Lana, who had broken down again after seeing Clark alive again, at the back.
As they entered the Gate Room once more, Clark strode into the middle of the room.
"Carter, redial that address!" He told her, as he came to a stop, facing the Stargate.
As the group came to a stop as well, Teyla moved back to Lana while Sam came forward, shaking her head.
"No, Clark."
Clark finally turned his head to look at her from over his shoulder. "As Commander of this base, I'm ordering you to redial that address!"
Sam's mouth formed a thin line as she refused to answer, but shook her head instead.
Clark's eyes flashed dangerously. His head spun 180 degrees as he looked up to the control room, where the dialling device was. Raising his left hand to point up at it, his eyes went to the Gate, which instantly began dialling.
"Damn it, who's dialling the gate?!" Sheppard shouted up at the control room.
There was silence, until a young technician appeared on the balcony. "No one, sir! It's doing it by itself! We can't override it!"
Clark's cape suddenly started to get blown about as the Gate finished dialling, and the wormhole was established, blowing out a large jet of quantum foam which disappeared instantly.
"Clark, don't do this!" Sam shouted at him over the noise of the Gate's alarm.
"He needs to be stopped!" Clark said, turning around to face her, his cape finally settling back down.
"We will stop him! But this isn't the way to go about it!" Sam replied.
"How exactly are you going to stop him?!" Clark asked after a moment, "You didn't back then, and you can't now! The quicker you come to terms with that, the quicker I can get out there and do something about it!"
Lana, who had been too busy staring at Clark to keep her mind on the conversation, moved forward.
"Clark...?"
Clark looked over to her, and his face visibly softened.
"Wh-what are you doing, Clark?" She asked, stepping past John and Sam to get closer to him.
"I'm going to make sure he can't touch you, again." Clark replied firmly, bringing a hand up to cup her face gently.
Lana closed her eyes at his touch, pressing herself against his hand. "That wasn't your fault..." She mumbled.
"Then who's was it?! I'm the only one here that had a chance of stopping him, Lana. And I didn't! That is my fault! That resulted in him getting to you! I'm not going to give him another opportunity." He told her, his eyes running over her face to make sure she was, in fact, alright.
Lana opened her eyes slightly to stare at him for a second, before moving forward and wrapping her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. "I thought you were dead!" She whispered, starting to cry again.
"I know...I'm here now..." Clark said, trying to calm her down. After a moment, Clark moved backward to look down at her, "I need you to let me do this..." He whispered.
Lana stared at him, her brow creased as she stared into his eyes. Seeing the determination on his face, she gave a small nod, before pressing her face against his chest again. "Just make sure you come back to me." She told him quietly.
Clark nodded, letting out a breath of air as he wrapped his arms around her one more. "I will. I promise." He kissed her gently on the head, before backing away. "If I'm not back in twenty four hours," He said, talking to Sam and John, but not taking his eyes off Lana, "then I'm not coming back. And I don't want you coming after me, either."
He continued moving back until he was in front of the gate. "Twenty Four hours." He reminded them, before turning on his heels and disappearing.
