TITLE: Elseworlds-Power
AUTHOR: William Rayne
EMAIL: knytmare@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Clark: a name associated with power not meant for mortal man. Luthor: a name associated with a thirst for power and control. Clark Luthor: God help us all... Things the way they were never meant to be.
SPOILERS: revised Premier and "Metamorphosis"
PAIRING: none
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, email me
DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money
FEEDBACK: Desired like none other.
NOTES AND NEWS: Thanks to Deia for helping me with story development and being an "über beta queen and grammar Nazi." Props to Dumont for helping beta. As always: bold italics for stressed, italics for thoughts or voice-over, and underlines for sarcasm or disgust. This is a *huge* work in progress, so expect possible revisions to previous chapters. Been busy with school, so haven't had a chance to get a lot of chapters beta'd, proofed and edited. Thank you for your patience, I promise to get them out to you as soon as they are ready to be published. I am looking for beta readers and editors to help with this, if you'd like to volunteer, IM me…I like to screen those I'm trusting with 'my works' (see disclaimer). Oh yeah, I'm horrible with tenses, so please forgive me, I'll try to clean and tighten that up some in the future.
234
Chapter 4
Pleased with the unexpected turn of events, Clark decided to take his time going back to the mansion, and it was quite late by the time he to got there. Even after the long walk home, he still had a bounce in his step as he went up the stairs. Halfway up them, he feels a weight on his back and he audibly crashes down onto the stairs.
"What the…?!?!?" as he looks up, recovering from the fall.
Footfalls come the hallway below and a beam of flashlight waves over into Clark's eyes as he looks back to see who they belong to.
"Clark?" says a confused Lex as he helps his brother up, "What happened? Are you all right?"
"Shhh," Clark responds as he hears a sound and proceeds back up the steps with his brother in tow. He listed carefully then stated, "Someone attacked me. Listen, do you hear that?"
The sound stops and so do the Luthor brothers at the top of the stairway. Lex points the flashlight towards the direction they last heard it. As he scans the walls and then the ceiling, the light flashes over a body. As he brings it back into focus, the brothers barely get a good look at a boy clinging to the ceiling. The boy propels himself off the ceiling, kicking Clark away from his brother, pushing Lex down the stairs then propelling himself back into the darkness. Clark barely has time to react to the events and rather than chase down the assailant, he bursts into super-speed to save his brother from potentially breaking his neck.
"Did you get a good look at his face?" Clark asks Lex as they search the rest of the mansion with flashlights.
"No, it came right off the ceiling at me. It's almost as if he--"
"--wasn't entirely human?" Clark finishes.
"Yeah, exactly. How about you? Did you get a good look?"
"Good enough to be able to ID him, but somehow I doubt we'll be looking at a police line-up for him anytime soon."
"True. We need to figure out who he is."
"I'd settle for more light than these flashlights, what happened to the backup?"
"Clark, we get attacked and you have to wonder about the generator?" Lex asks dubiously as his brother turns red from embarrassment. Seeing that his brother caught his meaning and wishing to avoid another argument, Lex changes the subject back to the attacker's identity, "We've been looking for almost half an hour, we would have had another attack by now if he was stupid. He's long gone by now and we're at a disadvantage. He knows who we are, and possibly what you can do. All we know is that he can stick to the ceiling, and we have no clue what-so-ever who he is."
"I know, Lex. It's not like we can go to the cops about this, and we're not in Metropolis so using our networks is out…" Clark stops to ponder out loud in an attempt to find an answer to the mystery surrounding their foe.
"I don't know about that last thought, Clark."
"Bribes only work when you know who to bribe, Lex."
"Not where I was going, dear brother. That Chloe Sullivan girl seemed to know who to bribe for information, and you seem to have gotten on her good side."
Clark smiles as he sees Lex's plan, "That's right."
"Besides, something tells me this is somehow related to that accident. If anything, we can sell Miss Sullivan on the angle of our Spidey attacking that boy you saved, and hopefully that will keep her from prying into you too much."
"I'll talk to her first thing in the morning."
***********************************************************
"You believe me?" asks a baffled Clark.
"You don't know the half of it," replies a straight-faced Chloe and beckons Clark to follow her, "I think I would have a better time explaining why I believe you if I showed you."
She leads him to a dark room, turns on the light and they walk in. Pointing to a wall inside, "It started out as a scrapbook and just sorta... mutated," she states proudly.
"What is it?"
"I call it 'The Wall of Weird'."
The wall is covered in photos, clippings, and papers. She stands expansively in front of it, proud. Clark eyes it warily. On it are close-ups and clippings of a man with fingers appearing and disappearing on his hands, of glow-in-the dark geodes, and tabloid headlines.
"It's every strange, bizarre, and unexplained event that's happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. That's when it all began -- when the town went schizo."
Clark continues to eye the wall.
After a minute, he turns his attention back to Chloe, "This explains why you believe me, but it doesn't bring us any closer to finding out exactly who Spidey is."
"You said he looked about our age?" Taking a cue off of Clarks nod, she heads back towards the main office, "Doesn't hurt to try the yearbook. Wait right here, I'll get a copy."
Clark turns his attention back to the wall and notices the Time cover with Lana among the collection of articles. Before he can comment on it, Chloe returns with the yearbook and it only takes a brief moment for them to find who they're looking for.
"You're sure that's him?"
"I know that's him," Clark replies as he matches the picture with the name.
"It would make sense that Bugboy is your mysterious Spidey."
"Bugboy?"
"Sorry, it's a nickname he has. Real big into entomology."
"Greg Arkin." Clark says, committing the name and face to memory, "But how'd he suddenly become superhuman?"
*****************************************************
"I found an article about Amazonian tribesmen who took on the traits of the insects they'd been bitten by, but nothing as extreme as what you're talking about with Greg Arkin. Did you have any luck?"
Clark perks up from trying to research the origin of Greg's abilities.
"Only that Greg didn't move to Smallville until after the meteor shower, so he couldn't have been exposed to the blast," says a voice from behind Clark, "Whatcha doin' researching him anyways, Chloe? And who's this dude?"
Clark turns around to see a short, pudgy African-American kid standing in the doorway. Before he can introduce himself and ask how he knows Bugboy, the kid cuts him off by spitting on the floor in front of him.
"Luthor," he says with a fiery passion and turns to leave.
"PETE, wait," Chloe yells as she runs after him, leaving Clark alone in the room. The argument in the hallway barely registers to Clark as he, for the first time in years, fights to keep his anger in check. Who does he think he is…spitting at me? Me?! In the past, it was Mother's voice that calmed his anger but today, Father's words echoed in his mind, managing to soothe his rising anger. People are always at their weakest when they're angry. Realizing that Pete's insult wasn't what he was here for, he brings himself into a neutral state as Pete and Chloe walk back into the office.
"You owe me," Pete says to Chloe. Looking at Clark, he adds, "Big time."
As Pete heads to the opposite side of the room, Clark ignores the blatant glares and focuses his attention on Chloe who finishes her apology about the incident, and changes the subject back to Greg.
"I'm thinking Greg's bugs could have been exposed to the meteor shower. Think about it, Clark. Pieces of that meteor are still buried all over Smallville. The whole habitat's infected."
Clark nods that he's following along.
"So, when boy catches bugs, and bugs bite boy... you end up with a Bugboy who really is bug-like."
"Chloe," Clark says as he processes the theory, "you can't even walk out your door in the summertime without being bitten by a mosquito. Why don't we have a whole town of bug people?"
Chloe rebuts, "Uh, because you need a certain level of toxins to cause a mutation. Those Amazonian tribesmen were all attacked by swarms."
"Greg did keep tanks of bugs in his room. Maybe they got sick of the view and staged a revolt," Pete adds in from the other side of the room.
Chloe walks back over to the papers she was looking at before Pete arrived, "Well, according to this, bugs have a very short life cycle. So, if he really has gone Kafka, let's hope he isn't in the mating phase."
********************************************************
"I'd rather not be here," Pete states emphatically to Chloe as the three peer into the window of the Arkin residence.
"Pete, we…I need you here. You're the only one that knows Greg, let alone his family. Besides, if this is somehow related to Whitney, then who knows who else on the football team may be attacked next," Chloe replies, as Pete glares at Clark.
Chloe's smile and tone cause Pete to stop his verbal complaints. He mouths the words 'OWE ME' to Chloe before changing the subject, "The place is a mess…Greg's mom is a mega-neat-freak."
"Looks like no one's home, let's have a look around," says Chloe as she slides up the window.
**********************************************************
Inside the Arkin house, Pete and Clark find the bathtub is filled with bits of molted skin.
"Aw, man, that's disgusting. What is it?" Pete says.
"I think its skin. He must be molting," Clark replies as he makes a face.
The room is steamy. Chloe calls from another room.
"You guys better come in here!"
Both leave the bathroom in a hurry.
"Guys?"
Clark and Pete enter Greg's room. They see that it's covered in webs and cocoons. Clark stares at the cocoons and notices something.
"Man I knew guys had the hots for her, but damn, that ain't right," Pete says and Clark turns to see the cause of the comment.
"I think Greg's found his mate," Chloe adds in.
On the TV, a home-made video of Lana having a picnic is playing. It was obviously filmed by Greg. Returning his attention to the room, Clark hurries over to a floor-to-ceiling cocoon in the corner of the room.
"Clark? What do you see?" Chloe inquires.
Pete and Chloe watch him approach the cocoon carefully. He slowly reaches up and pulls at the webbing, ripping it open. A decaying body falls out and Pete confirms that it is Greg's mom. The three recoil from the sight.
"Lana," they all say in realization.
Clark turns towards Pete asking, "Where would he go with her? Tell me."
Pete blanches and then responds angrily to the demand, "What makes you think I'd know, and why should I tell you?!"
"A girl is in danger and all you think about is some grudge you have against my family?" Clark retorts heatedly, stepping towards Pete.
"Check the testosterone, you two," Chloe says as she steps between them. Turning to Pete, she says, "He has a point. Lana could be in danger, do you know or not?"
"There's this old tree fort his dad built in the woods when we were kids…" Pete says as he explains where it is.
Clark, still emotional from the exchange, begins to gloat until Chloe turns towards him saying, "And you'd do well to remember, Clark, that your family has fucked over a lot of people in this town and that we never had to help you in the first place. Saving Whitney yesterday doesn't begin to make up for that, but it's a start. Don't start making me think you're every bit of the Luthor reputation or I'll make you regret our help."
Smiling at Chloe putting a Luthor in his place, Pete looks at Clark and asks, "What makes you think you can save her? Way you tell it, Greg almost killed you and your brother yesterday."
Clark storms towards the door, pauses, turns to look at Pete over his shoulder, and with a hint of smirk replies, "I'll save her because I can. It's what I do. Didn't you read the 'Torch' yesterday?"
"Didn't you read the 'Torch' yesterday?" Pete says in a falsetto voice, mockingly as Clark leaves. Turning to Chloe, he asks, "Explain to me, why we just helped that cocksucker out?"
"Because, even as much as you deny it, the thought of a Luthor that helps people is intriguing. And because, so far, he's done the right thing, which is completely contrary to what we know about his family."
At Pete's scoff, she adds, "Besides, I got him to agree yesterday that I get exclusives on any more heroics he's involved in. And he's hiding something, I can feel it. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out… no Luthor can be that good and selfless, it has to be an act."
"Whatever," Pete replies cynically, "In that case, I'm going on the record right now in saying that 'this won't end well'. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and that's especially true when it comes to Luthors."