Chapter Nineteen Part Two

The door pulled open and Clark was taken back by rather large line for signing in at seminar, "Excuse me." A soft voice called from behind followed by a tap on his shoulder causing him to turn around and met an almost hypnotic pair of hazel eyes, "Are you in line?"

He just stared at her for a few minutes until he finally found his voice, "Sorry" he moved to the side out of her way and watched her give him a look before walking forward into the line.

"A-Are you…" he stammers and clears his voice as he steps up behind her, "A-Are you her for the journalism seminar?"

She looked at him and smiled a smile that rendered him speechless once again, "Yeah. Are you?" he nodded enthusiastically and she let out a small laugh that Clark wanted to hear again.

They waited in line for what seemed like forever but it didn't seem to bother them as they engaged in whatever conversation topic they could think of until finally they both signed in and received a folder.

"I'm Clark by the way." He holds his hand out to her, "Clark Kent"

She gave him that same smile when she shook his hand, "Lois Lane."

Clark jolted awake to see that he had been left right where the man had fought him and remembered the threat he had made against his daughter and immediately disappeared and reappeared in front of the school, "Maggie!" he called out searching the area for her but couldn't find any trace of her.

"She's not here." He immediately turned around to face the man with a clenched fist and anger boiling inside at the idea of his daughter in danger again, "But don't worry. I'll take good care of her."

A blur of red and blue streaked across the street throwing the man onto the hood of a car, "Where is she!" he roared despite the kryptonite and slammed his fist into the man's face, "If you so much as touched on hair on her head I will make sure you never see life outside a padded cell." He lifted his fist ready to strike once again in his haze filled rage but restrained himself when he realized what he was about to do.

"Come on!" the man tried to entice him into letting the rage take hold, "Show me that I was right about you. Hit me!"

"No" he steps back causing the kryptonite exposure to vanish, "I'm better than that. Stooping to your level would only make everything I worked for meaningless, I'd be no better than you and the others I stand against."

"One of these days you're going to lose the ones you love to those ideals." The man rises up from the damaged car and swipes away the glass shards, "Then where will you be?"

"Still fighting." His eyes glowed red and the powerful beam struck the man sending his mechanic body flying across the street, "You can hurt me and my family but nothing will ever prevent me from doing what's right."

A scoff was the first thing out of the man's mouth before stating, "You'll lose." The beam had damaged a vital tube in the mechanical arm, "Enjoy your last moments with the ones you love while you still can." The kryptonite began to glow brighter causing Clark to stumble back by its intensity until it was almost blinding.

The energy was so intense that eventually it was expelled from the heart and slammed Superman square in the chest sending the kryptonian to his knees in excruciating pain.

The green light soon faded and Clark looked up to see that the man had vanished, "This isn't over." He struggled to get up but the kryptonite caused him to stumble until finally he managed to take off into the air where he pushed his body up towards the sky where the yellow sun would purge his body of the deadly kryptonite.

The balcony doors burst open and Clark stepped inside the apartment where he was met with the surprised looks from both his daughter and his partner while they ate pizza, "Your okay." He says with a smile as he rushes over to sweep Maggie into his arms where he held her tightly against him.

"Of course I'm okay Daddy." She replies pulling back and looked at him confused, "Why wouldn't I be?"

He just smiles and smoothes a piece of hair away from her face, "No reason." He kisses her on the cheek and sets her back down on the floor and watches her walk back towards her plate where she continued eating her slice.

"You okay?" asked Lois appearing at his side where she gave his arm a squeeze, "You had us worried."

'Us' the words were so simple but had the biggest impact on him causing a rather large smile to appear on his face, "Clark?" he looked back down at her and realized that he hadn't answered her, "Why don't you go get out that super suit of yours and when you come back I'll have a slice waiting for you." He nodded and she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek before walking back over towards Maggie.

The smile on his face lasted the rest of the night right up until the point where he recounted his encounter with the metal man to Lois while Maggie was curled up on the couch with Shelby fast asleep.

They stood at the elevator doors unmoving as they just stared at each other, "Be careful on your way home. This guy is dangerous."

"I can take care of myself Smallville." She pats him playfully on the cheek, "But if this guy shows up you'll be the first one that I call." She steps closer to him where she wrapped her arms over his neck when she notices the time, "Its getting late." she says yet she lingers there unmoving from his embrace.

He doesn't reply and just flashes his charming smile before leaning his head down to kiss her and she responds minutes later causing the unresolved tension between them to erupt; her arms to tighten pulling him closer and they stumble forward with her back pressed against the nearest wall.

Lois reluctantly pulls away, "I should really be going." She tries to remove herself from his embrace but his arms keep her close to him, "Clark" his name falls off her lips in a hushed almost breathless whisper.

It was the look in her eyes that caused Clark to kiss her forehead and pull away, "I'll see you tomorrow" he moves a piece of hair out of the way and gives her a small smile, "Call me when you get home."

She nods and kisses him on the cheek before leaving. Clark lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and turns around with his back pressed against the wall with a goofy smile on his face.

The kryptonite keeping the mechanical heart pumping was running out of juice causing the man to collapse against the nearby wall gasping for air as his hands moved against the wall leading him down the ruined tunnel until the sickly green color of the meteor rocks reflected off the puddle onto his face.

He stumbled further and was within touching distance of the meteor rocks when the mechanical heart began to slow as did the rest of his body movements until he collapsed onto the ground.

The sudden weakness didn't deter but rather motivated the man to crawl towards the pile of rocks he had been collecting and melting down for a moment just like this.

His hand reached out grasping the table edge causing it to fall to the ground with a loud clank and the supplies to scatter across the floor, "damn" he curses while scrambling to grab the kryptonite filled syringe along with some electrical tape to prevent any leaking.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline the kryptonite was injected into his damaged arm. It took a few minutes for the liquefied kryptonite to work its way into his system but once it did, a sigh of escaped his mouth and a smirk spread across his lips while the artificial heart jumpstarted once again reinvigorated by the jolt.

TBC

Metallo is going to be a main issue for Clark in the next few chapters and like I said the end result will affect Clark but luckily whenever he doubts himself he usually turns to his family so expect an uplifting Jonathan/Clark moment.

Plus the Clois relationship begins to take flight…literally ;)