Chapter 25

"You're not doing it!"

"I don't have a choice! I've already accepted his part of the deal. Now I have to uphold mine!"

"He's your father! He shouldn't have forced you to make any kind of a deal in the first place! There should be nothing you have to fulfill!"

"Lois, Jor-El doesn't work that way! He may share my DNA but he's not my father. I have to take them. There will be repercussions if I don't. Besides, we both know that he has a reason for even asking; for the training, for all of this."

"They're my children!" she yelled at him. "I've never even met Jor-El and I don't trust him to look at them, let alone look after them. He'll take them away; we both know damn well that that is his agenda!"

Clark calmly touched her shoulders but she angrily shook his hands off of her.

"Lois, I will be there every second-"

"Oh, you'll be there every second? Pick up one of the carriers, Smallville, 'cause my children are not leaving my sight."

She was already out the door with Jonathan, leaving him puzzled.

"Smallville?" he questioned, alone in the living room. "Did I just get demoted back to Smallville?"

XxX

She sipped her tea on the sofa, looking over the land through the window, glad to be seeing land now instead of the water she'd seen for the past few hours. She sat across from the man she loved who was busy at his laptop, deeply engrossed in it. Tiny fears slithered up her spine, creeping louder and louder into her mind, quickening her pulse. She used the hot tea to soothe her rising blood pressure as best she could, but whatever warnings Lex had gotten about Mercy Graves, they were enough that they were on a flight to their own personal warzone.

Metropolis.

Home.

Where all hell had broken loose not that long ago.

Would she lose everything she'd gained all over again? Would she lose what she had found so precious to her, so compatible and true. It maybe not have been what she'd envisioned as a teenager, but now that she was a grown woman, the thought of losing it again, just might cause her to turn as corrupt as Lex ever was. Maybe she was just the same as him.

She needed Lex, especially when there was a chance that she might run into Lois, Clark, and their two perfect little children.

She didn't need her past failures thrown in her face without the support system, especially without the support system she'd become accustomed to in Lex. Lex was everything to her, and when she closed her eyes, he evaporated into thin air. Her blood ran thick and fast through her veins, torturing her with fear. But it was all she could do to wait and hope until the plane landed.

Smallville Caves

"Lois, wait!"

"Get away from me!"

He caught up to her, grabbing her shoulder.

"Don't touch me! Never again! You sold our children to that maniac! How many times has he betrayed you? And you choose now to put your faith in him, not letting me, the mother, have a say in it?"

"I didn't have a say in it! And I think he's protecting them! I believed what he said because this place has been a target for danger ever since I showed up! Every time I tell someone about my powers, they're in danger! The only reason I told you was because I had no other choice!"

If he hadn't pissed her off before, he'd just accomplished that task.

"Oh, well thank you very much! I'm so sorry your impregnating me put you in such a rough position. Maybe next time I'll leave the country and do everything myself until you decide to give our children to someone I know nothing about! Perfectly reasonable!"

"Lois, I didn't mean I regret telling you," he said, walking after her as she began her active pace away from him. "I just want you to survive past the age your mother did. I want your children to remember you."

"Right now you should be for fearing your life, not mine! What about our children remembering me? Did it occur to you to think how long Jor-El is going to keep them from us? You don't know how long he's going to feel it's safe to keep them from us! It shouldn't be his call!"

"Lois, would you stop?"

She paused, exhaling, not sure she could look at him.

"What?" she said, turning to a man that twenty-four hours ago she felt she couldn't be apart from for even five minutes. "What do you want me to say? Do you want to me to soothe you? To tell you I accept this decision? My children are in a stranger's hands and you didn't take my side. You are nothing to me right now, Clark, and I don't even care to fight with you about it. Get me my children back. Until then, don't talk to me."

Turning away again, she felt a force send her flying forward, knocking her against the rocks, rendering her unconscious.

"Lois!" Clark called out, stunned by the vision he saw in front of him.

A slightly disfigured looking man came up to Clark, eyes white and skin horridly purple, and he emerged into Clark's full view.

"Who are you?"

"Someone to take everything from you…slowly…and when you least expect it."

Clark lifted his arm, prepared to use his strength to knock him out, but his opponent caught his hand, instantly causing Clark unbearable pain.

Stealing Clark's essence, his powers, and his thoughts, the creature drained him at a moderate speed, tearing into Clark's consciousness.

Lois woke up at that point, her head aching and badly bruised. She turned and saw what was happening, and grabbing the biggest rock she could find, she threw it at the purple-skinned man.

"Get away from him!" she shouted.

Using Clark's powers, he hit her with an incredible force that only seconds ago he didn't possess. Lois was out cold again and Clark was too weak to help her. Clark fumbled backwards, falling against the gritty rocks. In his quest to further impair Clark, he neglected to see the man and woman who came forth.

"Oh no!" she said. "We're too late!"

"No, we're not," he replied. "I'll get to Lois. You…do your thing, immediately. Clark doesn't have much time."

Oliver Queen rushed to Lois Lane's side, protecting her with his body weight and covering her ears. Dinah Lance let out a piercing scream, stopping Clark's attacker, who seemed surprised by the overwhelming pain. He stepped back, drops of blood coming from his ears. Dinah didn't let up and he began to writhe in pain. Seeing a weak moment, Oliver, in full Green Arrow gear, took out an arrow and shot the purple man, crippling him slightly and finally scared him off.

"Dinah, go to Clark!"

"You don't have to order me around, Oliver. I'm there!"

"Lois," Oliver said, shaking her. "Lois!"

She opened her eyes, blinking a few times. "Ow," she murmured.

"Yeah, I know you're in pain, but it'd be a really good time to not need a CAT-Scan, wake up!"

"Okay! What!"

She was awake.

"Clark?" she said, trying to pull herself up.

"Easy," Oliver said.

"My head," she cried, grabbing the side of it with her hand.

"You're going to need to be looked at."

"Not right now," she muttered, flinging his concerned hand away. "Clark!" she cried, seeing Dinah tending to him.

Getting up with Oliver's help, she rushed over to him. Tears blurred her vision as she knelt beside him, immediately regretting the cold words she'd said to him moments before.

"Clark, Clark, can you hear me?"

A damaged, drained, depleted man looked up at her.

"Can you even speak, baby?"

He couldn't. He was barely conscious. Oliver was already on the phone to his hospital for emergency pick-up.

"Look, I hate to interrupt, but you have to think about what's going on," Dinah said.

"I don't know what's going on," Lois replied, panicking.

"Ladies," Oliver said. "Lex is what's going on. He always is. I just intercepted a router number that was traced back to one of his employees in Metropolis, Mercy Graves. She hired Rudy Jones, that man we just saw do…whatever it was he did to Clark. From what I could gather, he absorbed Clark's abilities. Now we have to do damage control because he got away."

"Damage control! Clark can't even speak, he could die!" Lois sobbed with Clark's hand in hers.

"Yes, but what if he also absorbed Clark's DNA, thoughts, and personality? He could do anything he wanted and destroy anyone he wanted and he could be doing it right now. So think!"

"I can't think!" Lois wept.

"You have to!"

Lois looked at Clark and thought of her children. She would not lose them now, not to Lex, not to Mercy or anyone else.

"Lex is here? In Metropolis?"

"Yes, he flew in today."

Lois stood up, wiped her tears and literally dusted herself off.

"Get up to a hospital and keep him alive. Could you do that for me until I get there?"

"Where are you going?"

"To pursue an idea with an old friend and a current enemy."

"You are not going to see Lex alone, Lois," Oliver stated.

"You are not my enforcer. I have a fiancé that I'd like to speak to again and two children I'd like to watch grow up. So I have to make something happen. I'm not going to sit on my ass. Get Clark to the hospital and figure out a way to make him better. Then figure out where our purple-psycho-killer is headed to next. I will meet you there."

She kissed Clark on the lips; they were clammy and cold.

"Baby, I'm going to fix this. I'm sorry about what I said. Maybe we both were right. But don't you leave me now. I need you."

She caressed his face gently with her lips, breathing warm air on him.

"I love you."

When she turned to leave, Oliver stopped her with a question.

"Oh yeah, where are the babies?"

"They're with their grandfather," she said and kept walking.

"What?"

XxX

Lois took the elevator to the top floor of LuthorCorp. Lex and Lana were aware she was coming up, letting her past the guards, but she was so determined that a ten-inch thick steel door wouldn't have been able to hold her off. Not with the mood she was in.

She opened the glass door, and saw Lana turn around to notice her. For the first time since she'd been with Clark, guilt wasn't what she felt when she looked at Lana.

"Lois," Lex said greeting her, standing up from his chair behind the desk.

"How could you hire that bitch to kill Clark?" Lois demanded.

"Mercy?" Lex asked, surprised.

"No, your maid!" Lois retorted sarcastically.

"Wait, Clark's dead?" Lana asked.

"Not quite. He's lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life while some creature Mercy set loose runs all over Metropolis destroying everything in his path! Great idea, Lex!"

"Lois, he didn't ask Mercy to hurt Clark, trust me. It's why we came back," Lana soothed, seeing Lois's frantic state. "Tell me what I can do to help."

Lois grabbed Lana's slim shoulders. "Tell me what you did to get Clark's powers. You did, didn't you? That time you threw me through the window?"

"Wait," Lex said, coming around the table and moving towards them. "Clark's powers?"

"Go to hell, Lex. I'm not talking to you. Lana! Please, I don't have time."

Lana swallowed. "High voltage electricity mixed with green meteor-rock. It'll transfer his powers to you."

Lois sighed, trying to feel some relief in the answer she'd received.

"Thank you," she said, trying to be civil, though in no way did she feel grateful to either one of them.

Lois began to walk off but Lana called after her.

"Lois!"

Lois turned back, hesitating.

"Don't keep his powers. Turn back as quickly as possible or they will consume you. Trust me, you will lose who you are."

Lois nodded, barely, and Lana wasn't sure she fully believed her. Watching her former friend turned rival leave, Lana turned to Lex.

"When did you find out? I mean, when did he tell you?" Lex asked.

"He didn't," Lana confided. "That was our problem. I always knew there was a part of him that he would never share with me, that he was holding back from me and it kept us from having a life together. But one day I caught him using his powers and he had to admit it to me."

"How could you not tell me?"

"It wasn't my secret to tell," Lana defended. "It's his secret. It's his life. I didn't betray you, Lex. I didn't betray your trust or my love for you. You have no right to take Clark and put him on a metal operating table and slice him open until you have every inch of him examined. I wouldn't want that for him or you, but that doesn't mean I am disloyal to you. He has a life that he wants to live; a woman he loves and two children. I've learned to want that for him."

Lex exhaled, disbelieving.

"No, look at me," Lana said, cupping his face and turning it to hers. "Clark isn't our enemy. He's not. And he never was. This…thing Mercy has set free, that is who we should be concerned with. We have our own life to live after that, wherever we want to. There's a world out there we can see. I want to do that with you. Not…doing something evil. Clark was your best friend, and chopping his body up and obsessing over him when all he wants to sit at a desk and go home to his children is…wrong."

Lana searched his eyes.

"Was the last year all for nothing? Am I going to lose you all over again? Because if I lose you this time, there will be no third chance. If you choose to take this path and leave me, I can't let you walk back into my life when you decide you want me back. I want you to pick me, Lex. Pick your life with me."

Lex pulled free from her grasp and picked up the phone on his desk.

"Get the chopper ready," he said, and Lana Lang wondered if she'd made a dent in his mind at all.

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~