Clark looked around at the paths and the squat, little cottages, still holding Morgan. "Where is everyone?"
"I... I d-don't..." Her teeth were chattering so hard, she seemed to be having trouble speaking.
"We need to get some real clothes on you. Which one is yours?"
"N-n-number f-four."
He moved to it, trying for speed, but ending with only jerky forward motion. He was too weak just from carrying Morgan. He thought of the crystal, of what it had done to him, to Helen. Drained her completely. Drained a portion of him. Would this be the rest of his life? Living like a battery that wouldn't hold a charge. He didn't have time to worry about it. He still had so much to do.
He stood in front of the door. "Can you stand?"
She nodded shakily and he put her down. She still leaned heavily against him as he fumbled in his pocket, pulling out the keys. He stared at the large set.
"One of the s-smaller ones."
He looked through, coming out with one with a tiny four. He opened the door and she moved away quickly, rushing in.
"Jo? J-Joanne!"
"I don't think she's here." He said, looking around the small living area with its drab furniture.
"But... No..." She ran to a door off the side. "Jo?"
He followed her in. "You should get dressed. We have to..."
"I'm n-not leaving without her. This is my fault. She wanted to leave. And I..."
"I'm not saying you should. I want you to stay here, get yourself warm."
"But the guards..."
"I saw the guards. They were knocked out."
"B-but there were the others," she said, still shaking.
"There was only two. I got one. I can get the other. Just trust me. I'll get a look around and come back for..."
"No. I'm not waiting. I..." She took a deep breath. "J-just let me get some clothes on. I can help. I..."
"I'll move faster with just..."
"I can walk. I feel better. Please, just..." She hugged her arms. "Don't leave me alone. I feel safer with you."
Clark stared at her and nodded. "Dress quickly." Maybe it would safer for her if he knew she was just behind.
He moved into the living room and stared out the window. That separate room with the gas, the guards... Was it possible the people had revolted? Was it possible that Joanne, along with the others, had escaped. He couldn't leave unless he was sure. Yet, with the way Joanne had been struggling when the guards took her out of the room, he didn't think she would just leave.
"Go with him. If you have to hold her down, put on a mask. I can't have you two useless for two days. Not again."
"You're going to gas her? For fuck's sake, Lizzie. Why can't you give that stuff a rest?"
"I'm only turning the heat up a little. She's been in the med center too long and she's way behind."
If she wasn't in her right mind, she might have been taken with the others, if they'd left at all. Or, with the guards down, she might be wandering the place, lost. It was all so confusing. He'd hoped, seeing that open door, those guards in the mist, that Oliver had come. But the gang would have taken out Albright and her goons first. How in the world was...
A loud noise exploded in his ear. He moved to the front door and pulled it open. It had come from the main buildings.
"I heard something." He turned as Morgan came out of the room, still buttoning her shirt. "It sounded like..."
"A gunshot," Clark finished. He shook his head, his ears still ringing as another rang out, nearly crippling for him.
He turned back to the door. "Wait here," he said moving through it.
"Like hell I w..."
He ran down the path, hearing her footfalls behind him. He was about to turn around and tell her to go back when he was stopped himself, facing four figures in black.
**************************
Lois leaned against the door, holding her breath as Lizzie lay on the floor, staring up at her.
In peaceful slumber, we find solace. There is no fear, no pain. Just the sweet emptiness that comes with knowing that everything will be fine. Just fine.
"No," Lizzie whispered.
Lois brought her other hand from behind her back, securing the mask over her face before taking a deep breath.
These things are shadows. All of it, nothing more than...
"No!" Albright dove to her left and Lois dove straight down, landing on her, flattening them both. Lois looked up, searching for the gun. The air was thick, but she saw something black and shiny. She grasped at it and it moved. She looked up, horrified, to see one of the guards.
Albright squirmed under her. "Get her... Roger... help me."
Lois started to shrink away when she saw that he wasn't moving. Only staring ahead of him. She looked through the haze again and saw the gun, only a few feet away. She scrambled over Albright and grasped it, pulling herself to her feet. She turned and saw Albright, hands at her ears, glaring up at her.
Albright suddenly looked away and closed her eyes. "Just do it, then," she said over her own voice, repeating over and over. Lois heard the words, but they weren't taking hold. Albright pressed her hands harder over her ears. "I won't live like this," she screamed. "Just do it!"
Lois nodded and lifted the gun, moving toward her. She brought it down hard on the side of Albright's head. "That I'll do," she said, her voice muffled under the mask as Albright slumped to the floor.
There was a noise beside her and she found the other guard at her elbow, on the sofa and staring at her. He didn't move. Only glanced up, his eyes blank.
So everyone was gone. More pieces of truth fell away. Helen, the guards... It could be argued those were beyond her control. But Albright. She'd done that.
She shook her head and moved toward Albright, digging in her coat pockets. It didn't matter. There was still the evidence. And, in the end, what should she have done? Let herself be killed. Then Lois Lane would be sacrificed to her cause, gone the way of...
She squeezed her eyes shut and stood, holding the keys in her hand. It didn't hurt. She might even think the name now and it wouldn't hurt. But it was still too much.
She rushed to the door, wanting to breathe the free air. But there was nothing. No key hole. She scratched at it with the key, then bent down. There had been, but it seemed to be filled with hardened metal. She hit the door. Then she hit it again. When that proved useless, she aimed the gun at it... then stopped herself. She wouldn't be able to close it after her if she obliterated the lock. The thought of two drone guards and one drone doctor stumbling around the woods of Kansas wasn't very appealing. She looked to the window, then moved toward it with a heavy sigh.
She pulled at the still-dangling rope. It was taut. Bart must've secured it as his great escape plan. And now it was her only escape. She'd have to tell the guys to let him in on the planning once in a while. After all this, they'd better.
She glanced back at the guards. They didn't seem at all interested in her. She doubted they'd be interested in much of anything from now on. When the Doc woke up, she'd be the same. Hoisted by her own petard. Destroyed by her own weapon.
She'd heard the saying once when she was little. "What's a petard?" she'd wanted to know. Her father told her to look it up, probably more because he didn't know than for her own edification. But she had. Then she'd looked up more words. It was at that moment her love of words began. She'd told her father once...
Oh, God... Daddy... she saw fire, felt the shaking of the floor, heard the screams... But... how?
She clutched the rope and leaned against the wall. It was too much. And there was no air with this mask. She looked up, grasping the rope tight.
I wonder how I was in gym class.
********************************
Morgan screamed and clutched at Clark's back.
"Morgan, it's okay."
"Did she get more guards? I thought you said the guards were knocked out," she whispered frantically.
"No. I know them."
"You know the creepy masked people?"
"Oh, for Pete's sake." Diana removed her mask and shook out her hair. "We're not creepy. We're here to rescue you."
"You shouldn't have done that," another masked figure said. "Anonymity must be..."
"Oh, can it, Cyborg. Like she knows me. Besides, your precious protocol got us into this in the first place. If you'd listened to Flash..."
"I didn't see you listening, either," AC pointed out.
"He'd been completely insubordinate," the tallest figure said. "And we can't just let that..."
"I heard gunshots." Clark grasped the tallest figure, knowing it was Ollie. "I know the sound of a tranc gun and that wasn't it. Please tell me you didn't..."
"What?" Ollie drew back. "Of course not. We only just got here. It would have been sooner. but somebody didn't want to land too near the trees and..."
"Hey, it worked," Diana said back. "Once Vic got a reading on the fence, I could bring her inside nice and easy."
"But Linda said..."
"To go in at the jacket. Whatever the hell that meant. You should have asked for some kind of..."
"There wasn't time," Ollie shot back. "Where were these shots?" he asked Clark.
Clark stepped forward. "This way."
Morgan was still clutching his arm. "Who are these people?"
"They're friends."
"They don't argue like friends."
"Well, they..." Clark stopped, momentarily disoriented as he hit something hard.
"Oh, sorry." Diana rushed forward. "Should have told you where I parked it. Just a few feet to the right and you're clear." She took Morgan's arm. "You didn't get hit, did you?"
Morgan turned beet red and giggled slightly, staring up at Diana. "No... I'm... I'm fine."
"Okay, then." Diana patted her back and she stumbled slightly.
"How did you find me?" Clark asked, turning back.
Ollie stepped forward, reaching for his ski mask then putting his hands down. Probably for the best, considering how well-known the face of Oliver Queen was. "Linda got a hold of us."
"We'd like to get a hold right back," AC said, glancing at Victor. "But someone..."
"I'm working on it, okay? I can't remember what channel the old system was on and I've had Korean radio stations in my head for the last..."
"Linda said you were here. She was standing by while Flash went back to get Lois and the others and..."
"Lois?" Clark turned to face the main buildings, his breath coming faster. "She's here?"
"Of course. You mean you haven't..."
He tried to rush forward, but couldn't, ending up at human speed, then stopping, his heart pounding. "Lois..."
"What's wrong with you?" It was AC. "Usually you..."
"Hey, he's just a little out of it," Victor's voice said from next to him. "We are having a talk," Victor said low in his ear.
"I haven't seen Lois or the others. But the guards were knocked out in the room with the gas."
"Heh! He did it." AC laughed. "Go Flash."
"You don't know that," Diana scoffed. "Maybe she did it. I think the lot of you undervalue women as a..."
"There were gunshots," Clark said, moving forward.
"Yes, focus, people," Ollie barked. "Move in."
"No time to plan anything," Victor muttered, moving with them. "How can we focus without a..."
"Can it, Cyborg," Clark growled, thinking Diana had a point.
*****************************
Lois fell over the bricks and plaster, landing on her belly in the middle of the decimated window. "Okay. Got up." She pulled the mask away and dropped it, sucking in clean air. "Now for getting down." She hadn't thought of this part. The rope had been tight while over the hole that was a window. If she tried to use it to get down, it would just drop her. And it was a high window from inside. From outside, it seemed even higher.
Added to that, she felt she may have ditched the mask prematurely as she could still smell the gas. "Good move," she grunted, feeling as if her stomach was being pressed, which it was.
She shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. She hadn't come this far to be left hanging in a decimated window. Just propel outward and curl into a ball. It seemed like it would work. It even sounded easy. But the doing of it... She looked down, then squeezed her eyes shut again. Now or never...
She braced her hands on the outside of the wall and pushed, trying to curl up, waiting for the hard... arms?
She opened her eyes and... there he was. Somehow, she knew he'd be there in the end. "It's always you," she breathed, squinting at him.
He only stared at her, clutching her tighter.
She pushed at him and he set her down. She righted herself with a hand against him and stared at the figures behind him.
"Well... Took you long enough."
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