Chapter Ten:

Quid Pro Quo

Clark wasn’t sure what to make of Bruce Wayne.

The papers had labelled Mr. Wayne, a wastrel playboy who did nothing with his time but squander his sizeable fortune dating supermodels. At least, that’s what Clark remembered from the few times his eyes had strayed away from the endless articles about Lana and Lox’s engagement in the gossip pages. Aside from that, he knew nothing else about Bruce and that perception was eroding away with every second he spent in the man’s company.

They had driven through the streets of Tierra Colorada with Clark cringing in the passenger seat in embarrassment at riding shotgun in a black Masserati when all around him, Clark could see nothing but the rural poverty of the city. As much as he disliked being so noticeable, he had to confess that Bruce’s logic was impeccable. If the same kidnappers who snatched Lois, Lana and now Chloe were homing in on rich foreigners, then this was the best way to draw them out. However, instead of staying still in one place and waiting for the kidnappers to come to them, Bruce Wayne was determined to continue their search for Eduardo Santiago.

The address provided to them by the hotel concierge led them to an apartment block in the heart of the city that did not at all resemble the residence of a kidnapper specializing in rich tourists. Aside from being one notch above condemned, the structure was old with cracks running across the walls and faded pain. The best thing that Clark could say about it was the lack of urine stains despite the acrid stench that greeted them upon stepping inside the halls inside the building.

“Always knew hanging around millionaires would take me to the lap of luxury,” Clark couldn’t help remark with a smirk as they follow the number on the doors to Santiago’s apartment.

“This is nothing,” Bruce retorted with a faded smile, one Chloe Sullivan would have called his ‘real’ smile if she were present, “next time it will be Calcutta in summer.” Even though his eyes were fixed in one direction, in truth, he was observing everything, taking note the opening and closing of doors from other residents, curious to know which one of their neighbours had the visitor with the expensive car. If any of them felt inclined to let Eduardo know he was having visitors, all the better.

“So this investigating thing, you been doing it for long?” Clark asked. “You look pretty good at it.”

Bruce glanced briefly over his shoulder before remarking, “Rich people have so many hobbies. I get bored easily.”

Another elusive answer, Clark thought. If he wasn’t a master of it himself, he would be rather annoyed by this.

“Okay don’t tell me,” Clark snorted.

Pausing in the middle of the corridor, Bruce turned around slowly and gave Clark a pointed stare before asking, “I’ll answer if you tell me how you got to Acapulco.”

The question took Clark off guard but he recovered quickly to stutter a response. “I took a plane when Chloe rang me and told me that Lois and Lana were missing.”

“Really?” Bruce looked at him sceptically, seeing the lie even if he wasn’t sure why. “Lex Luthor has a private jet and he’s not here yet. Last time I looked, Smallville wasn’t known for being a major stop for most commercial airlines. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, the nearest place for a Smallville resident like yourself to take a commercial flight to Acapulco would be from Metropolis. So unless you can fly, how did you manage it?”

Damn. This guy really didn’t miss much.

Neurons firing at almost super-speed, Clark thought quickly, hoping to produce an answer that would satisfy an intellect he suspected was operating on an entirely different level from anyone he had ever met. Clark would apologise to Oliver later for the name-dropping at the archer’s expense.

“I didn’t take a commercial carrier,” Clark responded hiding all trace of deception, “I took a private jet. Oliver Queen and I are friends. I called him, told him what was happening and he arranged to give me a lift on one of his planes. He and Lois used to date so he was pretty concerned.

Clark was rather proud of himself for that excuse and offered Bruce a smile that almost bordered on smug.

“Sounds reasonable enough,” Bruce nodded with an accepting nod. However his eyes had missed nothing in Clark Kent’s body language and while his explanation was a good one, the fact of the matter it, the laws of physics made it impossible for Clark to still beat Lex Luthor here. Lex would have had a jet in the air within the hour. Oliver Queen was based in Star City and while he might keep a plane available at Metropolis, Bruce seriously doubted that there would be one simply be waiting for Clark Kent at Smallville.

Whatever the explanation for Clark’s timely arrival in Mexico, it was certainly not the way he claimed, which meant that this Kansas farm boy’s secret might be almost as big as his.

How intriguing.

They continued walking down the hall and Clark had the distinct feeling that Bruce didn’t exactly buy his story. The last thing he needed was another billionaire becoming interested in him but for now, he brushed aside his concern because if Bruce Wayne was as good as he appeared to be then Clark needed him to find Lois and the girls. Even now, he was having trouble focussing. His fears for her was eclipsing his ability to think clearly.

Reaching the door leading to Eduardo Santiago’s apartment, Bruce told Clark to quiet and pressed his ear against the wood listening. As he did so, Clark scanned the interior of the room and saw through the darkness that it was empty. If Eduardo was here, he wasn’t now. Unfortunately, this was not information he could pass on to Bruce although the billionaire didn’t seem to need it.

“No one’s home,” Bruce stated, straightening up. “I guess we don’t have to knock.”

Reaching into his jacket, Bruce produced a leather wallet that splayed open to reveal a set of fine, metal tools.

“You carry that with you all the time?” Clark asked, wondering what the hell Bruce was in to.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve locked myself out of my penthouse,” Bruce threw him a smug glance and went to work on the lock.

“I’m sure you do,” Clark said not believing him for a second. He wondered which of them was lying more. Right now, Clark was certain he and Bruce were in a dead heat.

Once again, Bruce Wayne showed yet another interesting talent as the door was opened in less than fifteen seconds with an audible click. He stepped inside and motioned Clark to follow.

“Shut the door behind you,” he instructed as he began examining the room closely.

Clark obeyed without question, hoping to avoid getting arrested in a foreign land if all possible. “What do you think we’ll find?” He asked.

“I’m not sure,” Bruce explained as he studied Eduardo Santiago’s modest home. The apartment was small with a kitchenette attached to the lounge room and a corridor running to what he assumed to be the bathroom and the master bedroom. “The more and more I learn about these abductions, the less this looks like its about money. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to grasp why these specific victims were taken. Other than the fact that they were tourists and rich, there’s no other connection.”

“I know what you mean,” Clark agreed, examining the place with his enhanced vision, hoping to find something of use. “I can understand them taking Lana. Lex would pay them anything to get them back but Chloe and Lois, they don’t have that kind of money.”

“Well Lana and Lois were taken together,” Bruce remarked, rifling through the drawers of the bureau in the living room. “That could have been opportunity. Take both of them because they were together.”

”And Chloe would have been grabbed if she was asking the same questions we were at the hotel.”

“Right,” the older man agreed before heading off towards the bedroom. Conducting the same search through the drawers and taking note that Eduardo’s bed was made, it appeared the man hadn’t been home for at least a day. Although there were all the expected personal items one would find in someone’s apartment, Bruce found little that was of any help until he pulled open the last drawer. In it was a small desk calendar with the days of the current month circled.

Eighteen days circled in red.

Today’s date was day fourteen.

Eighteen. It swirled around in his head and Bruce made swift leaps with that scant information. The first abduction took place shortly before the first date circled. After that, there was a steady abduction almost every two days. Tanya would have been number fourteen, Lana and Lois; fifteen and sixteen, with Chloe making seventeen. There was still one more left…wait, Bruce realised with a start. Lana was pregnant. That was eighteen and these days….oh hell.

“Clark,” Bruce hurried out of the room, looking grim. “We’ve got to find them, tonight.”

“What? Why?” Clark looked up from the desk drawer he was searching.

“I’m not exactly sure on the details,” Bruce spoke quickly, forcing himself to remain calm because suddenly the urgency of their situation had escalated through the roof. “However, the Aztecs held a special significance for the number eighteen.”

“Eighteen?” Clark stared. “But there’s only been….”

“Lana’s pregnant,” Bruce pointed out. “That makes eighteen.”

“So everyone’s been kidnapped because of some ritual?” It was so far fetched it was hard to believe but somehow, Clark could see Bruce believed it and Bruce was not someone who believed things on a whim. This much Clark had learned about the man.

“I think so and if I know Aztec rituals, they almost always involve human sacrifice.”

“You’re shitting me right?” Clark exclaimed, starting to share Bruce’s sense of panic. “What do we do? How do we get to them?”

Suddenly, the door knob twisted and Bruce was next to the light switch so quickly and quietly that Clark could have been forgiven for believing he possessed some form of super speed. Clark played along when Bruce gestured for him to be quiet, mostly because the Kryptonian was curious as to what the billionaire could do. As it was, Clark used his enhanced vision to spy through the door and could see three men gathering outside. All three were locals and did not appear at all friendly. Furthermore, Clark saw they were carrying guns but had no way to warn Bruce without giving away his secret. He wondered if one of them was Eduardo Santiago.

The door creaked open and Bruce made no move until all three entered to find Clark standing before them. The man had barely time to react to this when suddenly the room was bathed in darkness when Bruce killed the lights abruptly. Holding back long enough to see what Bruce had intended, Clark found himself gaping in astonishment as Bruce Wayne went into action. Through the dark, Clark had a perfect view of everything Bruce was doing, unlike the three men who had entered the room.

Feeling as if he was watching highlights from the Matrix, Clark was rather amazed to see the billionaire attack and disarm each man with a series of well practised move that allowed not one of them to get out a shot before they were lying on the ground, near unconscious. Bruce’s strikes were precise and entirely disabling. He didn’t go for the kill which would have been easy to do considering how fast he moved but instead rendered his opponents helpless and very much alive.

When Bruce switched on the lights again, all three were on the floor, dazed and bleeding. Clark who had seen Oliver in action wasn’t certain that the Green Arrow could match Bruce Wayne for sheer speed. Was Bruce a meteor freak or was he really that good?

“Help me with their guns,” Bruce ordered promptly reaching down to pick up the hardware, his face showing his dislike at having to handle steel.

Clark notice the grimace on the man’s face but had more pertinent questions for the moment other than Bruce’s reaction to their weapons. “How did you do that?” Clark asked.

Even though he had seen everything, it was necessary to play the charade to maintain his secret. However, in truth, he was curious to know what else Bruce was capable of.

“What?” Bruce said innocently, discarding the guns on the grubby sofa.

“Take out all these guys in the dark,” Clark retorted with a hint of exasperation.

“All those night clubs, I’ve learned to see through strobe lights and mirror balls.” Bruce threw Clark a smirk.

“You’re not going to tell me are you?” Clark gave him a look.

“Quid pro quo Mr Kent,” Bruce retorted, doing his best Hannibal Lector impression. “We need to tie them up,” he remarked glancing at his watch. “We’ll leave them here for Lex.”

“Lex?” The Kansas farm boy’s eyes widened.

“Yeah,” Bruce nodded going to the kitchen and rifling through the cupboards before returning with thick packing tape. “Luther Corp has more influence with the Acapulco government that Wayne Enterprises. If Lex Luthor tells the authorities to lock these guys up, they’ll stay locked up and who knows Lex might get them to talk.”

“Where are we going?” Clark asked, reluctant to leave anyone in Lox’s hands. He knew first hand how ruthless Lex could be.

“I need to get to my computer,” Bruce answered, “do some research.”

Was there anything this guy didn’t do? Clark was starting to feel ineffectual and he was the one who could bend steel bars and fly. “You got an idea of what we’re looking for?” Clark asked as he helped Bruce restrain the men.

As soon as the number eighteen began to have significance, dark possibilities began to form in his head but he wanted to be certain before he expended too much time focusing on it.

“Just a theory,” the Gothamite replied when suddenly the door flew open and a fourth man was at the door.

Clark had been so busy with their captives and listening to Bruce that he had barely a second to register someone was there before the door had fully opened. The man standing at the doorway did not give any quarter before pulling the trigger to let loose a murderous hail of bullets at both of them. Without thinking on the consequences, Clark threw himself over Bruce and took the brunt of the deadly barrage.

While continuing to shield Bruce, Clark looked over his shoulder and focussed his heat vision on the now astonished and terrified man who was continuing to fire out of sheer disbelief at what he was seeing. The gun in his hands turned red hot and he let out a scream of pain as the weapon clattered to the floor. Giving him no time to get away, Clark expelled a powerful gust of breath from his lungs and sent their would-be assassin slamming into the wall. The impact rendered him unconscious and the man slumped to the floor in a heap.

Clark straightened up and saw Bruce staring at him. For the first time, that smug, unflappable expression was absent. If nothing else, Clark could take comfort in that at least. Uncertain of what to say since there really was no hiding what he had just done, Clark’s thought were scrambling inside his head in a frenzy as he decided to do.

Bruce saw the bullet holes in Clark’s jackets and knew he had seen no hallucination. The kid had taken at least a dozen rounds and did not appear to have a scratch, to say nothing of the fact that he had shot frigging laser beams out of his eyes and had one help of a breath.

“Must be pretty handy having bullets bounce off you like that,” Bruce said in something a hushed tone. He was trying to regain his composure, retain that mask of cool he had worn for most of their acquaintance. It wasn’t easy though after what he had seen.

“Doesn’t suck,” Clark shrugged, having no other response.

Bruce didn’t speak for a moment and Clark feared the worst. He had met two kinds of billionaires. There were the kind like Lex who wanted him dissected and the ones like Oliver, who wanted him to use his powers to save the world. Which was Bruce Wayne[/]?

“I studied for two years with a Tibetan martial arts master who taught me how to use the dark when fighting my opponents.” Bruce said after a moment, meeting Clark’s eyes.

“Excuse me…?” Clark stared back blankly, not understanding the relevance.

“Quid pro quo, remember?” Bruce reminded.

Clark began to understand. Maybe Bruce Wayne wasn’t going to be like Oliver or Lex. Maybe he was going to be something else all together.

And Clark kind of liked that.

*******

Chloe Sullivan had come to the conclusion that she hated caves.

Really.

Walking for the last hour in near pitch black darkness, her only guidance being her own hands guiding her along dirt and slime covered walls, Chloe wondered if journeying deeper into these stygian catacombs was a better alternative than facing those crazy bastards hunting them. It was only a stroke of luck, following her abduction that Chloe had regained consciousness during her abduction and allowed her to be reunited with Lois and Lana. Thanks to being able to catch her abductor by surprise, Chloe had given Lois the opening she needed to escape so that she could free the others.

Following their escape, they had opted to head away from the main vein of tunnels, since their abductors undoubtedly had the run of that part of the cave system. Heading into the bowels of the earth, they had reached a fork and taken the less hospital of the two tunnels, the one with all the cobwebs and insects skittering across the uneven walls. As repulsed as they were by their situation, they were able to take comfort in the fact that the voices of the kidnappers were distant and vague. However, they had no illusions that they were safe.

At the moment, they were simply free.

“Is it smart to keep going down this tunnel?” Lana Lang asked, her voice strained as she tried to maintain her poise. Despite her best efforts not to let her pregnancy hold up her friends, she couldn’t help but worry about the baby inside her. “We have no idea if this is a way out.”

“We can’t go back the other way,” Tanya retorted. “Staying one step of those men is the only chance we have.” The lady reminded.

“I know,” Lana conceded the point there but this situation was not proving to be any safer, “but we have no idea if we’re not going deeper into the ground. We may find we might have to turn back around.”

“Look,” Lois took a deep breath, trying to think of something to say when the thought struck her and though it was a slim point in their favour, it was better than nothing. Like Chloe, Lana and Mrs. Fox, the dank air and the foul stench were fraying at the edges of her composure as well and she knew how crippling demoralization could be. Living with the General thought her that, if nothing else. “The air might smell like crap but it’s not getting any thinner,” she reminded. “This means that there’s a fresh supply coming from somewhere. I’m sure if we keep walking, we’ll find a way out. We just have to keep going.”

“Lois is right,” Chloe added, wiping an arm over her sweat stained brow. “We’ve got to go. From what you’ve told me, these guys play for keeps. Personally I rather be wandering around down here lost then being served up for whatever psycho plans they have in mind.”

Lois couldn’t see Chloe in the dark but she threw her cousin’s voice a smile of appreciation. “Besides, it won’t take them long to figure out we didn’t go the other way and then they’re going to be coming this way with torches and guns. I rather we be out of here before that happens.”

“Good point,” Lana agreed. “I’m sorry Lois,” she apologized, feeling a little guilty for bringing their already tenuous morale into further depths. “It’s just getting to me.”

“It’s alright dear,” Tanya replied kindly. “I think the last few days has been enough to try anyone’s nerves but we can be confident that the people we care about are searching for us. If we can stay ahead of those men, they might yet find us.”

“Absolutely,” Chloe said enthusiastically. “Look Clark’s on the case, he’ll be here.”

“Yeah,” Lois added, thinking of Smallville and how much she missed him. Even though it had been fun to get away, she had missed him more than she thought possible and right now, Lois would do just about anything to see Clark Kent again. “Smallville always comes through.”

“And if Bruce is already in Acapulco, he’ll find us.” Tanya spoke confidently.

“I hope so,” Chloe replied, wanting very much to see him again as well. Had it only been this morning, they had made love? After everything that had happened today, it felt like a lifetime ago.

“So,” Lois opted for a change of subject to take their mind of their situation, “I take it the rest of dinner went well, after we left last night?”

“Lois!” Chloe exclaimed. “Is this really the time for this conversation?”

“Would you rather talk about the crazies that are trying to kill us?” Lois retorted bluntly.

“Nicely put,” Lana frowned. “Fess up Chloe, I want to think of something else for awhile.”

“Okay, okay,” Chloe frowned, recognising that her personal life was going to be sacrificed for the sake of morale. “I get your point… yes, it went well.”

“You and Bruce, Chloe?” Tanya remarked, well aware of Bruce’s reputation where young women were concerned and wondered if she should warn the girl or not.

“We had dinner last night,” Chloe volunteered. “It was nice.”

She thanked God it was too dark for any of them to see the blush across her cheeks.

“Nice?” Lois knew her cousin all too well to not notice the nuance in her voice that indicated that Chloe was holding something back. Years of all night chat sessions and deep confessions had taught Lois how to tell when Chloe wasn’t being completely honest. “Come on, there’s more to it than that, right? Wait a minute,” a light bulb went off in her head. “Didn’t you say you started searching for us this morning?”

Chloe groaned inwardly.

“Chloe, you hussy, ” Lana teased, ignoring the absurdity of the situation that allowed them to joke while they were in such desperate circumstances. “Were you out all night?”

“Hey do I point out your indiscretions when you two do them?” Chloe grumbled, feeling some what persecuted. It was a terrible thing when she was wishing for them to be found by the bad guys rather than have this conversation.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Lois retorted smugly. “So suffer.”

“Okay, okay,” the blonde confessed. “I spent the night with him, with Bruce Wayne. What can I say? The guy’s pretty charming.”

“That is definitely true,” Tanya remarked, trying not to laugh. “Bruce is that and more.”

“So…” Lana nudged. “How was it?”

“How was what?” Chloe asked suspiciously.

“You know…?”

“Oh we are not having this conversation…” Chloe started to protest when suddenly Lois spoke up over Lana and Tanya’s laughter.

“Quiet!” Lois barked. “Listen.”

All four fell silent immediately and it was perhaps a second or two later that the sound of trickling water could be heard.

“I hear that!” Lana said excitedly. “Is that up ahead?”

“Yeah,” Lois nodded, feeling her way ahead. “I think so.”

Perhaps there was a way out of this hell after all.

Chapter Eleven:

The Stuff of Legends

“We need to get him in the car,” Bruce said staring down at the unconscious man lying in a heap against the wall of the hallway outside the apartment.

“We’re taking him with us?” Clark exclaimed, still trying to come to grips with the fact that he had just exposed his secret to someone he barely knew.

“That’s right,” Bruce nodded getting to his feet and dusting himself off, “Clark Kent, meet Eduardo Santiago, recently unemployed waiter and part-time kidnapper.”

“That’s him?” Clark blurted out, throwing a sharp look at the man who had abducted three of the most important people in his life. He was out the door in a flash, picking up Santiago in one hand.

Bruce raised a brow. “Enhanced strength as well?”

Clark stared at him flustered. “Uh yeah,” he nodded, somewhat embarrassed.

“How can you stand it?” Bruce shrugged thinking how much of a nuisance it would be to be super human. He knew of meta-humans of course. They had been turning up more and more of late. Many scientists theorized that it had to do with the spate of meteor showers the planet had endured over the seventeen years. “It would just get in my way.”

Now there was a response Clark hadn’t expected. Usually people tended to react to his abilities with envy where else Bruce considered them some kind of a handicap.

“Toss me the keys,” he said to Bruce. “I can get him to your car without anyone seeing us.”

Now it was Bruce’s turn to stare.

“Alright,” He said reaching into his pants pocket and fishing out his car keys. He tossed them at Clark who caught them with one hand while holding Santiago securely with the other. “Lock him up in the trunk and get in the car. Those gunshots would have attracted someone’s attention. We don’t want to be here when the police arrive.”

“Gotcha,” Clark nodded and took off with a blink of an eye. A mini tornado in the hallway as he departed, leaving a few bits of litter fluttering around the hallway as Bruce stepped out of the apartment and shut the door behind him.

As Bruce made his way out of the building, he wondered what kind of human he was dealing with. He knew that Lex Luthor’s reason to stay in Smallville had a great deal to do with the meta humans he had been researching of late. Was Clark Kent one of these? His conversations with Clark indicated that the young man was no fan of Lex. So it was more than likely that Lex had no idea that his fiancée’ former boyfriend was one of the subjects he had been studying of late.

As always, Fate had an ironic sense of humor.

~~~~~~

Clark was already in the car waiting, when he saw Bruce emerge from the building. He watched Bruce Wayne approach and wondered if he was being foolish for exposing so much of his powers to this stranger. Yet Bruce had reacted in such an unexpected way, Clark was somewhat thrown off balance. Clark could tell he was surprised; almost shocked by how Clark had managed to save his life but following that was this almost indifferent acceptance of everything he was seeing. People tended to have definitive reactions when they saw him use his powers for the first time but it washed off Bruce like water on a duck’s back.

Clark didn’t know whether or not he should be pleased or insulted.

“We better get moving,” Clark suggested when Bruce got into the car. “I can hear sirens.”

Bruce shot him a look and then added. “Now you’re just showing off.”

Clark actually chuckled at that, “you’re not what I expected.” He confessed.

Bruce threw him a small smile and started the car. “Why? Because I have no desire to dissect you or something.”

Clark stiffened at that. Talk like that, even after all these years, made him uncomfortable. “Something like that.”

“Well you’re from Smallville,” Bruce started to say as the engines of the Masserati came alive. “There’s been rumors for some time now that as a result of the meteor showers that took place there; there has been the emergence of humans displaying unusual ‘abilities’. I’m guessing you’re one of those?”

That sounded good enough for Clark right now. “Yes.”

“So what, you have enhanced sensory abilities, strength, that sort of thing?” Bruce asked as he drove them away from Santiago’s building. In the distance, he could hear the low whine of police sirens finally.

“Something like that…” Clark nodded.

“Alright,” Bruce looked at him. “Let’s have an understanding here. I don’t care if you have powers. Personally it sounds like pretty inconvenient. When a man takes his mortality for granted, he gets sloppy. No offense. I can’t afford to be sloppy so I prefer to rely on what I was born with. However, in exchange for keeping your secret, I would rather you keep to yourself my extracurricular hobbies. The world sees Bruce Wayne as an airhead billionaire playboy. I would prefer it to remain that way.”

“Why?” Clark had to ask, out of sheer curiosity.

“Because,” Bruce started to say and then paused.

The black car meandered through the darkened streets of Tierra Coronada, putting the apartment building further and further behind them. It seemed that Bruce was trying to decide whether or not to trust him, Clark ventured to guess.

“I have a mission,” Bruce’s voice was soft, haunted almost. “I think I’ve been getting ready for it my whole life and it’s almost time to begin.”

There was something in his eyes that made Clark shudder, something the Kryptonian almost understood and at the same time, could not imagine. What in God’s name had happened to this human to mark him so deeply, to make Clark’s brooding moods for Lana seem trite in comparison?

“Begin what?” Bruce was possibly one of the sharpest minds he had ever encountered, to say nothing of the fact that he was a trained investigator, an expert in hand to hand combat and god only knew what else. He had made himself this way, by choice it appeared. What mission could possibly warrant that much discipline, especially when someone who had the power to be anything damn thing he wanted.

“Gotham City isn’t like most cities, Clark, not in the way that Metropolis or Star City is.” He said in a low, almost brittle voice. He was someone else at that moment, someone Bruce could feel but hadn’t quite assumed yes. “The police are corrupt, the gangs rule the streets. Decent people are afraid to leave their homes and have no one where else to go. In Gotham, crime isn’t just a state of affairs, it’s a sickness.”

“You want to save the world,” Clark declared. Just like Oliver.

“Not interested in the world Clark,” Bruce said with a little smirk, “the rest of the world isn’t like Gotham. Gotham’s where I’m needed.”

“I can understand that,” Clark sighed. God could he understand. His Kryptonian heritage meant that his destiny was already decided for him.

Neither spoke for a bit, content to ruminate on the revelations made. In exposing his powers to Bruce, Bruce had made good on quid pro quo. This made the ground between them even somehow. Clark was grateful for it.

“So where are we headed?” Clark asked.

”Just far enough away so we can talk to him,” Bruce answered, glad to get back to business now that they had reached an accord. “Listen, I need to know what you can do.”

“Excuse me?” Clark blurted out in surprise.

“Look, we don’t have a lot of time. If what I suspect is right, we’re going to have one shot at getting this guy to lead us to the girls. Therefore I need to know what resources is available to us if we’re going to come up with a plan. So what else can you do? If we’re going to be friends, we’re going to have to learn to trust each other.”

”Who says we’re going to be friends,” Clark returned.

“Oh we’re going to be friends,” Bruce said smugly with a faith he didn’t understand but believed in. “Our friendship is going to be the stuff of legends.”

The Kryptonian stared at the Gothamite skeptically, wondering if it bode well that it was Lex who had last used such a phrase on him. It hadn’t ended well at all. “I’ve heard that before,” Clark frowned.

“This time it’s true,” Bruce grinned. “Come on, Clark, we don’t have a lot of time.”

He had to be crazy trusting this guy. Clark thought to himself but something in him told him that this was the right thing to do, that he could trust Bruce. “If you turn out to be some meteor freak villain, my mom is going to kill me.”

”Not to mention Lois,” Bruce retorted.

“Very funny,” Clark grumbled and then finally confessed, “Okay,” he said reluctantly, “I can see through things and over long distances. I hear pretty good and the last time I sneezed; I tore the door of the barn and sent it half way across the county. I’m strong and I can move pretty fast. I can also fly.”

“Fly?” Bruce allowed his cool demeanor to lower enough to exclaim, ‘You’re kidding.”

“No seriously, you wanted to know how I got here, I flew and I’m also bullet proof.”

“I got that part,” the other man said absorbing what Clark had revealed. Bruce wondered if Clark had even begun to grasp that he might well be the most powerful being on the planet. Something to ponder later, Bruce decided. Right now, Clark’s laundry list of abilities meant that he had a plan to find Chloe and the girls.

A good one.

He didn’t speak for a few minutes, ironing out the details in his head. Inside the mind of the one the world would someday call the greatest detective in the world, Bruce Wayne was putting pieces together and when he was done, he looked at Clark.

“Alright, first things first, before he wakes up,” Bruce reached into the back seat of the Masserati and produced a laptop bag. Unzipping it, he revealed a state of the art laptop computer.

“No wonder you and Chloe get alone so well,” Clark couldn’t help but tease as he saw Bruce rest the laptop on the arm rest between their seats and flip open the device to started pounding against the keys a short time later.

Bruce threw Clark a sidelong glance before facing the screen again. The light from the screen illuminated the inside of the car and Bruce didn’t’ speak for a few minutes, stabbing at Clark’s patience with each second that clicked by while the billionaire continued to type.

“What is it you’re looking for?” Clark asked unable to keep quiet any longer.

Bruce did not answer at first. He straightened up in the car seat and leaning back to consider what he had learned. “Answers,” he said with a decidedly grim look on his face that made Clark even more anxious to learn what he had discovered.

“What answers?” Clark was almost afraid to ask.

“The number eighteen,” Bruce said finally, raising his eyes to Clark. “I knew I’d come across it before. During Aztec times, they believed that their sun god Huitzilopochtli was in constant struggle with the darkness. In order to maintain the battle and keep the world from falling into shadow, Huitzilopochtli needed to be nourished so that the sun would continue to exist in cycles of 52 years. Therefore, once every 52 years, the Aztecs needed to perform what they called the Festival of the Binding Year. The festival takes place over 18 days where Huitzilopochtli would need to be nourished so that he could resume the fight for another cycle.”

“Don’t’ tell me…” Clark’s stared to say, his throat suddenly becoming very dry.

“According to modern scholars, this is the first year of the new cycle.”

“Wait…” Clark tried to catch up. “If the cycle has already started, then why are they still trying to complete the ritual if that is what they’re doing?”

“That I’m not sure about,” Bruce admitted. “However, if I had to venture a guess, this has been a very turbulent year as far as natural disasters are concerned. In less than 12 months we’ve had Dark Thursday and Ash Wednesday. Since this hasn’t happened before, I’m guessing that someone came up with the idea that because Huitzilopochtli wasn’t being appeased, we’re experiencing all this chaos.”

Oh this was not happening.

This really was not happening.

Clark’s expression turned ashen and even if Bruce did not know the younger man that long, he was a student of behavior and Clark Kent was presently having the equivalent of a meltdown. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Clark stammered and then realized this was too big and terrible to contain. Besides Bruce said they were going to be friends and the last time Clark hadn’t trusted someone who said those words to him, it had ended with Lex being lost to a path of darkness no one could save him from. “Wait...Dark Thursday and Ash Wednesday, they aren’t natural disasters. They were created… this is my fault.”

Bruce seriously doubted that and he would like to hear Clark’s thoughts on why he believed this but right now, they had more important things to deal with.

“Tell me about it later,” Bruce said abruptly. “We got more important things to deal with now. Nourishment means sacrifice and I think we might be already too late the first fourteen.”

“Christ,” Clark uttered a soft gasp of horror but composed himself. Bruce was right. There were still four people to save and the assignment of blame could come later. Lois, Chloe, Lana and Bruce’s friend Tanya, needed them to think straight. “Alright, what do we do?”

“It's time,” Bruce looked over his shoulder in the direction of his car’s trunk, “that I have a talk to Mr. Santiago.”

***********

Water.

The sound of it was becoming louder and louder in the cavern.

Hearing it filled them all with hope. If there was water, there could be a stream or something and water could erode away rock. Unfortunately, it was still dark and difficult to see and as the four women made their clumsy journey towards it, Lois prayed that this wasn’t a false hope. Fortunately, they were soon rewarded by a fresh breeze of air coming through the passage.

“Oh my God,” Chloe said with a grateful sigh. “I didn’t know how good that could feel.” The blonde reporter relished every wisp of fresh air against her skin.

“There’s some kind of current,” Lois said listening closely, drawing on every iota of survival training that the general had every made her learn. She listened closely, trying to gauge their situation even though it was frightfully dark and their vision was limited to little more than vague shapes. “The water is moving fast.”

“That’s good right?” Lana spoke up, “that means it’s not what’s left of a marsh or some dried out waterway.” Suddenly she wished she had paid a little more attention in geography class.

“I think so,” Lois replied, having the same thought herself.

“The air is cooler as well,” Tanya pointed out.

It was true, Lois noted as they continued through the passage and she could feel moisture in the air, heavy and cool against her skin. The sound of rushing water was closer now and Lois hastened her pace, determined to lead her friends out of this hellish place. Inwardly, she swore she was going nowhere near a cave after this. If Clark wanted her to take a trip to the fortress, he was just going to have to fly her there.

“Lois,” Chloe warned hearing her cousins footsteps grow a little more distant as Lois hurried up ahead. “Slow down will ya?”

“I’m fine,” Lois assured her, “I’m within shouting distance.”

“Lois,” Lana spoke up, ever the voice of reason. “Come on, you told us no stragglers remember? These are awfully dark caves to get separated in.”

“I’m okay,” Lois repeated herself, hearing the running water close by. It was just around here somewhere. “I’m almost the…!”

Lois let out a short, surprised scream as suddenly, there was no longer any ground beneath her and she splashed head first into rushing water. The dark waters enveloped her immediately and the powerful current whisked her away from the stone ledge she had come across before Lois had a chance to reach out and grab it.

“CHLOEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Lois uttered a scream in the brief second she managed to break the surface before the currents dragged her under again and she was swept away.

“LOIS!” Chloe screamed back and ran after her cousin, heart pounding with terror until she rushed off the same ledge that Lois had fallen and disappeared beneath the cold water.

Lana Lang heard the second splash of water and immediately halted, “Mrs. Fox wait!” She ordered and thought quickly. “Drop to your hands and knees.” The future Mrs. Luthor ordered. “If we keep going we’re going to end up the same way.”

The girl made sense; Tanya decided and obeyed, lowering gingerly onto her fours. “Alright dear,” she answered. “I’m doing it,” she swallowed thickly, listening for Chloe and Lois in the distance and feeling even more frightened when she could only hear frantic splashing and gurgling of water. “I’m right behind you.”

Lana nodded quickly and crawled forward quickly but also carefully, determined not to make the same mistake by rushing in too quickly. Very soon however, her fingers felt the rough edge where their passage walkway had come to an end. In the near pitch black darkness, she could see the slight shimmer of water before her. Reaching in, she immediately felt the current tugging at her hand. If Chloe and Lois went over, then it was likely they were swept well away from here by now. This was more or less confirmed by the faint voices she could hear being borne further and further away.

“Mrs. Fox,” Lana swallowed thickly, making a decision. “How good a swimmer are you?”

In the dark, she heard the woman’s breath catch before an answer came a few second later. “I can manage.”

“If we can keep our head above water and go with the current,” Lana suggested nervously, “we may be able to catch up with them. We can still hear them so there must be pockets of air.”

“It’s risky,” Tanya offered.

“No riskier than staying put,” Lana looked back at the woman, wishing she could see Tanya’s face “It could be our only shot of getting out of here.”

“Then we should take it,” the older woman agreed finally.

“I’ll go first,” Lana said crawling over the edge gingerly.

She hung to the ledge for as long as she could, even if the current was strong. Lana had always been a strong swimmer and knew how to keep her head above water. Furthermore, unlike Lois, she wasn’t caught by surprised and could use the current to help with her buoyancy before she was swept too much out of control. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and started to swim, giving herself to the currents and hopefully, freedom as well.

Chapter Twelve:

Leads

Eduardo Santiago woke up.

The wind rushed at his hair.

For a moment, it did not register on him where he was. He was still groggy from the blow to the back of the head that had rendered him unconscious when…when…what was if that had happened exactly? He recalled opening fire and a blast of wind(?) that had been flying through the air and against the wall. He didn’t know how long he had been unconscious but there was an odd taste in his mouth, ironically, an experience shared by scores of his victims, making him believe he had been drugged with something made his return to coherence all the more difficult.

There was something else as well, a rush of blood to his head that made him slightly nauseas and his ankles were hurting. Eduardo’s eyes fluttered open uncertainly as the wind kissed his cheeks in its journey past him and suddenly, awareness brought to mind the awful realization of where he was. With a start, he started to struggle and shout for help but none was forthcoming and with each struggle to move, he jerked about as desperately as a fish on a hook.

“It’s good to see you are awake Eduardo,” a voice, maddeningly calm in the face of his blind panic, spoke to him. It was a low voice, shrouded in all kinds of shadow, like brittle glass, it scraped his ears and made his shudder.

Eyes wide, Eduardo looked at the stranger in the dark he could not see, save what the full moon were allowed. The man was white, dressed in black, was standing on the ledge of a building. Next to him was one of the metal struts resident of the building had attached aerial devices and other receiving equipment for whatever electronics they wanted to network. However, attached to this strut was not an antenna but a pulley for rope and the rope was tied around Eduardo’s own ankle, as he was suspended over the ledge, from what appeared to be ten floors up.

“What do you want!” Eduardo demanded, frightened as he saw the concrete below him and the city around him. “Let me down!”

“I’ll let you down,” the man said, “after you answer a few questions for me.”

“Fuck you man! Let me down now!”

“Such language,” the stranger returned without any appearance of annoyance. “What would Huitzilopochtli say?”

Eduardo froze and looked at the man sharply. He strained to see the face but it was not meant to be. The man knew how to hide in the shadows, how to take advantage of the dark.

“You know nothing of Huitzilopochtli!” Eduardo said defiantly, beginning to guess why he was here.

“I know that this is the first year of fifty two. The ceremony of binding should have taken place last year but it has not and because it has not, there has been much chaos. Dark Thursdays, Ash Wednesday, natural disasters that cannot be explained, even by science. Huitzilopochtli is hungry isn’t he? He has not been fed and he cannot fight the darkness unless he feeds.”

Eduardo was not sure what to do because the man’s insight into Eduardo’s purpose was remarkably accurate. “The world is going to be destroyed if we do not offer the proper sacrifices.”

Like all religious men, even the misguided ones, the urge to spread the faith was almost overwhelming and Eduardo, even in his present unfortunate circumstances were as prone to this behavior as any other.

“Why foreigners?” His interrogator asked. “It's not about wealth is it? It’s about those that matter least to you.”

“And why not?” Eduardo snorted gleefully. “They have money and power. They come to our lands like it is their private playground. What are we to them but their waiters, their valets or their dishwashers? In OUR country, they treat us as if we were put on this Earth for their amusement!”

“Better to sacrifice others than your own people,” the stranger nodded in understanding. “Where are they?”

“Dead!” Eduardo hissed, wanting to make this puta realize that it was already too late. If he had loved ones who were taken as sacrifices, it was too late! “You can threaten me all you like but you won’t like the answers I give!”

“Probably not,” the man said and reached for the pulley.

Eduardo had just enough time to register the handle being released before he was plunging to the ground. Concrete rushed up to greet him as he screamed all the way down, seeing windows as he fell, seeing the ground waiting for him to die. His throat was hoarse from the blind terror of his scream and he clamped his eyes shut, waiting for death.

But it did not come.

Instead there was a sudden jerk that forced his eyes open and Eduardo saw the dirty granite behind him. Suspended like a marionette, he was shaking with fright when he realized he had paused inches from death. Before he had a chance to register this, he was swept up again, dragged by his ankles into the air before finding himself at the same place again, dangling.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Eduardo screamed in fury and fear, “whoever you want is already dead!”

“Not all of them are dead,” the stranger said without emotion and produced something that gleamed in the night. It was black, sharp and shaped almost like a….a bat? He placed the object against the rope and cut just enough so that on strand of rope was severed, sticking out untidily from the rest of the weave. “The festival of the binding takes place over eighteen days. You have eighteen victims but this night, this is only day fourteen, so I’m going to ask you again, where are they?”

“Where you will never….!”

He was falling again and the lack of warning made him unprepared for how violently he would react. The fear clenched at his stomach and he felt his bowels loosen. Acrid odors filled his ears as it felt warm fluid dribbling down his belly.

And once again, he came to a halt before he could splatter against the ground.

Almost unhinged with fear, he was brought to the top again and saw the ritual continue, each time with his assailant cutting just another piece of rope in warning.

He had to be strong! He could not tell the stranger what he wished to know! Huitzilopochtli needed to be fed! Their way of life depended on his ability to prevail! This demon would not force the truth from him! Even if he was to die!

“I’m running out of patience,” the man said coldly as Eduardo had been reduced to loud sobs, his fear so thick he could barely make coherent speech. “Where are they?”

“GO TO THE HELL!”

“You first,” the man answered in that same, cold voice, a voice that sounded like judgment given tangible, human form.

Eduardo screamed, certain that this was the moment where he would not pause but reach all the way to the bottom. His cry tore through the night and death was almost welcomed if it meant an end to this torture. However it appeared that Huitzilopochtli was watching over him because he jerked to a stop suddenly a few inches above the ground and then, then he landed. Rope fell around him and for a second, Eduardo thought that that his mind had gone and he was already dead.

He did not think that the afterlife would smell of piss in his clothes and as he looked up, saw his attacker disappearing off the ledge quickly. He was coming! Eduardo thought and quickly scrambled for the ropes around his ankle. Freeing his feet quickly, the servant of Huitzilopochtli realized that the rope had finally snapped after its abuse from the rapid descent and the minimal cutting. Whatever, the reason, he did not care, he was free and he had to get away before the demon from above found a way to take the truth from him. Scrambling to his feet and still somewhat shaky, Eduardo started running.

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

“Were you really going to let him fall?” Clark asked when Bruce finally joined him in the alley where Eduardo had landed. With his enhanced vision, Clark was having little trouble tracking Eduardo’s escape. He could see the man on a main street now, trying to hail a taxi, probably back to his apartment to get his car or better yet, straight to Lois and the others.

“Don’t be silly,” Bruce said with a smile, closing the back door to the building behind him. “I knew you were down here in case anything went wrong. Besides, I estimated just how much of the weave I could cut before it gave way finally. Have you got him?”

“Oh yeah,” Clark remarked with a smirk, watching Eduardo with his x-ray vision. “I got him. He’s just got a cab to pull up. I need to go or we might lose him.”

“Right,” Bruce nodded without argument and handed Clark a small, electronic device the size and shape of a cufflink.

“What’s this?” Clark asked staring at it in his palm. “A bug?”

“Something like that,” Bruce returned. “It’s so I can follow you in the car. I follow you, you follow him, and hopefully we’ll find Chloe and the others.”

“Okay,” Clark nodded, seeing the sense in that. “I hope it’s got range,” he remarked putting it in the top pocket of his shirt. “I move pretty fast.”

”Stop showing of and get going,” Bruce retorted with a little smile. “I’m right behind you.”

Clark threw him a returning smile and rushed off so fast that to Bruce it looked like he simply vanished.

As someone who was more than accustomed to pulling the same stunt on others, Bruce appreciated the irony.

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

The water rushed all around her and Chloe didn’t know what was worse, the fact that the current was so strong or that she could barely tell where she was heading. Were they heading into some deeper, darker place in the mountain, where escape would be impossible or were they going to keep traveling this underground river until there was nowhere left to go and they all suffocated? Chloe tried to gain some footing but all she managed was to bump her head against the low lying ceiling. If it were not for a scant gap of space between the water and the roof of the passage, they would be dead by now.

“LOIS!” She tried to call but each attempt only filled her mouth with more water and finally Chloe gave up trying all together.

“CHLOE!” She heard through the rush of frothing water and felt her heart surge with relief when she recognized her name.

“LANA!” Chloe called back. “Where….” She spat more water, “where are you?” She managed to say before going under again.

“Right….behind…you…” Lana answered in stutters.

Lois Lane could hear the others behind her but she had long given up trying to communicate because she was swimming with the current, instead of fighting it. She wanted to know where this nightmare would end because despite how disorientated she had been, Lois was quickly getting her bearings. Wherever, they were going, it was still allowing fresh air to reach them, which told Lois that there was an exit at the end of all this.

She surfaced just long enough to grab a lung full of air before going under again, finding it easier to move when you weren’t fighting the current. A strong swimmer, something which had nothing to do with dating a guy whose code name was apparently Aquaman (so lame), Lois kept her ears tuned for Chloe and the others, feeling relief when she heard them speak. She knew she ought to signal her own well being but that didn’t seem as important as getting to the end of this passage.

Suddenly, she noticed something upon surfacing again. A draft. There was a draft blowing through the tunnel and even better than that, the echoes of the voices was starting to diminish as if they were nearing the end. Her limbs were tired but Lois forced herself onward, the makeup of her being refusing to let her quit until she had the outcome she desired or in this case, desperately needed.

And then it appeared.

As if the heavens itself had opened up. Lois Lane looked up and saw stars. She saw the night sky and never thought that dark canvas of velvet, sprinkled with diamond dust could look more beautiful. Even though she wanted to shout triumph for everyone to hear, she afforded herself a little smile. They were free of the cave but not out of danger. Somehow, they had to get to safety or find some way to tell Clark where they were. However, first things first.

Where were they?

The current did not abate but at least they were outside at last, Chloe thought when she saw the same thing that Lois did. Pushing her head above water, Chloe craned her neck to see her cousin actually swimming with the current.

Show off, Chloe thought with a smile of relief before looking to see if Lana and Tara was behind her. It was difficult to make anything out as it was still rather dark but at least Chloe could make out trees in the distance and what appeared to be embankment. She saw Lana doing the same thing as Lois, swimming but mostly keeping her head above water so she could keep sight of her friends. Good, as long as they all kept each other in the line of sight, they wouldn’t lose each other.

Lois continued to swim ahead, wishing for the current to carry them as far away as possible from the kidnappers. Undoubtedly, they would be searching for the four escapees and considering what had happened to the other captives, Lois didn’t plan on getting caught again. The current was not making it terribly easy for her to reach the shore anyway and Lois looked ahead, straining to see under the moonlight, anything that would give her a clue as to where they were headed.

The rush of water and the lack of light did not allow her to see what was coming until it was almost too late and when Lois did see, her eyes opened wide. She turned around and tried to scream a warning to the others.

“GET TO THE SHORE!” Lois screamed on top of her lungs. “NOW!”

“What?” Chloe looked ahead at Lois. “What? WHY?”

“JUST DO IT!” Lois Lane shouted and then closed her eyes as she went over the edge of the waterfall and fell herself plunging downwards.

“Oh my God! LOIS!” Chloe cried out as she saw her cousin go over the edge. “Lana, get to the shore! Get to the shore now!!!” She warned the women behind her and tried to make it herself. The current was powerful and it was unrelenting in its desire to let her go. Struggle as she might, Chloe couldn’t keep herself from making it to the embankment and like Lois disappeared over the edge.

“Oh God!” Lana Lang exclaimed as she forced herself to the muddy shore. She had more time to make the effort and the additional time was exactly what was needed to make her way slowly to the embankment. Crawling out of the water, with her hand and knees deep in mud, she saw Tara emerge a few minute later, just as exhausted. Both women wanted nothing more than to collapse against the mud and sleep but couldn’t.

“We have to find Chloe and Lois,” Lana said panting, exhausted as she looked at Tara a few feet away through mangroves and other reeds. She heard a frog croaking somewhere and in the corner of her eye, she could see things scrambling about. “We have to get to the bottom of that waterfall.”

Tara nodded weakly, “yes, yes,” the older woman agreed but didn’t move.

Lana did not rouse her for a few minutes, aware that Tara’s age wasn’t making this any easier. For her part, Lana was just grateful she had managed to reach the shore. She had no idea how the baby would have been affected by such a fall but she knew she had no desire to find out. After those minutes had passed, Lana pushed herself up to her feet and turned to Tara. “We’ve got to keep moving. We have to find Lois and Chloe if we can or get help.”

“Alright,” Tara answered, shaking her weary head and standing up. “Which way should we go?”

Lana looked at the waterfall and the brush before it. “The only way we can, we follow the waterfall.”

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

Following Eduardo as Bruce had instructed, Clark tailed the man all the way back to his apartment keeping a discreet distance behind to remain out of sight. Keeping in contact with Bruce through his cell phone, Clark waited outside the risked waiting outside the building’s main entrance to keep watch while the billionaire had parked in a similarly concealed location nearby. Bruce was certain Eduardo, fearing that capture was eminent, would take the sensible course of leaving while he still could. With eighteen victims already captured, there was no longer any reason for the man to maintain his cover as waiter at the hotel.

Bruce’s assertion was confirmed when Clark spied Eduardo packing up his belongings after the man had showered and gotten into fresh clothes. Watching him through the walls of the building, Clark saw Eduardo pick up the phone and was all set to focus his hearing to listen in on that conversation when suddenly; he saw something that made forget all about Eduardo for the moment.

“We’ve got problems,” Clark said calling Bruce up as he hurried towards the lobby.

“Lex has arrived?”

Clark paused, gave the cell a glare before retorting. “Did you know he would show up?”

“I assumed he would,” Bruce returned smoothly. “You might want to stop talking to me and go stop him.” The playboy declared offered helpfully.

“Right,” Clark grumbled, having no idea how he was going to explain himself to Lex before arriving at the firm conclusion he really didn’t give a rat’s ass whether or not Lex believed him. Eduardo Santiago was their only lead to the girls and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste. No doubt Lex had questioned the hotel concierge who had undoubtedly told Lex about Santiago.

Lex emerged from his car with two men in attendance. Bodyguards or worse, Clark came to the firm conclusion. The two men did not follow their employer into the building and Clark supposed he ought to be grateful for that as he hurried forward.

“Lex!” Clark called out as he stepped through the doors of the front entrance. Looking up, he could see Santiago through the ceiling, finishing the last of his packing. It wouldn’t be long before he was making the elevator ride to the lobby. Clark had to get Lex out of there before that.

Lex Luthor had spent the better part of the day traveling across country to arrive in Acapulco after receiving Chloe’s phone call earlier that day. Convinced that he had done the right thing by leaving immediately having heard nothing from the young woman since her call not had he been able to reach her, Lex was somehow unsurprised to find Clark Kent standing behind him.

“Clark,” Lex stared at him, “why am I not surprised to see you here?” He asked almost with resignation. It figures that Chloe would call Clark probably before she called him, the billionaire thought with resentment.

“Lex, there’s no time to talk, you need to get out of the lobby right now,” Clark said brushing over the formalities.

“And why would I do that Clark?” Lex asked suspiciously, “since the only clue to Lana’s disappearance seems to be Santiago.”

“Because he’s not doing it for the money Lex,” Clark insisted, thinking that if the man didn’t cooperate, he was going to risk using his powers and dragging him out of there. “He’s a fanatic. He’d rather die than give them up. The only way we have to find where he’s taken them is to follow him and he won’t do that if he sees you down here.”

Lex’s first impulse was to ignore Clark because after all these years, he had become naturally inclined to disbelieve everything that came out of the farm boy’s mouth. Being deceived one too many times, tended to have that effect on Lex. However, there was just enough edge in Clark’s voice for Lex to believe that he might be sincere and furthermore, if Clark was right, if this guy was a fanatic, then no amount of coercion that Lex could inflict upon him would make him reveal Lana’s whereabouts.

For Lana Lang, Lex Luthor was not about to take that chance.

”You better not be screwing with me, Clark.” Lex warned as he let out a deep breath.

“You’re not my type,” Clark growled and started out the building, with Lex following close behind.

Chapter Thirteen:

Playing Nice

“GET TO THE SHORE!” Lois screamed on top of her lungs. “NOW!”

“What?” Chloe looked ahead at Lois. “What? WHY?”

“JUST DO IT!” Lois Lane shouted and then closed her eyes as she went over the edge of the waterfall and fell herself plunging downwards.

******

Lois Lane had a secret.

It was a secret she hadn’t told anyone. Not Clark,. Not Chloe. Sometimes not even to herself. It was a secret she guarded fiercely, fortified by years of conditioning and discipline that she should always be strong because weakness was easily exploitable. Her father had drilled into her that nothing good ever came of being fragile and Lois Lane had been determined not to break. In the scheme of things, the secret was relatively new and most people would be rather shocked to know she felt such anxiety. For that matter, that she felt any anxiety. So practiced was Lois at hiding her emotions when it suited her that she was able to fool most people into believing that she wasn’t affected, that she was incapable of hurting.

Which was of course, was a lie.

Nature had a way of balancing things out. The harder the exterior, the softer the interior it was protecting and for a select few, like Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan, they understood what Lois was about even when she was unable to admit it to herself. Like the secret she had harbored for almost two years now. If either Clark or Chloe knew about it, they would have been surprised and then somewhat embarrassed for not seeing it sooner because all the signs were there. In fact, it would seem almost natural considering what they knew about her.

Lois was afraid of drowning.

It wasn’t about dying. No, Lois had no especial fear of death, no more than the next person. What she feared was dying that particular way. Sometimes, she thought that Fate was daring her to solve a riddle by all the near misses she had experienced with that form of death, as if it was daring her to make peace with dying in this manner. The first time it had happened to her, she had been the victim of a meteor-freak who had paralyzed her and then left her in a sewer. Though the nightmares were fewer now, there had been a period where she was waking up every night in a cold sweat, reliving that feeling of utter helplessness.

The next time it had happened, she was mercifully unconscious for it but once again, she had come close to drowning at the bottom of Crater Lake. If it wasn’t for AC, she would drowned. Twice she thought, that was enough for one lifetime right? Not according to World according to Lane, because no sooner than she had penned the moniker for the Green Arrow Bandit, some nut job at a security firm was giving her the Chinese Water Torture treatment.

And now, now there was this.

The minute that Lois had seen the waterfall rushing at her, she had come to two conclusions; either this was the moment – the one that had been coming for sometime already or Fate was messing with her.

Again.

*********

Fear gripped Lois when she felt herself go over the edge and after that, her sense became a jumbled mess of overpowering stimuli. Instinctively closing her eyes to protect them from the powerful rush of water around her, Lois could hear nothing except the thunderous roar of the waterfall in her ears. She almost got sick from the sensation of plunging downward, trying as best she could to get into some kind of crash position so she didn’t break any bones upon landing. It was so easy to forget that water as a substance was hard.

Ask any diver who messed up a dive. They’d clue you in real fast.

It was hard to assume any position with the way she had gone over but she managed something and was aided by the broken surface tension beneath the cascade. Fortunately, there was enough depth not to crush her against the bottom as she was driven towards the lake bed by the force of the descending water. Opening her eyes, she saw murky green water around and the silt covered bottom. Survival instinct engaged, Lois began kicking hard, propelling herself through the water to escape the tidal wave of foam above her.

Lungs bursting, Lois continued to kick and swim, freed from the cascade’s cradle to reach calmer waters. She broke the surface of the pool, gasping and looked up above to see the stars again. Stealing air like a hungry beggar with food, Lois didn’t know how many large breaths she took before she turned started towards the comforting sight of an embankment within reach. Swimming until her feet touched mud, she kept moving until she was crawling through water lettuce and alligator weed to flop exhausted against the ground.

She took a minute, maybe two to rest, not thinking about her situation.

Lois stared at the stars, the ones that looked down on her with indifference even if the sight of them gave her strength. She wondered if it was she that was jaded or them.

“This is some weekend,” A voice almost as exhausted as she retorted beside Lois, “Next time, leave me at home.”

Lois lifted her and turned to see Chloe crawling up along side of her. The younger woman looked almost as bedraggled and miserable as she before falling against the same earth to look at the stars above.

Lois stared at her cousin a moment and started to laugh. “Glad to see you could keep up Sullivan,” Lois smiled as she lay back down.

“Haven’t given up yet,” Chloe answered just as amused. “I followed you when you snuck us into that R-rated movie remember?”

“Yeah,” Lois gave her a look. “Think we should ever tell Clark we went to see a movie called Orgazmo?” Eyes still feasting in the glitter above, Lois didn’t look at Chloe as she smiled.

“God no,” Chloe grinned. “He might get ideas and start wearing a cape.”

Both women burst into simultaneous laughter that last for a good few minutes. Considering what they had so far been through, it was almost surreal against the backdrop of the thick, oppressive jungle that surrounded them on either bank. Finally, their laughter diminished into silence and only the sound of their breathing could be heard amidst the chirping of insects and frogs.

“We’ve got to keep moving.” Lois said somberly.

“Yeah,” Chloe nodded, sparing thought for Bruce Wayne. She wondered if he was thinking of her. Did he even care that she couldn’t make their date? “We do.”

Lois was to first to sit up, largely because she was the one who had the survival training. Lifting herself to her feet, she cursed the lack of shoes. In this environment, it was hazardous to be without footwear of any kind.

“Come on Sullivan,” she extended her hand towards her cousin. “Let’s go find Lana and Mrs. Fox.”

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

“Tell them to go,” Clark told Lex as they stepped through the main entrance to Eduardo’s Santiago’s building and saw Lex’s limousine parked in front of the place as clear as day. “Santiago sees this; he’s going to go to ground Lex.”

“What makes you so sure about this?” Lex Luthor turned to Clark Kent suspiciously, not all that pleased to dismiss his bodyguards in this less than hospital neighborhood of Tierra Coronada.

“I’m not sure of anything,” Clark declared, barely able to conceal his disdain for the other man. “But this is the only lead to Lois that we’ve got and I’m not about to risk losing it because you’re afraid to go anywhere without your babysitters.”

“Screw you,” Lex spat at the remark.

“I told you,” Clark retorted, better able to handle Lex’s barbs now that he was well and try over Lana. “Not my type. Do it Lex.” He insisted with a tone to his voice that he seldom used with anyone.

“Mr. Luthor,” Lex’s dark suited bodyguard started to protest. “This isn’t wise.”

“I don’t pay you for advice,” Lex responded sharply. “Get going. Now. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything. Now move!”

Like Clark, Lex wasn’t about to risk Lana’s life by playing it safe.

“Yes Sir,” the bodyguard answered promptly, no sign of annoyance in his voice as he quickly opened the door of the limousine and disappeared inside.

No more than ten seconds later, the car’s engines had come alive and the shiny, black vehicle was speeding away out of sight. As soon as it had started to move, Clark turned around to see where Eduardo was at. He was riding the urine soaked elevator down to the lobby. Deciding that he would have to tolerate Lex for now, Clark grabbed his nemesis and hurried around the nearest corner of the building.

”Get your hands off me,” Lex pulled his arm back as he followed Clark to the newly designated hiding place.

“Then move your ass,” Clark bit back as he reached the corner and took refuge behind it as he waited for Santiago to appear.

Lex didn’t want to be around Clark Kent. Every time he was in close proximity to the Smallville farmer, Lex was forced to face some home truths about himself he just didn’t like admitting to. This, had been his best friend until two years ago. This kid who seemed to have everything until Lex had seen it systematically taken away one by one. Hell, he had been partially responsible for some of the losses that Clark had endured in recent times, most notably Lana Lang.

Maybe that’s why he despised Clark so much now, not because he suspected that Lana might still feel something for her old love but because seeing Clark reminded him of the battle he had lost with his darker impulses.

He once asked Clark not to give up on him and sometimes, the only way to bear the fact that Clark had was to make Clark suffer the way Lex suffered knowing what he had become.

“Well,” Lex demanded after a few minutes of silence, “where is he?”

“Shut up,” Clark ordered. “He’s coming.”

“And how would you know that?” Lex insisted again, wondering how Clark had got this miraculous insight into their quarry’s movements.

“I just do,” Clark ignored the suspicion he could feel burning into his back and continued to watch the space outside the main entrance. “Now shut the hell up.”

Lex was about to protest when suddenly the doors opened and a Mexican stepped into the night air. He looked freshly bathed because his hair was still wet and paused at the side walk to take a breath. When he stepped onto the black tar of the road before him, he walked briskly across to building’s parking lot and came to stop next to a green Ford Cortina who had seen better days.

“That’s him?” Lex asked keeping his voice down.

“Yeah that’s him,” Clark nodded. “The hotel concierge told me where he lived so I’d been waiting out here for him to show up.” It no longer required Clark to think up such excuses. He was so used to it that it was second nature to him now and where Lex was concerned, it was reflex.

“I’ll get my car,” Lex retorted, reaching into his long coat to pull out his cell phone. “We need to follow him.”

“Just wait,” Clark shot him a look. “Let’s see what he does.”

“What he does is going to be driving away, Clark,” Lex insisted.

“Lex,” Clark glared at him with exasperation. “Just chill a minute and stop behaving like a fucking pussy!”

“Did you just call me a pussy, you Kansas hick?”

“Oh for the love of Christ…” Clark turned around, ready to knock some sense into the arrogant son of a bitch’s head.

“Is this is a private pissing contest or can anyone join?” Bruce Wayne stepped out of the shadows from behind both men.

“Bruce,” Clark exclaimed, “what are you doing here?” As far as Clark knew, Bruce was supposed to be waiting for him in the car so that they could follow Eduardo.

“In time to stop you two from letting out best lead get away it seems,” Bruce retorted shifting his gaze past the two men to note that Eduardo had already climbed into his car. The Cortina’s headlight had come to life, with grey plumes of exhaust visible escaping into the night air.

“Come on,” Bruce declared, turning around and walking back the way he came. “The car is this way.”

“Bruce Wayne?” Lex’s anger at Clark had dissipated in the Gothamite’s arrival. “What are you doing here?” He reiterated Clark’s question.

“Keeping you two from killing each other,” he said smoothly as they moved to the back of the building where the Masserati had been parked out of sight.

“Like Clark has the stones for that,” Lex snorted and added before Clark had a chance to respond to the insult. “Really, what are you doing here?”

“Get in the car,” Bruce ordered slipping into the driver’s seat . “And just to stop any arguments about who gets to ride shotgun, Clark in front – Lex at the back. You’re used to being driven so this won’t be new to you, Lex.”

“Give me a break with this working class crap Bruce,” Lex bit back as he opened the back door to the sleek black car and climbed in. “I’m sure that was your face I saw on the cover of Fortune 500 last month.”

“I guess you will be joining us for that pissing contest after all,” Clark said sweetly to Bruce as he tucked himself into the front passenger seat. Shot gun and he didn’t even have to call for it.

“As if it would be a contest, ” Bruce said smugly before turning to the GPS like device he had attached to the dash of the car. The device was operating independently, revealing a red blip moving through the digitized streets.

“What is that?” Lex asked, knowing perfectly well what surveillance equipment looked like when saw it.

“Eduardo Santiago’s car,” Bruce declared. “While you two were in the building, I put a bug under his fender just in case.”

“Good call,” Clark declared, once again impressed by Bruce’s forward thinking. At least it spared him from trying to use his enhanced vision to track Eduardo with Lex apparently accompanying them for the duration of this evening, it seemed. “How come you knew which car he was driving?”

“When we were looking through his apartment earlier, I saw he had a bill from an auto shop for some repairs to a Cortina. There was only one in the lot so I gambled.” Bruce explained as he started the car’s engine and put the vehicle into gear.

“I’m impressed Bruce,” Lex’s eyes narrowed, unsurprised that Bruce Wayne was revealing a persona unlike what the newspapers and gossip columnist had been reporting. “I guess it wasn’t a fluke how you managed to keep your company from going public.”

“Sorry if I ruined your plans to steal my father’s company,” Bruce answered unperturbed.

“Why am I not surprised,” Clark rolled his eyes and leaned over the back of his seat to give Lex a look of disgust “Is there anyone you don’t try to screw over?”

“Your mother,” Lex retorted.

“Son of a bitch….” Clark’s eyes widened in fury.

The car came to a screeching halt, jolting both men back and forth in their seats.

“I’m going to say this once, ” Bruce stared at both of them. “Knock it off or you can both get out of my car and I’ll find the girls myself.” He spoke with the glow of the red blip on the GPS screen flashing against his face. “I don’t have time for this nonsense. Whatever issues you two have. Suck it up. We’ve got to find them tonight or one of them will be dead by morning. Understand?”

“What do you mean dead?” Lex demanded, a feeling of ice water splashing all over him at that terrifying punishing statement. He had a multitude of questions to ask but nothing seemed more important than the one that came out of his mouth already.

“I mean exactly that,” Bruce retorted. “I’ll explain on the way but you two, need to focus right now or get out of my way so that I can.”

Clark felt suddenly ashamed that he was letting Lex get to him when Lois, Chloe and Lana’s life was in danger. Certainly not his finest hour, he thought silently. “I’m sorry Bruce,” he replied meeting the man’s gaze. “Let’s go.”

”Alright,” Lex nodded, feeling something similar and quelling his disdain because he loved Lana more than he despised Clark. “I can play nice. Just get moving and fill me in on what the hell is going on here.”

Starting the engines, the car began moving again as Bruce kept a discreet distance behind Eduardo Santiago as they followed him into the night. During the trip which appeared to be taking them out of Tierra Coronada’s city limits, Bruce explained to Lex about the Festival of the Binding year and what Eduardo and the abductors were attempting to accomplish by kidnapping so many foreign tourist.

“Jesus,” Lex exhaled after the tale was told. He paused and collected himself. “Are we even sure they’re still alive?”

“They’re alive,” Clark said firmly, refusing to believe anything else. He had to or else he’d be no good to Lois or anyone else. He had to see her as being alive or else nothing would matter.

“It's only day fourteen,” Bruce explained. “They wouldn’t risk rushing things, not with something this important.”

However, that did not bode well for Tanya Fox at all. Bruce couldn’t even conceive of returning to Lucius without her. He had lost enough people in his life as it was. Tanya and Chloe were not going to be added to that list.

OOC: Sorry for the lengthy pause between chapters. I had moved house shortly before a major storm and thus no NET access (ACKKKK!!!!) for nearly a month

Chapter Fourteen:

Finding The Girl

Trudging across the jungle, wet and barefoot, even Lois Lane who was accustomed to enduring weekend long hikes in the middle of nowhere with the General was finding this particular occasion hard to tolerate. After they had left the embankment they had been delivered so unceremoniously to by way of thirty foot cascade, Lois tried to get her bearings so that she and Chloe could make some headway to finding Lana and Mrs. Fox. Lois tried to think of the situation logically. If the two women had not come down the waterfall as she and Chloe did, then chances were good that Lana and Mrs. Fox were trying to make their way down the mountainside to reach them.

Lana Lang, despite her fragile exterior, had a granite core of resilience that Lois admired. The young woman had suffered much heartache in her life, her issues with Clark not withstanding and though Lois could not understand her attraction to Lex, it took someone with deep insight to find something worth loving in that oily bastard. Lois was convinced that while Lana was no safer than any of them in this hostile environment, she was no worse off than any of them either. Glancing at Chloe behind her as she studied the stars to get some idea of their direction, she noted her cousin was shivering from the cold. Balmy as this environment was during the day, the cold would affect anyone wearing waterlogged clothes.

“How you doing Sullivan?” Lois asked as she tried to step lightly across the moist ground. It was dangerous to walk barefoot but neither of them had a choice. Their shoes had been lost during their river ordeal and Lois tried not to think about spiders, snakes and other dangerous pests that would be making their nocturnal appearance at this time of night.

“I’m doing okay,” Chloe grunted, feeling something sharp against the sole of her foot before it was crushed into nothingness. A twig she told herself. It’s just a twig. “Do you know where we’re going?” Chloe hated feeling helpless. Much of her life had been an experiment in self reliance and while her upbringing was nowhere as Spartan as Lois’, she too had been taught how to take care of herself.

“I’ve got a rough idea,” Lois answered, looking at the stars above and using it to navigate. “I’m trying to get us up the hill we came down via waterfall,” she explained, brushing aside another vine. What she wouldn’t give for a machete right now. “If Lana and Mrs. Fox managed to get out of the river before the edge, then they’re up there somewhere, trying to get to us. I’m going to bet that a Smallville chick used to boonies like Lana will know something about hiking and if that’s so, we could meet each other halfway.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Chloe nodded, her teeth chattering a little. “What about starting a fire? Won’t that give them something to head towards?” Chloe ran her gaze over their surroundings and despite the full moon being out, it still looked pitch black out there.

“No,” Lois shook her head, understanding Chloe’s reasoning. “If Lana and Mrs. Fox can see us, so can they.”

Chloe shuddered again and this time it had nothing to do with the cold. In all this craziness, she thought of those maniacs who had abducted them in the first place. “I almost forgot about them,” she said quietly. “We didn’t get a chance to talk about them. What do they want?” Chloe asked. “Perry thought they were about kidnapping rich tourists.”

Lois snorted. “I wish.”

Lois remembered those empty cages and Claire’s terror as they dragged her out of the cave. Worst of all, Lois remembered that final shriek before her voice went silent and they heard nothing more. No, whatever those bastards had been after, it wasn’t about money. It was about blood. She had encountered all manner of things while working for the Inquisitor and there were some outlandish fucking stories to say the least but this time, Lois believed that outlandish and insane was exactly what the doctor ordered.

“I think we’re talking about ritual sacrifice.” Lois admitted.

Chloe sucked in her breath. “I kind of liked the idea of a kidnapping better.” Men who wanted money could be reasoned with but fanatics? Fanatics could not be and now that she thought about it more, it made sense. South America was the origin of one of the most blood hungry sacrificial civilizations in history. If there were ritual sacrifices being carried out, they were certainly in the right place for it.

“Clark will find us,” Chloe said confidently, hiding how frightened she suddenly was; not only for herself but all of them.

Lois knew Chloe long enough to tell when her cousin was rattled but did not point it out in this instance because she was afraid too. They were unarmed, woefully equipped for the terrain and even if they weren’t recaptured, they could be miles away from civilization, to say nothing of the native wildlife that could kill them a dozen different ways before sundown.

“He will,” she told herself with the same conviction because Clark had been the one man she had always been able to rely on, even before she discovered she loved him.

“You said he was on his way here?”

“Yeah,” Chloe nodded. Talking about Clark made them forget how wretched their situation was. It almost made her forget about Bruce Wayne who could be terribly distracting if she gave him any more thought that necessary right now. The last thing she needed was to be reliving the high of their last time together. It felt surreal to remember that it was only this morning that they had great morning-after sex. “He should be in Mexico by now. I’m sure he’s tearing the place apart looking for us.”

“That’s my Smallville,” Lois smiled to herself, taking comfort in that. However, she ignored the obvious problem which was for all of Clark’s powers, he still needed a place to look and Acapulco could be a big town if you didn’t know where to begin.

“Ouch!” Lois hissed in pain as something pierced the sole of her foot.

“You okay?” Chloe asked concerned, worried that Lois might have gotten bitten by a snake or something.

“I’m fine,” Lois grumbled, pausing as she lifted her foot to extract whatever had broken skin and continued to be lodged there. “What I would give for a pair of hiking boots right now.”

“I hear ya,” Chloe chuckled when suddenly, something made her stop short.

A pair of yellow eyes gleamed through the darkness, staring at her above a mouthful of sharp teeth. Her breath caught and upon catching, she heard the low rumble from the bottom of a canine throat.

“Lois…” she hissed.

“Shhhsss….” Lois told her to still, staring at the darkness, at the teeth of the predator whom had been stalking them and was now closing in for the kill.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to do except one thing; run.

“Back to the river!” Lois shouted before breaking into a run. It was the only course that was open to them, even if it meant going backwards.

Terrified out of her mind, Chloe could do nothing else but follow. She raced into the darkness after Lois, all the while hearing the fetid breath of the wolf closing in on her.

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

He tried not to think about the girl, the girl who could smile rays of sunshine into a very cold and forgotten place in his heart.

Since he discovered she had gone and come to the sickening realization that she was in trouble, something very faint and persistent began tugging at the edges of his formidable personality. The logician in him forced the sensation away because it would only become an obstacle to the goal he had set himself. Finding her, the girl.

If he didn’t say her name, she would be an object, a puzzle that he could solve with the proper application of intellect and skill. He could be cold and impassive, thinking not about how she felt when he slid into her body, how singularly exquisite his name sounded when she spoke it and how with a smile, she could strike him deeper than anything had done in so very long. On the brief occasion when he focused his mind on other pursuits beyond the disciplines he set himself, he had come across phrases that described her best.

‘The brightness of her cheek would shame the stars.’

It was her and in thinking that of her, Bruce felt weak. Such thoughts distracted him and if he was to find the girl, he could not be distracted. He had to be as single minded in his focus; he had to be relentless and cold. If he could not be that for her when it mattered most, then he would be no good to her.

Of course, this kind of concentration would be an easy thing for Bruce Wayne to maintain if he were alone but unfortunately, he was not. Forcing himself to ignore all the noise around him, he kept his eyes focused on the surveillance equipment disguised as GPS gear that allowed him to see where Eduardo Santiago was going. As anticipated, now that the man had made his escape, he was making tracks out of town fast. Even though the car was no longer in sight through the windscreen, Bruce knew exactly where it was going.

Around them, the town began to thin out, until the lights of civilization became something distant in the background. Trees flanked the poorly maintained road and blocked out the full moon’s illumination, turning the night pitch black almost. They drove in the black emptiness for what was almost an hour, the darkness choking any conversation out of Clark and Lex for the time being. Darkness was something he was comfortable with. Bruce suspected that it was his natural habitat.

It made his companions however, decided uneasy and he could tell through the rear mirror that Lex Luthor’s apprehension was growing.

“We should be getting my people on this,” Lex complained not for the first time since they left Santiago’s home.

Clark shot Lex a look of exasperation over his shoulder. “We’re not taking any chances with your goon squad Lex,” the farm boy from Smallville declared hotly. “Your guys have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. We need him to lead us to Lois, Chloe and Lana.”

Chloe.

Bruce’s finger’s tightened involuntarily around the steering wheel but he said nothing.

“This is exactly the reckless thinking that got Chloe into trouble in the first place,” Lex retorted, sitting up in the back seat, feeling the black around him more imposing that he would like. He felt vulnerable out here alone with two men he couldn’t trust and one he almost despised. Lex did not like feeling this way and his weakness made him all the more acerbic. “If she had just called the police with what she knew or even stayed put until I got here…”

“Hey!” Clark stopped him before he got another word out. “Chloe was trying to help. She had a lead and might I remind you how many times she’s got us out of trouble with her leads. Chloe doesn’t run off without anything solid and she sure as hell wasn’t alerting the authorities until she had something to give them.”

“If she hadn’t given up to Bruce last night, she might have actually been in a position to help Lana and Lois when they were being kidnapped.” Lex snorted snidely.

He’d apologize to Lana later, Clark told himself as he prepared to lean over to smack the crap out of Lex for that insult when suddenly, the vehicle screeched to a halt in the middle of the deserted road. Both passengers were jolted forward and then backwards again. With his enhanced vision, he could tell that there were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle. Clark turned to Bruce to ask him what was going on when the man jumped out of the car before he had opportunity to ask. Just as quickly and not utilizing any kind of super speed, Bruce Wayne had the door open and had yanked Lex out of the back seat so fast, the man barely had time to protest.

Lex was slammed against the side of the car, hard enough for Clark to be jostled a new inside of it. Jumping out of the front seat, he was prepared to intervene, though he questioned why this was when he was ready to defend Chloe’s honor when he saw Bruce’s hand clamped around Lex’s throat, squeezing hard enough for the billionaire to choke.

“I don’t give a damn about how frightened you are Luthor,” Bruce warned with controlled rage. ”You either pull yourself together or you can wait in the car while Clark and I go find the girls.”

“Find them!” Lex spat angrily. “You don’t even know where they are!”

“Santiago’s car stopped two miles ahead,” Bruce retorted. “Wherever he is, he’s on foot now.”

Bruce’s words made Clark turn sharply away from both of them to the darkened road ahead. He had been keeping his eyes on the road until his flare up with Lex. Refocusing, it didn’t take him long to find the car, it had pulled off the road and was parked in the leafy vegetation of the Mexican rainforest. Santiago was indeed on foot as Bruce suspected and once again Clark had to wonder if Bruce Wayne was a meteor freak. The man’s intuition was astonishing.

Or maybe he was just that good.

Bruce’s words took the edge out of Lex’s struggles and he looked past the car, as if he too could see where Santiago had gone. “Let me go Wayne,” Lex warned when he turned his eyes back to Bruce. “Let me go now. ”

“Bruce,” Clark interceded on Lex’s behalf, still wondering why. “You said we didn’t have time for this.” He reminded, throwing Bruce’s own words back at him.

Bruce blinked slowly in the darkness and recalibrated his wandering attention to the object of this search. He had to find the girl.

Letting go off Lex, who promptly gasped loudly for air upon his release, Bruce rounded the vehicle and opened the boot. He reached inside as Clark continued to watch Santiago from a far. Most of what he needed was located in a black, backpack that Bruce soon slipped over his shoulders.

“We have to keep moving,” he said impassively, the cold mask of efficiency back on his face again as he walked fearlessly into the darkness, ready to leave the car behind and completely confident that both Clark and Lex would follow. Not that he needed them if they chose to remain behind and kill each other. Lex’s words had temporarily caused him to lose control. It would not happen again.

Bruce Wayne was on the hunt and nothing else mattered but finding the girl.

~~~~~

“Fucking lunatic,” Lex hissed as Bruce disappeared into the darkness, rubbing his throat where the man had tried to choke him. Glaring at Bruce’s back, he tossed another remark at Clark. “I wouldn’t trust him too much Clark,” he warned. “Bruce’s never been playing with a full deck.”

Even though Clark was prepared to defend Bruce with the same loyalty as Chloe, curiosity got the better of him. Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor were a part of the same American aristocracy that he could only view from the pages of gossip magazine or the society pages. It stood to reason that Lex would know more about Bruce Wayne’s history that the media.

“What do you mean?” He had to ask.

Begrudgingly, Lex started walking after Bruce, leaving the black Maseratti to whomever came across it first. “I’m surprised you don’t know,” Lex said with a hint of sarcasm, “I was sure Chloe would have filled you in.”

“Do you have to be such jerk or is it just genetic?” Clark retorted giving him a look.

Lex allowed himself a satisfied smirk before he answered, his expression sobering. “Bruce’s parents were murdered when he was seven years old. Some mugger or crack head shot them both right in front of him.”

Jesus.

Clark thought, looking up ahead, seeing Bruce as clear as day, taking the trail off the road, following the route that Eduardo Santiago had taken not too long ago. He tried to imagine the horror of it. Seeing Jonathan collapse and die in his arm had been the single worst experience of Clark Kent’s life. Yet even with the demise of the man he loved more than anything, there was nothing violent about it. Jonathan’s heart had given out because of illness but at least Clark had a chance to say goodbye after a fashion and he had not been left totally alone. His mother was still alive.

But to lose both at once, in such a bloody way, while still a child. Clark couldn’t even begin to imagine what something like that would do to a person and suddenly, the pieces that he had been trying to piece together since meeting Bruce Wayne came together.

“I can’t even begin to imagine what that must feel like,” Clark said quietly after a long pause.

Even Lex had sense and compassion enough to keep the sarcasm from his voice after such a revelation. “Bruce didn’t have any family and from what I remember he jumped from boarding school to boarding school, never stayed in place for long and then one day, he disappeared all together. Seven years later, he shows up, still as crazy as a fruit bat.”

Clark flinched at Lex’s description because he knew that Bruce wasn’t crazy, far from it. Everything that Clark had experienced at Bruce’s side this evening told him that the man had taken the greatest tragedy of his life and used it to transform him into something… Clark wasn’t sure what yet but it wasn’t a bad thing. Recalling the way Bruce’s intelligence had led them here, closer no doubt than the authorities would have ever managed if they had chosen to go that route. What had he said?

“Not interested in the world Clark,” Bruce said with a little smirk, “the rest of the world isn’t like Gotham. Gotham’s where I’m needed.”

For the first time, Clark began to understand Bruce. Unlike Oliver Queen, Bruce Wayne wasn’t interested in being a hero to the world; he just didn’t want there to be any more little boys watching their parents die in front of them.

“We should catch up with him,” Clark retorted and hastened his pace, leaving Lex behind to follow. It was probably less noisy that way.

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

Bruce could hear the conversation between the two and ignored it.

Their immediate surroundings were devoid of technology or human life with the fauna in the jungle made their sounds, for most part the silence enveloped them as completely as the night around him. Clark and Lex’s exchange carried to him ears with little to obstruct it and Bruce took a moment to reflect on his life, on the choices he had made to shape his life. Clark was no doubt concocting all kinds of arm-chair psychological theories about him but Bruce did not let such possibilities be a distraction.

He had to find the girl, Chloe.

Not saying her name made it less personal, made it less about finding the sunshine she had brought with her smile and more about saving her life because all life had to be saved. Bruce did not like to lose people. Too often, the senseless deaths of loved ones were explained away as ‘one of those things’, Bruce refused to accept that. There was no such thing as a senseless death, there was just a world of cruel people, who cared nothing for the people they harmed and it was for those that Bruce had evolved into something greater than his pain, greater than the tragedy that destroyed the person that little boy would have become if…if things had been different.

“Hey,” Clark caught up with him.

Bruce flinched at the sympathy he could hear in the Smallville farmer’s voice. He had no need for him.

“Can you still see Santiago?” Bruce spoke in a quiet, almost whisper of a voice. He had the remote GPS device in his hand and although he was tracking the car’s resting spot, he knew Clark was following Santiago himself.

Clark shuddered a little because the timbre of Bruce’s voice was almost sinister and dark as the night around them. He had heard it when the man had interrogated Santiago earlier and it was no less eerie now. Shifting his gaze away from Bruce, Clark saw Santiago moving through a well trodden track in the jungle. A small path had been cleared even though the canopy of trees and bushes around it made it extremely hard for anyone without Kryptonian vision to see it.

“He’s definitely headed somewhere in a hurry,” he responded just as quietly to ensure Lex wasn’t privy to his words, even though the statement seemed rather innocuous at the moment.

“He’s going to report to the others that someone is looking for the girls,” Bruce retorted, his lips pulling into a taut line after he had spoken.

“Will they kill them?” Clark asked, stomach scrunching like someone had squeezed a fist around his innards.

“I’m not sure…I’m leaning towards no.” Bruce said honestly. “The ritual is key. Deviation might make the sacrifices null and void and they can’t wait any later they already have. Huitzilopochtli has already been starving for a year. The Aztecs were fanatics when it came to their blood sacrifices and if this cult is following those traditions, they will follow the ritual to the letter because they don’t have time to start again from scratch if they get it wrong. I suspect Lana is meant to be their final offering. Tonight, it will be Tanya Fox that gets sacrificed.”

If she wasn’t already, the thought surfaced involuntarily.

“How can you be so sure?” Clark asked and then realised the question was rhetoric. Bruce was always sure.

“Of the people that went missing and counting the days, it would be her turn.” Bruce returned, determined to prevent that because he could not go to Lucius and tell his friend that his wife was dead.

“What about Chloe?” Clark demanded because Chloe wasn’t a part of the number. She had been abducted because she had gone snooping. Where did she fit in this twisted ritual? “She wasn’t part of the eighteen.”

“No,” Bruce’s jaw clenched because this too, he knew. “She isn’t.”

This meant they had no reason to keep her alive.

Chapter Fifteen:

Who’s Afraid of the Dark

She couldn’t keep running like this anymore.

Within her chest, her heart was pounding loudly, demanding that she pause a moment. Yet any notions of stopping were crushed by the fetid breathing she felt to be so close behind her that to stop running was to accept dying.

Chloe Sullivan wasn’t ready to do that yet.

However, it was not to say that her body wasn’t screaming for rest. Where the hell was the river? She asked herself frantically as she continued to run, ignoring the pain of twigs and rocks digging into the soles of her bare feet as she raced over the jungle terrain. The ground was damp and slippery, making mobility extra difficult as if running blind didn’t accomplish that already. It wasn’t that Chloe didn’t know where she was going; it was rather that she couldn’t see what was in front of her.

The moon had disappeared behind the clouds and the distance from any urban settlement ensured there was no light reflecting down from the atmosphere. Deprived of sight, her senses honed instead on the sounds around her to compensate but succeeded in overloading her with a cacophony of noise that was almost as terrifying as the dark. Things were moving in the darkness, things with teeth and bad breath, hunting her. Every step forward was a new sound and yet there was no sound of the river.

Or Lois and that was worse of all.

After discovering that something was chasing them, something almost as bad as the men they had escaped, Chloe had lost sight of Lois. Not a difficult thing to do considering they were surrounded by a blanket of night so thick it felt as if they were in a hollow at the end of the world. However, she had been able to hear Lois at least, hear her footsteps, her breathing and her words of encouragement. Lois knew she was scared and her cousin wasn’t one to abandon her, even when both their lives were in danger.

Chloe wanted to stop running, she wanted to call out but she could still hear the animal behind her. She didn’t want to be out here alone. Jungle training was Lois’ thing, not hers. Feeling warm tears spill over her face, she continued to run, her sobs becoming audible, intermingling with her ragged breath. She didn’t know which was louder.

Suddenly a sound cut through the night that halted in her tracks. It was the sharp yelp of an animal from behind her. Stopping short even though Chloe told herself she should know better, she looked over her shoulder, expecting to see the animal following behind, the yellow enamel of its teeth being the only thing visible in the black. However, there was nothing there except the continuous yelp of something frustrated and angry.

Swallowing thickly, she followed the sound, taking cautious step as she tried to make out what was behind her. Chloe told herself that she had to know that she was safe, had to know that the predator, whatever it was, was injured and had larger concerns on its mind rather than making her its next meal. She had to know that because she needed to find Lois.

Lois was silent and that in any situation was not a good sign.

She found it not after a few minutes of back tracking; at least she assumed she was going back the way she came. It was difficult to tell with the darkness as it was and the terrain so indistinguishable around her. She couldn’t see exactly what it is, but she knew it was below her. Chloe lowered her eyes and saw something circling frantically, trying to escape. It had fallen down a pit, probably a sink hole newly formed. Not unusual since much of the soil in this landscape was soft and subject to mud slides in heavy rains. She thought her predator might be a wolf but she couldn’t be sure and Chloe wasn’t about to go find out for certain.

“Tough break,” she muttered softly and drew away from the place, cautious because the edge was too hard to see.

“Lois!” She called out not too loudly and aware that she could bring the attention of human hunters but Chloe told herself that she would deal with one emergency at a time. Lois was out here alone and she was quiet. Lois Lane was never quiet. She had been born screaming, of this Chloe was certain. Chloe had gone through her life watching her older cousin in awe, wondering what it was like to have that much bluster and raw will.

Lois didn’t go through life – she pushed through it.

“Lois!” She called out again, continuing to walk albeit a little faster, desperate to see. Her night vision was just no good.

God, out here, anything could have happened to her. This was supposed to be their weekend away, she found it surreal that only yesterday they were dining on the beach, laughing and having a good time. How in God’s name did they end up here? Chloe wished Clark was here because he’d find her in a second and then, almost like a thief sneaking through the front door of her mind, Chloe found herself wishing Bruce was here too, holding her and making her feel….she didn’t know what.

Even though they had shared one night, Chloe wasn’t certain what she had found with him. It felt as if she was standing on the edge of an abyss about to take a step into the great unknown. Predictable, reliable Chloe Sullivan had didn’t shack up with billionaires with reputations like his and yet, there was something about him, something enigmatic beneath the surface of what he allowed people to see. It was compelling and made her drawn to him like the proverbial moth to the flame.

“Lo….!”

“Chloe,” Lois’ voice sliced suddenly broke through her thoughts. “Don’t come any closer.”

Chloe couldn’t see exactly where she was but she knew there wasn’t any more tall grass, in fact, now there were ominous trees, overhanging vines and insects buzzing around her. There was a smell to, thick and noxious, not in keeping with foliage. One thing registered though; Lois’ order. She froze in mid step, trying to see.

“Lois are you alright?” Chloe demanded. “I lost you!”

She heard Lois swallowing audibly, “Uh I got into a bit of trouble here and I was just trying to figure out what to do about it.”

“Trouble, Lois what are you talking about…?” Her voice faltered when the clouds drifted by over head, allowing the glow of the full moon to offer revelation. The blue light descended over the area and Chloe took a step back in shock. This wasn’t a pit but it was definitely much worse. She saw Lois in the middle of it, holding absolutely still. It looked as if the ground had swallowed her up to the neck.

“I’m pretty sure I can get out of this,” she answered Chloe with as much calm as she could muster, even if she couldn’t feel ground beneath her. “You know what they say about quick sand, just gotta take it slow.”

“Quicksand?” Chloe exclaimed. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “How bad is it?”

“I can’t feel the bottom,” Lois answered with enforced calm, remembering what survival training taught her about these situations and the wisdom of keeping one’ head and not panicking. Despite Hollywood aggrandizing, quick sand didn’t just suck you up like a vacuum cleaner, you had to work to get yourself killed and that meant losing your head and thrashing around like a fish on the deck of a boat. She was trying to keep herself buoyant but also very aware that her arms felt like weights and her feet seemed encased almost in concrete.

“Okay, okay,” Chloe retorted, dropping to her hands and knees as she crawled along the perimeter of the sand trap, careful not to fall into the same predicament. “Keep talking so I know where you are,” she instructed. The moonlight gave her some vision but not that much and there were still clouds in the sky, threatening to blanket out the illumination at a moment’s notice.

“Sure,” Lois feigned good humour as she tried inching towards the edge of the quick sand. It was exhausting and Lois began to suspect it wasn’t the thrashing around that got people killed, it was the weight and the threat of exhaustion. She had been trying for the last ten minutes to move just a little and it took more out of her than she believed. Lois hated that this quick sand was able to beat her. She had been trained to manage better. “What would you like to talk about? I think Brad and Angelina won’t last much longer.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, “you’re the only person I know who would be a smartass in a situation like this.” The blond laughed softly as she neared her cousin at last.

“It's part of my charm,” Lois returned, forcing herself to move and succeeded only in advancing an inch or so. She relented and let herself rest for a minute. She had been running at top speed when she fell into the sand and it had taken a monumental effort to force her body to the surface, to find that the edge was maddeningly before the reach of her arms. “Where the hell is Clark when you need him right?” She said breathing hard.

“He’s coming,” Chloe assured him and finally reached the closest she could get to Lois from the edge. The moon was overshadowed again and Chloe saw the shape of Lois’ head in the darkness before. Jesus, she was almost all the way in the bog, up to her neck Chloe hid her shock however and took a deep breath, realising that the reason for the smell wasn’t because Lois was caught in quick sand as she thought but rather a bog. The South American climate was perfect for these kinds of formation and Chloe did not impart that bit of geographical data to Lois.

“Lois can you reach my hand?” Chloe asked as she extended her hand over the edge as much as she could without slipping in herself.

Lois could see a pale, creamy arm through the darkness and tried to lift her own heavy, mud encrusted ones. She made a good effort and actually broke the surface of the treacle like pool but Chloe’s fingers felt like they were miles away. “Sorry,” she gasped after a moment and dropped her hand down, splattering mud in all directions. “No good.” She shook her head in answer, hating her weakness.

“That’s okay,” Chloe said firmly, taking the lead with her cousin for a change. “I’m just going to get creative.” Reaching down to her skirt, Chloe removed the belt around her waist. She had bought it as a fashion accessory and thus hadn’t been particularly concerned with its tensile strength at the time. She wished she had the money for leather because at least then she could sure it wouldn’t snap unlike this pseudo-leather belt with the butterfly buckle that Clark had once called fruity and been swatted for his trouble.

“Here,” she threw the belt out like she was casting a reel, trying to get it as close to Lois as possible. She wrapped one end of it around her fist and gave Lois the end with the buckle because it would be easier to hold. The buckle splattered against the surface, near Lois face, splattering her light with mud. “Grab on and I’ll pull you out.”

“You’re saving me with a butterfly buckled belt?” Lois retorted as she reached for the zirconium encrusted buckle and held on for dear life.

“Hey, I don’t see you gripping when Mr. Plaid saves you?”

“Mr Plaid has a few optional extras that make it all worth the while,” Lois smirked, keeping her spirits up with the humour, making her forget the work they had ahead of them. Her hand clenched the buckle and she nodded. “Okay, I’ve got it.”

“Alright,” Chloe nodded and stretched out as far as she could, her hand securing herself around a thick bit of root that was protruding from more solid ground. Biting down, she began to pull.

“Is it me or have you gotten heavier?” She groaned as she felt her arms being pulled out of her sockets as she dragged Lois towards the edge. The current of wet earth was determined to keep Lois within their reach but despite the slow progress, Lois was moving. Chloe could feel it. She grit her teeth hard and continued to pull, letting out gasps of exertion with inch reclaimed.

“Hey!” Lois bit back. “I work out!” She retorted, forcing herself to move, to give Chloe as much help as possible. “Not all of us can be petite and perfect.”

“I’m not petite and perfect,” Chloe snorted, taking a moment to breathe before pulling again. Her hand was pressed so hard against the root; she could feel the wood digging into her skin and her nails digging into her palms on the other hand. “I’m cute and lovable, Lana is perfect and petite.”

“Yeah,” Lois grunted, moving ahead a little easier now. The edge was in sight. Listing her other hand, she stretched as far as she could go and felt exhilaration coursing through her when her fingers made contact with hard earth.

“Lana has that petite princess thing down pat,” Chloe continued to speak. “She could wear a shopping bag and still look good.” She clenched her stomach and put everything she had into one last effort. With a strained cry, she saw Lois at the edge of the bog and let out a relieved sigh of gratitude.

Lois found the solid ground she needed and pulled herself out of the bog, with Chloe recovering enough to help her. After a few more seconds, both women collapsed on the wet soil, breathing hard. “Yeah Lana is lucky that way,” Lois remarked before raising her eyes to Chloe and saying with a small but exhausted smile.

“Bitch.”

They both burst out laughing.

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

One thing Lana Lang had learned after numerous forays in the dead of night to visit her parents’ grave stone at the Smallville cemetery was how to read the stars. Despite the cloudy sky had made navigation difficult on this particular occasion, Lana was able to keep herself and Tanya from getting lost in their jungle terrain. Unfortunately, navigational ability did not help them find Lois and Chloe and after half an hour of trying to find a manageable track down the side of the mountain to meet the plunge pool at the bottom of the waterfall, Lana had to reconsider her options.

“I think we may need to go get help,” Lana declared to the older woman, hating herself for doing this but recognizing the situation for what it was.

“You mean leave your friends?” Tanya exclaimed, dismayed at the notion.

Lana blinked at hearing it put forward so bluntly but she was a practical woman and she had more than just her life to consider, there was a baby in her body that needed her to keep it safe. She had to think of it as well. Chloe and Lois could be in trouble but they also could not be and Lana had confidence that they could take care of themselves long enough for help to come.

“We can’t find them and if we keep searching the way we are, there’s a good chance those men will find us. We’ve got to get help while we can.”

Tanya considered the young woman’s words and she would be lying if she did not admit that she was afraid to die. She wanted to see Lucius again; she wanted to see her children and her grandchildren. These were selfish thoughts she was having, Tanya knew this but she had to concede Lana had a point, a good one. They were no good to anyone, least of all Lois and Chloe if they were recaptured. This way, there was a chance at safety. All Tanya had to do was get to a phone and Bruce Wayne would be on his way with the cavalry. Tanya suspected that Lana’s Lex would have those same resources. It was a more effective course than the two of them stumbling about in the dark and falling prey to the dangers in the jungle and the men who had brought them here in the first place.

“Alright,” Tanya nodded, hating herself for it and unaware that Lana felt the same. “Let’s do this.”

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

“Are we going the right way?” Lex grumbled as he continued to follow Clark and Bruce deeper into the jungle. After nearly three months spent trapped on a tropical island, Lex wasn’t exactly comfortable in these surroundings.

“Don’t worry Lex, we’ll let you know when we get there,” Clark retorted snidely, irritated by the fact that this question had been asked numerously since they had left Bruce’s car. In truth, Clark already knew where they were headed but because Lex was present, he was unable to reveal it.

He had been following Eduardo Santiago through the jungle, nudging Bruce in the direction they needed to go whenever it was needed. Bruce in fact, was doing quite well tracking the fanatic cultists through the scrub but the dark made the labour harder and Clark was grateful to be able to offer a course correction when necessary. Santiago’s destination should not have been a surprise, considering what Bruce had revealed about the man’s religious devotion to the god Huitzilopochtli.

The Aztec temple appeared as if it had been unearth from the ground. Half of it was underground because the steps seemed to disappear into the earth. Covered by vines and most likely several centuries of vegetative growth, it was difficult to see the pyramid structure from a distance unless one was really seeking it out. If he recalled his history lessons, the Aztecs liked to conduct their sacrifices on the top of those pyramids and Clark shuddered inwardly when he realised that was the fate of the fourteen other people who had been abducted before this night.

“Screw you Kent,” Lex growled, feeling the uneasiness grow.

“Not my type Lex,” Clark drawled, feeling a little smug that Lex was becoming unhinged. He knew why of course, the son of a bitch had been his best friend for a time. Clark knew how he felt about this terrain after that three month stint in the tropics when everyone thought he was dead.

“Fortunately for me, Lana doesn’t think so,” Lex returned snidely.

Clark stiffened, fighting the urge to bite back at Lex with something just as cutting (he hadn’t figured out what yet), when suddenly, something else captured his attention. He stopped in his tracks and listened, using his enhanced hearing to fix on the sound. Even though it was possible to hear everything around him if he so desired, Clark had learnt since developing his enhanced hearing, that it wasn’t a good idea to do that. To be bombarded by all the sounds, all the time could be chaotic, distracting and not to mention rude. He had no wish to listen on private conversations. It had taken years but he knew how to turn it on and off when he needed although he would always have powerful hearing no matter what.

“What is it?” Bruce noticed that he had stopped and stared at him in question.

“I hear something,” he retorted, “coming from that direction?”

”What?” Lex demanded. “I don’t hear a damn thing.”

“You’re not used to roughing it Lex,” Clark retorted, trying to offer a feeble explanation for his powers.

“You know what Kansas farm boys are like,” Bruce shrugged and followed Clark on the detour. “Or so the tabloids say.” He added with a smirk.

“Very droll,” Lex bit back and followed them both as Clark moved through the trees.

The sounds only served to give Clark direction. Once he knew where to look, his enhanced vision did the rest. He knew her shape from years of observation. He knew how her hair moved in breeze and the glistening of her skin under the moonlight. He recognized her form moving through the jungle, with another woman at her side. Not Lois or Chloe he determined quickly. This had to be Tanya Fox. Seeing her well, filled Clark with those familiar feelings of relief when she escaped one peril after another.

Once upon a time, she was all he could imagine, all he ever wanted in life. That moment had passed well and truly, leaving Clark sad at all the opportunities lost but sanguine that their relationship was heading towards an even better place, a more lasting one. He would always love her even if he wasn’t in love with her.

Clark just wished her taste in men was better.

“Lana?” He exclaimed upon catching sight of her.

“What?”

Lex’s thoughts became polarised with that one word. “Where is she?” He demanded and pushed Bruce out of his way to get alongside of Clark to catch a glimpse of where she was.

”That way,” Clark said quickly, “I think I heard her voice coming from that way.” It wasn’t much of an explanation but he counted on Lex’s desire to find Lana to overcome any of his usual scrutiny.

“Lana!” Lex called out loud, his voice stretching over the jungle. “Lana are you there!”

Bruce rolled his eyes in exasperation and quickly close the distance between them and snapped. “Lex shut the hell up. If they don’t she’s out there, they do NOW.” He hissed.

It was a moot point however, because Clark observed Lana looking around frantically. She heard Lex’s voice and he could see her lovely features flooded with relief. Clark could not share the sentiment however, as glad as he was to see her safe and sound, he couldn’t ignore the fact that neither Lois nor Chloe were with her.

“Lex!” She cried out through the night. “Lex! We’re here?”

Before either Clark or Bruce could stop him, Lex Luthor was running towards the sound of her voice. Clark scanned the immediate area and saw no signs of danger from Santiago’s cultists; however, Santiago himself had at this point vanished into the temple. Allowing Lex to get ahead, he turned to Bruce once his former best friend had taken off.

“She’s with Tanya Fox I think,” Clark whispered. “But I don’t see Lois and Chloe.”

Bruce’s jaw tightened, not wanting to think on the implications of that. A dozen scenarios played out in his head and none of them brought him to conclusions he was at all happy with. “Let’s get to Lana and Tanya first,” he instructed. “They can tell us what happened.”

Ignoring the danger and all but forgetting his earlier discomfort at being in such surroundings, Lex Luthor raced across the savage landscape until he saw Lana Lang appear through some trees. Gratitude escaped him in a loud gasp of submission. This woman, save his mother, was the only thing that he had ever loved enough to completely lose himself. Only Lex and his conscience knew what he had done to acquire her affections and though he secretly despaired at the dark that used her to consume him, it mattered little in the face of her smile.

“Lana,” he reached her and wrapped her up in his arms, embracing her hard and forgetting for a moment, that there was anything in this world when she returned his touch with a hug just as passionate. “Thank God you’re safe,” he whispered in her hair.

“Oh Lex,” she was crying and she didn’t even realise it. “They were going to kill us all!” She stuttered her reply when they finally parted. “They killed Claire, my God….we escaped but barely. We lost Chloe and Lois over the waterfall! Lex, we’ve got to help them! They’re still out there!”

Bruce and Clark caught up just in time to hear her words and Bruce’s gaze rested on Tanya. Despite not finding either Chloe or Lois as of yet, Bruce was grateful that Tanya was still among the living. She had been the reason he had flown out to Acapulco in the first place.

“Bruce,” Tanya saw the young man and knew that he was because of Lucius. “You came to find me?” Her eyes moistened with emotion.

“Lucius couldn’t do without you,” he offered a little smile. “We’re going to get you out of here.” He assured her and turned his attention to the others. “Lex, you need to take Lana and Tanya out of here,” he said firmly. “Clark and I will keep searching for Lois and Chloe. If they’re out here, chances are they’re lost in these jungles and there’s a dozen things that could kill them other than crazy Aztecs.”

Clark was already scanning the area for Chloe while Bruce made his entreaty to Lex but he could see none of the two women who meant so much to him. His vision was growing in range every day but within its present limits, he could not find them. He let out a sigh of exasperation because Lana’s report didn’t make him feel any better.

“Are you sure?” Lex stared at Bruce, all traces of enmity and arrogance dissipated from his voice as he asked the question. It didn’t feel right leaving them but he was a logical man and he knew that Bruce was right. Someone had to go. He was torn between his guilt at leaving them and getting Lana and his child safely away from all this savagery.

“You have to get the authorities down here,” Clark added his voice to Bruce’s own. With Lex gone, he could use his powers without fear of discovery and cover more ground. “Someone’s gotta to tell them what’s going on out here. If Lois and Chloe are out there in the jungle, then these guys are trying to find them as well. We need help.”

“Alright,” Lex nodded, somewhat reluctantly. Differences aside, he didn’t want to see anyone hurt or killed. His corruption may have been complete but he was completely heartless. Clark, Lois and Chloe had meant something to him once. “We’ll go,” he nodded. “I’ll get help as soon as possible.” He assured them with all the sincerity he was capable of mustering.

“Bruce…” Tanya started to protest, “You should come with us…”

“No, Tanya,” Bruce said firmly, putting the keys to his car in her hands. “You need to go, now. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Like Bruce, Tanya had little choice but to concede the point. “Thank you Bruce,” she touched his cheek. “Thank you for coming after me.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Bruce returned and then looked at Lex. “Here, take this,” he handed Lex a flash light and added, “head east and you’ll hit the road. Don’t use that unless you really have to.”

“Trust me,” Lex replied as he took Lana’s hand and started to move, “I’m very familiar with navigating in a jungle.”

“Clark, Bruce,” Lana spoke as Lex tugged her forward past them. “Find them please.”

“We won’t stop until we do Lana,” Clark answered and turned away from her, wanting her and Lex gone so that he could do just that.

Chapter Sixteen:

Falling

They were close.

Uneven footsteps trudging through the dark, foliage crushed under bare feet. He could hear the soft winces of pain, the heavy damp sound of fabric against leaves. They were tiring, he could hear it in their breath, hear their labored efforts as they stumbled across the terrain in the dark, unaware of where they had been or what lay ahead. They had survived thus far by luck and sheer determination. In the hunters, there was a hint of admiration for the prey being stalked however, this was slight trace of feeling did not alter the course set for them.

If nothing else, it further served to convince the Faithful that these were worthy sacrifices for their hungry god.

It was assumed that when they escaped, the women would take the fastest way to the surface. After all, they were foreigners to this land and tourists, especially the Americans, labored under the preconception that the rest of the world was like their country and all that needed for rescue was to simply escape their current confinement. They had not realized that prisons did not always have bars, some times geography could be just as much of a prison as steel bars.

Unexpectedly, the women had not taken the most direct route out and in a show of remarkable insight; they had opted to take advantage of the cavern system beneath the temple they were incarcerated . Using an underground vein of the river system, they had swum out and found a kind of freedom in the thick jungles of the immediate area.

The jungles could be treacherous if you did not know them and the women had proven resilient enough to survive in such adverse territory but the hope that they would remain at large was a fanciful one. This was the land of his people.

For eight hundred years, they had dominated this land and ruled many others from this seat of power. In those days, the offerings to Tenochtitlan had been numerous until the arrival of the foreigners who tainted their consciousness with the One God and had driven Tenochtitlan to abandon them. For centuries, the former seat of his worship had been lost until one day, the Earth had rumbled and quaked, opening up the world and allowing the temple to rise again.

This time, they would not forget Tenochtitlan’s power nor ignore his demands. Their first step into making their people great again would be the sacrifice of the eighteen. The women in their deaths had been afforded a great honour however being foreigners, Eduardo Santiago was convinced, they wouldn’t understand.

Fortunately, understanding was not required.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“God I wish I could see something,” Chloe grumbled as she felt something sharp like a branch rip through her skirt and graze her thigh deep enough for her to hiss.

“Tell me about it,” Lois looked up to the sky and frowned that the moon had disappeared beneath the thickening canopy of grey cumulus because it could only mean one thing. Rain. As if things weren’t bad enough already. “Sorry Chloe, I guess my survival training isn’t all that useful. I’m better with a compass,” she threw her cousin a little smile over the shoulder.

“It's okay Lois,” Chloe shrugged, knowing that their situation was no one’s fault except their abductors and Lois’ cheerleading since their escape from the caves had probably kept them alive. It wasn’t fair to expect her to magically know a way out of this thick, overgrown landscape either. “I just hope we aren’t walking around in circles.”

“I hope so too,” Lois confessed because that thought had been utmost in her mind. That was the worst thing about being lost in the dark, not having that sense of direction to keep you from wandering aimlessly over the same terrain over and over again. Fortunately, nature had allowed them some respite for it seemed their night blindness was improving slightly. Lois could a little ahead.

“You think Lana and Mrs. Fox are alright?” Chloe asked, needing to talk about something because she didn’t want to give into how scared she was. Instinctively, she knew Clark was searching for them but their current circumstance was so perilous, Chloe had no idea how long they could last out here.

“I think so,” Lois replied, pausing long enough to take breath and wipe the beads of sweat from her brow. The strangulating humidity in the air was dehydrating them fast and Lois found her mind returning more and more to that river, just for a drink. “Lana’s one of those nature gals I think, she might know her way through a jungle.”

Okay that was a bit of stretch but Lois knew when Chloe was afraid and saying ‘Lana might be up to her ass in boa constrictors and killer pygmies’ wouldn’t be productive.

“That’s true,” Chloe agreed, remembering the girl’s midnight forays to the cemetery. Releasing a sigh, she opted to change the subject. “So you’ve done the millionaire dating thing,” she asked more casually then she intended. “Any advice?”

Lois smiled in the dark and then she frowned because they were talking about Bruce Wayne.

“Chloe,” she paused a moment and said seriously to her cousin. “I know you like this guy and he is very charming but my instinct says that he’s not for the white picket fence and the 2.5 kids.”

“That’s not what I want,” Chloe retorted, feeling something inside that told her that Lois could be right and hating the possibility that she might be, “I have no intention of that either.”

“Don’t you?” Lois looked at her. “You’re after true love and that’s close enough. My money says that it’s not a good idea.”

“Is this the same instinct that told you Clark was halibut?” Chloe retorted with a smug. Score one for the blond.

“Shut up already with that? Am I ever going to live that down?” Lois threw her hands up in the air and resumed walking. “All I’m saying is be careful, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m going into this with eyes wide open Lois,” Chloe assured her. “I’m taking it one day at a time and I’m not going to start knitting things. I just want to see if it will work with a nice, normal guy….”

“Who happens to be the Adonis like and worth more money than God.” Lois cracked. “That’s real normal.”

“I’m not talking to you anymore,” Chloe declared hotly.

Lois chuckled and smirked. Score one for the brunette.

They walked a little more through the thick branches until there was a break in the vegetation before stepping out into something of clearing, something being a place with lot less trees yet still covered in ankle high grass. At least a breeze had allowed the moon to reappear. The orb’s radiance shed some much needed light onto the situation.

And none of it was good.

First they were nearing the edge of a cliff with a drop of one hundred feet….that they could see. Secondly, there was a way across but it was a rope bridge that made the one in the Indiana Jones movie look like the Golden Gate.

“It’s the only way,” Lois pointed out as she continued to stare at it, hoping the prolonged effort would make the thing look less ramshackle than it actually was.

“No.” Chloe said firmly, rooted to the ground, wearing the face that Lois knew meant she wasn’t doing it.

“Chloe, we don’t have a lot of choice, there could be people on the other side, a telephone, a MacDonald’s?”

“I don’t care if the freaking Holiday Inn is over there, Lois!” Chloe blurted out. “Look at that thing and then look down? It’s a long way down. I mean a REALLY long way down. I’ve seen the Road Runner Show, I know what happens to Wyle E Coyote!”

“Chloe we don’t have a choice, we’ve got to….” Lois suddenly felt silent. “Quiet.”

Her stomach clenched in fear. She could hear voices and it was not Lana. Slowly, she turned her head, following the faint sounds she could hear until she was staring at the edge of the jungle where they had emerged. Chloe too had fallen still too, having picked up the same sounds.

A beam of light pierced through the foliage, preceded by voice of men speaking Spanish, a group of men. Lois blinked slowly, they had just run out of time. “COME ON.” She ordered making it clear that it was not a request.

Chloe didn’t even question as a drop of rain splattered against her cheek.

Lois hurried to the edge of cliff, staring down the spine of the rope bridge, a construct of Hessian and wood. She touched it and felt the fibers come off her hand and like dust. God, this was not a good idea. However, the alternative was to stay and end up like poor Claire. Even if Lana had escaped, it was too soon for the woman to come back with a rescue party. Furthermore, if it was Lana, she would have called out. These men had moved silently through the dark, searching.

Hunters did that.

“Okay I’ll go first,” Lois stated firmly, trying to inject as much confidence into her voice as possible. In truth, she was almost as scared to death as Chloe but truth be told, she was more afraid of what would happen if they were recaptured.

“Lois…” Chloe spoke up, feeling her will falter as she saw her cousin put both hands on the fibrous railing and take a step forward. “Are you sure about this?”

“No, but I’m doing it anyway” Lois retorted before sucking in a breath as she put her best foot forward against the wooden slats and heard them creak in protest at the weight. Her finger dug so deep into the hessian, she could feel the rough texture biting into her finger tips. Lois put another foot forward and let out a sigh of relief when she discovered she wasn’t plunging into the darkness to a painful death. “So far so good,” she looked over her shoulder and saw that Chloe’s face was white with fear. “Let me get a head a bit before you come after me okay?”

Chloe glanced at the beams of lights crisscrossing the darkness as the torches and the men holding them closed in. If she and Lois hadn’t been seen yet, they soon would be. “Not too far ahead,” she forced herself to say.

Lois nodded, mindful of the time constraints they were under continued ahead, one step after another, flinching at every creak of wood. The rain had started to fall harder now, spitting drops of rain now turning pendulous as they splattered across her face, running tiny rivers down her skin. Swallowing thickly, she ignored that the teeming rain, fast becoming a typical tropical downpour, was making the wood slippery. Putting more pressure against the fibrous ropes, Lois was determined not to lose her footing.

In the end, she was undone not by rain but by wind and the slip was minor, if measure by any other circumstances, was catastrophic in this case. Her balance was lost and pressure was put against the wood in a manner not accustomed for far too long. Lois felt the slat break under her feet and panic made her clutch the rope for dear life. However, lack of friction, simple age and the added water afforded no quarter. When she went, she heard the ropes snap and go with her.

“LOIS!” Chloe screamed as the bridge snapped in the middle. Both women felt the rush of air as the unleashed tension resulted in a violent recoil that sent them flying towards the cliff face on either side. Chloe clung to the rope railing, the bridge now becoming a ladder. She could hear the distance sound of broken wooden slats clattering on the way down. For a moment, as Chloe struggled to keep herself from being one of these, she wondered morbidly what sound a body made after such a fall.

The rain, the cause of this mishap, was making it near impossible to hang on and Chloe could feel her grip loosen as she hung from the ropes. Looking in the darkness, she called out frantically, not even caring if those men heard her.

“LOIS, can you hear me?” She begged for an answer. She was starting to cry, feeling her resilience shatter because death was so near and the rescue she had been praying for was the furthest thing from her mind.

“CHLOE!” A near hysterical voice screamed back at her.

It was Lois’s voice and Chloe didn’t think that anything could frighten her more than their present circumstance until she heard the total loss of control in her cousin’s voice.

“CHLOE, I can’t hang on!” Lois cried out. “My hands are slipping!”

From the direction of her cry, Chloe guessed that Lois was further down the cliff on the other side. She couldn’t see her cousin only the rope ladder disappeared into the abyss, threatening to cast Lois into it.

“Lois, hang on!” Chloe cried desperately. “Just hang on!” Insane thoughts filled her mind as she forced herself to climb up. Instead of using the rope, Chloe used the slats to bear her weight.

A snap was heard.

“LOIS! Chloe damn near screamed. “LOIS, TALK TO ME!”

“I can’t…..I can’t hold on….” Lois was sobbing and each anguished wail made Chloe climb faster.

“LOIS LANE DON’T YOU DARE LET GO!” She screamed. “I am coming to get you. Do you hear me? I AM COMING to get you!”

Forcing herself over the edge, she let out a groan of relief when her nails dug into soft earth and Chloe pulled herself over the edge to safety. She looked up and saw the men closing in, at least half a dozen of them, their torches and their weapons easy to see against the light.

“If you want your sacrifice, you better go get her!” Chloe demanded, holding her ground as they swarmed around her, one of them shining a torch in her face, making Chloe flinch as spots appeared before her eyes. However, desperation had given her courage. “Either that or you’re back to square one! You need her!”

Whether or not her gambit had worked was never known.

There was a chilling sound of something snapping, possibly wood or rope, Chloe didn’t know but she heard it clear through the teaming rain, but following it was a scream descending into the dark.

Oh God….Lois.

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

A good five minutes had passed after Lex had left with Lana and Mrs. Fox before Clark risked using his powers. Using his enhanced vision, Clark surveyed their immediate surroundings until he was satisfied that the man hadn’t doubled back because that’s just the sneaky crap Lex was liable to pull just to annoy the hell out of him. Although Lex hadn’t been overt about his obsession with Clark of late, that didn’t mean Clark trusted him either. There was just too much between them for Clark to ever let down his guard where the billionaire was concerned.

Clark spent the time allowing Bruce to lead the way forward. For a man without any kind of powers, near as he could tell, Bruce’s night vision was impressive. The man was able to distinguish between broken branches to shrubs that had been trampled into the mud encrusted ground.

Secretly, Bruce was far more confident relying on his own abilities in tracking Chloe and Lois then relying too greatly on someone else’s powers. Furthermore, Bruce, who knew something about the lengths one went to in order to protect one’s privacy, could not fault Clark for his caution with Lex. Clark had a great deal to lose if someone found out about his powers.

“All this because you pulled him out of a car? ” Bruce declared, half listening to Clark talk as they moved through the jungle.

”Yeah,” Clark nodded, “he just got stuck on that day and never quite got past it I think.” Clark’s admission was filled with sadness because talking about the accident made him think of their friendship in the early days. Back then things had seemed so simple, Lex was a different man. The darkness in him was there but there was dignity in the way he fought to keep it at bay.

Bruce too had darkness in him but it was a different calibre, Clark thought surprised by his own insight in the man. It was the like the peace one felt when staring into the night sky, that there was something enduring and noble to always draw comfort from. It was an interesting difference. Once upon a time, Lex had said that their friendship would be the stuff of legends and yet as he worked at Bruce’s side, Clark knew in a way he had known Lois was the one for him, that with Bruce it would be the truth.

“LOIS LANE DON”T YOU DARE LET GO! I am coming to get you. Do you hear me? I AM COMING to get you!”

Clark froze in mid step when he heard Chloe Sullivan’s voice speak with such demand and fury that his breath caught at the hearing of it. Without warning, he grabbed Bruce and jumped into the air, leaving the ground beneath him like a shooting star streaking the night.

Bruce had about a fraction of second to determine what had happened, that he was airborne and flying through the air like he was strapped to the nose of an ICBM.

“I’m going to assume you heard something, ” he made himself heard through the rush of air past them, maintaining his composure as they sped through the jungle. He resisted the urge to tighten his grip. God in heaven he was fast, Bruce thought as he saw the jungle part beneath them like the Red Sea as Clark’s velocity split everything in his path like a hurricane cutting across the landscape.

“It was Chloe!” Clark answered, jaw tightening with worry, unable to ignore the fear in her voice, not to mention the content which indicated that Lois was in mortal danger. “Something’s happened…I’ve got to find them!”

“Take it easy,” Bruce ordered, feeling no less anxious but better able to keep his cool, “focus on the job and not the outcome.”

It was good advice and Clark complied by scanning the jungle and honing in on Chloe’s furious voice.

“If you want your sacrifice, you better go get her! Either that or you’re back to square one! You need her!”

That was all he needed to get an exact fix. In less than five seconds, he announced triumphantly to Bruce. “I can see Chloe!” He told Bruce excitedly and then noted that Lois was not there.

Lois was not there.

“I can’t see Lois.” He said almost fearfully.

“Drop me Clark,” Bruce instructed, able to make out the shapes at the edge of the cliff. They were close enough to the ground for him to land safely and he could make a stealthier approach.

“Bruce, there six of them,” Clark stated.

“Your point being?” Bruce retorted.

Clark’s response was cut short by the scream. It was sharp and hysterical. If Clark wasn’t hearing it himself, he might not have believed its origin but his stomach clenched.

“That’s Lois!” Clark burst out.

“Drop me!” Bruce barked and this time Clark didn’t object.

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

Lois screamed.

It was not something she usually did but considering she was plunging through the air to her death, she figured she was allowed. She had hung on for as long as she could, clinging to the last wooden slat, trying to grab hold of the rope fibres, her legs dangling in the air as the weight of her wet dress pulled her down. Chloe’s words had given her a few seconds but it wasn’t enough and with a cry of defeat, fury, terror, she lost her grip and fell.

She felt the world swallow her up, felt the rain on her skin and the air screaming around her like a tornado was approaching. She thought it was the ground, waiting to crush her bones on impact and didn’t know if it was the pain she feared more or the ending that came after it. Lois was still screaming, oblivious to the sound was coming out of her mouth, to the throat that felt raw but she didn’t care. Lois Lane had come into the world screaming if she had to go out the same way, so be it.

Clark saw her, falling.

Launching himself with even greater speed, he saw the ground rushing up to claim her but Lois belonged to nobody, not even him. Determined as he had never been before, he hardly noticed that his jacket had been torn off his back by the sheer velocity. The rain was rushing past him like tiny projectiles when he closed in. An arm slid around her waist and under her legs in one fluid motion, as if catching her was the most natural thing in the world to him, like it was part of his being to never let her fall.

“I’ve got you.” Clark told her, almost speechless with gratitude for once that he was a man from Krypton.

Her scream died abruptly and for a second, she could said nothing. The voice in her throat choking with disbelief that he had come, that once again he had saved her. A part of her wondered how she could even question that he wouldn’t. Clark had always been there when she needed him, even before he loved her. Lois wrapped her arms around his neck, looked into his eyes and allowed him to see for once, her vulnerability as she buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed in happiness for her life.

“Yeah Smallville,” she managed to speak through her tears. “You got me.”

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

Clark was here.

Elation filled her as she heard the whirlwind moving through the trees. At first she had thought it was the rain but then she saw trees and branches swaying and shuddering as if a tropical storm had come out of nowhere. Chloe knew with certainty that it could be only one thing. Someone moving through the sky as if the life of his love depended on it. Even the men responsible for this nightmare had paused, trying to determine what was happening. She was forgotten for the moment as they heard the rushing of air and something moving through the sky with such speed that it defied explanation.

Chloe looked to the sky, letting the rain wash on her face, feeling her spirit rekindled with the arrival of her best friend. The scream that had ended abruptly meant only one thing, that Lois was safe. Chloe would not let herself entertain the notion that it could anything else. Suddenly, she saw something move through the darkness. It moved with such speed that before she could blink to look twice, another scream was heard but this time, its origin was closer. It came from the men standing near to her, following the sickly squelch of bone snapping.

Chloe stumbled back as the group erupted into chaos. Even with torches, she knew they couldn’t risk opening fire with their guns, not when they could easily kill one of their own by mistake. She felt flat on her rump and pushed back across the ground when she heard the crack of fists and another man falling face down into the muddy ground, totally unconscious. The handgun he was clutching, tumbled from his hand. Thinking on her safety, Chloe made a grab for it.

Just in case whatever was out there, wasn’t Clark.

Another thwack was heard, a volley as a matter of fact. She saw in the darkness, something move incredibly fast but was not a blur like Clark. What she saw was a perfect engine of limbs and coordination. One more of the hunters were struck, she saw the blood spurt from a shattered nose, followed by the crunch of a kneecap and the splintering of ribs. A torch fell against the damp earth, beaming aimlessly into the night.

She wanted to move, to take it and even progressed a meter or two in approach when suddenly a body flew past her shoulder. Chloe craned her neck far enough to see the injured man landing flat on his back, unmoving. The side of his face, already slick from rain was now flowing with a thicker, more viscous fluid. She was starting to fear that there was something out there worse than these men and their blood thirsty sacrifices.

A leg swung in the shadows, spinning like a wheel, striking one of the men on the jaw, causing him to stumble back. He and another remained of the original six and his fear was so thick now, that he raised his gun to fire. The opportunity to pull the trigger never came. Chloe’s eyes widened as a gloved hand caught his wrist and then promptly snapped it. A piercing scream of pain rang across the night just before an elbow to the face put an end to any other reaction to the injury.

The dark figure held his ground and spoke to the last one of her pursuers in a voice that made Chloe’s blood turn to ice in her veins. One word was said but apparently it was enough to end the melee without further discourse.

“Run.”

The hunter did not stop to look back.

Chloe held her breath, the gun in her hand felt like a weight she could not dispel. She was frightened and she was armed. She didn’t know what scared her more. What was out there or what she had to do to protect herself.

“You better tell me who or what you are Mister!” She raised the weapon to fire, her hands shaking even as she held the thing.

“Chloe. It’s alright.”

For a minute, she thought she had gone mad. This whole thing had driven her insane because she was hallucinating. She had to be. Lips quivering, she spoke, defying her insanity because a reporter never took anything on face value. Chloe had to ask.

“Bruce?” His name escaped her like a plea for salvation.

He stepped out of the shadows and approached her cautiously. “It's okay,” he spoke again, closing the distance in a few easy strides, until he was close enough to reach the barrel of the gun. “It’s me Chloe.”

She broke down then, “Oh God Bruce,” she lowered the weapon and then dropped it, allowing the weapon to splatter mud against her feet on impact. She was in his arms in a second and as she felt the familiar embrace from the night before, the fit of his chest against her and the blue of his eyes taking her in, Chloe believed. “I was going to shoot you.”

“No you weren’t,” he said holding her close, forgoing the urge to examine what it is about this girl that made his life just a little less cold.

“I was,” she nodded, “I thought I would have to shoot …” Chloe stuttered, mortified by what could have happened.

“Never,” Bruce said pulling away just enough so he could look into her eyes, the slightest hint of a smile on his lip as he lifted her chin. “You didn’t take the safety off.”

Chapter Seventeen:

Accelerated Developments

In the darkness of rain and wind, Clark Kent scanned the cliff edge for Chloe and Bruce. With Lois hanging on tight, her arms around his neck, her shape securely in his arms, he relished the warmth of her skin like finding port in the middle of a raging storm. She maintained her clutch around his neck almost childlike and noted the shiver in her frame that had nothing to do with the cold. This ordeal had shaken her and when the danger had passed, when they were home in Smallville, where she was within her comfort zone, Clark made a promise to ask Lois what exactly had happened to her out there, other than her abduction.

“There they are,” he pointed out as he saw Chloe and Bruce clearly on the patch of clearing, free of the brush and creeping shrubs that covered most of the landscape, when it wasn’t concealed in a canopy of trees. Clark saw a glint of blond through the night and knew that it could only belong to Chloe.

“Are they alright?” Lois asked quickly, making out shapes but possessing none of the clarity Clark was capable of at this distance.

“Yeah,” Clark snorted sardonically. It seemed that Bruce had not been exaggerating when he claimed that he was more than capable of handling the six men who had been converging on Chloe earlier like a pack of wolves closing in on a helpless prey. Using his enhanced vision, Clark spied a multitude of broken bones in the bodies of the unconscious men, all precisely inflicted to avoid fatality. Despite his methods, Clark had to confess that he admired Bruce’s efficiency. “They’re fine but I can’t say the same for the guys who tried to recapture you and Chloe though. I’m seeing traction in their near future.”

Lois didn’t say anything to that and her silence disconcerted Clark who was accustomed to her trading barbs and banter with rapid fire speed. In fact now that Clark thought about it, she had spoken much at all since her rescue. Instead, she had remained in his embrace, her face buried in his shoulder, simply recovering from her ordeal with a bout of silent tears he dared not ask her about.

After so long being her friend and now poised to become her lover, Clark was probably the only person who was allowed to witness his vulnerable stated. Lois guarded her persona of strength so much that sometimes it was difficult to imagine that there was a woman beneath that balls to the wall demeanour, who felt things deeply and needed someone else to be strong for her when it was necessary. He held her close, whispering comforting things in her ear, assuring her that she was safe because he loved her and swearing inwardly, he would always be there to catch her when she fell.

Fortunately, the mention of Chloe and Bruce ignited her spirit somewhat and with a cleared throat and a swell of air in her lungs, Clark could almost hear the switch flicking on in Lois’ head that told her it was time to snap out of it. Flying towards the other couple, Lois did however become animated when she noticed something else.

“Clark, shouldn’t you be going into secret identity mode in front of Bruce?” Checking him on his secret had become as much habit for Lois as it was for Clark nowadays.

Clark smiled as he turned his gaze towards her, grateful that she was sounding like her whole self. “It's okay, Bruce knows,” Clark replied, explaining quickly the events that led to Clark having to throw himself over Bruce to shield him from a hail of bullets.

“Can you trust him?” Lois asked next because she hadn’t been able to read Mr. Wayne that clearly and now that he had insinuated himself into her life by becoming her cousin’s lover and being in possession of Clark’s secret, Lois prayed there was more to him than the papers suggested.

Clark looked at Bruce as she asked the question. Could he trust Bruce Wayne? Strangely enough, Clark thought he could. He couldn’t explain it. There was something about the man that told Clark that they would always be on equal footing, that despite Mr. Wayne having more money than God, his intellect provided Clark with an equal. Something told him that Bruce felt the same way. Standing on the same ground, their goals similar because Bruce’s sense of justice might even be more rigid than Clark’s own, they understood each other on a very basic level.

“Yeah, I trust him,” Clark said firmly and found that he truly believed it. “We kind of have an understanding. He won’t tell anyone that I can fly and I won’t tell anyone that the billionaire from Gotham is the smartest man I know who can put down half a dozen guys without breaking a sweat.”

“What….” Lois blinked, having assumed that it was Clark who did this when she first saw the bodies. However, his admission made her eyes widen in astonishment. “Woah…” She counted five men laid out flat against the grass and mud. “Bruce did this?”

As one who was skilled in unarmed combat, Lois had to give the guy his due. His handiwork was impressive and near ruthless. “Is he a meteor freak?” She whispered as they touched down.

“Nope,” Clark shook his head as the ground came up to greet them. “Unless you count an unfailing ability to sound like a smug know it all a meteor induced ability.” He smirked. “However,” Clark added a second later, “but near as I can tell, he’s one hundred percent human. He says powers would just get in his way.”

“Oh nice,” Lois rolled her eyes as they finally landed. Chloe had to have superhero radar when it came to men. Then again, she was one to talk, the last guy she dated had a thing for heroics as well.

“Chloe!” She called out as soon as they were on the ground and pulled away from Clark for a quick reunion with her cousin.

“Lois!” Chloe met her part way and both hugged each other in gratitude and relief. “Oh thank God! I thought you were dead for sure.”

Lois’ stomach hollowed at the very same notion but well into tough girl mode now, Lois brushed it off. “What? Never happen,” she said feigning mock indifference, “with this guy around,” she threw a glance over her shoulder to Clark who was approaching them. “Although it took them long enough…” she pretended to grumble as Chloe chuckled.

“Well glad to know that your sense of humour is intact anyway,” Chloe retorted before seeing Clark behind Lois. “Your timing was impeccable as always,” she laughed as she hugged with the same affection. “Thanks for coming after us Clark,” she said gratefully. “I wasn’t sure you could find us.”

“I wouldn’t have managed it without Bruce,” Clark confessed, not one to deny credit whenever it was due. He met the man’s gaze and nodded slightly. “He’s the brains of this outfit.” He joked.

“Well you can lift very heavy things,” Bruce pointed out, with a little smile.

“Thanks,” Clark gave him a look through narrowed eyes. “I’ll remember that the next time you need a lift somewhere.”

Chloe’s gaze darted from man to man, noting the growing buds of friendship. It was different than Clark’s interaction with Oliver. Clark trusted Bruce with his secret and that was saying a lot. Chloe was starting to realise that her estimation that Bruce had hidden depths might have been off by a couple of light years. It made her think about what she had seen earlier. How he had moved against those men.

It was almost like a dance in its fluidity and yet so powerfully brutal. It took quite a bit to take her breath away after seeing Clark in action but as terrified as she had been when she was holding that gun, Chloe couldn’t help feel awe at the skill she had seen. Was this what Bruce had been doing for seven years in the wilderness? When they had been making love, she questioned how he had been so physically well kept. For a man who flashed his indulgence across every tabloid paper known to exist, it had seemed inconsistent that he was so built. Now she understood why, not just on that point but also the vapid persona had fabricated for the world’s benefit.

“I guess we all have some catching up to do…,” she said holding onto Bruce’s gaze before remembering something that made her exclaim. “OH Lana! Lana’s still out here!”

“It’s alright,” Clark spoke hastily as he saw Lois shoot him a look of similar panic. “We found Lana earlier on. She’s with Lex. We sent them to the car.”

Lex was in on this? Chloe thought as she exchanged a glance with her cousin. “That had to be fun.”

“You have no idea,” Bruce retorted with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey you wanted to kill him too,” Clark said defensively.

”Cute,” Lois almost laughed at the situation.

Unfortunately, the light banter couldn’t last because Bruce was always thinking. “Clark,” he said in a sobered voice, “we should get moving. How fast can you get to town?”

“Fast,” Clark answered without hesitation.

“Then take Lois first and then come back for Chloe. Lex will have his people here soon. I don’t think we should be here he gets back. I rather not face a whole bunch of questions that would be awkward to explain.” Bruce knew Clark understood exactly what he meant.

“I’m with you,” Clark nodded in agreement, mindful of this point as well. “Are you two going to be okay while we’re gone? I won’t be long.”

“We’ll be fine,” he answered. Taking Chloe’s hand, he added, “Chloe and I will head for the road, if Lex does get back first, we’ll explain that we got separated.” He felt Chloe squeeze his fingers and glanced at her briefly, taking note of those green eyes staring at him with such affection that he almost made him forget his train of thought.

“Okay,” Clark replied, committing his answer to memory because it would be necessary later. Turning to Lois, he put his arms around her waist and asked, “Ready?”

“Yeah,” she smiled, sliding her own arms around his neck in a move that was become common place now that she hardly even noticed it any more.

“Take care Chloe,” Lois sang out to her cousin as she felt the air whipping her soggy skirt around her feet and against her skin when Clark pushed them both off the ground. “See you soon.”

“See you,” Chloe watched, waving to both of them as Clark spirited Lois away through the sky, vanishing into the night.

When they were gone, Chloe’s eyes found Bruce. “I guess we need to talk” It was a question.

Bruce nodded as he started walking, taking her with him as they moved towards the jungle again. He broke from her just long enough to cover her shoulders with his dark coat. It was just as damp but Bruce felt compelled to make the effort nonetheless. “I guess we do.”

“Why?” Chloe asked and knew she didn’t need to elaborate any specifics, Bruce was astute enough to know by now that her question encompassed everything that led to that extraordinary display she saw earlier.

“Because this isn’t a perfect world Chloe,” he looked into her eyes. “It is a cold dark place, where evil men destroy decent people because they can. In Gotham City, that’s how it’s always been. I wish I could say it started when my parents died but that isn’t true. It is in the streets of Gotham, it oozes off the walls, it chokes the air and it bleeds unto the street. Ever since that night, I’ve been screaming inside my head, demanding an answer to that very question – why? I left for seven years to find my answer.” He paused and gathered his thoughts before speaking again. “They say if you walk far enough, you’ll find yourself and that’s what I did Chloe, I found myself and in finding myself, I found my answer. “Gotham needs me, it always has. Except now…”

“Except now there’s me?” She concluded.

He smiled faintly, “now there’s you.”

“I’m sorry,” she felt the need to apologize, not knowing why. “I didn’t mean to complicate your plans.”

“My plans were complicated long before you came along,” Bruce declared as they penetrated the jungle again and became surrounded by thick vegetation. It felt surreal having this conversation, when they were surrounded by jungle and covered in mud and rain. “This is just another contingency I have to work around.”

“Work around?” She declared, taking note of how at ease he was in the dark, how his steps leading them through this place had no hesitation. Chloe didn’t know how she felt about being described as a contingency.

“Chloe,” he paused a moment, making her look at him. “This isn’t easy to say and God knows I can’t remember when I felt this strongly but I’m almost certain that I’m in love with you but I do know that I don’t want to lose that.”

How was a girl meant to respond to that? Chloe thought but still felt a smile creep across her face in delight by his declaration. Chloe found herself smiling. This thing between them was very new and before this, she had wondered if she was being foolish by expecting more after just one weekend. If anything, she had been expecting some token gift to mark the ending, as it was the habit of rich men to do. This has been too much to hope for.

“Neither do I Bruce,” she said after a long pause, wondering if he could tell how happy she felt even if she was trying to play it coo. “So where do we go from here?”

He uttered a short laugh, “for the first time in my life, I don’t know. I’m only going to ask that you be patient with me. I’ve got work to do in Gotham but I want us to work as well.”

It was nothing solid, nothing she could scream from the highest tower as a declaration of unending love but it was enough. It was enough because it was her that he cared for, not some idealised version of a past love she could never hope to replace. Not loved because she was second best or comfortable but simply because she was the one he wanted.

Chloe smiled at him and nodded, hiding the emotion in her voice. “If there’s one thing I have a lot of, Mr. Wayne, its patience. I can wait.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Above the jungle, Lois and Clark soared over the treetops, headed back to Tierra Colorada where hopefully Lex had called out the cavalry. From this vantage point, Lois had to admit the jungle looked less treacherous than it was on the ground. Of course, she knew better after everything she and Chloe had been through tonight. Holding onto him, they braved the curtain of wind and rain sweeping past them. A surge of gratitude filled her when she spied in the distance, a crack of sunlight struggling to pierce the dark cumulous clouds.

Thank God for the dawn.

“So,” Clark found himself saying shortly after they had left Bruce and Chloe behind. “How’s your weekend without me?” He teased, partly out of concern for her and mostly because he couldn’t resist rubbing it just a little. Besides, one way to be assured that Lois was alright was to prod her fiery temperament and see if it rose to the occasion.

“Oh you’ve just been waiting to say that haven’t you?” She fumed and swatted him on the arm. “It was going great,” she said with an upturned nose and an air of dignity, “until the whole ‘kidnapped by mad Aztec cultists as sacrifices to their gods, followed by the madcap escape into the Jungle of Death’ thing.”

“You could have stayed home with me, eating pizza and watching the Indiana Jones trilogy,” he continued to tease. “Then you could have had all this without having to leave home.” He winked.

“Oh you’re a freaking riot,” she snorted. “You are so lucky we’re flying several hundred feet above the ground or else you’d get your ass kicked, invulnerable or not.”

Clark chuckled, satisfied then that Lois was fine. Her fighting spirit was the best gauge of her temperament and he had been worried that her ordeal tonight might have left lasting scars upon it. Fortunately, as always, his Lois was a survivor. Beneath them, the road came into view, a thin strip of tar through the otherwise lush terrain.

Suddenly, his good mood vanished immediately.

“Oh no,” Clark exclaimed, his voice filling with dismay.

“What?” Lois’ annoyance evaporated quickly as she recognised the tone. “What is it?”

The Maseratti that he, Bruce and Lex had used to get here was exactly where they had left it.

Lex should have reached it long before this, Clark thought and immediately scanned the area to see any signs of approach. He had hoped that with the difficult terrain, it might have taken longer to get across the terrain. However, he saw no signs of them on the way to the road.

That’s Bruce’s car,” he exclaimed to a bewildered Lois.

Lois saw it after a few seconds too and she exclaimed, “but I thought Lex…..” and the voice died in her throat. “Oh God Clark, you don’t think...”

But that was exactly what he was thinking and Lois caught on a fraction of a second later.

Clark was certain that Lex, Lana and Mrs. Fox never made it back to the car.

Damn it, he and Bruce should have seen this possibility! “Lois I’m going to set you down.” He stated already starting to descend towards the empty road. “I’m going to get Chloe then you two will drive to town and get help.”

“Alright,” Lois nodded, not even bothering to argue. There was nothing that she or Chloe could do to add to the situation that either Clark or Bruce couldn’t handle on their own.

Landing next to the car, Bruce had left it open and Clark scanned it to find a set of spare keys under the driver’s side mat. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Hurry Clark,” Lois said urging him to go. “Now that the cats out of the bag, there’s no telling what those bastards will do if they got their hands on Lana, Mrs. Fox and Lex.”

Clark had a good idea without Lois having to spell it out. They really didn’t have much time.

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

They had nearly made it to the car.

Trudging through the thick jungle, through rain and deceptively treacherous terrain, Lex had kept his hand wrapped tightly around Lana’s slender wrist, ensuring at the same time that Mrs. Fox was kept in his line of sight. Despite his differences with Clark and Bruce respectively, he felt an obligation to ensure the lady was safe in his charge, since without them, he would not have found Lana himself. The last twelve hours since Chloe’s call, Lex had been racing across country to find the love his life and their unborn child. Now that she was with him, he was determined to let nothing else keep them apart.

Inwardly though, he did feel a little guilty for abandoning Clark and Bruce, to whisk Lana away to safety when Chloe and Lois were still out there. They had helped him find Lana and there was a part of Lex that had conscience enough to feel shame that he had not returned the favour by sticking around to help the other two lost women. While the latter was little more than an acquaintance, the former had been a friend in the past. Like Caesar at the Rubicon, Lex did not regret the choices made when he let the dice fly. However, he did mourn secretly the friendships lost because of it.

“Are you alright?” He asked Lana when they paused long enough for him to ask. He had been moving at a brisk pace until he remembered that Lana was pregnant and Mrs. Fox wasn’t young enough to endure this punishing terrain for long.

“I’m fine,” Lana nodded, breathing hard, wiping the wet from her eyes as rain ran down her skin. Her hand however, clutched her swollen belly as if doing so would protect the babe there from harm.

“You should take a moment dear,” Tanya advised. The woman herself seemed tired and drained but she maintained her poise despite their surroundings.

“I’ll be fine,” Lana assured them both, wanting nothing more than to get out of this place while they could. Now that they were so close to freedom, the young woman felt more frightened than ever. Thanks to her pregnancy, her sense of smell had been the strongest during their incarceration in those awful cages. Lana suspected that it would be a long time before she’d rid the memory of the stench, the stench that reminded her of slaughterhouses and butcher shops. The stench of blood she knew to be human, even before realizing the grisly purpose of their abduction. “I just want to keep moving.”

Lex nodded in understanding. He didn’t need Bruce’s description of what these cultists had planned for his fiancée to know how grisly Aztec religion could be. One of the bloodiest cultures in history, Lex remembered stories involving the reconsecration of Tenochtitlan’s Great Pyramid where almost 85’000 lives had been sacrificed. It didn’t surprise Lex in the slightest that these fanatics were willing to sacrifice 18 people in order to satisfy their dark god’s lust for flesh.

A pin prick of light pierced through the black, catching Lex’s attention in the distance. For a moment he thought it might have been Clark and Bruce but the direction was wrong. It was closing in and fast. “We have to move,” he spoke sharply, keeping his voice low while at the same time conveying the urgency of their situation. “Now!” He hissed.

“Oh God….” Mrs. Fox gasped, her voice cracking with fear as they started to hurry, their footsteps splattering loudly against the wet soil, masking nothing. Even through the teeming rain, the sounds echoed and Lex knew that if they managed to get away, they would be lucky.

Unfortunately, they weren’t.

Just short of the treeline which would have deposited them on to the road where Bruce Wayne’s black Maseratti was parked and waiting, Eduardo Santiago and the faithful closed in on their escaping prey. Lex made an effort to break through, actually throwing himself into the thickest part of the group, hoping that the distraction might give Lana and Mrs. Fox a way to escape but to no avail. Instead he was beaten into the mud for his trouble, Lana’s screams ringing in his ears.

“Let them go you bastards!” Lex shouted, blood filling his mouth, his cheek scraping against the soggy ground as he saw the men closing in on the two women. “It's over! You don’t have enough for the eighteen!” He screamed impotently, refusing to give up, even as he felt another boot kick into his lower back, sending spasms of pain through his body at the same time as another frantic scream from Lana.

“LEX!!!!”

“Lana…” he grunted in pain.

“You’re wrong Mr. Luthor,” a voice said over his head. Lex saw shoes digging into the mud, its owner squatting next to him with smug expression. “We do have eighteen.” Eduardo Santiago replied. “It seems we may have to speed up our ritual to appease Huitzilopochtli but he has been hungry for a long time and I do not think he will too angry with us if we feed him all at once. The world is in chaos Mr. Luthor so we must do our part. All of us,” he looked at Lana who was sobbing as both her arms were restrained. Tanya Fox was driven to her knees, one of the Faithful had her forced her down, to ensure she did not make any attempt to run, held in place by a vise like grip on her shoulder.

“Thanks to you.”

Chapter Eighteen:

Quake

After depositing Lois near the car, Clark sped back to Bruce and Chloe at super speed, grateful for once he didn’t have to explain his powers to anyone and they could get to the business at hand without unnecessary delay. He found Bruce and Chloe making good time back to the road, taking note of the hand holding and surmising that the duo must have spent the time talking about their relationship.

As much as Clark found himself warming to Bruce, when it came to Chloe, Clark was in two minds. Chloe deserved someone who could love her the way she deserved, fully and completely. If the guy could also keep her out of trouble, that was a definite plus. Clark had his hands full with Lois most of the time. However, Bruce’s intensity gave Clark pause and he began to think of what kind of life Chloe would have with a billionaire who apparently was on a crusade to rid Gotham City of evil.

Probably the same kind of life that Lois would have with a guy who flies and comes from the planet Krypton, he sighed. In the end, he supposed it was not his choice to make. If Chloe wanted to be with Bruce Wayne, Clark couldn’t fault her for that and it was an added bonus that he liked the guy and could consider Bruce an equal.

“Bruce, we’ve got trouble,” Clark announced upon landing next to a patch of grass next to the two as they took advantage of the scrub in their return to the road. “Lex, Lana and Mrs. Fox never got to the car.”

“Oh my god,” Chloe exclaimed. “Those crazies must have them,” she said in panic, looking to the two men with fear.

“We better move fast,” Bruce said not blinking an eye at the news and once again Clark marveled at the man’s ability to roll with a situation. “They’ve got eighteen.”

“Wait a minute Lois and Chloe are safe…” Clark started to say, trying to correlate the numbers with what they knew.

“And they have Lex.” Bruce retorted. “Clark you need to take Chloe to the car, I’ll head towards the temple. “ Turning to Chloe, he spoke in a tender voice, a far cry from the brittle tone he had used when he had been dealing with those cultists. “You know what to do when you get to town?”

Chloe nodded, finding herself still a little overwhelmed by Bruce’s other persona, the one that had nothing in common with the billionaire playboy who oozed charm but this cold, methodical man who seemed in perfect control of his situation no matter how insane everything was around him.

“Call the cavalry,” she nodded. “We’ll scream blue murder until help comes.” She met his blue eyed gaze.

“That’s my girl,” Bruce smiled at her affectionately and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on her lips. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Hey I know you’ve got the James Bond thing down pat but don’t get yourself killed will you?” She said trying to infuse humour in her voice but it still came out sounding a little apprehensive and worried.

“Dying isn’t in my plans right now,” he smiled before looking at Clark, “you two better get going. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Right,” Clark answered, having stepped away a bit to give the two a bit of privacy but Bruce was right and if his statement about Lex was any indication of what the cultists might do, then they had very little time. Those fanatics had to know that their time was running out and that meant accelerating their plans.

“I’ll be back soon,” he told Bruce as he slipped an arm around Chloe and pushed off into the sky.

Bruce stared a moment as he saw Clark Kent disappear into the dusky sky, amazed at the sight of watching a man fly, lost like any other human for a brief time at the marvel of it. However, it was not a moment that could be indulged for long because their belief that the danger had passed was premature. Dawn was fast approaching and Bruce suspected that whatever ritual was needed to take place in order to appease the god Huitzilopochtli would need to be carried out soon. Eduardo Santiago’s faithful had to be feeling the pressure now, they would know that time was running out.

With Clark disappearing with Chloe, Bruce made himself ready. Retrieving the gloves he had used earlier to dispatch those men, he slipped them on again, taking note that they were soiled at the knuckles with blood. Inside his jacket pocket, he carried with him a few things, a number of metal pellets, each an inch in length with a seam circling the middle. In a leather pouch, were fighting stars, sometimes called shurikens, which he had made himself, shaped not to their traditional star shape but something a little more fighting, if one knew the psychology behind it. A knife was in its scabbard around his calf which he’d use only if forced to. Bruce did not believe in using lethal force even if he often skirted to close to the edge of it.

Once he considered himself sufficiently armed, Bruce set out through the jungle, certain that Clark would find him soon enough.

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

Lex was barely aware of being dragged back to the temple after they had been recaptured. The last thing he seemed to recall with any sort of clarity was being set upon by Eduardo Santiago’s men, most likely to ensure that he remained pliant while they moved him. However, clarity returned to him in full force when the sounds of beating drums invaded his consciousness and kicked started his consciousness.

“Lana!” He exploded with a start, sitting up abruptly only to have hit his head on something.

“Lex!” Lana Lang scrambled to the bars of her cage and looked across the cave to the one occupied by the father of her child. “Lex, are you alright?” She demanded, horrified by the blood and bruises she saw covering his skin after his savage treatment by the cultists. Although she was terrified of what waited at the source of those drum beats, Lana’s first concern was with Lex’s condition.

“Lana,” Lex recovered his senses and cursed at his surroundings, before facing his fiancée in her own confinement. “Are you alright? Mrs. Fox?”

“We’re both fine,” Lana assured him quickly, relieved to hear him speak. The blood on his skin had made Lana fear the worst. “This is where they held us before,” she explained swallowing visibly. “I think they’re going to be coming for us soon.”

“Me first most likely,” Tanya said from her cage.

“It won’t get that far,” Lex said determinedly, for their sakes as well as his own. “Clark and Bruce are out here too, they’ll find us.”

“They better hurry,” Lana said fearfully, aware of what Clark was capable of even if Lex wasn’t. Clark Kent’s former love had no difficulty in keeping his secret from Lex because she had justified it as it being not her secret to reveal. Furthermore, despite her love for Lex, there was a tiny part of Lana that was frightened of what Lex might do with that information. It was a temptation she was not going to be responsible for. “I think they’re about to begin this ritual of theirs.”

“We have to make sure they take me first,” Tanya said somberly. The lady was weak and she was frightened but she had also resigned herself to what would happen if fate willed it.

“Nobody is going to be taking anybody!” Lana exclaimed almost stubbornly. “Clark will bring help!” She refused to believe anything else.

Lex bristled a little and swallowed his distaste at the certainty that Clark would come charging to the rescue but it was the truth. Clark was out here and he was their best hope for help. Hopefully the farm boy had sense enough to get help before it was too late. Any disdain Lex had for Clark however, vanished when he saw shadows at the mouth of the cave, several of them.

“Lana…” he started to say when Eduardo Santiago entered the cave again and approached Lana’s cage.

“Stay away from her!” Lex shouted helplessly, watching Lana scramble to the back of the cage as if there was space enough for her to truly remain out of the man’s grip.

“I would worry about yourself, Mr. Luthor,” Santiago paused long enough to retort before nodding to his companions who fanned out to approach the other cages, Lex and Tanya’s to be specific. “It is time.”

“NO!” Lana cried out frantically. “Please don’t do this,” she clutched her belly as if that would make a difference and knew despite her pleas, that it didn’t. “Don’t hurt my baby!”

“I’ll give you anything that you want!” Lex shouted. “ANYTHING! JUST DON’T HURT HER!” He was still screaming it when they opened the cage door and he was dragged out by two men.

“You do not understand,” Santiago shook his head as Lana was retrieved, kicking and screaming in terror. “You cannot buy Huitzilopochtli’s favour with riches.” Santiago explained it as if he were giving a school child a lesson in religious studies. “He must be appeased with blood and we do it now. Already too much time has passed and the earth continues to tear itself a part. Twice in as many years, we saw the world shudder in agony. It cannot be ignored. The last time it happened, this temple appeared from the ground. It was a sign of what had to be done.”

“Don’t do this!” Lex begged. “What happened had nothing to do with your god. It had to do with something else entirely! I was there! I know!” But how was he going to explain about Black Thursday? He didn’t understand it entirely but he knew that it had more to do with Kryptonians named Zod rather than hungry gods. As expected no one was listening and despite his determined struggles to break free, he was trapped because Lana was in their hands too. Mr. Fox had been similarly extracted from her imprisonment and it seemed that Santiago planned on making good on his earlier threat.

They would all be facing the sacrificial altar together.

**********

When Bruce heard the drum beats from the jungle, he knew that they had run out of time.

He closed in on the temple, able to see it through the increasing light of the sun breaking through the canvas of dusk. Dawn would be upon them before too long and Bruce suspected that the sacrifices would happen at the break of dawn since Huitzilopochtli was a sun god. Closing in on the temple, he noted that there was no one on guard. Most likely everyone wanted to be there for the final ceremony. Bruce made a stealthy approach none the less and examined the temple which was the site of so much bloodshed.

Like most South American temples, this one shaped like a pyramid with great steps leading upward to a flat plateau. In it times, this temple would have stood as high as any of its modern contemporaries but Bruce spied that part of the structure seemed buried beneath the ground. In fact, closer examination, as close as he could get without actually being seen. It looked like the structure had been buried beneath the ground for some time and had recently been excavated. During Black Thursday, he concluded quickly. Black Thursday and Ash Wednesday had been interpreted as signs from Huitzilopochtli that he balance between light and dark had been disrupted.

If this temple had been unearthed during those events, Bruce could only imagine what kind of catalyst that would have been to a superstitious cult already seeking to blame anything for their nation’s misfortunes.

Bruce considered the foundations, most of which was being supported by large slabs of rock that had been forced up during the earthwork. All of it was very unstable and it would only take another such event to cause the entire thing to collapse back into the fissure from whence it came. His observations were interrupted when he heard the gust of a loud breeze behind him and without looking back, Bruce spoke calmly.

“It's about time you got here,” he said studying the temple and the best way to approach it without being seen.

Clark came up alongside of Bruce and frowned. “I got here as fast as I can but trying to get either Lois and Chloe to leave us while we go off to fight fanatic Aztec cult guys is harder than trying to find them after they’ve been kidnapped by said Aztec guys.” Clark retorted, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

“Can you see them?” Bruce asked, his own eyes fixed on the steps leading to the top of the pyramid, most likely the place where the sacrifices were going to take place.

“Let me check,” Clark answered before concentrating on using his vision, scanning through the jungle, through the rock, through the catacombs of tunnels to se….

“Oh hell!” He exclaimed as he watched Lex struggling against his captors, Lana sobbing in fright and Mrs. Fox bearing a look of glassy acceptance as they were being dragged through the tunnels. “I see them. They’re being taken somewhere.”

“Up there I suspect,” Bruce nodded at the top of the temple, where a small gathering of people began to appear. The drum beats were emanating from them and he saw more and more bodies make their way up those steps, clad in colourful clothes that looked like something out of a history. “They’ll perform the ritual at sunrise.”

“We’ve got to go help them,” Clark exclaimed, starting to move when Bruce grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Just hold it there,” Bruce ordered pointedly. “What exactly do you plan on doing? Flying in there, knocking out all those men, rescuing Lana, Lex and Tanya with a full view of your powers?”

“Of course not but….” Clark started to interject and realised that he was right. If he went charging in there right now, he’d never be able to hide anything from them or explain how he managed to disable their abductors.

“I have a plan,” Bruce stated before he said anything else.

“Of course you do,” Clark rolled his eyes and then swore under his breath because Bruce’s plans so far had been pretty good. “Okay what’s your plan?” he asked, annoyed that Bruce continued to be five steps ahead of him. He really hated that.

“Just how strong are you?” Bruce inquired.

“Do we really have time for this?” Clark retorted with exasperation.

Bruce gave him a look, “can you bring down the temple?”

Clark stared at Bruce. “Are you insane? There are people in there! Sure some of them are psycho killers who should be committed but still people, not to mention Lana and Mrs. Fox! I mean I could either way with Lex…” Clark shook his head dispelling the thought, “okay not even Lex but I’m not going to put those people in danger…”

“Grow up Clark,” Bruce stated firmly. “I’m not asking you to hurt anyone. I need you to bring down those foundations and cause a distraction. This whole thing started because that temple somehow got unearthed during Black Thursday or Ash Wednesday. Probably during one of the earthquakes. Its certain to be on very unstable ground. Wait until everyone is up there at the altar and bring it down. They should be able to get to solid ground before it goes under completely and in the confusion you can move about without being seen.”

Damn. Bruce was right. It was a plan and a good one.

“Are you ever wrong?” Clark retorted, fuming at being second guessed again. There were risks to this plan, he was aware of them but he also knew that it was the best way for them to get to Lana and the others without compromising themselves.

“I thought you were big dumb hick who lucked into a hot girlfriend….” Bruce smirked with mischief. “But I’m happy to be wrong on that one.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Clark shrugged it off. “I thought you were some kind of Patrick Bateman type but I’m happy to be wrong about that one too.”

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

Where was Clark?

Where the freaking hell was Clark! Lana knew she shouldn’t panic but it was hard not to when they were being dragged through the tunnels and Lex was being pummeled repeatedly to ensure that by the time they got to the altar, he would be too injured and weakened to offer any kind of resistance. Eduardo Santiago led the entourage whom he called the Faithful through the catacombs and Lana had to fight to keep from gagging. The stench of blood was so thick she could hardly breathe. She wondered how many thousands of people had met their fates the same way she might, in this structure’s bloody.

“Lex! Lex speak to me!” She shouted in anguish as she saw Lex take another beating. There was blood running across the side of his face and pooling on his chin. His head was hanging down so she couldn’t see his eyes after the last attack. “Lex please, talk to me!” She began to beg.

“You will have plenty of time to say your goodbyes,” Santiago said indifferently.

“You animals!” Lana hissed at him but the man didn’t even consider her enough of a threat to react.

Facing front, she caught the whiff of fresh air and saw they were nearing a large doorway. Silent for a moment in order to process this latest development. She glanced at Tanya whose fear was evident but the older woman was attempting to maintain her calm. Not an easy thing to do considering what was awaiting them. Sunlight was peering through the opening and Lana wondered if that made any difference to their situation. When they emerged into the jungle again and Lana could see nothing but thick forest surrounding them, she decided it didn’t.

“How can you do this? My baby hasn’t done anything to deserve this!” She implored, desperate to stop the inevitable.

“Your child will be the final number in a glorious sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli,” Santiago spoke, ignoring the outburst as the warm sunshine washed over his skin. He was a man who was saving his people. Nothing was more important than that. Not even the words of this foreign woman moaning the end of her privileged existence. “You should feel honoured. When the balance is restored, we will sing your names in praises, your sacrifices will be honoured throughout the ages.”

”YOU’RE INSANE!” Lana fairly screamed, listening to the rhetoric and feeling something break inside of her when they left the door way to make their way up the steps leading to the top of the pyramid. Her voice echoed throughout the air, causing birds to leave the trees but silence to follow like the sound of tomb slamming shut. Inside her, the new life kicked almost as anxiously, perhaps feeling her fear.

“Lana,” she heard Lex start to stir as they were being pulled up the steps.

“Oh God Lex!” She cried. “Lex! They’re going to kill us!”

Lex Luthor made another effort to fight but he could feel broken ribs, a shoulder that was fire hot with pain and his vision alternating between clear and blurry. He probably had a concussion. He had enough of those in the last six years to know what they felt like. His struggles were weak and in his helplessness, Lex felt his fury mount because he had everything he wanted and was going to lose it all in this brutal way. It wasn’t fair!

As they neared the top of the altar, their path was framed on either side by other cultists and though they were not dressed colourfully, their faces were marked in tribal tattoos. They stared at the offerings, chanting with reverence, their voices adding an eerie mix to the drums beating. In a death march, Lana, Lex and Tanya were forced to the top of the pyramid, Eduardo Santiago leading the procession like a dark monk.

Reaching the top of the plateau, Lana’s blood ran cold as she saw the altar, a flat slab of bloodied stone. So stained with blood that it was almost crimson and the evidence of human detritus caked around is base. The sight and stench made her gag, it also stabbed at whatever calm she had managed to maintain. Eyes widened, she saw a priest in a terrifying mask, with fiery colours and plumes.

She noticed that and the knife he was holding. Something that resembled a jagged piece of flint.

What calm Lana Lang possessed then shattered and she began screaming, fighting to break free, crying out for help that wasn’t coming. Lex’s own fear was heard in his furious cries to stop, that swiftly descended into sobs for mercy, for her life. Through her struggles, she knew she was being forced towards the stone, the smell was nearly overpowering now and she heard the shuffling of feet and the hard thwacks of someone being pummeled.

“Lana..!” She heard Lex sob and groan at the same time.

“No please, don’t!” She begged just as frantically and caught sight of Tanya crying out at them to take her first, that this was wrong.

The drum beats grew louder and amidst the chanting she heard the costume priest speaking words she couldn’t comprehend as she found herself forced against the slab, feeling the moisture of the morning dew pressing against her skin. Lana looked up and saw the priest approach her and standing next to him was Santiago. She looked at Lex and saw his tortured eyes, the horror as he fought and struggled but was unable to break free. He cried her name, pleaded at them to release her, sobbed his sorrow at being helpless to prevent any of this.

Lana started to scream hysterically as she felt her arms and legs held down, the faces above her looking at her body as if it was the most precious thing in the world.

Lana saw nothing but the blade of black flint held over her stomach.

“LANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Lex scream was guttural, anguished, defeated.

Lana’s voice disappeared into a numbed abyss beyond terror, being fear. She could only watch and realise with complete totality, she was going to die.

Suddenly, something flew through the air. It struck the priest in the wrist, spurting blood across her dress as he recoiled in pain screaming. Retreating, Lana saw something black and shaped like…a wing or something… protruding from the man’s hand. The blade dropped from his hand, clattering off the ground before Lana heard another cry of pain and saw one of her captors release their hold when they were struck in almost the same place.

Kicking free as the whole ritual turned to chaos at this new development, Lana saw Lex take advantage of the momentary confusion to come to life again, driven by adrenalin and opportunity. In a flash, he was moving forward, throwing a fist into the ribs of the man holding Lana down. As soon as she felt her shoulders unrestrained, Lana rolled off the slab, landing on her hands and knees as she saw…saw that Bruce Wayne, fighting hand to hand further down the steps.

If Bruce was here, where was Clark?

There was little or no time for that though to coalesce in her brain when Lana felt the rock plateau beneath her heave. So sharp was the sudden movement, that she was almost knocked off her feet. For a moment, Lana thought she had imagined it and then she looked up and saw that everyone else was panicking as the shudder repeated itself underfoot. An ugly stone statue perched on the plateau teetered and then tumbled free entirely, shattering somewhere below with a loud sound.

The confusion became pandemonium as everyone began to panic with the increasingly violent tremors that were shaking the temple apart. She saw Eduardo Santiago looking around the place frantically, trying to determine what was going on. Lana’s only thought was Lex and Mrs. Fox. Mrs. Fox had broken free of her captors, mostly because they had let her go and fled, she was struggling to get to her feet and with that, Lana, found her own will to move. Getting up, she hurried to the woman.

“Come on, we’ve got to get out of here!”

“You’re not going anywhere!” Santiago somehow came out of nowhere, grabbing Lana’s arm.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!” Lex roared and though he was broken and bleeding flung himself at Santiago.

“Lex!” Lana shouted as she saw the two men engaged in a bitter struggle amidst the chaos generated by the earthquake rumbling beneath them. “Leave him!”

Lex heard Lana distantly but his rage was such that he wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything else than this man’s utter annihilation.

Years ago, a coma had allowed him to experience a life with Lana, where they were husband and wife, who had built a happy life together. Even though nothing in that fantasy was true, what had felt real was the utter helplessness he had endured watching Lana succumb to illness, unable to do anything to stop it. Lex had woken up from that coma determined that he would never endure that again. Everything he had done, the choices he had made of late had been propelled by that desire until today.

He had been forced once more to beg and plead for her life because someone with power had decided to take it away. The rage he felt at having experienced this nightmare come true could not be abated and before he was done, he would kill the son of a bitch who made him feel that loss of control again. Striking at the man even though every bone in his body ached from the effort, Lex threw punch after punch, until his knuckles were bloody.

”Stop it!” Lana hurried to him, grabbing his arm and pulling back sharply. “We HAVE to go!”

She saw Santiago, stunned by the attack bleeding almost as profusely and felt no remorse for him. She thought of Claire, of all those others who had died long before today, who had pleaded just as vainly as she had, only to be savagely cut down. No, her concern was not with this animal’s safety, her concern was getting the father of her child far away from here.

“Bruce!” Tanya called out and saw that Bruce Wayne fighting his way through the bodies. The young man was moving through the cultists who hadn’t fled and were determined to stop the interloper. Bruce had little trouble moving through them and making his way to the top of the plateau to find Tanya and the others he had come to rescue.

“Come on,” he took Tanya by the hand upon reaching her and sought out Luthor and his fiancée. He saw them at the edge of the plateau, with Santiago and shouted at them. “Lex, we have to move now!”

Lex came to his senses then, meeting Lana’s gaze and showing her that his momentary lapse was back.

“Right,” he nodded and took Lana’s hand, making his way towards Bruce. The tremors hadn’t stopped and they could see parts of the temple beginning to collapse into newly form fissures in the ground.

“Down those steps,” Bruce ordered, broking no argument from the millionaire. Fortunately, none was needed as another stone statue shattered as it broke loose from the ornate plateau and smashed against the ground. The stone slab of the altar had toppled open. “This whole place could fall back into the ground!”

Lex nodded and ensured his arm was around Lana as the two hurried down the steps, a portion of it had broken away and it wouldn’t last much longer. Bruce ensured that the three had gone when suddenly, something moved at the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw Santiago coming at him.

“Bruce, watch out!” Lana warned as she half turned and saw Santiago’s approach.

Lex too halted in his steps and turned to see the man who was responsible for their ordeal going after Bruce. Turning around, he started to climb the stairs again when the steps before him broke away and severing any path to the top of the plateau.

“LUTHOR GO!” Bruce ordered as Santiago coming at him.

Lex wanted to protest but another shudder reminded him that he had other priorities and he returned to Lana and Tanya, resuming the journey down the steps to escape the crumbling temple before it was too late.

Bruce did not wait to see if Lex had gone because Santiago was coming at him with the flint blade that the priest had almost used on Lana.

“Do you know what you have done?” The man screamed enraged. “You have ruined EVERYTHING!”

“Not terribly interested,” Bruce retorted catching the wrist that wanted to thrust the eight inch long flint knife into his chest. Grabbing his other hand, Bruce slammed his forehead against Santiago with a powerful head butt. Behind them, the steps had fallen away quickly and what was left of the temple was fast disintegrating into the narrowing foundations directly under the plateau. The steps had all but tumbled away.

Santiago’s knife fell from his hand and he staggered backwards and fell over the jagged edge of rock. His legs dangled over the darkness into the earth. Columns of dust were billowing from beneath and Bruce had trouble seeing him through the cloud. It would have been so easy to let him fall to his death but Bruce was no murderer.

“Give your hand!” Bruce shouted to Santiago who was clinging to life.

Santiago’s reaction was to grab Bruce’s leg, trying to pull him down with him.

Bruce lost his footing and fell down as the temple continued its collapse, no longer requiring the earthquake to shudder as the chain reaction hurtled towards its inevitable end. Trying to free his leg, he had little choice to smash his foot against Santiago’s fingers clamped around his ankle, determined to take Bruce with him. Santiago’s cry of pain was also a death knell as the man screamed in his descent. Bruce scrambled to the edge to see him disappearing into the fissure.

Bruce got to his feet, trying to weigh his options as the rest of the temple began to sink into the ground, reclaimed by the jungle. Deciding to make a running start and jumping when the plateau was close enough to ground level, Bruce took a deep breath and ignored the chaos around him. Ignore the details of his situation and focus. When he saw the ground rushing up to greet the edge of the crumbling rock, Bruce ran forward and jumped into the air…

…except he didn’t land.

“Need a lift?” Clark grinned at Bruce as they left the temple beneath them.

Bruce looked down to see the temple disappear entirely into the fissure and hoped that it would remain buried there for a few more hundred years. “I would have gotten out of that situation myself.” He frowned, unsure whether or not he liked being rescued.

“Well you’re welcome,” Clark retorted as they put some distance between themselves and the ruins. Just short of the road, Clark landed in a clearing and set Bruce down. Clark was still covered in mud and dirt, his part of the plan had him burrowing through the earth like a gopher but the end result had been worth the effort. He had managed to keep his abilities a secret from the fanatics and at last look, Lana, Tanya and Lex had made it to solid ground safely.

“Nice work,” Bruce commended as he saw the cloud of dust still rising over the trees.

“My first earthquake,” Clark answered, dusting himself off. “What happened to Santiago? I didn’t see him when I was coming to get you.”

“He’s dead,” Bruce retorted, unhappy at the fact that the man had chosen to die.

“I’m sorry,” Clark frowned. He knew that the earthquake had been necessary but Clark could not take any pleasure in death, even if it was unavoidable.

“I’m not,” the billionaire snorted. “I just hope his cult died with him.”

Epilogue

CULT LEADER’S BODY FOUND

By Chloe Sullivan

The body of Eduardo Santiago and several of his victims were recovered today by State Coroner in the jungles outside of Tierra Colarado, Mexico. Santiago, the ringleader of the cult known as the Faithful, had been killed during the collapse of temple foundations, unearthed during the Dark Thursday calamity, finally gave way and was completely destroyed.

Santiago, formerly a professor of anthropology at the Universidad de Guanajuato based in Guanajuato, had become obsessed with mythology surrounding the Festival of the Binding Year. He believed that the recent natural disasters occurring on Dark Thursday and more recently Ash Wednesday as evidence of some greater tragedy to follow if the Festival’ ancient traditions were not followed. Garnering an undisclosed number of followers, Santiago decided to enact the Festival of the Binding year, in particular the ritual sacrifice of eighteen people, by abducting tourists over the course of eighteen days.

Victims were originally visitors to the town of Tierra Colarado but when expatriate embassies began to issue travel warnings of the abductions, Santiago was forced to enter Acapulco to find his victims. Among these were Clarice Sanford, Warren Cahill and Bernadette Hollister. Also abducted was Lana Lang, fiancée of Lex Luthor who fortunately was able to escape when Mr. Luthor initiated his own investigation and led the authorities to Santiago….

***********

“I’m going to be sick,” Lois replied reading the newspaper inside her apartment over the Talon. “You gave all the credit to Lex.” She wrinkled her nose with clear disgust. “This isn’t a news article, it reads like fiction.”

Chloe looked up from her laptop and threw a cushion at Lois on the sofa. “Thanks a lot.” Chloe retorted. “Hey what else was I supposed to write, the dynamic duo of Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, Smallville quarterback and billionaire playboy, rescues damsels from psychotic fanatics by creating earthquakes and making the Punisher seem like a weenie?”

Lois was laughing by the time Chloe got through half that sentence.

“No,” she chuckled as she tossed the cushion right back at her cousin. “But you got to admit, it does make for interesting reading. So are you done?”

“God, you are so impatient!” Chloe groaned exasperated as she tried to concentrate on what she was doing and failed when Lois asked that question…yet again. “I’m just finishing this email to Bruce.”

“Email?” Lois rolled her eyes, “Jeez, you’ve been talking to him on the phone every night this week! What else do you have to say? You like him, he likes you, you’re going to visit him next week in his manor to be wined and dined and then who knows..” Lois’ expression became a smirk of pure evil.

“I’m not listening to you,” Chloe snorted, although those were her plans next weekend. Thanks to a boyfriend who had at his use a plane waiting to collect her on Friday nights and delighted in dropping in on her at Metropolis when she least expected, distance was proving to be a minor obstacle in her relationship with Bruce Wayne. “I’m going to finish when I finish.”

“Alright, alright,” Lois conceded defeat. “I guess I can’t knock young love. After all, you can’t put those cute smiley faces on telephone calls.” She winked.

“LOIS!” Chloe threw the cushion at her again as her cousin ducked. “The next time you tell how plaid suddenly does it for you, you are so getting paid out on.”

“Hey he does wear it well,” Lois retorted but knew when to shut up when the going was good. “I’m going to take the bags down to the car. We’ve got to make the plane in hour and its going to take us that long just to drive there so hustle it!”

To make up for their horror weekend in Acapulco, Lex had convinced Chloe and Lois to take Lana to the Beverley Hills Tower Hotel in Los Angeles for a weekend of rest and relaxation. This time however, there would be a healthy complement of bodyguards in attendance so they did not have a repeat of their Acapulco trip. Lois had planned a trip to Disneyland just to see if the bodyguards were brave enough to follow them into the ‘Small World’ ride. According to Miss Lane that took nerves of steel.

On this occasion however, they were not attempting to celebrate Lana’s impending marriage but rather the news that Lana’s baby was a girl. Following their ordeal and the extreme stress the young mother had been subjected to, a thorough physical had been conducted upon returning to Smallvile, including an ultrasound where Lana learned that her infant was not only doing well but sporting a definite X chromosome.

Once again, Clark had been none too happy about this but considering how their last weekend had gone, it was decided that all three needed to put behind them the ordeal or neither would ever vacation again. Of course Chloe was convinced most of Clark’s objections had to do with the fact that he really had nothing better to do while she and Lois were gone.

On that note, Chloe returned to her email.

Hi Bruce,

Glad to hear that Mrs. Fox is doing better and tell her that dinner is a definite go when I come to Gotham next week. It’s funny writing you an email when we’ve been talking just about every night on the phone but I guess this is one way to get all our thoughts on paper without making a mess of it right?

It’s crazy how much I miss you but I guess you’re used to women fawning over you. I saw you in the newspaper with the Italian model, it’s a good picture. Now I believe you when you said she only ate the salad because she looks rake thin. Was the conversation really that dull? You looked like you were ready to blow your brains out in that photograph in the gossip magazine. When I’m down there, we’ll have to get you an IPod so you’re not driven to suicide by the time the Crème Brule shows up.

Hey they could have the latest in criminology textbooks on ITunes. ;).

Anyway, I have to go now, Lois is starting to get all twitchy and once she gets going, only a sedative will shut up her.

Can’t wait til next week.

Love you.

Chloe.

PS. Do me a favour will you…..

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

Clark Kent heard the low rumble of a jet plane in the distance and knew it was probably a Luthor Corp jet taking off from a private airstrip somewhere. Even though it wasn’t the same jet that had taken Lois and Chloe to Los Angeles yesterday evening, Clark still felt the need sudden need to kick a can underfoot into orbit. The small piece of metal flew through the air, causing Shelby to look at him reproachfully before disappearing in the stratosphere, undoubtedly giving some astronaut a very funny story to tell the folks at mission control if he saw it.

“What?” He asked Shelby as he continued into the barn, muttering to himself. “You’d think that after you rescue your girlfriend and your best friend from psycho cult fanatics, they’d at least stick around the next weekend instead of flying off to LA for another girl’s weekend away. I mean the last one worked out so well.”

Shelby looked at him with sympathy but had nothing else to add to the conversation.

“You’re no help,” Clark retorted and entered the barn. He supposed he couldn’t begrudge Lois, Lana and Chloe for wanting to have another stab at some time together. After Lana was married and the baby arrived (Clark tried not to shudder when that thought entered his brain), there would be less opportunity for such outings. Still, he hated it when the two of them were gone because he had nothing to do but hang out at the farm and thanks to his powers, chores got done rather quickly and didn’t take up that much of his time.

Maybe he ought to take up a hobby.

“Jesus,” a voice spoke up from above. “Do your powers include enhanced whining as well?”

Without even needing his x-ray vision, Clark was able to recognise that voice immediately and ascended the staircase to his loft to find Bruce Wayne sitting on the couch reading a copy of the Daily Planet.

“Bruce,” Clark exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Well I heard so much about Smallville, I thought I’d take a look at the town for myself. Right now, the press thinks I’m in Aspen, holed up with some supermodel. Works for me.” Bruce threw the younger man a smirk.

“Chloe’s in LA you know,” Clark pointed out, although he was glad to see Bruce in a way that he wasn’t when Oliver showed up. Oliver’s visits usually coincided ended with his balls getting busted over not throwing himself into the super hero gig that Oliver believed so empathically in.

“I got the e-mail.” Bruce replied as Clark leaned against the desk watching the man give Shelby a scratch on the nose, to which the dog responded with a happy wag of its tail.

Traitor, Clark thought.

“So you just came up to Smallville even though Chloe isn’t here to hang out…” Clark looked at him dubiously.

“Actually Chloe’s email said, please give Clark a call because he’ll be bored out of his mind and I’m afraid he’ll start talking to Shelby again.” Bruce’s expression was smug.

Clark’s eyes narrowed. “She said that, ” he plastered a fake smile on his face. “That’s the last time she gets rescued for awhile.”

Bruce uttered a short laugh and Clark found the action coming from the man unusual, rare almost. Clark had a feeling it wasn’t something the man often did. For that matter, it wasn’t often that Bruce led down his guard for anyone to see the real him. Once again, Clark felt more of a kinship with this orphan from Gotham than anyone he had known in a long time.

“Looks like Luthor is the man of the hour,” Bruce remarked, gesturing to the paper.

“Oh yeah,” Clark shook his head. “And I’ll bet his milking it too. The hero who saved the day, instead of getting his two hundredth concussion.” Although Clark didn’t add that most of the time, those concussions almost always came about because of him.

“Jealous?” Bruce raised a brow, staring at him. “I didn’t think you wanted the limelight.”

“I don’t,” Clark shrugged. “Just gets to me how he always comes out on top.”

“Won’t always be that way,” Bruce returned confidently. “Lex may be lucky for now but luck always runs out. One day, people will know what he is.”

“I guess,” Clark frowned knowing that Bruce was right. Karma had a way of evening up the score. “I just worry about Lana.”

“Clark she’s a big girl,” Bruce answered, aware of something of the history between the two. Chloe had given him the abridged version of the Clark Kent/Lana Lang relationship. It was almost a seven season opus. “At some point, she’s got to live with the choices she’s made. You’ve got to let her go.”

“I have,” Clark insisted, uncertain how he felt about Chloe discussing such a private matter with Bruce. “I love Lois.”

“Not the same thing,” Bruce declared. “You love Lois and you’ve moved on with her but you haven’t let Lana go and you need to. It isn’t healthy. Trust me, I can write a treatise on the subject of not letting go until it’s almost too late.”

Clark met his gaze and realised he could well believe it. Bruce’s history, the losses in his life. “Have you let go?”

“We’re not talking about me but yeah, I’ve let go but not soon enough to keep it from leaving its mark. You don’t want that in your life, Clark.”

The Kryptonian nodded and took the advice. “You’re right. It is still hard to see her with him. I know Lois is the one but seeing Lana with Lex, it’s different from seeing Chloe with you. I know at least Chloe’s in good hands. Oh and just in case she’s not, I will break bone in your body if you hurt her.”

“You can try,” Bruce smiled, understanding the threat and what motivated it. “But so noted.”

Clark suspected that he was right the first time though, that Chloe was in good hands. There was something about Bruce that was oddly familiar, the same kind of nobility he had seen in very few men, his father was one of them. “I just know Lex is going to hurt her, maybe not now but someday.”

“Deal with someday when it comes, right now be her friend so you can pick up the pieces when if it does happen.” Bruce advised.

Good advice, Clark realised and decided to move on to a less emotional subject. “So, you’re here in Smallville. Unless you wanted to take a ride to the Dairy Queen in my truck, there’s not all that much to do around here.”

“So cow tipping is out?”

Clark rolled his eyes, “for starters, that’s a myth. Cows don’t even sleep upright.”

“I’m crushed,” Bruce grinned.

“I think I liked you better when you were intense and depressing. This sudden sense of humour is very disturbing.”

“It is a rare occurrence,” Bruce replied standing up. “Actually, I was kind of interested in these Zoners Chloe was talking about.”

“Did she tell you everything? ” Clark exclaimed exasperated. And he thought Lois could talk.

Not that he minded truly. It didn’t take long for Bruce to figure out that Clark was in no way a meteor freak, not with the powers he possessed and oddly enough the man had taken his secret about being an alien with the same reaction, he had taken to everything else. With the information noted and then shrugged aside. It was kind of nice actually to be honest with another guy, about himself, someone he respected, who understood that his need for secrecy was no exaggeration and accepted him for what he was. He had missed then since Pete had gone.

“No she left out the part where Lois found you naked in a cornfield,” Bruce said with a straight face. “That came from Lois.”

“Great,” Clark bristled with annoyance.

“So about these Zoners?” Bruce met his gaze with a hint of suggestion.

“You’re kidding,” Clark exclaimed, realised what the man was implying.

“Better than hanging out at the Dairy Queen.” The billionaire remarked with a smirk.

“You are crazy like a fruit bat,” Clark Kent retorted.

“Nah,” Bruce Wayne smiled, “just the regular kind.”

END

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