ChloeJune.
June meant no Monitorto distract her. It meant her dad on a tour of Lionel's holdings in Europe for six weeks. It meant that this year she'd missed out on a DP internship because she'd been too mired in Clark's affairs. She didn't regret it, but it meant that she had nothing to do. It was then that, despite Ms. Clark's misgivings and glares, Clark had invited her to stay with them.
It wasn't really a kinky or inappropriate thing.
Their estate was big enough to have wings and a staff, for Christ's sakes. She was staying on the opposite end from the boys' bedroom, right next to their mother's room. It wasn't completely awkward, but she understood she was being watched closely. Chloe resented it a little. She'd been part of the family and working through all the issues of trying to help Clark and Davis for two years basically.
She wasn't looking to hurt anyone. She'd never turn on either boy and publish their secrets and, even though the way she felt about Davis had never abated, she'd never hurt Clark either. Chloe merely sat on her feelings and pushed them away, not hoping they'd go because she liked how Davis made her feel, but just out of her mind because everything was an impossible situation.
The first two weeks of her stay had gone well enough, even with the death glares one Martha Clark kept sending her way and the baiting she did during dinners. Davis or Clark would deflect, Chloe would take it in stride, and Ms. Clark would start over again the next night with the power plays with her.
Maybe Martha Clark was just scared of losing her boys in a different way to another woman.
Chloe sighed and leaned back against the chaise lounge by the pool. It was large, Olympic sized easily, and made a bit in the style of nature-fake rocks, lagoons, the like. Whoever had owned the house before the Clarks had had fantasies of being Hugh Hefner. She figured that Clark's grandfather and mother had never changed the pool if only because the faked grotto and everything else might have appealed to Clark when he was less himself, the same way the caverns or the large forest behind the house must have.
Or maybe Clark and Davis, being normal as far as their entertainment tastes, wanted to pretend they lived in the Playboy mansion. Men were men after all, no matter what planet they'd been born on.
"You know, Cecille can get you more soda," Clark said, eying where she'd been nursing a Sunkist.
Chloe pulled down her shades and smiled back at Clark. The sun was good for him; she knew it. Since the pool had been opened, he'd laid out every day, at least for several hours. He never burned, never even tanned, but he just sat in the warming rays, and would come back in wearing a broad smile.
Moving out here had been a good idea in some ways.
"Nope, just chillin' like a villain."
Clark smirked. "Me too. One more test to take in an hour or so and I am officially a junior."
"Which test?"
"European history. I reread the textbook yesterday. I'm ready to take it."
"It must be nice."
"Hmm?"
"To be able to memorize anything you've ever seen. School must never be hard."
"History and English are. Memorizing doesn't mean you have insights into essay writing. It's why I really like English. Math's a puzzle and that's fun but always too easy. English really makes me think. I mean, I memorized all the lines from 'The Raven' but it doesn't mean my analysis on my final was that great. I think I got a B on that, actually."
"Oh no, the horror!"
"Actually..."
She giggled a little and reached into the pool, splashing at him. "Smart ass."
"Definitely," he said, lying back down after he'd shaken out his hair.
"You seem better."
"Well, relative scale, but, yeah. My favorite person is spending most of the summer here. So far, The Beast has only hunted the once and everyone on the estate was safe, and I might think about going back to St. Stephens and St. Agnes in the fall."
She almost squealed in her excitement. "That'd be really great. My other Monitorminions just aren't as good as you."
He grinned and it was genuine. "I am a class by myself."
She nodded and patted his arm. "So who's your favorite person?"
"Davis," he deadpanned, sticking out his tongue and blurring off.
She rolled her eyes. She'd walked right into that one. "Have fun finishing that exam, smart ass."
When Davis came down the stairs from sleeping in-he'd practiced a ride along until 5 a.m.-she could tell something was wrong. His eyes were bloodshot, his hands shook like a coffee addict who'd been trying to switch to decaf, and he was avoiding making eye contact.
She looked up from her lunch and frowned. "Davis? What's wrong?"
"I...nothing. It's nothing."
"No, it's not," she said, looking up to see if the maid was anywhere around. "Did you get another ability?"
"No. I'm fine really."
She put a hand on his arm and shook her head. "No, you're not. You promised me that you'd talk if you got upset or if something, you know-"
"Alien," he whispered.
"Yeah, thathappened. We talked about how it's not fair that everyone worries about Clark and not about you. No what happened?"
Davis looked around and still talked in a low voice. Discretion always. "By the creek, I don't want mom or grandfather or anyone else to overhear."
She nodded and followed him out there, even more worried by his silence as he slipped across the grounds. When they arrived there, Davis sat down on the ground and picked up a smooth stone, as he tended to do, and started to rub his thumb over its surface. Following suit, Chloe sat down beside him and touched his arm.
"Davis?"
"I don't know where to start."
"Then just start wherever you can. Here's a simple question. What has you so spooked? Clearly it's not nothing."
He looked down at his hands and skipped the stone, watching as it crossed half the creek. "I had a nightmare."
She frowned. "What kind?"
"I don't...I don't even know how to explain it. Just that there was so much blood everywhere."
"Is this about your ride along? About being worried about not being able to save people?"
Davis shivered. "No, this was different."
"How?"
He looked back at her and she could see the strain in his neck and in his shoulders as he tried to hold as much back as he could. "I dreamed I rolled around in it, that I liked it. It definitely wasn't from someone I was helping."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. It wasn't even a nightmare because when I woke up, until I remembered who I was, it left me content and peaceful. I likedit."
"What?"
"I liked rolling in the blood; it felt amazing. Until I really came to, it was probaly the best dream I'd had in months."
She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Opening them again, she looked back up at him. "You think you're changing too, don't you?"
"I think Clark and I grew up differently, evolved differently, I guess, but I think I'm going to end up just like him. I used to tell him all the time, even after I knew about my Schnauzer, that it was going to be okay. I have spent the two years he's known about The Beast saying to his face that it's fine and we'll find a way to control it and save him, that I'd take his burdens if I could."
"Trade places?"
Davis nodded. "I used to say that and I thought I meant it; maybe I did as long as I didn't have to actually worry about changing."
"But now you're terrified."
He leaned his head against her shoulder and, despite herself, she began to stroke his back, small circular motions as she went. "I don't want to be like him. I guess I was lying but there's a difference in hypotheticals and then in facing being what he is...what weare in person. Neither of us want to be killers."
"It was a dream. It doesn't mean you're changing."
"I'm invulnerable like he is. Who's to say I won't change even more?"
"But you're older too, much older, and so far all you are is invulnerable. Clark can do a million things and you can't do any of them but apparently protect yourself. You might not have the same condition."
"Or I might just have been delayed all this time. God, we can barely take care of the Squirt. How are mom and granfather, even if they buy up every fucking deer from here to Missouri, how are they supposed to care for two of us?"
"They always find a way."
"It's a huge burden to her. I don't want to be cut up into tiny pieces in a lab, believe me, but I don't understand why she took us home sometimes, and I don't understand at all how after Clark did what he did the first time that she didn't give us up. We've cost her so much. She's never dated since Jonathan. Her whole focus in life for thirteen years has been protecting our secret and Clark from himself. I can't add to that."
"You're not going to try what Clark did? I'm not going to stand by and watch both of you try and off yourselves!" she said, pushing his head up from her shoulder.
His eyes widened. "No, I'd never. I just meant, if I had to, I'd go somewhere far away. I dunno, Yosemite or maybe even the woods of Alaska where there's ton of space. I can learn to live off the land when I'm human and have so much space to hunt away from people as The Beast. Maybe the only way to live with this is just to be away from everyone."
"What?" Surely he had to be joking. Clark was already out of school and it was dubious if he'd go back. It'd kill her if Davis disappeared one day out to the Great White North.
"I might need to leave. You don't know what it feels like. The blood was a dream but the feeling from rolling in it? God, Chloe, it was orgasmic."
She blushed and looked away. That was never anything she associated with gore and death. "I..."
"See, not a human thing to say, not a safe thing either. Squirt comes first. If grandfather and mom only have the emotional energy to keep one of us, it'd be him. I can manage on my own."
"So now you're just gonna run? You ran away from college and from us-"
"There's not an us."
She cupped his chin and licked her lips just a little. "There could have been."
"I..." he started, but didn't pull away. "I'm not at a point where I've changed yet, but if I did, I'd leave."
"And then you'd just stop being near anyone or anything you love. That's cowardly. You think you're being noble but you're not even thinking about the people you'd leave behind. Your family loves you. Ilove you." She was crying then and it was too much emotion, too much fear and passion and stress all rolled up into one tidal wave. She kissed him.
Like last year, he gave in immediately, but unlike last year, it kept building in intensity, until she'd crawled up on his lap, trying to shuck off his shirt.
When she heard a familiar voice.
"Chloe?"
Davis almost threw her off as they scrambled to their feet. "Clark-"
Clark's eyes flared red and she knew he was having trouble controlling his heat vision. Her heart raced. If Clark changed here, then they'd both be dead. He was so pissed that The Beast would finish them both off for him. "No, no! I get to talk. Was this some sick game from the two of you? Chloe pities me and then you two laugh behind my back while she what? Sucks you off?"
Chloe felt nauseated. She wanted to protest that wasn't what it was and, technically, it was new and not yet sexual, but she had ended up playing the two brothers against each other even if she hadn't meant it.
Horrified, she watched Davis react instinctively and punch Clark in the face. Chloe rushed forward anticipating him to pull back a shattered hand. Instead it was Clark who spit out blood and reeled back.
Davis's eyes were huge. "My god, Clark, I didn't mean to."
Clark's eyes were incandescent. "Maybe you did. I swear if I could make myself change, we'd see how fucking invulnerable you are."
Both she and Davis shuddered at the thought and Clark shook his head. She resisted the motherly urge to reach out to him, to try getting the blood off his lips. "Clark, you're bleeding."
He blinked, actually aware of it for the first time. He sneered back at her. "I guess things change fast. I'd fuck him soon, Chlo, before he ends up just like me."
Before she could react, Clark was gone, speeding to wherever he wanted.
There'd be no way to find him and, for the first time since she met him, Chloe wasn't sure she wanted to.
Martha
She knew it was wrong the second the slap echoed through her office. She didn't care. Chloe Sullivan had come into their lives and ruined everything she'd built and protected for over a decade. Martha was furious. She'd warned both her sons Chloe would ruin them all. She'd told Chloe more than once to get her emotions sorted out or to leave them all alone for good.
"Mom!" Davis shouted, rushing forward to restrain her. "What were you thinking?"
"What were you two thinking? She's sixteen for Christ's sakes and your brother's in love with her."
"I..." Davis floundered.
"Ms. Clark, I can explain."
"You're a whore. I think that sums it up."
Chloe flinched. Good. "No, we'd never done anything like that before. I swear on Dinah's life it was today. We've worked so hard to ignore what we feel and why we feel it. We never wanted to hurt Clark."
"What makes today special? I took you into my home against every instinct I had, took you into our confidence and now my son could be anywhere from the North Pole to Patagonia. Do you understand? He's so fast that if he doesn't want to be found, we'll never ever find him." Her steel resolve wavered and she had to wait a few minutes before she could continue the way that was befitting her. "I've spent so long protecting my boys and now Clark could be lost forever because you wanted to ride my other son."
"Mom!" Davis said, pulling her back a few steps. "That's enough. That's more than enough. Chloe and I made a huge mistake. I had a nightmare, she was comforting me-"
"I bet she was."
"And one thing led to another. We were weak and stupid and Clark caught us. It was a complete clusterfuck and I take responsibility for it, but you have to know that we didn't do it to hurt him."
"Mission accomplished anyway. Davis, I expected so much more of you. I depend on you."
"Maybe you put too much pressure on him," Chloe said.
"You stupid upstart. You have no idea what you've even done. Are you happy now? Happy your pet project has exploded in your face."
Chloe was quieter when she spoke. "No, but it's not what you think. Davis is changing."
She nodded. She'd been expecting it since the day Davis had gained invulnerability. No matter why or how her boys developed differently, she'd always been expecting Davis to start to show Beast-like tendencies as well. Of course, she'd hoped she'd be wrong, that her other son wouldn't suffer the same pain and isolation, but Martha Clark was a pragmatist. The logic dictated that Clark and Davis were the same species and that whatever happened to Clark, even if he grew into his abilities faster, would befall Davis as well.
Sighing, she softened and squeezed her older son's hand. "How long?"
"What?"
"How long have you...have you been hunting?"
He paled. "No. I just have been having dreams about it and they're not pleasant."
She took that to mean they were inhuman.
"But you've not killed anything yet? Not changed?"
"Not that I know of, no," he said, looking away, clearly embarrassed.
"Sweetheart, I'm going to tell you what I've always told Clark. If you are changing, growing into that other side too, then it's who you are and we have a place to deal with it."
"And you'd have two of us running around. I mean, fuck, what if...God, this sounds so stupid."
"What?" she prodded, ignoring Chloe entirely. She was insignificant again in Clark family matters. "What's stupid, baby?"
"What if you can't even have two whatever the fuck we are near each other? Like a dominance fight or fuck, this is so crazy."
She hugged him tight, straining on her toes to reach him. He wasn't as tall as Clark but he was tall enough and her boys had gotten so big, had grown so much. How could she keep protecting them not only from their abilities but from themselves, from so much disdain and fear for their nature.
They were what they were and she'd always taken that chance. Spikey or human like, she loved them.
They were hers, always.
"We'll worry about that as it comes. Right now you're just invulnerable."
"Actually," that pest added. "Davis is as strong as Clark."
She blinked back at her son. "I don't understand. Since when?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't notice anything, but he said something truly ugly about Chloe and I lost control and slugged him. I thought I'd shatter my hand but I made him spit blood and his jaw was already starting to swell before he blurred off."
"You what?"
"I didn't mean it!"
"We do not solve problems in this house with violence ever. We seek vengeance, yes, but we do it with smarter means. You know this. You can't be violent or give him into those instincts. It makes The Beast side come closer to the surface."
"Mom, I know."
She shook her head, and pulled out her cell.
"Ms. Clark? What are you doing?"
"First, calling security. You're no longer welcome anywhere near my family. Second, having you blacklisted from The Daily Planet."
"You can't!"
"I can. You'll never get a job there. I know their legal department and Pauline Kahn personally. I told you Chloe never to hurt my boys, that there would be consequences. Consider these they and be glad I didn't go after your father's job or retirement. Hello, Alan? Yes, Ms. Sullivan's leaving. See she has her things packed to leave in under twenty minutes."
"Mom you can't do this."
"Davis, I have to start searching two continents for my son and she did that. I can do anything I want. Now, Chloe, get out."
Clark
The August sun would have felt amazing on his skin, would have made him strong and would have made his inner Beast content. But there was little sunlight in The Narrows of Gotham. It was choked with smoke from factories and God knew what else. He had a penthouse on the other side of the city, something that took up the top two floors of the highrise across from Wayne Enterprises. It was the best place to take his conquests back to.
He spun the ring aroud on his finger. He'd broken into his old school first to get the red meteor rock, to make it so he wouldn't care-not about his family, not about the monster growing inside of him, leeching out his humanity, and not about that bitch.
No, not that bitch.
There were millions of women in Gotham.
He'd spent the last eight weeks bedding dozens of them, sometimes two or three a night, the women he took home half wasted from clubs.
The first few times had come with accidents. A shattered wrist here, bruised ribs there. Although he never sunk low enough to take home prostitutes, for those unfortunate test runs, he'd shelled out thousands of dollars. It was hush money and for the medical bills.
After two weeks he'd gotten very good at what he did, and found new uses for heat vision and superspeed beside.
At home, secluded from the world, Clark Kent was an abomination. In this city, Kal was king. Even if the rumor had spread about him being rough had spread across the club scene, so had his reputation for making women scream in all the right ways. He never wanted for nubile blondes, always blondes. Some were tall and leggy, some petite, some with ice blue eyes. He dind't need that bitch. Her nose too big, her arms too fat. She wasn't that pretty. He had a hundred women waiting to ride him.
He never thought about that one.
Really he didn't.
The Beast had not come out to play yet. No mysterious deaths in the slums or the financial district, no missing pets in his building. He never kid himself into thinking it was gone forever. One day, he'd wake up coated in blood again, probably with a fucking poodle at his feet. Maybe a whore or a drug addict, who knew.
Could be a nun.
The Beast didn't discriminate; it just wanted blood.
But for right now, he was having fun. For the first time off that choke chain his cunt mother and wrapped him in, allowed to live among humans with no limits and he was God, like now, when he'd finished wiping the floor with the Dark Knight.
Bones crunched so fucking easily, especially in the wrist.
The Batman wouldn't be patrolling any time soon.
He'd dogged him all summer, noticing the way he'd ripped off other mob groups in The Narrows. Clark wasn't stupid enough to rob from banks wholesale. He liked his life in Gotham, thank you, and anything showy would get his fucking family back on his trail. Stealing from the Falcones? More than feasible and downright fun.
The Bat should have left well enough alone. Stealing from thieves wasn't really wrong was it? Wasn't it more like a public service? It wasn't like it had ever been theirs to begin with.
He'd toyed with Batman all summer, letting him think he could come close to besting him in a fight. Today, he'd grown tired of the game and simply snapped the man's wrist in superspeed. He didn't care about murder. The Beast craved blood; Clark just wanted fun. Capital punishment wasn't that entertaining.
He'd spit a couple times on the other man's cowl and told him to get the fuck off his territory or next time he'd go for the spine and then Gotham would have no one again. Talk about being the hero of the underworld if he did it. But, again, that didn't interest him. He didn't want to maim or kill. He just wanted a pass to keep up his apartment so that he could keep up his parade of blondes.
Maybe when the other man hightailed it out of there, he'd get the point.
Clark snorted and blurred out of The Narrows. He had ripped off the Russian mob this time and had 100k burning through his pockets. Time to get a few blondes to share it with.
And he wasn't thinking about her at all, really he wasn't.
Davis
"Mom, any luck?" he asked, playing a bit with his cereal.
He hadn't had an appetite since Clark had left. He'd managed to finish his EMT training but otherwise hadn't thought about much at all. He emailed Chloe but only the barest details. Somehow, he didn't really trust his mother not to be monitoring him. Occasionally he called her from the fire station he was now working out of, but she rarely picked up. Apparently voice contact was asking too much.
His mom had been following up on a rash of cattle mutilations and murders in Wyoming and just arrived home today. "Coyotes apparently. Nothing in there indicated anything spiked. I don't know what to do with finding him. He's hidden so well."
"We trained him to," Davis countered.
She sighed and he could see the strain the last two months had taken on her. She'd forgotten to touch up her hair and the roots had gone gray, her fingers always twitched for a cigarette, and by two she'd always had her first bit of Scotch for the day.
He'd done this.
He'd been weak and selfish and ruined his family.
"So what do we do now?"
She shrugged. "Wait for another lead about mysterious deaths. It's the only thing we know Clark can't cover up. If The Beast gets out, it will leave a trail."
"But that could still take months," Davis countered. "I'm so sorry, mom."
She pulled out a cigarette from her silver case and lit it. "I know. It's moot now. Finding him is what matters and now that Ms. Sullivan is out of our lives, it'll be easier when she's back."
He sighed and pushed his bowl away. He'd not be eating breakfast again today. "Did you really blacklist her from the Planet?"
"The Metropolis Journaltoo. She ruined your brother, did something worse than if he'd been left alone to begin with."
"What?"
"She gave him false hope. I don't mean she led him on. Chloe was blatantly clear she never loved him, but she gave him hope he could fit in."
"Clark can. He did so well for two years!"
"No, if anything, this experiment with Chloe has taught me that this is exactly where he belongs. Here with his family and protected. It's the only place he can be."
Davis was about to object when the house phone rang. Carefully-since his strength manifested he'd gone through a crushing things stage-he picked up the receiver. "Clark residence, Davis speaking."
The voice on the other line was gruff, distorted a little and it shocked him. "Your brother's in Gotham. Come get him."
The line clicked dead.
"Davis?" his mom asked, taking a drag. "What did they say?"
"I...I think we just got a call from...well this is insane."
"Was it Clark?"
"No, I think it might have been The Batman. He says Clark's in Gotham."
"I'll get the car," she said, starting to stand.
He shook his head. "No. Clark's incredibly angry right now and he's dangerous."
"He'd never-"
"You didn't hear the way he talked. He wantedto tear us both apart. He said he would have if he could make the change voluntary and I believed him."
"He wouldn't hurt me. I'm his mother."
"Maybe not, but you're also just human. Let me get him home. If he turns violent or tries to fight us, I can stop him."
"You're not as fast as he is. You know that."
"But I think I'm stronger. Let me do this. I have to make it right."
His mom sighed. "I want to help."
"Then get his room prepared, have Cecille make his favorite dinner. He iscoming home tonight. I promise."
The afour hour drive to Gotham was the longest thing Davis had ever done. It was a city of seven million people almost as large and imposing as Metropolis. Even if Clark were in Gotham, even if The Batman had found him, there was not way to narrow it down to the where, and Davis seriously doubted he and the Bat were about to become phone buddies.
So he'd try the old fashioned method.
Clark would stay, he figured, to the affluent side of town and stay away from The Narrows and the slums. Despite most of his isolation, Clark had been brought up in high society. It was where he was comfortable. With his strength, his brother could have been pawning diamonds for months to finance his lifestyle.
Davis could find him. He just had to think like Phillip Marlowe.
It took him working through ten luxury high rises before he came to the one closest to Wayne Enterprises. The doorman recognized the picture he'd brought of Clark instantly say that, ahem, Mr. Elhad leased out hte two upper floors. He'd also winked at Davis when he mentioned Clark always had company.
Davis couldn't process that as he rode the elevator to the top floor. It wasn't jealousy, albeit he'd not slept with anyone since Jenna in high school, bugt it was confusion. Clark was painfully shy and he'd only ever loved, truly loved, one girl and that was the root of all their problems.
The string of women that the doorman implied had come through his door didn't fit, at all.
Davis got off the elevator and knocked on his brother's door, hoping that he'd open without looking out first.
Sometimes, providence smiled.
Clark pulled open the door and immediately Davis could tell something was off. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he were a human on a bender. Looking down, Davis spied a classring. Clark must have stolen it to help dose himself.
"Clark-"
His brother smiled and it reminded Davis vaguely of the satisfied look on his mother's face when she'd watched Chloe thrown off the estate. "Davis, what a surprise. Come on in. My guests just left."
Davis stepped into the room, trying not to gape at his brother. Was Clark even taller than he had been? He was broader, had filled out considerably in the two months he been gone and that scared Davis a little. If Clark's strength had grown as much, then Davis might not be able to take him anymore.
"I know about your guests. Do you put notches above your bed post?"
Clark, still shirtless, laughed and grabbed milk from out of the fridge. "That's cute. That's real cute." Gulping straight from the carton, he added. "Come to have fun too? We can run this town if we wanted. None of those bitches in our way."
"Bitches?"
"Martha and Chloe. All that cloying mothering bullshit. I mean, I got it."
Davis blinked. Two months dosed out of his mind on red meteor rock had to be playing havoc with Clark's mind. "Do you?"
"We're aliens."
"I was aware," Davis said, sitting on the edge of Clark's sofa and watching his brother pace. "What's your point."
"Aliens don't have families. We don't have to worry about rules or attachments or any of that human crap. We're better. Last night, I fucking snapped The Batman's wrist in two without any effort."
"You what?"
"You heard me. Killing doesn't interest me, you know that."
"Do I?"
"Not like this, not without the spikes," Clark clarified. "But that stick in the mud had some collateral damage coming. Spit on him too, big old loogie."
Davis couldn't hide his disgust. "Ugh, but that wasn't too bright."
"It wasn't?"
"Must have run a trace on that stuff. How he knew to find us from that...I dunno, maybe he's good at hacking the lab mom owns controlling interest in, the one that hides all our ship and other dirty info. I don't care how he made the connection. He called me."
"When you want to reach out and touch someone."
"I'm serious. He called me and I'm sure he wants you out of his city."
"Maybe I'd like both of you out of mine."
Davis looked down at the ring. "This isn't you. You're drugging yourself."
"I made the pain stop. I don't even worry about The Beast. I have fun, do what I want. I don't hide anymore."
"So a different girl-"
"Sometimes three or four," he leered.
"So that's what you are now? Crime and a string of nameless women. Mom is gonna be so pissed."
"Martha Clark's a rancid old cunt and you know it, so controlling, so calm and in charge. I can see why Jonathan wanted her gone anyway. Who can live with that for a lifetime. I've done in thirteen years and I'm fucking sick of her."
"No you're not. I know you're not."
"How?"
Davis nodded toward the floor by the bed. "You snuck home long enough to grab the red blanket. It means you still feel secure with it, with memories of her. You're still having the nightmares too, aren't you, about being trapped in our ship, about the dark."
Clark surged forward then and grabbed Davis by the throat. The height difference was obvious now, and Davis took measured breaths as Clark sped to the far wall and pushed his body flat against it.
"Interesting."
"Interesting what?" Clark shouted and now his cool demeanor was gone. Davis had struck nerves. "I don't need grandfather or mom or you or that bitch Chloe. I don't need anyone."
"You wanted me to run wild with you not five minutes ago."
"If you want to be fun, not talk non stop about mom, about humans."
"What are you gonna do?" he asked, taking in precious air as Clark's grip tightened. "Are you going to try killing me?"
"Do you think I could," Clark practically purred. "Do you think that's the only way to end this, end us? Maybe one of us really does just have to kill the other. If I punched you, you think your head would end up in Metropolis. I wonder if I could manage this."
Davis swallowed and hoped this was the right move. "If I helped raise a little brother who could kill, the go ahead and do it, cause I'd never hurt you. I'm here to take you home."
"Never going back," Clark snarled, pulling his arm back to strike.
Davis closed his eyes. "I love you."
The ring shattered against the wall beside him and it was the most relief he'd ever felt.
Deep down, he wasn't sure his brother would spare him.
Something dark and ugly unfurling inside of him said that if the situations were reversed, he'd never show mercy.
Chloe
School had started a week ago and she was shocked to see Clark back. She had gotten an email from Davis that Clark was back and that it had ended up in a lot of tears and "I'm sorries" to his mother and grandfather. Davis mentioned just being glad it hadn't devolved in Gotham to an actual fist fight.
Chloe understood that. Clark was so strong and fast. It didn't seem like odds anyone, even another whatever they were, could win.
But Clark didn't acknowledge her. He'd joined the debate team and the mock trial team this year and she understood that, although it was ironic. She was no longer allowed to even be an underling at The Monitor. The Clarks really did own Metropolis.
She sighed and patted Dinah, trying to figure out pre-calc on her own. Dad was in Nairobi this week and then in Rio the next. At least she thought so; it felt impossible to keep track anymore. "I earned this, you know."
"Meow?"
"I ruined his family, broke him. I deserve to have what I love taken away. It's just so hard to go back to having no friends. Maybe I could talk dad into transferring me quickly to Chatham when he gets home."
"Meow," Dinah said, butting her head against Chloe's leg.
"Good point. Let's go downstairs and grab a snack."
Somehow, she wasn't even surprised that The Beast was at her doorstep, although the large planter of tulips it had stolen from her neighbor in lieu of a dead animal was a nice change of pace.
Rolling her eyes indulgently, she opened the door, gratified when he came in and Dinah had the sense to rush back upstairs. "Come in, Clark."
The Beast nodded a little and handed her the flowers planter. "Chloe!"
"Yes, Chloe, and you're?"
"Kal-elllll."
"Good enough," she said, sighing. "So, you'll visit me with gifts when you have spikes and grey skin but won't give me the time of day at school. That's not really fair."
"Chloe?"
"I know, too many words," she said, patting his arm carefully. "I tell you what. Daddy has some steaks in the fridge he got for me to cook for myself as a Saturday night special. You can have 'em raw and we'll go watch Lilo and Stitch."
"Chloe?"
"Steak," she said, pulling out the meat.
The Beast's maw opened wide and it was as close to a smile as it could manage. "Steakkkk."
"Now you're learning."
Clark
He knew she'd track him down in the library eventually. Chloe Sullivan had a messiah complex and a big mouth, a dangerous and annoying combination. He would have walked out on her but the concerned look on her face told him all he needed to know.
The Beast had visited her again.
"Oh god. Are you okay?" he asked, and he was reaching out to stroke her hair before he could stop himself. No woman in Gotham had come close to her and no amount of self drugging could help him fool himself enough to believe they had.
"You were a gentleman as always, even brought me tulips this time."
"Huh?"
She pulled him into a private study room, one reserved for when kids had oral exams for French class. "You ruined my neighbor's flower box, but you did great. No dead animals!"
"I think this is a weird milestone to celebrate."
"Well I'd asked The Beast...you...whatever twice to try for flowers or something else I didn't have to dispose of. I think you understood and remembered. I mean, this is showing definite progress for your other half. I told you we could figure all this out."
"Cause I brought you tulips?"
"Cause you didn't bring me a dead animal. I'm not stupid. I understand that that part of you is always going to have to hunt but, for fuck's sake, it's what your mom bought the deer for. The point is The Beast can learn. I know it can."
"So we're gonna school me in being a fluffy pet?"
"No, but we can maybe train you some restraint. I...Kyla might really have been an accident. You've never ever gone after humans. I think The Beast was being territorial with her wolf. I'm so sorry that it worked that way, but I think you can...I think we can help you enough not to hurt humans ever."
"I want to believe that, I do."
"The Beast can be taught. This is a massive step. We can do so much to keep you from hurting people."
"But I'll always be lashed to it."
She hugged him and he couldn't push her away. She was his weakness. "If it makes you feel better, when you're not hunting, you're perfectly pleasant."
"This is a bizarre conversation."
"You're colorful, is all."
And damn it if he didn't miss her and her weird perspective. He had acquaintences from two years at school and even was making a few friends at mock trial, but no one would ever be like Chloe because she knewand she hadn't run.
He sighed and forced her away. "We have to talk."
"I'm sorry. What happened with Davis? I couldn't control it. I couldn't. I'd give anything if I didn't feel about him like that and I could love you back the way you love me, if I could make this simple, but I can't."
He swallowed. "He's like me, so it's not even The Beast or the powers. Clark Kent'snot enough for you."
She put her hand on his cheek. "I wish you were. You're the best friend I've ever had, but I don't...I can't make myself feel things that aren't there. I never meant to hurt anyone."
"I understand. You can date him, you know."
"Excuse me?"
"I won't be upset anymore. I don't want him to miss out on things because of me. I'm not an idiot. He's closed himself off on purpose." He laughed bitterly. "There's only one girl in the world who knows our darkest secrets and doesn't care and we're both in love with her."
"Clark, there might be others some day. Hell, maybe one day we'll find out exactly what you are and you'll find more of your own kind. I'm not the only girl who can feel for you."
"You're the only one I love," he countered. "I was drugged in Gotham."
"I know."
"I slept my way through dozens of blondes, trying to replace you."
She looked stricken but had no right to. She'd been the one to push him away. "What?"
"I slept around a lot, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I tried to let go to the red meteor rocks, I couldn't get you out of my thoughts. The Beast and I agree on one thing and that's that you're the one and I'll move on, I promise, but no one will ever be like you are to me and that's not your fault."
"I..."
"It's mine," he said, bending down to kiss her cheek, staying there a few seconds longer than he had to. "You can be with him because he deserves it. He's given up everything he ever wanted to protect me and himself. I just...be good to him."
"Clark-"
"Chlo, I have to go. I can't be noble and then argue sense into you, okay?"
"I..."
"You're saying that a lot. Look, I hate debate. I'll see you Monday at The Monitor."
"You can't."
"Well I think I might be a little rusty and we're in a weird place right now, but we can still be friends and we're a good mini-Woodward and Bernstein."
"No, I'm not allowed on staff. Your mom blacklisted me from that and getting DP or The Journal internships."
"For how long?"
"Forever," she said, opening the door. "But we'll always have lunch."
Martha
She woke up in the middle of the night to the feel of hot, fetid breath on her neck. She knew what she'd find before she even opened her eyes. Staring back at her, for the first time, were gleaming red eyes, like something out of Clive Barker or Stephen King.
She choked back instinctual fear and remembered to breath.
This was her son, her youngest and her baby.
She would not be afraid of him.
"Clark?"
Clark was growling low, menacingly, and she wondered if she was going to die here and now, if everything he'd said when he'd apologized was still masking his true feelings. She reached out toward him and blurred away, apparating on the other side of her bed. He flung a collection of newspapers onto her lap, and, looking down, Martha realized they were all pieces for The Daily Planetor The Monitorthat had been written by Chloe Sullivan.
"I don't...I don't understand."
Clark growled again and Martha fought to keep herself from hyperventilating. It was her son; he'd never kill her.
Clark pointed to the papers and let out a low rumble, "Chloooeeeee."
"I...what about Chloe?"
He pointed again to the papers and she was left remembering what it was like trying to teach him English and how frustrated he'd get.
"Chloeeeee."
"You want me to un-blacklist her."
"Chloe!"
She looked between him and the papers. She hated that girl, hated her almost as much as she did Jonathan Kent, but both her sons couldn't leave her alone, would never be able to, she was realizing. Looking back at the jagged shark-like teeth erupting from Clark's jaw, she gulped.
"I'll call Pauline tomorrow."
The Beast nodded and one taloned hand carefully patted her head. "Mother."
Yes, mother.
Oh God what had she done?