Title: New Game.

Author: Lucy Mars

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Summary: It was a new game now. New rules. New players and new losers.


Chapter #5:

Six Hours Ago.

            His knees buckling as the world shifted beneath him and threatened to swallow him whole, Lex collapsed back into the visitor chair as the folders he'd been holding fell to the ground and papers spilt across his office in a disordered sea of white.

            His blood pounding furiously in his ears, Lex tried to process the words coming out of his father's mouth. Breach. Chloe. Security. One dead guard. One missing guard. Alleyways strewn with blood. Police. Chloe. Our men are out searching. Searching for Chloe. No ransom demand yet. Chloe.

            His eyes following his father's jerky movements as he paced the small space before him, Lex hissed angrily as Louis's earlier demands finally made sense. "How long have you known for?"

            Pausing mid stride, Lionel shot his son a brief glance before returning his eyes to the darkening Metropolis horizon. "We'll find her, son."

            "How long have you known for?" Lex yelled, bolting to his feet and grabbing his father's arm.

            Stumbling slightly at Lex's raw force, Lionel squared his jaw. "Lex, it seemed like a precautionary measure at the time. There appeared like no danger until we lost track of her car. When we realized that one of her guards was dead it was too late. "

            His fingers tightening around his father's arm, Lex could feel his adrenaline spike dangerously. "How long!"

             "An hour," Lionel admitted, watching at his son's eyes darkened dangerously and Louis's face drew taut with fury.

            "An hour?" Lex seethed, his vision clouded in a smoldering red. "A fucking hour, dad?"

            "You were in a meeting with board members," Lionel reminded the two men glaring at him with a promise of annihilation.

            "Fuck the board members!" Lex yelled throwing his arms to air with enough ferocity to make Lionel back away with fear. An enraged Lex he could handle. Lex out for blood was an entirely different thing.

            Backing away from his father before he gave into the primal urge within him and wrapped his hands around his throat, Lex exhaled brokenly. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Not now of all times. He had too much to lose. He couldn't lose his family. He wouldn't lose his family. "You much really hate me," Lex laughed bitterly as he met his father's eyes, "You must really hate me to not come and tell me right away."

            "Lex," Lionel implored as he reached out for his son.

"Where was she last seen?" Lex demanded, moving out of his father's reach. He couldn't handle being touched. He wouldn't be held responsible for his actions if his father tried to touch him again.

Taken back, Lionel reached for the papers the head of his security detail had given him when he'd arrived to tell Lex about Chloe. Scanning the papers quickly, Lionel frowned when his eyes came to rest on the answer. "A baby boutique on the upper east side of town,"

"Fucking hell," Louis breathed as he grabbed Lex's arm before he could fall to the ground.

Wrenching his arm out of Louis's grasp, Lex took the paper from his father's hands and stormed out of his office with Louis rushing out after him. He wasn't going to lose his family. Not without a fight.

***

            Moving with extra care and attention, Adam cradled Chloe's lifeless body close as he walked down the narrow steps that would bring him to and over the finish line. His steps echoing with a dour force, Adam made sure to be extra gentle with the woman in his arms.

Sleep would do her good right now. Rest was what she needed after such a traumatic day. Laying her down on the bed he had had the foresight to place down here, Adam smiled fondly at Chloe's sleeping face and the feeling of tranquility that she gave him. This was it. He'd passed the finish line and left Lex Luthor staggering blindly in the dust.

            His smile morphing into a sinister smirk, Adam could only imagine the Luthor prince's reaction when he realized that he'd lost what Adam had just gained. There was nothing the man could do an oceans span away. There was nothing that anyone could do now. Here, with Chloe sleeping peacefully before him, Adam had everything. He had what he deserved.

            After a year of longing from a distance and another year watching her move within his reach, Adam finally had the prize. He'd suffered through watching her laugh with Lex, dance with Lex, kiss Lex…

            Now it was his turn. Now he would be the one she would laugh with, dance with, kiss and love. He would love her but not as much as she would learn to love him. They finally had a chance to be happy together. They could finally be together.

            Brushing back her hair, Adam cupped her ashen cheek with a care that would have been touching, had it not been for the circumstances. His eyes traveling over the length of her body, Adam paused at the hint of skin that her shirt exposed. A baby hadn't been part of the plan and neither had that pesky salesgirl who didn't know how to mind her own business. But a baby Adam could deal with. A baby he could incorporate into his plan and learn to love. The salesgirl however was not a part of the equation.

            Cold eyes traveling the length of the room, Adam frowned with disdain at the girl he'd bound and discarded on the floor. Her auburn hair fanned across the hard cement floor like a sea of blood. It was a fitting image that Adam would soon make a reality. The angry imprint of the butt of his gun stood out against the pasty tinge of her skin. She was a problem that needed to be eliminated. He would do what needed to be done.

            But not right now. No, right now he would savor what was his. Chloe would forever be his. Stroking her hair, Adam smiled triumphantly. He'd won. He'd finally won.

***

            Fumbling with the key he'd thought he'd never have to use, Lex finally stilled his hand enough to slip the key into the slot. Turning till the satisfying click filled the quiet room, Lex pulled the drawer open with enough force to jar the entire table. Looking down at the polished metallic gun, Lex hesitated briefly before wrapping his fingers around the cold metal and pulling it out of hibernation.

            For three years the drawer had been locked and ultimately forgotten about. For three years, Lex had lived foolishly with the belief that nothing could destroy his happiness. For three years, Lex had been blinded by his love. For three years, he had honestly believed that the perfection that was his life was going to last for eternity.

            Now though, he knew better.

            Reaching into the hidden depths of the drawer, Lex pulled the bullets out. Fingering the cool mistresses of death in his hand, Lex breathed deeply as he slid the bullets into place.

            And that was how Louis found him, standing in the vanishing sunlight of the day, a loaded gun in his hand and a determined expression on his face. "Bloody hell, Lex."

            His resolved firm, Lex wasn't going to be swayed into submission. "I'm not going to lose my family, Louis."

            "Don't do this," Louis implored.

            "You can either help or get out of my way."

            Blocking the exit, Louis held out his hands warily. "Do you at least have a bloody plan?"

            "Find Chloe and get her back." Lex answered simply.

            "And get yourself killed in the process?" Louis demanded angrily. He couldn't let Lex storm out of here with a gun on a blind mission. "Where are you going to start? We don't even know who took her, Lex!"

            "I'm not going to sit on my hands and wait!" Lex snapped, pushing forcefully past Louis.

            "Don't do this," Louis begged following Lex out of the room. Grabbing his arm, Louis tried to reason with him. "You need to think this through. You need to calm down, Lex."

            Fighting against Louis and his logic, Lex pushed him back forcefully.

            Slamming into the wall and tumbling to the ground, Louis looked up at Lex with shock. Lex, as threatening and hostile as he was at times, had never been a violent man. Meeting Lex's darkening eyes, Louis knew immediately that the aching in his back with nothing compared to the anguish he saw in Lex.

            His breathing labored and fast, Lex held out his gun in warning. "Don't try to stop me, Louis. You can't."

            "Well, maybe I can reason with you."

            Turning sharply on his heel, Lex shook his head at his father's assertive stance. "Get out of my way, dad."

            "I'm not letting you do this, Alexander. It's brash, foolish and irrational." Lionel scolded, closing the distance between them, "You need to think…"

            "I don't need you to tell me what to do." Lex replied between gritted teeth.

            "What is running out onto the streets with a gun in your hand going to accomplish?" Lionel demanded. "How is putting yourself in danger going to help, Chloe?"

            Tightening his hold on his gun, Lex pushed past his father. If Lionel and Louis weren't going to help him, he wasn't going to let them stop him.

            "Lex," his father called out after him, "don't do this."

            "Fuck off, dad."

            Shaking his head with resignation, Lionel pulled out his own gun, raised it and fired before Louis had a chance to stop him.

            "Lex!" Louis yelled pushing himself off of the ground.

            Stunned by the abrupt pain in his shoulder, Lex felt his joints freeze as his muscles melted and a haze fell over his eyes. The lights above him hummed louder and louder until he couldn't hear until but the sound of his heart strumming a heartbreaking song.

            His body swaying, Lex's gun dropped forgotten as his mind shut down and his body tumbled helplessly to the cold hard ground.

            The dart hit him squarely in the shoulder and Lex faltered momentarily, both in pain and confusion, before plummeting to the ground.

            "Bloody hell," Louis sighed in relief when he spotted the red dart standing out against Lex's black suit.

            Standing over his son's fallen body, Lionel never took his eyes off Lex as he addressed Louis. "People may think of me as the devil incarnate but even I would never kill my own son."

            "Fuck, Lionel." Louis breathed uneasily, "Was that really necessary?"

            "Help me get him to his room," Lionel ordered, picking up Lex's gun and unloading the bullets.

            Coming down to Lex's side, Louis pressed his fingers against his neck and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt Lex's heartbeat steady and strong. "How long is he going to be out for?"

            "Awhile," Lionel replied as he helped Louis drag Lex to his feet.

            Staggering against Lex's dead weight, Louis bared the majority of the weight. "He's going to be pissed when he wakes up." Louis commented when they finally settled Lex in his bed.

            "Better than dead," Lionel replied. "I'm not going to let my son die, Louis. No matter how much he may want too."

            "Lex doesn't want to die," Louis argued, "He was just trying to save, Chloe."

            "Trust me," Lionel said, his face hidden beneath the darkness that cloaked them, "If we don't find Chloe, Lex is going to want to die and I'm not going to lose my only son."

***



TBC...because many people agree that I'm an evil woman.