Part 7

Lex kissed Bruce.

Comfortably ensconced in the back of the limo--sound-proof, darkly tinted security windows hiding them from the driver--Lex kissed his lover with all the desperation of a man who knows the hour of his death is drawing near. Certainly, as they left Lana and the Talon behind, it felt that way. He'd had always dreamed of escaping from his father's shadow, of being his own man. Writer of his own story. Creator of his own destiny. Now he realized that time had come, and he was seized with sudden fear.

Which was inconceivable, really. After all, he had plotted against his father with Victoria. But this was different. Lex hadn't really wanted to make a clean break from Daddy at that point. A game--what he and Victoria had done had been a game. This was real, he realized. Bruce Wayne wasn't signing on to be a pawn, willing or otherwise. He was offering himself as a partner... a partner in a very dangerous enterprise, one that could prove fatal if they slipped up even once. Somehow, Lex knew Bruce understood this, yet he was still offering.

They sealed the deal with a kiss.

Breathless, Lex pulled away slightly, his hands reaching to touch Bruce, fingers tracing his jaw line tentatively. "You *do* know what you're suggesting, don't you?" he asked quietly.

"Yes." Bruce leaned back in his seat and placed a hand on Lex's knee. The touch sent a thrill straight to his groin. Bruce smiled a knowing smile and patted the knee lightly. "You think I don't know the risks? Lionel will try to crush us both when he finds out."

"When..." Lionel's son echoed. He hadn't thought about that, but of course Bruce was right. Lionel would find out, and he wouldn't be happy.

Bruce chuckled. "Yes, when," he reiterated. "But I really wouldn't worry about it, Lex. Your father would have a hard time crushing me now as it stands, and by the time we're through with him, he won't be able to touch you."

For a moment, he was taken aback by the somberness in Bruce's words. They'd reached, he realized with a small amount of trepidation, a point of no return. Once past it... Lex shook his head. He wasn't sure he wanted to think past this point right now. Plotting against his father was one thing. Implementing those plans was another thing entirely.

Yet, he still wanted it. God, how he wanted it--could taste it. A victory over his father so sweet just the anticipation of it made his mouth tingle.

"Seconds thoughts?" Bruce inquired, all too accurately reading Lex's internal dilemma. The young Luthor was spared the need to answer right away, however, when his cell phone rang for the millionth time that day.

"Lex Luthor," he said, speaking wearily into the mouthpiece. "Oh, hello, Mr. Kent." He sighed a little, glad at least that it wasn't his father this time. "Actually, I was expecting Clark to call, but--" Jonathan Kent reminded him that Clark had chores he needed to do, then added sarcastically that it wasn't as if *he* had anything pressing to do on the farm that afternoon. "I suppose not," Lex admitted with a slight smile. He asked the farmer about the town meeting, made some inquires as to the Kent's ability to bounce back from any potential losses the tornado might have caused, and hung up depressed.

And also with his resolve thoroughly renewed. Jonathan Kent hadn't said much, but from the little he had said, Lex gathered the farm may not be theirs much longer. The thought of his friend losing the only home he'd ever known because disaster aid was not forthcoming--and that his father might possibly be involved in this injustice--rekindled Lex's anger.

"Town meeting at four," he informed a curious Bruce. "At the school gymnasium."

"The Kent farm?"

Lex shook his head. "Mr. Kent's a proud man. I've tried several times this year to help Clark's family find a way out of debt; his father won't accept my help." His voice was bitter. "Until a couple days ago, I thought he blamed me for..." He shook his head again as if to clear away the depression that was settling in on his brain. "I guess it doesn't matter now. If they don't get aid, they'll lose their farm anyway."

"And a lot of others, too, it would seem," Bruce reminded grimly.

Lex swore, slamming a fist against the leather upholstered seat upon which they sat. All the phone calls he'd made that morning in an attempt to determine what--if anything--his father had done to cut off aid to Smallville had come up with nothing. It was frustrating. "I need to know, Bruce," he said at last, pain evident in his voice. "I--" he paused as the limo pulled up to the gates of the Luthor estate. "I've long since come to accept the things my father has done to me; it's natural to me somehow, the games we play with each other. But I couldn't live with myself if I knew he'd done this, and I let it happen. I need to know if he's involved."

"And you're not finding anything to tie him down." It wasn't a question.

"No; Dad's too good to get caught by his own son. I just wish there were something concrete I could go on, instead of just this *feeling* that I have."

Bruce's countenance darkened as his brow wrinkled into an expression of thoughtfulness. "There may be a way," he said at last. "My father had ties... to a lot people. I've hesitated to make use of them for myself, but in this case, I see no other alternative."

"Bruce, are you sure?" Like the initial offer of help, this astounded Lex in it's selflessness.

The young Wayne placed a hand on Lex's shoulder, squeezing firmly. "I've never wanted things handed to me because of who I am, but this isn't for me, and as much I'd like to convince myself it would be for you, it isn't even that."

It was for Smallville, Lex realized as the chauffeur opened the door for them at last. For Clark and Lana, Jonathan and Martha Kent, and all the people who would otherwise suffer because his father valued their lives even less than he valued that of his own son. People who did not deserve to suffer because of the games the Luthor men played with each other.

Lex nodded. "Make the call," he said at last, turning to face the house his father had transplanted from Scotland years before. Rebuilt brick by brick to be a living reminder of the Luthors' power over everything they came into contact with. To Lex, it was a symbol of his father's arrogance, and arrogance was a flaw. Perhaps a fatal one, as good as the ancient tragedians could have written it.

"You're sure? No second thoughts?"

Eyes still on the castle, Lex replied, "If my father did this out of spite for me, then he's gone too far. It will end here."

*L*E*X*

At two-thirty, the two conspirators had finally wrapped up their plans for the town... and Lionel Luthor. Bruce had made the phone calls he'd promised--calling up some of his father's old business and political contacts, most of whom had been delighted to hear from Thomas Wayne's son--and had come up with mixed results. It seemed that *someone* had pulled some strings along the way, but not one of Bruce's contacts had been able to tell them whom.

"It's a start," Bruce said as he knocked back the drink Lex offered him. "And the senator I spoke to said it definitely looks like someone's palms got greased to look the other way in regards to Smallville." When Lex snorted, he added, "I told him I'd be grateful if he could find out who did the greasing."

"Campaign contributions?" Lex smiled for the first time in an hour. His partner in crime returned the smile with his own wicked grin. "Do you think he'll turn anything up?"

"I hope so." Bruce frowned a little. "Is there anyone in town you trust well enough to help us, Lex? Between the tornado and your father, I'm not sure we can do this alone."

"I was actually thinking the same thing... and there is someone I trust implicitly. I only hope he still trusts me."

*L*E*X*

The door opened only a minute after Lex knocked, and Lex found Chloe Sullivan staring at him. Who promptly shut said door in his face with an audible slam.

Lex closed his eyes, counted to ten and this time rang the doorbell. This time he heard his former plant manager in the background, calling to his daughter to get the door.

"Who is it, honey?" Gabe Sullivan asked as Chloe opened the door once again.

"What do *you* want?" Chloe snarled accusingly when she saw that Lex was still there.

"I need to speak to your father," he said politely, reminding himself that this was Clark's girlfriend and his favorite employee's daughter and he shouldn't be entertaining thoughts of shaking the snark out of her. He'd obviously been hanging out with Bruce Wayne too long, if his tolerance level was already so depleted.

"If you hadn't noticed," Chloe replied, waving a hand towards a kitchen full of cardboard boxes, "we're kind of busy right now... moving." She went to close the door again, but this time, Lex was quick enough to stop it.

"Chloe?" Gabe's voice got louder as he entered the kitchen. "Lex!?" he exclaimed a second later.

"Was just leaving," Chloe added, trying to shut the door on him again. Lex held strong, denying her that pleasure yet again.

"Gabe," he said, his tone neutral despite the fact that inside he was pleading for the man to be more receptive than his daughter. "I need to speak with you. All I'm asking for is a few minutes of your time." And your trust, Lex thought.

The older man's eyes narrowed. "That's what you asked for when you told us the plant had been reopened. And then you betrayed us." Lex could feel the chill in the usually friendly man's voice. "Good-bye, Mr. Luthor," his former employee added, turning away.

"If you'll give me time," Lex began, his desperation showing in his voice at last. "I can explain. Gabe, I need you."

"I suppose you're going tell me it wasn't even your doing. That daddy did all this to us?" The man asked without looking back.

"Well, yes, actually, that's--" His cell phone rang. "Oh, of all the--" Lex blurted out as he yanked the phone from his pocket and whipped it open. " What?" he snarled. "Bruce! Sorry about that... I was kind of afraid it was Dad." Lex listened as Bruce passed on an update from his friend in the senate. The Sullivans watched as his faced turned to ash, his body stiffening in very evident anger. "There have been times," he spoke bitterly into the phone "when I really hated my father. This exceeds those times." His voice was so cold, so full of hatred. He'd been right; his father had paid someone to let Smallville suffer in the wake of both natural and man-made devastation. Luthor-made devastation.

Chloe stepped back away from the door, fear in her eyes at the expression on Lex's face.

"Why don't you come inside, Lex," Gabe said as the young executive finally put away his cell phone. "Your father really is behind all this, isn't he?" he asked as Lex followed him into the cluttered kitchen.

Lex nodded grimly. When Gabe started to apologize, however, he stopped him with a frown. "Don't apologize," Lex told him. "It isn't your place to be sorry for what's happened here; it's mine."