In return for freeing Emily Dinsmore,
Lana's childhood friend in addition to being a powerful metahuman, the Hand of
Vengeance agrees to aid Lex's
Legion of Doom in a strategic attack on the Justice League. The primary goal of
this attack is to eliminate League member Kyle Tippet.
In addition to securing Emily's release, Lana also sees this attack as a good
opportunity to reaffirm Chloe's loyalty to the Hand of Vengeance. Chloe had
been with Lana when they were younger when her horse was spooked, back when she
believed she had been attacked by Kyle Tippet.
Although Chloe had initially been attracted to Lana's goal of protecting Earth
from dangerous meteor freaks and Kryptonians,
Lana had much difficulty in convincing Chloe to understand her complete vision.
Chloe later learned that Lana believed that in order to keep the world safe
from Kryptonians and
meteor-freaks she would have to sacrifice them for the greater good. However,
Lana provided exceptions for a few meteor freaks that she felt had been the
innocent victims of Luthorcorp
and Summerholt experiments
including Chloe who had accidentally inhaled a Kryptonite gas while
investigating Luthorcorp,
along with Kevin
Grady and Byron Moore.
But unknown to Lana, Chloe had gotten to know Kyle after the alleged incident,
and came to see him as a good and decent human being. And when Kyle later left
Smallville to see what good his power could do for the world, Kyle kept in
touch with Chloe and they became pen
pals.
Before the arranged attack the Legion and the Hand agreed that their strategy
would be to distract Justice League members Kal-El and Bart Allen and lead them away from Kyle,
who they would then eliminate. Jordan Cross, the leader of the Justice League,
had a power that
was more cerebral and was not seen as a threat.
Sending in the mightiest first, Lana and Lex
ordered Bizarro, Byron Moore, along with Dr. Helen Bryce and Molly Griggs, the
two of whom had been genetically modified so that they were nearly
invulnerable, to engage Kal-El
and Bart Allen.
The Legion and Hand members put up a good fight. After about five minutes they
then began to fall back to another part of the forest, away from Kyle,
nevertheless some of them had taken heavy blows. They then turned and then enaged them again.
Unable to run as fast as Kal-El
and Bart, Kyle Tippet attempted to follow as quickly as possible. But as he ran
after them he began to slow as he saw Emily Dinsmore walking freely through the battleground. He
stopped to talk to her. He asked if she was okay and if she felt strong enough
to use her power to help Kal-El
and Bart Allen. But then, suddenly, her
face changed, and Kyle realized it was actually Tina Greer, Lex's most feared assassin.
Tina took Kyle by suprise
with a kick to the head. It stunned him and he nearly fell over. Jeff Palmer,
one of Tina's Vanguard,
grabbed Kyle from behind, keeping him on his feet.
Through the fog Mxyzptlk
could be seen approaching shortly afterward. Mxyzptlk had been second in command of the Legion
after Tina, yet he felt humiliated by Kyle's power. Lex's scientists recently revealed concerns that
Kyle might render Mxyzptlk
powerless when in
close proximity.
Mzyxptlk instructed Jeff to
move away. Kyle stood alone with Mxyzptlk,
barely able to stand. Now was the time that Mxyzptlk would have his revenge. He walked close to
Kyle so that the others couldn't hear and said the word 'choke' to Kyle,
expecting him to choke. When
nothing happened Mxyzptlk
swore and punched Kyle hard in the stomach, which caused him to fall over. He
instructed Jeff to pick him back up, and then pulled something out of his
pocket that looked like a knife.
Chloe and Lana watched from a safe distance. Although Chloe had been a friend
of Kyle some of her memories had been temporarily erased by Kevin Grady, at
Lana's request, in order to ensure her continued loyalty. But when Chloe saw
Kyle fall over, it jolted her.
Puzzled by her feelings Chloe turned to Lana for guidance. Looking over at her
she saw that Lana was laughing. Lana was happy to see Kyle getting what she
believed he deserved.
Chloe's warm feelings for Lana turned to hate. Although Lana (AKA Star
Sapphire) was very powerful, wielding a Zamaron power ring that gave her the
ability to fly and a repelling ray, Lana had not thought it necessary to wear
her ring, as she was far from the fighting.
Chloe knew this and quickly took the opportunity to punch Lana in the face,
knocking her unconscious. Chloe then picked up the Zamaron power ring and used
it to knock the remaining Legion and Hand members unconscious.
Chloe used the ring to fly over to Kyle, hoping she wasn't too late. When she
got close to him she saw that he had been stabbed through the heart.
Heartbroken, she kneeled over Kyle, believing him to be dead. A tear fell from
her eye onto Kyle's forehead. She collapsed on top of him, unconscious.
The energy from Chloe's spirit surged through Kyle. Not only did it heal him
but he also looked much younger, closer to her
own age.
From high above, Chloe and Kyle together looked ironically peaceful in the
forest, as if they had been sleeping, yet all around them they were surrounded
by the unconscious bodies of vicious assassins.
Kyle woke up. He was shocked to find Chloe lying unconscious on him and also
that he had been surrounded by his enemies. He was also surprised to see Chloe
wearing Lana's Zamaron power ring.
Fearing that the power of the ring would corrupt Chloe, he took it off her
finger and put it in his pocket. He picked her up and carried her to safety,
into the cover of the forest.
After walking a few minutes Kyle felt a burning sensation in his pocket. It was
the Zamaron power ring. It flew out of his pocket, and then he realized that
Lana must have regained consciousness. He started to run as fast as he could
while still carrying Chloe, but then he tripped and they both fell. Chloe
regained consciousness and Kyle told her what happened.
Behind them they heard explosions. They realized that Lana must have followed
the path of the ring behind them. Lana appeared to be firing randomly, in the
forest, causing explosionsall
around. Terrified, they hid behind some rocks.
After a few moments the explosions stopped and Lana appeared in the distance.
They could see that she was furious, but she still could not find them. She
screamed out loud in all directions. She said that her friendship with Chloe
was over and that now Chloe was her
enemy along with Kyle. She also called Chloe weak for doubting her wisdom. When
she finished she flew into the air, shooting randomly in all directions again,
and then took off in one direction, still firing.
Kyle led Chloe, who was still weakened, to Jordan Cross who had been monitoring
their progress from a secret location off a nearby dirt road.