Summary: Being forced to revisit his life before Smallville is nothing new to Lex, but this time an unwitting victim is brought along for the ride.
Disclaimer: Last time I checked, these guys still ain't mine!
I also do not own/have not written any of the lyrics or quotes which may appear as credited within this story; intended usage is merely to complement narrative and thematic elements of my original work.
A/N: This takes place shortly after Season 1's finale (which would probably alter something somewhere in the episodes that aired, but it's all good).
III: Enveloped
Lana stared at Lex, her initially curious expression now one of obvious fright. "Lex—"
She jumped as the man behind them stood suddenly from his table, the movement sending his chair shuddering noisily along the floor.
"Get out of here, Lana," Lex could only repeat, swiftly losing the battle to keep his eyes open as he gripped the counter for support.
Lana looked in horror from Lex's clearly succumbing figure to the man who was headed straight for them. "Lex!" she whispered frantically. "Lex, what's going on?"
Unable to reply, Lex finally delivered on his slow descent to the floor, collapsing right in front of her.
Lana glanced up at the approaching stranger and rushed around the counter, kneeling next to Lex and looking helplessly into his tired, confused expression.
"Lex? Lex, look at me, come on, stay with me," she pleaded desperately. It was a ridiculous thing to say and Lana knew it, but at the same time she didn't know what else to do. Looking up, she found the man right upon her and scrambled backwards in retreat.
The aggressor stopped and raised a cautionary finger. "Don't move," he warned. While tall and threatening, the man was in fact very thin—perhaps once attractive were it not for his exceedingly gaunt features. He must have actually been about Lex's age, upon closer inspection, but it was hard to tell for sure. Lana struggled to hold his gaze as he regarded her with faded, haunted eyes.
"What is this, what do you want?" she asked anxiously.
"Oh, I'm really just here to get something I've been owed for a few years now," the man answered vaguely.
Lana shifted her weight as he looked down at Lex, regarding him with a small and scornful smile. "How 'bout it, Lex? Sound fair?"
At the lack of response, the man turned back to Lana. "I really should apologize for him—see he used to love the whole drug-induced bliss thing once upon a time, but I'm starting to see things may have changed."
Lana frowned nervously, still in denial that any of this was actually happening.
"You're a little young for Lex, aren't you?" the man suddenly asked. "Not that it surprises me he'd be going after high school girls... at least he's got good taste, in any event," he added, eyeing her cheaply.
Lana tried to ignore this enigmatic defamation of Lex's character, the second to be uttered by the stranger in as many breaths. "I'm not seeing Lex; he's my boss," she retorted.
The man appeared amused by this. "Yeah... I'll bet he is."
"Look, I don't know what it is you want exactly but I think you should leave," Lana began to ramble, unable to take the strain of maintaining a conversation with this person any longer. "My boyfriend's coming to pick me up any minute, so if you leave right now I promise I won't say anything about this."
The bit about Whitney being on his way was of course a lie and Lana wasn't sure if her delivery made that blatantly apparent or not—even if the man did believe her, though, she was reasonably sure he would not accept this ludicrous offer.
True enough, the man looked at her almost sympathetically. "Oh, as you might have guessed already, you're not going anywhere." He produced a pistol from within his jacket and pointed it at her. "You're coming with me. With us, that is."
Lana bit her lower lip, her impossible lack of options beginning to sink in.
"Now help me move him."
»»««
The Equinox was obviously packed as Calvin and Lex approached the building, bypassing the long line of people waiting admittance. One of the bouncers moved the velvet rope for them upon seeing Lex, but another man behind him suddenly held up his hand.
"Whoa, whoa, these kids all right to go in?"
Calvin shot a look at Lex, whose intelligent eyes were already scrutinizing the employee's face.
"You do want our money this evening, don't you?" Lex challenged smoothly. It never ceased to amaze Calvin how his friend could retain such brash self-assurance, even when under the influence of something like heroin.
"It's all right, man, just let 'em through," said the first bouncer.
Together, Calvin and Lex passed the two men into the club and were soon enveloped by an overwhelming scene of neon light, artificial fog, and hordes of people.
"OK Redgrave, how 'bout a drink?" Lex yelled over the thumping music.
Calvin gave an amused sort of frown. "I think I'm good for now, amigo. Still feelin' the hit, ya know?"
Lex raised an eyebrow as he surveyed the place. "Yeah, I hear that," he said noncommittally. "I'm gonna go fetch one anyway, OK? Be right back."
Calvin nodded and watched Lex approach one of the sleek bars lit from below with aqua light. He gazed around at his surroundings, the techno music and overall chaos of the atmosphere sending his senses into overdrive. The hook from a recent Blur song suddenly came to mind: "The boredom of the sober week / The weekend's here / Hip hip, hooray / To make the blues just go away..." Those boys from England were right on the fucking money: at the end of any week, it was good to feel alive.
He had no idea how long he had actually been standing there when a rather intense-looking fellow about his age was suddenly and inexplicably right in front of him. "Hey," the guy said in a somewhat impatient tone, as if he'd been shouting it for some time.
"Hmm?"
"You just came in here with Lex Luthor, is that right?"
"Oh, umm... yeah. Yes, I did."
"Unfortunately he isn't really welcome here," the stranger said. "So if I were you, I'd get the fuck out of here fast."
Calvin frowned. "Hey man, we don't want any trouble..."
"Well you may not, but your pal sure does," the man replied. "He knows this is my hangout, and for your information that's my scag you appear to be high on at the moment."
"Oh—what, you gave it to him? I don't understand."
"Not personally, no, but the timing is interesting seeing as I just noticed some of my stash missing the other day. And nothing of mine goes to Lex. Or his friends."
Calvin was starting to find this conversation exceedingly amusing, but he knew he could not let this guy know that under any circumstances. "Look, man, we're not gonna bother you, OK? I'll go find Lex and we'll split, all right?"
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Just make sure he doesn't so much as cross my path on the way out, understand?"
Giving a nonsensical nod, Calvin turned to find Lex. He wondered where Lex could have already disappeared to, but as he began dazedly scouring the place through the clusters of people and fog, it quickly became apparent how even a sober person could get lost in a place like this. He finally stumbled into what appeared to be a VIP room and spotted Lex on one of the couches with a striking young woman. Calvin smirked in approval at the impressive progress Lex was making, his tongue leisurely but deftly exploring the inside of the girl's mouth while his left hand gently cupped her breast through the material of her dress. As Lex moved to plant kisses along her exposed neckline, the girl opened her mouth in obvious pleasure.
Calvin began to approach from across the room, enjoying the free show but feeling decidedly out of place as he weaved around the clusters of low, white leather cushions and tea light candle-laden tables. Finally arriving in front of them, Calvin scratched at his head in embarrassment as he summoned the courage to interrupt the two.
"Hey, I hate to do this man, but we gotta jet."
Lex half turned with a fairly tempered look of irritation.
"I know, it sucks, but just trust me on this one."
Pulling himself away, Lex felt the girl hold onto his lower lip a moment longer as she reluctantly let him withdraw. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Just stay here, OK?"
Calvin waited and received his second resentful glare as the girl watched Lex stand and approach him.
"What's this about?" Lex asked evenly as they moved away. "Better be good, my friend."
"Some guy out there—I don't know, he came up to me and from what I gathered he's got some kind of beef with you. Basically he said he doesn't want to see either of us around here tonight."
"Did you get a name?"
"No, I didn't. He was maybe 5'11"... blondish hair..."
"Was he alone or with people."
"I don't know—I mean he approached me alone but there could have been others with him in the background somewhere, I have no idea."
Lex shook his head. "Jesus, Redgrave, don't ever become a cop—you'd fail that walk-into-a-room test with flying colors."
"Look, I still think we should get out of this place, though. For real."
"Absolutely not," came Lex's haughty reply. "Nobody's gonna tell me where I can and cannot go. If we see him, don't worry—I got it."
»»««
Lana looked apprehensively at her abductor in the rearview mirror from the car's backseat. Upon leaving the Talon, the man had made her help him get Lex's limp body into the seat beside her and then had promptly tied each of them up separately, hands behind their backs. The man's eyes suddenly met hers.
"Relax, sweetheart—if I wanted to have my way with you, I would have slipped you the GHB, not Sleeping Beauty over there."
Lana looked over at Lex. "How long will the effects from that last?" she asked, realizing her question was probably more for her sake than for his.
"Mmm, should be anywhere from three to six hours, from what I understand."
Lana made an effort to suppress any kind of reaction, as it was certainly not what she wanted to hear. She wouldn't last that long on her own against this stranger—not in a million years...
"Ironic, though, like I said before—the Lex of yesteryear woulda killed for that kind of side effect, you know? That kind of mental vacation, if you will."
Sighing, Lana knew if there was any chance for them, she had to start making a connection to this man, difficult as that would be. At the very least Lex was going to need something to work with when he finally woke up—if they ever got a chance to speak alone, that is.
"So you knew each other very well when you were younger?" she attempted casually.
The driver glanced at her in his mirror again. "Well, it's good to see Lex values sharp insight when it comes to his employees," he deadpanned. "Yes—Lex and I actually used to be great friends a lifetime ago in Metropolis. But he never quite held up his end of the deal so as far as chums go. I mean that's always a risk you take on once something like drugs enters the picture, but at the time I thought maybe Lex was different."
"I never knew he did drugs," Lana reflected quietly.
"I take it Lex doesn't talk much about his less than admirable past, then?"
Lana didn't say anything, and after a few moments the man spoke again. Not that she had much experience with kidnappers, but it did seem a bit odd for this one to be quite so garrulous...
"It was weird, you know? I mean of all the people I knew, Lex was the only one who seemed to manage walking away from it so easily. It was like he closed the book on it and never looked back. To this day, I have no idea how he did it."
Overwhelmed by the turn this night had taken, Lana couldn't help but ask herself the same thing. Looking out the window, she wondered for the hundredth time where they were actually going. "What are you going to do with us?" she asked finally.
"Just sit back and enjoy the ride for now," the man muttered softly, looking straight out at the road ahead of them.
END 3/?
Educated the expensive way
He knows his Claret from his Beaujolais
I think he'd like to have been Ronnie Kray
But then Nature didn't make him that way
He thinks his educated airs, those family shares
Will protect him, that we'll respect him
He moves in circles of friends
Who just pretend that they like him
He does the same to them
And when you put it all together
There's the model of a charmless man
~ blur
