Claws

Clark POV

When is there EVER a line inside the Mens bathroom?

I was sorely tempted to just wash my hands and leave to get out of here as quickly as possible. The look on Lana’s face just before I left her outside the bathrooms had unnerved me. But that was silly right?

Silently prompting the line to move faster I practically screamed out “Finally” when it was my turn. Rushing to get out of there, I had to force myself to slow down. I desperately wanted to use my superspeed, but there were just too many people in the bathroom.

Still drying my hands, I stepped outside and looked around for Lana. The area outside the bathrooms was as deserted as when we got here. Using my x-ray vision, I muttered an apology to any women who might be in there besides Lana, and focused on the outside of the wall. Quickly, the inside of the bathroom came into focus.

Empty.

My eyes widened in surprise and fear. I supersped into the bathroom while stupidly calling out Lana’s name. I scanned the bathroom and was ready to go outside and see if she had maybe decided to meet up with Chloe and Pete, when I noticed the water still running. As if whoever had been using it had left in a rush. I turned the knob and tested it to make sure it wasn’t broken. It turned and shut off.

Not broken.

Lana, where are you? I thought to myself desperately my mothers earlier warning echoing in my head.

Danger lies ahead………………..

I lifted my head and my heart stopped as I looked into the mirror. For one second, I swear, I saw Lana struggling with a baseball capped Alexa. The image faded as quickly as it had come.

Was it real or a figment of my imagination?

Either way it didn’t matter. I had to find Chloe and Pete. Lana was in danger. I was sure of it. We had to find her and fast.
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Clark POV

“What?! Are you sure Clark?” Chloe shrieked.

“Yes Chloe.” I said impatiently. “We have to find her. I think…….I think Alexa has her.”

Chloe, Pete and I were all huddled together in a corner of the parking lot. I had just finished telling them that Lana was missing. I was keeping the image that I had seen to myself for the moment. I would tell Pete later if need be.

Chloe was shaking her head at me rapidly. “Clark, Alexa is in a mental health facility hopefully being mistreated in all types of deviously good ways. There’s no way she could have escaped in a matter of hours.”

Pete nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah Clark. What makes you think Alexa kidnapped her?”

I narrowed my eyes at Pete trying to give him a look. “Pete, I can’t explain it. But I just have this feeling.”

Chloe snorted in amusement. “You have a feeling? Okay, excuse me Ms. Cleo, but the last time I checked you didn’t have psychic powers.”

I glared at Chloe, “Chloe, this is not the time for your ‘witty sarcasm’. Lana’s gone. Who else would want to kidnap her?”

Chloe rolled her eyes at me, clearly not deterred by my tone of voice. “Umm, Clark? Don’t know if you’ve noticed this but Lana has a tendency to get kidnapped more often than not.” At mine and Petes looks of disbelief at her attitude, Chloe held up a hand. “All I’m saying is exactly what Pete just pointed out. Maybe it’s not necessarily Alexa that has Lana. Let’s go back to the Torch and see if I can fire up the computer and check out the mental hospital database. In the meantime Clark, why don’t you call Lex and see if he can put out some feelers into his own sources and see if anyone else that Lana has encountered in the past has either been let out or escaped their respective prisons.”

I nodded my head in agreement and pulled out my cell phone. “Right. Chloe lead the way to your car, Pete use your cell phone to call the sheriff and let her know that Lana is…...missing.”

At my hesitation, Chloe looked up into my face and obviously saw the turmoil there. Her face immediately lost the hard edge that she so often put out and softened. Finally, I saw the worry that she was trying so hard to repress. “Clark, we’ll find her okay?”

I gulped down the emotions and nodded my head once and turned back to my phone. I dialed Lex’s private line and waited impatiently for him to pick up.

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“Hey, Lana? How ya doin’ back there?”

Getting no response, Alexa shifted slightly in her seat behind the wheel of the locksmiths van to look behind her through the metal grate that separated the front seats from the open area of the back. Lana lay on the floor unconscious, sliding slightly due to the speed with which Alexa was driving. Alexa was trying to drive as quickly as possible back to the shop. Clark had no way of knowing where she was or how she got there, so the shop was pretty much safe territory.

Alexa turned her attention back to the road in front of her, unable to suppress the malicious grin that had taken up on her face. This was it. Lana Lang was going to learn why she never should have messed with Alexa. How dare she try to come between her and Clark? Alexa has been back in Smallville for more than two weeks and noticed Clark’s handsome smile and delicious body right away. His kindness and integrity just flowed from him like water from an overflowing dam. He would make her good. He would keep her happy. He would make her feel normal. Clark was HERS. And if she had to get rid of Lana to make sure he only focused on her, so be it. Besides, Lana was a whiny bitch that should’ve been knocked off a long time ago.

She was really doing the world a favor.
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