TITLE: Double, Double, Love & Trouble? – Chapter 12
WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)
RATING: PG-13 (NC-17 where applicable will be separate)
SUMMARY: Rewrite from the end of the episode 'Unsafe.'
SPOILERS: Everything!
DISCLAIMER: All Smallville character belong to their respective whatever, the WB, etc. etc.
FEEDBACK: Always makes me smile:)
DEDICATION: To all the fellow Nuns, writers, reviewers, and readers at NWP, and of course Jensen!
RANT: First, I have to say… I can't take credit for a lot of this. Bringing in Lex, Lionel, and Clark along with the stones and China were all part of the show. I have added scenes and internal dialogue to have the show make some SENSE. But that part of the plot was not mine. And of course I added Jason and Lana's first time. Like the show would EVER do that. rolls eyes
The men had been silent as they walked through the crowded, dark Shanghai streets. Jason was angry with himself for getting caught. He just wondered how many more precautions did he have to take around Lex. He thought he had his bases covered. Next time he would be much more careful. If there was a next time.
"Jason, you can't trust my father." The words seemed to come out of nowhere, and Jason turned quickly to Lex as he continued. "He gave you that map for a reason, and now you're leading him right to the stone."
"I'm not working for your father or anyone else," he stated flatly.
Lex eyed him, "Then why does this stone even matter to you?"
"'Cause until I find it, Lana's not gonna be safe."
"Safe from what?"
The two men stopped and faced each other. "From my mom. From Lionel, from you. I don't know, Lex, you tell me!" He was frustrated, and hoped by some miracle that Lex would answer his question. Because if he at least knew whom he was fighting against, then maybe he could do something.
Lex turned and looked down the street at two men in Chinese military uniforms staring back at them. "Look, unless you hired your own Chinese security, I think we've hit a bit of a snag." Jason turned to look in the same direction, just as Lex yelled, "Run!"
Both men turned and ran. The two soldiers quickly took up the chase after them, shouting in Chinese while they pursued. They turned a corner, their feet pounding against the pavement. Just as they ducked behind a street vender's booth, the guards started to fire at them. Quickly they turned another corner only to find a dead end. "What is this?" Jason turned to Lex with wide eyes as a truck pulled up and more uniformed guards jumped out. Knowing there was nowhere to go, with guns and flashlights pointed at them, they both put their hand above their heads in the universal sign of surrender.
She stared out the window watching the clouds and the blue ocean below go by. She had so many thoughts and emotions running in her head, that fear of what she might actually find was the furthest thing from her mind.
Clark sat next to her looking at the map and other drawings of famous landmarks in China. One drawing in particular of a Chinese temple with what looked to be Kryptonian symbols above the door held his interest. His curiosity asking her, "How did Lionel know these symbols were about you?"
Continuing to look out the small window, she answered, "There are two answers to that question, and they're both three times zones away." Clark stood up, thinking about what was in the drawings, and she turned towards him. Sighing, "Clark, um, I'm sorry. I-I feel like you're the only person in my life right now who doesn't have an agenda." That thought alone wanted to make her laugh, or cry. She wasn't sure.
"Lana, whatever their motives are, I'm sure they still care about you."
She shook her head, "That still doesn't change the fact that everybody seems to know more about me than I do."
He agreed. He knew all to well. "It must be scary to think that someone out there has a plan for you, but you don't know what it is yet."
Lana nodded, "Ever since that tattoo appeared, I feel like I've been walking around with this huge secret, like everybody only knows what's on the surface, but there's something inside of me that's so much more powerful." The thought of it being Isobel scared the hell out of her.
"And you're afraid if people know about that part of you, they'll see you differently."
"How could they not?" Then she got quiet. She thought about how Jason had been shocked for a few moments, but then how he had accepted it. And how much closer they had become because of it. Until now, that was. She sighed and then decided to change the subject. "So, um, what'd your parents say about coming to China?"
"Nothing," he said sitting back down. "I didn't tell them. I left them a message."
She felt bad for sort of dragging him into this, "It's funny. The two people I ended up trusting are Lionel Luthor and you." If it wasn't for the situation, she would have probably laughed like crazy at the thought. Her gaze shifted back out the window and to the clouds moving by once again.
He looked out the small, bared, tiny window. A small amount of yellowish daylight streaming in. They had been roughly ushered into this dark, musty, and very dirty holding cell a while ago. Or at least that's what he thought it was in this temple they were in. He turned back to Lex, whom was crouched on the floor, and leaning back against the hard wall. "Well, boss, got any idea what we're doing here?"
"Well, since they took the map and brought us to the temple, I'm guessing they're after the same thing we are."
The word Duh came to mind, but he suppressed it. "You're pretty anxious to make me your sidekick, aren't you?" Sidekick? Riiiighhht. Why should he have to be the sidekick? Lex is the one that basically got them spotted. Then for some reason 'Always the sidekick, never the hero' sprung into his head briefly.
"Don't you think it's time we dropped the stalemate of who knows what, and do whatever we can to get out of here?"
Jason was about ready to lose it. He waved his hand at Lex, "If you want to start spilling our guts, you go first."
"Okay," he said as he stood up. "We both know my father had every inch of this place scoured and he didn't find the stone." He moved towards him. "Come on, Jason. You wouldn't have lied to Lana and come all the way here unless you knew the secret to reading that map."
He shook his head, "No, I lied to Lana to protect her."
Lex smiled, "Oh, right. I forgot. Lana's new self-appointed hero. She seems to have a way of attracting them."
Jason nodded, "Yeah, it looks that way." He hated to admit just how many men seemed to be protective of his girlfriend.
Looking towards the door and at the symbols painted there. Symbols much like those back on the cave walls in Smallville. He turned back to Jason, "I don't believe you're that naïve. You're either being used by my father or your mother. Who's ever pulling the strings, don't think for a second they won't sacrifice Lana. In the end, I have a feeling I may be the one protecting Lana from you."
He gave Lex a hard look and turned away moving back towards the window. The replay of the nightmare he had before turning in his mind. The nightmare where he had told Lana that no one could protect her from him. The nightmare where she had stabbed him, killed him. He closed his eyes. Telling himself it was just some strange thing from the chemicals at LuthorCorp that had affected him. But the more he saw, the more it worried him. Was it a nightmare, or was it a premonition?
But before he could continue with that thought, the cell door flew open and two guards entered with their guns drawn. One went over and hit Lex over the head with his gun, knocking him to the ground. The other continued to have his trained on Jason. He quickly put his arms up, not wanting to take the same wrath. The other guard dragged Lex to his feet and pulled him out of the cell. The second guard backed up through the door, locking it behind him, leaving Jason all alone with the sound of Lex's screaming coming from the hall. "Where are you taking me!"
They had finally gotten out of the airport and where moving their way through the crowded Chinese streets. Both faces showing their wonder at the city around them. "It's hard to believe we were driving by cornstalks this morning."
Lana smiled, "We are definitely not in Kansas anymore."
Clark nodded his agreement as they continued to walk down the street passing other pedestrians and vendors. "So how are we supposed to find this professor…" He was cut off by a man on a bike, almost knocking Lana over. He quickly pulled her away, and held her close.
They looked up into each other's eyes, and she saw the old, yet familiar look he gave her. She pulled away awkwardly and they started walking again. "Um, Lionel said to just take this street, uh, until we find a green rooster."
"You know, Lana, I'm not sure we should trust this woman. Maybe we can do this on our own."
She smiled back at him, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you spoke fluent Mandarin and knew your way around Shanghai." Just then she saw it. She tapped him on his shoulder and pointed towards a shop with a green rooster sign hanging just beside the door. Seconds later the door opened and a Chinese woman walked out of the shop and towards both of them.
"Miss Lang, Mr. Kent. I'm glad you guys made it here safely. Do you have the map?"
The group started walking down the street and Clark handed her the map from his coat pocket. Happily the woman looked over it. "I never really believed this existed. You have no idea how many fortune hunters have searched for this map." She began to study it as they continued to walk.
"The temple seems to be located at the fork of a river," he told her.
"That's odd. There's no river there. But these symbols, they match those on the temple wall."
"So you know where it is," Lana chimed in.
She smiled, "I know the place well. There's no mistaking that symbol."
"Are you sure that this is the only temple with these kinds of markings?" Clark inquired.
She nodded, "On this continent anyway. That's all part of the temple's mystique." They all stopped as she continued, "There's a myth that claimed an all-powerful god that came from another world and hid a treasure there. The god left some kind of map to it. But the map was stolen centuries ago by European bandits. As far as we know, they never found the treasure."
This is what they had been looking for. The story was just too close to what she already knew not to be. "Can you take us to it?"
"Of course. But don't show this to anyone. As long as the stone is still out there, there are fortune seekers who are willing to kill for it." She quickly handed the map back to Clark. "We need to be careful. Other people may know you're here." He put the map back into his coat, and the three started to walk once again.
He was pacing. He couldn't help it. He ran his hands through his hair as he walked, back and forth. They had been gone awhile. He looked over at the window again, and again tried to pull at the bars. All he could do was wait. Wait for whatever they would do to him next.
The sound of the door opening and a loud groan had him turn to find the two guards dragging Lex back into the cell and throwing him inside. Lex staggered forward and ran into Jason. His body sweating and bottom lip bleeding.
"Lex." Jason said looking down at him. But he didn't get a chance to say more as the guards grabbed onto him and pulled him towards the door. Both yelling at him in a language he didn't understand. "Lex!" He screamed, as he struggled to get away.
"Look, tell them whatever they want to know. This isn't worth dying over!" Lex yelled back at him. One guard pushed Jason down the same hallway they took Lex, but the other one remained in the cell, still pointing his gun a Lex. When the sounds of Jason struggling vanished Lex got up and wiped his lip. "Just scare him," he told the other guard. "Find out what he knows, but don't hurt him."
He was surprised when another guard came in and spoke, "I'm sorry, Mr. Luthor, I can't make such a promise."
"We had an agreement," Lex ground out.
The guard smiled, "There are people who have more money than you." With that he jabbed him in the stomach with a nightstick. He groaned in pain and the two guards grabbed him and pushed him out of the cell.
"I never wanted anyone harmed!" he yelled as he tried to pull away, but they weren't listening. His fears already becoming greater as he could hear the sounds of Jason screaming, getting louder and louder.
To be continued.
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