Shadows and light played across the floor of the bus. Lois sat, ignoring the years of accumulated detritus on the floor. Clark’s head was in her lap. He was awake, staring up at her, and for the first time in a while, Lois felt lethargic and relaxed.
“So basically, you’ve got no place to stay.” Buffy’s head stuck over one of the seats in front of them.
Lois sighed. “I think the Cortez family would take us back if we asked. They’re in danger anyway because they are Angelica’s family.”
“We still don’t know what they did to him,” Buffy said, jerking her head toward Clark as though he wasn’t awake and staring at her. “Do you think it’s wise to stay with normal people?”
“Clark’s normal!” Lois said. “He’s the most normal person I know.”
She felt him squeeze her hand silently. He’d been very quiet since he’d awoken, only answering questions when directly addressed\.
“With the exception of Patch Adams up front, none of us are normal,” Buffy said.
“I heard that!”
Apparently the one eyed driver’s hearing was better than his vision. Of course, Buffy HAD pitched her voice higher, so as to be heard over the sound of the engine.
“If any of us were compromised, me included, I’d tell you the same thing. Keep dangerous people away from the norms.” Buffy glanced over at Faith. “All it takes is one wrong move and somebody is dead.”
Clark closed his eyes and sighed, and Lois wondered whether he was obsessing over the dead vampire again. His tendency towards taking the weight of the world on his shoulders was going to be annoying.
“Way I hear it, you tried to kill some people when you were doped up by a demon,” Faith said casually.
“So I known what I‘m talking about.” Buffy looked irritated. “We’ve got some of the best chains in the business, built to hold werewolves, slayers, whatever.”
For the first time, Willow spoke. “Chains won’t hold him. He’s stronger than Glory was, even if he is sort of a weenie about magic.”
“Well, then we’ve got Willow to help keep him safe,” Buffy said. She’d blanched at the name Glory.
“What bothers me is why they didn’t take him with them,” Lois said. “I thought Angelica had…um…unfinished business with him.”
Lois had a momentary image of naked bodies writhing around, and her grip tightened on Clark’s. She wasn’t going to let that happen to him.
The very thought of it made her angry.
“They weren’t going to take him anywhere, not with the way that he leaks power. He’d lead half the city to wherever they took him.” Willow shook her head. “They can call him whenever they need him, and I get the impression he can move pretty fast.”
They still didn’t realize that he could fly, and Lois wasn’t going to tell them. Although her gut was telling her to trust them, her gut had been wrong before. It had told her to go to the Congo after all.
If they had to get away, they needed an edge.
“You can stay with us,” Buffy said. “What the hell. What’s one more slayer?”
“Thirty minutes less bathroom time every day,” Faith snickered. “Still, it’ll be nice having somebody who talks about something other than boys.”
“I thought you liked boys.” Buffy said, grinning a little.
The relationship between Buffy and Faith confused Lois. At times they bickered like sisters. At other times, there seemed to be strained silences between them.
It almost seemed to bother Buffy that Faith was talking to Lois. Lois couldn’t tell if it was because she wanted to be the one dominating the conversation, or if she somehow felt left out. Lois couldn’t tell who Buffy was jealous of, Faith, or Lois.
“I like men,” Faith said. “I get a little sick of hearing about boy bands and high school guys.”
“They’re teenagers,” Buffy said, glancing back at the group of girls sitting in the front seats. Many of those were giggling and glancing back toward Clark. “You’re going to have to watch your boy toy.”
Clark spoke for the first time in a while. “This control they have over me…will distance weaken it?”
Willow’s face popped back over the seat. “It would depend on how far away you could get.”
“Shanghai, maybe?” he asked.
“If they thought you were running, they’d yank you back.” Willow said. “And even on the opposite end of the earth, you’d still feel the compulsion.”
Lois was glad that Clark was ignoring all Buffy’s little digs at him. It showed class, and confirmed the image that had been growing in her mind.
Clark was the kind of man who held doors open because it was the right thing to do, not because he liked to look at women’s butts. He treated everybody decently, whether they were rich or poor, man or woman…even demons.
According to him, he’d been born in a Norman Rockwell sort of place, the sort of town that Lois hadn’t believed really existed anymore. Being from Smallville was almost like being from an earlier era of human life.
Or maybe it was just that his parents hadn’t had cable when he was growing up.
The powers he’d developed had made him sensitive at an early age to the pain he caused other people. He’d feared hurting others, and had actively tried to find ways to keep other people from hurting.
Sometimes that kept him from even hurting people who were hurting him.
“What worried me is that they put a second spell in to make you sick. If I hadn’t been here, it would have knocked you out completely for at least a day.”
“Maybe they were afraid he was going to stop them.”
“He can’t.” Willow said. “He can’t do anything to harm them directly.”
“What about their allies?” Lois asked. Memories of vampires flying hopelessly through the air, blown by an unseen wind went through her mind.
“Fair game, unless they order him not to.” Willow shrugged. “It’s not an exact science, and I’d be more comfortable if I knew exactly what sort of deal he made.”
“I said I wasn’t going to kill anyone, and that if they hurt Lois or anyone close to me in the slightest, the deal was off.” Clark cleared his throat. “Angelica tried to get me to choose something else, but the witch took the deal.”
So Clark wasn’t going to be their private assassin. That was something at least.
Willow smiled slowly. “That’s a start. You left an out clause at least.”
“An out clause?”
“If they break the deal…force him to hurt someone, or if they hurt you, then the spell will be broken.”
“I didn’t think there was much use they could make of me if I couldn’t kill anyone.”
Buffy scowled. “You said kill, not hurt, right?”
“Yes.”
“So they could have you beat up tough demons, then hold them down while they finished them off.”
Lois felt Clark stiffen.
“Or they could use you as a rallying point for a demonic army. With you to take care of human weapons, and to capture human soldiers, they’d have a free reign on the city.”
“It’s not what you intended,” Willow said at Clark’s look of dismay, “But according to the fine letter of the agreement it’s allowable. They could even force you to drop Ms. Lane on a deserted island somewhere. It wouldn’t hurt her and it would be within the letter of the rules.”
“I’d fight it,” Clark said. “I’ve fought it off before.”
Buffy shook her head. “You made the agreement, and so the fighting is all over. All we can do is keep you away from them and hope that Willow has enough mojo to knock you out before they call you to do whatever things they want you to do.”
“We’re not going to let anything happen to you Clark,’ Lois said, and she felt his hand tighten on hers again.
“Or to anyone else,” Buffy said. It should have sounded cold, but Clark’s expression was one of relief.
“While you were out, I did something to block the signal, so you won’t know when they call to you. If it works, they’d have to be in earshot of you to control you.”
“Um…” Clark said. He hesitated for a long moment, as though considering the alternatives. Finally he sighed. “That may be a problem. I can hear everything in maybe a thirty mile radius.”
After a lifetime of secrecy, it couldn’t be easy for him to admit to being different to a set of strangers. Lois had a feeling that he was still a little groggy and confused, and that when he was back to himself he was going to be more
Willow and Buffy glanced at each other. Willow was the first to speak. “Um…when you say everything…you mean everything?”
Clark shrugged, then winced. “I try to shut most things out…”
When Clark had told her about his developing abilities, he’d told her that learning to shut everything out had been one of the hardest things to do. It hadn’t come as naturally as controlling his strength, and even that had been difficult for a time.
“Let me be the first to say, eww.” Buffy said.
Lois frowned, then felt heat rising to her face. Being able to hear everything had to be something of a curse, no matter how useful it was. Every flush of the toilet, every couple making love, every disgusting bodily noise made by everyone in thirty miles. In Los Angeles… millions of people fighting, making love, eating, snoring…it had to be overwhelming..
“I spent a lot of years in out of the way places,” Clark admitted. “Until I got good control of it.”
“I thought you went to college?” Willow looked fascinated.
There was something about her that Lois didn’t like. Perhaps it was simply the knowledge that she was a witch, much like the one who had immobilized Lois and Clark time after time without ever being defeated. Lois hated feeling helpless, and she disliked people who made her feel that way.
Maybe it was the interest she was showing in Clark. It wasn’t the interest a woman had in a man. It was more like a scientist examining a lab specimen.
Clark wasn’t anyone’s specimen, and he wasn’t going to be.
Sitting up completely, Clark said, “I think I’ll be ok. Where are we going?”
As he rose to his feet, he held a hand out to Lois.
“There aren’t many places with enough room for a group this large, what with the hotel shortage due to all the refugees.” Buffy said.
“Your old boyfriend had a perfectly good hotel,” Faith said.
“He’s working for Wolfram and Hart now.” Buffy said. “We can’t trust him.”
“So instead, we’re staying at a vineyard near the crater.” Buffy looked uncomfortable. “It has some bad memories associated with it, but at least the toilets work and there’s hot water.”
“Yeah. I guess Caleb liked his hot showers after killing little girls,” Faith muttered.
“It’s just until we get back on our feet.” Buffy said, with a sharp glance toward Faith.
“Shouldn’t you try to find some place closer to the hospital?” Lois asked. “With everything that’s happened…’
“We keep a guard of five Slayers there at all times.” Buffy said. Her voice sounded defensive. “Robin is going to be fine.”
“What about the authorities?” Clark asked. “As far as I could see, the Feds were combing the area for clues.”
“They’d already been over the place when we decided to make a place there. Now, anybody asks any questions, we’re just a group of squatters.”
“Anybody asks more questions than that,” Faith said wearily, “And Willow gets to pretend she’s a Jedi.”
Willow giggled slightly, but Lois still didn’t like the look in her eye.
It was a look she’d seen in the eyes of crime bosses and corrupt politicians, the look of someone who was drunk on power.
Willow smiled suddenly, and the look was gone, replaced by the innocent smile of a child. “We’re really not as bad as we look. Normally we have things a little more organized. It’s just…homeless, you know.”
“You’d have thought someone might have warned us to pack a few bags,” Buffy said. “ Pick up the occasional pair of pajamas, a toothbrush…stuffed pig.”
“Nobody had any way of knowing that was going to happen,” Willow said. “So there’s no use crying about your closet full of shoes in the bottom of the crater.”
“Buffy’s just pissed because she’s been having to shop at Wal-Mart.” Faith smirked.
Buffy didn’t look like she’d ever even seen a Wal-Mart, much less dressed from one. Her shoes alone cost more than Lois’s entire outfit.
“I’m not just shopping there,” Buffy corrected, “I’m having to take them there…”
She gestured back toward the gaggle of girls sitting in the front seats.
“A fate worse than death, I’m sure.” Faith smirked again.
“I don’t see you out there volunteering.”
“I’d just let them buy sugar frosted bomb cereal and all that unhealthy sh…stuff.” Faith said with a glance toward Lois.
Lois was getting tired of being looked at like she was an old woman.
She settled back onto the rear seat of the bus, sliding in beside Clark.
“Are you all right?” she asked, her voice pitched low.
He nodded slight. “I hope so.”
He stiffened. “I hear sirens.”
“What?” Lois asked.
She saw the heads of the others snapping around as well.
“Sirens going toward the hospital.”
“It’s a hospital,” Lois said. “They have ambulances pulling in all the time.”
“Not like this,” he said. His face was grim.
“There are casualty reports…” his face paled. “There’s a report of a massacre at the hospital.”
The next few moments were a confused mess, as the bus suddenly swerved into traffic, making a fast u-turn. Lois felt her face pressed against the glass, staring at oncoming traffic and wondering if she was going to die.
A moment later they were driving the way they had come, the bus accelerating toward unsafe speeds.
There was a sudden sound of wind, and Lois glanced beside her.
Clark was gone, and the back window of the bus was open.
Things had gone from bad to worse.
