Chapter 20: Heartbreaking Decision

He had Superman on the verge of defeat, but his demise was only part of what Brainiac needed to accomplish; Lord Darkseid was coming to Earth regardless. He was going to do more than merely defeat him; he was going to tarnish his name in the mind of these people. They had to know that Superman was the one who brought the planet's destruction. If his plan worked, Superman will hand the planet over to Darkseid out of his own free will. The people of Earth would, forever, remember the one who betrayed and sold them into slavery.

For this to happen, he had to understand this planet better, and find out where that central nerve was. Once he located it, all he had to do was squeeze, and everything would fall into place. This would be Superman's greatest defeat, and Darkseid's greatest victory.

He returned to what remained of his shuttle. He had dismantled most of it, earlier, to build the portal into the Phantom Zone. That portal served to save Zod from his prison, but as a result, it blew up after just one use. Enough of it survived, however, for him to use and search through Earth's history and find the one bit of information to make this all happen.

As Lois sat on the sidewalk bench, she could hardly recognized what she was becoming. She was sitting on a bench across the street from the restaurant, spying on Clark's dinner with Lana. This type of behavior was beyond reprehensible, and she began to wonder how she sunk to this level?

When Clark left work to go on his dinner date with Lana, Lois would have sworn that another person took control of her body. Before she knew it, she followed him to this Chinese Buffet restaurant. Now, she was spying on Clark's dinner from across the street. She had always mocked pathetic women who chased after men for fear of living a life of solitude. She had always claimed that she didn't need a man to make her happy, but everything she was now doing was saying otherwise. She was acting like one of those lonely, desperate women, and it was making her sick.

As she sat at on the bench, she watched Clark converse with Lana, sitting at the table right in front of the window. She was not very good at lip reading, but reading faces was another matter all together. She could tell by the expressions on their faces that they were still in the middle of small talk. Clark was yet to push her for the truth, and Lois could tell that everything that she had warned him about, earlier, was still fresh on his mind. She had no doubt about the truth coming out on this date; what she was not sure about was the consequences that would follow.

Once again, Lana Lang was breathtakingly beautiful. Dressed in a black gown that wrapped tightly around every curve of her body; obviously she dressed provocatively to draw his gaze. She was very much as beautiful as she was back in her high school years. Time had done nothing to alter her beauty.

Having arrived early, he had time to think about his earlier conversation with Lois, as well with the conflicting emotions that he was feeling. The When Lana entered the restaurant, he nearly made a huge blunder, and called her Lois. As beautiful as she was, it was Lois' face that his soul was expecting to see every time a woman crossed his line of sight. Even the strange woman sitting on the bench across the street looked like Lois to him. With Lois always on his mind, there was no mistaking what was in his heart. As much as he wanted to rekindle a relationship with Lana, his heart no longer belonged to her.

Now, here Lana was, sitting across from him, and he still could not get Lois out of his thoughts. Lana could not help notice how distracted he was. "So, are we just gonna sit here, and continue making small talk for the rest of this meal, or are you gonna tell me what's been on your mind?"

Clark had tried to think of a non-condemning way to start this conversation, so not to cause her to go on the defense. He did not want her to feel as if he was accusing her of wrong doing. After all, she had no idea that he was Superman; there was no way for her to know that this plan would harm him. However, this audacious plan of theirs will hurt more than just him. "Is it true, that you've made a weapon with General Lane that will saturate this planet with Kryptonite dust?"

"I'm sorry," Lana replied, putting down her fork, a little shaken by the question. "I wasn't under the impression that this dinner was of a professional nature."

"It's not. This has nothing to do with Daily Planet. This is about you."

"About me? Okay, I'll bite," She picked up her fork again. "Yes, I did it to save the corporation from bankruptcy. I sold all of Lex Luthor's Kryptonite stockpiles to the U.S. Military under General Lane. We have also agreed to help set up a failsafe weapon in case of a hostile invasion of others like Superman."

Clark had to be careful not to expose himself. The plan to saturate earth with Kryptonite will have a major side effect that neither Lana nor General Lane had considered. Not only would it kill him, but most of the Earth's population would grow deathly ill and perish. Human anatomy could not handle being saturated in Kryptonite dust. "That's all fine and good, but what about Superman, himself?"

"I'm sure General Lane will make this weapon a weapon-of-last-resort."

"You really don't know the General too well, do you? Yes, he is a decorated American hero, and an honorable man, but his views on Superman are a little off." Clark hated to lie, but he had to do it; it was the only way to protect his identity plus make her see the dangers of their plan. "I know you told Lois about this, and she started to do some digging."

"Lois?"

"Yes, she went to S.T.A.R Labs and asked some questions on the issue. They believe that the kryptonite dust could be fatal to humans in large doses." Professor Hamilton would have to research it himself if Lana ever called him to confirm this story, but he would come to the same conclusion. After this dinner, he was going to have to tell the professor to do the research so he could continue to hide his idenity.

"What? Are you sure?"

"You mean, you didn't do the research on the matter before going through with this?"

Lana gave him a disgusted look. "You think I'd risk the lives of everyone on this planet just to save this corporation? You know better than anyone that I'm not like Lex Luthor; that's not who I am."

And as he feared, the conversation was turning to the worse. "No, I don't think you did this intentionally."

"You think I'm turning into another Lex Luthor! After all these years, and you don't know me better than that?"

"No, I don't, but I don't think you fully understand the full tenacity of Lex. He was not the same innocent boy that we knew in elementary school. In many ways, he has outdone his father. Who's not to say that he had not planned for all of this to happen as a way to strike back at Superman?"

"Clark, he's dead; he can't do anything anymore."

Clark wished he could believe that. That fact that he recruited his former girlfriend the moment he disappeared was more than enough evidence that Lex thought on multi-levels. It made perfect sense if Lex had set all of this in motion in case of his demise. Saturating the planet with Kryptonite would be his final act of revenge.

"I doubt even death would stop Lex from manipulating Lexcorp."

Lana wanted to say that he was being over-anxious, but she could not explain several signs that might prove that there was some truth to some Of Clark's concerns. The holographic message from the former CEO that she ran across when she found that hidden office addressed her by name. How did he know that she would be selected by the board to replace him?

"I must go. If this is true, then we'll scrap this whole agreement, I promise you." Lana prepared to stand up. She hated to leave in the middle of a dinner date, but this was an issue that she demanded her immediate attention.

"Wait," Clark said quickly. This was probably not the best time to bring this up, but he might as well pull the bandage off quickly and get it over with. He had made. "While that Kryptonite weapon is important, there's something we should talk about and I suppose now is as good of a time as any to talk about this."

"Uh oh, somehow I don't think this is going to be good," Lana sat back in her chair. While she said that with a slight tint of sarcasm, she still had a gut feeling that she was not going to like what he was about to say.

Clark took a deep swallow as he fought the butterflies that were rioting in his stomach. He did not want to hurt her again. "Listen, I've given this a lot of thought the past several days. What we had is something I will always cherish. It's really been great to catch up these past few days, but I really think it's for both of our best interests that—"

There was no hiding the heartbreak that she was feeling. Deep down inside, there was a part of her that was hoping that things would work out this time; but now, it was all coming to abrupt halt once again. "You're doing it again. You're breaking up with me."

The look on her face was heart wrenching. This was exactly the reason he left the note at the doorstep years ago instead of breaking up with her face-to-face. Back then, he did not have the courage as he did now. Seeing this reaction almost made him wish that he took the coward's way out again. "When I saw you again, there was a part of me that was hoping to rekindle what we once had, but let's admit it; we're both two different people now."

"Oh my god; it's Lois. You're in love with her."

This time, it was Clarks turn to be shocked. How did she figure that out? The relationship they had in public would not lead anyone to that kind of conclusion. Anyone who observed the two of them interacting would think exactly the opposite. "Wait… what?"

"It's true, isn't it? Even though she's infatuated with Superman, you still love her. I know you well enough to read it in your face that I'm right. I just don't understand why you're willing to give up on another chance of us for a woman who's stuck in a school-girl crush with someone who you can't even begin to compete with."

If Superman was another person, than she would be right; he would not even be able to compete. Luckily, he was only in competition with himself; but still, it would be nice to get Lois to love him for being Clark Kent, not Superman. "Maybe I am fooling myself, but there's more to this than just her. My life is really complicated."

Hearing those words again made her sick to her stomach. To her, they were a copout from telling her the truth. All the way up to high school, Clark had been an open book. She was able to understand him and any surprises that he threw at her were pleasant and exciting. The Clark that was sitting across from her was mysterious and secretive. "You've said that before. I'm beginning to think that's become your excuse to hide from the truth: You're afraid of commitment. Perhaps you're more interested in chasing after someone unattainable so you can fool yourself into thinking that you're not."

Lana stood up from the table. "You're right about one thing, Clark; you HAVE changed, but it wasn't for the better." She threw her napkin onto the table and stormed out of the restaurant.