Title: The SV-Files, Episode 103
Author: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG
Category: AU/Futurefic/Science Fiction/Action/Drama

Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics. The X-Files was created by Chris Carter and belongs to 20th Century Fox and Ten Thirteen Productions.

========

"Agent Luthor?" The tall, sandy-haired man in the doorway asked.

Lex nodded. "Special Agent Luthor," he corrected him.

"Special Agent, then." The sandy-haired man nodded, cracking the tiniest bit of a smile.

"How can we help you?" Lex indicated the one guest chair they could squeeze into the office, "Have a seat."

The man sat.

"This is my partner, Special Agent Kent. You still haven't told us your name, though."

"Smith. Matt Smith."

"So how can we help you, Mr. Smith?"

"I think I have reason to fear for my life."

Lex scoffed, "We're hardly a personal security firm, here, Mr. Smith."

"Yes, but rumor is you do have an interest in aliens."

This got Lex's attention. "Aliens?"

"Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, not real aliens, Special Agent Luthor." He sighed and pulled a small tape out of his pocket, "this will explain my situation."

Minutes later, Clark had procured a tape recorder from somewhere, and they listened to the tape.

Beep. "I know what you are, Smith." Click.

Beep. "I know where you're from, Smith." Click.

Beep. "I've seen you, Smith. I've seen your soulless eyes." Click.

This gave Lex a real jolt; he reached forward, snapping the tape recorder off. "I think that's enough. Does it ever progress beyond this sort of thing?"

"Progress to what?"

"Outright threats. At this point it sounds like that old joke about the guy getting a phone call saying 'the viper is coming,'" Lex hoped he didn't sound as off-balance as he felt; he feared he did and that Clark picked up on it.

"No. It's just more of this."

"You have caller ID?"

"Yes, but this guy appears to be using something to foil it. We can't get any kind of reading on it at all."

"Luthor," Clark said, "Why don't I take this down to the lab and we can see if we can pick up any kind of background sounds?"

Lex nodded and handed the tape to his partner.

After Clark left, Lex continued his questioning. "When did these calls come in?"

"I get a call on my cell phone every Wednesday at 11:15 in the morning."

"Precisely at 11:15?"

"On the dot."

"What do you do for a living, Mr. Smith?"

"I'm a car salesman. I work for Lozano Ford, in Lawrence."

The questioning went on for some time like this, and soon, Clark returned, two tapes in his hand.

"Gordon found something that I think will definitely help us." He handed one of the tapes to Lex, who put it in the player.

"This first one will be from the background of your second message," Clark said.

They heard, "Duncan, you have a call on line 1," come from the tape recorder.

"And the fifth," Clark continued.

"Jamison, you have a call on line 2."

"And the tenth."

"Perry, you have a visitor at the service desk."

Smith's eyes widened, "I know those names. They all work at my car dealership."

"What buildings are near your dealership?" Lex asked, pulling a pad of paper from his desk.

"Let's see. To the north is an office building, to the south is an adult bookstore, and behind the building, which is to the west, is an apartment complex."

Lex stood, fishing his car keys from his pocket, "I guess we're going to Lawrence." He lowered his voice so only Clark could hear, "Good thing we get reimbursed for mileage."

***

They watched Matt go back into the dealership, then Lex turned to Clark. "I'll take the adult video store, you take the rental office, see if they have any security cameras pointed back towards the dealership."

Clark looked like he was going to argue, but then he stood, "See you in the office building?"

"Yeah."
Lex got out of the car, beeped on the alarm, and headed for the small, windowless building with only the words, Adult Video on the front in red letters.

Inside, it looked like any other run-down video rental store. The only difference was that instead of Bruce Willis and Gwyneth Paltrow, breasts, buttocks, and other portions of personal anatomy looked back at him from the boxes.

He approached the counter and, grimacing at the dirt on it, gingerly leaned on the counter, "Luthor, KBI," he said simply, pulling out his badge.

"Look, man, we're not doing anything illegal . . ."

"I'm just here to see if you have any security cameras that point out towards Lozano Ford."

"Yeah. We have one."

"And do you have any tapes left from last week, say, Wednesday?"

"I think so. You lookin' for anything in particular?"

"11:15 a.m. Other than that, I'll know it when I see it."

Minutes later, Lex sat in front of the monitor, watching an indistinct human figure talking into either his hand or a cell phone.

"That's what I'm looking for. May I take this tape with me to Topeka, or do you have some way to make a copy?"

When he reconnected with Clark, he was carrying a video tape in his hand. "I think I have what we need."

"Good. The security cameras at the apartment complex had nothing."

"Well, this tape has someone who's certainly holding his hand to his face. He may be on a cell phone. I was hoping that since you're in with Gordon, you could take it down there and see if she can clean it up."

***

The redhead turned to face them as the door opened, "Luthor." Her eyes brightened considerably, "Kent!"

A sharp pang of jealousy made Lex want to slap her.

"Hi, Agent Gordon. We've got a videotape here and were wondering if you could clean up the image some," Clark asked with a charming smile.

"Sure." She took the tape from him, "When do you need it?"

"Soon." Lex interrupted. "We've got to be able to catch this guy tomorrow morning at 11:15. In Lawrence."

"Well, then I'll see what I can do," this was directed at Clark alone. As was the smile on her face.

Half an hour later, she said, "This is the best I can manage."

The figure on the tape was definitely male. He was holding a cell phone, but between his position relative to the camera and the phone in front of his face, all they could clearly make out was a widows-peak hairline, and that he didn't wear glasses.

"We'll have to make do with this," Lex sighed as he took the printout of the image that Gordon made for them.

"It's great, thanks," Clark said hurriedly as he followed Lex from the room.

***

11:15 the next morning found the two agents in Clark's car in the parking lot of the adult video store. Clark had put his foot down, saying that Lex's Porsche would be too conspicuous.

Nevertheless, Lex had still driven.

As they watched, a beaten up blue Dodge pulled into the parking lot and a young man with shockingly red hair stepped out into the parking lot.

They waited as he pulled out his cell phone, then sprung into action.

"Freeze! KBI!" Lex yelled as he and Clark pulled their guns, training them on the young man.

His hands went immediately into the air, the phone landing on the ground and skittering away.

The young man turned out to be a kid, no older than 20. Two plainclothes police came out of the video store and cuffed him, reading him his rights.

Lex picked up the phone and ascertained that the number the kid had dialed was Matt Smith's cell phone. He gave the phone to the officers and then, assured that the police had it under control, left to speak with Smith.

~~~

"We got him," Clark said as they met up with the car salesman.

Smith breathed a sigh of relief. "So the calls will stop now?"
Lex nodded. "You'll need to contact the district attorney's office for a court order. If he violates the court order, he'll probably be up for jail time."

Smith nodded, "Thank you for all of your help."

***

Three days later, Lex was walking into his office when A.D. Prince's secretary stopped him in the hallway. "Special Agent Luthor. I'm so glad I caught up to you. Assistant Director Prince asked me to give his to you."

Lex opened the envelope and sighed as he looked at the photos inside. He walked into the office and dropped them on Clark's desk.

Olsen, James Bartholomew, the caption read. They were crime scene photos.

"He's dead?" Clark asked.

Lex nodded, "A promising young photojournalist turns stalker, then is murdered."

Lex joined Clark in silently looking at the photos, wondering what this new development portended.