"Clark, for god's sake, what are you."
Lex didn't have a chance to finish: Brody swung out hard with barrel of the rifle, connecting sharply with Lex's jaw. Lex's whole body swayed with the force of the blow.
Clark wondered again if he'd made the right decision. From a distance he had seen a figure-Erickson--leave the building housing the security station. He had been torn between trying to find Lex and following the other man, but had chosen to find his friend.
Brody swung the gun around, holding it level with Clark's chest, but his hands were shaking ever so slightly. Clark was assailed with memories-of Brody running for the winning touchdown at homecoming games; of Brody joking with his father and grandfather at the farmer's market. This wasn't some freak, someone without a conscience. This was someone he'd known he whole life, and as much as he wanted to help Lex he realized he wanted to help Brody more. So instead of rushing for the gun he held up his hands.
"Brody, listen to me. I meant what I said-Lex didn't have anything to do with what happened to your dad or your grandfather. I know how much you must be hurting but this isn't going to solve anything."
Brody's lips curled back in a caricature of a smile.
"Oh, Clark. What do you know about it? You haven't lost your family." He glanced over at Lex, who looked faintly dazed from the blow to the head. "You're a good friend, Clark, even to someone who doesn't deserve it. I know you're lying to help him."
"I'm not, Brody, I swear."
"No, Clark." Brody sounded very calm, and very tired. "I'm through with the lies. I don't want to kill you as well as him, Clark, but I will if I have to."
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Winters."
Clark heart leapt into his throat when a voice spoke up from behind him. Through the corner of his eye he could see a very determined-looked Catherine Carter standing in the doorway. He shot her a look of exasperation.
"I told you to go with Lana. Why did you follow me?"
Brody had already turned the gun on her. The young woman raised both her hands and took a step into the room.
"I'm sorry, Clark, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Lex, are you all right?"
Lex glanced up; blood was trickling from a cut over his right eye.
"I've been better, Catherine," he said.
She nodded, and turned her attention to the third man in the room. "Mr. Winters, I know we haven't met, but my name's Dr. Carter. I was the one who found your grandfather."
She took a step closer to Clark, and although the gun barrel followed Brody didn't pull the trigger. Catherine gave Clark a steady look.
"Pete Ross is on his way to Smallville General. He's got a bump on the head and some rope burns but that's the worst of it."
Clark nodded ever so slightly, understanding what she was trying to do. He knew he could have rushed forward and disarmed Brody in a second -but that would mean exposing his secret, not only to Winters but to Catherine and Lex as well.
His dad always warned him about acting first and thinking later. Maybe it was time to use his head rather than his abilities if all four of them were going to walk out of this room in one piece.
"You see, Brody, you haven't killed anyone yet," he said gently. "This whole thing can be stopped."
Brody seemed rooted to the spot, but didn't lower his weapon.
"No, it can't, it's gone too far. And you," he told the doctor, who had reached a hand out towards Lex's shoulder, "better stop moving."
Catherine drew back her hand. "Lex really was telling you the truth, Mr. Winters. LexCorp isn't responsible for what's happened."
"And I suppose you know who is?"
"Not a 'who', Mr. Winters, a 'what.' The land your parents bought, the land your grandfather died on, is what's responsible. Everyone was so busy blaming LexCorp that no one looked in the right place."
"I don't believe you."
"Think about it, Brody," Clark said urgently. "If it was something here at the plant, why did only your father get sick? Why not any of the other workers? If it was something here how did your grandfather, whose never set foot here, come into contact with it?"
Brody was quiet for a long moment. "So you two are saying the soil out there is contaminated? By what?"
Catherine shook her head sadly. "Not the soil, Brody. The water. The water supply on your land passes through the old granite quarry on the other side of the woods. The water's full of contaminants from the old mining operation, and it was also the sight of a major meteorite strike. Chloe Sullivan took soil samples to a lab in Metropolis, and while there are trace amounts of arsenic and other heavy metals in the soil, the levels in the water were off the chart. I think something in the meteor rocks accelerated the effects of the poison, and the evaporation of the ground water concentrated it."
"And your family was drinking from a well until you were connected to the town water supply, right?" Clark asked.
Lex was listening with rapt attention, and Brody lowered the gun slightly.
"That doesn't make any sense. If it was the well why didn't my mother get sick?"
The young woman sighed. "I'm not sure, but I believe the dialysis has helped keep the levels of in her blood to a minimum. But I have no doubt that if we do a toxicity screening we'll find she's been exposed to it." Catherine looked closely at Brody. "You've undoubtedly been exposed, too. Your grandfather must have suspected the same thing: that's why he was searching your property. But the toxicity had built up in his system as well, and it killed him."
Clark watched as several emotions played out across Brody Winters' face: doubt, suspicion, and finally belief.
"And you say you can prove this?"
"We need to run more tests, and you and your mother both need to be treated as soon as possible. But there's no doubt in my mind," Catherine said firmly.
"How do I know I can believe you?"
"You don't. But you're the one with the gun, Mr. Winters. I have no reason to risk my neck further by lying to you."
Brody weighed this information for a moment, and then nodded.
"I guess you don't." He lowered the rifle.
Clark took a deep breath of relief as Catherine quickly began untying Lex's hands and feet.
"Lex, the police should be on their way. Where's Erickson?"
Clark helped Catherine set Lex on his feet; his friend leaned heavily against the doctor's shoulder. "I think I saw him heading across the plant when I arrived," Clark offered.
Lex frowned. "Brody, do you know what his backup plan was?"
Brody looked slightly dazed, as if he still couldn't quite believe he was letting his hostages go.
"Um, something about the gas main. He said," Brody squinted as he struggled to remember, "he said the gas main cutoff valve was in one of the outbuildings, and that it could be opened as well as closed. A storage building, I think he said."
Clark watched as Lex's mouth drew into a grim line-no doubt he was vowing to get his hands on whoever had leaked the LexCorp blueprints to Erickson and the EDAL.
"Lex?" Catherine was watching his face closely. "Will that work?"
"There's a series of relay tanks and cutoff valves in storage building four that supply all of the other buildings through underground pipes. If he can ignite enough natural gas at the source it should destroy most of the plant," Lex said grimly.
"Then we have to stop him. Clark.Where did he go?"
The remaining three looked around confusedly, but Clark was gone.
"He must have gone after Erickson. I need to help." Lex swayed slightly on his feet, but Catherine caught him.
"You're in no shape to go anywhere, Lex. Let's get you downstairs and wait for the police."
Lex opened his mouth to protest being given orders, but Brody Winters forestalled him.
"Go with the doctor, Mr. Luthor. I'll help Clark."
Lex regarded the other man for a moment.
"Are you sure?"
Brody smiled grimly. "Erickson promised me you had proof about what happened to my dad. If the doctor here is right then he lied to me as well. And you know how I feel about being lied to."
**********************************************
Clark ran toward the small outbuilding on the west side of the plant. It was a two-story structure, made of cinderblocks, with a bank of windows set high into the walls. Through the walls he could see a figure up on the catwalk, kneeling down next to the rows of a dozen or so natural gas storage tanks.
He rushed through the door and up the rickety metal stairs, past rows of storage barrels and piles of discarded building supplies. Erickson was hard at work opening the rows of valves on each tank that let the gas into the underground pipes, too involved to see Clark approach.
Taking advantage of surprise Clark seized Erickson by his shoulders, lifting him off his feet and slamming him against the tank behind them.
"What the hell..?"
Erickson's eyes were wide with surprise, but Clark couldn't see any fear in them. Instead he saw smug confidence, the same confidence that must have led Erickson to concoct this insane and elaborate plot. Clark's stomach knotted at the thought of all the damage this one man wanted to cause, had already caused.
"It's ending now, Rich," Clark said over the hiss of the escaping gas. Feeling a little lightheaded, he grabbed the valve closest to him and twisted hard, sealing the leak.
"Oh, now," Erickson said calmly as his feet dangled above the floor. "On the contrary, it's only beginning. This room is already filling with natural gas, and soon enough will have seeped into the other buildings by now to do the job. It's not quite the spectacular exit I had planned, but it'll do."
Alarmed by the resignation in the other man's voice, Clark dropped him and hastily rushed down the metal catwalk. The garlicky, metallic stench of natural gas surrounded him. His vision doubled slightly, but he managed to shut off several more of the valves before he swayed on his feet.
"You don't look so good," Erickson said silkily behind him. "Feeling ill?"
Clark didn't bother to respond; his stomach had cramped sharply, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. He dropped to his knees and glanced down at his hands, and was horrified to see the veins on the back of his hands standing out against the white skin, pulsating, green.
"I don't know who you are, or what you are," Erickson continued, "but I've come too far to let you stop me now.'
Clark rolled over on to his back, now gasping for air. He frantically scanned the area, but he couldn't see any meteor rocks. Had this building been another site of LuthorCorp's meteor experiments? Why else would it be making him sick?
He realized how desperate his situation was: with the rocks or even their dust nearby not only did his powers not work but he wouldn't even be able to defend himself against an ordinary human.
Erickson seemed to sense his fear, and smiled. "It'll all be over quite quickly, I promise." He reached down and picked up a piece of metal pipe; one end was broken, and in the moonlight Clark would see the wicked flash of sharp metal.
He tried to pull himself over onto his side, grabbing at the handrail, but there didn't seem to be any strength left in his body.
The older man continued to smiled almost sweetly as he stood over Clark, the pipe in his right hand.
"I do think it will end a bit quicker for you than it will for your pal Luthor," he said. "He might even survive the explosion, but in any case his precious plant won't, and he won't be in any condition to rebuild any time soon."
Clark looked up at his assailant, finding it hard to believe his life was going to end this way.
"You're insane," he whispered as best he could through the pain wracking his body.
"Of course I am." Erickson raised the section of broken pipe over Clark's chest. "Say 'goodbye,' kid."
Unable to move, Clark could only watch as the other man pulled his arms back, ready to stab downward into his victim's heart.
And then suddenly Erickson's body was flung forward as another figure tackled him. The pipe rolled away and fell with a loud clang to the concrete floor below as two bodies landed hard on the catwalk. Clark dragged his body, inch by inch, out of the way as an enraged Erickson screamed and pounded at his assailant.
From where he had Erickson pinned, his rifle against the other man's throat, Brody Winters looked at the younger man.
"Clark, go! I'll hold him!"
Erickson was flailing and kicking, his mad face contorted in a grimace of fury, but Winters outweighed him.
"Brody, don't." Clark said, his voice sounded strangled even to him own ears. He knew he had to get out, get away from the contamination, if he was going to survive, but.
"Clark, do what I say!"
Brody's blue eyes were calm and steady again, and Clark nodded weakly. He half pulled, half dragged his body upright and moved towards the stairs, each inch seeming to cost him eons of time and pain.he almost slid down the stairs, able to hear sirens in the distance, and the sounds of Brody and Erickson scuffling overhead. Clark wondered weakly if Catherine and Lex were safely outside, and if he'd ever be able to join them. It seemed like acres of concrete floor lay between him and the door. He gritted his teeth, and forced his feet to move.two feet.four feet.
Erickson must have made one last desperate effort, because suddenly both men rolled out from under the protective guardrail. Though Clark could see them falling, he wasn't able to move quickly enough to get to them before they dropped the fifteen or so feet to the floor, the rifle landing several feet away and skidding to a stop against the far wall.
Brody had taken the brunt of the impact; he lay there like a rag doll, but Rich was able to shakily push himself up with his arms. His left leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, but he looked at Clark as he reached into his jeans pocket.
"I told you, kid," he said, smiling around a mouthful of blood. "It doesn't end until I say it does."
Everything happened in a blur.
Clark recognized what Rich was holding as an old-fashioned silver lighter. Time seemed to slow down as the lighter was flipped open.
And Clark rushed forward, grabbing Winters by the arms, lifting with the last bit of strength in his body.
The two of them were almost at the door when the gas ignited. The air in the room suddenly seemed to be sucked inward as each molecule combusted. Clark saw Erickson sitting in the middle of the floor, still smiling, the lighter clutched in his outstretched hand. The force of the explosion threw Clark hard against the door, which gave way under his weight. Suddenly both he and Brody were lying on the pavement as shards of glass rained down on them from breaking windows.
Clark sat up dizzily, taking great gasping breaths of the cold night air. Orange flames licked at the gaping whole where the door had been, and at the open windows, searching for more oxygen. He was relieved to see the fire seemed contained to the one building. He must have gotten the gas lines shut off soon enough to prevent the explosion from igniting the whole plant.
He sat for a moment, feeling his strength rapidly returning. Surely nothing in the world could be better than clean, fresh air. Next to him he could hear Brody Winters moaning faintly, and laid a hand on his forehead.
"Don't try to move, Brody. I don't know how badly you were hurt."
The other man's eyes fluttered open for a second. "Clark? How did you.?"
Clark smiled weakly. "Just lucky, I guess."
Suddenly they were surrounded by members of the Smallville Sheriff's Department. Fire trucks roared up to their side. The fire department was in full gear, complete with oxygen tanks on their backs. Men began hastily uncoiling hoses and flooding the small building with water.
One of the paramedics clapped an oxygen mask over Brody's mouth and nose; another one looked at Clark carefully.
"Anyone else inside?" he asked.
Clark scanned the building quickly, and winced.
"Yes. But I don't think there's anything you can do for him now." *********************************************
Lex Luthor smiled at the young man seated across the desk from him and carefully slid an old leather bound book towards him.
"A.J., I want you to take this back to Metropolis with you, so you can finish reading it."
Catherine Carter looked over at them from her chair by the fire. "You might never get it back, Lex," she said. But she smiled.
Her brother shot her a hurt look. "Of course he'll get it back; I'll be careful with it, I promise." A.J. tucked the volume of Coleridge's poems under his arm as he stood. "Thanks, Lex. I'll bring it back next time I come and visit."
Lex smiled ruefully. Both he and his brother sported a few stitches and miscellaneous bumps and bruises from their adventure.
"Hopefully next time I can find something safer for us to do while you're here. Like parachuting or wrestling alligators."
A.J. laughed, and then smiled sheepishly.
"Lex, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted. I know you wanted to send me home because you were worried about me, and I acted like a total jerk."
"I understand, A.J."
"Maybe you do, but I still wanted to say I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Especially since you got to stick around anyway."
Lex had been preoccupied tying up loose ends for the last several days. Since his head was still a little foggy from the blow Brody Winters had given him both A.J. and Catherine had been a great deal of help.
Catherine had arranged for a more thorough sampling of the Winters property. So far none of the experts Lex had hired had had any trouble connecting the toxicity of the land to the two deaths. It had made headlines as far away as Central City. No one in town was willing to admit they'd been wrong about LexCorp, but then Lex knew better than to expect apologies from that quarter.
Of course many questions remained. Had the meteor rocks simply compounded the effects of contaminants already leeching out of the old quarry? Or had it combined with them to create some kind of virulent new toxin? Given time, would more people have died from its effects?
LexCorp had made a generous offer to buy the Winters' property, and Lex fully expected it would be accepted soon. Not only would the money enable Molly Winters to make a fresh start wherever she chose, but Lex would have the land in his possession while his scientists studied it.
Later, after A.J. had gone upstairs to finish packing, Lex wondered aloud how many months or even years it would take to solve the mystery of exactly what had happened to the Winters family.
But Catherine only shook her head. "We may never completely understand what happened. The important thing is that we found out about it before anyone else got hurt."
Lex shrugged. "I suppose."
The charred remains of Rich Erickson had been recovered from the gutted supply building. The remnants of the EDAL were now under investigation by a grand jury in Metropolis for their role in both the attack on A.J. and the attempt to destroy the plant. LexCorp was already operational again, this time without protestors blocking the front gates. It had been fortunate that, with the exception of the gas tanks, the only other items lost in the explosion had been the empty barrels and scrap metals salvaged from Level 3.
Lex studied Catherine for a moment. "I've been meaning to ask you-why did you follow Clark out there? You could have gotten yourself killed, you know."
Catherine stood and stirred the fire before answering.
"I suppose. But it didn't seem right to let Clark try to handle it by himself." She raised her eyebrows a bit and smiled. "Besides, I kept thinking that A.J. would kill me if I let anything happen to you."
Lex poured himself a drink.
"I'm touched." He poured a second whiskey and offered it to her.
Catherine accepted the glass and laughed. "Don't flatter yourself. He's very fond of you, you know."
"And I'm fond of him."
"I know you are." Catherine took a sip of her drink. "Look, Lex, since this seems to be an evening for apologies I'm sorry I gave you a hard time when I first came here."
Lex shrugged. "You were concerned about your brother. That's only natural."
But Catherine shook her head.
"It was more than that. You see, before he left for Europe I had a visit from Lionel."
Lex stared into the amber liquid in his own glass. "I see."
"And he told me.well, it doesn't matter what he told me, but it made me question whether I should let you and A.J. become friends. That's why I was so determined to take him home with me."
"I know my father can be very persuasive. What changed your mind?"
Catherine looked out the window at the night sky. "I remembered something my father used to say. 'Judge a man by what you see him do, not what others tell you he has done.'"
Lex smiled slightly. "I suppose it's only fair then to tell you that I didn't like you very much when you first came here, either."
"Oh."
"I was jealous, you see."
"Jealous? Of me? Why?"
Lex shrugged. "Jealous because you had A.J. as a brother, and I didn't. Oh, I know we're biologically related to each other. But in a lot of ways we're still strangers to each other. I envied the closeness you have with him, the warmth you've developed over the years. My father took that possibility away when he kept us separated from one another."
Catherine smiled. "But you can get it back."
Staring through the leaded glass windows at the misty gardens, Lex nodded.
"I'm going to try." ******************************************
"OK, last one." Jonathan Kent tossed the rope over the roof of the truck and Clark hastily knotted if off.
They were in the Winters' driveway, or what remained of it. The area was now pockmarked with holes from soil testing, and the county Department of Health had hastily thrown up a chain link fence around the property, as far back as the tree line, to keep away the curious. A deputy had had to come out and unlock the gate so the Winters could collect some of their belongings.
The front door opened, and Molly Winters emerged arm in arm with Martha. The woman looked pale, the strain of both her illness and her losses clear on her face. But her eyes still shone brightly when she glanced over at them.
Martha held up the quilt she had draped over her free arm.
"This is the last bit from inside. Brody, would you add it to the box marked "Bedding'?"
Looking up from where he was loading boxes into the back of his truck, Brody nodded. "Sure, I'll squeeze it in somewhere."
Clark and his father stood back while Brody made some last minute adjustments. The bed of the pickup was full and there were suitcases strapped to the roof, but it still seemed a poor showing for a lifetime of possessions.
Brody had been incredibly lucky to escape his fall at the plant without serious injuries. Lex had declined to press charges against him, as had the Ross.'
"I'm still kinda horrified by what he almost did," Pete had explained to Clark when he'd gone over to see him that morning. "He could have killed me and Lex. But like I told my folks--in the end he made the right decision. I figure he's already suffered enough. Besides, I think everyone deserves a second chance, don't you?"
Brody wasn't completely in the clear yet--there was still a chance the state could choose to press charges against Brody for cooperating with the EDAL. If it came to that, though, Judge Ross had already promised to speak to the DA about Brody's mitigating circumstances. In the meantime both Brody and his mother had been carefully checked over by doctors for signs of exposure to the contaminants, and both were being treated.
But Smallville now held too many bitter memories for the family. Brody had decided to move his mother out to Haddonfield, closer to where he went to school, so he could keep an eye on her.
While his mother and Mrs. Winters said their tearful goodbyes, Jonathan rested a hand on Brody's shoulder.
"You take good care of your mother, son," he told the young man. "Your father and grandfather would expect no less of you."
"Yes, Mr. Kent. I will, I promise."
Brody looked steadily at Clark for a moment.
"Look, Clark, I don't know how to explain what happened. I guess I was hurting so much I just went crazy for a while. But I'm glad you were there to stop me before more people got hurt."
"It's ok, Brody," Clark nodded. He knew Brody remembered very little of Clark's rescue, and was thankful for it.
Clark's father shot him a small, knowing smile.
The Winters' truck pulled out of the driveway, and the three Kents stood and watched it head back out onto the main road.
The sheriff's deputy who had opened the locked gates waved to them.
"You folks just about done? Sheriff says the less time anyone spends out here the better."
"Just about," Martha told him as the family climbed back into their own truck.
Behind the steering wheel Jonathan peered up at the unfinished house, and sighed.
"This was going to be their dream home. Jim was so proud of it. It just doesn't seem fair, does it?"
Sitting next to him, Martha shook her head. "No, it doesn't, honey."
On the other side of his mother, Clark frowned.
"I just hope Mrs. Winters will be ok."
His mother wrapped her arms around him.
"It won't be easy for Molly, Clark. But she's still got her son with her, thanks to you. That's what's really important."
Clark blushed slightly as his father started the truck. ********************************************************
Catherine barely spared a glance for the thin assistant as she brushed past him.
"I'll show myself in, thank you," she said quickly as he opened his mouth to protest.
She pushed open the double doors of the office and stepped inside, closing them firmly behind her.
"Mr. Luthor? You wanted to speak to me?"
"Ah, Dr. Carter, hello again." Lionel rose from his chair and held out his hand, but this time Catherine didn't take it.
"What is it this time?"
Lionel resumed his chair, idly running his fingers across the top of his cane. "Are you angry about something, Catherine? I do apologize, but this wouldn't wait."
Lionel's servant stuck his head back into the room. "I'm sorry, sir, but she walked right past me." The man shot a hurt look at the young doctor.
"Never mind, Charles, never mind. Leave us now."
At Lionel's languid wave the servant disappeared.
"Ms. Carter, I know you've been in Smallville. Did you think I wouldn't find out?"
Catherine sat down, even through she hadn't been invited to do so. "Of course I knew you'd find out, Mr. Luthor. But, frankly, I didn't think it was any of your business," she smiled.
"Your humor is misplaced, Dr. Carter. I've known for some weeks now you'd disregarded what I told you and allowed your brother to visit my son. I thought I'd explained the situation to you adequately."
"It was my decision to make, not yours," Catherine said simply.
Lionel stood abruptly.
"I told you what I felt you needed to know for your brother's protection."
The young woman shook his head. "His protection? He needs to know his only brother. I don't consider keeping the two of them apart as 'protecting' either one of them. In fact, I've concluded doing so would cause more harm than good."
Pouring a drink, Lionel only shook his head.
"Your brother has gotten along for sixteen years without Alexander in his life," Luthor corrected. "He doesn't need him now."
"Again, I have to say that isn't your decision to make. I would have thought a man in your position would have admitted that by now."
Lionel sipped his drink. "I admit nothing," he said thoughtfully. "But I warn you, no good will come of this. Empires cannot be divided in two, not without fatally weakening them from within."
"That's a strange way to think about your sons, Mr. Luthor." Catherine leaned forward in her chair. "But let me tell you this-if you try to interfere between Lex and Andrew again I don't think either one will ever forgive you for it."
She looked at her watch. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go pick my brother up from school. Goodbye, Mr. Luthor. I don't expect the two of us will be meeting again."
Catherine stood and left the room, clearly eager to put some distance between the two of them.
When the doors closed behind her, Lionel sighed and poured himself another drink. Normally he didn't indulge in the middle of the day, but under the circumstances.
His son seemed bound and determined to involve himself in the Carter boy's life.
He wasn't used to having his wished thwarted. Lex had to learn there would be consequences to defying him. And Lionel regarded it as his duty to teach him that.
FIN
Lex didn't have a chance to finish: Brody swung out hard with barrel of the rifle, connecting sharply with Lex's jaw. Lex's whole body swayed with the force of the blow.
Clark wondered again if he'd made the right decision. From a distance he had seen a figure-Erickson--leave the building housing the security station. He had been torn between trying to find Lex and following the other man, but had chosen to find his friend.
Brody swung the gun around, holding it level with Clark's chest, but his hands were shaking ever so slightly. Clark was assailed with memories-of Brody running for the winning touchdown at homecoming games; of Brody joking with his father and grandfather at the farmer's market. This wasn't some freak, someone without a conscience. This was someone he'd known he whole life, and as much as he wanted to help Lex he realized he wanted to help Brody more. So instead of rushing for the gun he held up his hands.
"Brody, listen to me. I meant what I said-Lex didn't have anything to do with what happened to your dad or your grandfather. I know how much you must be hurting but this isn't going to solve anything."
Brody's lips curled back in a caricature of a smile.
"Oh, Clark. What do you know about it? You haven't lost your family." He glanced over at Lex, who looked faintly dazed from the blow to the head. "You're a good friend, Clark, even to someone who doesn't deserve it. I know you're lying to help him."
"I'm not, Brody, I swear."
"No, Clark." Brody sounded very calm, and very tired. "I'm through with the lies. I don't want to kill you as well as him, Clark, but I will if I have to."
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Winters."
Clark heart leapt into his throat when a voice spoke up from behind him. Through the corner of his eye he could see a very determined-looked Catherine Carter standing in the doorway. He shot her a look of exasperation.
"I told you to go with Lana. Why did you follow me?"
Brody had already turned the gun on her. The young woman raised both her hands and took a step into the room.
"I'm sorry, Clark, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Lex, are you all right?"
Lex glanced up; blood was trickling from a cut over his right eye.
"I've been better, Catherine," he said.
She nodded, and turned her attention to the third man in the room. "Mr. Winters, I know we haven't met, but my name's Dr. Carter. I was the one who found your grandfather."
She took a step closer to Clark, and although the gun barrel followed Brody didn't pull the trigger. Catherine gave Clark a steady look.
"Pete Ross is on his way to Smallville General. He's got a bump on the head and some rope burns but that's the worst of it."
Clark nodded ever so slightly, understanding what she was trying to do. He knew he could have rushed forward and disarmed Brody in a second -but that would mean exposing his secret, not only to Winters but to Catherine and Lex as well.
His dad always warned him about acting first and thinking later. Maybe it was time to use his head rather than his abilities if all four of them were going to walk out of this room in one piece.
"You see, Brody, you haven't killed anyone yet," he said gently. "This whole thing can be stopped."
Brody seemed rooted to the spot, but didn't lower his weapon.
"No, it can't, it's gone too far. And you," he told the doctor, who had reached a hand out towards Lex's shoulder, "better stop moving."
Catherine drew back her hand. "Lex really was telling you the truth, Mr. Winters. LexCorp isn't responsible for what's happened."
"And I suppose you know who is?"
"Not a 'who', Mr. Winters, a 'what.' The land your parents bought, the land your grandfather died on, is what's responsible. Everyone was so busy blaming LexCorp that no one looked in the right place."
"I don't believe you."
"Think about it, Brody," Clark said urgently. "If it was something here at the plant, why did only your father get sick? Why not any of the other workers? If it was something here how did your grandfather, whose never set foot here, come into contact with it?"
Brody was quiet for a long moment. "So you two are saying the soil out there is contaminated? By what?"
Catherine shook her head sadly. "Not the soil, Brody. The water. The water supply on your land passes through the old granite quarry on the other side of the woods. The water's full of contaminants from the old mining operation, and it was also the sight of a major meteorite strike. Chloe Sullivan took soil samples to a lab in Metropolis, and while there are trace amounts of arsenic and other heavy metals in the soil, the levels in the water were off the chart. I think something in the meteor rocks accelerated the effects of the poison, and the evaporation of the ground water concentrated it."
"And your family was drinking from a well until you were connected to the town water supply, right?" Clark asked.
Lex was listening with rapt attention, and Brody lowered the gun slightly.
"That doesn't make any sense. If it was the well why didn't my mother get sick?"
The young woman sighed. "I'm not sure, but I believe the dialysis has helped keep the levels of in her blood to a minimum. But I have no doubt that if we do a toxicity screening we'll find she's been exposed to it." Catherine looked closely at Brody. "You've undoubtedly been exposed, too. Your grandfather must have suspected the same thing: that's why he was searching your property. But the toxicity had built up in his system as well, and it killed him."
Clark watched as several emotions played out across Brody Winters' face: doubt, suspicion, and finally belief.
"And you say you can prove this?"
"We need to run more tests, and you and your mother both need to be treated as soon as possible. But there's no doubt in my mind," Catherine said firmly.
"How do I know I can believe you?"
"You don't. But you're the one with the gun, Mr. Winters. I have no reason to risk my neck further by lying to you."
Brody weighed this information for a moment, and then nodded.
"I guess you don't." He lowered the rifle.
Clark took a deep breath of relief as Catherine quickly began untying Lex's hands and feet.
"Lex, the police should be on their way. Where's Erickson?"
Clark helped Catherine set Lex on his feet; his friend leaned heavily against the doctor's shoulder. "I think I saw him heading across the plant when I arrived," Clark offered.
Lex frowned. "Brody, do you know what his backup plan was?"
Brody looked slightly dazed, as if he still couldn't quite believe he was letting his hostages go.
"Um, something about the gas main. He said," Brody squinted as he struggled to remember, "he said the gas main cutoff valve was in one of the outbuildings, and that it could be opened as well as closed. A storage building, I think he said."
Clark watched as Lex's mouth drew into a grim line-no doubt he was vowing to get his hands on whoever had leaked the LexCorp blueprints to Erickson and the EDAL.
"Lex?" Catherine was watching his face closely. "Will that work?"
"There's a series of relay tanks and cutoff valves in storage building four that supply all of the other buildings through underground pipes. If he can ignite enough natural gas at the source it should destroy most of the plant," Lex said grimly.
"Then we have to stop him. Clark.Where did he go?"
The remaining three looked around confusedly, but Clark was gone.
"He must have gone after Erickson. I need to help." Lex swayed slightly on his feet, but Catherine caught him.
"You're in no shape to go anywhere, Lex. Let's get you downstairs and wait for the police."
Lex opened his mouth to protest being given orders, but Brody Winters forestalled him.
"Go with the doctor, Mr. Luthor. I'll help Clark."
Lex regarded the other man for a moment.
"Are you sure?"
Brody smiled grimly. "Erickson promised me you had proof about what happened to my dad. If the doctor here is right then he lied to me as well. And you know how I feel about being lied to."
**********************************************
Clark ran toward the small outbuilding on the west side of the plant. It was a two-story structure, made of cinderblocks, with a bank of windows set high into the walls. Through the walls he could see a figure up on the catwalk, kneeling down next to the rows of a dozen or so natural gas storage tanks.
He rushed through the door and up the rickety metal stairs, past rows of storage barrels and piles of discarded building supplies. Erickson was hard at work opening the rows of valves on each tank that let the gas into the underground pipes, too involved to see Clark approach.
Taking advantage of surprise Clark seized Erickson by his shoulders, lifting him off his feet and slamming him against the tank behind them.
"What the hell..?"
Erickson's eyes were wide with surprise, but Clark couldn't see any fear in them. Instead he saw smug confidence, the same confidence that must have led Erickson to concoct this insane and elaborate plot. Clark's stomach knotted at the thought of all the damage this one man wanted to cause, had already caused.
"It's ending now, Rich," Clark said over the hiss of the escaping gas. Feeling a little lightheaded, he grabbed the valve closest to him and twisted hard, sealing the leak.
"Oh, now," Erickson said calmly as his feet dangled above the floor. "On the contrary, it's only beginning. This room is already filling with natural gas, and soon enough will have seeped into the other buildings by now to do the job. It's not quite the spectacular exit I had planned, but it'll do."
Alarmed by the resignation in the other man's voice, Clark dropped him and hastily rushed down the metal catwalk. The garlicky, metallic stench of natural gas surrounded him. His vision doubled slightly, but he managed to shut off several more of the valves before he swayed on his feet.
"You don't look so good," Erickson said silkily behind him. "Feeling ill?"
Clark didn't bother to respond; his stomach had cramped sharply, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. He dropped to his knees and glanced down at his hands, and was horrified to see the veins on the back of his hands standing out against the white skin, pulsating, green.
"I don't know who you are, or what you are," Erickson continued, "but I've come too far to let you stop me now.'
Clark rolled over on to his back, now gasping for air. He frantically scanned the area, but he couldn't see any meteor rocks. Had this building been another site of LuthorCorp's meteor experiments? Why else would it be making him sick?
He realized how desperate his situation was: with the rocks or even their dust nearby not only did his powers not work but he wouldn't even be able to defend himself against an ordinary human.
Erickson seemed to sense his fear, and smiled. "It'll all be over quite quickly, I promise." He reached down and picked up a piece of metal pipe; one end was broken, and in the moonlight Clark would see the wicked flash of sharp metal.
He tried to pull himself over onto his side, grabbing at the handrail, but there didn't seem to be any strength left in his body.
The older man continued to smiled almost sweetly as he stood over Clark, the pipe in his right hand.
"I do think it will end a bit quicker for you than it will for your pal Luthor," he said. "He might even survive the explosion, but in any case his precious plant won't, and he won't be in any condition to rebuild any time soon."
Clark looked up at his assailant, finding it hard to believe his life was going to end this way.
"You're insane," he whispered as best he could through the pain wracking his body.
"Of course I am." Erickson raised the section of broken pipe over Clark's chest. "Say 'goodbye,' kid."
Unable to move, Clark could only watch as the other man pulled his arms back, ready to stab downward into his victim's heart.
And then suddenly Erickson's body was flung forward as another figure tackled him. The pipe rolled away and fell with a loud clang to the concrete floor below as two bodies landed hard on the catwalk. Clark dragged his body, inch by inch, out of the way as an enraged Erickson screamed and pounded at his assailant.
From where he had Erickson pinned, his rifle against the other man's throat, Brody Winters looked at the younger man.
"Clark, go! I'll hold him!"
Erickson was flailing and kicking, his mad face contorted in a grimace of fury, but Winters outweighed him.
"Brody, don't." Clark said, his voice sounded strangled even to him own ears. He knew he had to get out, get away from the contamination, if he was going to survive, but.
"Clark, do what I say!"
Brody's blue eyes were calm and steady again, and Clark nodded weakly. He half pulled, half dragged his body upright and moved towards the stairs, each inch seeming to cost him eons of time and pain.he almost slid down the stairs, able to hear sirens in the distance, and the sounds of Brody and Erickson scuffling overhead. Clark wondered weakly if Catherine and Lex were safely outside, and if he'd ever be able to join them. It seemed like acres of concrete floor lay between him and the door. He gritted his teeth, and forced his feet to move.two feet.four feet.
Erickson must have made one last desperate effort, because suddenly both men rolled out from under the protective guardrail. Though Clark could see them falling, he wasn't able to move quickly enough to get to them before they dropped the fifteen or so feet to the floor, the rifle landing several feet away and skidding to a stop against the far wall.
Brody had taken the brunt of the impact; he lay there like a rag doll, but Rich was able to shakily push himself up with his arms. His left leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, but he looked at Clark as he reached into his jeans pocket.
"I told you, kid," he said, smiling around a mouthful of blood. "It doesn't end until I say it does."
Everything happened in a blur.
Clark recognized what Rich was holding as an old-fashioned silver lighter. Time seemed to slow down as the lighter was flipped open.
And Clark rushed forward, grabbing Winters by the arms, lifting with the last bit of strength in his body.
The two of them were almost at the door when the gas ignited. The air in the room suddenly seemed to be sucked inward as each molecule combusted. Clark saw Erickson sitting in the middle of the floor, still smiling, the lighter clutched in his outstretched hand. The force of the explosion threw Clark hard against the door, which gave way under his weight. Suddenly both he and Brody were lying on the pavement as shards of glass rained down on them from breaking windows.
Clark sat up dizzily, taking great gasping breaths of the cold night air. Orange flames licked at the gaping whole where the door had been, and at the open windows, searching for more oxygen. He was relieved to see the fire seemed contained to the one building. He must have gotten the gas lines shut off soon enough to prevent the explosion from igniting the whole plant.
He sat for a moment, feeling his strength rapidly returning. Surely nothing in the world could be better than clean, fresh air. Next to him he could hear Brody Winters moaning faintly, and laid a hand on his forehead.
"Don't try to move, Brody. I don't know how badly you were hurt."
The other man's eyes fluttered open for a second. "Clark? How did you.?"
Clark smiled weakly. "Just lucky, I guess."
Suddenly they were surrounded by members of the Smallville Sheriff's Department. Fire trucks roared up to their side. The fire department was in full gear, complete with oxygen tanks on their backs. Men began hastily uncoiling hoses and flooding the small building with water.
One of the paramedics clapped an oxygen mask over Brody's mouth and nose; another one looked at Clark carefully.
"Anyone else inside?" he asked.
Clark scanned the building quickly, and winced.
"Yes. But I don't think there's anything you can do for him now." *********************************************
Lex Luthor smiled at the young man seated across the desk from him and carefully slid an old leather bound book towards him.
"A.J., I want you to take this back to Metropolis with you, so you can finish reading it."
Catherine Carter looked over at them from her chair by the fire. "You might never get it back, Lex," she said. But she smiled.
Her brother shot her a hurt look. "Of course he'll get it back; I'll be careful with it, I promise." A.J. tucked the volume of Coleridge's poems under his arm as he stood. "Thanks, Lex. I'll bring it back next time I come and visit."
Lex smiled ruefully. Both he and his brother sported a few stitches and miscellaneous bumps and bruises from their adventure.
"Hopefully next time I can find something safer for us to do while you're here. Like parachuting or wrestling alligators."
A.J. laughed, and then smiled sheepishly.
"Lex, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted. I know you wanted to send me home because you were worried about me, and I acted like a total jerk."
"I understand, A.J."
"Maybe you do, but I still wanted to say I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Especially since you got to stick around anyway."
Lex had been preoccupied tying up loose ends for the last several days. Since his head was still a little foggy from the blow Brody Winters had given him both A.J. and Catherine had been a great deal of help.
Catherine had arranged for a more thorough sampling of the Winters property. So far none of the experts Lex had hired had had any trouble connecting the toxicity of the land to the two deaths. It had made headlines as far away as Central City. No one in town was willing to admit they'd been wrong about LexCorp, but then Lex knew better than to expect apologies from that quarter.
Of course many questions remained. Had the meteor rocks simply compounded the effects of contaminants already leeching out of the old quarry? Or had it combined with them to create some kind of virulent new toxin? Given time, would more people have died from its effects?
LexCorp had made a generous offer to buy the Winters' property, and Lex fully expected it would be accepted soon. Not only would the money enable Molly Winters to make a fresh start wherever she chose, but Lex would have the land in his possession while his scientists studied it.
Later, after A.J. had gone upstairs to finish packing, Lex wondered aloud how many months or even years it would take to solve the mystery of exactly what had happened to the Winters family.
But Catherine only shook her head. "We may never completely understand what happened. The important thing is that we found out about it before anyone else got hurt."
Lex shrugged. "I suppose."
The charred remains of Rich Erickson had been recovered from the gutted supply building. The remnants of the EDAL were now under investigation by a grand jury in Metropolis for their role in both the attack on A.J. and the attempt to destroy the plant. LexCorp was already operational again, this time without protestors blocking the front gates. It had been fortunate that, with the exception of the gas tanks, the only other items lost in the explosion had been the empty barrels and scrap metals salvaged from Level 3.
Lex studied Catherine for a moment. "I've been meaning to ask you-why did you follow Clark out there? You could have gotten yourself killed, you know."
Catherine stood and stirred the fire before answering.
"I suppose. But it didn't seem right to let Clark try to handle it by himself." She raised her eyebrows a bit and smiled. "Besides, I kept thinking that A.J. would kill me if I let anything happen to you."
Lex poured himself a drink.
"I'm touched." He poured a second whiskey and offered it to her.
Catherine accepted the glass and laughed. "Don't flatter yourself. He's very fond of you, you know."
"And I'm fond of him."
"I know you are." Catherine took a sip of her drink. "Look, Lex, since this seems to be an evening for apologies I'm sorry I gave you a hard time when I first came here."
Lex shrugged. "You were concerned about your brother. That's only natural."
But Catherine shook her head.
"It was more than that. You see, before he left for Europe I had a visit from Lionel."
Lex stared into the amber liquid in his own glass. "I see."
"And he told me.well, it doesn't matter what he told me, but it made me question whether I should let you and A.J. become friends. That's why I was so determined to take him home with me."
"I know my father can be very persuasive. What changed your mind?"
Catherine looked out the window at the night sky. "I remembered something my father used to say. 'Judge a man by what you see him do, not what others tell you he has done.'"
Lex smiled slightly. "I suppose it's only fair then to tell you that I didn't like you very much when you first came here, either."
"Oh."
"I was jealous, you see."
"Jealous? Of me? Why?"
Lex shrugged. "Jealous because you had A.J. as a brother, and I didn't. Oh, I know we're biologically related to each other. But in a lot of ways we're still strangers to each other. I envied the closeness you have with him, the warmth you've developed over the years. My father took that possibility away when he kept us separated from one another."
Catherine smiled. "But you can get it back."
Staring through the leaded glass windows at the misty gardens, Lex nodded.
"I'm going to try." ******************************************
"OK, last one." Jonathan Kent tossed the rope over the roof of the truck and Clark hastily knotted if off.
They were in the Winters' driveway, or what remained of it. The area was now pockmarked with holes from soil testing, and the county Department of Health had hastily thrown up a chain link fence around the property, as far back as the tree line, to keep away the curious. A deputy had had to come out and unlock the gate so the Winters could collect some of their belongings.
The front door opened, and Molly Winters emerged arm in arm with Martha. The woman looked pale, the strain of both her illness and her losses clear on her face. But her eyes still shone brightly when she glanced over at them.
Martha held up the quilt she had draped over her free arm.
"This is the last bit from inside. Brody, would you add it to the box marked "Bedding'?"
Looking up from where he was loading boxes into the back of his truck, Brody nodded. "Sure, I'll squeeze it in somewhere."
Clark and his father stood back while Brody made some last minute adjustments. The bed of the pickup was full and there were suitcases strapped to the roof, but it still seemed a poor showing for a lifetime of possessions.
Brody had been incredibly lucky to escape his fall at the plant without serious injuries. Lex had declined to press charges against him, as had the Ross.'
"I'm still kinda horrified by what he almost did," Pete had explained to Clark when he'd gone over to see him that morning. "He could have killed me and Lex. But like I told my folks--in the end he made the right decision. I figure he's already suffered enough. Besides, I think everyone deserves a second chance, don't you?"
Brody wasn't completely in the clear yet--there was still a chance the state could choose to press charges against Brody for cooperating with the EDAL. If it came to that, though, Judge Ross had already promised to speak to the DA about Brody's mitigating circumstances. In the meantime both Brody and his mother had been carefully checked over by doctors for signs of exposure to the contaminants, and both were being treated.
But Smallville now held too many bitter memories for the family. Brody had decided to move his mother out to Haddonfield, closer to where he went to school, so he could keep an eye on her.
While his mother and Mrs. Winters said their tearful goodbyes, Jonathan rested a hand on Brody's shoulder.
"You take good care of your mother, son," he told the young man. "Your father and grandfather would expect no less of you."
"Yes, Mr. Kent. I will, I promise."
Brody looked steadily at Clark for a moment.
"Look, Clark, I don't know how to explain what happened. I guess I was hurting so much I just went crazy for a while. But I'm glad you were there to stop me before more people got hurt."
"It's ok, Brody," Clark nodded. He knew Brody remembered very little of Clark's rescue, and was thankful for it.
Clark's father shot him a small, knowing smile.
The Winters' truck pulled out of the driveway, and the three Kents stood and watched it head back out onto the main road.
The sheriff's deputy who had opened the locked gates waved to them.
"You folks just about done? Sheriff says the less time anyone spends out here the better."
"Just about," Martha told him as the family climbed back into their own truck.
Behind the steering wheel Jonathan peered up at the unfinished house, and sighed.
"This was going to be their dream home. Jim was so proud of it. It just doesn't seem fair, does it?"
Sitting next to him, Martha shook her head. "No, it doesn't, honey."
On the other side of his mother, Clark frowned.
"I just hope Mrs. Winters will be ok."
His mother wrapped her arms around him.
"It won't be easy for Molly, Clark. But she's still got her son with her, thanks to you. That's what's really important."
Clark blushed slightly as his father started the truck. ********************************************************
Catherine barely spared a glance for the thin assistant as she brushed past him.
"I'll show myself in, thank you," she said quickly as he opened his mouth to protest.
She pushed open the double doors of the office and stepped inside, closing them firmly behind her.
"Mr. Luthor? You wanted to speak to me?"
"Ah, Dr. Carter, hello again." Lionel rose from his chair and held out his hand, but this time Catherine didn't take it.
"What is it this time?"
Lionel resumed his chair, idly running his fingers across the top of his cane. "Are you angry about something, Catherine? I do apologize, but this wouldn't wait."
Lionel's servant stuck his head back into the room. "I'm sorry, sir, but she walked right past me." The man shot a hurt look at the young doctor.
"Never mind, Charles, never mind. Leave us now."
At Lionel's languid wave the servant disappeared.
"Ms. Carter, I know you've been in Smallville. Did you think I wouldn't find out?"
Catherine sat down, even through she hadn't been invited to do so. "Of course I knew you'd find out, Mr. Luthor. But, frankly, I didn't think it was any of your business," she smiled.
"Your humor is misplaced, Dr. Carter. I've known for some weeks now you'd disregarded what I told you and allowed your brother to visit my son. I thought I'd explained the situation to you adequately."
"It was my decision to make, not yours," Catherine said simply.
Lionel stood abruptly.
"I told you what I felt you needed to know for your brother's protection."
The young woman shook his head. "His protection? He needs to know his only brother. I don't consider keeping the two of them apart as 'protecting' either one of them. In fact, I've concluded doing so would cause more harm than good."
Pouring a drink, Lionel only shook his head.
"Your brother has gotten along for sixteen years without Alexander in his life," Luthor corrected. "He doesn't need him now."
"Again, I have to say that isn't your decision to make. I would have thought a man in your position would have admitted that by now."
Lionel sipped his drink. "I admit nothing," he said thoughtfully. "But I warn you, no good will come of this. Empires cannot be divided in two, not without fatally weakening them from within."
"That's a strange way to think about your sons, Mr. Luthor." Catherine leaned forward in her chair. "But let me tell you this-if you try to interfere between Lex and Andrew again I don't think either one will ever forgive you for it."
She looked at her watch. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go pick my brother up from school. Goodbye, Mr. Luthor. I don't expect the two of us will be meeting again."
Catherine stood and left the room, clearly eager to put some distance between the two of them.
When the doors closed behind her, Lionel sighed and poured himself another drink. Normally he didn't indulge in the middle of the day, but under the circumstances.
His son seemed bound and determined to involve himself in the Carter boy's life.
He wasn't used to having his wished thwarted. Lex had to learn there would be consequences to defying him. And Lionel regarded it as his duty to teach him that.
FIN