Meet Your Match

Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction from the
WB's Smallville. None of this is mine except
for the character Cara Lang and some of my
own villans that will appear later in the
story.

Lex Luthor sat behind his desk, studying
his computer screen. Without looking up he
said to Beck, his head of security, "everything
from the incident yesterday has been taken
care of. Anything else pertaining to it is no
longer to be discussed."

"But Mr. Luthor," Beck protested.

Lex cut him off, "Mr. Beck, I tolerate your
presence here to protect me as you say
only because of my Father. I know your
loyalties fall first to him, and then to me. And
as long as that is true, I will decide on what
information is necessary for you to know. Is
that clear?" Lex looked up from his computer
for the first time to give Beck a level stare that
told him he wasn't asking him, he was
telling him.

"Yes sir,"Beck said casting his eyes
down, then turned and left the room.

Lex looked back to the computer screen.
An image of the young girl with long dark hair
and a sweet smile stared back at him. Dead
for three years, and Lex had never known until
yesterday. He sighed, sitting back in his plush
leather chair. He should never have taken her
to the club that night. But how could he have
known how she would react? He'd only
wanted to her to realize what a creep her
fiance really was. So the club scene was a set
up for Amanda to see Jude in the act. She
deserved better.

Like you? A cynical voice in his mind
said. You were responsible for her. It's your
fault she's dead, it continued to say
harshly.

Lex clenched his first tightly for moment,
breathing hard and looking still at her face.
Yes, he thought, he'd been selfish in his
reasons, even though she should've known
the truth regardless.

He was brought out of his mussings by a
knock on the door. He immediately composed
himself and let a well practiced mask of
perfect nonchalant calm fall over his face.

"Lex," came a familiar voice, and a
moment later Clark poked his head round the
door frame looking for him.

"Clark, come in." Lex let his mask relax a
little, yet was still cautious as to why his friend
(at least he hoped he was)had come. Maybe
Ma and Pa Kent had finally sent him to say that
Lex was rubbing off a little too much on their
dear son and better stay away. Hah, fat
chance, it was more like Clark was rubbing off
on him. Not completely though; there were
some aspects to being Clark Kent that would
drive Lex mad with boredom.

Clark smiled and walked in closing the
door behind him.

"What can I do for you?" Lex knew he was
being more abrupt than usual, but he was still
wounded by the look of distrust Clark had
given him at the Lana's opening party for the
Talon, just a few hours ago. And neither was
in the mood to be lectured, especially by Clark.
He knew that he was lucky to have him as
friend, who mysteriously always seemed to be
there just when he needed him, but still his
pride would not allow him to give in.

"I don't want to bother you," Clark began,
"but I needed to come by and tell you that I'm
sorry."

If Lex was surprised he didn't show it, and
waited for Clark to go on.

Clark stuck his hands in his back
pockets, a habit of his, Lex noticed when he
wanted to be serious.

"Lex I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for
looking into your past, and for not believing
you. But I also need you to know that I did it
because...I would do anything to protect my
friends too."

Lex was speechless for a moment. "I
know that you were just trying to help Clark,
and lucky for me you did. You're always there
for me," Lex trailed off looking intently at Clark,
who looked sheepishly at the ground.

"Nah", Clark said shrugging his
shoulders, "just the right place at the right
time. I got lucky thinking you'd be at Club
Zero."

Lex doubted that very much, but put the
feeling aside. He'd already decided that he
didn't care about how Clark was always there
for him. He'd already deleted all the files the
dirty reporter had dug up trying to figure out
how Clark had saved him on the bridge that
day. Now all he could think was that someone
up there liked him, though for a long time he'd
seriously doubted it.

"You were right about one thing though,"
Lex said. "I put you and your family in danger
because I hid the truth of what really
happened. I promise you Clark, that I will do
my best to never let anything like that ever
happen again." Lex looked back at his
computer screen.

Clark saw the intent look on his face. "I
know Lex." Without another word, he turned to
go. He knew that Lex was not in the mood to
talk anymore, and if he did, he knew where to
find him. He left through the door, closing it
quietly behind.

Lex looked back up as he heard the door
click shut. One of the things he appreciated
about Clark was his ability to be
inconspicuous and knowing when to leave
Lex to himself.

Amanda's picture hovered before him. He
typed in a few keys, and a message popped
up on the screen.

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE
THIS ITEM?

Lex's finger hovered over the enter key. He
hadn't been in love with her, but sometimes
he thought maybe...Maybe he could've fallen in
love with her. Never again, he thought.
Never again.

He hit the enter key, and the entire screen
went black.

**********************

Ah well, there it was. The Lang house
looked exactly the same as it did when she
was 10 years old the last time she'd been
there. The old swing chair was still on the
porch, and the flowers in the yard looked as if
they'd been frozen in time. She hesistated at
the gate. Maybe she shoudn't do this, even
though now they were expecting her. The last
thing she wanted to do was endanger Lana
and her Aunt, but she'd no where else to go,
and her parents had also thought that this
was the right choice. But what if her cousin
had changed? They'd always shared a special
bond as children, depsite the fact that she
was three years older than Lana...But that was
so long ago...She sighed and guessed she'd
just have to hope that Lana was still the same
person and that she could trust her. Taking a
deep breath, she hefted her bag and walked
through the gate and up to the door. She
paused outside, set her bag down, and
knocked out the screen door.

"Just a minute," a young voice called. She
heard footsteps and then Lana's face
appeared behind the screen door. She peared
out to see a tall girl, with dark blond hair
standing on the porch. She opened the screen
door and poked her head out to look at her.
"Hi, can I...." Her eyes went wide as she met
the girls gaze for the first time. Unusually pale
green eyes with flecks of dark green in them
sparkled back at her with delite. The only
person she knew that had eyes like that
was.....

"Carckie?" Lana stared at her wide eyed
searching her face.

"Oh no," the girl groaned,"Please don't tell
me you still can't say my name right Lani." The
girl said hands on her hips, then broke down
with a smile. Lana screamed, flinging open
the door and threw her arms around her
cousin that she hadn't seen in almost eight
years.

"Oh Cara, Cara! You're finally here." Cara
laughed and hugged her cousin back letting
herself relax and have a true moment of
happiness. Oh, it had been to long.

"Aunt Nell, Aunt Nell, Cara's here," Lana
yelled through the screen door. "Come on,
bring your stuff in. Is that it? Just one bag?"
Lana was grinning ear to ear and Cara
couldn't help but do the same herself. Lana
had changed so much. She was a beautiful
young woman now, and her eyes sparkled
with the same kindness she'd always shown
when they were children. But she'd still
have to wait and see what else about her
cousin had changed.

Then, suddenly, she was being
embraced by her Aunt and ushered off to the
living room to sit.

"Oh you're early honey, we didn't expect
you until day after tomorrow," Nell began, "Why
didn't you call us to come pick you up from the
bus station?" She sat on the plush, flowery
couch across from Cara, looking
concerned.

Because I wanted to take a little detour
to make sure trouble didn't follow, Cara
thought, but dared not voice aloud.

"Oh, it was such a beautiful afternoon,
and I wanted to see if I could remember my
way back to the house anyway," Cara said,
giving her Aunt one of her most innocent
smiles.

It worked.

Aunt Nell laughed, "Well that must've
been quite a walk all the same. But you've
always been an adventurer Cara. So tell me,
how are your parents?"

"Fine," Cara lied smoothly. "You know
Mom and Dad, off discovering some new,
rare, and endagered species in the deep
depths of Africa." Cara smiled again, though it
was forced. It was only a partial lie. Her
parents were in Africa...Somewhere. And
they were hunting a new species, but not one
she wanted to tell her family about anytime
soon. The same creature was responsible for
Cara's fleeing Africa, and why she'd come to
Smallville, far away...No, she couldn't think
about that now. She blinked and realized that
her Aunt had just asked her a question, but
she had no idea what.

"What? Oh sorry, I must be more tired
from the trip than I thought. What did you just
say?"

"Oh it's alright honey. I just asked if you
were hungry for some good old home
cookin?" Her Aunt smiled at her warmly. Cara
relaxed.

"Nothing could make me happier," Cara
said. She caught Lana looking at her out of the
corner of her eye. There was a question there.
She wasn't so easily convinced of Cara's
reasons for being tired. Good, Cara
thought. She still has her instincts.

Cara took her things up to the guest
room, then turned to go back downstairs. Her
stomach growled at the smell of roast chicken
and corn. How long had it been since she'd
had a real meal? The last few weeks had
been a blur of eating and sleeping when she
could. She entered the kitchen and sat down
at the table with her Aunt and cousin.

After commenting on how delicious the
corn was, Lana informed her that it came from
the Kents farm across the way.

"Ah," Cara said, "So does Clark Kent still
have a major crush on you Lana?" Cara
looked across the table and was pleased to
see her cousin blush.

"N...no. Of course not," Lana said
embarrassed. "Clark and I are just good
friends. We've always been just friends.
He helped me so much with getting the
Talon ready to be re-opened, and..." She
sputtered to a stop when Cara started
laughing.

"All asked was if he still had a crush on
you," Cara smiled as Lana blushed again, but
decided to spare her anymore teasing and
asked about the Talon instead.

Lana told her everything about
refurnishing the Talon to make it ready to be a
working theater again. She obmitted all the
parts involving the scandal with Lex and that
psycho killer. She'd tell her cousin eventually,
but not yet. As far as she was concerned she
just wanted to put it all behind her. She then
got to the part where she was still looking for a
new manager.

"Hey," Lana said, eyes lighting up. "Cara
would you like to be my manager while you're
here? Oh please say yes. You have no idea
what a relief it would be for me to have
someone working there that I trust." Lana
looked pleadingly at her cousin.

Cara was suprised by the offer, but at the
same time glad. A theater would be a great
place to stay inconspicous. Especially at
night.

"Well alright," she said, then grinned evily,
"But don't expect me to take any pay cuts just
because we're family," Cara said winking at
her cousin and they all laughed. It felt so good
to laugh. She almost felt like herself
again.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Lana said. "You'd
probably try and lay some crazy African tribal
move on me. Wow, what was it like living there
for all these years Carckie?" Lana stared at
her all wide eyed and innocent. Cara had had
a response planned for this exact question,
but now the words froze in her throat, along
with the piece of chicken she'd just tried to
swallow. She choked for a few seconds and
couldn't breath. Lana jumped over and
thumped her on the back twice. Cara choked
down the chicken, and Lana forgot her
question.

They all cleaned up together, and Cara
asked Lana when she'd like to meet at the
Talon.

"Tomorrow after school lets out, at three,
is that ok," Lana asked looking up from a
soapy cup.

"Sure that's sounds fine. Hey, is there a
gym or boxing ring anywhere around that
area?"

"Uh yeah, Herb's Gym has a boxing ring
about three blocks from the Talon on fouth
and Canter Road. How come?" Lana looked
quizically at her cousin who she'd adored
since childhood.

"Oh I took up kickboxing a while back and
would like to keep up with it if I can," Cara
said.

Lana smiled. Leave it to Cara to take up
kickboxing. "Ok, well how about you go and
check it out before you come to the Talon. Hey
maybe I'll even sign up with you. I'd like to
show Whitney that someone else can play
rough too," Lana laughed.

"Sure that'd be fun," Cara said but not very
enthuasiasticly. She loved spending time with
her cousin, but kickboxing was something she
liked to do alone.

As if sensing her mood, Lana said,"Or
then again maybe not. I'm so swamped with
school, clubs, and the Talon that I don't think
that I'd have time." She picked up the last dish
and began to dry it.

Cara hid a smile. Lana had grown up into
exactly the person Cara always knew she
would; kind, caring, and very intuitive. It'd
been the same way when they were children.
Not that Cara thought herself insensitive by
any means. Only Lana always seemed to
have a special knack for being in tune to
people's feelings, while Cara found fun ways
to get on their nerves. She smiled again,
thinking of all the fun they'd had as children,
then found herself trying to supress a
yawn.

Lana saw it, and told her to get up to bed
before she fell over. Cara had to agree. She
said goodnight and hugged her, and then
dragged her now near exhausted body up to
bed.

Bellow, on the stairs, Lana watched her
go. What she really wanted to do was stay up
and talk all night with Cara, about everything.,
just like that used too. Cara was the big sister
Lana never had, and while she still felt very
close to her cousin there was something...
different about her now that she couldn't
put her finger on. She'd grown up of course,
they both had and hadn't seen each other in
years, but...Something nagged at the back of
Lana's senses that there was something...
Almost like the feeling she got sometimes
around Clark...Lana shook her head. The
craziness from the Talon was making her
paranoid she decided. Cara was probably just
tired like she said, and they'd do all their
catching up tomorrow. Lana turned from the
stairs to say goodnight to her Aunt.

Upstairs Cara opened the windows to
look out over the fields behind the Lang
house. She took in a deep breath of air telling
herself that it was alright. She'd covered her
tracks well on the way here, and was safe for
a while at least. Now that she was far away
from the source of her infection the effects of
the creatures poison in her blood had
lessoned a little. Her senses were still super
heightened at night, but she was getting used
to it. Though it was a dark, moonless night
Cara saw the fields outside clear as day.
There was a storm bulding on the horizon,
miles away, but Cara could smell the rain.
Turning away from the windows, Cara went to
her bed and sighed. She took her shirt off
carefully, wincing a little as the wound on the
lower part of her back twinged. It was healing
well, but she would carry a scar for the rest of
her life. And the poison, who knew how long
she'd carry that? And how long would she be
pursued by those insane doctors...? She bit
her lip to hold back the tears. She would
not cry. She would not. As soon as her
parents found the antidote, she wouldn't have
to worry about being hunted anymore...Then
she could go back to being normal
again...

...And no more nightmares.

***********************

Lex hefted his gym bag over his shoulder
as he unlocked the back door to Herb's. He
couldn't wait to hit the bag. He'd just come
from having an oh so chummy chat with
dear old Dad about the incidents of over a
week ago. Lex's fingers clenched around the
keys in his hand as he heard his Fathers last
words again in his mind. I'm dissapointed in
you Lex...

He turned the corner around the locker
rooms, heading towards the punching bags.
He looked up as he got nearer and was
surprised, and annoyed to see that someone
else had beaten him to them. Damn it. He'd
paid Herb had to have the gym to himself at
this hour no matter what. Who the hell
was...

All of the sudden 'who the hell' came
into view, and Lex paused midstep. A tall, lean
girl with dark blond hair, was attacking one of
the body bags with one tracked fury. He was
startled, but only for a moment. Her
movements though hard and fast, were
precise. The girl must've had some training.
More curious now than aggrivated, Lex walked
over to investigate.

"Excuse me," he said, but had to dodge
quickly out of the way, as the girl threw a round
kick and the bag hurled his way.

"Hey! Watch it!" Lex looked incredulously
at the girl, who didn't even acknowledge his
presence, but kept singlemindly hitting the
bag.

That annoyed him, which did not happen
often.

"Excuse me," he said more firmly, "but the
gym is supposed to be closed at this hour."

"Then what are you doing here if it's
supposed to be closed," the girl said flatly, not
looking up from the bag.

"I'm here because I rent the place at this
time for myself," Lex said, taken aback by her
abrupt answer, and she still wasn't
looking at him!

"The door was open," she said and threw
another kick, forcing him to duck again.

"No see I don't think you understand..."
Lex began again. He hated repeating
himself.

She finally stopped and looked up at him
with the most unusual green eyes Lex had
ever seen... Almost cat-like...

"Look whoever you are..." she began,
waving a gloved hand in his direction.

"Lex Luthor."

"Never heard of you."

Lex blinked, but showed no other
surprise.Never heard of him, yeah
right.

"Look the door was open, but seeing as
you seem to need this whole space," she
spread her arms wide, "All to yourself, I guess
I'll be leaving." She walked away from the bag
over to a bench and began to take her gloves
off.

"Hold on," Lex began, maybe she was
telling the truth. Herb was getting forgetful now
adays.

"It isn't necessary for you to leave. I
appologize if I seemed rude to presume you
knew about the place. You must be new in
town."

"Yeah, you could say that." She was
wiping off her face, with a towel out of her gym
bag, then got up. "I'll leave you alone
now."

"As I said before that's not necessary. You
might as well stay."

"No thanks," she said turning to
leave.

"So wait, you've really never heard of
me?"

"Sorry to dissapoint your ego," she said
sarcastically still walking.

"No not at all. Just surprised," he said
sceptically.

"Look buddy," she began turning around,
What is your problem? I'm leaving you and
your precious gym all alone." She paused a
moment. "Are you calling me liar?" she said in
a low voice.

Lex only continued to stare at her. Busting
in on his private hour was insignificant. He
wanted to know if she was tellin the truth
about getting in. His life had taught him to
read people well, but what she said surprised
him.

"Listen you arrogant, snob nosed,
Benjamin Franklin packing asshole," she
hissed with tightly controled fury. "I don't know
who you are, and I don't care who you are.
All I do know is that I really don't give a
shit!" She spun on her heel and began to walk
away.

Lex couldn't leave it at that. He decided to
push her a little and see where it went.

"You've got a nice jab, but your left hook
needs a little work," Lex said loud enough for
her to hear.

She stopped dead, bag dropping with a
loud thump to the ground and turned to glare
at him. He waited, and wasn't
dissapointed.

"You wanna go a few rounds and find out
hot shot?" She said in a perfectly calm,
confident voice, nodding towards the boxing
ring in the middle of the room.{/left]

"Oh absolutely," Lex said.

He walked over to his gym bag to pull out
his gloves. She wasn't lieing. If Lex had
learned anything in his business it was how to
read a lie. She truly didn't know him. It was
refresing in way. Although, having someone
hate you at first sight without having known
your reputation previously wasn't excatly a
comforting thought either. But if she didn't
know him, even vaguely, then who was she
and what was she doing here?"

He tunred back the ring and she was
already waiting, stretching her neck.

"Ready," he asked.

She responded by darting in quickly with a
combination jab, cross, then round kick. Lex
sucessfully blocked them all...barely. And she
was very strong. He spun away from
another jab, and then threw a punch of his
own, that she blocked and quick as lightning
spun with a backhand to his right temple. He
staggered back a step, head realing, but
shook it off. Well to hell with holding back, he
thought.

He couldn't say how long they were in the
ring, dancing around each other until his arms
felt like lead, but it felt like forever. They'd each
gotten in several sucessful hits, but were
mostly dodging them now, yet neither ready to
give into the other.

Then all of the sudden she drove in hard
doing rapid fire punches to his midsection.
Lex managed to block one side, but took a
hard hit to the right. Instinctively he brought his
left knee up hard crashing into her abdomin.
They separated, panting for breath. He held
his side painfully and she her abdomin.

"Hey!" The flood lights came on suddenly
above them, and Lex could hear Herb, the
manager, across the room.

Lex relaxed a moment, putting his hands
on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"It's alright Herb. It's ok,' he puffed. "I was
just boxing with," he turned to look around for
his oponent, but she'd dissapeared.

"Where did she," he panted scanning the
room just as Herb made it over to the
ring."Herb did you see where she went?"

"No Mr. Luthor," Herb said confussed. "I
didn't know it was you, 'cause I was comin' to
open up the place and you're usually gone by
now. Then I heard noises, so I can in to see.
Somethin' the matter?"

Lex looked down at the mans face,
confussed himself. "So wait, what time is
it?"

"It's three o'clock Mr. Luthor," Hern said
now more puzzeled.

Nearly an hour, Lex thought. They'd
been boxing for almost a full hour.
Incredible.

"I didn't know you'd be bringing someone
in today Mr. Luthor," Herb said.

"I didn't," Lex said distractedly looking
around the gym. Quick at the get away he
thought. Not good.

"I didn't bring anyone with me," Lex said
again. "She was here when I got here."

"But, but," Herb stuttered. "I locked the
place up tight as a nutshell last night Mr.
Luthor. How did she get in?"

I don't know," Lex wiped the sweat of his
brow with his glove and looked at it. There
was a tiny red stain on the knuckles. Must've
been from when he'd hooked in the mouth.
He'd actually ment to pull that punch, but she'd
been making an attack at the same time and
walked right into it. Not that he hadn't gotton
knocked around himself. Now that the
adrenaline was wearing off, he was beginning
to ache in to many places.

He turned to Herb letting the nonchanlant
mask fall. "Don't worry Herb, no harm done."
Lex made to jump down from the ring when
his left cafe cramped on him. Well maybe a
little harm...

He had to find that girl, and figure out why
she was here, and why Lex had never seen or
heard about her before. He didn't like
surprises, especially not after the last one.
This girl was going to tell him who she was as
soon as he found her like it or not.

**********************

To be continued.....