Previously...






Clark instantly gave up the struggle. He went limp in Hastings' embrace. After a moment, the man loosened his grip, allowing Clark to breathe easier.

"Okay," Clark choked out, coughing. "You win. I'll go quietly. Just...one last request."

"And why would I grant you a request?" Trask asked, now sounding more amused than anything.

"Because," Clark said, "it's the decent thing to do."

"Amongst humans," Trask amended for him. Then, as though turning the question over in his mind, "Very well. What is it that you want?"

"Just to...say goodbye," Clark said, nearly unable to get the words out. His move to ensure that the lock didn't actually lock hadn't been for his benefit. It had been to give Lois and Jor-El their chance. In his heart, Clark knew he was going to die. "Please."

"You have thirty seconds." Trask turned to Hastings. "Let him go, but keep your weapon at the ready."

Clark felt the massive arm come completely away from his body. He stepped to the cell door, to where Lois stood.

"I'm sorry, Lois," he began. "I wish I could have done more to save you. For what it's worth, my life has been so much better for knowing you. You took away all the hurt and loneliness I once had. I love you." He leaned in to kiss her, the bars standing like cold soldiers between them as their lips met. He could taste the salt of her tears as they started to flow. He kissed her lips, her nose, her eyes, then moved to kiss her cheek. "I did what I could," he whispered in her ear, so lightly that he prayed she didn't miss his words. "Save him for me. Save yourself."

"Clark...no. Please," Lois pleaded.

"I can't. I love you, Lois."

"I love you," she whispered back, her voice choked with tears.

Clark pulled back and looked to the man who'd fathered him. "I wish I could have known you better. Please, watch over Lois for me, Dad."

Jor-El nodded, swallowing hard as he did so. "My son," he breathed. "I love you."

"Enough. Time's up, alien," Trask said as Hastings put a hand on Clark's shoulder and pulled him away before he could clasp hands with Jor-El. "You don't want to be late for your doctor's appointment, now do you?"

With that, Clark allowed himself to be led away to his fate. But, though his feet led him further from the woman he loved, his heart stayed behind.

Please, Lois. Get out of here, he pleaded in his mind.

He'd never been one to shed many tears, but his vision soon fractured beneath a wall of water. He didn't want to die. Though he would gladly give his life in order to give Lois a chance of escape, he couldn't just accept his death without a fight. But...how? He didn't doubt that Trask would kill Lois before Clark's waking eyes if he so much as sneezed the wrong way. How could he fight, knowing that it would cost the woman he loved?

Then too, without his powers, what hope did he have of surviving a fight? Even if he got the upper hand, he was only too aware of the Kryptonite he knew Trask and Hastings had to have on them. A second would be all they would need to bring Clark to his knees. One bullet - even a regular one - expertly placed to his head or other vital area of his body, would kill him, just as surely as the vivisection he was facing.

A bullet would be merciful, he thought bitterly. Just a split second of pain and then I'd be gone. No dragging out my misery on a cold metal table while my insides get ransacked in a morbid, pointless scavenger hunt.

No! another part of him screamed. You can't give upI Fight, Clark!

It was enough to rouse him. Using what strength he had left, he tried to break away from his captors, knowing, in his heart, that he wouldn't know where to go even if he could get away. But Trask was ready for him. The moment Clark tried to make a move, Trask pulled a box containing a piece of Kryptonite from within his pocket. As the lid snapped open, Clark felt the deadly effects. His attempt to break free died before he really even began. Trask slipped his sidearm from its holster and smashed the butt of it into the back of Clark's skull.

The world went black.



***


"Clark!" Lois screamed after Clark was taken away, her heart feeling like it was being squeezed in a vice. "Clark!"

But, of course, Hastings and Trask never stopped or allowed Clark to turn around for one last, final look. They only pressed onward at the same steady pace, until they, and Clark, were lost to her sight. Next to her, Jor-El also cried out for the young man who'd been ripped away from them to meet a grisly fate.

Finally, knowing their voices were not being heard, they fell quiet. As the deafening silence enveloped them, they both took a moment to take stock of the current situation. The guards, who'd been posted to ensure that Clark remained a captive until Trask came to retrieve him, were gone, for the most part. A lone guard stood with his back to them at the end of the hall.

I did what I could. Save him for me. Save yourself.

Clark's final words to her came back to her mind.

I did what I could.

"I wonder," Lois muttered to herself, eyeing the lock and the cell door. She checked the hallway again, ensuring that the guard was still looking away from them.

"My son," Jor-El groaned to himself, leaning against the bars of the cell, just to the left of the door.

"Just one guard left," Lois whispered him, unhappy that she had to work with a man who so clearly seemed to resent her, but willing enough to collaborate with him if it gave her a chance to save the man she loved. "Should be easy enough. Follow me and be ready to guide us."

"What are you...?" Jor-El began, trying to follow what Lois was getting at.

"Now!" Lois hissed.

She carefully opened the door to the cell. Luckily, Bureau Thirty-Nine appeared to take pride in their compound. The door swung open soundlessly on its well-oiled hinges. Abandoning her high heels, she crouched and crept along the floor, painstakingly placing each footstep as she drew closer to the guard. When she got within a few steps of him, something - a sound, a shadow, or maybe just plain intuition - alerted him to her presence. He turned to confront her but Lois was already on the move. In two quick steps, she knocked him out completely.

"Glad I took those self-defense classes, " she grinned to herself. "Give me a hand," she commanded Jor-El as she bent to grab the man who lay sprawled out on the floor.

Jor-El nodded and grabbed the guard under his armpits. Together, they dragged him back down the hall to the cell. He grabbed the man's keycard and used it to lock the cell securely before they moved on.

"Where would they have brought Clark?" Lois asked, not sparing a breath of thanks for his help in locking the guard up. It simply didn't cross her mind. She was completely focused on saving Clark.

"This way," Jor-El said without hesitation, already on the move.

He lead her down what felt like a twisting maze of hallways. In retrospect, Lois would admit to herself that it was probably more straightforward than it had felt at the time. But with her pounding heart, her growing sense of urgency, the suffocating fear that she would be too late to save Clark, and the constant feeling that they would be caught at any moment, her head was soon spinning. At first, she tried to keep track of the turns they took, but after the fifth hallway they turned down, she gave up and focused only on her surroundings, checking every direction constantly to ensure that no one saw them.

Several times, they came seconds from being discovered. Each time, they ducked down a different passageway or behind something or into an empty room just in time to avoid detection. By the time they reached the medical area, Lois' nerves were completely shot and Jor-El had needed to use the stolen keycard several times.

"He should be here," Jor-El whispered breathlessly.

"I'll check the right wing," Lois said grimly, steeling herself for whatever she might find.

Without waiting for a response, she started off in her chosen direction. It felt good to be away from the older Kryptonian's distrusting and flat-out judgmental gaze. She couldn't blame him for distrusting people, given all the vile things that had happened to him during his years on Earth. But she did feel indignant that he extended that same mistrust and hatred to her, when she hadn't actually done anything wrong. She knew that he hated her simply because she was an Earthling, and that didn't sit well with her at all. Sure, she was no stranger to being hated. It was part of her job, as she exposed the worst of society and helped put criminals behind bars. But Jor-El had no reason to extend his hatred to her.

In fact, he had every reason to like her, in her mind. After all, she was working to save his son. Not only that, but she was in love with his son. Jor-El should be embracing her, not wasting his energy hating her.

"Can't focus on that now," she whispered to herself as she scanned every room she passed. "If we all get out of this alive, then I can worry about it."

A noise caught her attention, stopping her dead in her tracks. She stood stock-still, listening. Singing. She could hear singing. It was coming from the greenish-gray double doors ahead of her. Swiftly, she crossed the distance, then carefully opened the doors just wide enough to slip through the crack between them.

Operating rooms.

Just two, one on either side of her. The one on the right was dark and dead. The left was lit up. A man was singing to himself as he prepped the various instruments he would be needing. Harsh metal tools that would tear into Clark's now-vulnerable flesh. Silent as a shadow, Lois slunk inside the room. As she'd done with the guard earlier, she employed a few lightning fast moves she'd learned in her self-defense classes, and knocked the man out cold. Once he was down and she was certain he wouldn't be moving for a while, she closed the door, shutting out any prying eyes.

"Lois?"

In the center of the room, on a cold metal table, Clark was strapped down, spread-eagle, at least as much as the operating table would allow. A thin white sheet covered him from his navel down, but it wasn't difficult to see that he'd been stripped naked. Lois let out a shuddering, thankful breath. Clark was okay. He hadn't yet been cut into. She'd gotten there in time.

"Oh, thank God, Clark," she whispered, her relief evident in her words.

"Lois, what are you doing here?" he whispered frantically, his eyes darting to the door, trying to see as much as he could.

"Saving you," she replied. Then, cheekily, "After all, it seems only right. How many times had you saved me already?"

"Lois, I did what I did so you could get out of here and to safety. You need to get out of here while you still can."

"Not without you," she vowed.

"If they catch you, they will kill you. If they find me gone, they'll know what happened. Leave me, Lois. They'll be so distracted with their...work...on me that you should have time to escape."

"Clark, I am not leaving here without you. So just shut up, stop it with the self-sacrifice thing, and let me help you," she commanded as she set to work loosening the straps that held his right arm in place.

It took a long, nerve-wracking couple of minutes, but soon Clark was free from the restraints. He hoped off the table, wrapping the inadequate sheet around his waist.

"At least they gave you that," Lois said as he secured his paltry covering.

"Not out of the kindness of his heart," Clark said, glancing at the doctor. "He threw it over me saying he just didn't want to look at that until he absolutely had to." He paused, looking at the doctor again. "We can't leave him here."

Lois nodded. "You're right. We could drag him into one of the empty rooms down the hall." She bent down and snatched the keys hanging from his belt, as he hadn't yet donned his scrubs.

"Good plan. They took my clothes in one of those rooms. With any luck, they'll still be there."

Clark grabbed the man, and, with effort, slung him over his shoulders, thankful that he earlier encounter with Kryptonite had likely been brief and that he was already feeling close to normal. Then he led Lois to the room he'd first been brought to. He went inside, while Lois stayed in the hall, keeping watch. A moment later, he returned, now clad in his work pants and shoes again. Evidently, he hadn't found a replacement for his shirt, which had been taken from him during the rough patch job the Bureau had done on his gunshot wound.

"That's better," he announced as he closed the door gently behind him.

Lois locked the door. "Good. Now let's find your father and get out of here."

"Gladly," Clark replied. "But one thing first." He grabbed her and kissed her hard, all of his relief and gratitude trying to pour out of him at the same moment. "Thank you, Lois."

"I'm just glad I got here in time," she replied, giving him a kiss back.

"Let's go get Dad," Clark said, grinning at her.

"He's down this way," Lois said a few minutes later, as she led Clark back to where she'd parted ways with Jor-El.

They found the older man waiting for them at the T-intersection where Lois had gone her own way. He was pacing, head down, and clearly agitated. But when he heard them approach, he looked up at them and relief flooded his features.

"Thank Rao," he whispered.

Rao? The thought flashed through Clark's mind before he realized it. Must be one of those Kryptonian things I missed out on.

"Let's get out of here," Clark said.

"You're okay?" Jor-El asked, concerned.

"Perfect. Let's move, before someone realizes we're gone."

Again Jor-El took the lead, snaking them through the complex compound of Bureau Thirty-Nine. He took them down little-used maintenance passages as far as he could. When they reached an end, they took a moment to catch their breaths. A silver metal door stood before them. Once they stepped through, they would be exposed to anyone who happened by.

"Please, tell me we're almost at the front door," Lois begged as she leaned against the cinderblock wall, taking deep breaths.

"Nearly there. We have to pass through one large room and then we're free, as far as my memory serves."

"We passed through that room on the way in," Clark confirmed for him. "Lois? Are you okay to move on?"

"More than ready to get out of this hell-hole," she said grimly. "Let's do this."

Cautiously, Clark opened the door. He peeked his head around and thoroughly checked his surroundings. As far as he could tell, no one was around. But there wasn't anything in the world he wouldn't have given for his super hearing as well! Even his x-ray vision would have been a tremendous help.

Here goes nothing, he thought wryly.

"Coast is clear," he whispered. "Stick together and move fast."

He threw open the door and they filed out. They made a beeline for the door across the room, moving as swiftly as they dared. But they didn't move quickly enough. A door on the right side of the room opened.

"Hold it right there!"

Out from the hidden office, Lana came, a handgun raised and pointed at Lois.

"One move and she bites it," she threatened. She eyed them as the three came to a halt. "I don't know how you got free and I don't care. This ends now!"

"Lana! Listen to me!" Clark commanded, his voice slipping momentarily to the authoritative tone of Superman. "I know you think you're doing something great here. I know you're trying to impress Luthor. I know you're trying to earn his respect. He never truly adopted you, did he? Never passed along the last name of Luthor to you. Not legally."

"Of course he did!"

Clark noted the bluff in her voice. He remembered it far too well from his days spent dating her. Wasted days, as he'd come to see them.

He shook his head. "No, he didn't. I did some thinking when your man had me strapped to that table. Luthor eloped with your mother. The press coverage was there, but small, when it became known that he'd remarried, because he wouldn't talk much about it. There was even less coverage when your mother died last month. No mention was ever made of a daughter. Not a word of the newest member of the Luthor family. He never really accepted you, did he? Never found a true use for you. He shipped you off here, to the Bureau, to get you out of his hair. And maybe, just maybe, he could use you to kill me, so that his hands remained clean."

"It's not...you know nothing!" she screamed at him, but Clark could see that his words had struck home.

"I know Luthor," he replied. "He only cares about what people can do for him, not about the people themselves. Killing me for him won't change that, Lana. It won't make him care for you. It won't make him bestow his empire to you in the future. It won't make you his equal in his eyes. All it will do is remove the greatest obstacle in his path to whatever sick plans he has for the future."

He chanced three steps forward. "Lana, listen to me. I know the girl I grew up with is in there inside of you, somewhere. You trusted me as a kid. Trust me now. I have no reason to lie to you about Luthor."

"You have every reason to lie," Lana protested. "You just want to save your alien skin."

"Okay, I'll admit it. Dying isn't high on my list of things I'd like to accomplish today," Clark conceded. "Look, you can kill me if you don't believe me. After all, you have the gun and I'm completely without my powers right now. But ask yourself, have you ever known me to lie and cheat to get something that I wanted? With my words or my powers? Answer me honestly."

She hesitated and Clark saw something change in her eyes. "I guess not."

"Then believe me now. Let us go."

Something broke inside Lana. A single glimmer of a tear shone for an instant in her eye.

"I...can't," she said.

"You can. Or take me back down to that operating room and dissect me like a frog. Just let Lois and Jor-El go."

"You really care what happens to them, don't you?" she mused. "You're weaker than my fath...Lex thought."

"Caring for other people doesn't make me weak, Lana. It makes me human. Like you. Like your mother. Like your father. They were good people, your parents. Always quick with a smile or a helping hand."

She nodded. "They were."

"Is this," Clark ask with a sweeping gesture, "what they would have wanted? Would they have been proud of this?"

As Lana cast a look around at the compound, Clark took his opportunity. He took the last two steps forward and grabbed the gun from her hand. Her grasp on the weapon was weak as she stood there in a conflicted state. She didn't even attempt to keep hold of it. All the fight seemed to have bled out of her.

"Go," Clark said over his shoulder to Lois and Jor-El as he gently wiped a tear from Lana's cheek before stepping out of her reach, in case she made a grab for the gun.

They didn't need to be told twice. Clark hung back, ensuring that Lana made no moves to call for help. But she looked utterly defeated now, and a little like a lost child. She neither moved nor uttered a word until Lois and Jor-El reached the door and wrenched it open.

"Are you happy now?" Lana asked in a hoarse whisper.

"None of this makes me happy," Clark replied. "Of all the enemies in the world I thought I would need to face, I never wanted you to be one of them. Despite what you may think, Lana, I never harbored any ill feelings toward you."

"And now?" she challenged.

"Not even now," he said as he took a step backward and away from her. "Goodbye, Lana." He bent the muzzle of the gun and flung it away from them both.

She gave him a hard, unfeeling look. "Get out of my sight."

He held her gaze the entire length of the room, ensuring that she made no threatening moves. She remained still, however, and Clark's heart quietly broke for the girl he'd once known and cared for. Maybe he'd never loved her, but he cared for her as a friend.

Well, former friend, his mind said sadly.

It was weird, he mused. He hadn't really thought of Lana as a friend since their breakup, years before. But in this moment, it felt so...so...

Final, he thought.

There would never be any coming back from this. It was as if the door to the past had suddenly been slammed shut and locked. What Lana had done - had planned to do - could never be erased. Though she'd done the right thing in letting them escape, she'd done too much evil for Clark to ever fully forgive her. She would, however, always have his pity, for falling under Luthor's spell, for being so completely used by him.

He turned only when he felt the door at his back. Swiftly, he pulled the door open and stepped out into the blessed sunshine. He wanted to stop and soak in all the healing, nourishing light that he could, but knew that such a thing would be impossible. Behind him, in the compound, he heard the unmistakable clanging of an alarm. Their absence had been noted. Or, perhaps, Lana had changed her mind. It didn't matter. Getting Lois and Jor-El to safety was the only thing that mattered.

He started to run, heading to where he saw the two making their way across the desert sand. Faster and faster he pushed himself, feeling the hot sun beating down on him. It felt so good, so right, and he felt his body drinking in the power of the yellow star. He felt himself growing stronger. Like a puzzle, he felt the missing pieces of himself returning and locking into place. His powers had returned. He shot forward, easily catching up with Lois and Jor-El.

"Clark!" Lois said in surprise as he skidded to a halt before them, dust kicking up around him. "Are you...?"

"I'm back," he affirmed. "One first class trip back to Metropolis, coming up!" He scooped her up in his arms, as he done so many times before while in the blue, red, and yellow of Superman. "Can you fly?" he asked Jor-El.

The older man made a few attempts before shaking his head. "Not yet. It might take a while. I haven't seen the sun in I don't know how long."

Clark nodded. "Put your arms around my neck and hold on," he instructed. "Hurry, before Trask and his men find us."

Jor-El did as his son bid. When Clark was satisfied that his father's grip was tight enough, he shot up into the sky, leaving the compound and Bureau Thirty-Nine far below. He didn't stop until he was well out of the reach of any Kryptonite bullets that might be aimed in their direction. Then he took off in the direction of Metropolis, to the safe haven that was his apartment.

"Stay here," he instructed them as he grabbed a suit and spun into the familiar garb of Superman. "Call the authorities. Get them out there now. I'll make sure no one escapes."

"But the Kryptonite," his father protested.

"Is something I'll work around," Clark said, the neutral mask of Superman naturally falling over his features.

"Be safe," Lois pleaded, kissing his cheek.

"I will."

There was no time for any other words. He had to make sure no one from Bureau Thirty-Nine got away. He would make sure that each and every one of them faced justice. He stepped out onto his terrace and rocketed into the sky. Exhaustion threatened to slow him. Need pushed him faster than he'd ever flown before. Before he knew it, the desert was stretched out endlessly before him. Inconceivably, he found himself flying even faster, until he at last found himself looking upon the Bureau's hideaway. Members of the Bureau stood about in the heat, scanning in every direction, weapons drawn.

"Superman!" Trask called in a mocking voice. "Miss us already?"

"Only in your sordid dreams, Trask."

"Come down and fight like a real man! Or are you too afraid of us 'mere' humans?"

One of Trask's men fired off a shot at Clark. Clark heard the trigger being squeezed a second before the weapon fired. He evaded the bullet easily. The bright green projectile whizzed past him, too quickly to effect him much, only causing him to wobble in the slightest before he caught himself. He crossed his arms as he hovered, looking down on Trask.

"Give it up, Trask! The authorities are on their way. Go quietly and it'll go easier on you."

Trask looked to his men. "Kill anyone who approaches."

"Stand down," Lana commanded, as she stepped out from the compound.

"Never!" Trask said defiantly.

"Trask, that's an order."

"I don't take orders from traitors," Trask replied, turning to face her. The rest of his men froze, watching the scene between their superiors unfold.

"Are you calling me a traitor?" Lana asked in a threatening tone.

"So what if I am? What are you going to do about it, traitor? You let the alien escape once. I'll make sure that doesn't happen ever again."

He'd steadily closed the distance between them as he spoke, until he stood right before her. Quick as a flash, he pulled the large knife that hung from his belt and plunged it into her guts, twisting it to cause maximum damage. A wordless cry burst from Lana's throat, matching the shocked, anguished cry Clark let out.

"No!"



To Be Continued...


Battle On,
Deadly Chakram

"Being with you is stronger than me alone." ~ Clark Kent

"One little spark of inspiration is at the heart of all creation." ~ Figment the Dragon