Chapter Tweleve Part IV- Falling

When they got to the temple that was drawn on the map, they were left trying to figure out where to start first.

Bruce decided that it would be best if they split up in order to cover more ground and they would meet right back in the exact same spot they started in to go over what they found.

Clark took the northern corridor while Bruce and Lois took the east and west areas of the temple.

The searched the temple from the ground up and couldn't find anything that would lead them to the stone but when they got back to their meeting spot there was a group of well dressed men standing at the entrance with weapons in their hands, the men starred down the billionaire and the army brat when a voice called out from behind, "Hello Bruce" they parted ways to allow a woman with short black hair and leather jacket with a dragon design on the right sleeve to stand at the center, "Its been a while."

Bruce's eyes widened in surprise and grabbed Lois by the arm and whispered, "Run" he let her go quickly only to see that she didn't do what he said, "Damn it Lane! This is no time to be stupid." The woman snaps her fingers and the men charge towards Bruce and he manages to grab one of the weapons from a now unconcious henchmen, "Go find Clark."

Lois begins to run while Bruce tries to fend off the attackers from following, "After her you idiots!" the woman commands and watched three of her men rush after the intrpid reporter before turning her attention back to the fight at hand, "Bring me his head."

Smallville

Lex sat at his computer going over recent emails about possible stone locations when suddenly the lights around him began to flicker and the bulbs bursted, "What the hell" he whispers to himself as he rose up from his desk to look around in the darkness.

"Hell has nothing to do with it Mr. Luthor." A turquoise light appears in the center and the image of a woman with long black hair appears, "You have something that we need and we are in the process of getting something you want…the stones of knowledge."

His eyes go wide and he immediately walks towards her only to slip right through her image which causes her to laugh, "I'm smart enough to know that you never meet a desperate man face to face." Her image rotates to face him, "What your seeing now is a state of the art holographic image sort of like skype but in 3-D."

"What do you want from me?"

The smile and laughter in her eyes fades away, "We want full access to your restricted projects and in return you'll get one of those stones you've been so eager to find."

"Even if I knew what your talking about, how do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't." she responds simply as the hologram begins to flicker, "Just know that we'll be watching." A smile appears on her face and the hologram flickers once again, "Til next time Mr. Luthor."

Before Lex could question any further the hologram disappeared and the turquoise glow faded away leaving Lex in the dark.

Lois looked over her shoulder to see the three henchmen were close behind, "Think Lois!" the voice inside her head sounds off while strategies and ideas came to mind, "You're being chased by lackies sporting expensive suits and weapons in an ancient chinese temple, there has to be something around you that can be used…" her inner thought process stopped when she spotted what she needed.

Once she made it through the archway, she slid against the sidewall near a large suit of antique armor and waited for the first well dressed man to appear and pushed the heavy suit over its base allowing it to topple over ontop of the man.

However before she could take off running again, the other two grabbed her and threw her to ground causing her to hit her head on one of the building's columns.

"What should we do with her?" one of them asked in a foreign lanuage causing the two to begin bicker back and forth while they assumed Lois was unconscious.

Through the haze of blurry images and a massive headache, she could faintly make out the sounds of a struggle and two large thuds before finally a massive blur appeared in front leering towards her.

Survival instincts and a fear of who the blurry person was caused Lois to aim for the sensitive part of a man's body below the belt.

"Damn it Lane!" a familiar voice belonging to Bruce Wayne exclaims trying to fight through the pain as helped her up, "This is the last time I save your ass." He takes in a shallow breath before grabbing her hand, "We better go find Clark before Nyssa does."

"Who's Nyssa?"

"Someone you never want to meet again." They begin running down the halls and the blurriness faded away allowing the intrepid reporter be back in the game, "When I went away a few years back their father helped me become who I am today but when I realized what he stood for…lets just say that it didn't end with a happy goodbye."

She stops running suddenly when she spots Clark on the floor pale and covered in sweat, "Get the car and meet us out front." She throws the keys at him before he could say anything else and rushes towards Clark's side to get him away from the kryptonite when she looks up to notice the familiar pattern of the map stitched onto Chinese shirt matching it's design perfectly except for the missing kryptonian symbols.

"Is that what I think it is?" she whispers to herself once the green glow faded away allowing her to get closer while Clark stayed back, "I don't think this was ever a map." She reaches into her bag to pull out the exact same copy looking at both very carefully before turning around to face Clark, "Doesn't it seem a little odd that the map doesn't really resemble a map." he gets closer as he would allow himself to look at it himself.

"Why would someone make a map that's misleading?"

She couldn't answer the question because at that moment the sound of hurried footsteps sounded a lot closer and Clark quickly swept her up in his arms, "Hang on." She tries to hide the smile on her face as he speeds out of the room just as Nyssa Al Ghul and her minions entered the room looking very upset.

"Find them!" Nyssa exclaims in frustration when she notices the hidden chamber and the unique design sewn onto the robe which caused her to smile.

Their car was parked in a secluded area near the water while Bruce called in a few favors and Lois leaned against the car looking out at the scenery fully aware that Clark was watching her, "You keep staring at me long enough and I might start thinking your using your x-ray vision on me."

He let out a small chuckle and looked away with his hands stuck deep in his pockets, "It's been a while since we've worked together like this, I was just enjoying the moment while it lasted."

"Getting chased by a crazed psychopath hellbent on vengeance through the streets of China isnt really how I saw this day going." She looked down kicking a few peebles with her feet, "But I'm really glad you're here Smallville, I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else."

Clark looks towards Bruce then back at Lois, "You know he's really not that bad once you get to know him. A little crank sometimes and a little bossy but he's a good guy."

While his attention was elsewhere Lois looked at him with an odd look in her eyes, "The best ones always are." She whispers to herself and suddenly the little voice inside her head began pushing her to say what she's been wanting to say for several weeks, "Listen Clark, I wanted to say that I'm sorry how things ended between us last time. You've been trying so hard to respect my wishes and I really appreciate that, I…"

But before she could finish Bruce appeared in front of them saying, "I got us a room at the nearest hotel and already booked a flight back to Smallville for tomorrow at noon so we better get some rest if we wanna get that stone before Nyssa does." He walks past them towards the car and they share a quick lance before following close behind.

Several Hours Later…

The stinging pain of the peroxide caused her to wince and Clark just laughed saying, "What would the general think of his little solider now if he saw her acting like such a baby." She responds by punching him in the arm and taking the cottonballs from him to do it herself but he just snatched them right back, "You wont get anywhere in this world if you don't start trusting people."

Lois watches his concentrated look and replies, "I do trust you." She places her hand over his stopping him from continuing further and shakes away all the negative thoughts, "I've spent half of my adult life running away from things and pushing people away when they got to close because I didn't want them to end up like my mom.." her other hand goes towards his neck and Clark fnds himself speechless at the seriousness in her eyes, "I had a chance of happiness and I screwed everything up by running away when the going got tough." Her eyes begin to water and her voice sounds sad "I lost my boy scout."

Clark doesn't say anything; he just looks at her for a few seconds before pressing his lips to hers, "You'll never lose me Lo." He whispers against her lips, "I'd face a thousand pieces of kryptonite if it meant that I still have you in my life."

She pulls him back for another kiss this time lasting longer and more passionate then the other. The tension between them faded away but soon the passion began to take over in the form of Clark's shirt being thrown to the floor and getting pushed down onto the bed.

They stopped suddenly when Clark pulled away and looked at her concerned, "Are you sure you want to do this Lo? There's no going back if we do this.

Lois moved her head to the side for a few seconds before turning back to look at him, "I've never been sure of anything in my entire life." She pulls him back down to continue what they were doing beforehand.

The world faded allowing the two to fall into a passioned filled dance that symbolized the love they shared all the while the Kwatche bracelet on her wrist glistened in the moonlight.

TBC

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