A heavy tempo pounded through the walls and windows of the club, and for what seemed like the millionth time that night, Lana felt her stomach tie itself in a knot.

“I don’t know about this, guys,” she said to Lois and Chloe, who were practically dragging her by the arms. “Couldn’t we have gone to a bowling alley instead?”

“Lana, this isn’t just about your bachelorette party,” said Chloe. “It’s about forgetting all the men in our lives for one night. This is the best women-only club in Metropolis. Last I checked, Smallville Lanes was co-ed.”

“I dunno, I think we might wanna consider listening to her,” Lois opined, though she maintained her death grip on Lana’s arm. “I’ve heard rumors about this place. Kinky ones.”

The other two arched their eyebrows in astonishment, but to her credit, Lois didn’t blush. “What? I told you, I’m over Oliver. And I have enough girl power. I don’t need a retreat from men any more than she does.”

“Yes you do, especially since not two weeks ago you were lovesick over Clark.” Chloe shivered. Just mentioning that incident made her spine freeze.

“I’m telling you, there was something in that lipstick,” Lois insisted. “I don’t even remember anything from that night.”

“I do,” said Lana, and they both tugged a little harder. “Was that why Clark was acting so strange? Did the lipstick affect him somehow?”

‘More than you can imagine,’ Chloe thought, but kept the comment to herself. Instead she replied: “You’re forgetting why we’re here, Lana. Let’s not talk about Clark.”

Lana resigned herself to her fate. “Okay.”

Seeking refuge from her nervous thoughts, Lana decided to focus on what they’d each worn that evening. The details of Lois and Chloe’s dresses had been on her periphery up to this point, but now she drank in the beauty of her companions as a means of distracting herself. Lois had gone with a Little Black Dress, whose hem was so short that she was glad they weren’t going to be around any guys, or else they might have to fight off gropers with a stick. Not that Lois couldn’t handle that task, but Lana got the sense that she’d dressed this way specifically because she wasn’t counting on being ogled. She’d worn her hair down, and had on enough make-up to where she could have been mistaken for a street walker had she not also been in the company of two other women, heading into a club populated exclusively by females.

Chloe, as was her style, had gone with something a little more modest than her cousin: a deep scarlet cocktail dress that suggested curves, but did not flaunt them. The only flashes of skin were her bare arms and low-cut neckline, as well as the angled hem that exposed her right leg up to the knee. Jewelry adorned her figure, from jade bracelets on her wrists to the emerald choker she wore around her neck, as well as the matching earrings. She’d gotten the set from Lois, who in turn had received them as a gift from Oliver before they split. She had made it a point of mentioning earlier that they were most definitely not made out of meteor rocks, though Lana couldn’t figure out why she’d thought to say that. Maybe because they both knew that wherever the meteors went, weirdness followed. She realized now that she had been staring uneasily at the green stones, and that Chloe had been reassuring her.

For her part, Lana had chosen a slink evening gown, black in color, which went down to her ankles and clung to her supple young body like the reincarnation of a teenage boy. She shuddered briefly as she considered that such a thing was actually possible in Smallville, which made her glad they had chosen to go to Metropolis for her bachelorette party instead. Her hair, like Lois’, was worn down, leaving Chloe as the only one who had put it up for the evening. Around her neck, she wore something that she hadn’t in years, but that still felt familiar as it pressed up against her breastbone. It was the necklace she’d given to Whitney for safe-keeping all those years ago, which was now bleached clear and looked like a diamond.

She didn’t know why Clark had kept it for so long. When she’d found it in his room last week, she had been shocked, not only at its loss of color, but at the realization that Clark was still holding on to things that reminded him of her. Things like the picture in his desk. Then again, since said picture wasn’t proudly displayed and the necklace had been tucked away in a box, was he really still obsessed with her? Or was it just symbolic of his inability to let her go despite all his insistences that a relationship between the two of them would never work?

Lana shook her head to clear it of all things Clark. Chloe was right: she did need to escape from men for one night.

They stepped confidently up to the doors of the club, where they were halted by the stout—and if one were to ask Lois, not-so-slightly butch—bouncer with spiky blonde hair that she’d frosted, giving it a bone-like color. Lana gulped.

“Names?” she grunted.

“Chloe Sullivan.” She pointed to the other two. “This is Lois Lane and Lana Lang.”

She glanced over the clipboard in her hands. “Not on the list.”

“What? I made reservations. There must be some mistake.”

“No mistakes. This isn’t a restaurant, sweet-pea. Reservations can be cancelled to make room for… wealthier patrons.”

“Wealthier?” She hated pulling this card, but desperate times…. “Are you aware that Ms. Lang here is set to marry Lex Luthor in less than a week?”

The bouncer smirked. When she replied, she sounded like she’d eaten gravel for lunch. “Rich men have no power here. Maybe she should’ve stuck with Jason Teague. At least Genevieve had pull.”

“And both of them have been dead for almost two years,” Lois snapped before Lana could reply. “Though I do applaud you on doing your homework.”

“I only know what I read in the papers. Anyway, if you want in, it’s gonna cost ya.”

Lois didn’t flinch. “How much?”

Before the bouncer could respond, a voice said from behind her: “Let them in, Moira.”

The stocky woman snarled something under her breath, before stepping aside and allowing them in. Lois, unable to resist the temptation, stuck out her tongue. Moira scowled.

“Let me apologize for that,” the tall, slender, dark-haired woman said as she greeted them. “Moira does not know the difference between a bribe and a tip.”

“Well thank you,” said Chloe. “And you are?”

“Dania Matzán,” she introduced herself. “But you can call me Artemis. This is my club.”

“Spanish name, Greek moniker. Not a mix I was expecting.”

“I’m cultured. How about I show you around?”

Chloe glanced at Lois, who waved her off. “Have fun. I'll show Lana the dance floor.”

Artemis grinned. “I was not expecting to see you here, Miss Lane. Not after The Inquisitor received a rather large bill to repair our bathroom window.”

“No notepad, I swear.” Lois threw her hands up, and for a moment Lana eyed the door. “My mission is strictly non press-related. I’m just here to make sure Lana has a great time before she sells her soul to the Devil.”

“Lex is not that bad,” the dark-haired bride-to-be insisted.

“Yeah, and I’m Gene Hackman. Let’s just dance.”

After they disappeared into the crowd, Chloe took a moment to study Artemis’ features a bit more. She clearly hailed from Spain, as her skin was much too light for her to be from South America. Her features reminded Chloe somewhat of Monica Bellucci, though she wasn’t an exact match. Her eyes were purple, for one thing. Must have been contacts, or the lighting. Still, staring into those royal irises, she found herself flooded with a warmth that was usually only elicited by Clark. It both excited and confused her.

Struggling to catch her breath, she finally managed to stammer: “S-so, about the tour?”

Artemis smiled. “Follow me.”

“Are you sure you wanna stay here?”

Lois nodded. “Chloe would kill us both if we ditched her. Besides, she’s not completely wrong about you needing to loosen up and forget about all the men in your life.” She paused, inclining her head towards the speakers. “Though I think I’d like this place better if they didn’t play Loudon Wainwright.”

“Who?”

“Nevermind. Anyway, I—whoa!”

“What is it?” Lana followed Lois’ gaze and saw two women engaged in… she didn’t want to finish that thought. Both of them quickly averted their gaze.

“Okay, I’m pretty open-minded for an army brat, but there are some things you just do not do in public!”

Lana just shuddered. “We should definitely go. Now.”

‘Wow, Chlo was right; she is kind of a bigot.’ Lois decided—for once—to keep the thought to herself. “Nah, let’s just move closer to the bar. If we left now, Chloe’d have to explain to Jimmy why she’s back so early and you know how bad she is at keeping secrets so she’d just tell him the truth and he’d want pictures and then she’d slap him and they’d break up and then she’d be all mopey and depressed and please stop staring into space or I swear I'll just keep talking until I….”

“Alright!” Lana shouted, and Lois caught her breath. “Let’s go to the bar. But I’m not drinking.”

“Why not?”

“First of all, I’m underage, and second, as Clark made so humiliatingly public when the two of you stormed our engagement party, I’m pregnant.”

It was odd for Lana to be so direct. But then Lois tended to annoy everybody to the point where they started talking like that. It was her special talent.

“Okay, I'll just get a beer for myself, then.”

They were about to escape the dance floor when they saw Chloe moving towards them. Lois noticed something amiss in the way her hips sashayed as she walked, the way she kept staring at Lana, and the fact that her eyes were… purple? Probably just the lighting, she decided.

“Hey, Chlo, we were just about to go to the—”

She stopped talking.

Short of a gag, there were very few things that could shut Lois Lane up. This was one of them.

Chloe, who had been into guys since before she hit puberty, who had obsessed over Clark Kent for years before she started dating Jimmy, and who was basically the straightest girl she knew, had just walked right up to Lana Lang, and kissed her.

On the lips.

There was more. After putting up an initial resistance, Lana began to return the kiss, and soon they were all but imitating the couple they’d seen earlier. Lois gaped.

She quickly found her voice again, and used it to express the first coherent thought that popped into her head once she recovered from the shock:

“Oh, this is just so many levels of wrong.”

Clark was lying on the couch, watching Shelby roll back and forth in one spot on the living room floor, when the phone rang. There was a sudden explosion of air, and the golden retriever immediately stopped his rolling and barked in surprise as he saw Clark on the other side of the room, picking up the phone from the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Hey, have you seen Chloe?”

“Jimmy? She should be with you at the Planet.”

“That’s why I’m calling. She didn’t show up today. And you know Chloe, she’s addicted to this place. I figured if anything could be more important to her than showing up to the DP, it’d be you.”

“I told you, Jimmy, we’re just friends.”

“Keep telling yourself that, CK. I see how she looks at you.”

“Chloe might have had a crush on me for years, but she loves you Jimmy.”

“I'll believe it when I see her look at me like that. Until then I kinda feel like you two are the couple and I’m the third wheel.”

“We’re just really good friends. You’re the one she’s sleeping with.”

“Whoa! Who told you that?”

“Javier. He saw the whipped cream, told me, and we kinda put two and two together. I’m glad you’re able to make Chloe happy. Really, I am.”

There was a pause on the other end. Finally Jimmy replied: “That means a lot, CK. You really are all right.”

“I'll let you know if I see her. Bye.”

“Bye.”

He hung up the phone, and was about to superspeed back to the couch (he loved messing with Shelby) when it rang again. He glared at it, weighing his options. If he melted it with heat vision, he could go back to relaxing on the couch, but his mother would have a fit. Or he could just answer it.

The phone continued to ring.

Grumbling, he picked it up. “Hello?”

“Clark.”

His eyes widened. “Oliver! What’s going on?”

“Lex. He’s started a new phase of 33.1. He’s no longer content with just collecting people with abilities from the local sanitariums.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s abducting them, running tests overnight, and then depositing them back at home with no memory of what happened.”

“How do you know this?”

“Bart was at Smallville Lanes last night, because he heard Chloe was going to be holding Lana’s bachelorette party there.” Clark rolled his eyes, and he could just see Ollie doing the same on his end. “She never showed up. He stepped out into a side-alley to see if they might be there, and he saw them abduct one of the employees. He followed them to a secret lab on the other side of town. Lex was there in person.”

“Can you prove it?”

“I’ve got the pictures Bart took in my hands right now. I'll be in Metropolis this afternoon.”

Even though he knew Oliver couldn’t see it, Clark nodded. “Call me as soon as you get there. We’ll meet and discuss our options.”

“Whoa, who said you were in charge of the team? Of course,” he added, and Clark could just imagine the smirk, “you can still join.”

“I’ve still got some of my own stuff to take care of. Think of me as freelance for now.”

“Alright. See you then.”

“Bye.”

He hung up the phone, going over the two conversations in his head. Chloe was missing, and Oliver had proof that Lex was kidnapping meteor freaks. His eyes grew wide as he connected the dots. Oh God, what if…?

But Chloe was normal! She investigated the meteor mutants; she wasn’t one of them! Then again, she had been exposed to more Kryptonite than just about anyone else in Smallville as a result of said investigations. As much as he would have liked to deny it, he had to face the possibility that Chloe had been mutated by the meteors (he refused to think of her as a freak, and not just because he had no room to talk about unusual powers), and that Lex knew it, and had taken her for it.

“If he and his scientists stuck one needle into her….” He made a show of crushing the nearest object, an empty soda can, into a chunk of metal the size of a small coin. Shelby barked in support.

‘Wait a minute,’ he thought. Oliver had said something else. He said that Lex was returning the people to their homes, with no memory of what happened. As relieved as he was that the victims—which may or may not include Chloe—probably wouldn’t remember any of the horrific details, he got the feeling that Lex only wiped the slate clean so that they would never be able to prove it was him.

Without even heading upstairs to change, he set off towards The Talon at full speed.

‘Please be here, please be here, oh PLEASE be here….’ He repeated it in his head until the words just seemed to blur together before they disappeared entirely and were replaced by a deep, dark feeling of dread. Without even knocking, he forced open the door to the apartment.

What he saw almost made him wish Chloe had been abducted.

The sight of Chloe on the couch relieved one fear, but raised a host of others as he saw that she was not alone. Not only that, but she and the stranger next to her were currently engaged in kissing and extremely heavy petting. He had to force his jaw shut.

‘Oh, Jimmy’s not gonna like this.’

Once he found the clarity of mind to move again, he stepped closer to the pair, circling around to see what visage lay beyond Chloe’s blonde bob. The answer made his heart skip a beat. There, on the couch, making out with Chloe Sullivan, was….

“Lana?”

The two separated, and as they looked at him, surprised, he could swear that he saw their eyes flash briefly purple. “Oh, hey Clark,” Chloe greeted as though nothing was wrong.

Even with his amazingly powerful alien brain, he was unable to comprehend how the two most important women in his life—both of whom, as far as he knew, were in love with him—were making out with each other. Women were a complete mystery, even to an enigma like him.

“What… how… why…?” He struggled to find the appropriate words to express his combined feeling of outrage at the betrayal, relief at the fact that Chloe was safe, and utter bewilderment as to why these two had suddenly decided to swear off men after a single Girls’ Night Out.

“Clark, are you feeling okay?” asked Lana.

“No I’m NOT OKAY!” he shouted, surprising even himself with his anger. “How would you feel if you saw me and Oliver making out?!”

“Confused, but not entirely surprised,” Chloe answered. “Why?"

“What do you…? Nevermind! Chloe, do you remember anything from last night?”

“I remember coming back here and making out with Lana all night and this morning, why?”

He was about to tell her why he was so concerned when he remembered that Lana was here too. “Do you think we could talk? Alone?”

Chloe turned to Lana. “Is that alright with you?”

“Sure.” She shrugged. “I need to go break off the engagement with Lex anyway. Suddenly I’m no longer attracted to the father of my child.” She gave Chloe another kiss, and Clark nearly fell over. “But I’m sure you’ll make a great parent.”

“Alright. See you later.” Her eyes were glued to Lana’s ass as the raven-haired beauty left the room, and she bit her bottom lip. After the door closed, she turned back to Clark. “So what’s up?”

Unable to think of anything else to say, he replied: “Jimmy’s looking for you.”

Her eyes studied the ceiling as she appeared to ponder something. “Oh, right, Jimmy. Do you mind running me over to the DP so I can break up with him? I don’t wanna waste gas.”

Clark couldn’t believe she’d just said that. He gripped her by the shoulders. “Chloe, do you hear what you’re saying?! What’s gotten into you?”

“Okay, first of all, ow.”

It suddenly occurred to him that he was holding on to her just a little too tightly. He let go. “Sorry.”

“Eh, my fault for scaring you like that. I know how you are with surprises.”

“This is more than just a surprise! You’re lucky it’s physically impossible for me to have a heart attack!”

“Please, it’ll be old news in about a week.” She grinned. “You know, all this time I thought I was jealous of Lana. But now I realize that you were the one getting in the way of me being with the person I love.”

“Chloe, this isn’t you talking! How could you be in love with Lana?”

“I figured you of all people would understand just how… enchanting she can be.” She sighed wistfully and sank further into the couch, resting her arms on the back. “I had no idea she was such a good kisser. I totally get why you were so obsessed with her all those years.”

“What happened, Chloe? Why are you acting like this?”

“Because I finally realized the truth!” she exclaimed, standing up and spinning with glee. “I was never in love with you. I just wanted you to get over your Lana crush so that I could have her. And now I do.”

Clark decided to drop it for now. He would never get a straight answer out of her as long as she was under the influence of whatever spell had been cast on her—especially when said spell made her desire women. He’d learned that lesson often enough in the past.

“Alright, I can get used to this,” he lied. “Just… for God’s sake, Chloe, quit spinning! You’re gonna make yourself dizzy!” He stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders again, softer this time.

She giggled whimsically, which he found so completely un-Chloe-like that he was convinced she’d been hypnotized or something. He led her back to the couch.

“Whoa, hey, enough with the manhandling. Some of us don’t have bones of steel.”

He let go. “Chloe, Oliver called me.”

She sobered up. “And?”

“And he says Lex is abducting people for 33.1. He’s not just using Belle-Reeve anymore.”

“My God, that’s awful.”

“That’s why I’m here. When Jimmy called and said you didn’t show up at the Planet this morning, I thought….” He looked down, not wanting to finish that sentence.

She touched his shoulder. “Hey, I was here all night. I’ve had enough memory losses before to know when I’m missing major portions of my life. Lana and I got back from the club around three, and we fooled around for a while before falling asleep. Then we woke up and started again, and that’s what we were doing when you walked in.”

“When you say you ‘fooled around,’ you don’t mean…?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, we didn’t have sex. Not that it isn’t a definite possibility in the future.” She grinned madly as she considered the possibilities, and Clark saw her eyes flash purple again. That confirmed it. She was definitely under some sort of spell.

“What club did you go to?”

“I don’t really remember the name. Although I don’t think I'll ever forget the woman who owns it. Have you ever seen The Matrix: Reloaded?”

He nodded. “We watched it together when it came out.”

“Do you remember the Merovingian’s wife?”

Did he remember? Even if he hadn’t possessed a photographic memory, there was no way he would forget that! He’d never mentioned that to Chloe before, however, because it was hard enough on her to be jealous of Lana. Somehow, though, he didn’t think that was an issue at the moment.

“A little bit.”

“That’s what she looks like, Clark. She calls herself Artemis.”

“The Greek goddess of the Hunt?”

“Yeah. She’s Spanish, though. Her real name’s Dania Matzán.”

Clark stored that information away for later. His eyes narrowed as he reviewed the facts and arrived at a conclusion. “Is she the one who did this to you?”

Chloe frowned. “Why do you have to look at it like that, Clark? Why can’t you just accept that I’m happy and move on?!”

“Because you’re not acting like yourself.”

“Or maybe I finally am!” She stood up, and even though she was shorter than he was, as long as he was sitting she was able to tower over him. “Maybe I finally realized who the real me is! I’m in love with Lana, Clark! You threw away your chance with her, so let me have mine!”

“Chloe….”

“Shut up! I already know what you’re going to say! You’re gonna try and tell me that you’re only trying to help, that you’re concerned about me as a friend, but that’s never it, is it, Clark?! Especially not when Lana’s involved! You’re jealous!”

“No I’m not!”

“Yes you are! Admit it!”

“Chloe, listen to yourself! Calm down!”

“NO!” she screamed at him, and for the first time in his life Clark was actually afraid of his best friend. Not of what she could do to him, but of the fact that she if she didn’t want to be helped, there was no way he could save her. He’d tried it before. The only way to help to her when she was like this was to give her space and work on this behind her back.

Still, he decided to give it one last shot: “Listen to me, Chloe. I’m not trying to steal Lana away from you. Believe me, I’d rather have her with you than with Lex. But something’s seriously wrong here. You’re not acting like yourself.”

“You already said that!”

He sighed. There was no getting through to her.

“Get out, Clark!” She pointed to the door.

“Chloe….”

“Get OUT!”

It was what he wanted to do anyway. He took one last look at her eyes, searching them for any sign that the Chloe he knew, the Chloe who had fallen in love with him, was still there. Then he vanished before she could tell him to leave a third time.

Lex was sitting in his library. Attached to his ear was a headset, which he was using to hold a conversation. A very private one at that, since the call went through several encryptions and bounced off of numerous satellites (all of which he owned), before reaching the person on the other end. It would take no less than the genius of Milton Fine to hack, trace, or tap the call. Or maybe Chloe Sullivan, if she was determined. Still, by the time anyone got through, the conversation would be over.

“Tell Tobias that we’re still unable to find a donor,” he said. “Corneas are in such short supply, after all. If he ever wants to see again, he’ll continue working for us.”

He listened to the voice on the other end before speaking again. “Believe me, doctor, I have experience with carrots on a stick. You’ve met my father. As long as we continue to promise him help, it won’t matter if he gets it or not. After all, no one else is offering.”

The doctor said something else, and he simply smiled. “Yes, I know Bart Allen was at the lab last night. I’ve lived with the paparazzi long enough to know when my picture is being taken. He’ll go to the Green Arrow, and we’ll have a few surprises waiting for him and his team when they try to break in. I assure you this won’t end up like the Ridge Facility.”

After listening to a few more words from the other caller, he replied: “Alright, then. Goodbye, doctor.” With that, he removed the earpiece.

His pace quickened as he saw his fiancée enter through the main doors. He smiled.

“How was the bachelorette party, Lana?”

He didn’t know why her Cheshire grin made him uneasy, especially when few things did. “Life-changing,” she replied.

“Good news: the wedding planner called and we’re all set to go in a week.”

“Tell them to cancel.”

Lex’s smile vanished. “What?”

“I’m not going through with the wedding, Lex.” She held up her engagement ring, then hurled it at him. He barely managed not to fall out of his chair as he caught it.

He looked up at her, outraged and bewildered. “And why not?”

“I realized I'm in love with someone else.” Her voice hadn’t lost its smug, carefree tone that was so unlike Lana it made him wonder if she’d been taking drugs.

His eyes narrowed. “Clark?”

Lana threw her head back and cackled so loudly that for a moment he thought Isobel had made a return. After a few moments her face sobered and she answered: “No, Lex. It’s not Clark.”

“Then who is it?”

“Why should I tell you? So you can have them investigated? If you aren’t already.”

“So I know this person?”

She grinned devilishly. “You know them very, very well. So does your father.”

“Are you sure it’s not Clark?”

“Please, I’m over the farmboy. I’ve met someone who makes me feel like no one else can.”

Lex rocketed to his feet and pounded on his desk. “Who is it?!”

“I already said I’m not telling you.”

He stood there, tightening his hands until tiny streams of blood began to leak from his palms. He took a deep breath before asking: “What about the baby?”

“What about it? It’s the only reason I’ve stayed with you this long. And honestly, I’m not even sure there is a baby. Don't you find it odd that after three months, my figure is still the same?”

“Lana, you saw the ultrasound….”

“How do I know that was my baby I was seeing? It could have been a tape. Now I don’t know how you convinced me I was pregnant, but so far all I’ve had is morning sickness and hot flashes, and my stomach’s not getting any bigger.”

“You’re only in your first trimester. The baby could be slow developing.”

“That’s not what the doctor said when we saw him. And I think he would have mentioned something like that. Unless,” she threw him a wicked smirk, indicating to him that she’d figured it out, “he’s in on it too. Is he the one who’s been making me think I’m pregnant?”

“Lana, I swear to you, I would never try and deceive you like that.”

“Why not? You always were a lying bastard and you always will be.” Throwing her hands up, she wondered aloud: “What is it with me and falling in love with people who keep secrets?” She turned to leave.

“Lana….”

She peered over her shoulder and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t worry, Lex. If for once in your life you’re telling the truth and there actually is a child, you won’t have to concern yourself with it. I won’t even make you pay child support.” With that, she walked out.

Lex stood there, trembling with a combined feeling of outrage, heartbreak, and an overpowering desire for revenge that replaced his blood with lava.

He walked over to the Scotch table, pouring himself a glass and downing half of it in one gulp. Then, just like he’d done the night he lost the State Senate election, the first time he’d confessed to Lana that he truly loved her, he let loose a savage roar and hurled it into the fireplace. The sudden surge of flames matched the white-hot flash of rage that shuddered through him as he went over what just happened.

She was lying. It was Clark. She’d kissed him two weeks earlier, when his former friend crashed the rehearsal dinner and kidnapped her. She was still in love with him.

And how had she found out about the baby? When he’d paid Dr. Langston to inject Lana with synthetic hormones, he had been assured that it would simulate every aspect of pregnancy. Except for the abdominal bulge, apparently! He’d planned on taking her off the hormones as soon as they were married anyway, so that it would simply appear like a miscarriage and he wouldn’t have to worry about that part. But Lana had figured it out early. How?

He sighed as he realized why she’d never brought it up before: she had loved him. Love made you blind, and even though she’d probably noticed all that stuff earlier, she never mentioned it because she wanted so badly not to be alone. Now she’d gone back to Clark, which meant she wasn’t willing to let herself be blinded anymore. She’d opened her eyes and figured out the truth on her own. She always was smart. Her cunning had been one of the main reasons he fell in love with her.

Growling like an animal, Lex grabbed the keys to the Porsche off his desk and stormed out of the library, intent on paying a visit to a certain farm he’d been ignoring as of late.

Clark arrived home to find Lois’ car in the driveway. He remembered that she had been with Lana and Chloe last night. Maybe she knew what happened.

He entered the farm house and saw her sitting on the couch, struggling valiantly to keep Shelby at bay. Her efforts were in vain, however. She sneezed.

“Smallville!” She stood up and walked over to him. “There you are! Where were you?”

“I was out running.” It wasn’t a total lie. He just didn’t mention how fast he’d been running or what his destination was.

“For how long, two minutes? You’re not even sweating.”

‘Actually, two minutes is overestimating things.’ He kept the thought to himself. “It’s not like it’s hot outside.”

“True, but exercise is supposed to get your juices flowing.” He arched his eyebrows and she blanched at the accidental double entendre. “Where did you go?”

“The Talon.”

“That’s all the way in town! You should be wetter than a swimming pool by now.”

“I just don’t sweat that much. Is that really so unusual?”

“For someone as weird as you, not really. We have more important things to discuss, as I’m sure you know if you were where you say you were.”

He nodded. “What happened last night?”

“I don’t know!” She threw her hands in the air. “All I know is that I took Lana to the dance floor while Chloe went off with that Artemis chick for a private tour of the club, and when she came back, it was goodbye Mel Gibson, hello K.D. Lang!”

“What?”

“They were playing I Wish I was a Lesbian,” Lois explained. “Am I the only one who knows that song?”

“Yes.”

She growled. “Not helping, Smallville.”

“Sorry. Do you think Artemis might have done something to the two of them?”

“Well as far as I know she only got Chloe. But what I wanna know is why did Lana start kissing her back?”

“Maybe the kiss transferred the effects, like you did to me on Valentines Day.”

They both shuddered. “I thought we agreed never to speak of that again. And how come you remember that and I don’t?” Before he could answer, she held up her hand. “You know what, on second thought, nevermind. If you tell me how you managed to recall all the mushy details there’s a chance I might end up remembering it too. I’d rather stay blissful in my ignorance.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t even needed to dodge a bullet, because she’d pocketed the gun. “So what do we do now?”

“I’m gonna go back to the club, see if I can’t get some answers out of this Artemis chick.”

He shook his head. “It might be dangerous. Let me go.”

Lois smirked. “Uh, excuse me, Smallville, but last I checked, the club was women only. Now unless you’re a die-hard fan of Some Like it Hot and you wanna live out one of your fantasies, I’m thinking that I’m the one with the better chances of getting in.”

Clark sighed. “Alright. I'll call Jimmy and ask him to come to Smallville so we can explain the whole thing to him.”

“You do that. I'll come back here when I’m done. Hopefully your mom will be back from Metropolis by then so I won’t have to spend the whole time talking to you.”

“She should get back in a couple hours. You be careful.”

Her smirk did not waver. “I always am.” She punched him on the shoulder, and he moved with the blow so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

Lois shook her head, amused. “You’ve really gotta stop flinching, Smallville. One of these days I’m gonna punch you right in the gut.”

‘And you’ll probably break every bone in your arm unless I double over,’ he thought smugly, but kept it to himself. “Goodbye, Lois.”

“Later.” She exited out through the back door.

Chuckling to himself, he picked up the phone and dialed. It rang once before Jimmy answered. It was like he’d been sitting by the phone. “Did you find Chloe?”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Caller ID, CK. Not all of us are Amish.”

“We have electricity!” he retorted before realizing that he should probably answer Jimmy’s question before getting into such a frivolous argument. “Yeah, I found her. You’d better come over here as soon as you can.”

He could hear Jimmy’s heart speed up as the boy panicked. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, but there’s something wrong with the way she’s been acting. I think you’d better come to the farm first so I can explain it to you.”

“Nah, I'll just go to The Talon and see for myself. Later, CK.”

“Wait! Jimmy—” He heard a dial tone and sighed. That was not going to end well, he was sure of it.

Clark could hear a car pulling up outside. It sounded suspiciously like….

“CLARK!”

It was Lex. ‘What’s he doing here?’ he wondered.

The back door flew open and Lex thundered inside. “Where’s Lana?!” he demanded.

“What makes you think she’s here?” Clark figured he’d be at The Talon right now, evicting Chloe. Unless…. “What happened, Lex?”

“You’re not gonna take her away from me!” the billionaire roared. “She’s marrying me, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

“Lex, she’s not here.”

“THEN WHERE IS SHE?!”

“Lex, calm down.”

“I will not calm down! TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!”

Clark sighed. He hated to betray Chloe like this, but he’d rather not have Lex accusing him of stealing Lana when that was the last thing on his mind. “She’s at The Talon.”

“Oh, well isn’t that just perfectly ironic? Is she gonna clear the registers out like the last time she tried to run away?!”

Run away? “Lex, what are you…?”

“I know she’s still in love with you, Clark! She wouldn’t tell me who it was but I know it’s you! I won’t let you take her away from me!”

“Lex, if Lana and I were going to run away together do you honestly think I’d still be here?”

That shut him up. He took a deep breath before replying: “Then what the hell is going on?”

“It’s Chloe.”

“What’s your reporter friend have to do with this, Clark?”

“That’s who Lana’s leaving you for. Chloe.”

Lex blinked. Then he blinked again. He stood there for several moments before he burst out laughing. “You almost had me going there, Clark!” he chortled, slapping his knee. “You almost had me convinced! What’s really going on?”

“I’m serious. Something’s not right with the way they’ve been acting lately. I think something happened to them at the club last night.”

He stopped laughing. “What club?”

“I don’t know the name of it. Chloe said it’s owned by a woman who calls herself Artemis. Lois went back there to check it out.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I think she did something to Chloe that made her attracted to Lana. When she kissed her, the effects were transferred and they both fell in love.”

Lex started to pace. After a few moments, he said: “I'll look into it. You’d better be telling the truth, for your sake.”

“Lex, let me help you.”

“I! DON’T! NEED! YOUR! HELP!” he bellowed, driving the words into him like nine-inch nails. Clark took a step back. “We each have too much of our own agenda to work even borderline effectively as a team, and you know that. I'll figure this out on my own.”

“Lex….”

He spun around and glared at Clark with an expression of pure rage. “What?!”

“Be careful.”

Not having expected the sentiment, the billionaire smirked. “You too, Clark.” With that, he left.

Oliver had called Clark as soon as his private jet touched down in Metropolis. He took a limo to his penthouse, which he’d kept the lease on just in case he ever needed to stay in the Big Apricot for a few nights. His foresight had paid off, as now he was free to conduct his business on his own property instead of having to worry about bugged hotel rooms. There was also less risk of Clark being exposed.

He shook his head. He really didn’t understand Clark. All that power, power that others could only dream of (and he’d be lying if he said he wouldn’t want to be bulletproof), and his biggest ambition in life was to maintain his family’s farm. But then again, maybe that was what made Clark the ideal person to have those powers in the first place. His humility and sense of responsibility were not weaknesses, but safeguards—like the sheath of a sword. If he ever let all that power go to his head, the cover would be stripped off, and he could easily chop the world in two.

He shuddered at the image.

Yes, Clark was definitely the most responsible person he knew. He needed a lot in the way of ambition, but then maybe he’d just grown accustomed to keeping a low profile. But that wasn’t what the boy, the man—no, he was more than that—was meant for. Lurking in the shadows was his thing. Powers like Clark’s deserved to be witnessed by all.

Not, he hastily reminded himself, that he would ever think of exposing his friend. Clark would come forward when he was ready. He just needed a few friendly pushes in the right direction. Oliver thought of himself as the bird who nudges its offspring from the nest for the first time, encouraging them to spread their wings and fly. But someone as stubborn as Clark required a lot of pushing. The guy was capable of moving mountains, but he could be just as difficult to budge.

As the auburn-colored metal door slid open and he stepped into the clock-themed loft, Oliver saw that the subject of his thoughts was already there, waiting for him. He smirked.

“What took you so long?”

“Some of us don’t run faster than a speeding bullet.”

“Some of us don’t throw ourselves in front of them knowing they can hurt us. Everyone has different talents, Ollie.”

The blond grinned. “Speaking of which, how’s Watchtower? There’s still more spots on the team for both of you.”

“Actually, we have a problem on that front.”

His smile disappeared. “Did Lex take her?”

Clark shook his head. “No, although after your phone call and Jimmy saying she hadn’t shown up to the Daily Planet this morning, that’s what I first thought too. She’s fine, at least physically.”

“So then what’s the problem?”

He looked away. “She’s… a Lesbian.”

Oliver blinked. Of all the things he had expected Clark to say, he had not been prepared for that. “Bart’ll be crushed,” he quipped, his familiar wit returning once he got over the initial shock. “Are you sure?”

“I walked in on her and Lana making out. Apparently they’re in love.”

“Since when?”

“Last night.”

“I’ve known several GLBT’s in my time, Clark. Sexual orientation isn’t something you can just flip a switch on.”

“It is if the person causing the switch has meteor powers,” he said, tossing a file on the Oliver’s desk. He quirked an eyebrow. “GLBT?”

“Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgender,” clarified Oliver. He picked up the file and looked inside. “Where’d you get this?”

“All those years working with Chloe must have rubbed off on me,” he admitted, shrugging. “I couldn’t manage more than a basic google search, though. Her name’s Dania Matzán, but she calls herself Artemis. She was in Smallville two years ago when the second meteor shower hit.”

“So you’re saying she can make women attracted to each other.”

Clark nodded. “When I was talking with Chloe, I saw her eyes flash purple. Look at the picture.”

Oliver did, and was surprised to see lavender where he would have expected blue or brown. “Her eyes.”

“Exactly. I think she has the ability to put people under her spell, to control who they’re attracted to. I think it might have something to do with pheromones, but I’m not sure exactly how. I think the effects transfer whenever the affected person kisses somebody.”

“Thus explaining why the bridesmaid is suddenly the girlfriend,” Oliver surmised. “I'll look into it. Right now we have other things to worry about.”

“Right, 33.1. Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Still abroad. I didn’t want to bring them in on this.”

“Why not?”

“Too risky. AC would be a liability since the facility isn’t near water, and Lex has been outfitting his guards at that lab with high energy weapons of the same type used by Syntechniks. I don’t want Victor putting himself at risk.”

Clark understood the feeling. He’d seen what happened to Victor last time his fuel cell was punctured. He wouldn’t want him in on this either. “What about Bart?”

“He fulfilled the recon part of his duties. The less people we try and sneak in there, the better.”

“So it’s just you and me.”

The billionaire nodded. “I'll handle strategy, you do the heavy lifting.”

Clark was happy with that setup. “We’d better get to work, then.”

Oliver agreed.

“I’m telling you, I was just here last night!”

The bouncer shook her head. “Sorry. Don’t recognize ya.”

“Moira, right? The one who tried to extort us last night? Do you even remember that?”

“I think I’d remember someone as annoying as you.”

Lois huffed. She was not annoying! She was just too much for some people to handle. “I wanna speak to Artemis.”

“Never heard of her.”

“Geez, what kind of operation are you people running? I don’t care if I have to kick your ass from here to Gotham, I’m getting inside.”

Moira crossed her arms and glared. “No, you’re not.”

Lois was preparing to throw down with the overly secretive bouncer when she heard a familiar voice. “Moira.”

The skull-haired bouncer scowled, and stepped out of the way. Lois stuck her tongue out at her just like the night before. Moira cracked her knuckles.

“Artemis,” Lois greeted as she stepped inside. “Do you just like to watch her torture people like that before you intervene?”

The purple-eyed club owner smirked. “Moira is a good litmus test for showing who is determined enough to get inside. This is a very exclusive club, Miss Lane.”

“I'll say. Just what goes on here?”

“Why don’t we go to my office?” suggested Artemis. “We will talk more in there.”

Lois shrugged. “Alright.”

It wasn’t one of those seedy back-offices that one sees in movies, with dim lighting and cigarette smoke combining to create a disorienting haze. Instead the room was crisp and modern, with stainless steel and hardwood framing impressive works of stained glass. Artemis sat at her desk, swiveling elegantly in her chair. Lois remained standing.

“What can I do for you, Miss Lane?”

She didn’t like the woman enough to insist that she call her “Lois.” “I wanna know what you did to my cousin Chloe last night.”

“Is there something wrong?”

“Something wrong?! My little cuz has been into boys for almost as long as I have! She has a boyfriend who works at the Daily Planet, fer Chrissake!”

“It does not appear that way anymore.”

“And I know you had something to do with it. Tell me: what made Chloe convince Lana to change her first name to K.D.?”

Artemis smirked. “Honestly, I thought you would be happy with the arrangements. At least this way Miss Lang does not have to marry, as you put it, ‘the Devil.’”

“Well they’re both going to Hell now anyway,” she retorted, and Artemis shrugged. “Chloe’s dad is hardcore Catholic. He’s not gonna like this.”

“Surely that is less frightening than your friend becoming the next Mrs. Luthor, though, no?”

Lois’ features hardened into a scowl. “Who Lana marries is her choice. I have issues with people who try and take away free will.”

“Is anyone’s will really free? You mentioned your cousin was Catholic. Can you ever really reconcile Original Sin? The lesser of two evils is always the better choice.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that. As manipulative as Lex can be, at least he doesn’t try and force people to change who they are. You’re more evil than he is as far as I’m concerned.”

Artemis smirked. “You really believe that?”

“I do. What did you do to Chloe?”

She stood. “I’m afraid, Miss Lane, that I could never explain the exact science of it to you. You’d hardly be interested anyway.”

“I’m a pretty smart girl. Lay it on me.”

Artemis grinned. “As you wish. But be careful exactly what you wish for, Miss Lane.”

She strode over to her, eyes filled with mischief. Her hips sashayed as she walked, and Lois rolled her eyes. When she looked again, Artemis was right in front of her.

“You want to know what I did to your cousin to make her fall in love with Lex Luthor’s fiancée?”

Lois nodded.

“This.” Before Lois could react, the dark-haired woman gripped her by the shoulders with surprising strength and drew their lips together. Her eyes widened in shock, but before she acted on any thoughts of physical violence, they flashed purple and closed as she gave into the kiss.

‘All too easy,’ Artemis thought smugly before releasing her new pet to go cause havoc.

Martha Kent arrived home that afternoon, going over the meeting with Lionel in her head. They had talked about the upcoming United States Senate election, and he had told her that her chances of winning looked good. She had smiled at the news.

Smiled on the outside, of course. Her insides were still a hurricane, and she’d yet to navigate to the eye. Her life had changed so quickly over the past year. It was almost too much for her to handle.

But she pressed on of course, putting on the same brave face that she’d assumed during the tornadoes and both meteor showers. People were relying on her, and she had to appear strong. Fortunately, as a mother, she had plenty of experience in that department.

Still, politics was leagues beyond what she’d had to deal with in the past. Going over the State’s budget made all those evenings where she and Jonathan had wondered where the money would come from to save their farm, seem insignificant. Drafting and defending a plan for Education Reform in the State of Kansas was far more difficult than convincing her husband to let Clark attend elementary school had been, because now she had to persuade hundreds of thousands of people instead of just one.

Lionel had helped guide her through the rougher waters. She used to think of him as a shark, but lately he’d been her escort through the treacherous ocean. He’d taught her what to look for, how to act, and what to say in order to not only cross the river safely, but to dam the current and make it flow the way she wanted. He’d shown her how easy people could be manipulated.

But she’d kept her integrity. Now that Lionel had become an emissary for Jor-El, he was far less dangerous. He still lived up to the first four letters of his name on a regular basis, but she had always been a Tigress herself. She was able to handle him. Clark worried, of course, just as Jonathan would have—and had, during the brief time she’d worked for Lionel—but she knew she could take care of herself if things ever got too dangerous.

Her forced smile earlier had been because of Clark. She knew that losing Jonathan had been hard on him, because even though he was from another planet, Clark still thought of her late husband as his real father. If she did win the election to the U.S. Senate, she would have to move to Washington to be near her constituents. She didn’t want to put Clark through losing her too. Not when she could prevent it.

She knew what Clark would say, of course. He would tell her to go, to make a difference. But she found herself torn between wanting to help people and being there for her son. Between opportunity and love. Between destiny and making her own decisions. It was the same issue Clark faced, and she didn’t want to choose.

But she couldn’t sit on the fence forever. Eventually she had to decide. She just didn’t want to do it right now.

She walked past Lois’ car on her way to the farm house. Clark had mentioned that she’d be here when he called earlier. Her features brightened.

Lois had been a big help too. Without her, Jonathan never would have won the election. Chloe’s cousin, though tactless and blunt, had a directness about her that made her invaluable in her position as Martha’s Chief of Staff. She’d also come to think of Lois as a friend. A daughter, almost. Perhaps it was the fact that she’d adopted, that she felt the need to mother everyone who came into her life to compensate for her inability to have children, that made her see the young woman that way. That didn’t make their connection any less special. Lois was family.

She opened the door and entered the kitchen, setting down her purse. If she hadn’t already known Lois was going to be there, she would have jumped at the fact that she was standing there, staring at her. The intensity of the stare was a little unnerving, though. It was almost like a leer.

“Oh, hey Lois,” she greeted. “Thank goodness you’re here. We need to go over my campaign for the upcoming election.”

“We can do that later, Senator Kent,” Lois said, moving towards her in a manner that reminded Martha of a predator stalking its prey. “Right now I’ve got other things on my mind.”

She arched an eyebrow. “What kind of things?”

“You.”

Clark had also told her in his message that Lois had gone to investigate something that was making Chloe and Lana act… differently, was the word he used. She would have to ask him what he meant by that. At the moment, however, she couldn’t help wondering if whatever had gotten into Lana and Chloe had affected Lois as well. She certainly wasn’t behaving like herself.

“Lois, what’s gotten into you?” she asked, concerned, as she slowly backed away from her Chief of Staff. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Never better.”

“Are you sure? You’re acting a little strange.”

Lois grinned, and her eyes flashed a bright shade of purple. “Guess I finally fit in with this crazy town, then.”

Before Martha could react, Lois had grabbed her by the shoulders. She gasped.

“You know, I always envied you, Mrs. Kent. I thought it was because you managed to find a husband like Jonathan. But now I’ve realized something. I was never jealous of you.”

She moved their faces closer together. “I was jealous of him,” she whispered.

Martha was just about to ask her what she meant by that when the back door burst open.

“Mom!”

‘Oh thank God,’ she thought as Lois released her and glared at Clark, who had just entered.

“Way to ruin the moment there, Smallville.”

“Lois, what’s going on?” He noticed her eyes were glowing purple. “You’ve been affected by Artemis!”

“Congratulations, Encyclopedia Brown,” Lois snarked. “You’ve solved the mystery.”

Clark stepped between them. “Mom, get back!”

“What’s going on?”

“I'll explain later! Go!”

“Don’t bother,” said Lois. “I'll go.” She stomped out, slamming the door behind her.

Martha stepped in front of Clark. “What was that all about?”

He looked at his watch. It was almost time to meet Oliver. “I don’t have time to explain, mom. I'll be back.” With that he vanished, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

She sighed. Maybe it was a good idea to get out of Smallville. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with things like this anymore.

The club, it turned out, didn’t have a name. On the official city documents, it was listed simply as “Warehouse 69.” Lex chuckled at the moniker, able to appreciate the humor because he was not just looking at the “official” city documents.

What his diggers had discovered for him was beyond fascinating. Dania Matzán, aka Artemis, had recently opened the unnamed club and begun seducing the young and innocent. That Chloe Sullivan had managed to find it hadn’t surprised Lex. What did astonish him was the fact that she had gotten inside without paying a cent. But that made sense once he found out the rest of the story.

Apparently Artemis made a habit of giving private tours to the young women who managed to find the club, only to have those women suddenly develop gender issues overnight. Witnesses reported seeing the victims’ eyes flash purple when sexually aroused, which indicated that Artemis was controlling them somehow. There were dozens of cases and even more witnesses. Apparently Lana wasn’t the only woman to run off with her own maid of honor.

He would have considered Artemis to be interesting even before learning that she had been in Smallville two years ago during the second meteor shower, but that detail confirmed it. She had the ability to change people’s sexual orientation just by kissing them, an ability she’d gained from the meteors. She would make a most interesting test subject for 33.1.

There was another reason he wanted her, though. She had bewitched his fiancée, and he needed her to tell him how to reverse the effects. All the case studies in front of him had concluded that there was no cure for the meteor-induced lesbianism. But there had to be, and she knew what it was. He was sure of it.

It had been ridiculously easy to kidnap her in the middle of her own club, and even easier to tie her down to a lab table and start the experiments. He would be joining them in a few minutes, just as soon as he finished going over the details of her personal life. His father had always taught him to discover the dirty little secrets of his adversaries. Looking over Artemis’ past, Lex believed he’d hit the jackpot.

He smiled. This was going to be too easy.

Chloe sat in her apartment, waiting for Lana to return. She could hardly contain her excitement.

It surprised her, even now, to realize just how enchanting the other woman was. Not that she hadn’t reached that conclusion objectively before—something had to keep Clark coming back to her, after all—but now she found herself noticing things about Lana that before she’d either overlooked or purposely ignored out of envy. Things like how good she smelled, how smooth her skin was, and the fact that she was a very, very good kisser.

The last observation made Chloe blush slightly. She had been raised Catholic, but she was a rule-breaker at heart. She had to be with Lois as her relative, not to mention using her unique skills to help out her friends. But this was more than her cousin sneaking her a beer during her summer internship or hacking into secure databases to track down a lead. She had never felt this way about anybody before. Not even Clark.

There was something about Lana, something mysterious and exotic, that managed to captivate damn near everyone in this town. As Chloe had learned last night, she was no exception. She chuckled. Apparently she was attracted to enigmas. Clark had held such appeal to her during those years where she didn’t know his secret, but now that everything was out in the open between them, she realized that those feelings were never for him: they were for the mystery that surrounded him.

It was the investigative reporter in her, the part of her that drove her to uncover the story, that had made her so enamored with Clark. But now she had him all figured out, and even though he was still very special to her, she saw him as more of a brother than anything.

No, not a brother. He was her friend. Her very best friend, but nothing more. Not now. Now she had a new mystery to uncover.

With that in mind, Chloe returned her focus to the task at hand. She hovered her mouse over a file marked “CK,” and hit “delete” without even flinching. A window popped up to ask her if she was sure, and she clicked “yes.” She’d never been more sure of anything. It was time to move on.

She heard a soft click at the door, and she looked up from her laptop. Lana entered the apartment carrying a bottle of wine that she’d no doubt taken from the Luthor mansion as a souvenir. Chloe smiled.

“Hey, gorgeous. Is that for me?”

She nodded. “And me. I figured it was time for me to cut loose.”

“What, are you gonna just kill the baby, then?”

“There never was a baby. Lex paid my doctor to fake the pregnancy. I didn’t even know you could do that until I realized that it’s been three months and my stomach hasn’t grown an inch.”

“Synthetic hormone injections could do it,” said Chloe. “They simulate everything but the bulge.”

Lana grinned. “You always were smart. I don’t know why I never realized it before.”

“I do.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Chloe stood up and started walking towards her. “You were jealous of me, just like I was jealous of you.”

“What was there to be jealous of?”

“Oh, you mean besides the brains, the computer skills, and my natural way with words?” They both giggled. “It was the way Clark felt about each of us. I wanted to be the girl of his dreams, while you just wanted to know more about him.”

“He always confided in you more.”

“It’s in the past now,” Chloe dismissed just as she reached the other woman. They kissed. “Let’s celebrate our future together.”

“I have just the ticket,” said Lana, reaching for the wine glasses.

Chloe grabbed her arm. “Don’t,” she said. At Lana’s puzzled stare, she added: “I wanna lick it off you.”

They kissed again. Chloe put an arm on Lana’s back, supporting herself against the counter with the other. She pushed forward suddenly, trapping her lover against the wall. They separated, catching their breath and meeting each other’s purple-eyed gaze. Roughly, brazenly, Chloe assaulted Lana’s lips with her own, extending her tongue in brusque invitation. Lana eagerly accepted.

They broke for air again, and Chloe ran her hands up Lana’s sides, stopping at her chest. She took the other woman in her hands, squeezing, groping and declaring ownership like she never had with anyone. Before, she was always expected to submit. Now she was free to take control. She relished in the task.

Lana groaned as the blonde reporter ran her dexterous fingers over the sensitive nubs through her shirt, resentful of the thin cotton barrier that prevented her from reaching climax. She pounced forward, uniting them again.

It was a struggle of equals. Not quite a battle, since they were united in their goal, but fighting for dominance was part of the game. They tugged on each other’s lips like they would on a rope, each one vying for control. There were no rules, no procedures. They were flying, quite literally, by the seat of their pants.

Though they were united at several points, they had yet to master moving in tandem. Communication was hindered by the fact that their lips were vacuum-sealed, and so they staggered all across the room before finally ending up at the couch. Chloe forced Lana to sit, straddling her and undoing the buttons on her blouse.

Black lace. Under her reporter’s garb, Chloe wore black lace. It made Lana quiver, made her want to see what lay underneath that. But she would have to be patient.

Casting her blouse aside, the blonde not-quite-temptress descended again, planting her tongue like a flag into the top of her conquest. Lana’s hands roamed, seeking out a small clasp that would unlock her deepest desires….

There was a knock at the door.

They froze. Neither one moved. They heard what sounded like a key, and the door opened. In walked….

“Jimmy?”

It took all he had not to faint right there. “Chloe?” His throat was suddenly like flypaper, and the rest of the words got stuck.

Chloe was the first to recover. “Excuse me a minute,” she said to Lana, who nodded. She got up and crossed the room. “Hey, Jimmy,” she said, unabashed.

Jimmy looked like he was one glance of a nipple away from assuming the fetal position. “Chloe, what’s going on?”

“Jimmy, I think we should see other people.”

He froze. No words came. After a moment, he walked out.

Chloe sighed. “That was painful,” she said dismissively, then turned back to Lana. “Now, where were we?”

The stealth approach really sucked sometimes. As useful (and conveniently dramatic) as catching the enemy off guard was, it took a lot of work to sneak up on somebody. One had to focus on remaining unseen and unheard, as well as leaving no signs that they had passed. It was like trying to cross Niagara Falls on a piano wire. One misstep, one alarm, one bullet was all it took to end the whole thing.

But the absolute worst part was the waiting. Boredom was the number one enemy on a mission like this, and the key to avoiding it was to use that time to run over the mission objective until it became inscribed in one’s brain. Still, as scintillating an activity as looking over blueprints was, even that got old after a while.

It also didn’t help when one’s partner was late.

He’d been sitting out here all afternoon, with only his bow and his Blackberry to keep him company. He’d run over the schematics countless times on this hill overlooking the allegedly abandoned warehouse, wondering what exactly Lex had against putting his secret labs in buildings that didn’t look like they were one pigeon dropping away from collapsing under their own weight. But he knew that beneath the façade lay concrete, steel and lead, not to mention guards with guns. His only means of getting in and out of there unscathed was already half an hour late. Utterly ridiculous for someone who could outrun a freight train.

Oliver had just glanced down at his watch when he felt the briefest of gusts. When he looked up, he saw Clark.

“About time you got here. I never have this problem with Bart. But then again he doesn’t try and do everything himself.”

Clark ignored the quip. “Let’s just get started.”

He shook his head. “Change of plans.”

“What?”

“I looked into that thing we talked about earlier, and I tried to set up a meeting with the club owner. I ran into a bit of a snag.”

“You have a Y-chromosome?”

“No, she vanished from her club this afternoon. Literally vanished, like she’d been kidnapped.”

“You think Lex is behind it?”

“I know he is. A van just came through that gate three hours ago, and Lex’s Porsche arrived just before you did. You’re lucky he didn’t see you.”

“How do you know she’s in there? Last I checked I was the one with X-Ray vision.”

“Call it a hunch. Or an educated guess, whatever. All I know is that we need to get in there and observe the interrogation.”

“Why not just shut the whole thing down?”

Oliver smacked his forehead. “It’s that kind of thinking that got you trapped in a room full of meteor rocks last time. There’s something to be said for stealth and observation. This is strictly a recon mission now.”

Clark flinched as he remembered what happened at the Ridge Facility. “There’s another reason you just want to look, isn’t there?”

He nodded. “Lex isn’t stupid, Clark. He’s probably abducted her to try and coax her into reversing the process of whatever affected Lana and Chloe, or at least telling him how.”

“She got Lois too.”

Behind his sunglasses, Oliver shut his eyes. “Damn.”

“So you’re saying that we need to listen in on their conversation?” Oliver nodded. “You know I could just do that from here.”

Clicking on the device that significantly deepened his voice, The Green Arrow replied: “Now where’s the fun in that?”

Clark, like Atlas, shrugged.

Oliver drew his bow, setting his sights on the guard booth. He released the arrow, letting it fly about a hundred yards before crashing through the glass and piercing the security monitor. There was a hiss as an emerald gas was released, and the guard dropped to the floor. He turned to Clark.

“Let’s go.”

And they were off. Oliver took the lead, while Clark perked up his other senses, searching for guards. They reached the bottom of the hill quickly, then hid behind a tree. Oliver produced another arrow.

“What’s that for?” whispered Clark.

“Just watch.”

He let fly, and Clark saw the arrow land in a box near the gate. Oliver pressed a few buttons on his Blackberry, and the gate opened.

“Remote control arrow,” he explained. “Hacks into security, then links back to me, granting me total control. It’s what I used before Victor came along.”

“How long can you keep it open?”

“Depends on what kind of fail-safes they’ve got—uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh? What’s wrong?”

Oliver didn’t answer, pressing frantically at the buttons on his Blackberry. “The system’s got a few upgrades. It’s forcing me out. We only have a few seconds before the gate closes.”

“Not a problem,” Clark said before grabbing Ollie and going into superspeed, covering the fifty yards between them and the gate in less than a second. He shifted his perception back to normal just in time to see Oliver grin.

“Thanks, Boy Scout.”

“No problem. Where to now?”

He pointed to the warehouse. “Do your thing.”

Clark nodded, then narrowed his eyes. The layers of the building peeled back like an onion skin, and suddenly he could see everything.

“Where are they?”

“Middle of the building. There’s some air ducts running right above the room that go out to the roof. I can jump us up there and we can sneak in that way.”

Oliver looked at him blankly before grinning. “Better than my plan. Let’s go, Boy Scout.” Clark extended his hand, and he grabbed on. Then he saw his surroundings blur as they traveled up, up, and away.

As they landed on the roof, Ollie turned to him and smiled. “You sure you don’t wanna join the team?”

“I told you, I have my own stuff to take care of.”

He shrugged, deciding that they would discuss that later. “After you,” he said, gesturing to the vent cover. Clark stepped forward and removed it effortlessly, and Oliver whistled.

“Come on,” Clark said before disappearing down the duct.

It was easy to get lost in the power, Lex mused as he exited the observation room and entered the main lab where his current test subject was being held. This feeling of being in control—it was intoxicating. It was something he lusted after; something he pursued relentlessly. These people—these things, he reminded himself; they weren’t fully human—were so powerful on the outside, but in here, he held the power. In here, he was in control.

In here, he was God.

“Comfortable?” he greeted with purposeful irony.

The purple-eyed woman glowered at him, but didn’t so much as squirm in her restraints. “Not particularly.”

“Good.” It was the cold, merciless tone in which he said it that sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the room. Everyone but him.

Through the vent above them, Clark and Oliver watched the interrogation. Oliver looked at Clark sympathetically. The guy had never seen this side of his former friend before. He had.

“Tell me, what is it about the accommodations you don’t like?” Lex continued, and Clark shook with rage. Oliver had to place a hand on his forearm to remind him to stay calm. “Is it the restraints? The HAZMAT suits? The needles? What is it that you like least?”

Artemis and Lex had something in common: neither was willing to show weakness. She wasn’t even trying to free herself, acting as though the lab table was a lounge chair. It annoyed him to see her so at ease. Half the fun was in watching the subject struggle.

“I thought that would be obvious,” she replied with a smirk. “The men.”

The billionaire laughed. “That’s right!” he exclaimed, circling the table. “You run what the Metropolis underworld considers to be the best women-only club in the state. It’s notoriously hard to find, though. According to city documents the club doesn’t even exist. If it had been anyone but Chloe Sullivan who took my fiancée there, I would have been amazed that they even managed to locate the place.”

“Is that why I’m here, Señor Luthor? Because you are unhappy with Miss Lang’s sudden change of heart?”

Lex immediately stopped pacing and slammed his palms down on the table. “I know it was you,” he growled. “I know you were in Smallville two years ago, when the second meteor shower hit. I know that you have the power to make people fall in love.”

“Ah, but you are only partially correct,” she said. “I can only manipulate pheromones. Specifically, I alter which kinds of pheromones trigger attraction in that person. The people emitting those pheromones, not to mention other factors of romantic compatibility, are beyond even my control.”

He stood upright again, placing his hands behind his back. “So what you’re saying is that Chloe and Lana were always attracted to each other?”

“Not sexually before I interfered, no, but there is a definite connection between those two that makes them more than just friends. Almost like sisters, in fact.”

His eyes narrowed and he leaned closer. “How do I reverse it?”

She smirked at him. “You can’t.”

“But you can. I know it.”

Artemis shrugged as best she could given the restraints. “Perhaps I could. It would be news to me. I have never tried to reverse the effects before. They always seem so happy.”

He slammed a fist down on the table, ignoring the pain that came with it. “Tell me how!” he demanded.

“You will never get the answer you are looking for, Señor Luthor. Not every ticket is round-trip.”

Lex grinned, and for a moment her expression wavered. “Oh, but with enough influence, it can be.” He started to pace again. “You see, I know something about you, Dania.” The use of her real first name made her flinch. “I know why you opened that club, why you seduced all those women, and why you’re never in a relationship for longer than two weeks.”

He leaned down close to her ear, and Clark listened in, shuddering when he heard what Lex told her.

“What did he say?” asked Oliver.

“He said, ‘I know why you’re still a virgin.’”

Behind his shades, Oliver’s eyes narrowed into a baneful glare. They both returned their gaze to the room below.

“See, apparently your father left you and your mother when you were very young,” Lex said, continuing to walk around the table. “Your mother went through man after man, only for each of them to leave her, which my psychologists have deduced is the root of your hatred for the male gender.”

“If you never want to see a man again, say ‘I love you. I want to marry you. I want to have your children’—they leave skid marks.”

Lex smiled. “Rita Rudner.”

Artemis inclined her head.

“You’re forgetting, of course, that my reaction was the exact opposite when Lana told me that.”

“That’s because you’re not a man.”

“Oh?” He raised his eyebrows. “Then what am I?”

“A vulture.”

“And how, pray tell, did you arrive at that particular conclusion?”

“You’re bald and you keep circling me, for one thing. You’re also a scavenger, waiting for other businesses to die in the desert to which you’ve banished them and then swooping in to claim the remains.”

His expression turned smug. “As original and insightful as your evaluation of me is, I find your personal history to be much more interesting.” He resumed pacing. “Eventually you revealed to your mother and current stepfather that you were a Lesbian. Your mother, as was typical of her, became distant and started drinking. Her husband was a much more… direct man.” He stopped and looked her in the eye. “I’ve been on the receiving end of some pretty extreme parenting methods, but thankfully I never had to deal with rape.”

Artemis scowled. “You talk about me as though you know what it was like.”

“Oh, but I do. My father declared Machiavelli to be his role model. I’m familiar with fathers who try and… force you to change.”

She just continued to glare at him.

“According to the police reports, the man who tried to rape you never got the chance. You grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen, and then you made it live up to its name when you castrated him. The doctors were unable to reattach the severed penis because you chopped it into so many pieces.”

She grinned devilishly.

“You were acquitted because your actions were ruled to be in self-defense. But things with your mother were never the same after that, were they? That’s why you decided to leave home.”

“Why are you telling me my own past, Señor Luthor? Why mention it when there’s no one but lab coats around to hear?”

“Because,” he said, leaning down over her. “I want to show you that there’s nothing I can’t discover about you. The truth on how to cancel the effects of your power will come out sooner or later, so I suggest you tell me now and spare yourself all the painful medical experimentation.”

She glared at him for a long moment before she closed her eyes and surrendered. “Alright,” she said. “I'll tell you.”

“See? I knew you could be cooperative.”

“The only way to break the spell,” she whispered slowly, “is the kiss of a man.”

Lex smirked and, if only to make her shiver, ran the back of his hand down her face. She didn’t flinch. “Too bad it’s not that simple with the real thing. You could have been cured long ago.”

She scowled at him. “It’s not a disease, Señor Luthor. You of all people should know love does not play by the rules.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Ask yourself why you are so obsessed with investigating Clark Kent. Examine the reasons you gave yourself for deciding to be his friend, and then ask whether any of them are really true. Ask yourself if Lana Lang is truly the one you want to be with.”

At his wide-eyed expression, she smirked. “You are not the only one who can draw conclusions from people’s pasts.”

Above them, Clark was dumbstruck. Was that why Lex had been so interested in him all those years? Because he was attracted to him? He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Lex regained his composure after a moment, turning to one of the doctors. “Run the full battery of tests,” he ordered. “Find out if anything in the male anatomy is sufficient to cancel out the effects of her power. I want to know if she’s lying.” He turned to leave.

Behind him, Artemis simmered. “Why, Señor Luthor?”

He smiled, looking at her over his shoulder. “You called me a fag,” he said before exiting through the door.

“I’m going in,” said Clark, making ready to punch through the vent.

Oliver grabbed his fist. “No,” he said.

“But they’re gonna torture her.” He looked down to where they had already started to drill into her stomach. To her credit, Artemis had yet to scream, or even flinch for that matter.

“Yeah, and she won’t remember any of it come morning. If you rescue her now, she’ll be scarred for life.”

Clark shut his eyes. “I can’t let him do this.”

“And we’ll be back later to shut him down. This was just a recon mission.”

“But—”

“Clark, listen to me. We have more important things to worry about right now. Lex is going after Lana, and my guess is he’s got his sights set on Watchtower as well. If he gets to them before we do….”

He didn’t even want to consider the implications of that. “Alright,” he said. “But we’re coming right back here.”

Oliver nodded. “Let’s go,” he said, and they started back the way they came.

“C’mon, Jimmy, pick up!”

Clark had run all the way back to his barn before deciding to call Chloe’s boyfriend. He hoped he hadn’t gone to The Talon already. That would mean disaster.

From the way he answered the phone, however, it was clear he had. “Hey, CK.”

His voice was dull, and had he attempted to speak in longer syllables Clark was sure he would have slurred. “Jimmy, are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m great. Just great. At least I will be soon.”

Clark heard what sounded like a glass mug hitting granite. “Have you been drinking?”

“What else am I supposed to do? My girlfriend’s got a girlfriend of her own now.”

“Jimmy, Chloe’s not herself. You have to….” He trailed off as it occurred to him that getting Jimmy involved in this might be dangerous. “Actually, stay there. Don’t leave until I come get you.”

“Sure thing, CK. Later.”

“Bye.” He hung up, and immediately dialed Chloe. He hated doing this to her, but it was the only way to break the spell.

“Hello?”

“Chloe! You’ve gotta get to my barn, quick!” He figured the urgency would get her to come over, and he didn’t even have to fake it. It really was important that she get here as soon as possible.

“Okay, just give me a few minutes. Not all of us run faster than the speed of sound.”

“Lana’s not around, is she?”

“She’s downstairs getting coffee. Want me to bring you a cup?”

“No, just get here as fast as you can. Come alone.”

“Alright, just hang on. I’m coming.”

“See you then. Bye.”

He scanned around, searching for a spot to hide. He finally settled on the rafters. It had been where a lot of his foes had chosen to ambush him from in the past, so he figured it would do nicely. Now he just had to wait, and hope that Chloe didn’t think to look up.

“Clark?”

Chloe looked around the barn. “Hello?”

She sighed. Maybe it wasn’t just a coincidence that the name of his home planet was similar to a word that meant “hidden” in Greek. He’d always been a bit aloof, but this was just ridiculous.

“Clark? Are you there?”

She climbed the stairs to his loft, idly reflecting on the fact that Clark was the only person she knew who spent a majority of his time hanging out in a barn. A barn that mysteriously didn’t smell like one would expect. Of course that may have been due to the HEPA filters the Kents had installed long ago to purify the air. She was certainly grateful for that. It meant she could call her best alien friend’s name without sounding like a goose.

“Clark, hello?” She turned around while continuing to climb the stairs. “I'll have you know Lana was very disappointed when I left! This had better be important!”

THUD!

Before she could even turn around, strong hands grabbed her and warm lips claimed hers like she had imagined they would on so many sleepless nights. But the times when she would have gladly accepted and even returned such affections were long past. She pushed away, and to her surprise, she was released.

“Clark, what the hell?!”

He looked surprised. The nerve! “It didn’t work?”

“What didn’t work?!”

“Artemis said the only way to break the spell was the kiss of a man.”

Chloe blinked as she processed that. Then she scowled. “Well here’s a thought, Clark: you’re not a man! You’re an alien from outer space! No wonder it didn’t work!”

The words hit Clark harder than a bullet made of Kryptonite. If he hadn’t been struggling to stand after the verbal blow, it would have disturbed him that he knew enough to make the comparison. Instead his thoughts were focused on what she had just said to him. What she’d never said before. What he never thought she’d say.

“Chloe….”

“Shut up! You know, the fact that you even believed it would work just goes to show what a sexist you really are! You Kryptonians are so damn arrogant! It makes me sick!”

“Chloe!” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Listen to me! This isn’t you! That’s Artemis controlling you! You’ve gotta fight this!”

“You don’t get it, do you?! This is me!” she screamed, digging through her purse and producing a small, lead box.

When she opened it, he felt his strength turn against him, boiling his insides with his own blood. He couldn’t breathe, not when his lungs were constricting and his heart was gearing to explode. He collapsed to the floor.

Chloe grabbed the chunk of Kryptonite, casting the lead box aside and drawing it back behind her head as she crouched down, ready to deliver the death blow.

Then she screamed.

Fighting off the green haze that swam at the corners of his vision, he saw Chloe drop to the floor, convulsions wracking her body as the Kryptonite radiation assailed her. He wanted to scream, wanted to call her name, but his lungs were rapidly filling with fluid. He needed to get away. Fast.

Then purple light was expelled from her body, evaporating into the wind that blew through the loft. In moments she was on her feet, hurrying over to where she’d thrown the box made of lead. She put the Kryptonite inside it, then closed the lid.

Immediately the world stopped spinning and Clark was able to breathe again. He panted, wiping the sweat off his face.

Chloe was at his side instantly, helping him up. She stared at him, horrified at what she’d almost done. “Clark?”

“This is… usually the part where you say, ‘What happened?’”

“Only when I don’t actually remember,” she replied, her voice somber.

His eyes grew wide. “You mean….”

“Yes, I remember everything. But it’s just like you are on Red Kryptonite. I can remember the details, but the perspective’s changed. I’m back to normal, Clark.”

“Oh thank God,” he breathed.

“Thank the Kryptonite,” she said, holding up the lead box. “If I hadn’t tried to murder you, I might still be in love with Lana.”

“About that….”

“We’ll discuss it later, Clark. Right now we really need to find the others, fast.”

Suddenly they heard a man scream in pain, followed by a stream of expletives that would make a longshoreman assume the fetal position.

“Lois!” they both shouted.

“Sexist prick!” She kicked him in the stomach. “Thinking you can just come up and kiss me after you broke my heart! Things have changed, Ollie! I’m not in love with you anymore!”

Lois had gone back to the Kent farm after driving around for a while so she could be sure Clark left. Then Oliver Queen had come out of nowhere and tried to lay one on her. So she’d kneed him in the crotch.

He groaned, clutching at his abdomen. “Lois….”

She kicked him again. “You don’t get to talk! Only suffer!”

Oliver writhed in pain, wishing he’d brought Clark along for backup. At least he couldn’t get hurt.

Not that he was going to take this lying down either. His arm shot out suddenly and he grabbed her ankle, then pulled. She fell down next to him.

Now on the offensive, Oliver scrambled over to where she lay and straddled her, pinning her arms to the ground. As she squirmed beneath him, he couldn’t help smirking. “Just like old times, huh?”

“Why do they all say that?” Lois wondered aloud before smashing her forehead into his, forcing him back. She rolled to her feet. Oliver stood as well.

“You seem happy to see me,” he noted dryly, dodging a punch. She tried a spin kick, and he ducked to avoid it. “Do you greet all your ex-boyfriends this way, or am I just special?”

“What happened to me being the only person you ever regretted leaving?” She feigned left, then quickly shifted her footing and struck out with a right cross. He caught her fist in his palm.

“I still mean that.”

After several moments of trying ineffectually to remove her hand from his grasp, she grunted and kicked him in the shins. He cried out in pain, then fell down hard.

“And I meant what I said about not being able to wait around forever. Tell me, what brings you to Smallville? It can’t just be me.”

He was about to reply when she kicked him in the stomach again. “On second thought, don’t answer that. I told myself I wouldn’t listen to any more of your lies, and I meant it!” She drew her foot back and prepared to strike him one more time.

“Lois!”

She paused, then turned to see Clark and Chloe standing there. “What?!”

After Clark moved a safe distance away, Chloe opened the lead box, taking out the Kryptonite and holding it up to Lois. Her cousin screamed before dropping to the gravel and writhing in convulsions as the purple presence inside her was exorcized. After a few moments, she stood up.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded as Chloe put the Kryptonite away.

“Meteor rock,” she explained. “Counteracts the effects of Artemis’ spell.”

“Oh thank God,” Oliver said, standing to his feet. For some reason he had decided that this was a romantic moment and tried to go through with his original plan, only to get kneed in the crotch again. He fell to the ground.

“Why?” he moaned.

“Because,” said Lois, standing over him with arms akimbo. “Even though I’m not under that bitch’s spell anymore, you still broke my heart. Therefore, you deserve to be punished.”

Clark and Chloe nodded in agreement.

Oliver groaned.

“We need to find Lana,” Clark said after a moment. “I have a feeling Lex is going after her.”

“Gee, that must have been hard to figure out.”

He glared at Lois, and she did the same. Not to be outdone, he crossed his arms. She copied him again. He let loose an exasperated sigh, throwing his hands in the air.

Before their petulant game of HORSE could continue, Chloe snapped her fingers several times. “Um, guys? Lana’s in danger? We should probably help her?”

That brought them back to reality. “Right,” said Clark. “You and I will go to The Talon. Lois, you stay here and….” The three of them looked down to where Oliver writhed in the dirt. “…and keep an eye on him.”

“My pleasure,” she replied, gleeful menace dancing in her eyes as she ground her fist into her palm.

Oliver gulped.

Lex entered The Talon to find Lana where he’d seen her so many times before: behind the counter. He smiled.

“Lana!”

To her credit, she didn’t gasp. She’d seen him enter, but she still regarded him as a stranger, studying his features like it was the first time she’d seen him. Then her eyes flashed purple and she grinned like the devil.

“Lex. What brings you here?”

“Well, considering I own the place, do I really need a reason?”

“If you’re here to take me back I have bad news.”

“I know about your little Lesbian affair with Chloe. You’re not yourself, Lana.”

She laughed, walking around the counter. “You think you’ve seen the real me? How do you know who I am? People have to lie to survive around you, Alexander Luthor. That’s what you’ve turned me into: a liar.”

“I doubt I did much more than bring out something that was already there,” he countered, stepping closer to her. “You always did like to keep secrets.”

“Everyone in this town does. But I was honest, once.”

They were only a few feet apart. Lana stopped walking. Lex did not. “Yes, you were. But I’m not the one who pushed you to the point where you don’t feel like you can trust anyone. Clark did.”

“Clark has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong!” he shouted, sounding almost like he had three years earlier, just before he’d been committed to Belle-Reeve. “Clark has more to do with this than anyone! He’s kept so many secrets from you, Lana. Secrets about himself. Secrets that you begged him to share with you but he never did. And that’s where I came in! You ran to me after he broke your heart, and I gave you everything he never could! I gave you the life you always wanted! I gave you money! I gave you power! I would have given you a child!”

“But you didn’t!” she interrupted him. “There’s one thing you forgot to give me, Lex, and that’s the truth! You’re no better than Clark when it comes to that, and you know it!”

“Maybe not! But at least I had my reasons for lying to you!”

“Wrong!” she accused him. “That’s backwards! Clark’s the one who keeps secrets for a reason! You just lie to control people!”

“When have I ever done that?!”

“Oh, I don’t know, how about trying to convince me that you were concerned about my safety when all you really wanted was the stone?! Or hiding the black ship from me and letting me think I was crazy! Not to mention fooling me into thinking I was pregnant so I’d marry you! Pick your favorite!”

Lex growled, but instead of slapping her in the face like he wanted to, he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pulled her into a kiss.

His lips were cold, noted Lana. It was like kissing a snake. And knowing what she did about Lex, such a comparison really wasn’t that far off. It brought her no pleasure.

Reaching behind her, she grabbed a mug off the counter, swinging it around and smashing it into Lex’s head. He screamed in pain and staggered backwards, tripping over a chair.

She picked up one of the chairs and raised it above her head before bringing it crashing down. Lex barely rolled out of the way in time, and one of the legs hit him in the back as the chair splintered and broke against the floor. He rolled onto his back.

Tossing the makeshift weapon aside, Lana rushed over to Lex’s supine body, kicking him in the ribs and coaxing a howl from the fallen billionaire. Spinning, she raised her foot high in the air and sent her heel barreling down towards his chest, aided by gravity.

He saw the attack coming, and rather than try to dodge again, he hooked one of his hands around Lana’s ankle and yanked it out from under her. She hit her head hard against the floor, but kipped to her feet nonetheless. He rolled to a standing position.

They squared off, with Lex assuming a low wrestling stance, arms bowed by his sides, ready to rush forward and tackle her. Lana stood with one foot in front of the other, hands in front of her face. She scowled, and he did likewise. They started circling each other.

“You’re forgetting something, Lana,” he panted as they continued their dance. “I’m the one who taught you how to fight. You think I don’t know all your moves?”

“I’ve learned a few new ones.”

“I’m still stronger than you. I have more experience as well. There’s no way you’ll win.”

“Well I’d say I’m counting on the fact that you’re a gentleman, but we both know that’s not true now, is it?”

Instead of replying, or perhaps as a means of doing so, Lex charged forward like a toro and Lana spun around, slamming the side of her foot into his right temple and sending him veering off course so that he crashed into one of the tables. Having survived so many close combat situations over the past few years, he recovered almost instantly and turned to face her again. She rushed forward, trying to roundhouse his abdomen. He let the blow connect, then wrapped his arm around her leg and grabbed her shirt before hurling her over the counter.

He walked around slowly, purposefully, relishing every step. Animal fury pounded through his veins, and the beats of his heart thundered in his ear like the drums of war.

When he reached the other side of the counter, he was not prepared for the foot that collided with his face. Lana, having recovered from the throw, grabbed him by the collar and slammed his head into the Cappuccino maker.

“Do you remember when you gave me this, Lex? I always did have trouble figuring it out. But I think I’ve finally got it mastered.”

His left eye was right below the nozzle. If she turned that on….

“Lana, wait!”

She grabbed the handle, and he used the distraction to grab the wrist of the hand that held him, squeezing down on the pressure point on her wrist. Immobilized, Lana was unable to prevent his escape. He moved out of the way just as a stream of scalding hot coffee erupted from the nozzle.

“You never could get the damn thing to work,” he snarled before pinning her down on the counter and wrapping his hands around her throat, trying to choke the effects of Artemis’ spell out of her.

It did not occur to him, as he strangled her, that he was not only robbing her of air, but of any love she may have felt for him. He did not realize, when her arms started to flail and her knees gave out beneath her, that he had become something far more terrible than his father ever was. It wasn’t until she started having a seizure that he thought to let go.

Looking up, he saw Chloe holding a meteor rock in her hand, pointing it towards Lana. Clark stood at the entrance to the coffee shop.

He looked back down at Lana. Her mouth opened and purple light escaped her body, vanishing just as quickly. She opened her eyes.

“Lana….” He reached his hand toward her, but she scrabbled backwards, retreating towards Chloe, who was just putting the meteor rock away. It seemed that even though they were no longer in love, Lana would still rather run to Chloe than the man who was willing to risk killing her rather than give her up.

He met Clark’s eyes across the room. His former friend, his mortal enemy, the one who would always be his rival, shook his head in disappointment. Then he walked out.

And left him standing there, watching his life slip from his hands like water through a butterfly net.

Clark resisted the urge to slam The Talon’s doors behind him, not wanting to have to pay for property damage on top of everything else he’d done to make Lex angry today. Granted, the whole Lana thing wasn’t technically his fault, and he’d actually just saved both of them—Lana, from Lex, and Lex, from himself. But Lex wouldn’t see it that way. He never did nowadays.

There was a time when Clark would have assumed the guilt that went along with the accusations. But he’d long since shrugged it off. What happened to Lex now wasn’t his problem. The billionaire had been right earlier when he’d said they each had too much of their own agenda to fulfill. But if he’d been trying to make Clark feel ashamed, it hadn’t worked. He didn’t even pity the man anymore.

He would have pursued that line of thought even further if a voice hadn’t suddenly said: “Looks like you saved the day again, Boy Scout.” He turned around, not the least bit surprised to find the Green Arrow standing behind him. “But where’s the girl?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Clark riposted. “Feeling more confident now that you’ve got your codpiece?”

Oliver grinned. “Hey, give me some credit. I figured she deserved a few free swings at me. I did my penance. Besides,” his smile disappeared, “we’ve got unfinished business.”

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

“I'll meet you there. Some of us can’t—”

Before he could say another word, Clark went into superspeed and grabbed him before bolting off in the direction of the 33.1 facility they’d infiltrated earlier. He shifted his perception back to normal as soon as they arrived.

“—run faster than a…” He looked around, bewildered at first. Then he realized what had happened and he smirked. “…than a speeding bullet,” he finished.

“I’m getting tired of people saying that,” said Clark. “Is the adjective really necessary?”

“It adds flash,” he replied, shrugging. He scratched his chin, as if mulling something over. “Hm, maybe I should consider changing Bart’s code name. ‘Flash’ doesn’t sound half bad.”

“I thought you weren’t out to do him any more favors after he swiped your credit cards and bought out half of Metropolis.”

“He made some pretty smart investments, I'll give him that. Purchasing the company that prints Warrior Angel has to be my favorite, though. I kept that one.”

“What about my codename?”

“I think I'll let you pick that one. I’d say you can’t do worse than ‘Boy Scout,’ but considering the flannel, I could be wrong.”

“Oh, so people who live in glass houses have an affinity for leather too?”

Oliver laughed. “Touché, farmboy.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“We wait till they take her home at least. Neither of us wants her to remember this.”

Clark nodded in agreement. “We should probably—”

His next words were cut short by the sudden fireball that erupted from the warehouse, screaming towards the sky before evaporating into oblivion, leaving only ash behind. Oliver was thrown back, and Clark rushed to his side. He got up after a moment, uninjured.

“Looks like Lex beat us to it,” he noted grimly while dusting himself off. “Let’s just hope there wasn’t anyone inside.”

“There wasn’t.”

“You sure about that?”

Clark was about to say yes, was about to say that he knew Lex, knew his style, when it occurred to him that after what happened tonight, he really didn’t know Lex at all. He’d never seen Lex be so callous towards another person, meteor freak or not. He would never have thought that Lex would be so desperate as to risk killing Lana rather than lose her. Even after everything that happened between them, Clark had still thought of Lex as just misguided; someone who just needed a friend. It had never occurred to him that the man was capable of that kind of evil.

“No,” he replied, shaking his head sadly. “I don’t.”

“Well I’m just glad you’re okay,” said Martha, putting a hand on Clark’s cheek. He had just finished telling her what happened, and while she had cringed at certain details—which was nothing compared to what her reaction would have been had he told her about 33.1—she was supportive of her son as always. “It must have been hard, not knowing what had gotten into them at first.”

“It was,” he admitted. “I guess I just got so used to the idea of Chloe and Lana competing over me that I never thought they’d end up together. But do you know what the funny thing was?”

“What?”

“I’d still rather the two of them be together than Lana and Lex. If Chloe and I hadn’t gotten to The Talon in time….” He let it hang there.

“Hey.” She reached over and stroked his shoulder. “The important thing is that you did get there in time. You know what comes from worrying what might have been.”

“I should be glad I can’t get ulcers,” said Clark, grinning. Martha smiled back. “I don’t know how you and dad managed to keep from worrying about me all those years.”

“It was tough, but we always had faith in you, Clark. And I still do.”

He smiled.

There was a knock at the back door, and they both turned to look.

“I come in peace,” said Chloe, entering with her hands up.

“Hello, Chloe,” Martha greeted. “It’s good to see everything’s back to normal again.”

“Yeah, unfortunately that includes Lex and Lana.” She frowned. “I told her to stay at The Talon, but she figures the best thing to do now is keep an eye on Lex. I can’t say I agree with her.”

“Me neither. I hope she’ll be all right.”

Chloe shrugged. “Lana’s a fighter. She’ll get through this one way or another. I just wish she didn’t insist on staying in the Lion’s den.”

“Sometimes we have to put ourselves at risk when we feel it’s the right thing to do,” Martha replied, looking at Clark. “Even when no one else agrees that it is.”

He smiled.

“Do you mind if I talk to Clark alone for a few minutes, Mrs. Kent?” asked Chloe, and Martha nodded.

“I need to make some phone calls anyway. After everything Lois went through today I decided to give her the night off.”

“That and the fact that she tried to go Xena to your Gabrielle made things unbelievably awkward between the two of you and you can’t stand to see her till tomorrow?”

Martha blinked, while Clark hid his face. Chloe rolled her eyes. “Okay, strike that comment from the record. I’ve been spending way too much time with Lois.”

“I'll go upstairs,” Martha said after a moment. “You two have fun.” With that, she left.

“So where’d you go after Lana got turned back to normal?” Chloe asked once they were alone.

“I went with Oliver to shut down that 33.1 facility I told you about this morning,” he said. “But when we got there, it exploded.”

Chloe gasped. “Was there anyone inside?”

“I’m not sure. When Oliver and I went there earlier tonight, he was running tests on Artemis.”

“My God, is she alright?”

“Again, I don’t know. But she seemed a lot tougher than I would have thought. They started drilling into her stomach and she didn’t even flinch.”

Chloe, on the other hand, did. “Yeesh, Clark. You can spare me the gory details.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She crossed the kitchen and sat at the table. Clark followed. “So what do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t think Lex would be interested in killing someone who was that valuable to him. She wasn’t in that building.”

“Do you think he’s keeping her somewhere?”

“We have no real way of knowing, but I don’t think so. The spell was broken; he has no reason to hold her anymore.”

“Do you think that’s why he blew everything up?”

He shook his head. “That’s not Lex’s style. From what Oliver told me, the program was simple catch, tag, and release. Lex is trying to keep tabs on people who’ve been infected with Kryptonite. He probably just destroyed the building to get rid of evidence.”

“Do you really believe that, or is your faith in humanity also super-strong?”

Clark looked away. “A year ago I would have said yes. I used to think Lex was just misguided. But now I’m not so sure. I think he really does have that darkness in him. I think we were destined to be enemies.”

“No you weren’t, Clark. Things happened, things you couldn’t control. You can’t blame yourself for the path he’s chosen.”

“Believe me, I don’t. But those things happened because of my destiny, the destiny Jor-El chose for me.” He looked at her. “Do you remember the legend on the cave walls? The one about Numan and Segeeth?”

“The guys who started out as friends and became mortal enemies?”

He nodded. “Doesn’t that sound a lot like me and Lex?”

“Clark….” She put a hand on his shoulder.

“Lex wouldn’t be who he is today if it wasn’t for me. If the meteors hadn’t come, none of this would have happened. 33.1 wouldn’t exist, Lana wouldn’t be about to marry him, and all the bad stuff that’s happened over the last five years, wouldn’t have.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” she muttered.

“What?”

“It’s Latin. It means ‘after this, therefore because of this.’ It’s a logical fallacy, Clark.”

“A what?”

“Did you learn anything in your freshman Philosophy class? I know you have a photographic memory, so either that means you weren’t paying attention or you didn’t even go.”

“I was kinda busy back then.”

“Whatever. Anyway, it’s an error in reasoning. In this case, your error is in thinking that you’re the cause of all this.”

“Aren’t I?”

She balled her hands into fists. “I still have that Kryptonite in my purse, Clark. Don't make me beat you with it.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. As I was saying, you’re wrong to think that you caused all this. You aren’t the reason Lex turned out the way he has. Blame Lionel for that. And just because you came along with the meteors, doesn’t mean that you’re responsible for the effects.”

“I still feel guilty.”

“Don’t.” She put hand on his. “You weren’t the reason your planet blew up. Zod was.”

“That’s another thing. Zod wouldn’t have been released if I had listened to Jor-El for once in my life.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have.” His voice had grown stronger, harder. He seemed sure of himself. “I think on some level I did. But I wasn’t willing to do what was necessary.”

“There’s always another way, Clark.” Chloe said, matching the firmness of his voice with her own iron resolve. “You proved that when you trapped Zod in your father’s crystal. You saved the day without having to kill anybody. You kept your integrity, just like you always have.”

“Have I? I’ve lied, cheated, and stolen to protect my secret. I’ve disobeyed my parents, I’ve hurt Lana, and so many people have died because of me. I’m nowhere near perfect.”

“No one’s asking you to be. The truth is, Clark, that at the end of the day, you’re the one who always comes through. Whenever it’s in your power to save somebody, no matter how you feel about them, you always will. That’s just who you are.”

He looked down. “I’m just trying to make up for what I’ve done.”

“No, you’re not. It’s in your nature to want to help people, and you’ve been blessed with the power to do that. But even you can’t carry the burden for other peoples’ mistakes, Clark.”

“Why not? Why can’t I take the blame if it means that they don’t have to? I’m so much stronger than everyone else, why shouldn’t I carry more?”

“Because you already take on so much.” He sighed, and she put a hand on his shoulder. “Clark, do you remember the story of how Jesus was crucified?”

“Chloe….”

“I know, you’re not really a religious person, but I was raised Catholic and this is the best way I can think of to get my point across. Just hear me out.”

He looked up at her. “Alright.”

“Whenever I used to go to Easter service as a child, the Priest always told us that Christ died on the cross for our sins. It wasn’t the asphyxiation that killed him either, or the loss of blood. It was the fact that all the guilt of all the sins of every person who ever existed and will exist all hit him at once. The emotional stress was too much for his body to handle. He literally died of a broken heart.”

Clark blinked. Okay, he’d never heard the story from that particular angle before. “And you think I’m headed down the same path?”

She nodded. “The world has enough martyrs, Clark. What it needs right now is a hero. Someone to inspire us. The only thing holding you back from achieving that is the fact that you can’t let go of your guilt.”

“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Maybe someday I will be, but not right now.”

“Well, take your time. Nobody’s asking you to embrace your destiny right this second. Just promise me you’ll stop blaming yourself for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Maybe not. But that shouldn’t stop me from taking responsibility for the things that only I can handle.”

“And I agree with you, but you have to stop saying things like what started us down this whole line of discussion. You’re probably right that none of that stuff would have happened if the meteor shower never hit. But none of the good stuff would have happened either. Sure, it might seem like you’re cleaning up your own mess a lot of the time, but I honestly don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t a part of my life.”

He looked up at her, and she put her hand on top of his. “You’re a good influence on so many people, Clark. You convinced Bart Allen to stop stealing and you gave Victor Stone a second chance at life. Now they’re helping people and it’s because of you. Maybe instead of blaming yourself for all the bad stuff that’s happened, you should start taking credit for all the good you’ve done.”

“I know that. And you’re right. But I’m not the person you make me out to be. I do good, yes, but it’s only to make up for my mistakes.”

Chloe shook her head. “Lex is the one who’s trying to atone for who he is. Lionel even more so. But you’re just a genuinely good person. You’re not afraid to fight for what you believe in.”

“I’m not a hero, Chloe.”

“You’re right,” she said, grinning. “You’re more than that. You’re a superhero.”

He couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curling upwards in a smile. “Thanks, Chloe. It means a lot that you think that highly of me.”

“Hey, I’m not just saying that because I’m your friend. I’m saying it because it’s the truth. And one day everyone will realize that, if you’ll let them.”

“I told you I’m not ready for that yet.”

“When will you be? You can’t wait around forever, Clark. The longer you try and hide who you really are, the closer this world gets to ending up like Krypton.”

He sighed. “Can we please talk about something other than my destiny?”

Chloe laughed. “You’re right, I should be thanking you for saving me from myself earlier. Muchas gracias, by the way.”

“Have you and Bart been talking?”

“We’re chat room buddies. It’s physically impossible for me to keep up with him, but I’m a decent typist.”

“Don't sell yourself short. Even though I have superspeed, you still know more about computers than I do. It’s one of the reasons I keep you around.”

“Are you sure there aren’t other reasons?”

“What do you mean?”

She smirked. “If you really believed that a kiss from a man would break the spell, why didn’t you call Jimmy? Why’d you go after me yourself?”

“Actually I did call him. Then I realized it was too dangerous and I didn’t want to get him involved.”

“Are you sure?”

He scrunched his brow. “Chloe, what are you saying?”

She didn’t answer. Instead she looked away.

Clark reached out and gently guided her face back in his direction. “Chloe….”

He had always had quick reflexes. His synapses fired about a million times quicker than those of an ordinary human, which allowed him to move and react in superspeed without getting overwhelmed. It was just short of impossible to catch him off guard. But then Chloe had always managed to surprise him.

And so it came as a complete shock when she suddenly dove forward and kissed him. He could feel her lips tugging on his insistently, and after a moment he began to respond. She grabbed a fistful of his hair, which he was sure would have hurt if he wasn’t invulnerable. She pulled him in closer, and he allowed himself to be moved.

As tempting as it was to just give in to his feelings, he couldn’t stop the nagging voice in the back of his head that told him this was wrong. He ordered it to shut up, to let him enjoy this moment, but it wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t ignore the voice, because it was his own. He was telling himself to stop.

So then why wasn’t he? He could push her away with a flick of his wrist, and here he was opening his mouth to allow her tongue inside. He possessed an iron will, but Chloe was causing it to tarnish in the deluge of feelings she’d just unleashed in him. It was just like the kiss she’d given him in the basement of the Daily Planet. The sudden resurgence of feelings, the desire to hold her, touch her, kiss her, and just plain be with her had been one of the primary things that motivated him to escape from the Phantom Zone. But then Jimmy had to come along and….

His eyes snapped open. Jimmy! He’d forgotten about him completely. He pushed her off of him, standing to his feet. “Chloe I’m so sorry!” he blurted out.

She blinked, as if trying to remember where she was. After a moment, she recovered. “Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking.” She rubbed the side of her head. “I… I think I’d better go.” She stood and walked towards the door. She was just about to open it when Clark called out after her:

“Chloe, wait!”

Chloe heard. Chloe stopped.

But Chloe did not turn around. She didn’t even speak.

She felt a warm pressure on her shoulder and looked down to see Clark’s hand there. She allowed herself to be spun around so that she faced him, and looked up into his eyes.

“Chloe, what was that?”

“A mistake,” she excused. “A moment of weakness. It won’t happen again.” She turned to leave.

“I’d like it to.”

She faced him again. “What?”

“I’m not going to lose you twice.”

“Clark, what are you talking about?”

“Do you remember when I got back from the Phantom Zone? Do you remember what you told me?”

She nodded. “I said I wasn’t expecting us to hook up.”

“I knew you were lying. I could hear your heart speed up when you told me that. I almost called you on it before Jimmy showed up and I realized the reason you pulled the friend card. I’m not gonna let that happen this time.”

“Clark, I’ve already cheated on Jimmy once. I’m not going to do it when I’m not under a Krypto-mutant’s influence.”

“I understand that. And that’s one of the things I admire about you. But you can’t keep kissing me and not expect me to feel something in return. You can’t play with my heart like that.”

She scowled at him. “I can’t do that? What do you call leaving me at the Spring Formal so you could be with Lana? You told me you were taking me to that dance because you wanted to, and then you ran off and chose her instead!”

“What was I supposed to do, let her get sucked up by a tornado?!” he yelled, and Chloe realized that she’d said too much. “And in case you don’t remember, you were the one who insisted we go back to the way things were! I may have been naïve enough to believe that was what you really wanted then, but I’m not going to let that happen this time! I feel something for you, Chloe. Something more than friendship. I’m willing to pursue it, as long as you are too. But if you don’t want to find out where it leads or how deep it goes, for the love of God, quit kissing me!”

She stood there for several moments, trembling as she fought to keep her composure. She let the unshed tears sting her eyes as she chuckled bitterly and replied: “Don’t worry, Clark. It won’t happen again.” She opened the door, and left.

Then the dam burst, and her tears fell.

Lex stood at the window of his office at LuthorCorp Plaza, looking out over the glowing spires that shimmered like jewels in the night. He didn’t want to go back to the mansion, not now. Not because of Lana; not because he wasn’t ready to face her. He was. He just needed a quiet place to think.

No matter how much Smallville had grown on him in the last five years, Metropolis had always been his home. It was where he was reminded of man’s power over nature, evident in the brilliant skyscrapers that dimmed the light of the stars. Other people sought to escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city, but Lex thrived on it. It made him proud to be human. It showed him that anything was possible, as long as enough minds were set to the task.

Any philosopher who claimed that man was insignificant, he thought, had never seen Metropolis. His father had always called it a modern day Athens, and while as a child Lex had rolled his eyes at the comparison, now he had to agree. Metropolis was the home of the Daily Planet and LuthorCorp, just as Athens had been the center of thought and scientific progress in the ancient world. It was where great men gathered to share their accomplishments.

Unlike his father, though, Lex recognized that for all its splendor, Metropolis was hardly a utopia. Not as decadent as Gotham to be sure, but any city that called its red light district Suicide Slums was far from perfect. Still, it was by far his favorite city, if only for the fantastic views. Nothing really compared to the sight before him. Nothing on Earth.

His musings were interrupted when the double doors hissed open behind him, and he turned to greet his visitor.

“Thanks for coming, Dad.”

“Hello, Son.” Lionel Luthor gave a slight bow before striding easily across the office to sit in the chair that had once been his. Lex did not object. At this point he saw it as less of a concession, and more like humoring an old man. “What did you need?”

“I wanted to thank you.”

Lionel steepled his fingers. “For what, I might ask?”

He smiled. Even though he’d taught him every trick in the book, his father still tried to feign ignorance around him. At one time he would have called it a habit; now he thought of it as an idiosyncrasy, because Lionel probably didn’t even realize he was doing it. It was that ingrained.

“The Metropolis Fire Department received a call about an explosion in the warehouse district about an hour ago,” he said, swirling his Scotch. “When they got there all they found was smoldering ruins, and not the 33.1 facility that went offline around the same time. I asked the Lead Scientist in charge of the installation what happened, and he told me they received orders to clear out not too long after I left. I don’t remember sending any such orders.”

“And you think I sent them?” He leaned back casually in the chair. His face was completely calm.

“I know you did. You’re the only other person with sufficient authority to shut down a facility of that importance. Considering the fact that security was compromised while I was present at the facility earlier tonight, by the Green Arrow no less, I have to say I'm grateful you thought to cover my tracks. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight tonight.”

A smirk crossed Lionel’s features. “Interesting choice of words.”

Lex chuckled and looked down at his Scotch. “So you saw the tape, then?”

His father nodded. “I must say, this Artemis is an intriguing character. Very tough. They ran the full battery of tests on her and she didn’t even flinch.”

“We have the anesthetic to thank for that.”

“Yes, but she’s a brave one. Experienced. Not one of those simpering teenagers that squirm under the knife. She’s able to play games on your level. Tell me: were you ever going to let her go?”

Lex looked up. “Of course. Now that the spell is broken, I obviously have no further use for her. The goal of the program was simply to keep tabs on all the mutants that hadn’t yet gone insane. Only the violent ones are kept under lockdown.”

“I know that. But I also know your capacity for vendetta. I thought she made an interesting point about Clark.”

The younger Luthor raised his eyebrows. “You think I’m attracted to a farmboy?”

“He’s more than that and you know it. Why else would you devote an entire room of your mansion to studying him? Why try and form a friendship with him?”

“He saved my life.”

“Oh, of course. But that wasn’t the real reason. You’ve always had an insatiable curiosity, Lex. Even as a child, you were always asking how things worked. At first I wrote it off as simple childhood wonder, but as you grew older I began to realize that you have a… propensity towards obsession.”

“So now I’m obsessed with him?”

“You have been ever since the day you ran off a bridge and he dove in to save you. You never let anything go, not really.”

“Neither do you.”

Lionel chuckled. “It’s the reason you started 33.1 to begin with. You want to know what the meteors are, where they come from. You might tell yourself it’s in service of a greater cause, but you and I both know that’s not the case. You’re researching the meteors and their effects because you’re hoping it will lead you to Clark. You want to know his secret.”

“The fact that you asked to be part of it tells me you do too, Dad. And here I thought you were done with megalomania. Or is that just what you want Martha Kent to believe?”

“I thought we were talking about your love interests.”

Lex smirked. “You really think I’m interested in dating Clark Kent?”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Son. Many of the Roman Emperors had Gay lovers. But no, I don’t think you’re attracted to Clark, at least not in that way. It’s more of an aesthetic appreciation. You always did have an eye for beauty, Lex.”

“I inherited it from Mom.”

Lionel’s features tightened. “Among other things.”

“If you’re implying that insanity runs on her side of the family, I should remind you that she was suffering from Post Partum Depression, not to mention having to put up with you. There’s a reason they call us megalomaniacs.”

His father laughed. “Touché, Lex. I must say, I was confused at first when you decided to propose to Miss Lang, but now I think I understand.”

“Understand what, Dad? You think I’m trying to grow a beard? That’s physically impossible for me, you know.”

Lionel shook his head. “No, I don’t think you’re trying to hide behind a façade. When you first started your courtship with her, I thought you were just trying to one-up Clark. But it’s deeper than that, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Lex asked, barely resisting the urge to boot his father out the window. Loss to LuthorCorp, he reminded himself. Lionel was lucky to be such an asset to the company, or else he would have been dead long ago.

“I mean, Lex, that ever since you and Lana Lang have gotten involved, she’s managed to push away every other person in her life.”

“She’s still close with Chloe.”

“But for how long? You’ve isolated her, Lex. You’ve locked her up in your castle and you’re leaving her to rot.”

“What are you implying?”

“I’m saying that you never wanted her for yourself, Lex. You just wanted to get her away from Clark. You want to ruin her so thoroughly that she won’t ever want to go back to him. But you’ll never get the opening you’re looking for, Son. Clark Kent isn’t one to just let things go either. Granted he hides it better than you, but he has some of those same obsessive tendencies. He’s used to loving Lana Lang from a distance. Your interference won’t change anything.”

Lex simmered at the older man, repeating the phrase, “asset to the company” like a mantra in his head. Then again, there was always the Corporate Life Insurance…. No. He was still useful. At least for now.

“Thanks for helping me out tonight, Dad,” he said. “You’ve always had my best interest at heart.”

Lionel was one of the few individuals smart enough to realize that that was his cue to leave. He stood. “I’m always looking out for you, Son. Be more careful from now on.”

“Believe me, I will.”

“I'll see you tomorrow,” he said before turning to leave. Just as the doors opened, Lex called out after him:

“Dad?”

He turned around. “Yes, Son?”

“You’d really be okay with having a Gay son?”

Lionel chuckled. “You’re too much of a womanizer for me to ever see you as anything worse than bisexual, Lex. But even if you were only attracted to the same sex, I’d still love you. With me as a father, you’re lucky you didn’t turn out much worse.”

And with that, he left.

Clark entered the barn and began climbing the stairs to his loft. Despite his phenomenal strength, his steps were weighted. He wasn’t tired. He didn’t get tired. But he was emotionally exhausted.

Oliver had gone back to Metropolis, saying a few things about how he should really think of joining the team, and Clark had given him the usual excuse that he had other things to take care of. Which he did, of course. He never lied if he could help it. But he wasn’t telling the whole truth either.

He stopped that line of thought there. He’d discussed it to death with Chloe earlier, and it had led him down a road that he didn’t want to revisit. Ever.

As he reached the top step, Clark saw another person in his loft, staring out the window at the stars. She had a tall, curvy frame, a fair complexion, and long, black hair. He cleared his throat.

The woman turned around, and when he saw her eyes, he immediately knew who she was. “Artemis.”

She smiled. “Clark Kent. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked, walking towards her. “Do you remember anything?”

“All of it. The men received orders to clear out not long after Lex departed, and in the confusion, they forgot to wipe my memory of the events. I have a feeling I'll be remembering this night for a long time.”

Clark dropped his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I have been awake under the knife before. I’m not going to be scarred for life or anything. I am disappointed that things did not work out the way I intended, but there is no need for you to worry about me. I will be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

She laughed smugly. “There is so much about me that Lex has underestimated. If he knew the truth…. Well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Thank you for trying to rescue me, though. I appreciate it.”

He gaped. “How did you….”

“I know more than you can imagine. I will not bore you with the details. Just know that this is not the last you will see of me.” She walked past him, towards the stairs, pausing at the top step. Peering over her shoulder, she said: “Goodbye… Kal-El.”

And before he could even open his mouth to reply, she was gone.

Chloe stepped into the Talon and sighed. The tears had ceased falling on the drive home, but the crater in her chest remained. It was times like this where she felt like she really didn’t know Clark at all. He was the single most noble and responsible person she knew, but when it came to relationships, he was no better than humans.

This time it wasn’t his fault, though. He’d opened up to her, told her the things she’d always wanted to hear from him, and what did she do? She threw it away, just like the letter she read to him when he was sick. Just like the files she’d deleted earlier today when she wasn’t herself.

She felt a sudden pain in her skull and she closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. When she opened them again, she was greeted by, of all things, a toilet.

She was eight. She stood in the bathroom, fighting the urge to cry as her father read a eulogy over Herbie, the goldfish she’d gotten as a present for her birthday two weeks earlier. She’d been devastated to find him belly up in his bowl, and after several minutes of hysterics, had insisted that they give him a proper funeral. Her father, always willing to do anything to please his little girl, had agreed.

Once her father finished reading Herbie his last rites, he stepped forward, emptying the bowl that held the deceased goldfish into the makeshift casket. He reached for the lever that would complete the ceremony.

“Wait!” she cried suddenly, and he stopped.

Taking a deep breath, she moved closer to the white porcelain hearse that would carry Herbie to his final resting place. She stretched out her arm, covered her reflection in the chrome handle with her palm, and flushed the toilet herself.

The scene evaporated as she arrived at the stairs and began her ascent. She would have wondered why such a seemingly random memory had suddenly decided to reassert itself, if she hadn’t already known. Herbie was the only pet she’d ever had. The only one she felt she could talk to in her mother’s absence. She’d tried opening up to her father, but she never felt quite so at ease as when she was pouring her soul out to the goldfish that she’d gotten for her eighth birthday.

Herbie served a vital function that her father never could: he was the perfect listener. He never interrupted her or tried to end the conversation early like her father did whenever the subject of her mother came up. Looking back at those times, through the special lens that years of experience dealing with hard emotions had given her, she realized that the reason her dad didn’t like to talk about her mother was because it hurt too much to be reminded of her, especially by his own offspring.

But things were different with Herbie. Even though he couldn’t even blink in response to her rambling, just having an audience was cathartic enough, and she was actually encouraged by the fact that he couldn’t respond. One of the reasons she grew to like writing so much was because it achieved the same effect of granting her a captive audience. It was there, in her room, pacing in front of a goldfish bowl like she was on a stage, that her passion for words had first been born.

Sure, she had developed a bit of a lexical fixation from the first moment her mother had read her a bedtime story, but it wasn’t until she discovered the rejuvenating effect that just venting her feelings without worrying what others would say in response (an effect she would later come to know as catharsis) that she started to pour her soul out onto paper. Before he’d met his untimely demise, she had taken to reading her juvenile compositions to Herbie. It was easier, she found, to recite her feelings from a script rather than just venting them as they came to her. After Herbie died, she kept a journal of her thoughts. She still had it around, somewhere.

Her father hadn’t gotten her any more pets after that. So she’d buried herself in writing, progressing from scribbles to commendations from the teacher in a matter of weeks. It was her retreat, her Bridge to Terabithia, her way of escaping from the pain that she felt whenever she thought of her mother and wondered why she had been abandoned.

She remembered once telling Clark about that time in her life, when he’d asked her how she’d gotten into writing. He’d probably been expecting something like, “It’s a hobby of mine,” or, “I don’t know, it just happened,” or even—she gasped—what she regarded as the most annoying cliché of all: “Oh, I’ve just always had a way with words.” Yuck.

Her response had obviously surprised him; even if she hadn’t been extraordinarily good at reading people and determining their thoughts and motives—a talent she’d developed over countless interviews—the fact that he had yet to close his mouth was like a giant neon sign declaring: “WTF?”

Chloe had laughed then, and warned him about the dangers of attracting flies. He’d blushed, closing his mouth and turning rigid, not daring to look her in the eye. She remembered thinking how cute he looked when he thought he had offended her.

She had not expected him to reply: “Why didn’t your father get you any more pets? Obviously having one did something for you.”

“I told him not to,” she’d answered, and even though he didn’t air out his tonsils this time, he still looked shocked.

“Why?”

She had shrugged then, telling him simply: “I don’t know.”

But now she did. Even though she only had Herbie for a short time, she’d connected with her goldfish on a level she never knew existed before. She had loved, and lost. She didn’t want to lose again.

Clark, she realized, was a lot like Herbie had been. Someone to connect with, someone to open up to, but never someone who reciprocated what she felt, even though she loved him more than anyone else in the world. She thought of herself as open-minded now, but if Herbie had suddenly started talking to her, she would have flushed him down the toilet a lot sooner. It just seemed wrong to her, even though some part of her was interested to know what he thought. It wasn’t the way her world was supposed to work. Catharsis is only possible in the midst of a Greek Tragedy, and it was the only thing she knew.

It was the only way she could explain why she’d chosen to push away from Clark when he’d finally stopped running ahead of her and taken away the thrill of the chase. She still loved him, greatly at that, but it wasn’t supposed to work like that. He wasn’t supposed to love her back. She wasn’t supposed to have a happy ending.

‘There’s something seriously wrong with me, isn’t there?’ she asked no one as she reached the top step. ‘Why won’t I let myself be satisfied?’

But she already knew the answer. It was because she was afraid that once she got everything she wanted, it would all be taken from her, just as Herbie had been. It would be like the Spring Formal all over again, where she’d been so afraid that Clark would leave her for Lana, and so devastated when he ended up doing just that. So rather than let herself be hurt, she refused to put herself at risk. Her relationship with Clark worked best when the feelings were one-sided. She refused to accept any alternative, because she might just end up getting too attached, only to lose everything.

She sighed. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t so keenly perceptive, especially of herself. Her incredible analytical skills, which she’d honed over the years and always used to her advantage, were what had brought her to this state she was in now. She knew the truth about herself, and it hurt. Maybe there was something to the denial her friends all seemed to practice. But Chloe could never lie to herself like that. It wasn’t in her nature.

Sighing one more time, she turned the handle and opened the door to the apartment. She expected to be greeted by her cousin, who had probably come back from the farm by now. As she entered the living room, she discovered that there was, in fact, someone already in the apartment.

It wasn’t Lois.

“Jimmy?” Her heart sped up as he stepped forward. The pain was evident in his face, and she felt her heart sink even further. There were so many casualties tonight. This was one she’d forgotten.

“Chloe,” he breathed, quickening his pace and enveloping her in a hug. “CK told me everything. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. What are you doing here?”

“Are you kidding? I don’t wanna be anywhere if I’m not with you.”

“Overprotective much?”

“Nah, just sentimental. I think that’s what your dad likes about me.”

Chloe giggled. Jimmy and her father did get along great. They had so many of the same traits, including an insufferable bravado that, when one considered their actual physical appearance, made their desire to protect her seem almost laughable. But they both loved her unconditionally; of that she had no doubt.

It was what she loved about him. Freudian implications notwithstanding, it wasn’t just his similarities to Clark that had attracted her to Jimmy. It was his impossible optimism, his unbreakable spirit, and his puppy dog devotion to her that all combined to make Jimmy someone she really liked to be with.

But not for the rest of her life.

What they had wasn’t love, no matter how much Clark insisted as such just to satisfy his martyr complex. It was mutual attraction, sure, but Chloe never let herself be fooled. She knew what they had wasn’t going to last. It couldn’t, because she didn’t really love him. Not the way she loved Clark.

Jimmy was more than just a means for her to prove that she was over Clark. He was safe. It was ironic to think of him in such terms considering what they’d done on the last day of their internship, but she really did feel at ease around him. Not protected like she did with Clark, but simply like she didn’t need protecting. He got her to relax and feel good about herself. He encouraged her and cheered her on. But he was always on the sidelines, never in the game. Just like she was always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

And so they found solace in one another.

Chloe included Jimmy in some of her adventures, and in return, he made her feel wanted. But they weren’t complements. Each of them had a need that could only be met by the other, but otherwise they were very independent people. At least she was. Jimmy, on the other hand, was devoted to her. He relied on her fully, while she had yet to surrender her burden to him. In some ways it reminded her of how she’d always been towards Clark.

She couldn’t give her heart to Jimmy, because Clark had already stolen it long ago. And even if she did get it back from him, he’d mangled it enough over the years that it was no longer fit to offer anyone else. Not that she could ever pry it from his grasp, as he’d demonstrated earlier.

But she couldn’t bear another loss. She wouldn’t chase Jimmy away, not now. It wasn’t denial, because she knew exactly how this was going to end. But she couldn’t handle the truth right now. So rather than lie, she said nothing, hoping that reality wouldn’t intervene before her heart was ready to accept her fate.

And as she looked up at Jimmy, looked into his crystal-blue eyes that reminded her so much of Clark’s but could never hold the same warmth, then kissed him, feeling nothing but a ghostly sensation of a love that was never really there, she knew that it was sealed.

And then they parted.

Lana sat alone in the room. She would have noticed how the blue light made her appear otherworldly in nature as it saturated her skin, if her mind hadn’t already become a cocoon. She was here, alone, because she wanted to think. It seemed to be the only thing she had time for nowadays.

It wasn’t easy to convince Chloe to let her go back with Lex. But for some reason other than the one she had given her friend, Lana felt compelled to return. To sit in this chair one last time. To wonder what might have been.

The pregnancy had been difficult to accept from the outset. Her first missed period was a sign of the apocalypse. She’d felt her heart thunder in her chest as she stared at a tiny dot no larger than her knuckle, and for those brief, nerve-wracking moments, her entire future depended on whether it turned pink, or blue. It was blue.

She’d felt her heart take a swan dive into her stomach, splashing her insides with sorrow and regret. Then she’d withdrawn, retreating into the stronghold of her mind. It was how she’d always dealt with grief. And that was the only thing she felt for those first few days. That and despair.

It had amazed her, when she told Lex, how truly excited he seemed about the possibility of a child. Knowing what she did now, it no longer held the same intrigue. He was the one who had orchestrated the whole thing. He was the one who tore her future from her grasp and almost made her lose all hope. She had clung to him then, seeing him as the last great stone in the rapids that had become her life, which she imagined as the same river that drowned Emily, all those years ago.

But she’d discovered that standing on a rock in the middle of a stream that she was unable to cross could be just as bad as struggling to stay afloat. She was no longer drowning in her own sorrows, but she was still stranded. She could see her friends, just on the other side of the stampeding waters, calling to her. But she could not join them. She wondered if she had ever truly known what it was like to walk on dry land.

Why had she loved him? What had she seen in him, last year, when the match was dropped and the fire between them was ignited? Why had she never realized that the flames were only in her imagination? When had they extinguished and been replaced by the frosty blue light that made her surroundings feel so cold, so alien?

Venturing outside the gates of the prison that she’d once been proud to call her mind, she examined the room before her with clinical detachment. The wallpaper abounded with hot air balloons, and she chuckled bitterly as she considered what the imagery implied about Lex. He always was a blowhard.

There was a white crib in the corner, next to which sat a small bed for when the baby was older. She had imagined reading bedtime stories from the chair in which she sat. Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss, and everything in between. Now that could be no more real than the events described in the books they’d chosen to adorn the bookcase that lay adjacent to the bed.

Above the bed there was a small chandelier, next to which hung a mobile. There was a rocking horse to her right. She had imagined letting the baby practice on that, before giving her child real riding lessons of the same type she’d had as a young girl. It was no longer something to be dreamed of.

She started humming Cat’s in the Cradle.

The saddest part of this whole thing was that until today, until she realized that the whole thing was a lie, she really had fallen in love with the idea of being a mother. She wanted to see her baby born. She’d even picked out a name: Evan.

Lana realized the multiple levels of irony in naming her baby after a second-generation meteor mutant she had found in a crater. One that Clark had helped her to take care of, no less. But that wasn’t why she chose it. None of that occurred to her until after she had decided what to call her child. It was because she had really enjoyed being the original Evan’s mother, and, even if she hadn’t given birth to him, she still felt a connection. She still felt the need to honor him.

But most of all, it was because of the promise she’d made to Evan, the promise she had kept. He wanted to see a windmill before he died. So she had taken him to Chandler’s field, to the windmill that overlooked the Metropolis skyline. She had shown him the world.

She had wanted to do the same for this Evan. She wanted to let him see the world outside her womb, to love him and raise him and cherish every moment they had together. Evan had given her a brief taste of what it was like to be a mother, but she wanted to experience the whole thing. It wasn’t about a legacy or passing on the genes. It was about making promises and keeping them. It was about having someone of her own, someone to love. It was about holding the future in her arms.

Idly, she realized that the lights were off, and that the moon was the source of the dim glow that chilled her insides. But it was the only light she needed. After all, there wasn’t anything to see. All the decorations, all the furniture, all the toys… they would be gone tomorrow. There was no reason to keep them anymore. Lex was a businessman, not a packrat—he didn’t believe in holding on to unnecessary things. Even The Talon had only been a ploy to get closer to her.

Had she ever really loved him? It would have struck her as odd that her mind kept returning to the subject, if she hadn’t known exactly why she couldn’t let it go. It was because she couldn’t deny that she had felt something for him at one point. But like everyone that he tried to get close to, Lex had destroyed whatever it was that made her come to him in the first place. He was like a weed among flowers, undercutting the roots of those closest to him and stealing their sustenance until whatever love they felt for him withered and died. She’d sown her seeds too close to him in the past. Only now did she realize her mistake.

Why had she stayed with him, when spending less than twenty-four hours under the spell of a meteor freak was enough to shatter the already rotten foundations of their relationship? What hopeless ideal had she been clinging to this time? It did not surprise her to realize that it was the same thing that motivated her to travel to the graveyard almost every week after her parents died, an activity she’d only recently given up. She was trying to hold on to a connection that was no longer fully there. Only its ghost remained.

Now she had to make a choice.

Could she leave him, knowing what it would bring? It wouldn’t be as easy as leaving Clark. Not only had that been his decision, but he also wasn’t the same as the man who had tried to strangle her in the coffee shop tonight. She knew from experience that the Luthors never truly let anything go. She still thought of Clark, but at this point he was like sand in her clothing; a minor irritant at best. Lex on the other hand was a steel bear trap. The only way to escape was to cripple herself, and even then she was still being hunted. The odds of her walking away unscathed were not even worth considering, because the damage had already been done.

She couldn’t stay. But she couldn’t leave either. She rocked back and forth in the chair, moving and yet planted in one spot. Like running in place, or revving the engine of a car in neutral. She wanted to go, but she was tethered to a pole. Only that pole wasn’t Lex.

It was her.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. She would decide in the morning. She had stood up halfway when she felt the smallest of sensations in her gut.

Lana sat back down.

Staring incredulously at her belly, she lifted her shirt and stroked her navel. Had she imagined that?

She felt it again. Then she gasped, and a single name found its way to her lips, emerging in the form of a whisper:

“Evan?”