Chapter Twelve Part VI- "Time to Go"

Clark arrived back at the hotel to bring his friends the good news when he found them missing and the room in chaos with Bruce's laptop opening with a blank screen reading: PRESS PLAY.

He reached over to press the space key causing a video of a bound Lois and Bruce to come into focus, "I don't know how you got that stone out of my bare hands but if you're not at Wayne's private hangar then you can kiss your friend and girlfriend goodbye." Nyssa appears in front of the camera suddenly with a playful smile on her face, "Until then, I think I'm going to enjoy my new toys."

The camera falls to the floor and the sound of Lois's voice calls out, "Get your hands off me you crazy bitch!" before cutting off into static.

He stares at the computer which suddenly begins flickering until the symbol of a dragon appears on the screen blowing fire at the screen causing the rest of the computer to smoke, "Lois" he whispers before zooming away.

Meanwhile…back at Smallville at the same time…

The buzzing of her phone caused the young reporter to jolt her head up in a groan as she began to feel around her dark room to find her phone, "This better be good." She tries to stifle a yawn but soon sit right up, "Clark?" her eyes widen when he begins relaying recent events minus a few crucial details mainly being in China searching for ancient kryptonian relics, "I can try but there are no guarantees that it can work." She crawls out of her bed to access her laptop, "What did you say the name was?" she begins writing down the name on a post it waiting for her computer to warm up; "I'll text you the info as soon as I find it."

They say their goodbyes and hang up the phone allowing the blonde reporter to get to work while her kryptonian friend stressed over what the next plan of action was.

When Clark got to the air hangar he saw a mob of henchmen surrounding the plane with Bruce and Lois on their knees with guns pointed at them, "So nice of you to join us Mr. Kent." Nyssa states walking towards him and begins searching his pockets until she pulls out the stone, "My father will greatly appreciate this." She starts to walk away, "Too bad you three won't get to see it."

"Wait!" he exclaims halting further action as he steps closer to her, "Those stones aren't gonna bring your father back."

"They grow them big and dumb in Kansas." She says with a mocking laugh, "I don't want to use the stones to bring back my father. Lex Luthor is offering anything to the person that can bring him a stone; my sister and I are going to use this stupid thing to get the technology we need resurrect him from beyond."

Bruce looks towards the woman almost surprised, "Talia's involved in this too?" one of the goons rams the back of his gun into the young CEO's forehead causing blood to trail down his skin, "You put this idea in her head or she wouldn't have gone along with any of this."

Nyssa looks back at him, "She's changed a lot since you last saw each other." She turns back to face Clark, "Losing the only family you have does that to somebody." She pulls the hammer back on the gun and aims it straight at the farm boy's head, "But that's all about to change."

Suddenly something sharp clashes against her hand causing the gun to fall to the floor with a loud explosion going off afterwards, one that emitted a bright light and a loud sound that stunned several of the henchmen or at least sent them to the floor in pain including Nyssa.

Clark looked around the smoke filled hangar confused until he felt some wrap their arms around him tightly followed by a large shadow walking out through the fog in the shape of Bruce Wayne, "How?" he asks stunned by what he just saw.

"I think the real question is where he gets those wonderful toys." Lois jokes moving past them to retrieve the stone from an incapacitated Nyssa and slipping it inside her coat pocket, "We better take off before they come to."

"Yeah" Clark says at the same time Bruce says, "Good idea." They follow close behind towards the airplane thankful to be going home but Clark stops suddenly when a thought crosses his mind, "Can we stop somewhere first?"

New York

It was a lovely service and as everyone departed Clark stayed behind to pay his last respects to the man who helped him discover where he was from and aided him in discovering that missing piece to the puzzle.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper with the kryptonian symbol for HOPE written on it, "Thank You" he whispers and watches the piece of paper fly gradually down into the grave.

When he turned to walk away he was surprised to see Lois standing there and neither said anything, they just stood there in silence saying all they needed to say with their eyes.

She held out her hand to him and gestured with her head towards the car, he smiled and slipped his hand into her allowing a sudden warmth to spread through them.

"Let's go home" she pulls him back towards the car when she notices Bridgette Crosby and a redheaded young woman standing at her side looking out at Dr. Swan's gravesite one last time before the young woman whispered something to Dr. Crosby and slipped inside the limo leaving the older woman to stand there with a small look of happiness on her face almost as if she was remembering something from the past.

The women shared a look before they departed in their separate cars and drove away with hidden smiles on their faces.

Talia sat in a chair staring at her father's body with dried tears down her cheek, "We'll find another way to bring him back sister." Nyssa says placing a supportive hand on her shoulder, "But hope is not lost." She hands a print out of an email towards Talia, "It appears your beloved Bruce Wayne already has one of the stones in his possession."

The Al Ghul sisters stare at each other before looking towards their father, "We may have another shot with Lex Luthor." Smiles appear on their face simultaneously at the ideas that were forming in their head.

Smallville- Days Later…

Lois and Clark stood side by side to see Bruce off back to Gotham City, "I cant say that its been fun but let's hope that next time I come back here it's on better terms." The billionaire jokes while he embraces Lois in a warm hug, "Try not to get into too much trouble Lane. The world needs reporters like you in the world."

She smiles at the idea and pulls away as both men face off each other but with less tension as before, "You're very special Clark. I can see why Lois is so protective of you." He extends he hand out towards the kryptonian, "I hope this little adventure has put some trust in me." They shake hands, "Look me up the next time you're in Gotham. I could use a sidekick more often."

"I'm not really sidekick material but I'll keep that thought in mind for next time."

Bruce hears Alfred calling out to him and turns around to wave him off, "I better go before he decides to take off without me." He looks between them and tries to hide a smirk, "You two make a great couple, try not to blow it Kent or I might just visit this place more often." He sends a smirk towards Lois before patting Clark on the arm playfully before rushing off towards the plane.

Alfred looks at Bruce whose smile soon faded away into something serious, "What is it Master Wayne?"

He looks up towards his surrogate father and shook off the question, "I need everything you have on Talia's movements since I left the league of shadows. Something about this incident is not adding up." He heads towards the back of the plane where he sits down allowing a few moment of relaxation, he looks out the small window to see Lois and Clark walk off towards the truck clearly bickering about something.

A small smirk appears on his face once again at the sight of the couple but suddenly moves his gaze away when the image of Talia's face flashes in his mind, "Let's get this bird off the ground."

TBC

I wanted to add Dr. Swan's funeral for a sense of closer and when I see the scene in my head a soft version of the love theme from Superman: The Movie is paying towards the end when Lois notices Bridgette Crosby smiling. I just hope it didn't seem random.

For some reason I really enjoyed writing Bruce, I wanted him to sort of kind of have traits of Batman (with the smoke bomb and batrang) and also establish that bond between him and Clark by the end of this chapter sort off but trust me that Bruce will appear one my time before the story ends.

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