"Lana?"
Adrian studied the woman standing before him, trying to understand why she had summoned him to the abandoned cheerleading practice room. The lights were dim, the air stale, and the silence felt deliberate.
"If you dragged me all the way here just to stare," Adrian said flatly, his tone careless and unimpressed, "you could have saved us both the trouble and said you wanted to mess around."
Lana frowned, her gaze lingering on him in a way that felt invasive rather than shy.
"This isn't a joke," she replied calmly. "I'm sensing something inside you. A presence."
She reached out and placed her hand against Adrian's chest.
"This feeling," she murmured, "it's familiar. Old. You and I are alike in one way, Adrian. We both hide who we really are. But what's inside you… it's vast. Almost unimaginable."
Her fingers lingered as she leaned closer.
"I was drawn to you because of it."
Adrian did not react. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"You're not Lana," he said.
The words caught her completely off guard.
"What?"
She stepped back, shock flashing across her face.
"I can smell your soul," Adrian continued coolly. "Rotten. Like something buried underground for centuries."
A faint, mocking smile curved his lips. "So I'll ask again. Who are you?"
The warmth vanished from her expression.
"I should have known," she snapped. "That thing inside you, you're a male witch."
She laughed sharply, her voice filled with disbelief and anger.
"Male witches still exist in this century? How amusing. And you, arrogant child, you've truly crossed a line."
She retreated a step and began chanting.
With a violent crash, every chair in the cheerleading room lifted into the air and hurled toward Adrian.
He raised one hand.
The chairs stopped midair and dropped uselessly to the floor.
"If this is the best you can do," Adrian said calmly, "you're embarrassing yourself."
He pushed forward with his palm.
Lana's vision blurred as a brutal force slammed into her body. She flew backward and smashed into the wall, hitting the floor hard.
She barely had time to move before Adrian appeared in front of her.
"You were wrong about one thing," he said. "I'm not a male witch."
He reached for her collar.
A powerful gust of wind exploded through the room.
Adrian staggered, not from the wind itself, but from the invisible pressure locking his body in place. His physical defenses were overwhelming, his physiology reinforced by sheer brute force, but magic bypassed what muscle and bone could not.
Lana scrambled to her feet.
The door burst open.
Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane stood in the doorway, both watching Adrian with open surprise.
"Be careful," Lana warned. "He's fast, and his strength isn't normal."
"That just makes things interesting," Chloe said eagerly.
She raised her hand and chanted.
Every sharp metal object in the room screamed through the air toward Adrian.
The sound was piercing.
Before any of them could reach him, twin red beams cut through the room.
Heat Vision reduced the projectiles to molten fragments midair.
Chloe froze.
"What?"
In the next instant, Adrian vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of her, grabbing her clothes and lifting her effortlessly off the ground.
"Answer me," Adrian demanded coldly. "Who are you, and how did you take their bodies?"
"We have crossed centuries to fulfill our master's will," Chloe sneered. "The magic of a farm boy won't stop us."
Lana raised her hand. A crescent symbol flared on her forehead as pale light filled her eyes.
Adrian felt the air around him tighten.
He slammed into the wall.
Heat Vision erupted from his eyes on instinct.
Lois stepped in front of Lana, chanting rapidly.
"I can feel your power," she said, reaching toward him. "I can take it."
She never finished.
Adrian rebounded through the air and struck her squarely.
Lois crashed through the window, glass shattering as students screamed outside.
Adrian did not wait.
He vanished in a blur of speed, leaving the school grounds behind him.
Moments later, the three witches followed.
They met again in a deserted forest miles away.
Adrian landed and turned to face them, his expression sharp and focused. They were not strong enough to kill him, but their magic was dangerous. It bypassed what he relied on most.
He extended his hand.
The Star Scepter flew into his grasp.
"I've been holding back," he said. "Mostly because I didn't want to destroy the bodies you're wearing. But don't confuse restraint with weakness."
He fired first.
Energy blasted Lana in the chest, sending her flying before she could chant.
Chloe summoned a violent storm of wind around Adrian as a beam of purple magic tore toward him.
Heat Vision lanced out while the Star Scepter absorbed the attack.
The resulting explosion threw Chloe backward. She crashed into the ground, blood spilling from her mouth.
Lois appeared directly in AIM front of him, reaching for his chest.
Adrian felt his strength draining.
Before she could finish, he struck her with the scepter.
She collapsed, unconscious.
Breathing heavily, Adrian stepped forward.
A glowing sphere engulfed him.
Purple symbols formed beneath his feet.
Before he could react, the world twisted.
He vanished.
Lana gasped for breath as the forest fell silent.
"That thing," she muttered, blood streaking her face. "Even the Goddess's power wasn't enough."
Chloe wiped her mouth and laughed weakly.
Lois did not move.
Clark Kent knew nothing about the chaos at school until later that night.
By the time he arrived, the damage told him everything.
Adrian had been involved.
He searched for him for hours and found nothing.
So he went to Lana.
Her house was silent. Too silent.
No Nell. No animals.
When Clark turned, Lana stood behind him.
"Why are you here, Clark?" she asked coldly.
"I was looking for Adrian."
"I haven't seen him," she replied. "Maybe you should hire a detective."
"Are you okay?" Clark asked quietly.
Chloe's voice came from behind him.
"Why don't you tell him?"
The lie shattered.
"He's dead," Chloe said softly. "Adrian is dead."
The world broke.
Magic slammed into Clark, throwing him across the farm.
His thoughts collapsed into a single truth.
Adrian was gone.
The grief snapped something inside him.
He let go.
When Clark opened his eyes again, he flew.
____
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