Chapter 19 - Rift

They performed the transfer in the meteor room. Eric didn't have the opportunity to put up much of a fight, although the transfer seemed to be a painful process for both Clark and Eric. Lex made the call to Belle Reve, and an ambulance came by for Eric within the hour.

Clark didn't speak during the whole time they were waiting. He seethed, fists clenched. Lex sat with his stomach clenched, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

As soon as Lex returned to the experiment room, Clark turned on him. "What were you thinking?" he shouted.

"I wanted to help you." Lex was determined to take this with dignity intact.

"You kidnapped a high schooler!" Clark started to pace.

"I didn't kidnap him."

"You held a high schooler against his will!"

"What would you have suggested, Clark?" Lex kept his frustration just barely contained, his voice sounding as calm as he could make it.

"I don't know! Stay out of it, maybe?"

"How could you expect me to stand by when you were in need?"

Clark kept pacing. "I didn't need you do to anything! You weren't even supposed to know about my secrets in the first place!"

That one hurt. "Maybe not, but you're my best friend now, Clark. Like it or not."

Clark stopped short. He stared at Lex, fuming. Lex really wasn't sure what would happen next—he'd seen that look in his father's eyes right before his father beat him, but he didn't really think Clark would hit him—

The last thing he saw was Clark storming toward him, fist raised.

Clark ran to Metropolis.

He didn't really need to be in Metropolis, but it was a route he knew, and running helped clear his head. He started running laps, from Smallville to Metropolis and then back again.

Clark was thankful to have his powers back, but the cost at which he'd regained them . . . Lex should have known better than to do that to Eric. He should have at least asked Clark about how he wanted to handle the whole situation. And what was that little prison cell in the corner of the experiment room, with the meteor rocks in the walls? Why did Lex even have it?

Lex claimed to care more about Clark as a person than he cared about his powers, then he'd turned around and proved it wasn't true.

Clark's dad was right about the Luthors. He'd been right all along, and Clark knew he should be angry, and he was, but the anger was such a small part of what he felt. He was hurt. His eyes kept trying to fill with tears, but the wind kept blowing them away before he could even blink them back.

It was over now, though. Clark had punched Lex, and the head trauma would cause memory loss and confusion, and hopefully when Lex woke up, he'd have forgotten Clark's secret. Clark had been careful about how hard he'd punched Lex—hard enough to do some damage, but not hard enough to kill him. Maybe that's what he should have tried to do when Lex first hit him with his car—knocked him out before saving him—but Clark hadn't thought of it at the time. Besides, he wasn't as good at controlling his strength back then.

Clark's phone buzzed in his pocket—Lex was the only person who ever texted him. He stopped abruptly, three quarters of the way from Metropolis to Smallville, and glanced at the screen.

One word: Ow.

Clark swallowed hard. Making Lex forget hadn't exactly been successful, then. Clark would have to try something else.

He ran to the mansion and easily slipped past security. Lex wasn't in the experiment room anymore; Clark found him in the study, lying on the couch.

Clark winced as he stepped closer. Lex's eyes were closed, and the entire left side of his face was red and swollen. It was going to be a massive bruise.

Clark cleared his throat.

Lex sat up, then grimaced and put a hand to his head. "I was trying to help you," Lex said.

"You kidnapped Eric and held him against his will."

"That's . . . not exactly how it happened. Things got out of control."

Clark's voice rose a little. "You showed him my experiment room."

"You'd already passed your powers to him. I figured the experiment room was a much less incriminating secret."

Clark could feel his pulse in his ears. "Just two days ago, you told me you didn't care about my powers."

"I didn't say that. I said I care about you, with or without your powers. But you wanted them back, and you saw how Eric was handling them."

Clark took a step back, beginning to pace. Lex had a point there, but for some reason, it didn't make Clark feel any better. "Lex, you didn't even talk to me about any of this. You built a prison for me? When was this?"

"No." Lex stood up from the couch. "No, that room wasn't for you. I had it built yesterday, just in case things got out of hand with Eric."

"Which they did!"

"I know that, Clark. My plan hit a few . . . snags."

"So why did you try to do this without me?"

Lex's voice caught in his throat.

"You hid this from me." Clark shook his head. "I tell you everything, Lex, but you hid this. What else are you hiding?"

"Nothing!"

"Is that a lie? Because if you're lying to me . . ."

Lex's eyes fell closed. There was no mistaking the look on his face.

"What are you hiding?"

"I . . . hired a mineralogist to study the meteor rocks."

Fury blurred the corners of Clark's vision. His dad had been right. "Lex! We had an agreement, no scientists!"

"I know. I know. But . . . he doesn't know anything about you. And we just keep running into more people who have been mutated by those meteor rocks. Most of them have ended up trying to kill people. It was just a precaution. Doesn't it make sense to try to find out why these things are happening?"

"If you thought it was just a precaution, why didn't you tell me?"

Lex was quiet for a moment before replying. "I'm sorry, Clark, I should have told you."

"Yeah. You should have." Clark straightened up and took a step back. "Since the day we met, our friendship has been built on trust. Trust that you wouldn't share my secrets with anyone, that you wouldn't take advantage of me, that you wouldn't hurt me. Now I know I can't trust you. I'm ending this friendship."

Clark turned to go. Lex's footsteps followed him. "Clark, wait—" Lex grabbed Clark's arm.

"What?" Clark whirled around.

Lex flinched, gasping and raising his hands in front of his face. When Clark merely glared at him, he let his breath out. "Y-you can't go."

"And why not?"

"Because if you leave, we'll become enemies. Now, I can't speak for you, Clark, but the thought of having you as my enemy . . . that terrifies me. You could kill me without even trying. And . . . I have power over you that I was never supposed to have. You have to believe me, I would never use it to hurt you, no matter where we leave things here, but . . . if I were you, I'd be terrified to have an enemy who knows my secret."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No. I'm begging you. And Luthors don't beg. Clark, you and I can't become enemies—we both have too much power."

Clark shifted his weight. "What do you want me to say, Lex?"

"I want another chance." Lex's eyebrows knitted. "There's something that scares me even more than gaining you as an enemy, Clark."

"And what's that?"

"Losing you as a friend."

"Losing me? Or losing my powers?"

"Both."

Clark let out a short laugh. "That's not exactly reassuring."

"But it's the truth. I'm done keeping secrets from you, Clark. You're the most incredible being on the planet, I'd be a hopeless imbecile if I didn't care about that at all. But you didn't need your powers to . . . to sit with me on my birthday. Or to embrace me like a brother when things went sour with my father. Or to just sit and talk with me at the end of a long day."

Clark could feel his resolve beginning to weaken, but he kept his voice firm. "Lex, how do I know I can trust you again?"

"You've never known. But you can. I'm an open book from now on, Clark. No more secrets. I would never do anything to risk our friendship again, and I don't want to be the person who did this anymore. If something like this comes up again, I'll talk to you, and I won't do anything you're not comfortable with."

Clark wasn't sure how to respond. Part of him wanted to tell Lex that he wasn't comfortable with any of this, but the fact was, he wasn't comfortable with Lex knowing his secret at all—and that was the one thing he couldn't avoid.

He had no more time to contemplate the situation before three masked men walked into the study through the walls.