Young Clark Face Claim: .

Lex Face Claim: .

….

"Are you ready now, Clark?"

Clark flushed uncomfortably as he heard Lex chuckle behind him, hands fiddling with the buttons of the video camera. "Yeah…." He answered Chloe, "… I forgot to press the record button."

He and Lex knew why he was so flustered…. Chloe had her own suspicions.

"Sorry…" she apologised as Lex cleared his throat, "… I guess Clark's more like an Alpha than I thought. So, Mr. Luthor any more secret construction projects at Luthor-Corp like Level 3?"

"Please, call me Lex."

"Okay Lex, are you gonna answer my question?"

Clark felt a protective surge of possession, stepping forwards and frowning at his friend. "Chloe." He muttered warningly, shaking his head when she glanced back at him.

"What?"

"It's okay, Clark…." Lex reassured him, a fond smile on his face, "… Our critics are our friends. They show us our faults."

"… Benjamin Franklin."

Before Chloe could ask another question, Mercy strode into the room, her characteristic scowl on her face. "Excuse me, Mr. Luthor. Your father's on the phone."

Lex nodded in thanks to Mercy, before giving Chloe an apologetic smile, "I need to get this…." He muttered, before turning his attention back to Mercy, "… I'll take it in the conservatory." Back to Chloe, "I look forward to resuming our verbal judo."

As Lex and Mercy left the room, Chloe turned to Clark, a look of glee on her face. "I wonder if he's really taking a call or if he's just trying to avoid me?"

She seemed delighted by the thought.

As she wandered around the room, her attention was caught by a Greek vase on the back shelves. "Wow, that's really cool…. Do you think it's real?"

When Clark went to investigate, he quickly realised that Chloe wasn't beside him anymore.

"Chloe? Chloe!"

As he raced out of the room, he failed to notice how three figures suddenly appeared in the room.

"Okay…." One of them muttered, "… The vault's in the wall behind the bookcase."

…..

"You can't just go snooping around someone's house!" Clark scolded Chloe once he caught up to her.

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

At his stern look, she threw her hands up into the air and rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine. We'll go and wait in the library for Lex to officially blow us off!" She then paused and narrowed her eyes, "Why are you and Lex acting so weird around each other?"

"We… had a tough conversation lately."

"Oh? Was it… was it the conversation. The big one?"

Clark remained silent, his thoughts already turning to that night when he came to see Lex.

*****Flashback******

"Clark?" Lex rubbed his eyes tiredly as he yawned, "Couldn't this have waited until morning? Like, over coffee or something?"

Clark shuffled nervously from side to side. "I-I needed to tell you something… something I should have told you ages ago."

This clearly peaked Lex's interest. "Oh…. Something interesting?"

"Ummm…. Maybe." Silently encouraging Lex to sit down (whilst trying to ignore the fact that the omega was shirtless), "You need to promise me you won't be too mad, okay…. Don't be too mad at me."

Now, Lex was clearly confused, leaning forwards and taking a hold of Clark's hand, "I won't be mad… I promise."

"… You did hit me with your car that day."

"What?"

Clark took a deep breath, "That day your car went off the bridge…. You did hit me… and then I ripped the roof off the car in order to save you."

At Lex's silence, Clark began to panic. "I-I wanted to tell you, but I've had to hide my abilities for years, and I was worried you would treat me differently if you found out! And then, all these other people with abilities started popping up, and most of them have hurt you, and I didn't want you to be scared of me, even though I'm not technically a meteor mutant and- "

"- Clark! Clark! Clark!" Lex tightened his grip on Clark's hand in an attempt to stop the Alpha, "Slow down… what do you mean you're not a meteor mutant?"

"… I'm an alien…. I came in the meteor storm and Pa and Ma found me."

Lex started to shake his head, trying to pull his hand away. "Now you're just messing me… is this because of me accusing you earlier this week, because I said I was sorry!"

"I didn't want to tell you because it was all my fault!" Clark blurted out, wincing as Lex frowned at him, taking a deep breath quickly, "The meteor shower…. It caused by me coming to Earth. I'm the one responsible for the mutants and… everything else."

Knowing that Clark was talking about his baldness, Lex self-consciously ran his hand over his head as Clark continued.

"I know I should have told you sooner, I know I should have told you when you confronted me last week, but I honestly didn't have my powers then, Eric leeched them after we were hit by lightning and then he threw me into a car and- "

"- Wait, wait!" Lex frowned, "So, you're an alien who came in the meteor shower, and you have super strength- "

"- and speed… and super-healing… and bullets can't hurt… and I can see through walls."

"… Right." Lex took another deep breath, "This is a lot of information to take in… these powers helped you save me from drowning, and you didn't have them earlier this week… because someone stole them?"

Clark nodded, wincing when he saw no change in expression from Lex, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

There was a brief moment of silence, before Lex pulled away, giving Clark a quick and reassuring smile. "Thank you…" he whispered, "… Thank you for telling me, I just- "He took a deep breath, "- I think I just need some time… can you give me that? A little bit of time?"

"Yeah Lex… I do that."

*******End Flashback*******

"Clark! Clark!"

Startled out of his thoughts, Clark winced at the look of Chloe's face, "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" he held his hands up in silent surrender and winced, "I-I was just- "

"- ignoring me." Chloe rolled her eyes, "Come on, let's go."

As they re-entered the study, Clark headed towards the camera. "I'll put the camera away."

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

As he went to turn the camera off, Clark frowned at the sight of two full-ish duffle bags sitting on the table… bags that weren't there before.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, an arm wrapped around his throat and he was pulled away from the camera. The masked men seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Chloe, run!"

The little bit of Alpha command probably wasn't necessary, but it made the beta listen, as she raced out of the room…. But she didn't get very far.

And Clark couldn't get free.

His veins were turning green, much like with what happened when he was near Kryptonite.

There was a smash of glass nearby, before one of the masked men punched Clark in the stomach, forcing all the breath out of him as he fell to his knees.

"Move it! Let's move it!" the men called out.

Once they were out of the room, Clark heard Chloe call out for him.

"Clark!"

"…Chloe."

"Clark!"

There was a desperate scream as Clark pushed himself to his feet and headed out of the room, glancing around for his best friend.

And then he spotted the shattered window.

They were three floors up.

He raced to the window and glanced over the ledge… to see Chloe lying on the ground down below.

"Chloe!"

…

She looked so broken… so beaten down.

As Chloe lay unconscious in the hospital bed, machines beeping all around her, Clark couldn't help but over the incident again and again in his mind.

He needed to be a hero then… why wasn't he?

"Clark."

Clark twisted around and sighed in relief as Lex entered the room, a reassuring smile on the omega's face.

"Don't worry…" Lex stated, "… I brought in the best doctors from Metropolis."

"Is she gonna be all right?"

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

"… I should've gotten to her."

There was a brief moment of silence before Lex cleared his throat nervously. "I-I mean, you mentioned super speed and strength… why couldn't you get to her?"

"… There's something I didn't mention last time… I do have weakness."

"Oh?"

"Kryptonite… parts of the meteors. It makes me feel weak."

"And they must have had some on them last night…." Lex's eyes then widened in realisation, "… Lana's necklace, that's why you act funny around her, not because of any crush?"

"Exactly!" Clark couldn't help but feel a weight was lifted from his shoulders, "It's just her necklace!"

Lex also seemed relieved at this, a fond smile flashing across his face before he cleared is throat again, "Well, then Clark, this definitely isn't your fault."

"… I just don't know what happened. One minute, the room is empty and then they appear out of thin air… I mean, do the police have any leads?"

Lex sighed wearily, "They don't think I'm the first one that's been hit. There have been over a dozen robberies all over the county. They tried to hit the Smallville Savings & Loan."

"I didn't hear about that."

"Banks don't publicize attempted robberies, it's bad for their image."

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

Smirking, Lex shrugged. "Apparently they tripped an alarm inside the vault…. Although, no one knows how they got in there."

"And the stuff they stole from you? Can the police trace it?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Lex shook his head, moving to leave. "I didn't report anything stolen, Clark."

"What?! Why not? I saw them walk out with bags!"

"I don't care about that! I just want to find the people who did this to Chloe." Lex glanced over at the unconscious beta, "When I do I promise you, they will be dealt with accordingly."

"… What does that mean?"

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

Just before Lex could leave, Clark's next words stunned him. "I thought we were done keeping secrets from each other?"

"… Get some rest Clark."

….

Making firewood had always calmed Clark down in most circumstances. Put the wood on the chopping block and smash it into pieces.

"Clark…" His Ma and Pa entered the barn, concerned looks on their faces, "… What are you doing?"

"Trying to make myself useful."

Lifting one of the pieces off the ground, Jon attempted to make a joke. "Hey, son we need firewood, not toothpicks."

"I know what you guys are gonna say: It's not my fault. Lex already told me, so did Chloe's dad."

"They're right, Clark…." Martha tried to reassure him, "…You did your best."

"Chloe could've died!"

Jon sighed, "Son becoming an adult means learning difficult lessons one of which is you can't save everybody, no matter who you are."

"Yeah, you said you felt the effects of the meteor rocks?" Martha nodded in agreement with her husband.

"Yeah, I just don't know where it was coming from…. Sometimes I just wish I could leave this town and get away from the meteor rocks!"

Seconds before he brought his fist done to smash another log into pieces, Jon stopped forward and held out his hands, "Woah, woah, woah…" he blurted out, "… I'm sure that you will. You'll get that chance…. But running away won't solve anything."

"Don't hang around here feeling sorry for yourself." Martha gently ordered, smoothing out Clark's collar and gesturing towards the door, "Go. See what you can find out."

…..

"Lex said the people who hit the mansion tried to rob this bank…." Clark reported to Pete as they made their way towards Smallville Savings & Loans.

"Clark, I've got three words for you: official police investigation!"

Clark spun around and frowned at the beta, "The police haven't done a thing. There have been 12 robberies in the past six months with the same freaky M.O. No sign of entry, the jewels and the cash just vanished…. Except for this place. Lex says that they triggered an alarm inside the vault. The question is, how'd they get inside?"

"… I don't know." Pete sighed, "Now, stop channeling Chloe and come on!"

Clark ignored him, focusing on the wall of the building and using his x-ray vision to get a better look inside… and then he saw the skeletal arm.

"-ark! Come on man!"

As Pete clicked his fingers near his ear and waved his other hand in front of Clark's face, Clark was startled out of his dark thoughts.

How did an arm get there?

"I know you feel bad…." Pete sighed, "… I do too…. But we're not cops."

…..

"I don't care…." Lex snarled down the phone, "… If I wanted excuses, I'd call the police…. Yeah? Well, you're supposed to be the best private security firm in Metropolis!"

He slammed the phone down and spun around… only to almost run into someone wearing a balaclava behind him.

"How'd you get in here?" He growled, eyes darting to the door in expectation of Mercy appearing there.

"The same way we did last time, bro." At that moment, two more masked men entered the room, seemingly phasing through the wall

"… I'm calling the police." Lex tried to threaten them, reaching out for the phone as the two betas and one Alpha moved in closer.

If he screamed for Clark, would the Alpha hear him?

"You didn't last time, and we know why…." Lex paused at this as the man continued, "… We read the disk, Lex."

Slowly, he moved his hand away from the phone. "What are you talking about?"

"You're skimming money from your dad to fund a project in Smallville."

Clark's college fund… shit.

"That concerns a methane treatment plant…." He tried to explain everything way, "… It'll put our competitors out of business."

There was a brief pause, before the Alpha suddenly darted forward and punched Lex in the stomach, sending the omega to his knees.

"Don't bullshit us!" The Alpha growled, "Why would you be storing the money in a bank account under a fake name? A.K, ring any bells?"

"-What do you want?" Lex wheezed, clutching at his stomach and wincing at the dull ache that was starting to spread throughout his abdomen.

"A million, cash. If you try anything stupid, even if you think a stupid thought your disk is going to be uploaded to the Internet for all the world and Big Daddy Lionel to see."

Lionel couldn't find out about his feelings for Clark, what he planned for their future. Lex slowly, pushed himself back up into an upright position and glared at the Alpha, "How do I reach you?"

"You don't… We reach you."

One of the betas held up a burner phone, handing it to Lex.

"Now…" The Alpha sneered, "… turn around. Show us that pretty, omega ass."

Lex felt his face go pale… it had been only robberies so far…. There was nothing about any of this behaviour. Nevertheless, he slowly turned around, tensing as the Alpha chuckled.

"Wait there."

"You have no idea who you're dealing with." Lex hissed, receiving only silence in return. When he turned back around, he frowned.

They were gone.

…

After learning that Whitney had lost his football scholarship and spotting the man with the strange, green tattoos, Clark received fantastic news.

Chloe was recovering.

Quickly, he purchased some flowers and headed to the hospital, racing to Chloe's room and sighing in relief as she smiled at him and greeted him.

"Your dad called and told me you were awake…" he whispered gently, making his way into the room slowly.

"You're officially my first visitor."

"How you feeling?"

Chloe chuckled weakly, "Like a million bucks, thrown in the washing machine and set on spin."

"Everyone was real worried about you."

She glanced around and smirked, "Yeah, I noticed…. Looks like Nell's flower shop's been stripped clean. I especially like the ones from Lex, they make me feel like I won the Kentucky Derby."

Clark glanced around the room, wincing at the sight of gorgeous roses, tulips and other colourful flowers, including Lex's that were white roses arranged in the shape of a horseshoe, indicating luck.

His own flowers pale in comparison.

"They're beautiful, Clark…." Chloe reassured him, sniffing at them lightly, "… They're my favourite."

"I-I just wanna say I'm sorry."

Chloe frowned in confusion. "For what?

"Letting you get hurt."

There was a brief moment of silence before Chloe rolled her eyes, "Well, I am perturbed with you, Clark…. I'm also mad that you didn't put out the Chicago Fire of 1871…. Or prevent the fall of the Roman Empire, making you responsible for the Dark Ages."

Clark couldn't help but chuckle… she always knew how to make him feel better. "Thanks… Do you remember anything about those guys?"

Chloe thought to herself for a few moments, before nodding in memory. "There was one thing… The guy that grabbed me had a tattoo on his forearm. An octagon, maybe."

Like the guy in the store… the guy in the store with the weird green tattoo.

"What's going on, Clark?"

"I don't know…. Let me do some digging."

She smiled up at him, "Clark Kent, investigative reporter. Has a nice ring to it."

Leaning over, Clark gave her a kiss on the forehead, "You get some rest."

"I'll try."

"Thank you."

….

Lex felt like he was going to explode, he had way too much going on at the moment, and Lana's whinging wasn't helping.

"This theater means something to a lot of people….."

She'd been talking about this theatre for ages.

"… I spent every Saturday of my childhood here, eighth row center. When the lights went down and the screen flickered on the problems outside these doors just disappeared. It was like being transported to a magical place."

Lex resisted the urge to sigh wearily, "That's a nice story, but why is it so important to you really?"

"My parents met here…. I guess I'm just looking for something to hold on to."

Ah…. He knew there was more to it.

"So… I'm supposed to preserve this monument to Lana Lang's sentimental memories?"

"…. That's not what I meant."

Lex smirked at her, "You're a teenager, Lana. Mercurial doesn't do you justice."

Clearly seconds away from completely losing it, Lana glared at him. "Thought you might understand…. Clearly I was mistaken."

"This is business, Lana. All these stores are becoming office spaces and this town needs a parking garage."

"… So you're going ahead with your plans?"

He shook his head in sympathy, "You haven't given me any reason to change my mind. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a pressing matter to attend to."

She looked like she was seconds away from lashing out, but she moved to the side anyway, and allowed him through.

Teenagers… oi vay.

….

After a bit of digging and a quick visit to Whitney (who had a suspicious green tattoo of his own), it was easy to identify the two who had been speaking to Whitney.

Chloe stored everything at the Torch.

Wade Mahaney and Scott Bowman. Class of '96. They were just like Whitney six years ago, school stars in sports as they ruled the school…. Until Wade got injured and Scott started using drugs… then their futures vanished.

Lana was stunned, "Do you think Whitney's in trouble?" she asked, clearly concerned for her Alpha boyfriend.

"I don't know."

"I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen to me…. He thinks that scholarship is his only way out of here. I wish he'd see himself the way I do, there's more to him than football!"

"… He's lucky to have you."

"Yeah." Lana shook her head, "Big influence I am. Can't seem to convince anybody to do anything today."

"Are you talking about the Talon?"

"I met with Lex, tried to make my case, but he totally shot me down…. He said I hadn't given him a good enough business reason."

Huh… Clark frowned, "Sounds kind of harsh."

"Yeah…. But I think the thing that makes me maddest, is that he's right."

"Maybe it wasn't a rejection, maybe it was a challenge?" Clark questioned, knowing that was more like Lex… it wasn't so simple with that omega.

"My first challenge is helping Whitney."

"Let me work on that."

Lana was silent for a brief moment, before she frowned at Clark in confusion. "Clark, why are you doing this? Not that I don't appreciate it."

"I couldn't stop what happened to Chloe…. There's a chance for Whitney."

…

Lex didn't want to answer the phone call… he wanted to just throw it away and call Clark, explain the situation to him, maybe the young Alpha could be his knight in shining armour.

But Lionel couldn't know about the college fund… he just couldn't.

He answered the call.

"Glad you could make it, Luthor…." Chuckled the voice on the other end of the line, "… Go inside. You'll find a walk-in meat locker…. Wait there."

Slowly, Lex followed the orders, opening up the large metal door and grimacing at the sight of meat hooks hanging from the ceiling.

"Now what?" he asked as he walked inside.

Silence.

"Hello?"

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind him and he couldn't help but yelp in shock, before scolding himself silently.

And then the masked men walked straight into the meat locker… straight through the wall.

"How did you- "

"- Open the case, Lex."

Lex bravely resisted the Alpha's order, straightening up and glaring at the man, "I want the disk first."

"The money, Lex! Give us the money!"

Behind him, he heard a familiar voice whisper "What's going on?" as another one told him to shut up. However, Lex couldn't focus on that too much as the Alpha darted forward and shoved his hand through the case, rooting around before taking a step back.

"It's empty…. He screwed us!"

"If I brought the money, I'd never get out!" Lex tried to protest.

"Big mistake, rich boy…." The Alpha's hand darted forward, gripping Lex's neck and pulling him to the floor, "… I phase through your neck, I kill you! We want the damn money!"

"Stop it!" the new masked man spoke up.

"Give us the money!"

"You never said we'd do this!"

"I said, shut up!"

The voices were all becoming a blur and darkness encroached on his vision.

"Stop it, you're killing him!"

"Wade, time is almost up, we got to blow!"

At the warning from his friend, the Alpha leaned in close and hissed in Lex's face. "Next time bring the money!"

Suddenly, the metal door flung open, followed by a dull thunk and a grunt of pain.

The Alpha let go of his neck, causing Lex to gasp desperately, clutching at his throat and shuddering at the memory of the fingers tightening around vulnerable flesh. As he twisted around, he frowned at the sight of Clark lying by the door.

The Alpha wasn't even looking at him, focusing on the men leaving the meat locker… through the wall.

"Whitney?"

But they were already gone.

"Lex!" Clark gasped in relief, moving over and swiftly helping Lex to his feet, "Lex, are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, i-I think so…." The omega winced at the croak in his voice, "… Not good at this whole rescuing though, are you?"

The tone was teasing, but Clark still flushed in embarrassment.

"It was like with Chloe… I think it's their tattoos, something in them making me weak." He then frowned at Lex, "What were you even doing with those guys?"

By this time, they were back at Lex's car, pulling away from the meat locker.

Lex was silent for a time, before sighing wearily. "They were blackmailing me, Clark. I went there to make a drop…." He winced at Clark's silence, "… You're wondering if your father's been right about me all along, aren't you?"

"Lex…" Clark leaned over and gently placed his hand on Lex's leg, "… I'm not thinking that at all… but I would like to know what they have on you."

"… They stole a computer disk that contains confidential information."

"What was on it?"

This time, it was Lex who was silent for a time, before shaking his head, "Details about a separate account… one that I don't really want going public."

"Illegal?"

"… Your college fund."

Clark felt all the breath leave his body at once, "W-what?"

"I-I don't know if you ever want to go to college, or if you just wanted to stay here and take over the farm… but I thought it would be a nice gift… for your eighteenth or something."

Lex was clearly slightly embarrassed with having to say it out loud, but Clark had never smiled harder in his life… until a sudden thought occurred to him. "Why didn't you call the cops? It's a perfectly innocent reason!"

"Dad can't know about it, and I don't know which cops are on his payroll…" Lex sighed wearily, instinctively moving closer to the Alpha as his throat started to hurt once again, "… Clark, I told you I'd handle it. The question is, what were you doing there?"

"I was following Whitney. He's been hanging with those guys and I wanted to help."

Gently, Lex took a hold of Clark's hand, encouraging the young Alpha to look him in the eye. "Is this because of Chloe? Clark, you can't save the world, even with your powers…. All you'll end up with is a messiah complex and a lot of enemies."

"… I saved you, didn't I? That turned out all right."

Lex rolled his eyes fondly, squeezing Clark's hand as the Alpha beamed at him briefly.

"What's your next move?" The Alpha asked.

"… They're gonna learn that it doesn't pay to rob Lex Luthor."

"What about Whitney?"

As Lex headed towards the driver's seat, he winced slightly at the question. "A man is measured by the quality of his friends. If the quarterback's with them, he'll have to face the consequences…. I'm sorry Clark."

"I know Lex… I know."

….

The next day, after mulling over Lex's words and finding himself thrilled by the prospect of college, Clark made his way to Chloe's hospital room… only to find Pete already there, a laptop on Chloe's lap.

"Pete?" He questioned, heading further into the room, "We were supposed to meet at the Torch?"

Pete almost looked guilty, "Yeah, well, Chloe called and I told her what we were doing- "

"- So I insisted you guys come here." Chloe interrupted

Clark shook his head, "You should be resting!"

"All this resting is driving me insane. These so-called "health-care professionals" just want me in bed eating Jell-O!"

"… Those fascists."

Chloe didn't even crack a smile at Clark's teasing, widening her eyes and pleading up at him, "I need to do this, okay? Don't cut me out of it, please?"

"… Okay."

She beamed at him, before launching into her explanation. "So I was surfing the Net, doing some research- "

"- How'd you get online here?"

"… Pete hijacked the phone line for me."

Clark turned a disbelieving look on Pete, before shaking his head and continuing, "What have you got?"

"…What if these guys are using meteorite tattoos to speed up their metabolism? I mean, their molecules are literally moving at hyper-speed.

"That's how they go through solid objects?"

Pete shook his head in disbelief, "That's crazy!"

"Well, they're doing it!"

Before Pete could pipe up, Clark interrupted. "It's like the ultimate rush…. But there's no way their bodies can handle that kind of stress for long."

"What are you saying will happen?"

Chloe and Clark glanced at each other, before Chloe shrugged at Pete's question. "You take the ultimate rush, you pay the ultimate price."

…

As soon as he received the call from Lana, her voice frantic as she talked about Whitney, Clark raced over to meet her, listening to Whitney's explanation and confession about the men and what they had planned.

"After they get the money, they're gonna kill Lex and probably me for betraying them." Whitney sighed, smiling softly as Lana patted him on the shoulder.

"You did the right thing."

"Yeah, too little too late."

Clark chose not to say anything, remaining calm despite the threat to Lex, "Where are they now?" He asked.

"Back at the loft, sleeping it off."

"Did you see the disk they stole from Lex?"

"… No. But it's gotta be there. I can sneak in and get it."

Lana shook her head desperately, "It's dangerous. We should call the police."

"No cops…. I'm already in enough trouble."

There was a brief silence, before Clark sighed, "Tell me where they are. I can get in and out before they wake."

"I can't let you go alone, Clark…. I got myself into this mess, I gotta try and get myself out of it."

Clark hesitated for a brief moment, before nodding in agreement, gesturing for Whitney to lead him to where the men were.

Lana watched them leave in concern, a worried look on her face.

…

"Empty…." Whitney sighed as they moved through the colourful hide-out, "…They must be out looking for me."

"Well, let's find it before they come back."

As Whitney started to search desperately for the disk, Clark used his X-ray vision to scan the room, smiling when he spotted the disk in the vents.

"It's not here!" Whitney cried out.

"Keep looking…. It's gotta be here somewhere."

Once he was sure that Whitney was looking away, Clark reached up and pulled the vent cover away, grabbing the disk from within and beaming in success. "I got it!"

Quickly, they moved to leave, only to stop when the other thieves emerged through the walls, with the Lead Alpha sneering at Whitney.

"You really screwed up, rookie…." The man sneered, before turning his attention to Clark and the disk in his hand, "… Look, I don't know how you found that disk, bro, but I need it back. Now!"

Clark simply stared at him for a few moments, before smirking and tightening his fist, crushing it into a little ball and letting it drop to the ground.

The Alpha was silent for a time, before he suddenly darted forward, striking out at Clark as his fist went straight into him.

It felt like someone was gripping his organs.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" The man sneered as Clark started to collapse to the ground, "… It feels like someone's chewing up your insides. I stay in long enough, I could do some serious damage." He pulled his fist back, allowing Clark to drop to the ground, before turning his attention to Whitney, "You're next, bro."

Two members of the gang pulled Whitney out back, clearly intending to kill him and leaving Clark alone with a beta.

A beta with a missing arm.

"I know what happened to your arm in the bank vault." Clark gasped, looking at the empty sleeve in shock.

The beta shrugged, "Occupational hazard… We waited too long. Didn't hurt, when I pulled out, it was fused at the shoulder."

"You can't keep doing this! You're gonna die!"

"If you hadn't have screwed up our retirement plan, we wouldn't have to… But now you're gonna pay."

Before the beta could get any closer however, there was a crackling sound and the man tensed up in pain, before falling to the ground, revealing a smug Lex standing behind him.

"God, I love you…" Clark muttered under his breath, flushing when Lex turned to him and frowned.

"What?"

"…. I said, God I love your dramatic entrances." Clark pushed himself to his feet weakly, "Did Lana call you like I asked her to?"

Lex nodded slowly, "Yeah… you could have called me and asked me to come along?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt…" Clark glanced in the direction that they'd taken Whitney, "… I've gotta find Whitney."

"Clark, wait, I'm calling the police."

But Clark couldn't wait…. He had to save Whitney.

….

When he got to the car scrapyard, he spotted the thief leader holding Whitney under a large, crushed car.

"Let him go!" he ordered, noticing how the man's tattoo glowed green briefly, before going dark, "The cops are on their way."

The other Alpha pulled out a gun and held it at Whitney's head, "Think again, rookie. There's only one way off this team"

"Don't worry, I got you covered." Called out the other beta, pressing a button on the remote, releasing the car from up above, causing it to drop down towards Whitney and the thief.

It took Clark less than a second to rush forwards and pull Whitney out of the way, as the car landed heavily on the other Alpha.

He didn't phase through it this time.

And when the other beta tried to run, the police pulled into the scrapyard, stopping the man in his tracks.

"Don't move!"

"Keep your hands up!"

"Keep them up!"

"Up against the car!"

…

As Whitney was being helped into an ambulance, a shock blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Clark made his way over to Lex. "What did you tell the police?" He asked quietly.

"The truth…. Those guys broke into my house. You two figured it out, tried to be heroes, saving the poor omega in distress, and got in over your heads. Typical Alpha bravado."

Clark chuckled weakly, "What about- "

"- Walking through walls part? I don't think the cops could handle that much truth."

"… Sorry about your disk. I was just… I just had the instinct to destroy it."

"It's okay, I didn't come out here for that, Clark. I came, because someone I care about was in trouble."

Clark nodded shyly, heading over to Whitney as Lex went over to the cop car, where the two betas were being held.

…..

"Thanks for coming."

Lex turned around and raised an eyebrow as Lana entered the room, "I was surprised by your call…. After our last meeting, I didn't think I'd hear from you again."

"This time I came prepared." She handed over a file and beamed.

"…. What's this?"

"My business proposal. Small towns across the country have revived their downtowns returning them to the social centers they once were. They didn't do this by building cookie-cutter malls or parking garages. They did it by restoring the great buildings that were already there turning them into cafes, bookstores, restaurants."

As he flicked through the file, he glanced up at Lana and frowned, "You want to turn the Talon into a cafe/bookstore?"

"It could also be a venue for local bands and arthouse movies! I found out you can register the building as a historic landmark, which gives you certain tax benefits…. Just don't ask me to explain them."

"… Who's gonna manage it?"

"Nell said she'd be interested…. And I can train with her after school, and try running it myself in the summers!"

Lex stared at her for a few moments, "How'd you come up with this?"

"Something Clark said… He told me you like to challenge people."

Trying to push down the flush at the knowledge that Clark knew him so well, Lex cleared his throat, "Well, you've definitely risen to the challenge."

"…So, it's a deal?"

"I need to look over everything but, yeah… it's a deal."

"Really?!"

"Really…. I'm always saying more Omegas should get into business. I think this could be the start of a very interesting partnership."