Chapter Five part Two- Secrets & Obsessions:

The man who had witnessed Clark using his abilities the other night stood waiting by his car when a man stepped towards him holding a folder in his hand.

"You know I'm not supposed to do this" The man with the envelope says sliding his possession towards the cop who just slid it open.

"And I'm not the one with a DUI on my record. You wouldn't believe how many rent-a-cops forget to fill out the previous criminal record section on their job apps." The man who seemed to act like a cop said dismissively as the rent a cop that gave him the file just walked away.

The man who had received the file was Sam Phelan, one of the corrupt few on the streets of Metropolis but also one of the tough asses who would never let a good opportunity slip past him without profiting from it himself.

A small appeared on his face at the surveillance photos of Clark talking with Lex then a select few of Lois with Clark smiling at something he said while pointing towards the telescope.

Torch:

Chloe and Clark were working hard on the latest issue of the school paper when Lois came rushing and throwing the Smallville Ledger down in front of him, "What the hell, Smallville?"

He just stared at her confused, "Nice to see you too, Lois."

She faked a smile before looking at Chloe in response, "Have you talked to him about this? We were right where the story was and now…"

Clark just laughs while he rises to his feet and places his hand on her shoulders saying, "Lois. Calm down, its just a story. One that I'm sure will be repeated."

Lois just ran her hands through her hair and replied, "You ran off last night and I guess I got…"

Clark just smiled, "Were you concerned about me?"

She scoffed and brushed him off saying, "Don't be ridiculous, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright or your parents would have killed me."

Lois crashed and burned on brushing off the subject, Principal Kwan walked into the newsroom clearly upset.

"Is this your idea of a joke? Concerned parents have been calling all morning." he says showing several articles that were both written by Chloe and Lois about the weird things that often happened in this small town that they called home.

"Well, what have you been telling them?" Chloe challenged him which surprised both Lois and Clark.

"What the EPA and other environmental groups said years ago. The meteor rocks are harmless." Kwan said in best calm voice but knowing the Sullivan-Lane cousins would soon drive him slightly insane.

Lois cut in saying, "People have a right to know about the strange things that happen in this town."

Kwan turned to her then back to Chloe saying, "The Torch is a high school newspaper not the Inquisitor."

"Are you censoring us?" Chloe and Lois asked in unison which almost caused Clark break out in a fit of laughter.

Kwan looks at them before directing his attention to Chloe saying, "I'm requiring you to do your job, which is report on relevant school events. Sports, dances, clubs. I'm relieving you of your duties. The Torch is suspended until I can appoint a new editor."

He left leaving Chloe and Lois in shock, "Okay, what just happened?"

Pete cut in from his desk saying, "I think Kwan just canned you."

Clark steps closer to Chloe saying, "Chloe, I'm sure there's something we can do. Why don't you let me talk to Kwan and I'll see if we can get him to reconsider."

"Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but what do you think you can do?" Chloe asked curiously.

"I don't know, I just know that this paper has been your baby since you started working here and I know that taking it away is like taking away who you and Lois are." Clark said with a smile that caused both cousin's hearts to jump at the near sight of it.

The Beanery:

Lex was sitting at his normal booth while drinking his usual espresso, that was until Sam Phelan walked towards him with that devious smile that he had back in the day in Metropolis.

"Afternoon, Lex... or is it Mr. Luthor here in Smallville?" Phelan says sarcastically while he sat down in front of his old friend.

"Phelan. Isn't Smallville a couple counties out of your jurisdiction?" Lex says setting down his paper and looking at Phelan curiously.

"I don't need jurisdiction to look up an old friend like yourself, now do I?" Phelan sports a fake smile which sends Lex into defensive mode.

"We were never friends. If you want to see me, call my office." Lex says grabbing his stuff and trying his best to make a quick getaway but Phelan's voice calls out again.

"When does it happen, Lex? When do you turn on the people that help you? How many times did I pull you back from the edge? You'd be dead now if it wasn't for me." Phelan walks towards him angry.

Lex turns even angrier, "You were on my father's payroll, his go-to guy in the department. You got paid to fix situations, so don't try and pretend it was anything else"

"You have a good life here, Lex. I'd sure hate to see that get compromised." Phelan says obviously making a threat which causes Lex to clam his anger down and stare at his old friend with frustration.

"You can't touch me and you know it." He says trying to get his point across until Phelan pulled out the surveillance photos of him and Clark.

"I'm looking for a witness. I think he saw last night's accident outside the museum. And from the looks of this picture, I'd say you were good buddies with this kid." Phelan says with a smirk.

Lex just sets down money on his table saying, "Guess you're losing your instinct. Maybe you should think about retiring."

The dirty cop watches Lex walk away and the curiosity for this kid's identity only grew stronger, so he flipped to the next picture of Lois and Clark laughing with each other.

Underground Shelter:

Lois was cleaning up the flies that lay splattered on the table, it was obvious that she was getting nowhere until a few weeks ago when she caught sight of a trail of suspicious activities, aside from her own that seemed to be investigating Clark's adoption and his background.

The name Darius, ex bodyguard to Lex Luthor and now private investigator for the wealthy…including Lex.

A red light went off near the door, which sent her quick to clean up and shut down before racing up the steps.

She stepped out of nearby building on Fort Ryan and just walked casually towards her car, until a voice called out "Lois Lane!"

She turned to see Sam Phelan walking towards her saying, "I have a couple questions about the accident last night and I was wondering if you could help me identify this witness"

He pulled out the photo of her and Clark, "He may have an idea of what happened and I tried to find out who he was but not such luck."

With a brief gaze at the photo then back at the cop saying, "He's an old friend from New York, but I doubt you could find him now."

"Really? Why is that?" Phelan asked suspicious at the easy lies she was telling.

"His parents and him relocated to Tokyo. Sorry I couldn't be of help." She says with a fake smile before turning around and walking to her car unaware that he was following her.

"Your lying, I didn't spend years on the force to be lied to by a spoiled army brat who has daddy issue"

Sam Phelan obviously never met a Lane in his entire life, cause comments like that ended up like this…

Phelan found his head against the hood of a jeep with Lois behind him twisting his arms saying, "You listen to me Phelan, I don't like cops and never will. So why don't you take your sorry ass home back to Metropolis."

She let him go and quickly walked towards her car with a confident smile, 'I think I handled that well.'

Kent Farm:

Clark slings his backpack near the broken down tractor, "Hello? Hello? Anybody home?" he calls out only to hear a thump from a nearby pillar so naturally he went to investigate it, only to find a Metropolis Police badge sitting on the cement "Metropolis Police?"

Suddenly the generator above him snaps from the pulley and falls as if pinning him to the ground until he picked it up and easily threw it to the side only to stop when he heard the sound of clapping.

His eyes widened at the sight of Sam Phelan standing there with a bright smile, "Kid, I don't know what they've been feeding you, but that was pretty impressive."

Clark takes a step back confused, "Who are you?"

Phelan steps closer, "I'm your new best friend, Clark"

The farm boy took a step back asking, "How do you know my name?"

Phelan just smiles, "Oh, I asked around. That's the beauty of a small town. Everyone's just so eager to help." he pauses to pick up his badge, "A far cry from Metropolis."

"I'm just a farm boy, what do you want with me?" he asks only to watch Phelan smirk and walk past the generator with a slight impression.

"Your help. You see, Clark, I'm in a battle that I can't afford to lose. Because if I do, the bad guys win. And you have this gift that I need." the cop places his hand on Clark's shoulder only to have the farm boy knock it away.

"I'll never help you." Clark says with anger and turns to walk away until Phelan whistles before his reply.

"You have a secret you don't want the world to know about. I'm guessing that's why you didn't stick around for the TV cameras last night. You want to keep things that way, you'll do as I say." He turns to leave, "Drop by that overpriced coffee shop tomorrow afternoon and we'll talk about your future."

As he makes his way out, he stops at the fallen generator saying, "By the way, Nice Catch"

Hours later, Clark would later tell his parents about this new discovery which caused panic to arise for both parents, who knew that sooner or later a day like this would come and they'd have to pull out all the stops to keep their son in their arms.

TBC…

If you guys have seen this episode, then you know that the Torch scene was kind of altered to have Clark offer his help instead of Lana but with this new situation with Phelan, the torch just might be passed to someone else. REVIEWS!