By Cindy Green

The first scene begins where “Crusade” left off. Clark and Lois are walking in an open field discussing the issue of Chloe being alive just as they had left the graveyard. In the background is farmland as they walk up to the remains of Chloe’s safe house. Clark says that none of this would have happened if he had been there, and Lois takes it the wrong way. She can’t figure him out because most of the time he is so modest and other times he is too overly confident. Clark says that is must bother her not to be able to peg someone right away. She tells him that he is not that complicated. They walk under the yellow police tape and into the burnt remains of the safe house. They can’t believe how devastated the site is. Lois can’t understand how Chloe could have survived this explosion. She thinks that Clark is in denial and she just wants to find out who did this to Chloe. As she suggests that they leave, a black unmarked helicopter is seen overhead coming in towards them. Two armed men in combat suits come down out of the helicopter by rope to the ground. Clark yells for Lois to “Run.” She does. The helicopter takes off after Lois and the two men on the ground remain to deal with Clark. One of the men runs at Clark with his rifle. Clark hits the gun out of his hands and throws him into a burnt up car in the rubble. Lois is running down the hill with the helicopter in close pursuit. As it lowers on her, she falls to the ground into a somersault. The second assailant attacks Clark to which Clark throws him into some boards. Lois is now running through a corn field with the helicopter overhead. She stops; they pass her; and she takes a path sideways through the field. As she exits, the helicopter is waiting for her. One of the guys on board jumps down to assault her, but Lois is ready with her hand to hand fighting. Clark super speeds until he is in a clearing over the field where the helicopter is. He uses his heat vision on the engine. The helicopter has to land. Lois expertly defeats her captor just as Clark comes up and they leave together. Out of the helicopter, comes a cigar smoking three star general in army fatigues with the name LANE on his uniform. He tells one of the men in combat gear to find them. 

Clark is in the shower back at the farm. Lois with wet hair walks into the bathroom wearing one of Clark’s flannel shirts and a towel over her shoulder. She begins to talk to him. Surprised and embarrassed, Clark peers between the shower curtain. He tells her that they usually take turns in the bathroom in which she replies while looking in the mirror and brushing her hair, “My delicate feminine sensibilities weren't offended the first time I got a glimpse of, uh, Clark Junior.” He tells her that his parents wouldn’t approve of his situation. He turns off the water, peeks out of the curtain to make sure she isn’t looking, and quickly grabs the towel wrapping it around himself as he gets out of the shower. Then he notices that she is wearing his shirt. She doesn’t want him to tell anyone about the helicopter adventure. When Clark opens the door of the bathroom to leave, his mom is there with more towels. He tries to close the door hiding Lois, but Lois stands on her toes looking over his shoulder. Martha looks at them wide eyed, and Clark doesn’t know what to say.

The Eiffel Tower. Then a shot of Lana’s back and her new tattoo. She sits in front of her computer looking at a picture of Clark in the Kawatche Caves. She zooms in on a symbol on the wall behind him. It is the same symbol that is on her back. She gets up to look at the tattoo in her full size mirror. Her face reveals how shaken she is about the whole thing.

Lois and Clark, now fully dressed, stand before the executioners: Mr. and Mrs. Kent. Clark informs them that they took separate showers in the middle of the day because Lois and he had been at the site of Chloe’s safe house and were chased by some guys and got dirty. Lois wasn’t thrilled that he had divulged that information. Lois then lets it slip that their helicopter was now disabled. Clark’s parents give him looks that could kill and Lois picked up on it so she leaves them to work it out.

U.S. Penitentiary. Lex arrives outside his father’s cell. Inside the cell, Lionel is being outfitted for a new suit by a tailor who is making measurements with chalk on the unfinished material.  Lionel is very sure of himself in that he will get off on the charges against him with or without Chloe’s testimony. He says he’s sorry to Lex: “I’m sorry that you couldn't foresee the consequences of your actions when you betrayed me.” Lex says that he isn’t that easy of a target. Lionel responds “You'll never know when it will happen, but it will happen. Each swallow of wine you take, every key you turn, every... friend you make. You'll never have another moment's peace.” He speaks the words determinedly and menacingly. Then he turns away from Lex.

Back at the mansion, Lex pours himself some red wine in a large goblet. He looks at it unsure. Then he is aware that someone else is in the room. He puts the glass down. Lana is in the entryway. He tells her she looks great; they hug. She had evidently sent him a message that she was coming home. When he questions her why, she says that Paris just wasn’t for her and that something was calling her home. He finds it cryptic but accepts it. He tells her Clark is also back. She reacts defensively saying she didn’t ask about Clark. She says she came by to see if she could rent the apartment in the Talon.

Early the next morning, Lois is sneaking out of the Kent home, past sleeping Clark on the couch, and out the door. She goes to the cemetery and is digging up Chloe’s grave to see if Clark is right. She gets down to the casket, and opens it up to see that it is indeed empty. She is emotionally relieved to see that Clark was right. As she stands in the grave, someone walks into the graveyard. He stands at a distance from her in the shadow of a tree asking where Chloe Sullivan is. Lois gets out of the hole with a can of mace in her hand behind her back as he gets closer and more predatory. He puts his hand behind his back as it morphs into a metallic looking sword, and Lois prepares to spray him. He knocks her down, and she looses her can. He strikes at her again and hits a nearby headstone. Someone else has entered the graveyard and picks up Lois’ shovel and can of mace. The guy is about to pierce Lois with his blade when the person with the shovel hits him over the head with it. He turns and then he gets the mace in his eyes. It is Lana to the rescue. She runs over to Lois. And then they realize that the assailant has escaped. They introduce themselves to each other.

Clark is working outside on a tractor when Lana’s Jeep Liberty makes its way into the Kent yard. He gets up and looks uneasy when he recognizes the vehicle. He wipes his hands and tries to look pleasant as she gets out of the car. Lana also looks uneasy at the meeting. She is there to tell Clark that she wants to help find Chloe. Clark says he doesn’t want to get her hopes up. Clark is then surprised to see Lois with her. Lois tells Clark about the guy attacking them at the grave and then she opens her large mouth to reveal that Lana had a romantic summer fling in Paris. Clark is surprised and Lana is embarrassed. Lois figures out that they (Clark and Lana) had once almost been something to each other. She says she can’t see it. Clark and Lana give each other a long look. Lana then leaves. Clark is deeply affected.

That night, Clark heads up to his sanctuary in the barn loft with Lois following behind him. Lois has discovered that LuthorCorp paid for Chloe’s funeral. She doesn’t understand why they would do that. Clark isn’t responding to her. Lois realizes that he is still affected by his meeting with Lana. At first he doesn’t want to talk about it, and then he explains that he can’t understand how he feels like he doesn’t even know her (Lana) anymore. All of a sudden they hear the sound of a helicopter and a bright search light shines into the loft. As they try to escape, the general who had exited the helicopter the day before is coming up the steps toward them. And Lois says, “Hi, daddy.”

Lois is walking with her father as he reprimands her because he told her to stay away from that crime scene. She finds out that her father is there at Fort Ryan to oversee maneuvers. She wants to know why is working so hard to keep her away from Chloe’s crime scene.

Inside, the Kents are settling the table for dinner. They invited the Lanes to stay. General Kent is amiable and thanks them for watching out for his “Lo”. Then he offers Jonathan one for his special cigars, a Chavelo. Jonathan declines due to his heart condition. Sam Lane declines the dinner invitation as he needs to get back to the base. Before leaving, Lois walks over to Clark in the pretense of giving him a hug goodbye because she wants to tell him secretly to find the connection of LuthorCorp and Chloe.

Lex, in his study, is watching a large screen of a computer display of his jet as the door was being ripped off. He is accompanied by Agent Stocker who is a specialist in the field of aeronautical accidents. Stocker finds that the door was taken off by manual force outside the plane. They are interrupted when Clark arrives. Stocker leaves as Clark comes in. Clark is there because he has no other alternative. He is still upset with Lex. He says he needs help finding Chloe. Lex wants to prove himself so that he and Clark can be friends again, but he doesn’t know how to help when Chloe is dead. When Clark tells him that her grave was empty, Lex explains that the force of the blast was so great that there was nothing to bury. Then Clark notices a cigar in an ashtray, a Chavelo cigar. Clark leaves knowing that Lex isn’t being forthright with him.

The music playing in the background is from the opera, Lakme - Flower Duet as Lionel is seen in the prison shower seeming to enjoy the heat of the steam and water. Suddenly, Lionel notices that the guard is gone. Another prisoner with tattoos on his arm runs at him. He grabs Lionel around the neck and with his other hand thrusts a knife into his side. The assailant exists leaving Lionel on the floor bleeding.

View of an army base. Inside an office, there is a box of Chavelo cigars. Someone is in the office rifling through papers. There is a name plate on the desk, SAM LANE, and a picture of Lane, his wife, and a toddler aged Lois. It is now revealed that it is Lois going through her father’s files. She is soon joined by Clark who admonishes her for breaking in her father’s office. She’s impressed that he snuck onto a military base undetected. She wants to know what he’s doing there. He tells her that he thinks her father and Lex are working together citing the cigar he found in Lex’s study. Clark thinks they’re covering something up regarding Chloe. She tells him to help. Clark notices in General Lane’s appointments that he has been meeting with a Nellie Blye. Clark recognizes that name because she was Chloe’s hero, one of the first female undercover reporters who died over 80 years ago. They get the address, and Clark super speeds out of the office. Lois is left to wonder where he went.

Super speeding Clark stops in front of a house with an open door and music playing in the background. He looks around the room. Down the hall the backdoor is open and the screen beats back and forth. In the kitchen, one of the walls is covered with newspaper and magazine articles strikingly similar to Chloe’s Wall of Weird. Clark calls out to Chloe. He notices blood on the floor and on one of the bedrooms doors. Bursting into the room, he sees two agents dead: one on the floor and the other one slumped over a chair. Clark hurries over to one of them to check for a pulse. Then he looks up and sees Lex. Lex looks somber and Clark just stares.

Lionel lies on a bed in the prison infirmary with a bandage around his stab wound. The assailant from the graveyard approaches him and speaks. “You were right, Mr. Luthor.” Lionel opens his eyes. “Lex's men led me right to her.” Lionel asks, “It's done? You did what I asked?” The young man answers, “No. I've kind of had a change of heart. I had to kill two men. The price is doubled.” Lionel refers to him as Trent and says that he made a mistake.  Trent threatens Lionel his finger turning into a sharp knife. Lionel tells him he accepts him for who he is and appreciates his gifts. He continues to try to appeases and manipulate him into doing his bidding. Lionel reminds him that if Chloe testifies then he, Lionel, will not be able to help him. Trent seems to agree.

Back at the new safe house, Lex is in the phone trying to get a trace on Chloe. He had a tracking bracelet on her. Clark is very angry that Lex did not confide in him about Chloe’s whereabouts. Lex recounts what happened to Chloe the day of the accident. He had investigators watching the Sullivans. They found the detonating device in the house. He continues to tell him that “the house was built on tunnels left from the Underground Railroad. Seconds after Chloe and her dad entered, we rushed them underneath the house. The explosion was rigged to cave in the tunnel behind them.” Then he called in Sam Lane to engineer the rescue because he didn’t trust the FBI. Lex gets a message on his PDA discovering that Chloe is at the old foundry. As Lex gets out his phone, he tells Clark not to worry because he’ll have people there in minutes. But Clark was already gone.

Inside the boiler room of the old foundry, someone’s hands are tied up and hanging from a hook. It’s Chloe looking scared, bleeding, and with duct tape over her mouth. She struggles.

Cut to Clark super speeding it down the street.

Back at the foundry, Chloe is still struggling in her predicament. She kicks her legs out and wraps them around a beam where the hydraulic control for the hook is located. She kicks the down button and is lowered back to the ground. She unhooks herself, pulls off the tape, and the ropes confining her hands. Then she tries to escape the building, but is caught by Trent. He grabs her around the throat. His hand turns into a metal clamp around her neck choking her. Suddenly Clark is there. He grabs Trent and throws him across the room into some large pipes up near the ceiling. They all come crashing to the ground with sparks flying. Clark walks toward him as Trent tries to get up. Trent turns his arm into the sword that he used on Lois in the graveyard. He tries to strike Clark but is repelled by Clark’s own arm of steel. They continue this way until Clark pushes Trent backwards. He is about to punch Trent when Trent’s whole body turns to liquid metal and Clark falls through him and onto the ground near a pool of molten liquid. Trent is going in for the kill on Clark when he is now struck by an electric current that is coming from a device in Lois’ hands. Trent turns struggling towards Lois. He is intending to strike her next when Clark uses him heat vision on him and he breaks up into little pieces of metal falling into the molten pool behind Clark. Lois isn’t quite sure what just happened. “Chloe always told me this town was weird. I don't know how you ever survived without me.”

Lois and Clark hurry over to Chloe. Clark reaches her first as she lies on the floor. He helps her to a sitting position and wraps his arms around her as they both hug. He tells her, “Chloe, I was afraid I'd lost you.” Chloe is too overcome with emotion to respond; she just lets him help her to her feet. She feels his arm and face as if she can’t believe it’s him. When she sees Lois, she finally finds her voice, “Lois what are you doing here?” They embrace.

At the Kent Farm, Jonathan is reading the newspaper with a huge picture of Lionel on the front page and the headline, GUILTY! Below the picture it says, “Jury returns verdict in high profile case.” Jonathan is glad that Lionel couldn’t buy himself out of this one. Clark responds that it was due to Chloe, and Jonathan reminds him that Lex had a hand in it as well, and he was the one who protected Chloe. Clark only sees that Lex gained control of LuthorCorp. Martha even tries to stick up for Lex, but Clark isn’t buying it. He goes back to talking about the legend on the cave wall. He now thinks that the enemy he is destined to have is Lex.

Someone is in the Kawatche Caves with a flash light looking at the drawings. It’s Lana. She is soon joined by a surprised Clark. She too is surprised by his presence. He asks why she’s there and she says it’s peaceful here. Clark tells her that “You keep showing up when I least expect to see you.” “I'm not trying to surprise you, Clark,” says Lana. “I know. It's just when you left, I wasn't sure when I'd see you again,” replies Clark. “It's funny, isn't it? After everything we've been through, I thought it would take us longer to get over it,” says Lana. She goes on to intimate that he is with Lois now. He denies it and tells her how he can’t stand Lois. Lana’s response is “The best ones always start that way.” Then Lana’s eye notices the cave wall drawing of the symbol that is on her back. She asks Clark about destiny and how you can’t escape it. Clark wants to know if all this has to do with her new guy. She says it doesn’t and she is sorry that he found out the way he did. Then she leaves. Clark then spies the drawing of Naman and Segeeth.

Back at the penitentiary, the buzzer sounds as the door opens and Lionel is escorted in. He is dressed in an orange jumpsuit and carries a couple books and a blanket. Lex is there to see him. Lionel congratulates his son. He then reminds Lex about what he said to him – “don’t wound what you cannot kill.”

At the Talon, Lana is clearing out the apartment. She is throwing cardboard boxes over the railing of the upper level down to the ground. She heads back into the apartment for more when she turns back because she hears the door open. Looking down stairs, she is amazed to see Jason Teague standing there with flowers. He says “Hi” but she remains silent with a look of shock on her face. Then he says, “I'm freaking you out with the whole Cary Grant moment, aren't I?” Laughing nervously, she starts to descend the stairs. He gives her the flowers. He pulls out the note that she left for him before she left Paris. He is there to see if she left Paris or if she left him. She says that her feelings for him haven’t changed. He tells her that he didn’t come to get her; he came to be with her. She smiles up at him. They kiss.  Fade to black.

Written by Cindy K. Green
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