A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

By Allegra

(See Part One for disclaimers etc.)

AUTHOR'S RAMBLE: Sorry this part has taken soooooo long to appear (if anyone is still reading this!). This is the start of the real Lex-angst/action of the story, so I apologise for all the stuff you've had to wade through so far & thank anyone who made it to this point! Also, I did actually plan this story (& started it) way back in series one so I had no idea Lex would have a plane crash in series 3, so any similarities are entirely coincidental!

I'm also now naming chapters with very straightforward titles to make it easier to navigate. Right, I think I've given enough excuses, so I'd better let you make up your own mind.

CHAPTER 12 : CRASH

Mountains of folders, entire forests of downsized trees faced Chloe Sullivan and she had not been in Metropolis for more than a week. At first, the sheer thrill of being in the hubbub of an actual, working paper, had been the only high she had needed to be happy. However, as time drew on, she was starting to lose her zest, in fact, the whole experience was becoming somewhat wearing. Her trips to newspapers in the past, as a junior, had never been this dull. Chloe was starting to understand the editor's attitude towards her - a free general dogs body for the whole summer. If this job was sucking now, it was only going to suck worse in a few months time.

Strangely, aside from feeling indignant, Chloe wasn't feeling as concerned about how bored she was going to be as she was over what on earth she'd have to write about to her father and friends. Going on past experience, the most important recipient of her letters probably hadn't given her so much as a thought since she left Smallville. Clark had made it pretty clear from day one that he didn't see her in a romantic light but it would at least be nice to think he missed her as a friend.

"Hey, Cleo, you know what would be really helpful on this assignment?"

"What?" Chloe's eyes brightened, the prospect of a new task outweighing her desire to correct the suited man over her name.

"A coffee, real strong, from that place across the street." Without even waiting for her to accept the task, the man turned back to his desk over the flimsy partition wall. Chloe rolled her eyes. She should have expected this. Maybe she had made the wrong move going for an internship at such a large newspaper. If she had stayed local, perhaps the teenager would have stood a chance of flashing her knowledge of the job and then score a few decent jobs. Up against some of the best, not to mention most ruthless, journalists in the state, Chloe knew she didn't stand a chance of being anything more than messenger or, in this case, coffee girl.

She cast a loathsome glare in the direction of the task setter. His name was George Miles, a graduate from Oklahoma State University, who was about as wet round the collar as Chloe was. That was what made him so despicable. From the moment she had stepped into the office, the blonde reporter had known they would never get along. He was about an inch higher than her in the metaphorical food chain and so he had made it his job to take out every woe on the new underling, including giving her all the skivvy jobs he had once been assigned. George had even tried out all the lame jokes like pretending to spill a hot cup of coffee on her when there was nothing inside. At least Chloe didn't wear a tie so she was saved from the 'stapling tie to the desk' routine.

Still, there was one upside of this latest task. A particularly handsome guy in the graphics department had been ogling her since day one and Chloe never missed an opportunity to strut her stuff in front of him with all the grace and dignity she could muster given her situation.

Marching down the corridor, she attempted casual as she passed his desk. The desire to glance over at him was overwhelming but Chloe did not want to lose her cool. Her prayers were answered when he called out, "Hey!"

The teenager turned, shining her best smile, "Hey yourself."

The young man stood up and Chloe was finally given the opportunity to scrutinise his appearance at close quarters. Clearly, her first impression had been pretty close to the mark. He was about six feet tall with jet black hair which had a gentle wave. His eyes were blue and piercing, full of animation and a zest Chloe always felt attracted to. He proffered a hand for her to shake. "Hi, my name's Cormac Daly. I work in graphics."

Chloe took the hand and replied, "I figured that. Chloe Sullivan."

"Right. You're that journalist from the paper in Smallville, aren't you?"

Chloe decided to pass up the opportunity to remind him that it was only a school paper. "Yes, that's right. I didn't realise I had been anticipated. I figured I'd just blend in."

Cormac laughed. "Maybe to some, but I've been trying to catch your eye for days."

The teenager suppressed the ridiculously flattered smile plotting to destroy her cool demeanour and casually enquired, "Oh? Why's that?"

He leaned for his jacket draped over the back of his chair and straightened up. "Aside from you being a beautiful young woman?"

Chloe rolled her eyes, blushing. "Aside from that."

"Why don't we talk about it over lunch? I guess that's where you're heading, right?"

Chloe's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "Um, well, I'm actually getting coffee for..." She jerked a thumb in the direction of her new boss, his name escaping her.

Cormac shook a hand flippantly in the general direction of George Miles and said, "Oh, forget about him. He should be getting his own coffee and he knows it. I'm sure you could be put to much better use. What say I buy you one of the best pastrami bagels in the city?"

"That would be great," Chloe grinned as she followed him to the elevator.

**********

"Are you sure he said he'd drop a cheque off, dear? A cheque?"

Martha's gaze was querying and Clark nodded for the tenth time in as many minutes. "Yes, mom. That's what he said."

His mother frowned and chewed the end of her pencil for a moment. "Well, Lex never pays me a cheque until the end of the month but it's only the tenth today. Do you think that means he plans on being away for the next three weeks? I wonder if I should stop making up the vegetable boxes for a while. Still, I suppose his live-in staff have to eat, too."

Clark tuned out her vocal ruminations, his mind still pondering how to stop Lex from leaving at all. He had been vague about the details of his departure but, given the hubbub of activity at the mansion, it would be fairly soon. The teenager had stuck his oar into his friend's affairs in the past and their relationship had remained more or less intact but Clark couldn't think of an appropriate solution to this particular dilemma. Short of sabotaging the aircraft, he was stumped.

"Clark, are you listening to me?" Martha enquired sharply.

"Mom, I need to go out for a while," Clark mumbled in return, unwittingly answering her question.

"But what about dinner?!" Martha sighed wearily as her son disappeared out of the back door without so much as a backward glance.

**********

The Luthor mansion was floodlit with imposing white lights which threw an unearthly glow over the ancient stone walls. Clark drew his jacket tighter around his chest against the chill tinge in the air. The teenager was relieved to see that there were few signs of habitation, a sure bet that the team of lackeys swarming over the estate earlier in the day were gone. Hopefully that would leave Clark with Lex's undivided attention for a short while at least. No matter which way he had turned the information in his mind, the same conclusion formed - he had to tell Lex what he knew. To hell with the consequences.

"Lex?" Clark called from the front door which stood unusually ajar. "Lex? Are you here?"

A moment later, Lex appeared at the top of the first flight of stairs. "Clark! I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

"The door was open..." Clark started in defence of his bold entrance.

Lex flapped a hand in dismissal as he descended the final stair. "Oh, I must have forgotten to close it after my jog. So what can I do for you, Clark?"

The young man's eyes pierced Clark to the core and, in their depths, the teenager could see a dangerous animation, an almost manic gleam which was both unbecoming and unsettling. "Lex, I need to talk to you."

"And it couldn't wait until after my trip?"

"You said you didn't know how long you'd be away for and it's important."

Lex nodded in curt acknowledgement and led the familiar procession through the corridors to his study where he plunged into a seat near the empty fireplace. With only the dim light from the desk lamp to illuminate the cold grate, Clark couldn't help an involuntary shiver. He had rarely seen the mansion by night and, stripped of the bright sunlight, the whole building took on a more sinister edge. Sometimes Clark couldn't help but wonder how Lex managed to live here without feeling the constant chill of a ghost at his back.

"Clark, are you all right?" Lex's anxious voice drew him back to reality.

The teenager nodded, suddenly feeling foolish about his overactive imagination. "Yeah. I thought you were leaving town today."

Lex smiled. Clark would need a few more lessons in discrete questioning before he got one over on a Luthor. "Forecast said the weather wouldn't hold. My pilot refused to fly, but I think my father had a big hand in that little decision. I've never met a man who won't do my bidding if the price is high enough." Catching the momentary shock on Clark's face, Lex added, "Except perhaps a member of the Kent family. I'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning." There was a moment of silence until the billionaire prompted his young friend. "What did you want to talk to me about, Clark?"

Clark licked his dry lips, building up to the inevitable reaction his little explanation would elicit. "You remember the man who attacked me and Lana? Well, he was exposed to something."

Lex nodded, "So the papers said, but they haven't identified the substance yet."

Clark continued, "I think it has something to do with the meteor rocks. I think he was exposed to that substance through the rock and it caused his bizarre behaviour."

"That's quite a theory, Clark. You got any proof to back up your claim?" Lex's lips curled into a small smile, both indulgent and inquisitive.

"Not exactly. It's just a hunch." Clark floundered as he felt Lex's interest in the conversation dwindle. "It's more than a hunch, Lex, I just can't tell you."

There was nothing better than a secret for piquing Lex's interest. "Ah, yet another facet to the unfathomable Clark Kent! If you have proof but you don't want to tell me, why are you here? What does all this have to do with me?"

Clark prepared himself for the worst. "Because I think you might have been exposed to the same substance."

Lex's expression melted from generous to distaste, passing through various degrees of emotion in between. "And what gives you that idea?"

This was where the situation was going to get prickly. Clark knew it would be the death of him to tell Lex about his own reaction's around kryptonite. He licked his lips, nervously anticipating the response. "I can't tell you."

Lex's chest heaved with exasperation. "Then I can't stay." His gaze locked with Clark's in a moment of defiance as if willing the truth out of his friend. Clark's gaze remained steady despite the pain it caused him. There were moments when he wanted nothing more than to confide completely in Lex but those moments were quickly forced into submission by the gleam in the man's eyes. It was a thirst for knowledge, no, more than that, a thirst for secrets. Lex was not content with the honest information men could proffer but the dark conspiracies lurking beneath the surface, ever moving in the murky depths of deception like some great sea monster constantly ahead of its predators.

Lex tore his eyes away from Clark and turned his back, making for the study door. The challenge was met. "Lex, wait! Please, can't you just trust me on this?"

Lex's shoulders sagged with unmistakable annoyance and he slowly turned to face the desperate teenager. "Give me one good reason, Clark. Do you really think I'm going to stay at home just because you tell me to?" Hearing the harshness in his own voice, Lex moved closer to Clark and his face softened a little, although the dangerous light still shone behind those blue eyes. "Give me one good reason to stay and I'd be happy to." The sincerity was almost believable but Clark was already starting to feel nauseous from the mere proximity of the billionaire and he backed away a step, trying to reorient himself.

He blinked hard, attempting to shake off the unbalancing feeling he was experiencing. "Lex, I know it's hard to accept but trust me, you don't want to get up in that plane! Please, just make an appointment with your doctor! Get a blood test!"

Clark knew only too quickly that he had pushed too far. Nobody could tell a Luthor what to do and expect him to roll over. If anything it was likely to push him over the edge. Lex's mouth curled into a half smile at the absurdity of the situation. "I'll see you when I get back, Clark." Without another word, he stalked from the room.

**********

The small bi-plane sailed through the light fluffy clouds and Lex watched the patchy ground below them spreading out like an old quilt beneath him. He felt much better now that he was on the move. The strange, uncontrollable energy bursts he had been experiencing for the past days seemed to have subsided. Lex wondered if the altitude had anything to do with it. Still, he wasn't about to knock a good thing.

Settling his head back against the comfortable rest, Lex closed his eyes and allowed his brain to let go of work and Smallville. For a moment his mind dwelt on what Clark had said. He had appeared truly concerned for Lex's safety. Was there anything in it? The young Luthor had always harboured suspicions about the farm boy's sources. He was unerringly present whenever something strange or mysterious happened in Smallville, even Metropolis. The teenager played his hand close to his chest, ever wary of being discovered somehow, that his secret would be revealed. Yes, Clark Kent certainly had a secret. Of that, Lex was certain. It was only a matter of time before he found out what it was. In the meantime, the billionaire couldn't help wondering if he had made a mistake by choosing to ignore his hero friend.

He slept for a short time; it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes given the landscape change. Lex awoke with a start, his body jittery. He looked out of the small window to see the curly tops of trees below him, various shades of green densely packed together. Then it came to him like something surging out of his subconscious. Lex needed to be down there, in that exact expanse of forest. Irrational as it would have seemed a few moments before, nothing could deter him now from doing what he wanted. It was as if every ounce of sense had been pushed into a recess of the billionaire's brain and he could no longer control himself.

Pushing the small intercom button on his arm rest, Lex commanded the pilot to set down in the woods. "I'm afraid that's impossible, Mr. Luthor. There's no landing plain large enough and we're in the middle of nowhere."

"I don't care where we are. Just find a clearing that'll fit the plane and head for it," Lex demanded, unreasonably.

Unsurprisingly, the pilot still refused his order. "Mr. Luthor, even if we found a clearing large enough, the chances of being able to navigate the plane safely into such a small space would practically be suicide."

Lex gritted his teeth, feeling the anger rising. He was not going to be thwarted by someone whom he paid triple standard pilot salary just to keep on staff. For that price, he should get what he wanted, even if it was suicide. Storming into the small cockpit, Lex lifted the crystal cut whiskey decanter in one hand and smashed it deftly over the pilot's head.

The man's head lolled lifelessly and his hands slid from the steering column. With the plane already tilting wildly, Lex managed to manoeuvre the pilot onto the floor and took his place in the pilot seat. He had been given a few rudimentary flying lessons on the ground as a child. While Lionel spent his time pulling his business into shape, Lex spent a considerable amount of his childhood being humoured by LuthorCorp employees. The airfield had been no different. All the ground crew used to look out for the red-haired boy and Lex had spent a few short hours in the simulation machine. He could barely remember a thing he had learned but the basics came back to him as the plane plunged nose first towards the nearing ground.

Lex's hands were shaking but he couldn't be sure whether it was the weird adrenaline surge he had been experiencing or the fear that he truly was pitching down to his death. There was little time to think about it. The nose of the plane brushed the tree line and the billionaire managed to pull up until the belly caught the tree tops. Then, Lex was almost flung from the seat as the plane descended into the trees, knocking into some and knocking some down. A stray branch thumped hard against the window, cracking it and obscuring Lex's view ahead. Another branch swiftly followed, smashing the glass inward and showering his face with painful shards.

A sharp hit from the side knocked him violently from the cockpit seat and Lex raised his hands to shield his head from impact. A pair of arms was little protection against an entire forest and all he could do was pray as the plane prepared for a riotous touch down. One harsh knock to the head and everything went black.

**********

END OF PART 12