Not in Kansas anymore

Prologue

Lana in Wonderland

Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound of medical equipment close by, fogginess, blurred images and someone calling out her name. Then suddenly, her voice saying: "You want this body. I want the world." Bells and days flashing by and no one she knew and everything she knew…and rooms and drinks and parties and warm bodies until there was nothing left but a vortex of colors and sounds that ate her up.

Lana startled awake.

She blinked several times until her vision cleared completely and she looked around the room with a curious gaze. It was huge: tastefully decorated, with massive windows, king size bed, white walls, Persian rugs. And everything completely foreign to her. Where was she? What was the last thing she remembered?

"Smallville," she muttered under her breath. She remembered seeing her hometown destroyed by another meteor shower. She had probably fainted or…what was it about the chopper? It had crashed! Now she remembered. She had probably been hurt and brought there to recover. She looked at her arms, touched her face. She didn't seem to have any injuries. She didn't feel any pain. She just had a headache. She pulled the covers away to analyze the rest of her body for possible injuries and realized she was naked. She pulled the covers back over herself and was even more confused. Who could own such an apartment? By the richness of it, only one person came to mind. But what would she be doing in Lex's mansion, naked? Wait, hadn't the mansion been destroyed as well? As she thought about these things she realized she was unconsciously playing with something on one of her fingers. She looked down and saw a gold band around her finger. A wedding ring. She quickly took it off and looked at it closer. It was a wedding ring all right. A very fine one. It had an engraving on it too, but she couldn't quite make it out.

She stood up from the bed and, dragging the sheets after her, she headed for a wall length mirror to study herself closer. In the mirror she noticed something startling – beside the fact she looked somehow older and her hair had a totally different style from the one she had had - behind her, through the massive windows, the skyline of Metropolis could be seen. She knew only one thing that could have made such a blank in her mind. Isobel. She turned her back toward the mirror and let the sheets slide down her body enough for her to see if anything had changed about her tattoo. Just as she was doing that, the doors of the room swung open and Lex strode in. She quickly brought the sheets closer to her body.

"Lex! What are you doing here?" she asked annoyed.

"Good morning to you too," he muttered giving her a short glance and then walking over to the bar – there was a bar too? Lana hadn't noticed it before – he casually poured himself a drink.

"Lex…," Lana said after a moment of hesitation. "Did something ha…"

"I really liked your speech," Lex said turning back toward her holding a glass of what she assumed to be whiskey.

"What speech?" she asked careful. Lex checked his watch and then grabbing a remote laying on the table he opened a gigantic flat television screen.

"It should be on about now. The press had a blast with it. They've been running it every hour since you made the declaration," he said as he turned up the volume a notch.

"And in Metropolis news, Lana Luthor faced with the accusations brought against Lang Pharmaceuticals by the staggering number of 100.000 of their products' buyers, released a public statement yesterday afternoon. This is what Mrs. Luthor had to say," the anchorwoman said and then Lana was suddenly on TV in front of an army of journalists and told them:

"Their claims are preposterous. They have no basis or proof for their accusations. I won't even bother trying to settle this out of court. If they wanted to drag my name through the mud, I think it's only fair I return the favor and make sure the public knows what kind of people they are. My company will not be preyed upon."

"Mrs. Luthor, some of the organizers of this civil action claim not to want any material compensation but the immediate shutdown of Lang Pharmaceuticals. What do you think about that?" a journalist from the crowd asked.

"Well, if that's true then it's also true that my husband keeps little green men in the basements of Luthorcorp or my side of the bed empty," she said with a smile and some of the journalists chuckled.

Lex turned off the TV.

"Nice," he smirked and looked at Lana. "I would've liked it even better if you had mentioned you don't exactly keep your side of the bed empty either." Instinctually Lana slapped him across the face. But it only made him smile. "Too late to start playing the prude now, darling. We both know we're not exactly saints. Come on, I have an army of spies watching over you. You have an army of spies watching over me. We're as sick as that," he neared her dangerously and pressed his lips lightly to hers before she had a chance to react and then left the room. "I'll see you tonight at the party."

When he was gone and she was alone once more, Lana hugged herself. It had been Isobel! And she had…married Lex? And what was Lang Pharmaceuticals? She stared at the blank TV screen. She took the remote Lex had disregarded on the bed and turned it on again. She changed channels until she came across a news one that showed the date. 12 June 2007. She stared at it wide eyed. It couldn't be! She looked around the room distressed and came across a phone on the nightstand. As soon as she picked it up however a female voice on the other end of the line said:

"What can I help you with, Mrs. Luthor?"

"Who is this?" she asked confused.

"Uhm, it's Florence, Mrs. Luthor. Your personal assistant," the girl told her.

"Florence," she repeated hoping that it would maybe make her remember who she was. It didn't work. She didn't know any Florence.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked again.

"Could you find out if someone is in Metropolis, Florence?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Of course," she could hear her looking for a pen. When she found it, she said: "Name?"

"Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan," she told her.

"I don't know about this Clark Kent, but I'm pretty sure Ms. Sullivan is in town, ma'am," the girl said.

"She is? Where can I find her?" she asked relieved that at least someone she knew was there. And with Chloe's investigation skills they'd get to the bottom of all this in a few hours.

"At the Daily Planet of course," the girl answered her. Lana smiled. Yes, that was the place she had imagined Chloe Sullivan would be in 2 years.

End Prologue