Chapter Eight: The Plan

“Are you alright?” Chloe asked Lois as they walked towards their respective vehicles parked just beyond the fence perimeter of the Kawatchi Caves once Jor-El had sent them back to Kansas. Lois had said nothing during the walk out of the darkened passages and Chloe had fought the urge to ask until they were out in the sunlight again, how she was doing. At least Lois would feel as if they had sort of emerged from the rabbit hole.

Lois looked at her cousin, “I’m fine,” she offered the younger woman a smile.

Thoughts were running through her head about what she had seen and now they were out in the daylight again, Lois wondered if any of it had been real. In the space of an hour, she had been transported from Kansas to an ice palace in the frozen north and then back to Kansas again. She had learned that Clark was an alien with a destiny bigger than anyone could possibly imagine and there was a monster running loose in the world, wearing Oliver Queen’s face.

“It’s a lot to take in,” Chloe pointed out.

“No kidding,” Lois gave her a look and then paused in mid step. “Am I freaking out? Yes, a little. You gotta give me that right? I mean I just found out that my boyfriend’s an alien, his father is a disembodied voice who lives in an ice castle, his greatest enemy is now running around intending to destroy the world and yours truly is the only one who can get close enough to Clark to be able to do something about it. So I think I’m allowed to be a little freaked out.” She prattled away in typical Lois mode.

“Sorry I asked,” Chloe smirked a little, knowing this tirade was usually the build up to a more profound statement. Lois was like that, Chloe thought. It was Lois’ way to eject a whole lot of hyperbole before getting to the heart of the matter.

“I think you’re allowed too, for the record.” Chloe added with a look of encouragement.

“Good,” Lois resumed walking after that, expecting more from Chloe but grateful nonetheless for what was said.

“You know what else I’ve found out through all this mess? I…” she paused again, catching her breath. “I still love Clark.”

The admission was made with an expression laced with concern and fear for him.

“I thought you might,” Chloe smiled, nudging her cousin with an arm, showing Lois how proud she was of her cousin for being able to take so much in. Lois had been given so little time to adjust to what was rather momentous knowledge and to reach that conclusion with such finality.

Lois smiled faintly at Chloe, musing at how admitting what she felt about Clark out loud, seemed to solidify her resolve to help him. When Clark was himself again, they would need to have a long talk about things but for right now, Lois could deal with what she had learned from Jor-El and what she had seen. Lois loved Clark, possibly even more now knowing what he had tried to shield her from.

How terrifying this must be for him, raised on Earth as a simple farm boy only to learn of this great destiny? For the past two years Lois had done nothing but tease him about his brooding, never realizing what he must have gone through to endure all this alone, unable to tell Lana truth because inside he must have known deep down, she couldn’t have handled it. As much as Lois respected Lana (until she started dating Luthor that is), Lois didn’t’ think Lana could have dealt with all this without some serious angst, which would have been the last thing Clark needed because he had enough of his own.

“Okay,” she looked up at Chloe, shoving all those thoughts aside when they reached the cars. Now was not the time to deal to ruminate over ancient history. Like Lois’ own General was so fond of saying, now it was the time to deal with the problem. “You get a hold of Lionel Luthor and I’ll get back to the….

The air was suddenly filled with Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Want to have Fun’ and Lois winced knowing the source of this so called music was Chloe’s ring tone for her cell.

“You’re killing me with that tone, you know that right?” Lois grumbled as Chloe shot her a dark look and fumbled through her hand bag to find her phone.

“Chloe Sullivan,” the Daily Planet reporter ignored her cousin and held the phone to her ear.

“Miss Sullivan?” Lionel Luthor’s voice answered almost immediately. “Thank God I’ve got found you. Miss Sullivan, what’s happened to Clark?”

*****************

Ten minutes later, Chloe ended the call.

“What’s happened?” Lois demanded, having only heard snippets of the conversation and the rising alarm on Chloe’s face told her the situation had escalated somewhat.

“I’m not sure,” Chloe said trying to piece together what Lionel had told her. “It seems that Oliver Queen turned up at Lex’s office and took out a whole bunch of guards with super strength and heat vision.”

“Ollie?” Lois exclaimed. “Wait didn’t Joe say…”

“Joe?” Chloe’s brows shot up.

”Joe – Jor-El’s a bit of a mouthful,” Lois snorted. “Didn’t he say that Zod took over the Green Arrow?”

“Yeah but its Oliver that showed up at the Luthor Corp with the Kryptonian mojo… Lois do you realize what this means?” Chloe stared at her cousin.

Lois was already there, five steps ahead. “It means that I have a super power too.” Her expression unreadable.

“Excuse me?” Chloe stared at her.

“The ability to attract guys who have BIG FREAKING SECRETS!” Lois barked sarcastically. “Oh I am so going to kill that guy when we get rid of Zod.” Fuming, Lois turned back to Chloe to return to the subject at hand, “What happened after ‘Zod’ showed up at Luther Corp?”

“Right,” Chloe shook off the detour, “Apparently he raided Lex’s safe and then threw Lex out of the window from forty stories up only to have Clark catch him. However, Lionel didn’t think Lex looked all that happy to see him despite the fact that Clark had saved his life.”

“Not surprising,” Lois shrugged, “I mean seriously if you were an out of control Clark Kent, who is the person you’d like to put the most hurt on?”

“Ouch,” Chloe agreed wholeheartedly with that once since she knew how Clark felt about Lex from first hand knowledge. “Not just him but Lana too.”

“Okay,” Lois said quickly, “you take this.” She handed Chloe the extraction device that Jor-El had provided them. “After you meet up with Lionel and get what you need from him, go to the loft, put everything in place like we talked about. After that, head for Topeka and find Mrs. Kent, make sure she doesn’t come home. With Zod in the picture, we’re going to clear board so he doesn’t have any more leverage on Clark than he already has. That means you too…”

“Lois!” Chloe protested.

“Chloe,” Lois said firmly. “I don’t have time to fight with you on this. You know that the best way to get to Clark is through the people he loves. I don’t know this Zod but I’ve been a general’s daughter long enough to know how they think. If we get Clark back and he goes after Zod, you can bet who Zod’s first targets will be. Now you need to tell Mrs. Kent what is happening. We can’t call because the minute she hears something is wrong with Clark, she’s going to head straight back to Smallville.”

Chloe couldn’t disagree with that. They both knew Mrs. Kent too well. “Okay, okay, I’m going,” she nodded as she climbed into her car. “What about you?” She turned to Lois who was making her way to her own vehicle.

“I’m going to the mansion,” Lois replied. “Before Kal does something Clark regrets.”

*************

”Where’s Lex?” Lana asked, her voice shaking when she saw Zod return without Lex.

The being wearing Oliver Queen’s face ignored her question as he entered the parlor where Lana Lang had been sequestered with Milton Fine since their arrival at the mansion earlier today. The Kryptonian had flown back to Smallville, vaguely aware that Kal-El was on route to the same destination. Having no desire to deal with Jor-El’s son just yet and content to let the young man occupy himself with his own agenda involving Luthor, Zod left Kal-El to his devices while he carried out his plans to reshape the face of the planet. In truth, Zod wasn’t entirely trusting of this personality change that Kal-El had undergone despite the Construct’s assurances.

However, if the red kryptonite kept Kal-El out of the equation for now, all the better. When the Earth was molded into its new configuration, the general would then turn his attention to the permanence of Kal-El’s transformation and decide what was to be done with the boy. For now however, Zod had bigger concerns on his mind.

“I have it,” he announced to Fine upon entering the room.

“Where’s Lex?” Lana demanded again, determined to have an answer.

The Construct left the piano and approached Zod who revealed the container sitting on his upturned palm. Already artificial sentience was examining the contents, determining whether or not the base compounds were still mutable for its purpose. As Zod presented the receptacle, the Construct reached for it, its fingers becoming the slick, dark ooze of its true self, before absorbing the container an its contents into the whole again. Disappearing into the Construct’s form, the container vanished as if it had never been that.

“It is done,” the Construct announced triumphantly.

“Good,” Zod said with approval. “Our last attempt significantly reduced the power output capable. We will need to restore it if this to proceed.”

“I have already considered it,” the Construct answered automatically. “Their nuclear reactors may be inefficient but are capable of producing the power requirements we require. I will be able to siphon and refine the energy flow to reignite the device’s core matrix.”

“Then we shall proceed,” Zod answered, walking towards the door, barely giving Lana a second glance.

Lana listened to the conversation, feeling helpless and frustrated. It was bad enough that she barely registered enough to engender a response from the duo but she had suffered a front row seat the last time Zod had tried to destroy the Earth and watching it unfold again was a nightmare she hoped to never endure. Realizing that neither would address her, Lana held back her questions and prayed that they would leave and forget about her. At least then she could try and get help.

“What about her?” the Construct dashed Lana’s hopes of being forgotten with that one question.

“Kal-El will be here shortly,” Zod continuing his departure. “Leave her and Lex to him. It will entertain the boy while we take care of the task at home.”

Lana latched onto that piece of information with hope. Lex was still alive.

No sooner than Zod and the Construct had left, Lana was scrambling for the nearest telephone. She debated with who to call at first and finally decided on the Kent home, praying that Mrs. Kent might be able to reason with Clark but received no answer. As it was, it was a minor miracle that she was able to get through at all considering the state of ruin Zod and Fine had left the mansion in. She was about Chloe when suddenly, the line went dead.

“Who you calling Lana?” She heard a familiar voice behind her. The phone line was smoldering.

Turning around, Lana dropped the phone on the floor when she saw Clark with Lex. Lex’s face was covered in cuts and bruises; the collar of his shirt was wet with blood. Her jaw dropped open as she saw Clark holding him by the throat as he dragged Lex across the floor into the room.

“OH MY GOD LEX!” She cried out and hurried towards them both.

“Lana get away from here!” Lex tried to halt her progress with little success. He didn’t care what happened to him but he wouldn’t let her risk her life or that of their child’s. “Get help!”

“Yeah Lana,” Kal laughed. “I’ll give you a head start while I snap his neck.” His fingers tightened around Lex’s throat, crushing his windpipe against his spine with ease as he stood by the door.

“Clark please!” Lana begged, “don’t hurt him!” Her face contorted with despair as Clark kept his iron grip around Lex’s throat, despite the billionaire’s best efforts to pry off his fingers.

“Don’t hurt him?” Kal looked at her incredulously. “Are you kidding Lana? If anyone has it coming, it’s Lex and it’s about time too, he’s earned this payback.”

“Because of me Clark?” Lana demanded, tears running down her cheeks in desperation. “You hate him this much because I went to him, because I’m carrying his baby?” She spat.

“Do you ever get tired of thinking its all about you Lana?” Kal laughed and threw Lex against the long leather seat. Lex hit the back of the sofa with such force of impact that he tipped it over himself while Kal made a show of dusting his palms.

“LEX!” Lana ran to his side.

“Its’ nothing personal Lana,” Kal watched her crouching over Lex like the simpering cow she was. How could he have ever cared for someone so weak? “I just don’t like anyone touching my stuff and you were my stuff.” He said rounding the upended leather sofa and seeing Lex trying to crawl from under it. Grabbing Lex by the shoulder, he dragged the man from under the heavy furniture and threw him against the far wall before Lex could shake off his disorientation.

“CLARK STOP IT!” Lana shouted in fury. “You were the one who broke it off!”

Kal was across the floor and at her side in a second. A hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet where she was still crouched from her failed attempt to help Lex.

“That’s doesn’t does it Lex?” He glared at Lex as he clenched a handful of Lana’s hair. She was crying out in pain. “Guys don’t screw around with their friend’s girl!”

“LEAVE HER ALONE CLARK!” Lex shouted enraged. Lana’s cry of pain had snapped out of his dazed state. “It’s me you hate! I’m the one who betrayed our friendship by my feelings for Lana! Not her! ME!”

Kale’s expression darkened as his eyes turned red and Lex was blasted against the wall with a burst of heat that made him scream. Not enough to incinerate but just enough to slowly cook his flesh in a prolonged and agonizing death.

“CLARK, PLEASE STOP!!!” Lana begged as she saw Lex writhing in pain. She could see his skin turning red and blisters appearing his bald skull. “I’m begging you Clark! PLEASE!!!” Lana was sobbing desperately as she watched her lover’s agony.

“So this is what you’re doing instead of coming home to me?” Lois Lane asked as she walked into the room, having worked her way through the debris covered hallways. It hadn’t been hard to find Clark.

All she had to do was follow the screaming.

Pretending to look nonplussed by what was happening. Lois surveyed the room and thanked the heavens that she had arrived just in time even though she was certain that both Lex or Lana would have a different interpretation of her timing.

“Lois?” Kal stared at her with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Well I heard my boyfriend went running after his old flame and that kind of pissed me off Kal.” She looked at him with an expression that bordered on jealousy and bemusement. Lois hoped she was pulling it off for Lana and Lex’s sake. “I thought it was you and me forever? What are you doing here with her?”

Kal smirked. “Lois, I’m just taking care of some business.”

“Really?” Lois approached Kal, giving Lana a brief glance as she shoved the other woman roughly out of Kal’s grip. Kal started to turn to Lana as he lost his hold on her but Lois grabbed his jaw and made him look her in the eye. “I don’t like to share you Kal.”

“I’m all yours baby, you know that,” Kal grinned, liking her rougher side. He had seen it all morning and it was quite the turn on.

Lois pulled him to her mouth roughly, biting his lower lip as she engaged him in a lusty kiss. This had to be surreal for Lex and Lana but Lois could think of no other way to get him away from them. Right now, his inhibitions were lowered and the only thing his brain was responding to was violence and sex. Violence was out of her league, sex was not.

Pulling away from him, Lois whispered in his ear, “come on Kal, let’s go have some fun. You can come back to this later. I’ll even let you tie me up if you like?” Lois’ eyes glimmered with mischief.

The want for her was too much for his splayed open desires to resist and with a grin; Kal pulled Lois to him, sweeping her off her feet in a blink of an eye. Determined to keep his attention fixed on more sexual pursuit, she kissed him again, her tongue sliding past this teeth as her arms wrapped around his neck and her nails raked through his hair.

Lana said nothing to any of this, suspecting Lois’ intent and taking the chance the woman had given her and Lex without question. She tried not to look at Lois and Clark making out in front of them and knew that Lois was doing her best to distract Clark from hurting Lex any further.

“I like it when you’re rough Lois,” Kal laughed, feeling the same urgency in his body that had caused him to spend most of the morning making love to Lois. Lana and Lex were distant thoughts now.

“Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Lois teased, devouring his neck passionately. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

Without hesitation, Kal was soon spiriting them back to the Kent farm, leaving the mansion behind in a burst of speed.

Thank God, Lana thought as she saw them both leave. Without missing a beat, Lana was hurrying towards Lex’s side.

“LEX!” She called out reaching her lover. “Lex, speak to me!”

Lex was trembling in pain. His skin was bright red as if he had been scalded and Lana knew she had to get him to a hospital for help. However, right now, the most important thing to do was to put as much distance between them and the mansion.

“Lana,” Lex opened his eyes and looked at her. “Are you alright?” He asked weakly.

“I’m fine Lex,” Lana answered. “Lex, you have to get up. We need to get away from here while we still can.”

Ignoring the pain, Lex nodded weakly and forced himself upright. Lana was right. Their only chance right now was to get as far away from Smallville and disappear if necessary to escape Kal-El, the thing that had taken over Clark Kent’s body.

PART NINE