Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville

Chapter 13

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It might have just been my imagination but I couldn't help but feel with the injection of Lana in our social group, and with Lex becoming something of a confidant of mine, Chloe and I had grown farther apart.

So when she got the oppurtunity to interview Lex I practically jumped at the chance to assist. Maybe if I could smooth over Chloe's ingrained dislike then things might smooth over into a new balance between us.

At least that was the plan, but Chloe seemed to be determined not to be won over by Lex.

"Are you ready now, Clark?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, I forgot to press the record button. Sorry."

"Remind me again why I'm not on tech duty?" I asked Chloe quietly.

"Because the last time I let you handle the camera, you dismantled it."

"I was bored," I defended weakly.

I caught Lex's smile out of the corner of my eye, and I settled back into my seat. I was behaving!

"So Mr. Luthor, are there any more secret construction projects at Luthor Corp like level three?"

"If they're a secret, why would he tell us?" I asked reasonably, only to be shushed.

"Please, call me Lex," Lex said charmingly.

"Okay Lex, are you going to answer my question?" Chloe bulldozed, not letting herself be swayed.

"Chloe," Clark scolded.

"What?"

"it's okay, Clark. "Our critics are our friends, they show us our faults"," Benjamin Franklin.

"Benjamin Franklin," said Chloe.

The clearing of a throat sounded from the back of a room and we turned to see an African American gaurd. "Excuse me, Mr. Luthor. Your father's on the phone."

"I need to get this," Lex said, standing up, "I'll take it in the conservatory. I look foward to resuming our verbal judo," Lex said to Chloe, before leaving with the gaurd.

I caught a smile playing on Chloe's lips and took it as a win.

0000

Five minutes after Lex left Chloe was already getting reckless.

"I wonder if he's really taking a call or if he's just trying to aviod me?" Chloe asked, browsing the shelves.

"He's taking a call," I said shrugging, the likelihood of Lex being scared off by a high school reporter, even one as persistant as Chloe, was almost laughable; not that I would say that to Chloe.

Chloe rolled her eyes, and then sprang off when something caught her attention, 'Wow, that's really cool." I looked to see Chloe admiring a large crafted chalice, Roman, by the look of it, "Do you think it's real?"

I studied it, "From what I can tell, yes. Besides Lex doesn't seem like the type to deal in replicas."

"Chloe?" Clark asked, and I turned around to see her gone, but the library door wide open.

I sighed and jogged after her.

When we found her Clark had a speech all ready to go, "Chloe, you can't just go snooping around someone's house."

"Clark, it's a mansion. it's designed for snooping."

I sighed, I hated being the voice of reason, "You want an exclusive, right? How likely do you think that is if you go somewhere you shouldn't be and get kicked out?"

Chloe smiled eagerly, "Do you know any specific rooms?"

"Well, his bedroom, for one. He might think your stealing his underwear or something, especially so soon after the Amy Palmer issue," I laughed at her grimace, while Clark maintained his trademark judgemental stare.

Chloe threw her arms up, "Okay, fine. We'll go back and wait in the library for Lex to officially blow us off."

We made it back to the library quickly, and I was dissapointed by my lack of success in getting Chloe to warm up to Lex.

"I'll put the camera away," Clark volunteered.

"Okay, I'm gonna go get my bag."

"Hey, what's going on?" I looked up at Clark's question, just in time to see masked men come out of the wall and take Clark from behind.

"Hey!" I ran foward, only to be taken by suprise by one of the men (robbers, judging by the duffle bags filled with cash), slamming me into the wall.

"Chloe run," Clark said, the man's arms still wrapped around his throght.

I lashed out with my leg, catching the man soundly in the leg. I heard him grunt and he pulled me closer to restrict my movement, and I took our proximity as an oppurtunity to lash out with my elbow and hit him in the ribs. Despite the pain I was feeling I was very satisfied to hear something crack.

Why wasn't Clark stopping them? (because they had meteor rocks, probably in whatever they used to get in here.)

I head the sound of a fight from the hall (three attackers), but was distracted by my own assailant who punched me across the face, and his sleeve rolled up revealing a flash of a green tattoo (the meteor rock). I slumped against the wall from the blow, and only remained upright by the man's grip on my neck. That was going to bruise.

I heard glass shatter, "Move it, Let's go!" shouted the man from the hall, and then I was on the floor, my assailant gone.

"Clark!" Chloe screamed, and I looked up to see Clark get up off the ground and run to the hall, but he didn't even make it to the door before Chloe screamed again.

"Chloe!"

0000

Thrity minutes later I was in the hospital, with a disgnosis of a mild concusion, and a hairline fracture to my radius, for which they gave me a sling.

Chloe was much worse off.

She had been pushed out of the second story window, not normally enough to kill someone but they wouldn't know the damage for sure until they did an MRI. I had heard them mention the words 'brain swelling' and 'multiple fractures', so I wasn't leaving the hospial room anytime soon, and neither was Clark.

The only thing that made this worse was how broken up Lex seemed about us getting hurt in his home.

0000

The next morning Chloe still hadn't woken up, and neither of us had slept a wink.

"Clark, Clara," I turned to see Lex standing in the doorway of Chloe's room, "Don't worry, I brought in the best doctors from Metropolis."

"Thank you for the doctors, Lex, but I think I'll just keep on worrying," I said hoarsely, and I didn't miss Lex's wince when he saw the bruises on my neck, and the bandage on my forehead.

"Is she going to be alright?" Clark asked.

"Doctors aren't sure. The fall was pretty bad. She broke her left arm and has a bad concussion. They want to make sure there's no brain swelling."

I heard a small keening sound and wasn't suprised when it came from me.

Lex walked over and sat down next to me, and I gratefully grabbed his hand. I needed the comfort.

"I should have gotten to her."

"I don't mean to belabor the obvious, Clark, but this isn't your fault. This isn't either of your faults."

"I just don't know what happened. One minute, the room is empty, and the next they appear out of thin air."

"Do the police have any leads?"

"They don't think I'm the first one that's been hit. There have been over a dozen of these robberies all over the country. This gang somehow gets in and out without busting a single lock. They even tried to hit the Smallville Savings & Loan."

"I didn't hear about that."

Lex smiled dryly, "Banks don't publicize attampted robberies, it's bad for their image."

"If nothing was taken, how do they know they were robbed?" quireid Clark.

"Apparently they tripped an alarm inside the vault. Although no one is sure how to get in there in the first place."

A locked room crime, crimes. In anywhere other than Smallville there's absolutely no way they could have walked through the walls to get inside.

But this was Smallville.

And the stuff they stole from you. Can the police trace it?" Lex sighed and stood up, dropping my hand.

"I didn't report anything stolen, Clark," the cold I felt from the lack of his hand in mine was replaced by a smoldering rage, I stood up as Lex walked to the door.

"Why not? I saw them walk out with two bags."

"I don't care about that. I just don't want to find the people who did this to Chloe, to Clara. When I do I promise you, they will be dealt with accordingly."

Not good enough.

"What does that mean?" Clark asked.

"It means you should let me worry about it. Now why don't you two go home and get some rest?" Lex said, walking out.

"Stay here," I ordered Clark, following Lex out the room.

"Lex!" I called out, causing him to stop.

Lex sighed, "Clara-"

"No, you've said enough, now it's my turn to talk. I get that I am six years younger then you, I get that I may come off a little immature, I get that your a bussinessman and you need your privacy. Normally I have no problem respecting that. But Chloe has been hurt, my friend has been hurt, and you are holding back information. I want a complete inventory of what they took, and if you don't give it to me, I'll take it and you won't like how."

"Clara, I can't."

"They hurt my friend, Lex. Give me the list, and I will give you whatever it is the you don't want the police to know about. Don't try to deny it, I'm not that stupid. Give me the list, Lex."

I watched with bated breath as Lex hesistated, and I was almost sure he was going to say no when he sighed and said, "Okay."

0000

Two hours later I had the list, and I knew what Lex didn't want the police to learn about. Not specifically what, just that it was a disk, probably containing company information, or information he didn't want his father to find. I really did not care.

What I did care about was that it was encrypted using the computer that I installed the security program onto.

That mean the second they tried to hack it, I would get an alert, along with the location of the disk using GPS.

Unfortunately, the police were not very likely to listen to me, so I would have to verify it myself.

I commandeered Clark's truck, and proceeded to drive around town, waiting for the message.

I probably would have done a happy dance when I got the message if it weren't for the fact that I was driving and so tired.

It was a loft on the edge of town, I parked the car a ways away and made it the rest of the way on foot. I was unarmed, and they didn't seem to have a problem with hurting teenagers.

I hunkered down on the back of the building, out of sight, and listened.

"I think I know why Luthor didn't file that robbery report. Check this out," said a male voice.

"What is it?" asked a second voice.

"Don't know, but the encryption is so over the top it's gotta be important," said voice one.

"Good, we can use this," said voice two, probably the leader.

"How? We don't know what's on it," said a third voice.

"Luthor doesn't know that," said voice two.

I waited anxiously for them to leave before picking the lock on the back door, for a bunch of theifs, their security was suprisingly lax.

It didn't take me long to find the stolen merchandise, it was in plain view, but that wasn't the only thing I was looking for. I found the tattoo chair in small room, deviod of any clutter and personalizations, and the ink in a closet, which I quickly confiscasted for further study. It was only after I had the ink securely in the car before I called Lex.

"Clara, I haven't found anything," Lex said immediatly.

"I have."

"What? What did you find?"

"Well, I found the thieves' hideout, the stolen goods from your robbery and probably some others, and your disk, unhacked. I also happen to know where they're headed."

"Where?" Lex asked cautiously.

"To you, they figured that just because they weren't able the hack the disk didn't mean they couldn't blackmail you over it. I'll guessing they'll be there in about 20 minutes, police can be there in 10 to set a trap."

"Did you find out how they were able to get in?"

I paused, considering, normally I tried to keep Lex out of the advancements of meteor rocks, simply because I knew that it might lead down a dangerous road. Tattoo's that can turn the recipient intangible could be revolutionary and invauable in the military, providing a clear tempation for Lex, and an even bigger one for his father, but Lex had helped me when he didn't have to, giving me aid when it could potentially put him at risk, so considering that, "Apparently they figured out a way to combine meteor rocks and tattoo ink so that when they applied the tattoo they became intangible."

"Seriously."

"Yeah, I just stole all their tattoo ink, but that really isn't something I'd be intrested in, so, what do you say? Want to take it off me hands?"

I needed to learn to trust Lex, even if I had a hard time trusting anybody.

0000

Two hours later the thieves were in custody, the disk back in Lex's possesion, the ink securely in his custody as well, and Clark was a little peeved.

"What do you have to be upset about? They caught the guys," I asked as we made our way to Chloe's hospital room.

"I just don't understand why you didn't call me."

I eyed him speculatively, "You're just mad you didn't get there first."

"No, no I'm not."

"You so are, I can solve mysteries without you, you know," I sang.

"What mystery?" Chloe asked weakly.

I smiled, estatic at her conciousness and walked over to set down the sunfowers I brought.

"Who atacked us, and you hardly solved a mystery, you just pinged their location."

"So I get points for paranoia, still a win."

"You caught them?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, Chloe, we caught them," I said, getting comfortable in the chair next to her bed, "And would you mind if I took a nap, I'm kinda tired."

I was asleep before I heard her responce.

0000

When I awoke I learned that someone had moved me so I shared the bed with Chloe, and that I had slept for 13 hours, and after another three in the hospital room with Chloe, she kicked me out.

"Are you sure you won't be lonely?"

Chloe smiled, "I have plenty of visitors, and if I get bored I can wear the flowers Lex sent and pretend I won the Kentucky Derby."

I laughed and finally relented.

Unfortunately, once I was outside the hospital I realized that I didn't want to go home just yet, so I wandered aimlessly until I reached the Talon. When I entered I found a moping Lana, and against my better judgement I decided to be caring.

"What happened to you?" I asked bluntly.

Lana sighed, "Lex is buying the Talon, I tried to get him to renovate and he turned me down."

"Did he give a reason why?"

Lana huffed, "He said I was mecurial and I hadn't given him reason to change his mind with the demolition."

I hummed, feeling generous and optimistc from my recent sucess, and that is the only way I can justify what I did next. "Well, it sounds less like he turned you down and more like he's waiting for a better offer."

"What do you mean?"

"Lex is a businessman, he bought this place looking for a profit, and- what was he going to do with it?"

"Parking lot."

I scoffed scornfully, "So all we need to do if figure out a way to make this building more profitable than a parking lot."

"What do you have in mind?" Lana asked, intrigued.

"Well, it's a nice space, with a fresh coat of paint, few chairs, maybe some curtains we can get a nice feel, you can be in charge of interior decorating. As for what it will be, I've always found the smoothies at the Beanery just deplorable."

"We can't sell just smoothies," Lana objected.

"We could add coffee's to the menu, hot chocolates, maybe some muffins and cookies. My mom is a great cook, makes enought to feed an army and would love a side job. it's been done before, why not here?"

"You do realize that will put us in direct competition with the Beanery."

"Of course, and we will crush them."

"Do you really think it will work?" Lana asked hopefully.

I gave her my best Cheshire smile, "Oh, yes. Let's get to work."

0000

When Lex came back the second time we were ready, I had done all the research; what we would need, what it would cost, projected profits, the works. Lana had buttered him up with vivd imagery and drafts of what to do with the space.

We brought up its potential for a historical landmark, and the tax beinifits of being one, and that Nell was volunteering to be the manager, with us assisting.

"So is it a deal?"

"I need to look over everything but, yeah, it's a deal," Lex said, causually walking out.

"Really?" Lana asked, flabbergasted.

"Really, I think this could be the start of a very intresting partnership."

Lana squealed as soon as he walked out, and I was tempted to join her but was struck by a disturbing thought, a thought that made me feel like my stomach had fallen down to my lower intestines, because that was way too easy.

'What if Lex was affected by Lana too?"

I know this chapter was short, but in my defense I really don't like Whitney.

Leave a review on the way out.