Chapter Two
Secrets
Clark walked into Lex's study, only to see noone there. He walked over to the pool table, fingering the cue ball.
"Hello, Kal-el."
"Damn it!" Camyne cursed as her books scattered over the sidewalk. She knelt to gather them, her chin-length hair falling like a curtain across her eyes. She'd been flustered since Lex had shown up this morning, and everything had gotten worse since then. Her History teacher was a quack, her math teacher deplorable, and the only thing interesting might be writing for the newspaper, if the girl who ran it didn't talk so much. "I hate public education."
"Maybe you just need a person to show you around." The wide doe eyes of Lana Lang appeared at her level, scrambling at her papers. "I'm Lana." She smiled widely at the new girl, who regarded her with a blank expression.
"And?" Camyne asked. "You wanna take me under your wing? Pat me on the head?" She stood up abruptly. "I'm sorry. I don't have a heart, Miss 'Lana'. Never did, as far as I can remember. I can do it myself, make my own way, and I certainly don't require your assistance. Excuse me." She snatched the papers from Lana's hand and stormed off. Lana watched her with sad eyes, clutching her own books.
"Excuse me?" Clark asked, turning to see Lex perched on his over-the-door balcony, swirling the dregs of burbon around a glass.
"Kal-el. That's you, isn't it?" Lex asked, with his usual coolness. He turned to descend the stairs. "It's what he called you, right? As well as Naman?"
Clark stood shell-shocked. He couldn't fathom how... "Uh... I...don't know where you got that from, Lex, but I think your tie's too tight there." he tried to laugh it off.
Lex set the glass down on his desk, removing his tie and picking up a cue stick. He broke the game before sitting on the lip. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Lex, you know as well as me that I'm adopted..." Clark began.
"Cut the bullshit, Kent." Lex shot another ball. "Just stop before you say something you'll recant. I know one of your names is Kal-el. I know you can also be called Naman. Our girl Kyla wasn't as anti-technology as her grandfather was." He turned the laptop on his desk around, revealing a web-site that displayed symbols from the Kawatche caves and the entire legend that Kyla had told Clark that first day. "Kyla wanted to preserve the legends of her tribe. In an online diary. Termed a blog. I never thought to see if she was a member of the 21st century or not." Lex said. "Until one of the recording devices I placed in the cave got something very unfamiliar on its record. A voice, a light, a name, and a girl. I saw the whole thing with Kara, Clark."
"You said you would stop investigating me, Lex!" Clark exclaimed as he went on the offensive. "You said you would! As a friend! You know..."
"Save it, Clark. Please. Just save it. I did stop investigating you. But the more I deliberately don't investigate you, the more that things just pile up in my lap. I can't always look away, Clark. Did you really think that the fact that you have been involved with or solved over 50 confrontations or problems in the past two years would escape me? Even if I wasn't looking? How lucky can you be, Clark?" Lex stared into Clark's eyes, one eyebrow arched.
Clark stood abashed, his eyes studying the pool table. "I...I..."
"First my car. That was the beginning. The caves, the crimes. The people, all of whom seem to have been exposed to the green meteor rock, who have strange abilities. Your ability to deal with them when noone else can. Your strange reaction to said rock. You are the who, Clark. I know the when, and even possibly the why."
Lex laid the cue down oh-so-carefully. "I want to know how."
Clark's knuckles showed white on the edge of the table. Oh, how he wanted to tell his best friend everything. To get his secret off his chest to someone who could help... But did he want to tell a Luthor? Could he stand behind his own repeated defense of Lex?
"We can play this one of two ways, Clark. You've lied to me, I know that much. I can get angry, possibly lose any rendition of our friendship, and expose what I know so that everyone on the planet knows enough of your secret to make your life a living hell. Or, you can come clean with me. Trust me. Place faith in me that I have experience keeping secrets. And we can use whatever you've got to our mutual advantage. And, I might add, my father has much of the same evidence that I do. I've taken the liberty of discontinuing Kyla's website before he could find it, as well as the recording device. It's your choice." Lex walked around, settling himself into his posh leather chair.
A single tear escaped Clark's eye, falling to the pool table. Where it landed, a burn mark appeared.
"And the choice is now, Clark, if that's who you are."
Outside the Luthor mansion, A figure in black dropped into a small guard shack on the perimiter. It held a gun to the neck of a guard, who deactivated the front door alarm.
"Good. Thank you."
"Hey! You're..."
"You will forget. Now."
No alarms went off.
Secrets
Clark walked into Lex's study, only to see noone there. He walked over to the pool table, fingering the cue ball.
"Hello, Kal-el."
"Damn it!" Camyne cursed as her books scattered over the sidewalk. She knelt to gather them, her chin-length hair falling like a curtain across her eyes. She'd been flustered since Lex had shown up this morning, and everything had gotten worse since then. Her History teacher was a quack, her math teacher deplorable, and the only thing interesting might be writing for the newspaper, if the girl who ran it didn't talk so much. "I hate public education."
"Maybe you just need a person to show you around." The wide doe eyes of Lana Lang appeared at her level, scrambling at her papers. "I'm Lana." She smiled widely at the new girl, who regarded her with a blank expression.
"And?" Camyne asked. "You wanna take me under your wing? Pat me on the head?" She stood up abruptly. "I'm sorry. I don't have a heart, Miss 'Lana'. Never did, as far as I can remember. I can do it myself, make my own way, and I certainly don't require your assistance. Excuse me." She snatched the papers from Lana's hand and stormed off. Lana watched her with sad eyes, clutching her own books.
"Excuse me?" Clark asked, turning to see Lex perched on his over-the-door balcony, swirling the dregs of burbon around a glass.
"Kal-el. That's you, isn't it?" Lex asked, with his usual coolness. He turned to descend the stairs. "It's what he called you, right? As well as Naman?"
Clark stood shell-shocked. He couldn't fathom how... "Uh... I...don't know where you got that from, Lex, but I think your tie's too tight there." he tried to laugh it off.
Lex set the glass down on his desk, removing his tie and picking up a cue stick. He broke the game before sitting on the lip. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Lex, you know as well as me that I'm adopted..." Clark began.
"Cut the bullshit, Kent." Lex shot another ball. "Just stop before you say something you'll recant. I know one of your names is Kal-el. I know you can also be called Naman. Our girl Kyla wasn't as anti-technology as her grandfather was." He turned the laptop on his desk around, revealing a web-site that displayed symbols from the Kawatche caves and the entire legend that Kyla had told Clark that first day. "Kyla wanted to preserve the legends of her tribe. In an online diary. Termed a blog. I never thought to see if she was a member of the 21st century or not." Lex said. "Until one of the recording devices I placed in the cave got something very unfamiliar on its record. A voice, a light, a name, and a girl. I saw the whole thing with Kara, Clark."
"You said you would stop investigating me, Lex!" Clark exclaimed as he went on the offensive. "You said you would! As a friend! You know..."
"Save it, Clark. Please. Just save it. I did stop investigating you. But the more I deliberately don't investigate you, the more that things just pile up in my lap. I can't always look away, Clark. Did you really think that the fact that you have been involved with or solved over 50 confrontations or problems in the past two years would escape me? Even if I wasn't looking? How lucky can you be, Clark?" Lex stared into Clark's eyes, one eyebrow arched.
Clark stood abashed, his eyes studying the pool table. "I...I..."
"First my car. That was the beginning. The caves, the crimes. The people, all of whom seem to have been exposed to the green meteor rock, who have strange abilities. Your ability to deal with them when noone else can. Your strange reaction to said rock. You are the who, Clark. I know the when, and even possibly the why."
Lex laid the cue down oh-so-carefully. "I want to know how."
Clark's knuckles showed white on the edge of the table. Oh, how he wanted to tell his best friend everything. To get his secret off his chest to someone who could help... But did he want to tell a Luthor? Could he stand behind his own repeated defense of Lex?
"We can play this one of two ways, Clark. You've lied to me, I know that much. I can get angry, possibly lose any rendition of our friendship, and expose what I know so that everyone on the planet knows enough of your secret to make your life a living hell. Or, you can come clean with me. Trust me. Place faith in me that I have experience keeping secrets. And we can use whatever you've got to our mutual advantage. And, I might add, my father has much of the same evidence that I do. I've taken the liberty of discontinuing Kyla's website before he could find it, as well as the recording device. It's your choice." Lex walked around, settling himself into his posh leather chair.
A single tear escaped Clark's eye, falling to the pool table. Where it landed, a burn mark appeared.
"And the choice is now, Clark, if that's who you are."
Outside the Luthor mansion, A figure in black dropped into a small guard shack on the perimiter. It held a gun to the neck of a guard, who deactivated the front door alarm.
"Good. Thank you."
"Hey! You're..."
"You will forget. Now."
No alarms went off.