I have disabled the anonymous review options on my stories. I want to once again stress that I have no problem taking criticism, but it really annoys the heck out me when the people won't sign their reviews.
I'm also a bit confused as to a review that I received that told me that it "was about time something happened" in this story. I'm not trying to be rude, and I do appreciate your thoughts, however, I'm confused as to what you consider "something happening". As for the interaction of Lex and Clark, I feel that, given the nature of the events both men have gone through, that it is somewhat realistic. I'm only human, and I can't be perfect. All AU stories are OOC to some extent, anyway. You may not feel that way, but by all means, you can write your own story. Once again, I don't mean to be nasty or snappy, but I'm rather tired of being told how to write my story, and then not having the reviewer sign it.
To all of you who have faithfully followed this story from the beginning and have been reviewing: Thank you! I really appreciate the support. There are times when I consider just giving up writing because of a few select people who can't seemed to be bothered with courtesy, but because of people like you I know that's not the right thing to do. Thanks, and please keep reviewing!
-------------------------------
It was so quiet. It almost felt to Clark like he was at the bottom of the lake, and that would explain the sort of murky feeling in his brain. A moment of thinking and he realized that had to be the effects of the sedatives, which were just beginning to wear off.
The quiet seeped into his bones, and it felt so different—so nice—compared to the night before. Clark never wanted to go through anything like that again.
His lips felt so dry, though, and he found that he wanted water. It took a little doing, but he finally summoned up the awareness to mumble, "water". He heard voices as soon as he uttered the word as well as a few noises that meant people were moving about the room.
A short time later a cup was held to his lips, and he found himself gulping thirstily. That seemed to clear some of the cobwebs in his head, and for that he was immensely thankful. He'd never liked feeling out of control of his body.
"Is that my welcome back to the land of the living?" he asked as he opened his eyes.
Both Chloe and Lex were sitting in chairs next to his bed, both glaring at the other. When he spoke their eyes immediately turned to him and their expressions softened. "More or less," Lex said with a small smile.
"How are you feeling?" Chloe asked, shooting a slightly angry glance at Lex.
"Better," he replied truthfully. Looking at Lex, he apologized, "Sorry I lost it like that."
Lex shook his head. "Don't be; everyone has a limit. It's a classic thing with war veterans to have flash backs, and God knows you've seen enough to have that kind of baggage."
"What was last night?" he asked.
"That," Lex began, his eyes darkening, "was the implementation of Lana's new bill."
"Wow, she really holds a grudge. I didn't think she'd want me killed like that."
Chloe laughed bitterly. "At this point she just wants you gone." Clark didn't like that bitter look on Chloe's face. He wanted to remember her as the editor of the torch who had often smiled, and he found himself wondering what she would have done with her life if the aliens hadn't invaded.
"Have you got a plan?" he asked Lex.
Lex dropped his eyes. "Yes."
"But we're not using it!" Chloe spat angrily, her eyes flashing.
"Have you got a better one?" Lex demanded, raising his voice.
"That isn't fair to him!" she full-out shouted. Her cheeks were beginning to color in her fury.
"Why don't you tell me what it is and I'll decide if it's fair or not," Clark said softly.
He had to admit that he liked the way their heads whipped around to look at him. It reminded him that, whatever it was, they weren't angry with him.
"Lex wants to change your brand," Chloe said finally, her anger at Lex flowing off her in waves.
Clark looked at him thoughtfully. "Can you do that?"
Lex watched him carefully, as if gauging his reaction. "Yes. The inner circle of your brand is dark when you're a prisoner only a level lower than yourself. That would be easy to change for someone like me who could easily get the materials to get it changed."
Clark had to admit that the thought of going through that again terrified him. But it would be a good cover and a way to get him off of death row. At the moment that was a rather important detail.
"Do it," he said after a moment of thought.
"No!" Chloe protested, her voice cutting through the stillness of the room. "No."
Lex looked incredibly exasperated, as if he just wished Chloe would shut up. "What do you think he's got to loose?"
"Chloe, I-I really don't have many other options," he explained softly. "This would protect me."
Clark saw the tears in her eyes, but he wasn't quite sure why. He wasn't at all sure when she got up and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her. He wasn't sure but, for all his problems, he wished he could make it better.
-------------------------------------
Clark didn't think he'd ever be ready to do have it done again, drugged or not. Still, drugged was most definitely preferable, and Lex had insisted that Clark be asleep for it. Clark certainly hadn't argued at all.
Waking up was a lot less pleasurable than going to sleep.
Still, the brand didn't hurt at all, though that didn't really surprise him. It hadn't hurt when the alien had done it either, at least not after the heat had faded. After all, a brand seared the nerve endings effectively and killed all feeling. It had certainly hurt at first when the molten metal had been pressed to his back, though.
That was something Clark was trying desperately to forget. Lex had at least made sure that the room was devoid of the smell of burning flesh, because Clark was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to handle that.
It had been nearly five years, and suddenly one little memory had the power to send him over the edge. Clark didn't like to admit to that, and it killed him that his only weakness wasn't Kryptonite, but that didn't stop it from being fact.
He knew both Chloe and Lex knew that, and he was thankful that they really didn't say anything about it. Clark didn't want to talk about what had happened—it had been the one part of his experience that he hadn't relayed to either Lex or Chloe.
"How are you feeling?"
"Drugged," he replied truthfully. "Very, very drugged."
He could see Chloe's smile even when the world was spinning. He absolutely loved it. "Lex had to go to a meeting, and it would have looked pretty suspicious if he wasn't there."
Clark nodded and immediately regretted it when the world began to spin. He decided on a verbal response instead. "Alright."
"I wish he hadn't done it, you know," Chloe told him after a few moments of silence.
"Done what?"
"The brand."
"Oh." Clark really didn't know what to say, because he wasn't sure why exactly. "It will protect me."
"But I-I don't know, Clark. I just felt like it reduced you even further."
"My pride's taken lots of hits over the years, Chlo. I've done lots of things to survive."
She nodded and ran a hand through her limp hair, which she had obviously not fixed up yet that day. "I know. It's just that I thought someone like Lex Luthor could find a better way to help you."
"He's limited by the regime, just as I am, Chloe. There's things he can't do."
"He's Lex Luthor. He always found a way to do them before."
"Before it was easier," Clark pointed out with a sigh. "Before there was a constitution and liberty and justice for all. Now there's an alien regime, a rachla, and a council. Even Lex can't move mountains."
"I know," she replied, biting her lip, "but...,"
"Look, Chlo, I know you don't trust him, but I do. He's had so many opportunities to kill me over the years, but he never has. He stopped me from being killed. If he hadn't found me in that slave market..."
She sighed and brushed some hair back from his forehead. "I know that, I really do. It's just—I don't know." She bit her lip again, and Clark thought she looked very much like she was trying to convince herself to trust Lex.
-------------------------------------
"Morning," Clark greeted Lex as he slipped into his office. Lex was apparently very enthralled with his paper work, for it took him a moment to look up at Clark.
"How are you feeling?" he asked with a small smile.
"Appreciative of the use of painkillers and thankful that you decided to use them, unlike our friendly alien conquerors."
Lex laughed a little and set his papers down. "I'd imagine so. Anyway, I thought that you'd like to know that your name's on the list of those dead." He tossed Clark a newspaper as he leaned back in his chair.
Clark quickly scanned the list of names, settling his eyes on the "K's". Sure enough, his name was there. "Think it will be enough to dissuade Lana?"
"I'm not sure," Lex replied. "I used a double, but other than the dark hair and build he clearly wasn't you. Still, it should satisfy the aliens. The only way she'll be able to tell anything is if she actually looked at the body before it was burned."
Clark nodded. "She might have, you know."
Lex twiddled a pen between his fingers, looking at it with a careless fascination. Clark knew that to mean that he was actually thinking hard about something else. "I'm going to go to the capitol today and see what's going on. I won't have the details until I do."
"Yeah, ok," Clark agreed faintly.
"I'm going to take Chloe with me." This time Clark could see him actually looking up, gauging his reaction.
"Why?" he asked, not sure quite how he felt about that. After what he'd seen, well, he just didn't know if he wanted Chloe to see it. And if she saw how they received brands, he wasn't sure he could handle that either.
Lex seemed to sense his hesitance. "She's a grown woman, Clark. You can't protect her anymore, not from everything, anyway."
He sighed and sank into the chair before Lex's desk. "I know," he muttered, "but there's something in me that wants to try. Besides, the fact that I'm twenty-two hasn't stopped you from watching my every move."
Lex noted his small smile that accompanied the words. "But I let you make your mistakes, even though I knew they'd get you hurt. I could have just said that I wasn't letting you run off after some lost cause, but you would have resented that immensely, and nothing short of putting you under lock and key would have stopped you. It was easier to let you learn yourself, but to make sure you didn't get killed."
"Are you saying that I've got to let her learn?"
"I'm saying if you don't, she'll resent it. Wouldn't you have resented me? Besides, I don't think you can stop Chloe anyway, at least not when she's determined. Besides, I think she's got as much control over you as you have over her."
"She's not an easy woman to say 'no' to," Clark replied with a sheepish look and a shrug.
"I'd imagine not," Lex said with a small smirk, his eyes dancing with implied references. "Anyway," he started again, all playfulness dieing down, "I'm going to take her with me this afternoon. You stay in the mansion and out of sight."
"Fine." Clark agreed, although the agreement felt strange on his tongue. Agreement to stay out of the action always had felt strange to him.
Just judging by Lex's smile, Clark knew Lex was aware of that. "Would you go get Chloe for me?" Lex asked, scooting back up to his desk and resuming looking over his paper work.
"Yeah," Clark agreed, getting up from the chair and heading for the door. His last glance before he shut the door was of Lex's wrinkled brow as he read something over.
--------------------------------
"And exactly why are you taking me and not Clark?" Chloe asked as soon as Lex presented the idea of going with him to her. Clark had to smile; trust Chloe to make her first words a question of skepticism.
"Because Clark's dead."
Chloe looked a little shocked before she realized that he was only talking as far as in the eyes of the world. "Then he could wear a disguise," she pointed out.
"And that will happen...eventually. But thanks to your brilliant escapades he's got a sling on his arm and that makes him far too easy to connect to the kid who was being chased down the street." Clark had to wince a little at the disapproval in Lex's voice. "Remind me why you did something that stupid again?" Lex asked, glancing over to where Clark was leaning against the wall.
"Um," he muttered with a small swallow. "Well..."
"That's what I thought," Lex replied with a roll of his eyes. "Besides, if you're going to pretend to be a debutante then you're going to need some information."
Clark could basically see the gears turning in Chloe's head. He could see her turning over the decisions, the pro's and con's.
"Alright," she agreed finally.
Lex smiled a little at her skepticism and glanced at Clark. "We're leaving, then," he said to her. "Go change."
"Casual, fancy, or in between?" she asked seriously.
"Professional but still contemporary," Lex replied without missing a beat.
"I'll see you in ten minutes," she promised before heading out of the room. Clark watched her go and was slightly surprised to see spring in her step. Perhaps, for all of her misgivings she'd wanted to get out of the house after all.
-------------------------------------
Chloe and Lex had left a few minutes later. Clark had to admit that he'd found it funny how much she glared at Lex. "She's just protective of you," Lex had told him when Chloe had gone to get her coat and Clark had breeched the subject to him.
He hadn't understood exactly what that had to do with anything, but Lex had patiently explained that she wanted to make sure that he didn't hurt Clark in anyway. While he'd still thought it was a little off-base, he'd been flattered that she cared that much.
Once they'd gone, he'd decided to go watch some TV in his room. His ankle was still a little sore from falling on it in the ally, and his arm certainly still hurt, so he wanted to lie down for a while.
He wasn't even sure why he watched the News. After all, it was just an extent of the alien's yellow press and half of it was only propaganda and jingoism against the rebels. What he was watching was no different.
The News was covering the slaughter of all high-level political prisoners. Clark shuddered as he saw some of the pictures and couldn't help but think that he could easily have been one of those bodies.
When he'd become a freedom fighter he'd thought he was prepared to die, but now he wasn't so sure. He had a lot to live for, and he really wasn't sure he was ready to give that up. But, being himself, he couldn't simply lie down and take things. It was a Catch-22, really; he didn't want to die, but he wasn't willing to accept things the way they were.
For the first time in a long time he wished he could go and talk to Jor-el in the caves. The last time he'd done that was when he was seeking help to stop the incoming meteor shower. Ironically, he'd stopped the meteor shower, but not the invasion.
Jor-el had been too right when he'd said you couldn't stop what was already in motion. And when the crystal had been stained with human blood the aliens had picked up its signal, had traced them, and had come to earth. He might have saved the earth from being "seared by a fire from the heavens", but he hadn't saved it from alien conquering.
Later he wasn't sure exactly how he'd heard the sound in the hall. By all rights whoever it was should have easily been able to sneak up on him. Maybe it had been all those months in a bunker, being tense with anticipation and always being alert. He didn't know, but he thanked whatever it was.
It certainly saved his life.
As soon as he heard the soft crunch of footsteps on Lex's very expensive hall carpet, he climbed out of bed. At first he was at a complete loss of what to do, but then he spotted a vase of flowers on the window sill. He wasn't sure how they'd gotten there, but at the moment that wasn't his main worry.
He closed his hand around the vase and was chilled to feel its glossy-smooth surface. Trying not to make any noise, he slipped behind the door. The footsteps continued down the hall, pausing briefly and Clark heard the squeak of door across the hall. He could feel his heart practically beating out of his chest.
The footsteps moved back into the hall, soon approaching the door where he was hidden. Clark waited silently, holding his breath, vase in hand. Mistakes couldn't be tolerated with this sort of thing.
He saw the intruder when he came through the door. Any hopes that he'd had that it was simply a servant snooping where they weren't supposed to vanished when he saw the intruder's attire. He was completely adorned in black clothing, clearly having snuck in. There was a small bag on his back, and Clark shuddered to think what was in it.
Still, the man didn't appear to be an alien. He was probably just a person paid off to work for them, Clark supposed—not that that made it any better. Waiting until the man had gone passed the door, Clark stepped forward and smashed the vase over his head.
Clark felt nauseous as the vase shattered into dozens of pieces over the man's head, many of them drawing blood. The sight of blood sickened Clark, and he supposed it always would.
He watched as the man crumpled to the floor. For a moment he only stood there dumbly and watched. Then his senses returned to him, and he tore out of the room. As soon as he turned into the hallway he glanced around to see if there were anymore intruders and was terribly relived to find none.
His mind screamed for an option. Lex was out, there was really no 911 to call, his parents were dead, and he didn't have a place to hide. He was at a complete loss for what to do until he remembered the gun in Lex's office desk.
Fear giving him wings, he ran towards Lex's office. He heard the door of his bedroom slam behind him and footsteps start on the floor. Why hadn't he thought to tie the guy up or something?
He shot through the door of the office and practically fell upon the desk in his desperation to get the gun out of the drawer. It was lucky that he'd scanned Lex's desk enough times back in Smallville to know his patterns of where he kept his artillery, and it was even luckier that he'd scanned this desk just as a precaution.
As he yanked open the bottom right drawer he felt something shoot through his body. At first he didn't know what it was, only knew that it was like electricity. And then he realized that was because it was electricity. The man chasing him had a stun gun.
He could feel his grip on the hard wood of the desk begin to slip. The carpet felt remarkably soft as he did a face plant against it. Hands turning him over were the last things he felt before he blacked out.
---------------------------------
