Chapter 79

The next moment saw chaos reign throughout the Kent barn. Shelby began it all by barking loudly as a strong gust of wind swept through the barn, rattling the roof with its intensity. Straw and dust flew up through the air causing everyone present to shut their eyes.

Jergens managed to shout, "It's him!" before cowering underneath the wooden stairs. "Benny! The stone! Toss me the stone!"

The gunman closest to Clark shielded his face against the strange wind and grabbed the rock. Swiftly, he ran toward his boss, holding it out before him like someone using a cross to fend off an invisible vampire.

The other man chose to fire his gun wildly in his alarm, but only one shot rang out before the sound muted to just a series of clicks. The gun he had checked for ammunition only minutes before was now empty, and it stunned him. Panic set in as he fumbled in his pocket for another clip. "I…I'm out!"

Suddenly, the wind died down as quickly as it had begun, and an eerie stillness settled around them.

"The girl! Where's the girl?" Jergens looked around frantically while trying to wipe the dust out of his eyes.

"She's right there!" The man Jergens had identified as Benny pointed at Lois, who had been knocked down in the commotion and was now lying flat on her back in a stunned daze.

"No, you idiot! Not that one. The other one! The blonde one."

"She's gone!" Benny was amazed. "She probably ran off for help!"

As she listened to the men around her shouting back and forth to each other, Lois, one hand pressed to her forehead, sat up slowly, wondering what had just happened. Whatever it was had happened so quickly, she had no idea how she had come to be on the ground, and now, the men's voices seemed as if they were coming from somewhere very far away.

"Sam, go look for her."

But Sam hesitated, and then looked down at his feet. Dropping to his knees, his eyes fixed on a chain lying on the ground. "Um…boss? Look at this…" His voice was strained with fear. "I told you, there's something about that dog! It ain't natural. It just ain't… I know I hit him before."

"You just missed, you fool."

"No! I know it! Point blank! No way I could have missed him. And now this?"

Jergens ducked out from beneath his hiding place under the steps and came forward to look down at the heavy, metal chain that had held the dog. Before, it had been wrapped securely around the nearby wooden post, encircling it several times. Now, it lay in a neat coil beside it, and the dog was nowhere in sight.

"It's like somethin' outta the 'Twilight Zone' around here. No dog could do that!"

Jergens swallowed as he scanned the far reaches of the barn for movement. As his eyes looked upwards, the other two men blanched.

"You said he couldn't hurt us! You said—"

As Benny also turned his attention to the chain, Lois, alert once more, saw her chance and scrambled to her feet to run towards Clark.

"Not so fast, Missy!" Jergens had moved quickly to intercept her, pulling out a small 38 special from his pocket and sticking it beneath her chin. "I am not as easily spooked by a few freak occurrences as my cohorts. This is Smallville, after all. Who hasn't heard of the strange stories out of this little berg? Your friend may have run off for help, but we'll be long gone by the time it arrives. And if not, well, we've got one very sexy hostage, don't we?" He grinned, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her face close to him.

Lois narrowed her eyes as she looked defiantly back at him, "Congratulations. But some hostages aren't so easy to handle. You want my cooperation? You let me check on Clark right now. He needs a doctor, but if I could only—"

Jergens frowned in puzzlement as he stared into her eyes. "Kent?" He read her face plainly. "You're kidding! A girl like you is hung up on—" He looked over toward where Clark Kent lay amid the reddened straw and, in his surprise, he lowered the gun. "Well, well, well. You are just full of surprises." His lips curled into a small smile at the thought. "Luthor said you had a thing for Superman, and you seem so sure that flying alien will come to your aid. Maybe kidnapping you wasn't such a bad plan, after all."

"This is about kidnapping me?" Lois' thoughts were a jumble as she turned to focus on what she needed to do, and for one brief second, they landed on the information she'd just been handed. So you are involved with Lex Luthor, but Luthor doesn't trust you enough let you in on Clark's secret. So if

It was no use. Protecting a secret identity didn't matter much if the man she loved was dying. Her eyes turned back to Clark lying there so lifeless. She had to get to him, to make sure he was breathing; that was all that mattered. No, the Kryptonite - that is what matters. She'd lost track of it in the confusion. As her eyes searched for the stone, she heard Jergens' voice only vaguely as he kept on taunting her.

"—then take you to his hideaway as his backup plan…"

As the politician droned on, enumerating threat after threat, she saw that the man called Benny still had it in his hand. He was standing about six feet from Clark.

Six feet. How far does Clark need to be away from Kryptonite? Five feet wasn't it? But blue Kryptonite is different from the green kind. No, five to six feet…oh god, was a foot going to make the difference between life and death for him tonight? One stupid foot! The figures wheeled about in her brain.

"…what's taking Luthor so long…"

If I get that damn rock away from him, will he recover? Will the wound heel? Will he need sunlight to recharge his super energy? Oh, god, why didn't I ask him more questions? Why didn't I ask him the right questions? Why didn't we talk about this stuff more than all the stupid, trivial stuff that we always seem to …

"…should have been here an hour ago…"

Her eyes kept darting back to Clark, desperately looking for just a hint that his chest was moving. No. He can't be dead. Takes more than a stupid rock to kill someone like Superman! Like Clark!

"…should have met in Metropolis. Why he thought Smallville…"

There were all those talks they'd had about his "destiny." He'd been told about it by so many people, even some from the future. He'd even seen visions …No! Clark's life will not end in a common barn, brought on by a stupid rock and a two-bit, lousy politician bent on revenge for a crummy expose you wrote, Lane!

Lois let her anger at it all explode. She head-butted the gun so hard it fell from Jergen's grip, and she kneed him with all her might in the groin. The second he bent forward in pain, she landed a hard left to his jaw.

By the time he landed on the ground, rolling to and fro in agony, both the henchmen were right there on either side of her, guns leveled at her, complete with new clips in place.

"You want I should kill her, boss?" The cold steel of the loaded gun gave Benny new courage to go with his savage grin.

"No!" Jergens gasped through gritted teeth. "We…can't. Luthor would …no, we can't, as much as I'd enjoy it." He glared up at her. "But I know how to keep her in line…" He watched her face and smiled bitterly. "Go finish off Kent. Make sure. I want him dead!"

"No!" Lois screamed. "No! Don't! Don't kill him. Please, I'll do what you want. Whatever…just don't—"

"That's better. So we have a deal? Now," he got to his feet slowly, groaning, and turned to the men, "I don't know about you guys, but after all this waiting, I'm a little hungry. There's a kitchen in there." He waved his gun toward the house. "Can you cook?"

"What?" Lois blinked several times.

"Can you cook? Simple question. You are the only dame here."

"Can I cook?" she repeated, as her mind simultaneously formulated a smart come-back remark for the "dame" comment. But she held her tongue and a second later, the idea of what to do next was solid in her mind. "Can I cook?" she repeated again as if she had just suffered the biggest insult in the world. "I'll have you know I've studied with one of the foremost, elite, haute cuisine instructors of the Continent. You've never known the heights that French cooking can rise to until you have had my boeuf bourguignon."

"Is that right?' Jergens' voice dripped with sarcasm. "Well, I doubt that country kitchen in there is going to have the right stuff on hand to test your mettle on that, but I'd think you could whip us up something edible. Something fast and simple? Benny? Take Miss Lane with you, and," he tuned to look at Lois with another galling smile, "she's been known to get quite creative, so do not trust her." He bent forward to whisper directly in her ear, "Just remember your boyfriend over there. I think there's a spark of life left in him. You try anything funny, and I'll stomp it out with the utmost pleasure. Got it?"

"Loud and clear."

Trying hard not to show her relief, Lois watched as Benny came toward her with the blue rock in one hand and his gun in the other. As Benny turned her around roughly and pushed her forward toward the house, Jergens voice rang out loudly, "Benny, the stone?"

Her heart fell as Benny handed it over to him, and she saw him walk back toward where Clark lay on the ground. With the cold barrel pushing into the small of her back, she had no choice but to turn away from the barn and walk toward the back door of the Kent house, knowing how much precious time this was wasting.

Jergens returned to barking out orders to Sam about finding Chloe. Lois hoped dearly that her cousin could get away and find some help quickly. Even Kryptonians only had so much blood, and she'd seen an awful lot of it spreading out on that straw around Clark.

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Author's notes: I'm very sorry for the delay in posting. My mom is not doing well at all and it's been a rather hectic time for me. I have a lot written out longhand that I need to put in the computer and polish. But the next chapter is a tough one. Just realized I have not actually written Lex yet. Not really. Could be difficult. (Wipes brow!)

Merlin – Very good idea! I did think of that. But I went another way. I needed MM for something else, or at least I thought I did at the time. Louise- You know he's all right! Although…there are certain authors that do the hurt/comfort stuff…just a reminder. (Insert evil laugh here) Waffleninja – you are so close! Anacaro – Hopefully, I will be quicker to post next chapter. But the only thing is, that is the chapter I don't have written yet. The ones following it…yes!) PrincessBella15 – Sorry, I don't think I'm bringing Lana into this one. I barely made it through the chapter mentioning her! AdriDee – you will soon know, I hope! Chewbie – Have you been peeking at my notes? Actually, it's pretty much canon for the sixties Superman to be able to see and hear all wavelengths of light and sound. I think they've used various bits of that kind of thing in some other incarnations as well. I always thought that Superman's hearing would be the absolute worst power to have. His brain's ability to overcome such "noise" would be phenomenal. But then, my Superman can do just about anything! I am so glad you liked the included "remembered conversation." I cringed when I did that, but I had meant to include it elsewhere and forgot, so I experimented. I'm glad at least one person thought it worked inserted where it was. Glykera – The only Batman I've ever liked is Kilmer's. His was fun. Impulse really says it all, just too quickly for anyone to follow. Clueless Warrior – thanks for the praise and welcome aboard. Hopefully, I won't make you all wait as long for the next chapter. Just an idle thought…where are all the Harry Potter fans reading this coming from? I love HP, so it's nice, but just unexpected.