Chapter 69 - Death

The next hour was a blur.

Lex called in emergency personnel to Ryan's hospital room, and Clark paced while they worked on the kid he had come to consider a little brother. He didn't speak to Lex. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't quite let go of his trust in his older brother all at once, but he also couldn't quite shake the urgency that had been in Ryan's voice. He had been so scared, and Clark had never noticed it before. Even looking back, wracking his brain for any sign that Ryan had been in fear for his life this entire time, Clark couldn't remember. He hadn't spent enough time around Ryan, or maybe he was blinded by his focus on his own problems and secrets. Ryan had been completely alone.

Lex didn't try to speak to Clark, either. Clark was thankful for that much. He needed time to figure out where he stood with all of this.

Lex said that he wasn't going to use the drug prototype on anybody until more tests had been run in the computer simulations. Clark had had no reason to disbelieve him. If anything, he had found Lex's over abundance of caution to be a little bit frustrating.

But what if it was a cover? What if he was pretending to be over cautious in order to throw Clark and everybody else off the scent? And what if Pamela was in danger now? Now that they knew the drug didn't work, Lex could develop a new prototype and test it on her. What would stop him?

This all would have been so much more easily explained if there really was a spy in the mansion. The spy could've stolen the drug, killed Ryan, maybe even done it all on purpose to frame Lex. Clark wanted so, so badly to believe that that was all that it happened.

But Ryan had said that there wasn't a spy. He was being watched all the time, unable to speak the full truth, but Lex was the one who threatened him all along. Lex had never done that to Clark, but then, Clark couldn't read minds, so Lex could get away with pretending to be his friend. How many others had he threatened or tricked? Was it for their abilities? What did he want with them? Protection? No, Ryan had said it was all about the experiments. Even at the plant. And he had a point about that – there had been a lot of accidents at the plant lately.

Clark pushed that thought to the side. He couldn't stomach it. Lex was his best friend. Clark had to trust him even when he wasn't sure.

And truly, he hadn't been sure. He had had to jump through so many hoops to remain friends with Lex, convincing everyone that Lex wasn't who they thought he was. Clark had lying to his father, worried his mother. He had defended Lex to everybody. If he was wrong…

The trouble was that Clark could see it both ways. He supposed he always could. It had always seem to him that Lex was a good friend, and he cared about them, and he wanted to see Clark reaches full potential and for Ryan and Pamela to live. But looking at the other way, it made sense, too. It was entirely possible that Lex had put on a good show to gain access to Clark's powers, to experiment on him, to develop new drugs and medicines for his own gain rather than two help people. And Ryan and Pamela had been convenient test subjects. No one knew the difference, until the temptation to take a risk became too great – at the plant, with the drugged prototype. What would be next?

Ryan had said to talk to Lex. But Clark didn't know what to say. So instead, he continued to pace in the hallway. They could all talk when the emergency team finished resuscitating Ryan.

Just as Clark was making his peace with that decision, the doctor came out of Ryan's room. He didn't have to speak for Clark to know what he was going to say.

"No," Clark said, his heart dropping into his stomach. "No."

The doctor looked up and said, "I'm sorry."

Lex nodded. "Thank you for your service." His voice didn't betray any anguish or grief, although Clark wasn't sure whether that was evidence of anything. Lexton always so much on his face anyway.

But now, now that Clark had heard from Ryan that Lex had been lying the whole time, his stoicism was cast in a different light. Maybe it had been intentional. Maybe Lex had never cared.

Clark hung his head. The more he thought about it, the more Ryan's story made sense. He had been too blind to see it; maybe he was just bitter over the fact that his father had forbidden to him to do something that he wanted him to do, but when Clark looked at the rest of his life, he had to admit that his parents generally new best.

Maybe he should have listened to them in the first place.

The emergency team cleared out, and they brought out Ryan's body on a stretcher. Clark couldn't look. He caught a glimpse of Ryan's pale face out of the corner of his eye, and he knew what his new recurring nightmare was going to be.

As soon as the doctors were gone, Clark started heading towards Ryan's room.

"Clark…" Lex followed behind him.

Clark didn't pay any attention. As soon as he was in Ryan's room, he did a visual scan using his x-ray vision.

There was an empty syringe in the drawer. He opened up the drawer to find the container that had once held the drug prototype.

Clark couldn't bring himself to touch it. It was true. Lex had killed Ryan. He probably hadn't meant to, but he had threatened Ryan to remain silent, and now Ryan was dead.

"Clark, you have to believe that I would never do something like this."

Clark whirled around, his eyes stinging. "Really, Lex? Because Ryan was telling a different story right before he died. He was terrified for his life. And he said you threatened him."

"I don't know why he was saying that. But you know me."

"Do I? I can't read your mind. Ryan could."

"Then you know something changed. Because he vouched for me until today."

"He said you wouldn't let him speak freely."

"Then why would he tell you now?"

"Because he knew it didn't matter. He was already a dead man."

"I never wanted this to happen. I never would've tried that drug on anyone until more tests been done, and if I did, I would try it on myself first."

"Please, Lex. No more lies."

"I'm not lying, Clark."

"OK. Maybe I'll believe you. If you let me see the video footage for this room."

"What video footage?"

"The security tapes."

"There are no cameras in this room. You know that. Ryan knew that."

Adrenaline flooded through Clark's veins. Ryan had specifically said there were. "You're lying to me."

"Clark—"

"I defended you! To everybody! I lied to my parents, I convinced them you were on our side, but you never cared about any of us! You only cared about your experiments."

"The only reason I care about the experiments is for you, Clark. Sure, there was some curiosity, there still is, but —"

"Stop." Clerk looked away. He couldn't take this anymore. "Just… Stop."

For once, Lex was silent.

Anger and fear melted into pain. Ryan was dead. Clark's best friend had never cared about any of them. He was alone.

"Clark, OK… I'll do whatever I have to do, how can I prove to you…"

Clark shook his head. "I trusted you," he whispered, and he left the mansion, maybe for the last time.

He would stop by Pamela's little cottage, warn her to get out of there before the same thing happened to her as had happened to Ryan. Maybe he would even try to warn some of the security people, though he doubted they would listen to him. He would stop by the hospital and apologize to Lana, and maybe listen to her a little better when she told him what had happened at the plant.

Then he would go home, apologize to his father. Tell him he had been right all along.

And then life will go back to normal. Back to the way things were before he had met Lex.

The world blurred.

A/N: One more chapter in part 2 of this story, then a short break.