Chapter 8 - Jitters

"Please, Dad."

"I already said no."

"But Lex won't even be there."

"This isn't up for discussion."

Clark sank into his chair at the breakfast table, frowning. His dad was being completely unreasonable about this—he wouldn't let Clark go on the field trip to the LuthorCorp plant. Clark already felt like he'd given up something big to preserve his relationship with his dad by cutting off his secret visits to the mansion—he really, really missed talking to Lex—but he couldn't use that argument, since his dad never knew about the visits in the first place. "Everyone else is going."

"When has that argument ever worked?"

"Never," Clark grumbled. "Is this just because you hate Lex?"

His dad raised his eyebrows. "You're already grounded for two weeks for the party. You want a third week for arguing with me?"

"No," Clark grumbled, but he couldn't resist asking, "Is it because of Earl?" Their old employee Earl Jenkins had been hospitalized, and he claimed that it was because of experiments at LuthorCorp.

"No. It's because Lex already knows about your strength, and I don't want him to find out anything else."

Clark looked down. It most definitely would not be helpful to explain to his father that Lex already knew about everything else. Everything except the x-ray vision—they hadn't really talked since that had happened. "Okay, Dad."

"Hey." His dad tousled his hair. "Is this really about the field trip?"

He wished he could tell his dad what it was really about. "It's just . . . school's really boring when everyone's out. There are subs in all my classes and we don't do anything."

His dad's brow furrowed. "You want to stay home?"

Clark sat up straight. "Really?"

"Sure." His dad chuckled. "But you're getting your chores done early."

"Can we play basketball and watch TV?"

"It's not a day off for me, you know."

"How about if I help you with some of your chores? It'll take me, like, five minutes."

Jonathan stared at him a moment, then nodded. "I'd accept that."

Clark grinned.

Lex was in an offsite meeting when he received news about the situation at the plant. A gunman had taken the field trip group hostage.

Lex drove through a crowd of angry parents and reporters with flashing cameras, through the gates, and checked in with the SWAT team. No injuries yet, but apparently, the gunman—one Earl Jenkins—was demanding to be taken to Level 3, which didn't exist.

As terrified as the kids must be, Lex was almost thankful that it had happened during the field trip. If Clark was in there, he could probably use his powers to salvage the situation somehow. It was weird that Jonathan and Martha weren't among the angry parents, though.

Lex's dad arrived in a helicopter just as the SWAT team finished briefing him. He berated Lex hard, but his tone was cold and unfeeling—the scolding was more for show than anything else. The real punishment would come later, when they were alone at the mansion. Whether it came to blows or just excruciating words, Lex knew his father wouldn't let this go without making sure Lex felt the full weight of his displeasure.

Lex confirmed with his dad to make sure that there really was no Level 3, then he convinced the SWAT team to let him make a phone call to the inside. Gabe Sullivan picked up the phone.

"Gabe, it's Lex."

There was a shuffling sound, and Earl's voice came next. "I've finally got your attention, haven't I?"

Lex cleared his throat. "Earl, this is going to sound like a strange question, but is there a Clark Kent in the room with you?"

"What? No, Clark's not here."

Oh no.

"Give me that." Lex's father grabbed the phone out of Lex's hand. "Earl, why don't you come out? We've got a lot to talk about."

There was a brief silence—Lex could hear that Earl was responding, but he couldn't make out his words.

"You're sick, Earl," his father said. "Let everyone go. We'll get you help."

The next thing Lex knew, Earl had had another seizure and broken a methane gas valve. Now the whole place was filling up with gas.

Earl shouted at the camera, blaming Lex's father—Lex could at least sympathize with that much—then one of the kids ran up and tried to take the gun away from Earl. The quarterback, actually. He was injured, but they'd gotten lucky—Earl hadn't been startled into firing the gun.

Because it would only take one shot. The whole place would blow, and all of the kids would die.

But maybe if Lex went in and promised to give Earl what he wanted . . .

He couldn't do that. He didn't have the guts. Best case scenario, Earl would care enough about his own preservation not to fire the gun, and Lex would just take a beating before someone could come for him. Worst case scenario, they'd carry his burned, bullet-ridden body out of the plant on a stretcher.

No. Worst case scenario was that they'd carry the kids' bodies out of the plant.

Lex would almost certainly die if he went in there, but he'd die doing something good. Something his father never would have done.

He wondered if Clark would go to his funeral.

"I'm going in," Lex said.

It had been as perfect a day as Clark could imagine, for being grounded.

Clark slept in an hour later than usual and helped his mom make a late breakfast, then he went out and did some extra chores to free up more of his dad's time. He read in the loft while he waited for his dad to finish up the rest of his work. They played basketball until his dad got tired, then they went in to play checkers, then settled down in front of the TV after dinner.

His dad was flipping channels to get to the game when a news report caught their eye. Earl Jenkins had taken the high school field trip group hostage, along with Chloe's dad. He had a gun, and he'd broken a gas valve—the building was going to blow up any minute.

Lana was in there. Chloe and Pete, too.

"I have to go help." Clark stood from the couch.

"Clark, hang on. Look—the hostages are coming out."

Clark squinted at the screen, which was now showing the field trip group running out of the building. "Why did Earl let them go?"

"Ah, they're saying Lex went in."

Clark's heart pounded. "He's going to get himself killed."

"No, he's not. I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said about him."

His dad scoffed. "I mean that Earl wanted information about crop experiments that were being done at the plant. I'm sure Lex knows all about them. He's going in there to give him what he wants, and no one will get hurt."

"And what if he doesn't know? What if he just went in there to save the hostages? Who's going to save him?"

"You think he went in there to sacrifice himself? That's not something Luthors do."

Frustration coursed through Clark's veins. "But what if he did?"

"Son, there's an entire SWAT team surrounding the plant, he'll be fine."

"I have to make sure, Dad. I have to go down there."

"Son . . ." He swallowed. "You can't run off every time you hear about something bad happening on the news."

Clark wanted to burst out that Lex was his friend, but all he could say was, "You can ground me as long as you want when I get back, but I'm going."

His dad's eyes pierced his. "Your mom and I will follow you in the car."

Clark smiled, then he raced out of the door.