Chapter 19
Clark hit the roof of the Talon with a crash that most other Smallville citizens dismissed as an angry crack of thunder. The rain drenched his light t-shirt and jeans, causing them to stick like glue to his muscular form. Forgetting to check his strength, Clark ripped the roof entrance door off it's hinges. He stopped and took a deep breath. Tearing things to pieces was not going to help anything. Neither would yelling and screaming at Jor-El but it would sure make Clark feel a hell of a lot better. After replacing the door back on the frame and firing up his heat vision to fix the metal, Clark entered the door at a mortal capacity. He did, however, zip past the prying eyes from the floor below and let himself into his apartment. Not bothering to change out of his wet clothes, Clark headed straight for the drawer in the bedside table. Opening it, he grabbed his book and withdrew the key. Wrapping his fingers around it, he took off again, this time heading for the caves.
In less than five minutes, Clark found himself gazing up at the entrance of his Fortress of Solitude. Solitude, Clark thought derisively. No wonder Jor-El didn't understand the workings of a heart. The artificial intelligence had been alone for years as it waited for the last son of Krypton to activate it. Clark wondered if there was any shred of the man who created him inside the programming. That man, Clark's actual biological father, not some disembodied presence in a house of ice, knew of love. The real Jor-El loved Lara, Clark's biological mother. From the stories Kara had told him, Clark knew his Kryptonian parents had been very much like Jonathon and Martha Kent. To watch them had been like watching a fairy tale were Kara's exact words. Damn it, he and his father were not so different! They both had known what it was like to love someone so much it was like a piece of you was missing when they were gone. Why had that one special component not been included when Jor-El manifested himself into a computer program? Clark couldn't help but think if the flesh and blood version of Jor-El were in the Fortress, he would have received Chloe with open arms and never had kept her presence from Clark. And how had Jor-El been able to mask Chloe's appearance? The first time Clark had found himself in the Fortress, Chloe's voice broke through to him in need as she tried not to freeze to death only a few feet from him.
Squaring his shoulders, Clark ventured inside.
"Jor-El!" Clark yelled, his voice bouncing off the towers of ice. Clark could feel his clothes and hair beginning to encrust with ice, but he continued on, heedless of the hypothermic conditions. "Jor-El!"
All he heard was the groaning of the arctic wind outside. Clark shook his head. He felt as if the program were hiding from him. Clark tried one more time, a hoarse bellow filling the space. "JOR-EL!"
The ice slowly began to glow.
"Kal-El," Jor-El finally acknowledged. "You sound upset, my son."
"You knew. All along you knew that I would be gone for more than two years!" Clark began angrily without preamble.
"I told you your training would take a total of two Kryptonian years. If you had paid more attention during the learning sessions as you did in the simulations, you would have known that," Jor-El intoned in his dignified voice, oblivious and uncaring as why this was an issue for Clark.
"I know I should have asked, but you could have offered to shed some light on that little fact. I've lost so much more than time, Jor-El!" Clark yelled back. He knew he and Chloe could never have been able to create children of their own but he couldn't help mourning the life they could have built together, the years she had to believe he was either dead or had abandoned her.
"Kal-El, can you truthfully say you would have willingly devoted eight years of you life to your training had you known?"
The question brought Clark up short. He'd balked at the specified two years at the beginning and even cursed them after the night he spent with Chloe. Looking back now, Clark knew if it had been a question of eight years spent with no one but a cold land and a distant particle of a father to keep him company or the solid warmth of the woman he loved, he would have picked Chloe without hesitation.
"I see your point," Clark conceded. "I have not always been the most reliable student or the most dedicated. But you had noright to keep that kind of information from me! This is my life, Jor-El. You and Lara sent me to this planet to live. I realize that I have a greater purpose, but I am entitled to some sort of happiness!"
"I apologize for my deceit and not allowing you a choice," Jor-El said almost sincerely. "I have come to understand freedom of will and freedom of choice is not only strong in the people of Earth, but creeds to live by. Is this the only reason you have searched me out after months of silence?"
"No," Clark answered, feeling his anger begin to rev once more. "Why didn't you tell me Chloe came looking for me?" He asked in a low, hard tone.
"I do not know this name, Kal-El. Who do you speak of?"
"You know who she is, Jor-El! She's the girl you allowed me to save the first time I was here. She's the woman I brought here to you because Brainiac was taking over her mind. She's the-"
"Yes, the woman who kept drawing you away from your training over the years. You were not to be interrupted, Kal-El. Your training was much more important than whatever tidings this earthly woman brought here to this place."
"You told her I no longer existed!" Clark bellowed. "Because of you, she thought I was dead! That I had abandoned her!"
If Jor-El was capable of any kind of emotion, Clark would say the Fortress seemed to sigh around him in exasperation, unable to understand the workings of Clark's mind. "Kal-El, you are letting your human learned emotions cloud your reasoning again-"
"They make me who I am! I am tired of your lecturing on how feeble and inadequate they make me. If you had even an ounce of the emotion we humans do," Clark growled, choosing to align himself with the people of his home. "You'd know that what you did was wrong! You hurt her and I will not tolerate that. She's already been through too much because of me."
Jor-El was silent for a long time. Then he began, the voice taking a softer, more somber tone. "Your affection for this woman is admirable, Kal-El. I am truly sorry that I caused you and this woman pain. I am, but I only told her the truth. The man she came looking for does no longer exist. You have changed. You are not the same boy who came to me, heart-broken and despondent. You have become a man that your mother and I could be proud of."
The warmth Clark felt at the words was short-lived. How was that possible if Jor-El still regarded his emotions as a hindrance instead of an advantage? "How can I ever trust you, Jor-El?" Clark asked sadly. "All you ever saw was some great destiny for me to fulfill. I am your son. That means something on this planet."
"Kal-El-"
"Clark!"
Clark lifted his head, listening as a voice screamed his name. Someone had followed him up here. He turned back to the crystal console, the place he'd come to think of as the heart of the Fortress, the throne where his father sat. "Jor-El, I have to-"
"Go, my son. We can continue this later." The cavernous space darkened and Clark trudged away and out, scanning the blank terrain for this unknown visitor.
"Clark!"
It was a female, Clark could tell that much. Off in the distance, he caught a glimpse of black blur. "Lana?" He whispered in shock.
"Clark! I don't know where you are! Clark!"
"Lana!" Clark shouted as he stopped about a foot from her own blurring form.
"Clark!" Lana gasped in surprise and relief. She moved forward and fell against him, shivering in the cold. Clark wrapped his arms around her. As far as he knew, her suit enabled her to run as fast as he did and lift as much as he did, but she still must have been susceptible to the effects of minus-thirty degree weather. She must have been zipping around to keep warm. How long had she been out here searching for him, exposing herself to frostbite and maybe worse? Why?
"Lana," Clark said again, shaking her roughly to make sure she was still coherent. "What's wrong, Lana?"
Lana lifted her head and looked at him with sleepy eyes. "Lex," she answered weakly. "He took her. All of them. . ."
"Lana? Lana!" Clark hoisted her up into his arms. Her head lolled to the side as she finally lost the consciousness she'd been clinging to.
"Why did I leave her?" Clark muttered as he stood, lost. "I shouldn't have left her!" But how had Lex got to her? She was surrounded by all the League members, including Lana who was the closest thing to him. Lana had said 'all of them' though. Had Lex taken the entire League? How had Lana escaped? Not wanting to waste a second but knowing he might need a bargaining chip, Clark headed back to the Fortress and retrieved the only thing that would negotiate a possible release.
"Oliver?" Lois looked around at the others surrounding Oliver on the floor, all unconscious. She turned her attention back to Oliver.
"Oliver," she said sternly as she knelt to her knees next to him. He didn't move. His features were set in a peaceful way, his mouth open slightly. Lois' heart began to pound.
"Oliver." Lois shook him frantically. "Oliver! Damn it, Oliver! You are not allowed to do this to me! Wake up! Wake up, you sissy-ass, leather-fetish freak, wake up now!" Lois cried shrilly. When nothing worked, Lois took drastic measures and slapped him as hard as she could across his cheek. Her ring caught his skin and tore it, leaving a jagged and bloody wound. His head followed the trajectory of her right hand, rolling to the other side and away from her. She glanced up again, trying hard not to snivel as she peered at the other inert bodies sprawled around him. Off in the corner was Shelby, the dog laying on his side, his tongue draping out Former flame Artur Curry was a few inches from Oliver's left and next to him, Dinah Lance, a fellow colleague at the Planet who was as much a brunette as Lois was a blonde if that was indeed crooked wig. Not stopping to wonder why they were here she moved on. To Oliver's right, was a slender, boyish looking man Lois recognized as the friend Chloe always claimed was from her MetU days when he would show up unannounced at dinner, 'just passing through'. The boys called him 'Uncle Bart'. Next to him was the good-looking Victor Stone, a football player she had watched raptly when his team had a showdown with the Crows that Chloe insisted on dragging her to when Clark had been quarterback their senior year. And if Lois remembered correctly, Victor Stone was supposedly. . .dead. He was reportedly killed in a car crash along with his entire family.
"Oh my god. . ." Lois gasped. This was Oliver's League! Someone had attacked them all! Quickly searching the casualties on the floor one more time, Lois saw that Clark and Chloe were not among them. And neither was Martha Kent who had been staying here with them. Lois bent her head, laying an ear against Oliver's chest. His heart was beating steadily and his lungs filling and expelling regularly. With a sigh of relief, Lois gained her feet and ran through the entire loft, calling for Chloe or Clark or Martha as she went. Where were Connor and Kaid? When all that met her ears was silence, Lois began dialing numbers. Chloe's was first and Lois groaned in frustration when she heard the Monster Mash ring tone floating from the direction she had come. Clark and Martha were next, both going to voicemail. Lois returned to the living room. She checked all the people on the floor this time and the canine. Everyone was breathing and pumping normally, although Lois was worried about Victor as he was kind of whirring and humming at the same time, sounding like her laptop when it overheated. Lois cocked her head. What did you do when an entire band of heroes needed saving? Fidgeting nervously, Lois waited five minutes and then pulled out her phone again.
"Call in backup," she muttered as she dialed.
"911, please state your emergency," a calm, cool and collected voice ordered.
Victor stirred.
"Never mind. Cancel that. They were napping. Whoops!" Lois snapped her phone shut and rushed to the side of Victor Stone.
"Mr. Stone?" She asked timidly, grasping his shoulder and giving it a shake. Lois shrieked when his eyes opened and one of them was glowing a pretty ruby red. She scrambled back in a spider crawl, her stylish heels catching in the material of Oliver's knitted sweater. She hit the floor on her shapely rear and sat back in wonder as Victor sat slowly up and began to whir and hum even louder. He got to this feet and flexed everything almost robotically. Suddenly, he shook his frame and loosened. Lois fought hard not to cower as he turned toward her. He was one of the good guys. Right?
"Lois Lane?" He said and cocked an eyebrow at her.
"The Terminator knows my name." Lois watched him closely, especially his left eye which had faded back to a chocolaty color. He reached a hand down. Lois took it and allowed Victor to pull her to her feet.
"What are you doing here?" Victor asked, ignoring her comment. "What happened?"
"You tell me," Lois answered, still watching him as he looked around and then began checking his friends one by one as well. "I came by to see Chloe and found Allistor dead to the world downstairs and the rest of you in the same state. By the way, where is Chloe? And Connor and Kaid?"
"Lex," Victor breathed as he straightened.
"Lex?" Lois repeated harshly.
"Lex must have them now. They were here when we all went down. She and Lana were standing over there by the sink. And the boys-"
"Lana?" Lois exclaimed. "Lana Lang-Luthor? She was here while her psychotic felon of an ex-husband kidnapped my cousin and her children?"
"Yeah, sure," Victor answered distractedly. He took a breath. "The air has trace amounts of Nitrous Oxide, Halothane, Enflurane and Isoflurane along with," Victor took a second deep breath as Lois looked at with him narrowed eyes. He released it in a hiss. "Carbon Dioxide and some other normal pollutants."
"Did you just perform an air analysis? What are you? Some kind of HEPA Filter?"
"Something like that," Victor answered absently as he began to riffle through the paperwork on the table.
"So, Lex has my cousin and her sons. Clark, Lana and Martha are no where to be found. The rest of your team, plus one security guard down in the garage, are all unconscious on the floor and you're. . . What? Pushing paper?" Lois asked with ferocity, marching over to the large desk that sat in front of the frosted glass closet where Oliver used to keep his Green Arrow paraphernalia.
Victor gazed back at her serenely. "It's a normal mixture of chemicals. All it is, is general surgical anesthesia. They'll come out of it at some point. Mrs. K is somewhere in the city with Krenshaw, but I don't know why she is not answering her phone. Lana is probably tracking down Clark and I'm pushing paper to make sure Lex didn't jack any of our research on where he may be headed. It may lead us to Chloe. So, if you want to be of some help, sit your loud, brash, guns blazin' ass down and start reading these." Victor slammed a pile of papers in front of her on the table. Lois sat.
"What am I looking for?" She asked meekly.
"Anything suspicious. Those are shipping slips from various shipping companies in the tri-county area."
"Why just the tri-county area? Lex could take her anywhere," Lois suggested.
"Right now, we are focusing on somewhere close by, a place where he is the most comfortable and at ease. Go through them and see if anything seems off or jumps up at you, like large groups of equipment or an out of the way location," Victor directed, sitting down and combing through his own pile of paper.
"Why does Lex want Chloe?" Lois asked, alternating between examining a shipping receipt and then Oliver who was still out cold on the floor. She lifted her eyes to Victor. He was ignoring her. "Can you not multi-task?"
"I can," Victor informed her, totally engrossed in what he was doing. "I just prefer not to."
Lois rolled her eyes and went back to her task. "Why did you come out of it so quickly?"
"I'm a little different than most people," Victor replied.
"Obviously," Lois dead-panned, thinking of his freaky eye. "Seeing as you're supposed to be playing left side tackle for the Heavenly Angels, right?
Victor looked across at her. Her eyes were wide and flitted from side to side before settling on him again. She was nervous and out of her element. He sighed. "I haven't quite made that team yet. Let's just say I'm wired more uniquely. Listen, Lois, I know you know Oliver is the Green Arrow and I'm pretty sure you've figured out who the rest of us are. We were all gathered here looking for Lex's next secret evil lab when somehow we got gassed. The last thing I remember was watching Oliver, AC and Dinah go down with Chloe and Lana watching us in the kitchen. Lana is the only one besides Bart who is able to move fast enough to get Clark who had some other place to be. I'm positive Lex took Chloe and the boys and until the others wake up, you and I have to do what we can to pinpoint where Lex may be headed."
"Why does he want Chloe?" Lois asked again.
"I don't know. We weren't even sure what he was working on. We think he's picked up whatever pet project he was working on in Russia again," Victor said as he watched Lois stiffen noticeably.
"You mean, the one that has close ties to Project Ares he discontinued before he disappeared several years ago? He was cloning people over there. Or trying to," Lois bristled.
"You know about Project Ares?" Victor questioned curiously.
"Know about it?!" Lois exclaimed. "I'm the one who discovered the place! God, Victor, if that's what he's doing again. . ." Lois trailed off.
"You saw it, didn't you?" Victor asked.
"Saw what?"
"The bodies. The bodies he'd created." Lois nodded mutely, her eyes matching the hollowness in Victor's own. "I saw them, too. In Russia. They were like life-size dolls waiting to be brought to life. All for Luthor's sick and twisted amusement."
"Project Ares was a failure. What could possibly have changed now?" Lois posed.
Victor lifted an eyebrow. "Please don't freak out, okay?" He said. Lois opened her mouth to question him when his eye turned red again. She bit back her yelp and waited patiently as Victor finished whatever he was doing. When he was done, he returned Lois' gaze. "Project Ares was concerned with super-soldiers, wasn't it?"
"Yes, made up of the different DNA samples of what Lex called 'meta-humans' or 'the meteor infected'. He took their abilities and formed them together into one being that would possess all the qualities. Wes Keenan was the very first prototype, but he was flawed. From the research I did after it happened, Lex hit a dead-end and halted it until a solution could be found. You don't think he believes Chloe is a solution, do you?"
"He may think she's part of it," Victor replied hesitantly. He was pretty sure Lex hit the jackpot when he grabbed Connor and Kaid as well. Did Lois know the boys belonged to Clark? She didn't know what Clark could do, how could she know about the boys? It opened more questions about all that Lois knew and didn't know. Victor was aware Chloe had been meteor infected at one point, able to heal others injuries but taking them into herself. Was she taken for that? Victor groaned. He really wished Oliver would wake up. Victor always gave Oliver a hard time about being a General, but the truth was Chloe and Oliver had been running the team for almost ten years now and Victor liked being just another link in the chain of command. Oliver would be able to steer Lois in the direction he wanted her.
"Why would Lex think Chloe would be part of a solution?"
"I-"
"What happened?!"
Both Victor and Lois jumped and turned as Martha Kent came rushing into the apartment, their conversation being interrupted. Victor breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mrs. Kent!" Lois exclaimed. She came out of her seat and bounded to the older woman, crashing into her and clinging to Martha like a child who'd been lost in a department store. "Lex has Chloe! And Oliver-" Lois broke off into confusing sobs.
"Shhh. . . Lois, it's okay," Martha said, stroking the younger woman's hair while she, herself, searched the loft for any sight of her own family. Krenshaw kneeled down and checked his employer.
"We saw Allistor downstairs, he's sitting on the floor holding his head," Martha continued. "Where's Clark? And Chloe and the boys?"
"Mr. Queen?"
Lois spun around when she heard Krenshaw utter Oliver's name. The blonde man's eyelids were fluttering.
"Oliver!" Lois hit the floor and pulled Oliver's head into her lap. His eyes slowly blinked open, gazing up at her with confusion. Other groans and moans could be heard as the others began to move all around him. Victor quietly filled Martha in, his hand on her shoulder as she steadily lost her color.
"He has them? Lex has my grandchildren?" Martha kept muttering.
"She knows?" Lois hissed.
"They all kinda know now," Oliver finally spoke, his voice groggy. "But Clark still doesn't know, so if you could zip it, that would be good Lois."
"He still doesn't know?!" Lois exclaimed, causing Oliver to flinch. "I thought Chloe was going to tell him today."
"They got busy or something. Hi, Lois," AC said hesitantly, standing and helping Dinah to her feet. She swept off the wig and tossed it, giving Lois a daring glance as she did.
Lois eyed Dinah right back before focusing on AC, raising her eyebrows at him. "So, Clark was right about you. At least you're on the right side, it seems. Oliver, how are you feeling?" She turned quickly back to Oliver when she felt him move slightly. She would take time to process this all later, Lois determined, smoothing her hand over Oliver's short hair.
"Little woozy. Think I'll stay here for a little while longer," Oliver answered, nuzzling further into Lois' lap.
"It was only general anesthesia," Victor told everyone. "There shouldn't be any side effects."
"Hey, hey!" Bart made the 'raise the roof' movement with his hands. "Tried out that new Breathalyzer thingamajiggy, huh?"
One by one, all gained their feet, including Oliver who leaned heavily upon Lois as he got up.
"Lois, what are you doing here?" Oliver asked, vertical and coherent once more.
"Shut up," Lois growled before grabbing Oliver and pulling him down, kissing him violently.
When Lois released him, Oliver looked slightly dazed, with a goofy grin on his face. "Maybe I should get gassed more often."
"Don't you dare," Lois replied, punching his chest before falling against it.
The group continued to collect themselves, each noticing the absence of certain members.
"Oliver," Dinah began. "Where is Chloe?"
Oliver looked around and then down at the woman in his arms. Lois tilted her head back slightly and shook it before resting her forehead back against his neck, tears escaping from her eyes. A cloud descended as everyone realized who had done this. Bart cursed, kicking the wall while Victor laid an arm across Martha's trembling shoulders.
"Vic, what do we know-"
Oliver was cut off by a whoosh! and the sudden appearance of Clark and Lana. Lois lifted her head and watched along with everyone as a shaking and shivering Lana was handed off to Bart who supported her, escorting her to the couch and wrapping a blanket around her. Their heads then all turned as one to find Clark looming on the outskirts, his fists balled along his thighs. He was dressed in only a t-shirt and jeans while freezing rain poured down outside. But his state of dress or his sudden presence weren't the things Lois was paying attention to. Lois gulped, something inside her curling away at the frightening expression turning his normally classic good-looks into a snarl. She clung tighter to Oliver. Clark right now scared her more than the thought of Chloe in Lex's clutches. With surprise, Lois almost felt pity for Lex.
"How did he get her?" Clark's voice, tight and measured, whispered over them. The air turned heavy. The assembled group gazed back at Clark while exchanging apprehensive glances with one another. Bart took a tentative step forward, a lamb approaching a lion.
"Clark, man-" Bart started.
"How did he get her?!" His shout rang out, causing all to jump. Dinah, imitating Lois, moved into AC's arms.
"Honey," Martha said bravely, going over to Clark and gripping his arm. "You need to calm down. You will find her," Martha addressed to the entire group. "As long as you work together, you can find her." She turned back to Clark. "You will get her back."
"He can't take her, not when I finally have-" Clark broke off, turning his head to the side and hiding it from view of the others. Lana saw a tear drop off the end of his nose.
"Lex didn't just take Chloe, Clark. He took Connor and Kaid, too," Oliver told him.
Clark looked sharply in Oliver's direction. "Oliver, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
Oliver waved his hand. He opened his mouth, intending on setting Clark straight once and for all, but Lana swept in. "If we just all sit down and go through the paperwork, we can put together some leads." Her voice was raspy and stuttered from the remaining cold.
"That could take hours! Who knows what Lex could do with that amount of time!"
"Bart! Not helping!" Oliver said sharply.
"Bart's right. Let's get started," Clark ordered. Everyone except Lana clustered around the table, shuffling paper and finding their own spot to hover. Lois and Oliver sat over by the doors to the balcony, Victor and Bart remained at the table while AC and Dinah took over the kitchen counter. Clark paced the length of the room, speed reading and going through five pages to everyone else's one. Martha found herself on the couch with a still shivering Lana, each with their own stack of pages on the glass coffee table.
"Aw, sweetie," Martha said after Lana's third straight minute of chattering teeth. "You're freezing, aren't you?" With a pat to the leg, Martha asked, "Oliver, do you have any hard liquor?" Heads popped up when they heard Mama K asked for liquor.
"Right on, Mrs. Kent. I could use some liquid fire to clear the cobwebs," Lois answered jauntily, sauntering over to Oliver's liquor cabinet and withdrawing a bottle of amber colored liquid.
Martha joined her, pouring a good two inches into a crystal glass. "It's for Lana, should help warm her up."
"Not to go all Gossip Girl at a time like this, but giving the history between the Three Musketeers, what is Lana doing here? How does she fit into-" Lois made a circle with her index finger, encompassing the League in the swirl.
"She's here to help, Lois," Martha told her with a squeeze of her arm before returning to the couch and Lana.
"If you say so," Lois muttered, taking her own glass back to her spot with Oliver. Lois glanced over at Lana. She and Lana had at one time been close, back when they were very young but then the small-town princess married a billionaire, learned some shady tricks of her own and then disappeared off the grid only to return again to mess with Clark's head before leaving him once more. Lois no longer knew how to relate to a girl like that. Mentally sharpening her pitchfork, Lois prepared herself for battle if the slender thing even breathed in the direction of Clark. After they successfully rescued Chloe from Lex, no one was going to screw with her baby cousin's happiness. No one. Even if that someone may or may not be a permanent fixture in Oliver's League.
"Here you go. This should help," Martha said, handing the high-ball glass to Lana.
Lana took a big gulp and thrust the glass back to Martha, coughing as the strong flavor hit the back of her tongue and splashed down into her stomach, releasing a licking warmth along her limbs. "Wow. I never quite got used to the taste of Bourbon. Thanks, Mrs. Kent."
The apartment was silent for another half hour. Shelby stuck to Clark's heels as the man paced. The dog whimpered every so often at the absence of his two playmates. The group continued to sort and stack, each flicking their eyes to Clark as if he were a grenade with the pin waiting to be pulled. Clark finally collapsed into the recliner with a growl, startling both Martha and Lana. He rested his elbows on his knees and planted his face in his hands.
"What happened?" Clark asked in a guttural tone, muffled by his large hands. "I need to know what happened. I left her with all of you. I thought she'd be safe. How did this happen?"
Oliver glanced around, silently offering to speak on the League's behalf. "We were all standing around talking and then, the last thing I remember, was a loud clap of thunder and then I was down for the count. The next thing I know, I'm waking up on the floor and Chloe and the boys were gone."
"Chloe and I were at the sink," Lana took up, filling in some of the blanks Oliver left. "Something. . . happened and Oliver went down. Then AC, Dinah, Victor and Bart. There was some sort of vapor coming out of the vent. That one over there." Lana pointed. Clark lifted his head to look as Oliver walked over and ripped the vent off the wall. Clark came over and both men felt around the sides.
"I got something," Oliver said. He pulled out a medium sized oxygen tank. It had a crude, home-made timer on it. "Looks almost like a bomb."
"You think it's empty?" Clark asked.
"I don't know, but I'm not taking any chances," Oliver answered. He took the canister over to the counter and withdrew a hammer from under the sink. Swinging it, he busted the timer on it, causing both AC and Dinah to flinch. From opposite sides of the room, Clark and Oliver looked to Lana again.
"Chloe ran over to Bart and Victor and then started to go down herself. That's when she sent me to find you, Clark," Lana continued. Lois looked from Lana to Oliver to Clark. She wondered, not for the first time since meeting Clark Kent years ago, why everyone turned to Clark when times of trouble came. She still didn't understand why the bumbling farm boy was a part of Oliver's League, although bumbling was not quite the right word for the man who was currently prowling the living room. But what good would Clark have been against a good shot of general anesthesia? If the rest of them had been effected, surely Clark didn't stand a chance either.
"I took the stairs to get away from the gas. I hid in the stairwell and watched through the little window. Lex came in, pointing a gun at Connor and Kaid and then at Chloe. He whispered something to her and then picked her up. She'd passed out by then. He was with another man, a Doug Weimar. He used to work with Lex at Luthorcorp, I don't know what he does now. Lex took Chloe and Doug had the boys by the collar," Lana finished.
Clark stopped pacing. He turned to face Lana, staring at her from across the room. "You mean, you watched Lex come in here, take Chloe and her children and you didn't try and stop it?"
"Clark, I couldn't. The gas-"
Clark's raised voice drowned out Lana's excuse. "Couldn't or wouldn't, Lana?"
Lana's eyes swam with tears and Martha gasped a shocked, "Clark!" Despite her earlier sentiments, Lois stood to her feet. "What could she have done, Clark? What kind of match is she against Lex's gun? And if Lana had stepped in who's to say Lex would show any mercy toward his ex-wife? Lana would have been dead and Chloe would still be missing!"
Clark's jaw clenched and he looked at Lois with dark anger. Lois held her ground, refusing to give in to Clark's uncalled for temper-tantrum. "If you have any hidden agendas to being here, Lana, and you're using Chloe as some kind of bait, I swear, I'll-"
"You'll what, Clark?" Lana growled, flying to her feet. Everyone looked on, watching the train barrel ahead but powerless to stop it. "How dare you even question my being here. I came here because I was asked, because I was needed. Chloe is the closest thing to family I have left. I may have made my share of mistakes and questionable choices in the past, but I would neverabandon Chloe when she needed me the most."
Lana stared at Clark, daring him to contradict her. The tension left his body in one long exhale. All the spectators breathed their own relieved sighs. "I'm sorry, Lana," Clark apologized.
"It's okay, Clark," Lana replied. "I know how much she means to you." Her own voice caught and Lana cleared her throat, feeling ashamed at the inappropriate stab of jealousy that went through her stomach. Lana sat back down on the couch looking down at the papers scattered on the coffee table. Clark did the same, returning to the recliner.
"How did they get in to plant it?" Bart asked tentatively, gently reminding them they still had investigating to attend to. "Since we got back from Russia, Oliver's had this place along with Watchtower covered with so many suits I feel like the President lives here."
"Suits you can trust?" Lois questioned. "No offense, Krenshaw."
"None taken, Miss Lane."
"Yes," Oliver answered immediately. "I hand picked most of my men. Krenshaw and Allistor have been with me since my parents, well, their dads were and then them. But, they know what the group does and have never compromised us to anyone, even their own families."
"Then how did they get in, Oliver?" Dinah voiced. "You've coded the elevator and all other entrances. When has this place ever been empty long enough for someone to break in and plant that canister? Do you know how much time they would need to take down your security systems? Two days if they were average, one if they were a techno-whiz."
"I don't know," Oliver answered, rubbing the back of his neck. He resumed Clark's pacing, following the pattern he'd begun to wear into the stone floor. "When the farm house got trashed, I immediately had my guys come over and do a quick sweep before I gave the go ahead for Chloe and the boys to come here. The next day, when the loft was empty, I had them to do a more in-depth sweep. They didn't find anything."
"Who all swept the apartment, Oliver?"
Oliver met Clark's eyes. "Allistor, Krenshaw and Stafford. They're my three top guys."
"We had a fourth, Mr. Queen," Krenshaw broke in. He was now the center of attention.
"What do you mean there was a fourth?" Oliver questioned, tension making his frame rigid.
Krenshaw visibly paled and pulled on his tie. "He was from the firm you hired to keep watch while you were in Russia. I just thought you'd forgotten to call and cancel with all the excitement. He offered to stay and help with the sweep. I thought we could use an extra set of eyes so I called and checked with the firm to make sure he was indeed employed and he was." He swallowed nervously.
"What firm did you hire, Oliver?" Clark asked, although he already knew the answer.
Oliver closed his eyes and gripped the back of the bar stool. "The same place that does the security for Isis. Damn it!" He grabbed a shot glass and threw it against the wall. It shattered and fell to the floor.
Clark and Lois looked at each other. "Doug," they said in unison.
"I need another drink," Lois said. She got up and poured some more Bourbon into her glass. Clark watched her movements closely. "Want some, Clark?"
Clark joined her at the counter and took the bottle from her. He read the back. "Nana's Down Home Southern Style Egg Nog," Clark whispered.
"Clark, before Weimars' Inc. moved to the Distillery they opened up outside of Topeka in 2010, the old one was located out on Route 9 halfway between Granville and Smallville. The family owned a house a few miles from the Distillery. Doug still lives in the house. It's a little east of Lander's Field."
Clark turned the bottle over. "Weimar's Wild Turkey." Clark looked up at Oliver. "I know where they took her."
Her mouth tasted like sour milk. Chloe gagged and tried to spit, but she couldn't. Darting her tongue out to lick her lips, it met a scratchy material and the sour milk flavor intensified. She was gagged. Chloe tried to open her eyes but her eyelids felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds. Her lashes fluttered, showing her tiny glimpses of a eggshell colored room. She tried to lift her hands to rub her eyes but they wouldn't move. In fact, she couldn't feel her hands. Chloe forced her eyes open. The scene before was blurry. With concentration, she focused. Looking down, she saw her wrists were lashed to the arms of an oak dining chair with duct tape. Her hands were a red-purplish from the slow blood flow. Her ankles were also done in the same fashion to two legs of the chair. Chloe lifted her head and took in her surroundings.
The room looked as if it were a small office with bland walls and a slick cement floor. There was a large window a few feet from her. She wasn't close enough to see what it looked down upon, be it a hallway or something else. There was a lone desk in the corner, bare except for some disorganized papers, one stapler and some pens and pencils. A man sat facing the wall behind it, rocking back and forth on the black office chair he was seated in. Craning her neck around, Chloe didn't see any others in the room. Listening closely, she didn't hear anything else except her breathing and the man's chair creaking. As quietly as she could, Chloe began to move, trying to loosen her sticky restraints. The chair creaked again and the man turned.
"Chloe," Doug Weimar said brightly, although the smile he gave her didn't reach his eyes. He looked pale and shaken as he stood from his chair and stepped over to her. "You don't mind if I call you Chloe, do you? Seeing as I don't work for you anymore." He as dressed in a nice pair of jeans with shoes caked in red mud with a dark green shirt filled out in all the right places. Chloe stiffened as she came face to face with the man who tried to kill her not even two days before. He leaned his hips against the ledge of the window, crossing his arms over his chest and hooking his ankles.
"I bet," he mused, laying an index finger next to his mouth. He was trying to summon up the bravado with which he'd dealt with them in the loft, but Chloe could tell something had changed him. She wondered fearfully what had brought about the hollowness in his eyes. "I bet you're wondering why you're here. So am I, truthfully, but Lex insisted he had to have you. That only you may hold the key to making this project work. But all I see before me is an average woman. Although, you can't be all that average with the sons you have. What are they made out of?"
Chloe's eyes went wide and her hands gripped the arms of the chair, turning her red knuckles white. A cold dread filled her as she thought of her children, their frightened little faces swimming in her mind. She bit down on the gag, regretting it as the urge to vomit took over.
"That's all right, you don't have to answer. Lex will know soon enough. They sliced some skin off and ten seconds later, not even a mark. I guess they got their healing ability from you, right? Lex told me you had the power to heal others by touching them, taking their injury onto yourself. Pretty impressive. But that's not all they can do is it?" Doug's eyes, even as dead looking as they were before, sparked with interest. He pushed off from the wall. He squatted down before her, until they were eye to eye, only inches from her. "Everyone else in that room went out like a busted lightbulb. Except for your sons," Doug said, true wonder lacing his voice.
Chloe narrowed her eyes. There was something almost innocent in his face. A door opened and another person entered the room behind them.
"She awake?" Chloe recognized Lex's clipped tones.
"Yep. For about five minutes I'd say," Doug answered. Chloe raised her eyebrows in question when Doug discreetly squeezed her forearm before backing away from her.
"Get rid of the gag," Lex ordered. Doug complied, undoing the scrap of foul tasting material from behind her head. Chloe gasped in lungfulls of clean air to rid the taste on her tongue. Doug tossed the gag on the desk as Lex came around and took the place in front of the window.
"Hi, Chloe. It's good to see you again," Lex greeted her. He was skinnier than she remembered, which was hard to believe since he'd always been very lean. He was still bald but had age lines running along his mouth and around his eyes. He was clean-shaven and fresh looking in a blue silk shirt tucked into a pair of black dress pants. The sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing the fine red hair that covered his arms.
"I wish I could say the same, Lex," Chloe replied waspishly.
"When was the last time we saw each other? Wasn't I firing you from the Daily Planet?" Lex asked smugly.
"Actually I think you were being hauled away in a pretty pair of shiny handcuffs. Stripes always did look so good on you, Lex."
"I see you still have that unfortunate mouth on you. You would be such a more pleasant person if it weren't for your ability speak."
"Same goes for you. At least not every word out of my mouth are outrageous lies, though."
"You're right, Chloe. You always were brutally honest," Lex admitted. "Except when it came to Clark Kent."
Chloe clenched her teeth and lifted her chin.
"See," Lex shook a finger at her, a small grin at the corners of his mouth at her reaction. "I always knew you were hiding something for him. You know, I always regretted us not getting closer after I rescued from the Yukon. Who knows," Lex left the window and prowled around her, running his finger along her jaw. Chloe jerked her head away from his touch. He circled the behind the chair and then bent at the waist, placing his mouth next to her ear. "Maybe things would have turned out differently."
"What do you want from me, Lex?" Chloe asked.
"I want a lot of things, Chloe," Lex stood again and began to pace. "Most of all, I want my life back. I hated prison. Do you know what it's like for guys like me in prison?" He looked at Chloe. She could see something ugly staring back at her. "I'll spare you the gory details. I don't want to relive them myself. I was a weakling. Someone else's b****. I was in a place where the name 'Luthor' wasn't worth a damn. I wasn't physically intimidating. I was no longer connected and I almost bankrupted myself. If it hadn't been for a few loyal friends I would have been chained in that infernal place until I died, constantly bullied and beat by my inferiors. And even though I'm out, my life is still not my own. Chloe," Lex groaned her name, falling to his knees in front of her. "For your sake and for the sake of the world, I need that bracelet. For the sake of your sons, I need you to tell me where you hid it."
"I honestly don't know, Lex. I don't have it anymore."
"What happened to it then?"
"I gave it to someone. What they did with it, I have no idea."
"That's not a good enough answer, Chloe," Lex said with a shake of his head.
"What do want to hear, Lex?" Chloe asked with exasperation. "I have no reason to lie to you. You have my children. Why would I do anything to endanger them?"
"You mean, yours and Clark's children?"
Chloe held his eyes as she fought hard not to throw up on Lex's shoes.
"Appearances may deceive, but birth certificates don't. Tell me, Chloe, why did you have Clark's name removed a few years ago?"
Chloe clamped her mouth shut, refusing to answer.
"You covered your tracks well. You had the state remove the father's name and then re-submitted the new copy to the insurance company, the hospital records and the social security board. You want to know the one little place you forgot? Smallville Elementary. Upon enrolling every child you must present their social security card and a valid birth certificate. You probably didn't think Smallville ISD would release those kind of records without your permission, did you? The SSA certainly wouldn't and neither would your medical insurance thanks to stricter HIP-AA laws. So it was safe to leave just one original copy out there in the world because they wouldn't dare leak information on Smallville's local celebrity children. I thought I was only getting you, but I got so much more! I finally have the key to unlocking all the mysteries around Clark Kent. I know they will certainly come in handy for later."
"Lex, please-" Chloe started to beg. For the first time since hearing Lex was out of prison was she truly terrified.
"Begging is so far beneath you, Chloe!" Lex exclaimed. Chloe bit down on her tongue. "Plus, it won't help you. If you really want to ensure your sons are treated humanly, tell me where the bracelet is."
"I told you I don't know! I don't know!" Chloe screamed. "I don't know, Lex! Please, I want to see my sons. I'll do anything you say, just let me see my children, Lex. Please!"
Lex threw up his hands. "Fine. Untie her, Doug, but watch her." Lex stalked from the room.
Doug reached behind him and pulled out a small pocket knife. He sawed through the tape and then ripped the two pieces away from her skin causing Chloe to wince as it stung. Once she was unhindered, Doug took her arm and pulled her up. He held her up for a moment as the feeling came back to her legs, tiny pin pricks up and down her legs. Keeping his hand on her arm, Doug walked her over to the window. Chloe regarded him as he gently held her upper arm. Chloe peered down. A sob caught in her throat.
"Why?"
"Why what?" Doug replied flatly.
Chloe looked at him again, shooting daggers with her eyes. "They're only babies. How can you do this to innocent children?" Chloe turned back to the window, placing her palms on the Plexiglas window. Far below her, her sons were strapped to cold, metal lab tables in a large room with three white coats huddled in front of a computer in the far corner of the room. She knew, with one flick of their wrists and a step of a foot they could be gone. But they were scared and lost and she knew they wouldn't use their powers without her permission. Her greatest fear, for Connor and Kaid, even Clark, was playing out before her very eyes.
"You'll never get away with this," Chloe snarled, her tears tasting salty on her tongue.
"He already has," Doug said wearily. Chloe almost believed the sincere look of his face. "Don't you see, Chloe? No matter what Luthor says, you and your sons will never make it out of here. Alive or dead. And neither will I."
So that was it. Doug had realized he'd been a fool to ever believe he and Lex were partners. After all Doug had seen and done, he'd become too much of a liability. He was a dead man walking. Lex Luthor only knew how to do two things. To kill and destroy.
Chloe reached out and laid her hand on his arm. "Help me and my children get out of here and I can promise you, you will be safe from him."
"You don't understand," Doug whispered, looking around covertly. "It's not just Lex."
"Black Skye?"
"How did you know?"
"I have some pretty powerful friends. They've been monitoring Lex's activity since he before he broke out of prison. They can help you. They can hide you from Black Skye."
Doug looked down upon her and Chloe knew he was scared. Something in this place had finally changed him. In the small amount of time from Chloe falling under at the loft to waking up in the office with Doug now, something profound had happened to the man before her. The limitless compassion she'd been known for surfaced, causing Chloe's continued hold on his hand. "He's gotten worse."
"Who? Lex?" Chloe questioned.
"No," Doug said, his eyes still on hers, looking almost a manic black. "I thought I could handle it. I thought if I just focused on all the money and saving my own skin, that I could do it. Planting a bomb is one thing. Pressing a button that releases gas into a room is another. But watching person after endless person being ripped to shreds. . ." Doug trailed off, turning green. "Black Skye isn't the only thing we have to worry about."
"Tell me what Lex is working on. Whatever it is, we can stop it, Doug," Chloe told him fiercely.
"No, you can't."
Chloe and Doug jumped. They both turned sharply to see Lex leaning in the doorway.
"You're right, Doug. None of you will ever see the light if day again, but I can't kill either of you just yet. Chloe, come with me." Lex strode forward and yanked her away from Doug.
Lex drug her out of the small room and down a flight of stairs. Chloe sprinted to keep up with Lex's long strides, trying her best not to fall. They were soon in a maze of hallways, each leading farther and farther away from the lab. Farther and farther away from Connor and Kaid. Finally, Lex and Chloe stumbled down five flights of stairs. They arrived before a massive set of double doors, a sturdy oak with an intricate design on each door. Turning one of the old brass handles, Lex opened the door and threw Chloe inside before him. All Chloe saw was darkness. And then her eyes adjusted.
"No. . ." She could now make out rows and rows of lab tables, just like at Reeve's Dam, just to a smaller scale. Chloe smelt the earthy scent of the dirt below her feet and felt the cool temperature. They were in some sort of underground chamber. One either side of the warehouse sized room were colossal wooden round crates, the kind used in the fermenting stage of Bourbon now gathering dust from neglect. With horror, she could make out both men and women strapped to the tables, a chunk of green Kryptonite set on their chests, glowing faintly. At their temples were wires hooking them up to monitors that detected brain activity. Currently, there were none on any of the closest ones to Chloe. She whirled on Lex. "These are people, Lex! People with families and friends and souls! How could you? It didn't work the first time, how the hell is it supposed to work this time? How many innocent lives are you willing to sacrifice for this?"
"Just one more," Lex said darkly. He grabbed her arm again and marched her toward the back of the large room. "When that wraith abandoned the little boy it took hold of somebody else. Why was Clark's DNA the only one who could be duplicated, Chloe? The phantom was able to take the shape of Clark and only Clark, where he would drain the other hosts he found. Why, Clark? How was Clark's DNA able to give form to the wraith and why was he the host the wraith had searched the world for?" Lex jabbed her back as they walked, pushing and prodding her past the helpless experiments on the tables. Chloe looked ahead. At the very back was a make-shift cage. There were bars at the top, evenly spaced with a solid bottom. Something was prowling the confines of it's tiny cell. How was Lex able to keep it contained if it was what Chloe thought it was? She squinted her eyes. It wasn't large enough to be Clark's bizarre phantom twin, who Chloe knew to be destroyed. "Now, with the help of your sons' DNA and this one's, I finally have a chance of replicating it. Hopefully, with more control this time. Thanks to you."
"You keep saying that, Lex, but I can't help you. I could only heal and that had disappeared. I don't have the bracelet and I don't know where it is. This is a lost cause!" Chloe yelled back at him. They were almost to the cage now. The thing inside had seen them and stopped pacing. Chloe couldn't make it out but knew it was watching them, could feel it's eyes taking in her every move.
"But you are your mother's daughter. I didn't fall far from the tree. Let's hope you didn't either." Chloe knew Lex was desperate, grasping at straws for anything to work. Lex caught hold of her arm, holding her tightly so she couldn't run, digging his fingers into the sweatshirt she wore. The thing had now retreated to the back of the tiny space, squatting on the floor, it's dark head bowed. Lex punched in a numbered code on the crude keypad lock on the door. The door swung open and he pushed Chloe inside, standing right at her back to keep her in the cage with the thing huddled in the corner.
"He's imperfect and unpredictable. It seems when the Green Arrow and his hoodlums blew up my lab in Russia, I lost whatever original DNA samples I had to splice together to counteract his unruly nature. Your mother's included. And without that blue meteor rock, there is no way to control him. That is, unless you possess the same unique qualities your mother did."
"Lex," Chloe groaned through clenched teeth. "I already told you, whatever abilities I had, they are gone now."
"Let's see. Chloe, I'd like you to meet AresTester972. Or, as you once knew him, Davis Bloome."