A/N: Isn't it funny that my longest and second most reviewed story is the one I thought was going to be short and not read? I guess more people like Lex in drag than I thought. . .
Note: in dialogue, when the character whispers it's written like this.
ChApTeR ThIrTeEn
Clark was the first to awaken, as he had suspected when he was first knocked unconscious.
"Man, I feel like someone's been hitting me with a wet noodle!" he groaned to himself and easily broke out of the rope tied around his wrists. Truthfully, someone had been hitting him, but not with a wet noodle.
He stood up in time to hear a groan from a chair not far off from his and, as he squinted in the dark, the only light was sun penetrating through bars on a very small window, he thought he saw a girl. Clark wasn't sure if it was Lex or Chloe so he moved carefully, making sure to use his super hearing to make sure nobody else was around.
"Clark?" the body whispered and Clark saw it to be Lex, with Chloe next to him awakening not too long after. Clark put his finger to his lips and Lex nodded. Clark tore the ropes off. "How'd you do that?" Lex whispered.
"The knots are tied really badly." Clark lied as he moved on to Chloe, removing her rope as well. Lex rubbed his head.
"Man, I feel like someone's been hitting me with a raw steak!" Lex whispered and shakily stood, using the chair he was tied to as support. Yes, someone had been hitting both Clark and Lex, but it wasn't with a raw steak. Chloe was the last to stand and she seemed steadier than Lex was, though she rubbed her wrists to bring back the feeling.
"Great, I feel like someone's been hitting me with the fourth Harry Potter book." Because we all know how god-forsaken THICK that was. She was correct in saying that, someone had been hitting Clark, Lex and Chloe, but it wasn't with the book. They were all wrong because a jet could run over Clark and it would feel like a wet noodle, Lex had once been beaten with a raw steak and that is what he felt like at the moment and Chloe. . . well, she was just trying to be witty. It didn't work.
The trio stood and finally observed their surroundings the best they could. The room was dark with only two tiny barred windows. Pipes were left uncovered and every five minutes or so there was a "whoosh" noise and water dripped to the cement hardened floor. Spider webs swayed in every corner, though only one of them was occupied.
"Is anyone besides me curious as to what that noise is coming from the pipes?" Lex whispered to his companions.
"I have heard that noise before. . . ohhh. . . I can't seem to. . ." Chloe closed her eyes tightly as she tried to remember where she heard it before. Suddenly, her eyes flashed open and her face showed nothing but utter confusion.
"What's wrong? Chloe, are you okay?" Clark put a nervous hand on her shoulder as another 'whoosh' came by and cold water dripped on Clark's shirt and head.
"I've heard this noise before. When somebody FLUSHES THE TOILET!" Chloe forgot she was supposed to be quiet and blurted out with laughter. Lex and Clark both clamped their hands over her mouth.
"Real funny, Chloe. Okay, we have to find some way out of here." Clark ventured to take his hand off his friends mouth, and looked around. He knew he would be able to rip the bars off the windows, but it would do them no good. None of them would be able to fit.
The three friends silently crept around and Lex was so preoccupied with finding a way out and jumping with fright at the spiders, he didn't notice his shoes were missing until he stepped in a puddle.
"WHERE ARE MY SHOES?" Lex shook the water off his foot and stared down.
"Your shoes?" Chloe looked up at Lex, for really, the shoes were hers. Clark ignored their conversation and scanned around. He used his x-ray vision but saw nothing beyond the walls except dirt and a couple of dead bodies in coffins. He thought he saw one of the bodies move around in the wooden coffin as if trying to escape, but he disregarded it as a trick of the eye. Suddenly, he spotted on the far wall a small amount of light streaming from a hidden light source.
He pulled his friends behind him and reached nothing other than a stairway.
"Well that's lucky." Chloe had grown tired of whispering.
" I don't care. Let's go up them. I gotta get out of here." Lex cleared his throat. Clark tried to stop them from speaking loudly, but gave up and took his place in front of the group.
"I'll go first. Maybe you guys should grab some protection or something." He noticed the looks on his friend's faces. "It's just a suggestion." Chloe picked up a handy wooden bar on the floor, and Lex, having run out of shoes to throw, ran back and retrieved some rope.
"Let's just do this." Lex sighed and coughed out of nervousness. They charged up the steps in a primitive fashion, yelping and waving their weapons the entire time, trying to appear menacing.
"ARRRGGGGG. . .!" Clark kicked open the door and, still yelping, the three friends charged up the remainder of the steps. But as they reached their destination they stopped, their hands poised in the recent position of getting ready to strike.
They had emerged into a busy hallway that appeared to be filled with men and women dressed finely in pressed suits. Nobody threw them any glances, to preoccupied to care, and continued to walk by. The friends looked around, astonished. They had been kidnapped, only to be thrown into the basement of an office building?
It was hard to believe, Lex pointed out ten minutes later when they had discarded their unneeded weapons and began making their way down the many twists and turns.
"This is amazing."
"What?" Clark turned to face Chloe. Lex looked identically surprised and his face matched Clark's almost creepily.
"Well, the woman we're looking for, Margaret, must have some respect if she could get us in here."
"Or they're all too afraid of her to say anything." Put in Lex.
Clark passed by a door and doubled back to check he read the sign on it right.
" 'DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU WANT TO PERISH'?" Clark read it out loud and began to laugh. "How weird is that. Don't you think with a sign like that, more people would want to go inside?"
"Yeah, that's true. Unless. . . unless whoever taped that up wants people to go inside." Chloe shrugged and reached for the door handle. Lex snatched her wrist and pulled it away.
"I'm tired, my feet are cold, my head itches and aches at the same time and I feel as if I've been beaten with a raw steak! Can we please just leave!"
"But my parents. . . what if they're down there, Lex? You want to just leave them?" Clark gave puppy dog eyes and pouted out his lower lip. Lex looked from Chloe to Clark and finally sighed, letting go of Chloe's wrist. The door was unlocked and she pulled it open a smidge when she heard from inside:
"Enter."
Then, she paused and looked back at Clark and Lex. She gave them an "oh shit" look. Clark was suddenly hit with a thought he felt the need to interject with.
"Lex, I thought you twisted your ankle."
"Oh. . . I guess she just pulled it funny or something. It's fine now."
"Okay. Just wondering." Clark turned back to the door and Chloe cleared her voice.
"Sorry, wrong room. We're new." She went to close the door until. . .
"New? Well, you opened the door now. Come on in."
They had no choice but to step inside. A handsome, middle aged man swiveled around to face the trio. He clasped his hands together and took in the sight before him. To the right stood a tall, muscular looking boy with brown hair and rosy lips. In the middle stood a blonde teenager who he could tell right away to be the journalistic type. On the left was a woman who, if you cut her hair and put her in man's clothing, would look strangely like a man . . .
"Who . . ." Chloe immediately jumped in with the questions.
"My name is Richard Bixley. I'm the boss at this corporation." He scanned the trio again. "You do know you're supposed to wear suits to work, don't you?"
"Oh, whoops!" Lex giggled and almost slapped himself for it.
" . . . and shoes." Richard looked to Lex's feet. "You don't work here, do you?"
"No." Clark admitted despite an elbow from Chloe and a groan from Lex.
"Then what are you doing here?" Richard asked. Clark opened his mouth but paused and closed it again. Why was he answering this man's questions without thinking about the consequences? Why, all of sudden, had Chloe grown speechless? And why, oh why, was Lex acting extremely feminine?
"We. . . we have to go." Clark spoke hurriedly and began pushing his friends out the door.
"I can't let you do that." He smiled and sneakily made his way to the door, reaching for the lock.
"Oh, yes you can!" Lex laughed and pushed the man out of the way, giving the trio ample time to escape the room. They just heard as they turned a corner Richard calling for security.
"This is just getting stranger and stranger by the second!" Chloe gasped as the friends clambered into the boiler room and hid in the back.
"I'll have to agree. This has been the strangest couple of days of my life." Lex rubbed his sore feet. They looked around for another means of escape and found none. The resorted to waiting until they were sure everyone forgot about them. Restless, Clark decided to explore the room, every now and then using his x-ray vision.
Suddenly, Clark cried out and there was a loud thump. Lex and Chloe rushed over to Clark and stared open mouth to see he had pulled a loose piece of the wall away to reveal a wide, dark passage.
"I'm not going in there Clark." Chloe shook her hands along with her head as she raised and eyebrow.
"I'll have to agree with our trepid reporter about this Clark. We have no idea where this goes."
"Guys, what if my parents are in there?" he used the excuse again. They were about to disagree again when there was loud banging on the door. They all turned to hear:
"We know you're in there kids! Come out quietly or we'll have to use force!"
Chloe and Lex exchanged looks before staring down at Clark, who was already on his knees. Clark understood and began to crawl, the other two close behind. Once they were far enough into the tunnel they stopped and, in the dark, listened. Security had finally gotten in the room and, to Chloe and Lex, it was vague murmurs only catching the obvious word. To Clark, with the aid of his super hearing, everything was clear.
"Where'd they go? They can't just disappear like that. . ."
"Hey boss. . ." Clark pieced together the man was talking to Richard. "Look, there's a tunnel in the wall. They must've gone through it." There was silence and Clark turned to feel for his friends and whispered.
"You did remember to put the piece of wall back, right?"
"Are you nuts? I was amazed even you could lift it!" Lex whispered back and Chloe nodded until realizing no one could see her. They heard scuffling behind them.
"CRAP!" Chloe squeaked and pushed Lex, who in turn pushed Clark. "Go, go, go!" Lex whispered. After what seemed like forever, they finally saw the light. The friends emerged from the dark tunnel covered in dust and god knows what.
There jaw's hit the floor.
Three minutes later, two security guards and Richard came stumbling out behind them. Richard's suit was visibly ruined and the guards pulled out their guns. But they weren't pointing them at the three people in front of them.
For right in the middle of the room were two chairs.
In the chairs were two people tied up.
These people were the Martha and Jonathon Kent.
And they weren't moving.
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bum, bum, bum.