Good news, inspiration has struck! So, I proudly present to you my blood, sweat, and tears. Or at least a case of eye strain runs to get glasses there. Anyways, chapter 14!

Thanks, Emily. Ahh, the bashing. So fun, and yet, so hard to come by!

Warning: Randomosity may ensue. But the cool kind. Go entropy! (give me a break, i just took chem)
Warning 2: Go team Chlark! Chlarkiness may ensue.


Chapter 14: Rush

Chloe drove to the Talon as quickly as she could, running red lights and exceeding the speed limit by several miles per hour, but focused on one thing and one thing alone- getting to Clark. If Lex knew his secret, then he could expose him to the world. He could do anything. . .none of which she wanted to think about at the moment. She just needed to get to Clark, fast.

When she pulled up to the Talon, she spotted Clark, looking as happy as if he had just won the lottery. She hated to be the bearer of bad news, but she needed to tell him about the danger he was in.

"Clark!" she pulled up next to where he was standing. "Clark, get in here, I need to talk to you," Chloe shouted from the car.

"Chloe! You will not believe the day I've had!" Clark said, still glowing from his meeting with Lois. "I went to see Lois after she ran out of the house, and she said that she liked me! And then I told her that I did too, and-"

"CLARK! Get in the car, NOW!" Chloe shouted, wanting nothing more than to whack him over the head.

"Jeez, Chlo, what's wrong?" Clark asked, noticing that Chloe was extremely on edge. She sped off once Clark was in the car, trying to find the right words for her message.

"Look, Clark, this is gonna seem really, really freaky to you, but I have to tell you right now, because something's happened. And it's big."

"Chloe, what's going on?" Clark asked, beginning to be frightened by Chloe's anxious tone. They were driving even faster now.

"Ok, the past few days I've been digging into the Lionel Luthor case," Chloe began, flooring the accelerator.

"Don't you realize how dangerous that was? You could have been killed!" Clark shouted. "You were shot, Chloe, and not too long ago! I thought you'd dropped the case. . ."

"Yeah, I know, Clark, and I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. But I didn't drop it, and I don't regret it. Especially after I found out. . ." They were speeding on the highway, now, the sun setting directly ahead of them, and the town of Smallville falling behind.

Chloe paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "Remember that security camera in the room where I was shot? With high definition video of you using your powers? I had to find that footage, Clark. And I did."

"So, what's the problem?" Clark asked.

"The problem is that the video was sent straight to Lex's computer." Chloe finished. "I tried to delete it, but it's been weeks, and the chances are that Lex now knows your secret."


Lex sat in front of his television in wonder. He replayed the footage over and over again, and one word came to mind every time. Spectacular. He sat with his nose against the screen, a bottle of scotch in his left hand, and the remote in his right. Two days he had sat in that room, the reality of the situation sinking in a little more with every second. Finally, he could stand his exhaustion no more, and shut off the tape. He sunk back in his chair, and he slept.

Lex had changed since he found the tape. It was possible that sleep deprivation had played with his head, but his mental state had reached a critical point. Lex was never a saint, but as he slept, he dreamed of slaughtering his foes, his friends, everyone he came into contact with. And he considered this a very pleasant reverie. Only when Clark would appear in his subconscious would he be startled. He saw him as a blur, speeding around him and laughing like a madman.

Such visions would begin to haunt him when he was awake. A blur would rush past him, and his heart would race, thinking that Clark had come to finish him off. He'd grab a poker, a book, anything in sight, and begin swinging at the open air imagining that with every swing he was slicing Clark in half.

The idea of murder no longer phased Lex, as well. The boy who used to spare bugs the deadly swat with his hand had grown into a man who lived in blood. At first, this scared Lex. After his father's murder, he spent many nights awake in bed seeing visions of his father, the bullet hole still burning in his chest. But now, he found a certain satisfaction in killing. The power to take life away was the greatest gift of all. He smiled as he dreamed of death, and secretly desired to hold a human heart, still warm and beating, in the palm of his hand.

The thought that he was losing his mind never occurred to Lex. They say that insanity is only obvious to an observer, not the person losing their mind. They also say that the difference between insanity and eccentricity is monthly income. Either way, Lex felt saner than ever. He felt as though he was tapping into something that he'd never felt before, something strong and powerful, something divine in nature, surely.

Suddenly, a smile curled on Lex's lips, and his eyes flew open.

He knew exactly what he had to do.


Clark stared in shock. He couldn't seem to speak, or move, he just sat and stared into the sun, praying that this was all a bad dream. . . Just a horrible dream. Any second now, my mom will call me downstairs for breakfast, and I'll be safe in my bed, and none of this will be real. . .. Clark closed his eyes. Any second now. . .

Clark opened his eyes, but found himself still sitting on the seat of the car, with Chloe, next to him, biting her lip in concern.

"What do I do, Chloe?" was all Clark could manage to utter.

"I don't know, Clark. I don't know."

Chloe was dying inside. She needed to get away, from Lionel's ghost, from Lex's threats, from everything.

"Let's take a drive," she said.

And the car journeyed into the sunset.