Chapter 8: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Whitney Fordman led the way into the excusive nightclub near the edge of Suicide Slums with a hood up Bart Allen following right behind. The place was rocking to the music of "What I've Done" by Linkin Park as they moved through the crowd, people surrounding the dance floor from all around. It was very difficult to get past the large groupings of people, but they'd finally managed to do it as the moved over to a couple of chairs and sat down, Whitney never letting go of Bart's hand.
If it weren't for Whitney's death grip on his hand, Bart probably would've rushed right out. He was very self conscious about the way he looked now. Dr. Bryce had patched him up back at the hospital after cleaning up all the blood, and she had made sure to reassure him that he would heal and be back to his handsome self before he knew it, but that didn't necessarily mean that the hero wanted to let everyone in Metropolis see the way he looked.
Whitney squeezed Bart's hand a bit, seeing that he was looking down at the table they were sitting at instead of doing anything else. "For our first date, you don't really seem to be enjoying yourself."
"It's kinda hard to with my faced covered like this," Bart said. "If it was cover anymore, I would be a mummy."
"Well, Imhotep, why don't we go have a dance?" Whitney asked, a big smile on his face as he asked it, getting ready to stand up upon hopefully hearing a yes.
Bart smirked slightly, though it hurt to show emotion. "You're faster then am I at something. Are you that eager to get your arms around me?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Whitney asked. "I've been locked up for a long time. Excuse me if I don't feel like taking things really slow."
"Maybe that's a good thing," Bart said. "I've always wanted a relationship that goes as fast as I am. Perhaps we were meant to be."
"I would like to think so," Whitney said. "Come on. Dance with me."
"Are you sure?" Bart asked. "This isn't exactly an exclusively gay club. It's mainly for straights."
"So what?" Whitney said. "I don't see a sign that says no gays aloud. Do you?"
Bart shrugged and stood up. "If you insist then."
"I do," Whitney said as he continued holding Bart's had as they moved out onto the dance floor, the song changing to something a bit slower, "Whatever It Takes" by Lifehouse. As Whitney placed his arms around Bart's waist, he thought back to when he danced to a different Lifehouse song with Lana the day he had to leave for basic training, but quickly put the thought away as he focused entirely on the man that had sped into his life form out of nowhere, saving him and then stealing his heart away.
Bart had wrapped his arms around Whitney as well after Whitney had done so first, pulling his head down on Whitney's chest since he was shorter then the other man, so he couldn't quite reach the blonde's shoulders. It didn't matter though. Just being in his embrace helped him with the pain his face was still feeling, and the song helped to keep the mood alive as well. He was happy, and finally with someone that didn't judge him. That meant the world to the speed demon of a superhero.
Sitting in the VIP area above the rest of the club, Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim was deep in thought, massaging one of his temples to ease a headache that had been bothering him all evening. In his other hand was a glass of stiff scotch, but the glorious taste of the alcohol didn't seem to even help how stressed he was. The man needed some relaxation, and would most likely take his frustrations away at the spa the next day if he had the time to do so. The business days were getting longer anymore, so it was difficult to accomplish free time.
Putting his glass of scotch down, Bruno stood up and pulled a cigar out from the hidden pocket of his blue dress jacket, another man nearby pulling up their Zippo lighter, the flame bringing life to the cigar that Bruno had placed in his mouth. As he puffed on the cigar, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the sweet taste as the smoke exhaled out of his mouth. A good Cuban cigar, despite that they were illegal, were always a good way to take away the stress of business. Considering the business he was in, it made sense that he needed anything, and everything, possible to calm down and prepare for yet another day of more of the same.
Bruno walked over to the railing at the end of the upper floor and looked down below at all of the kids dancing around and having a good time. There was a lot of talent down there. That much he could tell for sure. Intergang needed some new blood in their pockets, and a lot of the people they hired were straight out of the club. It was just good business after all, and a lot of good thugs had come out of the club, so there was no problem with continuing to stalk out the next group of kids to bring into the Intergang fold. Besides, it was tradition. Morgan Edge had done it before him, so who was Bruno not to continue it?
Catching glance of something that he didn't expect on the dance floor, Bruno saw a gay couple dancing together. His eyebrow rose as he took a puff of the cigar and narrowed his eyes slightly. The crime boss was well aware that the gay community was rather high in Metropolis, but he hadn't yet seen any in his club. "We have a couple of gays tonight," he stated toward the businessman beside him.
"You want me to get rid of them?" the businessman asked.
Bruno looked over toward the man in shock. "Are you insane? The last thing I need is the bad press that this club doesn't allow gays. There'd be an uproar of rioting and reporters would be crawling all over the place. It's bad enough having to put up with Perry White trying to uncover who the crime boss of Intergang really is. He'll be a problem soon to be dealt with, but for now, the less attention that's attracted around here, the better. We don't need to make you know who angry."
The businessman gulped at the mention of the man that Bruno didn't name. Turning toward Bruno move back to his chair, the businessman walked over and sat down as well nearby. "Have you heard anything new on that end? When will we be meeting our mysterious benefactor?"
"Soon," Bruno replied. "The soon to be ruler of this pathetic city, and soon after the world, will be upon us before we know it."
Upon finally getting back to LuthorCorp plaza, Clark Kent sped up to the stairwell that would lead him out to the roof where the battle had taken place earlier. Stopping just a few steps from the roof access door, and then walking out, Clark found Lionel Luthor quickly near to where Mercy Graves and many others of the security staff were located.
"Mr. Luthor," Clark said from behind Lionel as he moved forward.
Lionel and Mercy both turned to see him. "Ah, Clark. Come with me. Mercy, please begin finishing things up here."
"Yes, sir," Mercy said turning back to the rest of the staff.
Lionel led Clark over to where the Smallville Ledger truck was located and pulled the purse out, handing it over to Clark. "There is no information in there that could tell us where she was planning to go or who she was with."
"You didn't find anything from whoever was with her?" Clark asked.
Lionel shook his head. "No. Whoever it is, had nothing else on him or her. Clark, I simply don't know how this could've escaped my intelligence. I should've known something was terrible amiss with that truck pulling past me as I saw Lana getting into her vehicle. I'm becoming an old fool in my declining years, I'm afraid."
Clark frowned. "I doubt that's really the case, Mr. Luthor. I'm sure Lana planned this out really well, and not involving either of us in her rouse had to have been part of the plan. She didn't want you to know what was going on, and so I would guess made it look like the truck was just randomly passing by. You couldn't have known."
"What I would like to know is why Lana felt she needed to fake her death in order to get out of the marriage," Lionel stated. "Surely she's heard of a divorce before."
"I'm sure she has, but you know how your son can be," Clark said. "He doesn't easily let someone out of his life. Look at me. I've been pushing him out of mine for a few years now, and I'm still cleaning up his messes."
Lionel nodded in agreement. "Point taken. You're taking this rather well though, son. Is there anything you'd like to talk about? I know I'm really the last person you'd want to open up to, but I'm here if you ever need to."
"Actually, yeah, I think I would like to discuss this with you," Clark said, noticing that he had surprised Lionel. "You're the closest thing that I have to a parental figure in my life now with my mom off in DC, and I didn't exactly want to bother her with this."
"You honor me, son," Lionel said, a smile on his face as he actually did his best to hold back tears. It was no secret to Lionel that he wished Clark was the son that he had brought into the world, but that was truly impossible. All he really wanted was to be there to support him, and thankfully, Clark was giving him a chance to do so. "Let's go to my office."
"Buttons" by The Pussycat Dolls had started playing, and the dance floor had erupted with excitement as everyone had started dancing more enthusiastically. Standing near the end of the dance floor line, Whitney had a feeling that Bart didn't really feel like dancing at a faster pace, but the blonde wasn't about to let the hero get discouraged as he started dancing to the beat, moving around Bart, rubbing up against him in a very sexual way as he tried to get the mood pumped up, not at all caring if other people on the dance floor saw what was transpiring.
Bart was feeling his face turn red from embarrassment. He didn't want any unwarranted attention drawn to himself because of his face, but it appeared that he wasn't going to get to go sit back down as Whitney had tried to get Bart more into groove. It was actually working. With a bit of extra effort, Bart was finally dancing with Whitney both of them basically taking over the dance floor as they had pushed past everyone else, getting to the middle of the room.
At that moment, everyone else on the floor had basically stopped dancing, forming a circle around the two men as they continued dancing seductively around each other. A lot of the men in the place seemed to be disgusted, but the women were actually cheering the both of them on as they continued moving to the beat, changing things up a bit here and there to continue to surprise their captive audience. The women were clapping along to the beat of the song, and neither Whitney nor Bart could've been happier at that very moment.
Lionel opened the double doors to his office and stepped inside as Clark followed after, closing the doors behind him after walking in. Lionel moved straight toward his miniature wet bar and filled a glass with some scotch before turning back to Clark. "Would you like a glass?"
"No thank you, Mr. Luthor," Clark said as he moved over to the leather couch at the corner of the office where the wet bar was and sat down, looking toward the coffee table in front of the couch he was sitting on.
Lionel nodded and took a seat as well unbuttoning his dress coat as he did so and crossed his legs. "You never really were the scotch drinker. That is, except when under the influence of Red Kryptonite. Now that was an interesting version of yourself."
"Yeah, a version I don't like really thinking about," Clark said.
"Then what is it that you really want to discuss?" Lionel asked. "I get the feeling it's not exactly about a certain female named Lana."
"No, it's not," Clark told him. "Though I am happy that she's still alive, I find it kinda irritated that she did this without asking for my help. I'm sure I could've played the role of devastated friend, but she didn't trust me with it."
"Do you blame her, Clark?" Lionel asked. "No offense, but you spent many years keeping the greatest secret of all from her. You might have to forgive her for doing more of the same."
Clark nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. What I really need to speak with you about though is a lot different then Lana. I've talked to Chloe about it, so I know her view, and I guess it would be nice to hear from someone that knows him a little better then any of us, I would guess."
Lionel's gaze turned to confusion as he took a sip of his scotch. "Knows him? I see now. We're talking about someone of our own sex."
"It's Oliver Queen," Clark said. "You'll never believe this, and I probably shouldn't even be telling you now..."
"Don't worry about it, son," Lionel said. "Anything you say to me, I'll keep to myself. Not even J'onn will know."
"J'onn already knows," a voice stated as J'onn suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. He had been there the whole time invisible, listening in to what the two had been talking about.
Clark stood up, clearly angry. "And here I thought you were going to keep your distance?"
"I was till Mikail Mxyzptlk made a surprise appearance in your loft earlier," J'onn informed. "He may be an all powerful being now, but he does not yet know how to tell when I'm around watching."
"Mikail?" Lionel asked, clearly shocked.
Clark ignored Lionel and walked over to where J'onn was standing, his anger rising. "I'm getting seriously tired of you stalking me everywhere I go, J'onn. The days of you doing Jor-El's bidding are over. I don't need you watching every move I make."
"Kal-El, you know good and well that I cannot do that," J'onn said. "You need guidance, and since you refuse to seek it from Jor-El, I have no choice but to make sure that you don't do anything stupid, and I tell you now that if you ignore Mikail and at the same time choose to date Oliver Queen, things will get more complicated then you really want."
"Hold everything!" Lionel called out, stepping between both of them. "I feel like the odd man out here. First I'm hearing about one of Lex's prisoners and now you're telling me that this whole situation with Oliver Queen is..." He looked over to Clark. "That he wants to date you?"
"Yeah, Oliver's in love with me," Clark told him. "And Mikail escaped Level 33.1. He's been stalking me since then, and is also the reason why Bizarro isn't terrorizing anyone anymore."
"Clark, if you want to pursue something with Oliver, I won't stand in your way of it," Lionel stated. "But you have to realize that he has a very checked past. You have to remember the way he used to treat Lex, and that was before my son became who he is now."
"Lionel, you may be willing to allow something like this, but Jor-El has greatly advised against it," J'onn stated.
"And you actually think I care what Jor-El has to say about my personal life?" Clark asked. "I don't plan on ever following whatever destiny he has chosen for me. I make my own destiny, and you know something else, J'onn? I may just go out with Oliver just to prove that I control my own life!"
"J'onn, why does Jor-El consider it such a bad idea in the first place?" Lionel asked. "I never in my life figured that Jor-El wouldn't be accepting of a different lifestyle choice. What aren't you telling us?"
"I have been informed to say nothing on the subject," J'onn replied with a sigh.
"I'm not surprised," Clark said, staring a hole in J'onn's head. "Jor-El's all about keeping quiet about things, isn't he? If he actually cares about what I do with my life, he needs to change his strategy and start trusting me instead of keeping everything to himself or only telling you. I've had enough of it."
"Showing me your anger is doing you no good, Kal-El," J'onn stated calmly. "I cannot control what your father chooses to do. I honestly wish that I could tell you, but it's far beyond my control."
"Well, I guess that's the end of that then," Clark said, shaking his head as he turned to walk out of the room.
"Kal-El!" Lionel's voice boomed, but it wasn't exactly Lionel.
As Clark turned around, he could see that Lionel's eyes had glazed over, allowing Jor-El to take control of him. "Speak of the devil."
"You have no right to speak to J'onn in that way," Jor-El boomed from within Lionel. "He and Lionel are your sources of knowledge and understanding since you refuse to be trained by me. Without J'onn's assistance, you would have never learned how to take flight, and yet, you speak ill of myself and of J'onn. This is betrayal, my son."
"I don't care what you want to call it, Jor-El," Clark said, shaking his head. "You know good and well that I'm not going to let you control my life."
"Yes, I remember," Jor-El stated. "You control your own destiny. So be it. I have refined my methods over the years in order to get used to that. Though I'm surprised that the promise you had made in front of your mother after Raya died had been broken. You had said you were ready to accept my training once all of the phantoms were returned to The Phantom Zone or killed, but here we are, with all of them gone, and still you refuse me. I'm on the verge of cutting all ties to you, my son, and I do not wish to do so. Kara Zor-El needs not just my help, but yours as well, and since you have chosen not to receive your training, you're behind even her in strength and ability."
"So you know she's escaped from the dam then?" Clark asked.
"She came to me, Kal-El," Jor-El informed him. "She fixed the fortress when you could not, because you didn't have the knowledge to do so from receiving the necessary training you needed. Now that she has fixed the fortress, I can again take Lionel Luthor's body at will."
"And I would like you never to do so again," Clark said coldly. "I've accepted Lionel as a strong part of my life, but I won't accept you as well. Leave him."
"Very well, Kal-El," Jor-El said. "I only ask that you use caution from here on in when it comes to Oliver Queen and any relationship you choose to have with him. I am not against you choosing a male as a mate, but you must carefully make sure it's the decision you truly want." And with that said, Jor-El was gone, Lionel's eyes returning to normal as he stood there in confusion, feeling that he's obviously missed something.
"You're alright now, Lionel," Clark told him. "Jor-El's back now thanks to my cousin, but he won't be inhabiting your body anymore. I've made sure of it for your own sake." With that said, Clark turned, ready to walk out of the room, but was forced to stop once more as J'onn had sped into the way and now stood in the way of him leaving.
"Kal-El, you need to understand a few things about Mikail Mxyzptlk," J'onn told him. "He's not some pushover here, and besides all of this with Oliver Queen, you have another, much bigger problem."
"I can handle the Balkan bookie," Clark said. "Now let me go."
"Clark, I'm not so sure that you can anymore," Lionel said, moving over toward the door where the other two stood. "Despite that Lex wouldn't trust me with a lot of the goings on in 33.1, I did manage to see some of the information here and there. Mikail was one of the few people in the experimentations that weren't meteor infected. However, unlike ones like say Molly Griggs, whom I'm sure you remember well, he was unresponsive to the removal of his abilities. Lex had been removing powers from the patients to put into the super soldiers that he was creating, like Wes Kennan. If Mikail was unresponsive, then that means that his abilities have skyrocketed to a level that no one can fully control."
"For the time being, he's not going to be a problem," Clark said. "He's in the 5th dimension with some girl that he fancies."
"The 5th dimension?" Lionel asked. "He can cross dimensional boundaries?"
"Apparently," Clark replied. "And there are a lot of other things. He's like a sorcerer now."
"Well, having come from overseas, I wouldn't be surprised," Lionel said. "There are a lot of magical types in the lands outside of the United States. That is where Isobel Theroux and those of the Teague lineage came from after all. There even exists others that are more powerful, like the le Feys, and even..."
"Lionel, it's getting really late," Clark said, clearly tired of the direction that the conversation was going in. "I would like to get back to the hospital before I completely miss my chance to all together."
"You're going to see Oliver Queen?" J'onn asked, though it was more of a statement then a question.
"Yeah, I am, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't follow me for once in your life," Clark said. "Try living a little. Maybe you'll find someone that interests you more then I do." He then turned to Lionel. "Thank you for at least trying to talk to me about Oliver before we were rudely interrupted. I'll be in touch." With that, Clark stepped past J'onn and opened the double doors, leaving the office.
"I would guess that you can't even mention this danger to me either, can you?" Lionel asked.
"It isn't exactly a danger, but you'll find out the answer to everything soon enough," J'onn stated. "If Clark doesn't use protection that is."
The night was winding down to a close as Whitney and Bart stepped out of the club arm in arm as the moved in the direction of Oliver's car. They had taken it, figuring that Ollie wouldn't miss it for the evening since he was still in the hospital after all. They were both obviously very happy as they made their way to the parking lot, having enjoyed themselves greatly when all things were considered. And it was a good thing too since Bart had started their evening out in the dumps because of his face.
However, the good feelings that were present through both men came to a crashing halt as they heard several people calling from behind them to stop. Turning around, they could see that it was several of the men from in the club that had been disgusted by them that were calling out. Whitney noticed that Bart was stepping in front of Whitney, obviously to protect him, but the blonde was no pushover himself, considering all of his army training.
"We don't like your kind at our club," one of the men said.
"Yeah, we're surprised that Intergang didn't throw your faggot asses out on the street where you belong in the first place!" another of them yelled.
"Intergang, eh?" Bart asked, with a smirk, his hood still up over his head so the men couldn't actually see who he was. "Is that right?"
"Come on, Bart," Whitney said. "Let's just get out of here."
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, pretty boy," a different male said. "We're going to make sure that neither of you ever come back here again."
"You sure you're not hiding your own sexuality, calling my boyfriend a pretty boy?" Bart asked, his smirk starting to turn to anger. "You guys don't know who you're dealing with."
"Enough talk," a huge man in the back said. "Let's just get um already!"
Bart shrugged. "You were warned." And with that, Bart took off with his lightening fast speed, attacking all of them, none knowing what was coming till it was all over and they were down on the ground. Bart slapped his hands together in a motion to be cleaning dirt off. "And that smackdown was courtesy of The Justice League, bitches." With that, Bart turned toward Whitney and walked back over toward him. "Let's get to the Penthouse, blondie. I think I need to get you to bed."
The hospital room was still. None of the lights were on, but from what Clark could tell by looking at the three lit monitors in the room, all three members of The Justice League were fine. He hadn't been worried about Oliver being alright, but he had left before Helen could start working on Victor and AC, so he was relieved to know that they'd made it through alright. If they'd been lost, Clark would've never forgiven himself as he was still kicking himself for not getting to LuthorCorp faster then he had.
Finally putting his thoughts aside, Clark quietly walked over toward Oliver's bed, but before he reached it fully, the brunette stopped in his tracks, hearing a voice from the darkness that made him freeze instantly, a chill going down his spine.
"I knew you'd be back," came Oliver's clear and recognizable voice. "I just didn't think it would be so soon."
Clark sighed and finished the walk to Oliver's bed as a light suddenly turned on, Oliver flicking on a small desk lamp on the desk beside his bed. "I'm sorry I left earlier."
"No need to apologize, Clark," Oliver told him. "I was in the wrong."
"Thanks for saying that, but I really shouldn't have just left," Clark said. "I always run away from a problem when something happens that I don't expect instead of tackling it head on. I guess in the long run though, it's a good thing that I did go. I had to collect my thoughts and talk things out."
"You were talking to yourself?" Oliver asked.
"More like getting advice from Chloe and Lionel," Clark replied.
"Great, so Lois's best friend and Lex's father both know that I'm into guys now," Oliver said. "That's just peachy."
"I'm sorry, Oliver," Clark said. "I didn't mean to out you like that, and you don't have to worry. Neither one of them is going to say anything."
"Well, I believe you about Chloe, but I'm not so sure I can trust Lionel Luthor not to say anything," Oliver said.
"I know it's difficult to believe, but Lionel's not the same person he was years ago," Clark said. "He still makes a few occasional mistakes, but in the long run, everything he's been doing is specifically in order to help me."
"Help you?" Oliver asked in confusion.
"Lionel knows my secret," Clark replied.
"You're kidding," Oliver said in surprise.
"Afraid not," Clark said.
"Does he know that I'm The Green Arrow?" Oliver asked, fear evident on his face.
"I'm not really sure to the extent of what Lionel knows about your team, but that doesn't matter," Clark replied. "Even if he does know, I'm sure he'll keep it to himself. There's no reason to worry about him outing you to anyone, including his son. He's kept my secret from Lex for over three years now, I think."
"It'll take me some time," Oliver said. "I'm just now getting this news about daddy warbucks switching to our side in the war."
Clark nodded. "I understand."
"Well, I'm sure that you'll want to get back to whatever you've been doing," Oliver said. "We talked what happened out, and I've been completely freaked, so maybe that's enough for one night."
"Not just yet," Clark said. He bent down and claimed Oliver's lips with his own as he laid there in the bed for several long moments before pulling back, looking deep into the blonde's eyes.
"Clark, you just..." Oliver stated in shock, being cut off.
"Yeah, I did, so do you really want to keep talking?" Clark asked.
"No, not really," Oliver replied.
Clark slid over the protective railing on the hospital bed and laid beside Oliver as he scooted over, giving them both equal amount of the small bed as they kissed once more.
"Whatever, Chloe and Lionel said to you, I think they're both starting to become my new best friends," Oliver joked.
Clark chuckled before claiming Oliver's lips again. "And let's say that my biological father had a small part to play in it as well, but that's a story for another time. For now, you need rest, and high time I got some sleep too."
"You mean, you're gonna stay here with me tonight?" Oliver asked.
Clark nodded. "Yeah. I won't have to do my farm work till the morning, so I'll go back home then. For now, Ollie, rest." With that said, Clark leaned over to the desk table and turned off the desk lamp that Oliver had turned on before, causing the room to be cast in complete darkness once more as the two went to sleep in each other's embrace.
