Power Plays
Ok, ok, I own nothing. This isn't even my laptop, it's my granny's, and even if I did own Superman/Smallville, it'd probably suck, so be glad I don't.
This story has no real time that it fits into, episode-wise. I've only seen most of the 3rd season, and I'm slowly devouring the 1st season on DVD, so if there are some things in here that are not canon, I apologize. The only thing I can say is that it is pre-Clark's little rampage on metropolis, and after we find out about Whitney's dad having the heart problem. Beyond that, who really knows? Not me.
The loft was cold. It happened when it had an always-open window, made of wood, and was mid-fall. Sure, the couch had some warmth, having been sat on for the last two hours, but Clark still shivered a bit. He did it, however, more as a way of telling himself he was normal, that regular people shivered when it was cold. In his mind, though, he knew that the cold didn't bother him any more than various baseball bats and bullets had in the past. Most kids might have thought that was pretty cool. Clark definitely didn't.
"You have no idea how lucky you are" a deep, commanding voice said behind him.
Clark jumped. "What?" he said nervously, without turning around. Was someone reading his thoughts? It wasn't impossible in Smallville.
"Public school homework" the voice said. "Even if it is finals time, its still cant be worse than boarding school."
Clark sighed in relief. He turned around and smiled. "Hey Lex. What brings you here?"
"Well, not the climate, I'll tell you that much. Got some room there, or does Addison Wesley have a reservation?" The bald, older man asked, pointing to the couch.
"Yeah, sure. Just finishing up some math studies." Clark shoved the books aside, namely onto the floor, and scooted over a little to let Lex sit down.
However, the younger Luthor stood for a moment, looking at his friend. "Clark, you know plenty about competition, right?"
Clark nodded. "Sure. Whitney and me over.yeah, I know about it. Why?"
Lex took a seat. "Well," he said, groaning a little as he rested his back. He'd been walking more and more to the Kent farm than driving, publicly because he wanted the exercise, privately because Clark, Lex, and cars, especially expensive ones, were a rather bad mix. "This is a little more large scale than a feud between two guys-"
"-One that you started," Clark pointed out.
"Touché. But yes, this is the same concept."
"Lex, what do you mean?" Clark furrowed his brow.
"Have you ever heard of a company called Jackson-Lake Agriculture?"
"JLA? Yeah, my dad's bought a few fertilizers from them in the past, not much anymore."
"I don't blame him. Jackson-Lake has come under some new management recently. An internal coup d'etat left Arthur Jackson out of the picture a year ago. His colleague, Lucas Lake, has most of the control now."
"Why does this have anything to do with competition?"
Lex smiled that half a second smile that Clark had come to know well. "You're lucky you're able to ask that kind of question. JLA has been putting up a subsidiary company in Smallville, a fertilizer plant, to be exact."
"The same thing that LuthorCorp has here."
"Exactly"
"But JLA is a small company, from what I know it was mostly just a confederation of farms more than a real company. How did they manage to get a subsidiary so fast if they're that small?"
Lex gave a longer smile this time. "Looks like I'm finally rubbing off on you, Clark. You're right, JLA is a small company, and they shouldn't have a sub anywhere in this county, much less Smallville. I'm thinking it's a front more than that."
"Is it actually built? I think if it were my dad would have let my know."
"No. They don't have a zoning permit yet, and there's a good reason for it."
"What's that?"
Lex shrugged. "Let me put it this way. You wouldn't want your perfect view of a Midwest sunset blocked by a crap factory, would you?"
Clark's eyebrows went up, up, and almost away. "You mean they want to build it here? On the farm?"
"It's no secret that your father has no love for LuthorCorp. JLA apparently had the idea that they could persuade him to sell part of the land in an attempt to 'bring down the juggernaut'" Lex somehow found that funny, as he laughed. "Amazingly, your dad said no."
"I figured he would. So that's where he was all day."
"You mean he didn't tell you? I thought the Kent's were a pretty close- knit family."
"Yeah me too. I mean, yeah, we are! That's what weirds me out." Clark pursed his lips. "They didn't threaten him about not telling anyone, did they?"
"Trust me, Clark, if they had, I'd have known about it, and JLA would have been sued for every penny they own, not to mention had their Metropolis HQ suddenly full of LuthorCorp moles. I would never let anyone hurt you or your family, Clark."
Clark nodded. It was so strange, how he and Lex lived in completely different worlds, yet were so close. "Then why didn't he say anything?"
"Maybe you should ask him." Lex nodded his head outside, where Jonathan Kent was pulling up in his truck.
Clark nodded, and got up. "Did you say anything to him about it?"
"No. I just learned an hour ago, I came here as soon as I finished up a few things. I was hoping I could catch your dad while he was here."
The two friends walked down the loft stairs, into the hay-strewn floor, where Clark's dad was unloading spare tractor parts. "Hey dad," Clark said, waving."
"Mr. Kent," Lex added, smiling, his hands in his pockets, the most casual gesture anyone ever saw Lex in.
Jonathan looked up, and smiled at his son. "Hey Clark. You hitting those books like you're supposed to?"
"Yeah, but they're hitting back," Clark said, rubbing his temple where a brief headache had started an insurrection earlier.
Jonathan laughed. He dusted his gloves off, and looked at Lex. "Mr. Luthor, what can I do for you?"
"Mr. Kent, please, call me Lex," the bald youth said, in the vain attempt to forge familiarity with the farmer. "Nothing really, but I was hoping I could talk to you about the Jackson-La-"
"I'm not selling out to any company, good history or not," he replied. "I learned a few tricks from fighting your father most of my adult life on how not to compromise."
Lex let a ghost of a smile cross his face. "I know the feeling." Clark was amazed. The two actually hadn't exchanged a single glare tonight.
Martha Kent walked up to the men, and put her arm on Jonathan's shoulder. "Well, how did the talks go?" She asked.
"Wait, mom, you knew about this too?" Clark said, his mouth hanging open a bit.
His mother slowly nodded. "Didn't your father tell you this morning about JLA wanting to buy us?"
"No, Martha, I didn't." Mr. Kent gave his wife and son the look that said 'It's important, and there's a reason, but I can't tell you right now'. At least that's what Clark thought it said. Just because he could see through walls didn't mean he could read people quite perfectly yet.
Martha looked at her husband a moment, then, snapped back to the real world. "Lex, how long were you planning on staying? I think I have some extra beef tips that Clark can afford not to have as an after-school snack."
"I appreciate it, Mrs. Kent, but I'm supposed to meet with some friends for dinner tonight in Metropolis. Save me some though, Ken hasn't been feeling well, and Andy isn't much good for anything but stir fry." Lex added that bit of humor in, but Clark could see the look on his friend's face when he'd mentioned his 'friends'. Clark wished he could help somehow, but like X-ray vision, even his powers couldn't always do much in the way of assistance, even to his friends.
Martha smiled sweetly. "Well, if you can keep the cookie monster here out of it for a full day, I'll even throw in some chicken soup for Ken."
Lex smiled. "I'm not even sure if the resources of LuthorCorp can stop the appetite of a growing boy. I'll see you tomorrow, Clark. Goodbye Mrs. Kent, Mr. Kent." Lex turned around and walked off in the direction of the Luthor Mansion.
Clark waited until he was out of sight, then turned to his father. "Dad, why didn't you tell me about JLA wanting to buy off some of the land?"
Jonathan sighed. "It's complicated, son. Look, your mother probably needs help setting the table. Go on, I need to do some work on the tractor."
Clark walked toward the house, and thought to himself. His dad was being overly mysterious, and Lex had been perfectly open. Usually that was the other way around. And who were these 'friends' that Lex was meeting?
And what exactly did the Pythagorean theorem have to do with the principle of 3D graphs?
Ok, ok, I own nothing. This isn't even my laptop, it's my granny's, and even if I did own Superman/Smallville, it'd probably suck, so be glad I don't.
This story has no real time that it fits into, episode-wise. I've only seen most of the 3rd season, and I'm slowly devouring the 1st season on DVD, so if there are some things in here that are not canon, I apologize. The only thing I can say is that it is pre-Clark's little rampage on metropolis, and after we find out about Whitney's dad having the heart problem. Beyond that, who really knows? Not me.
The loft was cold. It happened when it had an always-open window, made of wood, and was mid-fall. Sure, the couch had some warmth, having been sat on for the last two hours, but Clark still shivered a bit. He did it, however, more as a way of telling himself he was normal, that regular people shivered when it was cold. In his mind, though, he knew that the cold didn't bother him any more than various baseball bats and bullets had in the past. Most kids might have thought that was pretty cool. Clark definitely didn't.
"You have no idea how lucky you are" a deep, commanding voice said behind him.
Clark jumped. "What?" he said nervously, without turning around. Was someone reading his thoughts? It wasn't impossible in Smallville.
"Public school homework" the voice said. "Even if it is finals time, its still cant be worse than boarding school."
Clark sighed in relief. He turned around and smiled. "Hey Lex. What brings you here?"
"Well, not the climate, I'll tell you that much. Got some room there, or does Addison Wesley have a reservation?" The bald, older man asked, pointing to the couch.
"Yeah, sure. Just finishing up some math studies." Clark shoved the books aside, namely onto the floor, and scooted over a little to let Lex sit down.
However, the younger Luthor stood for a moment, looking at his friend. "Clark, you know plenty about competition, right?"
Clark nodded. "Sure. Whitney and me over.yeah, I know about it. Why?"
Lex took a seat. "Well," he said, groaning a little as he rested his back. He'd been walking more and more to the Kent farm than driving, publicly because he wanted the exercise, privately because Clark, Lex, and cars, especially expensive ones, were a rather bad mix. "This is a little more large scale than a feud between two guys-"
"-One that you started," Clark pointed out.
"Touché. But yes, this is the same concept."
"Lex, what do you mean?" Clark furrowed his brow.
"Have you ever heard of a company called Jackson-Lake Agriculture?"
"JLA? Yeah, my dad's bought a few fertilizers from them in the past, not much anymore."
"I don't blame him. Jackson-Lake has come under some new management recently. An internal coup d'etat left Arthur Jackson out of the picture a year ago. His colleague, Lucas Lake, has most of the control now."
"Why does this have anything to do with competition?"
Lex smiled that half a second smile that Clark had come to know well. "You're lucky you're able to ask that kind of question. JLA has been putting up a subsidiary company in Smallville, a fertilizer plant, to be exact."
"The same thing that LuthorCorp has here."
"Exactly"
"But JLA is a small company, from what I know it was mostly just a confederation of farms more than a real company. How did they manage to get a subsidiary so fast if they're that small?"
Lex gave a longer smile this time. "Looks like I'm finally rubbing off on you, Clark. You're right, JLA is a small company, and they shouldn't have a sub anywhere in this county, much less Smallville. I'm thinking it's a front more than that."
"Is it actually built? I think if it were my dad would have let my know."
"No. They don't have a zoning permit yet, and there's a good reason for it."
"What's that?"
Lex shrugged. "Let me put it this way. You wouldn't want your perfect view of a Midwest sunset blocked by a crap factory, would you?"
Clark's eyebrows went up, up, and almost away. "You mean they want to build it here? On the farm?"
"It's no secret that your father has no love for LuthorCorp. JLA apparently had the idea that they could persuade him to sell part of the land in an attempt to 'bring down the juggernaut'" Lex somehow found that funny, as he laughed. "Amazingly, your dad said no."
"I figured he would. So that's where he was all day."
"You mean he didn't tell you? I thought the Kent's were a pretty close- knit family."
"Yeah me too. I mean, yeah, we are! That's what weirds me out." Clark pursed his lips. "They didn't threaten him about not telling anyone, did they?"
"Trust me, Clark, if they had, I'd have known about it, and JLA would have been sued for every penny they own, not to mention had their Metropolis HQ suddenly full of LuthorCorp moles. I would never let anyone hurt you or your family, Clark."
Clark nodded. It was so strange, how he and Lex lived in completely different worlds, yet were so close. "Then why didn't he say anything?"
"Maybe you should ask him." Lex nodded his head outside, where Jonathan Kent was pulling up in his truck.
Clark nodded, and got up. "Did you say anything to him about it?"
"No. I just learned an hour ago, I came here as soon as I finished up a few things. I was hoping I could catch your dad while he was here."
The two friends walked down the loft stairs, into the hay-strewn floor, where Clark's dad was unloading spare tractor parts. "Hey dad," Clark said, waving."
"Mr. Kent," Lex added, smiling, his hands in his pockets, the most casual gesture anyone ever saw Lex in.
Jonathan looked up, and smiled at his son. "Hey Clark. You hitting those books like you're supposed to?"
"Yeah, but they're hitting back," Clark said, rubbing his temple where a brief headache had started an insurrection earlier.
Jonathan laughed. He dusted his gloves off, and looked at Lex. "Mr. Luthor, what can I do for you?"
"Mr. Kent, please, call me Lex," the bald youth said, in the vain attempt to forge familiarity with the farmer. "Nothing really, but I was hoping I could talk to you about the Jackson-La-"
"I'm not selling out to any company, good history or not," he replied. "I learned a few tricks from fighting your father most of my adult life on how not to compromise."
Lex let a ghost of a smile cross his face. "I know the feeling." Clark was amazed. The two actually hadn't exchanged a single glare tonight.
Martha Kent walked up to the men, and put her arm on Jonathan's shoulder. "Well, how did the talks go?" She asked.
"Wait, mom, you knew about this too?" Clark said, his mouth hanging open a bit.
His mother slowly nodded. "Didn't your father tell you this morning about JLA wanting to buy us?"
"No, Martha, I didn't." Mr. Kent gave his wife and son the look that said 'It's important, and there's a reason, but I can't tell you right now'. At least that's what Clark thought it said. Just because he could see through walls didn't mean he could read people quite perfectly yet.
Martha looked at her husband a moment, then, snapped back to the real world. "Lex, how long were you planning on staying? I think I have some extra beef tips that Clark can afford not to have as an after-school snack."
"I appreciate it, Mrs. Kent, but I'm supposed to meet with some friends for dinner tonight in Metropolis. Save me some though, Ken hasn't been feeling well, and Andy isn't much good for anything but stir fry." Lex added that bit of humor in, but Clark could see the look on his friend's face when he'd mentioned his 'friends'. Clark wished he could help somehow, but like X-ray vision, even his powers couldn't always do much in the way of assistance, even to his friends.
Martha smiled sweetly. "Well, if you can keep the cookie monster here out of it for a full day, I'll even throw in some chicken soup for Ken."
Lex smiled. "I'm not even sure if the resources of LuthorCorp can stop the appetite of a growing boy. I'll see you tomorrow, Clark. Goodbye Mrs. Kent, Mr. Kent." Lex turned around and walked off in the direction of the Luthor Mansion.
Clark waited until he was out of sight, then turned to his father. "Dad, why didn't you tell me about JLA wanting to buy off some of the land?"
Jonathan sighed. "It's complicated, son. Look, your mother probably needs help setting the table. Go on, I need to do some work on the tractor."
Clark walked toward the house, and thought to himself. His dad was being overly mysterious, and Lex had been perfectly open. Usually that was the other way around. And who were these 'friends' that Lex was meeting?
And what exactly did the Pythagorean theorem have to do with the principle of 3D graphs?