Author's notes: I love it when the chapter is easy to write. :D Candy to my reviewers!
President Lex Luthor loved a good vacation. It was the only time he could expect Superman to pay him a visit. Usually, the self-righteous prick arrived on the first day once Lex had a moment to himself. Probably some natural disaster somewhere had delayed him.
Sipping wine, Lex laid out on a patio chair under an umbrella in only a pair of white shorts. His Scotland mansion at Smallville still had beautiful grounds. It had been quite the fight to convince the Secret Service that the property was easily secured, but it'd been well worth it.
Lex took in a deep breath of Smallville air. It was blissfully quiet. Too quiet.
A soft whoosh was the only warning he had.
"Glad to see you could make it. We need to talk," he said to the umbrella.
Superman stepped calmly around, crossing his arms across his chest in his usual intimidate-and-lecture pose. "Yes, we do."
Knowing that look of disapproval, Lex laughed and took another drink of his wine before sitting up. "What did I do this time?"
"You set up a terrorist organization in the Congo, which then assassinated several high-ranking officials in neighboring countries."
"Have any proof?" Lex knew there wouldn't be any, since he had nothing to do with it.
"No, but I know you did it."
Normally, this was about the time Lex would taunt Superman. Even though he was more than a little grated at being talked down to by Clark Kent, the delicacy of the situation required Lex to swallow some of his pride and let it go.
Lex slipped off his sunglasses, looking at the alien man who was too good looking to be real and quite altered from Clark Kent's features in key areas. "You know why I love this job, Superman?"
"You're a power hungry control freak who enjoys being a button push away from nuclear war?"
"Christ, Superman, that's cold. A nuclear war would mean the end of human civilization as we know it. I'm not really interested in that kind of scenario. What would be the point of conquering a world without people?"
Superman's stone façade didn't budge an inch.
Of course, Superman actually thought his joke of world conquest was serious. Lex had assumed it was because of Superman's own plans of world domination. It had been flattering the first twenty times to be considered a rival. Now, it was trite and more than a little sad.
"So, how's Lara doing?" Lex calmly asked.
Superman's cheek twitched. "Who?"
Leaning back into his chair, Lex sighed at Kent's tells and slipped his mirror-like wraparound sunglasses back on. "The Lara Kent girl that fell into a coma two months ago that Clark Kent gave to you for special protection?"
"Why would she need special protection?" Superman's voice had dropped low. Oh, Lex had hit a nerve knowing information on Lara's whereabouts.
"She's my bastard child. Did Clark Kent not mention that? Better to have her disappear off the face of the planet than for her to fall into my clutches, is that about right?" Lex reached over and picked up a newspaper off the short table next to him. "I don't know how I feel about having a megalomaniac like you raising my daughter."
"You should look in the mirror, Mr. President."
Lex bit down his witty retort to keep the conversation civil and flapped the folded newsprint at the man in the blinding superhero costume. He set the wineglass down on the table. "All I care about is the well-being of my only living blood relative. Is she or is she not doing well?"
Superman glared down at him as if Lex had admitted to releasing a biological agent guaranteed to chemically castrate all mutants. "Lara Kent won't wake for another month."
"Oh good. That gives me plenty of time to start the legal proceedings."
"Legal proceedings?" Superman parroted.
"Yes, against the Kents. I'm going to take custody of Lara."
"Is stealing a child from her guardians a new phase of yours, Luthor? Because that's low even for you."
Lex felt the rage boiling in his gut. His hand tightened around the rolled newspaper as he rose from the chair, anger held back through strength of will. Ducking out from under the umbrella, he strode towards Superman who remained there like a granite post. "You need to get your head checked if you think I'll sit on my hands and pretend Lara isn't my child. Contrary to your belief, I'm perfectly capable of being a responsible parent."
"Lara has done well enough without your bad influence."
"She. Is. My. DAUGHTER!" Lex slapped the superhero's arm several times with the balled up newspaper.
Superman stood there like a statue, unaffected by his outburst.
Lex spun away, stormed to the table, and knocked the glass on the ground with a swipe of the newspaper. It shattered staining the gray stone purple. He stared at it, watching the fluid spread. At this moment, hatred was winning in the dance of emotion in Lex's head.
"You really think you're stable enough to parent?"
"How dare you!" Lex jabbed the newspaper towards Superman. "Clark Kent reveals that she's my flesh and blood, and then behind my back you both question my qualifications? What gives you the right?"
"Because I happen to agree with Mr. Kent."
"I was never given the chance!" Lex exploded, but then ground down on his jaw, swiping the newspaper away. Too much was riding on this moment to have a complete meltdown and he was very close to that. "Have you given any thought to Lara Kent? You're an alien orphan. Naturally, you'd of all people would understand that a child would want to know!"
"In this case, I'd make an exception," Superman asserted with a sureness that only fueled Lex's colder fury.
"We'll see about that." Lex enunciated and drew the newspaper up, firing his specially patented tranquilizer hidden inside of it.
The big oaf blinked down at his chest and plucked the tiny green dart from the yellow background on his costume. Superman grabbed the newspaper from Lex's lax fingers and tore through the paper revealing a thin lead sheet that had covered a narrow gun. "What are you planning?"
Unsmiling, Lex shrugged. "I guess you'll have to wait and find out."
"I don't think so." Superman stumbled towards the balcony as if he was suddenly dizzy. The gun slipped from his fingers and clattered on the stonework. He reached for the hidden communicator in his ear, but then his legs suddenly turned to jelly and down the superhero went.
"Without me around to keep you on your toes, you've gotten less vigilant. That's not really smart. If I was anyone else, you'd be dead right now, you know." Lex crouched next to the big guy, an epi-pen-like device on hand just in case the symptoms to the tranquilizer were too severe.
Superman tried to speak, but his eyes rolled in his head as his body seized up.
"You're only going to sleep for a bit. Relax."
Superman's limbs weakly flopped on the ground, and then the big alien stopped moving altogether. Lex placed two fingers at his throat to check Superman's pulse and watched the rise and fall of his chest. Satisfied that he'd prepared the right dosage, Lex grabbed the neckline of Superman's garish outfit.
"Let's see what kind of technology's in this suit of yours, shall we?" Lex smirked.
He discovered that the material expanded with little effort off of Superman's shoulders. Stripping the superhero down to nothing, Lex balled the spandex-like costume and cape into a fist. The belt and shoes were standard tooled and shaped leather, not nearly as interesting as the remaining material. He pulled it apart as far as his arms would go and brought it back together. The brightly colored fiber showed no sign of damage or strain. It was both amazingly flexible and surprisingly compact when compressed.
Letting his eyes linger on Clark Kent's well-built nakedness, Lex called over his shoulder shoving the material into his pocket, "Mercy! Hope!"
The slender brunette and a lean blonde appeared in the doorway.
"Take him to one of the guest bedrooms. Tell Brad about our new visitor. You know how he hates surprises."
They nodded and exchanged a glance. Hope disappeared into the hallway and reappeared tugging a lumbering contraption from the hallway.
"You sure this'll work?" Mercy asked.
"We'll see when he wakes up. Until then, you know what to do."
Mercy grunted as she helped Hope roll the extremely heavy Clark Kent onto the metal pallet lift.
Lex picked the gun off the ground, brushing it with tender fingers. If everything went according to plan, Lex would know more secrets and Clark Kent would be none the wiser.
TBC.