inalienable rights CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

The searing pain that tore through Clark's middle was intense and nearly brought him to his knees, but just as his legs began to buckle he realized that the pain was already beginning to subside. It was still acute and almost unbearable, but the sharpness of it had already begun to ebb away. Terrified, Clark knew that could mean only one thing.

The bullet had passed through him.

No sooner had he realized this than Marin weakly lifted her face, which was twisted in a confused grimace of pain. Her eyes were arresting as she begin to slip down in Clark's arms, and with a choking sob he tried to catch her. Drained as he was, he could barely hold her up and sank with her to the ground, where he at least saw the wound.

Lionel's bullet had struck its mark, hitting Clark just to the left of his spine, but it encountered nothing that would slow it enough to keep it from exiting him. Now it was Marin, whose body had been manipulated with Kryptonian DNA, who lay writhing under the effects of the poison rock lodged against her backbone.

She couldn't speak, she could only gasp for air and clutch at Clark's shirt. He himself could hardly sit up, but he managed to turn and found that his eyes met those of Lionel Luthor, who stood aghast, mutely observing what he'd done. I've cornered the beast and killed the prize.

Rage, though it consumed him, was not enough to propel Clark off the ground. The pain coursing through his abdomen was still so great that he could scarcely form words, but he kept his eyes on Lionel and hovered protectively over Marin as she sputtered and her eyes began to glaze over. Death was imminent, it was clear.

It seemed as if an interminable length of time had passed between the firing of the gun and the first of Martha Kent's screams, but it was really only seconds before everyone on the Kent farm had spilled out of the house and come to a horrified halt at the grisly scene before them.

Lex was first to arrive. "Dad?" he said, incredulous and unable to find any other words.

"Lex, son," was all Lionel could say, though detachedly as if he were no longer in full possession of his faculties. Indeed, he appeared as shocked by the tragedy as anyone else.

"Clark!" Martha cried out and ran to her son's side, followed closely by Chloe and Dr. Crosby, who knew in an instant that Marin was nearing her last breath. Blood poured from a wound just above her abdomen and her veins pulsated with the sickening green of kryptonite poisoning.

"Clark, look at me," Martha pleaded, turning his face to her.

"I'm… okay, it went through me, it's Marin… she's…" He twisted his head to see her face. Her breath was coming in short, shallow bursts now, and her eyes were unfocused. "Marin?"

Jonathan, meanwhile, was approaching Lionel cautiously, as he still held the gun poised to shoot and was clearly not in his right mind. He was only a few feet off when Lionel suddenly swung his arm and pointed the revolver at his chest. "That's quite close enough, Mr. Kent," he said calmly.

Lois stood in the center of it all and tried to make sense of the cavalcade of thoughts running through her head. Her eyes fell to Clark, who was lying on his back with fresh blood on his shirt and angry tears in his eyes, as he helplessly watched Marin and what might be his only chance for fatherhood die. She was just about to kneel beside him when she noticed Chloe rifling through the pockets of Marin's sweater. "Chloe? What are you doing?"

Chloe didn't answer, but she suddenly leapt to her feet and darted past Lois, charging at Lionel.

"Chloe, no!" Lex cried, noticing the uncapped syringe in her hand. He lunged for her and grabbed her by the waist.

"Let me go!" Chloe screamed, twisting in his arms.

"I can't let you do this!" Lex shouted, tightening his grip.

"You hate him more than anybody does! Look what he did to them! He deserves it!" She struggled against him, but to no avail.

Suddenly a second shot rang out, and Chloe put a hand to her shoulder, pulling it away to find it covered in blood.

Lois screamed. "You shot her!" she shouted, to which Lionel merely shrugged.

Lex suddenly began gasping for air and he lost his grip on Chloe, and as the two fell away from each other, the others could see the syringe she'd intended for Lionel poking out of Lex's arm. He looked at Chloe in confusion as he dropped to his knees and began to lose consciousness.

"I didn't mean to!" Chloe cried, clutching her wounded shoulder. "It was an accident!"

"What did you do to my son?" Lionel bellowed, withdrawing his attention from Jonathan and once again taking aim at Chloe.

"No!" Lois cried, trying to intervene, but Jonathan acted first. The instant Lionel turned his back, Jonathan lunged at him and knocked the gun from his hand.

Enraged, Lionel managed to recoil quickly enough to reward Jonathan's heroism with a mighty blow to his left temple, sending him momentarily reeling, and Lionel took the opportunity to force him to the ground. It wouldn't have taken more than another instant for Jonathan to regain his footing, but the ominous click of the revolver's hammer caused everyone to freeze.

"Back off, Luthor," Lois commanded, leveling Lionel's own gun at him. It had landed at her feet when Jonathan disarmed him.

Lionel's fiery glare was balanced by the wicked grin that spread over his face as he stood and brushed the dirt from his knees. "Why, Miss Lane," he laughed menacingly. "Are you threatening me?"

"Don't mock me, Luthor," Lois replied, taking a step closer. She'd always thought of herself as tough, unyielding, unshakeable, but the truth in that moment was that she was terrified. She was staring down the barrel of a gun at a man who was practically evil incarnate.

"Mock you?" Lionel chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it." His devious grin was far more truthful than his words.

"I mean it Mr. Luthor, if you push me I'll shoot," Lois threatened, drawing on every drop of moxie she had.

"Well then, take aim and fire," Lionel challenged, not believing for a second that she would.

"I'd aim for your heart, but I doubt you'd feel it," Lois spat, her finger pressed against the trigger. She threw a glance toward Clark, who was slowly regaining his strength. He was able to sit up now, and was bent in grief over Marin, his fingers intertwined with hers as she expelled one last breath, her life floating away with it on the October wind she'd longed to follow.

Lionel laughed deeply and took an easy step toward her. "Impressive, Miss Lane, very good show, but enough of this charade. You and I both know you're not going to kill me. It isn't in you."

"No?" Lois asked indignantly. She looked around, finding everyone else had been leveled in some way. Lex was unconscious, Clark and Chloe had been shot, and Marin was dead. "It's in you though, isn't it?"

Lionel merely shrugged indifferently.

Lois pulled the trigger.

She hit her mark, and Lionel was dead when he hit the ground, blood draining from the wound in his forehead. Lois dropped the gun and collapsed to her knees, both hands clapped over her mouth. For all her stalwart strength, she'd never really imagined having to take another human life. She tried to remain composed, fought against the roiling tightness in her chest, but there was nothing she could do to prevent the sobs that poured out of her. She hushed them and choked them back as best she could, but still they got the better of her. She turned her back to Lionel and found Clark, Martha, Dr. Crosby and Chloe staring at her. Jonathan was suddenly at her side and with a supportive arm he led her to the rest of the group, all gathered solemnly around Marin's motionless body.

Nobody spoke. There were no words to suit the gravity of the moment. There were wounds to be tended and plans and explanations to be made, but the crushing heaviness of all that had just occurred pressed into all of them and robbed every one of them - even the irrepressibly coherent Dr. Crosby - of any power to do anything.

Lois Lane, however, could only take silence for so long, and the sound of the gun and the feel of it recoiling in her hand kept plaguing her subconscious. She needed to stop that. "Is Lex okay?" she asked by way of a diversion.

"He… ahem," Dr. Crosby began, clearing her throat. "He'll be fine. He was given a drug that causes temporary unconsciousness and permanent memory loss."

"Memory loss?" Lois was shocked.

"Yes, for the previous three days, I think. There are several formulas that cause different degrees of memory loss, but I believe the one Chloe accidentally injected him with will only effect his memory for the last three days."

Lois gave Lex a long sideways glance and nodded. After a long pause she raised her head. "Can you do that to me?"

"What?" Clark exclaimed. "No!"

"Lois!" Chloe cried. "Why would you want that?"

Lois lowered her head, attempting to hide her tears. She shook her head and finally looked up again. "I just can't do this, this is too much. I'm sitting here with an alien and a girl who was murdered and I just killed a man - I just killed a man - and I just don't want to remember it. Any of it."

"Lois, you can't really mean that," Martha pleaded gently.

"I do," Lois protested. "I know everybody sees me as tough, but even I can only take so much and I just can't take this. Not now." She looked at Clark, who looked away when her eyes met his. "You understand, don't you?"

Clark shrugged without looking up. "You do what you have to do."

Dr. Crosby rummaged in Marin's pocket and drew out the other formula case that Marin had hidden there when Lex and Lois arrived. "This one is EF-12. It will erase your memory for the last three months, maybe a little longer. Are you certain you want to do this?"

"Three months?" That goes back to before I ever came to Smallville. Before I even met Clark.. Lois glanced at Chloe, who seemed to be visually begging her not to go through with it, and then at Clark, who wouldn't look at her. "Yes, I'm certain," she said and rolled up her sleeve. "Do it."

"It's not like you to run away from things, Lois. Please don't do this," Chloe begged.

"I'm not running away," Lois argued softly. "It's for my sanity's sake. This is what I have to do." She held out her arm to Dr. Crosby, who took an alcohol pad from the case and cleaned a spot over her wrist. Lois looked at Clark again. "You do understand, don't you Clark?"

He still didn't look up. "Whatever you need to do, Lois."

Lois nodded silently, biting her lip as the needle pierced her skin.

"See ya around, Smallville," she said with her sideways smile just before the drug took effect. She slumped sideways against him after her breathing evened out and unconsciousness had claimed her.

Clark brushed a lock of hair away from her face and thought about all the things that Marin had said to him. He was a jumble of emotions and confusion, feelings unresolved and unrequited, but one thing Marin had said kept rising to the surface. One day you'll take a good look at Lois Lane - a real, honest look - and you'll understand everything I've been saying.

"I'll see you, Lois Lane."