Experiment 001

Chapter 15:

Lex sat in his office. It had been nearly a week since Alley had told him that Chloe and Pete now knew her closely guarded secret. He had wanted to yell, scream, something…but the secret was hers, and although he would not have chosen to tell the town "reporter", he couldn't argue the fact that Pete was trustworthy. He only wished she had told Clark as well. Lex had asked Clark to watch out for her at school, as a favor. No details were given as to exactly why, but Lex was positive that the fear he felt was not hidden very well, even by his well trained mind, and that Clark had picked up on that fear.

No matter what happened between Lex and Clark, Alley was not Lex. Clark could not have refused Lex's request. Clark just wasn't like that.

Lex stood and started pacing the floor. For the past four days Clark had always called during their lunch to tell Lex that Alley was alright. He looked at the clock, 12:37…the call was nearly an hour late. If anything, Kent was punctual. Clark always kept his word.

Lex stared at the telephone on his desk, as if willing it to ring.

It remained silent…

He cursed and continued his pacing. God, damn, he needed a drink!

Again he glanced at the clock; 12:39…

"Damn it, Alley. For once—"

He jumped slightly as the telephone on his desk rang loudly.

He rushed over to it and picked up the receiver, his voice shook with relief as he spoke angrily, "Clark! What took you—"

"No, Alexander Luthor," a cold voice answered. "But you can stop looking. Don't waste the time or resources. You'll hear it in the news soon enough." Then the line went dead.

Lex tried to grab the chair before fell, but missed it entirely and crashed to the floor, complete shock written all over his face. He had imagined it. It wasn't real. NONE of it was real! It couldn't be!

"Pete," he whispered. Pete and Chloe would know. They would be watching her, too.

'What about Clark?' His mind taunted. What if Frampson had done something to Clark?! Frampson had said he would do anything to get her…but murder? MURDER a teenage boy?!

God, why not?! He was already trying to torture and murder a teenage girl.

Lex ran his palms harshly over his scalp. Why had she talked him out of bodyguards?! How had he let her?!

Tear started to fall from his eyes. How could he have allowed this to happen?! This was his fault. If he had only—

He cursed himself again for showing weakness. He was a Luthor, damn it! Weakness was not allowed. And yet he had allowed her to do everything commonsense screamed not to!

No! This was NOT her fault.

He needed to find her.

He no longer knew who he should turn to. The police couldn't do anything.

Chloe and Pete…they were his only option.

Chloe and Pete…

"He got her. She's gone." Lex repeated.

Pete didn't believe what he was hearing. Not possible. It just wasn't possible! He stammered for a moment, "Wh-what do you mean?! She can't—"

Lex sighed and started from the beginning, "I had asked Clark to look out for her last week. I asked him to check in with me at his lunch everyday. Today he didn't."

Pete chimed in, grasping at straws, "That doesn't mean anything, he could just be late!"

Lex turned to him angrily, "AND I got a call from Frampson. He told me not to waste anymore resources looking for her, that I would see it on the news soon enough."

Chloe swallowed, "So why come to us? What can we do?"

"You're the only ones I can turn to. No one else knows about her, and I can't risk anyone else finding out."

"Clark knows," Pete said guiltily.

Lex lowered his head, "Clark was with her, I think Frampson might have done something to him."

Chloe gasped.

Clark looked around the room, slightly disoriented. Why was everything red?

"You okay?" He heard someone say.

His head snapped in the direction of the voice, "Alley?"

She smiled sadly, "Sorry I got you into this."

Clark looked around again, there was nothing but chairs in the small room. "Why is everything red?"

"The light," she answered. "The reason you and I have the abilities we do is because the yellow light of Earth's sun. Krypton had a red sun. In red light we are just like normal Earthlings."

"What?!" Something that simple could not possibly be the reason for his powers!

"I remember the sunsets. They looked like…like…" she looked at Clark, "you wouldn't remember."

"So…what do we do?"

She sighed, "I don't know."

A/N: Mwahahahaha! See, I did update. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews. I love you all. I can't believe it took me so long to update last time. I wanted something to make me feel better, and I have something so simple like posting a chapter…I sure am smart.

I had a very rough week…I was forced to read something by Michael Moore for poli-sci…and write a report on it…and at the same time I had an English paper, chem. worksheets, and life in general. So "Daddy" has not been fully completed yet. But I'm working hard.

See. Now you can't kill me. Though only one person noticed that at the end of Chapter 14, it says, "Lex only said five words, but they were enough. "He got her." Oops…but yeah…that's what happens when you don't reread it enough times. But I fixed it when he came in at the middle of this chapter…that is what it's supposed to say in the last one…I'll fix it later.

Supergrl11: Now, either way, I would be dead and therefore couldn't update. I stick my tongue out at you (in good humor) and I shall work on the next chapter, straight away. Keep reading!

Knight/m: Updating! And I'm hanging…until my arms fall off, I'm hanging.

Anthony: Here's the next chapter! REVIEW!

And finally, Berto: Thank you so much. I hope you and Linh have a wonderful aniversery!