A comforting voice called back to him through the darkness. With no understanding of how he did it, he grabbed on to her presence, he wanted to drown in it and hide away from the black cold. He could sense she wanted to do the same, he would have let her if he could.
Lois.. within that single thought he conveyed all he felt, all the longing, the worry, the need and most importantly the love he had for her.
"Clark!, wake up Clark!"
For the briefest seconds, the darkness was interrupted by light, blurry light and a voice, one that was familiar but not from Lois. He could feel hands pulling and lifting, hear other voices too. Then it was gone.
He drifted back into the emptiness, searching for her, he would search forever if needed.
Lois..
~ღ~
Tess glared at Bart, "Help us strip him.. I don't think wet clothes will help his condition"
The four of them worked to pull his clothes off, it was obvious he was running a fever and his body was stiff which made the task hard. After being stripped of his clothes leaving only the superman suit on him, they brought him to the medical equipment on the balcony.
It would have been preferable to have taken the clothes off of him before they managed to get him to watch tower, but the whole getting him out of the apartment building debacle was stressful enough without someone seeing them carry out Superman, Clark Kent being helped to a car by friends was another thing entirely. Luckily, in the end they had managed to bypass his nosy elderly neighbors to get to the car and get him away.
However, before they had even managed to get him out of the apartment one of the busy bodies had heard the commotion from his apartment and had come to check on him.
Tess had foolishly opened the door without thinking. "Ah Mrs. Kent.." the older woman began then stopped at the sight of Tess.
"Oh! you're not Lois?" After taking in the sight of the red head in a pants suit, she assumed it wasn't someone robbing her young friends.
Mrs Kramer smiled down affectionately at her little dog before looking back up at Tess, " I was just hearing some noises.. and Vernie and I were wondering if the Kent's were okay."
Though it felt like pulling teeth, Tess managed to pull up a semi friendly smile before replying "Their fine, away on a trip. I'm just.." she mentally berated herself for not having an immediate excuse,let alone for opening the door. "Checking up on a few things for them.. " Keeping the door closed as much as she could to prevent the woman from seeing inside.
"Oh.. Did they get a dog? " the woman had started excitedly while trying to see pass Tess, "Oh I had been telling Lois they needed a dog, something sweet like Vernie here"
Tess hadn't thought Vernie was all that sweet. He had made growling noises the whole time the woman was talking.
Whether it was the pressure of trying to get rid of the woman or the sound of something clattering to the floor from further in the apartment, Tess found herself committing Lois and Clark to pet ownership.
"Ah yes. " Tess glanced behind her in the direction of the noise, "They just got him.. I came by to let him out and feed him." It felt like the most ridiculous lie she had probably ever told.
"Oh! that's so sweet. Well let them know anytime they need me to help I'm here..I know they have such busy schedules and all.."
Tess cut her off, losing the last traces of her smile. "That's nice. Have to go before the 'dog' tears up the place." Then she shut the door, rolling her eye's at the absurdity of what had happened.
Now she tried to be patient while Emil looked Clark over.
Emil's normally calm and passive face was showing clear signs of worry. Tess moved closer and stared at him till he looked up and sighed "No.. if you're wondering if I know whats wrong..No, I don't." He waved his hand over Clark "Absolutely no sign of kryptonite exposure or anything else for that matter that I can detect."
He took his temperature and frowned at the results, 71°F way below Clark's normal base temperature. "If didn't know any better I'd say he was suffering from hypothermia"
Tess looked confused, "He is sweating and he feels hot to me"
"I didn't say it made sense!" Emil opened one of Clark's eyelids to reveal the flicker of blue-green, as if he was dreaming.
" .. not sure what it means, he has steady brain activity though we haven't been able to get him to wake " He glanced up to the monitor's he had moments before hooked up to Clark, then stepped back, feeling at a loss. ".. I need to do more tests and probably should get this suit off him."
Tess looked over at Bart, "You help him.. I don't think Clark would appreciate the four of us having.." She trailed off and headed down the balcony and stated what she knew was obvious to everyone ,"We need to know what is going on.. First Lois then Clark.."
Dinah followed "Anything I can do.."
Tess rung her hands, thinking through the options, "Perhaps we should bring in Ronnie.. if not for Clark, maybe she could help Lois." While she had never been particularly close to Lois, the woman meant everything to Clark and he meant everything to Tess. His friendship and well being she prized above anyone else she knew.
Emil looked up startled, "Tess.. she isn't ready for this. The last time.."
Tess turned sharply, "She would want to help. I will not deny her the chance or the opportunity to figure out what in the hell is going on"
Dinah spoke up, "Ronnie would be upset if we didn't let her!" She looked at Emil, "We'll just make sure it doesn't go to far.." she grabbed her jacket. "I'll go pick her up."
Tess nodded, "Thank you.." No matter how much pain the healing empath might feel, Tess knew that she wouldn't hesitate to help Clark or Lois.
The sounds of grunting and Bart mumbling where hard to ignore. Getting the suit off of Clark wasn't proving to be easy. It took the two men several minutes just to figure out how to go about doing it, but when they had lifted Clark into a sitting position he suddenly arched backwards.
Tess had been working on getting Oliver on the phone when the sound of vibrating metal drew her attention. Above her, a strange noise that reminded her of a train going by grew rapidly in volume and intensity, then there was a yell and Doctor Hamilton went flying from the balcony. Tess could only watch in shock.
One moment Emil had been about to pull Clark's arm out of his suit sleeve when Clark jerked out of his grasp and continued to shake. Pushing him down firmly against the gurney, Emil exchanged looks with Bart. Then the next moment found himself suddenly propelled back off the balcony. It all went in slow motion, going over the rails and heading for the floor. Yet he couldn't do a thing to stop it. He was surprised when he found himself landing hard on cushions.
Bart held out a hand to help him up, "it was either this or I move the whole couch over..this was faster.." The younger man looked just as startled as he felt.
Emil nodded, bruised but grateful Bart had been able to break his fall, standing back up he followed Tess' gaze to look up at the balcony. The noise coming from above them was now an intense buzzing sound, and every thing around shook, there was even a slight vibration that could be felt through their feet.
" I guess I am the best choice to go have a look huh?" Bart asked quietly.
"Yeah" Was all Emil said as he absorbed what was happening, he had a feeling he knew what was going on and hoped he was wrong. Tess just stared, frowning, mentally throwing curses at Oliver for not answering his phone and to who ever, what ever had done this to Clark and Lois.
Bart took a deep breath and then super sped up the balcony, he paused at the top step, jaw dropping. At his reaction Tess ran up with Emil in tow. The sight that met them confirmed Emil's worst fears and made Tess feel ill.
Clark was shaking so fast that all they could see on the bed was a red and blue blur.
~ღ~
Lois..
He felt her, his light, his hope.
After he moved, if it could be considered movement, towards her, an ominous presence filled the blackness around them. It felt familiar and yet he could not place it, waves of hostility rolled over from the thing and through him. Clark knew without knowing how that this presence was the reason for the circumstances they found themselves in.
Clark.. he felt her send in warning.
As if he had arms in which to cover her, protect her with, he tried to block her from the presence. He would die before he let it her hurt again, in some ways it felt like he already was dying. Even in the darkness he could feel himself fading slowly away.
In only the way Lois could, he heard her say "I won't let you.. Smallville never." Maybe it was just his need to hear her voice or somehow in all the crazy she had actually said it. It didn't matter, he clung to the comfort it brought.
~ღ~
Emil tried to step towards Clark but with the way everything around him shook it was clear it would more then likely mean another trip over the balcony.
Bart look as equally apprehensive, Clark was moving so fast that all they really saw was blurry red light. From both his strength and the speed in which he was moving the bed collapsed and they could feel and hear the stress of the floor. Clark was literally destabilizing everything around him.
"We have to stop him!" Tess ran down the steps and headed for the small lead box in her desk.
After the experience with Clark Luthor she had never intended to be put in that sort of position again. She pulled the drawer out wishing it would open quicker, every moment felt like an eternity.
Then watchtower went quiet, Tess turned glancing up, trading looks with Emil. Clark had stopped shaking, having gone white as a sheet laying haphazardly on the crumpled bed. Emil rushed over to check his vitals.
Ditching the Kryptonite idea, afraid of making it worse now that he had calmed, Tess went back to trying to get a hold of Oliver, hoping Lois was fairing better then Clark.
~ღ~
They couldn't possibly have evidence and yet they behaved as if it was more then just him being unable to explain how he got from metropolis to Plattburgh so quickly. The whole thing was stupid.
Oliver wanted a drink.
No, what he really wanted was for Lois to wake, and Clark to arrive so they could shove some sort of proof Clark wasn't at fault down the ignorant detectives throats. Sadly you can't get everything you want.
He didn't bother to hid his scowl as he watched the detectives finally leave, he knew they would be back. They were just waiting for Clark to show up so they could question him.
Once they were gone, he took his cell back out and noticed about a dozen messages from Tess. He txted back apologizing for not picking up and why. It was alarming when he received another back detailing how Clark had also fallen unconscious and they couldn't wake him, and to top it off, seizures.
"Well.." he began as he sat back down in the chair next to Lois' bed, " Lois you better wake up soon. Clark really needs you!"
He really wanted that drink, he needed Chloe.
~ღ 2 hours later ღ~
After the initial seizure, Clark had proceeded to have three more during the course of the last few hours. They had moved him right after the second one to the main floor, re-hooking up equipment and so forth. It was to much of a worry about the balcony be coming unstable for any of them to feel comfortable with Clark up there.
Dinah had arrived shortly after Clark's first seizure with Ronnie Anderson in tow. The slim redheaded young nurse had shared the alarm they all felt at the sight of him. Especially when another of the spells kicked in and Clark shook so violently one of the monitors fell over causing equipment to spark.
After debating the pro's and cons and how to go about it, it was decided that Ronnie would try and establish a connection with Clark, no healing, just a light touch of minds so they could hopefully have something more to work with.
Hopefully giving answers to their many questions..
Ronnie brushed her long hair out of her face and closed her blue eye's, placing her hand lightly on Clark's forehead. Everyone waited, holding their breath as if it would help her reach Clark.
After a moment her soft voice broke the silence "He's there..distant but he's there and I can feel.." she tilted her head slightly, a confused expression playing across her face "..I don't know how but I sense Lois! Lois is with him.. "
Looks were exchanged adding more questions to the list.
Emil and Dinah both step forward at the sight of Ronnie going pale, as if she could sense their concern she shook her head, putting her other hand up "but..I can't reach him, them.."
Ronnie decide to push the connection further knowing it would bring a consequence, one she would willing endure for her friends. She could feel Clark's presence, feel Lois but a surface touch was giving her nothing beyond just a feeling, she could not tell a thing beyond their presences.
"It is dark.. " now that she had pushed she felt like she was falling, feeling what they were. "empty.. vacant.." a deep feeling of being drained ran through her. It came from Clark and not the darkness.
It was clear to the others the pain they had worried she would receive from this had started, "its like something is in the.." She continued inhaling sharply, eye's snapping open. "Something..someone is there with him, something dark.." She step away as if she had received a nasty shock.
Emil moved her aside and sat her on the bed, checking her over. Ronnie could only continue to look at Clark, her face having gone almost as pale as his.
"Its draining him.." she half whispered.
Tess raised a brow, frowning, "What do you mean?.. it, the thing you felt?"
Ronnie nodded, shaking a little as the connection after affects took hold. It was never this bad with humans but Clark had a way of totally upsetting her system.
"I felt like I was being swallowed.. " She paused and shook her head, "No! being consumed, it was like being consumed, Clark is being consumed!" Her voice had become agitated as she spoke.
Emil knew it was time to relax her, he looked over to Dinah, "Take her, get her to lay down.. It will get worse before it gets better. "
Dinah needed no encouragement having been involved when they had first come across Ronnie, she had seen first hand how deeply the woman could be affected.
Once Dinah had taken Ronnie away, Emil began to Tess, "We have to take his blood. I've been avoiding it, not exactly knowing the issue. But in light of this and the seizures I need to find more answers." He went up the balcony with Tess following.
"That requires Green kryptonite Emil.. "
"I know.." he pulled a lead box that held the liquid green kryptonite vile, "but I need his blood, I can't go further till I get more answers and I have to check that possibility that an answer may lie there, especially if someone is actually draining Clark."
Tess frowned, "How do we know it won't make it worse " it had been one thing to want to use it to stop him shaking and even then she had been desperate.
"Tess its what he requested, if there was ever a situation where he incapacitated and or dangerous. I need his blood and I can't get it without the green K and but If i use blue we could risk killing him from whatever it is that is harming him at the moment."
"Fine.." She didn't have to be happy about it but she knew Clark and Emil had made a detailed plan of different scenarios and what to do and Emil was right, they had to do this now before it got worse.
As if on cue from her thoughts, Clark began to shake violently again, becoming a blur that vibrated the metal around him. Emil grabbed the liquid kryptonite and put a drop on the end of the needle. Then turned to Clark, took a deep breath and brought the needle closer to the fast moving blur. Clark stopped moving instantly reacting to the glowing kryptonite.
Glancing up at Tess, who in turned glanced at the others, Emil steeled himself before piercing Clark's skin, hoping this wasn't going to make the situation worse.
With held breath, they watched as the skin on Clark's arm reacted violently, ivy green trails spreading up his arm. Emil almost pulled the needle out, never had Clark reacted this strongly before to such a small amount. It seemed like it was hours rather then minutes before the blood started to drain slowly into the vile, by this point the reaction had spread to Clark's face.
Oliver held his head in his hands trying not to worry about his friends, his family. Chloe hadn't called back yet, Lois wasn't waking, Clark was unconscious at watchtower and wanted by the police for questioning. Worst of it was, the longer Clark Kent was absent and his whereabouts unknown the more suspicious the police became. Every excuse Oliver gave had been countered or met with a critical eye.
A small noise broke through his thoughts and Oliver looked up to see Lois face pulled tight in an expression of concentration. He picked up her hand, hopeful.
"Lois.. Lois you need to wake. Clark needs you!" he patted her hand, "Come on legs.. the ever brilliant plattsburg police force needs you to tell them it wasn't Clark."
Lois..
He had found her again and clung tight. The forbidding presence was still there but the pressure it had placed on them had lightened. He was never going to let her go, not here, not anywhere.
Clark..
She let herself be swallowed by his presence. It was a comfort a part of her had worried she would never feel again. The darkness that surrounded them could not steal away the warmth she felt from his presence or hid the emotional wave that passed between them.
He felt a sudden pain, a terrible pain but one he recognized. Lois felt it too and clung all the more closely to him, trying to give comfort.
Then there was light, it blinded them both and for a moment they recoiled as one to the harshness of it. Then memories flooded over them, they wanted to be in that light and reached out for it, their bond and mutual hope shattering the darkness.
Clark's eye's sprang open startling Emil, who jumped back, weakly sitting up he looked around at the faces staring at him, "Lois.. Is Lois okay?"
At the same time across the country Lois sat straight up as if she had been suddenly jolted, causing all her monitors to react. Oliver sprung back, dropping his phone, "Oh my god, Lois!"
He would have hugged her but was afraid of hurting her. She just looked at him, eye's wide. "Where's Clark ?" her voice was hoarse matching well with her appearance.
~ღ~
"Clark are you sure you can handle going there, you just had a kryptonite shot, seizures and you're weak!""I have to see Lois. " Clark replied with steel determination, pulling his clothes back on, every movement was extra work, he could barely keep his balance but he had to be with her no matter what.
"She is fine Clark, but she won't be if you get hurt trying to get to her."
Clark glared at Tess and Dinah, Emil stood with his arms crossed not looking any more supportive then them. Couldn't they understand he had to see her, had to see with his own eye's she was okay, touch her, hear her voice again and not through some damn phone.
Tess turned and stalked away, leaving Dinah and Emil with the stubborn man who barely managed to pull his shirt over his head.
"Clark, you can't fly in this condition." Dinah began again.
"I won't fly then.. I'll run. May take a few seconds longer but I'll be there with her" His voice was raspy leaving him wondering what was wrong with him, what that thing in the darkness had done to him.
Ignoring the others, Clark made his way over to Ronnie who was now sleeping off the affects of the connection. He would have brushed her hair back from her face but in doing so he knew he'd risk causing a connection right then and stress her more .
"You shouldn't have used her.." he grumbled loudly into the air for them all to hear.
"She would have been angry if she hadn't been able to help, she had to try.." Came Tess' curt reply. "
You can be angry all you want, but we needed answers and we didn't make her come."
Giving a glare in reply, Clark knew she was right, but it bothered him. Ronnie had unfortunately suffered a lot because of her gift and while he had saved her life it had also made her very sick for a while. However, she had gifts that could be helpful and if the Justice League didn't help her and teach her then she would be left to her own devices and very likely end up dead or on the wrong side.
Turning, he glanced one last time at the apprehensive faces watching him, he had a feeling if they could they would have forced him to stay. Then he was gone, running to be with her, his wife.
~ღ~
Oh! how it did hurt though, every little movement sent jarring pain either down her arm or through her head or somewhere else that was bruised or battered. Lois couldn't actually recall ever hurting this bad before, not even when she had been stabbed all those years ago, but then she had lost consciousness fairly quickly from the rapid blood loss, who knew that it would turn out to be a favor.
Oliver came back in the room. "You sure you don't want something stronger for the pain, you look.."
"If you say I look terrible or any variation there of, I will get out of this bed and hurt you." She growled through gritted teeth.
Smiling, Oliver sat down, " Hey..sorry I just don't like seeing you like this"
"Thanks Ollie I appreciate it " She started to shift to avoid some of the pain but ended up causing more, taking a deep breath she forced herself to ignore it. "I just need to see Clark with a clear head.. I have to tell him what happened"
"About that Lois.. " he hated breaking this to her, there was no kind way of doing it so he just said it. "Clark, is under suspicion for your kidnapping"
Lois looked like she was about to faint, Oliver stood, stepping closer to the bed as if it would somehow help "What! How..why?"
"Initially I think it was because he flew straight here to be with you and after being questioned on his whereabouts the detectives honed in on the inconsistencies" He took her hand gently, watching her absorb the news.
"Its a five hour flight and he can't prove.." she trailed off. This had never been an issue before. But then she never been this badly hurt and so far away from metropolis before either. It had never occurred to either of them that something so simple could turn out to be a problem.
The curtain by the door moved aside and she heard his voice, causing her heart to race and a warmth to rush through her. "Lois!"
"Clark!"
At the sight of him she felt the tears come and couldn't reign them in, and before she blinked he was there at the bed. He didn't take her into his arms as they both wanted him to do, her injuries would not allow for it.
Gently, he touched her face, running a hand softly through the ends of her hair, "Lois you okay..?"
"Yes Clark.. Yes!..Now that you're here" Her pain and discomfort barely registered, all she could feel was relief and love at having him there with her.
He gave her a weak smile as he sat on the bed and it was in that moment that she took in his appearance, the memories of the creature and what he was doing to Clark flooded back in.
"Oh Smallville.." she brought her good arm up and laid a hand on the side of his face, bringing him closer to her.
"I'm alright." he lied, they both knew it.
Lois sighed, "You will be..I promise!" she whispered, their foreheads touching, eye's unable to tear away from each other.
"I love you!" they said in union.
~Mean while at the Plattsburgh police station~
"Great, the footage is on its way, go through it, find him. Then once Clark Kent shows at the hospital, we'll bring him in"
~ღ/ღ~
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