They were all waiting in a small office they’d found, no one speaking. Lex sat crookedly at the desk, his cast sticking out to the side. Pete was leaning against the wall next to Tina, while Chloe paced around nervously. Joseph was studying the pictures and diplomas on the wall with mute interest. Chloe noted with a grim sense of irony that the settings were almost identical to when they’d all sat down to hear Clark and Lex’s story, back at the warehouse. The only differences were that Joseph was standing in for Clark, and that of course, Whitney was not with them. The taunt feel to the air though was the same, as well as the sense of foreboding.

The door opened at the end of the room and Sarah stepped in. “How is she?” Lex asked, before she could say anything.

“Getting worse,” she admitted, tiredly. She had found a stethoscope somewhere and was wearing this around her neck. She tugged on it incessantly as she talked. “Moving her down to the basement didn’t help her any.”

“A precaution,” Lex said quietly.

Sarah made shrugged. “Well, her pulse keeps getting slower and she’s dropped a half a degree in the last half hour. I’m no doctor, but I don’t think she’ll last much longer.”

If this was what Lex wanted to hear or not, he didn’t show it. “Alright. Thank you, Sarah.”

“Hey,” she said nervously. “There’s a lot of talk about the army guys storming the place. Uh, what are you planning to do here?”

“Thank you, Sarah,” he repeated again.

Sarah stared at him, swallowing. “Yeah, okay. I guess I should break out some more tourniquets then, huh?” she muttered as she left.

“What are we going to do, Lex?” Chloe asked as soon as the door was closed. Lex looked at her, but it was Tina who answered.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked in that too calm voice. “We have to give her up. We can’t keep her.” She almost sounded like she talking about some pet they’d picked up.

Chloe stared at her in shock; she couldn’t be serious, could she? But then she realized she was the only one who seemed to think so. Lex had folded his hands carefully, staring into his fingers, while Pete was looking down at the floor silently. Joseph had given over studying the pictures on the wall in favor of Tina. Of all the others, he seemed as surprised as Chloe that Tina had suggested this, but not apparently for the same reason.

“We can do that?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“We don’t seem to have much choice,” Lex told him quietly.

Joseph blinked and looked at him. “It’s smart,” he said finally, sounding impressed.

“Shut up, Joseph,” Chloe snapped at him. “Lex, you can’t do this. After everything you and Clark did to get her out, you’re just going to hand her over, so she can… can be put back in some machine just like your father had her in?” she attacked him breathlessly. “And what about Clark? What are you going to tell him when he wakes up? ‘Sorry, I know you almost killed yourself getting her out and I know you trusted me but –‘”

“Enough, Chloe!” Pete yelled suddenly, cutting her off. “That’s enough,” he said again, quieter.

“No, it’s not enough!” she picked up steam again. “He trusted you too. He trusted everyone of us to do our part.” Pete flinched and looked away. “He went through hell for you,” she whirled on Joseph. He frowned, but didn’t say anything. “And you,” she said turning to Lex. “He agreed to your plan, he trusted you most of all. And now what do you do? You sell him out!”

“What do you want me to do, Chloe?” Lex asked in a deceptively mild voice. Chloe took a breath, staring at him. He was regarding her calmly, but there was ice enough in his eyes to make her want to back away.

“I… I want you to say we won’t give her up,” she said gathering up her courage. Lex regarded her for a moment and then asked the one word she had been dreading.

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“How?”

Chloe hesitated, trying to speak, but she couldn’t think of anything. Lex continued to watch her for a moment and then he looked back down at his hands.

“Chloe, it’s not like any one of use wants to do this,” Pete told her quietly. “Look, if there was a way, we’d take it, in a second, but…”

“There has to be a way!”

“There isn’t,” Lex said emphatically. “I’ve thought and thought, and there is no way. We’re surrounded; we’re trapped in an open building that we couldn’t defend even if we had enough men.” The more he talked the more enraged he became, until he was almost turning red in the face. “And let’s not forget also that half the people we do have are severely wounded. We even try to stand and fight and we can count them all dead. And on top of all of that, your uncle has tanks, Chloe, tanks!” He stared at her, breathing heavily and then looked back down, getting control of himself once again. “Have I left anything out?” he asked.

“We could bargain with him,” Chloe started, but he shook his head.

“In order to bargain you need something to bargain with. What do you suppose I should give him? Or who?” Chloe knew enough not to answer that; she could almost feel Joseph watching her.

“But we went through all of that to get her out… You can’t just give her up now.”

“I know, Chloe, I know,” he shook his head. “But think about what Sarah just said. She probably won’t live out the night anyways. In a few hours it won’t matter who has her.”

“No,” Chloe moaned, feeling her eyes start to well up. “No, we can’t.” She felt herself losing control and she bolted from the room, running down the hall. She heard the other’s call after her, but she kept running. She stopped in the lobby, staring out wildly at the massed troops. She thought for a moment and then dashed her tears away against her arms. Then, not even caring about the danger, she marched to the doors and threw them open, stepping outside.

Chloe marched across the parking lot, ignoring the soldiers with their guns raised at her. One of the helicopters broke off from circling the building and hovered over her, the force from its rotors making her hair blow wildly around her. It shone a spotlight down on her as she walked towards the massed soldiers, stopping halfway to them. She stared at them, breathlessly, waiting.

“Chloe?” her uncle called out. He ran out from the soldiers, waving for them to lower their arms. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“You can’t take her,” she said to him. “You have to tell them no!”

He stared at her and pushed his hat back, frowning. “Are you speaking for Lex here?”

“I’m speaking for myself. You have to say no. Please.” It was perhaps the first time she had ever said that word to him.

He seemed to realize the same thing. He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck, and then shook his head. “What are you doing here, Chloe? I’ve never seen you get involved in anything like this.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said.

“When you left I thought I’d have to pick you out of line up before I could get you back.”

“Maybe I started caring,” she admitted, a little embarrassed by the tone in his voice. “But that’s not important, you have to-“

“I can’t do anything, Chloe,” he said in a tired voice. “I don’t have that power.”

“You’re a general aren’t you?” she demanded. “What if I agree to go instead?” she asked, a little desperate now. “I’ll stay, I won’t run off again, I promise, just leave her.”

He let out a great sigh, but his eyes were looking her over speculatively. “You have changed,” he said finally.

“Well?” Chloe waited tensely.

“For the last time, I can’t. My orders come right from the President; I was able to buy you two hours, but I can’t do anything more. I’m sorry,” he said, and seemed to mean it. He started to walk back towards the soldiers, but Chloe called out to him once more.

“She’s dieing.” Her uncle looked back at her, surprised. “She won’t last long. Can you just, wait until…? Please…”

“I can’t, it’s out of my hands.” He looked at her and then glanced back at the hospital. “Why is she so important to you? Why are they?”

Chloe hesitated, and then shook her head. “I can’t say.”

He nodded and looked back at the men behind him. “You’re going to go back inside, aren’t you?” She nodded and he didn’t seem very surprised. “Be careful,” he told her. Chloe looked at him and shrugged, it was all she could think of doing. She walked back slowly, digging her hands into her pockets. No one shouted at her to come back.

Pete was waiting for her inside the lobby with two of his men. They were both holding rifles that were pointed at the floor and Pete had a handgun stuck into his waistband. “What was that all about?” he asked abruptly as she entered.

“I had to try to talk to him,” she mumbled, looking down at the floor. “That’s all.”

He looked at her and then he let out an angry breath. “Look, Chloe…”

“Don’t… Don’t try and tell me why,” she snapped at him. “I don’t want to hear it.” Pete sighed and nodded.

“Alright,” he said quietly. He glanced outside. “I’m surprised he let you go like that.”

“Yeah, me too,” she mumbled. As she said it something small and black slid across the room and came to a rest near them. Chloe glanced at it dumbly for a second and then everything seemed to explode in a rush of sound and light. She flew backwards off her feet and hit the floor hard, almost knocking her senseless. As the dust settled, she lay on her back, unable to move an inch. Everything felt disconnected inside of her. She saw, but she didn’t comprehend. Her body felt like it had been blown a million miles away.

Beside her, she heard a groan, and Pete rose up into her view, his whole body shaking as he struggled to stand. She couldn’t see where his other two men had gone. Then there was a muffled sound and a red cloud of mist blew out from Pete’s leg. He grunted and collapsed again. Slowly, Chloe turned her head over, letting it fall onto one side. She could see Pete holding his leg and grimacing. Blood was welling up from it from between his fingers. Chloe stared at him, still unable to form a single thought.

Then behind him, someone stepped forwards from out of the shadows of the hallways. Chloe’s vision was still swimming slightly from the blast, but the figure seemed to be a girl, clad all in black. She stepped over Pete without a word and threw a large, black bag on the floor besides Chloe. Then she bent down over her, studying her face. Finally, she reached back and slapped Chloe roughly back and forth. Everything seemed to slam back together in her mind as she did so. Chloe sucked in a breath and then let it out again in harsh, tearing cough.

“Hi, Chloe,” the girl said over her. Chloe stared up at her, still coughing. The girl’s face was covered with grime and streaked with blood, but it was still recognizable.

“Lana!” she rasped out between coughs.

She nodded slowly. The she smoothly pulled out a gun and put it to Chloe’s head. “Now tell me where she is and I won’t kill you.”