The appointment had been made. Chloe knew that she was on semi-casual terms with Lex, so it was only an appointment for show, but she liked the feeling of doing business with someone older; an actual businessman. She'd hoped that this was a vision of things to come. What she'd always wanted for herself was a neatly planned out future, planned on her terms, in some beautiful, urbane setting. Lex could arrange that, but Chloe didn't want any sort of black mark on her record or her conscience.
Knowing that they'd be talking in hushed, intimate voices, Chloe thought ahead and turned off her cell phone's ringer in the car. Haphazardly, she tossed the tiny piece of shiny plastic into her backseat. She wouldn't be needing it for awhile.
---------------------------
Lex had been anxious all morning. Nothing had calmed his nerves and even his regularly scheduled massage seemed more tense than usual. The quiet in the mansion, instead of being soothing and favorable for business, seemed hostile and insinuating of Lex's secrets. Every glance Lionel Luthor gave his son was returned with hesitation. Something was going on and that was no secret.
Deciding against bringing Chloe into the glamorized battleground, Lex left a vaguely put voicemail for her and left for the Beanery with his briefcase. His father's suspicions had only begun to peak.
---------------------------
After passing through several levels of security using that appointment as her stairway to what she thought would be information heaven, she met, unexpectedly, with the devil.
Lionel Luthor was a charming businessman but somehow creeped the hell out of a lot of people. It might have been his financial superiority, his intellectual superiority, his cultural superiority, or his general superiority, but others, quite often, felt inferior to him. The man could have bought his way out of any situation, but he still had his charisma so sharp it could be compared to a conversational stiletto.
"Mr. Luthor?" Chloe tried to remain polite and keep things together, but she was expecting the Luthor she had made the appointment with. She certainly hadn't gone by initials otherwise she might be hearing exciting stories at the Talon.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The face behind the desk kept its friendly expression. It was hard to believe that this was Lionel 'Magnificent Bastard' Luthor, as her tiny household called him in giggle fits.
"I'm here to meet with your son, Mr. Luthor. Is he here?" She rocked back and forth on her feet. In fact, she had been, but only just recently had she caught herself and stopped the habit.
"No, Miss Sullivan, he's just left, and, as I've told you, you're welcome to call me Lionel." Her dad called him Mr. Luthor, but she'd debated over those names in her head before. What was new, at this point, was Lex bailing on his secretive appointment. He was lucky that she didn't just hand those papers over to Lionel that instant.
"And you, of course, can call me Chloe" She laughed despite feeling a bit cast-off. Chloe had a slight immunity to that. Lionel took a brief glance at the paper she so casually held out in the open, but that laugh was more of a distraction than the conversation saver she had meant it to be. She gave a flash of her bright smile. "I, however, have to go home and put this time to some scholastic work."
"Goodbye, Chloe." She was a little shocked when he said his goodbyes first.
"Goodbye, Lionel." She stressed the name with a smile that disappeared when she turned and walked out. Chloe felt defeated without the rest of the document, but there was something else missing, too. She had to shake the thought out of her head that she couldn't uncover this secret without the support of Lex Luthor. Chloe Sullivan, the journalist supreme, could do anything short of getting an interview with red carpet celebrities. She didn't want any help from the bald Mr. Moneypenny.
---------------------------
The bits of the meteor she'd seen had always glowed green, but this was something different.
Chloe couldn't help but feel accomplished at finding what she thought the report had alluded to. The red, glowing rock was in the location printed plainly on those papers. It could probably be found in scattered spots, but it seemed rarer than the odd green meteorite chunks.
It seemed eerily like the other rock. There was certainly no heavy mining for the material, so doubt crept in when it came to the connection between the meteor crash and what she had read in those few, borrowed papers.
With barely a sliver of conflict, Chloe took a dim chip of the unidentified, red crystal, and left the area.
---------------------------
A sandwich bag had become a home for the chipped-off piece of ruby-red meteor rock. Chloe rarely left the clear plastic thing alone. That strange looking space geode was her lead.
For someone with so much to research and look into, the Talon's editor was at a loss for words when it came to writing the newest editorial. The paper went to print that same night.
Uneasily shifting from one side of her chair to another, Chloe was struggling to think of something besides the LuthorCorp scandal to write about. Her cafe mocha had cooled down from hot to warm and, now, it was an extremely unappealing room temperature. Any ideas she had for the paper were about as fresh as her coffee. If anything strange and new had happened in Smallville, Chloe had been too wrapped up in her own little world to realize it.
The town's most well-known conspiracy theorist was actually grumbling at the thought of writing about a woman who had turned into ash. Her fingers seemed to type at an unusually slow pace.
"Hey." A knot formed in her chest, she jumped, and her typing faltered all in a fraction of a second. That happened sometimes when she was unexpectedly interrupted. Chloe looked up at the doorway, pretending to be unfazed by the surprise.
"What are you doing?" She snapped, shaking her head at Clark. It was too late to be giving polite greetings to guests.
"Take it easy." He walked toward the short-tempered and tired Chloe. "I haven't been seeing you much lately. Are you working on something big?" Clark's eyes wandered. A pencil that had obviously been chewed on was set by the mousepad. Whatever Chloe was working on, he could safely assume that it was eating at her. Curiously, he poked at the sandwich bag that held the chip of meteor rock, but his hand was smacked away by the snippy journalist.
"Watch it. That's important material." She pushed seriousness aside for a moment and smiled at him. It was a little late, but she could force something that slightly resembled a pleasant mood.
"No," Chloe paused with a sigh. "I'm just writing the column in the eleventh hour while experiencing a terrible case of writer's block." The hand she'd smacked his with went to her forehead. Clark looked on as she stared at the computer screen with contempt. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he pulled a chair up next to hers and took a seat. As obtuse as he may have seemed, sometimes, Clark could be a great friend. When he wasn't running off to someplace, that is...
"Spontaneous combustion, huh...?" Clark looked at the small paragraph of text that was on the screen. Chloe just nodded and prayed for some sort of inspiration.
He read what Chloe had written. It lacked any kind of focus or motivation. The style wasn't something he'd expect from his friend and it made him worry about her mental state. Instead of voicing his concerns, Clark sat quietly and patiently in hopes that his friend would say something.
At least five minutes had gone by without Chloe or Clark saying anything. He sat there, waiting for her to talk, and she sat there waiting for the muse of school newspapers to inspire her. The silence had felt a lot longer but Clark's eyes had been on Chloe's idle fingers and not on the clock.
"Are you trying to burn holes through my hands, Clark?" Her eyes lifted to meet his. She gave him a second to let her quip sink in but after awhile it became obvious that he wasn't just stunned by some random remark. Clark had begun to look physically ill. Wrinkling her eyebrows, Chloe dropped her tough act to show a moment of concern.
"What's up?" She spat the words out awkwardly, not wanting him to think that she cared too much. Clark flinched a little but soon his expression had returned to normal. For a little bit it seemed as if nothing had been said at all, but then he smiled in a way that was anything but pleasant. Something in his face gave Chloe the chills and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
"Nothing." Clark smiled and he made that one word seem like it had a dark hidden meaning to it. Chloe didn't know what to say or do after that so she left the floor open for Clark.
"You're really uptight tonight." He maneuvered his way behind a very uneasy Chloe. She cringed and looked up, barely able to see him behind her. After letting a second pass by to ease the tension, Chloe opened her mouth to speak. Clark cut her off, patting her on the shoulders forcefully enough to shake her in her seat. Before she could object he started to knead the tense muscles in her back and shoulders. It wasn't unpleasant for her but it was discomforting in the same way his smile had been. She didn't think poorly of his motives. Chloe knew Clark well enough to know that he wasn't the kind of guy to take things to another level without the girl's permission.
"Clark," Chloe smiled widely and laughed a little bit, thankful for what seemed to be a joke. "What are you doing?"
"C'mon, Chloe. You need a break and I..." He tried to spin her chair around but it stopped midway as Chloe stomped down and used her feet as makeshift brakes.
"I," He laughed softly. "I need to get out." Chloe opened her mouth to object and remind Clark of how late it was. Clark turned to walk out of the room, though, before she could say anything at all.
Knowing that they'd be talking in hushed, intimate voices, Chloe thought ahead and turned off her cell phone's ringer in the car. Haphazardly, she tossed the tiny piece of shiny plastic into her backseat. She wouldn't be needing it for awhile.
---------------------------
Lex had been anxious all morning. Nothing had calmed his nerves and even his regularly scheduled massage seemed more tense than usual. The quiet in the mansion, instead of being soothing and favorable for business, seemed hostile and insinuating of Lex's secrets. Every glance Lionel Luthor gave his son was returned with hesitation. Something was going on and that was no secret.
Deciding against bringing Chloe into the glamorized battleground, Lex left a vaguely put voicemail for her and left for the Beanery with his briefcase. His father's suspicions had only begun to peak.
---------------------------
After passing through several levels of security using that appointment as her stairway to what she thought would be information heaven, she met, unexpectedly, with the devil.
Lionel Luthor was a charming businessman but somehow creeped the hell out of a lot of people. It might have been his financial superiority, his intellectual superiority, his cultural superiority, or his general superiority, but others, quite often, felt inferior to him. The man could have bought his way out of any situation, but he still had his charisma so sharp it could be compared to a conversational stiletto.
"Mr. Luthor?" Chloe tried to remain polite and keep things together, but she was expecting the Luthor she had made the appointment with. She certainly hadn't gone by initials otherwise she might be hearing exciting stories at the Talon.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The face behind the desk kept its friendly expression. It was hard to believe that this was Lionel 'Magnificent Bastard' Luthor, as her tiny household called him in giggle fits.
"I'm here to meet with your son, Mr. Luthor. Is he here?" She rocked back and forth on her feet. In fact, she had been, but only just recently had she caught herself and stopped the habit.
"No, Miss Sullivan, he's just left, and, as I've told you, you're welcome to call me Lionel." Her dad called him Mr. Luthor, but she'd debated over those names in her head before. What was new, at this point, was Lex bailing on his secretive appointment. He was lucky that she didn't just hand those papers over to Lionel that instant.
"And you, of course, can call me Chloe" She laughed despite feeling a bit cast-off. Chloe had a slight immunity to that. Lionel took a brief glance at the paper she so casually held out in the open, but that laugh was more of a distraction than the conversation saver she had meant it to be. She gave a flash of her bright smile. "I, however, have to go home and put this time to some scholastic work."
"Goodbye, Chloe." She was a little shocked when he said his goodbyes first.
"Goodbye, Lionel." She stressed the name with a smile that disappeared when she turned and walked out. Chloe felt defeated without the rest of the document, but there was something else missing, too. She had to shake the thought out of her head that she couldn't uncover this secret without the support of Lex Luthor. Chloe Sullivan, the journalist supreme, could do anything short of getting an interview with red carpet celebrities. She didn't want any help from the bald Mr. Moneypenny.
---------------------------
The bits of the meteor she'd seen had always glowed green, but this was something different.
Chloe couldn't help but feel accomplished at finding what she thought the report had alluded to. The red, glowing rock was in the location printed plainly on those papers. It could probably be found in scattered spots, but it seemed rarer than the odd green meteorite chunks.
It seemed eerily like the other rock. There was certainly no heavy mining for the material, so doubt crept in when it came to the connection between the meteor crash and what she had read in those few, borrowed papers.
With barely a sliver of conflict, Chloe took a dim chip of the unidentified, red crystal, and left the area.
---------------------------
A sandwich bag had become a home for the chipped-off piece of ruby-red meteor rock. Chloe rarely left the clear plastic thing alone. That strange looking space geode was her lead.
For someone with so much to research and look into, the Talon's editor was at a loss for words when it came to writing the newest editorial. The paper went to print that same night.
Uneasily shifting from one side of her chair to another, Chloe was struggling to think of something besides the LuthorCorp scandal to write about. Her cafe mocha had cooled down from hot to warm and, now, it was an extremely unappealing room temperature. Any ideas she had for the paper were about as fresh as her coffee. If anything strange and new had happened in Smallville, Chloe had been too wrapped up in her own little world to realize it.
The town's most well-known conspiracy theorist was actually grumbling at the thought of writing about a woman who had turned into ash. Her fingers seemed to type at an unusually slow pace.
"Hey." A knot formed in her chest, she jumped, and her typing faltered all in a fraction of a second. That happened sometimes when she was unexpectedly interrupted. Chloe looked up at the doorway, pretending to be unfazed by the surprise.
"What are you doing?" She snapped, shaking her head at Clark. It was too late to be giving polite greetings to guests.
"Take it easy." He walked toward the short-tempered and tired Chloe. "I haven't been seeing you much lately. Are you working on something big?" Clark's eyes wandered. A pencil that had obviously been chewed on was set by the mousepad. Whatever Chloe was working on, he could safely assume that it was eating at her. Curiously, he poked at the sandwich bag that held the chip of meteor rock, but his hand was smacked away by the snippy journalist.
"Watch it. That's important material." She pushed seriousness aside for a moment and smiled at him. It was a little late, but she could force something that slightly resembled a pleasant mood.
"No," Chloe paused with a sigh. "I'm just writing the column in the eleventh hour while experiencing a terrible case of writer's block." The hand she'd smacked his with went to her forehead. Clark looked on as she stared at the computer screen with contempt. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he pulled a chair up next to hers and took a seat. As obtuse as he may have seemed, sometimes, Clark could be a great friend. When he wasn't running off to someplace, that is...
"Spontaneous combustion, huh...?" Clark looked at the small paragraph of text that was on the screen. Chloe just nodded and prayed for some sort of inspiration.
He read what Chloe had written. It lacked any kind of focus or motivation. The style wasn't something he'd expect from his friend and it made him worry about her mental state. Instead of voicing his concerns, Clark sat quietly and patiently in hopes that his friend would say something.
At least five minutes had gone by without Chloe or Clark saying anything. He sat there, waiting for her to talk, and she sat there waiting for the muse of school newspapers to inspire her. The silence had felt a lot longer but Clark's eyes had been on Chloe's idle fingers and not on the clock.
"Are you trying to burn holes through my hands, Clark?" Her eyes lifted to meet his. She gave him a second to let her quip sink in but after awhile it became obvious that he wasn't just stunned by some random remark. Clark had begun to look physically ill. Wrinkling her eyebrows, Chloe dropped her tough act to show a moment of concern.
"What's up?" She spat the words out awkwardly, not wanting him to think that she cared too much. Clark flinched a little but soon his expression had returned to normal. For a little bit it seemed as if nothing had been said at all, but then he smiled in a way that was anything but pleasant. Something in his face gave Chloe the chills and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
"Nothing." Clark smiled and he made that one word seem like it had a dark hidden meaning to it. Chloe didn't know what to say or do after that so she left the floor open for Clark.
"You're really uptight tonight." He maneuvered his way behind a very uneasy Chloe. She cringed and looked up, barely able to see him behind her. After letting a second pass by to ease the tension, Chloe opened her mouth to speak. Clark cut her off, patting her on the shoulders forcefully enough to shake her in her seat. Before she could object he started to knead the tense muscles in her back and shoulders. It wasn't unpleasant for her but it was discomforting in the same way his smile had been. She didn't think poorly of his motives. Chloe knew Clark well enough to know that he wasn't the kind of guy to take things to another level without the girl's permission.
"Clark," Chloe smiled widely and laughed a little bit, thankful for what seemed to be a joke. "What are you doing?"
"C'mon, Chloe. You need a break and I..." He tried to spin her chair around but it stopped midway as Chloe stomped down and used her feet as makeshift brakes.
"I," He laughed softly. "I need to get out." Chloe opened her mouth to object and remind Clark of how late it was. Clark turned to walk out of the room, though, before she could say anything at all.