Chapter One:

Thanksgiving

“I don’t know why we couldn’t fly,” Lois Lane pouted, staring out the window of the car at what had to be the hundredth cornfield she had seen since they’d left Metropolis. As much as she loved visiting Smallville, Lois could never abide the drive down there. There were way too many cornfields, too many truck stops with undrinkable coffee and worse yet, locals who thought words like hootenanny, hoedown and shindigs were just the coolest thing ever.

Clark Kent exhaled loudly, expressing his resignation to his fate in that one sigh. Five years apart and some things about Lois never changed. Of course, he never want it any other way. By now, her complaints about their mode of transportation washed over him like water off a duck’s back. Glancing at her, he saw her leaning her head against the glass, eyes gazing out the window in complete and utter boredom and couldn’t help but smile, even if she was doing her level best to see if one of his powers was super patience.

“Because Superman flying with Lois Lane in his arms AND her luggage might raise a few brows when we landed in Smallville,” he said as a matter of factly.

Lois made a face at him and harrumphed. “Fine, get all reasonable on me,” she bit back in that tone which indicated that this wasn’t the end of this argument. Lois Lane never surrendered, no matter stupid the reason.

“Come on Lois,” Clark threw her a smile before returning his attention to the road, “how long has it been since we took a road trip?”

Lois narrowed her eyes at him, “uh never?” She said flippantly. “I got used to windblown hair and keeping my mouth clothes to keep from swallowing bugs because you’d super speed me everywhere, remember? Even before the flying. I mean at least when we flew, it was fast and we got there in a hurry. Kind of like bad sex you know?” She couldn’t help but smirk.

Clark shot her a look of suspicion, “what does that mean?” Was she talking about them? She wasn’t, right? The sex between them was great. Well he always thought so. How was it after all this time, she managed to flummox him.

“Nothing, ” she teased wickedly, “but see where my mind goes when I’m bored?

“Well just back it out of there,” Clark said displaying classic male insecurity about that particular subject. “I mean you’re kidding right?”

“I could be,” Lois grinned, enjoying torturing Clark like they were the two bickering teenagers they’d been when they first met. In some sense, they’d never really grown out of that and it was what made their relationship so interesting. “But you’ll never know...”

“Oh you’re so explaining yourself when we get back to the farm, Lane,” Clark replied, giving her a look of challenge.

Lois laughed out loud, delighting in making the great superhero hot under the collar. Sometimes, it was all she could do from ruffling his hair when she interviewed him after he’d rescued a busload of nuns, wanting to show the world that dorky farm boy she’d fallen in love with instead of just Superman. He was still there of course, these days disguised as mild mannered reporter who still kept a hula girl doll on his desk and thought any dressing other than mayonnaise was way too exotic.

The man of steel handled Kryptonite better than he handled Szechuan.

“No way,” she retorted “There’ll be no riding the Harley while we’re at the farm, Smallville. Not with Mrs. Kent there.”

Clark made a face at Lois, unsure whether it was because he was disappointed at the enforced abstinence or because talking about sex and Martha Kent in the same sentence was just.... freaky.

“Okay you win,” he conceded defeat.

“I always do,” Lois beamed with triumph before leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek, “I’ll make it up to you after Thanksgiving.”

“You better,” he winked and then added, “you know despite being reminded how much of a pain in the ass you can be during a road trip, it will actually be nice to have a Thanksgiving at the farm again.”

“Amen to that,” she nodded, taking no offence at his comment because truth be told, she was a pain in the ass. No contest there. Furthermore, the Thanksgivings she’d shared with the Kents at the farm were the fondest memories she had of that holiday and she was looking forward to it herself. “Its a pity the others couldn’t make it.”

For a moment, neither spoke because the others actually meant Chloe. Five years after the fact and neither he nor Lois ever got used to the fact that the bubbly blond woman who had been Clark’s best friend and confidante was gone. Her place in his life was so large that the void it had left behind when they found her dead had driven Clark to Jor-El for five years, severing him from all the people he loved, including Lois. This Thanksgiving and every other after that, Clark suspected would always feel as incomplete without Chloe as it did without his father, Jonathan.

Clark reached over and squeezed Lois’ hand gently, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. “She’s with us in spirit,” he said quietly.

But its not the same, Lois wanted to say but reined in her emotions.

Memories were treacherous little things. One minute you remembered something special and the next thing you know, the smells, the laughter and the people led you unknowingly down a path to sorrow. She squeezed Clark’s hand back, knowing he missed her as much as she did, possibly even more. Until she learned about the great SECRET of Clark Kent as she liked to call it, Chloe had been the only person with whom he could be himself.

“So its just the three of us,” Lois rebounded in her usual way, brushing aside cobwebs with a bulldozer and changing the subject. “Did you talk to Ollie? You know how he’s been wanting to catch up.”

“Yeah,” Clark agreed, thinking on Oliver Queen who had spent a few Thanksgivings with them. Since his return, he’d spoken to Oliver a few times. The Green Arrow and his band of heroes were still fighting the good fight although thanks to Superman, they were able to come out into the light now and seen for what they were.

“He and Dinah are spending it with her folks,” Clark replied.

“Its about time,” Lois remarked, well aware of Ollie’s relationship with the super-heroine called Black Canary. “Could have asked Bruce. God knows if there’s anyone who could use a dose of Mrs. Kent its Bruce. I just hate the idea of him sitting alone at the Mansion with just Alfred, brooding like he does. We should ask them both over once.”

“I don’t know Lois,” Clark said sceptically, trying to picture his mother dealing with a butler in her kitchen. Everything Clark knew about Alfred Pennyworth told him the man would not be sitting out the cooking of a Thanksgiving dinner. “You know Bruce, he isn’t the Thanksgiving type. Besides, he has plans already.”

“With Diana?” Lois asked hopefully. She was so happy to know that Bruce had someone in his life. In the years during Clark’s absence, Lois had shared a deep friendship with Bruce Wayne. They had almost been family and after her cousin’s death, Lois kept close touch with Chloe’s grieving fiancé. Even after Clark came back, Bruce had continued to mourn for Chloe, keeping the armour of the Batman between him and the rest of the world.

Fortunately, the arrival of a certain Amazon Princess had changed all that.

“No,” Clark shook his head. “Diana’s gone home to visit her mom but Bruce said he had some charity thing to go to anyway.”

“Oh that’s right,” Lois nodded recalling the event, “at a circus.”

*****

Lana Lang would never admit it but returning to the Luthor Mansion felt like coming home.

It was odd that she could think of such a place in that fashion, especially after living at Aunt Nell’s for most of her youth and then switching briefly to the Talon and Met U’s dormitory before finally settling at the Mansion. Until then, she hadn’t really felt a sense of belonging but this place, with its gothic presence, its walls reeking of bleak futility and animosity, seemed to fit her somehow. Perhaps from the moment that Lex offered her a room after her break up with Clark, Lana knew there was permanence in this walls.

When she and Lex had married, he’d given her carte blanche to redecorate and Lana had taken to the task with some enthusiasm. She’d wanted to shake off the gloom and foreboding of the place and bring some light into its halls, not just for herself but because she felt Lex needed it too. He lived so much in the shadows that Lana wanted him to remember there was light in the world and it could be in his life if he wanted it. She’d banished the heavy draperies, the dark burgundy colours and hunting lodge decor that only single men seemed to find fashionable or tasteful for that matter. Of course there were things she left alone, his study for one but everything else was redesigned.

By the time Laura was born, the mansion had stopped being a residence and had started to become a home. She and Lex had decorated the baby’s nursery themselves, Lana had insisted on it. The wealthy had a tendency to simply hand such duties to a decorator, Lana had felt it would have diminish the meaning of it if they didn’t do it themselves. They’d trolled baby stores together, picking out dolls and strollers, enjoying the experience the way two people who were rich and young could.

Unfortunately it hadn’t lasted.

It had all come crashing down when Lex was charged with Chloe’s murder and though Lana had stood by him initially, it was only when she saw the damning footage of the deed, captured by the mansion’s own security tapes, did she finally believe she married a killer. Taking her daughter away from the media frenzy that followed, Lana returned to the safe ground of the Talon and raised her daughter there. All the while telling herself that Lex was always what people had said he was; evil and that she was the only one who hadn’t seen it.

The guilt and loneliness near destroyed her. For the first year after Lex’s conviction, she was something of a pariah to the people of Smallville, the wife of the murderer.

The friends to whom she could turn to were absent.

Clark had disappeared, leaving behind Lois as broken as herself. After Clark left, Lois moved to Metropolis and Mrs. Kent or rather Senator Kent was spending most of her time in Washington. Henry Small had tried to be supportive but he too had his own family and the pressure to keep them out of the spotlight kept him at arms length. There was a brief moment where Lana considered taking Nell’s offer of moving to upstate but quickly dismissed it. Lana had always felt she railroaded Nell’s life because she had no one else after her parents’ death and she didn’t want Nell to feel the same obligation now.

Besides, Lex’s conviction was news across America, where could she truly hide?

In the end, Lana remained in Smallville and raised her daughter. After a year, once the trial was done and the memory of it slipped into the background of people’s consciousness, life returned to some semblance of normal. Lionel Luthor had remained distant and did not oppose it when Lana asked for the Talon in the divorce settlement. It had always been hers first anyway and the only thing she wanted from the Luthor estate.

Still Lex’s circumstances continued to plague her, particularly when he insisted that he was innocent. He’d wrote letters, filled with frantic desperation to be believed and as the years continued on, they’d lost that frenzy but still remained seemingly earnest. Finally, he gave up wanting her belief, and just wished for a relationship with his daughter. After awhile it became to hard to read them because she did love him still, with an love that was very different from the all consuming, almost draining thing she had felt for Clark in her youth.

She never believed Lex even though he was telling her the truth.

When Lana learned what Clark had known; that Lex was innocent all this while, it felt like she was reliving the nightmare. Lana told Clark she’d never forgive him but the truth was; she would never forgive herself. Guilt ate at her, even more so when she realised that she had robbed her daughter of her father and worse yet; Fine had done something to Lex in jail.

When he emerged from prison, his memory had been altered. Everything about their relationship was intact but the truth about Clark Kent and the planet Krypton did not exist for him. He knew about Dark Thursday, about aliens and spaceship but he had no idea that any of it connected to Clark. Fine had removed just enough memory for Lex to be useful in future but not enough to be of any assistance to Clark.

Clark simply became the young man who had saved his life and was once his wife’s old boy friend, nothing more.

For everyone’s sake, Lana chose not to alter that view point. She had known Clark’s secret for years and now that he was Superman, now he was doing so much good that despite her anger; she was proud of him.

Thus Lana was there the day Lex was released. She was there with Laura to introduce the child tentatively to her father and five years after the fact, they became a family.

So now Lana found herself in the Luthor Mansion once more, her marriage vows soon to be renewed with the family she’d always wanted.

And for the first time in five years, she had something to give thanks for at Thanksgiving.

******

Bruce hated charity events.

Even though he was very at home in the persona of Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy, wastrel, philanthropist or whatever label Cat Grant wished to bestow upon him this week, he always found such events tedious. While Bruce had no reservations about donating the money, he always found the dinners, the galas and the ensuing benefits that resulted to be of no value to anyone except the social elite who use event as an opportunity to grandstand each other to grab the best photo op. Never mind that they did it while wearing gowns, tuxedos, adorned with jewels and driving cars that could feed a Third World country for a month.

It was such hypocrisy. Unfortunately it was hypocrisy he had to indulge for Bruce Wayne to carry out his work as Batman.

On this occasion, he found himself under the Big Top of Haly’s Circus. Thanks to Wayne Foundation sponsorship, the circus was hosting a black tie event followed by a special Thanksgiving performance that would see the proceeds donated to the Gotham Orphanage.

As Bruce stood amongst Gotham’s elite mingling with the circus performers, he almost wished he had taken Clark up on his offer to join him and Lois at the farm. Even if he was not an ardent observer of the holiday; Bruce felt an especial impatience in having to wear the mask of Bruce Wayne when he would rather be in the Cave, working.

As it was, he was expecting a call from Alfred to let him know if a ship called the Dragon’s Eye was pulling to Gotham Harbour tonight. There had been engine trouble reported from the Chinese freighter prior to entering American waters that might delay its arrival date. Bruce had every intention of being there when the ship put to dock. A contact had told him that snakeheads were smuggling in illegals; some of whom were unaware that their new life in America would involve the sex trade.

He was in the middle of telling Bitsie Huffington that Diana had returned to Themiscyra to visit her mother, thus explaining her absence at Bruce’s arm this evening when his cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. Excusing himself, he stepped behind the flap leading to backstage and noted that it was no less busy on this side of the curtain. Circus hands and performers were getting ready for their for their debut. So busy were they in their preparations, they paid him little notice of him when he took refuge next to a stack of hay bales and answered his call.

As expected it was Alfred but Bruce was disappointed to hear that the Dragon’s Eye would not be putting into shore until tomorrow night. Alfred had said with more than a passing hint of smugness that Batman was off the hook for the evening.

“You’re not supposed to be here you know?” An undoubtedly juvenile voice pointed out from behind the hay bale he was resting against.

"Sorry," Bruce said regarding the young boy who had hidden away himself behind the hay bale, quite impressively, Bruce thought, with comic books. "Just needed to make a call."

The boy stood up and without any warning, jumped into the air in a half somersault to land gracefully next to him, hunched over like a modern day version of Puck.

He could not have been more than eight, Bruce thought and recognised immediately, the youngest member of the Flying Grayson’s troop. The child was dressed in coloured tights unlike his older counterparts,

“That’s not much of an excuse,” he retorted, “There’s like a sign there saying employees only. You’re not supposed to see the acts before the curtain comes up, its kind of bad manners, or at least that’s what my dad says.”

Then in a lower voice, with a smirk stealing across his face, he added, “but I won’t tell.”

"Well I appreciate that," Bruce chuckled, admiring the boy’s landing. He really had excellent form, not to mention a natural ability that was honed with discipline. Bruce had seen Olympic level athletes dream of such talent. "You're Dick right?"

There was a pole next to the hay bale and the boy grabbed it, shimming up and curling his legs around the thing as he hung off it like a monkey. “Yep, I’m Dick Grayson,” he grinned before his brow furrowed. The man look familiar but Dick wasn’t sure how. “How’d you guess?”

"I’m a bit of detective,” Bruce replied with a straight face. “I've heard that the star of the Flying Graysons is their young son and the way you moved just now, I supposed that must be you." Bruce added, unable to deny being a little charmed by the boy's playful manner.

"I’m famous?" Dick’s smile almost split his face and just to show off, he slid down the pole and landed on the hay bale before treating his new friend to a double somersault in mid air before landing in front of Bruce again. Upon landing though, his face scrunched up as he tugged at the crotch of his tights and blushed a little at being noticed doing it. “Sorry, it rides up sometimes.”

“I understand,” Bruce replied, more sensitive to the problem then the boy could possibly imagine.

“Are you famous too?” The boy asked, head cocked to the side as he stared at Bruce.

Bruce fought hard to suppressed the smirk that wanted to come as he regarded young Dick Grayson. The boy couldn't sit still and reminded Bruce of an old nursery rhyme 'Robin Red Breast'. He moved constantly, like a bird on a branch. "I'm Bruce Wayne," he extended a hand. "Its nice to meet you Dick...or is it Richard?"

The kid’s eyes became saucers and his mouth fell agape. When he spoke, it escaped him in one long, excited sentence. “You’re Bruce Wayne, the guy whose helping us with our show and owns that big shiny building with the pointy tower in own? THAT Bruce Wayne, the one who’s Wonder Woman’s boyfriend!”

Okay that, Bruce could have done without but he couldn’t help laughing at the boy’s reaction. Those who knew him, would have realised that this wasn’t one of his patented laugh put on for show. This one was real and something he didn't often share.

"I'm afraid that's me."

“That’s so awesome!” The boy exclaimed with awe and glanced about to see if he could show off Bruce Wayne to anyone he knew, convinced no one would believe him when he told them later.

"Well I'm equally honoured to meet the star of the flying Graysons. I'm looking forward to seeing your performance tonight,” Bruce remarked. “I’m a fan.”

“That is so cool...I mean I never had a fan...,” Dick exclaimed and it was the truth. His folks were pretty careful about keeping him away from the audience when he wasn’t being supervised. And his fan was famous who got to hang out with Wonder Woman who also got to hang out with SUPERMAN. The thought almost discombobulated Dick’s rational thought.

“Well you have a show to do,” Bruce said giving the boy a warm smile, “and I have to get out there.” He glanced at the curtain and found it funny that he rather preferred hanging around this child. “Good luck Dick.”

“I’ll do a quad for you Mr. Wayne!” the boy exclaimed as he saw Bruce retreat.

Bruce was still smiling when he turned away, hearing Dick behind him holler “MOM! GUESSS WHO I JUST MET!”

********

It was surprising how quickly things got back to normal.

Lex Luthor had thought that once he emerged from prison, it would take time for him to get back into the swing of things. After all, he’d been five years away from the corporate world and in the mean time, his company had been under the charge of an alien imposter who had murdered his father and blamed him for the crime of killing Chloe Sullivan. Under those circumstances, Lex figured he was owed some time to readjust. However, when he breathed the air of a free man and sighted for the first time, his wife and daughter, that hesitation disappeared.

Once again, he wanted it all.

He wanted it all for himself and he wanted it all for his family. Driven by demons that predated his prison time, Lex took charge quickly and though he allocated the appropriate amount of time to his business, he was careful not to overlook his family. During his time in prison, he’d wanted nothing more than to be back with Lana and his daughter and now that it was a reality, Lex was not going to squander the opportunity. Lana was willing to rebuild their lives together and growing up with Lionel Luthor as a father told Lex what mistakes to avoid.

Thus when he was called to Reeve Dam on Thanksgiving, Lex had not been impressed.

This was his first Thanksgiving with his wife and daughter and not even work ought to intrude upon that. However, there was something about this place that nagged at him, something he knew had to do with Milton Fine but what that was he could not say. It was like the proverbial splinter in the mind, defying him to answer a riddle he had forgotten.

Milton Fine or rather the persona he had adopted whilst on Earth was an alien. Of this Lex had no doubt. He knew that Fine had emerged from a spaceship that had been found by LuthorCorp and had something to do with Dark Thursday. Fine had seized his company by killing his father and framing him for murder. Lex was convinced it was because of Reeve Dam.

Dr. Groll was waiting for him in the temporary parking lot that had been set up for vehicles during the restoration of the site. Dr. Edward Groll had been placed charge of clearing the scientific equipment that had been apart of the destroyed Section 33.1 facility in the subterranean level that had been flooded and destroyed due to seismic activity. While earthworks began on the other end of the structure, LexCorp technicians were hastily removing much of the equipment that had been buried under the rubble once the water had been pumped out of the submerged facility.

“What the hell is so important that I’ve got to come here personally, Doctor?” Lex demanded when he stepped out of his car.

“I’m sorry Mr. Luthor,” Dr. Groll who had been on LuthorCorp’s payroll during Lex’s incarceration and had been able to give him an account of what Fine had been done as Lionel Luthor, apologised quickly but felt justified by the urgency of the situation. “We found something and you did say you wanted to be informed immediately.”

“Just tell me what it is,” Lex said impatiently because he had said that very thing. In fact, he’d been explicit about it.

The doctor led him to entrance in the far side of the complex that led into the subterranean levels below the dam. LexCorp employees were moving in and out of the doorway, carrying pieces of damaged equipment, attempting to salvage what had been left behind in order to retrieve any useful data if possible. Lex knew that Fine had concentrated his efforts on this facility but couldn’t imagine why since the place had more less been destroyed after the quake.

The damage was apparent as soon as they passed through the doorway. Large fissures had split the concrete, running down the length of the corridor they were walking. There was still the sheen of water left behind on all surface from the flood and some of the adjoining doorways to other rooms and corridors had collapsed entirely. Emergency lighting was running along the broken ceiling, with algae and moss creeping through the cracks. The smell was dank and musty, making Lex wish for one of those respirator masks he saw some of the technicians wearing.

This did not seem to bother Dr. Groll however. It appeared his time supervising this excavation had made him immune to the place.

“As you know, Mr. Fine when he was posing as your father, was very interested in this facility. I initially thought he was planning on carrying out the work previously conducted here.”

By that Lex knew he meant the experimentation in Section 33.1 but he could not imagine what would interest Fine about the genetic manipulation of meteor infected subjects. Fine certainly hadn’t attempted to further the work by any record that he or Dr. Groll had been able to detect.

“However, we’ve gone through the whole facility and it appears his only orders were about keep one section of the tunnel system restricted. I’ve had our people excavating all the debris leading up to that area, to determine what was being concealed,” Groll continued to explain.

The two men moved deeper and deeper into the facility leaving behind the workers excavating its other sections. The emergency lighting allowed Lex to see the extent of the damage. It was definitely more pronounced. Whole sections of wall had crumbled and it appeared only debris piles kept the wing from being impassable.

“Are we safe down here?” Lex asked, not wanting to buried alive after being caged for five years, the cruelty of it would be too much for him to bear.

“I wouldn’t recommend starting a jackhammer down here but its stable enough for us to take a look at. When we need to do a more extensive extraction, I recommend we do it from the other side of the external walls.” Groll answered.

“Extensive extraction?” Lex threw a sidelong glance at the man.

“You’ll understand when you see it, Mr. Luthor.” The doctor retorted as if that would explain everything.

“Doctor I don’t want to have to be away from my family any longer than I have to be,” he retorted, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. In truth, the surroundings of concrete, the stench of foul water and dim lighting was too reminiscent of the cell he had occupied for five years. So much so that it was creating beads of sweat running down his forehead.

“We’re almost there,” Dr. Groll said gesturing to the guard standing in front of a plastic sheet that separated one section of the hallway from the rest of it, like one of those found on a medical quarantine tents. “This is one Carter Bowfry’s men,” Groll commented.

Bowfry had been one of Lex’s chief advisors before and he was glad that Fine hadn’t dismissed the man so that Bowfry could take his talents elsewhere. Lex made a mental note to recall the man from which ever LuthorCorp (now LexCorp) task he was currently assigned. Expertise like that couldn’t be squandered on some menial duty.

The guard stood aside as soon as Lex and Dr.Groll approached, making no effort to stop them. Dressed in a dark blue, security uniform, he merely nodded his greeting at the two men as they stepped through the plastic. Once past, they didn’t have far to go far to find what they were looking for

What was on the other side of the curtain was not some undiscovered section of the dam that no one had noticed til now. Far from it actually. It was just the end of the tunnel. However, what made it interesting was what had broken through the wall from outside the structure. It was sizeable enough so that it jutted out almost two meters from the wall so tightly against the broken concrete that water trickled through from crack but not enough to flood it.

Lex walked right up to the object that had punched through the concrete. His jaw slightly agape as he recognised what he was seeing. Five years had done nothing to diminish his memory of the black ship he and Lana had seen after the second meteor shower in Smallville. The angular lines, the strange metal, it all came back to him like the dank stench of the prison walls when he had come into this place. He saw odd symbols running along the edge of what he knew to be its wing . He moved to touch it when Groll stopped him by pulling his hand away.

“Don’t touch it Mr. Luthor,” Groll warned, “we’ve detected unusual radiation readings emanating from it. We can’t say what it might do if we made contact. I believe this what Fine was after, this was the came down in the second meteor shower. Fine must have hidden it in the lake and during seismic instability that damaged the dam, the ship must shifted enough to slam into this wall.”

“I have no doubt that’s an explanation the ship came to be here,” Lex stated, staring at Groll with utter confidence. “However, I ate, drank, slept with picture of the Black Ship for months. These symbols,” he gestured to the cryptographs, “I may not understand what they are but I certainly know these aren’t the same ones as before. Wherever this came from, it did not come down in the second meteor shower. This isn’t Fine’s ship.”

And if it wasn’t Fine’s whose was it?

TO BE CONTINUED