Author's Note: So I wrote a first chapter. If you read it, please let me know if you like it. If I should change the writing style or whatever. Thanks.

Laura: Well, you wanted it, so here it is.

1:Old Promises Broken

When did it all start, this fascination with the unknown? This fascination exists in every man. Usually it is turned into fear, that primitive emotion that keeps us safe. Sometimes however, in some unfortunate circumstances, this fascination becomes a driving force in one's life determining the course of their actions.

"Hey Chloe."

The scene was an old coffee shop, well, a new coffee shop in an old fixed up cinema. How much things change in a century, it would amaze even the most complex mind. A waitress stood behind the bar as several customers sat around with their drinks and their friends, a short haired blonde being the newest addition to the group of people at the counter.

"Hey Lana. Can I get an espresso?" The blonde asked with a smile as she rested her purse on the counter.

"Coming right up." The waitress said with a smile as she turned around to use the rather large gold-colored espresso machine. "How are things at the Torch?" She asked, quickly turning around to see Chloe for a brief second.

"Oh you know. Same old, same old." Chloe said with a small smile. "Principal is watching me like a hawk."

"Such is life." A voice behind her said with a small smile.

"And what does Smallville's local millionaire know about censorship?" Chloe asked with a small smile.

Lex smiled as he looked over Chloe to Lana. "I've had my share of media incidents." He answered Chloe before looking over to Lana. "Lana, can I get an espresso as well?"

"Sure thing Lex." Lana said with a slight smile as she continued to make some drinks.

"Hey Lana, have you seen Clark?" Chloe asked. "His article for the Torch is late. He was supposed to turn it in today."

"Haven't seen him since yesterday." Lana said.

"I stopped by the Kent farm this morning, he was doing his chores." Lex said with a slight nod. "You might want to check his loft."

"Thanks Lex. The Kent's was my next stop." She said with a slight smile as Lana handed her the coffee she had ordered. Chloe placed the cap on the cup of espresso and paid for the cup with a smile. "I'll see you guys later." She said as she left Lex and Lana there at the coffee counter.

Her car was the bright red Volkswagen bug parked directly outside the coffee shop known as the Talon. Within minutes she was on her way to the Kent farm. How many times had she driven this route since she had gotten her car? The buildings, the people, the farms that she passed seem to be passing by quickly though she knew each and everyone of them well enough to see them clearly despite her speed.

Dust kicked up around the car as it turned onto the dirt path that led past the Kent's barn and on towards their house. The car stopped just outside the barn, parking like it always did. Grabbing her purse she exited the car and made her way into the barn.

"Clark?"

Her voice seemed to carry through the large barn uninhibited. The tools and things laying around the lower basement of the barn were put onto the sides of the barn.

"Chloe?"

Clark's answer came from the upper levels of the barn, the loft, where he had a living room area set up, a familiar telescope looking out over the fields and farms beneath him through the open loft doors. The couch set up facing a table on a rug with a few boxes and tables around the outer edge. The young man had been reclining on the couch reading when he had heard Chloe's voice, now he was at the banister looking down towards her.

"There you are. I've been looking all over for you." Chloe said as she began to ascend the stairs that stood between them. "Your article for the Torch is late. I needed it yesterday."

"Oh right. Sorry with everything that happened..." Clark started.

"It's okay. Do you have it? Or should I run this edition without it?" Chloe asked as she finished her ascent up the stairs, standing next to Clark.

Clark moved further into the loft, behind the couch and picked something up off the table.

"I finished it." He said as he handed her a disk. "I just haven't gotten the chance to email it to you yet." He said with his smile ever so slightly held back.

"Thanks." Chloe said with a slight smile. "How was your mom's trip to Metropolis?"

"I don't know. She and Dad aren't coming back till tomorrow." Clark said with a slight shrug.

"So you've had the farm to yourself since yesterday?" Chloe smirked. "No parties?"

"My parents would kill me." Clark shook his head.

Chloe's laughter was restrained under her breath, she seemed to understand Clark's respect for his parent's wishes.

Chloe was a girl with an avid fascination with the unknown. It was more than just curiosity, more than her duty as a reporter, it was an obsession. It was the one force that drove her innocent shell to uncover the depravity in those around her, in those she didn't know, and in those she knew. When it came to depravity she had seen so much of it, so much innocence lost, so much corruption.

Corruption. It is the process by which something innocent becomes something depraved. It is the very standard by which some men live. There are many accusations leveled against those that the world deems as corrupt, none of which are usually true. Some innocent people sell their innocence for money, mere currency. For some, this mere currency is their only passion, their only desire in life. Such corruption is worse than depravity. It spreads and releases the hidden depravity of man like a ripple in the water. No one knows if the corruption can ever be stopped.

"Where do we stand on the Gotham matter?"

"Everything's going according to plan sir."

"Good."

Two men sat in a luxurious business office surrounded by windows and fellow skyscrapers. The sky's gray overcast seemed to fill the room. The one man sat with his chair turned towards the windows behind the desk. The other sat in front of the desk, in one of the two chair that sat facing it. The office was spacious, on the upper floors, it was clear that it was an executive office. The man in front of the desk sat with his hands folded and wringing in his lap. His short crew cut hair seemed to bead with sweat.

"And the Smallville Plant?" The man behind the desk asked as he looked out the window.

"Production is on the rise sir. So are profits." The man answered.

"I see." The man said as he stood up. He turned to face the man. Lionel Luthor was a man who knew his business well, but didn't afford others that same benefit. "Get a hold of McCoy, tell him I want to see him."

"Yes sir." The man said as he stood up. He didn't seem to be too happy to be there, and left rather quickly.

Several moments passed with Lionel looking out of his window looking out over the city beneath him. There was something in his eyes, that seemed to look at the people beneath him as though they were there merely for his own pleasure of watching of them in their day to day lives. Like a child with an ant-farm in his bedroom.

"You wanted to see me sir?" A young man asked as he came forward.

"Yes. I want you to take this to my son in Smallville." He said handing him a manilla envelope.

"Yes sir." The man said coming forward and taking the envelope. He was gone within seconds it seemed that lesser mortals could only stand this holy ground for so long.

Lionel sat back in his chair, looking at his computer screen with a blank expression on his face. His fingers placed neatly together on his chair. His silent thoughts interrupted by a buzzer on his desk.

"Mr. Luthor there's a Cain MacEnghus here to see you. He's not on your agenda but he say's you're expecting him. Want me to take care of him?" His secretary's flowing voice rang in the speaker.

"Send him in." Lionel answered. "I've been expecting him."

"Yes sir." The secretary responded.

Moments later he came through the door. A man dressed in a simple business suit, over it hung a long black coat and peaking out shone a red tie. His shoulder length red hair hung back neatly combed, though it wasn't as long as Lionel's it certainly had a vibrance to it that was much more impressive. His green eyes met with Lionel's eyes as he entered a slight smirk on his face.

"Lionel." He said as he came forward offering his hand.

"Cain." He said shaking his hand. "If that is your real name." Lionel smirked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression you no longer wanted to do business with me."

The man smirked before speaking. "I have no intention of restarting our business relationship." The man said as Lionel moved over to his liquor bar. Lionel raised a glass of Scotch as if to offer some to the man who nodded so as to accept the offer.

"Then what may I ask, are you doing here?" Lionel asked as he poured two glasses of Scotch.

"I hear you reopened the plant in Smallville." The man said as Lionel handed him a glass of Scotch.

"No that would be my son. Lex." Lionel said raising a glass. "He would be the one you're looking for."

"Your son." The man repeated. "You want me to believe that you had nothing to do with it."

"My son has... Left the nest." Lionel said before he took a sip of his Scotch. He walked over to his desk once more and set the glass down.

"So he re-opened the Smallville plant. Contrary to my father's agreement with you. Smallville was to be untouched by you." The man said as he took a seat facing the desk, the glass of Scotch in his hand.

"How is your father? Word is he's disappeared, left his company to his Vice President." Lionel said with a slight smirk.

"Ah, you know the Saint, always off fighting some battle." The man said as he sat down.

"So you've come into control of the company." Lionel said before taking a sip of his Scotch.

"No. It's been taken by another relative." The man answered. "But that is not why I'm here."

"Yes. I understand you're here because you think I've sent my son to re-open the Smallville plant." Lionel answered.

"Don't think I'm so naive Lionel. You know that my family does not want Smallville to be touched." The man said before taking a sip of his Scotch.

"What is your particular interest in this town?" Lionel asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice. "What do you have against a simple factory there? You don't even have business here in the States."

"Our interest is none of your business. We told you stay out of the town. If you won't live up to your end of the deal, we will no longer live up to ours." Cain said as he finished off his Scotch.

"Are you threatening me?" Lionel asked with a tone of superiority in his voice.

"Lionel you may think yourself a god, an untouchable, but don't think that you can't be hurt by your demons. Just some friendly business advice." The man said.

"Get out. If you have any business in Smallville you can take it up with my son." Lionel said, his feelings of anger evident on his face as he spoke.

"I'll do that." The man agreed as he set down his glass on the end table, rising from his seat. "But don't think I'm gone."

Lionel sat in his chair as the man left. He certainly had grown since Lionel had seem him last, but that was the last thing on his mind. His furrowed brow seemed to knot as he rested his elbows on the desk, folding his hands in front of him. What to do... "Lex can handle it himself." He finally said aloud as if those demons that the man had mentioned were there listening to him.

Those demons that haunt men as they work, those depraved men. They don't really exist as far as men can tell, yet they haunt them all the same. Some men ignore them, others are driven mad by them. Madness is what they call a separation from reality, when one's perceptions of reality become out of synch with everyone else's. So if one man perceives a different reality than everyone else, which reality is the real one?

In the reality that we all perceive it is the law that makes the rules. The government passes laws, supposedly for the benefit of the people. The people themselves are an entity, just as the government itself is an entity. The rules are there to ensure the safety and benefit of the people, after all the government knows what is best for the people, don't they? The people entrust them with this control, so the government passes the laws, and yet the people break them.

Morality is defined by right and wrong. In our reality it is the government that decides what is right and what is wrong. There are some however who decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong because they do not believe the government to be proper in authority, they believe that the people and the circumstances determine what is right.

"How long until we get there?"

"A few hours sir."

Morality is one of the luxuries of life. Those who move the currency that they so hungrily desire can afford to pay those who decide the difference between right and wrong to redefine the limits of good and bad.

"Get me there as quickly as possible."

The man who'd just stepped out of Lionel's office seemed to be in a hurry. His red hair seemed like a bright flower in the middle of the concrete garden that was the city. The eyes of the people around him didn't even see him, each obsessed with their own path and their own itinerary that they could hardly see what was before them.

"Yes sir."

The driver of the car opened the door for the man as the man took his seat. The car started, and was off through the concrete garden, and off towards the dirt farm.

"Take me directly to the Kent farm."

"Yes sir."

Respect. It made everyone around you look at you differently. As though they were less than you. Perhaps it was right, perhaps it was wrong. Respect is merely a sophisticated and restrained form of fear. To fear someone is to respect them, in a sense. It was a restrained fear that restrained your actions as well as your mind rather than setting them loose. It was a part of it, yet it was an opposite effect.

The ring tone on a new phone is hardly worth figuring out for at least three days after acquiring the phone. Lex picked up the phone that was vibrating in his pocket. "Hello?" He asked as he put down his coffee cup on the table before him which held the morning's paper. "Dad. What can I do for you?"

The waitress moved silently between tables picking up empty cups and mugs to place on her tray as her eyes turned towards the millionaire when he answered his phone.

"Coming here?" Lex asked with a tone of boredom in his voice. "Well thanks for the concern dad, but I can take care of myself."

The waitress resumed her cleaning of the tables as though she had never paused to listen. After all, eavesdropping was rude wasn't it?

Lex closed his phone, and after shoving it into his pocket he picked up his newspaper. Goodbyes weren't wasted as the bald millionaire left the coffee shop. His coat flowing after him as he walked through the doors.

The bell rang as the door closed behind him. He was at a crossroad at the moment. Which path would he choose?


Please remember, it's kind to review.