The Rise To Power; A Smallville Saga {Part 5 - Glass Heart}

Sneeze

A/N: I don't own Smallville or any characters and places in the DC universe. Nor do I own the episodes that these chapters are based on and contained.

I also don't claim to be a writer. My inspiration is simply to get a creative outlet going.

I only own Tyla Nevin and what pertains to her character story.

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"Pentagon officials continue to deny any security breach and any responsibility for the events of Dark Thursday. Experts predicted the recovery from Dark Thursday would take years, but here in Metropolis, the cleanup effort has been remarkably swift. This is Genevieve Sparling reporting...."

Tyla turned down the radio of the Maserati Spyder as Lex drove down the road. She didn't want to hear about the events of that day. She had a hunch that the cleanup had something to do with Clark but she couldn't ask him. In fact, she hadn't seen him in the past couple of weeks during her recovery. A part of her knew that he was steering clear of her and Lex. It dawned on her that Dark Thursday took out more than energy capacities from everyone. It also very well could be that he was upholding the promise he made that if she gave him the powers, he would have to cease becoming her friend for the sake of everyone.

"You know, you don't have to shield me from it anymore," Lex said, noticing her uncomfortableness as she looked down at her right hand. "I'm putting a lot of money into making sure Metropolis is back to new. Even better." Specifically, he was putting in millions.

Tyla gave him a smile but it immediately turned into a frown of worry. "I know," she said. "It's just habit. Trying to cover for everything."

Lex glanced over and grasped her good hand. "Hey...you gave your gifts away for the good of the cause," he said. Tyla had told him that she had chosen to give her powers to Clark, to keep Zod at bay while she tried to save the world. But just as Lex no longer had the powers, she added that Clark wouldn't either. The only difference was that he would remember them. It explained enough for Lex to gather things were back to normal or as much as they could be. "It's okay that you miss them."

He looked up at his rear-view mirror and frowned. A Range rover was driving exceedingly close to them. It had been doing so for half the drive over to the manor. He slowly accelerated, wondering if he needed to lose them. But just as he did, the car turned away.

"Is everything okay?" Tyla asked, studying his expression.

"Hmm?" He looked back at his wife. "Yeah, great. Everything's good."

*****

"Everything is not good, Pontius!" Lex shouted at his detective as soon as the man walked into the study. "What the hell am I paying you for? I was followed again today."

"Black Range Rover, Edge City plates?" The man asked. He put his hands behind his back. "I tracked it to an abandoned factory on 5th and Hayworth."

"Then why are you still here?" Lex snarled.

The man nodded and took a step back. "I'm on my way."

Lex shook his head, making a threatening step forward. "I want this taken care of by any means necessary. Do you understand?" His voice was low but full of venomous threats.

"Crystal clear," Pontius gave a curt nod before he turned to leave the study. He was met with a curious blonde who came around the corner. "Mrs. Luthor."

Tyla raised her eyebrow before seeing Lex's back to her, hovering over the desk with his fists to the wood. "Everywhere I turn, there's a new security guard," she mumbled. "I practically had to brief everyone who my mother was." She paused when Lex didn't even react to her joke. "Okay, you either think my mom is truly a threat or something is going on."